Mira POV
As the discussion continued, Riu-san asked Ginna to project the Kamen Rider once more.
This time, displaying two images side by side. Ren allowed it, curious to hear Riu-san's thoughts.
One projection showed the suit with red, green, and yellow accents; the other depicted the gray suit he had also worn during the fight against the Shuuki.
"Observing the different effects, behaviors, and movements of the Kamen Rider made me curious," Riu-san said, thoughtfully stroking her chin. "In this form, he jumps higher, and his hand movements are faster and quick enough to parry the Shuuki's unexpected attacks effortlessly, despite its unpredictability."
She gestured toward the first suit, the one with green legs and a yellow torso.
"Now, compare that to the next one." Her finger shifted to the gray suit. "His movements are noticeably heavier, and the weight behind his punches carries far more force. When he fought swiftly in the yellow form, his hands were sharp, almost like a mammal. But here—" She paused. "Even when he received the Shuuki's punch head-on, he didn't flinch. He took it like a tank."
Tenka studied the projections in silence as Riu-san spoke. Then her eyes narrowed, catching something beyond the obvious difference in color—something etched into the suit itself.
"Ginna," she called. "Can you remove everything except the emblem in the center?"
"Yes! Ten-sama!" Ginna replied brightly, following the instruction without hesitation.
The projections shifted. With both suits vanished, leaving only the large circular emblems suspended in the air. The Chief watched, puzzled for only a moment until the difference became immediately clear.
"There are different animals etched into them," Fubuki said, noticing it at once. "The first one has a bird, a tiger, and a grasshopper."
"And the second," she continued, eyes tracing the markings, "keeps the same top but the other two are a gorilla and an elephant."
Yakumo tilted her head for a moment, then tapped her open palm with her fist as something came back to her.
"Oh yeah, Rider-chan had those glowing circle things surrounding him before he transformed," she said. "We were probably too focused on the fight, but I remember a voice saying Hawk, Gorilla, and Elephant. Then poof!! he turned into that gray form."
"It happened when he transformed back to his original one, too," I added. "The difference is that time it came with a jingle."
"Tatoba," Ren said while leaning back on her chair. "Basically, it's mashing the three animals into a single word, judging by its structure."
Kyouka folded her arms, lost in thought, before finally sharing her conclusion.
"So his actions, type of offense and defense, are all based on the animal he's using?," she said, tapping the table lightly with her finger.
"Not just that," Tenka added with a thoughtful hum. "I noticed something else about that light circle Yakumo mentioned." She turned toward the command platform. "Supreme Commander, may I see the footage again?"
"Ginna, do it," Ren ordered without hesitation, addressing the person beside her.
The screen behind Ren flickered to life once more. This time, Tenka gestured for Ginna to pause at a precise timestamp—just moments before the Kamen Rider transformed.
"Yellow, blue, red, gray, green," Tenka said, pointing at the frozen frame. "These correspond to the colors of the forms we've seen so far with the exception of blue."
She leaned closer to the screen. "We also saw that despite being different animals, the elephant and the gorilla share the same gray coloration."
Now that she mentioned it, the resemblance was obvious. The gorilla and elephant forms were both tinted the same dull gray.
The emblem itself was divided into three distinct sections: the bird was red, matching the head; the tiger was yellow, corresponding to the torso; and the grasshopper was green, aligning with the legs.
"Hypothetically," Tenka continued, "his head, torso, and legs change depending on which animal occupies each position in the emblem."
"Which means," Riu-san chimed in, "there could be a gray animal assigned to the head as well."
"Yes," Tenka replied with a nod.
"And based on that," Ren added, "the same principle likely applies to the other colors too."
I scratched my head, frowning as I ran the numbers in silence. "If we do some quick math," I said at last, "and I might be completely talking out of my ass here… but this guy could have around fifteen animals at his disposal."
"Hypothetically, there might be more animals within each color," Tenka said, concluding her analysis, "but for now, that number is our current answer."
"Maybe he's got a T-rex form and can just eat everything," Yakumo joked, laughing as she mimicked a children's show she used to watch. "Dinosaur—rrrrr!"
Ignoring Yakumo for the moment, something else came back to me.
"Oh, right. This might not be in the video, but he also used a cheetah," I said. "That's what the nearby police observers reported before he ran from the scene."
As the discussion continued around the table, ideas overlapping and theories colliding, Ren raised her hand. The room fell silent at once, every eye turning toward her.
"For now, we can only speculate about what he's using," she said.
She raised one finger.
"First—and the most obvious—the suit is related to peaches."
She raised a second.
"Second, it's advanced technology, capable of harming Shuuki without assistance from the Onmyou Agency."
A third finger followed.
"Third, it's a hybrid of the two."
Then she raised a fourth.
"Or," Ren continued, "it's something else entirely unrelated to either. Even if it's unheard of, it remains a possibility. He may be using something that doesn't involve peach blessings at all." Her gaze hardened. "We cannot afford to exclude that possibility from our system. Am I clear?"
The chiefs and I nodded in unison.
"Good. All of you are hereby dismissed," Ren said, bringing the meeting to an end. As the chiefs began to rise, she smiled innocently—far too innocently—at a certain blue-haired chief who had remained unusually quiet throughout the discussion. "Also, Bell~~ you're staying, all right~?"
Like a cat caught mid-escape, Bell flinched just as she was about to stand with the others.
"B-but I might need to check on my unit, so…" she said, forcing a smile as she scrambled for excuses.
"I know your schedule," Ren replied, her tone light, her smile ominously harmless. "And I know you don't have anything else to do today. It's a command."
Accepting her fate, Bell leaned back in her chair, staring up at the ceiling with the serene smile of a saint resigned to suffering. Tonight's destiny had already been sealed.
I shook my head and offered a small, silent prayer for her before slipping out of the room. I planned to take a short stroll before returning to my base but then I noticed a silver-haired woman standing by the window, gazing outside with a listless expression.
I was about to tease her, out of habit, but stopped when I saw her face more clearly. It wasn't her usual sharp composure—it was pained.
Scratching my head, I decided to approach and meddle a little.
I might be competitive, but I'm not an asshole. Kyouka is a friend first, before she's a rival.
========
========
Kyouka POV
Staring through the window at Mato's desolate landscape, I let out a faint, melancholic smile. My fist tightened on its own as memories surged back. My hometown swallowed by fire. Friends killed before my eyes. My parents' screams as they tried to shield me from the inevitable.
The current topic of the assembly dredged up a memory I had tried, and failed, to bury. One etched deep into my heart since the day I began training under Riu-san as a child. The hunt for that cursed Shuuki. The reason I joined the Defense Force in the first place.
Kyouka-oneechan, I'm scared
I grabbed my head, fighting the sudden urge to bite down on my tongue as the voice of a frightened little girl echoed inside my skull.
Even now, I cannot forgive myself. I was just there, frozen, watching as one of the family I loved was torn away from me.
My little sister.
Why? Why did it have to be my village? Why did a place filled with people savoring their simple, fragile happiness become a stage for slaughter and despair?
"And that damn Unihorn…" I muttered, teeth clenched.
That smile still haunts me. The way it reveled in my suffering as I stood powerless. A trembling child. A weak, insignificant human standing before a monster.
The Defense Force eventually exterminated every Shuuki that ravaged my village. Every last one except that bastard. It slipped away.
I swore on that day, carved the vow into my bones, that when I finally find it, I will end it with my own blade.
"Your face looks awful right now, Kyouka."
Mira's voice pulled me back. She walked over and leaned her back against the window beside me, folding her arms. "Something on your mind?"
"Is it that obvious?" I asked, offering her a wry smile.
"Clear as day," Mira replied with a brief smirk, though concern still lingered in her eyes.
I let out a quiet sigh and leaned against the window as well.
"The mishap just brought up my past. Nothing special," I said. "Still, I'm grateful this didn't end the way my hometown did."
"The Oisawa incident, huh," Mira said, recalling it. "Right… that mishap had a Unique Shuuki too, just like this one."
I nodded.
"The difference is, there was no such thing as a Kamen Rider back then to save us," I murmured, staring up at the ceiling. "Sometimes I even wonder… or wish… that I had died too. Maybe then I'd be with my dad, my mom, and my little sister."
Negative thoughts always plagued me, no matter how firm my resolve was in my younger days. That is why I am eternally grateful to Riu-san. She beat that poisonous mindset out of me and shaped me into the person I am today.
Adding insult to injury, I was also cursed with what many would call a useless ability.
Eternal Chains
A peach blessing that allows me to enslave other entities and draw out their latent potential. On paper, it sounds formidable. In practice, it is nothing but dead weight. Every Shuuki I have ever bound paled in comparison to me, their power so insignificant that empowering them was little more than a waste of effort.
Rather than elevating me, Eternal Chains became a shackle of its own.
Because of this, my ambition to become Supreme Commander was quietly undermined. An ability meant to dominate instead forced me to depend solely on my natural talent.
My instincts, my discipline, and my martial prowess. Where some others relied on blessings, I relied on myself.
And that was enough.
Through relentless effort and hard-earned victories, I rose through the ranks and claimed the position of Chief of the Seventh Unit. I did not just inherit it. I took it by defeating the former chief in open confrontation.
Our conflict was inevitable. I could not tolerate her abuse of the unit, her willingness to grind her subordinates into the dirt for the sake of personal glory and hollow recognition.
She called it ambition.
I called it unforgivable.
Something lightly struck my arm.
I turned to see Mira beside me, her expression unusually serious, the usual edge of mischief momentarily absent.
"You know," she said, voice softer than I expected, "you can talk to me anytime if something's on your mind."
I blinked, then let out a small chuckle. "I'm shocked. I thought you were my rival."
She snorted, then grinned. "Rival or not, I'm still your friend—and your ally when it comes to killing Shuukis." Her eyes gleamed. "Though don't misunderstand. This doesn't mean I'm surrendering my claim to Supreme Commander."
I shook my head, amusement bubbling up despite myself.
Even if I never said it out loud, Mira's personality was one of her greatest strengths. Beneath the bravado and sharp tongue was one of the kindest people I knew. A former gang member, yet someone who genuinely cared for the lives of others.
"Well," I said, raising my fist with a grin, "you'd better cry yourself to sleep when I take that position, Mira."
She burst out laughing. "You're just describing yourself—Muahahahaha!"
Her laughter was infectious.
We bumped fists, the sound light and unceremonious.
What remained was a simple, carefree smile. Shared between two people walking the same battlefield, side by side.
___________________
___________________
Author's Note:
Step on me Mommy Ren~