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“Yo, Decade!”
Maybe it says something about Tsukasa that he sometimes answers to “Decade” faster than his own name, but he still looks up the hill at OOO, his ally, and the Gokaigers. Despite the high edge, Captain Marvelous is big and loud in his every action, even a simple nod to come up and join them.
Tsukasa follows the nod, walking around and up the side of the cliff.
(After a fight with Daiki, he figures he shouldn’t work his powers more than necessary. At least… at least not until he gets used to this permanent and very much physical ache which their deaths have left him with.)
“So you’re who Marvelous ran off and schemed with,” Yellow says.
“You could say that,” Tsukasa replies, face carefully neutral. He hopes that if they blame anyone, they blame him. Marvelous has his crew; Tsukasa would never take that from him in any way.
“And you’re Daiki’s friend,” OOO’s ally adds.
…You cannot possibly answer that properly, right now.
“Riders and Sentai fighting side by side,” Marvelous thankfully cuts in to say.
“Most wonderful,” Pink says.
OOO nods.
“It did make me glad to know so many heroes are out there,” he says. “And to see Gentaro again. Last time, it was…”
OOO’s ally takes OOO’s hand, and Tsukasa remembers a conversation with Shoutaro about the shared reality of lost partners.
A reality he shares now, as well. His home and his heart, both gone.
But no, no thinking of that.
“It was something of a crisis,” OOO finishes.
“…I’m starting to think this is just the normal way for heroes to meet,” Green says.
“Historically, that’s correct,” Silver replies. “Since the days of Gorenger and JAKQ.”
“And since the days of Showa Riders,” Tsukasa adds.
“Well, either way, it was nice to meet you all,” OOO’s ally adds. “Really. But… Eiji and I have somewhere to be tonight.”
Blue nods. Green smiles and bows at her.
“You too.”
And with that, the two leave.
Leaving, in turn, Tsukasa… alone with the Gokaigers.
Honestly, his first expectation is for them to be angry. At least now that they’re alone. For all that he’s spoken with a good number of his predecessors since it happened, for all that he… he knows he’s doing the right thing, now. Mostly, as best he can.
He…
It’s harder to believe after their deaths, harder to believe after the second fight with Daiki. And all of it has left him floating internally just a bit off-kilter, out of alignment with the dimensional walls. And mentally, well…
It’s his fate, he supposes.
“Decade-san,” Pink says, before pausing, but still successfully dragging him from his thoughts. “No, Kadoya-san… would you like to come to the ship?”
It’s given as a question, but there’s the clear inflection of an order that Tsukasa is familiar with, from his still-scattered memories of being Dai-Shocker’s leader.
Well, his second assumption, their own goodbyes, had also been proved wrong.
“I think that’s up to your captain,” he says.
Marvelous merely smirks.
“I trust my crew,” he says.
…Sentai teams really are something.
They’re a team, and Marvelous is welcomed back in with ease. They’re a crew and family and the casual intimacy could imply they’re similar to how it had been, for Tsukasa. The bickering is surface level.
Green, Doc, cooks dinner, as Silver, Gai, talks on about how Sentai and Rider had never united like this before. Yellow, Luka, rolls her eyes and says Gai can be ignored. The others don’t comment, but Marvelous has left the room with Blue, Joe, and Pink, Ahim, once again uses that familiar air of someone sure in their power to observe the interactions.
It’s all somehow familiar. And that hurts some.
(It hurts a lot.)
“I have an interest in the stories of heroes,” Tsukasa says. “I don’t mind.”
Gai lights up like he’s found a new victim, but the information is interesting, regardless.
(He thinks about himself, and about Riders, and how Daiki and himself likely would have fought still, but if… if Natsumi and Yuusuke had been alive, Daiki would have quickly found his way back home. They’d talk as much as they ever do. It’d…
It’d be something.
But he already knew Sentai had softer stories, a softer history. They didn’t have powers born of evil. Didn’t know what it takes, for some to be heroes.
Maybe that’s a good thing. Less of them are left alone.)
The food’s good, he’ll give them that. The atmosphere would be nice, if it didn’t hurt so much.
He takes a picture, and he thinks it might turn out right.
He finds himself on the top of the ship, looking out at the stars.
“None of us would say it, really,” a voice says, from behind. It takes him turning around to recognize Joe. “But this is where we go to think.”
Tsukasa hmms.
“Is that so?”
“He loves you,” Joe says. “He’s loyal to you.”
…oh fuck he does not want this conversation.
“He’s a nuisance, like that,” Tsukasa says. “Follows me around.”
Joe hmms, but doesn’t challenge his claim.
“Your team,” Tsukasa says. “It’s so… close.”
“Well, we’ve been through a lot together,” Joe says. “I trust them.”
Tsukasa is fairly sure that’s a way of saying “I love them.” So he looks away from the Blue, back at the stars.
“Cherish them,” he says. “You never know when you might lose them.”
“I learned that lesson some time ago,” Joe responds.
Tsukasa doesn’t ask any questions. Neither does Joe.
He leaves, a few days after.
(It still takes over a month to make himself track down Daiki.)