Chapter Text
"That idiot. He better not be doing anything unnecessary."
As soon as he stepped back into the world of Zi-O, Tsukasa could tell that something was amiss. The air felt weird, a bit charged than the last time he remembered it being.
He couldn't quite place it, but it felt as if he had stepped back into a world that was Zi-O's yet not really Zi-O's. The feeling he got was somewhat strange, but it didn't feel like something he hadn't encountered before. Tsukasa continued walking before another thought stopped him in his tracks.
The Rider War world! This feeling was similar to that time back then—when the world of AR Kiva was clashing with the world of AR Blade. Then later on, with AR Hibiki's world when the AR Blade world's Kamen Riders were defeated.
This feeling he had was somewhat like that, yet it worried him that he only realized this now.
Tsukasa frowned. He shouldn't be negligent.
But then again, he only started getting involved with Zi-O starting from the incident with Kamen Rider Ghost. And then later he'd gone to the world of the past to find out about Zi-O's origins. Back then when he was with the Time Jackers he hadn't really gone out to look around, so that could be a reason why he didn't realize this anomaly being present.
Should that be a reason why? Or was there something more to this?
Tsukasa let out a long sigh before getting shoved aside without warning. His twin-lens Blackbird camera that he'd been idly fiddling with suddenly slipped off from his grasp as the camera dropped to the ground.
"Ah!" he exclaimed before scrambling towards the camera in alarm. As he reached towards the camera, Tsukasa noticed another pair of hands were also reaching towards it. Tsukasa glanced up as his eyes widened in surprise.
"I'm sorry, I didn't see you coming. I should've been more careful and mind my surroundings when I—"
The man crouching before him gave Tsukasa a puzzled look. "Are you alright?" he asked, as Tsukasa felt his throat ran dry. The man started fussing again over his fallen camera as he stared at the man blankly.
His senses came back again when he glanced back towards his camera. "Oh shi—!" he cried out. Tsukasa grabbed the end of his camera strap as he noticed it being snapped apart.
"Gosh, why did this have to happen now...?" he started to say as the man in front of him started barraging him with endless chatterings.
"Is your camera broken? Let me examine it for you, if you don't mind? It's my mistake anyway—my studio also was around the corner..."
The other man quickly ushered Tsukasa to follow him as he remained in a daze. How else would he be when he inadvertently ended up bumping into a certain Aikawa Hajime?
This... may end up becoming complicated.