Kamen Rider Zi-O, Dimensional Descent

Index hurriedly grabbed the hand of the person in front of her and kept talking.

However... something seems a bit off.

After noticing that the person opposite her hadn't spoken for a long time, she finally looked directly at the person in front of her.

"...Huh?"

No...not Touma?

This is a young man dressed entirely in black and purple. His outer garment and inner lining are well-matched, and despite the sweltering heat, he looks quite fashionable.

The other person had black hair and purple eyes... which was completely unrelated to the spiky hairstyle I remembered.

At this point, Index finally realized that she had asked the wrong person.

"Ah... ahhh, I'm so sorry! I think I asked the wrong person, I'm really sorry!!"

"Hey Index... before you open the door, at least look through the peephole to see who it is, right? Otherwise, what if a bad guy comes into the house?"

Behind the silent Yan Ming came the voice of Kamijou Touma. He sighed and opened the door, which finally brought Index back to her senses.

Huh...? She blinked, staring at Yan Ming in surprise.

"Touma? This is your... friend?"

"I guess... I guess so? Even though we've only just met! Anyway, Index, tonight, this guy... uh..."

"Shilun Yanming".

"Oh right! This Mr. Yan Ming will be staying at our apartment. Well, he's only staying for one night, so don't worry about our future."

"...Seeking lodging?!"

Even Index was surprised.

However, shortly afterward, a strong wind suddenly picked up outside the window, and then it started to drip.

"Oh no! I haven't brought in the clothes I hung out to dry on the balcony! I hope they don't get wet in the rain!!"

Touma Kamijou quickly ran towards the balcony.

Yan Ming then closed the door and began to examine the layout of the room.

It's a very standard student dormitory.

The room has a fairly spacious living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a balcony.

It's just right for one person, a bit tight but acceptable for two people, but for three people...

Yan Ming couldn't even imagine how to arrange the bedroom for tonight.

"that…"

At this moment, the petite nun looked at Yan Ming.

"Hello! My name is Index, and I'm a nun currently living in Touma's house!"

"She really is a nun." Yan Ming was slightly surprised by her identity, but didn't ask any further questions.

How long have you lived together?

"Hmm...it's been a while, about ten days or so."

Is that so...? Yan Ming felt as if this girl was very familiar with the apartment, as if she had lived there for several months.

It seems that something deep must have happened between Touma Kamijou and this girl named Index.

------------------

"So that's how it is...!"

After tidying up the room and closing the door, Touma Kamijou turned on the air conditioner, which made the room no longer damp and stuffy.

Although it's still raining, it feels unusually hot and humid today.

"So Mr. Yan Ming came from outside Academy City, just like me!"

"Aren't you a local from this city either?"

However, Yan Mingguang could guess Index's identity just by looking at her clothes.

After all, it's hard to imagine a nun with religious beliefs appearing in a city with such a strong scientific atmosphere.

The three of them sat together in the living room, turned on the TV, and chatted.

"Index is a foreigner from England. She only recently moved into my apartment. Well... it's hard to say exactly why, but it was a very magical experience."

"Touma! I'm so hungry, when can we eat?"

"what…"

At this point, Touma Kamijou's expression turned anxious.

He quickly opened the refrigerator, but unfortunately, all that was left were some simple vegetables and leftovers, not enough to make anything delicious.

Looks like this is all we can eat today…

"Hey~ that's so little!"

"There's nothing I can do, considering how much you eat every day..."

"Hmm? What do I do every day?"

"...No, it's nothing."

Touma Kamijou originally intended to say, "You eat way too much every day," but Index has a habit of biting her own head when she gets angry, so Touma Kamijou quickly changed his mind.

Just at this time.

"Green vegetables, and some cabbage... tomato sauce and sesame seeds, are they all condiments?"

Yan Ming walked over.

He glanced at the food in the refrigerator, then took some eggs from the table next to him and ran to the kitchen to find a few empty bowls.

"As a condition of staying at your house, Kamijou, I'll help you cook dinner tonight."

"Huh? Mr. Yan Ming, you can cook?"

Kamijou Touma looked at Yan Ming with some surprise.

However, he had already started working on it by then.

Before long, a very tempting aroma wafted from the kitchen.

"This, this is—!"

Yan Ming skillfully ladled the prepared food into bowls and then placed them on the table.

How can I describe it?

When Touma Kamijou saw the food that others had prepared, his first thought was that all the cooking skills he had learned in the first half of his life were no match for even a single hair on their head.

There were only three bowls of rice on the table, made from leftover rice and vegetables, but the presentation of these three bowls of rice was already at a divine level.

The cabbage was clearly several days old, but it looked as fresh as if it had just been bought, with a vibrant color. The food had a slight caramel color, not the black color of burnt food, but a color that made it even more appetizing.

And they even used ketchup... The taste and aroma are comparable to those in restaurants.

Most importantly, the raw materials were really just leftovers from the refrigerator and eggs that I had just bought!

How on earth did they manage to make it like this?!

"I was worried you wouldn't have enough to eat, so I also made a simple egg drop soup."

"Simple, simple, simple—?!"

Looking at the three bowls of egg drop soup that seemed to shimmer with golden light, Touma Kamijou felt like he was going blind.

You're telling me this is easy?

"It's so delicious! Touma! Mr. Yanming's cooking is much better than yours before!!"

"Even though I already guessed this would be the outcome, it's still really hurtful to hear you say it so directly!"

Even so, Touma Kamijou, like Index, frantically ate his rice.

"This food is so delicious! It's good enough to serve at a state banquet!"

Yan Ming shook his head helplessly, took off his apron, and sat down at the table to eat his bowl.

"Ah, speaking of which, why did Mr. Yan Ming come to Academy City in the first place?"

"It wasn't really a big reason. I came here thinking I'd get superpowers or something, like the other students, but..."

"...So you're also a Level 0 powerless user?"

"Really?" Yan Ming immediately deduced Kamijou Touma's identity based on this sentence.

"In this Academy City, could it be that people without superpowers actually make up the majority?"

"Uh, I'm not too clear on the specifics either."

Kamijou Touma took a sip of the soup, exclaiming "Delicious!" while continuing to look at Yan Ming.

"However... there are quite a few people without abilities in our school, at least that's how it seems to me."

"Many people come to Academy City hoping to gain outstanding abilities, but most of them don't get what they want. Even so, there are still many interesting things in Academy City!"

"That's true, I can see that."

Having managed to extract some information, Yan Ming was able to begin to learn more about the city.

Now... to put it simply, Wozniak and Gates probably won't be able to run into them for the time being.

Let's just stay in this person's apartment and rest for a bit.

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Then, in the evening, the accommodations were allocated as follows.

Index slept on the bed, Touma Kamijou slept on a makeshift bed on the floor, and Yan Ming chose to sleep in the bathtub.

Touma Kamijou usually sleeps in the bathtub, but Yan Ming has slept in much harsher environments before, so he has no problem with it.

However—around one or two in the morning, he woke up.

Upon entering the living room, Yan Ming saw Index and Touma sleeping casually and couldn't help but marvel at how people like them could actually live together.

Then he went to the balcony by himself.

Academy City...a city that cultivates superpowered individuals, and whose technology is even 20 or 30 years ahead of the outside world.

This city has existed for a very, very long time; this information was obtained from Touma Kamijou.

Who built this city?

This is Yan Ming's only question right now: who is the person who created all this superpower-like technology, which far surpasses the technology of the outside world? And why did he do all this?

next moment.

Yan Ming directly picked up the stool next to his feet and launched it like an arrow to his right side.

thump—

The wooden stool hit something...it looked like a can of soda.

However, Yan Ming was quite certain that when he looked a second ago, there wasn't this bottle of soda there yet.

"Hi~"

Just then, someone's voice came from downstairs.

It was a young girl.

She was wearing a school uniform, which she draped over her shoulders, and she had red hair, which was tied into two buns.

She appeared to be holding a flashlight in her hand.

Under Yan Ming's watchful gaze, the girl simply raised the flashlight in her hand—

The can of soda suddenly appeared in his empty right hand.

"Mr. Shilun Yanming... is that your name?"

After transferring the soda to Yan Ming's hands through some unknown means, the girl looked at him with a smile.

"Excuse me, my boss would like to have a brief chat with you. Do you have a moment?"