Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

[Kamen Riders: Heisei]

OOO: So... flaming orange guy? Not a hallucination?

W (Lefty): I remember seeing Fourze. Gentarou?

Fourze: We haven't hung out in forever, it was great to see you! And all the older guys too. That orange guy's entrance reminds me of Ryuusei.

W (Lefty): It's only been a few months, but it was good to see you too.

Den-O: What are the odds it was Decade's fault.

W (Lefty): He was there.

Wizard: About that.

Decade: And this is the Groupchat of Kamen Riders.

Wizard: On the behalf of my... magic alternate dimension kid self... my bad. Sorry for the trouble.

Den-O: You too? Yeesh, I've been there.

W (Lefty): New guy alert.

Fourze: New guy! :D

Wizard: Hi Gentarou.

Fourze: Wait, how do you know my name?

Wizard: Your future self told me. I had to give you your driver back. ...Hey Decade, this won't break the timeline or anything, right?

Decade is offline.

Fourze: RING GUY!

OOO: That explains why Gentarou was wearing a suit the last time I saw him in civilian mode. Wizard, nice fashion sense. I think my friend owned the same pants.

Wizard: Sounds like your friend has good taste.

Fourze: Thanks for helping us with the shuttle launch, Wizard!

OOO: He did?

Fourze: It was the second time, when I became friends with XVII :D

OOO: Ha, if you say so it must be true.

Den-O: No reports on weird time feelings here. It should be fine?

W (Lefty): If he says it's fine, it's fine. Den-O has a time thing. Long story.

Wizard: Honestly, not the weirdest thing that's happened to me. I guess as long as we don't meet until four years later we're good, Fourze.

Fourze: Aww, I have to wait that long to meet a buddy? :( You can at least call me Gentarou, everyone else does.

W (Lefty): This is true.

Wizard: Alright. I'm Haruto, for the record.

Fourze: :DDD

OOO: Did that space sheriff thing not count as meeting?

W (Lefty): The Sentai were there too.

Fourze: Oh yeah, we were all too busy fighting to say hi. I wonder how the Gokaigers are doing?

Wizard: Hang on.

W (Lefty): Philip can't perform a lookup if they're not on Earth, sadly.

Fourze: We're still rebuilding the Rabbit Hutch so our comms equipment is down :(

Wizard: DMed you the Go-busters' contact info, they can get you in touch.

Fourze: Yooooo thanks!

W (Lefty): How?

Wizard: I know a Gai. Also Gavan is a really bad kisser and feels like he owes me a favour. For unrelated reasons.

Several people are typing...

Haruto snapped his phone shut before he could make any more embarassing slip-ups. He'd been perfectly in-character going back to the past, pretended not to know who Fourze and Meteor were, and successfully threw the Time ring through his return portal into his younger self's bedroom, only to stumble at the first opportunity to talk to his future-friend again. He was supposed to be cool.

Garuda landed on his wrist and pecked at his phone, then looked up at him enquiringly.

He sighed. "Garu-chan, you're in charge of the other two. I'm going to drive my bike into the ocean."

Chapter Text

Haruto was still nursing his scrapes from the old guys (Gentarou's friend Nozama said they were cyborgs? Way outside of his wheelhouse) when he checked his phone. He would've pestered Nitou to use his Dolphin ring, but the guy was off chasing a lead on Hino's behalf (also not doing so hot, due to the aforementioned old guys). He scrolled past a few new complaints in the Hot Young Under-50s Riders chat, and Decade's offer that he was thinking of taking him up on, before a new message came in directly.

He tried not to smile as he opened it.

[Direct message to: Wizard]

Fourze: :D

Fourze: You and Faiz huh?

Wizard: ?

Fourze: I heard you two were getting along during that fight with our Showa senpai :)

Wizard: Oh, that. It's just my line I have to say. It's not

Wizard: I mean, he is cute.

Wizard: I don't know.

Fourze: Uncertainty is the heart doubting its own strength! Lay your worries on me, my junior!

Wizard: I'm four years older than you, senpai. :P

Fourze: Philip's 2 years older than me and he's been doing this Kamen Rider thing longer than both of us.

Wizard: Damn. Don't worry, you're still my favourite senior.

Fourze: :D

Fourze: Tell your favourite senior what's up?

Wizard: Well, if it's for my favourite senior...

Wizard: I don't think I'm ready for an actual romantic relationship.

Wizard: Some stuff happened last year, and I'm not good at the whole "emotional intimacy" thing. It wouldn't be fair to other people if I can't open up to them. I figure I should work on that before I think about dating. Faiz seems like he has his own problems to deal with, anyway.

Wizard: ...Are you okay? Monster emergency?

Fourze: I'm great!

Fourze: I totally didn't cry!

Fourze: Your commitment to bettering yourself as a person has just touched my heart!

Fourze: I'm really good at emotions!

Fourze: Let me help!

Wizard: You're probably the most well-adjusted one of us.

Wizard: This is something I have to do myself. Thanks anyway, Gentarou.

Fourze: Sometimes a man's gotta do what he's gotta do to sort out his feelings. But he should remember that he doesn't have to do it alone when he has friends he can rely on!

Wizard: Haha, I won't.

Fourze: [fist emoji] [fist emoji] [pointing emoji] Good luck :D

Wizard: So how's the Kamen Rider Club doing?

Fourze: Tomoko's been taking creative writing classes! She said she wants to make stories that inspire her like the Lunar Witch books.

Wizard: I think we have the first 3 of those somewhere in the shop. My friend never got to read the fourth one.

Fourze: She says it's "a really good finale for the series

Fourze: This is Nozama Tomoko. Read it. Then tell me what you think. None of the others are into fantasy, I need someone to talktiusyafl

Fourze: Ryuusei fell off after book 2. Look, I told him! Let me talk to my friend on my phone!

Wizard: Tell her I will if I can dig them up, book 1 was pretty good. I liked that bit where they negotiated with the spider queen for safe passage.

Fourze is typing...

Chapter Text

[Direct message to: Booty Call 5]

Decade: Thursday?

Booty Call 5: I'm free.

Booty Call 5: Why is that my name on your phone.

Decade: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Booty Call 5: :/

Booty Call 5: I'm not helping you rile up Diend until you change it back.

Booty Call 5: ...Please.

Decade: It implies I have four other options.

Booty Call 5: I'm a great kisser and could always start making good life decisions.

Decade: You say, continuing to enable my plans.

Booty Call 5: You're a pretty great kisser yourself, and there's no strings attached.

Booty Call 5: Do the other four options put up with getting shot at by your boyfriend every time he catches us?

Decade: A compliment followed by a threat. Not bad.

[Decade has changed Booty Call 5's nickname to Wizard]

Wizard: Thank you.

Decade: I'll pick you up.

In a nondescript hotel room somewhere, Haruto double-looped his necklace back on. It didn't cover his hickeys at all, but it felt better than not having it, and the aches every time a bead pressed against them were satisfying. He pulled his jacket across his lap, leaving them on display, which was the whole point of this latest round of Piss Off Diend So Decade Can Have An Excuse To See Him (And Have Angry Hot Makeouts).

"Not going to check your rings?" said Tsukasa lazily as he lounged on the bed, hands pillowed under his head, one leg propped over the other. "Daiki might look upon you more favourably if you leave him one, maybe give you a head start. Then again, he likes the challenge of acquiring things himself."

"The only rings I can spare are the Engage ones, and those are only for emergencies."

"If you're looking to make a second bad decision, I could share, although he might take some persuading. Which you are quite good at," he leered.

"I'll take the bullets over a threesome, thanks. Especially if it's you two," said Haruto wryly. "You're troublesome enough."

Tsukasa preened. He framed Haruto with his fingers, silhouetted against the window, open to show the sky (and a convenient escape route for the wizard, or entryway for Diend). "You mentioned better life choices. It would be easier for you to mess around with Beast, instead of indulging me."

Haruto rolled his eyes as he laced up his boots. "When he tells me with his own mouth that he's also into men, sure. I have a one-disaster-at-a-time policy, and you're it. Never be a straight dude's experimental phase."

"Even if you like him."

"I like a lot of people," Haruto said lightly.

"Oh?"

"...Did you invite me out just to gossip? Is that why Diend's taking so long?"

"I must have forgotten to send him the address. We are both very good kissers, after all," said Tsukasa as he snapped a picture, and typed something on his phone.

"We could just text like normal friends."

"This is more fun." He rolled over, plucked his shades off the nightstand after depositing his phone, and sat up to slip them onto Haruto's face. "We have roughly 15 minutes, let's talk about cute boys."

"Tsukasa!" Haruto couldn't help but laugh, adjusting his new accessory to fit better. "Is this a sleepover now? Why not cute girls?"

"Due to the sexism of society in general and tokusatsu production specifically, we know disappointingly few women."

"I...can't argue with that."

"You're stalling. Is it Philip? He's good-looking, but too young for me. I don't remember if you've met W face-to-face yet."

"Shoutarou would maul both of us."

"OOO is out, for obvious reasons."

"Poor guy. Nitou's helping him on a dig right now."

"We have established that you like Beast but have no intentions planned."

"He's a good friend."

"Gaim."

"I met him for a day. He's not my type."

"That just leaves Fourze."

"..." The silence was incriminating.

"You also met him for only a day."

"...He was the first Kamen Rider I ever met and he was nice to me." Haruto hunched his shoulders and brought his jacket up to bury his face in, trying to hide his blush. The studs on it clacked against the shades, cool against his cheek. "He was also still in highschool in my time, I wasn't going to make it weird. I don't know why I'm telling you this."

"Because I love drama, know who you're talking about, and don't care enough to intervene." Tsukasa poked him in the spine through his shirt and undershirt, right where he'd left marks with his fingernails. "Continue."

Haruto blindly swiped at his hand. "I said I'd see him again in five years. That's it."

"Two years to go, then."

"Yeah."

"Hmm." Tsukasa pressed two knuckles into his side, companionably. "Good luck."

Haruto lowered his jacket and leaned into the touch for a second, then pulled away. "Thanks."

"I mean that Daiki's outside the door."

"Shi-" Haruto scrambled to activate his Driver.

Defend, Please.

Bullets cracked into his barrier as Diend burst through the door. Tsukasa hauled him in for one last kiss as they both kept one eye on his boyfriend, then shoved him towards the window. He perched on the sill for a moment, winked and blew a kiss at Diend for good measure as the guy reloaded, then flipped backwards and fell away from more gunfire in a flutter of leather, grinning through the adrenaline rush.

Teleport, Please.

[Direct message to: Wizard]

Decade: I'll be wanting my sunglasses back next time. Those were my third-favourite pair.

[Decade has changed Wizard's nickname to BootyGlasses]

BootyGlasses: Why are you like this.

Decade: B)

Chapter Text

Haruto slid onto the bench while Ghost was looking at his phone, making his junior Rider jump when he noticed. "Yo, Ghost."

"Ah, Wizard! Emu's running a bit late, give him a few minutes."

"It's fine, I don't have anything else to do today. You can call me Haruto, by the way, we're all Riders here. I used your title because my friend Beast made me get a new phone, and I missed your introduction in the groupchat."

The younger Rider brightened up. "Then, call me Takeru! Tenkuuji Takeru, Kamen Rider Ghost. I remember your introduction during our teamup." He held one hand out to shake.

Haruto turned it into Gentarou's Sign Of Friendship. "If you ever meet Fourze, do that, he'll be over the moon."

Takeru nodded. "I hope it happens without a fight, like this lunch hangout. I brought onigiri!" He hefted a large basket onto the table. "Maybe... too many. We'll all have to take some home."

"I won't say no to free dinner." Haruto plucked a Hungry Donuts bag out of a Connect portal. "I wasn't sure what to get you two, but this place always seems to have thematically appropriate specials. The Spooky Donut is for you, coconut glaze and dried persimmon. Emu's is the Playful Donut, strawberry glaze with popping candy and lime zest."

"That sounds good. Is that another magic trick?" Takeru peered at his ring. "What spell did you use to infiltrate the Genome researchers' hideout?"

"No spell, they just let me in because I'm cute." Haruto rested his elbows on the table and laced his fingers together. "I learned the 'pretend you're evil' technique from Decade. You're a bit too baby-faced to pull it off though, give it a few more years."

"They can't see my face if I transform."

"You've got me there."

They passed the time chatting about nothing important for a bit.

Takeru looked around, then frowned worriedly at his phone. "I hope there isn't a Bugster attack today."

"Does he need help?"

"I know where the hospital is, I'll go check. You wait here in case he's already on the way. Text me if you see him."

"Got it."

Haruto pulled out the fifth Lunar Witch book (actually an anthology of short stories set after the end of the fourth) from another portal while Takeru jogged off.

After a while, his phone chimed.

[Kamen Riders: Heisei]

Ghost: [Picture of Ex-aid, Ghost, and Wizard at a picnic table splitting a cake.]

Ghost: It's nice to see other Riders without some disaster happening :)

Ex-aid: We should do it again sometime, bring your friends too!

Wizard: Check if Kiva's free next time.

Ghost: We can get the Halloween gang back together!

Ex-aid: Is your monk friend vegetarian? Or does anyone have dietary requirements?

Brave: WHICH ONE OF YOU STOLE MY DESSERT.

Ex-aid: Hiiro, this is the Heisei riders group, not our work chat.

Wizard: Is that really your Rider name?

Brave: What's it to you, Wizard. Yours is ridiculous.

Wizard: Just... reminds me of someone I know.

[Direct message to: Ghost]

Wizard: What's that guy's problem?

Ghost: That's one of Ex-aid's coworkers, you haven't met him. He's blue, and very rude.

Wizard: I can see that.

[Kamen Riders: Heisei]

Ex-aid: How could he have taken your dessert from the CR base, which is underground? The only other riders who've been there are Takeru and his group.

Ex-aid: I'm sure it's a coincidence that Haruto brought a cake to the meetup from the same shop you frequent, he likes sweets too.

Brave: Do not lump me in with your crossover friends.

Ex-aid: :) Isn't your shift starting?

Brave: This isn't over.

Brave is offline.

OOO: Wow.

Wizard: Is he always like this?

Ghost: From what I've seen, yeah. I don't envy you, Emu.

Wizard: Nitou seems so much more normal in comparison.

Beast: Haruto! You skipped out on BBQ with me and Yuzuru for cake?!

Beast: Actually that makes sense. It's you.

Wizard: They invited me a week ago, I told you I had something planned already!

Wizard: I'll make it up to you.

Beast: Bring me lunch at uni? Exam tmr :(

Wizard: Okay.

Beast: :)

[Direct message to: Ex-aid]

Wizard: By the way, I did steal it. :3c

Wizard: Takeru said your coworker was being a dick to you for no reason and gave me directions. Nice kid.

Ex-aid: You guys didn't have to! ...Even if he had it coming.

Wizard: He's got a bad personality, but good taste. I wouldn't mind doing it again. Text me next time and distract him while I grab it, Takeru was keeping watch for me when he went to get you.

Ex-aid: I'll keep it in mind. Thanks. :) Don't forget to eat your vegetables too.

Wizard: I used to do football, I know how to balance caloric intake. ;)

Ex-aid: Sorry, force of habit. I work with a lot of kids...

Wizard: Don't worry about it.

Wizard: Say.

Wizard: Do you know anything about therapy books?

Ex-aid: I'm a pediatrician, and an intern! I'm not qualified for any kind of psychological help.

Wizard: I was hoping you could ask your colleagues in the right department for recommendations. It'd be hard to explain the whole Kamen Rider thing to a normal therapist.

Ex-aid: Ohh, I could do that. What do you need?

Wizard is typing...

Chapter Text

[Kamen Riders: Heisei]

Ghost: @Kiva Wataru, look what we found! :D

Ghost: [Picture of Ghost and Wizard holding up novelty ties with violin and vampire bat patterns, while Ex-aid tries on a pixel-patterned button-up in the background.]

Kiva: ...I appreciate the thought.

Ghost: The bat one is for Kivat.

Wizard: We can match at parties.

Ghost: Halloween squad!

Kiva: I can't picture you in a tie, Takeru.

Wizard: Even better.

Wizard: [Picture of Ghost in a long, white-and-orange ghost-patterned jacket, and Ex-aid in a Pac-man shirt doing bunny fingers above each other's heads.]

Ghost: [Picture of Wizard in a purple wizard hat with stars dangling from the brim, with matching skirt.]

Wizard: They have capes too.

Kiva: Do not get me a cape.

Kiva: Please.

Kiva: I'll wear the tie.

Ex-aid: Takeru I found a pumpkin hoodie!

Ghost: On my way!

Wizard: @Beast For your presentation next week.

Wizard: [Picture of a black-and-gold tiger-striped tie.]

Beast: Holy shit.

Beast: I love it.

Beast: Wait, is that a dress?

Wizard: Not my usual aesthetic, but it's very swishy.

[Direct message to: Fourze]

Wizard: Got something for you too, senpai.

Wizard: [Picture of a flame-patterned tie.]

Wizard: Nozama said you wanted a new one for her award ceremony, it's with her.

Fourze: :OOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fourze: DUDE!!!!!!!!

Fourze: THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fourze: I have so much homework to mark. For my precious students. There's no time for tie-shopping!

Wizard: No problem. I had to return her copy of that Lunar Witch extra anyways.

Fourze: Man, I wish I could hang out with you and my other juniors.

Fourze: Or you could come to the award show.

Wizard: Don't tell Gaim, but Takeru's my favourite junior.

[Direct message to: Wizard]

Fourze: HARUTO!!! I SAW YOU!!! YOU WERE A BABY FIVE YEARS AGO!!!!!

Wizard: You were seventeen five years ago!

Fourze: I was! Past me is a great guy!

Fourze: But you know what this means :D

Wizard: The time loop is closed and we're not in danger of rewriting history?

Fourze: We can finally hang out!!!!! :DDD

Wizard: Haha, that too. I'm down whenever.

Fourze: I can come to Tokyo next Friday after school!!!

Wizard: See you then. :)

Fourze: :DDDDDDD

It was a nice day to be gathered at Hungry Donuts for no particular reason.

"Oi, Haruto! You sick or something? Got some magic flu?" Nitou waved a hand in front of his face. Haruto broke out of his faraway stare to gently slap it away, before retreating to his happy place again. "Or weed?"

Rinko frowned disapprovingly over the rim of her coffee cup. "Where would he get weed in Japan?"

"He can teleport and he knows that fruit guy we met in another dimension," Nitou waved an arm vaguely. "I should ask in the groupchat later."

Shunpei's face lit up. "Oh! Speaking of guys we met in other dimensions! Rinko, you remember the pompadour guy?" He made a triangle shape on his head with his hands.

"Oh yeah!" She turned to Nitou. "Before you came to Tokyo, there was this weird Phantom plot with these kids and Owner, and we got dragged into her Underworld. There was this astronaut guy who saved his life in there."

Shunpei nodded. "He was very tall."

Owner, always one for gossip, quickly stepped over. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and leaned in conspiratorially. "If you ask me, I think he might have a crush on this mysterious saviour." She clasped her hands dramatically. "Ahh, young love!"

"Boss Lady, you thought he was breaking up with me one time," Rinko gestured with her cup.

"Haaah?" Nitou pointed between her and Haruto. "You two were dating? I can't see it."

"No. I can do way better, no offense."

"I was too 'emotionally unavailable' back then," said Haruto. "Besides, there wasn't time between all the patrolling and monsters every week or so."

"Those self-help books are really working out for you," said Rinko. She took a sip of coffee as they silently gave each other a thumbs up.

Nitou gestured with both hands. "Hello? Astronaut guy? Explain?"

"I mean, you know what you Riders are like." Rinko flapped a hand in his general direction. "Fights happened, they did a handshake, I had to write a report. It would have been... five years ago?"

"Five years and a week," said Haruto distractedly, looking at something over Shunpei's shoulder.

"After we got out, he even gave Haruto a ring!" Shunpei waved his own Engage ring for emphasis, knocking a cup of iced tea off the table.

A hand caught it.

"Yo!"

The hand belonged to a man in a grey suit. He was wearing sneakers with flames painted on, a matching tie, and dogtags on a chain over the tie. His hair was slicked up into a pompadour.

"Sorry! Thank you!" Shunpei took his drink back and turned towards the table. "He looked a lot like this guy." He turned back. "Wait!"

Haruto smiled. "Hi, Gentarou."

He was, indeed, very tall.

Gentarou beamed brilliantly and clapped him on the shoulder. "Haruto! These are your friends? I remember you and you, but not you," he pointed at Rinko and Shunpei, then at Nitou. He looked at Owner. "I remember you too, heya Ms Poitrine! You grew your hair out? It looks great!"

"What a charmer!" Owner swooned dramatically, and had to be caught by Employee Ryu.

"Uhhh..." said Nitou.

"Yeah, that's definitely the guy," said Rinko.

Haruto pulled a chair over from the next table, where Employee Ryu was fanning Owner Kamimura with a paper takeaway bag. "This is Nitou Kousuke, Kamen Rider Beast. He's worked with W and OOO before on archaeology stuff, I thought you'd have run into each other at some point. And Daimon Rinko and Nara Shunpei."

"Ohh, you're Beast! Eiji he said you're helping him with the Thuringia dig." Gentarou sat down decisively. "I'm Kisaragi Gentarou, the man who's going to befriend every Kamen Rider, and also everyone at this table! Kamen Rider Fourze!" He thumped his fist on his chest twice and pointed at them, accompanied by two drumbeats and a click from somewhere nearby. "Nice to meet'cha!"

"Shit, you're Fourze! That's why you were asking how to get to Tokyo in the groupchat. He said you have a rocket arm, thought you'd just fly here." Nitou reached out to shake his hand and was commandeered into the Sign Of Friendship.

"I had some Driver issues. Besides, I gotta know the train routes so I can visit my buds. Haruto just said to find him at this donut stand. I woulda brought my own group if I'd known you all would be here."

"Mayu's got college classes so she couldn't make it, she's Mage." Haruto handed him a donut. "How's Nozama's book tour going, is she coming to Tokyo?"

"In two weeks, we're all really proud! She's taking a few days off to hang out with Yuuki and Ryuusei. Yuuki's an astronaut, Ryuusei's Meteor." He took a bite. "Man, this is good, I gotta try the other flavours."

Nitou snapped his fingers. "The 'wachaa' guy, right? Sparkles on his suit? I think I saw him at that fight with that creepy old guy from space."

Gentarou nodded. "Yeah! He's usually overseas, I gotta catch him to spar before he leaves again. Maybe throw a party. A 'My Friends Are All On Earth And In Japan And Tomoko's Book Is A Bestseller' party!"

Haruto pointed at him. "Text me a reminder? I'll get Koyomi's copy signed. She would've liked it, I think."

"Sure. I'll come over since it'll be winter break, we can hang again."

Rinko blinked. "So... have you two been talking to each other for five years? Haruto's never mentioned you, not that he talks about his Rider friends much. Or himself. Full offense." She nudged his elbow. "Nitou at least doesn't get wifi on digsites."

"I'm working on it." Haruto rolled his eyes and took a bite of his donut. "This is the first time we've met in a while."

"I saw him and you two last week." Gentarou said at the same time. "Last week which was also five years ago. Time travel's weird and Kengo's been going nuts about it since we got back. Haruto's hair was lighter back then."

"I had to switch dye brands, they discontinued the one I used."

"Time travel?!" Nitou sputtered. He grabbed Haruto by the jacket and started shaking him, making him drop his donut. "Haruto, you've been holding out on me! You could've brought me to see the dinosaurs this whole time?!"

Gentarou grabbed the donut off the floor. "Five second rule!" He didn't notice Garuda swooping down from the skies.

Haruto wrestled free. "It was movie war stuff, I can't replicate it! You can see dinosaurs any time you want, you know where the Kyoryugers live," he protested.

Nitou plopped face first into his shoulder and grumbled, "It's not the same. Those are robot dinosaurs."

"I saw all those fossil displays the last time you brought me to Fukui, you're from Dinosaur Central Prefecture. They're not even your field of study."

"Grrrmph. Saber tooth tigers..."

Rinko looked from Gentarou now in a tug-of-war with Garuda and Kraken over the floor donut, to Nitou sulking, and mouthed 'good luck' at Haruto as she stood up, shouldering her bag. "Well, that's my break over. Nice to meet you, Kisaragi."

"Call me Gentarou! Seeya, Rinko! Ow!" Unicorn rammed his ankle, making him finally lose his grip as he flailed his arms, trying not to topple over. The familiars swarmed triumphantly to her empty seat, eagerly devouring their stolen treat like magic piranhas.

"Bye... Gentarou. I'll see the rest of you tomorrow."

"Bye Rinko!" "See you tomorrow!" "Don't work too hard." Her shoes clicked off into the distance.

"These little guys sure are hungry." Gentarou held out a finger for Unicorn to inspect. It nudged into his hand, demanding attention. He petted it delightly. "We match!" he said, tapping it on the horn then pointing at his pompadour.

"I gave them mana this morning, and half my breakfast." Haruto watched Garuda fly in a lazy circle around Mt Pompadour, before landing on Nitou's head. Kraken started floating towards his drink. "Oi, none of that, go play in the fountain," he said, nudging it away. "They're showing off today."

"They learned it from you, Haruto," Shunpei said blithely.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"They must be excited to see your friend and want to impress him." He leaned forwards eagerly as Haruto huffed, caught out. "Sooooo Gentarou, what was that ring you gave Haruto? He doesn't have it anymore. Is that how you got into Owner's Underworld?"

"Yeah! It looked like the one you've got, but with my helmet on it. I'll show you- oh wait, I can't transform right now. Lemme check my pictures." He pulled out his phone and held it up after some tapping. "There!" It was a grainy picture of a box with, among other things, a rocket-shaped paper ticket to space, a series of linked keychain charms, a polaroid of three armoured figures (one green-and-purple, one red-yellow-green, and one white-and-orange), a green scale with red streaks, and a silver ring set with an orange gem.

"Wow! That gem looks like the unaspected ones we use at the shop to make utility rings. Is that what your suit looks like? ...Oh no, suits!" Shunpei sprang up. "I have to pick up Mr Wajima's from the dry cleaner, he's got an antiques association meeting next week! Haruto, you have to get groceries later, alright? Bye!" He ran off before they could say anything. Gentarou waved at his retreating, very colourful back.

"That's most of my friends here," Haruto said fondly. He leaned his head on one hand. "Anything you want to do in Tokyo after this, Gentarou?" Nitou didn't slide off his shoulder like he'd hoped, face now buried in the hood of his jacket. "Your hair itches, get off me."

Nitou's arms came up to make grabby neck-wringing motions before dropping down again.

"I'll take one of every flavour of donuts here, your tiny friends can help," Gentarou said decisively. The familiars made various noises of appreciation at the novelty of multiple flavours. Owner swooned again. "I dunno what else, I was gonna save all that tourist-y stuff to do with Ryuusei and Tomoko and whoever else wants to come with, like the Tokyo Skytree. Yuuki and Kengo should be free. Shun's not going to America yet, but Miu and JK might have job stuff they can't drop."

"Mmm, I know I live here, but I've never been to the Skytree."

"You can come with us, the point of tourist stuff is to do them with friends and form precious memories of your time together! Oh yeah," Gentarou pointed at him, "do you know any magic shops here? The kind that sells dead bugs and snakeskins and stuff, Tomoko loves those. I can, uh, wait outside." He shuddered.

Haruto smiled indulgently, cupping his hand in front of his mouth to hide it. "I can take you all around next time, Old Man Wajima sends me or Shunpei to grab stuff from them sometimes, for their jewellery work. If you come to Omokagedo you can meet him too. I'd invite you over for dinner later, but he's busy cataloguing stuff for that meeting, so the shop's kind of messy."

"Ah, next time then. I've been craving ramen lately, ramen with buds is even better!" Gentarou pumped his fist.

Nitou finally looked up at the mention of food. He wrapped his arm around Haruto and pointed at Gentarou. "Say no more! This guy doesn't like going out for anything besides snacks, but I know some great places. There's this stand near a record shop that specialises in seafood broth—"

"You got banned from that one for mayo crimes." Haruto was resigned to eating the rest of his donuts half-leaning out of his chair under Nitou's weight. "Cooking is cheaper than restaurants."

"Shit, right," Nitou ignored the second part. "That other one near Mayu's campus? She's got that big presentation today, we can buy her dinner too."

"I pay for donuts, you pay for ramen."

"Deal."

"Hell yeah!" Gentarou pumped one arm, then scratched his head. "I wanna go look at that record shop too, maybe get my grandpa a souvenir."

"It's on the way," Haruto said lightly. "Actually, it's a while until dinnertime. If you want something else to take back, there's this wagashi shop that's really good, Shunpei's friend works there. It's near a supermarket too, I can grab stuff and send it back while you look."

Nitou poked him in the cheek mid-chew. "You're eating donuts right now and still thinking about sweets."

"I'm not taking this from you, Mayobrains."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

The moon was barely visible as they walked dinner off, lazily chatting. They'd just passed a bus stop when someone's phone rang.

Nitou hung back for his semi-regular check-in with his grandmother, leaning against a lamppost at the foot of a hill. He'd upgraded from a tent to Koyomi's former room at Omokagedo, now just the spare for anyone staying the night, since he was in town to help Wajima. They had a promising lead on a new Beast ring at the antique show, and would be leaving together soon. He waved them on while he updated Granny on how yes he was eating well, he was prepared for that networking opportunity, et cetera.

Haruto and Gentarou climbed a narrow staircase to the top of the hill as evening rapidly drained away, coming to a little fenced off rest area with a couple of stone benches. Haruto leaned against the metal railing, watching Gentarou's silhouette rest his elbows on it and stare up at the night sky.

Street lights clicked on.

Gentarou shaded his eyes with one hand. "You can't really see the stars in Tokyo, huh. City's too bright. You gotta come by the Rabbit Hutch sometime, I'll show you a really cool view." A light breeze stirred his tie, making his dogtags clink gently.

"Well, if my favourite senior insists." Haruto dipped his head, scuffing the heel of one boot idly across the ground. "Zero gravity sounds fun."

Gentarou turned to him, brought his gaze from the heavens back to earth, and grinned. "It is!" He was painted in warm orange. Light pollution meant that they couldn't see the stars, but they could see each other.

Haruto smiled back, eyes crinkling. He tapped one finger against the rail, which was cool across his back, content to bask in the moment.

Gentarou snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah, I got something for you." He rummaged in his suit's pockets. "Where'd I put... here!"

"You didn't have to-" Haruto snapped his mouth shut at the glossy photo that was thrust at him.

He accepted it slowly, carefully.

"You don't talk about your other friend much. Koyomi, right? I figure, something might've happened. But I saw her last week, and she was doing fine back then. Kengo sent one of the Nuggegyroika with us, it was recording the whole time, and I got him to print some shots of her. This was the best one."

In it, standing next to Rinko, she was smiling. Alive. "She didn't like getting her picture taken," he choked out, voice thick. They had all respected that.

The only thing they'd had for her funeral was a newspaper cutting of her former self. Not the Koyomi they'd all come to know.

He didn't realise what his face looked like until Gentarou leaned down to peer at him, worried.

"Shit, I'm sorry! You okay?" One hand rested gently on his shoulder. What was he apologising for? Like he hadn't given Haruto a frozen moment where his friend looked happy.

"Ha." He wiped his face with one sleeve. "You're the best senpai ever. Oof!" He was swept up in a tight hug, legs dangling off the ground.

"It's cool to cry man, lets all the sadness out to make space for happiness." He felt one hand pat him on the back "I can uh, bring the rest next time? There's some group shots too."

"I could kiss you," he mumbled, face squashed against Gentarou's suit.

"Ah sorry, what was that?" He was put down after a few more seconds of Quality Emotional Support Time. "Crap, my tags." They'd gotten tangled with his necklace. "Lemme just."

He helped Gentarou pick their respective accessories apart, head lowered towards the task at hand, of which he only had one free. Their knuckles brushed together, and he willed his face to go back to normal. He stowed the photo in his jacket's inner pocket for safekeeping. There should be a frame somewhere in the antique shop, otherwise he'd have to stop by Daiso tomorrow.

He looked up at that grinning face and smiled back just as widely, trying to pour all of his gratitude into it. "Just, thanks, Gen. It means a lot."

Gentarou clapped him on the shoulder. "No problem. See you next month, yeah?"

"I'll be free, unless someone tries to destroy Japan again."

"It's a date!"

He was going to Teleport himself into the ocean.

[KRC]

AstroBoy: Guys, I think I like the wizard.

Several people are typing...

Chapter Text

The kitchen light flickered faintly. They should still last a while, but Haruto would pick up new lightbulbs tomorrow. Right now he had washing up to do.

"Shunpei said you were going nuts." Nitou leaned in to look at his face, which scrunched up in response. "You look normal to me."

"Can this wait until I'm done?" Haruto gestured at the sink full of dishes from their celebratory meal for Mayu's good grades, with arms covered in pink rubber gloves up to the elbow. He shoved Nitou back with a finger on the nose, leaving a blot of soap bubbles.

Nitou stumbled backwards and bumped into the fridge behind him. "Ack! Asshole."

Mayu peeled an orange in the doorway rather than step into the cramped space, already filled with too many elbows. "I think trapping you in a room with one exit, while you're doing an activity and can't use your rings to escape, is the best time to get answers." She'd gotten a lot shrewder under Section Zero's tutelage.

"About what?" Haruto set a plate on a rack to drip dry and turned back to the sink.

"He's making sure not to face us because he hates people seeing him be vulnerable," Mayu whispered audibly. Too shrewd.

"I want those therapy books back if you're just going to bully me."

"Big baby." Nitou rolled his eyes. "Can I have some orange?"

"Sure." She handed him a couple of chunks.

He shoved one in his mouth, then turned and slung an arm around Haruto's shoulders, sending a wave of sudsy water swirling around the sink as he stumbled.

"Ni-tou!"

Nitou poked his cheek with the other chunk until he reluctantly turned around to bite it. "What was that for?" he grumbled, fruit shoved to one side.

"You look like a squirrel," Nitou informed him. "Anyway, you know you can count on us if you need help with anything, right? Thought you learned your lesson after that thing with your old teacher, but if you ever need reminding, I'm here. Also you like sweet stuff, I'm bribing you. Tell us your feeeelings." He wiggled his fingers as if casting a spell.

Haruto chewed his orange and swallowed, stalling for a moment. "Fine. I wanted to wait until tomorrow, since this is Mayu's night, but you're my friends and I was going to tell you anyway."

"Dinner is over, it is no longer Mayu's night," she declared. "Get on with it."

"Fourze is coming to Tokyo next week."

"Cool. Why's Shunpei worried, he's a good guy. You text him all the time."

Mayu raised an eyebrow at this and ate the rest of her orange slowly.

"He's bringing seven of his friends."

"That's a lot of people." Nitou let him go to stroke his chin thoughtfully. "We're gonna need one of those tour guide whistles or something."

Haruto blinked. "You're helping me?"

"Duh, what are rivals for?" Nitou patted him on the shoulder. "Besides, you don't even do tourist stuff, can't have you just take them to the pier or the abandoned warehouse."

"Hey, I go to empty construction sites too," Haruto protested. He bumped their shoulders together and gave Nitou a small, relieved smile. "Thanks, Kousuke."

Nitou cleared his throat and looked away. "Yeah, well, sneaking into scrapyards to watch cars get crushed is one of your weirder hobbies, don't take 'em there. You can get that on Youtube now, y'know." Were his ears pink?

"Oh? I didn't know that." Haruto leaned in closer. "Show me later? We can go over places to visit too, Ni-tou-sen-sei," he added, fully aware he was being terrible.

Nitou made a vague noise of assent. Ha, his ears were red. Haruto backed off before he gave himself an aneurysm or something.

Mayu threw her orange peel in the trash and brushed her hands together. "If that's all..."

He scrubbed at a particularly stubborn stain. "I might want to make a good impression because I have a crush on him," he admitted to the sink, shoulders hunching.

He caught Nitou do a double-take out of the corner of his eye. "Huh. I thought you asked him out last time, you were talking alone on that hill and everything."

If it wouldn't result in a mouthful of soapy water, he'd be burying his face in his hands. "It wasn't like that."

"You sure?"

"...Yes? I was there?"

"Listen, I'm just saying, it was a good atmosphere for it, confessing after a nice dinner. Even if I paid for it. You looked kinda red after."

"He gave me a picture of Koyomi from five years ago because of time travel stuff." Haruto felt his face warm and ducked his head.

"He's already dating a bunch of his friends, I wasn't going to ask without meeting them first." Normally he would flirt a bit over text, but, well. Gentarou had made a big impression five years ago. He didn't want to treat this lightly.

"Is that where it came from? I thought you dug up a photo album or something, it's a good picture. Also, that is so disgustingly sappy." Mayu made a face. "Blegh. This is like hearing about my older cousin's love life, if I had one."

"Don't worry, we can embarrass you in front of your future girlfriend or boyfriend or best nemesis just as good as real cousins." Nitou gave her double thumbs up.

"How generous," Mayu said drily. "What's with this Fourze anyway, I've been busy. I never get tangled up with all those big Rider fights."

"Eh, you're not missing out much. Haruto gets into more of those than me, otherwise I wouldn't have time to study. Maybe because he has a bike, he can ride towards trouble."

"I'm sure your granny is thankful for that, you get into enough trouble without one." Haruto set the last utensils to the side and peeled off his gloves. He hopped onto the counter to avoid Nitou's half-hearted swipe, and crossed his ankles neatly. "Fourze's grandfather runs a bike repair place, you could ask him if you're looking to get your own."

Mayu tapped one finger on her folded forearms, eyes longing. "It'll take me a while to save up, Section Zero doesn't pay me that much. I'll need a license too..."

"They pay you? I was killing Phantoms for free this whole time."

"I've never figured out how you afford anything. I'll get Rinko to add you to the payroll as an outside contractor same as Yuzuru and Yamamoto, you've backed me up when they're busy often enough." Mayu jabbed a finger at him. "You're stalling."

He sighed. Haruto hated talking about this sort of thing, but they were his friends. It couldn't be worse than telling Tsukasa.

"I'd been fighting alone for about six months at that point. When a cute guy jumps in and saves your life... there were a lot of monsters, I was getting beat pretty badly before he showed up with his friends. Also, he picked me up to do a combo move, that was pretty hot. And he's taller than me." He swung his legs gently as he watched Nitou grumble that he was 'also taller than you, you just wear lifts, cheater'. "I had Koyomi and Rinko and Shunpei at that point, I wasn't lonely, but only magic works on Phantoms. And cosmic energy, apparently, but I wasn't going to ask a teenager from multiple prefectures away who didn't even know me to help. Even if he would have," he added fondly.

They stared at him.

"What?" he said defensively. He really did read those books Emu recommended.

"Wow, he's got it bad," Mayu observed.

"No kidding, he doesn't even talk about football guy this much," said Nitou.

"I bet he dreams about double finisher kicks with this guy."

"One, I can hear you."

"We know." Mayu waved him off dismissively.

"Two, how many times do I have to say it, I wasn't dating Kazuya."

"Uh-huh, whatever you say buddy." Nitou leaned towards Mayu as they started whispering intensively.

Haruto decided not to mention that he'd already done a double finisher kick with Gentarou, and they'd looked really cool doing it.

It looked like they wouldn't be done anytime soon, so he started packing leftovers for Mayu, and Connected to the main room since they were both blocking the kitchen exit. He paused by the ledge where they kept Koyomi's crystal ball and assorted trinkets, now joined by a photo in a simple wooden frame.

He'd told her first, while everyone was out earlier. He would read The Dream Witch And The Magic Ring out loud at her counter, when he couldn't sleep, as if the Philosopher's Stone in his Underworld could hear it. He could knock himself out with a ring, easily, but it was... good. To practice sitting with the past instead of trying to leave it behind, even when it hurt. The book was great too. She would have gotten along with Nozama, if they'd had the chance to meet, he thought.

"Goodnight," he said softly, tapping the countertop with two fingers, then headed to bed.

Nitou dragged Gentarou into Omokagedo, chattering away about beginner-friendly bikes. They were all chipping in on a graduation present for Mayu, but Machinewinger had come with the dragon (off the dragon?) and didn't exactly require tune ups at the garage, so Kisaragis Senior-and-Junior's knowledge was very welcome.

Haruto had sold his old bike shortly after the eclipse, when his expenses had suddenly grown to include two people's worth of everything. Koyomi especially needed more than the one set of clothes she'd woken up in, and they were the first thing she'd had an opinion on. It had been worth it, in his eyes, but it would've been nice to be able to pass it down; Mayu's Phantom hadn't been as generous in the transportation department. She was the best at using Teleport out of all of them as a result.

Nozama paused in the doorway after them. "I'll sign it while you ask him," she said to the rest of her friends, and firmly shut the door behind her.

He had a funny feeling about this.

"Let's clear something up." Kazashiro slammed her palm against the brick wall. She was wearing some very intimidating heels and loomed over him by a centimeter. "What are your intentions towards Kisaragi Gentarou."

He shoved his thumbs into his pockets. "Ah, this is an interrogation."

"Well, not like, a police interrogation. Miu, you don't have to go all Queen on him." Joujima waved her hands placatingly at Kazashiro before steadying herself. "We're his friends and we just want the best for him."

Daimonji and JK folded their arms behind her. "You have to admit, it's a little suspicious that you met him five years ago and never visited," JK added.

"Amanogawa is a bit far from Tokyo by bike." He tilted his head. "Did Eiji and the detectives get this treatment too?"

Utahoshi frowned. "He's deflecting." Next to him, Sakuta glared daggers and cracked his knuckles, but it was slightly hard to take him seriously when he remembered the guy making Meteor Noises in battle.

Haruto put his hands up. "Alright, alright. Look, weird time travel stuff is beyond me, I didn't want to mess up considering I met him for the first time when he was from the future. It was safer to stick to texting until the loop resolved."

Sakuta frowned. "Liar, we saw you during the shuttle launch to reach XVII."

"Oh, that. I was pretending to meet you two for the first time. From my perspective I traveled back to then from after we met. Then I gave myself the Time ring and didn't do it again."

Daimonji was trying to keep track of it all on his fingers. "My head hurts."

"I get the gist of it," Utahoshi nodded. "Back to Miu's question."

"My intentions are to keep being his friend and fight alongside him if he needs it. Meteor, you know how those big teamups randomly happen."

"You're not wrong." Sakuta muttered something about 'Captain Marvelous' under his breath.

Good impression, make a good impression. He squared his shoulders and let his eyes travel across the group, meeting their gazes as he said, "Look, I know you all care about him, but from what multiple Riders have told me, he'll befriend anyone at the drop of a hat and punches like a freight train, in case anything does happen. I just wanted to meet him and his best friends without needing to get beat up or kick some world-ending evil into an explosion. He talks about you all a lot. And to get Nozama's book signed."

Utahoshi and Joujima whispered together before turning around.

"I think we can trust him," Joujima pronounced. "Gen-chan does, after all."

They all relaxed.

"So-" Haruto started.

"We're not done." Kazashiro waved a hand imperiously. "JK, go."

The journalist took out a notepad and shoved into his space, smiling a bit too widely. "We're proceeding to the 'getting to know you' part, since Gentarou's told you so much about us." He tapped Haruto's shoulder with a pen for emphasis. "Do you have any hobbies? What's your favourite sport? Where did you get that jacket? Do you like men? What are your weaknesses?"

"Uh... long motorbike rides, football, lucky find at a thrift shop on the other side of town, yes, why do you need to know?"

Daimonji perked up. "American football?"

"Normal football, without the big shoulderpads." Daimonji looked disappointed at that. "I have a friend in a local team, I try to go to his games when there's time."

Joujima and Utahoshi crowded at his other shoulder. "How exactly does your magic work, with time travel? Gentarou says you can teleport too, are you displacing yourself or connecting two points together? What power source do you use?" "Do you know Hayabusa? Isn't she cute? What did you think about Tomoko's book? Do you have a crush on Gen-chan?

"I don't know, Gentarou mentioned you were studying it, you'd have a better idea than me, Utahoshi. Both, depending on the ring I use, magic dragon, yes, from him talking about you, cuteness is in the eye of the beholder, I'm only halfway thr- wait what?"

"I remember the dragon," Sakuta muttered.

"Extra points for using my surname." Utahoshi nodded approvingly.

Joujima patted his arm. "Don't worry, everyone's had a crush on Gen-chan before. Mine was when we were kids, then he moved away and I realised I'm a lesbian."

"When a tall guy with a nice smile punches a monster for you, it's hard not to," JK added. "Even with the hair."

Sakuta looked to the side. "It grows on you," he admitted.

"We have a spreadsheet to keep track of everyone's schedules." Utahoshi shook his head. "It's the only way to plan dates ahead of time."

"That sounds very organised," Haruto said dazedly.

"Go back to the magic dragon power source."

"He was flying around on that thing when we fought the space raiders."

Dragon, help, he thought.

Dragon just laughed at him, the asshole.

[KRC <3]

Queen: Good news Gentarou, you have a chance.

Meteor: Souma only called him a friend, though.

JustKidding: At least we know he's cool with dudes.

Meteor: I could have told you that, I'm pretty sure he's got something going on with Decade. Or Beast. Sometimes they flirt in the Rider chat.

JustKidding: And you didn't mention it before now?!

Meteor: I try not to think about Decade.

Queen: At any rate, I give my approval. He has good taste in jewellery.

King: He might not like the best kind of football, but I approve too.

JustKidding: I'll give my approval if he shows me where he got those pants.

Meteor: If he hurts Gentarou's feelings I'm beating him up.

Meteor: ...But not too badly, since Tomoko likes to talk to him about Lunar Witch. He'll need fingers to type.

HayabusaFan: Kengo wants to measure his powers back in the lab, but I think he approves too? I do! Good luck Gen-chan!

Meteor: Gentarou?

WitchOfDarkness: He's busy right now.

Tomoko had been hoping the antique shop would have more bottles of mysterious liquids or preserved reptiles, not just furniture. Probably nice furniture, but not a candle to a good animal skull. Too much warm lighting for her tastes. She'd been signing books and generally dealing with the publicity circus for the past few days, and she'd been looking forwards to seeing a cursed artifact or something.

"So, I wasn't kidding about the bike thing, we gotta get back to it later, but as his rival I gotta look out for Haruto, yeah? Also Mayu can be scary and I wanna stay on her good side." Nitou steered Gentarou to a chair by the shoulders, sat him down, and patted him on the back.

"Good luck. You seem like a cool dude, I support you already. Hang on Nozama, the book's in his room, I'll grab it." He clumped off to the second floor.

In the opposite seat, a lady with long hair and orange rings smiled dangerously at him. "Hi. My name is Inamori Mayu, we didn't meet last month since I was tired. There are a few people who came to my graduation when my parents couldn't, and he's one of them, so I must ask: what are your intentions towards Souma Haruto?"

Gentarou grinned and banged his fist on his chest twice, then pointed at her. "I'm gonna take him to the Tokyo Skytree!"

She blinked slowly, nonplussed. "...That's all?"

"We're getting lunch and dinner too. You coming? I told Kousuke we don't have any dietary requirements but I dunno where they're taking us, but we're a pretty big group so it's gotta be somewhere with a lotta chairs! Miu's splitting the bill for everyone with Tomoko, she got a really big sign-on bonus for her next book."

"I... suppose I'm free?"

"Great! Nice to meet you, Mayu!"

"He's just like this," Tomoko added sympathetically. She peered at Inamori's hands. "Are those magic rings?"

"Found it!" Nitou burst back into the room with a book under one arm. "Mayu, if you're coming with he can tell you about this bike his grandpa's been fixing up, it's secondhand so it's cheaper. Here you go, Nozama."

She signed it with a flourish and deposited it on a shelf next to a crystal ball, before peeking at the workshop tucked away in the back.

"It doesn't have a sidecar for Yuzuru, so we'll just keep making Haruto teleport us around instead. What a shame," Nitou continued.

"It's a good thing he looted that extra ring off... you know. Any more playing taxi and I would've started charging you." Mayu gathered herself. "Okay, before I get free food. Kisaragi."

"Call me Gentarou!"

"Gentarou. Are you going to ask Haruto out or not?"

"Uh. Maybe? Is that okay?" Gentarou rubbed the back of his neck, slightly abashed. He turned to Nitou. "I kinda thought he was dating you, dude—"

"WHAT!"

"—I mean, my group is cool with sharing, but I dunno if he is, y'know?"

"I uh, he's a nice guy, but we're definitely not dating, I dunno where you-"

"You looked super close when we met, I thought- my bad. Your bond as bros is really strong!"

"Nitou, he's been flirting with you for five years." Mayu rubbed her temples. "Also yes, he's 'cool with sharing'. These clowns are half of my social circle. I have no choice but to know these things."

"I- you- he has?!"

"I have eyes, Nitou."

Gentarou leapt up from his seat. "I'LL BE RIGHT BACK THANKS MAYU!"

Tomoko watched him throw himself out the door, bell jangling in his wake.

Her phone chimed.

[KRC]

Meteor: @WitchOfDarkness Tomoko the wizard is making a magic portal.

WitchOfDarkness: ON MY WAY

Kengo held one hand slightly above Machinewinger's chassis. "It's definitely emitting some kind of energy, I can feel it. I should have brought my briefcase." He started scratching away on a notepad. They'd have to make sure he wasn't working too hard on a day out.

"You can feel that? Nitou can, but not any of the other mages," Souma said from where he leaned against its side. He started activating a portal to send it back to wherever he kept it. Maybe with the dragon.

"I wonder... cosmic energy has been shown to affect your, Phantoms, was it? If you have the time, would you come down to-" Kengo broke off at the sound of a bell and narrowly dodged Gentarou's bull rush of enthusiasm.

Souma wasn't so lucky.

"DUUUUUUUUUU-"

Gentarou's yell abruptly cut off as they both vanished into the portal and took Machinewinger with them.

"No!" Tomoko stumbled into Ryuusei, one arm outstretched. "I missed it! My reference material!"

He steadied her and patted her shoulder. "JK recorded it for you."

Yuuki put an arm around her waist. "If he winds up dating Gen-chan, you can make him do magic tricks for you all you want."

'-UUUUUUUUUUUUDE!" Gentarou kept yelling as they crashed into the ground and, more painfully, the motorcycle. "Oops, sorry man. Wait, where are we?"

"Abandoned storage shed outside the city. I think there used to be a hiking trail nearby?" Haruto extracted his spine from the handlebars once Gentarou rolled off him. Oof. He'd be feeling that later. "Parking in Tokyo is expensive."

Gentarou shuffled around the limited space to look out of a broken window. "You're probably looking after it right if it's still this shiny five years later."

"I kept checking for the first few months, but it never seems to run out of fuel or anything? The most I have to do is clean it, but it doesn't rust and nothing seems to get into the internals." Haruto wheeled it back to the noticeably less dusty side of the shed, both of them shuffling around to fit, and covered it with a tarp. He turned to lean back against the chassis. "Do you want to head back now, or..."

"Oh yeah!" Gentarou snapped his fingers. He smoothed his pompadour, slammed his fist over his heart twice, and pointed at Haruto, poking him in the chest (it wasn't a very big shed). "Souma Haruto! Kamen Rider Wizard!"

"That's me."

"I, Kisaragi Gentarou, think you're really cool! I like fighting with you in the big group rumbles! I'm kinda sad I didn't get to keep that ring you gave me five years ago! I think you're the reason I figured out you can like guys and girls at the same time and asked Kengo to prom. Will you go out with me!"

Haruto blinked, face reddening with each sentence.

Gentarou cranked the smile down a few kilowatts. "You don't have to answer right now. I promise we'll still be friends if you say no. Think about it, yeah?" One big hand patted him on the shoulder.

Haruto nodded dazedly. "I gotta. Hang on. Wait right here."

"Okay dude."

On a certain rocky beach somewhere in Japan, seagulls were startled by a man stumbling out of a magic portal. They took off as he started pacing in the surf and talking to himself.

Haruto stepped back into the shed smelling like the ocean. His hair was messier (cute), and his pants were wet up to knees. Gentarou was pretty sure Takeru could teleport too. That would be so useful for class outings. Too bad the Barizun Sword only worked for portals to space and not anywhere else.

"Hi, I thought about it," Haruto said breathlessly.

Wait. "I forgot something! I'm dating Kengo and JK and Tomoko and Ryuusei too. If you say yes you have to be their boyfriend-in-law. I thought you'd be okay with it but I wasn't sure. You've got that Decade thing and I thought you were dating Kousuke too but he said no."

"I'm working on Nitou. Yeah, I'm fine with polyamory." He did something with a ring to dry off his socks and his face was still visibly blushing a bit, even tucked into his jacket like a turtle. "Everyone in the Rider chat knows about your group, you kept posting pics on your Valentine's date at that café. Utahoshi told me about the spreadsheet too."

"Ha, Kengo's so smart. He had this whole speech with stats about how many highschool couples broke up after graduation because of people moving away for school and work and stuff, and how he didn't want that to happen to us."

"Well, if he can fit me in with everyone else." Haruto finally looked him in the eye. "Yes, I'll go out with you."

"HECK YEAH!!!" Gentarou cheered, throwing his hands in the air, and scraping his knuckles against a ceiling beam (very small shed!). He pulled them back down. "Ow."

"Let me see your hands." Haruto rummaged in his bike's storage compartment and produced a first aid kit.

"It's just a scratch, I can use the Medical Switch- oh right, Driver issues. Ah, that stings!"

"Nobody comes here and I don't sweep up there, you don't want an infection." Haruto dabbed antiseptic on his hands gently.

"How'd you find this place?"

"My buddy Kazuya likes outdoorsy stuff, he dragged me out here once. We stopped inside for lunch. They closed the hiking trail the month after when the route eroded in the rainy season." The first aid snapped shut. "Okay, done."

Gentarou admired the Keroppi plasters decorating his fingers. "Thanks! Buuuut I think you forgot a step." He grinned hopefully.

"Wow, on the first date?" Haruto raised an eyebrow before pressing a quick kiss to his knuckles. "There. Ready to go?"

"Whoo! Tokyo Skytree here we come!" Gentarou held his hand through the portal and didn't let go.

Later, after juggling goodbyes and suitcases full of souvenirs outside the train station, Haruto slipped something into his hand. "Here, I asked Shunpei to make a copy of it."

Gentarou opened his fist to reveal an exact replica of the promise ring.

Haruto stuck his thumb and pinky out in a phone gesture. "Call me whenever." He had a matching ring on his hand, and his voice echoed through the one in Gentarou's palm.

Gentarou grinned and dragged him into a hug, lifting his feet clear off the ground. "I will!"

"Gentarou, the train is in 2 minutes, come on!"

He set down a slightly ruffled wizard and ran, pausing to wave over the turnstiles one last time.

Haruto waved back, smiling widely.

[Direct message to: Eternal Rival]

Beastbite: So

Beastbite: That time I got drunk and made out with you

Beastbite: That wasn't a dream right?

Beastbite: How do you know if you like dudes

Beastbite: I found some online quizzes but idk

Eternal Rival: I'm going to turn all your mayo into pudding.

Chapter Text

"Miu, I need an extra pair of hands, are your nails dry yet?" Utahoshi's voice crackled from the speaker system connected to the inside of his lab's shielded testing chamber.

Haruto had been surprised at how the mostly-clinical space showed the evidence of the guy's large friend group, with the occasional paraphernalia stuck to the walls or left behind on tables. He'd been quietly let in on the secret, as a fellow person with chill, that it was a decoy, the testing chamber salvaged from the KRC's old moonbase (the actual cosmic energy lab was in another building), and that this was actually the break room. With a box that could withstand explosions, for fun. Scientists had interesting tastes in decor.

Miu blew on her nails one last time, eyeing them critically until she was satisfied with the topcoat's finish, before she nodded, hit some buttons to open the airlock with her elbow, and went inside.

Haruto watched them gesture at each other through the window. "Having fun over there, Utahoshi?"

"How come you call Kengo by his surname but not the rest of us?" JK asked idly, head bowed over Tomoko's hand as he tried to paint tiny cicadas on her nails.

"He seems like a formal kind of guy? And I don't know your name, everybody only calls you JK."

"I have granted him the right to call me Tomoko, due to the strength of our bond as fellow Lunar Witch fans," Tomoko intoned, eyes fixed on the two Connect portals vertically aligned in the testing chamber, behind an extra layer of chest-height safety barriers. Miu dropped a fluffy pompom keychain into the arrangement. "And he held my spider minion prop for two days, since you were busy with your deadline and couldn't go with me to MagiGirl Mirai."

Haruto shook his own fingers to dry the nails, which Miu had painted a metallic dark red. "Are we doing that again next year?"

"Sadly, there won't be a dedicated Lunar Witch display section then. They offered me a guest spot for a panel, I'm still considering it." She tapped her unpainted pinky finger. "Dark magical girls have always been a niche within the genre with dedicated fans, but I don't want to get lumped in with A Certain Show..."

"Your stuff has a lot more bio-horror that makes it stand out on its own, and I bet your fans would be happy to see you there."

"Hmmm... this year was fun. I saw a photo of us as the Queen of Spiders and Poitrine on the official event website."

"I think I might be able to get Dress Up to make me a wig, with practice. Utena cosplay sounds nice."

"I want to be Goth Mothra. Gothra."

"I'll try and make it next year too, if my boss doesn't drop a surprise reporting beat on me again."

"Tell him that a famous author has requested you to do event coverage."

"That's a fancy way of saying she wants me to do a write-up for her blog," JK whispered to Haruto.

"Didn't you write your own this year?"

Tomoko frowned. "Journalism is a very different skillset from fiction writing. It wasn't as fun. JK is better at punching up the publicity stuff I have to do at events, if I do the panel."

"There, done." JK capped the bottle of nail polish, then put his hand on his chest. "I, JK, promise to take time off in advance, and dress up as that hamster mascot from this year's Love Cute show. I will write you an extra-awesome blog post. Haruto, as the junior assistant, you can do coffee runs."

"She's a guinea pig, not a hamster. I'm not mad, work is work, but you had to put off your podcast for it too, and we haven't had time to hang out much recently. I like helping to edit your scripts and watching Love Cute afterwards."

"Aww, me too. Bring it in."

They did the Friendship Handshake. Then frowned at Tomoko's smeared hands.

"Shit, your nails. Lemme redo 'em."

Haruto passed them the bottle of nail polish remover.

"Miu told me she has way too many feather boas, maybe you can use those for your costume," JK continued. "She already dumped three different neon ones on me which, I love them, thanks Queen, but I saw her stash and it's scary. Wizard guy, stick around long enough and she'll start offloading it on you too."

Tomoko stared off into her imagination. "I could sew them onto a cape, for the wings, or tie them together like a net. Maybe for antenna. She gave me that fur coat from that artsy shoot too, the one with holes burned into it."

"Oh yeah, that was a good one, Shun has a framed copy of the cover."

"I can wear it over the base dress I used for the Spider Queen. It will symbolise how silkworm larvae feed on mulberry leaves."

"I can see it."

"See what?" Utahoshi and Miu rejoined them.

"My Vision for a goth Mothra outfit."

"Oh, I have all these feather boas from last season, can you use those? For the antenna? Actually, I'll make it an event on the Excel sheet, anyone who wants to help me declutter my stash can add their name."

"You understand my Vision. I would shake your hand, but JK is working."

"Speaking of work," Utahoshi interjected. "Souma, I need you to cancel the portal spell. Our testing object has reached terminal velocity."

"Is that. Safe?"

"We'll be fine. The chamber can be repaired."

"It's survived the Cosmic Switch exploding, before Gentarou made friends with it," Miu added.

"Okay." Haruto chose not to ask more questions and do as he was asked.

There was a PANG! noise.

"See? Totally safe." They all went to look at her keychain, which was firmly lodged into the floor of the testing chamber.

Haruto considered the combat applications. On one hand, it was difficult to directly align, he could see this backfiring on himself, and he already had a gun. On the other hand, he could use it to launch something even farther than kicking it...

Tomoko gasped. "I can use this! The Mirror Entity will create a magical cannon to reach the moon via a telescope, and destroy source of power in its heart! Great guardian worms can't stop it outside their domain of earth! I HAVE CURRENTLY SOLVED MY PLOT COMPLICATION!"

"Tomoko, your nails— look, you dictate and I'll type for you."

Utahoshi ignored Tomoko and JK rapidly typing on her tablet. "Lets try it horizontally next. Shun left a football here last time."

Haruto managed to bean himself in the back of the head with it three times while Utahoshi took notes about velocity and drag, and decided it was too much trouble to use in a fight.

[Halloween Gang]

~o0Boo0o~: I could use your help.

~o0Boo0o~: He was really sad about it!

~o0Boo0o~: I was thinking, if I can suppress their Joker powers again, they can go on a date? But I have to figure out how to get to their world.

~^Batman^~: I think it's a few worlds down from mine. I try not to leave if I don't have to.

Batman: @~*SparkleOn*~ You've world-hopped around a few times.

~*SparkleOn*~: It just sort of happens to me. I can ask Tsukasa for directions if you want.

~o0Boo0o~: You said he never checks his phone unless it's for trolling when Mr Gentarou wanted to invite everyone to a party.

~o0Boo0o~: I've almost got... something.

~o0Boo0o~: I feel like I could teleport to it if I can lock on to that weird Feeling.

~o0Boo0o~: Oh, I should come up with some ideas first while I figure it out! What kinds of dates can you have in 30 minutes?

~o0Boo0o~: Haruto, you're dating lots of people.

~*SparkleOn*~: Two and a half.

~^Batman^~: Three. Unfortunately.

~*SparkleOn*~: Friends with benefits only counts as a half.

~^Batman^~: I caught you making out with That Guy in the east storage room, and you think he's funny. It's three. Please keep him out of my castle.

~*SparkleOn*~: Okay fine, but I wouldn't count those as date activities.

~*SparkleOn*~: He says, "Bold of him to assume you have any control over where I go."

~*SparkleOn*~: How many storage rooms does this castle have?

~^Batman^~: Are you two in my castle right now.

~*SparkleOn*~: There's a lot of jars in this one.

~^Batman^~: Do not take your clothes off in the west storage room where I keep the experimental rose varnish.

~*SparkleOn*~: Not with this much dust around, that's how you get STIs.

~^Batman^~: :(

~^Batman^~: :'(

~*SparkleOn*~: Okay we left because there were spiders. Sorry Wataru.

~^Batman^~: I spent so long making it...

~*SparkleOn*~: We didn't touch any!

~^Batman^~: If he had, I would set Jirou on him.

~^Batman^~: The rose petals disappear if you take them out of the castle, it needs to age in a dark place without too much humidity, and Jirou and Ramon complain about the smell when I make a new batch.

~*SparkleOn*~: I'll go with you next time you need new clothes and talk to all the salespeople for you.

~^Batman^~: I forgive you. :)

~o0Boo0o~: Sooooo sight-seeing! Is a date activity! Anything else?

~*SparkleOn*~: Gentarou took me stargazing at the Kamen Rider Club's moon base.

~*SparkleOn*~: And Nitou makes me go with him to buy konbini junk food at 11PM.

~o0Boo0o~: Getting food at night, got it. Wataru, any ideas?

~^Batman^~: Dating... hasn't worked out well for me.

~o0Boo0o~: But you've been on them!

~^Batman^~: Taking someone to a restaurant is a classic? But you have to make sure the chef isn't an evil monster in disguise.

~o0Boo0o~: I think Mr Aikawa works at one? He told me to swing by this café called Jacaranda for a free meal.

~^Batman^~: Maybe he can make a bento for this estranged boyfriend of his, and you can deliver it.

~o0Boo0o~: Like that Ghibli movie! Takeru's Delivery Service!

~o0Boo0o~: Oh, movie dates! But I don't know exactly how long the Joker suppression will last, Mr Kenzaki just left after half an hour. That's only long enough for an episode of Ultraman.

~o0Boo0o~: I'll write these down for now and ask Mr Aikawa what he thinks when I see him.

~*SparkleOn*~: How does this Joker suppression work, exactly? You're not dying again, right?

~o0Boo0o~: Aha, well.

~^Batman^~: Takeru.

~o0Boo0o~: WATARU, YOU PLAY THE VIOLIN. VIOLIN MUSIC IS ROMANTIC, RIGHT?

~^Batman^~ and ~*SparkleOn*~ are typing...

Graduation was coming up at Amanogawa High. The hallways were decorated with glossy paper stars and buzzed with student gossip, mostly about what to wear or who to ask for a dance.

"They've booked that girl group again, my friend on the planning committee told me."

"It's nice of them to keep coming back for this one gig, I heard it was the first job they'd ever gotten. Their music's on TV all the time now."

"Last year, that famous astronaut Joujima and Utahoshi from the Cosmic Energy Lab were guests. I'm sooooo jealous that third-year asked Mika to go with him, I wanted to hear their alumni speeches."

"They're Mr Kisaragi's friends, right? He probably invited them."

"I hope he does it again this year."

"Hey, are you gonna ask your boyfriend from Subaruboshi High? If he's even real."

"I'm not making him up! But... it's only for Amanogawa students, right?"

"I'll help you sneak him in. All we need is a jacket from one of the boys..."

"Shhh, teachers!"

"So, Kisaragi," Ms Haruka swung her gym bag over her shoulder as they made their way to kickboxing club. "How many visitor's passes do I have to print off?"

"Ah, thanks Ms Haruka, but... everybody's busy." Gentarou's pompadour drooped a little as he thought about it.

"Everybody? I know Joujima went back up to space, but surely one of your group is free."

"Kengo's got a science conference, Miu's in Paris at a fashion show with Shun, Tomoko's on a big inspiration kick and said nobody disturb her or she'll curse 'em, and Ryuusei needs tell his boss like half a year ahead before getting time off. We're getting together during the school holiday anyway, but I miss 'em."

She knocked her gloves against his shoulder. "Knowing you, something's bound to come up. I'll leave one at your cubicle tomorrow," she said decisively.

"Well... there's one more guy I haven't asked yet."

[Kamen Riders: Heisei]

Gaim: No yeah, weird dreams of each other are normal.

Exaid: I thought it was just stress. What about the sensation of being watched?

Gaim: Usually I feel like I'm on a stage. I had one after I met Wizard and it was about some magic rock? And he scanned it and kept sneezing? And it made me sneeze too? Ichigo was there???

Wizard: I remember that. Better than the mind control ones where you have to fight other Riders.

W (Lefty): You mean those weren't because of our mind link this whole time?!

W (Righty): Fascinating. Shoutarou, why did you never mention this phenomenon occurred so frequently?

W (Lefty): Don't pin this on me, you never check the groupchat!

W (Righty): I'm reading it right now.

W (Lefty): You...

Meteor: Why are you arguing in the groupchat instead of your "mind link".

Fourze is online.

Fourze: HARUTO DO YOU WANNA GO TO PROM

Meteor: Huh. It is that time of year.

Wizard: What's prom?

W (Righty): A promenade dance or promenade, commonly called a prom in American English, is a dance party for high school students. This event is typically held at or near the end of the school year, for the graduating cohort.

Meteor: You dress up and help Gentarou watch a bunch of teenagers in case someone brought alcohol.

Fourze: You guys didn't have prom?

Gaim: No.

Exaid: No.

Wizard: No.

W (Lefty): No.

W (Righty): I didn't attend highschool.

Meteor: Amanogawa is an outlier.

Wizard: I mean, I'm free. Let me know when. Is there a dress code?

Fourze: Your regular outfit is fine [thumbs up emoji] [thumbs up emoji] [thumbs up emoji]

Beast is online.

W (Lefty): He dresses like if Terui jumped in a barrel of glitter. If you need to borrow anything more formal, we're about the same size. Consider it payback for the free fedoras.

Wizard: Okay, Mr Windscale.

W (Lefty): I support local businesses, punk.

Beast: HARUTO DID YOU GIVE THAT GUY ALL THE SERIAL KILLER HATS

W (Lefty): THEY'RE WHAT

Wizard: Rinko said they were just taking up space in an evidence locker! I killed him, I can give his stuff to someone who actually wears them.

W (Lefty): DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT, IDIOTS.

Wizard: For the record, he was a kaijin. I cannot be arrested for murder charges.

Gaim: So... the hats... don't kill people.

Wizard: They do not.

W (Lefty): The headwear of a former murderer... that's pretty hard-boiled. I'll let you off from insulting my favourite brand.

Wizard: Thanks, Mr Windscale.

Decade has changed W (Lefty)'s name to Mr Windscale

Gaim: Lmao

Mr Windscale: You think you're sooo funny don't you, bastard.

Decade: (☞⌐■‿■)☞ I know I am.

"I can't believe you dress like this all the time. It's too informal for an event." Shoutarou flipped through a menswear magazine, found the page he wanted, and looked critically over the top of it at his guests. "Your pants are bright pink."

"They're not that bright. It's normal pink." Haruto nudged a Windscale catalogue aside. Were some of these style guides from the Showa era?

"I don't know, they look more reddish to me." Eiji chimed in, seated next to him on the sofa. He was in Fuuto for the time being, with new research questions for Philip and new leads on contacts from Wajima and Nitou.

"Black! Or dark coloured pants! Paired with a colourful long-sleeved shirt are acceptable." Shoutarou jabbed at his magazine for emphasis. "Do you own any jackets that don't sparkle or have a billion add-ons? Don't answer that, I'll lend you something. And a tie."

"The retro look might work for you, but I have my own aesthetic." Haruto had let himself be bullied into the Narumi Detective Agency under the pretense of emergency babysitting, which had been a lie, but he drew the line at Shoutarou's fashion sense. "Tell your boss to text me directly next time her kid needs watching, I don't trust you."

"Tch. Haruna likes me and Philip better anyway, we're her cool uncles. Akiko only lets you watch her because you're jobless and have the time."

He eyed the patterned ties piled on the coffee table in front of the sofa. "Keep telling yourselves that. She said you tried to make mashed bananas for snacktime and broke the blender. Then Philip turned it into Blenderbot and the chief ripped you two a new one for letting her play with it."

"Crappy discount blender... should've known something was off when it didn't have a warranty..."

Eiji raised a hand. "I'm also jobless."

Shoutarou waved him off. "You're busy with the whole Ankh revival thing, don't worry about it."

"I'm here often enough for Philip's assistance with lookups, I'd be happy to pitch in."

"I'll let Akiko know. I hope you like playing coffee party, man."

"It's like tea party but you have to pretend to make coffee wrong and let her hit you with a slipper," Haruto added. "While wearing Shoutarou's fourth-favourite fedora."

"Ah! So you'll dress up for coffee party, but not for a date! What kind of unstylish boyfriend does that make you?" Shoutarou jabbed one finger in his face, then flicked it up. "A lazy one! Put some effort into your relationship!"

He blew a plume of imaginary smoke off the barrel of his fingergun. "Before it sinks... to the bottom of the ocean."

Haruto rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Are you done?"

"Oh, right, I was supposed to give you a 'shovel talk'." Shoutarou cleared his throat. "Listen up! Gentarou is our precious junior, and we won't let you half-ass dating him."

Haruto leaned away. "Why does everyone have to do this. Is Amazon going to threaten me next?"

Eiji patted him on the shoulder as Shoutarou kept going on. "For the record, I think you two are doing fine. Please let him have this, he watched a bunch of those American movies for research."

"Those were Akiko's movies! I was just. In the same room while she played them."

"I hope he doesn't do this if Haruna ever starts dating."

"He has a lot of old-fashioned ideas about masculinity that he hasn't unpacked yet, but that sort of thing takes a while, especially with how much he looked up to Narumi Senior."

"Oi, quit discussing my hangups while I'm giving this guy a 'shovel talk'! I thought we were bros, Eiji!"

"Oh? Are my pink pants and glitter jacket making you insecure in your masculinity, Mr Windscale?" Haruto crossed his legs and grinned as Shoutarou started blustering. "Chill out, we're chaperoning a school event, not going to a fancy restaurant. It's the kids who have to dress up."

Shoutarou threw his hands in the air. "At least a bowtie! Can't a guy help contribute to the happiness of his friend by lending his date some formal accessories? In lieu of a father figure?"

Eiji knudged Haruto with a warning knee. "Don't."

"Yeah okay, too easy."

"I DO NOT HAVE DADDY ISSUES— "

"Hold that thought." Haruto fished his phone out of his pockets as Eiji stopped Shoutarou from strangling him with a checkered tie.

[Direct message from: Ghost]

Ghost: Help

Ghost: Yuo can telpor5 right

Ghost: Can u come 2 Blade's world theres a

[Direct message to: Magenta Menace]

Call 4 Good Time: How do I get to the World of Blade?

Call 4 Good Time: It's an emergency.

[Direct message to: Gentarou]

Haruto: I might be late, Ghost asked for backup. Eiji's in Fuuto as relay, he'll call if we need more people.

Haruto: Sorry.

"I really shouldn't be surprised by this," Haruto mused. He arced silver bullets around some hard-carapaced thing, into the fleshy back of a jellyfish monster menacing his junior. Takeru scrambled out of its grip before it could shock him again and swapped to a green jacket, firing arrows at it out of melee range. "Half the time any of us get together, monsters happen. You okay?"

"I've had worse! I'm just glad you guys showed up when you did." Takeru spun so he was back-to-back with that other guy with a heart-shaped visor. "It was getting kinda dicey with just me and Mr Aikawa."

"Sorry for taking so long." Haruto fired a Flame Shooting Strike at a flower monster. "I had to get directions from Tsukasa, and we picked Wataru up on the way through his world."

W whaled away at the ominous monolith behind them, striking it with whirling blows of their metal staff, but it just kept reforming every time it shattered, and continued to spawn ghostly, see-through monsters made of studded leather and spikes. An elephant-thing bent their staff in half with one swing of a heavy sledgehammer when they tried to block it. "Crap." "Don't let that hit us." "Not after that demonstration!"

Motorcycles roared towards them.

"Henshin!" "Henshin!"

Turn Up. Open Up.

Two more Riders waded into the fray. Green tangled the sledgehammer's handle with his polearm, swinging the elephant around so Red could shoot it in the head. It dispersed like the ones Aikawa had slashed.

Red was immediately jumped by a tiger monster. She suplexed him, threw him into Green, and started punching W in the gut repeatedly after they tried sneak up on her from behind. Wataru dragged her off them by the armpits before she ripped free and drove her elbow into his sternum. At least his suit was a lot more padded in the chest.

Red scrambled to his feet. "Hajime, what happened!"

They shot and hacked their way closer, with him providing covering fire.

"Tenkuuji came to visit. I made him lunch. We sensed a disturbance and came here. These Undead aren't real, they're more like. Phantoms, or ghosts. The overseer is confused," said Aikawa. "It thinks there's almost a new Joker nearby."

"Confused? But you're the only Undead here!" Red paused to stare at them, and the tiger lady punched him in the head. Green tackled her.

"Maybe the leftovers of the Joker's influence I absorbed from you and Mr Kenzaki?" Takeru mused. "How can we get rid of it? I don't want to die again, but..."

Haruto wasn't sure about the details of what sounded like capital letter U Undead, but phantoms were sort of in his wheelhouse. "Here, put this on. It might not work, but cross your fingers and hope to live."

Engage, Please.

Disengage, Please.

Haruto was spat back out tangled up with a mass of black and green carapace. Even if it was only partially real, that forward-swept horn on its forehead was real enough to hurt. He rolled free from its spiky embrace as Green and Red dragged it up by the antenna, claws scraping lines into his chest plating. Wataru braced one hand on his shoulder as he rolled into a kneeling position, leaping over him to plant a metal-plated boot in its face. With force. The ground cracked beneath its head.

It snarled, the chains on its head jangling as it grabbed Wataru's leg and twisted, throwing him off and kicking Haruto in the chest after him. It rose to its feet.

The rest of the Undead cowered, shuffling away.

"Get it to the overseer!"

"The what?"

"The slab thing!"

Smoke rose from its visor as it turned on Red and Green, tackling them to the ground. Green caught its claws on his staff, while Red fired directly in its face. Green shoved it back and kicked it in tandem with Red. Takeru and Aikawa fired at it in an alternating pattern, driving it towards the slab thing.

Arrows pinned it to the glossy black surface, but it snarled and heaved one arm free, phasing through them. Then one leg. W and Green crossed their polearms together and shoved it back.

Bind, Please.

Chains wrapped around both monster and monolith. Takeru kept firing.

Aikawa dropped into a low stance, then sprinted towards it.

Float, Drill, Tornado. Spinning Dance.

Aikawa crashed through the monster and the monolith behind it. All the monsters faded away as they both shattered into ghostly pieces. He slowly stood up in a cloud of smoke and shards, which dissipated around him.

The sun was setting.

W's right eye lit up. "I'll inform Eiji that backup is no longer needed. Shoutarou, see you back at the agency."

Haruto and Wataru detangled themselves as they all detransformed, Wataru apologising the whole time.

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't want to risk using Wake Up so near to other people..."

"Don't beat yourself up about it, at the end of the day it's dead."

"I guess."

"A good job is a good job, eh Wataru?" Kivat, perched on his head, patted him with one wing.

Haruto stretched. Phwee. Some Riders tended to stay in their own worlds, but it was troubling if their situations could start infecting other people in their dreams. Tomoko might know more. Takeru seemed fine the whole time aside from today (he was talking with the Riders of this world about... rice pilaf?) so hopefully it would remain a weird one-off problem, and not turn into a whole crossover movie or something.

"Oi, Haruto!" Shoutarou jogged up behind him. "We can catch a ride with Ghost when he's done. You're gonna be late, get going!"

Oh shit, the sun was setting.

Teleport, Please.

Haruto stumbled out of his portal onto the rooftop of Amanogawa High's gym.

Gentarou was waiting for him.

"Hey! Good timing, they're gonna start the dance soon."

He looked very handsome in a white suit and orange tie, with a dark shirt underneath. Haruto told him so, and took a moment to drink in his pleased grin. "I feel a bit under-dressed, comparatively."

"You look the same as when I first saw you!"

"Now there's a thought. Hang on."

Dress Up, Please.

Haruto spun along with the magic circle, ending the transformation with coat-tails fluttering around his legs. He couldn't really improve on perfection, but he'd changed the armoured chestplate underneath Flame Style's coat into a button-up shirt in deep red satin instead.

"Whoa! That's a different ring than your normal one."

"It costs less mana, the clothes are an illusion. I added a little something." Haruto gestured at the small, neat bowtie around his neck.

Gentarou poked one antenna and whistled appreciatively. "Really good illusion. Man, I miss the Fourze suit. Kengo'll figure it out some day, I know. Would be nice to match though."

"Give me your hand."

In another flash of light, Fourze appeared in Gentarou's place, complete with his own orange bowtie.

Haruto nodded, satisfied. "Now we look like when I first met you."

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT'S PROM TIME!" Gentarou struck his signature pose, dragging Haruto along in his excitement. They were both laughing too much to care.

"Keep the ring on, all that will disappear without it. Or in an hour-ish, I'm low on mana after that fight. Sorry I took so long."

"Nah, don't worry about it. Eiji said everyone's okay, that's what's important. And I had enough time to set this up!" Gentarou patted a speaker set under some fairy lights. It was connected to a wire snaking through the roof access door back down into the gym. "Let the kids have their moment without us hovering around. Had to confiscate the spiked punch though, I'm not supposed to let 'em drink at school."

He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. "But guess who can!"

Kadoya Tsukasa was drinking directly from the punch bowl with a ladle. "Yo."

"Hi Tsukasa."

"The photography club had to get their stuff looked at, not their fault, it was an accident, and I told them they should go have fun at prom, I know a guy. I leant him the Camera Switch, they turned out really good!" Tsukasa preened at the compliment.

"So this is where you've been all day."

"Camping is a legitimate strategy."

"What?"

The speaker started playing the opening notes of a slow song.

He tossed something through the air and got up. Gentarou dropped Haruto's hand to catch it, revealing the Camera Switch. Tsukasa grabbed his other hand and pulled him close. "I get the first dance."

Haruto raised an eyebrow under his helmet. "Really? After all the trouble he went to arranging this?"

"Nah, it's fine, that's what he wanted for taking pics for me. I got to do a finisher kick with you first, that's sort of like dancing, right?" Gentarou slotted the switch into Burgermeal. "I called dibs on the best song later."

"He's too nice," Haruto muttered to himself as Tsukasa led him in a loop around the rooftop.

The devil stepped in time with him, twirled him under one arm, and lowered him into a dip. "And I'm terrible, which balances it out."

Haruto braced his heel on the ground and shoved, spinning so he was the lead. "You know, Wataru pointed out the other day that we've basically been dating this whole time. Next time you want a dance, just call. We can crash some fancy Fangire ball and make some trouble together."

Tsukasa looked stunned for a moment. The corner of his mouth quirked up. "What happened to making good decisions?"

"I decided... to try being more honest about my feelings with the people I care about, even if I hate it." Haruto's face burned. He was glad for the mask. "We can keep being friends-with-benefits, if that's what you want, I'll still scam couple's deals at restaurants with you."

"I want— " Tsukasa reached through his helmet to cup his jaw, breaking the glamour, and leaned in.

Gentarou whooped.

Haruto blinked, dazed, despite all the times they'd kissed before. The mask formed back around his head when Tsukasa let go. "Uh. Is that a yes?"

"Ask me again after that second dance." Tsukasa spun them around as the music picked up, then shoved him.

Burgermeal hopped to safety before he stumbled into Gentarou's arms, landing safely behind the punch bowl, and rolled around for a better view.

"My turn!" Haruto barely had time to place his hands right when Gentarou pulled him towards the center of the rooftop, and then they were dancing to something fast and electric, lights smearing past in bright lines. Barely heard a shutter snap under the sound of boots against the floor. He twirled out of reach and back in again, whirled so they were back-to-back, slipped to the side and put his hands on Gentarou's tall shoulders while white gloves found his waist and lifted him into the air in a massive spin, coat tails flying.

Camera flash.

Then it was feet back on the ground and spinning faster and faster until they were both dizzy and laughing and crashing into each other and the floor when the music ended. Tsukasa took a picture of that too.

They leaned on each other and caught their breath in the silence, broken by an announcement from the speaker.

The next song is a traditional AGHS prom number.

Gentarou tilted his helmet in question. "Up for one more? It's the graduation dance."

A chorus of voices sang in harmony.

Saite mawatte otozureru toki wo koete mebuite hana hiraku made.

"Oh? I've never done one of those before. Maybe you should teach me how, Kisaragi-sensei." Haruto took the offered hand to pull himself to his feet.

"Okay, so, gimme your other hand. It's four steps in a turn, do that again, you spin out and curtsey or uh, bow if you're a du- okay nice curtsey. Step back in. One turn with that hand up, step out under my arm, back in, lean. You step out and spin back in, three punches- wait, 'm not fighting any Zodiarts. Whoops. Uh, do that last one again, sway in circles for this bit." They found their rhythm and settled in. "And then you just keep repeating that. You're pretty good at this for someone who hasn't done this before."

"Maybe I'm just a quick study," Haruto lied.

"You didn't look at your feet the whole time."

He gave up willingly, resting his head on Gentarou's shoulder. "I asked Utahoshi to show me how. You said you went with him to prom. He didn't actually remember how to do it, but Miu did. Thanks, Queen."

"Thanks Miu! She was my first dance too y'know."

The drums sped up as they passed Tsukasa. Gentarou took his hand off Haruto's waist (disappointing) to wave at him. "Dude, get in on this!"

"Oh no, my hands are full of camera, how inconvenient."

"He already did! It's your turn."

"Yeah but I got a few rounds in– and he looks kinda– and you two just– ahhh!"

"Okay, okay, just for you. On the third step."

Haruto twirled under Gentarou's arm, stepped in close, and was spun, following the momentum outwards to Tsukasa, who caught him with an eye roll and hands already positioned. "For the record, this doesn't count as a second dance."

"Noted." Haruto turned them both backwards, spun out, and curtseyed with his coat-tails in place of a dress, one foot neatly behind the other. Tsukasa laced their fingers together.

They waltzed as the wind picked up, stirring the trees below.

"Hey, you can use other Riders' equipment?"

"What are you planning?"

"Take this."

Haruto left something silver and gleaming behind when their hands parted.

Meet again, smile again, this world’s one and only flower...

He spun gracefully back to Gentarou, grinning under his helmet. "Hi. I am definitely up to something. Follow me?"

"You got it!"

Sonna hana ni narou.

Haruto ignored the sounds of Tsukasa's driver and the Flower Ring being scanned, and took Gentarou's hand once more.

Anytime, I don't wanna close my eyes.

He spun them around backwards for several steps, coat-tails flaring.

Anytime, I don't wanna close my eyes.

Their suits melted away in a gentle shower of glittering lights trailing behind them as he dipped Gentarou.

Saite mata arukidasou!

And kissed him in a shower of petals.

"He's out, huh? I gotta clean up after the kids. You wanna stay over on the moon? There's enough space for both of you."

"I'll get him back safely."

"Alright, thanks man, for all of it. Come over when you print those out, I'll swap you for the ones on Burgermeal. Have a good wobbly curtain trip!"

The door to the stairwell gently closed shut.

Tsukasa flicked a pink flower petal out of Haruto's hair as the mage napped on his shoulder. Hmm. He didn't say he'd return it.

[Direct message from: Magenta Menace]

Magenta Menace: You'll get the ring back after the second date.