Afterword - A Doki Doki Precure Story

22 - Diamond

Mana desperately pushed open the door.

"Mana-chan?" Asked Yuki, looking up from a book she was reading. She took notice of the pinkette's panicked expression and set her book aside.
"What's wrong?" She asked.

Mana said nothing. She only examined the room in great detail, after a moment, she nodded to herself and took a deep breath.
"Nothing... just... I felt uneasy."

Not a moment later, the other members of the Precure arrived. They looked equally as worried as Mana, however, for different reasons.

To them, Mana raced off in a panic after Cure Ace told her Regina's location.
But something told them they had plenty reason to be worried.
The aura was toxic. It was unsettling. It was sickening even.

If they didn't know any better, they would say disaster was about to strike.

Rikka shook away her thoughts for the time being and moved herself to Regina's bedside, where she placed the back of her hand on the blonde's forehead.

Slowly but surely, Regina began to open her eyes.
With a groan, she slowly propped herself up.
"M-Mana...?" She mumbled, rubbing her eyes with her palms.

Mana didn't waste a second rushing to her beloved's bedside, where she quickly embraced Regina.
"Hey... I'm here... how are you doing?"

"Feelin' great..." she said with a dry laugh, before cupping Mana's cheek and pulling her in for a kiss.

"Oh come on get a room you two." Makoto joked.
Even with the tension reliever of a joke, she couldn't shake away her uneasiness. In fact none of them could.

Even Regina began to feel a sickening feeling in her stomach.

The door swung open.

"U-uh, are you guys the Precure?" A girl asked. She had short dull red hair, the ends of which being a faded yellow, as if the embers of a flame.

Mana turned to face the redhead. "Yes, we are. Why?" She asked calmly.

"W-well... I kinda saw you guys run in here and I'm a big fan. I'm Lizzy..."

A blush almost as red as her hair formed across her cheeks, reaching her ears. She was clearly flustered and she knew she wasn't making the brightest move by entering a room full of strangers just because she was a big fan.

However the Precure wore a smile for her. "It's nice to meet you, Lizzy," each of them said, except for Aguri, whom had been notably absent this entire time.

"T-that's not the only reason I'm here... I saw a scary dog with a man outside."

No wonder the aura was so unsettling. Edwin was waiting for them outside.

Mana chalked it up as surrender or everyone dies, however no words had been said to give such an impression, nothing except the absence of Aguri.

"Everyone, stay here. I'm going to check," announced Cure Diamond, and without leaving any time for the others to speak, she sped off.

Mana looked at Regina with uncertainty.
Something bad was going to happen. And the prospect of her friends getting hurt motivated Regina to get out of her bed, where she took a moment to get used to standing again.