"You're just playing childish tricks on me."
After Shiraishi Shin finished speaking, he hummed a little tune and walked forward unhurriedly. It took him five seconds to reach the Tyrannosaurus Dopant, where he glanced at the blonde girl with a red ribbon who had been captured.
He reached out, placed a hand on her shoulder, and tossed her back. On the spot, he threw Chitoge Kirisaki three meters away and two meters high, where she remained frozen in mid-air, defying the laws of Newtonian physics.
He removed the buggle driver from his waist and fixed it onto his hand. The buggle driver had diverse functions; besides transformation, pausing time, and rewinding time, it could also be used as a weapon. The right side featured a muzzle for long-range energy attacks, while the left side had a saw blade for close-quarters combat.
[Click!]
Pressing the B button on the driver with his left hand, he aimed at the Lava Dopant that had just gotten up in the distance. A green energy bullet fired from the muzzle on the right side of the driver, exploding upon hitting the Lava Dopant and triggering a 'HIT' effect.
Then, he snapped the driver back onto his waist and pressed the B button twice more with his left hand.
[Kimewaza! (Finishing Move!)]
[Critical Crews-Aid!]
(Image)
Shiraishi Shin's visor flashed with a green light, and a massive golden clock appeared beneath his feet. The time-stopped Tyrannosaurus Dopant stood at the XII (12 o'clock) position on the clock as immense energy converged on his left foot.
Then, Shiraishi Shin slowly rotated his body. Within the clock, the golden hour hand pointed at the Tyrannosaurus Dopant, while the longer minute hand rotated along with Shiraishi Shin's counter-clockwise movement until his left foot kicked the Tyrannosaurus Dopant's head, after which he naturally turned his back to it.
The clock vanished, leaving only the hour and minute hands overlapping at the XII mark.
[The Final Strike!]
"Tyrannosaurus Dopant, you are now out of print."
Shiraishi Shin walked forward to stand beneath Chitoge Kirisaki, whom he had tossed aside, and pressed both the A and B buttons on the driver simultaneously with his index fingers.
[Restart! (Resume!)]
Time resumed, and both the Lava Dopant and the Tyrannosaurus Dopant exploded simultaneously, sending pillars of fire into the sky.
"Ah!"
Just as Chitoge Kirisaki came to her senses, she realized she was flying. After an instinctive scream, she was suddenly caught by something. The next thing she saw was Kamen Rider Cronus's face right before her eyes.
At that moment, Chitoge Kirisaki's mind went blank. She had been saved? When? How could she, the person involved, not even know?
Then there were those two explosions. She turned to look and saw that the Monster who had just held her hostage had turned back into a woman, lying unconscious on the ground. The other one, who could fire fireballs from his palms, had also turned back into a man and passed out.
"This..."
Chitoge Kirisaki swallowed nervously. What on earth had happened? Why did those two Monsters suddenly explode? When did she start flying? And why was she caught by that Kamen Rider? It was sci-fi—everything was just too sci-fi.
Shiraishi Shin set down Chitoge Kirisaki, whom he had been holding in a bridal carry, and turned to leave.
Seeing this, Chitoge Kirisaki hurriedly called out, "Wait... wait! Thank you for saving me. I'm so sorry for misunderstanding earlier and thinking you were just going to watch me die. May I ask, what is your name?"
"Kamen Rider Cronus, the Adjudicator of Sin."
Shiraishi Shin announced his Rider name without looking back, then dissolved into green data and vanished.
"Kamen Rider Cronus? By the way, what exactly is a Kamen Rider?"
After the recent incident, Chitoge Kirisaki was no longer in the mood to go shopping. As she walked home, she reflected on the incredible scene she had witnessed.
And about Kamen Rider—having just arrived in Japan, she was completely in the dark. So, she took out her phone, went online, typed 'Kamen Rider' into the search bar, and clicked search. A vast number of entries immediately appeared.
"Huh? A tokusatsu drama show from over forty years ago? Kamen Riders in urban legends? Transformations? Fighting against evil organizations trying to rule the world?"
Chitoge Kirisaki sat on a roadside bench watching videos on her phone. She had just searched for 'Kamen Rider' again on a short-video app, and all the results were clips from the Kamen Rider tokusatsu drama series edited by various creators.
"So this is what a Kamen Rider is. Heroes who transform from humans, unknown to the world, silently protecting the peace of countless homes without seeking fame or fortune... heroes who, even when injured, can only lick their wounds alone like a lone wolf."
Having known nothing about Kamen Riders before, her heart felt a bit heavy now that she had learned about them through the videos.
But thinking back to that Kamen Rider Cronus... he didn't seem to have anything to do with being 'injured.' He took out two Monsters in an instant. She had no idea how he did it; it was as if the entire fight had been edited out.
Chitoge Kirisaki couldn't help but joke half-seriously, "There's no way there's an ability as ridiculous and unfair as time-stopping, right? Ahahaha."
...The next day, Shiraishi Shin put on his school uniform and walked out of his room. He yawned, closed the door, and immediately noticed Shiina Mahiru standing to his right, smiling at him.
He asked, "Mahiru, when did you get here?"
"I just stepped out. Here, this is for you."
Shiina Mahiru said she had just stepped out, but she had actually been standing at her own front door for over ten minutes, just waiting for Shiraishi Shin to come out.
Shiraishi Shin looked at the item she was handing him and said in surprise, "A bento? Are you giving this to me?"
They had been in school for a month and had known each other for a month. Although their relationship was decent enough that they could address each other by name, it shouldn't have been close enough for her to prepare a bento for him.
After all, preparing a bento for the opposite sex usually implies either being childhood friends for over a decade or being in a relationship.
Shiina Mahiru didn't quite dare to meet Shiraishi Shin's eyes. She lowered her head and said, "Yes. Do you... not like the bento I made, Shin?"
In fact, she had only decided to make a bento for Shiraishi Shin last night. Although Shiraishi Shin hadn't recognized her as the little girl from the summer camp eleven years ago, and she hadn't explained it either, their relationship was still just that of ordinary friends.
But after interacting with Shiraishi Shin last night, she had already understood her own feelings. Knowing that Shiraishi Shin's cooking skills weren't very good, she had prepared two bentos so that he could have something delicious to eat.
Shiraishi Shin naturally wouldn't refuse. He reached out to take it and said, "I like it, of course I do. I'm more than happy that Mahiru made a bento for me. How could I ever turn it down?"
"By the way, let's exchange contact information so you can reach me if anything comes up."
Shiraishi Shin naturally didn't believe that Shiina Mahiru had just stepped out and happened to run into him. She must have been waiting for some time, so exchanging contact info would allow them to coordinate and avoid making her wait.
"Sure."
This was exactly what Shiina Mahiru had been hoping for.
After the exchange, Shiraishi Shin invited, "Alright, let's walk together."
"Okay."
Then, the two of them walked side-by-side out of the apartment toward the school. Since where they lived wasn't far from the academy, it was only a fifteen-minute walk.
They arrived at the school, which had a very nice environment. Shiraishi Shin and the other were still considered freshmen, as it had only been a month since the start of the term.
"Look, it's the Angel."
"Kawaii! As expected of the Angel Mahiru. To think there's actually an Angel as beautiful and gentle as her in this world."
"Yeah, I can't imagine how happy her boyfriend would be. I'm so jealous of her future husband."
"Eh? The one walking with the Angel is Shiraishi Shin, right? Dammit, I'm so jealous he gets to walk with the Angel."
"What's there to be jealous of? Shiraishi Shin is the academy heartthrob, okay? He's handsome, has great grades, and his athletic performance even breaks academy records. He's better than us ordinary people in every way."