Disclaimer: I don't own either of the franchises. Kamen Rider belongs to Toei. The Fate Series belongs to Type-Moon… Wow, Deja vu…
"Why did you do this?!" "It is my duty." Was it worth it? ...What was it in the first place?
"We thought you were our friend!" "You thought wrong. I no longer have friends." Who was I deceiving? Them, or myself?
More stood against me. Why was I fighting them? Why did I want to fight them?
"In the end, it came to this… Why?" That man had tears running down his cheeks, upset and angry at… me? "Transform already." "...Henshin."
Why? The reason eludes me… No matter how much I desire the truth, I never learn it.
"Didn't you want to prove the World wrong? To escape the fate thrust upon you?" "I did." Who was I speaking to? "Then why did you do it? Why did you kill them? "I… I…"
"I… Huh?" The teenage boy slowly opened his eyes, tears slowly running down his cheeks. "I'm crying again…" He quietly muttered as he touched the teardrops on his face. The boy wiped them away as he sat up from his bed.
"What time is it?" He tiredly asked as he glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table. Flashing on the digital screen in red was 5:49. "Still early, huh?"
The boy could not go to sleep. Even though he was still tired, the dream practically guaranteed that he was not able to get any more shut-eye. That dream had always terrified him for reasons he does not know, for reasons he cannot remember.
"Remember…" He mumbled, his blue eyes falling on the old magenta-and-black camera that was next to his clock. That word implied that he once knew what happened in that dream and why it did. But he did not want to know why, and he did not want to know why he did not know. Even if they could shed the reason he no longer remembers his past.
It was a conundrum. He wanted to know why he couldn't remember his past, but he did not want to know what happened in his past.
"Well, there's no use thinking about it now." Fujimaru Ritsuka mumbled as he got out of his bed and got ready for the day.
Across the Kaleidoscope
Chapter 1: The Start of A New Journey
30 minutes later…
Ritsuka yawned as he walked down the stairs of his dorm building. He now wore a school uniform, a black short-sleeved button-down dress shirt with a white collar and cuffs along with black pants. Hanging around his neck was the camera that was next to his bed.
When he reached the bottom of the steps, he spotted someone near the front entrance sweeping the floor, humming to herself.
"Good morning, Sumida-san." The black-haired boy greeted her.
"Hmm?" The older woman looked up from her task when she heard someone call her and saw Ritsuka at the bottom of the staircase. "Oh, Ritsuka-kun! Good morning." She greeted him in return.
This was Sumida Takara, the dorm mother of Ritsuka's school dormitory. She looked like she was in her late 20s/early 30s and had shoulder-length black hair and eyes. She was also dressed in a simple pink blouse and a long black skirt that reached her ankles.
"I see you're up and ready to go," she remarked as Ritsuka sat down on one of the couches that were in the lounge of the entrance hall.
"Kinda, I still have to wait for Tetsuya," he replied, sinking into the couch and sighing in exhaustion.
"Are you still having those dreams?" His caretaker asked in concern, noticing his tired expression.
Taking a moment to deliberate on the matter, Ritsuka decided that he didn't want to worry Sumida-san any further. "No," he lied with a straight face. "Just stayed up a bit later than I had planned."
"Really?" She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to figure out whether he was telling the truth or not.
"Yes, really." Ritsuka insisted.
"Hmm…" She stared him down harder before, finally, cheerfully said, "Okay, but don't stay up late tonight, got it?"
"I know."
"No, say: I promise I will go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight," Sumida-san playfully demanded.
"Fine," Ritsuka smiled slightly, touched by the kindness she was showing him. "I promise I will go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight," he repeated word-for-word.
"Great!" She proclaimed, giving him a thumbs-up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to take out the trash bags," Sumida-san said, lifting up and carrying said trash bags over her shoulder and exiting the building.
As the door closed, Ritsuka decided to make use of his time and took a history book out of his bag. Tetsuya was always a bit slow to get ready so might as well revise on something.
About ten minutes later, after a few other dorm residents said hello to him as they went to school, a loud noise upstairs followed by footsteps running down the stairs alerted Ritsuka to his friend's imminent arrival. Putting back his book into his bag, Ritsuka got off the couch just as a teenage boy came tumbling down the flight of stairs.
The boy had short dark brown hair with black eyes and was wearing an identical uniform to Ritsuka if a bit untidy. This was Tsunogai Tetsuya, Ritsuka's closest friend.
"Ow… Sorry, I'm…" he winced in pain as he got back up. "I… Just give a minute..."
"No can do, Tetsuya," Ritsuka replied to his friend, picking up Tetsuya's fallen bag and tossing it back to him. "If we don't leave now, Ryoko will have our heads."
"Urgh, why does she always get on our case?" Tetsuya whined, shoulders drooping as he remembered the last time the girl was angry at them. "It's not like we're ever actually late for class."
"Doesn't matter, we gotta go now," Ritsuka said as he grabbed Tetsuya's collar and dragged him out of the dormitory, the latter complaining as he did.
As the two made their way to their high school, Ritsuka and Tetsuya were chatting with each other about some things. Actually, it was mostly the latter who was carrying the conversation as the former taking photos as they walked.
"-told me that I have to…" Tetsuya trailed off, realizing that his friend was not listening to him as Ritsuka snapped a photo of another pair of students who were ahead of them. "Hey, are you paying attention?"
"Hm?" Ritsuka looked up from his camera. "Of course I was."
"Oh really? Then what was I talking about?" Tetsuya questioned his friend.
"You were talking about… your club," Ritsuka said the first thing that popped into his mind.
"...Did you just guess that?"
"No." A staring contest ensued between the two as Tetsuya tried to get Ritsuka to say that the latter was just making things up.
"...Well, you're not wrong," Tetsuya admitted. "Okada-san got on my case about my 'devotion to the arts'." He air quoted the phrase. "It's my last year, cut me some slack!"
"It's because it's your last year that he was getting on your case," Ritsuka told him. "It's not his fault that somebody had been skipping out on kendo practice."
"I know, I know…" Tetsuya sighed, "I already told him that I'm busy with other stuff. As much as I love it, I just don't have much time for the club anymore."
"By other stuff, do mean stuff besides staying in your room all day playing games?"
"That's not what I-"
"Why were you up all night again?" "...Shut up."
Just as they finished talking, a strange breeze blew through the street they were walking in. "Did you felt that?" Tetsuya shivered. "The winds have been getting cold lately."
"It's early autumn, it's going to get colder." Ritsuka dismissed his concern even though a small part of him knew that there was something wrong.
Eventually, the two reached the front gates of Ginseisora High School, and waiting there was the last member of their group.
Upon seeing the two boys arrive, the girl glanced at her watch and smirked. "Congrats, you two woke up on time," she greeted as they walked up to her. "Well, at least one of you did."
She wore the female version of the boys' uniform; a black long-sleeved shirt with a knee-length skirt. Her eyes were a light shade of brown and she had long black hair tied up into a ponytail. This was Jindai Ryoko.
"Why do you keep doing that, Ryoko?" Tetsuya asked her, tired at their daily routine.
"Because you always wake up late, Tetsu," Ryoko smugly replied. "Hey, Ritsu, what time did he fall down the stairs just now."
"I didn't fall down this time!"
"About 6:35." "Hey!"
"Hahaha!" The girl laughed at Tetsuya's embarrassment.
"Traitor." Tetsuya glared at Ritsuka for his betrayal. "I thought we were friends."
"...We are," Ritsuka said quietly, his mind wandering back to his dream earlier.
Both noticing his sudden downcasted look, Ryoko asked, "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing," Ritsuka lied again, putting on a fake smile to try and convince his friends. "Come on, let's go to class," he said more cheerfully and was already walking towards the main building.
"Wait!" "Don't move too fast!" Tetsuya and Ryoko cried respectively as they ran to catch up with Ritsuka.
Later…
Ritsuka stared out the window as his history teacher was up in the front of the classroom, giving a lecture on the Meiji Restoration. Once again, he was not able to focus on anything. Instead, all he did was look out at the cityscape.
"Fujimaru-kun." The gruff voice of his teacher snapped him out of his thoughts. "What and when was the Omiya Incident?"
"Hmm?" Ritsuka hummed, standing up and answering, "The Omiya incident was the assassination of Sakamoto Ryouma and Nakaoka Shintaro on the night of 10 December 1867."
"Good, you may sit down." And so he did and resumed gazing out at the city, nay, the world.
For a brief moment, he saw something appeared in the sky. A silver gleam.
"That is…" That gleam felt familiar, he knew what it was and why it was there but… he did not at the same time. Before he could ponder for even a second, the bell rang, signaling the end of history class and the gleam disappeared.
"Alright, you are all dismissed," his teacher said. "You may have lunch now." He then left the classroom to presumably head back to the staffroom. As he did, Ritsuka's classmates stood up from their seats and went their own way. Some stayed back to talk with their friends and some immediately went out for their reasons. Tetsuya and Ryoko fell in the former category, going over to Ritsuka's desk.
"Hey, Ritsu," Ryoko called out to him. "You okay? You've been staring outside since Maths."
"Was a cloud really that more interesting than what Yamazaki-sensei was teaching?" Tetsuya sarcastically asked. "Come on, let's head to the roof. We can talk more up there."
"You guys go on without me, Sasaki-san wanted me to go to the clubroom for something. I'll catch up with you guys later," Ritsuka told them as he stood up.
Knocking on the door of the photography clubroom once, Ritsuka opened it and stepped inside. However, there was no one inside.
Flipping the switch on, lights flooded the room. The room was barely furnished, with a folding table and chairs in the center along, a couple shelves that had several photo albums against the walls, and a large mirror hanging on one side of the room. The most eye-catching part of the room, however, was the wall that was covered by various photos opposite to the mirror. They were of simple things, ranging from a pigeon that had landed on the ground to a group of students hanging out in a restaurant. Notably, several of the photos were distorted and out of focus.
Ritsuka walked towards the wall and took one such photo. It was of a stray cat that had been living near the school. He had come across it one day on the way. At the time he took the picture, he had thought nothing much about the cat. When he went back to the dorm, he learned that the cat had been run over by a car.
"Eh? Fujimaru-senpai?" He heard someone come in behind him. Turning around, Ritsuka saw another member of the photography club standing at the doorway. "Oh right, Sasaki-senpai asked you to come here."
"Yes," Ritsuka nodded as he went over to one of the shelves to do what he went there for. "How about you, Seino-san?"
"I forgot something here yesterday," the younger girl told him. "I'll just grab it and go."
She then walked over to one of the chairs and took a blue bag that had been left there. "See you next meeting, Fujimaru-senpai!" She waved him goodbye before hurriedly vacating the room.
A couple minutes later, Ritsuka was done with his task and just as quickly left the room, remembering to shut the lights before he closed the door, "I better meet up with those two…" He mumbled to himself as he made his way to the roof.
However, what he failed to notice was the figure in the mirror, gazing at him as he left…
Meanwhile…
While Ritsuka was busy in his club room, Tetsuya and Ryoko were leaning on the fence and gazing down at the entrance yard while waiting for him.
"Hey, Ryoko?" Tetsuya said.
"What?"
"Have Ritsuka talked to you about his dreams lately?"
"No," Ryoko answered. "Seeing as you're asking me about it, I guess he's not told you anything about them either."
"Yeah…" The boy sighed. "You'd think after two and a half years of friendship, he would tell us something."
"Hey, his dreams are not some sort of childhood secret that he thought was much worse when he was young," Ryoko reprimanded him. "Not like he even remembers anything about his childhood."
"You're right but…"
"As you said, we've only known him for two and a half years."
"Yeah, but he only remembers the last two years and a half. In other words, he's known for as long as he can remember," Tetsuya semi-seriously pointed out.
As the two continued their bantering, they failed to notice that the subject of their argument walk up behind them.
"You can't tell me you're not the tiniest bit interested in what's going in that guy's head."
"Of course I am. Ritsu's always looking off into the sky thinking about something." Ryoko grumbled, putting her head against the fence. "Hey… Do you think he's an alien?"
"Where is this coming from?" Tetsuya asked incredulously. However, he himself could not help but be curious about it too.
"I mean, he just appeared one day behind your dorm in the rain knowing nothing except his name. Something like that screams sci-fi," Ryoko replied. "And he was so good at everything he did. Why else would this school accept someone like him?"
"I'm not saying you're wrong but an alien? That's too much." Tetsuya snickered at her. "Still, I wonder where he came from…"
"..." Ritsuka stood quietly behind them, waiting for the two to realize that he was there.
"We don't even know how old he really is, it was Sumida-san who thought he was 17."
"See? We don't really know him so why would he tell us about his dreams?" Ryoko took them back to the start of their argument.
"Yeah, you've got a point…" The boy finally admitted. "Speaking of Ritsuka, what's taking him so long?" Wondered Tetsuya as he turned his head towards the door, only to be met face-to-face with Ritsuka himself. "...Hey."
"Hi," Ritsuka said with a completely straight face, also getting Ryoko's attention in the process.
"Oh… Ritsu, you're here," she nervously laughed. "How long were you standing there?"
"Long enough," he answered. "So, an alien?"
"..."
"Just to be clear, I completely disagree with her." Tetsuya quickly threw her under the bus. "You are obviously human… unless you're wearing a skin suit. You're not wearing a skin suit, right?"
"And if I am?"
"Remember that it was my clothes that Sumida-san gave you."
"Why would that matter? If anything, it would be her he's sparing," Ryoko sardonically said.
"...I'm your best friend?"
"I'm standing right here." Ryoko snarked at Tetsuya for his comment.
"Neither of you is my best friend," Ritsuka harshly said.
"...Ouch." Tetsuya winced. Next to him, Ryoko feigned heartbreak, putting her hands on her chest and fake crying, "How could you say that, Ritsu? You've known us for as long as you can remember!"
"Yes, 'cause making fun of my amnesia is surely something best friends do." Ritsuka snarked at them.
A short silence fell on the three, broken only by the sound of the winds blowing heavily, before they started laughing.
"Seriously, dude? You don't care about being made fun of, you don't care about anything!" Tetsuya exclaimed.
"That's not true, I care about this camera, don't I?"
"The camera that you can't take good pictures with?"
"That's only half-true, Ryoko, he can't take a good picture period."
"Oh yeah, that was the only thing you weren't good at!" Both the girl and Tetsuya started to laugh at Ritsuka's dour look.
"I was kidding when I said neither of you two was my best friend but now? Now, that's definitely true."
"Then who is it? It's not like you got any other people that you're close with."
"And best friends don't make fun of their friend's anti-social tendencies," Ritsuka added to his earlier comment.
"Tendencies? Can you call it a tendency if that's all you do?" Ryoko smugly called him out.
"I interact with the people in the photography club, don't I?"
"Interact, not socialize." Tetsuya pointed out. "And that's more of necessity than anything. We all know if you're given the chance, you'd lock yourself away and not speak to anyone ever again."
"I don't want to make friends, that's why." Ritsuka glanced to the side, avoiding making eye contact with them. "You two just happened to be exceptions."
"And seriously, why's that?" Ryoko asked. "It's not like you're unpopular. Need I remind you of the club fiasco when you enrolled here?" "Or the pink shirt incident that same year?" "Or the debate team incident also that year." "Or the club fiasco?" "That was the first thing I said, Tetsu."
"I get it already." Ritsuka did not want to hear any more of those 'incidents' as they were called.
"Just saying, man," Tetsuya said just as another breeze blew over the roof.
"Geez, what's up with the wind today." Even though she was mostly covered, Ryoko felt shivers go down her spine. "I know it's autumn already but-"
"It's a sign." Ritsuka blurted out.
"Say what now?" Tetsuya raised an eyebrow at what he had said. "A sign of what?"
"...Don't know." Ritsuka shrugged and gazed towards the other students down on the ground, unsure of himself. "But I feel like something like this has happened before."
"Really? I mean, it does get cold this time of year but not like this." Ryoko muttered to herself.
"Who knows? But if we stay up here any longer, we'll catch a cold or something." Ritsuka said as he opened the flap of his camera and snapped a photo of the people down in the yard. However, before he could look away, another silver gleam caught his eye. "That is…"
"What are you looking at?" Tetsuya asked, turning back to see what Ritsuka was seeing. "There's only a bunch of students there." He sounded confused, clearly not seeing what his friend was seeing.
For Ritsuka, however, he continued to stare at the silver wall that was slowly expanding until it was as big as the school itself but still, only he could see it.
"It's nothing. Thought I saw something for a second." Ritsuka looked away and the three made their way towards the door leading back into the building.
Because he did not stay to look at it, Ritsuka did not see the faint shadows that mirrored both the school and its students on the other side of the wall…
Later…
The school bell rang again, this time for the final time.
"Thank you all and have a great weekend. Class dismissed." Their last teacher said as the students all stood up and began to file out.
Just as Ritsuka put his books back into his bag, Ryoko approached him. "Hurry up a bit, we're going out for old man Ishikawa's."
"We went there yesterday alread-" "Up, up, up!" Ryoko quickly shut him up. "No complaining. His cooking's good and you know it."
"Who's paying?"
"Tetsu, of course."
"Wait, what?!" Tetsuya exclaimed for his seat next to Ritsuka's.
"No complaining," she repeated. "Let's go!"
"Why…? I was saving up for- Ow!" Tetsuya put his hand on his head where Ryoko had hit him.
"No complaining, just eat. It's your money, after all." She flashed him a smirk before resuming eating her meal.
Ritsuka, meanwhile, ate much slowly, his mind wandering elsewhere again. "Hey…" He said unconsciously, "What do you think our future will hold?"
"Hmm? Thinking about the future, Ritsu? That's not like you." Ryoko said after gulping down another spoonful.
"It's our last year at Ginseisora, where do you guys want to go after this?"
"Hmm…" Tetsuya hummed, a thoughtful look appearing on his face. "I guess I want to follow in my brother's footsteps. Maybe he can help me out."
"Yeah." Ryoko unenergetically cheered. "Go, nepotism."
"I don't mean it like that." He sounded offended by her remark.
"Whatever you say, Tetsu. Me, on the other hand, I still want to be an archeologist, or at least something involving ancient history," Ryoko told them.
"So a museum curator or something?" Tetsuya suggested.
"That's not a bad fallback plan. Maybe." She said before looking at Ritsuka, "How about you, Ritsu? What are you planning on doing?"
"Capture the world…" The black-haired boy said without thinking, getting weird looks from his friends. "In photos of course. I'm not an alien." He narrowed his eyes at them. "But…"
"But what?" Ryoko prodded.
"You both have plans for the future-" "Only I have one." "Hey!" "-but what if the future never arrives?"
"You're saying weird stuff again, Ritsuka."
"If the world were to end, what would you do?" Ritsuka asked, ignoring Tetsuya's comment.
"Wait just a minute, what are you talking about? The end of the world?" Both Tetsuya and Ryoko looked at him incredulously.
"It's just… I can't shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen, and soon." Ritsuka said, his eyes landing on the camera he had.
"Why? Because there've been a couple cold breezes today?" Ryoko mockingly asked, scooping up another spoonful of rice. "You've just been on edge lately because of your dreams."
"I haven't been having any dreams." Ritsuka quickly denied it even though he knew he would not be able to convince the two.
"Just eat and relax," Tetsuya advised him. "I'm paying, remember?"
"Right, relax…" Ritsuka muttered as he continued eating.
Later that night…
The rustling and creaking of the bed echoed in Ritsuka's room as he tossed and turned. His blanket had long since fallen off the bed and left him at the mercy of the cool night air. Despite that, he was sweating profusely as he found himself in the depths of another dream. No, a nightmare.
"No…" He muttered in his sleep, "Please don't… I didn't want to do this…"
What did he not want to do? Was he fighting someone?
"Destroy…" Unbeknownst to him, tears were running down his face again. "I have to…"
Destroy what? What did he have to destroy?
"The worlds… Your stories are…"
WAKE UP!PLEASE!
His eyes flew open and Ritsuka shot out of bed, shouting, "Wataru! Haruto!"
Deep breaths soon followed as he tried to calm down, waiting for his heart to stop beating so fast.
"Wataru… Haruto…" He mumbled. How did he know those names? Why did he know those names?
Leaning off the edge slightly, Ritsuka grabbed his fallen blanket and laid back into bed. He closed his eyes and tried to let sleep overtake him again. However, what kept him up this time was not his dream weighing heavily (although that was a factor) but the feeling of somebody watching him. He tried his best to ignore that feeling but was not given any choice in the matter.
"Can you actually fall asleep after all that?" A familiar deep-sounding voice whispered in his ear. It sounded deep, mind you, it was not actually deep. The best way to describe it was like someone purposely lowering their voice a few octaves to hide their identity.
"Go away," demanded Ritsuka, not even opening his eyes a bit to see who was there. "I don't want to deal with you now."
"That hurts you know," the voice sounded pained but Ritsuka knew that was just an act. "Do you know how it feels to not be wanted wherever you go?"
"Leave already."
"Fine, but let me give you one last warning," said the voice. "You will be going on a journey soon."
"How is that supposed to be a warning?" Ritsuka asked.
"It won't be the type of journey one would want to take nor will it be one that will keep your mind intact by the end."
"Then why would I want to go on this journey?"
"Who said you'd have a choice?" The voice cryptically said before Ritsuka felt his presence disappear.
"Finally…" he muttered as he finally opened his eyes. Just as he thought, there was no one else in his room. If there was one thing he can be thankful for about that guy's appearance, it was that his dream was now furthest from his mind as it can be. It was not long before sleep took over again…
The next morning…
Just like the day before, Ritsuka walked down the stairs to the entrance hall of his dorm. This time, he had a (mostly) restful sleep so Sumida-san would not notice anything wrong.
He now wore a pink t-shirt and a mostly zipped-up gray jacket along with black pants. Still around his next was his camera as per usual.
"Good morning," Ritsuka greeted when he reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Good morning, Ritsuka-kun," Sumida-san said back as she was cleaning behind the front desk. "Oh, someone left a package for you this morning."
"Who?" Ritsuka asked, curious at who would be sending him anything.
"I'm not sure, I found it on the front porch. It was addressed to you," she told him. "Why don't you go sit down while I go get it." She then went to her room, where she presumably had put it.
When he went to sit down on his favorite spot, Ritsuka heard loud footsteps coming from upstairs. 'That's odd…' thought Ritsuka. There was only one person in the entire dormitory who would be making such a ruckus this early in the morning. The problem was because it was a weekend, it could not possibly be him.
He was proven wrong, however, when a few seconds later, Tetsuya came running down the stairs completely out of breath. Hey, at least he did not fall this time.
Tetsuya was wearing his day clothes: a red long-sleeved shirt and dark blue jeans.
"You're up early today," remarked Ritsuka as his friend collapsed in the seat next to him. "Anything happening?"
"It's… Give me a moment…" Tetsuya huffed. "Ryoko called. She said… She said that she's coming over to visit."
"And by visit, you mean she wants to go out for a day into town, right?"
"Probably."
"Great..." sighed Ritsuka. She could have at least told them that last night.
"She'll be any second now. She said that she just got onto the train when she woke me up." Tetsuya informed him.
It was at that moment Sumida-san returned carrying a moderately-sized box in her hands. Badly written on the side of it were the words 'For Fujimaru Ritsuka'. "Oh, good morning, Tetsuya-kun. I see you're up early today," she said as she placed the box down on the table in front of them.
"Good morning, Sumida-san," replied Tetsuya before asking, "What's that?"
"It's Ritsuka-kun's, why don't you ask him?" Sumida-san said, "I need to take out the trash. Don't make too much of a mess, okay?." She waved them goodbye as she went outside.
"So what's inside?" Tetsuya quickly asked, leaning over the box.
"Ever heard of the word 'privacy'?" Ritsuka snarked at him as he moved the box away from Tetsuya.
"Nope. So what's inside?" Tetsuya said again.
Ritsuka told him, "I don't know either. Sumida-san said that it was left outside the door this morning."
"A secret admirer, maybe?" His friend suggested. "Usually it's just a letter but, hey, this definitely would get your attention."
"..."
"What?"
"Never mind," sighed Ritsuka, shaking his head.
"Hurry up, let's open it!" Tetsuya excitedly exclaimed.
However, before they could open the box, who else but Jindai Ryoko came bursting through the doors.
"Hello, people! I have returned!" She loudly announced like she had been missing for days.
She was dressed in a light-blue cardigan. She also wore a dark blue skirt along with black pants.
Seeing the two of them by the couches, she went over to them saying, "You guys ready for- Hmm? What's that?"
"We were just about to find out," Tetsuya told her as Ryoko sat down in another chair. "Come on, Ritsuka, open it."
"Yeah, just wait for a second," he grumbled as he tried to pry the tape off. After a couple of moments, he finally managed to peel it off and open the flaps of the box. All three teens leaned closer, trying to see what was inside.
"What." "Are." "..." "Dude, you were supposed to say those." Tetsuya's comment was ignored as Ritsuka reached into the box and grabbed the two items that were inside.
"These are…" he muttered as he gripped the items tightly. Flashes of memories flooded his mind when his eyes fell on the object within his right hand.
"Who are you?!" "-ssing through-!" "-member that! Henshin!"
"Ritsu?" "Ritsuka? Snap out of it." Tetsuya snapped his fingers in front of Ritsuka's face, getting his attention back.
"Huh?"
"What are those things, Ritsu?" Ryoko asked, trying to touch them, only for him to quickly throw them back into the box and closed it.
"They're nothing," said Ritsuka quickly as he lifted the box and ran towards the stairs.
"Ritsu?!" "Hey, wait!"
"You two wait outside for me!" He shouted at them as he went back to his room.
Upstairs, he hastily ran down the hallway carrying the box in one arm while fishing for his key in his pocket. Upon reaching his room, he unlocked the door and went in, locking it again behind him. Now that he was alone, Ritsuka collapsed, his back against the door.
Exhaling loudly, his eyes fell on the box.
"...Why…?" He didn't know what he meant by that. Why were those here or why did he even know what they were here in the first place. Maybe it was both…
The boy slowly opened the box and stared at the contents. Just as slowly, he reached into it and pulled the two items out again. In his right hand was strange even though it felt very familiar. It was a large belt buckle, the center part being white with a transparent glass circle in the middle. Around the glass was a silver ring with a green gem above it. Additionally, a horizontal black band ran through and connected the outer parts of the buckle to the ring. Finally, surrounding the silver ring were 9 black symbols, 5 below the black band and 4 above, broken by the green gem.
The other item that was delivered to him, literally on the other hand, was basically a white-and-black box. It was a few inches thick and was about the size of a book. Most of the main body was white with one corner being silver. Like the buckle, a black band streaked diagonally across the main body. Attached to the bottom of the box was a black bar. Finally, and most strangely, opposite of the silver corner was a gun muzzle.
"This is…" Ritsuka muttered without thinking, staring deeply at the buckle, particularly at the word that was engraved at the top. "De… Deca-" "Ritsuka!" The loud knocking on his door snapped him out of his daze. "Ritsu, open up!" He heard Ryoko's voice.
"I told you to wait outside!" He shouted back. "And you're not supposed to be up here, Ryoko!"
"Oh shut it!" She snapped back.
"Just hold on a moment," grumbled Ritsuka as he stood back up. He then walked over to his table and put the two items on it before going back and unlocking the door. Opening it, he saw his two friends standing outside his room. While both of them did look concerned and worried, Ryoko also looked annoyed at him.
"Don't just run off like that, Ritsu!" She scolded him. "You really think we wouldn't come running after you?!"
"Ritsuka…" In contrast to her, Tetsuya was more soft-spoken. "We're friends, okay? If you need to talk, we're here for you."
"...I know," Ritsuka replied, stepping outside. "But I don't need to right now."
"Bullshit!" Ryoko cursed, putting her finger right up to his face. "You clearly need to-!"
"Hey, Jindai!" The door opposite to Ritsuka's flew open and one of his dormmates stood there with a grumpy look, his hair frizzled up. Obviously, he had been sleeping and was woken up by Ryoko's shouting. "Some of us are trying to sleep in for the day, you know?" He grumbled.
"Ahh, sorry!" She quickly apologized, bowing. The boy responded with a 'hump' and shut the door.
"...Let's just get going…" Ryoko quietly whined, much to the amusement of Tetsuya and Ritsuka.
"Alright! Where do we go first?" "How about the Sky Tree?" "Sounds good, let's go!"
"Hurry up, take a photo quickly." "Yeah, yeah, just a-" "Not you, Ritsu!"
"Come on, let's get some souvenirs! Tetsu, wallet!" "Why…?"
"Where's our next stop?" "Hmm… Shibuya?" "Great idea, Ritsu! Tetsu, prepare your wallet!" "Why?!"
"Ooh, that looks good…" "Ritsuka, just to let you know. I blame you for this." "Tetsu, wallet!" "Can't you hear it crying?!"
"Hmm… I'm getting tired." "Finally…" "I think my wallet died two stops ago…" "Why don't we rest at that park and get some ice cream?"
And so, the trio took a break in a park. Taking a bench for themselves, they watched several nearby families having a day out for themselves.
"Mmm!" Ryoko hummed as she stretched her body. "There's nothing better like a fun day out."
"Fun for you, maybe," Tetsuya whispered under his breath.
"..." Ritsuka, meanwhile, remained quiet, feeling the breeze blowing into his face.
"Ritsu, any comments?"
"...The winds blowing weirdly again," he said, standing up from his seat.
"The winds?" Tetsuya repeated, confused. "I don't think there were any winds earlier."
"Exactly. It was blowing a lot yesterday but now…" Ritsuka trailed off, taking some photos of the picnicking families to calm himself.
"You have a point but-" A sudden strong gust of wind cut Ryoko off, with her hair blowing onto her face. "God damn hair!"
"..." A looming sense of dread enveloped Ritsuka, him gripping his camera tightly. "Guys, something's wrong. We have to go."
"Yeah… I'm getting that feeling too…" Tetsuya muttered, clutching his chest in fear. It was not just him, the people nearby also felt it.
"Come, let's go back," Ritsuka said more urgently. "The world…"
"Look! That's-!" Ryoko suddenly shouted, pointing to the sky. Hearing her cry, both boys turned their heads up to see what she was pointing to. When he spotted it, Ritsuka felt something cold stabbed into his heart. A silver wall loomed over the entire city, the tip of the Sky Tree touching it.
Immediately, his words from yesterday came back to him.
"It's a sign…" "If the world were to end, what would you do?"
"It won't be the type of journey one would want to take nor will it be one that will keep your mind intact by the end." "Who said you had a choice?"
"It's happening…" Ritsuka muttered, not able to look away from the wall. "The end… of the world…"
As soon as he uttered that last word, the wall fell and the floodgates opened. Screams filled the air and someone, Tetsuya probably, grabbed his arm and dragged him away. But still, he kept his eyes locked on the wall as hoards of monsters came out, most flying but some landing on the ground and attacking the people near them.
"Ritsu, Tetsu, hurry up!" He heard Ryoko scream at him as she ran a few feet ahead of them. "They're- Watch out!"
"Ow!" Tetsuya yelped in pain as he ran face-first into another silver wall that suddenly appeared between them and Ryoko.
"Ryoko!" "Guys!" The three shouted at the same time, banging their fists against the wall.
"Go without us!" Ritsuka ordered her. "Just go somewhere safe!"
"But-!"
"Listen to him! We'll find another way around!" Tetsuya cut her off.
"...Fine. But don't you two dare die on me!" Ryoko finally relented, turning around and running away.
"Be safe…" Ritsuka quietly whispered before turning to Tetsuya. "Come on!"
"Got it!" The two took off in a rush, running parallel to the wall with the latter ahead. However, barely two minutes passed before disaster struck again.
As the two were fleeing from the park, another third wall appeared and it was Ritsuka who ran straight into it this time.
"Ouch!"
"Ritsuka?!" Tetsuya stopped running and turned around when he heard his friend's cry. Without thinking, he took a step forward and unlike Ryoko, Tetsuya managed to walk through the wall. However, he did not appear on Ritsuka's side but went missing entirely.
"Tetsuya!" Ritsuka screamed, his eyes widening at his friend's disappearance. "...Damn it."
"Somewhere safe, somewhere safe." Ryoko chanted as she ran with a group of people. Exactly what would constitute as safe? She could not go home. Something told her the trains would not be working and the boys' dorms were a long distance away.
Before she could decide on a 'safe' place, however, another dreaded wall appeared. This one was different from the others and was moving fast, very fast. Suddenly, the wall came over her and the people she was with and they all found themselves somewhere completely different.
"Eh?" Ryoko let out in surprise, stopping and looking around. She was no longer near the park but instead near a stadium. "This is-"
"Ahh!" A man's scream cut her off. Turning towards the source of the scream, she and the others saw something horrifying. Blood dripping at the feet of a man, a large blade sticking out of his chest, and behind him was a monster. And it was not alone. Other monsters similar to the sword-wielding one jumped down from nearby and surrounded the group of humans.
"What's going on?!" "Run!" "NO!" Those were what Ryoko overheard as she and most of the others ran away. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the monsters managing to catch a few of them and, regrettably, she left them to their fate.
"What the-!" Tetsuya cried as he fell through the wall, it disappearing behind him when he turned to look at it. "That was-!" "Let me go!" "AHH!" "Huh?!"
The boy turned again to see what was going on and saw that he was now on a bridge over a river with him at one end. That was the last thing on his mind though, as on the other end of the bridge were people getting killed by monsters, robots specifically.
"Se-seriously." He stammered, walking backward to try and get away from them. However, he ended up stumbling and landing on his ass. "Ah!"
His scream ended up getting him in more trouble as it attracted the attention of the three robots. "No, stay away." Tetsuya tried to crawl away, scared for his life.
"Human…" One of the robots said in a monotonous voice, terrifying him further. "Extinct. Make humanity extinct!"
"Stay away!" Luckily, somebody was listening to him as another silver wall came over, taking him away from the killer machines.
"What to do now…?" Ritsuka asked himself as he ran down the streets towards… somewhere. He did not know where he was supposed to go, just that he could not stay in the same spot lest he gets murdered by one of the monsters.
"What do you think you should do?" That voice echoed in his head, making him stop in his tracks.
"You…?"
"Wait just a second." The voice warned him before a silver wall appeared in front and washed over him.
Ritsuka suddenly found himself in the middle of a field of flowers. He stared at them as they swayed in the gentle breeze. It was completely at odds with what he experienced just a few minutes prior. "Where is this?"
"Peaceful, isn't it?" The voice said from behind him. Quickly spinning on the spot, he saw a figure dressed completely in black. Ritsuka was unable to see his face as it was obscured by a scarf and hood.
"Who are you?" He asked him.
"After all this time I've been with you, you still don't know?" The man standing in front of him feigned being hurt. "Well, whatever. Not like it matters yet."
"What's going on? Why's the world-"
"You're really regretting not taking the Decadriver with you, aren't you?" Even though he could not see the man's face, Ritsuka knew that he had a large grin.
"The Decadriver," Ritsuka repeated. "Did you send me those things?"
"Who knows?" The man shrugged. "Regardless, you better go get them if you want to save your friends." He said the last word strangely.
"What do you mean by-"
"Here, I'll give you a hand." The man raised and flicked his hand. Immediately, a silver wall materialized between them. "Go, I'll speak to you again soon." The man said from beyond the veil as his silhouette became increasingly blurry.
"Hey, don't-!" Ritsuka's words fell on deaf ears, however, as the man disappeared entirely.
"...Fine, not like I have any choice." Ritsuka sighed and took a deep breath before stepping through the wall. On the other side of the veil, he found himself in front of his dormitory. Taking one glance at the building, he thought that everything was fine. However, the entire street was completely void of life and sound, raising red flags in Ritsuka's head. When he looked closer at the door, he now knew that things were definitely wrong. Getting nearer to the entrance, Ritsuka picked up the broken-off doorknob and studied it. Looking back up, he put his hand on the slightly ajar door and heard strange noises from inside. Ritsuka squeezed his eyes tightly, steeled himself for whatever sight he might see, and opened the door.
And it was fine.
"Hmm?" Sumida-san looked up from the floor she was sweeping. "Oh, Ritsuka-kun, you're back."
"Sumida-san?" Ritsuka stared at the woman, having a sinking feeling in his heart. There was absolutely nothing different about her from that morning.
"What's wrong? Is there something on my face?" She tilted her head before laughing. "Go take a seat, I'll make some tea for you."
"...Why is it messy here?" Ritsuka asked, looking around the room. Messy was an understatement. The table had been overturned, the couches were slashed open and the front desk was cut in half.
"This? Oh, it was… It was…" Her voice faded away and she tried her best to keep her eyes open.
"Sumida-san?" Ritsuka said again before he watched as her face turned an ashy-gray. Her broom fell out of her hands and the woman dropped to her knees. The next moment, her body hit the ground and turned into a pile of ash, leaving only her clothes behind.
The teenaged boy stared at what was the remains of his caretaker for the last two and a half years for what seemed to be an eternity. He knew that what had killed her was probably still here but he remained rooted to his spot by the door.
"NO!" "Huh?" What finally snapped him out of his stupor was the terrified scream echoing from the staircase.
"Right…" Ritsuka muttered, running around the ash pile to get to the stairs. That scream had sounded like it came from the third floor therefore whatever broke in was up there. Luckily, his room was on the first floor so he could easily sneak in there.
Moving quickly, he ran up the flight of stairs and hurried to the end of the hall where his room was. His door had already been ripped off its hinges so he ran straight in. Fortunately, the buckle and box were right where he had left them. Grabbing them, Ritsuka rushed back outside but stopped when he exited his room.
"You've got to be kidding me…" The boy grumbled as standing by the staircase was a monster with skin that was gray as ashes.
Meanwhile…
Tetsuya gasped for air as supported himself with a pillar, putting his hand against it. He had been running from various types of monsters for the past twenty minutes or so. After the robots, he ran into a bunch of monsters that looked like they jumped out of a video game infecting people with some kind of virus. After that were two that seemed to have been made of stained glass turning other people into stained glass. And after that was another group of robots, different from the first set he ran into. He did not know how he even managed to get away from them…
All in all, he was thoroughly out of breath. It was risky but if he did not stop, he will be caught.
"Where are you guys…?" He muttered, very concerned for Ritsuka and Ryoko. After sufficient enough time, Tetsuya straightened up and continued his search for his friends.
At the same time, on the other side of the city, Ryoko was going through a similar situation. After that first set of monsters, the group she was with was jumped by several monsters that leaped out of mirrors. After getting away from them, her group was further cut down by a pair that had weird belts. The next type of monsters she ran into looked like mythical monsters. She swore that one of them was Medusa. Finally, the group that she just escaped from were mostly mummies led by a mantis monster. She wanted to go to Egypt, not for Egypt to come to her!
Now, she was sitting against the wall of a tunnel. Like Tetsuya, she knew she should not rest but she also knew that if she didn't, she would be caught.
"Where are you two?" She sighed before getting up and continuing her search for Ritsu and Tetsu.
Simultaneously, both teens took one step forward and found themselves right in front of the other.
"Eh?!"
"Ryoko?!"
"You're okay!" The girl exclaimed, throwing her arms around Tetsuya's neck. "Where's Ritsu?" She asked, stepping back.
"I don't know, I got separated from him a while ago." He answered her as he looked at their new surroundings. Well, 'new' would be wrong. He knew where they were. "The dorm?"
"What?" Ryoko mumbled, looking around and realizing that he was right. "Good, somewhere safe!"
"Right, we should go- huh?" At that moment, Tetsuya noticed that the front door was wide open. "...I don't think that this place is safe." He looked down at the ground, realizing that something had happened.
"Where do we go now?" Ryoko sadly asked, realizing the same thing as Tetsuya did.
"Don't know… but not here," Tetsuya said, about to take a step away from the building. However, before he could, the first-floor window shattered as something was thrown through it.
"Ahh!"
"Ow!"
"Tetsu!" Whatever it was, it landed right on top of Tetsuya. Both figures now lay in the middle of the street.
"Get off me!" "Just... give me a moment…"
"Wait… Ritsu?! Here, let me lend you a hand." Ryoko immediately recognized the black-haired boy's voice and quickly helped him get back up.
"Ow…" Ritsuka groaned in pain.
"What happened?" Ryoko questioned him as Tetsuya also got back up.
"Orphnoch," replied Ritsuka. "We have to go."
"Orphn-what now?" Tetsuya looked at his friend in question, clutching his own head with his hand.
"We have to go, now!" Ritsuka said more urgently. "Before it catches up."
"R-right." Ryoko did not need to be told twice (well, thrice) that something was after them after the past 30 minutes of her life.
Once again, it seemed that something or someone was looking after them, as another wall washed over them and transporting them elsewhere.
"Where are we this time?" Tetsuya wondered. The three now stood in the middle of a ruined courtyard, one they all recognized. "The school?"
"Should we bunker down here?"
"Not sure, but I can get some shinais from my club's room. We keep some spares there."
"Good idea, we should also head to the archery's-" "Wait." Ritsuka suddenly raised his hand, stopping the two from moving. "Listen."
The air was still and nothing else could be heard but the distant screams and explosions.
"There's nothing-" "Move!" He quickly grabbed his friends and threw them away just as a blue cross came crashing down on where they were just standing. The symbol then exploded, which certainly would have killed them if they didn't dodge it.
"What was that?!" Tetsuya shouted, looking at the smoking crater that was now where they were standing just a few seconds earlier.
"That was from a Lord," Ritsuka said, getting back up and looking around, trying to spot the one who attacked them. "Come on, get up. Before it does that again."
Ignoring how he knew what attacked them, both of them followed Ritsuka's orders and hastily stood up. However, before they could flee the scene, several identical-looking monsters dropped in front of them.
Their entire body was black and was covered in insect-like shells. Spikes protruded along the sides of their legs and a black belt was wrapped around their waists, held in place by a silver seashell-like emblem. Their heads, meanwhile, were shaped like that of an ant's, with their antennas framing their face and mandibles next to their razor-sharp teeth.
"Uh… Not this way." The three slowly backed away, only for a few more of those ant monsters to appear behind them. "Uh oh." A few more of them appeared to their right and left, forming a box around the three teens.
"We're trapped." "You think?!"
"We finally found you, Decade." A booming voice echoed throughout the now overrun courtyard.
"Who's there?!" Ryoko called out to the voice, despite her entire body shaking. "Show yourself!"
"Up here." The three looked up at the source of the voice. Standing in a hole that had been blown into the second floor of their school was a monster with a buffalo-shaped head. It had orange eyes and had a silver ring hooped in its nose. On its forehead was a golden omega symbol. The monster's body was mostly brown and armored. Like the ant monsters, it had a belt around its waist. Unlike them, however, it was white and gold, and the seashell symbol was a similar shade of gold. Implanted in its chest armor was a silver version of the seashell while pinned to the left chest was a golden one with a feather. On its arms, legs, shin and armguards were more omega symbols. Finally, in its hand was a staff that had golden trident-shaped prongs.
"You're a Lord?! ...That's what you called it, right?" Tetsuya whispered to Ritsuka. The other boy ignored him, however.
"I thought Lords are not allowed to attack normal humans?!" Ritsuka shouted to make sure the Lord was able to hear him. "Why did you attack them?!"
"You are correct." The Buffalo Lord nodded. (At least they think it nodded). "And we have not. While our begrudging allies revel in the wanton slaughter of this Earth to search for you, we Lords are only interested in saving it."
"Save the world?! Look around you! Does this look like saving to you?!" Ryoko angrily screamed at it.
"As much as we hate it too, the life of one world does not compare to that of 19 others and more, human." The Lord declared as he stared at the girl. "If we do not prevent Decade's journey, all of our fates will be sealed."
"Decade's journey?" Ritsuka muttered.
"That's right. As our Overlord had declared, even if we have to betray the one we are sworn to protect, to save all the worlds, Decade has to die." The Buffalo Lord proclaimed as it raised its staff into the air and another cross materialized above the three.
With nowhere to go due to being surrounded, all they could do was stare at the image above them. "No…" "It was nice knowing you guys…"
"Die!" And the symbol fell. They looked away and closed their eyes, preparing for death to embrace them.
"...Huh?" But it never came. Ritsuka cautiously opened his eyes, only to see that everything was frozen in place. No, everything had slowed down. The cross, the Ant Lords surrounding him, the Buffalo Lord, and even Tetsuya and Ryoko were moving at a snail's pace.
"What-?"
"I almost forgot, I have to give one last warning." Ritsuka turned around to see the black-cloaked man standing in between Tetsuya and Ryoko.
"You," Ritsuka said, taking the buckle out, "You said that I can use this to save them, right?"
"Did I? I only know what you know and some other miscellaneous information," the man rattled on, walking past him. "Well, you also know those miscellaneous information so all I know is what you know."
"..."
"Too much?"
"Just give me the warning and disappear." Ritsukas spun around and narrowed his eyes at the man's back.
"Fine, fine. Ahem." The man cleared his throat before speaking in a grave voice, "As Taurus Ballista had said, if you put on that belt and start your journey, your fate, as well as the worlds', will be sealed. You may try and forget your mission, but it will come back once you've reached the end of your journey."
"..."
"Do you understand?" The man asked. "Will you still try and save your friends?"
"..." Ritsuka looked at the figures of his friends. Staring at their frozen faces, he knew he didn't have a choice. "...Yes." He resolutely nodded.
The man smirked under his hood at Ritsuka's decision. "If that's what you want. In that case, I'll lend you a hand." He raised his hand, and a wall appeared above them, barely a few inches shy of their head. "See you around." The man saluted before disappearing again.
With the man gone, Ritsuka sighed as he looked at the white belt buckle. "Well, in for penny…" He muttered…and put on the Decadriver.
A silver belt shot out of the side and wrapped around his waist, fastening it in place. On the left side of his waist appeared the RideBooker. More hazy memories flashed in his head, but all of them related to one thing. Following his memories, he opened the RideBooker and slid a card out from it. The card was mostly black but had dashes of white, gray, and magenta. On one side was a white symbol of a mask stylized to look like a barcode while on the other, positioned in front of that same symbol, was the head and shoulders of an armored figure. While his body was mostly obscured, his mask was clear. The mask had large green bug-like eyes and was divided by black blocks. Implanted into the centermost block was a yellow gem. Below the image of the figure were the words "MASKED RIDER DECADE" and "KAMENRIDE".
Taking a deep breath, he raised the card up and another memory appeared in his mind. "Let's go… Henshin!"
KAMEN RIDE: DECADE
Time resumed, the cross crashed into the silver wall and exploded. Dust rained down on Tetsuya's and Ryoko's heads.
"...Huh?" "What?" Realizing that they were not dead yet, both of them looked up to see what had saved them.
"Rit-Ritsuka?" The other boy was now replaced by a fully-armored figure. His mask matched the one that was on the card. The armor was slightly bulky and had a black-and-magenta undersuit. The armor pieces on his legs were white and magenta with a black streak going down the center. His arms, meanwhile, were black and white. A large black X with a white border was engraved on his left shoulder and chest.
"This is…" Ritsuka's voice came from the figure as he touched his mask. Up high, if its face could move, the Buffalo Lord's eyes surely would have widened at the armor's appearance.
"Decade! We are too late…" It exclaimed before quietly muttering in frustration. "Kill him! To save the worlds!" The buffalo monster ordered the others, who cheered and raised their hands in response.
"You two hide," Ritsuka looked over his shoulder and ordered the two, "I… I'll handle this."
"O-okay!" Ryoko nodded at his request, grabbing Tetsuya's hand. "Come on, let's go!"
"I'd hate to burst your bubble but… we're surrounded!" Tetsuya reminded her as the Ant Lords slowly closed in on them.
"Oh… Right."
ATTACK RIDE: BLAST
"Get down." Decade calmly ordered.
"Ah!" Ryoko unintentionally shrieked as Tetsuya pushed both of them back to the ground just as the Rider quickly turned the RideBooker into its gun mode and pointed the muzzle at the Ant Lords. Spinning around on the spot, various mirages of the RideBooker appeared around it as Ritsuka rapidly pulled the trigger.
Bullets flew through the air and struck the various ant-based monsters, smoke coming off them as they fell to the ground in pain.
"Go now."
"Be careful, Ritsuka!" The two immediately ran off to hide, running past the recovering monsters that were getting back up.
"You all come to destroy me, right?" It was a rhetorical question, of course. Their leader had already told him their intentions. "Well then, come at me… I'll destroy all of you!"
That declaration of war set the Ant Lords off, all nine of them dashing at him at the same time, baring their claws and fangs.
The first one was met with a sucker punch to the face while the second and third were slashed by the RideBooker's sword mode.
"Get them, Ritsu!"
"Give 'em hell!" Evidently, those two found a hiding spot if they were cheering him on like that.
Refocusing on the battle at hand, Ritsuka slashed a couple more Ant Lords before pulling the Decadriver by its side, causing the center part to rotate clockwise 90 degrees. He then RideBooker and slid out another card.
"For Lords like you, this one would be the best choice, right?" He asked as he raised the card in front of him, tapping its sides. "Henshin!" He then flipped the card and inserted it into a slot that had been revealed in the Decadriver.
KAMEN RIDE: AGITΩ
When he closed the Driver, a bright light erupted from it, blinding everyone watching. A few moments later, the light died down and his armor had been replaced with one that was familiar to the Lords.
"That's-! Agito!" The Buffalo Lord cried out.
Decade's new armor had a completely black undersuit and was lightly armored. He now had yellow kneepads along with a pair of arm braces and small shinguards. His chest was also mostly yellow with some black and silver. Embedded right in the center of his chest was a large black gem. His helmet had large red bug-shaped eyes and a golden horn shaped like a Hercules beetle's. It also had a silver mouthpiece surrounded by gold.
"So this is Agito… Agito…" Another memory flashed in his head, but he ignored it this time. Now was not the time to be lost in memories that might not even be his. "Where were we?" Ritsuka smirked underneath the helmet.
Again, the Ant Lords were enraged by the remark, more so due to the appearance of their sworn enemy.
"A...gi...to…" They growled before charging again.
Ducking under a swipe from one of them, he then countered with a swift jab to the abdomen before kicking another in the head. Two more tried to claw him only for their attack to be blocked and retaliated with punches to the face. Four Ant Lords now laid sprawled on the ground in front of him while the remaining five stood back and watched.
"Nice of you to line up for me," Ritsuka said as he slid out another card. This one, however, was different as most of the card was a golden color, complete with a shining Agito symbol in the center of the front side. Raising the card again, he flipped it and inserted it into the Decadriver.
FINAL ATTACK RIDE: A-A-AGITΩ
When he closed the Driver, his horns split into three as a glowing Agito symbol appeared under Ritsuka's feet. He then took a low stance, the symbol swirling around and into his right foot.
Leaping into the air, Ritsuka used a flying side kick, his body shining for a split-second, and struck the four Ant Lords who were getting back up. Halos appeared above the four monsters before they exploded.
"Grr…" The Buffalo Lord snarled, angrily stabbing the edge of his staff into the ground, and was about to join the battle.
Before it, or the remaining Ant Lords for that matter, could so much as move, a stinging sensation pierced through all of their heads, including Ritsuka's.
"Return, our mission has failed. Your brethren have already retreated from this world." A voice spoke in their minds, "We must prepare for his arrival."
"Yes." The Lords heeded the order and a silver wall appeared behind each of them. "Decade!" The Buffalo Lord declared. "We will meet again one day! When that day comes, we will destroy you!" It and its underlings then disappeared into the walls, leaving Ritsuka standing alone in the courtyard.
"That was the Overlord of-" Before he could finish what he meant to say, the Decadriver sprang open by itself, and the KamenRide: Agito card was ejected as his armor pixelated and reverted back to his Decade form. He managed to catch the card, of course, just in time to see the image of Kamen Rider Agito gray out. "Eh?"
"Ritsuka!" His thoughts were disrupted again, this time by Tetsuya and Ryoko rushing up to him. "That was awesome! Where did you get this?"
"I'm… I don't know," Ritsuka honestly answered. His helper implied that he was not the one who sent it.
"But you obviously know what it is!" Ryoko shouted at him, "Even this morning, you knew what this is." She flicked the Decadriver for good measure.
"It's called the Decadriver… apparently." He replied. "And… I am… Decade."
"Yeah… We sort of got that already," Tetsuya nervously said. "So all of this is happening because of you?"
"It looks like it." Ritsuka did not want to admit it, but the Buffalo Lord had already told them the reason the world was ending.
"...Where do we do now?" Ryoko asked.
"Leave me," Ritsuka requested. "They're after me. Sticking with me would only get you in trouble."
"No can do."
"Exactly, we're not leaving you." Both Ryoko and Tetsuya stood their ground. "Besides, if there's anyone who can protect us, it's you.''
"...Fine, do what you want," Ritsuka off-handedly said. Underneath his mask, however, he was smiling. "Come on, let's try finding somewhere-" Another wall suddenly enveloped them. "-safe…"
"You just had to jinx it, didn't you?" Tetsuya snarked as they looked around to see where they were.
Wherever they were, it was indistinguishable from every other court in the city. What they were more focused on though, was the two different groups of monsters that had also noticed their appearance.
One group was mostly identical to each other, with gray skin and a bulky upper body. What differentiated them from each other was the streaks of colors on their bodies; red, blue, and green. The other group meanwhile were all indistinguishable from each other. They were insect-like and mostly blue. Their bodies were spiky and their heads were like that of a dragonfly's.
While Tetsuya did not recognize either group of monsters, Ryoko did know the latter one. "Ah! Those guys were the ones that came out of the mirrors!"
"Those are…" Two names appeared in Ritsuka's mind. "Mirror Monsters and Inves."
"Alright. Do your thing, Ritsuka!" Tetsuya commanded him, pushing his friend forward to deal with the monsters.
"...Why am I protecting you guys again?" Ritsuka grumbled as he opened the Decadriver again, preparing to transform into something else. Reaching into the RideBooker, he slid out a card depicting a Kamen Rider with a samurai's helmet. His visor, oddly, looked like a slice of orange. Below the image were the words "MASKED RIDER GAIM"
When he inserted the card into his belt, Ritsuka failed to notice that no sound came. Closing the Decadriver, he readied himself for something to happen…
"Eh… Ritsu?" But nothing did. Ritsuka stood there, arms outstretched with only the wind blowing again.
"Was something supposed to happen?" Tetsuya asked, his head tilted.
"Uh… Wait a second." Ritsuka told them and the two groups of monsters, whose heads were also tilted and looking at each other. He opened and closed the Drive, no sound coming from it again. He repeated the process twice and still, nothing happened. Finally, the Decadriver sprang open on its own and ejected the card. Catching the card in his hand, Ritsuka watched as the image of Kamen Rider Gaim grayed out as Agito did.
"Seriously… I haven't even used it yet," he grumbled, putting the card back into the RideBooker and replacing it with another depicting a Kamen Rider with a slitted mask with red eyes underneath. Above the faceplate was the same symbol that was on the card itself; a dragon head. "Let's go with this then."
KAMEN RIDE: RYUKI
Gray silhouettes appeared around and converged onto Ritsuka's body and glowed brightly, his armor was replaced by another one. In addition to the mask, he now had a red undersuit and was barely armored. His chestpiece was silver and grayish-black while silver circular indents were all over him. On his left arm was a gauntlet shaped like a dragon's head.
"Who would win? A dragon or a bunch of dragonflies…and some fruits, I guess?" "Go get them, tiger!" "I just said I'm a dragon!" he shouted back before turning to face his foes as he pulled a card out from the RideBooker. "Why don't we just go straight to the finisher?"
The card was not a KamenRide card. Instead, it was labeled AttackRide and depicted Ryuki with another dragon gauntlet, this one on his right arm. Below the image were the words 'STRIKE VENT'.
ATTACK RIDE: STRIKE VENT
Raising his right hand up, a flaming object descended from the sky and implanted itself on Ritsuka's arm. The flames soon dispersed, revealing itself to be the very same gauntlet as seen on the card. Flames soon lit within the jaws of the dragon head and with a battle cry, he shot a stream of fire directly at the group of monsters.
His attack hit its targets dead on. However, while it did manage to kill most of them, the attack left behind two Raydragoons and a single Elementary Inves.
"...It would've been so much better had you all exploded." Why weren't things going his way today? "Whatever, I'll just use this," said Ritsuka as he took out the Final AttackRide card for Ryuki.
FINAL ATTACK RIDE: R-R-RYUKI
From out of nowhere, a red metallic Chinese dragon appeared and flew around D-Ryuki. He then leaped into the air as the dragon continued to encircle him, flames gathering in its mouth. Finally, the Rider made another side kick as Dragreder blew a stream of fire at him, propelling him forward towards the remaining three monsters.
Sailing right through the trio of monsters, they joined the rest of their group in the afterlife and exploded, with Ritsuka sliding to a halt a few feet away.
"That ends that," He said as he dusted his hands. However, before he could celebrate, his Driver sprang open again and ejected the KamenRide: Ryuki card. Like the other two cards, the image of the Rider grayed out.
"Again…?" Ritsuka sighed as his armor turned into its base form.
"Ritsu!" "Ritsuka!" He heard his friends call him again. Well then… Where to go now?
Sometime later…
The sun was setting on a ruined world. Smoke raised into the sky as the chaos had, for the most part, settled down. At the very least, the monsters had all disappeared and the trio of friends was no longer finding themselves teleported to different parts of the city. However, Ritsuka's mind was preoccupied as they were trying to find a 'safe' place to stay the night.
"Why are they disappearing?" In his hands were the various KamenRide cards. Now, after a couple more battles, all of them had grayed out. Other than the twelve cards that he had not been able to use (including Gaim), the remaining nine had also lost their colors, even those that he hadn't even used. All that remained was the Decade card.
"Ritsu, eyes on the road," Ryoko said beside him.
"Sorry but…"
"Why are your cards becoming… Well, like that?" Asked Tetsuya.
"Don't know," Ritsuka replied, putting the cards away. "Where are we going?"
"How are we supposed to know? I was following you." Ryoko shrugged. "Me too."
"That's comforting," Ritsuka sarcastically said.
"Hey, you're the leader now. Seeing as you're the only one here that can actually fight." Tetsuya snarked back. "Us two are just along for the ride."
"So the fact that we're lost is on me?"
"Yup." "Ah-huh!"
"...I hate you two." "Love you too, bud."
"Still, that bull-head guy said that you are going on a journey, right?" Ryoko asked. "Exactly what is this journey?"
"If I have to guess, it's another world," Ritsuka said, sounding completely sure of himself. "That's what this was. The forces of other worlds crashing down on yours."
"Other worlds…" Tetsuya muttered. Just this morning, he would have laughed it off as some joke but now that their lives had been completely upended by monsters from other dimensions, he believed in what Ritsuka was saying whole-heartedly. "So how are we supposed to go there?"
"Hmm?"
"This other world? How are we supposed to get there?"
"I get what you mean but 'we'?" Ritsuka raised an eyebrow at that.
"Yes, of course 'we'." Ryoko sounded upset and offended by Ritsuka's confusion. "You're not seriously going to leave us here, are you?"
"Fine, I guess you two can come along…" Ritsuka said, knowing that there was no way to convince them to not come along.
"Great! So…"
"...I don't know how we're supposed to leave this world," he admitted. "No one told me anything about that part."
"Well, this was a short journey."
"You give up way too soon, Tetsu. Hmm? This place is…" As they had been wandering aimlessly, they did not realize where they had ended up.
"Old man Ishikawa's…" Ryoko muttered quietly at the cafe they frequented the last two and a half years.
"Is the old guy even alive?" Tetsuya could not help but wonder. The last of their group, however, was not as upset as they were. "Hey, Ritsuka? What are you doing?!"
"Hmm? Oh, going inside." The teen said it like it was obvious. "We can stay here until we figure out what we should do next."
"But-" "Come on," Ritsuka gestured for them to follow him as he opened the door to the cafe.
"Wait!" "Ritsu!" The two cried as they followed him inside, the door closing by itself behind them. What they saw inside was not what they expected.
"...What?" Ryoko could not help but say as she looked at the countertop and staircase that was now at the entrance. Problem was...they weren't there the day before. The front door was supposed to lead to a large room where various tables and seats were set up.
"Uh… that shouldn't be there, right?" Tetsuya looked at Ryoko, wanting an answer from her. The girl, however, was too dumbstruck to answer. Meanwhile, Ritsuka continued down unperturbed the hallway that also was not supposed to be there. "Wait, Ritsuka!" His friend did not even look back as he entered another room down the corridor.
Immediately, the two rushed after him and entered the room, where Ritsuka stood in the center staring at a fireplace that was in between two pillars. The room, while large, was completely empty and was connected to another empty room.
"Ritsuka? What's wrong?" Tetsuya cautiously asked, a bit creeped out by Ritsuka's stationary figure.
"This place is…" The boy mumbled, not hearing his friends coming in.
"Hey, Ritsu." Ryoko walked up to him and poked him in the back.
"Huh?" "What is this place?" She wanted answers as she was sure that they were supposed to be in their (her) favorite cafe.
"This is… I know this place." Ritsuka cryptically said, mostly to himself before he walked to the back of the right pillar. There, he found what he was looking for; a chain-link connected to something above the space between the two pillars. He grabbed it and prepared to pull it… but hesitated.
"Hey… you two sure you want to follow me?" Ritsuka asked them one more time. "There will be no going back."
"Where would we even go back to?" Tetsuya retorted.
"We're with you through thick and thin," reaffirmed Ryoko.
"Fine… Here we go." Ritsuka steeled himself and pulled the chain. Immediately, a backdrop used in photo studios dropped in between the two pillars, emitting a blinding light that forced the three to shield their eyes.
When the light died them, they could now see what was detailed on the backdrop; an entrance to a ruin in the mountainside.
"What the…?"
"Why was it glowing?"
"We're here." Ritsuka resolutely declared, putting his hand on the tapestry. A part of him recognized the ruins and the hieroglyphs that adorned them. "This is… Kuuga's world."
Elsewhere…
"Run!" "Ahh!" "Professor!" Screams echoed throughout the ruins as the archeologists studying them ran from a monstrous figure. They did not know where it came from. It had suddenly appeared while they were analyzing the stone sarcophagus that contained a mummified warrior, breaking through a wall.
"Gabada pa bizodo dajigagasanai Kuuga!" The figure exclaimed in an unknown language as it ripped a belt off of the mummy. It then turned towards the frightened archeologists and a dark thought entered its mind. "Bose pa dabogizegigu."
Soon, it emerged from the ruin's entrance into the rain, bloodstains on its body. "Rezare!" It shouted into the rain before lighting struck the ground around it, "Rezare zugin ga seda gengi!"
Hands burst out of the ground as lightning continued to strike the area.
"Gegeru po bagigi girage!" And with that cry, the games have begun again…
Next time on Across The Kaleidoscope
"Welcome to the world of the first Heisei Rider."
"Who are you?"
"Private investigator, Fujimaru Ritsuka."
"Our world… was destroyed, right?"
"Could it be… you came from another world?"
"My name is Yuusuke."
"Kuuga!"
Chapter 2: Beginnings
A/N: Yeah… I have no idea either. Actually, no, I do know why. Blame the Grand Order subreddit for this story. Fanarts and memes of Ritsuka becoming Decade have been stuck in my head for the past… six-ish months? At the very least before I started writing GKRIC. (And no, GKRIC is not meant to be a prequel to this story)
However, the previously mentioned fanarts and memes usually depicted Ritsuka as Decade while he was still part of Chaldea. This story though? Not at all and leaning heavily into the Rider aspects of things. Other than Ritsuka, there's nothing else about Fate in this chapter. Why? Reasons that would be kept hidden for the foreseeable future.
As you can probably already tell, this story is a very big departure from my usual writing style. First off, OCs. I don't usually use them in my stories because… I don't know either, I just don't use them other than for the sole purpose of killing them off. I mean, there were like three OCs that were killed off but two survived to be part of the story. Why am I using them? No clue either.
Another weird part is the general pacing. I generally wrote stories like this; light-hearted, light-hearted, fighting chapter, fighting chapter, fighting chapter, and repeat. This chapter, however, was half-light, half-dark and fighting, just like a normal episode from the show, complete with a preview of the next chapter that I haven't written. Why? I want to make this differently from GKRIC.
Also, this chapter is the longest I've ever written at 13.4k words in about 3-4 days (Yeah, I wrote this quickly and mostly on a whim). Just for your information, the previous longest chapter was JTR chapter 13 at about 6,690. This is twice as long!
The main purpose of this chapter (aside from you know, being the first chapter) was to set up future plot points such as the black-cloaked man (you probably know who it is), Ritsuka having but not being able to use the Heisei Phase 2 KamenRide cards (you probably know why), and his knowledge about the monsters of the KR franchise despite having amnesia (you also probably know why).
All in all, I'm regretting my life choices and desperately need confirmation that what I'm doing is good please give it to me please.
Side note, the title of this story is still very much in the air. Even as I'm writing this, I still haven't decided on a title yet. If you want to suggest a better story title, then be my guest.
EDIT: Thanks to Title Renaming (Guest) for suggesting a much better title. From here on out, this story shall be named Across The Kaleidoscope.
EDIT 2: Did some minor editing.
EDIT 3 MADE MONTHS LATER: Credit to u/Cykuno on Reddit for the cover art!