I want to become a Kamen Rider

Even Hachiman Hikigaya, kneeling on the ground, stared at the knight who had shielded him from the blade, his mouth agape, and he cried out, his throat strained:

"Go for it, Kuuga—!"

As he uttered the last syllable, whether it was his old habit of excessive self-awareness or something real, Hachiman Hikigaya felt Kuuga glance at him, and then... turn away.

He threw a punch, and the flames illuminated the world.

The mantis monster was instantly reduced to ashes in the burning flames.

What would it be like to see a Kamen Rider fight a monster?

If Hachiman Hikigaya, a veteran Kamen Rider fan, were to answer this question, he would say, based on the scenes in the TV series, that it would be a series of exciting and intense battles.

Both the monsters and the knights use their full strength to fight each other. If the monsters are too powerful, the knights will train themselves, hone their character, and develop special moves. In short, there will be a series of episodes that can last at least ten minutes.

If the opponent is strong enough, it might take several episodes to fight. If the opponent is exceptionally strong, the knight might have to lose a few times first, and even experience regret, pain, and growth before he can awaken a new form and defeat the enemy.

If it's a theatrical version that promotes newcomers, then several veteran actors have to step in first, and the entire theatrical run has to be spent to complete the showdown.

But that didn't happen. There was no evenly matched duel, no dazzling and equal battle, only a one-sided crushing defeat.

From the start to the end of the battle, it didn't even take half a minute.

The mantis monster was engulfed in flames from Kuuga's punch and then exploded. Without turning his head, Kuuga calmly and naturally raised his fist towards the other two monsters, his back to the flames.

The locust monster, no longer displaying its previous arrogant and domineering demeanor, cowered and retreated.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the scorpion-shaped monster circled around behind the knight, its tail stinger piercing the air in an attempt to launch a sneak attack. However, it only managed to create a few sparks behind the knight. After Kuuga defeated the locust monster with a single punch, the scorpion-shaped monster, which was actually a scorpion, severed its tail to survive.

It escaped very quickly, so I took two punches.

The first punch knocks off the tail; the second punch destroys the torso.

The scorpion-shaped monster's compound eyes faded to gray-white under the golden light.

The trajectory of Kuuga's punch ignited the air; the flames weren't crimson or orange-yellow, but rather a liquid stream of light like melting gold leaf. The monster collapsed into countless particles of light the instant it touched the fist, like a misspelled word erased by an eraser.

The attacking monsters were all defeated, and the dark mall returned to peace, with occasional sobs that eventually turned into wailing.

The heroes who saved everyone were not entirely basking in the cheers. Although there were many loud thanks and cheers, there were even more tears.

The moment the Kamen Rider appeared, many people stopped crying and screaming. Kuuga arrived quickly and saved Hachiman and Komachi, but many others were injured when the first wave of monsters appeared, or even... witnessed the death of their loved ones.

Having survived the ordeal, they were saved. No longer needed to suppress their fear, no longer needed to be afraid that the strange man would find them by following the sound, and no longer needed to hold back their sorrow. So they cried out loud.

Hachiman Hikigaya was not included in this list. Although he also wanted to take the opportunity to bury himself in Komachi's arms and cry his heart out, he felt that he should at least express his gratitude properly.

He looked toward the only light in the darkness, but the knight reached out to the sky.

The moment Kuuga raised his right fist, the golden light bursting from the spirit stone surged like a tide over the ruins. Broken glass shards floated and reassembled in the stream of light, reflecting hundreds of faces, some laughing and some crying.

The golden light transformed into feathers of light and fell.

The urban woman, huddled behind a pillar, clutched her bleeding forehead, only to find her palm covered in congealed coffee stains. Using the glow of the light feather, she trembled as she touched a shattered mirror, where her wounds were slowly healing.

"Mom, the bunny is fixed..."

The girl holding the charred rabbit doll stopped crying and started laughing. Silver threads were pulled out from the charred, broken ear of the doll and wrapped around it to form new fluff.

Hikigaya Hachiman was astonished to see the abrasions on Komachi's knees healing in the light, and the tears in the mint green scarf on her chest being stitched up with invisible needles.

Further away, the plant-like Hachiman that we had seen earlier had grown strong branches through the concrete, and flower buds were swelling and blooming in the gaps. What we thought was a weed turned out to be a flower.

This time, no one cried.

Everyone smiled, and Hachiman, watching the staggering figure about to leave, shouted:

"Thank you very much!"

The knight, who had been walking away unsteadily, turned around, expecting no reply.

Facing him, she stretched out an arm—that was Kuuga's signature move.

Hachiman Hikigaya also gave him a thumbs-up and thanked him once again, a heartfelt thank you after many years:

"Thank you, Kuuga!"

……

……

The red and blue lights of the police car cut through the remaining darkness outside the mall, and Inspector Megure, the belated representative of the 11th ward police, got out of the car.

As he watched the ambulances coming and going, their sirens blaring, the nicotine gum he had been chewing crumbled into dust between his teeth. He looked nervously at his subordinate who was directing others to set up a cordon.

"Casualty statistics?"

The young patrolman hesitated for a moment, then replied, "Seventeen people were slightly injured, and four were seriously injured. Among them..."

This is an utterly absurd number. Even if a stampede occurred in a large shopping mall with so many people, the losses would not be this small, let alone such a vicious terrorist attack.

But perhaps precisely because it was so heinous, most of the victims have probably already...

"Death toll?"

"zero."

"This is impossible!"

Megure's pupils contracted to a point.

He strode through the revolving door and saw a man in a suit on an emergency stretcher taking a selfie with his phone—his neck was twisted at a horrifying angle, like a clay doll bent at will by a child.

"Comminuted fracture of the C3-C5 cervical vertebrae." The accompanying medical staff's faces were filled with shock, as if their worldview had collapsed. "But the carotid pulse is normal... This is impossible!"

Megure's gaze swept over the mess on the ground.

"Surveillance footage! Access all..."

“It’s completely destroyed.” The forensic officer held up the molten hard drive. “But according to the survivors, Kamen Rider Kuuga appeared when the terrorists disguised themselves as monsters and attacked the mall.”

"Kamen Rider Kuuga?"

"Correct."

The forensic officer shrugged, giving me an expression that said, "Don't look at me like that, I don't know what's wrong with me."

Cases involving suspected supernatural phenomena should not be under the jurisdiction of the police, or at least not the criminal investigation department.

"It seems that this vicious terrorist attack was related to that 'Kuuga'..."

This was the first time in many years of my work that I had witnessed such a scene at a crime scene: no one was crying, and many people were laughing.

He paused.

"—No one died."

Chapter Three: Rewritten Fate

"Hachiman, you never seem to smile."

"I haven't been able to smile since my first year of high school. What has kept me going until now is nothing more than my obsession with avenging my sister."

【"Feel sorry."】

"What are you apologizing for? The ones who truly deserve repentance are those monsters and demons. I don't want to hear apologies from good people."

.........

……

Two hours ago.

Fan Kang, who was sitting peacefully on the bed talking to the Ringed Beast, changed his expression after an urgent news report was broadcast on the radio.

He rolled off the bed and pulled the IV needle out of the back of his hand.

Barefoot on the cold floor tiles, the cold wind rushed into his throat as he dashed out of the ward, his movements so swift that even Cupid couldn't keep up.

"What's the date today? What month? What year?"

He grabbed the collar of the first nurse he encountered in the corridor and pressed her for answers, the date piercing his temple like a red-hot nail.

As if in response to his feelings, the spirit stone felt hot at his waist.

He remembered this day, naturally, the day it all began, the day his dead-eyed colleague lost his sister and embarked on the path of Kamen Rider.

Many people lost loved ones on this day, and it was also the first time the world experienced the horror of fantastical evils becoming reality.

Wearing a hospital gown and slippers, Fan Kang jumped off the windowsill, ran out of the hospital, and onto the road.

"Hey, don't do anything reckless!"

Once again, Cupid appeared, squatting on the fire hydrant, his ruby-like eyes reflecting the boy's staggering figure.

The asphalt road was radiating the midday heat when Fan Kang tripped and fell in the middle of the zebra crossing, his knee hitting the ground with a dull thud.

"Wouldn't it be enough to save the majority of people?"

Kyubey naturally expressed his confusion, and the same question lingered in his heart despite his ailing body.

'So tired, so painful...'

'I've already died once, why bother fighting so hard...'

'Aside from that dead fish eye, which I can barely consider a connection with, what do I really have to do with the people there...'

Blood dripped from his palm onto the surface of the spirit stone. The belt, which only responded to the right heart, and which seemed to always ignore him because it was not the real one but a fake, responded to his call for the first time.

"No, at least this time, I'm going to save everyone."

The boy pressed his bloodied hand to his waist, and the energy emanating from the spirit stone flowed into his veins like molten steel.

Having fought countless times as a fake, he was so skilled and adept at it this time, even as the genuine article.

"Kuuga!!!"

The moment the roar burst from his throat, a silver and black mask covered his face.

The knight waved, and a motorcycle parked by the roadside started automatically, its exhaust pipe spewing out blue flames—this was Ling Shi choosing its ride.

The motorcycle transformed and reassembled in mid-air, and a stag beetle-like creature flew out. The two combined unexpectedly to form a "warhorse" that should have required a real horse to complete.

The warhorse galloped toward the knight. Despite never having used this form before and being unskilled in horsemanship, he mounted the horse and rode forward.

With the help of Cupid and Golem, riding a horse is surprisingly easy; just avoid living creatures and you'll fall into a hole.

The white-ringed beast looked at the alien knight with some fear. He had just completed the contract and could skip many prerequisite forms without any instruction. He could even use the "golem" skillfully.

"what are you up to?"

What reached their ears was a shocking statement that surpassed all the previously identified chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) hosts.

"I'm going to change my destiny."

……

……

"A peaceful world."

It was raining heavily. Fan Kang, who had just finished fighting, opened his umbrella and walked between the tall buildings.

On his shoulder was that suspicious alien creature that called itself Cupid, shaped like a rabbit, and invisible to others.

"so good."

It was just an ordinary scene: people walking through the rain, vehicles constantly passing by, tall buildings standing tall, and the metal jungle of reinforced concrete that, in his eyes, evoked a sense of intoxication and nostalgia.

It felt as if what lay before me was not an ordinary world, but a utopia from my dreams.

"Is it really that exaggerated?"

Cupid did not speak, yet his voice naturally resonated in the heart.

"It's not an exaggeration, it's practically a dream come true."

He stretched out his finger and caught a drop of water falling from the sky. He wiped it on his palm, and he felt a pang of sadness, having not cried in a long time.

It's not that I'm glad I'm still alive, but that I'm glad the world is still alive.

The raindrops tapped out a fine drumbeat on the umbrella.

Fan Kang stood at the corner of the overpass, watching the neon lights shatter in the puddles. The smell of disinfectant still lingered deep in his nostrils, but what filled his lungs now was the damp smell of the asphalt road after being soaked by the rain, mixed with the aroma of oden wafting from the convenience store.