Kaizen: Okay, okay! Time out for a second! Since both of us don't like each other when we share our stories separately, how about we do our episodes like we did episodes 1 and 2?
Ryujin: For once, you don't have a bad idea, Kaizen. Otherwise, I'd fall asleep again from your boring storytelling. Although, it would be better if we had more people with us to fill up the pages a bit more. It's kind of lonely here, just the two of us.
Kaizen: Whatever happened to the other two riders? Shouldn't they be back by now? How about we find them after this?
Again, not a bad idea. It would be good for us to take a break from this storytelling and go for a search. Speaking of the story, I'll start off this time.
Kaizen: Alright, go on ahead.
Ryujin: I wake up and sit up in my bed. Yesterday… was something I wished never happened. The feeling of death getting right up in my face and threatening me with the worst ways to die was scarring. I still didn't want to be a Kamen Rider. Not to mention, there's also the fact that I had to keep the balance of the water for the entire planet as well. All of this responsibility and anxiety was really getting to me. "I need to clear my head from all of this," I told myself. I then decided to go for a morning jog.
Kaizen: I wake up and sit up in my bed. Well, it's not going to be my bed in a little bit, because I'm moving out to go live in the orphanage. Yesterday… was a rush. That feeling of beating that monster with a sword was amazing. I suddenly feel excited on what other trials and adventures await me. To be honest, I was skeptical of the whole idea of becoming a Kamen Rider. Now, the thought of it was starting to grow on me. "I need to let out all of this excess energy," I told myself, so I decided to go for a morning walk.
Ryujin: Why was this happening to me? No one should suffer from my fate. Then again, I was told by Kaiyojuni that there were five other Kamen Riders that shared my fate. I wonder what their thought process was when they found out that they were going to fight Kamen Riders. Did they cry? Laugh? Or were they just in shock, like I was? I can't think straight from all of this, so I decided to take a break on a bench from my morning jog. I looked at my phone for some notifications, but there were none. "Great, nothing to distract me when I actually need it," I told myself. Suddenly, I saw a man walking on the other side of the road, smiling like he didn't have a care in the world. Occasionally, that man did a little skip in his walk. "I wish I was as carefree as you were, my happy friend." I walked away to head back for a shower before my meet up with Rina.
Kaizen: I wondered how much time it would take for me to get all my cards during my walk. Dekkai said that a card would only show itself when I was in a desperate need of an advantage. The cards would also only show themselves at times of absolute necessity, so I couldn't just search for them within a couple of days. "So, I really have to fight to obtain my cards? No matter, I'll do whatever it takes to get Ryujin back. I have the power to do that now." I looked up at the sky and breathed easily for the first time in fifteen years. I can get him back and make up for all that lost time, I just have to obtain the power. I then notice a man sulkily walking away in the opposite direction of me on the other side of the street. "Poor dude, hope he feels better," I tell myself. I then walked back towards the orphanage, even doing a little skip on my walk back.
Ryujin: "Hey! How are you doing?", I ask Rina as I approach her as I walk up to our table. She replies, "I'm doing fine. It's still kind of weird not being with that jerk anymore. But anyways, I'm glad you're here! Have a seat." I take a seat across from her and I order my usual, a parfait with some vanilla pudding on the side. "You always get the same thing! Try something else for a change," Rina exclaims. "But I don't like anything else here, can't you just let me order in peace?" She laughs at me, "I can never change your mind, can I? You were always like this ever since high school." High school, huh? I remember meeting her back then, back in the debate club.
It was the second week of my second year of high school. We had signed up for the clubs we had wanted to do the week before and today was the first day we were supposed to go to our respective clubs. I, of course, did multiple, so I had somewhat struggled fitting seven clubs into a school week. My first club of the day was the debate club, so I headed there. Once I arrived, the club was already heated in a topic, but I couldn't remember the topic. What I did remember was seeing Rina for the first time. Even back then she was still beautiful: hair not too long but not too short, a perfect smile, and a pair of glasses to make her seem timid, yet extremely smart.
While the room was in chaos, she looked at who came through the door and walked up to me. "You must be new here if you have a look like that. Welcome to the debate club, you might want to sit down in a little bit." That was my first interaction with her. Ever since then, I have never missed a meeting of the debate club. I also tried to find every single opportunity to talk to her at lunch and any other places that weren't weird for us to cross paths. After graduation, we still kept in touch, even though we both went our separate paths. When I found out her father was also a politician, I was ecstatic. "Maybe I can see her again," I thought to myself. And I did and have been meeting with her for about 2 years now.
"Yeah, high school feels like a lifetime ago, doesn't it? Although it's only been a few years since we first met," I told her as I was eating my parfait. I then noticed that she didn't get anything. "You're not hungry? I don't want to be the only one eating," I said in a joking manner. Her expression then darkened, and she said, "I'm not hungry at the moment. But there is a reason that I called you here today."
Kaizen: I got back to the orphanage and was greeted by Kyoko. "Hi, Kaizen! Did you get me anything?" I laughed at the question and patted her head. "No, Kyoko. I just went out for a walk. I didn't have time to go to the store. Next time, I'll make sure to get you something, okay?" She smiled at my suggestion and said, "Yay! I'll be waiting!" And with that, she ran up to her room to play. I then went into the kitchen and see Ms. Ochimizu making lunch for the children. "Need any help?" I ask her. "No, no. I'm fine for right now. Actually, why won't you take a seat, Kaizen?" I look at her in confusion, but eventually did what she asked. "So," she said when we were seated, "how are you going to find all the cards? Are you going to just scour the streets until you find all of them?" Now that she mentioned it, how was I going to find those cards? I haven't really given it much thought, have I? All I was concerned about was getting Ryujin back.
"To be honest, I haven't given it much thought until you mentioned that to me. Dekkai did tell me that a card would only show itself to me when I was in desperate need of an advantage. It also told me that I could only collect cards in times of drastic need." The more I thought about it, the more I started panicking. Was I supposed to lose a bunch of times before a card would come to me? Was I supposed to let the other Kamen Riders win? Was I-
"You're panicking again, calm down," Ms. Ochimizu told me. Somehow, she always knows what emotion I'm feeling at anytime. "Take your time with this, you are supposed to fight others with your powers, correct? You'll get to them when you have to. But for now, just take it easy and rest up."
She's right, of course. Yesterday may have been a cool experience, but it also took a lot out of me. Apparently, swinging a sword a whole lot really take a toll on your energy. Maybe I should go take a nap before heading out…
Ryujin: "I really didn't like my last boyfriend. I can't even stand to say his name right now. And I'm pretty sure that you don't like him either." Rina looked at me with her unwavering stare. Now I know that this look brings either one of two things: she either has a confession to make or she has news that will affect me or her. "Yeah… he did kind of knock me out on a yacht and left me for dead in the water." She then sighs and proceeds, "I never liked that jerk when I got with him. As you know, the only reason I got with him was to please my father for his relationship with my ex's parents. But I'm done being controlled. I want to date who I want, do what I want, be who I want. And right now, I do have a person in mind that I do want to date…"
Oh God… this can't be happening, right? A wave of emotions just came crashing down upon me. Is she going to confess? This can't be real, it's too good to be true, it's…
"So, I met this guy on a dating app, and he seems to be just my type. I was wondering if you could give me some feedback if I should go for him or not."
All those emotions that I've been feeling before have now been replaced by dread and misery. I think my face showed them for a split second, but I quickly replaced the look with an expression of curiosity. "Oh? Let me see who this person is." The name says Kagutsuchi Kaizen and his age was 22 years old. He had short hair, but long enough that it reached the base of his neck. He had some stubble from when the picture was taken as well. Overall, I could see why Rina would want to choose this guy.
"Yeah, he looks pretty good to me. Have you been talking with him, or did you need someone's input before you started talking?" Rina replied, "The latter, I'm still pretty new to all of this, so I want to be as prepared as I can be." Even with dating, she's still one of the most analytical people I've ever met. But Kagutsuchi Kaizen… why did that name sound so familiar?
Kaizen: Wait, the woman that matched with me that day was Rina? I never even noticed that until you brought it up.
Ryujin: You WHAT?! I spent a good portion of my teenage and young adult life trying to get with her and you don't even remember her face?!
Kaizen: Sorry, geez. I just don't remember because I wasn't all that interested in a relationship. Uh, you're foaming at the mouth there, Ryujin.
Ryujin: You better continue from your perspective before I lose it.
Kaizen: R-right. I'll just g-go do that, then.
I wake from my nap and check my phone. "NEW MATCH!", it says. "Really?" I gave up on finding a relationship like a month ago. "Well, it's worth checking out who it is." The woman's name was Arisato Rina and her profile said she was 20 years old. She was pretty, but I couldn't focus on a relationship at the moment. I still needed to find my brother.
"I can't just leave her like that, though," I tell myself. "Hi, sorry. I currently am not looking for a relationship at the moment. I just forgot to delete my account, so I'm sorry for putting you through this. Good luck finding someone else, though!"
That should do it, right? I just didn't want to hurt her feelings too much. But back to the matter at hand; it was time to get up and find some cards. I quickly got dressed and headed out to the streets to see if I could find any enemies.
After ten minutes of searching, I couldn't find anyone to fight.
Sitting on a bench, I thought about where I could find Kamen Riders to fight so I can obtain cards. This was a lot harder than I had wanted it to be. "Where can I find some fights so I could get my cards?", I asked myself. Suddenly, armed men with guns and bulletproof vests were sprinting toward my direction. Each of them had a helmet that had a dark visor so I couldn't see their faces and one of them had gold outlines on his uniform. Before I knew it, they had surrounded me on all sides and put their guns up at me. The man that was outlined in gold yelled to me, "Freeze! You are to come with us so we may evaluate you! If you cooperate, you will not be harmed! This is for the benefit of the country!" What is happening right now? What did I ever do to these guys? "Look, I don't know what's happening here, but I'm not going anywhere until I get more info on what you all are doing."
Ryujin: After about a half an hour of talking later, Rina and I went our separate ways. On the way home, I was feeling kind of pissed that she found someone else in such little time after her break up with her ex. "Oh, well. Guess it can't be helped," I said to myself. A little further down the sidewalk I was walking on, I saw something that caught my eye. There was a little boy who was being bullied by three bigger boys. The one who was being bullied was shoved around and called derogatory names. Without thinking, I yelled, "What do you think you all are doing to him?" The three bullies look up at me and sneer. "Move along, old man. You don't want to end up like this loser, do ya?" The leader of the group, or who I assumed to be the leader, had an evil look in his eyes. "I'm not going to ask again. Leave him alone or I will take action," I told the trio. "Let's get him, boys!" The three bullies rush towards me with their fists ready.
Luckily, I had also taken a self-defense club so I could take someone down without hurting them. Within a few minutes, all three boys were on the ground squirming with there jacket sleeves holding their arms and their backpacks holding down their legs. I then undid my work for each boy individually, making sure each boy was out of sight until I let the next one go.
"Are you alright?" The boy who was bullied looked at me as if he saw a superhero. "That was awesome, mister! How did you learn to do that? Are you a superhero? You have to come home with me so I can tell my parents about this! You're so-" I stop the boy mid-sentence and pat him on the shoulder. 'Slow down there, kid! You're lucky I was here to protect you today, but you need to learn how to defend yourself too. I suggest going to a dojo and learn how to protect yourself there, okay? And I'm no superhero, I'm just someone who believes in doing the right thing." The little boy looks up to me in awe and then nods his head up vigorously. He then runs off in the opposite direction until he's out of my sight.
When I got home, my mother greeted me at the door. "How was your meetup with Rina? Did you two have fun?" I look at her and give her a reassuring look, "Everything was great, Mother. It was just the usual meetup, though. If you need me, I'll be up in my room doing paperwork for Father." With that being said, I headed straight for my room and closed the door behind me.
Kaizen: "Alright, who wants a piece?" I had already transformed into my Kamen Rider form when they had grabbed my arms and tried to drag me to their van that was parked near me. "Bring him back to headquarters at all costs! Neutralize him if you must!" The leader of the squadron ordered his men like I was a wanted fugitive. "For the last time, I'm not going anywhere unless I get some answers!" I summon my sword with the 6 of clubs and proceed to knock out all the soldiers. I wasn't going to kill anyone; I was just going to make them unconscious. Everything was going smoothly until the leader of the squadron stuck a needle in the back of my leg. "What the- what did you do?" The squadron leader looked up at me, but I only saw my reflection in his helmet. "Don't worry, this isn't a drug. Rather, I just extracted something out of you." He then showed me the syringe that he stabbed me with, which was filled with red liquid. It wasn't blood, however; it seemed to be more luminescent and vibrant in color.
"Men, retreat! We'll get the Kamen Rider next time," the squadron leader said to his men. Within 15 seconds all of them had retreated to the van and the van drove off with them inside. "What the hell? What did they want with me?" I sheathed my sword and quickly untransformed to hide my belt from any suspecting eyes. "And more importantly," I ask myself, "How did they know my identity?" I pondered this question on the way back to the orphanage.
Ryujin: A week had passed after my lunch date with Rina. I was walking down the same path as last time when I noticed that little boy again. He was surrounded by the bullies again, only this time he had a look of determination on his face. "Give us what we want, twerp!" The lead bully pushed the little boy, but he didn't fall to the ground. Instead, he stood his ground and got himself into a fighting stance. "Back off now, or else I'll have to fight you!" The three bullies looked at each other and laughed, "You've really done it now, twerp!", the lead bully said at the boy. The bully then threw a right hook at the little boy's face, but the boy ducked under it and performed an uppercut on the lead bully. The bully fell to the ground and was crying behind his arm, "You're a jerk! You're going to pay for that!" He then ran away screaming and crying, and the two other bullies looked at the little boy in shock, and then ran away as well. The little boy looked at his hands and smiled the biggest smile I have ever seen on a child. The boy then ran on to what I presumed was his home.
"Well, I guess you don't have to have a super suit to be a hero," I thought to myself. "So, do I really need this belt?" I still didn't want to be a Kamen Rider at all, but according to Kaiyojuni, I had to in order to keep balance to the world. "But I really don't want this much responsibility, so can I just throw the belt away?" I pondered this question on the way back to my house.
Ryujin: Well, looks like we've said a lot this day. Now let's take a few hours off!
Kaizen: Agreed, I just want to relax from typing all of this out. Why are we doing this again, might I ask?
Ryujin: So, we can have some form of documentation of what happened to us. Now come on, those riders aren't going to find themselves. Until next time, everyone!
Kamen Rider Nero: Hmmm, seems they've left their equipment here.
Kamen Rider Halo: Are you thinking of what I'm thinking?
Kamen Rider Nero: Speak of our own origin story of how we became riders? Sure, I don't see why not. And who knows? It could be fun, speaking of what led up to this moment.
Kamen Rider Halo: Although, to keep our identities secret from each other, I suggest that we speak one at a time. I don't want to know who you were in your past.
Kamen Rider Nero: Agreed, I don't want you to know who I was either, or who you are, for that matter.