But precisely because of that, if it could make things easier for you, I wanted to—wanted to shoulder at least some small part of your sorrow.
I was truly grateful to you. Even though you were such a strange person, you had genuinely saved me and cared deeply about me. You were clearly such an outstanding person, yet you never looked down on me.
If it was Ash, then surely you would understand me, right?
"Dr. Ash, Ash, there's something I want to tell you."
"Actually... actually!"
At last, Nono Hana gathered her courage. Whether it was the self who had suffered endless bullying in middle school, or the self who was now twenty-two years old and still had accomplished nothing as an adult—
Eight years after becoming a legendary warrior and gaining her mission, she spoke aloud for the first time the secret she had thought she would hide for the rest of her life and carry to her grave.
"I am..."
Still holding the photo frame, even Ash's attention was drawn by Hana's utterly serious demeanor.
"Actually, I'm that Cure Yell, Pretty Cure!"
"----"
It was as though someone had pressed pause on a video player. As Hana raised her fists, gathered her courage, opened her mouth, and shouted, both she and Ash froze at the sheer amount of information packed into those words, everything stopping at that very moment.
"..."
"..."
Silence—
In the end, the crisp sound of Ash setting down the photo frame broke the standoff that seemed destined to continue forever. His expression remained unchanged, utterly unaffected, as he raised a hand and patted Hana's shoulder, where she waited only for a single answer.
"Nice joke. Keep it up."
Case File 51: Nono Hana's Tragic Day
Today was the movie premiere for my good friend Yakushiji Saaya's latest film, "New Metal Hero."
Dad and Mom happened to have work that day and couldn't attend. Kotori, who should have been free, took one strange look at the invitations in Ash's and my hands, then suddenly said she had something to do too. When I asked why, for some reason my little sister's eyes were so piercing...
Still, aside from us invitees, Homare and Emiru, who had gotten back on their feet, were coming too. Apparently, there would also be tons of famous people from the industry, though I hadn't heard of a single one of them. In any case, I absolutely couldn't embarrass my good friend! This was an important day for an important friend, so no matter what, I couldn't be late!
With that in mind, Nono Hana went to sleep. Only when the sun shone on her face—only when she wiped away the drool at the corner of her mouth—did she realize something.
She had magnificently overslept.
"Wahhh—"
She splashed some water from the faucet onto her face a few times and called that washing up, then grabbed some bread and stuffed it messily into her mouth. The choking sensation nearly made her eyes bulge out.
After finally scrambling into the red formal dress she had prepared, she stepped on the skirt in her haste and smacked her head. When she got up clutching her head, she kicked the edge of the table. One hand over her head and the other over her toes, she hopped on one foot to the entrance. After putting on the high heels she had not worn in ages, she twisted her ankle again after only two steps.
"Ugh—this is agony!"
"What is this woman even doing?"
Ash-sensei must have taken the wrong medicine to fall for her... With that face, she definitely would never get married, right?
Nono Kotori watched everything unfold from the side with a look of utter contempt.
In the end, her embarrassing older sister crawled out the door in a thoroughly undignified state.
"You told me to wait for you, yet you dared make me wait this long. Such nerve, Miss Nono Hana. You're the first person who's ever done that. You should be proud."
The instant she stepped outside, the sound of someone calling her full name from ahead made Hana's whole body jolt.
"Hah, who was the one who said she absolutely couldn't be late?"
"S-sorry!" Feeling the pressure descend upon her, she immediately straightened up and gave a deep ninety-degree bow in that direction. Raising her head slightly, she saw, just as expected, the man whose upper face was hidden beneath the shadow of his black bangs, leaving only a terrifying silhouette and icy gaze for her.
"I was too nervous yesterday... and accidentally overslept..."
"Is that an excuse? If you overslept, shouldn't you have hurried? You were way too slow!" Ash, dressed in a perfectly tailored suit, stood before Nono Hana and mercilessly scolded her for her performance, his expression remaining cold. "Think about those special defense teams in Ultraman. If they were as lazy and disorganized as you, would they wait until monsters had plowed through Earth twice before leisurely taking off in their planes? If so, they might as well outsource national defense to the Land of Light!"
"You're actually using Ultraman as an example—what? Besides, if there really was a monster, I would..." Hana had wanted to argue back, but as her confidence faded, her voice grew softer and softer.
Anyway, whenever a monster appeared, Tomorrow Energy would warn me... I hadn't been late even once in eight years...
"You would what?"
"Nothing. I'm really sorry!" Facing Ash's increasingly cold gaze, Hana finally chickened out and obediently apologized.
"But, Dr. Ash, you came so early. Why didn't you wake me up?"
"What are you talking about?" A strange light shone in Ash's eyes. "You're a woman, and I'm a man. There should be boundaries between men and women. How could I casually enter a woman's room?"
"..."
Hehe. You did so many outrageous things before that made it clear you didn't see me as a woman, and now you're saying this?
Hana had assumed Ash would give her another lecture because she had made him angry. Instead, after a soft sigh, he patted her slightly curled pink hair, which covered her bangs, then supported the half of her body that had clearly gone numb because of her sprained ankle and guided her toward the back seat of the car.
"Honestly... you didn't even comb your hair after getting up, did you?" Ash sighed helplessly and pointed his thumb toward the small car behind him, painted pale yellow and seemingly bearing some incredible symbol. "I was going to take you on the motorcycle... Forget it. Go fix your hair in the Sherlock Car first. It's turned into a bird's nest after sleeping."
"A b-bird's nest?!" Hana hurried to the car's rearview mirror. Seeing her hair reflected there in complete disarray, she let out a panicked cry and rushed into the back seat, her hidden right eye exposed.
"Ash, please, could you drive a little faster?" She tied her hair behind her into a beautiful ponytail. Seeing Ash take his seat behind the wheel, Nono Hana glanced at the time and said anxiously, "There isn't much time left. If we don't hurry!"
"Drive faster? Then fasten your seat belt. It's been a long time since anyone asked me to drive faster."
As if he had been waiting for those very words, Ash gave Hana in the back a gleaming smile that made her feel deeply uneasy.
"Of course. We're taking a shortcut, right?"
"A shortcut... can we make it in time?"
"You should know that back in the day, I was known as TPC's Little Car King! Even Shincheng couldn't beat me, so leave it all to me!"
With dazzling movements, he shifted gears, started the car, and stomped the accelerator until the engine roared. Amid Hana's screams as she clutched her seat belt in the back, the Sherlock Car left two circles of tire marks on the ground before nearly wildly taking "flight."
"Ash, stop talking about your delusional settings—ahhhhhhh! What are you doing?!"
No, my ponytail—why is it standing straight up?!
"Didn't you say we were taking a shortcut? I'm driving along the wall."
"N-o-o-o!"
—The dividing line of Ash's driving skills—
"Was that... Ash and Hana?"
Watching a car whirl past them like a cyclone, with a man laughing wildly inside and a pink-haired woman pressed against the window with tears in her eyes, Homare and Emiru, passing by in a taxi, stared with their mouths hanging open.
"Who else could it be besides them?"
"Y-yeah..."
"We're here. What? There's still time, isn't there?" Ash glanced at his watch, nodded in satisfaction, then called out to the woman behind him. "Oh, if you need to throw up, press the button to open the window. Don't dirty the car."
"Bleurgh—"
Having finally received Ash's permission, Hana practically flew out of the car after shoving the door open. In the end, she found a little corner and vomited out a rainbow.
So embarrassing, so embarrassing, so embarrassing...
"Critical damage..."
Case File 52: Beautiful Person, Sorrowful Heart
A yellow-painted Sherlock Car stopped in front of the convention center hosting the movie premiere. The passengers inside did not get out immediately, causing passersby to stop and stare repeatedly.
"Hey, isn't this the venue for 'New Metal Hero'?" Some people walking past even looked up at the sign over the convention center, repeatedly confirming whether Ultraman Tiga was filming a remake.
Everyone who knew their stuff was curious about who had driven such a highly accurate prop car here.
"This Sherlock Car is so authentic!"
Of course it was authentic. Daigo and Nori had both ridden in this car back then... If Ash could hear their thoughts, he would probably introduce it with great pride.
After switching the car windows to an opaque mode, the noise outside was separated from them by only a pane of glass. Inside, a man was openly pawing at the woman in the back seat, rubbing and kneading her face while his hands wandered everywhere!
"You! You were the one who said you forgot to put on makeup and asked me to help, so stop moving around!"
Hearing Ash's slightly annoyed voice, Nono Hana, who kept squirming and struggling, could only suppress her embarrassment and stop resisting, allowing his large hands to continually knead her cheeks as they grew hotter and hotter.
"B-but—ngh!" Hana was so flustered from having her cheeks constantly pinched that even her voice became distorted beneath his hand. "Who—who does makeup like this?! Nngh! Hehehe, s-stop! Don't pinch me anymore, it tickles—so ticklish!"
"As long as you trust my skills. This is a secret technique I learned from that bone-setting specialist and a freelance makeup artist. I combined their methods, and I guarantee it'll completely transform you, you country girl. Just trust me!"
With a powder puff in his left hand and an eyebrow pencil in his right, Ash freely used Nono Hana's unexpectedly delicate and adorable face—after kneading it open—as a canvas for his "artistic creation"!
After Ash, dressed in his proud suit, stepped out from the front of the Sherlock Car, he opened the back door and extended an inviting hand to the beautiful lady inside.
"Give me your hand, lady."
"Ash-sensei, Hana—over here!"
Homare and Emiru had been waiting at the reception desk in the venue lobby for a long time and waved incessantly at the two arrivals from afar. But when Hana's slightly shy, exquisitely pretty face entered their sight as Ash held her right hand, their raised hands froze in midair. For a moment, both of them were struck speechless.
As though responding to their greeting, Hana smiled like a blooming lotus. Her finely styled pink hair revealed the right eye she normally kept covered. Her skin beneath the light makeup was pale and tender, touched with a delicate rosy flush, while her refined pale pink lips gave her a mysterious and seductive charm she had never possessed before.
The exquisite red evening gown she had borrowed from her mother suited her like a red rose, perfectly emphasizing her petite, cute figure. Her slender, pale legs could faintly be seen through the parted hem of her dress. The high heels that had not made her fall only because she was holding Ash's arm clicked crisply against the floor.
"Emiru! Homare!"
B-beauty, who are you?
Only when they heard that familiar voice from her mouth did they snap back to their senses. Emiru's mouth twitched continuously as she nearly stepped forward to ask exactly that. Compared to their usual impression of Nono Hana, seeing an ugly duckling leap into a swan was simply too shocking.
How was this anything like the clumsy country girl they usually knew?
"Ah, Hana... Kotori." As this unusually styled Hana approached, Homare unexpectedly felt inferior by comparison. Even the words she had prepared came out somewhat haltingly. "You look... really beautiful today."
"Really? I'm so glad you all think I look beautiful too!" Hana had noticed the gazes falling upon her from every direction. The thought that there might come a day when she could attract people's attention with feminine charm made her both shy and uncontrollably delighted.
"Ash-sensei, Ash!" Hana shook the arm of the man currently serving as her cane, her eyes filled with anticipation. "How do I look now? This is your masterpiece!"
"Hmm..." Hearing Hana's slightly proud voice, Ash casually lifted her chin despite the stares around them. After studying her carefully with his aggressive black eyes for a while, he unexpectedly reached a conclusion.
"You really are pretty." At Ash's words, Hana's lips curled up in satisfaction. "You really do look like her."
If one looked carefully, Nono Hana with light makeup and lipstick really did resemble Cure Yell.
"Huh?"
Hana blinked, and the smile on her face rapidly shriveled into complete confusion.
Like... to him, I only resemble someone else...?
"Ah, she really does look like..." Ash kept looking, increasingly convinced of the resemblance. Just as he was about to discern something from Hana's increasingly disappointed expression, Emiru, with her blonde twin tails, rushed in.
"Stop—st-op!" Emiru barged between them, waving her hands wildly before Ash's eyes with exaggerated movements and interrupting his train of thought. Her face was filled with dissatisfaction.
"Wait, what do you mean by that? Is that something you can say to Hana-senpai?"
You bastard, are you some light novel protagonist who can't see Hana-senpai's feelings? Saying something so selfish is way too much!
"What?" Ash, suddenly getting an earful, naturally did not look pleased. He had no idea how he had offended her. "What did I say?"
"I'm talking about you, Hana-senpai, she—"
"Emiru..."
"Ah, I finally found you!" Another voice interjected at just the right time. "I've been waiting for you all for ages."
"Saaya!"
As the female lead of this film, playing Mimi, the assistant to the Space Sheriff, Saaya was naturally one of the stars attracting all eyes at the premiere. At that moment, she walked over with that spotlight-drawing presence.
"What's wrong? The atmosphere seems a little bad." Saaya noticed Hana sulking behind Ash, then covered her mouth in surprise. "Oh my, Hana looks so beautiful today. I can barely take my eyes off you."
"Haha, no way~" The teasing from her companion diluted the unpleasant atmosphere. Hana rubbed the edge of her skirt with her fingers in slight embarrassment. "Compared to a big star like you, Saaya, I'm still far behind."
"Flattering me like that won't work, Hana. We're friends, after all~"
Chatting easily with her friends brought a genuine smile to Saaya's face. Recently, she had been constantly buried in filming and entertainment-industry social engagements.
"Alright, don't just stand around here. Let's go in first."
Case File 53: The Intruding Spoiler
Thanks to Saaya's connections, Nono Hana and her friends had secured seats in the front rows of the premiere. Hana's mood had clearly improved, and she was now happily swinging her slender legs. Beside her, Saaya was quietly speaking with Homare, her close friend.
Before you continue