Chapter Text
Author Notes: The storyline takes place years after (2025) MS: The Eighth Day's Fifth Route and one year before (2025) MS: Twilight Guardian of Hearts. However, of note, one shouldn't need to consult these stories to understand the plot of this specific story.
Arc 1: The Kamijou Family's Bonds Across Time And Space. A Strange Reunion Of Four Heroines And Two Parents Of A Past World That No Longer Should Exist. A Mandated Humanitarian Mission Of The Millennium For Nineteen Worlds.
Song: Dies irae - Animation OST: AHIH ASHR AHIH
...Everything was quiet.
...Before.
"...!"
One could hear the gasp of a man who would sit up from his bed. It felt like countless sweat dropped from under his forebrow. When he wiped it with his right hand, it seemed to be. He glances at his left. His wife was asleep. He looked at the alarm clock that was near the table.
5:15
Early morning. He sighed again. Just a dream. But that did not sort out his own worries. Quietly, he would try to get out of bed while careful not to wake up his wife. He needed to check their daughter, who was sleeping in her room. He opens and closes the door. He walked towards the other room and took a peak, seeing someone who was resting soundly from the bed, holding what appeared to be an action figure of a famous superhero. A figure of magenta, with white and gold trims, and emerald eyes.
He would come inside quietly as he bended his knees, looking at his daughter's face. Black hair. Blue eyes under her close lids. A resting, smiling face. His daughter looked so much like her mother. Gently, he touches her hair and brushes it. He didn't know how long he had been doing it. It was probably around two minutes in real time, but it almost felt like an entire lifetime.
"...Dear?"
He turns around, noticing his wife's voice from the door. Black hair, blue eyes, beautiful face that showed a worried expression. Her hair had a small white flower accessory on the left side of her hair.
"Ah, sorry," The man sported an apologetic look, standing up. "Did I woke you up?"
She smiled. "No, I just woke up." She walked towards him. "I'm more worried about you though."
The man knew the words conveyed underneath. "...I'd say that I'm fine, but..." He looks at his daughter, resting in peace.
"Did you have a bad dream?" The woman asked, placing her hand to the side of his face.
"...I guess you could say that," The man acquiesced.
She only gave him a kind smile and didn't ask further. She just knew. She implanted a soft kiss on his lips. "I'm going to cook something up downstairs. What would you like?"
"You?" The man asked, genuine and joking at the same time while he held her waist.
His wife smirked a little as she rolled her eyes. "Ha-Ha. I meant food of course."
"...Hmm," The man would think a little bit. "Curry I guess?"
"Curry it is then," The woman smiled brightly as she kissed him, before looking at the latter flirtatiously and lovingly. "Well, aren't you going to let go of me, stranger?"
"...Guilty," He raised his hands in the air, with a joking smile.
His wife kissed him on the lips before leaving the room. He sighed heavily before looking at his precious little girl.
She was here. She was safe. That was all that mattered to him.
His name was Touma Kamijou.
Loving husband. Loving father.
A man who, to his personal judgment, resembled much of his own late father. His once somewhat spiky hair, now gave way to a more sleek black hairstyle resembling his own father. Even has the light stubble to prove it. He currently wore
It was around the early month of November 2028. He was currently reading the latest online news under the headlines of: "New Heroes In Town. Magical Girls Bust White Mask Operation." which he's viewing under his magenta-colored mobile phone-tablet hybrid device called a PhoneDrone, whose back had the owning headlines: "Stark Industries".
The man's thought process was quiet and contemplative. It only reminded him of the new status quo that occurred from his perspective. To most of the world, magical girls of fiction had suddenly come to life. The Pretty Cure. That took him back to a time when the world bore witness to the appearance of the Kamen Riders around the year 2000, and he was one of them. He was a whole lot younger back then, and he'd be lying if he didn't say that he never changed much over the years.
...Something happened.
That was why these girls came into existence. These superheroines that all numbered around millions of young girls and women, many of whom were displaced from their own time and place, and couldn't go back there. Not that most if not all of these girls would want to even go back to that kind of hell.
What was he referring too?
...A nightmare.
One that he had woke up from, and he's not talking about the recent dream that he had.
"...Papa."
His heartstrings were tugged as he would see a young eight year old girl on his lap, with a cheeky cute smile. He would smile as he would grab her by the arms and place him to his lap.
"Oh, how's my little girl doing?" He would ask.
"I'm doing fine," She smiled cheekily as she presented her drawing of him and his wife. "Look, look, I drew you and mama when we went to that park that other day."
His daughter, Freyja Kamijou, had a natural talent for many things, much to the surprise of one Touma Kamijou. One of those was drawing, as her drawings were less the drawings of normal eight year olds, and more of an almost professional artist. Touma had suspected that his daughter had a photographic memory, which probably helped with her artistic talent.
"Ah, that's a very good drawing you've got there," He smiled as he complimented his cute daughter, gently rubbing her hair, making her smile cheerfully.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Hm?"
Touma would notice his PhoneDrone beeping. An incoming caller. The words: "Shirai Kuroko" would be seen on the heading.
"Ah, it's Shirai-oneechan," Freyja muttered a surprised look.
"Yeah," Touma looked at his daughter with an apologetic look. "So, Freyja, this is probably work related, so..."
"Hmm," Freyja nodded. "Okay, papa."
She would hop out of Touma's lap, much to his sadness, and cursed with his usual that accompanied a sigh: "Such misfortune..." He would glance at his wife, who looked at him with a curious and concerned expression. She would hop out of her chair and walk towards him, as he pressed the green-colored accept button.
Out came a beautiful woman in her thirties with natural perm tawny long hair that reached her back and brown eyes. The woman, back in her middle school years, used to have it on a twin-tailed hairstyle. On her head, she was wearing a green cap hat whose symbol had the two white lines of a closed U shape that resembled a shield.
She smiled a little, with a hint of seriousness and apology. "Ah, hey there, partner. Saten-san," She addressed the last part towards his wife, who was standing behind him.
Ruiko Saten. Or rather, Ruiko Kamijou. His beloved wife of many years. People that knew her longer still refer to her by her maiden name, as it would either be rather confusing when he and her are in the same room, or they simply grown used to calling her that and never thought much of changing it.
"Shirai-san," Ruiko smiled a little, her elbows leaning in on Kamijou's chair. "I'm assuming that I must be rather important if you're calling my husband on a free day."
"...Hmm," Shirai looked at her apologetically and hesitant, putting her finger to her face and scratching it. Touma found that a bit odd. What's making her having that reaction? "Well, actually, the Commissioner's calling both of us to his office."
"Eh? The Commish? Whatever for?" Touma became alert.
"...Umm," Shirai would mutter with a hesitant tone. "It's a little complicated, but... apparently it's about onee-sama."
"Misaka-san?" Saten asked, concerned for her old friend. "What about her?"
"Umm, that's the thing," Shirai would place her hands to her hips. "It's not our onee-sama specifically, but a younger her."
The Kamijous would blink a little bit. "Hai?" They both muttered with a frown of confusion.
"Raft!"
They looked towards the German Shepherd Family Dog - Dexter - who wag his tail and had his mouth open to reveal his tongue, while Freyja was hugging the dog and telling him how much of a good boy he is. The dog's collar also had a shield badge of sorts that was the same symbol as the one found of Shirai's cap hat.
"In any case," Kamijou and Saten would look at Shirai who spoke to them seriously. "I'm gonna be picking you both up when I eventually get there. And yes, Saten-san, you're coming along too, since the commissioner also requested you as well for some reason, saying and I quote: "Because I've got the feeling your presence there is sorely needed.". Though, the only problem I'm wondering would be Freyja and who would take care of her, because I obviously can't bring her to the commissioner's office as it is still a work-related affair."
"Well..." Saten looks at her husband a little before looking back at her friend. "I could call Esther to come over, so it's no problem at all."
"Great," Shirai nodded. "I'll be by your house within the hour."
Then the call hung up, making the married couple look at each other, with a long pause that had the expressions of concern and a hint of dread.
"I'm gonna go to the garage and have a little talk with the Knight Rider," Touma said as he stood up and walked away.
"Hmm," Saten nodded with a serious expression. "And I'll call Esther in the meantime and get myself ready."
Both of them would have the same line of thought. Something strange was happening. Something strange was happening again. And they couldn't help but glance at their daughter with worry.
Song: Dies irae The Animation OP - Kadenz
"...Hmm."
A man with brown hair with little dashes of white and brown eyes, and with a black coat and magenta shirt, would smile grimly yet softly as he pictured the large building whose entrance and attached sign on the second floor has the words: "Kamijou Studios", which indicated the place as a combination of a large suburban house and a photography studio that has about three floors.
"Honestly," He looks at the first photo that he pictured.
It looked like a blur. It... had one world at the very center which resembled Earth, which was encircled by over nineteen other Earth-like worlds that also look blurred because these earth-like planets had a kind of mirror phantasmic pattern of various Earth-like planets of different angular shapes merging with these nineteen worlds. Some of them would go so far as to have a crack-like image, like cracks found in a mirror.
Another image that he took has a similar pattern, but it has nineteen individual people that were seen blurring along with the Earth-like planets, along with blurring images of nineteen armored individuals with different designs and styles.
Another image that he took was something else. Patterns of individuals with blank patterns, in a mirror-like order.
Another image that he took was a young Touma Kamijou, who still had his somewhat spiky hair, who seem to be happy around two of his parents.
A final image has four halves, where it has Touma Kamijou interacting with four women from four separate occasions. On the upper left, there was Touma defending a one-eyed woman against the world, as part of his resolve, as the woman in particular laid down on the ground in surprise. On the upper right, there was a bleeding Touma Kamijou in his third year of middle school, being cradled by a blonde middle schooler with starry eyes.
"It seems that things are far from over for all of us, bozu," He muttered with a grim expression.
And he was not ignorant of the presence of something else, as the man turned around to find a man with pale-golden yellow eyes standing just nearby. His expression was blank, before it turns into a subtle smile. He wore a dark fedora hat that covered most of his Caucasian pale face, with grey hair and eyebrows. He had a dark trenchcoat, with a white collar shirt, black blazer jacket and pants, with a black tie.
"And here I had thought that the worst was over," The man with yellow eyes would say with a casual tone, as his eyes became visible under the tip of his hat. "Kadoya Tsukasa."
Tsukasa narrowed his eyes at the being in front of him. He knew this was no ordinary human. "Azazel." He muttered the being's true name with a casual tone. Most would only simply call him as the Yellow-Eyed Demon, or Yellow Eyes. Tsukasa wasn't intimidated, even as he could peer beyond the veil and truthfully saw the being's higher extradimensional luminous form that lay underneath a dead human body. "I'd guess you couldn't resist saying that to my face, since you clearly seem to know what's happening."
"Guilty as charge, I suppose," Yellow Eyes shrugs his shoulders.
"Or..." Tsukasa would point his finger at him. "I guess you're here just to get rid of Narutaki a little, just so that you and I can talk just a little without that moron interrupting me every single time."
"I did do you a solid favor for that very purpose," Yellow Eyes smiled. "He'll be back of course, but it won't be for a while. Oh, and no need to worry, he's still pretty much alive, just a little lost in some other extradimensional plane that I've personally crafted."
"Ma, not like I care about him anyway, the less I hear of "Onore Decade"," Tsukasa rolled his eyes. "Guess you're simply here to also just declare war to my face again, as per the usual tradition."
"It's become the norm recently after the Kali-Yuga Crisis. Hell Lords of my caliber can only act as quietly as we can, now that ceasefires have been laid down under the law, and merely content with providing the set pieces to make things even," Yellow Eyes stated with a smile.
"Treaties of which had never really stopped the lot of you from just doing whatever to humans and those who you deem lesser," Tsukasa countered with a casual yet edged and grim tone.
"A truth, that is laid with its own complexities," Yellow Eyes said, as his smile now indicated something. "Just as I could well describe your protege and his family."
Tsukasa was simply silent about that, but his warning gaze was more than clear of a message for Yellow Eyes to understand. Yellow Eyes simply walked towards the field and inspected the garden of flowers, of different flavors and varieties.
"And thus, God made everything good," Yellow Eyes said, admiring the handiwork. "Wouldn't you agree with that passage from that Holy Word of my Father's?"
Tsukasa continued to look at him, as Yellow Eyes spoke. "Each and every flower seems different. Regarding its metacontextual structure as much as its physical nature. What most could not see, I can see. And... it is indeed very beautiful. The very Earth itself. In fact, some even go so far as to say that this was the very center of the universe itself. I would not personally go that far, but the boast is not without merit.
And... just like each flower, they have their own life cycle. A sprouting seed upon its birth, whose seasons were the scheduled time of which blooms its petals, of lives that relate with the precept of time, until its inevitable death. Before a cycle begins again to replace such flowers.
...That's what worlds are like, for someone like me. For you as well."
Azazel turned towards Tsukasa with a subtle smile. The latter talked as he placed his hands to his black pants inner pockets.
"In other words," Tsukasa spoke with a grim expression. "Somebody's bringing in the stories of dead worlds, fusing it with other dead worlds, then bringing along it some other creative liberties, as if it were works of art."
"An unnatural occurrence that could be viewed between all higher dimensional planes," Yellow Eyes spoke, as he raises his hands downwards. "What happens I suppose, if someone tries to take advantage of this expository conclusion? Because I doubt some ambitious folks would go silent when they have their hands right near the jack-o-lantern where the candies are."
He said as a plastic wrapped candy somehow materialized on his fingers. He unwrapped the candy and started to chew it, savoring it, while Tsukasa watches in silence as he would see the man swallow it afterward.
"Ah, but sometimes, a candy that one could eat would get its own little problems, sinking into the teeth of little children," Yellow Eyes said, looking at Tsukasa. "And just like defected candies, the stories bring its own dilemma of problems."
Tsukasa smirked a little. "So you're deliberately provoking Narutaki into becoming bait for you to do your bidding. If it weren't for the circumstances, I might actually laugh and thank you for doing that."
"The equivalent of the tip of my hat, from one force of destruction to another," Yellow Eyes simply placed his hands on the center of his fedora hat and tipped it.
"Though," Yellow Eyes would look towards another direction, seeing the flowers again which were waving by the winds. "One has to wonder, if this is to be the beginning of yet another phase behind the snake who lurks under the garden."
His yellow eyes glowed meaningfully.
A silence reigned.
Both ultimately knowing what it was.
The chess pieces are set. And just as Yellow Eyes made his first move, Tsukasa would make his own first yet secret move.
A move that relates to A Certain Imagine Breaker who would begin to take up his role as the Savior of Worlds.
Nineteen Worlds. One World. Nineteen Stories. One Savior.
They both look up. It was almost as if the sky was slightly glitching. An early morning suddenly switching into a night, temporarily, as a shadow would cover the twilight of the moon.
A shadow... under the twilight of the moon...
There was a man who feels genuinely out of place amongst the crowd.
His name was Touya Kamijou.
A man in his thirties with straight combed black hair and stubble and grey dark eyes, wearing a brown white collar shirt with black center stripes and brown pants.
His wife, Shiina Kamijou, sat beside him. An elegant woman with brown hair and brown eyes, wearing an ankle length white dress and a pink cardigan. A similar expression was on her face as they both look each other, as they bore witness to...
"...That's why I'm saying, why of all the people that I know, you have to be the one who somehow tag along with me for whatever reason?"
"It's not my fault that you're here along with me! In fact, I'm not even sure why either, never mind me not truthfully knowing what's going on here!"
The married couple bore witness to two middle school students, wearing female winter uniforms, arguing with each other. One of whom, the young girl with chestnut brown hair with flower clips on her side, was quite familiar with. The other one, the blonde girl whose figure didn't seem to belong to a middle schooler, with starry eyes, along with a handbag with a star shape symbol on the side, was someone they don't really know.
Glancing on the center, Touya would see a young silver haired woman wearing a teacup white habit with golden embroidery, who did not know what to say at this situation and tried to play peacemaker, but she couldn't get a word out as the two were so very focused on each other.
If one were to glance at her left shoulder, there was a blonde woman with a one-eyed emerald color and the other was an black eyepatch, wearing a witch's hat and black cloak covering her shoulders, who seem to be sighing in exasperation, and muttering.
"Forget it, Index," The woman muttered. "It's quite obvious that these two are going to carry on arguing with each other for a while."
And the first thing Touya can only say with this situation would be...
"What's going on here?"
Because he just has no clue, as one moment, he was just working from the other side of the world as a part of his businessman job. The next thing he knew... he ends up on a street corner along with his wife and three other women with him. Now, they are currently being detained by the local law enforcement who had green armbands.
Touya could spot at least two adults who wore SWAT Tactical Gear, carrying Heckler & Koch XM8s, with green armbands that had the shield logo. Thus, he knew these officers belong to the law enforcement organization Judgment. Though what he found stranger was that Judgment had adult members to begin with. As far as he knew at least, Judgment is more of a student based public mortals committee, not a... literal police force.
He could just recall coming into the station and seeing adults along with teenagers wearing the same armband, and what seem to be a common attire of the winter which consisted of a white shirt with a green and white striped necktie, worn under a heavy green tunic coat and a Sam Browne Belt with shoulder strap, and green trousers, along with common hats ranging from black berets, peaked caps, and bowler hats with green and white bans.
"...Umm, Shiina," He would look towards his wife. "I'll just ask one of the people over there for some information on our situation."
"Hmm, alright, Touya-san," Shiina spoke while glancing at the arguing brown haired brunette and blonde haired starry eyes.
Touya would walk towards the two Judgment Officers guarding the door, and started to politely ask. "Umm..." They turn towards him. "Forgive me, but what exactly are we all doing here in the meantime?"
The officer on the left responded simply. "We've been given strict orders from our Commissioner to guard and accommodate for your every need as we currently wait for the arrival of Chief Inspector Shirai and her partner, sir."
"Ah...Ahmm," Touya nodded slowly. "Are we in any kind of trouble?"
"No, sir," The officer replied. "There's no trouble at all."
"Wait, hold on!" The brown-haired brunette said, as she and the blonde girl looked and walked towards the officer. "You said... Chief Inspector Shirai? What's the full name?"
"Chief Inspector Shirai Kuroko, ma'am," The officer replied.
The brown-haired girl and the blonde-haired girl would look at the officer would bewilderment, then looking back at each other before looking back at the latter.
"...Huh?" They both muttered.
Opening Song - Kamen Rider Decennium : TRON Music Video - Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)