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After Ayase had passed out from keeping Okarun’s curse back the first time he had transformed, he had made a promise to himself that he would never be the cause of her pain again.
It was a naive thought, of course, the countless encounters with spirits and aliens alike were evidence of that, however, he had managed to keep it, she didn’t get hurt trying to protect him anymore.
But that didn’t mean she was never gonna get hurt.
He tried his best not to get overprotective, not only could she take care of herself, it was presumptuous of him to assume such a role, after all, he couldn’t protect her several times after their initial incident.
But he couldn’t help it at times. Like when Jiji popped back into her life, or when they fought the evil eye together. It was times like this that reminded him of the very first time he transformed, with the Sepro.
Just the sight of her being hurt and hit right in front of him filled him with a rage that battled the pessimism in his mind.
When that happened he had no other thoughts but to hurt the creatures who were hurting her, it had often caused more trouble, but other times it’s what won them the battle.
He and Jiji have had a conversation before, after Okarun had defeated the evil eye, they learned he had no interest in fighting anyone or anything else other than him. And in the need to protect their friends, that would become an issue.
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Jinji had been learning how to harness his chi, but it would only allow him to keep his own without the evil eye in a fight, not enough to protect anyone else.
“I don’t like the idea of only being useful if he wants to kill you, that the only thing that makes him fight anything else, he thinks they’re in the way of us fighting.” Jiji had told him one night.
It was after they met Bamora, and Okarun was sure Jiji had expected some comfort. Unfortunately, all he could offer was the fact that he related to him.
“I get it, sometimes I feel like the only time I can make any difference in a fight is when Miss Ayase is in trouble,” Okarun tells him smiling,” isn’t that horrible? I’m only useful if someone else is hurting.” Okarun says somberly.
He thought that Jiji would argue against him, telling him that the fact that he becomes powerful when others are in need is beautiful, but he didn’t. The two of them just sat in silence together, in quiet processing of their limits.
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It wasn’t until Okarun had fully died did he realized how true he was to his weakness.
When he woke up the first thing he saw was a plate of curry. The plate had a note, it was from Momo.
‘LOVE YA!’
That was what the note had written in it. The thought of her thinking of him, even just before going off to fight for their lives, it had been enough.
It was enough for him to transform with one bite in.
In his mind, the run towards the others in battle was faster than anything he ran towards because his friends were in danger because his world was in danger.
But in his heart, the thought of Momo making something just for him, with love, it was enough fuel to get him there, regardless of the curry. Just the idea of her loving him at all was enough to get him anywhere.
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Of course, it just wasn’t fast enough.
He saw her, being choked and carried several feet above the ground.
Again, his rage took it all over. He ran straight towards the monsters that were the cause of all this the Golbalists.
He killed a number of them by running through them, the one holding her was smashed into pieces.
As she was falling, all that was running through his mind was that he had to catch her.
‘Shit, shit, shit, shit, c’mere,’ his mind was finally at ease when the two of them were on the ground, and she was in his arms.
“Momo-chan, the curry was really delicious!” He says to her, with a smile.
She sobbed into his shoulder, thanking him, but also telling him that it was a field ration.
“Bummer” he responds, holding her tighter.
It was strange, technically, he had been the one to die. Yet he missed her so much, he figures more than she probably missed him.
After all, at least she had Jiji, he remembered seeing them sleep with each other when he was outside his body, it was a bitter comfort.
If something ever happened to him, at least Momo had jiji, though the thought left him with a bad taste in his mouth, he was grateful.
But there were far more important things to focus on, like how he was supposed to fight the evil eye, and where they were at this current moment.
He could think about his dilemma later, now he had to fight, for him, for his friends, and most of all for his world.
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During the fight, he continuously jumped in front of and carried her, there was no way he was gonna leave Momo again, he allowed himself to be overprotective now.
Until Momo told him she was the only one who could beat them.
He wanted to say no, what she was saying didn’t make any sense, but he trusted her anyway. And she knew he trusted her fully, it was why she didn’t tell him.
It was why she jumped off of him before pulling her final move, making him run.
The stress left him detransformed. Just staring at the massive impact of her move. He trusted her, he couldn’t reach for her, not when she asked him to get outta the way.
“OKARUN! … HELP!” She called for him, and again, it was enough for him to transform again.
It was just enough to catch her, he detransformed as soon as they landed.
She thanked him, but he couldn’t accept it, why would she put herself in danger like that? Did she not care? He shouted at her all his thoughts, unable to keep them inside.
“What if you’d die? Then what? Are you an idiot?!” He yelled at her, her face fell as she apologized to him, affirming his question.
He looked down at his lap. Was this how she felt every time he went all out for her? Everytime he left his anger take over?
“Thank goodness you’re all right…” he breathed out.
The grace was short lived, before they knew it they were right back into the fight.
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In the end, it was thanks to Reiko Kashima they survived.
Of course, she was the same spirit going after Momo, and Okarun wasted no time offering himself instead of her, of course, Momo was having none of it, and the two argued trying to protect each other.
For some reason, their bickering led Reiko to leave, and they decided not to question it.
During their traditional post-battle meal Seiko kept mentioning curry, which made Momo flustered. Okarun remembered the note she left him.
Wether or not it was a proper confession, Okarun didn’t know and to be honest he was too afraid to confront Ayase about it.
They run into Reiko again, this time she looks almost human. Before leaving, she came up close to Ayase, and Okarun took his place in front of her protecting her as always.
She made some sort of comment about Ayase “doing her best” with Okarun, whatever that was referring to he didn’t know.
He was just grateful that things were back to normal, even if for a little bit.