As a weirdo, I like being a Kamen Rider

Lin Chen stood still, without interrupting.

"In the future, no one can use the original Rider Belt anymore," Kiba's voice continued. "Smart Brain had to find another way. So... the company specially manufactured the three of us."

He turned his head slightly, his gaze sweeping over Inui Takumi and Kusaka beside him.

"From the moment Sakuma, the King, appeared, we have been monitoring his growth. He was well-behaved in the future, not consuming any Orphnoch to complete his awakening. We followed instructions, refraining from action, simply observing him."

“Until one day,” said Takumi Inui, “Sakuma suddenly disappeared. Without any warning, as if he had been abruptly erased from the world.”

Kiba picked up where he left off: "The future president of Hanagata noticed something was wrong. Suddenly, a strange memory appeared in his mind, a 'past' that shouldn't have existed... and so we learned that the King had been brought to this era."

We arrived at this point in time through the means you left behind when you left this world.

"You must have other missions coming here at this time!" Lin Chen frowned. Hanagata knew his strength and shouldn't need to send anyone over.

"We came here mainly to complete the time loop," came the reply from 'Qian Qiao'.

"A closed loop of time?"

"That's right. President Hanagata was worried that you might do something unpredictable because you didn't know the specifics, so he sent us to help you complete what you needed to do!"

...

Having just fought a battle and not yet had much rest, the group was summoned directly to Smart Brain Corporation by Hanagata's communication.

Inside the reception room, Takumi Inui, Mari Sonoda, Masato Kusaka, and Saya Kimura took their seats in that order.

The atmosphere was as stagnant as a pool of still water; no one spoke first, only the low hum of the central air conditioning emanating from its operation.

Hanagata sat opposite them, dressed in a dark gray suit, the white streaks at his temples particularly striking under the cool white light. He placed his hands clasped on the table, his gaze slowly sweeping over everyone present, finally settling on the box containing the belts in front of them.

"I called you here today not to reminisce."

His voice was deep and calm, yet carried an undeniable weight. Mari, Soga, and Saya looked at him, while Inui Takumi lowered his eyes, staring at his reflection on the table.

"President Lin Chen has already told you everything," Hanagata continued. "The King of the Orphnochs is hunting Orphnochs to complete his awakening. And you..."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone one by one.

"The three belts in my hands are the core fighting force against the King, which is why I created the belts in the first place."

Soga finally broke the silence: "So? Father, you called us here to ask us to return the belt to you? But didn't you say that even if you asked us to hand over the belt, we should refuse?"

Hanagata looked at his adopted son: "Masato, the situation is different now. You must know that predictions can't keep up with changes."

“I don’t know.” Soga met his gaze, his voice filled with suppressed anger. “All I know is that you’ve kept this from us for over a decade. You are Orphnoch, and Smart Brain is Orphnoch’s company. Now you suddenly say the King has appeared and demand that we hand over the belt. How am I supposed to know this isn’t another trap?”

Mari gently pressed the back of Soga's hand, signaling him to calm down, then looked up at Hanagata and said softly, "Dad, we need a reason. Not because we don't trust you, but... all of this happened too fast."

Hanagata remained silent for a moment, then slowly stood up. He didn't walk towards anyone, but instead went to the floor-to-ceiling window, turned his back to everyone, and gazed at the bustling Tokyo skyline outside.

"Twenty years ago, I founded the Meteor Academy. The reason I initially took you all in was to see if any of you would become the host of the King." His voice reflected back through the glass, carrying a slight, almost imperceptible tremor.

"But later, in my interactions with you, whether you were the King or the Orphnoch, the belt, the battles... these were never things I wanted you to touch unless there was no other way."

"Moreover, your battles have been enough." Hanagata slowly walked back to the group. "Takumi Inui, Masato, Saya! I believe you have already felt the changes in your bodies!"

Upon hearing this, Qian Qiao, who had been silent, looked up at him.

"The belt was originally prepared for the Orphnochs. Although you can transform, each transformation consumes your life force! Masato, I know that accident hurt you a lot, and I'm sorry, but now we've reached the most important moment. After this is over, you can do whatever you want to me!"

Sakuma dragged his heavy steps through the winding, barren path in the forest, back to the abandoned building. The afternoon sun was cut into dappled patterns by the dense canopy of trees, falling on his open plaid shirt, but it couldn't dispel the gloomy chill emanating from him.

He pushed open the rusty iron gate, and a damp, musty smell hit him.

The corridor was eerily quiet, with only the sound of his dragging footsteps echoing between the concrete walls. The closer he got to that cramped cubicle, the faster his heart pounded, not from exhaustion, but from an inexplicable, instinctive panic.

The iron gate was ajar.

Sakuma's pupils contracted sharply, and he pushed open the door. Afternoon sunlight streamed down from the broken roof, illuminating the empty room. The small single bed was still there, the bedding disheveled, but the girl who should have been sleeping on it was gone.

Sakuma stood frozen at the doorway as a green, insect-shaped phantom uncontrollably emerged from his body, its hollow eye sockets scanning every corner of the room.

His gaze finally settled on the pillow.

A note lay there. Sakuma staggered forward, unfolded the note, and the words written on it darkened his face.

The note was crumpled into a ball in his hand.

He slowly raised his head, looking out the window at the sky fragmented by the tree canopy, his eyes surging with violence and ferocity.

A slender figure slowly emerged from the shadows. Aura crossed her arms, her pink feather earrings swaying gently in the dim light.

"Aren't you a Time Jacker?" Sakuma's voice was forced out through clenched teeth, low and guttural like a beast's roar. He reached out with both hands to grab Aura's collar. "Why was she taken away by someone else?"

"Taken away by someone else?" Aura raised an eyebrow, but when she saw Sakuma's hands grabbing at her, a hint of disgust flashed in her eyes.

"Snapped!"

A crisp snap of fingers. Time stood still.

Sakuma's movements froze in mid-air, his fingertips just inches away from Aura's collar, yet he couldn't move an inch further. His pupils reflected Aura's ambiguous smile; every muscle in his body strained frantically, yet he couldn't move a single finger.

“Honestly,” Aura sighed, circling him slowly, her pink feather earrings swaying gently with each step, “I went to so much trouble to bring you from the future so you could become a proper king, and what was the result?”

She stopped in front of him, tilting her head, her gaze scrutinizing him as if he were a substandard experimental subject. "And now you're blaming me?"

Sakuma's eyes trembled violently, and he made a "hoarse" sound in his throat, but he couldn't squeeze out a complete sentence.

Aura raised her hand, her fingertip lightly tapping his chin, which was frozen in mid-air, her voice suddenly turning cold:

“Sakuma, listen to me carefully. We are merely collaborators. You are not yet the true king.”

She straightened up and snapped her fingers again.

"Snap." Time resumed its flow.

Sakuma fell forward, his knees slamming heavily onto the cold cement floor.

Aura looked down at him, lightly nudging his shoulder with the tip of her shoe: "Know your place, Sakuma. Without me, you wouldn't even have seen that girl one last time."

She turned and walked towards the door, her figure about to disappear into the shadows of the corridor, when she suddenly stopped and turned half her face to the side:

"You can order me around when you replace Zi-O and become the true King of Time!"

The footsteps gradually faded away, eventually disappearing into the depths of the abandoned building.

After she disappeared, Kageyama Saeko emerged from behind and knelt on one knee. Her once black hair had now turned blonde.

"Your Majesty, now you see, she only sees you as a tool. Now please grant me your allegiance, and I will offer you my true strength." She had just escaped from Lin Chen when she happened to encounter the king, who was wandering around hunting.

Chapter 233 The Final Battle at the Top of Tokyo Tower

The night wind howled from the top floor of Tokyo Tower.

Lin Chen stood on the edge of the steel structure. Behind him, three figures stood silently: Mirai Kiba, Mirai Inui, and Mirai Kusaka, their empty eyes staring at the city lights.

A figure in the shape of a flower emerged from the shadows. He walked to Lin Chen's side, followed his gaze to the distant city engulfed in neon lights, his brows furrowed.

"Are you sure Sakuma will come?"

Lin Chen did not answer immediately.

“It will definitely happen.” His voice was deep and resolute. “According to what these three guys said and our investigation over the past two days, Sakuma has come this far simply to save one person.”

Hanagata remained silent for a moment.

"That girl..."

“For him, that was everything.” Kiba continued, tilting his head slightly. “Sakuma almost exhausted his own strength to sustain her life before he started hunting!”

His flower-shaped knuckles tapped lightly on the railing, producing a dull sound. He looked at Lin Chen.

"So you did this." There was no blame in his tone, only a complex feeling: "Kidnapping hostages to lure the enemy out. This isn't like you."

Lin Chen's lips curled into a cold, emotionless smile.

“If I had a choice, I wouldn’t stoop to using such methods.” He raised his hand. “But the Time Jackers are too troublesome.”

He turned around and looked directly at Hanagata.

"I'm ready. This battle isn't just for Sakuma." The night wind suddenly intensified, and the distant clouds churned and pressed down on the city skyline.

Furthermore, no one knows what kind of trouble Tsukasa Kadoya is causing by lying on the ground, and W has also been dragged away to help him, forcing Kirihiko to return to Fuuto and replace Shotaro Hidari and the others for a while.

The figure of the future Kiba moved slightly.

“You don’t need to worry about this…” His voice was hoarse and flat, “The cycle of time has already begun!”

At the foot of Tokyo Tower, the night wind swirled scraps of paper around the street corner. In the distance, the tower's structure gleamed with a cold, metallic sheen under the neon lights, like a sword thrust upside down into the heart of the city.

Inui leaned against a lamppost, hands in his pockets, gazing up at the night sky above the tower, half-hidden by clouds. Footsteps sounded behind him, and Kusaka Masato walked up to him, also looking up. The two stood side by side in silence for a while.

"After this battle is over," Qian Qiao suddenly spoke, his voice slightly blurred by the wind, "what do you plan to do?"

Kusaka did not answer immediately. His gaze slowly shifted from the top of the tower to Inui Takumi's profile. That face, which was always expressionless, now appeared somewhat unfamiliar under the dim yellow light of the street lamp.

"We've known each other for so long, Inui!" Kusaka looked away. "Just who are you?"

Qian Qiao's fingers curled slightly inside his pocket.

"Why can you transform into Faiz?" Soga continued to ask, giving him no room to evade the question.

The night wind suddenly picked up, causing the lampposts to hum slightly.

Qian Qiao lowered her eyes and stared at the elongated shadows of the two people on the ground.

"..." He opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing.

Kusaka waited for a while, but didn't receive an answer.

"Never mind." He turned around and walked towards the entrance at the bottom of the tower, his boots making a soft sound as they crunched over the gravel. "Anyway, I don't really want to know."

Qian Qiao remained leaning against the lamppost, motionless. He listened as Cao Jia's footsteps faded into the distance, finally disappearing into the shadows at the base of the tower. In the distance, the clouds surged and pressed down on the city, like a silent oppression.

He looked down at his hands, hands that were as ordinary as could be. But he knew he was no longer human.

Sakuma's figure appeared at the top of Tokyo Tower.

He didn't climb the stairs, nor did he use any external force. Emerald green light gathered beneath his feet, lifting him and Kageyama Saeko directly into the air.

He stopped in front of everyone, his gaze sweeping over Lin Chen, Hua Xing, and the three figures from the future, finally settling on Lin Chen's face.

"Where's the peacock feather?"

Lin Chen remained calm, as if he had expected him to ask this question. He raised his hand and snapped his fingers, and the dimensional barrier behind him silently unfolded. In the gray light screen, a slender figure floated quietly—a light brown coat, a pleated skirt, and eyes closed, like a butterfly sleeping in amber.