I want to become a Kamen Rider

"If you are still alive a month from now, and if you change your mind and no longer want to fight as a contracted knight, I will not blame you."

The boy kicked away the pebbles at his feet. The stones hit the oil pipe and made a chime-like sound, startling the crows that were perched on the iron frame of the roof. Their black wings cast fleeting shadows as they flew past.

Chapter Eleven: Let's Work, Knight

Six days later, at dawn.

Fan Kang woke up under the bridge and the first thing he saw when he looked up was Cupid.

If you're a cat owner, you might find it heartwarming to see a cute cat first thing in the morning. But what Fan Kang saw was Cupid. For someone as experienced as him, it wasn't exactly terrifying, but it wasn't exactly a pleasant start either.

Especially after Cupid began to speak.

Good morning, Kang-kun. Isn't today the day we set off to capture Toyokawa Shoko?

"puff……"

The morning mist, carrying the fishy smell of the Sumida River, seeped into the bridge arch. Fan Kang, who was brushing his teeth, spat out the mouthwash in his mouth, spraying it all over Kewpie's face.

He pointed to himself, then to Cupid, his face filled with disbelief.

"Hey, explain to me what you mean by 'setting off to capture Toyokawa Shoko'?"

Could it be that the timeline changed when he woke up, and he went from being Kamen Rider Kuuga, who was burdened with a lonely destiny and was a person who knew the future and was going to save the world, to the protagonist of a youth romantic comedy novel?

'Isn't today the day Kang-kun is supposed to go on a date with Toyokawa Shoko?'

"He just wanted to thank me, you lewd beast, don't make normal male-female interactions sound so filthy and disgusting."

Fan Kang reached out his hand, and Qiu Bi was wringing out a towel.

The snow-white creature used its tail to wrap around the stainless steel basin, its front paws gripping the rusty water pipe, and handed him a wrung-out towel.

'But don't you think this is a great opportunity to enhance your abilities as a Kamen Rider?'

It seems that Cupid has not given up on persuading them.

'If Kang-kun could win over Toyokawa Shoko and become her son-in-law, not only would his financial problems be solved, but he could also use it as a springboard to have affairs with the other members of her band. I remember there are many cute girls in Toyokawa Shoko's band, and they all get along very well. Kang-kun could then actively pursue multiple opportunities, with his charm and his Kamen Rider identity…'

"The identity of a Kamen Rider is not for you to do this kind of thing."

Cupid spoke eloquently, then paused, stunned.

The reason was simple: the boy who had previously listened to its nonsense with a sarcastic tone and even a joking expression, and was willing to discuss it, turned cold, met its eyes, and, instead of showing fear, instinctively stopped talking.

It happened in an instant, and it was impossible to even be sure if it actually happened. The boy in front of me returned to his carefree and playful state in the next moment.

Fan Kangchao loudly complained:

"Although I never really thought of Kyubey as someone on the side of justice before, saying something like that really makes you an evil creature, doesn't it?"

'Hehe.'

It tapped its head with its tail, blinked its eyes, and simply got away with being cute.

"Aren't you even a little bit tempted, Kang-kun? If we just win over Toyokawa Shoko, we won't have to work so hard anymore. We won't have to sleep under bridges anymore; we can sleep in warm beds, ride cool motorcycles, even Maybachs! We can eat Wagyu beef every day, and after cheating on others, we can even enhance our power as Kamen Riders!"

"A warm bed, a cool motorcycle, a Maybach, Wagyu beef..."

The contractor looked quite interested, then shook his head.

"I would never play with other people's feelings."

Most importantly, it's useless to play around with him; he transformed using the spirit stone belt.

If that's not the case, and if one person could save the world simply by eating and taking advantage of others, then he might hesitate when faced with the choice of exchanging the smiles of a few for the future of everyone else.

Although I will probably still reject this path in the end, at least I can hesitate for a while, unlike now, where there is no room for consideration at all.

In a few decades, humanity will be extinct and the world will be destroyed. Only those who embrace the attitude of "live for today and worry about the future" can be indifferent to matters of the heart.

In that distant future ravaged by demons, countless people wept, shed tears, and lost their smiles. If he could remain indifferent to this, he would never have become an artificial knight in the first place. Even if it was a fake, even if it was a fake, he was still from that distant future... Kuuga.

Fan Kang shook the dust off his sleeping bag, tidied himself up, and prepared to go to work.

Before setting off, he glanced at Cupid one last time. The heartless fellow was so adept at manipulating people... Fortunately, he was resolute.

'Where is Kang Jun going? Shouldn't he be getting ready and trying to win over that rich woman?'

"Ha, rich woman, huh? When Miss Toyokawa lent me money to buy a motorcycle, she even pulled out a 50-yen coin. She's probably been kicked out of the Toyokawa family long ago. Wake up, Kyubey, I'm going to work."

'Start work?'

"I went to work on construction sites. Recently, I disguised myself as an adult and found some odd jobs at a construction company in Chiba called 'Yukinoshita Co., Ltd.'"

Whether delivering food or carrying bricks on a construction site, with his Kamen Rider powers, he's a one-man army.

Seeing his statement, the sinister, suspicious white alien creature offered another strange suggestion:

'Kang Jun, I have some quick ways to make money...'

“Earning a living with my own hands is the most legitimate thing to do, and I don’t want to disgrace my name.”

Seeing that he seemed unwilling to pay any more attention, Kyubey continued shouting, unwilling to give up:

'Kang Jun doesn't want to toy with other people's feelings, but what if someone falls for Kang Jun?'

"That kind of thing doesn't exist."

Fan Kang didn't turn his head back.

"Who would like someone who lives under a bridge, doesn't have a proper job, and is destined to die young?"

……

……

"I like you, foreign boy."

As the setting sun bathed the concrete jungle in a tangerine hue, Fan Kang was standing in front of a small stall when a hand as strong as an iron clamp pressed down on his shoulder. The hand that reached out belonged to an older man.

Fan Kang's lips twitched as he bit down on the bamboo skewer.

"Don't say things that could be misunderstood, Uncle Dongdao."

The middle-aged man in front of me, wearing a faded "Kamen Rider No. 1" T-shirt, is named Higashijima Tanzaburo. He is his coworker, forty years old this year, and has no girlfriend or formal job, yet he still spends his days daydreaming about becoming a Kamen Rider.

Others laughed at him, but Fan Kang didn't, because he knew very well that if there hadn't been that disaster and he hadn't become a man-made knight, he would probably have looked like this in a peaceful world.

He lives an ordinary life, but harbors a heroic dream deep in his heart. However, this uncle is braver than most people. Even at this age, he can still say without hesitation that he still likes what he likes, gets happy easily, gets angry easily, and is himself easily.

"Let's not talk about that anymore. Let's change the subject. Kid, how many tons of steel bars did you move today? Did you slack off?"

Using tons as the quantifier is not wrong, but what is absurd is that compared to him who has the power of Kamen Rider, this burly uncle can barely manage to move one ton a day.

There are rumors circulating that this man once defeated a bear in the forest, and there's some truth to it.

"Don't even mention it. There's less and less work available. Even if we wanted to move, there wouldn't be enough to do. We still have to leave work for others."

Fan Kang turned his hand and put the safety helmet on the plastic stool.

"Sigh." X2

The two of them sighed together.

That's life. There aren't many exciting surprises; it's mostly boring, bland, and petty.

Compared to Fan Kang, who can kill monsters and Grongi every few days, Uncle Dongdao's life is much more boring. Speaking of which, the Tokyo government has not yet fully disclosed the matter of Kamen Rider and monsters to the public. Otherwise, this uncle, who is obsessed with becoming a Kamen Rider, would be shouting in the street, "Where's Shocker? Hurry up and take me for modification!"

Here we must mention again the rumor of the bloodthirsty Kuuga who eats three meals a day and eats two monster heads with each meal. With such a knight active to bloodily suppress all enemies within his sight, casualties were limited to the limit, giving the government more time to react and prepare.

However, in terms of the actual number of people killed, since monsters and executives of the Black Organization often get together, aside from the frequency not matching up and the fact that they didn't actually use monster heads as drinking snacks, the rumored number doesn't seem to be wrong.

This practice of one knight dominating an era is essentially about burning one's own life to reduce casualties, giving human society more time to prepare and the possibility of facing the storm.

Before Fan Kang could even show the slightest bit of sadness, his attention was drawn to the uncle over there who was shouting that Number One was the most handsome Kamen Rider.

"Kamen Rider 1 is the beginning of everything, therefore Kamen Rider 1 is the strongest Kamen Rider!"

"Uncle, that's just sophistry! Kuuga is the strongest Kamen Rider!"

It wasn't really about determining who was stronger or weaker; it was just two die-hard fans of the knights playfully bickering.

Fan Kang started spouting nonsense about the setting:

"In the setting, Kuuga can manipulate basic particles. As we all know, light is both a wave and a particle, so I think Kuuga also has the theoretical possibility of manipulating spacetime."

"Time travel is nothing special!" Danzaburo said, talking about atmosphere and passion. "We Showa Knights are all about passion! It's about fighting with our backs to the wall! You can surpass things like setting just by having the right spirit!"

"This old man's Showa-era brain needs an upgrade!"

"That brat actually moved my chair without my permission!"

They argued noisily with Uncle Dongdao about who was the strongest Kamen Rider, Kuuga or Number One. When the streetlights came on, the old man and the young man lay side by side on the ground counting stars.

"Uncle, do you think the ending of Kamen Rider is that he dies before sunrise, a tragic hero who fights with tears streaming down his face beneath his mask?"

Looking up at the stars overhead, the boy said casually.

"No, the true ending of Kamen Rider is to protect others, to strive to the very last moment, to turn the impossible into the possible, and to respond to the hero who is called hope."

"Uncle..."

Fan Kangcai was just starting to feel touched when he turned around and found that someone had already fallen asleep, snoring and muttering in their sleep, "Cyborgs never give up."

The night breeze carried the aroma of roasted chicken racks. Even in his dreams, this guy remembered what he liked and wanted to share it with others: "Next time, I'll take you to the knight-themed izakaya in Ueno... The owner has a genuine autographed copy of Number One's work..."

Chapter Twelve: Let's Go to School, Knight!

That night, Fan Kang finally remembered that he seemed to have forgotten something and drove his motorcycle to the front of the late-night buckwheat noodle shop.

Then, feeling guilty, he discovered that Toyokawa Shoko was actually still waiting for him.

Fan Kang braked the motorcycle and, through the steam-blurred shop window, saw the girl lightly tapping the menu with the end of a pencil—the collar of her usual starry white shirt was visible beneath her dark gray school uniform jacket, and the ends of her hair were hastily tied up with a black rubber band, swaying behind her neck as she checked the bill, like a sleepy lop-eared rabbit.

To a normal person, the girl would appear as follows: beautiful, with dazzlingly white calves; if you gaze at her for three seconds, her perfectly proportioned bone structure would be unforgettable; beneath her raven-feather eyelashes were amber pupils, and when sunlight slanted across her nose, it would create pale golden ripples at the bridge. Most captivating of all were her calves, with pale blue veins gleaming beneath the porcelain-white surface; her skin, hazy like morning mist, revealed a graceful, well-defined physique, even the inky darkness of the night serving as a backdrop for her beauty.

In Fan Kang's eyes, this is how she is: a good-looking but poor person like me; a money-saving partner with whom she can team up to use coupons; and a former rich woman who is suspected of being expelled from her family.

Of course, most normal people might ask why this guy could study the bill for so long in a buckwheat noodle shop, but Fan Kang wasn't surprised by that.

He lifted the noren curtain and went straight inside, displaying three large coupons on the table with an air of arrogance:

"This time, use my coupon."

Upon hearing this, the girl took out a coupon from her pocket, compared the discount and the expiration date, and nodded.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Fan."

After they were seated and had agreed on how to use the coupons, Fan Kangcai remembered that he needed to explain why he was so late.

"Um, sorry, I was on my way..."

"It's alright, I understand. Fan Jun must be fighting hard again to protect the smiles of others."

"..."

Now that things have come to this, I simply can't bring myself to say something like hanging out with a scruffy old man, arguing and bickering until the wee hours of the morning before remembering my appointment with you.

"Just in time for the third pot of broth to boil."

Toyokawa Shoko turned her head and said something to the kitchen. Then two cups of iced barley tea were brought to the two of them. The water droplets condensed on the cups left long marks on the wooden table. "The boss said the buckwheat flour was just stone-ground today."

Fan Kang stared at the two cups of iced barley tea in disbelief.

"Get rich?"

"not at all."

If the other party doesn't want to talk about it, he naturally won't ask.

He was more concerned about why the other party had called him out; could it be to urge him to pay back the money?

"Um, I'll pay for the motorcycle as soon as possible..."

Regardless of whether it is true or not, as long as he speaks first and pretends to be in trouble, the repayment date can be postponed a little longer!

"That's not important."

The girl shook her head.

Fan Kang was shocked. What had she said? What had she just said? Such a large sum of money, and she actually said it wasn't important?!

"You must always walk the right path, Miss Toyokawa."