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“What do we do now?” Asumu asks. He’s still holding Amaki’s trumpet, he doesn’t know why.
“I don’t know,” Wataru replies. “I can’t believe Yuusuke did that, he’ll die and doom his World with him.”
They sit there in silence for long moments, two boys alone in the Worlds, hands grasping each other for something to hold on to.
“…You know,” Wataru says. “Tsukasa helped me bring peace to my World.”
“He helped me and my friends unite our schools, in mine,” Asumu says.
“Will you… tell me about them?” Wataru asks. Asumu nods.
“Amaki is…” he starts.
And he tells the other boy as much of the story as he can, meetings and developments, and they’ve all been working so hard to reunite the schools, Asumu’s been getting students!
And then…
“They lost to Saga and the Fangire, didn’t they?” Wataru asks. His grip is tight in Asumu’s. “I am sorry. I thought… I thought if I fought hard enough, I could save my World, but I guess the only way to stop it is to stop Tsukasa.”
“I can’t believe we have to fight Tsukasa at all,” Asumu replies. “It’s not fair.”
“It’s not.”
“…”
“…”
“I don’t blame you, by the way,” Asumu says. “You were just trying to save your people. And… I killed him, too.”
They stay that way until they fall asleep together, in the ruins of their Worlds.
“…What are we doing?” Asumu asks in the morning. Wataru turns.
“What?”
“I mean, fighting Tsukasa… he helped us,” Asumu replies. “Our Worlds are already… already gone, and he’s our friend .”
Wataru looks away.
“There are still people to protect…” he says. “My people, but… even Yuusuke…”
Wataru turns back, focused.
“Let’s go save Tsukasa,” he says. “I’m sure he’ll find a way to help.”
“I’ll believe in him, too,” Asumu says, and they set out to the fight.
Fading away doesn’t hurt, not exactly, but what Asumu knows is that he’s terrified from the moment it begins.
Or maybe it does hurt, too agonizing to even comprehend.
All he knows is that one minute, he’s crying out, and the next…
Nothingness.
He comes back, as do his friends, and he is overjoyed in that moment. This means Tsukasa had succeeded, and everyone’s okay!
…His friends don’t remember what happened, which is probably for the better.
“Asumu, what happened?” Todoroki asks.
“The last thing I remember is the strange grey walls coming down around us,” Amaki says.
Asumu just holds them tighter. Everything is okay…
“Decade is gone. The Riders will return, and the Worlds are saved.”
Everything is not okay.
“Asumu…” Todoroki repeats. “ What happened? ”
“Tsukasa’s gone,” Asumu explains. “The Worlds were merging, and we all died, and he…”
He must have died, let someone kill him so everything could come back.
He wonders, is Daiki alright? Their other friends? He doesn’t know, and he wonders if he should even consider.
“Asumu…”
“I’m sorry,” Asumu replies. “I need… be alone, for a bit.”
He runs.
Coming to a stop deep in the forest, he looks up.
It’s not fair , he thinks. Tsukasa is a hero!
And maybe it’s because he’s out there that he feels it, but not long after, he feels a call .
Unlike the booming voice from before, it doesn’t have words. It feels… different. Soft and bright and determined and…
Thank you , it whispers.
(Silent within the quiet unspoken whisper, however, is the real call. The presence.
Asumu knows immediately how to follow it.)
Asumu goes first to Wataru before he goes to Tsukasa.
“Did you hear the call?” He asks. Wataru nods.
“It’s…”
He trails off, unable to say it, and Asumu can hardly blame him. To come back from nonexistent only to face the death of someone who had been so important to them, to their Worlds…
And then, only hours later, to face him calling to them, despite being…
“It’s Tsukasa,” Asumu says, offering his had for the other boy. “We should thank him.”
Wataru nods, taking it.
Side by side, they go to fight.