Ultraman: I am really just a human.

Chapter 10, Second Kuuga

"Da da da!"

Footsteps echoed through the rain-soaked jungle. Almost the instant Xia Chuan left, a group of black-clad soldiers in special enhanced suits arrived at the scene in formation.

He wore an ant-shaped helmet, a black protective vest, and held a strangely shaped silver-black light machine gun.

It is a mass-produced piece of equipment created in "Kabuto" in addition to the Kamen Rider system, and provided to combat troops for use.

Those who wear them are collectively referred to as ant soldiers.

"team leader!"

The lead ant soldier looked at the monster's remains scattered all over the ground, then respectfully walked up to Kabuto. Several other ant soldiers behind him spontaneously stepped forward to collect the remains and the human corpses torn apart by the snake-shaped Gurongi.

"It really was him; he actually hid the belt secretly."

One of the ant soldiers saw the work clothes on the human corpse and groped around to find an archaeological team work ID.

"But what's with this belt? It's different from all the drivers we've had so far. Is it even useful?"

"Take it back to the research institute first."

Kabuto unbuckled his belt, activated the Insect Device, and deactivated his transformation, letting the rain soak his long hair. His gloomy face grew even colder.

Although Xia Chuan had long since disappeared, the young man did not look away until the ant soldiers had finished packing up before returning to the van parked by the roadside, soaked in the rain.

His name is Fujiwara no Daiichi (Fujiwara First), which means he is destined to be number one in everything. He either doesn't compete at all, or if he does, he does it to the best of his ability.

But now, someone has actually killed the monster he can't kill right in front of him.

He didn't seem to use much force, yet he was able to do things that others couldn't.

After glancing at the ruins that were gradually disappearing into the rain behind the car, Fujiwara's mind was once again filled with the image of Natsukawa kicking the Gurongi.

"The belt that knight used..."

Fujiwara's gaze shifted to the silver briefcase being held by the ant soldier.

The two belts are almost identical, except that the one in the ruins is petrified.

Once the investigation is thorough, we should be able to figure out why the other side was able to easily eliminate the monster.

……

Tokyo.

After returning from Nagano, Natsukawa went to sit idly at the izakaya downstairs, just like before.

The way to continue improving his physique is indeed to hunt down Grongi or other types of monsters, a fact he had already determined after eliminating the snake-type Grongi.

However, no one can say for sure when these strange people will appear, and we will have to wait and see.

He planned to take advantage of this opportunity to become a mentor and obtain more information about Kamen Rider and monsters.

Regarding the shuttle, there seems to be a lot of core information that he doesn't know.

And what exactly does "fusion coefficient 99" mean...?

"Is something on your mind?"

The shopkeeper handed out a cup of hot milk and greeted Xia Chuan, who was lost in thought.

"You've seemed really busy these past few days. Is it related to the strange incident from before?"

"It's something else."

Xia Chuan calmly raised his head.

"Boss, I might have to leave for a while. I'll have to trouble you to keep an eye on things here for me."

"Leave?" the boss asked, surprised. "For how long?"

"About a year, maybe not that long."

Natsukawa recalled Hiroko Asami's explanation and responded.

He wasn't sure if he could keep doing this job, and he would definitely have to come back eventually.

"Oh? You found a new job?" the boss said happily. "Congratulations! Is there anything I can help you with?"

"No, it's just a temporary job."

……

a few days later.

Before any news of the Grongi's activity could emerge, Hiroko Asami suddenly showed up and, as promised, drove Natsukawa to the Knight School to register.

"Wasn't the school supposed to be in the suburbs?" Natsukawa asked in surprise after realizing that the direction was towards the Metropolitan Police Department building.

"The school is indeed in the suburbs, but it belongs to the Metropolitan Police Department, so you'll need to go through the transfer process first."

Hiroko Asami looked up at the towering Metropolitan Police Department building.

"How is it? Don't you feel nostalgic?"

"generally."

Xia Chuan's expression remained calm.

He only inherited Shinji Kaminaga's memories, not his emotions.

This place is not as important to him as the izakaya.

"Hurry up and get to school."

The transfer process didn't take long and didn't even cause a ripple within the Metropolitan Police Department.

After all, he had been suspended from his post for 5 years, and Shinji Kaminaga himself didn't have many friends, so he had long been completely forgotten.

Looking at the busy police elites around him, Xia Chuan felt a strange sense of emotion.

"That's strange," Hiroko Asami stopped in her tracks, puzzled. "There aren't usually this many people in headquarters. What's going on today? Are they all out on field missions?"

Hearing this, Xia Chuan perked up his ears and heard a series of intermittent discussions.

The Fujiwara Foundation is preparing to transfer a special belt to the Metropolitan Police Department, seemingly selecting warriors from a wide range to activate the belt.

"A special belt?"

As Natsukawa followed Hiroko Asami downstairs, his gaze was thoughtful.

The draft is already over, why is there a new belt?

For some reason, he suddenly thought of Kabuto, who had appeared at the Kurogake ruins site before.

It seems someone took an empty belt out of the ruins at that time.

"Bang--!"

A sudden commotion erupted downstairs as an out-of-control van tilted and crashed into a roadside guardrail. The van, riddled with a huge hole, was entangled in white spider silk. Police officers who were about to help were dragged to the ground by their necks by new white spider silk as they approached.

"Kuuga!"

The spider Gurongi climbed onto the roof of the car, its black eyes scanning the surroundings. Finally, it muttered something and locked onto a policeman who was running away with a briefcase. From a distance of more than ten meters, it spit out white spider silk again.

"Bang bang bang!"

Gunfire rang out, but it did not affect the Spider Grongi's movements at all. All the bullets only made small dents on the Spider Grongi's body before scattering to the ground.

"snort!"

With a disdainful smile, Spider Gurongi forcefully pulled the fleeing policeman down, then slowly jumped off the roof of the car and walked straight towards the petrified belt that had rolled out of the briefcase and onto the ground.

"Run, Ryota!"

A young man passing by happened to slump down next to the petrified belt, panting heavily as the spider Gurongi approached. His companions shouted anxiously.

"Whoosh!"

As he watched a policeman who was trying to stop him have his chest pierced by a spider-like Gurongi bone spike, blood spurting out, the young man trembled and turned his head toward the petrified belt, blurry images of Kuuga battle flashing through his mind.

"Ryodai!"

"Whoosh—!"

Natsukawa and Asami Hiroko rushed out of the Metropolitan Police Department scene, but were stopped in their tracks by a sudden burst of bright light before they got close.

When the bright light dissipated, the young man named Ryota had transformed into a Kamen Rider dressed in white armor.

"Kuuga?"

Xia Chuan's expression shifted slightly.

The white form is due to the inability to unleash the power of the spirit stone during the initial transformation, which is an incomplete form of Kuuga's transformation.

His guess was right; the Fujiwara Foundation was indeed selecting a suitable candidate for this belt.

However, the belt was actually merged with an ordinary passerby; fate is truly wondrous.

"That's... the new Kamen Rider?"

Hiroko Asami stared wide-eyed at the white-clad warrior in the arena who seemed to be in great pain.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Maybe it's because I'm not used to it yet."

Xia Chuan said casually.

Unlike him, the other party directly fused with the Kuuga belt.

The power source of the Kuuga belt is the same as that of the Gurongi, both being modified from biological weapons, and the side effects of integrating it into the body are considerable.

Most people really can't handle this.

Young people are now essentially undergoing a transformative surgery; it's no wonder they're in pain.

"Kuuga!!"

The spider-like Gurongi focused all its attention on the white Kuuga. It subconsciously took a step back, but when it realized it wasn't the red Kuuga, it flew into a rage and launched another attack.

The white Kuuga, who was still undergoing modifications, had no chance to fight back and was being beaten one-sidedly, which made Natsukawa helplessly cover his face.

Being beaten by the spider Gurongi, even though it wasn't Kuuga in his transformed form, still felt like a slap in the face.

After glancing at Hiroko Asami, whose gaze was fixed intently on the battle and whose expression was tense, Natsukawa quietly retreated from the monitoring area.

I've read through most of the Heisei Kamen Rider series, and I feel it's better to stick to the original setting. After all, Earth in this book is an independent world, only invaded by the Kamen Rider world, so differences are normal.

(End of this chapter)