Chapter 7: The Hero Party's Meeting.

I DON'T OWN ANKOKU KISHI MONOGATARI OR KAMEN RIDER, AND THEY BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

Chiyuki has been stressed for the past few days. Their champion, Reiji, has been fighting for his life, and Sahoko has been doing her best to heal him. In the whole year of staying in this world, never in their wildest imagination would a lone warrior appear in front of them and deliver their first harsh defeat.

It only took a hole in Reiji's stomach to prove that.

A dark-colored knight with a strange belt appeared in front of them, and not only did he defeat Reiji, but he also toyed with him. Adding insult to the injury, he was planning to spare them and be let off with a humiliating defeat, but Reiji instantly charged him, and it happened.

"Do you hear me, Chiyuki!? What on earth is Sahoko doing!"

Ah, and this one is adding to her headache: Reiji's little sister Kyoka.

This girl has been pestering the whole party for a while due to her brother's condition. Originally, she was supposed to be a member of the party, but due to her lack of control of her magic (and a certain incident that left a stain on their reputation), she was house-sitting with her maid Takayama Kaya, another member of their party who has impressive close combat skills. Chiyuki wondered if Kaya had fought with Reiji that time, things could have been different.

"Onii-sama would not be in this situation if you had done a better job of stopping him! How do you plan on taking responsibility for this!" Kyouka continued.

"I feel the same as you, Kyouka, but we can only have faith in Sahoko's ability."

Kyouka has a point. They could have stopped him from charging into the Dark Knight's path, but they didn't. Chiyuki could only accept the bitter truth and pray for the best.

"REI-KUN!"

Sahoko's voice called out Reiji's name from the next room. Chiyuki and Kyouka went into the room, and there, they saw Reiji had woken up, and Sahoko was hugging him tightly.

"We must stop our subjugation against the Demon King," Chiyuki began the discussion with these words.

"What? Why do we need to do this!?" Reiji asked.

"Did you really need to ask, Reiji? Look at your stomach! Sahoko spent several days just to save you from the brink of death!" Chiyuki scolded with a frustrated tone. If they hadn't been so cocky and complacent in their quest, they wouldn't have ended up in this situation.

"Sorry, Chiyuki, but I promised Rena that I would save this world," Reiji answered.

There he goes again; whenever Reiji was asked something by a girl, especially if that girl was beautiful, he would never reject it. It brought them trouble from time to time, especially in this world.

"Sahoko and the others almost spent all their energy trying to heal and being worried! That Dark Knight is very powerful! We can't be sure if you will survive if you fight him again!" Chiyuki replied as she glared at Reiji.

"The Dark Knight just landed a lucky hit on me, Sahoko, I will-"

"Lucky hit? LUCKY HIT!? Do you call being gutted with a precise punch in the gut 'lucky'? As we also remember, that Dark Knight gave you a beating within an inch of your life with nothing more than his fists before that!"

"Chiyuki-sama, what do you mean by 'his fists'?" Kaya, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly spoke up.

Shirone answered for Chiyuki, "The Dark Knight at first fought with Reiji with a sword fight, but he switched his fighting style to bare-handed. He...he knows how to use martial arts and he pummeled Reiji black and blue. He then threw Reiji back to us and told us to leave, but Reiji tried to get back once Sahoko healed him for a bit. But then it happened."

"Now that you mention it, the Dark Knight's appearance seems to be different from the others we fought. His armor looks more futuristic," Sahoko gave her opinion.

Rino quipped, "Also, everyone, do you remember before we teleported out? After he cranked his belt and before punching my spirit summon, it shouted-"

"Ready...Go," the girls simultaneously said it together, except for Kaya and Kyouka, who looked puzzled.

Kyouka realized something and said, "But that is English! That would be impossible unless-"

"He was summoned like us," Reiji finished.

The group was silent for a while, then Kaya broke the silence.

"A summoned person with futuristic armor and a strange belt. Could it be...?"

"What do you mean, Kaya?"

"He is a Kamen Rider-."

"NO!"

Everybody was startled, and they stared at the source of the outburst. It was Reiji whose face was of frustration and anger.

Kamen Riders

A group of armored vigilantes who protect people from various threats. The common factor of the Kamen Riders is that they wear armor with helmets and can transform with the help of their belts. They all have a variety of powers that are advanced or mystical in nature that can defeat their enemies.

The general public treats them as heroes, and many look up to them. Also, the Japanese government considers them national treasures, and it was reported that some of the Kamen Riders are in touch with law enforcement. It's not strange for a young boy to wish they could be Kamen Riders themselves. One of them happens to be Reiji.

For Reiji, hearing that the Dark Knight could be a Kamen Rider is heresy. Kamen Riders are allies of justice! That Dark Knight who was allied with the Demon Lord be a Kamen Rider!? It's...impossible.

"No! That Dark Knight is not a Kamen Rider!" Reiji angrily shouted.

The girls were startled. It was the first time they heard him raising his voice. Sahoko approached Reiji and rubbed his back.

"Rei-kun, please calm down. You might open your wounds." Sahoko then apologized to the group for Reiji's outburst. "Sorry for Rei-kun's outburst. He really idolizes the Kamen Riders. Back when Rei-kun lived with our family, a kaijin attacked us while we were in a park playing, and a Kamen Rider named Ichigo saved us from harm."

Shirone, who also admired the Kamen Riders, added, "Reiji was right. The Kamen Rider is incorruptible in regards to their ideals, so it will be unthinkable for them to side with the evil demon king!"

"My apologies, Reiji-sama." Kaya immediately asked for Reiji's forgiveness.

"Hah...Sorry, everyone. I don't wish to shout like that. I can't bear the idea that those heroes of justice can be evil. That's the reason I would like to save this world too! I can be like them!" Reiji smiled as he declared his dream to the girls.

Everyone was enamored with Reiji's childlike innocent smile. To think that their beloved Reiji has a childish dream to become a beloved hero of justice, it was endearing for them.

Chiyuki then clapped her hands. "So let's change the topic then. We must meet with Rena so she can answer some of our questions here and possibly warn her about the Kam-I mean, Dark Knight. We also need to raise our concern that since we, the heroes, are basically doing this job for them, despite being dragged into this, Rena must give us a little bit of leeway on our treatment.

"Also, Chiyuki-sama, we must confirm the goddess could send us back to our home. I was quite skeptical when Rena said that she would only send us if we kill the Demon King." Chiyuki added.

Shirone also spoke up. "Assuming that we could get home, Rena could possibly summon another person to take up our role. We must try to convince her not to do that."

"Yep! I agree with Shirone here!" Nao agreed.

"Chiyuki, we also need to devise a strategy on how we can win next time. Moping around and sitting here will do us no good, right?" Reiji spoke.

"Hear me out, everyone. If we face the Demon King or his Dark Knight, the possibility of us dying is high. It's been over a year, and I miss my family and friends. Shirone, don't you miss your family and childhood friend?" Chiyuki inquired, surprising Shirone.

"You have a childhood friend?"

"Hey, can you give us the details?"

Sahoko and Nao immediately interrogated Shirone for this new information.

"What are you two talking about? I am not in that kind of relationship with Kuroki."

"Since I was curious at that time, I visited Shirone's family dojo. What I can say is that he was quite ordinary. He doesn't look bad but not good either," Rino gossiped.

Shirone looked down and felt quite embarrassed. But she did remember that before their group was summoned, she and Kuroki had a heated argument. He was slandering Reiji for a while, and she wasn't having any of it. But now she did miss him a little bit.

"Well, I did kind of miss him."

"Shirone clearly wants to go home. Do any of you feel the same way?" Chiyuki asked to divert attention away from Shirone.

"Let's think things over, Chiyuki. We can't rush things like that. We need to go to Rena first. After all, we can't go back if she refuses, right?" Reiji cut in before Chiyuki could conclude the meeting.

"You're right. We need to go to Rena and seek answers. We don't know if she will allow us to return home."

With that, the meeting ended.

"But if the Dark Knight is really a Kamen Rider, what are we going to do?" Chiyuki asked herself.

CHAPTER 7 END

A/N:

And that's a wrap. I just wrote this quick chapter today so that I can move forward with Kuroki's story. I don't really like the countless infodumps, especially at the Hero's party. I don't care about whether Rino was an idol or Sahoko has big breasts. At least it's not as bad as Wortenia Senki.

Reiji admiring the Kamen Riders and being naive makes sense as there were only a few genuinely evil Riders at that time. Moreover, the fact that they were killed immediately made it impossible for the public to perceive them as evil. So for him and Shirone, it was quite unthinkable that a Rider could be that bad. (Despite the Hell Brothers or Kaixa being major assholes, they don't harm common people and still kill Kaijins.) Also, I want to emphasize that as a whole, Kamen Riders are considered heroes, but at that time, there were only a few known ones like W, Gaim Riders, and Drive, so it amplifies the mystery.

About the teleporter, it's complicated. It doesn't mean Sento approached the Sword of Logos, and it doesn't mean they could just pop into the world of Ankoku Kish as easily as that. Hint: world displacement.

Well, that's it for now. Sorry if the grammar is a bit wonky. I still need a beta reader, though.