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writingpaperghost · 2 years

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Blur the Line (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3: Who's Come Home?

Gou returns, a new Rider appears, and Chase ponders the nature of Shin.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42588966/chapters/107199570

“Masanori,” Kiriko smiled, “Your birthday is coming up, isn’t it? The twenty-fourth, right?”

Taking a drink of his juice, Masanori nodded, “Yeah, the twenty-fourth.”

“Do you have any plans?”

“No, my family’s pretty busy right now.”

She hums for a moment, “Then… we should meet up again, then. Spend some time together.”

Masanori smiled, “That’d be nice.”

---

Drive was trying to do… something. Using that new form of his to try to take out Heart with all that electricity. He kept pushing it into Heart, and it was only a matter of before they’d both be destroyed. Shin’s heart lurched in his chest at the sight, his breath quickening. Were it nearly any other Roidmude Drive was trying to destroy, he wouldn’t be half so terrified. It wouldn’t hurt him the same way.

But Shin wouldn’t lose Heart, he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t lose his family again.

Grabbing the Spider Viral Core, he uses it to separate Heart and Drive, barely pulling Heart away before Drive exploded. Shin watches only for a moment, just enough to determine that Drive was most likely destroyed in the explosion, then he helps Heart leave.

It took a while for his heart to calm from the terror of seeing Heart in such a situation. For so much of his life, he’d never considered that he’d ever see him in a position like that. Heart had always seemed invincible in his eyes, ever since Shin had learned what he and the other Roidmudes had done to Banno. If they could do that, then surely there was nothing that could stop them, could kill them.

Yet now, Shin had to face the fact that Heart was very much killable. Maybe Drive would have only succeeded in destroying his body, but they’d yet to revive Medic, there was no one who could grant Heart a new body.

“Shin,” Heart breaks the silence, when they’re back at their base. “Thank you.”

Shin smiled, “Of course, I wasn’t going to sit there while he- well, you know.” His smile fell as he recalled the fight.

“Then I’ll ask you to accompany Brain to see Volt’s plan through.”

---

Accompanying Brain to ensure that the Volt Roidmude did as he was supposed to, Shin found himself boredly waiting. Sooner or later, Drive would show up, and hopefully Kiriko would stay out of the way, this time. He wasn’t sure he could take her putting herself in danger again like she had before.

Almost like clockwork, Drive appears, surely to try to stop Volt. Brain makes his way to intercept Drive first, Shin followed after carefully. It seemed that Kiriko had gone on ahead towards Volt – that worried him, but he knew he couldn’t show it, and certainly not to Brain. Brain liked his feelings towards Kiriko the least.

Shin aids Brain in fighting Drive, for a while at least, so as to further buy Volt time. He should be complete soon, but there was no reason to simply let Drive past. Two on one, Drive was well overpowered.

“What about Kiriko?” Drive asked, blocking Shin’s attack, “You’ll leave her with that Roidmude? Even after going out of your way not to hurt her before?”

He hesitates just a moment, at Drives words. Brain scoffed, “You’re not seriously going to listen to him,” He soon attacked Drive.

Before he can think much more, Shin places himself between Brain’s attack and Drive. He doesn’t say anything, and neither does Drive, Drive simply hurries up to deal with Volt and keep Kiriko safe. Still, he’d taken the attack, forcing his Roidmude appearance underneath to be revealed. And he’s certain Drive and Krim Steinbelt had seen it. But there gone before he can worry about it, and Brain is already scolding him.

“Why did you do that? That was stupid!” Brain’s words were harsh, but perhaps not untrue. Shin kneels on the ground, trying to gather some strength after the attack. “and look! Now you’re injured! Heart is going to be so displeased…”

Sighing, Shin pulls himself up, forcing his human skin back over his Roidmude body. Even that action hurt, but Shin did it regardless, much preferring it over having his Roidmude body visible like that. “It’ll be fine,” He said, slowly, “Medic will be revived either way, Drive isn’t going to be able to stop that.”

Brain shook his head, “It doesn’t matter now. We’ll wait until Medic has revived and then she can deal with you. That way Heart won’t be as upset as if you came back with those injuries.”

---

Kiriko hurried to the restaurant she was supposed to meet Masanori at. Despite her best efforts, the Roidmude case had held her up. Still, it wasn’t the first time something like that had happened, and he was always very understanding of it.

Like he often does, he greets her with a smile, “You look nice,” Kiriko sits herself down and tries not to pay his comment much mind, though it was true that she’d made an attempt to dress a bit nicer than normal.

In contrast to Masanori, who wore the clothes he always did. But that was just a quirk of his, so she wasn’t surprised. She holds a bag out to him, “I got you a gift.”

“Thank you,” He takes it, “Although I’ve already gotten a wonderful gift.”

“Oh… you have?”

His smile is large when he answers, “My mom’s returned, it’s so wonderful to see her again.”

Masanori’s mother had been out of the country for a while, and thus he’d been missing her. Kiriko was glad she was back and glad that he was happy. She found herself staring at his smile for maybe a bit too long.

---

“You’ve been taking care of yourself, haven’t you, Shin?” Medic brushed Shin’s bang, pushing them back a little.

Warily, Shin smiled, “Yes, Medic,” He shifted, pulling away from her reach, “I think things have been going well, but you’d have to ask Heart. Though you’re back, so if anything, that’s a good enough sign for me.”

Medic sighed, “Are you sure you’ve kept out of trouble?”

“That wasn’t what you asked before,”

“Well, I’m asking now, because we worry, you know.”

“I know…” Shin sighed, “I know. I hear it from Heart, plenty. But I’ve been keeping out of trouble as much as I can-“

It was then that Brain walked in, scowling, “You got in the way today, and let Volt be killed. That’s why he was so beat up when you awoke, Medic.”

Shin frowned, “That wasn’t even the real Volt, and Medic’s back, so what does it matter?”

---

“Shin is an unusual looking Roidmude,” Chase pointed out, seated in a chair in the Drive Pit. It was only him, Krim, and the Shift Cars.

Krim hummed in thought, the face on the screen of the belt looking equally in thought. “Yes, that is true… additionally, I am curious about the number on his core.”

“It also read 000, like mine,”

“Except you were the only prototype made,” Krim confirmed why Chase was so confused, “I don’t know where he came from.”

“You were thrown aside once you were no longer useful, and Krim Steinbelt only came to you later when he absolutely had to. When you were useful again.”

Even now, Chase couldn’t shake what Shin had said when they had fought before he defeated the Crush Roidmude. Chase would never have described his period on inactivity before the Global Freeze as being thrown aside, though he couldn’t argue that it was true he hadn’t served a use to Krim at that time. Yet it was in his programming to protect humans, so him serving such a purpose when the Roidmudes had begun to attack was not strange.

Still, there was something about Shin’s words, something that confused him. The way he spoke, saying that he’d heard about Chase from others, yet… they’d fought during the Global Freeze, hadn’t they? Though Shin had not given a name at the time, he’d interrupted Chase’s fight with another Roidmude, hadn’t he?

Perhaps Krim could confirm, though Chase is certain of his memories. “We had fought Shin during the Global Freeze.”

“You… may be correct.” Krim agreed, “It was too dark to see the details, but I do believe, now, that was Shin. What bothers me is that he was different, then. He was… er, smaller?”

Shin was tall, now, taller than Chase, instead being around even height with Heart. Yet Chase could remember well that the dark figure they fought during the Global Freeze, who had, at the time, stood smaller than Chase. He had even sounded a bit… younger, at the time. Perhaps those differences, strange as they were, was why Chase had not immediately recognized him.

Chase attacked the Roidmude, knocking it out of the building it was attempting to enter. He moves to punch the Roidmude, only to be stopped by someone shooting at him, knocking his arm to the side. Looking over to the side, he can see a dark figure, unable to make out many details in the darkness.

The Roidmude looked over, “Huh? Oh, are you…?”

“I’m on your side,” the figure had said, voice sounding just a bit too high, making Chase think of a child. “I’ll deal with him, okay?” it was said with a certain confidence.

The Roidmude hurried away before Chase could stop him, resulting in his attention being on only the figure. Quickly, the figure attacked him, clumsy, like he wasn’t used to fighting. Thus, Chase was able to easily overpower him and knock him to the side. He prepared to destroy the figure’s body, as he was surely a Roidmude, but it seemed that the figure had realized what he was going to do, and scrambled to his feet, running away.

“Roidmudes cannot grow,” Chase observed. The only obvious answer for the changes to Shin – assuming that he was who they fought during the Global Freeze – was that he had grown, like a human could. Roidmudes did not have that capability.

“No,” Krim conceded, “They cannot. Though I doubt that’s what happened, even if it were possible.”

“Then why does Shin appear different now than ten years ago?” The answer couldn’t have been growing, that was impossible.

Krim sighed, “I don’t know, not yet.”

---

The white Kamen Rider was strange. He made his entrance dramatically, flipping with lights and all sorts of show. He seemed very… Chase believes the phrase was over the top. Yet when Kiriko sees him, once the Roidmude was defeated, she has a… strange expression on her face.

She must know him, Chase concludes, a thought that is further proven by the annoyance that came over her face. “Gou!”

The white Rider, Gou, turns to look at Kiriko, smiling, “Hey, sis!”

He was Kiriko’s brother, then? Interesting…

Judging by Kiriko’s glare, she was not thrilled by that news.

---

When Shin sees the new Rider, Mach, all he feels is annoyance. Another pest to get in the way – this one may not have been a traitor, but he was still annoying, he was still going to kill Roidmudes.

Shin felt differently when he realized who Mach was, though. Gou, Kiriko’s younger brother. Suddenly, he couldn’t feel so annoyed. Still, it was an inconvenience, it meant that he had to be careful not to hurt Gou too much, lest Kiriko become upset.

---

Kiriko was furious, absolutely, undeniably, furious. Not only did Krim and his mentor decide they were going to use Gou to test a new Rider system and become a Rider, but no one told her about it. They were shoving her brother straight into danger and she had to find out because Gou ran off early to return to Japan! Gou didn’t even tell her that was what he was up to, let alone that was why he was returning now!

They were all lucky Chase had caught her kick before she could hit Krim.

She knows she’s going to need to calm down, and hopefully come up with an explanation for her anger and annoyance, because she’s supposed to get lunch with Masanori, and he knew Gou was supposed to be back soon. Gou was pestering Kyu about something, apparently Captain Honganji had decided that Gou would be aiding the SIU as something of a freelancer. She didn’t like it, but there was no stopping it, now.

“Um… Kiriko?” Hesitantly, Masanori’s voice called out. She turned around, surprise to see him standing in the doorway to the SIU’s office, looking a bit nervous. Everyone else stopped what they were doing and looked too. That seemed to only grow Masanori’s unease. A glance at Rinna, then Kyu, then Captain Honganji, then Gou, before settling on darting his gaze between Chase and Kanno with confusion.

“Oh, Masanori…” She hadn’t expected him to show up here.

Gou grinned as he leaped over towards Masanori, “Big bro!”

“Big bro…?” Rinna muttered.

Masanori carefully dodged the arm that Gou tried to throw around him, “Gou… I’ve told you, I’m not your brother!”

Rinna looked between Masanori and Kiriko, “Kiriko, who’s this? You’re boyfriend?”

“What? No, no, Masanori and I are just friends!” Kiriko can’t help the blush on her face at Rinna’s query.

Though Masanori’s embarrassment was a bit less obvious, he awkwardly adds, “B-besides, we’ve known each other for years…”

That was very much not the right thing to say here, but Masanori wasn’t known for knowing the right thing to say. If anything, that probably only further convinced Rinna, if only to try to tease them.

“Anyway,” Masanori said carefully, “Er… I just came to see you so we could… get lunch.” He winced, perhaps realizing it sounded a bit like they were going on a date. Which they were not. Not at all.

“Yeah, let’s go,” She said, giving Gou a glare before she left.

“It’s good to see Gou back,” Masanori told her, smilingly as they walked.

Kiriko’s anger at Gou’s allowance at becoming a Rider faded a little. Masanori had befriended Gou after a few meetings, and Gou had started calling Masanori big brother years ago. Despite that, Masanori had never really gotten used to it. “Yeah, I’m glad he’s back.” She recalled their earlier trip to their mother’s memorial. “He said that he didn’t want to stay with me, since we were always together growing up.”

Masanori hummed, “I’m sure he just wants to be independent, like he would have been while gone. And he probably doesn’t want to cause you more trouble, now that he’s an adult.”

“I guess, but I’m going to worry either way,”

“Of course, you’re a good older sister, and that’s why you worry.”

---

Heart had reached some power that he called the Dead Zone. Drive and Mach had been fighting Voice and the two Roidmudes with him. Mach was close to defeating Voice, and that was when Heart stepped in. Of course, he wouldn’t allow Mach to kill more of their family.

For a little while, Shin wasn’t bothered, as Heart easily overpower the two Riders. At least, until a new Shift Car came to Drive (Shin thought it was a Shift Car, at least, but it looked rather strange). This Shift Car gave him the power to keep up with Heart, and once more Shin felt that terrible fear in his chest. Heart wouldn’t die, of course, not with Medic here now, but he still had this… this worry.

He couldn’t lose Heart (notagainnotagainnotagain).

Drive overpower Heart, sending him into a wall. Voice got away, but Drive doesn’t seem to notice, instead turning his attention to his now apparent lack of control. Whatever power that Shift Car gave him, he wasn’t able to control it very long.

Shin doesn’t pay it much mind, instead turning his focus to getting Heart somewhere safe – then he’d get Medic, because it would be difficult to drag Heart all the way back to their base.

---

If Shin was being honest, he couldn’t really explain why Judge’s actions cause him such a strange feeling in his stomach. Judge was taking out terrible, no-good humans, ones that were the worst of the worst, right? So that was good, it wasn’t like his Kiriko would be danger, and Gou would only be in danger if he tried to fight Judge (while Shin was willing to not kill Gou himself, he wasn’t willing to go out of his way to protect him from other Roidmudes). Yet still, something about what Judge was doing didn’t sit right with him.

There was only one good human alive, right now, and that was Kiriko. That’s what Shin has believed for years and years, that she was the only good one left (there were some in the past, surely, and he can easily name one, his own father (what was his father’s name?), yet Kiriko was all that was left alive). All those other humans, it shouldn’t matter to Shin what happened to them (though he couldn’t bring himself to kill them, what did it matter if others did).

Shin shouldn’t be feeling so- so conflicted about this. It was clear cut, easy to understand-

“Shin, you’re going to crumble your poor candies to dust.” Heart’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. It reminded Shin of his now very crumpled box of milk candy in his hand.

“Oh…” He muttered.

Heart eyed him curiously before asking, “Is something bothering you?”

If there was one thing Shin knew, it was that saying something like the deaths of humans being implicitly bad was not something Heart or any other Roidmude would want to hear. And while Shin hated keeping things from Heart, he didn’t want another lecture about falling for human’s tricks. He’d already gotten one when they found out about Kiriko, and he wasn’t getting another one because of the terrible humans Judge was killing. Kiriko was worth it, those others… not in the slightest.

Instead, he tells Heart about something else, something that was still bothering him, but not as much as Judge. “I guess I’ve just been… thinking about all of this. I mean, what does the world we’re trying to reach even look like?”

The smile Heart gave him had once been reassuring, and it still was, but there was something about it that didn’t quite sit right with Shin. Perhaps it was because the words that followed, and so often did follow that smile. “That’s not something you need to worry about. Let us handle it.”

“That’s what you always say,” Shin frowned, “If I’m fighting for it, shouldn’t I know?”

“You do not have to fight for it,” Heart reminded, “We’d rather you didn’t.”

They were falling into the same song and dance they always did, when this topic was brought up. That was partially Shin’s intention in bringing it up, anyway. It would distract Heart from what was really bothering Shin. “I’m not going to have everyone else fighting for this world for me.”

That was what he always said. Heart knew that.

Instead of addressing the previous topic, Heart said, “Go make sure the Riders don’t destroy Judge just yet.”

As confused as Shin felt about Judge, he quickly went to do so. It was worse for another Roidmude to die to the Riders, especially a stronger one like Judge. Not that it was good for any of them to die.

He arrived just in time to save Judge from Drive and Mach (this new form of Drive’s is pushing the strength that Shin can take, but he won’t tell anyone that). Though Judge’s human appearance is revealed, he succeeds in getting away, while Shin decides to take advantage of the fact that his and Mach’s motorcycles could combine (Mach had been the one to find it out and had effectively stolen Shin’s bike for a while. He was simply repaying the favor, now). He used that to stall them until the Tridoron appeared and split the two bikes.

Keeping an eye on Judge results in him getting into another fight, this time with Mach. Shin puts just enough effort in to have the upper hand, at least until Mach uses Deadheat. That was when Shin suspected he would be in trouble.

“Time to get rid of you,” Mach hissed as Shin struggled to block his attack.

“You really think you’re strong enough?” It was a bluff, but Shin hoped that Mach wouldn’t be able to call it. If both weren’t careful, Shin might actually be forced to try to kill Gou, to possibly make Kiriko cry.

That seemed to at least annoy Mach more, “I’ll be strong enough to defeat all of you Roidmudes!”

“We’ll see about that,” Despite the strong words, Shin was forced to retreat.

---

Once more, Masanori had arrived at the SIU office to visit Kiriko – he’d started stopping by just to visit, not even when they necessarily had plans. Kiriko didn’t exactly mind, but it was a bit awkward, though she’s surprised that Masanori had yet to question Chase’s arguably strange behavior. She was also relieved he hadn’t, as it would be hard to explain.

That day, a few minutes after arriving, Masanori asked, out of the blue, “Would you be upset if something happened to me? Like, if I died or something?”

It was a strange question, and not one to be answered lightly. “I would, why do you ask?”

“I was just… curious, I guess.” He doesn’t give a further answer.

Instead, Gou saunters up, “Would you be upset if something happened to me?” He asked.

Masanori had a strange expression with his face, like he was unsure how to answer. After a few moments of thought – at least some of which were surely for show – he answered, “Well… I guess a bit.”

“A bit?” Gou deflates, before laughing, clearly taking the answer as a joke, “C’mon, big bro, it’s not like I’m a Roidmude or something!”

At that comment, Masanori’s lips twisted into a terrible frown, “Would that be a bad thing?”

“Roidmudes are terrible!” Gou seemed offended at the question, though was probably playing it up a little. Still, Kiriko knew that Gou, for some reason, was convinced all Roidmudes were terrible – never mind that Chase was right there, disproving the whole thing. Gou did not like having to work with Chase.

“That seems like…” Masanori seemed to struggle for words. “A… concerning sentiment?”

“Gou’s just… like that,” Kanno answered with a bit of a struggle himself. “Don’t worry about it.”

Despite Kanno’s insistence, Masanori did, in fact, seem to be quite bothered by it. Kiriko had to wonder why. Masanori was not really the sort of person to sympathize with people for no reason – if she was being honest, he often come off as very aloof. Like other people’s troubles weren’t his own, unless they affected him or Kiriko. He was sheltered though, at least with his adoptive parents, so maybe he’d just gotten so used to that being true, despite his constant going out to meet Kiriko. Though she’s rather certain that going out to see her was about the only time Masanori actually went out. Maybe she should try to convince him to do it more.

#kamen rider drive #kamen rider #blur the line #my writing

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