Just as they were about to leave, Barbara wanted to stay. Takamachi Nanoha exchanged a glance with her and immediately understood the situation, so she didn't say anything and left with Kirisu Mafuyu.

"Mr. Gensho, you've really worked hard."

Barbara pursed her lips, stepped forward, pulled Yuanxiang to sit down, placed his injured arm on the table, and with her hands aligned, the aquamarine at her waist lit up, and wisps of water vapor transformed into musical notes that enveloped the two of them.

At the same time, Yuanxiang felt a cool warmth seep into his arm. He wanted to feign surprise, but seeing Barbara's concerned and respectful gaze, he dropped his pretense and whispered:

"We've only known each other for two days."

"Yes, Mr. Gensato."

"Then please tell me, where did I slip up that made you notice, Miss?"

Genji's eyes were fixed on Barbara. Even if it meant being hated by Nanoha Takamachi, he would not let Barbara leave if he did not get an answer.

"Well, to be honest, my world isn't peaceful either. There are monsters, Hilichurls, treasure-hunting groups, the Abyss Cult, and foreign forces with ill intentions."

Barbara frowned slightly as she looked at the bruises that showed no signs of abating, and then used her powers even more diligently to heal them:

“My sister is the acting commander who protected Mondstadt from these enemies. Mr. Genji, I only had doubts before, but the way you just looked was very similar to my sister, as if you were carrying everything on your shoulders. But you are even more... no, it's nothing.”

Barbara smiled brightly at Gensou and said softly:

“Mr. Gengo, actually I am a believer in the wind god, so... it's not impossible for me to get a little bit of inspiration from the wind.”

"........"

Barbara's last quip didn't elicit a laugh from Gensou. He remained silent, watching her. The silence was so profound that even the wind outside seemed to have subsided. Barbara, too, couldn't maintain her composure.

"Please keep this a secret."

Gensou withdrew his arm; her power had an effect on the damage caused to the memory, but the effect was very limited. He stood up and said in a sincere tone:

"As you can see, the city is not at peace. My enemies are lurking in the shadows. I cannot become a sitting duck. For Nanoha's sake, please keep this secret until I annihilate the enemy. In exchange, I am willing to grant you one request, whatever it may be."

"Then... if I'm in Fuuto, and you get hurt, come find me."

Barbara held up her little finger towards Gensou and shook it, saying:

"It's too much to bear it all alone. I may not be able to help you, but at least let me ease some of your pain, okay?"

Hearing this, Yuanxiang paused for a moment, then reached out and hooked his arm with hers, making the agreement, but his heart was filled with extremely complicated feelings.

Grandpa once said that fighters are lonely. Fighters must fight continuously, at all costs, to maintain their victories, and that's when they become very lonely.

So Gengo can have friends, but Kamen Rider doesn't. He only needs to keep winning and sweeping all the enemies who threaten Fuuto into the trash can, even if the enemy is Gengo's friend, or even if it is Gengo himself.

He has been walking in this solitude for a long time, shut out from praise and resentment, admiration and scorn, and all the suffering has become the best whetstone, making him stronger.

He had become so accustomed to all of this that he never imagined he would be helped by someone else.

"Mr. Gensho, I'll be going now."

"Okay, hmm?"

Barbara's words interrupted Genji's thoughts. He instinctively wanted to see her off, but then he saw a familiar portal of light appear in front of Barbara.

"Time's up, so Mr. Gensou, see you again when you've accumulated enough points."

Ah, see you then.

Yuanxiang smiled and waved to the girl in the white dress, watching her disappear into the halo of light. Then he raised his little finger and subtly observed her.

But before he could say anything to himself, the dull chimes of the bell echoed in his ears. Yuanxiang suddenly remembered something, and the smile on his face gradually disappeared. He walked to the bell, removed the pendulum hand, slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, there was no trace of excitement in his eyes.

He forgot that one day he would forget today's promise, forget the friendship they once shared, and forget the belief they had fought for.

So let Kamen Rider immerse himself in loneliness, let suffering etch this loneliness into his body. Even if one day he loses all his memories, with this unforgettable loneliness, we hope that he can still stand up and protect the wind of Fuuto when danger comes.

If this body still exists.

022 Perfect Cooperation

"Yuanxiang, what are you doing?"

Just as Gengo put the pendulum back, Kirisu Mafuyu opened the door and walked in. Because of the recent battle, the street was without power, so Gengo, standing in the shadows, startled her. She nervously gripped the strap of her shoulder bag and whispered:

"Question: Did that child go home?"

"Teacher, how did you know?"

Gensou lit a candle, placed it on the table, and said with a smile, "Did Nanoha tell you that?"

“Yes,” hearing Genji’s familiar tone, Kirisu Mafuyu also relaxed and sat down on the sofa next to him. “Nanoha was muttering something about how the time was almost up. I thought it was because her favorite anime was about to end.”

“Ha, Nanoha doesn’t really like watching those things either,” Gengo sat down opposite Kirisu Mafuyu and handed her a peach. “How did things go? Did you get caught?”

"Of course!"

Kirisu Mafuyu twirled the peach in her hand, a hint of smugness in her voice, and said:

"This is a piece of cake for me. By tomorrow, my image as a teacher will be intact!"

"Then why don't you try to repair the image of yourself as a teacher in my mind?"

Yuanxiang, munching on a peach, said helplessly, "My beloved ice queen, how did she turn out like this?"

"I'm angry! I...I...I'm just not very good at housework..."

Kirisu Mafuyu banged on the table in protest, but her confidence quickly waned as she dug her fingernails into the peach, leaving one dent after another.

"Alright, alright, I won't say anymore. Just let that peach go. I picked it myself."

".....Pfft."

"Ok?"

Gengo looked at Kirisu Mafuyu, who had suddenly burst out laughing, and blinked in confusion. Kirisu Mafuyu took a bite of her peach and said with a touch of nostalgia:

"Actually, we"

Upon hearing this, Yuanxiang raised an eyebrow, thought about it seriously for a moment, and then slowly shook his head.

“You really don’t remember anything from just the last few years?” Kirisu Mafuyu said with amusement. “You beat up three upperclassmen all by yourself just because they trampled the peaches you were having for lunch.”

“I really don’t remember that,” Yuanxiang said with a smile as he sat up straight. “But if they did something so outrageous to me, I would beat them up a few more times to make them repent.”

But as soon as he said this, he noticed an indescribable strange expression on Kirisu Mafuyu's face. Kirisu Mafuyu sighed, glared at him irritably, and said:

"Playing dumb? Isn't what you said exactly what you did?"

"...Sorry, I really don't remember," Yuanxiang froze for a moment, then covered his forehead, both amused and exasperated. "Um, who were those three people who got beaten up?"

"How would I know? I wasn't the one handling this at the time. But it's precisely because of this incident that I feel this way about you."

"And then, after I fell into your hands, you decided to completely reform me, right?" Gensou picked up where Kirisu Mafuyu left off, speaking expressionlessly before letting out a sigh. "So that's why you were so fixated on me back then."

"That's right, how about it? The teacher's strict guidance was quite effective, wasn't it?"

Kirisu Mafuyu hummed softly, then stretched, her graceful curves faintly visible in the darkness. She then stood up, waved to Genji, and said:

"I'm going to sleep now, see you tomorrow morning."

"Okay, goodnight, sweet dreams."

Gengo smiled and waved to Kirisu Mafuyu, then continued to sit there, showing no intention of getting up, closing his eyes as if he were going to rest on the sofa tonight.

But after taking only a few steps, Kirisu Mafuyu stopped, looked at Genji's profile, hesitated for a moment, and said:

"Don't you have anything to ask me?"

"Didn't the teacher ask me about my injuries?" Yuanxiang kept his eyes closed, a slight smile playing on his lips. "I still trust the teacher."

"........"

Kirisu Mafuyu didn't say anything more. After standing there quietly for a while, she walked towards the guest room. The entire office fell silent. An hour later, Gengo stood up, pressed the Gaia Memory, and the black knight began his investigation under the cover of night. Passive defense was not his habit. The two strange men were seriously injured. Following this clue might yield some results.

And so, the turbulent night passed. Kirisu Mafuyu was woken up by her alarm clock. She sat up and gently patted her cheeks to wake herself up. Although she was not good at housework, she was a good sleeper and her hair was not messy. She was presentable without having to tidy it up.

Good morning, Kirisu-sensei.

Good morning, Yuanxiang.

After exchanging good mornings, Kirisu Mafuyu sat down opposite Gensou without any hesitation and ate the breakfast that had been prepared for her.

"Teacher, is there enough time?"

"How could it be too late? Just turn the corner when you go out."

After finishing her fried egg, Kirisu Mafuyu wiped her lips with a tissue, stacked the cutlery together, and sat there obediently, waiting for Gengo to deal with it. Based on her valuable experience, she knew that the kitchen was definitely a bad place for her, no matter what she was doing there.

"In that case, Kirisu-sensei, please help me get through this."

After Gensho finished cleaning up the dishes, he brought out the game console, connected it to the TV, and turned on Call of Duty: 81. Then he handed another controller to Kirisu Mafuyu. He had also accidentally discovered that his teacher was very interested in shooting games and could hit the target every time. So sometimes, when helping with cleaning, he would bring one or two games to relax with her.

"You have quite a lot of games here."

Kirisu Mafuyu muttered something, obediently took the controller, and sat down next to Gengo. This time, they were challenging a hidden level in the cooperative mode, which required a high level of teamwork between the cooperative players. For example, if both players were reloading at the same time, they would be killed by the rushing enemies. However, if the firepower was insufficient, the challenge would also fail. There were also various projectiles along the way to increase the difficulty. To defeat them, both players needed to time their shots perfectly. On the forums, many players had already started cursing because of this.

Gengo and Kirisu Mafuyu also failed a few times at the beginning, but as old teammates, they quickly found the rhythm and alternated firepower to suppress the enemy at the spawn point. As soon as the flying items appeared, they were taken down by them. If this operation were recorded, players would definitely exclaim that they were masters.

But the challenge ultimately failed, because Kirisu Mafuyu suddenly realized that time was running out, exclaimed in surprise, grabbed her bag and rushed out, leaving Gengo alone to watch helplessly as his character was blown to pieces by a grenade.

023 Apologize to me!

Yuanxiang reluctantly turned off the game console, then lay on the sofa, pinched his brow, and closed his eyes to rest. After a night of investigation, he had not found any trace of the enemy. However, last night, he had overheard the interrogation of the strange man at the hospital. He said that a man in a white suit handed him the memory device, saying that he should try it out for a few days before deciding whether to return it.

White suit? That's undoubtedly someone from Group X. They're not exactly high-profile, since you can't even find their headquarters. But they're also not exactly low-profile, because that iconic white suit seems to be a part of their body, and they almost never take it off.

I still don't have enough 'eyes'.

Gensou rolled over, buried his face in the cushion, and rubbed against it with a sigh. His acquaintances all had their own lives, and even on Christmas Day, his movements were relatively fixed. The people from the X Group would definitely choose to avoid crowds at this time. It was too difficult to get clues from Christmas Day.

Wait, a crowd?

'Buzzing.'

A sudden flash of inspiration struck Gengo, but at that moment, his phone began vibrating wildly, interrupting his thoughts. He quickly opened it and found that the blogger he followed, 'Weirdo Master,' had updated his blog. This blogger was obsessed with the strange people of Futo City, and whenever he personally encountered a strange person, he would update the situation in real time on this forum. In the past, Gengo had also obtained a lot of information from this blogger.

On TV?

Gensou hurriedly ran to the basement, and along the secret passage, he transformed as he rushed out. Now it was certain that the X Foundation had released so many memories for a reason, and that it was inextricably linked to that Utopia. However, after yesterday's battle, Utopia probably wouldn't appear to deal with that monster, so he had to act quickly. This time, the monster's ability seemed to be to grow plants, and several passersby had already been swallowed by the plants, their fates unknown.

"Joker, over there, over there!"

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