A/N: I thought of wanting to end this piece on this chapter, at least for the non-explicit ending version. But well, the plan took a detour.
They ended up going back into the main building and retraced their way back towards the front yard and to the exit. They still didn't manage to crack the puzzle they were supposed to solve to escape this place, but Keiwa believed it should turn out all right.
Because they have Ace with them here... and they should be able to work things out together.
That guy wouldn't just escape here by themselves selfishly. That's not the kind of person Ace should be.
He thought about how Ace had willingly kissed him to ease his discomfort of having his lungs mysteriously filled with loose petals of flowers. It was nice to know that Ace actually did care about him enough to want to save him, but he really hoped that Ace wasn't forcing themselves to accept his feelings for them.
He'd feel awful if that was the case. Since Ace wasn't the one who had foolishly had a crush on someone and got themselves sick with a mysterious illness. It was him.
A sudden chill suddenly loomed inside his chest at the thought of Ace not being in love with him genuinely, but Keiwa hastily brushed away the thoughts from his mind. Right now the more important thing for all of them was to clear this round and escape this place safely. Not his stupid crush on Ace that has no reason to inconvenience anyone, let alone Ace.
If his chest had started to become stuffy again after all of those thoughts that ran all over his head just now, Keiwa paid them no heed. Because a new batch of Jyamato popped up again to hinder their way and he needed to do his best to protect everyone!
xxx
Finally, things had fallen into place, and he got his hands on the vital clue to help them solve the puzzle needed and escape this maze. And this round would be completely cleared, and everyone could finally get back to their normal lives.
And Keiwa should be cleared of his odd illness too... if that condition really had some connection to this round. Or else... he's not sure what else was left for him to do for that person.
He didn't manage to ask either Neon or Kozue about the whole Hanahaki ordeal, only the gist of what the nature of the illness could do to its victim. Yet assuming that the illness was more like a self-inflicted curse, he doubted that he was able to completely cure Keiwa's condition just because he had kissed the man once. Because life was never that simple.
But so far... it seemed that Keiwa had been feeling better after that kiss—unless the man did a really good job at pretending that they were well. He hoped that it wasn't really the latter.
So he better solve this puzzle fast and clears this round by having everyone escape together—also dodging the Game Master's attempts to try to kick him out of the game. A lot of things were at stake after all...
Just as he was done mulling about the present situation aloud, another group of Jyamato started to rush in from another entrance as Ace and PunkJack prepared to fight them all—
.
They finally ran across Michinaga who was still stuck in the central hallway with the bus driver, fighting the influx of Jyamato that kept coming after them. The two of them immediately transformed using their buckles and joined Buffa in fighting off the remaining Jyamato. In the course of the ensuing battle, Neon and Keiwa recovered their respective FeverSlot buckles... and the three kamen riders teamed up to fight against the remaining Jyamato grunts as well as Jyamato Rider...
.
Almost as if they had planned for it, everyone had gathered in front of the gate. Immediately, Ace told them about the important hint to crack the final code: the Jyamato characters... as well as the notes left by the previous players. He took out the old notebook that he was carrying and gave it to Yoshiki.
"You should be able to solve the code... right, Yoshiki?" he asked, as the young boy nodded at him enthusiastically.
He turned around to rejoin Tycoon, Buffa and PunkJack as they prepared to fight the last batch of Jyamato. Once the other group were able to break the code, Ace wasted no time rushing back to rejoin the others. Just as he lifted Yoshiki up off his feet to head out towards the exit, Ace also grabbed Keiwa's hand to urge the other to hurry up so that all of them could return to the real world...
xxx
"With Sakurai Keiwa's entry back into the game, Tanba Ittetsu-sama will be retired here."
Ace turned around to look at the two as the old man and Keiwa bid farewell to each other. And knowing Keiwa's personality, as usual, the guy ended up looking slightly troubled for having taken away the old man's chance of getting their wish granted. Even though compared to the wish that Keiwa had written, the old man's wishes were far simpler compared to the guy's grand ambition.
He walked up toward the other man before hitting his knuckle against Keiwa's forehead. "Once again you wrote down yet another grand wish, are you sure you could even achieve it? In the end, I'll always end up winning the game again—"
Keiwa slapped Ace's hand away before frowning at him. "Just because you always ended up helping me out, doesn't mean that I'll always be under your shadow. Who knows what the future will be? Perhaps one day, even I had a chance to grab a win from the DesiGra."
"Heh?" Ace let out an amused sigh before leaning over towards Keiwa. The two really ignored the presence of Tsumuri and Neon, who were still standing next to the two. "Are you getting ahead of yourself there? Even after what I did during this round to save you?"
Keiwa glared at him in retaliation.
"Hadn't I already thanked you for that 'favour'? Enough trying to remind me about that thing! As if I personally—!"
Without warning, Keiwa started coughing as he hurriedly covered his mouth with his hand. Ace didn't miss that action as he quickly grabbed Keiwa's hand which the other had used to cover his mouth.
"Show me what's in your hand, Tycoon!" exclaimed Ace right away as Keiwa kept his hand closed.
"It's nothing serious... it's just the dust grating on my throat—"
Neon frowned at Keiwa. "Wait a min—Keiwa! Is that earlier illness still bugging you? It didn't go away still?"
Keiwa started to open his mouth to answer her before Ace pulled him back and stopped him. Ace grabbed the Desire card that Keiwa was still holding and gave it to Tsumuri. He turned his attention towards Neon before smiling.
"Don't worry too much about Tycoon, I think I've already figured out what I should do for him. See you later!" chirped Ace as he dragged Keiwa away. He didn't even bother looking at Neon, who suddenly had this very amused look on her face, or at Tsumuri, who was still a bit confused about everything.
Well, it's not like those two needed to know about this anyway...
xxx
"Stop being stubborn, open up your hand!" Ace exclaimed as he struggled to pry Keiwa's right hand open.
Keiwa gritted his teeth at the man. "Let my hand go already, what is it you want from me—!" He suddenly got hit by a series of unstoppable coughs as Keiwa tried to use his free hand to cover his mouth again.
Ace caught Keiwa's other hand before they could do anything as the man had no other choice but to clamp their mouth shut instead.
"Tycoon!" Ace cried out at him, as Keiwa's face was about to turn blue from lack of air.
Ace immediately shoved Keiwa towards a nearby pillar, took out his scarf and tied Keiwa's wrists together so that he could try to force Keiwa to open their mouth. It took a bit of effort on his part, but eventually, Ace's strength overpowered Keiwa's... and he was able to force Keiwa to throw up whatever it was the latter didn't want him to see. The moment he saw what is it, he cast a look of exasperation at Keiwa.
"Your condition got worse! Why didn't you say anything to me?"
Keiwa glared at the other man. "Because this had nothing to do with you! I'll deal with this problem myself, you don't have to care about it! I—"
Keiwa pushed Ace away before collapsing onto the pavement and hacking out some more petals and leaves and even full flowers! Sweat streaked down the side of Keiwa's face as the effort drained much of his own strength. Ace grabbed Keiwa by the shoulders to make them look up towards him.
"What did you mean that this had nothing to do with me? Did you really want to die so much? Let me help you—"
As soon as he was done talking, Ace started to lean over to kiss Keiwa before the tanuki rider pushed the fox rider away.
"Stop that! Pervert!"
Taken aback, Ace ended up going stiff and stared at the other in shock.
"W-wait! W-what did you call me?"