Ever since Tachibana Tobei had passed away, the seven Kamen Riders who he had known and befriended over the years would get together once a year, on the man's birthday, to race each other across a desert. It was their hope that the motorcycle enthusiast was watching them from above, enjoying the tribute, perhaps placing bets on who would win this year with others in the afterlife.
Though Tachibana was hardly the first person any one of them had lost, he was a man that they all respected and remembered fondly, he was a man who they had confided in, and he had always offered all the help he could despite being a simple civilian - to them, he was just as much a hero as they themselves were, and through their memories of him, the seven had a powerful bond like no other.
Some might consider it a strange thing, meeting each other year after year to celebrate a man who had passed away of old age, when not a single one of them had aged a day since their individual journeys had begun. It was the blessing, and the curse, of being a cyborg, they supposed - but thanks to it, they were always able to be there
And evil never rested. Though Tachibana had gone, more and more Kamen Riders continued to appear as the years went by. The seven, determined for their friend not to be forgotten, would always make it their duty to tell tales of the man when sharing their own story to the newcomers.
It was a strange thing, time. After a while, the seven began to take it for granted. It wasn't as if they believed themselves immortal - quite the contrary; they faced death more often in a single year than the average person did in an entire lifetime. It was simply that they had gotten... used to things.
It wasn't until the arrival of a new Kamen Rider in the new millenium that they began to realize things were changing. It was a slow realization, as they didn't immediately greet their new comrades, but year after year, new Kamen Riders began appearing...
And unlike the seven, and the few that had initially come after them, they were not cyborgs.
They were just as much a victim to the passing of time as Tachibana had been.
It was a strange thing, watching your comrades grow older while you yourself stayed forever young. It was an even stranger thing that, while the seven wandered the world in search of evil to vanquish, many of these new Riders chose to continue their lives - and why wouldn't they? They weren't cursed in the same way that the seven were. They could still live.
Time continued to pass. Hongo Takeshi - the original Kamen Rider - watched the Riders, no older than he had been when he had been taken by Shocker, grow older, move on with their lives, and in some cases, even start families. Eventually, they stopped telling the new Riders their stories, Tachibana's story, for it seemed like the stories of the present were far more pressing... And they always figured "there would be next time, there would be next time," never stopping to consider the fact that, for those living a life that continued to move, there wasn't always a next time.
This continued, year after year, until the idea of sharing their stories began to seem foreign to them. Did it matter to those who were still able to live a full and rich life? Or were they merely fooling themselves into thinking the new Riders wouldn't care, so used to their "curse" and all the pain it brought with it in that way? ... But when the seven met Kamen Rider Fourze, Hongo couldn't help but be shocked out of that mindset, if only just a little.
He was so young.
The others of the seven didn't pay it much mind - or maybe they had and simply chose not to talk to each other about it. They rarely got to meet each other, for outside of dealing with villains like Foundation X, they were typically spread out across the world, fighting whatever evils that threatened humanity.
But Hongo, during rare moments of peace, couldn't help but think back to the reckless Kamen Rider he had met during that battle against Foundation X.
He was... so young.
So young to have to be fighting day in and day out. So young to have to be risking your life for the sake of justice. So young to have to give up your normal life for the sake of others.
Hongo was torn between being thankful that the technology that had been so popular in his time no longer existed, that Kamen Riders of the day no longer were faced with being eternally trapped as cyborgs like himself, and concerned that without such powers, the world might be too much for such a young hero.
But time and time again, as Hongo and the rest of the seven watched from afar, the young Kamen Rider proved himself able to stand up to whatever challenge he faced. Though Hongo knew he had nothing to do with it, he couldn't help but feel just a bit proud when he learned that the young man, who had done so much for the world already, had chosen to become a teacher - to give his good spirit back to the youth of the world.
He was clearly something special, that Fourze.
... And yet, Hongo realized...
The young man who he might have passed off as a simple delinquent had he not fought alongside him was growing up before his very eyes. Soon, he would marry. He would have children of his own - children that future Kamen Riders, perhaps himself included, would fight to the bitter end to protect. And the young man who Hongo was proud to know and have fought alongside... was very likely going to die long before Hongo ever would.
Thinking back to Tachibana, thinking on all the things he wished he could say to the man, all the things he wished he could tell him and do with him - how he wished, if nothing else, he could sit down and have one last drink with the man... Hongo realized that maybe, just maybe, he had let his immortality get to his head.
The world was still moving on around him. It wasn't just evil that never slept - it was the entire world.
Maybe it was time for Hongo to wake up from his stupor and realize that.
Kisaragi Gentarou waved goodbye to his students with a bright smile on his face, as always, and headed for his bike. He didn't have any particular plans for the evening, but he still always managed to be in a good mood - it was just in his nature.
To his surprise, upon arriving where he had parked, Gentarou discovered that there was a man - probably about his own age, or maybe younger - waiting for him, his own motorcycle parked next to Gentarou's. There was something familiar about the bike, but as far as the person standing there, Gentarou knew he had never seen him before...
"You probably don't recognize me, but-"
"N-Number 1!?" No matter how much older he had gotten, Gentarou was still Gentarou. Nearly falling over upon hearing the voice - a voice among seven legendary, heroic voices that no one in their right mind could possibly ever forget - Gentarou pointed at the man, shocked at how young he looked, his mouth hanging open comically.
Hongo laughed. He laughed like he hadn't laughed in years. He wasn't sure what kind of reaction he had been expecting, but... To get a reaction so filled with life? It did wonders for his tired soul.
"Do you have some free time? This might seem strange to you, out of the blue like this, but... There's someone I'd like to tell you about. A man who went by the name of Tachibana Tobei..."