My youth story cannot be a knight war

Facing Hoshino's ridicule, Ye Shan shook his head and spoke in a low voice.

"I still don't understand why... as fellow knights, we have to kill each other instead of working together to fight those mirror monsters that kill humans?"

He turned his back to Hoshino, raised the card box in his hand, and looked at her with a very complicated expression.

"Could it be that it's just because Hikigaya-san said that the last Kamen Rider standing gets everything as the winner?"

“…Huh~?”

Ye Shan, who had his back to Hoshino, didn't notice that when he mentioned the three words "Hikigaya", the former's expression changed for a moment.

The muscles on his face froze in an instant, all emotions faded from his facial features, his eyes hidden under his smooth bangs became dull, and a pitch-black hexagram flickered deep in his pupils.

But deep within the calm pupils and rational appearance, there was a ferocity and hatred that rivaled that of a wild beast. The dark hideousness was lingering in the hexagram in his eyes. At this moment, Hoshino's eyes were as sinister as a night owl, enough to make the beholder feel cold to the bone.

"?"

Although he did not meet Hoshino's gaze directly, Ye Shan still felt an inexplicable coldness on the skin on his back at this moment, and looked back in surprise.

What caught his eye was Hoshino's dull expression. He glanced at Hayama and said:

"It seems you've seen that guy too. But if you already know that, why do you still find the battle between knights so strange?"

"Also? You've met Hikigaya-san too???"

Ye Shan immediately caught the key words from Hoshino's words, and his eyes widened involuntarily.

"Classmate? Humph~ Being classmates with that guy, I'm really curious about how you managed to survive until now without any harm."

Hoshino sneered at this and raised his card box and waved it in front of Yeshan.

"Of course I've seen him. Otherwise, where do you think I got this card box from? Not everyone is like you, getting it from another knight. But that's not the topic right now."

Putting the card box back into the inner pocket of his windbreaker, Hoshino said calmly.

"You think the battles between knights are strange, but that's simply because you're a newbie who joined halfway, knowing nothing. But other knights are different... We all chose to become knights after being informed of everything beforehand, knowing what we would be taking on."

"And we have only one goal."

Staring into Ye Shan's black eyes, although Hoshino's tone was indifferent, it was filled with a persistence and determination that could not be ignored.

"That is to defeat all the other Kamen Riders, win in the end, and take away what Hikigaya Hachiman promised, the chance to have everything."

"…You too?"

After a short silence, Ye Shan spoke softly.

"Of course, it's precisely because of desires that can't be fulfilled through normal means that only those with a mental disorder would want to join this Knight's War. This is a battle where justice and fairness don't exist, and all participants only fight for their own desires."

This time it was Hoshino's turn to turn his back to Ye Shan. He looked up at the piles of clouds floating across the sky, and his voice became cold.

"So you understand, right? The so-called Kamen Riders are a group of fools who voluntarily trapped themselves in the mirror world and fought for their own wishes. The fate of a knight is to fight. Those who don't want to fight are not qualified to become Kamen Riders... Yes, I'm referring to you."

Glancing back, Hoshino looked at Ye Shan with a mercury-like sharpness in his eyes.

"As a knight unwilling to fight other knights, you have been an outlier in this knight war from the very beginning, a bug in the program's operation. Since you have no desire to fulfill it at all costs, then becoming a knight is the biggest mistake. This makes you a fool chanting for peace in the midst of a blood-thirsty battlefield."

"Wake up and face the reality. Your words are nothing but a dull joke to the knights. If you expect any knight to listen, you'd better pray they don't stab you with their weapons the first moment they meet you."

"Because your rightness, and what society defines as rightness, is completely wrong to the knights participating in the Knight War."

"how come……"

Yuigahama Yui covered her mouth in front of the curtain. After listening to "Hoshino Aikyuu Aikai"'s such a clear and vivid explanation of all this, her mind was now in a mess.

The education she received since childhood and the values ​​formed by her life over the years made it impossible for Yuigahama to accept this brutal fight at the cost of her life. She looked at Shizuka Hiratsuka and Hayato Hayama beside her for help, hoping that they could give her an answer.

But at this moment, both of them fell into silence. Shizuka Hiratsuka lowered her head, holding an unlit cigarette in her mouth, holding the lighter without saying a word.

She is a teacher, a teacher whose responsibility is to teach young students proper etiquette, but at the same time, Shizuka Hiratsuka is a member of society who has already reached adulthood. She is no longer a child and has witnessed the many darknesses and injustices that exist in this world.

So Hiratsuka Shizuka knew very well what this world was like, just as she once said to Hikigaya Hachiman:

This world is neither gentle nor right.

Ye Shan's silence was due to other reasons. He was thinking about what the man behind the curtain said to "him", with a deep darkness in his eyes.

"No matter what, I want to fulfill my wish..."

how about you?

Whispering a question quietly in his heart so that no one could hear it, Hikigaya raised his hand to block the complicated gaze of Yukinoshita Yukino beside him, and his eyes were equally obscure as he looked at the curtain.

So what exactly is your wish? Is it so important that you would personally organize such a bloody fight?

...my future self.

Hikigaya glanced at the clock on the wall beside him, then calculated the time it would take to get here from his home and let out a sigh silently.

It seems it's too late, Komachi.

"Perhaps... you are right."

After a long silence, Ye Shan spoke softly.

"——But, I won't agree."

The words took a sudden turn, and he raised his eyes, with a fiery color dancing in his eyes.

"I don't care how right you are, nor do I care what the facts of this Knight War are. At least I know that I transformed into a knight and fought to protect humanity. That's enough."

Holding his own knight card box tightly in his hand, Ye Shan looked down at the dragon head emblem engraved on the card box. Many memories flowed from the depths of his pupils, and finally he became determined.

"Just like that day, that man saved me from being sucked into the mirror world. To save a stranger like me, he gave up his own hope of escape and gave me this card box so I could leave... Maybe he chose to become a knight because he wanted to fulfill a wish, but compared to fulfilling his own wish, at that moment he chose to save me."

"So I survived. Since I was saved by someone, I also want to save the other innocent people caught in the mirror world. Even though I don't even know that person's name, I want to save those he couldn't save."

Looking directly into Hoshino's deep blue eyes, Ye Shan's tone was as firm as a rock.

"That's why I fight, not to grant wishes, but to protect humanity... That's it."

"Oh, is that so? That's so righteous that it really puts me to shame, General Morality."

He said he was ashamed, but from Hoshino's expressionless face, it could be seen that he didn't care at all about what Ye Shan said.

"It's up to you. Whatever reason you want to fight for is up to you, but I really want to see how long you can keep this idea in this war."

With the corners of his mouth slightly raised, Hoshino looked at Ye Shan with a smile.

"Because I'm curious, when this borrowed motivation is exhausted by day-in-day-out battles, what kind of person will truly emerge from the depths of your heart?"

After saying this, without waiting for Ye Shan to answer, Hoshino turned around and walked towards the black motorcycle parked at the corner of the building not far away.

"correct."

However, after taking a few steps, he stopped, turned around and spoke softly to Ye Shan.

"Regarding our conversation today, especially the part involving Hikigaya, remember not to tell Komachi... She already knows enough now. There are some things she doesn't need to know, and shouldn't know."

"What--"

"Squeak~!!!"

The sharp scream interrupted what Ye Shan was about to say, and made him and Hoshino look at the same thing.

In the glass exterior wall that they had just come out of, a huge pitch-black winged bat was floating, flapping its fleshy wings. It tilted its head to look at Hoshino, and kept making hissing sounds from its mouth.

"Well done, Darkwing."

Looking at the contracted beast that was roaring at him, Hoshino's eyebrows raised, and the smile on his face gradually became dangerous.

After receiving the response, the winged bat turned around and flapped its wings, flying quickly in the other direction of the mirror, while Hoshino also walked quickly towards his motorcycle.

"and many more!"

The two of them obviously reached some communication in the brief moment just now. Ye Shan hurriedly caught up with Hoshino, put his hand on his shoulder, and stared at him closely.

"What happened? What message did your contracted beast convey to you?"

"...If I don't tell you, I don't think you'll give up, right?"

After staring into Yeshan's eyes for a few seconds, Hoshino reached out to push away his hand that was holding her shoulder and said boredly.

"Darkwing found the location where that Scissors guy is operating. I'm going there now."

"I am coming too!"

Ye Shan said in a decisive tone, his eyes piercing.

"I'm going to go find Scissors with you."

"Whatever you want, as long as you can keep up."

Hoshino walked past him and said without looking back.

"No matter what, let me make it clear first. You can follow me, but you are not allowed to hinder me."

Ye Shan jogged to catch up with Hoshino, and spoke with a slight smile after hearing his words.

"That depends on what you want to do. As long as you don't do anything illegal, it's fine."

"……snort."

Hoshino blew out two streams of air from his nostrils to express his disdain for Ye Shan's words.

boom--

The overlapping sounds of locomotive engines igniting rang out simultaneously, and two locomotives, one black and one red, set off at the same time, following the constant hissing sounds of bats in front.

……

Kyoto Prefecture, Nishikyo Ward, near Arashiyama.

03:25 PM

"...Are you sure that the Scissors' base is really here?"

Standing at the corner of a street, Ye Shan turned his head to look at a shop opposite with some old-fashioned decorations, then turned back to ask Hoshino next to him.

"Darkwing did follow that guy here, and I asked the residents nearby, and they all said that the owner of that shop hasn't been seen since three months ago."

Hoshino withdrew his gaze from the distant Arashiyama scenery, glanced at the old shop, and smacked his lips.

"Actually, I'm quite skeptical. I doubt that the shop owner is really Scissors? After all, the shop owner—"

sizzle-

It was extremely familiar, like an iron rod piercing the cochlea and stirring it fiercely. The sound made Ye Shan and Hoshino's expressions change instantly, and they also turned their eyes in the direction where the sound came from.

In the glass of the old shop door they were looking at, a huge humanoid monster appeared inside, with a pair of huge claws open and its eyes scanning around the door.

"...Okay, now there's no need to doubt it."

Blinking, Hoshino said calmly.

"It seems the shopkeeper, who the residents say has been missing for a long time, is indeed the Scissors we are looking for."

"..."

Looking at Volcancer baring his teeth and claws on the shop glass, scanning every passerby on the street, Ye Shan frowned and said nothing.

Instead, Hoshino took out his mobile phone, turned on the camera function and pointed it at the store. He decided to go back and search for more information about the store and its owner.

But before he could press the capture button on the screen with his thumb, a figure walked forward from the edge of the camera, causing Hoshino to open his eyes wide in surprise.

"Hello!?"】

15. Whisper of the Dark (4K)

This is a palace.

The magnificent structure of the palace, made of bronze and other unknown materials, is now covered with dust, and the rusty wall paint tells of the passage of time and the antiquity, showing the long history of this palace from the side.

In the center of such a vast, ancient and dusty palace, a blue-silver crystal throne stood at the highest point of the palace. A figure sat on the throne, leaning back on the backrest of the throne.

A transparent mirror curtain was suspended in front of the crystal throne. In the mirrored surface that rippled like water, Hayato Hayama and Aikyuu Hoshino hid in the corner of an alley, cautiously looking up at a shop with old decorations across the street.

"..."

Looking at the images of the two people in the curtain, Hikigaya Hachiman rested the back of his right hand against his expressionless face, and held the "Book of Controlling Myriad Living Beings" in his left hand, gently tapping the armchair of the crystal throne behind him with the corner of the book. There was no light in his dark pupils, and they were as dark as two mine tunnels without light strips.