Kamen Rider is playing the villain in Pretty Cure

Yudai remembers asking him why he needed so many materials, and his answer was that it was for work.

"It's mainly due to various reasons. I no longer need them." After swallowing the orange flesh in his mouth, Ash waved his hand helplessly. After all, the materials bought from her were originally ordered for the secret base, and they were naturally no longer needed after the secret base had self-destructed.

"So that's how it is..." The gentleness on her face paused slightly, and a hint of sadness appeared on Ikuyo's face that made Ash puzzled.

If those materials were needed for work, they're no longer needed. That means... And he's been wandering around a lot lately, never coming home. Is that what's going on? Poor Mr. Ash.

Unconsciously, without anyone reminding her, Ikuyo created a character for Ash in her mind that described him as a "poor man whose investment failed and even his house was confiscated." She then began to care more about Ash, and in a place that Ash didn't know about, a subtle misunderstanding arose.

Stroking the mug in his hand, Ikudai felt that he could not let the atmosphere of the topic continue to be depressed, so he quickly changed the subject.

"Come to think of it, Mr. Ash, it turns out that he knows our Miyuki?"

Miyuki, who was lying on the table and dared not speak, sat up straight when she heard her name mentioned, as if she was afraid that she had missed something.

"Yes, although she's a bit silly and stupid." Ash reached out and touched Miyuki's head naturally. "But she's a brave and good woman."

Eh?

Ash, were you praising me just now?

And he praised me in front of my mother?

"Is that what Mr. Ash actually said?" Ikuyo, a mother, blinked her pink eyes, the same color as Miyuki's, and watched the gradually warming expression on Miyuki's face with a gentle look. "Miyuki, didn't my words cause you any trouble, did they?"

"It wasn't a stellar performance, but it was pretty good." He patted the scowling Miyuki on the head again, letting his fingers brush against the smooth crevices of the pink croissant. "Thanks to your daughter and these girls, I got to see something good."

"Is that so." Ikuyo understood. It seemed that even though she had become her "current state", Mr. Ash was still helping Miyuki... The things he did to repay her were becoming more and more frequent.

In short, there are more and more misunderstandings.

Miyuki, on the other hand, was also preoccupied. When Ash's hand patted her head, it was a rather rude gesture, but she didn't dislike it. On the contrary, it seemed as if her heart was beating in unison with the patting...

What should I do? This is so weird. I feel so weird right now!

Looking at her daughter who was slapped and lowered her head, she could vaguely see that her cheeks were the same color as the small tomatoes in the fruit bowl on the table, and the smile on the mother's face became more kind and gentle.

Finally, the issue that all of them had been worried about regarding Ash was never brought up.

After that, Miyuki spent a very pleasant afternoon. Almost all the important people in her life, including her mother and even Ash, sat around the small table in her room, sharing the delicious fruit plate cut by her mother and chatting happily.

The things they talked about were all recent events, trivial matters that were not considered important, but both Yayoi and her mother would occasionally smile when they heard them.

Although there have been various adventures revolving around the story of Pretty Cure recently, while we are heroes, we are also just a group of students. This kind of ordinary happiness makes me feel very satisfied.

The only thing I care about is that after we started chatting, Ash stopped talking much. He just sat aside and looked at us indifferently. There was no expression of disgust, but he couldn't say he was very happy either. He just looked at us indifferently.

I don't know if other people noticed Ash wandering around like this, but when I saw him, this loneliness that I didn't understand, yet it also drew me closer, and I felt like I wanted to do something...

"Miyuki?"

"Um, Mom?"

Miyuki came to her senses and looked around. When she saw the setting sun gradually setting in the sky, she remembered that everyone had gone home for dinner.

"You seem to be in a daze the whole time. What's wrong? Is there something that made you unhappy?"

"No!" Seeing her mother's concern, Miyuki shook her curly hair back and forth, making a rustling sound. "I'm very happy. I'd rather say I'm ultra happy!"

"Really? Seeing that Miyuki is still like this makes Mom feel relieved. Let's pack up and get ready to go downstairs for dinner."

Even though that's what she said, there's nothing to pack... Just as Miyuki was thinking this and was about to go downstairs, she saw that in addition to the royal clock, there was an extra picture book on the table.

"What is this...?" Although she had collected many picture books, she had no impression of this one without a cover or title. After searching for a while, the girl only found the author's name on the spine of the book.

"Works: Ash, Kamiyama Touma... Hmm?" I couldn't remember where the famous writer behind that was, but I didn't expect Ash's name to be listed as the author! So, it was Ash's work?

"You have to give it back to Ash."

Although it was a bit hard to suppress her curiosity, Miyuki did not open it, but stuffed it deep into her pocket, ready to return it to him one day.

Chapter 120: Mother and Daughter's Views

"You have to give it back to Ash."

However, Miyuki's cheerful mood darkened as she thought of something else. They had already established a trusting relationship after overcoming countless trials, comrades who had shared life and death. But...it was always Ash who found the Pretty Cure, and Miyuki had no way to contact him.

If you think about it carefully, it's not just that. They can't even answer simple questions like where Ash lives and what he does when he is not Kamen Rider.

Even though they had established a bond, they still didn't know him well enough.

Every time, when they wanted to ask him more questions, the man would always disappear on the other side of the horizon where the sun was setting, leaving them with only his back.

When I think of that figure walking completely alone, a feeling of loneliness arises spontaneously.

"Ash..." Miyuki unconsciously muttered the man's name while holding the picture book in her arms. "When will we meet next time? Will it be like this again?"

The more she thought about that person, the endless loneliness washed away the joy in the girl's heart, like a rose bound by sadness.

"Miyuki."

"Mom?!" The sudden mother's voice behind her woke the girl from her loneliness. Only then did she realize that she was sitting at the dining table in the living room.

"I was thinking of asking what the relationship between Miyuki and that gentleman was." Wearing an apron, Ikuyo placed her plate in front of her daughter. The two gentle faces, each alike, approached each other, and the mother's face was filled with both relief and a touch of sadness at her child's growth. "I didn't expect they'd be able to call each other by name. My worries are unnecessary."

"No, it's not like that..." Although she wanted to argue, she had already danced and panicked many times in a day. Now the girl just put her face on the table, looking so weak that it would make people's faces flatten.

"Miyuki seems to really like Mr. Ash. Being liked so much, mommy is a little jealous~"

As someone who'd been there before, even if Hoshizora Ikuyo didn't have the ability to read minds, how could she understand the little thoughts in Miyuki's heart that even she herself couldn't grasp? Seeing her usually carefree daughter being shy, she couldn't help but want to tease her a little more to see how much she "liked" her.

Oh, if that's the case, does Ash feel the same way?

"I told you it wasn't like that, seriously... you're such a gossipy mom, so annoying."

Although she wondered if the "like" my mom was talking about was the same as my own, no, I couldn't figure it out myself! Otherwise, I wouldn't have rushed into the wedding venue and made trouble.

"Don't blame me for being nosy. It was Miyuki who scared Mom this time, so of course I'm curious about what she's thinking."

So, under the influence of her mother's unchanging smile, the girl finally stopped arguing and simply pouted her lips and blew out a "Ha Pu Pu~" sound of dissatisfaction.

Looking at the delicious food in front of her, Miyuki, who usually eats with big mouthfuls, now has no appetite to pick up her chopsticks.

"I was originally thinking of inviting Mr. Ash to my house to repay his kindness... Hmm, how did Miyuki know him?"

"Anyway...anyway, it was all these wonderful adventures, and in the end, we finally became friends, hahaha."

"Oh, is that so? That's great."

In response to her mother's gentle smile, Miyuki could only respond with an extremely stiff laugh. After all, there was no way to explain this matter without being able to mention anything related to Pretty Cure.

"But, in this case." Picking up the rice bowl but not moving the chopsticks, Miyuki gradually smelled a hint of the same "smell" of loss on her mother. "It turns out that even Miyuki doesn't know about him."

"Know, know what?"

So, after listening to the conclusions her mother deduced from the known information, the girl's pupils widened slightly and her breathing became rapid and uneasy.

They actually knew something that their mother didn't know. Ash had told them about his secret base, but it was destroyed by someone who messed with it. At the time, Yayoi said it was such a shame, but Ash just downplayed it and we didn't take it seriously. But now...

So, has the homeless Ash been...living outside recently?

Thinking of this, no matter what was in her mind, it all turned into pure motivation that drove Miyuki to do something.

The girl stood up from her chair, a serious look in her eyes.

"Sorry, Mom, dinner...can I come back later for dinner?"

"Sure." Knowing what her daughter was planning to do, Ikuyo didn't try to stop her. Instead, she smiled trustingly. "Bring some for him too. Go early and come back early."

-----

The girl holding a lunch box walked on the forest path of Qiqiu City Children's Park. Occasionally, she could see a few passers-by returning home as the sun was about to set. The only sound in the quiet surroundings was the wind blowing through the branches. The loneliness in her heart became heavier, and the girl hugged her arm with her free hand.

However, this feeling is nothing compared to Ash who has always been alone, right?

"Are you over there? Mr. Ash—"

Mom said that Ash's figure would always be seen in places where there were many people around but he would not be noticed, such as parks like this. Although she didn't know the reason, the girl still put her hands beside her and called Ash's name with this guess.

"Mr. Ash?"

The cold wind that suddenly blew from behind was like an icy tongue licking the back of the girl's neck. With her hair standing on end, the girl looked around. There seemed to be a dark shadow peeping at her in the woods where the cold wind kept blowing.

"Mr. Ash!" The pale girl asked tentatively in a shrill voice, recalling the time when the school was haunted and she and Nao almost fainted because of the witch Lina. "Is it... is it you? I'm a coward, please don't scare me—"

"Hehehe——" The cold voice that suddenly came from behind scared the extremely nervous Mi Xing so much that she almost lost her soul. The screaming girl, holding her lunch box, sat down on the ground with shaking legs.

"I want to eat some delicious kid's teeth--!!"

"Waaaaaaa!" Miyuki, crouching down with her hands on her head and shrinking into a Kirby, begged for mercy in a trembling voice. "I'm stupid! Eating me will make my stomach upset. Don't eat me!"

“…”

"Puff puff--"

Ash, who appeared above Miyuki, couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"You're right, you're definitely one of the dumbest people out there~"

Pretty Cure is indeed someone who can make people happy. I am smiling happily now.

Chapter 121: Not a Reason

"Uh-huh--"

She squatted on the ground with her head covered and her neck shrunk for a long time without seeing any follow-up response. Looking at the gradually darkening light and shadow around her, and hearing a familiar sneer from above, Miyuki still plucked up the courage to look up, and saw Ash lying on a tree branch with his legs crossed, also looking at her.

Ash turned over and jumped down from the tree, his windbreaker rustling behind him as he jumped like a gymnast. The man saw the funny scene and grinned with a very malicious and sarcastic smile, laughing wildly in front of the girl's tearful and increasingly red face.

"You're actually scared by something so simple, no way, no way? There's no way anyone could really be scared like this, right?"

Under Ash's 365-degree ridicule, the redness on Miyuki's face was almost turning into the color of liver.

"She's a Pretty Cure, yet she's afraid of ghosts and stuff. Haha! You might as well just say the final boss died of diarrhea from eating expired yokan."

"Besides, even if it really is a ghost, a purification skill from you after you transform would take away half of the life of even the Great Eye. You're actually still afraid of it—hahahaha."

Whether it was the Ash who stood in front of Ai in the past, or the Ash who stood in front of Miyuki now, or even the Ash who had been wandering around for a long time, after experiencing countless worlds and changing many of his personalities, there was one thing that had never changed.

That is, through teasing and ridicule, the true colors of these seemingly powerful heroes can be exposed, and watching their expressions change and their intense reactions when they are embarrassed and helpless or their faces turn red, this is the supreme pleasure that Ash cannot see on TV.

This is certainly not a child's prank, this is called simple operation, ultimate enjoyment~

Of course, occasional failures were part of his plan. At least he still had the upper hand against a few stupid Pretty Cure girls.

"Really—!" Finally, Miyuki, unable to bear it any longer, screamed out her frustration, scaring the passing sparrows overhead into disarray. "You're adults, yet you keep doing this to us. Ash is the idiot!"

"You're an idiot, that's what you said~"

"I--" Miyuki had just opened her mouth to refute when she felt something wet on her head. After wiping off the white and sticky liquid with her hand, she looked up and saw the sparrows that had been frightened earlier circling around her head, constantly switching.

In that case, the one above my head—

“Wow…Wow wow wow—”

Seeing that Miyuki was about to burst into tears, Ash finally stopped and laughed at her, then sheepishly wiped Miyuki's face with a handkerchief.

"I won't ask how you found me... Tell me, the kid should go home for dinner. Why did you come to see me at this time?"

"Why do you think I was doing that? Of course it's because, well... this!" Still a bit upset, Miyuki, holding the handkerchief, deliberately turned her head away from Ash, not looking at him, and simply handed him the lunch box. "This is for you. I was just trying to be kind and give Ash a lunch box, but I got treated like this... Haha."

I didn't expect that Ash would actively seek out fun with me. My kindness was taken for granted. Thinking of this, Miyuki felt really wronged....

"Oh?"

He opened the lunch box with some surprise. The rice and side dishes inside were scattered due to the bumpy ride, but one could still tell it was a delicious meal. However, there was another point that concerned Ash more.

"You--isn't this completely cold?" Ash said as he was knocking on the cold iron box, which made the inflated girl stunned.

At this moment, she also remembered that she was in a hurry and went to find Ash with the iron lunch box without any insulation measures without waiting for her mother to deal with it. By the time it reached Ash's hands, it was already cold, right?

"I... I forgot, I'm sorry..." Miyuki lowered her head towards her two index fingers, and the curled horns on both sides also drooped down with the girl's depressed mood.

Something went wrong again, yeah... I'm always so impulsive and I messed up again. I was trying to leave a good impression on him before the real thing, but now...

"Fool!"

"Ah!" Miyuki, who was feeling lost, was suddenly hit hard on the forehead. After coming back to her senses, the girl covered her forehead with her hands in pain. When she saw Ash's pinched middle finger and thumb causing his head to burst, she became even more upset.