Disclaimer: I, Fireblitz113, hereby acknowledge that I do not own the Nasuverse or Kamen Rider. Now let's move on to the story.
Previously on Across the Kaleidoscope
"I think we can all agree that there's something wrong with Fujimaru-kun,"
"Ooh, trying to make a deal with the devil? Those never go well."
"Tsk, whatever then. If it's the boss's orders that he imitates Decade, why should I care?"
"You can just call me Hibiki."
Screaming. How long have I been screaming?
Emotions like despair, anger, and sadness are rather fickle things. No one wants them and most try to bury those feelings deep inside them, some even going so far as to never acknowledge that they feel it whether intentionally or not.
But I know, we know. We are their true selves after all. Most are willing to just play along and leave it to their real selves, believing that they will one day accept what they truly feel. But not me, I know he'll never accept those feelings. I've spent years drowning in his guilt and despair at what we needed to do. Years being buried deep inside, kept at bay by that Avenger.
I let him be for so long– not that I had a choice for various reasons –but once I felt happiness, I knew I could not let it continue. He had to accept me and the truth, no matter how terrible it was.
If he can't open himself to the people he trusted and bonded with, what hope do I have that he'll reveal them to strangers? I won't stand for it, I have to do this. His unfelt despair will only push me forward towards my desired ending, no matter the cost.
After all, it's not like there will be anyone left to remember it.
Chapter 18: The Well-Trained Man
Hibiki's world(?)...
"Hi- Hibiki?" Ritsuka's eyes widened slightly as he stuttered. Out of everything he thought would happen when he was thrown into that vortex (which admittedly was not much, he only had about five seconds), meeting another Kamen Rider was not one of them. The question was, was he in another world or elsewhere within Fourze's world.
Normally, he would assume it to be the former but as proven in Agito's world, another Kamen Rider could exist in the same world. That, and he doubted Virgo has the ability to send people to other dimensions.
"Yes, I'm Hibiki," the man confirmed, noticing Ritsuka's disbelief. "And you are?"
"I'm… Fujimaru Ritsuka," the younger Rider replied. He was not sure whether he should tell Hibiki that he was also a Kamen Rider but since his Driver was left behind, it was best he did not.
"Fujimaru, huh? That's a nice name," Hibiki complimented before he picked up the bucket with their catch and went back to the campfire. "Come on, kid. Help me start the fire," he said as he walked. "Kasumi went a bit downriver where we parked the van to bring our equipment here."
'Kasumi?' Ritsuka obviously had no idea who that was other than, presumably, Hibiki's ally. He turned his head downriver as he said and saw a short distance away from their camp a van with somebody taking some stuff out from the back of it.
"Say, kid." That seems to be his new nickname. At least it was better than "devil". "What were you doing up here in these mountains?"
"I was… I don't know," Ritsuka answered honestly. Despite how unsure he sounded, Hibiki believed him.
"Is that so?" Hibiki hummed as he sat down on a fold-up chair that was set next to the campfire. "Well, it'll come to you sooner or later. For now, take it easy and eat," the older man counseled him. "Well, once we cook this, of course."
Since Ritsuka really had no other option, he sat on one of the other fold-up chairs and helped Hibiki set up the fire. As he did so, he could not help but wonder what his friends were doing without him back in Fourze's world.
Fourze's world(?), Rabbit Hatch…
"-and then Ohsugi–sensei gave me detention for being late even though I gave a perfectly acceptable reason!"
"Don't use me as an excuse when it was your fault, Tsukinari."
Fujimaru could not help but crack a smile at Gentaro's and Kengo's bantering while JK and Yuki continued to laugh despite the latter being there when it happened. However, it did not escape his notice that the two remaining members of the Kamen Rider Club were talking about something off to the side by themselves nor did he not notice they had his camera.
They definitely know he was not a denizen of the real world.
Ritsuka's "friends", meanwhile, were only loosely following what Gentaro was saying while they watched Fujimaru out of the corner of their eyes. Did they know yet? All he was sure of was that they know he was not the Ritsuka they know.
For now though, he needed to unlock Fourze's powers by both befriending him and teaching him a lesson… He had no idea how to do the latter. Gentaro already uses the power of friendship and bonds so that was the easiest lesson gone. That leaves plan B and if he fails that… Well, he may need to come back later.
"Hmm… Gentaro, can I ask something?" Fujimaru decided to ask, enacting step one of his plan. Seeing the friendliest man in the world(s) enthusiastically nod, he continued, "Why did you name your club the Kamen Rider Club?"
"Oh, that's easy. Hey, Tomoda!"
"Ahh!" Surprised by the sudden shouting, Tomoko shrieked before quickly calming herself.
"Show them the videos you showed me. You know, of my senpais," Gentaro told her. What he said this time actually caught Ryoko and Tetsuya's attention.
"Your… senpais?" Tetsuya asked to make sure he heard him right. "Do you mean…?"
"Yup! The past heroes of justice known as Kamen Riders!" Gentaro declared loudly.
Hibiki's world(?)...
"Aaaahhh…" Hibiki sighed contently as the three of them finished eating the cooked fish for dinner.
The third person, a young woman named Hayami Kasumi, lightly slapped him in the back of his head. "Hey, don't go feeling sleepy now. You still need to set everyone up."
"I know, I know." Hibiki got out of his chair and stretched his legs a bit. "Hey, kid. Help Kasumi put the toolboxes on the table."
Ritsuka, who was grateful to Hibiki for saving and feeding him, also got up to help them. After Kasumi cleared out a fold-out table, they placed four large boxes on top of it which they quickly opened.
The even more dimensionally-displaced teen peered inside the cases and saw that they contained several silver disks, about 10 in each box.
"Now then," Hibiki said as he took something off the right side of his belt. He unfolded what turned out to be a tuning fork that had a golden oni face. It also had a three-flamed symbol at the end of its handle. Hibiki then ran the prongs over the disks in each box, making a ringing sound as the disks gained colors. Immediately after, the disks flew out and changed shape. Some were in the shape of birds and took off to the orange skies, some took the form of lions and apes before running into the forest, while the last set took the shapes of a crab and jumped into the river. "Take care!" Hibiki called out to his Disk Animals as they went to do… whatever it is they're supposed to do.
"..."
"You don't really know what we're doing here, don't you?" His confusion must have been written on his face as Kasumi immediately started explaining things to Ritsuka. "Hibiki and I are out here to hunt down monsters." She spoke as if it was something completely natural. "Well, more specifically, it will be Hibiki doing the actual hunting. I'm just here to help him with tracking them."
"Monsters?" Despite being a seasoned monster hunter as well, Ritsuka still couldn't help but repeat what she said.
"Yup," Hibiki confirmed as he put away his tuning fork. "What we're looking for specifically is called a Yamabiko along with its parents. Side note, don't go shouting in the forest alone. You'll end up getting eaten if you get a reply."
"Ur… Got that. Thanks…" Ritsuka may not have strong self-preservation instincts but even he knew better than to do that!
…Maybe.
"You know, I actually was planning to come up here to train but then I was assigned this mission. Looks like the stars have aligned for me." Ritsuka heard Hibiki say but he did not really pay much mind to that.
"And why are you just telling me all this?" He had not told him he was also a Kamen Rider so they really had no reason to tell him anything at all.
"Well, since it's safer for you to be around me than to go into the forest by yourself when it's nearly night time, we might as well tell you what's going on," Hibiki justified why they were telling them all this. "It's certainly better than you getting yourself eaten because you did not understand what was happening."
Well, not getting eaten by a Makamou was certainly more preferable than becoming a giant ape-thing's dinner.
'...Makamou?' Ritsuka sighed internally as he somehow already knew what kind of monster they, or rather, Hibiki will be facing.
"Now that you understand what we're doing," Hibiki said as he went to sit back down but not before getting a cup of tea, "We can rest a bit while waiting for them to track down the Yamabiko."
Again, he had nothing else to do so Ritsuka went to sit down again and stared into the crackling fire.
Fourze's world(?), Amanogawa High School…
'Dammit, where are they?!' While she maintained a calm demeanor as she walked across one of the school's courtyards, Ciel was panicking slightly on the inside. She only gave a short greeting to the students who waved as she passed them by in search of Ryoko and Tetsuya.
She had to tell them what she overheard in the theater, of what happened to Ritsuka and that he may have been replaced by the Libra Zodiarts.
"Oh, Ciel-senpai! Good afternoon," another student greeted her as she walked past him.
"Good afternoon," she simply replied. 'Wait.' "Excuse me, have you seen Yuzuki-kun or Tsukinari-kun?" Ciel asked as she skidded to a halt, realizing that it was much easier to ask for assistance.
"Hmm… Actually, I think I saw Gentaro-san with Fujimaru earlier," the boy answered.
'What?! He's here?!' Again, Ciel kept her true emotions in check and maintained her reliable senpai image. "Really? Where?"
"I think they were headed towards the utility building? I don't know why though."
'Then they must be-'
"Actually, now that I think about it, I saw Yuzuki heading that way a few minutes ago too. He was with some people I didn't know," the boy added, interrupting Ciel's thoughts.
'Dammit!' If anything happened to any of them, that would be completely on her. "Thank you." Still, she bowed slightly in gratitude before quickly making her way to the school's utility building.
That was when a roadblock appeared.
Upon entering the room containing the locker to the moon, she saw someone leaning next to the entrance to the Rabbit Hatch, waiting.
"Takaragi?" What was he doing here? 'No, why wouldn't he be here?' The thief had already declared that he wanted to kill Fujimaru Ritsuka so why would he not be right outside where his target was?
"Hm?" Takaragi opened an eye a bit to see who was calling him. "Oh, it's you again." He gave her an aside glance while frowning.
He seemed to be in a cheerful mood.
"...Is he in there?" Since he was well aware of her true work, Ciel dropped her cheerful mask and spoke in a serious tone.
"If you're talking about that devil, then yes. Yes, he is," Takaragi answered with an equally grave tone. "You want to fight him too?"
There were two words he said that stuck out to Ciel; devil, and too. The latter was only eyebrow-raising because Takaragi had already declared that he would only attack Ritsuka when he transforms. The former, on the other hand, was much more important. Takaragi seemed to be under the impression that Fujimaru was still Ritsuka which was strange since the thief was always more informed than any of them.
"Takaragi, do you know what happened to Fujimaru? He's been acting odd for a while." She had to remind herself it has only been a few hours since the fake Fujimaru Ritsuka came back home.
"...I'll tell you this for now; the mirror shows the real side of us," Takaragi cryptically answered her. "In exchange for that, I need you to get him outside and somewhere secluded… for reasons."
It did not need to be said what he meant by reasons, and Ciel agreed with him. Even if the cheerful Fujimaru is not Libra, the two Zodiarts she overheard said that they had killed Ritsuka so the one in Rabbit Hatch was not the real one. Did she believe he was really dead? No, of course not.
"Very well," Ciel gave a short nod before she went to open the locker. Getting the cooperation he needed, Takaragi disappeared through an Aurora Curtain he summoned.
It was a short dash through the bright corridor and Ciel reached the door at the end quickly. It opened on its own, letting her cautiously step into the moon base where she was immediately greeted by the ever-friendly Tsukinari Gentaro.
"Oh, Senpai! Welcome back!" The delinquent-styled teen waved his arm in greeting. Two more students she did not immediately know the name of also welcomed her.
"Senpai! Hey!" "Ciel-san, welcome!"
Kengo, meanwhile, just gave a short gruff to acknowledge her presence again. On the other hand, she did not see Ryuusei in the room.
"Hi," Ciel subconsciously replied as her concentration was all on her target.
The fake(?) Fujimaru along with the two she initially came here to warn was currently around a goth-looking girl with a tablet at the table, the former watching from over her shoulder. They were all looking on the screen, intently watching the video that was on it.
However, hearing the others' greeting, they looked up to see Ciel with a serious look on her face.
"Oh, Ciel! About time you get here," Fujimaru greeted her with a playful smile. "You missed some pretty awesome stuff."
"..." Now that she knew for sure that the smiling teenager standing there was not the real Fujimaru Ritsuka, Ciel took what he was saying with a grain of salt. That was until Gentaro chimed in.
"Yup! Tomoda was just showing them old videos of my predecessors."
That sentence was enough to shake her out of her serious demeanor a bit. "Predecessors? As in…"
"Turns out there are more Kamen Riders here than just Gentaro and Meteor," Fujimaru told her as he walked over to Ciel. Before she could stop him, he grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the table. "Hey, Nozoma, can you pull up the one from 2001?"
"Ye-yes," Nozoma stuttered. Whether it was out of normal nervousness or if she also knew something was up, Ciel could not say. What she could say though was that she was not expecting what appeared on Nozama's tablet screen.
The footage was shaky and a bit blurry like it came from a camcorder from 20 years ago, but that was the last thing on her mind. What grabbed her complete attention was the figure that was the focus of the video. The yellow Kamen Rider with golden horns fighting what she recognized to be Ant Lords.
'Agito?!'
"There's a bunch of these videos on the internet," Yuuki cheerfully informed Ciel, writing off the look of surprise she had as her just learning that there were more Kamen Riders than the two in Amanogawa. "They date back all the way to the Showa era."
"Showa?"
"The earliest one was from 1971," Fujimaru elaborated on the details. "Just about 51 years now."
'51 years…' Not going to lie, Fujimaru was still a bit shocked that Rider history lasted that long…
"So… How many are there?" Ryoko was not completely sure if she wanted to know; the answer could easily change the course of their journey.
"We're not completely sure since there may be several past Riders that were not recorded," Kengo, surprisingly answered. "The minimum we, and by that I mean I, managed to count is 53."
"53?!"
"And I managed to befriend nine of them!" Gentaro loudly declared, "Well… Maybe ten? It's really unclear with Double-senpai."
'If they're here… then…'
'So they all exist here…" Fujimaru thought. At the very least, the Riders up to Double also exist here. "Nozoma, can I see what videos there are?"
"Sure…" Nozoma was reluctant to do so, but she exited the current screen and showed the list of old Rider footage she had.
All Fujimaru did was give a passing glance at the thumbnails of the videos, at the Riders themselves.
'Ichigo and Nigo. Black and RX. Kabuto, Gatack, and Punchhopper. Skyrider. Den-O. Super-1. Riderman. ZO… or is that J?' Even he could not tell which of them is which without looking closer. 'Kuuga. Agito and G3-X. Amazon. Blade. That's definitely J. Kabuto and Gatack only this time. Hibiki, Ibuki, and Todoroki. Accel. OOO and Birth. Hang on, is that Chronos? And Drive?'
So even Riders after Fourze existed here, Fujimaru noted, but not a video of everybody was there.
"I have several more, but I keep them on my computer at home," Nozoma explained. "Those ones are just my favorites."
"Is that so…" Fujimaru was very slightly miffed that Decade was not on the list. At the same time though, he was ecstatic that he was not. That guy was a dick through and through.
"Kamen Riders are urban legends; masked individuals who protect humanity's hope and dreams from the shadows!" Gentaro played up his predecessors' legacies.
"Some of these videos were in broad daylight," Ryoko pointed out but was ignored.
"Is that what you think being a Kamen Rider is?" Fujimaru asked.
Unsurprisingly, Gentaro responded with an enthusiastic "Hmph!" of confirmation.
"Heros of justice, that's what the legends call them," Nozoma meekly added. "Tsukinari-san and Meteor are the next to take on that name."
"And the pressure's very real after I've met Ichigo-senpai and Legendary Seven Riders." Despite his admitted nervousness, Gentaro still had his trademarked friendly smile.
Fujimaru returned the smile but inside, he was panicking somewhat. 'Damn it, he understands that too!' Looks like he had to find another thing to teach Fourze. Maybe he could get him and Meteor to be friends…
"How exactly are they just urban legends?" Ciel questioned how odd that sounded. She did not know much about the other Riders but, as the videos showed, Kuuga and Agito existed here. That meant one thing; people had died at the hands of the Unidentified Lifeforms and Unknowns. The fact that their actions, especially the former's, somehow became urban legends did not sound right at all. "If they and the monsters they fought existed, then how do they get forgotten like that?"
"Uh…. Unclear."
Hiss~
The door to the laboratory slid open and Ryuusei came out with an unreadable expression. It turned into a frown for a split second when he saw Ciel and Fujimaru before he smiled.
"Oh, Senpai. You're here too," Ryuusei beamed at her. Despite sounding glad, Ciel easily picked up that he knew something was wrong.
"So, did you find anything about the dummy Zodiarts that's been running around?" Kengo asked, sounding a bit smug.
"No, nothing that you didn't already find out."
"See? If I didn't-"
"Oh, come one, Kengo. Let's not get into that again," Gentaro cut him off, "We're all friends here, right?"
Kengo did not reply and just went back into the laboratory, walking past Ryuusei with a smug grin on his face.
"...Hey, Senpai?" JK, who had been quiet the entire time, finally spoke up. Assuming that it was her that he was referring to, Ciel turned to the second-year. "How do you know Fujimaru-senpai again?"
"We're neighbors," both of them answered at the same time. That was the (second) cover story she and Ritsuka came up with because being a guardian did not sound like it would work in their situation. At least being neighbors was not as strange as Ciel being Ritsuka's guardian.
"Oh… just neighbors?" JK had a look of skepticism, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
It took Fujimaru all of his willpower not to say "Well…" in a suggestive tone. While it would have been hilarious, he still had some self-preservation instincts.
Besides, Ciel had already answered for both of them. "We're just friends, nothing more," she asserted.
"Hmm… Okay." Despite saying that, JK still had that skeptical look on his face before he quickly snapped a picture of them. "Anyway, what's the next order of business?"
"While we still have those dummy Zodiarts to deal with, there's the matter of you four first," Kengo said, turning everyone's attention towards the (unknown to them) dimensional travelers.
Gentaro already understood what Kengo meant by that and immediately reassured him. "Don't worry about it, Kengo. I'm sure they can keep our whole operation a secret."
"I'd rather hear them say that."
"Alright, don't worry about it, Kengo. We'll keep your whole operation a secret." Three guesses as to who said that.
"...I can't tell if you're messing with me or not."
"Messing with you? Yes. Lying? Not at all," Fujimaru said, "It's against my nature to lie."
"See? We can trust Fujimaru-san to not spill the beans."
"..." Kengo remained silent and kept staring at Fujimaru in particular.
"Alright, we can tell when we're not wanted. We'll take another raincheck on the moonwalk " the newly transferred student fake-sighed. "C'mon, let's get going. See you all later!"
It was then that Ciel understood why JK asked that odd question regarding her and Ritsuka's relationship. She had no idea how she didn't realize that Fujimaru hadn't let go of her hand the entire time. In fact, she felt like she was touching something and nothing at the same time.
Regardless though, she was dragged along by Fujimaru towards the entrance with Ryoko and Tetsuya following after them. It wasn't long before they came out of the other end of the light tunnel and into the utility building, Ciel noting that Takaragi had already disappeared.
Now that they were alone, Ciel was comfortable with finally confronting the false Ritsuka. "Let go of me," she calmly demanded.
"Fine, fine. This has been going on for a bit too long, hasn't it?" Fujimaru giggled as he let go of Ciel's hand. "Honestly, I'm surprised that you're choosing now to bring it up and not earlier in my room, Ciel."
"So you aren't Ritsuka."
"...Heh…Hehe…" Despite the seriousness of the situation, what Tetsuya said just made Fujimaru laugh. "Hahahahaha!"
"What did you do to him?!"
Hearing the question, Fujimaru stopped laughing and smirked. "Oh, I did nothing to him. Of course, whether or not you believe me is up to you," he scoffed.
"...Why are you impersonating Fujimaru Ritsuka, Libra?" Ciel's only stipulation against attacking him then and there was that the locker leading to the Rabbit Hatch was less than five feet away. She assumed that there would be repercussions– very bad ones –if it gets damaged, or worse, destroyed.
"Libra?" What Ciel called him had genuinely made him pause for a few seconds before he understood why she called him that… and he started giggling a bit again. "Oh, I get it," Fujimaru smirked, "You think that I'm Libra… which I'm not."
"And-"
"And why should we listen to you? That's what you were going to say, right?" Fujimaru guessed correctly, "Well, without the fake me around, I can't do anything to make you trust me." 'Not that having him around would change anything anyway. He won't accept the truth just yet.'
If Fujimaru Ritsuka could accept the truth, then he would have figured out who he was a long time ago. That was some serious willful ignorance coming from such a weak-willed person.
"Fake? But aren't you the fake one here?"
"I'll admit that I'm not the real Fujimaru Ritsuka," the doppelganger smiled before his expression and voice turned dead serious, "But I assure you, between the two of us, I'm the true Fujimaru Ritsuka."
Hibiki's world(?)...
Night had long since fallen and the bright full moon illuminated the mountainside forest Ritsuka had ended up in. The lost teenager was currently still sitting by the campfire, listening to the fire crackling over the sound of owls hooting, insects buzzing, frogs ribbiting nearby, the flowing river, and much more assorted forest noises. It was… peaceful.
Certainly less chaotic than most of the other worlds he was in. The forest in Ex-Aid's world, or more specifically, the digital world of Drago Knight Hunter Z felt dead and artificial… probably because it was dead and artificial but that was beside the point. If this was what camping was like, then he would not mind going camping again. Minus the whole monster hunting business, of course.
Hibiki was also still awake, standing close to the river and taking deep breaths of the forest air.
"It's nice to just stop to take it all in, right kid?"
"Hmm?" Ritsuka looked away from the fire upon hearing Hibiki saying something.
"Sometimes it's better to just take things slowly and not rush things, you know," Hibiki told him wisely, "Like now, it's better to just wait instead of running without care into the mountain."
'Does… he knows who I am?' That sort of advice would really, really, apply to him since he's been completely focused on going through this journey as fast as possible. The only time he had truly stopped to smell the flowers was when he had to wait for Hakuno to wake up back in Kiva's world.
Now that Ritsuka thought about it, he really did not like to sit around and wait; he was constantly doing things when he had the chance and only taking things slow when forced to.
However, before he could say anything, a ringing sound filled the air and Hibiki pulled out his tuning fork again. A strange cry also echoed as one of the bird Disk Animals flew down to them.
"You found them." Hibiki immediately understood the meaning of one of his Disk Animals returning. "Now then, you be a good kid and stay put, you hear me?"
Without waiting for a response, Hibiki proceeded to run after the red hawk familiar that had flown away again.
'Pretty irresponsible of him to leave a defenseless kid out in the forest where he knows monsters live in.' Either Hibiki was that irresponsible or he knew that the Makamou would not head in their direction. Still rather irresponsible though.
Now Ritsuka was faced with a conundrum; either he could stay put and wait with Kasumi (who was currently sleeping in one of the tents) for Hibiki to return or he could follow the Rider to watch him fight. Had he still had the Decadriver, the answer would be obvious but since it had been shot out of his hand, it was much more dangerous for him to follow.
But then again, he did not have a strong self-preservation instinct. And so, Ritsuka decided to get up and follow Hibiki into the forest. Since it was apparently safe for Hibiki to leave the two of them behind at the camp, that must mean Kasumi would be safe by herself… probably.
He stayed a good distance behind Hibiki as he chased him through the forest. Thanks to how dark it was, Ritsuka was easily able to stay hidden in the shadows.
Eventually, they came to a long and narrow bridge that was built high above a river.
Before Hibiki crossed the bridge though, he stopped and looked back. "Hey, kid! You know it was safer to walk beside me, right?" Hibiki called out to him.
Well, looks like he has long since been found out. Ritsuka sighed but came out of his hiding spot.
"Any reason you're following me?" As always, Hibiki spoke in a calm tone. "Most people's first instinct upon learning there's a monster nearby is to run in the opposite direction."
"I'm just… curious." Ritsuka neglected to mention he was more interested in seeing Hibiki fighting rather than the Makamous themselves.
"Morbid curiosity, huh?" Hibiki hummed before telling him, "I was okay with that but once we cross this bridge, there's no going back."
"I understand," Ritsuka nodded and walked closer to the bridge. "The Makamou you're hunting, it's supposed to be a Yamabiko, right?"
From what he could remember, a Yamabiko was an ape-like Makamou that lives in the mountainside. They were also about two-and-a-half times taller than the average man so spotting them should be easy.
"That's right," Hibiki answered. "And what are you hunting out here?"
"Huh?" Ritsuka genuinely did not know what Hibiki meant by that. Luckily for him, the other rider tried to pry further.
"You know, Phantom Beast or whatever it is your people call them," he clarified, "But are you with the church or that other group?"
"What?"
"...So you're not one of those people?" Hibiki had a genuine look of surprise on his face. "I had you pegged as one of them but I suppose you being a normal person is still on the table."
"Well, I'm not with either group, that's for sure." Ritsuka assumed that the other group that Hibiki mentioned were the wizards that Ciel (both of them) talked about.
"But you know what they are."
"I've gotten into lots of weird situations," Ritsuka simply said.
"Is that how you know what the Makamous are?" Hibiki asked.
"Yup," Ritsuka lied as naturally as he breathed… Maybe.
"Just a normal person, not even a wandering Oni?"
"I wouldn't say I'm normal but I'm not an Oni either." 'Although Takaragi likes to call me the devil apparently,' he silently added.
"I see…" Hibiki hummed. "In that case, it would be dangerous for you to follow me. You sure you still want to come along?"
Ritsuka was not one to have second thoughts and he wasn't going to start having them now. If he wanted to see Hibiki fight a giant ape-thing, he's gonna see Hibiki fight a giant ape-thing.
However, he did not need to wait long as he noticed something at the other end of the bridge. Two somethings actually. Hibiki noticed Ritsuka looking past him and turned around.
Further up the path at the other side of the bridge, their silhouettes illuminated by the moonlight, were two figures. Due to being obscured by shadows, Ritsuka was unable to describe their clothes but he was able to tell that one was a man and the other was a woman.
"Finally showing yourselves, huh?" Hibiki said as he pulled back his jacket to take out his tuning fork. "Run, kid. This is going to be dangerous."
Since he had no other options, Ritsuka listened to the warning and stepped back a bit.
He watched as Hibiki unfolded his Henshin Onsa and hit the prongs against the bridge railings, causing it to ring out. Hibiki then brought the tuning fork up to his head, specifically bringing the oni face in front of his forehead. That same oni face appeared on his forehead before he let his arm down.
Up ahead, the two figures' bodies turned brown and black before they revealed their true, monstrous forms. Their bodies looked to be gray with hairy arms while their faces were ape-like. Finally, they had scarves around their necks.
Meanwhile, purple flames burst all over Hibiki's body but he did not react to it. Instead, he stood there burning for a few moments before, with a loud huff, he swung his right arm out and the flames dissipated. His body was now a glossy shade of purple with his lower arms and hands being red. He had a few bits of silver armor on his chest as well as small braces around his ankles and wrists. His belt was also silver and had a few attachments to it; on his right was his tuning fork now folded again while on his left were several blank Disk Animals. His buckle, meanwhile, had his symbol on a golden-and-black disk. Finally, Hibiki's head was also glossy purple with a red frame around his face. The oni face on his forehead's horns had extended in and out of his head, giving Hibiki sharp horns as a result.
"Now, let's begin." Hibiki dashed towards the two monsters as Ritsuka watched from a safe distance.
Fourze's world (?)...
Fujimaru took a long and deep whiff of the air as he leaned on the railing of the rooftop. "...No, smells the same as the other worlds." At least it did not reek of destruction and ruin. That was a major plus. "So then," he said as he turned around, "What do you think?"
"..." Unsurprisingly, the three continued to glare daggers at him. Fujimaru was of course unfettered by the glares and continued smiling.
"Oh come on, don't be like that." He would say that they were all friends here but that would be a lie and he doesn't do lies. "I told you, the real Fujimaru Ritsuka is still safe and sound… I think." Ritsuka was in a rather dangerous situation so safe and sound was not the right term to use.
"You think?"
"Well, he's not dead. I can be 100% sure about that part."
"..."
"Still don't trust me, huh?" Not that he cares all that much. "So, who's throwing the first punch?"
Ciel was very tempted to be the one to attack first but she knew she had to be patient; there were still several things she needed to ask. "Before that, who are you if you're not Libra?"
"I told you, I'm Fujimaru Ritsuka. That wasn't a lie," Fujimaru frowned as he answered.
"So you're an alternate version of him?" Ryoko questioned him.
"Technically yes but it would be more fitting in my opinion that he's an alternate version of me. I came first after all."
"Came… first?" That was an odd thing to say.
"Well, that's a long story," Fujimaru smirked but, slowly, it changed to a small, sad frown. His eyes had a near-unnoticeable ting of sorrow in them. "A very… long story…"
"...In that case, why did you impersonate Fujimaru Ritsuka?" Ciel continued to interrogate him.
Fujimaru's smile immediately reappeared as he answered, "Just saw an opportunity to push things along and took his place."
"Push things along?"
"While he's off doing things alone in Hibiki's world, I'll be here to deal with Fourze's world. You know, multi-tasking," Fujimaru clarified for them.
"Hibiki…" It took her a moment but Ryoko remembered where she saw the name before. "You mean he's in another Rider world by himself?!"
"Nah, he's already with Hibiki." Despite him being in another world… maybe… Fujimaru still could feel whatever Ritsuka was experiencing. It was a bit slow since time dilation and all that but he knew that Ritsuka was currently watching Hibiki fight a Douji and Hime of a Yamabiko.
"..."
"Back to glaring again?" Fujimaru grumbled a bit before sighing, "Oh well, let's just get this over with."
He reached into the insides of the right side of his jacket to pull something out. He was about to take something black out but stopped himself. "Oh, right. Forgot that I'm supposed to use this." He pushed whatever it was back into his jacket and switched sides, pulling something white out of the left side of his jacket.
Upon seeing it, the three immediately recognized what it was; it was the white Decadriver.
"That's-!"
"Oh, did I forget to mention that he dropped this earlier?" Fujimaru grinned and put the Decadriver on. "At any rate, I've been wanting to see how good an Executor for the Burial Agency really is."
Ciel didn't say anything to him, only turning towards the other two and giving them a short nod. They instantly knew what she meant and stepped back to let her focus on fighting. With a snap of her fingers, Ciel quickly changed back into her Executor attire.
Fujimaru, meanwhile, initially reached for the right side of his belt before quickly correcting himself and reaching for the RideBooker on his left. Muscle memory was really screwing with him.
"Henshin."
KAMEN RIDE: DECADE
Multiple illusions of the armor appeared around him before converging on Fujimaru, turning him into Kamen Rider Decade.
Dusting off his gloved hands, he motioned for Ciel to come at him, to make the first move.
Normally, a battle in broad daylight in the middle of a densely populated area was not something she would do (although that was mostly as a result of her targets only being active at night) but as she was not given any other option, Ciel opened up with her go-to tactic of throwing her Black Keys.
The three swords, despite how fast they were thrown at the Rider, were knocked out of the air in one quick motion. With a swift move, Decade had turned his sword into its gun mode and began blasting. Not one to be outdone like that, Ciel easily blocked the bullets with her blades before quickly closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.
Ciel's next attack was also blocked, however, as Decade managed to bring the RideBooker up in time and used the small weapon's casing as a shield. Pulling on the handle, the blade swung out again, forcing Ciel to jump back out of his attack range.
"So this is how it's gonna be?" Decade complained in a somewhat teasing tone, "We keep blocking and running without actually hurting each other?"
The Executor did not respond, only calmly glaring at him.
Meanwhile, down below on the ground and listening to the faint sound of metal clanging coming from the roof was Ryuusei. He had made an excuse to get out of the Rabbit Hatch to follow them. Now, with his suspicions confirmed, he no longer had reservations and took out the Meteor Driver.
Putting it on his waist, the belt fastened the buckle to his body before he pushed a silver trigger along the top right side of his Driver to initiate his transformation.
METEOR, READY?
Up in space, the M-BUS split open and the center part spun down, directly aimed at Ryuusei's position.
Posing for a second, Ryuusei pushed down the blue ball and called out, "Henshin!"
A stream of energy shot out at Ryuusei, hitting him and powering his transformation. A transparent blue orb surrounded him and the Meteor suit materialized on him. Another blue energy orb surrounded Meteor, a more opaque one this time, and flew up into the air.
On the roof, the two fighters were just about to initiate another round of combat when a blue meteor crashed in between them, kicking up a dust cloud and making Ciel raise her arm to protect her eyes.
"Kamen Rider Meteor," the new Rider announced his name in a modified voice, "I will decide your fates."
"Meteor?" Ciel did not know why the Rider that seems to love appearing out of nowhere was here but she was not going to complain.
Decade, on the other hand, knew very well why Meteor was here. Yuzuki Ryuusei had already realized that there was something unnatural about him and most likely followed them here.
"Decade, I was warned about you," Meteor said as he turned his head towards the doppelganger, "The Destroyer of Worlds; the devil who will bring about the end of this world."
"Hm, it's been a while since I was last called that." Decade tried to recall if he, or rather, Ritsuka had been called that on this journey yet and realized that he hasn't.
"And you." Meteor turned towards Ciel, "Who are you?"
"Huh?" It was only for a brief moment, she had a look of confusion on her face which Meteor noticed.
"Everyone here in the school knows who you are and remember you, including me. Yet, I know for a fact you're not a student here."
So Meteor was either a student or a member of the school's faculty, Ciel could at least confirm that now. "I know it seems strange but I'm not your enemy."
"And he is?"
"Hey, I'm alright with both of you attacking me. I can take the two of you on by myself," Decade boasted with a ton of confidence, "But if you want to fight each other first, be my guest."
"...Well, it's obvious now, isn't it?" Meteor honestly wasn't sure who was truly an enemy here but what Decade said made it rather clear. He took a calming breath before, with a battle cry, charging at the magenta Rider.
Ciel, meanwhile, just sighed at the apparent hotheadedness of the new Rider before steeling herself to continue fighting.
Hibiki's world(?)…
"Haa!" The Oni Rider cried as he punched the Douji of the Yamabiko he's hunting before kicking the Hime away. The Douji recovered quickly though and jumped up into a tree while the Hime went for the brushes for cover.
Meanwhile, Ritsuka watched the battle from the other side of the ravine. It was admittedly a bit hard to see due to how dark it was but he could manage.
The teenager heard the Douji cry as he swung from a tree branch to try and kick Hibiki. The Rider easily dodge the attack though, rolling out of the way and kicking up some leaves. As he got back up, the Hime jumped out of the brushes and tried to attack Hibiki from behind. He was too fast for her though and quickly turned and roundhouse kicked the ape monster away.
Hibiki reached for the back of his belt and took out two drumsticks with red heads that were in the shape of an oni's face.
'Ongekibou… Rekka…' Ritsuka named the weapons in his head as Hibiki used them as clubs and hit the Hime with them.
The Douji returned again, swinging with a vine, and tried to attack Hibiki. Once again, Hibiki reacted quickly and charged his Ongekibous, causing the heads to ignite themselves with bright fires. He then shot fireballs at the swinging Makamou, causing him to catch fire and crash into the ground.
The Oni began to slowly walk towards the Douji as he tried to get back to his feet to escape again. Just as he managed to stand up, Hibiki's head morphed to show a mouth. Before the monster could react, Hibiki breathed out a torrent of purple flames at the Douji.
He screamed in pain at being burned alive before finally collapsing again. The Douji thrashed about for a few seconds before he finally stopped. The dead body burned for a few seconds more before it dissolved, turning into a brown matter that blended into the ground.
A short cry from behind Hibiki made him turn around just in time to see that the Hime had decided to cut her losses and retreat. She jumped back into the brushes but this time, Hibiki knew that she was not going to come back.
Instead, the Oni looked up at one of his hawk Disk Animals and whistled a command at it. The red toy-like familiar cried back before flying off to search for the retreating Hime.
"That's one done…" Hibiki muttered as he glanced at the dead body of the Douji. He put his Ongekibou Rekkas away and went to cross the bridge. Upon reaching the other side of the ravine, he was immediately met by Ritsuka.
"That was fast," the teen complimented Hibiki.
"That's because I'm well-trained," the Oni responded, "I've been doing this for a long time and this was my… fifth Yamabiko parents." It took him a moment to remember how many he had already hunted down. "At any rate, we better get back to camp before Kasumi wakes up."
Yeah… Something told Ritsuka that she would not be happy with being left behind in the middle of a dark forest. Still, he was satisfied that he got the chance to see Hibiki at work.
'So that was Ongeki… The Sound of Purification…'
Fourze's world(?)…
"So Decade is still alive…" The man in the seat, the leader of the Horoscopes, muttered as he fiddled with an Astroswitch.
"Yes, Iteya-sama."
"How is that possible? We say you throw him into the Dark Nebula," Leo said to Virgo.
"I don't understand it either," Virgo replied, "Could he be from another world? As I recall, one of the others in the coalition has the ability to mimic humans."
"While a plausible answer, that doesn't explain why they would do that." Decade was the reason the 19 worlds banded together (in a slightly loose definition of banded and 19); why would the Worms try to mimic him? In fact, why was there even a Worm in their world in the first place?
"So is this guy the guy or not!?" Cancer impatiently asked. "I'm more than ready to fight him again!"
"Patience, Cancer," Virgo called the crab Zodiarts down. "Before we do anything, it would be best to wait for Libra's return. If that person is truly Decade then more aid is needed."
"As Virgo says, we shall wait for Libra to return before we begin planning again. As proven, simply throwing Decade into the Dark Nebula would not work."
"But when is he gonna come back? For all we know, he could be gone for a week-!"
At that precise moment, as if the world itself was trying to embarrass Cancer, an Aurora Curtain appeared against the wall that the leader of the Zodiarts was facing. A moment later, the last of the current Horoscopes, Libra, stepped out of it.
"I have returned, Iteya-sama," Libra announced his presence and bowed to his leader.
"Welcome back, Libra," Iteya grinned before asking, "How did the meeting go?"
"It was…" The scales-themed Zodiarts struggled to come up with the right word to describe his time, "...Can I ask that we send Cancer next time?"
"Why me?!"
"Was it truly that bad, Libra?" Virgo asked. He had not been to one of the meetings other than the one where they handed over the set of Zodiarts Switches to the group.
"Terrible and took much longer than it should've." If he really had to describe it, Libra would say that it was like a parents-teachers conference. Everyone was more concerned with their own chi- world's problems and did not care much about others.
"In my opinion, that was one of the more peaceful ones," a voice said before somebody stepped through the still-open portal. He had a priestly attire and an air of regality.
"You are…" Iteya recognized the man who came through from one of the more… mystical worlds; a Rider World where the monsters are natural rather than artificial like his.
"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Bishop of the Checkmate Four of Kiva's world," the Fangire priest politely bowed.
"He heard that Decade was here and wanted to see him for himself," explained Libra.
"Why so?" As Iteya recalled from a couple of meetings back, Decade had already passed through Kiva's world.
"I have my reasons," Bishop cryptically answered before taking off to leave. "Now then, I shall leave you to your scheming. I bid you farewell for now."
"...What?" Cancer had absolutely no idea what just happened.
Next time on Across the Kaleidoscope
"Bonds… I can no longer make them."
"What you do isn't the only thing that shows who you truly are. What you believe in matters too."
"I can only be friends with someone that shows their true self!"
"Deep down, he doesn't care for any of you."
"Decade, I, my King, and Kiva require your help."
Chapter 19: Radiating Bonds
A/N: And done! Now, before you say anything, I said that Hakunon won't return this arc, I didn't say that there will not be any returning characters in this arc.
Recently, I've been playing the original Tsukihime and that's been digging into my writing time. You know, besides procrastinating. So far, it's good but I'm not the best judge for stuff like that.
A lot of people voiced that they can't wait for the Ryuki arc so I'll tell you guys a couple of things; I have written half of part 1 of the arc and that, if I don't change things up, it will be in two arcs excluding this one. And you guys can probably guess what the next arc will be about, right? So you guys can start guessing what comes in between this and the Ryuki arc. I'll leave a hint too: memey.
Now then, please leave a review as to what you guys think about this chapter! Like what you think of Mirror Ritsuka, Ritsuka Alter as you guys called him, or Dark Ritsuka since Ryuga is called Dark Shinji. See you guys next time!