Kamen Rider Plays the Villain in Pretty Cure

"Homare, are your legs all right now?"

Saya had heard the good news before, but when she actually saw Homare standing on her own feet, she was still astonished, knowing better than anyone how difficult it had been for her all this time.

"Yeah, I'm standing!" Speaking of it, Homare nodded with renewed energy. "The doctor was right after all. I really could stand again. It's just that the process was anything but pleasant..."

"Is that so?" As they walked and talked, Saya's gaze shifted to Ash, who was sitting beside Hana with his chin propped on his hand, silent and impossible to read.

It seemed this doctor really did have some skill.

But had he concealed some other, deeper secret from them?

As for Ash himself right now... he genuinely had no schemes in mind. He only wanted to see this tokusatsu movie that he had never watched in the past and eagerly anticipated what sort of story it would bring him.

"Now that you're standing again, what do you want to do, Homare?" Though chatting with her friend, Saya's eyes kept drifting toward an empty seat in the distance, as if she were waiting for someone.

"Well, I quit my job as a flight attendant because of everything that happened lately. As for what comes next..."

Now that she could overcome her fear and stand up, perhaps she ought to summon even more courage. For example...

"I've actually wondered whether I could skate on the ice again." No longer secretly grieving as she once had, Homare could now joke about the somewhat heavy subject with a smile. "It was something I was good at as a child, and it was my dream, but it's been so long that I probably can't do it anymore."

After all, everyone had hopes for the future when they were young, but how many people truly managed to achieve them?

"Saya, I've always really envied you." Looking at her friend's profile, Homare's eyes held a sincere longing. "You achieved the dream you admired when you were little. You became the famous actress you wanted to be. That's amazing."

"Becoming who I wanted to be..." As though those words had stirred something within her, Yakushiji Saaya, whose gaze had never moved, bit her lip tightly with a face full of resentment.

"Saya?" Sensing that something was wrong, Homare called her friend's name, but received no response at first.

"Tell me, Homare." Her voice was filled with unstable emotion as Saya asked without turning around, "Does achieving your dream really make you happy? Can't the dreams and desires you once had become shackles that bind your future?"

"Saya... wh-what's wrong? Why are you suddenly saying that?"

The old me really did look up to my mother and wanted to stand on the same stage as her. That was why becoming a famous actress had been my childhood dream.

But now, after being branded from the moment of my debut as nothing more than her shadow, after experiencing the hopeless reality of all that effort... I wasn't so sure about dreams for the future anymore.

"Hana, what would you like to drink?"

At Emiru's reminder, Hana looked toward Ash beside her. Seeing him order an Americano from the waiter, she also put on an elegant act and ordered an Italian espresso.

Ever since she had been drawn in by Ash's heartfelt expression that day, Hana had realized that she was paying more and more attention to this man. Though he had dismissed her as a joke back then, she still believed that one day, she would earn his approval!

"But what a surprise. Kotori actually likes such strong black coffee?"

"If we're talking about the first choice of a mature woman, it has to be this." Free of that troublesome body, dressed in a beautiful and sophisticated outfit, and even with a handsome male companion beside me, my feminine charm was invincible now!

Today, I was going to cast aside my old image and officially take the first step toward becoming the mature woman I had admired since childhood but could never become!

Thinking that, Hana copied Ash and downed her coffee in one gulp.

"Pfft—"

Then, under Ash's completely unsurprised gaze, she spat it out.

"You should probably stick to coffee with milk."

"I-I'm fine. I actually like it, cough cough cough—!" I'm dying! Why is it this bitter? If I don't rinse my mouth out...

With that thought in mind, Hana hurriedly stood up. Before Ash behind her could even warn her, her high heel stepped on the sole of her other shoe again. She spectacularly fell in front of the startled waiter, ripping up a layer of carpet as she went, making him think someone might have poisoned the coffee.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm really, terribly sorry!"

Why did it turn out like this?! I finally got ready to debut as the new Nono Hana, and it ended in total failure...

Seeing her hurriedly get to her feet, cheeks instantly flushing bright red beneath everyone's gazes, then repeatedly bowing and apologizing to guests who looked speechless and even snickered, even Ash could not help facepalming.

"What is that idiot doing?"

Could it be that she had misunderstood what I said to her that day?

If so, I needed to explain it to her properly...

"Hey, hey... who invited that young lady here? This is a high-class venue, you know?"

This should have been no more than a scene of Nono Hana embarrassing herself, yet for some reason, an inappropriate, discordant voice rose from the crowd.

"What is this? This isn't some school rooftop play. Who is that ridiculous act supposed to make laugh?"

"How ugly. Even her friends must be embarrassed by her."

By unfortunate coincidence, those words reached Hana's ears as she kept apologizing, adding another tremor to her back as she stood bent over with her head lowered.

"I heard she was invited by some leading actress? Being friends with someone like that, she really is just..."

"You!" Saya, the first to erupt, discarded her usual gentleness and turned a terrifying expression toward the source of those discordant voices. "That's enough of your comments about her."

"Sorry, everyone." Interrupting Saya just as she was about to explode, Hana suddenly raised her head with a completely forced, brilliant smile. "My stomach suddenly hurts, hahaha. I'm just going to the restroom..."

"Wait, Kotori, why all of a sudden...?"

"Hana— Aaaah!" Emiru, clutching her head in irritation, looked toward Ash again, only to see him gazing upward as though he had not noticed anything at all. Her anger immediately flared up again.

"What are you doing? Didn't you bring Hana here? Go talk to her!"

At least comfort her! Even if you don't mean anything by it, you're still a man!

"There's someone there." Ash's sudden, baffling response left her stunned.

Ash narrowed his eyes. Just as those strange voices had appeared, he had followed his instincts and looked toward the second floor above them. There, he had just barely caught sight of the familiar back of a dispirited man holding a book as he left... so.

As the crowd around them discussed the increasingly disruptive incident, they suddenly felt a chill run through their bodies. Almost instinctively, they backed away from Ash, clearing a wide circle around him.

Ash stood up with a cold expression. Amid everyone's shocked reactions, he kicked his chair over with a loud crash and steadily advanced against the current of the crowd toward where he had been looking.

Case File 54: Twisted Love and Love's Distortion

Ash's fury was surging, exploding. The fabric of his tailored suit began tearing beneath his swelling muscles. When the people looked at him, they almost had the illusion of seeing an enraged whale swimming upstream straight toward them. Naturally, they hurriedly made way.

Ash was troubled. Ash was angry. It was like when something you secretly loved, that last slice of char siu you had saved to enjoy at the end, got mercilessly eaten by some loser beside you. That was Ash's current reaction.

Hana was my patient. I could say whatever I wanted about her, but if someone else dared point fingers at her... who the hell did you think you were? Were you worthy? Worthy of what, a set of keys? Especially when this guy's timing was suspiciously perfect.

"Was it you?"

Originally, he had not had any particular thoughts. He had only wanted to watch the movie as soon as possible.

Now, he was a little different. His heart was guiding him to do something else.

This made me a little pissed off.

"Wait, where are you going?"

Easily breaking through the crowd that had made way for him and shaking off Emiru and the others calling after him, Ash had only one target in his eyes. He walked straight in that direction, and, just as expected, cornered the dispirited man in a white T-shirt and shirt in a stairwell, wholly absorbed in the book before him.

"Even when the most beautiful flower blooms, there will still come a day when it withers and falls. The only way to preserve that beauty forever is to stop every beautiful moment."

Ash said nothing. With both hands in his pockets and eyes like those of a lion awakened by noise, he walked toward him step by step.

"As long as the future stops moving forward, tragedies will no longer occur."

"Ash, your methods are wrong. I am the one who is right."

Ash still said nothing. He gradually drew closer, while the dispirited man remained completely confident.

"What you've done has no meaning. I mistakenly believed you would ignite yourself like a blazing flame, save the pitiful girl, and bring new possibilities to the future. But I was wrong."

Ash said nothing. He pulled his right hand from his pocket. His legs rooted themselves, his waist became the axis, and every muscle in his raised arm instantly tightened like twisted hemp rope. Like furious thunder roaring, crisp popping sounds erupted from his clenched fist.

"Everything you have done has only made you into a poisonous blaze, scorching and stabbing the hand she reached out. Even if she survived by overcoming fate, she will be burned by that fire again and again."

"Your ending has already been decided. From now on, do not approach her again. This world can only be regretfully abandoned. I can only save it in the next world—Gwah!!!"

What could be heard was the crisp sound of something shattering.

The man clutched the book that had been torn in half. Veins bulged across his face as his eyes flew wide open. A deep fist mark had been stamped into his cheek, and white teeth spilled from between his lips along with blood and saliva. His entire body smashed headfirst through the glass behind him and flew backward toward the green lawn outside.

"This hand of mine is burning crimson!"

Before him, Ash held the straight punch stance of the Gekijuu Tiger Fist. Beneath his savage, furious expression, faint heat rose from the protruding joints of his fist where it had struck flesh.

"It's shouting for me to beat the hell out of you!!!"

Leaping from the tenth floor, Ash paid no attention to the glass cutting his fist. He clenched it even tighter and drove another punch into that nauseating, hateful face.

"Ugh... ngh, this is the worst..."

The girl's tears splashed onto the decorative red rose over her chest.

Staring dejectedly at the marks on her gown where her own saliva had landed, Hana's carefully cultivated image of the mature, elegant woman she wanted to become shattered completely once again.

Why was she getting farther and farther from the person she had imagined herself becoming as a child...? Or rather, for the past eight years, she had centered her life around being Cure Yell. She had barely had the time or energy to build up the existence of "Nono Hana."

"This isn't the restroom, Hana." Without needing to turn around, she knew that unmistakably cynical voice could only have come from her doctor.

"Dr. Ash, am I..." Once Ash approached, Hana, crouched by the car like a curled-up bird, weakly mocked herself. "Really... ugly? Hahaha..."

"Like an ugly duckling living in a swan pond. Even if it can swim in the same pond as the swans, it can never grow the white feathers it wants."

She had said it. Words of such self-abandonment that she would never have said in the past had now come from Hana's own mouth.

She thought of that incident again.

'Actually, I'm Cure Yell, a Pretty Cure!'

'Not bad. Keep working on your jokes.'

That was so cruel...

I had worked up the courage to tell you because I wanted to give you everything I had. I wanted someone I could rely on. I wanted you to protect me, and I wanted to protect you too.

It was the first time I had ever told anyone about it. So why... why did you say that?!

Even if it was Ash—even if it was Ash—you went too far!

Remembering how he had finally drawn a sense of excitement from her increasingly lifeless heart not long ago, only to ignore her sincere feelings as though they were a joke, Hana felt more and more wronged.

"You do look pretty ugly right now." Shaking the blood from his fist, Ash did not see her true expression, assuming she was merely lamenting one of her usual ridiculous mishaps. He casually twisted the knife further. "But why are you telling me this? You know I've never cared about that sort of thing."

"But I care!" Crouching on the ground so the man could not see her face, Nono Hana's voice came choked with tears.

"I care! I care about the people I care about seeing me looking this ugly!"

Did her life only have meaning when she was Cure Yell?!

"I really... care... I want a life like a normal girl too..."

Glistening pearls continually fell to the ground and shattered. With her back to Ash, her shoulders trembled in small, unceasing motions.

Wh... what did I do? I only went and beat up a stalker. Did I say something wrong? Why is she suddenly crying?

Ash stood there with his mouth slightly open in confusion, not knowing what to do or say. His outstretched hand hovered in midair, yet he did not dare touch Hana when she was so obviously not right. He could only stuff his hand into his jacket in irritation and play dumb.

"Ash."

Nono Hana finally stopped trembling and rose from the ground. Her makeup had been ruined by tears as she turned toward him. The wind blew through her hair, which had somehow come loose behind her, framing her expression in a scene of heartbreaking beauty.

"I like you."

Ash's toe, which had been restlessly tapping the ground, stopped.

Because of the backlight, Hana could not see Ash's expression beneath the shadows. Longing for him to embrace her, she only felt that this meaningless period of waiting was unbearably painful.

Maybe it was one second, or maybe it was half an hour. But no matter how long it was, it hurt her all the same.

"Hana." Ash spoke one word at a time. "There's someone I like."

For a second, even her heart seemed to stop beating.

"Is that so? Who is she?" Maintaining her sorrowful smile, Hana pinched the back of one hand with the fingers of the other. Her hands rested before her skirt, squeezing until the skin turned pale and bloodless. "Is it Homare? Or Saya? Emiru would be nice too~"

"That woman's name..." Ash shook his head at her guesses, but simply thinking of her name seemed to make him smile. "Is Cure Yell."

"Is...?"

"You're quite similar to her." The man's words made her whole body shake, but the next words immediately sent her mood plunging into the depths.

"But you aren't her."

The beautiful, sorrowful smile on Nono Hana's face grew even brighter.

Her clasped hands squeezed tighter, nearly pinching her pale skin until it bled.

"Is that... so..."

Is that how it was...? Was Nono Hana nothing more than an accessory to Cure Yell?