935/Common Causes

Common Causes
Date of Scene:	28 December 2023
Location:	Dorms #2
Synopsis:	Aki and Iona meet up and talk about their common life happenings. Mainly having a sister stolen from them by Phantom.
Cast of Characters:	Iona Hikawa, Aki Kurosawa

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Iona Hikawa has posed:
Ever since enrolling in Radiant Heart, Iona has kept having lots of run ins with Scorn, and despite her best efforts, the Crow Witch just keeps stubbornly sticking to her positions, no doubt the influence of dark energy still attached to her, despite how much it's clearly hurting her.

Worse still, there are two people hurting in this, and one familiar too. Aki must be missing her sister severely, Iona can understand that all too well, with how Maria is missing, but worse still, she doesn't have to hear her own sister deny their relationship and keep working for the Phantom Empire that separated them.

So, here she is, and Glasan with her, in front Aki's dorm room, after a bit of asking around, checking how she is faring. She has brought with her some macarons, in the hope they would help with breaking the ice. She knocks three times and waits for a reaction.

Aki Kurosawa has posed:
Aki is sitting in her room studying. But aki Akurosawa would have given her room number to Iona by now, and if she did'nt? She can always just use the student directory, it's not like she does'nt know her full name by now!

Still.

Aki Kurosawa looks up at the knocking and opens the door as she blinks. "Oh, hello!" she says as she motions the two inside quickly "Gully isn't here right now, I think he's doing the usual hang around the back of Gullwing thing. I think he misses Haruna a lot." she says as she says. "But I'm here." she says... Indeed there's two beds in the dorm. One looks messy and unkempt. the other is clean and hasn't looked touched...! But that one is Aki's. Aki has left Haruna's mess on her side of the room the way it was when she left,

"I smell macarons. Those smell good." he says softly.

Iona Hikawa has posed:
"Yes, I have them here", Iona says, showing Aki the sweets. She and Glasan move in when they are invited, letting Iona have a look around the room. She didn't expect to see a bed completely unmade, and one completely untouched. Is the situation that bad?

At first, she is attributing the messy one to Aki, and the unused one to Haruna, but it doesn't look like the former is actually struggling to take care of herself, so things must be the other way around.

"How are you two faring?" is Iona's first question after placing the macarons on a table. "Gully-chan must have had a rather hard awakening after he was purified", she continues.

"Things have been hard for Haruna too, she really feels alone, and even if she doesn't say it, she misses both you and Gully-chan, not just Corvus. One time, she has even used his real name."

"I guess you probably have issues sleeping", Iona adds, nodding towards the untouched bed. "I get that, it's really hard having your sister prisoner of the Phantom Empire. But everyone is in this together and we can help your sister."

Glasan interjects. "Don't hesitate in tasting the macarons, they are really good! For sure!" That's actually complete guesswork on her part.

Aki Kurosawa has posed:
Aki Kurosawa frowns as she sighs a little. "She probably doesn't even know what she's missing. honestly. They brainwashed her. She thinks she's some crazy wind witch." she says as she motions over to a frame photo on her bedside, grabbing it, before turning it over so Fortune can see it. It's Aki! and.. another blonde haired girl, with Gully in the center on Haruna's shoulder.
    "Gully-chan hangs out with Haruna the most." she says. "I think he finds her dumbness silly."

She sighs and puts the framed picture down and taste a macaron. It is really good! "Where did you get these?" she asks.

"I do have issues sleeping." she admits. "I spend most of my time at night. Patrolling... it.."

"Me and Haruna-chan. We're a team you know." she says. "It's been hard without my teammate, my sister." she says.

Iona Hikawa has posed:
Iona takes a good look at the photo of the trio together. They really look happy, so happy it's actually painful to look at knowing the present situation, and for Aki it must be even worse. There is a reason Iona herself alternates between placing all frames of her and Maria down, or putting them back upright to spend time looking at her, when the empty space in her heart threatens to overwhelm her. It's ok, things can go back to being like that. Not everything is lost still, Scorn is right there, it's far easier than trying to locate her, as she is doing that part for them, now they just need to reach out to her once and for all.

"Nounamu Sweets", she replies. "They have all sorts of confectioneries and sweets, and... Well, that doesn't matter", Iona observes.

Problems sleeping. She gets that. Why accept the comfy embrace of your bed, when your sister is out there, still victim of your worst enemy?

"I have never fought in a team, so I can't understand you there", Iona starts saying. "But I know that having that void in your life is horrible, I know that. It's the same for me. I lost a sister to the Phantom Empire too, Iona reveals, trying to make Aki feel communality with her, so the other girl understands those words aren't random platitudes.

Aki Kurosawa has posed:
Aki Kurosawa hehs. "I run. Well. Me and my Sister run, Gullwing Coffee. We sell macrons but they're ordered in bulk and warmed up by the dozen. Not the best. So I could tell these weren't from my store because the filling doesn't taste like it's been frozen." she says.

"I know Haruna's in there 'somewhere', in Scorn. We can purify her a little bit, but. We need more people to smack her, or something stronger than a single attack. We need to get ALL the dark energy out of her and then she'll hopefully be okay."

Shr winces a little. "I'm sorry." she says softly. "I Know how you feel. You mentioned a... Phantom before?" she asks. "Who is this Phantom?" she asks.

Iona Hikawa has posed:
The fact Aki and Haruna run a business with macarons too makes Iona feel extremely awkward. "I'm sorry, that's quite insensitive of me, I don't mean to belittle your coffee shop. I am really sorry." Though, if Aki is offended, the mistake is done. 'I can't just take it back', Iona thinks. 'Please accept these excuses, I really meant nothing by it.'

Awkward faux-pas aside, Iona moves to clasp Aki's hands in hers, slowly. If there is any sign of the gesture making her uncomfortable, she stops halfway to go back to herself. Regardless, she says "I think she is in there too, that's the only way to explain how she reacted that time I hugged her. It cost me when she did pushback later, but she didn't refuse me right away, and even reacted to you. Not anyone else. Her actual words were "I don't need Gully-chan or my family or anyone!" That's a step forward, isn't it?"

Iona says that with a smile, fully intent on reassuring Aki, even if she doesn't know how the other girl would feel at the prospect of a stranger hugging her sister. "She didn't use the name Corvus, nor did she deny you are family. Your sister still exists. She is there."

And it's only natural she would want to know about Phantom. "Phantom is the Precure Hunter, the top enforcer of the Phantom Empire. Like his title says, he goes around defeating as many Precures as he can, and trapping them in the name of Queen Mirage. That's the guy who trapped my sister. And yet, he never actually defeated her, she had to sacrifice herself to save me when I was in the midst of one of his attacks. The Pretty Change Mirror I am using is hers."

Aki Kurosawa has posed:
Aku Kurosawa blink, and laughs. "Don't apologize! We bake stuff from frozen for everything, all the bagels all the cookies all the everything, it's not exactly gourmet." she smiles a little, but then..

Then Fortune takes her hand, and she blushes darkly because the motion was unexpected, but she doesn't draw her hand backward. "Oh...I..I know she's in there. It's good to hear these things. I worry...well."

"You've met some harder magical girls. Right?" she asks. "I'm afraid she'll run across someone who will just kill her."

She blinks. "Gully keeps talking about a man in a white coat, with red hair. Is that Phantom? Gully doesn't remember being Corvus. But he remembers everything before... but supposedly he and Gull-chan... er. Haruna. Cure Gull. That's. Who my sister is..." she trails off. "..encountered someone like that before the next thing he remembers is waking up with us after that fight."

Iona Hikawa has posed:
She didn't take it badly, that's good, and she even laugh it off. Relieved of the embarassment, Iona smiles at Aki, and decides it's ok to take a macaron she brought after all. She doesn't compliment it in front of her, though. That's still a step too far.

And worrying about still is understandable. The Phantom Empire seems so imposing and ominous, it really makes you doubt. "But we will persist, and one day, you and Haruna and me and Maria will be together again", she exclaims confidently.

The thought of someone killing Scorn gives her pause. Is that really a possibility or Aki's anxiety talking? "I have met quite a few magical girls, but even if they may actually have the ability to kill her, I don't think they would actually use their powers that way. They seem quite steadfast in believing in a righteous moral code", she explains, and hopefully calms down Aki's stress over the prospect.

And the description is quite accurate, so accurate Iona winces and finds herself having a flashback to the Precure Hunter being in front of her. "That sounds like him for sure", she confirms. "He typically fights with this blade kept in a sheat suspended on a jewel where his belt would be. He can release energy from it, either as traps or actual attacks." Gully-chan not remembering anything is rather important information to Iona, though not of the cheerful variety. It means she can't just ask him where Phantom would be or any information on Maria the archives have. "It's good for him he does't remember his acts there well. That would have just made him feel guilty over what Corvus committed.

Aki Kurosawa has posed:
Aki Kurosawa looks at Iona hesitantly and nods. "I hope so. Sometimes. Other magical girls can scare me. Our purification attacks only heal..and don't really..kill." she says with a harder frown. "I mean. There's that red girl that uses a rocket launcher, you know? You don't..not..kill with a rocket launcher."

She frowns a little. "Well this Phantom guy sounds like a real jerk. Why would someone hunt Pretty Cure!?" she says angrily. She xeethes a bit. "Nevermind I know why. I mean it's obvious. We cause problems for them, of course they want us to go away. Is..is this why Pretty Cure just dissapear!?" she asks.

Iona Hikawa has posed:
"Red Rocket?" Iona asks as confirmation when Aki mentions a magical girl with rockets. "I don't believe you should worry about her. She has been on our side a fair bit against Scorn ad she was really trying to be helpful, without trying to harm anyone."

Iona smiles, but it's a fake smile with worry and regret on her face. "Yeah, that's what you imagine. They want to engult the world in misfortune, and we are in the way, so he is called upon to deal with resilient magical girls. I wish we could stop him, but he is very strong, and it will take a good situation to deal with him. We can't just face him blindly.

Aki Kurosawa has posed:
Aki Kurosawa hesitantly nods at Iona's suggestion that 'Red Rocket' won't attack them. She blinks a little at that name, but rubs a hand against her face as she sighs and then frowns a little at that fake smile.

"When I find the guy who took my sister away from me, I'm going to hit him so hard you know." she says.

"I don't care how powerful some guy appears, has he even dealt with non-Pretty Cures? We need plenty of those." she says softly.

Iona Hikawa has posed:
"I don't know if he has ever dealt with non-Pretty Cures. Maybe not? That's not how I have seem him. Even so he is still strong enough to constitute a problem", Iona sighs.

Glasan pops up right now. "He may strike like a bulldozer, but Iona and her new friends are a riot together!" the fairy exclaims. "She is training with other fellow Precures so everyone can become stronger, and I am sure you can come along if you want to!"

"Glasan", she glances at her with slight annoyance over her chosen wording. "We are doing well, even if I don't like that expression, so if you want to be extra ready for when you want to hit him, you are more than welcome to join us."

A coalition of Pretty Cures against Phantom... His targets are going to strike back hard.