"You're a fake, just like that self-proclaimed ex-girlfriend from before!"
"No, ask your own heart." His finger lightly tapped the crown of his helmet as he once again called her by that familiar name. "You know the answer yourself, little Yuri~ Don't lie to yourself."
"No—don't call me that anymore..."
The wand fell to the ground with a clear clatter, and the girl who did know the answer knelt there, shaking her head over and over.
"Why... did you do this?"
Hadn't the darkness in your heart been illuminated by us?
"Why did you do this?!"
"Because this has already happened."
Akane's hot-tempered punch carried hardly any force at all. He gently caught it, then casually tossed it aside.
"That's right, I am the one and only Ash you all know, the only one in the world right now!" Pointing at Misumi Nagisa and Yukishiro Honoka on the crosses, Ash twitched his fingers. "Let me tell you all the truth!"
And so, he truly laid out the truth for everyone in a calm, unhurried manner. The serious expressions the girls had barely managed to maintain finally broke apart. Especially when he proved that he was the same "desire" summoned by their desire for Ash, some of them could no longer hold back their tears.
"I rose again from hell. I came back to life!"
"Why are you all making such miserable faces? Shouldn't this be something for you to rejoice over?"
"But, but..." Tears dripped uncontrollably from Miyuki's nearly melted face. "The reunion with Ash we wished for wasn't supposed to be—not supposed to be like this—!"
They were Pretty Cure, so they could not deceive their own hearts.
And so, facing this "Ash," after learning the truth, their morale instantly plummeted to freezing point. All that could be heard