The one who decided all this should have been oneself.
"You can change too! I know you can!"
Ash watched the pink figure disappear as she ran against the flow of people under V rex's cover. Something stirred within him as he mulled over her final words.
"Change, huh."
Could I change too? Could I go and do something good?
Hana, when I saw that determined look in your eyes just now, I knew it. Even without me, you would definitely keep living on.
That baseless confidence of yours was still as foolish and laughable as ever, yet it shone so brightly. It was that confidence that supported you, letting you persevere, change, and bring about miracles.
So you'll survive...
"If... I can survive too."
It seemed like surviving wouldn't be so bad either.
"Mister..."
"Not mister, I'm not that old—" Ash instinctively replied. As twin tails drifted past his eyes, he noticed the pitiful-looking pink-haired little girl with a mushroom-cut hairstyle standing beside his bed. "What is it?"
"Mister, are you the boyfriend of big sister Cure Yell from the news?"
"Not mister, but I am her boyfriend." Guessing what the girl meant, the man sat up and gently patted the top of her pink-haired head. "Just wait. Cure Yell and I will beat all those bad things back!"
"That's wonderful! That's totally invincibly dazzling!" Seeing the sparkle in the girl's eyes, even Ash's mood brightened, and his smiling gaze happened to fall upon the empty birdcage in her hands.
"Didn't your little bird come back?"
Come to think of it, if you wanted to change, you had to start with small things, right?
"Here, give it to me."
After carefully checking to make sure the monsters had all been lured away by Hana, Ash laboriously climbed the exterior