Kamen Rider as a Villain in Pretty Cure

From beginning to end, he had not said a single word to her.

"Ding—"

Far behind them, atop one of Nursery City's iconic skyscrapers, a bell rang to remind the citizens that another hour had arrived.

But when that chime reached his and her ears, it carried a different meaning.

"Dong—"

The funeral bell echoed without end.

It was the bell of regret...

It was the bell of sorrow...

Perhaps it was truly foretelling someone's future.

Case File 65: Two Wounded People, Two Wounded Hearts

He sprayed a hemostatic mist bearing the symbol of some organization over his chest. Accompanied by pain so intense that even Ash's mouth twitched, the man finally stopped leaving a trail of blood wherever he went.

He could no longer hear Nono Hana behind him, nor could he hear that unsettling bell. Even the ambulance sirens and the startled cries of bystanders had been left behind.

At last, he had obtained the silence he wanted.

"Let's go." He patted V REX beneath him, his voice so faint it barely sounded like his own. "Take me back so I can rest. Too much happened today."

The system did not appear this time. It was probably busy with something else. The only response he received was the low growl of V rex beneath him.

Does Nono Hana not require rescue? With the same gentleness as the person who had provided the Super AI template, V rex seemed to be asking him that.

"No. She's now... she... she..."

Countless "she"s left his mouth, but in the end, Ash never said how she was.

Finally, he closed his mouth and lay back against the strange metal that chilled him from heel to neck. Only the sun shining down from above, acting equally as a deity's proxy, warmed everyone equally—Ash included.

Right now, I just want to sleep.

The accident that day had taken place at a movie press conference. Places like that never lacked reporters who wanted news more than their lives.

A Raging Enders far stronger than ever before, a Pretty Cure who had completely overturned her former gentleness and gone utterly mad, Time Fire's ultimate creep remarks, and the unknown ending after the pink and red figures had crossed swords before the eyes of the entire world.

Any one of those alone would have been an explosive headline capable of setting the internet ablaze for months. Yet they had all unfolded in the same incident, one climax after another. Compared to that, the Yakushiji family's domestic dispute had become an insignificant little story.

Some worried about Pretty Cure, while others questioned her. Some attacked Time Fire, while others admired him. At the same time, a huge wave of cult-like "Cure Yell x Time Fire" shippers appeared on certain websites that were neither for children nor little girls, and countless unspeakable fanworks—then even third-generation derivatives—sprang up like mushrooms after rain.

Of course, none of that mattered much to Ash anymore.

After flipping the sign at the entrance around, Ash performed several operations on himself. His chest wrapped in thick bandages, he collapsed into his office chair and fell asleep immediately.

When Ash woke again, it was already dusk the next day.

The man opened his eyes, clarity and haze dividing them evenly. The setting sunlight through the window fell upon his exposed upper body, a powerfully built physique like that of an American superhero carved by blade and axe. Combined with the pristine white bandages across his chest stained crimson, it gave him an inexplicable air of decadence beneath his mature, overbearing presence.

Ash broke two energy blocks apart and tossed them into his mouth, then moved his joints with a crackle. His body, which he never neglected to train, was recovering well. That was good news.

As for the other matter, V rex held his transforming phone in its jaws and showed him the red notification marked 99+. Every missed call came from only one person: Nono Hana's younger sister, Nono Kotori.

That was something Ash had to handle himself.

Ash signaled for V rex to answer the call. His own hand was still bound in a cast, and he did not feel like moving it.

"Hello—Ash! You bastard, where the hell are you?!"

The suppressed fury in the college girl's roar exploded through the silent clinic like a string of firecrackers.

Ash dug at his ear. He could understand her reaction. If she had seen what her sister looked like... the fact that she had not immediately unleashed a full verbal assault on him was truly because people in this world had morals nearly on par with the Land of Light.

"I'm hospitalized... It's not convenient for me right now. What happened over there?"

"My sister was just carried back by doctors, covered in injuries! My parents are scared to death! What the hell happened to you two to end up like this?!"

"Why... why was my sister the only one there?"

Her anger faded somewhat, and Kotori's formerly bell-like voice became thick with tears.

"Watch the news." Ash did not answer her second question. He replied weakly, and the other end fell silent for five minutes before a calmer voice came through.

"Um... I'm sorry, Ash-sensei, but my sister is now..."

"She's in a bad state?"

Ash perked up his ears.

"She locked herself away..."

"Huh?"

"In her room. Not just the door—even the windows... Dad, Mom, and I have called for her so many times, but she just won't open the door."

"She hasn't eaten for almost a whole day, so... please, please!"

"I understand... You want me to come talk to her, right?"

Without waiting for the other side to respond, Ash waved for V rex to end the call. Then he instructed V rex to dig out a pile of strange metal materials from the clinic storeroom. After a burst of tinkering, an electric wheelchair appeared beneath Ash's ass.

Going to see a woman not on a motorcycle or in a sports car, but as an OTTO... If his old friends found out, they would laugh themselves to death on the spot.

About fifteen minutes later, Ash, having struggled all the way there, rang the Nono family's doorbell with his cast. The one who opened the door was Hana's younger sister, the woman who had nearly gone off on him over the phone—Nono Kotori.

"Let me in. Let me see her."

The remaining members of the Nono family seemed at a loss over Ash's arrival. Most of it was probably due to the casts and dark-red bandages all over his body, which gave Ash treatment he normally would not receive.

"Um, I'll help you—"

"No."

After Ash stopped Kotori from trying to lift his wheelchair, she and her parents watched, wanting to speak but holding back, as Ash limped upstairs by himself.

When he looked back, he could see the three of them peeking around the corner with pleading expressions. They only left after Ash gave them a reassuring gesture.

To be honest, Ash was envious.

Coming back to himself, only two people remained on the entire second floor now.

"Hana, it's me. Ash."

"..."

"I know you don't want anyone else to know, so it's just the two of us here now."

Ash knocked—or rather, poked—at the door to Nono Hana's bedroom.

"..."

As expected, there was no response.

"What's wrong? Don't you want to talk to your dear doctor?"

"..."

"I don't..."

Case File 66: Back to Back, Without an Embrace

Behind a mask of crimson flames, that man pulled the trigger in jest. The dazzling flash of fire existed only to please his own heart. Half a month ago, he had been the warrior who rode the mechanical dinosaur V-REX, the man called "Time Fire."

Beneath his calm, easy smile, that man extended a hand of help that I desperately longed for. In that little clinic where only he, I, and the sunlight existed, he made my frozen heart feel joy again. Half a month ago, he had been the doctor who appeared in Nursery City to save me, the man called "Ash."

That was right. How could Ash and Time Fire possibly be the same person? It was just like how Cure Yell could not possibly have anything to do with Nono Hana. It really was... impossible to laugh about.

A day had passed, but Nono Hana still could not understand it. She still could not move on.

After the doctors carried her home, Nono Hana locked her bedroom door, drew the curtains tight to block out every possibility of sunlight entering, and left the room unlit. Other than darkness, there was nothing else inside.

Hana, who had once been afraid of the dark, now hid deep within it, as though only that could make her feel safe enough to remain unseen.

Her stomach—if that thing could still be called a stomach—gurgled futilely for a long time. It had been empty for so long. Pain, pain, and then it became a stone in her abdomen, motionless.

No food, no water, no sleep, no rest.

How long had it been now, inside this room?

Nono Hana could no longer remember.

Over these past two weeks, had she found hope or regret?

Even Cure Yell did not know.

She did not want to see anything. She did not want to think about anything. Her body had been suppressed to the barest minimum of activity. Her breathing slowed, her heartbeat weakened, and even her body temperature seemed to be dropping. The necessary functions of a human body had all been forgotten. Only her breathing persisted stubbornly, her unyielding instinct to survive forcibly reclaiming control whenever Nono Hana was about to hold her breath and suffocate.

So Nono Hana remained alive, living meaninglessly in this darkness.

The clock she used to tell time had already had its battery removed by Nono Hana, leaving it unable to function. Besides, in this darkness, its hands had been invisible to begin with.

Time no longer had meaning. The future no longer had meaning. And then dreams, too...

Why was she torturing herself like this? She had only been rejected once after confessing her feelings. Did she really need to make it this extreme?

If a person's existence had become completely meaningless, then dying was something she had to do for the sake of others.

As Nono Hana, she was useless in this world, a complete failure. As a friend, she could never measure up to Homare and the others' brilliance. As family, she could only hold her parents and Kotori back.

Although she had succeeded as Cure Yell, and people had seen her as a savior and a beautiful older sister, that was all in the past.

Cure Yell had become unworthy. She had nearly gone berserk, ignored the damage, and destroyed the city. Rather than helping people, she had wanted only to destroy. Before a mother, she had nearly killed her daughter—Saya, her best friend. And then, and then... Time Fire.

On the floor beside her, where she sat in the darkness with her knees hugged to her chest, lay the Light Heart transformation device and the Mirai Crystal, half of it stained black. Like the final straw that broke the camel's back, they had completely stopped responding to Hana, becoming no different from children's toys.

The hero everyone had hoped for, Cure Yell, was someone who no longer existed. Unable to transform, I can no longer shine, nor can I cheer for anyone ever again.

Talking about inspiring hearts, talking about thinking of the future... In the end, it had all just been self-deception.

Perhaps this was the world's "punishment" for what she had done that day... But none of that mattered anymore.

Let it be.

Let it continue until she lost consciousness, until she stopped breathing, until she died completely. She felt terribly sorry for Dad, Mom, and Kotori, who would have to carry her stinking corpse out of here, but...

Dr. Ash, you would be disappointed in me, wouldn't you?

Ah, was Kotori here again to persuade her to come out?

I'm sorry, little sister. If a useless person like your sister went outside, I would only keep causing trouble for all of you, wouldn't I?

"Hana, it's me. Ash."

"..."

"I know you don't want anyone else to know, so it's just the two of us here now."

Bang, bang, bang!

Another round of knocking came from the door. Hana closed her eyes and covered her ears with both hands.

"What's wrong? Don't you want to talk to your dear doctor?"

"I don't..."

"Not Time Fire. Dr. Ash."

"Go away..."

What else was there to talk about?

Ash stepped back two paces. Just as he was estimating how to pull out a fire axe with one hand and break down the door, inspiration struck. He gently pressed his palm against the door and, sure enough, felt Nono Hana's weight against it—far too thin and frail.

She was leaning her entire body against the door... Did she really not want me to come in that badly?

"Fine."

If that was your resolve.

The noise outside fell quiet. Just as Hana thought Ash had decided to give up on her, she suddenly felt a tremor behind her and sensed a familiar presence pressing close from the other side.

"If you really don't want to see me, then we'll talk like this."