Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Konjou-san, tilt your head a bit to the right,” the photographer says.

Frankly, Isamichi has no idea why he’s here. Until a few days ago, he hadn’t even registered that being a CEO did not in fact free him from his celebrity status. As such, on top of the sheer amount of work he already has, his schedule’s been changed to add some more things a celebrity would normally do.

Such as, for instance, modeling for a magazine alongside the regular interview.

Matsumura had explained that it would help the company image when he’d added it to Isamichi’s schedule, but Isamichi still has the slight urge to have a chat about it when this is all over. Except he can’t, due to prior commitments; maybe the next day would work better?

“Move your hands like so, please,” the photographer says.

Isamichi complies, adjusting his hands to match the photographer’s pose. Then, as they move their hands the camera, Isamichi looks into it, giving his best smile.

The shutter goes off, and the photographer claps their hands.

“That should be it,” they say, “Thank you so much for your cooperation, Konjou-san.”

Isamichi only smiles in return, as he’s now used to doing.

“No problem,” he says, “Thank you for your hard work.”

Matsumura, ever the one to give him a hard time, had squeezed this photoshoot in right before a very important event. If Isamichi stands around any farther, he’ll be late. As the photographer walks away, he takes a look at his watch.

“Oh, crap,” he mutters.

They’d finished with only two minutes to spare before Isamichi’s due to leave.

He immediately bolts, ignoring any looks that staff nearby may shoot him. This is an event he absolutely cannot miss, not unless he wants to yell at himself about it for the rest of eternity. Why else would he have negotiated and pleaded with the board to let him have the rest of the day off today?

Once he’s out of the building, he pulls out his gourd at lightning speed. Seconds later, with his arms spread out, his bike appears, and he mounts it with no time to lose.

He only prays that he makes it to the train station in time.

----------
Iroha stands inside the train station, at the same spot at which she said goodbye to Nii-chan all those months ago.

Icchi's supposed to be here too, but she's assuming work is making him run late. That's fine, as long as he shows up in time, that is, in ten minutes or less. For now, she'll make do with watching the people around her, walking along to or from their trains at varying speeds.

"Did I keep you waiting long?" she hears a rather out-of-breath voice say.

Finally, Iroha thinks, as she turns around.

Icchi’s huffing and puffing, looking up as he does so. Iroha can’t help but chuckle slightly before she speaks.

“Not long,” she replies, “Did you run here?”

Icchi says, “Yeah. I realized I was going to be late, so I tried to get here as fast as I could.”

He’s still trying to get his breathing back to normal as Iroha looks up at the schedule again. These last minutes have felt far longer than they should. Is even time against her side today?

“You’re not late. Nii-chan’s train comes in about eight minutes,” she says.

Icchi steps forward, stopping when he’s standing to Iroha’s right.

“Thank goodness. I’d be really mad if I missed it,” he replies.

Iroha can say the same. But she’s glad there’s someone else who shares the sentiment. How many days ago had both she and Icchi started their countdown to this very day?

She feels a buzz in her pocket, pulling out her phone. From what her screen shows, she’s got a text notification. Upon seeing the sender of the text, she opens it immediately.

“We’re pulling into the station!” the text reads, “You both better be there~”

A smile creeps up on Iroha’s face, staying put as she feels Icchi look over her shoulder.

“Same old Rentarō,” he says.

They both know that’s not quite true. Were it before Nii-chan had left, Iroha would have been very concerned over this behaviour. Now, chances are that enough time has passed for this to no longer be an act.

As such, Iroha smiles as she looks up at Icchi.

She replies, “Yeah. Though, I bet he looks different than before. He has to, right?”

Icchi nods just as the tell-tale noise preceding an announcement rings out.

“Attention, everyone. The train bound for Niigata will be arriving at platform 2 in three minutes. Passengers, please make your way to platform 2.”

That’s Nii-chan’s train. Given that he’ll be dismounting shortly, Iroha should probably head to their meeting place.

"Let's go towards that escalator, yeah?" she asks.

Icchi nods, and they both make their way to the bench closest to it. Funnily, neither of them sit down on that bench, instead choosing to stand next to it. Iroha wonders if it's the nerves for Icchi, too.

Slowly but surely, passengers start to trickle in. Iroha scans them as fast as she can, trying to look for any signs of her brother.

The jet-black mop of hair, characteristic to him in style but not shade, is nowhere to be found.

She looks over at the people again, this time looking for clothing. There's no way Nii-chan would let go of his clothing style, right? Amidst all the T-shirts and crop tops, Nii-chan should stand out like a sore thumb.

A couple of seconds later, she spots a very familiar jacket. Hopes rising yet again, she looks up to see that person's face.

From the nose to the eyes to the small smile she'd grown used to seeing him sport before he left, it's unmistakably Nii-chan.

"Found him," she mutters.

As her smile grows further, her eyes drift upward still, bringing about her topic of confusion. Instead of the black hair she'd last seen him with, Nii-chan's hair is now lighter than Icchi's.

She can just ask about it when she gets to talk to him. For now, she raises her hand, waving it.

"You found him?" Icchi asks, "Where is he?"

She lowers her hand to point towards Nii-chan, keeping him in her sights as she looks at Icchi's expression. Seconds later, his eyes widen, and a smile appears on his face, too.

"There he is," he says, so softly that Iroha's sure only she can hear.

Nii-chan doesn't seem to notice them until he steps off the escalator, when he looks around. When his eyes meet Iroha's, he starts to walk over to them, smile widening as well.

Once he's close enough, Iroha widens her arms. Much to her relief, Nii-chan walks into them freely, responding with wrapping his own arms around her.

"Welcome back," Iroha says, "I missed you."

Nii-chan replies with a squeeze. It makes Iroha's heart feel just a bit warmer.

“I missed you too,” he says.

After a few seconds, he pulls away, and Iroha watches as he turns to Icchi.

“Don’t think I forgot about you!” Nii-chan exclaims, “Come here.”

Icchi’s eyes widen as Nii-chan embraces him, but he too returns the sentiment. Iroha giggles as he does so, arms awkwardly staying put around Nii-chan’s waist. While that happens, she takes the opportunity to take his bag from him. He shouldn’t have to carry it on the trip home.

Once Nii-chan pulls away from that hug too, he looks around. Iroha’s suspicions that he’s looking for the bag are proven when he looks at her again. After a long glare, he sighs.

“You’re not giving that back to me, are you?” he asks.

Iroha shakes her head, sticking out her tongue.

“Nope.”

Thankfully, he gives up quickly, instead opting to just walk to the station’s exit. Iroha’s quick to follow, keeping up with his pace while Icchi lags just a bit behind.

“I’ll tell you about my trip when I get home!” Nii-chan says.

The trip back home is faster than Iroha thought it would be, but it’s probably because Nii-chan’s the only one talking. His topic stays mostly on how Toyama hasn’t changed, spare for the fewer holographic advertisements.

A few minutes later, however, they’re all stepping inside the house. Nii-chan lets out an exclamation of relief as he sits down at the table.

“It’s like I never left!” he says.

Iroha, in the meantime, sets Nii-chan’s bag down to the side. There’s already more energy in the air than the past few months combined. Frankly, Iroha’s happy to have that again.

From the corner of her eye, she can see Icchi heading into the kitchen. Since she’s aware of what he’s planned to do, she just opts to sit down in front of Nii-chan. Nii-chan, however, looks at the kitchen door with confusion.

“What’s he doing?” Nii-chan asks.

Iroha replies, “You’ll see. When was the last time you’ve eaten?”

Nii-chan looks up at the ceiling, pout forming on his face.

“Eh…” he says, “Probably before I got on the train?”

His sheepish smile is no match for Iroha’s frown. Really, how could he have forgotten to eat on the train itself? Wasn’t the journey at least eight hours long?

She groans before burying her head in her hands.

“I can’t with you sometimes,” she says, “You’re going to sit and eat whatever Icchi makes, then.”

Nii-chan furrows his eyebrows at her.

“Please tell me he’s gotten better,” he says.

Iroha herself hasn’t tried any of Icchi’s cooking. She’s heard him talk about his efforts, though. Based on what she’s heard, as well as the fact that he’s almost exclusively made his own lunches for the last month, she’s willing to bet that he’s improved.

“I’m sure it’s not that bad,” she replies.

Minutes later, Icchi arrives once again, this time holding plates in his hand. On the plates stand three sandwiches.

“Ta-da,” Icchi says, “I wanted to take another shot at the sandwiches I made you. I didn’t forget the mayonnaise this time.”

As Icchi puts the plates down, Nii-chan eyes the sandwich in front of him with caution.

Out of the corner of Iroha’s eye, she can see Icchi looking at Nii-chan anxiously. Instead of saying anything, she picks up her own sandwich, looking at Nii-chan as he slowly takes a bite of it.

Nii-chan widens his eyes as he chews his food, looking down at the sandwich itself.

“It’s actually really good,” he says.

Icchi smiles, and so does Iroha; his joy is too infectious for Iroha to not catch on. Nii-chan, seemingly, falls victim to it too.

“Way to go, Icchi!” he says, “Now you actually have a chance of stealing my title! Well, only a one-in-a-million chance, but still!”

Nii-chan’s grin stays put as Icchi sighs.

“I should have guessed you’d say that,” Icchi says.

Iroha can’t help but laugh, earning the glares of both the men in the room. The question, “What are you laughing about?!” is left unsaid from both of them, so Iroha refuses to answer in return.

With a huff, Nii-chan looks at Iroha again. More specifically, if Iroha has to guess, he’s looking at her hair.

“Looks like I’m not the only one whose hair changed,” he says, “Both of yours did, too!”

He’s right. Icchi’s gone a few shades darker in his hair colour, and it’s grown quite a bit, but Iroha’s had the biggest change of all. Not only had she cut it short when the autumn had started to roll in, but she’d even gotten the underside of it dyed a shade of bubblegum pink.

It had felt freeing, when she first got it. Not only is it a lot easier to wash, she could also let go of the past with a new look. Almost a fresh start is what she calls it.

“Yeah,” she says, “I wanted a change. But when did you get yours done?”

Nii-chan replies, “About… I want to say a month ago? It was an impulsive decision, but you both told me to do that more, right~?”

Iroha nods, noticing that she does so in sync with Icchi. It’s good that Nii-chan isn’t just thinking about the good of the world anymore. It looks like he’s finally learned to live for himself.

Icchi says, “I like it, though. You look nice with it.”

Iroha nods in agreement, watching Nii-chan take significantly longer to swallow down his bite of sandwich. She can swear there’s some pink on his cheeks, too. Or is it just the warm lighting?

“Anyway!” Nii-chan says, as soon as he swallows his food down, “I told you I’d talk about what happened to me, right? I’ve got so much to tell you~”

Iroha’s not sure how much time passes as Nii-chan tells his tales, but she doesn’t care. They’re all enthralling, whether it’s him rambling about the lychee lemon soda he had (“It was so good, Iroha, you should have been there to try some!”) to the local heroes he had seen in Fukuoka (“One of them was orange like you, Icchi! He was so polite, too!”) to even the sights he had seen. From the looks of it, he’d really enjoyed his time out from the spotlight. After eighteen years of being on constant alert, he’d finally found time to relax and heal.

That’s good, Iroha thinks. He’s put in so much effort to move forward. She can’t let anything undo that.

By the time Nii-chan finally has caught them both up to speed, it’s dark out. Nii-chan widens his eyes at the sight, pulling out his phone.

“Oh, wow, I really kept on talking. It’s late,” he says.

It’s about time Iroha went to sleep, she thinks. She’ll have to get up somewhat early to go to work tomorrow.

She’s beaten to the punch by Icchi, who immediately springs upward.

“Oh, that means I have to go,” he says, “I’ve got work tomorrow morning-”

Nii-chan pouts, but Iroha’s sure even he knows how busy Icchi has been as of late.

“Fine, fine,” he says, “I guess Konjou’s CEO does have to do his very important job. We’ll see each other soon, though, right?”

A smile forms on Icchi’s face yet again as he grabs his coat.

“Absolutely,” he says, “I’ll see you soon. Iroha-san, see you tomorrow.”

“See you,” Iroha replies.

With that, the door shuts. Nii-chan sighs as Iroha turns back to him.

“I guess you’ll have to go to sleep too, huh? I should rest too.”

Iroha finally gets up, with Nii-chan doing so seconds later. They both part ways, heading off to their specific rooms.

“Good night, Iroha,” she hears, “I love you.”

She can’t help but smile. Of course, she and Nii-chan had exchanged those very same words over text countless times over these past few months. But it’s just different to hear those words in person, especially now that she knows there’s no burden behind those words anymore.

“Love you too,” she says, before shutting the door.

Sure, she’ll have to get used to Nii-chan being home again. But at the very least, she'll be getting used to a good thing again.

----------
The trip to work had been rather normal, in Isamichi's opinion.

He’d somehow managed to get a good night’s rest after coming home, the best he’s gotten in months. How uneventful. He’s hopeful that such a humdrum can follow him into his workday today.

That is, until he walks into his office.

Matsumura is already there, working on ninjutsu-knows-what. As Isamichi walks in, he looks up. Much to Isamichi's chagrin, a smug grin forms on Matsumura's face immediately.

Matsumura says, "You look positively overjoyed. You're almost glowing, actually. Your reunion must have gone well."

Were it Matsuda-san, Isamichi would have responded that yes, it did go very well. However, Matsumura always implies something under those words, so instead Isamichi scoffs and heads to his desk.

"So it did go well," Matsumura says, smug tone still present.

Isamichi replies, "Just give me my schedule already."

Much to Isamichi's surprise, the schedule is rather light. Apart from his meeting with some other company CEO, he's only got a meeting with Matsuda-san. For what, Isamichi has no idea, especially since that meeting is listed as urgent.

"Interesting. My presence is also required at this meeting," Matsumura says.

Isamichi tries to remember the last week or so in his mind. Has he done anything to land himself or Matsumura in trouble? No, not really. Or did taking the last part of his day off to see Rentarō really hurt that much?

He turns to Matsumura with a frown.

"Did we do anything wrong?" he asks.

Matsumura shakes his head.

"I doubt it."

Isamichi looks over the work he has to do. Also light, much to his surprise. He just has to sign off on some plans from some employees. Why it has to be him and not their immediate boss, he has no idea, but maybe it’s serious. He’ll give them a look-over.

After signing off on some plans and rejecting some others, it’s almost time for the meeting. Matsumura’s standing up already, and Isamichi joins him soon after, with both of them walking out of the office and towards the elevator.

“It’s quite a shame we could not drink some tea before,” Matsumura says, “Although I do hope this isn’t a reprimand.”

Isamichi replies, “I’ve even been going home on time. I’ve got no idea why this is happening.”

Matsumura chuckles at that statement. Shortly after, the elevator doors open, and the two of them step out.

Making his way to the specific meeting room is second nature for Isamichi. After all, he’s probably the one with the most knowledge of this building, having been here since childhood. Still, he can’t help but notice how silent both he and Matsumura are being. How bad can this meeting possibly be?

When he opens the door, however, he finds he and Matsumura aren’t alone in the room.

“Iroha-san?” Isamichi asks, “What are you doing here?”

Iroha-san looks up at Isamichi. Then, she shrugs, frowning slightly.

She replies, “I have no idea. But I was told this morning that I’m getting called into this meeting, so here I am. Although…”

She looks down, staring off into space again. There’s no doubt that she’s thinking about something, but Isamichi has no idea about what.

He turns to Matsumura, who also seems to be thinking. Is he on the same wavelength as Iroha-san? In that case, why can’t Isamichi understand?

“I see everyone’s here,” he hears.

Standing at the door is Matsuda-san, who’s holding a lot of paperwork. Isamichi’s immediately concerned; what’s going on to warrant something like this? Is there a scandal he’s missed out on?

“Sit down, all of you,” Matsuda-san says.

Without a word, all three of them sit down. Matsuda-san raises his eyebrows before walking around. Then, he puts his papers on the table, sitting down before speaking.

“Oh, wow, I was expecting more objections,” he says, “But I’m glad you all listened.”

Matsuda-san, in Isamichi’s opinion, should really just get to the point already. If there’s something Isamichi has to put out a statement for, it really would be better that way.

“None of you are in trouble. Don’t look so scared,” Matsuda-san says, “It’s something more personal. You’re all Kamen Riders, yes?”

Ah. Of course it’s that. Iroha-san and Matsumura must have figured that out eons ago. How come Isamichi didn’t?

Right, no beating himself up over it. It’s been a hard process to learn, but at least he knows why he’s here now. As such, he nods. With that, Matsuda-san continues.

“A couple of years ago, when I first took my position, I found a box in the room I work in. I asked Konjou-shachou. But he told me to ignore it. And I did.”

Makes sense, Isamichi thinks. Any obedient employee would have done that. Nevertheless, he’s got a sneaking suspicion of what Matsuda-san did as the secretary continues.

“Yesterday evening, I realized that he may have not wanted me to look through the box because he may have been hiding something. So I looked. Here are the contents.”

He hands out some papers to each of the trio, and Isamichi looks through his set. They describe the early deals of the Niji no Hebi with Konjou Company. Matsuda-san’s highlighted one phrase, but Iroha-san reads it out before Isamichi can even lay his eyes on it.

“Key to starting this partnership, thanks to connections on both sides, was Konjou…”

It must have been Papa, Isamichi thinks. Who else could it have been?

“Akemi.”

And just like that, time starts to slow down.

Isamichi grabs his papers once more, looking down at the highlighted phrase. No, it couldn’t have been Mama. Mama was innocent, away from all this rotten work, only trying her best to survive this world.

So why is her name the one written down on the paper?

That’s not all. Mama’s written about more than that. For one, she’s credited for speeding up the process of the deal. Second, she’d apparently written about some ideas, including what to do in the face of defeat.

“I thought this would be useful to you, given you’ve been discussing the Niji no Hebi’s leftovers,” Matsuda-san says.

It must be. If the remnants are using Mama’s ideas to reform, how could it not be?

But then, that means Isamichi was wrong about Mama all along. Even with now-fuzzy memories, he had never remembered her to be involved with the government, or even Konjou Company. She had just stayed home, and Isamichi can even remember a time where she had refused to talk to Papa about his work.

Was that all a front, too?

“...Icchi? You still there?”

Ah, Iroha-san. Isamichi must have zoned out thinking about Mama. Probably not a good idea, especially given what he’s supposed to be doing.

“I’m alright. Just thinking,” he says.

Both Iroha-san and Matsumura know him well enough to know that’s not true. Even Isamichi knows that. Thankfully, they drop the subject, instead looking at Matsuda-san.

“Perhaps, looking into Konjou Akemi may be of assistance to dealing with these remnants,” Matsumura says, “They seem to be using her tips quite liberally. Thank you.”

Matsuda-san nods, then gestures to the door.

“That’s all I’ve got, sadly,” he says, “But please look through those papers when you have time. You may go.”

Slowly but surely, everyone gets up, filing quietly out of the door. Isamichi looks down at his papers as he does so, reading through Mama’s writings.

Step one: make new equipment, no matter how necessary. Step two, gather forces all across the country, or turn them over to your side if lacking. Step three, rinse and repeat. Step four… mobilize and seize control.

“Oh, no,” Isamichi says.

Iroha-san and Matsumura both turn to him, looking concerned.

“What is it?” Iroha-san asks.

Isamichi holds out the paper he was reading, pointing to the steps Mama had written.

“Doesn’t this look like what’s been happening with the remnants?” he asks.

It has to be. First, Amamiya and Ishikawa had grabbed hold of new equipment, according to Iroha-san. Then, Matsumura himself had told Isamichi about his and Okamoto’s new Booster Plates. This had all happened with warnings from both duos about the Niji no Hebi having small groups all across the country.

“...Someone must have sent this to the groups,” Matsumura says.

“But who?” Isamichi replies.

It’s strange, he finds. It’s been around six months since Amamiya’s report, and yet, they know nothing about any of the higher-ups. Truth be told, Isamichi had assumed these were isolated incidents until Matsumura’s report, but it’s still odd regardless.

Iroha-san hands the paper back to Isamichi.

“I’ll look into it,” she says, “I’ll probably have the best shot of finding out. You should find out what your mom was up to.”

Leave it to Iroha-san to make a good plan. Isamichi nods, then starts to walk back to his office.

“I’ll do just that. Let me know if you find anything immediately, yeah?” he asks.

Iroha-san nods, and Matsumura follows Isamichi. The information still hangs heavy on Isamichi’s mind as he walks away, however. How is he supposed to deal with this?

That his mother, once revered and a safe haven to him, was involved in this all along?

Still, he’ll have to work through this. That way, the Niji no Hebi can finally be put to an end. Hopefully, Iroha-san will be back with some news very shortly. Then, Isamichi will have to get the entire crew back in Toyama to deal with this mess.

He feels a hand on his shoulder, tugging rather aggressively. Turning around to expect the worst, he supposes he shouldn’t have worried so much when he sees Iroha-san again.

Think of the devil, he thinks.

Iroha-san’s wearing a frown this time, and it worries Isamichi. Is there something wrong?

“I need both of your help with something,” Iroha-san says.

Isamichi exchanges a glance with Matsumura first before looking down at Iroha-san.

“How can we help you?” Matsumura asks.

Iroha-san’s glare only hardens as she crosses her arms.

“I know what you might be thinking. We’ll probably have to get the entire group back,” she says, “I still have a request, though.”

Isamichi nods, gesturing for her to continue. Thankfully, Iroha-san catches the drift, swift as ever.

“It’ll be good to have everyone back, sure. But we’re not dragging Nii-chan into this.”

Rentarō? What for?

Iroha-san says, “He’s only just gotten back home, and he’s the best I’ve ever seen him. We are not ruining all that because of this. We’ve dealt with things like this before without him, and we can deal with it again.”

She’s right. The four remaining Kamen Riders of Toyama had successfully stepped in when necessary. Even if this is a worser emergency, Amamiya and Ishikawa’s presence should be enough.

On top of that, Rentarō’s smile from yesterday has already been etched into Isamichi’s mind. Isamichi would rather face hell than see that smile fall ever again.

“He’s been through enough,” he agrees, “Let him be.”

It’s clear that Matsumura’s got some objection to this, so Isamichi gives Iroha-san a hand. With both glares, Matsumura gives way.

“Alright. We shall keep Kagura Rentarō away from this.”

Iroha-san steps away from the both of them, frown disappearing as she does so.

She says, “Good. Then, I’ll get to doing this research. I’ll let you know if something’s up.”

With a wave of her hand, she’s off to ninjutsu-knows-where. In that case, Isamichi should get back to his side of the bargain. It’ll be hard work, investigating his own mother, but what can he do about it?

As he and Matsumura walk side-by-side, he only hopes his heart doesn’t break more than it already has. It’s still fragile, always has been, so how much more can it take?

The elevator doors greet him again, more ominously this time. It’s almost as if they’re taunting him about this, too. Why wouldn’t they taunt the son of two people who, indirectly or not, caused so much despair and destruction around the entire country?

With the press of the button, Rentarō is brought back to his attention. He’s probably still resting at his house, maybe taking in the sights from a new perspective. As Iroha-san had said before, it’ll be up to Isamichi and the rest to not ruin that new perspective.

He’ll make sure to hide Rentarō away from this, for Rentarō’s sake.

----------
Iroha's back at her desk before she knows it.

Thankfully, she'd already finished all her tasks for the day. She can't help but think that Matsuda-san had asked her supervisor to make her work light, however. Leave it to him to know that Iroha would get to work immediately.

She first looks up the news regarding the Niji no Hebi's remnants. Concerns from the common people and clamours from the Niji no Hebi's supporters have been on the rise as of late. Of course, Toyama's the city with the least amount of supporters, but thanks to Shun-san, she knows even this city isn't safe.

There has to be someone at the top of this. Shun-san had already said that someone is sending out the messages, but Iroha's sure that person is either being instructed by someone or is the person at the top themselves.

How formidable are they?

The only lead she's got so far is what Icchi's mom has written. Given the eerily close patterns, that means there must be a message sent with those instructions, as Iroha had concluded earlier. But that also means the messages must have been received.

Perhaps, finding someone who once received a message can help?

There’s a problem. Iroha personally doesn't know anyone who was part of these remnants, for she's never had to face them herself. Besides, is there even anyone who's turned over a new leaf after a stint with that group?

Not in Chihiro and Honoka's case, Iroha knows that. Their fight had turned out rather violent, if she remembers correctly. As for Shun-san and Atsushi-san…

She opens her phone, pulling up her messages with Shun-san.

"Hey," she texts, "I know you had to deal with some Niji no Hebi people a while back."

Shun-san replies in what is record time in his history of working here. Frankly, Iroha's surprised he's not busy with anything else.

"Yes. Is there a way I can help?"

Iroha types, "Yeah. I was just wondering if you know anyone you fought. I know Chihiro and Honoka don't."

The three bubbles indicating that Shun-san is typing are on the screen for far too long, in Iroha's opinion. But the message after looks far more promising.

"Yes, actually," is the response, "One of my former co-workers had faced me. She is no longer part of the group, however."

Aha. Now she has a lead.

"Would she be okay with me asking her a few questions?" Iroha texts, "I need to know as fast as possible."

"I shall ask her. I cannot guarantee how swift her response may be, or if she will even accept, but I will let you know."

Ah. Then, all Iroha can do is wait.

Reacting to Shun-san's message with a heart emoticon, she sets her phone aside. She can't just use this as a lead, especially if this woman doesn't know anything. She'll have to poke around and look through the names written on these papers in the meantime.

Several hours later, as Iroha stretches her back, she hears a "ding" from her phone. Picking it up, she sees she's got a text from Shun-san.

The latest message sent is a phone number.

The message above reads, "She has agreed to talk to you. Her name is Okamoto Kaori. Here is her phone number."

A grin forms on Iroha's face.

"You're the best, Shun-san! Thank you!"

When Shun-san replies, she can almost imagine his voice in his message.

"You're welcome."

Without hesitating, Iroha opens a new message box with the number and starts to type.

"Hello, Okamoto-san. This is Kagura Iroha, Shun-san gave me your number. I was wondering if I could ask you some questions about your experiences in the Niji no Hebi?"

Okamoto-san doesn't seem to be available right now, so Iroha puts away her phone yet again. As she does so, she looks at the time.

She's due to leave in a few minutes. That'll have to be enough research for now, unless Nii-chan's out of the house.

She gets up, packing up her things. Nii-chan will be elated to have her home again, but Iroha's going to have to act as if nothing happened. It should be fine, all things considered. It'll have to be fine, for Nii-chan.

Iroha walks out of Konjou Company's building a few minutes later, making a beeline for the subway. She checks her phone over and over, hoping for a response, but to no avail.

How irritating. But there's nothing Iroha can do. All she can do is wait and look into other things.

The next day, Iroha's in her chemistry lecture, working on redox reaction review. This morning, she had worked on finding out about all those people who had been written about in those papers.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. They’re all either in jail, dead, or disappeared off the face of this planet. Either way, there can’t be any way the messages could have been sent from them to such large amounts of people.

Balancing redox reactions has always been easy for Iroha. She’d much rather do titrations right now, if she has to be honest, but it’s probably better that she’s doing this. She can’t check her phone in the middle of a titration, anyway.

As if on cue, her phone buzzes in her pocket. She finishes her problem before pulling out her phone, checking the message.

It’s from Okamoto-san.

“Ah, yes, Kagura-san, hello. I’m free for the day, so ask away when you have time. I’ll try my best to answer as fast as I can.”

Those redox questions will have to wait.

Iroha immediately furrows her eyebrows as she types rapidly.

“I wanted to ask, since I’ve been informed that you clashed with Shun-san… were you given instructions to do so?”

Okamoto-san replies quickly.

“No, not for the attack. I chose to do that myself.”

Not for the attack? In that case…

“Were you given instructions for anything at all?” she asks.

“Yes. I was,” is the reply, “When I was first given charge, I was given a document full of instructions from someone.”

Hope starts to swell in Iroha’s heart as she types further.

“Do you remember the name?”

She only prays that Okamoto-san does. If she does, then the case could be blown wide open. Thankfully, Okamoto-san’s response is still swift.

“No, but I still have the document with me somehow. It has the instructor’s name in it. Should I send it to you?”

Not bad. Not bad at all. Answers written in text are even better than Iroha had hoped for.

“Yes, please,” she texts, “If you can.”

What comes next is a file. Okamoto-san has kindly accompanied it with the words, “I hope this helps you.”

Iroha replies, “Thank you so much! I’m sure it will,” and promptly downloads the file.

Upon opening it, she realizes the file is massive. There’s pages upon pages, filled with instructions on a million different things. While these instructions are certainly worth a read, Iroha wants names first.

She immediately scrolls down to the last pages, expecting a signature at the end. Her expectations are immediately proven wrong when she sees that they’re just a bunch of reference pages. Fine, then. She’ll look through every single one of these pages if she has to.

Using the search function, she searches through keywords that might be next to some names. None prove fruitful. So, with a sigh, she resolves herself to read through the entire thing. At the very least, she’ll know more about these plans.

She’s about halfway through when the lecture ends, so she takes a brief break to pack up her things again before walking out of the lecture hall. She’s at a new section now, more specifically, the section going over the timeline of the events.

“This is the timeline, as planned by I, Amakusa Shiro Tokisada.”

There it is. Iroha finally has a name. She opens a new tab to write down the name before continuing to read.

The day this document was written was the day after the queen was sealed. This Amakusa person had acted fast, then; was he so sure of his plans so soon after the Niji no Hebi’s demise?

Orders to regroup were sent out as soon as that was done. Then, just like what Icchi’s mother had written, there was a time period given for preparations.

“Referencing original Niji no Hebi documents, the plan is as follows. To start, make new equipment, no matter how necessary. Instructions for some equipment will be given in other documents, but experiment with those to diversify our itinerary. Then, gather forces all across the country, or turn them over to your side if lacking. Convince them of the injustices the current government has done, as well as how we can do better.”

Word for word from Icchi’s mother at times. There’s no doubt that this Amakusa is using her playbook. Iroha frowns as she reads further.

“Do not start your preparations after one round of doing so. Repeat my earlier instructions until November 17. And then, we shall start our march onwards. On said date, I will send you all instructions on our attack. Be patient. Victory will be ours.”

November 17. When’s that again? Iroha checks her calendar, feeling her heart drop as she checks the date.

November 15. That’s today’s date.

“Oh, no,” Iroha mumbles to herself.

Chances are, the attack will be in one of two places. One is Tokyo, where the new government headquarters are located instead of Mito. The other… well, where else would it be apart from Toyama?

If it’s Tokyo, Iroha’s sure the government can handle it for the most part. If help is needed, the government can at least buy enough time for Iroha and everyone else to be there. If it’s Toyama, however, all of it will have to be up to the Kamen Riders, won't it?

She needs to get Chihiro and Honoka here as soon as possible.

After taking a screenshot of the planned upcoming events, she opens her group chat with the two of them.

“I’m going to need you both back here as fast as possible.”

Honoka’s immediate response is something that makes Iroha chuckle despite the odds.

“Oh?” it reads, “You miss us so much? I’ll gladly comply, since it’s you, but what for?”

Ah, right. Iroha isn’t just bringing them in for a hangout again. She’s got things to do.

She sends the screenshot. In an instant, Chihiro’s online, responding to Iroha.

“Wait, hold on. You’re saying these attacks are leading up to that?”

Iroha sends a thumbs-up emoticon, seeing the indicator of Chihiro typing before a new message.

“I knew it!”

Honoka types, and Iroha sees her message shortly after.

“We’ll get there as fast as possible,” she’s written, “I’m not sure how fast it’ll be, but I’ll make sure we get there before or on that date.”

Chihiro adds, “And then we’ll make those cowards pay.”

Classic Chihiro. Iroha smiles, feeling her heart go warm for a few seconds. When she remembers what else to say, however, all that warmth vanishes in an instant.

“Actually, I’ve got something else to ask,” she says.

Honoka replies, “Ask away, princess.”

Ah, the nickname. That too makes Iroha’s heart warm. But could it wait for a different time?

“Can you both keep Nii-chan out of this? He doesn’t need to know.”

As expected, there’s no response for a good couple of minutes. Neither Honoka nor Chihiro would be fans of this idea, she’s sure of it. But surely, those two especially would know why Iroha’s asking such a thing?

“I’m assuming you have a reason behind this,” Honoka’s message reads, “So I’ll keep Kagura out of it.”

“Do we have to?” Chihiro asks.

Iroha replies, “Yes. Yes, we do. He’s been doing so well, and I don’t want to ruin that.”

Chihiro has to get it. She has to. Wouldn’t she do it, if Nii-chan was the one asking? If anyone else was asking? Why not Iroha?

“Okay,” Chihiro replies, “I get it. I guess Honoka and I will find the next train. See ya.”

Iroha replies to that message with a heart emoticon, then puts her phone away. That’s been enough time on her phone for the day, and enough panicking.

When she’s calmer, she’ll read the rest of the manual.

----------
November 17. It’s finally here.

“Chii-chan and Honoka-san? I thought they’d be coming back later,” Nii-chan says.

Iroha can’t possibly tell Nii-chan the exact reason as to why they’re coming. So, she fakes a smile as she looks down at her breakfast.

“Yeah, me too,” she says, “I guess they just missed me that much. Either that, or Chii-chan’s parents.”

Nii-chan chuckles.

“That’s probably it. Amamiya-shachou was so happy yesterday, so it’s probably for him,” he says.

Of course. Iroha can almost imagine the joy on both of Chihiro’s fathers’ faces. It’s a shame that this reason is just a cover.

Once she’s done with her breakfast, Iroha gets up, putting on her jacket. Naturally, she’ll be picking up Chihiro and Honoka at the station, since Honoka had oh-so-nicely asked. Much to her surprise, Atsushi-san offered to tag along as well, to make the process easier.

She can’t tell Nii-chan about that, though. He’ll have to find out the good old-fashioned way.

“If you find one of them here when you get home, don’t be surprised,” she says, “They wanted to visit here after they heard you came home.”

Nii-chan nods.

“Have fun! I’ll let you know when I’m heading off,” he says.

Iroha nods, opening the door.

She says, “Sounds good. Bye!”

With that, she shuts the door.

The trip to the train station doesn’t take too long. Neither does the trip inside, towards the place where Chihiro and Honoka are expected to walk out.

Atsushi-san is already there, looking expectantly at the escalator nearby. As Iroha walks towards him, he turns around.

“Ah, Iroha-chan, perfect timing!” he says, “Rentarō-kun just texted me.”

Iroha asks, “What did he text you about?”

“Just wishing me a good day off. It seems as if Shachou took my excuse.”

“Ah.”

Iroha looks at the escalator, now trickling with people. Immediately, she sees the familiar outfits and haircuts of her friends. Seemingly, they spot her too.

“Iroha! Okamoto-san!” Chihiro exclaims, “Good to see you again!”

Both she and Honoka step off the escalator, with Honoka slinging her backpack on her shoulder. Iroha finds herself as recipient of a hug from both of them. The hug is warm and inviting, and definitely not fit for a situation like this, but Iroha appreciates it anyway. As Chihiro tightly squeezes Iroha, Honoka starts to pat her back. It makes Iroha want to stay there and ignore the problems of the world.

“Yo,” Honoka says, “Good to see you. If only it wasn’t like this.”

Atsushi-san is quick to nod.

As much as Iroha wishes this hug would last forever, all good things must come to an end. The faster they get out of here, the better; that way, they could visit Icchi and Shun-san to talk things out. Iroha had made sure they were free. She’d called Shun-san last night to schedule a meeting, after all.

They start walking out of the station, with Iroha taking the lead.

“How was the trip?” she asks.

Honoka steps forward, now walking in sync with Iroha as she looks at her.

“Chihiro was stressed, but I think the train food was okay,” she says.

At least there’s someone calm about this entire operation. Iroha’s glad.

Atsushi-san says, “What are we exactly going to discuss? I know we’re going to be talking about what to do, but do we know at least a little bit about how we’re doing it?”

Iroha nods at that one. She’d thought up some things the minute she’d read all of the instructions document. Luckily for her, there were no other names listed apart from this Amakusa Shiro Tokisada, so he’ll be the one they have to investigate.

“How we’ll split up and where to look. Thanks to what I read through, I’ve got some ideas on where to start,” she says.

Chihiro whistles from behind Iroha.

She says, “I shouldn’t have expected any different. The genius never takes a day off, huh?”

Ah, Chihiro. Ever the expert at making both Iroha’s heart and cheeks warm. Well, Honoka too, but she hasn’t said anything. Iroha supposes she will in due time.

“I’m just being cautious, that’s all,” Iroha says, “The city’s at stake.”

In about ten minutes, they’re at Konjou Square. People are staring at them, but that’s to be expected. Nevertheless, she ignores them, walking through Konjou Company’s doors towards where she knows Matsuda-san usually is.

“You’re right on time,” Matsuda-san says, as soon as they walk in, “Konjou-kun’s office is open. Given what you’ll be talking about, I figured you all should just be there.”

Honoka nods, a smile forming on her face.

“I wonder what treasures I’ll find there.”

Iroha lightly swats her on the arm as the group of four walk to the elevator. Matsuda-san joins them, pulling out a key as he pushes the elevator button.

“You can’t get up there without this,” he says.

As they get in the elevator, Matsuda-san opens a panel, inserting the key in. Then, the elevator starts to move on its own.

“Woah,” Chihiro says.

Before she knows it, the doors open in front of Iroha, and she steps out with the rest of the group. There’s a short hallway, with two doors at the end of it. Given that’s one of two sets of doors, and it’s larger than the other one, she should expect that to be Icchi’s office, right?

Sure enough, Matsuda-san opens the door, and Icchi is the first person Iroha sees. Shun-san is second, seemingly off to the side on his own desk.

“You’re here,” Icchi says, “Iroha-san, I assume you’ve got a plan?”

Iroha nods.

The next twenty minutes are spent discussing the plan itself. There’s two important places Iroha’s found out from reading the instructions; the city church, which Amakusa mentioned quite a bit, and the place in the forest where Okamoto-san had lurked before striking. The objective is to look through both places, and see if they can glean any new information to act on.

On the other hand, there’s also the point of distracting Nii-chan while the others are out so long. Much to Iroha’s surprise, Chihiro volunteers for that.

“I promised my dads I’d stay out of trouble for a bit,” she says, “And I don’t want to let them down just yet. Call me when you need help, though, and I’ll be right there!”

That aside, that now leaves who goes to which spot. Iroha, frankly, is more interested in one spot than the other.

“If it were up to me, I’d go to the hideout,” she says, “There’s got to be something there I can tinker with.”

Atsushi-san’s quick to nod along, which Iroha isn’t surprised about.

“There might be something Kaori would want me to fetch. If not, still, it’s only right that I go.”

How nice of him, Iroha thinks. She turns to the other three, who all look at each other. After a bit of time, Honoka finally speaks up.

“I’ll go to that church. If this guy you’re talking about is more likely to be there, then I’d rather be there. He sounds like a fun fight.”

That leaves Icchi and Shun-san. Icchi shrugs, leaving Shun-san to turn around and talk.

“I shall join you and Atsushi. I too am interested in whatever this hideout may hold. And the trip will give us plenty of opportunity to discuss the latest chapter of ‘Is It Weird That Everybody Screams ‘Just Kiss!’ When I Walk Into a Room?!’.”

Icchi snorts at that, and Iroha looks away. Shun-san, when he’d learned about her casual reading of manga, gleefully started a book club of sorts with her. It’s something Iroha looks forward to, if she has to confess, and she’s fully aware of Shun-san’s failed efforts to get Icchi to join.

“I guess I’ll go with Ishikawa, then,” Icchi says.

Honoka nods, and with it, everything is settled.

The group visiting starts to get up, since it’s almost time to go. As they do so, Iroha hears Shun-san mumble something.

“I wonder what we will find in that hideout…”

Iroha can see the gleam in Chihiro’s eyes. Whatever she’s planning, it’s probably to annoy Shun-san. Unfortunately, before she can stop Chihiro, her friend’s already spoken up, hand high in the air.

“I have a guess!” she says.

Shun-san widens his eyes.

“Really? What is it?” he asks.

Chihiro puts her hands on her hips, beaming at Shun-san. Oh, Iroha can already see the punchline. Poor Shun-san.

“Your mom.”

It’s Honoka’s turn to laugh, and Iroha herself only barely stifles her own. Shun-san, on the other hand, looks slightly confused.

“I don’t understand why my mother would be there,” he says, “She currently resides in Tokyo, and she would tell me if she was visiting.”

Chihiro’s smile drops in an instant as the realization sets in, and now Iroha can’t keep her laughter in anymore. Only Shun-san would ever have Chihiro’s joke backfire so spectacularly.

It’s good to see everyone in such high spirits even in the face of danger, she thinks. If they keep the morale like this, then they’d be unstoppable against this Amakusa.

That’ll have to be put to the test tomorrow.

----------
“I didn’t think the church would be closed today,” Ishikawa mutters.

Isamichi didn’t think so, either. The church is normally open at all times, based on all the times he’s driven by. It’ll be his first time actually stepping inside one, so he has no idea what to expect.

“Maybe it’s going under renovations,” Isamichi replies.

Ishikawa shakes her head.

“Church services are scheduled to continue as usual tomorrow. Something’s up.”

Iroha-san had timed this perfectly, then. Isamichi’s not sure what they’ll be finding in the church, although any evidence would really be good right now. That, or the man himself. However, that’s a concern for later, because right now, there’s something else to be worried about.

“How do we even get inside?” he asks.

Ishikawa points to a window off to the side. Unlike the other windows, this one looks far less ornate.

“Through there,” she says, “If you need it, I can help you.”

“Ah,” Isamichi replies.

They set off towards the window. It’s not too high, thankfully; they both should be able to get through it just fine.

Ishikawa looks at it, putting a hand to her chin. Then, after a few seconds, she fishes through her pocket, pulling out something that Isamichi doesn’t quite know.

“This should help us through.”

As Ishikawa pokes around the window with the object, Isamichi frowns. Surely, there has to be an easier way to open this window?

“Can’t you just use ninjutsu?” he asks.

Ishikawa shakes her head again.

She says, “This whole country’s riddled with anti-ninjutsu security mechanisms. You’d be a fool to use it. The thing is, with ninjutsu being the craze for security, they’ve ignored the manual ways of getting past.”

In hindsight, that should have been obvious.

Two seconds later, the window swings open, and Ishikawa wastes no time in hauling herself up and through it. Isamichi follows her, grabbing onto the sill before pushing himself up.

His entry into the church is far less elegant than Ishikawa’s. It’s hard maneuvering himself through the window, given how stiff he is. On top of that, as soon as he finally gets through, his hands suddenly give way.

Before he knows it, the only thing he can see is the floor.

Pain subtly crawls up to the side of his face as he looks up. From what he can see, he and Ishikawa have landed themselves in a dressing room of sorts; there’s a rack full of wedding dresses off to the side. A mirror stands to Isamichi’s immediate right, showing Ishikawa’s reflection as she stands to his immediate left.

She doesn’t look too impressed, nor does she crouch down to help. Instead, Isamichi gets up on his own, ignoring the pain in his face.

“Thankfully, you weren’t too loud,” Ishikawa says, “Come on now, we can’t waste time. Be sure to stay quiet.”

“Right,” Isamichi says.

Ishikawa immediately steps out of the dressing room, with Isamichi following her yet again. Thankfully, there’s boards showing where to go, as well as where the exits are.

“Where should we look first?” Isamichi whispers.

Ishikawa’s quick to point out the sign above them, which shows the direction to the church’s main hall.

“The main hall’s the biggest place, so it’ll take the most time to look through. Let’s check it first while we still have energy,” she says.

Isamichi nods, and they both walk towards it. If the sign’s right, the hall should be just up ahead. While the trip there should be easy, looking through won’t be. What exactly do they have to look for, anyway?

“Isn’t it odd?” Ishikawa asks.

Isamichi turns to her.

“What?”

Ishikawa points to the several pairs of doors in front of them.

“Their lights are all on,” she says, “You’d think they’d be off, since the place is closed.”

Isamichi should have connected the dots earlier. Sure enough, most of the lights in front of them are on. In that case…

“You’re saying we’re not alone?” he asks.

Ishikawa nods.

She replies, “Definitely not. Be careful.”

They both continue to walk forward, albeit more careful than last time. Isamichi’s aware of how his breathing starts to slow when reaching the door. Is he more nervous than he thinks?

He really shouldn’t be. The church is so big, there’s no way they’ll be spotted on the first one. They’ll just have to look through the rooms and find something that Iroha-san can make sense of.

They’ll be fine. Definitely. Totally. He can treat it like normal, and he won’t miss any details.

He grabs on to the doorknob, gently twisting it before pulling it towards him. The door opens, revealing no one at all.

The altar stands empty, as do the pews. The place looks sparkling clean; it’s as if even the dust has been swept off the ground, never to return. If Isamichi has to say anything, it’s that there’s no possible way anything of value could be found here.

Nevertheless, both he and Ishikawa step in, looking around the room. Isamichi braces himself as he does so, but Ishikawa seems relaxed.

"Oh," she says, "They left the lights on. Interesting fellow."

Ugh. That means Isamichi was worried for nothing.

Relief flooding his veins, he walks towards the altar. That might have something hidden in it, maybe, but that’s most likely just a reach. Frankly, he’s just irritated at how impeccable this room looks, despite the fact that someone was most certainly here.

“Where the hell is this guy, anyway?” he mutters.

“He’s right here.”

Huh?

Isamichi turns around, only to see that he and Ishikawa are not alone.

Joining them is a young man, shorter than Isamichi. The first thing Isamichi notes are his robes, rather ornate, but keeping to a simple red-orange and black scheme. The second is his hair. Long, blond hair, about the length of Ishikawa’s hair, is parted down the middle, adorned with a similar scarlet rope down the left side of his face.

Is it just Isamichi, or has the temperature dropped several degrees? No, it can’t be just him; the air’s gotten a bit damper too while he’s at it.

“Yo, you two,” the man says, “I heard you were looking for me.”

Something’s off about him. Isamichi can tell that much. But what?

“Who are you?” Ishikawa asks.

In spite of the atmosphere changing, Ishikawa looks as unconcerned as ever. Still, there’s a slight frown on her face as she looks at this man. The man, in response, chuckles.

“Ah, I suppose you don’t know who I am,” he says, “Although, since you are Kamen Riders, ever-diligent at your jobs, you may have heard of me.”

Can’t this man just spare the theatrics and spit it out?!

The man turns towards Isamichi, his smile remaining on his face as he speaks.

“My name is Amakusa Shiro Tokisada.”

Amakusa Shiro Tokisada… the exact same guy they were looking for. Right in the flesh.

Somehow, something more discomforting settles over Isamichi. Much like his instincts long ago, every cell of his body is screaming at him to run away. He has to, or else something bad will happen.

But why would he do that now? That’s the coward’s way out. Instead, despite his nerves, he settles for talking.

Before he can speak, however, Ishikawa does it for him.

“It’s you, huh?” she asks, “What are you doing here?”

How can she not sense any danger here? Or is she coolly ignoring it?

Amakusa turns to her, tilting his head slightly as he talks to her.

“I could ask you the same.”

Then, with a dramatic heel turn, he turns to Isamichi again, raising his hand.

“But would you look at that?” he asks, “The person I’ve been looking for, coming to me by his own volition.”

Who? Isamichi can’t think of anyone here, really. Ishikawa’s clearly not who Amakusa’s looking for, and no one else is in the room.

Wait, could it be?

Isamichi takes a shaky breath as he looks at Amakusa.

“Who… me?” he asks.

Amakusa puts his hands behind his back, proceeding to walk towards Isamichi. Isamichi in turn takes a few steps back, only to be stopped by the altar behind him. Amakusa, seemingly gleeful about this, keeps walking forward until he’s too close.

“I’ve been waiting to have a meeting with you for a rather long time, Konjou Isamichi.”

There has to be some way Isamichi can get out. This isn’t good. But he can’t do anything, not unless…

He swipes his foot under Amakusa’s, sending the latter crashing down. Isamichi quickly dashes towards Ishikawa, crossing his hands again.

“Ninpou Enton no Jutsu!” he yells.

Smoke fills the room, and Isamichi immediately makes a run for it. Ishikawa, somehow, doesn’t disagree with him, instead running with him.

The smoke should leave Amakusa coughing enough to exit the room, at least. Then, they can figure out their next option, which should be-

The smoke dissipates, stopping Isamichi in his tracks. While he does that, however, Ishikawa crosses her hands.

“Ninpou Muton no Jutsu!” she yells.

As soon as the fog forms, she grabs Isamichi’s forearm and starts to run. While it takes a bit for him to catch up with her pace, he manages to do so.

That is, until that clears, too.

“That fast…” Isamichi mutters, before yelling, “How?!”

Amakusa responds with a loud cackle, clapping his hands as he does so.

“You don’t see it, do you?” he asks, “When I say I’ve been waiting, I really meant it. Of course, I had to make some preparations for it. I knew you wouldn’t come so easily.”

With a flick of his hand, the door shuts. Crap.

Out of the corner of Isamichi’s eye, he sees Ishikawa ready herself for what might come next. Smart, he should do that too. But why does Amakusa look unfazed at that, too? Shouldn’t he know who exactly he’s up against?

As Isamichi does so, with his hand inching closer to his gourd, Amakusa pulls out something else. From what Isamichi can see, it looks very much like a lotus, except made out of crystal. The crystal shimmers, splitting up the light into a rainbow as Amakusa puts his hand over it.

“You see, I will get what I want. Your willpower… is in my hands.”

Agony coolly flows into his head; lava in the face of Isamichi’s flesh, sizzling his insides while Amakusa twists his wrist above the crystal lotus. His hand feels foreign as it clutches at his head to shoo the flames down, and his voice is sandpaper, turning Isamichi’s throat raw with every groan he lets out.

How stupid. Expressing his pain like this won’t get him anywhere. If anything, it allows the lava to lick and burn through further. But then, how…?

Darkness pulls a shadowy hand over his eyes and pounds mercilessly into his head. This, though, relieves any weight from the pain — in fact, it’s like he’s floating, further up, up, and away from his body, uncomfortably away from the driver's seat. In the midst of it all, languid, desperate breaths bring pain to prickle along his lungs, rather than the poisonless oxygen he desires.

Ishikawa’s hand is easy to recognise as a source of relief when it grabs onto him, contrasting the ache Amakusa’s laughter brings as it cuts into his flesh like a butter knife.

His own hands feel more familiar in the darkness and agony, denying relief and Ishikawa’s help. The last shreds of his sanity, his morals, his conscience are weak warriors begging him to snap out, lest trouble is brought to the mission. As all weak warriors do, however, they fall in battle with a jerk away from Ishikawa’s grip, freeing his waist and leaving itself lighter from it.

“There we go,” he hears Amakusa say, “I promise, you won’t be harmed if you behave.”

Much larger hands plant themselves and dig into Isamichi’s back and shoulder like they’ve always belonged there, and he ragdolls as they wondrously, agonizingly, pull him away. The darkness intensifies as he looks at his surroundings one last time.

Ishikawa’s hand, dexterously reaching out to defiantly bring aid, is what his eyes rest on before nothingness reigns.

----------
“For once, I agree with Yuzuki’s friends. She should just confess to Kenta already,” Iroha says.

Atsushi-san, bless his heart, has been listening to Iroha and Shun-san talk about the manga the whole time. Finding the hideout wasn’t too hard, given he had the directions, but Iroha still feels bad for having him overhear their entire discussion.

Shun-san shakes his head as they walk towards the hideout.

“I disagree. Rin is a far superior choice. She has always treated Yuzuki with the courteousness she needs,” he says.

“I can see that,” Iroha replies, “I just think Yuzuki fits better with Kenta. Although, I wouldn’t be mad if she ended up with Rin. Maybe a bit annoyed at the other choices, though. They make no sense.”

“Agreed. Tsubasa’s story is very stereotypical. We can all see the bad boy with a tragic backstory coming from a mile away. And Mari has been far too cruel to Yuzuki, despite all the fanservice.”

They’re almost at the hideout, but Iroha’s still not done with her conversation.

“I just hope the show doesn’t do anything like that,” she says, “Although, knowing how these go, she’ll probably end up with Tsubasa in there.”

Shun-san shakes his head. Before he can say anything, however, Atsushi-san is quick to interrupt.

“We’re here,” he says, “Iroha-chan, you know how to open this, right?”

That she does. Somehow, this hideout has none of the anti-ninjutsu mechanisms that most buildings these days have. As such, she crosses her hands, focusing her energy at the steel door.

“Ninpou Kinton no Jutsu!”

With a flick of her hand, the door swings open. The three of them waste no time in stepping inside, with Atsushi-san switching on his flashlight.

Inside is mostly empty. The remaining forces must have taken most of the items after they cleared it out. However, there’s still some stuff that Iroha can look through.

First to her attention are the papers on the abandoned desk, long collecting dust. Iroha gently picks them up, wiping dust off of them.

“On the Acquisition of Power from Those More So,” it reads.

There can’t be anyone else they would be talking about but the Kamen Riders, could they? Even if not, this can’t be any good; the only other people possibly relevant to this topic would be in the government.

Iroha quickly flips to the next page.

“Your objective on the fated date will be to support those carrying out the operation. Keep the parties occupied while we successfully take their powers. Below are some suggested techniques for doing so.”

They’re all stock distraction techniques, but there’s somehow a twist to each and every single one of them. Assuming it’s Amakusa who wrote this, he must be very good at improvising.

She sets that page to the side, looking at the next one.

“On Visiting Alternate Universes.”

Oh, no.

Dread starts to settle into Iroha’s stomach as she flips open the page. What the hell could the Niji no Hebi be planning, if it involves this?

“Should one have sufficient power, they could open portals to alternate universes by intensifying their disappearance techniques into a singular object. When I attain the power to do so, be sure to be at attention, for you may be called to do your missions in said alternate universes. Only focus on the worlds that involve ninjutsu.”

So that’s what Amakusa must be planning. But why only the worlds that have ninjutsu?

Iroha will have to do more research on this at home. Thankfully, she’s found at least something useful.

“Hey,” Atsushi-san says, “Come here. I think I found something.”

Iroha picks up the papers, turning around as she rolls them into a scroll. Atsushi-san and Shun-san seem to be looking over something as she walks over to them. When she’s in reachable distance, Atsushi-san turns around, holding up papers.

“Materials and Their Ability to Hold Power,” he reads out loud.

Thankfully, Iroha doesn’t have to read too much for this one. Apparently, some materials work very well to store dark energy. However, there’s a catch.

“The more dark power in the object, the more fragile it is,” she reads, “Hence, the best objects should be larger in size. If you find something hard and large, let me know immediately.”

So that’s why these papers are even here in the first place. But what could Amakusa’s purpose possibly be if it means visiting other worlds with ninjutsu?

Before she can ask Shun-san or Atsushi-san for their opinions, her phone rings. As she picks it up and looks at the contact, she sees it’s from Honoka. Maybe she and Icchi found something, too?

She answers the call, heart immediately dropping with Honoka’s words.

“We’re in trouble. Konjou’s been kidnapped.”

----------
When Isamichi comes to, he feels some uncomfortable tightness around his wrists and ankles.

It’s a lot colder than how he normally feels, but he ignores that as he opens his eyes. Immediately, he finds the reason as to why it’s so cold; his trusty coat and sweater vest are both off to the side, folded neatly.

The room itself must be in the old government building. Isamichi’s been inside it enough to tell. Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any windows for him to get out of this building through.

Well, that would have been a worry for later. Right now, his worry is whatever’s tying his wrists behind his back, or the binds sticking his ankle to these chair legs.

In front of him, someone — most likely Amakusa, given the clothes and hair — stands, back turned towards Isamichi, looking at some hologram. What a terrible meeting. Shouldn’t the meeting room have more furniture than a singular, rather uncomfortable chair?

“You know,” Isamichi says, “If you wanted a meeting with me, you could have called. I’m sure I could have fit you somewhere on my schedule.”

His voice is raspy, and it’s only now that he notes how dry his throat is. Water would be very nice now, but would Amakusa even give some?

Amakusa turns around, walking towards Isamichi. He stops awkwardly close, but thankfully stops there.

“I couldn’t wait that long, I’m afraid. Had to skip the line, you know?” Amakusa says.

Isamichi replies, “And skipping the line meant you had to kidnap me?”

“Easiest way to do so. Even if it took you a day to wake up.”

Isamichi really wishes Amakusa would back away. But still, given that he’s here, Amakusa probably wants something from him. Maybe with a fast enough conversation, he’ll be let go, or at least, left alone.

“What do you want from me?” he asks, “I haven’t got all day.”

Amakusa laughs again.

“You sound a lot like Shinobi. And here I thought I kidnapped Hattari.”

“Just spit it out already,” Isamichi replies.

Before he knows it, Amakusa’s hand is in his hair, fist clenched around it tightly. Isamichi winces; the roots of his hair must feel so similar to those of a tree being unearthed and ushered away from its home. He’s also much closer than he was before; his face is only a couple centimetres away at most from Isamichi’s. Sticky breath floats across to Isamichi, who scrunches up his nose. Albeit not unpleasant, it's still a reminder of how close Amakusa's skin is to his.

Since when was the air so stuffy?

That's not all, he realizes. Amakusa's other hand has now firmly placed itself on his thigh, squeezing it lightly. Never has his leg felt so clammy; couldn't Amakusa have put his hand anywhere else?

It makes Isamichi’s skin crawl as he shivers. At this point, he’s not sure if that’s from the discomfort or the cold.

“You’ve got something I want. In fact, you’re the only person in the world with access to it.”

Does Amakusa know how little that narrows his desires down? Isamichi has exclusive access to a lot of things, as Konjou Company’s CEO.

“Huh?” he asks.

Amakusa gets closer, and closer still; Isamichi almost tries to lean back as far as he can before Amakusa turns his face towards Isamichi’s ear. His hand starts to creep up Isamichi's thigh, making the latter's heart skip a beat. Fear must have immobilized him there, too, but he can't afford to show it.

Stop, Isamichi thinks, as he looks off to the side. Amakusa, unable to hear him, carries on. Hair still in his grip, he speaks, voice in a low whisper.

“The files Konjou Company has about Niji no Hebi equipment. Hand them over.”

Ah. That.

There’s some terrifying stuff in those files, Isamichi remembers. Those files should have never been in the hands of Niji no Hebi, nor with his father at all. He’s not about to hand them back over.

Despite the lack of distance between him and Amakusa, Isamichi sighs, watching Amakusa grimace at the slight disturbance to his hair fluttering in the stagnant air.

“What if I don’t?” Isamichi asks.

Just like that, Amakusa’s face is uncomfortably close to him yet again. His grip tightens ever-so-slightly on Isamichi’s hair, giving him no respite from neither the suffocating air nor Amakusa's body heat. Not left unnoticed is Amakusa's other hand, now almost at his waist. There must be some place where he'll stop, but he doesn't seem to do so at all. His grip tightens there too, making Isamichi wince from the slight pain.

“You’ll never be found again. Not until you hand over the files,” Amakusa replies.

The manic gleam in his face melds with his creepily-wide grin as he continues to talk.

“You see, I’m a very patient man. I’ve been waiting forever to have this chat. I can wait longer for those files. But you… not so much, aren’t you?”

Damn right. But Isamichi is more stubborn than he is impatient. Those files won’t fall into Amakusa’s hands, even if he dies to make that point.

“Besides, think about your precious friends,” Amakusa says, “Won’t it hurt them?”

Of course it would. But Isamichi’s sure they’d understand. It’s for the sake of the world, and for them partially, that he’s refusing to give up.

“I know you care about one enough to take a fatal hit for him. Do you want to hurt him by disappearing from his life, forever? Would you even be able to stand never seeing him again?”

Rentarō.

Of course, it would hurt. There had been a guttural scream shrieking out as he had sunk into the dark abyss of water. Now that he knows it’s Rentarō that the scream came from, he can’t imagine Rentarō to be any less hurt by this. Nor would Isamichi in turn be any less hurt; he’d waited eons to see Rentarō again. He’s sure Amakusa knows that the answer to both questions, especially the last one, is no.

Instead of answering, however, he resorts to glaring pointedly at Amakusa. Amakusa widens his eyes before frowning.

At long last, he distances himself from Isamichi, letting go of his hair and his thigh. Never has the sharp frostiness of the air ever felt so pleasant, even if shivers wrack his body again.

The staleness of said air, however, remains ever-present as Amakusa speaks.

“In exchange, maybe you can learn more about your precious mother.”

What?

Iroha-san’s hunch was right on the money, then; Amakusa’s using Mama’s playbook. As Isamichi’s heart starts to sink, Amakusa continues.

“I have many things about her, you know. All I need is the information your father had.”

If anything, it’s strengthened Isamichi’s resolve to not fall. He’ll break out of here himself and find that information while he’s at it. Now Amakusa just needs to leave.

“No,” Isamichi says.

As if a miracle has finally struck, Amakusa turns his head off to the side, puzzled expression on his face. Then, he turns to Isamichi, holding up that lotus of his.

“It seems I have to go,” he says, “I’ll be back. Be a good boy and think about it, won’t you?”

No way, Isamichi wants to respond.

He stays silent as Amakusa leaves the room, shutting the door. Finally, he can breathe again, for the air has returned to being like normal.

For now, he takes a bit to get his bearings, unconsciously letting his memories of Mama take front and center in his mind again.

He hadn’t even met Rentarō when she’d passed away.

She’d grown very ill. There had been a problem for a while, but by the time Mama had finally gotten it checked out, it was too late. Nevertheless, she’d kept her cheerful and gentle spirit up until the very end.

Come to think of it now, that spirit must have been a farce, too.

Her death a few months later, witnessed by Isamichi, had been an omen to the imminent decreased quality of his life.

No use moping about it. Right now, he’s got to get out of here and see what his mother may have sparked into Amakusa’s actions.

Judging by the texture, it’s probably rope around his wrists. Time to use Rentarō’s signature technique, even if it may burn just a bit.

Isamichi closes his eyes and channels energy into his fingertips as he points them upward.

“Ninpou Katon no Jutsu.”

Much to his delight, flames burst from his fingertips, catching onto the rope. He winces when it touches his hands, but soon both the flames and the rope have gone up in smoke.

“Alright,” he says.

Freeing himself from the ropes around his ankles is a lot easier. Within seconds, he’s up on his feet again, grabbing his sweater vest and his coat.

Putting them on has never felt so relieving.

Up next is the door. The anti-ninjutsu mechanisms on this building must be as strong as ever. Isamichi doesn’t have anything to pick the lock with, but he can probably make something.

“Ninpou Kinton no Jutsu.”

With a bit of maneuvering, steel forms into two hair pins, bent like the ones he’s seen Ishikawa use. He quickly jams it into the keyhole. How did Ishikawa do it again?

Slower this time, he moves the top pick around. All the pins seem loose, except for one. Maybe that’s the one he needs to push on?

It clicks. Bingo.

With enough effort and a bit of time, Isamichi no longer finds any more loose pins. That must be all of them. He pulls on the knob, watching in amazement as it swings open.

What a handy skill, he thinks, as he takes out the lockpicks.

That’s only step one of this, though. He still has to find the files about his mother.

Better make it quick, then, unless he wants to be trapped again.

----------
Iroha had gone home with all the documents after that.

A day has passed, and Icchi is nowhere to be found. She’d tried looking for a phone signal, but Honoka had told her that Icchi’s phone was with her.

That leaves her on square one.

Currently, Iroha looks through the documents she has at home. The one about alternate universes is the one she’s perusing through right now, for the most concerning ones should always be looked at first.

Amakusa made his intentions clear. After gaining power from most likely the Kamen Riders, he’ll visit the other worlds with ninjutsu. But what is he planning to do with those worlds?

Looking at this document won’t help. The same information gives no opportunity for any connections to be born. Instead, she should look at the document Okamoto-san sent her.

She pulls it up on her phone, looking through for anything of use.

“The overall purpose of this mission is to regain the power of the Niji no Hebi,” the introduction reads, “Even if our Lady is no longer with us, she would want us to move on. Once we seize powers, efforts to unseal her can proceed.”

That’s not surprising, Iroha thinks. Stealing the Kamen Riders’ powers would also stop any efforts against the Niji no Hebi’s return. But why bring other worlds into it?

Alternate universes should be her next keyword. Surely, something so important must have been mentioned? Then how did Iroha not remember?

Right. A cursory glance looking for names.

She looks it up. Lo and behold, there’s an entire section about it right here, around the middle. Iroha remembers reading this part in class, but she’d focused more on the lesson than the actual thing here. How it had come to bite her.

“Our focus on alternate universes are restricted solely to those with Kamen Riders in them.”

Huh? Such a suggestion was never brought about before. Was her earlier hunch incorrect?

She reads a bullet point a couple lines later, seemingly having been added at a later date.

“Note: upon several days of research, it seems other forms of power are incompatible. Hence, until further notice, only focus on the worlds with ninja Kamen Riders.”

…Oh. So, when Amakusa meant ninjutsu, did he mean ninja Kamen Riders?

That should be her next keyword. Not ninja Kamen Riders, specifically, but any Kamen Riders. There should be some explanation for any intentions with these Kamen Riders, just to make sure the Niji no Hebi’s on one page.

Sure enough, she finds it.

“The most efficient way to defeat the Kamen Riders is to disarm them,” she reads, “That being said, our circumstances are rather dire, and we must find other ways to combat the Kamen Riders, even if they are disarmed.”

A confirmation of her suspicions from earlier. Next.

“My personal research during my time in the Niji no Hebi being active has shown evidence that there are other Kamen Riders out there. We must disarm them, too, in case that they may choose to help. Who knows what abilities they have to be able to arrive here?”

How existential, Iroha thinks. Sure, she’d always had the thought of other universes possibly existing, but to do studies on it is something she’d never dreamed would be possible.

Enough wonder for now, though. She’s got a job to do.

“Our methods of transportation to these other worlds will occur soon. When this happens, find the ninja Kamen Riders there, and seize their methods of transformation. If we can seize control of that world, feel free to put in plans for that too.”

Iroha’s blood begins to run cold.

Is this world not enough? Why bother with ruling other worlds? What would happen if, say, one were to fail? Iroha’s taken enough history classes to know where this would go.

What would those Kamen Riders even be like? Iroha can’t quite think of any suits, but she wonders what the people underneath those suits are like.

Maybe there’s another brother-sister duo out there, much like her and Nii-chan, only that the sister’s elder this time. Kind and pure-hearted, maybe they’re trying to make their world peaceful, just like how the Kamen Riders did. Knowing the odds, they’d probably be the only ninja Riders wherever they are, or maybe it’s only one of them. Even if they’re more ordinary than her and Nii-chan, Iroha can’t help but think they’re doing their best.

Or maybe that’s not the case. Maybe there’s someone who’s been fighting for a long time, maybe even longer than any of the Riders here have been alive. Chances are, he wouldn’t be fully human if he can fight for so long. Cyborg, robot, it doesn’t matter to Iroha. Perhaps, this Rider was a hothead once. By now, it’s most likely he’d have calmed down, teaching the lessons he’s learned in turn to those much younger than him.

A ninja swordsman. A ninja game developer. The possibilities are endless. But Iroha is sure most, if not all of them, are fighting for justice and peace.

Those poor Kamen Riders. They’ve got no idea on what’s coming, unless Iroha acts fast.

One last mention. She clicks next, bracing for the worst.

“With disarming and learning techniques from all the ninja Kamen Riders, we shall rise again before they know it.”

So that’s what they meant, Iroha thinks. It all makes sense now.

The others have to hear of this. This makes rescuing Icchi even more necessary, for what if Amakusa’s already taken his power?

She opens the groupchat, sending a brief summary of her realizations. Immediately, the chat revives, with the exact reactions Iroha expected them to have.

“This is bad,” Honoka’s message says, “Even worse, I haven’t found Konjou anywhere I looked.”

Chihiro’s reads, “If only that Amakusa bastard would show himself.”

Agreed, Iroha thinks. That way, she’d give him a piece of her mind herself. Ninjutsu above, if Nii-chan found out about what happened-

“Iroha? Is everything okay?” she hears.

Speak of the devil.

She turns around to see Nii-chan, smiling at her. He’s concerned, she’s lived enough with him to know that, but at least he’s smiling.

She can’t hurt that.

Quick to jump back to her senses, she forces a smile on herself, nodding vigorously.

“Everything’s fine!” she says, “Really! I just found out that next week’s Japanese test is the hardest one of the year.”

Nii-chan shakes his head as he looks down.

“Ah, so that’s it,” he says.

Iroha is confident he hasn’t bought the story at all. Nevertheless, he only pouts slightly before looking at her again.

“You know if you’re troubled with anything, you can tell me, right? I’m still your brother. You can always come to me.”

Iroha nods, keeping up her smile.

“Yep!” she says, “Seriously, it’s nothing bad. But I’ll keep that in mind.”

Nii-chan’s smile returns to his face.

“Alright. I’ll be making lunch soon, so you better get ready for my top-class cooking again!” he exclaims.

Iroha pumps her fist. While Icchi might laugh at the exclamation, to Iroha, Nii-chan’s cooking really is top-class.

Her heart sinks at the reminder of Icchi’s disappearance, stifling him from laughing at such a comment. Nevertheless, she nods, trying to distract herself from it.

“Can’t wait!” she says.

Nii-chan is quick to shut the door, leaving Iroha alone again. She looks down at her phone, seeing the latest message from Atsushi-san.

“Judging by what Ishikawa-san said, Amakusa’s likely to be near him. To keep an eye on him, that is. So if we find Isamichi-kun, we can find Amakusa.”

Shun-san is swift to add a reply.

“We should all search around different areas. It will be the most efficient method to find Konjou Isamichi.”

Right. Iroha can start with the area around the house. The woods here have known her since she was a child, perhaps they’ll whisper a hint or two to her.

Wasting no time, she slips out of her room, making sure Nii-chan’s in the kitchen before she puts on her shoes and slinks out of the house.

Finding Icchi before lunch is ready is a dream too far to be chased.

----------
Several doors stand open, welcoming Isamichi into empty rooms.

He rejects them all, walking past any with no information to offer him. Surely, this next door would have something; why is he having such a hard time unlocking it otherwise?

It sure would be nice having his phone with him right now, but that’s not a possibility. Amakusa probably has it.

He jams his picks into this keyhole again, slowly working through it like he did the rest. With one click, then another, he frowns more and more.

Finally, he finds pin five. He gently eases it into its designated spot.

Click. He stands up, pulling on the doorknob.

His heart begins to soar as the door finally swings open. His knees really are starting to hurt; with how many times he’s had to get on them to unlock these doors, he’s not sure he’ll be able to stand well when he’s finally done.

He takes a look at the contents of the room, taking note of the presence of actual objects in the room. This one’s definitely worth looking into. If everything goes well, his knees could come out only a bit scratched.

He walks into the room, taking note of the files — both paper and holographic — laying around. On instinct, he taps on the first hologram he sees.

“Instructions on unlocking files and safes…” he reads.

It’s his lucky day, he supposes. With this, he can easily read through everything here. Oh, and unlock the safe behind him.

After finding the password to the safe, Isamichi turns around and looks down at the safe. It looks like a regular safe. He should be alright.

Carefully, he punches in the combination listed, then pulls the lever. Relief lowers his shoulders as the safe opens, with the additional bonus of no alarms sounding. It only increases further when he sees what’s inside.

The shining gold and tangerine threads of his gourd smile back at him, welcoming him back. He quickly grabs it, pocketing it for good measure before looking at the paper files next to him.

He can’t quite make out the date. The year, however, is listed: 1992. This document’s older than Isamichi. He’s not sure how to feel about it as he looks through it.

“Final copy of election campaign.”

The part underneath the title shows the names of a bunch of the people who worked on this document. Isamichi doesn’t recognize any of them. None, that is, until he gets to the very last one.

Mama.

Dread floods through, sweeping away any of his other emotions. And yet, his hands refuse to stop as he flips open the page.

“With rising concerns about the environment from both us and the common people, it is evident that the environment should be our focus. Should we get elected into office, we can begin to take actions to lessen humanity’s impact on the world.”

Okay, that’s not actually too bad. Neither is the rest of the actual campaign promise, which tells mostly of ways to implement ninjutsu instead of fossil fuels and whatnot. As such, he flips to the last page, seeing if there’s anything there.

“Exit protocols?” he mutters, before reading.

“As we are all aware, the Niji no Hebi must keep its secrets. As such, no one is allowed to leave without dire consequences. I suggest removing them from existence in both life and record.”

Icicles start to form in Isamichi’s blood yet again as he scours through for the section writers. No, this has to be a mistake. Mama couldn’t possibly have written this-

She’s the only writer of this section.

The last walls of the castle begin to crumble with these words. So it really was true, even if Isamichi didn’t want to believe it. But wouldn’t Mama have shown these true colours sometime when he could remember?

A memory flashes past him again. He was six years old at the time, complaining about something that he doesn’t remember. Mama had crouched down and talked to him.

“You need to be able to do this, Isamichi. You’re the future heir of Konjou Company. If you show any sign of weakness, you’ll be eaten alive,” she had said.

Isamichi hadn’t quite grasped all of that, due to being six years old. Regardless, he’d understood the “eaten alive” part, and had rightfully been scared about it.

Mama had gently shaken his shoulders, smiling before embracing him.

“Well, to me you can. I’m your Mama. But no one else, okay?”

…Come to think of it, it sort of makes sense now.

A noise echoes in the distance before he can whip his around to look for anything else. Alarm bells sound danger in his head, and his hair stands up with every step towards a possible exit.

No windows. Drat. He’ll just have to brute force the door.

As he dashes out of the room, edges of something off materialize into a portal in front of his very eyes, right in the chamber where he was held captive.

Right, a stairwell: that’ll have to do. His legs rush him towards it on instinct, and he steps down a flight of stairs in record time as Amakusa’s voice stabs into his head.

“He’s gone…” Amakusa says, “Where did he go?!”

Even if his legs grow heavy and heave where his mouth can’t, he dashes down another flight. The cadence of his footsteps bludgeons into his heart, and the alarms are deafening. He can’t shake — he absolutely mustn’t, for the only thing worse than being found is being found quivering.

Door. He needs to find the exit door. Or a window. Just whatever will get him out of this accursed building.

He exits through the next door he sees. There’s windows, yes, but there’s no door. Still, it’ll do. Isamichi crosses his hands, and a power of urgency, rather than confidence, courses through him when willing steel spikes to the window.

“Ninpou Kinton no Jutsu.”

Steel spikes do appear, as Isamichi expects. However, instead of the window glass shattering into a million pieces, granting him freedom, the steel spikes fold themselves into useless lumps before dropping fruitlessly to the ground — an expression of yielding, forcing Isamichi into the stale air he’s been within.

Crap. He has to find the door. Back to the stairwell.

His breath wisps away from his grasp with the closing of the door. Immediately after, the bone-chilling sound of the portal comes from the floor where he was not even a minute ago. Truly, this stairwell gives a false sense of a safe haven, but it’s only a matter of time until the shield of safety cracks and gives way to the chase.

“Not here either…” Amakusa says, quieter with every step Isamichi takes.

The stairwell darkens with every progressing flight — eventually, Isamichi’s reached a part where going down would mean he’d become synonymous with the darkness, where left and right would twist and have no meaning to his mind anymore.

This door it is.

The familiar sights of the old government building lobby greet him as he runs through, and he’s back to piloting his body fully, allowing the weariness to creep into his abdomen at last. The natural yellow shine of the sky outside is a far better alternative to the artificial white of the stairwell.

There it is, there’s the door he’s been looking for for so long. Thanks to its swiveling structure, there’s no additional obstacles for Isamichi to go through, unless Amakusa decides to show up. He glances over the room one last time, looking for any purple portals that may decide to show up. None in sight.

The shrieks of the alarm bells finally cease as he runs towards the door.

----------
By the time Iroha gets back home, she’s sure her lunch has gone cold.

Icchi is still missing, for she hadn’t been able to find him. Neither had the others, for they’d all texted their disappointment and worries in the group chat.

For now, sneaking back into the house without Nii-chan noticing remains a large concern. She should be fine, given her expertise at sneaking, so she opens the window that she knows connects to her room.

Easy does it, she thinks, as she slides it open.

Ever-so-gently, she eases herself up and through the window, landing on the other side with no sound at all. With the same snail-like pace, she closes the window.

Now she can creep in and eat her lunch and make some excuse for Nii-chan-

“Nice try,” she hears.

She turns around, embarrassment trickling down her spine. Nii-chan stands in the doorway, arms crossed, frown set on his face. With that, any embarrassment at being caught is immediately replaced by guilt, poured onto her like an icy bucket of water.

“Where were you?” Nii-chan asks, “I called you for lunch, but I didn’t find you! You didn’t even answer any of my calls. I got so worried…”

Iroha’s first response is to wrap her arms around Nii-chan, patting him on the back as she speaks.

“I’m okay. I just had to be out for a bit.”

“Out for what?” Nii-chan replies.

Oh. That.

How exactly is she supposed to explain things now? She can’t just give her usual causes, since Nii-chan will see right through them. Any other possible excuses can easily be torn apart by the fact that she either missed lunch for Nii-chan’s first time cooking here again or that she climbed through a window in her own house.

There really is no excuse. But what is she going to do, break Nii-chan’s heart?

“Iroha? Is everything okay?” Nii-chan asks.

She’s hyperventilating, Iroha realizes. Now there’s definitely no way out. Who knew that the one breaking the promise of not letting Nii-chan know would be her all along?

“...I think I need to sit down,” she says.

A couple minutes later, Iroha’s reheated lunch is in front of her, her vision gleefully jumps the line between clear and blurry, and Nii-chan is right opposite her.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, “You’re not normally like this.”

Iroha’s already feeling the guilt coming in. She can already imagine the sight on Nii-chan’s face. And yet, this has to be done, if that means she has to explain herself.

“It’s about Icchi,” she says.

Nii-chan’s eyes widen at the mention.

“Icchi?” he asks, “What happened?”

She can already sense the worry in his voice. As expected from Nii-chan, but that only means his impending reaction will be horrible to watch. Iroha takes a sharp, shaky breath before finally breaking her promise.

“He’s… missing. He got kidnapped. We haven’t seen or heard from him in a day or two.”

And there it is, the reaction Iroha’s been dreading this whole time.

Nii-chan’s uneasy expression immediately falls away into a frown of disbelief, eyebrows going sky-high once more as he leans forward. That in turn dissolves into something worse entirely: the shut-down state of times gone by, eyes going void, face now only just letting Iroha look at the anguish within.

His voice is about as empty.

“...What? How?”

And so, Iroha supposes it’s time to tell Nii-chan everything, from the start of the meeting to right now, including her vow to leave him in the dark. And she does, and it rends her heart to see any last shreds of optimism and energy palpably evaporate when she talks about Icchi’s kidnapping.

Nii-chan’s silence is steely and drawn-out; after a while, he finally speaks. Iroha only wishes it wasn’t the smallest, most defeated tone she’s heard since the incident with Master Gamano.

“...I could have stopped all this.”

Iroha shakes her head. That’s not true. Out of everyone, Nii-chan’s the only one who had no idea.

“No. You couldn’t. Not when all six of us kept it from you,” she says.

For being told about that, Nii-chan’s taking it rather well. Instead, he slumps back, frown frozen on his face as he glances downward. She can hear his breaths grow heavy and uneven — quickly curbed, as per the guidebook of his past intuitions in his life of masks, and she apologizes mentally for everything going this awry.

“Icchi…” she hears him mumble.

Ah, that state — undesirable, up there with the events of Christmas Day. She can’t do much about it, not right now, not until a sufficient amount of time has passed and Nii-chan’s willing to hear her speak again. So, to bide the time, she checks her phone. Seemingly, the group chat has stayed active.

The latest text, a picture from Honoka, is of Toyama’s map, with most of the map crossed off. Iroha quickly recognizes them as places everyone had said they’d look through. Judging by the X on her house and the woods, it’s safe to assume the crosses cover areas where Icchi wasn’t found.

“Where the hell else is he?” Chihiro writes shortly after, “We’ve looked everywhere. Did that bastard take him out of town?”

“I doubt it,” Shun-san replies, “It’s most likely he would attack here. Hence, I believe he is keeping Konjou Isamichi in this city, to use for his benefit.”

As a hostage or a meat shield? Iroha doesn’t want to know.

She mentally goes through the list of places everyone’s searched through by referencing the map. Anything obvious, like the woods, had no signs of Icchi whatsoever. Anything else that could possibly work in a pinch, such as Tori no Me Viewpoint, had proved useless as well.

There has to be something left. But either there’s no Icchi there, or…

It would be too stupid to look into.

Iroha looks at the map again. The area near Konjou Estate had been checked, and there’s no way Icchi’s under house arrest of sorts; there’s a multiple million ways to call for help that even Amakusa wouldn’t know of. Which could only leave a few places, like the beach…

Or Konjou Square.

How could Iroha have been such an idiot? There’s multiple different buildings in Konjou Square. Konjou Company, as per Shun-san’s testimony, has no sign of him, but that still leaves everywhere else.

Looking on the map, it stands out. It’s the only urban area that hasn’t been crossed off. Iroha’s willing to bet several of her jutsu abilities that Icchi’s there.

“I think I’ve got a new lead,” she texts, “What if we look into Konjou Square?”

Atsushi-san replies, “You’re right! Come to think of it, the government building still isn’t renovated.”

And now, Iroha has a place to start looking.

“We’ll start there,” she types, “And then we’ll widen our search to the whole square. I’ll be heading there now. See you.”

She puts away her phone, wolfs down the rest of her lunch, and gets up. Before walking out of the house, though, she looks to Nii-chan.

“I’m hauling him here as soon as I find him,” she says, “I promise.”

Nii-chan doesn’t respond as Iroha hurries out the door.

The minute she’s out of the door, she pulls out her gourd, letting the belt form on her waist before putting her hands on her hips. Her bike arrives, and she mounts it before setting off for Konjou Square.

“Icchi, we’re coming. Hang on,” she says.

Even if she knows he can’t hear her, she hopes he’ll somehow get the sentiment.

----------
Iroha’s the first to reach Konjou Square.

It’s empty, much to her surprise. Normally, no matter the time, the square’s bustling with people as long as the sun’s up. Yet, as she steps into the square, she can’t help but get a weird feeling down her back.

Is that why no one’s here?

Chihiro comes soon after, bike at breakneck speed before she hits the brakes. She stops just shy of Iroha, dismounting as fast as possible.

“The government building, right?” Chihiro asks, “Let’s go!”

They both start to run towards it. It’s empty at first, from what Iroha can see, but after a few seconds she sees someone running — fatigued, yes, but running — towards the door. Squinting a bit, she tries to make out the figure.

The signature brown coat and the facial features make Iroha’s heart soar.

“Icchi!” she exclaims, running towards the door in turn.

He doesn’t seem to have heard her, for he’s looking behind himself at the moment. The expression on his face shows signs of panic, and everything clicks for Iroha.

He’s running away from Amakusa, isn’t he?

Iroha — and Chihiro, who had followed her — reach the door right as Icchi does. With a tired shove, the door swivels, getting him out of the building.

“Icchi!” Iroha yells once again.

“Konjou! Over here!” Chihiro adds.

Icchi’s not looking great. For one, he can barely stand, even with him running a couple seconds earlier. As such, Iroha grabs one side of him, letting him rest his weight on her as Chihiro supports his other side.

“We’ve got you,” Iroha says.

Upon looking up, she sees they’re not alone.

“So he really was here,” Honoka says, “Nice thinking, Iroha.”

Icchi lets go of Iroha and Chihiro gently, standing gingerly. As soon as he does, Iroha looks at him, jumping into the long list of questions she’s got for him.

“Are you okay?!” she asks.

Icchi nods, albeit weakly.

“Yeah,” he says, voice very hoarse, “Bit roughed up.”

“What happened to you?” Iroha asks, without skipping a beat.

Icchi looks up in the sky as he takes a deep breath.

“Uh… I woke up tied to a chair. Amakusa questioned me about some files I had and asked me to hand them over. I said no, then he left. I then broke out and got my gourd back, and found out some stuff about my mother before I got here.”

“Sounds like a lot,” Honoka says.

The sound of bikes rumble from the distance, and Iroha turns around. A blur of yellow and red starts to slow down, revealing Shun-san and Atsushi-san with enough closeness.

They too dismount their bikes, and Iroha can see the relief on their faces as they see Icchi.

“You’re safe,” Shun-san says, clearly trying to mask his relief, “Thank goodness.”

Icchi nods again before speaking.

“I’ll fill you in on Amakusa later, okay? I need some rest.”

Iroha can agree with that. She’s all ready to drag him home, just so that Nii-chan can hear.

Oh, right! She should probably tell Nii-chan, shouldn’t she?

“I need to step out for a bit,” she says, “I'll be right back.”

The group all gestures for her to step away. Much to Iroha’s relief, they ask no questions.

“See ya, princess,” Honoka replies.

With some distance from the group, Iroha calls Nii-chan. As she expects, the call goes to voicemail; Nii-chan must still be moping.

“Hey, Nii-chan,” she says, “It’s Iroha. Icchi’s safe, we found him. I’ll be dragging him home in a few-”

“On the contrary,” she hears.

She turns around to look at her friends again. They all stand, different expressions on their faces. While there’s concern on Shun-san’s face and disgust on Honoka’s, what stands out to Iroha is the sheer terror on Icchi’s.

She then turns to the other person in the square, standing much closer to her than the rest.

His robes are rather ornate, and his hair rather long. On top of that, he’s holding a sword, one with a blade longer than any Iroha’s seen before. There’s a gleam in his eyes that she’s not quite sure she likes, either.

“Yo, Kagura Iroha,” he says, “Thank you for bringing everyone here. It makes my job a lot easier.”

He eyes the group, then frowns.

“Almost everyone. I guess we’re still waiting on your brother. But I can still get started.”

Transforming is only a matter of Iroha pulling her gourd out yet again, taking out her booster plate and getting into her pose.

“Henshin!” she yells.

“Unmei no te, ashiki isan o gen ni modose!”

She can take on Amakusa alone. As the rest pull out their gourds, Iroha shakes her head before focusing her energy and her fingertips to the sky.

“Ninpou Denton no Jutsu!”

Clouds form in the sky above, crackling with lightning. As Iroha brings her hand down, in front of her face, she lets the lightning rain down.

Much to her delight, the lightning strikes Amakusa. Iroha’s almost blinded by the blast, swiftly reminded that lightning’s brilliance is not meant to be seen up close.

She’s not surprised to see that Amakusa’s in one piece. However, he’s now sporting some injuries. What brings her concern is the fact that the gleam in Amakusa’s eyes hasn’t left. In fact, it’s brighter than ever.

“Interesting… you actually landed a hit on me,” he says.

He’s far too nonchalant for someone who just got hit by lightning.

“Time to get serious.”

He lifts up his arms in a circular motion before resting them to his side. As he does so, his eyes glow green, and red energy envelopes him. The energy catches fire right before imbuing itself into him.

No longer is there a man claiming to be an opponent. No, there stands a monster now, all red and black, with a ponytail to boot. Frankly, Iroha likes the one on Honoka’s suit better.

Fine. If he wants a fight, he can have a fight. That way, Iroha can end this whole remnant situation as fast as possible. With one defeat, all these remnants will be toast.

He runs towards her, both hands wielding the sword. Crap, Iroha’s at a disadvantage. Regular ninjutsu it’ll have to be.

“Ninpou Kinton no Jutsu!” she hears.

A sword flies towards Iroha, and she catches it in the nick of time. There’s only one person who it could have come from, so she turns to the source.

“Chihiro, nice!”

Chihiro shoots her a thumbs-up, and Iroha returns to the fight.

Amakusa’s relentless in his swordsmanship, trying to poke at every single open spot she’s got. She can only parry in return as she does so. It would be ideal if she was farther away from Amakusa, but she’s got no way to do that.

Nevertheless, his ruthless attacks begin to tire out even Iroha. She has to be rather abrupt in her dodging, and forceful too, lest Amakusa land a successful strike.

Parry, then block again, then dodge with a roll. That’s how Iroha has to work for now.

It’s only when she tries to get up from the roll that she realizes that was a mistake. Amakusa brings a hand in front of him, ring and pinky fingers curled just like Iroha with her lightning attack.

“Yami Nin: Rainbow Sakura!”

Yami Nin? Is that something new?

Before she can answer that question, Amakusa spreads his arms wide.

Iroha finds herself swirled by cherry blossoms everywhere. Where did those trees come from? They don’t feel anything like Shun-san’s trees at all; darkness creeps from them, giving Iroha chills.

The sakura petals converge on her, slicing through her one by one. Talk about death by a thousand cuts; this is taking it to the next level.

The energy from the petals take over her body all at once, overwhelming her. The energy reacts with her, almost blinding her again as it surrounds her in flames. It knocks the wind out of her, giving her even more agony for good measure.

She feels her suit fall away as she falls to the ground.

“That should have dealt with you,” Amakusa says, “Now, with our former princess almost out of my way… this should become a lot easier to deal with.”

He raises his sword, ready to strike. Iroha knows she can get up — should get up — but she can’t muster the energy to do so. Instead, she closes her eyes, hoping for any energy to return to her body.

Right as he brings his sword down, she hears a clang of metal. She opens her eyes, only to see green and blue in front of her. The fact that Chihiro and Honoka are both using their respective weapons and still being able to block Amakusa is a feat to Iroha.

“You two…” Amakusa hisses, “What are you, her dogs or something?”

Chihiro chuckles as she pushes her kusarigama even further.

“If that’s what you want to call us, sure.”

Honoka adds, “She may no longer be a princess, but we still proudly call ourselves her knights.”

Iroha’s feeling a bit more energized now, so she gets up, picking up her gourd and sword. Against all odds, a smile begins to form on her face as she looks at the two in front of her.

Chihiro and Honoka, always at her side whenever she needs them. What would she do without them?

“We’ll take care of this, Iroha,” Chihiro says, “Rest up and get back in when you can.”

Right. In hindsight, it probably was stupid of her to think of doing this alone.

“I’ll watch you two fight, then,” she says, then adding a teasing lilt, “Put on a show for me, won’t you?”

She catches the red on both Chihiro and Honoka’s cheeks as Amakusa steps back. There it is, there’s what she’s been looking for.

“Congrats, Iroha. You’re only the second person to make me blush,” Honoka says, “Between you and Chihiro, should I just expect this?”

Iroha nods triumphantly. Honoka sighs as a response, then pulls out her gourd.

“Let’s go, Chihiro,” she says.

Chihiro pulls out her gourd, and the two of them get into their stances, booster plates in hand as well.

“Henshin!”

“Jiyuu no hikari ni tsutsuma re, yakusoku no zen'ei to nare!”

“Tsubasa ga oreta to shite mo, kesshite kusari ni fukujuu suru koto wanai.”

So these are the new suits they had talked about, Iroha thinks, as the two of them rush off to fight Amakusa once more.

She hobbles towards the men, settling herself next to Icchi. Shun-san and Atsushi-san, in the meantime, pull out gourds of their own.

“We’ll help,” Atsushi-san says, “Take care of yourselves.”

They too undergo their transformation sequence, taking out their own booster plates.

“Henshin.”

“Kako no kare wa utsukushiku umarekawaru nda!"

"Kibō ga areba, sora wa doko made mo hirogaru!"

Iroha’s almost blown away by the tornado, but she hangs on, as does Icchi. That being said, seeing the suits afterward is very much worth it. Unfortunately for Iroha, it seems as if Amakusa noticed them, too.

“Oh? Everyone’s fighting me now? How unfair,” he says, “Well, how timely. If you look around you, you’ll see that you’re all now surrounded.”

Iroha turns behind her, then to her side, then in front of her. Amakusa’s right. Surrounding the entire square are people, dressed in those darned outfits from the Niji no Hebi. Accompanying them are Genin, twice the amount for each soldier.

Amakusa starts to cackle, almost making Iroha’s ears bleed as she looks at him again. Once he stops, he spreads his arms wide.

“Welcome to our revolution against the Kamen Riders. With all of you dealt with, the country of Japan will soon become the Niji no Hebi’s to see fit once more. As all things should be. Even if this setup was a bit rough.”

Was this Amakusa’s plan all along? No, it can’t have been, since he said the setup was rough. But Iroha has no time to think about it, for her nightmare has officially begun. Genin and troops alike begin to advance, giving no hope for an escape.

“Isn’t this a much fairer fight?” Amakusa asks, “Come now. Fight me.”

There’s no way four Riders can hold off all these people. Iroha has to do her part, too.

She looks at Icchi as she pulls out her gourd, wondering if he’ll be alright. However, it seems as if he’s got the exact same idea as her, for he’s pulled out his own, too. As he looks at her, a surprised expression forms on his face.

“You too, Iroha-san?” he asks.

Iroha replies, “Yeah. I guess we both just want this to be over.”

“Mhm.”

They both open their gourds, tipping them over. That’s odd, there’s no sound coming out. As such, she looks down, seeing if her gourd’s even open.

It is. It most certainly is. And yet, no liquid comes out, no matter what the angle Iroha pours is.

“What?!” she exclaims, at the same time as Icchi.

Is he facing the same problem? Iroha looks over at him. Sure enough, no liquid comes out of his gourd, nor is there anything on his waist. The only thing new is the horrified expression on his face, gaze on Iroha’s beltless waist.

The clangs and screams of battle are suddenly closer to Iroha, as is the energy that repulses her.

Where did the other four go? Are they okay?

She turns around, looking for any spots of colour. Sure enough, her friends are there. Instead of being occupied by Amakusa, however, they’re surrounded by Genin and troops, fending them off at least eight to one.

Did Amakusa manage to sneak out during all this?

It’s only when she hears that loathsome chortle that she realizes Amakusa’s gotten even closer to her and Icchi.

“You can’t even transform!” he exclaims, “I sealed both of your gourds.”

“How?!” Icchi responds.

Iroha’s got an inkling, but Amakusa beats her to the punch.

“I had plenty of time to do it when you were napping in that office. As for Kagura Iroha here…”

Her name is accompanied by a spiteful tone, but Iroha ignores it as Amakusa continues.

“You see, my technique I used on you… I was able to seal your gourd with it. It’s a very powerful technique. Don’t underestimate it.”

Of course. How many more techniques does he have up his sleeve?

“Two down, at least five more to go. And then there’s an endless possibility of the amount out there. Brilliant, isn’t it?” Amakusa asks.

No, Iroha wants to reply. There’s no brilliance or shine in such a diabolical plan. Amakusa ignores her train of thought yet again, speaking even more.

“Of course, I’ll have to settle with the four here first,” he says, “Then, I suppose you both have an idea on where I’ll be going. There’s still one colour of the rainbow left before I take to other worlds.”

One colour… it can’t be.

Fire bubbles up in Iroha’s heart as Nii-chan appears in her mind’s eye. He appears to her all alone, a stone formed of misery and grief, slouched around as if he’s the smallest thing the world has to offer, and Iroha has half the mind to reach out and wipe the frown clean from his face. The thought of Amakusa laying a singular finger on him makes Iroha want to set the world to ashes, for no one to run from and no one to reign in.

“Don’t you dare lay your hands on Rentarō!” Icchi yells.

Yes, that’s good. But it’s not enough. All the world’s lightning can strike Amakusa at this instant, and it still won’t be enough.

Red starts to enter her vision as she speaks, voice low and brimming with rage.

“I’ll take you down before you even touch him.”

Amakusa laughs again. Iroha wishes he’d shut up.

“Brave words for someone who can’t even transform right now. But if you want to test it, go right ahead. I’ve always wanted to see if the title of the world’s greatest ninja actually holds up. Or go as a team! I don’t care.”

Iroha exchanges glances with Icchi. It seems they’ve both got the same thing on their mind. Now that he’s threatened Nii-chan, they won’t back down.

She’s still got the sword from earlier. Raising it up, she dashes towards Amakusa, infusing it with lightning. Icchi hangs back, yelling not a few seconds later.

“Ninpou Suiton no Jutsu!”

The wave of water that comes is much weaker than any of Icchi’s normal attacks, as is Iroha’s lightning. It leaves no dents in Amakusa, who instead resorts to shoving Iroha back.

He pulls out something transparent. From what Iroha can see, it resembles a lotus in shape. Instantly, dark energy starts to brim from it. Icchi’s expression, in the meantime, changes to one of terror.

“Oh, no, no, no…”

Amakusa chuckles, turning his head to Icchi.

“I see you already understand what I can do with this. The control of your life, and when it shall end… is in my hands.”

Then, before Iroha knows it, he swirls his hand over the lotus.

Her end is due in a few seconds. There’s too much dark energy coming out of the lotus, and she has no idea if she can dodge it or not. She resorts to doing so anyway, but the energy splits in two, aiming towards her and Icchi.

It’s too late, she realizes.

She keeps her eyes open for this one, refusing to close her eyes to her imminent death. As the energy hurtles closer, she hears something. It’s probably the energy, but why does it sound so… familiar?

Her question is answered by two shurikens entering her line of vision, one taking each wave of energy. They crumple, any form or sign of life inside flying away as they fall to the ground.

The aim and timing was perfect, and with two shurikens too. It must have taken someone very skilled. But who?

Iroha turns to the direction from where the shurikens were thrown, and her heart sinks immediately.

“Rentarō?!” Icchi exclaims.

There stands Nii-chan, frown still on his face. However, there’s a light behind his eyes that Iroha’s never seen before.

Iroha asks, “What are you doing here?!”

Nii-chan’s expression softens, but the light in his eyes stays the same.

“Iroha, I heard your voicemail. You said Icchi was safe, but then someone interrupted you before you hung up.”

Icchi turns to Iroha, who bows her head down as an apology. How hypocritical of her to break the promise, but wasn’t it just that which saved both of their lives?

Amakusa turns to Nii-chan, glee evident in his step.

“And there’s our last special guest. Welcome, Kagura Rentarō. I thought you weren’t supposed to know about all this?” he asks.

Nii-chan shakes his head.

“It doesn’t matter,” he says, “Even if it’s my day off… I will never let my loved ones be hurt.”

He then turns to Iroha and Icchi before speaking.

“Figure out how to get your powers back. I’ll hold him off until then. When you do, he’s all yours.”

Iroha can’t just let that happen! Nii-chan was supposed to be happy and safe, and more importantly, at home. And now, he’s risking his neck for Iroha yet again.

“You can’t!” she exclaims, “Nii-chan, please, stay out of this-”

Nii-chan shakes his head yet again.

“I’ve got a score to settle with him, too. Kidnapping my best friend and brutally attacking my sister isn’t something I can let go of.”

A small smile forms on his face.

“You’d have done the same for me, wouldn’t you?”

He’s right, Iroha thinks. She would have, and she knows Icchi would have, too.

So, she watches as Nii-chan pulls out his gourd and his booster plate, looking Amakusa dead in the eye as he does so.

“Henshin.”

----------
The trademark firestorm envelopes Rentarō once more when he swings the shuriken on his belt.

“Action! Projection! Jibun no mirai o kirihiraku, mihatenuyume o ayumu!”

The second the firestorm dies, he’s off. Isamichi can hear Amakusa’s laughter, as well as his words.

“Interesting! Because of this, you too will fall!”

Rentarō only responds with a swipe to Amakusa’s sword.

Right, he’s buying them time. Isamichi switches his attention to Amakusa, seeing if there’s anything he can do.

While he’s still wielding the sword, it’s now only in one hand. The light of the sun dances as it reflects off of that crystal lotus, currently lying idle in Amakusa’s other hand.

“That lotus…” he mutters.

Iroha-san turns to him.

“I assume you’ve seen it before, then?” she asks.

Isamichi nods.

“Yeah. He used it to take over my body. I’m pretty sure that’s the thing that can form the portals, too.”

Iroha-san furrows her eyebrows, keeping her gaze fixed on the crystal lotus. It’s easy for Isamichi to tell that her trains of thought must be at top speed, but what destination are they exactly traveling to?

“Wait…” he hears her mutter.

Then, she turns to Isamichi, with fire in her eyes that reminds him of Rentarō’s not a couple minutes ago.

“That lotus. It’s probably really fragile,” she says.

Isamichi asks, “How do you know?”

“He had some files. According to him, the more dark energy in an object, the more fragile it is.”

So that’s it. That means the lotus must be broken. But how? Even Rentarō can’t land a hit on the arm holding it, as far as Isamichi can see.

Iroha-san, in the meantime, still seems to be plotting something.

“Can you help Nii-chan keep Amakusa occupied?” she asks, “You don’t even have to fight. Just keep his sight away from me.”

He can very well try. If Iroha-san’s got a plan, who is he to object?

He gets up, picking up Iroha-san’s sword before walking towards Amakusa. Walking around Rentarō, and even more so his flames, is the hard part, but he can still make do.

“Oh? You’re joining us?” Amakusa asks, “You’re coming closer instead of staying put like you should.”

Isamichi replies, “I can’t do anything without coming closer.”

Right as if on cue, he hears the whirr of a shuriken. It’s then that he realizes what Iroha-san’s doing. Using her perfect aim, she’s probably using Isamichi as a distraction to shatter that lotus.

Except currently, Isamichi’s in the way. He quickly steps aside, just in time for Iroha-san’s shuriken to whirr past him.

It hits.

The lotus falls out of Amakusa’s hand, and Isamichi watches in what feels like slow-motion as it makes contact with the ground. The shuriken had already made a dent in it, but the ground makes it burst into a million little pieces, forming miniature rainbows as the pieces catch sunlight.

The blast as it does so sends Isamichi reeling backward. Iroha-san’s quick to catch up to his side as Amakusa too starts to limp backward.

“Impossible…” he says, “How?!”

Rentarō takes the moment to step back, and Isamichi can tell he’s proud.

“That’s Bulls-Eye Iroha for you,” he says.

He claps Isamichi on the back, then Iroha-san on the shoulder.

“Take it from here. You’ve got this,” he says.

Isamichi nods, as does Iroha-san; if Rentarō’s saying this, who are either of them to let him down?

“Right!” they both say.

Rentarō heads off in the direction of the other four, leaving Isamichi and Iroha-san with Amakusa. Amakusa lowers his sword-wielding hand to the side.

“This is only a minor setback. Your overconfidence will lead to your doom.”

Isamichi watches as Amakusa brings his hand in front of his face again. Not good. Even the protection given as a Rider had held no ground against it, so if it hits them in civilian form…

Even if his ability to transform may have returned, Amakusa will do this too quickly for Isamichi to even do that. He’ll just have to reply with a technique of his own, but will it work?

He and Iroha-san cross hands at the same time. Once again, they must have reached the same conclusion.

“Yami Nin: Rainbow Sakura!” Amakusa says.

Isamichi yells, “Ninpou Hyouton no Jutsu!”

Iroha-san exclaims, “Ninpou Denton no Jutsu!”

The bark of cherry blossom trees roots itself around Isamichi and Iroha-san in tandem with the ice and lightning that come forth from their hands. The petals swirl towards them majestically, meeting the lighting and ice halfway, resulting in a ferocious eruption of heat and cold that forces everyone’s eyes shut.

Isamichi skids back from the mere power of the explosion, as does Iroha-san. This doesn’t hurt much, and can’t bother to even hold a candle to the agony brought by landing on the ground beneath him, but the agony fades almost instantly.

Odd. Weren’t the cherry blossoms supposed to hurt, too?

Slowly, gently, Isamichi allows his eyes to open, widening his eyes as he marvels at the spectacle playing out.

A thundering shield of lightning, illuminated harshly by the sunset above, forms around the two, crackling with resolve to protect. Ah, Iroha-san — ever the quick thinker.

Isamichi, seemingly, too has played his part in this magnificence, for his ice freezes over into an outer layer. It allows the lightning to lick it, emitting puffs of cold air that hiss at Amakusa.

Amakusa’s attack, and the dark energy with it, twists around for the ultimate attack; it pulses once, then twice, then rages downforth for the kill.

The shield blasts outwards, feeding on and engulfing the dark energy. The resulting clash leaves Isamichi and Iroha-san untouched, allowing both of them to witness the dark energy warp into that of light, the kind Isamichi’s more used to.

Is Iroha-san as much in wonder as he is?

The energy mixes with the elements enveloping it, condensing into two items. They both fly towards Isamichi and Iroha-san, one floating in front of each of them.

As the shape starts to become more clear, Isamichi realizes that the object in front of him is a booster plate.

His is a pale grey-blue, with what look to be clouds rolling across the top of the plate. As he turns to look at Iroha-san’s, he sees hers is a soft pink, edges shimmering with iridescence.

“It can’t be!” Amakusa exclaims, “There’s no way you should be sitting unscathed!”

Isamichi turns his head towards Iroha-san, and they both nod in tandem. This booster plate’s offering itself to them, so why shouldn’t they use it?

They both grab their respective booster plates at the same time.

“Amakusa Shiro Tokisada,” Iroha-san says, holding up her plate, “You wanted to be the successor to my mother. Perhaps even unseal her-”

“I never meant to unseal her,” Amakusa interrupts.

Iroha-san’s steely glare only grows colder.

“Don’t interrupt when I’m talking,” she says, tone threatening to unleash havoc onto him.

Amakusa widens his eyes, and it’s only then that Iroha-san continues. Isamichi smiles just a little at the sight.

“Fine. You planned to take my mother’s position. And you will face the same fate as her. As her only living kin and as a Kamen Rider, I will fulfill my duty to stop you.”

She turns her head to Isamichi, raising an eyebrow. Ah, right, maybe he should say something as well. But what?

The files, he remembers. The files that paint his mother as a sinner alongside his father. If it’s his duty to resolve his father’s crimes, shouldn’t it also be his duty to make up for his mother’s?

“You took the files from Mama,” he says, “I should thank you for that, really.”

“What?” Amakusa exclaims.

Isamichi doesn’t comment on the interruption. Instead, he just continues.

“Thanks to you, I found out Mama wasn’t as innocent as I thought. But it’s alright. I’m already fixing the crimes of one parent. I’ll fix the other one’s, too.”

Then, he holds up his booster plate, looking Amakusa in the eye.

“From today onwards, I will right my mother’s wrongs, too. Starting with you.”

In sync, both he and Iroha-san press their buttons.

Music starts to play from both, as they do their transformation sequences, mixing together to form a tune. Isamichi would probably listen to it if it were an actual piece of music, but that’s not the concern. Still, as he brings his hand up, he wonders what would happen if all seven transformed with their new forms.

Would they too harmonize well?

“Henshin!” he and Iroha-san yell.

With a swing of his shuriken and a stab of her kyoketsu-shoge, the music stops.

Clouds emerge from Isamichi’s belt with a flurry of snow and water, enveloping him as his wasp mech shoots out his armour. From what he can see, Iroha-san’s plate emits lightning, all swirling up above her before striking the armour forming on her.

“Undercover Action! Chikai o mune ni tachiagari, hayai shōri e!"

"Sora o moeagara sero! Aratana kakumei no hajimarida! Ready? Fight!”

The clouds give way, letting Isamichi look at his and Iroha-san’s suits. His own suit looks far more jagged than normal, but the cloud-like patterns on his own suit still remain. In the meantime, the extra fabric on Iroha-san’s suit is gone, instead replaced by armour.

More importantly, there’s something in both of their hands. He looks down at his right arm, which now holds a polearm. Iroha-san, in the meantime, wields two blades, with a slot for her to grip onto something as the blades go over her fingers.

Amakusa, in the meantime, looks dumbfounded. It brings glee to Isamichi, as well as a reminder. Now would be the perfect time to boost his morale.

As such, he steps forward, pointing the polearm at Amakusa. The sun above him, he’s noticed, has long started to set. Why not make use of it?

“Iroha-san and I will defeat you before the sun fully sets. It’s no bluff, it’s for real!”

Iroha-san chuckles, then points her blades at Amakusa.

“Uniting the nine planets with my one life,” she says.

Then, she looks at Isamichi before looking back at Amakusa.

“En garde!”

They both start running, with Isamichi pointing his polearm in the air.

“Ninpou Uton no Jutsu!”

Rain starts to accumulate over the square, waiting on standby for Isamichi to do something. Meanwhile, Iroha-san’s blades are already crackling with lightning, ready to jump onto its target.

They both reach Amakusa at the same time. A swing from Isamichi sets rain falling across the entire square. Normally, he’d be scared for Rentarō, given his abilities, but he’s sure Rentarō can make it work.

Sure enough, he senses steam coming from behind him as he watches Iroha-san successfully land a hit on Amakusa. Lightning mixes with rain, shocking Amakusa to the bone.

Steam rolls past them, veiling Isamichi’s surroundings slightly. It brings him an idea. Why not join in?

“Ninpou Unton no Jutsu!”

Clouds roll over the entire arena, bringing near-zero visibility to most. Iroha-san, from what he can see, can see just fine, as can he.

Water forms around his polearm as he twirls it around, infusing into the clouds like Iroha-san’s lightning. Iroha-san, in the meantime, takes advantage of the low clouds to do something herself.

“Ninpou Raiton no Jutsu!”

Thunder booms, sending Amakusa reeling. Isamichi manages to get a lot closer as the clouds dissipate, swinging at him once again for good measure. Water slashes through Amakusa, drenching him.

“You bastards…” he says, bringing his fingers up, “Yami Nin-”

Not on Isamichi’s watch.

“Ninpou Setsuton no Jutsu!”

Snow starts to fall, biting cold making Amakusa flinch. There it is, now his focus is broken. Iroha-san takes the opportunity to slash through again, lightning reacting with the last of the falling snow.

Amakusa’s holding on to his shoulder now, but he’s still not weak enough. How can they whittle him down to such a level?

“Hey,” Iroha-san says.

She’s suddenly behind Isamichi, making him jump; how did she manage to get this close to him? Nevertheless, he calms his nerves before looking at her.

“What’s up?” he asks.

Iroha-san responds, “I need you to summon water with your polearm. Then, when I tell you to, hit it against my blades.”

He’s not quite sure why Iroha-san’s asking to do this, but he complies. Just the perfect time, for Amakusa’s starting to babble again.

“I’m not done yet-”

Before Isamichi knows it, Iroha-san’s running towards him. He swings his polearm at her, and she meets it, slashing against the tip of it. Lightning and water mix, swirling and crackling as blade continues to meet blade.

When deemed enough, Iroha-san slashes towards Amakusa. At the same time, Isamichi swings his polearm at him, too.

The mass of electricity-infused water flows directly to Amakusa, cascading onto him and shocking him in the process. The sheer amount of both overwhelm him immediately, sending him crashing to the ground.

“Now’s our chance!” Iroha-san yells.

Understanding the cue, Isamichi spins his shuriken once more. Meanwhile, Iroha-san. switches the direction of the kyoketsu blade on her belt.

“Fantastic Ninpow! Bonus! Secret!”

“Finale Ninpow! Extra! Revolution!”

Iroha-san jumps into the air, spinning as she does so. Isamichi watches as she sticks her foot out, using her momentum to strike Amakusa. Not wasting a moment, he swings upwards, slashing through with his polearm before running past to Iroha-san’s side.

“This… this can’t be happening…” Amakusa says, “My efforts… they’re all…”

Before he can finish, the trademark explosion rings out, silencing him indefinitely.

It’s over, Isamichi realizes. The reign of the Niji no Hebi is over, now that he knows where all the documents are. It shouldn’t take long for Konjou Company to clean the mess up.

He hears several different explosions in the back and turns around, detransforming as he does so. The other five seem to be finishing up with the last of the remnants. From the corner of his eye, Iroha-san detransforms, too.

“We did it,” she mutters.

“Yeah,” Isamichi replies.

The five remaining Riders walk towards them, all detransforming. Once they do, Amamiya starts to run, tackling Iroha-san.

“You did it!” she exclaims.

Iroha-san chuckles from her place on the ground. Isamichi’s left to wonder if her back’s feeling alright, given it took the brunt of the impact on the ground.

“Ow,” she says.

Amamiya scrambles off of Iroha-san, muttering apologies as she helps her up. They’re both smiling as they do so, though.

Ishikawa strides over to them, slinging an arm over each of their shoulders.

“Well, this mess is finally over. Good riddance,” she says.

Amamiya and Iroha-san chuckle. In the meantime, Matsumura and Okamoto walk towards the group, with Okamoto in particular clapping his hands.

“We should celebrate!” he says, “Not right now, of course, but this is a cause for celebration.”

Ishikawa replies, “Yeah. All seven of us are here, so why not?”

Sounds good, Isamichi thinks. This really is a cause for celebration. Perhaps, then they can explain everything to Rentarō there.

Matsumura says, “I believe the yakiniku place I went to as a child is still open. Naturally, we will have to wait, for Konjou Isamichi and I have quite the cleanup to do, but as soon as we are done, I can reserve a booking for eight.”

Okamoto nods.

“I’m sure Aiko will be glad to be there.”

Amamiya says, “I will, too! Good food is always a good way to party!”

Ishikawa smiles, then squeezes the two people she’s in between. Then, she looks at Iroha-san, scheming smile on her face.

“Sounds good to me,” she says, “Although, don’t plan it on a date when I’m taking these two out. Iroha can pick the restaurant.”

Isamichi decides to ignore the pink forming on Iroha-san’s cheeks. Instead, he turns to Rentarō.

Rentarō’s standing off to the side, arms crossed and silent. He doesn’t seem too interested in catering to the conversation. Is he upset, or is he tired?

Before Isamichi can ask, Iroha-san speaks up.

“Nii-chan, Icchi, let’s go home.”

Home? Does she mean over at the Kaguras’ place? Isamichi’s not sure as to why Iroha-san would offer her place when Isamichi’s house is right there. That being said, he won’t reject such an offer; sleep is sleep, no matter where it is.

Rentarō responds with a silent nod. Iroha-san starts to follow him, but stops to turn around.

“You’re coming, right?” she asks.

The only thing Isamichi can let himself do is smile and nod. He’s earned it.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

----------
The trip to the Kaguras’ house is silent. Isamichi attributes it to a mix of tiredness and whatever Rentarō might be feeling at the moment.

The sun’s set when they enter the house. Isamichi sits down, along with Iroha-san opposite him. It’s only then that his pain makes a comeback, screaming to be heard for the past several hours.

Rentarō sits down, still mute, but his frown starts to die away. He still doesn’t speak, though. Is he waiting for someone to do so?

In that case, Isamichi will gladly oblige. He chuckles lightly before looking at Iroha-san.

“Everything hurts,” he says.

He feels a hand on his shoulder, turning around to see the owner of it. Gone is the stern expression on Rentarō's face, replaced by a blast of pure relief.

“Icchi! Thank goodness you’re safe!” he exclaims.

Both arms wrap tightly onto Isamichi, clinging on for dear life. Isamichi winces slightly, as it’s doing no favours to his torso, but he’s glad Rentarō’s not upset at them at all. No, he’s happy to see Rentarō again, especially with everything Amakusa’s taunted about him.

The ache in his bones and fatigue weighing his body come to his attention once more, leading him to slump against Rentarō. His head rests against Rentarō’s, relishing the company and the happiness coming from his friend.

All in all, not a bad situation to be in.

Rentarō turns to Iroha-san, using one hand to gesture to his other side.

“And you! Get over here, you have no idea how worried I was-”

Iroha-san complies, and Isamichi watches as she rests herself on Rentarō’s other side. It only leads to Rentarō holding onto both of them as tight as possible, effectively removing any hope of air in Isamichi’s lungs.

“I heard you got kidnapped, and then you got hurt… what was I going to do if you both got hurt?!” Rentarō exclaims.

So that explains the stoic expression. Rentarō very well could have just broken down into tears of relief at the square, but Isamichi assumes he held it back in for a better time.

“Next time you land in trouble, tell me! I understand that you wanted to keep me safe, but I’m still a Rider, okay?”

Isamichi nods tiredly, watching Iroha-san do the same.

“Yep,” they both say.

A smile forms on Rentarō’s face, and his grip slackens. The warmth of the house and the events of the day start to lull Isamichi to sleep. Not wanting to be embarrassing, he looks at Iroha-san. Much to his relief, she already has her eyes closed.

If Iroha-san’s doing so, surely Isamichi can sleep like this, too. Shifting his weight so that he’s in a more comfortable position, he lets himself close his eyes, drifting away to sleep at last.

He doesn’t notice Rentarō staying put, resting his head on top of his as he too starts to fall asleep.

Tomorrow may be a busy day for everyone involved. But at long last, the nation of Japan can call it a brand new day, living free of underlying and insidious threats forevermore.