The school bell rang as the lunch period began and the students shuffled out of their classrooms. Chattering and echoing footsteps filled the hallways as everyone went to join up with their cliques. Most still passed through the central courtyard to reach the cafeteria though some went off elsewhere as part of their daily schedule. The sea of blue uniforms simply went through their day as usual.
However… the school lives of these specific students weren't as ordinary as other schools, for this school was Amanogawa High. Not a week could go by without a monster attack and this week was no different.
Screams filled the air as a red monster stumbled outside, causing the students to panic and run away. In their hurry, they failed or deliberately ignored the angry protests of the demonic-looking monster.
"Hey! Stop running! I'm looking for a— stay still, you brats!" The monster stomped the ground like a child on a tantrum. "Fine then! I'll just leave—"
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"
"Huh? AHHHH!" The monster cried in pain as a certain someone came out of nowhere and made a flying kick, hitting him in the chest and knocking the red monster on his ass.
"Sorry, but anyone who disturbs the peace in this school will have to answer to me!" The young man bravely declared while running his hand through his hair.
"Eeeeh? And who the hell are you, you punk?!" The monster shouted back, getting to his feet before pulling a large red sword from thin air. "Don't think I'll back down!"
"Fine by me! That's my style too!"
The young man reached into his jacket and took out a bulky buckle, the sight of which made the red monster pause. "Eh? Wait a second! You are—!" He, of course, didn't listen and flipped the four switches on his belt.
3!
2!
1!
"Hen—!"
"Ahhh! Wait, wait, wait!" "Gentaro, hold it!"
Before he could shout out the magic word, two people jumped in between him and the red monster. The latter person, however, was someone Tsukinari Gentaro immediately recognised.
"Huh? Ritsuka-san?" Gentaro had a double-take at seeing the person he hadn't seen in a few weeks. "What are you doing here?"
"It's… a long story," sighed Ritsuka. "A very long story…."
Chapter 31: Unaltered History
Rabbit Hatch…
When the group of three plus one monsters entered the moon base, Ritsuka noted that the clubroom was the same as he remembered it. The only difference was the lack of anyone actually being there.
"Where's the rest of your club?" Ritsuka asked out of politeness as he made his way across the room to check one of the computers and started fiddling with it.
"Ah… That's a funny story…." Gentaro nervously laughed.
Meanwhile, the confident monster noticed Earth through the window and loudly cheered in excitement, "Woi! Ryotaro! It's the Earth!" He shouted while jumping, trying to draw the attention of the third man. Meanwhile, the young man was in awe at the room itself, and his eyes widened further upon seeing out the window.
With Ritsuka and Gentaro, the latter was narrating why the other members of the Kamen Rider Club were missing. "You see, we were on an outing a couple days ago and went to this nice little restaurant," he explained while miming his hands. "Unfortunately, they all ate one of the large set meals and came down with something."
"And you didn't 'cause…?" Ritsuka pressed while he messed around with the computer. He found what he was looking for, muttering under his breath, "It's the same here too…."
He only shrugged in response, saying, "I guess I didn't eat as much as they did." Gentaro then loudly clapped his hands and turned towards the other two people in the base. "Alright then! Let's hear your story! I'll get the drinks."
As Gentaro crossed the room to reach the mini-fridge the club kept around, Ritsuka and the man named Ryotaro sat down at the table. The red monster was still jumping by the window and trying to look at the stars.
"So… what's your name? What do you have that red guy around?" Gentaro asked without a hint of hostility in his voice. The question was directed at Ryotaro, but he then looked at Ritsuka. "Where's Ciel-senpai? And those other two with you last time? Did you guys have a fight or something?"
"Uh… long story," Ritsuka replied before Ryotaro introduced himself.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Kihara Ryotaro, and that—" he glanced at the giddy monster "—is one of my partner Imagins, Momotaros."
"Yo!" The so-called Imagin gave a two-fingered salute.
"He'd normally not have a body out here, but…." Ryotaro trailed off before finishing his introduction. "Together, we are Kamen Rider Den-O."
"Eh… EH?!" It took Gentaro a moment for the last bit of info to sink in. When it did, his eyes widened as he yelled in shock.
"P–Please don't make a big deal of it. It's not, really." Ryotaro tried to be humble and shrunk in his seat. A faint blush also appeared on his face from embarrassment. "You're also a Rider too, right? You don't need to look at me like that."
"But–"
"Ryotaro here is a bit timid," Ritsuka interrupted. "With a small dash of imposter syndrome too." 'Quiet.' He continued, "But never mind that. Didn't you say you wanted to know why we're here?"
"Yeah—"
"Don't worry; we'll explain everything." "The best we understand, anyway." Fujimaru mentally added. "It all started in the future."
Gentaro had a big old smile on his face as he listened, a smile that didn't disappear even as he registered what Ritsuka had just said. "…What?"
9:37:26, 13/12/2022…
"So, where are we starting our search?" Ryoko loudly wondered as the four explored the World of Den-O. It was morning again despite the sun already setting in the last world. Since the group had already rested beforehand, it was not that much of an issue.
At that moment, they found themselves wandering around a square surrounded by tall office buildings. Other people were going about their day, ignoring the group despite one of them having blue hair.
As they walked, Ritsuka felt his right arm ache again. It obviously hadn't recovered from being stomped on and dislocated a couple hours prior but at least he already used first-aid on it. Aside from the linen wraps on his hand, all the bandages on his increasingly battered body was hidden under his clothes.
Speaking of his clothes— "Who are you cosplaying this time, Ritsuka?" Ryoko suddenly asked.
"Hmm…" Ritsuka glanced down at his new attire. He honestly had no idea what he was supposed to be. A butler? Or maybe just a waiter at a slightly fancy restaurant. He could also just be some guy that liked to dress formally. It could also be something else entirely.
He was now wearing a white collared shirt with a blue tie partially tucked underneath a black suit vest. He also had blue pants and brown shoes. 'Why do I feel like I've worn this before…?' Ritsuka thought but ignored the feeling of nostalgia. He felt something similar back in Faiz's World with the black business suit, but his current attire felt more casual compared to that.
"Dunno. We'll be finding out soon enough." 9 times out of 10, his clothes had some connection to whatever role he was supposed to play. Until then, they'd have to go looking for Kamen Rider Den-O or something related to him.
"Ritsuka, do you even know where we're going?"
The amnesiac replied with an offhanded, "Not at all," at Tetsuya's question, making him sigh in exasperation.
Not wasting an opportunity to make a joke at her friend's expense, Ryoko commented, "Knowing you, it won't be long before we run into another monster. You're a magnet for them."
"Hey, it's not my fault I keep running into them. That's just pure coincidence."
"Why don't I believe that?" Ryoko snickered at Ritsuka's annoyed huff.
"Steering away from that topic—" Ciel interrupted, getting the others' attention. "—Wasn't that desert that other dimension? The one Kishinami-kun's servants took us to?"
"Kishinami… Oh, that place." They didn't spend too long out in the Sands of Time so it took Ritsuka a moment to remember. "Yeah, it should be the same place."
"What are you guys talking about?" Ryoko butted into the conversation.
It took a moment for Ciel to understand her confusion; she realised none of them quite explained what went down in Kiva's World, least of all the whole time-travelling bit. All they knew was that Bishop asked them to deal with a fake Kiva and that was that.
"It's—" "—a long story we'll get to later," Ritsuka finished her answer. "All we really need to know is that desert is something Den-O has access to. I'll explain more if we need to get into it." Although the chances were incredibly high they'd, at some point, go into the Sands of Time again. Luckily, they could thanks to him forgetting to—
"Ahhhhh!" "Monster!"
The sound of screaming promptly stopped their conversation in its tracks as duty called… again. Ritsuka also noted Ryoko's bemused expression at being proven right once again. "Stop grinning," he quietly grumbled/complained but that only served to make her laugh more. In any case, they followed the sound of panicked citizens and soon found what they were looking for—people ran past them as they fled the rampaging demon wreaking havoc. Nothing new to anyone.
"An Imagin… right?" He had the feeling that's what they were called. Even if he was wrong (which he wasn't), there was only one of them so it'd be a snap.
Xxx
"Imagin? That's that guy right?" Gentaro interrupted Ritsuka's story to ask, pointing at Momotaros. "What are they?"
After a moment of thought, he answered in the simplest terms possible, "Sand genies."
"Ah, I see." Gentaro, in fact, did not see but went along with it. Instead, he turned his head at Ryotaro and asked, "And where do you come in, senpai?"
"Se—senpai?" "Nice to finally get some respect around here~ Unlike this guy."
"I was getting to that," Ritsuka answered for him while ignoring Momotaros's comment. "Back to the story, that Imagin was just running around, doing its thing when I arrived. I thought there was only one of them—and I was right— but…"
As it turned out, the Mole Imagin running amok had backups in the forms of what were essentially clones. Other than what their weapons and general demeanour were, there was little difference between the three. Ritsuka was pretty sure they were clones anyway. That made him feel better when he said "There's only one of them; you guys head off and help people go away or something."
He was now outnumbered 3-to-1, and every time he tried to hit one of them, either one or both of the others came out the ground and hit him in the back. They even hit his injured arm a couple of times, making it feel ten times worse to even move.
While there was an easy way to get out of it, it would entail begging for Fujimaru's help which… no. Even if he could most likely wipe the floor with these moles eyes closed, there was absolutely no way Ritsuka would go crawling to his other self.
"Just say the word and I'll tear them all a new one~" Ritsuka didn't entertain him with a response and just focused on his battle.
Well… he tried to anyway. The Imagine trio's next coordinated strike was enough to knock him out of his transformation. As he laid on the pavement and tried to get up, the voice in his head sighed, "Looks like everything's finally catching up to you."
As Fujimaru said, he had reached his limits after weeks of constant travelling and fighting. His battle with Asagami had been the first domino and now Ritsuka barely had the strength to push himself to his feet.
"Hey~ aren't you supposed to be a big shot, pinky?" One of the Mole Imagins taunted him. He didn't respond to that either.
"The strong silent type, eh? But not really that strong," the second Mole Imagin joined in the taunting
"There's only three of us. Someone of your calibur shouldn't find us mere moles troublesome." Now all three were laughing in his face.
"Hey, you think bringing his head to the boss will net us some reward?" The second asked his brethren to which the third answered.
"Maybe. But that's not our job though."
"The boss said to just keep him busy while he—"
"Hey! Stop giving out our plans! The weakling is still listening!"
"A boss? The Imagin leader or…"
Ritsuka filled in the blank and assumed he was talking about Swartz. Even if there was someone leading the Imagin, other groups of monsters like the Fangires and Lords had some connection to Swartz's shady organisation.
But none of that would matter if he didn't survive past this fight; he had to escape first. Luckily, the Mole Imagins bickering helped buy him some time, long enough that cavalry arrived.
"OW OW OW!"
"Huh— AH!"
"Where— AHH!"
Three Black Keys flew through the air, hitting the Imagins one after another. Before even he could react, Ritsuka was swept off his feet and gently placed on the ground a good distance away.
"Don't start," Ritsuka grumbled much to Ciel's amusement.
"Alright, alright, I'll poke fun at you later." Her reply just made Ritsuka grumble more.
"Nice to hear Ciel-senpai is the same as always!"
"Don't interrupt, please. Also you barely actually knew her…"
"You—! Who do you think you are?!" One of the Mole Imagins yelled in anger at Ciel, obviously ticked off at her rescuing him and stomping his feet like a child
Ciel's response was to scoff and prepare for more combat. The three Imagins stared her down, maniacally giggling while sharpening their claws as an intimidation tactic. That naturally didn't work on Ciel at all. Both sides were ready to move at the drop of a hat; they just needed the perfect incentive to attack first…
Thud. Thud. Thud.
"Hmmm? Who's there?!" One of the Mole Imagins snapped its head towards the footstep to see someone slowly approaching them, their footsteps echoing throughout the large open space.
The man ignored them, even when he stopped his slow walk. Then… he looked at the other two humans with a happy grin. "Long time no see, you two."
"You're…" Ritsuka muttered. It was pretty obvious who the man's identity was; he was just surprised over how he already knew them. That could be answered later though. They still had the Imagins to worry about first.
Speaking of which, the Mole Imagins were just as caught off guard as they were. "You're still kicking around?! Aren't you supposed to be retired?!" The first and presumed leader shouted.
"Retired's too big of a word in my opinion. I was simply… waiting for the right time," the man replied before he pulled out a silver belt and slapped it onto his waist. "And now's finally the right time."
The unnamed man pressed the red button, causing standby music to play— "Henshin!" —before he swiped his Rider Pass across the buckle.
SWORD FORM!
White and grey shards flew out from his belt before they covered the man's body and formed a suit that could be best described as a blank slate. That didn't last long as small train tracks appeared around him, carrying multi-coloured armour pieces that quickly attached themselves onto him.
Finally, a red mask in the shape of a peach travelled down his helmet and split open.
Now donned in shiny red armour, Kamen Rider Den-O pointed at himself with his thumb before posing and proclaiming, "Ore… sanjou!"
"So that was you two?" Gentaro interrupted again, glancing at Ryotaro and Momo.
"Uh… Yes? But no at the same time?"
"Alright, now I'm even more confused."
"Just listen already! I wanna hear this jerk talk about how cool I am!"
"…Anyway, Ryotaro killed one of the Moles and the other two ran away."
"DON'T GO SKIPPING OUT THE COOL BIT YOU ASS!"
"Fine, you said something about climaxing at the start or something."
"AND DON'T TAKE THINGS OUT OF CONTEXT?!"
FINAL CHARGE!
"My Finishing Move… Part 2!"
The detached blade of the DenGasher flew through the air, following Den-O's movements, slashing and cutting one of the Mole Imagins into pieces. The sand demon cried as it died in a fiery explosion, leaving nothing behind.
The other two, seeing their brethren fall, decided to cut their losses for now. They didn't leave before cursing Den-O's name though but still got away before anyone could give chase.
"Cowards," Den-O smugly but still annoyedly spat out before taking off his belt. His armour withered away, revealing the man now with wilder unkempt hair with a red streak going through it. His eyes were also now that same shade of red instead of the black-brown they were just minutes earlier.
At any rate, now with the Moles gone, he could now focus on Ritsuka. "Hey, pinky! You're fine, right? Didn't break a leg or anything?" The tone and deepness of his voice was incredibly different than the soft-spoken voice the man had earlier too.
He walked closer to them and gave Ritsuka a close look, sniffing him a bit too.
"Can you not do that?" It was a bit weird, not going to lie.
"Well, you sound like your old self. Not that I miss it," scoffed the man.
"What he means is that we're grateful for your help," Ciel thanked in both their stead. "May we ask for your name?"
"Me? Hehe…" he chuckled. "I am—! Huh? You sure?" Before he could say his name, the man suddenly started talking to himself. "Really? …Fine." He poured, sounding like a kid getting told no. A flash of red came from him and his hair and eyes returned to normal.
"Sorry about that; Momo tends to get a bit carried away," the man laughed in his normal voice too. "I should introduce myself first; shouldn't I? My name is Kihara. Kihara Ryotaro, one of this World's Kamen Rider. And the guy that was in control of my body was Momotaros."
Something told Ritsuka things were going to get complicated fast…
Kihara Cafe, 10:05:21…
"Here you all go. On the house," Ryotaro smiled while placing the teacups on the counter for the quartet to drink. "Think of it as something of a gesture of goodwill."
"What? Did saving Ritsu's butt not count?" Ryoko snorted before thanking him anyway for his help and the drink.
"How'd you know we'd be needing help? You acted like you were expecting us," Ciel asked to which Ryotaro replied, "Finding out where the Imagins were was easy, Momo can sniff them out like a do— Oh shush you, you know that's true. As for how I knew you'd be there today… I kept my calendar marked for it."
Ryotaro gestured at the nearby wall calendar. Sure enough, that day's date, 13th December 2022, was circled with red ink.
"That… doesn't explain how you knew," Ritsuka pointed out.
"Or how you already knew who we all are." None of them introduced themselves yet he knew their name off the top of his head.
"Don't worry too much about that; you'll find out soon," Ryotaro gave a non-answer. He reached down below the counter and took out an old sealed envelope with Den-O's symbol on it. "Here, you'll be needing these. You should know what to do with it, Ritsuka."
Ritsuka was confused but still politely took the envelope out of Ryotaro's hand. If he just went along with it, it'll (probably) starts making sense.
"Ritsuka, this is the first time we're…" Ryotaro trailed off but quickly resumed. "This isn't when the next step of your journey will start."
'When? Not where?' "Oh boy, it's going to be like that, huh? I can feel the headache coming already…"
"Then where am I supposed to start?" He asked.
Ryotaro's answer was just as unhelpful as the others. "Way back. Way, way back. Something happened back then, or rather, something's going to happen then. You have to stop him from going back to the beginning or it'd be the end of us all."
"Wait, what is?" Ryoko butted in. "By back then, you mean where we just were?"
"No, nothing like that," Ryotaro shook his head before checking his watch. "We have about 45 seconds left. You guys better finish your drinks and get going. Once this is all over, maybe we can talk again."
"You… don't really make a lot of sense, do you?"
"Not at the moment, no." Ryotaro kept his cheerful demeanour as he answered Tetsuya. "Hmm… 32 seconds left."
It was easy to put the pieces together and figure out what Ryotaro was pushing them towards. "Alright, I got the gist of it. Come on." Ritsuka hopped off the counter seat and made his way towards the front door. They only had a second as their window of opportunity; if they missed it, they'd be stuck waiting for another hour, minute, and second. Not actually a long time, but better be safe than sorry.
"Hey, wait for us!" He heard as he placed his hand on the door handle and mentally counted down. '10, 9, 8, 7, 6—'
"What are we supposed to do again?"
'4, 3, 2, 1—!'
Ritsuka opened the door at 10:10:10 on the dot. Instead of the outside, the door became a portal to the Sands of Times. Without any hesitation, Ritsuka walked through, hearing Ryotaro call out, "Good luck, you guys. From all of us… not that you need it."
As soon as the last person (in this case, Tetsuya) went through the door-portal, the door slammed close by itself before it dissolved into sand.
"Back out here again, huh?" Ciel wouldn't say she missed this place. They were only there for not even a full day but the feeling this place gave off was something that'll stick with her for a long time.
"So… can someone explain what the heck that guy was talking about?" Ryoko questioned. "He was as cryptic as… well… Ritsu here, but nicer."
"I'm doing my best not to be offended here."
"Nicer's a very easy bar to clear, you know."
"Okay, now I'm definitely offended."
"Alright, alright. Let's not get carried away with the digs, shall we?" Ciel cut the conversation short. "What exactly are we doing here?" She already had a good idea, but getting a confirmation was nice.
"Basically, what Ryotaro wanted us to do is go back to the past and fix whatever's going on. Or was going on." All these tenses are going to get complicated, he just knew it.
"So we're time travelling again?"
"Ye— wait, again? What do you mean 'again'?" That confused Ritsuka. Yes, he travelled through time before but that was only him. Was he forgetting something?
"Well, there was that thing about Kuuga being in 2016, wasn't there?" Ryoko reminded Ritsuka for the first time. "Doesn't that mean we were in 2016 back when we started?"
"Uh… unclear." That was something that probably should be looked into. He was sure that it was 2021 when they met, but they definitely weren't in 2026 when they bumped into Shouichi. There was also Takaragi bringing Yuusuke to help them and he mentioned it had been a few months after they first met. Then…
"Fujimaru, get back!" His train of thought was derailed by Ciel grabbing his shirt and pulling him. Just as she did, a set of train tracks laid themselves out where he stood from out of nowhere.
The sound of a train coming then caught everyone's attention as a bullet train sped down the rails. "Isn't that—" The train which was identical to the one in the painting started to slow down as it came near them, stopping completely next to the group.
The cabin door directly in front of them then opened with a hiss, and a woman in a white and black uniform stepped out. "Salutations, travellers!" the stewardess cheerfully greeted them. "I am Naomi, and this is the Den-Liner. Please present your Pass and you may board the train."
"Give me a moment." Ritsuka fished through his pocket before producing his Rider Pass. Naomi politely took it and inspected the Pass before giving a satisfied nod.
"Yup. And I assume you're extending the Pass to your friends?" She asked while returning Ritsuka his Pass. After he replied with a nod, Naomi stepped aside to allow them passage into the Den-Liner. "In that case, welcome aboard!"
They followed the energetic woman into the train car and main cabin. The interior was decorated nicely, with velvet seats and tables. One end of the cabin also had a bar counter, probably for the stewardess if Naomi immediately manning the station was of any indication. There weren't any other passengers around so claiming a table for themselves was easy.
"Alright, so what exactly is this place?" Tetsuya asked once everyone settled in. "And what does Kihara-san want us to do?"
Ritsuka answered the latter question first— "That's also unclear. Even I couldn't figure out anything."
"But you said—"
"I said I got the gist of it, not that I understood," Ritsuka added. "All I know for sure is the answers lie in… Hang on a sec."
Tetsuya sighed as Ritsuka checked his pockets again. This time, he took out the letter Ryotaro just gave him. Before he could open it and check its contents, a man in a black suit and tie suddenly appeared at their table.
"Welcome aboard." The man spoke bluntly and professionally. "I am the Owner of the Den-Liner. Thank you for choosing our services for all your time-hopping needs. Please relax and enjoy the ride as we set a course for our next destination. So long as you don't misbehave, you are welcome to stay onboard for as long as you like."
The Owner then walked away and sat down at the table in the corner, watching the group like a hawk. It was slightly nerve-wracking but the group resumed their conversation.
"Anyway, as the Owner said, this train is called the Den-Liner. It travels through time and makes pitstops here and there to transport people with this Pass." Ritsuka showed off the Pass again before putting it on the table. "You need it to enter this dimension in the first place but getting one of these isn't easy."
"Then how do you have it?" Ryoko noticed the envelope was still sealed and Ryotaro didn't gave the Pass to them so…
"You see…" Ritsuka cleared his throat, "Ciel, you remember when we were about to execute Operation Golden Fever?"
It was easy to remember what he was referring to; that name to dumb to forget about. "What about it?"
"Well…"
"Focus, you two. We now have everything set to carry out this mission," the Wolfen briefly shot Ritsuka a dirty look, obviously still annoyed that he decided to sleep first. "Riki, untie him."
Riki bowed his head slightly before going to Otoya and ripping the rope with little effort. However, this ended jarring the violinist awake with a loud snort.
"Hubba?" Otoya drowsily murmured before he yelped as Riki threw him over his shoulder. "Hey! I know I wanted to get untied but not like this!"
Jiro then reached into his suit and took something out. "Here," he said before tossing what turned out to be a strange-looking train ticket, which Ritsuka managed to catch. "In case of emergency, use this to return here. I assume I don't need to explain how to use it."
"No, but the chances of us returning here are slim at best." What were the chances that time would line up when they needed to escape? "And don't you need one for your mission?"
"We're using Riki's," Jiro answered bluntly. "Come on, let's go already."
"After we stopped Another Kiva, I sort of… forgot… to pass it back to Jiro," Ritsuka admitted. "But hey, it worked out for us now, didn't it?"
"I'm pretty sure Jiro's going to rip out your throat next time for this." If Jiro was anything like other beast-like folks, he'd be a bit possessive at whatever he sees as his. Maybe it wouldn't be the case but if simply losing Kiva's power nearly made Jiro kill Ritsuka…
They didn't dwell on the topic much further as Ritsuka finally opened the envelope. "These are…?" Inside was a letter and a small deck of black cards which Ritsuka took out. They were all blank minus one which had a date on it. The letter, meanwhile, was pretty old but the text was still legible.
—Ritsuka, as you're reading this, you already met myself in the future and on your way to meet me for the first time. I'll make this brief: an Another Rider was created. Swartz plans to have it travel back through time too so it could wipe all of us Riders in one fell swoop. We have to stop it before then. In this letter there should be enough tickets for the entire trip, I'll tell you more when the moment comes.
Good luck, Ryotaro
It was just a single paragraph but it helped clear some things. At least they now know what they're supposed to do and when. Ritsuka picked out the only ticket with a date: 03.10.07. It was a whole 15 years earlier but that was their destination.
"Owner?" Ritsuka tried to get the train conductor's attention which worked. He returned to their table and retrieved the ticket.
"Hmm, 2007? That was a rather eventful year for this Liner," the Owner monologued with a small grin. "Very well, I shall add it as another stop. Please stay seated and thank you for your patience."
He then left the cabin, presumably to set a course for October 3rd, 2007. Whatever was in store for them that day, they had to be ready. After a small amount of time waiting, the PA system went off and the Owner's voice came through.
"Ladies and gentlemen, madame et monsieur, please remain in your seats as we depart. For those going to the King's Station—"
"And that's the first part of everything so far," Ritsuka finished his flashback of 2022. He studied Gentaro's expression, trying to figure out what he was thinking about.
After a few seconds, the student said, "Oh I got it now. You're the younger version of the Ryotaro who gave Ritsuka-san the letter, right?"
"Yup," Ryotaro nodded. "As you can probably guess, I'm from 2007. The older me should be 33 years old in 2022."
"And I'd be…! …Hey, Ryotaro, how old would I be?" Momotaros asked his partner.
"Uh, how old are you now?"
"I dunno."
While the two were trying to figure out Momo's age, Ritsuka continued, "We bumped into each other while I was running around 2007. Well… it would be more accurate to say he crashed into me…"
"Sorry about that again. Totally my fault."
"So after you guys met in 2007, you guys came here?" Gentaro asked. "But why? Didn't you say you'd be travelling further back?"
"Well yes, you're jumping way ahead but we were supposed to be heading to the past."
"But?"
"Firstly though, you're wrong about us coming here from 2007… we actually stopped by 2017 first." It was after spending some time in there that they hopped back here—to 2012.
But that was jumping ahead, he had to talk about what happened in 2007 first.
"This guy's the unluckiest man in the universe. Don't stand too close to him."
"Here's another challenge for you: a time trial. Defeat my pawn before it's too late, and your history will remain intact."
"What happened on this day? This was before we met…."
"Let's clear it together with super co-op play!"
Chapter 32: Unwritten Moments
A/N: Well, I decided that a nice change in pace was in order. After the Ryuki arc basically drained me for most of the time writing it, I thought that I might as well start uploading chapters when I feel like they're complete instead of writing till it reached a minimum word count. In other words, the three chapter arc thing I had? You can basically throw that out the window for now. I want to do a bit of a change up and I don't know if it'll stick.
Anyway, as promised, time-wimey hijinks with Den-O. Ritsuka got separated from the crew, is messing around in 2012 with Fourze (even though that shouldn't be right) and even met up with someone we haven't seen since the start of the fic. Who else is gonna appear? That's for me to know and you guys to see. Also finally managed to make that passing line of dialogue from the 2nd Kiva arc come back~
As always, give me your thoughts and all that! See you all next time!