Raven felt entirely innocent in this matter.
Aside from his looks, he naturally possessed an extraordinary allure for women, let alone these boy-crazy teenage girls currently in the throes of puberty.
Meanwhile, Tsukasa Kadoya's focus was entirely on Lucky Clover and their entourage.
The tennis match had begun.
From the initial probing shots, both sides gradually upped the ante. The power behind every swing of their rackets grew increasingly intense.
However, Tsukasa was no pushover. Even though he was facing Orphnochs, he was far from an ordinary human. His physical strength alone far exceeded that of a normal person, allowing him to maintain the upper hand against the man in the red tracksuit.
"One person doesn't seem like enough to fill the gaps between my teeth," Tsukasa remarked effortlessly, pointing his racket toward the group opposite him. "Two people—no, three, can come at me at once. It doesn't matter."
Provoked by Tsukasa's sheer arrogance, the members of Lucky Clover were instantly enraged. Yet, his display of power only confirmed one thing in their minds: Tsukasa Kadoya had to be Faiz.
"This strength... could this guy be Faiz?" muttered the man in the white tracksuit.
Without further hesitation, he stepped up to join the man in red. Both lunged forward, launching two tennis balls toward Tsukasa simultaneously.
Swoosh!
The two tennis balls blazed as if they were on fire, carrying a terrifying amount of kinetic energy. A normal human would have found them impossible to catch.
But Tsukasa once again demonstrated his uncanny abilities. With a single fluid motion, he intercepted them both.
However, after catching the shots, Tsukasa began to harbor his own suspicions. With moves like these, is Faiz hiding among them?
Thinking of this, a smirk played across Tsukasa's lips. "Kaito, I've got this win in the bag."
The two Lucky Clover members combined their strength once more for a final serve. This time, Tsukasa used both rackets in tandem, spinning like a fiery tornado. He violently struck back, easily returning the incoming balls.
Bang, bang, bang!
The force of the return blast slammed directly into the two Lucky Clover members, sending them crashing to the ground. When they scrambled back to their feet, they decided to stop playing games.
Right there in front of Tsukasa, they shamelessly revealed their true forms.
"Orphnochs?"
Watching the two players transform into Kaijin, Tsukasa was momentarily stunned. This was a bit different from what he had expected. He had assumed Orphnochs were outsiders attacking the school, and that Faiz would be a student or a teacher.
As it turned out, the Orphnochs were the students, and the notorious school bullies, at that.
Sitting in the spectator stands with Raven, Natsumi Hikari was equally shocked. She hadn't expected those students to be the Kaijin of this world!
In her nervousness, her small hand instinctively gripped Raven's. Her slender legs, clad in over-the-knee black stockings, pressed tightly against him.
"You've finally shown yourself, Faiz," the man who had been in the white tracksuit, now transformed, hissed at Tsukasa.
"Faiz?" Tsukasa realized then that they had also mistaken his identity.
"Stop pretending. Show us your true form!" the man in red demanded.
"Fine by me. Saves me the trouble of hunting you down."
Tsukasa calmly pulled out the Decade Driver and buckled it to his waist. He muttered a cool, detached:
"Henshin!"
He swiftly inserted the card.
[KAMEN RIDE: DECADE!]
In a flash of light, he transformed into Kamen Rider Decade, standing defiantly before the Lucky Clover members.
"He's not Faiz?" the man who had transformed into a Dragon Orphnoch exclaimed in surprise.
"Looks like we both guessed wrong," Tsukasa said, his voice tinged with slight disappointment.
"Even if you aren't Faiz, you've seen our true forms," the Centipede Orphnoch said coldly. He then shifted his gaze toward the distant spectator stands where Raven and Natsumi were sitting.
"No one leaves this place alive today."
"Oh, them? If I were you, I'd advise against messing with that guy," Tsukasa said, sparing a glance for Raven and Natsumi. He knew all too well that Raven's strength surpassed his own, even if he was loath to admit it.
"You take the Rider. I'll go deal with those two," the Centipede Orphnoch scoffed, ignoring the warning. He left the Dragon Orphnoch behind and began stalking toward the stands.
"Leave him to me," the Dragon Orphnoch replied confidently, lunging toward Decade to start the fight.
"He's coming this way!"
In the stands, Natsumi's heart raced as she saw an Orphnoch approaching them.
"I'm right here. What are you afraid of?" Raven whispered. He reached out to brush a stray lock of Natsumi's hair, catching a faint, delicate scent.
As the Centipede Orphnoch drew near, Raven allowed a terrifying, oppressive aura to radiate from his body, the unmistakable pressure of the Orphnoch King.
"Wh... What is this?!"
The Centipede Orphnoch's legs turned to jelly the moment he felt that aura. It was bloodline suppression. Any Orphnoch would react this way in the presence of the King.
As a composite entity who had devoured and absorbed two "Orphnoch Kings," the aura Raven projected had reached a horrifying level of intensity.
"What's wrong with him?" Natsumi asked, huddled close to Raven, her body pressing against his back in her fright. She was utterly baffled as to why the monster had suddenly frozen mid-stride.
"Maybe he's just scared of me," Raven said casually.
In that moment, a spectral phantom of the King's True Form, visible only to Orphnochs, flashed behind Raven.
"AAAAGH!"
The Centipede Orphnoch looked as if he had seen the ultimate personification of terror. He turned tail and bolted. Though this was a parallel world, his cowardly behavior was a mirror image of his counterpart, Itsuro Takuma, from the other universe.
Raven watched him flee with a mocking, playful glint in his eyes. He wasn't in a hurry to strike. Instead, he took a moment to enjoy the soft sensation against his back.
Aside from her legendary legs, Natsumi Hikari was actually quite well-endowed, likely second only to Akira Kazuraba. It was usually hidden under her modest attire, which was why few people noticed.
"..."
Seeing the Orphnoch run away, Natsumi finally breathed a sigh of relief. Even with Raven by her side, facing such a monster at close range had been a terrifying ordeal.