"Go to Dad—go find Ash!"
The blonde girl seemed to realize she had misspoken and hastily corrected herself, shouting at her in a flurry.
Both of them could see so much they wanted to say in each other's eyes, but with no time left, the blonde girl could only use her final moments to shout at Hana.
"If it's Ash, he's right here."
"Not this one! Go find another Ash!"
"Go find him!"
"He's the key to everything!"
Side Story: Case File 99—Powerless Rage
"Go find him!"
Through the vortex behind the blonde girl, Hana saw countless scenes she found unbelievable. There were scenes of herself and Ash, and even Homare, Saya, Emiru, and another purple-haired girl she didn't recognize.
Countless familiar and unfamiliar images streamed and twisted rapidly within the vortex until, at last, it began spinning and generated a pull aimed solely at the blonde girl, dragging her inexorably backward.
When time, which could only flow backward, was forcibly broken and made to turn forward, the retaliatory strain fell upon the girl who had caused it all. Unable to resist that power at all, the lower half of her body was instantly swallowed by the vortex, leaving only her head and arms outside. Yet she still struggled on, determined to convey her final message to Hana!
"He's the key to everything!"
"Wait!"
Hana reached out and grabbed the only hand she could, trying with all her strength to pull the girl out. But that utterly irresistible force was also gripping the girl tightly from behind. There was no escaping it; she seemed about to vanish completely.
"Ugh..."
Even as Tomorrow Energy flashed from Hana's hand, the girl's wrist still slipped inch by inch from Hana's grasp.
Even so, Hana had no intention of giving up.
"But... I haven't even asked your name?"
I won't accept us meeting only to part right away! I don't even know what your name is, or why you're telling me all this... and why? Why?
I want to know...
Why do I want to get close to you when we've only just met?
Why... can't I bring myself to let go of your hand?
"Not yet..."
As the immense force pried her fingers loose one by one, a powerful hand suddenly shot in and grabbed the girl's small palm.
"!"
The girl's sorrowful eyes suddenly lit up when she saw the figure before her.
"Ash!"
"What the hell is going on?!" With dirt and fragments of a flowerpot still clinging to his head, the man braced one foot against the edge of the swaying railing. His arm trembled as his muscles bulged, yet he really was pulling the girl out of the vortex little by little.
She had appeared here out of nowhere. She could even be an enemy! But why—why couldn't I feel even the slightest hostility toward her? Why did I instinctively want to lend her a hand?
The inexplicable feeling rising in his heart, one he couldn't tell was joy or pain, left Ash as confused as he had been when he first learned Hana's true identity.
"Why?!"
Why could I feel some kind of connection from her, a connection born from my imagination?
"Why..."
This strange feeling should have been irritating, so why was I so happy, like I'd found something precious!?
"These damn irritating fates—"
As Ash strained until his face twisted, countless jumbled guesses and thoughts flashed through his mind before finally becoming a roar directed at the sky.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"
"Let go. It seems what has already happened can't be defied..." As the force tearing them apart grew stronger and stronger, the girl felt her sense of existence fading thinner and thinner. Somewhat happy and somewhat sad, she tried to comfort them both.
It sounded as if they had been apart for a long time, only to meet again and immediately be forced apart.
"What kind of thing is that to say?!"
Ash's anger ignited in an instant, and he roared at her. "This isn't about whether it can be done! It's about whether you do it or not!"
"Until the very last moment... no! I won't give up even at the very last moment!"
So don't you give up either!
"Honestly..." Rather than getting angry at being shouted at, the girl merely looked at them with a nostalgic gaze neither of them could understand. "If only the past hadn't gone that way... I really miss you both..."
What are you thinking?!
Ash and Hana were horrified to discover that they could no longer hold on to her hand. Right before their eyes, the girl's body began shrinking little by little.
"I'm sorry. I wanted to help you... but in the end, I was still too late."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm sorry... but please, believe in the future until the very last moment. Don't give up hope!"
"▇▇, ▇▇..."
The blonde girl's voice was mixed with some kind of static that seemed not to belong to this era. By the time it reached Hana and Ash, it had become incomprehensible words. Yet just by looking at her smiling face streaked with tears, they both understood that it represented something immensely important to her.
"I love you both."
Ash and Hana's hands crossed in midair, grasping at nothing.
The girl, who had been the size of a middle school student, visibly shrank before their eyes. Finally, protected by light, she became a wailing baby and was swept into the vortex behind her, vanishing completely.
"Ugh..." Looking at the tears that had fallen onto her hand, Hana covered her face and cried softly as an inexplicably profound sorrow welled up from the depths of her heart.
"What..."
Ash, equally lost and empty inside, clenched his empty hand. He used so much strength that even his arm began trembling faintly.
"IS GOING ON?!"
Who was that girl...? And these vague, hazy feelings that had suddenly appeared in my heart, feelings that aren't like me at all—why are they so strange?!
I feel terrible—I want to say something, but I can't say anything at all.
Right now, I just want to find a few people I hate and beat the hell out of them!
[...]
"Hey!" Seeing the system panel appear, Ash grabbed it like a lifeline and shook it, desperate for an answer. "You know, don't you?! The fact that you're appearing now means you must have noticed something too, right?!"
"If that's the case, then tell me!"
[...]
"Don't pretend you're some mindless, rigid machine at a time like this!"
[.]
The system panel on the virtual screen vanished from Ash's hands like a bubble, leaving him grasping at nothing once again.
The man named Ash: I have always been doing what I should do.
But now, more than what I should do, I want to do what I want to do.
But why now?
"Damn it—WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"
Never before had Ash felt so awful. Standing beside the sobbing girl, all he could do was let out a powerless roar.
Side Story: Case File 100—The Traitor Is Me?
"What on earth is this..."
When the others standing outside saw the gray sky and the demonic shadows swaying behind it, worry quickly erased the joy they had felt just moments ago.
"Could it be... the Doomsday Monster? But hadn't Ash and Hana defeated it?"
"At a time like this, of all times!"
Today should have been the happiest day for Hana and Ash, but instead—
Why? Why wouldn't it just leave them alone?!
"Ash, Hana! This is bad—"
Homare and the others had gone outside with everyone else after sensing that something was wrong, but they hadn't noticed what had just happened here. When she hurried back with bad news, Ash's crimson eyes, like those of an enraged beast, gave her a fright.
"What's wrong—" Ash knew that no matter what had happened, it wasn't anyone else's fault. He swiftly calmed himself and asked seriously.
"Something really bad has happened outside!"
Having weathered plenty alongside them, Homare also quickly steadied herself and repeated it seriously.
"How bad?"
"The kind of bad ordinary people can't do anything about... the kind only Pretty Cure and Time Fire can handle!"
Just as Ash had guessed, it had appeared even sooner than he expected. This was... the worst possible outcome.
"Tch—wasn't today supposed to be a happy day?!"
Ash pulled on a coat draped over a chair. The V-Commander on his wrist and the Light Heart in Hana's arms began to flash, and the two strode toward the gray sky outside.
"Why are nothing but bad things happening?!"
"Time Fire!!!"
"Mirai Crystal! Sparkling Heart!"
They sprinted toward the unmistakable sight that stirred terrible memories in everyone throughout Nursery City. Already fully transformed as they ran, they left two trails of pink and fiery red light streaming through the wind behind them.
"That's—"
Seeing the two distinct streaks cut across the sky overhead, the panicked citizens immediately cheered as though they had found their backbone.
"It's them! They're here!"
"Thank goodness, I knew it!"
"The heroes—the heroes have come to save us!!!"
The propulsion system beneath his feet blasted out a stream of air, launching the crimson warrior upward. In midair, Ash drew his gun and repeatedly pulled the trigger at the gray-black shadow occupying the street. Several fiery beams pierced precisely through the shadow's form, scattering it back into basic particles and driving it away.
"You know, Cure Yell?"
Rather than calling her Hana, Ash addressed her by her battle name. Holding down the trigger, he swept it around himself, firing a continuous barrage of beams that formed blades of light and cut every enemy apart.
"It's because they always think like that—that you could only fight alone!"
Hana's pink ballet flat with its bow landed on Ash's shoulder, sending Cure Yell soaring above him. Her cheerleader-like battle outfit snapped loudly in the air as she spun and landed. The holy sword she slashed down from her hand severed all the shadows behind Ash.
"I know that, of course."
The nimble holy sword traced an astonishingly dazzling path through the air, its lingering streaks of blade-light carving the remaining shadows into pieces as well.
"But at this point, I have no intention of changing... Maybe versions of me in other worlds have companions who fight alongside them besides you, Ash?"
"Other worlds? Hmph, that sounds nice."
With furious shouts, they both threw a punch into the ground at the same time. The resulting shockwave spread outward, blasting away the attacking shadows.
At that moment, neither of them believed any opponent, so long as it wasn't the other, could possibly trouble them.
The perfectly coordinated pair quickly minced these strange things into scraps. Yet the scattered shadows seemed endless. They were continuously smashed apart, then continuously reformed elsewhere into shadows of negative energy, charging at the two without any regard for their own destruction.
"These things... aren't Doomsday Monsters?"
"No. They might not even qualify as Doomsday Monsters."
Before you continue