Afterword - A Doki Doki Precure Story

19 - Betrayal

Mana's eyes widened in fear as she realised who the unconscious body belonged to.

Regina.

She felt herself stumble backwards. Her chest tightened and she found it hard to breathe.
She felt like she was about to throw up.

"Mana? Are you- oh my god, Regina!" Yuki cried before rushing to the blonde's side.

Mana looked to Yuki as if her life depended on it. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't move.
She couldn't do anything.
The brunette quickly returned upstairs and seconds later she returned with Mana's parents.

"Oh goodness what happened?" Ayumi asked, covering her mouth with her hand in shock.
Kentaro moved to Mana's side and tried to get her under control.
"She's gone into shock." He said with worry, gently rubbing the pinkette's back.

"We need to get her to a hospital." Yuki ordered.
Ayumi glanced at her, as if silently saying 'thanks for stating the obvious'.

Yuki then grabbed her phone and messaged her Precure friends.

YU - Everyone, Regina's been badly hurt. We're taking her to the hospital. Something happened to her last night.

The third-year then switched off her phone before anyone had time to reply and stuffed it into her pocket.

Regina's groans of pain caused a pit to form in Yuki's stomach, and her mind flashed back to when she lost her family.
She wouldn't let that happen again.
'I will not lose another family member.' She said to herself, filling her with determination.

Very carefully, she lifted the smaller blonde into her arms and walked to the door, which seconds later swung open.

Cure Sword, Cure Diamond, Cure Rosetta and Cure Ace all entered.
Cure Rosetta returned to her normal form - Alice, before going to Mana's side and pulling her into an embrace.

"Someone hurt her..." Mana mumbled, her voice barely audible.
"It's alright, Mana-chan... we'll find out who hurt her." Alice whispered, running her fingers through the pinkette's soft hair.

She turned to face the other girls, all of which wore worried expressions - except for Aguri, who's expression was ridden with fury.

Rikka quietly guided Yuki to Ayumi's car outside and upon opening the door, carefully placed Regina into the back seat.

Makoto took Mana to her room, believing she just needed some rest.
She was certainly in no fit state whatsoever to do much.
The idol watched as Mana took a seat by the desk and sighed to herself.
"I always said I'd protect her... t-that I'd never let her get hurt."
By now tears were brimming in her eyes.

"Hey," Makoto started before putting her hands on Mana's slumped shoulders, "you aren't to blame for this. Neither is Regina. The people at fault are the people who hurt her."

Mana looked into the eyes of her idol. "I want to make them pay."

The sudden fury in Mana's eyes and those cold words she spoke caused Makoto's blood to run cold.
She had never seen a vengeful Mana before, and she sure as hell never wanted to get onto her bad side.

There was a light tapping of the door as Alice entered the room, accompanied by Aguri and Sebastian.

"Sebastian did a quick check through CCTV footage in the last twenty-four hours and found a gang consisting of four boys and one girl. The girl seemingly set up an ambush at around 2:20pm, just as Regina was out of sight from any cameras around the school. They seemed to knock her unconscious and an hour later they were spotted carrying her body on a camera outside of a shop.
One of the boys inside purchased bleach and other cleaning items."