Sitting on the ground, I watched Isadora concentrate, her eyes shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow. We were at our usual spot, the one we always go to when trespassing Mato, bathed in the soft glow of the moon above us.
Normally, we'd just open a portal without much fuss, as long as the place was hidden and on the far side of Mato.
But right now, Isadora had a specific destination in mind: the infamous reverse ogre gate, where the real party was located.
Whatever plan she might have for me, I'll just follow the leader.
"I just have a question," I said, breaking the quiet while she focused. "Why are you making me wear a coat?"
She hummed thoughtfully at my question.
"Well," she said, a mischievous grin tugging at her lips, "wouldn't it be cool, watching Mato, your coat fluttering behind you as you stare down at it?" She laughed softly. "Like Batman."
"Woman, I can't hope to have the same coolness as Batman," I replied. "I'm just an Average Joe, not some handsome billionaire with fancy tech"
Though, Average Joes don't fight Shuuki in a super suit while his sidekick hurls medals from the sidelines.
By day, I was a salary man like any other; by night, I became a Kamen Rider.
Isadora found the exact coordinates, and a familiar portal opened before us. I was wearing a Skull mask that is identical to the one Isadora is currently wearing. Her hair had turned black, flowing longer than usual, and her dress had shifted from its usual wine-red to a deep, pure raven.
"Can I say something?" I asked, noticing my reflection. It hit me then, between the mask and the black cloak.
"We look way too fucking edgy right now!" I said while pulling at my hair in embarrassment.
Thats right, my current look made me look like an absolute edgy motherfucker. The only things missing were a katana in my hand and some vague, dramatic one-liner shouted to no one.
"I'm vengeance," Isadora said, her voice deep and ominous.
"No, you're not."
"I'm Batman."
"Can you please shut up?"
"For Gotham!"
Maybe giving Isadora access to the Internet has been a bad idea. Her head was thoroughly corrupted with this nonsense.
It had to be the manga she'd been reading recently. That had to be why she was making us wear this edgy attire, imagining us as some mysterious duo, surveying Mato from the shadows, guardians of the Anti-Demon Force or whatever part of her imagination she'd decided was dramatic enough to dress us like this.
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Coming out of the portal, the familiar sight and smell of Mato flooded my senses even through the mask. Isadora stepped out after me and sealed the portal shut.
The sheer number of Shuuki was no joke. The most eye-catching thing was the open gate in the middle of the battlefield, where a jeep and a lone motorcycle stood on standby, surrounded by personnel.
"So what do I do exactly?" I asked, looking over the Defense Force units.
"Isn't it obvious?" Isadora replied.
"You're going to make a dramatic entrance."
At that, I just stared at the jeep. Leaning forward for a better look, I squinted.
…Am I tripping, or is there a kid on that jeep?
Yeah. That's definitely a kid.
I might've assumed she was another unlucky civilian like me that was rescued and thrown into this if she weren't wearing the Anti-Demon Force uniform.
Is that even allowed?! A job this dangerous shouldn't be given to a kid, no matter how useful her ability is. She doesn't even look middle-school age.
She's straight-up elementary.
Before I could untangle the mess in my head, the black-haired girl riding the jeep transformed her arm into a machine gun and unleashed hell on the Shuuki rushing the gate.
That's a rad ability, if I've ever seen one. A literal gun for a body part. The eagle of freedom screamed as bullets poured from her arm, now fully converted into a firearm.
Not even a second later, the short-haired blonde on the motorcycle began to grow, like really grow. In moments, she towered over everything, her body swelling until she was the size of a building.
"Damn," I whistled. "Seeing the actual Defense Force in action is kinda neat. They're a whole different beast compared to the police."
I couldn't help but wonder how strong the chiefs were. I hadn't seen the Second Unit's chief take down the Shuuki's chasing me before cause back when I first got sent here, I was too busy shitting myself to notice.
But considering how she handled things solo, maybe the chiefs really were monsters of their own caliber.
Still… the whole child-soldier thing sat wrong with me.
"Do I even need to intervene, Isadora?" I asked, glancing at the woman beside me.
She slowly walked to the edge of the elevated ground we were standing on, her gaze fixed ahead.
"Yep," she said. "That black-haired stalker of yours might be up to some shady shit for the first time."
She narrowed her eyes.
"She's holding a pretty thick deck of cards."
A deck of cards? Don't tell me her ability is some kind of Houdini trick or worse, a full-on Yu-Gi-Oh gimmick where she summons monsters through cards.
"It might be the latter," Isadora said, glancing back at me like she'd just peeked inside my head. "I saw Shuuki drawings on them. She might be able to summon them."
"I haven't said anything yet, woman."
"It's written all over your face."
"Like hell you can tell from that!"
Are you an esper or something?! Or is this because our souls are connected? She did say she could only read my mind when she was a bracelet…
Yeah. I'm starting to seriously doubt that now.
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On the far side of the landscape, a woman with hair made snakes, dressed in a black kimono, let out a quiet chuckle.
"Looks like that woman still found me… though what's with the sudden change in her getup?" she murmured, tilting her head as she studied Isadora. Her eyes narrowed slightly, puzzled by the shift in hair color, from red to black. "Oh well. Nothing has really changed."
She glanced down at the deck of cards in her hand, idly shuffling them between her fingers.
"Watching those humans defend the gate for the first time is rather interesting," she said softly. "Still… focusing too much on that red-haired woman and the suited guy for quite some time might've been a slight mistake on my part. But, oh well."
She laughed to herself and flicked the cards into the air, offering a silent apology to Rairen and Jouryuu for prioritizing her curiosity over her mission.
As the cards fell, they began to glow.
When the light faded, an outrageous number of Shuuki burst forth.
"Be honored, humans," she laughed, turning her gaze toward the Defense Force. "You'll be the first to witness the debut performance of my Shuuki Deck. Consider it a blessing from a god."
Raising her hand, she swept it forward.
Like loyal lapdogs, the Shuuki moved without hesitation, surging toward the direction of the gate. Their advance slammed into the battlefield, adding a new layer of headache to the already overwhelming wave of hostiles the Seventh Unit was trying to contain.
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Author's Note:
This is still Chapter 15 but rewritten. The whole outline of the previous planned storyline was quite confusing, so I decided to scrap it and just rewrite it.