I want to become a Kamen Rider

Instead of reaching out her hand, she opened her mouth.

It bit down hard, deep and forceful, as if trying to leave a mark. Blood flowed freely. After a long while, it released its grip, and the culprit then tenderly hugged the arm.

It seems that this can give her a lot of warmth.

"Afterwards, my master stayed with me for the whole day."

"it is good."

Chapter Thirty-One: Kuuga

"Sakuta Azusagawa, you possess a special talent—a talent that allows you to protect this world and stand up for it. Make a contract with me and become a Kamen Rider."

.........

……

Everything began with a disturbing coincidence.

First came a strange sensation. On my way home from school, I felt as if I was being stared at by something "strange." I couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was, but the cold, emotionless gaze felt like a sticky shadow clinging to my skin, breeding nightmares at night.

Next came the "abnormalities" that appeared around us.

Occasionally, people in gray overalls, their movements slightly stiff, would wander around my neighborhood. Their eyes were vacant, as if they were wearing masks. My mailbox started receiving crudely printed leaflets promoting "human evolution" and "the new order," with distorted and bizarre symbols on them.

On one occasion, on his way home from work at night, he clearly heard footsteps behind him that sounded like metal scraping, unlike anything he had ever heard. When he turned around abruptly, he saw only an empty alleyway and a startled crow taking flight. There was a faint, pungent smell in the air, like a mixture of disinfectant and engine oil.

He is not a slow-witted person.

Kyubey's advice still echoed in his ears: "Sakuta, sometimes trouble really does come knocking on your door."

He realized that something was watching him, or worse, the people around him.

So he made a decision. He fabricated a ridiculously far-fetched reason and, almost half-coaxed and half-forced, sent his younger sister, Feng, back to their hometown temporarily. Feng's worried look as she left pierced his heart like needles, but he could only force a smile and promise to bring her back soon.

He had to ensure Feng's safety, keeping her away from this growing, unseen malice.

It wasn't that they hadn't tried to seek help from the police, but the increasing number of riots, accidents, and terrorist attacks kept the already unreliable police force extremely busy. Requests for help based on some premonition but without direct evidence were ignored.

Even after Feng left, his tense nerves didn't relax. He reduced his outings, remained constantly vigilant, and tried to contact Kyubey again to ask about the so-called knightly contract.

However, the efficiency with which the other side organized the operation far exceeded his expectations.

The kidnapping occurred on a peaceful evening.

He had just finished his online class and was about to go to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

The setting sun cast a warm orange glow on the room, everything seemed normal. Suddenly, the light in the room distorted strangely, like a television screen with a poor signal.

Immediately afterward, an invisible, powerful force field enveloped the entire space. The air became thick as glue, and his body felt as if it were bound by countless invisible threads, unable to move even a finger, and even breathing became extremely difficult. He tried to shout, but his throat was tightly choked, and he could only make weak "hoarse" sounds.

My vision began to blur and spin.

In his last glimpse before losing consciousness, through the distorted light, he saw two figures appear silently in the room like ghosts—wearing gray, military-like uniforms, their faces covered with expressionless metal masks, and two cold red lights flickering in their eyes.

Repair card.

The word carried a chilling sense of dread, etched into his final consciousness like a brand.

Then came utter darkness, and the sensation of my body rubbing against the rough ground as I was being dragged along.

……

……

On the operating table.

Icy.

The first sensation that came to Azusagawa Sakuta's mind after regaining consciousness was the biting coldness. It didn't come from the air, but from the hard metal surface beneath him and the metal restraints that clung tightly to his skin.

He struggled to open his heavy eyelids, his vision filled by the blinding light of the operating room lamps above. The intense light burned his retinas, instantly bringing forth tears of irrationality, blurring his vision with a halo of light.

He tried to turn his neck, only to find that his head was firmly fixed in place by a cold metal ring, and he could only move his eyeballs at extremely limited angles.

Fear, like a cold, venomous snake, instantly coiled around his heart, almost suffocating him.

He tried to struggle, but his limbs and torso were firmly locked to the operating table by sturdy metal straps. The cold touch seeped into his bones through the thin hospital gown, causing him excruciating pain.

"Synchronization rate 98%...Preparing to overwrite consciousness..."

The doctor in the white coat delivered the verdict in a completely flat voice.

The monster beneath the bird-beak mask was manipulating a slender mechanical arm, extending a sharp probe into its own brain. One could vaguely guess its purpose: perhaps to completely erase the consciousness of "Azusagawa Sakuta" and implant an absolute obedience program.

He could "see" the needle approaching, and the chill of death was even more intense than the cold of the operating table.

Sakuta Azusagawa wanted to close his eyes, to scream, to struggle, but even moving his eyelids was a luxury. Only boundless despair and numbness remained. He felt himself falling into an eternal, dark abyss, where everything belonging to "Sakuta Azusagawa" was about to be erased.

boom--! ! !

A deafening explosion rang out like a thunderclap in the closed operating room.

The entire room shook violently, and the sturdy alloy walls were torn and twisted.

Blinding flames and thick smoke instantly poured in, dispersing the smell of disinfectant and bringing with it the acrid odor of gunpowder and molten metal. The sirens blared piercingly, and red lights flashed frantically.

The sounds, though chaotic and terrifying, seemed to him at that moment as a declaration of the possibility of survival.

The lights on the operating table flickered violently, the robotic arm veered out of control, and the doctor in the white coat turned around abruptly, revealing astonishment for the first time beneath the bird-beak mask.

Amidst the billowing smoke, a figure treads upon burning wreckage and twisted metal, appearing like a god or demon.

Is that figure... a person?

He stood there, radiating a primal and violent aura that seemed completely out of place in the cold, high-tech modified operating room.

Smoke swirled around his feet, and the remaining flames danced on his crimson armor, yet left no trace.

Shocker's soldiers, those demons who were incredibly terrifying to Sakuta Azusagawa and had kidnapped him, rushed out of the smoke like a startled swarm of bees, wielding various weapons and roaring incoherently as they pounced on the crimson figure.

Then, defeat and destruction.

The man in the white coat retreated in terror, trying to do something, but the crimson shadow swept everything away like a shooting star.

Sakuta Azusagawa's mind went blank.

Fear? Yes, but the visual impact of that dazzling, inhuman crimson figure overwhelmed his remaining fear.

Shocking? Absolutely! What is this? The Terminator? Aliens? Some kind of ultimate weapon? His imagination couldn't comprehend what was before him.

The crimson warrior ended everything, whether it was the "demons" in his eyes or the white coat that tried to escape. He stepped over the sparking wreckage and the dissipating foam of the "demons" and walked straight to the operating table.

With his last ounce of strength, Sakuta Azusagawa strained through his modified throat vocal cords, producing a hoarse, broken sound, like the friction of metal:

"Who are you……?"

The crimson warrior leaned slightly forward, his face, covered by armor, unable to make any expression, but Sakuta seemed to sense a hint of... scrutiny? Or confirmation?

Then, a deep, resonant voice, like the rumble of the earth, entered my ears and became my salvation.

You can call me—

The crimson compound eyes shone like burning stars in the darkness.

"Kamen Rider, Kuuga".

Chapter Thirty-Two: Becoming (3K)

The next morning.

The little bubble tea shop on the street corner had just opened, and the air still carried the fresh scent of cleaning agents and moisture. Sunlight streamed in through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, slanting across the wooden tables and chairs, creating geometric shapes of light and shadow. The shop was quiet, with only soft background music and the occasional sound of traffic from the distant street.

Two boys dressed in Soubu High School uniforms sat facing each other by the window.

Sakuta Azusagawa's appearance possessed a unique translucency, like the morning mist. His light brown hair was slightly tousled, with a few strands falling across his forehead, reflecting a soft, pale gold in the morning light. His face was delicate, with a well-defined jawline, but his complexion still appeared somewhat pale and bloodless in the morning light, with faint dark circles under his eyes, indicating the terror and exhaustion of the previous night.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Sakuta Azusagawa."

Fan Kang lowered his head, his voice tinged with apology, as if carefully choosing his words, "Although it's not irreversible, your body... has still been partially modified by the Shockers."

Even if you save people, you will still be criticized, questioned, and condemned for not arriving sooner and failing to save everyone. Although not everyone is like that, and even though he is the best Kamen Rider, he is used to such rhetoric.

"I'm sorry, if only I could have arrived faster, much faster..."

"Please don't say that."

Sakuta Azusagawa shook his head slightly, the movement small and his voice soft, carrying the clear, youthful quality characteristic of a boy.

"Mr. Kuuga, I am already incredibly grateful that you came to save me. Really."

He glanced out the window at the ordinary pedestrians hurrying by, a faint, gentle smile appearing on his pale face.

"As you told me before, this is a job where no one pays you a salary, provides you with security, and you might even... die. Becoming a Kamen Rider and going into battle is not an easy thing."

"You had no obligation to fight, yet you stepped forward, bearing immense risks, for the sake of justice in your heart."

"In my opinion, no one—no one at all—has the right to criticize you."

Just as a coin has two sides, and the sun and moon alternate, some people demand perfection and completeness, while others are genuinely grateful for what the knights have protected.

Sakuta Azusagawa is a different kind of person.

“If something is not done perfectly, or even if it is not a failure at all, and it is all the hero’s responsibility,” the man said with a clarity beyond his years, “then all success should be attributed to him alone? That’s unfair, and…too heavy.”

The experience of life and death can often reshape a person; if it doesn't terrify them, it will always give them more courage.

“So, it’s alright, please look up, Mr. Kuuga.” He thanked him again, “At least, I’m very grateful. Thank you for coming.”

……

……

The acquaintance between people always begins with unfamiliarity and estrangement.

Especially in this country, people of the same generation may need to address each other with honorifics first, and it takes a long time to become close. Even something as simple as calling each other by name carries great significance.

So far, Fan Kang has encountered people who are either little girls picking up stones, runaway heiresses, blindfolded eccentrics, noisy martial artists, or hot-blooded uncles who are super obsessed with Kamen Rider 1. No matter how you look at it, they are all people who are somewhat different from ordinary people. Fan Kang has experienced the feeling of talking to normal people for the first time in a long time.

More precisely, it's the natural feeling of gradually building a relationship with a normal stranger.

Tina Hiiragi is too quick to make friends; Hachiman Hikigaya was too familiar with her in his past life, he could even tell the color of his underwear from the first word he said; Nobu is too embarrassed to look at Kyubey because of his outrageous suggestion; Yui Yuigahama, who best fits the definition of an ordinary high school student, has nothing in common with him.

Overall, Sakuta Azusagawa is relatively the most normal one.

He just talks a lot of slang.

"Thinking about it carefully, maybe it's a good thing that I was captured by Shocker for modification and then rescued by you in time."

The morning light moved slowly across the wooden table, and the sweet aroma of milk tea mingled with the sounds of the city outside the window.

The person in front of me clumsily picked up a straw with his good right hand and poked it into his milk tea, which was piled high with ice. The ice cubes clinked together with a crisp sound. He took a sip and then swung his left hand around with a showy flourish.

An arm that is human and has a normal skin color reflects an unusual luster under sunlight.

"I've become much stronger and faster. Even if I don't get into university, I won't starve, whether I work for a moving company or deliver food."

"Can't we have some more sophisticated ideas...?"

Although he, who recently made a fortune by using the power of Kamen Rider to work on construction sites, has no right to say such a thing.

"For example?"

"For example, the fantasies that high school boys your age often have, like saving the world or something?"

Sakuta Azusagawa glanced discreetly at the boy opposite him who looked to be about the same age as him.

"I Became a Hero After Being Captured and Modified by an Evil Organization? That sounds like a weird light novel that'll probably be canceled."

"It's unlikely to be canceled. The Kamen Rider series is very popular. Even though it's been turned into a light novel, who knows how it will turn out."

"In that case, writing your story into a light novel would be surprisingly good. A 'knight' who stepped out of fantasy, mysterious, powerful, and burdened with destiny."

"The author is probably going to starve to death."

Fan Kang took a sip of milk tea expressionlessly: "Spare me. My daily routine consists of endless monster battles and countless motorcycle parts to repair. Oh, right, and endless disciples to train. In short, I can't think of anything that can sell well."

"Isn't there a harem of heroines in the world of romance?"

"There is indeed a lewd beast who often tries to persuade me to become the male lead in a harem, only to abandon me after seducing me."

The two looked at each other and smiled.

"It's Cupid." X2