Kamen Rider is playing the villain in Pretty Cure

Chapter 154: Second Score After Tenderness

Perhaps it was due to some impulse that even Ash himself was not aware of. His emotions that could no longer be suppressed by conventional reasoning made his body move and hug the girl who he clearly should not have attacked. Even so, he now did not want to let go.

What am I doing?

It felt like if I let go now, both I and her would lose something very important...

What am I doing...

"Ash..."

Gently stroking the arm that was held in front of her, the fingers that were on the back of the man's hand slid gently into his palm in a shameful way, until their fingers were intertwined, until their palms intertwined.

"Ash, I'm Pretty Cure, I'm Cure Lovely."

"For me, everyone's smile is my happiness, everyone's smile is my strength. Even if it hurts me, I don't care. I just want to work harder for everyone."

I can feel it from the slight breeze blowing from behind.

"It is this kind of effort, this kind of happiness—it is this kind of happiness that makes me want to do something for you who has been avoiding me."

That unskilled warmth that belonged only to Ash was tinged with a hint of bitterness.

"This feeling isn't strange at all for a Pretty Cure, right?"

"..."

The girl is very happy now.

She was very happy that he finally stopped denying her, and she was also happy that he did not let go of his arms around her.

The girl also wanted to continue enjoying this peaceful and gentle protection in her heart. If possible, she really hoped that this warmth could last a little longer...

"boom--!"

The sound of explosions in the distance was clearly audible, dispersing the remaining warmth.

“Mmmmmmmmm-!!”

The girl's calm and beautiful appearance was instantly broken, and she was even so angry that her eyes were red. She reluctantly pulled the arm away from her, and stomped her feet in frustration. "Really? It's not just that you don't know how to read the atmosphere, but the timing of your visit is terrible!"

"Is that so?" Ash finally relaxed when he saw Kei's face return to its normal state. "I think it's quite familiar."

But this time, I won’t leave so early.

------

"Snow White, you are the princess I've been longing for!" In front of the eagerly awaited kindergarten children, Iona carefully manipulated the puppets in her hands to give them a small puppet show. "So, please give me a kiss of promise?"

"Yes, yes!" Compared to the serious Iona, Snow White blushed inexplicably, and even stuttered the lines she was about to say. "Please, please give me a kiss of love now——"

I envy Snow White so much.

I'm a princess too, Snow White's daughter too! I also want a loving kiss from the handsome and gentlemanly prince!

But why is it that the prince I imagined was riding a drifting motorcycle instead of a white horse?

As expected, Snow White, who was so excited that she was lost in fantasy trying to empathize with the prince, didn't pay any attention to the Snow White doll in her hand. The messy movements of the doll finally pounced on the prince's doll and pushed him to the ground in front of countless children.

"Really, what are you thinking, Princess-chan?" Iona, having made the younger children laugh at her, angrily scolded Shirayuki-chan, even as she fumbled with the tangled strings of her puppet. "You're thinking about something so ridiculous at this crucial moment, and you're messing up what you're doing!"

"But... because..." Snow White, wanting to defend herself but knowing it was her fault, could only weakly repeat it, finally turning her head to the side in a low voice. "It's all Ash's fault for rejecting me... Yeah, it's all his fault. (Falling tone)"

"Alright, alright, aren't the kids all smiling happily in the end?" Yuko finally stepped in to smooth things over. "As long as the kids are having fun and their purpose is achieved, that's fine. Or have you forgotten why we came here in the first place?"

Although the three girls who temporarily lost their ability to transform were troubled, for some reason the Phantom Empires had not launched any serious invasions recently. For a moment, they even felt bored and decided to do something for Hikari Hill, so they came to the kindergarten to volunteer for a charity performance.

"Of course I haven't forgotten, but—as a girl, every girl has beautiful dreams about love stories, right?"

"Hime-chan's dream is to have a passionate love affair with Prince Charming, right?" Iona, knowing her friend's character well, even learned to answer while packing up her props. "But you're still such a fangirl at your age, hmm..."

For some reason, Iona, who was originally complaining casually, felt a little itchy inside. While drawing circles on the dancer doll in her hand, Iona fell into fantasy from time to time.

As for the boys around me, the boys in my class who argue about who is the strongest Kamen Rider every day are so childish. The boys in the dojo are all martial arts-minded and just want to become black belts. It's a pity that Seiji quit the karate club for some reason. If that's the case, then the boys around me are just -

Is it just that mean-spirited Ash? Ah, he once secretly told me that if I behaved well, he would find a way to help me rescue my sister... Does that count as blackmail?

"Oh no." Even though her cheeks flushed only for a moment, it still didn't escape the attention of Snow White, who was "waiting for revenge" beside her. "It's obviously someone else's fault, why are you only thinking about him... It's really speechless."

"Haha~" Snow White chuckled like the apple witch in a fairy tale. "You talk so proudly, but what's that? Iona really wants to find a handsome guy to date, right?"

"S-What are you talking about?"

As for Ash, although he has a wild style, he is indeed a rare handsome guy. I unexpectedly met him - wait, why am I still thinking about him!

Even if I really want to fall in love, I can't, I can't find a "bad guy" like Ash! Even if I really do, he will definitely bully my woman when he likes her! No, this is absolutely not possible!

"No Karate, No Pretty Cure!" The girl took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down, her breathing becoming a little disordered. "I still have to practice karate every day. I'm not—"

In front of Shirayuki, whose smirk was growing wider and wider, Iona, who was kneading the doll more and more roughly, retorted loudly. "I'm not a love-brained person who thinks about this all the time!"

“Hmm——!”

"Haha, you're still trying to refute such an embarrassing statement, Iona. Are you going to say that it was actually the puppet who said it?"

"No! Wait—"

Although she was very shy, Iona was very sure that she had never made such a sound, but like Snow White, she also heard a voice coming from her side.

Following a certain feeling in her heart, Iona looked at the doll in her hand...

"Pretty Cure, nice to meet you."

The doll girl in her hand raised her hand to greet Iona, and her voice, as cute as before, was also uttered.

Chapter 155: A puppet seeking help? The enemy appears again!

"This puppet..."

Iona looked at the cute dancer doll in her hand and had no recollection of bringing a doll of this shape in her prop box... No, there was a more important question.

Did she just speak?

"Yuko?"

"No, no~" Yuko waved her hand and smiled at the cute doll that was facing her. "I didn't say anything, and it wasn't Hime who said that just now."

"That means—"

Looking at the doll in her hand, a kind of fear gradually emerged in Iona's eyes, making her sweat.

"This is the ghost of the God of Funeral!!!"

For Iona, who jumped up from the ground in shock, even though she is a Pretty Cure and a powerful girl with a black belt in karate, as a girl, she is afraid of things like ghosts.

"How rude!" The puppet danced away from Iona's hand and landed safely in Shirayuki's arms. A very human expression of dissatisfaction appeared on its face. "I'm a puppet from the Puppet Kingdom. I'm alive, not a ghost!"

"Haha, Iona, your ventriloquism is so interesting..." Shirayuki, who had been thinking this, slowly lowered her head. Seeing the puppet dancing freely in her hands without strings, she finally realized what was happening and jumped up with Iona in a frenzy. "The puppet is talking...really talking?!"

“…”

The puppet looked at the people who were easily frightened by it, and immediately showed a speechless and uncomfortable expression.

She followed the news and came to find the legendary warrior Pretty Cure. Could this person really be Precure?

"Hello, Miss Doll. My name is Yuko Omori." Fortunately, in her eyes, not everyone was so noisy. Leaning down from between her two companions, Yuko politely extended her hand to the doll. "As a Pretty Cure, I appreciate your guidance."

"My name is Tsumugi! Please give me your guidance."

What? Aren’t there still some calm people here?

Ignoring Shirayuki's meaningless question, "Yuuko, are you really okay with just accepting this?", Tsumugi explained her reasons to them: "Our puppet kingdom is being invaded by evil beasts, so I want to find a legendary warrior to save my country!"

"Is that so? But now we have lost the ability to transform, right?"

"What?!" Tsumugi was stunned, not expecting this outcome. She only knew where Pretty Cure was, and had never heard of such a thing. If they couldn't transform, wouldn't they be just ordinary girls? What was the point of coming all this way?

"But don't worry." Yuko, who noticed Tsumugi's distress, slowly explained to her, "Your country can still be saved, because not everyone is unable to fight, and besides—we have another equally powerful helper!"

"Helper? Can there be a helper as powerful as Pretty Cure?"

"It's hard to say, Ala~"

As the atmosphere of the detailed discussion gradually became cheerful, a fire suddenly exploded not far away, which immediately attracted their attention. They hurried outside and when they looked up, they saw the evil beast outside ready to wreak havoc.

"Evil beast! You haven't been here before, why are you here again?!"

"We can't put all the blame on the enemy!"

"How could this be..." Unlike the other Pretty Cure girls who were still arguing, Tsumugi, who clearly had something else hidden, stared at this demonic beast with wide eyes. "This is his power... Why? Did my actions catch his attention... He actually invaded Earth? I've never heard of that!"

"Oh no!" The girl, who hadn't heard the puppet girl's mumbling but could vaguely hear the frightened crying of a child from the window behind her, reacted. "We can't let it run around here, or it might hurt the children! Let's split up and see if we can lure it away!"

"That's a good idea, let's do it! Hey—everyone!"

Escape? I know this! Snow White thought so and even patted her butt in preparation. "Come and chase me!"

The good news was that Snow White's provocation of slapping the Evil Beast was successful, and the Evil Beast was lured away from the kindergarten. The bad news was that the provocation was a bit too successful. Even with Snow White, the master of escape, holding Tsumugi in both hands, the Evil Beast was completely unable to shake off her and was still in hot pursuit.

"Roar!"

"Ha, you can't catch me!" Fortunately, Snow White's recent training, fueled by the jeep chase, has significantly increased her resistance and escape abilities. For a moment, Snow White's sly, nimble movements evaded the opponent's AOE fireballs. "I hate to admit it, but this actually works. You'll never catch me—huh?!"

"What's wrong? Run—ah?"

The girl stopped in her tracks urgently, looking at the dead end in front of her which was like a wall of sighs to her, and fell into a silent state along with the anxious Tsumugi.

"Oops, I was so busy running that I didn't even look at where I was going..."

"Bad beast!"

I'm doomed! I've finally become stronger and see hope in saving the kingdom, but in the end, I'm going to collapse powerlessly in a place like this?

Hearing the roars getting closer and closer from behind and the dark shadows cast above her head, the girl, knowing that she was powerless to save the situation, protected the doll Tsumugi under her body. She closed her eyes unwillingly and instinctively let out a cry for help.

"Help—Masked Rider, help me!!!"

He had just been rejected and didn't even have another chance to regret it, but he didn't want it to end like this!

"—!"

An unknown amount of time had passed, but when the girl opened her eyes, she did not feel the pain she had expected. Instead, all that echoed in her ears was a melodious violin nocturne.

Seems... kind of nice?

"What is that!?" Snow White looked up after hearing the exclamation of the doll in her arms, and immediately opened her mouth in surprise instinctively. She saw that countless blood-red bat energies blocked the evil beast's fist that was about to fall, and even used its own cluster effect to send it higher into the sky and then dispersed, causing it to fall headfirst to the ground.

"Ahem, could it be?" The girl quickly brushed away the dust in front of her and looked in the direction of the beautiful music. She saw a red figure approaching with the elegant steps of an aristocrat. The blood bats were flying from the violin in his hand that was playing passionate music.

“Wow….Wow…”

Crescent compound eyes, bat fangs, and a red and silver outer garment that was so abstinent that it looked like a gorgeous sculpture. Just by listening to the sound of chains clashing like an accompaniment to the violin, Snow White's cheeks became more and more rosy.

"What's going on? He's like a nymphomaniac... Could he be the helper you were talking about...?"

"Oh oh oh——Prince!" Without even refuting Tsumugi's words, he pounced from behind with his eyes flashing with desire and hugged Ash, who was now "Kamen Rider KIVA".

"This, this form!"

A knight really came to rescue me!

"This is my favorite form so far!"

Chapter 156: The Queen of Playing Badly and the Dangerous Man Ash

"My Queen!"

A layer of dark gauze served as a shield to expose the Queen's presence to the others. The phantom, who had prostrated himself and offered his loyalty, now felt an extremely complicated regret.

Very regretful!

It wasn't because he regretted being a stepping stone for Ash's new form several times, but because he regretted not following the Phantom Queen to capture that hateful god during the previous conspiracy because he was recovering from his injuries.

Although according to the statement, this operation should have been a great success, no one knew what happened between Her Majesty the Queen and the Blue God. The Queen did not kidnap Him as originally planned, but simply went into her room with an extremely distraught expression and ignored the world.

From then on, the people of the Phantom Empire rarely had the opportunity to see the Queen's face, and even the Phantom Empire's original invasion plan was thrown aside and no longer cared about. This is why the Pretty Cure, who had lost her power, did not encounter the Evil Beast again.