Kamen Rider Is Playing the Villain in Pretty Cure

Back then, I had just brushed it off. After all... I had genuinely forgotten.

Constantly traveling between worlds had made him forget many things that ordinary people took for granted long ago, including the time of his own "birthday."

"The last time... I felt happy about celebrating my own birthday..."

When had that been?

When he still remembered, there had been no one by his side to share that joy with him. By the time someone like that was by his side, he had already forgotten.

"Hana~"

Ash smiled. Just saying her name made him happy and content.

Though to me, it was something I would not have cared about even if I had lost it.

But Hana had been smiling so brightly when she talked about it...

I was so happy.

So this was what it felt like to share your feelings with the person you loved through thick and thin? Really, as long as she stayed by my side, I would be happy.

As long as she stayed by my side...

Clack.

The Beast Electric Gun slipped from Ash's fingers due to a mistake in his spinning motion and hit the floor with a clack.

"Ah... this is bad."

The instant Ash came to his senses and grabbed his head, an expression of boundless pain and conflict flashed across his face.

"I've changed."

He had never imagined that he would become so emotional.

"I've really started to not want to..."

"Not want to leave this place... leave Hana's side."

He had never imagined that he would feel so much regret... and reluctance.

"What should I do?"

No one could give him a standard answer.

"[...Sorry.]"

Even the "system" that had been by his side from the start could not provide an answer.

"Ash?"

Hana, who had pushed open the door after hearing the noise, looked at him with concern.

"Are you in a bad mood right now? Was my suggestion that we celebrate our birthdays together really too weird? Or maybe I shouldn't..."

"No, how could it be?" A smile replaced Ash's original expression. "There's nothing that could make me happier than celebrating something with Hana~"

"If you were really happy," Hana said, staring straight at his expression with a pout, "then why would you be wearing such an ugly smile?"

"Isn't it just because I'm too happy?"

Nono Hana said nothing as she stared at Ash, whose exaggerated movements clearly showed that he was hiding something from her yet refused to tell her.

She was a little angry, but even more worried, and...

Liar.

"Happy Birthday to You~ Happy Birthday to You~"

It was not only the Nono family who had come. Homare, Saya, and the others had naturally come to celebrate both of their birthdays as well. Saya, once a world-class actress, sang in a sweet voice with the cadence of a stage play, adding another sacred glow to the two people currently wearing "golden crowns."

"Happy—birthday—!" Intense rock guitar music shattered the atmosphere. The rock arrangement of "Happy Birthday," played from the strings Emiru plucked, sent the whole place into a frenzy.

"Gao~ hoho gaho—" Even V rex, transformed into the size of a DX toy, sang and danced along, offering a dinosaur version of the birthday song.

"Thank you, everyone!"

Nono Hana had rejected Ash's proposal to book out an entire hotel for the celebration. Instead, she had simply decorated her home and invited all her friends. Sitting before a cream cake with twenty-three candles, she picked up V rex and kissed its nose, grinning foolishly at the fact that she had grown another year older.

"Honestly, Ash~" Noticing how quiet he was beside her, Hana deliberately adopted a coquettish tone and nudged his shoulder with her elbow. "You're one of today's stars too. How can you not look happy?"

"What do you mean?" Ash, arms folded across his chest as he tapped his feet to the beat, hurriedly explained. "I just don't wear my joy on my face. It's a sign of my restraint."

"If that's the case, why haven't you even put in your candles?" Hana joked as she picked up the candles beside her. "How many candles... how old is Ash now?"

"Ummm..." That was a hard question to answer. Mainly because Ash genuinely did not know how old he should be considered. Asking the system about it felt far too embarrassing. "Just think of me as four."

"Okay~" Hana stuck five candles into the cake in front of Ash and lit them one by one. "So our little Ash is already five years old!"

"..."

Listening to everyone laugh and clap, Ash's temples bulged with veins, but he could not help smiling too.

Was this why humans celebrated their birthdays? If someone was by your side... it really did make you happy.

"Come on, make a wish already!"

Clap!

The two of them pressed their palms together before them, took a deep breath, closed their eyes, and made their wishes in silence.

I hope that after we overcome all our hardships, Ash and I can keep living happily together~

...I don't have any wish to make.

Another voice appeared in Ash's heart.

[You can make one for her.]

Then I hope Hana's wish comes true.

The two of them opened their eyes and blew out the wavering flames atop the candles together.

Side Story: Case File 96—More Losses, Fewer Wins

They cut cake, played games, and chatted about all sorts of surprising private topics. Hana's smiling face always had a way of spreading her happiness to everyone else.

Except Ash.

He did not think they were noisy. He simply could not get used to it, and he was also tangled up in another...

"Problem."

Gently swirling the wineglass in his hand, Ash saw his own solemn expression reflected in the champagne swaying inside.

Not joining in their happy celebration, Ash leaned quietly against the wall alone, his mind full of worries.

"Even if we defeated that monster, there's still an even more serious problem."

Or perhaps there was more than one problem.

The more Ash thought about it, the more it weighed on his mind, and he could not help entering a mode of thought where he searched through the "library" of his memories.

After his and Hana's hearts had finally become one, the miracle they triggered had even turned the entire V rex robo golden, like "Clear Mind," before sending all the darkness and distortion in the world flying into the sky... It looked incredible, but that was exactly where the problem lay.

The immediate problem had indeed been solved with "Infinite Love," but what about the future? It was not as if throwing a "Super Invincible I Love You!" punch that reduced all darkness to dust meant everything was over, because Rampage Energy still existed.

"Tch, a miracle born from the heart really did happen... If it could truly be solved that easily, that would be great."

Based on Hana's observations and the description given by that old man named Traum, Ash finally understood the nature of "Rampage Energy" in this world.

Opposing Tomorrow Energy, which represented "longing for future growth" and was used by Nono Hana, was Rampage Energy, which symbolized "stagnant despair." But Rampage Energy was not some specific person or object. It was not something I could solve by slashing it twice with a "Sari Lang!"

Where there was light, there would be darkness. That was an eternal truth of the world.

This truth was especially pronounced in this world. Whenever one side grew stronger, the other would secretly accumulate power. Neither could ever eliminate the other through the cycle of eternity. That was the rule governing the balance between light and darkness in this world.

"Rather than some dark energy, this feels more like a natural disaster, like a torrential storm or tornado... Ah."

Hadn't I said that conclusion before?

According to this strange world's rules, any negative emotions produced when people hesitated and could not move forward would accumulate Rampage Energy... Yeah, there was no doubt that I was secretly aiding the enemy right now.

"Tch, just as I thought!" Ash's lips curled into a vicious arc along with his irritation. "I should have kept that guy behind and researched him properly to see if I could find Rampage Energy's weak point!"

Thinking of that scrawny man who claimed to be Hana's future "husband," who seemed to have been chosen by Rampage Energy as a vessel and controlled by it, Ash immediately felt his anger rise.

But rescuing Hana had been his first priority at the time. How could he have had even one Planck second to spare for that guy?

"You kept saying you came to save Hana... then save her, damn it!"

In the end, aside from playing the cryptic fool and wallowing in self-pity, your only conclusion was to use Rampage Energy's ability to strip emotional beings of their future and plunge them into stagnation, stopping the entire world?

Your way of saving her was to destroy the world she had always protected? Even that priest wasn't this absurd!

Look at yourself. Tell me, does any of the shit you did even count as human behavior?!

"If I go look for him now... damn it, I think they said he already ran back to the future."

Holding a wineglass as he stewed in anger, Ash walked with soundless steps. His deeply contemplative body followed instinct like a ninja, moving through the shadows between people without drawing anyone's notice. Though he was one of the party's main characters, he sat down on a plastic stool in the corner like some invisible nobody.

"The fact that no Doomsday Monsters have appeared lately isn't a sign that everything is over and we've reached a happy ending. On the contrary, it proves that it's secretly gathering strength in the darkness!"

Once the time came, the enemy's return would force Hana into battle once more. If it kept going like this, the two of us would eventually... No, would I still be by Hana's side then?

So the problem was not how to solve it.

The problem was how I could let Hana live a better life.

"Ash?"

This was supposed to be a happy moment, but the more Ash thought, the worse he felt. He had no mood to enjoy any of it. Even Hana, who had already walked over beside him and begun calling his name, could not pull him out of his thoughts.

"My problem is..."

What I know now is that although Dark Echo has remained unusually stable since that day and has not damaged my body again, the shadow from the past will eventually catch up and take me away. Even I don't know whether I will have a chance to see Hana again when that happens.

"Hana's problem is..."

For her, this was basically a marathon where she ran while coughing up blood. If she wanted to protect the world, she had to fight. With no time to rest and no one by her side, she would completely collapse on this "path of justice" long before another seven or eight years passed.

"This is the worst."

There was no all-knowing magic conch that could give me a foolproof answer now. After all, the things causing these problems were all inescapable forces of darkness. All darkness...

Darkness...

"That's it—!"

Hana, who had been watching Ash frown beside him, was startled by the sudden widening of his eyes.

Rampage Energy, born from the negative emotions that symbolized humanity's stagnation...

The beings selected by Rampage Energy, capable of controlling it and serving as something like its "spokesperson"...

Dark Echo, which I have always carried, as though it bore the hatred of every enemy I defeated...

There was not no connection between these things!

"My brain cells are boiling!"

These paths instantly appeared before Ash as a road... a "road" that could barely even be called a road.

Bubbles rose continuously from the bottom of the glass and burst against his reflection in the champagne. The distorted, blurred other self seemed to be questioning him.

So, what are you going to do?

There is no happy ending option. The only choices available to us are bad and too bad.

So then, what will you choose?

That was right.

Sometimes, the branches in life's path were not about choosing the correct answer, but about choosing how much you would lose.

"My goal."

There had only ever been one.

"What goal?"

Nono Hana's face leaned closer, reflected beside Ash in the golden liquid along with the bubbles rising through the champagne.