His clothes were torn and for some reason there was rope tied all around his horribly wounded body. It made the castaway resemble a beast that had got caught in someone’s trap.
But his eyes were kind. Kind, yet sad.
Tougo thought that he looked like a large dog that was shivering from being drenched in the rain.
“I’m guessing you’re a survivor of a shipwreck caused by the storm not too long ago. Which ship are you from?”
“Looks like you tied yourself with rope so you wouldn’t be thrown off board, but there’s no point in that if the whole ship were to sink. What’s your name?”
After dragging him out of the waves and confirming that he was conscious, the captain and chief engineer bombarded him with question after question.
“Hey, you listening?”
“I said, what’s your name?”
People from both factions were crammed together peeking in from the back. Tougo and the rest, who had managed to escape the meeting room by taking advantage of the chaos, were mixed in with them as well.
“My name… is… Kenzaki… Kazuma Kenzaki…”
He looked like he was looking at some faraway place as his blistered lips opened up.
Kenzaki. Kazuma Kenzaki.
Tougo repeated that name in his head, feeling like he had met him somewhere before. But where?
“Where are you from, Kenzaki?”
“What happened to your comrades, Kenzaki?”
But that was it. Kenzaki groaned as he looked around in confusion.
“Where am I from…? Who are my comrades…? I can’t remember… My head hurts…”
Gasps of surprise could be heard slipping out from the surroundings.
“Amnesia, huh…”
“It’s no surprise, considering that storm. It’s a miracle he’s even still alive…”
Tougo at the very least knew what amnesia meant, but it still felt surreal to him.
“Man, this is crazy…”
Rikiya laughed. He must have felt like something interesting was about to happen.
And something was going to happen. Tougo could feel that as well. And he was still thinking. Just where did he meet Kenzaki before?
The captain ordered that Kenzaki be taken to the infirmary to get checked up on and given food for now. Just as he was being put on the stretcher, it happened.
“Wait!”
“Who gave you permission to rescue him?”
“Why did you rescue him before confirming the situation with us?”
They were people from the Guest Cabin Area, with their clothes and appearances greatly making them stand out from the rest. The ten of them, who were likely the Area’s representatives, crowded around the captain and the chief engineer.
“Oh boy, the rich folks are here…”
Rikiya spoke in disdain.
According to Kojirou, their ancestors were supposedly rich people from the Antarctica days who had fallen into conflict with the top officials back then. They believed that their ancestors left Antarctica of their own accord rather than having been exiled, which is why they were especially prideful.
Ridiculous. Tougo felt differently about it than Rikiya. There wasn’t any point in pretending to be rich people with those shabby cabins they lived in and the fake toy necklaces they adorned. Getting mad at people like that was only a waste of energy.
“We shouldn’t need any permission to rescue someone!”
“Responding to an SOS and rescuing someone in need is just common sense for a sailor! It’s the rule!”
The captain and chief engineer were back to agreeing with each other.
“Well we aren’t sailors. If the rules really are so important, then I’d rather you respect our safety first and foremost!”
“What if that man happens to be infected with something? What then?”
“He was drifting in a sea that’s been contaminated for three hundred years now!”
The captain and chief engineer’s silence lasted only for a moment.
“I don’t want to hear this from people who didn’t even bother joining the meeting!”
“How long do you all plan on continuing to act like you’re nothing but mere passengers?!”
“What?!”
“Have you forgotten who’s been supplying all the food, fuel, and money for the equipment?”
“Why should that matter?”
“Have you forgotten who’s been keeping this boat moving?”
“Why should that matter?”
“What?”
“What did you say?!”
The deck then fell into another cacophony of yelling voices just like how the meeting room was not too long ago. No, it was even worse than that.
The castaway Kenzaki was sitting right in front of them, injured and in need of care, yet they continued to argue without paying any note to him whatsoever. Adults really are pathetic.
As Tougo thought about that, Ren had begun treating Kenzaki. She was pressing wet towels against his wounds. When Dai and Mei timidly stretched out their hands and poked his face, Kenzaki’s lips curled into a smile. The two of them giggled in return. Takuho nodded, and Tougo brought the stretcher.
It was then that the atmosphere suddenly felt warped.
The pressure in the air quickly grew harsh, creating a pain that felt like a sharp object was digging into their ears.
“Ow… My ears hurt…”
Rikiya started moaning, and Dai and Mei burst out into tears.
The adults were holding their hands against their heads.
The very next moment, they appeared.
Droves of monsters poured in from the sky and sea in attack.
Their very presence was enough to knock Tougo and the rest onto their feet.
“It’s the Undead!”
Tougo shouted spontaneously.
“Huh?”
“You know what those are, Tougo?”
Tougo nodded towards the surprised Takuho and Rikiya.
He didn’t know why, but he felt that they looked just like the monsters that Masked Rider Blade fought against in the story Kojirou wrote.
“That’s… impossible…”
The drunk Kojirou that had arrived at the deck upon hearing the ruckus dropped his sake bottle in shock.
“But… that story was just made-up… This can’t be real…”
The deck instantly fell into panic.
“Monsters!”
“They’re gonna kill us!”
The Undead all struck out at the people attempting to escape.
The ones from the sky ran them down with their wings, the ones from the sea crushed them with their fins, and the ones that climbed onto the deck crawled along the walls like centipedes and tore the people apart.
The captain, the chief engineer, and their adjutants had reflexively begun repelling them with their guns, but there was virtually no effect.
The Undeads’ shell-like transparent skin would absorb their bullets and instantly digest them within their bodies. It was quite the disturbing and grotesque sight.
“It was true… They really did exist…”
Kojirou continued to mumble like he was in delirium.
“But why are there so many of them here all at once… It’s like the Darkroaches in the end of my story… But still… why…?”
Yeah, why, Kojirou?
Wasn’t that just a made-up story? How did it turn into reality and start happening right in front of us? What’s going on, Kojirou?
“Oh, wait… This must be a dream…! Ow!”
Kojirou screamed from cutting his finger with a fragment from of the broken bottle.
“It’s not a dream… This is reality!”
During this whole time, the Undead continued to rip apart the people, and the damages incurred to the Ark had caused fire to erupt.
“Extinguish the fire!”
“Hurry!”
The captain and the chief engineer shouted, and the sailors began running.
And then those sailors got attacked by the Undead, preventing the extinguishing and causing the fire to spread even further.
“Tougo! Rikiya!”
Tougo and the rest ran according to Takuho’s instructions.
“Get out of the way!”
“Die, monster!”
They headed to the fire, waving their fire extinguishers and extinguisher sticks in spite of the attacking Undead. They were scared out of their minds, but they didn’t have the leisure to be complaining about that, nor did they have the time.
Takuho slammed his stick to get rid of the fire while Tougo and Rikiya sprayed as much as they could with their extinguishers.
Meanwhile, Dai and Mei were watching Ren from the shadows.
“If it ever gets too scary, just call out for me, okay?”
She had spoken those words to them with a smile before running off to treat the wounded. That sight of hers had somewhat eased the fear in Tougo and the rest. Smiles were forming on Rikiya and Takuho’s faces.
Kojirou was still muttering in delirium.
“But… But if this is all real, then next is…”
Tougo was thinking the same thing.
If this wasn’t a dream and everything in that story was going to come true, then what would happen next would be…
Ren raised a cry as Dai and Mei’s crying voices rang out.
An Undead had snatched up the two of them from the sky like a bird of prey nabbing a couple of baby mice that happened to peek their faces out from their nest.
“Dai! Mei!”
Takuho charged in, quickly climbing up the mast and jumping onto the Undead’s feet.
At the same time, the poison stinger of an Undead crawling like a centipede drew close to him in pursuit.
“Watch out!”
“Takuho!”
Tougo and Rikiya’s voices allowed Takuho to dodge the stinger at the last second, but the process caused him to fall down onto the deck in pain.
A group of Undead then began to swarm towards where he landed.
“Takuho!”
Ren shouted as well.
He was done for.
Just as that thought was going through everybody’s heads, Kenzaki stood up.
His kind eyes now had a sharp glint within them, and his once-trembling body now gave off an aura of valor.
Something similar to a belt began rotating around his waist before fully materializing onto him.
After raising his hands and moving them in an alternating fashion, Kenzaki shouted out.
“Henshin!”
Kenzaki ran through the multiple layers of cards that had appeared before him.
Power instantly formed around him, changing his form into the blue and silver knight known as Masked Rider Blade.
“It really happened… It really happened!”
Kojirou cried out, and Tougo came to a realization.
The place that Tougo and Kenzaki had met was within that story. Of course, his name was different, but he was by no doubt the very same person.
One, two flashes.
Upon Blade’s punch and kick, the Undead in front of him crumbled and disappeared into flames.
The other Undeads then recognized Blade as their enemy and let out roars of fury before attacking him in waves.
They came at him from the sky, the sea, and the walls of the deck.
Yet Blade stood confidently without taking even a step back.
He scanned several different cards, released all kinds of strengthened techniques and attacks, and the Undead fell one after the other.
Since Tougo had read the story, he of course knew that he was using the powers of the Undeads he had sealed in the past.
But there was one big difference.
He wasn’t able to seal the Undeads he had just defeated.
Each time he defeated an Undead, he would throw a card at them to seal them away, but the card would fly right past them and make a U-turn back to his hand. Immediately afterward, the Undead would dissipate into flames.
Blade would then look at the card in his hand while tilting his head in confusion, but another Undead would then attack him, soon resuming the battle.
What part of this was reality, and what part of it was fiction? Was this really a dream?
Just like Kojirou, Tougo was caught in a whirlpool of doubt, unable to do anything but watch the battle before him unfold.
The final enemy was in the sky. It was the Undead that had captured Dai and Mei.
Blade scanned a card, giving him access to his evolved state, the Jack Form, as he flew into the sky.
The Undead evaded him and released a counterattack.
Blade dodged it and accelerated in pursuit.
Tougo watched the hectic developments in the sky in a trance.
The battle then abruptly came to a close.
Two silhouettes could be seen falling from the sky.
“Dai! Mei!”
Ren shouted out. Tougo and the rest shouted as well.
It looked like the sun had erupted as the Undead in the sky erupted in flames.
When the final silhouette landed, it was Blade carrying Dai and Mei in his hands.
The two of them were giggling with innocent laughter.
“Dai! Mei!”
Ren ran towards the two of them. Tougo and the rest hurried over with excited voices as well.
The fire that had spread across the deck and a portion of the pilothouse had finally settled down as well.
Those that had ran away from the crisis cautiously returned from the shadows, standing in silence in front of the heaps of pitiful corpses of their friends and family. There were those that ended up vomiting as well.
“What just happened…?”
“What in the world are you…?”
The captain and chief engineer scanned their eyes across the wreckage and glared at Blade.
Suddenly, Blade’s transformation reverted, and Kenzaki collapsed onto the ground.
“Blade… Kenzaki!”
Kenzaki’s eyes opened in response to Tougo’s voice.
But his eyes weren’t looking at Tougo.
“…Why?”
“Huh?”
“How…?”
It didn’t seem like Kenzaki was referring to why he couldn’t seal the Undead.
Kojirou then finally realized. After following Kenzaki’s gaze, his face grew visibly pale.
“No… It can’t be…”
Eventually Tougo realized it as well.
Kenzaki was looking at the three moons that were soon about to set in the dark gray sky.
Kamen Rider Novel Translations 