Recaps

After Minami defeated Fortress of Despair, Nanase Yui unexpectedly woke inside her despair cage and Ash carried her out, stirring unfamiliar feelings in her. Ash decided he would help Yui grow stronger, while he and Minami reflected on how he had changed them; the chapter left Minami blushing at his praise.

• Nanase Yui woke inside her despair cage after Minami defeated Fortress of Despair, surprising both Minami and Ash.
• Ash tore open Yui's cage, carried her out, and encouraged her to believe she could become as strong as Pretty Cure.
• Minami purified Fortress of Despair with Mermaid Ripple and reproached Ash for teasing Yui, who blushed and struggled to explain her feelings.
• Ash decided to cultivate Yui's strength, while Minami and Ash bickered about his treatment of others as possessions.
• Yui defended Ash for helping them, and Ash told Minami that she had changed too and called her cute, leaving her blushing.

Ash reunited with Haruka, Minami, Yui, and Kirara, and the girls began to see him in a more complicated light as he repaid Haruka and offered to help Minami. Kirara remained resentful and increasingly unsure whether she was the only one who still opposed him, while Ash continued wondering what his own sparkle might be.

• Haruka told Ash she would defeat him and prove him wrong, then suggested he seek a sparkle of his own.
• Ash returned Yui’s glasses and told her that her glasses were part of her real self, making Yui smile happily.
• Ash greeted the girls with overfamiliar affection, and Haruka and Minami defended his character while Kirara questioned why they were getting along with him.
• Ash repaid Haruka for their amusement park outing, and she accepted only half the money after reminding him they had shared a parfait.
• Minami said Dysdark had stopped competing as actively for the Dress Up Keys, and Ash offered to help her grow stronger.
• Ash wondered what his own sparkle was, while Kirara stayed apart from the others and remained upset with him.

Kirara struggled with her anger toward Ash and wondered whether they were alike in their selfishness. Hoping to understand him and change him, she secretly followed him and discovered he worked at a construction site before he headed to a convenience store for another job.

• Kirara complained to Yui about Ash, but Yui pointed out that Kirara had once put modeling ahead of becoming a Pretty Cure, just as Ash acted selfishly.
• Kirara decided her own resemblance to Ash might explain her hostility and resolved to learn more about him so she could help him change.
• Kirara disguised herself and followed Ash after work, hoping to uncover how he had gotten money to repay Haruka.
• Kirara watched Ash work as a construction foreman and overheard his coworkers crediting his advice with helping one of them get engaged.
• Ash left the construction site and entered a Lawson, where the store owner asked him to fill in for an absent worker.

Amanogawa Kirara followed Ash through his many jobs and confronted him about treating their relationship as shallow despite his claims to like her. After Ash asked what she had learned from watching him, Kirara realized that his effortless attitude toward work was part of why she hated him.

• Kirara watched Ash perform several jobs flawlessly and felt frustrated by how capable he was compared with her.
• Ash revealed that he had noticed Kirara following him, and he told her she was free to act as she wished, just as he was free to pursue his own desires.
• Kirara angrily rejected Ash's suggestion that their relationship was fine as it was, and Ash shielded her from the café customers' attention.
• After they were kicked out of the café, Ash asked Kirara what she had felt while watching him, and she asked why he worked so many jobs without getting tired.
• Kirara realized that she hated Ash partly because she believed in hard work, while he treated difficult tasks as effortless.
• Ash explained that his original reason for taking the jobs had been to earn money and repay what he owed Haruka.

Ash sought to understand the lives of his citizens and grew closer to Kirara, who began to see the sincere motives behind his strange behavior. After Kirara found his guidebook for pleasing girls, Ash continued his awkward courtship by complimenting Haruka on using his gift.

• Ash explained to Kirara that he wanted to experience life beyond being a King and understand how his citizens lived.
• Kirara’s irritation toward Ash softened, though she rejected his offer of friendship and questioned how he intended to spend his wages.
• Ash left his red bucket behind, and Kirara found a book titled “One Hundred Wonderful Phrases to Please Girls” by Otoya Kurenai inside it.
• The next day, Ash praised Haruka for keeping and using his gift, while Haruka asked why he had originally expected her to reject it.

Ash tried to advance his relationship with Haruka by touching her cheeks, but she challenged the gap between his sincere support and his intrusive behavior. Haruka began to fear that Ash was trapped in fixed roles, and his claim that he had no dream left her questioning who he really was.

• Ash pinched and kneaded Haruka's cheeks, and she told him to let go.
• Haruka confronted Ash about how his bothersome actions contradicted the hope and kindness she had sensed in him.
• Kirara hurried toward Haruka and Ash, determined to expose Ash's disguise.
• Haruka compared Ash to a game monster following fixed programming and asked whether he wanted people to worship him or like him.
• Haruka asked Ash what his dream was, and he said he had none because he was already the strongest genius and the invincible Ash.

Kirara confronted Ash over whether he truly liked Haruka, Minami, and Kirara themselves or only wanted the radiance Pretty Cure could provide, forcing Ash to question who he was beyond the roles he chose. Kirara left with Haruka, but Haruka stayed behind to speak with Ash, who remained uncertain about his feelings and identity.

• Kirara challenged Ash to say whether he liked the girls themselves, and Ash found himself unable to answer after a pink figure came to mind.
• Ash reflected on how he had taken on identities as a king, invader, janitor, and playboy, then wondered who he was when no one expected anything of him.
• Kirara called Ash a black hole who absorbed others' dreams and hearts, and accused him of pursuing an imagined version of Pretty Cure rather than the girls themselves.
• Kirara left with Haruka, saying Ash did not like them and only wanted to win over the Pretty Cure he had imagined.
• Ash questioned whether his indifference proved Kirara was right, and Haruka stayed behind to speak with him and asked to call him Ash.

Haruno Haruka told Ash that his pursuit of Pretty Cure’s brilliance might come from a lost dream and a person he truly liked, prompting him to realize his feelings for her. After confessing, Ash questioned whether learning the truth about his past would bring him happiness, while Kivat urged him to trust himself.

• Haruno Haruka suggested that Ash’s interest in Pretty Cure might be tied to someone he once loved and a dream he had lost.
• Ash laughed at Haruka’s intuition, thanked her, and confessed that he liked her for who she was in the present.
• Haruka was overwhelmed by Ash’s sincere confession and sank to the ground after he left.
• Ash asked Kivat whether Haruka and Kirara were right about him and admitted he was afraid the truth about his past might make him hate it.
• Kivat told Ash to trust himself and stay committed to his decision, while Ash wondered whether he was truly human.

Ash visited Amanogawa Kirara while she worried about her upcoming model show and her manager’s illness. He photographed her and tried to discover what made him genuinely attracted to her, leaving Kirara posing for his camera.

• Amanogawa Kirara worried that her sick manager’s absence would ruin her chance to shine at the model show.
• Ash showed Kirara his agency-approved press pass and asked what was troubling her, while she suspected he had come to take revenge.
• Ash admitted he wanted to find the parts of Kirara that truly made his heart race and took photographs for his personal collection.
• Kirara criticized Ash’s lecherous gaze, but he praised her appearance and continued photographing her as she tried to leave.
• Ash searched through the photos for the most beautiful, sparkling image, and Kirara turned back to strike a model’s signature pose for his camera.

Amanogawa Kirara regained her confidence while posing for Ash’s photos, then asked him to become her manager for her upcoming runway show. Kirara prepared to meet him, ready to take charge of the situation.

• Amanogawa Kirara posed confidently for Ash, and she admitted that the photos he took were beautiful.
• Ash told Kirara’s agency president that he would publish an interview feature centered on Kirara and believed she would not give up over missing the runway show.
• Kirara thanked Ash with coffee, and he drank the bitter espresso enthusiastically.
• Kirara asked Ash to temporarily become her manager for her upcoming runway show, and Ash agreed to take on the role of producer.
• Kirara checked her appearance, put on a mask, and left home early to meet Ash.

Ash met Kirara and took over the work of her absent manager, impressing her by quickly restoring her modeling schedule. He then urged her to share the burden of her dream with the people willing to support her, including him.

• Kirara met Ash, who arrived wearing a conspicuous P-shaped headpiece and agreed to act as her manager for the day.
• Kirara handed Ash her accumulated work documents and contacts, expecting him to struggle with the responsibilities.
• Ash rapidly organized Kirara’s work, made calls, and got her training and professional arrangements back on track.
• Kirara thanked Ash for helping reconnect her with the people supporting her important fashion show.
• Ash explained that Kirara’s dream depended on others and encouraged her to rely on her agency, her friends, and him.

Ash pushed Amanogawa Kirara through an intense training schedule to help her pursue her dream, and she chose to rely on him despite his relentless methods. After several days of their exhausting battle, Kirara was left drained but still asked Ash who he was.

• Kirara realized Ash had used his offer of support to get closer to her, but she agreed to rely on him.
• Ash gave Kirara a packed schedule and drove her through demanding fitness, modeling, and dance training.
• Ash took Kirara's donuts and made her drink his strange vegetable juice, which caused her to faint.
• Kirara and Ash spent the next few days struggling through their intense training together.
• After another exhausting day, Ash placed milk on Kirara's head and reassured her that she would not die.
• Kirara, sprawled across the cafeteria table, asked Ash who he was, and he replied that he was her manager.

Ash supported Kirara through the final stages of her modeling preparation, and she confidently dazzled the audience at the fashion show. As Ash celebrated their shared effort and his affection for the Pretty Cure, Kirara wondered how things might have been if they had never been enemies.

• Kirara questioned why Ash worked so hard, and he said that as her manager he would take responsibility for her and share her dream.
• When Kirara felt too weak to eat, Ash fed her until she regained enough strength to take the chopsticks and eat by herself.
• Backstage at the fashion show, Ash reassured Kirara that he would always support her, and she declared herself one hundred percent confident.
• Kirara walked the runway with a confident smile and captivated the audience with her beauty and charm.
• After Kirara came offstage, Ash congratulated her and said his affection for the Pretty Cure was genuine and that he loved seeing their brilliance.
• Kirara felt that Ash was wrong to think only the Pretty Cure could shine and imagined how things might have been if he had been on their side.

Kirara celebrated her fashion-show victory with her friends and credited Ash for helping her succeed, while Dyspear ordered Locke to attack the Pretty Cure and Dark Kiva. On the day of the Bo Annu Show, Kirara found Ash preparing elaborate defenses for her and brought him an umbrella.

• Kirara told Haruka, Minami, Yui, and the others that Ash had managed her training, and she opened up about her dreams and her wish to share them with her friends.
• Dyspear worried about Ash's unknown power and ordered Locke to defeat the Pretty Cure and Dark Kiva.
• Kirara struggled through Ash's bitter vegetable juice before heading to his agency on the day of the Bo Annu Show.
• Ash showed Kirara detailed plans for defending the fashion-show stage and her agency from imagined attacks, while Kirara questioned his assumptions about Dysdark.
• Kirara gave Ash a folding umbrella, claiming she had brought it because rain seemed likely.

Locke ambushed Ash and Kirara at the Bo Annu Show, separating Kirara from her transformation perfume and forcing her to face a deadly fall. Ash watched as Kirara reached for the perfume on her own, then revealed that he trusted her as she fell toward the ground.

• Kirara prepared to leave for her stage show while Ash assured her he would clear away any obstacles, just before the building began to crack.
• Locke turned an old security guard into a Fortress of Despair and attacked Ash and Kirara, causing Kirara to fall through the damaged floor.
• Kirara climbed back onto solid ground but found her Princess Perfume hanging just beyond her reach over a deadly drop.
• Ash considered helping Kirara but chose to trust her, while Kirara rejected the idea of relying on him and stretched out for the perfume herself.
• Locke ordered the Fortress of Despair to smash away Kirara's footing, and Kirara began falling as Ash revealed he had survived the ambush.
• Ash told Locke that Kirara had held back from asking for help and pointed toward her falling figure, saying his trust in her was the reason he believed in her.

Amanogawa Kirara awakened as Cure Twinkle and fought Fortress of Despair while Ash faced Locke without transforming. Ash discovered that his body could heal impossible injuries and held an unexplained power, leaving him wondering what kind of power it was.

• Amanogawa Kirara transformed into Cure Twinkle and protected bystanders from falling rubble before embracing Ash and declaring that she believed in him.
• Cure Twinkle battled Fortress of Despair while Ash taunted Locke and dodged his attacks without transforming.
• Cure Twinkle used her Shooting Star Key to reflect Fortress of Despair’s beam and strike the monster.
• Ash counterattacked Locke with a rapid barrage, but Locke injured him and mocked him for being human.
• Ash set his broken bones and reversed his bleeding wounds, realizing that his body held a power beyond his understanding.

Ash questioned whether he was human after seeing the monstrous power within him, but chose not to let it control him. After Kirara missed her chance to reach the Bo Annu Show, Ash helped her arrive on time, and she reassured him that worrying about his nature was itself human.

• Ash resisted the anger and monstrous power within him, and Kivat restrained Locke before Ash spoke to the boy.
• Kirara defeated Fortress of Despair with Precure Meteor Humming, but feared she had missed the Bo Annu Show because of the time spent returning everyone's dreams.
• Ash encouraged Kirara to keep trying, transformed Machine Kivat with Brawn Booster, and rode with her to the venue.
• Ash cleaned up Kirara and asked whether she would still consider him human if he was not actually one.
• Kirara said she had never considered Ash ordinary and admitted that she had once disliked him out of jealousy.

Ash helped Kirara and received a kiss from her before she hurried away, leaving him delighted. Earlier, he had defeated Locke and sent a warning to Dyspear, whose anger at Ash’s challenge left the conflict poised to escalate.

• Kirara thanked Ash for helping her, asked him to transform, and kissed him beneath his cape before running off.
• Ash happily touched the spot where Kirara had kissed his helmet while Kivat teased him about his expression.
• Ash recalled how he had subdued Locke and threatened to kill him if he continued provoking him.
• Ash spared Locke, ordered him to warn Dyspear that he would fight back if Dysdark targeted his dreams, and had him thrown away.
• Locke reported Ash’s warning to Dyspear, who snapped an ornament from her throne in anger.

Dyspear welcomed Twilight back to Dysdark and sent her to confront the Pretty Cure, while Kirara’s friends discovered that she had kissed Ash on the cheek and teased her about their relationship. Haruka, upset that Ash had favored Kirara and refused to teach her violin, practiced alone until she met the masked Twilight in the forest.

• Dyspear raged over Ash’s insults and resolved to bring him into despair, but welcomed Twilight when she returned to Dysdark.
• Twilight asked Dyspear to let her take the stage, and Dyspear ordered her to show the Pretty Cure what a true princess was.
• Minami and Yui noticed Kirara’s happiness, and Haruka revealed that Ash had told her Kirara gave him her first kiss.
• Kirara insisted the kiss had only been a reward, while Haruka blamed Ash for helping Kirara but refusing to teach her violin.
• Haruka practiced violin in the forest, and Twilight approached her, drawing Haruka’s admiration with her masked appearance.

Twilight taught Haruka to play the violin by closing off her heart, turning her into an emotionless performer and puppet. After Ash rejected her performance, Haruka realized her self was trapped inside her heart as her hollow-eyed body approached him from behind.

• Twilight criticized Haruka's violin playing, then guided her through an elegant performance while teaching her to close off her heart.
• Haruka performed for Minami, Kirara, and the others, who praised her unexpectedly polished playing.
• Ash told Haruka that her music lacked the voice of her heart and that she had abandoned the dreams that made her performance meaningful.
• Haruka recalled Twilight's instructions and realized she had sealed her own self inside her heart.
• Haruka's trapped self watched her hollow-eyed body approach Ash from behind.

Ash rescued Haruka from a desire-driven state that made her attack him, then learned that a silver-haired girl she met in the woods may have caused it. Haruka reaffirmed that she would pursue her dream of becoming a Princess by her own will, and she asked Ash why he had refused to teach her earlier.

• Haruka's uncontrolled body stabbed at Ash with scissors, but he caught her wrist and realized she was being manipulated.
• Ash threatened to kiss Haruka until she broke through the barrier in her heart and returned to herself.
• Haruka treated Ash's healed hand and told him about the silver-haired girl who had taught her violin in the woods.
• Ash told Haruka to lure the girl out again, while Haruka wondered whether Ash's feelings for her had changed.
• Ash proposed marrying Haruka's mother so Haruka would become a real Princess, and Haruka rejected the idea and insisted on achieving her dream herself.
• Haruka asked Ash why he had previously refused to teach her.

Ash showed Haruka that heartfelt playing mattered more than flawless technique, and she performed with renewed passion before a violin expert. Twilight arrived expecting Haruka to have become her pawn, but the girl’s performance made the mask in Twilight’s hand crack.

• Ash played the violin for Haruka, then demonstrated how a technically perfect performance could lack heart and love.
• Ash explained that he disliked the violin, preferred the guitar, and had only imitated a voice he remembered; Haruka resolved to hold on to her passion for music.
• Twilight believed her violin bait had made Haruka cold and isolated, then went to Noble Academy to find the pawn she had planted.
• With Minami and Kirara present, Haruka performed for an elderly violin expert, who praised the emotion in her beginner-level playing.
• Twilight approached Haruka, but the golden mask in her hand cracked as she heard the girl’s performance, leaving her surprised.

Haruka and the Pretty Cure confronted Twilight, who claimed that only a princess by birth could be a true Princess and used a black Dress Up Key to turn an old man’s dream into a powerful Fortress of Despair. The girls defeated the monster, and Haruka asked Twilight why she had taught her violin sincerely, leaving Twilight unsettled by Haruka’s earnest gaze.

• Haruka challenged Twilight’s scorn for her open, expressive performance and learned that Twilight was Dysdark’s heir and the Princess of Despair.
• Twilight used a black Dress Up Key to turn a bystander’s dream into a Fortress of Despair, forcing Haruka, Minami, and Kirara to transform and fight.
• Haruka, Minami, and Kirara evaded the monster’s powerful sonic attacks, worked together to overturn it, and defeated it with Pretty Cure Trinity Lumiere.
• Haruka approached Twilight after the battle and asked why she had sincerely taught her violin technique, and Twilight faltered under Haruka’s earnest gaze.

After Twilight attacked Haruka’s dreams and threatened to take Ash for herself, Ash heard about the confrontation from Kirara and teased her about Twilight’s looks. Kirara asked Ash to stay as her manager and offered him a kiss, but he dodged it; later, Ash returned to his kingdom with gifts for the fairies and Nanase Yui.

• Twilight surrounded Haruka with deathly flames, rejected her talk of dreams, and withdrew after threatening the Pretty Cure.
• Twilight mocked the Pretty Cure over their relationship with Ash and declared she would take him for herself.
• Kirara told Ash about Twilight’s insults, and Ash asked whether Twilight was pretty.
• Kirara asked Ash to keep managing her so she could pursue her dreams, then invited him to return her kiss; Ash left without kissing her.
• Ash returned to his kingdom with gifts bought from his part-time earnings and gave Nanase Yui her favorite chocolate and paintbrushes.

Yui learned why the fairies cherished Ash’s gifts, while Twilight explored Earth and was interrupted by Ash before she could attack anyone. After Twilight vanished, Ash took her lost Dress Up Key, and she discovered it was missing as Shut offered to help.

• Yui wondered why the fairies enjoyed Ash’s snacks, and Koromon explained that they treasured the food as a gift from their King despite being unable to taste it.
• Twilight observed a street band and a couple, questioned the dreams and love she saw, and prepared to attack them with her Dress Up Key.
• Ash approached Twilight with flirtatious remarks, interrupting her plan, and she teleported away after arguing with him.
• Haruka, Minami, and Kirara confronted Ash about flirting with Twilight, while Haruka wondered what kind of person the enemy Princess was.
• Ash said Twilight seemed to have sealed away her heart, and he predicted that she would come looking for him after he took her Dress Up Key.
• Twilight realized her Dress Up Key was missing, and Shut noticed her distress and offered to carry out her orders.