Upon waking up, they found themselves collapsed at that underground shrine.
Hajime grabbed Kenzaki’s hands to help him get up.
“We finally meet again, Kenzaki…!”
“Hajime… Hajime!”
It was their first true reunion after three hundred years. No other words were needed.
Rikiya and Kojirou ran up to them.
“Kenzaki!”
“Your memories are back?!”
Kenzaki nodded with a smile, and then he directed a dubious gaze towards Satsuki and the other man, who had both already woken up.
“They look very similar… but they aren’t Mutuski and Tachibana, right?”
“Correct. They’re not.”
Hajime responded, and Kojirou explained.
“They’re Satsuki and Tachihara. They’re apparently from the South Pole and Prisoner Island. Satsuki… is an acquaintance of Chalice’s, right?”
Satsuki nodded in their direction.
“I heard this was all part of the Master’s plan, but… what was the point of all of this?”
“Who even is the Master in the first place? That Stone of Sealing? In that case, I’ll go crush it to pieces myself!”
Tachihara shouted in anger. What could have happened at Prisoner Island? In any case, there was no doubt that he was yet another victim of that evil plot.
“All right, let me explain.”
“I’ll explain too. At least, I’ll explain what I know…”
When Kenzaki nodded as well, Rikiya shouted.
“Wait… Where’s Tougo?”
“You’re right. He’s not here!’
Kojirou looked around in surprise as well.
And then, that mocking laughter returned. It was filled with even greater arrogance than ever before.
At the same time, the shrine began to collapse. The walls around were crumbling apart as if they were made out of sand. And beyond those crumbled walls was nothing. There was only darkness. Darkness that stretched out towards their feet from all directions.
Rikiya and Kojirou let out a scream, and as if to protect the two of them, Hajime and the others gathered around them as they stepped back towards the altar-like structure within the middle of the shrine.
Eventually, that altar disappeared as well, and they all found themselves floating within the expanse of darkness.
A different laughing voice then rang out as well, and the pitch-black and crimson Stones of Sealing manifested above them.
Their overlapping voices made a declaration.
“…This is the land of origin, a realm that does not exist anywhere in particular. It is neither on the Earth nor is it within outer space. It is an expanse of nothingness, as well as the place where we first confronted each other…”
Or perhaps it was the place where the Master and Destroyer were born. Hajime realized that everything must have started from this realm.
“I see… I now finally understand.”
Kojirou had a pondering look on his face as well.
“Not the Earth or outer space… So that place really wasn’t the planet Earth we were born on. I don’t know how, but you two somehow managed to bring all of us there. In the same way you brought us here. Like how you controlled our boats. You manipulated our fate, or rather, humanity’s fate. No wonder the Riders weren’t able to seal away the Undead. The Rider System was only designed for combating the Undead from Earth. Of course it wouldn’t work against the Undead from a completely different world.”
The laughing grew louder. At this point, the two voices had completely fused into one.
And at that moment, a vision of the Master and the Destroyer’s plan appeared in Hajime’s mind.
Upon growing impatient from Chalice and Blade refusing to battle three hundred years ago, the Master sent humanity to another planet. It then altered everyone’s memories, leaving behind only the memories that conveniently served their purposes.
On that planet with three moons, the planet that categorized everything in threes, there were three different kinds of Undead, and the Battle Fight was initiated.
Next, Kojirou was granted a revelation and was manipulated into writing a story that predicted the coming battles. A story that replaced the Undead from Earth with the Undead of the planet they were on.
“So it really was divine intervention! Wait… that doesn’t make me happy at all!”
Kojirou’s words made Hajime realize that the Master’s plan had been conveyed to everyone else as well.
It was all an elaborate plan to make the two Jokers, Blade and Chalice, fight each other to the death. Everything had been put in place specifically for that purpose.
The death of the old man Hajime was caring for was to encourage Hajime to leave the Domed City. The fishing boat Kenzaki was on was shipwrecked so that he would be found by the Ark. Even everything else, like how they were guided to the Undead island, how they were made to fight the Mother Undead, how they suffered casualties within the Guest Cabin Area, and how they nearly had the Ark taken over… It was all connected to that plan.
Tachihara and Satsuki were mere catalysts to make Kenzaki and Hajime fight as well. That was why they were given those belts and cards. The maroon beetles and green spiders were meant to support them since they weren’t naturally born as the chosen ones. Satsuki was made to see traumatic nightmares of Mutsuki in order to encourage him to eventually rebel against the Admiral, and Saeko was murdered in order to force Tachihara to experience the same kind of despair Tachibana felt when he lost Sayoko.
Fate had been manipulated by an invisible power.
“So you’re saying that even when I realized who the true enemy was… Even when I was trying to avenge Saeko, that was still all part of your plan?!”
Tachihara shouted, and so did Satsuki.
“The Admiral’s death… The death of all those old ladies… They were all your fault?! I won’t let you get away with this…!”
The loud laughter responded mockingly.
“I could have let them live as well. But wouldn’t you say that their deaths made things more interesting? Misfortune breeds advancement. Isn’t that what you humans are all like? Just look back at the history of your kind. Without an enemy, without a foe to fight, you fail to evolve and thrive as a species. What foolish, petty, narrow-minded creatures. That is what you humans are. Even when no enemy exists, you make one up yourselves. That is exactly why the two of us exist as each other’s enemies. We are simply granting you the story that you desire.”
Tachihara could do nothing but tighten his fists.
Kojirou and Satsuki were speechless as well.
Rikiya was the only one who opened his mouth.
“Wait… So Tougo’s mom and my mom switching places was all because… It all makes sense now!”
The noticeable rise in volume of the laughter confirmed his suspicions.
The natural enemy of the Master, the Destroyer, showed no objection towards what had been said. In the end, the two of them were one and the same. Despite being on the complete opposite sides of the spectrum, they both existed on the same line of reasoning.
As if embodying that fact, the two stone slabs melted into one, transfiguring into a giant Undead. It was a grotesque two-headed Undead, decorated with splotches of both black and red.
Wings at least three times its size stretched out from its back, and a putrid odor reminiscent of rotten meat shot through the air, knocking Hajime and the others onto their feet.
“Kenzaki… Kenzaki!”
The voice was clearly coming from inside the two-headed Undead.
“Tougo?”
“Tougo!”
Everyone’s eyes grew wide. Tougo had been consumed by the Undead.
Hajime then saw the empty darkness get engulfed with the flames of hell.
“Don’t pay any mind to me! Just take this thing down!”
Tougo shouted from within the two-headed Undead. He assumed that Kenzaki and the rest would hesitate otherwise. He assumed that they wouldn’t fight, that they wouldn’t attack.
No, that’s not right. That’s not the solution to this, Tougo realized.
When Tougo experienced Kenzaki’s memories, he saw so many dead people cry. They showed sadness. They showed anger. That child soldier cried as he went mad. It was as if they were trying to tell him that he was about to do exactly what the enemy wanted. Throwing away one’s life for the sake of another’s is nothing but self-gratification. An intoxicated suicide.
Tougo squinted his eyes. He strained his ears. He sharpened his senses as much as he could from within the darkness that surrounded him. And then he could hear it. He could see it. He was able to grab the tails of the God and the Devil. The slimy scale-like texture made him shiver, but he was determined to keep hold of them no matter what.
“What are you doing, you brat?!”
“Let go, you vermin!”
He ended up laughing. Those entities that had been speaking so haughtily were now panicking. They didn’t even consider the possibility of him striking back and were now flustered to no end. I’m not scared of these guys at all.
“I’m not a brat! I’m not a vermin! I’m a member of the Rat Gang! Now, Blade! Chalice! Garren! Leangle! Masked Riders!”
Upon hearing that voice, Hajime looked towards Kenzaki, Tachihara, and Satsuki.
Kenzaki, Tachihara, and Satsuki then looked back at him and nodded.
Kojirou had a determined look on his face.
“This time I’ll write a story of my own. A story that isn’t given to me nor forced onto me. Believe in your power and fight in your strongest forms, Masked Riders!”
Kenzaki readied himself and called out.
“Let’s fight in the name of the Masked Riders!”
Hajime, Tachihara, and Satsuki readied their stances as well.
“Henshin!”
Blinding waves of energy passed through them, transforming them into Masked Riders.
Furthermore, Blade was using his King Form, Chalice was Wild Chalice, and Garren and Leangle had evolved into their strongest forms as well.
“Master! Destroyer! God and the Devil! We’re sealing you away!”
The two-headed Undead that had been writhing in place spewed out crimson flames that transformed into a lunging dragon.
The Riders nimbly dodged the attack, with Blade spreading to the right, Wild Chalice to the left, Garren up above, and Leangle down below.
They dashed and soared through the scorching darkness.
The fire dragon violently turned around in pursuit. It roared with rage.
Blade’s thoughts overlapped with the rest of the Riders.
There was no need to nod or to exchange glances.
Blade swung his sword towards the front, Wild Chalice swung his Slasher towards the rear, Garren shot his bullets diagonally upwards, and Leangle swung his dagger diagonally downwards. They unleashed their flurry of attacks around the two-headed Undead at lightning speed before immediately dispersing once again.
With the fire dragon losing its target, it instead wrapped around the two-headed Undead.
The two-headed Undead let out a cry of agony upon being momentarily engulfed with flames.
“Now!”
Kenzaki shouted, and the rest of the Riders raised their voices as well.
“Quadruple Royal Straight Flush!”
Upon getting pierced by the four bullets of light that shot out, the two-headed Undead’s writhing burst open, spilling out dark-red magma-like body fluid and fire.
“Impossible… How could this happen…?!”
“You would go as far as to destroy your own fate… your own world…?!”
Those were the arrogant dying cries of the Master and the Destroyer.
Tougo shouted back at them.
“We don’t need any gods or devils! Our fates and our world are ours to create and protect!”
The two-headed Undead finally collapsed, crumbling apart as it disintegrated before getting sealed away by the giant pure white stone slab that had suddenly manifested. Layers upon layers of silver chains were wrapped around it.
And then the stone slab disappeared as if it melted away.
Lying at the place where the two-headed Undead had collapsed was none other than Tougo.
“Tougo!”
“Tougo!”
At the same time Rikiya and Kojirou ran towards him, the darkness disappeared.
Upon opening their eyes, they found themselves at a beach at nighttime.
The quiet sounds of the waves made the silence even more prominent.
The stars were beautiful. The water’s surface reflected the moon.
At the same time those thoughts went through Tougo’s mind, he raised his voice alongside everyone else.
“Look!”
“There’s only one moon!”
“It’s Earth!”
“We’re back!”
Melodies the likes Tougo had never heard before played in his ears in quadruple time and eight beats.
He leapt to his feet upon feeling like he could hear the cheering voices of people from all over the world.
“Ren!”
“Don’t go, Ren!”
He didn’t notice until he heard Dai and Mei’s voices.
He could see Ren wobbling towards the ocean underneath the moonlight.
“Wait, stop, Ren!”
Tougo ran towards her, shouting as loud as could.
The image of his mother and his younger self appeared in the back of his head.
“Don’t die, Mom!”
Ren smiled as Tougo grabbed onto her in the ocean.
The Mom in my memories smiled as she let go of my hand. Her mouth formed the word “goodbye”. I get it now. Mom wasn’t trying to kill me. She let go of my hand in order to save me, so that she could disappear into the sea by herself.
Ren’s hand tried to break free. Tougo closed his hands and let go.
Just then, he could hear Kenzaki’s voice. It resounded from within his heart.
“Don’t let go, Tougo! Don’t ever let go again! We have to live together! We’ll keep living no matter what! The night won’t last forever! Just like how I suffered those long 300 years before finally meeting you all!”
Tougo opened his eyes and once again grabbed onto Ren’s hand. He squeezed tight.
Sitting under the waves, Ren’s other hand had grabbed onto another person’s hand.
When the waves drew back, Takuho was lying in their place.
“Takuho!”
“You were alive…?!”
“It’s a miracle!”
Rikiya and Kojirou cheered as they ran towards them.
Tougo then realized.
Ren wasn’t smiling because she wanted to die. It must have been because she instinctively could tell that Takuho was alive. That’s why she went to greet him.
Takuho coughed out the water clogging his system, regained his breathing, and looked at Ren.
“Ren…!”
“Big Bro… Welcome back…”
Ren’s eyes had regained their light. It was just as much of a miracle.
Rikiya and Kojirou were smiling.
After undoing their transformations, Kenzaki, Hajime, Tachihara, and Satsuki were smiling as well.
That single moon in the sky seemed to watch over them.
Kamen Rider Novel Translations 