The Ark was right in the middle of a harsh storm.
It was a storm more severe than anything Tougo had experienced before, enough to make even the storm that destroyed Kenzaki’s ship feel like a gentle breeze.
The large cruise ship had trouble keeping even on the water as it rocked back and forth like a stray leaf. Only by lowering the anchor did they barely manage to avoid capsizing.
Maybe this is a flood God summoned to punish us.
But if that’s the case, what sin could we have possibly committed?
The storm had come along not even three hours following the evacuation of the remaining villagers on the island onto the Ark.
The damages caused by the Mother Undead had yet to be completely repaired.
At first they were attacked with huge gusts. The glass on nearly every one of the ship’s windows shattered to pieces, immediately followed by massive amounts of wind and rain that ruthlessly poured in from every direction.
“Bring the women and elderly into the closets!”
“Brace yourselves!”
The orders spread from Area to Area. Ren, Dai, and Mei gathered in the closets, while Tougo and the rest attempted to fix themselves under beds and other pieces of furniture.
Right afterward, they were struck by an enormous shockwave, violently sending Tougo and the others up and down and left and right as if they were riding an out-of-control horse.
Furniture and utensils that weren’t fixed in place flew all over the place and crashed into the walls and floor.
The sea roared, and loud creaking sounds could be heard from all over the Ark.
“Head for the northern archipelago!”
“That’s the only way we’re going to escape this storm!”
As per the instructions of the captain and chief engineer, thirty minutes later, the Ark made it towards a group of a dozen or so islands.
They had thought that the islands would help buffer against the unprecedented storm, but they ended up only increasing their chances of getting stranded.
It had been three hours since they lowered anchor, judging that further advancement would be too dangerous.
But the storm showed no sign of yielding any time soon.
“No! No no no no no no!”
Rikiya had begun shouting when the rain coming in from the windows began pooling on the floor, eventually reaching up to Tougo and the other’s ankles.
The water that reached their mouths was incredibly salty, clearly having been mixed with the seawater.
“I’m gonna drown… I’m gonna drown!”
Consumed with panic, RIkiya began untying the rope around him.
“Calm down, Rikiya! You’re not going to drown!”
But the storm drowned out Takuho’s voice.
Tougo desperately adjusted his body and reached out towards Rikiya.
“Grab onto me, RIkiya! We won’t drown if we stick together. I can swim. You know that, don’t you, Rikiya?!”
Rikiya looked at Tougo and immediately clung to his hand.
And that’s when it happened.
A scene that Tougo should have had no way of seeing began flashing before his eyes.
He was holding his mother’s hand as he sank deeper and deeper.
“No! No no no no no!”
His ankles, knee, waist, chest, neck, chin, and mouth were all being swallowed by the ocean.
“Let go, Mom! I don’t want to die! Help me, Mom! Mom!”
His mother looked down on him while smiling, while singing, while going insane.
It was a lullaby.
Tougo’s only memory of his mother. He had forgotten even her face and name, yet that song alone never left him.
That’s right. That wasn’t who she was. That wasn’t Rikiya’s mother.
That was my mom.
Right that moment, Tougo understood.
What I thought was Rikiya’s past was actually mine.
That was why Tougo had always felt emotion rising up inside him whenever he thought about that past.
Tougo’s mother was a frail person. She was born on the Ark just like Tougo, and had grown exhausted of life on the Ark. She wanted to get off of it. She sang lullabies to Tougo about disembarking the Ark, and eventually grew ill. As young as Tougo was at the time, he was able to understand that. That was why it was hard for him. He hated his mother’s lullaby. He never wanted to hear it. That’s why he tried to forget about it. And eventually, he did.
“I’m gonna drown… I’m gonna drown!”
Tougo screamed in fear. The seawater that was only reaching up to their ankles had at some point risen all the way to their knees.
It’s going to swallow me up soon. The ocean that swallowed up Mom is going to swallow me up, too.
Tougo desperately began untying the rope around him.
And then Rikiya reached out and gripped Tougo’s hand.
“Grab onto me, Tougo! You won’t drown if you stick with me. You know that right, Tougo?!”
Now I remember. That’s how it was, Tougo thought to himself.
It was Rikiya’s parents that had died from illness when he was little. For some reason I thought that was my own past, but it was actually Rikiya’s. And at some point, Rikiya had considered my past to be his past as well.
How did something like that happen? Did someone do this to us?
That’s the only reason I can think of.
Some great power must be manipulating us.
Like how Kojirou thinks that someone made him write that story.
The suspicions Tougo had been holding for a while began to grow stronger.
“Are you all right, Tougo?”
“Don’t worry. The Rat Gang’s always together no matter what!”
Takuho and Rikiya smiled together.
The closet door had at some point opened up, and Ren’s smiling face could be seen peeking out from it. She was nodding, as if she was saying everything would be all right.
The very next moment, gravity suddenly disappeared.
It was like the entire Ark had floated up into the air.
And the following moment, gravity returned and sent them crashing down.
If Tougo had untied his rope earlier, his body would’ve likely broken into pieces from crashing into the walls or floor.
At the same time, someone’s scream could be heard.
“The anchor snapped off!”
“Grab on!”
I knew it. By the time he thought that, the Ark had already begun rocking back and forth from the raging waves. Once again he was flown towards all directions as he felt his long-empty stomach convulse.
The scream that followed immediately struck dread into Tougo.
“Stop, Kenzaki!”
“Just forget the anchor!”
“Wait, Blade!”
“Blade!”
From the yelling, Tougo was able to imagine the sight of Kenzaki transforming into Blade and diving into the ocean to recover the anchor.
“Kenzaki? Blade!”
The loosened rope broke free, and Tougo dashed out from the cabin, almost tumbling along the way.
“Wait!”
“Tougo!”
The wind that blew through the passageway drowned out the voices of Takuho and the others.
The deck was covered with rain and seawater, and was inclined at a thirty-degree angle.
It was obvious that the ship was in the process of capsizing.
The ship had begun rising up when the anchor snapped off, but it managed to return to its normal position, most likely because it had run aground a shoal.
However, it was slowly beginning to tilt again. The large cruise ship known as the Ark that had been sailing the seas for three hundred years was soon about to topple sideways.
The sailors gripped the handrails as they looked down at the raging waves of the ocean.
From those waves, Blade in his Jack Form leaped out. He lost strength midair and dropped straight down onto the deck.
“Sorry, I lost sight of it… It was too dark to see anything on the ocean floor…”
His transformation went undone as he dropped to his knees.
This ship saved my life, so now it’s my turn to save it. Those were surely the thoughts that had gone through his head. Tougo could understand how Kenzaki felt. He could feel his frustration.
“Kenzaki… Kenzaki!”
Tougo ran.
He ran while getting his entire body soaking wet, almost tripping from the slanted deck, and he jumped onto Kenzaki.
“Don’t go anywhere! Don’t leave me! Please!”
Kenzaki looked at Tougo in surprise, but he proceeded to pat his head with a kind smile on his face.
Tougo was then convinced that this was all real.
Takuho, Rikiya, Ren, Dai, Mei, Kojirou… as well as Kenzaki and everyone else.
The people that existed around him weren’t made-up, they were his precious friends. Tears of relief trailed down his face.
He could feel the heartbeat of Kenzaki’s warm chest.
Suddenly, Tougo recalled Kenzaki’s past.
He was falling straight towards the dark depths of the deep ocean.
The anchor the passengers tied themselves to in order to avoid being tossed into the raging sea served to only to drag them down instead.
Those that managed to untie themselves before drowning only ended up drifting away by the chaotic waves.
Days and days passed.
And then he met the Ark and was taken in.
But he couldn’t remember anything before that.
“Yeah… I still can’t remember anything from before that point. I tried reading Kojirou’s story, but it didn’t help…”
“Huh?”
Tougo looked at Kenzaki in surprise. It was as if Kenzaki saw straight into his heart.
“For some reason, Tougo, I’m able to see into your heart. I have no idea why, but… maybe it’s just fate.”
“Fate…”
That’s right. It has to be that. It’s fate. Tougo felt his chest swell with warm emotions.
The Ark let out a high-pitched groan and began tilting even more.
They were unable to keep themselves standing anymore without grabbing onto something.
“Let’s abandon the ship.”
“Right, that’s our only choice.”
For the umpteenth time, the captain and chief engineer made a decision.
Kamen Rider Novel Translations 