"These past few days, we truly can't thank you enough for taking care of our daughter." Before the man with slightly narrowed eyes, the two parents and the girl who resembled Hana by eighty percent all bowed deeply to Ash, offering their heartfelt gratitude for the second time to the doctor who had saved their daughter's—sister's—life. "We can never repay what you've done for Hana! All right, Hana, you need to thank Dr. Ash properly too."
"O-Okay!" Hana, who seemed somewhat restrained for certain reasons, only snapped back to her senses when she was mentioned. Just as she hurriedly tried to bow, Ash instead caught her by the shoulders.
"You don't need to. I've already collected my payment elsewhere." Looking at her bowing toward him, Ash finally relaxed his ever-furrowed brow. "But I'll gladly accept Uncle and Auntie's thanks."
After all, I'd already decided that no matter what was wrong with you, I would cure you.
Though I hadn't wanted to at first, now that I'd actually gotten to know him, he didn't feel fake at all... That's nice. If things developed like this, maybe I wouldn't be unable to accept it.
The serious atmosphere did not last long. It simply did not suit such a warm family. Ash was soon invited to sit down, while the middle-aged man brought out snacks for honored guests and the woman served everyone tea.
"I'm sorry to make you come all this way in such hot weather. Is black tea all right?"
"This temperature is nothing to me. Iced, huh? I'll take it!" Naturally accepting the tea from Nono Hana's mother, Nono Sumire, Ash felt the cool sensation on his lips as his gaze casually drifted over Hana's three family members.
Sitting across from him was her father, Nono Moritaro, a muscular homemaker in an apron. Her mother, Nono Sumire, who had served him tea, was smiling at him as well. As for the other one, the college-aged girl who kept glancing over here while apparently thinking she had hidden it well...
"Hello, big sis—Dr. Ash, my name is—"
"I know. You're Kotori, right? Nono Kotori." Ash recalled Nono Kotori, whom he had spoken with over the phone before. Hana had also praised her precious little sister, who had gotten into Tokyo University, more than once in front of him. She clearly cared a great deal about her.
"Oh, I remember you complaining that the medicine was bitter. Sorry about that."
"R-Really, don't bring that up, Dr. Ash!"
She had not expected that matter to be brought up. Looking deeply embarrassed, Kotori hurriedly covered her cheeks. When her wandering gaze landed on her sister, who stood there blankly like a rock, she immediately seemed to remember something. After dragging Hana away with a quick apology, she hid behind a nearby door.
"Wait, Kotori, what are you doing?"
Rather than answer her sister's question immediately, Kotori secretly peeked several more times at Ash, who was chatting happily with her parents. After giving the smiling Ash a thorough once-over, she began "interrogating" her big sister in an exceptionally "serious" tone.
"Big sis, tell me honestly. What kind of love potion did you give him to make him care about you so much?!"
Extra Case File 46: Interviewing Ash
"S-Super shock!"
Hana had never expected her own sister to ask her such a question with such a serious face. Especially not with that boundless "malicious" suspicion. She immediately looked as though she had been struck by thunder from a clear sky, her stiff movements and exaggerated expression painting a picture of utter devastation... Well, utter devastation indeed!
Wait, I'm your sister, right? Your actual biological sister, right?! How could you suspect me like that, Kotori?!
"Kotori isn't as sweet as she used to be. Your big sister is so sad, boohoo... Give me back the adorable little sister who used to be so well-behaved and said she wanted to become someone like her big sister!"
"That was ages ago! All right, stop pretending to be sad." Knowing her sister's personality all too well, Kotori mercilessly exposed Hana's fake crying. Then she pointed toward the living room, making Hana turn her attention there as well.
Giving Ash an apologetic smile, Sumire, as their mother, began explaining why her two daughters had suddenly left the room.
"I'm sorry. Kotori was actually really looking forward to meeting Dr. Ash, and she even took leave specifically to come home." Sumire turned her head and immediately spotted two pairs of little eyes peeking out from the direction the girls had disappeared. "She just loves and worries about her sister so much. She wanted to know what kind of person had helped Hana, so when she met Mr. Ash, she got a little too excited and didn't know how to express herself."
"I'm sure she's very pleased with Mr. Ash too."
"It's fine. I understand." Ash waved it off. What Sumire meant was probably similar to how excited he got when he saw the Shining Heart of the mop-sucking thing he wanted to watch, right? In that case, he understood. Of course he understood!
"Then, we have a request. As Hana's family, could we learn a little more about Mr. Ash in detail?"
The moment their mother asked the question that truly mattered, Hana and Kotori immediately focused with twelve hundred percent concentration and listened closely.
"Ah, sure. Ask whatever you want. I'll say whatever I can, and I won't say a single word about what I can't."
It was admittedly strange for a patient's family to want to know so much about his personal circumstances when he was merely the attending doctor... But so what? Enjoying the rare warmth of the atmosphere and having finished his iced black tea, Ash was in an excellent mood and allowed them to ask freely.
"Then first, could you tell us your age?"
"Twelve years old, desu~"
"Hahaha, Mr. Ash, you really have a youthful heart." Ash's calm smile accompanied an utterly unexpected answer, causing everyone—even the two who thought they had hidden themselves well—to stifle laughter.
"Twelve years old, huh?" Moritaro said, suppressing a laugh. "But if you're so young, does that mean you're still a student?"
"A student... Not anymore. But I'm a genius scientist, a super driver, a man pursuing the Mopshy stage, a genius surgeon, and the Kami of the New World!"
"Ah, maybe not that last one. The Kami of the New World is someone else." Ash, inexplicably fired up, quickly calmed down. Lightly adjusting the invisible glasses on his nose, he maintained his charming smile. "In short, I'm a genius."
"Someone as capable as Mr. Ash hasn't considered working at one of those big hospitals?"
"The bigger they are, the more rules they have. I happen to dislike being bound by restrictions, so a freer style suits me better." Leaning back on the sofa, Ash shifted into a more comfortable posture—one better suited for an interview—and answered naturally.
Besides, if it weren't for this clinic, I wouldn't have met Nono Hana, would I? And I wouldn't have had so much time to plan ways to have fun with Precure.
"Besides, money is just a number to me. Big hospitals, small hospitals, it doesn't matter to me."
Mm, no need to worry about financial issues. Points added! Kotori nodded repeatedly to herself.
"A genius, huh... Well, that really is something." Moritaro, who had remained quiet until now and merely listened, picked up the conversation. Thanks to their daughter's earlier warning, the middle-aged couple naturally ignored Ash's various odd remarks. "But Mr. Ash, you're clearly a doctor, yet you look very muscular. You have a pretty sturdy build. Do you work out?"
"Recently, I have." Ash nodded. After all, maintaining his condition when there were no fights to be had was indeed difficult. "Actually, beneath my family's clinic, there's a secret-base cave. When I have time, I train there and practice martial arts. Before, I bench-pressed six hundred pounds without using my modified-human strength. Recently, I've been challenging six hundred eighty pounds. I feel like I can probably do it."
"So we can just understand that as you work out, right?" The couple exchanged a look, then smiled and shook their heads. It could not be helped—they truly could not understand him. Young people these days chased trends so much that even their vocabulary was incomprehensible. Had old folks like them fallen behind the times?
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"Mm..." Ash thought for a moment. Recalling the female friends he had known in his previous world, he thought of two alien pink warriors with wings and a green warrior who could turn invisible. But those were all matters from his last world, so he shook his head. "I used to. Not now."
"May I ask why you broke up? Ah—this is far too intrusive. Mr. Ash, you don't have to answer—"
"What's there not to say?" Before Moritaro could retract his question, Ash spoke naturally. "Mainly because there were too many boyfriends to keep up with, so we naturally broke up."
"?" x4
Four question marks simultaneously appeared over the Nono family's heads. This time, it was not only the old folks; even the young ones could not understand what he was saying.
What's going on? When Mr. Ash said he didn't have a girlfriend, I was a little happy... Should I feel nervous and sad now? But that doesn't seem right either...
What followed was another series of conversations. After the earlier somewhat offbeat questions and answers, the discussion gradually returned to normal. The more they chatted, the more compatible they became, and the couple, who showed increasingly obvious admiration for Ash, beamed with delight.
"See? That's how it is." Kotori pursed her lips. Still wearing the school uniform she had not had time to change out of, she crossed her arms and stared at her sister, who now seemed even shorter than before. "Big sis has always been kind of dumb. At first, when you said you'd met a good person, I was worried you might have been tricked... But now that I see this."
"He's handsome, knows how to talk, has a good temper, has a proper job, is a doctor who doesn't lack money, and most importantly, he cares about you, big sis!" Growing more and more excited, Kotori grabbed the utterly confused Hana by both arms. "I originally wanted to help you evaluate him, but now there's no need."
"Big sis, if you keep being so spaced-out and refuse to take the initiative, then just give him to me!"
Extra Case File 47: Expert Sister-Seller
Ever since her sister had inexplicably dragged her aside, Hana had not understood a word Kotori was saying. But that final open declaration of "claiming" him still shocked her for an entire year.
The soft fullness at her chest trembled slightly with her movements. Hana forcefully broke free of Kotori's grip, then placed her palms on the other girl's shoulders. Her eyes shook with utter disbelief.
"W-Wait, Kotori, what are you talking about?!"
Wait, Kotori is just joking. Why am I getting so worked up? Dr. Ash is just a kind doctor who helped me...
"S-O I'M SAYING!" Completely unaware of the countless thoughts that had flashed through her sister's mind, Kotori stared into Hana's eyes as if she wanted to drive her heart-piercing words straight into her sister's soul. "Big sis, you're way too dense!"
"Mr. Ash has such great qualifications that even I can barely resist. Big sis, look at him, then look at yourself! You look average, you have that gloomy hairstyle covering half your face, you don't have a proper job, you're sickly, and he was even the one who cured you!"
With her sister mercilessly stabbing straight at her weak spots, the deeply wounded Hana immediately dropped to her knees with tears in her eyes. Clutching her heart, she repeatedly let her catchphrase, "Super shock," leak from her lips.
"That's so cruel... Are you really my biological little sister?"
I mean, my other identity is the globally renowned Pretty Cure—Cure Yell! Is there anyone who can compare to me in that regard? Of course, I absolutely can't say that...
"It's because I'm your biological sister that I'm worried about you, you hopeless big sister!" Nono Kotori looked helplessly at her sister, who had curled into a ball on the floor with unfocused eyes. She let out a long sigh of exasperation. "Think about the friends you know. Compared to that blonde beauty with long legs and a pretty face, that fashionable blue-haired superstar, and Emiru, the future piano master, what advantage do you have, big sis?"
"He's already made an effort, but you haven't shown anything at all. Someone as outstanding as him will definitely get snatched away by women more outstanding than you!"
"Why would Homare and the others steal Ash away... And what do you mean, I need to make an effort..." As her sister spoke word by word, Hana finally understood what she was talking about and could not help blurting out the truth. "I... I! I'm not even dating him yet."
"..."
The moment those words came out, Kotori's gaze instantly died. After staring at her big sister with entirely lifeless eyes until Hana herself began to feel creeped out, the girl rummaged around in her pocket and handed a small pink square to her sister.
"This is...?" Nono Hana rubbed the plastic wrapper in her hand. When she felt its thin texture, she finally realized what it was. "K-Kotori, don't tell me you mean you want me to..."
She was an adult, after all. She understood that when a couple got carried away in the heat of the moment, they would not want an unexpected new life to cause them trouble.
"That's right, that's exactly what I mean." Turning to glance once more at Ash, who seemed to be getting along better and better with her parents as they chatted, Kotori explained righteously. "Big sis, you really are interested in him, right? Since nothing has even started yet, you need to hurry up and get a firm hold on him!"
"Don't you always call yourself a perfect, mature woman? If so, hurry up and use your mature woman charms to make him fall for you!"
"E-Even if that's true..." With trembling hands, Hana raised the 001 condom in front of her bright-red face. The sheer embarrassment of her sister's blunt words was about to burn out the processor in her brain. "I really don't dislike Ash... But this, this is still way too early! And you're just selling off your own biological sister like this?!"
"Huh? If I can sell my troublesome big sister to someone as reliable as Mr. Ash, that's a huge profit, okay? You should be secretly happy that you got such a good price for yourself!"
"Even though that somehow makes sense, but... Super shock!"
With her raised hand hovering before the doorbell, Yakushiji Saya, who had planned to visit her friend's house today, listened to Hana's distinctive cry of despair coming from inside. Her face maintained a strained smile as she wondered whether she should press it.
"My, my~ Did I come at a bad time today?"
Would it be better not to disturb Hana today?
"I didn't expect another one of Hana's friends to come today. Please forgive us for not welcoming you properly."
"Not at all. I was the one who came without informing you first. How could I blame Uncle and Auntie?" As Saya greeted the Nono family, whom she knew fairly well, she also gracefully waved to Ash, who sat on the sofa in an increasingly casual posture. "And Mr. Ash, we meet again."
"Oh." That exceedingly rude "oh" ended the conversation. Ash did not have a good impression of this uninvited intruder who had suddenly barged in.
After all, Hana's friends each had their own weaknesses. No matter how beautiful their appearance, hearts that did not suit his tastes were simply impossible for Ash to like.
That yellow one had genuinely changed, which was quite a pleasant surprise. But what about this blue one and that red one?
"Saya, long time no see. What brings you to my house today?"
"I mainly came to see you." Saya, ever gentle toward her friend, reached out and familiarly ruffled her pink curls. "And about Homare—I, and Emiru too, are grateful to you."
"Hehe, it wasn't anything major~"
Just as Hana humbly accepted the praise, Saya took several invitations from the handbag at her side and placed them before everyone.
"Also, the opening ceremony for the movie I'm starring in is in a few days. I hope everyone can come show their support."
-------Author's Note Divider---------
Some people may wonder why Kotori was so eager to sell off her sister.
Let's not use an omniscient perspective here. Instead, let's take an actual look at how Nono Kotori compared the two in her eyes.
Hana in Kotori's eyes: average-looking compared to the Pretty Cure world, with gloomy bangs covering her eyes, no stable job, kind but foolish in how she acted, secretly lustful and always hiding things, incapable at everything, unable to get enough of anything she ate, and a sickly weakling.
Ash in Kotori's eyes: handsome, a doctor who did not lack money, often said strange things but was actually generous and articulate, and most importantly, he could not only cure her sister's illness but was genuinely interested in her sister.
Kotori only hated that she could not strip her big sister naked, throw her onto Ash's bed, and make the raw rice into cooked rice.jpg
Extra Case File 48: The True Nature of Rampage Energy
"Oh, Little Blue, you came all this way just for this?"
"L-Little Blue?"
Ignoring Saya, who nearly collapsed at his peculiar form of address, Ash repeatedly flipped through the exquisite invitation in his hand, looking completely uninterested.
After all, movies did not attract a common man like Ash. He had no interest in appreciating them either. For instance, those artsy films most beloved by old-school academic types, which swept up awards by the armful... To Ash, were they more interesting than a suit-actor battle?
Just as Ash casually decided to skip the invitation, the movie title written on it suddenly seized all of his attention instead.
"New Metal Hero...?"
"Yes. This is another major cinematic work following director Hideaki Anno's New Kamen Rider, New Metal Hero. Mr. Ash, you know that ever since that Time Fire gentleman appeared in the world, masked heroes have become an incredibly hot topic."
Ash had looked into how the tokusatsu industry he loved had developed in this world. The overall direction was mostly the same as in his own world, except that Super Sentai—the source of the Time Fire power he used—had never existed here. In its place, the Metal Hero series had continued all the way to the present.
So that means I haven't seen this movie yet!
Damn, now I'm interested. I really have to watch it.
"I know. Since you're Hana's friend, I, Ash, will definitely come support you!"
Ash, sounding like an old man, solemnly agreed. His anticipation had maxed out, and his mind was already filled with thoughts of what kind of film he would see at the premiere.
"I'm glad if Mr. Ash likes it. I saved the best seats for you and Hana and the others—Hah..."
As she spoke, Saya's eyelids suddenly seemed to lose their strength and began to droop shut. Her body swayed as she was about to fall to one side, but thankfully Hana quickly caught her, preventing her from collapsing directly onto the sofa.
A startled Hana looked to Ash, the doctor, for an answer. Ash had naturally spotted her abnormal condition at a glance, but simply had not said anything.
"Looks like physical imbalance caused by overwork. Hana, you used to have symptoms like this too."
"I'm fine. I'll be okay after sitting for a while." Saya propped herself back up from Hana's shoulder, but her reassuring words did nothing to ease Hana's worries.
"Saya...?"
Using the excuse of going out to buy snacks for their guest, her parents and sister quietly left the space to the three familiar girls. This gave Hana room to speak with Saya alone. As a Pretty Cure, Hana was sensitive to Tomorrow Energy, which symbolized the vitality and future within human hearts. She could sense that the other girl's heart was not as perfect as her outward appearance, and her hand quietly rested once more over her friend's palm.
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