Today’s the day Keitarou will be done for.
As she stirred her spoon in her tea at the cafe they were meeting up at, a soft smile crept onto Yuka’s face.
Ever since Keitarou bought her that dress that one day, she had been going out with him on these bizarre dates.
Keitarou’s happy face annoyed Yuka to the point where she began to always ask for the most unreasonable things from him, but it never succeeded in wiping away his cheerful smile.
No matter how much Yuka’s requests got out of hand, Keitarou’s smile never changed. Her grief over those turns of events always led her to send a message to her email penpal, “DefenderOfJustice”.
And this cycle continued to repeat.
Yuka had him buy her a ring on the previous date. She didn’t even really want it.
It was just a tool necessary for the torment she was planning on inflicting upon him that day.
Keitarou was so excited over the idea of buying a ring for her.
“It makes me so happy knowing you want to wear the ring I bought for you.”
He was jumping with even more glee than usual.
Just as planned.
As Keitarou and Yuka walked alongside each other over a pedestrian bridge, Yuka came to a stop. She took off the ring and casually dropped it into the heavy traffic below them. The ring bounced and rolled among the numerous cars rushing down the road.
Could you pick it up for me?
Yuka signed to Keitarou. This was the torment Yuka had thought of this time around.
Keitarou stumbled about the cars swerving around him and cursing at him before finally finding the ring and coming back with it.
But Yuka was planning on continuing this game for the whole day.
She would drop the ring for a higher place, and then drop it from an even higher place.
But Keitarou never got discouraged.
He would always return, exhausted and beaten up, to put the ring back on her finger with a smile.
And seeing that smile of his always brought the sadness back to her.
A sadness she couldn’t understand.
But then Keitarou’s words blew away that sadness.
“Sorry, Yuka, I… actually ran out of money… So I won’t be able to buy you anything anymore.”
I don’t care about the money.
“Huh? So, we can still see each other?”
Yuka nodded with a happy smile.
She had thought up a new way to torment him.
“Sorry, Yuka… It took a while getting work wrapped up.”
Keitarou arrived at the cafe and sat down in front of Yuka, bowing his head multiple times.
It wasn’t as if Keitarou was late.
He was actually five minutes early, it was just that Yuka arrived before him.
As Keitarou continued to apologize, Yuka handed him the paper bag she brought with her.
“Huh? What’s this?” Keitarou’s eyes then grew wide.
It was because there was a present wrapped beautifully with a ribbon inside it.
“For me?” asked Keitarou, to which Yuka responded with a nod.
Keitarou was overwhelmed with emotion as he opened the present with trembling hands. But then his body froze.
It wasn’t just one present. Keitarou took out all the presents and untied the ribbons.
Inside all of them were each and every gift that Keitarou had given Yuka.
And each one was crushed, snapped, and ripped into pieces.
Clothes cut apart with scissors, watches with cracked glass, earrings and rings bent out of shape, and so on.
Keitarou stared at those items speechless.
Tears began to form. Keitarou’s happy face was crumbling apart.
Just like Yuka wanted.
What are you so sad about?
Yuka asked him, pushing the torment even further.
“Because… I feel so bad for you…”
You feel… bad for me?
“Yeah. It’s because you don’t know what you really want. That’s what this is, right? You don’t know what it is that you like. But I’ll keep trying… I’ll keep looking until I find the thing that you truly want!” Yuka stood up instantly. The sadness came flowing in stronger and faster than ever.
“Yuka?”
As if running away from his voice, Yuka dashed out of the cafe.
Yuka was sitting on a bench in the park.
There was a red balloon someone let go off of that was caught onto a tree branch in front of her.
Yuka took out her cellphone and began typing a message.
“Defender of Justice, how are you doing? I’m sorry for having you always try to cheer me up. I haven’t done a single thing for you. Right now I’m in a puddle of water. The sadness dripping out from deep within my body is creating a puddle of water at my feet. I see a red balloon. It can’t fly anywhere as it just sits there shrinking. It’s just like me.”
Upon sending the message, she heard a melody coming from behind her.
It was the ringtone from Keitarou’s cell phone.
Keitarou opened the message and looked at Yuka.
I see a red balloon. It can’t fly anywhere as it just sits there shrinking…
Keitarou looked at the red balloon and then looked at Yuka.
He looked at the cell phone Yuka was holding and called out to her.
“Could it be that… you’re CloudyThenSunny?”
Yuka learned that DefenderOfJustice was Keitarou.
Not only was Keitarou dealing with Yuka’s unreasonable requests, he was also always there to lend her a shoulder in her moments of grief. She then finally realized exactly why Keitarou’s happy face always made Yuka sad. It was because she had convinced herself that she would never be able to make him happy, that she would one day cause him to lose that smile.
In other words, Yuka had fallen in love with Keitarou at some point without knowing.
“Yuka.”
Keitarou approached Yuka, but Yuka took a step back for every step Keitarou took forward.
No, don’t come any closer.
But there was a limit to how much emotion she could convey through her hands. There were feelings that sign language couldn’t possibly communicate.
When Keitarou drew even closer, the red balloon above them burst with a bang.
“!”
A breeze with a disturbing odor blew between the two of them.
The very next moment, the image of an Orphnoch descending from the trees was reflected within Yuka’s eyes.
It was the Scorpion Orphnoch.
“Y-Yuka!”
The Scorpion Orphnoch attacked Keitarou who came rushing to Yuka’s side to protect her.
Its long tail wrapped around his body, bringing its silver-colored poison stinger to his throat.
Yuka then transformed into the Crane Orphnoch.
Multiple black veins traveled across her face as white wings spread out from her back.
Keitarou’s eyes grew wide and his body went stiff with shock.
No…! Yuka’s an…!
Keitarou witnessed the entire battle.
Including Yuka’s transformed form as an Orphnoch.
The Crane Orphnoch leaped at the Scorpion Orphnoch and tore its poison stinger tail into two.
The Scorpion Orphnoch let go of Keitarou and charged at the Crane Orphnoch.
The two Orphnochs clashed against each other, their bodies entangled in a brawl. As they rolled onto the ground, they bore their fangs at each others necks. Upon getting up, the Crane Orphnoch rose her sharp claws and struck them into her enemy’s heart. The blood that squirted from the wound reached even higher than the tree branches.
With the Scorpion Orphnoch’s heart gouged out, it erupted in blue flames and disintegrated.
Yuka reverted her transformation, her body still covered with the blood that had spurted from her enemy.
Keitarou stood in place in shock.
The torn-off Orphnoch tail was still wriggling on the ground.
The numerous feathers that had been plucked from the Crane Orphnoch’s wings fluttered down around Keitarou.
Yuka turned around and ran from Keitarou.
The happy Keitarou no longer existed.
His smile had forever disappeared to a faraway place.
It was the one thing Yuka had feared more than anything else.
Yuka sobbed voicelessly as she trudged back towards her apartment.
She felt even more lonely than when she was shut within her uncle’s basement.
She was at least able to look up at the window in that basement. She was able to hug her knees and fantasize about fun stories. But now there was nothing she could look up at. There weren’t any fun stories she could make up.
Yuka came to a stop.
Standing in front of her was Keitarou.
The expression on his face was certainly not one of happiness.
But it was filled with a strong determination as he stared at Yuka.
Keitarou embraced Yuka’s body.
The strength of his hold was enough to tell Yuka that he had accepted her as an Orphnoch.
A passion like nothing she had ever felt before ran through Yuka’s entire body.
Yuka strongly pressed her lips against Keitarou’s.
Kamen Rider Novel Translations 