Mari showed up at their meeting place fifteen minutes early.
She had a date with Yuuji today. Mari was always the one that showed up first.
It became a sort of a pattern for Mari to be the early one. It wasn’t that Yuuji was late. If anything, he was always extremely precise in showing up exactly on the dot.
Mari was just simply always early, and that somewhat frustrated her.
Mari drew away from their meeting place and began skimming through some fashion magazines at a nearby book shop.
All right, today I’ll be a little late, she told herself.
It wouldn’t hurt to be late every once in a while.
Mari wanted to see Yuuji wandering around looking for her, just like how she always wound up doing.
At first, she decided that she’d be around ten minutes late, but she felt that would be a bit too long.
It’d be bad if Yuuji got mad and ended up leaving, so she decided on five minutes.
It was already autumn.
A sigh naturally slipped out from her mouth as she flipped through the magazines. The models in the magazines were already wearing winter clothes. But even though the seasons were changing, there hadn’t been any development happening at all with Yuuji and Mari’s relationship. That wall between them was still firmly standing.
On the date previous to their last one, Mari had the courage to finally tell Yuuji about her past.
She told him about how she lost her parents in a fire when she was little.
About how she was raised at Ryusei School.
Yuuji listened to Mari with a serious face.
He showed just the right amount of sympathy so that Mari wouldn’t feel awkward, and even cheered her up in a very natural manner.
But that’s all that happened. Yuuji never changed his attitude, and as a result, neither did Mari.
A superficial conversation. A superficial date.
Mari had always kept quiet about her past because she didn’t like being pitied, but she would’ve at least preferred that over having nothing change at all.
Mari then suddenly realized that the solution to her troubles might actually be relatively simple. Rather, it was something that she had been thinking about for quite some time.
They had yet to do anything like kiss or have sex. They never even held hands yet.
Maybe that’s why…
Just as she planned, Mari showed up at their meeting place five minutes late.
That’s strange, Mari thought. Yuuji’s still not here.
No, wait, maybe he already left.
Oh no, that’s not good. Ugh, what should I do?! He must have left after getting mad! This is all my fault for trying to change things up! I’m such an idiot, oh my god!
“Wait, hold on,” Mari blurted out the very next moment.
She suddenly remembered that she sped her clock ten minutes forward so that she wouldn’t be late for their date.
So she wasn’t five minutes late. She was five minutes early.
I was worried over nothing…
She rubbed her chest in relief.
What am I doing, I look like an idiot.
And then Yuuji Kiba showed up just on time.
Meanwhile, at the very same day and time, Keitarou was waiting for Yuka.
On the day after Keitarou bought that dress, Yuka showed up at Kikuchi cleaning to thank him, much to his surprise. They then exchanged phone numbers and the two of them had been chatting ever since.
Keitarou was the happiest he had ever been in his life.
I finally have a girlfriend…
And she was beautiful, too. He didn’t even care that his bank balance dropped to nothing after each of their dates. As long as Yuka was happy, that was good enough for him.
The only worries he had at the moment were about his email penpal, “CloudyThenSunny”. It wasn’t right for him to be the only one happy. After all, his dream was to make every single person in the whole world happy.
Just like making laundry pure white.
Lately, the messages he had been getting from CloudyThenSunny had changed in tone. They were rather gloomy. Her messages used to sound bright and cheery. The email he got the day before was the worst one so far.
“I’m crying right now. The tears won’t stop. I smell something awful. It’s the smell of my heart. I can’t stop hating myself. I feel like I want to die.”
Keitarou sent a reply.
“Don’t say stupid stuff like that. I don’t know what happened, but life is just like laundry. No matter how dirty it gets, it can get clean again just by washing it. Wipe your tears and open the window, and then look up at the sky.”
Why am I meeting with this person, thought Yuka.
Today’s date was at a fancy French restaurant Yuka heard about from a magazine. Keitarou was eating his food with a joyful expression like always.
At first, these dates were nothing but a curiosity for Yuka. It was because she never had someone that treated her kindly and look up at her like the way Keitarou did. Everyone Yuka had met so far always looked down at her. That’s why Keitarou was so interesting to her. He made her feel good.
Yuka gradually grew more indulgent. She started to ask Keitarou to buy her things.
Her room was now filled with all kinds of presents from Keitarou.
The formal dress she was wearing was also something Keitarou bought specifically for today’s date.
Keitarou did whatever Yuka asked of him. It looked like he was happy to comply with whatever requests she had.
Eventually, Yuka grew annoyed at him. She found Keitarou’s happy face to be repulsive.
What are you so happy about? Is this really that fun for you?
That’s why Yuka began to bully him.
Yuka learned that torturing others was a form of pleasure for her.
Even their date today was a part of her cruel torment towards Keitarou.
The French cuisine Yuka ordered was carried to their table. After taking a bite, she made a grimaced face and signed to Keitarou.
I don’t like it, you eat it.
And then she ordered another dish.
This cycle continued to repeat several times since they entered the restaurant.
She would order something, say that it’s bad, and then give it to Keitarou. This repeated over twenty times.
But Keitarou still looked happy.
“Keep ordering until you find the dish you like. I’ll eat up whatever you don’t want.”
The smile he made while saying that only got on Yuka’s nerves even more.
Whenever Yuka came home from her cruel pranks on Keitarou, she would always send an email to her penpal, “DefenderOfJustice”.
They were always really depressing emails.
Mari and Yuuji sat on a bench at the park.
It was already evening.
Their date started off with visiting an art museum. They then ate together and Yuuji gave her a ride home to Kikuchi Cleaning.
Is that really it? Mari thought to herself.
No, I don’t want to go home yet.
Mari then asked Yuuji if he wanted to walk around the park for a little bit.
The art museum was incredibly boring. Yuuji seemed to have more interest in the architecture of the museum rather than the works on display.
The building was really pristine. Too pristine.
There wasn’t a single piece of trash littered anywhere. Mari took out a gum wrapper from her pocket and secretly dropped it onto the floor when Yuuji wasn’t looking.
As she sat on the bench, she felt the same way she did when she was at the art museum. She wanted to defile what was too clean.
Yuuji had been staying quiet the whole time. He had his hands behind his head as he silently looked up at the night sky, like he was counting the stars.
Your girl’s created such a perfect opportunity for you, so why aren’t you making a single move?
“Kiba, what do you think of me?”
Mari then went out and said it. She couldn’t just wait for him to finish counting the stars.
Yuuji looked at Mari in surprise.
He never would have guessed she would ask something like that.
But it was only natural. The two of them were dating. They were boyfriend and girlfriend.
Yuuji had forgotten about that.
Yuuji thought about what Naoya said.
Have you ever considered that you might just be using her to convince yourself that you’re still human?
Maybe. But what’s wrong with that?
Yuuji had been constantly fighting with that disturbing voice that whispered from the bottom of his heart every time he transformed into an Orphnoch.
Kill them… Kill them… Kill them…
He needed to remember what it meant to be human in order to fight against that voice. Otherwise, both his body and soul would become no different from a monster’s. That’s why Yuuji was just as desperate to maintain his relationship with Mari.
He was dating because he was human. If he was human, then he wouldn’t kill people for no reason.
“Answer me. Do you like me or hate me?”
“Let’s head back. It’s getting late.” Yuuji stood up from the bench.
“No.”
Mari grabbed onto Yuuji’s back.
He could feel the warmth of her cheeks against him. The heat felt like it pierced through his body.
He then realized for the first time that he had been deeply hurting Mari this whole time.
It was then Yuuji felt something akin to a dark wind.
Anxiety suddenly shot through his body.
Something ominous was intruding into the little world of theirs.
There was no doubt about it.
It was bloodlust.
“What’s wrong, Kiba?”
“Run!”
Yuuji grabbed Mari’s hand and ran.
Mari couldn’t understand what was happening.
Yuuji’s body then got thrown to the side, and upon noticing an Orphnoch emerging from the darkness, Mari let out a scream.
Wielding large ball and chains in both arms, it was the Ox Orphnoch.
Mari quickly took out her cellphone and contacted Takumi like usual.
“Takumi! We’ve got trouble! Hurry up and get over here!”
Yuuji quickly got up and once again grabbed onto Mari’s hand.
This is bad…
He couldn’t transform in front of Mari. He didn’t want to see him as an Orphnoch.
The Ox Orphnoch lifted its ball and chain and threw it towards Yuuji. After skillfully dodging it, Yuuji began to run with Mari’s hand in tow.
However, the range of the ball and chain far exceeded Yuuji’s assumptions. The iron ball flying in from behind made a clean hit into his side. He immediately dropped to his knees and fell face down.
“Kiba! Kiba!”
Mari’s voice sounded awfully far away.
He couldn’t see anything.
The moment Yuuji fell unconscious and the Ox Orphnoch raised its ball and chain towards Mari, the roar of a bike could be heard.
“Takumi!”
Takumi took off his helmet and rushed to Mari’s side to protect her.
“Henshin!”
Takumi slammed his cellphone-like transformation tool into the slot in his belt. The fluid energy, Photon Blood, glowed red as it rushed through his body.
Takumi transformed into Faiz, the supermetal masked knight.
The Ox Orphnoch’s ball and chain clanged as it flew towards Faiz.
But Faiz didn’t bother to move.
A buzzing sound could be heard alongside a flash of light.
At the same time, the giant iron ball was cut into two.
That was the power of the crimson sword of light, the Faiz Edge.
The Ox Orphnoch rose its sharp horns and charged forward with a roaring bellow of anger.
Faiz swung his sword two, three times.
The Faiz Edge drew multiple red lines of light within the darkness. The moment their afterimages disappeared, the Ox Orphnoch lit up in blue flames and disintegrated into ashes.
Faiz’s blade had instantly severed the enemy’s horns and split its body cleanly into two.
“Takumi!”
Mari ran towards Takumi.
But the battle wasn’t over yet.
Another enemy, the Scarab Orphnoch, showed itself.
It went after the momentary opening Faiz had created for himself when he defeated the Ox Orphnoch.
Its tough insect-like shell, reminiscent of a boulder, slammed into Faiz from behind. The powerful might of its shoulder tackle sent Faiz flying into the air.
Scorching saliva dripped onto his back as Faiz laid face down on the ground. The enemy’s sharp fangs were approaching his neck.
“Takumi!”
Mari could do nothing but shout out his name. She felt frustrated over her incompetence.
Just before the fangs sank into Faiz’s neck, the light of a bike shone into the darkness.
The bike then stopped, with its rider getting off of it.
Mari stared at his silhouette, illuminated by the park lamp behind him.
“Henshin!”
The man put on a belt similar to Takumi’s and transformed.
Another masked superhuman had appeared.
It was Kaixa.
The Scarab Orphnoch let out a squeal as it got off of Faiz.
It exposed its numerous fangs and viciously charged towards Kaixa.
The battle was settled in an instant.
Kaixa pulled out the Blaygun at his hip and shot out multiple energy bullets that pierced straight through the Scarab Orphnoch’s body.
Numerous holes opened up in its face and chest, and the Scarab Orphnoch crumbled into ash.
The second superhuman then undid his transformation.
“Mari.”
The man gently called out her name.
He made a bashful smile as he scratched behind his ears.
It was a familiar smile and gesture.
“Kusaka…?”
It was Masato Kusaka.
Kamen Rider Novel Translations 