Kamen Rider Zi-O, Dimensional Descent

His expression appeared relaxed and lazy.

"Ugh...it's been days since I've fought anything. All I do is go shopping, eat, sleep, and exercise..."

"What? Could it be that you have a very belligerent personality? That's interesting. You're clearly not very strong, yet you still love to fight so much."

"What the hell are you talking about! If you're so tough, come and fight me!"

"Have you forgotten, Geiz-kun? Even in your transformed state, if you weren't in the form of Resurrected Geiz, you still wouldn't be able to defeat me."

"That's all in the past, come on! Let's settle this once and for all—Puwaaah!"

Gates was about to shout something, and even made a gesture, when Yan Ming covered his mouth.

Just as Gates was muttering to himself, Yan Ming glanced at him briefly.

Then, he turned his gaze to the television in front of him.

"...Next, we have brand new news for you! It is said that Academy City has recently developed a brand new combat weapon! This weapon is not only very cost-effective, but also very powerful..."

Gates quickly slapped Yan Ming's hand away, looking at the television in front of him with some confusion.

"What's wrong with you? It's just a news program, what's the big deal?"

"Haven't you noticed yet, Mr. Gates?"

Even Wozniak looked at the television in front of him with a surprised expression.

"Don't you think the host standing at the front giving the speech is a bit strange?"

"—Huh?"

It was only then that Gates finally realized something was wrong.

The problem lies with that journalist.

He... no, she was a little girl who looked to be less than ten years old.

Eh—? A little girl?!

"This, how is this possible? A girl around nine years old as a reporter?!"

"That's not all! Look out the window!"

Woz ran to the window and called out. Yan Ming and Gates exchanged a glance, then walked directly to the window.

What came into view was simply... a spectacle.

On the streets of Academy City, most of the people you used to see were students.

But today is completely different.

There were students, but... the crowd was mixed and they made up a very small percentage.

The people walking on the street were clearly African natives.

There are also well-known astronauts who work as street thugs, extorting money from others.

There are scenes of female celebrities dating octogenarian grandfathers, infants cooking in kitchens, and the people eating are the presidents of two countries. All sorts of unimaginable scenes are scattered on the streets outside.

"What, what is this—?"

"Stay alert, Wozniak, Gates."

While Gates was still in shock, Yan Ming had already fully realized what was happening.

He said this.

"This must be some kind of world-class chaos orchestrated by someone behind the scenes. Let's find out what's going on."

"Then resolve this matter completely."

Not at all muddle-headed.

Just like handling official business, the young man, bearing the weight of his kingly status, immediately got into the zone.

Volume 5 of A Certain Magical Index: Chapter 146 The Magician Kanzaki Kaori

As they saw, everything changed.

From Yan Ming's perspective, everyone's identity has changed. Infants and toddlers go to work, and those who should be working become infants and toddlers. Students and teachers switch roles, and even the president of the country becomes a person playing guitar on the roadside.

This is more than just a simple matter of switching identities.

"What on earth is going on here?! It looks so out of place!"

As Gates walked down the street, he saw many similar phenomena.

For example, the person who greeted him was an old man who looked to be in his seventies or eighties, and on the other side were two couples, one a child under five years old, and the other a muscular man.

Just looking at these things is enough to make people feel a sense of eeriness from the bottom of their hearts.

"Ah! I've run into you again!"

Who?

The three of them stopped in their tracks, and the person who came over went straight to Yan Ming.

She was just a girl with long black hair.

Although he looked cute, Yan Ming didn't recognize him at all. He was probably around fourteen years old and a junior high school student.

She walked right up to Yan Ming as if they were old friends, put one hand on her hip, and looked at him with a grin.

"Thank you for what you did last time. Oh? Are these people your friends?"

"Sort of... May I ask who you are?"

"What? Who am I? You don't recognize me? I'm Misaka Mikoto!"

Misaka... Mikoto? So she's turned out like this.

Since people all over the world have changed their appearance for some unknown reason, it's likely that Misaka Mikoto has too.

However... the other party doesn't seem to realize the abnormality in their own body.

Why are you staring at me like that... Is there something dirty on my face?

She was completely unaware that her appearance had been replaced.

Upon learning of this situation, Yan Ming immediately had a second question on his mind.

"Misaka, tell me about the physical characteristics of the three of us."

"Huh...?"

"So, how do you see the three of us right now?"

Misaka Mikoto… or rather, Misaka Mikoto disguised as an unknown girl blinked and looked at Yan Ming with great confusion.

"Appearance... Well, what does that mean? You're just like usual, even your clothes are the same as when we last met."

"Then your friends... one was dressed in black and red, the other was holding a book and wearing a coat..."

"Huh? Does she see that none of the three of us look different?!"

Gates was immediately shocked.

Misaka Mikoto was even more confused by what they were saying.

"What...what are they even saying..."

“I see… I understand now, thank you, Misaka.”

"Wait a minute—you better explain what happened!"

After saying goodbye to Misaka Mikoto, Yan Ming left with Gates and Woz, ignoring the bewildered girl behind him.

"Seriously, what is this guy doing?"

Reflecting on her experiences over the past few days, Misaka Mikoto sighed helplessly.

"The same thing happened a few days ago... That spiky-haired guy was just as weird as this guy, with that strange power in his right hand. Well, although that guy helped me and my sisters... but when did Academy City become full of weird guys like this?"

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

"It seems we have the situation under control for now."

After leaving Misaka Mikoto, the three of them randomly found a restaurant and had a simple lunch together.

Yan Ming sat at the table and summarized the intelligence he had gathered to the two of them.

"First, people all over the world have experienced unexplained body replacements."

"Secondly, they themselves are unaware that their bodies have been replaced. In their eyes, their own bodies have always remained the same, but the other people who have been replaced are, in their eyes, the replaced bodies."

"In the end, the three of us, in other people's eyes, will always remain the same as before, unchanged."

However, despite summarizing these points, Gates still felt completely confused about the matter.

Even so, we still don't know why the world has become like this!

Yan Ming then looked towards Woz, but Woz could only helplessly place the book on the table.

"I'm so sorry, my Demon King, but the Omaguchi Advent Calendar KT hasn't provided enough information yet."

"So, does that mean I have to figure it out on my own again...?"

Just as Yan Ming was pondering this troubled thought, his phone vibrated slightly in his pocket.

After taking out his phone, Yan Ming saw that the contact whose number consisted of a string of zeros had sent him a long message.

What is this?

After seeing the contents of Yan Ming's phone, Gates scratched his head in confusion.

"Is it a code that needs to be deciphered?"

"No, these are spatial coordinates."

It might not be of much use to Gates and Wozniak, but Yan Ming could use it to directly calculate accurate latitude and longitude and various data information.

And at the very bottom there was a sentence attached.

"Go to this location, and all the anomalies will be resolved."

"Do you mean you want us to go here...?"

"It might be a trap, Zi-O, but even so, you're still going?"

"There's nowhere else to go, is there?"

After the group had lunch, and Yan Ming had thoroughly calculated the location information, he directly connected to that location using the Aurora Curtain.

And after passing through the aurora curtain.

The environment before me was an endless ocean.

"Is this...the beach?"

The ocean, the beach, and the unique cabins and streetscape behind the beach.

It's easy to see that this is a tourist attraction, but it's not located within Academy City.

Recalling the coordinates he had been given earlier, Yan Ming immediately guessed the actual situation.

Was this sent to me by Aleister?

But what is the purpose of bringing yourself to this place?

He said coming here would resolve all the anomalies, could it be that he meant...?

"Perhaps here we can find out why people all over the world have their appearances replaced."

"Is that right?"

This is just speculation.

However, now that we're here, we should start the investigation first.

Just as Yan Ming was about to take a step...

"what happened to you?"

When Gates saw Yan Ming suddenly take a step but then stop, he looked at him with a face full of surprise.

Woz also seemed to be acting strangely.

"What's wrong with you all? You've been so jumpy since just now, it's making me feel—"