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Infusions are a type of upgrade component that go into infusion slots, which can be found on all ascended and legendary equipment except amulets, as well as in a few exotic back items and an exotic ring. Infusions are the primary source of agony resistance, which is important to survive the higher levels of Fractals of the Mists (although not all infusions provide agony resistance).
Upgrade interface: applying an Infusion to an ascended staff.
All the infusions from an equipment piece can be removed using an Infusion Extraction Device.
Types of Infusions[edit]
There are two major types of infusions: Agony Infusions and Attribute Infusions.
Agony Infusions[edit]
Agony Infusions provide the attribute Agony Resistance, which protects players from Agony, a mechanic encountered within the Fractals of the Mists.
Basic Agony Infusions[edit]
Basic Agony Infusions provide from +1 to +30 Agony Resistance, and can be upgraded by Artificers or by trading with INFUZ-5959.
See Agony Infusion for an overview.
Attribute Infusions [edit]
Attribute Infusions provide a small bonus to Power, Precision, Condition Damage, Toughness, Vitality, Healing Power, Concentration, Expertise or swimming speed.
Basic Attribute Infusion[edit]
These provide +4 to their respective attribute and are purchased from Laurel Merchants for 5 .
Standard Attribute Infusion[edit]
Standard Attribute Infusions provide +5 to their respective attribute, and +5, +7 or +9 Agony Resistance. They can be obtained from INFUZ-5959 for three +5/+7/+9 Agony Infusions and 5/10/20 Integrated Fractal Matrices.
The +5 and +7 attribute infusions can be upgraded to their next value through INFUZ-5959 by using 2 of the current attribute infusion with 6 agony infusions of the same value.
Special Attribute Infusions[edit]
These infusions provide +5 to an attribute and +9 Agony Resistance and also provide a unique aura to the character with one equipped.
WvW Infusions[edit]There are two versions of Attribute WvW Infusions, Offensive and Defensive. Both types can be purchased from WvW Laurel Merchants for 5 + , or from a Skirmish Supervisor for
45
+
Breather Infusions[edit]
Swim-Speed Infusions are an infusion specific to ascended aquatic headgear. The +10 infusion is currently the smallest obtainable infusion of its type, and can be exchanged for larger ones with Dive Master Astora in Lion's Arch.
Transforming stats[edit]
All attribute infusions that give +9 Agony Resistance and special attribute infusions are able to be transformed to a different stat through a Mystic Forge recipe.
Notes[edit]
See also[edit]
External links[edit]Trivia[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://wiki.guildwars2.com/index.php?title=Infusion&oldid=1904816'
Dissonance
Event XXXIV
The Chapter of the Black Sun
Nozomi had overcome so very much in her life. Challenges in battle, challenges as a normal girl, even challenges in love. But this was a type of challenge she had never fully conquered. She still remembered the first time she had tried this – and oh how easy it had been then. Only after their physique had changed did she become less and less confident. Or maybe that was not it. Maybe it was because she had been the only one that looked at other girls differently f rom her friends. So back then she grew conscious of what her friends liked, of where they looked. And of course she knew they were not looking at her like that, but deep down she still felt like she was being seized up like a fish for sushi.
And now the current situation was much worse than that. She knew that all of these people were like that, that they had desires and thoughts about other girls. And she too thought that way about Miyuki if she was honest. She did like her. Maybe not enough yet to think about the things that couples did, but being close to her, holding her hands… things like that seemed much more exciting than ever before.
Deep breaths were not really helping her. It only made her overly aware that each of these deep breaths was making her breasts rise and fall, and that any of them could easily stare without her even realizing they did. She felt like there was danger just up ahead, that if she went ahead, if she took the plunge, she would be in a den of wild beasts. A bad situation had led to a worse one. But she needed this. It was becoming difficult to live with herself if she was honest. She had spent the day anticipating that she would be able to do this. Well, not this but something so similar that it could easily be interchangeable with this. She couldn't decide.
Standing in front of the stone bath, which was a giant stone bowl embedded into the ground and filled with hot water, Nozomi was surrounded by formerly evil magical girls that were in various state of undressing. And as much as she was new to the whole aspect of liking girls herself, now that she had awakened to it she couldn't stop her eyes from stealing glances from those nearest to her while she just stood there, frozen like a statue. Could she really undress, get completely naked, and take a bath with this many strangers? One of them was looking identical to Miyuki to boot. That thought brought a whole new line of excited thoughts to her mind. If she did look like Miyuki didn't that mean she would know exactly what Miyuki looked like naked? Not that she needed all that much imagination, considering she had seen her in a swimsuit. But it was still very different to see it all bare.
Her indecision came at the cost of choice. With a light shriek, more out of being startled than over what was happening to her, Nozomi attempted without success to resist Urara and Rin undressing her by force. 'W-What are you doing?!' Those were summarily her last words before she landed in the bath stark naked and with a not so quiet splash, dousing Komachi in hot water in the process.
Nozomi froze completely despite being almost neck deep in hot water. There could have been many things to fear. Having no powers while everyone around her, formerly evil, did have powers would have been almost everyone's first choice. Being naked and in the dark, surrounded by possibly predatory girls that could abuse their powers to have their way with her would be an often picked second. But Nozomi did not even consider either of those. No, what she thought about was that this was the first time in years that someone who liked girls saw her completely naked. She knew her own team really well so she also knew that none of them were romantically interested in her. But now, here, she could not be sure about that at all.
Her heart nearly exploded when she felt someone's naked back slowly touch and align with her own. 'Don't worry, nobody is gonna try to rape you or anything.' Miyuki, the dark Miyuki, had already been in the bath.
'I wasn't thinking about that.' Nozomi felt somehow relieved to have Miyuki's voice behind her. Even though she sounded a little deeper than usual. How did I end up here? Nozomi thought back to about two hours ago.
The portal had refused to let her through and even when Bad End Happy tried to drag or carry her through it would not work. Eventually the portal just closed and trapped Nozomi on the side of the dark Cures.
'There's nothing we can do until tomorrow midnight now.' Miyuki wanted to just shrug it off but she did feel bad for Nozomi. Being formerly evil didn't mean she didn't learn to have sympathy and empathy. Especially for Nozomi, who wanted to go back to her Miyuki. A desire she could understand really well, considering it was her Nozomi that was trapped on the other side. And if she was honest with herself, she was worried. Nozomi was in no way a spectacular actor, so if they started to be suspicious of her, she'd certainly end up captured. After hearing about the battling, she worried even more. That over time, while they, the former evil alter egos, had mellowed out, the originals had become brutal and combative.
'W-W-What do I do now?!' Nozomi was a staggering mess of insecurity and worry at the time.
'Not panic, for one. Think about anything else. Like a number. Any number.' Nozomi shrugged. 'Think about forty-two.'
'That doesn't help!' Nozomi spun on the spot and walked through the spot where the portal had been. 'M-Maybe this is just a one-way street? Maybe there's a portal somewhere else? Like an emergency exit that only opens one way!'
'No, this is definitely where you go in and out. You saw me leave and come back just fine.' She's kind of cute like this. Different from my Nozomi, but cute. I kinda want to be mean to her and tease her. A lot. I… think this might be dangerous. 'Well, for now you gotta stay here. None of us have any convenient space bridging powers or anything. I'm worried about my Nozomi, too, but the portal is gone so I can't go and check.' Not to mention that that would probably send the other Happy over here and I think we have enough chaos already. And I'm even worse at acting than Nozomi is.
'Where am I gonna sleep?' Nozomi was not worried about being useless; she'd find something to help out with no matter what. Working countless part-time jobs had taught her to be as flexible as a cat doing yoga at a professional level. But other things did worry her. What if it was Dark Dream's turn to cook? Or where she would sleep. In the end she would probably end up with-
'What are you talking about? You're sleeping with me.' Although I am kinda questioning my self-control. That's gonna be the second day without my Nozomi and I happen to be kinda needy on the intimacy. Nozomi always complains that my sex drive is too high, but heck, that's not something I just decided! But what happens, happens. I guess I can always apologize later and she'll definitely stop me when I go too far. Probably. You can do this, Miyuki. But it's technically… I guess it's the same person, so would this really be cheating? No, don't even go there, Miyuki. Always go for your own girlfriend only. That's what reformed people do. Don't steal someone else's girlfriend or hit on a lookalike. Only villains do that. Never go for that. You can do this Miyuki. You can totally do her. No, I mean not do her! Bad thoughts, bad thoughts!
'Thanks. I know it's hard since I'm-'
'Don't say anything right now.' Miyuki's breathing had become ragged and she was panting a little. Facing the ground, covering her eyes with one hand and holding out her arm to Nozomi, showing her palm in a stop motion, Miyuki shut her down. She then mumbled to herself. 'I'm a good person, I'm a good person, I'm not a villain, I'm not a villain..' It was kind of hard to convince herself when her thoughts kept going back to teasing Nozomi and slowly stripping her.
Returning to the one-house village where everyone else lived was just a detour. Most of them had left for the bath already. And that brought Nozomi to her current dilemma. Insecure about just being there, she didn't know what to say or how to behave. She couldn't really enjoy the hot bath like this.
'Hey, Hikarizomi.' Yayoi was calling out to Nozomi. She was kinda funny looking in that unless she was standing straight up, half her face would be submerged. Whoever planned the bath didn't account for the height of Yayoi and probably Erika.
'What kind of stupid nickname is that?' Komachi snorted and received an elbow blow from Akane. 'Ow, what the hell was that for?!'
'You unoriginal dolt should never make fun of someone's names.'
'Who the heck is unoriginal?!'
'Ignore them, ignore them.' Yayoi had stealthily maneuvered herself right next to Nozomi. Because of her height she was basically in the perfect position to look at Nozomi's boobs. Yet she didn't. 'I was wondering. You feel ill or anything? Headache? Upset stomach? Your soul is on fire and screaming in fiery agony as the darkness invades- ow.' Yayoi received a slap on the head from Itsuki, who happened to be close by but had been hidden by a large shadow that the trees were casting. 'It's a valid question!'
Yayoi sounding completely deadpan still threw Nozomi for a serious loop. It just felt so wrong, knowing what the normal Yayoi was like. 'None of those. Oh, my nose does hurt a bit.'
'Because you crashed face first into a wall.' Miyuki was very helpful and offered that tidbit of information with just enough volume of voice that everyone heard it.
'Miyuki!' Nozomi reacted without thinking, turned around, grabbed Miyuki by her shoulders and shook her a little. 'You shouldn't tell everyone about- ah!' She realized that this wasn't her Miyuki. Even though that was totally how her Miyuki would have reacted.
This isn't so bad either. Who knew the other Nozomi was so full of appealing facets? Miyuki thought to herself and smirked in the most villainy way possible. 'You really ought to look where you walk.'
And she shoved me! But I get the feeling she wants me to talk back to her so she can take revenge! Nozomi felt strangely conflicted. She didn't like how this Miyuki was teasing her, but it also kinda excited her in the same way as doing something forbidden did. Like eating in the library on her break. Eating tacos at that.
'Hey, Dream?' This time the voice came from further out; it was Yuri's voice. 'Where did you leave your clothes? I'm checking what has to go into the laundry and what's still good.' She was not all that useful outside specific moon phases so she did a lot of odd jobs around the place.
'The two idiots stripped her so check a little further out.' Miyuki knew all about that. Well, someone had to do it. She was definitely not gonna come in here without someone giving her the literal push. Leaning against Nozomi a little more than before, Miyuki found the hand of her girlfriend's doppelganger underwater and without thinking took it into her own, intertwined fingers and everything. She only realized this when too many seconds had passed to not make it unbelievably awkward to pull away so she just rolled with it. I guess a little villainy is fine. Yeah. Just a little. Nozomi will understand. Probably. Although… Nozomi punishing me might be kinda… Breathing more strongly, Miyuki missed the point where she should have gotten a hold of herself.
'I am not finding anything. And I see pretty well in the dark, all things considered. Ow! Stupid damn branch!' There was a moment of silence. 'That does not prove me wrong at all! I was focused on the floor and everything!'
'Yuri..' Reika felt strangely sad for her girlfriend.
'We didn't strip her that far out!' Rin was leaning halfway out of the water at the edge. 'No, wrong way. Hell, Yuri, how do you not get lost with that sense of orientation?' Climbing out of the water stark naked, Rin went up a few steps and started looking around. 'We stripped her right here.'
Thirty seconds passed during which Nozomi grew ever more nervous. Not because of the clothing situation but because Miyuki was still holding her hand like it was completely normal for her to do that. She had never gotten all that far with Coco and she hadn't even really started with her own Miyuki. So holding hands, naked, in the bath was pretty high on the stress-o-meter for her. And her stress was about to peak, too.
'Boss, we got some really bad news.' Rin's voice was trembling a little and Nao was already sighing and covered her face in her hands because of that.
'If you tell me you magically lost her clothes, you're going to spend the night in nightmare wonderland.' Miyuki was really not happy with the current development of affairs.
'Miyuki, that's too much.' Nao was using a quiet voice so she wouldn't let Rin hear her stand up for her.
'Like I am actually gonna do it.' Miyuki hissed back and pulled accidentally on Nozomi's arm, making her slide backwards a bit, their naked backs rubbing against each other for a moment. 'Clothes don't just disappear into thin air!'
A light went up outside the bath, contained in the hand of Dark Rouge; who was stark naked and searching the ground rather diligently. 'No, they're not here. I am not making a mistake, I know we took off her clothes here. I recognize the stone I hit my toe on because it stuck out on a weird angle.'
'Your toe stuck out at a weird angle? Nao, your girlfriend is weird!' Erika was taking the first chance she got to poke fun at Rin.
'Shut up aqua dwarf!' Rin shouted back. 'The stone stuck out weird! Not my toe! Idiot!'
'I'm not the one that can't even articulate- ow, ow, thash hursh!' Itsuki was pulling on both sides of Erika's cheeks really hard.
'You have to be fucking kidding me. Rin! Are you absolutely sure they're gone?!' Miyuki tried to stand up, got stuck on still holding Nozomi's hand and sunk back into the water instead of pulling Nozomi out with her. 'I can't believe you. Anyone got spare clothes?'
'Why don't you give Dark Dream's clothes to her?' Tsubomi was curious why this hadn't occurred to their dream machine yet.
Miyuki felt very conflicted about this. That's a great idea. She's gonna look so hot in that. And that is why that's idea actually terrible! I am having trouble keeping myself at bay as is. If I dress her up like my Nozomi, I am definitely gonna jump her. But we don't exactly have a lot of clothes in backup. 'Anyone else got anything to spare?'
'We just did laundry, so we're all out.' Nao was ever helpful. 'You know this, why even ask?'
Self-preservation. And probably preservation of this Nozomi's chastity. Come to think of it, everyone here had a really hot outfit on when we first showed up. Not that I can talk, since we were the worst offenders with our skintight jester suits, but Nozomi and her group were really lewd looking too. 'Was worth a try.'
Nozomi had stopped trying to absorb and comprehend things. She just shut herself off from what was happening to avoid an overload of stress. It was not working too well. She still realized what was gonna happen next. 'So I'll have to wear your Nozomi's clothes?'
'Until you get back to the other side. Actually, that does bring up the issue of you taking the outfit. I guess you can jump through naked and transform really quickly. We kinda can't afford to just give you the outfit.' Nao explained this instead of Miyuki. Despite everything, like where she came from and who she came from, Nao had quite a knack for telling when someone was emotionally compromised and her Miyuki definitely qualified as very compromised right now.
'She had other clothes than the Dark Dream uniform, right?' Nozomi could feel Miyuki's hold on her hand tighten a little just mentioning that outfit. She understood why and that worried her on multiple levels. Primarily on the level where she would not get through the night without lewd things happening to her. If they were gonna happen anyway she wanted the real Miyuki to do them to her!
'She does. But since she was wearing them when she went to the other side, well.' Nao could sense that Nozomi was drawing the correct conclusion, even though she couldn't see her. Making eye contact with her generally fearless leader, Nao tried to signal something to her; something very simple. Get a hold of yourself.
'I really have the most rotten luck.' Nozomi audibly sighed and wondered; What did I do to make fortune so mad at me? I always tried to be a good person and help everyone… okay, maybe that one time where I bought cookies for everyone but they were so good that I ate them all on my own. And that other time where overslept for work and blamed it on traffic even though I went there on foot. Or that other- I'm still a good person! I am totally a good person! I believe!
'You share that with our Nozomi.' Everyone could hear the half-suppressed big fat smile on Itsuki's face. The way she said that totally gave it away. 'She tries really hard to be our leader and she does do a good job, but oh man she's got a talent for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. One time Yuri was practicing archery and-'
'Don't you dare tell her about that!' Yuri was shouting from outside the bath.
Lowering her voice, Itsuki whispered, more or less. 'And Nozomi just happened to be in the wrong spot, searching for forage and the arrow nailed her hair to a tree. Yuri didn't notice until she fired another arrow that nearly took off Nozomi's head.'
'Itsuki! I know you're babbling! Reika, popsicle her!' Yuri sounded incandescent. Like someone was trash talking her in front of her parents.
'Yuri, that's a bit..' Reika sunk into the water right up to her nose and covered her ears. 'Ah, so quiet… so peaceful… See no evil, hear no evil..'
If I didn't know where they came from I would never guess they were evil counterparts at some point. Nozomi shuddered a little bit because she felt her back rub against Miyuki's again. And this time it wasn't just rubbing. The Bad End Girl was mumbling too. What? I can't hear her. 'Hm?'
'You're one of the good girls, right? You're not gonna hold it against me if I get a bit touchy, right? Because I'm pretty needy and it's been like twenty-four hours and over since I last got to touch a pretty girl.' Without waiting for permission or approval, Miyuki moved forward, pulled on Nozomi and after a series of awkward and not entirely sound movements of limbs and body, she had Nozomi embraced in her lap. Miyuki's legs going right past Nozomi's hips and holding down the good girl's legs, Miyuki's right arm around Nozomi's stomach and the other arm going below Nozomi's left armpit – her left hand firmly placed on Nozomi's boobs.
'You're really one and the same. You're just different on the inside.' Heavy panting of the comical kind was enriching Miyuki's inappropriate groping.
Nozomi struggled for a few seconds before the villainous assaulter switched her modus operandi, tightly wrapping both her arms around Nozomi's waist and in the process pressing her own boobs against the girl's back. 'This is fine, this is fine, I can make do with this.' She sounded like a coffee addict telling herself that she could make do with decaffeinated stuff from now.
But for the trapped girl this was even worse than just being crudely groped. This conveyed a real need for contact and also an attempt to not do something completely unacceptable. Just mostly unacceptable. Kinda unacceptable. In a way. The naked skin contact and the panting were really turning her on. Despite what she was saying, she did sound like Miyuki, she looked like Miyuki and her hands definitely felt like Miyuki. So that meant; the boobs pushing against her back right now were definitely what Miyuki's boobs felt like. It was hard to see anything in the dark and Nozomi was sure that even if it had been bright as day, she wouldn't have seen much – her head was spinning way too much over this.
While Nozomi was enjoying a state of not-thinking and just being, Yuri got into the water, grabbed Itsuki by her hair and dunked her twice. 'How – many – times-' Yuri didn't get any further because something made her shriek. A tiny ice cube had run down her back in a hurry. 'Reika?!'
'No fighting in the bath. This is relaxation time. There is beauty in quietly enjoying the bath.' Reika had – in some matters – very strange standards and prospects of what was beautiful. In other cases it was much more universally agreeable, like her taste in women. At least the others thought so.
Yuri let go of Itsuki, who proved to be a good sport and didn't retaliate. The two separated, Yuri going with Reika and Itsuki moving back a little to where Tsubomi was waiting for her.
'Akane, Rin, it's cooling out a little. About thirty seconds on full flame should do the trick.' This came from Karen, who was in a similar position with Nao as Miyuki and Nozomi were – just that she was halfway to laying down and Nao had her arms around Karen's shoulders.
'Eh… it's really tiring to go full flame though..' Akane wanted to relax like everyone else. This was more than just turning on the heat for a couple seconds. Resting shoulder to shoulder with Komachi, each of them having a hand right between the legs of the other, the redhead really didn't feel particularly like working so hard. They weren't gonna stay that much longer in the bath anyway.
'I was thinking about how to distribute the strawberries I planted. They should be ripe pretty soon.' Tsubomi was one of the girls that was first in, last out. Bathing was like heaven for her, considering she worked an actual field all day. And since she did grow the vegetables and fruits for everyone it was her prerogative to hand out bribes like this.
'Komachi.' Rin had returned to the bath earlier, in the dark and unseen, and since then she had been sitting on Nao's lap, engaging in some advanced groping and kissing. She was particularly taken with Nao's collarbones and her lips – which made everyone question why she was dating Nao then. It would make so much more sense to be fascinated by her huge breasts, but Rin just wasn't that much of a boob girl – in both ways of the meaning.
'Manipulative witch..' Akane grumbled under her breath and moved away from Komachi. 'Okay, everyone into the middle! I'm not gonna get complaints about being burned or whatever. Rin, make some light so we can position.'
'Why are we doing this again?' Yayoi was asking in the same deadpan, emotionless voice was before.
'The water doesn't heat evenly because of how they're heating it. Their powers are slightly different too, so that's to account for as well.' Karen gave her explanation as they all moved towards the middle, where Miyuki and Nozomi were. Nobody paid much attention to how Miyuki was still clinging to Nozomi, now resting her chin on Nozomi's right shoulder and nibbling on the girl's earlobe.
'Okay, turning on the heat!' Akane put her hands on the stone floor, which was just smooth enough to not cut anyone when they slid over it, and ramped her powers all the way up. Rin on the other hand kept her hands freely in the water – it was a difference in power, plain and simple. Akane needed to channel hers into the stone because she literally made flames. They'd just evaporate the water. Rin used heat instead, which was much more versatile and less risky.
With only those two at the edges and everyone else in the middle, it was pretty cramped there. Twelve girls all occupying the same small space was not recommended. Especially so when they were all kinda charged up with lust for each other. Of all people it was Urara who sat right in front of Nozomi – and she was doing her darnedest best to not react to Nozomi's fidgeting. And right behind Miyuki was Reika, who couldn't just sit there and not say anything.
'Miyuki. Control yourself please. This is embarrassing.' Hissing over her shoulder – she was back to back, more or less, with Miyuki – she tried to get her to behave. But if Miyuki was anything then it was very my pace. Or in other words, my way or the highway.
'Can't.' Miyuki did manage to let go of Nozomi's ear and just squeeze the poor light Cure against herself. 'I love your smell, Nozomi.'
'That's not your Nozomi.' Reika tried once again to make her stop. I'm worried about what will happen if she goes out of control and the girls on the other side learn that their Nozomi was basically eaten up alive by our Miyuki. After everything I heard they might just barge in here, set us all on fire, hang us from the trees and then stab us in the heart.
'I know, I know. But you try having the other Yuri right next to her and her being single!' Miyuki knew she was making excuses for herself. She just didn't have the willpower – or desire – to not take advantage of Nozomi right now.
Nozomi had reached a surprising conclusion – this was fine. If she didn't grope too much, if she only touched her boobs a bit and stayed out from between her legs, she was fine with this. She could tell that Miyuki was really needy for this and that put her earlier anger and attitude into a context she understood. And it was kinda exciting her, too. If she didn't do anything really inappropriate – and considering she was still single she was setting a pretty high bar for that – this was just good practice for when she might end up with Miyuki in a similar situation. After all, she had exactly zero experience with this sort of thing. And more than that, she hadn't even thought about this sort of thing between herself and another girl until very recently.
'It's fine.' Nozomi's cheeks were far redder than they had any reason to be if only the hot water was taken into account. Really, they were like red patches on her skin almost. 'But… only this is fine. No more!' Nozomi's heart accelerated to almost double tempo when Miyuki rubbed her boobs side to side against Nozomi's back. She's not really touching anything of mine, but this is a really crazy feeling!
The water was warming up a lot – going from a warm shower to a hot bath to a hot spring in a matter of about twenty-five seconds, during which Miyuki kept panting into Nozomi's ear. 'Lend me your hand. I can't get off on my own.'
That sentence sent Nozomi into a whirlwind spiral of conflicted emotion, nervousness and curiosity. At least ten percent of her mind wanted to agree. But also at least fifty percent was way too cautious to do just that. Get off?! In here?! In the bath?! And with my hand? I masturbated but… that's me. This would be touching Mi- Nozomi swallowed. Her saliva felt kind of gross, all warm and sticky. Like she was sweating on the inside of her mouth or standing in a really humid summer field. Touching… Miyuki… Miyuki's spot? Nozomi couldn't believe she still used code words for that. She just didn't like to call that place by its actual name. It felt kinda ugly. She knew it was childish and although her Miyuki wouldn't laugh at her about it, she'd probably still think that she was being childish.
'My hand?' Nozomi wanted to just drown herself. Of all the not useful answers she could have given she picked one that made it sound like she was hard of hearing. And of course, just as she expected, Miyuki briefly let up on her waist and led Nozomi's right hand from up front to behind her, right between her own legs. Nozomi knew she would have started to sweat profusely if she wasn't already submerged in hot water to basically right her neck. She could feel the heat that Miyuki was giving off.
But before things would reach a point of no return, Reika took action and pushed a handful of crushed ice cubes right against Miyuki's back. The intense cold made her jump forward so hard that she and Nozomi were like bowling balls, taking down four other girls with them, all six of them going underwater.
Miyuki came up with the same anger she had displayed before, when shouting at Urara and Rin. 'Reika!'
'No, this is on you!' Reika moved in an attack position because she knew Miyuki would jump her any moment now.
Their match was cut short before it even begun by Akane – who literally lit a light. Holding both hands over her head, she created a small fireball that was casting long shadows of a dozen naked girls around her. 'I swear, if you two start fighting and wasting bath time right after we heated it up a second time you can all take cold baths from now on.'
That was a threat that was beyond super effective. Miyuki clenched her fists, grit her teeth and kicked the water hard enough to douse Reika head to toe for a moment before she sat down, legs crossed, arms crossed and mumbling obscene things to herself.
Meanwhile, Nozomi had been abducted by tiny aliens. After the crash, she was dragged away by two little aliens, one blue, one yellow. While the yellow one was painfully oblivious to the blue one's feelings, she was pretty good at paying attention to when someone was in trouble and needed to make a quiet and quick exit.
Sitting sandwiched between Yayoi and Erika, Nozomi felt kinda like what she assumed Yuri had to feel like around everyone else. 'Uh..' What do I even say? I'm normally not someone that suffers from cat got your tongue, but this whole situation is totally beyond what I can handle.
'Miyuki has a pretty ridiculous need for lewd stuff.' Yayoi saying this without any proper tone was making Erika sigh. 'What?'
'You gotta deliver that better. Like-' Erika got abruptly very close to Nozomi's face. 'Miyuki's got a serious sex addiction problem.' Whispering and glancing towards Bad End Happy, Erika managed to smirk and then roll her eyes all in perfection.
'How do you-' Nozomi instantly regretted saying those words because she saw Erika's eyes flare up. I guess Erika is Erika everywhere and anywhere.
'Happy and Dream are the only ones that usually don't use her ability. They go at it every night. Sometimes during the day, too! One time I caught them doing it standing up right behind the house!'
'That's… a lot.' Nozomi didn't know how else to put that.
'Don't be too mad at Miyuki if she gets a bit touchy.' Yayoi leaned back against the outer edge of the bath and sunk nearly underwater.
'Between her and the other Miyuki, who is cooler?' Erika was nosy even on this side. Or maybe she was nosy, especially on this side. Who could tell?
'I don't really know this Miyuki, so-'
'Don't you think it's strange that there's only three groups of us here?' Erika brought up something that made Nozomi immediately think about the incident where she brought about copies of everyone. And those copies were a lot, a lot, worse than the ones she was surrounded by now.
'The other teams have girls that were enemies before. I guess they just never had to deal with a full group of…' I don't know what to call them! Alter egos, clones, copies, dark versions, it all sounds so rude! They're kinda nice actually so I don't wanna be rude. A name… a name… what to call em…
'A full group of Anti-Cures?' Erika smiled in a way that made it very clear to Nozomi that she had read her mind. 'We agonized and agonized over what to call us since we're all from different stuff. Nozomi's group were kinda shadows of the real thing, Miyuki's group were just warped fabrications, and my own group were just mirror images. So since we were all made to fight Cures, one way and reason or another, Nao came up with Anti-Cures. It does sound kinda evil though.'
'Better not forget where we came from.' Yayoi did smile a little, but because of how she was sitting, only Nozomi could see it.
'I think my Komachi and Karen would be pretty okay with meeting their… do I say Anti-Cures here or just Antis?' Nozomi didn't want to put her foot in her mouth. She felt a little like she was back in school, right in that moment.
'Oh, good question. Nao!' Erika tried to make herself as big as possible by standing right on her toes but it still barely made her any taller than Nozomi, who was sitting down. 'When you're going like The other side's Cure would be fine meeting their insert an-ticure here what's the insert word?'
'Anti-Cure,' Nao said in a rather normal tone voice. She was maybe a meter and a half to the side.
'Say something when you're right there!' Erika tried to make herself look bigger, like a peacock, with no success. Still a pigeon.
'I am a little busy, you know?' Nao was mostly hidden by the darkness, coming from the trees up above that obfuscated the moon. But they could see a second shadow, right in front of Nao, or rather, half merged with her. Erika knew right away who that was but Nozomi had to really peer into the darkness. And the darkness peered back. A lusty look from Rin made Nozomi quickly avert her eyes. Seeing Rin with Nao was very much something she would have trouble forgetting.
'I'm super curious, who are the other Nao and Rin dating?' Erika paused. 'Did I ask about that already?'
'Could you have that conversation somewhere else or sometime else?' Nao sounded a little husky, which was a very strange sound for Nozomi to hear.
'Sure, sure. You gotta tell me all the gossip about the other side now that you got time!' Erika grabbed Nozomi's right arm with both hands and dragged her a little to the side, so Nozomi ended up on the other side of Yayoi – with Erika putting Nozomi between herself and the girl she liked. She didn't want to turn into a stammering mess in front of her. 'Now, don't leave out any of the saucy details!'
While Nozomi was being drained for gossip, Miyuki was approached by Akane. 'What are we gonna do about her? I know you have some immediate issues to solve with our Dream being gone, but beyond that, this is kinda really bad, isn't it?'
'You think I don't know that? But what the hell are we gonna do? We can't just go and travel to the other side in numbers to look for Nozomi. The way she talked about what's happening on the other side I don't really trust them to not shoot first and ask questions later. Nozomi is one thing, the other me, sure, I think I could reason with her. But can you imagine what the other you or the other Reika is like? We both know how strong Reika is and I absolutely don't want to meet a battle hungry version that's been training for a number of years, it looks like.' Miyuki succumbed to lust earlier, but now that Nozomi was a few meters away, she could think a little clearer, at least for the time being. 'The portal is only open for a few minutes and if Nozomi doesn't come through, we can't really go looking.'
'I'm worried about her too. She's one of our leaders. But I don't think we can really afford to just sit around and twiddle thumbs. We should press this Nozomi for info on our originals and see who is the closest, in terms of personality, out of Tsubomi's and our group. Nozomi's group is a hard sell because they don't even sound the same.'
'It'll probably be you or Nao.' Miyuki knew that the original Miyuki was nothing like her, the reactions that Nozomi was showing told her as much. 'But that is one heck of a slippery slope. One of us, sure, maybe we can explain that away as the fault of our two idiots, but two of us? That's gonna look like scouts for an invasion.'
'Your paranoia is getting the better of you, Miyuki.' Unlike her counterpart, this Akane was much more grounded in logic, although she did fundamentally believe in the goodness of people outside of competition. 'Our biggest problem is that we don't know what caused their Nozomi to get stuck here, even though you could come and go as you please.'
'That's just it, what is the rest of us gonna do when you get stuck out there, too?' Miyuki didn't say anything specific but it was clear what she was referring to.
'Rin is still here.' Akane rolled her eyes and lightly shook her head in that particular way – when someone said something that would normally make you groan.
'You mean the idiot that got us into this mess in the first place?'
'But what are we gonna do?'
'Nothing for now. We can't send anyone until tomorrow midnight anyway and at that point we'll have to see if Nozomi isn't coming back.'
'She's a tough girl. She's able to take care of herself.' Akane tried to sound reassuring but she got an embarrassed chuckle from Miyuki in return. 'What?'
'Under most circumstances, yeah. But she's all alone out there and they will probably lynch her if they find out. Especially the teammates of their Nozomi.'
'Let's hope she's good at acting.' The chuckle got returned, this time in a much more obvious oh no way. 'You two really have the worst luck.'
'You could say it's like we're in a bad-'
'If you make a pun now of all times you can take cold baths from now on.'
'Bad situation.'
'Good save.'
'They must all be asleep on the other side right now.'
'Probably. Why bring that up now?'
'Thinking about Nozomi.'
'You think she was able to avoid getting grilled by the sun?'
'Considering their Nozomi developed the same inability to endure sunlight as we did just by being here, I'm thinking our Nozomi might actually be fine over there.'
'Must be nice, walking around in the sun.'
'What's this about walking around in the sun?' Komachi had gotten bored waiting for Akane and joined them. Instead of just sitting next to her girlfriend, she hugged her from behind, tuning Akane's face to a similar color as her hair. She liked to tease Akane. Her reactions were always kind of funny. 'Talking about the other side?'
'Shoo shoo, you walking sex object.' Miyuki didn't like Komachi very much because she liked to flaunt her assets a lot.
'I am not the one who walks around in skin tight tights half the time that make me look like an adult movie actress.' She also had quite a mouth on her.
'That's true for me too, though.' Akane managed to interject before Komachi's soft pillows on her back made it hard to form rational thoughts. 'Komachi, come on..'
'Were you talking about something serious?' Despite her general personality, this Komachi knew when to back off.
'Yes. So get your melons off of her so she can think.' Miyuki wasn't shy about calling them what they were. 'What is it with you greens and your huge tits?'
Komachi didn't let that pass. 'Wow, a total sampling pool of two. What a well founded conclusion you have there, all greens having big boobs. I bet there's a bunch on the other side that aren't like that.'
'Hey, Nozomi!' Miyuki never backed down when someone picked a fight with her. 'How many green Cures are on your side?'
'How many?' Nozomi didn't need to raise her voice that much. There's Komachi, March… uh, is it only those two? Oh, I think Yuri's sister is one, too. 'There's one more other than Komachi and Mar- Nao.'
'Does she have big tits?'
Nozomi felt like someone chafed nails over a chalkboard, hearing Miyuki's voice say that. Yuri's sister… I don't really remember. Did she? I mean, she's Yuri's sister, so probably not..'I don't think so.' Nozomi sighed when there was no return question to that. She's really a completely different person, compared to my Miyuki. N-Not that she's really mine or anything! Why does it even bother me that I'd think that? I totally know now… I kinda… have a thing for her. Even though she's a girl.
'Who is the other green Cure?' Nozomi was no longer accompanied by Yayoi and Erika – the blonde having left after feeling dizzy and Erika quickly excusing herself with an obvious lie about a minute after. Instead, Itsuki and Tsubomi had joined up with her. They were a little flirtatious, but Nozomi was long used to those around her being like that. The question in particular had come from Tsubomi.
'Moonlight's sister.' Nozomi answered without thinking about the implications.
'What?!' Itsuki nearly threw Tsubomi off her lap in shock. 'Yuri! Come over here and listen to this.'
Uh oh. Nozomi had a very bad feeling about this. Did I open my mouth and say something I shouldn't have? The feeling got worse when Yuri, who was being dragged by her hand by Reika, actually showed up and sat half a meter in front of Nozomi, Reika clinging to her side.
'Apparently you got a sister over there.' Itsuki sounded like she couldn't really believe it herself. 'What's that all about?'
'A sister?' Mirage Moonlight paused for a long time, almost a full minute. 'Are you talking about Dark Cure?'
'I actually don't know that many details.' Nozomi smiled nervously. 'She has short, greenish-black hair, she's a green Cure, pretty sure, and she just recently joined up with us. I think she was actually brought back from the dead. Something like that.' Ah, curse my lack of attention to this sort of thing! And my memory! Curses! If only I had Karen here, she'd remember this easily! And explain it much better, too! Karen, help me!
'You can bring people back from the dead?' Tsubomi sounded incredibly surprised until an obvious realization hit. 'Of course. We're all, kind of, back from the dead, too.'
'Come to think of it, is it strange that she was not brought here alongside us.' Yuri hadn't really thought about that before. 'What is she like, as a person?'
'Sorry, I didn't really interact with her.' Nozomi felt like she was being interrogated.
'How recently was she brought back?' Yuri was surprised at herself how curious she was about her. I'd love to meet her to see how she differs from us. By all means she should have been over here. No, wait…Could it be that it was this returning Dark Cure from the dead that placed all of us here? I need to know more.
While Nozomi was being put full of holes by Yuri's questioning, the bath emptied out more and more. Yuri's curiosity was cut short of learning everything and probably boiling Nozomi like an egg when Akane and Rin called time. They had gone thirty minutes past their schedule and there was still stuff to do before sunrise. First of all, they had to clean out the bath, which was much easier said than done since there was no drainage pipes or anything like that.
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Nozomi found herself somewhat fascinated by the ingenuity of these anti-Cures. Karen, Reika, Erika, Urara, Rin, Akane and Komachi were the ones that took care of the cleaning process. First, Rin and Akane brought the water, that admittedly pretty dirty now, to a boil, which caused the dirt to float to the surface. Komachi then generated what was basically a gigantic bowl to scoop out the water. Urara would raise that bowl with her chains and emptied it out into a deep ditch that they had dug next to the bath – opposite to where everyone got in and out. Some measure of water and bits of dirt remained in the bath and Nozomi wondered for a moment if that was just going to stay there.
Erika, Karen, Reika – with Akane's help – then proceeded to flood the stone basin with fresh water and the whole process repeated itself, each time distinctly lessening the amount of dirty water that was left.
'One day we'll figure out plumbing.' Erika took a breather while the water was brought to boiling point a third time. 'We did think about digging a hole beneath the whole thing via tunnel, but that's a lot of digging and we don't know how to make it so the whole thing doesn't collapse on us. There's also the issue that we can't just punch a hole into the stone bowl and plug it back up with something. We don't have anyone that's that good with masonry.'
As impressive as it was to watch them clean the bath, Nozomi couldn't stay there to watch it finish. Tsubomi called for her – if she was staying there, bathing and eating with them, she had to work, too. Right now, Nozomi was covered in just a shirt, that Itsuki had donated, and panties from Rin – who went without panties without caring really much about that.
Before she got back to work she was told to go and get dressed. Tsubomi's face was red like scarlet because Itsuki didn't seem to care very much about running around without a shirt.
Reality hit Nozomi when she remembered that the only clothes available to her right now was that kinda fetish-y leather outfit that Dark Dream had worn the first time they met. Putting it on was equal parts tiring and embarrassing – because she didn't quite know how to put it on.
Wearing spats and that sliced up skirt complete with the skimpy top and the extremely long gloves at her age made Nozomi realize just how long ago it had been that she met Dark Dream and then lost her. For a moment she wondered how their story would have changed if she managed to save the five of them, much like the girls on the other teams saved their former enemies. Would they have become like Passion and Beat?
After exerting record breaking effort, Nozomi managed to wear the outfit that Dark Dream had left behind. And she felt kind of turned on, looking like this. There was no mirror and the outfit fit her like a glove, but she still felt kind of like she was an undercover agent amidst dangerous girls and women. Which was true, in a very different way than that sentence generally implies.
'Nozomi, how long are you-' Miyuki walked into the room without even checking whether Nozomi was dressed or just standing there naked. And seeing her completely transformed into Dark Dream, other than her hairstyle, Miyuki felt danger well up inside her. They really are two sides of a coin. 'Get your ass going already if you're dressed. Yuri needs help taking apart what they hunted. You know how to gut a rabbit or fish, right?'
'Fish, yes. But I never worked with wild.' Nozomi felt strangely confident. From the inside out, she felt more brave than before. She was not just taking Dark Dream's roles right now, she even looked like her. Maybe it's fate that I ended up here and can't leave. Maybe I'm here to learn something from these girls. Learn something from being Dark Dream. Smiling in a way like she had never before, Nozomi embraced her situation for the first time since she came to this place. If she had learned anything after the incident with the Reflections then it was that sometimes it only did harm to go against the flow of your circumstances. And this had to be one such time.
'What's that stupid smirk for?' Miyuki was back to her regular self, albeit only at a surface level. Just beneath the aggressive behavior she was falling apart. I wanna jump her. I really want to not give a shit that this isn't my Nozomi. It's close enough at this point. But after finding her redemption in this place, she knew how to temper such impulses.
'Nothing. Just thinking you never stop looking hot in that outfit.' Nozomi felt embarrassed to death saying this, but at the same time, it was strangely liberating to just throw all her manners and good intentions out the window and be evil for a little while. How did that saying go again? Distance makes the heart grow fonder?Being Dark Dream for a while is gonna make me happy to go back to who I really am. And I'm sure I'll learn a thing or two about how people think that are so unlike me by keeping this up.
Miyuki's expression turned sour for a second, she bit her lip and her eyes narrowed. Is she pretending to be my Nozomi now? Come at me, girl. That's one hole you've dug yourself.I'm not gonna help you out. And you think it's so easy to be Dark Dream? Lemme put that to the test, little imposter.
Working a large number of part-time jobs, Nozomi had indeed fileted fish before, but not with tools as crude as what they had available here. It was basically a bunch of all-purpose knives. Yuri had the only actual knife that was for working on fish. What sorta fish is this anyway? Nozomi had never seen something like it. It was kind of a weird middle thing between masu trout and pike, at least the best she could tell.
Yuri took one look at Dream and smirked by herself. 'I can't tell the difference to the real thing.'
'What real thing?' Nozomi went all out on the pretense, picked up a knife and got to work.
'What's with her?' Yuri was plenty amused by what Nozomi was doing and nodded at Miyuki during her question.
'Beats me.' Miyuki also picked up a knife and walked past Nozomi – but not without slapping her ass in the process. 'You should wear that all the time, you know.'
'You'd never get anything done.' Nozomi was dying on the inside, from embarrassment at having her butt slapped and also responding like that, but she was not gonna give up! Fight on! From her standpoint, stuff like that was something that only happened in movies. But she already decided to do this and if there was one thing Nozomi was good at, it was being stubbornly doing her own thing.
'Less talking, more cutting. You know how Nao gets when we're late.' Yuri was glad that they had so much fish, all things considered.
Standing in the middle of a clearing, at primitive wooden tables, they kept doing their routine. Take fish from one basket, filet them, put bones and such in a bucket, put fileted fish in a different basket. Feeding fourteen adults did take a fair number of fish. Sometimes down the road, Itsuki showed up with Akane and Rin, all three of them carrying a lot of firewood. Twigs, branches and even small logs.
Nozomi had not witnessed this part of their lives the last night. And now that she actually thought about it – it'snight. I got so used to it being dark, I didn't even realize that we only got the moon providing light. We go to bed at dawn, so right before dawn we eat dinner, I guess. It's gonna kill me when I go back to the other side.
Itsuki stacked the firewood in a different spot than before – this time they were not gonna use the big pot they had. Building a large campfire, large enough for a dozen and two people to fit around it, Itsuki left the pile and Akane started to set up the fire. She couldn't just torch the whole pile, it would burn out in a heartbeat. Little by little she set twigs and small branches on fire and shoved them into the bigger pile.
Yayoi had popped up without Nozomi even noticing her – when she finally did notice, fourteen fish were already stuck on sticks. So that's why we were just taking out the guts and not properly filet it like they do in a restaurant? Grilled fish. Since we got no grill, we're using a fire.
Komachi eventually came by, checking how everything was going, being a bit of a coordinating force. Stopping in front of Nozomi, she smiled really wide. 'Looking good, Dark Dream.'
'Get those melons out of my face, Komachi. They're blocking out the moonlight.' Nozomi didn't realize that she had said something really bad. At least not until Komachi burst into laughter and Yuri stabbed the table with her knife.
'The hell did you just say about me?!' This Yuri wasn't so happy with her lack of endowment, unlike her original.
'Oh shut up. If your tits were as big as your ego, you'd dwarf Koma.' Nozomi plunged head first into being Dark Dream.
'She's got you there, Yuri.' Miyuki snorted and looked past her girlfriend's doppelganger. 'She was literally talking about the moonlight, not you.'
Pulling her knife out of the table, Yuri returned to work with a lot of incomprehensible cursing. On the surface she was very similar to the Yuri of the other side, but only on the surface. Below that she was easily irritated by someone talking badly about her – or worse, talking badly about Reika.
'I can pull my own ass out of the fire.' Nozomi was just guessing what a villain would say in this situation. Or rather, someone who talked like a villain but was a pretty decent person, probably.
'Yeah, I saw that. Yuri was about to filet you. Don't tell me that comment was on purpose.' Miyuki knew that this was not really her Nozomi – she was a bit off in multiple ways. But she also felt like this was the next best thing, much better than the way Dream behaved normally.
'Bad news.' Out of the darkness stepped Nao. 'I went to check on the shore to see what weather we'd get and it looks like we're gonna get a storm.'
'And? It's just weather.' Nozomi tried to be badass but this time it backfired hard on her.
'Shut the fuck up for a moment.' Miyuki pushed her not-girlfriend out of the way and walked with Nao, the two of them quickly joined by Yuri and then Komachi, leaving Nozomi behind alone.
'Storms are a big deal. The last time we had one it almost took off the ceiling. Komachi had to be up for ten hours protecting the house.' Almost alone. Yayoi was still there, squatting on the ground and still sticking up fish. But now she paused and looked up. 'Nozomi was the one that kept looking after her during that since she's one of the few that can sorta stand the sun for a little while.'
Any normal person would have felt discouraged after putting their foot in their mouth that hard. But Nozomi was by nature the clumsy kind, both physically and with words. She was long since used to such setbacks. 'I'll do the same. I owe her that much.' I could not save her back then. This won't make up for that, but it's a start.
'Our Nozomi is a bit rough around the edges but she really cares for everyone here.' Yayoi smiled a little. 'I don't think anyone minds if you try to fill her boots while you're here. But it isn't easy to be someone you're not.' Unexpected wisdom, coming from Yayoi.
A sharp whistle echoed over the field and a bunch of torches went on moments later. In the distance, Urara chained down their large iron pot, making sure that no matter how strong the storm was, it wouldn't make it fall over. Nao and Akane came hurrying over to the fire, preparing dinner a little early.
After all I said, I'm still an outsider that barely knows anything about living out here. But I won't let that discourage me! I've overcome way worse than this! I even learned how to use an office computer and everything! There is no way this can be harder than that! 'What do I usually do when a storm hits?'
'Help out everyone.' Yayoi grabbed one side of the basket that now contained all of the fish on sticks. 'Nao is waiting for these.'
Preparations against the storm were still on-going when Nao called everyone to dinner. The wind had picked up a bit and it had gotten a little colder, causing everyone to stick closer together, even around the fire.
For Nozomi, it was a strange feeling, sitting side by side with Miyuki and Rin. All of them wearing the clothing of villains, despite that part of their identity long being changed. Enjoying grilled fish together. Nozomi felt strangely enough not out of place at all. This isn't any different than doing this with my own team. Some of them are a bit rough, but so are Rin and Urara on my side. Everyone is their own person. If they didn't look like us, I'd never guess they were once the Dark Five or… what was it… Dead End Smile? Her thoughts found an abrupt end when she felt someone feel up her butt rather extensively. It took her a solid moment to gather herself and stay in character. 'Who the hell is grabbing my ass?!'
'Me. What, you thought Rin would grab your jelly ass?' Miyuki didn't so much as pull her hand away and just kept on fondling while holding a fish-on-a-stick with her other hand and taking hearty bites out of it.
'Nozomi, you don't even play in the same league as my girlfriend.' Rin snorted and cuddled up to Nao.
'At least I'll live to be thirty without my back snapping in half.' Nozomi felt that one come out almost naturally. I'm getting the hang of this. Heh.
'We're magic, there's no back pain where we are going.' Nao could be surprisingly snide when she wanted to. 'And hey, I'm not the one stuck with a costume choice that's gonna shout Look at me, I'm so edgy when you're ten years over the limit for that.'
'Magical Girl. There's no graduation.' Miyuki leaned forward, moved her arm up and around Nozomi's shoulders, pulling her forward with her. 'And for your big mouth I am pretty sure it's us who are the team leaders. You'll forever be a bit character.'
'You're worse than children.' Reika sighed from across the fire. 'Yuri could destroy all of you in an instant if she desired so.'
'Leave me out of their childish behavior, Reika.' Yuri put her hand softly below Reika's chin and raised up her gaze. 'Look only at me instead.'
'Hey, Nozomi.' This came from Urara, sitting next to Reika. 'I think you gained weight. Isn't your skirt a little tight compared to when we last switched clothes?'
'Shut up.' Nozomi blurted that out with a beet red face. 'Seriously, shut up, Fanta.'
'Your brain dead conversations aside-' Komachi linked herself into the conversation, sitting next to Nao, with Akane next to her respectively. 'Yuri, how's the list of things to create at the next full moon coming?'
The atmosphere didn't change but the way they all talked sure did. Despite how much they were trash talking each other, all of a sudden it was water under the bridge. Nozomi was amazed by that. Oh, right, I remember that. Yuri on this side can actually make stuff during full moons. That's where that pot came from.
'It's still up in the air, really.' Yuri paused to take a bite of fish. 'Your idea of using solar panels is not bad, but we don't actually have anything that uses electricity. Akane did bring up the idea of a heater but if push comes to shove we could use Rin and Akane for that.'
'I'm furniture now?!' Rin sounded not upset but amused.
'Stuff like a toilet also requires plumbing and running water. Shower, too. We really could use some lamps. Making endless amounts of torches is gonna bring trouble with it eventually.' Yuri continued on with the suggested items.
'Lamps aren't much use if we don't get a lot or have something to make use of them. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we shouldn't get some eventually, but right now it's fairly pointless.'
'I vote heated tables.' Akane was the one to say this. 'Personally I don't like the idea that if it gets cold Rin and I can just twenty-four hours a day provide heating. That's not how this is gonna go, seriously. Heated tab- what the heck, I'll just call em like I know it. Kotatsus provide opportunity to get together and also stay warm.'
'We don't really know if this place has seasons.' Komachi didn't want to waste a rare chance on something like that.
'I believe it does.' Tsubomi raised her hand to get attention. 'I can't base it on the stuff we grow, but wild plants and trees do seem to go through cycles that are indicative of seasons. It's also been getting warmer lately and storms only started coming in after we've been here for a while. I think it's getting summer.'
'Swimsuits.' Yayoi raised her hand to emulate Tsubomi. 'Swimsuits!'
Yayoi was summarily ignored by everyone, like she didn't exist at all and Nozomi felt a bit bad for her. 'Yuri, do you think you can make an entire house? It does not have to be big, like… lets see… fourteen people… assuming it's all couples… two per bed, two more in a futon I guess… I suppose a 3LDK is fine. We eat outside so we can switch D to R to make that a 4LK, That gives us space to sit inside during bad weather. It'll be cramped, but it's gonna be a real space that won't fly away when nature huffs and puffs at us.'
'I honestly don't know.' Yuri tried to visualize it. 'In terms of mass, that's a lot of it, but it's also one thing, basically. How is the kitchen gonna work anyway?'
'I didn't even think about that. I guess make that just a bunch of rooms them so we have somewhere solid to stay. We can put solar panels on the roof at some point and funnel the electricity into the rooms for lamps and heated tables or whatever we come up with.' Nozomi really thought hard about this. She had spent a lot of time apartment hunting and knew how important it was to have a decent place to live. 'We can always add a kitchen later.'
'That's definitely not going to leave room for anything else that time. And honestly I'm not sure I can make this.'
'I think this is actually worth a shot.' Komachi supported Nozomi's idea. 'A place like that would be good if at some point we are dealing with seasons and we need to install heating or A/C.'
'Thinking about actual summer or winter in our shack is giving me bad vibes.' Urara didn't like that prospect at all. 'Also supporting the rooms idea.'
'Worst case scenario we can hook Yayoi up to a generator or battery.' Karen joked.
'Hey!' Yayoi tried to sound really angry but she knew this was gonna happen eventually. She was sure of it.
'You should try to make a bathroom. It's fine if we don't have plumbing. We can just do the same thing we do now, keep buckets of water and fill up the tank with it to flush down into a big hole. Or even have a really enormous water tank somewhere outside and get water in with a hose we can close up.' Erika put forth this idea. 'I'm seriously sick of our current hygiene situation, you know.'
'I agree with this. A lot.' Tsubomi was completely on board with having a real toilet.
'Same here.' 'Agree.' 'Voting for that.' 'Please do.' Rin, Nao, Akane and Komachi all jumped on the hype train for that one.
'I make no promises. If I manage to make something that big I'm definitely going to be out of power after.' Yuri wanted to succeed at this – she was secretly pretty worried about living in a shack like they were now. But it was a pretty tall order.
'Yuri will do it beautifully.' Reika had all the confidence in the world in her girlfriend.
'An apartment it is then.' Yuri finished one fish and got another. There were still several lined up in two cycles – ones that still needed grilling and ones that were a bit further away from the fire to stay warm.
Tsubomi stood up a moment later and held her hand as far over her head as she could to feel the wind. 'We should finish up. The wind is picking up even more now.'
Hurrying toward the end of their meal, packing up was rather quickly. Karen doused the fire – they didn't want anything hot fly against the shack and set it on fire. Everyone else got what meager belongings they possessed and made sure it was all stored securely inside the shack. Tsubomi and a few others covered the fields – those that could be covered – with a very large net, that they normally used for fishing. It wouldn't help much, but it would help, and out there every little bit was important.
No matter how much she tried to ignore it, Nozomi knew she didn't belong here. Just looking at the others told her as much. Pretending to be Dark Dream was a strange choice she made, but she didn't regret it. At least not yet. No. I won't regret it! No more regrets! No more bad thoughts! The last time I let myself get swept along by bad thoughts it ended in a disaster. This place is fine! It's fine if I can't go back to Miyuki tonight! Absence makes the heart grow fonder! Someone important once said that!
'Nozomi, get your ass moving and come in!' Miyuki was shouting at her girlfriend's double from the entrance of the house-shack and waiting there.
'Is everyone else back already?' Nozomi felt a gust of cold wind hit her back the moment she slowed down to talk to Miyuki. It was like someone had turned up the global air conditioning and accidentally set it fifteen degrees too low.
'Hey, roll call!' Miyuki shouted inside and there was a lot of responses, none intelligible, followed by one that was, from Tsubomi.
'Missing Erika!'
'Okay, we got everyone.' Miyuki tried to pull the door shut and Nozomi stopped her. 'What?'
'You want to explain to Karen and Reika why their workload increased for all future bathing exercises? And probably get sentenced to cold baths from there on?' Nozomi had quickly gained a fundamental understanding on how things worked around here.
Clicking her tongue, Miyuki stepped past Nozomi, took a deep breath and yelled at the top of her lungs. 'Erika! Get your ass-'
'Goal!' Erika flew past both of the black plus pink Cures, slid across the floor, bounced off the wall and leaped into the shared sleeping room, right into her bed.
'I hate her so much.' Miyuki pushed Nozomi out of the way with a hip bounce against the light Cure's butt and slammed the door shut and rammed a piece of wood under it to keep it that way.
Miyuki headed for her own room right after – as Nozomi and Miyuki were the only two that had a room to themselves, albeit there was no door, just a makeshift curtain made from dried leaves that was a new addition from earlier that night. 'Nozomi, you coming?'
'In a sec.' Nozomi looked into the other room, where the window had been closed and jammed shut for the time being. In stark contrast to last night, everyone was still up and just sitting about on beds, some of them pushing their bed around and with that slowly encircling Yayoi. Oh, so that's what she meant by story time. I guess if we can't be out and do our work, this is the only thing that's left. Nozomi's gaze swayed a little to the side of the room and she noticed that there was one bed that was seeing a lot of under the covers activity. Judging by the length of the legs and the suspicious absence of Yuri and Reika from the group that was surrounding Yayoi, Nozomi was able to picture what was going on under those covers – and it heated up her face to blast furnace temperatures.
Hurriedly retreating out of the room and going into her own, while looking back, Nozomi found herself confronted with a half undressed Miyuki – and she just stared for a good while at the naked back of Bad End Happy.
'When you're done staring, help me take off this damn suit. I know you like it, but-' Miyuki lost her words and blushed, very much to the surprise of Nozomi. 'I mean you probably like it. Putting these one is one thing, but taking them off is hard.' Shit. For a moment I forgot it's not really her.
The skin tight suit had folded over in the back and now acted almost like a straight jacket, keeping Miyuki's arms locked in place. Without someone pulling it down from behind, she'd end up in quite a bind, literally so.
First trying a gentle approach – and carefully avoiding touching Miyuki's naked back – Nozomi realized that this would require a completely different one. Bracing herself and sliding her hands under the very tight clothing with some force, she made the Miyuki that was not really her Miyuki moan right in front of her.
Miyuki pretended the moan didn't happen, although it showed on her face that clearly something did happen. 'What are you waiting for? I'm not into S&M play.'
'How do you- ugh.' Nozomi pulled a little harder and was worried she might tear the outfit. Taking her hands out from under the dress she ignored Miyuki's brief complaining noises and pushed her onto the bed, so that she was flat on her stomach. Crawling on top and straddling her, Nozomi now had a much better position to pull from. Putting her hands back under the clothing, she had to twist Miyuki's arms behind her back a little to finally get her free. This is worse than someone messing up their diving suit and locking their arms up in the process. 'How did you get stuck like that? No way is that normal.'
'I tried to take it off myself. What, you got a problem with that?' Miyuki reacted on instinct alone because Nozomi was being very Dark Dream like right now. Her voice was quivering a little with Nozomi sitting on her naked back.
And it was now, with Miyuki sounding like that, that Nozomi realized just how much this looked like a scene this Miyuki probably would love to experience with her own Nozomi. It made her heart race and at the same time she felt a bit guilty. This wasn't her girlfriend, even though she was pretending to be that person. But at the same time she also felt exhilarated with the situation. She hadn't really been in a position like this with anyone, ever. She had shared a bed with Miyuki before, but that was different. She hadn't felt like this then. Miyuki had been the key that opened the door to a brand new world of appreciating a girl's body. And there was suddenly a whole lot of that all around her! A dozen flavors, easily!
'Hey.' That stupid girl! 'How long are you gonna keep sitting on me?' It wasn't just Nozomi's heart that was racing now. She's not mine but right now I don't really give a shit! She looks the same, she's even acting the same now, and even though she won't sound the same, that's good enough for me! 'If you're so comfortable up there at least put your hands to good use.'
But for all the new and exciting things she was experiencing, Nozomi was still a total beginner at lesbian romance. Suddenly being told things like to put her hands to good use was too much. Going up against world ending threats would not stop Nozomi, no matter how afraid she became. But this? Before she had even thought about it she had already moved down from Miyuki and gotten off the bed, finding the next best excuse to find a moment to herself. 'I'll run to the toilet before the storm gets too bad!'
Miyuki was left behind alone, rolled over, and looked really frustrated. Nozomi, your original is a real chicken. After what I heard about the other side from her, how is she like that? Has she never been with a girl before? That idea gave her pause and she rolled on her side, her chest fully exposed. If she's actually a virgin and I do anything that leaves her with trauma, the other Miyuki is gonna blast me out of existence. I know I shouldn't be doing that anyway, but it's real enticing to go and- no, no, wow, bad Miyuki. Well, I'll see if she comes around. Yawning, Miyuki turned over again, now facing the wall. I could go and listen in on Yayoi, but I'm not really feeling up for that today. If I hear one more villain redemption story I'm gonna turn deaf on the spot. Just let the villain win for a change! Not that I think about us as villains or anything! Staying as she was and just listening to the first drops of rain hit the rather thin roof, Miyuki got sleepy. And with just a few more blinks she had fallen into a light slumber.
Someone shook her and she woke up, still in a state of half undressed. 'The heck you- Yuri? What's going on?' Miyuki yawned heartily and then sat up, caring not in the slightest that Yuri was seeing her naked tits.
'First, we're short one Dark Dream. Second, the storm is worse than we thought and Komachi is not gonna last through the whole thing on her own and without a break. Urara is already working on something together with Reika, but that's going to be a real mess to clean up in the morning. And it's also gonna be cold as hell. Rin and Akane volunteered to keep us all warm though. The third thing is that Erika thought it would be funny to scare everyone while Yayoi was telling a horror story, so Nao is currently in the land of dreams and refuses to come back.'
'Where is the goody two shoes if she isn't here?' Miyuki sat up, still undressed. And after noticing Yuri's slightly disapproving glance towards her chest, she sighed, clicked her tongue and put the suit back on. As if she didn't see me naked every time we bathe anyway.
'Wasn't she with you?'
'She was. And before you even think it, I didn't do shit.'
'So where is she?'
'I have no idea.'
Nozomi was, in fact, not sure either about where she was. It was pitch black outside, the rain was torrential and the winds like whips, pitching the rain into her face like a needle tree branch that was hurling back into place. She completely, utterly and helplessly lost.
She was soaked to the bone and the winds ensured that she was also chilled that far. Each step was difficult. She could not even see the ground in front of her. The torches around the clearing with the shack – the cottage – had long gone out and vanished into the seemingly bottomless dark that was all around her.
Growing up in the city, she had never experienced how terrifying and merciless nature could be. Something hit her in the beck. A branch? Something else? It made her stumble forward. Covering her exposed stomach for a bit, she remembered something she had learned while working at the winter convention center. Keep your hands in your armpits… makes your chest stay toasty… But that did little, for her chest and her hands were as cold as everything else.
Her hair was sticking to her body like wet paper. Her clothes were like glued on. Each step made her boots sink a little into the grass, far past the limit of what it could soak up. She could have stood in a shallow river and barely noticed it. There was not a single thing she could see. Not even her hands in front of her face. Complete and absolute darkness was so alien to Nozomi that it woke terrible feelings in the back of her head. No. This wasn't so alien actually. Not this again. She had experienced this before. Just once. I'm past that now. Miyuki helped me past it. A powerful shiver roared through her entire body, so strong that she staggered backwards. Or was it sideways. Wherever it was she had stepped – the ground gave in on her.
Falling into the grass and mud, she tried to keep herself from falling all the way, only to have her hands slide away from her in the dark. Something sharp cut her face. Or at least it felt that way. It could have been only the wind. Touching her nose, she felt the mud on her face. Holding her fingers in front of her face, she expected to be able to see whether she was bleeding. But she could not see a thing.
All around her was the howling wind and the incessant hammering of the rain, coming down like ten thousand taiko drums being abused by a horde of angry monkeys. It was deafening. Help! 'Help! Help!' But she could barely hear herself shout. Fear was clogging her throat. This place, these clothes, the way she acted, now that they all came together within the storm, she felt something roused from a slumber. Something that was supposed to be gone and dead and forever banished. Banished? That was just it, wasn't it? This place… is where the banished go.No, no… I'm just imagining things.
Sitting in the cold, hearing nothing but the hammering rain, Nozomi's breathing slowly increased, becoming more erratic as doubt wormed its way back into her mind. For all that Miyuki had done for her, what guarantees did she really have? Is… is this why I can't leave? Because I belong here? Because I am Dream? A bad dream? Because it still isn't over? Because… no, no, stop thinking that, stop thinking, stop thinking!Shaking her head as hard as she could, her own hair acted like a whip, hitting her in the face.
And there it was. She could hear it. Between the rain. There was something. Like a whisper. Something alive. Someone alive. Someone from the others came to get me. But who would come and get me? Miyuki? It must be Miyuki. 'I'm-' Nozomi's heart stopped. Her entire body froze. In an attempt to raise her voice, her body acted without intent and she reached out into the darkness with one hand.
But it wasn't that hand, the extended one, that bothered her, that caused her to freeze. It was the other one. The one on the ground. Something- someone grabbed it from what felt like beneath. From within the ground. No words were spoken, but she knew. She heard it. She was sure. There was a creepy, an outstandingly unsettling chuckle filling the air. No, no, no no no no. The air that she was breathing in smelled rotten now. And the icy grasp on her hand only intensified as she feverishly tried to get free. Relentlessly it kept hold to her until she fell back, losing her balance and rolling over the ground, tumbling into a spin because she had hit downhill.
Rolling and rolling, losing all sense of direction and up or down, she finally came to a hold when she hit something hard, something sturdy. And she still could hear it chase her, the creepy giggle, and still she could almost feel it on her skin, the icy grasp. Her breathing was nothing short of a mess by now, hastily breathing in and out, trying to calm herself but failing spectacularly. Doubt had grown root and now it was consuming it. Yeah… that's right. I don't actually know anything about what really happened. Just what they told me. Is… is that why I'm here? Did they know all about these girls here and had them take me so I wouldn't cause any more trouble? Was Miyuki in on it? Is this Miyuki in on it?
Slowly kicking the ground in front of her while sitting down she slid backwards, little by little, her back now pushed firmly against something rough and massive. She felt it. A tree. But that meant nothing, there were trees all around the place. I fell… I fell down. Was… was there a slope by the cottage? Was there one by the bath? Why can't I remember?
Freezing and scared out of her mind she sat there, pulling her legs in close, arms slung around them and her forehead resting against her knees. No… no it's not true. She's not still there. She's not still there. She's not, not, not, not- A particularly powerful gust of wind hit her and her teeth rattled from her shiver. Who is not still there, Nozomi?
It felt like her blood was freezing in her veins. Just my mind playing tricks on me. I'm just scared. I'm just making myself paranoid. Just paranoid. Because I'm scared. Even Cure Dream gets scared. There's nothing… there's nothing… there's nothing. Rocking back and forth, little by little getting more intense, Nozomi bit her lower lip. 'Nothing here, nothing here, nothing here, nothing-' Something extremely cold that felt like skin touched her shoulder and slid down her back, like fingers trailing over her skin. But we're both here. The darkness was closing in on her from all around now. I'm going mad. I'm going mad. She's not still there. I'm just crazy. Yeah. That would be much better. I'm just crazy. Her throat felt hot and painful. It was like someone was trying to choke the air and sanity out of her. Just. Like. That. You. Did. This. To. Me. Nozomi.
Her eyes hurt like they were on fire. Scratching at her throat in a furry she felt only wetness from the rain. Nobody, nobody there, nobody, nobody, nobody- And she heard it again, the giggle in the dark, between the rain. Violently bending backwards she hit her head against the tree, once, twice, many times, until she could no longer tell what she was even doing. No, thoughts, no, no, thoughts. No thoughts means no mad. No mad means no her. No her means I'm fine. Fine means no her. No her means no mad. No mad means I can go back. Yeah, I can go back. I can't go back. No, no, I can't go back! Stop messing with my thoughts! I'm just not mad! There's not a thing wrong with me! Stop it, stop it!
Trying to hit her head against the tree again she felt nothing behind her back now, crashing into the mud and rolling over in a panic. Tree, where, where did the tree go? I can show you. Where… where did… where… tree… She couldn't tell if her eyes were merely in pain or if she was crying in desperation. She could only taste the mud and grass on her lips. Lying face down in the grass she was shaking from head to toe. 'No, no, no, no… no, no, no, no..' Repeating that one word endlessly, she felt like an eternity passed while the rain pummeled her back. Gripping the grass with both hands she pulled it out of the mud, slamming her fists into the water, splashing about the dirty drops. No… what am I so sacred about? She's not me! I'm me. I'm in control. There's nothing to fear.
And as she laid there, she started to smile a little. I'm just scared. It's dark, it's cold, I'm just scared. My mind is just pulling one over me. Nodding quickly and about a dozen times she forced herself to smile wider. There's nothing to fear. Looking up, she saw only darkness up ahead. Then why won't you say my name?
And the smile vanished from her lips. I can say it. I just don't want to. The corners of her mouth rose a little only to sink with her quivering. I can not say it. 'I can! I can not say it!' Shouting, she bit her lower lip so hard that she was sure she had drawn blood. I'll prove you wrong! 'N… Ni..ght… ma..'
'No. Zo. Mi.' Pure, undiluted horror filled her. And she felt something inside her crack. With just that one sentence. That one horrible, evil pronunciation of her name, she felt the darkness not only surround her but eat her up inside. Why was this happening to her now? Why was it happening again? Why-
And against her will she rose from the ground. The flame of rebellion inside her was quickly diminishing and about to go out. She lost control. She lost herself. She-
'Nozomi.'
She? What was she doing again? Who was it that was- Her thoughts went from one type of horror to another when she felt someone kiss her. And not just kiss her but kiss her, with tongue and everything. And all of a sudden her world was full of light. The shadows in front of her parted ways, revealing that it was not insanity that had grasped her, lifted her from the ground.
It was a hand. Attached to an arm. Both of which were warm and wrapped in a strange cloth, black and pink. And when the light came even closer, a face was revealed in front of her. With her eyes wide open, with her mouth still full, she looked into the dark pink eyes of Bad End Happy, who looked back.
'Miyuki! What was that all about, you idiot? You can't just run off in the dark!' A voice that belonged not to herself or to Miyuki joined them. And she recognized it when more words came. 'Do you think I want to deal with two lost idiots? What is this? You're making out with her in the dark?'
It was Sunshine. And she was giving off a gentle golden glow, illuminating the area around her. And finally Miyuki released her lips. Before her heart could react to the kiss, her eyes darted around her. She was only a step away from the tree. I… must have slid away… The slope she had fallen down was not in fact a slope but a flight of exactly two steps of stairs – and she had landed in the grass just beneath them. And rolled on from there. And now she recognized it, right there, the giggling in the wind. And what she saw was a plant that swung violently in the rain, producing a ghostly giggle.
Everything… everything was in my head… and I let it get to me. And without Miyu- And finally the kiss reached her mind. Her face turned a fierce red and she tried to look away. But it was not so easy. Miyuki grabbed her jaw really hard, squeezing together her mouth and lips. 'M-Miyuki, that hurts..' And finally she realized what kind of face Miyuki was making. Not one that put her at ease or made her heart flutter. But one that made the fear of Nightmare leave her and replace it with fear of a personal Bad End.
'Hey. Do you think I like being soaked to the bone? Being cold as a fish? And dragging Itsuki around in a fucking storm? Hey.' Squeezing Dream's mouth even harder, Miyuki's left eye twitched. 'You giant idiot! Don't cause trouble for others! Aren't you a goddamn team leader, huh?!'
And for some reason, being yelled at like this made her happy. This Miyuki knew nothing about what she dealt with. To her she was just Nozomi.
'If you're trying to be my Nozomi then you better act like it! We're going back! And don't you dare think this is over yet! Oh hell no!' Miyuki finally released Nozomi's jaw and grabbed her right hand, pulling her along. 'Itsuki, we got our lost item, let's go back before we catch the devil and death.'
'Fine with me. God I hope Tsubomi warmed up the bed. My clothes are gonna take all day to dry. We're gonna have a lake here tomorrow.' Weather like that put a serious dampener even on Itsuki's manners.
Nozomi felt unbelievably silly when they got back to the cottage within three minutes of walking. She hadn't been far at all. But without Itsuki to light the way they would have been hopelessly lost. How… how did Miyuki find me in the dark? She ran off on her own… right? Itsuki came after her… so how…
'Stop thinking about stupid shit.' Miyuki just kept dragging her along. And finally they made it to the front of the shack – or almost there. The shack itself was now surrounded by a giant ice shell, reinforced by golden chains. The handiwork of Urara and Reika.
Itsuki slammed her right fist against the ice, not to break it but to signal that they were back. And within moments, a hole was melted into the shell. Akane was there, shivering but dry. 'G-get your a-asses in h-here already.'
Back inside, Itsuki didn't so much as wait for anyone to say anything before she stripped, whirling her soaking wet clothes around, twisting them and draining as much water as possible while standing around naked. 'I am never doing that again! The next time you get lost you camp outside, Dream!'
'Wow, she's pissed.' Miyuki said almost nonchalantly just before she turned around and slapped Nozomi very hard in the back of her head. 'And soam I! What the hell were you doing outside? You were supposed to go to the toilet! You know what, the next time you can piss on the ground outside, it'll get washed away anyway! I am not gonna go and play hide and seek in a goddamn typhoon with you ever again! Not to mention that I was worried out of my mind you got lost in the woods or something!' Miyuki didn't wait for a response before she grabbed Nozomi's hand again and dragged her into her own room. 'Because of you I'm half frozen and you know what, you are going to be what warms me back up. Make any excuses and you can sleep on the floor!'
Nozomi's emotion were roller-coasting so hard right now that she couldn't put up any defense and just nodded – then blushed. Miyuki tried to get out of her clothes again. It was already hard to do that when they were dry, but being soaked just made that an impossible scenario without help. 'L-Lemme help!'
'Hey, lovebirds! You coming or what?!' Akane was shouting from the other room.
'Give me a bloody minute to get off these damn clothes!' Miyuki shouted back and looked to Nozomi. 'Don't even think you're going to keep anything on with how soaked you are. I can't even put in words how little I care about how embarrassed you're gonna be cuddling it up with me under a blanket.'
'Hm.' Nozomi couldn't process everything that was happening to her. Or rather, she chose not to. Over thinking things had almost led to her losing her sanity just a few minutes ago. It made her realize that she really wasn't past the trauma that Nightmare had caused her. But she knew how to deal with it. Whether it was this Miyuki and her rough but intense caring for her or the other, her own Miyuki, that was much more gentle and soft but cared just as much about her; it didn't matter at all which of the two it was. As long as she had Miyuki by her side, a Miyuki by her side, she could keep her trauma at bay.
A different type of trauma was about to create itself when Miyuki finally got out of her clothes and started to forcibly undress Nozomi. The trauma was not at all related to Miyuki doing this to her – it was that she was going to be naked, outside a bath, around a lot of other naked girls, presumably covered only by a blanket. The embarrassment would kill her.
The second Miyuki was done stripping Nozomi she grabbed the blanket from the bed as well as the sheet – and nudged up against Nozomi just before she covered the two of them under said blanket. 'Holy shit am I cold!' Cursing loudly, Miyuki dragged Nozomi with her towards the other room.
It was a small circle with Rin and Akane in the center – the former just giving off heat and the latter keeping a small fireball basically contained between her hands, everyone else was covered in blankets, despite wearing clothes. Only the three that came from outside had stripped down. Itsuki was behaving like an affection deprived cat and treating Tsubomi like a hug pillow. Miyuki and Nozomi sat between Komachi, who was asleep, and Yayoi, who was also asleep. In fact it looked like most of them were at least half asleep. Only Nao, Urara, Akane and Rin looked truly awake and only out of necessity.
'I never expected that the other Nozomi would be a bigger doofus than our Nozomi.' Rin mocked the double of her team leader a bit. 'Well, take it easy, we got this.'
'I hate being a living heater. Komachi is asleep, too.' Akane pouted and the fireball fluctuated for a brief moment. 'But everyone has got to do their job.'
Nozomi turned stiff like a board when she felt Miyuki cuddle up to her in a very specific way. In fact, it wasn't so much cuddling as using her like a seat – and she sat there backwards, facing the backrest, or in this case, Nozomi's face. Her arms rightly wrapping around Nozomi's back, slowly moving up and down over the still chilled skin, Miyuki breathing was calm but distinct, her breasts lightly rubbing against Nozomi's. 'Mi… Miyuki… this…' Nozomi had never been this intimate with anyone ever before, not even close. And all she could do was whisper to her.
'Don't you dare complain.' Miyuki whispered back and nudged even closer up against Nozomi, her legs going right past Nozomi's hips and then crossing over, touching against her butt. 'Out here, if you mess up, you make it up to whoever has to fix your mess. Don't be such a little girl.'
Nozomi tried her best to remain calm but she couldn't help her heart beating faster and faster. Focusing on the fireball that Akane maintained she managed to take the edge off, but it was still an amazing new sensation, feeling someone's naked body against her own. What surprised herself was that she didn't really mind. It was a brand new sensation and experience, but it didn't feel bad. This was different from starting a part-time job she had never worked before or taking a test. She was nervous, but not in a bad way.
Lost in her thoughts like that, she eventually tried to whisper to Miyuki again. 'It's pretty warm now… shouldn't we… Miyuki?'Is she asleep? Bad End Happy's head rested against her shoulder, in that specific way only a sleeping person could without feeling really uncomfortable. 'Miyuki… hey, Miyuki.' Nozomi tried to whisper her awake, without success. And before she could do anything else, the girl next to her, Yayoi, slumped over in her sleep and was now resting her head against Nozomi's upper arm. I… guess I don't have a choice. Thank god I'm covered by this blanket… I'd really die if the others could see me like this. And ever so slowly her mind drifted off, exhaustion setting in and the new sensations becoming less exhilarating. It was about an hour out from dawn when Nozomi fell asleep.
DISSONANCE
'That dream again..' Ako was lying in bed with her eyes still closed. But she was awake. Unfortunately the penthouse apartment had little in the way of keeping the sun out, so waking up at dawn was often inevitable, even though the curtains around the large circular bed helped.
How many times has this been now? It even woke me up in the middle of last night. Opening up one eye, she found that Urara was, for once, not clinging to her. My neck hurts. And my shoulders. Before being sucked into this place she had never really stayed in her older form for anywhere close to this long. Sitting up, Ako groaned a little, quietly enough so her own personal pain in the neck didn't wake up. Sniffing her arms and a strand of hair, Ako grimaced. Shower.
Putting her feet on the ground first, just past the curtain, she stepped on something soft and didn't care to even look. She could tell from the feeling alone. I wonder if Urara always wears fancy underwear like that. Since we got together I haven't seen anything but lewd or fancy underwear on her. Thinking about completely trivial things that early in the morning, Ako did not even care to put on clothes as she walked towards the veranda and slowly slid open the door. Not to avoid noise but because she was feeling kind of sluggish in the mornings nowadays.
The fresh air of the early morning wafted past her, the curtains of the bed dangling in the wind. Turning about she stepped over her own boots without really thinking about it twice. She was halfway to the bathroom when she realized that something was odd. Turning about, she walked back where she came from and squatted in front of her discarded boots. Her Cure boots. This isn't right. They should have returned to energy a long time ago. Once we take them off our Cure clothes are supposed to dematerialize until we transform again. Thinking this, Ako paused. How do I know that?I've never experimented with this before so how… did someone from the others explain it to me? But I think I'd remember a conversation like that. Feeling a bit of a shiver on her back, she got back up and hurried to the bathroom. Gotta pee first.
Spending a lot longer in the bath than necessary, Ako came out feeling somewhat refreshed. Already being in the bath she decided to take a shower. Thankfully the door was thick so she could sing without Urara possibly overhearing her. She wasn't worried about waking her, but she did feel self-conscious about singing in front of her girlfriend. Hibiki, Kanade and Ellen were fine. Mostly. Maybe not Hibiki. She would definitely get annoying. And Ellen would probably worship her so much that it would be embarrassing again.
Walking back out, now wearing all of one towel to cover herself, Ako fumbled about with her still wet hair. She's still asleep. I have no idea how late we went to sleep last night. She was being kind of insatiable.
Returning to the mystery remains of her Cure outfit, Ako found several more pieces strewn all across the apartment. That part didn't surprise her at all, considering that they had had sex with each other as Cures last night. It wasn't the first time and probably wouldn't be the last. The outfits were kinda fancy, which added a bit of extravagance to the whole thing. Just jeans and a shirt were really not very impressive or mood setting.
Transforming was like flipping a switch in the mind. In a way it was similar to squinting with your mind, blurring the boundary between who you are now and who you will be then. Ako was particularly good at this because she earned her powers at a very young age. But right now she was having a bit of a slump. Standing in front of the discarded boots, she tried to transform, attempting to see what would happen to the discarded outfit. There were only really two options in her opinion. They could remain when she transforms and that would mean they could endlessly duplicate outfits for any purpose. They could also vanish, which would mean the outfits just had some sort of limited permanence now.
This isn't good. Ako tried to force the transformation and pulled a mental muscle – a headache flared up right away and she moaned a little from the sting of pain. Shit. And thinking that worsened her headache. She wasn't the sort to curse, or at least she wasn't until before she started going out with Urara.
Picking up the boots, she deposited them by the veranda to air them out and proceeded to pick normal clothes from the wardrobe. Despite living like this for a while now, it still felt a bit funny to pick out clothes that were far too big for her younger self. But that feeling was getting less and less pronounced every day now.
All dressed, Ako finally proceeded to completely ignore the costume issue and sat outside on the veranda for a little bit, watching the sky and taking in the fresh air. But the costume issue nagged at her. Trying again, while sitting in her reclining chair out there, Ako found that the result was identical to before; nothing was happening.
Considering everything that happened…Ako sighed heavily from the heart. Did someone break the system again? It hasn't even been a week. I should go and talk to the others and see if they have the same problem. Maybe it's just because I spent so long in my older form. But I can't really undo the magic… well… I could. But- Ako flapped her lips. I can't believe I so much don't want to turn back that I am thinking about it like I can't.
Leaving the veranda and going back inside, Ako collected her costume parts until it was all there. For the time being, this will have to do. Putting it all together on a chair, Ako glanced at the ground and found the left glove from Urara's outfit. So it's not just me.
If being with Urara had taught her anything then it was that freaking out over the unexpected didn't help anyone. It did worry her that her transformation was seemingly broken, but it wouldn't be immediately relevant. The battles were opt-in only basically, and she was basically far ahead of everyone else in terms of total earned. She'd end up ranked first unless the others did something drastic.
I wonder if Kanade is awake yet. Rouge… was not on this side, so Kanade has got to be in her own room. This is probably gonna freak her out and since Hibiki and Ellen are both on the other side I'll talk to her.Other than her… I should talk to Moonlight at least. Probably also Diamond, White and Pine. And Beauty. Hm… now that I think about it, isn't the other side kind of short on intellectual leaders? I think they only have Aqua and Egret. Well, for today at least it shouldn't matter so much. I think the beach is still shared property today. But… I'm honestly a little sick of the beach. It's like going to the beach every day on vacation and not do anything else. It's barely any different from doing anything else in excess. Maybe I'll just drop by to talk to the others and see if they're also affected by this wardrobe malfunction… I can't believe I thought that.
While Ako was still thinking about the beach, a number of people were already on their way there. Not all of them enthusiastic about going however. On the Dark Team's side it was; Nao, Mana, an unwilling Yuri and an even more unwilling Miki. They had not made prior arrangements. In fact, outside the Yuri and Miki duo having talked to each other before, there were only silent looks being exchanged in the lobby and on the way. Armed with sweatbands and sneakers, the group of unlikely four was heading to the beach for some early morning exercise. It was simply because after – or during – exercising they could jump in the water if it got too hot. The ocean breeze was nice, too. And there was no worrying about the weather down there. They all had their own reasons for being there.
Nao felt that her entire body was underused. The battling was one thing, but the strain from that didn't really properly translate the same way a workout did. And there was also that she wasn't being plagued by pesky thoughts about Akane and Reika when she was running.
Mana on the other hand just wanted to move her body and waking up early was something she couldn't suddenly get rid of from years of habit. And she feared that with how spartan she was being before all of this, if she didn't work out every now and then, she would get fat in a heartbeat.
Yuri and Miki had a mix of thoughts about losing their workout routine and not being fit enough to do their jobs. Yuri was more or less coming with Miki as moral support, even though she was going to be doing the same exercises.
This line of thought in general was something the other side shared as well. And here too there were a few girls already heading to the beach. On this side, the light team side, however, things were a bit more lively. Nagisa and Saki were pushing and shoving each other for funsies. Hibiki was almost being dragged by Itsuki, loudly complaining along the way about how she was going to insist on fifteen pancakes after this. Rin was there as well, but Akane was suspiciously absent.
Rin was just a few steps ahead of the others, moving her arms back and forth in preparation for stretching. I'll go swimming first and then run. Maybe Nao is gonna be there and we can get a ball from Mamo to practice our game a bit. I am going to be out of a job if I don't touch a ball the entire time I'm here. Stepping into the mist, Rin was blinded the second she came out of it. The sun was already really blazing. But something wasn't right. It was unusually cold and fresh, even for being this early in the morning. Especially compared to the last morning she had spent here. After about for seconds, Rin finally realized what was wrong.
There was no swimsuit.
She was completely, utterly, naked. Not a single thread of clothing was on her body. Trying to transform out of sheer panic – which of course wouldn't work because that function was disabled out on the beach – Rin jumped back into the fog and came out of it at sprinting speed, crashing right into Itsuki and Hibiki, who were comically flailing their arms at each other's faces in jest. And she was still naked. All three of them went immediately down to the ground, Itsuki serving a bit like a cushion to Rin.
'Rin?!' Nagisa was the first to notice that the girl was completely without any clothing.
'I went through as usual but it just stripped me instead of changing me into my swimsuit!' Rin got off of Itsuki and tried to cover herself. Saki managed to take off her shirt, revealing a sports bra beneath, in record time and hold it out. 'It's fine, I'll just-' Rin flipped the switch in her mind and nothing happened. 'Why?!' Snatching the shirt in desperation, Rin squatted down to make the shirt cover more. 'I can't transform either.'
'I'll go and check it out.' Nagisa stepped into the fog and immediately came back out. 'What do I do if it strips me too?'
'Just take off your stuff now. It's not like we don't know what you look like under that shirt and pants. We all looked before.' Itsuki didn't waste any time being a bit flirty and earned a punch against her shoulder from her girlfriend. 'I know you looked, Hibiki!'
'I did, but that's not for you to tell her!' Hibiki wanted to pout, very much so, but the face Itsuki was making cracked her up. 'You butt, that face is unfair! How am I supposed… supposed… stop..' Barely able to contain her laughter at Itsuki's wildly distorted face, Hibiki gave up on being marginally upset.
Nagisa had meanwhile concluded her little experiment and arrived stark naked back on the plaza, hurriedly grabbing her shirt and pants and putting them on. 'Yep. Stripping. Took my underwear right off.' Her face was more than just a little red. She was unexpectedly pretty bashful about this sort of thing. 'Can't transform either.'
'It's one thing to automatically change our clothes, but what's with all this now?' Saki tried to transform the same way Rin had, and she too achieved no result. 'I can't turn into Bloom.'
'So three unrelated people can't transform.' Rin stood up but really pulled on the shirt she had gotten from Saki. 'Can either of you two?'
Hibiki and Itsuki tried to transform as well, with just as much success as the other three. 'Five people,' Hibiki proclaimed and finally got back on her feet after just sitting there. 'What do we do?'
'Wake everyone up for starters. This is a serious problem.' Rin could not keep her face from turning red. 'I'm going back to my room!'
While there was chaos down on the plaza, the penthouse on the light side was the complete opposite. Even though it was early in the day, too early for any normal person to have been up, Karen was already out on the veranda. And she wasn't alone. 'That look suits you.' Sitting in a recliner with a cup of tea on the pool table next to her, Karen was barely dressed – underwear and a long shirt was all she had on.
'Flatterer.' Komachi didn't look up from what she was doing. Sitting in the recliner next to Karen, she looked a bit like a different person. Her shoulder length hair tied into a short ponytail, her bangs pinned to her forehead, she was wearing the same clothes as Karen – underwear and a shirt; her shirt was black however. To add to this, she had glasses on and was scribbling hastily on a notepad. 'You didn't have to get up with me, Karen.'
'When you travel a lot for work you learn to make do with less sleep and also how to utilize a well timed nap during the day, like on a flight or a long train ride.' Karen reached for her tea and blew away the faint steam that was wafting off the lightly orange liquid. 'I do mean it. You look good in glasses.'
'Does it make me look smart?' Komachi sat on the recliner with her legs crossed. Taking the pencil between her lips she briefly lowered the notepad and looked up at the sky. 'What do you think is more memorable, a meeting at a train crossing you normally never pass, or finding cover from the rain in a really old and abandoned bus stop?'
'Are you writing a new novel?'
'Trying to. Everyone else is pursuing their hobbies and jobs and I don't want to be all out of practice when we get back.'
'Someone has turned their outlook on our situation around.'
'The old Komachi has to retire! The new Komachi won't be the girl that loses the love of her life and becomes a shut in for years on end.' Saying it proudly and looking to Karen, Komachi suffered through three seconds of silence before her face turned red and she hid her embarrassment behind her hands. 'I know I'm not cut out for acting like that!'
'Just a little too much spunk.' Karen grinned to herself. 'But I do think you could stand to be a little more outgoing. Maybe… about ten percent Urara?'
'That's already criminal levels of outgoing.'
'Don't let her hear you say that.'
'It'll be our secret.' Komachi shushed no one in particular and managed to calm down. 'I… might act a little too much but it's hard to change yourself. I'll keep trying!'
'I approve of that idea. So, what is your novel going to be about?'
'Urban fantasy, with a hint of parallel world. At least that's the plan for now.' Komachi adjusted her glasses and picked her pencil back up. 'So about my earlier question-'
'The bus stop. It confines them together. That gives you more time to work with, right?'
'It also means that I have to work through the time instead of making it a short meeting.'
'And the train crossing?'
'People have a bad sense of time when they are talking while waiting for something, so even if the scene runs a little over normal duration nobody will really notice.'
'Writing is more complex than I thought.'
'This is still the easy stuff.'
'Tell me the premise.'
'To understand the premise you need to understand the characters first. A girl, name undecided, in her second or third year of high school is unsure what she wants to do with her future. She has no dreams, no ambitions and no real interests. That's our protagonist.'
'That doesn't sound very interesting so far.'
'Characters have to start out with either many flaws or an agenda to warrant development over the story.'
'So what happens to her?'
'I am working up a list of scenarios of what happens to set her on the path now. But the path itself will be that through one means or another she meets a witch, an evil one. Witches exist in the shadows of society. But I'm not talking about the hook nosed stuff from three hundred years ago. They're CEOs and lawyers and what not, they just practice magic in secret. This evil witch tempts her into selling her soul – and because the girl has no dreams, she's about to be tricked and give it away for cheap. That's when our other protagonist shows up. A good witch that's been banned from the good witch society for misconduct. I haven't figured out what exactly but basically youthful prank stuff. But a whole lot of it. She's a delinquent, a real piece of work. About as bad as Urara.'
'She's finally useful for something.' Karen was terribly amused when Komachi looked put on the spot and at the same time tried to hide how apt she thought it was. 'So the good witch saves her?'
'Not at all. She appears out of nowhere, on an out of control broom-'
'A broom? She still rides a broom?!' Karen found that unreasonably funny.
'A witch has got to ride a broom! So she shows up and seeing the exchange she knows she can't stop it unless she kills the evil witch. But good witches are not allowed to kill. So she does the one thing that's obvious.'
'She takes the girl and runs?'
'She takes her soul for herself. Now, technically, a good witch is not allowed to do that unless she takes whoever gives their soul as an apprentice. And normally, only certified witches are allowed to take on apprentices. But our heroine is neither.'
'Is this going to be comedy?'
'Some of it! But it's more about exploring the world of witches as someone who had no place in the world before and someone who has already been cast out of the world of magic before. So with her suddenly having an apprentice, because she took her soul, she has to teach her magic. The evil witch quickly retreats when our good witch shows up by the way.'
'So there's no antagonist?'
'I didn't plan to have one. But now that I explained the plot, something is missing..'
'A rival?'
'That's not a bad idea. But what kind? What do you think would be good?'
'You already have a girl from the normal world, so maybe a normal witch? I don't know, this isn't really the kind of thing I'm good at.'
'How about an evil witch?'
'Wouldn't that cause fighting?'
'Evil witches are evil witches through hereditary tradition only. Not all of them are actually evil so to say. Just like Urara isn't really evil.'
'That's up for discussion, Komachi.' Karen smirked and watched Komachi try to find a counter argument in vain.
'An evil witch that runs away from home. Our good witch and her apprentice run into her during a lesson.'
'Is there any romance planned for this?'
'The human girl is going to fall in love with the good witch. Maybe the evil witch is gonna fall in love with the good witch too and so they compete over her.'
'That sounds a lot more interesting already.'
'There's a lot of things to work out before I can even start on a draft.'
'I don't know if I'll be much help but you can ask me for my opinion any time.'
'Thanks, Karen.' Komachi paused. 'Do you mind if I name the evil witch Karin?'
'So that is how you see me?' Karen smirked wide and leaned over the edge of the recline to get closer to her girlfriend. 'The evil witch violinist, Karin. Sounds like a character.'
'You did steal my heart.' Komachi tried to say this with as much criminal smug as possible but failed completely and it came out with her voice cracking. 'G-Geez, why can't I do this!?'
Karen burst into laughter and tapped Komachi's red forehead with her index finger. 'I believe I will like this new Komachi a lot.'
'I'll fight back if you tease me too much!' Komachi tried to put on airs but Karen saw right through her.
'I have a lot of experience with that sort of thing. If you're gonna fight back I won't have to hold back at all, won't I?'
'Please go… easy on me.' I wanted to say please go ahead but it's impossible!
While Mint and Aqua were discovering new sides of each other – or creating them on the spot – others were in a similar situation, and yet, completely different. One ranking floor down was Michiru's room. And right now there were three people in there.
'Michiru, where's my brush?' Looking for her own, personal brush, Kaoru walked around stark naked, without a care in the world. Piles of clothing, from three people, were all over the floor. The chaos was so widespread that it was hard to tell what was what. The room in general was anything but neat or tidy, not by a long shot.
'I didn't use it. I don't want to get your meter long blue strands stuck in my hair.' Michiru sat on the bed, ruffling her own hair a lot. She always had a bit of an itch on her scalp in the morning and she didn't know why.
'I'm not a dog, I don't shed like that.' Bending down and pulling clothes off the ground only to throw them all on the bed, Kaoru kept looking for her brush. 'Yayoi, is it on the bed?'
Yayoi was still half asleep under the covers, ignoring the light of day and the early morning people. She absolutely couldn't stand mornings. It was one thing to get up early for school or work, but there was not a single reason to get up this early – and anything before noon was this early for her.
When she didn't reply right away, Michiru reached around back, grabbed the covers and pulled them away at full strength, making Yayoi curl up like a porcupine under attack. 'Don't see a brush.' Throwing the cover back over Yayoi, who was much more awake now than she liked, Michiru kept scratching her head. 'Gonna take a shower. It was a mistake to not take one after spending almost all day at the ocean.'
'You think we can all fit in there at the same time?' Kaoru was also in need of a shower.
'I don't care if we do or don't, I am not sharing my shower time with anyone.' Michiru got up and took a few steps towards the bathroom, stopping at the open door for a moment and yawning.
'You did share with me once.' Kaoru bent down and looked under the bed. There it is. 'Found my brush.'
'Because it was impossible not to do it considering what we smelled like. Mai and Saki would have doused us with a hose.' Michiru, already naked to begin with, pulled a towel from the cupboard and threw it over the glass wall that surrounded the small shower. It would be a boob sandwich if we all got in there. Kaoru would love that but no thanks.
'How… are you two… so awake… so early..' Yayoi squirmed under the cover that was randomly thrown over her and finally peeked out from under it. 'It's almost the middle of the night… not even my editor would call me this early..'
'We start work at seven.' Kaoru sat down in front of Yayoi, who was still curled up and viewing the room shifted by ninety degrees right now. 'You do your own hair, right?'
A flag! Mutual hair brushing! I've drawn this a few times already but I can't really capture it properly since I don't have anyone to ask. Doing this with Miyuki would be weird and the other three were all over each other already. 'You want me to brush yours?'
'Admission fee for last night's erotic wonderland.' Kaoru relaxed her pose a bit and put the brush behind her.
A massive flood of very erotic memories flooded Yayoi's mind. After leaving the beach they had come straight here. And after that, they had sex for at least three hours. Sitting up she could feel that it hadn't been a dream; her hips were killing her. We did all of that… uwah… I can feel my face turning red. I thought stuff like that only happened in manga.
'Do you masturbate a lot?' Kaoru's question came completely out of left field.
'H-Huh?!' Yayoi looked like she had been caught red-handed shoplifting masturbation goods.
'You got wet really quickly and I could put three fingers in pretty easily considering how small you are.'
'Don't say small! Or short!' Yayoi shook her small fists for a moment at being called small. Kaoru looked over her shoulder and stared at Yayoi for a moment. 'P-Please?'
'We decided to make you our girlfriend. You can be a little feisty for all I care. Michiru likes it.' Kaoru leaned back and turned at the same time, keeping herself from falling down with just one arm. 'But I don't like it. I prefer you all embarrassed and easily teased.'
'You bully..' Yayoi couldn't keep eye contact and looked down at the sheets.
'That's the look.' Shifted her weight and using her legs to get a bit closer to Yayoi, Kaoru kissed her with surprising passion. Her tongue was allowed entrance without resistance and Yayoi squirmed a little when both of them fell down on the sheets because Kaoru wouldn't support herself anymore.
Breaking away because of the fall, Kaoru faced the ceiling now, a teasing smile and Yayoi's saliva on her lips. With barely a second of pause having passed she twirled around, her legs in the air for a moment, before she abruptly changed positions and was back on all fours, crawling on top of the lying down Yayoi and then burying her face in the short girl's breasts. 'They're so big and springy… must be because you use so much electricity. Keeps them somehow from sagging. I can't get enough of this.' Rubbing her face side to side, Kaoru went one step further and pushed the breasts together just as she started to lick over Yayoi's nipples. 'Transform. Now.' Kaoru especially liked the way Yayoi looked as a Cure and it was immense fun to just partially strip her to embarrass the hell out of her.
Yayoi attempt to obey but nothing happened. And her reaction to that was a bit of shock. Different from the playful fear she felt when she tried to resist Kaoru before.
Alarmed by the shiver that went through Yayoi's body, not being one of excitement, Kaoru stopped what she was doing and looked up, her chin resting on Yayoi's squeezed together boobs. 'What's wrong?'
'I can't transform. I don't know why! It won't work!' Yayoi turned a little pale. 'Is… is it possible I lost my powers because we… we had… too..'
'Too much sex last night? Michiru and I once went at it for ten hours straight and we were able to transform.' Kaoru loved the intense fire on Yayoi's face. 'You really can't?' Kaoru backed away a little and sat up, attempting to transform herself and yielding the same result. 'I was expecting this to be a side effect of the suppressed memories of the Masquerade. This is worrying however.' Moving off the bed without any immediate sense of urgency, Kaoru walked right into the bath. 'Something cut off our ability to transform.'
'You sure?' Michiru scrubbed her scalp, using a lot of shampoo. 'I'm not gonna test it in the shower.'
'Something is going on. We're from completely different teams and since Yayoi's memories of the Masquerade are still suppressed I don't think it has anything to do with us.' Kaoru ogled her sister's body for a moment before looking back out to Yayoi, who was digging through the piles of clothing.
'Should we talk to Mai first?' Michiru rinsed out the shampoo now and cleaned up the rest; armpits, neck, boobs and so forth. 'We need to know if this is something that affects everyone first.'
'Kaoru?' Yayoi was calling from the main room. 'This is… yours, right?' Holding up a china dress that had square markings on it, Yayoi was sure that this belonged to Kaoru. It was the main piece of Cure Windy's outfit. Noticing something metallic from the corner of her eye, Yayoi checked next to the bed. 'And these are Michiru's arm coils.' Part of Bright's costume.
'So our costumes have gained permanence?' Kaoru left Michiru, who just kept on showering like nothing was wrong. Picking up her own dress she also spotted her boots, characteristic because they revealed the toes in front and had square cutouts at the side. 'Yayoi, underwear.'
'Y-Yeah, I'll put some on!' Yayoi tried to crawl across the bed but was suddenly hugged from behind, two large soft spheres flattened against her back. 'W-What?'
'Nothing. I'm just imagining what it would look like if I made you wear my clothes or have you wear your own without any underwear.'
'Please don't?' Yayoi quivered lightly at the sensation of Kaoru's nipples rubbing over her back little by little.
'I won't. Not now, at least.' Letting go of Yayoi, she rummaged through the room, pile by pile, to find her complete outfit. Two gloves, the main dress and her boots. Putting on some underwear first, a light blue bra and panties, she held up her dress and then pulled it over her head. It was a bit of a tight fit but she managed to get into it properly. The boots came next, without socks, and then the gloves. Wearing it all together, a jolt went through her body – and the remaining items appeared on her. Three ear pins, all square shaped, appeared in each ear. A girdle with a square buckle that had no discernible way to be taken off around her waist. A hairband was the last thing that materialized in, simultaneous with her hair changing to what it was supposed to look like as Windy.
'This is extremely inconvenient.' Windy loosened her shoulders a little, took a few steps and measured her own power by creating a small wind sphere in her right hand. 'My powers function correctly, but… it is extremely strange. Only by putting on my costume myself did the transformation trigger.' Flipping the switch in her mind in the other direction, Windy figured out in an instant that it didn't work. She remained as Windy. 'And it appears that to change back we will need quite literally a change of clothes.'
Michiru, having finished her shower, walked up right behind Windy and without hesitation groped her while standing behind her. 'You know, I think Yayoi's are actually bigger than yours and mine.' Letting go after a quick grope, Michiru sat naked on the bed, still damp and shook her head hard enough to send drops flying everywhere.
Pulling off just her gloves, Windy's transformation canceled itself out – and she was wearing only her underwear all of a sudden. 'This is new.' It barely fazed her. Looking down at her feet, she didn't see her costume anywhere. 'It seems too stable to be the system malfunctioning.'
'Considering the Mirror's incident and the Masquerade this feels too small to be a real system issue.' Michiru fell back on the bed and looked up at Yayoi – who had put on some underwear by now and was struggling to get her own outfit on. 'How are your hips?' Michiru asked this fully knowing that they had to be hurting. 'You were really moving them like crazy last night. Such a perverted girl.'
'I don't want to hear that from someone that covered my legs in her spit!' Yayoi's face lit up like a tomato.
'Michiru, stop screwing around and check if your costume behaves the same way.' Kaoru walked around in just her underwear now and picked up more clothes. 'Here are your boots.' Throw them across half the room, her sister caught them with both arms, hugging them. 'If this affects not only us, people are going to come knocking pretty soon. Mai, at least. I don't want us to stand around half naked when she shows up.'
'You really care about Mai and Saki a lot.' Yayoi felt a bit like she had jumped into a lion's cage after she said this. Both sisters were staring at her for a few seconds.
'Without them we would be in the same position as Mamo and the others.' Michiru caught the crumbled up underwear that her sister threw at her and started to put it on. 'What do you think caused this change in the dress code?'
'If you think that calling it dress code is clever because we live in an automated system-' Kaoru started but didn't finish. She knew that was not really what Michiru meant. 'We barely understand the system's current rules and functions, never mind its logic. But my best guess is that someone did something that caused the system to develop this aberrant behavior.'
'I think I read a manga like this at some point… I forgot what it was called.' Yayoi slid on her left glove and it was all there – and sure enough, her hair changed in an instant and the marks on her cheeks appeared, like tattoos. 'Oh! It works!'
'That most likely means the change is universal, affecting everyone.' Michiru collected her own costume and while she was at it, also the swimsuits that were strewn about.
'I'll get dressed and go and see if anyone else is awake yet.' Kaoru opened up the wardrobe and to her surprise it was showing her own clothes. Other than her normal clothes, her costume was hanging in there, complete with the boots at the bottom. 'Michiru. It looks like once we turn back to normal by removing a piece of the costume it automatically transports them back to the wardrobe.'
'What is the point of that?' Putting the last pieces of her costume on, the metallic arm coils and gauntlets, Michiru stood up and her transformation took proper shape. Walking up to the wardrobe, she stopped next to Kaoru, closed the wardrobe and then opened it up again. A wardrobe responded to whoever opened it, containing the clothing of that person. Watching the inside, Michiru removed just one of her boots and the entire outfit disappeared and then reappeared inside the wardrobe. 'That does confirm our theory for now.'
'The question is now how to restore things back to normal.' Kaoru looked to Yayoi. 'But first… Yayoi, take it off. Now that the costumes have permanence I want to test a theory.'
'Eh?! I just put it on!' Yayoi sighed and took her left glove off and it kicked her out of her transformation.
'You wanna test if she gains your powers if she wears your complete outfit?' Michiru easily guessed what Kaoru was planning to do.
With those experiments going on over at the light team side of things, the dark team had figured out most of the same things themselves. For the time being it was just Ako, Honoka and Inori that were discussing the possible ramifications of what was happening, enjoying a leisurely breakfast in the buffet room.
Sitting around as Cures was a bit of a strange feeling for them. They were doing it to monitor any adverse effects of the new system malfunction. But so far there was nothing.
'I wonder how long this situation is going to last.' Inori was one of the few that were mostly comfortable in her outfit. It allowed for a lot of leg freedom and unless it got extremely hot it wouldn't make her sweat either.
'You two are lucky. It is such a chore to put on my outfit.' Ako lamented her choice of costume a little. 'It gets hot pretty easily and it is absolutely not suited to just leisurely sitting about and doing nothing.'
'I can relate a little.' Honoka tried to smile appeasingly. 'My boots do get stuffy a lot.'
'Isn't that new too? I don't particularly remember worrying about being hot or cold as a Cure before.' Inori brought it up and tugged on her own outfit. 'It's like a layer of phantasm was stripped away from us as Cures.'
'You mean it was normalized?' Honoka wasn't sure how to interpret phantasm in this context.
'It's no longer as magical.' Ako answered for Inori. 'We need to find a way to make it go back to normal. It's unbelievably inconvenient like this.'
'What does Urara think about this?' Inori was curious.
'She was still asleep when I left. Probably still is.' Ako had no particular desire to deal with Urara being grouchy about this when she herself was already grouchy about the situation.
The three of them were joined by Yuri, who was fully transformed. 'Miki tested a theory for us. The beach does not actually strip you naked, it just removes all clothing other than swimsuits. That means we are required to change before entering.' Sitting down on the free seat next to Inori, Yuri put a large mug of coffee down in front of her.
'That can't be intentional.' Inori leaned back a little.
'It does sound like something has gone awry.' Honoka was uncomfortable with the fact that there were so many possibilities that it was nearly impossible to narrow it down. 'Has anyone talked to Sasorina yet?'
'I did, when I went with Miki to test our theory.' Yuri sipped from her coffee and burned her tongue a little. 'Essentially, she doesn't know what is going on either. But someone on their side is looking into it, she said. She wouldn't tell me specifics.'
'Considering how many of them there are here, they most likely have someone handling system maintenance.' Ako thought that was the logical conclusion to that comment.
'Meanwhile we're stuck manually dressing and undressing.' Honoka had liked the comfort of being able to switch forms on the fly.
'I'm worried for anyone that comes across Erika..' Yuri felt a headache coming on. 'All she needs to do is pull off someone's glove and suddenly they're stripped down to underwear on the spot. She is definitely the type to play pranks in this situation.'
'If she does that with me I am going to put my Domination to creative use.' Inori's smile spelled danger.
'I guess until the staff fixes this we're stuck playing dress up. At least we only really have to wear this if we go into battle.' Ako pushed her chair back and stood up. 'I'm going back up to change. I'm not sitting around like this for several more hours. I'm not even sure I'm going to be participating in today's battle. I will see you three later.' Waving goodbye as she walked past, Ako felt strangely annoyed with herself.
'You think this is something coming from Dream?' Yuri sipped on her coffee again.
'We thought so the last few times something happened, but after the incident with Nightmare corrupting her she has always been innocent. I think she learned her lesson.' Inori had seen first hand what it was like inside Nozomi's mind. That trauma was a powerful deterrent.
'This has nothing to do with fighting and the system itself is much more robust now than before. I wouldn't know how to cause something like this even if I intended to.' Honoka didn't really see Nozomi being the culprit of this either.
'Speaking of Dream though.' Inori smirked a little before she continued on. 'Did you see her with Happy last night on the beach? They're a cute couple.'
'They're a couple now?' Honoka hadn't seem them. 'They're the only couple of two pinks. Kinda funny how that worked out.'
'That's a really crude way to categorize us, you know.' Yuri kept sipping her coffee and pretended to not care. But deep down she was glad that someone was going to keep an eye on Dream.
'Only if you actually stereotype someone by their Cure color. I wasn't doing that.'
Yuri saw that she was not going to win this argument right away. 'I suppose so.'
'I wonder what silly effect we are getting today.' Inori referenced the day condition mechanic. 'If it still works.'
'So far we had a scenario where we became allergic to our powers outside battle, were given hiccups and were given an ability from our future selves. It's all over the place.' Honoka recounted what they had experienced so far. 'It's hard to believe we've only been back here for a little over three days.'
'You could say it's positive, negative and pointless, if we categorize them.' Inori looked to kill time and any discussion was good for that. 'Speaking of three days, I was wondering if we should work on getting more of those quests finished up.'
'Calling them Quests is a little irritating somehow.' Yuri knew that Erika was definitely one of the people responsible for making that term colloquial usage. 'What task were you thinking about?'
'Not one in particular, but I was planning to get everyone together to discuss setting up a rotating schedule. The one time only quests are one thing, but some of the repeatable ones have really beneficial results to them.' Inori pushed back against Yuri's change of terms and there was a spark as their eyes met.
'That sounds interesting. I do miss having a regular schedule to follow.' Honoka was the type that didn't feel one hundred percent whole without work or some kind of schedule to follow. It had really tripped her up back when she was between school and work.
'There are a few we should do as often as possible. To avoid people getting sick of this I thought it would be best to make it a rotation system. First is the one to maintain the garden. It doesn't list a mandatory minimum but I propose at least three people to do that one every day. It's basically gardening and groundskeeper work. Nothing too hard.'
'What's the reward for doing it?' Yuri was very pragmatically orientated.
'It says the next day condition will be biased towards being positive. Considering the allergy thing, who knows what else is in store there? I believe it is worth doing.'
'I'm fine with working, just wanted to know what we were getting. I didn't bother memorizing the tasks.' Another push, and Inori ignored her.
'What else, other than the garden?' Honoka asked.
'Two people should help out Mamo and handle shopping since they'll pay only half that day. Cleaning the bath is something we can do every other day if the other side also does it. It'll make the bath shared between teams from six to ten.' Inori listed out more of the proposed schedule.
'I'm not so sure about the one with Mamo. Isn't that for most of the day?' Honoka wondered how many of them would actually be willing to work in a convenience store all day.
'It is, but we're the only customers that shop gets. It's going to be a whole bunch of keeping Mamo company for the most part.' Inori had already thought of that. 'There is one more I want to put on a schedule, and one won't be on a schedule but we should consider using it. It is going to be a bit controversial though.'
'The blind date one?' Honoka knew roughly what requests were hanging on the board, just not the details. 'What is that one for again?'
'Hundred percent bonus gains for those that went on the blind date in the next battle. The reward is pretty sizable so-'
'What's the scheduled one?' Yuri didn't even want to think about going on a blind date with someone. Why is something like that even a task? What benefit is there in it for the system? Or anyone?! Like heck am I going to participate in something like that!
'Swimsuit Photoshoot. At least six-'
'No.' Yuri interrupted Inori without listening to the end. 'Absolutely not. I refuse.'
Inori's left eye twitched for a moment. She hated being interrupted mid-explanation. 'At least six people have to participate. It makes the beach a shared zone for twenty-four hours. If we do it again the next day we have to use six different people and then again six different ones, so eighteen in total.'
'Is that per team?' Honoka was curious about that.
'Yes.' Inori saw Yuri shut her eyes as if she wanted to shut out the very idea of participating in this. 'Did the beach wrong you somehow?'
'Erika did.' Yuri had started to take the swimsuit she was stuck with as a personal insult. And she could really hold a grudge.
'I think you're blowing things out of proportion.' Honoka didn't see the big deal.
'Out of proportion?!' Yuri's voice cracked a little and she was terribly embarrassed after her outburst. Downing the remainder of her coffee in one go, and burning her throat in the process, she quickly put down the cup and walked away as fast as she could without running.
'Does it bother her that much?' Inori knew what was bothering Yuri, but she didn't expect that it was that bad.
'I think it is something like… she might be really upset because she thinks everyone else thinks she has an inferiority complex about her chest because of it.' Honoka wasn't really all that sure about it. 'I'm sure Miki will get her to come around. For the time being we'll have to discuss a schedule with the other team.'
'What about the one-time requests? I'm thinking specifically about the cooking contest.'
Inori hummed for a moment. 'I can bring it up. But aren't we at a really big disadvantage right now for that? The other side has Luminous, Rose, Bloom and Sunny. We only have Rhythm and March. Am I forgetting anyone that is good at cooking?'
'Just having a public kitchen is enough. We don't actually need to win. I suspect the extra utensils are just going to be saving the winner some money by not having to buy them from Mamo's store.' Honoka was not at all confident in her own culinary skills. But being able to fix her own meals or snacks would be a big step forward. The buffet was nice but it was also lacking in personal touch. The food always tasted the same and it was always the same menu.
'Personally I'm more interested in the mountain trail region. We have ever changing weather here on the plaza and in the garden, but no such thing on the beach. It's basically eternally summer there from what I can tell. So I'm thinking the trail might offer autumn or winter weather consistently.' Inori was fond of autumn, all things considered.
'You like fall?'
'I do. It's the best time to go out and enjoy a walk. Not too hot or too cold and everything is colorful. Lots of opportunity to see wild animals, too.'
'We probably need to have a public vote on this, but I wouldn't be against that either. What do we have to do to so we get that added to our lovely vacation home here?' Honoka liked to joke a bit about where they were.
'It says Endure a triathlon all the way to the end. I'm not sure if that means everyone, though.'
'Or whether we get to use our powers.'
'Most likely not. Cures like March would just finish very quickly and without any trouble.'
'Or you.'
'I might be fast but I don't have all that much stamina if I am honest.'
'Good to know, in case we ever see each other on opposing sides on the battlefield.' Honoka smirked a little. Inori ranked very high on her danger list.
'I know who I will dominate then.' And Inori smirked back.
'My, what a kinky threat.'
Inori felt like someone was stepping on her foot. 'Could you please not call it that?'
'I'll remember not to describe it as kinky in the future. Are you going to the beach after this?'
'My room first. I don't want to appear naked on the beach after all.'
'A nudist beach… I don't think I like the sound of that.'
'Most of us probably don't.' Inori slowly pushed back her chair and got up. 'I'll bring up the schedule and the one-time quests at the beach. If we can get everyone to show up there later we can vote on things.'
'I don't think there will be much push back. Most of it sounded pretty simple. Nagisa will probably volunteer for the bath cleaning. She's surprisingly really into cleaning once she actually gets over herself and starts.'
'With all these opportunities to see the other team I wonder why we are separated at all.'
'Appearances are important for some matters.' Honoka didn't mind the separation so much anymore. Between the theater group, which hadn't done much at all lately, the band and the beach and now the new prospect of bathing together, there was really only the matter of having to sleep alone. That was a pretty significant issue, but not nearly as much as not being able to see or be with Nagisa at all. 'I'll come to the beach a bit later.'
'If you come after noon, check the day condition please. I want to know before it hits us by surprise again.' Inori got up, waved briefly and then left, passing Setsuna and Ellen on her way out and talking to them for a moment. 'If you have time please come to the beach later. And there's an issue with transforming. Honoka's sitting over there, she can explain. Later.' Inori didn't waste much time when she was going somewhere.
While most of the girls were up and about by now, it was eight thirty already, there were still a few stragglers. One of those was slowly and calmly brushing her hair, sitting on her bed and occasionally looking to the side, at the girl that still slept there. I think I should wake her up now. She'll miss breakfast entirely. 'Yami.'
Alice was very amused with the heavy grumbling that came was response, followed by Yami grabbing the pillow and pulling it over her head like it was a hat and she was in a snowstorm.
'My, it seems that I overestimated your youthful stamina if you are still this tired after sleeping through the night.' Alice mocked her partner from last night a little and it worked. Yami, with eyes opened only a fifth of the way, peeked out from under the pillow.
'What… what the heck time is it..' She was sore all over. My butt hurts. My hips hurt. My back hurts. My chest hurts a lot. And my neck hurts. It's like I got beaten up all over. 'What… happened? Did… someone beat us up?'
'It seems your body isn't used to the workout of fooling about all day.'
'All day?' Yami pulled the pillow back over her face. 'I can't remember a thing after we left the beach last night.' Her muffled words came through the pillow.
'You were very insistent I teach you about the more mature pleasures of being with another girl – but the moment we got to my room you jumped on the bed and fell instantly asleep. It was quite a chore to peel you out of your clothes.'
Yami crushed the pillow against her face. I just fell asleep the second I got on the bed?! God how embarrassing! If Yuri ever hears about that she is never going to stop treating me like a kid! 'No way. Someone must have bamboozled me.'
That's not how you use 'bamboozle', Yami. Alice pulled on the pillow with some enthusiasm and revealed Yami's blushing face beneath. The tall girl tried desperately to get the pillow back while at the same time refused to move anything but her right arm. Her efforts, or lack thereof, were in vain. 'You should take a shower. The saltwater from the ocean is bad for your hair and skin.' And you smell like sex, even though we never went that far. 'I already showered, but I'll wait for you.'
'Don't wanna. I'll just stay in bed.' Replacing the pillow with the cover of the bed, Yami curled up and tried to go back to sleep. Her entire world started to twirl around a few seconds later because Alice rolled her out of bed, an unfeathered impact on the floor waiting for her. 'What the heck?!'
'I do not want a stinky girl that refuses to shower when necessary as my girlfriend. Shower or find someone else.' Alice understood well what kind of person Yami was. The concerned, worried attitude her older sister was constantly treating her with had conditioned her to be more receptive to something tough like what she was doing now.
'I don't stink!' Yami rose from the ground and defended herself, wildly gesturing.
'Smell yourself.' Alice turned about and faced the door again, continuing to brush her hair.
Yami puffed up her cheek, remaining defiant for a moment and then she did smell her arms. It took all of fifteen seconds for the naked girl fifteen seconds to run into the bath and jump into the shower – she only noticed that she was fully naked halfway through that act.
She is quite cute when she is asleep. Really incomparable to Mana in many ways. I think I might actually like her more than I first thought I would. Finishing up with her hair, Alice got off the bed and took the clothes she had prepared on a chair before bed. This was more a habit than anything else because back in her own world it was imperative to be able to get dressed quickly, in case of an emergency.
Dressed in a simple yellow dress but lacking any kind of shoes or boots, or even socks for that matter, Alice stepped into the bathroom and casually watched Yami shower as if it was the most natural thing in the world for her to do this. She couldn't see a whole lot because of condensation on the glass walls, but Yami didn't know that. 'I still don't understand why you worry about your figure. I love the way you look.'
'Isn't peeping a crime?'
'You can only peep on people you aren't dating. Or does this mean you would rather have someone else be with you?'
'You are definitely cheating somehow at this.' Yami wasn't terribly embarrassed but she did feel self-conscious about being watched and scrubbed herself extra clean because of it.
'What do you want to do today?' Knowing her, she will want to go to the beach again. Honestly, I am a little sick of it. It's like being on vacation and the only noteworthy thing to do is going to the beach.
'I'm fine if we go to the beach a bit later today. Take me wherever you want first.' Yami didn't read Alice's mind or anticipate her beach fatigue, that wasn't it at all. She simply tried to be mindful of not being spoiled too much. Tsubomi had told her several times that acting too much like Erika would really annoy everyone.
'We can get some snacks from the buffet and some drinks from Mamo and head to the garden for a little private picnic.'
Hey.' Yami cleared some of the condensation from the wall, creating a big round window that let Alice see her wet face. 'Do you think I would look good if I grow out my hair like you or Yuri?'
'I think you are prettier with short hair, like you have now. I don't share the opinion that long hair is universally better. When I was a teen, or even still just your age, I always tied my hair up in two big buns. I only stopped doing that after I got shrapnel stuck in it for the fourth time.'
'That sounds really dangerous.'
'My life was. Long or short hair itself isn't.' Alice chuckled a few times. She has a youthful innocence to her… or is it naiveté? It sets her apart from how Mana is now so much. It does remind me a little of what Mana was like when we first met though.
'Do you think it will still be that dangerous when we go back to the normal world?'
After talking a little to the others, I think this is more a question of if and not when. 'I really hope not. Things went unbelievably badly where I come from.' Mostly because of us, too. 'I'm sure that when we get back, things will be much more normal.'
'We should enjoy being here together then! I don't know what life will be like with Yuri so she might tell Mom on me and then I can't see you anymore.'
God, she's so cute. 'Then today we shall work on refining your kissing technique.'
'Refining?'
'Improving. I like to sound fancy.'
'Like a rich person?'
I used to be a really rich person. With my own butler and everything. I hope that if we get to go back home that he is still well. 'Yeah, like that. It's a bit silly, right?'
'Is it? I don't really know about that. At least I don't think it is silly.' Yami turned off the water and ran her hands through her hair, getting most of the water out. 'Forgot a towel..' Opening up the glass door, a towel landed right on her head, leaving her disoriented for a split second, making her close her eyes. When she opened them again, she could vaguely make out Alice's face, being under the towel with her.
'We're still a ways out from I love you, but hm… you're really moving me in the right direction.' Kissing Yami quickly and backing out from under the rapidly getting damper towel, Alice slowly paced out of the bathroom. 'Dry up! The weather out is unpredictable and I don't want our sunshine to get eaten up by a rain shower and have our picnic go five feet under water.'
'You're a mega tease, you know that?!' Yami rubbed her hair dry the best she could, a distinct blush on her face.
Yami was not the only one complaining about teasing. 'I swear this is just this place messing with us to have a laugh!' Hibiki squeezed a bottle of sun oil and slammed her now oil covered hand on Itsuki's back way too hard. 'Not just that we can't transform anymore-' Itsuki flinched under the oily assault of her hands. 'No, we also gotta change our clothes by hand. We're already in magic fantasy land and now it's throwing that as us?'
'If you weren't such a slob this wouldn't be such a problem. I bet you can't find half of your costume.' Kanade mocked her, flat on her stomach next to Itsuki and with Rin putting sun oil on her back. 'Cold! Too much, Rin, too much!' She flinched and winced.
'She can't find her costume, am I right?' Hibiki looked at Rin who just didn't deny it and that was all the confirmation Hibiki needed. 'I knew-'
'She tried to put on yours by mistake, didn't she?' Rin placed that question for Itsuki who very overtly averted her eyes and was immediately pinched in retaliation by Hibiki.
'You two shut up!' Hibiki and Kanade were as one, embarrassed and eager to get out of there.
'Oil yourself!' Ditching her girlfriend with puffed up cheeks, Hibiki forced her way next to Kanade and pushed Rin out of the way with a small hip drop. 'Since you two get along so well you can keep each other from burning!'
'Don't touch anywhere weird!' Kanade's face turned scarlet red the moment she said that and did her best to avoid Hibiki looking at her.
'Yeah, yeah, I won't. Man, I can't believe that even the little comforts of instant clothing changes are being taken away. Woah, Kanade, have you been working out? You used to be a little pudgy right here-' Hibiki squeezed Kanade's side and made the girl squeak. 'But it's all super smooth now.'
'I've been away from the kitchen for a while and there's also the fighting and- hey, I said not touching anything weird!' Kanade looked up and went a little starry eyed when she saw Hibiki inspect her own abs and stomach. 'You tease. I hate you.'
'N-No, that's not what this is! I was wondering if I had gotten any pudgier instead! And to begin with if that's teasing then just be running around in a swimsuit is teasing!'
'It totally is!'
'I'm not the one going boing boing boing!'
'The heck are you looking at?!' Kanade shouted while trying to roll over, knocking over the oil bottle in the process and emptying the complete contents on herself and Hibiki, both of them covered in greasy sunscreen now. 'Look what you made me do!'
'This is so your own fault! Don't grab me, you're all slippery!'
'Help me get up and get this off!'
'S-Stop, something else is coming off!' Hibiki pushed Kanade back down and reached behind her, hastily affixing something in place. 'You had your bikini untied, remember?!'
A face like a boiled tomato, Kanade looked to the ground. 'T-Thanks.'
'You two are adorable, but to get in the water and rinse that off before it soaks into the fabric.' Itsuki was finished now and in the process of oiling up Rin now. 'Maybe before Erika sees you and thinks it'll be funny to play Sumo wrestling like this.'
'This is all your fault!' Hibiki and Kanade were, once more, as one, scurrying off as they complained to each other.
'I'm glad they're getting along better but I feel they're falling back into old habits and it won't end well.' Itsuki sighed and slapped Rin on the back. 'Done. I'm surprised you bothered with this at all, we're both perfectly able to put on sun screen by ourselves.'
'It's a good experience for Kanade.' Rin pulled down her swimsuit top and stretched. 'You up for a little competition?' Rin seized up her adversary. I can do this. I can beat her.
'Always.' Itsuki sneered happily. 'But do you know what you're getting yourself into?'
'I play professional soccer. You think you can take me?'
'Martial Artist. Bring it on, tomato.'
'Don't even start with the color jokes, sunny.'
'Oh come on, we already got a Cure called Sunny.' Itsuki laughed. 'And we couldn't be more different!'
Slowly walking they were then speeding up more and more until they were both in full sprint, shooting past Hibiki and Kanade as they crashed into the water, hurling taunts at each other and disappearing out of sight within moments.
'Sometimes I ask myself if we're really the immature ones in the relationship,' Hibiki said to Kanade with a big bewildered look.
'I think we are. They're letting loose. Listen, Hibiki… uh, about touching my sides, I didn't really-'
'How long do you think I've known you, huh?' Hibiki grinned. 'I can sorta tell apart when you're just embarrassed angry and actually angry. Not all the time though.'
'Hibiki..'
'Don't read too much into it.' Scratching her cheek to occupy her hands, Hibiki turned around and did a jumping dive into the water to hide her own embarrassment. Acting tough and grown up like this is so not me!
The news of the clothing malfunction had spread far and wide now and while it was experienced and seen as a nuisance by almost everyone universally, there wasn't much to be done about it and when it came down to it, nobody managed to be all that annoyed over it. It was after eleven when the majority of the girls had assembled on the beach. Instead of having a big vote with everyone, more or less one person from each group was dispatched carrying the wishes and opinions of that group to handle scheduling things and such.
'So it's come down to this again.' Honoka sat next to Mai on a large blue towel and sighed. 'I feel like the decision making is coming down to the same people a little too often.'
'I can sort of understand though.' Inori shared an extra extra large towel with Itsuki, who had to stand in for Yuri, and Ako, who had brought a small book and was still paying attention to that. 'Just getting thirty-seven people together at the same time is going to be tough, making decisions that everyone can live with would take all day, possibly multiple days.'
'A process like this is much cleaner.' Reika was the representative of her group not by popular vote but because Nao had turned into a nervous wreck when asked, Yayoi and Akane were nowhere to be found, Miyuki was getting a late start to the day with Nozomi as far as everyone knew and that left only her.
'I still think I should have brought Rikka.' Mana was the surprise turnout of her group – everyone had expected Rikka to handle things instead but she had politely declined and told Mana to be more than just a field service leader for a change.
'Should we get started?' Komachi had replaced Karen, who was sleeping off being all worn out after competing with Saki and Nagisa in swimming and gotten a little too enthusiastic about showing off. She was sitting with Reika.
'We all got things we want to get back to, so lets.' Inori pulled out a small notepad from under her completely dry butt. 'First I'd like to fix us a schedule of the repeatable things to do. Basically, who will handle what quest.' Saying quest earned a snort from Itsuki. Is everyone on that team allergic to that term? 'There's four that I'd like to slot regularly into our schedule.' Inori handed her notepad to Itsuki who looked over it briefly.
'Maintain the garden, three people a day of each team, biases the day condition thingy towards positive. Helping out Mamo, this is a part-time thing so it's only for four hours a day, not eight, stuff costs only half. Gonna have to take turns with this one, each team gets one day, two people. Inori, your handwritten is terrible… what's this say?' Itsuki didn't see that Inori faintly blushed.
'Clean the public bath, four people on each team, bath becomes a shared commodity between six and eight in the evening.' Inori recited it from memory.
'Do all doctors have terrible handwriting or something?' Itsuki wondered out loud and had the notepad taken from her by Ako. 'Hey.'
'Last item, swimsuit photo shoot? What, are we making eye candy for Mamo or something? Six people per team, consecutive days need different people, beach becomes shared access for a day. That's gonna be tough, getting everyone to sign up for this.' Ako handed the notepad back to Inori. 'Or it would be if they hadn't given us authority to negotiate these things for them.'
She's gonna make a good queen one day, Honoka thought. 'Those don't sound bad at all, really. I'm sure the more brawny types will like the cleaning duty, gives their workout a bit of a purpose.'
'Do we really need the Mamo one?' Mai questioned. 'We already have a pretty large amount of money and really nothing to do with it other than buy things.'
'You never know when we're gonna need to splurge for something big. Imagine if it'll cost money to fix torn costumes from battle.' Itsuki wasn't the type to be careless with money.
'There is no demerit to simply having more money.' Reika supported the idea.
'Anyone here objections to all four of those making it into the daily things to do?' Mana posed the question and got zero responses. 'It's decided then. Are we done? I promised Regina to play some beach volleyball against her and-'
'Easy there, easy.' Komachi made noises that were definitely more accurate to use on a horse. 'I'm sure that isn't all we're here to talk about.'
'Komachi is right.' Inori flipped a page on her notepad. 'This is where the real discussion will start. The one-time-only things on the board. A number of locations can be added to our little space here. It's not an exhaustive list, I am never gonna call anything in this place ever exhaustive again, but we are looking at a public kitchen, a mountain trail, a bar, a library, an upgrade to the bath, a snow covered mountain top it appears, a mahjong parlor, the ability to modify the battle rules and some upgrades to the plaza. All of these come with different tasks associated with them. Some unlock repeatable tasks as well, like the bar and the library.' Inori paused and then eyed Itsuki, who was all up in her personal space and peering at the notepad. 'What?'
'I'm curious how you're fitting all of that on that tiny page. I can't make out anything though.' Itsuki winced when Mai pinched her foot and got her to back away from Inori. 'Ow, ow, okay, okay, I'm done goofing around.'
'How do we decided what to pursue first? I assume that every reward is given a sizable effort and task.' Reika got the conversation rolling again.
'As the one that has brought this up I personally want the mountain trail and the public kitchen. I'm a bit tired of the buffet already.' Inori flipped the page again. 'I'll keep a tally of preferences. Is everyone fine with two votes?'
Approving murmuring in the round and then Honoka raised her hand to about chest height. 'I'm voting for the bar and the library then.'
'The bar?' Mai eyed Honoka from the side and smiled. 'Aren't you still a little off from being able to drink?'
'Nobody here to police that.' Honoka smirked.
'I am also going to vote for the bar and the library then.'
'My mistake in not saying that up front but the library actually requires the mountain trail, so you'll have to vote for that to also vote for the bar.' Inori hadn't increased the tally yet.
'The bar and the public kitchen then.' Honoka changed her vote and Mai followed suit with the exact same. This time Inori added them to the tally.
'I'm voting for the trail and the library though.' Komachi didn't need to hesitate for this. 'I just hope the library comes stocked, I'm not that productive.' She cracked a big smile and earned a few giggles from the others.
'One for the trail and one for the snowy thing.' Itsuki surprised everyone with her second vote. 'What? No comments about how that's to be expected since I'm a martial artist and everything? Training in the mountains and everything?'
'You hang out too much with Hibiki, Itsuki.' Ako cringed a little. 'I'm voting for the bar and an upgrade to the baths.'
'Why the baths?' Itsuki was curious.
'I am not terribly interested in the other options.' Ako sighed. 'And I already have to use my other vote on what Urara would want or she will be insufferable for days.'
'You sure have it tough.' Mai grinned and chuckled.
'I will cast my vote for the trail and the library.' Reika figured that a library was a good place for anyone and a mountain trail would provide ample opportunity for all sorts of things. Maybe she could try and go fishing if there was a river.
'A bar sounds lovely. I'm not a big drinker but it's nice to drink a little with friends.' Everyone was looking at her with the clear knowledge that those people who said I'm not a big drinker but were usually the biggest drinkers.
'That's four for the trail and four for the bar. Unless you vote for the trail we'll need a tie breaker.' Inori looked over her tally. The kitchen was at three votes, the library at two, mountaintop and baths at one each.
'I'm fine with voting for the trail. I like the outdoors.' Mana sounded happy to go with that.
'We have a five-four-three-two order then, and two at one. Is anyone opposed to tackling things in that order?' Inori got no objections and flipped another page. 'The task for the mountain trail is to 'Endure a triathlon all the way to the end'. We don't actually have more information than that.'
'Considering how the test of courage went for the beach I think we should seriously prepare ourselves for this to suck.' Ako didn't sound very enthusiastic about this. Heavy sports activities like that were not really her thing.
'At least a triathlon is something very clearly defined. There shouldn't be any strange surprises.' Itsuki shrugged and was glared at by everyone else. 'What? What did I say?'
'By saying there shouldn't be any strange surprises you ensured that most certainly there will be strange surprises.' Honoka tried to smile but she felt exasperated. 'I assume it'll be difficult to put the triathlon task in use today?'
'I don't know.' Inori shrugged. 'I'll have to ask Sasorina about that.'
'I'll talk to Majorina then.' Mai offered up her help on the light team.
Reika suddenly spoke up. 'It is about time for the day condition to become active.'
'I hope it isn't another ridiculous one like the hiccups. I am tired of hiccups for the rest of my life.' Ako slowly got up. 'Since we decided on a schedule and a course of action, are we adjourned then? I'm getting a bit hot just sitting in the sun here.'
'Did you put on sunscreen?' A worried look and a question from Komachi. 'Your arms and shoulders look a bit red.'
'I didn't think I would be out in the sun for so long.' Ako touched her shoulders and they were really hot. 'I am definitely going to have sunburn tomorrow.'
'Meeting adjourned. I'll spread the word if and when we figure out when the triathlon will take place.' Inori looked at Mai. 'I'll go talk to Sasorina now. You are going to handle Majorina?'
Mai just nodded and then glanced at Honoka. 'Coming with?'
'And casually break space by switching teams?' Honoka mused and shook her head. 'Should I tell Saki if she turns up as anything other than a mess of big muscle and sweat?'
'She's really useful to have around the house, you know. I bet she can move furniture better than Nagisa can. Do you want me to lend her to you?'
'You're pushing the teasing a little too far now, Mai.' Honoka kept her smile, stood up and dusted off her already clean butt. 'I understand trying to change and trying out new things but I feel actually bad for Saki.'
Mai felt the wind taken out of her sails like a bird flying into a vacuum. 'You think so?'
'Not everything can be said as a joke. But I do think being a bit of a tease could suit you. Just keep it a little more innocent. And don't be so mean to poor Saki.'
'I'll take that under consideration.'
'Want to go and get some iced coffee?'
'Sure.' Mai got up and joined Honoka by her side. 'It's really not my nature to tease Saki, but it is really fun. Her reactions are so different from how we usually interact.'
'Keep in mind that it might not be as funny for Saki. Don't blame me if she comes to me to see asylum. It'll be hard to turn away that big hunk of a human.'
'I see I have much to learn, great master.' Mai lightly bowed as she walked and they both broke into laughter.
DISSONANCE
Pain arises from conflict. Conflict arises from two opposing forces. Pain gives rise to hatred and hatred is an opposing force all by itself. An endless, vicious cycle repeated until one side is completely destroyed. And then and there, one side lay beaten, to never oppose again, to never birth another conflict.
'What was that sound?' A voice, inquisitive, seeking to know what had transpired.
'Justice.' The answer given swiftly, without hesitation.
Silence dominated the space, the darkness between the two voices. No actions taken, or journeys ventured. No utterance of doubt and disbelief or accusation of lie was made. The spoken was truth or at least the truth of that moment, holding true within the confines of the space and time unfolding then.
But they were not alone. The two voices, they were but a pair among the many. 'Whoever is throwing chairs around, will you cut that out?!' This voice belonged to Kurumi, whose every step was accompanied by the rattling of metal, the girl in full armor, ready to do war.
'Sorry, reflex reaction!' She who claimed justice upon the vile construct that had demolished her toe now sought the forgiveness of her peers. A knight no less than Kurumi but one who served dutifully only Honoka.
'I told you to move slowly.' Scolding, humiliating tunes from the one whose body was a fortress by itself, before powers to touch it.
'You were the one who suddenly grabbed my sides and made me bolt forward, Saki.' A complaint lodged against the one that would scold her.
'Woah, it's pitch black in here too! Hey, what gives? The lights went out everywhere and I can't see a darn thing!' A new arrival to the scene, one wielding a spear of light, illuminating all around her – or it would have been were she not quick to forget the most core of principles of light; to shine there whence is darkness.
A hustled whisper, the sound of recognition and realization come late – followed by a weak shine from a single pronged shaft, culminated in a tip of magic. 'The heck's going on? Even my spear of light isn't doing its job right.'
Beyond her, beyond Regina, lay a battlefield of knocked over furniture and Cures, some dressed for battle, most still scantily wearing anything at all and ready to return to the sandy and hot confines of where the ocean rested. Five of them she would see: Nagisa and Saki, just returned from the beach, Kurumi and Hikari, the former shielding the latter with body and soul, and finally, in a corner not too far from her, Makoto, an ally of her own.
'The light just went out from one moment to the next. Back in our world I would expect this to be an enemy attack, but here… I don't know.'
A sharp whistle pierced the air, alerting the seven, their attention now drawn towards the source as moths to the flame. But more so still they were drawn to the flame proper, to the light, sticking close to Regina, a regiment of body barriers.
'Nagisa, Saki, get away a bit, you're way too bulky and in the way!' Regina kicked both of their behinds with less force than necessary to negatively impress. 'And you stop carrying her! Ikari, you can make some damn light, can't you?!'
'It's Hikari! How did you get that wrong?! Her name means light, not anger!' Kurumi, soon to be known as the Ikari of Light, stomped her armored foot to get across her point, Hikari snuggled within her arms much against her own desires and more so still to her heart being set aflutter.
'I need my powers to make light. Without my costume, I don't-'
'Right, right, that stupid damn thing that sprung up today. Holy piranha plant, that sure is a shitty combination.' Regina's curse was in hot pursuit by an exclamation of annoyance as a side handed chop connected with her head. 'I am gonna turn this off if you hit me again, Ange.'
'Holy…. Piranha?' Nagisa could not find it within her to keep confined a snort.
The seven venturing forth with vigor and one chair's worth of carnage having wrought already their path took them to the elevator which to the surprise of all would still work without flaw and respond hastily to their summon. And still within there and on the abandoned floor that was home to Luminous' dwelling, no light was to be found.
The door opened, Hikari was quickly gone within, a yelp to follow that could deadly poison those with low resistance to sugar. Kurumi followed her queen as any loyal subject would, the door shut behind, a second yelp, much greater in power, and a thud that was like a heavy object fallen down.
Minutes perished and the group waited impatiently. Nagisa had just opened her mouth when the door opened again, spheres of light the number twelve floating out ahead of the queen and knight, illuminating dimly much of the hallway around. 'Something is dampening the light… but I can't feel any evil.'
The elevator voicing its presence, the doors stuttering open and an unlikely duo stepping out from it – Love and Itsuki. 'Wow, there's light here! No more stubbing knees!' Love spotted the source of the blessing that bestowed sight on her and quickly approached, Itsuki not far behind.
'Big favor I gotta ask!' Love slamming her hands together in prayer and request, bowing down as she put forth her query. 'Can you give Itsuki one of those light spheres so she can get dressed? Better to get more of us set up so we can use our powers and everything.'
Hikari, whose very being was almost simply kindness was all too happy to oblige. 'Sure.' A single finger raised, a sphere descending to the very tip, touching but then not, floating over and rotating above Love's head like a halo cut down to size.
'So you're a holy woman now, Love?' Itsuki's mood was undefeated and undeterred in its course by the darkness that surrounded them. 'Remember that holy women are celibate.'
Love merely took a breath, cracked a smile and turned about with the greatest and most serious look she spoke to the queen. 'Excuse me, I'd like to return this.'
'Are you done with your comedy routine? I'd like to find out what's causing all of this and how to get rid of it.' Regina sought a remedy to their pitch black situation.
'Oh, this is the day condition apparently. We kinda ran into Majorina on our way in and she told us about it.' Love erupted in chuckles. 'Itsuki here got to test first hand how bouncy and soft our bewitching receptionist is.'
'I'm gonna become a police officer and arrest you for that pun.' The weapon of light, a source of hope now, became then also a source of imminent pointy stabbings for Love.
'We literally ran into her. If Hibiki hears about this she's gonna be all huff and puff. Anyway, thanks for the sphere, my room is twenty floors up so we'll take the elevator real quick. Come on Love, before you get me into trouble I can't bribe my way out of with some sweets.'
'I should tell you about that time Setsuna caught me reading a special magazine.'
'Come on.' Dragging merrily her companion to the elevator, Itsuki fell prey to her curiosity. 'Goddammit, she caught you reading a porn mag? What kind?'
'I never said it was a lewd magazine.'
With the seven left behind and the two going above, the confusion was much smaller with the three that were elsewhere by themselves. In the great outdoors, under the vast black sky that nay a ray of moonlight would grace now, floating silently among the waves, two quiet ones took great care to ease the ever growing panic of the third. 'Are you sure we're going the right way?' A quivering voice, inviting to the brave, luring them to protect the owner of it.
'This is not the open ocean so there is only way to go.' Reassuringly an answer was given in the form of facts of the situation. 'The tide goes to the beach and if we follow the sound of the waves breaking we will also get to the beach. Michiru, what do you think happened?'
The three – Michiru, Kaoru and Yayoi – had been far out again, dragging the short one with them as they smirked and laughed at her growing unrest of not feeling the ground beneath her feet. And yet by now, through need and adversity, Yayoi was able to swim just a little.
'If something bad was going on we'd hear shouting from the shore. It's right around noon too so this is probably another one of those daily inconveniences. Yayoi, I know I said 'float' but try to float a little less, it's like I'm dragging an inflated mat.'
Yayoi tried to be less in the way as she was disgracefully dragged through the endless black liquid surrounding her. 'If only I could transform then I could use my powers-'
'To electrocute us all. Saltwater or not, with your level of electricity we'd get the shock of a lifetime. I can make light so don't worry about that. If it's this dark everywhere we can get around without worrying too much about who can see us though.' Michiru was strong, physically so and even without her powers. Between her and Saki she was still the lesser of the two and still she was steps and leaps above much of the others. To drag Yayoi with her was no more of a hassle than to swim alone for one like her.
'But this is a really shitty coincidence with our outfits and transformations being broken and now this. I would have preferred the hiccups again.' Kaoru was slightly ahead of her sister, a pathfinder, for she had the superior sense of hearing and sight of the sisters.
'If this was a manga then this would have happened right as we got… touchy.' Yayoi's face was now subject to the fiery depths of self induced embarrassment, one that neither of the two she was with would share, she knew. I still can't believe I ended up in an unbelievable… is this even a relationship? It must be, we're kinda secretly dating and everything. And having s- doing lewd things. Why can I write and draw manga about this sort of thing just fine but in reality it's still making me this flustered just thinking about it?
She was not the only one that had a grand exploration of her thought just then. Michiru too spent time to think on her involvement with the short and cute one. It's curious. Really, really curious. She isn't really as helpless as she appears but we keep putting her in positions that do rob her of any kind of ability to help herself. We're not sadists, so… is it because we enjoy her reliance on us? The look of mild panic on her face? She is cutest when she frets. But before all of that, I'm surprise I find myself still interested in her after more than a day. In the time loop we were kinda… burned out on everyone. It would be really funny if we actually fell in love with Yayoi. The thought alone amuses me. 'How much further?'
'We should be hitting ground soon. Don't tell me you're tired?' Haughty and lightly mocking was how Kaoru came across and it was exactly how she meant it to be. 'Is our little pudgy pudding dragging too much?'
'I'm not pudgy!' A complaint made fiercely and without hesitation for she knew for a fact that it was not true. 'I sit around a lot for my job but I take great care to not become pudgy!'
'Sounds like a sore point and a funny store behind that.' Kaoru smelled prey and sunk her teeth into it without hesitation, refusing to let go until she had shook the life out of it. 'Did you, unsurprisingly, become pudgy after picking up work and had a bit of a shock when you didn't fit into your favorite skirt anymore?'
Yayoi blessed the darkness as a demon would, to hide away the expression of horror and surprise at Kaoru's adept guessing of what hath transpired. And much as a demon she lied. 'Of course not! I saw another mangaka come in and they were more than just pudgy and I only knew them from a picture when they are thin!'
'So which mangaka was that?' Michiru assisted her sister in surrounding their prey with fangs of doubt and growls of disbelief.
'A-Ayane. Yuritensai Ayane.' A lie as great as no other, for there existed no such person. It was a character of her own creation, in her own world of fiction. No more than thoughts and fantasy given shape and form by hers truly.
A shriek of surprise emitted from Yayoi – a tongue not her own touching her body, her cheek, leaving a trail so wet and yet not of the ocean. And she heard a whisper, not one of secrets but one of revelation; 'So that is what a liar tastes like.'
Yayoi's reaction shifted hard as a car in driving anime would and her eyes went wide. Could these two sisters perhaps… were they ones that knew? Knew about that?! Was that even possible? Nobody else here would possibly know about it, she was certain. But of course, these two were not like everyone else! So perhaps… she had to know! 'Is that a-' All her world turned to a darkness more profound than before, a dark something covering eyes and mouth together, invading within her body, accompanied by a taste of salt and cold. Frantically she reacted with wild motions to save herself, her body no longer within the care of the staunch protector behind her – and her feet slammed into the ground and her body erupted from the surface of the darkness and into the warm air of the world above.
Kaoru stood up ahead, a shadow contrasted against other shadows under the star- and moonless sky. Her imposing figure, her height and her long hair granting her the notions of a villain within the shadows to her form. To Yayoi this was not something to be feared as it would be to just any denizen of the light. No, to her this was an attraction born from the knowledge that villains too were often simply the heroes of their own story. A heart that beat faster now, thoughts that raced in lanes of fantasy and eyes that were burning the scene before her deep into memory.
Playing a role again, to not be herself, to be that which she discarded in all forms but memory of those around her – tying her long blue hair together with a scrunchie, the wet ponytail high on the back of her head, Kaoru took a deep breath, adjusting her eyes to be less like those of someone who had survived ten years of endless repetitive masquerade. 'Is anyone present on the beach? We are in need of some illumination.' Calling out but not shouting, Kaoru received no response to her query, left with the silence of the beach and the subdued roars of the waves. 'Not surprising, we took quite a while to get back here. Everyone else must have bolted to get back somewhere with light. Hey Michiru, did we lose our cute little hamster?'
'I'm here.' Strutting past the tall and teasing lady, Yayoi was glad to feel dry sand beneath her feet again. 'It's still hot… shouldn't it be way colder with the sun gone?'
'I don't think the sun is actually gone. It's probably just the actual physical phenomenon of Light being blocked out magically. I don't have a good explanation for this stuff. It's not exactly physics.' Her words were accompanied by the crunching of tiny corns of silicon beneath the feet of a person and then another, grandly bringing bits and pieces of the ocean with her on land. 'You good, Michiru?'
'Doesn't even qualify as a workout. Sometimes I feel like I totally overdid it with emulating Saki. I could probably do the whole 'crush an apple in my fist' thing.' A handful of steps took her forward, her arms reaching out for the shorter of two shadows like snakes reaching from the crown of a tree to grab and devour its prey. And in an instant Yayoi was caught in an embrace that lifted her off the ground, two trunks that resembled arms tightly binding her stomach. 'You're right, not pudgy at all. I guess all those fats go to your melons instead.' All around her could hear the dirty and lewdly motivated grin on her face.
'This is not even my final form! I still have time to grow!' Yayoi found that it was far easier to reply with wit and snappiness if she just stripped the words from the pages that she loved, even when they were not her own.
'You're basically our age, in what direction do you wanna grow? Definitely not upwards.' A snicker of playful malice accompanied those words, carrying Kaoru's teasing right to Yayoi's heart and making it swell up in defiance.
'I totally will!'
'As much as I like to see you two flirt we should probably get out of here and check with the others. Ah, I'm so damn sick of pretending. How much longer do we have to play the part?' The disdain for what she had to do was clear and there was nothing hidden in Michiru's words – the annoyance of her lot in life was clear to see for both the short woman in her arms and the sister just steps away.
'This is just my idea but maybe you could both read a bunch of manga. Especially carry around a couple volumes so everyone sees that you do. It makes sense if you're around me and then you can just say that manga really opened up your eyes to how to act more normal.'
The silence that followed Yayoi's grand plan was deafening – the crushing of the waves was growing louder with every moment and her prison of muscle and affection would not budge no matter her subdued struggle. She did not dare voice another thought for it could ruin or shift whatever reaction was there to come. Sometimes this just happened, the two of them growing silent and distant, off in a world of their thoughts that was yet weirdly synchronized, much as twins in manga often were.
'And here we thought you were just a cute and entertaining little lady. That is quite an ingenious idea. Of course you will have to take responsibility for being the one to bring it up, yes? You'll have to stay real close so you can make sure we read the right kind of manga.'
The embrace of Michiru's got tighter still than before, Yayoi's shoulders now in fierce contest with the large breasts of the crimson one of the sisters. With her face to match the head of her captor, Yayoi nodded audible thrice just as she felt and saw another shadowy silhouette right in front of her, bending down. Staring in the obfuscated and hidden visage of Kaoru made her heart beat faster – like she was a hero that confronted the subservient of the dark one, about to bring them to the side of the light, anti-heroes that would get their own spinoff.
The lightly cold lips of Kaoru connected with Yayoi's, a chill running through the little lady head to toe, a forbidden kiss with the enemy in the darkness, a pact that put in peril her party and promise with the principles of light. No depth was given to the kiss, a shallow and chilled meeting of lips and yet not hurried but deliberate. And she could feel through Kaoru's breath the devilish grin on her face, adorning her hidden visage with a hint of the darkness surrounding her. She felt the forces of evil seep into her skin, a blotch of corruption held at bay by her power of good. And much as she took on some of the evil, the villain that took and captured her would feel the good seep into them until their allegiance to the dark one would be gone.
'Shall we go then?' A chuckle as any other with no hidden motivation or unknown depths to it. But to Yayoi it was the chuckle of a villainous fiend, whose eyes were about to glow golden and to hiss and burst into evil roars of laughter. The darkness quite aptly elevated her imagination to great and unknown heights.
DISSONANCE
'This is seriously inconvenient.' Lament that originated from Miki and reached a number of others filled the room, one of many such complaints voiced by one of many such girls stuck in a precarious situation. 'Luminous, Bright, Sunshine, Sunny, Rouge… am I forgetting anyone here? They're all on the other team. That is some ass distribution in this situation.'
'Miki, language.' A voice of reason, belonging to Setsuna, sitting with her compatriot in the dining hall around a table that was hardly different from the depths of darkness further out.
'Come on Setsuna, it's true. All we got is Honoka and she's not exactly having an easy time with this.' Pulling on her costume to adjust a part that didn't sit right, Miki engaged with her frustration and exhaled some of it in a prolonged and exasperated sigh. 'What do we do?'
'Move to the beach? With some luck the other side is going to have a few of the lighting capable girls be there.' One of Setsuna's significant others voiced her opinion, disappointed in her inability to provide some assistance to her girlfriend and lover.
'Are you hoping Love might be there?' Two attempts of trial and error before Setsuna's hand properly found that of Ellen, a calm connection of warmth and support even though neither of them was able to utilize their powers to improve the situation they were in.
'I just got back from the beach and there wasn't anyone there.' A table near by, occupied by three, one of the voices; Nao. 'You know, getting around in the dark is not actually as hard as you think. I have lots of siblings so quietly getting through the dark is something I got a lot of practice with since turning on the lights would wake everyone up.' A dampened chuckle, hints of embarrassment and pride both within.
'Everyone must have had the same idea – to come back and get their costume so they can use their powers. Too bad that even magical light is dampened to the point where only a few of us can produce anything that produces any light at all.' Tsubomi was with Nao, a stark contrast of silhouette in the twilight of the room. She was there without the one she loved – they were short on people that could counteract the darkness and Erika's ability to copy the powers of another were highly sought after now.
'This sucks… I was having fun with Hibiki for once and then someone just turns off the lights everywhere..' For a while now she had done nothing but complain over the situation and through it she got on her own nerves. By any measure now, Kanade was not having a good time. 'I should have done some specialization training like Honoka..'
'Don't be so down.' An attempt to cheer Kanade up was made but Nao knew that it was not that simple. 'If the teams were a little differently divided we wouldn't be stuck in the dark. It's definitely not anyone's fault.'
'I know..' The sigh that followed from Kanade was so high on exasperation that all in the vicinity could hear it well. 'It just sucks so much… Hey, Ellen, do you think Hibiki is gonna blame me for this?'
Caught by great surprise that Kanade would consult her like this, and with others as witness to boot, Ellen needed a moment to realize that it was actually happening in reality. 'H-Huh?' A nudge from Setsuna and she managed to return to the reality of things. 'I really don't think so. It's not like you did anything wrong.'
'Goddammit, it's dark even down here? What the fuck.' The vulgar and abrasive words belonged without mistake to just one person that everyone identified quickly. 'Ako? You still there?'
'Yeah, yeah, I'm here. Calm down, everyone's in the same boat. And it's not that dark, look, they got a light pillar going.'
From beyond the boundary of the white twilight, produced by Honoka under constant expenditure of her own energy, arrived Lemonade and Muse, the ones that were seen as an unlikely and outright strange pair. 'Hey, is Rhythm around?' Urara still sounded like she was quite annoyed with the situation at hand. The sound her and Ako's steps made were clarifying that both of them had changed into their Cure forms.
'Hm, me? I'm over here.' Kanade too was wearing the costume that enabled her powers, something that had been quite problematic to put on in the dark and resulted in a few stubbed elbows and toes and twice as many curses and a thrown pillow.
'Where the heck is here? Ah, there. I still can barely see a thing. Hey, White, you doing okay there? This is looking a little faint compared to the usual fare.' Urara stopped short of the girl that she sought out to take a long gander at the one that brought the twilight into the dark.
'Please avoid talking to her, she is quite focused.' Seemingly spat out by the black beyond came Reika, wearing merely a long skirt and a shirt as opposed to the clothing that made her Cure Beauty.
'What a shit show this is. So what's going on? Why is everything in blackout mode?' As Honoka turned out to be unavailable, her question was now directed at Reika instead. As far as Urara was concerned this was as good a trade as any, both of them the same type, the same breed. Those who used their heads more than everyone else.
'The day condition is responsible for our current predicament. It appears that all natural and artificial light sources have been eliminated. Magical lights are heavily dampened, causing most of us to be unable to light their way.'
'That explains why my bloody chains aren't giving off even a glimmer. Can we have one normal day in this place? Anyway-' A quick look about and Urara recalled where Kanade was located. 'Hey Rhythm, what's going on with Rin? She's bound to be real handy in this situation. Why aren't you and her down on the beach?'
'I had no idea what was going on and everyone kinda left so I tagged along to get my clothes.' I should have just stayed there and waited for Rin… not like I'm being any useful here.
'Get up, there's no point in looming around in the almost dark here. We're gonna get to the damn beach and there better be someone that can light a real campfire or what not.'
Ako had separated from her crude other half and approached her other team mate as Urara talked to Kanade. 'How are you holding up, Ellen?'
'It's not as bad as it seems. I mean, I have Setsuna with me and it's just dark. Nothing bad is going on.' A smile dominated her face. Unlike Kanade, both Setsuna and Ellen had opted against trying to put on their costumes. Especially Setsuna feared that it would be an impossible struggle to get dressed as Cure Passion in the dark after never having done that before. 'Are you also going to the beach?'
'Urara looks and sounds like a delinquent but she's actually got the right idea. From what I remember we don't really have anyone on this side that is capable of producing light for multiple people. Honoka looks quite taxed just maintaining that thin energy beam over there. Urara can get us to the beach safely with her pathfinder chain, so it's a good chance to come with us.'
'Isn't she going to lose her power when we get to the beach?' Setsuna presented a sensible inquiry to the proposed action. 'And… here clothes too.' She looked a little cautious about bringing that up in front of Ako. 'You too, for that matter.' I am quite curious how she managed to get into that tight suit in the dark.
'We are both wearing our swimsuits under this. It doesn't impede our powers. Going to the beach is still a one way street, most likely. It will most likely strip away our Cure costumes and powers and return them to our rooms, so we'll only be able to safely get there once.' Not even a single lid was batted as Ako explained how prepared they were for what awaited them.
'We only put on whatever we could find in the dark, too, so..' Ellen gave her girlfriend a look that spoke for itself. She was in favor of joining the expedition that was shaping up. And from snippets of the conversation at the other table she could tell that Urara was convincing not just Kanade but also Nao and Tsubomi to join them.
'Well, if Ellen wants to go I'll happily come along. You'll come too, right Miki?'
'I have not a clue where Yuri has gone but I suspect she isn't gonna go to the beach so I'm gonna pass.' Her mood was palpable by her words and visible on her face. 'I checked her room but she wasn't there. But I'm not about to stumble into the garden while it's pitch black. Gotta agree with Kanade that I should have done some energy training that isn't just hitting and kicking things really hard. Not that I ever expected I'd end up using my Cure powers like this to begin with.'
Ako, who melted with the dark that surrounded her due to her full body covering black costume, raised her arm and snapped her fingers in the air once to get the attention of her partner. 'I got two over here, Urara. How about you?'
'All three.' A report came back indicating full success. 'Anyone else here beyond White and Beauty over there?'
'We got Diamond and Heart out and about looking for others. Diamond can't make light but she's basically able to see in the dark. You know.' I don't like saying 'cuz she's blind and what not'. Just feels rude somehow. Even though I know that tiptoeing around it like this is actually worse. Miki had her own thoughts on Diamond. I'll figure this out in time. Probably.
'Well, if you round up anyone else you should get your butts over to the beach. White isn't gonna last forever and once we get word out we'll hole up on out there we'll have plenty of girls to take turns casting a light, literally.' Urara gestured at the three by the table to get up. 'We're going. Word of caution, hold on tight to the chain at least always with one hand and kinda pull yourself forward. Let go and who knows where you'll end up. You'll probably walk into a tree or something.'
'Uh, I'll have to go and grab my swimsuit again.' Kanade raised her head and sounded no more annoyed with the situation than before. 'I'd rather… not… end up naked.' The shame a mental image of that projected onto her face was clear for all to see.
'Same here.' Nao joined Kanade in her acknowledgment of having to go change. This is seriously inconvenient. Honestly, what's the point of this?
Twenty minutes after Urara's explanation a metallic rope floating in mid-air was extending out of the building, through the plaza and into the fog, completely unsupported by anything but Lemonade's powers. Eleven girls were using it to slowly advance towards through the darkness and towards their final destination. Beyond the original seven there were also Alice and Yami, who had gotten it into their heads to explore the compound in the dark. And further beyond still, Honoka and Reika had decided to give up their position in the dining hall. Mana and Rikka had come by and Miki was now with them, searching for Yuri.
Unbeknownst to the eleven on the line of chain there was someone observing them, seeing perfectly fine in the dark. 'What are they doing…? Are their eyes that bad?' Dark Dream, still stuck on the wrong side of things, was watching from across the plaza, quietly whispering to herself. The absence of the sun and almost all light had come as a surprise and a shock at first – then what if this was a consequence of her being here? But now she knew it was just another quirk of the system. And still it worried her.
With everything this dark… it would be really suspicious if I was able to get around fine. And on top of that, they all stopped being able to transform. It's like things are breaking apart right after I got here. I really need to go back tonight, even if I feel sorry for Miyuki… I have my own Happy to go back to. Thinking about it, the real Dream being stuck with my Miyuki… that can't have ended well. And I'm surprised it didn't just kick me out of here, she must have tried to come back on her own. Did Miyuki get in her way? Did… shit, did they do something to her? What if they think this is some sort of plot by the real Cures to wipe us out? Dammit, I'm getting more and more paranoid the more I think about this. I need to get back. Tonight. 'And I better tell Nozomi about what happened with this Miyuki… god, what a terrible impression that's gonna make. 'Hey, I sorta kinda hooked up with the girl that wanted to get together with you and got all cuddly with her and oh thanks that you saved my life back then'. She's gonna pink beam me out of existence. Well, I better get going, the chain parade is gone, so..' Standing up, Dark Dream peered through the dark. I dunno if it's because I'm basically a creature of darkness but I guess this is kinda what 'night vision' must be like, right? I can see just fine after all.
Originally she had wanted to hide out in the garden somewhere to pass the time. After all, there was still the great danger of someone finding out that she was in fact not Dream but rather an imposter, one made by the darkness and that had taken the place of their friend. As nice as Cures seemed, they were very quick to attack and defeat darkness. Dream was the only one to have spared their alter ego and she had not forgotten this. Now that they were all more powerful… they would surely not hesitate to erase any such intruder.
Standing in front of the fog, Dark Dream hesitated. What if Miyuki is there? She'll want to be close to me and… damn, I do wanna be close to her too, but that's bad for both of us. My Miyuki is gonna quarter me and I'd deserve it too. Should I go to the garden instead? I could pretend to have gotten lost if someone does find me. But who knows how long this darkness is going to last? What if it doesn't clear up by the time it is time to do the battling thing? Or worse, if it will last until tomorrow noon? The more I hide the more suspicious I'll be but if I hang around the others I will automatically become suspicious… I don't even sound like Dream after all. Miyuki sure would have it easy, she sounds and looks basically exactly like her counterpart. Although with her attitude… well, she'd have a lot to deal with too.
'I think we got everyone. Even if we don't, I'm so tired of walking around and I'm just about outta juice too!' A voice that Dark Dream couldn't quite place the possessor of. And it was just emerging from not too far away, accompanied by more than just one set of steps. Boots with heels. A bunch of Cures, in full possession of their powers? That was bad news for her. Bolting away, making sure to dampen the impact of her steps to be as silent as possible, Dark Dream hid behind a large bush in the dark.
'This is as far as I go.' Another voice, but this one was one that Dark Dream knew all too well. Although this version was very, very different from the one she knew. 'I'll find my way back to my room somehow, you can go ahead. I'm not gonna step foot on the beach unless I have to.' Mirage Moonlight's original was up ahead, accompanied by two… three others.
Dark Dream took another look, peeking out from cover. One of them was very short and holding something that looked like a pole of pure energy. It was dimly illuminating a couple meters around them. Another was very tall and she immediately identified her as Moonlight. The other two were of similar size and she couldn't make out who they were. One was pink, the other blue and it looked like the blue one was leading the pink one by the hand.
'You're being unreasonable. I told you, nobody cares that-' The short one tried to talk to Moonlight.
'Whose fault do you think this whole mess is, huh? Do you want me to drown you?' Moonlight carried real hostility for the short one.
'Now, now, I do think you're being a little too angry about it.' The pink one was now trying to appease both sides but especially Moonlight. 'I really don't think anyone is spending much thought on it. I admit I don't know everyone as well as you two do, but it looks like you're seeing a conspiracy where there is none.'
'Mana, you're not helping. Listen, Yuri. Are you sure that people are really paying attention to you simply because of that swimsuit? The way Mana describes you to me you are the type that many girls would swoon over no matter what size your chest is or isn't.'
'Miki was saying the same thing. I still think that Erika needs to be punished for riddling me with a dysfunctional swimsuit.'
'Come on, I already said I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd get stuck with it. And it isn't dysfunctional, it's just got an unwanted extra option.'
Watching the argument unfold and continue all the way to the hotel, Dark Dream wondered what exactly was going on with this Moonlight. Getting out from her cover after the shorty with the light pole had gone inside the skyscraper, Dark Dream contemplated what to do next. I still can't actually get into Dream's room, which is gonna be a problem soon. I'm still wearing the same clothes as yesterday. There shouldn't be anyone in the garden now but who knows how long I can hold out there. I still need to go to the bathroom, eat and get something to drink. I'm not exactly one of those monsters of the week that these girls dealt with on regular basis. Argh, what do I do?!
As she contemplated her lot in life, she heard someone approach again – and again it was heeled boots on the pavement, indicating very clearly that a transformed Cure was closing in. There was no light source that she could spot which didn't ease her worries at all. Taking a different hiding spot than before, she covered and listened. The steps got closer and closer and as they neared her position she started to fidget and sweat. Was that the blue Cure that had led the pink one before? Could she somehow see in the dark? If only she actually knew more about these others. With only two teams of counterparts over in Banished there wasn't a lot of information to base guesses on.
No more steps, no more sounds. The plaza was quiet, save for Dark Dream's relieved breaths, short of air. Holding her own mouth close just as the steps got closest, she realized that her proximity to the beach entrance was probably the reason that someone had come so close. This is driving me crazy. I'll go and hide in the garden, push come to shove I'll sneak back to the hotel to grab some food, go to the bathroom and bolt again. As long as it's this dark I should be fine.
Standing up, Dark Dream heard a peculiar sound. That was not a sound that she enjoyed hearing or that anyone would have wanted to hear in her situation. It was not the clacking of heels on stone, far from it. A brief, sharp metallic noise. Like a sword being drawn from a sheath. And this particular noise, this very peculiar one… she knew. She had heard it time and time again, in completely different context.
A cold and almost steel like blade was chilling the air just in front of her bared neck. This was Beauty's ice blade and if that connected with her throat in any unfortunate fashion she would definitely end up with a loose head. This is what I've been afraid of all day. It was too good to think that the Reika over here would not figure things out. I barely sound like Dream even when I'm pushing my voice. I'm not exactly great at theater either… shit, shit, shit, what do? What do I do? Why isn't she saying anything?
DISSONANCE
One big mistake that Lemonade had made was that it wasn't just her powers that were stripped away by the beach – everyone's was. That had lead to a rather annoying moment of realization that her entire plan had hinged on the other side using their powers in the shared space. The band room and theater rooms were also shared but restricted to specific people. So a different solution had to be found.
'Back so soon?' Rin looked up. The face that greeted her was only half a face and half wooden twigs being carried by Akane. 'Leave them around the fire so they can dry out first. Not exactly primed for a camp fire, this stuff.'
'I'm amazed that a camp fire is working.' Akane was not the only one that brought in twigs. Nagisa was there too, together with Saki, both of them carrying an old, broken off palm tree, putting it down in the sand to act as a bench. 'Electric lights and everything doesn't work after all.' Nagisa looked around to check where Honoka had gone. 'Where's my good half?'
Polysaturating Reverberating Infusion Gray Diamond Skin Serum
'You mean Mai?' Erika poked fun at her, hiding out next to Rin, sitting on a towel. 'Over there.'
'Haha, very funny. I'm Nagisa, not Saki.'
'I know.' Erika's smirk was as dirty and malicious as the legions of evil.
'Hey!' Nagisa flexed her muscles and Erika squeaked in a fake voice.
'Honoka is with Mai. They're sorting out the water bottles while we wait for the next group to come back.' Rin was sort of the coordinator, not only of the campfire but also of everything going on. It had been her idea to resort to primitive means. And sure enough, while it didn't work as well as it should, it was providing an ample amount of light for more than a dozen meters.
'Don't be too long, we still gotta find more of these.' Saki stretched and noticed that Erika was staring at her. 'What?'
'I never really realized how buff you are. You look kinda like a body builder.' She sounded genuinely impressed. 'Makes me kinda wanna touch you.'
'Well, until recently I thought I'd be a professional athlete. But I'm really not sure about that anymore. A bit of it is because of the direction I went in as Cure Bloom, too. Mai was way better than me at the more delicate energy stuff so I figured I'd be her shield while she's my spear. I'm gonna grab something to drink too, actually, see you later.'
While not everyone was down at the beach, quite a few girls were missing, most of them had come down to enjoy some resemblance of light. Luminous was still absent and lending out her spheres to Happy and Melody, who were still looking for others stranded in the darkness.
'I'll put these with the others.' Komachi set down a box stuffed with bottles of mineral water. 'Thanks for helping me carry these, Itsuki.'
'Hibiki would yell at me if I didn't put my muscles to use after seeing you stagger back and forth like that. And probably throw something at me too,' Itsuki laughed it off despite knowing it would absolutely happen that way. 'I think we have enough to drink too now. Say, you don't happen to know where Erika ended up?'
'Isn't that her?' Komachi pointed at the short girl by the camp fire that was slowly throwing twigs into the fire.
'Thanks.' Waving at Komachi and walking away, Itsuki joined her teammate by the fire. 'Staying warm?'
'Nah, just bored!' Throwing herself flat on her back, Erika looked at Itsuki upside down. 'Oh, nice view.'
'I'll step on your face.' Itsuki was not in the mood for Erika's lewd pranks. 'I got a question about copycat.'
'My ability?'
'You can't use your powers on the beach, but can you copy someone's power by touching them and then use it back outside?'
'Eh…. I wish. No Marine, no copycat. Oh, good thinking, I could have copied Luminous or Rin here.'
'My power is heat, not fire. You'd have to grab Akane for that, not me.'
'You're so confusing! You're both red Cures and your powers are too similar!'
'I can still cook you.' Rin snapped her fingers at Erika who flinched on instinct. 'And look who's wary of turning into roast Marine.' A dirty grin played across Rin's face and she threw more wood into the fire before raising her voice. 'Hey, who's picking up firewood right now? We're gonna run low in ten minutes or so!'
'Pretty sure Love and her girls are gonna be back in a hot second.' Miki shouted back without looking up from the standing table she was at. 'I… I hate onions.'
'Don't be picky! Onions are good for you. And they're taste too!' Kurumi complained and kept fileting a large fish. Tears were streaming down her face like tiny waterfalls. 'You don't hear me complaining, do you?!'
'Trade with me, Miki?' Ange was there with them, currently prepping a couple of cabbage heads. 'You can handle the cabbage, right?'
Miki put down the knife, grabbed a paper towel to clean her hands and eyes and then walked around the table to the other side where Ange was. 'Yeah, thanks. I don't mind eating onions but preparing them just… it sucks. How do you want them, sliced or just plucked?'
'Plucked is fine, they'll go on skewers and all.' Ange took Miki's place and cleaned up the cutting board a bit before proceeding to expertly chop the onions. 'Back on the airship where Mana and we all lived, preparing meals was always one of the only times we felt like normal people.' The mood immediately plummeted as she said that and Ange didn't remain oblivious to that. 'Sorry, I didn't mean to be depressing. Being here in this place with all of you is giving us some new perspectives and a new lease on life. Honestly… I'm glad.'
'It's not fair to say all that when you're cutting onions. Now I can't tell if you're crying because you're touched or because of the onions.' The final member of the cooking party, she who put everything on the skewers, sound a bit like she suppressed a sniffle, too. 'I honestly couldn't believe how badly the world had ended up when I saw it… I can't imagine being able to hold out in such a world. Dang, now the onions are making me cry too.'
'You two make a disastrous combination!' Kurumi was still producing waterfalls of tears despite only standing next to the chopped onions and not actually being the one hacking them.
'Says the only girl at the table that's been crying for ten minutes non-stop!' Miki sighed. 'Just how sensible are your eyes? Don't you help Luminous out in the kitchen a lot?'
'She handles the onions!' Kurumi blew her nose with a paper towel and took a step back to clean her face up.
Gw2 Polysaturating Reverberating Infusion
'Luminous… who is that again?' Ange hadn't memorized every name yet.
'That blonde girl that is always around her.' Miki pointed at Kurumi and Ange made a big 'Oh' face as if she knew exactly who that was. 'I heard rumors you two are finally going out? That true?'
'Who babbled?!' Kurumi stepped back at the table and finished slicing the fish. 'W-Whatever. Yeah, we're going out! I still can't believe it that Hikari would – ow!' Paying not enough attention, Kurumi cut her finger.
'I saw that happening the second you asked her about Hikari..' Nao sighed, stepped away and got a look at Kurumi's finger. 'It's shallow. Band-aid and it'll be fine tomorrow. I'd stay away from the ocean though, the salt water will burn like fire.'
'Those are some serious big sister vibes.' Miki grimaced and enjoyed the surprised face that Kurumi was making. 'Cure Nee-san.'
'Stop it.' Nao chuckled. 'I already got so many siblings… but come to think of it, I wouldn't mind having a cute sister like Kurumi. She can actually help me in the kitchen and care for the others.'
'I'm not gonna be your sister!'
'Things are pretty lively over here.' A wild Alice appeared without warning and usurped the attention away from Kurumi. 'I heard someone yelp and thought you might need a replacement. I might not look like it but Ange and I were first and second in the kitchen back in our world. Regrettably I was never able to best her in her element.'
'You're making me blush, Alice. What happened to the girl you were with?' Ange nodded at Nao. 'Can you get her over to..' She forgot the name again. 'Sorry, the girl at the first aid stand.'
'Blossom, Tsubomi,' Nao quickly told her before walking Kurumi off.
'Yami was kidnapped by Itsuki just now so I thought I'd make myself useful somehow.' Alice glanced at the table and took Kurumi's spot. '..Miki, right?'
'Yeah. Don't worry if you don't remember a name, nobody here is expecting you to remember thirty people right off the bat, especially not with first names and Cure names and everything. I'm amazed I'm able to keep all the names in my head. I still remember the times when it was just Love and us. And then boom, this big bomb of Cures dropped on our head. And then this place and let's not even get into how many of us there are.'
'Enough legendary warriors for any kind of legend,' Alice smiled through the onions making her eyes water. 'Although back in our world, we had actual legendary warriors from way back.'
'I get the feeling that something like this must have happened before, a long time ago. I assume you're not the only ones that had them.'
'Makes me curious how they finally got out of here if it happened before.' Ange finished a batch of onions and shoved them over to the vacant board with the skewers. 'Should I call someone?'
'I'll handle it, I'm about done with the cabbage anyway.' Miki briefly raised her hand and then continued plucking.
'One thing I don't understand about there being so many Cures is why wouldn't the same team tackle the enemies one by one? Why are there so many of us?' Ange was seemingly immune to the bite of the onions or just really tough.
'I can't speak for everyone else, but we had our hands full with just the one organization we dealt with. If our attention had been divided… Setsuna probably wouldn't be here with us now. Maybe none of us would be here. And after that we had our lives to deal with. And honestly, the attacks were basically centered around us and the place we lived. If they had attacked some town that was two hours away by train, I don't know how we would have stopped them then.'
'Need any help?' Hibiki and Kanade popped up like weeds. Hibiki was quick to recoil from the heavy onion mist in the air however. Kanade was undeterred by it. 'I'll… I'll leave this to you, Kanade.'
'Leaving you unsupervised in the kitchen would be unconscionable anyway.' Kanade took the empty board without waiting for an answer to that question before. It only took her a moment to sort out what they were making.
'What is that supposed to mean?!' Cheeks puffed to the absolute maximum, Hibiki resembled a miniature giant space hamster.
'I remember having to come over and help you scrub the kitchen, the entire kitchen, after you tried making a meal.'
'That was just one time!'
'You're great at taste testing but I always get a bad feeling when you're near a stove or an oven..'
'Have you two been friends for a long time?' Alice was very, very amused by those two putting on a little show. 'It reminds me a little of how Mana and Rikka used to bicker back when we were in school.'
Kanade felt the words being stuck in her throat. Being asked this was not good for her. I… I can't say we have been friends for years. I always fought with Hibiki and just recently…
'Yeah. We've been friends since before middle school, basically. A couple of rough patches but nothing we didn't work through.' Hibiki looked right at Kanade as she said this to Alice and with bated breath Kanade looked back – and poked her finger with one of the skewers, drawing blood. 'And you were just berating me! Sorry you three but I'll get her patched up. Jeez, how did you even manage that? You're usually so good in the kitchen but the second I'm there you turn into a klutz!'
'I'm not a klutz! It's not my fault you just… well… It's your fault anyway!'
'How is this my fault exactly? You thick headed sweets making machine!'
'That they can bicker like that and still understand each other is a nice thing.' Alice kept smiling as she looked after them walk off. 'That is one thing I wish Mana was capable of doing.'
'Don't say that Alice.' Ange sounded stern, like she was scolding her companion. 'You know that-'
'Yeah, I know. No need to bring it up. That is not what I meant anyway, Ange.' Alice cut her off without hearing her out and her smile was gone entirely.
Man, things just got awkward in an instant. I guess being caught in a ruined world and forced to live on an airship is gonna put some stress on relationships between people. I'd probably hang Love on a clothesline at some point if I had to be around her day and night for years. I cherish her but… 'You're both a bit older than the rest of us. I was wondering, the costumes you wear, are those first or second iteration?'
'In my case, fourth,' Alice answered quickly. 'Everyone else is on their third iteration. I liked how our costumes looked like initially but when we all branched off into different directions ability-wise, well… I am sure you know what I am getting at, miss Samurai.'
'You're not the first person to call me that.' Miki chuckled. 'We weren't sure what kind of motive we wanted for our new costumes. We're named after fruits but that wasn't exactly a very inspiring theme.'
'So Japanese clothes somehow became the chosen option?' Alice finished up the remainder of her fish and joined Miki at the other side of the table. 'I'll start on the first few of the skewers.'
'Thanks. We actually ended up writing down general ideas and Love's idea was Japanese style clothing in case we had to leave the country for our next big adversary. She wanted everyone to know where we're from and who is bringing justice to the evil guys.'
'What was your idea?' Ange asked and finished chopping onions, to Miki's delight.
'Medieval designs. I honestly just picked something that would allow me to have some armor on my costume. Inori and Setsuna totally shot me down though.' Miki grimaced. 'In hindsight I'm glad.'
'A knight? Like Kurumi?' Ange took a quick look around to see if she could spot her.
'Not that much armor, I'm still a lot more movement orientated than her.'
'She seems like a tough cookie to fight.'
'You have no idea. She's a monster. I don't think I score badly in terms of combat ability versus other Cures but Milky Rose is almost unfairly strong. In close range she'll probably break your bones while being protected by that armor and if you get too far away she'll use her special move and shred everything in her path to pieces. It's a bad time either way.'
'I'd like to fight her,' Alice glanced in the general direction of the first aid station.
'Well your group probably has some real advantages because you had a few more years to refine your powers.'
'Rikka is probably the scariest to fight out of the six of us.' Ange looked for Rikka this time but couldn't find her either. 'She isn't very mobile but if she has someone protecting her she is the ultimate long range fighter. One unlucky hit and that's it.'
'There are a few really scary ones when it comes to fighting. In my experience, Bright and Windy from Bloom's group are both really dangerous in their own ways. Bright in a physical sense and Windy because she can just take you out without any real way to defend yourself. Although it's a double edged blade since it takes her out too.'
'Oh, that is an ability I'd have loved to have with us back in our world. That would probably make it really easy to calm down or restrain people that are on a rampage.' Ange caught herself bringing a gloomy topic back up. 'Sorry, force of habit.'
'It's fine. Nozomi's group… obviously Milky Rose. She's definitely the most dangerous out of them. In our group I'd really hate to be fighting Inori.'
'Sorry, I can't place that name.' Ange asked, and Alice already had her mouth open to ask the same.
'Short wavy hair, yellow Cure, speedy type that uses daggers?' Miki gave a really concise description of her friend.
'Oh, her!'
'Her special ability is terrifying. Honestly, it scares me a little even though she's my friend and ally.'
'She's the mind controller.' Alice put one and one together. 'That is a really suspect ability, I agree. Why did she develop something like that?'
'Probably because of Setsuna.'
'I don't understand.' Alice knew who Setsuna was though.
'Setsuna used to be Eas and started out as our enemy. I guess in Inori's mind, if she was capable of controlling someone else with magic she could avoid situations like what happened with Setsuna. She died and was brought back to life through the power that lets us transform. That's what made her Cure Passion.'
'It's similar to Regina, don't you think?' Ange looked at Alice who just nodded lightly. 'I can see why she would come up with an ability like that then.'
About twenty meters to the other side of the fire was Setsuna, sneezing while drinking water and choking a little on the clear liquid. 'Are you okay?' Love was with her, taking the bottle from her and helping Setsuna stand by supporting her arm so she could cough without worrying of falling down.
Nodding hastily and coughing a few times, the two of them attracted the attention of a helping hand. 'You two okay?' Inori had just visited the water stand to get a new bottle. Being by the fire was really drying her out.
'Nothing bad, Bukki, Setsuna's got some water down the wrong pipe due to a sneeze.' Love smiled a little and Setsuna recovered after a few more coughs. 'Someone talk about you behind your back?'
'Maybe.' Setsuna let out two more subdued coughs before she stood straight up, looking more surprised than annoyed or in pain. 'This makes me remember that time you absolutely insisted on eating the spiciest food they had when we were in Thailand.'
'I don't remember that at all.' Love faked ignorance and Setsuna poked her sides. 'N-No, not re-remembering! S-Stop, I'm ticklish!'
'I'm gonna get diabetes or something.' Urara cringed a little and sorted through their inventory. 'Ako, did you see where the vodka went?'
'Which one is that again?' Ako was helping her partner if only to ensure there actually remained an inventory to be distributed at a later point. 'And I don't know why it being dark makes you lot think about drinking. It's technically still the middle of the day.'
'It says 'Vodka' on it in big letters. And in this place it barely matters what time it is. Don't be a prude.'
'Being reasonable is not being a prude.'
'This whole situation is unreasonable in every way.'
'Even more reason to not let go of the little-'
The bottles clinked loudly and Urara turned around with a pissy and sour look on her face. 'Does it seriously bother you or do you just want me to acknowledge that it's irresponsible as hell to be drinking the moment we get back from beating the shit out of each other?'
'A bit of both. I worry about my future.' Ako didn't hesitate to confront Urara head on. That was the only way to confront her anyway. Her partner was one of the few that didn't take to subtlety or hints. No, she had to butt heads with her, almost literally so. 'I'm serious about this and that means eventually I'll have to introduce you to my parents. And I don't want to introduce an alcoholic'
'Change doesn't happen overnight. And I don't think the rough edges are gonna come off entirely.'
'You know that's not what I want either. But it feels like you're getting worse instead of better.'
'It just feels that way. I'm serious too. Why do you think I'm out here with all of you instead of hammering away in my room? Puts a limit on how much I can drink before someone, you, stops me.'
'The way you say that makes it really hard to actually praise you for putting in the effort.' Ako felt torn on the inside. I can tell she's really serious and that she's… putting in some effort, but is this the right type of effort? And I don't know how to support her. She's not exactly someone that would be happy with me telling her 'You did good' or-
Someone cleared their throat very loudly and with an awkward smile on their face. 'I hate to interrupt your important discussion but don't you think this is something that you should discuss in private?' Makoto had shown up, carrying a crate that contained dark green bottles, some light beer for the people that didn't feel like drinking any hard alcohol but also didn't want to stick with soft drinks. 'I couldn't help but overhear and I gotta ask… one of you is an heir to a kingdom?'
'Don't look at me.' Urara snorted and shrugged. 'I still crack up at the idea of me marrying a princess some day.'
'Thanks for that vote of confidence.' Ako clicked her tongue and kicked Urara's ankle. 'I suppose I do have terrible taste in women.'
Uh… I feel like I opened up Pandora's Box here. Makoto suddenly regretted asking. Now they're hurling snide remarks at each other… What would Mana do now? I should have brought Ange at least. I need to stop them… what if this becomes a big fight and it is my fault? Like that time I opened up my big mouth and it ended up with Regina and Rikka not talking to each other for a week? 'Actually, I have to-'
Ako was pulling on Urara's cheeks while Urara was blatantly groping her in broad absence of daylight. Both of them didn't stop what they were doing, fighting in their own stubborn way, but Ako turned her head and looked at Makoto before she had time to slink off. 'What? You don't just bring up something like that without reason. You have some questions about my king-' Ako quivered from Urara pinching her right nipple and kicked Urara's ankle again, flipping her off balance and throwing her into the sand. Panting quite a bit and with a strange mixture of calm and annoyance on her face she stepped back and faced Makoto.
'It's just… I'm not from Earth myself, and my girlfriend is basically one half of the reincarnation of the princess of said kingdom. I was just wondering if I heard right and there was another Cure that was related to otherworldly royalty.'
'Is that all?' Ako sighed, seemingly relieved. 'I'm the crown princess of Majorland. What is your country called?'
'Majorland… Majorland… I feel like I've heard that name before. I'm from the Trump Kingdom.'
'I've heard of that before. You have some sort of powerful magical weapon that serves as a royal heirloom, right?' Ako demonstrated her royal knowledge. I cannot believe that the bits and pieces of politics I've been taught have come in handy like this. I should be a little more cooperative with my teachers when we get back.
'Yes! The spear of light, it's real name being the miracle dragon glaive.' Makoto's eyes sparkled a little.
'My Kingdom is the one responsible for singing Metafallica. You might know that as the Hymn of Light.'
'I knew I had heard that name before! You're the ones that establish the dimensional confines of a new fairy world, don't you?'
'I'm surprised you knew. We don't exactly keep it a secret but it isn't something that comes up a lot in conversation. It doesn't happen often after all. My mother hasn't had a chance to sing it in all her life. It's-'
'Don't tell me I gotta learn all this stuff.' Urara had gotten herself back together and dusted off the sand best she could. 'I don't get even half of what you're talking about.'
Ako took a deep breath and slowly exhaled before she quickly grabbed Urara's hand, surprising both her girlfriend and Makoto. 'I don't know if you have really met her yet-' Nudging against Urara from the side, Ako smiled with some hesitation. 'This is my girlfriend, Urara. The next queen of Majorland and also my biggest headache.'
'You're… very direct. I think I would be too embarrassed to introduce Ange like that. Or have her introduce me like that.' Makoto was blushing much harder than the other two combined and then some. They must be really serious about each other if they can say things like that right after fighting… I haven't really fought with Ange ever so I'm not sure if I could do the same. 'Are you both from the same team?'
Urara burst into laughter without hesitation and didn't shut up even after Ako stepped on her feet. 'Urara, get a grip.' Ako hissed at her and still she laughed.
'But- think about that for a sec! Imagine me in your group! Or you in mine!' Urara held on to Ako's hand but was bending over in laughter now.
'You're still laughing too hard.' She's got such a cute laugh and yet the only times I get to hear it is situations like this, when it is wholly inappropriate to laugh like that. And it is taking all I have to keep a straight face. It is… pretty funny to imagine Hibiki and Kanade having to deal with this drunkard of mine.
'So… did you meet before you all came here?' Makoto changed her question. I don't get what's so funny about this… our team too has a black and yellow Cure. So it isn't odd for them to be together. And they look like they're the same age… no, maybe she's a little older? Although Urara looks like she must be older because she's drinking.
'No.' Urara shook her head and finally got a grip. 'Ako played the cool grown-up loner for a while and I figured 'she's hot as hell and always on her own, I can totally get her to come around'.'
'That..' That sure is a way to put it. I get the feeling this Urara character is someone I shouldn't get too involved with. She's a little too Regina for my tastes. And Ako reminds me a little of… well, more Alice than Rikka, actually. What is it with the strong and mature types liking the bad girl type? 'That is quite a story.'
'She sexually harassed me until I gave in and actually let her be my girlfriend.' Turning sideways, grabbing her girlfriend's shoulder with her hand, Ako forced a quick kiss on Urara's lips. 'She's a delinquent idiot but she's my delinquent idiot and I love her.'
Forcing Ako's hand off her own and putting both her arms around Ako's waist, Urara pulled her close and chuckled. 'Can you believe the bad taste of this little princess here?'
No, I actually can't. Awkwardly laughing, Makoto just tried to crack a smile. This place has some seriously weird people. Now that I think about it… I think Urara belongs to that team with the girl maintaining the fire? Ran… no, Rin? 'I think Ange is gonna start looking for me soon, so… have fun.'
Watching Makoto make a hasty exit, Urara nearly broke into laughter again. 'She was so weirded out by us.'
Ako sighed and let her eyes meet Urara's. 'I worry for the future. How long are you gonna hold on to me, you pervert?'
'You don't like it?' Tightening her grasp, Urara rested her forehead against Ako's.
'I do, but who do you think is supposed to sort your booze so you can get drunk like a monkey living in the mountains?'
'Work always gets in the way of the good stuff.' Letting go of Ako, the crude girl returned to the task at hand. 'Did you see her face when you told her how we got together?'
'You're awful if that amused you. That's basically going to be the way my mother will look at you, too. And I don't even want to think about my father… he's going to have a panic attack just from me liking girls.'
'Urara!' Someone called out to her.
'What now? I'm all out of funny antics juice for now.' Looking up from the booze table, Urara was surprised to see that it was Komachi of all people that was shouting. Pigs are gonna start flying any second now. 'I'm working already!'
Komachi arrived at the table and had to support herself by bending over and holding on to the table after running there. 'Have you seen Nozomi? Nobody has seen her at all since last night. Miyuki is pretty worried about her.'
'Our fearless leader is missing again while something weird is going on? Big shock.' Urara wasn't very fazed but adjusted her attitude after Ako slammed a particularly large bottle on the table. She was able to tell between Ako being legitimately annoyed by what she did and pretending to be to rile her up. 'No, haven't seen her. And I know this is just a dumbass day condition messing with us. She's probably just stuck in her room or lost somewhere in a closet. She'll turn up when the lights come back on.'
'That is what I thought, too, but something doesn't feel right. Nozomi has been getting better lately, but… it's not like her to be absent now, especially not after Miyuki confessed to her last night.'
'Man, Nozomi finally joins the ranks, huh? Took her forever to wisen up.' Urara paused and then continued. 'So what, maybe she's got the frights after figuring out she's in love with a girl? I know I needed a few days to work through that particular revelation.'
'Really? You need time to work through something?' Ako paused her sorting of the bottles to throw a burn at her partner.
'I know, I wasn't always this invincible superwoman. Shocking, right?' Urara deflected the burn with ease. 'No, seriously, I have no idea where she could be. Did someone check her room?'
'Miyuki asked Heart and Diamond for help since they can get around in the dark relatively well and there was no answer when they checked her room.' It was clearly, even to the abrasive Urara, that Komachi was legitimately worried. 'She's been going through a lot of things lately, so-'
'I get it. But I just don't know where she could be. Nozomi and I aren't really close these days.' Shit. That wasn't what I wanted to say. And here we go, her mopey face. 'Nobody is blaming you for having your own shit to deal with, Komachi. We're all making an effort, you too.' How come I'm the one that has to cheer up her? Where is Karen when you need her? Or Rin at least. Dammit, I'm no good at this nowadays. 'The blackout aside, this place is pretty safe, Nozomin is gonna be fine.'
Ako and Komachi both just stared at her like she had said something horrible. 'I shouldn't have tried to be nice if this is how you treat my attempt to care.'
'No, you did pretty good there. But what the heck is 'Nozomin'?'
It was the first time that Ako saw her girlfriend like that. The corners of her mouth growing further apart, eyes widening in horror and her usually deep pitched voices cracking and producing a high-pitched school girl voice for the first time. 'Forget I said that right now!'
Komachi on the other hand broke into laughter. 'You still call her that?! She'll be so happy to hear that!'
Lunging forward, Urara grabbed Komachi by her arms and shook her wildly, with a ferocious look on her face. 'If you tell her I'm gonna fucking kill you, Komachi!'
Pinching Urara's left ear and twisting it just enough for the violent lady to back away from her teammate, Ako remedied the situation. 'Yes, yes, enough of that, back to work with you. If we see Dream we'll tell you, Komachi.'
'Let me go Ako! I need to erase her mem-'
'Enough.' Twisting a little more, Urara started to wince. 'We both know you are not really going to try and erase her memory so cut the act and help me sort the bottles.'
'Does Majorland have a strict 'no fun allowed' policy or something?' Released from her love's painful grasp, Urara rubbed her ear and shot Komachi, who was on the verge of laughing out loud, a terrible look. 'Not one word to Nozomi!'
'You know, Urara, I was really worried about you when I saw what… well, what kind of person you became in the time I didn't see you.'
'Aren't you one to talk. You ended up a hermit. I guess lucky both of us we ended up here.'
'I'm… glad we're all back together. I know we're different people now and it can't all go back to how it was when we were still in school. But I don't want everyone to go their separate paths again when this is all over.'
'Look at you, finally growing a spine.' Urara's smile was both dirty and warm. 'And well, I got no idea what the future holds in store for me but it's definitely tied to Ako. So if you want me around, you're also gonna have to plan for Ako.'
'It'll be really complicated since everyone is getting close to people we didn't know before. Especially Nozomi and Kurumi.'
'Man, I still can't believe Nozomi is one of us now. Doesn't feel real.'
'I was shocked too. But when you imagine them together they look really cute together.'
'Pink overload if you ask me.'
'I sure wish I had someone to help me sort this stuff.' Ako bumped against Urara, hip to hip, and looked at Komachi. 'Can you come back later? We don't know where Nozomi is and Urara is never gonna do any actual work as long as she's got an excuse to slack off.'
'You have no idea how hard I worked at my job back in the real world you spoiled princess.'
'Huh? What did you just say? Sorry, I do not speak hooligan.'
'Ah?!' Urara reacted without thinking about it and felt strangely self-conscious when Ako looked at her all haughty.
Away from the ever fighting and most unlikely combination was a wholly different kind of commotion going on. 'Stop, stop, stop! What are you doing?!' Akane snatched the skewers out of Erika's hands. 'Are you nuts? You wanna eat charcoal?!'
'I didn't know you were good at grilling. That's amazing! You're like a kitchen wizard, Akane!' Miyuki was standing next to her friend and a little overly excited.
'Ugh, Miyuki, you reek of booze!' Akane pushed Miyuki away by poking her forehead. 'Who gave her alcohol?! You can't give alcohol to her!'
Slinking away in the shadows was Regina, who felt it was best that she was nowhere to be found when it came out that she handed the depressed looking girl a drink to cheer her up without mentioning that it was basically a third alcohol.
But there was no escape for her. 'And where might you be going?' Ange captured her other half and dragged her by her wrist. 'You're the one that gave her a drink, right?'
'She was seriously bringing everyone's mood down. I get being worried, the six of us basically invented coping mechanisms for worrying all over, but she was overdoing it.' Regina defended herself. 'And what's the harm? It's not like she's puking her guts out or anything. That there barely qualifies as being drunk.'
'We're new here, Regina. Can you maybe wait until our second week before you start getting people drunk?' I know there is no point in me berating her, but I wish she was a little more considerate of us being outsiders for the time being. It's not that easy to fit in when everyone already has their little social groups. 'I don't want anyone going to Mana and asking her to reign you in.'
'You're blowing this out of proportion, Aguri.' Regina pulled her arm free and stared right at Ange. 'I know you want to make a good impression, but you ever think about what kind of impression it makes if you fake being someone you're not?'
'Just try to be a little bit responsible.'
'You're overreacting.'
'And don't call me Aguri.'
'Yeah, yeah.'
'One yeah is enough.'
'You're like my sister, not my mom. Stop acting like it.'
'I wouldn't have to if you actually acted your age.'
'Being a certain age doesn't mean you need to act stuck up and like a role model.'
'That's not-'
A loud whistle interrupted their little fight. It came from right by the fire, where Akane and Rin were maintaining a large camp fire and a much smaller fire to grill stuff over a metal grid. But neither of them was the one summoning the attention of everyone scattered around, engaged in various topics of small and serious talk. 'We're about thirty minutes out from registration cutoff.' Mana was explaining loudly to everyone, with Rikka and Karen by her side. 'So I just explain the rules that we copied down?' Talking in a low voice to Karen, Mana received a nod of approval and got loud again.
'Today we have the following rules; First - Selfish, voiding all team arrangements and making everyone their own team for purposes of friendly fire. Second – Chaos Infusion. One participant on each side has their powers multiplied by a factor of ten but is going to run completely berserk. This is randomly chosen. Last – Defense is Offense. Fifty percent gain, can be picked up to four times per fighter. Causes defense powers to go down by twenty-five percent and offense powers to go up by twenty-five percent. That's all.'
'That's all she says.' Rin was the first to comment on it. 'A free for all with two super powered berserkers running around on top of everyone probably ending up with zero defense power and double offensive power. Do you have any idea how ridiculous this sounds? Just a question, if whoever ends up the berserker picked that last rule four times, do they end up with twenty times their normal offensive power? Because in my case that'd probably cook everyone instantly.'
'I'd assume so.' Karen took over for Mana. 'Anyone who wants to register please meet up with Mana and Rikka for the Dark Team and with Hikari on the other side of the fog for the Light Team. Please do this now, cutoff is very soon.'
'Are you going to participate, Mana?' Rikka had been standing quietly next to her, holding Mana's left hand. Here on the beach she had no access to her powers and the vast open space made it really difficult to not get lost. The lack of light made no difference to her but to the people that helped her get around.
'I think I'm going to pass. It sounds like this is going to be a super short and super intense fight and that's not really what I'm good at. But you should participate.'
'Me? Without you?'
'You're really strong, Rikka. With your powers heightened like to twice what they are normally you can probably defend yourself against anything flying your way. Except maybe the two twenty-fold power Cures. I think they'd take out even Alice in a flash.'
'Fighting without you worries me.'
'What's wrong, Rikka?'
I didn't even need to say anything. 'I'm not confident. Not being able to see in a battle with other Cures is really a burden. And without anyone to protect-'
'I'm not the only one you should trust with that.' Pulling Rikka closer and into her arms, Mana kissed her on the forehead. 'I know you trust me more than anyone else, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't make an attempt to trust others. This isn't like back in our world where our lives depended on it every single time. Even if you lose it'll just end with a few bruises. What happened to the brave Cure Diamond that always stood by my side, even after she lost her sight?'
'She got a little too used to always having her beloved Mana and Regina by her side.' I wish I had my mask… I'm definitely blushing. It's so unfair. I can't see Mana's face anymore but she can see mine… No, don't think like that, Rikka. It's better me than her. At least I can still see her somewhat when I use my powers. Who knows if Mana would be able to come up with a technique like that? 'You think I should try?'
'Yeah. Sign up and after you find out who else is with you, you can ask them for help. One of the rules negates team alignment but that is basically just making it possible for friendly fire to occur. Your control is way too good for that to be a problem.'
'When did you get so good at flattery?' Rikka faced down. A remnant of before. Looking away when she was embarrassed. Even though she couldn't see anymore, her instincts were largely unchanged.
'You're my strongest swallow, made of unbreakable diamond, aren't you?' Mana whisper to her girlfriend and kissed her again, this time properly on the lips.
With all of them having to get dressed manually and having to traverse through the dark the large singular group on the beach lost quite a few members relatively abruptly.
Mana was one of those that were left behind. Holding a particularly long twig and poking around in the fire, Rin sat down next to her. 'Sitting this one out?'
'Literally.' Mana grimaced funnily and continued poking. 'A lot of them went off though.'
'Hm, yeah. This rule set promises a lot of money. Especially if you get lucky and end up with twenty times output.'
'And you're not going? Are you more of a close quarters type like me?'
'No, the rules are actually kind of perfect for me.'
'Someone in the battle that you don't want to hurt?'
Rin glanced at Mana and then focused back on the fire. 'You're pretty sharp.'
'Honestly, I could probably do pretty well with those rules, but I send Rikka off to fight and I want her to learn to trust new people.'
'That's nicer than what I am thinking.'
'Worried about the berserk rule?'
'Yeah. My ability already works almost like friendly fire to begin with, but if I end up with twenty times output I would turn everything around me into magma. Maybe even set the air on fire. There are some pretty terrible ways to go and burning alive is probably one of the worst. And a lot of my friends are on the other side right now. So even without the Selfish rule I'd sit this one out.'
'Fighting our partners is a bit of a problem, I give you that. Do you know why I'm so good at regeneration magic?'
'I wouldn't call that 'good', it's more on the level of 'freaky' if I'm honest. Is there even any way to get rid of you without blasting off your head?'
'You exaggerate. If I take too much damage too quickly I'd be unable to regenerate. Since you didn't guess I'll just tell you. There's two reasons. One, I want to be able to protect those around me without putting my life in danger. Two, I wanted to be able to let the others spar with me while giving it their all. It was important that we all got stronger and I saw this as a good way to let them get serious.'
'Noble.' Rin picked up a twig of her own and poked the fire in different spots. 'Hey.'
'Hm?'
'I gotta ask. Do you have nightmares? That… it was totally a hellscape of a world.'
'I do. We all do.' Mana replied without pausing. 'Without everyone being together I don't think any of us would still be able to think a rational thought. Back when we first became Cures I always thought we could do anything and I lived my life thinking I want to help everyone. But when things became bad I realized how ignorant thinking like that is. You can never help everyone. Because some people want to hurt others, no matter what. So I settled for helping those I can help.'
Rin listened in silence and stuck her twig in the sand. 'There's nothing I can say. Saying 'sorry' would just demean the shit you went through.'
'The world you saw was different from what you remember, right?'
'Yeah. If you weren't there I wouldn't have believed that was earth.'
'That means the fate of the world isn't set in stone. If all of us being here means I can undo the horrors that came about by sharing magic with the world then that's good enough for me.'
'You're seriously a good person, aren't you?'
'Rikka always complains that I'm too good natured.' Mana chuckled.
'This seat still free?' Hibiki had come up next to Mana, now squatting but not sitting down yet.
'Sure.' Mana glanced at Hibiki and then took a second look. 'You're pretty young. You can't be much older than I was when I first became a Cure.'
'I'm almost seventeen. I'm not in middle school anymore.' I guess to her I must still be a kid though. She's several years older than Itsuki even, I think. 'How old are you then?'
'Twenty-five.' Mana looked just the tiniest bit put on the spot answering that honestly. 'I guess that's a bit on the older side compared to everyone here.'
'Ten years of experience, huh?' Rin whistled in an impressed way. 'That's basically twice of what I got. No wonder the six of you seem so strong.'
'You're pretty strong too!' Hibiki tried to encourage Rin. 'Kanade wouldn't shut up about how it, you know?'
'Is she not with you?' Rin ignored the compliment outright. I'm not weak, not in combat. But when it comes to keeping my friends together…
'She's with Ako over there. She's trying so hard to look mature that she let Urara talk her into trying one of those hard drinks.'
'That stupid..' Rin groaned. 'Urara, not Kanade, I mean. I'll go give her a piece of my mind about giving alcohol to someone so easily influenced.' Jumping up and strutting through the sand, Rin's voice could be heard from beyond the fire a moment later, joined by two other voices.
'Everyone here is really nice and friendly. I'm glad.' Mana continued poking the fire with a smile on her face.
'You're glad?' I don't really get it.
'Back in our world we were the only Cures. And a lot of people really hated us for setting in motion the events that lead to the curse weapons being developed, even if we didn't know better. Not that that is any excuse. But I was worried that after hearing about that everyone here would shun the six of us.'
'We have some real rough types like Urara. Rin too, I guess. And Nozomi messed up a lot since we got here. There were some arguments, some breakups. Myself included, on that last one. But we're all stuck here together and there's no one here that's actually bad deep down. Not even Urara. Even though she really gets on my nerves.'
'Was your breakup bad?'
'A catastrophe.' Hibiki groaned. 'Kanade and I might work well as friends but… as a couple not so much. We kinda stopped being friends after we broke up, too, and Kanade went through some really bad times I guess. But we're patching things up. I dunno if she still likes me, but if she does she's managing to focus those feelings somewhere else.'
'She sounds like a good girl.'
'Hm, I dunno. Kanade is super clingy, naggy and she can be a bit of a clean freak too! And she always argues with me and everything is my fault, bah! Itsuki isn't like that at all.'
'You like Itsuki a lot?'
'I love her.' Hibiki's face heated up quite a lot as she admitted that to what was almost a stranger to her still. 'Don't tell her I said that.'
She's so cute. 'I won't. It'll be a secret between you and me.' Winking at Hibiki from the side with a smile, Mana leaned back a little, the sand making a crunching under her.
A few moments of silence passed between the two before Hibiki worked up the courage to ask what was on her mind. 'How… how long have you been together with… Diamond, right?'
'Diamond is Rikka. I'm also Regina's girlfriend, too. That's our little blonde dervish. And Regina is also Rikka's girlfriend.'
'That sounds super complicated. But we have something like that too. Ellen, from my group, is both Love's and Setsuna's girlfriend. They were together first and Ellen kinda got picked up by them? I don't really know… I suddenly feel like a terrible friend for not knowing what exactly is going on with them.'
'It's a bit complicated, yeah. I can understand being confused. Rikka and I have been together for a long time now. Since high school, basically. I can't believe how long ago that was now.' Melancholy took hold of Mana, showing on her face.
I shouldn't have asked. Guilt filled Hibiki's mind. It can't be nice to think about how much time she lost due to everything in her world going to hell. 'Uh, sorry-'
'Don't be sorry. Without things being what they were I don't think Rikka and Regina would be to each other what they are now. Having to pick one of them over the other would have been the worst day of my life.'
'You don't have a favorite?'
'I love them for different reasons.' Mana elegantly dodged the question. I really don't have a favorite. Sex with Regina is better but Rikka is just much better at cuddling. Not that I can ever tell anyone that. They'd both make me sleep on the couch or the floor for a week.
'Hibiki! Get your ass over here and help me manage Kanade!' Rin shouted from across the fire and sounded quite annoyed.
'See, this is what I mean. Kanade is always a handful!' Getting up and dusting off her butt, Hibiki took a few energetic steps towards the direction Rin had wandered off in.
DISSONANCE
'This is gonna be pure chaos. I didn't think there'd be eight of us. That means there's eight on the other side too. At least the lights are on in here.' Miki adjusted her gloves, leaned against the wall next to the door that would any moment now turn into the gate to Hades. 'And just one more time, but there's no objections to focusing on taking down the other side before we start hammering away on each other, right?'
'No objections!' In the middle of stretches, Erika demonstrated some insane flexibility in the center of the small room.
'Who is the worst case scenario for the chaos infusion?' Honoka tugged on her sleeves and removed a little bit of dust from it.
'Probably me,' Ako raised her right hand while focused on the palm of her left. 'At twenty times output I could probably sing Replekia at full power. If it doesn't render my special abilities dysfunctional everyone will be in for a bad time.'
'The same is probably true for me.' Everyone turned to look at the source of that voice. The masked Cure that was surrounded by an air of danger, chilling everyone just as they looked. And the owner of the voice could tell that she was being feared. 'At twenty times power… I could probably erase something the size of the entire stadium from existence in one attack.'
'I get it, we're all pretty much screwed no matter who ends up out of control.' The newest of all the Cures, Black Lily, was there with the rest of the powerhouses. And by her side was Rosetta, using her power to provide a seat for the two of them. 'We have no way of knowing so there's no point in fretting too much, right?'
'I would not put it like that but she got the heart of the matter.' Setsuna was the last of the eight and sticking close to Miki. 'We don't know what kind of battlefield it will be. In any case, we should try to stay out of the way of those of us that use wide range attacks like Diamond, Muse and Rosetta.'
'Thankfully I know for a fact that Rouge is not going to participate.' Ako finally looked up from her gloved palm. 'Fighting her at twenty times power would be instant suicide.'
A crackling noise made all of them look up at the speaker mounted to the center of the room's ceiling. 'Gate opening in ten- nine-'
'See you on the other side!' Erika threw a completely unfitting one liner at the other girls and ran through the door the second it opened. One by one they were enveloped by a blinding light, transporting them through space into the battle arena.
A gale blew past – her hair waving in the force of the air surrounding her. Emptiness greeted her sight, vastness assaulted her mind. Grassy hills of endless nothingness were laid out before her, further than the eye could see, stiller than a painting could portray. A grand, open sky devoid of cloud and sun, illuminating the fiercely and overwhelmingly majestic lands surrounding her.
'Hey..' Erika couldn't believe what she was seeing. Why is nobody else here? 'This is way too big!' Stomping on the ground, Erika found out the hard way what double the offensive power really meant. Beneath her heel the ground cracked like an egg being faced with a nail and hammer, grass and dirt erupting away from her, raining down on the surrounding area. A hole at least two meters deep was where her foot had been just before – and she was lying in the hole. 'I hate this already. But it's also kind of cool.'
Picking herself up and jumping out of the hole with ease, Erika focused energy between her hands and used that to propel herself up even higher. Soaring into the air like a reversed falcon, she could see the fields stretch on forevermore beyond the horizon still. 'Not yet!' Propelling herself with a second blast the ground below her was starting to become somewhat hard to make out and still the field was endlessly vast.
Something flashed, way over there. Uh oh. Erika was not the most thought-out fighter or the strongest one but she had keen instincts. Blasting with just one hand and throwing herself off course, the space she would have ended up in was perforated by dozens of energy blades just moments later, zipping past at ridiculous speed. Uh oh times two. Turning around she saw the origin of those flashes, a purple spot way over there in the distance. How the heck is she even seeing me?Oh, right. My blasts. Flicking her own forehead, Erika blasted herself downward, out of the line of sight and line of fire. That's Sword, isn't it? I barely have any idea what she can or can't do so… 'Full power rabbit flight!' Repeatedly creating energy bursts, Erika propelled herself through the air, simulating flight. I gotta tell Tsubomi about this after this. This is way fun! I should- Erika felt malice and immediately turned herself in mid-air, and not a second too late. A large purple sword cut the air and some of her long hair off, a purple Cure suddenly right beside her.
'There's no escape.' Makoto's eyes were showing not a hint of mercy. She was completely in serious combat mode. But she lost height before Erika did and in an instant she was left behind due to Erika's insane velocity. The blue Cure looked back and saw the purple speck get smaller at an intensely fast rate – until it suddenly got very, very big.
How- responding to the assault from behind by raising a protective water barrier around herself, Erika's defenses were cut through like they were not even there. Oh, right. No defenses. 'Then how about this?! Marine Machinegun!' Putting one palm behind another, Erika launched dozens of high velocity water bullets from her hand, forcing Makoto on the defensive for just one moment. And then Erika started to lose altitude really fast.
Makoto stood on the ground, then knelt and finally locked on to Erika again. 'Railgun Blade.' Dozens of tons of dirt and stone beneath her ruptured as two corporeal blades erupted from her palms, unleashing enough kinetic feedback to send Makoto flying forward at speeds that would have killed any other living being through wind pressure alone. But not her. Air Blade. She wasn't limited to just physical constructs and energy swords. She had a wide variety of swords to use for many different scenarios. This cut away the wind pressure in front of her but it was very energy intensive.
Erika's instinct were on the mark by leaving the high altitude and returning to the ground but they were not good enough to avoid every danger out there. Makoto caught up to her and while Erika's small size allowed her to twist out of the way of a lunging pierce by Makoto's signature purple energy sword, the older Cure cut her leg. It burned like magma was burning away her flesh and bone alike. Erika's screams filled the air and drops of her blood was sprinkled all over the grass. Tumbling and rolling down a hill, Erika was far from just giving up.
I can do no-guard techniques too, you know?! Amassing energy rapidly in her fists she predicted Makoto immediately pursuing her and slammed all of the energy into the ground, enveloping Makoto in a blue blast of focused power, ripping apart the ground as if it was dust. Did I get- you have gotta be kidding me! Up ahead in the middle of the blue blast was an injured Cure Sword, clothes singed, hair quite literally on fire and horrendous burn marks all over her body. Hey, hey, hey, are all six of them killer robots from the future or some- yikes!
Blasting herself off the ground, Erika tried to put some distance between herself and Sword. I don't even get time to get a good look at her abilities. There's no way I can copy her if she moves that fast! And even if I copied her, there is no way I can take a close combat weapon's specialist just by stealing their weapon! 'Marine Barrage!' Shooting out six large spheres of energy, Erika surrounded the rapidly moving Makoto and started to fire indiscriminately at her. But every single shot was parried either by the blade she held or another blade seemingly coming out of thin air. This is a bad match up for me! But I'm not sure I can get away from her. Maybe- 'What the heck is that?!' Shouting and pointing at the empty space behind Makoto, Erika tried the oldest trick known and it failed.
The swordswoman was completely undeterred and closed the distance between them. 'Die.' The blade went right through Erika and cut in half a mirage – a water clone. Makoto instantly scanned the surrounding area for Erika but was a little too late in realizing where she was. Facing up, she was already only seconds away from her face meeting hard with a gigantic sphere of Marine's energy. 'Foolish child.' For Makoto, going into battle flipped a switch, especially if she was there without Mana or Ange to back her up. Hesitation was death, mercy was death. Rikka would never see again because she hadn't been quick enough to cut down the enemy. At least in her mind this was true.
'Blade of Unbridled Power!' Raising both her arms above her head, Makoto fused two blades together and then two more and two more still, holding a grand greatsword that no normal human could have lifted. And without hesitation she slashed the massive sphere, cutting it solidly in half, the energy having lost it's focus point and dissipating harmlessly around her. But Erika was nowhere to be seen. And again Makoto realized too late to look where she least expected to find the tiny Cure. She was right beneath her.
'Marine Sword!' Stealing the idea from her opponent, Erika launched a blade right upwards, lodging itself into Sword's right shoulder and sealing her offensive power. But Erika lacked experience in real, deadly combat. Makoto endured the pain and her left arm descended onto Erika like a guillotine. Her life was instantly extinguished, the separated head rolling for a few meters before coming to a standstill, the lifeless body still right beneath Makoto.
Marine's sword dissipating, blood gushed from the open wound. This is going to kill me. Even if I cauterize the wound now, I can't feel anything in my right arm. The moment someone realizes I can only fight with one arm they will take advantage of that and kill me. 'Sensory Blade.' This isn't nearly as good as Rikka's sensory magic but I can get a general idea of the nearest… what in the… Canceling her blade, Makoto turned around and faced death in the face.
Far away from Makoto was a completely different battle raging. The hills were destroyed in ways that looked like a battalion of tanks had fired on them repeatedly. Craters and holes were omnipresent, littering the landscape with such numbers that it was hard to distinguish if the craters or the hills were the majority.
This… this is bad…I got at least six broken ribs and my right leg is… here she comes! Protecting her face with both arms, Sunshine deflected a blow that would have shattered her bones to dust if she had not used martial artists to redirect the kinetic force behind it. The air soared around her, a red afterimage in front of her. Ducking out of the way she evaded a kick that could separate her upper from her lower body. I can't take her! I don't think anyone can! This is in- Three more blows in quick succession, targeting her spine, head and right leg, all of them parried barely in time. Being completely on the defense is all I can manage! I shouldn't have sacrifice all defensive power for offense! If only Hibiki was here! Or at least Yuri with her weapon!
A breather, a respite from the infinite onslaught, the red flash materialized. Itsuki met her eyes and she knew that defeat was inevitable. Even if by some miracle she would manage to immobilize her opponent long enough to land a solid hit… No, immobilizing her to begin with is basically impossible. I can't even see her when she hits me, only the flash of red. If I wasn't so good at reading the instincts of my opponents I would be ground beef already. A hasty glance at the space around her. The ground destroyed over and over, large lines or impact zones where she redirected the force of her assailant. One clean hit and I'm done for. This is one horrible choice for the chaos infusion.I'm gonna hold out as long as I can, wear her down. Maybe someone can take her down. Mint. Sword. Rose. Luminous. One of them for sure. If they even see her coming.
Itsuki barely dared to blink, the red devil in front of her staring her down with complete indifference. Her aura was sizzling, burning, as if it was being forced to burn brighter than it ever could normally. And Itsuki could physically feel the power coming off of her. Cure Passion. I didn't know she was capable of teleporting. That's not just fast movement. She's literally moving from space A to space C without going through B at all. Is that an effect of the berserker curse?Maybe- Passion disappeared from her sight and Itsuki instinctively covered her stomach, letting the force go through her, letting her body and form flow like water. And still it felt like she got hit by a meteor. Blood gushed upwards through her insides and out of her mouth. A second hit, hammering against her back from below, making it impossible to defend against it. If defense isn't working anymore, then-!
'Ten-Strikes: Sun Ray Battering!' I have double power too, let's see how you like this! Unleashing a barrage of ten virtually simultaneous attacks around herself, she felt her fist connect once. And sure enough, something went flying, crashing into the grass and disappearing a split second later. And Itsuki felt it. Passion was about to retaliate in a way that she couldn't defend against. At least I got one solid strike in. But ten times the power is really insane… The discrepancy is too much to compensate with skill. I feel like I'm trying to wrestle with Dune on my own, in my normal size.Here she comes!
Passion appeared simultaneously eight times, surrounding Itsuki from all sides. Sunshine barely had time to look astonished before an endless barrage of punches and kicks connected with her body, throwing her in every direction at once, breaking bones, ripping flesh and destroying organs on the inside. All thought halted immediately, completely replaced by the death throes of everything inside her.
Dozens of thousands of meters away a completely different type of battle was unfolding. The scenery was already completely unrecognizable from the exchanges that had occurred, hills forming mountains and bottomless holes ripped into the space between those mountains. Two equal forces were assailing each other, locking each other in a complete stalemate.
A shredding storm of metal collided powerfully with a moving wall of pure energy, displacing the metal and finally exploding into a powerful shock wave that flattened the upturned earth all around, like a massive explosion flattening the area. She really is strong. I didn't think she'd break my barriers so easily. I can't trap her effectively, not like this. Clasping her hands together, Cure Rosetta created a massive five layer barrier around Milky Rose and immediately started shrinking it as fast as she could. But her opponent knew what to avoid. Drilling a hole through the barriers with her Abaddon and escaping, another metal storm immediately burst forth from her hands, shredding through the hill in its wake and stalling against the hastily erected barrier by Alice.
Alice was not just fighting Rose. She was simultaneously protecting Rikka, behind her. If Diamond fell then so would she. Because on Rose's side there was also Mint, who was trying to crush both of them with an endless onslaught on moving barriers capable of acting like a massive magical hydraulic press.
Every barrier was annihilated without fail by Rikka's abilities, the larger ones through her entropy skill and the smaller ones through improvised blasts of diamond shrapnel. Rose and Diamond were about equal in destroying barriers and so were Komachi and Alice in creating them. But Mint had one advantage over Alice – what she lacked in crushing power compared to Rosetta's ability, she made up with her unique ability of reflecting back damage. Rikka was in bad shape already, bleeding from hundreds of hairline cuts all over, the earth beneath her stained red already. 'Alice, this is a losing battle.'
'How much time do you need?'
'At least thirty seconds.'
'That'll be tough.' Alice relished a challenge, created another barrier around Rose and anticipated her next move. If my goal is not to defeat you but to defeat the nuisance up there on that mountain… then I don't need to crush you. All I need is this. 'Force of one thousand blows!' Alice made a sweeping motion with her right hand and a giant hammer shaped barrier assaulted Rose from the side – the blow was blocked by her armor and a counter attack but it still sent her flying.
Even so, with Rikka preparing a big move, she had to defend against Mint as well. Surrounding herself with a dome to counteract Mint's crushing half-sphere, she felt like the weight of the world was coming down on her. She's powerful. But she doesn't understand the full application of barriers just yet. Closing her own dome and forcing a perfectly circle, Rosetta forced her own barrier downwards, forcibly displaying the ground and expending a massive amount of energy in doing so. But Mint's attack ran into emptiness and the sphere quickly erupted from the hole it had created, elevating both Rosetta and Diamond into the air.
Rose had already returned by now, the liftoff from the ground causing the earth beneath her boots to shatter like a massive spear had hit it. Turning her entire arm into a large metal blade she saw victory in her hands. But that was a trap. A lure, prepared by Rosetta.
'Rose!' Mint's foresight was better than that of her teammate and she isolated her armored friend inside her barrier. Instead of protecting Rose, Mint inadvertently trapped her comrade inside her own barrier, making her a sitting duck for Diamond's attack.
Rikka simply clicked her tongue once and Alice jumped out of the way, paving a direct way between Rikka and Rose. 'Collapse of Bonds.' The energy that lashed forward ate right through Alice's sphere, annihilated Mint's protective layer and connected with Rose. Even with the knight's combat instincts and knowledge that an attack was coming, there was no fully escaping it. Space itself was destroyed within Mint's bubble, erasing half of Rose's body – two third of her upper body were gone and so was almost her entire lower body. Not even shock could set in, the reaper collected its due instantaneously.
Holding out both her hands to target Mint next, Rikka couldn't fire a second blast because Alice's sphere was knocked out of the sky by a massive barrier hammering down on it, created by the green Cure. Rikka lost her footing and fell down when the sphere crashed into the ground and Alice couldn't feather the impact either, both of them disorientated for a moment. 'Brace-' Alice could barely say anything else before the sphere got hit a second time, crushing it far enough into the ground that Alice could only see the sky up above when she looked straight up. I can't let her force us underground. We're gonna be sitting ducks.
Komachi had lost her ace in the battle and now it was two versus one but she was also at the advantage now. Relentlessly battering the sphere barrier with her own construct – a simple club made of several domes interconnected, she failed to account for one thing.
Backup.
The pain was fierce and came without warning. Blood was everywhere. She could feel something soft and squishy when she touched the source of her pain; her stomach. Looking down she processed the big hole in her body just before the shock knocked her unconscious. A large black energy bolt had passed right through her,
Over a kilometer away, on a completely different hill, stood Black Lily, a bow the size of her own body in her hands, supported on the ground and against her right leg. 'Holy, that was more powerful that I thought. I like this.' I went with a bow on a whim since Yuri is all about close range and Alice is a barrier type so I figured we could be a great invincible battery… but this is way awesome. Can it be that I have talent for fighting? I totally do, don't I? I can't wait to brag to Erika about this later!
With Komachi down, Rikka and Alice were suddenly without an adversary. 'What happened?' Rikka had been too focused on readying a secondary blast to erase Mint to pay much attention to what was going on.
A cutie came to our help. 'Black Lily sniped Mint from the distance.' In battle Alice may have some amusing thoughts but she always kept things serious. There was not enough room for silly antics in life or death situations. And even though they knew this battle was not exactly that, years of honed instincts and training didn't just stop doing their busywork over night. 'Pinpoint the closest target.'
Focusing on the changes in magic intensity and spreading her senses, Rikka darted around. 'Trouble, on our six.' Rikka paused and then her voice became a little frantic. 'It's fast! FFB!'
Full Force Barrier. Code for Alice to go all in on the defense and protect her allies from an incoming lethal threat. The group of six had several of these short codewords because often there wasn't enough time to properly communicate what had to be done.
Rosetta switched back into fully serious mode, raised her hands above her hand and clenched her fists, creating three layers of a dome above them – and just in the nick of time. A red dervish flickered in and out of existence far ahead of them now and came close at an alarming speed, like static noise on a screen. The impact on the first shield was enough to crack the ground beneath them and shatter the entire outer shield to tiny pieces.
Cure Passion was in mid-air, a fiercely crimson aura surrounding her like fire, teleporting around the shield so quickly that it looked like there were multiple of her. Space and distance didn't seem to mean anything to her and yet she couldn't seem to bypass the magical domes that Rosetta created. 'Passion, Berserker.' Alice informed her ally in an instant and Rikka made a split second decision right after.
'Retreat.'
'How?'
'Barrier Burst.'
Alice lowered her arms and took a knee, taking two deep breaths. 'Confirmation?' Unlike many of the other Cures, the group centered around Cure Heart functioned much like a military strike team.
'On my count.' Diamond put her palms together and prepared for their next action. 'Flow Erase!' Destroying the molecular bounds of everything that was in the air between the second and third layer of the dome, Diamond created a complete vacuum, putting enormous stress on the dome. 'Burst!'
Rosetta opened her fists and put both her palms on the ground. 'Reversed Crunch.' The second layer burst, releasing the vacuum, destabilizing the air and space around the dome. The third layer suddenly expanded through that chaos, with enough force to catch the haphazardly flickering red speck and sending it flying.
Losing no time at all, Rikka reached down and picked Rosetta up, carrying her in her arms and making a run for it. Barrier Burst uses up too much of Alice's power. Forcefully containing a vacuum and then hyper enlarging the remaining layer to create a physically corporeal shock wave puts enormous stress on her body. If her legs weren't damaged she could run on her own, but… normally Ange or Mana would handle her in a situation like this but they aren't here.
Escaping in the direction of where Black Lily had to be, Rikka and Alice were both shocked to realize that the red speck was much more capable than they anticipated. From one moment to the next the sky started to be blotted out, drowning the plains in darkness. Dozens and dozens and finally hundreds of red specks were in the air, a giant carpet of hateful energy. All of them formed a stylized club symbol with their hands, a red swirling orb present with all of them.
The rain of destruction was endless and all-decimating. Diamond and Rosetta were both hit multiple times by just the first wave but the bombardment kept going, destroying the ground and destroying it again and over and still more. The bodies of the two Cures were shredded and incinerated by the endless assault of blasts. A hole the size of a stadium was blown into the ground before the red army finally ceased their attack and vanished at an alarming speed.
Far away from this chaos was a fight of a different kind of superlative taking place. Two blue Cures were facing off against each other, specialized in completely different fields. The space between several hills was filled, covered and consumed by a heavy mist, obfuscating anything within.
A massive burst of air pierced the misty veil, grand amounts of water splashing about, dissipating into new mist that filled the hole. In the center of that misty valley was Berry, body littered with piercing wounds and her costume stained in the red of her own blood.
This is bad, I've totally fallen into her pace. That double ability is real trouble in a one versus one, shit. Miki was not one to curse unnecessarily but she could tell that unless she did something drastic that this was going to be her loss. I never thought that Aqua of all people would give me so much damn trouble.
As much as Miki struggled, so did Karen. I don't think… she's caught on to it yet… but that attack just now was pretty close to taking my head off. Blood ran down her temple and her vision was half tinted red. One clean hit from that murderous impact attack and I'm going to spit out my organs as a finely smoothed out crème. Covering her mouth to muffle the noises of coughing up blood, Karen staggered backwards. I'm glad I took a few cues from the other Cures. With just my usual repertoire I couldn't handle her at all. Thanks, Komachi, for the idea of using a zone based ability. And thanks Honoka for the idea of using hyper pressurized water blasts. 'Hydro P-' Blood filled her mouth and she choked on it, the attack failing. And Miki didn't miss that.
'Spade Impact!' It's a simple technique but with two times my usual offensive power behind it that doesn't matter. The air pressure alone is like a cannonball almost. And her attack connected, she could hear the horrible noise of flesh tearing and a woman screaming in agony. I got her. But I'm not gonna last much longer myself. I need to finish her off. Staggering towards the source of the continued screaming, Miki arrived not at Cure Aqua but merely a puddle of water that was reverberating Karen's voice. A trap-!
Before she could get out of the way a super condensed ray of water went straight through her chest – followed by three more such rays, perforating her lungs and her heart. Well… played. Miki's last thoughts were not of the begrudging nature. Her body falling to the ground, surrounded by cold water, she was dead before impact.
I got her… but… Karen was just meters away in the mist, on her back, half sitting up and now falling backwards into the water, the mists around her dissipating. One of her legs was blown off by her thigh and the bleeding was too bad to stop. The pain had been fierce for a moment but was mostly subdued by the special battle properties now. I'm glad… I got to her… first. Her breathing was labored with slight pain. I'll… leave the rest to the others. Letting herself rest and lying flat on her back, Karen lost her consciousness.
A battle of far greater magnitudes was going on somewhere else, far enough away that not even the shock waves and noises of it would reach where Karen and Miki had concluded their fight. The destruction was far greater than any before, greater still than Passion's onslaught had brought about the plains. Tremendous holes and scorched earth shaped the landscape or what remained of the land to begin with. On the side of the Dark Team was Cure White, her clothes and flesh burned in many places. On the side of the Light Team was Cure Sunny, having lost an arm, the wound burned shut and surrounded by flames that could set even steel on fire.
I'm way stronger if we're talking pure energy amount but she's got me beat in execution as much as I hate it. Shit. I can't believe she got my right arm. How is she not dead already?! She should be charcoal at this point! Do I have to burn down this entire place to kill her or something? Sunny was far from being able to keep her cool. White eluded her finishing attacks constantly and countered mercilessly with next to impossible to dodge blasts. Would be one thing if I just had to watch the ground but she's able to even blast those damn energy pillar out of flying debris. That's why unfair! How the hell does that even work?
As much as Sunny was tormented by Honoka's stratagem, Cure White wasn't doing nearly as well as Sunny thought. I can barely feel my arms and legs. And my throat is so dry that it's painful to breathe. The air is so hot… my costume is scorched all over. I have to end this quickly, before my body gives out. This isn't the best kind of match up for me. In terms of raw power output she easily beats me.
'Burn to ashes! Inferno Descent!' Raising her right arm to the sky, Sunny created a large fireball and then suddenly smirked. 'Gotcha.' Hammering her fist on the ground, Akane's fireball was absorbed into the ground, the earth quaking from the sudden influx of fire.
'Naive.' Honoka blasted the ground in front of her, creating debris of her own and kicked a particularly large piece of it into the air. Jumping on it and riding it, she saw the ground below where she had just been turn into magma and finally erupt violently into a stream of magma. She's powerful but she has no sense for fighting intelligent opponents at all. It's all raw power with no thought behind it. Honoka underestimated her opponent.
'Firebird!' A massive bird shaped flame was flaring up over Sunny for a moment and then setting for, flying right towards Honoka. Jumping off the now decelerating debris, Honoka landed on the ground and immediately started running across the scorched hellscape towards Sunny. Even if she's immune to her own flames she is still human. Anyone will hesitate to have their own attack fly right in their face. But Honoka again underestimated just how stubborn and hotheaded Akane was.
Instead of calling off the Firebird attack that was now homing in on Honoka's position from above, she rushed forward of her own volition, towards Honoka. You arrogant white-y know it all, I'll show you that brains isn't all that matters. I'll burn you to ashes!
Akane descended her hill and before she was even halfway down she stepped right into a trap – literally so. The ground exploded in white energy right beneath her feet, part of the blast going straight through her right leg and leaving a baseball sized hole in it. Stumbling, falling, crashing and finally slithering down the slope sideways, Sunny groaned from the pain and found White standing directly above her by the time the world stopped turning. 'I'll-'
Honoka slammed her hand against Sunny's chest without hesitation, ready to blast a hole into it. But something stopped her. The look in Sunny's eyes. It was pure terror. Is she that afraid of dying? No… she isn't even looking at me. What is she- On instinct alone, Honoka turned her head and saw the end of days just before it swallowed both of them up.
Not many of the fighters remained now, but of the few remaining two of them had just met up. 'You?' Muse was surprised to see Black Lily still alive. 'I expected you to have been defeated by now.'
'Hahaha, I'm way tougher than you think! I'm Dark Lily after all!'
'Isn't it Black Lily?'
'Final name pending.' Yami joked and smiled. 'What happened to you? You're cut and beaten up all over.'
'Joker and Ace. Honestly, being a two-as-one unit is unfairness in its purest form.'
'So that makes it two on two. What do you say, green and black showing red and black who's boss?'
'Can you take this a little more seriously?'
'This is me being serious.' Holding out her hand, Yami materialized the massive bow she used before. 'I'm still getting the hang of this so cut me some slack. The training wheels are gonna come off soon. Probably. I hope.'
'Just my luck that you're the one I rendezvous with.' Ako sighed. 'So you specialize in ranged combat?'
'I don't really have a specialization but that sounds pretty good. I think I am gonna go with that long term.'
I can't believe this nonchalant girl. 'Ace and Joker are both short range specialists and I can't keep them both at bay on my own.'
'So we're just not gonna let them get close.'
'Do you actually have a way to do that? If you could keep just one of them away that would be a big help. I can definitely take Ace on my own.' At least I think so. She appeared to be focused on versatile approaches, which means she lacks a real forte of her own.
'Probably. No guarantees in the real world and all.' Yami glanced to the side. 'That's them over there, right?'
Muse turned her head and saw nothing. Squinting and focused as hard as she could she finally saw a red and black speck moving in the distance way off. Just how good are her eyes? A bow looks like a good choice for her if she's able to notice them from this distance. And how the hell did they even find me already? 'What are you doing?' Watching Yami lick her finger and test the wind, then spread her legs wide and pull the bow's lower frame between her thighs, Ako wasn't sure what she was trying to do. She's not gonna try and fire from this distance, is she? That's nuts.
'Saying hello.' Yami smirked like an imp and pulled the bowstring back. Taking a deep breath, a green fizzle sparked from her lips, running down to her hand and then spreading all across the large bow, coloring it emerald green. Muse stepped out of the way, taking cover behind Yami and watched. 'New Moon Tech!' The green turned black and rapidly coalesced into a bolt large enough to be fifteen to twenty arrows in terms of sheer volume. 'Moon's Dark Side Shot!' Unleashing the bolt, the backlash was like a storm suddenly blowing in the faces of the green and black Cure.
The bolt boomed through the air with supersonic speed, impacting far in the distance and exploding with enough force to shatter a small hill. 'Ah, crud, I missed.' Yami breathed out and her breath was black mist. And again she breathed in and the green spark flew from her lips a second time. 'New Moon… what the hell is that?'
Ako took a step back without intending to. It wasn't that Ace and Joker had found her and were coming to finish the job. They were running. They were running from something terrible. The tiny hairs on her skin were standing up under her costume and she knew right away that the only way to counter that would be to sing Replekia, but even at double power she didn't have the energy for that. 'Run.' Muse swallowed and then grabbed Yami's hand. 'Run!'
As much as the battle compelled them to fight, the influence didn't go so far that they would foolishly charge into their own deaths, into a battle that wasn't a battle but simply an execution waiting to happen.
Yami ran as hard as she could, following after Muse, away from the source of their fear, away from Joker and Ace. 'Is that-?!'
'Yeah. That is really the worst of the worst case scenarios. The other side's berserker is Luminous.'
Far behind Muse and Lily were Regina and Ange, running as hard as they could from the destruction that was chasing them. 'How the fuck are we supposed to fight something like that?! That's way beyond the level of unfair! Balance breaker! Nerf! Cheater!' Wild Joker, Regina, cursed out loud as she ran, Spear of Light in hand. 'Can't you do anything against that, Ace?'
'You kidding me? Look at it!' Ange strongly shook her head and kept running. 'I don't think anyone can handle that! Pretty sure even Rosetta and Diamond couldn't handle this!'
'Mana probably..' Regina looked back.
What followed them was an enormous curtain of light, obliterating the ground it touched, gigantic light energy pillars bursting forth at random everywhere right in front. Dozens of meters high and Luminous riding the curtain like a wave, there was no evading it. It was like the end of the world, moving towards them at the speed of a race car.
'No way! No way even Mana could handle this!' Joker howled and pushed onwards. 'There's no way we can outrun this so what do we even do?!'
'Take a stand? If we're gonna get caught eventually at least we should go out with a boom!'
'Never thought I'd hear you say that, Ace!'
'Makoto could probably cut a hole into this but she's not here and this place is way too gigantic to find her! So I think we gotta make the best of this!'
'That mountain up ahead, where that damn energy bolt came flying from! Let's take our stand there!'
'We going with the full power spear of light?'
'Nothing else is even gonna make a dent!'
'Don't die on me before we get there!'
'Same to you!'
While Joker and Ace were plotting their final stand against Chaos Luminous, Muse and Lily were in danger of their own.
Between a rock and a hard place… Muse made a large swiping hand motion and created another barrier of magic piano keys to protect against the onslaught from all sides. Yami was kneeling behind her, blood running from her mouth. 'You still alive?!'
'..Kinda..' Yami coughed. She got me good. Way good. I can barely hear or see. What… what now? There's Luminous coming for us from back there and we have an out of control Passion right here? I wish Alice was here… or sis. Yuri would know how to get out of this.
'Put everything you have into one shot and shoot straight up! Cover this entire area in bolts if you can!'
'What… about you?'
'I'm gonna die here anyway so it doesn't matter if it's you or Passion that lands the killing blow!' I would have liked to have a real battle with someone but I guess I can't get lucky every single time. And I have my hands full just protecting us from Passion! She's too fast to even think about counterattacking and her hits are like… they're harder than Hibiki's, by a lot. Using both hands to swipe through the air, Muse created layer upon layer of magic piano keys around herself and Yami, the impacts sounds from Passion suddenly increasing in frequency right after. Like a barrage from a machine gun, from all around them. The ground trembled under the attacks. I'm glad that these are almost indestructible… they're not made to be shields though, this is draining me faster than a bucket of water in the desert. 'Hurry up!'
'Here I… go.' Clutching her bow, Lily laid down on her back and faced upwards. 'New Moon Tech!' The green spark was several times larger than before, a miniature lightning bolt scorching her own skin, the bow shaking in her hands. The ground below her trembling under Passion's barrage from above and around them. 'Total Moon Eclipse!' Muse opened up the ceiling of her improvised barrier and the bolt flew out, the size of a warship shell, higher and higher into the air before it burst, blanketing the sky in black.
'Good-' Muse's praise was cut short by a horrible noise. Blood splatter came down on Lily who could not even see anything anymore. It was all red. Passion was teleported right through the opening, a gap in the defenses, and with a single hit she had blown a hole into Ako's chest. But Muse was much tougher than anyone gave her credit for. With her consciousness fading quickly she grabbed hold of Passion, her every drop of willpower to make sure that she would get hit by Yami's attack.
Both black and red tumbled to the ground, Passion trying to free herself with force. Yami could hardly move and yet she managed to throw herself on top of Passion and the deceased Muse. With a smirk on her face, Lily passed out just seconds before her barrage of blasts hammered down on the hill like a rain of bombs dropped by an armada of jets. With the coalescing of the blasts on the hill, a singular, massive blackness devoured the earth and the space around it, destroying any living thing still there.
The explosion remained undetected by Joker and Ace, both of them feeling the intensity of the approaching curtain of light. 'This… this is the stuff that really ends worlds.' The spear shook a little in Regina's hands. I've never seen anything like this. Not even back when we fought the Selfish. It's making my every instinct tell me to run away. That this is absolute, inevitable and certain doom. And I know my instincts are right. That's not the power of a human. What… what is she? Twenty times power or not, that's not normal. That's-
'Get a grip, Joker.' Ace berated her other half and stared up ahead. Looking at it without moving… that thing is enormous. I thought it was only twenty or thirty meters but it's way bigger than that! And it's so damn wide, I can't even see where it ends! And then those damn energy pillars in front! We picked a fight with one hell of a monster this time.
'I'm good… as far as anyone can be good in this situation.' She could hear it now. The horrid annihilation of the ground, the grass… the sizzling of the energy wall that was coming for her. If this was a video game this would be one of those unwinable boss battles… nah, this would be an escape sequence where you just get a game over if you fail to get away. Just that there's no getting away for us. 'You ready?!'
Ace nodded and grabbed hold of the shaft together with Joker.
'Miracle Dragon Glaive!' Ange's voice was accompanied by Regina's. 'Spear of Light.' Both of them called out the ancient name of the weapon. 'Goln Nova!' Unleashing the full power of the weapon came with significant risks to the health of the wielder. Regina and Ange mitigated this by splitting the burden between them.
Gritting her teeth as the spear powered up more and more, Joker felt her life energy drained out of her body. This is only the third time we're doing this… and it's intense! Normally we'd be out for a week and bed ridden after using this, I just hope that's not gonna be the case now… ugh… this is just as bad… as I remember. I can't feel my fingers or feet. My tongue is all numb. I can't see a thing.
Ange was not doing any better. Even though we split the burden… it's still almost killing us. I have no idea how the original wielder of this thing used it without dying. Cure Magician must have had one hell of a power reserve to use it at full power. 'Regina!'
'One who shines brighter than fate..'
'One who lives stronger than destiny..'
'Risen from the flow of time..'
'In thy great name..'
'Goln Nova!'
Time slowed down around the battlefield. Air ceased to move. The ground refused to tremble. Grass remained still. Three sets of eyes shone through the clash of light. The mythic weapon fully charged with its true power, held by the two halves of it's successor. Rising above, clasping hands pulled back, the weapon pierced space and was thrusting forward by their desperate throw.
Made unto the purest of light the spear transcended the realm of physical law, disappeared from sight and arrived in an instant in front of Luminous. The eyes of the goddess widened in surprise as the spear pierced her being with ease, the beautiful girl slumping forward, sitting still on the curtain that now ceased to move.
'Did… did we actually stop her? Holy shit.' Regina had sparsely enough energy left to witness the results before she fell flat on her face. I can't believe we did it. Man, I can't wait to tell Mana about this.
'No… we didn't..' Ange fell into the dirt next to her other half. 'Look..' Turning her head just far enough to look up, Regina felt horror as Luminous slowly looked up, the spear's blade lodged right in her chest.
'No way… the heck…?'
With the spear still stuck inside her, Luminous raised her right hand and the curtain became diminished, collecting and amassing in the air above, a giant sphere with hundreds of smaller spheres wildly fluctuating around it. 'Decree of Heaven.' Luminous voice could not reach Ange or Regina.
With mountain shattering force the sphere unloaded a massive energy javelin into the battlefield, annihilating both Joker and Ace in an instant.
DISSONANCE
'Uh… uh…!' Hikari was fidgeting by herself and doing finger bridges while trying to find the right words.
'We know.' Regina was flat on her back and looking straight up at the barely lit ceiling. 'But holy shit this sucked. How damn much power do you have?!'
'Get off her back, idiot.' Rose stomped the ground a few steps away from where Joker was still sprawled out. 'Hikari's a pure energy type. Pure!' Kurumi stepped in front of Hikari tried to look as intimidating as possible. 'It was a random chance that she got hit by the chaos infusion rule!'
'Calm down there tin-can.' Sunny scoffed at Rose. 'You didn't see how ridiculous it was. I don't think my entire team could handle that.'
'Who're you calling tin-can?!' Gesturing dangerously at Sunny, Rose's about-to-happen rampage was cut short by Hikari grabbing her hand. 'Hikari?'
'Listen everyone… I don't really remember much of what happened. I'm really sorry if I attacked anyone on our side!' Lowering her head, Hikari put Kurumi in tough spot.
'Nobody is really mad about that. It's just like… twenty times power or not, you were this unstoppable force. It wasn't even a fight anymore. Me and Ange used our trump card and it didn't do anything!' Regina let out an exasperated sigh. 'Makes me feel like I tried my best to fight this cool and difficult looking boss and it turns out it's got infinite HP and I can't win no matter what.'
'I don't really get what you mean.' Hikari tried her best to smile but she just had no idea what Regina was talking about. Bosses? Infinite… what?
'Forget it… Argh, I'm frustrated! I only got to dunk on Muse for a bit and then I was toast! That battlefield was way too big! Way!' Rolling over, Regina started to pummel the ground. 'I want a do-over!'
'Sign up tomorrow then.' Itsuki walked over to where Regina was and just sat down on her back. 'At least you didn't get pummeled to death by a teleport machine.'
'Hey, get off of me!'
'A teleport machine?' Makoto had been in a corner, holding hands with Ange and quietly discussing something by themselves.
'Passion. She was the berserker on the other side. I dunno how many of the others would have been worse but there was no fighting her. Might as well try to fight a fly while you're moving in slow motion and the fly isn't.' Itsuki rubbed her stomach. Phantom pain. I never thought I'd lose that badly in hand to hand combat. Teleporting is really unfair. 'Anyone else encounter her?'
'Done in by Diamond and Rosetta.' Rose begrudgingly raised her hand.
'I can't be sure who defeated me, but it was a long range energy attack.' Komachi cheered up a little when Karen patted her head. 'Stop it, it's embarrassing.' Whispering to her girlfriend, Mint's face turned quite red.
'Nobody else met Passion?' Itsuki couldn't believe this. I was the only one with luck bad enough to run into her? Not that running into Luminous would have been any better from what I hear. Waiting a moment and getting no response, Itsuki hummed to herself. 'I'll have to talk to the other side then.'
'Who won, even? And get off of me already, do you want me to punch you?!' Regina struggled under Itsuki who finally removed herself from the girl's back with a big smile.
'The rankings are here.' Makoto pointed at the display on the wall. 'Looks like Luminous won.' What a score difference. She's got basically four times as many points as second place and then some. Just how strong is this girl?She looks like she wouldn't want to hurt a fly.
On the other side of things, Setsuna was in a similar situation to Hikari. 'I can't believe that most of our team fell victim to friendly fire because of me..' Instead of being blamed by others she was doing all of the blaming herself.
'Love is gonna laugh so much when I tell her about this.' Miki was having a good time, even though she didn't score very well. 'Setsuna the red menace.' Setsuna just smiled in response and covertly stepped on Miki's foot. Ow… I deserve that but ow!
'I'm pretty sure Muse and I managed to take her down though!' Lily puffed up her chest and held her head high. 'Twenty times power and we still got her! I think.'
'Aw phooey I didn't get to do anything! I ran right into one of those killer robots from the future right away!' Erika flailed and poked the wall, annoyed with herself and the battle.
'Is she talking about us?' Rikka was sticking close to Alice, whispering to her. Alice, who in turn had Yami on her other side, didn't get to answer before the new green Cure stuck her neck out.
'Don't mind Erika, she doesn't mean anything bad by it.' Yami whispered back with a smile. Oh… right, she can't see my smile. Now I feel kinda bad.
'To think I would end up with the lowest score.' Ako lamented, all on her own. 'I should have brought Urara with me.'
'At least there's nothing that bad waiting for you.' Miki tried to be helpful. Really, there isn't much in the way of having to worry about scoring last. I've worked part-time jobs back home that were more demanding than these 'punishment' gigs.
The speakers came on and the exit doors swung open. 'Out of there now you filthy lot.' Northa had only one mood and that was a foul one.
Darkness still reigned supreme outside the stadium and it was quite a problem to get around. Rikka had to lead the way with her powers and a hand holding chain was born out of necessity. Instead of heading back down to the beach, Rikka targeted the group of people that were standing around the plaza with torches creating a little bit of light.
'There they are.' Inori raised her voice, the only one without a torch, holding a clipboard. 'I hate to spring this on all of you right after you had no doubt an interesting fight, but there are still a few items on today's schedule. Now, as all of you remember, earlier a few of us sat together and with the authority given to us by the rest of you, we worked out a day-by-day and special events schedule.'
'Inori really loves to organize things, doesn't she?' Setsuna whispered to Miki and both of them giggled by themselves.
'I checked with Sasorina and the triathlon requires everyone to participate, on both sides. Cooperation between teams is allowed, using our powers is forbidden though, one participant on both sides has to finish and that within four hours. Unfortunately I couldn't get any information on the actual disciplines so we'll deal with that when we get there.' Inori flipped the page.
'That means Akane and Reika will be there… ugh..' Nao groaned quietly by herself. Honoka, in front of her, noticed it though.
'You're still fighting with Sunny?'
'I… guess so.' I don't really want to deal with Akane in a competition. She gets really serious about these, always has, and with things between us as they are now… 'I'll deal with it somehow.'
'Moving on, I'll describe the rest of the schedule now. This is strictly for day-to-day activities and starting either tonight or tomorrow, depending on how exhausted everyone will be after the triathlon. Starting tomorrow there will be a list of chores hanging in the reception room as well. These chores benefit everyone so don't play hooky.'
'Feels like we're at summer camp.' Erika flapped her flips flippantly and a few of the girls around her joined in with chuckles and amused looks. 'Hey, teach! Question!' Erika raised both voice and right hand to get Inori's attention. 'What's the punishment for playing hooky?'
'Don't tempt me Erika. Or would you like me to hold a demonstration with you?' Inori's expressionless smile and somewhat impish sounding tone made Erika seemingly reconsider her attitude and she piped down quite a bit. In part because Tsubomi finally found her girlfriend in the crowd.
The other side of things was much a similar discussion, with Mai being in charge over there, assisted by Love. Tensions were a little higher over there, especially among the more physically active Cures, which the Light Team had a lot of.
'Using our powers would have made it too easy, I guess. But this is a good chance to show everyone what we're made of, right?' Nagisa was rubbing shoulders with Saki, both of them having been itchy for this event ever since Mai told them that it would happen that day. 'Take it easy on me though.'
'We don't even know what kinda activity we'll be doing.' Saki did a quick stretch with her arms and breathed in and out evenly. 'I'm not gonna lie and say I'm not excited though. There's been a lot of decision making and stuff and not a whole lot of working out.'
'Muscle head.' Nagisa snorted and poked Saki's side with her elbow.
'Look who's talking.' Saki poked back and both of them continued to laugh in a muffled way by themselves.
'Well, you two sure are excited.' Itsuki joined their little get-together, Hibiki in tow. 'I don't even need to guess why though. One look and anyone can tell this is right up your alley.' Hibiki walked right past her girlfriend and whispered something to the others. Nagisa and Saki both had to cover their mouths to not disrupt the gathering. It looked like they were in pain from holding their laughter in. 'Hey. What did you tell them?'
'Nothing.' Hibiki put both her arms behind her head and looked kinda smug. Just that you're more excited than anyone for this. So much so that even had a top ten list of disciplines you'd like there to be. 'Nothing untrue at least!'
'Come here you little blabbermouth!' Trying to grab Hibiki, Itsuki was swiftly evaded and both Nagisa and Saki served as a big pillar behind which Hibiki was now hiding.
The spectacle was being watched by Kanade and Rin. 'She's so embarrassing.' Her own palms served Kanade neatly to hide her embarrassment. 'Sometimes I think she hasn't matured at all since we were in middle school.'
'Kanade, glass house.' Rin ruffled Kanade's hair and was amused when Kanade's head sunk even further into her palms. 'Well, you've been getting better. But this is exactly the sort of thing that you would get into with her.'
Oh no, she's right. Kanade threw her head back and kept her face covered. 'It's…. so embarrassing to look at it from outside. Is this what Hibiki and I looked like to Ellen and Ako all that time?'
'Hm, you were worse actually. Those two are just being dumb on purpose right now. Your fights were real.' Poking Kanade's cheek briefly, Rin got her to peek through gaps between her fingers. 'But look at you now, standing here with me on the outside instead of being in the middle of- ow… that had to hurt.'
Saki had tried to keep an eye on Hibiki because she found the antics amusing and accidentally had her elbow connected with Hibiki's face, sending her crashing to the ground. 'I'm so sorry! Are you okay?!' Squatting down next to Hibiki, who had a large round red imprint on her face now, Saki sharply inhaled. That made a really bad sound, I hope I didn't break her nose. Ah, Mai is staring at me! 'I just tried to turn and you kinda turned and my elbow… ah, your nose is bleeding.'
'Don't worry, that's her own fault.' Itsuki squatted down next to Hibiki and helped her sit up. 'Come on, time for playing dead is over.'
'This is like that time we tried to kiss you and my chin and your forehead collided..' Hibiki wiped the bloody snot from her nose and touched her forehead. Seeing how worried Saki looked, Hibiki cracked an awkward smile. 'I'm fine, I've taken worse sparring with Itsuki. Well, maybe not worse, but kinda the same. I think.'
'Saki, Saki, Saki, assaulting unsuspecting teenagers just like that.' Ah. Nagisa immediately regretted saying that. 'Sorry, that wasn't funny.' Honoka would slap me in the back of my head if she was here.
'Everything okay over here? I saw Hibiki take a pretty hard fall.' Love had walked over and Mai had stopped trying to read her plan out loud. 'Need some tissues?'
'I'm good, I'm good. Everyone's such a worrywart.' Getting back on her feet, holding her left thumb to her nostril and blowing her nose right there, Hibiki repeated that for the other side.
'Hibiki, I love you, but… gross. Go wash your hands.' Itsuki shook her head, put up her arms and took a step back. 'Gross. Just gross.'
'Oh come on, how is this- Itsuki, get back here!' Hibiki tried to grab her girlfriend's arm and was expertly dodged.
Mai was watching the full act unfold with mild curiosity. 'You think they will be done soon?' A question she directed at Komachi, who had joined up with her since Love had gone off to solve the Hibiki crisis.
'Should I stop them?' Komachi created a tiny green sphere between her hands and smiled happily. Karen was right, getting a little into character does make it a lot easier to be confident.I'm so embarrassed though. But I won't give in that easily! A new Komachi awaits… or something like that.
'I'll handle it.' It looks like I'm not the only one exploring new sides of themselves. Putting her thumb and index finger to her lips, Mai whistled – or rather produced a loud sound that was like someone blew into a wet trumpet. Before anyone could really tell what had happened, she shoved the clipboard into Komachi's hands and exited the lit area, hiding herself in the dark with a bright red face. I should have practiced that!
Everyone was focusing on Komachi now, who felt way out of her depth. Mai! That's not what I came up here for! Karen was there to pick up the pieces, taking a step past her new love, taking the clipboard out of her hands. 'The photo shoot, the garden maintenance and helping out at Mamo's are all hindered by one thing or another today, so we'll only be handling the public bath cleaning. The lights are still on in there, thankfully.'
'Who's the poor sods that have to bite the dust today?' Akane raised her hand. 'We're all gonna be pooped after this triathlon thing.'
Sticking the clipboard under her arm, Karen exhaled slowly. 'We'll just see who is the least pooped after we're done. Of course they'll be out of the rotation for cleaning duty until everyone had a go.'
Komachi made a weird little noise right as Karen said 'pooped' and her reaction in turn caused Karen to eye her with a special look. Do you want me to take a step back so you can handle everyone's questions? And Komachi swiftly fixed her expression and looked away. A clear 'No' to that special look.
DISSONANCE
'You know, I get the impression that whoever came up with this doesn't understand at all what 'triathlon' really means. Hold on.' Nagisa was panting a little, otherwise still in good shape however.
'I am not sure they even understand what 'sports' is..' Honoka held on to Nagisa's hand like a damsel in distress and didn't care at all how silly she looked. 'I think I need to join you on your morning runs sometime. I didn't think I was this out of shape.' Contrary to her partner, Honoka felt her hot breath escape with increasing ferocity from her lungs and irritating her gums. She was at least two stages past being out of breath. Lightly bend over, she relied entirely on Nagisa pulling her along right now.
'You're doing about as well as most of the others.' Nagisa slowed down and buffered Honoka's speed with her body, both of them coming to a standstill after a few meters. 'I can't believe that Mai of all people is so good at this.'
'I don't get it either… how does a painter have… so much stamina.' Honoka was glad for the respite to collect herself. I must look so pathetic right now… Looking behind herself, Honoka felt her self-doubt eased somewhat. But at least I'm up this hill… 'I'm glad you didn't leave me behind.'
'When have I ever left you behind?' Squatting down and then quickly sitting on the asphalt, Nagisa still held Honoka's hand and helped her sit down as well. 'And it's not exactly a big sport in Japan so it's not unusual that you're not that good at this.'
'To think that long distance roller skating was one of the disciplines… I worry about the next discipline.' Honoka scooted over the ground and rested herself against Nagisa's side. 'It's only been thirty minutes and I'm already ready to take a nice and long hot bath and turn in for the night.'
'Hang in there.' Kissing Honoka on the forehead, Nagisa made an unhappy noise. I shouldn't have done that…
'Nagisa… it's fine. I'm sweating like we're in a sauna. Just… let me sit for another minute or two.' Honoka was perfectly aware of how much she was sweating. I'm just glad we all got to change into sports wear before this… although these short pants are a bit too short for my taste. They're almost as short as the ones Nagisa wears as Cure Black. They look great on her, but not so much on me.
The course was full of twists and some pretty steep slopes, making it hard for even the more experienced skaters, of which there were very few to begin with. The thirty-seven of them, transported to the course forcefully by the two receptionists, were spread out far and wide across the winding asphalt road. Down the slope that Nagisa and Honoka had just braved and defeated was a group of six that was really struggling.
The sound of protectors hitting the asphalt and someone groaning loudly alarmed Ako that Urara had fallen down again. Slowing down and then stopping entirely she turned and rolled down the beginning of the slope. 'I told you it was not a good idea to drink that early in the day.'
'Shut it, Ako.' Urara turned over and stared at the way too bright sky. 'How long is this blasted damn course?!'
'It has only been about five kilometers. People are able to run that in less than fifteen minutes.' Squatting down, Ako was one of the more proficient skaters among the whole pack, she grabbed Urara's hand. 'I'm not going to carry you, so get up.'
'I hate this.' Urara sat up. 'I hate this!' She shouted to the heavens.
'Move, move, move!' Shouting came from behind them.
'You're not getting ahead of me!'
'Shut your trap!'
With insane leg movement speed – and pretty high general skating speed – Akane, Itsuki and Regina soared past, causing a little gust of wind as they passed Ako and Urara.
'I'll leave you in the dust!' Akane had never skated before but that didn't deter her from trying to be the fastest on the road – albeit succeeding at doing so was far, far off.
'You're gonna run out of steam if you keep yapping like that!' Itsuki mocked her. She had never skated before either but after Akane just wouldn't shut up about how she'd beat them all she just couldn't sit still.
'Both of you get out of my way, Mana is up ahead!' Regina tried to pull and push on the other two and a high speed skirmish erupted on the road.
All three of them crashed into the peacefully skating pair of Hikari and Kurumi, causing Hikari to fall down. None of them paid any attention to that, rushing ever forward trying to outrun the other two.
'Hikari, are you okay? Hey, numbskull trio! Watch where the hell you're going!' Bellowing after the three racers, Kurumi grit her teeth. If I had my powers I'd put them all off the road for good! When someone badmouthed Hikari or pushed her around, Kurumi saw red.
Much further behind towards the end of the line were Mana and Rikka. Being blind and having no powers was once again a real inconvenience, so Mana decided to carry her girlfriend. 'I'm sorry about this, Mana… I'm always causing you-'
'You're not causing trouble at all. If I didn't carry you I would probably be trying to compete with the other for first place and… well, I think Regina is probably causing enough trouble for all six of us. And also-' Mana laughed and made Rikka bounce in her arms. 'You're light!' There is another reason why I'm happy to stay in the back with you, though. Glancing to her back, Mana kept an eye on the very last two in the entire line, over a hundred meters behind her. I'm carrying Rikka up a slope and those two are still so far behind me. There is no way they are that bad at skating. It's humanly impossible.
'Something is keeping you on edge, Mana.' Her arms around Mana's neck, Rikka tried to be as little of a burden as possible.
'Dream and Beauty. They're intentionally keeping their distance from everyone. Something is up with them. My instincts tell me that something isn't right with them.'
'Normally you'd just go and ask them. What's wrong?'
'Everyone here is a Cure and… I don't really know, but I feel like I would only get lies out of them. Like this is something between them and it would get a lot worse if I stuck my nose in it…'
'You've really grown, Mana.'
'Now, now, I do learn from my mistakes.' Looking up ahead, Mana did let out a sigh. 'I'll speed up a bit! I don't want us to be the last ones to hit the goal!'
While the end of the line was speeding up, the very front of the line was in despair. 'Say… Hibiki… are you seeing this?' Kanade sat on a large rock by the roadside, looking in the distance.
'Hm… this has got to be like one of those… you know that thing you see in the desert… or on the ocean..' Hibiki sat by the foot of the rock, resting her legs a bit.
'I think that's only in the desert. The ocean one is something different.' Kanade forced herself to blink and turn away from what she was seeing. 'Are we really… gonna have to get to the end of that?'
'The end of what? There's no end here.' Hibiki returned to reality when Kanade bumped her skates into her shoulder. 'Ow. Hey!'
'You were going far away into fantasy land.'
'That test of courage was fairly ridiculous but this is… whoever designed this doesn't know anything about how far a human can skate before they start to question if their feet still exists.' Hibiki groaned and got back on her feet. Extending her hand to Kanade, she sighed. 'Let's go. I can hear the others slowly catching up behind us.'
'We'll have to increase our speed if we're gonna make it to the end of that in… how long was the time limit?' Taking Hibiki's hand to get off the rock easily, Kanade stretched her arms a bit and then rolled past her teammate.
'Four hours, I think. Let's go.' Going down the slope ahead of them, Kanade and Hibiki disappeared from sight before the second place could get there. Both of them had plenty of experience in skating. They had asked Ellen to come with them since she was proficient too, but Ellen chose to stay with Setsuna and Love instead.
The second and third place, consisting of Miki plus Yuri and Nao and Rin respectively, were pushing themselves to maintain a good pace, but going up a steep slope was really draining them. None of them had any experience but willpower and natural sense of balance went a long way to make it easier for them.
'Are you okay…? Kanade is way up ahead already.' Nao was a bit short of breath. This is way different from game practice… I still can't get a good posture… ah well, neither can Rin.
'Kanade can take care of herself.' Rin was panting a bit herself. 'Why is it inline skating?! It's not even a real sport!' And I can't believe that Kanade is so good at this! I'm never going to hear the end of this. Shit.
'And here I thought you two were sporty ones.' Miki was a little ahead of them but still in talking distance. Yuri was by her side, effortlessly keeping pace with not so much as a single drop of sweat on her face. Yuri… you're incredible. But it's kinda pissing me off, too.
'Being athletic and… this are two different pair of shoe!' Rin glanced back and far down the slope. This is the third slope in a row. I get that Japan has a lot of mountains but whoever designed this didn't have to pay attention to that, did they?! The ones are the bottom of the first slope look like ants…
'I can run really fast and far, but this is totally different from running..' Nao desperately swung her arms to get just a little more force behind every step. 'How are you two so good at this?'
'We're tall?' Yuri was extremely nonchalant about the whole affair. And I'm not weighted down by enormous breasts. It's no surprise that you're struggling, Nao.
'I'm just as tall as you are!' Nao complained loudly and felt a sliver of hope when she saw the top of the slope. Almost there… surely it'll be downhill from up there.
'I guess we just have better overall distribution of muscle? Or maybe we're just lighter.' Miki saw how annoyed those two behind her looked and couldn't help herself. It's your posture, Rin, Nao. You have terrible posture from years of… soccer was it? You need to stand up straight, not bend forward so much. Your back is going to kill you later. Especially you, Nao.
Something soared past the four of them without warning, making a loud 'Woohoo!' sound as it passed. All four of them recognized it without trouble. Erika, who turned out to be a secret genius on wheels, had powered past them, only to turn about short of the top and go back down, screaming 'Yeah!' as she went down and came to a screen halt around Tsubomi, about two hundred meters further behind the four.
'I wish I had that much energy..' Rin looked down and saw Erika speeding up again. 'What is she even made of?'
'You're better off not knowing.' Despite effortlessly cruising along, Yuri now looked really tired.
Doing a second lap around the four in front, Erika returned back to Tsubomi and met up with another friend of hers. 'Yami!' Waving like crazy as she skated backwards up a hill – which really annoyed Tsubomi who was trying very hard to keep her pace – Erika had the time of her life. 'Tsumi, look, Yami's coming up. And she's carrying… what's her name? Barrier girl from the new squad!'
'Alice, her name is Alice!' Tsubomi didn't have the energy to put up with Erika's infinite power and talent. Why… why is she so good at this. She could barely stand still on the skates half an hour ago…
'Erika!' Yami couldn't wave but she sped up after seeing whom she considered her closest friend. Her sister and Alice were obviously in different categories than friends. 'Holding out up here?' Yami wasn't a wiz on the skates like Erika but she found it pretty easy to just go fast, even if she was carrying Alice proper princess style. 'Tsubomi, you look really tired!'
'Because I am! Erika, carry me!' Making the request in jest, Tsubomi squirmed and squeaked when Erika without ado and buts picked her up, crunched a little under the additional weight and then kept pace with Yami. 'I-I- E-Erika!' A face like a blister, Tsubomi felt embarrassment seep through her every pore and bone. 'I can- Just… I-'
'Oh my, it appears someone has broken down.' Alice looked at Tsubomi, she had to turn her head all the way back to make that happen, and smiled. 'There is no shame in us more… delicate persons being helped along by our more… energetic peers.'
'Wow, someone is being all lovey-dovey on the road.' The next set of challengers appeared right then, accompanied by laughing and panting. 'All of you holding up okay?'
'Love… and Setsuna and Ellen?' I need to invent memory wiping magic. Some kind of pollen that makes them forget everything they saw. Yes… that's gonna be for the best. Tsubomi couldn't believe that even more people were seeing her getting carried around now.
Ellen was being pulled along by both Love and Setsuna, who didn't make too good of a pace themselves but were very much hanging in there. Ellen on the other hand looked like she had already traversed all of Japan on foot in one day, panting and bending over, one arm each being held by one of her girlfriends, pulling her along like dead weight.
Yami slowed just enough to match pace with Ellen. 'Already out of steam?'
'I'm… more about… vocal… stamina… and… arms..' Ellen was not exactly the sporty type, even more so now than back then.
Two pushes and Yami plus Alice were on level with Love and Setsuna instead. 'You two look pretty fine though.'
'We're tough cookies.' Love grinned wide.
'What she means is that we are used to a lot of things from traveling around.' Setsuna corrected the not-so-tired of her girlfriends with a smile. 'Love especially is tough as nails.'
'My, how reminiscent of Mana. And having multiple girls at her beck and call, too.' Alice mused and made Love looked strangely proud. 'Speaking of her, have either of you see Mana?'
'Not since we started.' Love shook her head. 'Sorry.'
'I was merely curious if Mana was having a hard time with Rikka. She and I are quite a burden in events like this.' Alice didn't really look like she felt guilty over that.
'Split, split!' Erika ran a circle around everyone and nodded towards the back. 'One rampaging lot coming through!'
The three eagerly competing women had picked up steam and competition, a group of now five relentlessly speeding towards the top of the slope without consideration for their own stamina, health or endurance, simply trying to out-do each other. Akane and Itsuki were constantly bumping into each other while Regina was slightly ahead of them, with Saki and Nagisa in front of her, having assumed the identity of road rollers, shouting and growling as they tried to stay ahead of Regina.
Much further behind, a little behind the center of the line, were their better halves, taking it much easier. 'Can you believe those two?' Mai was sweating quite a bit now. She was surprisingly good at staying upright on skates but her endurance was very low indeed. 'Running off like that the second the three stooges rush past.'
'They cannot stand the thought of having others that are far less athletic than them outdo them like that.' Honoka wasn't in much better condition than Mai either. Panting a bit and sweating enough that she had tied her hair up and into a ponytail, like Mai, she wished for a nice breeze to pick up.
'Hah… that does sound like them. Who do you think will win between our two doofuses?' This slope is still going on and on… I hope we're at the top soon, my knees are kind of killing me already.
'Saki has more weight to pull up the slopes but she's also got more leg power… she'll probably win, Nagisa tends to go overboard and overexert herself too quickly. She's a bit like a husky.'
'Should I tell Nagisa that you're comparing her to a dog?'
'You can't tell me that if I call Saki a Bernard it's not accurate.'
'Honoka, come on!' Mai couldn't hold her laughter in and lost some speed.
Slowing down to wait for her friend, Honoka tried to imagine Nagisa with husky ears and a tail and had to bend over a little herself.
While most of the line was still climbing the series of inclining slopes, Kanade and Hibiki were already far down on the other side, having reached the goal, both of them flat on their back, covered in sweat.
Hibiki held a bottle of mineral water in her hand, putting it to her mouth and just sucking out the cooling clear. 'I'm… I'm so… so glad..' After reaching the foot of what was basically a mountain, both of them decided to that they should see who could actually go faster and get to the goal first.
Neither of them would give up even after the road stretched on for quite a while. In the end they made it to the goal completely exhausted and sweating rivers, dropping into the short grass by the roadside and right next to a refreshments station, placed there for those that finished, apparently.
'Yeah… Same..' Kanade had already gone through an entire bottle and was still panting like crazy, her chest heaving with every breath.
Spending over a minute like that, Hibiki eventually found the strength to say something stupid. 'Your… your boobs look huge..'
'I'm gonna… tell Itsuki..'
'Be my… guest. Her's… are even bigger..'
The argument died because both of them were too tired to get up. It took another five minutes before Hibiki found the strength to sit up and peel herself out of her pink skates. 'I… I think I'm good… on skating for a while.'
'Same..' Kanade was still on the ground.
'Want me to take off your…' Hibiki stumbled over her own thoughts and forgot the word. 'Things.'
Kanade paused, tried to sit up and couldn't feel her arms well enough to push herself out of the grass. 'Yeah… thanks.'
Taking off Kanade's white skates and just leaving them in the grass next to her, Hibiki plopped back down. 'I haven't been this tired in… a while.'
'Hibiki..'
'No sappy stuff.'
'I won't, idiot.'
'The one who calls others…' She didn't have the energy. 'You know.'
'There's two more disciplines. after this.'
'We're gonna die. One hundred percent guaranteed.' Rolling over and pushing herself up, Hibiki staggered towards the table with the refreshments and grabbed a towel, turned, then turned again and grabbed a second towel and dropped it on Kanade's face before using her own towel to wipe her face.
Muffled words came from Kanade before she moved her hands to her face and rubbed the sweat off.
Sitting down, legs crossed, next to Kanade, Hibiki just stared at the road for several minutes. 'Kanade?'
'What?'
'Do you still have feelings for me?' Kanade tensed up and averted her eyes. She didn't say anything for a while and so Hibiki continued. 'It's fine if you do. I can't return them but I'm still fine… being friends even if I know you kinda want to be more.'
'I… don't think about you that way as much anymore.'
'So… how's things with Rin?' Hibiki looked a little more lively now. 'I gotta say that she is kinda badass. Not like Itsuki but… I could totally go for that if I didn't have anyone else.'
'Pervert.'
'Hey!'
'Rin's kinda… an adult.'
'That's not very telling.'
'I just… she sometimes says really mean things but they're the truth and so it kinda makes me realize that I need to grow up myself.'
'Oh, I kinda get that. Itsuki makes me feel like that too. To be honest… without Itsuki pulling my head off and putting it back on right I don't think I could talk to you like this.'
'Hm… Rin's the same. She made me realize that just… because we… we can't be… a couple that… I shouldn't abandon being friends instead. I want… to be friends.'
'We're so going to fight though.'
'Yeah… that's just us.'
Both of them smiled and then smiled wider until they laughed loudly at the roadside. 'Things might not have worked out with us together… but we'll still be together, just in a different way, right?'
'As long as you don't run off with Itsuki!'
'Ah, don't bring that up. I have no idea what I'm gonna do when we get out of here. I… still want to be with her but neither of us can move somewhere else. Itsuki has her dojo and I have… my family and everyone, including you.'
'I don't know if I can stay with Rin. She's a working adult already and… I think I want to take over the family business.'
'Kanade. Promise to not tell Itsuki, okay?'
'Tell he what?'
'What I'm about to say.'
'I… I can't promise, but I'll try.'
'Hah… I… kinda don't want to go back. Not anytime soon at least. While we're here I can be with Itsuki without worrying about anything else.'
'Ellen probably feels the same. And I agree with you.'
'Then that's our secret for now.'
'You sound like back in middle school.'
'Do not!'
'Do too!'
'Do- oh, someone's coming!'
The second group to arrive was worn out to the bone. Miki and Yuri were both mentally drained because their group included both Erika and Yami, while the two causes of their exhaustion were physically drained to the core.
Erika had to cease carrying Tsubomi a while back and her long blue hair was slick and sticking to her back, her girlfriend in much the same situation. Yami was doing a little better in terms of hair but she and Alice fell face first into the grass off the road the second they passed the red goal line.
The six of them had all stuck together to minimize air resistance and keep each other going – although in the case of Erika and Yami it had been stubbornness to keep up with Yuri and Miki, who were pretty sweaty but still able to move over to the refreshments table and get towels before sitting down.
Erika joined Yami in the league of face-down-in-the-grass in an instant. When poked there was no response, they were just like corpses. Sitting down near Hibiki, Miki and Yuri quickly took off their skates and let their feet breathe some fresh air.
'How long have you been here?' Miki asked, opened up a bottle and let the cool liquid bring her insides back to life. This is worse than that one time we had to do the fashion show with the air conditioner broken. Or that time I wore that full body mascot costume for the stage show… and it is not even that hot here.
'Fifteen minutes or something like that. Maybe twenty.' Hibiki shook her bottle a little and held it out in front of Kanade who just took it without a word. 'What's the matter with them?' Pointing at Yami and Erika, Hibiki looked a bit worried.
'They insisted on not falling behind and pushed themselves a little too hard. Especially my sister.' Yuri was sitting diagonally behind Miki and glancing at Hibiki from the corner of her eyes. 'She has no idea how to pace herself. And she carried… Alice, is it? Carried her all the way for some reason.'
'Because my legs can't withstand stressful activity, especially not prolonged one.' Having been carried, Alice was well rested at this point. Taking towels and water bottles from the station together with Tsubomi, she went to care for Yami, who was looking a little glassy in the eyes right now. 'I would not make an energetic girl like her carry me if there was an alternative.'
'I see.' Yuri was still not in a great mood and also somewhat tired out from having to listen to Erika make skating puns for ten minutes straight. She and Yami also riled each other up with ever dumber antics and conversational topics, too.
'How far behind is everyone else?' Kanade was well enough at this point to sit up and have normal conversations.
'Most likely over twenty minutes out, if not more,' Alice commented and wiped down Yami's shoulders, face and neck.
I still don't approve of those two. For one, Yami is my little sister and this Alice woman is… years older than me. That's just not right. And two, Yami isn't ready for a relationship with someone so… manipulative isn't the right word, but… Noticing that Miki was giving her a look, Yuri stopped glaring in Alice's general direction.
Eight minutes after the Yuri-Miki group had arrived came the next one – a mess of five heavily panting, barely standing, glaring and weakly fighting girls. As a last ditch effort, Regina threw her arms forward, trying to create momentum and barely managed to get across the finish line in front of the other four.
They did not even make it onto the grass, Saki and Nagisa just sinking to the ground almost right on top of the finish line, Regina right behind and Akane and Itsuki slightly off to the sides. Alice, the only one being rested, took it upon herself to supply everyone with towels and water bottles, like race staff.
No real conversations happened because everyone was far too spent to bother with words. Only Regina managed to spout a few lines. 'In… In your… your face… I'm…. first… I… win..' Instead of drinking her bottle, Regina poured about half of it just right over her face and head.
It took twenty more minutes before even the last of the thirty-seven girls arrived. As everyone made it to the finish line, Alice got them set up, which was quite an unusual experience for her. Reika and Nozomi were right behind Ako and Urara, who had fallen all the way to second to last place due to Urara just never getting the hang of skating at all and Ako having to literally hold her hand towards the end.
Reika and Nozomi had just barely arrived when Sasorina showed up. 'Hey, hey, everyone here, everyone ready for part two?!' Majorina was right behind her, wearing sunglasses and a big fancy hat.
'I hate you. so. so. much.' Itsuki growled and turned over in the grass, where Mana had dragged her.
'Don't shoot the messenger, okay? We're just the ones taking you from the finish points to the start points. You're not exactly doing great on time so far so maybe try to finish a little faster for the second discipline, right?' Sasorina tried her best to sound non-condescending but everyone was pretty spent already. 'Okay, you got another couple minutes before we're calling time and transporting you to the next thing, right?'
'What's the next thing about?' Hibiki made an effort to ask.
'I don't know, actually. We can't actually go there without you lot.' Sasorina shrugged it off. 'But you'll see in a little bit.'
'I can't wait.' Tsubomi had been near by and decided to voice her lack of enthusiasm in the most deadpan voice one could imagine from her.
Their few minutes of respite were over far too soon, and the wild and varied collection of magical girls was once more transported through space, the asphalt and greenery around them disappearing in an instant, replaced by nebulous fog and a strange howling of wind. The white parted soon, revealing before them their next challenge, causing an almost two-team-wide simultaneous groan.
Before them was a mountain, steep and impossible to scale on foot, the cold stone wall piercing high into the clouded gray sky, whipping winds licking at their heated bodies and cold air causing many a shiver to assault them.
'It appears the second discipline is mountain climbing.' Sasorina raised her voice, glanced to her side and found Majorina missing. You better not be playing hookey, Marina.
But her co-worker was in fact just ahead of her and already at the supplies station located behind the group of thirty-seven. 'Everyone over here, in turns! It appears clothing and tools are supplied!'
To protect against the wind and the cold there were winter and mountaineering clothes, complete with safety goggles. The gear itself consisted of steel picks, small hammers, stakes, safety belts and a lot of rope.
Mana, who was quite superhuman in that she was only moderately tired from having carried Rikka all the way, Miki and Yuri, who were masters of pacing themselves, got together while everyone else was still picking out their favorite colored thick jacket.
Mana was taking cursory glances at everyone else. 'How do we handle this? It doesn't make sense for a lot of us to go up alone. We have a whole bunch of exhausted people already.'
'Yuri and I are among the tallest here so we have an advantage. You- well, you seem pretty sturdy.' Miki already had thoughts about what to do. If we split into three groups that would be about twelve people per group… If we lead the path and hammer out a rope line then most of the others won't be as exhausted going up. We still have a third discipline coming up after all so we should think about preserving as much energy of everyone as possible.
'It's one of my strong points!' It was completely obvious that Mana was not only aware of how sturdy she was but also that she felt flattered by someone pointing it out to her.
'Three groups then?' Yuri read Miki's mind. 'We can't tell how far up exactly we have to go from down here and there is the issue of wind… if we have everyone follow us as we go, it'll create a huge liability and burden.'
'So we three go up ahead and produce a safe way for everyone to go up?' Miki thought about that for a moment. If that's the case we could use pull action to make it easier, but… 'Saki, Nagisa… Kaoru! Come over here for a second.'
Nagisa and Saki were still in their skating clothing and getting pretty cold but readily followed the request. Kaoru on the other hand had already picked a light blue mountaineering jacket, pants and a gray wool hat to keep warm.
It wasn't until Kaoru had walked over to her that Miki realized her mistake. 'Uh, sorry, I got you two mixed up. I'm looking for Michiru actually.'
'Michi! Come here for a moment!' Kaoru shouted for her sister. 'I'll be with Yayoi if you need me. She has been telling me about this manga about… ninjas.' Coming right out with a boldfaced lie like that, she didn't hesitate at all. I have to justify the change somehow and Yayoi makes an excellent reason and method to do just that. Her wealth of knowledge in manga and fiction are excellent means to show that our rekindled interest in normalcy is going slightly awry.
While Kaoru was lightly blue themed, Michiru was yellow themed. It was a general trend that each girl seemed to be partial to the colors they primarily presented as Cures. 'You need me for something?' Glancing at Saki, Michiru smiled. 'I can do just about anything.'
'Hm. Yeah. We, that is Yuri, Mana and me, are going up first and secure the rope and a path. We want you three to come after us once we secured the rope. We'll let down a second rope from the closest resting point up and I was thinking that your physical strength could help get some of the more exhausted girls topside. The last discipline was pretty taxing on the legs, but your arms are holding up okay, yes?' Miki explained her plan and noticed just a tiny bit of a smile from Yuri – and a much bigger smile from Mana but she didn't really care about that one.
'So we're gonna be pulling everyone up via the second rope then?' Nagisa scratched the back of her neck and covered her chest with her arms; it was cold!
'No, everyone that is able to climb will actually climb,' Yuri had understood the plan.
'Just a few probably can't. Rikka can't really because she can't see and Alice might have it pretty tough because her legs can't handle stress like climbing a cliff.' Mana added some more info to it. Why is Yuri glaring at me?Did I say something wrong? Did… Regina do something? Oh, she better didn't!
'That's fine. I can definitely handle that. So… you three get to the top… that is pretty far up. I'm confident in my strength but pulling someone up the entire way in one go-' Saki took over and spoke while leaning back and looking up the cliff as she spoke.
'Not the entire way. There has to be spots along the way where we can take a moment.' Mana gestured with a wave. 'I mean this looks pretty high. It would take way too long to get all the way up and then have everyone follow.'
'The three of you will be an advance party securing a path – we three will follow that path as soon as it is established. It is probably best if we follow suit right away to serve as an anchor.' Michiru smiled at Saki again. 'I've helped teach a few classes of climbing in halls. If we three follow you as anchors, we can also start pulling others much faster than if we have to go up with everyone else. It will cut a not insignificant amount of time. Right?'
'That's actually a really good idea.' Miki was surprised. I considered having them follow us right away, but I didn't think it would save sufficient time. But now that I think about it again, we will have two functional lanes to ascend right away then, per climbing route.
'Shall we gear up then? Anyone any objections?' Yuri pushed the group forward, metaphorically.
There were no objections and without further ado the group grabbed winter gear. Sturdy boots with no heel that used Velcro to close up instead of zippers or cords. Thick jackets that kept them warm – uncomfortably warm while they were still heated from from the skating – and just as thick pants that would keep even the most vile winds at bay. Safety goggles against falling pebbles, a wool hat and also a reinforced hard plastic hat. While it might not have fulfilled every safety regulation ever, the six of them felt adequately safe.
Yuri proved to be the least skilled at climbing out of the three advance scouts. She was followed by Michiru, while Saki stuck to Miki and Nagisa was behind Mana. Michiru proved to be more than adequate at plotting a route from below, which helped Yuri keep up with the other two. Mana on the other hand was held back occasionally by Nagisa being not quite as nimble as she thought she'd be.
Fourteen minutes was the time passed before they reached the first resting spot – a small platform barely big enough for the thirty-one still down below, Mana estimated almost expertly. 'From here on out we'll go further up, you help pulling up whoever needs help and then follow us. That okay with you three?' Mana was just so used to taking charge that she did it without thinking twice about it.
While Mana was in charge up on the first platform, down below on the ground, where everyone was sort of huddling together to starve off the cold of standing still, Tsubomi had taken charge. Working in a flower shop could get pretty hectic and she had gotten pretty good at scheduling things too. But most of all it was her experience in caring for Erika that made her a great asset and leader for this situation. She knew exactly how much people had to move to stay warm but not get hot or tired or how to best let the really tired out ones rest without cooling out despite the winter gear.
Hearing Miki shout down from above – and thinking what a loud voice that girl that – Tsubomi started to change up what she was doing. 'Everyone that isn't too exhausted to climb please line up by the three lines. They've been secured and it is safe to ascend as quickly as you can. Everyone that isn't able to climb on their own please go and standby near the climbing lines. A secondary line that will pull you up will be let down. Please don't abuse the pulling lines, Nagisa, Saki and Ka-… Michiru are up there and doing the pulling. Those that can't climb will have to get up like that all the way to the top so please don't unnecessarily exhaust them.'
'So cool,' Erika whispered to Tsubomi with a big fat grin on her face and burst into laughter when Tsubomi flushed red like a traffic light and tried to grab her ear but missed.
Further up, on the platfform, Nagisa had gotten tangled up in the secondary rope and Saki was doing her best to fix it and made it worse in the process. 'Saki, lower my rope, I'll handle this.'
'Thanks… sorry Nagisa. Somehow the rope just… I don't know how this even-'
'Saki. Over here. Come.' Michiru puckered her lips and imitated the noises one would make to attract a dog or cat. And sure enough, Saki followed the noises with a little bit of a frown on her face. 'Don't mind the rope, I've seen even regulars get tangled up and that's without having to lower a secured secondary line.'
'You've really done all sorts of stuff, huh?' Saki lowered the rope and Michiru went to free Nagisa, who had become a very big cat that unfortunately encountered a ball of yarn.
'A lot of things.' Talking louder so Saki could understand her while unwrapping Nagisa, Michiru saw a good chance to relay some stopgap development to her savior.
'Mai and I were kinda worried about you two being off on your own. It kinda felt you were regressing a bit while learning more about people.'
'Hm… Maybe. Yayoi has been doing a great job of telling us about all sorts of things, though. Did you know that mangaka still use fax machines?'
What kind of stuff is Yayoi telling them? Fax machines? Mangaka? Is she talking a lot about her job? 'Is that really interesting?'
'There's so many mannerism things to learn. And I never knew just how much manga there is out there. She's been recommending a lot to us but we haven't gotten around to buying them from Mamo.'
Mamo sells manga? I need to check that out later. I wonder if she has the latest volume of HinoSumo… maybe she'll even have Jump or Square. 'I'm kinda interested now. Wanna go together later?'
'Nagisa, keep still. Just how… what did you two do?' Michiru was too focused on Nagisa to reply right away. 'Later? Hm… maybe if we're still able to walk. We still have one more discipline after all.'
Hanging around Yayoi seems to be really good for her. She's gotten a lot better at talking naturally than before. Makes me feel kinda… proud? Happy? One of those two for sure! 'Don't remind me. After skating and climbing who knows what nonsense is next. Neither of these are at the Olympics, you know!'
'What were you hoping for, Saki?' Nagisa was linking herself into the conversation now.
'Running, cycling, swimming. But not stuff I've barely ever done!' Saki finished lowering the rope, peeked over the edge and shouted. 'Route one lift rope will be ready in a couple minutes! Route two will open as soon as the rope is down!'
'Seriously, sorry about this..' Nagisa's face was pretty red and it was not from the wind.
'I've seen worse. At least you don't struggle and try to tell me you know better at every step.' Shit. I didn't mean to let my cynicism get out like that. 'One of the kids I had to untangle was like that.'
'I never really got why you two went into… do-it-all business. Sorry, I've no idea what to actually call it.'
'Handiworkers basically. We're handy in every situation and we work. Kaoru came up with that.' Finally getting Nagisa free, Michiru straightened out the rope, hammered an anchor into the rock with absolute ease and tied the rope to it, then proceeding to loop the rope around Nagisa's right arm and putting the piece further up into her left hand. 'Left secures, right pulls, don't step on the rope thinking you can secure it that way, one big movement from whoever you're pulling and you'll get knocked off your feet.'
'Understood. Man, you're really good at explaining. I should come work with you. Just kidding.' Nagisa chuckled by herself, stepped forward and looked over the edge. 'Route three lift is now open! Sorry about the delay!'
While the three of them were doing their best to get those up the cliff that couldn't climb at all or simply had no energy left, Miki, Yuri and Mana had almost made it to the second platform. Almost. There was just one big problem that stood in their way. Hung in their way. There was an overhead that hadn't been visible from down below.
'How far up are we?' Yuri looked down and she couldn't even see the supplies stand from there.
'I would guess about a hundred meters? We did scale the wall pretty quick.' Mana looked down and thought on it. 'Might actually be closer to a hundred and fifty. I can only see forest for as far as it goes out though, so I can't be sure.'
'The overhead doesn't seem to extend indefinitely outwards. Do we go around?' Miki was a couple meters below Yuri and about five meters to the left. 'Eek.'
'Eek? Miki, what was that noise?' Yuri was trying hard not to laugh.
'Something wet hit my face when I looked up.'
'Oh no.' Mana gave her anchor an extra hit with the hammer, kicked the wall and flew out from beneath the overhead and looked at the sky. 'We need to go up there now and get the line secure. We got a few minutes before rain is gonna come down like no tomorrow. It's gonna be a bit of a problem going forward.'
'Rain? Oh come on! At least guarantee the weather for this damn thing!' Miki hated working in the rain, a lot.
'Most of the others won't be able to climb an overhead even with a line so we have to go around! Miki, you and I go that way, Mana you the other way.' Yuri didn't waste any time and seized control from Mana.
The overhead spanned twenty meters from one edge to another and was more than two meters distance from the primary wall – too much for inexperienced climbers to scale in any case. Going around extended the distance climbed by a bit, but it was still much faster than pulling people over an overhead.
Reaching the second platform, there was still no end in sight for the top of the cliff, much to Miki's dismay. 'How high does this go? It's not one of these impossible challenges where this thing is actually endless, right?'
'Less gawking and more securing the lines please.' Mana hurried them along now, double checking everything. 'We need to make absolutely sure that the ground isn't gonna give in to the anchors. A big enough drop is gonna rip out other anchors and then we have a chain reaction.'
They shouted down about the line being secure moments after – and they had to shout a lot louder now than they did before because the distance between the first and second platform was much greater than that of the ground to the first platform. Michiru, Saki and Nagisa had gotten just about everyone assembled at the first stop and were about halfway up to the second stop when the rain just came hammering down out of nowhere. The thick protection they had kept them relatively dry for a while but it was too much water and too much pressure to stay dry for long. They were completely exposed on the cliff wall as well.
Before they were all the way, the secondary lines were lowered already. 'We need to get everyone up here as quickly as we can! It's dangerous to be outside a tent or a special type of sleeping bag when you're climbing and the rain or night hits!' I doubt there is any real danger here but half if not all of them are gonna catch colds and this isn't the battleground. There's no walking away if you slip, fall and crash against the wall and break your arm. I hope that up there is actually the goal or we're all going to climb the rest of the way with little light, wet to the bone and a slippy as fuck wall.
Hurried by Michiru, Saki and Nagisa arrived almost at the same time as the red haired woman, all three of them looking at Miki, Yuri and Mana, pulling on the ropes with all their might to pull people up. The rain was already made it hard to see and the winds were picking up. Behind the three girls were three tents of very large size – occupying almost the entire platform.
The tent that Mana chose, near the route she had come up, had already someone waiting inside. It was three meters high and six by four meters in dimensions – taking up almost a third of the platform it was seated on. 'You couldn't have stopped the rain?' Mana grabbed a towel and from the pile right by the entrance and started stripping without caring that someone was watching. 'But thanks for showing up. I think we would have all caught something bad if we had to continue in this rain.'
In the back, on a small folding chair to take up minimum space, was Mamo, one of Mana's old enemies. 'I just got word from Sasorina and Majorina about ten minutes ago. You'll have to complain to them about the rain. I'm just a shopkeeper.'
Down to her underwear, Mana hurriedly hung her wet clothes on a hanger at the far edge of the tent and covered herself in a blanket. 'How did you get all of this up here so quickly?'
'Hm, well… you see. We can kinda just move about the place without worrying too much about stuff like distance or cliffs in the way or how heavy stuff is.' I don't want to tell her we can just teleport ourselves and whatever we want anywhere we want as long as we have system authorization. I don't really know how the system decides anything at all but meh… That damn Cure Heart sure grew up to be pretty fancy looking.
Mana had barely sat down next to a battery driven heater when someone else burst into the tent, soaking wet and hair covering almost their entire face. 'This discipline is terrible.' Swiping long purple hair from their face and getting a look at what was in front of her, Mai saw Mana, then the clothes and decided to follow suit without caring about embarrassment. She did turn her back to both of them while she changed in a hurry, hanging her previously white coat next to Mana's, the ground already starting to show signs of turning a puddle there by the edge. Mamo put some extra towels there that seemed to come from thin air.
'Was the rain really necessary?' Mai shivered. Saki is still out there… please come in soon! I could really use someone to warm up with!
'It's not our idea. I think. I am pretty sure Sasorina and Majorina are- wow it is really confusing to same their names close together like that.'
'You were saying, pretty sure about what?' Mai hugged her legs and wished that heater was bigger.
'Pretty sure they are not capable of changing the weather. So I think this is basically them assisting you. So be a little appreciative of it.' And here comes number three… I have no idea who that is.
'I normally love rain but phooey! Super duper big phooey!' Erika shook herself like a small dog and water drops went flying everywhere.
'Erika, towels, over there. And blankets, over there.' Mai just nodded in the general direction, refusing to move even a single finger out from under the blanket. I hate rain.
A single look at the hanging clothes and two girls in blankets, Erika covered her jacketed chest and puckered her lips. 'But everyone's watching!'
Before she could continue her comedy act, Erika was bonked on the head by a really wet hand. A soaking wet pink mop barged into the tent and pushed Erika forward. 'Strip. Now. You are going to catch death.' Tsubomi didn't mess around when it came to Erika's well being. She had a very clear no comedy routines policy about all of it.
'But Tsubomi, Mai and Mana are-' Erika flinched mightily when Tsubomi pulled her ear. 'Ow, okay, okay, okay, yes, yes, yes, whatever you say!' I love it when she takes charge! It's like I have two Tsubomis all to myself! The gentle, caring one and the badass one right n- 'Ow, ow, I'm stripping, I'm stripping!'
'You were thinking something stupid and not moving a finger.' Pulling Erika out of the jacket and then out of the pants and the wet skating clothes, Tsubomi didn't care at all to have Erika temporarily be down to her underwear in front of others. It was barely any different from being at the beach. Still in her wet clothes, Tsubomi dropped a towel on top of Erika and started ruffling her hair.
They're flirting. Mai hugged her legs even more tightly and felt jealous. I wanna be all flirty with Saki but she's still helping the others… I hate feeling like I'd rather have her in here instead of helping them. I blame the dumb rain.
Mana had somewhat warmed up at this point, got up and walked to the entrance, peering out. It was Armageddon out there. Lightning was roaring in the sky and the rain was hammering down like tomorrow would never come. I hope Rikka will be okay… Regina, you're with her, right? Looking out, she felt the need to leave. Put on wet clothes, strap into the rope and go down and get Rikka herself. But she couldn't. Not only would she get in everyone's way, but it would also mean she couldn't trust Regina. And she did. She did trust Regina. The one person who liked Rikka as much as she did. She'd definitely be there with her. And where Regina was, there was Ange. And in turn, there was also Makopi. Rikka was safe. She was definitely safe. Ah, but I hate sitting around doing nothing! Rikka is so gonna yell at me if I go out and be a bother to everyone because I need to solve everything myself. Regina too… the last time they both yelled at me was… not good. Mana shivered from the memory.
One girl pushed past Mana and into the tent, literally spitting water. It was Itsuki, and she remained half outside until a second girl joined her, both of them just in time to see Tsubomi hanging up her clothes and grabbing a blanket for herself, huddling up next to Erika and Mai, by the heater.
'Climbing a cliff in the rain? Whose bright idea was that?!' Of the two new arrivals, the shorter, younger one complained pretty loudly.
'That's not sport, that's a nuisance.' Her partner was completely on the same wavelength.
'Hey Itsuki! Nice of you to swim by!' Erika raised her hand out of the blanket and immediately felt the cold air seep in and quickly remedied her error by assaulting Tsubomi with a hug, combining their blankets and huddling together way too close to not make Tsubomi's face light up.
'Erika?' Itsuki looked in the general directions of the blankets. 'Two-headed Eribomi spotted.'
Hibiki just spontaneously burst into laughter. 'A what?!'
'Over there.' Itsuki pointed and the laughter got worse. Hibiki nearly got down on her knees from laughing far too hard until Itsuki gently pulled her up. 'Come on, you're gonna become a Hibisicle trademark pending.' Both of them joined the growing circle of blankets around the other.
Mana was still by the entrance, waiting and restless. Just waiting around was the worst thing for her and even though she had been through this ordeal a few times in the past, she was still very much awful at just doing nothing.
'Mana?!' A voice, shouting, on the outside.
'Regina?!' Mana shouted back and almost stepped outside.
'What tent are you in?! Rikka is about to come up on route two and I've got no idea where to go!'
'The tent all the way to the… right, if you're facing the cliff!' Mana shouted back felt relieved. I knew you'd take care of her, Regina. I just hate sitting still!
Impatiently waiting by the entrance, Mana opened up the tents entry a little more so Regina and Rikka could get in easier. Rikka was particularly miserable looking, with hair all over her face and water dripping from her even worse so than from everyone until then. Regina was also far more soaked than everyone else so far, from waiting outside.
'I'd hug you, but-' Mana was kind of scuffling around Rikka and Regina, unsure what to do with herself until she realized they'd need towels and blankets and she hurried to grab some.
'That was an experience I am good on never repeating.' Rikka sounded pretty sour.
'What Rikka here means is that this sucks ass.' Regina didn't care at all that Rikka slapped her arm for foul language. Swiping water from her face and rubbing dry with the towel that Mana was holding up for her, Regina got a good look at the rest of the tent. 'Ugh… what is Mamo doing here?'
Mamo clicked her tongue. That little runt! 'Excuse me, who do you think brought this tent and all the other-'
'Mana, obviously.' Regina rubbed her hair a bit more dry.
Mamo nearly fell off her folding chair. 'Three tents by herself?!'
'Regina, even for me that would be a little… the volume alone would be… four times my size, and there's three tents.' Sometimes I think all the stuff I do is skewing their perspective of the limits of what I can do by a little.
'Eh, so who brought it up then?' Regina shrugged it off and started peeling herself out of the dripping clothes.
'I did! Obviously I did! Sasorina and Majorina asked me to lend a hand and I did! You little-!' Mamo stood up from her chair and walked over to stare down Regina, the blonde girl welcoming that and meeting her halfway. Their contest was cut short when the foulest, most annoyed and absolutely loathing filled tongue clicked grunt came from the entrance.
Mamo backed off first. This isn't the time for that. But I'll get you for your big mouth, Regina! Just you wait! Double check everything you buy for extra tight and sturdy vacuum sealed plastic wrapping! Double! And triple!
'Hey..' Still standing in the entrance, dark hair running with water. 'Who is making it rain… I'll need to have a word with them..'
The girl by the entrance was shoved inside by another, revealed to be an incredibly pissed off Rin, followed by a just as incredibly pissed off Akane. Both of them looked like someone had literally rained on their parade. 'Move it, Akane..'
'Shut the hell up, Rin..'
Nobody else in the tent dared to say anything. Regina and Rikka finished changing as quickly as they could, huddling up with Mana in one big mega blanket consisting of three combined ones. The foul mood that both of the hotheaded girls were in was looking like it could blow up the atmosphere any moment so silence persevered within the confines of shelter – and both Rin and Akane sat down by themselves by the other, legs pulled close to their chest, chin resting on their knees and their face obfuscated entirely by the towel over their head.
Another team, another delinquent; Urara was completely different Rin and Akane, laughing like a crazy person as she followed Ako into the tent. 'Now this is a thrill!'
'I'm in love with a crazy person.' Ako was far less enthusiastic about this whole ordeal. I figured that after how much she complained about the skating that this would drive her over the edge and I'd have to take her out of just refusing to participate. And now she's all riled up because it's dangerous? I am definitely going to be the one to handle foreign politics in the future. And control our military though. Although… if I let her handle foreign politics with countries that we are not particularly close with, she could be a really intimidating negotiator. We do have the heavy threat of Replekia and our other Hymnnos… Anyway, I need to- oof. The lights went out after Urara threw a towel over her head.
'Shame we couldn't do this as Cures.' Urara was seizing up her girlfriend like she was prey to hunt. 'That black, skintight suit would- ow! Fuck!' Receiving a full power Ako-kick to her right thigh, Urara cursed and limped away. 'Goddammit Ako, hold back a little.'
'I see you two are still close.' Kanade was there, with big cat eyes and a heinous smile on her face. 'You really have picked a… royal-' Her pun was cut short with Kurumi suddenly covering her mouth. Kanade squirmed and struggled in protest and glared daggers at the knightly girl after she was let go.
'Do you want her to start a brawl in here?' I can't believe this girl. The second she's away from Rin she turns into this. This… Rude thing! 'We finally get a break, I'm not letting you turn this place into a wrestling ring.'
'Kurumi, Kurumi~.' Hikari snuggled up a little more against her girlfriend. 'It's okay. I don't think they'd really start fighting. Kanade was just teasing her teammate a little, right?' Ever the angel, Hikari's smile was blindingly bright to both Kanade and Kurumi.
But all the smiling did not deter Urara. 'Hey… Kanade.' Her right hand connected with the top of Kanade's head, fingers gripping hair and clawing tight. 'What were you saying about me, huh? Do you-' Urara fell sideways, right past Kanade and landed pretty unceremoniously on the ground. Ako had kicked her again, this time right in her rear. 'You violent tyrant!'
'That's rich coming from someone about to start a fist fight because of some words.'
'Who the hell was starting a fist fight?!'
'You were.'
Oh boy, me and my big mouth…I shouldn't have said anything. Oh… I can fix this! 'I-' She didn't get past the first syllable before Kurumi gagged her again. Oh come on, you don't even know what I am gonna say!
'Saying anything at all is gonna make this worse! I know her type!' Kurumi hissed and her face changed colors like a light bulb going on – under her blanket, Hikari had grabbed her other hand. 'Hikari, n-now… isn't..' W-What is wrong with me? I wouldn't have hesitated to grab Karen's boobs in a situation like this… but just her taking my hand is… ah, how does she have such smooth fingers despite all that kitchen work? It's not fair! This isn't fair! This- 'Ouch!' Kanade bit her other hand, which had still been pressed against her mouth. 'Biting me?!'
'Pfft, serves you right, Mimi.' Urara mocked her teammate and got back on her feet, shivering a bit. Walking past Kanade, not without kicking the ground next to her as a warning, Urara sat down next to Ako, who immediately scooted away a little, only to be pursued right away.
Urara, you little… don't think I'll just swallow anything just because you're… grrrr. 'It's Kurumi!'
Urara scoffed and smirked. 'Same thing.'
Ako quietly clicked her tongue and reached for Urara's hand from under her blanket, pulling on it just enough to get her attention. 'Enough already. You've been out of control ever since we started climbing.' Nobody but Urara could hear what she was saying and that by itself made it even more impactful.
Fuck. Fuck.. she's actually mad.I can still feel my heart pumping like I'm on a midnight motorcycle ride through the streets but maybe it's time to actually stop and calm the fuck down. 'I'll get my shit together now.' A quick exhale, a glance, squeezing Urara's hand; there were lots of little signs that conveyed how Ako felt. Sometimes I feel like I'm trying to do a crossword without being able to read the hints. But I'm getting better at this. She's still mad but she's not gonna stay mad if I cut out the way I'm acting right now.
Komachi stepped into the tent, looking like she had seen many a better day. 'I… I hate climbing now, I think.' A quick glance in the back and each side, she understood and grabbed a towel. But unlike many of the others she did feel embarrassed changing in front of everyone and hesitated long enough for it to become awkward.
'Hikari, I'll be right back.' Whispering to her girlfriend and getting up, walking very close by the heater and taking in the warmth on her legs with a pleasant sigh, she cleared her throat the moment she stood behind Komachi – who was facing the entrance and presumably hoping for Karen to show up. 'Koma, come on, I'll held up a blanket. It's not like I haven't see you in your underwear before.' Fastening her own blanket around her shoulders, which exposed her legs from the thighs down, Kurumi grabbed a blanket, and quickly wrapped it around Komachi so she could focus on changing.
'Thank you. I'm just not… you know, used to..' I can't believe that I'm making such a big deal out of changing in front of everyone. Those skating clothes were practically showing off my curves and I have no problem walking around in a swimsuit so what's the problem… If only Karen was here..
'I gotta admit… I get why you'd want to not show off with a body like that.'
Blushing, Komachi stared down at the floor. I knew it. I knew I gained weight. I just didn't think it was so bad that-
'How did I ever convince Karen to go out with me instead of you? I'm just glad I only have eyes for Hikari now or this would be seriously tempting.'
'Eh?'
'What, 'eh'?'
'You weren't talking about my weight?'
'What, do you think you're fat? Do you want me to hit you in the head? I gained two kilos lately because of Hikari's cooking. I'm gonna have to start doing sports soon just to avoid blowing up like a balloon. I don't want to hear from you about weight when you're shaped like you burn all your calories with nightly activities.' Komachi's face was beyond saving at this point. Ah ha ha ha, I totally went too far and Hikari is gonna pout at me… 'Uh… Look. I… I didn't mean..'
'So I don't look overweight?' There was tangible joy in Komachi's voice.
'No. You. Are. Not. Fat.' Kurumi could not hold on to the niceness that Hikari instilled in her. Her delivery robotic, her tone without personality and her eyes like those of dead fish.
The third tent was having a much better time than the first two – primarily due to Yami and her infectious loud and happy voice. 'You are so easy to read, Sasorina, you know? Should I take… this one? Or… this one?'
Sasorina, Yami, Alice, Miyuki, Nozomi, Reika, Michiru and Kaoru were playing what was basically 'Old Maid'. Initially Sasorina had tried to stay out of it but Yami kept mocking her how she was afraid to lose against a bunch of girls and she couldn't accept that.
As they were all practically already stripped, Sasorina established a different rule – everyone except whoever finishes last would get a small cup, basically like a finger hat, of a special something that would warm them up.
Alice knew exactly what that special something was after two rounds and having won both. I should probably definitely stop her from giving Yami any kind of alcohol but it is such a minuscule amount… Fu, fu, fu, I have become such an evil woman, Mana, letting someone give alcohol to a minor without hesitation.
Miyuki was in an even better mood than Yami was. After Nozomi kept her distance all day long they were finally back together. And of course they shared their two blankets now. 'NoiNoi, in the next round… swap your joker with the spade king under the blanket. It's a trick that I learned from Akane.' Miyuki's smile was as bright like a star about to go supernova.
Nozomi on the other hand had to try very, very hard to keep smiling. Somebody save me! Reika's eyes were locked on to her like she was a tiny mouse and Reika was a big, bad owl about to descent and end her life. She let me life under some conditions, but it's not exactly up to just me, you know! Don't stare, this isn't my fault! Miyuki is just… just… ah, why did this have to be the tent she went to?! I'm not supposed to- 'H-Hm.' Nodding with a spectacularly fake smile, Dark Dream felt icy daggers flying from Reika's eyes, metaphorically speaking.
Cards changed hands and hands again and Reika ended up losing the round, seemingly completely unimpressed by that outcome.
'Why are we stuck in this tent?' Michiru whispered to her sister, picking up the new cards that were dealt out by Sasorina after happily taking her finger cap sized shot and letting it warm her insides.
'We thought it was Yayoi coming in here but it was just Miyuki.' Kaoru whispered back.
'Why didn't we leave?'
'Because we're not really the type to play favorites like that just yet.'
'I hate this farce.'
'So do I, but what can we do? Imagine the mental damage to everyone if we tell them about the Masquerade and their locks break.'
'I'd rather not.'
'Not to interrupt your little game of secrets but it's your turn… Michiru.' Alice had to pause a moment to get the name right. I can't tell what they are whispering about but the way they are acting doesn't match what's in their eyes. I've been around Regina for ten years, I can spot someone hiding something at a distance.
Playing along and just passing cards, the sisters went back to their hushed conversation right after. 'This Alice girl is giving me bad vibes.'
'Too smart for her own good.' Kaoru glanced in Alice's general direction.
'Stop sounding like a bad movie villain.'
'We were villains once upon a time.'
'Can you even imagine how disappointed Saki and Mai would be if we did something like try to threaten her or hurt someone?' I can't believe you'd even think about that, Kaoru.
'I wasn't suggesting that at all.'
'What do you think we do then?'
'Bring her in. She wasn't here for the Masquerade, she won't suffer the consequences like everyone else would.' It's a risk, but if we do nothing and she starts snooping around we'll be in trouble real quick.
'Bring her in? What if she babbles?'
'If she's as smart as it seems she'll know that she'll have to keep quiet.'
'It's risky.'
'So was letting Yayoi know that we know.'
'We can still wipe-' Kaoru punched her sister's thigh almost as hard as she could to interrupt her. With how strong Michiru was, it was necessary to put some force into it.
'I know you like her as much as I do so don't say stupid things like that.'
'If it comes down to it, we might have to wipe everyone again.'
'I'm not gonna be able to do that, and you know it. Not only because I can't stomach doing that to Saki and Mai again but also because with everyone totally self-aware and in control of their powers there is way too much resistance. One person I could handle but it would probably burn me out for a couple days. Forget thirty-five of them.'
Without warning to either of them, Yami crawled over the ground on all forms and plucked all of Michiru's and Kaoru's cards out of their hands. 'Just say when you don't wanna play instead of holding up everyone. Some of us are trying to have fun here!'
Both Kaoru and Michiru were impressed with the gall that Yami was displaying and just quietly retreated out of the circle but still close enough to the heater to feel the warmth.
Pouting and putting down her own cards, Yami looked a bit annoyed. 'New round. If we just look at their cards and a joker is there it'll mess it all up, and if we don't look it's also messed up.'
'I am also taking a break if you do not mind.' Reika excused herself and backed out of the circle. Instead of going off on her own, as everyone expected her, she joined the still whispering Kiryuu sisters that immediately stopped talking and gave Reika curious and practiced neutral looks.
Getting close enough to allow for effective communication by whispering, Reika waited a moment to make sure nobody else would try to join them before she started talking. 'I require a favor from both of you. And before you answer, I do not care what it is you are hiding from everyone since it does not seem to be anything that will cause harm, but I will tell you that some of us can quite tell that you two share a secret.'
Michiru slowly moved her arm in a more opportune position under her blanket when Kaoru stopped her with a look. 'What do you want then?' You tend to be a little bit impulsive with these things, so I'll handle it. Her look communicated as much.
'I do not know if the next discipline will allow me to monitor… Dream as closely as I must. In case I cannot do it and she happens to be within your vicinity, observe her. Even seemingly innocuous things that are uncharacteristic for her should be suspect to you.'
A meaningful series of looks was exchanged by Kaoru and Michiru. A secret involving Dream? Now? This reeks of danger. What should we do? Michiru often left the more problematic decisions to Kaoru.
We need to know more before we make any decision. I don't know why Reika would be suspicious of Nozomi, though. Is she blaming her for something? Perhaps the Masquerade?
'Why?' Michiru asked.
'I cannot tell you that.'
'Then we cannot help.' Kaoru shook her head and looked past Reika at Nozomi, who was snuggling up with Miyuki. They could still pass as very close and simply affectionate friends right now. No doubt that will change, but even so… why this timing? What as Nozomi supposedly done?
'Depending on what happens, everyone could be in danger. Even Saki and Mai.'
This woman… she knows exactly what drives our motivations and how to abuse them. 'What has she done?' Kaoru was glad she was with Michiru. If she managed to catch one of us alone it would have been problematic. Michiru is quick to let the word 'danger' combined with 'Saki and Mai' go to her head.
'Nothing yet.'
'You are not just acting obsessively because Happy is your friend and teammate, are you?'
Reika paused and for just an instant her pupils changed ways, glued to Miyuki in that brief moment before she looked at the sisters again. 'I will owe you a favor to be redeemed should the need arise if you do this for me.'
Who do you think you are trying to fool, woman? If this was an issue of Nozomi and Miyuki getting together and you worrying about Miyuki you would have us watch them together. Watching Nozomi by herself and this being about something that could pose a danger to us all… no, wait, is this her plan? To trick me into thinking she has failed to trick me but actually trick me? What a shrewd woman. 'We don't know the discipline either but we agree.' Kaoru agreed and noticed Michiru breathe a little harder for just a moment.
The card game had died out in the meantime, for three reasons. One, Yami was getting tired of playing with just five people when two of them were very clearly more interested in being all flirty. Two, because she herself was getting pretty interested in being all flirty with Alice. Three, Sasorina had been sneaking bits of the special something she had been handed out and was dead drunk on the ground now, snoring lightly by herself.
Sitting in reverse on Alice's lap, Yami felt her legs poke out from under her blanket and quickly angled them to be touching on Alice's behind. I'll show you that you aren't the only two that can be all lovey-dovey. Alice and I are totally one step ahead of that. Feeling smug with herself and puckering her lips to get a kiss from Alice, Yami's desires were granted.
Alice was already a great kisser all by herself. Years and years of practice were behind that. And with someone like Yami, who had hardly any practice at all, these kisses were even more potent. She's shivering, just from our lips meeting. Aw, she's so cute. She carried me all the way to the goal line without a complain after seeing how hard it was for me to use the skates. It hit Alice with such surprise that she stopped the kiss midway – right until Yami felt unsatisfied and pursued a continuation. Oh my… Oh my my… am I… in love? Fu, fu, fu… now that is probably premature, but… if I were in love, well… I would certainly love to continue this little arrangement of ours.
Yuri is so stupid, talking to Alice like she did on the beach… she's been nothing but great! And she's so sexy! The way she talks and acts and looks! Sexy, sexy, sexy! Heh… hehehe… when I carried her all the way here I could feel her boobs pushing against mine the entire way. And those shirts were so tight! I'm so glad I got a good sense of balance because I spent way too much time looking down. And then my sweat was totally making that little yellow shirt she had on a bit see-through. Ah, I'm in love, I'm so in love! This has gotta be love! It's totally the same I see with everyone else. Cuddling, kissing, hugging, doing lewd things together and stuff.
Their continuing kiss was attracting a single reluctant spectator; Miyuki. Covering her face with her hands but peeking through the gaps between her fingers, she nudged more and more against Nozomi until her head was resting on Dark Dream's shoulder. 'They're… wow.'
Damn it, why does this Miyuki have to be so innocent? It's so cute! It's so darn cute! Calm down my heart. Calm down, sssh, no thoughts of cheating on Bad End Happy, alright? Okay? Good. Now- Dark Dream felt her resolve shatter into a million tiny pieces when Miyuki finally looked away from the pair across the heater and put both her arms around her waist, resting her head against her chest, her face out of sight. W-Wow, calm down, calm down, I still haven't done anything that I can't apologize for. Yeah, yeah, I'm still good.
'Nozomi… do you wanna do that too?' Sounding both coy and embarrassed, Miyuki turned her head so far that Nozomi could see her left eye. 'If you don't-'
'I do. I totally do.' Damn it, me! I trusted you!Now… now what do I do? Hah… haha, I'm so screwd. 'But… it's still… kinda new for me and.. in front of everyone..'
'You're so cute, NoiNoi!' Hugging her girlfriend tight, Miyuki sat up a little more so she could nudge her head against Nozomi's.
'What's NoiNoi?'
'Nozomi is a nice name and all, but… I wanted something only I can call you! Just shortening your name didn't give me anything good and NomiNomi is four syllables… so NoiNoi!'
I'm gonna die. I am literally gonna die of niceness shock or something like that. No wonder my Miyuki is such a badass if her original is made of sugar and kindness! Just… someone… give me strength! 'I don't mind four syllables.'
'NoiNoi is final!' Miyuki showed her brightest, happiest smile.
'Then you're MiyuMiyu!'
Contoh salam pembuka untuk berita televisi. And I also I ask you to deliver your prayer and greetings to our prophet Nabi Muhammad SAW, who has brought us which has brought us from dark-age to the age-lit, so we are always on the right path until the end of the world.———————————————————————————————————Opening Speech (4)Assalamu’alaikum Wr.
'Aw, it's so cute, I love it!' Rubbing her cheek against Nozomi's, Miyuki kept chuckling by herself.
I can feel Reika staring from behind me… that girl gives me the creeps. I thought the Bad Ends were pretty scary when we first all came to, but this Reika… there's something dark about her. No… not dark. Scary. Something scary. Universally so. 'Miyuki, I'm a bit worn out from everything so far so do you think we can just rest up until the rain passes?' She received no response and when she tried to look at Miyuki's face, her girlfriend pouted and looked away. 'MiyuMiyu.'
'What is it, NoiNoi?'
I am so dead.Nozomi is going to kill me, absolutely guaranteed. NoiNoi? What the heck is a NoiNoi?! And MiyuMiyu? What are we, little girls? If I live through Nozomi then Mayuki… did… did I just… oh my god. 'N-Nothing. Let's just stay like this, okay?' I wonder if there's an afterlife.
'Sure!'
DISSONANCE
The time the rain cost them was refunded, Majorina explained that to everyone after the rain passed, and the climb continued about one hour after the rain had first set in. Clothes were still slightly damp, some girls were still more than just slightly horny, and most of all, Sasorina was out cold which left Mamo having to fill in for her which didn't do very much for her mood.
Climbing up the cliff they found that they had been a little short of a halfway point. A third platform eventually reached and their system continued to work as planned. The fourth platform was in fact the top of the cliff, a mountain top the size of a children's soccer field. Despite the one hour break that almost everyone had gotten – a few of them were stuck with more of a forty-five minutes break – there was widespread exhaustion and complaining to be heard.
Everyone focused on the climbing process and there was very little idle chatter even while waiting – everyone wanted this to be over. 'Good, good, so far so good! Everyone here? One, two… ten… thirty-seven. Okay, everyone accounted for!' Sasorina was back and extremely hyper, unable to stand still. Majorina on the other hand was nowhere to be seen.
'What did you do to her?' Ange didn't have the best memories of Mamo but she didn't hold a grudge or anything like that.
'I read that something called an 'Espresso' is good for getting drunk people sober so I made one for her.'
'One?'
'Yeah, a cup.'
'Mamo, Espresso is served in tiny, tiny cups because it is really, really strong. How big was that cup?' Ange could see on Mamo's face how big it was. I'm surprised her heart didn't explode. Or her head.
'Mamo, hey Mamo! You ready? I'm ready! Let's go to the next place already! Just one more to go!'
A few meters away, Yami was standing with her sister for a change. 'Yuri, was she… this annoying when she was your enemy?' She's… super annoying. I kinda wanna hit her. And it's hard to understand her because she talks so fast!
'No. I think we might actually have lost if she was like this.' Who did this to Sasorina? It's like there's electricity running through her body. I am getting flashbacks to that one time Tsubomi mistakenly gave Erika the coffee that was for herself and we were all in hell for the next four hours.
'One, two!' Sasorina and Mamo snapped their fingers at the same time and all thirty-seven of them were forcefully transported somewhere else.
A roaring thunder reached their ears first of all. The crashing turmoil of water brandishing its might with violent ferocity against its ever enduring enemy; the coast. They stood on on a small hill, looking upon the ocean both close by and in the distance. The land shape liked an arm, extending outward and far into the ocean, slowly descending until vegetation and cliffs gave way into a beach.
'Total time left: One hour! The discipline: Running plus Swimming! The distance: Six kilometers of land, two kilometers in the water! Start!'
'Woah, Sasorina, stop! You didn't explain well enough!' Mamo stepped in, panicked. 'Ah, the time is already running. Okay, quick. There's no changing rooms or anything down at the beach but we got them here! Unless you're intending to swim in mountaineering clothes, go change!' Mamo pointed behind everyone else at a large single floor collection of small changing rooms that had names written on them. 'Sasorina jumped the gun and your time is running so go, go, go!' Mamo hung her head when everyone started running for the changing rooms.
'Running and swimming after skating and climbing? Are they trying to kill us?!' Hibiki shouted out her complaints loudly.
'Whose idea was it to do this?!' Kurumi shouted as well.
'It's not that far! Just tough it out for this last bit!' Nagisa tried to be motivating. And she could see that it absolutely didn't work on Honoka. 'What's wrong?'
'Just… forget it.' I don't have the energy to explain this to you right now, Nagisa. Doors slammed shut by the dozens and clothes were taken off and thrown to the ground in a hurry. Swimsuits, the very same that everyone owned back in the hotel, had been prepared on the tiny bench in each changing room and they were hastily put on. There was no time to double check for exposed bits and one by one the girls burst from the room and headed down the road. No shoes had been prepared but luckily the road was already heated up by the sun and made of asphalt, so no toes would get stubbed on bricks.
Honoka was not the only one that realized that they were seriously short on time for this last discipline. If both parts were allotted the same time, they had to run at roughly two hundred meters per minute. That was three meters and change per second. That was more than just a fast jog for almost all of them. And the swimming was pretty harsh too. They would have to swim sixty-six meters a minute or about a meter per second, which didn't sound like much but more than just a little taxing. Much more so after already being exhausted three times over.
'Wait!' Mana grabbed Saki just as she was about to bolt.
'What? Even I'm not that fast!'
'I need someone to carry Alice. There is no way she can make it down there in thirty minutes and forget swimming that fast.'
'Eh… just-' Looking around in a bit of a panic, Saki spotted the woman, walked up to her and immediately picked her up without warning and made a turn for it.
'Hey!' Yami had been there and was trying to run after Saki but got stopped by Mana. 'Let me go.'
'I appreciate you looking out for Alice but with a time limit like this we need to pick someone that isn't slowed down much, if at all, by carrying someone. Rikka, are you done?'
'Coming!' One of the last closed doors swung open and Rikka came out, slowly walking forward until Mana went and grabbed her. 'You should hurry too!' Not losing any time in continuing to argue with Yami, Mana dashed towards the beach.
'Come out Yuri! This is absurd! You're being ridiculous!'
'I don't care. I am not running to the beach in this… abomination.'
'Are you serious?! I can only assume that if you don't make it to the goal we're going to have to do this all over! And then this same drama again!'
'Say whatever you want, I'm-'
'Lame.' The words cut the atmosphere like a rusty knife cut meat. 'I thought you were my cool, older sister that has it all together. I never thought you would throw such a tantrum over a swimsuit.'
'You don't-'
'What? I don't understand? I don't understand what? It has you end up with a big chest, that's it! Nobody cares! Your own girlfriend is saying you're being absurd! I can't believe that the Cure Moonlight that Tsubomi and Erika were praising and swooning about would act like… like such a child!' Punching the door and then tightly biting her lip because it hurt a lot, Yami slowly walked away. 'I'll catch up and tell everyone to not bother since Yuri isn't coming.'
I couldn't really see how this was Yuri's little sister, but now I kind of do. Yuri is kind of always serious but that just now… that was that same kind of no-nonsense attitude that makes me admire Yuri. She's like a feistier, angrier Yuri with short hair. 'She's gone. Yuri, you can't be serious about this. We're the last ones here.'
'Am I… behaving like a child?' There was a thud on the door. Inside, Yuri was leaned against it, looking down on herself with a defeated expression on her face. Am I… being ridiculous? I just didn't want anyone to see me in this… this getup. They'll all think I have a complex about my chest when I'm perfectly happy with what I have. Miki is, too. I can't stand the thought that they're thinking that I'm so vain that I'd grab a swimsuit that gives me a magic breast upgrade. 'Miki, you know that-'
'Yuri, nobody thinks you're having a complex about your chest. At least nobody did until you got angry and then angrier about a dumb swimsuit that Erika pranked you with. Now it looks like you have a complex about people thinking you have a complex. I love you in or out of that swimsuit the same. I didn't try so hard to become your girlfriend because of your boobs. Nobody is that vain.'
There was a few seconds of silence and another, smaller thud on the door. Yuri had moved back her head and was now looking up. I was so caught up in trying to look good for Miki and Yami and myself that I never stopped and thought about whether the others were actually the type to think I was secretly having a complex. I'm so stupid. God, this reminds me of when Tsubomi had to stop me from flying into a fit of rage. 'I must have been insufferable.'
'I was considering sitting you down and asking you what's bothering you so much. I didn't think it was really the swimsuit though. I still almost can't believe it.'
'Miki.' Yuri very rarely, if ever, let herself sound vulnerable. But just this one moment of her calling her girlfriend's name was exactly that.
'What is it, my love?' I get the impression I know what she's gonna say. I guess those that look the most perfect fall the hardest when they do fall. I need to thank Yami for setting Yuri's mind right.
'Can we still catch up to the others?'
'We'll have to really push ourselves.'
The door swung open and a mildly embarrassed Yuri came out, trying to walk past Miki, getting stop with both of her wrists being grabbed. 'Miki-?!'
A brief and fierce kiss, their breasts briefly touching together. Just as rapidly as Miki had taken her love, she let her go. 'Come on.'
Starting to run, Yuri followed her partner and still felt a wave of embarrassment and being uncomfortable as she sped up, the magic boobs bouncing quite a lot because of how fast she was going. 'I take it all back, this is still embarrassing and I am going to roast Erika on a pike!' Yuri had a strong red streak going from one ear to the other. 'Wait, stop.'
'Yuri, I told you-'
'No. Hair.' Pulling out two sets of shoelaces from where the swimsuit connected to her thigh, Yuri quickly and expertly tied her hair into a ponytail and bound it. 'Turn!' Doing the same for Miki, the two of them immediately resumed their almost sprint to catch up with the tail light of the crowd.
'Argh!' Miki shouted in frustration.
'Are you okay? Did you step into something?!'
'I want a camera! I want to capture ponytail Yuri for prosperity!'
'Don't make such misleading noises! I'll wear a ponytail for you whenever you want!'
'Really?!'
'Only in partner-look though.'
'You have a deal!' Miki made a fist pumping motion and both of them reached the flat beneath the hill. We're so far behind… this is gonna be tough. Her eyes wandered a little to the side. Yuri with a ponytail and big boobs in a one piece… Yuri in a long black dress with heels and some nice earrings or a necklace and her hair style, maybe a little bit of makeup.. 'It's even.'
'The road?'
'No, how hot you are in something accentuating your perfect figure, face and style or in a ponytail, big boobs and a swimsuit. I wish I could make you wear glasses- Yuri, don't run away!' Suddenly left behind, Miki had to make some pretty big leaps to catch up with Yuri, whose face was now thoroughly red. I won't say anything about the bouncing. I don't want to be single after all of this.
Much further up ahead, in the middle of the pack of runners, Yami was complaining about her sister. 'Can you believe her?!'
'Erika, after this is all done you're going to go on your knees and say sorry.' Tsubomi was there with her girlfriend and Yami, trying her best to keep a good pace but losing a little steam already.
'Eh?! I said sorry so many times already! And this is Yuri we're talking about, she'll be fine!'
'I am not going to talk to you until Yuri has forgiven you.' Tsubomi intentionally let herself fall back a little.
'If I had known it would get this out of control I wouldn't have bothered with that particular prank.'
'But you would still have pranked her? Even if she got mad at you?'
'Of course! Yuri's reactions are great!' Erika showed Yami a big thumbs up and felt her mood take a nosedive when Yami looked at her like she was some sort of insect. 'Ya-'
'You're the worst. I misjudged you.' Speeding up and leaving Erika all alone, Yami quite literally ran away.
Oh man… I guess I am not getting out of this one with jokes and a jolly attitude. I hate it because that's just not me but I guess I'll have to seriously apologize to Yuri and just hope she forgives me… maybe I can buy some fabric off of Mamo and make a new swimsuit for her.Aw, this sucks! It sucks, sucks, sucks!
Erika was not the only one that was having trouble. Yayoi, too, was feeling troubled. Instead of having to run, Michiru was carrying her along, running next to Kaoru, who seemed to basically walk on clouds with how easily she kept her pace. 'Yayoi.' Kaoru was talking to her.
'W-What?' I went into the wrong tent and they were all on their own during the break… they're probably mad at me.
'What do you think about Reika?'
'Reika?' This is unexpected. Why do they wanna talk about Reika… oh no, did she end up sleeping with one of them?! I know she already happened to be with Hibiki and Kanade… oh no, oh no. 'Uh… she's really strong as a Cure and also really driven. I guess she's also really eccentric. But she's also super caring! And she's a good friend! She really loves justice!'
'She asked us to keep an eye on Nozomi for some reason. And she outright said she knows we are hiding something. Is she the prying type?' Michiru just changed the question to something Yayoi would answer with more focus.
'Reika just really cares a lot about everyone's well being. She's not the type at all to stick her nose into someone's business.' Phew… it was not about what I- wait, isn't this even worse?! Reika knows they know about… no, no, she said that they are hiding something! This is just like that chapter in Meguca Magila where Homare is lying to Han-
'Yayoi, stop thinking manga thoughts and focus. Do you think Reika is going to try and find out what it is we are hiding?' Kaoru called her back to reality.
'O-Only if it looks like keeping it a secret will be dangerous for everyone.'
'Michiru.'
'Hm… we should probably just tell her then.'
'Tell her?! Tell Reika? But what about it being our secret?!' They… they won't need me anymore if they tell Reika. If it turns out they can just one by one tell everyone that won't pry, they'll cast me aside and-
'We don't need it to be a secret between us three,' Kaoru flat out told her.
'I… I see..' I knew it… this was too good to be true. Someone short and wimpy like me… who always thinks about lewd stuff is just-
'The secret was only relevant before we fell in love with you,' Michiru didn't hesitate at all to say it.
L-L-L-L-?! Yayoi's inner mechanics just broke down from one step to the next.
'Michiru… I told you to not just say it like that. Look, she's locked up.'
L-Lo-Lo-Love?!'Love?!'
'She's back. That was less than five minutes and we didn't even need to splash her with water. You owe me fifteen minutes, Kaoru.'
'Tch.' Clicking her tongue, Kaoru got closer to her sister and flicked Yayoi's forehead. 'You're going to suffer through Michiru's molestation with me.'
'E-Eh?!' I don't understand anything anymore! T-They're in love with me? Me?! I… I can't… they're both… this is just like… are they really… W-W-What do I do?!
'Oh. She's broken again. Did we bet on this scenario?' Michiru shook Yayoi twice and she just started grinning with glassy eyes. 'She's seriously broken this time.'
'If she doesn't come out of it in five minutes, it's a draw because we both won.'
The very front of the line was finally hitting the beach at this point. Nao and Rin were are the forefront, followed by Saki plus Alice, Mai and Nagisa about thirty seconds behind. 'This… this is torture.' Nao was out of breath. 'I'd have no problem running this three, four, five times over, normally. But not after skating that far and climbing a cliff.'
'Tell me… about it. I hate… swimming. You any good at it?' Rin looked up ahead at the water. If anything at least it'll cool us down. But that's another problem actually. Cooling down too fast will be dangerous.
'Nope. Reika is good at swimming and so is Miyuki for some reason.' Nao took several deep breaths. 'The goal… I can see it, it's over there, basically across the shore.' Pointing to a big white standing arc that had GOAL in all capitals written on it, Nao started walking towards the water. 'You coming?'
'In a sec. Gimme like… a minute.'
The three others arriving, Saki quickly put down Alice and sat down in the sand. I never actually carried someone before… and Mai was almost constantly watching me because this Alice is pretty attractive. Just how little does she trust me?! 'Sorry Alice but there is no way I'm gonna be able to pull a person with me across the water. I'm good at swimming but not in a way that lets me support people.'
'I talked to Honoka on the way and she talked to Karen, she'll take you. Apparently she's really good at swimming.' Nagisa was helpful and then plummeted down into the sand herself. 'My feet hurt a bunch.'
Alice bowed to Saki. 'I'm really thankful-'
'Don't bow. We're all in this together. You didn't do… sorry I don't remember what it was that keeps you from running.'
Alice had a really kind smile on her face when she raised her head. 'I injured my legs back our own world. They can't handle stress. I could end up with a broken leg if I tried.'
'See, that's not like you did it on purpose. And I've still got here within the first five. Ma…. Sorry, what was her name again?'
'Mana.'
'Wow, you suck, Saki.' Nagisa nudged her friend with her elbow.
'Shut up, Nagisa!' Blushing, Saki could barely muster a defense. 'Mana picked the right person to get you here safely!'
'You weren't very bothered at all, carrying such a delicate and beautiful woman, Saki.' Mai stood next to Alice, looked her up and down, then herself and finally Saki. 'I guess you prefer that kind of woman?'
'No! Mai that's totally not it!' Saki tried to leap to her feet, lost her footing in the sand and landed flat on her face.
Alice saw what was going on and tapped Mai's shoulder. 'Please don't tease her about this, I really am glad she carried me.' Only the two of them could hear their little exchange. 'She absolutely did not give me even a single lewd look and I am sure you know that as well as I do.'
Mai looked guilty for a moment and then squatted next to Saki. 'Are you okay? I was just joking. I know you don't have eyes for anyone else.'
'You've become such a bully, Mai. I hate it..' Saki had tears in her eyes from the sand.
'I do think you're taking it a little far, Mai.' Nagisa turned her head and checked for Honoka on the road behind her. Where is she?
Message received. I guess being a tease is more than just saying a few mean things. 'I'm sorry, Saki. Can you forgive me?'
'Maybe with a kiss..'
'Hm… I guess forgiveness will have to wait until we have gotten the sand off of your face.' Mai chuckled and looked towards the water. 'I think we shouldn't wait around too long. Our bodies will cool off.'
'I am so freaking beat. I am never doing this again.' Nagisa groaned as she got up. 'I'll wait for Honoka though. You two go ahead.'
Meanwhile, Yuri and Miki had caught up with the pack, slowly making their way past the tail light. With how hard she had to run, Yuri didn't have the luxury to care about appearances right now. She still wasn't a hundred percent okay with the swimsuit, but she had accepted that it was all in her head.
The last ones in the pack was the trio of Love, Setsuna and Ellen, and Ellen was at her limit already. Running was out of the question but both Love and Setsuna didn't really have the power to spare to carry her. So they fell behind further and further until they were stopped, panting while bent over.
I'm… I'm such an idiot… I knew this would be tough… why didn't… why didn't I tell them right… at the start that… I'm not that good with stamina… Between the many drops of sweat that fell to the ground from her face were drops of tears. I can't believe I'm holding both Setsuna and Love back so much… what if we have to do this all over because of me? I hate myself…
'Love… I'm not sure… we can… make this..' Setsuna wasn't in good condition either.
A sharp whistle came from up ahead. Panting a little but otherwise looking in good condition were Itsuki and Hibiki. They were waving quite a bit and gesturing for them to keep going but Love shook her head and put her arms up in an X shape.
'Looks worse than I thought.' Hibiki stepped forward and was stopped by Itsuki. 'What?'
'You go ahead, I'll catch up with Ellen.'
'She's one of my closest friends. I'm not running ahead when she's clearly not okay.'
'You're so stubborn. I'm gonna bring-'
'It's about principle! I wanna be there because I care!'
'Argh, I can't say anything because I know I would totally act the same way if that was Tsubomi, Erika or Ako back there!'
'Not Yuri?'
'The idea of Yuri falling behind like that doesn't exist in my reality.'
Hibiki snorted, then coughed and then started a quick jog towards the beaten trio. 'Hey! You can't go on?!' Shouting as she got closer, Hibiki saw that Ellen had gotten down on all fours on the asphalt, clearly not okay. 'Ellen, hang on! Itsuki, hurry up.'
'Are you two okay, coming back here?' Love was pretty exhausted herself and still panting a bit.
'Not really but everyone has to make it to the goal.' Itsuki stopped with Love while Hibiki went right past her, squatting next to Ellen, who looked ready to throw up. Setsuna was already patting her back. 'She can't keep running?'
'No. And honestly, I'm too beat to carry her. I don't want either of us to get injured so I didn't try, knowing I wouldn't last even hundred meters.' I want to be the pillar that supports them… with both of them supporting me in return. But right now we can't support each other at all. I hate it.
'I'll carry her. I might not look as bulky as Saki, Nagisa or Michiru, but I'm strong enough to carry someone thin and light like her.'
'I'm… so sorry about… this..' My chest feels like it's on fire… everything hurts…I feel sick… I'm gonna… Wah! Suddenly being picked up, her arms being moved without her permission, two strong hands under her thighs.
'Princess carry is reserved for Hibiki, sorry about that. Also this lets me run faster.' Itsuki didn't waste any more time and went on the road.
'Give me your hands. One each.' Hibiki took a few energetic deep breaths. 'I can't just let Ellen's girlfriends on the road by themselves.'
'Our hands?' Setsuna reluctantly held out her left hand while Love held out her right. Hibiki flipped around, grabbed one hand each and started to pull. 'Move those legs! I'll help but I can't do this on my own! Team effort!'
'Ellen has such good friends.' Setsuna smiled happily and the three of them started to run. Having her pull us isn't really doing much to make the running easier… but it's giving me energy. I want to finish. I don't want to make everyone's efforts go to waste.
Hibiki and Itsuki… they're a bit alike. And I can see why Ellen turned out as nice as she is. With friends like her she'd always try her hardest. Love ignored the stinging pain in her legs to keep running.
For all of the combined efforts, there was a singular, massive problem. Too many of the girls were too exhausted to swim two kilometers, even if there were no currents at all. The solution to this problem came in the form of all those that were physically the fittest. Nao, Rin, Karen, Reika, Miyuki and Saki were doing two-people teams that pulled one or two people with them across and then they came back.
By the time Itsuki and Hibiki arrived with the last stragglers those six were deadly exhausted. Having arrived a few minutes before the last five, Yuri and Miki were still there. 'Which of you are still going to be able to swim? Don't act tough, I don't want anyone drowning on my watch. I mean you, Love.'
Itsuki and Hibiki both raised their hands and so did Love.
'Love!' Miki raised her voice and Love shook her head.
'I know I can make it. I'll probably faint on the other side but I know I can make this!' Love raised her voice and shouted. I know I can. I got a lot better at swimming when we were in southeast Asia. Setsuna too… Glancing at Setsuna, she hadn't raised her hand. 'Setsu?'
'I'm sorry Love… but I'm really, really tired…'
'We're going to pull the two that can't anymore. If you have any leg strength left at all, just help us go faster. Itsuki, please keep an eye on Love for me. I'm worried.' Miki put them back on track.
'I said I'm fine!'
'And I said I'm worried! I know you almost as well as Setsuna does!'
'We don't have much time. Itsuki, Hibiki, Love, go. Ellen, Setsuna, come here.'
On the other side of the small patch of ocean, where the goal was, reigned chaos. Almost no one was able to even sit upright. Towels had been passed out but were left mostly unused. A lot of empty water bottles were littering the ground. A cacophony of painful panting was filling the otherwise almost serene air of nature.
'Honoka… you okay?' Nagisa was flat on her back, next to Honoka and Hikari, who were also flat on her back, all of their lungs greedily filling with air with every heavy breath.
'No… I just wanna sleep now… not even eat… just sleep. But… I am definitely… gonna… work out… more..'
'Hikari?' Nagisa turned and found her already either asleep or unconscious. She couldn't tell the difference right now.
Saki was one of the very few that could still sit upright. 'Mai, are you okay? Want some water?'
Lightly shaking her head, Mai didn't even want to waste energy on talking. But she had to. 'I'm sorry… about all the teasing.'
'It's… not so bad when you don't overdo it.' Stretching her arms, Saki spread a towel out on the sand and then rolled a grumbling and annoyed moaning Mai on top of it, laying down next to her. 'Wanna hold on?'
Mai grumbled again and slowly slid one arm over Saki's stomach and immediately lost the strength to keep it there. A louder grumble and she took her girlfriend's hand before shutting off all annoyances around her.
A little bit off by themselves were Michiru and Kaoru, not as physically destroyed as most of the others but still very tired. Using a single towel that they shared to not lie in the sand, they stared up at the sky in silence, just letting their bodies and minds rest.
Nozomi, who didn't have the spare energy to be afraid for her life at this point, was surrounded by her counterpart's team. 'Everyone… alive?'
Rin briefly raised her hand. 'Alive over here. But… the same can't be said for whoever thought this up… when I get my hands on them. This is beyond hellish training.'
'Fuck. Sports,' was all that Urara said before closing her eyes and no longer responding.
Komachi produced just something like an approving hum before she too closed her eyes and gave up on toughing it out any longer.
'This last discipline… was uncharacteristically brutal because of the time limit. The climbing took just… far too long.' I need to do a little more for my fitness, Karen thought.
'I'm just… glad it's over.' Kurumi groaned and turned to the side, checking if she could see Hikari from there, but she couldn't. Hikari… need to recharge with Hikarium…
Inori was on her lonesome for the time being and out cold, having just barely managed to make it back on land before just dropping into the grass and passing out from exhaustion.
Tsubomi and Erika were together, leaned against a palm that grew out of the first patches of grass near the sand. 'Tsumi… I'm sorry about Yuri.'
'Tell that to Yuri… I'm… not mad. I just… want you two… to make up..' I don't want my girlfriend and one of my best friends to fight over something so stupid. Yuri is being a bit unreasonable but everyone has a few things they're unreasonable about.
Yuri's sister meanwhile was resting her head on Alice's lap, one of two people who were almost still fit. 'You fought pretty hard, Yami.'
'I'm just glad Yuri stopped acting like she's eight years old.' Rubbing her cheek against Alice's thigh, Yami froze. 'When everyone around you is skating, climbing, running… do you hate them for being able to do what you can't?'
Alice patted Yami's head. 'No.'
'Do you… ever hate yourself?'
'You're not your sister, Yami. Be your own person. Nobody is going to expect you to be like Yuri just because you're her sister. Now, if you want to be like her, then that is fine. But nobody thinks you should be a certain way.'
'I wish I had mind reading powers.'
'You have them.'
'Huh?'
'I did hate people that could run without worry for a while. I even hated Mana, Rikka, Makoto, Ange and Regina for it. But that was because I was in a lot of pain.'
'Because of your legs?'
'Yes and no. They weren't physically hurting anymore. But not being able to support myself with more than just waking and a little spontaneous stuff like jumping down from a beach hut… It hurt so much to not be able to do everything I wanted to do.'
I… don't know what I should say. I don't want to say anything that makes her angry. 'I'm-'
'Don't be sorry. It was a bad experience and a bad time for me, but I came out stronger for it… emotionally at least.'
'How did you get past hating everyone that had good legs?'
'I accepted that getting help with things I can't do is just who I am now. That it gives me new opportunities in life. It's… not like with Rikka. I can still walk and jump and if necessary run for a little, little bit. But Rikka can't see at all.'
'Do you hate the people who did that to her?'
'I do. But they're not around any longer.'
'You sound really sad when you talk about Rikka. Did you like her before me?'
'I was never in love with Rikka. I just feel sad because I know Rikka will never be able to see Mana's or Regina's face again. Not in a real way.'
'A real way?'
'Her powers sort of allow her to see rough shapes, different types of energy… it's like seeing someone through a glass with wildly colored juice.' Alice hadn't been smile for a while now and she grew even more serious now. 'Yami, do you want to know a secret about me?'
'Is it a sad secret?'
'Yeah.'
'I… wanna say no because I don't like sad stories but I also don't want to be a coward who runs away from sad things. So yes.'
'Sometimes, every once in a while, when I'm all alone and I know nobody will come to see me, I cry. I cry because Rikka will never see again, because of my legs and because of what we all did to our world. The sadness that accumulates little by little, I let that all out. Nobody on my team knows about this. You're the only one I ever told.'
Turning over and looking up, Yami saw Alice make a bit of a sad face. 'Crying alone is even more sad. If you wanna cry in the future, come to me. But I'll do my best to beat up the sadness.'
'You're too adorable. If I was another ten years older than you I would want you as my daughter instead.'
'Don't say that! That's seriously gross!'
'Fu fu fu.' Back to her smiling self, Alice bent down and kissed her crush. I really never told anyone about that. I wonder what it is about her that makes me take my guard down so much..
Kanade was not far from Rin, keeping enough distance to not appear like she belonged to their team but close enough to be able to talk to her. 'Thanks… for pulling me over, Rin.'
'I can't buy anything with a thanks.'
'O-Oh… I'll..'
'You know what else I can't buy? A kiss. To be redeemed later.'
Ako was also alone and too exhausted to think about anything or bother with anyone. I could have stayed with Urara but I kinda just want to turn everything off for a moment. I'm just lucky this didn't cut out my transformation magic. Looking at her palm, Ako slowly laid down in the sand and just let the crashing of the waves take her away to somewhere, sometime she wasn't so beaten.
Miyuki's team was also fully assemble, albeit Nao and Akane had a buffer of three people between them. Miyuki was already snoring, much to the annoyance of everyone around her as they didn't have the energy to get away.
'I shouldn't have… competed..' I regret everything. Lots of things. But mainly wanting to be first. To call that a terrible idea is the understatement of the century.
'Same… And I thought running would be easier…' Nao had pulled extra duty across the ocean for two tours. After that she was completely out of fuel and dropped like a rock right by the shore.
Yayoi was there too, although she had been largely carried and pulled along the entire way. She was worn out more mentally than physically and uncharacteristically quiet. L-L… They l-love…
Reika had been with Nao, pulling others across the water and dropped with her, past the limits of what she could endure of pure physical strain.
Mana was able to sit but she choose not to. Instead she was getting a lap pillow from Rikka. 'You really pushed yourself, Mana.' I'm so sorry I'm such a burden… I know you will yell at me if I apologize for it, too, so… still… I wish I could be your swallow, your pillar of support. Instead I have to rely on you and Regina so much. And the two of you do it without even worrying about it makes it even harder for me. I… I really wish you would just sometimes complain.
'Stop thinking so many negative thoughts, Rikka.' I can see them on your face. Your eyes are shut just a little harder than usual and your smile is a little fake. But most of all, you pat my head that one way that always gives you away. 'Regina, come over here. Rikka is being bad again.' There was no answer. 'Regina? Where-' Mana stopped when Rikka let out a cute squeal.
'S-Something wet and slimy touched my face!'
'My hands are not slimy!' Regina loudly refuted that and hugged Rikka from behind. 'I'm so tired Rikka… I'm gonna need like a thousand kisses to recharge.'
'We're gonna change your name from Regina to Avarice! Or Lust!' Mana laughed it off and felt every muscle in her body hurt in protest of the laughter.
'Rikka… I know we can't say or do anything to make go away what you're feeling. We don't think you're a burden. For Mana you're the anchor that keeps her from being reckless, that makes her come back home safe. And for me, you're the what keeps me grounded as me, that keeps me away from being selfish.'
'Hah.' Mana snorted.
'From being too selfish. Happy? Stupid Mana.'
'I love both of you.' You've told me this almost a thousand times already. And still… I can't completely let go of feeling like I could still be all those things for you without having my eyes taken away from me. And… most of all, I want to see your faces..
'Mana..' Regina sounded a little depressed and Mana already knew why; the tears hitting her face were more than enough for her. While Mana pulled herself up, Regina hugged her girlfriend from behind. 'Some day we'll find a way. I still believe that.'
'So do I.' Reaching forward, Mana hugged Rikka from the front. While Regina rested her head against the back of Rikka's, Mana rested her forehead against Rikka's. 'The others, they were all dead in our world… but that means that time changes. That history changes. So if we fix it so that the worlds are never connected forever, your curse should go away too.'
The more they encouraged Rikka the stronger she cried. 'I… love both of you so much. Even when I can't bring myself to cling to hope, I can believe in both of you to hope for me.'
Far enough away that they couldn't hear, but see, what was happening with Mana, Rikka and Regina, there were Ange and Makoto. 'It makes me feel like crying too, to see Rikka like that.' Makoto was down in the sand but had her head turned a little, seeing the scene from the corners of her eyes.
'You're being more of a help to her than Alice or I.' Ange was leaned against a palm, just next to Makoto, seeing Rikka's body shake here and there. I wish I could do something for her. She's so strong to be able to deal with the blindness and still be there for everyone… even teach Makoto medicine. I don't think I could have handled losing my sight.
'It's because that I'm learning medicine from her that I feel so useless. Nothing in medicine is ever going to cure that. The only way to cure her would be to take away her powers forever. And then we're not a hundred percent sure on that either. Imagine if we somehow accomplished that and the curse would not go away? Then she'd not even have her powers to get around anymore.' Pulling herself up, Makoto snuggled up next to Ange. 'When we met all these other Cures for the first time, I did think What if one of them can cure Rikka a lot. But-'
'Yeah. We all thought about that.' Makoto paused, resting her head against Ange's shoulder. 'If… if I develop my powers… more accuracy, smaller and smaller until some day maybe I can cut out just the curse..'
'Regina cries a lot.'
'What's this all of a sudden?'
'You would never think that of her, but Regina cries a lot when she thinks nobody is watching or listening. I don't know for sure what exactly it is about but it started a short while after Rikka lost her eyesight… so I'm pretty sure it's about that. I don't think even Rikka or Mana know about it.'
'So why are you telling me?! I don't need to know that!' Ange… you're just making the burden heavier for me.
'Because I don't want you to become the same way. Regina is always there for Rikka and Mana just as they are always there for her. But then it's not really always. Because… somewhere deep down, Regina can't handle it all nearly as well as it seems. Sometimes she falls asleep after a few minutes, but a few times I've felt her cry for hours. I think if she knew that anyone knew about this she would stop crying and… I think it would kill her, eventually. So you can't tell anyone.'
'I wouldn't… I wouldn't hide something like that from you. You know that.'
'Hm. yeah… I do…'
Ah… I get it now… Oh Ange… 'You didn't want to be alone with knowing what Regina goes through. Because you're connected.'
Putting her arms around Makoto, Ange closed her eyes. 'We're not so connected that we can tell what the other one feels, but… when I feel her crying in bed next to me or next to the bed… I almost can't handle it.'
'You don't have to handle it alone.' Fingers found each other, Makoto's hand lying softly on top of Ange's. 'Regina probably knows that what she's doing isn't good. But if crying by herself lets her go on, then we shouldn't do anything about it.'
'Yeah. I don't want any of them to be any more sad than they are now.'
As everyone on the beach lived through the final minutes of their great physical trial, the last five arrived, with heaving chests, pale faces and staggering steps. Yuri and Miki dragged Ellen and Setsuna until the shore proper before they could no longer go on. And as their knees forsake them, Setsuna rose up, catching Miki, and Ellen managed to support Yuri, the two and two of them stumbling towards the goal. Itsuki, Hibiki and Love arrived moments after, chasing slowly after the four a few steps ahead.
The last of them passed the goal, two observes witnessing it and stopping time just two minutes and change short of failure. 'Majorina, was this really in the plans?' Mamo held a stopwatch. They just barely made it. And that's with an hour of break.
Standing by Mamo's side with binoculars to her face was Majorina, having replaced the now crashed Sasorina again, albeit with a tremendous hangover. 'We don't make the rules for these things. You know that.'
'Yeah but come on, look at this. Some of them are unconscious.'
'The test of courage resulted in quite a few issues, too. It does say 'endure' a triathlon to the end.'
'We were their enemies, last thing we remember, but we're not out to get them anymore. This is just… in bad taste.'
'I think if the time limit had been higher it would have been fine.'
'What is the time limit?'
'Until eight o' clock in the evening.'
Mamo groaned. 'Why didn't you tell them that the time limit was not absolute but based on when they start?'
'I didn't think that four hours would not be enough.'
Mamo sighed. 'Do we just transport them back?'
'Yes. Everyone to their room.'
'What about the one that doesn't belong?'
'Oh, you could tell?' Majorina was intrigued.
'She smells like us.' Mamo shrugged.
'Well… what are we going to do with her?'
DISSONANCE
'Still alive and kicking, hm?' Saki greeted Nagisa, who just sat down at the same table near the buffet with a tray, a big pile of chicken nuggets on her plate. Saki chuckled and then laughed. 'I guess there are some parts of us that are alike.' Lightly nodding at her own tray with a smile, Saki kept smirking. She too had gotten a bunch of chicken nuggets. 'My reward. I always get them when I did good.'
'Funny, I get them when I'm just too tired to eat anything else. Even my jaw feels like it's gonna be sore for days.' Nagisa grabbed a whole three of them and threw one into her mouth with perfect accuracy. 'Mai asleep?'
'Out like a rock. I would be too if I wasn't starving.'
'Yeah, all those cannons you're carrying everywhere gonna be demanding stuff to burn.'
'Cannons?'
'Normally it's like… 'these guns', but your arms and legs are more like cannons.'
'Oh shut up.' Saki snorted a little and grabbed some of her own nuggets. 'Honoka?'
'Face down in the sheets. Never seen her that tired before. I'm gonna buy something that stays warm at Mamo's before I head back up.'
'Joke about my body all you want but you're stuffing yourself way harder than I am.'
Nagisa just flapped her lips, put both elbows on the table and flapped her lips again. 'I'm a girl with a big appetite.'
'You could probably match my physique if you tried, you know?'
'Would rather not. I prefer fitting through doors without turning sideways.' Poking further fun at her friend, Nagisa slowly exhaled and leaned back in her chair. 'Nobody else is coming, huh?'
'Can you blame them? We're a good deal above the average fitness level and we're almost ground to fine powder.' In peak condition I could have easily done this… but helping others and doing it all without a plan is just making it a lot harder. Ugh, what am I making excuses for? I'm just rusty. I don't care about staying this absurdly fit.
'I kinda wanna go and check out the new location but just thinking about hiking makes me wanna run away.'
'It's still gonna be there tomorrow.'
'In the end we never had anyone do the bath cleaning, huh?'
'Just try and imagine if someone had asked for that.' Saki groaned. 'I couldn't even clean a sink at this point.'
'I'm just glad the lights were back on when we got back.'
'Yeah.'
The conversation died for a moment and both of them just took it easy, eating in peace and very slowly. Nagisa finished her plate first and broke the silence. 'You think anyone else is still up? It's not even ten yet, though.'
'Maybe those with lots of stamina like Rin, Nao, probably Mana. Why?'
'Just thinking.'
'But really, no idea.'
There were, in fact, others still up and about. Alice was one of them, walking through the sparsely lit garden on her own. I wonder if telling Yami about my burden was really the right choice. Someone young and pure of mind like her shouldn't have to know about things like that. It's selfish of me to share it with her just because I feel like there is someone I can truly belong with. 'But the place we belong to disappeared a long time ago. Right, Lance?' Her steps taking her no further, Alice undid the buttons of her blouse and opened it up just far enough to feel the yellow sphere embedded above her breasts. Even if the world becomes another, even if we all return to find lives that we don't know, you are not going to come back to me. A different Lance, maybe, for a different Alice. Someone who doesn't know the feeling of going to bed, knowing that any moment the red light could flare up, the sirens could start and the darkness is trying to devour us. And now, all of us have our own darkness within.
Squatting down and staring into the cold dark water of the night by her side, Alice felt cold within. I'm a terrible person. I cling to Yami because she reminds me of what Mana was like back then. Before we made our mistake, before we lost things and people dear to us. And now I'm trying to drag her down to where I am. Like a monster living at the bottom of this small lake, reaching out and trying to pull Yami to the bottom where I live. And worse still, even knowing all of this I'm not strong enough to stay away. She's a bright light that I want to be mine, even if it means I will definitely make it grow dim and dark as time goes on. We call ourselves 'Cures' but we're no better than the curses that were killing the earth. We killed people. We don't really deserve these powers. We doomed our world. We don't deserve to be happy. I can't stop thinking about that. Mana would yell at me. Rikka would try to find some reason why it isn't true. But at the end of the day, we all did things we can never take back.
A ripple in the water, a drop hath fallen from somewhere. This isn't like me, to be all negative and drowning in my own darkness. Didn't Mana teach me better than that? But… is that really not like me? I abandoned fighting once because I was afraid of hurting people. And now I am abandoning facing the darkness, fighting it… and just throwing myself in it, drowning in self-pity.
'Alice.'
Looking up and to her left, she recognized those clothes anywhere. 'Rikka. You can't sleep?'
The blind woman, fully equipped as Diamond, knelt next to Alice, reaching for a single flower that had turned in for the night. 'I cried today.' Alice kept facing the dark water, unmoving, unmoved. 'You hear it so often; 'I will never forget you'. But people do. People forget. I remember Mana's and Regina's faces less vividly now. I wanted to see them, and…'
'When you did, you found there were little parts, little details you thought that had to be there but you can't remember them.' Alice touched her little sphere again, her expression pained. 'Eventually we will only remember a silhouette, a vague form..'
'On that beach, I couldn't help but think what a burden I was to everyone today. And when I did… and when my memory was worse than before… when I realized that some day I would no longer remember even their faces… I could only cry.'
'Rikka… we're not like everyone else here.'
'Mana would never let it go unchallenged if we said it out loud, but… we're all damaged. We saw and lived through too much. To mingle with the others, laugh, smile and look forward to tomorrow… we're all trying to do that. Sometimes it works. We all remember what it was like to be happy. We hold on to that. And we're shown that we can still be happy now. But then it creeps back in.'
'I… don't know if I should continue this relationship I am building. I told her things she doesn't need to know, that she shouldn't have to know. And I even lied. I feel like I am trying to drag her down into the abyss where I am, where we all are, to be my shining light in the darkness that we can never escape.'
'To see Mana and Regina again… I would do anything. Lie. Cheat. Kill. Even when I say it out loud I don't feel like it is wrong of me to think so, even though I know deep down that it is.'
'We're all the same, the six of us.' Sitting in the damp grass, Alice slowly looked up and at the vast dark sky up above. 'We could be here to be saved. We could be here to be shown that we are really beyond hope. That's the kind of things that I am thinking. But at the end of a day… even if we are saved, even if everything we did will never have happened, we will still know that it did happen. That we made it happen. And even if we are beyond saving… we are still clinging to life, to each other.'
'To be alive is to experience contradictions.' Rikka sat down as well and moved closer to Alice. 'What do you want to do?'
'I'm too much of a coward now to push Yami away. She makes me feel like back then, when we were all together fighting the Selfish. Like… it's the right thing to do. It's not just what I want but also… what I should do.'
'All six of us have to cling to every bit of light that we can find.'
'Ever since Sado, that has been difficult.'
'That was one of our darkest days… I know that Mana still has nightmares about it.'
'Over two-hundred thousand people died by my hand, Rikka. That wasn't… that's not… what these powers were for.'
'They would have turned Japan into the same wasteland as Germany. You know that.'
'I couldn't taste anything for weeks. I will never be able to forget about that day.'
'Pyongyang.'
'It's not fair of you to bring that up.'
'Nothing we experienced was fair.'
'I still hold dear what Mana told us every day. It's just… it was easier to endure the harshness of our world than to endure what we did now that we are in a place like this.'
'If you let the darkness in you just need to shut it out again. If the darkness doesn't leave, then I will drive it out by force. I'll be your guiding light no matter what.' Reciting the three lines that were basically their prayer over food, Rikka's lips allowed a smile to form. I remember when Mana first told us that. It was right after we were attacked by people with curse weapons the very first time. We hurt people. Someone even died.
'I… just… I want Yami to know who I was… who I could be if not for the world turning on itself. I don't want the only Alice she knows to be one that wallows in her own misery like this.'
'We'll have to try. Mana, Regina, Makoto, Ange… they're all trying, they're all fighting their own darkness.'
'Yes… I know. Sometimes… in some moments… I feel like I am drowning in everything that happened. I think this is only the second time we talked like this, Rikka. Usually it's Ange that finds me.'
'Regina worries a lot about me so normally it would be her that I'm talking to. But I'm glad you were here, Alice.'
'I feel the same.' Slowly standing up, Alice dusted off her skirt. 'I'll go back to my room. I have someone waiting for me.'
'Sleep well.'
'You too.'
Waiting in silence as Alice walked off, Rikka waited another minute after she could no longer sense her friend before she got off. 'What do you think, Raquel? Do I deserve to be happy after everything I did? After chaining Mana and Regina to someone that can't even see them?' Standing silently, a gust blew past her. A single tear dripped down, running along her skin until it touched the small blue sphere in her chest. 'Of course I don't…' The words came out like water from a dammed river. 'How can I deserve to be happy…? I couldn't save you… I couldn't save my parents… or any of my friends. Everyone… everyone wound up with terrible darkness inside of them… Even Mana… Even Mana!' Falling to her knees, Rikka stared straight up at the sky that she could see no more, tears falling rapidly for the second time that day. 'I killed so many people!' A shout to the sky, powerful, desperate. Sobbing that rocked her body, that tore the silence of the night asunder. 'I couldn't stop anything! I still can't do anything! All I do is being a burden to Mana and Regina!' A stream of salty wet covering her cheeks, Rikka's voice roared through the treetops, cry and outcry alike.
It hurts. It hurts so much. To forget those I love. To lose them. To know I can never undo the things I did! I wanted to be her swallow! Mana's unwavering, unbreakable diamond that would not sway in the storm, that would shine in the light! I wanted to be the guiding light for Regina! But I'm no swallow, no light, for anyone! Her fists hit the ground, her face tickled by the grass now, her body no longer upright. No more words came out, no more thoughts came out.
Far away from the desperate outburst of sadness, the topic was still Rikka and her group.
'Itsuki, you awake?' A mild grumble served as answer. 'I… need to ask something.' Her tone was somber, reluctant, uncharacteristic for Hibiki.
'I'm listening.'
'Am I cruel?'
So unexpected a question was it that Itsuki raised her head, looking at Hibiki, resting restlessly on her arm. 'What makes you think that?'
'Kanade still has feelings for me and yet I am acting around her like they're not real. I'm trying to be her friend and just her friend even though she clearly feels more than that.'
'That's a pretty difficult thing to think about.'
'I don't want to be a thoughtless friend.'
'You're a good girl, Hibiki. Kanade will move on eventually. And when she does, she will be happy that you're already her friend. What if you waited until she moved on to connect with her again? What if things are too late then?'
'You didn't answer my question.'
'If someone that didn't know either of you were to look, they'd say yes. It's cruel. But every relationship is unique. And I don't just mean romantic ones. But I don't have all the answers either. Neither does Kanade. If you really want to know… don't you have to ask her?'
'What if she says yes? I'm… I'm a little scared for that.'
'Then you ask; Is it still worth it? And if she says yes to that too, it means she still wants to be your friend.'
'I'm still scared.'
'Everyone has something they're scared about.'
'Do you?'
'Lots.'
'Liar. Like what?'
'Leaving this place. My family rejecting who I am because I like girls. Losing sight of you. Lots of other things, too.'
'You're afraid of leaving this place?'
'We might be fighting each other here and there's some danger… but we have no responsibilities here. I met you. In here we can be together. But out there, I don't have any guarantee about that. You have a life, I do too. Putting them together will be hard.'
'Now I'm scared about leaving too. Good job, stupid.' Getting closer than before, Hibiki rested her forehead against Itsuki's shoulder. 'What are you gonna do about this?'
'Sleep. Tomorrow things will look less scary.'
'I do feel like someone stepped all over me.'
'I didn't know about that kink of yours. Maybe I should increase the heel on my boots.'
'You're gonna get whacked if you keep this up.' Hibiki couldn't keep a straight face, raised her fist and softly punched Itsuki's arm.
'Ding. Itsuki takes one damage. Itsuki has used 'counter cuddle'! Itsuki has completely captured the attacking Hibiki!' Rolling over her girlfriend and hugging her as tightly as her worn out body allowed, both of them burst into laughter. 'I have no idea what that even references. It's something Erika said a lot when Tsubomi nagged her about dinner and breaks.'
'God, you are terrible! I'm telling Yuri on you!'
'Just try it! You can't tell if you can't-' A bad sounding cracking noise came from somewhere inside Itsuki.
'Itsuki? Are you okay?'
'I think that was my back. It's telling me to take it easy.'
'You scared the hell out of me!'
'Sorry, sorry… I think it's best if we just go to sleep.'
'If you can get off of me, sure.'
'Roll me off. Go for it!'
'I can never tell Kanade about this. She'll laugh me all the way out into space.'
DISSONANCE
Maybe it was because she was a denizen of the light, of the true world. Maybe it was because Bad End Happy was lightly drooling and audibly breathing through her mouth. And maybe it was because she was really sore all over. Whatever it was, she was awake, if barely. The room was so dark that she could just barely see around herself. Miyuki… the other Miyuki was there with her and they were still-
Fire shot back into her face and the world just became a whole lot more real to her, especially the nakedness of Miyuki and herself. We- We did- We didn't- We- Thoughts raced until memory knocked on the door and demanded to be heard. Right… Right, right… we were… sharing body heat. It was cold. There was a storm. Looking about, she tried to peer into the dark to see the others, to no avail. She couldn't see a thing. 'Miyuki..' Whispering as quietly as she could, Nozomi found that Bad End Happy was outright impervious to being woken up by standard means. Not even poking her cheek and sides produced any results.
Someone groaned, someone that was not her or Miyuki. 'Ow, ow…' She recognized that voice as belonging to Tsubomi. 'Gotta pee..' The sound of a blanket falling to the floor and light feet making the wooden floor creak in mild protest.
So Tsubomi is awake… guess Erik- oh wait, she's with Itsuki over here.Guess Itsuki is still asleep then. Trying to move on her own, Nozomi found that her legs didn't obey her because something – someone certain – was really clinging to her. M-Miyuki… let me go! Just thinking that of course had no effect and Nozomi struggled a little until Miyuki groaned, then softly moaned and opened one eye.
Looking at Nozomi for a moment, Miyuki just closed her eye again, slowly breathed out and moved – just enough to kiss Nozomi straight on the lips. 'Why the hell..' She was interrupted by a yawn but wouldn't let that deter her from talking gibberish. '… on the floor?' Looking at Nozomi again, who had frozen up entirely, Miyuki felt things come back to her. Oh shit. That's not good.
Before either Nozomi could regain her senses or Miyuki dive into full on panic the situation was salvaged – by Urara, opening up the window and letting a wave of air in that produced simultaneous groaning from the entire room. 'Wow… it's… really hot out there.' Urara had already small salty pearls rolling down her forehead, just seconds after opening up the window. Strongly exhaling with puckered lips, Urara stepped back to get away from the heat. 'It's… I dunno, maybe a freak hot night?'
A shriek, followed by panicked trashing within a blanket. 'Tsubomi is gone!'
'She's just gone to pee, shut up..' Komachi groaned at Erika's noise. 'Akane, turn off the heat… it's sweltering in here.' Softly groaning and opening her eyes, Komachi found that Akane was still sound asleep by her shoulder. 'Rin… come on, it's hot- huh? She asleep too?' Rin was just across the small ring. Come to think of it… when did she cuddle up to me? The storm was going on and we were protecting the house and… 'Nozomi, what's going on? Why is it tropical degrees in here?'
'E-Eh? Me?' Don't put me on the spot like that. I have even less of an idea than all of y- Miyuki! Your hand, hand! Hand! Feverishly trying to make Miyuki take her hand away from just beneath her breasts, Nozomi only achieved partial success in that now both of Miyuki's hands were on her sides, arms passing over her waist.
'Ah. My bad, you're not her.' Rubbed her face and cleaning the dust from the corners of her eyes, Komachi properly entered the realm of the living. 'Could have fooled me though.' Pointing at the naked Miyuki-Nozomi combination only covered by a blanket and bed sheets, Komachi stretched, poked Akane's cheek once and then kissed her. 'Come up, wake up. Stuff is happening.'
Akane was too sound asleep to wake up for anything it seemed and Komachi just picked her up to lay her down in one of the empty beds. 'So, what's going on? Why is it so hot? The lack of screaming and horrifying death tells me we're not on fire after Akane had a twitch in her sleep.'
'It's outside.' Urara was over by her own bed now, sitting on it in her Dark Lemonade outfit, hair down and face still half asleep. 'I… don't wanna go outside. We're gonna be baked.'
Miyuki tried to pull Nozomi with her in Urara's direction, with the intention to smack her in the back of her head – mission failed, Nozomi was too caught up in being embarrassed to move anywhere. So Miyuki just abandoned her cover, literally so, and walked through the room stark naked and hit Urara. 'We got stormed on last night, go out there and start fixing stuff.'
'Eh, but it's hot!' Urara tried to resist by just getting into bed and pulling the cover above her head – this failed spectacularly. It took all of thirty seconds for her to come out, gasping for air, sweat covering her face. 'Hot! It's too hot!'
Makes me wonder if the Urara on the other side is as much of an idiot as this one. 'Get going.'
Urara was barely out the door when Nozomi grabbed hold of Miyuki in a spectacular fashion, covering her up as well as she could with just the sheet. 'M-Miyuki, a girl shouldn't run around stark naked!'
'We all bathe naked together.'
'S-Still!' Nozomi's gears of mind were turning at speeds normally reserved for crises and emergencies. Like the sky falling down.
Cute. 'I'm going to get dressed anyway, so what's the point of this? And it's hot as heck in here. I feel gross just with this blanket around me.'
'Still no good!' Nozomi was insistent.
'You're weird.' Smiling and tapped Nozomi's forehead, Miyuki walked towards the room's only exit. 'What are you waiting for? You think I'm gonna be able to put that damn suit on when I'm all sweaty?'
'E-Eh?!' I… I have to do… that again? Blushing fiercely, Nozomi felt a little lightheaded. This is too much excitement for me. I… this… this is the stuff I should be doing with my Miyuki and not this one. But… this one is really cool and a lot different and she does kinda make my heart go 'kyun' too… No, no no no, Nozomi you're not an easy girl! You're- ow! Miyuki had flicked her forehead. 'W-What?'
'You wandered off into dreamland and I'm itching, literally, to get out of this thing. Now move your butt over to our room.' My room. Dark Dream's and my room.Get your shit together, Miyuki.
Arriving in the other room, Nozomi stopped short when Miyuki dropped the blanket and grabbed her suit. 'What am I gonna wear?'
Holding her suit in hand, Miyuki read Nozomi's expression like a book. 'Dark Dream's outfit. What did you think? And no, we don't have anything else.'
The outfits of all the Bad End girls had no openings other than the neck hole, which made putting them on a little bit of an issue. Raising one leg and fitting it into where it should go, then the other leg. 'Come here and help me pull it up.' Pulling the dress up over her legs, over her hips and butt, it became a lot harder then. The arms had to go in before the dress came up too far or it would be impossible to bend the arms far enough to even get in through the neck hole. But that also meant that pulling the suit up was impossible alone. With a lot of jumping about and weird stretching it might have been possible but Miyuki wasn't going to monkey around like that.
There was no space to slide her hands under this time – she had to tug and pry the suit up bit by bit, touching Miyuki's back all over. She's ticklish. That's… kinda cute. It took them a few minutes to get it done right and Miyuki felt almost as exhausted as Miyuki after just helping out. 'Isn't that unnecessarily hard to put on?'
'It reminds us of where we came from. Also, it's hot, everyone likes it. But… ugh, it's also hot. Hey, Nozomi, do they- you have swimsuits on your end of things?'
'Huh? Oh… yeah. We do. Everyone has one.' Why swimsuits? There's no lake nearby and the river isn't deep enough…
'I wish someone had brought that up last night.'
Yayoi actually did… but everyone ignored her. Miyuki… she's on your team, too. Nozomi didn't dare say that out loud.
'What are you standing around for, Nozomi? Get dressed.' Grabbing the blanket and trying to rip it away, Nozomi held on for dear life. 'I touched your naked body all over, what's the big idea being coy now?!' Pulling on the blanket pretty hard, Nozomi was simply out of her league and stumbled forward when Miyuki took away her cover. 'See? The world isn't ending. I've seen that body naked plenty.'
'It wasn't my body though! I mean, it kinda was but not… you know what I mean!' Covering herself up as well as she could being stark naked, Nozomi's embarrassment was partially overridden by annoyance.
'Yeah, yeah.' Grabbing a few articles of clothing from the tiny wardrobe in their room, Miyuki threw them on the bed. 'Here you go. Unlike our suits you're not gonna need any help putting this on. I'll go and manage our- my unruly lot to they don't do something stupid like freeze the hallway.' So I say but I'm just bolting because I don't wanna watch her change. I'm tempted as is anyway. And horny. Fuck.
Nozomi waited an extra thirty seconds before she dared to stop covering herself and look at the clothes. No underwear? Come… come to think of it, Miyuki didn't put on any either, so… she's… that skin-tight suit… awa..awawa… Shaking the thought off and breathing a little too hard, she finally sorted out the mess in front of her. Boots… well, that's normal enough. Spats, a skirt… this isn't really as weird as I remember Dark Dream. Shoulder length gloves? Maybe I'll leave them off when it's this hot… the top looks pretty tight but other than that, it's just a top.
Putting on the spats first, she feel somewhat uncomfortable without any underwear beneath them. This isn't how I would wear spats… Putting on the skirt over it, she hastily grabbed the top next and finally she had covered all the important parts. I can't believe how nonchalant she is about exposing herself! A girl should have some modesty! Swimsuits and underwear is one thing, but just… being naked…no, no, now I'm imagining her naked! Nozomi, what are you doing? Grabbing the boots to distract herself, Nozomi realized something. These have a lot more heel than I'm used to… can I even- ah! Trying to stand with just one boot on, she immediately lost her balance and fell back on the bed. Okay, it's kinda like walking in high heels… I can do that. I did it before. Kinda. I wonder if they're still mad about the- no, positive thoughts Nozomi!
A couple minutes later Nozomi felt comfortable enough – albeit she was wearing someone else's clothes – to come out and return to the other room. Where a few sleepyheads were still lounging around; among them was Karen, who she walked past.
'Nozomi! You're back!'
The room's atmosphere changed and Nozomi felt all eyes on her. D-Don't look! It's a misunderstanding!
'That's the other Nozomi wearing her clothes. Karen, you're an idiot.' Miyuki didn't even turn around to look at Karen – still trying to get Erika out of bed, but it was like trying to swap a mosquito in the dark.
'S-Sorry about that.' Nozomi backed away from Karen and walked towards Miyuki – one of her heels hitting a not well set of the wooden boards and stumbling forward, both of them crashing onto Erika's bed.
'Okay, okay, I'll get up! Get off of me!' Erika had not anticipated a sudden Pinkslide crashing down on her, burying her alive.
'Hey,' Miyuki grumbled.
'Sorry. The heels are a bit more than I'm used to.' Whispering, not because it was a secret but because her voice refused to come out as anything more, Nozomi wanted to disappear.
With Erika removed from her lair, the room got very noisy, very quickly. Both Miyuki and Nozomi stood roughly in the center of the room when Miyuki whistled really loudly and sharply. 'Everyone up! Looks like we hit surprise summer season!' Focusing on handling her crew, Miyuki tried to look at Nozomi as little as possible. Or that was the plan, at least. She's looking so hot in that, just like my Nozomi. And good call leaving the gloves off. They're hot, but in this weather, too hot.
'What does Nozomi normally do around here?'
'She helps out wherever. She's not someone with any kind of specialty so she plays helper a lot.' The answer came not from Miyuki but from Mirage Sunshine, whose hair was a catastrophic mess. The legendary bed hair to rule them all. 'Tsubomi… it's hot, don't cling so much.'
'I don't care how hot it gets, I need my Itsuki charge in the morning.' Clinging tightly to Itsuki's right side, Tsubomi was wearing just a black dress that left a lot of leg and arm uncovered, leaving her not as hot as the Bad End girls. Itsuki was wearing a similar black dress.
'This is too hot even for me..' Rin was standing by the window and panting a little. 'It's humid too. Is this what summer is like?'
'This is more tropics than summer..' Yuri joined Rin by the window, her black dress moving a little in the gentle wind that came through the window. 'This has got to be more than thirty degrees..'
'Nozomi.' Miyuki grabbed her the hand of her girlfriend's original and dragged her out of the room with her. 'Get your shit together. That room is for the two people running this unruly lot. Two people. I can't run these idiots alone.'
'I'm not that Nozomi though!' Hissing and feel terribly inadequate for a job that she had just been given, Nozomi had flashbacks to working as an assistant to a lawyer for a short while.
'Well, tough luck, for now you got her job. You lead your own team, how hard can it be to lead one that's a bit rougher?'
I can't tell her. There is no way I can tell her that I haven't really been leading anyone in a long time. We're only just working on getting things patched up between the six of us, too! I'm so worried about everyone and Dark Dream… What if she doesn't come back? 'I'll… try.'
'Ah?! What did you say?'
Clearing her throat, Nozomi tried to talk with a lower voice. 'I'll handle my lot.' This is so not me, though…
'Good.' Miyuki turned about, stepped into the room and whistled. 'We got no idea what other changes are happening out there so we two are gonna go and check things out. Start fixing up the place while you're at it!'
She runs the whole lot of them just fine… A mildly annoyed look was on Nozomi's face as she followed Miyuki outside. The heat that assailed them was truly like an oven trying to bake them. 'Is this normal? The season just flipping from one day to another?' At least the sun is already down… I can't imagine how bad this would be with the sun still shining.
'Of course not. Come on, we need to check the perimeter. And also the bath, the fields, the river and probably the portal so I can get my Nozomi back.'
'I tried to be like her last night but it's a lot harder than I thought when..'
'When what? It's not all going swimmingly? Stuff happens? You're not in your own clothes? That's a lot of excuses you're looking to make there.'
'They're not excuses!'
'Just try, nobody here is gonna expect you to be the world's best Dark Dream impersonator.'
Impersonator? Isn't Dark Dream already… I feel like my head will start to hurt if I start thinking about this too much. 'The field is probably the most important part so we should check there first. Tsubomi is gonna have a seizure if it's ruined because we left it alone for a little too long.'
Miyuki smirked and chuckled. Now that is more like it. Just a little bit crude, headstrong, not mincing your words and always trying to push your way. That's the Nozomi I fell in love with.
Stumbling a few more times during the walk to the field, Nozomi had fallen gotten the hang of it when they saw the damage. 'Tsubomi is gonna blow her top.'
'She can fix most of this. Look closer.'
The field was, in one word, rummaged. The safety measures that Tsubomi had used were all gone and a lot of the ground had suffered from the typhoon and the following brutal sunshine. But while it looked terrible, a lot of it was just unearthed entirely – dirt had been carried away by the water. It wasn't that the vegetables were broken or their roots were torn off.
'I still say she's gonna blow her top. Just think about how much work this is gonna be.'
'Shit. Yeah. I can already hear her shrieking and grabbing everyone without a distinct job to help her.'
'We better make ourselves rare when that time comes.'
'We'll end up helping out somewhere anyway, so-'
'Gonna be a real pleasure to have dirt stuck on that suit of yours everywhere.'
'Better than getting all wet fixing the bath.'
'In this heat? I'll take the bath then.'
'You just wanna show off that tight ass of yours again. Come here you perverted little-' Miyuki reached for Nozomi's butt and stopped when Nozomi backed away from her. Shit. I'm missing her so much that this little farce made me totally think she was her.
My heart is beating like crazy. Is this how Dark Dream acts around this Miyuki? It was just a moment but… I totally felt how much she likes her. Having me act like her must be so confusing for her. But she's the one who told me to do it! This is so confusing for me too! 'Let's check the bath.'
Walking a couple minutes in silence, Bad End Happy came out with an unusual question. 'What's my original like? On the other side.'
'She's not too different. She's really kind, really caring and always trying to improve the mood or cheer people up. I think she's a good leader too, with everyone on her team liking her. The big difference… well, I guess while my Miyuki focuses on everyone's happiness, you're more focused on those you love.' Nozomi had met many people in her many jobs. She could tell that this Miyuki was rough around the edges, really rough, but she had a good core that was just having trouble showing.
There was some intense silence after she finished talking. Did I say too much? Did… did I insult her by calling her nice? Looking to her right, her heart made a big leap. That rough, badass Miyuki had a bright red face, like a beet ready to harvest. E-Eh?! Was it something I said?!T-Topic change! 'What's Dark Dream like?'
'She's just like you. Stubborn to a fault, full of faults… but she's really responsible, reliable and tough. Nothing can get her down. If she sets her mind to something, she'll do it. And she's kinda nice, I guess. Rin, Urara, Komachi and Karen really listen to her. A lot more than to me, even though I'm clearly also in charge!' Clenching her fist, Miyuki grumbled, her face still a showcase of her emotions.
Making it to the bath, both of them groaned. Rainwater had amassed inside, complete with tons of dirt, leaves and even a complete tree that had been uprooted nearby and was now sticking out of the bath like an adult out of a playing pool for six year old children.
'How do we even…?' Nozomi couldn't think of an immediate plan.
'Get Reika to cut the damn thing to pieces I guess.'
'And have Urara pull them out? What about the dirty water though?'
'Evaporate it once with Akane and Rin then… shovel the dirt out?'
'Can't we use Komachi to make a barrier under the water and just lift it out?'
'Too risky. If she's off by just a little she'll cut right through the tub.'
'This Komachi doesn't have good control?'
'Enough to barrier the house but not for delicate stuff like this.'
'What if she just lifts out the top of the water?'
'What does that accomplish?'
'If we take out half, evaporate the rest and then have Karen blast the tub to get rid of the stuck dirt, fill up the tub, all the dirt should swim to the surface.'
'That could work. We should still get rid of the bigger dirt with shovels or something first.'
'Are we gonna check the river next?'
'It's probably the same as the bath but without the… dirt. So we probably gotta cut and remove toppled trees and what not. The last storm wasn't anywhere this bad. Fuck.'
'Let's check just in case. I don't want Rin and Urara to come running and shout 'The river is gone' or something like that.' I'm going back home in a few hours so I want to do what I can while I'm here.
The river was not much further but the ground was in really bad condition – and it was fairly obvious why when they got close enough. 'I don't remember it being that huge.' Miyuki groaned.
'It must have flooded because of the typhoon. That's why the ground- kyah!' Nozomi completely lost her footing and fell towards the raging stream that had been a calm river before. A sudden shock, her legs suspended in the air. Looking up, she saw Miyuki's face. 'T-Thanks.'
'You can talk and look like her, but you're definitely more of a klutz than she'll ever be.' It has its charm, to have a klutz girlfriend- well, she's not my girlfriend. But I can see why the other Miyuki would like her. Even if she sounds way too much like a goody two shoes.
'Lemme down. I just lost my footing.' Blushing quite a bit over being carried, Nozomi didn't dare to actually struggle in fear of both of them flying down into the mud and water.
'In a minute.'
'You just wanna touch my butt.'
'Don't tempt me, Ahozomi.'
Pouting to the max and turning away the second Miyuki let her down, the false Dark Dream walked off, in direction of the field and house.
Even the way they get angry is similar. Makes me wonder if the other Miyuki and I would get along… eh, she'd probably get on my nerves quite a bit. But I kinda want to meet her. Seeing that the real Nozomi doesn't have any hostility for us makes me think we shouldn't be that afraid of the originals.
Chasing after Nozomi, the two of them made it back to the field in one piece. Their boots – which were built into the outfit in Miyuki's case – were somewhat muddy and dirty but nothing a quick douse from Karen couldn't fix.
Their big pot was still there, undamaged and put back where it belonged by Urara and her chains. 'The bath is gonna need some serious clean up!' Miyuki announced the state of the bath.
'But before that; Rin, Komachi, Itsuki, Nao, the four of you need to go with Tsubomi and start fixing up the field.' Rin is going to be useful to get rid of extra water spoiling the ground without burning everything down. Komachi is good at moving large amounts of things with barriers. Itsuki is sturdy and strong, so she'll be useful too. Nao has wind powers if I remember right so she'll be good to help dry out things and blow away undesirable stuff. Nozomi was not a master of organization but she knew how to apply people to specific jobs. I'm so glad I was on staff for those catering events.
'Urara, Reika, Akane, Erika, Karen, you need to start on the bath. With how hot it is we don't have the luxury of not bathing. The river is gonna need some cleaning up too. Reika, Urara, that's gonna be your jobs when you're finished with the bath.'
There was a lot of loud complaining and groaning until Nozomi put her fingers to her lips and a whistle unlike any they had ever heard boomed through the night. 'Anyone without a specific job is gonna focus on fixing up the house and the immediate surroundings! If you're not doing your job I can only assume you don't want anything to eat or a bath either.' While putting on a big show with her strong words, Nozomi was not all that sure this was going to work deep down. Please just follow what we're telling you to do. There's a lot of stuff to do.
And to Nozomi's relief, they did. A few of them grumbled by themselves but two large groups formed and set off towards their destination immediately. Of the few that remained, one that was now rapidly approaching Nozomi and Miyuki was Yuri.
'Miyuki.' Yuri looked dead serious, which wasn't very much like her. At least not this her. 'We have a big problem.'
'How much bigger than a fucked up bath and field?'
'Much bigger.' Yuri glanced at Nozomi and her expression turned for the worse. I went to check for the portal and just got back.'
'Don't tell me a tree fell on it or something. I'll have to call Urara and Reika back to-'
'It's worse. The portal is open.'
'What? You telling me it's already midnight? Why didn't you come running to find us?! The damn thing is gonna close-'
'It's barely after nine.'
'What?'
'The portal is open despite it not being midnight. And it gets worse. I stepped through-'
'You what?!'
'I had a feeling about it. And sure enough, it just leads into some kind of vast empty space.'
'You mean like, an open field somewhere?'
'No, it's just… nothingness. We have the stars and what not out here, and we can all see pretty well in the dark, but that place was just complete and utter darkness where I could not even see my own hand right in front of my face. The ground feel weirdly smooth when I touched it, like a singular polished slab of stone. I shouted but there was no echo and no reply. My powers didn't work in there either. I have no idea what that place is.'
'It could be the battleground…' Nozomi made a wild guess. 'On the other side we're two groups and have a battle each day with crazy big battlegrounds sometimes. Maybe this is just that space while nothing is going on?'
'You're pretty amazingly calm considering.' Miyuki didn't look amused.
'Considering what?'
'If that portal leads somewhere else now, you can't go back. You're stuck here. For good.' Miyuki paused to let that sink in. Here we go. Horror set in on Nozomi's face and Miyuki flicked her forehead. 'Be upset but don't panic. That's not gonna help.'
'But if I am stuck here… then the real Dark Dream is stuck on the other side.' I have a terrible feeling about this. What if something happens to her? Am I going to be stuck here forever? What if the others think this is her doing? 'Miyuki. Is there any other portal?'
'Not that we know of, but this place is huge. Nao could go at full speed in one direction and not hit an end for days.'
'The portal worked fine before so maybe this is just because your battlefield happened to cover it this time? Maybe it'll be back to normal tomorrow night.'
'If at least I could get a message to the other side..' Displaying a bad habit she developed after her team grew apart, Nozomi bit the nail of her thumb. If Dark Dream is found out… will they think she's Nightmare or something like her? They probably will… what if they kill her without giving her the chance to explain? Will I be stuck here forever? And how will Miyuki react… both of them? No, I need to find a way to get back. 'Could the storm have moved the portal?'
'We don't really know about stuff like that. We just live here, we don't make the rules. Sorry.' Yuri shook her head. 'We can look but we do have to go on living and that means-'
'I know, I know… we need to fix up things first.'
We? 'I'm gonna have a look at this myself.' Miyuki stepped forward, stopped and looked at a pale Dark Dream. 'What are you waiting for? When I say 'I'm' I mean 'we'. Get moving.' Nozomi hurried for four steps and caught up with Miyuki.
'If you go in, don't take any steps. You'll be lost immediately,' Yuri shouted after them. Looking slightly worried on her own, Yuri just stood there. This isn't gonna end well. Miyuki is not the type to… well, ignore her urges. If this Dream is going to stay here for long there is no way she isn't going to lay her hands on her. Especially if she keeps walking around in that outfit and pretending to be someone she is not.
Away from the house and every other useful location, Miyuki and Nozomi stopped in front of a big black whirl that looked only vaguely similar to the portal from before. 'It's more a hole than a portal if you ask me.' Miyuki picked up a twig and threw it at the hole, the twig seemingly passing through and vanishing. Checking the space behind the portal, Miyuki scoffed. 'That's new. It just went right in, not through.'
'You tried that sorta thing with the old portal?'
'Obviously? I'm gonna slap Yuri later for just stepping through some unknown portal without any safety measures. We tested a bunch of stuff with the old portal but only Cures are able to go through, pretty much.'
'Do you think if I go in there and stay in there until the battle happens it'll transport me to the battlefield?'
'I wouldn't try it. Who knows what being in there will do to you? You ever think how bad things will get for the rest of us if something happens to you and the others come looking?' I know that you're not hostile to us, Nozomi… but in those circumstances… I can't risk that. It's suicide. 'I know it sucks, and it fucking sucks for me too. But you gotta wait until the portal is back to normal.'
Nozomi stepped closer to the portal and briefly touched it, her finger passing through. 'It does look like I could enter…'
'Hey.'
'I'm not going. I couldn't leave yesterday so… I wanted to know if I even could go in there.'
'We need to go back and help out with the repairs. I know this is a shit situation but we have to deal with what's going on. This isn't a happy little bedtime story where everyone gets their happy end.'
Nozomi nodded and took a step back from the portal. I'll find a way back. Without risking all of their lives. 'Let's go. I bet they are slacking off while we're away.'
'Careful, you'll turn into the real deal before long if you keep nailing it like that.' A chuckle from Miyuki as she turned back first, walking through the abominable heat of this summer night.
DISSONANCE
'Listen, listen, child of light… beware, beware, the darkling blight… listen, listen, warrior of light… It's here, It's here, the time to fight… the light so strong, so beautiful…. The dark afraid, of horrors full… A blinding light, oh soul so pure… The guardian of good, little cure… Alone, unknown, a battle waged… it beckons now, a conflict staged… the dark days come, the powers fade… cycle of light, new warriors made… fufufu…'
'Legend true, oh legend false… The hero's era holy calls… A battle waged, oh fate so still… The one, the one that I will kill… The truth forbidden, told no one… The truth a lie, it hath become… A circle of lies, of fate so fake… The light it calls, for you to wake… Listen, listen, child of light… beware, beware, the pure cure's blight… Fufufu..'
END OF EVENT XXXIV
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