Months had passed since things had come to an end. The world had been saved, Helheim was no more, and the world was moving forward in the right direction once again. In other words? All of the usual cliches. Hideyasu Jounouchi's life as an Armored Rider was long over. The metaphorical zipper, or crack, that was keeping open that chapter of his life, for all intents and purposes, should have been closed. It should have been closed and put behind him so that he could step forward into his new life, peer through the new cracks that laid before him — new beginnings, new adventures, new journeys.
As things were, he couldn't move on with his life. He would never really be any different from the person that he wished to leave behind in the world that that crack kept. He could never truly change if he didn't first move past this.
If he tried to zip that part of his life up and end it, however... It snagged. It was blocked. The gate that led to this past life of his remained open. The teeth of this so-called zipper had almost completely closed, up to the tip-top of that mystical, figurative gate of life...
Caught between the final teeth of this zipper was a single, almost insignificant little thing. Something many people would overlook — in fact, other than a select few people, the thing caught in that zipper was worth no more thought than it would take to remove it. Perfectly capable of taking it out himself, or so one would think... Jounouchi could not do it. Simple and meaningless and insignificant as it was... It was nowhere near as meaningless and insignificant as its presence made him feel about himself.
But what was it that was caught in there? What sort of mighty item could be caught in those metal teeth to be causing such inner turmoil for such a strong young man?
It was a pine cone. That was all. Not even something as noble as a fruit or a vegetable nor as strong as a chunk of a boulder or steel.
Just a worthless, forgettable pine cone. One in a million. Nothing memorable there.
Or so one would think. This particular pine cone was different. This particular pine cone ate away at him. It wore down the teeth of the zipper. Whenever he passed the line of missing posters, some of which he himself had put up, its points seemed that much sharper. Who knew, maybe one of these days the zipper would get so dulled by the pine cone that it would just slip open by itself — revealing him for the sniveling person he had been once upon a time. The person he couldn't forgive. The person he was trying to put behind him more than anything else.
As it turned out, he wouldn't need to worry about the zipper opening by itself or the pine cone forcing it open. All he had to do was give it a few more months and let fate take care of the rest.
When it happened, it happened quickly and without warning. The zipper was unceremoniously ripped open, torn open like the cracks he had once called monsters out of when he hadn't been so different from a monster himself. From the crack in the very world it revealed, a hellish swarm of insects burst forth. Their mission was clear — the being that came from them left little room for doubt. It was here to destroy, to take away the peace that so much had been lost in order to restore. Would lives be lost once again? How much would they need to lose before they could finally call themselves truly at peace?
It was funny. Even now that this old life had been ripped back open again... That troublesome pine cone was still caught in its teeth. It couldn't leave him alone.
For to Jounouchi, this pine cone was so much more than just a worthless thing a person just kicked to the side of the road and laughed at when it started to fall apart... and it was only that way now because Jounouchi had done just that — that and so much more — to a real "pine cone," once upon a time. When the pine cone had needed him most, he had laughed at it. He had abandoned it. He had left it behind when it had been so desperate for the person it had believed to be its friend.
And then... he never saw it again.
Not outside of his memories, at least.
It was funny. Now was not the time for memories or reminiscing, yet here he was... Looking back.
The person behind the zipper would have turned tail and run at this point. The person who was here now did not, because they did understand. Now was the time for action. Action that meant finding another kind of pine cone, as it turned out. Jounouchi might have laughed, were he still that insolent child he was trying to escape from. Even now, part of him couldn't help but smirk bitterly. The irony of the Kurokage Troopers' belts being their last hope, his last hope, was not lost.
It had to be fate that he should have been the one to realize Takatora had had one last Kurokage belt on him. No... He supposed he was giving his master too little credit. Oren Pierre Alfonzo didn't miss details like that, especially when it came to his "melon" — Jounouchi considered himself a tactician, but he was nowhere near the soldier's level. Whether or not Oren was letting him go or had some other agenda, it didn't matter to Jounouchi.
All that mattered to him was...
... Actually...
Actually, there was no "all" that mattered to him. Not anymore. This realization, even after, now that he thought about it, it had been so long since it had been true, truly surprised him. With his old life having been thrust before him once again in the form of a new threat, Jounouchi was all the more aware of how much he had changed — not that he needed a reminder of how selfish he had been. Now, though... There wasn't an "all." He didn't only care about one thing. He wasn't just striving for one thing now, all that mattered to him couldn't be some one singular thing, because...
Despite the pine cone keeping him from forgetting his old life... He had begun on his path forward. He was different from the person he had once been. With the zipper having been ripped open, by revealing the person he was running away from... it shone an impossibly bright light on the person he had become. The person who could not use phrases like "all that matters to me" anymore.
Because now, a lot mattered to him. A lot more than ever would have just a few months ago.
The protection of the people in the city.
Preventing Takatora going into battle when he was still injured.
Making sure his friends — because he had real friends now — were all able to stay safe.
Stopping this new threat.
Stopping any threat.
And, last among the many things that mattered to Jounouchi, but certainly not least...
"Ryouji Hase became an Inves, and was brought down by Yggdrasil."
... atoning.
He was not surprised by this revelation... No, he couldn't have been. He was a self-proclaimed tactician, after all. It hadn't been a secret for a long time what happened to people who ate the fruit, and likewise, the fact that their belts were one of the few things protecting them from that desire was not at all unknown to Jounouchi. This was not a surprise.
This was confirmation.
Jounouchi did not falter or break down. Jounouchi did not despair.
Now he had the answer. It was an answer that, really, he had suspected for some time.
On the outside, he opened the briefcase he had taken from Takatora. He spoke to the man, pleading his case, but at the same time, he did not hesitate.
For inside... Jounouchi had approached the loftiest crack of all. The zipper that reflected his past.
He reached out his hand.
He reached towards the zipper.
He took out the pine cone.
He listened to the sound of the zipper in his heart, the zipper of that chapter of his life, close one last time.
Even if he was to go into battle again... That person on the other side was no more. Of this much, Jounouchi was certain. Of this much, Jounouchi would prove. He owed that much, at the very least, to the pine cone in his hands. It would remain here. Kept with him, in his memories, in his soul, it would be a reminder. It would help him move forward... no, it would help him continue to move forward. It would keep him from forgetting, just as it would keep him from repeating his mistakes. It would be his catalyst.
Strangely enough, throughout all of this, throughout all of the months he had been trying to close that zipper, he had never once asked the one question someone might ask in his position. The simplest, most basic question of all.
Where in the world had this pine cone even come from in the first place?
The reason he didn't ask that was actually quite simple.
Who was it that had kicked Hase away? Who was it that had mocked Hase? Who was it that had looked for Hase after he had gone, when he hadn't even had the right?
It didn't take a tactician to figure out the pine cone's origins.
He had put it in the zipper himself.
Now, as he held the very last Lock Seed in his clenched fist, the only one left in the world that anyone knew still existed, he knew what he had to do. For everything he had done, for everything he would ever come to do to make up for it... For everything he had taken away from others.
For everything he had taken away from Hase.
"I need this to atone too."
Now Jounouchi would fight.