"Hello!" A familiar voice shouts from the entrance.
"Alicia! It's so nice to see you again." Dad says.
I get up from bed, walking into the hallway to see Alicia and Otto at the door. "Oh, it's you guys."
"There you are!" Alicia says, running up to me. "You know what we should do?"
"I know we're in sync, but I'm not a mind reader." I say, rubbing my eyes.
"Shocker said he'd come back when you arm gets better. So Alicia wanted to have a sleepover before we start preparing." Otto says.
"You'll have to fight again?" Mom asks.
"We will, but this is the last time. If I can finish my work, then we can finish this fight for good." Otto says.
"Is it that belt I saw you working on before?" I ask.
Otto nods. "We can talk about it later. Alicia and Sophie might rip my head off if I talk about it now."
"Did you say…?" Dad asks, unable to finish his question as Sophie walks in.
"Yes. I'm… home." She says.
Without another word, mom and dad both pull Sophie in for a hug. "Thanks, man." I say to Otto.
"It was mostly the professor. I just helped with testing if everything was working properly." He says.
"Should I be calling you Professor then? Either way, thanks." I move next to him to whisper. "Since they're distracted right now, what's up with the belt you're working on?"
He looks back to make sure Alicia or Sophie aren't listening. "I used it against Shocker earlier today. He didn't stand a chance. But it's designed like Sophie's belt, it strains the users' body instead of using the energy of the discs. That strain is even worse because of the artificial disc inside. It puts more strain on the body to simulate that power." Otto stumbles for a moment. "Even for the small time I used it, my body felt like it was being torn apart."
"Why did you tell me that sooner? You should sit down already, idiot." I grab his arm and pull him into my room, sitting him down on my bed. "Next time, I'll use it. Alright?"
"Just because your arm heals doesn't mean it's safe to put that much pressure on it. I'll find a solution." He says.
"And if you don't?"
"Then I'll face the consequences. It's my creation, after all."
"How do we always end up coming to this? Do you have any ideas?" I ask.
"Nothing. The only way I could remove or reduce the strain is by taking power away from the belt, which could still work if we attacked him together. But I don't want to take a risk like that. We need to make sure no one gets hurt. And that means making something that he has no chance of beating."
"Could you split up the strain?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like, what if you cut it into pieces?"
Otto stares at me with a confused look. "Do you mean phases?" He gets up and paces around the room. "it would reduce the strain temporarily, increasing the pressure as its power rises over time. Each phase making it stronger while putting more pressure on the user's body."
"Should you be walking around like that?" I ask.
"But how many phases should it have? And what would indicate a new phase?" He snaps his fingers. "The scarves!"
"So… did I help?"
"Yes, this could work. The problem is that its power would start off weak, and as it builds up, the burden on your body grows as well."
"Like a dead sprint before the finish line, I just have to put everything I've got into those last seconds before I burn out."
Otto sits back down, staring at the ground as he sighs. "We're talking about possibly permanent damage if you stay in for too long. You seriously aren't afraid to risk that?" I open my mouth to speak, but he cuts me off. "Don't answer that. I'll get to work and see-"
"What's this about work?" Alicia says, pulling on Otto's ear.
"I get it, I get it! Don't you have a little sympathy for me?" He says.
I noticed Sophie hadn't followed Alicia. "Is she still in the living room?" Alicia nods and I walk out to find them.
"We're sorry. We're so sorry." I hear a sniffling voice say, my parents are holding Sophie close.
"It's okay. There is nothing to apologize for." Sophie says.
"We're supposed to keep both of you safe, but you…" Dad says.
"All that matters is that I'm home. I missed you." She says.
"We finally get to be together again." I say.
"And I'm not going anywhere. I won't let anyone separate or hurt us again." Sophie says.
My parents eventually let go of her. "We'll leave you all alone. We love you." They sit down in the living room together. I can still hear muffled tears from them both.
Sophie stops me before I open the door to my room. "There's something I wanted to tell you."
"What's up? You know I'm always for you."
"Before Shocker kidnapped me, I had thoughts in my head. Confusing thoughts about myself, who I am, and they've resurfaced ever since you all got me away from him." She pauses.
"Whatever it is, I'm your sister. Nothing you say, or are, is going to change that." I give her a reassuring smile.
"I'm still not completely sure about it. And I'm not sure if it's my own thoughts, or if the memories of them are a byproduct of Shocker's modifications, but I don't feel like a girl. The idea doesn't sit right in my head, or my heart."
"That's alright, like I said, I'm your sister. I'll always accept you. Is there something you'd rather go by?"
"I'm still not sure. But I'm not a girl or a boy. I don't know yet." They say.
"Sorry! Didn't mean to pressure you or anything, just wanted to make sure. Who else knows?"
"You're fine. Alicia and Otto know, but mom and dad don't. I don't know how I'll tell them."
"Hey. If you don't know, then you don't know. If you ever need to talk about it, we'll always be here for you." I grab the doorknob to my room. "Ready?"
They nod as I open the door to Alicia sitting on the floor. "You're crazy! Ms. Braid is way cooler than Agent Hammer!"
"You're the insane one. The Captain is always the coolest." Otto says.
"What are you two going on about?" I ask.
Alicia gets up and yanks me over. "Perfect! Chase, who's cooler? Ms. Braid, or Agent Hammer?" She says with a smug look at Otto.
"How is that fair?! You can obviously count on her to agree with you." Otto says.
"Agent Hammer." I say.
"Really?!" Alicia shouts. "But Ms. Braid is so cool, she's super confidant, can turn into a snake, and she's really funny." She takes my hands and looks into my eyes. "Can't you agree with me this one time, please?"
"S-Sorry. It's not like I think Ms. Braid is lame. But Agent Hammer's always been there to help me out when I needed it. Whether it be advice or just getting me out of a bad spot. Plus, he doesn't even need a suit or disc to fight. That has to count for something, right?" I say.
Alicia lets go of me and grabs Sophie, giving them the same look they gave me. "Sorry, Alicia. I don't have a favorite in this scenario."
"Give it up. I'm right, as always." Otto says.
"Never mind, I agree with Alicia." Sophie says.
"You just had to open your mouth, didn't you?" I say to Otto. "Why were you guys even arguing about that?"
"Alicia brought it up out of nowhere." He says.
"It's called 'starting a conversation.' Not that you'd know how to do that." Alicia says.
"If we asking questions, I have one." Sophie says. We all look over at them as they wait. "I want to know how you two got together." They point at Alicia and I.
"Huh?!" Alicia and I shout in unison.
"W-Why would we need to go over that?" Alicia says.
"Yeah, it's not like it's important! There's no big story to it, we just did!" I say, trying not to go over what actually happened.
"This is important information." They look at Otto, "you wouldn't happen to know, would you?"
"Fine! Not like it's a terrible story anyway, just embarrassing." Alicia says. "I was the one who asked, but someone didn't know what I meant. It took all the courage in my heart to say I liked her, but she completely blanked on what I was telling her."
"In my defense, you asked if I wanted to be something other than friends. I mean, sure, I didn't realize I had those feelings until after you asked, but it's not like I was totally oblivious." I say.
"You were." Alicia says. "But how could I not forgive you?" She says before hugging me.
"Aren't you forgetting the part where you asked me for advice after she ran away and left you a letter?" Otto says.
"You asked Otto?!" Alicia asks.
"I mean, his advice was pretty good. Better than what was going through my head, at least." I say.
"That's because I couldn't care less about romance. You were letting your feelings make things way too complicated. Meanwhile, I have no such feelings." Otto smirks.
"Whatever." I turn to Sophie, "you happy? Not sure why you were so interested."
"Because I knew Alicia had a crush on you. I wanted to know what happened." They say.
"Wait, you do? Does that mean you know what made her like me?!" I ask.
"H-Hold on! We don't need to go that far." Alicia says.
"Unfortunately for you, sister…" Sophie motions their mouth shut, "… that's a secret between us."
"Come on!" I shout. Alicia hugs Sophie out of relief.
We spend the rest of the night talking about whatever comes to our mind, memories with Sophie, things that have led us to where we are, bickering about stupid stuff. If we beat Shocker, we can have nights like this whenever we want. Eventually we all fall asleep, but during the night, I wake up. It doesn't take me long to realize it's a dream as I look at the silhouette of the hero, Kamen Rider.
It doesn't feel as tense now, that lingering stare doesn't feel as worrying anymore. "Can you speak?"
The figure doesn't respond.
"Guess you can't speak if I don't know what the real you would say. That sucks. Meeting you would be pretty cool. It's hard to know if I've actually done a good job when you can't tell me."
It stays silent, only moving its head to follow me as I pace around the empty dream.
"But it's not up to you to decide that, is it? That's why you keep popping up."
It continues staring at me, but this time I can feel it looking into my eyes. More figures appear behind. Even if I don't know them, I know who they are in my heart. The figure steps forward, revealing my suit.
"I'll make you proud. Even if I'm not perfect, I'll follow that sensation only I know. And save the people I love."
The figure finally speaks. "That's the hero I am."