Kamen Rider is playing the villain in Pretty Cure

Suddenly, Arisu, who was caught here and seemed to be alone and at a loss, found what she had to do, so she secretly made up her mind.

But in the end, Arisu still bowed his head and accepted Ash's unreasonable request.

After all, she didn't want to make everyone worry.

Today is the temple fair day in the shopping street of Dabai City. As famous chefs in the town, Ai Aida's parents expected that business would be very booming today and went out early in the morning to prepare the ingredients. But before leaving, they looked at the half-open room in the house together, with uncontrollable worry in their eyes.

On the temple fair, a day for fun and joy, in previous years Ai would have been full of energy and happily dragged her friends to join in, but today Ai locked herself in the house, looking a little depressed both mentally and physically.

"Mana, is she... okay?"

"Mana is always overly concerned about others, so she's been hurt more than any of us."

Not only Mana's parents were worried about her, but also Rikka and Makoto. Thanks to the Pretty Cure's physique, the minor injuries on her body healed quickly, but the damage to her heart was not healed so quickly.

After Arisu was taken away by Ash, Ai, who was originally depressed, unexpectedly saw Arisu coming back. Ai, who thought that Ash had changed his mind, was overjoyed and was about to give her friend a hug. However, before she could hug her, Arisu pulled away and told her that because of the agreement with Ash, she could not contact or even talk to Ai now.

The good friends who used to talk about everything now seemed to have become strangers. An invisible distance had opened up between them. Even a small step back caused great emotional hurt. There was sadness hidden in their eyes, but they could not express it.

"Rikka, do you know what it is to love her?"

Faced with the questioning from Ai's father Kentaro, Rikka, as her best friend, could only smile bitterly and shake her head. After all, whether it was the matter of Pretty Cure or Ash, they were things that could not be told to others.

"But I believe that Mana will be able to pick himself up again!"

"That's good. I think her relationship with Arisu has been getting worse recently, so I thought I'd ask you to help mediate."

"Hahaha, but maybe I, as an adult, am being too sentimental. Let the young people handle their own affairs."

"We will do our best to help!"

Rikka and Makoto couldn't help but sigh, feeling even more disgusted with Ash's actions.

What on earth are you doing, Mr. Ash?

"Mana, you haven't eaten for a day. Eat something quickly, or your body won't be able to hold on!"

Faced with the sandwich brought by the elf Xia Lulu, Mana hugged her knees and just shook her head. She had no appetite at all now.

"Mr. Ash..."

Before Ash changed into that strange shape, he threw away the card box he had been using to transform. So after going around in circles, the card box that Ash lost to her fell into her hands again, but Ai would rather return it to Ash as long as he could come back.

Ai thought of her invitation to him to be her friend, of the embarrassing performance they had performed together, and of her promise to make better food for him.

Obviously—clearly, Mr. Ash had already begun to open up to me, and our relationship had finally gotten better, so why, why did it suddenly become like this again?!

In fact, Ai also thought that it was probably because of the ray of light that the Selfish King pierced through Ash, but when she thought about how her special move for purification was bounced back the same way, Ai Aida didn't know how to save him.

In other words, can he still be saved by myself, and does he need my rescue?

Ai buried her face in her knees again, and her hands holding the card box creaked.

"Mana, what are you doing? The sun is burning your butt!"

The door was pushed open suddenly, and seeing the slightly expectant eyes of the blonde girl who was wearing casual clothes at the door, Ai rubbed her eyes and couldn't help yawning.

Although the workload in the student union has been reduced recently, Ai feels obviously more tired than before.

"Mana, today is the festival. I heard that festivals are a time for the human world to play together, right? In that case, let's go together!"

"Yeah." Ai nodded weakly. "Regina, go play with Rikka and the others first... I'll come later."

Regina blinked and saw the frustration in Ai's eyes. It seemed that Arisu's active alienation from her had hit her harder than she had imagined. Thinking of this, Regina puffed up her cheeks in dissatisfaction.

So the girl took off her shoes and jumped onto the bed, sitting cross-legged opposite Ai and simply meeting her gaze with her own.

"If Mana doesn't go, I won't go either, that's it!"

"Regina, please don't be so willful at this time."

"It's Mana who's being willful, isn't it?" Regina, unable to bear it any longer, slapped the bed, finally regaining Ai's attention a little. "Is this what Ai cares about?!"

"But...but! Arisu is obviously my friend!"

I have been using my love to help others since I was young and have the love of many friends. But for the first time, I realized that I couldn’t bear the thought of having a friend taken away like this.

"I'm starting to dislike Ash."

"That's right, you hate it. Humph, now that Ash has become like this, I hate him too!"

Hearing Regina's words, Ai subconsciously let out an "Huh?" and was stunned. She didn't expect Regina to say such a thing.

Aren't you very close to Ash? You're so merciless when you say bad things about Ash this time.

"Mana, or are you afraid of the game Ash proposed to you?"

"have no idea....."

This time the roles are reversed, and it is Regina who is comforting Ai in her own way.

"Since he stole your companion, then next time you can just take him back along with your companion! There's nothing to worry about!"

"You're Pretty Cure, you're Cure Heart!"

"Haha, Regina, you're really going too far."

Hearing Regina's words, Ai finally smiled again.

"If you're still angry, Mana, next time, I'll teach him a lesson for you!"

Chapter 97: Preparation for the Game

"Ugh--"

"What's wrong, Makoto?"

Realizing that her friend's sigh seemed to be mixed with other worries besides Ash's troubles, Rikka showed her concern for her at the right time.

"Actually, I've been thinking about something..."

After thinking for a moment, Makoto finally told him what was bothering him.

"I sang as an idol mainly because the princess liked my songs. When I first arrived on Earth, I hoped to catch the princess's attention with my singing. I didn't really have any thoughts on becoming famous."

"But, Makoto is already a super popular idol now, right? A lot of people are looking forward to Makoto's songs."

Not to mention the fact that she has long dominated the record sales charts since her debut and has received advertising invitations from countless major companies, Makoto alone has a fan club of hundreds of people in school. These fan clubs are not fans without bottom line. On the contrary, they have hundreds of strict and cumbersome rules such as "no disturbing Makoto's daily life when she is resting" and "chasing stars in a civilized and polite manner and never causing trouble to Makoto". None of the members of the fan club objected, and they were able to do all this entirely because of the spontaneous support of fans, which is enough to show how popular Makoto actually is.

"I know that, and I don't want to disappoint my fans if I can help it."

Makoto sighed again, and in fact this incident was the main reason for her sigh.

"But now that the princess has been found, the purpose I wanted to achieve through singing has disappeared. Even my singing voice has become confused. No matter how beautiful it is, it is not as good as before."

Kenzaki Makoto, a popular idol affectionately called "Makoto" (Xiaozhen) by her fans, is famous for her singing that is full of sincerity and can touch people's hearts.

Recently, even the staff responsible for recording the songs have noticed that although Makoto's voice is still heavenly, the sincere emotions contained in her singing are not as strong as before. Everyone thinks that this must be because she is too tired, and they all say that Makoto should go home and rest more, but only she herself knows what is going on.

What's more, the recent dangerous game with the "new enemy" Ash has made her burden as a Pretty Cure even heavier, and she really doesn't have more energy to focus on singing.

"So I was thinking, would it be better to go with someone who has retired?"

"Let's think about this matter again."

But this was Makoto's own decision after all, and giving some suggestions was the limit of what Rikka could do.

If it were Mana, she would definitely say that Makoto can't not sing, right? But the current Mana...

"Everyone!"

Hearing the familiar voice cheered up the two of them. They looked towards the source of the sound and saw Ai, holding Regina's hand, waving at them at the street corner. The energetic smile on his face seemed to have turned him back into his old self.

"Mana, I've been waiting for you for a long time!"

"Hey, I'm sorry to have made you worried, but I'm fine now."

Ai scratched the back of her head a little embarrassedly. After taking a quick look around as usual, she found that this time there was a gentle figure missing from their circle of friends compared to before.

"It would be nice if Yuusu was here too. I really don't know what they're doing right now."

What Makoto was talking about was naturally Arisu and Ash. When talking about this heavy topic, everyone's mood became a little depressed. At this moment, Ai took the initiative to stand up and firmly cheered everyone up.

"It's okay. Ash won't make things difficult for Arisu, since he said this is a game! When it comes to games, having fun is the most important thing, there's no need to make things difficult for others."

"If he wants to come again, we don't have to be afraid. We will defeat him next time and win Arisu back!"

Aguri, who was leaning against the dark corner of the alley, nodded when he saw Ai cheer up again, licking the ice cream and walking to the other side.

Next, we need to be wary of what game Ash is talking about!

"As expected of Mana!"

"That's right, next time, no matter what game it is, we have to win it!"

Seeing the smile of love, the backbone of the team, everyone cheered up again. Pretty Cure had encountered very difficult situations in the past, but they had overcome them all. This time will probably be the same. As long as everyone works together, nothing will be a big deal!

"Hey, it's not that great. Well, let's forget about those annoying things today and have fun all day!"

"Oh!"

Feeling relieved, they happily ran towards the various interesting stalls at the temple fair. Listening to the cheers of their companions, Ai Aida, who was a step behind, lowered her head, her clenched fists trembling slightly.

She lied to her best friend. In fact, she closed her eyes and kept thinking about Arisu and Ash. She could feel herself getting scared.

"You've lost all your friends, so what kind of expression will you give me? I'm really looking forward to it, hahahahahaha—"

The devilish smile of that person appeared in front of her, and Ai trembled all over, and wet tears appeared in her eyes unconsciously.

Ever since Ash first transformed into Dragon Fang, Heartbeat Pretty Cure's Cure Heart has never defeated him once. She doesn't know how she will defeat the dark knight.

"But this won't work... If I don't smile, if I don't stay optimistic, Rikka and the others won't be motivated."

To protect everyone, to guard the smiles of those I know and those I don’t, I must—I must—!

"Mana?"

His hand was held by a warm feeling, and it was Regina's caring eyes.

"It's okay, even though I don't have the strength right now."

"I'll help you too!"

As for Ash and Arisu, who are worried about by the Pretty Cure, what are they doing now?

Ash stipulated that Arisu could go home or to school, but she had to report to him every day. Arisu himself was not overly embarrassed, except that he asked her to stay close to him as if to show off, and he would do some blushing things like male students teasing female classmates. Arisu guessed that he was probably doing it to satisfy his vanity.

At this time, Ash was sitting on a brass chair that was specially made by the two cadres using raw materials provided by the Mirror World, while Yotsuba Arisu was sitting on a shorter chair next to him, looking at the things in front of him with a reluctant expression.

"Um, Mr. Ash?" Arisu suggested rather awkwardly, pointing at the two officers currently carrying heavy items around the base. "How about I come and help?"

After hearing Arisu's words, Ira and Mamo were about to cry.

Originally, they worked diligently to replenish the evil energy for the Selfish King. Now that the boss has become Ash, this mission is gone. Originally, they thought they could just relax and do nothing without doing anything bad. However, not only did they not get the expected benefits, but they were ordered around by this person at will every day.

For example, today, Ash, claiming this place was too shabby and unworthy of a boss like him, bought a bunch of big things like refrigerators, TVs, and decorations. Not only did he have to do all the moving and placement, he also had to use the cadres like trainees. And he and the Pretty Cure just watched. If they hadn't been so defeated and afraid of being beaten, they would have rebelled long ago.

"No."

"Mr. Ash, that's too much."

Faced with Ash's ruthless rejection, Arisu had no choice but to sit back next to Ash, and now both of them were even more furious.

What's going on? We're the subordinates, and she's supposed to be a captive, right? Why does it feel like our status is lower than hers?!

At the moment, Ash didn't understand what the two were thinking. He was thinking about another thing that was very important to him.

What game should we play next time?

As he was thinking, Ash pulled out an exquisite box from the things he bought. When he bought it, he thought it was a game disc so he bought it. But when he got it in his hand, he found out that it was not, but seemed to be a record packaging.

"Um, that's Makoto's song!"

After hearing Arisu's proactive introduction, Ash also became interested. After opening the box, he saw the portrayal of the idol on the disc as expected.

Kenzaki Makoto is a big idol, but I heard that she seems to be thinking about retiring recently. How casual.

As he was thinking, Ya Xi picked up the CD and put it into the player. Suddenly, an idea came to him.

"In that case, I have a good idea!"

Chapter 98 Ash's Treasure