As a weirdo, I like being a Kamen Rider

He held a grotesque, knife-shaped weapon in his hand, resembling the spine of some giant creature, its edges gleaming with a chilling white light.

Sengoku Driver!

Lin Chen looked at the belt worn around the waist of that figure and began to ponder.

"laugh--!"

The spine sword whistled through the air and slammed into Decade's back!

"Uh!"

Tsukasa Kadoya grunted, a string of blinding sparks erupting from his magenta armor. Before he could even turn around, the black and white figure was already upon him, the spine sword in hand raised high once more, unleashing two more fierce slashes!

Clang! Clang!

The heavy slash landed squarely on Decade's shoulder and back armor, the enormous impact knocking Tsukasa Kadoya to the ground.

Decade, who was lying on the ground, propped himself up and struggled to lift his head. When he saw the person who had come to him, he let out a knowing chuckle.

"It's you..." Tsukasa Kadoya's voice came through the armor: "The knight named 'Fifteen'."

Kamen Rider XV. Lin Chen seemed to have a vague impression of it. He remembered a joke from his previous life, that Tsukasa Kadoya only started collecting the power of the Kamen Riders from the last ten years of the Heisei era after he was beaten by XV.

Fifteen raised his spine knife, the tip pointing directly at Decade's throat, without offering the slightest greeting.

"Where did Hiiragi go? Give him back to me!"

Upon hearing Juu's question, Tsukasa Kadoya suddenly chuckled, a laugh carrying a certain confirmation: "As expected... it's all related to that boy."

"Shut up!"

As if his most sensitive spot had been touched, Fifteen roared furiously. He gripped the longsword with both hands, raised it high, and brought it down fiercely towards Tsukasa Kadoya's head!

If this sword strike lands squarely, even Decade's armor would not be able to withstand it.

At the critical moment, Tsukasa Kadoya suddenly pushed the driver at his waist, turning into a blur and avoiding the fatal slash!

"boom!"

The spine sword cleaved through the asphalt road, blasting a deep trench and sending gravel flying everywhere.

Tsukasa Kadoya appeared directly beside Lin Chen and Inui Takumi.

"Let's retreat!"

Almost simultaneously, he raised his hand and waved it, and a gray dimensional barrier swept across the three of them.

The three of them vanished completely.

Fifteen's dark compound eyes gazed in the direction the three had disappeared, "There's no escaping it..."

The hoarse voice echoed through the empty streets.

...

A gray dimensional wall silently unfolds in a quiet alley.

Three people and a motorcycle appeared. Qian Qiao looked down at the silver-black Faiz belt in his palm, paused for two seconds, and then put it back into the storage box on the back of the motorcycle.

Qian Qiao helped to lift the motorcycle.

"Thanks. But I still don't want to get involved in these things anymore. Goodbye!" His voice was low, revealing little emotion. He hopped on his motorcycle, turned the key, and the engine emitted a deep roar.

Tsukasa Kadoya leaned against the wall, his magenta armor now deactivated. He rubbed his back, which had been slashed by Fifteen, and grinned, "How indifferent. Someone just saved your life, you know?"

"That's why I thanked you." Qian Qiao put on his helmet, covering half of his face, revealing only his tired eyes. "But that's all."

With a roar of the accelerator, the silver-gray motorcycle sped away, quickly disappearing into the sunlight at the alley entrance.

Lin Chen watched the figure disappear completely before turning his head and looking at Tsukasa Kadoya.

"This is the first time I've seen you run so disheveled," Lin Chen said.

“That’s not running away.” Tsukasa Kadoya immediately straightened up, straightened his collar with a proud expression, and corrected him righteously, “That’s called a strategic retreat. Besides, I don’t think Fifteen will be our final enemy.”

Lin Chen's lips curled into a very faint smile, but he didn't say anything.

Tsukasa Kadoya felt a little uncomfortable under his gaze, so he coughed and quickly changed the subject: "Alright, forget about Faiz. We have more important things to do now. We need to find that detective and find out what's going on with that boy named Hiiragi."

Chapter 239 The Bataan Plot

The sea breeze carried the salty, damp scent of the ocean, and the lighthouse's white tower stood out starkly against the grey-blue sky. Waves crashed against the rocks, breaking into white foam.

A woman in her thirties stood by the railing, her reddish-brown trench coat billowing in the wind. She held a photograph in her hand, gazing down at the sea with a hesitant and dazed expression, as if recalling a distant, unreal afternoon.

With his hands in his pockets, Tsukasa Kadoya walked over to her, stepping on the gravel, and asked without beating around the bush, "You must be Hiiragi's mother? Can you tell me about that boy?"

The woman turned her head sharply, her eyes slightly red, as if she had just been crying. She took a wary half-step back: "Who...are you?"

"Us? We're just following a boy's story, and there's something we need to confirm." At this moment, Tsukasa Kadoya was no longer as frivolous as before.

The woman stared at him for a long time before slowly leaning back against the railing. Her fingers traced the edge of the photograph, her voice low and broken, as she slowly began to tell them Hiiragi's story.

Lin Chen remained silent throughout. The sea breeze lifted a corner of his clothes, but he listened quietly like a silent statue.

"So that's how it is..."

After listening, Tsukasa Kadoya leaned against the railing in silence for a moment, then looked up at the gloomy sky. He didn't ask any more questions, but simply exhaled softly, as if he had finally put a stray piece of a puzzle into its correct place.

"I roughly understand now."

He straightened up and turned to walk back the way he came. After taking a few steps, he turned his head and nodded at Lin Chen, who was still standing there, somewhat lost in thought.

"Let's go."

Lin Chen glanced at the woman one last time, his gaze lingering for a moment on the photograph in her hand before he looked away and followed Kadoya Tsukasa. Beneath the lighthouse, only the woman remained, once again gazing alone at the sea.

In front of a Japanese-style house, Kouta Kazuha and the boy Hiiragi walked out, Hiiragi holding a piece of white paper in his hand.

Waking up in a fruit and dessert shop, he remembered that he still had things to do, so he took Kouta Kazuha with him to his home.

He followed behind the boy, watching him expertly open the sliding door to the entrance.

The room was dimly lit, and a faint scent of incense wafted through the air.

Hiiragi walked straight into the living room, stopping when he saw the center of the cabinet.

There, neatly placed, was a black-and-white portrait. The boy in the photo smiled wryly, with flowers and fruit offered in front of him. It was Hiiragi himself.

"I really am... dead."

Hiiragi's voice was soft. All the memories came flooding back at that moment.

The screeching sound of brakes, the shattering glass.

He remembered that before he died, his mother couldn't go to the lighthouse with him because of her work. In a fit of pique, he played a prank on her, intending to make up with her when she returned from the lighthouse. Little did he know that it would be their last farewell.

He slowly raised the white paper in his hand.

The words "I hate you" were scrawled on the paper. All he wanted to do now was find his mother and explain everything to her.

“Hiiragi…” Kouta stepped forward and reached out to put his hand on Hiiragi’s shoulder.

Swish!

A black blade flashed before the boy's eyes. The white paper tore in two in mid-air.

In the distance, the Kamen Rider XV user caught the returning blade and walked over with the Bataan fighters.

Hiiragi's pupils contracted, and he involuntarily took a half step back: "...Dad!"

Aoi Ren, the Kamen Rider XV's healer, looks at his son with a tender expression in his eyes.

“You’ve finally remembered, Hiiragi!” His voice was deep. “Then stop struggling in vain. Come back with me and complete the ritual.”

Kouta immediately stepped in front of Hiiragi, his gaze sharp: "You, are you the mastermind behind all this, sending people to hunt down Hiiragi? You're his father!"

“Father?” Aoi sneered, pointing the long sword along her spine at Kota. “It is precisely because I am his father that I cannot accept him lying in a cold coffin!”

He took a step forward, exuding an ominous aura.

“You think Bataan is some underground empire? You’re wrong. Bataan is the Land of the Dead, the legendary world of the dead.” Aoi Ren’s gaze swept across Hiiragi’s face, a hint of mad obsession flashing in his eyes. “I couldn’t accept Hiiragi’s death, so I made a deal with the underworld and obtained the power of Kamen Rider Fifteen.”

"Mega Reverse - The Super Reverse Project".

He spoke slowly and deliberately, as if proclaiming some kind of sacred judgment.

"Hiiragi possesses a special seventh-dimensional power, which is the key connecting the world of the dead and the world of the living. As long as the plan is activated with him as the core, life and death can be completely reversed, and the world of all the dead can be exchanged with the present world. At that time, Hiiragi can be brought back to life."

Kouta stared in disbelief, his eyes wide: "Are you crazy?! You'd sacrifice the whole world for one person?!"

"What about the whole world?" Kui Lian's voice suddenly rose. "As long as my son can be resurrected, I would gladly turn this world into the underworld!"

"Then Mom will die too!" Hiiragi couldn't help but shout.

"As long as you can be resurrected, none of this matters. I believe your mother will be very happy."

Before he finished speaking, a lazy applause came from outside the courtyard.

"What a deeply moving display of fatherly love." Tsukasa Kadoya and Lin Chen walked over together from a distance. "I have a general understanding now... Is this the scheme of the Bataan Empire? They want to replace the present world with the underworld and completely reverse life and death."

He tilted his head, his permed blond hair swaying slightly in the shadows. "Too bad, I won't let this kind of script play out." With that, he turned to look at Hiiragi. "But right now, Hiiragi, you have more important things to do. Your mother is waiting for you at the lighthouse!"

After saying that, Tsukasa Kadoya raised his hand to deploy a dimensional barrier behind Hiiragi. Gray ripples had just appeared in the air.

Snapped.

A crisp sound.

The dimensional barrier flickered violently a few times, as if slapped by an invisible giant hand, and suddenly shattered and dissipated, leaving not a trace behind.

Tsukasa Kadoya froze in mid-air, his flippant expression freezing on his face.

"...What happened?"

"Decade, do you think we wouldn't be on guard after we've experienced your use of such methods?"

Aoi's voice came through. He raised his right hand, holding a black cube-shaped device in his palm, the Shocker emblem engraved on its surface, emitting a low hum.

“Thank Shocker.” He took a step forward. “Your abilities are no secret in Shocker’s database!”

Lin Chen narrowed his eyes. He hadn't expected Shocker to be such a technical black box.

Tsukasa Kadoya suppressed his surprise, knowing that he wouldn't be able to take the boy away easily this time. The Decade Driver appeared out of thin air in his right hand and fastened itself to his waist.

Without hesitation, Kouta Kazuha pulled out the Sengoku Driver from his pocket and slapped it against his waist. A crisp metallic clang rang out.