A/N: I'm using my Twin's AU setting for this piece
She still couldn't believe they'd returned to this world after so long. How long had time passed by ever since that 'incident'? She wondered what her life could've become now if not for the 'mistake' she had committed back then.
Tsumuri approached a lone housewife who was in the middle of doing her chores outside the compounds of the house. She handed the woman a small box that she usually carried with her.
"Congratulations, from now on you are a Kamen Rider," she started to say without the usual zeal she used to have 15 years ago...
.
"What's... going on?"
He couldn't quite believe that so much time had passed since then. He couldn't believe how he could've lived all these times, completely forgetting everything that had happened and returning to his old life. And now he's back inside this stupid 'Grand Prix'... and feeling torn between staying or intentionally forfeiting the game to return to the life of complete ignorance.
"Ah... Michinaga!"
He turned around immediately, to see the person he hadn't thought much about for so many years. Kurama Neon in front of him had looked different, slightly older but the old familiarity they had with each other had still remained the same.
"Na-go, did you—?"
The grown woman in front of him just shrugged at him. "Seeing that you recognised me and called me with that old monicker, I assumed you're also in the same boat as I am."
Michinaga took out his core ID as Neon showed him hers. The former online streamer brushed a hand over the jacket she was wearing as Neon showed him her Desire Driver that was already latched on her waist. Michinaga shrugged at the sight.
"The first round was about to start in another half hour," he started to say to her. "So what kind of wish are you going to fight for this time?"
Neon let out a small sigh.
"Who knows—?" she said softly, being cryptic... unlike how she used to act in the past. "The actual things that I wanted to write in the card weren't accepted for some reason, so I settled for a much simpler wish. You?"
Michinaga just shook his head at her. "Heh... at this rate we'll end up just parroting each other to no end." He glanced briefly at his wristwatch as he smiled grimly.
"It's almost time..." he said before taking out his Desire Driver and fastening it around his waist. The two of them slotted in their respective core IDs inside their drivers before being transported back towards a familiar 'temple'.
xxx
"Inugami Eisuke, stop right there!"
The young man flinched almost immediately as his body froze right away after his name had been called out. Realizing that he had no other option to excuse himself for trying to slip away again, Eisuke hurriedly told his classmates to leave without him as he turned around to face his older twin brother.
Inugami Keisuke cast a stern look at his younger twin brother before grabbing Eisuke's arm. "Are you trying to run off to play at the arcade again with your friends, Ace?" he spoke again, as he reverted back towards calling his twin with a more familiar tone.
Eisuke started to pout his mouth before giving his older twin a mischievous look. "Ah... you caught me. And I thought I could get away with it this time..."
Keisuke just rolled his eyes at Eisuke before dragging the taller twin back towards the direction of their home.
"Ace... you really need to snap out of this! We're already in our final year of junior high school! Please be more serious about your studies, gosh!"
Eisuke suddenly pulled his brother into an affectionate backhug. "Sorry... but it wasn't like I was neglecting my studies too much. I can always get some decent marks on the tests if I want to, don't worry about it!"
Keisuke felt his cheeks burning as his brother kept nuzzling their face on his back and tickling him without warning. Even some of the passing-by female students, office ladies and shopkeepers kept sneaking glances towards the two of them time by time, amused by Eisuke's silly behaviour. Perils of having a very cute younger brother. He always felt very self-conscious of himself whenever the two of them were together outside...
"Aaah, enough!" scolded Keisuke again as he hurriedly disentangled himself from Eisuke's embrace. "Let's go home. Mum will scold me again if I let you run off and play until very late again..."
"Aww..." Eisuke let out a foxy grin before hooking his arm around Keisuke's. "Enough already with the nagging... you're as bad as mum when you're like this. We'll be fourteen years old this year, you don't have to keep treating me like a kid—"
Keisuke stuck out his tongue at his brother as the two of them walked together towards the bus stop.
"Glad to know that you're aware of that. Sometimes I felt that I was older than you by a few years rather than a few minutes." He shook his head. "Times I felt that you'd be the death of me due to all of your mischievous antics—"
Keisuke turned around towards Eisuke as his little brother went still suddenly. He frowned.
"Ace, what's wro—?" Keisuke gasped as Eisuke suddenly hugged him again in a choking embrace.
"I'm sorry, Kei-nii. I promise not to be so naughty and cause you trouble anymore—"
Keisuke let out a surprised gasp before gently caressing his brother's back in a comforting gesture. Eisuke always acted like this whenever he accidentally slipped something about anything 'dying'. It always made it hard for him to stay mad or even to act stern to his brother for a long time.
"I'm sorry, Ace... it was a slight slip of the tongue—"
.
"Oh!"
Eisuke turned towards his older twin as they sat together inside the bus. Keisuke turned his glance towards him.
"By any chance, have you seen the owner of that corner snack shop near the school today?"
Eisuke blinked at his brother in confusion. His older brother had made a similar comment about this earlier in the morning when the two of them had gone to school. The shop in question happened to be closed when they went past it in the morning, something that rarely happened since the owner usually opened their shop around that time. Eisuke shook his head at his brother slowly, recalling that the shop was still closed after school and he hadn't seen the owner at all anywhere today.
His older brother let out a deep frown after hearing his reply. It made him feel uneasy whenever he saw his older twin acting like that.
"Is it because of the dream you had last night?" he asked worriedly as Keisuke nodded his head in a daze. His older brother told him about it in the morning, before their mum could even come up into their bedroom to wake them up. His older brother used to have dreams about some monsters when they were very young—there was even one time when the two of them DID see a similar nightmare of some plant monsters attacking people—but after the two of them got older, things like that start to happen less often to them. Eisuke had almost forgotten about the monsters as well until Keisuke woke him up to tell him about it. Eisuke wrapped his arm around his brother's shoulder.
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure that everything's going to turn out fine...
Keisuke took a long breath of air before letting it out shakily.
"I hope so."