My youth story cannot be a knight war

"Because if I hadn't worn this belt then, I would never have been able to be friends with you, Mr. Kosaka."

"—"

Kousaka was completely stunned by Zaimokuza's answer, and even his eyes became frozen in an instant.

These words made his mind go blank.

"I'm quite self-aware, Mr. Kosaka."

Looking up at the snow tide falling from the sky, Zaimokuza exhaled lightly and said with a smile.

"If I hadn't worn the belt then, I would have been powerless to do anything about what happened afterwards. The most I could have done was do odd jobs beside the minister while she was working, to share her pressure."

"And given your personality, Mr. Kosaka, we might have gotten to know each other during this process, but we definitely wouldn't have gotten to the point where we are now, nor would we have become the friends we are now. After all, Mr. Kosaka, you've always hated getting involved with irrelevant people."

"So only if I become Kuuga can I become friends with you, Mr. Kousaka. This reason alone is enough."

"Zaimokuza..."

Staring blankly at Zaimokuza, Kousaka wanted to say something, but his throat felt so dry that he couldn't even vibrate his vocal cords. In the face of the true words he revealed, he felt that no words could express what he felt at the moment.

Zaimokuza didn't wait for his answer and continued to speak. Every word was so clear that it was engraved in Kousaka's heart.

"I can't deny that this journey has been extremely painful. Many times, I've even thought about giving up."

"Although life may indeed be full of losses rather than gains, the fact that I met you, Mr. Kosaka, is the luckiest thing that has happened to me this year, even more so than all the other things combined."

He tilted his head back and smiled.

"It's because you, Mr. Kousaka, are by my side that I'm able to cheer myself up every time. You give me the motivation to keep fighting to protect everyone's smiles. If it weren't for Mr. Kousaka, even if I became Kuuga, I would probably collapse completely when facing Number Six and never stand up again."

"It was you, Mr. Kosaka, who always stayed by my side when I was most depressed and in pain. Those moments were like fireflies shining in the darkness. You made me understand the true meaning of a smile and made me feel that everything I did was meaningful... So, thank you very much."

"It's really great to meet you, to know you, and to be friends with you."

Zaimokuza slowly lowered his head, stretched out his hand to catch a falling snowflake, watched the snow gradually melt in the warmth of his palm, and spoke softly.

"The last time someone made me feel and think this way was Hachiman... but he's already left me and Buchou and the others."

"When Hachiman chose to leave, I felt that I would never meet someone in my life who I felt so reluctant to part with as I did, nor would I ever meet someone who could become a friend as good as him... until I met you, Mr. Kousaka."

"To me now, Mr. Kosaka, you are just like Hachiman. You are my most important friend, a friend I will never give up, and the second best friend in my life."

The fallen snow was almost melting, and Zaimokuza closed his palms, grasped it, and placed it in front of his chest.

"All the pain this year combined cannot compare to the joy and happiness that knowing you, Mr. Kosaka, has brought me. It is this emotion that you, Mr. Kosaka, have brought me that has given me the courage to face the fate that I must face after becoming Kuuga."

"So I will become the ultimate existence."

"..."

Kousaka lowered his head, clenched his right hand, which was hanging at his side, into a fist, then unclenched it, over and over again.

"Ah! Speaking of which..."

He smiled, but Zaimokuza suddenly seemed to remember something. He stretched out his hand, clenched his right fist, and slapped it on the palm of his left hand, looking at Kousaka with sparkling eyes.

"Since this is the last step, Mr. Kosaka, can you grant me one wish?"

After hearing this, Kousaka raised his head, looked at Zaimokuza with a complicated gaze, and said in a barely audible voice.

"...Tell me, as long as it's within my ability."

"Is it an appointment?"

Zaimokuza asked, and Kousaka replied sullenly.

"promised."

“ok~!”

"?"

Zaimokuza clapped his hands happily, and listening to the applause, Kousaka felt a sudden shock in his heart for some reason, as if he had fallen into an elaborate trap.

Before he could think about whether there was anything wrong, Zaimokuza asked excitedly.

"Mr. Kosaka, how long have we known each other?"

"About... no, it's been exactly a year."

Speaking of this, Kousaka's eyes were a little dazed at the moment. Has a year passed so quickly?

The day he met this guy seemed like yesterday. The details of his memory were incredibly clear, and the smile on Zaimokuza's face remained the same as it was then, without any change.

"Then Mr. Kosaka, we are best friends now, right?"

"Ha~ What do you think?"

With a sigh, Kousaka, who was summoned into his memories, asked back somewhat listlessly.

"Yeah! That's right."

Zaimokuza put his hands on his hips, raised the corners of his mouth, and revealed a mouthful of teeth so white they almost gleamed.

"Then~ Mr. Kousaka, please just call me by my name!"

"OK???"

Kousaka nodded and spoke out of inertia, but when he realized what Zaimokuza said the next moment, his eyes suddenly widened and he looked at the smiling person in front of him with twitching eyes.

"W-Why do you suddenly want me to do this?"

"After all, Mr. Kosaka, think about it~ We have known each other for such a long time, and you also admit that we are now the best of friends."

Zaimokuza raised his right hand and extended his index finger, shaking it and speaking with a smile.

"It's already like this, we can't just keep calling each other by our last names, right? We only call each other by last names because we're not familiar with each other. Don't friends usually call each other by their first names?"

"So come on! Mr. Kosaka, please call out my name, and your tone must be full of affection, just like the popular TV series of the last century, making people feel the excitement of youth praising friendship and enthusiasm!"

"I don't want it!"

Takasaka immediately expressed fierce resistance to this, and his words became distorted in his panic, and even his tone was mixed with the unique local accent of Chiba Prefecture.

"I don't want to do such a thing. This isn't some manzai event with the theme of blind dates or making friends! And the things you mentioned have long been completely outdated after the implementation of the relaxed education and the culture of lying down! What's more, don't you see what time it is now? You—"

"But Mr. Kosaka, you promised me, didn't you?"

Zaimokuza interrupted Kousaka, who was shaking his head violently to resist the words, and stared at him with blinking eyes.

"Didn't you just say that? As long as it's within your ability, you can do it, Mr. Kousaka!"

"Could it be that this is a wish that even you, Mr. Kousaka, cannot fulfill?"

"I--"

Kousaka was stunned by these words. Realizing that he had been set up and was in a difficult situation, he felt suffocated for a moment and his eyes twitched slightly.

"Besides, Mr. Kousaka, you made an appointment with me~!"

Zaimokuza said, shaking his index finger proudly.

"A man without integrity cannot stand. As a police officer, Mr. Kosaka, you should value your promises more than ordinary citizens. You should lead by example and set an example for the public!"

"Mr. Kosaka, are you going to use this kind of words to deceive children in the future? This will teach them bad habits!"

"—"

This time, Kousaka's entire face twitched, and he stared at Zaimokuza as if he wanted to eat him alive.

At this moment, he was extremely sure that he had indeed fallen into the trap carefully woven by the white-haired rabbit. After all, rabbits are excellent at digging holes and hiding in burrows, and their camouflage skills are even better. If you don't see it with your own eyes, you won't realize that this thing is an omnivore that eats both grass and meat.

Come to think of it, hasn't this been the case for the past year? Every time I've been tricked by this guy and driven to ecstasy, I've been deceived by his superb acting skills, appearing harmless enough to fall into his trap again and again.

...Anyway, he never learned his lesson in the end. Thinking of this, his face turned pale and veins bulged on the back of his hands.

"Come on, come on, come on~"

The white-haired rabbit's temptation came to his ears, and a green meridian jumped up at the edge of his forehead. Kousaka took a deep breath and adjusted his mentality like a prisoner rushing to the execution ground.

He raised his head, forcing a kind smile onto his bulging face, and said softly:

"Yi, Yihui?"

Click.

The white flash shone on Kousaka's face, freezing his expression and features in this moment and in this photo.

"Nice~! Kyousuke!"

Zaimokuza smiled and gave a thumbs up. The flash of his teeth was comparable to the light in an interrogation chamber in Kousaka's eyes. However, in the past, he was the one who grabbed the prisoner by the collar and put the light to his face to force a confession, but this time it was he who was being held in the crosshairs.

"Alright! I've finished what I promised Xiao?. This photo should be perfect for her to use to make an amulet~"

"..."

At this moment, Kousaka's face was hazy, and countless colors gathered on his face, forming a mosaic-like mixed color, which also played a certain masking role.

"you--"

"Uh……"

A pair of eyes glowing red were staring at Zaimokuza. Kousaka's voice was like the howling of an evil ghost at the bottom of a well, which made Zaimokuza's smile stiffen immediately as he was stared at. He suddenly hid his phone behind his back with both hands.

The two looked at each other and didn't speak for a long time.

“…Puchi~!”

After a while, I don't know who spoke first, and the laughter spread out in all directions.

Then another voice rang out. Kousaka wordlessly put his hand to his forehead, but a smile appeared on his lips. Zaimokuza crossed his arms and laughed heartily...

"Hahaha~!"

"Tsk~"

The two looked at each other, then continued to laugh out loud. They laughed for a long time before their laughter gradually subsided.

"You kid... you always surprise people even at the very end."

Lowering the hand that was covering his face, Kousaka glanced at Zaimokuza wordlessly, his pupils rolled up.

"Well, well, well~ Mr. Kosaka, you've been very cooperative, haven't you? Are you interested in teaming up with me to participate in the manzai auditions in the future? I believe we will become famous!"

Zaimokuza raised both hands, put three fingers together in a fox-like gesture, and joked with a smile.

However, what he didn't expect was that Kousaka actually nodded and spoke in a calm tone.

"After thinking about it, it's not impossible."

"Ugh?"

"so……"

Zaimokuza was stunned, then Kousaka looked into his eyes and spoke softly.

"You...after this trip, you must remember to come back."

"Otherwise, if I'm the only one left, who can I find to continue forming a team?"

"..."

Hearing Kousaka's words, the smile on his lips slowly disappeared, Zaimokuza's hands dropped silently, his eyes clear.

The two of them stared quietly into each other's eyes, looking at themselves reflected in each other's irises, and found that there was nothing left to say between them.

All the words, all the confessions, all the fights, had already been said just now, so they could only fall into silence, each looking up at the distant sky.

And now that everything has been said, there is only one thing left.

"Ah."

His jaw curved slightly, barely perceptible, and Zaimokuza smiled.

Zaimokuza raised his clenched right fist, and under Kousaka's gaze, he slowly raised his thumb, making the gesture that he already understood.

"A real man~"

Even the words were exactly the same, including the tone.

"I'm going to win, so—"

Putting down his right hand that was giving the thumbs-up, Zaimokuza's eyes sparkled, and golden light spread in his pupils like waves.

"Please watch carefully."

"This is my final transformation."