Yuusuke’s consciousness was hazy as he sat in the backseat of the Anti-Orphnoch Committee’s private armored car.
He couldn’t move a single finger.
It felt as if someone had poured lead into his body.
But he didn’t care.
He was okay with the idea of his body simply disappearing.
He wanted to become something else.
Just half a year ago, Yuusuke was friends with several kids in the neighborhood.
He hadn’t seen them since Mari banned him from going outside, but among those friends, there was a young boy who was always teased and bullied by the others.
Yuusuke wanted to become that boy.
He wanted to become the kind of person that could just smile and laugh off whatever anyone did to them.
If that wasn’t possible, then he was fine with becoming a bug. There was a time where he caught a beetle he didn’t know the name of and tore apart its legs and feathers with his friends.
He wanted to become that bug.
If that wasn’t possible, then he was fine with becoming the wind. He could sweep up the remains of the torn-apart insect and carry them to some faraway place.
The car then suddenly came to a stop, causing Yuusuke’s body to get thrown around on the seat.
Mari was shouting something.
He sensed the men exiting the car one by one.
“Please! Give Yuusuke back to me!”
“C’mon, do you really have to do this?”
The men shrugged their shoulders upon seeing Mari plead so desperately.
“Don’t tell me you’re only just now feeling guilty about all this.”
Mari continued to plead for Yuusuke’s return.
She called out his name while trying to open the door.
One of the men then grabbed her head and threw her to the side of the road as if he was throwing aside some annoying cat.
The very next moment, the men’s faces were dyed gold.
Golden light radiated from the gaps in the car door, and when the men turned around, they saw Yuusuke within a melted vehicle.
Yuusuke had transformed into the shining being.
“So that’s your true form, huh?”
The men turned into Kaixas all at once.
Yuusuke could hear Yuka’s cry repeating itself from deep within his memories.
The pain she felt when she died came back to life and assaulted Yuusuke, igniting his hatred.
“Don’t do it, Yuusuke!”
But Mari’s screams would not reach Yuusuke’s ears.
The three Kaixas stopped functioning before they could manage to initiate even a single attack.
They each took on Yuusuke’s fist, elbow, and knee, as the fragments of the erupted Kaixas flew into the air along with their pitch-black blood.
Yuusuke turned his head and looked at Mari.
He stretched his hand towards her white face that had been dotted with the Kaixas’ black blood splatter.
Was the hand meant to save her, or was it meant to crush her?
Mari held onto Yuusuke’s golden hand.
“I’m sorry, Yuusuke.”
She then gently pressed the held hand against her cheek.
The warmth from her hands proceeded to calm Yuusuke’s pain.
“Get away from him, Mari!”
When Mari turned around to see who it was, a familiar figure had appeared in front of her.
“Kusaka…?”
She couldn’t believe her eyes.
Wasn’t Masato Kusaka slaughtered by the Horse Orphnoch Yuuji?
A single possibility then arose within Mari’s confused mind. There was only one way a human could come back to life.
“So you’ve chosen the darkness, Yuusuke.”
Masato immediately transformed into the Spider Orphnoch after saying those words.
The thick strings that shot out of his mouth pierced Yuusuke’s body like bullets.
With several holes now opened up all over his body, Yuusuke crumbled onto the ground.
Yuusuke!
Mari’s cry was soundless.
The Spider Orphnoch had covered her mouth with his hands.
Yuusuke continued to bleed shining blood as he laid on the ground.
Within his pitch-black consciousness, he sought after the hand Mari used to hold onto his own.
He sought after her hand’s strength and warmth.
Yuusuke continued to run through the darkness, waving his own hand as to beckon Mari’s.
He ran deep into his own self.
He passed through Yuka’s cries and pain and arrived at an even deeper layer of his memory.
Yuusuke soon remembered.
The voice he heard when he first manifested within Yuka’s stomach was not a cry.
Yuka wasn’t able to speak, but a soundless voice that carried her feelings for the one she loved filled her body.
Yuusuke grew while being enveloped by those waves.
That voice sounded familiar.
Ahh, Keitarou…
It was then that Yuusuke realized for the first time who his father was.
And he finally realized that the answer he had been searching for was right beside him all this time.
The laundry Keitarou sent back from Africa, the pure-white clothes he always wore, the clothes that enveloped Yuusuke that Keitarou had washed… That was the answer.
Yuusuke slowly stood up.
The bullet holes that were all over his body had suddenly disappeared.
Yuusuke began walking in search of Mari.
When Mari came to, she found herself in a forest.
She could see the blurred face of Masato Kusaka in front of her, and then her vision slowly grew back into focus.
“Mari…
“Kusaka…”
There was no joy in the reunion.
Mari trembled in realization of the situation.
Large spider webs stretched across the trees around her.
And Mari was trapped in those webs with her body in a cross shape, as if she was being crucified.
“I’ve missed you, Mari.”
Masato crawled towards her.
Eight limbs were sprouting from his body.
He had transformed into the Spider Orphnoch, but only his face was left unchanged as Masato’s.
“Mari, you’ve protected me ever since we were children. You’ve always loved me. That’s why I’ll save you this time. We have to become one. You’ll become me, and I’ll become you. That way I’ll always be able to protect you. Mari, do you know what it’s like to be an Orphnoch? It hurts, you know? It hurts feeling your body rot away little by little. It feels good how much it hurts. So kill me. I’ll devour you, so kill me from inside. Eat me from inside. Only then will we become one.”
Masato then completely transformed into the Spider Orphnoch.
His body jumped up and landed on the webs.
The Spider Orphnoch’s eight legs moved alternatingly, bringing him closer to Mari little by little.
“Get away from Mari.”
That voice echoed through the forest along with light.
Yuusuke’s body lit up from within the tunnel-like opening in the overgrown trees.
“Bastard…”
The Spider Orphnoch spoke to Yuusuke.
“Weren’t you going to live as an Orphoch?’
“No,” replied Yuusuke.
“I’m human.”
Mari felt the weight behind those words.
Yuusuke wasn’t a five-year-old child anymore.
He had decided how to live his life with his own will.
Yuusuke’s feet kicked the ground as he dashed towards Mari’s direction.
Mari felt like the forest was moving.
Multiple Orphnochs appeared from the trees’ shadows and the treetops.
Animal-type Orphnochs, insect-type Orphnochs, and plant-type Orphnochs came attacking Yuusuke all at once.
The Spider Orphnoch slowly approached Mari.
Yuusuke’s threw out his shining fists and legs against the Orphnochs.
Each time his punch or kick drew a shining arc, the Orphnochs would scream and disintegrate into ash.
But the Orphnochs just kept coming.
It was like the entire forest was an Orphnoch nest.
Yuusuke’s movements gradually grew slower as he took on the Orphnochs’ attacks one after the other.
The Spider Orphnoch revealed its numerous fangs as he opened his mouth to Mari.
His silver saliva drew strings of sticky fluid.
Mari ended up screaming.
“God damn, you’re always such a pain.”
Suddenly it felt like that voice could be heard.
Someone had appeared from the other side of the forest.
The man was like a dim shadow.
His face couldn’t be seen.
“Henshin!”
The man transformed into Faiz.
Upon seeing Faiz, the Spider Orphnoch stopped approaching Mari.
He then proceeded to viciously charge towards Faiz.
The string that shot from his mouth stretched out like bullets.
Faiz took out his red sword of light, the Faiz Edge, and sliced apart the string.
The Spider Orphnoch then changed the shape of the string he spat out.
This time he shot out a casting net-like web that was meant to capture Faiz.
Faiz spun his sword in all directions, cutting the net into pieces, and then jumped up high towards the sky through the hole he made in it.
The Spider Orphnoch looked up at Faiz.
He threw out a whip-like string as to slam Faiz back down onto the ground.
But Faiz’s finishing kick, the Crimson Smash, deflected that whip and descended upon the enemy.
The massive impact sent the Spider Orphnoch’s body flying.
The Spider Orphnoch then transformed back into Masato.
“Mari…”
Masato stretched out his hand towards Mari while affixed to the spider web.
Mari’s faraway figure appeared small enough for his hand to grasp onto.
I got you, thought Masato.
After erupting into white-blue flames, Masato’s body was carried away by the wind to the clouds.
Faiz cut apart the web, saving Mari, and then cancelled his transformation.
The dim shadow of a man didn’t have the strength to remain transformed over long periods of time.
The transformation belt clattered onto the ground.
The man carried Mari on his back and began walking.
Multiple Orphnochs began to attack the two of them.
Yuusuke then stood in the way to protect them.
“Henshin!”
Yuusuke had picked up the belt and wrapped it around his waist, transforming into Faiz.
Inheriting the power of Faiz, Yuusuke charged towards the Orphnochs.
The man carrying Mari continued to walk forward step by step.
With each step he took, ash would trail up his body like smoke.
Yuusuke’s changed, he’s chosen how he should live, but what should I do? thought Mari.
To live justly, to live strongly… What could she do to protect that promise?
All Mari knew was that there was no answer to that question.
It wasn’t a question that had an answer.
Mari knew.
Back when she was caught up in that hotel fire as a child, she was saved by a young boy who carried her on his back. She hadn’t changed at all since back then.
She had been living her entire life on someone’s back.
Mari decided to get off the man’s back.
That’s where she would start.
Mari slid off his back until her feet touched the ground.
Numerous Orphnochs appeared from between the trees and surrounded them.
What are you gonna do? asked Takumi.
I don’t know, replied Mari.
But I’ll try going as far as I can go.
Mari gently held onto Takumi’s hand.
And the two of them walked towards the light in the forest.
Kamen Rider Novel Translations 