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writingpaperghost · 3 years

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There is a Me Who Can Become Strong (Chapter 12)

Chapter 12: Christmas Special: Targeting the Silver X-Mas!

Now knowing Gemn's identity, the CR must still cure Shuhei. Meanwhile, Kiriya's come to a dangerous conclusion about the identity of Mu. Merry Chirstmas, everyone.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32857183/chapters/83165572

Saki’s not entirely sure why she’s looking for Kiriya. She supposes, she owes him an apology, if nothing else, given he’d turned out to be right about Kuroto being Gemn. Though they still didn’t know anything about that other man they’d seen as Gemn, both after retrieving the Giri Giri Chambara Gashat and as they defeated Graphite. Regardless, she was now trying to figure out where he would be.

She’d checked the morgue, his coworker, Nishiwaka, said that he was out. When she’d asked him when he’d be back, Nishiwaka just shrugged. Still, he did offer a possible destination. Though Saki didn’t understand why Kiriya would be at a cemetery. She didn’t know everything about him, obviously – in fact she realized she didn’t know very much at all. He was prone to lying, yes, but even in some cases, he did turn out to be right, whether his claim Kuroto was Gemn had been intended to be a lie or not.

If Kiriya was at a cemetery, for whatever reason, she really oughtn’t bug him. It felt… wrong. So instead, she supposed she should wait for him, she knew that if she were visiting Hiro, she wouldn’t want to be interrupted. Though curiosity plagued her mind and her schedule was rather tight… And if nothing else, she owes him an apology.

The bright side about Kiriya’s rather… disastrous attire is that it often made him stand out. It was often hard to miss one who wore a bright red jacket such as his, or the ripped pants, or even the terrible, terrible, shirts. Thus, she was able to find Kiriya with relative ease and speed.

He stood at a grave, as one would when they are at a cemetery. For a moment, Saki wondered if she should really bug him, but she also knew that it was unlikely that she would have an opportunity to speak with him again any time soon. As much as she hated to do it, she really did need to speak with him. To apologize – not to mention there were a few things she was curious of.

She walks over towards him, stopping a few feet away, then calls out to him, “Kujo,” He looks up, slightly startled at her appearance. “I’m sorry to… disturb you.” She continued.

Kiriya blinks, “I’m surprised to see you here,” He finally says, “What brings the Genius Surgeon?”

“I came to… apologize,” She answered, choosing this time not to show her disdain for the title, “For being so… distrustful of you. You did turn out to be right about Kuroto being Gemn.”

“Oh?” He intoned, “Huh, yeah, guess I was.” The fact that he sounded so unbothered by it was off putting. Much about him was off putting, really. He was always so casual and nonchalant about everything, though she supposes there were times when he seemed serious. Not to mention, seemed so obsessed with things, like Game Disease and even Emu. While the first one was understandable from anyone, to some extent, she was curious why he wanted to know so much about Emu. Or when Emu had decided to trust him so much.

“You were,” She nods, then adds, “There is something that I’m curious about, if you don’t mind me asking.”

He laughs a little, “I can’t stop you, now can I?”

He’s right. She could ask the question anyway, regardless of how he felt. But he also was under no obligation to answer it, whether truthfully or at all. She’d have no real way of knowing whether he was telling the truth or not, unless it was something easily fact checkable. Given what she was about to ask, that wasn’t necessarily possible.

“I’ve always wondered why you’ve been so… fascinated with learning about Game Disease,”

Kiriya doesn’t seem surprised at the question, not really. Maybe he knew she’d ask it, if not now than eventually. “I had a friend die on Zero Day,”

He’d given the answer before, but Saki had checked, “Your friend died in a traffic accident,” She reminded. At that moment, she becomes painfully aware of the grave that Kiriya stood in front of. Jungo Aihara, his friend who had died that day.

“I said he died on Zero Day,” Kiriya repeats, “He’d been infected, but when I’d told him, he’d ran off. Next thing anyone knew he was dead.”

That was a harder story to corroborate, but it wouldn’t be impossible. Still… “How had a medical examiner known of Game Disease?” While Zero Day had been the first major outbreak, there had been a handful of cases of Game Disease before that. But knowledge of such a disease would not have been widely known. It still wasn’t widely known and hopefully they could keep it that way.

The look that Kiriya gave was one of the those infuriating ones where you knew right away he wouldn’t be giving a satisfactory answer, “I managed to find out about it,” As if that answered any questions.

“That’s not an answer,”

“That’s all you’ll get from me about it,” Even without his comment, Saki knew that he wouldn’t give more of an answer.

He turns to walk away, but she calls out, “One more thing, Kujo,” He turns to glance back at her, “Have you found anything out?”

With an expression that might have been a smirk but it was hard to tell from this angle, Kiriya responds, “Just theories,” He turns back to face the other direction, “Just gotta find some proof, first.”

Proof…

Sure, Saki supposed, it was believable enough. Though, she had to wonder just how true any of that was. She hadn’t wanted to immediately assume him to be lying, but with how Kiriya could be, it was always a possibility.

---

With the revelation about the existence of this so-called “Emu Dan” and all his oddities, the theory board in Nico’s room has been rearranged. Though she has her back to the doorway, she can tell by the way that the person coming to the doorway is walking that it’s Kiriya. Taiga’s boots always clunk around, making way more noise than Kiriya’s sneakers.

“Yo, N,” Nico turns to face Kiriya, who’s already standing in the doorway.

“Kiriya,” She says, placing her hands on her hips, “So about that Mu…”

“Cutting right to the chase,” Kiriya’s hands are in his pockets, he clearly wants to know what’s she’s found.

Unfortunately, Nico doesn’t have much to report, “This guy works at Gemn Corp, but I sure couldn’t tell you what he does. Doesn’t seem to really do… anything, I guess.” She taps on a blurry photo of Mu she acquired from… somewhere. “And as far as I can tell, he doesn’t exist. Not in connection to Masamune or otherwise.”

Frowning, he wonders, “So it’s probably not his actual last name?”

“Most likely,” Nico shrugged, “There’s not much more I can do from there.”

They stand in silence for a moment. Kiriya seems… thoughtful, though maybe bothered by something. It gives Nico an odd feeling. She doesn’t think she’s ever seem him so obviously bugged, but she can’t really figure out why.

Finally, he tells her, “You need to be careful.”

“Of course,”

“No, I’m serious,” And he does have a serious face as he speaks, “I think I’ve dug a little too far and now someone knows that I know more than they want me to.”

Nico scoffs, “Kiriya, you’re a Kamen Rider,” She rolls her eyes a little, “Who would be able to stop you? No ordinary person would be able to actually kill you.”

“Gemn,” He responds, “He might not have Shakariki Sports anymore, but he has that new Gashat he finished yesterday.”

“We don’t know what that Gashat does,” She countered, “It could do nothing.”

“Exactly. Or it could do something terrible.” He really seems to be worried. Nico wonders if she should maybe take his concern a bit more seriously. “After all, losing Shakariki Sports was clearly a calculated move. Whatever he got from it, it’s probably stronger than Level 3.”

Sighing, Nico has to admit he has a point, “Alright, alright, so you’re worried Gemn’s gonna try to kill you or something?” Kiriya nods, “Well, be careful, I guess? Don’t forget we’ll come help you in a heartbeat, even Brave.”

“I know,” He starts to turn away, before stopping, “Oh, one last thing, a very important thing.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s about Ace,”

---

Still on his quest to discover what would make Shuhei smile, Emu decides to see if he can speak with Mrs. Yamanaka again. After all, she still had a better idea about her son than he did and… well truthfully Emu thought that perhaps some answers could be found in knowing how Shuhei got hurt. It wasn’t easy to break your leg – even Emu, as clumsy as he could be, had never managed that.

Thankfully, Mrs. Yamanaka is visiting Shuhei again, however briefly. When he mentions Shuhei’s declaration of disdain for the cake, she seems surprised. Which was odd, though that confirmed that she really had thought he would enjoy it.

“My husband and I run a patisserie, Shuhei’s always liked the cake when we made it,” She notes, “Though he’s never liked how busy we get during the holidays.”

So Shuhei was probably a lonely child, at least when his parents go so busy. That wasn’t something that Emu was entirely unfamiliar with, at least. So far as trying to understand Shuhei went.

“What happened that caused him to break his leg?”

Mrs. Yamanaka frowned a little as she answered, “He was climbing a tree in the park,” She said, “Then he fell.” That could certainly result in a broken leg. But why was he climbing trees? While a perfectly fine hobby, it was a bit odd.

He thanks her, then decides he wants to check out this tree. So he makes his way to the park and it doesn’t take him long to find the tree. Logically, climbing a tree, even as an adult, is probably not the best idea. But there’s something that Emu wants to check.

So he climbs the tree and he isn’t sure what he expects to find, but he finds something. In a way, it feels like it answers at least one or two of the questions he has. Which means, he now needs to get down. He was able to get into the tree easy enough, so, in theory, it shouldn’t be that hard to get down.

Emu very much falls out of the tree on the way down.

When Emu returns to the CR, he wastes no time in making his way to the patient room. He takes a seat next to the patient bed and smile at Shuhei. Shuhei does not return in kind.

“Hey, you’re… lonely, aren’t you?” Emu begins to say, noticing the glance that Shuhei gives him, “I was lonely when I was your age too. I didn’t have any friends, so I was always just playing video games.”

“So what?” Finally, Shuhei responds, though it’s not quite what Emu was hoping for. Still, he wasn’t going to give up.

“It’s no fun being lonely, even if you manage to convince yourself that it’s okay,” The biting memories of Emu’s childhood come to mind. There was no one else there, always just… Emu. He’d learned to deal with it well enough, but it certainly made being in spaces where people were friendlyand nice, odd for a while. “I played video games, but you, you climb trees, right?”

Before Shuhei can respond, he gasps and glitching begins to appear on his body. A frown quickly forms on Emu’s face and he stands. With Poppy’s help, they bring Shuhei with them to his parent’s patisserie. It might not have been the best idea, given it was currently being attacked by Salty. Dammit Salty.

Quickly taking out the Mighty Action X Gashat, Emu decides it’s time to test out the Gashat they retrieved from Gemn the day before, Shakariki Sports.

Mighty Action X!

Shakariki Sports!

Shakariki! Shakariki! Bad Bad! Shaka to Riki to Shakariki Sports!

Much like how the armor on Gemn appeared, the Shakariki Sports Gashat caused a pink and green bicycle to fly onto his shoulders, becoming armor. Then, Salty summons some of his Bugster grunts, dressed as chefs, like when Emu first fought him.

Taddle Quest!

DoReMiFa Beat!

Do-Do-DoReMiFa-So-La-Ti-Do! Ok! DoReMiFa Beat!

Beginning to knock down the Bugster grunts, Saki arrives, quickly taking Level 3. One of the grunts goes flying into Salty, who then stumbles back and breaks one of the blocks spawned by Mighty Action X. A power up pops out of the block.

It’s different from the normal ones though. It’s seems almost… festive? Well, today was Christmas. Emu jumps and grabs the item. There’s a flash and he’s on the ground again, the bike from Shakariki Sports – Sports Gamer – down on the ground beside him. By all appearances, he’s been reverted to Level 2 except…

Why was he dressed as Santa Claus? Sports Gamer was decorated too…

It starts to snow and Emu can’t help but watch for a moment as Mrs. Yamanaka speaks with Shuhei. Earlier, Emu had found an unfinished wreath in the tree that Shuhei had climbed. Given the tree had holly berries, it was safe to assume that Shuhei had been trying to get them when he fell out of the tree. Mrs. Yamanaka shows him a cake, one decorated with what looked like their family.

Salty attacks once more, easily dodged. Poppy breaks two more of the blocks, grabbing the items from them, one of which went to Saki. Now, both Poppy and Brave were dressed as Santa Claus, in some capacity, though Saki still remained in her Level 3. Poppy jumps over to Saki, grabbing her arm and messing with the disks on her arms. Soon, a peppy rendition of Jingle Bells begins to play and…

Poppy starts singing. But instead of the actual words, it just “p” sounds. As Poppy sings, Emu and Saki use this as an opportunity to continue their fight against Salty. Somehow, they find their attacks syncing up with Poppy’s music, making it seem almost as if they were dancing.

Attacking Salty at once, they’re able to defeat him, destroying him. Together, he, Saki, and Poppy cheer, “Merry Christmas!”

Game Clear!

---

A cloud of virus cells is absorbed into the Bugvisor, formerly having been what comprised Salty. Now though, they were simply data. It was… an odd sight to see, Mu hadn’t quite seen anything like it. But Kuroto said it was necessary.

It was also odd being out with Kuroto, normally it was only ever one of them. But now with his new Gashat completed, Kuroto was far more comfortable heading out together, since they could both transform now. Though the day before, Kuroto had lost Shakariki Sports, which would definitely make it harder to fight on even ground against the Riders. Well, for Mu, since he was certain that Kuroto would have made his new Gashat so much stronger than anything the Riders had.

Mu had an idea, of course, but he wasn’t going to mention it to Kuroto, quite yet. Instead, he just wanted to confirm the purpose of collecting this data, “So now that we have Salty’s data, we’ve started the part that we need for the game? To collect Bugster data so it has data on all the strains?”

With a small smile, Kuroto nods, “Yes, once all of them are collected, the game will be complete.”

“And then once we clear the game, everyone will be cured,” Mu smiled, almost excitedly. After all, he’d spent six years preparing for this and now… now they were so close, he could almost taste it.

The ultimate game, the one that would make everything better… And it was closer than ever.

---

The CR had a Christmas party that night. Which was strange. Not that it wasn’t nice or anything, it was just strange to Emu. He’d never really gone to a Christmas party. The CR isn’t exactly big, so the any only ones there were Poppy, Director Kagami, Saki, and himself. Still, someone had gotten some cake – frankly Emu thought it had been Saki – and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

But Emu still couldn’t shake just how odd it was the way Salty had appeared. After all, they’d never had a Bugster appear, already formed and separated like that. So it had been bugging him for a while, not that he’d had time to think to much about it, between fighting Salty, Gemn, and trying to cheer Shuhei up.

“Is something bothering you?” Emu startles at Saki’s words. She continues, “You haven’t eaten of your cake.”

True, Emu held a plate with a slice of cake on it, untouched. While she was right about something bother him, the cake had nothing to do with it. He’d actually just spaced out and forgot he’d been holding it. That and he doesn’t think he’s had cake like this before, nor had he remember that when people had a plate with food on it, they generally ate it. Since he was a Bugster, it wasn’t like he needed to eat. But Saki didn’t know that.

“Well,” He began, “I was thinking about how weird it was that Salty separated from Shuhei without us having to remove him.”

Saki hummed, “Most likely, Game Disease has mutated, resulting in the Bugsters separating on their own and being stronger than before.” She takes a bite of her own slice of cake, “Diseases do it all the time to avoid vaccines.”

That made enough sense, at least to Emu, so he doesn’t question anymore on the subject. Instead, he turned his attention to the plate of cake in his hand, a fork in his other. Saki had already noticed he hadn’t touched it, it was likely someone else would if he continued not to eat it. Or Saki would notice again. The point was, it would probably benefit him to at least eat some of it.

He takes a bite of the cake, almost hesitantly. It was… sweet. Not bad, he just wasn’t used to actually eating things. But it was pretty good, so he takes another bite. He’d never really saw the need for eating food all that much. It didn’t have a functional purpose, so he didn’t often do it. Usually, he spent the time that he would have spent eating, if he were human, doing other things. Like studying or playing games.

On the white board, Poppy’s drawn some cute little pictures of them dressed up as Santa from earlier. He was honestly surprised that she managed to convey Para-DX and Brave so well, while also being cute and Santa-like. He has another bite of cake, deciding that while it tastes pretty good, it was maybe a bit too sweet for him.

Poppy pops in from the side, “What’s that face for, Emu?”

He blinks, trying to figure out what she meant. He didn’t think he was making face, “Uh, cake, I guess?”

She is clearly confused by his response, “Cake? Why would you be making that face because of cake?”

“It’s… sweet?”

Saki chimes in, walking up to the two of them, “It’s cake, of course it’s sweet.”

“I’ve… never had it before?”

The looks that the two give him are definitely surprised. They clearly hadn’t been expecting that answer. Which Emu supposed made sense, it was probably weird to say you’ve never cake before. But he hadn’t really, mostly because there had been no point.

Poppy gasped, “What?” Apparently, she was a bit more surprised than he had initially thought, “You’ve never had cake?”

“Uh, no?”

Before either Poppy or Saki can say anymore on the matter the phone rings. It’s Kiriya and he’s telling them that he wants to meet them. That there was something that he needed to tell them. So off they went, ready to meet up with him.

---

Nico was still stewing on what Kiriya had told her earlier, about Emu. She’d held off adding that to the theory board, mostly because she was trying to keep too much important information off there. Didn’t want someone waltzing in and finding out too much about all this. Not that she thought it was very likely.

She can hear footsteps coming down the hall and tries to recall if Taiga had any patients that would be near this part of the clinic. She couldn’t recall any, but it was possible that he’d just gotten one. The footsteps aren’t Kiriya’s, they’re too heavy, but they’re not quite right to be Taiga’s boots either. They sounded a little lighter footed. Probably just a patient.

At least, that’s what she thought, though she quickly sees a familiar face, one side of which was partially covered with some faded cyan hair the top of which was covered by a navy-blue hat, a pair of headphones over it. The woman outside looks though the window then quickly opens the door. Excitedly walking in, Nico can see her outfit. A bright pink scarf is wrapped around her neck, paired with a navy blue and bright green jacket with black and green sleeves, zipped up. A bright green skirt with dark blue pants beneath them, and knee-high boots.

She’s grinning at Nico when she enters, “Nico!” She exclaims, “Here you are!”

Standing, Nico greets her with equal enthusiasm, “Yuko!” The two high five, “I’d ask how you knew I was here but…”

Yuko slides her hand back into her coat pocket, now with both hands in. “You already know,” She finishes with a laugh. “Didn’t expect to find you hanging out in a shady clinic, though.”

Shrugging, Nico responds, “It’s easier. Taiga and I are help each other out.”

Nico flops on the bed while Yuko pulls up the chair in the room, “So, have you managed to find M and get your rematch?” Yuko asks, settling into the chair, “I still can’t believe you’ve gone through all this for a rematch.”

“Yeah, I beat him a while ago, actually,” Nico leans back slightly.

At her answer, Yuko frowns slightly, “Then why are you still here?”

“Because there’s a mystery I want to solve,” Nico answers, “It was brought to my attention by one of the other Riders. Now I really want answers.”

Yuko blinks, then slowly points to the theory board on the wall, “Does it have something to do with that stalker board?”

“It’s not a stalker board! It’s my theory board,” Nico protests, standing up and walking over to the board, “But yes, it does.”

Standing too, Yuko examines the board, “It’s pretty vague,”

“Don’t want anyone finding out anything too important,” Nico shrugs. She’s about to sit back down on the bed when her phone begins to ring.

Answering it, she hears Kiriya, telling her that he’s meeting with all the Riders. There’s something he wants them to know, something he presumably hasn’t told her either. She figured it was probably pretty important.

She grabs her bag and turns around, backwards walking out the door, “Sorry, Yuko, I gotta go!” As she runs down the hall, she calls out, “See ya later!”

Yuko’s only left to stand in the room and blink, unsure of what’s happened. After a few moments, the sound of clunking boots can be heard and eventually, Taiga arrives at the doorway. He looks at Yuko and stares.

He sounds exasperated when he asks, “Who are you?”

Shaking off her startlement, Yuko grins, “Yuko Morishita.”

---

It really bugged Mu how much that Lazer had been able to figure out. While he didn’t doubt that Lazer was something of an outlier in his investigative and detective skills, compared to the rest of the CR, it really bugged him. Even Kuroto seemed bothered, though he did a good job of hiding it, all things considered.

Still, Mu sort of felt that it was his fault that Lazer had figured out so much. After all, Kuroto hadn’t exactly gone out much and certainly had less direct interactions with the Riders. While Lazer had initially figured out that Kuroto had been Gemn, given how easily the others had believed him, it was possible that none of them saw it a large leap of logic.

Regardless of how Lazer found out so much, Mu really wanted to do something about it. But now that Kuroto had lost Shakariki Sports – which was perhaps a part of his plan but still a bit of a pain for Mu – he’d never stand a chance in a fight against any of the Riders. Often, he could barely keep up with Shakariki Sports, depending on who he was facing, now that they’d all gotten their Level 3s.

Kuroto’s out right now, Mu’s not sure why… But his eyes are drawn to the Gashat and Bugvisor on the table. He didn’t know what Dangerous Zombie did, but surely it was stronger than a Level 2, if nothing else. It wasn’t really designed to work with a Gamer Driver, for some reason, but it worked with the Bugvisor.

It was probably not the best idea but… Well, it couldn’t hurt to try, could it? Besides, he needed to make sure just how much Lazer knew. Mu stands, grabbing the Bugvisor, the belt it combines with, and the Gashat. Just in case.

Finding Lazer isn’t hard, mostly because he knew that Lazer would want to tell the others what he’d found out. But Lazer also didn’t like meeting in normal places, so a shady warehouse definitely seemed like somewhere he’d want to talk with people. It helped that Graphite had agreed to keep an eye on him from a distance.

Taking a breath to prepare himself, Mu calls out, “Lazer,”

Of course, Lazer spins around to face him, seeming far too casual about the whole encounter. Mu couldn’t help but notice the dark blue shirt he wore, printed with red and green mistletoe. “Well, surprised to see you here, Mu. No Kuroto?”

“He’s… busy,” Mu responds, “But you know… Way too much, obviously.”

“Do I?” Lazer shrugs, “I mean, I guess I do know what you are. Who you are.”

Mu really hoped he didn’t actually know. That made things a lot more complicated, especially because it would be hard to keep Lazer from telling others. No, he really shouldn’t know, and he really couldn’t tell the other Riders. Mu wasn’t entirely sure why, but it had been made very clear to them that no one can really know who really is. It isn’t safe, he was told.

If Lazer knew who he really was… Mu bites his lip a little, trying to decide what to do now. He couldn’t let Lazer tell the other Riders, that was for certain. He fishes the Bugvisor out of his pocket and the Dangerous Zombie Gashat. The belt that the Bugvisor attaches to turns the Bugvisor into the Buggle Driver, capable of working like the Gamer Driver. Mu didn’t really know what was different, though, other than its capability of doubling as a weapon and only having a slot for one Gashat.

Lazer hummed, “What’s that you got there?” He leans a bit to look. “That the Gashat Kuroto just finished?”

The Dangerous Zombie Gashat is snatched out of Mu’s hand – he hadn’t noticed that Lazer had come closer to him. Wide eyed, he watched as Lazer quickly moved away, examining the Gashat. Mu had only been here a few minutes and he’d already messed up. “Don’t-!”

“Well let’s see what it does,” Lazer pulls out his Gamer Driver, slotting Bakusou Bike into it. Once in Level 1, he activates Dangerous Zombie, placing it in the second slot of the Driver.

The problem here was, Mu didn’t know what all Dangerous Zombie could do, but he knew it wasn’t meant for use with a Gamer Driver, He had no clue what would happen, with Lazer trying to use it. “Please, don’t…” Mu says, though he doesn’t think that Lazer even hears him.

It might be odd to worry about what would happen, given Lazer was his enemy but… As much as Mu wanted to hate him, even his role in Graphite’s death didn’t seem like sufficient motivator. Besides, it was possible that Dangerous Zombie could do something to help Lazer and that would be a million times worse.

When Lazer tried to use Dangerous Zombie, it hurt him. The health gauge on his chest slowly went down, until the Driver ejected the Gashats, forcing him out of the transformation. Mu rushes over and grabs the Dangerous Zombie Gashat. Oh, this was a terrible idea!

Lazer pushes himself up, grabbing the Bakusou Bike Gashat. “Ugh, what the hell does that thing do?”

“I don’t-“ Mu cut himself off, not finishing his train of thought. He probably shouldn’t let Lazer know that he doesn’t know what exactly Dangerous Zombie can do. Instead, he just realizes that Lazer can still tell the other Riders, so Mu needs to do more to stop him.

Dangerous Zombie!

Slowly, Mu inserts the Gashat into Buggle Driver. Lazer watches him, pulling out the Giri Giri Chambara Gashat. It was time for a fight. Mu figures he can just beat him up like last time, knock him out for a while so they can come up with a better plan. He presses the buttons on the Buggle Driver.

Buggle Up! Danger! Danger! (Genocide!) Death the crisis! Dangerous Zombie!

Gemn Level X was weird. Mu wasn’t sure how to explain the feeling. Like… A dull sort of pain, maybe a broken limb? But also some kind of power. It’s an overwhelming feeling of cold emptiness, covering and wrapping him in an unwanted cocoon.

Mu hated it.

But he wouldn’t stand a chance against Lazer otherwise.

Bakusou Bike!

Giri Giri Chambara!

Giri-giri-giri-giri Chambara!

Lazer quickly went to his Level 3. Mu didn’t know how Level 3 would compare to Level X, given the seven level difference, but he was confident that he’d be able to defeat Lazer. Not to mention, Lazer was already weakened by his attempt to use Dangerous Zombie.

“Alright, then,” Lazer grunts, “Time for a fight.”

There’s a flash of panic in Mu’s mind when the Bugster begin to appear, dressed in torn clothing. They don’t pay Lazer any mind, though, instead going out of the warehouse. Oh right, Lazer was supposed to be meeting with the other Riders. Mu would have to be quick.

Level X was odd in that it lacked a weapon, which definitely threw Mu off for a moment. But even with Lazer having a weapon, he was too weak to even really do any damage. Besides, it wasn’t as though Mu was incapable of hand-to-hand combat.

It quickly must have become clear to Lazer that he wasn’t going to stand much of a chance in the fight, as he quickly grabs the Giri Giri Chambara Gashat and places it into the Gashacon Sparrows, separated into their sickle form.

Giri Giri Critical Finish!

Mu had attempted to dodge the attack, not that it mattered. Because he ended up taking the whole hit anyway and… it really didn’t faze him. In response, Mu grabbed the Gashacon Sparrow and swung it back at Lazer, hitting him solidly in the chest.

The way that the Gamer Drivers worked was that they were designed to limit the possibility of the death of their user. Thus, once the health bar on a Rider’s chest reached a certain low point, the Gamer Driver would eject the Gashats. Except, while that was what happened when Mu struck Lazer, Lazer was clearly far more hurt than he should have been.

For a moment, Mu stares at Lazer. Oh, he realized, oh Lazer was about to Game Over. Lazer was about to die.

As much as Mu was upset about Graphite’s death, about everything that Lazer had done with or separate from the other Riders to impede his and Kuroto’s progress on the game, he didn’t want to see Lazer die. Mu didn’t want anyone to have to die, even if they were misguided, thinking that he and Kuroto were some kind of villains.

One half of the Gashacon Sparrow still in hand, Mu hears the sound of fighting outside. Right, the other Riders were supposed to meet up with Lazer. The grunts they were fighting wouldn’t keep them occupied for much longer. He couldn’t stay around. Quietly, he walks over to Lazer, reaching down to grab the other half of the Gashacon Sparrow and the Giri Giri Chambara Gashat. It could come in handy, at least.

Lazer grabs at the sleeve of his hoodie, “Why?”

Mu blinks, eyes almost like a deer in headlights, “I’m sorry.”

---

It never bodes well when you’re trying to go somewhere and then Bugster grunts showed up. These were dressed a lot differently than the ones they fought before, these had torn clothing. Emu thinks they remind him of zombies in a video game, but he doesn’t know what Bugster could have caused them.

He, Saki, and Nico were fighting them off, finally finishing off the last of them. He just hoped that Kiriya was okay. They quickly enter the warehouse.

Kiriya was not okay.

Kiriya was on the ground, beaten up and glitching, errant pixels here and there. Emu didn’t know what was happening, but he knew two things. It wasn’t an infection, and it wasn’t good.

“Kiriya!” He rushes to Kiriya’s side, grabbing at him, “What happened?”

Grunting, Kiriya pushes his Gamer Driver and the Bakusou Bike Gashat into Emu’s hands, “Gemn,” He answers, “Ace, take your fate into your own hands.”

The Gamer Driver lets out a loud sound:

Game Over

Kiriya disappears into pixels, leaving nothing behind but his Gamer Driver and Gashat in Emu’s hands.

At first, Emu’s shocked, only able to stare at where Kiriya once was. Then, he feels something overwhelm him. A feeling he hasn’t experienced in six years. He starts to cry.

Nico and Saki can only watch in shock behind him.

---

When Mu returns, Kuroto is at his desk. “Mu-“ He begins, but Mu just makes a beeline for Kuroto’s desk. Placing the Bugvisor, Dangerous Zombie Gashat, and Lazer’s Gashacon Sparrow on the desk.

“I don’t think Lazer will be a problem anymore,” Mu says distantly, “I’m… going to go on a walk now.”

Kuroto’s only left to stare. “Mu, what did you do?”

---

Mu keeps walking until he finds Graphite. He still feels a bit numb, in disbelief of what he’s just done. It was easy enough, then, for Graphite to notice that something was wrong. Not that it would probably been hard anyway. Graphite was good at telling when something was bugging Mu.

“Kin, you’re upset,” Graphite notes, placing a hand on Mu’s shoulder, “What happened? Did Kuroto do something?”

Shaking his head, Mu whispered, “No,” then shakes his head again, “No, Graphite. I did something.”

“So what happened?”

“I… Lazer knew so much, he knew way too much!” Mu quickly said, “He said that he knew who I was, even! I didn’t know what to do but I knew he was going to tell the other Riders so I had to stop him and…”

Mu looked down, “I took Kuroto’s new Gashat to fight him and then… for some reason the Gamer Driver didn’t eject his Gashats before his health gauge was depleted and…” He pauses. He can’t bear to finish it. Because it just. It was too much. Finally, he manages to whisper, “I killed him.”

He can hear Graphite’s small but shocked gasp. Mu just repeats, “I killed him Graphite.”

You decide what’s good. You decide alone.

Graphite stares for a moment, seemingly unsure of what to say or do. Then, he hugs Mu, as Mu begins to cry. He’s glitching and he knows he shouldn’t be getting this worked up, but he’s not sure what to do.

At some point, it gets really dark. Graphite just picks up Mu and carries him back. Mu tries to protest, to say that Kuroto may find out about Graphite, but Graphite doesn’t listen. By the time they get there, Kuroto’s already asleep. So Graphite just brings Mu into the nest and holds him tightly.

---

Nico’s not sure why Saki’s following her on her way back to Taiga’s clinic. It’s out of character, as far as Nico knows. Of course, Taiga may try to say otherwise, but she wasn’t entirely convinced they were even talking about the same person.

Pausing her walking for a moment, Nico looks at Saki, “So the hospital is the other way,”

Saki blinks, “I’m worried about Emu,” She confesses, though Nico’s not really sure why. Saki continues, “He left to go home so quickly and…”

“His friend just died,” Nico groaned, “Of course he’s upset. But he’s gotta figure this out for himself and being around us wouldn’t help him.”

Surprised, Saki comments, “I hadn’t thought that Kujo and Emu were friends.”

Rolling her eyes, wondering how Saki could really miss something like that, Nico responds, “You don’t know everything about M,”

They begin to walk again and Nico’s accepted she might not get an answer as to why Saki’s coming with her. After a few minutes, Saki speaks again, “I wonder what it was that Kujo wanted to tell us.”

“I don’t know,” Nico shrugged, “Whatever it was, he hadn’t even told me. But he did mention earlier that he was worried that someone might think he knew too much. That Gemn might try to kill him. Guess he was right.”

“I… suppose so,” Saki conceded, “I still can’t believe…”

Neither could Nico, frankly. It felt almost… well she wasn’t sure. She just hadn’t considered how much any of them, as Riders, were putting themselves in danger. Some part of her wanted to give the Driver and Gashats back to Taiga, like she’d planned to before. But now… She’d stayed for the mystery, and she still wants to know, but now she also wanted to figure out what was going on so she could understand why Kiriya had been killed.

“We’ll just have to figure out why, I guess,” Nico shrugs, trying not to show just how bothered she was, “And makes sure no one else gets killed.”

#kamen rider ex aid #kamen rider exaid #kamen rider #my writing #there is a me who can become strong

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