“Haruto…?”
Rinko looked at me with confusion in her eyes.
“Don’t worry, I’m the real Haruto.”
It felt weird to call myself the real one, but I didn’t really have any other option.
As I wiped off the water dripping from my forehead onto my eyes, I looked at the man I threw out of the car.
Am I looking at a mirror, or is this just an illusion…? No, it’s not a mirror or an illusion. The man lying in the pool of water in front of me was without a doubt “me”.
“Why are you here…?”
Rinko’s voice could be heard behind me.
“Shunpei called me while he was out shopping.”
I turned around and explained the gist of the situation.
“He kept asking me if I was at Omokagedou over and over again, so when I asked him what was going on, he said that ‘I’ was right in front of him. He then hung up after saying that he was going to follow him, but he ended up losing sight of him once he got into your car, and then he called me again. And that’s why I rushed all the way here.”
Rinko nodded as she listened, but there was still unease on her face.
When I saw that her hands that were tightly pressed against her exposed chest were slightly trembling, I realized what exactly the other “me” was trying to do, and I began to boil up with anger.
“I can’t believe Shunpei caught me of all people… The one time I wasn’t asking for one of his miracles…”
The other “me” talked as if he knew Shunpei on a close level.
“Anyway, get in the car.”
When I said that to Rinko, the other “me” once again glared at me.
The rain had stopped to the point where the heavy pouring from earlier seemed like it had never happened in the first place. The moon that had begun peeking out from between the clouds illuminated the other “me” in an unsettling manner.
“…What, you pissed?”
The other “me” looked me in the eyes.
“But you know, I’m the one that’s really pissed here. You just had to get in my way just when it was getting good.”
He violently rubbed the droplets off his face as he spat those words at me.
Even though he had the same personality as me, it seemed that his personality was a bit cruder. Caught up in his attitude, or rather, caught up in my anger toward what he did to Rinko, my language started to get a little crude too.
“You must be pretty messed up in the head to pull all that crap while pretending to be me.”
“Pretending, huh…”
His face scrunched up in response to my words.
“It kinda hurts to hear you say that after all we’ve been through together.”
Why is he talking like he knows me so well? And that’s a weird thing he said. I’ve fought all kinds of enemies up until now, but I’ve never dealt with anyone like him before. I put up my guard and began to crack some jokes so I wouldn’t get caught up in his pace.
“If we’ve really known each other for so long, I think I would’ve recognized your face. Or rather, I do recognize it, but I’m pretty sure the real thing’s a bit more handso-”
“Oh shut up.”
He interrupted me.
“The only time you ever crack jokes is when you’re trying to put up a strong front. Careful, you’re just gonna make it easier for your enemies to take advantage of you like that.”
I froze at his words.
Did he read through me? Or has he just investigated my personality that thoroughly…? Whatever the case, there’s no doubt I’m dealing with a real nasty enemy here. I furrowed my eyebrows.
“Whoa there, your face is practically screaming ‘What a nasty enemy’ right now. Geez man, you always instantly get like this the moment someone pokes at you.”
The other “me” really did talk like he had known me for a long time.
I’ll only get caught up in his pace even more if I beat around the bush like this. I decided to get straight to the point.
“Who are you?”
The other “me” scoffed and combed through his wet hair pretentiously.
“Shouldn’t it be obvious?”
It seemed he was intent on calling himself Haruto Soma until the very end. The fact that he was going out of his way to point out his face meant that he was clearly trying to be provocative… no, it was a challenge.
He continued to talk, as if picking up on my annoyance.
“It looks like you think I’m ‘someone else’ who’s pretending to be Haruto Soma, but that’s way off the mark.”
When he said that, he looked at Rinko who was sitting in the driver’s seat.
“Me and him are one and the same. If you consider him to be the outer Haruto that’s visible to everyone, then I’m the inner Haruto that no one can see. Everyone has two sides to them… And I’m that other side. To put it simply, I’m like Haruto’s shadow.”
“Shadow…?”
I could tell Rinko was getting lost over this nonsensical talk.
Even I found it to be extremely unbelievable. In order to figure out his identity, I might just have to play along and drag more information out of him.
“I see. If that’s the case, do you think you could head back inside me already, shadow of mine?”
“I was only talking about how things used to be…”
His eyes lit up with a glint.
“From now on… I’m Haruto Soma.”
The eyes he directed toward me were clearly filled with hostility.
“I think I’m the only Haruto Soma we need around here.”
When I responded, this time he challenged me.
“Then how about this? We’ll fight, and whoever wins will become the real Haruto Soma.”
Just how long is this guy gonna spout this nonsense? At this rate, no matter how much I talk with him, he’s just going to keep pretending like he’s me. Maybe I’ll just have to teach him a lesson in order to get the truth out of him. I clenched my hand that was adorned with my ring and thrust out a fist as if I was accepting his challenge.
“Fine then. I’m gonna end up catching a cold if I don’t hurry up and expose you as a fake already.”
The other “me” glared at me with disgust.
“Looks like you still haven’t accepted that I really am you. Whatever… I guess I’ll just have to prove it to you.”
As he said that, he thrust his hand into his pocket and pulled something out.
“That’s…!”
The object that glimmered in his hand was without a doubt the Hope ring. That ring was supposed to be resting deep inside my heart so that nobody could take it…!
“Why do you have-”
As if interrupting my question, the Hope ring let out a blinding light. I couldn’t help but cover my eyes for a moment from how bright it was.
When the light went away… I was struck with dumbfoundedness over the spectacle that laid before me.
Standing there was my magician form, Wizard.
However, upon taking a closer look, there were some small differences compared to my own transformed appearance.
Black was still the dominant color, but the silver that decorated the head and other parts of the body instead had a dull iron shade that melted into the surrounding black. And the red magic gems that adorned the helmet, chest, and abdomen were replaced with black gems that let out a dull light, enforcing the theme of all-encompassing black… an appearance worthy of the title of the Jet Black Magician.
He raised his ring to the side of his face in a practiced manner and assumed a stance.
“Now then… it’s showtime.”
Declaring war with my signature line, the Jet Black Magician—Black Wizard—charged straight at me with his sword.
Coming back to my senses, I quickly summoned my belt and assumed a transformation pose.
“…Henshin!”
A red magic circle engulfed my body.
The fire that shot out from the magic circle served as a wall against my opponent. However, he continued to charge forward without hesitation and sliced apart that wall of flames with his sword. I managed to finish my transformation just in time to intercept his sword with my own at the very last moment.
“Now that’s more like it. I don’t want to defeat ‘myself’ too easily!”
The Jet Black Magician violently knocked my sword aside.
Taking advantage of that momentum, I quickly rotated my body and slashed at his flank. However, as if he had read me, he quickly blocked my sword with ease.
We swung our swords and skillfully twisted our bodies at the same time as our kicks lashed out at each other from underneath our flowing robes. We then blocked each other’s kicks with our arms before thrusting our swords out. It was shocking how similar our movements were.
I shoved him away, put some distance between us, and let out a blast of magic with a swing of my sword.
The crimson flame formed a ferocious dragon of fire that assaulted him. However, he had swung his sword in the same fashion as well, sending out his own crimson flames. The two dragons violently clashed before dissipating from each other’s firepower.
“Now do you finally get it? I’m you.”
The Jet Black Magician appeared to be smirking as the black gems on his mask glinted eerily from the moonlight.
Looks like he’s mastered the same magic as me. He’s just as strong as I am, countering all my attacks with the exact same moves.
As I cautiously approached him in anticipation of his next attack, he spoke to me.
“Giving up already? Then that means Rinko’s mine.”
Those words stirred a flame in my heart.
(There’s no way I’m letting him get away with what he did to Rinko!)
Surrendering myself to the boiling anger within me, I charged right at him.
He skillfully dodged my strike and then cut in with his attack, locking our swords together.
“You really have that much of a problem with me making a move on Rinko?”
“You’re a monster for what you did to her!”
“The hell are you saying? I was just doing what you wanted to do.”
“What…?”
His face drew closer as our swords overlapped.
“Don’t play dumb. Deep down inside, you’ve always wanted to make love to her…”
His words were like sharp thorns that pierced my chest.
At first it was just a slight prick, but it soon began spreading throughout my whole body like a fast-acting poison, causing my sword-wielding hand to loosen by a slight degree.
Immediately taking advantage of that opportunity, he knocked my sword aside and made a large slash.
“Gaaah!”
A burning pain ran across my shoulder to my waist. My transformation canceled from taking the full brunt of the damage as I dropped to my knees. I endured the pain and quickly tried to get back up again, but he put a stop to that by putting the tip of his sword up against my neck.
He then undid his own transformation as well while still keeping that sword in place.
“See? I’m Haruto Souma.”
The other “me” looked down at me with composure.
“I know everything there is to know about you. And everything I’ve done has been what you wanted to do deep down inside. In other words… I’m your instincts.”
If he really was another me, that would be a horrifying truth to come to grips with. I’m the reason why he attacked Rinko…? Of course, I could always deny what he’s saying. I could claim that he’s just making it all up. But as rattled as I was from his words, I was unable to outright deny his claims.
I unconsciously looked toward Rinko.
She must have been watching our entire battle and listening to everything we’ve been saying. There was a complicated look on her face.
Filled with an indescribable feeling, uncomfortable sweat began seeping out from all over my body.
He spoke as if he was enjoying my panic.
“Isn’t that great? Rinko finally knows how you feel now.”
“Uwaaaah!”
I raised my voice as if to blot out his words. I shoved away the sword in front of me with my bare hands and grabbed at him as if to pummel him with all those feelings of mine that had nowhere else to go.
Anticipating my actions, he dodged my lunge and let out a shockwave after turning around. I easily lost balance as I was blown high in the air before violently crashing into a wall far away.
“I’ve been suppressed inside you for so long. Now that I’m finally free, I’m gonna take this chance to do whatever the hell I want.”
After saying that, the other “me” began walking toward Rinko’s direction.
“Wait…!”
I tried to get up, but my body wouldn’t listen to me after taking so much damage for a second time. My powerless feet clumsily stumbled as I collapsed into a pool of water.
Rinko closed the car door so as to reject the approaching other “me”. However, after letting out some magic with his hand, the car door swung open with ease.
He laughed at Rinko as she glared at him.
“You heard everything we said, right? I’m the very same Haruto Souma you know so well.”
Rinko was slightly trembling, but even so, she talked back with an undaunted tone.
“You’re wrong. If you really were Haruto-”
He interrupted her by pulling her out of the driver’s seat and into his embrace.
“…Then I wouldn’t ever do something like this? Is that it?”
Rinko squirmed in an attempt to escape from his face drawing closer to hers.
“Stop it!”
I shouted with everything I had.
He glanced at me with an entertained smile as I struggled to stand up.
“Here comes the real showtime.”
The other “me” violently lifted up Rinko’s chin.
Right that moment, the Hope ring on his hand lit up.
The ring’s light wavered with instability.
“…Well that sucks.”
He looked at me bitterly as he clicked his tongue.
“This never would’ve happened if you just stayed inside…”
Seeing an opportunity, Rinko shrugged his hands off of her and tried to escape.
However, he quickly grabbed her before she could run and silenced whatever she was trying to say by overlapping his lips over hers.
I couldn’t do anything but watch dumbfoundedly…
I had no idea how much time had passed. Maybe it was only a few seconds. But to me, it felt like it lasted an eternity.
Finally, the other “me” silently released his lips.
Rinko’s body slid off of him like a puppet that had its strings cut, dropping to the ground with an empty look in her eyes.
“Sorry for scaring you, but my feelings are the real thing… Don’t forget that.”
After leaving Rinko with those words, the other “me” disappeared as if he melted into the darkness of the night.
I wasn’t able to move.
It wasn’t because of the damage my body took. The wounds inflicted to my heart were far greater, completely robbing me of the strength to stand up.
I kneeled on the wet road with my head dropped.
The moon mercilessly illuminated that pitiful state of mine, and the only thing I could hear was the small cries of the bugs in the surroundings…
Kamen Rider Novel Translations 