Kamen Rider Plays the Villain in Pretty Cure

This really did feel oddly familiar. I had read Tezuka Osamu before, after all. Wasn't it pretty interesting?

"Hmm." Thinking about his current situation, Ash pinched his chin and began reminiscing like an old man. "Now I can somewhat understand Daigo's feelings. If you can properly enjoy this sort of thing, it really is extremely interesting."

"What? What happened?"

Facing Nono Hana, who had leaned closer like an inquisitive child, Ash had been about to brush her off with a "Something you wouldn't understand." But seeing that she still seemed concerned, it didn't matter. He already knew what she liked better.

For example, he pulled out several fancy little desserts from the cabinet behind him, the sort Nono Hana normally could never afford to indulge in. The moment they appeared, the slightly curled bangs covering one of her eyes trembled faintly. Her other exposed eye went completely wide, and the clear sound of her swallowing saliva came from her direction.

As for why Ash's collection included snacks, it had to do with how villain banquets always ended halfway through, either breaking up on bad terms or getting interrupted by righteous protagonists dropping from the sky and starting a brawl, wasting all the chefs' hard work.

And following the wonderful principle of not wasting food, Ash would gladly store the untouched food in the system inventory, where time did not flow.

"D-Dr. Ash?" Drawn in far too much by the sweet fragrance wafting out, Hana's voice stuttered slightly. "These are...?"

These curious little treasures of Ash's were leftovers from a Giangra Family banquet. Back then, phantom thieves had suddenly burst in for the Lupin Collection, and while they were opening treasure chests, Ash had casually taken some small gifts. Now, he intended to use them to feed Patient Number One before him.

"They're nothing worth mentioning." Acting completely unconcerned, Ash pushed the desserts in front of Hana. "Still, they're quite effective. To Ganglers from another world, they're just snacks, but for humans, eating them can strengthen the body."

"Dr. Ash is saying strange things again... but they're delicious!"

Though Ash said strange things, naturally, Nono Hana had no reason to doubt him.

Watching Nono Hana eat with cries of "This one's delicious!" and "This one's good too!" until half her face was smeared, her cheeks puffed out like a hamster's as she chewed nonstop, Ash subtly felt a certain sense of pleased satisfaction.

I can kind of understand people who adopt pets now... Should I adopt one too?

No, just thinking about it was enough. After all, I was already raising "one." Raising a second would be more than I could handle.

V-REX, disguised as a DX toy atop his head, watched its master enthusiastically feed her below. It shook its little mechanical dinosaur head and said nothing.

After enjoying today's feeding session and preparing for the usual examination, Nono Hana suddenly seemed to remember something and took a package from her bag.

"Oh, right. Dr. Ash has always been helping me, and I really feel bad about it, so!" With an embarrassed smile, Hana placed the package on the table. Ash saw mandarins through the edge of the tilted bag. "These are gifts my mom prepared for Ash-sensei, and also..."

"Ash-sensei, would you like to come visit my home?"

Ash stopped happily tapping the corner of the table with his finger and tilted his head in confusion.

...A dividing line regarding Ash's incomprehensible thought process...

"U-um... Dr. Ash!"

Looking at the dark purple medicinal soup before her, bubbling with dense little bubbles and giving off such an absurdly bizarre odor that flies would die from smelling it and fish would sink from smelling it, Nono Hana wore an expression of terror she had never even shown while fighting the powerful Doomsday Monster.

At that moment, Nono Hana felt like Jerry seeing his big cousin, a Gotham thug seeing a giant bat fly over his head, or the second son facing Kito Four—silently screaming, Aaaahhh!

Was this thing called Kusunoha Juice really something humans could drink?!

This medicinal soup could no longer be described with the mere words "tastes bad." It had left an indescribable psychological scar on Nono Hana, who already disliked bitter flavors. Yet every time, Ash could come up with a reason she couldn't refuse and make her drink it, all while watching her swallow it mouthful by mouthful with an inexplicable smile.

What kind of hellish scene was this...? I'd tasted enough already. Take it away already. Sobs.

"I'm a doctor. This is medicine." As for Ash, he wore his usual righteous, matter-of-fact expression, arms folded as he looked at Nono Hana's teary kitten face, seeming utterly impartial and unwilling to budge.

His sense of taste was different from ordinary people's, after all. He didn't find it bad at all, so what did her suffering have to do with him?

"Then, candy..."

Under Nono Hana's infinitely hopeful gaze, Ash took out a packet of candy.

Under Nono Hana's intensely eager gaze, Ash cut open the packet.

Under Nono Hana's utterly despairing gaze, Ash tossed the packet into the trash.

"I think it's about time you got used to this flavor, and besides..." The corner of his mouth curled upward just enough for her to see without seeming overly smug. "Aren't you already twenty-two? You're no longer a child who likes sweets. It's about time you matured a little, isn't it?"

"I-I am very mature!" Just as expected, Hana took the bait after being poked in a sore spot. Lowering her head to look at the still-gurgling medicinal soup, she simply shut her eyes, hardened her heart, and opened her mouth to pour it down, figuring short pain was better than long pain. Then, sure enough—

It tastes so awful! My tongue, my tongue is going numb, I can't taste anything—blegh, blegh, blegh—

Seeing Nono Hana roll her eyes back and stick out her tongue in agony, Ash's smile couldn't help turning "perverted."

Nono Hana, you're really more than qualified as someone who provides me with entertainment!

"So." He tapped the table, calling Hana's soul back when she was nearly about to faint from the awful taste. "You said you wanted me to go to your home. Why? What's the reason?"

Hmm, it wasn't as though I had never been invited before. Let me think about the last time. The last time was...

Remembering how he had been tricked into the base by a righteous organization under the guise of a banquet invitation, then beaten down in a group assault, Ash's face immediately darkened.

It seemed better to be cautious.

Extra Case File 44: Cute Little Thing

What struck Ash as strange was that when he asked about the serious matter, Nono Hana no longer acted as cheerful and careless as usual. Instead, she became bashful. Her face slightly red, she kept lowering her head and fiddling with her fingers, clearly looking troubled.

"Hm? Uh, hahaha." From Ash's perspective, Nono Hana suddenly looked as though she had just woken from a dream for some reason, then awkwardly laughed.

"You mean that? Hahaha, well, the reason, the reason is this."

"What is 'this'?" Ash showed no sign of being brushed off by Hana's words and continued questioning with an unchanged expression.

"This is this, and that is that!"

Ash narrowed his eyes slightly. It wasn't that he wanted to pry into a girl's heart. It was just that everything about this was suspicious—far too suspicious...

If she was plotting against him again... no, that wasn't right either. Her whole family was ordinary people. How could they possibly plot against him? Even if they truly were plotting against him, neither their motives nor timing made sense. So what was the point? Why did she insist on hiding it while acting so embarrassed?

Ash could understand many things, but he usually failed to notice certain awkward little thoughts people didn't want others to know about—or rather, he simply paid them no mind.

"So, Miss Nono Hana." With a faint sigh, Ash tapped the table to bring her back to her senses. "Other than certain things I can't tell you, I've been honest enough with you. I only hope that you can be a little more honest with me too. That's all."

"And most importantly, if you don't explain it clearly, no one will understand."

"Pugu..." With her chin seeming to melt, Nono Hana flopped limply onto the table. Ash's perfectly reasonable argument had apparently sunk her.

Dr. Ash always uses strange talk to fool me... but now he won't let me do it... That's so unfair.

Having no intention of arguing, and knowing she couldn't brush him off, Hana could only raise her hand in surrender.

"Fine, I understand. I'll tell you..."

Seriously... Men who pry too deeply into the little secrets in a woman's heart will be disliked, you know~ Though I wouldn't dislike Dr. Ash that much.

The reason behind this was that, while at home, she had accidentally let slip about the series of "gradually warming" developments between herself and Ash recently—her subjective impression. This led to a round of "interrogation" from her family, during which she honestly described some of their "interactions." In the end, after discussing it, they unanimously demanded that Nono Hana quickly bring Ash over to their home, saying they would volunteer to give her some advice.

Honestly, I only accidentally praised Ash in front of them. Did they really have to get so anxious?

And I'm not a child anymore. When Dad, Mom, and Kotori looked at me with those scrutinizing expressions while holding back strange smiles, how could I not understand what they meant?!

How could I possibly say that kind of reason out loud?!

"A-anyway, my parents and little sister want to see what kind of person Dr. Ash is, since he's been helping and supporting me all this time, so they want to invite him to visit my home."

I said it! Even though the meaning was completely different, I said roughly the same thing!

"That's it?" Ash blinked in disbelief. He simply couldn't believe that all her muttering and hesitation for nearly half a chapter had been over something so minor. He had thought she was still keeping him in the dark.

"Of course that's it! What else were you expecting?"

"Fine."

Now Ash was the one left baffled.

"So, Dr. Ash?" Hana's eyes darted about as she waited expectantly for an answer.

"The answer..." After a full half second of deep deliberation, Ash clasped his hands behind his head, leaned back, and reached a conclusion with the posture of someone giving up. "Of course I'm not going."

"Why?!" This time, Nono Hana blinked in confusion. She had finally overcome her inner turmoil and told him the answer, only to receive such a decisive rejection. She immediately felt the urge to say her kindness had been wasted on a dog.

How could you be so... Well, considering what kind of person he was, wasn't this completely expected?

Oh my~ How cute~

Seeing Hana's eyes widen in an instant, Ash smiled with considerable pleasure.

"No reason." Sitting even more boldly and casually, he propped one leg on the table, pulled eye drops from a drawer beside him, put two drops into his eyes, blinked a few times, and began resting with his eyes closed.

"Because it's troublesome, isn't it? Look, look." After saying that, Ash pointed at himself. "If I were a guest at someone else's home, I couldn't be this free, could I?"

Back when I was little and hadn't embarked on this journey, what I hated most was visiting relatives with my parents. Not only did it completely occupy and waste my free time, but the fake social relationships between both sides disgusted me even more.

No matter how much they criticized each other in their hearts, the moment the door opened, they had to greet each other with smiling faces. If their thoughts were so complicated, why maintain such hypocritical relationships?

When I bluntly pointed that out, Dad gave me an angry slap. From then on, I hated this kind of genuinely "troublesome" thing.

Compared to this kind of excessively real hypocrisy, he preferred the straightforwardness of a supervillain saying, "I'm going to destroy the world."

"Anyway, I have no interest in going to other people's homes."

"A-at least!" Never expecting Ash to refuse so decisively, Hana still wanted to make one last effort. "Even if you don't stay for dinner or anything, couldn't you just come to my home, meet them, and have a look?"

"No." Ash pursed his lips. With that spare time, wouldn't it be better to mess with model glue at home and read fan creations about Cure Yell by the talented people on the forums?

"But Mom and Dad are really looking forward to it..."

"That's their fault for expecting it on their own. It has nothing to do with me."

Hearing Ash's resolute words, Hana puffed up her cheeks in dissatisfaction again. But she also understood that no grand argument could persuade the person before her. During their time together, Ash hadn't merely been observing her; Hana had also formed quite a few insights about Ash.

When this person was serious, he seemed like an adult, but there was actually a child living inside him—an obstinate child, at that. The more you said things that clashed with him, the more rebellious he became and the less he would pay attention to you. That was the first rule she had figured out.

Fortunately, she had also come prepared for the "child" that was Ash.

"What a shame. I happen to have some special 'fanservice' of Cure Yell that I wanted to show Dr. Ash..."

"When are we leaving?"

Seeing Ash sit upright with a solemn expression, Hana couldn't help revealing a brilliant smile she would normally never show, one so radiant that it carried a faint dark shadow.

My, what a cute child~

Extra Case File 45: The Nono Family's Hospitality

"So hot..." Under the blazing sun, Nono Hana dragged her increasingly heavy body down the street, her physical strength draining ten times—or perhaps nine times—faster than usual. She was only one step away from sticking out her tongue to cool off.

"I told you. Going out today wasn't a good idea."

A cool breeze brushed over his raised hand and across his cheek, but Ash showed no unusual reaction. For someone whose past experience included physically charging into the sun's surface, this little bit of heat was nothing at all~ Though of course, it was still really hot.

"Honestly, isn't it just that Dr. Ash is usually too lazy to move around?"

"What? Of course my energy has to be used on more important things."

Naturally, Miss Hana's puff-cheeked lecture was completely ineffective on Ash.

For some reason, the sun was even more vicious today than it had been yesterday. The hot weather overhead made sweat keep pouring from Nono Hana's forehead, ruining the light makeup she had specifically woken up half an hour early to put on.

The sweat carried the loose powder on her face down her cheeks, leaving several extremely embarrassing wet streaks. The conspicuous marks, along with the occasional looks from the male companion beside her, made her wish she could find a ditch and jump into it on the spot.

So embarrassing, so embarrassing, so embarrassing, so embarrassing...

In truth, Ash wasn't paying attention at all. He merely found it strange that her expression kept shifting from dejected to weak, then somehow turning Batman-like. He also lamented the awful weather and congratulated himself on having the foresight to leave his jacket at home.

Of course, if Ash's father knew that his son had simply put on a white T-shirt before heading to visit a female friend's home, he would surely kick him several times in disappointment. But throughout this endless journey, Ash had been alone from beginning to end aside from the system, so... naturally, he could do whatever he liked.

The two of them, seeming as though steam were rising from above their heads, came down a slope in the street. At some point, Nono Hana had stuck out her tongue, and she felt as though her whole body was about to evaporate. But when she saw the extremely familiar building ahead, her eyes immediately lit up and she perked up.

"Dr. Ash, it's riiiight heeere!"

"Mm..."

Raising his head to survey the Nono family's big... small house, Ash remembered that she still lived in her childhood home with her parents after failing to start a business. Naturally, she couldn't possibly own some grand villa or other high-end property. This wasn't some fairy tale about a little girl that could provide her with that.

"Come on, Ash."

"Okay."

Naturally skipping the Japanese custom of deliberately saying thanks when entering someone's home, Ash changed into guest slippers. When he looked inside, he saw several people who had clearly been ready to welcome him.

Ash released a faint trace of his presence and tried to sense the situation. As for danger or killing intent... there was none at all?

"?"

Only Hana looked at Ash in confusion. For some reason, she had felt an incredibly dangerous aura emanate from him for an instant, though she didn't doubt him in the slightest.

Hmm... It must have been my imagination. I've probably really been overworking myself lately. Time Fire's strange talk must have left me mentally unstable. I need to listen to Ash and get some proper rest.

"You must be Dr. Ash, the one Hana has mentioned, right? Oh my, thank you so much for looking after this little scatterbrain of ours."

Wearing a warm smile, the middle-aged man with graying temples immediately took the initiative to welcome Ash inside before Ash, who had absolutely no experience with this sort of social exchange, could say something outrageous.

A possible barrage of gunfire was thus erased without a trace by that natural warmth before it could even be ignited.