In a long corridor, a large number of soldiers wearing virtually identical suits and pieces of armor were scattered across the floor.
Or at least in two different styles, either a spider helmet with a web visor and a grey epaulette on the left shoulder, or a Lucanus cervus helmet with a mandible on the left side and an orange epaulette on the left shoulder.
At the end of the corridor was a man dressed in a black jumpsuit with silver and gold armour and a steampunk-looking belt with a yellow part with a symbol similar to the left eye on his helmet, and on the silver part a stamp with what appeared to be a crystal, the two parts linked by pipes.
grabbed a man in a white smock by the... smock and lifted him to his level.
"What did you do with it?!" He asked angrily.
"I made sure it would be in good hands. Not the likes of you or your late father!" Replied the man in the white coat.
"Don't talk about him!" Shouted the man in the black suit.
"Why?! By acting the way you do, you're worse than him!"
In response to this insult, the man in the black suit struck the man violently, who fell to the ground.
Was he dead or unconscious? Only time will tell.
"Too bad." he sighed. "Before I set off on his trail, I'll first take care of those for whom I have a precise location.
And after that, the man walked to his next target: Hana Natsuki.
---------------------------------------
In the city of Tokyo, two teenagers looking no older than 16 had just emerged from a Mandarake, each with a shopping bag in hand.
The first was a Caucasian with semi-erect brown hair and green eyes. The other had long, unkempt red hair, his eyes a similar shade. Both wore a black blazer and pants, a white button-down shirt and a red tie.
"And a new hunt at a good, profitable price." Said the brown-haired one.
"It's clear. This sign is perfect for picking up premium bandai at a good price. Or to find toys from the old seasons at a reasonable price." Answered the red-haired one as he pulled three Kamen Rider Drive SG boxes from his bag, each containing a Neo Viral Core.
"Why do you think I love this store?" Smiled the brown-haired one. "By the way, where's your collection of villain trio gimmicks?"
"It's coming along nicely. I've been able to get my hands on most of them, but there's a lot missing because they've never been released. Or not yet in some cases."
"You mean the ones for the saber trio and the three mariachi-looking cult leaders?"
"Yeah. But for them, we'll have to wait until Bandai gets its act together, or in the case of this Rider, until they're allowed to make toys about them and their stamp." Said the red-haired teenager, thinking back to the numerous videos showing the kamen rider fighting those Deadmans taken by civilians in the distance. "And with Blue Bird I don't really think it's going to happen."
"Yeah, it's a shame. But they could agree to make a season out of it. It wouldn't be the first or last time tragedy was turned into entertainment." Added the chestnut-haired one. "By the way, how come you've got some at home?"
"I already told you, my dad works at Fenix, so he was able to make me some photos and I used my 3D printer to recreate them." Laughs the red-haired teenager.
"And I'm still not very convinced." His friend said skeptically. "Otherwise you'd have found a way to make me pay for it."
"Maybe I just want to torture you." joked the red-haired teenager before they both laughed.
The two friends then arrived at the station where their paths parted, each having to catch a different train.
"See you, Aaron." Said the red-haired teenager.
"See you, Ryo." Said the chestnut-haired teenager in turn.
Then they parted, each going wherever their train would take them to bring them closer to home.
---------------------------------------
After an hour's journey by train and on foot, Aaron arrived at his apartment just as the rain was beginning to fall.
He was about to enter when the door of his neighbor's apartment, with which his apartment was separated by an empty space reserved for the garbage room, opened.
A woman no older than 29 stepped out of the door and greeted the teenager with a gentle smile.
She wore a blue sweater with a white collar and a beige skirt, and in her hands was a parcel.
"Oh, hello Aaron." she greeted.
"Good evening, Ms. Ikushima." Aaron greeted politely.
"A delivery man came by this morning, and since no one was home, he asked me to receive it for you." She said, handing him the package.
"Oh, uh... thanks." He said, taking the parcel, rather curious, as he hadn't ordered anything.
"You're welcome." Mrs. Ikushima smiled before looking at him with a more seductive air matching the tone she was taking on her next statement. " By the way, I'm off to the clubs. You want to come with me, if you like."
"Uh, no thanks. Besides, I'm not old enough to go to places like that yet." Aaron said, looking away, embarrassed by his neighbor's proposal.
"Well, if you ever change your mind, let me know. I'd be delighted to introduce you to it." Said the woman in a friendly tone before returning home to pick up her purse, then locking her door and heading off towards the parking lot of the small apartment complex.
Aaron sighed and walked back into his apartment, the one his parents were paying to live in because of their professions.
"I didn't order anything. Maybe it's a present from Mom or Dad." He said to himself as he set down his shopping bag in his bedroom before going into the living room where he'd put the parcel.
He opened the box to find an imposing briefcase inside. He removed it from the box and opened it in turn, to find something that surprised him.
There was a black stamp with an orange face, similar to those used by the Kamen Rider he'd been talking to Ryo about, on which he could see a king crab and a crocodile with what appeared to be a helmet burying both animals.
With the stamp was a belt similar to that of the man who committed the massacre in the corridor, but the yellow part with the symbol on the right had been replaced by three transparent containers, making more visible what appeared to be a slit stamped with a stamp like the one on the briefcase.
He was about to wonder why he'd received this when he spotted an envelope taped to half the case, which he picked up as he opened it.
He then took the envelope and opened it, hoping to find some answers.
"Ryusei,
I know it may seem sudden, but what I've sent you is of the utmost importance, and you must guard it carefully and protect it at all costs. I don't know if we'll meet again, but you're the one I can trust most to protect these Drivers and Vistamp.
I love you, son,
Dad."
"A Driver? I thought he stopped doing that kind of thing after he left Fenix." He thought as he picked up the two objects in the case. "So these pads are called Vistamps."
Curiosity finally got the better of him, and he placed the Driver at his waist.
Chimera Driver!
"So that's the name of this Driver." He said to himself as he picked up the vistamp.
He was about to activate it when he heard a loud crash on the roof.
Alerted by the sudden noise, he withdrew the Driver, put the two objects back in the case and hid them under his bed, leaving the house with a flashlight to search for the cause of the impact.
---------------------------------------
In another world, in a city strewn with buildings, in the middle of the night, a chase was taking place.
The pursued was a slim, fit and petite young woman with long chestnut hair and amber eyes. She wore a black leather ninja outfit with long black gloves, black arm and shin guards, throwing knives tucked into pockets at her waist, a blue choker and a blue ribbon holding her hair back in a ponytail.
Her pursuer was a slim, busty young woman with short purple hair and red eyes. She wore a black tunic, a black and gray bodysuit, matching sleeves and tights, armored tabi shoes and a set of black armor. At the back of her waist was a pair of kunai in scabbards, as well as two small katana with butterfly wings behind the guard.
With natural grace, the chestnut-haired kunoichi leapt across the rooftops, trying to outrun her pursuer.
"I have to get to the tunnels." She thought. "Hopefully there'll be enough people there that she'd rather deal with them than follow me."
A shuriken grazed her arm, spraying a trickle of blood and a light, dark smoke. She didn't even stumble. Her priority was to escape from her pursuer.
However, she managed to catch up, and the two fell, fighting each other as they fell. The chestnut-haired one used a throwing knife, while the purple-haired one used a kunai.
They kept slashing at each other, trying to prevent the other from killing her.
A few drops of their blood came into contact, either with the blood on their weapons or the drops that had escaped from their wounds during the fall.
Their eyes lit up incandescent red as a dark-red portal with incandescent contours opened beneath them, and they passed through it before realizing it was open.
They were separated as they passed through the portal. The chestnut-haired girl landed on the roof of a small apartment complex in the rain, slipping before falling into the roofless garbage room.
Injured, and gradually losing consciousness from her fall, she could only cover herself with a torn piece of cardboard. She hoped that by the time she got better, no one would notice her.
---------------------------------------
Aaron left his apartment, flashlight in hand. He entered the garbage room
"What could it be?" he asked himself as he entered the room.
He observed the room carefully, noting that there didn't seem to be anything strange until he saw the lid of one of the garbage cans dented, as if someone had fallen on it.
He then looked further down and saw something or someone hiding under an unfolded cardboard box.
He lifted the cardboard and froze when he saw a young woman who looked to be about his age. She was curled up and barely conscious with several cuts on her arms.
"Oh, fuck!" he shouted in panic.
He knelt down in front of the young woman and took her pulse before sighing with relief.
---------------------------------------
"Fuck..." Aaron thought. "Even though she looks like she was badly beaten, she was fucking hungry."
The teenager rested his head on his hand and watched the young woman, on the other side of his table, devour the contents of her plate as if she hadn't eaten anything in a very long time. Bandages and dressings littered her face, arms and legs.
"Thank you!" Said the young woman between mouthfuls. "I'm really sorry to bother you, but I haven't eaten anything like this in so long!"
"It's nothing." Said Aaron, raising an eyebrow as he studied her outfit. "What's with the outfit? Are you a cosplayer?"
The young woman paused for a moment.
"Uh... sort of." She said hesitantly.
"What happened to you?" Aaron insisted. "And don't tell me you fell or something stupid like that."
The young woman's mind raced, thinking back to all she'd experienced as she finally tasted normal interaction with someone. She hadn't had that for so long. She'd all but forgotten it after... what had been done to her.
She pushed the memories from her mind, and tried to come up with a plausible story.
"Uh... I was coming back... from a cosplay club event... and... some thugs came and harassed me... and all that... I tried to fight them off, but they hit me a few times... and then... they must have heard you and left! So you saved me!"
Aaron could practically smell the lie, especially since there were barely five minutes between his entering her apartment and the moment he found her. But he kept his skepticism to himself for the moment. The young woman's story was plausible from the look of her clothes, her wounds and the ransacked alleyway could have been the result of a fight. But he was sure she was hiding something.
"By the way..." She said, raising her curry-filled spoon. "Did you make it?"
The brown-haired teenager nodded.
"It's very good!" She said before pushing the spoon into her mouth. "It's been so long since I've eaten."
"Thank you. I'm a bit of an autodidact, so a second opinion is always nice." Aaron smiled before laughing. "At first, I was thinking of eating a lot of ready-made meals from the supermarket because I was too lazy to cook. But my older sister would have killed me."
The brown-haired girl took a sip of her drink.
"Do you live with your sister?" She asked.
"No, she lives with her husband and my little sister lives in the dorms at her school."
"So you live with your parents?"
"I live with them, but not really with them. My dad's a scientist working out of town. And my mom is a journalist working out of the country for almost six months now. They're not supposed to be back for a while."
The young woman looked around at the spacious apartment.
"So you live alone in this place?"
Aaron shrugged.
The young woman looked down at her half-empty plate.
"You must get lonely." She said.
"I've gotten used to it."
An uncomfortable silence filled the room.
"I have to do my homework." Said Aaron as he rose from his seat.
"Aren't you going to eat something?" She asked.
The boy laughed with amusement.
"I've eaten with you. I'd finished before you started your third plate." He said, genuinely amused that she hadn't realized she'd had several refills, so hungry was she.
"Oh."
The young woman looked away, embarrassed as she felt her heart warming.
It had been so long since she'd felt like this. That she hadn't felt so... human?
"Listen. You can stay here for the night, if you want. There's an extra blanket in the closet." Added the young man, feeling bad about the idea of her coming home at night and getting mugged, or worse.
The young woman thought about it. She didn't like the idea of staying with the boy. She was afraid of what his presence might do to her.
But she had nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide.
"Thanks again." She said, rising and bowing. "I don't deserve your kindness."
"You haven't done anything to not deserve it either." Aaron smiled before leaving for his room and closing the door.
---------------------------------------
The young purple-haired woman was also in the home of someone who had taken her in. She was smiling as she read something written on a computer. Smiling as what she was learning seemed tantalizing.
"So, when are you going to start?" she asked
"I was waiting to find the right customers. I've been waiting to find the right customers, and I've got an alibi." Answered her interlocutor, a young man by the sound of his voice, at the other end of the room, placing Vistamps, each representing an animal without a helmet behind them, in a briefcase.
"And do you know how to start your little business?"
"I thought I'd start with word of mouth, and introduce the power of these objects to impressionable people who'd spread the word to others." replied the person who had taken the young woman in, looking at one Vistamp in particular after filling the case.
It was a black Vistamp with a white face featuring a red fox.
The smiling purple-haired young woman stood behind him and hugged him, placing her hands on his chest and resting her head on his shoulder.
"Would you like some help?" she whispered in his ear, making him smile.
---------------------------------------
"Let me see if I have this straight. You let a girl, beaten and dressed in a certain... outfit, spend the night at your house and you didn't even ask her name?!"
"I... zapped." Said Aaron, feeling a little silly as he realized this.
He was currently in front of his high school, shortly before classes started.
"Are you completely insane?!"
Aaron pulled the cell phone away from his ear as his friend's loud voice echoed.
"What if she's a hustler? Ever thought of that? Or what if she's a prostitute? Imagine people talking about it behind your back if they ever found out!"
"You know, Ryo, I thought my best friend would be happy with a girl spending the night with me." Aaron remarked. "Besides, do you want me to remind you what kind of club my neighbor goes to? Clearly I'm not the one people talk to behind their backs, even if I do bring a hooker home."
A sigh rose from the other side of the wire.
"Look, normally I would be, and if you'd called me that night, I'd have told you how to hit on her, but the story she told you reeks of lies."
"Hey, I have my doubts about that, too, but there were signs. The bruises and cuts, the wickedly dented garbage can lid. But the timing's too tight for me not to see anyone when I arrive."
"You amaze me. I'm telling you man, she just got beat up by her pimp or something and she's laughing at you."
"Look, I'll be careful, okay? I left her a note with her breakfast when I left, asking her to leave. I doubt I'll see her again." Said Aaron, hoping this would make his friend stop this blaming session.
"Oh, a little note about her breakfast you made, that's lovely. I'm sure she'd be happy to leave after taking half your stuff, minimum."
"Sarcasm doubly noted, Ryo." Aaron groans.
"Listen man, watch yourself when you're around her, okay? She sounds like trouble, and you'd feel like an awful jerk if you got fooled by a pretty girl with a nice ass."
"Like you with my neighbor?" Smiled the young man.
"At least I had the courage to accept, ME." Retorted his friend with an audible smile. "By the way, I won't be running today."
"Seriously? Are you sick or did you manage to persuade your mother that you were?"
"I managed to persuade her. It was... complicated..."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Aaron joked.
"Not really." Ryo groaned. "Take care of yourself, man, I mean it. As soon as there's a problem, call me, promise?"
"Yeah, yeah, I promise. See you later."
Aaron hung up, stuffed his cell phone in his pocket and headed for his first class of the day, Driver and Vistamp hidden in his bag, to keep them close to him as his father had wanted in his letter.
Well, not really, but how could he protect this equipment if he didn't have them near him.
---------------------------------------
"God, our substitute teacher was boring! I mean, how many times are we going to go over the Edo period? This was, what, our fifth time?!"
"I know, and he barely said anything about what was in our textbooks, but what exactly was he reading?"
Aaron paid no attention to his friends as they walked down the corridor together. Since his conversation with Ryo, he'd begun to worry about what he'd find at home. It had never occurred to him that the girl might be a thief, but his friend had planted the seed of doubt.
"Hey, Aaron?" Asked Taki, a thin boy wearing glasses. "We're going over to the Arcade to get in a game of Super Dragon Ball Heroes. Are you up for it?"
"I'll pass, for once." Says Aaron. "I've got something to do at home."
"Come on, you abandoned us yesterday by going to Mandarake with Ryo, you'll crack up if you don't miss this year's extention." Kenichi, a chubby kid, joked, nudging Aaron.
Junichi, a boy with dyed-blond hair, nodded.
"It's clear, man. You're the most addicted to collectibles of the bunch."
"I'm fine, guys. It's just that with what I took yesterday, I have to take it easy if I want to be able to shop." Laughs Aaron, finding it amusing that his friends nurture his compulsive collecting side.
"Too bad Ryo isn't here," said Taki. Taki mentioned. "I'm sure he would have cracked you up."
"I know." Kenichi chuckled. "Remember that time we..."
"Hey, gaijin!"
The four friends stopped dead in their tracks, but Aaron didn't look back at the voice behind him.
"I'm talking to you, stranger!"
Aaron glanced quickly behind him and groaned. Junpei, the self-proclaimed gang leader of Class 3-B, stood behind him, arms folded, trying to look intimidating. Five of his followers followed him, crowding the corridors. Already, a small crowd was beginning to form around the two groups.
"What's wrong, stranger? Don't you understand Japanese?" Sneered the tall teenager. "I wouldn't be surprised. Maybe that's why you hang out with those losers!"
The five thugs laughed along with their leader. Murmurs began to circulate in the crowd.
Kenichi looked around nervously.
"This won't end well." he whispered to his friends.
"You'd better bow." Junichi muttered. "It's not like people are going to despise us any more than they already do."
"Yeah." Said Taki, tugging on Aaron's sleeve. "Let's get out of here before..."
"No."
His friends looked at him in utter disbelief. He extricated himself from Taki's grip and turned to the class bully.
"Fuck you, Junpei." Aaron growled.
A hush fell over the crowd. Even Junpei and his team were surprised.
"W-what did you say?"
"Fuck you." Aaron said more slowly. "And you accuse me of not knowing Japanese."
"You little shit!" Junpei spat venomously. "You think you can talk to me like that, you son of a bitch?!"
"Why shouldn't I be able to? You talk like that to everyone." Aaron retorted. "If you don't like getting your own medicine, why don't you try shutting me up? Or do you need help from your buddies?"
"No, I don't need my buddies to put a stranger in his place!" Junpei said as he moved forward, his accomplices remaining where they were.
"Cool." Aaron thought. "Just him and me. That worked like a charm, Mom. Now let's see if the other tricks you taught me still work, too."
Junpei reached out and grabbed Aaron by the collar of his shirt, then raised his fist.
Aaron struck Junpei with an elbow and hit him on the side of the face. His grip weakened, allowing Aaron to free himself and follow up with a right hook into which he threw all his weight. Junpei fell to the ground.
"When you're in a fight, keep fighting until your opponent gives up, passes out, or you're pulled off him." His mother had told him.
Aaron jumped on top of the teenager on the ground and started punching him.
He remembered very little of what had happened once the adrenaline had got the better of him. He didn't know how long he'd been hitting Junpei, but he remembered being pushed, probably by one of the thugs. He tried to get back into the fray, but hands grabbed him from behind. He lunged and touched... something. He was then dragged away as the Professor's screams finally reached his ears.
When his adrenaline rush finally wore off, he realized he was no longer at school, but behind a convenience store a few blocks away.
"What's wrong with you?!" Haleta Junichi straightened on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "You can't attack Junpei like that!"
"No kidding." Added Keinchi, who was slumped against a wall, his chest gasping. "You really scared me when you jumped on him. I mean, you just flipped out! What the hell were you thinking?"
Aaron could only mumble an apologetic word. He'd scared himself a little too. And Junpei wasn't someone who gave up, he'd meet him again. And when he did, he doubted his minions would stay out of it like last time.
"Shit..." He said, leaning against the wall.
His stomach ached from the fear of what was probably going to happen the next day.
He heard footsteps approaching. For a brief moment, Aaron froze, thinking that Junpei had recovered and somehow found him. Instead, he found Taki with soda cans in his arms and a nasty mark under his left eye.
"Oh, fuck." Aaron paled as he remembered how he'd lashed out when his friend had pulled him away. "I'm sorry, Taki. I..."
A nervous laugh came out of the little teenager.
"Forget it, man, it hardly hurts anymore. Besides, it makes me look tough."
Aaron picked up one of the cold cans and held it against his friend's aching cheek. Taki raised his own hand to hold it there.
"That doesn't look too bad." Aaron said. "Keep it that way for a while."
"I'm lucky you didn't get my glasses." Said the teenager, laughing. "My parents would have skinned me alive."
"And he's lucky his parents aren't here." Says Junichi in turn, grabbing one of the cans. "Your mother would have kicked your ass. Make sure your older sister doesn't find out or it'll be worse."
"Yeah." Aaron replied weakly, opening the lid of his drink.
---------------------------------------
At the back of the school, Junpei was with his boys, kicking a garbage can with his foot. The brawler had a black eye and his nose was bandaged.
"Who does he think he is, this fucking gaijin!"
He had a piece of cotton in his nose and bruises on his face, while his henchmen stood back. They knew it was best to keep their distance from their leader when he was pissed off.
"When he comes back, I'm going to put him in the hospital! The other students in this school, and even the teachers will understand that I'm not to be messed with!"
"But will that be enough?" asked someone behind Junpei's followers.
They all turned and took fright at the sight of a black-and-red humanoid creature resembling a fox, with a cape made up of nine webs that seemed to represent the tails of the demon Kyubi.
"Who the hell are you?" Junpei asked, overcoming his fear by trying to be as intimidating as he was with the high school students.
"Who I am doesn't matter. What I'm offering you is a way to get the fear in other people's eyes that you desire. For a fee, of course." The monster explained, holding out a white Vistamp with a grasshopper on a green background.
Junpei recognized the object from all the videos of kamen riders fighting monsters on the net, and smiled.
"How much do you want for it?" he asked.
---------------------------------------
"Welcome home!"
Aaron blinked as the red-haired young woman greeted him. She was still wearing her ninja outfit, but most of her bandages were gone.
"You're... you're still here?"
"Well, I thought to reimburse you for last night's meal and lodging, I'd help out around the house." She said, taking the satchel from Aaron's hands. "But you took such good care of the place. There wasn't much I could do."
"Thanks." Said the teenager uncertainly. "Uh... you didn't get my message, did you?"
"I saw it." She replied. "But like I said, I felt I had to pay you back and..."
She suddenly grasped his hand and raised it to inspect it.
"What happened to your hands?"
Aaron finally realized that Junpei's blood was still on his knuckles. His stomach began to ache again.
"Nothing." He muttered, quietly releasing his hand.
He trotted into the kitchen to wash the dishes.
"Look, you can stay for dinner, but you'll have to leave afterwards. I'm sorry." He said with some uncertainty.
Kasumi stirred at this statement. She was sure Ayane must be after her, even though they were probably in another world. She needed to stay hidden, safe. But, as much as she hated to admit it, as long as she was with the teenager who had taken her in, her chances of being found and attacked were slim.
But his maintenance depended entirely on his savior.
"Excuse me, but I was wondering if I could stay the night again."
Kasumi cursed herself for using the teenager as a shield, but she felt safe today, a feeling she'd almost forgotten. And the teenager's kindness had taken her back to days she'd missed. Days when she was still a simple Kunoichi in exile and not this... thing the masked man and Elizébet had made of her.
"No way." Aaron said firmly. "First you'll want to stay tonight, then the next, and the next. Don't you have your own place?"
She wanted to answer, "I did, a long time ago. But she had to lie.
"But I'm worried about those thugs. They might still be after me."
"That's not my problem." Said Aaron, trying to sound colder than he really was, before a joke crossed his mind. "Unless..."
The kunoichi became intrigued.
"Since you like ninjas so much, how about becoming my ninja?"
"It'll definitely make her go away. I don't really like being like this with people, but I can't risk her stealing from me. And I might as well laugh a little. I mean, she's just a cosplayer, not a real ninja." He thought, smiling inwardly, extremely proud of his stupidity.
He turned to the surprised young woman and continued.
"I'll let you stay here as long as you like. And I'll provide the food too. But in exchange, you must protect me and do exactly as I say. Deal?" he offered, continuing his joke.
"Oh, yeah, that'll work for sure." He thought. "I mean, there's no way she'd agree. She might think I'm a pervert or something, but as long as she leaves without robbing me I'm fine with it."
"Okay."
Aaron's plans were dashed by a single word.
"What?"
"I'll do it." The young woman replied, straightening up. "I'll be your ninja."
"You... you will?" He asked, his mind trying to recover from the mental bug generated by the answer.
"She agreed." He thought. "All right, no problem. I'll let her stay a few days and she'll be gone before I know it. She can't keep up this act forever... can she?"
"Well, all right, then." Said Aaron, pretending to be enthusiastic. "You can stay in the guest room."
Kasumi nodded. She felt bad about putting the teenager in a potentially difficult situation, but she needed somewhere to rest and recuperate, and hide. She wouldn't be staying long.
"Thanks... uh." She said, feeling embarrassed when she realized she hadn't asked his name.
"Aaron." Said the teenager as he started the rice cooker. "Aaron Dupain. I suppose I should ask your name too."
"Kasumi."
He nodded. There was a sort of déjà-vu attached to her name. He knew other girls with the name Kasumi, maybe that was it.
"Anyway, you should take a bath. I mean, you've been wearing that suit since last night." He declared. "I'll see if my sisters have left any clothes for you to use."
"I will, and thanks again." Kasumi nodded as she entered the bathroom.
As soon as she was out of sight, Aaron rubbed his temples. It seemed this Kasumi was determined to stick to her lame story. She was hiding something, he could tell.
"It doesn't matter." He sighed. "As long as she leaves without incident, I don't care what happens."
He wondered briefly if he really believed what he was saying.
Aaron set the timer and continued preparing dinner.
---------------------------------------
Aaron yawned and stretched out on his sofa. An advert for fabric softener had just finished and the intro to a drama was playing on the television. He glanced quickly at the girl sitting next to him, with an empty seat between them.
Kasumi was staring absently at the screen. Her hands were clasped in her lap and she stood up straight. The tension in the room was undeniable.
"So, Kasumi." began the teenager. "Are you a real ninja?"
"Sort of." She said without taking her eyes off the screen. "And the appropriate name is kunoichi, since I'm a woman."
"Okay, okay." He said, rolling his eyes. "I'll remember that."
A moment of awkward silence followed.
"So if you're a real ninja... sorry, kunoichi, what really happened in the alley last night?"
"I was chased by someone from my 'clan'." She replied softly. "I fell off the roof and hid before they found me."
"Fell? From the sixth floor? And you only had a few wounds..." Said Aaron, surprised before sighing. "You know what, never mind. Why is she after you? Did you do something stupid?"
"Let's just say I didn't want to do any more." She replied vaguely.
Aaron would have liked to insist on the subject, but he decided not to. Kasumi didn't seem to want to talk about the exact reason for his pursuit, and he didn't really believe her story.
"Never mind." He said, turning his attention back to the TV, which showed a policeman with an axe and a pedestrian light stuck to it.
A second moment of silence passed.
"Can I ask you something, Aaron?" Kasumi turned to Aaron.
"Of course."
"I'm curious, are you from America?" She asked, tilting her head. "From England, perhaps?"
"My father is Japanese. My mother is French." He said in a simple tone. "My sisters and I were born here. But she takes after my father, and I take after my mother. So it's hard for other people to believe we're brother and sister."
"Oh." She says, sounding genuinely surprised. "What do your parents do?"
"My father was a scientist for Fenix, but I'm not sure what he's been doing since the organization ended. As for my mother, she's a journalist." He said, scratching his head. "Long story short, they met here when my mother came to do a story, fell in love and decided to stay here and start a family. I still wonder why, since they're hardly ever here. My father has a company apartment so he can get to work faster, and my mother is constantly abroad reporting."
"I see."
"You'd be surprised how many people seem to have a problem with me saying I'm Japanese." Aaron suddenly added.
Caught off guard, Kasumi didn't know what to say next.
"I remember one time..." He continued. "... when my parents took me and my sisters to a bathhouse. They wanted to see what it was like. The owner acted like we were smuggling in bombs. He said that "foreigners weren't allowed in". My father tried to tell this asshole that me and my mother had citizenship. The owner didn't believe us, of course."
Aaron wondered for a moment why he was telling her this. Maybe because she was asking him where he was from. That question sometimes led people to tell him he was a liar. Or maybe he was trying to make conversation.
"The next day, a kid came up to me in class. I'd never seen the guy before that day, but he knew me for some reason. It turned out he was the owner's son. He was just as much of an asshole as his father. He kept telling me not to come anymore, the usual threats, calling my mother a whore, the same crap I usually get. I didn't listen to him anymore. Then he started pushing me around when he realized I wasn't listening to his bullshit."
The memory made him laugh.
"Did you know that if your parents ask nicely, you can be suspended for just two days for breaking someone's arm?"
At first, Kasumi felt somewhat disturbed by the boy's story. But then she noticed a second emotion swirling in his eyes, one she knew all too well.
"That idiot never bothered me again." Aaron concluded, wiping his nose. "I wish other idiots like him would learn to leave other people alone."
Kasumi winced as she heard the venom in his words. The boy wanted something she'd never wanted to happen to anyone.
"You can't keep pushing people away." She murmured to herself.
"That's not what I want. I just want people to stop picking on me because I don't look Japanese." he retorted. "But sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be better."
"Some people want to be alone, but when that happens, they wish they could go back."
"You say that like you know what it sounds like." Says Aaron with a hint of sarcasm.
"No one should ever be truly alone, Aaron." She says, fully aware of how dangerous it can be to be alone, with no one to help you. "How else could we stay sane?"
Aaron opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came to mind that sounded like a good answer.
"Never mind." He said with a pout.
The rest of the night passed calmly.
---------------------------------------
"Hi, Aaron!" Junichi greeted.
"Hi man." Aaron greeted in turn, with slight rings under his eyes.
"Still having trouble sleeping, huh?" Replied the fake blond, patting the taller boy on the back. "Well, I guess some people just aren't morning people."
The two friends headed for school. After a few empty topics, the subject Aaron had been dreading finally came up.
"I thought you weren't going to school today." Junichi said, sounding worried. "Because of Junpei."
"I can't avoid him forever." Said Aaron, kicking an empty can. "Might as well get it over with."
"I thought maybe all of us, Taki, Kenichi and I should walk you home from now on, but I doubt that would really do anything."
"No kidding." Aaron added. "We'd still be outnumbered. But thanks for trying to find a solution."
Junichi shrugged.
"My mind hasn't always been my strong point. Unlike Taki. He'll have no trouble getting into Tokyo University. I bet..."
As the two friends rounded the corner, Junichi stopped and his smile disappeared. Every muscle in Aaron's body contracted.
A gang of six older boys were waiting for them. One of the rough-looking thugs was holding Taki by the shoulders. A large bruise covered his cheek, but not Aaron's - this one was recent. The left lens of his glasses was cracked and a small trail of blood was coming out of his nose.
"I'm sorry, Aaron. I'm so sorry," he sobbed uncontrollably. "But they found me... and made me tell them where you were... I'm so sorry..."
He was interrupted by a punch in the stomach from one of the boys. Taki collapsed wordlessly to the floor.
"Shut up, nerd."
"Hey, let him go, bitch!" Junichi shouted. "You think you're tough because you can hit someone half your size?!"
Aaron said nothing, except to glare at the gang leader. Junpei stepped forward.
"Hi, asshole." Junpei said in a cold, angry voice. "Did you think you'd get away with what you did yesterday?"
"Leave my friends out of it, Junpei." Aaron replied in an equally cold voice. "It's me you want."
Junpei nodded to one of his friends. Taki was abruptly lifted by the arm and pushed towards Aaron. Junichi overtook him in an instant.
"Taki, are you okay, buddy?" He said, helping their injured friend to his feet. "Does it hurt?"
The boy who wore glasses simply nodded, unable to speak without crying.
"Junichi, take it and go."
"What?! Are you crazy? They'll shoot you!"
"And if you stay, both of you, they'll take care of you too." Aaron retorted, not taking his eyes off Junpei, who wasn't taking his eyes off him either. "Hurry up!"
Junichi looked at his friend for a moment. Then he grabbed Taki's arm and ran off.
As soon as his friends had gone, the gang surrounded him.
One of Junpei's boys put an arm around his shoulder.
"Come on, buddy. Let's go somewhere more private."
---------------------------------------
"By a river, under a bridge, eh?" Aaron thought, looking around. "Like in anime. Do they really have no imagination?"
It hadn't been a long walk, but Aaron didn't recognize the place. It was unlikely that Junichi or any of his friends would find him if they got help.
"You think you're so cool, don't you?" Junpei sneered, "Did you think you were tough when you hit me?"
The gang of boys formed a circle around him and Junpei. They giggled, laughed and encouraged Junpei to beat Aaron to a pulp.
"You started the fight, you idiot." Aaron said, ignoring the pain in his stomach. "All I did was finish it."
"Don't look down on me, you bastard!" Junpei exploded.
Aaron couldn't help but wonder why such things happened. He'd always wanted to piss off people like that and live his life as if they didn't exist. Take away the pseudo-importance these bullies wanted to have.
But that wasn't the kind of person her mother had taught her to be. Avoiding a fight here and there would be a little healthier, but at the cost of his dignity. He wouldn't be a doormat. He could see where this was leading. Constant harassment was hell in high school. It was no secret that tons of kids around the world committed suicide because of the daily harassment. It had even happened to a student at his school, which tarnished the building's reputation.
"All right, boys!" Junpei shouted with a smile. "Time to kick some stranger ass!"
Aaron suddenly snapped out of his thoughts. What was happening to those who stood up to Junpei was coming true.
The gang shouted and screamed as they charged Aaron.
"Shit!" Aaron thought, gritting his teeth as he tried to defend himself. "Dad always told me to fuck off in cases like this. But run where the fuck?!"
One of Junpei's boys, who was just ahead of him, suddenly fell to the ground, as if something had just fallen on him. A trail of black, white and red crossed the group. The boys fell, collapsed or whirled around on the ground. He could barely see what it was, but there was a human form, a small female form.
It was all over as quickly as it had begun. Junpei's gang were lying on the ground, either unconscious or moaning in pain. Junpei stood a few meters away, his mouth wide open. It seemed he had planned to stand back and watch, then fight.
The girl responsible for the carnage approached Aaron. He had abandoned his position when she recognized him.
"Are you all right?"
He forced his voice to a single word. "O... yeah. Just a little sore in the gut." He grunted as he held his stomach, which had taken most of the beating.
She watched him attentively, then nodded with satisfaction. He noticed she was wearing a school uniform from his school. He hadn't even wondered where she'd gotten it.
"W... what the hell..." Junpei asked, so shocked he could hardly speak. "Who the hell are you?"
Kasumi didn't even turn around.
"Go away. And don't ever bother him or his friends again."
Anger clouded Junpei's rational thought process. He charged savagely at the girl.
"Fuck you, bitc.... !"
He didn't stand a chance. Kasumi danced around him and attacked. Aaron could barely follow her movements. She was so fast, a blow to the face, a blow to the chest and a kick to the legs that sent him crashing to the ground. He fell faster than his friends.
Aaron was trembling slightly. He'd seen and taken part in many fights. He'd never seen anything like what she was doing. She had a rhythm. Every step she took when she fought was part of a dance. She was in a different league, for God's sake, in a different game from him and any other average person.
Kasumi walked over to where Junpei lay undignified. She crouched down to get closer.
"I repeat: leave him alone."
She spoke firmly, but without anger. Her voice attracted attention.
Junpei rose slowly and unsteadily to his feet. He hesitated for a moment, trying to get his bearings.
Aaron was even more astonished, as the gang leader seemed to have trouble keeping steady. Did she do so much damage with just three blows?
Strangely enough, Junpei laughed. It was a rather weak laugh, but it was unmistakable.
"Now, that's... hilarious." He laughed before spitting. "The gaijin needs a girl to protect him?!"
Another laugh came out of him, a cruel, arrogant laugh.
"Wait a minute... let me tell the whole damn school. You'll never show your fucking face again!"
Aaron was sure he was yelling at her, but he looked Kasumi straight in the eye.
"Yes, tell them." Said Kasumi still in a calm manner." Just make sure you don't forget the part where you and your gang get beaten up by that same girl. I'm sure they'd love to hear it, because if you don't tell them, I will."
The smug look disappeared from her face and was replaced by a mixture of anger and helplessness.
"What's more important, getting even for something you started, or your so-called pride and respect?"
Junpei let out a ferocious roar and pulled out the Vistamp he'd acquired yesterday, shocking Aaron.
"For that you have to be there to tell it!" he shouted, pressing the button at the top of the Vistamp.
Batta!
He then stood up as much as he could and dabbed his heart with the Vistamp.
An orb of black smoke left his body, forming a large sheet of paper with a contrait on it. It folded several times before changing into a monster whose upper body was covered with origami armor in the shape of a green grasshopper.
It was the Batta Deadman.
"H-how did you get that?!" Aaron asked, shocked.
Junpei only answered with a hoarse laugh before the creature attacked them.
Kasumi pushed Aaron, who landed next to his bag, and attacked the Deadman with his knives. This made her realize that this thing was far more resistant than the demons and other monsters she had faced, before or after her transformation. Blades did nothing to her.
She might have the power to attack this thing, but she didn't want to use them. She refused to appeal to that part of her. She didn't want him to see this.
Aaron looked at this and then at his bag, which still contained the Chimera Driver. He'd completely forgotten he'd left it there.
Not wanting to leave Kasumi to face this thing, he took the Driver and its Vistamp out of his bag and stood up. He then placed the Driver at his waist.
Chimera Driver!
Then he pressed the button, just as Junpei had done with his.
Twin Chimera!
He then inserted it into the Driver's silver slot.
King! Dile! Come on! Chimera! Chimera! Chimera!
"Henshin!"
He pulled the Vistamp to one side, causing it to return to its original position as soon as he let go.
Scramble! King crab! Crocodile! Kamen Rider Chimera! Chimera!
Silver-energy crab claws and orange-energy crocodile jaws appeared around Aaron, while his body was covered with strands of energetic DNA. The claws and jaws then closed on him, transforming him into a Kamen Rider Chimera.
Kasumi was startled by the transformation as the creature focused on him. The kunoichi wanted to act, but was surprised to find that when Chimera attacked the monster, her blow seemed to affect the Deadman.
After a few blows, and refusing to waste time with a Deadman summoned by this brute, Chimera pulled the Vistamp aside twice.
King Crab Edge!
Chimera's forearm was covered in orange energy before striking his opponent. A silver energy construct representing a crab claw appeared beside Chimera and crushed the Deadman as the punch made contact.
But that wasn't enough - the Deadman was still able to fight.
The Kamen Rider pulled the Vistamp aside twice more.
Crocodile Edge!
Chimera's leg was covered in orange and yellow energy. He then launched a circular kick, and an energy construct representing a crocodile's head appeared as his foot struck his opponent. Chimera landed with one knee on the ground, while the Deadman fell on his back. At the same time, electricity appeared around the Deadman, who exploded after a short moment.
Kasumi and Junpei were shocked to see this, while Chimera withdrew the Driver's Vistamp, cancelling the transformation.
"You're still going to talk about our little altercation and keep on bugging me and my buddies afterwards." Aaron growled as he reached over and took the Vistamp from Junpei. "Because with this, our two testimonies, and those of Junichi and Taki, there's a good chance that you and your little dogs will end up in jail for attempted murder and multiple gang assaults."
Junpei just looked at them, knowing he was screwed now, and hit the ground in disappointment. Kasumi looked at him with cold detachment.
"All right." he spat.
"Good. And don't forget..." Kasumi said before moving closer and whispering the end of her sentence. "I'll be watching."
Junpei closed his eyes and bowed his head in defeat. He had lost on all counts. Aaron knew Junpei well enough to know that this was the most humiliating thing he'd ever done. And with the leverage he and Kasumi had, he was bound to keep his word.
Later, when she accompanied him to school, he told her just one thing.
"You really are a ninja."
"Kunoichi." She corrected as a true smile spread across her face. "Your kunoichi."