Ninomiya Kazuko

**Ninomiya Kazuko** (*二宮和子 Ninomiya Kazuko*) is a *HUGtto PreCure* OC created by Windra. Her alter ego is **Cure Espoir** (*キュアエスポワール Kyua Esupowāru*), the Pretty Cure of dreams.

## Personality

Kazuko is a happy-go-lucky person from the outside, always somehow moving, even if it's just bouncing in place. Despite this, she is very calculated and plans most things to the tiniest details and in turn hates surprises and unforseen things. When things do go wrong, a more serious side of Kazuko surfaces, without as much of a trace of her usual happy demeanor. At times, Kazuko can be a bit manipulative and knows how to make people do what she wants.

True to her name, she treasures peace and quiet times. This is because she has to balance her school life and a part-time job as well as care for the household without much help besides her brother. Still, she isn't home very much because it is too quiet for her. She stays longer at her job and goes home with one or more of her friends, often staying for dinner.

She is very hard-working, even if one might not notice from first glance. While she might seem talented in martial arts, her skills actually stem from years of rigorous training with even more skilled people as mentors.

Kazuko hates showing weakness or tears in front of anyone and works hard to keep up the image of her being strong. She rarely breaks down in front of anybody besides her brother or parents, the closest people to her. Despite not admitting it, Kazuko trusts them with her life and masks her sisterly affection towards her brother by gently bullying him about his height or other things. Additionally, she has a few close friends she loves doting on and shares the "mom friend" spot with one of them.

## Appearance

Kazuko has green eyes and is taller than most people her age. She has chocolate brown hair reaching beyond her shoulders, most of which she keeps open. She has bangs and has some of her hair tied into a braid at the back of her head, hold in place by a green ribbon.

Her usual clothing consists of clothes she deems comfy, which is why she is often seen wearing coats or oversized pieces of clothing. She is most frequently seen with a loose-fitting white shirt and dark grey trousers matched with brown shoes. Along with that she wears a loose green tie and her green coat. She is rarely seen tying the ends of her coat's belt so they often hang or fly around when she moves.

Kazuko tends to get hurt often, so it's not unusual to see her with some kind of bandage on.

As Cure Espoir, her hair lengthens, reaching her back and turns orange, her braid is also now missing, replaced with a bigger green bow on her head and her eyes stay the same except gaining thicker eyelashes tinted green. She also wears lipstick now. Her outfit consists of a white shirt under a short-sleeved green and white jacket with a handkerchief sticking out of a pocket, a dark green skirt with ruffled edges, black tights covering her legs and green shoes. Around her waist she wears a see-through green fabric resembling a coat. She also wears a green tie with a light green four-pointed star on it, a belt around her waist secured in place by the bag in which the PreHeart is stored. She wears similar bands around her wrists.

Her older self basically still wears the same outfit, with some minor changes. All of the clothes fit Kazuko better since she has grown, making her coat shorter on her. Kazuko switches to another shirt which fits her properly and ties her tie tighter. She also changed her shoes and trousers and starts wearing a belt. Physically, besides having grown, Kazuko's hair is longer too and there are some scars sometimes visible on her body.

## History

Kazuko is one of the two children of their family, being the only daughter. Both of their parents work busy jobs and are rarely home, leaving Kazuko and her brother, Shuuji, to care about the household from early on. Still, she looks up to her parents very much and hopes to be like them one day. She was involved in her father’s job from early on as well as he had to take her with him to work and she found a great interest in it, wanting to pursue a career in the field even after several years have passed. She also wants to stay close to her brother and friends, as they give her a reason to stay where she is.

## Cure Espoir

**"Moving everyone! The Pretty Cure of Dreams! Cure Espoir!"**

みんなを動かす！夢のプリキュア！キュアエスポワール！

*Min'na wo ugokasu! Yume no Purikyua! Kyua Esupowāru!*

**Cure Espoir** (*キュアエスポワール Kyua Esupowāru*) is Kazuko's Pretty Cure alter ego. In order to transform, she needs the PreHeart and her Mirai Crystal.

### Transformations

**Heart Kiratto!** (ハートキラっと!)

Kazuko holds her PreHeart in its phone mode and inserts her Mirai Crystal onto the device while saying "Mirai Crystal!". She then flips the device into its heart mode as the screen flashes on with a white heart that emits white light. As she says "Heart Kiratto!", she waves her PreHeart gently around until the light turns green. Covered in a green glow, she presses the red heart on the PreHeart while saying "Hagyuu~" until green streams of light fly out to create her shirt, jacket, skirt, tights and shoes. She presses the red heart again while saying "Gyuu~" to change her hair length and color as well as adding her hair bow. She presses the red heart for the final time to make her tailcoat, belt, tie and the bands around her wrists appear. She places her PreHeart in its carry bag on her waist and says her introduction phrase while bowing then straightening back up to say her name as she poses.

### Attacks

**Heart Stamp!** (ハートスタンプ!) is Cure Espoir's first attack.

## Etymology

Ninomiya (二宮) - 二 (Nino) means "Two, Second" and 宮 (Miya) means "Shrine", combined the name means "Second shrine"

Kazuko (和子) - 和means "harmony, peace" combined with 子 meaning "child"

Combined, her name could mean "Peace child of the second shrine".

Espoir (エスポワール) - the french word for "hope". Hope is a feeling of expectation for a certain thing to happen

## Relationships

**Shuuji** - Her brother and one of the closest people to Kazuko. Even if she won't admit it, she trusts him with her life and masks her sisterly affection by bullying him about his height or other things. They mysteriously always end up in the same class and are in the student council together, with her brother as the student council president. Most people don't actually know they are siblings, both since they look and act nothing alike. Also, they sometimes use different last names in public, one of these occasions being school.

**Mari** - One of Kazuko's closest female friends, the two have known each other for a long time. She is a writer/author and favors mysteries and thrillers. Also is very perceptive and has a hand for solving crimes, so Kazuko has decided to nickname her "Holmes-chan". She is very timid and always need someone to be with her at all times, which is usually Kazuko. Mari is actually her nickname, although she prefers this name with her friends. She originally stems from England.

**Rei & Ren** - A pair of twins a year younger than Kazuko, also part of her friend group. The two are never seen apart and are seen as scary by their peers, mainly left alone, making their childhood friends their only friends. Ren does the talking more often than not, Rei stays silent most of the time, valuing actions over words. Rei is in fact the group's 'mom friend', caring for injuries, cooking for them, on rare occasion berating them and holding them back from doing stupid things, etc...

**Ayuto** - A childhood friend, also a year younger and in the same class as Mari. Called 'sunshine child' by his friends, because he's always happy. He's the one cheering up the group and keeping the morale high. He has an interest in weaponry, mostly firearms. He can drive a car and has a licence, although the authenticity of it can be doubted...

**Fukuya** - Childhood friend, he is in the same class as Rei and Ren and can frequently be found together with the two. Also close to Ayuto and Kazuko in particular, mostly for working together at the same company. He also has a younger sister by two years, who he frequently worries about.

## Trivia

* This is actually a younger version of her original counterpart, who is 17 years, making this one three years younger
* Has a (part-time) job

* As Cure Espoir, she represents "typical desk jobs" as her clothes mimick a "professional" outfit
	+ Kazuko wants to work such a job in the future too

* Kazuko likes crocheting and knitting
* She dislikes alcohol and thunderstorms
* She owns a pet, a cat named Melos

## Gallery

Ninomiya KazukoCure EspoirWindra's attempt at Cure Espoir in Glitter Cure17 year old Kazuko, her "real" age