Song: Dies irae: The Animation 『Jenzeits』
Between the Lines
What did she do wrong?
That was the common yet repeatable thought of a young woman by the name of Kotonoha Katsura.
She thought she had been doing everything perfectly. She thought that she had been doing fine as Makoto-kun's girlfriend. Right?
No, she can forgive Makoto-kun. She still loves him. She will be his perfect girlfriend for him. That's all she is.
Yes, if she were to continue to be a good girlfriend, Makoto-kun would definitely come back to her. She wouldn't complain. She would remain loyal to him. She knows that Makoto-kun still has feelings for her. She can wait for as long as it is needed.
"...Hmm, you seem down in the dumps?"
Kotonoha would hear the sound of a voice. She looked up a bit and saw a young, cheerful boy with a dark blue shirt and pants. A sharp contrast to her dead-eyed blank expression.
Who was he?
It did not matter for Kotonoha. Neither did the snow that fell on this December night bothered her. Neither did the cold bother her. Neither did the cool breeze bothered her. Nothing bothered her. All that she was focused on was how to please Makoto-kun.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?"
The young cheerful boy continued to talk with her. She did not reply. There was nothing to say.
"Ah, that's right. Your boyfriend, Makoto-kun, left you, right?"
That made Kotonoha snap her attention.
"NO!"
She denies such an accusation. Her eyes were now carrying a murderous aura and a desire to choke the young boy would be strong. She was going to do just that, but...
...She felt herself not moving.
She did not know why. She cannot move. But she is aware.
Wait... But why-Ah!
She falls to the ground, hard. It hurts.
"Relax," the young boy replied with a smile. "I'm not here to cause you problems, I'm here to help you solve them, I can help you get your boyfriend back... and of course, to eliminate the competition."
The young boy would begin to materialize something from his right hand. It was a black-colored watch that contained a monstrous face. He presses a button on top.
[BUILD!]
"So, what do you say? Will you take this power that I can bestow to you?"
The young boy asks with a smile. Kotonoha would look at the watch, slowly taking an interest in it. Tempting thoughts begin to suddenly cloud her mind.
If... If she could have this type of power, then...
..Then Makoto-kun would finally come back to her. They would finally be together.
"...Ye...s." She muttered softly, a cold whisper that interlaced with the breathless wind that blew by and made her skin grow cold.
"Hmm, what was that?" the young man asks for clarification.
"Yes!" She asks, no, begs. "Yes, I want that power!"
The young boy made a disturbing, satisfied smile. "Good answer."
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
The young boy would bring the watch towards her chest, which caused her pain.
Eventually, she turned into something monstrous.
[BUILD!]
She had become a monstrous grotesque figure resembling Kamen Rider Build, the Kamen Rider of the year 2017. The armor was faded and mutated, the blue color became rusted and the red color looked like old leather. Sharp spikes jutted out from the boots and shoulders; the helmet had a monstrous face with a fang, a sharp mouth and a glass-like optical visor resembling a rabbit ear and a tank barrel hiding two hideous eyes, and a skeleton spine on its back. On its chest, it said "Build" and on its back was "2017"; the belt looks ruined and organic parts growing out of its waist with two Fullbottle devices.
Between the Lines 2
"Souta..."
"What is it, Setsuna?"
"Umm, can you come over to my place? There's... There's something... no, there's someone I think you need to see for yourself."
His name was Souta Mizushino. Just your average young teenager and best friend of Jouji Minami; an avid fan of anime, manga, video games, and other fictional mediums. You might say he's well-versed in a lot of fictional genres. It was shall we say his passion, his drive, his motive, his dream. Like his best friend Jouji, he was also a fan of superheroes, and he's living in a world full of them. And of course, his personal favorite heroes are the Kamen Riders.
His girlfriend, Setsuna Shimazaki, would call him on the phone in the morning, asking him to come over.
After a couple of walks later throughout the suburban areas of Beika, along with helping an old lady walk the street...
"Why thank you, young man."
"No, no, it's no big deal, obaa-san."
...He finally found himself standing in front of the house and decided to ring the doorbell.
He would hear someone's footsteps walking towards the door and open it, revealing an adult woman with black hair and glasses, holding a shoulder bag, and office clothing, indicating that she was about to go somewhere.
"Ara, Souta-kun," she smiled softly.
"Umm, hello, Setsuna's okaa-san," Souta bowed his head politely.
"Hmm, my daughter's just in the living room by the way," Setsuna's mother replied. Then her expression turns to one of humor. "Well, I'll let you see her for yourself. I would need to head to work, so I'll let you take care of her." She said the last part with a wink.
"Eh-Ah...Ahh, of course," Souta blushed a bit.
Setsuna's mother would leave as she closed the door, with Souta now inside. He heads towards the living room, but notices a chidlike soft voice echoing from the room. He slowly takes a look at the living room while hiding his presence for a bit.
Looking around, there were scattered papers throughout the floor, papers filled with sketches of different individuals. The sketches contained heroes of the past and present such as Ultraman, Super Sentai, Inazuman, Kikaider, and other heroes of the world. One picture on the sofa was what appeared to be a perfect portrait of the late Shotaro Ishinomori, an influential manga artist known throughout Japan who died on January 28, 1998.
"Mama, mama, look, look what I drew!"
There was a young cute girl, of about six or seven years of age, with silver-white twin-tailed hair and red eyes, with fair white skin as smooth as silk, wearing regular clothing of a pink shirt and grey skirt, was smiling and bouncing with joy, showing a drawing of a young woman with long black hair and red glasses, who is in fact Setsuna, Souta's girlfriend.
"Hmm? Oh, and who would this be?" Setsuna asks with a curious look.
"...Hmm," the young girl, Altair, was scrunching her eyebrows in concentration. "I'm... I'm not really sure, mama. All I know is that I drew a Kamen Rider."
"A Kamen Rider?" Setsuna asks.
"Hmm," Altair nodded. "Kamen Rider Zi-O."
As to the drawing, it was a jet-black suit with a silver band on the center, with silver ornaments on the sides of the shoulder. There was also chest armor with pink highlights, as well as pink highlights on the hips and forelegs. On the forearms, there were watch holders that carried watches, two blank ones on the right and one on the left, and at least one on the left had a silver watch that said "Bike" in Japanese. The hands are black, with pink armor etched on the fingers and the back of the hands. The helmet looks like a clock, with a white clock piece that has the symbol spelled "Kamen" on the forehead, and a pink visor.
"Kamen Rider Zi-O..." Setsuna made a pondering look, putting her hand to her chin. "I never heard of a Kamen Rider by that kind of name. I wonder if Souta knows."
"Umm... I don't," Souta responded hesitantly, surprising Setsuna and Altair as they looked at him.
"Oh, Souta," Setsuna smiled lovingly.
"Ah! Papa!" Altair cheered as she dashed towards Souta and hugged his leg.
"Eh?" Souta looked confused. "Papa?"
"Ehehehehe," Setsuna made an exasperated, soft laugh, not knowing how to explain this situation. "Umm, Souta, I'm... I'm not sure how to explain this but... do you remember that original character that we were both working on last year?"
"Hmm, I remember," Souta nodded.
Last year ago, when they were third-year middle school students, Souta and Setsuna collaborated together to work on an original creation called Altair: World Étude. Well, they along with Jouji, a lot of their classmates in middle school, and a certain teacher helped with the project too. Altair: World Étude was a series of music videos where a character by the name of Altair appears. Altair was inspired by a lot of characters in fiction, one of the main ones being the character Yui from the famous light novel and anime, Sword Art Online.
Her basic story was that of a young magical girl heroine by the name of Military Uniform Princess, having all sorts of adventures in the woods, meeting strange creatures, meeting new friends, and seeing all sorts of sights. And it's quite popular among children, no doubt in part due to the intervention of one Kamen Rider Ex-Aid who supported them in such an endeavor, being a fan of their work.
"Well," Setsuna made a hesitant yet smiling expression. "Meet Altair."
Souta blinks a bit and looks down to find the girl smiling at him.
"Hi, papa!" She responded with a smile.
"...Huh," Souta could only say.
Like, what was he supposed to say to that?
He never really thought that his girlfriend would be the type to joke about this. Never mind the fact that she called him all the way from home just to see this young girl. No way was this a prank. There's only one woman that Souta knew that would do that type of prank, and that person is probably busy with stuff that she's doing with her fellow club members of her self-proclaimed brigade.
What type of stuff is that?
Well, depends on the mood of the self-proclaimed leader.
Eventually, after packing all of the sketches and organizing them, he would sit down on the sofa, Setsuna began to explain to Souta that Altair just randomly appeared on her lap while she was looking at the computer and checking on the latest music video that she and Souta uploaded a week before the first day of school.
"Wait, so she just appeared randomly?" Souta looked with a concerned tone, while Altair was present on his lap, smiling happily.
"Hmm," Setsuna confirmed. "I'm not sure what happened myself. She... kind of jumped out of the screen. There were all sorts of weird-looking static that covered the entire computer before she appeared."
"Static..." Souta made an anxious tone. "...Hmm. Okay, maybe I should call Jouji and tell him about this, you don't mind?"
Setsuna shakes her head. "No, actually, it's a good idea. His father may know something about this, because well..." She showed Souta the drawing of Kamen Rider Zi-O.
"Kamen Rider Zi-O, right?" Souta became thoughtful. "I've never heard of a Kamen Rider's name like that before. Maybe he's the new Kamen Rider of the Reiwa Era perhaps?"
Now, the thing about Kamen Riders was that they are divided into eras, signifying the reigning eras of the Emperors of Japan and the common theme that they all have. The Showa Era Riders seem to all have a common origin. They were all genuinely good people being put under extreme circumstances beyond their control; most of them through the use of questionable scientific methods that allowed them to become cyborgs, others of otherworldly and mystical origins that give them wild and bio-organic looks. The Heisei Era Riders were more diverse in terms of personality. Unlike the Showa Riders, most of them are normal individuals who, in order to become Kamen Riders, would need some kind of transformation device that allows them to transform.
Souta wondered if Zi-O was now the start of a new era for the Kamen Riders. That concerned him a bit if only because he wasn't naïve to the fact that a Kamen Rider would also have his own respective enemies. Who might that be, he wondered.
...Yeah, I should probably call Jouji. He may need to know about this.
Souta would begin to get a phone, a black colored phone with the words "Wayne Enterprises" and a silver neon screen. He tried to call Jouji, but for some reason, the latter wasn't answering the call.
Huh, that's odd. He's not answering. Maybe he's busy?
"What's wrong?" Setsuna asks.
"He's not answering," Souta sported a concerned expression. "Probably busy. I guess I'd try Tim instead."
Souta would begin to contact another person on the phone. Fortunately, the call picked up this time.
"Yo, Souta, why the call?"
Tim Drake. Also known as Red Robin. He was of the same general age as Souta and Jouji, and was a high school student in Gotham City High School.
"Hey Tim, it's me, Souta, listen uh, can you come over to Japan? There's... There's something weird that I got to show you."
"If by weird, do you mean that a fictional character had somehow ended up in your home?"
Souta's expression grew attentive. "First of all, how'd you guess? Second of all, it's Setsuna's home actually."
"Well..." there was a hesitant tone on the call line before Tim managed to respond. "...Okay, listen. There was actually a recent case that happened in Gotham that may have somewhat of a connection to what's happening on your end. Apparently, when Batman and RX were dealing with Kobra, one of its mutant monsters just so happened to confess some kind of doom-and-gloom prophecy about a Century King. You know, the same one that Jouji's dad is. That monster, right before he died to RX, said something about Jouji becoming their new Century King and that he's destined to bring about their Age of Kali-Yuga."
"Wait, what?!" Anxiety spreads over Souta's face. He would slowly look at the drawing of Zi-O that Setsuna got on her paper as a moment of epiphany etched his face.
Like come on, Souta thought dryly. There's just no way. Right? Like, there's no way that the recent Kamen Rider drawing and this Century King prophesy that seem to all tie to Jouji are connected. Right?
Tim continued to explain. "And at around the same time, interdimensional anomalies have been detected on the Watchtower and seem to be centered around Japan, not to mention strange sightings were reported by the locals. Examples include a girl in a red hood walking around with a scythe, a girl who just so happened to look like that blonde villain character from that anime based on the Sentais, and there's even a sighting of Doraemon of all things. Things got a lot more crazy though in Minato."
"Umm, why? What happened there?" Souta asks, considering that Minato was a ward in Tokyo just right next to Beika.
"Enemy Worm attack," Tim bluntly stated, making Souta feel like the skins of his hair were standing in fright.
The Worms.
A highly dangerous interdimensional alien race feared throughout the universe, the stuff of nightmares that would get the Green Lantern Corps, the intergalactic police force of the universe, and other allied space groups to go to war with them. Perfectly capable of disguising into almost anyone. The worst part? They all have the common natural ability to "Clock Up" which allows them to travel at variable levels of speed, some of which can go toe to toe with high-tier speedsters like the Flash.
There are at least two known categories of Worms. One is called the Natives, benevolent Worms who had visited Earth in the year 1971 and were known to have founded the organization ZECT which is known for dealing with the threat of their more malevolent counterparts, who are mostly just called the Worms, but to prevent confusion, they're called Enemy Worms in general.
The Enemy Worms once tried to fully invade the Earth in the years of 2006 to 2007, but were opposed by Kamen Rider of that year, Kamen Rider Kabuto.
Tim explained further. "They just showed up all of a sudden one night and started attacking everything in sight. The heroes who responded to the scene were Sunfire (*1), Kamen Rider Gatack, and Spider-Man, the Japanese one, not the American one. SHIELD's Japanese Branch is now on high alert, with troops stationed all over Tokyo, and from what I've heard, they're mobilizing right now in Beika Central Park because the Black Cross Army had just shown up out of the blue and RX is currently engaging them."
"Tim, what about Jouji? Have you seen or heard from him?: Souta asks.
"I tried calling him, but he wouldn't pick up," Tim grimly said. "I just hope nothing bad's happened."
Between the Lines 3
The young man with black hair and brownish-yellow eyes known as Heinz Myoukouin was confused and conflicted right now.
Currently, he is observing George Kurai... or Jouji Minami being hugged by a magical girl that suddenly appeared out of nowhere and derailed the conversation that Woz (who he recognized as the traitorous backstabbing leader who sold him and his fellow rebels out to Ohma Zi-O) was about to have with Jouji. Said magical girl even called Jouji "papa", and Woz seemingly recognized her as "Princess".
This was new information to him, to top off with the new information of Ohma Zi-O's origin being not as it should be.
Am I really on the right timeline? The space-time coordinates on the Time Mazine did say that it was "Earth-616 - Year: 2024". There's no way I could mistake such a simple destination. No, more to the point. There's no record of Ohma Zi-O having a daughter, or a granddaughter. He also doesn't have a record of him having a name change like Minami Jouji, or that he was adopted by a Showa Era Kamen Rider.
Either I did messed up the coordinates or something happened in the past before I managed to arrive.
But wait, what about Tsukuyomi? She may know something about this, right?
Though, ever since they majorly disagreed with their goals of how to deal with the threat of Ohma Zi-O and prevent his existence in the first place, he hasn't really seen Tsukuyomi at all. She probably made sure to cover her tracks in case he tried to find her. But the one advantage that Heinz had was both an element of surprise as well as the fact that he knew that Tsukuyomi would lead him right to the young Ohma Zi-O. And that's when he would decide to make his move, and not even Tsukuyomi could stop him from doing what must be done.
Ohma Zi-O...
Heinz could not help but glare at the young man who had killed many of his rebel comrades in the future.
I don't care what Tsukuyomi says, I intend to make sure that your reign ends here, Ohma Zi-O, right here, right now, before it ever begins.
But he would need to wait. With all the chaos happening around the present timeline, if he tried anything, something could interfere. He would need to try to assess the current situation first, double-check the historical records and pull out anything he could find.
Between the Lines 3.1
"Hmph. Seems like everybody's taken the bait on Minami Jouji."
There was someone who was standing on the rooftops of a suburban household, observing both Jouji Minami and Heinz Myoukouin.
He appeared to be a young man with pale blue skin, olive eyes, dark green hair, a pair of red horns, and a scorpion-like tail. His attire was reminiscent of gothic, with a dark red coat, black buckle belt, and black boots with grey accents.
"...Century King, huh?"
The young man mused as he materialized a Ridewatch on his right hand, one that depicted a red-colored Rider with emerald visor eyes. He would twist the watch and press the center button.
RED MOON!
"...Too bad I beat you to the punch," he muttered softly. "You and Shadow Moon aren't gonna be the only Century Kings running the show this time around."
A mistake that would not be done twice.
Once upon a time, two Century Kings, brothers in all but name, were forced to fight each other. Kohtaro Minami as Black Sun. Nobuhiko Akizuki as Shadow Moon. That was the greatest mistake that the ancient cult, Gorgom, had ever made.
This time, it would be different.
There would not be an overreliance on such a concept and trope.
Trivia For Chapter:
(*1) - From Wikipedia - Sunfire (Shiro Yoshida (吉田 四郎, Yoshida Shirō)) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Sunfire is a mutant and sometimes a member of the X-Men. Sunfire is a Japanese mutant that can generate superheated plasma and fly. Not suited for teamwork due to his temperament and arrogance, Sunfire was briefly a member of the X-Men and has kept limited ties to the team since.