He let out a breath and said, "Just for that sentence, I, Shotaro Hidari, recognize you as my friend. Cheers!"
"Cheers."
*Clink.*
Two glass soda bottles clinked together with a crisp sound, followed by the sound of two people gulping down their drinks.
"By the way, do you know that Monster from just now? He used some kind of special ability to appear out of thin air, accompanied by... a wormhole. Yes, it looked like a wormhole. Could that Monster control space to teleport at will? But if he had that ability, why didn't he use it to escape?"
Shotaro Hidari still couldn't figure out how the Turtle Gurongi appeared, and why he appeared right in front of him. Seeing as the Turtle Gurongi didn't seem to know his identity as a Kamen Rider at first, it seemed like a total mismatch.
Seeing Shotaro Hidari encounter this for the first time, Shiraishi Shin explained, "Actually, I've encountered the issue you're talking about many times. It's not that he has spatial abilities, but rather that the dimensional barriers of this world have weakened. So, spatial fissures sometimes occur, dragging Monsters from other worlds and transporting them to ours."
"What? The dimensional barriers are broken? spatial fissures are transporting Monsters that don't belong to our world here?"
Shotaro Hidari's expression froze. What on earth? But thinking carefully about how the Turtle Gurongi appeared, it seemed very likely. Plus, it was impossible for Shiraishi Shin to joke about such a thing, so this explanation was definitely correct.
"This... this is just too unbelievable. Not only are there other parallel dimensions, but there are also other Monsters and Kamen Riders?" Shotaro Hidari took a deep breath to slowly process what he had just heard.
Finishing his drink, Shiraishi Shin patted his pants and stood up, saying, "Alright, I should head back. If you run into any trouble in the future, you can find me at Seirei Private Academy. I'm in Class 1, Year 1."
"Oh, okay. Here's my business card. You can come find me anytime if you need anything."
Shotaro Hidari knew that Shiraishi Shin was a student and couldn't stay out for long, so he pulled a business card from his coat.
"Narumi Detective Agency."
Shiraishi Shin glanced at it, nodded, then turned to leave and rode back on his motorcycle.
"Kamen Rider Cronus, huh? I thought there were no real Kamen Riders besides me and Philip, but I didn't expect there to be others, and so powerful too. This is fine; I won't be fighting alone against Monsters anymore. It's just that the spatial fissures are a bit of a hassle. Besides the Dopants we already have to deal with, we now have to handle these unexpected guests."
Shotaro Hidari stretched, remembering he still had a dog to find. Even if the commission fee wasn't much, even a small mosquito has meat; it was better than sitting idle in the agency with no cases all day... In the classroom, Shiina Mahiru watched a sulking Chitoge Kirisaki with amusement and said, "So he just said he had something to do and left you all alone?"
"Exactly! Isn't it incredibly rude to just ditch a girl like that? And then I was surrounded by a huge crowd of people."
It wasn't really a sulk; Chitoge Kirisaki just felt she had nothing else to talk about, so she recounted what happened. Not long after Shiraishi Shin left, she was surrounded by many people, mostly boys, constantly asking which class she was in and saying they had never seen such a beautiful girl before.
Shiina Mahiru thought for a moment and said, "Well, if Shin said he had something to do, he definitely did. He wouldn't just leave you for no reason. Don't be angry."
The red ribbon on Chitoge Kirisaki's head twitched twice as she said, "I'm not exactly angry. Actually, the Class Rep takes pretty good care of me as a transfer student. During the first period of Language Arts, he even let me look at his notes, and he invited me to join your table. He was also very detailed and serious when showing me around the school."
"It's just that he suddenly ditched me and let me walk alone without even a decent reason, and I got surrounded on the way back, so I'm a bit annoyed. But it's fine now."
Chitoge Kirisaki's personality was completely different from Shiina Mahiru's gentle and understanding nature; she was lively and cheerful, but also hot-blooded and impulsive. After all, she wasn't a weak little girl; she was much stronger than average girls and knew some fighting techniques for self-defense. However, she was also kind-hearted, making her a woman of many moods.
Just then, Shiraishi Shin entered the classroom, spotted that conspicuous blonde hair immediately, and said, "Yo, Kirisaki-san, you're back. Sorry, sorry. I suddenly remembered I forgot to feed a dog I'm keeping in the wild, so I had to leave for a bit. This is for you as an apology."
"What?"
Chitoge Kirisaki looked at the bag Shiraishi Shin handed over. Opening it, she found it was actually candied hawthorn skewers.
With a few dark lines appearing on her forehead, she said, "That excuse is for tricking kids, right? And I'm not a child who needs candied hawthorn skewers to be comforted. But whatever, I'm not an unreasonable person. I'll take it."
Chitoge Kirisaki accepted the candied hawthorn skewers from Shiraishi Shin. This brought a sliver of joy to her heart, which hadn't been angry to begin with. After all, Shiraishi Shin had both explained himself and bought her a gift. Although the excuse and the gift were a bit hard to describe, the feeling of being kept in someone's thoughts was quite nice.
As for eating the candied hawthorn skewers?
That was impossible. If she ate candied hawthorn skewers in public in the classroom, she'd be laughed to death.
Lunch break passed quickly, and the afternoon classes began.
During class, Shiraishi Shin twirled a pen between his index and middle fingers continuously. It was a dizzying display that would make anyone marvel at the flexibility of his fingers.
However, he heard heavy breathing coming from his left. Turning his head, he saw Alisa. Her cheeks were flushed red, and she was breathing through her mouth.
"Are you okay?"
Shiraishi Shin asked in a low, concerned voice. On his right, Chitoge Kirisaki heard him and looked over curiously.
Alisa forced a smile and said, "I'm... I'm fine. My vision is just a bit blurry."
"Oh."
Shiraishi Shin frowned slightly. But since she said so herself, he couldn't say much more, so he looked back at the podium.
But not even a few seconds later, Alisa collapsed to her right onto the floor, her eyes dazed and barely open.
*Thud!*
This immediately drew the attention of everyone in the class. Shiraishi Shin stood up instantly to support Alisa and reached out to feel her forehead.
Then, picking her up in a bridal carry, he shouted to the balding old man on the podium, "Teacher, Kujou-san has a high fever. I'm taking her to the infirmary."
The balding old man nodded hurriedly, "Right, right. Class Rep, go quickly."
"It seems it's not just about the character model; you also have to be quick and seize the opportunity. Lesson learned."
Tabata Hidenori watched his buddy's moves and pushed up his glasses. Indeed, having a good character model wasn't enough; you needed the skills to pull it off. Of course, opportunities were even rarer.