Late at night, in an alley.
Rikuo held the Queen of Spades - Absorb Capricorn (Ability: Allows Blade change forms; Fuses the power of advanced Undead), and walked towards the fried chicken shop.
"Big Goat Head, Goat Head is here! I'm telling you, Goat Head isn't just the only male queen, Goat Head is going to be the strongest queen! Holy crap! The Jack of Spades and King of Spades are both banned! Goat Head is laughing! Ha↑ Ha↑ Ha↑ Ha↑ Ha↓ Ha↑ Ha↑ Ha↓ Ha↓ Ha↑ Holy crap, Goat Head got ganked, why isn't Goat Head dead! Why is Goat Head so weak! Goat Head steamed vegetables!"
The Queen of Spades in his hand struggled wildly, emitting a "fooooo!" sound.
"Stop jumping, Goat Head almost entered Nirvana."
The double-headed goat Queen of Spades in his hand stopped twitching, as if it had lost its last dignity.
...
Rikuo arrived at the 24-hour convenience store. The clerk, seeing Rikuo who hadn't disengaged his Kamen Rider form, paused his hand that was flipping the hot food.
"Don't panic, Kamen Rider needs to eat too. Give me four servings of fried chicken."
"Ah! Ah! Okay! Okay!"
Seeing the clerk fumbling to get five servings of fried chicken, Rikuo took them and waved his hand.
"Dude, there's an extra one."
"That one is an extra gift from me personally. I was also on that tram when we encountered the Anomaly. Thank you, Blade-san, my name is Sato Aozora."
Rikuo thought back, it seemed this young man was among the group he had protected last.
"Then thank you, Sato, I'll take it."
"You're welcome, we should be thanking you. Blade-san, could I take a photo with you? I just want to commemorate it, I won't spread it around that you appeared here. I'll also delete the store's surveillance footage."
Rikuo thought about it; a photo wasn't a big deal.
"Sure, you don't need to delete the surveillance. Is it strange for a Kamen Rider to buy things? It's not like I'm doing anything illicit."
Sato Aozora excitedly walked out, took out his phone, and took a selfie with Rikuo. After putting his phone away, he seemed to remember something.
"Thanks. By the way, Blade-san, why are you here late at night? Did an Anomaly appear again? Are you hurt? Will it affect my shift?"
"You could say an Anomaly appeared, a very weak Anomaly, em, an unformed Anomaly, I took care of it in three minutes. You can go to work normally, but the best situation is not to leave your house between 5 PM and 5 AM. Just stay inside the house. Anomalies can't just enter a door, and you can also inform your acquaintances."
"Okay, thank you."
"You're welcome."
...
10 PM, apartment.
The convenience store plastic bag dangled from the doorknob. Rikuo pushed the door open with an iron mountain lean, and the aroma of fried chicken instantly filled the small six-mat room.
"I'm home!"
Because Rikuo had notified them in advance that he bought fried chicken for a late-night snack, Mutsumi and Sakiko were also in Rikuo's room.
In the living room, Togawa Sakiko was sitting cross-legged at the low table, frantically typing something on Rikuo's laptop, probably about Ave Mujica's worldview? She didn't even lift her head when she heard the sound.
"Welcome back, Rikuo."
Rikuo placed the fried chicken on the dining table, and the grease seeped through the paper box, creating a transparent stain on the plastic bag.
"You didn't go for cheap fried chicken again because of the god of half-price, did you?"
Sakiko finally looked up, her dead fish eyes staring at him.
"Hahaha, of course not. With Wakaba Takafumi's generous funding, how could I go for cheap fried chicken?"
Actually, it was just because that convenience store didn't have half-price deals for expired items; they just disposed of any food that went past its time.
Sakiko shook her head, snapping out of her world-building.
"Mutsumi usually sleeps at this time. I'll go wake her up to eat something."
"Mutsumi is already asleep? Then maybe let her keep sleeping, I can buy more tomorrow."
Sakiko turned back and smiled at Rikuo.
"No need, Mutsumi said she wants to learn how to stay up late, eat fried chicken at night, and even wants to learn to play League of Legends with you."
"Haha, Mutsumi's wishes are really cute. Is she trying to develop into a rebellious girl?"
"Yes, I want to learn to be rebellious."
Mutsumi walked out of the master bedroom, quietly holding a cup of tea, like a cat that had wandered into human society.
"Mutsumi? When did you arrive?"
"I smelled the fried chicken. Before, I hadn't."
Mutsumi looked at the fried chicken, and a look of longing actually appeared in her eyes.
'I feel like Wakaba Takafumi should die even more.'
Rikuo took out the fried chicken box, lifted the lid, and golden, crispy fried chicken pieces steamed, the oil still sizzling.
"I'm going to start eating, I didn't eat much dinner. By the way, where's Kiyotsugu?"
Sakiko also opened a serving of fried chicken.
Rikuo watched as Sakiko ate fried chicken by first peeling off the skin and eating it separately.
'It's all Kiyotsugu's fault, what has Sakiko become? Eating strawberry mapo tofu, eating chocolate dumplings, and now she even eats fried chicken skin separately.'
Hearing Rikuo's words, Sakiko paused her actions and said,
"As for my father, he went to work the night shift. He said the construction site resolved a crisis with his help and they wanted to give him an extra reward or something. So, he won't be eating."
"Alright, I'll eat two servings!"
Mutsumi: "I want two servings too!"
Seeing Mutsumi actively make a request, Rikuo felt like a child had grown up.
"Then Mutsumi can have two servings."
But Mutsumi didn't seem to have any intention of eating the fried chicken yet; she was just looking at it.
"Mutsumi, aren't you eating?"
"Waiting for it to cool."
"Cool? There's no 'cool' in this worldview!"
Sakiko sighed, looking at Rikuo.
"She's afraid of hot food."
"…I didn't say anything."
Three seconds later, Mutsumi cautiously poked the fried chicken with her chopsticks. After confirming the temperature was suitable, she took a small bite.
"Delicious."
Mutsumi picked up a piece of fried chicken with both hands, taking small bites, just like a little hamster.
"Mutsumi, you're maliciously acting cute!"
Mutsumi looked up at Rikuo, tilting her head, indicating she didn't understand what he was saying.
"So, how's your band's preparation going recently?"
Rikuo asked casually, trying to break the silence.
"It's going well."
Sakiko's chewing paused.
"It's just a matter of members and songs. With Wakaba Takafumi's funding, most problems can be solved."
"As for members, I invited two for you before: a drummer, Nyamu, whom you've probably followed. And then there's the bass mercenary, Yahata Umiri. For Yahata Umiri, I still need to ask Taki for help. Speaking of which, I still don't have Taki's contact information!"
Rikuo thought this was ridiculous; their relationship was already quite good. He didn't have a habit of actively asking for people's contact information. So far, Nyamu was the only one he actively asked for, and Taki was also a very straightforward girl.
"In that case, the members should be complete then. Also, Uika, my childhood playmate, she can be the guitar lead vocalist."
'Not Uika. By the way, tomorrow I'm accompanying Tomori to the planetarium, maybe I'll even run into Uika there. Oh, not Uika.'
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