Chapter 7: Diet Games
Halloween was over in the blink of an eye, but for Kousaka Yukiho and Ayase Arisa, it was a relatively memorable night as they enjoyed double performances from their favourite school idol groups, A-RISE and µ's. After their almost daily meeting at Yukiho's room, where they had watched the aforementioned Halloween performances, they decided to call it a night.
The following day, Yukiho found herself alone after school. Arisa had some school-related matters to attend to, so they would only meet later in the evening. Feeling bored, and still having some Halloween spirit left in her, she decided to grab a hold of the next volume of Doki Doki Halloween for her reading pleasure.
Making her way into her sister's room to find the book, she ended up being dismayed at her sister's lack of bookshelf organization skills. Books were not arranged in proper order, with the odd title intermingling with books of a different set. She sighed and muttered under her breath, "I can't believe sis is the student council president."
So she decided to spend her time reorganizing her sister's bookshelf. It was during this time that she came across a curious letter that was left carelessly on the floor. She picked it up and put it back on the table, then sighed again. "I'm going to give her an earful when she gets home today."
She was about to get back to the task of reorganizing when curiosity took hold. Acting on impulse, she opened her sister's letter, and her jaw dropped in shock.
"What is it-chichi?"
She had nearly forgotten that Matcha was by her side all the time, in the form of a little mobile phone dangling from her waist. "Oh… it's… nothing important. Well, nothing to do with us anyway. I just have the sudden urge to strangle a certain sister of mine, that's all."
Much later that day, Arisa and Paka dropped by so Yukiho decided to put aside the issue of the letter for the time being.
The next morning, Kousaka Honoka was as chipper as her usual self as she greeted Yukiho and her mother. "Good morning!"
Yukiho was with their mother, who was in the middle of reading a certain familiar letter when Honoka greeted them. "Oh, that has my latest body measurements," Honoka casually mentioned when she noticed the letter. "Where did you find it? I lost it after opening the envelope."
"So you still don't know?" her mother asked, handing the letter over to her daughter.
"Well, my height is alright," Honoka began as her eyes scanned all the relevant fields. "My weight…" Her voice trailed and her jaw dropped as the realization set in.
"So what are you gonna do about it?" Yukiho asked.
Before her sister could answer, a new visitor came in and announced herself. "Good morning. What is Honoka going to do about what?"
"Oh hello Umi… how nice of you to drop by today… this wonderful morning… going to school together…" Honoka wasn't good at keeping a straight face, especially after a certain revelation about her body weight, and it showed.
"Something I should be knowing about, Honoka?" Umi had that kind of look on her face. It's the kind that made Yukiho and her mother silently agree with each other to not interfere, but also knowing that the case would be in good hands.
"So Honoka is having some weight issues. That is so like her." Arisa resisted the urge to giggle in front of Yukiho while they snacked on sweet things. Food that Honoka would be forbidden to touch for the next whole week, at the very least.
"I wonder what Umi-san has planned for sis. Knowing her, it would probably be some kind of strict training and dieting regimen." Yukiho took another bite into her delicious steamed bun, totally acknowledging the irony of this.
The girls continued with small talk for a short while before getting down to business. Heart fragments have become increasingly rare and hard to find, which is understandable considering that they have amassed a fairly large collection and what left out there must be statistically more difficult to come by. The bigger issue though, is the fact that another Storm Apostle is at large, and also very likely to be searching for the remaining fragments. It also doesn't help that the girls aren't searching full time as they have school and other responsibilities to manage
"Is there any way that you could improve your fragment-detecting abilities?" Yukiho asked.
"We're already doing the best we can-chichi," Matcha replied.
"It's just that the fewer fragments there are, the harder it is to trace-popo."
Arisa sighed. "I guess we'll just have to keep going at it until we find them all."
"Yukiho!" The suspiciously cheerful voice of Honoka startled everyone, and the two fairies quickly transformed into their respective mobile phone forms in a puff of magical smoke just as the door to Yukiho's room slid open.
Yukiho eyes narrowed. Given the circumstances, she knew exactly what brought about this untimely visit. "Here to steal our snacks, sis?"
Honoka pouted. "That's so mean!"
"But I am right, aren't I?" Yukiho smirked, while Arisa giggled at the both of them.
"Awww… you're no fun!" Honoka was already eyeing the delicious steamed buns laid out seductively on the table. "I just wanted a little bite."
"Sorry sis, but a diet is a diet." Yukiho snickered. "We wouldn't want to incur the Wrath of Umi now, would we?"
That was enough of a deterrent for Honoka. With her out of the picture, the fairies reassumed their natural forms and the four of them continued their discussion for a short while before it was time to call it a day.
"Mmm… this is a great place you've found!" A well-cooked bowl of rice, served with the appropriate side dishes, was all that a girl like Yukiho could ever ask for. "I bet sis is craving for something like this right now."
"I know right," Arisa replied.
It was another day after school, and they were in a restaurant that Arisa happened to chance upon earlier. The GoHAN-YA specialized in rice, and indeed their dishes did not disappoint. Even the in-house music was rice-themed, sung by some girl group delivering the message of rice as a side dish.
They were about to pay and leave when Yukiho nearly jumped at the sight of two patrons in pink track suits entering the establishment. She hurriedly motioned Arisa to duck out of sight as her sister, Honoka and another member of µ's, Koizumi Hanayo, walked past their table and sat at the one behind them.
"What's sis doing here?" Yukiho whispered, an irritated look forming on her face. "She's supposed to be on a diet."
"Apparently not," Arisa replied as she observed the pair enthusiastically ordering individual bowls of rice meals. "What do we do?"
"That Honoka… I'm gonna teach her a-"
"Be careful-chichi!"
Yukiho and Arisa nearly jumped. "Shh," Yukiho cautioned her fairy companion, scanning the establishment to make sure that nobody had noticed. Trying to explain a sentient, talking mobile phone to a bunch of strangers would certainly be quite a moment indeed, and not in any good way at all.
"What is it?" Arisa asked.
"I feel an evil presence-popo!" Paka whispered back.
As if on cue, they both felt a cold breeze whiff past them. "What do we do?" Arisa asked, absentmindedly shifting her feet about.
"We can't do anything here, not with so many people involved," Yukiho observed. "We'll need to sneak out without Honoka or Hanayo noticing us."
While still keeping her face hidden from the two members of µ's, Arisa sheepishly raised her hand, hoping to attract the attention of their waiter. Thankfully luck was on her side; she was noticed and they managed to stealthily pay for their meal. With that business out of the way, the two of them surreptitiously got up and made their way out of the store. Yukiho only threw a quick but cautious glance back to check on her sister; the two of them were too happily engaged in their meals to notice.
"Which way?" Yukiho anxiously glanced to the left and right of the street, hoping to spot anything out of the ordinary, but was disappointed to not find any.
"Give us a moment-chichi."
Arisa rubbed both of her arms with her hands. "It feels colder than usual."
"Must be that ice lady's handiwork," Yukiho said, her gaze still skimming from one spot to another.
"This way-popo!"
Arisa sprinted in the direction that her fairy partner had indicated, and Yukiho followed closely behind. They ran down a few short streets, followed several back alleys and wandered into an unfamiliar and sparsely populated part of town.
"Ah, you finally show yourselves, Precures." The ice queen, attired in the same fashion as when they first met, hovered a few feet over the street. Her right hand was raised to her eye level, a glowing pink Heart Fragment lazily orbiting over the open palm of her hand.
"She's got a fragment-chichi!"
"Be careful-popo!"
Yukiho sighed. "You know, if it's going to be like this, we might as well let her find all the fragments and then beat the crap out of her when she comes and gloats."
"I could almost agree," Arisa replied, her eyes still locked on her opponent.
"Being overconfident now, are we?" The ice queen studied her two opponents carefully. "Let's see how well you deal with this. Nazuuma, come!"
Just like all the other times, dark energies began surrounding the heart fragment, as if suffocating the light. The darkness then leapt into whatever random object that the ice queen fancied. This time, it was a seemingly innocuous fire hydrant by the side of the road. The thing grew into ridiculous proportions, and soon the girls had a giant biped fire hydrant to deal with.
"Quickly transform-chichi!"
"Hurry up-popo!"
Holding hands, the girls went through the motions. "Dual star halation!"
From within the ensuing bright and glowing ball of light, two Precures emerged.
"The everlasting light of love and courage, Cure Valiant!"
"The unmoving shield of hope and determination, Cure Starlight!"
Standing tall together, they uttered their decree to the Storm Apostle. "Servant of Chaos, return from whence you came!"
"Nazuuma!" The oversized hydrant fired a jet of water at the Precures. Starlight moved to position herself in front of Valiant and raised both arms to repel the attack.
"Precure starlight shield!"
The jet spray crashed onto the magical barrier, scattering water all around the street. The Nazuuma continued to press its attack, but Starlight's barrier held fast. However, both girls soon realized that the water was turning to ice, and as more of it collected in front of them, the ice began to form around their sides and then surround them both. Soon, they found themselves trapped inside a rock of solid ice.
A smirk formed on the ice queen's lips as she watched the battle unfold. She raised her hand and began conjuring multiple shards of razor sharp ice.
The ad hoc prison shattered to Valiant's powerful punch, scattering fragments of ice everywhere. "I've got you now!" The ice queen sent forth her volley of deadly projectiles, taking both Precures by surprise. They tried to use their arms to shield their face from the attack, but sustained multiple lacerations all over.
"Is that all you've got?" The ice queen prepared another volley while the giant Nazuuma towered behind her. "I am disappointed. I had hoped to see more." By this time, her second volley of ice fragments have already solidified and was ready to be launched. "Oh well, it's all the same to me. Goodbye."
As the frozen stilettos raced towards the Precures, Valiant grabbed Starlight's hand.
"Precure valiant dash!"
In a blur of movement, the two of them blinked forward. The deadly projectiles collided with the now-empty asphalt behind them both. With their hands still locked in a firm grip, Valiant and Starlight reached out with their free hands and called for the light. Their light.
"I sing the songs of the Courageous and of Unyielding Bravery!" Valiant's light was gold and warm, sparkling boldly like the sun.
"I sing the songs of Resolve, and of the pillars of Hope!" Starlight's was silver and glittery, enchanting like the moon and the stars.
"As one, overflowing with the radiance of our light… PRECURE SUPERNOVA DASH!"
The ice queen barely teleported away in time. The spiralling beam of gold and silver shot past her disappearing silhouette and struck at the stupendous form of the Nazuuma, engulfing it in the magical light of the Precures.
Starlight caught the heart fragment before it touched the ground.
A few days later, Yukiho and Arisa were crouched behind some convenient obstacle just outside GoHAN-YA, ready to pounce on Honoka and Hanayo the moment they exited the building. It was a surefire plan, or at least that's what Yukiho had thought, until she caught sight of Sonoda Umi approaching the building. Umi began to wait outside, looking like quite the suspicious individual indeed.
"It looks like someone else is beating us to the ambush," Yukiho said.
Arisa covered her mouth, resisting the urge to giggle. "I guess we should gracefully back off and let the Wrath of Umi run its natural course."
Now it was Yukiho's turn to try very hard to stifle a laugh. "Let's go home, Arisa-chan. It looks like sis will be in good hands."