Sensaina took a deep breath and clutched the pencil Doki handed to her. As the fairy gave pencils out to the rest of the girls, she tapped her pencil on the table impatiently.
"Because this will accomplish something," Sensaina remarked sarcastically in her head. Before her was a sheet of blank paper just waiting to be drawn on. All the possibilities were limited this time and they were all revolving around one intimidating topic.
"At this point-kore," Doki began, " We've all been..preoccupied mentally by Hatred-kore." They all felt a shudder slide down their back.
"So, as a mind-easing exercise, we'll all draw how Hatred looks in our own unique minds-kore," Doki continued.
Haruko let out a disappointed groan," But what if we suck at drawing?"
"Haruko, no weaseling out!" Sensaina and Jonetsu shouted in unison.
"Now!" Doki started," Begin-kore!"
Sensaina didn't take up too much time as she attempted to draw. She glanced over to Jonetsu who seemed to be adding excessive details to her
'Hatred' while Haruko seemed to be straining herself as she kept drawing and erasing shapes. Toki went into her human form to draw and Doki held a very small pencil to draw with. Sensaina looked at her sketch again. It sure was simple, but that's what crept into her nightmares for the past several nights. The others didn't seem to be as affected by Hatred, contrary to the predictable belief. She might just have been the only one of her friends experiencing these painful, overwhelming dreams.
"Alright now-kore. We're all finished?" Doki asked as she put down her pencil.
"We've all been finished for the past five minutes," Jonetsu responded.
"Then let's look at Sensaina's-kore." They all gathered around to her drawing. They gave mixed reactions to Sensaina's sketch.
"Sensaina." Jonetsu said.
"Yes?"
"What's that supposed to be?"
Sensaina shook off the rude question," It's Hatred."
"No. That's a blob with googly eyes."
Sensaina inflated her cheeks and turned away," Like yours would've been any better."
Jonetsu let out a smirk and brought her paper towards them. Doki and Haruko tilted their heads as Toki fell into a laughing fit.
Sensaina was amused and appalled," What the-?!"
"That's what I think Hatred looks like." Jonetsu replied. Sensaina squinted and a closer look at the sketch. It was a humanoid, with a cape being held together by a large 'H', glowering red eyes like Hydra's, and a somewhat controversial moustache.
"It's such a joke," Sensaina said under her breath.
"What was that, Utahime?" Jonetsu snapped.
"Let's look at my drawing!" Haruko hollered. Jonetsu's eyes widened in disbelief and Sensaina held her tongue to avoid saying anything snarky.
"Mind explaining it?" Sensaina asked. Haruko drew what looked like a horribly mutated mouse with fangs and an emerald collar.
"It's Hatred!" Haruko yelled.
"Sure it is. Doki may we see yours?" Jonetsu asked. Doki gave Jonetsu her drawing.
"Um..." The four girls droned. Doki drew a devil-like figure with wings holding a pitchfork and had stitched on appendages.
"He looks likes Robin Goodfellow!" Haruko exclaimed.
"Wait,what?" Jonetsu asked.
"Moving on," Sensaina looked over to Toki. Toki handed them the drawing.
"What-?" Sensaina began.
"In-?" Jonetsu continued.
"The-?" Haruko continued.
"World-?" Doki finished. Toki giggled it off. Her drawing was nearly impossible to describe. It seemed to have a human body with an animal head with stripes. It was covered in what appeared to be bear traps and from its fingertips grew long claws.
"Just imagine all of our sketches combined," Jonetsu groaned. Sensaina cringed at the resentful thought. Suddenly, one of the girl's cell phone went off. Sensaina picked hers up.
"Hello?" She greeted.
"Sensaina!" A voice cheered. Sensaina drew the phone back for a moment in confusion. She knew who this was but what confused her was why she was calling at such a random time.
"Emi?" She asked, "Why are you calling now?"
"I have great news!" Emi shouted. Sensaina flinched and put the phone farther away.
"What is it?" Sensaina asked cautiously keeping the phone a decent distance away.
"Ani-con's coming to town! And guess who got tickets!" Emi responded. Sensaina threw a smile on her face and jumped in excitement.
"You're taking me?!" Sensaina screamed into the phone. Jonetsu and Haruko looked towards her suspiciously.
"Oh yes! Better get a good cosplay! I'll come by your house this afternoon! " Emi advised as she hung up. Sensaina squealed anxiously.
"I'm going to Ani-con!" Sensaina yelled.
Jonetsu looked at her skeptically," Ani-con's for thirty year old lolicons that are just there for the cosplaying teens such as yourself.."
Sensaina let out a gasp," Oh that's right, I'll need a cosplay! But Ani-con's in two days, how am I going to find a costume?"
"You could always check the Halloween store down the street, it should have something usable." Haruko suggested. Sensaina lit up and grabbed her purse and the girls.
"This place is boring-desu!" Toki complained, only ending up getting her mouth clasped shut by Haruko.
"I second that," Haruko responded, "But this beats Sensaina's unairconditioned bedroom."
The store was actually somewhat empty, considering Halloween wasn't for another three months. The aisles had a few clearance costumes but the rest were filled with party stuff. Sensaina searched up and down the aisles for something, anything that she could turn into a cosplay.
"What do you plan on cosplaying as anyways?" Jonetsu impatiently asked. Sensaina took a halt and examined a clearance costume before her.
Jonetsu doubtfully read out the costume name, "Pink taffeta lady?" It was a long bright pink dress with sequined belt and eventually Sensaina picked it up along with a pair of white barrettes and large circular red plastic gemstones.
Later that afternoon Jonetsu, Haruko and Toki left and Emi took their place. Sensaina was still a little surprised after her 'long lost friend' called her only to bring her to Ani-con. They were best friends for four years, then all of a sudden Emi switched schools. Plus, Emi goes to Midorikage's rivaling school Aotsuki. As Sensaina was lost in thought while she made alterations to her skirt,. she instantly remembered something that happened between her and Emi before they switched schools. They got into an argument because Sensaina was making friends with the other girls in their class, leaving Emi out. For the last few days of school before summer break, they didn't speak a word to each other. Not even a single goodbye.
Did Emi forget all about the fight between them? The question echoed through her mind, making her forget all about her alternating.
"Sensaina, you ok?" Emi asked. That snapped her back to earth.
"What? Oh yeah, I'm alright!" Sensaina reassured, attempted to brighten the gloomy atmosphere she created.
"Well, it looks like you finished all the alterations on your costume, try it on!" Emi said. Sensaina went into the bathroom to try on her costume. She slipped on the simple white hand-me-down shirt from Minako with the sleeves trimmed off and then threw a pink square fabric that would act as collar for the cosplay, along with a bow that had heart in the center. She put on the pink taffeta skirt with attempted pleats made all over it and put on a pair of white gloves that came to her elbows with pink trimmings, then fastened onto herself a pair of knee high pink heeled boots. And as the 'icing on the cake' , she put on a plastic gold tiara with a red gemstone and took twenty minutes to get the character's hairstyle just right.
She emerged from the bathroom and put one hand on her hip and the other hand above her forehead as she struck a pose.
"I'm finished," She announced.
"Sensaina, you're so amazing!" Emi cheered. Sensaina leaned her back against the wall and slid down.
"Cosplaying is exhausting!" Sensaina moaned. Emi ignored her complaints.
"Now let me try on my cosplay!" Emi announced. Emi took less time putting her cosplay on.
"Now guess who am I?" Emi posed. She donned onto herself a blue cardigan with a white shirt underneath, a red bow, a light blue pleated skirt and black knee high socks.
Sensaina tilted her head," I'm confused.
Emi seemed aggravated with Sensaina's response," I'm Rio Natsukawa!"
Sensaina blinked her eyes for a few moments ," Never heard of her."
Sensaina's mom told Emi her mom was outside waiting for her and Emi left for the night.
"See you on Sunday!" Emi called out.
Sensaina quickly reverted her hairstyle back to it's usual loose twintails and readied herself for bed.
"Why do you have to stuff me in the bag-kore?" Doki shouted on Sunday morning ," Can't I pull off a cosplay too?"
Sensaina let out a giggle," Well, I could paint you black and hotglue a crescent moon on your forehead to make you look like-"
"Eep! Forget I asked-kore," Doki responded. They were patiently waiting for Emi to come and pick them up. Eventually, the door bell rang.
"Hey," Emi greeted in the doorway. She was dressed in her unrecognizable cosplay.
"Hi!" Sensaina greeted cheerfully. They got into her mother's and began their endeavor to Ani-con.
"This will be so much fun! Especially because I'm going with a friend like you!" Emi beamed. Sensaina gave her a half smile. It seemed she really did forget about that fight from so long ago. Her smiles were genuine and her excitement was anything but fake. Sensaina decided to forget all about the fight that happened so long ago and just enjoy the event. As they arrived to Ani-con they were in complete awe of their surroundings. There were so many stands, and artists and ,of course, cosplayers!
"Sensaina look! Raspberry 50% manga!" Emi pointed out.
"Woah!" Sensaina walked over to the stand, "Look there's RingoUme!" She pressed her finger down against plastic container that held the manga.
Emi narrowed her eyes, " That's a kid's manga."
"So? It's still pretty good." Sensaina responded defensively ," Look, it's Nomo!" Standing as the center of attention was the brown furry square with arms and legs that was Nomo. Sensaina whipped out her camera to take a picture. But Nomo wasn't even looking towards them.
"Nomo, over here!" Sensaina called out. Emi reddened as people began to look at them.
"Sensaina, don't do that!" Emi yell-whispered. Nomo turned towards them and Sensaina got her picture but then Nomo started to walk towards them, heavily startling them. They bumped into each other in an attempt to run off. More people began to look at them. Emi was now practically crimsom and violently grabbed Sensaina's hand to walk off. Sensaina smiled as she remembered that out of the two of them, Emi was much more shy.
"Please don't do that again," Emi whispered.
"Alright, whatever you say," Sensaina replied carelessly, still being held by Emi.
They went to all the stalls and were enjoying every moment at the convention. A cosplayer walked by and Sensaina instantly recognized the character.
"That's Ghi from Return of the Steampunks!" Sensaina exclaimed as she took her camera out again," Ghi, can I get a pose?"
'Ghi' gave a curtsy and said 'Ghi' in the place of cheese.
"Thank you very much!" Sensaina said politely giving a slight bow.
"So cute!" She heard a man holler. She blushed slightly and hoped that comment was for 'Ghi'.
"Sensaina, it's Spectrum Jump!" Emi pointed to a girl with a rainbow wig on dressed in a blue tank top and shorts. She also had snake bites.
"Want me to take a picture of her?'' Sensaina asked.
"Yeah...with me in it.." Emi said softly. Sensaina chuckled and called out Spectrum Jump. Emi got her picture, just like she wanted.
"Oh, Pink Nomo!" Emi pointed out grabbing Sensaina as she head towards it.
"What going on here?" Tsuchiyo asked curiously as he hovered from above the convention. He descended down as peered around the unusual setting.
"This place full of...freaks!" Tsuchiyo felt proud of himself thinking up what seemed to be a clever statement to him.
"Uh, quick question," A masculine voice began. Tsuchiyo spun around and saw a boy dressed as a blond ninja
"What are you supposed to be?" The boy skeptically finished. He was accompanied by a friend who cosplayed as a red haired wizard.
"I, um, am.." Tsuchiyo began.
"Ha, weak costume!" The red haired wizard jeered.
Tsuchiyo clenched his teeth in frustration and then looked at the boy's dreamstones.
"Ha! I found some!" Tsuchiyo took away their darkened dreamstones and pointed to a nearby top hat.
"Appear, Malvoid!" He shouted.
"Malvoid!" The Monstrous top hat shouted. The cosplayers ran for their lives as the Malvoid terrorized the convention. They soon reached Sensaina and Emi's locations.
"The more dark dreamstones, the stronger this thing gets!" Tsuchiyo cheered wildly as he placed his hand to the direction of Emi and yanked the dreamstone out of her.
"Emi!" Sensaina cried," How dare you!"
"What? It's like the round shape of life," Tsuchiyo defended.
Sensaina clenched her fists angrily, " Not even! And in the name of dreams, I'll punish you!" Sensaina ran away," Right after I get my sidekicks.."
Sensaina went to an empty desolate spot and dialed for Jonetsu and Haruko.
"Hey guys? Yeah um Ani-con's kinda going downhill because Tsuchiyo showed up and took Emi's dreamstone so... Get here right now!" She hung up in hopes they'd arrive soon.
"In the meanwhile.."Sensaina trailed as she took out her dreamkeeper.
"Pretty Cure, Dream On!" Sensaina shouted as she transformed by herself.
"Singing the everlasting melody, Cure Songstress!" Songstress announced. She ran up towards the Malvoid.
"What is this? Only one Cure?" Tsuchiyo barked.
"One with the will of many!" Songstress yelled, "Pretty Cure, Musical Clash!"
Songstress hit the Malvoid but the attack wasn't strong enough.
"Not even a scratch..." Songstress examined.
"Pretty Cure, Lovesick Barrage!" A voice shouted.
"Pretty Cure, Budding Charge!" Another voice shouted.
Both attacks hit and made the Malvoid to take a few steps back.
"Aw come on! Top hat you go up in air, I deal with things down here," Tsuchiyo commanded. He jumped down to the ground and caused another earthquake.
"Unfair advantage," Sensaina said as she was thrown and dropped repeatedly.
"We just have to stay in the air," Matchmaker said. That plan wasn't working either as the Top hat was beating them there too.
"This is so frustrating!" Garden groaned exhausted from all the earthquakes.
A few people that were attending the convention came to.
"Who are they?" One guy said in amusement.
"Better question, what anime are they from?" One guy asked excitedly.
"Look, they're putting on a fight scene for us!" Another pointed out to the Malvoid.
"We're the Pretty Cure," Matchmaker turned to them to wink.
"Pretty Cure, Pretty Cure!" They began to chant.
"Lest their cheering be in vain," Songstress said quietly.
Their encouragement was like newfound energy pulsing through their veins. They punched and kicked with all their heart for the crowd and their safety.
"But, this just some freak expo!" Tsuchiyo spat.
Songstress was enraged," This isn't a freak expo! This is for the people and their undying love of anime! Anime isn't for freaks! Animes build dreams, hopes, and courage!"
"Songstress..?" Matchmaker said.
"Anime is so much more than you believe it is!" Songstress shouted.
"Girls, I can't do this by myself." Songstress pointed out.
"Pretty Cure, Heartless Blooming Resonance!" They shouted. A heart, a flower, and a G-clef appeared to the Cures.
"Awake!" They shouted cleansing the Malvoid.
The two other dreamstones, both with the kanji for cosplay, duplicated and went back to the boys . Then Emi's dreamstone was duplicated and sent back to Emi.
Songstress felt guilty as she looked at her friend's dreamstone. It was lavender with half a heart on it.
Emi eventually woke up.
"Emi?" Sensaina said.
Emi blinked her eyes for a few moments," Yeah?"
"Do you remember that fight we had before you left?"
"I think so."
"Well, I'm really sorry that I didn't say sorry before!"
Emi smirked," Your sorry for not being sorry?"
"Yes! Because if I don't say sorry now, I might lose you."
"Well, if we ever lose each other," Emi started," At least we'll have our love for Anime."
Sensaina smiled brightly," Absolutely!" She helped Emi up and they continued to enjoy the convention.