Chapter 3: Kill the double
It's been a month since Haruto joined night raid. Sure, he was the newest member to join night raid but he enjoyed being part of a team again. He had been skeptical about joining considering the team's reputation.
Yet, he understood the concept that someone had to do the dirty work to get the peace that he desired.
During this time, he was introduced to the other members of Night Raid.
There was Lubbock, the green haired assassin who excelled at using his teigu to end his target's life efficiently. Lubbock often invited him on his secret "missions" to catch the ladies in the bath. Of course, like any other male on the planet, he was tempted to. But reason stopped him from doing so as he didn't want to get on Akame's bad side.
There was also the bodacious Leone who was a real beauty. Her body was of the right proportions and Cupid would have shot his arrow at any male who first laid eyes on nearly felt his heart waver when he met her for the first time but he decided that he had his heart set on Akame. Nearly.
Sheele was a beauty in her own right but she was sort of an airhead. She couldn't do anything right, be it laundry or even preparing a simple meal.
Haruto had to endure the taunts of Mine who kept emphasizing the fact that he was the newest member of Night Raid. It was okay at first but it started to grow old this past week.
Bulat offered to train Haruto but of course, he refused. His pride would not have allowed It. Be that as it may, he may be the one that Haruto has been looking for. An individual that is extemely well versed in combat. Someone whose skill is much higher than his.
Bulat spent most of his time training another individual that had also recently joined Night Raid. Tatsumi was his name. He was regarded by the group as someone who had extremely high potential as a fighter.
Haruto even heard from Lubbock and Leone that he was the first to survive a strike from Akame who never failed to assassinate a target.
In training, Haruto and him were often paired together to train. Their animosity impressed many of the senior members so much that even Haruto thought that it might not be a bad idea to link up with Tatsumi.
Yet, Tatsumi seemed to be an extremely naive guy. Once, he asked about the existence of a teigu that could revive the dead. Of course, there was no such thing.
Tatsumi had to be comforted by Sheele and it was a few days before he got back to normal.
Then, there was Akame. The first woman who had made Haruto stammer in a long time was a funny one.
He spent a lot of time volunteering to make meals with her for the team.
Today was no exception. He started with washing the meat he acquired with her the day before while she worked on the stew.
"Haruto," she turned towards him suddenly after closing the lid to the pot. "Why are you always volunteering for the cooking duties. Most would shun this job."
Haruto blushed and turned to the side.
Was now the right time to confess his feelings?
He had to be a man.
Yes.
What did his mentor tell him? Strike while the iron is hot? Since the opportunity had presented itself, he had to take it.
"Akame." He looked straight into her eyes. Her eyes shone back like red hot coals.
"I..."
"You want to steal a bite of the food while I am not looking right?"
Haruto nearly collapsed upon hearing that answer.
"The last time I prepared some food, you asked for seconds and thirds. So like me, you must like food a lot." Akame replied with a blank look.
"Ah. Hahaha," Haruto felt like crying and forced a chuckle. "You got me..."
Haruto sighed. It looks like his fight for love would be a long and arduous one.
That night, Najenda sat the team down.
"Our next target is a serial killer who hunts at night. Rumors are that he cuts the heads of his victims off. At present it is unsure how many he has killed."
"It's got to be Zank." Lubbock said with conviction.
"Who is that?" Haruto and Tatsumi asked at the same time.
"You guys really are newbies!"
Mine explained that Zank was once an executioner that was driven mad by the number of executions he had to do.
"Anyway, we will patrol the streets in pairs and stop him from taking more lives." Najenda explained.
As expected, Haruto got paired with Tatsumi. The two of them are the newest members and hence there is no bounty on their head yet.
Haruto wanted Akame as his partner so that perhaps, just perhaps he could further his relationship with her.
"With our partnership, I don't think that even Zane can stop us." Tatsumi said with a smile as they patrolled the streets together.
The dim moonlight lit up their path;damn it was such a romantic setting as well.
Haruto sighed. It's not so bad since it's Tatsumi. The guy always knows how to lessen the tension.
Haruto punched his hand in the air.
"Yeah! Let evil beware the dynamic duo! Haruto and Tatsumi!"
The two had a good laugh as they high fived one another.
"Who's there?"
It was a group of soldiers out on patrol just around the bend. So much for dynamic duo. Being found out on their patrol around the capital.
Haruto adjusted his fedora hat.
"Leave this to me, hide in the shadows."
He stepped in front of the soldiers. Taking a photo out of his jacket, he started meowing.
"Meow," he started acting like a cat and locked his hands.
"What are you doing," the soldiers approached him.
Haruto stood up.
"My mentor once told me, to find a person, walk around his shoes. My client gave me this job to find his cat. And what better way to do this than to..."
"Act like a cat?" The soldier completed his sentence.
"Exactly," Haruto replied.
The soldiers looked at one another, clearly bewildered by what he had just said.
"Get home. The curfew is supposed to be starting in an hour. If we see you again.."
"I will make myself scarce." Haruto lifted his hands in mock surrender. He turned around and started walking.
By instinct, Haruto bent down and dodged a strike from one of the soldiers. He rolled to put some distance between them.
Placing the driver on his waist, he grabbed the Joker memory from his pocket.
"Sorry, but we aren't buying your story." The soldiers chuckled as they unsheathed their swords. "What kind of a nut wears a hat like that?"
Haruto tapped the Joker memory.
"Concealing the coldness and kindness of a man, that is the role this hat plays. HENSHIN!"
He slots the memory into the driver and transforms into the armored being. Just like last time, he makes short work of the soldiers.
Deflecting their strikes easily, he throws punches and kicks in quick succession, defeating them all without breaking a sweat.
"See that?" Haruto turns around. "That was in 10 seconds..."
Where was he? He was supposed to hide in the shadows round the corner.
Haruto scales up the building to get a bird's eye
View.
Zero. Zilch. Nada.
Tatsumi was nowhere to be seen.
Crap. His first mission and he lost his partner. What would the team think of him? Worse still, would Akame feel that he was a loser? Akame'S Team was patrolling nearby.
In any case, he had to find him first. Jumping from building to building, he tried to hear for footsteps. The armor had enhanced his senses, so he was able to listen out for Tatsumi.
"S...a"
A whisper. Almost inaudible. To his right.
Haruto sped to the right, looking around frantically for Tatsumi before finally finding him in an open area with a mysterious figure in front of him.
Tatsumi had his blade drawn. It appears that the 2 of them are about to do battle. Tatsumi's opponent was huge.
He wore a white coat and gloves that revealed 2 blades when unsheathed.
Tatsumi struck first. Incredibly, the opponent was able to dodge his every move before kicking Tatsumi, sending him flying back.
"Looks like I better step in." Haruto murmured. Haruto leapt off the building he was standing on and into the battlefield.
"You didn't catch my 10 second record," Haruto smiled.
"Sorry," Tatsumi said while picking himself up."On another perfectly unrelated note, I hit the jackpot. This is Zank, the beheader. He..."
"That's right..." Zank said slowly. "Just to let the playing field be level, I can predict the future using my teigu, the spectator."
Zank pointed to the eyeball on his head.
"Predict this!" Haruto rushed forward to throw a punch that was easily dodged by Zank.
"Child's play," Zank sniggered. "You are even easier to read than your partner."
Haruto tried to rain punches on Zank only to have his efforts deflected.
"Now!" Zank picked a weak spot and jabbed Haruto, causing him to fly back and land on Tatsumi.
"He's strong," Haruto mused as both him and Tatsumi tried to pick themselves up.
"We have to attack in tandem," Tatsumi suggested.
Haruto nodded in agreement. Using the moves they learned in training, Tatsumi engaged Zank first.
Tatsumi managed to hold off Zank's attacks, if only barely.
Haruto took the Joker memory and slotted it into the maximum drive slot before tapping it.
"Switch!"
Tatsumi jumped out of the way, allowing Haruto to deliver a rider kick.
Zank however managed to predict this and rolled out of the way, speeding towards Tatsumi after rolling.
Tatsumi was caught by surprise.
Shit. Haruto immediately canceled his kick and raced towards Zank. Zank got the final laugh by quickly turning around and striking Haruto in the chest.
Haruto fell back as his armor dissolved around him.
Haruto tried to get up but his old injury acted up again, sending waves of pain all over his body.
"One down, one to go." Zank smiled.
Tatsumi did a flip in the air and put himself between Zank and Haruto.
"Can you stand? Haruto?"
Haruto replied with a groan.
"Your opponent is me," Tatsumi declared.
"Try, I would love to see you try." The eyeball on Zank's head glowed.
Tatsumi lowered his blade.
"Oi, what are you doing?" Haruto yelled. "The fight isn't over,"
Tatsumi dropped his blade and walked slowly towards Zank.
"Saya..." he whispered.
Saya? Wasn't that the girl that Tatsumi was childhood friends with? According to Tatsumi, she died a horrible death tortured by a rich family. That became his driving force to join Night Raid.
"My teigu allows my victims to see the person that they want to see most."
The still night was broken by Zank's evil cackle."Humans sure are weak. By seeing the person they love most, they lose their resolve to fight. No matter how skilled you are, you will never attack someone so precious to you!"
Rage started to boil within Haruto. Even with every nerve in his body screaming in pain, he picked himself from the floor.
"DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH! When people love other they became weaker, but that is nothing to ashamed of . Because that is true weakness. Only those who know weakness will become truly stronger !"
Tatsumi turned around, seemingly snapped out of the illusion that he saw.
"Haruto,"
Haruto nodded and took out the Double driver from his haversack.
He walked over to Tatsumi's side. "WE will defeat you."
My body isn't in good shape now. Haruto thought as he tried to balance himself. The pain was excruciating but he held on.
He passed Haruto the Double Driver and the Joker memory
"This is?"
"Trust me," Haruto grinned. " This power will blow him away. "
Tatsumi nodded and placed the driver on his waist. The same belt materialised on Haruto's waist.
Haruto whipped out the Cyclone memory. He tapped the memory, causing it to announce "Cyclone."
Tatsumi did the same.
"Joker!"
Zank smiled. "Defeat me? Who the hell do you guys think you are?"
"Just 2 ordinary assassins passing by. And don't you forget it!" Haruto shouted
With that, he slipped the Cyclone memory into the driver. Simultaneously, the memory appeared in Tatsumi's belt.
Tatsumi then placed his memory into the driver.
"Henshin!" Both of them shouted at the same time.
A whirl of both green and black armor surrounded Tatsumi while Haruto fell to the wind picked up causing Zank to lift hands to shield his eyes.
Tatsumi became clad in a green and black armor. The armor's color scheme was split right do the middle with the left being green and the right being black.
The transformation was complete. Haruto's conscious mind had entered Tatsumi's body.
"We are Kamen Rider Double." Kamen rider double shifted his feet and flicked his wrist.
"Now, count up your sins!"
Author's note: sorry, this chapter took a bit more time to release. I attended Afa, a huge anime event in Singapore and it was awesome. Now, about the question about Kamen Riders being a lot stronger than teigu users question.
In all honesty, Haruto has just started using the Lost Driver and thus may not be as skilled ad Shotaro yet. Haha.
I will try to release a chapter every week, so watch this space.