Chapter Text
"A lost time... cannot be recovered again,"
"Isn't Time just a collection of human feelings?"
Heh. To be told of that from a brat, regardless of whatever age he was supposed to be; how uncool was that?
Kaito Daiki turned his head around as he watched Tsukasa and Yuusuke bickering amongst themselves as to which world they would visit after this. Yuusuke had been trying to convince Tsukasa to take them to the world where the other Kuuga and Agito lived. But Tsukasa didn't seem to be buying his reasoning as of yet.
He snorted to himself. That's Tsukasa for you. He wasn't one you can easily push around for your own needs. Yet somehow, in a way it was so cruel of him.
He caught Tsukasa's eye as the man silently asked him what was bothering him. Daiki just shrugged him off.
Besides, even if he could tell Tsukasa on what's bothering him... it's not like he could do anything about it. Since the one thing he wished for the most right now, would be something that he could never again recover.
The old Tsukasa. The man he used to know in the past. That Kadoya Tsukasa.
xxx
It had been a few weeks since he has gone into hiding from Fourteen's grasp. He had contemplated on leaving the country; the Fourteen should not have had that much influence on the rest of the world. He should be able to walk around without having to cast any suspicion on the people that he would meet, for fear of them being Fourteen's lackey. Well, maybe.
He contemplated on that as well as many other things, but then his thoughts would return to his older brother. He wouldn't want to leave his brother like that and flee for himself, he needed to save his brother first! But how could he? He did not have Kamen Rider powers like his brother's friends and they would not trust him anymore, after what he'd done in the past. Even when he was as much a renegade as them now, since the Fourteen has placed him under the wanted list for rebelling against them.
Daiki had since been living out of scraps that he managed to steal from the people living nearby. It was hard at first, then again with mostly all of the humans living here being brainwashed into being nice all the time; he didn't really have to worry about being mobbed if ever he was caught in the act. Those people would just let him run off with his stolen article, as long as they did not see his face.
In the end, his life now was nothing but pathetic. He couldn't even do anything to save his brother much less himself.
When Tsukasa suddenly appeared behind him, Daiki wailed like no other man could have wailed. But Tsukasa did not seem to be same as the other people, who after seeing his face would have recognized and be aware of his identity. It was later that he found out for the first time that there are different worlds existed aside of his own.
xxx
"Oi, why did you stare at me like that?", the young man asked him as Daiki remained still as a statue. He blinked.
"Y-you... not going to raise an alarm or something?"
"Why should I?"
Kaito stared at him in disbelief. "Umm.. I'm a wanted man? Fourteen's orders? You're not from around here... aren't you? Didn't the name Kaito Daiki rung any bells to you?"
The man blinked back at him. "What a strange way to introduce yourself, Kaito-san. Here—" the man held out his hand, "I'm Kadoya Tsukasa. Pleased to meet you. And no, I'm not from around here... it seems."
Daiki accepted the handshake as he pulled himself up from the ground. A strange twist of fate, for him to have met someone who was not brainwashed in any way by the Fourteen. Then again, he should have realized that from the manner Tsukasa had greeted him earlier.
Tsukasa shrugged to himself. "Ah! I ended up entering a different world again, didn't I? I needed to learn how to control this ability. Sorry to just suddenly barged into you—" he said suddenly before turning around to leave.
Daiki hastily grabbed the tail of Tsukasa's coat as he called out. "Wait! Don't go yet, stay."
He didn't think that Tsukasa would really heed his words. Surprisingly, he did.
xxx
Daiki laughed at himself for remembering that incident. How stupid. Why did he still remember it when the very person involved had no recollection of the memory himself. Lies. It was lies when he said before that he erased completely memories of Tsukasa from his own mind.
Daiki turned towards Tsukasa again as the man laughed over some joke that Yuusuke just said. He envied the other man, as well as Natsumi; for being able to be near Tsukasa so comfortably while he—the person who used to also be in that position, couldn't even stay close enough to the man without some kind of argument starting.
He should leave this place, he should be able to anyway... thanks to the gift that he received in the past. The gift that was also his treasure. Then again, as if he could ever leave.
Kadoya Tsukasa would always be a treasure that he could not keep for himself forever.