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Chapter Text

Kamiyama Touma is a people person. As a novelist, many people thought that he would be a reserved, reclusive, and introverted person like stereotypical novelists out there. While there are times when Touma needs alone time, especially when he is writing his draft, most of the time, Touma loves to be around people, especially his friends.

And of course, he isn’t against making new friends whenever possible.

It is just like any other day, where the weather is sunny and the excited children are coming to the shop for another storytelling. There are Mei, Rintaro, and Kento with him, so Touma decides to do more elaborate storytelling together with all of his friends, more like doing a short theatrical play. And also, because it feels cramped inside the bookstore, they hold it on the porch in front of the shop.

It is spontaneous like how they usually do it, with his friends falling into the fictional characters they play and they are totally in sync. Touma can feel the sparkling eyes of the children, this is exactly why he loves to do storytelling whenever he has a chance.

“My friend, I’m really sorry for betraying you, I see that I have made a bad choice. Would you forgive me?” Rintaro says the line then Touma reaches his friend.

“Of course! You are my friend! People always make mistakes, what’s important is to own their mistakes, no one’s perfect. I forgive you,” Touma says the line back.

“Let’s fight together again!” Mei says her line with the most passionate eyes.

“If we all together, we can do anything!” Kento says his line too.

Then Touma claps his hands. “And that’s the story for today, everyone!” Touma breaks out the character to end the play.

The children are whining but also clapping. “Touma-kun, more!”

“No, no, if we do everything, we have to do it until evening you know,” Rintaro flats out rejecting it.

“If you are curious about the continuation, just read the book, okay?” Mei winks at the children.

“Ah, we have a new customer-,” Kento points out with a bit surprised face.

Touma turns and sees an unfamiliar young man behind the crowd of children. He is also clapping with a beaming face. Is that a suit beneath the hoodie- no, a hoodie beneath the suit? But the most striking is his neon sneakers.

“I’m sorry for the commotion, are you here to buy a book?” Touma greets him a bit shyly. He isn’t used to having new customers for his bookstore.

“Oh, this is a bookstore?” The young man looks surprised. He blinks several times while looking around. “I thought it was a street play or something—”

“Ahaha, well, I like to do storytelling for the children, and since I have my friends here, so I did it more elaborately today,” Touma answers while leading the way inside the store. “I guess it can be a bit misleading, sorry.”

“No, no, I really enjoyed the ‘storytelling’. I was just strolling around and I couldn’t help but stop and saw your play,” the young man answers rather awkwardly, but he follows Touma into the bookstore.

“Feel free to look around the bookstore, this bookstore is specialized in children's books and fiction, I hope you can find something to your liking,” Touma says with a smile. The children are bustling inside the store, it is more resembling a daycare now, so he can see why the new customer looks kind of baffled.

And maybe the large and elaborate diorama in the middle of the store doesn’t help either, but this is Touma’s bookstore so he is free to do anything he wants here.

“Oh, I see…” The young man nods.

Touma doesn’t know this young man well, but he can tell that this new customer is a bit on guard. He is clearly confused and bewildered by the whole situation. He is smiling awkwardly and his eyes look like he is trying to find a way to escape. It is down to Touma that he might just have pulled an unwilling customer into his bookstore.

“Ah, please don’t feel forced to buy anything,” Touma shakes his hands. “I don’t mean to swindle you or anything.” Touma feels a bit bad because it seems that the new customer was simply interested in his theatrical play and not planning to buy books prior to coming here. And he is simply following Touma because he doesn’t want to make him feel bad.

“Ahaha, don’t worry. Now that I’m here, may as well buy something,” that laugh still feels forced and it still makes Touma feels guilty. “It has been a while since I last read a book, I have been busy with my work.” The young man says more to reassure Touma.

The novelist feels a bit better.

“Good! Nothing better than a good book for taking a break from work!” Suddenly Mei jumps out between them and both Touma and the new customer jump back in surprise.

“Mei-chan…,” Touma protests a bit while caressing his chest. Mei just grins widely without a hint of guilty.

“Y-You are right,” the new customer regains his composure and replies rather awkwardly. “It does feel good when you get so immersed into the book and you tune out everything else.”

“That’s right!” Mei adds enthusiastically. “It feels like you can enter the book and imagine the world inside of it!” The new customer nods, Mei’s enthusiasm is rubbing on him. Touma just smiles a little, that is Mei for you, to act so close to someone that they just meet.

“It feels like you can forget the reality for a moment,” he adds in agreement. His guard is slowly dropping.

Touma is just listening to their exchange and frowns a little bit. As a bookworm, he knows better than anyone about how good it is to be immersed in a good book. But, hearing it out loud like that is a bit unsettling.

“Running from reality by reading a book you mean?” Mei asks in a bit mischievous way. The young man lets out an awkward chuckle and his enthusiasm is gone instantly. Touma can see the guilt in the young man’s eyes and he is on guard again.

Touma can feel the weird shift in the air and decides to butt in. “So,” Touma says to get their attention. “Is there any particular book you are interested to buy? I can help you choose if you want.”

Actually, Touma wants to leave the young man alone to have some space to choose his book. But, he knows that will be hard, not with the current chaotic situation inside the bookstore. Even though the bookstore is mostly peaceful, this new customer has really bad timing.

“Uhm…” the young man just hums while thinking about something.

Touma still feels like he is a forceful salesman…

“About the small play before, is that also from a book?” He finally answers.

“Of course!” Mei shouts out before Touma can answer it himself. Mei runs to get a book from other bookshelves and then runs back to them. “Here! It is from the book ‘Eternal Story’. It is a sequel to the bestseller ‘Lost Memory’. It is really good!” Mei gives out a thumbs up.

The young man receives the book with a bit shocked face. “The sequel of Lost Memory? I have read that! So, there is a sequel to that book?” He checks the book in his hand quickly.

Mei nods proudly and there is a tint of embarrassment on Touma’s cheeks. He is happy that Mei praising his book, but it is a bit embarrassing to say it out loud in front of him.

“The sequel is also really good, no scratch that, it is better than the first book. After all, this book is written by the very talented Kamiyama Touma,” then Mei points out at Touma in a dramatic manner. Touma scratches his cheek a bit awkwardly.

The young man’s eyes widened. “Eeeeehhhh!!??” He points out at Touma and Mei alternately. Then his finger stops at Touma. Touman can see how interesting and exaggerated his reaction is. “You are the novelist of Lost Memory!? Kamiyama Touma-sensei!?”

“Yes, I am.” Touma raises his hand and nods with a shy smile.

“Eeeeehhh!! No way!” The young man covers his mouth with his hand as if he is trying to cover up his giddiness. Then he coughs awkwardly while trying to control his composure. “I’m sorry, I’m just… awestruck right now… I really, really, really like the novel you know. I even cried reading it!”

“Right!? Right!? I also cried, especially toward the climax,” Mei is fuelling the young man’s enthusiasm. The young man nods eagerly.

“That’s right! Oh! It was sooo good,” the young man stops as if he is trying to regulate his feelings. Touma is just standing awkwardly there, wondering if he should just walk away and join Rintaro and Kento managing the children inside the bookstore. Of course, he is happy that people like his book, but he is quite shy to be treated like some sort of celebrity blatantly like this.

“Then you have to read the sequel! You won’t regret it!” Mei encourages the young man.

“You are right, I have to. I guess I have been too busy until I didn’t know that my favorite novel has a sequel…,” There is some regret on the young man’s face and he hugs the book as if it is a precious thing.

“Please don’t have such high expectations,” Touma shakes his hands. “Everyone has their own taste and opinion, and the sequel has a bit different theme than the first one.” Touma feels the need to remind the young man that. Even though he is claimed as a talented newcomer novelist, there are still some people who don’t like his novels out there. Some people deemed his novels as too childish and unrealistic, well everyone has their own taste.

“Oh, really?” The young man asks back.

“It is based on my real experience with my friends… So, it is more friendship oriented with adventure and action genre,” Touma explains it. His first book is like a children's fairytale book after all.

“Huh? Based on your real life?” The young man is surprised. “The one that you and your friends played earlier? That was real?” The young man glances at Rintaro and Kento that are still busy handling the children around the store.

“Uhm… yeah,” Touma kind of regretted he said that. “Not exactly like that, some dialogs are written in more dramatic ways… but some of the stories there are real. Well, it isn’t an autobiography.”

The young man flips the book in his hand and read the synopsis. “Woah… to think that this novel is based on a real-life story… Oh wow, you have a lot of friends here.”

“There are more friends than that is written on the synopsis, it is basically a story of how Touma befriends with everyone he met,” Mei adds, she playfully smacks Touma’s back. “It is just his charm.”

“Ahahaha, well…” Touma is getting embarrassed again. Touma hopes Mei can stop overly praising him in front of a stranger like this.

“That’s… must be good.”

Touma turns at the young man because strangely he can hear some bitterness in his voice. His eyes meet Touma’s and the novelist can see how the young man forced a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Having many friends is a really good thing... uhm… I will read the sequel and leave a review… and the bookstore too, I will leave a good review.”

Touma can see how the young man becomes awkward again and just says whatever he can think of. And this time, even Mei can feel it because she stops being so overly enthusiastic.

“Oh, do you want Touma to sign the novel too?” Mei says, trying to lift up the dampened mood.

“Of course, please sign the book,” the young man says, his smile still not reaching his eyes. He passes the book to Touma. Touma receives it while observing the young man’s expression, he can tell that the young man feels a bit upset.

But, it feels impolite for Touma to ask the reason why.

The air changed when they were talking about friendship, is that the problem for this new customer?

Touma pulls out a pen from his pocket. “Can you please tell me your name?”

There is a strange pause from the young man as if he is hesitating to spill out his name.

“…Hiden Aruto,” he finally says with a bit timid voice.

Touma nods and writes his sign and Aruto’s name on the back cover of the novel.

“Hiden… where do I have heard it…?” Mei mumbles beside him and Touma just tilts his head. It does feel familiar but Touma can’t exactly tell where he has heard that name.

Then the door of the bookstore opens and a beautiful woman enters the store.

No, it is…

“A humagear?” Mei is surprised. And so does Touma. This part of town is kind of old-school town so there aren’t many humagears here, so it is kind of fascinating to see a humagear without anyone accompanying them.

“Aruto-sachou, so you are here.” She walks gracefully avoiding the children and approaches Aruto.

“Izu…”

Touma can see how Aruto’s face lits up a bit. The humagear stands in a very polite manner and yet she smiles so warmly to him. “I need to inform you that the delayed meeting is going to be held in about 1 hour.”

“Finally? So, we can do the meeting today, huh? I thought it would be delayed till tomorrow…” Aruto lets out a soft huff. Then he turns at the dumbstruck Touma. “So, how much is for the novel? I can use a credit card here, right?” Aruto offers his card.

“Oh! Uhm, wait…” Touma snaps out from his shock. He takes the credit card and walks toward the cashier. Kento approaches him to help him when Touma has trouble to print out the receipt. Kento gives Touma a glance then gestures to the waiting Aruto and his humagear, asking who are they in silence, Touma just shrugs.

“Aaaaahhh! Now, I remember!” Mei finally lets out a scream after she snaps out of her shock. “Hiden! Hiden Intelligence!” Mei turns toward Touma. “You know! The factory that makes humagear!” Touma blinks in surprise. Then Mei turns toward Aruto. “You are the CEO!?”

“Oh…” Aruto rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.

“You are right, Aruto-sachou is the current president of Hiden Intelligence,” Izu introduces him in an elegant manner.

“Yes… that’s right,” Aruto admits, looking rather reluctant.

“Oh wow….” Now, Mei is the one who looks awestruck.

“Uhm, the receipt… please?” Aruto asks, snapping Touma from his shock again.

Both Rintaro and Kento give Touma a confused look, certainly, they don’t understand the meaning of what Mei just said. Touma gives them a gesture that he would explain to them later.

“I’m sorry, here is the receipt,” Touma says timidly. He gives the receipt and the novel to Aruto. He hopes that he hasn’t done something that upset Aruto. Touma isn’t really up to date with what’s happening around the country, but even he knows about humagears and the huge factory of Hiden Intelligence.

“No, thank you, Kamiyama-sensei. I will definitely read your novel,” Aruto gives him a smile, a bit shy and somewhat a bit troubled.

Touma wonders why.

Actually, the whole exchange with Aruto feels a bit weird. There is just something radiating from Aruto. It feels as if Aruto is walking on eggshells as if he is still fresh from some kind of trauma. He keeps back and forth between being on guard and letting go of his guard. Not to mention he looks reluctant to admit his identity as a president of a large factory.

But, what Touma can feel, albeit confusedly, he feels somewhat of a kinship with Aruto, which he can’t explain why.

“I hope you will have a good read,” Touma gives Aruto a smile.

And Aruto thinly smiles back.

“Let’s prepare for the meeting, Izu,” Aruto turns toward his humagear.

“Understood, Aruto-sachou,” she nods politely. Aruto and Izu walk off from the bookstore, leaving some dumbstruck people there.

After the door is closed, Rintaro approaches Mei. “What is humagear? Some kind of robot?”

But, it seems Mei is still busy thinking about something because she doesn’t reply to the question right away.

While Touma is just sighing.

For the first time ever, he wants to befriend someone but doesn’t know how, and he realized that is the reason why he was also walking on eggshells around Aruto. Touma doesn’t even know why he wants to befriend Aruto, even before he learned about Aruto’s identity, he doesn’t think he needs a reason to befriend someone but…

Aruto isn’t the type that is easy to approach and befriend with, that is what Touma feels from their short meeting.

“Well, he is a CEO, I guess our worlds are too different?” Touma mumbles to himself, to ease his own disappointment.

“AAAAHHHHH!” Mei is letting another scream that is surprising everyone in the bookstore.

“TOUMA! HE IS A KAMEN RIDER!” Mei holds her head in dramatic shock. “I JUST REMEMBERED THAT!”

Touma’s jaw is dropping.

“A swordman?” Rintaro asks back in confusion.

“No! No! A different Kamen Rider, but a Kamen Rider!” Mei is shaking Rintaro’s shoulders in frustration.

“Kamen Rider-“ Touma slaps his own cheeks and runs toward the door. He looks out and he can no longer see Aruto in sight.

No wonder he feels some kind of kinship, so Aruto is also a Kamen Rider. And he also failed to inform me that he is, was, a Kamen Rider. That answers a lot of things, no wonder Aruto looks like he is a traumatized soldier that survived a battlefield or something.

“You will meet him again if you two are destined to meet,” Kento pats Touma’s shoulder, trying to console him.

Touma nods, he hopes so. “Next time, I promise I will befriend him, for sure.”

He wants to befriend Aruto.

And help him to ease his sad smile.

That is how Touma feels now.

“But Touma… from what I know, Hiden Intelligence is involved with some shady stuff… or that is what I read on the net…” Mei approaches him and gives him a troubled smile. “Are you sure? Do you even know what you are getting yourself into?”

Touma blinks and smiles sheepishly at Mei.

“I guess, I don’t know.”

Well, Touma doesn’t even know whether he will meet Aruto again or not.

But, a small voice in his heart tells him that…

Yes, they will meet again sometime later in the future.

End

Chapter Text

There are many types of people in this world. From a happy-go-lucky person to a noisy and busybody person, there are different kinds of people around.

As the first son of the owner of Happy Spa, Igarashi Ikki has seen many types of people visit the bathhouse as well. From small children to the elderly, from students to salarymen, he has served many people in this place.

“I don’t think there will be any customers during a rainstorm like this.”

Ikki turns to the only daughter of the Igarashi family, his little sister, Sakura. She looks bored at the cashier, idly playing with her phone.

“Such a crazy-sounding storm! I want to know what it feels like outside!”

Ikki’s face turns sour once he hears that very familiar voice. He stops the demonic-looking monster, well, he is indeed a Demon, that originated from Ikki’s deep inner heart, Vice. “Vice, you promised me you will listen to me and won’t cause any mess if I let you outside, now, behave.”

Ikki knows that Vice is getting better and stop attacking humans for quite some time, but Ikki can still remember vividly how Vice hurt his mother the first time Ikki let Vice come outside.

“Not fair! They are making a mess and I can’t?” Vice whines childishly while pointing out at the entrance of the bathhouse.

Ikki turns around and gapes to see two drenched people right by the entrance of the bathhouse. They are so soaked to the bone, it almost feels like they just come out from a swimming pool rather than getting rained on.

“I’m really sorry for the mess… but… uhm… we- I can take a bath here, right?” The new customer is busy wiping his drenched hair away from his face, and Ikki takes that chance to shove Vice to the inside of the house so that the new customers won’t get frightened.

“Oh my, you two are really drenched by the rainstorm, huh?” Ikki’s mom is already appearing and carrying two big towels for the new customers.

“It came out of nowhere and we have no place to take shelter…” The male new customer says with an apologetic look, he takes the towel with an awkward smile.

“We apologize for the intrusion,” the female new customer bows politely and accepts the towel with a smile. That is when Ikki notices the familiar but also not very familiar-looking ‘headphones’ around her ‘ears’.

“Humagear…” the second son of the Igarashi family, Daiji, appears from the inside of the house. He gasps softly and Ikki gives him a ‘shh’ gesture to not upset the new customers. Though Ikki can understand Daiji’s reaction, it has been around 2 years since this town has massive recalled a huge number of humagears. Like, one day, they just disappeared after being around for so long.

And more, it is also Ikki’s first time to see a humagear visit Happy Spa. Can humagear take a bath?

“Don’t be apologetic, the rainstorm is quite heavy, it is understandable. You can use our washer and dryer for your soaked clothes, and while waiting for that, please take a bath inside so you won’t get cold,” Mama is already taking the lead in providing hospitality for the new customers.

Now that Ikki can see him more properly, the male customer is around his age, maybe a tad bit older. His suit is totally soaked, and is that a hoodie beneath the suit? And those striking neon sneakers that are totally wet and making squeaky sounds when he moves. The guy looks at the female humagear beside him with a troubled look.

“Please take a bath Aruto-sachou, I will wait for you,” she says with a polite smile but warm eyes to him.

‘Sachou’? Ikki tilts his head a little bit, is he some kind of a business owner? For his age? That is quite admirable.

“…okay…” Aruto agrees with a reluctant face while wiping his dripping wet hair. And then he sneezes quite hard, with a funny expression that Ikki can hear both Sakura and Vice holding their laughter.

“Let me help you, the sooner you get into the bath, the better for you,” Ikki decides to be the usual busybody. He pushes the reluctant new customer gently toward the bath, while the female humagear waves her hand with a smile.

0o0o0o0

“Please put your clothes in this basket, I will put them into our washer and dryer.”

“Sure…”

“You don’t bring any change of clothes with you, do you? Since our washer is old, it might take a while. You can change to our spare yukata.”

“Alright…”

“You can use our provided soap and shampoo, please don’t be shy to use that.”

“Okay…”

“Do you want me to wash your back?-“

“No- no, I don’t need that, thank you but no.”

Ikki’s smile flatters a bit. And here he is being way too noisy to the customer, again. But, this type of customer, the ones that crashed here without any prior planning to go to the bathhouse is usually the one who looks somewhat uncomfortable. The regular customer knows the drill and Ikki can just let them alone most of the time, but Ikki can tell that Aruto isn’t used to a bath house.

He looks so uncomfortable and reluctant that it makes Ikki wonders if Aruto hates taking a bath.

“I’m really sorry,” Aruto apologizes once again before Ikki can apologize to him for being noisy. “I will just take a quick shower, please don’t mind me.”

Ikki blinks with his hand holding a basket full of wet clothes. It might be a bit embarrassing to let a stranger wash your clothes, is that the problem here? But, it can’t be helped because the washer and dryer are actually the personal use in the Igarashi household, not for the customer so-

“You don’t need to be embarrassed-“

“Izu-“ Aruto cuts Ikki’s words. Aruto looks at Ikki with a bit complex eyes and Ikki has trouble deciphering what that expression means. “My secretary is waiting outside, with soaked clothes, probably refusing to sit down… I don’t want to make her wait for too long.” Aruto looks down and it seems he is trying to find confidence to talk more. “The yukata, can you please give it-“ And then he stops awkwardly.

Thankfully, Ikki is fast to catch on.

“Humagear doesn’t need a bath,” is the conclusion that Ikki can draw on. “But, it must be still uncomfortable for her to use soaked clothes, I understand. I will give her a yukata as well, please leave it to me. You should take your time here so that you can warm up your cold body,” Ikki gives Aruto reassurance.

Aruto looks relieved and he smiles thinly. It seems that is what has been bugging his mind. “Thank you so much.”

Ikki just nods and walks toward the lobby.

And Aruto is right. Ikki sees how the humagear secretary, Izu, is standing with a polite pose without moving, almost like a mannequin. Her clothes are still quite soaked despite the towel and Ikki can see some water dripping from her hair. She doesn’t look uncomfortable though.

The Igarashi family members are the one who looks at her with puzzled look. Their family never employ a humagear before, so it is understandable that they don’t really know how to treat this advanced humanoid robot.

“Your owne- Your boss asked me to get you a change of clothes, do you mind changing into a yukata so that I can wash and dry your clothes?” Ikki decides to treat her like how he usually treats any of his customers.

“Aruto-sachou did?” She tilts her head and Ikki can hear some machine noise whirling. Then she smiles so softly and for once, Ikki can see how humane her expression is. “I don’t mind wearing wet clothes, but that sounded what Aruto-sachou would ask me to do,” she bows politely. “Then, I would do as you said. Thank you.”

“Sakura, can you get me a set of yukata for her?” Ikki asks his little sister.

Sakura whispers to him in a quiet voice. “Ikki-nii, she is a robot though, she won’t catch a cold.”

Ikki blinks and glances at the humagear, hoping she can’t hear them. It might be weird to treat a robot in this way and now Ikki understands why Aruto hesitated to ask for the favor earlier. Humagear is a robot, they can’t catch a cold, so it should be fine for them to use soaked clothes.

“Well, it will be better for us if she doesn’t drip water everywhere unless you want to mope the floor later,” Ikki says with a smile. Sakura pouts at him and the eldest just lets out a light chuckle. In the end, the little sister turns away and walks toward the humagear.

“I will show you where to change your clothes, come on.”

“Thank you very much,” Izu says politely.

Ikki huffs with a smile, now that has been taken care of. She does give a different presence that isn’t quite human, but Ikki can tell that that guy, Aruto, cares a lot for her.

“Sakura, you can toss her clothes into the washer after that, okay?”

“Gosh, I know!” Sakura shouts from the woman's section. Ikki just chuckles again. He is about to enter the house and pass the zoned-out Daiji and the curious-looking Vice.

“He seems familiar… where did I have seen him…?”

“She looks like a human but she doesn’t smell like a human, she doesn’t feel alive at all… it feels a bit strange…”

Ikki only frowns a little at them. This is such a rare sight. Nonetheless, Ikki continues to walk to toss Aruto’s clothes to the washing machine.

He should check Aruto in the bathroom after this. Just to make sure that the guy takes a proper bath to warm himself up. Ikki loves being noisy after all, especially toward the ones that look uneasy and uncomfortable.

0o0o0o0

“You are done? That is too fast-“

Ikki and Sakura are just done setting up the washing machine and come back to the lobby only to find Aruto already done taking a bath and wearing the spare yukata and the spare sandals.

“I’m used to just showering,” Aruto says with an awkward smile. “I did take a dip for 5 minutes, it was good.”

“The proper one should be at least 30 minutes though-“

“Ikki-nii shut up.” Sakura hits Ikki’s shoulder to stop the eldest from being too noisy. Ikki grimaces because her punch does quite hurt.

“Where is Izu-“ Aruto stops his question when the said humagear comes out from the women's section bathroom.

“Aruto-sachou,” Izu is wearing the spare yukata as well and smiles at her boss.

Ikki notices the way she smiles toward Aruto is a bit different than to any other people. It kind of amazes Ikki a little bit.

“Hey, you!”

But, Ikki’s jaw drops fast after that, because Vice is jumping in front of her, looking quite excited.

“You aren’t human, are you? What are you? Are you tasty?”

Before Ikki can scold Vice, the eldest feels some wind and sees how Aruto is already standing in front of the shocked humagear. The guy stands in a protective manner while glaring at Vice without a hint of fear. “I should be the one who asks that? What are you? A monster?”

There are so many things that pop inside Ikki’s head.

First, how Vice annoys him, that demon really loves to do whatever he wants to do.

Second, Aruto moves faster before Ikki can react. Added to the fact that the way he stands, positioning himself in front of his secretary, and the way he looks at Vice, it almost feels like he is a trained soldier. Kind of? But isn’t he supposed to be a business owner or something?

Third, the fact that Aruto is the one who is protecting the humagear, not the other way around. Aren’t most of humagear designed to be stronger than normal humans? That is a bit weird to see.

“Vice!” of course, even if Ikki’s head is full of jumbled thoughts, he moves fast to get Vice in a chokehold and drags him away from Aruto and his secretary. “You should wait inside, don’t frighten our customers! Why can’t you listen to me!?”

Ikki sees how Aruto blinks confusedly and his guard drops a bit.

“I’m sorry, he is my Demon. He is under my control, don’t worry,” Ikki flashes an apologetic smile. It might sound a bit untrustworthy based on how he drags away the struggling and whining Vice away from them.

“A demon?” the guy looks confused, understandable. It is clear that he isn’t from around here.

“A demon, or an inner demon,” Izu starts to speak with a pose like a teacher explaining at a class. “Inner demons are the demons that are hidden within human beings, they can possess physical objects or use a tool named ‘Vistamp’ to gain a physical body.”

“…Oh… I see… those monsters that have been appearing around here?” Aruto seems to make a connection. Of course, he knows, because the monster attack has been filling the news recently. Then Ikki can see how Aruto glances at Vice with worried eyes again.

Ikki gives him a smile, but maybe his smile lack of confidence because Aruto’s expression doesn’t change.

“You don’t need to worry, dear customer,” Mama appears again wearing an apron. “My son here is a Kamen Rider, you can trust him,” she pats Ikki’s back. “And Vice, behave, or I won’t give you a curry later.”

“Woah! Mama-san, don’t do that please!” Vice stops struggling in Ikki’s hold and clasps his hand in an apologetic manner.

“Kamen Rider…”

Ikki turns at Aruto and he sees how the guy’s expression changes. It was a complete shock and when Aruto meet his eyes, Ikki can’t understand the meaning of his stare.

“Kamen Rider Revi and Vice,” Izu is talking in an explaining manner again. “The first time they are seen at Fenix’s ceremony is a few months ago. Ever since that, they have been fighting the Demons under the contract of Fenix organization.”

“… Is this common knowledge? Why I don’t know about any of this?” Aruto asks Izu with a confused face.

“Aruto-sachou, you have been very busy for the last two years and you hardly pay attention to anything that is unrelated to humagear,” the secretary answers with a smile.

Ikki smiles with a grimace, a common knowledge that is a bit farfetched. But some people that pay attention to the Demon and Deadmans attack usually know about his not-so-secret identity.

Aruto just nods and he has a serious look on his face. Ikki wonders why because it seems Aruto is pondering the information he just got.

“Let me introduce myself more properly, I’m Igarashi Ikki, the eldest of the siblings,” Ikki is trying to fix the awkward situation. “He is Vice, my demon,” Ikki pats Vice’s shoulder harder than necessary and he ignores Vice’s whining.

“That’s my younger brother, Daiji.” Ikki points out at Daiji, and the second son nods in acknowledgment.

“And my younger sister, Sakura.” Ikki points out at Sakura.

Sakura raises her hand with a bored expression.

“And my mother-“

“Anyway,” Mama speaks up and takes their attention again. The introduction is probably getting too long. “Dinner is ready. Do you want to eat together with us?”

“Huh!?” Aruto sounds so surprised and he makes an exaggerated reaction, again. “No, no, thank you very much. Lending us yukatas is more than enough, I don’t want to interrupt your family’s dinner—the rainstorm is probably going to end soon—” As if the sky is disagreeing with him, a thunder pierces loudly on the sky. “—or not…But, anyway, I’m not hungry.”

The mother of Igarashi’s family has a tender look on her face. Ikki recognizes that look, that motherly look. “It is okay, Aruto-san. Please just join us for dinner, the more is the merrier,” he persuades him.

“But…” The new customer is fidgeting awkwardly in his place. He glances at his secretary as if asking for her help silently.

“Aruto-sachou, it is about time you should have a meal. Your breakfast, which consisted of only a handful of dry cereals, wasn’t adequate. Not to mention your lunch which was only a spoonful of rice bowl before you got pulled out because of an emergency meeting-“

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Aruto shakes his hands toward his secretary and shrugs in defeat. He turns and smiles awkwardly toward the Igarashi family. “Thank you for the offer… I’m… quite hungry.”

“That’s good then, I have cooked a pot full of curry.” Mama smiles brightly and clasps her hand.

“Aaaahhh, I want to eat it too…” Vice whines pitifully behind Ikki. The people in the room are ignoring him altogether.

0o0o0o0

“Please don’t hold back yourself, you can eat as much as you want.”

Ikki is smiling brightly at Aruto. He is trying his best to ease Aruto’s awkwardness. It is futile to reject his mother’s kindness after all.

“Is he your friend, Ikki?” Papa is back from editing and posting his weird videos again, so he missed what happened earlier.

“He is our customer,” Ikki explains truthfully. Of course, he doesn’t mind having Aruto as his friend. Since it seems there isn’t much difference in their age and since Ikki doesn’t continue his education to college nor work outside of the bathhouse, his circle of friends consisted only of his friends from school. He wishes to have more friends.

“Please pardon me,” Aruto bows politely. Then he takes a deep breath as if he is bracing himself to do something. “As thanks, I will show you one of my hilarious gags!” Aruto says suddenly, surprising the people at the table. “I love curry from my head tomatoes!” He says with an exaggerated pose and Izu moves in sync with him. “Now, that was the work of Aruto!”

Ikki only blinks in confusion. And everyone else is the same as him. Even Vice, who has retreated back into Ikki’s body, has no comment at all, surprisingly.

“Tomatoes and to my toes, that is the pun,” Izu gives out the explanation with a happy smile.

“Izu, you shouldn’t explain the gag!”

Then Aruto hangs his head in shame when obviously no one reacted to his joke.

Then someone starts to laugh.

“Hahaha, what an interesting guy.” The father of the Igarashi family is laughing a little and points at Aruto while shaking his head.

“Did you find that amusing!?” Sakura asks in disbelief.

“I only notices that I rarely did any dad jokes. I should do something like this as well, thank you for making me realize that,” Papa is nodding with strange pride.

“Please don’t,” Daiji pleas under his breath.

“I will take that laugh, thank you very much!” Aruto clenches his fists and nods. “You didn’t laugh from the bottom of your heart, but I will still take it!”

“Congratulation, Aruto-sachou, finally someone laughed at your joke, though not very sincerely…” Izu gives him a series of claps. If it is any other people, it might sound a bit sarcastic, but she sounded honest in saying that.

“Thank you, I will take this as an encouragement to do better at my gags!” Aruto is looking up as if he is looking toward the sky while actually, he is looking into the ceiling.

Ikki is blinking while seeing him.

What an interesting person.

‘I think he loses some screw in his head.’ Vice lets out a comment that only Ikki can hear.

“Can we please start to eat now? I’m hungry,” Sakura says with a tight smile, breaking the unnecessary comedy skit around the table.

“Right, right, let’s start eating, everyone,” the father nods in agreement. “Itadakimasu!”

“Itadakimasu!” Ikki says with a smile. Curry is always a comfort food for the Igarashi family, it isn’t as good as sukiyaki, but it is still one of his favorite foods.

“Wow, this is good, really gooood,” Aruto praises it with a big smile. His reaction is quite exaggerated. But his eyes are sparkling in honesty.

“Thank you, but it is only curry, nothing special,” the mother shakes her hand with an embarrassed smile, but she looks delighted.

“No, seriously, it is different from the convenience store curry,” Aruto nods in satisfaction. “It has the homemade feeling in it.”

“Because it is homemade,” Sakura sounds tired. Then again, the youngest of the Igarashi siblings isn’t good at dealing with lame jokes.

“Well, I don’t have the luxury to eat homemade food a lot…” Aruto whispers under his breath.

“Do you live alone? Oh yeah, what is your name again?” Mama asks with a happy smile. She has a soft look on her face, it seems Aruto gets into her soft spot.

There is an awkward silence. Right, the whole fiasco back then made them forget to ask Aruto’s full name. Ikki glances at Aruto, looking at how he plays with the curry on his plate as if contemplating to answer it.

“Hiden Aruto…” Aruto answers with a shy smile.

“Huh? That sounds familiar… where did I hear it before…?” Papa mutters absentmindedly.

“Hiden,” Daiji stops eating immediately. “Hiden Intelligence. Humagear.”

Sakura drops her spoon as she gapes. “The CEO!?”

Ikki’s eyes widened and turn to Aruto in shock. Even Ikki knows about that humongous company. Even though humagear isn’t as commonly used in this town as before, Ikki still knows about it.

“And a Kamen Rider,” Daiji adds again.

“A KAMEN RIDER!?” The rest of the Igarashi family shouts in surprise.

Aruto is flinching and smiles with a grimace.

‘I can’t believe he is a Kamen Rider!’ Vice shouts inside Ikki’s head.

“So, we are the same…” Ikki adds quickly, snapping out from his shock because he doesn’t mean to make Aruto uncomfortable with their reaction. “We are comrade!” He adds with more excitement.

Aruto shakes his head a little bit as he eats more curry. The confidence and the comfortableness have melted away from him and Ikki can see how Aruto has his guard up again. “…no, we are both Kamen Riders but I think we use different technology to fight, I don’t think I can join in your fight against demons.” Aruto looks at Ikki with an apologetic look. “I’m sorry.”

“No, no, that’s okay. I didn’t mean to ask you to join our fight,” Ikki answers back in a hurry. He can tell that Aruto is busy with his own ordeals.

Ikki grimaces at himself, that’s a way to ruin his first impression of a fellow Kamen Rider.

“Does it mean that you are the ‘senpai’ Kamen Rider then?” Papa mulls by himself but he catches everyone’s attention. He changes his pose to a more serious position. “Then, could I ask you for some advice for all of my children? They are all Kamen Rider, you see.”

Now Aruto is the one who drops his spoon.

“All… of them? Three of them?” Aruto points at Ikki, Daiji and Sakura’s direction.

“Yes, though I don’t know whether to be thankful or to be sad about it,” Mama admits it reluctantly.

Aruto gulps rather loudly and makes a very serious thinking face. Everyone is waiting for him to speak patiently.

“Since there are three of you and more, you are all siblings…” Aruto’s eyes meet Ikki, the eldest feels a bit awkward because it feels like Aruto is specifically talking to him. “You need to learn how to ask for help. You can’t do everything alone…” Aruto glances at his secretary as if he is afraid that the humagear will say something contradictory. But, Izu is just standing behind Aruto with a polite pose, not saying anything.

“It might be a hypocrite for me to say that though…” Aruto mutters very softly under his breath. Ikki is sitting beside him, so he can still hear what he said.

“Huh, what did you say?” Daiji didn’t catch it.

“Nothing, what I mean is, it is better to work together to fight against the enemy,” Aruto adds with a smile, evading the question.

“That’s true,” Papa is nodding in agreement.

Then Ikki can see how Aruto’s expression changes into more solemn. “Being a Kamen Rider… can be hard. But you need to know that, everything will end eventually…” Aruto says with a tight smile. “So, just hang in there.”

Ikki wants to let out a comment that it sounds rather ominous. It has a double meaning, like, their fight can end, but also their life can end, their happiness can end… but Ikki takes it that Aruto didn’t mean it in a negative way like that.

He might mean that their fighting will end eventually.

That’s good to know because Ikki doesn’t want to keep fighting forever either.

“That’s it, I guess. You are together, you all can do it,” Aruto ends his advice with a small smile.

Ikki might see it wrong, but he can see some envy apparent in Aruto’s eyes. But when he blinks, it is gone and Ikki wonders if he just imagined it.

“That’s right, there are three of you, as long as you help each other, everything will be alright,” the mother of the Igarashi family shares her wisdom once again.

“Thank you for the advice, Hiden-san,” Ikki says, changing how he calls Aruto because it feels rude to call a senpai by his little name.

“Just call me Aruto please, Hiden is my company name as well…”

“I see, okay, Aruto-san,” Ikki nods obediently. It feels good to know a senpai Kamen Rider, other than Kamiyama Touma. Aruto gives out a different aura than Touma, like…

It feels like he has gone through a lot.

Not all of his smiles are sincere, most of them didn’t reach his eyes. His eyes are filled with pain, but he hides it with all of his fake smiles and forced laughs.

He even looked ashamed to admit that he is a Kamen Rider.

And it made Ikki’s heart tight in sadness.

True, being a Kamen Rider isn’t a game. They are risking their lives to protect what’s important to them.

Ikki almost wants to ask whether Aruto has lost something because of his fight. But, the answer is obvious so Ikki doesn’t need to put it into words.

“Now, now, please don’t look so down, there is still a lot of curry, feel free to ask for seconds,” Mama says with a bright smile.

‘Please leave some for meeee!!’

“Vice asked to leave some for him, Okaa-chan.”

“If you asked me to, alrighty.” Mama shows a thumbs up and Ikki just chuckles. The mood is getting brightened again, though, from the side of his eyes, Ikki can see how Aruto is still looking down while finishing his curry.

0o0o0o0

“Thank you very much for everything.” Aruto is already wearing his freshly washed and dried suit and hoodie. Izu is the same as well, she looks pristine. The rainstorm has died down after the dinner ended so it is their time to go back home.

“We didn’t do much. Please come again if you have time,” Ikki is trying to cheer Aruto up. He doesn’t know why he is upset or why his mood is down, but Ikki hates to see Aruto looking down.

“I will, if I have time,” Aruto nods and turns away. He exits the bathhouse together with his secretary without looking back.

Ikki waves his hand.

It feels more like ‘I won’t come back again’ in his ear, but Ikki might have interpreted it wrong. Right, Aruto is a CEO, he must be busy.

They will cross paths once again, Ikki is sure of that.

“Is he gone?” Daiji asks Ikki in a bit low voice.

“Yeah, Aruto-san just left, why?”

Daiji motions to Ikki to follow him to a quiet corner. Ikki raises one of his eyebrows but follows his little brother’s lead.

“You know, Nii-chan. I remember him as a Kamen Rider because Karizaki-san showed me a video during Fenix’s training, the video of his battle with his enemy…” Daiji whispers with a deep frown. “It was… really a disturbing battle of video, well, it was only recorded from one angle and the conversation wasn’t recorded well but… I think it might be better not to get close to him…”

Ikki blinks slowly in surprise. He gives Daiji a look and the younger brother bites his lip, recognizing that look. “Look, we are busy dealing with Deadmans already. You are such a busybody Nii-chan, but we have our hands full, okay?”

‘So, don’t add more unnecessary problems for us to deal with,’ is what Daiji didn’t say to Ikki directly, but the eldest knows that is what Daiji wants to get across to him.

“I will see what I can do,” Ikki can’t promise Daiji anything. The second son only sighs, as if he is already giving up and walks away.

Ikki doesn’t know what Aruto has gone through and what made him have those kinds of expressions, but Ikki can’t really stand it and yet Ikki feels like he is hitting a wall that stops him from getting too noisy toward Aruto.

His senpai didn’t talk much about himself, and he didn’t ask anything about Ikki or his siblings either.

This kind of person is hard to get close to. Not to mention that Aruto has gone through a lot, so Ikki isn’t sure if being noisy can be of help to him.

But Ikki notices, he wants to befriend this senpai Kamen Rider. Because Ikki wants to stop that sad smile on Aruto’s face.

They are both Kamen Riders, maybe their enemies and fights are different, but they are still comrades nonetheless.

He is sure he will meet Aruto again one day.

And Ikki wants to help Aruto, erasing that sad smile from his face.

Ikki is a busybody, he just can’t help it. He is the way he is after all.

End

Chapter Text

A book is a door of knowledge. A story is a record of another world. A storybook is a window that leads to knowledge about another world.

As a book lover, Touma just loves books so much, especially story books, novels, fairytales, and any books that contain stories whether it is fiction or not. But, as a novelist, he also knows the pain of how to make one into reality.

“It’s not good, I think I have writer's block,” Touma mutters lifelessly with his face covered by a book. The young novelist can hear the deafening silence around him. Someone is dropping a book. And some people even stop breathing.

“You? You have a writer's block?” Kento sounds in disbelief as if Touma just mutter a very ridiculous joke that offended him.

“No way,” Rintaro also shakes his head.

“Impossible!” Mei approaches Touma and hits the table so hard with a dramatic expression. “You, from all of the people, can’t have writer's block, Touma!”

“Hey, I’m a human too…” Touma reminds his friends, putting a book away from his face. He is kind of burdened to know that his friends think of him that highly.

“Yeah, right, coming from someone who rewrites the Wonder World, of course,” Kento folds his arms, he sounds quite sarcastic.

Touma puts his chin on the table with a defeated expression. “Please don’t say that. My previous works are mostly based on real-life experience. And rewriting Wonder World wasn’t that hard, it just took a long time to complete.”

“Then, why can’t you just write another story based on real-life experience again?” Mei asks Touma with an innocent expression.

“You see, it isn’t that easy either.” Touma can’t explain that he almost has no other real-life experience that is interesting enough to write about. Well, there is a slice-of-life genre to try on, but Touma isn’t really sure. “I want to challenge myself to write a different story with a different genre this time, but maybe I overestimate myself… I just can’t get any inspiration to write anything… Ugh…”

“Writing something from scratch sounds hard…” Rintaro nods in an understanding way. “Then, it might be good for you to refresh yourself first. Trying something new, going to a different place, if you do that, you might find inspiration to make a new story.” Rintaro’s eyes are quite sparkling.

“Like when we have the rotating sushi the other day, that was good,” Kento nods in agreement.

“Yeah, to think they even serve dessert there, and it was delicious.” Rintaro smiles brightly.

Touma just looks at his two friends who are easily impressed by anything from the normal world. That is quite a good idea. “Trying something new, huh? But what?”

Mei scratches her cheek awkwardly before she groans. “Ugh, actually I don’t want to tell you this. But, maybe you can start from here.” Mei clicks something on her phone and then shows it to Touma.

Touma reads it then he blinks faster as he processes it. “The CEO of Hiden Intelligence is going to hold an open Q&A in the city hall tomorrow!?” Touma raises from his seat. “Mei-chan, you should tell me faster!”

“Well, I told you now, didn’t I?” Mei looks conflicted. “I know he is a Kamen Rider and you want to befriend him, but are you sure, Touma?”

But Touma doesn’t pay attention to Mei any longer. He is looking at the photo of the poster with sparkling eyes. “I guess I need to do some research about humagears first, I know nothing about that kind of robot… It will be fun.” Touma smiles so brightly that it might blind the people around him.

“Just to remind you, as your editor, I will accompany you,” Mei doesn’t look too excited but Touma fails to notice it. The former Kamen Rider is just happy to think about meeting again with his senior Kamen Rider. He wonders how Aruto reacts if he knows that Touma is a former Kamen Rider.

He hopes Aruto wants to befriend him. So that Touma can see Aruto smile sincerely.

0o0o0o0

Humans can’t live alone. In one way or another, human needs some support to keep living. Because human is a social living being, for the sake of their sanity, no human can’t live alone.

That is what Hiden Aruto knows, especially as the CEO of Hiden Intelligence company. One of the main reasons why his grandfather invented a humagear is so that humans can have alternative support in their life.

Because not all people have the basic skill to form a relationship with other people.

Just like Aruto himself.

Not that he will ever admit it openly to others though. Not that many people know that Aruto have this kind of problem either.

“I guess, I overestimated myself…”

“The open Q&A is a good idea, and to make it free for anyone to attend, it is a way to boost our company’s image in this town. But, it was hard to control the situation and the amount of questions aimed at you was outstanding, the MC couldn’t do much to filter the questions.” Izu is giving her opinion in all honesty.

Aruto lets out a heavy sigh and glances at Izu. “At least the Vice-President and the Senior Managing Director didn’t berate me for it.” He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. “I’m just desperate to improve the humagears’ image somehow. I thought that this city would be a good start.”

With what happened 2 years ago, after the battle with Metsubojinrai.net and Ark, the image of humagear has fallen so low ever since it was invented. And of course, as the CEO, Aruto has been putting so much effort and time to fix the damage.

And he thought that this outskirt town, that barely adopted humagears technology from the start, might be a good place to rebuild the image of humagears.

Hence why Aruto braced himself and held an open Q&A in the city hall today. He thought that after 3 years he became the CEO, he has gained enough knowledge about the company and humagears. But turns out, what people want is an explanation of what happened with the terrorist attack from humagears before, why Hiden Intelligence let it happen, why the company manipulated so much information in media, and other things like that.

It was a total disaster QnA and what Aruto could do in the end was apologizing, bowing, and giving out vague answers.

It is hard to do something like this when people just simply refuse to believe again in humagears. Not to mention people are thinking that Hiden Intelligence is a shady company who secretly selling a killing-machine robot.

“As expectedly, the most efficient way to improve humagear’s image is by using entertainment media,” Izu proposes the idea. It isn’t a new idea though.

“I know that, but our board management is still against this idea, especially from the failed drama from three years ago…” Aruto still remembers how a veteran actor almost got killed by a humagear. It was good enough that the actor didn’t sue the company back then, but the project of the drama was completely discarded.

“There are other entertainment media, manga, novels, reality shows, there are many of them,” Izu proposes the idea again.

Aruto’s head starts to throb when he remembers the uproar of when a humagear, G-Pen, writing a manga on its own. The artists were protesting how their works have been used to do machine learning without permission and that AI-making art is simply unacceptable. “Let’s… not touch this subject for now.”

There are so many things that Aruto needs to tackle to rebuild the image of humagears and honestly, Aruto is lost in what he should do.

And it has been two years like this with so little improvement. The burden of being the CEO is much more despairing than being a Kamen Rider for Aruto currently.

“I think it might be better for you to eat now, Aruto-sachou. You missed lunch earlier,” Izu says with a concerned face.

“Right, let’s do that,” Aruto is about to step out from the city hall, trying his best to not lose his spirit from the mess earlier. Right, he can’t stop trying now. He is the CEO of Hiden Intelligence, he won’t ever give up on the humagears-

“Ah, Hiden-san!”

Someone is approaching them, Aruto is a bit surprised and hoping that it isn’t a journalist or anything like that. But, somehow she looks familiar. “Thank God, I can find you. You disappeared so quickly from the backstage…” She is panting but then she shows him a bright smile.

“I’m sorry but who…” Aruto is trying to remember, but as a CEO, he has met a ton of people and humagears, and he started to lose track of them especially if the meeting didn’t leave a strong impression.

“It is me! Ah, I haven’t introduced myself before, I’m Sudou Mei, the editor of the novelist Kamiyama Touma. We met before at Touma’s bookstore,” Mei points at herself comically, as if she is asking Aruto to remember her face.

“Ah! Right! It is you, I’m sorry I only remember it now,” Aruto bows at her. Right, they met a few months ago.

“No, no, it is okay,” Mei bows back awkwardly. Then she glances around as if she is trying to find something or someone.

Aruto just frowns. Based on what she just said, it seemed she attended the open Q&A. “Did you come to the Q&A earlier?” Aruto asks with a sheepish smile, trying not to look too ashamed, but he can’t cover how he feels down.

“Oh…” Mei glances around awkwardly. “I only came late, it was about to end…” She laughs while scratching her cheeks. Aruto can tell that she is lying through her teeth based on how Mei has trouble looking him in the face. “I didn’t suppose to go alone… oh gosh… where is he…” She grumbles under her breath while looking around in a restless way.

“Huh? Are you expecting to meet someone here?” Aruto is confused.

“Yes, someone eagerly wants to meet you- now, there he is!” Mei points out toward someone behind Aruto. So, the young CEO turns around and his jaw drops to see the unexpectant person coming toward him.

“Hiden-san!” The young famous novelist, Kamiyama Touma, is waving with a bright face.

It takes a second for Aruto to smile back awkwardly, not fully understanding just why the bestseller novelist looks so happy to meet him.

“I’m so glad I can meet you here,” Touma stops running and wipes some of his sweat. It is obvious that he comes here in a hurry.

“You idiot! You are late!” Mei scolds the novelist with a whisper.

“Well, I almost forgot that I promised the children I would read them a book… What could I do? I needed to fulfill my promise first,” Touma whispers back to Mei.  

Aruto just glances at them confusedly. Then he glances at Izu, and it seems even his secretary is as confused as him about this whole interaction. Izu’s eyes meet him, noticing his confusion.

“If I may ask, do you have any business with Aruto-sachou?” Izu asks in her secretary mode, stepping up between the two guests and the CEO. It is a bit protective but also distancing Aruto from the unexpected guests. It feels rude to treat Touma and Mei this way, but Aruto has a rough day and his head is throbbing slightly.

No, no, he can’t do this. Touma is a famous novelist. Who knows what will happen if Aruto behaves rudely toward him? Though he thinks that Touma isn’t that kind of person, but still…

“Oh… that’s, I want to meet and talk with you, Hiden-san,” Touma says with a bit of a shy smile.

“About what specifically?” Izu is becoming protective of Aruto especially when Aruto’s condition isn’t good like now. But, she can come off rude to other people, so Aruto needs to stop her here. The young CEO pats Izu’s shoulder gently.

“I’m flattered that the famous novelist wants to have a talk with me,” based on Touma’s expression, the talk doesn’t seem like something bad, so Aruto is trying his best to smile and welcoming toward them. “How about we talk over a drink?”

“Sounds good,” Touma nods in excitement. Mei doesn’t look too sure but she nods along anyway.

Aruto smiles at Izu. The humagear secretary is giving him a look with some whirling noise, it seems that she isn’t too sure of what Aruto is doing either. But, Izu doesn’t say anything to him. That’s good.

“Then, I know a good coffee shop around the corner, let’s go there!” Mei says with a kind of forced smile.

0o0o0o0

“Thank you for taking the time to speak with me, Hiden-san.”

“No, no, it is okay. And you can just call me with my little name, Hiden is my company’s name as well so it is a little bit strange to be called that.”

“Okay, then, Aruto-san.”

Aruto is wondering what kind of business a famous novelist has with him. Their last meeting was a bit… interesting but bizarre. Aruto didn’t hate it though. On the opposite, he was happy to be able to meet his favorite novelist, but he didn’t expect his identity to be revealed that way… It is just…

Aruto takes a peek at how Touma drinks his espresso with a bright face. The young CEO is sipping his green tea, trying to calm down his nerve.

It is just… they are too different. It feels like they are both from two different worlds or something. So, it feels a little bit awkward and suffocating despite their close age.

Or maybe, it is just Aruto who feels that.

“To be honest, I kind of missed the timing to tell you this…” Touma starts to speak again. He glances in the direction across the small street. The small coffee shop didn’t have food on their menu, so Mei and Izu are at the crepe shop across the street to buy crepes for them. “I only found out when you left my bookstore… that you are a Kamen Rider, Aruto-san.”

Aruto holds the cup tighter, but he manages to control his expression. “That’s right.”

That is a common secret now. Now that two years have passed, not everyone remembers that he is a Kamen Rider since he hasn’t been openly fighting like before. But anyone can do a little bit of digging and it is easy to find out that the young CEO is also a Kamen Rider.

Along with countless videos of the battles that have spread out on the internet that the company is trying to take down even now.

Aruto wonders if Touma has seen that video too. Or worse, maybe he saw the streaming of the battle online? It isn’t like Aruto feels guilty about his last battle with Horobi, he is sure that he did the right thing. But only after the battle ended, he found out that it was being streamed online in the most misleading way possible. The sound wasn’t recorded properly, so their conversation wasn’t clear, then it was mostly recorded from one angle camera only…

It was easy to edit and twist the video into something different entirely. And many people did. So, Aruto’s reputation as a Kamen Rider is as worse as the image of humagears among common people.

And not to mention, for the past two years, Aruto is busy improving the humagear’s image but put no effort to fix his image as a Kamen Rider. It isn’t important for him. Though, it resulted in some people thinking of him as an ambiguous or even evil Kamen Rider.

“The truth is… I’m a Kamen Rider too, well, was Kamen Rider.”

Now, Aruto can’t mask his shock. He blinks as his jaw drops.

“A Kamen Rider.”

“Yes… in a bit different than you, but a Kamen Rider,” Touma vaguely explain with a sheepish smile.

Aruto blinks again as he is processing the information.

First, Igarashi Ikki. And now…

“Kamiyama-sensei is, was, a Kamen Rider…?” Aruto just can’t believe it. “My favorite novelist is actually a Kamen Rider…” Aruto repeats that again in a smaller voice.

“I’m sorry I only get to tell you now, like I said, I missed the timing,” Touma explains more with an embarrassed smile. “And of course, I want to tell you about this directly in person, that is why I only get to tell you now.”

Aruto is still a bit in shock. It feels as if his head is throbbing harder.

He didn’t expect this at all.

It feels like he sees Touma in a different light.

“Then the novel… it was about you… as a Kamen Rider?” Aruto needs to confirm that.

Touma smiles and nods with a bit of a shy smile.

“Wow… that was…” Aruto is at a loss for words. “I read the sequel and I… wow…” Aruto is trying to contain his emotions.

First, the ashamed feeling of how his favorite novelist knows that Aruto is a Kamen Rider. Then, the excitement feeling of how his favorite novelist was a Kamen Rider. Then how bizarre it was that the novel he read was about the experience of his favorite novelist as a Kamen Rider.

“Oh, did you finish reading the sequel?”

“Yes, and I laughed, I cried, I laughed till I cried,” Aruto admits it.

“Is that so?” Touma looks delighted.

And Aruto smiles back but then his smiles start to flatter.

It feels as if both of them can’t be more different than this.

Touma has gone through a lot, right? Maybe a lot more than what he has written in the novel, then how come he…

Aruto sees how Touma finishes his espresso with a smile then turns around and waves cheerfully at his editor across the small street.

How come he… looks so free and happy? Was it because he stopped being a Kamen Rider…?

Did Touma have a choice to stop being a Kamen Rider?

He has so many friends around him so why… how…

Aruto grits his teeth and drinks the rest of his green tea.

Okay, stop it. It isn’t good when he is overthinking. It is better for him to stop there and not think further.

It is good that Touma reached at him now. He revealed his identity as a former Kamen Rider so it means that he wants to build a connection with Aruto, and that is a good thing. And it doesn’t look like Touma is seeing him in a bad light either. 

That is good. 

Everything is good.

Touma turns at him and smiles brightly at Aruto. And Aruto is trying his best to smile as brightly as he.

He is pretending to not know how his smile feels forced, he hopes that Touma doesn’t notice that. At least, if Aruto is pretending to be dumb about it, usually the people will play along with it.

Then Touma’s eyes change slightly, they look more tender and understanding. And it down to Aruto that it is his first time to meet an, albeit former, Kamen Rider like Touma. He looks so friendly, welcoming, and gentle. He looks like he won’t hurt a fly, let alone fighting monsters.

“I’m glad I meet you, Aruto-san,” Touma adds more. He looks genuinely happy and it makes Aruto at a loss, not understanding the reason. “Because I-“

“KYAAA!”

Both of them turns their head toward the source of the scream followed by a crashing sound.

“HEY! YOU, COME BACK!”

“Wha-“ Touma sounds confused but Aruto is already jumping to the street because he sees how Izu is sitting on the street with an awkward angle. It is easy to realize that she is simply fallen to the ground.

“IZU!” He shouts louder than he intended to. They are on a small street filled with small shops. It should be only for pedestrians but Aruto did see how a motorcyclist riding fast through here.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, she helped me avoid the motorcycle but-“

“Aruto-sachou…”

“What happened?”

“I think it was hit and run.”

“Damn it, and the preparator ran away?”

There are too many noises around him, but Aruto’s attention is fixed on Izu only. He tries to observe her condition while his heart is thundering in his chest. For a split second, it feels like he can see Izu’s torn face. Aruto can feel how his heart drops and his body is trembling. 

“Aruto-sachou,” Izu talks more firmly, touching his arm gently, and snapping Aruto out. Izu’s torn face is gone, replaced by Izu’s concerned face. “I’m alright, my left knee joint is damaged, but I’m alright.” 

0o0o0o0

Touma is observing the situation quietly. So, it seems there was a rowdy motorcyclist passing through this small street that is supposed to be a pedestrian. Mei, who was carrying crepes in both of her hands, failed to notice it and reacted too late. Izu, as a humagear, reacted faster and pulled her out of the way but because of the shifting weight, she was the one who got hit by the motorcycle instead. Izu crashed to the ground and the rider of the motorcycle run away.

“What should I do? Oh my God… Oh, ambulance… no, no, that’s wrong,” Mei looks like a mess. Understandable, because Izu’s left leg is twisted at a weird angle and there is blue blood, no, liquid leaking from the wound. Touma pats her shoulder to calm her down.

“Calm down, Mei-chan.”

But, Touma’s eyes are fixed on Aruto.

It is a bit hard to see his expression from this angle, but Touma can tell something is wrong from Aruto’s reaction. He moved so fast when he noticed his humagear secretary is wounded. And then, he just froze beside her.

And, is he trembling?

“I’m alright, my left knee joint is damaged, but I’m alright.”

For the first time, Touma can hear just how humane Izu can sound. She talked so gently, like comforting a child.

“Huh, so it is a humagear who got hit? That’s good then.”

“I’m glad it isn’t a person.”

“Ah, I need to go back to my shop.”

And just like that, the crowd is scattered around, losing their interest once they notice that the victim is only a humagear.

“Huh? What?” Mei sounds annoyed and insulted. Touma feels the same way, but he can’t express it like Mei.

It is true, it is good that the one who got hurt is Izu, not Mei. But Touma feels ashamed to think of it like that.

“Can you assess your damage, Izu?” Aruto asks in a monotone voice, seeming oblivious of what happened around him, and only fixated on his wounded secretary.

Izu closes her eyes for a second and her ear modules are glowing. “The assessment is done. The left knee joint is torn, and there is a minor leakage of coolant from the left knee. The conclusion is a medium damage, repairable,” Izu explains in a more robotic voice than before.

“Where is the nearest service center of humagears?” Aruto asks again in a more monotone voice. The way he talks is kind of disturbing for Touma, but he can only watch and observes the situation.

“The nearest service center is approximately 51 km from here,” Izu answers again.

“That’s really far. I guess this town doesn’t have one,” now Aruto sounds dejected. He looks at Izu’s twisted knee with a grimace.

“I’m really sorry!” Mei bows at Izu and Aruto. She looks like she is about to cry. “I should have paid attention to the street more, I didn’t mean to get you hurt…”

“It is okay, Sudou-san. It is my job as humagear to protect the people around us. As humagear, we are more repairable than humans,” Izu answers with a polite smile. There is no hint that she is in pain. But, Aruto’s expression looks dark beside her.

“It isn’t your fault, don’t worry,” Aruto says with a low voice at Mei. Obviously, he is upset with Izu’s injury but he doesn’t direct his anger toward Mei, thankfully.

“Aruto-san, what can we do to help-“ Touma stops speaking when suddenly Aruto tore the sleeve of his suit. He did it effortlessly despite it looks like the suit is quite durable. Then Aruto repositions Izu’s knee in the right way and ties his torn sleeve to the open wound.

“Aruto-sachou,” Izu responds, as if she wants to say that what Aruto doing is unnecessary but the young CEO looks satisfied with his work.

“That’s better,” Aruto shows a thin smile at Izu. Then he turns at Touma, he looks calmer and more stable than before. “I’m sorry, I wonder if you can help me find a taxi on the main street there?” Aruto points toward the main street. “I’m going to bring Izu to the service center now.”

“Roger!” Mei is the one who responded faster and she is running toward the main street quickly.

Then Aruto kneels with his back facing Izu. “Izu, climb up. We are going to fix you.”

Touma is blinking, glancing at Aruto then Izu.

“I can contact the service center team to pick me up, Aruto-sachou,” Izu suggests in a logical way.

“I know, but it is from the neighboring town, right? Not to mention there is a lack of staff in most of the service centers besides the main one, I know about that. It would take a long time for them to pick you up, it is faster for us to get there by ourselves,” Aruto rebukes Izu’s suggestion.

“…I’m heavy,” Izu mutters softly, sounding as if she is hesitating.

Aruto lets out a small chuckle. “I know that, I have picked and carry a lot of humagears, Izu. Believe me, I won’t drop you.”

Based on Izu’s expression, Touma can tell what Izu is thinking. That isn’t what the humagear is worried about. But, Aruto doesn’t budge from his place so finally, Izu climbs on Aruto’s back.

With a slight groan, Aruto stands with Izu on his back.

It does look very heavy, Touma can see how Aruto’s legs are trembling a little. Touma wants to help him carry the humagear, but wondering how he can do that without making it look like a sexual harassment.

“Oh, Kamiyama-sensei, can you please check on Sudou-san whether she already get the taxi or not?” Aruto asks as he starts to walk.

Touma only looks at Aruto and Izu with worried eyes. Aruto is obviously panting despite only walking a few steps. But, he looks confident in what he is doing.

And Izu.

She has a tender expression on her face. Her eyes look a bit solemn, clouded by worry but also with admiration. The way she just decides to wrap her arms around Aruto’s shoulders without speaking anything makes Touma a bit stunned.

“Oh, of course, let me check on her for a minute.” Touma turns away and runs faster to the main street, for a second, he turns behind his shoulder, looking at the young CEO who is carrying a wounded humagear secretary on his back.

“Wow, he is really something else,” Touma mutters to himself, fixing his hat position and running faster to find Mei.

0o0o0o0

“Thank you for finding the taxi.”

“No, no, it is okay! I hope Izu will be alright, I’m really sorry once again.” Mei is busy bowing at Aruto with a guilty face.

“I hope you can get her fixed soon,” Touma adds. He glances at Izu, who is already seated inside the taxi. Aruto is drenched with sweat, but he is glad that he managed to carry Izu without dropping her. Now, he just needs to bring her to a service center to fix her up.

Knowing what he should do is helping Aruto to control his anxiety. He barely holds it down, though. He keeps repeating inside his head that Izu is going to be alright, Izu is going to be alright, like a broken record player.

“Ah right, here,” Touma rummages through his pocket and offers something to Aruto. “Please have some candies, I heard you missed lunch.” And well, they were supposed to eat crepes but the plan got ruined. Aruto wonders if that is why his head is rather light-headed.

But well, he knows that he can survive only with water for a few days. He has tested that- no, let’s not remember that time.

Aruto shakes his head and accepts the candies with a smile. Touma is really a good person. Not like Aruto never meet a good person before, but it is rare for him to meet someone who doesn’t act antagonistic toward him or look down at him the first few times they see him. 

“Mint candies, huh? Thank you, that really mint a lot to me.”

There is a silence between them, Touma is just blinking with a shocked face.

“Now, that’s the work of Aruto!” Surprisingly, the one who says that is Izu, from inside the taxi.

“Izu, that is supposed to be my catchphrase,” Aruto complains a little and peek inside the taxi. Izu just shows him an innocent smile and Aruto feels better to see how she can joke around.

“Well, thank you once again, Kamiyama-sensei, Sudou-san, see you again,” Aruto bows at them and slips inside the taxi.

Touma and Mei finally snap out of their shock and wave toward them.

Finally, the taxi moves, and Aruto can drop his pretense a little bit. He glances at Izu, who looks calm and not a hint of uncomfortableness on her face. But, humagears are built like that. They have no sense of pain after all.

“They are good people, Aruto-sachou,” instead, that is what Izu says.

“You are right,” Aruto opens the mint candy and pops one into his mouth.

It is good that he has a connection with Touma now.

Though, Aruto wonders, whether that connection means something or not.

It isn’t like they are friends or anything, right?

0o0o0o0

“How about we ask Kamiyama-sensei to write a novel about humagears to fix the company’s image, Aruto-sachou?”

“You see, Izu… it isn’t that easy.”

Aruto scans through the documents in his hand with his head on the clouds. Izu was easily fixed, thankfully, but then Aruto needs to deal with the aftermath of a disastrous open Q&A a few days ago. He needs to find a way to improve the image of humagear for common people.

Izu is tilting her head, obviously, she can’t understand why it isn’t easy to ask for Touma’s help.

“He might be an acquaintance of mine, a former Kamen Rider, but it doesn’t mean that I can suddenly ask him to write me a novel out of nowhere,” Aruto is trying to explain to his secretary.

Of course, it is a very sweet idea. Almost like a dream. He has been thinking about that idea as well, since his second meeting with Touma.

But, it feels too shameless. People might think that Aruto is a shameless person, but he isn’t.

“Of course, we will properly commission him for it, and pay him for his work. Is there something wrong with that?” Izu asks again.

“Still… it isn’t that easy…” Aruto sighs and leans back in his seat.

They are only a mere acquaintance. It feels wrong to take advantage of their connection like that. Well, it doesn’t mean that Touma will accept it right away, but Aruto doesn’t want to turn their connection into a business either.

It just feels wrong.

“Speaking of Kamiyama-sensei… Kamiyama-sensei is here, he requests to meet you, Aruto-sachou.”

“Huh, wait, what!?” Aruto stands from his seat instantly. Why is Touma here at the Hiden Intelligence-

“Oh wow, this place is really futuristic…”

“Yeah, your bookstore is way too rustic, Touma. Even though you have enough money to build it nicer.”

“Mind you, I love it like that, Mei-chan.”

Touma and Mei appear from the stairs and wave at Aruto happily. “Aruto-san, I’m happy to meet you again.”

“Izu, I see that you are okay now!” Mei runs toward Izu and links their hands.

Aruto is still shocked. “Why are you here? I mean, no, I’m happy to meet you too, Kamiyama-sensei, but why are you here?” Aruto walks toward the seating in front of his desk. “And please sit down.”

Touma sits down across from Aruto and smiles a bit shily. “You see, hm, how should I explain it to you… I wonder if it is possible for me to write about humagears for my novel?” Touma speaks right to the point.

“Huh?” Aruto blinks in confusion and turns toward Izu. The humagear secretary looks shocked as well.

“You see,” Mei is mediating between them. “Touma wants to write a new novel and he said that meeting you both inspired him to write a story about humagears and humans. But, then I remind him that humagear is Hiden’s intellectual property so we have to officially request permission to write about it in a novel. That’s why we are here.”

“Oh wow Mei-chan, you acted like a proper editor for once,” Touma looks surprised.

“Mind you, I’m a proper editor from a long time ago,” then Mei coughs to clear her throat. “So, is that possible? Is there any requirement we need to fulfill to get the permission?”

Aruto is blinking then looking at Touma in wonder.

“Did you read my mind, Kamiyama-sensei?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, this is—” Aruto licks his lips, he wants to laugh but also he feels somewhat nervous. It feels too good to be true. “To be honest, I have been thinking to request you to make a commissioned work, to write a story about humagears…” Aruto chuckles nervously. “It is funny that we think the same thing.”

“Seriously? Wow, that’s cool,” Touma laughs a little. “Then, am I allowed to write about humagears, right, Aruto-san?”

“Of course, Kamiyama-sama, I’m delighted for you to write about humagears! I can’t wait for it!” Aruto offers his hand to Touma, a habit he picked up since he become a CEO. Touma looks at his hand then smiles and shakes his hand.

“Please just call me by my little name, it is unfair if I’m the only one who calls you by your little name,” Touma smiles brightly.

“Okay then, Touma-sensei.” Aruto responds right away. It feels wrong to just drop the ‘sensei’ honorific suddenly, though Aruto isn’t used to calling someone’s little name like this either.

Touma looks somewhat conflicted, but then he nods. “Right, we can’t rush things.”

Aruto doesn’t know what he is talking about, so he just tilts his head a little. But, Touma only gives him a smile and doesn’t explain further.

“Oh yeah, since I need a reference to write…” Touma claps his hands and looks at Aruto expectantly.

“Do you want to borrow a humagear for a writing reference?” Izu tries to guess his need.

“No, not quite like that,” Touma shakes his head and turns at Aruto. “Instead, I wonder if I can spend time around you and Izu occasionally? Since you are the one who inspired me to write this story, so I want to observe you two further, if you don’t mind it.”

Aruto points out at himself and glances at Izu. Touma nods with a smile. “I won’t interfere with your work, I promise,” Touma adds more for reassurance. “I promise you, I will make a good, no, the best novel about humagears and humanity!”

Aruto isn’t really sure about this idea. Won’t it be easier for Touma to just borrow a humagear and tries to bond with them? Well, probably Aruto doesn’t need to overthink it. Touma did say it would be ‘occasionally’ and he promised to not interfere with his work. “I’m not sure whether observing me and Izu can help you write, but if we can help you, then I don’t mind. Right, Izu?”

“Of course, Aruto-sachou,” Izu smiles politely.

“It is settled then, thank you, Aruto-san!” Touma looks pumped. Mei approaches him and they do a high-five.

“No, I’m the one who should thank you, Touma-sensei.” Aruto wonders what kind of novel that Touma will write. It isn’t just because it will help to boost humagears’ image for common folks, but also, it will be good if Touma can capture just how wonderful and helpful humagears are in his story.

Touma turns at Aruto with his bright smile and Aruto can help but smile back.

And maybe, it is also a good bonus that he will meet Touma often this way. Touma’s happy smile is just infectious and there is a part of Aruto that yearns to smile like that, again.

A connection with other Kamen Riders maybe can be a good thing. And it makes Aruto wonder about a certain junior Kamen Rider who owns a demon as his side-kick. Aruto wonders how Ikki is doing now.

Maybe Aruto can pay him a visit if he has business in that town in the future.

End

Chapter Text

Not everyone has a reason to fight because not everyone is born a fighter. But everyone should have a reason to never give up. Because to keep living means to keep surviving. And sometimes, for some people, to keep surviving means to keep fighting. And, to keep fighting means…

To keep protecting something.

That is what Touma believes. That is the reason why, even though he is a novelist, he picked up a sword. But also, that is the reason why he stopped being a swordsman.

Back then, he has a reason to fight. And now, he doesn’t have to fight anymore.

He realizes that is such a privilege that not everyone can enjoy.

“It is so wonderful that your company can help the project to resurrect this town. From the recent attack of those devils, many people have suffered so much,” Touma nods proudly toward his soon-to-be-friend, Aruto.

Using his reasoning to gather materials for writing a new novel, Touma enjoys hanging around Aruto and observes whatever he does. Maybe, a lot more than necessary.

“Yes, that is why humagear is invented, it is to decrease the demand for hard labor from people. We don’t take any profit from this project at all. We just want to help people with the resource the company can provide,” Aruto nods. For someone who says something amazing, he doesn’t look thrilled. Then again, Aruto just finished the meeting with the local government about the contract of Hiden Intelligence providing humagears to rebuild the town. And of course, Touma has no authority to join the meeting.

To be honest, Touma can guess that not everyone from Hiden Intelligence is on board for this matter either. A company is made to make a profit, but it is obvious that Aruto is far from a businessman’s mentality. But that is exactly why Touma admires him. It isn’t an easy thing to do and yet Aruto decided to do this.

“Now, now, how about we take a break? You have been working so hard to prepare this project for the whole week. I know the perfect place for us to relax for a bit,” Touma pats Aruto’s shoulder and pushes him lightly toward the opposite direction.

“Huh? But Izu is still waiting for me to discuss the execution of the project-“

“Aruto-san, you are only a human who deserves a break. It won’t take too long, I promise. And more, I want to introduce you to someone from this town,” Touma rebukes Aruto’s protest easily. “I will inform Izu that you will have a few hours of break, okay?” Touma can’t say that Izu is the one who asks him a favor to stop Aruto from overworking.

After a few weeks of observing Aruto’s work and his relationship with humagears, Aruto has a tendency to push away his human need and keep working tirelessly, almost as if he is a humagear himself.

“Okay… but only for a little bit, I need to get back soon,” Aruto lets himself be pushed by Touma.

“Alright,” Touma says with a full smile.

He really wants to introduce Aruto to Ikki, and Touma also wants to check on Ikki’s condition. It is good that the fighting between human and devils have ended. Touma feels a bit guilty for not being able to help that much because his source of power Kamen Rider is certainly different from Ikki and the Sword of Logos said that there are more complicated reasons why they couldn’t get involved too much.

Being a Kamen Rider is sometimes really a hassle, huh?

0o0o0o0

“Huh, this place is…”

“Huh, do you know this bathhouse, Aruto-san?”

Aruto just nods with a dumbfounded face. Aruto and Touma are standing in front of Happy Spa. Aruto can remember how his first time coming here was a few months ago. And his first meeting with another Kamen Rider, Igarashi Ikki, together with his family. It was an unforgettable meeting.

“Then… do you know Ikki?” Touma asks him again.

Aruto just nods. Oh, Touma knows about Ikki too?

Aruto doesn’t find it weird, because it is obvious that Touma has better people skills than him.

“That’s good news, I have fought together with him because a certain of event…” Touma explains even without Aruto asking anything. But the way Touma’s words trail off, he stops explaining and gives Aruto his signature bright smile. “For short, he is a good man. Let’s come inside.”

Touma drags Aruto inside as if he wants to make sure that Aruto doesn’t run away. The young CEO just resigned to his fate and enters the bathhouse together with the young novelist.

Once they enter, Aruto can feel how the attention of people in the room is directed toward them, especially Touma. Understandable, because Touma is really tall so he stands out a lot even among other customers inside the bathhouse.

“Hey! Long time no see,” Touma waves his hand toward the youngest of Igarashi siblings, Sakura.

“Huh!? You—Touma-san?” Sakura points out at Touma and then at Aruto. “And Aruto-san!?” She frowns. “You two know each other?”

Is that what she needs to point out first? Aruto tries to free himself from Touma’s hold, but the young novelist is strangely strong and doesn’t budge.

“We have the same occupation, don’t we? Though, I have resigned,” Touma answers it casually without any hint of being insulted.

“I see… I guess that’s right,” Sakura nods.

“Sakura, what’s wrong—Oh.” The second siblings appear from the man section and stop when he looks at the new customers. “Welcome.” He bows at them politely and Aruto can tell that he is a bit guarded.

“Hei, Daiji. I come here to take a bath with Aruto-san,” Touma brushes off Daiji’s guarded façade easily, and Aruto is amazed at his confidence. “And… where is Ikki? I want to say hello to him.”

“Oh, Ikki-nii…” Sakura sounds a little bit strange. As if she sounds concerned.

“Nii-chan is taking a break currently,” Daiji answers with a straight face.

“A break?” Touma asks back.

“You basically kicked Ikki-nii out.” Sakura comments under her breath, she folds her arms and pouts a little.

“And you helped me too-“ Daiji retorts back then stops and sighs. “I mean, Nii-chan has been working really hard to take care of the bathhouse, so we decided that he needs a day off,” Daiji answers with a polite smile.

“By kicking him out?” Touma asks again with a raised eyebrow.

“He won’t take a break if we don’t force him,” Daiji sighs a little.

“Ah… I understand that,” Touma nods then peeks at Aruto. The young CEO just tilts his head, because he can’t understand the meaning of Touma’s eyes at him.

“I will pass on your greeting to him later, please enjoy your time here,” Daiji gives out a model answer.

“Oh, Daiji-chan, can you please help me open this milk coffee bottle?” An elderly customer calls out so Daiji just bows at Touma and Aruto before turning away.

“That’s a shame…” Touma mutters. He looks a bit dejected.

And it makes Aruto wonders whether Touma comes here to get a bath or to meet Ikki.

“Uhm… you two…”

Touma and Aruto turn around to see Sakura approaching them with a careful look. “Can I talk to you two for a second? Come here.” Sakura says, she is asking their permission but before any of them can answer, she already pushes them toward the hallway outside.

“Huh? What is it, Sakura?” Touma asks back. Sakura puts a finger on his lips to shuts him out.

“Ssh, quiet down. I don’t want Dai-chan to find out,” she says with a whisper. Sakura glances at Aruto with a worried expression, as if, for a second, she is debating something because of Aruto’s presence.

Ah, this is nostalgic for Aruto. This is exactly how people are acting around him for the first few meetings. Touma is an anomaly, and maybe, Ikki too.

But, Sakura’s expression changes into a determination. “I want to ask for a favor, for Ikki-nii,” Sakura says with a whisper.

“A favor? For your brother?” Aruto finally speaks after stepping inside the bathhouse.

“Yes… uhm… you see…” Sakura fidgets a little. “Ikki-nii… isn’t… in a good condition…”

Aruto blinks then he turns at Touma who also turns at him. The young novelist’s face mirrors Aruto’s confusion.

“What do you mean?” Touma asks back in a whisper.

“You see… after the battle ended… Ikki-nii… is a little bit… off? I can’t exactly tell how… but… he just feels off…” Sakura has a hard time explaining what she wants to say, obviously. She clicks her tongue in annoyance. Then she puts her hands on her hip and her eyes get sharper. “I mean, this is how he behaves when he is hiding something from us, but we don’t know what. We tried to talk to him, but that stupid stubborn Ikki-nii kept dodging the question, so Dai-chan suggested we kicked him out of the house to take time for himself… But both of them are just stupid. Why men are all stupid?”

Aruto doesn’t want to admit how scary the glare from a teenage girl is, but his body betrays him and he flinches.

At the same time as Touma flinches as well.

Not to mention, the weird mood swing. She goes from having a worried expression to being angry in one second.

“I guess because we are men…” Touma answers with a forced chuckle. “Anyway, so, Ikki is behaving weirdly because he is hiding something from you all… and… you want us to find out about it?”

Sakura nods slowly as if she still isn’t sure herself. “Probably Ikki-nii is worrying about something, or having some sort of problem. But he is just like that, he won’t tell us anything unless he has no choice but that. Stupid eldest.”

Now, Aruto realizes that Sakura is being angry for Ikki’s sake. She is just a little sister worrying about her older brother.

“Then… we should talk to him,” Touma says that as he turns at Aruto.

Aruto isn’t really sure. It seems that the one Sakura wants to ask for a favor is Touma. Aruto is just unneeded extra.

“I promise you,” Touma says with confidence to Sakura.

Sakura nods. Then she glances at Touma and then at Aruto. She gives out a small smile. “Thank you, you two. Please help my stupid Ikki-nii.”

Aruto doesn’t have enough skill to make people talk to him unless it is related to a dream, but… He glances at Touma.

Actually, Aruto isn’t sure that this is the right thing to do.

Forcing people to talk about their problem, especially when both of them aren’t that close to Ikki—well, Aruto doesn’t know how close Touma is to Ikki but…

It just doesn’t feel right.

If Ikki wants to talk then he will talk about it. The fact that he chooses to not do so, then it isn’t right to force him to talk.

Aruto glances at Touma nervously. He wonders if he really should interfere with this or not…

0o0o0o0

“Based on what Sakura said… he should be here.”

“That’s him.”

Touma turns around at Aruto’s pointing in one direction. Sure enough, he can see Ikki sitting while facing the river. Even from behind, Touma can tell that Ikki isn’t okay.

Touma is about to approach him but Aruto says something first. “Are you sure this is the right thing to do?”

Touma blinks at Aruto then turns at Ikki. “Why do you say so?”

“I mean… he must have been through a lot.”

Touma pauses and looks at Aruto solemnly. Right, it is obvious that is what happened.

“Then what do you suggest we should do? Leave him alone?” Touma hopes he doesn’t sound sarcastic. But, he has promised Sakura that he would talk to Ikki. Touma knows that some people do need time to be alone, but sometimes that doesn’t work.

Aruto looks conflicted. He looks to the ground and clenches his fist.

Instantly, Touma realizes that he indeed sounded sarcastic. “I’m sorry, Aruto-san.” Touma takes a deep breath first. “I’m sensitive when it is about ‘promise’. So, I get worked up about it.”

“It is just… I wonder if it is right to force him to talk like this…” Aruto voices out his worry.

Touma blinks again and takes a second to process what Aruto just said. “You are right, but we won’t force him to talk. We merely will give him the option to talk or not to talk.” Touma is trying to choose better words to explain his plan. “I want him to know that we are here if he wants to talk to us. Sometimes, it is easier to talk to strangers about your problem rather than to people that are close to you, especially if the person is the source of the problem or involved in it.”

It feels like he is explaining something to a child. In this regard, Aruto reminds Touma about Ren. But, Ren is hella annoying—well, he has matured but still. It is just… the way that they are clueless about how to treat the people around them are somewhat similar.

There is a realization downed on Aruto’s face.

“Oh, I see…”

And it makes Touma wonders whether someone ever says that to Aruto—that they will be there if Aruto wants to share his problem. For a split of second, it feels like Touma can see just how young and naïve the man in front of him is. And it makes Touma wonders how Aruto can function as a CEO with this kind of nature.

Touma shakes his head. This time, he needs to deal with Ikki first.

“Let’s go,” Touma gestures at Aruto to follow him.

Touma approaches Ikki carefully. Making sure that he won’t surprise him, but also making sure that he is coming with a friendly intention. “Hey, Ikki. How do you do?”

Ikki turns at him, a bit tad too fast. It is clear that he is still a bit jumpy. And it makes Touma’s heart sinks a bit. Aruto is right, this young man must have gone through a lot.

“Touma-san… Aruto-san?”

Touma gives Ikki a kind smile. The young novelist has his own share of experience handling people that are riddled with traumas. Like Kento, Rintaro and also Aruto. It is best to appear soft, gentle, and understanding.

“It is good to see you,” Touma says genuinely. He is glad that Ikki looks okay. But, that is the outside, not the inside.

“Why are you two here? Is there some kind of problem in the city?” Ikki jumps to his feet in wary.

“No, no, relax! We come here…” Touma glances at Aruto. The young CEO blinks in confusion back. Touma is hoping Aruto can continue the explanation but it is obvious that Aruto isn’t even sure what he should do with Ikki, so Touma gives up on that. “We came here because of Aruto-san’s business, then I thought we should say hello to you while we are here.”

“Oh…” Ikki turns at Aruto then at Touma. It is clear that he is confused. Ikki sits down again awkwardly.

“It is okay for us to sit here, right?” Touma asks for permission first. “I don’t want to disturb you.”

“Oh… of course, it is okay.” Ikki smiles at him, but Touma can see how his smile is forced and doesn’t reach his eyes.

Really, Ikki reminds Touma of how he met Aruto for the first time. Ikki is way too polite to refuse them, but he has his guard up.

Touma sits down beside Ikki, at a safe distance and Aruto sits beside him.

If even Touma can tell how Ikki is troubled by something, let alone his siblings.

There is some silence between them, as none of them says anything. Touma is thinking about what he should say while looking at the river.

“Your fight has ended, huh?” That is what Touma says. He has seen the news and read some articles about it. It was chaotic, even in his town. But, Touma believed that Ikki and the others could deal with it, and that they would win.

And they did.

“Yes, it has ended.”

Touma wants to chuckle at how formally Ikki speaks to him, not even Aruto speaking to him that formally. But, Ikki is like that ever since the first time they meet.

“Then… are you okay?”

“Huh?”

“You look like you have a lot on your mind,” Touma says again. “From behind, you look as if you carry the whole world on your shoulders.”

Ikki blinks and Touma can see how taken aback he is by that statement.

Oops.

“I didn’t mean to probe or anything… You see…” Now, Touma was lost in his words. Right, it also takes a few times prying and approaching Kento and Rintaro to have a talk with him. And Aruto, Touma is still unable to penetrate his guard at all.

Damn, he will need to do this slowly step by step before he can fulfill his promise to Sakura, huh?

“Actually, your sister is the one who asks us to talk to you.”

Touma turns at Aruto in shock.

Oh, he didn’t think Aruto will help him to talk but—to say honestly that Sakura is the one who ask them to talk to Ikki is a bit—

But, Touma decides to sit back and let Aruto speaks. It is rare for Aruto to speak like this.

And Touma also wants to hear what Aruto is going to say to their junior.

0o0o0o0

“She is worried about you. And I think, your little brother too. She explained how she tried to approach you, but you dodged her.”

Aruto’s people skill isn’t as good as Touma's. But, one thing that Aruto knows is how to be honest. He can’t hide the fact that it is Sakura who is worried about him.

“I understand if you can’t tell them, but… I think it will be better if you can speak to someone… Bottling it alone is… hard.”

Aruto is so close to giving Ikki his AI-bot, Ai-chan. But, not even Aruto uses Ai-chan to sort out his problem. It feels like a hypocrite to talk to Ikki in this way. But at the same time, Aruto realizes just how different the two of them are.

At first, the way that Ikki looks as if he has gone through so much trauma, makes Aruto feels a kinship with him. But, then, if he thinks about it again, no, they are different.

“Aruto-san is right.” Touma says with a smile. “You can talk to us, you can talk to your family, you can talk to your friends. You don’t need to handle your problem alone, Ikki. There are people that will lend their ears if you want to share your problem, including us.”

Aruto can see how Ikki wavers.

And Aruto hates how he can feel bitterness in his heart.

“There are people that worried about you, you know that,” Aruto reminds Ikki.

Sakura is troubled enough to ask for their help, albeit they are almost as good as strangers to her. Aruto can tell that she is worried a lot and she is that desperate.

Ikki have people who approach him when he looks like he is troubled about something.

While Aruto-

“So, I made them worry about me… I didn’t mean to do that…” Ikki says that with a grimacing smile. “It is just…” Ikki looks up then looks around. “People have gone through so much… I don’t want to trouble anyone… with my trouble. It isn’t really that important…”

“But, for your sister, it is clearly important.” Touma rebukes Ikki’s words. “Look, Ikki. I’m not going to force you to say anything to us. But, Aruto-san is right, you need to talk about it to someone. And if you want to, you can talk to us.”

Aruto looks at Ikki and he holds down his sigh.

Right, it won’t be that easy to make him talk to them. Not even Aruto will be able to do that-

“You see, it is just…” Ikki is fidgeting, in the same way Sakura fidgeted earlier. “I don’t know what’s going on either… I wonder if there is something wrong with me… it is just…”

Aruto is a bit shocked that Ikki wants to talk about his problem with them. Aruto glances at Touma and he can see how relieved the young novelist is. “Just… what?” Touma speaks so softly and encouragingly.

“My head feels like a mess…”

Ikki is talking while looking in other directions but them. The way his feet move and his fingers fidget, Aruto realizes how hard it is for him to talk to them like this.

“Honestly… it is hard for me to recall my time as a Kamen Rider for the past year… and I don’t understand why…” Ikki admits it reluctantly. He speaks so softly as if he is ashamed.

“My memories are spotty and there are… a lot of things I can’t remember… it is weird… I don’t understand why.” And Ikki looks scared as well.

Right, Ikki might be the eldest of the siblings, but he is still younger than Aruto and Touma.

“I see…” Touma sounds mournful but understanding. “And forgetting about things, that must be troubling you.”

Ikki closes his eyes and shakes his head. “No… I…” He raises his head and looks at Touma and Aruto. “I suspect that… people know this… they know what happened to me… Most of the time, they see with… pitiful stares. They are walking on eggshells around me… I… I can’t exactly explain,” Ikki bites his lip. “Gosh, it is bad for me to suspect them but…” Ikki covers his face with both of his hands.

“So, they know you forget about many things and they… don’t tell you anything about it?” Touma asks back. “It sounds awfully familiar.”

0o0o0o0

Amnesia isn’t fun, Touma knows that.

He experienced that.

“So, your family probably knows what you have forgotten, but… they won’t tell you?” Touma needs to check on that.

“I can’t ask them… I’m not sure…” Ikki sounds frustrated. It is clear that it has been eating him alive, but he has buried it alone for so long. “It feels like… I have forgotten something… incredibly important…” Ikki’s voice is getting smaller and smaller. “I’m scared to find it out… but… it is bugging me too…”

Touma rubs his forehead with his hand. This is all too familiar to him.

“It is scary to think that you can forget something important, but the fact that you forget about it is haunting you as well.”

“It sounded like, it happened to you too, Touma-sensei.”

Touma blinks and turns at Aruto.

It is Aruto’s first time to sound curious about him. Usually, Aruto won’t ask anything about Touma, as if he isn’t interested.

“Yeah, it did. You know about it, it is in my first novel.”

“Oh.” Aruto just made the connection, obviously.

While Ikki looks clueless. It seems like, this man hasn’t read Touma’s novel yet.

“I get it, Ikki. It is hard to ask about it, right?” Touma sighs and looks at the sky. “In my case, Kento knew what I have forgotten about, but I waited for him to tell me about it. I realized that… I couldn’t ask him… because it looked like it pained him… And I didn’t want to cause him more pain…” Touma sighs. “Maybe, I should have asked him about it.”

Ikki looks at Touma. He looks unsure about what he wants to do for himself. Touma understands that. Sometimes, maybe it is better to forget about something, but… the opposite can be applied too, maybe it is better to remember about things.

“You don’t even know what you want, huh?” Touma smiles softly at Ikki. “And since you need to confront your family about it, it isn’t easy either.”

Ikki nods slowly.

“Then, how about you just tell them about how you feel?”

Touma turns at Aruto again.

“Not about whether you want them to tell you about what you have forgotten about, but about what you feel now,” Aruto says again. “About how you feel lost, how you feel haunted, and more… If you don’t tell them what you feel then… they won’t know. If you believe in them, then you should tell them.”

Aruto licks his lips nervously. “I mean, they might think they are doing what the best for you, but… you need to tell them about what you feel. They are your family, right? Then, you shouldn’t hide how you feel from them. You should tell them, honestly.”

“Ah… I see, then it will be up to them whether they will tell Ikki about his lost memories or not,” Touma nods, seemingly agreeing. “But they need to know how their decision is affecting you.”

“That’s…” Ikki looks reluctant and afraid.

Right, being open about how they feel, is easier said than done.

“If you want to, we can accompany you,” Touma offers, then glance at Aruto, who has a shocked expression on his face. “He might need additional support,” Touma gives his reasoning to counter Aruto’s silent protesting.

Aruto sighs and then nods.

“Is that… alright? I don’t want to trouble you with something personal like this…” Ikki looks uneasy, but Touma pats his shoulder. Ikki is way easier to be persuaded than Aruto.

“Of course it is alright, don’t mind it,” Touma glances at Aruto.

And Aruto nods with a tender smile. “We are happy to help you.”

Ikki slowly smiles at them, a sincere smile. And it makes Touma smiles brighter. And so does Aruto.

0o0o0o0

“So, what is it that you want to talk about, Ikki? And they…”

“Please don’t mind us, we are here just for additional support,” Touma shakes his hand toward the father of the Igarashi siblings. He pats Aruto’s back.

“Right,” Aruto nods awkwardly.

“So, what is it, Ikki?” The mother of the Igarashi family is asking gently.

Ikki is sitting across from his family, in the empty bath house, with clammy hands. He isn’t the type who talks about his feeling openly to his family if he can help it. Of course, he seeks out his mother a lot when he encounters some problems, especially when he needs to deal with his younger siblings. But, almost never about his personal feelings.

It is imprinted in his mind, that as the eldest, he doesn’t want to trouble his parents and his younger siblings. His parents have their hands full with handling the younger siblings and the bathhouse, and his younger siblings have enough problems they need to deal with.

So, to talk about his feelings openly is a little bit…

Ikki can feel how someone’s hand is giving him a gentle push. It feels like he finds his confidence back.

It feels like, for the first time after a long time, he has people that he can rely on without feeling ashamed of himself.

“The truth is… I know I forget something… And I know you all know what I forget about.”

Ikki can feel the heavy silence. Ikki isn’t that stupid though he loves to play dumb. But, he can tell how his family behaves weirdly around him, and other people too. They are being careful about something as if Ikki is a walking cracked glass that is about to shatter with the slightest force.

“It has been eating me alive. My head feels like it has so many holes. I can’t remember a lot of things for the past years and it is troubling me… Whenever I tried to recall something, there are so many spotty memories to make any sense out of it…” Ikki has been trying his best to ignore it, to push it aside, hoping it will get better as time goes on.

But it keeps worsening instead.

When he is alone, Ikki notices how messed up his memories are. He can’t make sense of what he did in the past in those spotty memories, as a Kamen Rider and it dreaded him.

“To be honest, I feel scared… I don’t know if I want to remember or not, it feels like I forget about something important… but… I don’t know, I just feel scared.” Ikki sighs as his body trembles a bit. He looks at his own trembling hands. He can’t explain how sometimes he feels hollow, how he feels empty, how he feels like he is missing something non-existent. How sometimes he feels incredibly lonely, how loud his thoughts are in his head, and how he feels lost.

“Oh… Ikki…” The next thing Ikki knows, his mother has moved beside him and enveloped him with a warm hug. “I’m really sorry, my son.”

“For you to say this, you must have suffered a lot…” His father also has raised from his seat and ruffles his hair with a tight smile.

“Ikki-nii, you idiot, you should have told us sooner.” Sakura is joining the hug.

“That’s Nii-chan for you,” Daiji says with a sad smile.

Ikki is blinking his tears away.

Now that he is surrounded by his family and receiving their unconditional love, he wonders what made him reluctant to admit his feelings in the first place. It feels stupid.

“We are thinking that it might be better for you if you don’t know about it… Living in blissful ignorance, like what I did…” Genta says with a bitter smile. “But it seems, it doesn’t work that way.”

“Nii-chan, the thing is…” Daiji looks hesitant to speak, his eyes are glassy and he bites his lip. “Even if we told you, you won’t be able to remember. You can’t remember, Nii-chan.”

Yukimi and Sakura release their hug. “We think that it will be cruel if we tell you everything but you are unable to remember it,” Yukimi admits it.

“But, if Ikki-nii still suffers even when we don’t tell him, then it is the same either way,” Sakura looks at the other family members.

“We will tell you, Ikki. You can tell us to stop if you think it is too much for you, okay?” Yukimi holds Ikki’s hand gently as if he is a little child.

“…okay.” Ikki nods slowly.

And then, they tell him everything.

About his inner demon.

Vice.

It feels as if Ikki is trying to contain water with his hands, but it keeps slipping away. It feels as if he can remember but he can’t recall anything. It feels so familiar and yet so strange at the same time.

With the way how all of his family tell him about Vice, with how their face filled with fondness but also sadness, Ikki finally finds the answer to the missing piece of him that has been lost.

The missing piece is still lost, but at least now he knows what piece is missing.

And the reason why that missing piece won’t ever be back.

And won’t ever be remembered by him.

It feels as if something is robbed from Ikki and he can feel just how unfair everything for him is.

“So that is why… why you can’t remember Vice, Nii-chan. I already asked Karizaki-san whether there is a way for you to, at least, remember him but… he said, there isn’t any way,” Daiji finishes the explanation with a dejected face.

“So, Vice always fought by my side… no wonder, my memories as Kamen Rider are so spotty,” that answers a lot of things, a lot of weird things. Ikki feels the bitterness and the emptiness inside his chest grow.

But at least now, he doesn’t feel haunted anymore.

And it is okay… for now. It is enough.

“Thank you for telling me this,” now Ikki understands why his family tried to hide this from him. They tried to protect him and Ikki can’t feel mad at them for doing that.

“Oh, Ikki,” his mother is giving him another hug. “I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, Kaa-chan, it isn’t anyone’s fault…” Ikki brushes off the apology. He smiles at his family, a bit bitter, but sincerely.

“Now, that’s ended nicely, thankfully.”

Ikki turns around and sees how Touma has a relieved expression on his face, and it looks like Aruto just aged 10 years.

“That’s good for you, right, Ikki? I’m so happy for you,” Touma pats Ikki’s shoulder repeatedly.

“That was nerve-wracking, I prefer those dreadful meetings than something like this…” Aruto mutters under his breath.

Ikki stands up and looks at his two seniors.

“Thank you very much, I don’t know how to express it… but really… thank you.” For listening to his worry, for helping him to find a solution, and for giving him the support he didn’t know he needed.

“Hey, don’t cry. It ended nicely, so you don’t need to cry.” Touma teases him a little bit.

“Well… I just…” He can’t explain how he feels touched. Of course, there are many other people supporting him, from his family to his friends, to his battle comrades. It is just, it is hard for him to talk about something this personal to anyone.

He only knows that he just needs to bear it and keep moving forward.

That is his job as the eldest of the siblings, he needs to be the one that everyone can rely on.

So, for him, to find other people that he can rely on to…

And it somehow fills the emptiness inside his chest. Not exactly fit like a missing puzzle piece, but it fills him with something else. So, he feels less empty.

Touma rubs his shoulder in a comforting way and Aruto is giving him a tender expression.

“Now, now, should we all have dinner together? I think we should order sushi for all of us. How is that sound?” Yukimi suggests. “As thanks for helping my eldest son, please join us,” she adds to Aruto and Touma.

“Sounds luxurious, I’m on board,” Genta nods.

“Oh that’s-“

“I feel very grateful, but no.” Aruto cuts away before Touma can say anything. “I still have some works to do, and Izu must have been waiting for me, so… thank you for the offer, maybe next time.”

Touma gives Aruto a look that Ikki can’t understand. But then, Touma sighs a little then smiles. “Aruto-san is right, we need to get going now.”

“Oh that’s a shame…” Ikki is a bit dejected. “Then next time, promise me, next time you will eat with me.”

Touma smiles brightly. “I promise, right, Aruto-san?”

Aruto sounds shocked, probably because he gets dragged into Touma’s promise with no consent. “…okay.”

Ikki smiles brightly, it feels strange after days of forcing himself to smile, now, he can’t stop smiling.

He owes it to both of them.

He needs to repay them somehow, next time.

0o0o0o0

“I thought… we should just accept the invitation to eat with them.”

“…I don’t know, I feel like I will be intruding on their family time so I can’t.”

“Ah…”

Touma turns at Aruto.

“I never thought you would suggest Ikki be honest with his own feelings to his family, Aruto-san.”

Aruto looks at the sunset in the sky.

“They seem like a nice family… because of that, I suggested that,” Aruto admits it.

“If they don’t seem like a nice family then you won’t?”

Aruto stops walking and turns to Touma. The young novelist gives him an innocent smile. “It could backfire… but nonetheless, being honest is important.”

“…I see. You are right, sometimes our feeling doesn’t get through to someone…” Touma says it with a solemn expression.

Aruto gives Touma a look. Sometimes, it feels like Touma is trying to read him like a book. Aruto wonders what his intention is. And it makes Aruto wants to avoid Touma sometimes.

Being honest with one’s feelings may work for Ikki but for Aruto…

Sadly, when it was his personal feeling, it always backfired.

“Uhm, Aruto-san… I wonder if it is okay for me to call you without honorific?”

Aruto blinks at Touma. “That’s okay, I’m younger than you, after all, Touma-sensei.” He doesn’t need to ask him permission about that. Honestly, not many people call him Aruto without honorific now.

Actually, maybe none now.

“Well, that’s…” Touma stops talking abruptly and then sighs. “Maybe later, Aruto-san.”

Aruto gives Touma a weird look. He noticed how Touma call Ikki without honorific, but he is their junior so Aruto doesn’t feel it matters.

“And to remind you, you can’t get away from the promise for us to eat together with Ikki, alright?”

“Who said I will get away?” Aruto feels a bit insulted. If he can openly admit it, he feels happy. Both Touma and Ikki are good people who look like… they don’t mind Aruto’s presence too much.

“It’s good then,” Touma gives him a bright smile.

And Aruto smiles shily, beneath the hoodie, a little.

It feels as if he indulges himself to think that he can befriend with Touma and Ikki.

But, that is because they are only fellow Kamen Riders. That’s right. It is good to maintain a good connection like that. Like how he has a decent relationship with Fuwa and Yaiba and of course, the humagears of Metsubojinrai.

Decent relationship, if Aruto can obtain that, that’s good enough for him.

It’s good enough.

End

Chapter Text

As an adult, it isn’t easy to make friends. Maybe because as an adult, humans have grown wicked and carried a lot of traumas from their past. They are no longer an innocent child who never got hurt. Instead, they already got hurt and experienced bitter things as they grew into adulthood, which is why it isn’t easy to be friends with other adults.

That is what Ikki sometimes think.

“Ikki-nii, you look so happy.”

“Huh? Really?”

“You can’t stop grinning, even Lovekov said so.”

Ikki turns at his little sister and her demon. The snake-like demon only nods and Sakura nods along. Ikki’s smile flatters a little, but he is glad that Sakura doesn’t notice it. He is glad that Sakura and Daiji are comfortable enough to let out their demons without the need to act so carefully around Ikki. The eldest still feels a bitter feeling inside his heart whenever he sees his younger siblings interact with their demons, but he is getting better.

Maybe.

Anyway.

“I’m happy because of my plan tomorrow, you know that,” Ikki is grinning again while wiping the floor of the bathhouse.

“Your plan to get lunch with Aruto-san and Touma-san? Hm… It sounds troublesome to have lunch in another city but if it makes Ikki-nii happy then, that’s good,” Sakura smiles back.

“Nii-chan.”

“Huh? What is it, Daiji?” Ikki turns around to see Daiji come inside the bathhouse. His little brother is still wearing the Blue Bird uniform, but his face looks so serious.

“Here, you need to see this.” Daiji has this expression that Ikki can’t refuse him even if he wants to. “Sakura, you too.”

Sakura and Ikki look at each other. Ikki makes a gesture of asking Sakura what happened with Daiji but Sakura only shrugs as she has no idea either.

They walk into the house to the living room. Daiji is setting something with the television so Ikki and Sakura patiently wait for him.

“Are we going to watch something, Dai-chan?” Sakura asks curiously.

“Nii-chan is planning to go with Touma-san to the city where the headquarters of Hiden Intelligence is located, right? I thought that you might need to see this first, I asked Karizaki-san for this.” Daiji turns on the television and shows them a video.

“This is…”

“Yeah, Nii-chan. I really think you need to know about this before you continue meeting with the CEO of Hiden Intelligence.”

This is where Ikki watches Aruto’s last fight with his enemy.

0o0o0o0

“Is something the matter, Aruto-sachou?”

“There is no problem…”

“You look quite distressed.”

“Is it that obvious?”

Aruto turns at Izu and he sees how innocent her expression is. And she nods. And Aruto only sighs.

“Is it about your plan to have lunch outside with Kamiyama Touma-sensei and Igarashi Ikki-san?” Izu’s question hits the mark.

Aruto lets go of his pen, he can’t continue to work while his head is a total mess. He leans back on his chair and looks up to the ceiling.

It was a surprise when Touma asked him to fulfill their promise to eat together with Ikki sooner than Aruto expected. And it was another surprise when Touma asked Aruto to be the one who arranged it. Because between the three of them, it was obvious that Aruto was the busiest one Touma and Ikki would follow Aruto’s decision when he was free.

“I just can’t remember when is the last time when I have to eat together with someone outside…” Aruto mumbles under his breath.

“The last time you had dinner with the stockholder-“

“No, I mean, outside of my work,” Aruto explains further. True, as a CEO, he has learned to expand his social circle and tried his best to get closer to the boards and stockholders of his company. But, it was always suffocating and Aruto despised it even if he couldn’t admit it directly.

“If it is outside of work, then I have no data for it, I apologize,” Izu bows politely.

“You don’t need to apologize, probably the last time I dined outside with someone was during my school year…” Aruto smiles sadly. Even that time… it wasn’t memorable either for him.

“Should I research the etiquette of how to dine outside with other people, Aruto-sachou?” Izu proposes the idea to him.

“No, no, no, that would really make me socially inept then,” Aruto shakes his hands. But who is he kidding? Isn’t that who is he?

Aruto leans back on his chair again.

He doesn’t know how to explain to Izu that the reason why he is so nervous over a simple lunch is because… Aruto wants to befriend Touma and Ikki.

He sincerely wants to.

Only to remember that his track record of making friends with humans is a big zero point.

Aruto is only good at connecting with other people at the surface, by being a busybody about dreams and humagears, then with his puns so that he appears friendly. But, those things can only do so much, in the end, Aruto keeps people away at a safe distance, rarely letting them get closer.

Because, once they see him past his comedian persona, to see him as himself… everyone turns away from him.

Aruto wonders if he did it wrong. What is his mistake? Why he has no friends-

Aruto sighs and covers his face again.

He learned to not expect anything from other people. He learned to appreciate when people treat him decently and hope for nothing more. He has stopped trying to befriend other people because he realized that he has no talent for it.

But, to meet Touma and Ikki… Aruto realizes that he wants to befriend them.

Or they are already friends? Honestly, Aruto can’t tell.

Is he making a big deal of everything? Is he the one who making things complicated?

Aruto doesn’t know.

What he knows is, he just doesn’t want to mess things up.

He has enough to see people leave him alone. When people see him with disappointed and disgusted expressions on their faces. 

Touma and Ikki are good people, they are his fellow Kamen Rider comrades. Aruto doesn’t want to ruin his image in front of them.

He is happy that he is going to do something, that is unrelated to his work or his duty as a Kamen Rider, along with other people. It has been so long since he did something like that and he is excited about it.

But also scared.

Maybe he is more frightened than he feels happy about it.

Because, deep inside his heart tells him, that if he fails to befriend Touma and Ikki then he won’t ever succeed in befriending any other people for the rest of his life. If he can’t even befriend those two very kind and good people, then no one will want to be his friend, ever.

Aruto doesn’t notice that his hands are trembling, he only notices when he sees how Izu grasps his hands and wraps them with her small hands. She has this gentle expression on her face that tells him that everything will be alright.

That she is there. At least, he isn’t alone anymore.

And Aruto’s eyes become glassy. He lets out a sad chuckle and Izu smiles tenderly.

Right, at least, whatever happens, Aruto has Izu at his side.

That is good enough for him.

0o0o0o0

“Ikki, why did you ask me to meet up an hour earlier before we meet Aruto?” Touma walks side by side with his junior. He has arrived at this city again, and he becomes more familiar with his way here. But, Ikki beside him, looks lost and has this complex expression on his face. So, Touma leads Ikki to a secluded place at the corner of the park.

The young novelist wonders if something happened to Ikki, he sounded excited on the phone yesterday so it was weird to see Ikki like this.

“Touma-san, have you ever watched the video of… Aruto-san’s last battle with humagear?”

Touma blinks. “No, I haven’t.” He knows that the videos are on the internet and can find them if he wants to. But, he never actively tried to find it, let alone watch it.

“Daiji showed it to me yesterday.” Ikki pulls out his smartphone and eyes Touma worriedly.

“I see, so you have watched it…” Touma humms, understanding the situation. “And you want me to watch it too.”

“If you don’t want to then it is okay-“ Ikki looks troubled. “That’s not what I’m-“

Touma pats Ikki’s shoulder to calm him down. Ikki is maybe far more soft-hearted and yet so busybody than Touma. “It’s okay, let me watch it.” Though Touma doesn’t feel the need to watch it, he knows he can’t let Ikki feel disoriented alone. 

Ikki nods with doubt in his eyes, he taps his smartphone and gives it to Touma.

And Touma watches the video with Ikki being uneasy at his side.

It is clear that the video has been edited. The sound quality is very bad as well, Touma can barely hear anything with all of the noise from the fighting. Even with Touma’s experience as a Kamen Rider, it is hard to understand everything that happened in the video.

But, Touma can understand that the fighting looks… disturbing. Mainly because Touma knows just how much Aruto loves humagears. So, to see him fighting a humagear like this feels… terrifying.

And his Kamen Rider form at the beginning of the video didn’t look normal and…

The overall fighting feels… painful to watch.

Touma closes his eyes once the video ends.

“I hardly understand anything from it,” Touma admits. “Maybe because I don’t understand the context enough…”

“Me too… but, it is just… it was so different from my own battle…” Ikki admits it with a troubling expression. “Daiji complained, If humagears can be such dangerous killing machines then why Hiden Intelligence is so persistent in producing them? When he said all of that, I couldn’t say anything back.”

“I see… that is the main problem, huh?”

That video alone has pointed out just how dangerous humagears can be. And the way that Aruto fought back was… kind of horrendous in the first half of the video. Touma knows that there is more story behind that fight.

“So, you are doubting Aruto now?” Touma asks back. “That is why you are asking for my opinion?”

“That’s…” Ikki sounds conflicted. He grimaces then he looks down. “I know that Aruto-san is a good person, it is just…”

“You can’t fully believe in him yet, huh?” Touma continues Ikki’s hanging words. The young novelist folds his arms. “It is better to see it in your own eyes rather than I explain everything to you.”

Ikki raises his head and Touma gives him a bright smile.

“You can decide it on your own, Ikki. I agree that Aruto is quite a complicated person, he is… an enigma, if I can say it. But, you are right, he is a good person. That much is true.” Touma smiles wider. “You can see what kind of person Aruto is today.”

Ikki still hesitates and Touma pats his shoulder. Then Ikki nods with a more determined face.

“I understand.”

“That’s good. Now, let’s pick up our dear CEO.”

“Huh? Aren’t we supposed to meet at the restaurant?”

“Since we are here already, why not? Come on, Ikki.”

Touma drags Ikki along, but his junior doesn’t fight him for it. The young novelist’s expression turns dark for a second, he wonders just how much suffering Aruto has been hiding beneath all his lame jokes. But then Touma changes his expression back.

But still, that doesn’t change the fact that Touma wants to befriend Aruto. To make Aruto smile sincerely is his wish.

And he hopes that Ikki shares the same feeling with him.

0o0o0o0

“You shouldn’t bother to pick me up like this, Touma-sensei, Ikki-san.”

“Well, since we are here faster than we intended to, why not?” Touma smiles brightly, it almost blinds Aruto’s eyes.

While Ikki seems amazed by the Hiden Intelligence headquarters. He has these sparkling eyes while looking around. “This place is huge… and futuristic looking.”

“Right?” Touma chuckles.

Aruto smiles sheepishly. “Let’s go to the restaurant. It isn’t very far from here, it is within walking distance.”

“Aruto-sachou.”

Aruto turns around, noticing Izu approaching him in a hurry. “What is it, Izu?”

“Can I come along?”

“Huh?” Aruto is surprised. “You know that I only work half-day today.”

“Yes, I know, can I come along?” Izu repeats the question again.

Aruto blinks. “You know that you are the company’s humagear, you don’t need to follow me everywhere. I don’t come outside to fight as a Kamen Rider.” Since as a humagear, Izu has no ability to eat, she has no purpose to come into a restaurant aside that she wants to accompany Aruto.

“I know, I just want to come with you, Aruto-sachou.” Izu is strangely stubborn today. But, maybe it is her being protective of him. Probably because she saw how nervous he was earlier.

“It should be okay, shouldn’t it?” Touma asks Aruto. “Izu should come along too.”

“Huh? But…” Aruto feels conflicted. Both Touma and Ikki come by themselves without any of their friends or family accompanying them, so it feels wrong for Aruto to make Izu come along to their outing.

“I’m okay, I want to know about Izu-san too,” Ikki lets out a smile.

A polite smile.

“Oh well… if you two said so…” Aruto turns at Izu. He is happy that Izu comes along because he needs her as his additional support, but he wonders if it makes him like a fearful child being accompanied by his parents…

“Now, let’s go.” Touma pats Aruto’s shoulder and then pushes him to move along with him.

Aruto stumbles a little but then matches his pace with Touma’s. Ikki is walking beside them and Izu has no problem matching their stride.

Some of the employees greet Aruto, especially the humagears and Aruto is a bit shy and wonder what other thinks that he is being picked by the people that seem to be his friends.

Seemed.

Aruto wonders if he should take off his suit and only wear his hoodie. But it feels weird at this point, and he is so used to wearing a suit as well. He hopes that one day he can get used to wearing a casual outfit like Ikki.

Touma’s styling is out of reach for Aruto.

“Tell me, you don’t pick a fine dining restaurant or something like that, right, Aruto-san?” Touma is making the small talk and Aruto is used to it. Touma has his way of filling the silence with nonsense but comfortable small talk, just so no one is suffocated with uncomfortable silence.

“Of course not, I dislike those kinds of places,” Aruto isn’t that kind of person. “Izu did suggest the idea, but I rejected it.”

Izu turns at him and she blinks with her innocent face. But she doesn’t say anything at all.

“I’m glad, if it is I don’t think I can pay for it,” Ikki admits it. Aruto is a bit happy that Ikki is also joining the small talk. Aruto is inexperienced with this kind of setting, and he is glad that Touma is there to be the mood maker.

“Oh, but do you receive some kind of wage from your family? You work hard with the bathhouse,” Touma asks with curiosity.

“Well, it depends on how much we make profit from the bathhouse…” Ikki scratches the back of his neck nervously. “Oh, but I did receive some rewards from the Fenix because of the contract I signed with them- not that I fought as a Kamen Rider for money, I mean-“

Touma laughs at Ikki’s stuttering and nervousness. “I get it, Ikki, I get it. Well, I’m just glad that you have your own money.” Touma turns at Aruto. “Though both of us can’t beat Aruto-san’s wealth, I guess.”

Aruto is a bit uncomfortable with this topic. He knows that he is someone who never needs to struggle with money. Even back then during the time he worked as a failed comedian, his late grandfather always sent him money. He has the privilege but he isn’t exactly proud of it.

“Don’t worry, the lunch this time is on me,” Aruto has decided about that ever since Touma and Ikki let him choose the restaurant. Since Aruto has money, rather than being embarrassed by it, it is better to use it to his advantage.

“Now, now, don’t make us as if we stick along with you because of your money, Aruto-san.” Touma’s words make Aruto jump a little, but Touma rubs his back as if he reassuring Aruto that he is only joking. “Then the next time, let me pay for it.” Touma winks.

“Uh…” Ikki sounds troubled.

“Well, then the next next time will be Ikki’s turn, right?” Touma grins wider and elbows Ikki’s slightly.

“I understand,” Ikki sounds determined.

Aruto just sees Touma with amazed eyes.

Touma has his way of including everyone in the conversation, noticing every detail of people’s reactions, and his skill of talking is just… so smooth and good. No wonder he has a bunch of friends.

And Aruto feels a bit envious of him. But, Aruto hates himself for thinking that way.

“Oh.” Izu makes a sound as she stops walking. Aruto turns around to see what she sees in front of them.

“I SAID STOP, YOU BASTARD!”

Someone is running toward them.

And someone is chasing him.

And of course that is someone familiar.

“Fuwa-san?” Aruto is surprised to see Fuwa chasing someone.

Then when Fuwa jumps and gives that someone a drop kick, Aruto can only gape in awe.

“You bastard, you should stop when I warned you earlier,” Fuwa grumbles as he pins that guy to the ground. “And stop running away, I only want to ask you something.”

“Fuwa-san…?” Aruto approaches him carefully. Finally, Fuwa raises his head.

“Oh Sachou,” Fuwa admits Aruto’s presence but does no more than that.

“May I ask what are doing to that person, Fuwa-san?” Izu asks what Aruto can’t ask.

Fuwa is tying both the hands of the guy on his back with a cable tie. “Oh, he is a pickpocket… I need him to ask something from him,” Fuwa shrugs as he pulls that guy to stand.

Aruto only blinks and Fuwa sighs.

“Someone asked me to get them back something that was stolen from them, he has the clue of where that thing is,” Fuwa explains further.

“So, you are working as a private detective now, Fuwa-san?” Aruto is amazed at that. But that fits Fuwa a lot. Fuwa is a very short-tempered person, but aside from that, his investigation ability is good.

“Huh!? …Oh well, I can’t refuse when someone asks me for help…” Fuwa grumbled. The guy on his holding is trying to struggle away, but Fuwa skilfully hits his ankle and that guy stumbles back to the ground.

“Oh, I see…” Aruto nods along, then he notices how Touma and Ikki are just stunned there.

Uh, oh, does he need to introduce both of them—

“Who are they? Sachou, you aren’t about to make some trouble again, right?” Fuwa asks with a glare.

“Huh!? Of course not!” Aruto feels wronged.

“Please, Fuwa-san, you are way more troublemaker than Aruto-sachou ever is,” Izu gives him a sarcastic reply that even Aruto is surprised to hear.

“Well, I won’t say you are a troublemaker… You are just a magnet of trouble,” Fuwa groans.

That… is kind of true, so Aruto can’t deny it.

“Let me introduce him,” Izu takes the lead. “He is Fuwa Isamu the former captain of AIMS, Artificial Intelligence Military Service,” then she turns to Fuwa. “Also known as, Kamen Rider Vulcan.”

“Huh!?” Fuwa looks angry and Aruto approaches him and makes a gesture so that Fuwa calms down.

“They are… Kamen Rider as well, using a bit different technology than us but still Kamen Riders,” Aruto explains further to appease Fuwa’s anger.

“Oh… is that so?” Fuwa’s anger evaporated instantly.

“I’m Kamiyama Touma, I’m resigned though, but I was known as Kamen Rider Saber. Nice to meet you,” Touma gives out a friendly smile.

“I’m Igarashi Ikki, I’m… Kamen Rider Revi, nice to meet you,” Ikki bows politely, he looks like he is still hesitating to introduce himself as a Kamen Rider. Right, Aruto remembers that Ikki still has trouble remembering his time as Kamen Rider, and Aruto feels bad for him.

“Hoo… is that so?” Then Fuwa eyes Aruto suspiciously. “What are you three about to do?”

“We aren’t going to make trouble, Fuwa-san…” Aruto grimaces.

“We are all going to have lunch together,” Izu answers with a flat expression.

Then Fuwa tilts his head. Then he turns to Aruto and gives him a look.

Oh right.

Aruto knows that even though he has known Fuwa longer than he knows Touma and Ikki, Aruto never eats together with Fuwa except for the time he hired him as a bodyguard for HIDEN Manufacturing.

Shoot, should he ask Fuwa to join them? But the way Fuwa is still holding the captured guy, who is still resisting, Aruto knows he is busy.

And more, with Fuwa…

“Maybe…” Aruto is about to ask Fuwa to have lunch together with him next time, but he just can’t let his voice out. He still remembers how Fuwa desperately tried to stop him, how they fought and Aruto completely beat him. Aruto wonders how Fuwa sees him now, at least he doesn’t see Aruto as his foe and Aruto can’t ask more than that.

Does Fuwa even want to befriend someone like him?

“Maybe if you need help with your job as a private detective, feel free to ask me,” Aruto changes his words.

“Like I said, I don’t work as a private detective… urgh well,” Fuwa sighs. “Then have fun you all, don’t make any trouble. I have a lot of things in my hands as it is.” Fuwa drags away the guy he captured.

“What an interesting guy, he is so… fiery?” Touma mutters quietly as they see Fuwa walk away.

“He looks strong,” Ikki nods. “So, he is your friend, Aruto-san?”

Aruto is a bit troubled with that question. Are they friends? Even Aruto doesn’t know that. “He is my battle comrade…” That is what Fuwa is for Aruto. Aruto can trust his back to Fuwa when they fight enemies, but… they are only that, not more than that. Aruto can’t even casually invite Fuwa to eat together with him, fearing what the other guy's reaction will be.

Aruto feels like he has ruined whatever chance he has to be friends with Fuwa and he has no one to blame but himself.

Ikki nods along while Touma gives him an unrecognizable look.

Then Touma closes his eyes and when he opens them again, he gives Aruto another bright smile. “Now, let’s go to the restaurant, I’m starving.”

Aruto wonders if Touma can see that Aruto is uncomfortable with the topic and decides to change it.

And it makes him wonder just how much Touma has seen through him.

And Aruto does what he knows the best at times like this. “Yes, I wonder if in the restaurant there will be lettuce. Lettuce us go now!”

Then Izu moves to his side and does their routine pose. “Now that is the work of Aruto!”

The surprised faces of Touma and Ikki are enough for Aruto, so the young CEO turns around fast. “Let’s go! Let’s go!”

Aruto is hoping that his pun is enough to distract Touma and Ikki from his weird interaction with Fuwa earlier.

Because it feels embarrassing that he can call Fuwa his battle comrade but not his friend…

“He is really…” Touma mutters softly under his breath and follows Aruto from behind.

While Ikki is only blinking and needs to snap out of his thoughts before he follows his seniors.

0o0o0o0

“Huh? Hiden-sachou?”

“Huh? Yaiba-san?”

Aruto awkwardly stops reaching the handle of the door to the restaurant. And then he eyes awkwardly the rest of the team of AIMS behind Yaiba.

Aruto only knows Naki and he doesn’t know the rest of the team… If he thinks about it again, it feels absurd that he has fought along AIMS a few times but he doesn’t know the rest of the members there…

“You are about to have lunch in here too?” Yaiba asks with a friendly smile.

“Yeah, what a coincidence,” Aruto smiles forcedly. He can feel how the rest of the team members behind Yaiba don’t look at him warmly.

Even Naki shows a blank face toward him.

Then a member tugs Yaiba’s shirt and whispers something to her ear.

“Huh… but this is the best restaurant that is humagear friendly,” Yaiba protests at her team member.

“But yeah, we are kind of tired to keep eating here too… let’s find another restaurant, Yaiba-san.” He asks. “Naki is really good-looking. I bet any other restaurant won’t be hostile to them.”

“That isn’t the problem…,” Yaiba sighs. “But okay, I understand. Then you all choose where we are going to eat,” Yaiba gives a command then turns at Aruto with sorry eyes. “It seems we aren’t going to eat here, I get it that my team member is too tired to keep eating here. We can eat here three days a week.”

“More like five days a week.” Another member lets out a comment.

Yaiba rolls her eyes a little bit. “Well, okay then, see you later, Hiden-sachou.”

“Ah… oh, okay…” Aruto awkwardly waves to Yaiba as the female team leader walks away with her team members. Naki glances at Aruto a little bit and still gives him a blank expression.

Aruto is stunned there.

No, it isn’t his imagination. He can tell that the AIMS team walked away because of him. Maybe the thought that they needed to eat in the same restaurant as the Hiden Intelligence CEO made them uncomfortable.

Aruto gets it though, because then they maybe even need to eat at the same table and that can be really awkward but…

“Who are they, Aruto-san?” Touma’s question snaps Aruto from his thoughts.

“Oh, that is Yaiba Yua-san, a team leader from AIMS. She is also a Kamen Rider like Fuwa-san,” Aruto gives a brief explanation and only notices his error.

Shoot, he hopes Yaiba won’t be angry with him for leaking her identity to other people without her permission…

However, her identity as a Kamen Rider isn’t exactly classified information but still…

“Hm… I see…” Touma nods along. “Should we get inside? We are blocking the door like this.”

Aruto snaps again from his thought, because, indeed, people are looking at him begrudgingly from standing in front of the door of the restaurant.

“Oh, my bad, okay,” Aruto steps into the restaurant hurriedly, followed by Izu who has a neutral expression, then Touma who has an unreadable expression, and Ikki who looks at him a bit worriedly.

Aruto wonders if Touma and Ikki can tell what just happened earlier.

Aruto knows that he doesn’t have a friendly relationship with AIMS, though they are civil enough with each other but still…

He can’t help but feel embarrassed for Touma and Ikki to see all of that.

Aruto is such a mess and he wonders what Touma and Ikki think about him.

It takes everything in him to smile at them, hoping they play along if Aruto pretends to be dumb about it.

0o0o0o0

Aruto has trouble making friends, that is what Ikki thinks about him.

It isn’t very obvious, but when Ikki observes him that is what Ikki suspects him to be.

Ikki thought that Aruto being guarded only applied to people he just met. But, the way he interacted with his fellow Kamen Riders comrades is a bit… worrying.

It is clear that he isn’t used to interacting with them in a casual setting.

“So, this restaurant is friendly with humagear?” Touma’s chattering fills up the silence again.

After being led to an empty table by a humagear server, they sit down, including Izu.

“Yeah, you see this chair can charge humagear wirelessly,” Aruto taps the chair he is sitting down. “That way, the humagear that comes to this restaurant can be charged while the people can eat their meal. Many of the servers and the chefs are also humagear, that is why this restaurant is humagear-friendly.”

Izu smiles at them. “Then, let me turn into sleep mode while I’m charging, excuse me,” Izu bows at them and closes her eyes.

Ikki looks at her with amazed eyes. So that is how humagear charge themselves, it looks like she is sleeping in a sitting position.

“This is my favorite restaurant, though I can’t come here often because I’m busy,” Aruto adds sheepishly.

“I see,” Touma nods. “Then let’s order something. What are your favorite dishes to eat here, Aruto-san?”

“Uhm…” Aruto is browsing through a digital menu that looks like a transparent tablet. “Usually I eat curry rice, or omelet rice here.”

For the CEO of a huge company, Aruto does have a childish preference for food, huh? However, Ikki also has a childish taste.

“I want to try chicken nanba set,” Touma mumbles as he reads the menu.

“I think I will go with the beef bowl set,” Ikki settles on his choice.

“Then omelet rice for me,” Aruto says. “We can just order from this tablet if you settle on your choice.”

“Oh wow…” Touma sounds in awe. “Hey, how about we order a side dish to share with all of us?”

“Huh?” Aruto sounds confused.

“If I go out to a restaurant with my friends… well, since they are swordsmen that aren’t used to normal civilian life, they tend to want to try as many dishes as they can…” Touma says with a bit troubled but full of fondness smile. “We ended up sharing foods so everyone can have a taste of everything.”

“Oh, I see…” Ikki nods. “My sibling… well, my little sister likes to share dessert too. Daiji and I usually just go along with what she wants, she even goes as far as shove the food that she doesn’t like to us while taking what she likes from our plate.” Ikki chuckles a little while remembering that. Sakura loves to act like a spoiled little princess when it is only with them but also tries hard to be cool about it.

In Ikki’s opinion, he loves it when his siblings act spoiled in front of him. It is his privilege as the eldest.

Then he turns to see Aruto.

And Aruto has a blank expression on his face.

And as time passes, it feels like he looks cornered and troubled.

Then his eyes stop at the sleeping Izu. “W-well, the reason why I always choose humagear-friendly restaurant is Izu will stubbornly refuse to sit down with me when I eat… she will just stand beside me so it is really awkward in the normal restaurant…”

Oh.

Now Ikki feels bad.

Aruto is used to eating alone and sharing food with other people is alien to him, maybe.

“Oh… I can imagine that that must be quite something. Izu is quite stiff, are all humagears like that?” Touma smoothly changes the topic. Ikki glances at him in awe and wonders if Touma also noticed Aruto’s reaction earlier.

Probably he did, that is why he changed the topic back to humagears. Aruto always looks comfortable when he talks about humagears after all.

“Not all of them, but maybe most of them? It depends on the people that are around the humagear itself. That is the wonderfulness of AI, they grow along with the people they interact with,” Aruto has a tender expression when he explains that. “But for Izu, I think she has pride in being my secretary that is why she is a bit too stiff.”

“I agree, she looks like a role model for a secretary,” Touma chuckles a little. “Now that there are three of us, how about we order this mixed fried set to share together? It is quite big but I think we can finish it together.”

Ikki wants to applaud Touma, he is so smooth at doing what he is doing without cornering Aruto more than they already did.

“I guess… that’s okay. I’m not such a big eater though,” Aruto admits timidly.

“I can eat a lot, don’t worry,” Ikki says with confidence. “Ah, well, like I said, Sakura likes to shove the food she doesn’t like onto my plate, so I’m used to eating the leftovers of her portion too.” Ikki grimaces, he hopes that the topic of his sibling doesn’t make Aruto cower again.

But when he glances at Aruto, the young CEO just has this solemn expression on him, with a small smile. “Being the eldest sounds hard.”

“Well, I’m used to it,” Ikki is glad that Aruto doesn’t react too negatively.

“Then, that’s what we will order.” Touma puts down the tablet as he finishes the order. “Feel free to order more, it is good to order something more to share since there are three of us here.”

“…Aruto-san is the one who paying, though,” Ikki reminds the young novelist. Why does Touma sound as if he is the one who pays for the food?

Touma just laughs then turns at Aruto. “Then, Aruto-san, feel free to order whatever you want to try, Ikki and I will finish it for you if you can’t.”

Aruto fidgets a little in his place before he browses the menu again. “Then… this dumpling set?”

“Got it, just order it,” Touma gives his thumb up.

Ikki shakes his head with a smile.

He looks at his other senior and Ikki feels bad for having such a bad thought about him. Ikki can relate to him a bit. As the eldest, he also has a tendency to never rely on other people. Sometimes, he feels alone even when he is surrounded by his family.

He wonders if Aruto feels even worse than that. Even at a glance, his relationship with other Kamen Riders that supposed to be his battle comrades doesn’t look close to each other.

Though, Ikki knows that getting close to Aruto isn’t easy either.

But, Ikki glances at his other senior, he knows that Touma is getting there. And Ikki is amazed at Touma’s patience and sincerity. If it is Ikki alone, it feels impossible to penetrate Aruto’s tight guard around himself.

Ah…

Even if Ikki has known about the very problematic viral video about this young CEO, he still wants to befriend Aruto, huh?

Of course, he does.

He knows that Aruto is also trying his best to connect with the people around him though he isn’t very good at it. And Ikki can understand why other people lose patience in befriending him if Aruto is like this.

But, Ikki won’t give up that easily.

0o0o0o0

“It is all tasty.”

“I’m full.”

“I’m quite full too.” Aruto smiles at Touma and Ikki.

It is… fun, like this.

Aruto can’t remember when is the last time he ate with other people that was unrelated to work. He only remembers eating with others as something that isn’t very enjoyable and sometimes a bit suffocating. Most of the time he feels bad for other people who feel the need to entertain him just because he is a CEO, or the other time Aruto is too busy entertaining others to even enjoy the food.

Even during his school year… it wasn’t like this.

Well, except for that time that he ate dinner together with the Igarashi family… that was nice and that was the only time Aruto could know what it felt like to eat together with a family like.

“Now, let me pay it,” Aruto stands up, not telling the two that he actually can pay through the tablet too. But, he feels the need to get away from them a little.

It is fun, both of them are really good people.

And because of that… Aruto feels a bit… bad.

He isn’t… exactly a fun person to be around, he knows that.

He is totally helpless today and yet those two are being so kind and considerate of him that Aruto can’t help but feel bad.

“Sachou, did you and your friends enjoy the food?” The humagear cashier greets him politely. She accepts Aruto’s card and processes the payment.

“…yes, we enjoyed it. Please tell the chef that, and thank you for your excellent serving too,” Aruto replies with a smile.

“Your welcome,” the humagear bows politely.

As expected, for Aruto, it is easier for him to interact with humagears. Humagears are like innocent kids who think nothing bad about humans. So, it is easier to interact with them rather than with humans.

While with humans Aruto is…

Aruto walks back toward the seat. He taps Izu to turn off her sleep mode and she blinks as she turns on again. “Aruto-sachou, did you enjoy the food?”

“Yeah…” Aruto nods. “And thank you for having lunch together with me,” Aruto only knows how to be honest though not all people love his honesty. He really enjoyed eating together with them, and for the first time, really enjoyed having people around as he ate.

He wonders if he will ever experience it again. Touma did say that there will be next time but…

Aruto is used to people distancing themselves from him the more they interact with him. He learned to stop hoping too much.

“You don’t need to be so formal, and more, it was Ikki who demanded us to eat together with him, remember?” Touma stands and pats Aruto’s shoulder.

“Oh that’s right, thank you for eating together with me… and for paying for the food too, Aruto-san,” Ikki bows politely to them.

“Oh geez, now that is way too polite,” Touma scolds Ikki playfully.

“Well, you two are still my seniors,” Ikki reminds him. Touma just chuckles.

“That reminds me, Aruto-san… can I drop the honorific with you? It feels weird to call Ikki just by his name but you with the honorific… well, only if that is fine with you.” Touma asks as they exit the restaurant together.

“Like I said, you don’t need to ask me permission for that. You may be my junior but you are older than me,” Aruto reminds Touma.

“Huh? Is that so?” Ikki sounds surprised.

Touma only looks to the side and scratches his neck awkwardly.

Aruto is looking at him confusedly before he makes a connection. “Oh—ahh… well, I will call you Touma-san, if that is alright.”

Maybe calling Touma with sensei is a little too distant and it is bugging Touma. Aruto only gets it now.

“…good, that is progress,” Touma mumbles to himself, he still doesn’t look satisfied. “Then, Aruto it is,” Touma says louder with a bright smile.

Aruto blinks then smiles a little.

It has been really a while since someone called him without an honorific like that. Aruto can’t even remember when it is.

“Calling someone without honorific is… such a hard hurdle…” Ikki mumbles quietly to himself. “But, Aruto-san, feel free to call me without honorific since I’m your junior and I’m younger than you.”

“No, no, that is still a little bit…” Aruto can’t say that is also a hard hurdle for him.

He never ever did that to anyone that isn’t humagear.

Unless that person is a total bastard, then maybe that is a different story.

“Oh, I see…” Ikki nods, looking a bit dejected.

Then Touma gives Ikki a look, and Ikki only shrugs at him.

“Then, I think I need to go back to write my novel,” Touma turns at Aruto. “Until next time then, don’t feel tired for me keep coming back to your office, Aruto.”

Aruto only chuckles a little.

“Please come to my bathhouse if you are free, Aruto-san,” Ikki says with a smile. “My family and I will welcome you.”

Aruto can only nod.

Touma and Ikki walk away while waving to Aruto.

And Aruto just stands there while he waves back to them.

“They are really good people…” Aruto mutters quietly.

“Yes, they are.” Izu agrees beside him.

“I really want to be their friend…” Aruto says that out loud, for the first time. Now that he says it, it feels real. Aruto turns at Izu and he can see how surprised Izu is beside him. “I need to put some effort into it, don’t I? I hope it will work out.”

Aruto is trying his best to give a bright smile at Izu.

He is someone who can only befriend with humagears, but Aruto wants to try it. He doesn’t know what will happen if he fails, again, but he still needs to try it. He won’t know what will happen if he doesn’t try it.

“I will cheer on you, Aruto-sachou,” Izu says with a pose of cheering on him.

“Thank you… I will need that… a lot of it,” Aruto nods then turns around.

End

Chapter Text

There are no humans with no trouble in this world. Whether they are old enough to understand, or smart enough to comprehend, everyone has their own problems in their lives. There aren’t any people who live perfectly happy without any problem, because… to know happiness means people need to know misery as well.

Aruto knows about this fact. It is his way to comfort his own mind when he is burdened with his own mountains of problems. That it is normal to live this way.

Or maybe he is just deceiving himself, he doesn’t know. But, he is sure that everyone else has their own sort of problems that they need to deal with. People have their own hidden misery in their lives.

But, why does it surprise him that that also includes Touma as well?

“It has been a while since I last heard of Touma…” Aruto mumbles at himself. He looks at his phone with aimless eyes. Usually, even when Touma didn’t drop by his office, that famous novelist still contacted him once in every few days. Whether by phone or just sending him silly memes. Touma doesn’t love to use a smartphone that much and he types on the screen touch painfully slow, so Aruto appreciated Touma’s effort to keep in touch with him.

But now it feels like Touma just ghosted him, disappearing without any explanation.

Aruto groans as he closes Touma’s first novel. He wonders if he is being over-dramatic, It only has been two weeks and as a fellow Kamen Rider, Aruto knows that there is a possibility that Touma has his hands full of some problems he needs to deal with.

And it only downs to Aruto that it always has been Touma who contacts him first, not the other way around.

“Just texting should be fine…” Aruto decides to send Touma a text because he doesn’t want to disturb Touma in case the young novelist is busy. But, by the time Aruto is about to tap the send button, his phone is ringing. Aruto almost drops his phone to the floor but manages to regain his composure.

It is the number that he doesn’t know, but since Aruto is on paid vacation now… well, he is only lounging around in his apartment, he can’t ask Izu’s help to find out about the ID of the caller. Aruto takes a deep breath and answers the call.

[“Aruto-san? This is Aruto-san, right?]

“Uh… yes, who is it?” Aruto asks back. It is a woman’s voice and it sounds distressed.

[“This is me, Sudou Mei.]

“Ah… Sudou-san?” Aruto remembers Touma’s cheerful editor. It is weird for her to contact him. “Is something wrong?” Because the only reason why she would contact Aruto is that something happened. Probably… something bad.

[“Do you know something happened to Touma? I mean… Have you noticed anything weird about him recently?]

There is a lot of noise in the background of the call and Aruto frowns, wondering what is actually happening around Mei. And Touma.

Something happened to Touma, that is what happening is.

“I don’t know… he hasn’t been coming around to my office recently and… he hasn’t contacted me either. Did something happen to him?” Aruto asks back, trying to calm down his nerves.

[“KENTO, RINTARO, CALM DOWN YOU TWO! URGH!”]

Aruto frowns and quickly pulls away the phone from his ear. Mei screamed toward other people obviously, but her scream made Aruto’s ear ring.

[“Sorry for that Aruto-san hehe… if you don’t know anything then it’s okay.”]

“Did something happen to Touma-san?” Aruto says quickly before Mei can hang the call.

[“…I don’t know yet. He behaved… weirdly… he made me worried but well… maybe it wasn’t a big deal, the guild was sure that nothing abnormal happening… Anyway, thank you for the information, Aruto-san.”]

And Mei hangs up the phone before Aruto can say anything more. The young CEO is just stunned there and puts down his phone on the table. His eyes glance toward Touma’s novel that he has been rereading.

Something happened to Touma and it made his friends worried enough to make Mei contact him to find some clues. Aruto wonders if that is a big deal enough or not. His fingers caress the book softly.

He cried a lot reading Touma’s novel. The story always hit him harder than any other thing he ever read. The friendship inside the story is so wonderful for Aruto but it also leaves a bitter taste in his mouth because he wonders if he will ever have that kind of deep relationship with other people. That is the thing that Aruto was never able to mention to Touma.

Aruto stares at his phone again. If Touma really needs his help then he should know that Aruto will gladly help him… right?

Aruto frowns and opens his phone and quickly taps on the screen. 

Aruto isn’t that much of a busybody unless it is about humagear or people’s dreams. But, he knows who the busybody person is and he can ask for help with this.

“Hello, Ikki-san? Are you busy now?”

0o0o0o0

“I’m sorry for roping you along to do this…”

“Don’t worry, Aruto-san… I admit that I’m used to dealing with things like this,” Ikki waves his hand. “And if it is about Touma-san then… I can’t just leave this problem alone.”

Ikki has to admit that he was beyond surprised when Aruto contacted him this morning. And more surprised when Aruto arrives at the bathhouse with his motorcycle and throws a helmet to Ikki so they ride together to Touma’s bookstore. Ikki isn’t that close to Aruto, unlike Touma to him. And Ikki is okay with that, Ikki just can’t match Touma’s resilience effort to break through Aruto’s defense.

But to think that it is Touma who has the problem now. It is hard for Ikki to process because Touma has been…

A very reliable person ever since Ikki met him. The one who never wavered or gave up. The way he always smiles brightly.

No wonder Aruto gets worried because Ikki feels the same now. “I hope it is nothing…” Ikki softly says.

“Excuse me…” Ikki opens the door of the bookstore. There is no open sign that can be found but there isn’t a close sign either, weirdly. Aruto is peeking from behind him.

Then there is a crashing sound and they both jump on their place.

“YOU TWO, STOP!”

Now that the door has opened all the way, Ikki can see how Mei is separating Kento and Rintaro from each other. A bookcase is knocked down and books are scattered on the floor.

“Like I said, we can’t leave him alone! Never, Rintaro. NEVER AGAIN! I won’t leave Touma alone.” Kento is ignoring Mei who is desperately trying to push him.

“I know, Kento-kun. But, hear me out. I know you are worried. Do you think you are the only one who is worried about Touma-kun!? Me too! But, Touma-kun asked me to leave him alone! You know that we have fought and his sword was crying but—”

“That is why we have to come to him! Why are you so stubborn, Rintaro!?”

“FOR THE GOODNESS’S SAKE, YOU TWO, STOP!” Mei is screaming at the top of her lungs that even Ikki is covering his ears.

Mei huffs and her face is red, probably both from anger and anguish. “Stop arguing like this! Just stop!” She huffs again with her eyes are about to cry. “Oh?”

Only then did Mei notice Ikki and Aruto.

“Uh… I hope we don’t interrupt anything…” Ikki comes inside while raising both of his hands, he is trying to be as less imposing as possible. “I don’t know what happened… but you two need to calm down first.”

Kento and Rintaro huff and turn around to the opposite side, obviously trying to calm down themselves.

“Is something happened to Touma-san?” Aruto asks while picking up the books that are scattered on the floor.

The grunting sound from Kento and the tense shoulders of Rintaro make the air heavy and suffocating, but Aruto looks determined enough to not cower in fear.

“Touma has been… weird…” Mei says slowly, crouching down and joining Aruto to pick up the books as well.

“Weird is an understatement,” Kento says coldly.

“Please don’t speak toward Mei-san that way,” Rintaro warns Kento with a glare.

“Urgh,” Mei rolls her eyes. “If you two want to fight so badly then you can fight outside, or in the training room, or wherever but not here!”

“It isn’t that I want to fight Rintaro—ugh,” Kento stops speaking and looks the other way.

“I get it. All of us are worried about Touma-kun, and it makes us sensitive,” Rintaro says as he has calmed down. Kento’s tense shoulder deflates a little bit.

“Touma hasn’t been himself for… maybe three weeks, something definitely happened, something bad,” Kento huffs, he is still refusing to see anyone’s eyes. But, even Ikki can tell how concerned his expression is. “At first, he tried to hide it by acting all okay, but then he kept breaking down—” Kento frowns.

“Yes, I saw he cried when the children came for storytelling time and Touma-kun just stormed out without saying anything…,” Rintaro sighs heavily.

Mei turns to Aruto, hugging a pile of books. She turns around then sees how Ikki has put back the fallen bookcase. She smiles at both of them with a sad smile. “We all have tried to talk to Touma, even Rintaro, stupidly, forced Touma to spar with him with swords, so he could hear Touma’s sword’s words or something like that—anyway, nothing worked.”

Ikki is putting back the books into the bookcase, wondering if he is hearing it right that Rintaro forced Touma to spar when Touma has a problem… that sounds rough.

“In the end, Touma-kun asked me to leave him alone. He said that he needed to be alone to deal with whatever is troubling him now,” Rintaro doesn’t sound happy, and Kento clicks his tongue in annoyance.

“Touma is never good at being alone though,” Mei says softly, shaking her head.

“Because of that you are all worried about him,” Ikki nods. It does sound worrying, especially if it is coming from Touma.

“Yes, Touma is sensitive and soft-hearted,” Kento looks exasperated. “Even after became a swordsman, even after he retired from being a swordsman, he is still soft. I can’t… I can’t just leave him alone…”

Before another argument between the two swordsman start again, Ikki raises his hand. “Then, let us try to talk to him.” Ikki glances at Aruto who looks so serious.

“You will?” Mei sounds a bit surprised.

“Yes, I owe it to Touma-san,” Ikki replies back with a smile. Touma is the one who helped him to open up to his family about his missing memories, and of course, Aruto too.

“I want to help Touma-san too,” Aruto says.

“Well, if you say so… then please try to talk to him,” Mei says with a smile. “He is at…”

0o0o0o0

“These stairs are killing me.”

“Is that so?”

“It doesn’t bother you, Ikki-san?”

“I used to play soccer during my high school, so, I trained by climbing stairs a lot.”

No wonder Ikki has an athlete body, it answers a lot of things. However, not about how Ikki ended up taking care of the bathhouse rather than continuing his career. But, that is another topic that Aruto needs to put aside now.

Once they arrive at the top of the hill, Aruto can see Touma sitting on the bench. He isn’t wearing his usual hat, he is just sitting there and looking at the sky with empty eyes.

“Touma-san!” Ikki calls Touma loudly, almost making Aruto jump.

Touma turns at them with a shocked face. Ikki waves his hand, while Aruto waves awkwardly. Touma waves back with a small smile.

Even for a glance, Aruto can tell that Touma is far from being okay.

“Why are you two here?” Touma asks them as Ikki and Aruto approach him. Ikki sits at Touma’s side and Aruto at the other, sandwiching Touma at the bench.

“Just me being nosy… like usual,” Ikki admits.

“Are you okay, Touma-san?” Aruto asks to the point. “I’m worried about you.”

Touma turns at him and it seems he is processing a lot of things in his mind. “Oh… right… I kind of forgot… You are right, I didn’t contact you at all, did I? I’m sorry, Aruto.” It seems like Touma just realized what he has done.

“No, no, please don’t mind about that,” Aruto shakes his hands. “But, your friends are worried about you… and Ikki and I too, of course.”

Touma’s expression softens, his eyes look solemn and he looks up to the sky again. “Is that so?” He doesn’t sound surprised.

“Touma-san, we know you aren’t okay,” Ikki says, it isn’t a question but a fact. “Can you tell us what happened?”

Aruto realizes that that is Ikki’s style, he is quite straightforward and nosy. Well, since Touma has refused to talk to his other friends, so it doesn’t leave them with any other choice.

“Yeah… what actually happened to me… I don’t understand it fully either…” Touma says with a faraway expression as if he isn’t really there.

And that expression is bugging Aruto.

It feels so wrong to see Touma like this.

“Then please try to explain to us, we will try our best to understand,” Aruto says, a bit more desperately this time.

Touma’s eyes become empty and there is no smile on his lips. He pulls out something from his pocket. A small device that resembles a book.

“This book appeared in front me suddenly…” Touma says then pauses, he bites his lips a little as if he has difficulty explaining it. “And… uh… and…” Touma sighs then covers his face with his hand.

Aruto is being patient, the same with Ikki as well.

“Suddenly I remembered that… I have a child.”

“Huh?”

“Wait, what!?”

“No, no, that’s not…” Touma shakes his head and groans softly. “Like I said, I don’t know how to explain it either.” Touma sounds frustrated.

Aruto shakes his head, brushing off his shocked face. “You can try again, slowly.”

Touma takes a deep breath and looks at the sky again. “I feel like… I just have a dream… a very long and vivid dream…” Touma looks again at the strange book in his hand. His face is filled with sadness but also fondness. “After this book appeared in front of me… memories came rushing to my head… memories that… has happened but… erased?”

Touma doesn’t sound too sure, but Aruto is trying his best to follow.

“Erased?” Ikki asks back, maybe because it sounds familiar to him.

“Yeah… but it is memories of the future…” Touma lets out a sad chuckle. “Confusing right? I’m still trying to process everything.”

So that is what Touma has been doing, sorting his head out. No wonder his eyes look empty like this.

“If you want to tell us, then you can do it slowly. I know strange things can happen to us as Kamen Riders, we will try to follow your story,” Aruto encourages Touma as best as he can.

Ikki nods along.

Touma takes a deep breath again. “So, I have a child.”

Ikki and Aruto nod, trying not to show their shocked face.

“Hm… His name is Riku. I found him in front of my burning bookstore one night, along with a dog. Uhm… That time, Riku was screaming and… well… I didn’t really know what happened to him. I only suspected that he might be one of the victims of our battles… or a runaway kid from an orphanage… I never found out.” Touma starts to explain.

It feels as if Touma is telling a story, but different from how usually he does his story-telling. His eyes are solemn and there is something that Aruto can’t explain from his expression.

“So, I adopted Riku because… Riku has a severe case of mutism caused by a traumatic experience. He was very afraid of fire and sword, which is… You don’t know about this Aruto, but that is basically me as a Kamen Rider.” Touma’s eyes become distant again and he pauses for a while.

Ikki is rubbing Touma’s back gently, comforting him.

“Then… yeah, I become a single dad… for 8 years, trying my best to raise Riku,” Touma’s voice is cracking and he stops abruptly. He covers his face with his hand. “Like I said, I don’t understand what happened to me either.”

Touma is silent for a while, with his hand covering his eyes and Ikki keeps rubbing his back. When he uncovers his face, Aruto can see how red and moist his eyes are.

“This book… has the power to tamper with people’s life stories,” Touma shows the strange small book in his hand. “I don’t know how it happened, but it fell into Riku’s hand, then… he split into two different people, one was the small him and the other was his adult version of him… And then… the adult version of him called himself Mamiya, has distorted memories and he tried to erase the existence of all swordsmen from the entire world… uh…” Touma stops again. “No matter how I tried to make sense of it in my head, I still can’t understand it fully either.”

Suddenly, Aruto loses his confidence to follow Touma’s story.

That is even crazier than what Aruto ever experienced.

“So, Mamiya… tried to erase you too?” Ikki asks Touma.

“Yeah… Mamiya did. Probably Mamiya didn’t even know that he was the same person as Riku. Mamiya implanted fake memories inside me, to make me think that he was my childhood friend and for 8 years he was erasing people’s memories about me so that he can erase my existence completely… and also my memories about people…” Touma smiles a little. “That answers a lot why I didn’t remember to contact two of you for 8 years…” Touma says it as if he just realized it.

That is… disturbing to imagine, for Aruto. “He pretended to be your childhood friend while also erasing your existence bit by bit?”

“Yeah… Mamiya did… though, Mamiya wasn’t a bad person…,” Touma says with a fondness on his face. “The book just twisted him and distorted his memories.”

“So… at the end, you know that Mamiya was Riku…?” Aruto asks again. That sounds… quite confusing, but Aruto is trying to follow along with the story.

“Mamiya realized it first. Right after Riku finally managed to call me ‘Otou-san’,” Touma chuckles sadly then chokes as his eyes become glassy again. “Once he realized who he was and what he has done… He managed to break away from the influence of this book and… undo everything from being happened in the first place,” Touma stares at the little book again, and this time his hand grips it harder. “I guess, it reset the world, so what happened for the 8 years ceased to exist… so that means… Riku too…”

Touma pauses then he talks again. “No, Riku is still out there, I’m sure… but… what has happened for those 8 years has been erased…” Touma huffs. “And then this book appeared, I’m sure it appeared by the time where I should have found Riku, and it transferred all of those 8 years memories to me, and even some more than that, out of spite because this book failed to erase the swordsmen.”

There is some bitterness and anger from Touma’s words but his eyes become hollow again. “But, I guess I don’t want to forget about Riku either… Hhh… Damn it.”

It is so rare for Aruto to hear Touma swearing like that.

“The thing is… I can’t understand… why I’m so sad?” Touma asks more of himself than Ikki or Aruto.

“We barely avoided the swordsmen got erased completely… Riku overcame his trauma in the end and… everything got reset, it should be a happy ending so why I’m so sad…?” Touma asks again with genuine confusion and frustration on his face. “And Rintaro and Kento too… it was good that none of that tragedy didn’t happen to them… so why I’m the only one who…”

Aruto can’t hold it anymore. He pulls Touma to face him and holds both of his shoulders. “Of course you are sad, Touma-san.” Aruto pauses, he wonders if he should be this honest, but the answer is so obvious. “Because you lost Riku. The world gets reset, everyone forgets everything, but you remember and you lose Riku.” That is the answer. “You lose Riku.”

“Riku… should be fine out there though, I’m sure I can meet him again someday later in the future…” Touma says again, his eyes are hollow.

“Yeah, but he isn’t… your son anymore, so you lose him in that sense, that is why you are sad. It is normal for you to feel sad.” Aruto shakes his head. “No, if it is me, I will be in despair for sure.”

Ikki moves from his seat and crouches down beside them. He pats Touma’s back with a solemn expression. “Aruto-san is right. It is more than normal for you to be sad to lose Riku. I don’t remember Vice but I’m still very sad to lose him. It feels as if I lost an important piece of myself. You must feel worse… Touma-san.” Ikki pulls Touma to face him. “You have been holding it on alone for so long.”

Then Ikki pulls him into a hug. And Aruto can see how Touma’s shoulder starts to tremble and his sob can be heard.

It is heartbreaking to see Touma like this.

Losing a son, Aruto can’t even imagine how that feels. For him, to lose a father is the same as his world falling apart. For someone as caring and as loving as Touma to lose a son, that must be way harder than that.

And he is the only one who remembers about this, while everyone else living in blissful ignorance.

That tickles something deep inside Aruto, something that used to bother him a long time ago but he has buried it deep inside his mind. About how his dreams used to be filled with how his father died with his own hand or a certain smile of someone that Aruto can’t remember. Those images that don’t fit anywhere inside his memories, Aruto wonders if that is how Touma feels.

Probably a hundred times worse.

Aruto sees how Ikki is stroking Touma’s head like he is patting a little child.

Probably that is the skill that Ikki picked up as an older brother. For now, their age and seniority don’t matter.

It takes a while before Touma can stop crying and separates himself from Ikki. His face is full of tear streaks, so Aruto offers him his handkerchief. Touma accepts that with a sad smile.

“You said about Rintaro-san and Kento-san… and tragedy…, what do you mean by that, Touma-san?” Ikki asks him.

“Oh… this book can be split into three parts… and well, let’s say that I received some memories from the holders of this book and I knew what happened to Rintaro and Kento during those 8 years…” Touma says with a tired and solemn look.

Aruto thinks that nothing can be worse than it, but it turns out it can. “Is that why you can’t tell anything to them?”

“How could I? Rintaro got to fight to death with his father and Kento’s fiancé tried to kill him too,” Touma lets out a sad and hollow chuckle. “And I couldn’t help them because I didn’t remember any of them at that time. They ended up getting erased.”

Aruto grimaces. He seriously thinks that it can’t get worse than this but it gradually becomes worse and worse the more Touma tells him about it.

“Touma-san…” Aruto doesn’t know what to say. He has the feeling that there are more horrors that haunt Touma because of that cursed book and Touma only be able to tell some piece of it because he has difficulty explaining what has happened to him. Not when he is still trying to make sense of all of it himself.

Aruto picks up Touma’s hand, which is calloused and it is rough, but his hand is warm. Warmer than humagears’ hand. “Touma-san, I don’t know how to comfort people because I never tried before, especially mourning people like you,” Aruto says with honesty. That is what Touma is doing now, he is mourning for the son that has been lost because of a damn cursed book, even if Riku is still alive but he isn’t the same Riku that Touma raised.

“But, I don’t want to leave you to deal with this alone.” Aruto closes his eyes, remembering the days when he cried for the loss of his humagear father… and no one comforted him. Not his grandfather, not anyone, he dealt with the grief alone in an agonizing way. Because of that, he has no clue how to comfort anyone who is mourning or grieving. But, he doesn’t want to let Touma go through all of that alone. “So, please, can you tell me how I can help you?”

He hears Touma laugh as more tears fall from the novelist’s eyes. “You are so kind… Aruto…”

Touma takes a deep breath and looks at other way as he is thinking. “I… don’t want… to go home for now. Everything reminds me of Riku and it hurts… I want to go to another place and… sort my jumbling mess of memories…”

Touma obviously needs rest, it has been two weeks since he bottled up everything, dealing with a very traumatic experience that no one else can understand but him. He needs a safe place to rest and properly sort his memories, with none of his friends disturbing him.

Aruto glances at Ikki.

Ikki’s home is warm and welcoming, his family is comforting, but…

“My place is… cramped. And I’m afraid that my parents will fuss over you… My siblings are noisy too… But if you are alright with all of that…” Ikki doesn’t make it sound compelling. If it is Aruto, he will be more than stressed if he has to stay at Ikki’s place, guarding himself against all too many kind strangers.

Touma isn’t as bad as him, but Aruto knows that Touma needs a quiet and peaceful place.

“Then… my place? Uhm, my place is… only a studio apartment and…” Aruto can’t say that he never invites someone over to his place, not even Izu. In fact, Izu is banned from his apartment for a reason that Aruto can’t ever tell anyone. His apartment is the only sanctuary that Aruto has where he can drop his pretense.

Aruto shakes his head.

“I guess, my apartment it is,” Aruto needs to be decisive at a time like this. Touma needs his help and Aruto will gladly do anything to help him.

Well, if his apartment doesn’t work out, Aruto is forming a plan to use his late grandfather’s house which he inherited but never used.

“Are you sure, Aruto?” Touma asks him.

And Aruto is trying his best to smile back. It is so like Touma, who must have read through Aruto a lot more than Aruto expect him to, and for him to be still this considerate despite his own condition.

“It is more than alright,” Aruto answers back.

Inside his head, Aruto is forming a plan to give Izu several orders to smooth things out. The last thing Aruto wants is to make Touma worse than this.

It will be the death of him if that happens.

0o0o0o0

Touma feels like a jumbled mess.

When he is dazed out, he finds himself thinking of what dinner he should make for Riku or what schedule of Riku’s school he needs to pay attention to, just to remember that Riku isn’t with him any longer and it always breaks Touma’s heart more and more.

Now he gets to the point where it is hurting him to see children, finding himself trying to find his lovely son among them, again, just to remember that Riku is lost for him.

Not to mention with the added memories of what happened to Rintaro and Kento, it is almost too much for Touma. He managed to hang on because of his hellish experience as a Kamen Rider so he does have a stronger mentality than normal people, but he can feel himself breaking down bit by bit.

He knows that he needs to sort things out with himself first before he can tell his friends what has happened to him. Touma doesn’t want to tell Rintaro and Kento of what he has seen of them from that cursed book, not before he can process everything.

And he can't express just how grateful he felt when Aruto and Ikki came to find him. He momentarily, completely forgot about two of them, not until they appeared in front of him. Telling them everything wasn’t easy, but it was better than if he tried to tell Rintaro or Kento about everything.

“So, here it is.”

Touma snaps himself from his daze. Aruto has brought him to his apartment and Touma doesn’t bother to ask why a CEO from a big company like Aruto lives in a small studio apartment like this.

Thankfully it is a decent studio apartment. It is quiet, and peaceful, but also cold and empty at the same time.

Such an enigma, like the owner of this apartment.

While there are a few bookcases that are filled with tons of mangas and novels, but there is not a single framed photo can be found in this apartment. This is certainly Aruto’s apartment.

But, Touma is too exhausted to confront Aruto about it.

“You can sit down here, Touma-san… or do you want to lie down?”

Touma sits on the only floor cushion in front of the coffee table. He sees how Aruto is trying to find something, maybe like other cushions to sit down then he is busy to brew tea without asking Touma about it.

Aruto really sucks at being a host, but still, Touma smiles at his effort. Ikki’s bathhouse will be homier and comforting, but there will be too many people there and Touma will be beyond exhausted there for sure.

Touma lets himself lie down on the floor and slowly closes his eyes.

His mind sleepily wondering when Riku will come home from school when the time is to feed Lucky and when Mamiya is going to visit him again.

0o0o0o0

“I really don’t know anything… how to comfort people…” Aruto admits softly while watching Touma, who is sleeping with tears falling from his closed eyes. There is a blanket draped on him, though Aruto wonders if he should move Touma to his bed. But he decided not to because Aruto didn’t dare to wake him up.

“Honestly, I don’t know either…” Ikki says back.

Aruto gives him a look because he is certain that Ikki has better people skills than him.

“I only know how to comfort my younger siblings and… how to be nosy. The last time I tried to comfort my friend, I did it horribly, ran away then forgot everything,” Ikki explains more with an ashamed face. “Maybe I comforted people during my time as a Kamen Rider, but you know that I can’t remember things clearly, Aruto-san.”

“…sorry,” Aruto mutters softly, feeling bad for Ikki. “Then, how do you comfort your younger siblings?”

Ikki stays silent for a little bit. “By listening to their story, hugging them, patting their head, telling them I will always be there and I will always protect them no matter what.”

“You were halfway there earlier,” so Aruto guessed it right, Ikki picked up things as an older brother. That was how he comforted Touma earlier.

“Yes, halfway there, I needed to stop myself before I went more,” Ikki nods.

Aruto turns at Touma, wondering if he should wake him up for dinner. Even grieving people should eat, but Touma looks exhausted.

“So, will you sleep here too?” Aruto asks Ikki, Aruto is wondering whether he should skip dinner as well and what he should do with his junior there. Aruto knows he is bad at playing host, but currently, he is too distressed with Touma’s situation to care.

Ikki nods. “At least for tonight,” Ikki says.

Does that mean Touma will stay in Aruto’s apartment for more than one night? Shoot, Aruto forgot to consider that. Oh well, he still has a lot of unused paid leave for this year. Actually, for the past three years.

“Then, what should we do about dinner?” Aruto asks Ikki’s opinion.

“Let’s just let Touma-san sleep,” Ikki says that. Aruto agrees then he stares at Ikki again.

“We still have to eat, Aruto-san,” Ikki says as if he can read Aruto’s mind.

“Right, I will make rice balls and miso soup. That is fine right?” Aruto stands up and walks toward the kitchen.

“You can cook, Aruto-san?”

“No, everything is either instant or frozen,” Aruto wants to tell Ikki that frozen foods are amazing these days, especially the pricy one, but decide to say nothing because Aruto knows that Ikki’s mother can cook better than frozen foods.

“Okay,” Ikki looks amused and Aruto wonders if he just did something funny.

When Aruto puts down a tray filled with warmed-up rice balls and two bowls of instant miso soup, Touma stirs in his sleep and slowly gets up.

He looks like a mess as if he had just gone through the final battle with the last big boss without any injuries.

“I will make more,” Aruto instantly says to Touma who eyeing the food.

“Just give me one,” Touma says with a low and groggy voice.

So, the three of them are eating dinner silently. Aruto watches how Touma nibbles on one rice ball with the most tired face and clearly has no appetite but forcing himself to eat. The young CEO decides to stand up, reheat the leftover tea, pour it into a cup then give it to Touma. The young novelist must be really out of it because he just sees Aruto dumbfoundedly. Aruto picks up Touma’s half-eaten rice ball and dunks it into the warm tea.

“Oh, ochazuke…” Touma mutters with a soft chuckle. “You should say something about it.”

“Truthfully, I don’t know what to say,” Aruto huffs. Any comforting words feel cheap and empty to offer in this situation. “You need to tell me what you need because I don’t really know what I’m doing.”

Aruto sees how Ikki is dunking his rice ball into his miso soup. “This is good,” he says with a surprised face.

“You did good, Aruto,” Touma says with a smile as if he is the one who comforts Aruto.

And Aruto hates that.

He sucks at this and he hates this. He feels sorry for Touma because Aruto really doesn’t know what to do.

“…when I grieved of the death of my humagear father…” Aruto slowly says, wondering if it is the right time to talk about himself. “I only want people to understand… and to stay by my side…” Because back then, a town was destroyed, it was utter chaos. There was a huge number of casualties, so the death of one humagear was nothing big compared to the death of a real human. Not to mention his grandfather was too busy to handle the aftermath than to take care of a grieving little child.

People invalidated Aruto’s grieving, unable to understand why he had humagear as his father in the first place, let alone him grieving for a non-living thing such as humagear.

So, they left him alone, judging him as a spoiled rich kid who threw a silent tantrum because he lost one toy.

The only thing he could do was cry.

Crying and crying until he stopped.

Because he realized that no one likes a kid who keeps crying endlessly.

So, he learned how to smile through all the pain. He learned to joke around so that he could have friends.

Well, it can only get him so far.

And Aruto doesn’t want Touma to go through all of that horrible experience.

Well, Touma has a lot of friends who care about him, but he does have his own circumstances.

“That is what you are doing… right?”

Aruto raises his head and he sees Touma’s soft expression.

“You understand and you are here… staying by my side, and I can’t be more grateful than that…” Touma says with a smile. “And of course, Ikki too.” Touma lets out a chuckle. “You two are doing your best and I really appreciate it.”

Aruto notices just how… fatherly Touma’s expression is.

That Touma looks older than his actual age.

That Touma has changed from the Touma that Aruto knows.

Damn Kamen Rider and their horrible experiences. He thought that Touma had resigned and yet he still couldn’t run away from such kind of fate.

So, what Aruto can do now is nodding. Agreeing with what Touma has said and not commenting on the things he has noticed from the novelist. “Do you think you can eat the rest of this?” Aruto points out at the now lukewarm ochazuke.

“I have to, this is the first time Aruto made anything for me,” Touma says with a soft smile.

Like a father, indeed. Aruto needs to get used to this fatherly Touma.

“Aruto-san, you need to eat as well,” Ikki reminds him.

“Oh, right.” Aruto eats his portion alongside Touma who sips his ochazuke slowly. Ikki is done eating and now brewing another pot of tea.

When Touma finishes his food and lets some tears out without saying anything, Aruto just stays by his side and Ikki serves them all a cup of warm tea while sitting as close as possible beside Touma. Aruto turns on the television just so they can have something they can focus on.

After quite some time, Touma falls asleep again on the floor. Aruto decides to take a rest beside him. After Ikki grabs some blanket for the three of them, they lie together side by side, thinking so many things while sometimes listening to Touma's soft sobs.

And Aruto wonders if he hears Ikki’s sob too.

Or even himself.

But, it feels strangely comforting.

At least, he knows that Touma isn’t alone and that they are here for him.

0o0o0o0

Waking up in other people’s houses always makes Ikki slightly disoriented in the morning. Not to mention how his whole body feels stiff because he slept on the floor. He stretches a little then he notices the lack of one body on the floor. Ikki is about to panic until he notices the smell coming from the kitchen.

Touma is there, in Aruto’s small kitchen, cooking something.

“Oh, you wake up, Ikki?” Touma’s face is still not quite like the past him. He looks older and mature, and… he is still grieving, Ikki can tell. But at the same time, Ikki also knows that Touma is strong.

“Yes…” Ikki untangles himself from the blanket, glancing at the sleeping Aruto on the floor.

“Aruto barely has anything but instant and frozen food, that guy is really…,” Touma lets out a comment. “At least he has eggs though.”

Touma is back at filling the silence with his idle chattering.

“So, you can cook, Touma-san?” Ikki comments.

“Hm… becoming a father forced me to learn a thing or two about cooking, I guess.”

“Oh.”

Ikki grimaces at himself. But, Touma only chuckles softly.

“Can you help me to prepare the table and wake Aruto up?” Touma asks.

Ikki can’t comment that the way Touma talks and moves reminds him a lot about his parents and it feels slightly concerning.

After setting the table and shaking Aruto’s body a lot more than Ikki expected, the three of them have breakfast together.

“This rolled omelet is really good,” Aruto looks amazed. While Ikki tilts his head because he thinks that it is a normal rolled omelet.

“Thank you, but seriously Aruto, how come you don’t even have any greens in your fridge? Not even frozen mix veggies are there,” Touma sighs. “It will be better if you eat more vegetables.”

Then Touma abruptly freezes in his place.

He groans and covers his face slightly.

“I’m sorry… I… I seriously need to stop acting like this…” Touma says with an ashamed face.

Yes, before, nagging isn’t what Touma likes to do.

“Touma-san, you have changed,” Ikki says the fact. “But, that doesn’t mean a bad thing.”

It will take time to get used to this version of Touma, but that is also alright. As long as Touma is okay.

“I mean, I do some ‘older brother’ stuff without noticing it too, that is just how you are right now,” Ikki says again.

“At least when you are with us, you don’t need to hold it down,” Aruto adds. “I don’t mind it, no one really nags at me besides Izu anyway… And Izu nags at me differently, so.”

Ikki can see how Touma’s eyes become watery and then he smiles. “Hhh… with you two, I can’t… really…” Touma smiles brightly, even though his eyes are still glassy and red slightly. “Thank you, I’m really… really grateful to you two.” Touma huffs. “Now come here, let me hug you two.”

“Oh.”

“Okay.”

The way Touma hugs both Ikki and Aruto really reminds Ikki of his own parents. This is how they hug their children if they hug more than one at the same time. The way Touma’s hands pat their back, it is all the same.

“Thank you,” Touma says once again then he releases them. “I think I will be alright from now on… well, even if I’m not, I know to whom I should ask for help now.”

There is a piece of old Touma that Ikki can see from those words.

“Are you sure, Touma-san?” Aruto asks with a concerned expression.

“Honestly, I know I’m not going to be alright for a while, but I will get there eventually. I need to sort out my memories, I need to come to terms with myself that has changed, I need to tell everything to my friends… well, there is a lot but I will keep moving on.”

Aruto nods and Touma smiles at him.

“Now, let’s finish our breakfast.”

Ikki smiles at both of them. He is still worried about Touma, but he gets the feeling that Touma is going to be alright. And also, because Touma has both Ikki and Aruto, of course, he will be alright.

Being a Kamen Rider is such… a painful experience, but at the same time, if they aren’t Kamen Rider then they won’t ever meet each other like this, then…

Maybe being a Kamen Rider isn’t all bad after all.

End

Chapter Text

As social beings, humans have unique traits of having expectations for other people. Because of social pressure, because of the normal standard. People are expected to follow the majority path that many people have taken as if taking that path will ensure the same happiness for everyone.

But, it doesn’t always work for everyone.

That is what Touma is thinking.

“Touma-san, it is rare to see you come here alone, do you have a plan with Ikki-nii?”

Touma smiles at the youngest Igarashi siblings. Yes, it is rare for Touma to venture out alone without someone accompanying him, because he is such a people person and people love to spend time with him.

But, the recent trauma has left a deep scar in his mind and Touma is currently learning to spend time alone where he can enjoy the quiet and peacefulness. So, yes, he comes alone at the Happy Spa simply on a whim.

“I don’t have any plan with Ikki, is your brother here?” Touma learns how to spend time alone but it doesn’t mean that he dislikes people’s company, especially for his two important friends.

Sakura shows Touma a strange expression, is that side eyes that she shows to him?

“Yes, he is inside,” she answers with a sour mood.

Touma blinks and just smiles at her. He doesn’t know what happened but he won’t probe. If it is something important then she will tell Touma, if she doesn’t then it is alright.

“Okay then,” Touma nods at her and goes into the men's section in the bathhouse. After Touma strips down and puts his clothes into one of the lockers, he enters the almost empty bath house. Well, today is quite hot, so maybe not many people are so keen on taking a hot bath tonight.

As Sakura said, Ikki is there, cleaning the floor with a mop.

“Ikki!” Touma calls at his junior cheerfully.

But then he sees how Ikki doesn’t react at all.

Actually, his junior has been cleaning the same spot repeatedly, as if the floor there is his mortal enemy.

It seems there is something that bothered Ikki. Is it something related to Sakura? Some problem between siblings? Touma sighs with a small smile and walks carefully toward his friend. “Ikki,” Touma calls him softer and crouches down so Ikki can see him.

“Touma-san!” Ikki snaps off from his thought, scrambling backward, and almost slips on the slippery floor. But he regains his balance fast and then stares at the Touma awkwardly. “Please don’t surprise me like that.”

“You didn’t hear me when I called you out the first time,” Touma reminds him. “I come here to take a dip, do you want to join me?”

Ikki gives him a small smile. “Hm… maybe not this time.”

Touma blinks and pauses. He looks at Ikki carefully. “…did you just refuse to take a dip? Are you really Igarashi Ikki, not some monster imposter?”

“Touma-san…” Ikki whines and Touma giggles a little. The senior wraps his arm around Ikki’s shoulder, massaging them a little because he is so stiff.

“Alright, I will join you,” Ikki says rather reluctantly. Touma just smiles warmly.

Ikki is so easy to be persuaded. And Touma knows that he can coax Ikki to tell him what is disturbing him.

“Good,” Touma says as he ruffles Ikki’s head like a little child, which should be awkward because they are around the same height. Touma pauses and retracts his hand quickly then he smiles sheepishly. But, Ikki only smiles back at him and doesn’t seem to be bothered by it.

Ah, this is the reason why Touma has a soft spot for this junior of his.

Tonight may be longer than Touma originally planned, but if he can ease Ikki’s mind a little bit, then he won’t mind at all.

0o0o0o0

Ikki is staring at the ceiling while leaning his back on the wall. It is his unnecessary second bath tonight, but since he shares it with Touma now, he doesn’t mind it too much. Touma is beside him, relaxing and being quiet.

There is a comfortable between them, but Ikki’s mind is troubled by many things.

“So, what is it that troubles you?”

Finally, Touma breaks the silence.

“Hm…” Ikki knows that it is coming but he doesn’t know how to answer it. He hugs his knees to his chest and sighs. “Just… stuff.”

It isn’t really a big deal and actually, this isn’t a new problem either.

“If you want to, I can lend you my ears or… maybe we can think the solution together,” Touma suggests gently, he squeezes Ikki’s shoulder tenderly.

Ikki sighs.

This is hard.

Because he feels ashamed so much.

Especially if it is Touma. Ikki wonders if Touma knows this side of him, maybe it will change how Touma will see Ikki for the rest of his life.

No, it will certainly change the way he looks at him.

“Hm?” Touma tilts his head and Ikki only notices that he has been staring at him. “What’s wrong?”

Ikki bites his lip a little. He wants to escape from this topic, but he knows that Touma just wants to help. The thing is…

Touma is the exact opposite of Ikki’s problem right now. He wonders whether Touma can understand him or not.

“It is about… my dream…” Ikki speaks with a small voice, partly because he is embarrassed.

Touma is waiting and Ikki can’t help but avoid his eyes. Ikki feels like he is about to confess his inner feelings to his parents and Touma’s fatherly expression doesn’t help.

“It is just… that, nothing serious, really.” Ikki is trying his best to not give more than vague details about his problem.

Touma is still waiting and Ikki knows that means the novelist is encouraging Ikki to tell his story more.

And seeing his expression, Ikki can’t lie to the novelist.

“Sakura… is planning to get into the medical school…” Ikki tries to explain the context of his story first, wondering how much he can tell Touma without exposing everything about himself.

“Oh, is that so? Good for her,” Touma sounds genuinely happy. “And then?”

“So… she asked me… until when I will be stuck… like this…” Ikki says with a very small voice then dunks his face into the bath to avoid Touma seeing his ashamed expression. The junior raises his soaked face and wipes the dripping water off. He grimaces and he can’t see Touma’s face.

“Oh, okay.”

Touma sounds a bit different and Ikki takes a peek at his expression.

That is a serious expression on Touma’s face. It seems the novelist is thinking hard about something.

“Let’s meet up with Aruto and talk about this,” Touma finally says after a long stretch of silence.

“Wait, what!?” Ikki is surprised but Touma already stands up.

“He is the better person for you to talk about this topic,” Touma says again with a determined face. He walks off from the bath without waiting for Ikki’s response.

“Wait, Touma-san, this is already late!” Ikki scrambles off from the bath in shock.

This isn’t what he expected Touma to do. Now, Touma is blowing this out of proportion and about to drag Aruto into this as well.

Touma glances at the clock on the wall. “I don’t think Aruto won’t mind that much.”

Ikki double-checks on the clock. But it is past 7 PM now… And by the time they arrive at Aruto’s place, it will be late.

And Aruto is a CEO, he works full-time, and more because of his status as a Kamen Rider. That man is busy and Ikki doesn’t want to bother him with this insignificant problem.

And more, if they talk about this topic the more dangerous it is for Ikki.

“Touma-san… I don’t think we really have to do this… I’m going to be alright, this is nothing!”

Ikki only realizes that he was shouting.

Touma is stunned and Ikki grimaces at himself.

“If you get worked up this much… is it really nothing?”

Ikki is staring at the floor and unable to see Touma’s face.

“Ikki… if you really don’t want to talk about this topic then… I won’t force you.”

Ikki lifts his head a little bit and peeks at Touma’s expression.

The novelist’s eyes are tender, reminding Ikki of how his parents look at him. “I just… hate to see you upset, I just want to help,” Touma says again. “Like how you and Aruto helped me.”

Ikki blinks and stares back at Touma’s eyes.

He remembers how Touma cried mournfully less than a month ago. How his senior has changed into a slightly different person, but he is still Touma at heart.

Ikki looks back at the floor and closes his eyes.

“Okay…” Ikki hates this part of him and he has been doing nothing but running away or burying his problem deep inside. Whenever this topic is touched, he gets all antsy and awful. He wants to stop being like this but it is hard to do so.

If Touma and Aruto can help him then…

But, first, Ikki wonders whether they won’t hate him after knowing the bad side of him…

Ikki raises his head and Touma is there, waiting for him with a gentle expression.

“Good, let’s go,” Touma says with a smile.

Ikki just hopes he won’t regret it later.

0o0o0o0

Aruto enters a café with a bit of a confused expression. He just got back from work, after an overtime emergency meeting and honestly, he is dead tired. But, Touma called him earlier and the way he talked, Aruto had the feeling that it was something serious.

[Aruto, Ikki is troubled about something and… I need your help.]

How could Aruto refuse if Touma said that?

Aruto finds Ikki and Touma quickly then sits down. He looks at them both and tries to figure out the situation. Touma didn’t explain anything at all in the call.

It doesn’t seem like any threat is coming and about to destroy the world or something. But it is serious enough that they need to talk about it immediately.

“Sorry Aruto, for calling you this late,” Touma greets him with a soft expression.

Aruto nods, instantly understanding that Touma is in his fatherly mode. “I’m alright, I also just came back from work.”

Touma nods. “You can order something, we have ordered our drinks.”

Aruto glances at Ikki, who looks down with a timid expression and doesn’t say anything. So, Aruto orders a cup of milk tea quickly and observes the situation again.

“I’m really sorry, but this is really not a big deal…” Ikki finally says something.

“If it isn’t a big deal then… you don’t need to act like that,” Aruto reminds Ikki. The junior looks so guilty as if he has done a sinful thing.

Or… maybe he did? No way…

“Ikki told me that Sakura asked him about how long he will be stuck like this, while she is planning to enter medical school,” Touma relays the information he already got. “So, it is about… your dream, right, Ikki?”

Aruto mouths gaps a little then he turns at Ikki, who is refusing to meet their eyes.

Aruto never thinks… he never thought that any of them would have some trouble with the dream.

“Stuck as in… living the way currently he is living?” Aruto needs to clarify that.

Touma nods.

Their orders are delivered to their table, but none of them touch their drinks.

Aruto is thinking about it. The way Ikki is living right now… he is taking care of the bathhouse, and his family business, and Aruto sees nothing wrong with that. So, that means that Ikki has another dream…?

He never said anything about it before.

Ikki lets out a long exhale and it seems he is gathering his strength to open his mouth.

“I once dreamed… to be a pro soccer player.”

Aruto notices it quickly.

The past tense.

Ikki licks his lips nervously and he clenches his fists. “But… I… ran away. I broke a promise.”

The heaviness in the silence is real. Aruto can see how Touma’s expression became more serious. “Can you tell us what happened?” Touma doesn’t sound threatening, but he is serious about it.

“Only if you two promise that you won’t hate me later…” Ikki says that with a desperate smile but he grimaces quickly. “I mean, I…”

“Ikki-san…” Aruto stops his junior from getting too worked up. He can relate to this feeling. The fear of getting hated. In Aruto’s case, he thought that he got used to being hated by a lot of people, but somehow he still can’t get used to it. It still hurts, especially if it comes from the person who he feels close to. “I know you are a good person, so… just talk slowly.”

Running away from a dream, and breaking a promise, maybe those are something to be ashamed of, especially because of the pressure of them being Kamen Rider that they always have to do the right thing. Then again, they are only humans.

And Aruto bets it is nothing compared to how he became Ark-One back then. That is one thing that Aruto is sure that Touma and Ikki can hate him for if they know. Someone like Ikki won’t do something like that, Aruto believes that.

“Hate is such a strong word… We are your friends, Ikki,” Touma says with a gentler tone.

Ikki and Aruto look at him.

Oh, Aruto only notices that too.

Right, they are already friends, huh? However, Aruto is sure that Touma’s definition of a friend is very broad. In the same way as how Aruto loves to call the humagears his family, being family in Aruto’s definition is very broad as well.

Ikki clenches his fists again. He takes a deep breath and raises his head again.

“So, I made a promise with my friend… during high school, that we would become pro soccer players… but then…” Ikki pauses nervously. “But then, I… injured him permanently during practice… and that… made him unable to play soccer anymore, not at a pro level.”

0o0o0o0

He injured his friend permanently. That is Ikki’s dark past that he tried so hard to bury down.

Ikki remembers that he had done something to amend his mistake last year. But, his memory is spotty and he can’t really remember everything. He remembered how he forgot about this cursed incident, and the horror feeling after remembered it again though he doesn’t remember how.

For years, Ikki’s dream has been a sensitive subject for him. His family, and his friends, know that Ikki is running away from his dream. And he feels very ashamed of himself as well.

He doesn’t feel that he deserves to play soccer anymore and yet…

“You didn’t do it purposefully, it was an accident.”

The way Touma says it is as if he knows that is exactly what happened. No, he believes it. He believes in Ikki.

And Ikki is touched. His eyes become a bit glassy.

“So… I… promised him that… I would become a pro soccer player… for both of our sake…” that was foolish of him. Ikki did that simply to make himself feel better, without knowing that the burden would crush him. “But then I ran away… I couldn’t handle it. I stopped playing soccer… for a long time.”

Ikki didn’t commit a crime or something, it was just a mistake. But still.

He stole away his friend’s dream.

He ran away from their dream.

And he broke his promise.

Ikki hates that side of himself. He can fight monsters and yet he can’t face his insecurity.

“My family knows about this… and they let me be… though sometimes still nagging when… I would come back to follow my dream again…” Ikki finishes his story.

It isn’t something serious, really.

Not as bad as what happened to Touma last month.

And this problem has been rotting inside Ikki for years.

It is just him being irresponsible and a coward.

“Oh… Ikki….” Touma finally says the way he says it with a solemn tone. Then he rubs Ikki’s side tenderly. “I’m really sorry that happened to you.”

Ikki blinks slowly. But, it was no accident, it was his foolish choice to run away and break the promise-

“And so… you have given up on your dream?” Aruto asks with a mournful expression.

Ikki bites his lip and frowns. “I… honestly don’t know either…” He shakes his head. “I don’t even know what I want anymore… I just want everyone to be happy… but I don’t know anything more than that…”

He knows that he still has a chance to be a pro soccer player. He is maybe a bit late, but Ikki is still young. And he still loves soccer but…

But now… it feels different.

Soccer feels different.

No, almost everything feels different.

“Ever since I lost Vice… I think I lost some pieces of myself… I feel different… so I’m not sure,” Ikki shakes his head in frustration.

It feels like, he is permanently broken.

The missing pieces inside of him won’t ever be found again.

He doesn’t recognize himself anymore, let alone follow his dream. It feels too far away. For most days, what Ikki can do is pretend to be fine, pretend that he doesn’t have spotty memories inside his head, and pretend that he doesn’t miss anything.

“Ikki…” Touma says his name softly, again. Touma’s face is so mournful.

“So… you aren’t sure about your dream anymore, but… you feel pressured to follow your dream because your siblings are doing that?” Aruto asks again.

Ikki grimaces.

Aruto hits the point. This man can really blunt if he wants to.

Now, it isn’t only because of Ikki’s mistake in the past, or the way he is running away from his dream, or about how he feels lost about himself, but also how he feels he is failing as the eldest sibling in the Igarashi family.

As the oldest brother, he must set an example for his younger siblings, yet…

He is still stuck in the same place for years, unable to move on, and only getting worse as time passes.

“This is much more serious than I thought…” Aruto mutters softly as he grabs his cup of milk tea and drinks it in one shot.

“Yeah, me too,” Touma admits heavily.

“I’m so sorry…” Ikki didn’t mean to dump all of that to his seniors.

“No, you don’t need to be sorry,” Aruto raises his hand. “Ikki-san, I’m really sorry about what happened to you and I really can understand that.” The young CEO sighs.

“…but you are living your dream right now?” Ikki points that out. And Aruto looks shocked for a second.

Then he laughs bitterly. “No, no… Touma-san is living his dream, while I’m… I’m going in that direction, but it is still far.” Aruto shakes his head. “I mean… my dream is to make people laugh… and I dreamed of being a comedian back then.”

Ikki blinks. Oh, he didn’t know about that.

“Well, I failed. Then, my grandfather died, and he inherited me to be the CEO of Hiden Intelligence along with Zero-One driver… I realized that… with me being a Kamen Rider, I can protect people smile… that’s another way to realize my dream,” Aruto has this bitter expression on his face. “So, I got forced into the CEO… so, I understand the feeling of wanting to run away.”

0o0o0o0

Running away…

It feels like there is more to that, based on Aruto’s expression, Touma can see that.

Aruto being forced into a CEO is something that Touma only knows now. Touma knows people have opinions about Aruto having inherited the Hiden Intelligence from his grandfather because it was nepotism. But, to think that he wasn’t wholeheartedly agree to become one is quite surprising. Sure, it seems so many things happened, so Aruto is the rightful CEO of Hiden Intelligence now.

But still, the pressure must be not easy either.

Even until now.

Touma can understand that as well. The crushing pressure when he knew that he was the one who got chosen by Luna. Between so many swordsmen, Touma, the one who barely became one, needed to be the one who carried the burden.

It wasn’t easy as well, for him.

And broke a promise.

“I broke a promise once too,” Touma says. That is what he can tell Ikki and Aruto. “And that resulted in my friend getting trapped somewhere far away… for years…” Touma still regrets that until now. That is why he got so obsessed with promises.

Of course, Touma managed to save Luna at the end, but still. It must be awful, to be trapped alone in nowhere for so long. Not to mention, Touma used to have amnesia about her.

Touma can relate to Ikki’s feelings.

“Aruto is right, I’m living my dream right now, but I get how you feel… Especially how you feel like you lost yourself,” that is another thing that Touma can relate to. “It is hard to think about anything when you don’t know about yourself.”

Touma doesn’t need to explain how he feels so lost about himself for the past two weeks. Everyone around him needs to get adjusted to his changed demeanor. Touma tries hard to not act like a father, but sometimes he fails. He feels strange under his own skin. He feels too young. His head is messed up with memories of the non-existent future.  

Touma stirs his, now cold, cappuccino. He sips it a little as he can feel how Aruto and Ikki stare at him.

“In my opinion,” Aruto says again. “While it is great to have a dream, and even greater to be able to follow your dream. But, it is also important to be flexible about it. A dream can change, a dream can wait, there are other priorities that you need to face first and that is alright.”

Touma smiles to hear that. He knows that Aruto can be very passionate, and persistent when it comes to dreams. But, like Touma expected from him, Aruto isn’t a forceful person either.

“And it is fine if your first priority is to find yourself back,” Touma adds. “You need time to get adjusted to your condition and that is understandable, there is no reason to rush it.”

Touma can see how Ikki’s eyes become glassy. He lets out a small forced smile and shakes his head. Touma understands that it takes a lot of courage to open up about his dark past, because not even Touma can easily tell people about his past mistakes either. And what Ikki said earlier, asking Aruto and Touma to promise that they won’t hate him because of this? That is really ridiculous.

There is no way for Touma to hate Ikki, and Aruto, for whatever reason.

“And about the pressure of you being the older brother…,” Aruto mutters about that. “I’m an only child, so I can’t really understand it. But, the pressure from the family, I know it can be burdening,” Aruto nods to himself. “Then again, your family is a really harmonized family, Ikki-san. I think they will understand if you talk to them again, like before.”

“You might feel like, as an older brother, you need to always do the right thing for the sake of your siblings. But, you are only human too, don’t be so hard on yourself,” Touma adds. “I mean, you become a Kamen Rider, you saved humanity, what else you can do more than that?” Touma jokes a little.

“You are right if your siblings ever feel that you are embarrassing them. They should see how I was when I was a failed comedian back then…,” Aruto frowns. “You are a very cool older brother, I would be so proud of you if you were my brother.”

That is a sly way to be depreciating himself, Touma wonders if Aruto notices that.

“I understand…” Ikki says with a small voice. He smiles a little, but it is sincere. Ikki rubs his eyes, probably to erase some tears from the edge of his eyes. Touma offers him a box of tissue from the table and the youngest takes it with a smile of gratitude.

“I’m so glad that none of you… judged or hate me for what I have done in the past, thank you,” Ikki says with a wider smile. Finally, Ikki sips on his orange juice, that the ice must have been melted and watered down the juice.

“Oh… it is nothing, really,” Aruto huffs. “Everyone makes mistakes, and what you did wasn’t that bad either.”

Touma nods. “No one can be perfect.”

0o0o0o0

“So, when you finally can find your identity again, feel free to talk to me about your dream, Ikki-san. You can always change your dream, it isn’t something to be ashamed of if you need to compromise about your dream either. What matters is how you feel about it,” Aruto says again with a smile.

Ikki stares at Aruto and Touma and feels very grateful to meet them in his life. It is Ikki’s first time to strip himself bare of anyone outside of his family. Even in front of his family, Ikki is trying his best to be a perfect and responsible older brother.

He always has trouble opening up about his problem.

Especially his insecurity of him. He thought that, since Aruto and Touma were living their dream, they would have difficulty understanding Ikki’s situation.

Turned out, they understood him easily.

As fellow Kamen Riders, it is clear that they have their own share of problems and burdens so they knew what Ikki was talking about.

So… this is what it feels like to have friends, Ikki wonders about that.

Like, real friends whom he can share his burden with, without fearing he would get hated because of it.

“Right, I will make sure to find you when I’m ready to find my dream again, Aruto-san,” Ikki smiles back. “Thank you very much for listening to me, Aruto-san, Touma-san.” Ikki bows politely.

“I’m happy to help. You look better now,” Touma smiles at him.

“I’m happy to be here too,” Aruto smiles as well. “I don’t get to visit a café that much.”

“Maybe one day we should go on a trip together, visiting places that we never get to visit before? It will be fun,” Touma suggests.

“As long as there won’t be enemies coming along on that trip, I’m okay with it,” Aruto replies.

Touma chuckles. “What do you say, Ikki? Well, you must have gone on a trip with your family a lot, right?”

Ikki blinks and looks at his friends. It feels a bit bizarre to realize that now, he has been wanting to befriend both of them and now Ikki understands that they are indeed his real friends. “Going on a trip with family and with friends are different.”

“I have done neither,” Aruto says with a small voice, but Ikki can hear him. And it seems, Touma too. Aruto notices their stare and coughs in embarrassment.

“Then, we can talk about more detail about that plan later,” Touma smoothly says. “You have to spare your time, Aruto.”

“I know, I get it, I still have a lot of paid leaves,” Aruto pouts a little. “But not this month, you don’t know how I had a late emergency meeting earlier, there is a problem with ZAIA-“

“Yes, yes, I get it, Aruto-sachou,” Touma teases Aruto. “We aren’t in a rush or anything, please take it easy. I have a bunch of deadlines to write short stories for magazines too, I have been delaying them so I will be busy as well.”

Ikki stares at Aruto, who is groaning and leaning back in his chair. Becoming a CEO must be hard. Touma sounds busy as well.

Somehow, it makes Ikki glad that he only needs to take care of his family bath house.

“I’m free all the time, so please contact me if you two find free time to do this trip,” Ikki only needs to ask permission from his parents whenever he wants to get a day off from the bathhouse.

Touma and Aruto give him the same look.

“That sounds nice…” Aruto whines a little bit.

“Right?” Touma chuckles. Aruto joins along.

Ikki laughs with them.

He doesn’t expect today will end with how his longtime burden got lifted off from his shoulders.

It feels good to have friends, real friends, who want to listen to him.

Ikki hopes they can be friends forever, until the end of their life.

End

Chapter Text

Life is full of complicated things, even the most basic things can turn into more unnecessarily complicated. Because, while the human brain is more advanced than other lifeforms, its flaw is to question everything that comes to mind. It is human’s way to evolve, to improve their life quality but it also can make things complicated more than already it is.

Aruto knows that sometimes it is better to just roll with things rather than question everything, but he is old enough now to think first before moving.

“Is there a problem with those souvenirs, Aruto-sachou?”

Aruto snaps from his thought and turns to his dear humagear secretary, Izu. “No, there is nothing wrong with them,” he smiles sheepishly at her. “Oh, how is the others' reaction to the souvenirs? Do they like it?” Aruto evades Izu’s first question.

“Your souvenirs are a big hit in the break room, Aruto-sachou,” Izu informs him with a smile.

Now that Aruto is a CEO, he learns, the hard way, how to smooth and butter people with gifts and presents. It is a cheap move to do, yes, kind of like bribing people to like him, but it is necessary. Now, every time Aruto has business out of the city, he makes sure to buy souvenirs, mostly sweets, for his employees. A few boxes of preserved sweets always do the trick, Izu would hand out them or simply put them in the break room so that everyone can get their share.

That is what Aruto is used to do. Now, he has two small paper bags on his table. He pulls out something from one of the bags.

It is a keychain with three pandas with various activities. The other paper bag is filled with similar items.

“Is this weird…?” Aruto mutters to himself.

“Is something wrong with the keychain, Aruto-sachou?” Izu asks him again.

“Oh, no, not the keychain itself…” Aruto shakes his head and smiles at Izu. When he had business out of the town last week, he visited the souvenir shop then he found this.

Secretly, Aruto’s favorite animal sadly isn’t a grasshopper, but a panda. He loves how the panda is such a lazy but crazy animal with weird antics and yet people love them. Aruto isn’t such a crazy panda lover but he has a few panda items, like his beloved panda mug.

When he found the keychain, the three pandas in one keychain, he was reminded of Touma and Ikki, weirdly. Then he bought three sets for the three of them while thinking that it would be cute as souvenirs for them.

Now that he thinks about it again now, he wonders if this is right.

“You don’t think that… it is weird for me to give these to them, right?” Aruto asks Izu’s opinion, though he knows it is a futile act. Izu only tilts her head in confusion.

“Majority of people find panda cute, I don’t think there will be a problem with that,” Izu answers.

“No, not the panda but…” Aruto sighs and shakes his head. “Maybe I should have just bought them sweets as well…”

The young CEO wonders if he is overthinking this, but he can’t help it.

“What is the difference between giving them sweets or keychains as souvenirs?” Izu asks again with an innocent expression.

“…they might interpret this…wrong?” Aruto isn’t sure either. “Sweets are more common, right? No, Izu, I don’t understand it either.” Aruto sighs and shakes his head. He is totally clueless about how to socialize with people, and he doesn’t have people to ask for guidance as well.

“Then you can ask for their opinion when you give them the souvenirs so that you can buy what Touma-san and Ikki-san like in the future,” Izu suggests kindly.

“I guess you are right,” Aruto nods. He huffs and puts back the keychain into the paper bag.

He remembers how he felt happy that he had friends for whom he could give souvenirs. A gift is still a gift, right?

“I believe that they will be happy to receive them, Aruto-sachou,” Izu says again, to comfort him.

Aruto nods along. Now that he has bought them, he should muster the courage to give them to them. Then ask them what they like for future reference. He needs to learn and improve. “I will leave at lunch, wish me luck.”

Izu nods politely with a warm smile. “I always wish you luck, Aruto-sachou.”

0o0o0o0

“This might be a family restaurant, but the food is really good. Me and my friends always enjoy our time here, I hope you guys will enjoy it as well.”

“Don’t worry, Touma-san, I always love family restaurants!” Ikki responds with a smile.

“It looks like a good restaurant.” Aruto is looking around with a bit of an amazed face.

Touma smiles tenderly at him. He wonders if it is Aruto’s first time to come to a family restaurant because it might be awkward to come here alone.

One of the servers greets them and guides them to an empty table. The restaurant is quite packed with people, but the atmosphere is peaceful and comfortable.

“Now, let’s order something, it is a bit late for lunch, so I’m starving,” Touma says after the server gives them the menu.

“Today is Touma-san’s turn to pay, is that right?” Ikki asks for confirmation. “Thank you for the treat.”

Touma chuckles a little. “The next time is your turn, Ikki.”

“I will do my best,” Ikki says again.

“You don’t need to push yourselves, we are alright with anything, aren’t we, Aruto?” Touma asks as he reads the menu.

“Yeah, that’s right, Ikki-san. I’m fine even with convenience store foods or vending machine foods, they are really delicious these days.” Aruto gives out a smile. Not noticing that that answer is kind of depreciating both himself and Ikki.

That really shows that Aruto sets the bar so low. It can be misinterpreted as belittling for some people. But Touma knows that Aruto is just being honest because it seems Aruto is more familiar with frozen and instant foods.

It is a bit sad actually.

“Don’t worry, I will find a good restaurant to treat you two later,” Ikki responds back, it doesn’t seem that he takes it to heart.

Once they finish their order for food and drinks, Touma takes the role of filling the silence with idle chattering. While they text each other frequently, Touma loves to interact face-to-face like this more than through gadgets.

“My mother is pregnant now, if things go well then I will get a new little brother at the end of the year.”

Touma almost choked on his own saliva. “… your parents are really something else…” Three siblings aren’t common in Japan for their generation, let alone four siblings.

Aruto nods along. “Will your mother be okay? She isn’t… that young anymore.” He sounds concerned.

Ikki nods with a bit of an uneasy face. “I hope so, but I know that Kaa-chan is strong and we all are going to protect her!” Ikki tries to look more optimistic, though Touma can see a hint of worry on his face. Touma realizes that this problem may have been haunting Ikki for the recent days. It must be shocking to realize that his not-so-young mother gets pregnant again and not to mention that Ikki’s responsibility as the eldest brother will get heavier now.

“Let’s pray for the best,” Touma nods. It isn’t good to have negative thinking in this situation, while Touma can understand Aruto’s concern it can make Ikki dispirited more than he already is.

“But for you to have three younger siblings is really… worrisome…” Aruto nods with a bewildered look.

Ikki only smiles in grimace and he looks more uneasy as time passes.

The young novelist looks around, trying to find another topic to ease the uneasiness. He looks at the television on the corner of the restaurant and watches the show that is currently shown. “Oh, there is a competition about voice actors? I’m really out of touch with the recent trend.” It might come out a bit forced and out of the blue, but with this Touma hopes that they can drop the previous topic already.

Ikki looks at the television.  “Actually, my senior from high school became the judge for this competition, so I know about it a little bit,” Ikki sounds more comfortable after the change of conversation, and Touma feels thankful for it.

Aruto blinks in confusion, maybe he is too late to notice the weird air around Ikki. He looks a bit guilty but Touma gives him a tender look.

It will be fine, Ikki isn’t the type of person who takes things to heart. Especially when they know that Aruto didn’t mean it bad.

Aruto sighs and turns his attention to the television.

“Oh,” Aruto’s eyes widen a bit when he watches the television.

“Hm? Is there someone you know there, Aruto-san?” Ikki notices it quickly.

“Oh? Hm… yeah…,” Aruto grimaces and looks in another direction.

Touma blinks in confusion with Aruto’s reaction.

Unfortunately, before he can ask further, the server comes with their orders. So, they start to eat while the three of them glance at the television once in a while.

Touma notices that Aruto is looking at a particular contestant in that TV show. There is a mixed expression in his eyes and the young CEO is shaking his head. It seems that Ikki notices it too.

“You know that person, Aruto-san?” Ikki points out at one of the contestants.

Touma can see how Aruto pauses eating his food and smiles in a grimace. “Yeah… hm… To be honest, I was in a combi of comedian back then… he was my partner.”

Touma blinks faster and turns to the television again.

That is kind of surprising.

“Oh, is that so?” Even Ikki sounds surprised.

Of course, both of them have picked the hints that Aruto has bad people skills. It isn’t very apparent, but the more they interact with Aruto the more it shows. So, it is kind of surprising to hear that he used to work closely in a group with someone.

“He changed his profession,” Ikki mentions.

“Yeah, he didn’t like my gags… and left.” Aruto is staring down at his dishes with a complex expression. But then he changes his expression, he forces a smile. “But I don’t know that he chose to be a voice actor, I’m really happy that it is going well for him!”

Touma turns around to see the television again, watching Aruto’s former partner in that voice-actor competition. Then he turns to Aruto, who is trying to cover his feelings by eating his food with fake enthusiasm.

“Actually, the friend of mine that… I got injured badly, he became a voice actor too,” Ikki says with a small smile. “I’m also happy that he can find another dream.”

Aruto smiles solemnly at Ikki.

Ikki turns again at the television and based on his expression, Touma thinks that Ikki just finds an idea.

“Then, do you want to come to cheer on him? I know this studio, I think my senior can help us to meet your friend.” Ikki offers with a smile.

“Huh? What!?” It is clear that Aruto is taken aback. “N-no, it’s okay—I mean… It would be weird if I suddenly come to visit him—and I can’t come empty-handed either—”

Touma looks at Aruto, observing how Aruto’s expression is getting darker and darker as the second passes. He is refusing to meet anyone’s eyes.

“…He said that… I’m disgusting so… I don’t think he wants to meet me anymore.”

0o0o0o0

He shouldn’t have said that. Aruto only notices after he says it. He raises his head and he can see the shocked look on Touma and Ikki’s face.

Oh shit.

He really did it.

“…why?” Ikki asks with a sad face.

“Oh—uhm, I don’t know either…,” Aruto tries to smile but his smile wavers. His hands become sweaty and the air feels a bit suffocating.

“Aruto.”

Aruto turns at Touma. The young novelist is smiling tenderly at him. “It is a bit chilly now, do you want to order a warm green tea?”

Aruto wonders if Touma can see his condition. He looks at Ikki, the junior looks a bit guilty.

Shit, he really ruined it, didn’t he?

“I’m okay. I haven’t even touched my drink yet!” Aruto musters all of his strength to smile at Touma and Ikki. “My strawberry juice is berry sweet! Now, that’s the work of Aruto!”

Aruto drinks his juice and pretends not to notice the concerned look on Touma and Ikki. It isn’t like that Aruto doesn’t want to be honest and tell his friends anything, but…

He doesn’t know what he should tell them about.

Should he say that they don’t need to worry because it is the usual thing for people to be disgusted with him?

Should Aruto admit that he doesn’t know how to befriend anyone?

To be honest, while he knows that people tend to avoid and distance themselves the more they interact with Aruto, he doesn’t know the reason why.

Now that he is friends with Touma and Ikki, Aruto doesn’t want to ruin their friendship.

Well, sooner or later they will probably drift apart, probably, but Aruto wants to preserve their friendship as long as possible. So, he doesn’t want to ruin it, but he is afraid that he will do something unconsciously that irks or disgusts them.

People are saying that, if all people avoid you, then it isn’t the problem with the people, but you are the problem. Aruto knows that there is something wrong with him, and that is why people never stay too long at his side.

People always leave him, one way or another.

While he knows that both Touma and Ikki are very kind and considerate people, they are only human and one day they can still get tired of him. And then, they will stop befriending him.

So, while Aruto is happy, very happy, to be their friend at the same time he is very anxious. He wants to make things right, this time.

This time… he really can’t fail it…

“Aruto, you have a cream on your cheek here,” Touma says, tapping at his own face to inform the exact location of the cream. Aruto is eating the souffle pancake, so that’s probably where the cream from. He tries to erase it in embarrassment.

Touma chuckles a little, with a bit of concerned face. “Let me.” He takes a napkin and wipes Aruto’s cheek gently. “There you go.”

Aruto smiles awkwardly at him. “Thank you.”

He wants to thank them and to apologize to them. Apologizing for ruining their lunch, apologizing for many shitty things that he did unconsciously.

He is sorry that he is like this.

“Aruto-san, if I may ask, what is inside those paper bags?” It seems that Ikki is also trying to change to subject now. And Aruto feels glad for that. The paper bags are on the table, there are two of them so maybe it is rather obvious for whom these are intended.

“Oh, these are…” Aruto trails off. “Nothing…” Aruto tries to brush it off with a smile.

Right, he should have just bought them sweets. Who knows if Touma or Ikki or both of them will find the keychains… disgusting? It is kind of childish and… not cool.

He can’t give these to them… he doesn’t have the courage to. He is totally clueless about navigating this friendship, it feels like he can ruin it even from just the smallest thing.

And Aruto hates this part of him.

Hate it so much.

0o0o0o0

“I think I made a mistake there.”

“…You didn’t do anything wrong, Ikki. It is just…”

Ikki wants to hit his head on the wall repeatedly. “I failed to read the room.”

“You did,” Touma responds honestly.

The late lunch with the three of them ended awkwardly. It was clear that Aruto hurried to get away from them because he couldn’t maintain his charade for too long. Ikki feels so guilty, but Touma stops him from chasing Aruto.

“Aruto needs a space, the more you chase him the further he will run away from you.” Touma sighs.

Ikki grimaces at himself. “I was being nosy and I hurt Aruto-san unconsciously.”

“You did,” Touma says again in full honesty.

“Touma-san…” Ikki whines. “What should I do?”

Touma turns at him, they are leaving the restaurant, with no clear destination to go. Aruto has long gone in a different direction, spurting out nonsense that he has some emergency business to be done.

“What do you think you should do?” Touma asks him back with soft eyes.

“Apologize to Aruto-san? No…” Ikki sighs and looks up to the sky. “…I must be crazy, but now I want to meet that ex-combi partner of Aruto-san…”

Touma blinks in surprise.

“Because… I want to know why he said such a rude comment to Aruto-san!” Ikki grits his teeth. “I mean, I know that Aruto-san can be difficult to handle, but to say that he is disgusting is too much… Ugh, it is just me being nosy again, isn’t it?”

Touma looks stunned for a second. Then he looks like he is pondering about Ikki’s crazy suggestion.

“Touma-san?” Ikki is half hoping that Touma will stop him from his crazy idea.

“Maybe that isn’t a half bad idea….” Touma mutters. “Since Aruto didn’t know the reason why he got called disgusting either…”

Oh, Ikki only notices it now.

Is Touma also upset because of that?

He looks so calm, so Ikki only notices it now.

“So… we are going to do it?” Ikki is asking for affirmation, giving Touma the last chance to stop him.

“If I ask you to drop the idea, will you do as I say?” Touma asks back with an understanding smile. Ikki feels like Touma has read like an open book.

“…no,” Ikki grins sheepishly. “I’m a nosy guy after all.”

“Well, might as well just do it,” Touma pats his shoulder.

Ikki feels a little weirded out. People usually try to stop him for being too noisy, but here Touma just encouraged him to do so. Ikki still has some doubts about this idea, because it disrespects Aruto, probing something that the young CEO might want to hide otherwise. But, still…

“Let me call my senior first,” Ikki pulls out his phone.

He can’t just leave Aruto be, his haunted face earlier… Ikki can see how he was hurt badly by that statement. The worst of it, it came from someone who should have been Aruto’s partner in a gag combi. Someone who should have been sharing the same dream with Aruto.

It is rare for Ikki to dislike someone before he meets them but…

It seems like he already hated this person before meeting them.

0o0o0o0

He seems like an average normal guy. That is what Touma thinks.

With Ikki’s senior’s help, it isn’t hard to meet with this aspiring voice actor. And they got to rope him up when Touma mentioned his full name as a famous novelist. So, they managed to ask his time to have a talk with him in the lobby of the studio.

His stage name is Owarai Nai. Such a bad pun of a name, because the literal meaning is ‘no laugh’.

“Now, may I ask what you two want to talk to me about?” Nai asks.

“Nai-san, the truth is… we are Aruto-san’s friends, Hiden Aruto-san, he was your ex-partner in a gag combi, right?” Ikki asks to the point. Touma is quite amazed at his brazenness.

“…that’s…” the guy looks quite shocked. He tries to gather his composure. “To think that he has friends now… well he is a CEO of a huge IT company now, that’s to be expected… That is right, he was my ex-partner in a gag combi, a shameful past of mine.”

Touma clenches his fists. This guy drops his polite façade fast and looks like a smug snotty brat now. Well, he looks like a brat because Touma always feels older than his actual age.

“…why?” Ikki asks, his face is darkening. Even Touma can detect anger in his voice.

However, it seems Nai doesn’t notice it or is ignorant of it.

“Obviously, because his gags aren’t funny,” Nai is dead serious about it.

Well, Nai has a good point about it.

“But, if you were his ex-partner then you should teach him how to be funny as a comedian, or better, learn together,” Ikki points out what has been bugging him. That is what a partner is supposed to do, that’s what Ikki is thinking.

There is a heavy silence enveloping the three of them.

Nai sighs. “Honestly, do you ever see Aruto laugh, like, sincerely laugh from the bottom of his heart?”

That question renders both Touma and Ikki speechless.

“I noticed it after researching and practicing gag combi with Aruto… that guy… rarely laughed, like genuinely laughing at something funny, I don’t think I ever saw him do that. The most he could do was fake his laugh. He was faking everything… and that disgusted me.”

Both Touma and Ikki are stunned to hear that.

Because, they can see what Nai is talking about, reluctantly.

0o0o0o0

Aruto never thought he would find the answer to the question that has been haunting him… in this way.

After he exited the restaurant, he thought that he shouldn’t just do nothing.

If he wants to make things right, if he wants to preserve his friendship with Touma and Ikki then he should change and improve himself. Aruto admitted that he is… a complete failure of person, but his only strong point is his ability to grow. Just like how he learned and grew as a CEO of Hiden Intelligence, then he should grow and improve in this matter as well. He has saved the world from Ark, for goodness’s sake, he should be able to confront Nai about their past.

So, he gathered his courage, bought a bouquet of flowers to congratulate Nai for winning the voice actor competition, and came to the recording studio. No matter how his chest feels tight and his eyes are shaking with fear, he braced himself to come here.

Only to find out that Touma and Ikki are talking with Nai in the lobby.

So, Aruto is stuck in the corner of the lobby, hiding behind one of the walls and eavesdropping on their conversation. He doesn’t mean to eavesdropping them, but he can’t just butt into their talk either.

“I noticed it after researching and practicing gag combi with Aruto… that guy… rarely laughed, like genuinely laughing at something funny, I don’t think I ever saw him do that. The most he could do was fake his laugh. He was faking everything… and that disgusted me.”

That is the answer to why people avoided and drifted away from him. Now, Aruto finally can understand it.

Laughing, did he fake his laughing?

The truth is… Aruto doesn’t know it himself.                                

But then again, Aruto rarely watches comedy shows or something in that genre. He also rarely finds something funny in his mundane life. Is that not the same for other people as well? His dream is to make people smile and laugh, so he used to think that being a comedian was a perfect job to realize his dream.

But actually, he didn’t watch or enjoy comedy shows that much in the first place.

Aruto catches a glance at his reflection in the glass window.

Is he faking everything?

He remembers how he learned to exaggerate his expressions because some people found it funny. And it just stuck with him and he never unlearned it.

He remembers how sometimes he uses his gags to avoid or evade troublesome situations, not necessarily because he wants to make people laugh.

He remembers how there were times when his smile felt so heavy and hollow, and yet he kept forcing it because he couldn’t show people his real feelings.

Sometimes it does feel like Aruto is plastering a fake Pierrot mask to hide his real pathetic self. 

Then, that must be true, huh? He is faking everything.

Faking it till you make it. That is what people are saying.

Aruto thought that it would… work out, somehow.

So, it doesn’t work? Do people notice that he is faking everything?

Is he that… disgusting?

Aruto turns at his reflection again and looks away quickly. It feels as if he is seeing his past reflection, where he was just a crybaby who craved people’s attention and love but totally clueless about how to get it.

Slowly, Aruto feels how his stomach churns and the air feels heavy and suffocating.

He can’t stay here any longer… he doesn’t want to find out the reaction from Touma and Ikki either. He wouldn’t know what should he do if Touma and Ikki agreed with Nai.

They would probably agree with him.

They should have seen and noticed how Aruto faking everything.

Or at least, they would realize it after Nai has pointed it out.

Aruto closes his eyes, remembering how he was surrounded by watchful eyes that were filled with disgust and loath. The only thing he could do was pretend to not notice anything and keep smiling.

Maybe he should barge in between them, trying to do anything to salvage the situation. Apologizing, trying to joke around—anything… He should do something so that Touma and Ikki would still stay friends with him.

“Uh… urgh…” But Aruto can’t do it. His chest is so heavy and tight, it feels as if his visions become blurry.

He is hopeless and pathetic.

The young CEO trudges slowly toward the exit. What he knows is that he needs to escape from here. He needs to get out… fast.

0o0o0o0o0

“How could you say it like that!?”

“Ikki-“

“Even if you thought me being rude, I’m still right about it.”

Ikki is trying to struggle out from Touma’s hold, because, damn it, Ikki wants to hit this annoying bastard so badly.

It is so annoying that Nai has a point, but Ikki still hates him for it.

“Aruto-san is… Aruto-san has gone through a lot!” If Ikki thinks about it again, it feels very weird for someone like Aruto to look so lonely in his life. He was a descendant of a rich family, and he inherited a big company, albeit against his will. Heck, he is a Kamen Rider and he saved the world, so how come someone like that always looks…

So alone.

Aruto doesn’t even look like a loner. He doesn’t look like someone who loves to be alone. On the contrary, it seems he loves people.

And yet he always looks so lonely.

“If you were his friend, then what you should do is be there for him and talk to him!” Ikki feels so angry. “You need to talk to him so that he can change!”

“Ikki, calm down.” Touma is still holding him down. The more Ikki struggles, the more Touma holds him stronger. At times like this, Ikki is reminded how strong his senior is despite his appearance.

“If you were me, you would get frustrated and tired with him too.” Nai doesn’t look afraid of Ikki’s blatant display of anger. It seems he is mocking him. “He is from the Hiden family, he is from a privileged family. He deceived everyone!” It seems that Nai still feels irked with Aruto’s real identity. “You wouldn’t think a loser like him was coming from a rich family. He dared to act like a struggling person! Gosh, even if he has the means to achieve everything, the most he can do is to become a loser. Oh right, he is a Kamen Rider and a CEO now. Well, good for him.”

Nai sounds totally sarcastic about it. And Ikki can detect envy and jealousy hiding in his words.

Ikki grits his teeth and he is shocked when Touma releases his hold.

“Don’t talk about Aruto like that. You don’t even know what his family was like.”

Ikki can feel the anger from Touma’s cold tone. And what Touma has pointed out made Ikki startled a little.

“But, I do?” Nai is taunting them, for sure. Maybe he is an idiot who failed to recognize that Ikki is also a Kamen Rider. “Aruto has a bad relationship with his late-grandfather, I think. He went no-contact with him, but still received money every month? How lame can he be? It seems that he refused to follow his late grandfather’s expectations and yet he still ended up being the CEO of Hiden Intelligence. Shitty nepotism must be nice to be born into a privileged family.”

“YOU-“ Something inside Ikki is burning harder. Aruto is an orphan for goodness’s sake, he might come from a rich family but that doesn’t mean everything-

“Ikki, let’s leave.”

“H-huh!?”

Ikki is bewildered when Touma pulls him by force and walks away.

“And thank you for the information, Owarai Nai. You are worse than any monster I have ever fought,” Touma says coldly then continues to drag Ikki out of the building.

“T-Touma-san, please release me.”

“If you promise me that you won’t hit that bastard. It will be a waste of time to hit that kind of trash, Ikki.”

There is a thick venom in Touma’s tone and his face shows that he is dead serious about it.

“I promise.” Ikki’s anger is diminished slightly after he sees how angry Touma is. It is also very rare for Ikki to be like this, but it feels scarier to see Touma angry.

“Okay.” Touma releases him and Ikki rubs his arm where Touma gripped him tightly. Maybe it would bruise. Touma has such a deathly grip.

Now that Touma has released him, Ikki can only grit his teeth in anger. “He deserves at least one punch, though.” The anger from his chest hasn’t subsided yet. To think that kind of trash used to be Aruto’s partner in combi, Ikki couldn’t imagine what that bastard had said to Aruto in the past.

Something vile that probably has broken Aruto’s heart to pieces.

And if Ikki is thinking how Aruto used to be so alone… While for Ikki, when he was in the hardest time he always had his family to count on… Who was there for Aruto?

No wonder Aruto has his guard up, he was back and forth between reaching out to people and retreating back to his shell.

He got hurt so badly by other people in the past, for how many times, Ikki doesn’t know.

“I know,” Touma pats him. “But I think it is better for us to find Aruto rather than deal with that kind of trash, don’t you think?”

Ikki blinks.

Oh right.

Aruto.

He needs them so that he knows that he isn’t alone anymore. He doesn’t have to be ashamed of himself or beat himself over something that that shitty bastard said to him in the past.

“Let’s call him.” Touma sighs heavily, it seems that the young novelist is still upset as well. Touma pulls out his phone and taps on the screen fast. Then he waits as he calls Aruto.

Then they can hear Aruto’s ringtone not too far from where they are. It is a bit faint but they can definitely hear it.

Touma and Ikki look at each other.

And they both have the same expression on their faces.

Oh shit.

0o0o0o0

Aruto is having difficulty breathing.

He is trying to hide in the corner of a deserted alley beside the building though, because he doesn’t want people to find out who he is and record him having an anxiety attack in public space. And more, it is just his first instinct to hide away from people as he tries so hard to control his overwhelming feelings.

Aruto tries to hug himself tighter, making himself smaller while folding his knees to his chest.

He thought that… this time, finally, he would have friends…

People who can understand him, who can accept him, just the way he is…

Aruto loves humagears very much, more than anyone on this planet. But, Aruto isn’t blind, he knows that humagears are different from humans.

He thought that he had given up forming friendships with any humans because it was certain that he had no skill to do that.

And yet there are Touma and Ikki, who patiently and kindly, befriended with him. Aruto was reminded, of just how warm the embrace from a human is. How happy it was to have a meal with people with whom he can share the food with-

It never lasted long, this kind of friendship, is always over so soon.

Aruto should have gotten used to this, but… he never did. It still hurt as much as when it happened to him for the first time. After it happened so many times, Aruto lost count.

He always ended up alone… Not really alone though now, because he has humagears at his side…

But, he still feels alone, sometimes, just like now…

He feels so…

Alone.

“Aruto…”

Aruto snaps out when he can hear someone call his name. He peeks to the side a little and he can see Touma and Ikki approach him with concerned expressions.

Oh.

Oh damn.

Aruto remembers when he was a child, how he cried so much, because of so many things, hoping someone to comfort him, to make him stop crying, but sadly there was none.

Not his grandfather, no one.

And people asked him, to stop crying, because no one likes a child who crying endlessly. It was tiring.

And annoying.

Aruto untangles his body quickly, wipes his face, and is relieved that he hasn’t shed any tears. “Oh, uhm—why are you guys here?” Such a stupid question, his smile is forced and Aruto feels suffocated, and yet he is doing his best to look okay.

And he is fooling no one, he can see that. Touma and Ikki frown even more.

Aruto remembers the words from his ex-partner in gag combi.

‘He was faking everything. ’

The truth is he is just a pathetic person who tries to fake everything, hoping that he will make it so that people won’t hate him.

If he covers his tears with smiles, then people might like him.

Instead, they hate him for his fake personality.

But without it, Aruto is just a pathetic person, so it feels like they will hate him either way.

“Aruto, are you alright…?”

He doesn’t know… he isn’t alright but… what should he say…

“I’m… so sorry…” Aruto whispers as his smile drops, slowly he hugs his knees again, hiding his face from the world. He doesn’t want to see his friends’ faces. He doesn’t want to see their expression. “I don’t know… what should I do…”

He wants to apologize to them, for making them worry for someone like him. He wants to apologize to them, for making them handle someone like him. He wants to say that they can leave him alone, because, Aruto knows, in the end, he will pick up his pieces by himself, again. He will heal his own wounds, he will be okay again.

He wants to beg so that they will still be his friend. He wants to say that he will change, he will improve, and he will do whatever he can so that he can be someone who deserves to be their friend.

But he can’t bring himself to do any of that, his tongue feels numb.

In the end, he will be alone again, won’t he? That is inevitable.

Someone like him, who can only befriend with humagears, can’t befriend other human beings…

“Aruto…”

Aruto flinches a little when he can feel the strange warmth envelope his body. It takes him a few seconds to notice that Touma is hugging him, with an awkward pose because Aruto is hugging his own knees. It feels like Touma is a warm blanket draped on him.

“Aruto, I’m really sorry.”

For what? Aruto doesn’t know.

But, Touma’s hug feels so warm against his cold body. It is warmer than how Aruto is trying to hug himself.

“Aruto-san.”

Aruto can hear Ikki, he can hear the wetness in his voice. Ikki’s voice is breaking.

“I’m really sorry… I shouldn’t have done that.”

There is more warmth envelope his body. There is some wetness on his back. Aruto is just stunned in his place, feeling himself being drowned with such gentle warmth that he never felt before.

“Aruto, whatever you heard, they were nonsense.” Touma talks again. “Well, there is some truth to it, but no, you aren’t disgusting. You are far from disgusting, you are amazing, Hiden Aruto.”

Aruto can’t say anything back.

It is hard to believe what Touma said, but…

Aruto can only feel how some hot tears fall one by one from his eyes. The warmth is so… gentle, so… accepting… Aruto doesn’t know how to express it, but it is his first time to feel something like this.

“I know you are always trying your best in whatever you are doing. That is what matters the most.” Touma says again.

Aruto lets out a sob and he can feel how Touma and Ikki are hugging him tighter.

“Yes, you are our friend, Aruto-san…” Ikki adds.

“Our dear friend,” Touma adds more. “We like you just the way you are. So, please don’t believe what you just heard from that your ex-friend, okay? He is a scum.”

Aruto untangles himself slowly and he can feel how Touma and Ikki release him from their warm hug. The young CEO looks around with his glassy eyes. “…really?”

No one ever said that to him.

It has been a while since someone comforted him when he cried…

He doesn’t even remember the last time people called him a friend, earnestly. Like, they really meant what they said, not just for a charade. Usually, it was Aruto who thought of people as friends one-sidedly.

“Yeah, Aruto.” Touma pats Aruto’s head tenderly. “It is okay for you to cry more, just let it out.”

Aruto can feel his tears fall more. It was also the first time someone said to him that it was okay for him to cry. He always tries his best to cry alone, fearing that people might hate him or he would trouble someone because of it.

It always feels painful to cry alone and Aruto hates it.

But now that Touma and Ikki are here beside him. Ikki is leaning on him as if telling him that he is here. And Touma is rubbing on his shoulder and arm, comforting him.

It feels like a dam just broke. It feels almost painful, he never knows that he harbors this much sorrow inside himself. It feels overwhelming and terrifying, to let himself bare in front of other people. But, with Touma and Ikki beside him, they are grounding him.

They make him feel… safe.

He doesn’t know how long they are staying like that, in that position in a deserted alley but by the time Aruto is calm down enough to register his surroundings, the sky is completely dark.

This situation is quite alien for him, he is used to crying alone and processing everything alone. So, for Ikki and Touma to stay with him patiently like this, Aruto doesn’t know how to feel.

“Have you gotten out everything from your system?” Touma asks with a tender smile.

Aruto nods timidly. Probably, he can still cry for more but he feels calm enough now.

“Good,” Touma nods as he pats Aruto’s head again. “You are good too, Ikki.” Touma pats Ikki’s head as well. Aruto looks at how Ikki wipes his reddening eyes.

“Aruto-san, I’m really sorry for meeting that shitty bastard without telling you first…” Ikki bows down a little. “I was being nosy and… I shouldn’t have done that…”

Aruto shakes his head. “If you guys weren’t there… then I would meet him and our meeting would be hideous, so… instead, I feel thankful to you.” Aruto can easily imagine how awful his meeting with that damned ex-partner of his would be.

It is easy to imagine how he would cry alone and pretend to be fine after that. Like how he always did.

“Touma-san stopped me from hitting him, but I still should just hit him as hard as I could, that bastard deserved it.” Ikki sounds regretful.

Aruto just blinks. He turns to Touma, feeling a bit clueless about how to react to Ikki’s statement.

Touma only sighs, his face doesn’t look happy either.

“Ikki, like I said, I understand how you feel, but that scum doesn’t even deserve our time and effort,” Touma says with a cold expression.

Aruto just blinks again.

He wonders if they are being… somewhat protective of him. Aruto thoughts that the one who is capable of feeling protective toward him is Izu…

“Anyway… I feel sorry that that scum has hurt you in the past, Aruto. He is a lowlife trash who felt envious and bitter about your background,” Touma sighs. “Probably… many people do, many people misunderstood you, but we aren’t like that. We know who you truly are, Aruto.”

Aruto blinks again, he is speechless. He doesn’t know what to say. He always thought that he was the problem so that’s why no one stayed at his side.

“A hardworking person who always works earnestly toward his dream, and also very honest, kind, understanding,” Ikki is looking up as if he is counting in his head. “There are so many more… that is who you are, Aruto-san.”

“Yeah, but my people skill is almost non-existent if it is outside of my work…” Aruto is being honest, he is tired of pretending to be a normal person who knows his way of life.

“People has their own shortcoming, and that’s alright… you can take your time to learn how to, Aruto.” Touma encourages him with a smile. “To be honest, not everyone is happy with my overly friendly attitude as well, I’m still learning.”

“I almost completely out of touch with most of my friends from high school… I don’t have any friends that I meet frequently after graduation,” Ikki admits timidly. “I’m not any better than you as well, Aruto-san.”

“So, in conclusion… we are all good match with each other, don’t you think?” Touma says as he throws his arms around Aruto’s and Ikki’s shoulders. He chuckles a bit.

And Aruto chuckles as well. So does Ikki.

“Thank you very much… for everything…” Aruto says earnestly. He isn’t sure how he can express his gratefulness better, but he appreciates what Touma and Ikki did for him.

“Don’t say something like that as if the world is going to end, please,” Ikki reminds him. But he is smiling tenderly. “And I’m thankful too for befriending me, Aruto-san.”

“Of course, me too,” Touma raises his hand. “I’m thankful that you two accept me for who I am, no matter how I have changed. You two are such good kids.” Touma nods with a smile.

Aruto doesn’t notice how he is smiling happily. Because this time, his smile feels so light, so easy. Touma and Ikki look at his smile and they smile bigger.

“Now, should we grab dinner together?” Touma asks them. “After crying, children usually feel hungry and thirsty.” The young novelist stands up and looks at the sky with a happy face.

“I’m famished now…” Ikki admits as he pats his stomach.

Aruto stays on the ground for a few seconds before he stands up. He gathers his courage and pulls out something from his pocket. “Uhm… before I forget, these are for you.” Aruto shows two keychains on his palm. “Some souvenirs from my last business trip…”

Touma and Ikki blink, look at each other then smile. They take one each.

“Oh… it is pandas, just like your mug, Aruto.” Touma points out.

“There are three pandas…” Ikki mutters as he observes the keychain. “It feels like us… doesn’t it?”

Touma nods eagerly. “Oh, do you have one as well, Aruto?”

Aruto blinks then he nods with a sheepish smile. “I do.”

“Good! Then we all have matching sets!” Touma pats his back.

“I will treasure this dearly, thank you, Aruto-san.” Ikki bows at him a little.

“It is nothing… I just bought them on a whim… you two can tell me what you like for souvenirs if I go on a business trip again,” Aruto feels a little bit embarrassed, he never thought that these two would appreciate the keychains.

“Anything is fine, really. I believe in you, Aruto.” Touma ruffles Aruto’s hair in endearment.

“I’m fine with anything too.” Ikki nods. “It is good to have something that I don’t need to share with my siblings, once in a while.”

Aruto takes note of that.

“Now, now, should we eat? Where should we eat?” Touma pushes both Aruto and Ikki without a clear direction in mind. Just so they can start walking.

“Maybe ramen… would be nice…” Ikki mutters quietly. “It is my turn to pay, right?”

Touma chuckles and pats Ikki’s back. “No need to sweat out, you can pay next time. Now, we should pay for ourselves.”

Aruto looks at how Touma and Ikki talking and laughing beside him. He smiles gently at them, feeling thankful for these two people who still decide to stay at his side even after everything that they have discovered today.

It still feels scary to be their friend.

But, it is still a challenge that Aruto is going to face. So that he can be their rightful friend.

They are his precious friends that Aruto won’t trade for the world.

And he would do anything for them.

Anything.

End

Chapter Text

Humans are complicated living beings. They are built by many things, from memories, past, experiences, emotions, and more. Including malice and goodwill. There are no humans that have no malice, but the opposite applies. Good or bad are two faces of the same coin, one can’t exist without another.

But for Aruto, as a Kamen Rider, he feels an invisible pressure to be better than most humans. He becomes an example for the people around him, humans and humagears alike. That becoming a Kamen Rider doesn’t mean that he has a special power, but he has more responsibility because of it.

And more, because he has a history of misusing his power for his selfishness, which resulted in a quite tragedy. Though the people who know him personally didn’t blame him for it, the other people do. Aruto lets them be, judging and critiquing everything he is doing, he has his share of haters and Aruto thinks he deserves that.

He is determined to show to the people that he will improve to be better. A better CEO, a better Kamen Rider, a better human being.

That is supposed what he is doing.

But, things easier to be said than done, he knows about that too. He always thinks that as long as he doesn’t give up then things will be alright. He wonders if he is just that naïve or if it is his coping mechanism to deny the worst part of life.

That life is unfair.

“How did this happen…? What… in the world happened to them?”

“That’s what we want to know too, Sachou.”

Aruto looks at the array of offline humagears on the ground of his lab. Nothing looks strange about them except the burnt artificial skin and hair around their eyes and headphones.

“This is the 6 th victim recorded since two weeks ago,” Izu informs with a more stoic voice. But, Aruto can see the pain in her eyes. Even Fuwa and Yaiba don’t look comfortable with the sight.

“I found him in the woods,” Fuwa points at one of the humagears that wore a waiter uniform. Yaiba gives him a look and Fuwa huffs. “I have my own business in the woods. More importantly, there were no traces of fighting or struggling in the area. It was clean. I almost thought that it was just an illegal dumping of broken humagear, but Yaiba told me a different idea.”

“This is the third victim that AIMS has found, I realized something strange is going on. Even Naki couldn’t figure out what happened to them, their processors and data burnt severely and we couldn’t gain any information about them.” Yaiba folds her arms with an uneasy face.

“We don’t know… what’s going on either…” Aruto answers while looking down. It is hard for him to see the bodies of humagears on the floor. He wonders what kind of pain they faced until their brain got fried beyond repair.

“Huh? Hiden doesn’t have any data about them? Don’t you manage all of the humagears data?” Fuwa asks with an annoyed face. But that is just his neutral expression.

“Since There now only resides inside Izu’s AI and Zero-Two’s belt… it doesn’t have the capability to store and manage all of humagears data anymore. It downsized a lot,” Aruto explains while glancing at Izu. His company is still in the middle of planning to make another satellite, but there is still a long way to go. “Currently, humagears only connect to the internet and they can store their data in the cloud or offline chip, depending on the choice of the owner of the contract. The amount of the data that can be backed up is limited,” Izu continues the explanation.

This situation is similar to how humagears were first made, before Ark and There were made. Humagears have the ability to still work and grow even without the satellite. The problem is just the backup data and their fast-learning machine becomes more limited. But, for the example of Metsuboujinrai.NET, Horobi, and Jin are perfectly fine at growing and learning even without being connected to the internet or satellite, so Aruto still believes in the capability of humagears.

But at times like this, Aruto understands the need for the satellite to link and manage all of humagears data.

“So, we can’t restore their data to check what happened, huh?” Yaiba sounds deflated.

“Whatever happened to them, it was anything but normal,” Fuwa adds. “Even turning into Magia feels more normal than this. If they are humans, it would become a serial killer case.”

“They aren’t humans though, I wonder if whoever did this to them has the motive to kill them or have a different goal in mind.” Yaiba voices her opinion.

“Like… experimenting, you mean?” Aruto asks carefully. He feels how fear and anxiety start to creep into his chest.

“It is just my guess, but based on how their processors burnt severely, it means that something infected or attacked their processors. Probably, something tried to turn humagears into something else but failed.” Yaiba points at the burnt wounds on the offline humagears on the floor.

“Like infecting them with a virus or inserting malicious app, something like that?” Fuwa asks Yaiba. The captain of AIMS nods.

“It is just a guess, but the probability of that was what happened is high. Of course, just like what Fuwa said, it could also be the work of people who hate humagears and kill them for personal reasons.” Yaiba sighs.

“So, how are Hiden Intelligence going to handle this case, huh, Sachou?” Fuwa turns at Aruto.

For a second, Aruto feels like he is just watching a scene from a mystery drama. He only realized just how excellent Fuwa and Yaiba’s investigation ability was, only to remember that AIMS are indeed police officers but specialized in handling AI.

“Oh… uh… we have been trying to restore the data but there is no luck of that… the inspection of the burnt part doesn’t show anything special either… so…” Aruto feels his head starts to ache. Investigating and deducting isn’t his thing. He sees the two people in front of him, the ones that Aruto can call his battle comrade.

He turns at Izu, wondering what he should do. Aruto misses how Yaiba and Fuwa look at each other and then at Aruto.

“For now, AIMS can’t do an official investigation because there isn’t any effect on people or society yet, I believe all of the complaints of the owner of the humagears will be handled by Hiden Intelligence, right?” Yaiba tells the young CEO. “I’m deeply sorry.”

Aruto blinks in shock. “Oh, it is okay, Yaiba-san.” Aruto knows that AIMS will only move when there is a violation of AI, which means that the AI is either posing a danger or causing harmful effects to humans. “We will be the ones who handle this problem, don’t worry.” Aruto looks at Izu and the secretary gives him a small smile and nods.

If it is related to humanity's well-being, then that is Aruto and his company’s business.

Aruto glances and notices Fuwa’s weird glare at him. It looks like the former AIMS officer wants to say something to him, but he holds himself back. “It will be okay! I promise!” Aruto says again with a bigger smile, hoping to reassure Fuwa.

Aruto has had enough of troubling Fuwa in the past, the young CEO knows that he has a bad track record of being a troublemaker.

“If you said so,” finally Fuwa says, with somewhat a dissatisfied and annoyed face. He puts his hands inside his pocket. “Let’s go, Yaiba.”

“Oh, uh, okay, see you later, Aruto-sachou,” Yaiba is a bit startled, but she smiles at Aruto before following Fuwa exiting the lab and Aruto’s office.

Aruto looks up to them and then sighs. He is surely putting his bravado for a second there, but he knows that he can’t help it.

“Is it really okay like this, Aruto-sachou?” Izu asks him, startling Aruto.

Aruto grimaces a little and looks again at the offline humagears on the floor.

Hiden Intelligence’s image has been the worst since it was formed, and for AIMS or Fuwa to be involved in this matter will cause more distrust toward this company. Aruto needs to find a way to handle this case without sullying his company’s name further. As long as it doesn’t affect any humans then, there shouldn’t be a reason for AIMS or Fuwa to be involved.

“We both have to work hard, Izu. So that there won’t be any humagears victims again,” Aruto answers.

Izu’s eyes become solemn for a second, and Aruto wonders what she is thinking. But then, she shows him her gentle smile. “Of course, Aruto-sachou.”

“Then… please make a list of the owners of humagears victims, we need to pay them a visit.” Aruto buttons up his suit, trying to appear more professional despite his neon sneakers and hoodie screaming differently.

“I already did, then… are we going to interrogate them, Aruto-sachou?” Izu asks with a dorky face.

“Of course not,” Aruto chuckles a little, wondering how Izu’s dorkiness becomes worse the more she interacts with him. “We aren’t police, we can’t interrogate them, we are just going to ask them a few questions.”

“That’s what the main character of a mystery drama always says,” Izu nods with satisfaction. “We are just going to ask them a few questions,” she repeats the words with a serious face, then she turns to him with a smile, as if she wants to see Aruto’s reaction to that.

Aruto laughs harder and shakes his head. Really… he is so glad that he has Izu at his side.

If it is for Izu then… Aruto will be okay, he will find his way.

0o0o0o0

“Is this why you called me here? Something happened to these people?”

Ikki looks at the array of people lying on beds, unconscious, with so many wires attached to their bodies.

“Yes, they are found unconscious… with a stamp found beside them,” Karizaki says with a complicated face. “Stamps that I didn’t make,” he points that out.

He knows that these days, Daiji is busy with something. Then after that, Sakura is also busy, but they leave out Ikki, not telling him anything. But then, today, finally, Daiji pulls him into a hospital and meets Karizaki who has been waiting for him.

“Stamps…?” Ikki mutters in confusion. His memory is still spotty, but he doesn’t think that the stamps leave this kind of effect on the users.

“It isn’t Deadmans’s either… I don’t have any data on the origin of these stamps either,” Karizaki pulls out an unfamiliar stamp with a mix of black and red colors. “There is no record of witnesses of Deadmans, Demons, or monsters either. Which is weird. The stamps are definitely used…” Karizaki looks intrigued.

Ikki blinks and ponders in confusion, then he turns at the frustrated Daiji beside him. The younger brother finally turns to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry, Nii-chan, for hiding this from you. I was going to tell you once we know more things about this incident… but victims are increased while we have no idea what’s happening.”

“Then, Sakura as well..?”

“Yes, Sakura and Hana-san are helping us, tracking the former Deadman cult to see whether it has a connection to this incident, but nothing has come out so far…” Daiji sighs and hits the wall with his fist.

“In short, we are hitting a wall.”

And that is why they, finally, decide to inform Ikki as well. Ikki is a little bit… sad that he is being left out for this whole time, but he knows that his siblings mean well. And, he can understand that with his spotty memory, Ikki doesn’t think he can help that much.

Ikki observes the faces of the victims on the beds. He wonders how their family and friends are worried about them. His heart feels ache.

“If you all don’t tell me anything… I would say that they look strangely peaceful… as if they are sleeping…” Ikki mutters softly, mostly to himself.

“I guess, you are right about that…” Daiji nods.

“If stamps are used by normal people, they will pull out the negative emotions inside the users. That’s why they look peaceful.” Karizaki explains.

Ikki blinks. “Oh, is that so?” he wonders if he simply doesn’t remember that.

“No, Karizaki-san… that’s not how the users usually looked like.” Daiji turns at Karizaki. “They usually don’t look these… peaceful.”

Karizaki turns at them then mulling a little. “Am I, the genius, has been overlooking this simple fact?”

“…well, you need to observe the victims more carefully, which is, not what you usually do,” Daiji comments with a flat face. “You need a sympathetic heart to notice that, I guess.”

“That is interesting, then I should find out exactly why they have the peaceful expression on their face and maybe I can also find out whether they are missing something from their brain…” Karizaki motions to his head then shakes his head, “No, no, from their heart,” he motions to his chest. Then he turns at Daiji and Ikki with a grin. “Leave that to me.” Then he walks away with his coat fluttering on his back.

He looks so excited about this devastating situation, but if Ikki remembers it correctly, this is exactly what Karizaki is like.

“Glad if we can find something from it,” Ikki isn’t sure whether that clue will help them.

“That’s okay, Nii-chan… at this point, we are desperate to find anything from this incident…” Daiji turns at him with a guilty look. “And… I think something is happening, I don’t know what but… something is definitely happening and we have to be ready for that.”

Ikki looks at Daiji’s serious and worried look. Even though Ikki’s memory of that one year of their fighting together is blurry, some part of Daiji is still the same. That frowning face is still the same when his little brother is worried and overthinking. “Don’t worry Daiji, I know we can pass through everything together.” Ikki pats Daiji’s back with a smile.

Ikki can see how Daiji’s eyes shake a little. “Since there is no Vice beside you… Karizaki-san said that you can’t use your full power even if you transform into Kamen Rider…” Daiji closes his eyes and then opens them again with a determined look. “But, I will make sure to protect you, Nii-chan.”

Ikki is shocked a little bit then he smiles. There is a pang of guilt inside his heart, what kind of older brother needs a little brother to protect him… but still, Ikki appreciates the sentiment. “What a reliable little brother you are, Daiji.” He ruffles Daiji’s hair in adoration.

“Nii-chan, stop it! I’m not a child!”

Ikki just chuckles and stops teasing his little brother. Then his eyes solemnly look at the pouting Daiji then turns at the unconscious victims inside the room.

Sure, whatever happens, as long as he can fight alongside his siblings then, everything will be fine. Ikki will make sure of it. His blurry memories or missing demon to be damned, Ikki is still the eldest older brother, he won’t let anything happen to his family.

0o0o0o0

“I’m sorry for calling you here, Saber.”

“It is okay, Sophia-san.” Touma brushes out the formality. Even though he has resigned from being a swordsman, that doesn’t mean he severed his ties with Sword of Logos. “So… what’s happened?” Touma looks around the room.

Everyone here looks… deadly serious. It seems he is the last one to arrive and is clueless about what happened.

Sophia closes her eyes with a frown. “I’m sorry to inform you… that one of the forbidden books has been stolen.”

“What!?” Touma is shocked then he shakes his expression quickly. “What kind of book?”

“The Book of Evil.” Shopia answers.

Touma blinks as he can feel how his back shivers. The name is so simple but so… horrifying.

“The thing about that book is… it is empty.” Suddenly, Yuri speaks with a serious expression.

“Huh? Empty?” Touma asks back.

“It means, it needs to be written first,” Yuri explains more. “It needs to be filled with evil first before the book can be used.”

Touma blinks in a bit of confusion. That’s a little bit interesting.

“But, it isn’t clear the capability of the book once it is filled, is that right, Sophia-san?” Rintaro who has been silent finally speaks up.

“Because it is never filled up completely before…” Sophia shakes her head. “It needs a tremendous amount of evil and malice to fill up the book completely, and it’s always could be stopped before the book completed.”

“But the legend said that the world will turn into hell if the book ever is completed,” Yuri says again.

“The problem is… who stole it? Who can trespass the base of Sword of Logos and pass through all of the barriers and security without anyone knowing? Whoever did that, they aren’t your usual enemy,” Kento points out.

“There couldn’t be a traitor among us, again, right?” Ogami asks with a sarcastic tone.

“While I’m sure that no one among us is a traitor, it can’t be applied to the entire organization,” the older brother of the Shindai siblings voices his opinion, completely ignoring that Ogami’s sarcasm is directed at him and his sister.

“Rather than pointing fingers between ourselves, it is better to spend our time to find the book before it is completed,” Rintaro tries to buffer the suffocating atmosphere.

“How can we find that kind of book when we don’t even know how that book is going to be filled or what will happen once the book is completed?” the younger Shindai asks back. “Filling the book with evil, that’s itself is too vague to be a clue.”

“Won’t it use the same way as how Magid made books?” Touma asks back.

“The book of Evil is different,” Sophia shakes her head again. “The book itself already exists but only as a vessel, but the inside is empty. The words will appear once you fill the book with evil. The previous user was filling the book by submerging it into the pool of blood of the murdered innocents, thankfully they could be stopped.”

“It sounds like a bad horror story,” Ren comments with an annoyed face.

“Could be that the method isn’t determined, but as long as it can be presented with evil doings, the book is going to be filled?” Rintaro asks.

“Like I said, that itself is too vague to be a clue.” Younger Shindai complains.

“If it needs that much of evilness to be filled, it bounds to leave a trace,” Touma says with a smile.

“You want us to search into every crime and evil doings available in this world?” Yuri asks in shock.

“The current world is different from the past, the amount of information we can find about everything around the world is massive. Not to mention, Sword of Logos isn’t the only organization that protects this world,” Touma explains to them. He looks around and he can see the dumbfounded expression of the swordsmen around him.

Well, the hermit swordsmen and their lack of understanding of current technology.

“Sure, it won’t be easy to process all of the information, but we will bound to find something,” Touma clapped his hands. It would be a huge scale of evil-doing, like genocide or terrorization then it can be found after spending time searching. “Especially if you know where you need to ask for help first.”

“Huh? Ask help to… who?” Kento asks in confusion. But Touma had already pulled out his phone and walked out of the room.

“I will contact you all later,” Touma simply says.

After months of observing, understanding, and writing about humagears and AI, Touma finally understands that this is the exact benefit of AI. It can do something past what the human brain can do, and that is to process a massive amount of data.

And whoever stole that book must be already doing something, and that something is too big to be hidden from the world.

Touma turns on his phone and searches for the particular name on his contact. This is one of the benefits of having many friends, Touma knows where he needs to ask for help when he can’t do things by himself.

“Oh, hi Aruto, sorry for disturbing you, but I need to ask your help with something.”

And more, Touma isn't the only one who protects this world. If he is with his friends, then he knows that he can protect the world and everyone else.

Everything will be fine.

0o0o0o0

When Aruto realizes his surroundings, he notices that there is something weird going on.

It feels as if he is back in Ark again, where the malice turns into human screams that fill his head with agony. But this time, it just feels calmer. It doesn’t feel as suffocating, but it still gives out an eerie feeling. There is a weird emptiness, the endless darkness that feels like creeping into his inside slowly but surely.

Then someone’s hand starts to creep into his shoulder and caress in face in a longing and gentle way.

Aruto is very familiar with this touch, the one that still haunts his nightmare every now and then. The bitter part of himself is horrified when he finds that deep inside, he misses this touch. This presence is like a poison that he craves. The calmness that tunes out his turbulent heart and numbing it from everything else.

“Ark-sama, won’t you come back to me?”

Aruto opens his eyes, he doesn’t even notice that he has closed it and relaxing under her touch. Her very gentle hands and embrace pulled him deeper into darkness. It takes everything inside his being to steel his heart, by remembering that the owner of this touch is only the fake version of his beloved precious someone.

“I’m not Ark, Azu,” Aruto replies coldly, but not as harshly as he wants to. He wants to shake off her embrace, her caressing hands, but it is way too comforting, too addicting for him, to free himself.

“Oh, but, you are, Ark-sama. No matter how I search and plea, no one else comes as close as you,” Azu whispers so sweetly in his ear, her voice is as sweet as venom. “After all, the one who has been touched by malice, can’t be pure any longer.”

Azu moves graciously, still touching Aruto so close as if she wants to melt her body into him. The long-haired humagear is now in front of him, with her eerie smile and eyes that can see everything. “And I know that you are still the same…” She caresses Aruto’s chest. “Your heart is still in so much pain because of loneliness… no matter how you fill it with love, it flows down and drips out from your heart, like a cup of glass that is full of cracks.”

“So…?” Aruto asks back with coldness, trying to steer away from her touch. Her hands are so cold and yet… he feels warm. She touches something deep inside his heart that has never been touched by anyone else.

“So, won’t it be easier to just discard… everything? Come to me, and you won’t feel lonely ever again. You will feel at ease… you won’t keep being afraid to be left alone ever again… my dear Ark-sama.” Her finger is touching his lip and she is so close.

“Stop it!” Aruto snaps out and pushes Azu away from him. His heart now thumping so fast inside his chest and he freezes when he can hear Azu chuckling menacingly.

“Such a shame… if only you want to be with me, everything will be much easier and painless…” She is saying that, but there is no hint of disappointment in her eyes, only a sickening amused look. “But as expected from the best vessel of Ark-sama, there is no one that can match your wounded heart that is so easy to be filled with malice… and you are so strong and yet so fragile…”

Aruto is glaring at her, but maybe his glaring isn’t as effective as he wants it to be, because Azu doesn’t look disturbed at all. In fact, she smiles wider with a horrifying look.

“If I can't find anyone else to replace you, then, should I make it myself?” She asks then she moves her hand like she is doing magic then the darkness starts to wrap around mold into a person. “The copy of my beloved vessel of Ark-sama.” Once the darkness has melted off, Aruto can see the exact copy of himself being hugged by Azu.

Azu kisses that copy’s cheek and he opens his eyes.

And Aruto can see the pair of expressionless red eyes bored into him.

“N-No, NOOO!”

Aruto snaps out and pants slightly. He looks around and realizes that he is alone in his room.

“A nightmare…?” Aruto mutters to himself, he notices how he is trembling badly.

Now that he is awake, the content of the nightmare feels blurry inside his mind. He can only remember a few things.

Like the cold and yet comforting touch of Azu.

How she called him ‘Ark-sama’.

And the pair of red eyes stared right into his soul.

Aruto can feel how his tremble worsening. He is hugging himself while trying to calm himself down.

This is okay, he is used to so many nightmares, but this doesn’t mean much. It is nothing compared to when he woke up from a nightmare and threw up instantly into his bed, after remembering how he killed Jin accidentally.

And yet, Aruto can’t stop his trembling now. It is weird, his heart aches badly. He wants to cry and yet his eyes are dry, maybe because he doesn’t feel sad.

But more like, empty, hollow, and… lost.

If only Izu is here… her presence will comfort and ground him more than anything… And yet that is exactly why Aruto banned Izu from his apartment. There is no way he would attach himself harder to Izu than he already is. He is already depending on her so much, he can’t let himself cling to her further.

The flashback of how Izu exploded in front of his eyes haunts Aruto’s mind. He shakes his head quickly and with shaking hands, tries to find his phone.

How about… Touma and Ikki…?

Aruto wants to feel less empty, less… lonely. Anything is fine.

Aruto is about to call Touma only to realize that it is 3:20 am now.

“What am I doing…?” Aruto turns off his phone and puts it back. He lets himself fall back to the bed and curls into the blanket.

He promised Touma that he would help him today, yesterday Aruto was too busy to hear him out but Touma clearly needed his help.

And Ikki was so busy these days, that he didn’t respond to Aruto’s last chat either. There is no way Aruto will disturb him in the early morning just because of a nightmare.

Because of that, Aruto needs to sleep.

He has to.

Even though he is deadly afraid that the nightmare will come back to him. But still…

He has to sleep.

He is used to this…

He is okay… alone…

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

Words or language are unique inventions for living beings. Human especially, different than other living beings, can convey what they want through words so that other humans can understand them. But it isn’t always the case, just because people can talk to each other doesn’t mean that people can understand each other.

As a novelist, Touma knows the double edges of words more than anyone.

It isn’t easy to convey what he feels to other people through words, let alone to make people understand him.

“I’m so sorry that you need to come here, Touma-san.”

“It is okay, Aruto,” Touma replies with a smile. “It seems you are also busy, so it is fair for me to be the one who comes to you because I need your help,” Touma says again to reassure his friend. He notices that… Aruto doesn’t look okay.

He looks… a bit messed up.

There is an apparent dark eye bags under his eyes. Even Izu doesn’t hide her worries, she is watching Aruto more carefully than usual.

“There is just… something that I need to handle,” Aruto answers with a small smile, he rubs his tired eyes for a second. “So, what is it that you need my help for?”

“Well…” Now that Touma sees Aruto’s condition, he wonders how much he should share what’s going on with Sword of Logos with his busy friend. However, he needs to confirm something first. “What is it that has been bugging you…? Is it something… dangerous?” Touma has trouble openly ask that to the young CEO because he can see that Aruto is reluctant to share his problem with Touma.

Aruto looks at Touma for a second, his eyes are tired but also serious. Then he looks down on the floor. “There is just… a series of mysterious cases of humagears being broken in an unexplainable way… My company is still trying to figure it out.”

Touma blinks in a bit of confusion. He turns at Izu, hoping that she can share more info. The secretary humagear glances at Aruto then turns and smiles at Touma. It seems, she just got permission from Aruto to share more. Then, she projects some images into the air.

Touma sees a few close-up images of broken humagears with burned skins, eyes, and ear modules. It looks a bit disturbing to see.

“We have found broken humagears with unexplainable reasons ever since two weeks ago. There are 7 victims until now and we are still investigating the reason for their cease to function,” Izu explains more.

Touma grimaces, no wonder Aruto looks roughed up. Though this case isn’t that alarming yet because it seems there are no human causalities, Touma knows that Aruto cherishes humagears and humans all the same. Still, Touma wonders whether this case has something related to do with the stolen Book of Evil.

Probably not. It is hard to judge, and it might be downplaying Aruto’s morality a little, but the number of victims isn’t that staggering yet. And since the victims are humagears… it is rather vague as well. The value of humagears’ lives isn’t the same for everyone. Even Touma needs to admit that, humagears’ lives don’t hold the same value as human’s. However, it doesn’t mean that humagears’ lives aren’t important either.

Not that Touma can explain it to Aruto in a better way.

“I see… I hope that you can solve this matter soon. If you need my help, don’t be shy to ask,” Touma offers his condolence, his smile is a bit wavered because his words feel empty. But, currently, Touma has his hands full in tackling the case of the stolen Book of Evil. He wonders if Aruto notices his empty words.

Based on how Aruto nods and smiles tiredly to Touma, it seems he did. It makes Touma feel guilty for a second because he realizes that he doesn’t share the same sentiment of how Aruto cherishes human and humagear’s life equally. That’s the difference between them.

“But, seriously, if you need my help, just say so,” Touma repeats his offer. Even though he doesn’t love humagears as much as Aruto does, Aruto is still his dear friend and Touma can do anything for him.

Aruto smiles wider but his eyes still look tired. “I understand, Touma-san. Thank you.”

Touma nods, hoping that Aruto can believe in him.

“How about you? What do you need my help for? Has something happened?” Aruto repeats his previous question.

“Oh… that’s-“ Before Touma can explain the reason for his visit, he stops talking as he catches a glance at the window.

Suddenly, a window is blasted behind them and both of them are startled. Touma reflexes to reach his wonder book before he stops when he sees a red kamen rider carrying someone on their arm.

“ZERO-ONE!”

“JIN!?” Aruto shouts in surprise and horror. “What happened- is that Naki!?” Aruto sounds flustered.

Touma retracts his hand back, noticing that Aruto seems to know them and he can sense the emergency of the situation. At least, he realizes that this unknown red kamen rider isn’t an enemy. The human, no, the humagear in his arm… seems in a really bad shape.

Still, blasting a window to come through the office directly is a little bit-

“Naki is—Naki-“

“Please bring them inside, Jin,” Izu says with professional calmness. One side of the walls of the office opens up and shows a full futuristic laboratory beside them. It is Touma’s first time to see this, he doesn’t know that there is a hidden laboratory beside Aruto’s office.

But Touma has no time to be amazed by the facility, not when Aruto looks stressed. They descend to the laboratory and the red Kamen Rider puts down a humagear on the stainless steel table.

“Naki—” The red Kamen Rider undo their transformation and now Touma can see a man with wavy hair wearing a suit. He looks like he is about to cry. “Please, can you fix them!? I don’t know what happened to them but-“

Based on the electrical noises, hazy eyes, and buzzing sounds, Touma can see that the other humagear isn’t entirely broken. But the burned skins, eyes, and ear modules look exactly the same as the images that Touma saw earlier. The novelist can see that the skin is still burning, slowly but surely.

“No- there is… no… time--” The voice sounds so robotic and full of noises, but Touma can still hear them.

“Naki!” Jin sounds so heartbroken.

“Izu, can we do something-“ Aruto stops talking when the humagear’s ear module opens up and something comes out. It seems like a memory chip.

“Open it… don’t… connect to—anything. It will---burn-“

“I understand,” Izu answers with calmness, but Touma can see the sadness in her eyes.

Then the mechanical sounds suddenly stop and the quietness feels eerie.

“Naki!? Hey, Naki—NAKIII!” Jin is shouting and shaking the humagear’s body with so much grief and shock.

Touma notices how Aruto is gasping as if he has trouble breathing. The way his body is trembling as he slowly walks away, Touma knows that Aruto is having a panic attack.

“Aruto-“

“Aruto-sama,” Izu reacts faster. She grips Aruto’s arms with gentleness but also firmness. “Please take a breath,” she says softly. Aruto nods while he is trembling and he takes a few breaths to calm down.

“Good, please control your breathing, Aruto-sama,” Izu repeats again. Aruto nods again and regulates his breathing carefully.

Now that Aruto’s trembling starts to dwindle down, Touma wraps his arm around Aruto’s back. The way his friend flinches a little at first breaks Touma’s heart, but soon Aruto relaxes on his touch.

Based on how Izu reacted so quickly but so precisely, it seems that it isn’t the first time this is happening. Then again, Touma has seen how Aruto had an anxiety attack last month.

“So, we are late.”

There is another sound and Touma turns around to see someone in Aruto’s office.

“Horobi,” Izu announces with a careful expression.

“Dad! Naki is—Naki—” Jin is whining in sorrow like a little kid and Touma is taken aback a little. He turns to look at the new stranger carefully. He seems awfully young to be a father to Jin, but who is he to question it?

“Calm down, Jin. We stored Naki’s backup data last month during our physical check-up,” Horobi sounds serious and calm. “And of course, Ikazuchi too.”

“Aniki!?” Now Aruto sounds surprised again.

Touma looks carefully as Horobi walks down the stair, there is another humagear on his back. With the same burn wound on his skin around his eyes and ear modules. With how lifeless he looks, it seems he is broken as well.

“Why did this happen to them? Why!?” Jin asks as he hits the metal table then his body starts to shake.

Touma looks at how Aruto is helping Horobi to lower down the humagear on the floor. Aruto’s eyes look so glassy and red, that his body shakes again a little. “Aniki…” He mumbles quietly, as he strokes the humagear’s shoulder.

Aruto turns at Horobi quickly. “What did happen to them? Where did you find them?”

Touma glances at how Izu is grabbing something from the shelves, and then Touma focuses again on Aruto and Horobi.

“We were supposed to gather to talk about the recent incident of broken humagears, but then they contacted us, briefly, that something was attacking them and they needed backup. When the two of us arrived at the place, Ikazuchi was already down and Naki was barely alive. There was nothing and no one else there,” Horobi answers with a stoic voice, but his eyes look quite sorrowful.

“Doing something like this to humagears… This is awful… Who did this? Why did they do this? Do they think that humagears’ lives are replaceable so they are free to do something like this!?” Jin’s voice is escalating to the point he is nearing screaming, Horobi approaches him fast and grabs his shoulder.

“Jin, I said, you need to calm down.” Horobi sounds stern, like a father scolding his child. “Whatever happening here, you can’t let your emotion cloud your thinking.”

Jin frowns hard but he slowly nods.

And Touma only realizes it now.

“You two are humagear too…” he doesn’t realize that he mumbles it out loud. Horobi and Jin turn toward him.

“Who are you? Why are you here?” Horobi sounds a bit hostile, but before he can approach Touma, Aruto is already blocking him.

“He is my friend, don’t worry. He isn’t an enemy,” Aruto says. “He is also a Kamen Rider, he is using a different technology than us but he is also a Kamen Rider.”

Touma doesn’t have the heart to remind Aruto that he has resigned from his title as a Kamen Rider. But, who is he kidding? At this time of crisis, he doesn’t have a choice but to resume back at being a Kamen Rider for the time being.

“I’m Kamiyama Touma, Kamen Rider Saber,” Touma says with the most confident look he can muster up. “I’m here to ask for some help from Aruto, but… it seems I came at the wrong time…” Touma glances at Aruto, wondering if it is okay for him to continue to be here. “But, if it is okay, can I stay here for a moment? I want to check on a few things first.”

“I’m sorry Touma-san, I will help you in a moment… please just give me some time to settle this first,” Aruto smiles sheepishly to Touma. The novelist just gestures to Izu, who has been busy typing something on a laptop, meaning that Aruto can focus on the problem first before trying to help him.

Aruto turns at Izu fast and approaches her with an alarmed look. “Did you find something Izu?”

Horobi throws a glance at Touma. Despite being a humagear, and even though he is quite stoic, Touma can see a sense of hostility coming from him. He doesn’t fully believe in him yet, it seems. But, Touma also can see that his hostility comes from him being protective and alert in this whole situation.

“I tried to analyze Naki’s memory chip traditionally,” Izu stops typing and her hands shake a little bit. “But… the laptop is shutting down.”

Jin, who seems to have regained his composure, shoves Izu a little bit from the side. “Let me take a look.” Jin is typing quickly as he hunches down. “This is… there is something that is eating the system away from the inside!”

“A malware?” Horobi shifts his focus away from Touma. He also comes to take a look.

“I don’t know what this is...” Jin grimaces.

Touma is a bit curious, but he doesn’t think he can understand what happening with the laptop because he isn’t well-versed in technology. He observes the situation from a safe distance since Horobi is still sensitive about his presence here.

“Malice… it is thick with malice.”

Izu’s words seem to freeze everyone around her.

“The memory chip is contained pure of evilness… Once it is connected to the laptop, it spreads and eats away everything. Because of that, Naki warned us to not connect it to anything,” she says with an alarmed look.

“If this data connects to the internet or to the satellite then… it could infect everything?” Aruto asks in horror. “But, what is with the evil data? I mean… I… we…” Aruto turns at Horobi with confusion.

Touma can see something is passed between Aruto and Horobi, they are looking at each other and it seems they are thinking about something that only they can understand.

“This didn’t happen before. It is different.” Horobi nods. “It wasn’t like Ark. The malice back then didn’t spread out like this. This one is devouring anything that is connected to it.”

“While humagears have the capability to connect to the internet, it seems that the system was already down before the evilness could spread through more,” Izu points out as she pulls off the memory chip from the laptop. “And after they are completely broken, we wouldn’t be able to find the evilness data in the burnt processor.”

“But, who did this? And how did they this? Is it like an evolved version of Ark or something?” Jin asks again in distress. “Why did they target humagear…? Just why…”

“Evilness…” Touma mumbles.

He can feel how everyone’s attention shifts to him, but Touma is busy thinking with his hand on his chin.

Damn it. This is too much to be called coincidence. “I might have an idea about this… maybe.” He looks at them with a serious face.

0o0o0o0

“The Book of Evil…?”

“Yes. It is one of the forbidden wonder ride books that has been stolen…” Touma looks at the confused look around him, of course, none of them has heard about Wonder Ride books. Aruto has some idea about it, though he doesn’t completely understand it either.

Touma pulls out of one of his wonder ride books.

“This book contains powerful knowledge, that can be used to transform, attack, defend, make, or do many things that the knowledge is supposed to do,” Touma explains briefly about the Wonder Ride books.

“So, the Book of Evil is… filled with knowledge about evil power?” Aruto asks in fear.

“It isn’t as simple as that…” Touma shakes his head. “From what I heard, you need to pour so much evilness into the book before the content of the book can appear. And after that, no one really knows the extent of the power of the book once it is completely filled. It was said that the world will turn into hell if that happen.”

Aruto grits his teeth as he thinks about this situation. He has a hard time connecting Touma’s problem to his case. “Filling the book with evilness… is this what the culprit doing?”

Aruto can hear how the buzzing sound from Izu’s headphones stops. “That doesn’t match up with our situation, the evil data already exists and that is what breaks the humagears. Not the other way around.”

“Then… do they want to spread the evilness to the whole world? Is that why they targeted humagears?” Jin mumbles.

Aruto glances at the Wonder Ride book in Touma’s hand. It sounds like a very dangerous thing, it can be misused so easily if it falls into a wrong hand. Well, anything can be dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands, it doesn’t always need an evil power to do that. However, in that case when he used Ark’s power-

“A medium?” Aruto mumbles in shock.

Suddenly, a flash of an image of how Azu caressed his face and called him Ark-sama passes on Aruto’s mind. He shakes his head fast.

No way, isn’t that supposed to be a nightmare? But… it makes sense.

“A medium?” Touma repeats Aruto’s words in confusion.

“If they want to spread evilness to the whole world, then they don’t need to necessarily target humagears. Not to mention that they targeted humagear one at a time… it felt like they are searching something, searching a medium that can hold the evilness… without breaking down.”

Aruto’s eyes shake again as the Azu’s words haunt his mind.

‘No matter how I search and plea, no one else comes as close as you.’

“What is that goal though? If they want to find the medium, then what comes after that?” Jin asks in confusion.

“It will be another Ark.” Horobi answers before Aruto can. The older humagear seems to grasp the situation quickly before Aruto can explain everything. “It is Ark, but with different sources of evil and malice.”

“Ark?”

Now Touma is the one who sounds confused.

“Ark as in, the legend about Noah’s Ark?” Touma asks again.

As expected from a novelist, of course, that is what he knows about Ark.

Aruto grimaces, wondering how he is supposed to explain about Ark to Touma. Up until now, Hiden Intelligence and ZAIA haven’t opened up fully about the whole Ark incident. Partly because, if they open up about how the former Japan CEO of ZAIA used evil data to machine learning for a satellite, both Hiden Intelligence and ZAIA’s business will go under. It was way too complicated to open up about everything though that doesn’t mean Aruto wants to hide everything either.

“Ark is an evil AI that has come to the conclusion that humanity should be eradicated to save the Earth,” finally Horobi is the one who answers.

Aruto glances at Horobi, wondering whether Horobi is being considerate to him to explain it while taking out Hiden Intelligence from the context.

“Ah… I see…” Touma looks quite serious. “I also think that Aruto’s hypothesis is quite plausible, but that doesn’t answer the source of the evil and malice that is being used to fill the medium. If it is from the Book of Evil, it still needs to be filled with evilness first…”

Then Touma turns at Aruto. “To be honest, that is what I want to ask your help for, Aruto. It was said that the book needs to be filled with so many evil-doings. Something like that bounds to leave a trace and can be tracked if we can process and have access to the information.”

Aruto blinks, a bit surprised. “I see, by using AI, you mean?”

“Yes, we only noticed that the book got stolen recently. So, the evil-doings should happen recently as well,” Touma adds. “And it should have been quite a big scale or progressing fast.”

Aruto nods then he turns at Izu.

Izu nods and closes her eyes. Her headphone starts to glow and slowly buzz.

Aruto sighs as he waits. “I think the hints are still a bit too vague, is there a better clue to filter the information?” Seeing as how Izu takes a bit longer to process the data, she must have gathered quite a bit of data and is in the process of filtering it down.

“Either it is something gruesome, or cruel, or maybe the victims’ number is staggering?” Touma says more, he doesn’t look sure himself.

“Does it have to be homicide cases only?” Jin asks.

Touma shrugs. “Maybe, but I don’t think it is limited to only killing humans…”

Finally, Izu opens her eyes and her buzzing sounds stop. “There are around 10.705 cases all around the world that have been going for the last month. If I filter it down to the ones that take place in Japan, there are 114 cases.”

“Oh… wow,” Aruto doesn’t know whether that number is small or big.

“I gathered the information based on police reports and news. But, I think there is one that particularly stands out.” Izu shows the news article on the air.

“Huh?” Touma sounds surprised as he reads the article.

Aruto just gapes in shock.

‘Countless people have been falling into a comatose state because of unexplainable reasons, the Blue Bird organization refused to give out the clarification?’

“Blue Bird organization is…” Touma turns at Aruto. “Where Ikki’s little brother works, right?”

Aruto nods, he remembers that as well. Because Ikki loves to update both of them on how his siblings have been doing all the time.

“The number of victims is 51 people. It was last updated yesterday, there could be more.” Horobi points out the important fact from the article.

“Who is this Ikki person?” Jin asks in confusion. Izu pulls out various articles and photos of Ikki and him as a Kamen Rider and projects them on the air.

“He is our friend,” Aruto adds, a bit absent-mindedly because his head is working hard to process the information. Does what happened to humagear, Touma’s stolen forbidden book, and Ikki’s case are all connected?

“Is that why Ikki has been busy as well?” Touma reaches his phone and Aruto can tell that he is about to call their junior.

Aruto can hear his ringtone blaring. “Huh? Ikki is calling me.” Aruto is surprised to see the name of the caller. He taps the screen to answer the call. “Hello, Ikki?”

[Aruto-san—I’m so sorry! Some of my acquaintances are about to come into your company—They might be forceful to meet you but they aren’t bad people. I’m on my way! I’m so sorry!]

“Huh!? What!?” Aruto shouts in confusion but he notices that the call has disconnected.

And then, Izu’s headphones are beeping and she turns at Aruto quickly. “Aruto-sachou, some people are making a commotion in the lobby. They are asking to meet you.”

Aruto can feel his head start to throb. Somehow, he has a deja vu at how AIMS used to come into his office by force and treat him like a suspect.

“Let’s them in,” Aruto orders Izu. He hopes there is no one getting hurt in the lobby. The humagear security guards can be a tad a bit overprotective in recent years because of their machine learning after so many crisis times inside the office.

“I understand,” Izu closes her eyes for a moment then opens them again. She looks so serious. “I think the situation has got out of control.”

“What!?” Aruto turns at Izu in shock. Then again, if even Ikki called him to warn him about this unwelcome visit, and how Ikki sounded in a hurry, it seems the situation really has escalated further. Aruto groans and jumps to his feet. “Damn it!”

0o0o0o0

Of all of the people that Ikki knows, Karizaki George is one of the most eccentric people that he has ever known. Ikki knows that Karizaki isn’t a bad person, but… he isn’t a really good person either. He is the type who loves to do whatever he wants to do. His moral compass is a little bit… skewed.

Add Sakura to the equation, and they could be a weird, but dreadful, combi.

“Do we really need to stop them?” Daiji asks while he is riding the bike in the passenger seat. Ikki is riding Daiji’s bike, courtesy of Blue Bird org. “They won’t destroy Hiden Intelligence, Sakura isn’t that bad.”

“Maybe they won’t, but Sakura is a bit out of control now!” Ikki shouts back. He is riding the bike as fast as he can while he navigates the traffic.

It is good that Ikki is quite familiar with this city’s streets now.

Once Ikki can see the Hiden Intelligence’s building, he stops his motorcycle. He jumps down in a hurry, letting the motorcycle fall to the street.

“Nii-san!” Daiji shouts behind him, but Ikki ignores him.

As the eldest, Ikki knows how his siblings’ minds work to a certain level. He knows how close Sakura and Hana have been. They are totally best friends now. And Ikki is happy for them too.

So, when he hears how Hana has been attacked by a mysterious person and is in a critical state now, Ikki can imagine how Sakura would be in total fury.

Not to mention that Karizaki has told her something, and they seemed to be coming to Hiden Intelligence headquarters to do something. Hiromi has informed him that.

That ‘something’, Ikki doesn’t think would be nice.

Ikki doesn’t grip the whole situation either, but he doesn’t want something terrible to happen if he can help it.

Ikki comes inside the building, and he can hear some screaming and commotion. He navigates toward the crowd of people and humagear, before, finally, he can see the transformed Karizaki and Aruto who are glaring face to face. Behind Aruto is a humagear who falls to the floor with the machine on her arm exposed, Izu is shielding her. Not to mention the array of humagear security guards circling them.

And Sakura is standing behind Karizaki, thankfully, not transformed, but she still looks fuming. Not helping at all.

Yep, this has gotten out of control.

“Karizaki-san!” Ikki shouts and runs as he can see that Karizaki is about to attack the not-transformed Aruto.

But before he can take Karizaki’s attack head-on, someone pushes him away and Ikki can see a blur of red.

Then he can see Touma standing there, not transforming but he is holding a huge red sword, blocking Karizaki’s attack. Then Touma grunts as he pushes Karizaki back.

Touma is breathing hard as he glances back to Aruto behind him, then to the Ikki who is sprawled on the floor because of his pushing then glaring at the Karizaki in front of him.

“Please, can we talk about everything in a civil way!? Do we need to fight needlessly like this!?” Touma sounds so frustrated. “You! I don’t know you, but if you aren’t an enemy, you need to undo your transformation, NOW!”

There is something in Touma’s tone that reminds Ikki of his parents’ scolding. Maybe that is why Karizaki obediently follows Touma’s order. He looks quite bewildered with the situation but manages to act nonchalantly like usual.

“And Aruto, please, if someone is about to attack you, you need to transform right away.” Touma turns back and scolds Aruto.

“Uuuh… okay, I’m so sorry.” Aruto nods awkwardly.

“Ikki, the same for you. Don’t ever think to receive an attack without transforming, you aren’t that strong.” So, Ikki gets the scolding as well.

“I understand, Touma-san.”

“And please, everyone. The situation is under control, we are sorry for all of the commotion,” Touma bows to the crowd then he turns away. “Now, let’s talk about everything inside, like civil people, we all can do that, can’t we?”

Touma is in his fatherly mode, Ikki can tell. More like a protective papa bear who gets pissed because the ones he loves almost get attacked.

Aruto and Izu are taking care of the injured humagear before they follow Touma behind.

“I guess, we can.” Karizaki shrugs and follows Touma from a safe distance.

 “Sakura-chan?” Touma asks Sakura who has been frowning from afar, he sounds a bit gentler than he did toward Karizaki. Sakura is still folding her arms and looks pissed, Ikki approaches his little sister and wraps his arm around her. He signals to Touma that he gets this under control.

“Come on, Sakura.”

“Will they even tell us the truth? Hiden Intelligence is shady as heck.” She still sounds so angry. “You are so biased because Aruto-san is your friend, stupid Ikki-nii.”

“That doesn’t mean you can burst in with force…” Ikki reminds her. “You shouldn’t let Karizaki-san do whatever he wanted, you know how he is.”

Well, Ikki can imagine that for Karizaki, hurting a few humagears won’t be a big deal, because they must be just robots in his eyes. But, Aruto won’t accept it like that

“To be honest, what happened to Touma-san? Why did he sound like a father or is it just me?” Daiji is trailing along beside Ikki with a confused face.

“Well, Touma-san is that amazing,” Ikki answers with nonsense, doesn’t have the time and energy to explain it further than that. He pushes Sakura and Daiji to trail behind everyone, and also to watch over Karizaki so he doesn’t get any more funny ideas.

Ikki needs to properly apologize to Aruto later.

0o0o0o0

Aruto never thought that he could be more thankful to Touma than he already is.

When he saw an unknown kamen rider attacking a defenseless humagear, without further thinking, Aruto got in between them.

Then the unknown kamen rider spewed nonsense like “Don’t worry, I just want to break down that humagear to pieces to inspect something”. And when Aruto asked what it was, he answered “It was none of your business”.

Maybe, he was too shocked to transform, or maybe he remembered that it was Ikki’s acquaintance and he isn’t a bad person and Aruto didn’t want to exaggerate the situation by transforming as well.

Yeah, he is indeed stupid. He should at least use his sword to protect himself. Like how Touma did.

He was so cool earlier.

Aruto runs a little so he can walk beside Touma, the novelist is still gripping his sword in a bit scary way so he is walking ahead alone which is a bit uncharacteristically of him. “Touma-san.”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you,” Aruto says with a smile. Not many people are that protective of him. And not many people are protective enough toward him to scold him like that.

Touma’s seriousness melts away and he smiles warmly at Aruto. “You’re welcome.”

“You are so cool back then. I was going to tell you to replace your fridge, but turns out that you are cooler than that!” Aruto has this weird sense of need to express how cool Touma is for him. So, he expressed it with his joke. “Now, that’s the work of Aruto!”

Amazingly, Izu moved beside him already and threw some white confetti to act as fake snow.

There is an eerie silence, but Aruto is, weirdly, satisfied with his own joke. At least, his joke is deescalating the situation even further.

“Oh wow, that’s so lame, I got the chills,” Karizaki mumbles in a sarcastic tone, his eyes looking at Aruto as if he thinks Aruto is an idiot.

But, Aruto is used to ignoring people like that. So, he is perfectly okay with that.

Then, Aruto can hear Touma chuckles a little. He doesn’t hold his sword anymore, it disappeared like magic and Aruto doesn’t know where it goes. But, the young CEO is too focused to hear Touma’s soft chuckles. “I’m happy to hear that you think I’m cooler than a fridge. That is a compliment, right?”

“Of course, it is!” Aruto answers back.

Touma only nods with a smiling face. “Now, we should have a talk with everyone,” he turns at Izu as if asking something without words.

“Let me guide you all to a meeting room,” Izu steps to the front, turning back to her professional face, and walks ahead.

It is true that Aruto’s office is too small to contain all of them and Aruto doesn’t fancy showing the body of Naki and Ikazuchi in his lab. Not to mention that Jin and Horobi are in his office as well.

“I never thought that I would have a meeting with all of you, this is going to be fun…” Aruto deflates again. Based on how Karizaki acted so hostile toward him and Sakura glared so angrily toward him, they must have something against humagear and Hiden Intelligence. It won’t be something nice for sure.

“Hm… then I guess I should call my friends as well.” Touma pulls out his phone.

Aruto looks at Touma and then at Ikki behind him.

“Sure, it is all going to be fun,” Aruto says, he is already resigned to his fate.

Touma is patting his back as he is talking with someone via his phone.

The meeting with three groups of kamen riders… sounds like an exhausting meeting already. Damn.

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

Maybe because humans are social beings, their mental strength also depends on the support of the people around them. A safety net that can catch them when things go south, to have that privilege does wonders for people’s mental strength.

Aruto doesn’t know whether he has a safety net or not. In a sense of financial, yes he has that privilege. He never had to worry about money, not even when his grandfather was still alive and their relationship was really rocky. Sometimes in the past, Aruto used to think about what would happen to him if his grandfather decided to cut ties with him.

In the end, it never happened, instead, Aruto inherited a massive company with tons of shady things that he needed to take care of. He even has to save the world because of it. But yes, Aruto never knows how it feels to be poor and doesn’t have a financial safety net.

But, a safety net in the sense of mental support… he thought that he didn’t have one. He failed, miserably, to form any decent connection with any people. So, his heart always tightens in a painful way whenever people hurt him emotionally. He didn’t have anyone who would comfort him or people who heard his cry. He always felt like he free-falling into pitch darkness before he managed to save himself, again.

He used to.

But, not now.

“Do you think we should also call for Fuwa-sama and Yaiba-sama, Aruto-sachou?” Izu asks beside him.

Aruto glances at her and then toward the other groups surrounding the round table. There are two groups in front of him. Ikki is with his siblings and that weird scientist who attacked Aruto earlier. Despite not being the oldest within that weird mix-matched people, it is clear that Ikki is the leader of the group. Then the other group is Touma and his friends.

Aruto doesn’t know how they manage to arrive at this place in a short amount of time, but they are flabbergasted by every little thing around them. And it is also clear that Touma is the one that they depended a lot on.

If it wasn’t for Touma and Ikki glancing at him and gesturing to make sure he was alright, Aruto might have gotten overwhelmed. They kindly remind him that Aruto has their support.

Both of them are his friends. They have his back.

It feels a little bit… strange to think of it like that, but Aruto is learning to accept it slowly.

“It is okay…” Aruto declines Izu’s offer. Aruto still isn’t certain to trouble AIMS over this problem, or even Fuwa too. He doesn’t think he needs to call for their presence just to balance the number of people in his side. He doesn’t need to be scared just because he only has Izu at his side.

He used to be worse, he was totally alone back then. This is nothing.

It isn’t like he is going to be attacked by the people around him. And even if he does… Aruto remembers how Touma protected him earlier.

Aruto feels like he can count on his friends. The young CEO claps his hand to get the attention of the people in the room.

“If none of you can’t hear my meeting heart,” Aruto pauses wittily, “thankfully,” he grins in satisfaction at his own joke. “Let’s start our meeting now.”

Aruto glances at Izu, who surprisingly, looks as confused as the people around him. Aruto raises an eyebrow at her before she regains her composure. He guesses she was waiting for his trademark punchline, but some jokes are better without one.

“This meeting agenda is about exchanging information and clearing the misunderstanding between all of us,” she pauses and turns at Ikki’s group, “without violence.”

Ikki is clearing his throat awkwardly and Karizaki has a bored expression on his face.

“And hopefully, to also identify the source of problems that have been happening around us,” Izu says with a professional smile and ends her speech with a polite bow.

As a person who has been used to meetings more than the people inside the room, Aruto decides to speak first. “So, first from me. Let me ask you,” Aruto turns at Karizaki. “Karizaki-san, is that right?”

Karizaki nods. So, Aruto continues. “I need to know the reason for your attack against my employee humagear earlier. Can you please explain it to me? And please stay there, I want to maintain a safe distance from you.”

Karizaki is about to move but stops then he laughs as if he finds Aruto funny. The young CEO is serious now though. He is used to people attacking him, but to attack a humagear blatantly in front of him, Aruto won’t forgive him that easily.

“As expected from Kamen Rider Zero-One, the CEO of Hiden Intelligence.” Karizaki opens his arms widely and claps a little. Aruto finds his gesture to be a bit sarcastic even though the weird scientist also looks quite excited. “So… the reason why I ‘attacked’ your employee humagear,” Karizaki emphasizes the ‘attacked’ word. “Is because of this,” he opens his tablet and then shows out a series of photos.

Karizaki looks quite dissatisfied because the tablet isn’t big enough for the people who sit far from him. He turns at Izu, gives her gestures then does something with his tablet and then Izu is showing the pictures on the air with her hologram.

Aruto is a bit taken aback a little while Karizaki looks pleased. The scientist jumps into the empty space of the round table, walks toward the big hologram in the air, and explains it like a teacher. “It is a bit hassle to explain it from the start. But, I will try my best,” Karizaki doesn’t look genuine though. “Ever since two weeks ago, we found quite a number of unconscious people with unidentified stamps beside them.”

The hologram is controlled by Karizaki using his tablet. “For your information, stamps are, mostly, made by me or our former enemies, which would be the tool to draw out the power within someone either to transform into a Kamen Rider or to become a monster,” Karizaki explains the context first shortly. “Anyway, these stamps are unidentified. We don’t know who made them, don’t know where they come from, don’t know the use for,” Karizaki shows the stamp colored black and red.

“Now that’s done,” he mumbles to himself then swipes his tablet. “And then, today, we found one of our acquaintances, who is also a Kamen Rider, beaten half-death and is in critical condition now. We didn’t know what exactly happened to her and she is unconscious now. But we found something in her hand, this.”

Aruto sees the image of a few small bits of plastic and cords on a bloody hand. He grimaces a little, it seems Karizaki was being true about the owner of that hand being beaten half-death.

“After analyzing this evidence, I found out that these are parts of a humagear.” Karizaki turns around and points at Izu, who blinks back in surprise. “So, that means-“

“That means whoever attacked Hana-san is a humagear!” Sakura hits the table hard as she stands. Her shoulders are trembling, she looks very angry.

“Sakura, calm down.” Ikki pulls his younger sister back to her seat.

Karizaki is spinning his index finger. “That is why she dragged me here because Hiden Intelligence should have a way to track any humagears that they produced, right? Well, after meeting a humagear in that lobby, I get a little curious because-“

“That part you found was what we used on our old model humagears, we don’t use it any longer for our new generation of humagears,” Izu cuts his words, her glowing headphones dimmed off as she comes to a conclusion. It seems she is also done analyzing whatever data that Karizaki has given her.

Karizaki points out at her again. “Bingo. Because of that, I want to dismantle the humagear in the lobby a little, to prove my suspicion… but then you meddled in, Hiden-sachou.” Karizaki gives Aruto a smile, a weird smile.

“That doesn’t explain the reason why you attacked Aruto as well, in that mess,” Touma voices his concern with a serious face. He is glaring a little at Karizaki.

Yes, because after the first attack, Karizaki didn’t stop. He was about to attack Aruto too before Touma butt in between them.

The friends around Touma look a little shocked by Touma’s cold tone, one of them is patting Touma’s back in a comforting manner and whispering something to him.

“And you drew your fabulous sword out to stop me, that’s amazing, as expected from the former Kamen Rider Saber,” Karizaki doesn’t look intimidated and instead, looks happy with all of the attention on him. Then he stops smiling widely. “Well, I figured that the president of Hiden Intelligence wouldn’t easily give me the real answer to my question because of the history of this company being shady in the past. So, might as well attack him to find out what kind of person he is. He might be the mastermind of this whole mess.” Karizaki shrugs nonchalantly.

There is an awkward silence and Aruto wants to grimace in shame. Well, many people like to be hostile toward Aruto in their first meeting, but by far, Karizaki was the worst of all.

“I’m so sorry for him,” Ikki is already jumping out of his seat and approaching Karizaki with an embarrassed face. “Come on, Karizaki-san,” he pushes Karizaki to bow along with him.

“What?” Karizaki asks back in confusion without a hint of guilt. But Ikki pushes him harder. “We are sorry!” Ikki and Karizaki bow down together.

“Ikki-san, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Aruto shakes his hand. “And I guess, I understand what happened now.” The young CEO is nodding, he gets the gits of it. Karizaki is just really weird and a bit extreme, he guesses. He reminded him of the wicked former CEO of the Japan branch of ZAIA.

“So, can you clarify whether what we found is humagear that your company made? Whether it was an old model or a new model shouldn’t matter. Can you track it down?” Daiji asks, his face looks a bit impatient.

Aruto frowns and turns at Izu again.

“Based on the data that I got, those pieces of part were supposed to be originated from an old humagear model and yet, it was recently made. They are still pretty brand new, less than one month old,” Izu answers again. “We don’t use that part anymore for whatever products the company produces currently, in summary, Hiden Intelligence didn’t make the thing that has attacked your acquaintance.”

“Is that so?” Aruto asks Izu again. The secretary nods affirmatively. “If you don’t believe me, I will send you the data of the raw items that we used to produce our product in this company, including the report of why we stopped using that part.”

Aruto leans to his chair a little bit. That’s true, his company has stopped producing old type humagears. Even when Metsubojinrai.NET remade Naki and Ikazuchi’s bodies, their bodies got updated into newer types humagears.

Karizaki hums as he stares at his tablet so it seems Izu has sent him the data. The scientist is already back in his seat and reading his tablet with a serious face.

“Then… who did attack Hana-san?” Sakura whines, pulling Ikki’s sleeve with a distressed look.

“We will find out, Sakura.” Ikki grips Sakura’s hand back gently.

“Uhm… can I ask a question too?”

One of Touma’s friends raises his hand. “Oh, my name is Rintaro, Kamen Rider Blades, nice to meet you,” he bows politely and then speaks again with a stern face. “Have you found out about what happened to the unconscious victims in your town? Shouldn’t you analyze those stamps first?”

They all look at Karizaki, but the scientist has his eyes stuck on his tablet. So, instead, Daiji opens his mouth. “Rintaro-san, we have analyzed the stamps. But they are… empty. It seems they were only for one use, so after it was done to do whatever it was supposed to do, the stamp has nothing inside it.”

“But, about the unconscious people… we found something,” Ikki speaks, a bit timid but his face is full of concern. He glances at Karizaki but sighs because Karizaki is ignoring all of them. “We found out that the brains of the victims… are missing something, missing an emotion. Negative emotion.”

“We found out through MRI, when we tried to check their response to pain that the brain didn’t even show a hint of discomfort. It was in a totally calm state… like a peaceful state,” Daiji continues the explanation. “So, our suspicion is now that the stamps were used to pull out their negative emotions, all of it. But, humans need negative emotions to function, that is why they fall into a comatose state.”

 “Negative emotions?” Aruto asks in confusion.

“Yes, like pain, hunger, sleepiness, and even basic things to survive are linked to negative emotions. People say that pain is part of being alive, which is true. Without negative feelings, there won’t be positive feelings,” Karizaki joins in the conversation as he puts down the tablet. “And I’m done analyzing the data, what you said is right, as long as you didn’t tamper with the data, that is.” Karizaki grins at Izu.

Izu gives him a deadpan expression, which means that she doesn’t respect Karizaki at all, which is amazing for their short amount of interaction. Aruto shakes his head a little, though he can’t blame Izu at all.

“So, the victims are missing their negative emotions… but what is the motive to gather people’s negative emotions?” Touma’s other friend mumbles out loud. “What the use for?”

“If we can solve that, we won’t be here,” Karizaki answers sarcastically.

“Negative emotions… does that mean evilness as well?” Touma mutters with a faraway expression.

“It should be,” Daiji responds out.

Then Aruto raises his head as he makes a connection. Touma also meets his eyes, it seems they are thinking about the same thing. “Could it be…”

Aruto turns at Izu. It takes a few seconds for Izu before she nods at him with an understanding face.

She shows the image of the laptop that she saw earlier, the nearly-broken laptop after opening Naki’s memory chip.

“What is that…?” Sakura mumbles out in confusion.

Aruto saw it earlier too and he can feel how his hands tremble a little. He is reminded of how he felt inside the Ark. How the malice flowed into his brain, and how his ears were filled with soundless screams.

“This is what we found inside the memory chip of broken humagear that we found recently. There have been a series of broken humagears with unknown reason.” Izu shows an array of photos of humagears with burned skins around their headphones and eyes. Then the images are replaced again with the video of the laptop analyzing the memory chip. “We found that the memory chip was filled with concentrated data of evilness and malice, it infected anything that connected with it. Like a virus.”

“I see… evilness probably comes from human beings, is that where the negative feelings of the victims went?” Karizaki makes a connection first, Ikki and his siblings looks surprised. “Unlike humans, humagear doesn’t need emotions, let alone negative emotions to function. So, a concentrated evil data would probably be too much for their processor to bear, which is why they broke down.”

“Don’t be mistaken, humagear can have malice too,” Aruto corrects Karizaki’s words. “But you are right, there should be a limit of how much they can contain the malice. I believe that humagears also purposefully broken down to stop the evil data through the internet,” that is what Aruto believed though others might think differently.

They think that the evil data broke the humagears before they could spread through the internet, but Aruto thinks it was the other way around. Considering how long Naki could survive for the sake of passing the memory chip to them, Naki was an older humagear who have reached a singularity point, so they could cut their own connection to the internet while trying to hold on as long as possible.

Aruto wouldn’t let all of humagears victims’ sacrifice in vain.

“But, still, what is the motive to do all of that? If it is true that the culprit is gathering negative feelings from humans, then inserting them into humagears till they break down, I can’t understand the purpose of doing all of that,” Ikki says with a confused look.

“They are probably trying to do something, experimenting, but still failing to do that,” Touma shares his speculation. Aruto is thinking deeply. Fuwa and Yaiba also said the same thing.

“Then… what they want to achieve is the opposite, a humagear that can contain the evil data?” Sakura asks with a frown. “That still doesn’t make sense.”

“Aruto, your friend said that the culprit’s purpose is to make another Ark, right?” Touma asks to Aruto.

Horobi isn’t Aruto’s friend, but Touma is saying it in a way so the people around them can understand without being biased. Horobi was once a terrorist after all, and someone like Karizaki might remember him, which can make things complicated.

Making another Ark…

Aruto grips his trembling hands, hoping that no one notices it. “I think that’s right…” If what Aruto thinks is right…

If his dream isn’t just a dream, but Azu messing up with his subconsciousness… then…

She wants to make another Ark, but not using the previous methods which have failed miserably. Probably, she wants to make…

Another him, another Aruto… as Ark, which should be a crazy idea to begin with.

Probably the reason why she wants to do that… because Aruto is the closest Ark that she envisioned to be. Not that Aruto ever understands Azu’s crazy way of thinking.

But, Aruto still can’t imagine the connection of finding humagear that could withstand the evil data and Azu wants to make another him… it doesn’t make sense.

So, Aruto can’t share his crazy dream yet… He doesn’t even know how to explain it.

Not even Touma and Ikki know that Aruto has lost himself in hatred and vengeance by using Ark’s power. The video of his last battle with Horobi might hint at that, but without the full context, people wouldn’t figure it out that easily.

“Ark?” Ikki asks in confusion.

Aruto fails to notice Izu’s concerned glance toward him. “Ark used to be a massive communication satellite to assist in the network between humagears. But then, it was given the data of human violence, which turned Ark into an evil AI that came to the conclusion that humanity needed to be eliminated,” Izu explains with a serious face. “Ark was defeated but…”

“Ark could still be lingering somewhere, inside other AI, waiting to be resurrected again,” Aruto admits that. Azu even believes that malice is the Ark itself, like faith in God. Someone or something that could be evil enough to be called Ark, is her definition of Ark.

While Aruto believes that Azu is part of Ark, after all, she was specially made by Ark.

Because of that, she was so persistent in resurrecting Ark countless times.

“Then… is resurrecting Ark connected to Book of Evil then?” Rintaro mumbles out loud.

“Book of Evil?” Daiji asks with a puzzled face.

“Our problem is that one of the forbidden Wonder Ride Books was stolen. And it was the Book of Evil. From what we know, the book has immense power that could turn the world into hell if it is ever used. But, to use it, the user has to pour significant amount of evilness doing to the book.” Rintaro explains. “We are currently trying to track down the whereabouts of the stolen book.”

“If Ark has a purpose to eliminate humanity, then the Book of Evil would come in handy for them.” Touma nods in agreement. “Also, making many victims fall into consciousness while there is no way to reverse the damage yet, that can be counted as evil doings.”

Aruto ponders about that.

While it is true that Ark has the motive to eliminate humanity, but it has the power to do that even without using the power of the Book of Evil.

Based on how Touma and his friends said it, it seems they still don’t have any idea of the extent of the power of that stolen book.

If Azu is the one who stole it, Aruto doesn’t think it would be that simple.

After all, Azu has a special talent for manipulating emotions…

After all, they all miss one point, though it is because of their lack of understanding Ark.

It doesn’t have to be humagears, Ark can be… humans as well, just like what happened to Aruto.

The reason why Azu persistently only targets humagears to withstand the evil data…

“If I can’t find it, I will make it myself.”

Aruto turns to Karizaki.

“That’s what I would do. If I can’t find the humagears that can contain the evil data, then I would make it myself. Isn’t that what our enemy doing right now?”

Aruto’s eyes go wide as he connects the dots together.

“…right, because of that there is a new humagear that used the old model part…” Aruto mumbles as he makes a connection. Like how Horobi made Jin by himself, as long as they have the right equipment, anyone can make humagears.

Anyone, especially like Azu.

The images of how Azu molded a copy of him with an expressionless pair of eyes… Aruto remembers those haunting images.

“Izu, is there any place that has the facility to make a humagear? It was probably an old facility that isn’t being used anymore.” Aruto turns at his secretary.

Izu closes her eyes for a second while her headphones are glowing. “Except for Daybreak Town, there should be only one more place that has adequate facilities. It was the basement of the home of the late CEO of Hiden Intelligence.”

Aruto feels as if the time stops ticking.

“Huh? What?”

0o0o0o0

There is something that bugging Ikki’s mind, but he doesn’t know what.

At first, he blames it on his anxiety of not being able to use his full Kamen Rider’s power if he needs it. But, he feels it is something else entirely.

“While I know everyone is eager to ambush Aruto’s previous home, but it won’t be effective to do that. Now that we conclude that our problems are probably connected, we need to reassess everything from a different point of view.” Touma is leading the next plan.

He is taking the lead, probably because Aruto doesn’t feel comfortable that everyone is staring at him. It must be uncomfortable to think that his previous home was probably used as a base by their enemy.

No.

Maybe because Touma can feel it too.

There is something off with Aruto.

It has been happening since the middle of the meeting.

Is there something that Aruto hasn’t shared with them yet?

“If we exchange our expertise for each other’s problem, maybe we could find more info about our enemy and their plan,” Touma adds.

“I see, so some people from your group and Ikki-san’s group can give out their opinions about humagears broken case, and so on?” Aruto asks. Touma nods in confirmation.

“How about you and Kento join Izu to investigate humagears’ case?” Touma points at Karizaki, rather rudely, then also at Kento. “Izu, you are fine with it, right?”

Izu turns at Aruto with a bit troubled face. Ikki wonders if people dislike Karizaki that much, but Ikki can understand why.

Or maybe Izu is simply being worried about being separated from Aruto, that is the most possible reason.

“Izu, you should bring Jin and Horobi to the place where Naki and Aniki got attacked. Maybe you all could find something there,” Aruto suggests.

Finally, Izu nods rather reluctant. “I understand.”

“Then, Touma-sensei will accompany Aruto-sachou, right?” Izu asks back to Touma with a serious face.

Touma gives Izu a confident smile.

“Yes, Ikki and I will accompany Aruto to visit his previous home, right, Ikki?” Touma turns at Ikki with a beaming, but also, powerful smile.

“Huh, Nii-chan will?” Daiji sounds surprised and seems ready to protest.

“Daiji, you should accompany Rintaro to inspect the base of Sword of Logos, maybe you could fill in something about how the book got stolen,” Touma says again, he is smiling but his face also looks stern.

“Just two of us?” Daiji asks back.

“Aruto, do you have someone to recommend to follow Daiji and Rintaro?” Touma asks to Aruto.

Aruto seems taken aback a little before he gathers his composure. “Fuwa-san… maybe? I will try to contact him.”

“How about me?” Sakura asks with a pout to Touma.

Touma sees her with tender eyes. “I will call my other friends to help you investigate how your friend got attacked, is that alright with you, Sakura-chan?”

Sakura’s face looks solemn a little bit before she nods.

Touma looks at Aruto and the young CEO reads things fast.

“I will ask my vice-president’s permission to borrow his secretary humagear, Siesta. She is a good humagear, a lot like Izu,” Aruto says.

Sakura nods again, rather reluctantly but she doesn’t complain.

Ikki stands beside Touma, admiring his skill at leading so many people. Ikki might be the firstborn of the Igarashi siblings, but Touma… was a father. Ikki suspects that part of the reason why Touma scattered them around, was to make them busy and leave Aruto to Ikki and Touma. It is still faster to ambush the enemy together rather than turning back around to reinvestigate their problem one by one.

Though, Ikki doesn’t think it will be that easy either.

There is something deeper that they don’t know about all of this mess.

And if Touma notices Aruto being off, then maybe it is his strategy so that both of them can handle Aruto first.

Ikki glances at Aruto who is calling the vice-president of Hiden Intelligence.

“I don’t like where this is going,” Ikki whispers to Touma.

“I don’t like it too,” Touma sighs. “When there are too many people involved, it is easy to misunderstand each other… But it is better to work together than doing things alone.”

Ikki becomes solemn a little bit, remembering how Karizaki attacked Aruto earlier. And to be honest, not even Ikki or Touma are that familiar with Aruto and his group, or maybe, lack of it. Aruto should have people at his side, his battle comrades, he said. But, both Ikki and Touma know nearly nothing about them, only just for a brief encounter.

While Touma and Ikki’s group are more familiar with each other, Aruto’s group is a different story. And it is harder when even Aruto himself looks reluctant to involve his group in this matter. You shouldn’t fight alone, especially against an enemy who wants to eliminate humanity.

“It makes me wonder, how Aruto-san did this before,” Ikki mumbles absentmindedly. Ikki has his siblings and people that he can count on too. Of course, like Touma said, when many people are involved, they tend to misunderstand each other. But eventually, they learned how to work with each other and make the best out of the situation together.

Ikki figures that it isn’t that much different in Touma’s case.

While for Aruto…

Touma looks at Aruto and smiles sadly. “The good thing about Aruto is, he works hard and doesn’t know when to give up.” Then Touma’s smile drops. “Though, if he is like that, he will get hurt a lot. Alone.”

“We won’t let that happen, will we?” Ikki asks Touma for confirmation, but also, out of fear.

Touma smiles at Ikki and pats his back comfortingly. “We will help and protect each other, we won’t let anyone get hurt again.”

Ikki nods with determination.

He sees how there is another unfamiliar humagear entering the room. She reminds Ikki a lot of Izu. Probably because of her gesture, she looks like a professional secretary. Aruto accompanies her then introduces her to Sakura and briefs the humagear.

Touma pats Ikki again and approaches Aruto.

“So, shall we get ready for our first team work together?” Touma asks Aruto with a bright smile, trying to lift up the dampened mood.

Aruto looks at Touma and Ikki. Ikki can see fear deep inside Aruto’s eyes, there is something that haunting Aruto and it is obvious that he doesn’t want to open up to them about it yet.

“Okay, let’s go.” Aruto is trying hard to smile. It is a bit painful to see.

Touma wraps his arm around Aruto’s back, guiding the young CEO out of the meeting room.

“I’m hoping that my siblings won’t make any mess…” Ikki mutters to both of his friends, trying to change the subject a little bit.

Touma just laughs. “I believe in them more than that scientist. I guess it is our first time to have mutual feelings of dislike toward one person who isn’t our enemy,” Touma admits with a chuckle. “I’m not sorry for that, Ikki.”

“Please don’t be, Karizaki-san can be… a little difficult.” Ikki shakes his head.

“I won’t forgive him for attacking an innocent humagear just because he can… not until he apologizes first,” Aruto adds.

“I doubt he will…” Ikki shrugs. “I hope everyone will be okay, I hope this mess will get resolved soon.” Ikki hopes for a lot of things, he knows that he is greedy but he can’t help it. The fact that he is still getting used to living with blotched memories of the past year and missing his demon that he can’t remember. He doesn’t want things like that to happen again.

Not when he has new friends that he can feel comfortable with. There is a fear that he will forget them too.

Or they might disappear before his eyes.

As if sensing Ikki’s silent distress, Touma is rubbing Ikki’s back gently.

Touma looks at the sky above them.

“After all of this end, shall we have dinner together? Three of us, Ikki’s turn to treat, right?” Touma asks with a full smile.

“…sure,” Ikki answers after a little pause. He is a bit surprised by the sudden promise only to remember Touma’s obsession with promise.

Both of them turn to Aruto.

“That would be nice…” Aruto nods with a small smile.

“Okay, it is a promise then, alright?” Touma asks again. Ikki is wondering whether this is Touma’s way to make a promise that the three of them have to survive no matter what.

The bitter truth is, they will get hurt, for sure. Not everyone will be okay. But, as long as they can survive till the end, that’s all that matters.

“I promise,” Ikki agrees to that.

“I… promise too,” Aruto says that with a heavy expression.

“Good, good…” Touma pats them both.

Ikki hopes that he can fulfill this promise. He hopes that everyone can fulfill this promise. He hopes that everyone can survive till the end with Ikki’s memories still intact.

He remembers Touma and Aruto’s tears but also their smiles. Ikki doesn’t want to lose things again.

He has enough.

“Let’s go,” Aruto guides them in a certain direction. Touma and Ikki follow him side by side. They will work on this problem together and come back together.

For sure.

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

The more technology advanced, human life becomes easier but on the other hand, there are various problems arise as well. Starting from pollution to extinct animal races to other less-oblivious problems. Like, how technology can isolate people from each other. Because the less of a need to face other people because of the help of technology, people now can live alone and their needs are still met. From online delivery to online appointments, and self-checkout, everything can be done without meeting or interacting with other people.

But, that also means, it is harder to connect to other people now. At least, that is how Aruto feels.

Even during his school years, he has a hard time befriending with anyone. Either people thought his not-funny gags were annoying or they felt betrayed once they knew about Aruto’s family. Not only because the Hiden family is the infamous creator of humagear, but once they knew Aruto’s estranged relationship with his grandfather, no one could sympathize with him.

Aruto feels his stomach churning around as he rides his bike to his previous home. Touma rides with him, saying that his bike can only be summoned through his wonder ride book using his belt. Ikki is riding another bike provided by the Blue Bird organization, though he said that it is Daiji’s, actually.

Aruto can see his childhood home, he slows down his bike and signals Ikki that they have arrived. His previous home is unnecessarily big, like a futuristic mansion, located in a high-end neighborhood. Aruto preferred a small, much more homey home, like Ikki’s.

Aruto parks his bike near the entrance gate and Ikki parks beside him.

“So, this is your childhood home, Aruto-san?” Ikki asks while pulling off his helmet. He fixes his hair a little bit before he jumps down from the bike.

“I almost thought it was a museum art building… the design is quite futuristic…” Touma nods and he puts his helmet on the seat. Aruto is taking his time to put his helmet on the bike because he is reluctant to come inside the house.

Touma seems to notice this and he rubs Aruto’s back. The young CEO flinches a bit before he relaxes. He glances at Touma carefully, hoping that Touma won’t question why he is so jumpy. And as expected, Touma just smiles tenderly at him without saying anything.

“Hehe, I need to stop being so dramatic, don’t I?” Still, Aruto feels his reaction is wrong. He shouldn’t react like this toward his own previous home, not when the world is in danger. He wasn’t even abused as a child, not, never, his grandfather never raised his hand at him.

Aruto himself doesn’t know why he reacts like this.

Probably, he is just exaggerating it. No one in the Hiden company knows just how complex Aruto’s relationship with his late grandfather was, not even Izu. Aruto doesn’t think anyone could understand.

And… he doesn’t think Touma and Ikki can understand either. Instead, Aruto fears that they will judge him.

If that happens then-

“Aruto, it is okay.” Touma squeezes his shoulder reassuringly. “You don’t need to say anything if you don’t want to. We come here to find more clues about the enemy, not to dig about your past.”

Ikki nods along beside Touma. “If you want to, you can wait here, Aruto-san. As long as you give us consent to ransack your place that is.” Ikki grins, trying to lift up the mood.

Aruto’s eyes become glassy for a second before he blinks back his tears. “It is okay. I will show you the house, our priority is finding the enemy. If it is really inside my house then, they must be hiding well here.”

“You are right, it is a quiet neighborhood, but that doesn’t mean there is no one around. If there is no report of suspicious movement here, then no one has noticed anything yet.” Touma looks around at the other houses. Unlike common secret bases of enemies where they were located in deserted areas, this one isn’t.

“Let’s get inside,” Aruto takes a deep breath and then braces himself.

Aruto pauses when he sees Touma looking at him with an unreadable expression. He blinks back in confusion. Aruto realizes that that is Touma’s expression when he is trying to ‘read’ someone, mainly Aruto. That is also his face when he is thinking about something he wants to say. “Touma-san?”

“Aruto… you…” Touma looks a bit hesitant, which is rare for him to act like that. The usual Touma is laid-back but confident. Aruto tightens his fists unconsciously because Touma is hesitant to say something that means bad news. “It is about our enemy…” Touma continues but then he pauses.

Aruto blinks again repeatedly while waiting for what Touma is trying to say.

“Do you have something that you need to tell us, Aruto-san?” instead, Ikki speaks up faster than Touma can continue his words. Even the young novelist looks a bit surprised with Ikki’s question.

Aruto feels as if the time stops ticking for a second.

He knows that the two of his fellow Kamen Rider aren’t stupid. They must have known that Aruto hides so many things from them, but they never force him to tell them anything. They are waiting until Aruto can tell them first.

Aruto grits his teeth, while it might be true that Touma and Ikki don’t want to dig into Aruto’s past. But, what they want to know is what Aruto hides from them regarding their enemy.

Azu…

And his strange dream about how Azu tries to recreate him to be a new Ark.

But, how can Aruto explain everything without opening up about his dark past about him using Ark's power for vengeance? Every dirty secret that he has been trying to hide from Touma and Ikki will be revealed that way…

Then…

“For now… I can’t really say anything, I’m not that sure either so…” Aruto is still hoping dearly that that wicked dream is merely a nightmare and nothing more. Maybe Azu is out there, making another medium to contain Ark but it doesn’t have to be a carbon copy of Aruto… maybe. “I will tell you two about it… later, if I’m certain about it.”

In short, Aruto hopes for more time.

Touma and Ikki look at him then they glance at each other. They don’t look too happy, but Touma pats Aruto’s shoulder with a small smile. “Okay, we understand.”

Ikki nods. “I guess, we can get inside now.”

Aruto nods a bit timidly then he turns at the door of the gate, punches a serial number on the lock then puts his finger to be scanned before he can hear the unlocked sound on the door gate.

They enter the garden and walk toward the house. Aruto can feel how the two friends behind him are observing everything inside. Well, they are searching for the enemy or some leads about their enemy. “Does someone maintain the garden? No one lived here, right?”

The young CEO notices that Touma took note of the well-maintained garden.

“Oh, I think Izu arranged humagear workers to maintain the garden and the house. They come here periodically,” Aruto remembered Izu said something about it, during the chaos of many inheritances process. Aruto has refused to move in here but he didn’t have the urge to sell it away as well, so this was what Izu suggested for him and Aruto just agreed absent-mindedly.

“Do the humagear workers not find anything suspicious in this house?” Ikki asks curiously. Aruto punches another code and scans his retina through the digital lock on the front door.

“If I’m not wrong, they come here twice a month. I don’t think there are any reports of suspicious things from them, if there are, Izu would inform me something.” Aruto opens the door and pauses. “But, there are chances that they could get attacked or hijacked… there is no satellite to network all the humagears, so…”

Let’s say that one humagear is missing, then they need to do the report and search them manually. There won’t be an instant report where they notice a humagear is missing. The supervisor could even reach a conclusion that the humagear had an accident and was dumped somewhere or got stolen. That kind of report won’t reach Aruto’s ears.

Without the main satellite to network all humagears together, problems like this become more common.

“Let’s be careful,” Touma whispers.

Aruto caresses the belt under his suit a little, he doesn’t wear it yet before he enters the house as quietly as possible. Touma and Ikki follow behind him then Ikki closes the door behind them softly.

“Do you know where your grandfather stored the facility to make a humagear?” Touma asks Aruto as they walk inside further. Most of the furniture is covered by white clothes, but the inside of the house isn’t that dusty. It is just a bit dark because of the dark-painted walls with little lights coming from the covered windows.

“…I don’t know. Honestly, I never know that there is something like that inside this house…” Aruto shamefully admits.

This house is needlessly large. And not to mention there weren’t that many happy memories here, except the ones that about his late humagear father.

“Usually, something like that would be stored in a basement or a garage, maybe?” Ikki suggests.

“But I think it would be hidden just like Hiden’s lab beside Aruto’s office,” Touma responds back.

Aruto nods, the office and the lab were inherited from his late grandfather. It isn’t in Aruto’s style at all, but the young CEO never sees the need to reconfigure everything because it suits his needs just fine.

“But, I don’t really see the trace someone entered this house by force… Everything is too tidy.” Ikki comments again as he wipes the slight dust on the edge of a window frame.

“Then, the one who came here didn’t enter by force,” Aruto thinks for a moment before he continues. “Everything here can be controlled both by computer and manually.”

A humagear like Azu can hijack the system with ease without leaving any trace. The password-coded lock of the door can be hijacked easily as well.

“Oh, like a smart home system?” Touma sounds amazed because this house is supposed to be a bit old house. “I guess it isn’t a common house after all.”

“Maybe we should have brought one of humagears…” Ikki trails off as he speaks because he sees Aruto pulling out something from his suit.

Aruto looks at the AI bot in his hand. Ai-chan, is his lovely invention, the one that is purely made by his idea. For years, Aruto has upgraded the system and added more features, though he still hasn’t mass-produced the product yet. Aruto approaches one of the wall plugs and opens up Ai-chan’s cover to pull out a cable and plug it in. “Ai-chan, can you enter the system of the house? If you can, please help me find the hidden lab inside the house, thank you.”

“It seems complicated, but I will try,” Ai-chan cheerfully responds back.

“Is that also an AI!?” Ikki approaches Aruto’s side with a surprised look. “It is so small… like a speaker…”

“I would say she is like a compact version of humagear, though what she can do is limited,” Aruto waits patiently as the small bot light beeps on his hand. Ai-chan’s main goal is to be a friend that people can talk to and sort their thoughts, so the AI is fairly simple. The additional feature of Ai-chan turns her into a mini computer that Aruto can talk to.

He adds this feature specifically because he has been avoiding talking to Ai-chan about his problems for personal reasons. Then he felt sorry for not using her that much, so Aruto upgraded her like this. She is filling the gap when Aruto needs when Izu isn’t at his side, just like now.

Aruto smiles bitterly, he specifically made Ai-chan look like a normal electrical device as possible to not get attached to her and yet he is still like this-

“Ai-chan?” Aruto notices something weird is going on with the bot. The light blinking too rapidly and the whirling sound is weird.

“I—f-found it.” Ai-chan makes a weird robotic noise, different from her usually cheerful voice. Then the device short-circuited, and Aruto drops her by surprise. Aruto can hear the sounds of an automated door being opened somewhere else in the part of the house but his eyes are fixed on the fallen apart bot.

“Did it get infected by the evil data too? Damn… is this house is fully infected then?” Touma hisses in distress. He rubs Aruto’s back comfortingly.

The young CEO grimaces then kneels down and scoops Ai-chan’s broken part. He puts them in his pocket. “You did great.” Part of himself feels ashamed that he is glad that Ai-chan is the one who fell apart, not a humagear. Still, for a small bot with simple AI, Ai-chan has done more than Aruto has expected it to.

“I think the lab is in this way.” Ikki signals to Aruto and Touma to follow him to a room.

Aruto recognizes that room. “It is grandfather’s office…” That sounds logical, of course, his work-holic grandfather would build a lab connected to his office just like what he did in the Hiden headquarters.

Ikki opens the room as quietly as possible then he gives a signal to Aruto and Touma again. The young CEO can see a part of the wall in the office room has been opened and revealed a small staircase that connected to the basement.

“I think whoever has used the facility isn’t here anymore, if they are, they should have come out by now,” Touma comments, though he is still looking wary at the stairs.

“Or they are waiting for us to ambush us below,” Ikki is putting on his belt on his waist. Just to be careful, Aruto guesses.

Touma and Aruto follow his suit, but they aren’t transformed yet.

Aruto doesn’t know why Ikki is taking the lead, but he lets him be. Maybe it is his instinct as an older brother kicked in. He descends on the stairs slowly and Touma follows him closely behind. Aruto takes a look at his grandfather’s office room for one last time, noticing the old framed picture of his grandfather with Aruto’s father and mother on the wall.

Aruto closes his eyes and then turns to follow Touma.

He still dislikes this house a lot after all.

0o0o0o0

Something inside the house makes Ikki feel uneasy. Or maybe it is just his heart corresponding with Aruto’s soured mood. As a family man, Ikki questions what happened between Aruto and his grandfather, because from what he knows, Aruto is such a good guy. For someone like him to have a relatively bad relationship with his late grandfather… Ikki can’t imagine why.

But, he never asked. Ikki doesn’t want to make Aruto sad unnecessarily, he has learned his lesson.

Then, some of his questions are answered in this house.

It doesn’t feel like a home at all. Not even because it is an empty house but… this house just feels… so cold.

Strangely, it reminds Ikki of Aruto’s office which is so contrasting with Aruto’s small but homey apartment. Now that Ikki connects the dots, Aruto’s all-white office must be inherited from his grandfather. It is way too sterile and minimalist for someone like Aruto.

This house is somewhat similar, the only difference it has a darker interior which worsens the cold and empty feeling. There aren’t any pictures of Aruto or his late humagear grandfather, only Aruto’s grandfather with Aruto’s parents.

It feels… off-putting, somehow. What kind of a grandfather didn’t display pictures of his grandson?

It isn’t a home after all, it feels only like a cold building.

A prison.

Ikki stops walking as the stairs end and he sees an automated pair of doors open up in front of him.

He stops in his tracks.

The room is half destroyed.

Ikki’s heart beats a little faster, and he enters the ransacked room carefully.

“What--- what happened in here?” Touma sounds shocked behind him.

Ikki looks around at the destroyed machines around him, which is really shocking compared to the pristine house. Some of the lights are broken so it is quite dim here. Whatever rampaged here has made sure that the rage is only contained inside this room.

Ikki walks around to inspect more until suddenly a dread attacks his heart of the sudden.

“Huh, what!?” Ikki backs away instinctively but the dread hasn’t disappeared yet. Ikki noticed the strange black liquid that smeared on his hand when he touched the table absentmindedly. “What is this…?”

“Ikki-san?”

Ikki notices that Aruto’s voice sounds distant and his vision becomes blurred. His knees suddenly feel weak and he crashes down to the floor. His chest feels tight and his heart is thundering, it feels like he is choking with his heart aching so badly.

It feels like something inside him is empty. There is a hole inside his chest and it is widening.

Something, something is missing from him. Something in his chest… Ikki can’t breathe, it is too hard…

“Ikki!? Ikki-“

This voice is wrong, it isn’t the voice that Ikki wants to hear. It should be something else, something that can fill the gap inside his chest. It starts to hurt, his head is spinning as Ikki continues to struggle to breathe.

Someone is tapping on his shoulder and Ikki can hear a muddled voice. The sticky weird feeling on his hand is gone. Two hands are caressing his face, then tapping at his chest and Ikki vaguely notices that there isn’t a hole inside his chest at all. His hand is being held and placed on something that expanding and contracting in rhythm.

The hands that hold his hand and on his face are so warm. It isn’t… it still isn’t what he wants though. It still feels painful, but Ikki surrenders himself to the warmth.

“Good, you are doing good…”

Ikki can hear the voice clearer this time. He can breathe a little bit easier now, his heart still aching so badly but he isn’t choking anymore. The warmth is still there, and while it doesn’t make his pain go away, Ikki takes the comfort all the same.

Ikki feels weak all of a sudden, he leans his head to whoever is in front of him and closes his eyes, not aware of the wetness on his face from crying.

0o0o0o0

“Whatever this is… this isn’t good.”

Touma nods at Aruto’s words. He is hugging the unconscious Ikki on his chest, glancing at a bundled Aruto’s suit in his hand. Since the suit is black so Touma can’t really see it, but there should be a weird black liquid smeared there because Aruto used his suit to wipe it off from Ikki’s hand.

Whatever that was, it made Ikki hyperventilate and crumble down to the floor. And then he started to cry as he had trouble breathing. Touma doesn’t think Ikki is prone to panic attacks, so this is really weird.

“We will have to examine this in the lab,” Aruto mutters again. “I wonder what is it-“

Touma looks at how Aruto suddenly freezes and stops talking. The young CEO turns around so fast and looks at something intensely.

Something that Touma can’t see.

“Aruto…?” Touma calls out in confusion, wondering what’s actually happening to Aruto-

Touma blinks when suddenly his vision starts to blur.

Huh?

Touma shakes his head in confusion, but his vision is still hazy.

“Touma-san… we… we need to go out from here…”

Touma shakes his head again as he has trouble focusing on Aruto’s voice.

“Touma-san!” Aruto is pulling Touma’s sleeve. Touma shakes his head again as his other hand cradles Ikki’s head on his chest.

The force that pulls Touma’s sleeve becomes stronger, so Touma is forced to stand staggeringly. He doesn’t forget Ikki though. Such a lovely kid, Touma wouldn’t leave a crying child alone again… never….

“Touma-san, focus! We need to escape ASAP!”

Touma feels his shoulder is burdened with something, then notices it is the child that he is thinking about. Something on the back of his mind tells him that this child is too big to be his child, but Touma shoves it aside.

“Come on, let’s go!”

The other child is shouting desperately… or maybe… crying. Touma walks unsteadily, trying to navigate between the fire in his eyes and the sound of a wailing child ringing in his ears. Touma shakes his head again.

He needs to focus on the child that he supports with his shoulder. The child that wailing behind him, that isn’t… the fire isn’t… real.

Or is it…?

Does it matter…?

Touma is about to turn around, to embrace the wailing kid who is trapped in the fire. The lovely child that Touma hazily couldn’t remember but his heart recognized him.

It is… his son…

“Touma-san!”

But someone is already pulling him back, dragging him away by force.

Then there is an explosion. Touma sees how his son disappeared between the sudden burst of flame and smoke.

His body is thrown to the wall and he crumbles down to the floor. He coughs as he tries to find the child again with shaking eyes. But, Touma can’t fight the black vision that expands in his eyes.

And then, his body goes limp completely.

0o0o0o0

Aruto’s transformation gets undone as he crumbles down to the ground. The metal cluster hopper key falls out of his hand.

As soon as Aruto inhales the air filled with smoke, his heart starts beating way too fast.

His stomach churns around badly and this time, Aruto can’t fight the urge to gag. He lets out the bitter bile as he struggles to gather his composure.

Aruto glances at the unconscious Touma and Ikki on the ground with the raging fire that consumed his previous house. The young CEO wants to stand, but his stomach churns again and he retches again.

“Ugh… damn it…” He was barely able to protect both Ikki and Touma from the explosion with the makeshift shield from his armor, but the force of the explosion still threw him onto the wall.  “Curses you… Azu…”

She appeared as a vision in front of Aruto’s eyes, like a ghost, in the lab.

“I know you will come here, my lovely ex-Ark-sama. I leave you a present, hope you like it.”

The bomb, probably being timed or controlled by her from afar, was kind of expected but…

Aruto wipes his mouth and approaches the unconscious Touma and Ikki on the ground. What happened to both of them… was… weird.

With Ikki, it was similar to a panic attack.

But for Touma, it looked like he was having a hallucination.

Aruto struggles to take off his tattered hoodie. His body aches a lot because of the impact of the explosion. But, he realizes that there is something more than that, his whole body feels weird. His hands are shaking and his vision starts to blur.

Finally, Aruto manages to pull his hoodie off.

Whatever affected the two, Aruto could feel also, partially, before he transformed. And also, now that he undid his transformation. It isn’t as bad as the two though.

Or maybe it starts to feel progressively worse as time passes.

His chest feels heavy and his eyes burn, Aruto feels unbearably exhausted and his head feels heavy. He wants nothing but to curl up on the ground until the heaviness in his chest goes away. But, Aruto knows better than to do that.

He pulls out his phone and dials the speed number.

That’s about the limit he can do before he lets himself sprawled on the ground. The call is connecting before Aruto can hear the familiar voice faintly.

[Aruto-sama? Did something happen?]

The familiar voice grounds Aruto a little bit. The fire in the corner of his vision makes his body tremble a little bit, but Aruto gathers his strength to speak.

“Izu… I think… I got… infected with… something.” Aruto pauses as he has trouble thinking. He wonders why the sky looks kind of black and grey with the flaming orange in the corner of his eyes.

[Aruto-sama? Aruto-sama? Are you alright?]

Aruto blinks and wonders why he can hear Izu’s voice but he can’t see her. He wonders where she is…

Oh right… she has exploded, hasn’t she? Aruto remembers vividly how he cradled her body, with her half-burned face smiling at him. But then, she shoved him aside and exploded… leaving him alone…

The ribbon… should… be tied on his wrist… Is it gone? He should… find it… later.

Later.

0o0o0o0

Touma snaps his eyes open with fright. His heart thunders badly as he pants with confusion. The image of Riku disappearing in front of his eyes is so… vivid. Is that a dream?

“Huh?” Touma notices that he is wearing an oxygen mask.

Wait… There is a line attached to his hand too…

“Touma!”

Touma looks at a weirdly covered person from head to toe, wearing goggles and a mask so Touma can’t really recognize her but from the voice alone Touma knows who she is.

“Mei-chan?”

“Finally, you wake up!”

“Hey, editor girl, don’t touch him, yet. Stop making me remind you every 30 seconds!”

The voice comes out from a speaker on the ceiling and Touma turns around to check the room he resides in. He finds unconscious Ikki and Aruto on the other bed lined beside him. They are also using oxygen masks and have various lines attached to their hand and body.

And then there is a huge window on the other side of the wall, Touma can see Karizaki and Izu there.

Then Touma turns at Mei again, who is wearing hazmat, looking like she wants to desperately hug him but holding still.

“Are we being quarantined?” Touma asks, pulling off his mask. He doesn’t have any trouble breathing now, so it should be okay to not wear the mask.

Now…?

Touma caresses his head in confusion. What happened to them?

“Yeah! Weirdly, the people that come to rescue you all, they are have headaches and vomiting! Even the humagear got malfunctioned! So bizarre!” Karizaki is shouting from across the window, but despite his words, he sounds and looks intrigued. Like usual.

“Because of that, you can’t touch him directly yet, editor girl.” Karizaki reminds Mei again.

“Urgh! I know, I know!” Mei shouts in frustration then folds her arms.

“That disposable hazmat isn’t thick enough to protect you, better to be safe than sorry,” Karizaki says. “Though I think whatever happened to all of you, the effect starts to decrease slowly. We will do another test later.”

And then Karizaki turns around and leaves. Touma blinks in shock.

“Is someone going to explain what happened to me… to us?” Touma asks carefully, a little bit in fear.

“I don’t understand either! Uuuhh... Izu…” Mei stomps her feet and then turns at the humagear outside. Izu has been standing with a stoic expression for the whole time.

“Can you please explain what happened in Aruto-sachou’s previous home, Touma-sensei?” Izu asks through the speaker. Touma wonders if Izu is being… angry. Because her face looks so blank like an emotionless doll, it is a little bit unsettling.

But, if she is indeed mad, Touma can’t blame her. In a sense, he failed to protect her boss even though she had entrusted him to Touma. But, he could do nothing about that since he also fell down.

“I only remember… we managed to find the hidden lab inside Aruto’s previous house. It was half destroyed then…” Touma frowns as he tries to remember. His head feels hazy. He knows something happened, but he has trouble remembering it.

“I think… Ikki… Ikki got it first…” Touma rubs his face with his hand as he lets his brain work harder. “Ikki acted weird… then… after that, I don’t remember anything. There is a fire… or is it not?”

“There is an explosion, yes. Based on what I get from examining the situation, I think Aruto-sachou protected both of you by transforming then he also fell into unconsciousness because he got infected with the same thing as you and Ikki-sama.”

Izu’s voice is a bit too robotic and disturbing for Touma’s taste, but once again, it is to be expected for her if she is angry.

“I’m sorry that I can’t protect your boss,” Touma asks for forgiveness. He didn’t promise her that he would protect Aruto, but still, Touma failed her.

There is a shift in Izu’s expression, the coldness melts a little. “It can’t be helped, all of you were down.”

Touma nods, relieved that Izu has let this one go.

“Touma… how do you feel now? Are you alright?” Mei asks with concern. There is a safe distance between them, but Mei looks desperate to touch him in some kind of way. “Rintaro said that you kept writhing in your sleep… like, you are in a lot of pain. But, that damn Karizaki said that you are physically alright and forbid us to comfort you…”

“Well… I feel… decent now…” Touma answers, but his chest still feels a bit heavy. But, he doesn’t feel that bad. A little bit under the weather, but there is nothing more than that. “Oh, how long I have been unconscious?”

“Good… good…” Mei nods as if she is also reassuring herself. “You have passed out for three days you know, you really gave us a scare!”

“Three days!?” Touma asks back in surprise.

Mei points at the window. “Izu has been watching all of you for the whole three days, the rest of us are taking turns.”

Touma turns again to see Izu who only nods at him.

“Then, did something else happen? Did we miss something?” Touma asks again. He hopes that the world hasn’t gotten half-destroyed or anything like that.

“We will explain what has happened and what we have found after Aruto-sachou and Ikki-sama wake up as well, please wait,” Izu replies through the speaker.

Touma deflates a little bit, but he guesses that is better than repeating and explaining everything three times.

He turns at the unconscious Ikki and Aruto. Then he groans a little because he can’t really remember what happened. Something bad happened for sure, Touma can’t remember the explosion but…

Touma stares at his hand.

Something soft… he has touched something soft… someone’s hair?

And tears… Touma wonders if he really hears someone’s wailing.

A child wailing.

Not Riku’s though, Riku isn’t with him anymore but…

Touma glances at Ikki and Aruto again, then he sighs.

Well, whatever happened, Touma feels glad that they are still in one piece.

These two precious kids have endured enough suffering… Touma hopes they won’t get harmed anymore. Though, he knows that his hope is futile because…

There isn’t any Kamen Rider that doesn’t struggle.

0o0o0o0

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah. As fine as I can be.”

“Be honest with me.”

“I’m being honest, Touma-san.”

Ikki looks at Touma with an exasperated face. “And you are sick too, we are all in the same boat.”

Somehow, Touma has pulled off all of his IV lines and he can roam free inside the isolation room. And it seems, his fatherly instinct has kicked in full gear because he has been hovering between Ikki and Aruto after both of them have woken up.

“Well, I’m not that sick,” Touma shrugs as if it isn’t a big deal. But, Ikki can his heavy expression. Touma hasn’t fully recovered yet.

“Aruto, do you want me to help you eat?” Touma turns at Aruto, choosing another target to be pampered.

Aruto is taking his sweet time to eat his food. Izu instructed, a few moments after their test result came out that they were healthy enough, and that they should eat first. Hospital foods are rather bland, but Ikki doesn’t complain.

“I’m okay, Touma-san… just… not really have appetite to eat…” Aruto shrugs.

“Do you want me to spoon-feed you?” Touma asks without any hints of teasing. He is completely sincere.

“No, thank you…” Aruto grimaces a little.

Ikki chuckles weakly. “At least finish the fruits, Aruto-san.” It is easier to wager in this situation, rather than keep forcing Aruto to eat. “The melon is tasty and sweet.” Ikki coaxes him. This is the trick Ikki has learned as an older brother.

Aruto blinks weakly and starts to nibble on the fruit obediently.

Ikki and Touma are waiting for Aruto to finish eating. And probably, Izu too, who has been so loyal watching them like a CCTV.

Finally, Aruto finishes the last bite of the melon, and then Touma helps him to put the tray aside.

“I will inform the others to join us,” Izu says to them with a bit more tender expression.

 They wait for a while before Kento, Mei, Karizaki and Sakura appear across the window. Then Izu projects the video call with the others on the wall.

“Now that Aruto-sachou, Touma-sensei, and Ikki-sama have regained their consciousness, we will hold another meeting to exchange information that we have all gathered.” Izu starts the sudden meeting quite professionally but with a colder expression than the previous meeting. She looks dead serious.

“Now, if you can explain to us, what have you gathered from the Hiden CEO’s previous house?” Karizaki points out at the three men inside the isolated room.

Ikki looks at Touma and Aruto and decides to open his mouth first. “The house was in pristine condition, the one who invaded the house didn’t do it by force. Then after we found the hidden lab, the lab was in a half-destroyed condition. There was no one there.”

Ikki pauses as he has trouble remembering what actually happened after that.

But, for him, it is a familiar feeling. He has learned his way to pick up bits and pieces of memories and join them together even though he couldn’t make sense of everything. The puzzles were incomplete, but Ikki can sort of guess part of the whole picture.

“Something happened to me, it was bad,” Ikki remembers that part. “I wasn’t hurt… I think. But, I was in agony.” Based on how his body still feels heavy and his heart feels tightened, that is safe to say. “Probably, I accidentally… touch or step on something before it happened.”

“So, it wasn’t because of an attack from someone?” Fuwa asks through the video call. Ikki can’t really see the background behind him in the video, but it seems he is busy traveling by foot somewhere.

“I think, it was a trap,” Touma speaks up with a serious face. “The explosion was clearly a set-up, so probably whatever infected us, was set there as a trap too. Is there no remain of it?”

“The explosion and the fire destroyed almost everything, we found nothing on the remains,” Daiji answers through the video call too. He is also wearing a hazmat with the hoodie part being lowered. It seems the little brother is inside some kind of laboratory, probably Blue Bird’s. “No one from the inspection team showed any symptoms or anything, so I think there is really nothing here.”

“The rescue team that rescued Touma and others, got better after a day. Every test comes out negative so we haven’t been able to conclude the cause of the effect, the same as the three of them,” Kento passes the report.

“The medical team that handled the infected patients, only two of them showed the same symptom of vomiting and headache. So, it is safe to assume that the protective gear is effective,” Sakura reads the report too. “Ikki-nii’s and everyone’s test also came out as clean, we found nothing.”

Izu nods as she also reports her findings. “The malfunctioned healthcare humagears are also working perfectly once they were moved to the service station. They couldn’t find the source of the malfunction and part of the humagears memory data during the malfunction got erased.”

Ikki blinks as he observes everything. He wonders who commands everyone and splits the duty evenly to the right people since the three of them have been unconscious. But Ikki puts that aside, of course, there are a lot of people here who can take the commando when they need to. There are a ton of dependable people here.

“The investigator team here… I still do not agree with the lame name—anyway,” Fuwa speaks again as he shakes his head in disagreement. “We are still trying to recreate the explosion that was used to blow up Hiden-sachou’s previous home. We suspected that parts of the machine for making humagear are used, but we are still tracking the explosion substance that was used.”

“And for everything else, what happened for the past three days, the number of unconscious victims keeps rising with the area affected spread wider. We haven’t been able to locate the source of unknown stamps and how they were used,” Karizaki shrugs as he gives other news. “Either the user used it willingly after being misled or it being forced upon them. There are no CCTV videos we could find about it, which means the victims perfectly know the blind spots of the city where there are no CCTV.”

“Doesn’t it mean we still haven’t gotten anywhere like this?” Rintaro sounds frustrated through the video call.

“I think, it means something,” Karizaki speaks up again. “I think our culprit is… madly skillful at technology. From using the old facility to make something, then making an explosive out of it, and also making sure whatever they are doing is untraceable in CCTV in this digital era… I think whoever our enemy is, they are or they work with, humagear, don’t you think, Sachou?”

The way Karizaki calls Aruto as sachou seems quite sarcastic. “I know that you are still hiding something from us,” Karizaki gets close to the window while grinning. “And of course, your secretary won’t say anything. I guess it is Hiden’s tendency to hide the truth from everyone else.”

“Karizaki-san,” Ikki warns him. “You went too far.”

“Ikki,” Kento calls him out. “You, Touma and Aruto as well, all of you are almost dead. We can’t work together if some of us are still hiding something from the rest of the team, and I said that based on my experience.”

There is a deafening silence between all of them, while all this time, Aruto has been refusing to speak.

Aruto is even refusing to look at any of them, just looking down at his lap. It seems he is preoccupied with his own thoughts.

“The truth is…”

A woman with long hair that Ikki doesn’t recognize speaks up.

“Yaiba,” Fuwa calls her as if asking her to stop.

Yaiba sighs and seems determined about her choice. “Fuwa mentioned that we suspect that the culprit’s purpose is to make another Ark, we know who would want to do something like that…” She pauses for a second. “There is a high possibility that it is Azu’s doing.”

“Who is that?” Daiji asks through video call.

From her camera, Yaiba looks uneasy, but her expression is steeled enough like a professional officer. “She is a humagear made by Ark, or in her words, she is Ark’s secretary. She is… the splitting image of Izu, just with long hair.”

Many pairs of eyes were directed at Izu at that moment. The secretary of Hiden CEO has a blank face, undeterred.

“She is a crazy humagear that is totally obsessed with Ark. Because of that we think that she might be the true culprit of this whole incident, for the purpose of reviving Ark,” finally Fuwa joins the explanation with an annoyed expression.

“Then why we are only being told, now ?” Sakura asks back with a glare directed to Fuwa.

“Because we don’t have any clue that it is her doing, alright!?” Fuwa spats back angrily. “It is all just circumstantial evidence, for anything we know, maybe there is another crazy being trying to revive Ark for another purpose!”

“Or maybe you just don’t want to open the fact that your group is still letting an enemy roam free for the whole three years?” Kento asks back with a frown.

“YOU-!” Fuwa’s camera shakes a lot and for a second, Ikki wonders what the temperamental man is doing.

“Fuwa!” Yaiba warns him through her video. She clicks her tongue for a second before she faces the camera again. “There is a high chance that the culprit is Azu, but even if it is her, we still don’t know anything about the purpose of everything yet. If she only wants to revive Ark to destroy the world, she wouldn’t need to do all of these.”

There is another silence as they hit another dead end.

The silence is broken by Karizaki finally moves from his seat and leans to the window.

“Hiden-sachou, don’t you need to add something else?” Karizaki asks rather menacingly. “I think the fact that you people hide the fact about Azu has something to do with you. This whole story about Ark, about her, about you, don’t you think you should tell us everything so that we can uncover more truth about all of the incidents?”

Ikki notices that Aruto is visibly shaking in his place. Touma moves closer to Aruto while Ikki glares at Karizaki. “Karizaki-san-“

“Kamen Rider ZERO-ONE!” Karizaki shouts at the top of his lungs before Ikki can give another warning to him. The mad scientist looks at Aruto with a menacing, intrigued but also cold expression.

“You… used Ark’s power before, am I right?” then Karizaki grins a bit wickedly. “No, let me revise that.” Karizaki pauses dramatically for a few seconds before he continues his words.

“You were Ark.”

Ikki snaps his head in shock and turns at Aruto slowly.

Ikki never sees Aruto that pale, and Ikki has seen Aruto in a lot of bad situations. But, the way Aruto’s shocked face looks so pale with shaking eyes answers everything.

“Aruto…?” Touma calls softly with a worried expression.

Aruto closes his eyes for a second and opens them again.

“Yes.”

Ikki never heard an answer that short and yet that one word broke his world like scattered puzzles. That one word makes Ikki lose his footing and lose what he should believe.

And he wonders… whether his face mirrors the broken expression Touma shows now.

The secret that Aruto has been hiding… never in Ikki’s mind he would ever guess it would be this…

Bitter and… painful.

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

Humans and their nature to hide things away from the people around them. The only living beings that have the ability to lie a humans. Sometimes, it is easier to lie than to be truthful. Sometimes, it is less painful to get lied to, rather than to be told the truth. That is why there is a saying, “What they don’t know won’t hurt them”. Because the truth isn’t always the best thing to say.

Or at least, that is the excuse that Aruto thinks in his head.

He has dreaded this moment ever since he met Touma and Ikki for the first time. He feared that they would know a few things about the bad rumors that circled on the internet about him.

About him as a Kamen Rider.

About that wretched time, he used Ark power.

But turned out that, both of them didn’t know anything. They didn’t use the internet that much and chose to stay oblivious.

And chose to trust Aruto.

Only for their trust to be betrayed by Aruto himself.

The young CEO doesn’t want to see Touma and Ikki’s expressions is, he refuses to see them. He looks downward, to his own lap, while he can feel how all the eyes are directed at him.

“Aruto… can you please… tell me how… that happened?”

Touma is speaking at him, or more like, pleading at him. There is a clear confusion in his voice.

And pain.

Aruto clenches the blanket on his lap, hoping that he can escape this situation. But, he knows that this truth will come out sooner or later. However, Aruto regrets that the truth has to come out this way.

“I used Ark power once… to get revenge… and in the process… I almost… destroyed the whole relationship between humanity and humagear…” Aruto wants to laugh bitterly at himself. It is the first time he talks about this moment after being silent about it for so long. He has dodged talk about this past as hard as he can, his most shameful past. It was a taboo topic for him and the people around him.

If he thinks about it again, he wonders if anyone can understand how he feels. While Horobi has the closest state to understand him, he is in a different position. Because Aruto is a human, he is the CEO of the company that invented humagear. He has poured so much effort for a year into realizing his dream where humans and humagears can laugh and smile together.

But, it was also himself that almost destroyed every effort he had poured, every trust he had gathered, everything he had built.

Simply because he lost Izu.

Only because one humagear and Aruto lost his reasons.

His dream.

It stopped mattered to him.

It was ridiculous if he thinks about it again. But… he was in so much pain back then. It wasn’t completely because of Azu’s sweet poisonous lies either. Aruto chose to use Ark's power by himself.

“You didn’t though, you stopped yourself from falling deeper and even pulled Horobi out together with you.”

For the first time, Aruto hears what Fuwa thinks about that matter.

“You almost destroyed everything, but you didn’t,” Fuwa adds more.

Aruto bites his lip, remembering how Fuwa has desperately tried to stop him. But, he was in so much pain, that he couldn’t think straight. He was in so much grief, and Azu’s poison clutched to him like a parasite. So, instead of listening to Fuwa’s cry, he beat Fuwa to pieces.

Aruto is trembling, feeling shameful and guilty over what he has done during those dark times. He didn’t even deserve Fuwa’s backup like this, he-

“But, he ‘almost’ destroyed everything,” Karizaki’s cold words filled Aruto with so much dread. “I mean, I also make use of demon’s power to make a technology to transform into Kamen Rider but it is different. Based on the data that I gathered during when our dear CEO used Ark power, it was really chaotic. Humagears were almost turned up completely against humans and a bloodbath almost happened. It wasn’t like there was this final boss that was about to destroy the world, but Kamen Rider Zero-One was the final boss at that time.”

“That was going too far, that isn’t true-“ Aruto hears Ikki protesting.

“Igarashi Ikki, please, you don’t know anything,” Karizaki interjects him.

“Why are we talking about this again!?”

Aruto flinches when Touma shouts so loud and everyone shuts their mouth. “Why is this even helping with our problem now!? You tell me!”

“Touma, I think you are biased because you are friends with Aruto. We are talking about the possibility that all of this mess originated because someone or something plans to revive this horrendous being named Ark and then use the power of the Book of Evil to destroy humanity!” Kento shouts back to Touma. “Of course, we need to know if someone here ever used Ark power! Who knows if they will use Ark power again and turn evil!”

“It is all just a possibility! We don’t even have any proof yet!” Touma retorts back with anger.

“It is the most sensible theory that we can conclude using every circumstantial evidence that we have, we can’t think that it isn’t true just because we don’t have concrete proof yet,” Daiji points it out. “Not to mention, we don’t have any other lead that says otherwise either.”

“So, are you saying that Aruto can turn into evil again!? So, what are you planning to do? Prisoning him!?” Touma keeps shouting back.

“Touma-san, you need to calm down-“ Ikki is trying to de-escalate the situation but Touma is having none of it.

“How can I calm down in this situation!? Has Aruto done anything!? You all are ganging up on him for something that he has done in the past and he has tried to improve the situation-“

“It is the fact that he is hiding this from us,” Rintaro cuts into Touma’s words. “We don’t know what things he could be hiding more from us. We can’t work together with someone untrustworthy like that.”

Aruto’s body freezes as he hears that. His breath also hitches a bit. It is soft but based on how everyone becomes silent, Aruto knows that everyone notices that.

“Unbelievable, am I right!?” Rintaro sounds frustrated. “You have more things that you hide from us!?”

“Wow… just wow…” Karizaki applauds in sarcasm.

“Aruto-san…” Ikki sounds so disappointed and in disbelief.

Aruto covers his face with both of his hands.

He has messed up everything again.

Again.

Why did he never learn anything!? Just why—

“I dreamed about Azu,” Aruto shouts back, feeling anger rising in his chest. Anger for his own stupidity and the whole mess he has created. “In that dream Azu wanted to recreate me, saying that I’m the closest Ark that she envisioned, what the hell that means, I don’t know… I thought that was only my insanity speaking to me so I never told anyone about it!” Aruto retorts back with so much frustration. “Do you believe in what I dreamed about!? Because I can’t believe in myself either!”

There is a deafening silence that Aruto only notices. It has been a long time since he gets worked up like this and he did it in front of everyone.

He is done, completely done.

“It is fine if you can’t believe in me or you think that I’m untrustworthy, I will work by myself.” Aruto rips out the IV line and many cables attached to his body. He has had enough of all of this. He is tired, he is done.

But the young CEO pauses a little bit. He knows that there are two people watching him from the video call. “But, Fuwa-san and Yaiba-san are alright, they were never involved in my affair. You would need AIMS help if humagears were involved with this chaos.”

Especially because if Aruto is going to pull out from this makeshift team, then it means he will need to pull out the resources from Hiden Intelligence that he has provided as well. But, Fuwa and Yaiba are unrelated to Hiden Intelligence, so they can still provide their resource if needed. And more, Aruto doesn’t want Fuwa and Yaiba to be estranged from this operation just because they know Aruto longer than anyone here.

“Aruto…”

“Aruto-san…”

Aruto can’t face Touma and Ikki’s face. He has his back facing them.

He has betrayed their trust in the worst way possible. He never intended to make them choose between him and their group. He never intended to make them fight against their own friends or family.

“Thank you for standing up for me, I appreciate it,” Aruto turns at them a little but his glassy eyes make him unable to see their expression properly. And that’s better for him.

He is about to come out from the isolation room, but Izu is standing in front of the door. She has this sad expression on her face and Aruto frowns harder.

“Izu, please,” Aruto pleads to her.

He is desperate, he needs to run away from this situation, these people, as quickly as possible.

Izu closes her eyes and steps aside, so Aruto can escape from this hellish situation.

“You can go to another isolation room at the end of the corridor, Aruto-sachou, I will inform the hospital staff in a bit,” Izu informs him with her professional secretary voice.

“Thank you,” Aruto whispers back, he is at the edge of breaking down and barely holding down. He walks down through the corridor in a hurry and gets inside the other isolation room, away from other prying eyes.

The young CEO slides down to the floor with his back on the closed door. Then he curls up, hugging his knees and he starts to cry softly.

Aruto can never be proud of what he has done when he used Ark power. That time when he fell into the darkness for revenge, that time when he betrayed not only the people’s trust but also the humagears’ trust.

But, again, even if Aruto regretted it, he knows that he couldn’t help it, back then.

Even if no one could understand the reason why he did that, no matter how ridiculous it was to lose all of his reasoning just because one humagear got exploded in front of him, Aruto couldn’t help it.

He was so unbearably lonely for years.

For years.

And Izu was… even though she was a humagear, but she was the only one who stayed by his side, longer than anyone ever did after his humagear father’s death.

No matter how Aruto has tried to stop himself from depending too much on his humagear secretary, he failed. Izu became someone important to him, humagear or humans doesn’t matter.

So, when she exploded, Aruto felt like his world was falling apart.

He was barely able to pull himself out of his misery with the help of There.

But that ordeal did make Aruto aware of something about himself.

Just how fragile he is, just how easy he is to lose his mind. Just how desperate he is for love, and just how easily he got exploited by darkness.

Aruto still doesn’t understand the reason why his late grandfather passed the Zero-One driver to him. Just why someone like him has to inherit the whole Hiden Intelligence including all of the shady things.

Just why does someone weak like him have to be a Kamen Rider?

He always does his best, he always tries to. But, it is never enough. It is far from enough.

In the end, he knows that he is a failure. And he is doomed to be alone.

Just like how he always is.

0o0o0o0

“For your information, though I don’t know whether it matters or not.”

Touma raises his head and he looks at Izu. Her face is unbearably cold. It looks as if she is a doll that is devoid of any emotions and her eyes are cold and soulless. It is disturbing to see.

“I’m not a human, I won’t understand human’s grief and pain. But, what I know is, that humans are foolish and they make mistakes. No one is perfect, not even humagears. Not even everyone here.”

Izu stops and closes her eyes then she opens her cold eyes again.

“And what I know is I hate you all for making Aruto-sachou sad. Please excuse me.” She bows politely, as if she just didn’t declare that she hates everyone else then she excuses herself.

Touma snaps himself out of his trance. It is really shocking to hear that Izu hates everyone here, including him. Because he doesn’t know that humagear is capable of hating someone.

“Fuwa!”

Touma sees that Fuwa has disconnected his call and Yaiba is groaning in front of her camera. “Please excuse me, if you need help, you can contact AIMS,” finally she says before she disconnects the call as well.

“Zero-One’s group is really all over the place, huh,” Karizaki mutters with a disinterested face as if all of this mess wasn’t started because of him.

Touma hits the glass window near where Karizaki is standing.

“Are you done playing your game?” Touma glares at him with anger. In a way, Touma admits that Karizaki is such a wicked genius. The way he outed Aruto forcefully, manipulating everyone to gang up against him, Karizaki has done all of that on purpose.

“Why are you mad at me?” Karizaki asks back with a confused face and Touma has the urge to hit that face.

“Honestly, I still think it is better to work with people that we can trust, Touma-san,” Daiji says through the video call.

Touma grits his teeth in frustration. “Even though what you said is the truth, I still have a problem with how you opened Aruto’s secret in front of everyone and ganged up on him like that.” The young novelist looks at the eccentric scientist with angry eyes. “And on the contrary, Aruto could give us a better input about how to deal with this Ark being, if only he could trust us more. But, you ruined all of that. You made him look untrustworthy with your manipulation, and I despise that.”

Karizaki doesn’t look guilty at all, he looks at Touma with a disinterested look. “And so?”

Touma closes his eyes.

He remembers how Aruto was so reluctant to bring him and Ikki to his childhood house. How he was uncomfortable and scared there. But still, he did what he should do and even protected Ikki and Touma when they were unable to protect themselves.

He remembers when his friends all ganged up on him because of a misunderstanding. How suddenly he felt so lonely and how hard it was to fight alone. How hurt he was because his friends chose not to believe his words and refused to hear what he had to say. It only lasted for a few months, but it is still painful for Touma if he remembers that.

How often this kind of situation have happened to Aruto? Touma wonders about that.

And yet, they call themselves Kamen Rider which should have been protecting people they have to protect, but for a moment they become nothing more than a group of bullies.

“I’m tired, I need a break,” Touma concludes. “I think I will have trouble cooperating with all of you for now, so it is better for me to take a break from this operation.” He will become too emotional and biased, indeed. He will have trouble thinking properly in his condition.

And more, he can see that for the last three days, this makeshift group has had no trouble operating without him. Just because Luna chose him to be the guardian of Wonder World, that doesn’t mean he needs to lead everything.

“Are you sulking?” Rintaro asks in disbelief.

“I need a moment to cool down,” Touma looks aside and takes a seat on his bed. And chooses to ignore the eyes around him.

“Touma-san…”

Ikki sounds distressed.

And Touma’s face softens. “Ikki, you are free to choose what you want to do.”

Maybe it is Touma’s fatherly side roaring, but he has a strong urge to get on Aruto’s side because no one else does. If no one else does it, then he will. He knows that Aruto is a good person regardless of what he has done in the past.

Touma still chooses to believe him. But, he can understand if Ikki has a hard time believing in Aruto.

And that’s okay, he is fine if it is Ikki. He has a hard time understanding everyone else here, but if it is Ikki, he is fine. With his blotched memories as Kamen Rider, how he has lost something important that he can’t remember, Ikki has a harder time grasping the whole situation involving Kamen Rider and their enemies.

“I… I…”

Touma closes his eyes. He is thinking about what he should do after this. What should he choose? He needs to find a way to get to Aruto. There is no way they can handle this whole mess without Aruto and his group, and the other people here are too idiotic to realize that-

“I think I need a break too, my head hurts.”

Touma blinks and opens his eyes to look at Ikki.

It is true that Ikki looks pale…

No, he looks a bit green.

“Nii-chan…” Daiji sounds concerned.

“Sorry, Daiji, and Sakura, I will join you two later when I get better. But, I seriously… don’t feel good now.” Ikki confesses reluctantly.

“If Ikki-nii says something like that…” Sakura sounds worried.

“You must be quite in pain… I understand, please rest well, Nii-chan,” Daiji nods in understanding.

Touma looks at Ikki with concerned eyes. He vainly remembers how Ikki was the one who fell first in Aruto’s former house. There is a chance that Ikki has more severe symptoms than Touma and Aruto.

“So, what are we going to do after this?” Rintaro asks the important question.

“We should gather all the information we can about Azu and Ark. That is the first step for now,” Daiji answers him.

“Everyone, there is an emergency!” Suddenly Ogami comes running into the room with a panicked face.

“What happened?” Rintaro asks back with an alarmed face.

“People are falling unconscious in the street in the middle of the city. I think there are enemies there-“ Ogami’s words are being cut by Rintaro and Daiji.

“So, they chose to appear in broad daylight now? That isn’t good, we need to gather our allies to fight the enemies,” Rintaro commands quickly.

“We need to rescue the victims as well, we should split into two groups for efficiency,” Daiji gives him his opinion.

Touma looks at them and sees how they come up with the counterattack plan to handle this sudden emergency. He thinks he can let them handle everything in the moment.

For now, he needs to do what only he can do.

And that is to take care of both Ikki and Aruto.

“Ikki, you better rest, you really look pale,” Touma suggests to his junior gently because Ikki has a guilty look now that he watches the problem unfold in front of him.

“Yeah… I think so too…” Ikki obediently follows his words, even if his face still looks uneasy. From the way he is holding onto his chest, Touma wonders if Ikki really is in pain.

“How are you feeling? Do you feel unwell? Should I ask a doctor to come here?” Touma approaches him with a concerned expression, he tunes out everything that happens outside the windows of the isolation room.

“No… just… ever since I’m awake… I think something feels missing from my body…” Ikki trails off with hesitation. “I mean, I always feel that way, because I lost Vice, I guess. But, it feels bad today… and progressively worse earlier…” Ikki holds his head. “I think I vaguely remember things in the past… I dislike how people argue in front of me. We are splitting apart… I dislike it…”

Touma blinks and processes his junior’s words. Because, if he thinks about it again, his fatherly instinct kicks so hard ever since he woke up too. He becomes overly protective of Aruto and Ikki and even comes as far as picking their side rather than his own friends. This is the first time that Touma ever does that in audacity.

He wonders if whatever has infected them has that kind of side effect. But, why it differs from Ikki and Touma?

Then what about Aruto himself?

“We will go, for now, both of you can stay back,” Kento suggests to Touma. The young novelist agrees without a fuss. He notices that it does feel weird that he wants to stay with Ikki (and possibly Aruto) more than he wants to protect the innocent people.

Well, his friends are there to protect the world. But, who will protect Ikki and Aruto beside him?

Touma watches how his friends and allies dispatch themselves to fight their unknown enemies. He feels a bit worried for their safety, but his worry for two of his friends is bigger. Touma looks at Ikki who seems focused on regulating his breath.

And he wonders about Aruto.

“Is Aruto-san… alright?”

Touma turns at Ikki, who doesn’t look too good himself. Maybe because there is no one else but the two of them now, Ikki lets his guard down and Touma can see just how bad his condition is.

“Worry about yourself first, let me handle Aruto,” Touma answers with a reassuring smile. “You need to get better, so take a rest will you? So that you can join your siblings soon.” Touma knows that is what haunts Ikki’s mind too. His lingering look at his siblings earlier is the proof.

“Yes… I will… thank you.” Ikki lies down on his bed and curls up. Touma pulls the blanket for him and pats his head once.

He turns at the exit door of his isolation room.

He knows that he should give Aruto space to calm down, but honestly, something inside him is telling him that they are running out of time. Touma knows that he can’t defeat the enemy without Aruto’s help—

Actually, Touma just wants Aruto to be okay regardless.

So, the young novelist exits the room with a determined face.

He needs to reach his hand to Aruto, to get him and not let him be alone again.

0o0o0o0

Everything is such… a pain.

Fuwa is running with all of his might. He has heard how there is a commotion- no, a fight going on in the city. Yaiba informed him with a clear bitterness in her voice and let him choose what he should do.

Fuwa has been learning how to make choices for himself. After years of being manipulated by that sickening guy, Fuwa is learning how to be free and decide what he wants to do. That is why he chose to quit AIMS, despite he knows how useful he is there. He wants to be free from invisible shackles and stop being weighed down by anything else.

But he knows that there is no way for him to be completely free. He knows that relationships with others are shackles in a way too.

Yaiba, Naki then Aruto…

Fuwa might have no memories of his family, but he has his memories of his… battle comrades. And they are all a mess right now. Well, they always are.

Yaiba is a captain of AIMS, Naki is split with AIMS and Metsubojinrai.NET, and Aruto with his own problems. They can work together if they need to, to some extent, but no, they don’t have a system to work together.

But, what Fuwa thinks is important is…

He knows that he has to do something that only he can do.

He groans at the bridge, overlooking the street below, where people are lying unconsciously.

Not to mention, there is a looming darkness coming off from one of the skyscraper buildings-

Damn it, that one is ZAIA's new HQ, Fuwa recognizes it right away.

Is ZAIA connected to this mess too? No wonder, that abominable man who is obsessed with a robot puppy has been silent all this time.

“Fuwa!”

The former captain of AIMS recognizes that voice right away. Yaiba jumps from the AIMS vehicle, with full body armor, ready to fight. Her subordinates follow her right away from behind, scatterers in an orderly manner.

“Do you want to suit up?” Yaiba offers him.

Fuwa snorts. “No need.” He has his Kamen Rider system, he doesn’t need any more protection than that.

Yaiba ignores his crude remark, obviously, she is used to his antics. “So, you want to join them?” Yaiba asks, gesturing at the colorful people who are trying to evacuate the unconscious victim on the street.

“I don’t think they know what they are doing,” Fuwa answers in honesty. From the recent accident that involved the young CEO of Hiden Intelligence, there is a high chance that these victims are-

“REIKA-“

Fuwa sighs and looks at the people who are about to help the victims are start to fall down to the ground.

“Do you think we can ask for firefighters humagears for help?” Yaiba asks back in worry. After all, Aruto has pulled out from this operation.

“Of course, we can, it doesn’t like that Sachou has ordered all of the humagears to stop helping people. That’s not something he will ever do,” Fuwa says out loud, more for himself than to reassure Yaiba. “Tell them to wear full gear body protection, it is still contaminating. I think for a certain extent, humagears have bigger endurance than normal people, but they will still get affected eventually.”

“Alright,” Yaiba is already pulling out her phone. “Then, what will you-“

Fuwa doesn’t linger around any longer, so he doesn’t hear what Yaiba is going to say. He is already running, while pulling out his shotriser and his belt.

“Henshin!”

Fuwa transforms while he is running. He is taking another route to get to ZAIA HQ.

After all, this is something that he can do.

He won’t let this town get destroyed while he is still searching for his own identity. There is no chance of that!

[FUWA- We should form a plan first!]

Fuwa groans when he can hear Yaiba from the intercom. He doesn’t know when that woman instal it in his suit, probably with Naki's help, but it is a bit annoying.

“Don’t worry, I’m just going to take a look at the source of that ominous dark cloud,” Fuwa answers back. His vision is focused on the ZAIA HQ, there is a dark cloud gathered above the skyscraper. Even with his armor suits, Fuwa can feel the ominous dark feeling start to creep inside his body.

[But, we don’t know what the enemy capable of- Naki is-]

“Naki isn’t dead yet, they are humagear. They will back,” Fuwa answers calmly. That humagear that has been living like a parasite inside his head, Naki won’t die that easily. Not that the humagears from metsuboujinrai.NET will let them die that easily either.

[Idiot… What I mean is—you are only a human… don’t die.]

Fuwa wants to laugh at Yaiba’s worried tone. In fact, he snorts and he can hear Yaiba's annoyed sigh from the intercom.

“I won’t die that easily, you know that,” Fuwa replies back. Then he switches back to his professional voice. “You stay there with the rescue team, I don’t know the number of the enemies but there is a chance that there will be more. There should be a purpose of why they attack a mass of people this time.”

He isn’t the same person who has a short temperamental personality like he was a few years ago. He is still fiery, of course, but he knows when he has to use a cool head.

Especially because the other people from that damned group charged without any real plan. Fuwa hates to work with people he isn’t familiar with yet, and those idiots just proved why he hates people like that.

They suck at investigating, they suck at working systematically, they suck at everything.

F*ck them.

[I will synchronize your vision to mine. I will gather as much as data you can get, but don’t be too reckless.]

Yaiba is a captain right now, but Fuwa remembers fondly just how well she worked as his partner.

“Roger, you don’t die too.”

[Idiot.]

Fuwa snorts then he stops to catch his breath for a second. Now he can see the ominous quiet entrance of ZAIA HQ. There are more victims here, probably they tried to escape but failed.

The air feels heavy for some reason… even though Fuwa is wearing a ZAIA lens that made an invisible mask and barrier around him, courtesy of that damned Gai from their last battle with Es. His vision becomes a bit… dark and cloudy as he gets closer.

But, as usual, Fuwa just keeps pressing on.

He can imagine normal human without the right equipment, will lose their consciousness easily in this kind of condition.

There is really something in the air. Something that Fuwa can’t see, but it is affecting him badly. If only he could gather the data from this… poisonous air so that Yaiba could analyze it… but this isn’t it. Something telling Fuwa, that this isn’t the source of all of this madness.

It isn’t the center of the storm yet.

So, he keeps moving, pressing further. He thinks he knows where he is going, he should choose the direction where he feels everything gets worse step by step. Every instinct in his body tells him to turn around and escape from this place, but Fuwa is used to ignoring that kind of survival instinct.

Then in his peripheral vision, he can see.

Something blue…

At first, Fuwa thought that it was his own reflection, only to notice that it was another Kamen Rider.

“I think you better back off.”

Based on his voice… If Fuwa doesn’t remember it wrong, he is Rintaro.

“You better think of yourself first.”

Because, through his Kamen Rider suit, based on his movement alone, Fuwa can tell that Rintaro’s condition is… bad.

That overly polite Kamen Rider obviously has a hard time to breath.

“You are alone, where are your friends?” Fuwa asks him, maintaining a distance from him. He isn’t familiar with him yet, and he remembers how this man is one of the people who cornered Aruto earlier.

And that makes Fuwa a bit iffy toward him.

“I told them to back off. There is something wrong with this place…” Rintaro answers with a heavy breath. “But Daiji-kun has gone straight ahead… something about if he used his… black form? He can endure this… condition better.”

Rintaro loses the power of his legs and crumbles to the floor. Luckily, his transformation is still intact. Fuwa approaches him reluctantly, even though he has beef with this man, he won’t leave someone who needs help.

“You should retreat back now,” Fuwa is pulling Rintaro to his feet with an annoyed voice. “You obviously can’t endure this.”

“And… you can…?” Rintaro asks back with heavy breathing.

“I have some equipment,” Fuwa admits, he thinks that the ZAIA lens is protecting him to some extent. “But, I also have endured worse than this. My pain tolerance is high.”

To be honest, this is nothing compared to that splitting headache that he had when the chip in his brain tortured him.

Well, not really nothing, this is painful in a different way… more like, painful in a mental way if he has to admit it, but again, Fuwa has endured a lot worse than this.

“Oh, I see… I see that I’m still lacking in my training…” Surprisingly, Rintaro admits his weakness quite easily. “But, I need to go on… Touma-kun is sitting back right now, I need to do what I can in his stead.”

Fuwa blinks in his suit, though Rintaro can’t see that subtle expression.

He tries to think about the dynamic of the other Kamen Rider groups, which he admits, are a bit organized than his own. That Touma… he remembers that people are saying that Touma has resigned as a Kamen Rider but he will still lend a hand if he needs to. But, based on how people look up to him… he is somewhat their leader if Fuwa observed them correctly.

But, earlier in their disagreement, Touma was clearly picking Aruto’s side compared to his friends. Which isn’t something that Fuwa can even do… yet.

“Are you guys splitting apart?” Fuwa pulls Rintaro straighter so that Kamen Rider can stand and walk properly on his own.

“Haha…” Rintaro sounds troubled, laughing in bitterness. “We have a disagreement, but that doesn’t mean that Touma-kun stops being my friend. He chose what he wanted to do so I chose what I wanted to do as well… We fought a lot in the past, this isn’t something new. That’s what I like about Touma-kun anyway.”

Fuwa feels a chill comes running down his back. “Gross.”

“What-“

Fuwa pushes Rintaro away from him, not too hard, but enough push so that he can walk away from the gross Kamen Rider.

“Hey! That’s rude, Fuwa-san!” Rintaro is calling behind him but Fuwa ignores him.

“Don’t call my name as if you are familiar with me!” Fuwa shouts back in annoyance. Something about Rintaro just makes him cringe so badly. And yet someone like him is also cornering Aruto without mercy.

What is he? A gullible man?

He must have been easily manipulated and deceived in the past, Fuwa bets on it.

“Geez… I thought we could be friends.”

He hears what Rintaro mumbles to himself.

“Mind you, I don’t do friends,” Fuwa shouts back but he stops walking so fast and checks on Rintaro behind him. The gross blue Kamen Rider is still following him from behind, even if he walks slowly as if he is dragging a heavy burden behind him.

“Then, you aren’t Hiden Aruto-san’s friend?” Rintaro asks him back.

“…why are we talking about this again—I’m leaving!” Fuwa walks again with anger. How dare this guy ask something personal like that so casually--

Screw that idiot.

“Fuwa-san, wait!”

“DON’T CALL MY NAME LIKE THAT!”

Fuwa can understand if Aruto distanced himself from these strange people. They are really gross. Fuwa dislikes people like this.

Utterly dislikes them very much.

0o0o0o0

“What is this…?”

“DAIJI-KUN-“

“I’m Kagerou, you bastard!”

Fuwa is ignoring how Rintaro is approaching another black Kamen Rider who is crouching on the ground not too far from him.

Finally, he has reached the center of the storm.

Fuwa doesn’t recognize what kind of room or floor is this before it turns like this.

But now he feels like he is stepping inside an utterly dark cave. He barely can see anything, only the enhanced vision from his Kamen Rider suit that helps him to see.

“Ara… welcome to the nest of darkness, everyone…”

That familiar sound but with the sickeningly sweet way of talking-

“Azu—”

Fuwa has a hard time to breath, no, he can’t even stand properly. His whole body is heavy and his mind is cloudy. His vision is hazy and his breathing is laboured. The heavy air is thicker here, far more thick with… something.

“The air… this whole place… is… dense with… darkness…” Daiji or... Kagerou talks between his labored breathing. Rintaro is supporting him—or maybe more correctly, they support each other.

“Darkness you… say?” Fuwa asks back.

“That’s right!”

All of the three of them turn at Azu.

She is in the middle of the vast room, leaning her body on a black box that has countless black webs attached to it.

“This is what it feels like to be inside the Ark, I remade it in the real world. Fabulous isn’t it?” She smiles wickedly.

Fuwa wants nothing more but to hit her smiling face. But let alone hitting her, it takes his whole energy to stand and stay conscious.

“What is your plan!? Why the hell do you do all of this!?” Fuwa screams at the top of his lungs, using most of his energy to scream back at this cursed humagear.

“My wish is simple and never changed, I just want my Ark-sama to revive back…” She leans on the black box with loving eyes.

Fuwa is struggling to see what exactly the black box is. He is zooming his vision inside the suit, the black box is a little bit transparent. He adjusts his enhanced vision with a struggle, trying to identify the object that Azu adored.

Then he recognizes the thing inside that black box.

“Aruto…?” Fuwa mumbles in confusion.

That face… that face is… he can’t be mistaken but there is no way…

Then the conclusion should be…

“You remade Hiden-sachou in a humagear!?” Fuwa asks in disbelief.

“Wonderful isn’t he?” Azu laughs sweetly. She is clearly having fun. “He isn’t a humagear though, he is far far far more than that…” She touches the box so lovingly that it makes Fuwa want to throw up in disgust.

“What is she… talking about?” Rintaro asks in confusion.

“Whatever in that box… isn’t a human…” Kagerou says heavily. “It isn’t living but… it is so… thick… with darkness…”

“Hm… as expected from a demon, your endurance is better than humagear and human, huh?” Azu asks playfully. “You could withstand the previous attack, wonderful.”

Fuwa looks back at the black Kamen Rider, especially the things around him.

Right, he can see… something like black liquid around him…

“Urgh…” Rintaro is already falling down to the ground, seemingly in pain. “Ugh… what is—this…?”

“It is bad… we have to… get out from here…” Kagerou hisses in a distressed voice. “Daiji won’t… be able to stand this—”

Fuwa looks at that black Kamen Rider and honestly, he doesn’t know what is going on with him.

A demon, Azu said…

He can withstand darkness better than humagear and humans, she said…

“No, no, no, you guys are going to be devoured here. After all, Kamen Riders’ despairs are… so tasty…” Azu gives a chef’s kiss. She moves her slim finger delicately and Fuwa can see how the darkness starts to mold around freely like living tentacles made of black liquids. “It is funny that you guys are walking freely inside the trap without my need to ever do something else. As expected from Kamen Riders.”

A trap, of course it is.

Fuwa looks at how the tentacle of black liquid warps around and then charges toward him- no, them.

If just breathing in this poisonous room is enough to render him powerless, what will happen if he gets attacked by that abominable thing directly—

A demon, she said…

With trembling hands, Fuwa reaches for his progisekeys, Vulcan Assault Wolf. After all this one, is made to be used by MetsubouJinrai.NET, which means, it was formerly linked directly to Ark.

Countering darkness, with darkness. Fuwa doesn’t know whether this will work, but it is his only chance now.

He transforms into it right away, welcoming the dark sensation that he always has every time he changes into this damned form. He notices that the air indeed feels a little bit easier to breathe on. Just a tiny bit, but Fuwa will take whatever chance he gets to escape from this situation.

He shoots the black liquid tentacle with his shotriser, using all of his power to make sure to destroy that cursed thing. Then, he runs toward Rintaro and that black Kamen Rider, grabbing both of them and then charging toward the wall.

He kicks down the wall so that they can escape.

“Don’t tell me-“

“You bastard—I can’t fly- OI DAIJI, WAKE UP!”

 Fuwa throws both of them to the outside, ignoring that they are so high from the ground.

“Ara, ara… you are running away with your tail between your legs huh, Wolfie?”

Fuwa jumps but then turns to face another black liquid tentacle that follows him.

F*ck it… he has used all of his energy to blast the previous one, he doesn’t have any more-

Then Fuwa sees it, someone is jumping down on the black tentacle before it hits him.

That purple form—

“Horobi-“

“I will take it with me,” he hears Horobi’s cold voice as that humagear kicks down the tentacle, and how the black liquid is exploded all over him.

“You bastard-“ Fuwa can’t do anything as he is falling, he can only see how Horobi’s suit is drenched in black and he falls down like a lifeless doll.

“Gorilla, you are really a handful,” that is what Fuwa hears before someone stops him from falling.

“Jin-“ Fuwa shouts back in surprise and then he turns back at the falling Horobi. “Horobi-“

“Otou- I have Horobi’s backup data, don’t worry.” Jin sounds as if he is trying so hard not to cry. His voice breaks in a weird way, but maybe that’s because Fuwa’s hearing is full of rushing air. “We can’t help him… or we will get infected too.”

Fuwa looks at how Horobi falls to the ground together with the black liquid. His body fell apart to pieces and was drenched with the falling black liquid that dyed everything with darkness.

Fuwa just grits his teeth behind his mask and he can feel how Jin’s hands that hold him are trembling.

“Damn it…” He curses in frustration.

He checks on how Rintaro and the other guy are doing. That black Kamen Rider somehow has changed into a white Kamen Rider with wings and they fly and he helps Rintaro to descend safely together.

So, they are safe-

“Oi, Gorilla-“

Fuwa blinks when he feels like he has lost all the power of his body and how his vision slowly turns black.

He slowly loses consciousness as he vainly remembers the splitting headache that shouldn’t be there and how Gai tormented him saying that everything he believed was fake.

Fake memories… fake everything…

F*ck it.

That is what Fuwa thinks before everything turns dark.

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

Since no humans can live alone, humans have formed relationships with other people of different classifications. Start from family, friends, acquaintances, strangers, neighbors, coworkers, and more on. A need to name different relationships based on certain criteria, that trait is indeed human. To make things overly complicated than it already is.

So, what is friends actually? How some people can agree that they are friends but some other people need to get closer step by step before they can be friends with someone? Humans are all different and each person has their own way of forming relationships with other people.

Contrary to what people believe, while Igarashi Ikki is quite friendly with other people, that doesn’t mean he can be friends with anyone that easily. Friends as friends… even if Ikki can call many people his friends,… he is also the type who can't open up to other people in an instant. His trait as the eldest of the Igarashi siblings, he has a hard time letting himself be vulnerable in front of other people. As the eldest, he has to be strong, reliable, independent, and more.

So, there aren’t a lot of people that know Ikki as… Ikki himself. Not as the older brother, not as a Kamen Rider, not as a failed soccer player, not as a classmate. Just Ikki as Ikki.

Ikki shakes his head as he leans to the wall to support him walking. Ever since he was awake today, the empty feeling he has inside himself feels like it is… wider. Ever since he knew about his missing memories of Vice, finally he could understand the reason why he felt something was empty within himself. The feeling never disappears, they stay and Ikki is learning to accept it as a part of him.

But, it feels aggravating today and it makes his head spin a little. And yet, he pushes himself to move forward.

Because he heard that Daiji had fallen from the recent attack of their enemies. Sakura called him, with a scared and panicked voice, to inform him about it. He calmed her and offered to look over Daiji instead of her because Daiji was brought into this isolation floor as well.

Ikki looks at how some healthcare staff pushes other patients- no, based on their full protective suits, there are other fallen healthcare staff as well, and the situation seems quite chaotic. Though, even if they wear full masks and protective suits, based on how they move and talk, Ikki can tell that these are all humagears.

Victims are pilling, then the ones who help the victims will fall too. Even if their conditions aren’t life-threatening, Ikki can tell it will take a toll on healthcare resources. It will turn into chaos if it spreads further.

But, first, he needs to see his little brother.

Ikki navigates his way through streams of busy humagear nurses and doctors, somehow managing to avoid their attention. Ikki guesses that humagear healthcare workers won’t come to him unless he needs them to. They won’t suddenly pass and strike conversation with him just because of curiosity, which makes things easy for him.

Is this how Aruto thinks about them? In a way, Ikki can understand that humagears are more predictable than humans.

Ikki shakes his head again and finally, he finds the isolation room where Daiji’s name is listed as one of the patients inside.

“Daiji-“

“YOU ARE REALLY PISSING ME OFF!”

“Get your dirty hands out of me this instant!”

“Guys, can we please talk about this civilly?”

Ikki blinks as he sees Daiji- no, Kagerou is being rounded up by Fuwa and Rintaro is trying to separate them.

“You bastard, if you know something, you need to tell me right now before I throw you out of the window again!” Fuwa spats while pulling Kagerou’s collar tighter.

“Why should I? And who are you to command me!? I won’t ever work together with such a loser like you-“ Kagerou taunts Fuwa back with an evil grin and Fuwa looks like he is about to explode.

“YOU-“

“Wait, Fuwa-san-“

“And you don’t get to call me so familiar like that!”

Ikki snaps into his trance, he is a bit shocked because… the view in front of him is a bit… alien to him. For a second, Ikki almost thought that the three of them somehow looked weirdly close, which was absurd thinking because Fuwa and Kagerou were one second away from brawling with each other.

This is kind of weird because while Kagerou can be sarcastic and annoying, he isn’t that violent to people he deems strangers-

Anyway, Ikki knows he has to step in.

“Kagerou, stop!”

“Oh, Onii-sama,” Kagerou notices him and shifts his attention to him. “He started it first,” Kagerou motioned to Fuwa and laughed with a sneer.

“Kagerou,” Ikki warns him again. While the older brother’s memory about the origin of Kagerou is spotty, Ikki has long concluded that Kagerou is still his little brother too. He is Daiji’s demon, a part of his little brother.

“Ugh, not fun,” Kagerou pouts and pushes Fuwa off him before he changes back into Daiji.

Ikki approaches the bewildered Daiji and he can see how Daiji loses his power instantly. Ikki catches his little brother before he falls to the floor. “Got you--- are you okay?”

“Uh… uhm… yeah, just feels… drained out,” Daiji nods weakly and leans his weight on his older brother’s shoulder.

“I can’t still get used to that… but please… don’t fight,” Rintaro lets himself sit on the floor, seemingly out of breath too. His face is a bit green and by the way his hand covering his mouth, Ikki can tell the swordman is nauseous too.

Only Fuwa who still looks upset glares openly at Daiji who still standing tall, though Ikki can see that he is also sweating and looking pale.

“If my little brother has done something that offended you, I’m sorry…,” Ikki needs to de-escalate the situation first, though he feels bad for doing this without listening to Daiji’s part of the story first. But, really, in this impending chaos, Ikki knows that there are things more urgent to talk about. “But… what did happen? Are you guys okay?”

There is an awkward silence before Ikki can hear Fuwa clicks his tongue in annoyance.

“That’s the problem… I can’t remember what happened,” Fuwa answers with an angry face as he leans back to a bed.

Rintaro who is sitting on the floor also nods weakly. “Me too… it is frustrating… I can only remember that I was entering a tall building that was surrounded by dark clouds, but then… the rest is blank.”

“But that guy, the other one, remembers,” Fuwa approaches Daiji and points at him rather rudely. “He refused to tell me anything though, that bastard-“ Ikki can tell that Fuwa wants to rough up his little brother again so the older brother shield Daiji from the fiery man’s hands.

“Wait, wait, so Kagerou remembered?” Ikki turns at Daiji while putting himself between him and Fuwa. Because, Ikki can relate to the frustration feeling of having no memories about what happened to them, but his little brother’s demon remembers?

Daiji nods. “Yes, he remembered… but he also refused to tell me anything… saying something along that even if we know what happened, we won’t be able to do anything about it…” The little brother looks at the floor and Ikki can see his frustration. “I think it is his way to protect us because he thinks we don’t have a chance against our enemy but-“

“I don’t care about that nonsense! Do you think I need his protection!?” Fuwa spats but Daiji refuses to look at his eyes. Fuwa is practically growling, and then he turns at Ikki and glares at him.

“I need your cooperation, you can make that other guy tell the truth, right?” Fuwa grabs Ikki’s shoulder and squeezes it rather strongly. Ikki grimaces in pain a little bit. “Do it,” Fuwa commands with a very scary expression.

“I understand, but I think you need to calm down a little-“

“We. Are. Running. Out. Of. Time. Here.” Fuwa glares at him so hard that if look can kill, Ikki must have lost his life.

“Ikki-kun.”

Ikki turns at Rintaro who is using a bed to support him standing. “Fuwa-san’s colleague, Yaiba-san, has briefed us on what happened from the call earlier. Our main suspect as the enemy, Azu, is proven to be right based on the video footage that Yaiba-san gathered from Fuwa-san’s suit. But, other than that we don’t know anything more, the video is… how do you call it, Fuwa-san?”

Fuwa glances at Rintaro with a sour face. “The video is corrupted, Yaiba only managed to salvage parts of it. Our enemy is indeed that damned Azu, but other than that, we don’t know anything more. All of the CCTV near the new ZAIA HQ are broken, and even the view from the satellite is blocked by the dark cloud. The others have set perimeters around the building, but we can’t even save the victims inside of the perimeter yet.” Fuwa grits his teeth then he points his finger at Daiji.

Sakura has briefed about that shortly to Ikki through a phone too, though maybe between her sobs and tears, Ikki couldn’t really focus to hear that part.

“As far as we know, nothing else happened yet but… Azu is going to do something and we are running out of time,” Fuwa hits the wall in frustration.

“The other guy remembered though, somehow he remembered—but he refused to tell us anything. We don’t have any other data. Yaiba said that even Jin, the humagear who saved me which I can’t even remember how, got malfunctioned, and his data was erased too. I hate to say this, but only that damned guy held the key!” Fuwa adds more as he looks like he wants nothing more but to hit Kagerou into submission.

Ikki can feel his head throbbing with all of the sudden information he got. He looks at Daiji with a bit of pity. Based on how Daiji and Kagerou interacted this far, even Ikki with his blotched memory, can tell that their relationship is complicated. They care for each other, Ikki only knows that much.

“Daiji… come with me for a minute,” Ikki coaxes his little brother.

“Do you think I will let you leave!?” Fuwa already stops him before Ikki can pull his little brother into a quieter space.

Ikki wants to ask for Fuwa to believe him but he notices that Fuwa barely knows him so he has no reason to believe him. Rintaro looks sorry, but it seems he agrees with Fuwa as well. Ikki sighs and nods. It is hard to do anything when people have eyes on him.

“Come here,” Ikki drags Daiji to a corner of the room, trying to get as far from Fuwa’s piercing glares as possible.

“Nii-chan, I tried to talk to Kagerou but he doesn’t budge… it is hard when he is being stubborn, you know that. I even needed to kill him once because he is that stubborn, even if you don’t remember that,” Daiji massages his head in frustration and Ikki pities him a little bit.

“Then let me talk to him,” Ikki coaxes.

“He refuses to come out again.” Daiji sighs.

“It is okay, I know that he is listening.” Ikki smiles at his little brother. He puts his hands on Daiji’s shoulders and grips them gently but sternly. In a way, he always feels envious that Daiji still has his demon, just like Sakura. No matter how troublesome Kagerou is, Ikki knows that they care for each other. Kagerou does care for the Igarashi family too.

“Kagerou, I know you are listening,” Ikki starts to talk. “I know you are afraid of this situation.”

Daiji’s body becomes stiff for a moment and Ikki massages his shoulders to relax. “I know you are avoiding telling us about what you know because you are afraid. You are afraid that Daiji will get hurt, or our family will get hurt, aren’t you? It is rare for you to act like this, so I believe that our enemy must be unbelievably strong and terrifying.”

Ikki tries to control his voice to not overly gently but stern enough. “But, you know that we can’t run away from all of this. Instead, you can help if you share whatever information you have-“

“You don’t even have Vice anymore, how will you fight them, huh, Onii-sama?”

Ikki pauses and he can see how Kagerou has come out and he is glaring at him. But, within his eyes, Ikki can see his fear and worry. “You don’t even know what our enemy is capable of and yet you…” Kagerou sighs and stops.

“Kagerou…” Ikki pleads. “I know that I can’t fight like before, but that doesn’t mean I will just stand by and do nothing-“

“I will explain what I know only if you promise me that you will stay out of this fight.”

Ikki blinks in shock, he looks at Kagerou’s serious look.

“Kagerou, you know I can’t-“

“Then, no.”

Kagerou turns around and shows his back to Ikki.

Ikki is staring at Kagerou’s back with a dumbfounded expression. “I thought you hate me.”

“I used to hate you,” Kagerou corrects him with a frown. “But, not now, you are still annoyingly perfect Onii-sama and you sometimes disgust me, but I don’t hate you.”

Ikki wants to smile and he feels strangely warm that Kagerou cares for him enough to request something like that.

“I might be able to promise you to stay out of this battle, but you know that there is nothing that can stop me from fighting to protect my family… and my friends,” Ikki answers reluctantly, because he can’t lie to his little brother.

“Can we stop at this nonsense brother-complex conversation? You guys are so GROSS!” Fuwa is fuming while Rintaro is holding him down.

“Fuwa-san, let’s get them a space. They are brothers who care for each other.”

“You are gross too.”

Ikki is tuning out Fuwa and Rintaro’s useless banter.

“They are all such losers,” Kagerou mutters while looking at Fuwa and Rintaro, but by the way he smirks, Ikki wonders if Kagerou finds them amusing. Then Kagerou glances at Ikki and frowns. “You know that you will get hurt, you are weak now. Such a weakling, maybe I shouldn’t call you Onii-sama anymore.”

Kagerou is so hard to understand, but Ikki thinks that the demon is still caring for him. “I will try my best to not get hurt, because of that I need your help, Kagerou.”

Kagerou bit his lips with his face full of hesitation. Then he glances at Ikki again and the older brother tries to give out his best smile to him.

“If you die, I will find a way to revive you only to kill you again then I will dance above your grave.” Kagerou gives him the last warning.

Weirdly, Ikki can imagine that happening. So, the older brother nods. “Please believe me.”

Kagerou sighs and swipes his bangs with his hand. “Oi, losers, you want to hear as well right? I won’t repeat anything twice so hear it carefully.”

“You-“

“Please calm down,” Rintaro is already holding back Fuwa again before he can pounce on Kagerou.

Kagerou is putting his painted nails on his lip, Ikki can see that the demon, despite his bravado, is quite nervous.

“That wicked building is filled with… darkness… it was nothing that I ever saw before…,” Kagerou slowly speaks out. “Daiji wouldn’t be able to withstand it, neither do normal humans… or that human robots, I don’t know. But, even these losers can’t withstand it without any side effects. I can bear it because I’m a demon but I’m not completely immune either…” Kagerou folds his arms and Ikki can see that he is actually trying to hug himself.

“The darkness was so… thick. It was filled with despairs. The more you get to the center of the darkness, the thicker they are. They were everywhere, on the air, the floor, the walls, the ceiling… it was like a nest- That wicked robot did say it was a nest of darkness…” Kagerou grunts and Ikki can see him being jittery. The older brother squeezes his shoulder for comfort, and Kagerou jumps a little bit before he relaxes himself.

“She could control the darkness to attack, I could defend myself somehow but… the darkness was seeping and crawling inside of me. It was utterly disgusting even for me.” Kagerou pauses, and he looks at Fuwa. “You seemed to know her so you talked- well, shouted at her. She said something about reviving Ark or whoever that is, then…” Kagerou pauses again, this time he turns at Ikki.

“Your friend that was dripping with despair, who is he again? Well, there was something inside that nest, it was similar to that person of yours, but it wasn’t… a living being. It smelled different… it felt like those human robots but… it was getting filled with so many despairs that it felt almost like demon…” Kagerou frowns and he shivers a little. “Those darkness are lethal, we will get devoured completely if we get near them again… I don’t know how to fight enemies like that… not even when to just defend ourselves, Daiji becomes like this.” Kagerou motions to himself.

“Wait, what do you mean that Aruto-san is dripping with despair?” Ikki asks back in confusion. Ikki knows that Kagerou talked about Aruto earlier.

“Onii-sama, you do know that I have capability to peek at someone’s inner demon. But, that person is dripping with so much darkness that I don’t even need to peek inside his head, he is drenched with despair all the time, well, it was different from that wicked darkness that devoured everything,” Kagerou shrugs.

Ikki doesn’t know how to respond or say anything to what Kagerou just told him.

“So, that damned Azu remade Hiden-sachou into a humagear… huh?” Fuwa mumbles with a dark expression. “Why him though?” he hisses with a lower voice.

“Because he is dripping with despair, maybe?” Kagerou suggests. “He isn’t like a normal human, heck, I wasn’t even sure he was a human at first.”

Ikki can see how dark Fuwa’s expression is and the older brother can feel his chest gets twisted. He shakes his head, let’s focus on what he can do first. “So, demons can withstand the darkness?”

Kagerou pouts a little. “Somewhat, but Daiji’s human part was breaking down the longer we were exposed to the darkness. Maybe a full-fledged demon without any human part can withstand it with no problem, but neither Daiji nor Sakura can do that. Let alone you.”

Ikki grimaces upon hearing that.

“If we can’t even get near him, then how can we fight him?” Rintaro is mulling with a serious expression. “We need a way to counter that darkness first…”

“Ah, right, that puppy loser could withstand the darkness like me… for a second,” Kagerou points at Fuwa. “You changed your form and I think your form was based on despair, so it could withstand the darkness just for a little bit. It didn’t last very long though.”

Fuwa points at himself and then frowns. “You mean… Vulcan Assault Wolf…?” Fuwa turns around then rummages at his belongings on the bedside table. He throws something at Kagerou and the demon lets it fall to the floor instead.

Ikki can see Fuwa looking at Kagerou with so much hate, but he is glad that the fiery man doesn’t look like he is about to hit his little brother anymore. Kagerou inspects the thing on the floor, poking it with his foot. Ikki can see that it is a progrise key, something that Aruto also always carries with him.

“Hm… is this thing your key to transform? It uses darkness… a tiny bit. Nothing like mine, of course. It feels a bit artificial.” Kagerou kicks back the progrise key to Fuwa’s direction and Ikki hopes that Fuwa can be more patient.

“Countering darkness with darkness…?” Rintaro mumbles with his hand on his chin. “I guess it could work to endure the darkness but to actually defeat them…”

“We are doomed, aren’t we?” Kagerou shrugs and glances at Ikki.

Ikki wants to speak positive and morale-boosting words like he usually does, but strangely, he can’t say anything right now. Because, of what happened to him, he got a taste of what the darkness is like…

And it is scaring him…

Let alone darkness that devours everything…

How will they win against enemies like that…?

For once, Ikki is scared for his and his family’s safety. Fearing that he won’t be able to protect them. Especially because the gnawing empty feeling inside himself is still persistently there, reminding him that he can’t fight with his full power and he has no demon to protect him from the darkness.

For once, Ikki feels…

Helpless.

0o0o0o0

“Izu…”

“Kamiyama Touma-sensei.”

Touma is staring at the secretary humagear, who obviously, standing guarding Aruto’s isolation room. He was about to go to Aruto’s room earlier, but a surge of unconscious victims of the recent attack flooded the isolation floor, so Touma got quite distracted by the commotion.

The healthcare humagears are working hard around him and some of them malfunctioning on the floor, it is a horrifying sight.

In the end, Touma tried to do anything that he could do, because he couldn’t just do nothing.

And finally, he managed to reach here, in front of Aruto’s room.

Aruto’s room is located on the corner of the isolation floor, away from everything. It feels quiet but also… eerie.

Not to mention how Izu is guarding the door like a bodyguard.

“I’m sorry Izu, but I need to meet Aruto.”

“Aruto-sachou is currently unavailable to meet anyone, I ask for your understanding,” Izu bows politely in a robotic voice.

“Izu…” Touma sighs and looks at her. “I know you are mad at me, for not being able to protect Aruto both from physical and verbal attack, I deeply apologize for that.” Touma bows at her.

Then he raises his head slowly and he can see Izu’s complex expression.

“Apology… what is the meaning of apology if Aruto-sachou still feels hurt?” Izu asks Touma back with a blunt question. “Your apology can’t undo what you have done to Aruto-sachou.”

Touma grimaces hearing that, it cuts deeper because it comes from such an innocent humagear with straightforward thinking like Izu.

Touma understands it, while he tried to shield Aruto from being cornered in the meeting earlier, but…

Touma should have done better, he should have—

He knew that Aruto had a dark past. His last fight with a humagear terrorist was all over the internet. Touma has watched the video once, but… he never did more than that. He didn’t research or delve further, he didn’t ask Aruto about it. He left the matter alone, choosing to see Aruto with his own eyes.

But, if he thinks about it again, maybe it was just him being a coward.

He refused to talk about that sensitive subject because it was easier for him to avoid it. Confronting Aruto would be a lot of work, but if he is really a friend who cares about him, he should have done that before.

Instead of just being passive and waiting, he should have… done something.

“I’m sorry…” Touma doesn’t know what else he can say to Izu. He can tell that Izu is disappointed in him, and that is saying a lot for a humagear to be disappointed in him.

“Can I ask you to leave? Aruto-sachou needs time to be alone,” Izu requests him, but it feels more like a demand.

“But… I don’t want Aruto to deal with this… all alone…” Touma replies with a heavy heart. The young novelist looks at Izu, studying her expression. He swears that he can see something flickering on her robotic eyes but she closes her eyes and opens them again.

Izu takes a step to the side. “You can speak from here, but please don’t get inside. Aruto-sachou ordered me to not let anyone inside.”

Touma smiles at Izu, hoping that she can understand his gratefulness. He turns toward the door, wondering the young CEO who holes up himself inside.

Touma remembers their bizarre first meeting, where Aruto left an impression as someone who would be hard to be friends with for Touma. Where he looked jittery and wounded, and yet he masked it with his smiles. When Touma realized that Aruto was a fellow Kamen Rider like him, the feeling of befriending him got stronger.

But, for Touma now, whether Aruto is a Kamen Rider or a CEO of Hiden Intelligence, none of that matters.

For Touma now, Aruto is his dear friend and he refuses to leave him alone.

Touma knocks on the door triple times and speaks. “Aruto… Can you hear me? It is me, Touma.” Touma pauses. He looks at the door, hoping that across the door Aruto is hearing his voice. “Aruto, I’m sorry about what happened to you, I’m sorry that the people bashing you earlier and I couldn’t stop them… I…” Touma pauses as he bites his lip.

His eyes become glassy as he tries to imagine what Aruto is going through now. The thing is, he can’t, he can’t imagine how it feels. But, what Touma knows is that Aruto is hurt.

He is in pain.

Touma wants to comfort Aruto, like how he would comfort the crying Riku. But, now, he can’t do any of that, he can only convey his feelings through words.

But then again, that is his skill as a novelist.

“Aruto, I want you to know that… I believe in you, I always believed in you from the moment I first met you and I will always keep believing in you in the future. Even if you can’t believe in yourself, I know you, and I believe you,” Touma pauses as he blinks off the tears from the edge of his eyes. He takes a deep breath so that he won’t sob. “We promised to have dinner together, right? The three of us, with Ikki… it is Ikki’s turn so… I hope that… all of us can fulfill that promise.”

Touma pauses again as more emotions swirl inside his chest. “And my novel… you need to see through how I write my novel until the end… I have promised you.” Because, there is a fear that Touma can’t meet Aruto again after this, or in a way, their friendship will be broken beyond repair. He is just desperate because for sure he doesn’t want their friendship to just end like this.

Touma can’t hear anything even when he pauses to breathe for a second, just so he can listen carefully, something, anything from across the door. But, the young novelist can only hear silence. He leans his forehead onto the door, hoping that he can just break through this thin wood, and takes Aruto into his embrace.

But, Touma knows that he can’t force this. He can’t use violence. He said what he needed to say. He believes in Aruto, so he needs to stay true to his words.

Touma retracts his head and turns at Izu. She looks at him with complex eyes and Touma can’t identify what she feels. But, in a way, her eyes remind him of Aruto.

“Please take care of him,” Touma says to the humagear secretary, though he knows that is unnecessary. Izu nods politely nonetheless.

Touma sighs and walks away from the door, he glances at it for the last time.

His novel…

The humagears and humans.

What Touma never told Aruto, he never even showed his draft to Aruto, actually what Touma wrote is basically about Aruto himself and the humagears around him.

And because of that Touma experienced another writer’s block.

The main character was modeled after Aruto and sometimes Touma feels like he was writing a biography rather than fiction. It was about a boy who loves humagears more than anyone else in the world.

And in that process of writing the draft, Touma realized that the reason why the main character loved humagears very much is that…

He could only befriend humagears, not humans.

He was lonely and only humagears could keep him company.

That he was desperate for love, but no humans stayed at his side.

It should be a simple and light-hearted novel that delves into humans and humagears relationships, but writing it made Touma feel sad and pity for the main character.

So, he tried to give human friends to the main character, but the story became a mess. It strayed from the point that he wanted to deliver so Touma hit a wall and he couldn’t continue on.

It should be a story about a deep relationship between humans and humagears, but Touma desperately wanted to change it so that the main character could have human friends at the end. He should find a way so that the main character could be friends both humagears and humans but he hasn’t found any ideas yet…

Because, while humagears are wonderful and amazing, but… if what Aruto really needs are humagears, if humagears are all enough.

Then, Aruto would never cry those tears out.

He wouldn’t look that lonely.

It isn’t like Aruto only wants to befriend humagears, but humagears are the only option he has.

And, Touma doesn’t want to leave it just like that.

He will continue to search for a way so that the main character can have human friends and humagears while the point of the story is still delivered, he will keep trying. Just like how he won’t just give up on Aruto.

Touma believes in Aruto, he will always believe in him no matter what.

0o0o0o0

“Aruto-sachou…”

“Ah… Izu…”

Aruto musters the last bit of his energy to send a smile to Izu, no matter how bitter his lips feel. But, she gives him a concerned look so the young CEO frowns again.

Aruto hates how he couldn’t even say anything back to Touma and he just let him go like that. Touma has tried to stand up for him during the commotion earlier and yet…

It wasn’t even Touma’s fault, everything was Aruto’s fault, and yet…

“Touma-san believes in me, he said…” Aruto mutters softly with glassy eyes. And exactly like Touma said, he knew Aruto quite well now, Aruto can’t even believe in himself and yet Touma does.

It feels weird. It feels undeserving for him.

But, it makes Aruto doesn’t want to betray Touma’s trust much further.

Aruto slaps his cheeks a few times.

Right, he has no time to mope around in sadness. Azu is walking around and targeting innocent humagears to revive Ark, she would do much worse than this so Aruto can’t just leave her alone like that.

“Izu, were there ruckus earlier? The hallway was sound so busy,” Aruto asks for more information. He is isolated in his room now and Izu is the only one who has access outside.

“Yes, there was an attack in the center of the city, near the ZAIA branch Japan's new HQ, the rescued victims were brought here,” Izu informs Aruto then she closes her eyes as her headphones glow. “Fuwa Isamu-sama, Rintaro, and Igarashi Daiji were included in the list of the victims,” Izu pauses as she closes her eyes again. Aruto pretends that he doesn’t notice that Izu referred to Rintaro and Daiji without honorifics, which is something unlike her to do. “And Jin too, but Jin left as soon as he woke up, and his whereabouts are currently unknown.”

Aruto is speechless to hear that. “Jin… and Fuwa-san are one of the victims…?” the young CEO can’t help but feel guilty to know that… his acquaintances suffer the damage while he is holing up safely inside his isolation room. “Is Fuwa-san okay?”

Izu nods. “His condition when brought here was more or less not too different from yours, Aruto-sachou. He regained back his consciousness around one hour ago.” She closes her eyes and her handphones blinking again.

Aruto looks out the window of his room. The number of victims keeps increasing and Aruto can tell that it takes a toll of the healthcare system here even with humagears help. Whatever Azu is planning, she is getting more aggressive as time passes. “I need to do something…”

Aruto doesn’t know what he should do, but he has to stop Azu at any cost.

“It seems Fuwa-sama has gained more information about our enemies, Aruto-sachou,” Izu informs him with a serious voice. Then, Aruto can hear Izu playing some kind of audio recording-

“Wait, this voice is-“

“That wicked building is filled with… darkness… it was nothing that I ever saw before…”

Aruto turns at Izu with a bewildered look. “You put a bug in their room…? Wait-“

Izu smiles sweetly at him which makes the young CEO even more puzzled. It is obvious that she puts a stop to the recording play. “CCTV with listening device is placed in every isolation room for the sake of monitoring of the patients, of course, it can only be accessed by authorized staff only,” she explains with her lecturing voice. “Which means that… unpleasant scientists have access to the footage and recording, so I think you have the right to access them as well, Aruto-sachou.”

Aruto lets his mouth gape open while Izu is smiling brightly at him. He shakes his head to snap out of his trance. “I guess… if you put it like that…”

“But, I’m sorry that I was only able to copy the audio record, I tried to access the data under the radar to not cause suspicion,” she adds with an apologetic bow.

Now, that sounds borderline criminal, Aruto never knew that Izu could break a rule without order like this-

It feels kind of frightening.

“Did I make a mistake?” Izu asks again because Aruto hasn’t responded yet. “I figured that you need to have access to information about what’s going on outside, Aruto-sachou.”

Aruto smiles thinly. In a way, Izu just understands him the best. She knows that Aruto has a hard time getting information now that he works alone again, that was why she broke the rule and stole data from the hospital. And more, Aruto didn’t have the right to scold her after all the shady things he had done in the past.

“Good job, Izu. But, please only do something like this when you think it is necessary and you don’t have any other options,” Aruto adds. Izu nods with a polite smile. “And I think… you need to do something about the CCTV in this room as well, so that… you know, people won’t notice what we are doing…” Aruto whispers in a low voice to her.

“I have turned off the CCTV ever since you stepped inside this room, Aruto-sachou,” she says again with a bright smile.

Aruto really doesn’t know how to respond to that.

Izu is scarily… efficient, but she always has been. Aruto just realized today, how far she can take things to be efficient, even if it means she has to break some rules-

“Do you want to listen to the rest of the audio recording of Fuwa-sama’s room?” Izu offers again. Aruto looks at her, Izu is smiling at him with her professional pose. The young CEO smiles thinly at her.

She is trying her best to help him, in a way, she is cute.

But also, scary.

“Okay, let’s continue.”

So, Aruto is listening to the recorded conversation between Fuwa, Daiji, Rintaro, and Ikki.

“Your friend that was dripping with despair, who is he again? Well, there was something inside that nest, it was similar to that person of yours, but it wasn’t… a living being. It smelled different… it felt like those human robots but… it was getting filled with so many despairs that it felt almost like demon…”

That part is making Aruto freeze in his place. The way that Daiji referred him was something new, he never heard anyone call him that way. Dripping with despair? Does Daiji have that kind of ability?

But, what really makes Aruto stop his breathing for a second when he hears how there is… a copy of him inside the nest.

The image of Azu caressing someone who has a similar appearance to him but with red eyes…

“She really did it…?” Aruto mutters while his eyes are shaking in fear.

Why… why does she have to do that? Why is she so obsessed with him like that? She has corrupted a few people, including Horobi and Es so why, why it have to be Aruto?

“Aruto-sachou.”

Izu’s tender voice snaps Aruto again from his trance. But, he can’t stop shaking. Aruto always try his hardest to push aside his memory of when he became Ark. He doesn’t want to remember it, he doesn’t want-

But, no matter how hard he try, the memory always come back haunting him in his nightmares. Even though years have passed, he still can remember that cursed moment… vividly.

Aruto grits his teeth. No, he can’t go breaking down again.

Not now, not when Azu is trying to replica him using humagear technology and turn it into another Ark. He can’t let her do what she wishes.

He has to stop her, but how-

“Countering darkness with darkness…? I guess it could work to endure the darkness but to actually defeat them…”

Aruto perks up his head when he hears that particular sentence.

“Countering darkness with darkness, huh?” Aruto mumbles at himself.

In a way, maybe it can work.

Aruto can hazily remember how he used Metal Cluster Hopper form when the bomb exploded in his childhood home. That time, he wonders whether he has enough time to pull out Progrise Hopper Blade to balance the darkness from Ark. Probably not because the bomb should have exploded right away-

Or maybe rather than darkness, using the power originating from Ark can become a shield against that darkness that attacked Fuwa and the others?

But, only with that probably won’t be enough, right? While the power originated from Ark can become the shield, what about the spears? There should be enough power to attack back Azu and whatever Azu has made to revive Ark.

 Aruto pulls out his Zero-One driver and stares at it.

The power that both used Ark and has enough power to go against the enemies…

Aruto frowns a little, and then he smiles bitterly at himself.

It is something that only can be done… by him, right?

It is something that only he can do.

No, it is something that he has to do.

It is his responsibility because Azu started all of this mess… probably because of him as well. If it is true that she made a copy of him that is filled with darkness… then it should be none other than Aruto who should destroy it.

“Aruto-sachou?”

Aruto raises his head and he can see Izu’s concerned face.

He has promised Izu though… If she can’t smile-

But, can she even smile if whatever Azu planned come true? If no one can stop that wicked humagear, no one can smile or laugh. Not humans, not humagears, not anyone.

“Izu, I have something for you to do,” he asks her with an apologetic smile. If she knows what he wants to do, for sure she will try to stop him. No one cares about Aruto as much as Izu-

Though, Touma’s words are ringing back inside his head.

Touma believed in him, he said that. But again, this is something that only Aruto can do. Something that Aruto has to do.

“I need you to contact Yaiba-san about a way to replicate the data of Ark’s power for other Kamen Riders, you have some data from Metal Cluster Hoppers, right? If we can find a way to replicate and share that power to others, then they will be able to protect themselves from the darkness.”

Izu is pondering about Aruto’s suggestion. Aruto knows it is kind of absurd because Touma’s group and Ikki’s group are using completely different technology to transform into Kamen Rider.

“The data of Ark’s power is classified data, so you need to deliver it personally to Yaiba-san yourself,” Aruto suggests to Izu. “You can do it, right?”

Izu is staring at him with a blank expression as if she is trying to read him.

Aruto feels himself almost wavering because he can tell that she is concerned about him. She is… such a good secretary, maybe more than that. Aruto doesn’t know, it is easy for him to call humagears his family but usually, it feels more like sweet talk. What Aruto feels about Izu is much deeper,

She is… one of the most important people in his lonely and empty world. That is what Aruto knows.

Eventually, Izu nods slowly with a complex face. “I understood.”

“Good.”

She slowly walks toward the door and she gives Aruto another good look.

“Please wait for me, Aruto-sachou,” she says with a smile.

Aruto almost wants to cry hearing those words. But, he steals his heart and smiles back at her. “I will.”

He will try.

She nods and exits the room quietly.

Aruto looks at the closed door for a while with a hollow face.

He can imagine that Izu will cry, again, because of his choice. But, Aruto just… he doesn’t have any other choice. He has to-

“I’m sorry, Izu,” Aruto mutters softly, more for himself because Izu can’t hear him.

A single tear falls from the corner of his eye, but he erases it quickly. He has no time to cry. He has to end this, he has to end Azu’s plan no matter what.

No matter what.

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

Humans are complicated living beings. The only living beings who make rules on their own and enforce them on other human beings. What is right and wrong, what is justice and evil, and so on. Even though right and wrong are different for each person, there is a law to be followed and it is being enforced too.

It is even more confusing for Touma because as a Kamen Rider, he is expected to be righteous. While there are bad and evil Kamen Riders, Touma himself is expected to always make the right choice.

“So, there is a possibility to fight against our enemy if we use darkness as the source of our power?” Touma asks back to Ikki. His junior just reported his recent findings with a complicated face.

There is hidden fear in his eyes, Touma can see it. Because he has seen those eyes in Riku before.

“Fuwa-san was about to storm back to fight our enemy, but Rintaro-san managed to stop him for now,” Ikki adds with a sigh. “Daiji is still recovering too.”

Using the darkness as the source of the power… Touma thinks about Kamen Rider Calibur.

“Both Kagerou and Fuwa-san when he used a particular form, could withstand our enemy attack for a little bit,” Ikki explains more. “So, maybe, if we use a power with strong darkness, we can do something against our enemy.”

Touma frowns a little bit. Is it going to be that easy?

“Or maybe… a very strong demon power…”

Touma blinks and turns at Ikki. The oldest Igarashi siblings snap out and smile at him sheepishly.

“I don’t have… Vice with me anymore… it’s very unfortunate in this situation…” Ikki confesses with an ashamed face. But, there is also a determination on his face.

Touma is very familiar with that kind of expression because he has seen it in himself as well.

Still, they still need to figure out the rest of the mystery.

“So, let’s assemble all the clues that we have gathered this far,” Touma mulls. In his experience as a Kamen Rider, they can get a solution once they have figured out the enemies’ motives and powers. “That humagear, Azu, wants to revive Ark, so she needs a medium because Ark doesn’t have any form,” it is still hard to imagine an AI as their enemy but Touma is learning to accept it for what it is.

“And by doing that, she made a humagear based on Aruto-san,” Ikki adds more. He looks uneasy, the same with Touma.

“She also stole the Book of Evil, which could be used to turn this world into hell,” Touma scratches his chin as he is thinking. “But, if Ark is that formidable, why did she need to steal the Book of Evil? If she could revive Ark, then Ark can destroy the world… Not to mention, is it possible to copy a human into humagear? It won’t be enough to just copy the voice and appearance, right?”

They have gathered a lot of puzzle pieces, but they can’t make the connection to see the whole picture yet.

“She also attacked many citizens and took away their negative emotions, which should be the source of that frightening darkness power…” Ikki adds again. “I can understand that part better, but how does she do that?”

“Sword of Logos are thinking that she attacked that many people to fill out the Book of Evil with the wrongdoings since the book needs to be filled first before she can use it,” Touma pauses. “I think we are missing something here.” Touma looks at the ceiling of their isolation room. “Why does it have to be Aruto though? Why couldn’t she just make a brand new humagear to be Ark’s medium?”

Ikki jumps from the bed after he figures out something. “The incident of broken humagears! They got their computer burned, right?”

Touma blinks before the understanding comes to him. “I see, she has tried to make other humagears to be Ark’s medium, but no one could withstand it and their computer burned as a result…” Touma frowns. “But still, what makes Aruto different? Then again, is it possible to copy a human into humagear?”

Touma sees how Ikki has a complicated look on his face. “What is it?”

“Uhm… Kagerou said that… Aruto-san is dripping with despair, but I don’t really understand what he means with that…” Ikki says with a troubled face. “I mean, if he is talking about being traumatized then, shouldn’t all of us as well?”

“Dripping with despair, he said…?” Touma doesn’t know what to make out of that. “The difference between us and Aruto is…” The young novelist’s eyes get wide. “He was Ark’s medium before…”

“So, that was what Kagerou meant?” Ikki asks back in confusion.

“Maybe something about Aruto has endured and survived as Ark’s medium that made him different from the other people and humagear, that is maybe why Azu chose him.” Touma sighs. This conversation will be much easier if only Aruto is with them. Touma and Ikki have little knowledge about Azu and Ark.

“Based on how Kagerou said it… the humagear wasn’t complete yet. Maybe, she was protecting it? Or… she might need more negative feelings to fill the Book of Evil?” Ikki ruffles his hair in confusion. “I think, we are missing something important here…”

“You are right, if she simply wants to revive Ark, she wouldn’t need the Book of Evil. On the contrary, if she wants to turn this world into hell, she wouldn’t need to revive Ark,” Touma shakes his head. “I never meet her, so I can’t figure out her motives at all.”

“Neither do I,” Ikki nods along.

It's not good, they keep hitting dead ends. And time is running out, whatever Azu is planning to do, she is going to reach her goal soon if they don’t stop her.

“Then, what we know for now is that she will attack more people to gather more negative feelings…” Touma caresses his chin again. “She used unknown stamps before, right? But, the recent attack was made with that liquid of darkness… I heard from the healthcare humagears here, that the victims got rained with unidentified rain made from black liquid.”

“So it wasn’t from some kind of monster, huh?” Ikki mulls. “It isn’t something that we can fight head on… it is hard…”

“But, if we know a way to protect ourselves from the effect of that black liquid, the rest will be easy,” Touma pauses and sighs. “But, using darkness… it won’t be that easy either…”

Touma wonders whether he can use Calibur’s wonder book to counter it. He remembers how Kento got attacked by Calibur’s power then he got swallowed into darkness. In a way, it is quite similar to the black liquid’s effect. It corrupts and infects people with darkness.

But, it won’t be that easy… Calibur Wonder Book isn’t in Touma's possession. Sofia is currently holding it because Calibur’s Wonder Book is still quite dangerous to use. Sofia also only uses it in a very limited time and only when she has to, maybe the fact that Sofia was artificially made with Luna as a model made her endure the darkness from Calibur’s power.

Even Kento stopped using Calibur once he had given up the idea of sealing all of the swords. Even without explanation, Touma knows that using Calibur is dangerous. He doesn’t think that anyone will just let him use Calibur’s Wonder Book for this. It is easier to imagine Kento is going to rush ahead once he figures out about it-

“Oh.”

Touma stops thinking immediately and he looks at Ikki.

“You have the same thought, don’t you?” Touma smiles in bitterness.

Ikki blinks in confusion.

“You told me first but not anyone else because you think that you should be the one who rushes ahead toward our enemy, rather than the other people…” Touma looks at his junior with a smile. Ikki looks surprised and shakes his head.

“No—it is just… I can’t believe what Karizaki-san going to do if he knows this--- Sakura is out of the question too, so-“ Ikki stops and slouches in defeat. “But… you are right…”

“Sacrificing ourselves won’t do anything though, not to mention that we still don’t know how to win against our enemy. While we know that the darkness can go against the darkness, that alone won’t be enough to defeat them.” Touma sighs as he pats Ikki.

It passes his thought too, because Touma is a guardian of Wonder World, he is a bit different than other people now. He was trapped in Wonder World for a while before he could find his way back to this world by rewriting the stories. But, still, he couldn’t forget the faces of his friends when he disappeared, and their reactions when he appeared again.

He did have a tendency to sacrifice himself, but he has learned his lesson and he wouldn’t do something like that—

Unless he has no choice but to do that.

“Let me talk to my friends first, maybe together we can figure out something,” Touma pats Ikki’s back.

Ikki nods with a reluctant face. “I will try to do something about Karizaki-san as well…”

Touma’s face becomes sour for a second. “You better do that.”

The young novelist ponders whether he needs to tell Aruto about it as well. Maybe he should, but he has to give Aruto time to be alone first. After that, he will.

Something in him tells him that, they can’t do this without Aruto.

Furthermore, Touma also wants to fight alongside Aruto. That’s for sure.

0o0o0o0

Surprisingly, it isn’t hard for Aruto to slip out of the hospital and go to his lab. He used the emergency door on his lab as well, to avoid the other employees. He just hopes that something in the lab won’t notify Izu… He won’t be surprised if Izu is monitoring this lab in some kind of way.

If she does, then he needs to do it quickly.

Aruto turns to the computer and turns it on.

Without There connected to this lab, Aruto needs to do everything manually with some support systems. Since the main body of the satellite got destroyed, there is only a fraction of There left inside Izu and Zero-Two’s driver.

But, it is also easier this way. Aruto thinks that There won’t let him make it too.

Aruto puts Zero-One’s driver on the scanner and connects it with a few cables. He isn’t tech-savvy, but he has learned enough about the power of his driver and progrisekey when he made Zero-Two’s driver. While the progrisekey saves the data of power and channels it through the driver so it can be used, the driver also stores partial data from the progrisekeys.

In short, Aruto has access to all of the previous progrisekeys he has used, some fragments of it.

Aruto clicks on a few files and combines them.

There is a warning displayed on the screen that Aruto has expected it to appear. If Izu or There are here, for sure, they will try to stop him or at least, warn him verbally. Reminding him what he is going to do and the price he needs to pay to use this kind of power.

But, Aruto already knows that so he presses the enter key and turns around the check on the 3D printer.

He hears the familiar sound, but it has been a while since he used this 3D printer to make progrisekey again.

His phone is suddenly ringing and Aruto jumps on his seat. He looks at the screen and realizes Yaiba is calling him. Thankfully, it is just a voice call, not a video call. He walks to the corner of the lab, hoping that Yaiba, and he expects Izu there as well, not to catch on the sound of the 3D printer.

“Yes, Yaiba-san?” Aruto answers the call.

[Aruto-sachou.]

First, he can hear how relieved Yaiba is. Aruto just remembers that the last time she saw him through the video call, he was verbally attacked by a lot of people then Aruto ran away. Right, maybe she was worried about him to some extent.

[Izu informed me that you thought that Ark’s data could be used to protect the other Kamen Riders from the power of darkness…]

Aruto never expects that Yaiba is going to discuss it with him. He thought that she would just do it by herself.

[But you know that Ark’s data has the nature of corrupting the users. So, I’m not sure whether it can be used safely or not without some kind of side effect…]

Right, Yaiba never used Ark power after all, so she won’t understand how to utilize this power and she can’t imagine the side effects that might appear either.

Corrupted… huh? Aruto remembers just how painful to use the Metal Cluster Hopper without balancing it Progrise Hopper Blade. While for Ark-One-

Let’s not think in that route, Aruto doesn’t want to remember it.

“But, you remember how Fuwa-san used Assault Wolf progrisekey before, he didn’t get corrupted-” Then Aruto pauses abruptly.

[Yes, then his body broke down, he even vomited blood, before finally he could build some resistance against the side effect—Sachou, not everyone is capable of enduring that.]

Aruto grimaces a little bit, and then he notices it. “But, I also used Assault Hopper, and I was… fine?”

[Oh… really?]

Yaiba sounds sarcastic through the call, and Aruto becomes speechless.

[I think it also might be because of There’s interference. The Assault key is made by Ark stealing progrisekeys data from There and combining it into one. Your driver and Hopper key might nullify some of the side effects from the Assault key in the way that Vulcan progrisekey and AIMS’ Short Riser can’t.] Yaiba pauses for a second. [May I analyze your Assault Hopper data, Aruto-sachou? Maybe we can find how There and your driver nullify the evil data from Ark.]

“Of course you can, I think Izu has all the data you need,” Aruto answers nonchalantly. Honestly, he doesn’t mind even if Yaiba analyses all of his fighting data, though as a CEO of Hidden Intelligence, Aruto should have protected the classified data from other people-

Oh well, Azu is going to annihilate humanity at this rate, classified data to be damned.

And Aruto believes in Yaiba that much.

[Thank you, Aruto-sachou. I will contact you again later.]

Aruto ends the call and sees that the 3D printer has done its work. He opens the door and takes the progrisekey from the inside.

He sees it with a solemn smile, turning it around in his hands, and looking at it carefully.

It is his first progrisekey that he made without Izu or There’s help. Sadly, it has to be this kind of power.

“But, only I can do it,” Aruto grips it tightly in his hand.

Because even someone like him still has things that he wants to protect.

No matter what.

0o0o0o0

“I don’t think we can use Calibur’s power that way. I’m not sure how the other users did it, but Calibur’s darkness is tainting the others, it attacks you mentally and the burden is really heavy. Even if we can use Calibur to counter the darkness from the enemy, our side will have to suffer the darkness from Calibur as well.”

Touma has expected that much, but it is still disheartening to hear that directly from Kento’s mouth.

“And I won’t let you use Calibur either, if we really have to use it then let me be the one who uses it,” Kento adds.

“You know that I won’t let you sacrifice yourself again, Kento,” Touma reminds his friend.

“So do I,” Kento huffs with a glare. “And using Calibur won’t mean I will end myself-“

Touma gives him a doubting look and Kento sighs in defeat.

“Why can’t we let Sofia-san the one who uses it, she is the user of Calibur right now,” Rintaro suggests.

Touma looks at Rintraro through the glass. Now, their positions are reversed, with Touma and Ikki deemed safe enough to exit the isolation while Rintaro, Daiji, and Fuwa are the ones who are isolated.

“I don’t mean to belittle Sofia-san, but she can’t pull out Calibur’s real power,” Kento sighs. “Calibur’s real power can be pulled out by the user who gets consumed with darkness, Sofia doesn’t let the darkness taint her, so, it can’t be used in full power.”

“So, the choice is whether to let someone use Calibur to fight the enemy in the risk their mind gets consumed by the darkness and they might sacrifice themselves that way?” Rintaro concludes. He shakes his head. “No way. Even if we don’t have any choice but to use Calibur that way, there is no way to fight the enemy alone. There has to be someone else in case the user of Calibur is about to sacrifice themselves, to stop them.”

“But… beside Calibur…” Touma is thinking again.

“Am I late to the meeting?”

Touma sees how Karizaki enters the room with his smug face. The young novelist glances at Ikki, the oldest Igarashi siblings just smile sheepishly.

“So, you guys came to the conclusion that there might be a way to counter the darkness with darkness,” Karizaki sits on an empty chair and taps on his tablet. “While you guys can only hypothesize about everything, I have done my fair of work of analyzing the said darkness.”

The monitor in front of them turns on and shows some data that Touma can’t understand.

“You managed to analyze it, Karizaki-san!?” Daiji is surprised, he puts his hands on the glass, trying to look closer at the monitor.

“Yes, from the previous incident of black water rain, finally I managed to get some samples from the victims,” he huffs. “It wasn’t easy, I had to analyze everything from afar using a controlled robotic hand inside the bunker underground that used to explode dynamite so that I wouldn’t get infected-“

“Who cares for that? Just get to the point,” Fuwa, who has been silent, finally speaks up with a murderous glare.

Karizaki only smiles smugly. “Geez, some appreciation would be nice,” he answers jokingly.  He taps on his tablet again.

“I guess, we got biased from the incident of humagears that were infected with evil data and we thought that the darkness is all made up from evil data too,” Karizaki explains the data on the monitor. “It is made of some part of the evil data, the artificial evil data, probably originated from Ark,” Karizaki points out at some parts in the table on the monitor. “But, there is… negative emotions mixed in it,” Karizaki points out at the rest of the table.

“Negative emotions? Do you mean from the unconscious victims?” Ikki asks for clarification.

“Yes, because of that the humagears that got in contact with this black rainwater didn’t get their processor burned like what happened previously in the other incident,” Karizaki explains further. “And negative emotions can travel quickly, from human to human, from human to humagears, even in the air,” Karizaki huffs. “Once you are exposed to this combination of evil data and negative emotions, your brain would remember the pains and the traumas you have suffered, burdening you mentally, and then you lose consciousness. Then probably, as a defense mechanism, your brain later will extract it out along with the memories.”

Karizaki claps his hands. “Whoever invented it, this is amazing, I’m impressed.”

Touma is about to thank Karizaki for his hard work, because even though he doesn’t want to admit it, Karizaki has solved many mysteries regarding the dark power. But, his last sentence made Touma stop himself.

Such a mad scientist.

“I see, is that how it works?” Ikki suddenly jumps from his seat. Everyone’s eyes are on him and he gets awkward a little. “You see, when you use darkness power, it is burdening your mind as well, right? I heard something about how two viruses can’t infect the same cell, is that how it works?”

“Because your brain is occupied by the darkness of your own power, it can withstand the attack from evil data and negative feelings, huh?” Touma nods in understanding.

“It doesn’t last long though,” Daiji interjects them. “True, while using darkness as a power, we can withstand the darkness from the enemy for a little bit, but the enemy’s darkness power is really overwhelming. It devours everything in its path, you might really get consumed by the darkness and you will lose your mind.”

Everyone gets silent for a while.

“It might be impossible to do it alone, but if we can do it together, we might be able to create a chance,” Touma gives a suggestion.

“Darkness as the source of powers… Besides Calibur, do we have the other option?” Rintaro asks.

Fuwa raises one of his progrisekey. “I have one.”

“I have one too,” Daiji admits.

“If it is a power that burdens you in mentality, then I have one too,” Touma adds.

“Primitive Dragon, you mean?” Kento asks in concern.

“The power originated from negative emotions, so I think it counts,” Touma smiles sheepishly. “I will talk with the dragon later.”

“Then, with Calibur, we have four-“

“I will join too,” Ikki interjects.

“Nii-chan, no, you can’t!” Daiji retorts back through the glass.

“Daiji, we aren’t fully human either. We have Giff’s cells inside of us and, based on what I understand, even if Vice isn’t here with me, he is residing inside me,” Ikki replies with a smile.

“Hm… maybe I can do something with Rolling Vistamp for Jack Revice form…” Karizaki mutters. “But are you sure? Set aside whether your absurd theory will work or not, your power will still be cut in half without Vice, you know.”

“Ikki…” Touma mumbles out in worry.

He wants to stop his junior, but he finds himself unable to say anything. Even Primitive Dragon is questionable whether it can withstand the power of darkness from Azu. But at the same time, Touma knows he can’t just wait and do nothing, not when Fuwa and Daiji who aren’t fully recovered are going as well.

…to be honest, Touma has another power that he can use in case of emergency but-

“Calibur is mine to use then,” Kento says, his face is stern enough and leaves no space to protest. He gives out a smile though. “Don’t worry, I’m more used to Calibur’s power than anyone else for now, so I will be the one who uses it.”

Touma looks at Kento then he smiles back. “I understand, I won’t let you fight alone.”

Kento smiles wider.

“So, there will be 5 of us then,” Daiji concludes.

Touma is silent for a bit. He glances at Fuwa, who has an angry expression across the glass. The young novelist wants to point out that there is still Aruto, but he hasn’t talked anything about this to Aruto and he knows how the other people beside him and Ikki are still against working together with the young CEO of Hidden Intelligence.

If Aruto joins them, then there will be 6 of them.

“Oh, are you sure to leave Karate Girl out of this operation?” Karizaki mentions.

Touma wonders who is but based on the complicated expression from Ikki and Daiji, he can guess who.

“While Sakura does have a form where she can fuse with Lovekov but…” Daiji trails off. “I’m not even sure whether Lovekov can endure the darkness… so, probably it is better to leave her out.” The middle brother glances at Ikki.

“Karizaki-san, I leave her to you,” Ikki says with a determined expression. This means that Ikki agrees to not let Sakura join this operation group.

“You expect me to babysit your sister?” even Karizaki sounds surprised. “I will run away if she is going to beat me into a pulp, just so you know. And don’t blame me later if she gets angry at you.”

Touma doesn’t think that they should believe in Karizaki for this matter and yet the two brothers look satisfied.

“Then, when are you going to execute this plan?” Rintaro asks with a troubled expression, probably because he isn’t happy to be left out between them.

“Tomorrow morning,” Touma suggests. “You two still need to recover as much as possible first.”

“It is probably better to evacuate the whole city as well since we don’t know what will happen. Tomorrow morning sounds good,” Daiji nods then he glances at Karizaki.

“I understand, Blue Bird will carry out the evacuation of the citizens,” the scientist somehow doesn’t look happy.

Touma looks at the whole group and wonders about what Aruto is going to do about this.

0o0o0o0

Tomorrow comes sooner than Fuwa expected.

Maybe it is also because he is quite shocked, but not too surprised, to find out that Aruto went missing from his isolation room. So, the ex-captain of AIMS spent the night wondering about the young CEO’s whereabouts. Even Izu went on her own way to find her boss.

“And I was about to ask him to join this…” Fuwa mutters quietly to himself as puts on ZAIA contact lenses.

“This lens is… really something else… wow…”

“Nii-chan… I can’t put it on…”

“Let me help you here.”

Fuwa wants to groan and massages his head in frustration. He isn’t very good blend in with people, it took several years for him to build a decent comradeship with the members of AIMS, let alone with these mismatched people here.

He looks at the group of people around him.

Strangely, there is another person who has been quiet since a while ago.

That is the famous novelist, Kamiyama Touma. Even Fuwa knows him despite he never reads his novels. Both of them met in front of Aruto’s empty room last night, wearing the same shocked expression.

Fuwa remembers how Touma tried to defend Aruto when he got cornered by the makeshift group of this stupid operation. At least, he seems to be the only decent one.

“I wonder where Aruto is now… We still can’t contact him…” Touma mutters softly beside Fuwa.

The ex-captain frowns at him, taking a step forward to create a distance from him. Fuwa isn’t good at handling overly friendly people. They just met once and yet Touma already acts like he is his friend.

“I don’t know where Sachou is, but if he is like this, I think he is about to do something stupid and dangerous,” Fuwa sighs.

“Probably we will meet him soon, don’t you think?” Ikki joins in the conversation as well.

“As long as he doesn’t confront that bastard Azu earlier than us,” Fuwa looks at the group of people around him. He doesn’t have that much hope for this makeshift group. They barely know each other and they don’t know about Azu as well. While Fuwa doesn’t know Azu personally, he knows about her motive.

And also Ark.

Fuwa wants nothing more than to destroy that wicked secretary for ruining this town like this, but…

For now, at least he wants to figure out her true motive for doing all of these shits. That might be ex-police side of him speaking.

“Let’s go,” Touma says as he puts on his helmet.

Fuwa gives him a look that gets ignored. The ex-captain snorts, well, if this novelist wants to be their leader, Fuwa doesn’t really care.

Each of them gets a bike, courtesy of AIMS and Blue Bird, so that they can travel to the ZAIA Japan HQ where Azu has made a nest there.

Fuwa turns on his bike and rides it before anyone can say anything. He is the one who is the most familiar with the layout of this town so of course he needs to guide the rest, regardless of who is the leader here.

“Fuwa-san, don’t go alone!”

Fuwa can hear Touma from the line of their ZAIA lens.

“I don’t care,” Fuwa replies curtly as he speeds up his bike. If there are people getting left behind, it isn’t his business.

It feels quite eerie to ride a bike inside an empty town. It seems the evacuation got done swiftly yesterday, even the hospital where he got treated was completely empty save for humagear healthcare providers.

Once he is about to arrive at the perimeter, Fuwa can feel the sudden change of air.

He slows down his bike and stops.

“I think it is better for us to stop riding our bikes and walking from here,” Fuwa suggests through their link.

“Right, if we get influenced by the air while riding a bike, we can get into an accident,” Daiji agrees with no fuss, surprisingly. Then again, the one who is hard to work together is his other persona, Fuwa guesses.

They park their bike one by one behind Fuwa while the ex-police take a good look at the tall building of the new ZAIA Japan HQ.

The situation is quiet, even for the unconscious victims who are scattered around the building. Fuwa examines one of the nearest ones, making sure not to touch them, instead, he uses his ZAIA lens to observe their condition.

It seems they are going to be alright, for now. While it would be ideal to rescue and relocate the victims to a safe place, they don’t have the time and resources to do that now.

“It is really hard to breathe here…” Kento comments.

“Yeah, the air is heavy…” Touma agrees.

“Can’t we do something for the people here…? They can get injured if they stay here,” Daiji asks in concern.

“I don’t think we can… there are too many victims and the safe place to evacuate is far from here…” Ikki sounds troubled to answer that.

Fuwa sighs. “I will contact AIMS and ask them to stand by. If they get a chance to rescue these people, they will do it quickly.” The ex-captain doesn’t know why he said that probably because he can relate to their uneasy feelings. It feels wrong to leave these unguarded unconscious people alone without some kind of protection. Fuwa uses the ZAIA lens to leave a message to Yaiba, asking her to lead the evacuation if it is possible.

“Thank you, Fuwa-san,” Ikki answers with a bright smile. “I think their family will be thankful for it.”

Fuwa ignores him, he isn’t used to overly friendly people like them. Aruto is better than them, at least, Aruto knows when he has to put some distance but still works professionally when needed-

But that might be also exactly why Aruto always runs off alone.

Part of Fuwa always feels… disappointed when Aruto chooses to do everything alone.

Yes, the two of them have the most complicated relationship, even more complicated than Fuwa with Naki. Fuwa knows that he isn’t Aruto’s friend.

Acquaintance? That’s a bit too distant for them.

Former employer? That doesn’t sit well for Fuwa.

Then… battle comrade it is, that is the only one that fits them, though Fuwa thinks they are also a little more than that. But, a little less than friends.

“Fuwa-san, wait…”

Fuwa turns around to see the people behind him. They are about to enter the building and Fuwa can tell that the air here is worse than two days ago. Touma and Ikki seem to have difficulty breathing. At some point, Kagerou has replaced Daiji and Kento is standing there with a dark look on his face.

“You look okay,” Kagerou taunts Fuwa.

Fuwa sends a glare at him. “My pain tolerance is high,” Fuwa confesses. But honestly, even for him, he wants to transform already just so he can have an easier time to breath. It feels as if he is suffocating little by little, his body feels heavy and his senses are muddled.

It might be worse for the ones that come here for the first time.

“This place reminds me of Ankokuken Kurayami’s darkness…” Kento mumbles softly. He seems like the only person who doesn’t have labored breathing among them, besides Kagerou, but his face is so dark as if he is grieving right now.

“Kento, are you… alright?” Touma asks while he is panting.

Kento nods with a solemn face then he shakes his head. “I want to escape from here soon.” He looks around with an empty look. “It reminds me of hell…”

“Hey, I’m here, okay?” Touma pats Kento, then Kento shifts Touma’s arm so he can support his weight.

“Right,” Kento nods.

“Uwa, that is such a look of disgust on your face,” Kagerou snickers at  Fuwa. The ex-captain turns and glares at the emo-looking guy quickly. Kagerou is also supporting Ikki, the older brother looks at Fuwa with an apologetic face.

“Kagerou… don’t be rude.”

“Okay, okay, Onii-sama. I think he is just jealous,” Kagerou snickers again before he moves with Ikki, passing the flabbergasted Fuwa.

“YOU LITTLE SHIT-“

“Fuwa-san… I think it is better for you to save your energy than… get angry at Kagerou,” Touma reminds him.

“You don’t need to remind me that!” Fuwa spats back at Touma and he walks further ahead, passing Kagerou and Ikki.

Fuwa really can’t stand this kind of people.

But, their light-hearted moment ends soon as the darkness becomes thicker.

Fuwa can see that the color of his surroundings is becoming black as if the darkness has consumed all other colors around it. There is no sign of the wicked liquid darkness that Kagerou told them about, but with this darkness enveloping them, Fuwa might miss it.

“All of you change your vision to night vision,” Fuwa reminds the people around him. When the ZAIA lens changes the mode of vision, Fuwa can see slightly better. “There is thermal vision if you need it.”

“Oh…” Kagerou sounds impressed. “But… do humagears appear in thermal vision as well?” he asks a genuine question.

“They will, they are machines that produce heat,” Fuwa answers.

“I think… we have to transform now…” Ikki suggests them. “I can’t endure this heavy air… anymore…”

He genuinely sounds in pain. Not that Fuwa can blame him, even if he feels nauseous that he wants to vomit his inside out and then curls up in pain.

“I agree…” Touma says.

“Isn’t it too soon?” Kagerou mumbles, but he doesn’t say anything else otherwise.

Right, Fuwa also thinks it is too soon. Even he never used Assault Vulcan form in a long period of time… without the risk of him feeling tortured half-death.

But, there is no choice. If they can’t even stand straight without straining their body, they won’t have a chance at beating Azu.

Fuwa pulls out his Short Riser and enters his progrisekey. He can hear various sounds behind him, probably from their belt and devices to transform, but all of their sounds are combined into one.

Fuwa pulls out the trigger and changes into his form quickly.

As the armor surrounds his body, Fuwa feels it is a bit easier to breathe. His mind is heavy and his body is aching just like how he feels every time he uses this form, but it is the pain that feels familiar to him.

“Oh… it does feel a bit easier,” Ikki sounds amazed.

“Just a little bit,” Kagerou adds.

Fuwa is about to move on again before he sees that one person is charging ahead, leaving everyone behind. Not to mention the sound of low growling coming from him.

“Wait, Touma!”

“Huh!? That is Touma-san!?” Ikki sounds surprised. Not that Fuwa can blame him, for the people who aren’t used to using night vision, it is hard to recognize people around them.

“Why is he behaving like that? Is he that kind of person?” even Kagerou sounds confused.

Kento is already running to chase Touma. “It is the form, Primitive Dragon makes Touma a bit uncontrolled,” he says as he runs forward.

“A bit?” Fuwa only interacted with Touma a handful of times, but even he could tell that Touma is behaving weirdly.

“Why do I feel like I can relate to that?” Ikki sounds confused.

“Yeah, you probably can relate to that, Onii-sama, though you can’t remember it,” Kagerou adds.

Fuwa clicks his tongue with annoyance.

They are completely uncoordinated like this, it might be better for him to just move alone rather than be stuck inside this ridiculous group.

But nonetheless, Fuwa is running to follow them.

No matter how silly this team behaves, Fuwa can’t deny how the darkness is seeping slowly inside his heart. It feels as if he is trapped inside a nightmare with only darkness surrounding him. If it weren’t for his night vision, Fuwa wouldn’t be able to see anything-

“Watch out!” Fuwa raises his gun instinctively. He can see something moving inside the darkness, about to attack the ones in front of him.

If it isn’t for the enhanced night vision from his form combined with the ZAIA lens, Fuwa might miss the blur of white color that attacks the moving darkness.

That white Kamen Rider sure moves like some kind of animal. Fuwa stops running and takes a stance to support him with his gun. “You can’t fight it barehand-“

Then he sees how Touma slices the darkness using his sword with the weirdest stance Fuwa has ever seen—did that guy even hold the sword correctly?

Fuwa can see some of the parts from the darkness that are scattered apart are falling toward the purple Kamen Rider but then he slices it swiftly.

That one is a real swordsman, on the other hand, Touma is-

“Onii-sama, I think you better use a long-distance weapon rather than the roller,” Kagerou shouts from behind Fuwa and the ex-captain can hear a few blasting sounds around him.

“Thanks for the suggestion, Kagerou.”

Fuwa can hear different blasting sounds this time.

The ex-captain notices the slight movement of the darkness from above him so he raises his gun upward while running to avoid any splatter.

While they are clearly mismatched people, they are all Kamen Riders who are experienced in battle.

But that fact alone isn’t enough to put Fuwa at ease.

He looks at his surroundings and he can see nothing but darkness.

“Don’t you think we are inside the darkness itself now?” Fuwa asks as the realization settles in. He can’t even tell which is the floor, walls, or ceiling because everything is blended in darkness.

“Like, inside its stomach?” Kagerou asks.

“I don’t think darkness has stomach-“ Ikki’s words are cut short when they can feel the rumble beneath their feet.

“Shit-“ Fuwa curses as his suspicion proves right. Soon, he can hear how the walls rumbles and he loses his footing. So, after all this time even the floor below them is-

Fuwa can feel how the darkness wraps around his legs and he shoots at them. They are walking into a trap, aren’t they? They will get f*cked up this way-

The ex-captain hears how a sword is being drawn and a slice sound is made. Fuwa turns around in the air and he sees how Kento makes a few more openings through the thick darkness.

“Open up!” he screams on top of his lungs and makes another slice.

Even if there is only darkness beyond that opening, based on the sound of air alone, Fuwa can tell that Kento managed to make an opening.

But with Fuwa falling and not having any footing, he can’t-

Fuwa sees a blur of white before he can feel how someone tossed him toward the opening like a rag doll.

Based on a growl, it seems it is Touma's doing.

Fuwa lands roughly on the ground but he feels thankful that he feels no darkness beneath him.

“Something like this always makes me want to be able to fly-“ Kagerou complains as he also lands roughly beside Fuwa.

Ikki jumps out from the opening with unbelievable agility that shouldn’t be humane-

Right, that guy did admit that he isn’t fully human.

And the last, Touma jumps out and lands on the ground.

But, even with Fuwa’s limited night vision, he can see how Touma’s white form is painted with dark colors in various parts.

And he also doesn’t sound or move as lively as before-

“Touma, you-“

“Ara, ara, so you all manage to get out, huh?”

Fuwa turns around to see the source of the voice. Weirdly, there is some kind of lighting here, red light, that illuminates some parts of this place. The mix of the color black and red is…

Really something that is very Azu-like.

“Is she…?” Kento asks quietly.

“Yeah, she is Azu,” Fuwa answers the question.

“Why is she like… Izu?” Ikki sounds confused.

Sadly, Fuwa doesn’t know the answer to that question.

Now, their attention is all focused on the Azu that is suspended above them. It looks like she is making a nest made of webs that are connected to a round big sphere in the middle of this damned room. No, this place is as wide as a stadium… how does a place like this exist within this building?

“You should all just quietly stay inside and get devoured by the darkness there, it would be less painful that way,” she says with a sweet sickening voice that makes Fuwa feel nauseous.

“You….” Fuwa scowls at her, he tries to inspect with his enhanced vision the suspicious big sphere in the middle of the room, which Azu stands in front of it so protectively. But sadly, he is too far from it to see anything properly.

“But really, only him is enough…”

[…Fuwa, Fuwa! Can you hear me?]

“Yaiba?” Fuwa asks in shock, he can hear Yaiba’s voice from the communication link.

[Fuwa, I think I have figured out--- Azu’s motive-]

“Touma?”

“Touma-san!?”

Fuwa turns around to see the sudden commotion behind him.

He sees how the white Kamen Rider is changing color into black slowly as if the darkness is eating up the rest of his color. The once lively and feral Kamen Rider is just standing lifelessly as he becomes completely black.

“TOUMA!”

Fuwa just watches in shock.

With only a little bit of exposure to the darkness—?

“His despair and the despair of his power are… really delicious, thank you for the meal.”

[Fuwa, Azu wants to make--- a copy of--- Sachou—that shouldn’t be possible but--- Aruto--- is---]

Fuwa looks at how Touma’s transformation gets undone, it feels as if everything moves in slow motion.

But Fuwa sees someone suddenly appear and catches Touma before he hits the ground.

And that person is-

“Sachou-?” Fuwa asks in disbelief.

How did he come here? And without transformation on top of that--?

[Aruto-sachou’s part of the brain is--- made from artificial brain--- like—humagear! That is why--- he can transform into Zero-One--- Fuwa!]

“Azu, you need to stop this nonsense.”

Aruto’s cold voice reminds Fuwa of when Aruto used Ark power in the past. That cursed time when there weren’t any jokes coming out from his mouth, not his weird smiles. When his face was devoid of any emotions that was so unlike him.

Just like now.

“I have been waiting for you, my dear Ex-Ark-sama.” Azu laughs a little.

Fuwa turns around at her and he sees how the big black sphere starts to crack like a hatching egg.

“You arrived at the right time. Let me introduce him to you…” She bows and twirls around as the sphere behind her falls apart and reveals the inside.

Someone is hanging inside there, he is suspended by countless black threads that are coming out of all directions of this place.

[So, in theory--- if Azu copied—--- then--- she can make--- an exact copy of--- Sachou!]

His eyes are opening and Fuwa can see the glowing red pair of eyes that are inhumane.

But, that face. That appearance.

And even his cold expression.

Fuwa turns to Aruto who is standing not too far from him.

If it weren’t for humagear trademark headphones and his red eyes, even Fuwa might have mistaken him for the real Aruto-

He has the same exact cold expression as Aruto beside him.

“… my lovely, Ark-sama…” Azu introduces him with such a sickening loving voice as she twirls and drapes herself on that Aruto.

Fuwa sees how the black threads are slowly undone one by one, releasing him, as he catches Azu in his arm.

“Happy birthday, Ark-sama,” she says as she wraps her arms around him.

Fuwa could feel his spine shivering to see that humagear Aruto had a gentle and loving smile just like how Aruto behaved around Izu.

“I’m back, Azu.”

Even his voice-

“You must be really happy Azu.”

Fuwa turns at the human Aruto near him. He lays the limp Touma gently on the ground as he pulls out something from his pocket.

“Sadly, today is the day of his death too,” Aruto pulls out an unrecognizable progrisekey and puts on his belt.

[FUWA ISAMU-SAMA, PLEASE STOP—ARUTO-]

Fuwa snaps out when suddenly he can hear Izu from his communication link.

“Izu!?” he mutters confusedly.

[IF HE—USE--- SACHOU---- WILL DIE!]

 Fuwa snaps out of his trance and his body is already moving. But sadly, before he can reach Aruto, he already inserts the unrecognizable progrisekey into his driver.

“Henshin.”

Fuwa can barely hear his words before he gets blasted out by the force of power from his transformation.

And when he is able to open his eyes again. There is standing an unrecognizable Kamen Rider with a mix of black, red, and white colors.

 “What is that form…?”

“Hhm… interesting isn’t he, Ark-sama?” Azu says, sounding amused.

“Is that so? I don’t know…”

Fuwa sees how the black threads around the humagear Aruto get undone more slowly as he descends into the ground with Azu still in his arm.

“For me, he looks desperate, doesn’t he?” he grins as he puts down Azu gently. That grin is when Aruto is being confident.

“Then, please use these.”

Fuwa sees how Azu offers a familiar-looking belt with that damned progrisekey that Fuwa hates. That white version of Zero-One.

The Ark version.

Ark-One.

“Let’s fight, shall we? So that I can steal your name from you,” humagear Aruto opens the progrisekey with a very familiar pose.

Which is Aruto’s pose.

“Is this real…?” Fuwa can only mutter in shock.

He barely notices how his vision is slowly tainted with darkness as well.

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

Humans are complicated living beings. They can be selfish, but they can be selfless as well. They can fight to survive but they can also give up their lives too. Different from other living beings, there are many things that influenced humans to make their choices. Whether it is their emotions, instincts, dreams, or even other people, not all people will make the same choice, because no one is exactly the same as each other.

Yaiba knows this, after she has gone through many difficulties in her life, she knows what it takes to make a choice.

She thought she had changed from her timid self, where there was a chip inside her brain that controlled her. She thought she had learned how to make a choice for her own sake.

But, when it is about other people, it is still hard to make a choice.

As AIMS captain, she has a duty to protect the citizens of this city from the malicious AI, that is the one that is clear to her. So, whether she has to join the make-shift operation with other Kamen Rider groups or not, for now, that doesn’t matter. She has to do what she can do.

…it still feels a bit wrong to access Hiden Aruto’s classified information though. Even if Aruto has permitted her to access the data about his Kamen Rider power, which is then granted by Izu to Yaiba, the truth is that Yaiba already has access to everything through the ZAIA’s network.

And everything means everything.

For big corporations like ZAIA, information is more valuable than money after all, so it isn’t unlike them to gather information about the CEO of their rival business.

Yaiba surfs through the data of Aruto’s power. It is really strange how Aruto can withstand Assault progrisekey with no apparent effect, unlike what happened to Fuwa.

Yaiba expected it because of something different about the Zero-One driver or the Rising Hopper progrisekey itself.

But, she realizes that she is wrong about it.

While the build is different, but Zero-One driver and Shotriser use the same concept and technology.

Then… the difference may come from… Aruto himself?

Then again, Yaiba doesn’t understand why Aruto can change to Zero-One. She heard that only the president of Hiden Intelligence can transform using Zero-One driver, but then it was revealed that Zero-One drivers and progrisekey are inherited personally by Aruto. Then, does that mean the driver uses some kind of biometric reader to scan whether the user is from the Hiden family or not?

But, there is no component like that in the driver…

If it isn’t in the driver then, it must be true that there is something different within Aruto himself.

Yaiba opens the folder that she has stolen from ZAIA’s database, she feels guilty but it is necessary. She needs to find the answer to this question before she can move on to other theories.

Yaiba and Fuwa underwent surgery to get chips installed inside their brain that allowed them to transform using Shotriser. Then, Aruto should have undergone the same thing, somehow.

Aruto’s medical history is perfectly clean besides the major surgery that happened when Aruto was three months old. It was said that there was an accident and the surgery was done to save his life.

Yaiba did hear from Gai that Aruto’s parents passed away because of an accident… then, Aruto was there as well. So… Aruto was saved but his parents weren’t…

Yaiba clicks on the surgery report but strangely she can’t open the file. Huh? Is the file corrupted or something? She clicks to analyze further.

No… this is fake… this file contains nothing. So… there is no surgery report for that operation?

But, when Aruto was three months old… Yaiba doesn’t think at that time Zero-One driver was being developed, that was way too early… or not?

“Yaiba-sama.”

Yaiba jumps on her seat and turns around to see Izu looking at the monitor beside her. “Izu!? W-why are you here? Why are you coming back?” she fumbles through her mouse to close the window on the computer but Izu stops her.

“I come here to find some clues of Aruto-sachou’s whereabouts because he is missing now,” she answers Yaiba’s question first. “And what are you doing, Yaiba-sama?”

Yaiba bites her lips and then sighs. There is no point in hiding it now. “I’m searching for the answer to why Aruto-sachou can withstand the power of Assault progrisekey, and I found nothing on the Zero-One driver or Hopper progrisekey itself. So… I moved on to find whether the difference is from within Aruto-sachou’s himself.”

“Medical history is completely private and classified information that is forbidden to access for someone other than the involved physician or family,” Izu says with a robotic voice as if she is reading an explanation from the web. Yaiba guesses, she must be angry at her.

“I know, I know… I just want to know whether Aruto-sachou underwent surgery that allowed him to transform into Kamen Rider, like Fuwa and me. But, I found out that Sachou only had one major surgery in his life… and it wasn’t it… but something was strange about it,” Yaiba hopes that she can appeal to Izu somehow. Izu is a humagear that has reached her singularity, so she can be curious or intrigued.

Izu has a contemplating face. “I need to find Aruto-sachou quickly, that is my priority right now.”

She is hard to appeal to. “But, this maybe can help us to find the answers… the answers of why Azu is doing all of this. Don’t you think what she is doing is strange? We can’t still figure out her motive. And figuring out her motive will help Aruto-sachou as well.”

Izu is contemplating again. “Okay… so, what do you think strange about Aruto-sachou’s past surgery?”

Yaiba smiles at the secretary humagear. She clicks on the file and shows the report to Izu. “It is weird that there is no surgery report on that surgery. There should be one, especially because it is an emergency and life-saving surgery. The report of post-operations is all there, only the surgery report is missing.”

There is nothing weird on the record after post-operations either. Yaiba wonders whether she is reading too much into it. But, her police instinct says that there is something fishy about this.

“Do you really need to see the surgery report? Is it that important?” Izu asks her again, maybe she is failing to see the connection between delving deep into Aruto’s medical history and Azu’s motivation.

“Yes…” Yaiba nods with an earnest face.

Izu looks at her with a blank face before she closes her eyes then her headphone starts to blink. It takes a while, actually, longer than Yaiba expects her to.

“I hit a firewall,” Izu pauses as she opens her eyes. “Only the late Kuronosuke-sachou could access the file.”

“Huh?” Yaiba is surprised to hear that.

Izu closes her eyes again as her headphones shine brighter.

“Wait, are you trying to go through the security firewall-“

“I succeeded,” Izu says as she opens her eyes again. She transfers the data to Yaiba’s computer. “This is the surgery report.”

Yaiba checks on it and her eyes go wide.

“Wait, this is—”

Izu doesn’t say anything at all but based on her expression alone, Yaiba knows that Izu is also surprised.

“Almost half of… Aruto-sachou’s brain is… artificial? And this is… really similar to—” Yaiba pauses, suddenly afraid to finish her words.

“Yes, it is similar to humagears’ brain,” Izu answers in a monotone voice.

“So… Aruto-sachou’s brain is like… a cyborg?” Yaiba frowns, bewildered by the information she has found.

“There is more than that,” Izu moves the mouse and clicks open more files.

“Huh? This is…” Yaiba reads the data on the monitor with a shocked face. “This is… the development of… AI?” Yaiba takes the moves and clicks open more files.

Suddenly, she can connect the dots inside her head. “I see… Aruto-sachou was only three months old, his brain was undeveloped… so an AI program was inserted into his artificial brain to mimic the development of the human brain…” Yaiba can’t believe that was what happened, but that makes sense of everything. “If Hiden Kuronosuke was developing humagear and AI during that time, he used the technology he developed to save his grandson… but that was so… unbelievable…”

Because Yaiba feels she has found the answer to why Aruto can connect to humagears around him so easily. Why did he have a dream where humans and humagear can laugh and smile together?

Because he is a combination of both? A human with an artificial brain with AI inside of it.

“Does Aruto-sachou know this?” Yaiba mutters while still processing the information. This is so shocking. Because, no, Aruto is far from being a genius, so she never expects him-

“Right… that was why… Ark could possess- no, influence Aruto-sachou. It was because of his artificial brain… no normal humans could be possessed by an AI—how could I miss that this entire time!?” Yaiba only comes to a realization now. Ark didn’t even try to possess Fuwa or her despite their existing chips. Ark only jumped through humagear to humagear and then…

Aruto…

So, the one who could be possessed by Ark was the one with AI inside their brain. Of course.

“I don’t know whether Aruto-sachou knows about this information…” Izu answers with a more solemn voice.

“But, maybe he has a hunch about it…” Yaiba guesses. It is wild to think that maybe Aruto is the originating source of the development of humagears and AI. Who knows, maybe before Aruto’s surgery, Kuronosuke didn’t mean to develop AI to use it that way.

“Then, does this information answer the reason why Aruto-sachou can use the Assault progrisekey without any effect? Or whether this information leads to Azu’s motive?” Izu asks Yaiba with a stoic expression. She doesn’t look happy, probably because Yaiba is poking around at Aruto’s private life without proper consent.

Yaibe coughs to clear her throat a little, hiding her nervousness. “I think, Aruto-sachou’s brain can withstand the effect from Assault key better than the chip on Fuwa’s brain.” And probably that was the reason why Aruto can withstand Ark’s evil data in MetalCluster Hopper too, probably normal humans would lose their mind.

“While for Azu’s motive…” Yaiba opens up the salvaged recorded video from Fuwa’s encounter with Azu previously. The file was broken and she could only make out of Azu from the blurry image. Fuwa also informed him that Azu is trying to make a humagear based on Aruto… probably to make him an Ark medium. But, why is she doing that? Why does it have to be Aruto? And more, it should be impossible to turn humans into humagear—

But, if it is Aruto then it is possible…

“What makes humans human are… their memories and emotions… if Azu got access to copy Aruto-sachou’s AI data from his brain… then it would be possible to make a humagear like Aruto-sachou,” Yaiba mutters as she processes the information. “But then… why did she steal the Book of Evil and gather humans’ negative emotions…? I can’t figure out that part yet…”

Yaiba hears a beeping sound coming from Izu, the captain of AIMS turns around to see the secretary humagear is busy processing something with her eyes closed.

“I managed to find a trace of Aruto-sachou’s location,” Izu informs her after she opens her eyes. “Hiden Intelligence CCTVs’ server is just fixed now, so I can get access to it. Aruto-sachou was being recorded around the building yesterday noon.” Izu pauses as she closes her eyes again. Her headphone blinks rapidly.

When she opens her eyes again, Yaiba can see that she is in clear shock.

“No… Aruto-sachou… you can’t…” Izu softly mutters with fear in her eyes.

Yaiba doesn’t know what Izu found, but whatever it is, it must be something bad.

Based on what Fuwa informed her last night, he and some people from the makeshift group are going to confront Azu’s base… or maybe they already are.

She clicks on her computer and puts on her headphones. She tries to connect to Fuwa’s intercom. She needs to relay her findings to Fuwa right now, whatever information may help his battle. “Fuwa, Fuwa! Can you hear me?”

[Yaiba..?]

Yaiba frowns, there is too much noise from the intercom, ZAIA’s lens must be affected badly by the darkness in the air. But, Yaiba doesn’t have any other way to contact Fuwa, so she hopes that Fuwa can still hear her. “Fuwa, I think I have figured out Azu’s motive, or part of it.”

Yaiba frowns when she hears many more noises, whatever happening around Fuwa, doesn’t sound good. But, Yaiba needs to talk now while she can still connect their intercom. “Fuwa, Azu wants to make a humagear copy of Aruto-sachou. Technically that shouldn’t be possible but Aruto-sachou isn’t a normal human.”

[…sachou?]

Yaiba blinks. Huh? Is Aruto there with Fuwa as well?

“Aruto-sachou’s part of the brain is made from the artificial brain like humagear, with AI in it! That is why he can transform into Zero-One… Fuwa, can you hear me!?” Yaiba is practically shouting at her mic now. She shakes her head, Fuwa doesn’t respond to her but he should be able to hear her still. "So, in theory, if Azu copied Aruto-sachou’s data from his brain, then she can make an exact copy of Aruto-sachou."

This means, that if Azu succeeds, the history will replay again. In Yaiba’s opinion, Aruto influenced by Ark was the strongest and terrifying, more than when Ark possessed others. Part of her can understand why Azu is so fixated on Aruto as Ark’s medium. And that was Aruto only got influenced by Ark, if he really accepted Ark then…

What would happen?

Fuwa needs to stop Azu before she achieves her goal-

Yaiba is surprised when someone suddenly yanks her headphones away from her. “Izu!?” she is surprised to see how Izu looks so restless and panicked.

“FUWA ISAMU-SAMA, PELASE STOP ARUTO-SACHOU!” she screams into the mic, as hard as she can.

[Izu…?]

Yaiba can still hear Fuwa’s weak response from this distance.

“IF HE USES THAT NEW PROGISEKEY ARUTO-SACHOU WILL DIE!”

Yaiba is stunned to hear that. It is her first time to hear Izu’s voice breaking like that. It is as if Izu is so close to crying.

Both of them snap when they see that their connection is severed.

“Ugh… damn…” Yaiba is trying to reconnect to Fuwa’s intercom, but she can’t link it anymore. Then, she turns to Izu quickly. “Izu, what do you mean? What’s with the new progrisekey? Aruto-sachou will die if he uses it?” she asks in utter confusion.

Izu is standing in her place as if she is a perfectly still mannequin.

“Based on the data I got from the lab… Aruto-sachou combined… Ark-One data with… Hell Rising Hopper data…” Izu mutters with a small and robotic voice. “If he uses it… in a prolonged time… he will die… his body won’t be able to withstand it…”

“Hell Rising Hopper? Does he have that kind of progrisekey…?” Yaiba doesn’t think she ever heard of that, but she knows that there are a lot of things that she doesn’t know about Aruto. So, she turns around and opens Aruto’s data of power again.

There she finds it and reads it quickly. “Wait… this key isn’t… this isn’t designed to be used by a human like Aruto-sachou…” Yaiba’s eyes shake as she reads further. Even with a glance, she can see that this key is designed for Es, someone who is made from a bunch of nanomachines. And the evil data that is inside the key itself is as bad as Ark-One’s evil data—

Combining both means that Aruto’s mind is going to receive the double impact of Ark’s evil data—

And this Hell Rising Hopper progisekey is very destructive to the body host as well, then—

Izu raises her head suddenly.

Then she starts to run.

“Wait, Izu!”

“I’m going to where Aruto-sachou is!” she shouts back.

“I know! Let me accompany you! We will drive there, it will be quicker that way!” Yaiba runs to her and taps her shoulder. After all, Fuwa has requested AIMS’s help to stand around the perimeter to help the victims, Yaiba is staying on the base only to process Aruto’s homework for her and Izu. And now since she has finished her task, she needs to follow the rest of her team as well.

Izu’s headphones flicker for a minute before she nods in agreement. Yaiba nods along. Then, both of them run as fast as they can.

They need to move quickly.

0o0o0o0

It hurts…

Everything burns…

It feels like he is plunged into a deep darkness where sound can’t reach. But beneath his feet, there are thousands of invisible hands trying to drag him down. The air is heavy and trying to drown him.  

His body is also burning like he is on fire. Every joint and muscle fiber in his body is overflowing with power but also screaming.

“Three minutes…” Aruto mutters with a raspy voice.

He can only… use this form for 3 minutes.

He knows that the combination between Ark-One and Hell Rising Hopper is hellish, he knows and he is right about it. But, Hell Rising Hopper is probably the only power that can withstand the power of darkness from Azu, but Aruto loses his mind when he uses this key. So, the only key that could counterbalance the rampaging Hell Rising Hopper, which has the darkness as well, is only Ark-One.

He can only use this form for 3 minutes. But, Aruto knows that there is no way he can defeat his enemy in 3 minutes only.

Well, he can only try.

Because, at this point, he is the only one who can defeat that abominable thing.

“Aruto…”

Aruto glances at Fuwa, who isn’t far from him, who has crumbled down on the ground with darkness slowly spreading on his form. The others are in more or less the same state.

Touma is also lying on the ground, he has lost consciousness with darkness marred on his skin.

At this rate… Azu and that cursed copy of him will take everything away from Aruto. Touma, Ikki, Fuwa, the other humagears…

Then… Izu…

“There is only one person who can stop you, and that’s me.”

Aruto says his battle speech, now it is truer than ever.

“But, I’m also you… stopping me means, you stop yourself.”

Aruto doesn’t need to respond to it back.

Because he has prepared himself that he might not come back after this fight.

So, instead, he runs toward his enemy. The one that reminds him of his nightmare. That cursed form.

He throws a punch and the enemy dodges him, but Aruto also has expecting him to dodge. If this abominable thing is a copy of him then Aruto can read his movement better than anyone even without Ark’s prediction power.

But, he also can read Aruto’s movement better than anyone.

All punches and kicks are flying around between them, but everything gets blocked and nothing lands.

“Come on, Ark-sama! You can do it!” Azu is cheering on the side, with such a happy expression that sort of reminds Aruto of Izu.

Aruto grits his teeth. The time is ticking and he can’t keep playing around.

“I think both of us need to do better,” his enemy says as he blocks Aruto’s punch.

Aruto only screams at him, using all of his power to push his fist. That makes his enemy go flying, unable to block Aruto’s raw strength.

“AARRRGGH!” Aruto feels how his joints dislocated and his bone cracks under the immense power. The form is repositioning everything back but Aruto can feel how blood is flowing from his arm. The combination key lacks the full regenerating power from the Hell Rising Hopper key.

Because of that, the more he uses this key, the more his body will break apart.

“Hahahaha…”

Aruto turns around to see his enemy jump back on his feet, seemingly suffering some damage but not enough to bring him down. “You are seemingly to be in much more pain than me.”

He raises his hand toward him and Aruto can see how the darkness starts to warp around, following his hand movement.

“But, I also have this, you know.”

And Aruto sees how the darkness starts to chase him. Aruto is trying to run but the darkness is coming from all the directions and traps him inside.

He can feel how the darkness is trying to swallow him but—

The darkness is already there inside his mind and his body.

This doesn’t make much difference, honestly.

Aruto kicks and punches the darkness, breaking away from the inside.

“Wait—what?” he sounds confused.

Aruto is panting, the pain is starting to drown him. His body is heavy. His mind is heavy. But, still, Aruto is preserving.

“You said that I’m you… if you can withstand the darkness then… so can I,” Aruto responds back with heavy breathing.

“I see, that makes sense,” the cursed copy replies back casually as if they are only playing around and not fighting seriously.

Aruto grits his teeth and starts to charge another attack toward him. His enemy is using the darkness as a shield and camouflage this time. The darkness is dancing around in Aruto’s vision, exploding every time Aruto punches or kicks his enemy.

Aruto looks at how the darkness shields his enemy again and when he punches it, the enemy isn’t behind it.

But, behind him.

He manages to land a kick on Aruto, but in the nick of time, Aruto is able to block it with his kick. If they are relying on raw strength, of course, Aruto is superior, but alas, both of them are sent flying with the impact.

Aruto groans as it feels like his organ is tossing around inside his body. He raises to his feet with a shaking body. He is going to hit his limit soon, he needs to upper this cursed copy of him somehow… somehow…

Aruto stops.

Right, this abominable thing is thinking like him.

Then…

Aruto shouldn’t think anything.

If he surrenders his mind to the darkness then…

Maybe… he can win.

0o0o0o0

Everything is dark around him… everything…

He feels empty, something is missing, and darkness starts to fill that empty part. But, he can’t do anything, he can’t move, he can’t…

Ikki…

Ikki’s eyes flutter open as he can hear a familiar voice.

I promise you that… I will seal the bad memories for you… well, that promise is invalid now, but you get the gist of it.

“Vice… is that you?”

This much darkness is kind of reviving me… not quite but close? It is confusing, I can’t understand either. But, I will protect you as long as I can… err… maybe not too long.

Anyway, Ikki… you need to do what you need to do, okay?

Ikki blinks as he processes the situation around him.

“AAARRRGGGHHH!”

“Ugh!”

Ikki sees how a black Kamen Rider with streaks of purple and white is choking on the white Kamen Rider.

Then they explode—no, the black Kamen Rider explodes himself.

“I will kill you—I will DESTROY YOU!” the black Kamen Rider is inside the fire, screaming in a hoarse voice that both sounds familiar but also unfamiliar to Ikki.

“Aruto-san…?”

The white Kamen Rider is scrambling down on the floor, part of his form is cracked and smashed because of the explosion. “Crazy… how you let… yourself… consumed by the darkness…”

“Ark-sama!” Azu is panicking at the side, she seems to want to run to the white Kamen Rider.

“Azu, stay away!” the white Kamen Rider is shouting back at Azu sternly. He raises back to his feet with his body shaking and his movement seems stiff, almost robotic.

Right… he is the humagear Aruto, Ikki just remembers it now.

What kind of situation is this? Ikki has a hard time remembering with all of the darkness pulling apart his memories. He looks around and sees how the others are lying on the floor. Their forms are being consumed by darkness.

“Daiji!?” Ikki kneels beside his little brother first and notices that he is unresponsive.

Everyone is down…

They need to escape from here, but—

“You… how about you stop trying so hard?” the humagear Aruto talks while carrying his mangled left arm. “Being humans is painful, being humagears that aspire to humans is painful, living is painful, don’t you think it is much easier to just… destroy everything? That way, no one will be in pain.”

Aruto shakes his head and screams animalistically. “Destroy… destroy… DESTROY YOU FIRST!” as he launches another punch toward him.

“Right… maybe you can destroy me… then you will destroy everything… that works out too.”

Ikki notices that if he lets this go on, it will end up badly.

Aruto’s screaming isn’t only full of madness.

But also full of pain.

So, Ikki is already putting down Daiji and running toward Aruto.

He sees how Aruto is delivering another fatal punch toward the humagear Aruto, exploding him to pieces.

Then, he sees how the darkness starts to bubble and flow toward Aruto.

Aruto is screaming around and trashing. His eyes start to flicker then turn black slowly as more and more darkness covered him.

“No—ARUTO-SAN!” he extends his hand toward Aruto. “Vice, please help me!”

Roger, Ikki!

Ikki pulls out his Giffard Rex Vstamp and transforms it into Ultimate Revi form quickly. Instinctively, even with his spotty memories, Ikki feels that this is the only way to help Aruto. He dives his hand inside the bundle of darkness, reaching for Aruto’s covered hand.

Using his magnetism power, Ikki pulls Aruto away, separating him from the darkness.

“Aruto-“

Ikki is stunned when Aruto punches him with his other arm, escaping away from his hold.

“AARRGGH! DESTROY! DESTROY!!”

Ikki is sent flying in the other direction. “Urgh… can’t he recognize me…” Ikki is using his magnetism power to pull Aruto toward him because he can see how darkness starts to latch onto Aruto again. But, with the rampaging Aruto coming his way…

Ikki!

Ikki is blocking his body, ready to receive another deadly attack from the berserk Aruto.

He feels the hit, but somehow the impact is lessened down.

“Aruto-sachou…”

Ikki looks beside him and there is another Kamen Rider with an appearance very similar to Aruto’s initial form that he has seen before in videos.

But, that voice is.

“Izu-san?” Ikki asks in surprise. She is helping him to block Aruto’s punch, and because of that, they both manage to withstand the impact.

“Aruto-sachou, please wake up!” she shouts desperately.

Now that Ikki looks at her closely, he can see how darkness has also started to spread on her form.

“…I… Izu…” Aruto’s body is shaking as if he is trying his best to hold back his rage. “Izu…”

“N..no… this is… this can’t be! This CAN’T END LIKE THIS!”

Ikki looks around and finds how Azu is hugging the torso of humagear Aruto, his legs and an arm are missing, with all of the cables and machines exposed. “I gathered so much of despair… just to revive him… why can’t you let me have him!? I WON’T LET IT END LIKE THIS!”

Ikki feels how the ground starts to tremble, then the wall and the ceilings start to shake as well.

“Damn, she is going to destroy this place-“ Ikki stops abruptly as he can see how the floor splits apart.

They are all going to fall!

“Aruto-sachou!” Izu weakly mutters as her eyes dimmed and she is falling along with the breaking floor.

“Izu—”

Ikki hears how Aruto whimpers before he dives down and catches her limp body.

“Aruto-san—”

They need to save everyone but how—

Ikki sees how Aruto is turning around, with Izu still in his arm, he uses another arm and darkness starts to flow around following his hands.

“Huh? Aruto-san, how—” Ikki can’t finish his words before his vision turns dark completely.

0o0o0o0

“RIKU!”

Touma opens his eyes in shock as his body is attacked with pain. He closes his eyes again as he groans and whimpers.

Damn it, everything hurts. His head is throbbing, his body feels as if he just got hit by a truck.

Riku isn’t here with him, Riku is away… he isn’t…

Touma turns around so that he lays on his back.

The sky is crying…

But… it is crying black…

“Ugh… no…” everything is so painful, this rain is so painful too.

“Aruto-san…”

Touma blinks as he can hear a familiar voice.

Is that an ambulance siren?

There are many noises far away from him but it is hard for Touma to make out of it.

“Ikki…” he calls, he knows that Ikki isn’t far from him.

“Touma-san…” Ikki whimpers. Based on his voice, he sounds lucid enough.

Ikki appears in Touma’s vision, he is totally beaten up with so many dark colors marring his skin.

“What happened to… Aruto…?”

Ikki turns around, probably looking in Aruto's direction. Ikki offers Touma a hand and the young novelist grabs it. Touma wants to cry when his body is exploding with pain, but still, he endures.

He leans to Ikki for support and with this sitting position, he can see what Ikki is seeing now.

There is a makeshift tent from plastic and a crowd of people is there.

Touma can distinguish the voice better now.

“…25, 26, 27, 29, 30…. Check the pulse, no pulse detected, continue the compression, 1, 2, 3…”

“…we need to bring him to hospital…”

“…do you think he is going to make it…”

“…monitor VF, get ready, all clear! Activate it!”

Touma feels as if everything moves in slow motion as the voice starts to drown out again. More people come down from vehicles, they are wearing protective hazmat and masks. They navigate through rubble under the raining black water.

“Pulse detected! Get him in the ambulance.”

Touma looks at how Aruto is being carried by people wearing hazmat. Even from this distance, Touma can see just how severe Aruto’s injuries are. His clothes are torn apart tainted with deep red and black colors. His left arm juts out weirdly.

“…Touma-san, Kamiyama Touma-san…”

Touma snaps out of his trance as he sees the person in front of him. Ikki is rubbing his back in a circle, though his hand is also trembling.

“Can you understand me? Can you walk? I will bring you to a safe place.”

Based on how scripted the dialogue is, Touma guesses the one in front of him is a healthcare humagear. Touma just nods without saying anything as he tries to stand up. Ikki catches him when he loses his balance then Touma straightens his body again.

“You need to explain to me everything you know… later…” Touma mutters to Ikki quietly.

Ikki looks at him with a dark face then he nods.

Touma feels lost, he doesn’t understand anything that is going on. Suddenly everything becomes a ruin, Aruto is dying, everyone is wounded and Touma barely remembers anything.

What is actually happened…?

What happens—

“Touma-san—let me carry you to the ambulance, okay? I will support you, you can hold on to me. We can walk slowly.”

Touma really doesn’t know… anything… anything at all.

It feels as if behind him, there is Riku crying in front of a burning bookstore.

Crying in pain and fear.

And Touma wants nothing more than to pull that child into a hug.

0o0o0o0

“You awake?”

“Jin?”

Izu blinks in confusion, and then she raises into a sitting position. She turns to see Jin sitting not too far from her, with an open laptop on his lap.

“We are short-handed, thankfully you are intact,” Jin explains with a tight smile.

His smile is strange.

Izu blinks again as she runs an analysis of her condition then she stops abruptly once she remembers something.

“Aruto-sachou!”

She turns around, hoping that she can find her boss somewhere inside the room.

“Jin, where is Aruto-sachou?” she asks the other humagear as she fails to find Aruto.

Jin sighs and ruffles his hair. He looks tired and spends out.

“Outside,” he answers shortly, closing his laptop and pointing at the door.

Izu steps out from her charging chair and walks outside. She looks at how many health care humagears are running around inside the hallway. There are many noises, from the beeping sound of monitors to people shouting instructions.

“It is chaotic here, there are many casualties,” Jin says then he gestures to Izu to follow him. So, she does.

They walk in silence as they navigate the swarm of busy humagears around them. “Not asking anything?” Jin finally asks her.

“I will ask once I confirm Aruto-sachou’s condition first,” Izu answers simply.

“You get your priority straight…” Jin says as they take a turn to another hallway.

Then Izu can see.

There are a couple of familiar faces standing in the hallway.

Igarashi Ikki.

Kamiyama Touma.

Fuwa Isamu.

Yaiba Yua.

Izu turns around to follow their gaze.

She sees a big window.

And she can see someone inside the room.

There is someone lying on a bed, covered with bandages from head to toe. There is a tube connected to his mouth and the ventilator is working with soft noise beside the bed. There is a monitor on the other side of the bed, beeping softly. She sees whose name is written on the end of the bed.

Hiden Aruto.

“Aruto-sachou…?” she mutters in confusion as she approaches the window.

She analyses what has happened to her and to her boss in the past 24 hours.

Aruto went missing.

She went to AIMS’ place to get some clues.

The server of the CCTVs on Hiden Intelligence got fixed and she accessed the footage of Aruto being in the lab in the previous day.

She accessed the data in the lab.

Aruto made a new progrisekey with combined data of Ark-Zero and Hell Rising Hopper.

Yaiba drove her to the perimeter near ZAIA HQ.

She ran inside the building.

She found Aruto in his new form about to hit Ikki.

She blocked his punch together with Ikki.

Azu cursed at them and triggered a mechanism to destroy the building.

She fell.

Aruto caught her.

And blank.

Data not found.

And now, here she is, in the hospital, with Aruto in critical condition.

She closes her eyes as she surfs through the connection and breaks the security of the hospital data.

Subjective, not responsive.

Objective, in a comatose state. Weak work of breathing. Active bleeding. Broken bones—

Izu stops accessing the data as her lips tremble.

“Aruto-sachou…” she whimpers weakly, she touches the glass panel. She closes her eyes and she can feel how tears fall from her eyes.

“Aruto-sachou… you can’t die… you can’t… please don’t die yet… you still… need to teach me… how to laugh from my heart…” she whimpers again, hoping that her words can somehow reach him, though she knows that he can’t hear her. But, still, she hopes that he can hear her.

Hoping that he can come back to her again, like before, like always.

There is nothing else that she wishes for.

Nothing else.

To Be Continued