Love Live! and Kamen Rider

A soft sigh and a silent shake of the head were all it took for Nozomi Tojo to understand everything.

The original nine had dwindled to four. Two of them had been her best friends, and one had even been branded a murderer. Unable to bear such a devastating blow, Minami Kotori had eventually taken leave and stayed home to rest.

"By the way, Eli, have you noticed how strange Gari's been acting lately?" Nozomi suddenly asked.

"It's only natural, Nozomi. None of us ever imagined something like this would happen. Even you and I have started acting strangely," Eli Ayase said with a bitter smile.

"That's true..." Nozomi replied with a matching bitter smile. Then she suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right. I don't think I've seen Nico all day today."

"Nico? I don't know, either. I haven't seen her in several days..."

"Ahhhhh!"

A sudden scream startled the students in the classroom. They followed the sound to its source.

They arrived at the Idol Research Club and stared at the tightly shut door. Eli and Nozomi exchanged uncertain glances.

At last, Eli gathered her courage and turned the doorknob. The door had barely opened when a piercing chill swept over them. Before they could react, the door swung wide, and everyone froze at the sight before them.

A girl sat trembling on the floor. Scattered sheets of white paper covered the ground, but no one paid them any attention. Before them stood a life-sized block of ice.

In the sunlight, they could clearly see Yazawa Nico frozen inside...

"It's too late... There's no saving her..."

The doctor looked at the cold, rigid body of the girl before him and shook his head regretfully.

"..."

He silently watched the scene before him, unable to tell what he felt anymore. He only knew that he seemed to be growing numb...

"Gari..." Takai Geki arrived at the scene and glanced at Senba Gari with concern.

Senba Gari only shook his head in silence. Then he swayed unsteadily as he walked away.

"Eli, you should go on ahead. I need to talk to Gari." Watching Senba Gari leave, Nozomi hurriedly spoke to Eli, then rushed after him.

She was far too concerned about how Senba Gari had been acting these past few days. Unless she got to the bottom of it, she knew she would never stop thinking about it.

"Nozomi!" Eli called after her, but Nozomi had already disappeared from view. Eli had no choice but to let it go.

She was exhausted—not just physically, but emotionally, too...

"I'm home..."

Worn out, Eli called into the gloomy, dimly lit house, but the place was unexpectedly quiet.

"Arisa?" Eli called out to her younger sister, feeling a sudden unease for some reason.

At the same time, she sensed a piercing chill creeping over her body...

Looking with some satisfaction at the nearly perfect third "ice sculpture," "he" gently raised a hand and knocked on it a few times. The "sculpture" split apart, its pieces falling to the ground and joining the "ice shards" behind "him"...

—Bam!

"Damn it! What the hell is this supposed to mean?!"

Slamming a fist on the table in frustration, Takai Geki stared irritably at the pile of files scattered across it. They were all death investigation reports for Maki Nishikino and the others.

But for some reason, Takai Geki felt terribly on edge. He didn't even know why.

"Damn it! What the hell are those idiots doing?!"

Just moments ago, he had received the autopsy report and the DNA test results for the bloodstained arrow found in Umi Sonoda's room.

The results showed that the blood on the arrow wasn't Maki Nishikino's. And there wasn't a trace of gasoline in any of the three houses that had burned down. It was as if the fires had spontaneously erupted and consumed all three homes. More importantly, Umi Sonoda hadn't killed herself—someone had murdered her. So the real killer had nothing to do with Umi Sonoda. He wanted nothing more than to beat the so-called professionals to a pulp!

"Damn it! Who could it be...? Is the killer human or Mlortha...? Ice... unknown weapons... fire..."

—Ring, ring!

That sound again. That same sound!

"Hello! What is it now?!" Takai Geki shouted into the phone, pushed to his limit.

On the other end, the policeman, startled by Takai Geki's voice, stammered nervously.

"R-r-r-reporting, sir! W-we've found another murder scene, but the victim's in a terrible state. It looks like they were crushed, and their body has been reduced to a lump of pulp. The only thing we could identify was a student ID from Otonokizaka that we found on the victim's 'corpse.' The victim's name is—Nozomi Tojo..."

Crushed...

—Smash!

Furious, he hurled the phone against the wall. The flimsy device broke in two from the force of his throw.

"Ha... ha... ha..." His chest heaved violently. In that instant, the image of the killer flashed through his mind—Senba Gari.

Freezing someone to death in a block of ice? Divine could do that. Hitting a person's vital spot with extreme precision from a distance, thanks to incredible dynamic vision? Divine could do that. Burning down an entire house without gasoline, then burning down three in one night? Divine could do that. Crushing someone into a lump of pulp? Divine could do that.

And Divine was Senba Gari. Whatever Divine could do, Senba Gari could do...

"I must be going crazy. That bastard Gari is the last person who'd ever do something like this. Even if I've gone mad, he'd never do this, right...?"

...My... lord... run...

The voice of the Golden Firmament suddenly rang in his ears, but it came through in broken fragments. A terrible premonition rose in Takai Geki's heart. He hurriedly opened his bedroom door and ran downstairs in a panic. What he saw—was something he never could have imagined...

"This can't be real. It's all fake, right? Why... why is it you...?" Slumped in the corner of the room, Minami Kotori's delicate face was smeared with blood. Tears filled her eyes like water pouring from an open tap, and the light slowly faded from her gaze. "Why...?"

Why...

"Why..."

Takai Geki stared in disbelief at the person downstairs. The Golden Firmament, the Silver Phantom, Ziying, even Kashu—all of them had fallen. There was a huge bloody hole in Kashu's chest!

"Why..." His fists clenched until his knuckles turned white. His voice trembled as he forced the words through gritted teeth. At that moment, he was truly furious!

"Why did it have to be you, Senba Gari?!"

"Shh—" One of Senba Gari's eyes was red and the other black, giving him an unnervingly eerie look. He held a finger to his lips and said, "You're so noisy. Do you know? That guy's been buzzing around in my head nonstop... I'm about to go insane... Ah, no, I've already gone insane... Otherwise... I wouldn't have killed them..."

As he spoke, Senba Gari suddenly laughed, but he was crying, too. Red fluid ran from his red eye, like a mixture of blood and tears. The sight sent a shudder through anyone who saw it.

"And besides, the dead... can't talk..."

The Original Ending

(Weather's friendly reminder: This was the ending I had planned for Weather early on. But now, let's just call it an embarrassing relic of the past. (???ω???))

This... can be my repayment...

—Ring, ring!

"Mmm..."

—Click.

He opened his eyes after a long stretch of darkness. The familiar ceiling came into view: he was in his own room.

Looking around the room in a daze, Senba Gari suddenly felt a deep sense of nostalgia, as if... he hadn't seen it in a very long time.

He vaguely remembered having a very, very long dream—so long that he had forgotten most of it. All he knew was that he'd had a dream, though he couldn't remember what it was about.

As usual, he got out of bed, went to the bathroom to wash up, changed out of his pajamas into his everyday clothes, then made his way downstairs.

Everything was just as it always was. Nothing had changed.

"You little brat, you finally decided to wake up, huh? Do you know what time it is? Were you up to any 'funny business' last night?"

In the living room downstairs, Senba Ryo teased his son.

"You're the one who woke up only a few minutes ago. You're the last person who should be talking."

With her usual gentle tone and smooth, snow-white hair, Senba Setsune mercilessly undermined her husband. She smiled warmly at her son, but then froze.

—Drip.

Tears trickled from Senba Gari's eyes. He reached up in a daze and touched his cheek. The dampness on his fingers told him unmistakably that he was crying, yet he didn't even know why.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell? Ryo, call Ruifei and ask her to come over and take a look."

Feeling a vague, unfamiliar warmth against his cheek, Senba Gari saw the worried look on Senba Setsune's face and heard the urgency creeping into her voice.

"All right, but let me check first. Strange, you don't have a fever." Senba Ryo went over to Senba Gari and worriedly pressed the back of his hand to his son's forehead. The temperature felt normal.

"Maybe we should take him to Mari's..."

As Senba Ryo wondered whether to take his son to his friend's hospital, Senba Gari suddenly opened his arms and hugged them both.

"Uh, what are you...?"

"Just for a moment... Just a little while..."

Senba Ryo had been about to ask what was with Senba Gari's strange behavior, but when he heard the slight catch in his son's voice, he felt an inexplicable pang in his heart, along with a touch of helplessness.

"Fine, but just this once. Don't drag me into something this mushy again, you brat." He grumbled, but his body responded honestly as he reached out and hugged his family. For some reason, it felt as if he hadn't experienced this in a very long time.

"Hehe... Honestly, you're both too old for this. It feels like it's been ages since we did this." Feeling the warmth of her husband and son, Senba Setsune gazed at them tenderly and hugged them, too.

—Grrrr.

The warm, peaceful moment was interrupted by an unwelcome sound.

"..."

"..."

"...Uh, I think I haven't had breakfast yet. Ahaha..." Senba Gari awkwardly let go and scratched his cheek.

"You brat, you've got me feeling awkward now, you know?" Senba Ryo muttered, a black line appearing over his head as he lightly tapped Senba Gari on the head.

—Grrrr.

Another rumble sounded, but this time it came from Senba Ryo.

"Emmmmm... I only just woke up, too. It's normal that I haven't eaten breakfast yet, right?" He felt his son's gaze on him and awkwardly scratched his cheek, too.

"Normal my ass! You've got some nerve talking to me, you idiot of a dad!"

"You little punk! Are you getting too big for your boots, or do you think your old man can't lift a sword anymore?!"

"It's not that I'm getting too big for my boots. You're just too old to lift a sword."

"Pfft... Hehehe~" Unable to hold back, Setsune burst out laughing at the two of them.

The father and son turned toward her laughter and bashfully looked away.

"All right, let's have breakfast first. I'll go get it ready." Breaking the awkward silence between them, Senba Setsune smiled and hummed an unfamiliar tune as she went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

"..."

"..."

The father and son both looked aghast the moment they heard Senba Setsune was going to make breakfast.

"Ah, I just remembered—I have plans with Kotori and the others, so I'll eat out." Senba Gari said, then got ready to bolt.

No way. His mother's cooking was simply inedible. He usually cooked the meals himself or ordered takeout. As for Senba Ryo? That is, if instant noodles counted as cooking.

Just as he was about to make his escape, Senba Ryo smoothly reached out and grabbed Senba Gari by the shoulder, smiling at his son with great "kindness."

"Son, we can't waste your mother's hard work."

"Emmmmm, sorry, Dad. Don't blame me for putting the greater good ahead of family."

"Huh?" Senba Ryo hadn't yet understood what Senba Gari meant when he saw his son suddenly swing a punch at him. He immediately dodged.

But that was exactly what Senba Gari had been counting on. The moment Senba Ryo dodged, Senba Gari sprinted for the door and ran outside without looking back.

"Honestly, that brat..." Watching Senba Gari disappear, Senba Ryo shook his head helplessly. "Honey, it's time to get ready!"

"How boring!"

On the way home, Senba Gari listlessly kicked a stone along the road. He'd planned to hang out with people he knew that day, but somehow, every one of them was busy. Feeling a little resentful, he grumbled all the way home.

"I'm home!"

He shouted into the dark, empty house. Wondering why no one was home today, Senba Gari turned on all the lights in the living room and...

—Bang, bang!

"Happy birthday!" × N

"What's this...?" With a few streamers stuck to his head, Senba Gari looked at the people who had suddenly appeared in confusion.

Honoka Kosaka, Umi Sonoda, Minami Kotori, Kotori Minami, Maki Nishikino, Zuifei Nishikino, Mari Nishikino, Hanayo Koizumi, Rin Hoshizora, Eli Ayase, Nozomi Tojo, Yazawa Nico, Kashu, Yuki Anju, Takai Geki, Kira Tsubasa, Kuryu Tenkeiji, Elena Tsundo, Senba Ryo, and Senba Setsune...