Chapter Summaries

Nao struggled with being the only Smile Pretty Cure who still could not transform and feared her friends no longer needed her. Ash found her at the school, challenged her to a soccer match, and left her beginning to believe he was not a bad person.

• Nao watched Miyuki and the others laughing with Ash and vented her jealousy by shooting soccer balls at the goal.
• Ash approached Nao, bluntly confronted her self-pity, and told her she would have to overcome despair to find resolve.
• Ash and Nao competed over a soccer ball, and their physical contest helped Nao relax and talk about her five younger siblings.
• Nao stole the ball from Ash and said she thought he was not a bad person because he played soccer with others and her friends seemed happy around him.

Nao Midorikawa struggled with doubts about whether she belonged among the Pretty Cures, but Joker Monster’s attack made her friends see her with hatred and disgust. As Joker challenged Ash about his friendship with the Cures, Nao was left isolated and wondering whether she was no longer needed.

• Ash reassured Nao that she was not an unnecessary member of the team, and she apologized for feeling jealous of his closeness with Miyuki and the others.
• Miyuki and the other Cures arrived, but Joker Monster reversed their emotions and sent them flying before Nao could help them.
• Miyuki, Reika, Akane, and Yayoi rejected Nao, while Ash realized Joker Monster’s attack had altered their feelings.
• Joker taunted Ash about becoming friends with the Pretty Cures, then revealed that Joker Monster had turned their love into hate before teleporting away.
• Nao called to her friends as they treated her with disgust and walked off together without her.

Nao was devastated when Joker’s power made the other Pretty Cure treat her with hatred, and Ash explained that their feelings had been reversed. Ash tried to reject Nao and distance himself from the group, but her desperate embrace left him unable to push her away.

• Nao confronted Reika, who insulted and rejected her, while Miyuki and the other girls discussed replacing Nao as the fifth Pretty Cure.
• Ash returned and watched the girls leave Nao behind as she cried; he told her she should give up becoming Pretty Cure.
• Nao insisted her friends would never truly hate her, and Ash explained that Joker’s power likely reversed their feelings toward her.
• Nao asked Ash to take her along, but he refused, scolded her for ignoring the danger, and said they were not friends.
• Ash resolved to keep his distance from Pretty Cure, but Nao hugged him and refused to let go.

After Nao Midorikawa begs Ash to help her despite losing her ability to transform, he agrees to help once and tests whether she will give up or keep standing by her friends. Nao refuses to retreat, and Ash begins to respect her resolve before she asks why his feelings were unaffected by the change.

• Nao Midorikawa pleads with Ash to help her, and he agrees to help her just this once.
• At Incredible Library, Nao tells Ash and Candy that the other girls have not returned and admits she feels abandoned.
• Ash reveals he has visited worlds with many other Pretty Cure teams and teases Nao about his villainous behavior.
• Ash suggests Nao go home and wait for the others to fix things, but she refuses, saying she will not abandon Miyuki and the others or give up her right to be Pretty Cure.
• Ash recognizes Nao's resolve, and she asks why the change in everyone's feelings has not affected him.

After the other Pretty Cure girls emptied the Incredible Library and rejected Nao, Ash left to find out how they felt about her. He discovered that their reversed feelings had turned cold, while Nao stayed behind clutching their group photo and wondering if she was alone again.

• Nao argued with Ash about whether he could resist the effects of the reversed feelings, while Candy struggled to understand their relationship.
• The Pretty Cure girls returned to the Incredible Library, took their belongings, and told Nao they no longer needed the secret base; Miyuki also took Candy away.
• Ash stopped the girls from throwing away their group photo, then gave it back to Nao as she grieved over the empty library.
• Ash opened a Book Gate and went to find the girls, telling Nao to wait behind; Nao feared she could only remain alone until Joker was defeated.
• Akane said Nao was annoying, and Reika rejected her as a friend when Ash asked about her.
• Miyuki maintained that the girls had not forgotten their sense of justice or their mission, leaving Ash unsettled by his own clenched fist.

Nao confronted Ash about the pain of losing her friends and insisted that she would prove their bond was strong enough to endure. After she left to rejoin the Pretty Cure, Ash admitted that he still longed for battle but had changed because he did not want to betray the people who had tried to help him.

• Ash told Nao that the other Pretty Cure did not want to see her, though they remained determined to fight the clown monster.
• Nao insisted that she would not abandon her friendship with the others, and challenged Ash’s belief that everyone inevitably ended up alone.
• Nao argued that painful partings did not erase the value of shared memories, then vowed to prove she was still qualified to be Pretty Cure.
• Nao left the Incredible Library to fight alongside the Pretty Cure, telling Ash not to interfere.
• Ash told the system that he still wanted intense battles, but explained that Ai, Rei, and others’ efforts to help him made him reluctant to keep acting as he pleased.

Nao Midorikawa tried to overcome Joker’s reversal of her friends’ feelings by reminding them of their shared memories. After Joker secretly tripped her, Nao kept pleading with the girls, and Akane brought up the team’s painful defeat at the sports festival.

• Nao woke from a nightmare about her friends abandoning her and resolved not to let Joker’s scheme succeed.
• Nao lured the Pretty Cures to the grassy field with a false monster report and offered them natto dumpling candies to make peace.
• Miyuki, Reika, and Akane rejected Nao and told her they hated her, while Nao insisted their friendship had been real.
• Joker secretly knocked Nao down, scattering her belongings, and Reika refused to help her.
• Candy urged Nao to leave, but Nao showed the others their souvenirs, photograph, and relay baton to recall their shared memories.
• Akane hesitated as she reminded Nao that her fall during the relay had cost the team a place at the sports festival.

Nao defended her friendship with the other Pretty Cure despite Joker’s power reversing their feelings, but a Super Monster defeated the four transformed girls. Ash arrived and attacked Reika before destroying Nao’s friendship bracelet, demanding that she prove their bond was real.

• Nao recounted how her classmates had supported her during the sports festival, stirring their buried emotions despite Joker’s reversal of their affection.
• Joker unleashed a Super Monster made from two Cure Decors, and the four Pretty Cure could not perform their five-person purification technique and were badly beaten.
• Nao stood between the monster and her friends, rejecting Joker’s claim that they had abandoned her and insisting their shared feelings were real.
• Ash appeared and deflected the monster’s attack, then struck Reika and told Nao he had agreed not to intervene until she proved her friendship.
• Ash took Nao’s bracelet, smashed it under his boot, and challenged her to prove that her bond with the others mattered.

Ash destroyed the mementos Nao shared with the Pretty Cure to force the girls to confront their lost bonds, and their memories and feelings returned as they stopped him and apologized to Nao. Nao transformed into Cure March, completing the team as Ash prepared to begin the next phase, while she charged Super Pierrot and the ruined photograph remained beyond repair.

• Ash crushed Nao’s relay baton and destroyed the keepsakes and photograph while demanding that the Pretty Cure prove their friendship could overcome the reversed rules.
• Miyuki, Yayoi, Akane, Reika, and Candy stopped Ash, their emotions returning as they apologized to Nao and embraced her.
• A powerful gale swept Joker and the Pierrot away, and Nao sensed that she had regained what was missing.
• Nao used her Smile Pact to transform into Cure March, completing the five-member Pretty Cure team.
• Ash accepted that the first phase was over and prepared for the next, while Cure March charged Super Pierrot and the photograph crumbled into ash.

Nao and the other Pretty Cure defeated the Super Clown Monster, while Ash praised their strength and then chose to leave them. Three days later, Ash watched the city from a tree and told the system he planned to stay away from the girls so he would not turn their happy ending into a bad one.

• Nao reassured her friends that she had forgiven them and declared she would prove to Ash what kind of heroes Pretty Cure were.
• Cure March overwhelmed the Super Clown Monster with her speed and strength, then joined the others in purifying it with Precure Rainbow Healing.
• Ash said the girls had become strong enough to face the Tragedy Kingdom, but announced he would keep his distance and walked away.
• Nao grabbed Ash and Miyuki's hands and raised them together, declaring that they were friends, and Ash accepted the gesture by eating a piece of the broken candy.
• Three days later, Ash told the system he intended to stay away from the Pretty Cure because he feared his presence would turn their happy endings into bad ones.

Ash admitted that he was exhausted and joked with the system about being cared for by a wife, while privately rejecting the idea of marriage. Half a week later, Ayumi invited Miyuki and her friends to her sister’s wedding, where Reika recognized Ash performing at the movie studio.

• Ash told the system he wanted to rest instead of acting as a babysitter, and the system suggested he marry one or more of the girls so they would care for him.
• Ash laughed at the marriage suggestion but revealed that he hated marriage and believed he would never marry.
• Sakagami Ayumi transferred to Nanairogaoka Academy, became friends with Miyuki and the others, and invited them to her sister’s wedding.
• Ayumi showed the girls around the movie studio hosting the wedding, where they saw sets, props, and filming scenes from different genres.
• The girls discussed romance as they watched Ayumi’s sister arrive as the bride, and Reika recognized Ash on an Edo-style set after he performed a staged sword fight.

At a wedding, the bride abruptly rejected her groom after a mysterious thread pulled a pink heart from her, and the Pretty Cure girls traced the incident to the Tragedy Kingdom. Ayumi chased the thread into danger, and Reika pushed her out of the path of a speeding carriage before a blue-and-white figure leapt in with a drawn blade.

• Nao and the others mistook Reika's words about Ash for a confession, and Nao decided Reika was hiding her feelings like a tsundere.
• A mysterious thread pulled a pink heart from the bride, who rejected her groom and left the wedding, while black mist rose from the guests.
• Reika spotted the thread in Ayumi's photographs, and the Pretty Cure girls recognized it as a sign of the Tragedy Kingdom.
• Ayumi spotted the thread and chased it through the movie studio, with the Pretty Cure girls following her.
• Ayumi ran into the path of a runaway carriage, and Reika shoved her clear but was left in its path.
• A blue-and-white figure leapt from a rooftop and drew a blade as the carriage approached Reika.

Ash rescued Reika and Ayumi from a carriage on a movie set, then frightened Reika with a convincing display of murderous intent before revealing it was part of a scene. He brought the girls to an old-fashioned room on the set, where they learned he was filming as a Shinsengumi captain and resumed chatting with him.

• Ash split the oncoming carriage and saved Reika and Ayumi, while Ayumi fainted from shock.
• Ash threatened Reika with killing intent, leaving her terrified until the director called cut and revealed they were filming.
• Ash told Reika she had not been scared, then took her and Ayumi away from the set to give them a little education.
• Ash explained that he was playing the captain of the Shinsengumi's Third Division and showed the girls his prop sword.
• Ash chatted with the girls about the film, and Reika demanded that he put her down after he had carried her by the collar.

Ash joined the Pretty Cure as they investigated a series of wedding disruptions, but he rejected Ayumi’s request for help and unsettled her with his bleak claims about love and marriage. He eventually agreed to pursue the runaway bride, while Reika pressed him about the menace he had shown her and was left reaching after him.

• Ash learned that brides and grooms had been fleeing their weddings and the girls suspected the Tragedy Kingdom was targeting newlyweds as well as Ayumi’s sister.
• Ayumi asked Ash for help and showed him a photo, but he challenged her assumptions and argued that couples could suddenly fall out of love and separate.
• The girls rebuked Ash for confusing and frightening Ayumi, while Reika defended love and marriage; Ash said he had witnessed people separate that way.
• Ash redirected the group toward finding the runaway bride, and Ayumi contacted her missing sister while he waited by the room’s window.
• Reika asked Ash why he had released killing intent toward her, and he admitted he had wanted to show her what true evil was like before walking away.

Ash and the Pretty Cure investigated a bride who had lost interest in marriage and discovered that Akaoni planned to drain love from couples to collect Tragedy Energy. They chose to lure him out with a staged wedding, and the chapter ended as one girl drew the short lot to become Ash’s pretend bride.

• Ayumi’s sister rejected the group’s attempt to persuade her to marry, and Ash’s flirtation with her failed.
• Akaoni vowed to break up couples after watching a tragic romance and explained that the Tragedy Kingdom was targeting weddings to gather Tragedy Energy.
• Ash said the events matched Dark Sword Tsukuyomi’s prophecy and waited to see whether the predicted future would change.
• Yayoi suggested pretending to be newlyweds to lure out the enemy, and Ash offered to arrange a wedding set.
• Ash had the five girls draw lots to decide who would pretend to be his wife, and one girl drew the short stick.

Aoki Reika struggled with being chosen to play Ash’s bride and questioned how to find her own path. Ash challenged her ideas about right and wrong, then agreed to advise her as her “husband,” leaving her flustered as he began criticizing the overthinking habits of “Blues.”

• Aoki Reika drew the lot naming her as the bride for the film’s wedding scene, and the girls erupted into chaos before settling in as guests.
• Akane and Ash teased each other about marriage while the girls toured the studio, and Reika tried to calm herself by practicing kyudo but repeatedly missed the target.
• Ash noticed Reika’s troubled aim and asked whether she disliked being his bride; she explained that her deeper worry was about herself and praised the beauty of his swordsmanship.
• Reika told Ash she had always followed expected rules but no longer knew what path was right, and she asked him to guide her.
• Ash questioned her assumptions about correctness and justice, then agreed to advise her as her “cute wife” for the day, making Reika blush.
• Ash described Reika and other “Blues” as meticulous overthinkers who trapped themselves in dead ends.

Ash helped Reika set aside her rigid pursuit of correctness and choose what she genuinely wanted, strengthening her resolve to help Ayumi. Reika and Ash prepared for a wedding scene, leaving Reika embarrassed by her feelings and Ash cheerfully unaware of wedding customs.

• Ash guided Reika in firing an arrow and urged her to decide her own future according to her feelings.
• Reika said she wanted to help Ayumi and defeat the enemy who had stolen the love and happiness between husband and wife.
• Reika and Ash fired a second arrow that split the first and struck the bullseye, and Ash promised to help her face any problems.
• Reika dressed in a white bridal kimono and attached Ash's Wonder Ride Book to her collar.
• Ash entered Reika's room before the wedding, and Reika reminded him that the couple were traditionally not supposed to see each other beforehand.

Ash and Reika’s staged wedding nearly reached its first kiss before Miyuki burst in wearing a black bridal gown and declared that Ash could not marry Reika. The ceremony remained interrupted, and Ash confronted Miyuki about breaking their agreement to draw lots.

• Ash tried to reassure Reika about their marriage, and she shyly agreed while they prepared for the staged wedding at the shrine.
• Ash and Reika performed the wedding ceremony as Yayoi, Akane, and Nao watched, but no enemy appeared.
• Ayumi arrived to stop the wedding, then hesitated when Nao pointed out that Reika seemed happy.
• Miyuki transformed into a bride in a black gown and interrupted Ash and Reika just before they kissed, pleading with Ash not to marry Reika.
• Ash asked Miyuki why she had interfered despite their agreement to draw lots, and Miyuki showed everyone that she had drawn a short lot.

Ash and the Pretty Cure were ambushed by the Tragedy Kingdom during the staged wedding, and Miyuki lost her heart while Ash was captured and cast into another world. The chapter left Ash burning free of his cocoon in a strange, non-Euclidean space as the Pretty Cure faced the villains without him.

• Ash discovered that his broken stick had caused Miyuki to draw the short stick, then pinned a spider clown monster's ambush thread to a pillar.
• Ash pulled a giant spider clown monster from the shadows, but another spider stole Miyuki's heart and left her unconscious.
• Ash handed Miyuki to Akane and attacked Wolfurun, but three spider monsters bound him while Wolfurun, Akaoni, and Witch Reina blocked the Pretty Cure.
• The spider monsters dragged Ash's cocoon through a web portal into another world, leaving his Wonder Ride Book behind as the villains confronted the Pretty Cure.
• Ash's cocoon began smoking and burst into flames, burning away its threads as it drifted through a strange world.

Ash remained trapped between worlds while the Tragedy Kingdom overwhelmed the Pretty Cure, forcing Reika to choose between rescuing her friends and trusting Ash. Reika chose to trust him, and Ash returned to fight beside her, transforming into the Evil King Swordsman as the battle continued.

• Ash gathered stolen hearts in the space between worlds and realized that Reika might have underestimated him.
• The Three Executives spread the Tragedy Barrier across the world, and Nao, Yayoi, Akane, and Reika were badly beaten in battle.
• Reika picked up the Wonder Ride Book but chose to throw it into the shrinking vortex and call Ash instead of immediately helping her fallen friends.
• Ash tore open a rift, returned to the shrine, and defeated Akaoni with a devastating sword strike.
• Reika and Ash opened the Jaaku Dragon book together, and Ash transformed into the Evil King Swordsman as the Pretty Cure watched.