"Dupain! Dupain!" A girl shouted, leaping towards Aaron as soon as he entered the classroom.
She was a short, stocky girl with short, bobbed hair. He recognized her as Komori, one of his classmates. She was one of those girls who kept to herself in class. That she should ask with such enthusiasm was beyond him.
"What is it?" He asked.
"A girl came in here and asked about you."
Aaron became even more puzzled.
"For me? Who?"
She shook her head.
"I don't know. It was an older girl and she was wearing a different uniform from us."
"What did she want?" Aaron asked.
"I didn't say anything, really. I just wanted to know..." She said before seeing something behind her shoulder. "Oh, there she is!" She raised her arm to get the person's attention. "Hey, over here! There it is!"
Aaron turned around. The blood in his veins froze.
"Hey, Aaron! Long time no see!"
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A light breeze blew across the school roof.
Aaron stood with his arms crossed and a piercing gaze. He couldn't help but lightly scratch his fingers on his arm. The girl he was with brought back memories, once pleasant and now bitter.
"Gee, it's been a while since I've been here." Said the girl wistfully. "It's been what? A year?"
Aaron said nothing.
Wakana Nakamura had hardly changed the last time he'd seen her. Her long hair was streaked with purple. She must have dyed it a while ago, because the color had faded. Her eyes retained their usual mischievous sparkle. Her nails were covered with a dark purple varnish and a few rings adorned her fingers. Her favorite, a steel ring with a skull and crossbones, was on her left ring finger. A series of small gold hoop earrings dangled from the edges of her ears. As Komori said, her uniform was different from that of the other girls. She always looked like the delinquent incarnate the teachers were looking for.
"I remember the first time I met you." Said she rested against the fence. "Some tough guy was giving you shit outside the arcade where you and your buddies usually went." She snapped her fingers. "That guy couldn't even make one shot. You put him down for no reason."
"I was lucky." Aaron finally added. "His friends weren't there and he didn't think I'd fight back. He had his hands in his pockets."
Wakana shrugged.
"Maybe, but that guy was a little older than you. My boyfriend thought you were pretty cool. He wanted you to be part of his gang." She said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. "Of course, you didn't want to be in a gang. Daisuke was pretty upset, but I managed to calm him down."
"What are you doing here?" Aaron asked coldly. "I thought you were being transferred to Chiba."
"I left." She replied, taking a long puff and letting out a light trickle of smoke. "I didn't like my new school, much too strict; here it was much more lax. I'm on my own now, I've got a small apartment. I don't have to worry about my father breathing down my neck anymore."
"Good for you." Aaron sighed with annoyance.
"I knew you cared about my happiness." She smiled.
An awkward silence settled in for a few moments. Aaron watched Wakana roll her eyes.
After finishing her cigarette, the eighteen-year-old put it out and headed for the exit.
"Looks like we'll be seeing more of each other now, Aaron." She said cheerfully.
Wakana stopped in front of him and looked at him shrewdly. Aaron felt instantly uncomfortable. She moved closer, invading his personal space. He tried to back away, but forgot he was near a wall and found himself trapped. She tilted her head and... sniffed him.
" Hmmm. Strawberries? I doubt it's cologne." She said smugly. "You smell like a woman. My little Aaron took advantage of my absence to..."
Her remark was interrupted when Aaron, excoriated by Wakana's gall, quickly grabbed her by the collar, lifted her up and slammed her against the roof grate.
Even if Wakana was oblivious to Kasumi and her past, Aaron was already annoyed by her return to his life. So for her to imply that he'd taken advantage of her while she was still recovering from what she'd been through... it pissed him off.
"In case I wasn't subtle enough Wakana, I'll be more direct." He growled, finally expressing his current feelings for the young woman. "You come back like a flower after leaving and throwing me away like a piece of shit, and you think I'm happy to see you again after that... Then you're even more of an asshole than you look."
Wakana's eyes widened at this, she'd never seen Aaron so angry before.
"I don't want you in my life anymore, so don't come near me, don't ask anyone to speak up for you, don't even think about mentioning my name." Now go buy your new uniform and leave me the hell alone."
And with that, he let go of her and returned to the building, leaving Wakana in shock.
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Kasumi had lunch with her new friends. Occasionally she would make a remark or answer a question, but she remained silent while they chatted at the top of their voices.
From time to time, when her friends weren't looking, she'd take a quick look at Aaron to make sure he was still where she'd left him. She'd asked him to be within earshot during lunch. Like her, he was sitting with his friends. She noticed he was more withdrawn today and hadn't touched his lunch, as if he had something on his mind. She made a note to ask him later, when they returned home.
She saw someone approaching her group. Unconsciously, she tensed her muscles, preparing for a possible attack. She relaxed when she noticed that only Yuki, a girl from another class, was joining them.
"Hey, guess what?" She asked, settling into their little circle. "Nakamura's back!"
"No way!" Said Sanae, half-eaten bread escaping from her mouth. "I thought she'd been expelled!"
"No." Explained Yuki, opening her bento and taking out a pair of chopsticks. "She's just been transferred with her parents for the first time."
"I'll give her a month, no, a week tops before she gets kicked out of here." Spat Sumire, an older girl with short hair, with disgust. "She'd better stay away from my little sister. That bitch has been picking on her since she was in first grade."
"No wonder Dupain looks more pissed off than before." Added Makiko, a little girl with rectangular glasses. "I bet he never thought he'd see her again."
Kasumi, immediately understanding Aaron's name, was intrigued.
"Why?"
All the girls in the circle looked at her for a moment before a thought struck them.
"Ah yes! Don't you know, Houko!" Midori said. "Those two were together."
A cold jolt ran through Kasumi's body, but she didn't know why.
"Well, not really, if you want to be more technical." Midori added, tossing her ponytail back over her shoulder. "It's a bit complicated."
"What do you mean?" Kasumi insisted, glancing again at Aaron.
He was still there, and still without food.
"Wakana Nakamura is having trouble with his father." Midori began with a sigh. "His father is a civil servant not high enough to be famous, but close enough to care about his image. He's a real conservative, you know, who thinks tradition and everything important is being destroyed by the 'modern world'. Basically, he wants to go back in time to when everyone else was our husbands' faithful servant."
"Anyway, Wakana's father wanted her to be like him, and she was. Well-behaved. She joined flower arrangement and tea ceremony clubs. She was nice to everyone. But it must have made her sick and she started doing the opposite." Midori continued, rummaging in her bento with a disgruntled air. "She went nightclubs, skipped a lot of classes, started smoking, dyed her hair, got piercings, all that. She started dating a punk boyfriend, Daisuke, I think. I'm sure she did all that just to piss off her dad."
"There was a big rumor that she did it with her boyfriend behind the gym one day during a meeting." Sumire sniffed. "Knowing that bitch, it's probably true."
Sanae rolled her eyes.
"I doubt Houko would have wanted to know that."
"Yeah, we digress." Said Yuki with a dismissive hand gesture. "She wanted to know more about Nakamura and Dupain."
"Okay, well, I don't know exactly, but when she met Dupain, she dumped Daisuke and latched onto him." Said Midori as she took a cautious bite of her bento and grimaced. "Yuck! My dad had to do that! Why..."
"Midori." Sanae gave a warning look.
"What? Ah yes. Sorry." Midori said, coughing, embarrassed. "No one seems to know for sure, but there are several theories as to why she went out with him. The most common is that she did it to piss off her father even more."
"Why would his daughter dating Dupin make him angry?" Kasumi asked.
"Think about it. I said he was conservative. He probably wanted her to date a nice, polite, educated, upper-class, 100% Japanese boy. Dating a foreigner must have put him in an awkward situation."
"You mean... she used him?"
"Like I said, it's just a theory." Midori said with a shrug. "All I know is that when Nakamura left, Dupain was a wreck. Some say that before she left, she confessed to him that she was using him. Only these two know for sure what happened. And believe me, Dupain won't talk about it."
Kasumi nodded slowly.
It was strange, she'd heard about the pain of breaking up, but she'd never felt it herself. She'd been too absorbed by the events surrounding her and her clan, then the demon invasion and... what they'd done to her.
Boys chased her, asked for dates, confessed their love. Letters from secret admirers had already begun flooding her shoe locker. Aaron didn't seem to have such things. He was a loner. People stayed away from the boy unless he wanted to fight or was already her friend. Now she was learning that he had a girlfriend who was only trying to use him to spite her overbearing father.
The kunoichi in disguise took another look around as the other girls turned to another topic. She saw Aaron's friends talking to him, probably trying to cheer him up. But Aaron was still dead.
When she thought of the story her friend had gone through, the angrier she felt. But there was something else... the idea that another girl could have been so close to him... she didn't like it.
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Later, Wakana was on the roof of the school, now wearing the school uniform, sitting with her knees bent against her, she seemed to have been crying.
"Why... why is he rejecting me now..." She sobbed before her sadness turned to anger as she thought back to the smell she smelled on him. "That whore... if I'm going to find her and take care of her case."
"That could be arranged." A woman's voice seemed to come from above her.
She looked up to see Ayane standing on top of the gate before she jumped and landed on her feet in front of her.
"I might just have what you need to find this girl and take care of her so you can have your little gaijin. She smiled as she pulled out a Vistamp from the little satchel on her side.
It depicted an orange praying mantis on a blue background.
"Is this really going to help me?" Wakana asked hopefully as she rose to her feet.
"Of course." Ayane agreed. "Of course, you have to have the means to buy it. But I'll give you a discount if you do me a little favor at the same time."
"Your price is my price! I'll do whatever you want if it means I can get rid of this girl!" she implored.
Ayane smiled fiercely. She had her prey and could now combine business with pleasure.
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At the end of the lunch break Wakana entered the classroom, without knocking or anything.
"Miss, you should be with your class." scolded the teacher.
But Wakana didn't listen; she didn't care about him. Instead, she looked at every student in the class, scrutinizing every girl until she found one she didn't recognize.
And she found what she was looking for when her gaze fell on Kasumi.
Kasumi and Aaron wondered what she was doing, but quickly became concerned when they saw the Vistamp in her hand.
"You... it's your fault... you're the reason he's no longer interested in me..." Wakana growled with restrained anger before finally snapping. "YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS!!!"
After shouting her anger, she pointed the Vistamp in her possession at Kasumi and pressed the button.
Kamakiri!
She pressed the Vistamp against her heart, and the Kamakiri Deaman appeared before her.
Panic gripped the surrounding students as they fled, while Aaron and Kasumi gathered themselves and fled together, Aaron holding Kasumi's hand as he guided her in the opposite direction to where the rest of the class had fled.
"Where are we going?" She asked as the Kamakiri Deadman followed them accompanied by Wakana.
"On the roof, it's the best place where I can transform without being seen by the rest of the students. And if after all this mess Wakana says anything, with all the witnesses who saw her create the Deadman we can tell she's lying because she's flipped out." Aaron explained.
"Can't I just face the demon?" Kasumi asked.
"I don't know. Do you want to blow your cover if someone sees the fight?" Aaron asked.
"... Touché."
They then reached the roof and moved as far away from the door as possible, wanting to create as much distance as possible between themselves and Wakana and his Deadman.
"You don't need to do that!" Aaron said.
"Are you kidding?" Wakana asked as if he were asking her something absurd. "It's because of her that I can get you back! So I'm going to get rid of her and that'll solve the problem."
"You haven't understood a word I've said. I don't want to be with you anymore because you're a bitch who uses others for what she wants. You were just using me because I don't have a Japanese face to piss off your asshole father." Aaron explained. "I don't love you anymore. When you left me, I saw what you really were."
"Lie!" Wakana shouted before pointing at Kasumi. "It's that bitch's fault! All you needed was a pretty face and you forgot me. And if she survives what I'm going to do to her, then I'll call the gangs I know to take care of her! If I'm a bitch, then she will be too! And then you tell me which one of us is better."
Wakana's threat made Kasumi flinch and recoil, for what she was insinuating took her back to what she'd been through months before she arrived in this world. Her capture, being assaulted and raped until she was mentally broken. She didn't want to go through that again.
Aaron saw this, and it made him even angrier at his ex. How dare she want to do such a thing to a woman. He took out his Driver and placed it around her waist.
Chimera Driver!
Once the strap appeared, he took out his Vistamp and activated it.
Twin Chimera!
He then inserted the Vistamp into the Driver.
King! Dile! Come on! Chimera! Chimera! Chimera!
As the creatures mentioned in the jingle emerged and clung to Aaron to participate in the transformation, the Kamakiri Deadman was immobilized when his feet came into contact with the orange liquid that seemed to spread beneath the teenager's feet.
"Henshin..." He said, before pivoting the part to which the Vistamp was attached, which returned to its original position as soon as he let go, initiating the transformation.
Chimera!
Once the transformation was complete, Wakana looked at him. She was shocked to see the one she coveted also using a Vistamp, with something else to change into a Kamen Rider instead of creating a Deadman. She could see only one reason why this was possible.
"So she gave you one too." She growled.
"Who?" Chimera asked.
"I'll tell you after I take care of her!" Said Wakana, his tone making it sound more like a demand than a condition.
"Then we've hit a brick wall! Chimera growled.
He then rushed towards the Kamakiri Deadman to fight him and prevent him from attacking Kasumi.
This proved more complicated than expected. He had to fight hand-to-hand while keeping his distance because of the blades at the end of his arms.
The fight became even more complicated for him when the Deadman went on the offensive. He dodged as much as he could.
During one of the attacks, the Deadman's Kamakiri cut part of the grid on the roof. A cut large enough for someone to jump or be thrown from the roof.
Determined to take advantage of the situation, Wakana moved towards Kasumi and dragged her by the hair until she tried to throw her off. But she couldn't, Kasumi leaning her feet against the edge of the roof while she held on tightly to the grate.
As Wakana tried to push her after she had been dragged to the hole in the fence, Kasumi could see that panic had caused the whole school to evacuate. All the students were outside, many of them discussing what could have happened, not having witnessed the monster chasing two pupils followed by a student.
A slight smile appeared on her lips as she bobbed her head to push her glasses off her head.
When the glasses finally hit the ground and shattered, a student picked them up and looked up to see where they had come from.
Seizing this opportunity, Kasumi let out a huge cry.
"HELP!!!" She screamed as she began to struggle, startling Wakana. "HELP ME !!!!"
The students were alerted by the sudden screams and looked up before taking out their phones and filming what they saw, zooming in for a better view. They were all shocked to see Wakana trying to kill a student. Some stopped filming to call the police, while others continued filming.
"It's Wakana!" gasped one of the students zooming in on the scene.
"Why is she trying to kill the news?" Asked another student.
"There's something else! Look!" Said another as Chimera's fight continued, barely perceptible to the students.
After a few moments, Chimera coordinated his attacks to dominate the Deadman in combat. Then he saw Wakana try to throw Kasumi off the roof.
Realizing that it really was time to end the fight, he pulled up the section where the Twin Chimera Vistamp had hung six times.
Twin Chimera Edge!
He then delivered a powerful uppercut, sending it flying through the air before jumping up and finishing off the Deadman with a diving kick. The monster exploded as the final attack was recorded by the students' phones.
The sound of the explosion disturbed Wakana, who stopped for a moment to see what had happened. Kasumi took advantage of the situation and leapt to his feet, striking Wakana's nose with the back of her head.
Wakana recoiled from the sudden blow and Aaron took the opportunity to grab the Vistamp and immobilize her.
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A little later, Wakana was handcuffed by the police, who had been called by a student after they saw Wakana trying to kill Kasumi.
"You're in big trouble! Do you know who my father is?! You'll see, I'll go out and kill that whore! You'll be mine, Aaron! You hear me!" she shouted as a policeman pulled her into the back of a police car and closed the door.
Aaron stayed with Kasumi, worried about her.
"Are you sure everything's all right?" He asked as they stood back from the other students.
"Yes." Kasumi insisted. "You know, it's my job to worry about you. I'm your kunoichi, remember."
"That won't stop me from doing it. Even if you were faking it, you still almost got thrown off a roof." Aaron insisted, taking one of Kasumi's hands, surprising her. "Just because you're stronger and more competent than me without the driver doesn't mean I shouldn't worry about something happening to you. After what you've been through, you deserve a little concern."
Kasumi was touched by this statement, and decided to give him a hug.
Even though he'd already shown it since their meeting, knowing that someone genuinely cared for her was a relief to her.
As she embraced him, her gaze fell on something that shocked her. Ayane was standing at the top of the stone fence surrounding the school.
She sighed before disappearing.
The appearance of her sister, rival, victim and eventual pursuer gave rise to a feeling of fear in Kasumi, who tightened his grip on Aaron as the color of his eyes changed from amber to red.
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Late that night, a television presenter in the police station showed Wakana's father reacting to the controversy that had arisen earlier in the day following the video of his daughter trying to kill one of her classmates. He asked the courts to be particularly severe with his daughter. That what she had done was contrary to the values he had instilled in her.
Policemen in front of the TV jokingly asked if he was talking about attempted murder or claiming a stranger as property.
As for Wakana, she was in a police cell waiting to find out whether she could await trial at home or in prison.
She was forced to listen to that moment on TV when the man who had always controlled her life continued to do so now that she was considered a criminal. All because she wanted to get rid of the competition and reclaim...
Suddenly, all the lights in the police station went out, plunging the place into darkness. She heard the policemen alarmed and trying to figure out what was going on, then the sound of metal creaking.
As she tried to see what was going on around her, she could see a pair of red eyes... in the cell. Something else was there with her.
She was about to scream, but the person to whom those red eyes belonged grabbed her head.
When the power came back on, policemen went into the cells to see if it had been an escape operation. At first, they saw nothing suspicious, until they arrived at the cell where Wakana was incarcerated.
She was still there. But in a serious state. She was covered in bruises, bleeding from the nose. There were also large traces of blood on a wall, suggesting that her head had been viciously knocked against it. One of the policemen hurried off to call an ambulance, while the others stayed with the teenager to make sure she was alive when the ambulance arrived.
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That same night, while Aaron slept, Kasumi discreetly entered the bedroom of the man who had taken her in when she first arrived in this world.
Her eyes were red again as she approached his bed and knelt in front of it. She ran her hand over her friend's crotch before pulling it back violently, as if realizing what her body was urging her to do.
Then instead she placed a kiss on his forehead and walked away from the room.
"I mustn't do this... not to him... But..." She said to herself as she rubbed her arms like a craving junky. "But it's getting harder and harder to resist."