[Author's Note: This is a pilot chapter for a Doki Doki Literature Club/Kamen Rider SI. I'm not sure if this will take off into its own series like Cinder Road or Golden Drive, since I'm not sure how to expand what is essentially a short game into a lengthy Kamen Rider crossover fanfic. I definitely have a story in mind with beginning, middle, and endgame, but trying to tie the story of DDLC to that is gonna be tricky. However, this idea is something I can't just put down, especially since it lined up with an old idea I wanna try where it tries to show a "SI Kamen Rider in a setting full of girls" in a different light, so thus, I'm writing a pilot chapter that will show the concept of what I'm thinking of if I decide to make this a full-on fanfic.
I will also address an elephant in the room. I heard about Doki Doki Literature Club on the morning of October 20, 2017, then my mind began thinking of a Kamen Rider story by around noon, like Kamen Rider Dante in that it's an OC Kamen Rider. However, my idea was having him be based off literary genres… However, by night, I realized I was remembering an idea that SpaceBattler J.R.S. had.
So… I pretty much had this idea that fitted with the concept of a Literature Club, only to realize that someone else had the idea as well. So, with that, as I was writing this author's note, I realized what I can do to differentiate his Rider idea from mine in a way that better fits some of the Rider ideas I have in mind.]
"What good is power if you cannot protect the ones you love?"
Yuuki… In the Japanese language, it means courage. To be brave.
I was not so brave.
I remembered the first time I moved into my hometown of Choshimura. Everything just seemed so large and moved so fast. I could still remember me clinging onto my mother's leg as she tried her hardest to introduce me to my neighbours.
"Yuuki, don't be shy…" My mom tried to convince me to open up and greet the neighbours, but I just kept hiding away. I trembled. While I had bad memories of my rushed move to Choshimura, there was one memory that stuck with me.
"This is our daughter. Come say hi, Sayori." I saw a girl around my age with short strawberry blonde hair and calming blue eyes. I stopped trembling.
"H-hello…" The little girl tried to speak to me, but she blushed. I blushed right back. I didn't speak to her for about a week, no matter how many times my mom put me in her room.
Though, when I transferred into grade school, that's when things changed.
"Hey new kid! Why don't you run back to your stupid farm?" I remembered my 'introduction' to the school in the form of some bullies. They didn't hurt me. Much. Just the occasional head lock and arm twist.
"L-leave him alone!" I could hear Sayori's voice as she ran to push some of the bullies off me. My eyes briefly opened just to see one of them lash a hand at Sayori. There was a pained scream as she fell to the ground. The group stood over us, menacing us until the sound of heels on the floor clacked through the hall. The bullies ran off, muttering a swear and mentioning a teacher. I just trembled as some of the teachers went to tend to us. I just looked at Sayori and noticed her shed a few tears. My trembling didn't stop.
I never had any bond to Sayori until that day. I felt many emotions stir in me that I never felt before.
Sayori got hurt because I was too scared to fend for myself. She's crying because I couldn't defend her when she needed it. I couldn't defend her because I was a coward.
I closed my eyes, then opened them again as I saw Sayori lift me up.
"I… I'm okay…" I saw her blood-shot eyes and I just frowned. As the teachers escorted us, we passed by a kindergarten teacher telling a story to her kids:
"And so, the brave pirate led his crewmates away from the dangerous crocodile and secured the treasure!"
Later that day, I took a glance at that book at the school's library. It was such a moving and captivating story about a pirate captain who cared about his crewmates and would do anything to protect them from harm, even going as far as to give his pet parrot a funeral when it died.
As I had closed the book on its final page, that was the day I vowed to be like that hero.
Kamen Rider Literature Club
"Hey! Yuu!" I snapped out of my reflection as I saw Sayori run towards me. She waved her arms about in a way that made me chuckle. Ever since Sayori tried to defend me, we became close friends. In fact, outside of one other person, Sayori was the only friend I ever made in Choshimura, and thus, seeing her put a smile on my face. Sayori made me smile for another reason, though. Ever since we started high school, Sayori ended up sleeping in longer and longer. It was to the point where I would end up going to school alone. "I," Sayori took the time to catch her breath, "caught up to you! Finally…" She beamed.
"I was getting worried for a second…" Truth be told, I get worried everyday with Sayori's sleeping-in. When I would walk to school, the feeling of doubt knots at my heart. I would feel empty, thoughts filled with nothing but concern for Sayori. They nagged to me:
She's going to be late! The truancy police will grab her! She'll be a high school dropout!
Seeing her just walk next to me felt like a breath of fresh air. As we continued our walk to school, I noticed more and more students began their communal walk. I trembled at the crowd as they began to close in as my breathing became short and rapid.
"Yuuki?" I felt Sayori's hand clutch mine. I turned to her and smiled. I calmed a bit as we entered the crowd. "If people see us like this… Ehehe~!" Sayori had a cute giggle to her. I knew what her implication was, but to be quite frank, I didn't care.
Sayori is a bundle of sunshine, and I don't mind her being with me.
When we got to the school, Sayori stopped and looked at me… Even now, her eyes invite me to a realm of calmness.
"Yuu, have you thought about joining a club?" Sayori asked. I shook my head.
"No. I never had any sort of interest in them." Sayori grabbed onto my arm.
"Eeeeh? But there must be a club you're interested in? Light music? Drama? That weird occult club that's interested in aliens?" Sayori looked at me with her shimmering eyes. I looked down and pondered.
"I… really have no idea what I'm interested in." I said. Sayori let go of me and sighed.
"… Yuuki…" It was one of the few times I saw Sayori frown. "I'm not always going to be with you… I worry about what'll happen if or when we go our separate ways. You… You need to make some friends!" Sayori glared to me.
"… If that's the case…" I muttered and nodded. "I'll look for a club."
"… Thank you." Sayori faked a smile and went inside, as did I.
The day went by uneventfully, except for the many ideas for clubs that I could join. Sports club? I'm scrawny and weak… I wouldn't catch up with the others. Cooking? I was hardly a chef. Anime? That was my only huge interest, but I'm a casual watcher given my limited time at home. I doubt I'd fit in with those who are much more cultured in anime… I just frowned and thought about Sayori. She was in a club of her own: the Literature Club. I wasn't that much into reading, though I have read some books.
Maybe… just maybe…
I noticed the door open and saw Sayori walk in. She looked to me and I knew she was probably thinking what I was thinking.
"Hey, Yuu, I have an idea…" She looked at me, blushing as she fidgeted her fingers.
"I… I have one as well. It's a bit embarrassing but…" I blushed as well. As I opened my mouth, she opened hers as well. Our sentences were a bit mixed up, but by the end…
"Join the literature club?" We were basically in sync.
"Eeeeehhhhhh, you wanna join?" I could see her beaming with joy. I shot back a smile.
"Yeah… I figured, since I know you, I won't feel as awkward as if I joined the anime club." I said.
"That's great! Because… Ehehe… I said I'd be bringing a new member in today…" She giggled nervously. I sighed.
"Oh, Sayori…" We both shared a chuckle. I felt this air of comfort whenever I'm with her. I think that was why I decided to join the club.
We walked to the room in a long hallway. I didn't even have time to look at the hall that was normally reserved for third year activities before Sayori pulled the door.
"Everyone! I convinced the new member to join!" She announced. I saw two other members of the club, both like night and day. One was tall with long purple hair who sat by a desk and sipped a teacup while the other was short with a brighter shade of pink than Sayori's hair, even having a ribbon decoration at one of her bangs. She pouted right at me.
"Our new member's a boy!? Way to kill the mood, Sayori." The shorty said.
"Natsuki, please! Have some manners…" The tall woman walked over to the short girl and looked at me. "You must be Yuuki… Sayori's mentioned wonderful things about you." My head tilted upward just so I can look at her face. As she realized my height was comparable to Sayori's, she blushed. "O-oh… Sorry…" She played with her hair.
"Jeez, you're making Yuri of all people nervous… I'll be back." Natsuki muttered as she left the room.
"Yuuki?" A third person spoke up. One very familiar. I turned to see… her. A girl with brown hair tied into a ponytail and green eyes. She looked directly at me and smiled.
"M-monika…" I muttered. Of all the people in my school, the only person I made friends with outside of Sayori was Monika. Though, only to an extent… We were in the same class last year, and our only interaction was doing a book report on Don Quixote. She was that kind of girl who was very popular in school and everything about her showed it. Her looks, her smarts, her skills… As such, I felt as though I couldn't date her, let alone fall in love with the idea of her.
"You two know each other?" Sayori asked.
"Yes, well, no, well, technically…" I blushed.
"Let's not make Yuuki nervous… Come, join us." Monika went over to a table that was perfectly arranged for the five of us to sit. With the way the seats were arranged, my seat was situated between Sayori and Monika. I stared down at the table and bit the inside of my lip. I couldn't bare to look at Monika or Sayori… Or any of the other two girls. It's one thing for the club to be filled with cute girls, it's another for two of the members to be my only friends.
"Yuuki's a little shy… I hope that's not going to be a bother… Ehehe…" Sayori chuckled as Yuri handed me some tea.
"Here… This should calm you." While I never had tea in my life, I decided to take it to try and not get so trembly. I sipped as the tea helped settle my nerves. I looked directly at Yuri, though she began to blush and look away. I looked away as well.
"T-thanks…" That's when Natsuki entered the room.
"Yuri, tea isn't gonna win someone over… But this will though," she set down a huge tray of cupcakes. All of them looked like cute little kitty heads, with icing to make the whiskers and chocolate to make the ears.
"Cuuuuuute~!" Sayori said. Damn, she's cute! Natsuki slammed her hand on the table.
"So, you like a bite?" Natsuki grinned as I immediately reached for one of the cupcakes. After taking a moment to admire it, I nibbled on it to enjoy the vanilla fluff of the cake followed by its French vanilla icing. Soon, I began to consume it.
"It's good!" I said after I ate the cupcake. "Thank you." Natsuki blushed.
"I-I-I didn't make them for you, dummy!" As she said that, I winced.
"Well, to be fair, you did…" Sayori did her signature index fingers touching each other as gave an awkward smile.
"Yeah, you were saying how you were going to make cupcakes for Yuuki the other day." Monika said. Natsuki just turned to Monika.
"I-I thought Yuuki was gonna be a girl!" The rest of the girls laughed as they began to eat the cupcakes. Sayori patted my back and, as though I were a robot, I began to get into the process of eating some more cupcakes.
"So, Yuuki, what made you consider the Literature Club?" Yuri asked.
"…" I swallowed my cupcake and looked at her. "… Sayori." I said. The three girls looked to her as she gave a nervous laugh.
"Well, I asked him to join a club and we both decided for him to join me… W-we're practically inseparable." While it was a joy to listen to Sayori, when she mentioned us being inseparable, I remembered what she said regarding why I needed to join a club in the first place.
One day, Sayori might not be in my life anymore…
"Yuuki, you okay?" Monika asked. I blinked as I suddenly felt my eyes stinging.
"Y-yeah… Just…" Monika just looked right at me. Her eyes looked so calming.
"If you're having second thoughts, it wouldn't hurt to say it… As president, I'm dedicated to making things fun for everyone." Monika said.
"I-it's not that! I… Well… I don't really know the first thing about literature…" I said.
"Oh, well, that's not a problem. There's plenty of books in the library for you to check out. We can probably help you pick out something you like." Monika said. I looked over to a hardcover book that was on the table. It didn't seem like anyone was reading it. The back of the book was blank. Its color was a sickly mashup of blue and green. I reached over and grabbed the book to look at the cover. On it was a woman screaming in terror on an alleyway as a shadow overlapped her. On the top was the word "HORROR", the letters stylized to look like oozing blood. As I looked at it, the girls all looked at me with wide eyes.
"Uh, Yuuki, you shouldn't read that!" Sayori's voice raised in both pitch and volume. The girls looked as though I just pulled out a gun.
"Sayori, I think I'm old enough to read horror..." I chuckled.
"No! That's not what she-" As Yuri tried to finish her sentence, my thumb ran down the pages of the book to try and open it up… Only to feel a sharp sting as I pulled away… Crap! A papercut…
"Oh no…" Monika muttered.
"What's the problem? It's just a…" I began to feel woozy soon after. I looked at the cut… No blood was coming out and the pain stopped. That said, I noticed the pages of the book began to glow the same turquoise color that the cover had. The glow soon became a flash as I became blinded.
When my vision returned, I found myself in the middle of a laboratory. An old style of lab, complete with bubbling beakers, tesla coils, wooden tables that looked warped and rotting, and even a slight greenish tint over my vision.
"Hello!? Sayori? Monika? Yuri? Natuski?!" I shouted. That's when I saw someone approach me.
"Can you keep it down? I'm trying to work!" The man wore a lab coat, though he looked skinny, a little short, and had the dorkiest glasses on his face. I merely stared at him as he simply walked to the table and procured some ingredients. "Right, this should do the trick…"
"Um, hi, I don't think I'm supposed to be here." I said to him.
"I know, but you chose to come anyways, and I have to fix the problem you have." He muttered as he laboured over the various chemicals and liquids.
"I don't have any… Well, outside of this whole being here thing… Look, if you can point me into the direction of the Literature Club, I can get out of your hair." I said.
"You don't get it, do you?" He turned to face me. "What I'm working on will help you."
"What? I don't need help!" I gritted my teeth.
"Of course you do! Why else did you come?" He turned back to his table.
"I didn't come here! Something brought me here! If you have something that can take me back, then-"
"It's not that! You need help with this…" He poked me in the chest.
"… What?" I muttered.
"Inside is your true self, locked away by a timid and scared man, unsure about the capabilities he can achieve. I know because I was like that too. I was limited by my own flaws. Flaws I wish to split from my body…" As soon as he mixed two of the ingredients together, a small cloud of green smoke erupted. He turned and gave it to me. "This… This is a means to overcome that limitation." I looked at the green potion and swished it around. "It's why you opened the book, isn't it?" I stopped.
"What?" Before I could get any answer, I saw the entire world get stretched and pulled away, the only thing remaining being the scientist.
"No! Not yet! I was so close! Drink it! Now! Drink!" He shouted to me…
"Yuuki!" Sayori grabbed onto me as I noticed I was back at the Literature Club. The potion was gone.
"… What the hell was that!?" I stood up. I looked at the book. It was now opened to a random page. On one side was the scientist, who held up that same potion in his lab. The shadow on his wall looked like that of a hulking monster rather than his own. The other side was a blurb of text, a brief skim showed it was creating the experimental potion, written from the scientist's point of view.
"That… was no ordinary book." Monika walked over to me. She closed the book and held it tightly. "You're lucky that you didn't get put into any real danger."
"Well, I kinda was in danger. Dude was pushing some drink." I said.
"Then it's good that Sayori saved you." Yuri said.
"Okay, I need an explanation here. What the hell is that book!?" I pointed at the book in Monika's hands. Monika just frowned and held it out to me.
"This… It's a special kind of book. It contains every horror story you can think of. And… It's not the only one." Monika said.
"They're called Litbooks. Their pages are said to contain a power that warps people into whole new worlds." Yuri bitterly thumbed the rim of her cup.
"That's… weird." I muttered.
"That's not even the half of it." Natsuki rolled her eyes. She then glared at Sayori. "See, this is why we can't just let any willy nilly boy into the club!"
"I… I didn't know he'd touch a Litbook!" Sayori winced. I trembled a bit.
"I… I need some air." I ran out of the Literature Club.
Sayori frowned once Yuuki left the room.
"This… This was a bad idea…" Sayori muttered. Monika just hummed.
"Maybe it isn't… We needed a helping hand for some time now… The fact that Yuuki was able to interact with his Book Spirit for that long without succumbing to it is enough of a confirmation that he's the one." Monika went over to one of the bookshelves at the club.
"Monika, you can't be serious! Dude was dumbfounded with just reading the Litbook! He's not ready!" Natsuki stood up and pouted.
"Natsuki… we might not have time for him to understand." Yuri frowned.
"Exactly. Time is of the essence." Monika moved some books aside and took out a blue, waist sized bookshelf that looked as though it was made of a plastic wood. On it was an engraving of two hands holding each other.
"Wait… Are we going to…" Sayori raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. It's time." Monika's smile faded and her face stern.
Throughout the streets of slummy side of Choshimura, a hobo sat on a wet sheet of cardboard. He saw many people pass by him, none giving him more than a simple glance. He held his cup out, hoping for just someone to give him money…
He saw something drop into the cup. He immediately pulled it out and looked at it… It was just a simple piece of paper folded up. It wasn't even a dollar bill. He looked to whoever gave it… but he saw no one.
"H-huh? W-what the…" The man looked around.
"Rejoice, you are selected to play a role!" He looked to the source of the voice. Down in the alley way was a mirror. In that mirror's reflection was a man with long reddish-brown hair. He was dressed in a black, royal uniform with a long, red cape. The hobo looked around… But there seemed to be no person who could give off that reflection. "Face your story and transcend!" As he said that, the hobo ended up cutting his thumb on the paper. It glowed green before it flashed in that color. The hobo screamed as the man in the mirror just smirked.
I stood outside the school and breathed in. My beating heart began to calm. I looked back to the doors and I could hear thousands of voices, all chattering at once. The doors shook and tremored as I saw walking people turn into blurs. The blurs soon transformed into the Literature Club I was in.
"You're a boy, dummy!" I heard Natsuki's voice…
"I have elevated expectations on you!" Followed by Yuri's voice…
"What are you even doing here if you aren't interested in reading?" Monika was the next to speak.
"I'm going to leave you forever…" As Sayori spoke up, I screamed and curled onto the ground.
"Weak. Pathetic… Like me." I heard the scientist.
"Yuuki!" I felt someone shake me, then grab me. I knew her hair as soon as I looked at her.
"S-sayori…" I gulped and cried into her shoulders.
"Yuuki… W-what's wrong?" Sayori asked me.
"I don't wanna join! I'm scared! Everyone hates me!" I cried out.
"W-what!? No! No one hates you! It's all just a misunderstanding!" Sayori said.
"No… They hate me. They all hate me. I shouldn't have joined…" I held onto Sayori. "I… I don't want you to leave me."
"I won't! What makes you… Oh…" Sayori's voice dropped to a whisper as she remembered what she said this morning. She stroked my back and patted my shoulder. "No… I'll never leave you. I just wanted you to make some friends if there ever comes a time where I do… But, I promise you… I'll stay with you for as long as I can." Sayori pulled me away and held out her pinky.
"R-really? This is childish…" I laughed through my sobs, as did Sayori. We wrapped our pinkies together and smiled.
We walked on our way home, hands interlocked. It was five minutes since the hug that Sayori spoke up.
"So, after you left, we decided that you'd be a great member to the club. It's gonna be a little weird at first, but I'm sure you'll like it!" Sayori grinned.
"Yeah… So, what was up with those… Little… Rito…"
"Litbooks. That's… complicated. Monika or the others might be better to explain but…" Sayori reached into her bag.
"I know they contain every story and that I literally go to a new world when I read, but why were you so upset over me getting a paper cut over it?" I asked her.
"That's… That's what was needed to get a communication open between you and your Book Spirit. You met someone afterwards, right?" Sayori asked.
"Yeah, a scientist." I said.
"That's a Book Spirit. He's… Well, I guess it's appropriate to say he's you. W-well, not really, but…" I nodded to her.
"Yeah. He said something about how he was just like me. He wanted to help me." I said.
"He did? T-that's amazing! We never had that happen before!" Sayori beamed.
"What is it usually?" I asked.
"Well, he would have given you a test or forced you to confront him…" I remembered something.
"The potion. He was about to give me a potion before you grabbed me." I said.
"That was it! A test! To see if you could see your true self in him!" Sayori said.
"No… It wasn't some test. He offered it to me." I thought back to the lab.
"It was. Who knows if that potion was poisoned or not? You could have died!" Sayori exclaimed.
"I might have… but… I trusted him. He seemed creepy, but… Maybe there's a good side to him?" I asked.
"Or… maybe there's a bad side to you. He's from the Horror Litbook, so who knows what his true story is." Sayori said.
TICK…
"So… if I did take that 'test' and it turned out that I had some super dark evil side to me… What happens?" I asked.
TOCK…
"You might be forced to confront yourself with that fact… And if you can't accept it… Then…"
TICK…
"Sayori… do you hear that?" I asked.
TOCK…
"Y-yeah! What is it?!" Sayori asked.
TICK. TOCK. TICK. TOCK. TICK. TOCK…
The ticking continued and soon began to go at a faster rate. My heart beat in its rhythm. I turned my head to the side.
"SAYORI!" And I pushed Sayori out of the way of a large crocodile's bite. "WHAT THE HELL!?" I shouted as I saw a humanoid figure in a white jumpsuit and red boots and gloves, though its upper body and head were replaced with the upper portion of a crocodile. It sniggered and opened its jaw.
"Oh no!" Sayori muttered as I rolled out of the way of its bite.
"What is it!?" I shouted.
"That! That's what happens if you fail to accept your faults!" Sayori shouted in a panic as she ran to my side. The crocodile monster just slowly walked to us as Sayori quickly opened her backpack. "There's no time! You need to do as I say, okay?" I nodded. In any situation, I always listened to Sayori. She took out a book like the style of the Horror Litbook, though this was brown colored. She handed it to me as I looked at the cover.
On it was the cover of a large mountain with various silhouettes people standing on top of it, all of them with their fists raised in triumph. The title read ADVENTURE in large, bold letters. She also took out a blue wooden bookshelf.
"Put this on and run your thumb against the pages of the book, like what you did with Horror!" Sayori said. I grabbed the book, but just as soon as I grabbed the shelf, the crocodile ran and knocked Sayori down. I saw the monster open its jaws and began to close in on Sayori. I dropped the book, but felt my thumb get cut again. I closed my eyes as I saw a brightness come from the book.
"SAYORI!" I shouted. When I opened my eyes, I noticed I was at a beach. I looked around… No one. No crocodile. No Sayori. Just me and a man who stood by the shores. He looked to the seas via a spyglass. He took his eye away from it and collapsed it. He turned to me.
"Was wondering when you'd get here, mate." He walked over to me. I noticed he was in a simple brown cloth shirt and red stripped pants.
"Look! I have no time for this! My friend is going to die!" I grabbed him by the shirt. He just had a smirk.
"Your… friend? That scream you made… Your face right now… This person is more than a friend. Isn't she?" I trembled as I noticed the muscles around my lips became heavy, forced to be weighted down to the ground. My eyes watered as my voice cracked. "So, she is." He pushed me off gently and looked to the seas.
"Throughout my life, I sailed across the seven seas. Of the many souls I had in my travels, there was only one who made me feel complete." I saw from his side that he was lacking a hand, and instead, it was replaced with a hook. "I… failed to save her. I lost her. I don't want that to happen to anyone ever again. Tell me something… Do you want to save her?" He asked. I nodded.
"Then you must fight that monster." As he said that, I froze. "… What's the matter? Too scared to fight?" Before I nodded, he grabbed me by the collar. "Coward! Do you want to let her die!?" He shouted.
"N-no! B-but… I'm scared!" I cried out.
"Sometimes, in order to protect the ones you love, you need to face your fears… Now, let me give you the ultimatum." He pushed me down. "Do you want to be brave?" I nodded harder. "Then, in that case," he turned to me and handed me his hook hand, "allow me to lend you my power." I looked at the hook.
"You're…" I did some reading on the brave pirate I heard so long ago. A hook-handed pirate who, while still ruthless, was a noble pirate who protected his people from harm. The memories of wanting to be a hero flooded back in my head as I gripped my fists. "Yes. I'll be a hero!" I reached for the hook…
I went back to reality as I saw that the crocodile seemed to have been blinded, perhaps by the light. I went over to Sayori and picked her up.
"Get to safety. I'll handle him." I said.
"B-but…" That's when Sayori noticed the book in my hand. I noticed it had changed too. Before, the book was seemingly full of pages. Now? There was a small gap that made it able to be opened. "… You did it…" Sayori gave a faint smile as I noticed the crocodile began to focus on me.
"Go! Now!" I shouted. Sayori immediately backed away as I looked at the shelf.
"Place it on your waist!" She said. As I did, I saw a belt magically appear into existence from one side, then snaked around until it reached the other side. "Now put the book in!" I looked at the book and nodded. I placed the book right onto the shelf, cover showing.
STORY TIME!
I heard a woman's voice echo from the belt, followed by a bombastic orchestra of horns and violins that played a short, repeated melody. The book itself began to glow. I felt a surge of confidence that I never once had before. With an arm pump, I gave out an enthusiastic "LET'S READ!" and opened the book. As I did, it played a loud woosh sound.
BOOK… OPEN! ADVENTURE!
Suddenly, I saw a projection of the same book open up and began to turn pages. The pages overlapped me as I saw the pirate on one of the pages. He merged with me as I felt that a suit of armor was placed on my body.
YO HO! LET'S GO! A PIRATES LIFE FOR ME!
A small song played as the pages finished turning and closed onto me. As it did, the projection exploded and revealed my new appearance. As I had thought, I was in a suit of brown armor with black spandex. The armor was themed similarly to the pirate. A metallic chest that represented the vest he wore, and red and white stripes of armor going down my leggings. My helmet had the iconic pirate's hat with its own eyepatch, though it didn't obscure my vision. I saw one of my hands had a hook attachment and another held a saber.
"Woooah!" As I said that, I noticed something else. "What!? M-my voice is different!" It was not my own voice, but the pirate's.
"I'll explain everything after!" Sayori said. I just nodded and pointed my sword at the crocodile. He just growled and shook his body. Tiny scraps of paper flew and as they landed, created a plethora of humanoid worms. The worms ran forward and tried to hit me, though I took out my sword and cut through them like butter. With my free hand, I punched a few of them. I spun around to take out another worm, only for my hand to rub against the open book. I heard pages flapping before it stopped and gave a chime.
PAGE ONE!
The hook on my arm unlatched itself from my wrist. I took it to my advantage and swung it around. It attacked some of the worms and even dragged one down. I hooked my sword onto it and swung. Each of the worms were cut down and exploded as I flung my sword around me. Soon, it was just me and the crocodile. However, it dove right to the ground and began to swim in it.
"No way!" I looked around. "How am I going to find him now?!" I asked.
"Just think of something in your head and turn the page!" Sayori said. Think of something? Well, I thought about how my eyepatch didn't really block my vision and that perhaps it was some sort of special equipment that lets me see heat signals or even the sound it makes. I flipped the pages again.
PAGE TWO!
Suddenly, my eyepatch glowed and, while vision in one of my eyes went black, I noticed that with each ticking and tocking, blue waves came from a large source… the crocodile. I knew where it was now, and I plunged my sword into the ground right as it was about to get to me. The crocodile leaped out of the ground and screamed.
"Finish him off! Turn the page a few times!" Sayori said. I did so. The flipping sound played longer before playing a louder chime.
FINAL PAGE! ADVENTURE! EVER AFTER!
I saw a brown aural projection of a pirate ship, though it was missing its bow. I noticed that my right leg turned into a similar projection of a peg leg. My mind put two and two together as I leaped into the air. The ship flew over to me as my peg leg became the bow of the ship. It flew right into the crocodile as my leg kicked the crocodile. It exploded as it passed him. I fell onto the ground as the ship and crocodile disappeared. In the crocodile's place was a hobo. He struggled to get up, only to fall back down in pain. Next to him was a page that glowed green at first, then stopped. I went over to look at the page.
The page described a large crocodile that swam across a series of islands. One trickster decided to shove a clock into its belly and thus caused it to constantly tick every time it moved. I blinked and turned to Sayori. She frowned as I decided to go to her. I popped the book out of by belt.
THE END!
My armor disappeared, and I was back to myself.
"Let's call the authorities, let them know someone is injured…" I said.
Far away from the battle, in the reflection of a window, the uniformed man just smirked.
"Let this story begin…" He faded away from the reflection.
"Sayori…" We were in Sayori's room as I applied a bandage on a scrape on her hand she got when she was attacked.
"There's… a lot to explain, I know. I'm not really good at explaining…" Sayori muttered.
"That's okay. I just wanna know what happened. That monster, the pirate, me transforming. All of that." I said.
"Okay. The Litbooks contain every story within a certain genre, and thus, every character in those stories. When you cut yourself on the book, you ended up causing the book to pick a character you closely identified to…"
"That's why the pirate was there. I… I wanted to be like a hero I heard about long ago." I said.
"Yeah. And… Well, they represent you in many forms, both good and bad. And if you choose to reject those negative traits, then that person warps you, distorts you… Makes you…"
"Like that Crocodile." I muttered.
"Exactly. We call them Honsters. But… With you, that never happened, did it?" Sayori asked.
"What did?" I asked back.
"He never gave you any sort of revelation or test. He just… gave his power to you." She said.
"No. He confronted me… He confronted me on being a coward. And, I kinda was… But… I knew that your life was on the line and… I had to knuckle up. I had to save you. That's why he gave me his power…" Sayori gave a brief smile.
"You're very sweet, you know that?" I put my hand up to her cheek.
"Not as sweet as you." She blushed, winked, and gave a smile as she held my arm.
"S-stop…" She giggled. With a smile from me, I let go of her cheek. I then held the book.
"I guess that's what caused that transformation?" I asked. Sayori nodded.
"Yeah. Using that Litbook and the Book Driver, you can help the people who have ended up turning into Honsters. There's more Litbooks out there. Especially since one of them is being used to create the Honsters… We need someone who can unlock those books. That's why the Literature Club, me included, have decided to let you in. You will be that hero we need… A Rainbow Reader." Sayori said.
"R-Rainbow Reader?" I raised an eyebrow.
The book closes on Yuuki's confused face as the cover reveals:
ADVENTURE