Chapter Text
Tsumuri knelt on the small shrine beside the old foxhole and opened the small doors. Inside, aside from a singular Inari figurine, there were several Core IDs stored inside. The only remaining Core IDs that were left intact, unbroken... as well as the last few remaining relics from the Desire Grand Prix.
As she heard from Keiwa, the Geats and Tycoon Core IDs were indeed placed separately from the other three. Which was Buffa and PunkJack's Core IDs... as well as Na-go's secondary Core ID, since the first one was broken by Azuma Michinaga before Ace was able to restore Neon's Core ID by using Gya-go's.
As much as Keiwa did seem to be convinced about not asking her anymore about his missing memories, she had no doubt that Keiwa would still find another way to get the information by himself. And since he knew where Ace kept these Core IDs, most likely Keiwa would try to recover these Core IDs later and restore the memories of the other three to find his answers.
From Keiwa's earlier outburst to Ace, it was clear that even Ace didn't want Keiwa to recover their missing memories. And from Keiwa's questions to her, it seemed that Keiwa didn't remember anything after Michinaga struck down Sara.
Tsumuri let out a long sigh.
So it seemed that Keiwa only lost the memories from when his life took a drastic turn after losing his sister.
Has Ace done something to make Keiwa forget? Or was there any other reason why Keiwa couldn't remember those memories? Somehow Tsumuri was unsure how to feel about it.
A part of her was actually glad that Keiwa didn't remember those memories. Because it was also memories that she wished that she could forget as well. Because back then, Keiwa was unlike the person she used to know... and it hurts her to think how much being involved in the DesiGra had changed and broken Keiwa completely.
She liked Keiwa... (but not really in that particular way). She liked how kind and pure Keiwa used to be when he first joined the DesiGra and how he was so earnest in everything that he do. She admired his fighting spirit to not even let Ace's shine overshadow him and how determined he could be when he needed to protect his family.
And then it was revealed that Keiwa's parents' death had a relation to the DesiGra. And that emotion intensified Keiwa's resolve to save the victims of the DesiGra.
Of course, from the very beginning, she didn't like the life-and-death aspect of the DesiGra. But she was the DesiGra's Game Navigator... she was designed for this role specifically, so she had no say to object against any of the aspects of the DesiGra. So when the players—any players, really—start to question why the games were so dangerous and why couldn't they do anything over how cruel some of the DesiGra's rules were, Tsumuri can only just close her eyes and ears from those voices.
That's how she used to do it in the past, that's how she used to act in front of Win when they begged her to do something about Amemiya Hiroki's memories. And she used to be able to close her heart from all of that. But she couldn't do that for Keiwa. Somehow she couldn't shut her heart out from feeling Keiwa's pain.
And the DesiGra was being terribly cruel to Keiwa for some reason. As much as it was cruel to Ace, Michinaga... and even Neon.
She totally didn't expect Keiwa to end up shifting sides to the DesiGra. Yet, despite the things that Keiwa had done to her, she couldn't find it in her heart to blame him or be angry at Keiwa. Because Keiwa wasn't the one who should be blamed.
When Ace saved her and dealt with Jitt and Samas and Suel for good, she found out what happened to Keiwa. And it was a terrible feeling to have to find out about it like this, considering how all of the terrible things that happened to Keiwa were because Jitt and Samas were trying to reclaim her back into their clutch.
When Ace was able to revive him and allowed Keiwa to live a new life, Tsumuri wished that he could live a much happier life this time. She didn't want Keiwa to have to recall all of the painful memories any more!
×××
The band had just finished performing and was about to head home separately. That was when Tsumuri approached Win backstage.
And this time, she didn't even mind the way Win had tried to flirt with her.
She bowed politely to the man, before stating her purpose to see him.
"Win-san, I'm sorry that we have to meet like this. But I need your help. I needed a lot of help."
"Whoa there..." exclaimed Win. "That's not the kind of line that fans normally say to their idols. Is there something going on?"
Tsumuri took out a small box before revealing the content in front of Win. "Please touch this Core ID, and I'll explain the rest.
It didn't take too long for Win to touch the Core ID before his eyes flashed into a different light.
"Ah, Tsumu-chan! What's happening? This was unlike you..." he asked as Tsumuri shrugged.
"I'll explain later, right now we have to go look for Michinaga-sama and Neon-sama."
Win immediately smiled. "Ah... if you're talking about that Buffa kid, it shouldn't be too difficult to look for him now—"
Tsumuri cocked her head at the former DGP staff before turning around to see Michinaga lurking in the corner.
×××
"Oh!", Neon gasped as her memories finally returned when she touched her Core ID. "Tsumuri-san! What's going on?" she exclaimed as Win ushered them all to change to a better location to talk.
"Well, what's the big deal about gathering all three of us here?" asked Michinaga as Tsumuri smiled weakly.
"This matter... was about Keiwa-sama."
"Wha—?" Michinaga was about to start again before stopping himself. Neon also realised something before both of them turned their attention towards Tsumuri.
"How was Tycoon still alive?"/"Did Ace revived Keiwa?" exclaimed the two at the same time as Tsumuri let out another sigh.
Michinaga frowned again. "That said, where was that Geats? When it comes to that Tycoon, shouldn't that guy also be involved with this?"
Win nodded as he turned his head towards Tsumuri. "The kid's right. Where was Ace?"
"Did something happen to Ace?" Neon asked as well, as Tsumuri tried to open her mouth to explain.
But then it was Michinaga himself who ended up answering his own questions as his memories started to catch up to him.
"Wait a minute...the first time and a few days ago when I saw Tycoon, there was that fox! That annoying fox that kept bugging me the moment I first saw it—!" The former Buffalo rider glared at Tsumuri as Win and Neon stared at him in confusion.
"That annoying white fox can't seriously be that Geats, can it? Why on earth was he now an actual white fox? And why was he hanging out with Tycoon like that?"
All three former Kamen Riders looked at Tsumuri fully attentive as Tsumuri shrugged.
"This... is going to take a while to explain..."