"Why do all these gangs like to call themselves something-Tooth?"
Kenji leaned back against the reinforced interior of the riot vehicle, trying to inject some levity into the suffocating atmosphere. "I already took care of the Giant Tooth Gang, and now we've got a Red Tooth Gang. At this rate, the underworld is going to run out of dental metaphors."
The moment the words left his mouth, he felt a weight on him. He looked up to find Qingyi staring at him with uncharacteristic intensity. He reflexively touched his face, wondering if he had a smudge of grease on his cheek.
"Your reaction to a sudden deployment into a Companion Hollow of a Great Hollow... is to complain about gang names?" Qingyi's digital eyes flickered, her tone carrying a sharp, probing edge.
Kenji froze internally. He had slipped. A normal rookie, faced with the prospect of entering one of the most dangerous spatial anomalies in the world, should be sweating, shaking, or at least staring intensely at their boots. By acting like he was heading to a grocery store, he was practically screaming that he had a trump card hidden up his sleeve.
Stupid, Kenji cursed himself. Don't get too comfortable.
"Ah? Senior Qingyi," Kenji's mind raced, shifting his expression into one of delayed realization and mild panic. "Wait, you mean I have to go in too? I thought Captain Zhu Yuan was going to have me wait by the van. Can a temporary worker even enter a zone this high-level?"
He looked at Qingyi with wide, faux-surprised eyes, leaning into the "clueless junior" archetype. He knew Zhu Yuan was protective; if he could frame his lack of fear as a misunderstanding of his duties, he might just skate by.
"Eh?" Qingyi tilted her head, her suspicion momentarily derailed by his apparent lack of professional ambition.
"I didn't realize you had such high expectations for me, Senior! That's actually really encouraging," Kenji continued, nodding vigorously. "I was planning to stay out here and guard the spare tires, but since you think I'm ready for the big leagues, I'll give it my all. Please, make good use of me!"
"Senior Qingyi, I don't want Kenji taking unnecessary risks," Zhu Yuan's voice drifted back from the driver's seat. She had been listening, and as Kenji predicted, her protective instincts kicked in. "This isn't a mission for a trainee."
"Wait, me?" Qingyi muttered, looking slightly dejected at being outmaneuvered by the rookie's sudden 'enthusiasm.' She couldn't tell if he was genuinely dense or just a very talented actor.
"It's alright, Captain," Kenji said, pivoting the conversation. "Please let me go. Your team is focused on high-speed offense, but you don't have a dedicated vanguard. Entering a high-risk zone without a heavy shield in front is just asking for trouble."
Zhu Yuan hesitated. She knew the kid was hot-blooded, and after Qingyi's 'provocation,' it made sense he'd want to prove himself. She hated the idea of a rookie getting hurt, but he was right—the squad lacked a proper tank.
"If it's just search and rescue, I can handle it," Kenji argued. "If things get too hairy, I can just turtle up behind the shield, right?"
Zhu Yuan sighed, eventually nodding. "Fine. But you stay behind me, you follow every order, and you do not play the hero. Understood?"
"Understood, Captain!"
The transport screeched to a halt. Outside the window, the Hollow loomed like a massive, inverted bowl of shimmering, multi-colored black ink. It was eerie, beautiful, and fundamentally wrong—a literal bruise on reality.
"Residents are clear. Air Police are holding the perimeter. We're moving in," Zhu Yuan said. She checked her signature red-and-white pistol, her posture shifting into a combat-ready stance that radiated authority.
Kenji took a deep breath, tightening his grip on the PSB riot shield. He kept his sword sheathed on his shoulder; the last thing he wanted was to trip and impale a teammate before he even saw an Ethereal.
"Don't be nervous, Kenji," Qingyi said, patting his back as they approached the shimmering wall. "If you tense up too much on your first jump, you'll end up puking in your helmet."
They stopped at the edge of the anomaly. Zhu Yuan signaled for them to close ranks. In the Hollow, entering together was the only way to ensure the chaotic physics didn't scatter them across different sectors.
Kenji nodded, offered a small, brave smile, and stepped forward.
The world dissolved into a sickening kaleidoscopic blur. Gravity didn't just shift; it vanished. One second Kenji was walking on asphalt, and the next, his stomach was in his throat. He looked down and his heart nearly stopped.
He was a hundred meters in the air.
He was free-falling toward the distorted ruins of a city, and he didn't have a parachute.
Are you kidding me?! Kenji's mind screamed in a flurry of curses. I'm a Kamen Rider, not a skydiver! If he hit the ground at this speed, not even his "durable" physique would save him. He'd be a golden-armored pancake. He desperately reached for the void, ready to manifest the Kabuto Zecter and Clock Up his way to a safe landing, but he hesitated. Zhu Yuan and Qingyi were right there, falling with him. If he transformed now, his secret was dead.
Just as he was about to risk the exposure to save their lives, he saw Zhu Yuan adjust her posture in mid-air, steering herself toward him. She looked calm.
She has a plan, Kenji realized, forcing himself to go limp and wait.
As they screamed past the side of a skyscraper, Qingyi acted. She whipped out her three-section staff, the metal clicking into a solid pole. With a surge of blue electricity, she performed a mid-air leap that defied physics, slamming the staff deep into the reinforced concrete of the building's exterior. Her momentum jerked to a halt with a shower of sparks, and she immediately reached out her free hand toward Zhu Yuan.