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"So, what's the official title?"
Belle asked Kenji, her eyes wide with a childlike, frantic curiosity. She had already reached out, her hands tracing the lines of his armor with zero regard for personal space. She couldn't identify the material—it was neither metal nor plastic, but it felt incredibly high-end. The undersuit beneath the plating had a leathery texture, yet it radiated an aura of astonishing durability.
"Kamen Rider Ryuki," Kenji replied, his voice slightly muffled by the visor.
"Such a cool name! It's hard to believe power like this actually belongs to a guy like you."
Belle didn't hold back her praise as she searched for "Dragon" motifs on the suit. She found the Drag Visor on his left arm, the draconic crest on his forehead, and finally, the emblem on the V-Buckle. She touched them all, poking and prodding like a scientist with a new specimen.
"What's that supposed to mean? Am I that uncool?" Kenji snapped, clearly displeased. His biggest secret had been dragged into the light, and he felt exposed. He had always imagined that if he ever shared this secret, it would be with someone like Zhu Yuan—not a chaotic Proxy who viewed him as a science project.
Belle seemed to remember something. She dashed out of the projection room and locked the shop's front door. When she returned, she was wielding a heavy hammer in one hand and a wood saw in the other.
"What exactly is the plan here?" Kenji asked, instinctively taking a step back.
"Testing your defense, obviously! If you aren't 'hard' enough, how are you going to survive the Ethereals later?" Belle raised the hammer, her face glowing with a terrifying eagerness to see if she could leave a dent.
"No need. I'm perfectly confident in my durability after Henshin." Kenji shook his head vigorously. Even with the armor, he didn't want to test if a hammer dealt "penetrating damage" to his ribs. He had a "no-damage" record to maintain.
"There's no harm in a little trial! Think about it, Kenji—no one else knows about this. Who else is going to stress-test your gear for free?"
Belle giggled, closing the distance with her tools. But just as she raised the hammer, a high-pitched, metallic ringing echoed through the room. She froze and looked toward the mirror. Within the glass, a massive red dragon had appeared. Its yellow eyes were locked onto her, and the primal sensation of being targeted by a top-tier predator made her scalp tingle.
"Ah... hahaha! I was just kidding! How could I ever dream of hurting Brother Kenji?"
Belle finally understood why he was called Ryuki. His dragon was literally watching his back from the other side. She flashed a polite, terrified smile, hid the tools behind her back, and grinned until her teeth hurt.
"I feel like if you keep being this 'cheeky,' you're going to end up as a permanent resident of a Hollow," Kenji sighed. He had met people with a death wish before, but Belle took the Dennies. If she and Wise weren't such talented Proxies, they'd have been "unavoidable sacrifices" years ago.
A moment later, Kenji canceled the transformation, the armor dissolving into light. Belle eyed the Advent Deck in his hand, wondering if she could try it on. However, one look at the mirror made her obediently discard the idea. She wasn't nearly close enough to Kenji to borrow his power—that was the kind of thing only a wife could ask for.
"Don't you find this power... unsettling?" Kenji asked, picking up a cold cup of tea. He felt that any normal person would be terrified of a man who could step into reflections. It was, in many ways, more alien than the Ethereals.
"If we were afraid of 'unsettling' things, we wouldn't be Phaethon," Belle waved her hand indifferently. "Besides, you aren't the only anomaly out there. Haven't you heard of the Void Hunters? They're all 'protagonists' in their own right."
"Fair point. So, how does this cooperation work?" Kenji asked, finally relaxing.
"If you're willing, we can host a partition of the Fairy program within your Bangboo," Belle said, her voice dropping into a tone that sounded suspiciously like a pyramid scheme pitch. "If anything goes sideways in a Hollow, she can provide immediate tactical support. You'll be twice as effective. Your career will skyrocket—you'll become a Director, marry into a wealthy family, and reach the pinnacle of life!"
Despite the sales-pitch delivery, Kenji knew the "cheat code" that was Fairy was legitimate. For the siblings, getting rich was now just a matter of processing speed.
"Tempting. I'll consider it." Kenji nodded, then turned his focus. "Does Fairy have data on Hollow Zero?"
"Confirmed. I have all foundational data on the Old Capital," Fairy's soft voice replied from the speakers. "Aside from the massive scale and the extreme danger levels, it follows the same structural logic as a standard Hollow."
"Why the interest in the Old Capital?" Belle asked.
"The PSB is planning a massive Elimination operation soon," Kenji explained. "The Ethereal density is off the charts. Power like mine is exactly what's needed to clear the path."
"Brother Kenji... you really are the self-sacrificing type," Belle said, her voice uncharacteristically sincere. "If your name isn't on the next Void Hunter roster, I'm unsubscribing from the news."
"It's just a title," Kenji smiled. "I didn't become a Rider to be a hero. I'm just fulfilling the obligations that come with the suit." This was his core belief: the power was a tool, not a status symbol. It kept him from getting lost in the "Whale" high of being a god among men.
Kenji bid them farewell and headed home. For the siblings, knowing his secret didn't change the dynamic—if anything, it just meant they'd ask him for more favors later.
Back at his apartment, Kenji found Substitute Cloth and explained that they had been compromised. The Bangboo, surprisingly intelligent, understood perfectly. Its little digital eyes narrowed in a mechanical fury.
"ORA! ORA! ORA!"
The bot began wildly pummeling a punching bag in Kenji's small home gym. Kenji stared in silence. I'm the one who got exposed, so why is my substitute more tilted than I am? he wondered. Its personality was the complete opposite of his own weary cynicism; he had no idea where it got such a hot-blooded temper.
"Alright, calm down. I'll take you to Fairy later for a software update. It'll make you stronger."
Kenji patted the Bangboo's head. Despite its temper, the little thing was loyal. It had been a discarded unit before Kenji gave it a second life.
"Ora!" The bot nodded, satisfied.
Kenji then began preparing for tomorrow's training. He packed some high-grade wound medicine and ice packs. The memory of being kicked through a reinforced wall by Zhu Yuan was still vivid, and he didn't know if the Captain intended to hold back during their "date."
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