“Kazuo, are you ready.” Yuko whispered, standing behind Kazuo and clasping her right hand on his right wrist.
“This better work.”
Kazuo looked down the tip of his finger, paint swirling around in a spiral. The two of them took a deep breath and aimed at Kitani.
“Work - Chijikusei Gotenrai: Jiku Yugami no Hoshi!”
The paint fired like a bullet, speeding towards Kitani. The bullet made of paint homed towards her, redirected using Yuko’s Work and hitting her on her left cheek enough to disorient her. Kazuo quickly dipped his finger into the paint once more and shot another bullet of paint which struck Kitani’s high heels making her fall to the ground. Shotaro looked next to him at Kitani who was also trying to get up, “After this, should I use Final Mode?” he asks himself and plans for his next attack. He got up as quickly as Kitani and the two of them are back in combat. Kitani ran towards Kazuo and Yuko while throwing several needles at them.
All of a sudden, Shotaro went quiet and looked towards Kitani. His Masked Rider suit was damaged, the visor covering his right eye was cracked revealing his face underneath. In an act of desperation, Shotaro decides to do what he considers right.
“Ryūki Form - Final Mode . . .”
Immediately, Shotaro fell to the ground. The Final Mode of each Masked Rider form requires great sacrifice to the user’s wellbeing, for the Ryūki Form it would take away most of Shotaro’s physical prowess in exchange for one explosive finish. He slumped for a moment then forced himself to stand, since most of his energy was transferred to his right hand, his heart slowed down to about 35 beats per minute. The right arm of the Ryūki suit was glowing bright gold, ready to release its full power.
Shotaro ran to Kitani, running as fast as possible to deal the strike.
“. . . Dai En'netsu Ryū・Zanka no Tekken!”
Lunging his right fist towards Kitani, the tip of the gauntlet touched Kitani’s back and the ability immediately went into effect, all of Kitani’s energy was drained and immediately taken by the Dragon gauntlet, the gauntlet then uses all of the energy to send Kitani flying, landing near the entrance of Shinsaibashi about 15 meters away from him and destroying the floor. Shotaro kneeled, something dawned on him.
“My Rider’s Code . . .” he said as he fell onto the ground, “. . . I broke my code.”
Shotaro faints and Kitani was bleeding profusely. Kazuo and Yuko did not expect an attack to come from Shotaro, Kazuo quickly ran to Shotaro while Kitani was tended to by Yuko. Kitani was barely hanging on to consciousness, she looked up to Yuko, “I didn’t want to work for the House of Wolves” she whimpered.
“I didn’t want to work for them, when Kyōsai died there . . . I thought that I would be free.”
Yuko kept rubbing her left shoulder, while trying to save Kitani. “I’ll call an ambulance, please hang in there.”
Kitani giggled a little, “I’m sorry for hurting you and your friends . . .”
Soon the blaring of the ambulance alarms filled Shinsaibashi, Shotaro's vision blurred and it all felt quiet, as his consciousness slipped away, he fell backwards into a black void, a vast emptiness with no end in sight. Above him was a bright incandescent light. Whispers fill the room and soon he wakes up in a familiar setting.
"This is . . . Tezuka-sensei's office."
Some dabbling can be heard outside of the room, the door opened and a younger Shotaro, still with messy hair wearing a dirty t-shirt and shorts. Tezuka also wore his glasses, where he started to realize.
"This was when I joined the Guild." He thought to himself.
The conversation started to sound less fuzzy to Shotaro.
"Clearly, you have the drive to draw. I like you, Ishinomori, you seem to fit what I'm looking for." Tezuka patted Shotaro's back.
"Thank you, Shachō" the younger Shotaro replied, Tezuka let out a chuckle, "Please, just call me Tezuka"
"Thank you, Tezuka-shachō"
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Tezuka got a hearty laugh out of Shotaro, "Ishinomori, don't be too strict with me. I may be the leader of this place but I don't plan on treating my employees like that. Besides, we're a manga collective." Shotaro looked at his younger self with a slight hint of pity, the grimy clothes he used to wear reminded him of his days as an orphan alone in the streets of Osaka. "So, Ishinomori. What do you say, being pretty much the second member of this Guild I feel like I should treat you something."
The younger Shotaro sighed, "It's okay, I can manage," he smiled back at Tezuka, "thank you for hiring me, Tezuka-shachō!"
The vision dissipates, once more Shotaro hangs onto the edges of consciousness. A man stood reaching out his hand, wearing a suit similar to Masked Rider but all black.
"Wh-what are you doing here!" Shotaro shouts.
"Why do you keep asking whenever we meet, Ishinomori. I'm a reminder of your sins, your failures." The figure scoffed, "Your masks. Ryūki, Fourze, Den-O. You have names for everything; your countless identities, except me. Even when your heart is about to stop, you're still never true to yourself."
“What do you want? Who are you!” Shotaro asks. The figure placed their palm on the mask, laughing maniacally, “So much for a so-called “hardboiled detective”, Ishinomori, find me in your heart, you know who I am.” A sharp ringing can be heard to Shotaro’s right, the figure slowly stepping back into the shadowy abyss, “By the way, you broke rule 2 of your Rider’s Code, Ishinomori. I’ve told you many times before, it’s an empty vow you’re standing on.”
Shotaro lurched upwards, awaking in the hospital room facing Tezuka, Escher, Kazuo and Yuko.
“Ah, he’s awake.” Escher remarked, turning his body around and leaving the room. “I’ll be visiting miss Kitani next door if you need me.”
Tezuka hugged his friend tightly, “ISHINOMORI! DON’T DO THAT TO ME AGAIN!” he cried, tightening his grip. Tezuka was sobbing at Shotaro's vest, he laughed a little looking at his boss and cradled Tezuka’s head near to his chest in reply, “Don’t worry about it Tezuka-sensei. That won’t happen again.”
Kazuo and Yuko could only laugh at Tezuka’s reaction and sobbing, meanwhile in the room next door, Escher quietly opened the door to Kitani’s room. “Who’s there?” she asks.
“Escher, Maurits Cornelis Escher, private investigator. Now miss, could I ask you a few questions?” He murmured, hands in his trenchcoat. “Just so you feel safer I did not bring any weapons, I only have my wallet and my phone.”
Kitani stood silently on the bed, looking out of the window, “You’re just here to arrest me right.”
“Quite the opposite in fact, do you mind me if I sit on this chair?” Escher continued.
“No worries.”
Escher slumped himself onto the chair and opened his phone, “I don’t want to waste your time as well, Miss Kitani. I’m pretty sure you’re quite . . . rattled to say the very least.” Kitani turned her gaze to Escher, “Your name seems quite unfamiliar, foreign even.”
“I’m just a friend of the man you knocked out.” Escher noted down some things, “That man, Rembrandt.”
“If you can, I know you’re not a doctor here but is there a way I can escape? This debt, this organization, I don’t want to be a part of it ever. I fought because I had to, I knocked out that friend of yours because I was forced to!” Kitani commented.
“I understand, but unfortunately I’m not a doctor. I’m just a former maths professor and a detective.” Escher replied, “Either way, I’d just like to know what you know about the other members of the House of Wolves.”
“I’m just a member of the Finance Team borrowed by the Hitman Squad to take out that friend of yours. I don’t even have a position here, my day job is how I earn my money.”
"Miss Kitani, could you tell me some of the figures you know within the ranks?" Escher calmly continued. Kitani scratched her head, "I don't have much that I can give you other than the leader of the Hitman Squad, Yoshiiku and the man one rank above me, Gahō Hashimoto."
The door to Kitani's room clicked open, "Gahō Hashimoto, I feel like I've heard of that name." Tezuka chimed in while closing the door behind him. "He used to come to that hobby shop Revolver, I think I've seen him playing some card games."
"Boss likes his games." Kitani remarks, "though I'd like to ask something too. Why are you people here?"
"Well, how do I put it?" Tezuka let off a slight laugh, "A few days ago, one of your colleagues killed Yoshiiku right in front of the headquarters of a pack of Talent users. They got the help of this Dutch private investigator group to help find the killer.” Escher looked to Tezuka, “Looking at the rate we find these people. I’m not surprised if we’re going into a full-scale turf war.”
“Don’t say that, Escher!” Tezuka laughed, “the last thing I want is a repeat of Hokusai and Moronobu’s feud. Working with those two back then really made me tired, I’m just glad that I could leave before it all blows up.” Kitani looked at the two of them, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know Yoshiiku passed away. I’m sorry for hurting those two kids, but that man Hongo started all of this fighting.”
“On behalf of the Mangaka Guild, we’d like to apologize.” Tezuka replied, “but, miss Kitani. Can you do us a favor?”
“Favor, what favor?”
Escher stood up and closed his notebook, “Be an informant for us, tell us what the House of Wolves are doing and update us on their activities.”
“If it’s a way I can slowly escape this hole I’m in, I’ll take it.” Kitani said.
“Great!” Tezuka exclaimed, “Escher, get her number and send it to RemRem and I.”
“You two, you two won’t kill me if I fail . . . right?” Kitani looked down at her phone. Escher just looked at her and sighed, “We’re detectives, not mafiosi. The last thing we would do is kill you.”
“Well,” Tezuka laughed, ”it looks like I have an appointment with Rembrandt and Nagai, we have someone to hunt.”