“Oh, by the way, do you two want new Gashats? I can try to make them for you,” Mr. Li Yu suddenly asked, his mouth full of food.
“Huh? Really? Please!”
“Poppy, you too. Don't play with that Gashat yet, I'll help you make it,” seeing Kagami Hiiro tsundere-like and not responding, Mr. Li Yu turned to Poppy. When he saw her reluctant little expression, he mouthed the words “hen shin” to her.
“Eh?!” Poppy’s eyes immediately lit up. She grabbed Mr. Li Yu’s arm, “Really?”
“Of course.” Mr. Li Yu expressionlessly pulled his arm away, “Give me the Gashat.”
“Okay~”
“Kagami Hiiro, come out for a moment. I… why is it ‘again’… anyway, I need to talk to you,” Mr. Li Yu said to Kagami Hiiro after taking the Gashat Poppy handed him.
“Alright.” Mr. Li Yu closed the door, “There are some things I need to tell you.”
“What?”
“You want to revive Saeki Hime, right? But before that, you also want to avenge her, don't you?”
“What are you going to do now?”
“Saeki Hime disappeared because she was infected by the Bugster Virus that originated from the game Dragon Knight Hunter Z, right? The Bugster born from Dragon Knight Hunter Z, the culprit who killed Saeki Hime—Graphite—possesses extremely strong power. Level 2 is no match for him. So, what I’m doing is helping you, understand? Don’t put on airs, okay?”
“I know… but still, thank you…”
“Stop, stop, don’t say another word.” Mr. Li Yu interrupted Kagami Hiiro with a dark expression, leaving him bewildered. “I’m also doing this for CR, and for the safety of the patients. With higher-level Gashats, we can complete surgeries more efficiently.”
“By the way, I saw a white-haired man with highlights observing your battle today. Since we roughly have a solution now, try to stay calm if you see him in the future.”
Did Mr. Li Yu see clearly? Of course not. From such a distance, he only saw a person in a white top holding something in front of his eyes and looking in their direction. But as a man who had read the script thoroughly, he could guess the other party's identity with his toes.
“…I’ll try.” Although Mr. Li Yu’s words were vague, Kagami Hiiro immediately understood who he was talking about, and his entire face fell.
Someone in his own clinic sneezed twice far away.
“What’s going on? Is someone talking bad about me?”
After a “friendly exchange” with Kagami Hiiro, Mr. Li Yu immediately plunged into his room, entering his studio… There was no other way; he had made a promise, and he had to fulfill it, even with tears in his eyes!
---Divider---
“It should be here…” Mr. Li Yu stood outside a prison with a basket of fruit. After showing his ID to the guards, he successfully arrived at a cell.
“…” The man in the cell saw the cell door open, looked at the person in front of him, paused, then smiled, “It’s you, Xiao Yu.”
“Yes, Uncle Dan, I came to see you. How have you been lately?” Mr. Li Yu replied with a smile on his face, but his heart was full of questions. What the hell, am I close with Dan Masamune?
“What else could it be? Same as usual. What about you? Have you found a girlfriend?”
“No…” Mr. Li Yu replied somewhat hastily. Damn it, you are definitely not the Dan Masamune I know. Who are you really?!
“Then have you met anyone you like?”
“Not yet…”
Dan Masamune chatted with Mr. Li Yu about random things for several minutes before finally asking, “How is my company doing now?”
“It’s doing well, under… Kuroto’s leadership.”
“Is that so…” Dan Masamune’s expression changed, “You must have helped a lot too.”
“Uh, probably…”
They were silent. A few minutes later, Mr. Li Yu got up, “Uncle Dan, I’ll be leaving now. You should be back soon. Oh, and those fruits have all been washed, remember to eat them.”
“Mm… take care of yourself.”
Mr. Li Yu silently recited “sign in” in his mind, then fled from there as if on the run, not even bothering to look at the reward.
“This is unbelievable. Why is Dan Masamune like this?” If he hadn’t still been in prison and if his expression hadn’t changed when Dan Kuroto was mentioned, Mr. Li Yu would have doubted if it was the same person.
“System, where’s the sign-in reward? Let me see.”
“Sign-in location: Dan Masamune’s prison. Reward: Kamen Rider Chronicle Gashat underlying logic data 33%, Buggle Driver data 25%, Bugster Virus complete antibody 50%.”
As expected of Old Dan, it's all powerful yet useless stuff. There's really nothing that can be used immediately, but you also can't say they're completely useless. After all, the T1 level strength is there. It's truly speechless… Not only did I not get any immediate gains from this trip, but I also listened to nagging for so long. However, he wasn't very annoyed; or rather, he couldn't truly dislike the concern given by anyone.
“Forget it,” Mr. Li Yu scoffed, “What am I being sentimental about? System, enter the studio.”
—Divider—
“Ah~choo.” Mr. Li Yu struggled to sit up from the bed. Yesterday’s research got a bit out of hand, and he was still a bit overwhelmed…
“Li-san, is my Gashat ready?” Poppy peeked into Mr. Li Yu’s room.
“Not yet. I have too many Gashats on hand, but it’ll be soon, about three days.” Mr. Li Yu yawned again, and wiped away the tears from the corner of his eyes. “Maybe I should just go back to sleep…”
“Ding-a-ling-a-ling—” Mr. Li Yu’s words were interrupted again.
“What, Emu? A new Bugster has appeared. Li-san and I will be right there!”
“I, don’t, want, to, go! They’re enough.” Mr. Li Yu looked distraught.
“You’ve slacked off enough lately! Please be serious, Li-san!”
Poppy dragged the dazed Mr. Li Yu towards their destination.
At this moment, where the Bugster appeared.
“Who is that?” Hojo Emu looked at the man not far away in confusion, then ran over. “It’s dangerous here, you should quickly leave…”
“Get out of the way!” The other party had a stern expression. Before Hojo Emu could finish speaking, he pushed him aside. “One Kamen Rider is enough!”
“Huh?” Hojo Emu, sitting on the ground, looked at the other party in a daze as he put on a Gamer Driver, then pulled out a Gashat, aimed it forward, and made a shooting gesture.
【BangBang Shooting】
【Game Area Deployment】
“This is…”
“A Gashat developed based on the ‘Bang Bang Shooting’ game, a light gun shooting game with the goal of shooting down the boss Livre,” Poppy, who had arrived by this time, spoke up, her face serious. “Why is this guy here?”
“Huh? Poppy, do you know him?” Hojo Emu was stunned. “By the way, where is Mr. Li Yu? Didn’t you say he came with you?”
“There,” Poppy pointed to the ground with a speechless expression, “He’s there…”
“Ah, this…” Hojo Emu followed the direction Poppy pointed, only to see an unknown creature crawling in a dark, twisted manner. His mouth twitched. “Did Mr. Li Yu get some kind of shock?”
“No… he’s probably just sleep-deprived.”
While the two were talking, the battle on the other side had already begun.
“Hen shin.”
【Gashat】
【Let's Game! Mutcha Game!】
【What's your name?】
【I'm a Rider】
He waved his hand and hit one of the character pattern light screens surrounding him. The light screen passed through his body, leaving behind a three-headed, short, chubby figure with a helmet on his head and a diagonal-cut visor-like piece over his right eye—Snipe Level 1 Bang Bang Shooting, appearing!
“First tactic!” Snipe raised the magnum gun in his hand and fired a barrage of shots at the Bugster.
“Then I’ll go too!” Hojo Emu took out his Gamer Driver and Gashat, but before he could make another move, a hand stopped him.
“Huh?”
“You don’t need to go. Just watch. In every way, he can be considered your senior.”
“Eh? Mr. Li Yu, are you back to normal?”
“Please delete the memory of what you saw earlier from your mind, thank you!”
“Dame yo~” Poppy made a big ‘X’ with her hands in front of her chest. “I was already merciful not to record it, Li-san. You wouldn’t want everyone to know about you like that, would you~”
“Go, go, go, go play somewhere else,” Mr. Li Yu rolled his eyes. Why is your Japanese accent so strong? What? This is Japan? Oh, never mind then~
“Yuuki!” Just as the few of them were talking, the Bugster had already been separated by Snipe’s bullet-like attacks. Hojo Emu quickly rushed over and took the patient.
【Gachan Level Up!】
【Babangbang Babangbang BangBang Shooting】
“Second tactic!”
“Mr. Li Yu, aren’t we going yet… What are you doing?!”
“Crack!” Mr. Li Yu expertly cracked a sunflower seed. “Cracking sunflower seeds, isn’t it obvious? Want some?”
“Is this the time for cracking sunflower seeds?… Give me some too.”
“Me too, me too!”
【Kashu】
Boss Livre and all the small fries had been dealt with by Snipe. Hanaya Taiga also disengaged his transformation and walked towards the three with a stern expression.
“Sashiburi da na, Poppy Pipopapo.” Hanaya Taiga, the white-haired man with highlights, wearing a black short-sleeved shirt, a white lab coat, and military pants and boots, walked up to the three. But when he saw the three cracking sunflower seeds, his cold expression almost broke.
“Why do you have a Gamer Driver and a Gashat?” Poppy asked Hanaya Taiga coldly after finishing her last sunflower seed.
“Next time, let’s play a game together, game disease specialist and Genius Gamer M,” Hanaya Taiga quickly adjusted his facial expression, completely ignoring Poppy’s question. He just said coldly to Mr. Li Yu and Hojo Emu, then turned and left.
“Eh…” Poppy stared blankly as Hanaya Taiga left coolly. She had thought her attitude was cold enough, but she didn’t expect him to be even colder than her.
“By the way, who exactly is he?” Hojo Emu was full of questions. Why did he feel like he was the only one who knew nothing?
“Let’s go back to CR first. I’ll tell you when we get back,” Mr. Li Yu yawned. He felt a little sleepy…