#coesite

"Waaaaaaaaah!"

Spinel couldn't help cringe a little at the sound of shattering glass. He looked over to see Coesite, flinging glass shards as far as she could, making them shatter. He thought that he could have said something right then about bad luck, but that was something the humans thought, not them. And he was pretty sure she already knew anyway, and didn't care at the moment.

Coesite wailed again, still flinging glass shards. Spinel noticed one of them slipped wrong against her hand, leaving a sizable slash across her palm, but Coesite didn't. It would only get worse unless someone pointed it out to her--and right now, no one else seemed to be present. Probably out on their own missions.

"Coesite," he said, walking over to her.

Coesite stopped throwing glass for a moment, looking up at Spinel with watery, red eyes. Oh, so the wailing wasn't just for show, he thought with some surprise. She was actually crying. "Sp-Spineeeeeel!" she wailed, stomping her foot and rubbing her eyes. "I'm--I'm tryin' so haaaard!"

Oh, this was about Prism Shards and Pretty Cure, then? "I know you are."

"B-B-But I can't find any shards, even though I got my mirror--ev-everyone keeps getting to them fiiirst!" she wailed again, throwing another bit of glass. Spinel noticed that she'd accidentally made her cut deeper. "All I can find is Pretty Cure--"

"That's an accomplishment itself."

"--an' I can't even beat them!" she sobbed. Energy spent now, she sank to her knees, sobbing and wiping her face. Resigned, Spinel knelt down next to her, somewhat-awkwardly patting her shoulder and hoping a thorn wouldn't come out of that hand. "A-An' I gotta find shards and beat Pretty Cure or everyone'll be mad at me, and Marcasite's still being mean, and 'm--'m tryin' my best, Spinel..." She continued to weep as Spinel, still awkwardly, gave her a hug, patting her head.

She must have been really distressed, he noted. The usual Coesite would have been over the mood, giggling and blushing about the contact. All the more reason to try and make her feel better. Spinel petted her head as Coesite, still wailing, cling to his shirt. "I know you are. And I think you're doing a good job so far." Coesite's sobs quieted at that. That was encouraging. "Don't worry about what the others think. It's still more than some have done."

Coesite stopped crying. Now all she did was cling to Spinel. That was...oddly, even more encouraging. "Now, let's see that hand," he added, taking her hand, palm-up, and producing a bandage from seemingly nowhere. Ah, it wasn't as bad as he thought. That was good. After a few moments of silence as Spinel bandaged the wound, he patted her palm and said "There. That's better, isn't it?" 

Oh yeah, didn't humans have this thing they did to make the wounded feel better? He'd feel rather silly, but this was Coesite and she was clearly going through a bad time at the moment. So he lifted her palm up to kiss the bandages over the scratch. "There."

He looked at Coesite again, pleased to see she was starting to look more like her usual self. And blushing crimson. Whoops. "Phwaaah~ Tha-Thank you, Spinel!" she squeaked, startling him by suddenly tackle-hugging him. "You're the greatest ever," she added, nuzzling his shoulder. "I love you~!" And, with a brief kiss on the cheek and another rush of blood to her face, she skipped off, leaving Spinel feeling oddly-dazed.

This new girl was really working out! "Mitsuki, don't forget over there!" Kokoro cried, pointing dramatically with one hand and recording a seemingly-innocent corner of the room with the other. "Two cameras are better than one, and I bet we'll get something between the two of us!"

"Roger~" Mitsuki smiled, taking a few pictures in the direction Kokoro was pointing.

Yup, she was really great, Kokoro told herself. The new transfer had stumbled upon the newspaper club completely by accident, but had decided that since she was here, she may as well join, right? Kokoro wasn't entirely sure why she did that, but she wasn't going to turn away a prospective member.

Especially one so enthusiastic about uncovering "the truth."

Later they stood together in the darkroom, hanging up their photos to dry and staring intently at them. "D'you think we caught a ghost this time?" Mitsuki asked, hopping in place.

"Probably! If nothing shows up on the pictures, I bet I'll have caught something on camera. Cameras reveal all sorts of stuff!" Kokoro said, folding her arms and nodding as if she were an expert. "And with how many pictures you took, you had to have gotten something."

Mitsuki beamed behind her mask. 

Kokoro was a really fun human. Mitsuki glanced at her for a moment, noting how intently the other girl was watching the photos develop. Maybe...

"Hey, after they develop, you wanna get a burger?" Kokoro asked, snapping Mitsuki out of her thoughts. "My treat!"

"Eh--yours?"

"Suuuure~! I can treat my friend once in a while!"

Friend. Maybe even if Kokoro turned out to be a Pretty Cure...they could still be friends. And take pictures together.