18th June 2060, Friday
Hiro, fighting as a detective and Kamen Rider chase after Michael Tabata, Time Dopant who tried to change the past. However, amidst of battle, Kirito and his friends got hitched along for the ride and ended up in Hiro's timeline.
Around the same alleyway where Hiro was and 10 minutes before Hiro finished the enemy, a portal appeared, with Kirito and the others came out from it and fell face downward on the floor. "Ow…" Kirito yelped as he slowly tries to move. Afterwards, he tried to get up as the rest tried to get up as well. "Everyone, are you all right?" Asuna asked. "Somehow…" Lisbeth answered. "Where are we?" asked Silica while looking around and found themselves at a different place. "Looks like we got hooked into that distorted gateway" Kirito deduced. "Then, we're at a different world?!" guessed Shinichi worriedly. "I can't say for sure. Let's try ask Yui and Strea" said Kirito as he brings out the gadget he won from the treasure hunting race in the last few hours.
That gadget is a a white handheld personal computer. It only has a few buttons on overall, a small screen and a touch pen hidden by one end of its edge. The name of this device was called Linkage Terminal. According to what being told to them, this device can call upon whatever data they connect to even without needing to link with the original data or to simplify, caches.
Kirito had his AI daughters connect to this device earlier after the tournament. "Yui, Strea" he called out to them. Then, a pair of holograms appeared on Kirito's shoulders. On his right is Yui in her ALO pixie form while on his left is Strea in Gnome race avatar with her SAO outfit.
"Yes, Papa?" asked Yui. "Can you figure out what is today's date?" Kirito asked. "Hold on" Yui told him as she and Strea try to figure out. It took them about a minute. "Apparently, today is 18th June 2060, Friday" the elder sister reported. "But that's pretty much we can tell. We don't know if this is our timeline or a different world" Strea added. "I see…" replied Kirito.
*BOOM! *
The sound of an explosion was heard, and everyone had their attention to it. "What was that just now?" asked Suguha. "It's near" Strea informed them. "Let's go check it out" suggested Kirito as he and the rest gets up before heading towards the source of their attention.
It took them about a minute, but the group managed to locate the source for that explosion sound. There, they saw Kamen Rider Cyclone, or now untransformed as Oozora Hiro was making a call with the Stag Phone while an unconscious Michael Tabata was on the floor, lying face downward.
"Kirito-kun, isn't that guy…" trailed Asuna, recalling who he was. "Yeah, that guy who saved us a while ago. He might know how to send us back" he deduced before the group went to approach the detective. "Um… Detective-san…" Kirito started. "Yes, how can I help you?" asked Hiro. At first, the detective did not look at them but when he did, he instantly remembered these people are the victims that he saved them from. Of course, he does not talk to them but that does not make him unable to recognise people whom he saved.
"Wait a second, aren't these guys from the past just now? They hitched along with me? Seriously?" thought the bluenette. Currently, the atmosphere become so awkward, especially for the detective. It is natural because Hiro did not expect past people to travel into the future so suddenly. He did read the book of Time Memory in Planetary Bookshelves but found nothing about destroying the memory brings completely everything back to normal. In that sense, he only knew that any action caused by criminal in the past will be undone but not the past/future people who got hitched on purpose. Plus, he had just form a Memory Break on Time Dopant, shattering its memory. In other words, Kirito and the others had just lost their one and only way of return.
"Fancy seeing you here lads. Are you lost or something?" asked Hiro awkwardly with a fake smile. "Don't play dumb! We met each other just now" Asuna pointed out. "Your surprise reaction just now proves that you knew. We're not human from this timeline" stated Kirito. "Anyway, to the point. We want to return to our timeline" Sinon demanded.
Looks like the plan to change the subject does not work on them. "Ah, about that. I don't think that's no longer possible" Hiro awkwardly told them, which made their eyes widen in horrified. "Eh?! Why?!" yelled Lisbeth. "Because his memory was already shattered… by me" Hiro told them but not before admitting he was responsible. Of course, hearing this causes everyone, at least most of them to be infuriated. Lisbeth even went as far as grabbing the detective's collar. "Hold it! How are we supposed to be get back?!" Lisbeth questioned angrily. "I demand you take responsibility for this" said Sinon.
"Hey! What are you thinking you're doing?!" a male voice suddenly yelled to the people on the scene. Everyone turned to the source and saw a group of police are already there and not to mention armed with guns. Apparently, the voice belongs to one of those officers. At that time, Kirito and his friends were panicked by this sudden intrusion from officers.
Of course, Lisbeth was being suspected for assault attempts because of the situation she was in from what the police can see. Two of the officers, which Hiro recognised as Nobu Kouji and his superior, Kagami Tetsuo approached Kirito and his friends. "Quite suspicious. You're all ganging to beat an adult? Kids these days, they sure let their emotion get the better of them and resorted to brute force" Kagami pointed out.
"Wait! It's not what you think it is!" Suguha reasoned but it looks like that does not seem to persuade the officers. "In any case, I'm arresting all of you for assault attempts!" Nobu angrily declared. Kirito and the rest were startled and scared with Lisbeth ended up releasing her grip on the bluenette. They did not mean anything wrong to the bluenette, but the police are going to arrest them for unintentional crime.
As for the detective, he knew that things will get ugly if Kirito and friends get detained. Even worse, there will be unwanted panics if these people haphazardly informed they are from the past to the police. Hence, the detective step in for the group and decides to give a good excuse.
"Hold it, Nobu-san, Kagami-san. I can explain. These people are my distant relatives who are looking for a place to stay in this city" Hiro started a lie. Kirito and his friends were shocked to see the detective covering for them. But what bothers them was the excuse that they were his relatives. "Hold it! What are you trying to pull off here?!" Suguha whisperingly and annoyingly questioned the bluenette about his lie as she approached him.
The detective glared at them with some lips movement that suggest, 'Just play along for now!' and they were silenced by this as not to make the situation any worse than it supposed to be.
"Continue" Kagami said before Hiro turned again with a normal expression. "Oh, I actually promised to lookup for a good place for all of them to stay together but I completely forgot to do that. So, when they found me here by coincidence and I told them that, they got impatient and it happens as you see now. It's partially my fault for not taking the responsibility seriously" the detective concluded.
"I see. All right. I'll overlook this one time" Kagami said, agreed to pretend that the dispute the polices saw is just a misunderstanding. "Then, where's Michael Tabata?" he asked. "He's over there" Hiro said, pointing his right thumb towards his back. "Good work" praised Kagami with a nod. "Then, we'll be taking our leave now. Please take care of the rest" Hiro informed the officers and make a hand gesture that beckons Kirito and his team to follow the detective before they leave.
At the Asaka Detective Agency…
Hiro had guided Kirito and his team into coming to his. Of course, they had to go there…by bus, with the detective paying for their fares because the alleyway they happened to be at was too far and walking will take time. Even so, the office was not empty but occupied by a single girl. She has magenta-coloured hair tied in twin tails and a pair of emerald-coloured eyes. This teenage girl wears a purple striped sweater, indigo shorts, white knee-length socks and dark red shoes. This girl is Hiro's little sister, Oozora Ayumu. "Onii-chan. Welcome back…" Ayumu greeted but immediately paused and had her eyes widen in surprise upon seeing a crowd entering together with her big brother. "Wait! What's with this big crowd?!" she yelled. "Well, it's a long story. In any case, can you make drinks and snacks for our guests?" Hiro requested. "Okay" Ayumu obediently replied, somehow still could not understand what is going on.
Afterwards, Hiro invited Kirito and his friends to get themselves seated while he needs to get himself prepared for a few things and went to the first door with a collection of fedora hanging that is near the radio. As for Ayumu, she made everyone drinks and snacks before serving them. For Kirito and his friends, they were surprised by the even though this timeline supposedly is way technologic than their period. This office is small and had a retro sense, with almost everything like the furniture and radios are from older periods. While at it, they introduced themselves to Ayumu and vice versa before conversing for a bit.
A few minutes later, Hiro came out from the door he entered before and went to sit with them. Then, he started explaining things to Ayumu about what happened. "Eh?! These guys are from the past?!" exclaimed Ayumu.
"Shh! Don't yell! We don't want any unwanted attention" Hiro warned his little sister to keep her voice down. "Simply put, these guys got hitched along when I followed the criminal back to present time" he concluded. "I didn't even know they got stranded here and by that time, I broke the criminal's Memory"
"I deeply apologised!" Ayumu regrettably apologised with a bow. "Anyway, do you have any idea how we can return to our timeline?" asked Kirito. "For now, none" Hiro tactlessly answered, which the reply surprises Ayumu and the rest. "What do you mean there's none?!" the detective's little sister questioned.
"First and foremost, I am detective, not a scientist. Second, we don't have a time machine or anything of that sort in this era. Third, that technology is still on testing stage even if they are currently developing it. Fourth, of course, information related to that is obviously classified and stored in a secured, isolated server. Even hackers won't be able to gain access to it easily, not without knowing where it is. Fifth, developing that technology required billions of funds plus experts" Hiro explained with justification.
"Then, it's hopeless…" Ayumu replied disappointingly before an idea popped into her mind. "Wait a second. If we can just buy another identical memory and used it…" she suggested. "I refused! I'm against doing that even if it's the only way!" Everyone was silenced by Hiro's sudden outburst of anger and refusal. For some reason, the detective seemed quite infuriated by the idea of buying Time Memory from the organisation.
"Sorry… I just thought it was a good idea…" Ayumu lamentably make an apology. "Will you explain why? Why do you reject the idea?" Asuna asked. The bluenette listened but did not answered. Looks like he refused to tell the reason why.
"Allow us to explain" Strea intruded as her holographic figure along with Yui appeared on the table where the snacks and drinks were. Ayumu once again was flabbergasted from this revelation. "Who are they?!" she exclaimed.
"These two are Yui and Strea" Kirito introduced to Ayumu and her brother. "In Amanohara City, there is an evil organisation who sell Gaia Memories, devices that turn people into monsters known as Dopants. This person, Oozora Hiro is a private detective who fought as a detective and Kamen Rider to protect this city from those monsters and solve such related case" Yui began. "You are protecting this city?" Shinichi repeated while looking at the mentioned detective who still frowns. "Most of the Dopants are in fact criminals who wreak havoc in this city. We believe the reason why this person is against buying Gaia Memories was because the organisation is his enemy he swore to bring down" Strea assumed. Hearing this explanation from people who had their AI allies researched about him and Gaia Memories made the bluenette had a change of expression.
"Oh, you two really done quite a lookup. I'm impressed" Hiro complimented with a smirk. "Well, I asked them to investigate what they can about this place and time. I did ask them to research about you as soon as we are away from the police. We don't know a lot about you guys so it's only natural anyone would do this" explained Kirito.
"Then, allow me to tell what I know about you guys" retorted Hiro. "All of you are Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, MMORPG players. Kirigaya Kazuto, Yuuki Asuna, Shinozaki Rika, and Keiko Ayano. You four are among the 10000-people trapped in the dead game called Sword Art Online or in short term, SAO for 2 years and 1 day. All this happened because of the risky hardware you guys used to play that game and the developer, Kayaba Akihiko designed it in such a way. The hardware you used was Nerve Gear, a helmet which can fry the user's brain if someone in the real world try to take it off while you were using it or if your game character die in SAO since those devices are programmed in such a way in the very beginning to prevent anyone from escaping once they are in. Yui and Strea are the first and second prototype for Mental Health Counselling Programs that you encountered in the game and saved in Kirigaya Kazuto's Nerve Gear local memory. The rest of you uses a safer hardware called Amu-sphere. Asada Shino played Gun Gale Online or known as GGO while Kirigaya Suguha and Nagata Shinichi played ALfheim Online or ALO. Your character names are Kirito, Asuna, Silica, Lisbeth, Leafa, Recon and Sinon" the bluenette explained his lookup. "Isn't that right?"
Kirito and his friends were astonished to hear this from the detective. Of course, Ayumu is not surprised since she was aware that her big brother had access to Planetary Bookshelves, where all information on Earth were stored at.
"You…" Kirito muttered, still could not believe how accurate the detective said about their background. "How did you know that? We haven't told anything of sort yet" Silica questioned, curious how the detective knew about them.
"The truth is Onii-chan can…" Ayumu tries to explain but her big brother halted her. "Stop it, Ayumu. Don't explain anything unnecessary. There's a limit to how much knowledge past people can know about the future" Hiro interrupted. Somehow, the girls in Kirito's group felt uneasy about the detective trying to be enigmatic with them. "Hey! Why are you trying to be secretive with us?!" Lisbeth barked. "No. He's right" stated Kirito, which his friends were surprised by him concurring on this matter. "Kirito-kun?!" gasped Asuna.
"It's too dangerous for past people like us to know much about the future. I think it's best we don't know more than we should. Hypothetically, if a man had knowledge about his own future being a successful businessman, he might slack off in the present time because he was too sure that his future is fixed. In the end, when that time comes, he's not what he thought to be and regret for having that kind of thinking. But in our case, we might bring danger to people if we shared any information of what we gain in this timeline to public" Kirito elucidated. Shinichi and the girls then ponder about what just explained to them and could not deny it.
"As expected the Black Swordsman, you're quite a matured trump card" Hiro complimented, which made the man with the stated nickname in SAO was surprised from the last two words. "I am… a trump card?" muttered Kirito in confusion. No one, not even his friends or Kayaba Akihiko had ever referred to him with such a nickname. Apart from Black Swordsman, people called him by the name Beater and Blackie Sensei in the games.
"Am I wrong? Of course not. No one ever call you with that nickname, but they depend on you to save the day whenever there's crisis. Not to mention, in terms of gaming, you're the strongest among your friends. Even that Kayaba Akihiko admit that your strength surpassed his expectation. In other words, you're their Joker and I am the first person to acknowledge you with that nickname" Hiro justified his argument. Kirito and his friends were silenced from the detective's compliment regarding the former. Indeed, for Asuna and the other girls, they always depend on Kirito back in SAO and other MMORPG games, whether they realised it or not. As for Shinichi, had to admit Kirito was greater than him despite knowing himself being inferior than the rest.
"In any case, I'll help you guys in finding a way home" Hiro declared, which Kirito and his friends were again surprised. What the detective said earlier contradicts with his current statement. "Really?" Kirito asked again, wanting to make sure he just heard. "Of course!" Hiro confirmed. However, Ayumu panics because she was worried about what her brother was trying to imply. "Wait, Onii-chan. Didn't you just say there's none earlier?" she argued. "Using our own effort, yes. But if we can put an end to that organisation, that's a different story" said Hiro. "I don't understand" Ayumu replied.
"They are distributing those memories in this city for certain goals. What I am sure is that they are not interested in changing the past. Otherwise, they would have done so in the first place and erase our agency's existence while at it. But they didn't do it even though they had Time Memory created. Meaning to say, they had a grand ambition that they are sure to achieve whether they changed the past or not. If we can thwart that and make them surrender, I believe they will help us with inventing a device to send these guys back to their proper time without any strings attached. At least theoretically" Hiro pointed out. "So, what do you think? Are you guys on board?" he asked them.
Kirito and his friends exchange glances to each other, wondering what they should do. Should they go along with the solution the detective come up with or find their own solution? Either way, they do not know much about this timeline compared to Hiro and Ayumu. Not to mention, they do not have any money to survive on their own. Hence, the best course of action is to agree with this solution, which all of them look at the detective with a determined expression. "We're on board" Kirito declared, answering on behalf of everyone.
"Good decision. But I had to warn you. This organisation is powerful enough that not even Japan's government act against them for many years and there's no doubt a lot of hurdles will come in our way. Until that day comes, you guys need a place to stay, change of clothes and of course foods" Hiro informed them before he stood. "With that in mind, we need to do the preparation right away" he declared.
In the next few hours, Kirito and the rest spend their time shopping for basic needs, mainly food and cloth in a shopping complex after receiving a budget from Hiro, whom withdraw some amount of cash from the bank. As for the detective, he and Ayumu tagged along with them while the former requested his informants for any affordable dorms for that can accumulate at least 7 people.
Currently, all nine of them are at a food court on the fourth floor, having their meals for lunch with combined tables. Of course, below and around their seats are shopping bags filled with clothe and foods. While enjoying their meals, Hiro received a phone call from his informants, who informed him about the info he asked for earlier before putting away his phone.
"Good news guys. Apparently, Rhythm and Uncle Magic had found a good place for you guys to stay. It's not that far from our office so you can reach there with walking distance" Hiro informed them.
"Sorry, you even go as far as using your own expenses for buying us these basic needs" apologised Asuna for the detective's courtesy. "It's the least I could do since you guys got stranded here. Oh, if you don't mind, I would like to request one thing from everyone" replied Hiro. "What is it?" asked Shinichi.
"From this point onwards, I would like to address you guys using your character names. I know for gamers this is rude in terms of etiquette. But in this timeline, it's better no one else besides me and Ayumu know your full names and details. It's for your own good too" Hiro suggested with reasonings. "How ironic. We just thought of doing that as well during shopping earlier. I think it's better for us to be ambiguous" Kirito retorted. "Then, it's decided" Hiro concluded.
Suddenly, they heard screams, which had their attentions and made them went to the balcony railings to check what is happening. Then, they saw people on the ground floor fleeing from someone or something. However, the escaping people got hit by fireballs, which instantly burn them to ashes. Some got hit by rubbles from the ceiling that collapsed onto them out of the sudden screech. Kirito and the others were horrified by what they saw, wondering who would do such cruel things and try to locate the source.
To their shock, they saw two Dopants wreaking havoc. The first one is a rocky humanoid monster with glowing fiery body, eyes and flaming manes. This one is Magma Dopant. The second one is also a humanoid monster with a big dinosaur head with yellow eyes and a backbone like tail. The left hand and arm is a dinosaur paws and arms respectively. From the shape of the head, the dinosaur seems to be a Tyrannosaurus Rex or T-Rex. The second one, just like the species name is T-Rex Dopant.
"Dopants!" exclaimed Ayumu. "Plus, there's two of them!" she pointed out. "This is bad! Everyone! Run! Hurry!" ordered Hiro desperately upon realising the danger of these Dopants compared to Masquerades. Everyone else was puzzled regarding the order at first but then realised the danger is approaching if they did not act immediately. With that in mind, all of them abandon their belongings, specially the shopping bags and run as a group towards the emergency escape route.
Of course, people who had bought this much would think it is a waste to do such meaningless thing. However, those belongings can be replaced, and money can be gained while their lives cannot be treated the same way. Hence, it is important to prioritise their lives above anything else in this situation.
As they all began running, the two Dopants heard their footsteps and noticed the group on the fourth floor. With their supernatural abilities, T-Rex and Magma leapt to the floor where Hiro and the others were and appeared right in front of them. Kirito and his friends were surprised from how the Dopants could pull off such physics violating stunts. However, Hiro and Ayumu had already aware that Dopants had such abilities, so it is not surprising.
"You saw us, right?" said T-Rex with a mix of masculine and feminine voice. "Sorry but you're not escaping alive!" Magma declared with a pure masculine voice. "I won't allow that!" Hiro proclaimed, taking out the Memory Gadgets and insert their respective Pseudo Memories. "Bat. Spider. Stag" The gadgets transformed into their Live Mode and began distracting the Dopants. Bat Shot flashes at both enemies to temporarily blind their sights while Spider Shock shoots out strings at T-Rex to tie her up. As for Stag Phone, it frequently dived and crashed onto Magma from left to right, up and down.
"Now! Run!" Hiro commanded, and everyone made the sprint for it. They all went to the nearest emergency exit and somehow somewhat managed to escape from the building. The Memory Gadgets came afterwards, still intact and revert to their Gadget Mode. "Everyone, are you okay?" Hiro asked worriedly. "Somehow…" Lisbeth answered.
Then, they heard the buzzing siren coming and everyone saw a lot of patrol cars along with a few fire engines and ambulances arrived at the scene before the people in those vehicles get out. Of course, among the people from the cops were Officer Kagami Tetsuo and Nobu Kouji. Hiro and the others went to approach Kagami as the other officers, armed with shields and protective gears infiltrate the shopping building.
"Kagami-san!" the detective called out. "Hiro! What are you doing here?!" questioned Kagami, surprised to see the detective on the scene. "I'm shopping with these guys. More importantly, what's going on?" said Hiro before asking.
"We received word that the criminals responsible for arson, destruction, mass and murders, Ogawa Kousuke and Tsukimura Erika are going to strike here. They caused quite the trouble for the past few months. They attack shopping complex and then demand ransom while holding a group of people as hostages. Even if you paid the ransom, they still killed the hostages and escapes. Looks like we got here too late" explained Kagami.
"What fiendish criminals…" muttered Kirito from hearing that. Even the girls were horrified when thinking about what being told to them. "Kagami-san!" everyone's attention was averted when Nobu came at them. "The criminals demand 5 billion yen in exchange for the hostages' lives. They gave us one hour and late by one second, they will kill the hostages" the subordinate informed his superior. "That dirty trick again… They'll probably killed the hostages again even if we obey them" growled Kagami and he gritted his teeth in frustration from hearing this. "What should we do?" asked Nobu worriedly, lost at what polices like them should do at this moment.
Hiro and the rest silently back out from the scene and went somewhere safer for them to discuss. They all stopped by at a park that happens to be nearby and currently resting under a garden hut. Hiro was leaning against the pillar outside with Ayumu standing beside him. As for the rest, Kirito and Recon are leaning against the pillars from the inside while all the girls sat at the seats provided in the hut. Yui and Strea's holograms are there too, standing on Asuna's left-side and right-side shoulder respectively.
"Everyone, did you hear that?" Asuna asked. "Yes… This is so cruel" stated Silica. "They killed random people and then still killed the hostages after getting the ransom paid. They are brutal!" Sinon pointed out. "We should put a stop to them and rescue the hostages" Leafa proposed. "Stop it! If you get hit by their attack, you'll get killed in one blow!" Strea warned them. The thought of that causes Shinichi's legs to shake in fear. "Then, what should we do?" asked Recon nervously. "In this case, we should ask Hiro-san's help" Yui suggested. "That's right. Hiro-kun can do something" agreed Asuna. "Hey, Hiro?" Kirito went to called out the detective before he paused upon seeing what the latter was doing.
At that time, the bluenette had his eyes close and was at the Planetary Bookshelves doing some lookup when the others were discussing. "Keyword: Ogawa Kousuke. Tsukimura Erika" he muttered. Everyone went to check out on the detective since he was not responding. "Hey, what are you doing?" asked Recon. "Shh!" Ayumu hushed them as to not let them interrupt her big brother. "Memory: Magma. T-Rex" Hiro continued muttering. Everyone else wondering what the detective was doing, talking to himself. Is he meditating or thinking out loud? Either way nobody else besides Ayumu knew what is going on.
About a few minutes later, the bluenette exits the Earth library and his eye lids opened once more. "I got it" Hiro announced. "Eh? What are you talking about?" questioned Asuna. "Recon, Ayumu and the girls stay here" Hiro ordered. "Eh?" replied Recon, who was confused by this. "All right" Ayumu replied. "Kirito. You're coming with me" Hiro said, grabbing the arm of the guy he addresses as the wild card away.
"Hey! Where are we going?!" Kirito questioned, could not comprehend what the detective was trying to pull at. Even Recon and the rest were confused too. "What's that detective thinking, taking Kirito-kun with him?" asked Asuna, curious about what is going on. "Don't worry, everyone. Believe in Onii-chan" Ayumu assured them.
Half an hour later…
Inside the same shopping complex, T-Rex and Magma are going back and forth at the foyer with a group of civilians in between them. Those civilians have failed to escape during the commotion earlier and were held hostages by these Dopants. They are cowering in fear, due to the risk of their lives can be taken away at any time. Not to mention, no representative from the police or anyone of the sort had arrived with the demanded ransom yet.
"They're late…" stated Magma. "Do you think they discarded the lives of these worthless hostages?" he questioned. "In either way, it does not matter. We're still going to kill all of them anyway" T-Rex answered, which made the hostages become even more frightened at that thought.
"Hey!" a male voice suddenly yelled, which got the attention of the Dopants and the hostages. They turned to their right and saw a man dressing as a clown, trying to juggle a few balls in circle. "The stupid fiery rock and oversized dinosaur head over there! Want to play with me, Abby the Clown?" asked the clown. "What did you call us?!" Magma growled. "We have no time to waste with you!" T-Rex retorted.
"Eh? Are you sure? I got the ransom you want here. If you want, I need you to play with me" Abby challenged the Dopants by bringing out a briefcase and show it to them. "You're not the one to decide! Give it to us! Or don't you care about the lives of these hostages?!" Magma threatened by making his hand on fire and aimed at the hostages, who cowered in fear further. "Oh, so scary… I guess Ogawa Kousuke is just a brawl but no brain!" Abby insulted in a happy-go-lucky tone.
"Don't mess with me, stupid clown!" barked Magma as he changed his aim and launched a few fireballs at the clown. Abby however, swiftly avoided them in a graceful manner, like a ballet dancer. "Where are you aiming for? I am over here" the clown questioned in mockery by making silly poses. "This guy…!" snarled Magma.
"Hey, T-Rex lady, Tsukimura Erika. I heard you wore too much make up. Is that why guys call you a middle-age grandma? I guess it cannot be helped if they think you are a 40 year old hag. It's no wonder guys aren't attracted to you" teased Abby, by imitating the act to be putting makeup on his face. "What did you call me?!" shouted T-Rex angrily. "If you're so frustrated, then try catching me, blithering idiots!" Abby taunted before he fled. "Wait!" Magma yelled as he and T-Rex went after the clown, abandoning the hostages.
A few minutes later, in the basement parking lot….
The two Dopants pursued Abby and somehow managed to corner him to a dead end. Even though the clown was mocking them earlier, now he is in a panic and so screwed for toying the villains. "You're cornered!" declared T-Rex. "Now, give us the case or you rather die here?" Magma offered some choices to the clown.
"Oh, so scary! I can't run away…!" whined Abby. "Just kidding!" the clown's tone changed to a smirk in triumph as he quickly opened the briefcase, only for the Memory Gadgets, Bat Shot, Spider Shock and Stag Phone in their Live Mode to come out and immobilised the Dopants with their abilities. During that chance of an opening, the clown burst his way through and get as far as possible from the Dopants before the gadgets return to where Abby was.
The Dopants somehow managed to get themselves back on track and look around to find the clown, only to find him standing way farther than them. Of course, they were annoyed with what had happened. "What's the meaning of this?!" snarled Magma.
"Too bad. You guys fell for our trap!" Kirito's voice answered as the said man comes out from one of the pillars nearby the clown before standing on Abby's left. "What?!" gasped T-Rex. Then, Abby grabbed his clown outfit, pulled off and threw them, only to reveal that he was Oozora Hiro in disguise before putting the black fedora on his head. The Dopants were surprised to see this.
"Just as I thought, you two are prone towards insults and act on impulse rather than thinking about it first. Ogawa Kousuke hates people making fun of him and Tsukimura Erika was sensitive about being people calling her" said the detective as he confirmed his deductions, recalling the info he learns from the Planetary Bookshelves regarding the criminal's habits.
"You! Don't tell me you did that to lure us away from the hostages?!" guessed Magma in shock. As the fiery Dopant mentioned this, the rescue workers infiltrated the and saved the hostages, bringing them to safety.
"Realising that now is too late!" remarked Kirito. "Now, Kirito. Let's do it!" Hiro declared. "Yeah!" Kirito replied, taking out the red device with two Memory Slots, Double Driver and puts it on his waist. The Double Driver began its mechanism and formed a belt with a Maximum Slot around Kirito's waist. A moment afterwards, another Double Driver suddenly appeared on Hiro's own waist as well.
Kirito was surprised to see this occurring and had no idea what is going on. He was about to ask the detective about it, but he decides to play along with it. The detective then brings out a green Gaia Memory, called the Cyclone Memory and pressed the button on it with his left hand. "Cyclone"
Hiro then glanced at Kirito, making a face gesture that suggest him to bring out a Gaia Memory as well. The black swordsman then took out one as well and he picked Joker Memory, mainly because he has obsession for black aesthetic things before pressing the button on it too, using his right hand. "Joker"
"Henshin!" the detective then looked forward and yelled the said word determinedly while pointing the memory to the right. "H-Henshin…" Kirito stutteringly imitated Hiro while doing it in the opposite direction.
Hiro began by inserting the Cyclone Memory to the right Memory slot, which then digitally transferred to the right slot of Kirito's belt. There was a brief silent as the black swordsman looked at the driver and puzzled with what just happened. "It came here?" Kirito muttered in confusion.
Hiro noticed that Kirito was slow on the uptake and did not make any move. The left side guy just stared at his driver where Cyclone memory appeared on the right-side slot. Hence, he faced Kirito, quickly pushed the green memory properly, grabbed his right hand holding the Joker Memory and made him insert it to the left slot before spreading the Driver on his waist into a W-shape. "Cyclone Joker" the Double Driver announced while emitting the virtual shapes of those memories' initial before merging together. During that time, Hiro made a peace sign while holding his fedora towards Kirito before the former moved a few steps away and slowly collapsed on the floor. Of course, the driver played the music from technical guitar to orchestral hit simultaneously.
An animation takes place, with colour bits and electricity around Kirito and his face having circuit lines and ports before those bits pasted on him. It turns him into an identical figure like Kamen Rider Cyclone. Except this time, there is a few differences. First, there is a silver and black stripe on the symmetrical line that divides them into two different colours. Second, the right side is the usual Cyclone body while the left side had a black body with purple shades that has identical shaped with Cyclone's gold anklets, wristbands, anklets and stripes. Third, this form is called Kamen Rider W Cyclone Joker, with the left side deciding on the fighting style while the right side is the enhancement for it. The only part that retains for both sides were the eyes colour and the W-shaped antenna on the head.
Explanations aside, Kirito himself was too flustered with Hiro collapsing in front of him and the former looked at himself being a Kamen Rider. The same goes with the Dopants. "I… transformed?" muttered Kirito.
"What are you, half-and-half jerk!?" growled Magma. "Half and half?" echoed Kirito confusedly. He then looks at a nearby convex mirror hanging by one of the corners and saw what he really was what T-Rex said. A half and half looking Kamen Rider. "What is this?!" screamed Kirito as he began touching his body and look on it. "I become a half-and-half monster!"
"It's not a half-and-half monster! It's W (Double)! Kamen Rider W!" Hiro's voice suddenly yelled angrily to Kirito, with Double's right eye flashing a few times as the former speaks and corrected the statement. "Hiro?!" gasped Kirito surprisingly before he looks at the detective's body that is still unconscious. "You… your body is there but your voice is loud like it was in my mind" he replied. "That's because I am in your mind! My mind transferred to you upon transforming" Hiro pointed out bluntly.
"Eh?! Is that even possible?!" Kirito panicky yelled, could not believe what just happened. "More importantly, are you going to fight them or not?" Hiro reminded his partner with sarcasm. "Oh. All right! Let's do it!" Kirito declared and puts himself in a fighting stance, with both fists rising.
T-Rex then came charging at high speed, dragging Cyclone Joker along until they crashed onto the wall before the Dopants back off. Of course, Kirito yelped in pain because it was his body after all and did not expect this to happen. Not to mention, he did not have any weapon and he himself is not particularly good in hand to hand combat.
"Hey! Do I have a weapon like your sword?" asked Kirito as he gets up. "None!" Hiro answered bluntly, which made the left side of W becomes dumbfounded. "Eh?! You got to be kidding me?!" gulped Kirito. "I'm not! Joker's specialty isn't on using weapons but enhances physical abilities. In other words, you need to do unarmed combat" explained Hiro. "You should have told me that before! I'm more used with sword fighting!" Kirito berated. "Do you ever learn that black aesthetics does not mean fighting with swords?" Hiro retorted.
"What nonsense are you babbling about?!" Magma barked, which got the attention of the bicoloured Kamen Rider. At that time, the fiery Dopant had come besides T-Rex as Double had an internal dispute between themselves. Magma blasted Cyclone Joker by summoning a wave of flame pillars that came from the ground, sending the bicoloured Kamen Rider flying again and got floored. Kirito, once again, had to bear most of the pain, mainly because he was the body. "Ow…! I'm not used with hand-to-hand combat" yelped Kirito as he whined, which made Hiro sighed in displeasure. "It cannot be helped. Let me pilot your body" Hiro requested.
"Eh? Pilot? My body?" Kirito repeated in confusion. "Just let me do it!" Hiro yelled. "Okay…" replied Kirito before he gets up on his feet once more. Magma then came forward, attempting to delivering the finisher. Then, Cyclone Joker suddenly moved on its own under Hiro's control and attacked Magma with a punch to enemy's face, sending him flying. Afterwards, T-Rex came charging at the bicoloured Kamen Rider, attempting to ram at him. However, Cyclone Joker leaped to avoid this attack before delivering a left back kick to the dinosaur's head, forcing her to stumble a little.
"Amazing…" Kirito muttered in awe as his body landed safely. "We're just lucky. To be honest, there's a huge lag in response time when I take full control of your body's movement. It's just by coincidence that I thought I need to act earlier earlier. I'm sure you noticed that even though we did that kind of stunt" Hiro informed his partner. "Then, what should I do?" asked Kirito. "I need you to handle the moving and avoiding. The body is yourself, after all" Hiro answered. "I think I can handle the moving and avoiding but it's been a while I tried unarmed combat" Kirito admitted regarding his fighting experience. "Then, leave that part to me. I'll guide you step by step and correct whatever error in your movement regarding offense. You're not fighting alone" assured Hiro. "Hiro…" muttered Kirito and felt touched from such motivating words. "That's right…I'm counting on you!"
"All right, Kirito. Let's say that catchphrase together" suggested Hiro. "Wait, do you mean the one you said to those villains back when you saved me and my friends?" guessed Kirito. "That's right" Hiro confirmed. "I like that so why not? Let's do it!" said Kirito enthusiastically. As the two talked about this, they then noticed the Dopants had get up on their feet once more, which makes it the perfect timing to say the catchphrase and continue their battle.
"Now, count up your sins!" both Kirito and Hiro yelled as the former, being the Cyclone Joker's body, raised his left hand, flicked it before pointing towards the Dopants. T-Rex and Magma were enraged, and they started charging towards the bicoloured Kamen Rider.
Slowly, with Hiro's guide and Kirito's fast natural reflexes, they managed to get the situation to their favour. First, Cyclone Joker went after Magma, who in turn, launches a few fireballs. With Kirito's natural reflexes, the bicoloured Kamen Rider dodged them by leaping, causing the fireballs to hit T-Rex, with two of them hitting the eyes by accident as they continue to burn. In turn, the dinosaur Dopant felt the pain on her sight being blinded by flames and caused her unable to act or assist her accomplice. "Erika!" yelled Magma worriedly for his partner. "Don't get distracted!" barked Kirito.
The fiery Dopant then saw the bicoloured Kamen Rider came at the former, delivering a few punches and kicks interchangeably before the last attack hurled Magma away. "All right, let's finish this guy off with Joker Extreme for the Memory Break. Pull out the Joker Memory and insert it to the Maximum Slot on your right waist" ordered Hiro as he guided his partner what to do. "Okay" responded Kirito before Cyclone Joker pulled out the Joker Memory and insert it to the mentioned slot. "Joker. Maximum Drive"
Cyclone Joker slowly floats to the air with the wind supporting the Kamen Rider in temporarily staying on the air. The bicoloured Kamen Rider then pressed the button on the Maximum Slot before plunging with both legs pointing towards the fiery Dopant. "Joker Extreme!" As they yelled and dived for the finishing move, the left and right sides split, with Joker in lead, followed by Cyclone before their kicks met Magma, triggering an explosion.
The outcome of the detonation was that Cyclone Joker noticed a man with messy brown hair, green eyes, wearing white clothes and brown pants slowly fainted while having swollen marks below their eyes. Simultaneously, a red Gaia Memory with ribcage design, brown plugs and the letter 'M' with the shaped of an erupted volcano for Magma slowly falling at a few metres away from the said user, Ogawa Kousuke before it breaks and fall to the floor.
Of course, it is not just the bicoloured Kamen Rider that noticed this but the accomplice to this criminal as well. The dinosaur Dopant somehow managed to recover and shake off the flames on her eyes but the scene of her partner, Kousuke being forced to return to his human form was shocking. "Kousuke! Why you!" T-Rex yelled out before growling towards Cyclone Joker. Then the dinosaur Dopant roared as loud as she can, releasing a strong sound wave that shatters the surrounding into rubbles.
The bicoloured Kamen Rider was forced to block the wave with his arm. It does not stop there though. The rubbles formed then get attracted towards the Dopant and accumulated. As this process occurs, the debris forms a body and grow larger below the head of the dinosaur. Upon completion, this Dopant becomes identical to a real T-Rex but with the physique made of rubbles.
The left half of the bicoloured Kamen Rider was shocked to see the outcome of this phenomenon. "No way! It became a real T-Rex!" exclaimed Kirito before T-Rex shrieked ferociously. "Brace yourself! She's coming!" Hiro warned, and Cyclone Joker went to a guarding stance.
The dinosaur Dopant then whipped its tail to throw a piece of rubble nearby her towards the bicoloured Kamen Rider, who in turn smashed it with a kick. However, that is nothing more than just a bait, because T-Rex came charging when Cyclone Joker was preoccupied and managed to fetch the latter on his right shoulder by using the dinosaur mouth.
Then the dinosaur Dopant then leaped, crashing onto the ceilings and reached the surface from the made holes while dragging the bicoloured Kamen Rider along with her. The surface where they came out were still inside the shopping complex, on the ground floor to be specific.
T-Rex, upon exiting the basement, lobbed the gnawed Cyclone Joker that the latter crashed and rolled onto the other side of the glass windows. Somehow somewhat, Kirito managed to stop his body from rolling and gets up on his feet. Then, the bicoloured Kamen Rider rushed and leaped towards the T-Rex to deliver a flying punch on the head. However, the giantized Dopant did not budge a bit from that attack. Instead, T-Rex encountered by headbutting Cyclone Joker, sending him flying again.
"This one sure is tough… I think I need to increase my offence here" said Kirito as he sprawled on the floor. "Then, let's do it hot. Let's change my right side" Hiro suggested before the bicoloured Kamen Rider gets up to his feet. Then, Cyclone Joker, under Hiro's control, took out a red Gaia Memory, with a fiery 'H' for Heat and pressed it. "Heat"
Afterwards, he pushed the Double Driver back to its initial state, took out the Cyclone Memory, replace it with Heat Memory and then spread it apart again. "Heat Joker" The right side of Double then began to change, with the sparkling muffler on Cyclone vanished and the body turns red plus orange stripes while the body structure maintained. Now, they had become Kamen Rider W Heat Joker.
Afterwards, the bicoloured Kamen Rider then approached T-Rex and deliver a fiery punch with his right fist towards her head. The attack works, and that dinosaur Dopant got bang. Furthermore, Heat Joker continued doing that for a few times, pushing T-Rex back before delivering a flying punch that completely hurled her at a few hundred metres away. The dinosaur Dopant, knowing that she could not win against the bicoloured Kamen Rider, gets up and decides to flee. "Oh no, she's getting away!" exclaimed Kirito. "No problem, we'll chase after her!" Hiro declared as he takes control, bringing out the Stag Phone and then presses a combination code on it.
Not long afterwards, a black giant truck with a big rotating wheel and slightly a bit of Kamen Rider W's face and antennae arrived to where Heat Joker was. Kirito was amazed to see this big vehicle known as RevolGarry but even more when it opens up and had a black front, green rear Honda CBR1000RR like superbike stored in it. Likewise, it even has the Kamen Rider W's design on the front and the name for this bike was called Hard-Boilder.
"You know how to ride a bike, right?" asked Hiro. "Of course!" Kirito replied confidently as he had taken his license and rode a bike, with his sister and even Asuna in the city before. Then, Heat Joker went and rode the Hard-Boilder before revving up the throttle to depart with a sprint.
T-Rex went into the freeway by going against the lane direction as she flees, causing all nearby vehicles to make emergency brakes and turned as much as possible to not get crashed onto the monster. However, the dinosaur Dopant just rammed through the ones in her way, shot them all away, mainly because she was aware that Heat Joker gave chase.
The bicoloured Kamen Rider continued pursuing T-Rex on Hard-Boilder until they reached to an intersection under a bridge. While at it, the dinosaur Dopant broke the metal structures that falls to block the road with the intention to shake off the pursuer. Heat Joker avoided the first few but when Kirito could not avoid the incoming obstacles, Hiro take the precaution by having Hard-Boilder do a drift. Somehow, the bicoloured Kamen Rider managed to go under the narrow gap and avoid getting hurt concurrently before continuing their pursuit.
After an unexpectedly longwinded chase, Heat Joker managed to catch up with T-Rex when she exited the freeway and went into the city. However, the dinosaur Dopant decides to flee again but this time by running over the wall and reached the top of a multi-storey car park, leaving the Kamen Rider unable to follow her.
Of course, that is not fully true because RevolGarry had arrive to give assistance. Under Hiro's instruction, Kirito had the Hard-Boilder entered the big vehicle and does a reverse parking for the green rear part before getting away from it. Afterwards, when the rotating wheel turns to the red rear extension with folded wings and boosters, the black front of the bike linkup to it. Upon complete linkup, the front wheel flipped into horizontal position and the wings unfold. Now, the bicoloured Kamen Rider is riding on a hovercraft like vehicle called Hard-Turbular.
Subsequently, Hard-Turbular took off and went after T-Rex. The dinosaur Dopant, realising that fleeing is not an option until Heat Joker was defeated, whipped her tail to shoot debris at her opponent. The bicoloured Kamen Rider managed to avoid that and even leaped to dodge the incoming tail swipe before landing back on the hovercraft. Afterwards, Heat Joker counterattack by firing the artilleries installed on Hard-Turbular at T-Rex. The dinosaur Dopant refused to give up and attacked with the debris shots plus trying to gobble the bicoloured Kamen Rider. Somehow, somewhat, Heat Joker managed to avoid all that and flew at a higher attitude, which is beyond T-Rex's attack range.
"Kirito! Let's change our fighting style. Take out the Metal Memory and do what I just did before" ordered Hiro. "All right" Kirito replied. Then, Heat Joker took out a Grey Gaia Memory with a metallic M for Metal and pressed the button on it, using his left hand. "Metal"
Afterwards, Kirito imitated the steps Hiro did before for Memory Change but this time, on the left side. "Heat Metal" the left side of W changed colour from black with purple stripes to grey with sparkling silver stripes. Simultaneously, the driver played a Rock & roll guitar music to metallic synth sound. Now, they had changed into Kamen Rider W Heat Metal. Unlike Joker, Metal had a weapon hanging on the back of the body, which is an extendable quarter staff called Metal Shaft. Kirito, realising that he has a weapon behind him, draws and holds it with both hands as the stated equipment automatically extends.
Subsequently, Heat Metal, with Hard-Turbular on autopilot charged towards T-Rex. The dinosaur Dopant attacks by shooting debris from her body again, which forced the bicoloured Kamen Rider to dodge or deflect with the Metal Shaft, slowing down his movement.
"Let's finish this with Metal Branding. Just like earlier, take out the left side memory but this time insert it to this Metal Shaft" ordered Hiro while Kirito did the avoiding and dodging. "Okay!" replied Kirito. When he noticed an opening, the Kamen Rider took out the Metal Memory and loads it into the Metal Shaft. "Metal. Maximum Drive"
One end of the Metal Shaft, which is not hold by any of the hands lit up with blazing flames like a big lighter. Then, Heat Metal charged towards T-Rex while avoiding all the incoming debris attack until they managed to get as close as possible.
"Metal Branding!" Heat Metal, on the Hard Tubular smacked the lighted flames on the dinosaur's face before getting away from the Dopant. Their attacks triggered an explosion and T-Rex explodes, with all the rubble body collapsing into debris once more. When the explosion subsides, a woman with blonde hair, yellow eyes and wearing a black jacket over a white, slightly loosen one-piece dress and black shoes, named Tsukimura Erika was seen standing before she collapsed. The black Gaia Memory with ribcage design and a Tyrannosaurus-Rex head opening its mouth shaping for a T, representing T-Rex came out from slightly below her left shoulder and broke into pieces.
20 minutes later…
Heat Joker brings Erika and her damaged Gaia Memory back to where her accomplice was. Next, the bicoloured Kamen Rider undo the transformation, reverting to Kirito while Hiro regained his consciousness. Following that, the detective contacted Officer Kagami to come at the basement to arrest the criminals. Afterwards, when the police took away Erika and Kousuke, Hiro and Kirito went to meet Recon and the girls by the entrance. The group came there out of worry upon hearing the ruckus that was caused by the Dopants, especially from T-Rex grows as a real carnivore dinosaur.
"You two, are you okay?!" Asuna asked worriedly. "Well, this guy's okay… I think. But I got beaten up quite bad" answered Kirito as he tried to move his arms. "Beaten up?" echoed Leafa. "What happened?" asked Lisbeth. "Well, I'll explain things later. First, let's go pick up the shopping bags and head to the dorm" Hiro cut in and told everyone.
Half an hour later…
Kirito and the rest followed Hiro and Ayumu to the dorm that is suggested by the detective's informants after fetching all the bought items. The name of that place was called Stream Dormitory. They went to the entrance, which had a spacious foyer, complete with a reception counter, cupboards, along with other relatable furniture. After meeting the landlord and getting things settled like assigning the room and packing up their stuffs, they all went to the meeting room to discuss what happened today.
The shopping, battle and then unpacking had took a lot of time and now it is already 9:00 pm. That aside, everyone takes their seat in the meeting room. Yui and Strea's hologram appeared as well, sitting on Leafa's shoulders. Hiro sat beside the black swordsman.
"Very well, let's start the meeting" Asuna started by taking the lead. "First and foremost, will you two explained what is going on? What were you doing?" she asked, referring to Kirito and Hiro. The black swordsman was nervous and glanced at the detective replied with a nod, signalling it is all right for him to say. "How should I say this? I (ore) became a Kamen Rider" Kirito stated. "Eh?!" everyone else yelled, including Ayumu. However, the detective seems annoyed that the statement missed an important point and elbowed the guy beside him. "It's not I, it's we (ore-tachi)!" Hiro corrected.
"Wait, two? I don't get it!" Recon whined in confusion. "To be precise, my consciousness transferred to Kirito's body. In other words, two minds in one body. When transformed, my body will go unconscious but on the other hand, I can even control Kirito's body when fighting and talk as well. Oh, I had Bat Shot snapped some photos. This photo is one of them" explained Hiro before he took out a photo, which everyone else except the partner beside him can see what the photo was about.
"Wait, when did you get this printed?" asked Kirito sceptically, wondering how the detective get a photo printed when he was with them the whole time. "Don't sweat the small details" retorted Hiro to avoid the question before putting the photo on the table for everyone else to see. It is a photo of Kamen Rider W Cyclone Joker.
There was a short silence, possibly out of awe. However, that does not seem to be the case because the rest had a weird look on their face instead of amaze. "This is…" trailed Silica. "The right side is green" said Yui. "The left side is black" followed Strea. "Half-and-half monster!" exclaimed Lisbeth. The half-and-half part causes the detective to fall in face fault style. "It's not half-and-half monster! That's W! Kamen Rider Double!" Hiro angrily corrected.
"No. No matter how you look at it, it is half-and-half" Sinon said sceptically. "Geez! Don't judge a book by its cover!" whined Hiro. "There's always a logical for it to be having a design like this. This form uses two Gaia Memories at the same time. The right side is Cyclone and that's me. Cyclone Memory gives a boost in speed. The left side is Joker and that's Kirito. Joker Memory enhances the user's physical ability and reflexes. In other words, this form is Kamen Rider W Cyclone Joker, a warrior of technique with high agility" he explained.
"Oh, that's why it looks half-and-half" concluded Ayumu. "Will you cut it out with the half-and-half part?" snarked Hiro with a deadpan look, annoyed to still hear someone mentioning the half-and-half term. "That aside. How did this happen? What were you two doing when the rest of us are at the park" asked Asuna. "Oh, that…" Kirito started as he tried to recall what happened.
(Flashback)
At the Asaka Detective Agency…
Kirito and Hiro are there, with the former waiting by the entrance as the latter went into the door with many fedoras hanging. After a few minutes, the detective came out from there and approached the guy he called the wild card. The bluenette takes out Kirito's right hand and put something on it.
It was a red device and have two slots to insert Gaia Memories. Kirito was puzzled from just looking at this. "What is this?" he asked the detective. "This is the Double Driver" answered Hiro.
"What's the meaning of this?" asked Kirito again, could not comprehend the relevance of giving him this item. "I can't explain everything now, but I can say one thing. I need your strength. Put this on your waist and it will become a belt" Hiro started before he remembered something. "Oh, before I forgot…"
The detective then took out three Gaia Memories, each with gold plug and hand them over to Kirito. The name of the memories are Joker, Metal and Trigger with black, grey and blue colour respectively. "Gaia Memories?" muttered Kirito as he looked at the memories on his other hand. "Choose one of these memories you want to use and put it into this gold line slot" Hiro guided him, by showing which side of the memory slots to use for the gold plug memories. "I'll explain the rest when we use this in battle"
(Flashback end)
"Afterwards, Hiro told me to be on standby at the basement while he, dressed as a clown distracts the Dopants away from the hostages and had the officers rescue them. I don't really understand why since he didn't explain anything. Whatever it is, I just to play along instead of asking more questions" Kirito concluded.
"Why Kirito-san?" asked Recon suddenly. "Huh?" everyone else glanced to Shinichi with a confused look. "It's been in my mind. Out of everyone here, why you choose Kirito-san to do this job? Does it have to be him?" asked Recon curiously. "I am curious too. Why me?" followed Kirito, who wonders why he himself was chosen.
"Let's start with W's transformation system. It had some rules that it needs to follow. First, the right side must be me. I still haven't figure out why I was registered in such a way but when a person equips Double Driver, another copy should appear on his/her partner's body. But in this case, it appears only on me. As for the left side, to be honest, it can be just anybody, whether male or female, children or adults. Second, to bring out the full potential for W's abilities, the user needs to have high compatibility with the used Gaia Memories. That's pretty much it for the system rules. The rest of it was pretty much personal opinions" explained Hiro.
"What are they?" asked Ayumu. "First, I need someone who's experience in fighting, regardless if it's just one. In that term, the best possible candidates are Asuna-san, Leafa-san, Sinon-san and Kirito. But Kirito would never involve his friends in danger, especially if it is his friends or family. Apart from that, I think the girls would outright refuse even if I ask and explain things properly. Second, I need someone who knew how to ride a bike. If you consider this, only Kirito can do that because he had taken his motorcycle license. Of course, even if they do not have license yet, I can still teach them how to ride one properly. Third, it's my detective instinct" elucidated Hiro. "What does that mean?" asked Sinon.
"To be honest, Kirito was the first person to try the W's Transformation System as the body. Of course, I could had just asked anyone, but I'm worried they could not handle the burden to fight on longer period, aside from their own stamina. Furthermore, like Kirito, I can't risk my own family members to take on that job, especially if they're ladies. So, I decided to take a bet that he might be the right person to do this" explained Hiro. "I hope I've answered your question properly, Recon"
"Yes. You did. Thank you" Recon thanked the detective. However, Kirito's girlfriend did not seem to like the idea that the bluenette chooses her own lover to do this. "You… Don't you realised what you're doing is wrong?" Asuna try to point out politely without trying to get raged. The detective then had a short silent from hearing that question before he stood and walk a few steps away from them.
"Indeed, this is wrong, especially when if it involves someone from the past. I wish I could explain things in order, but the situation today was desperate. But right now, that dangerous organisation is getting stronger as we speak. And they're making this city cry" Hiro explained, and his hands frustratingly clenched into fist on the last sentence. Everyone else noticed this as well. "Unfortunately, as of now, I might not be able to bring them down alone" Hiro said before turning to everyone again, but specifically Kirito. "With that in mind, I need your power, Kirito. Will you lend me your power and fight together with me?" he requested.
Everyone else stared at the person whom Hiro requested help from, wondering what he would say. "All right. I'll help" Kirito agreed with a grin, which in turn puts a shocking expression on Asuna and the girls. "Hold it, Kirito-kun! What are you thinking?!" Asuna asked her boyfriend worriedly. "Onii-chan, do you realised what you're getting yourself into?" Leafa warned her big brother.
"I know. Like everyone, I want to go back. But, even if I refused, there's no denying that we could get into danger too, just like what happened today. As of now… No. No matter where we are, we cannot avoid danger. It'll come to us whether we're ready or not" Kirito told them. "Kirito-kun…" muttered Asuna. "Plus, haven't we all agree to go on board with him? That means, we all agreed to bear whatever risk that would come at us later. Plus, I'm just glad that I'm not going to be sitting ducks until we get back. It's kind of thrilling, you know, fighting against an evil organisation" Kirito said optimistically. The detective seemed pleased to hear that and went to approach the black swordsman before putting his arm on the latter's shoulder, much to Kirito's surprise.
"Then, it's decided. You and I are now officially the two in one detective and Kamen Rider. With that in mind, I need you to help with my detective work. Let's get along, partner" declared Hiro, not before addressing Kirito as 'Partner'. "Detective?! Work?!" exclaimed Kirito weirdly. He did not expect to be doing some labour work or something but being a detective was not on his list for career.
"As of now, I cannot really appear on the scene often because my body is vulnerable to enemy's attack. So, I need you to do investigation in my stead. Of course, I will formulate the plan as we fight and help you with detective's work from this office while you go gather information on the scene and from my informants. Oh, and the fact that we're a Kamen Rider is a secret from the public so don't just go transforming anywhere where people are present. We don't want them to get caught in our battle" explained Hiro as he gives some reminders.
"Wait, how are you supposed to help from the office if you don't even come along? What you can do at the office is more limited than what you can do by going to the scene and ask information. Even if you contact each other by phone. It's still limited" Asuna pointed out. "No problem" Hiro answered confidently before releasing his hands-off Kirito and stood. "No problem… How?" asked Silica.
"I think I should explain it properly now. I can do things like Yui and Strea" Hiro told them. "You mean gather information from internet or something?" guessed Lisbeth. "If that's the case, can't you just leave it to them?" Sinon suggested. The detective glanced at his little sister, who look at him and the former gave a nod, signalling her to tell everyone something.
"Onii-chan is a bit different than normal humans. He has special power and that is the access to the Planetary Bookshelves" Ayumu told everyone. "Planetary Bookshelves?" everyone else echoed.
"I used that to investigate your backgrounds while we're on the bus. That's how I know every detail regarding you guys. Of course, one of the reasons I chose Kirito to become W with me was because it's the most effective method to fight against those Dopants" explained Hiro. "Still, I can't understand the relevance to what you're saying" Lisbeth complained, still could not comprehend the meaning behind the new term.
"Let's start from the basic. Onii-chan have access to the infinite archive. Simply saying, all knowledges on Earth is in his head. Information regarding Dopant and Gaia Memories are there too. Of course, if you really need it, he can do a lookup for a company's private and confidential information like their blueprints and data as well. Hypothetically speaking though" explained Ayumu. The thoughts of gaining a company's trade secrets and classified information was scary to Kirito and his friends. Of course, it is. That is no different than intruding access to people's rights, not to mention plagiarism along with other possible offences.
"Seriously?! That's just how much people can abuse their natural gift" Kirito remarked, which the detective shrugged off with a chuckle. "Don't worry, I am not that stupid to do such thing for personal gains" assured Hiro. "But, unlike Yui and Strea. I am still a human, so I can't process information as fast as them. And I cannot read all the books. It takes too much time" he added. "Then, what should you do?" asked Strea.
"Have you ever tried borrowing a book from a library or search for certain information on the net by yourself before?" Hiro asked them. "Yeah, we do. What does that have to do with this?" Sinon asked back after answering. "How do you guys search for a specific book or topic?" Hiro asked again. "Well, we type what we want to search for" said Suguha. "In other words, keywords" Yui rephrased.
"Exactly. If you tell me the proper keywords like names, date or whatever terms you think is the clue, I can par down the information as much as possible. But, believe me when I said this. I asked question directly to Earth's will. In other words, I'm trying to get Earth to tell me the truth of whatever I wish to know and verify whatever deductions I come up with. If you want to know the truth or not sure the deduction you come up with is right or wrong, let me know. I'll verify it for you" Hiro told them. "That sure is a lot. I can't really catch up" said Silica, confused with all the lengthy explanation. "Me too" Strea agreed. "Me three" followed Yui.
"I guess I'll demonstrate during when we got a case and there's something bothering you. Of course, don't forget keywords. I can't proceed if I don't know them. By that time, I'm sure you will clearly understand what I mean" Hiro concluded.
"Hold on a second!" Asuna called out suddenly, which everyone had their attention on her. "Why are you telling us this? Didn't you said that it is dangerous for past people to know much about the future" she questioned.
"Normally, to prevent past people from messing up the future that was supposed to be, their memories they gain from the future must be erased. But, too bad, I am against doing that and don't have any ability to do so. The other method is you guys must promise to keep whatever you learn here among yourselves and that knowledge to your grave. Of course, the second method is riskier due to the possibility of those information being tipped off. But if it's you guys, I think I can entrust you with this promise" Hiro explained. "You…" Kirito muttered, somehow could not believe the detective decides to trust them.
"Plus, I'm the one asking help from this guy here and these two AIs. It's too problematic if they did not know or understand what I can do" the bluenette added. "Well, that's true…" concurred Kirito.
"In any case, I need you to wear appropriately when going for work, Kirito. Your cloth sizing is no different than mine, so I lent you some of my clothes. Just so you know, it's formal or in my language, hard-boiled" Hiro reminded his partner. "Honestly, I don't want to become a detective. Looks like I have no choice" sighed Kirito. "Um… what do you mean by hard-boiled?" asked Recon.
"Thought you wouldn't ask that. Then, let me explain. 'Not being swayed no matter the situation. It's a man-among-men lifestyle.' That is… hard-boiled. As for me. This hat is a proof that I am hard-boiled detective, a man of iron who acts without being swayed by emotions" explained Hiro in a cool "charming stud" persona, while emphasising the fedora he wore on his head. Recon seems to understand and noddingly agree with the detective's statement while the girls, especially Asuna, Suguha, Lisbeth and Sinon were sceptical about it.
Of course, the bluenette's little sister was aware that his statement was more hypocritical rather than the truth. She thinks it is time she blabs out the truth to everyone. "In Onii-chan's case, it's not hard-boiled, he's half-boiled!" Ayumu corrected with a scorn towards the mentioned person.
Of course, the said person could not bear with his own little sister making a fool out of him. "Will you cut it out with the half part already?!" Hiro berated. "No way!" Ayumu refuses with mockery before sticking out her tongue and pressing down the skin below right eye, as in to show a silly ghost face. This action no doubts infuriates Hiro even more and causes him to go after his little sister, who knew this was coming and swiftly ran out from the meeting room.
The bluenette was frustrated that running is Ayumu's good point and decides to chase her. However, before exiting the room, he stops to give a final message to everyone else. "In any case, take it easy for today, everyone. See you tomorrow, Kirito" Hiro said before looking to the exit. "Wait! Ayumu!" he yelled and went to pursue his little sister. Kirito, Recon, Strea, and Yui were puzzled while the rest except Sinon gave out an awkward chuckle from what happened. "Wow, that's so not hard-boiled" Sinon commented with a deadpan look.
The next day…
Kirito being the new detective in the office was reading a book about the basics of being a detective. The newbie was against doing this but Hiro being the senpai (senior) there had to make sure his kouhai (junior) grasp the basics even if Kirito call himself an expert at problem solving in the past. Before that, the black swordsman had to try out the clothes his partner brought from home. Now, he is wearing something akin to Hiro, which is a dress shirt, a pair slacks, a necktie, a waistcoat. Most of his outfit was black, except the necktie was white while Hiro's own was white in overall.
As for the senior detective, he was typing a report, on a typewriter with Roman words in Japanese language instead of a computer. "Hiro. Why are you writing on a typewriter when computers already existed? I cannot comprehend" Kirito questioned. "It's for case-filling purposes. Don't ask me any further" Hiro answered with a cold attitude. "Fine…" Kirito grumbled before continue reading the book.
"Hey, Kirito. Do you mind if I ask something?" Hiro asked a minute later before he stopped typing. "What is it?" replied Kirito, wondering what his partner wants to ask. "Why this office suddenly becomes crowded?!" Hiro questioned angrily.
Kirito then looked at his surrounding and saw what his partner meant. Leafa, Asuna, Sinon, Silica, Lisbeth and Recon are at different sections of the office, each enjoying a cup of coffee. Asuna and Strea holograms are there on Asuna's shoulders, leisurely having their own conversation. Even the black swordsman just noticed this when his partner reminded about it. Of course, everyone else heard the detective's outburst but decides to ignore him. "Is it wrong?" asked Kirito. "Of course! This place is already cramped to begin with even with just three people. I don't know what you're planning but my office isn't your fun place for ladies" Hiro berated before looking to where everyone else was. "More importantly why you guys are leisurely enjoying coffee in this office?!" he questioned.
"It's obvious. We came here to work. Leafa-chan and I can prepare and serve drinks and snacks to customers. Lis, Silica-chan and Recon-kun does gadget maintenance" Asuna answered casually. "Hold it! I don't remember assigning the rest of you to such role! Who give you permission to do that?" Hiro questioned angrily, demanding to know who told everyone to come here.
"Oh, about that…" Leafa was about to say before there is an interruption. "Thanks for the wait!" a familiar young female voiced yelled. Everyone else turned to the voice and saw Ayumu coming it with a rectangle-shaped wood, perhaps some sort of table surface or a poster. "Did I kept you waiting?" she asked.
"No one's waiting!" Hiro yelled. "More importantly, what are you here for, Ayumu?" he asked, wondering why his little sister is at the office. "Rejoice, Onii-chan. Ta-da!" Ayumu delightedly declared before revealing the back side of the item she was holding. It is a new signboard for the business. It has a light blue background with white polka dots and the name 'Asaka Detective Agency', written in pink, Japanese text. Not to mention, there is an additional, smaller unpainted board attached beside it with a few icons like heart shaped in pink, a mini version of Ayumu herself making a peace sign, a green cap, a yellow star and a Foie Gras. What is more important than those pictures were the written text, which displayed 'Chief Asaka Ayumu'.
"AAAH!" Hiro looks at it and then yelled out of shock for a few seconds before realising the smaller part of the board. "Wait, you're the Chief?!" he exclaimed. "Wow… you sure really thought all this for us" Lisbeth commented. Hearing that causes the detective had a clue what that statement means. "It can't be… The one who told you guys to do all this was…" trailed Hiro, having a clear idea who set this up. "Yup. It's Ayumu-chan" Asuna finished and confirmed it, which causes the big brother of the stated girl to put a palm on his face.
"Now, all of us shall solve every case in half-boiled style!" Ayumu declared as she ran out of the office to put on the new signboard before Hiro try to chase after her seconds later. "Not half! It's Hard-boiled! Hard-boiled!" the big brother yelled for correction before getting out of the door.
The device that Kirito used to summon Yui and Strea in hologram was something akin to Personal Terminal (PET) from Rockman EXE Series. I had to make this assumption if I were to include them in the story and had a part of their own. Also, I remember that in some anime or whatever media I read of or watch from, some characters who retained their memories of the future wrote novels to spread out those memories of their time in the future, indirectly with some amendments. Of course, I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing because nobody knows.
One more thing, I am aware that in Infinity Moment, Leafa and Sinon is present. I know Leafa uses her friend's Nerve Gear to enter SAO but let's just say what happened is a mix of anime and games, meaning Leafa and Sinon never appeared in the game but they appeared normally as in the anime and novel.
In any case, there will be some delay for the next chapter, mainly because things are going hectic for me. Pray that I could managed things well. In any case, please Rate and Review.