PCNG: 03

'Episode 3: The Music Of Angels! Fulfilling A Promise!'

Once again, Kazumi pondered what happened yesterday as she was still trying to comprehend of suddenly becoming a Pretty Cure when she stopped near the school gate. It might be a dream… she pinched herself as she let out a little yelp and looked around herself, hoping to be in her bed. She was still at the school gate. Maybe she was in a coma or in deep sleep? Kazumi shock her head; the sooner they find those stones the sooner she'll be back to her old life.

She reminisced that horrible day yet it turned out to be good. The image of Suzuki and Watanabe together burned into her image of what she saw back of the Tako Café. Though after what she did in class, answered the question Kazumi was supposed to answer, Suzuki managed to answer it first. Kazumi didn't know Suzuki very well before all this, but according to her stick up attitude during class, she must be a self-observe person. And Kazumi hated those kinds of people. But what Suzuki said yesterday completely surprised her.

Putting her finger under her chin, she threw her hands up as she yelled. "Alright! I've decided!" The students looked at her weirdly or giggled at her actions as Kazumi curled up in embarrassment. When the students turned back to talking to their friends, again, Kazumi got excited.

"Fujimura-san, you still got a chance" Her face turned red as Suzuki's words came into her mind; she had a chance to swap Watanabe. She gave out a 'kyaa' as she held her arms close to her chest and started to twirl around, not caring about the students looking at her. A sudden image of herself and Watanabe, at her mom's age appeared in her mind. ''"Hello, dear, I just made a lunch for you. I poured my heart into it." Older Kazumi declared as she handed the lunch box to her husband who approached her as he was tying his tie. '

''"I will enjoy every bite of it, Kazumi." He emphasized Kazumi's name as he deeply stared at her chocolate brown eyes. "Hiroto." Kazumi whispered affectionately. "Kazumi."''

"Oh, Hiroto!"

Kazumi said affectionately out loud as the students stopped in their tracks and giggled but Kazumi was lost in her fantasies. Kazumi suddenly felt an impact on her back. "O~neechan!" The object called as it was dangling around her neck. "S-Saki? Don't run up to me like that!" Saki jumped off, a sly smirk grew on her face as she got closer to her sister. Kazumi replied by looking at her awkwardly as she sweatdropped. "You were just thinking of Watanabe-kun, right?" Kazumi blushed crazily as she waved her hands. "W-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-wha? N-n-n-n-n no I wasn't!" Saki got a little closer to her sister. "Y'know, ever since yesterday, you've been like that. I wonder what happened…."

Kazumi ran towards the school building, leaving Saki giggling behind. Breathing rapidly, Kazumi glanced around to see whether Shizuka or Reiko were at the lockers. She noticed Shizuka place her school shoes into her locker.

Shizuka didn't even notice Kazumi wave at her and walked off, deep in thought. "It's no good," she muttered to herself. Kazumi approached Shizuka but was pulled back into familiar arms and cut off what she was going to say. "Goooooood morning, Kazumi!"

"Ah, R-Reiko!" she replied surprised. "You're in extra good mood today." She added. Shizuka turned her attention to them, cutting her off her deep thoughts. "Me and my brother were competin' for amusement park tickets by cleanin' our room. Fortunately for me, Toshiro isn't a very good maid, so I won!" she said victoriously as she showed Kazumi the tickets.

"B-but why two…?" Kazumi sweatdropped. "Dad wants me to use the tickets to take some boy I like to amusement park to fall in love." Reiko shrugged. "How is amusement park gonna make you fall in love…?"

"That's how my parents fell in love."

'How cliché is that?' Kazumi thought. Reiko pressed the tickets at Kazumi's face. "Anyways, I decided to give it to ya so…y'know, you and Watanabe-kun can have romantic moment…" Reiko smirked. "Re-Re-Re-Re-Reiko! I-I'm not ready f-" Kazumi blushed as she waved her hands. Without a warning, a girl popped in the middle of the girls.

"That is an excellent idea!" Saki yelled, startling the two girls. Saki slapped on Kazumi's back as she smiled proudly over her sister. "You'll finally get a boyfriend!"

"What's that supposed to mean…?" she gave her sister a death glare as a vein popped on Kazumi's head, making Reiko laugh and slowly making herself laugh at herself. With a smile, she turned over where Shizuka stood but saw instead Shizuka walking away, sad. Her smile disappeared as loose herself from Reiko's arms and ran towards her and suddenly slapped her cheerfully on the back. As Shizuka turned to see who it was, Kazumi grinning idiotically at her.

"What's up?" she said cheerfully. Noticing the worried expression Shizuka had, Kazumi's grin disappeared and she asked with concern: "Hey, are you OK?" Shizuka gave a small smile, not answering.

Not that she got a chance to anyway, thanks to Mepple coming halfway out of his phone bag. "I want food!" he demanded loudly.

"What?! I fed you half an hour ago!"

"So? That doesn't stop me from getting hungry again? You should know porky!"

"Grr… Don't call me that! Besides, we gotta get to class!" Shizuka smiled in amusement as Kazumi and Mepple went on arguing. The fight finished with Kazumi grabbing the Nerp card, which forced Meppo to sleep. "Night night!" Kazumi said victoriously and turned back to Shizuka, only to find her disappeared again. Kazumi stared worried at the direction where Shizuka might have gone.

"Ah, finally, school's over!" Kazumi announced as she stretched her arms and hands in the air while walking with Saki and Reiko. "Finally, two days' vacation!"

"I don't understand why you need a vacation since you just slept and ate in school today..." Saki muttered to herself, making Kazumi give her a death glare.

"What did you say...?" Kazumi threatened her as she got closer to Saki as Saki smiled nervously. "I'll pretend I didn't hear it, IF," she gave a dramatic pause. "you cook my favorite food tonight!"

"I'd rather get the beatings than serve you, your majesty." Saki muttered again, making a sarcastic tone at the end but Reiko heard it and giggled at her comment. A vein popped on Kazumi's head and a millisecond passed and Kazumi was holding onto Saki's wrist as Saki kneeled down, grunting in pain. "I give, I give! Ok, ok I'll cook for you tonight!" Releasing her, Kazumi smiled at herself proudly and victoriously.

"Hey...has anybody seen Yukishiro-san today?" Reiko suddenly asked. As Saki stood up, their face turned into seriousness and pondered. Ever since Kazumi talked to her where the shoe lockers were, she hasn't spoken to her since. Shizuka even was distracted during math class, when the teacher asked her to solve a problem; she just stood there at the blackboard dozing off. Kazumi was getting more anxious. It was obvious that something's troubling her and she's too stubborn to tell. Thinking back twenty minutes ago, Kazumi recalled that she saw Shizuka's shoes were still in the shoe lockers. Kazumi ran inside, leaving Reiko and Saki befuddled, and checked her shoe lockers.

Her shoes were still there. Which meant that she was still in school. But what was she doing? Determined to find out, Kazumi started to speed up her walking, to Saki's and Reiko's displeasure as they had to run to catch up with her. Kazumi suddenly stopped in her tracks. Saki and Reiko went up to her worried, about to ask her what's wrong before they heard angelic music. Kazumi ran off again without telling Saki or Reiko, making them yell at her to slow down.

Kazumi headed towards the Music Room and slammed the door open. She was amazed what she saw infront of her; there was Shizuka playing the violin beautifully, a music from the heavens. Shizuka didn't hear Kazumi coming in nor did she heard her when she walked few steps towards her. With the final note, Shizuka opened her eyes, gently and slowly put her violin on her lap as she stared at the thin air. Kazumi accidentially stepped on a cracked floor, snapping Shizuka back to reality and Kazumi hiss through her teeth embarrassed.

"F-Fujimura-san?" Kazumi immediately pulled herself together and scratched behind her head as she smiled nervously. "H-ha,ha,ha..I-I'm sorry, I couldn't help but get drawn by that amazing music." Shizuka blushed at that comment.

"Thank you, Fujimura-san. The piece I played is called "Ode To Joy" by Beethoven. It makes me relax every time I play it..." Shizuka drifted off. "I believe that! I-i-it's so soothing an-and relaxing...Ughh! Words cannot describe it!" Kazumi threw her hands forward as Shizuka smiled. Hearing panting behind them, they turned around to see Saki and Reiko catching their breath. Kazumi smiled nervously as she muttered to herself. "Oops..."

"D-d-damn yo-you...K-Kazumi..." Reiko said between breaths. "I guess I don't know my own speed." Kazumi said as she stuck her tongue out. Before Reiko could scold her, she noticed Shizuka behind her.

"Yu-Yukishiro-san...? D-did you play that angelic music...?" Shizuka blushed, her face red as a tomato as her head hung down. Before she could reply, Kazumi wrapped her arm around her, smiling like an idiot.

"Of course she did! Wasn't it awesome?" Shizuka's head hung more down as her face became more redder. "As expected from Yukishiro-chan!" Saki commented. "Saki! Don't be so informal!" Kazumi scolded her. Saki pouted and opened her mouth.

"Hey! Be quiet over there, a genius is at work!" an unfamiliar voice bellowed, followed by a young girl with braids, black hair, and few centimetere taller than Shizuka. Her uniform was neatly put on, more neatly than Shizuka's. She held a violin with her right hand as she used her left hand to lift her nerdy glasses up after sliding down to her nose. Shizuka immediately turned around to the girl and bowed. "I'm so sorry, Yosua-san. We'll be quiet from now on." Fixing her glasses once more, she replied snobby. "Hmrph, you better. And make sure these loud apes don't disturb me."

"Why you..." a vein popped on Reiko's head as she walked roughly towards her, when Yosua was already gone, teeth clenched together. Fortunately, Kazumi managed to stop her before she would actually hurt her but Kazumi was dragged along with Reiko so Saki had to help her. Reiko finally calmed down and folded her arms, yet still pissed off at that snobby kid. "Tch. Who the hell was that brat?"

Shizuka pretended she didn't hear the 'brat' part. "Yosua Akiko. We're classmates in music."

"And your rival?" Kazumi added.

"What? No. It's just...when it comes to music she can be very competitive..." Shizuka waved her hands, defending Yosua.

"And a pain in the a-" Reiko muttered

"Reiko!" Kazumi scolded.

"Didn't you see how stuck up and rude she was? Surely you don't consider her as a friend?" Reiko said and pointed at the direction where Yosua was standing. Shizuka suddenly got quiet all of sudden. Reiko turned around and kicked at the wall lightly as Saki and Kazumi observed and waited for Shizuka to say something. "Actually..." Shizuka finally broke the silence. "She's my rival at the contest..."

"Wait, what contest?" Kazumi asked like an idiot.

"The contest that everybody's been talking about. Those who win the music contest win a fund to college. Haven't you seen the ads?" Saki explained. "I rarely walk in the halls...anyways, that's not the point!" Kazumi turned over to Shizuka, startling her with her serious glare. "Did you sign yourself on that contest?" Shizuka hesitantly nodded. "That's great! You can show everyone your talent and kick that Yosua's butt!"

"I don't care about that!" Shizuka raised her voice. Again, a silence was heavied in the air. "There is...something that I have to do...something that I promised..." Shizuka muttered. Everyone stared at each with question face, waiting for Shizuka to explain but Shizuka stood up, packed her violin and stormed by them, leaving them befuddled. "I'm sorry, I have work to do. Goodbye."

Kazumi reached her hand out as she was about to say something but Reiko grabbed her shoulder and shock her head, indicating her to let her go. Kazumi's shoulders lowered as she looked down. Another hand grabbed her free shoulder and the figure smiled at her. Staring back at her sister, Saki took Kazumi's arm and dragged her out of the school. "I know what'll cheer ya up. Let's go home!"

Kazumi sat at the dinner table, dish and chopsticks infront of her. Saki was cooking her favorite food; sukiyaki beef. Nagisa was concerned about her daughter, she didn't look very excited as usual she would be. Kazumi drummed her three fingers on the table as she was in deep thoughts. That made Nagisa more anxious. Usually, like herself, she wouldn't be in deep thoughts unless something had happened. Turning to her younger daughter, she marched over to her. The smell of the sukiyaki beef made Nagisa drool nearly on the stew. Saki snapped her fingers to snap her mother back to reality as she did, Nagisa tried to use her index finger to taste it but her hand got slammed away by Saki. Nagisa automatically looked back at Kazumi and remembered why she was at Saki's side.

"Did something happened to Kazumi?" Nagisa whispered to Saki. Saki replied with a smile and turned away from the cooking. "She just...had a long day." Saki hesitated. Nagisa switched glances over to Kazumi and Saki, making Saki really uncomfortable. "W-what?" Saki finally asked.

"Something tells me that something else has happened."

Kazumi completely ignored their talk, knowing that they were talking about her but she didn't care. Kazumi grew more and more concerned about Shizuka the more she thinks about her. She knew she shouldn't stick her nose into Shizuka's business but she was her...friend? Why was it difficult for her to say that word? They've spent alot of time together after that 'Becoming Pretty Cure' incident. Shouldn't they be 'best of friends?' Well, if you say that referring to each other's surnames was a one step to 'Best Friends Zone' then you were wrong. Kazumi shock her head as she tried to think about something else, drawing attention from her mother and sister. It doesn't matter. Kazumi was concerned about Shizuka. Shizuka was probably at a height of stress because of that concert and has no one to support her.

'But what did she mean by a promise...?' Kazumi roughed her hair as she leaned back. The thought of it was killing her, she had to know what was going on! Getting back to her senses, she slammed her hands on the table, startling Nagisa and Saki and stormed outside without bringing a jacket with.

As Kazumi took her final step downstairs, Mepple's head suddenly popped out but surprisingly not startling Kazumi as usual. "Kazumi! I'm hungry-mepo!" he whined. Kazumi just rolled her eyes. That creature was as bad as her mother. "We don't have time for that." Kazumi replied without looking or giving a glance at Mepple. "Why are you so cold-mepo?" Mepple pouted. Kazumi ignored his question.

"We just need to stop briefly at Yukishiro's-san house."

Changing into a stuffed animal and sitting on Kazumi's shoulders, Mepple shouted happily as he raised his arms. "Yay-mepo! We're going to see Mipple-mepo!"

"You idiot! Change back to your cellphone form! Do you wanna get caught?" Kazumi stressed out and hid Mepple inside her daily clothes as she looked around to see if people were walking by. Sighing in relief, she let go off Mepple who was squirming inside her clothes. "Are you trying to kill me-mepo?!"

"There were no other choice, you didn't change into a cellphone form when I asked you to do it!"

"Oh yes, you "asked" me to do it-mepo." Mepple quoted sarcastically.

"Why you..."

"Kazumi-san?"

Kazumi turned around to the source of the soothing voice as Mepple immediately changed back into a cellphone form. Kazumi had hoped that the lady didn't see Mepple so in order, also to break the silence between them, Kazumi bowed politely as she began to speak. "G-good evening, Yukishiro-san." The older Yukishiro smiled warmly at her. She put the garbage bag inside the garbage before turning over to Kazumi.

"What are you doing here so late? You will worry your mother." Kazumi gave a tch as she turned around. Sure, her mom was overprotective but sometimes she could too much. Last week, before she met Shizuka, she and Reiko decided to meet up but her mom wouldn't allow her to go outside untill she takes a jacket with her. During all day, Kazumi was dying off heat in the May breeze. Ever since, Kazumi had started to change her opion on her; being too overprotective. She groaned at that memory.

"Kazumi-san?" Yukishiro managed to snap her back to reality as Kazumi bolted her head up to face her. Kazumi suddenly got lost into her eyes; her eyes were blue cleared. Very beautiful... Why hasn't she had a date yet?

Yukishiro smiled all of sudden with her eyes closed, confusing Kazumi. "You remind me of an old friend. She used to get lost in her thoughts..." Yukishiro smiled sadly yet warmly at that memory. Yukishiro snapped back and smiled nervously.

"A-anyways, what you doing here?"

"Ah, I see." Yukishiro said calmly as she took a sip out of her tea. Kazumi looked at her tea disgusted. She never liked tea; sometimes she ever wondered if she really was a Japanese person. Everytime Kazumi enters Shizuka's house it amazes her. The decoration, the furnitures and the old styles Japanese doors and floor. Sometimes she wished she lived during the Edo Period, on a second thought, a life as a woman would be difficult. Kazumi shock her head when she realized she drifted back to her fantasies as Yukishiro giggled. Kazumi replied with a nervous smile.

"She has always been like that whenever she concentrate on her work. Don't worry, she'll be back to normal after the contest." Thinking back to the contest...Kazumi thought that there must be a reason why she was taking the contest seriously. Sure, Kazumi would take her Judo tournaments seriously but they way Shizuka acted it was like she would give her life to win that contest. And that promise she mentioned...

"But...Yukishiro-san mentioned something about a promise. Does it have a connection to the contest?"

"...well...yes...it's because..." Yukishiro began as she drifted into the memory. "My grandmother was interested in classical music. She began to play violin when she was five and since then, until she got old, played it everyday. Shizuka got attracted to grandmother's violin music at early age. Grandmother then taught her the violin. She learned really fast and used to lock herself in her room to practice." Yukishiro giggled.

"But when grandmother become very sick, she told Shizuka her goal; to be the best musician in the world. You see, grandmother never got the chance to fulfill her dream as she got pregnant to my mother at early age. And she mentioned something about she was grieving over the loss of a friend who died in your age, who, encouraged her to chase her dream. Anyways, after grandmother passed away, Shizuka was determined and promised her to fulfill grandmother's dream. She's been working hard ever since. So you see, the contest is a step forward to her success and career. That is why it is so important to her." Yukishiro smiled warmly at the end.

Kazumi bit her lip; now she was feeling bad for concentrating on wiping Yosua's butt and show off her talents instead of her real feelings about the contest. Kazumi hit herself lightly on her forehead as she muttered 'Idiot' over and over, leaving Yukishiro confused yet she still had that warm smile.

"It is not too late to support her. I'm sure Shizuka would appreciate it, even though you don't know how it feels like." The room went silent before Yukishiro continued as she stared outside.

"She's still in school, at the gym where the contest is, practicing. Go and help her go through with this." Nodding, Kazumi took off. Yukishiro still had her warm smile and muttered when Kazumi was out of sight. "You would love that girl, and I bet you two would get along very well...Nagisa..."

Squee

Squee

Squee

Squee

Every step Shizuka took made her feel awkward as the empty hall echoed her every step. She would feel better if someone would be with her. Someone... Shizuka snorted while smiling. As if someone would join her when she's practicing. She can't even hold a friend for more than two weeks. All because of her being weird. Kindergarten, Elementary School; everytime she thought that she had gained friend it turned out that they were using her because she was rich or moved to next town few weeks later. Shizuka stroke her violin with her hand carefully as she stared sadly at it. Her

Her head suddenly bolted up when she forsaw Kazumi, and her friend, Reiko, smiling at her. Kazumi had tried her best to befriend her ever since they became Pretty Cures. Maybe... Maybe she was being nice because they were partners... But she looked so serious; as if she really wanted to be friends with her. Not only that, but thanks to Kazumi, she knows more people than, well, she never did know anyone besides her family. Saki, Kazumi and Reiko. 'Is it possible...?' 

"Zakenna!"

Her feet sprang, trying to be as fast as the wind, as Kazumi had passed a store, five kilometers away from the school. Though she was tired as heck, her mind kept repeating and begging. 'Please, let Yukishiro-san be there' Maybe because of Judo she was able to think while running as some people she knew couldn't do that. Kazumi noticed that she was approaching the school so she speeded her running a little bit. As she reached the gate, she turned to her left, towards the gym.

"Zakenna!"

'''Oh no. Of all the time, why now? Stupid Zakenna!'''

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!"

"Yukishiro-san!" Kazumi tilted her head forward to run faster.

As Kazumi gets inside, she finds Shizuka cornered by the Zakenna, in form of piano. Having no ideas what to do, Kazumi went for it and charged at it as she gave out a war scream. "Fu-Fujimura-san?"

"W-w-what are you doing-mepo?" Mepple asked concerned as he closed his eyes to prepare for the impact. Shizuka widened eyes in awe as the monster suddenly flipped and landed over to the other side with a loud bamm. As the fog cleared, there was Kazumi holding onto the Zakenna's arm with her knees bent. She let go and stood straight as she gave a victorious smile. "T-t-that was amazing, Fujimura-san!"

"He, he, he..." Kazumi gave a thumb up. "Years of practice Judo, my friend." She reached out her hand towards Shizuka with a smile on her face as Shizuka extanded her hand to grab Kazumi's. "Ready?" Kazumi asked as she smirked.

Dual Aurora Wave!

Emissary of light, Cure Black

Emissary of light, Cure White

We are Pretty Cure!

Servants of the dark power

Return to the darkness from which you came from!

The Zakenna suddenly started to play horrible off-key notes as the duo held their ears tight together. Black gritted her teeth frustrated as she leaped in the air with her leg forward. The Zakenna turned over to her and played the off-key to her direction, making Black lose her concentration during the fly kick and fall down, still pressing her ears with her hands. "What should we do-mepo?"

"White! Let's try Marble Screw!" White nodded in agreement and they held hands once more.

"Black thunder!"

"White thunder! 

After they called them, black and white lightning was shot down on their palms and take their hands down as they chant

"We step out to the darkness, and we summon the light!"

"We join together to set things right! 

"Pretty Cure Marble Twister!"

They then tighten their hands, and they shouted out the name. Their hands reached out toward the enemy, and the black and white lighting was shot out, spiraling around each other before hitting the enemy. But no damage on the Zakenna. Black looked at her partner to seek answers, but White had already fallen down to her knees as she pressed her hands on her ears. "White!" Black called for her as she let herself filter down gently to her partner's side.

"It's no use-mepo! We can't defeat him!"

"Don't say that!" Black looked around. There had to be a way to defeat that stubborn Zakenna. Her eyes caught onto something. She reached the violin, with White in her arms. Black put her in cover before she tried to reach to the violin. The horrible music the Zakenna was performing was too terrible that she wished her ears could go deaf and she could swore that her head was going to explode. Black tried it once more; she charged it again, grabbed on its keyboards as she laid down on her back and put her foot on the piano's front and threw it behind her, startling confused White. Black took the chance and grabbed the violin and, while the Zakenna was unconcious, she ran towards White and went into a fighting pose one more. White looked at her violin in confusion and looked up to Black for any answers.

"Use your violin against it! You can beat this racket with your beautiful music!"

"B...b-b-but..."

"You can do it-mipo! We believe in you!"

White closed her eyes and began to play.

The music was astonish, it made Black relax her shoulders like she had a rough day, and to close her eyes while smiling as she cleared her mind to listen to the wonderous piece. Mepple was almost falling asleep, not because of boredom, but it was so peaceful and relaxing and kind of music than you could listen to when you go to sleep. Mipple was in tears and tried her best to dry them but fresh tears strarted to pour again.

The Zakenna did what Black was expecting; it was covering its ears, if it had any, as it screamed its name over and over again as he stomped around. After the music stopped, the monster was still stomping around, it probably hadn't heard it end. "White! Now!"

"Black thunder!"

"White thunder! 

"We step out to the darkness, and we summon the light!"

"We join together to set things right! 

"Pretty Cure Marble Twister!"

The Zakenna de-possessed the piano and was shattered into little stars as the girls smiled at each other over their victory.

There was nothing but silence. After beating the enemy the hundreth time (exaggaration) and obvious had something to say to each other, they find themselves in awkward silence. Kazumi observed as Shizuka packed down her violin again. Kazumi swallowed her pride as she let out these two words.

"I'm sorry..." she barely said it outloud.

Shizuka had closed the lid when she stared in confusion at her friend. "What is there to apologize for? It's me who should apologize for my yesterday's behavior towards you and Tainaka-san."

"N-no, no it's not neccassary!" Kazumi waved her hands.

Shizuka stared at Kazumi with narrowed eyes as she tried to read her face. She sighed when she took her eyes off her. "Mom told you?"

"H-huh?" Kazumi replied, acting like she didn't know what she was talking about.

"Mom told you about my goal, right?" Kazumi nodded embarrassed for invading her privacy. As she was about to say sorry, Shizuka smiled at her. "I don't mind. But." She paused as she looked serious and got closer to Kazumi. "If someone could help me to encourage me so that I can reach out the goal." She ended with a smile.

"Of course! I'll tell Reiko 'bout it! Rest assure, we, Saki too, will cheer on you!" Kazumi wrapped her arm around her as she glee a smile. But Shizuka gave a small smile, Kazumi was too busy with celebrating, as she started to wonder how long will Shizuka have them as friends...

A week has already passed, so quickly. Shizuka was confident this time when she stepped on the stage, now that she had someone to cheer her on. She looked over the audience where she came across Reiko, Saki, Kazumi and her mother clapping for her. A smile crept on her face as she put the violin on her shoulder and motioned the stick at the violin. She began to play.

"And the winner is..."the announcer said. An hour and half, Shizuka was calm, but as they were about to announce the winner, she couldn't help but feel really nervous. Akiko lifted her glasses up with her index finger proudly and confident that she would win, towards Shizuka. Kazumi and the others crossed their fingers for good luck.

"Yukishiro Shizuka!"

Akiko's face was probably the hilarious thing Kazumi had seen. Her glasses literally ran down to her nose as she stared at the audience with her jaw on the floor. Kazumi couldn't help but clap harder for Shizuka and smile. Yukishiro-san got a tear in her eye, making her stop clapping but resumed to clap again.

"I did it, grandma...this is my first step towards your dream..." Shizuka muttered.

Backstage, they congratulate Shizuka while Akiko looks at Shizuka angrily. "Don't be too confident. This is the last time you will win. Gurrantee that I will notbe in second place again!" Akiko said arrogantly. With that she stuck her nose up in the air as she walked away.

Kazumi sticked her tongue out at Akiko before doing a high five with Shizuka.

Next: Chapt.4.