Afterword - A Doki Doki Precure Story

23 - Fleeting Memories

Empty.

Even that word on its own felt... empty. But even one of the emptiest words in the world was an underestimation for how Mana felt.

She lay alone on her white bed, in her lonely bedroom, staring at her bleak white ceiling.

Three days ago now.

Three days ago, the world lost Rikka Hishikawa. And it was all Mana's fault.
How could she have failed to stop something so preventable?
How could she have failed to save her best friend?
How could she have failed to save her first friend?

For the fifth time that day, tears streamed down Mana's already tear-stained cheeks as she reminisced on those memories with Rikka.

~//~
"Mana! Geez, how many times do I have to tell you?" Rikka chastised.
Mana had just leapt from a swing onto the ground, but instead of landing straight up, she had landed face-down in the grass.

That was the first and last time Mana tried to do a front-flip anywhere.
Luckily, she had survived that incident with only a bruised nose.
Rikka had teased her, calling her Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer.
~//~

Back then, Mana hated the teasing so much.
But now... now Mana could only look back fondly on these fleeting memories.
By now the floodgates had been opened, and Mana was sobbing hysterically. Her chest ached with the gut-wrenching feeling of heartbreak.

She had isolated herself in her room, wanting to be away from everyone, in fear of losing even more she loved dearly.

Her dog, Mallow, died because of her. She never closed the gate.
Her grandma died because Mana didn't tidy the house.
Rikka had died because she ran head first into a battle where she wasn't even confident she'd walk out alive.

'I can't let others die because of my arrogance.' Mana had thought to herself, before slamming her bedroom door shut, and barricading it.

Of course, Regina had tried to stop her. She wanted her girlfriend to be safe of course.
But Mana didn't care. She wanted to be alone from everybody else. She needed to be alone from everybody else.

~//~

"Mana? Mana what's going on?" Makoto asked pleadingly. She was confused and disoriented. She could see Mana's pained expression - no - that was an understatement.

Mana refused to answer Makoto's question, and instead unclipped her Loveaid from her bow, and extended her hand.
The pinkette's hair now flowed freely in the wind, but was becoming heavy and matted with the rain.
The rain that disguised her flowing tears.

"Take it." Mana said without a shred of emotion in her voice.

Makoto looked at her, bewildered and scared.
But regardless, she hesitantly extended her hand, and with a 'plop', Mana's Loveaid fell into the idol's hand.

Without another word, Mana turned from her and walked away.
Makoto tried to run after her, but because of Mana's athletic form, she easily outran the idol.

She could only watch helplessly as the pinkette disappeared behind a street block.

That was when Mana had collapsed to the ground, in direct view of her house. Her weak knees refused to let her run any further, and she looked into the sky, the rain now falling onto her face.

She let out a blood-curdling scream.
"WHY?! WHY DID YOU TAKE HER FROM ME?! WHY?!" She cried to the heavens.

Little did she know she was being watched by her now heartbroken group of friends, all of whom were looking at her with an indescribable level of sadness.