Suddenly, Arisu, who seemed to be alone and helpless after being caught here, found what she wanted to do, so she secretly made up her mind.
But in the end, Arisu bowed his head and accepted Ash's unreasonable request.
After all, she didn't want everyone to worry.
Today is the day of the temple fair in Oogai City Shopping Street. As a famous chef in the town, Aida Mana's parents expected that business would be booming today and went out early to prepare ingredients. However, before leaving, they looked at the hidden room in the house together, with uncontrollable worry in their eyes.
In the temple fair, a day of fun and fun, in previous years Ai would have been full of energy and happily dragging her friends to participate, but today Ai locked herself in the room, feeling a little depressed both mentally and physically.
"Mana Is she... okay?"
"Mana She always worries too much about others, so she is hurt more than us."
It was not only her parents who were worried about Mana, but also Rikka and Makoto. Thanks to Pretty Cure's physical constitution, the minor injuries on her body healed quickly, but the injuries on her mind did not heal so quickly.
After Arisu was taken away by Ash, Ai, who was originally depressed, unexpectedly saw Arisu back. Ai, who originally thought Ash had changed his mind, was overjoyed. She was about to give her friend a hug, but before she could hug her, Arisu pulled away from her and told her that due to the reasons agreed with Ash, she could not have contact or even talk to her now.
The good friends who used to talk about everything now seem to have become strangers. An invisible distance has opened between them. A small step back can cause huge spiritual damage. There is sadness hidden in the eyes, but they cannot express it.
"Rikka, do you know what it means to love her?"
Facing the inquiry from his beloved father Kentaro, Rikka, as a close friend, could only smile and shake his head. After all, whether it was Pretty Cure's matter or Ash's matter, it was something that could not be told to other people.
"But I believe that Mana he will be able to get back on his feet!"
"That's good. I think her relationship with Arisu has gotten worse recently, so I thought I'd ask you to help mediate it."
"Hahaha, but maybe I am too pretentious as an adult. Let the young people handle their own affairs."
"We will also try our best to help!"
Rikka and Makoto couldn't help sighing, and they were even more disgusted with Ash's actions.
What are you doing, Ash-sensei!
"Mana, you haven't eaten for a day. Eat something quickly, otherwise your body will not be able to hold on!"
Facing the sandwich brought by the elf Sharuru, Mana hugged her knees and just shook her head. She had no appetite at all now.
"Ash-sensei..."
Before Ash turned into that strange posture, she threw away the card box she had been using for transformation. So after going around in circles, the card box Ash lost to her fell into her hand again, but Ai would rather give it back to Ash, as long as he could come back.
Ai thought about her invitation to him to become her friend, about the Chiba acting they performed together, and about her promise to make better food for him.
Obviously - obviously Ash-sensei has begun to open his heart to me, and my relationship with Ash-sensei has finally become better. Why, why did it suddenly become like this again?!
In fact, Ai also thought that it was probably because of the light that King of Jikochu penetrated Ash, but when he thought that the special kill he used for purification was bounced back from the original path, Aida Mana didn't know how to save him.
In other words, can he still be saved by himself and need his own rescue?
Ai buried her face in her knees again, and the hand holding the card box creaked.
"Mana, what are you doing? The sun is shining on your butt!"
The door was pushed open suddenly, and when he saw the expectant eyes of a blonde girl who had changed into casual clothes at the door, Ai rubbed his eyes and couldn't help but yawned.
Obviously the workload at Student Council has lightened recently, but Ai feels obviously more tired than before.
"Mana, today is a festival. I heard that festivals are a time for the human world to play together, right? Let's go together quickly!"
"Yeah." Ai nodded weakly. "Regina, go play with Rikka and the others first... I will come later."
Blinking, Regina saw the frustration in Ai's eyes. It seemed that Arisu's active alienation from her had a greater impact on her than she imagined. Thinking of this, Regina puffed up her cheeks in dissatisfaction.
So the girl took off her shoes and jumped on the bed, sat cross-legged opposite Ai, and simply looked at her with her own eyes.
"If Mana doesn't go, I won't go either, that's it!"
"Regina, don't be willful at this time."
"Mana is the one who is willful, right!" Regina couldn't bear it anymore and slapped the bed, finally regaining Ai's attention a little. "Does love care about this so much?!"
"But... but! Arisu She is obviously my friend!"
I have always used my philanthropic love to help others since I was a child. For the first time, I knew that I could not bear the loss of my friends.
"I'm starting to hate Ash him a little bit."
"It's okay to hate it, huh, now that it's become like this Ash, I hate it too!"
Hearing Regina's words, Ai subconsciously said "Huh?" and was stunned. She didn't expect Regina to say such words.
Aren't you very caring with Ash? This time, he was not merciless when he spoke ill of Ash.
"Mana, or are you afraid of the game Ash proposed to you?"
"I don't know..."
This time the roles were reversed, it was Regina who was comforting Ai in his own way.
"Since he has snatched away your companion, then just snatch your companion back next time and snatch him back too! There is nothing to worry about!"
"You are Pretty Cure, the cure heart!"
"Haha, Regina, what you said is really outrageous."
After hearing Regina's words, Ai finally showed his smile again.
"Mana If you are still angry, next time, next time I will teach him a lesson for you!"
Chapter 97 Preparation for the Game
"Alas——"
"What's wrong, Makoto?"
Realizing that in addition to Ash's pile of nonsense, there seemed to be other worries mixed in the sighs of the friends on the side, Rikka showed concern for her in a timely manner.
"Actually, I'm thinking about something..."
After thinking for a moment, Makoto finally revealed what was bothering him.
"I sing as an idol mainly because Mr. Princess likes to listen to my songs. When I first arrived on Earth, I hoped to use my singing voice to attract Mr. Princess's attention. In fact, I had no idea of becoming famous."
"But Makoto is already a super popular idol now, right? Many people are looking forward to Makoto's song."
Not to mention that Makoto has dominated the record sales charts for a long time since its debut and has received advertising invitations from numerous major companies. Makoto has a support group of hundreds of people in school alone. These support groups are not bottomless fans chasing stars. On the contrary, they have "no playing during Makoto's break" There are hundreds of strict and cumbersome rules such as "interfering with her daily life", "Being polite and courteous star chasers will never cause trouble to Makoto", etc., but no member of the support group objects to it, and the ability to achieve these is all due to the spontaneous support of fans, which is enough to show the actual popularity of Makoto.
"I know, if possible, I don't want to let the fans down."
Makoto sighed again. In fact, this incident was the main reason for her sigh.
"However, now that Princess is back, the purpose I want to achieve through singing is no longer there. Even the singing is full of confusion. Even if it sounds good, it is not as good as before."
Kenzaki Makoto, a popular idol nicknamed "MakotoP" (Xiao Zhen) by fans, is famous for her ability to touch people's hearts with her true feelings.
Recently, even the staff responsible for recording the songs have noticed that Makoto's voice is still beautiful, but the sincere emotion contained in her singing is not as good as before. Everyone thinks this must be because she is too tired, and they all say that Makoto should go home and rest more, but only she knows what is going on.
What's more, the recent dangerous game as the "new enemy" Ash has made her burden as Pretty Cure heavier, and she really has no more energy to focus on singing.
"So I was thinking, would it be better to retire?"
"Let's think about this again."
But after all, this is Makoto's own decision, and a few opinions is the limit of what Rikka can do.
If it were Mana, she would definitely argue that Makoto can't do it without singing, right? But now Mana she...
"Everyone!"
Hearing the familiar voice, the two of them cheered up. They looked towards the place where the sound came from. Ai, holding Regina's hand, was waving to them at the street corner. The energetic smile on his face seemed to have changed back to his former self.
"Mana, I've been waiting for you for a long time!"
"Hey, I made you worry, but I'm fine with it."
Ai scratched the back of her head in embarrassment, and after scanning around habitually, she found that this time there was one less gentle figure in their circle of friends than before.
"It would be great if Arisu were here too. I really don't know what they are doing now."
Makoto naturally refers to Arisu and Ash. When talking about this heavy topic, everyone's mood became a little low. At this moment, Ai took the initiative to stand up and firmly cheered everyone up.
"It's okay. Ash shouldn't embarrass Arisu, because he said this is a game! If you are playing games, having fun is the first priority. There is no need to embarrass others."
"We don't have to be afraid if he wants to come again. We will defeat him next time and win Arisu back!"
Aguri, who was leaning in the darkness at the entrance of the alley, nodded when he saw Ai cheering up again, licking the ice cream and walking to the other side.
Next, you need to be careful about what game Ash is talking about!
"As expected of Mana!"
"That's right, no matter what game it is next time, we will win it!"
Seeing the love that is the backbone smile, everyone cheered up again. Pretty Cure also encountered very difficult situations in the past, but they all got over it. It must be the same this time. As long as everyone works together, it will be no big deal!
"Hey, it's not that great anymore. Well, forget about those annoying things today and have fun for the day!"
"Oh!"
Relieved, they happily ran towards various interesting stalls at the temple fair. Listening to the cheers of their companions, Aida Mana, who was half a step behind, lowered his head and his clenched fists trembled slightly.
She lied to her best friend. In fact, when she closed her eyes, she kept thinking of Arisu and Ash. She could feel that she was afraid.
"What expression will you show to me after losing all your friends? I'm really looking forward to it hahahahaha——"
The man's devilish smile appeared in front of his eyes. Ai trembled unconsciously, and moist tears appeared in his eyes unconsciously.
Ever since Ash first turned into Dragon Ya, DokiDoki! Pretty Cure's cure heart had never defeated him once. She didn't know how she was going to defeat the pitch-black Rider.
"But this won't work... If I don't smile, if I don't stay optimistic, Rikka and the others won't be able to cheer up either."
In order to protect everyone, in order to protect the smiles of people I know and don't know, I must—I must—!
"Mana?"
His hand was held by a warm feeling, which was the caring look from Regina.
"It's okay, even if I don't have the power right now."
"I'll help you too!"
As for what Ash and Arisu, who are worried about Pretty Cure, are doing now?
Ash stipulated that Arisu could go home or go to school, but he had to report to him every day. Arisu himself was not overly embarrassed, except that he asked to stay close to him as if to show off, and he would also do some embarrassing things like male students teasing female classmates. According to Arisu, it was speculated that he was probably doing it to satisfy his own vanity.
At this time, Ash was sitting on a brass chair that was specially made by two cadres with raw materials provided by Mirror World. Yotsuba Arisu was sitting on a shorter chair next to it, looking at the things in front of him with a reluctant expression.
"Um, Ash-sensei?" Arisu pointed at the two cadres who were carrying large items left and right in the base, and suggested rather embarrassingly. "How about I come to help?"
Hearing Arisu's words, Ira and Mammo almost burst into tears.
Originally, they worked diligently to replenish Evil Thought Energy for King of Jikochu. Now that the boss has become Ash, this task has been eliminated. They originally thought that they could fish in peace without having to do bad things. However, not only did they not get the benefits as expected, but they were ordered around by this person's random instructions.
For example, Ash today bought a bunch of large items such as refrigerators, color TVs, decorations, etc. on the grounds that the place was too poor for him as the boss. Not only did they have to do all the moving and placement, but he used the cadres as interns. And he and that Pretty Cure were watching there. If they hadn't really been unable to defeat him and were afraid of being beaten, they would have rebelled long ago.
"No."
"Ash-sensei, that's too much."
Faced with Ash's ruthless rejection, Arisu had no choice but to sit back next to Ash. Now the two of them were even more angry.
What's going on? We are the subordinates. She should be a prisoner, right? Why do we feel that our status is not as good as hers?!
Now Ash has no intention of understanding the two people's thoughts. Now he is thinking about another thing that is very important to him.
What should we play in the next game?
After thinking about it, Ash took out a beautiful box from the things he bought. When he bought it, he thought it was a game CD, so he bought it. However, when he got it, he found that it was not, but looked like a record package.
"That, that is Makoto's song!"
After hearing Arisu's proactive introduction, Ash also became interested. After opening the box, as expected, he saw the portrait of the idol on the CD.
Kenzaki Makoto, she is a big idol, but I heard that she seems to have the idea of retiring recently, which is really casual.
After thinking about it, Yaxi picked up the disc and put it into the player. Now he suddenly came up with a plan.
"In that case, I have a good idea!"
Chapter 98 Ash's treasure