My youth story cannot be a knight war

Kyosuke Kousaka also withdrew his gaze from his own window. He turned to look at Ayanokouji's profile with an extremely conflicted expression on his face.

"I found this car on the road a while ago. It seems the owner fled in such a hurry that he even left the key in the ignition... Do you think it's wrong for me to steal it, Mr. Kosaka?"

"Okay, we can discuss this later. After all, the car you found is really helpful to us right now... You don't need to use the honorific 'Sir' to address me. I'm only a year older than you. Just call me Senior."

"Okay, Kousaka-senpai."

"Eh? But didn't you say before that I could call you whatever I wanted? Why now—wuwuwu~"

"...I'm not asking you, just shut up and listen."

A white-haired head popped out from behind Kousaka. He just opened his mouth to ask out of curiosity, but Kousaka, with a dark expression, covered his mouth with his hand without even turning his head, and pushed him back hard.

"Huh~? Looks like the two of you have a very good relationship now. You're truly good partners who can fight side by side in the future~"

The girl with short silver hair smiled as she looked at Zaimokuza who was being pushed back by Kousaka with his hand covering his mouth. The smile on her face was so sweet that it was almost weird as she witnessed this scene.

"Hmm~ I don't like being called that by others, but I only allow that to be called by a specific person. I remember the girls in my class usually call this kind of relationship—"

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Kousaka's loud cough interrupted what Arisu Sakayanagi was about to say. He looked at Ayanokouji next to him with a dark face, his expression still calm, and his brows slightly furrowed.

"Ayanokouji-kun? You said before that you were a freshman in high school, so you're only sixteen now...right?"

"Yes, senior."

Ayanokouji said this without turning his head, his eyes looking straight ahead, and Kousaka's eyes became even more weird after receiving his personal confirmation. He glanced at the other person's body, and the corners of his eyes twitched slightly.

"...Then how do you know how to drive?"

Kousaka, who was sitting in the passenger seat, looked at Ayanokouji, who was sitting in the driver's seat with his seat belt fastened and his hands on the steering wheel, with a strange look in his eyes.

"According to Japan's legal age, you shouldn't be able to get a driver's license or attend a driving school right now, so why are you driving so skillfully? Those smooth shifting and steering movements are definitely the work of an experienced driver."

"Because I have learned it. I learned it when I was in Hawaii."

In response to Kousaka's question, Ayako remained calm.

"I hadn't been out and about in Japan for a long time, and only set foot on Japanese soil in the past year. Before that, all my social and survival skills were learned in a cram school similar to a summer camp."

"...Cram schools? What kind of cram schools teach minors how to drive?"

"It's not just about driving. There's so much more to learn in that interest class."

Sakayanagi Arisu interrupted the other two again. Kousaka looked at her, and she looked at Ayanokouji who was driving ahead, and said with a half-smile on her face:

"It's a state-funded facility, similar to a high-level talent training base, designed to cultivate outstanding pillars for society. It's said that the knowledge and skills taught there are so difficult that only true geniuses can master them. It's similar to... well, a low-end version of Mensa, right?"

"And Ayanokouji-kun is one of the most outstanding graduates of this 'cram school'. It can even be said that there is no one who can compare to him since its establishment. He is even called the 'highest masterpiece'~ Although I think that place is just seeking fame and reputation. A true genius doesn't need to study in such a place."

"Is this so powerful???"

After hearing Sakayanagi's revelation, Zaimokuza looked at Ayanokouji who was driving ahead of him and said with a surprised expression.

He had heard of Mensa, a genius group that only people with top IQs could join. Even if this "cram school" was just a low-end version of the club as Sakayanagi said, its threshold was already a difficult mountain to cross for ordinary people.

Being able to become the most outstanding student of a certain class in such a place, Ayanokouji can undoubtedly be regarded as a true genius in all aspects, and there is an indescribable gap between him and ordinary people like Zaimokuza.

"It's just a compliment. I believe that no matter how outstanding a genius is in this era, he will have no choice but to bow down and admit defeat in front of the achievements you, Kousaka-senpai and Zaimokuza-senpai, will achieve in the future."

"So my little tricks in front of you are just like a landlubber trying to learn to swim in front of a kappa. There's nothing worth talking about."

Regarding his teammate's backstabbing, which was almost like opening a box, Ayanokouji remained very calm and brushed the subject off with just a few words.

And Kousaka had no intention of going into it any further. After thinking for a while, he asked the question that puzzled him the most.

"You're quite modest, Ayanokouji-kun... Are you so sure that if we go to the Kurodake ruins in Nagano Prefecture right now, we'll definitely meet the future Zaimokuza?"

"Even if I can't see you now, I'll definitely see you later."

Ayanokouji said as he turned the steering wheel, his eyes fixed on the curve ahead.

"That's where the Gurongis were first born. It was there that they first summoned the 'Ultimate Darkness'. It was also there that they were sealed by the ancient Kuuga, who transformed into Rindo, and later broke the seal there. The purpose of No. 3's massacre of the village of Gaiba was to awaken the original king of the Gurongi, who was also sealed in Kuroyama. Even the ancient survivor named Mio had been sleeping there before."

"..."

When he heard the name Mio, his mind instantly recalled the girl he saw through the light curtain disappearing into his future self's arms, as well as the last bright smile on her face. Zaimokuza's eyes dimmed for a moment.

"Although I don't believe in predestined fate, so many closely related events have occurred on the same land. One or two might be a coincidence, but so many times... This proves that the land of Jiulangyue must have some connection with the Gurongi clan and other related things that cannot be explained by current science."

The SUV drove into a tunnel after turning a bend. Ayanokouji's eyes sparkled in the darkness, pure curiosity and thirst for knowledge surging in his eyes.

"There aren't that many coincidences in this world. So-called coincidences are often just a veil of inevitability... So I believe that in the end, all of this will find its answer with Jiulang Yue. All lives that are causally connected to these events will gather there to meet their end."

After a pause, he uttered the last sentence.

“—Just like now.”

"What do you mean?"

Kousaka sensed a strange feeling from Ayanokouji's words and couldn't help but ask.

"Kousaka-senpai, don't you think that everything that has happened to us—no, to be more precise, to you and Zaimokuza-senpai—is too coincidental?"

Ayanokouji spoke softly, an inexplicable chill spreading from his words, quietly spreading throughout the space inside the car.

"When the anomaly occurred, the two of you traveled from the past to this era together. As Chiba people, you both happened to appear in Tokyo after the battle between Zaimokuza-san and Zero. And as you said before, you were once again drawn into the sky by that strange force, directly leaping through time to arrive four days later."

"And when he arrived, he happened to see the future Kousaka-san and B1 fighting. After the battle, he decided to go find the future Zaimokuza-san. When he was at a loss as to what to do, he happened to meet Sakayanagi and me."

"And I just happen to know the only way to find Mr. Zaimokuza in this situation. Since air and water routes are impassable, I also happen to be able to drive, and I also know a shortcut that can avoid obstacles along the way and reach Nagano Prefecture as quickly as possible... So many 'just happened' to you. Have you really never considered whether there might be something wrong?"

He slowly turned his head and looked at the frozen faces of Kousaka and Zaimokuza. For the first time, Ayanokouji's expressionless face smiled.

Although smiling, his expression is as stiff as a wooden mask. Even though it is a smile, it is extremely cold and indifferent. In fact, it is precisely because of the smile that the viewer feels a creepy atmosphere - it is precisely this smile.

When he saw Ayanokouji's smiling face, another figure instantly appeared in Zaimokuza's mind.

That was the face of the unidentified life form No. 0. Because of him, Zaimokuza understood for the first time that the word "smile", which represents beauty, can actually be so terrifying.

"What a coincidence, isn't it? You were able to stay close to the key figures in all these events without knowing anything. Is the difficulty simply because you are related to two of these key figures in the past?"

Ayanokouji's face flickered in the dim light and shadow of the tunnel. When he passed a certain section of the road, the smile disappeared instantly, and the expressionless look returned to his face.

"Have you ever thought about whether there is a deeper reason behind all this?"

22. The Fusion of the Past and the Future (4K)

"Oh wow? That's quite interesting, Ayanokouji-kun~"

While the other two parties fell silent, Arisu Sakayanagi narrowed his eyes and looked at Ayanokouji Kiyotaka with a smile as he made this shocking statement with an expressionless face.

"Are you saying that Kousaka-senpai and Zaimokuza-senpai were arranged to come to this future era? And we were brought here incidentally just to facilitate their movements?"

"Although your statement, Sakayanagi, differs slightly from my assumptions, I can say that roughly speaking."

Ayanokouji said calmly as he slowly stepped on the brakes, slowing down the SUV as it approached the tunnel exit.

"...Who do you think is most likely behind all this?"

Kyosuke Kousaka was the first to recover from the information carried by these shocking words. He glanced at Zaimokuza who was still in a daze behind him, and pointed directly at Ayanokouji to ask.

"If Zaimokuza, I, and you were all sent to the future world by someone with a purpose, then what was that person's purpose?"

"Perhaps I need to correct the error in your words, Kousaka-senpai."

Gradually, a dim light appeared at the far end of the tunnel. This light illuminated Ayanokouji's face, but was swallowed up by the deep darkness in his eyes. His pupils, which were as textured as lapis lazuli, shone with a dark golden light.

"Because it wasn't 'a certain person' who created all of this, but 'a certain force'... This statement is more realistic."

"And this force is so powerful that it can invisibly and intangibly influence the laws governing everything in this world. Even if humans are aware of the underlying issues, they are still forced to move towards a certain observed outcome under the interplay of various factors... Since ancient times, people have generally referred to this involuntary phenomenon as 'fate.'"

""! ""

When they heard the word "fate" from Ayanokouji's words, the expressions on Sakayanagi and Kousaka's faces changed instantly, and their pupils suddenly contracted.

"You, you mean—"

Zaimokuza had just come back to his senses from Ayanokouji's previous words, but was completely captivated by his next words.

"Destiny" is the term that Zaimokuza has felt the most recently. Whether in the light curtain, outside the light curtain, in the past or in the future, he feels that there has probably never been a period in his life when he has felt such a strong fear and resentment towards this word.

Because of this, he understood the meaning of Ayanokouji's words faster than Kousaka and Sakayanagi who were present. Zaimokuza stared at the pair of dark golden pupils with his pitch-black eyes and spoke word by word.

Ayanokouji continued his words and added more details.

"Although the term 'fate' has many definitions and interpretations, I believe that anyone who has previously viewed the story of the birth of the Gurongi clan through the light screen will be able to roughly understand what I mean."

"'Destiny' is 'the ultimate darkness'."

The dim light from the sky illuminated the space inside the car the moment it rushed out of the tunnel, but it could not illuminate the darkness lingering in the hearts of everyone in the car.

"'Ultimate Darkness' is a force that originates from a higher dimension than our world, perhaps even several dimensions higher. To this force, our world is like a painting on a 4-fold paper. The past, present, and future are all contained within this painting."

"We've come from the past to the present future, a masterpiece of 'Ultimate Darkness'... It's like a black hole. All matter that approaches is absorbed into it, and even time itself is stretched by the extreme gravity within the black hole, with various states of existence superimposed on each other."

"It is this gravitational force that draws all the connected people here, to the same time and place."

Ayanokouji turned his head and looked straight at Zaimokuza. A strange light danced in the depths of his eyes, stirring up something hidden deep within him.

That is the desire for knowledge and curiosity, the most primitive emotion of human beings.

"And the attraction between you two probably exceeds that of all the others combined... Because of all those involved, Zaimokuza-senpai and Kousaka-senpai, you are definitely the ones closest to the Ultimate Darkness. In other words, He has chosen you."

"So you understand? The real reason you came to this era is not because you are Kamen Rider Kuuga and the 'past' of G1, but because you are 'Kousaka Kyousuke' and 'Zaimokuza Yoshiki', so you are special."

"Wait, wait a minute..."

Kousaka's brain was a little dazed by the information contained in Ayanokouji's continuous riddles. He put his hand to his aching temple, and the corners of his eyes twitched slightly. Every fluttering eyelash was filled with confusion and weirdness.

"I really don't understand. What do you mean the reason Zaimokuza and I came to this era isn't because we are our future selves' pasts? But because we are 'Kousaka Kyousuke' and 'Zaimokuza Yoshiki'???"

"...Can you explain it clearly, Ayanokouji-kun?"

Zaimokuza remained silent, but Sakayanagi, who had been silent until then, seemed to have thought of something. A pair of clear crimson-purple eyes were filled with complex and strange emotions. He looked quietly at Ayanokouji who was driving in front of him and spoke softly.

"Keeping people in suspense is not a good habit. Since you've speculated this far... you should have included the answer as well, right?"

"I've already explained it clearly, but since you, Kousaka-senpai, wish it, I'll be even more explicit."

After rushing out of the tunnel, the SUV climbed a steep curve. Ayanokouji slowed down, ignored Sakayanagi's question, and answered Kousaka's question.

"You may have always thought that the reason you came to the future is because you are the past of two future heroes, 'Kousaka Kyousuke' and 'Zaimokuza Yoshiki', but this idea is actually wrong. The reason you came to this era is because you are them. This is the real premise. Don't get confused."

Having said this, Ayanokouji paused, with a hint of "sarcasm" in his tone.

“Humans always believe they have the world under control, but now, faced with the ultimate truth of the world, they suddenly realize how absurd and ridiculous their past understanding of the world was… One of the most typical examples of this is the human concept of time.”

"At the level of the universe and higher dimensions, the time calculation methods humans 'invented' to facilitate their understanding of the world are truly ridiculous, like an ant trying to understand where a river crossing a continental plate will ultimately flow. The operating mechanisms of this planet are meaningless to the real world."

"Listen carefully. Past and future... these two concepts of time have completely lost their meaning since the moment the 'Ultimate Darkness' descended."

He suddenly turned his head, and his emotionless irises reflected the silent expressions of Kousaka and Sakayanagi, as well as Zaimokuza's dazed and contracted pupils.

"There's never been a distinction between past and future. There's only 'now,' only one, only one individual... So you're both the two of us who are our age right now, standing before Sakayanagi and me, and you're also the two people who are somewhere else."

"There is only one existence belonging to 'Kousaka Kyousuke' and 'Zaimokuza Yoshiteru'. Your existence is a superposition of these two individuals. You are now both talking to me and fighting. That is why you are able to repeatedly approach the center of all these events, because that is what you are doing at that time."

"And your existence is simply a bug in this world. It's probably a wonder that hasn't appeared since the birth of this planet... The proof is that you haven't been discovered before, and the way you arrived in this era is different from ours."

Ayanokouji glanced back at Sakayanagi, who was keeping his head down and silent, and spoke calmly.

"But Sakayanagi and I are different. Our arrival in this era was a fleeting moment. With a blink of an eye, we found ourselves in the ruins of Tokyo... four days ago."

"Everyone can see us, and we can communicate with others. Thanks to the chaotic situation of this era, the two of us who appeared out of nowhere were not investigated. Then, I used some methods to obtain help from this era and obtained the real-time whereabouts of the other Kousaka Kyosuke."

"...So, your presence there at that time was premeditated?"

Kousaka suddenly raised his head and stared at Ayanokouji, with an inexplicable chill and a faint distrust in the depths of his eyes.

"You—no, you anticipated that Zaimokuza and I might appear there? Then why didn't you say so from the beginning?"

It has to be said that Ayanokouji is being very "frank" at the moment, but according to him, if this "frankness" was based on concealment and deception from the very beginning, then the foundation of the current situation is lies.

No matter how sincere and truthful one appears, once the premise is a lie, it loses its ability to be believed.

Except for a fool or a saint, no one can remain nice to the schemer when knowing that he might be being schemed against.

Especially for a high school student like Kosaka who is in the most emotionally volatile period of his life, he doesn't like to lie to others, so he also hates being deceived by others. Therefore, the atmosphere around him at this moment is even depressing and almost tense.

——Sure enough, this one is still a little too tender.