I want to become a Kamen Rider

“That’s not what I meant. What I meant was that whether it’s the former Speaker or anyone else who has unjustly placed all sorts of expectations on him but has never properly paid them, they should all let him go.”

"...But he won't let himself off the hook, will he?"

"..."

There was a moment of silence before Hachiman Hikigaya changed the subject:

"Ugh, why is my gift a year's worth of MAX coffee coupons? I'm the one who gets along best with the second-in-command at school, but the most valuable motorcycle was given to you, Sakuta."

Azusagawa Sakuta's eyes were gloomy.

"So why did the former speaker make us follow our senior? Was it so we could ruin his plans at a crucial moment? I'm not doing that."

"no……"

Hachiman Hikigaya's voice became very low, and his previous sarcastic tone vanished without a trace. He took out a candy cigarette, put it in his mouth, and offered one to Sakuta Azusagawa.

"It's because the Second Minister donated almost all the money he had saved from his job to a fund for raising orphans after the disaster, just as the former Speaker went to the International Astronomical Observatory and learned that a giant space meteorite had just been observed heading towards Earth."

Chapter 107 Tartarus and the Star Gate

What does it feel like to lose both the past and the future?

This question is as difficult to answer as asking a person born blind, "What color is darkness?" If Fan Kang were to answer this question, he would probably say it has both advantages and disadvantages.

Although it sounds like an incredibly painful price to pay, and it truly is, no matter how you analyze it, it's a thing that does more harm than good. But... in a battle long enough to forget everything, it has indeed played countless roles.

According to the "diary," the most recent instance was when he was fighting against a group of guys who called themselves second-generation "Time Jackers," and he was immune to time stop.

This is only natural. What can a man who has neither a past nor a future give to a holder of time-based abilities to pause things? He is an isolated existence on the timeline, like a reef against the current, with only the most basic "existence" remaining.

Even the existence of this thing itself, according to the "Diary", was temporarily confirmed by sacrificing the green "Time Gem", the golden "Self Gem", the "Aja Red Stone" which was as clear as blood crystal, and the "G Stone" whose nature was unknown, which were obtained from Takamatsu.

As it turns out, if you fight enough, even a purely negative flaw can one day come in handy because it fails to meet the triggering conditions of an opponent's ability.

As for the downsides of losing the past and the future...

"Minister, I'm going to buy water."

Hiiragi Tina's clear voice pulled him back to reality from the mire of his thoughts.

"Uh-huh."

The purple-haired girl released his hand, the lingering warmth in her palm both clear and fleeting. Holding her change, she walked briskly towards the convenience store on the corner, leaving a vibrant silhouette.

I don't know when it started, but the girl who always looked downcast in my memory has become cheerful.

A patch of snow-white appeared on his shoulder, and two long ears adorned with golden rings, making him resemble a rabbit-like creature.

'How wonderful it is to spend time with someone you love, to share beautiful moments, and to create precious memories. But she doesn't know that no matter what happens next, she'll be the only one who truly remembers it all.'

"..."

Seeing his silence, Cupid tilted his head:

Do you remember who I am?

"A white, suspicious alien creature."

'Honestly, Kang-kun is really malicious. If you remember Kyubey's words, just say them directly. Otherwise... given your current state, I thought you'd forgotten Kyubey as well.'

"The one with real malice is you, who keeps reminding me that I can no longer have the past or the future."

Fan Kang pulled out a small, worn-out hardcover notebook and began searching through it.

He didn't used to keep a diary.

'What's wrong? Has something been 'forgotten' again?'

"It is the lost past, that battle with the golden god."

'Wasn't that an oversight? What's the point of reminiscing now? Or is it that guy who likes to introduce himself calling again?'

"No. It's just that when Wu Tina asked me today, I couldn't answer."

Fan Kang flipped through the pages in his hand without looking up.

Having literally lost both the past and the future, his time was forever frozen on the day the black fire ignited. Since then, everything he has experienced cannot be truly possessed. Even if he temporarily records it with the power of the "stone," he will eventually lose it.

Like a sandcastle, no matter how sturdy it is built, the sand will eventually crumble.

When he told Hiiragi Tina about the past, he spoke incoherently, his words were disjointed and rambling, not intentionally, but because even he himself no longer knew what had happened back then, and could only reconstruct everything based on the scattered fragments in his "diary".

He can no longer have a new future; this is one of the defects caused by losing both the past and the future.

As the power of the "stone" gradually diminishes, he will slowly forget the past.

Fan Kang now feels like the tragic heroine of a clichéd melodrama, unable to grasp the past and future she has already paid off, no matter what she does.

Fortunately, he didn't feel like he was in a tragedy.

Having traversed countless battles that seem utterly absurd even when read in the "diary," he returned to this place, the place where he initially gave up everything. Even if he cannot find a new "stone" to continue his existence, he can once again protect his loved ones.

Kewpie calmly reminded him, his gaze fixed on the entrance to the convenience store:

'The purple-haired dwarf is coming back.'

"found it."

Run your fingers across the surface of the "diary" to find the entry for that day.

Because there were only a few gods they had fought against—only fourteen or fifteen—and with the qualifier "golden," they were easy to index.

【Battle Chronicles: Enemy God】

[Fifth World, [Month] [Day], Sunny]

"Following Godzilla, the fourth enemy I feel Ultraman should deal with has appeared."

"A golden giant who claims to be the ultimate life form."

"Radiant with light, wielding the power of time and space, he was like a god."

"But he seems to prefer calling himself the ultimate life form."

……

【Battle Chronicles: Enemy God】

[Fifth World, ▇ Month ▇ Day, Cloudy]

"So, it's one thing for the Shockers, born on Earth, to try and rule the world, but why are so many aliens trying to invade this godforsaken place like Earth, even opening stargates already?"

"And that jerk who likes to introduce himself, let's have a one-on-one fight if you dare! What's the meaning of bullying an old, weak, and disabled person like me and then calling for help?!"

"Hopefully, Takamatsu's stone will be of some use."

"Please, Aunt Xiangzi, go and take the last batch of meat; don't leave her a single one."

……

【Battle Chronicles: Enemy God】

[Fifth World, [Month] [Day], Heavy Rain]

"The ultimate life form, Absolut Tartarus, is not bad."

The record ends here. Fan Kang read it for a long time but still couldn't figure out what Tartarus was. It seems that it wasn't that he had lost the memories he had written down after reading the diary, which caused him to not tell the story well, but rather that he was lazy when he wrote the diary.

However, one thing is largely certain.

That means Tartarus is very strong, very, very strong.

In earlier records in the "Diary", sealing the ancient god only required one or two stones, but defeating him required a whole batch of stones.

Of course, this may also be related to the diary entries where Tartarus complained about using numbers to bully the weak and attack one against one.

Fan Kang closed his diary; his faint attempt to grasp the past had once again failed. He looked at the white creature on his shoulder.

"Hey, Cupid, what exactly is Tartarus?"

'The ultimate life form.'

"So, what is the ultimate life form?"

'To put it simply, that's complete life, the immortality you could have achieved.'

"Now that you put it that way, I feel that giving up immortality back then wasn't such a big deal after all."

"That's not how it works; even ultimate life forms vary in strength."

The warmth of the sunlight was blocked out by the shade of the trees.

Fan Kang carefully put away the "diary" that held his broken existence, placing it back in his inner pocket. The convenience store door opened, and the wind chimes tinkled crisply. Purple hair danced in the sunlight as a girl with purple hair jogged back, a smile on her face, carrying a bottle of ice water.

"Minister, water."

She placed the cold mineral water bottle into Fan Kang's hand, her fingertips inadvertently brushing against his palm, bringing a real, tangible touch to the moment.

The past and the future are lost; only the coldness in my hands and the smile before my eyes are the only "now" I can grasp.

Chapter 108 [The Battle of the Mysterious Pass]

Chiba Prefecture, 800 meters north of Minamiboso Quasi-National Park.

After passing the second fork in the road, turn left. The first detached house you see is Tina Hiiragi's home.

A typical Japanese detached house. In Chiba Prefecture, in a location that is neither particularly remote nor bustling, it stands quietly under the sunlight. The beige exterior walls have been gently tinged with the hues of time and sunlight; they are not new, but certainly not old. The deep blue roof slopes gently, like a simple hat. The house is small, a two-story structure, compact yet perfectly proportioned, neither feeling empty and cold nor cramped and oppressive.

A small front yard, not an overly elaborate garden, but just a few clusters of tenacious green plants and a clean stone path leading to the entrance. The entrance has a typical sliding door, next to which is a small mailbox and a place to hang a nameplate—it reads "Hira". The windows have typical aluminum frames, reflecting the afternoon sun; one of the second-floor windows has a pale purple curtain hanging on it, a small mark of a young girl.

This is Tina Hiiragi's house.

She was born here, took her first steps here, and spent eighteen years of her life here. This year, she just turned eighteen. This home holds all her childhood and adolescence, and has witnessed the transformation of her personality.

From the age of four, a recurring dream haunted her. The content of the dream was identical year after year. Young Tina naively believed this was proof of being "chosen," and in her immature, adolescent fantasies, she constructed many heroic tales. However, this "specialness" did not bring glory during her sensitive middle school years; instead, it made her an outcast, completely depriving her of the "ticket" to make friends.

Since then, gloom and social anxiety have entangled her like vines, and even after entering high school, this hard shell has not completely disappeared.

The girl never imagined that Kamen Rider would actually appear in this world, and the protagonist of her dream that had been repeating itself for fourteen years was now holding her sweaty hand, their fingers intertwined, walking together toward her all-too-familiar home.

Originally, I didn't care.

Given the minister's terrible personality, he would definitely have turned away halfway there, then smiled and looked at her sullen face, saying he was just trying to scare her. But she and the minister had been holding hands all the way, and even now, as they reached the door, the minister still hadn't reacted.

He seemed to think he was really going to stay at her house tonight.

"Um, Minister, are you really going to stay at my house tonight?"

"Didn't we agree on this before?"

"But I thought you were joking."

"...Tina, not keeping your word is not a good habit."

The girl's face was burning.

"But, but..."

"Besides, didn't you confess your feelings to me before? It's normal for a boyfriend to sleep at his girlfriend's house, right?"

When a boyfriend goes to his girlfriend's house to sleep, the only thing they usually do is... well, you know...

This is not something a normal minister should say.

He held her hand gently, just like before, and made many other considerate gestures. This was definitely not something the bad department head she remembered would do, who only knew how to steal her comics. However, from the small movements when he turned the pages to the angle when he looked up, countless small details proved that the boy in front of her was still the department head she knew.

Half a year has passed, and she has changed a lot. Her naivety has blossomed into true love, but he seems to have changed even more.

She's not even arrogant anymore.

The girl was quite shaken:

"Oh right, the minister hasn't given me a reply yet regarding my confession..."

"I thought our relationship was close enough that we didn't need any formalities. Okay then..."

Sunlight fell on his downcast eyes. The young man stood in front of her house, took her hand, and spoke in a clear and gentle voice:

"I like you, Wu Tina. Okay, now we're boyfriend and girlfriend, take me inside."

"What a casual confession!"