Chapter 12 Girl's worries.
Thinking back to a few days ago when she was inexplicably beaten up, Rikka felt uncomfortable all over.
After understanding Ash's words through the Ai's transmission, to be honest, Rikka couldn't accept it at all.
"It's such a waste of Mana's goodwill. Saying that everything is only for oneself is too much!"
"This is pure egotistical!"
If it wasn't for the fact that the spirits confirmed that Ash was human, based on his self-centered behavior, Rikka would have thought he was a newly appointed senior executive of a selfish organization.
At this point, Rikka's goodwill towards Ash has already hit rock bottom, although there wasn't much to begin with.
To the extent that Rikka would secretly pray never to encounter him again in the future.
As a result, on this day when she went out to walk and clear her mind because of the discomfort caused by her close relationship with her beloved friend and Makoto, she encountered Ash standing by the roadside, gesturing at the empty air in front of him.
Since the other party hadn't noticed her, Rikka quickly hid.
"Rikka, who is that person?"
"I saw... Raquel, lower your voice!"
Curiosity slowly arose, and Rikka couldn't help but want to see what this person was up to, so she secretly followed him.
Then, she was blinded by Ash, who had transformed into a bright light figure.
"Mu... urgh—(so dazzling)!"
Rubbing her eyes desperately for a while, Rikka finally restored her vision. When she opened her hazy teary eyes, what she saw was Ash's face close by.
Curious about what this person who was peeping at her was doing, Ash, completely unaware, leaned in close, giving Rikka a big "surprise."
"Yo."
Imitating the boss of the coffee shop from her previous world, Ash greeted her in the same tone, then saw Rikka's cheeks rapidly turning red, and she started to stumble backwards.
"That was quite careless." Ash reached out and caught Rikka's arm before she could fall backward, and the girl's expression became even more flustered.
"W-What are you, what are you doing?!"
His face, it's too close!
She was right after all. Mana, this person is truly dangerous.
"What am I doing? I was about to ask you the same thing."
Seeing Rikka in this state, Ash's mischievous side emerged. He deliberately reached out to adjust Rikka's askew glasses.
"Rikka, run away!"
Just as the girl's brain was about to crash, her spirit shouted loudly in her ear, bringing her back to her senses, and both the girl and the spirit screamed before turning around and running.
Ah, they ran away.
"Do I look that scary? Geez, I'm not some great villain."
So Ash also started running after them.
Jogging along the way, not too close but not too far behind Rikka, Ash, taking advantage of his physically fit adult body against the stamina of a middle school girl, considered it a slow jogging workout, until the blue-haired girl finally couldn't run anymore and stopped.
"You, you, you—" Rikka, who actually lacked athletic ability, leaned on her knees, gasping for air, sweat pouring down like rain.
"Why did you chase after me?!"
"Because you ran, so of course I would chase."
The instinct to chase others has always been embedded in human genes, so isn't it natural to do so?
"I won't let you harm Rikka~quel!"
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Raquel, who was usually timid, wanted to warn Ash loudly and make him retreat, but instead, it made Ash come closer.
"Don't come any closer!" Rikka, who couldn't run anymore, leaned against the wall behind her, holding onto Raquel, who had an equally frightened expression. They wanted to escape but couldn't find a direction. Finally, Rikka gathered her courage and shouted.
"If you come any closer, I-I'll call for help!"
Although Ash wanted to reply with a joke like "Even if you scream your lungs out, nobody will come to save you," he considered the consequences of actually shouting for help and potentially getting into trouble. So he reluctantly stopped pressuring them.
"So why did you run?" Ash asked.
Upon hearing this, Rikka stared at Ash with eyes full of resentment. How dare he ask me that?
"You attacked us out of nowhere before. How can I trust you?" she retorted.
Ash nodded, understanding her point.
"Are you saying that you've joined the selfish organization?" Rikka asked.
"I wouldn't say 'joined.' I just obtained some Dark Heartbeat from them, so you can consider it strategic cooperation."
Ash didn't hold back any confidential information and quickly explained the situation in a few sentences.
"For that reason, are you going to be enemies with the Precure?" Rikka asked, her voice filled with frustration.
"I already told you the reason, didn't I? Didn't that girl named Ai explain it to you? It seems like you two don't have a good relationship," Ash replied.
"Just attacking the Precure for the sake of fun is unacceptable~quel!"
"It's not like that!"
The sudden outburst from the girl startled the spirit in her arms, and even Ash turned his gaze towards her. When Rikka mentioned her relationship with Ai, she suddenly reacted strongly.
"Ai and I have been childhood friends since forever! We're the best of friends! It's not like that idol who just arrived recently and instantly captures everyone's attention can compare!"
Now Ash was surprised. It might be an illusion, but when Rikka talked about this topic, a shadow of resentment seemed to appear behind her. Ash could clearly see that it was out of the ordinary.
Then Rikka started to speak rapidly, like a stream of beans pouring out. Ash selectively listened to some parts and pieced together the truth of the situation: Basically, their school had a new transfer student, a purple-haired idol named "Makoto-chan," who attracted everyone's attention, especially the enthusiastic Aida Mana. Seeing her best friend constantly being with that idol, Rikka felt jealous.
"So, you're jealous because you like Aida Mana and you saw her with Makoto?" Ash summarized.
"Well... kind of," Rikka replied. Although Ash's statement was mostly correct, it sounded strange to Rikka.
This was indeed the first time Ash encountered such a situation. In his previous world, he mostly encountered strong bonds of friendship between males. The unique dynamics between girls piqued his interest.
"So, is that the kind of relationship you have? Middle school students these days are quite bold," Ash remarked.
"What kind of relationship?" Rikka, puzzled by Ash's riddle, had question marks all over her head. But when she saw Ash's slightly suggestive gesture, her cheeks quickly turned red, and she screamed, swatting away Ash's hand.
"What, what are you talking about?" Rikka blushed intensely for the umpteenth time in a short period due to Ash's antics.
"Are you an idiot? We're both girls! How can it be that kind of relationship!" Rikka exclaimed.
"That kind of relationship doesn't depend on gender," Ash replied nonchalantly. Then he continued with a serious expression, "Even if it were that kind of relationship, chances are it wouldn't end well for you."
"?"
"Even if you're childhood friends and Precure partners, even if you have a great relationship, you can't live together forever."
Ash was just spouting nonsensical theories he had skimmed from cheap magazines on the roadside, but Rikka happened to take those words to heart.
"The ultimate result is that you both go on to build your own families, occasionally sharing parenting tips, and getting busy with your own lives. No matter how strong the bond, it will gradually fade away. That's... uh?"
Raquel, the dog-like spirit, with her eyes turning red, kicked Ash in the face.
"Don't taint the pure friendship between girls with your corrupt thoughts, quel!"
Raquel, the spirit, surprisingly became furious at Ash for corrupting the Precure.
"It was just a joke."
"This joke went too far!"
Rikka once again confirmed the fact that this man was actually dangerous.
But, he seemed to make some sense.
"However, it's quite youth to worry about these kinds of issues," Ash shook his head, recalling his own middle school days.
His memories got stuck there. He only remembered things from before he was 12 years old. If you asked him about elementary school matters, he could recall a couple of things, but he couldn't remember anything from middle school onwards.
But that didn't stop him from reaching a conclusion.
"I guess the girl actually sees you as her most important friend. Because you're the most important and closest to her, everything between you two becomes natural and taken for granted," Ash theorized.
"So, don't be fooled when she sometimes seems to care more about others than you. In her eyes, that falls under the normal realm of friendship. But with you, it's an unspoken intimacy that exists every moment. Because you're best friends, there's no need to show it."
Surprisingly, Ash eloquently explained his theory, as if he had stolen lines from some tokusatsu protagonist.
"Really?" Rikka's face brightened up with Ash's explanation. Her spirits lifted, and she gazed at Ash with shining eyes.
"Of course, it's also possible that the other person has taken your good relationship for granted and doesn't care about those they're familiar with, being cold to them, while being warm to strangers. That kind of person exists too."
"That's rude! But Mana is not like that..."
Hmm... Wait!
Rikka realized once again that she and Ash were supposed to be enemies. How did they suddenly start chatting so well?!
"So, what exactly do you want then?"
The final question returned to this initial stage of soul-searching.
Scratching his head, Ash pulled out the card deck.
"I don't really mind. Although I'm not in a rush to play with you guys, I'm just idle anyway. How about we have a little battle?"
You being unhappy might actually make me happy, you know.
"No way!" Rikka held Raquel tightly and stepped back. Why should she have to fight him?
After all, she was an outstanding student with excellent character. She didn't have a habit of resorting to violence at the drop of a hat!
"Listen to me."
"I won't!"
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