A/N: Initially I planned to make this a one-shot with an open cliffhanger that might be connected to one other fic of mine as an alternate end. But I guess I'll turn this into a two-parter. Not planning to expand this idea further than this though.

"Congratulations! From now on you are a Kamen Rider!"

Tsumuri handed over a yellow box with the DGP insignia to Ace as he took the offering without a word. He blinked at her in confusion. What was this? Something was wrong... really wrong! But he couldn't quite put a finger on it for some reason!

Ace opened the box and two objects came into view. A small cylindrical object with the symbol of a fox on it... as well as a big buckle-like thing—no, a Driver—were inside the box. Without thinking, Ace touched the small cylindrical 'core' before he was suddenly hit with something that felt like an electric jolt into his body heading straight into the base of his brain!

Ace let out a gasp as memories from the past many DesiGra battles rushed back into his mind. He immediately turned towards Tsumuri in alarm. "Big sis! What's going on? Shouldn't this world just go back to before the Gang Riders appear? Why is a new DesiGra starting right now? How could that even hap—argh!"

A sharp pain exploded on the side of his head as Ace flinched. What's that? That never happened before!

.

Tsumuri blinked her eyes at him before she bowed her head at him. "Gang Riders? What're you talking about now, Ace-sama? And well, I'll excuse myself now as I need to greet the rest of the players as well..."

"Then I'll go with you—" exclaimed Ace again as Tsumuri shoved his hand away when he tried to grab her arm.

"And honestly, Ace-sama! Can you stop calling me your Big Sister already? It's cringy!"

For some reason, that one outburst made Ace smile.

xxx

There were a few new faces that he never met before... as well as some familiar ones. There's Buffa for one... and then Na-Go, Lupo. And later on, when everyone was gathered around Ace saw PunkJack also ended up joining the game again.

Yet, for some reason when Ace tried to ask the others about what had happened before this new game, no one else had any clue as to what he was talking about... which was weird. And Ace can't help wondering why he somehow seemed to remember something (no matter how vague) that no one else seemed to be aware of. And is it just him... but for some reason Ace couldn't help feeling that something else had been missing as well. No, someone. And it was someone really important too... judging by how much his heart had started to ache now.

.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt confused. Come to think, what was that he blurted out that day to Tsumuri as soon as his memories of the DesiGra were restored? Gang Riders, what was that? And what's that about 'reverting the world to the moment before the Gang Riders appeared'? Could something like that even happen before a game was cleared completely? Can one even undo a previous Desaity's wish? Who even was the previous Desaity?

A couple of Jyamato started to appear out of the blue to stalk some unsuspecting civilians as Ace swiftly cut them down without any fuss.

[Secret Mission]

An alert suddenly sounded near him as his Spider phone dropped down from above to pass him a box with a buckle. He opened it to see Boost buckle inside the box.

Ace checked the details on his Spider phone before sighing to himself.

"Aah, so it's a reward for saving the civilians in secret." Ace frowned again. What was it about this secret mission that felt... off to him? Is there anyone else but him who could've claimed this reward in this game?

"Ah!"

Without warning Ace found himself tripping over a tree root (which was so unlike him at all!) and a small familiar gold coin rolled out from inside of his jacket.

Ace hurriedly picked the old coin up as he was hit with yet another jolt of electricity... and the rest of his 'missing' memories came back into his mind. And with those new memories, Ace was hit with another dose of alarm!

Because now he realised what was it that had been missing inside of him. It was the presence of someone important.

Where was... Sakurai Keiwa? Where was his Kamen Rider Tycoon?

xxx

What's going on?

For some reason, everyone seemed to no longer be able to remember anything past the time before Suel was about to execute the Grand End. Anything after that even, it was as if everything that had happened after he wrenched control of this world from Suel... up to the point of his climax battle with Keiwa; had never happened. How could THAT be possible? Even worse... no matter how many times he had asked everyone, nobody seemed to have remembered meeting or even knowing WHO Sakurai Keiwa was! How could that even be possible? After all... for the last few DesiGra games... Keiwa had always been around! At least... Na-go, who had joined the DesiGra at the same time as Keiwa, should have known him!

But no... not even Neon!

He even tried to get Buffa, Na-go, Tsumuri, Lupo... heck, even PunkJack to recall their memories of the past DGP of the things that happened during those games. Nothing from those recollections had been changed, yet whenever he tried to press about anything involving Keiwa—involving Tycoon—it was as if those memories had been completely removed from everyone's memories. Some of them did remember a 'player' who wished for World Peace and later wished to revive the players and victims who had been killed during the DesiGra run, yet they couldn't quite recall the identity of such a person. Even when Tycoon had at some point been partnered with Buffa and later PunkJack during the Concentration game, or the time the four of them ended up 'working together' to take down the Saboten Knight Jyamato... that Labyrinth Game, the Musical Chair game and so on... NO ONE couldn't seem to remember the man who called himself Sakurai Keiwa aka Kamen Rider Tycoon!

Even if the DesiGra did end up accumulating countless Kamen Riders of various animal motives and personalities, it didn't make any sense for anyone to forget all of the memories of one specific player completely, especially when they've fought together and against each other for so long! How—why were the memories about Keiwa was erased? Yes, erased. Ace knew that as much, because if not because of the gold cold he inherited from his father... Ace himself would have also forgotten about Keiwa as well. Ace took out the Caesar coin from his pocket.

Even then... even when he had recovered his memory about Tycoon, there were still a few more pieces that he couldn't seem to be able to recover. He couldn't remember anything that could have led them towards their current predicament! The last thing he remembered was the moment when Keiwa was about to swing his sword down towards him. Anything after that... was completely blank.

xxx

It took him a bit of time before he could locate the small apartment where Keiwa had lived with his sister. He'd gone to that place at least once after all, to take Keiwa home after the man had fainted after crying so much in the rain. He had asked Tsumuri about the address last time... which for once he was grateful that he still remembered the information now.

He barely braced himself at the front door of the apartment before Sara opened the door and started to scream. And that was shocking. But at least he was able to confirm something. That is, in this current timeline Sara was still alive and not... part of the 'Tree of Knowledge' that Nadge-Sparrow had created after creating a new batch of Jyamato breeds that could infect humans parasitically.

"Heh? How can it be? Ukiyo Ace-sama coming to our house?"

Ace laughed almost forcefully at the way Sara reacted to his presence. Well, considering how he used to hear from Keiwa on how Sara had been an ardent fan of Neon, it's understandable to consider that Sara would've joined the ranks of his many other fans when he had that wish to be a famous star fulfilled.

.

"Well," he started to say once invited into the apartment and sitting on the couch in the living room. "I just wanted to check on your brother, Ty—I mean, Keiwa. Is he home?"

"Eh... who?"

Immediately Ace felt as if his heart had suddenly stopped. What does that reaction mean? How could Sara not know Keiwa?

"Sara-san? W-wait... it's Sakurai Keiwa, your younger brother. Surely you'd know... remember your younger brother, right?" Ace hastily blurted out. "I mean... even if Keiwa had a hard time getting a job, surely that wasn't enough reason to.. d-disown him or anything?"

"W-wait a minute... Ace-sama?"

Ace immediately got up to head towards Keiwa's 'room'. "Is Keiwa in his room? Should I just drag him out before you'd be honest with me—?"

Sara hurriedly tried to stop him from barging into the room as she raised her arms to stop Ace. "Yes, I did have a younger sibling living with me. It's just that—!"

Without warning, the door behind Sara started to open as the occupant inside the room walked out slowly to greet Ace. But instead of the familiar 22-year-old Tanuki rider that Ace had always known and cared about... it was a young girl who looked to be much younger than Keiwa but had quite a strong resemblance to Sara to justify the fact that the two of them were indeed siblings.

Sara coughed nervously towards Ace before pulling her younger sister to her side.

"—I'm sorry, Ace-sama. As I tried to explain to you earlier, I did have a younger sibling living with me." She bit her lips. "But rather than a younger brother, it was actually a younger sister. This is my younger sister... Haru, Sakurai Haru."

xxx

He couldn't believe it... what's actually going on right now? How could... Keiwa be erased from this world completely? What actually has happened before this?

.

Ace absentmindedly grabbed his overcoat when he suddenly heard something drop to the floor and roll away somewhere. He immediately turned around to look for that 'something' that caught his attention. His eyes widened as he found it and recognised the object.

It was a single piece of core ID. Tycoon's core ID.