Hybrid Precure: Side Stories

Taio, Riko, Aqours : The healing concert

It's finally the day of the showcase. Everyone gathered to witness the clubs there performing on the stage while it acted as its own cultural festival.

The performances are also stunning. Although the crowd got pumped up by the dance groups, Aquors also got their attention. After all, they were already welcomed at this point. Yoshiko and Hanamaru gave their performance their usual aura but when Ruby came to the stage... it looked different.

Once Yoshiko was done, the stage went on an intermission while the stage was built. Once that was done, the curtain rose to display an overlay of props.

The first was the same Tidmouth Sheds but there were two more berths on each side. Instead of cutouts of Thomas' friends, the doors to it were closed and small simple icons donned the top of the doors instead. On the left were a red Sakura flower, two emerald green dolphins forming a circle, one small and one big, and three violet sparkles forming the similar phone emoji: ✨. On the right was an orange of the same color, a cherry pink grand piano, and a light blue sailboat. Surrounding the center area was a grayish-blue oversized bat head with wings and a yellow flower circle, with a pink lollipop in the middle.

When Ruby came and stood in the middle of the crowd, something did fell off for everyone in the audience. Old and new. Her hair is let down and held behind her ears, displaying her maturity since her arrival at Aqours. She had an oversized jacket blue jacket overlaying her cream dress and brown pants paring with black boots. She looked at the audience with a smile and monologues her pre-live speech.

Ruby: Thank you so much for sticking through the showcase so far. This is the last school idol performance for now before we make way for the traditional musical group. As most of you know, the showcase also acts as a fundraiser for an official campaign that prevents suicide across Japan. Japan has sadly the most suicide cases in the world and it's a definite problem we all had to face. A few weeks ago, I discovered that a friend of mine is dealing with suicidal thoughts and had told no one, even his own friends about them until someone pressured him to do so.  This gave me the idea to write a song and organize a booth where the people who attended there did a certain amount of games and had a special gift afterward. As we can see in the audience, there are light sticks that had a different base than others. But you're still here regardless.

The Cures looked around and saw the light sticks being held. Some of them had a blue and silver base with a yellow ribbon attached instead of their regular white, signifying they wanted to stay on and have a second chance in life. They inferred that the ones that carried the blue and silver light sticks took the survey and are dealing with the attempt of suicide altogether, and they were right.

Ruby: Most of you had light sticks with a white base, while some of you had the blue and silver base, while some don't have one at all. And that's ok because it shows that despite the differences, we are all living in the same city. And you are not the only minority here. That is why I made this song with the minority's thoughts in mind and I really, really, really want to share to you their feelings. And maybe this helps others to keep on living as well. So hear me...no hear all of us out. This is CITY.

As Ruby danced to a retro funk-like song she created, she danced with all her heart while looking at the only familiar amongst the audience: Taio. While he along with his own friends looked at the performance onstage, Dia came and gave them the blue and silver light sticks. They didn't notice Dia at first when she came to them but they immediately blended in with the crowd. The props changed from the roundhouse to an old-timely house at sunset and finally a bustling high-rise city at night. It took a while for Taio to realize what Ruby meant all along and started crying. Those were his feelings all along being shared with others. If Ruby did not know what he was going through all this while, she would be like those who saw Thomas at a surface level, like most people. He didn't cry because Ruby sang her heart out, he was glad that he wasn't the only one thinking of such things and would no longer be alone to have such suicidal thoughts anymore. He was glad that Ruby saw the person he was inside and gave him an embrace towards it.

Once the performance was over, Yoshiko and Hanamaru were surprised that Ruby made a song about such things. She had definitely grown from the shy and timid school idol fanatic to where she is now.