Protected
儚くたゆたう 世界を 君の手で 守ったから Hakanaku tayutau sekai wo kimi no te de mamottakara You protected this empty wavering world with your own hands.
- Kimi no Kioku (Persona 3 Ending Song)
As Keiwa fell from the floating city, he found himself waking up on top of the floating platform not unlike the DGP uses. There he was met with his inner demon and they discuss a contract.
A/N: The mention of the Igarashis in the fic is taken from the information the KR wiki has available, even if I think it's not factual.
Special shout outs to @tokuteasings and @flaim-ita @maou-the-tree @kn96artworks @askrikkaiandhyotei because some of their anons’ questions inspired this fic.
A Special shout out to @rainixdra for helping me brainstorm ideas XD
FFN I Ao3
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Keiwa knew that by the time Michinaga released his hold on him, he knew he was going to die, to be absorbed by the imitation of the goddess the Jamato Grand Prix has created.
He felt his bodily functions cease before his vision turned dark.
Keiwa found himself waking up.
Waking up? Do dead people just wake up?
Keiwa nonetheless opened his eyes only to find himself on a platform not unlike the launching platform for the Desire Grand Prix. A number of holographic screens displayed Keiwa's life as he lived them, including the time when his desires were taken away.
That's right, the goddess had taken his desires the first time too.
"For world peace." A hauntingly familiar voice echoed through the supposed open platform. "A noble goal so to speak, but where did it lead us."
Keiwa turned around and saw his inner demon, dressed in black alongside the earrings that he knew he doesn't own.
An aspect of himself that, as the Igarashi family told him, needs to be accepted and not to be rejected.
"Better than where it led Michi-"
"Buffa."
"Wha-"
"Call him Buffa, after all the chances we've given him, in the end, he's the one who killed you," Keiwa's inner demon interjected. "You were angry when he revealed his allegiances to the Jamato, the things that killed your – our – parents."
"But tha-"
"Excuses," The inner demon scoffed. "He's happily crossing over the line you have vowed to never cross time and time again."
"'You', wai-."
"If there is one thing Buffa is correct about, it's that sacrifices are needed."
"But that's not right!"
"You're also correct." The inner demon nodded. "In that Buffa is indiscriminate in his sacrifices, there are people who deserved to be sacrificed more than others."
"No one deserves to be sacrificed!" Keiwa yelled at his inner demon. "Not me, not Ace, not Neon-chan, and certainly not Michina-"
"Buffa!" The inner demon yelled. "That bull lost our respect!"
"Fine! Buffa doesn't deserve to be sacrificed to reach our ideal world!"
"Remember Kekera-san's words, 'for one to be rich, others need to be poor'." The inner demon shared. "Everyone knows that, the girl you and your sister tried to reassure learned that, it's time that you learn that as well, Keiwa."
"What would you have me do?"
"Don't get the wrong idea, we share the same goal," The inner demon stepped forward. "Despite our opposing nature, we both share the same ideals, world peace."
"But."
"But we don't share the same methodology," The inner demon was now face to face with Keiwa. "Let me show you how it's done, let me show you how we can finally achieve world peace."
"But…"
"Don't you want to have your wishes granted, for your parents to witness your sister's wedding, for Taira-san to see his son again, for the other eliminated Kamen Riders to return to life which includes Buffa's friend who was unfairly eliminated, for world peace?"
Keiwa simply nodded.
"Then let me."
Keiwa closed his eyes before he collapsed on the floor, as the inner demon, who previously shared Keiwa's appearance, transformed into a life-sized version of the goddess of evil as she faded into Keiwa's body.
-----
"Wha- Who's there!"
Daichi was vigilant when he heard some sounds inside the abandoned factory the Jamato faction has inhabited.
As Daichi walked around, trying to find the source of the sound, he was suddenly grabbed by the collar and dragged across the area, hitting anything and everything.
He was suddenly slammed against a wall and saw who his attacker was.
"Impossible!" Daichi yelled. "Buffa eliminated you."
Daichi's assailant remained silent and slammed the helpless man to the floor before kicking him for good measure.
"The animal of hell is manifest, and it's sparrow." The assailant, in a hauntingly familiar voice, stated.
The assailant left the premises leaving a bloodied and unconscious Isuzu Daichi in their wake.
-----
As Ace and Michinaga faced each other, with no one else in sight, they saw someone familiar walking towards them.
"Eh, I thought you eliminated Tycoon, Buffa?" Ace taunted.
"Whoever that person is, he's not Tycoon." Michinaga scoffed.
Indeed the person walking towards the duo was Sakurai Keiwa, but he was dressed in dark clothes and wore earrings that none of them knew he owned.
"Oh, you're that confident in your answer when the opposite is staring us in the face?"
"The animal of hell manifests, and it's fox." Keiwa's doppelganger declared.
"Wha-"
The Keiwa in dark clothes rushed at Ace and began delivering a series of punches and kicks at the younger man.
"Tycoon, get a hold of yourself!" Ace tried to reason
That moment was the only moment Keiwa's look-a-like needed to kick Ace, hard, that the latter was thrown to the wall.
"Wha-"
"If I hadn't managed to block that, it could have been worse." Ace realized as he jumped a few paces back to gain some distance between himself and his assailant.
"Set."
An unfamiliar buckle was equipped onto the driver.
"Oi, Geats, what's the buckle?" Michinaga called attention to the buckle.
"I haven't seen that buckle before."
"Yokai"
"Yokai, that's not a weapon."
"Ready, fight!"
"Zombie isn't a weapon either."
Keiwa's doppelganger donned a black version of his helmet with red eyes and a pink mouthpiece. The chest plate on his torso resembled an open mouthpiece with jagged teeth with black all around while his pauldrons were simply black but his arm guards were pink.
Tycoon Yokai form rushed at Ace at breakneck speeds, easily going behind the man.
Ace was quick to dodge any and all strikes the formerly green Rider dished out but he can't keep this up.
"Boost Mark II!"
"What did you do to Tycoon, Buffa?"
Ace and the Black-helmeted Tycoon traded blows and none of Geats's attacks hit the mark while his opponent was always close to hitting him if not for his reflexes.
"Why are you insisting that this impostor is Tycoon, I got rid of Tycoon and whoever this is, is not him."
"Now is the time for judgment, choose your color." Bells rang and the Black-helmeted Tycoon stopped his attacks and de-transformed back into his black clothes and walked away.
"What?"
"Could it be?" Ace looked at Keiwa's retreating form.
"Heh, so the Tanuki returns and is now at the goddess's beck and call?" Beroba stated her observations. "Just goes to show that even he has a breaking point, this is exciting."
"Did you plan this, Beroba?" Michinaga demanded. "You're telling me that was Tycoon?"
"What's this, you're not privy to the details of the game, Buffa?" Ace questioned.
"I was as surprised as you all when I saw Nadge-Sparrow's bloodied form in the base," Beroba skipped away. "Heard it from the victim himself before he disappeared in bubbles."
"So even the Jamato faction isn't immune to the goddess's whims."
"This makes it more exciting."
-----
"The color of hell manifests, and it's yellow."
Niram was quick to dodge the attack coming for him.
"Tycoon," Niram observed. "Being a slave to the Jamato ruins the immersion of this reality as such you shall be eliminated."
"Not so fast producer-san."
A new arrival stopped Niram from transforming; however, this did not stop Tycoon from attacking DGP's producer.
"I would appreciate it if audience members kept to themselves in the audience area." Niram glared at the audience member as he dodged each and every attack coming for him.
"I want to try something before you do something."
"Fine, suit yourself." Niram stepped back as the man transformed into a giant frog.
"Kekera Loading.
Ready, Fight!"
Kekera bounced around in his gigantic frog form before he fired green rectangle-shaped projectiles that trapped the attacking Tycoon look-a-like. He dropped activated something before dropping it above Tycoon.
"Tanuki"
That something turned out to be a ViStamp that hit Tycoon's shoulders. The contact separated something from Tycoon's body, it's someone who looks like Keiwa but wearing all black.
"We meet, at last, Sakurai Keiwa's inner demon." Kekera got out of his gigantic frog form and turned into a human.
"Kekera." The inner demon acknowledged.
"Care to tell us how this happened? Tycoon, at least Tycoon's body is a slave to the Jamato."
"Correction, not a slave but the goddess of evil herself has possessed that idiot."
"Pardon? The goddess, that imitation of a goddess?"
"Like you said, an imitation and that imitation has gained its own sentience fueled by the game master's malicious ideals." The inner demon rolled his eyes.
"Tycoon must lack mental fortitude for this to happen at all."
"I understand that neither of you might understand this, but the girl he saved from dying pushed another man to save herself, that kind of world-shattering scene could easily make someone as idealistic as that idiot to question himself."
"But he fought back."
"He fought back alright, being in the goddess domain, sent there by the hypocritical bull himself, waned down all of his – our – defenses, and we're stuck watching our body attack anyone and every one the goddess pleases."
"That's impossible, the goddess doesn't have that kind of power?"
"While we're talking about the power of the goddesses, seeing as we don't have a guarantee of returning until Geats has found a way to release us from the goddess's hold, care to tell us about the goddess?"
"What will you do with the answer?"
"Nothing, we're as good as dead, a zombie, like Buffa currently is."
"What do you know?" Niram raised an eyebrow.
"Mitsume, Ace's mother obtained a power that lets herself be with someone from the past and bear a child, Ace, and that power sacrifices the happiness of a lot of people and she's still using it to help the DGP grant outrageous wishes."
"The goddess is a statue, she has no will of her own, I don't know from where you got your information but it's severely lacking and incorrect."
"Good to know." The inner demon smirked. "I suggest that you both disappear from here, the goddess has been trying her hardest to pull me back into the body, it likely thinks that it's incomplete without me there."
"Probably because it took your form to convince your other half to let her in."
"That makes sense, now scram."
Both Kekera and Niram were nowhere to be found as soon the green squares that trapped Tycoon shattered.
-----
"The animal of hell manifests, and it's fox." Keiwa, still dressed in dark clothes, stated as Ace stepped forward, ready for anything.
"Are you really going to do this, Tycoon?" Ace questioned as he equipped the Laser Raise Riser and Boost MK II buckles on his driver.
Keiwa didn't respond with words but by equipping himself with the Yokai Buckle.
"Laser Boost, Ready…"
"Yokai, Ready…"
"Fight!"
As soon as the word 'fight' was stated both combatants rushed at each other. They traded blows, with none of their attacks landing its mark.
However as time passed, Tycoon managed to slip past Geats's guard and kick the man's abdomen, launching him to the wall.
"Tycoon was about to rush towards Geats's recovering form when he abruptly stopped."
"Mou! Enough!" Tycoon exclaimed. "I'm not some robot that you could control around!"
"Don't you want your wishes to be achieved?"
"Stop using my voice and my likeness to control me and pretend to be my inner demon!" Tycoon forcibly removed the Yokai buckle from his driver, freeing him from the goddess's control and detransforming him back into black clothes. "I'm sick of just watching you do what you like when I don't want to!"
"Error, error." The Yokai buckle projected an image of Keiwa that glitched into the image of the goddess before it projected an image of an amalgamation of Keiwa's and the goddess's image.
"Gross." Keiwa gagged.
"Human has ejected us, incalculable, impossible." The amalgamated image of Keiwa and the goddess looked at Keiwa in the eyes. "Without us, you will die, incomprehensible."
"I don't care!" Keiwa yelled. "I'd rather die being my own person than being eliminated because I was controlled by you."
"Incomprehensible, improbable."
"Is that really the goddess?" Ace couldn't help but question the fact he has. "If that is really an imitation of the Goddess of Creation, then it shouldn't be acting that way."
"It is and it isn't." Keiwa shook his head. "But that doesn't matter now."
"What?"
"The only way to defeat the goddess is to destroy that giant statue," Keiwa pointed at the statue. "It has a lot of defenses I'll make an opening for you and strike at it's head."
"But what about you?"
"I'm on borrowed time, Ace, removing the Yokai buckle started the timer, and we don't have much time."
"You will die, with no hope of returning."
"I'm already dead, Ace."
-----
With help from Keiwa in his Command form, Ace was able to destroy the goddess by slicing its head clean off.
As soon as both Keiwa and Ace detransformed out of their suits, Keiwa immediately began to turn into a number of bubbles.
"Tycoon."
'One last favor, Ace," Keiwa retrieved a purple paper shuriken from his person. "Please give this to my sister."
"But…"
"It's a good thing she won't see me die a second time," Keiwa smiled. "I couldn't put her through that again especially after she witnessed Mom and Dad's deaths."
"I'm so-"
"Don't worry about it," Keiwa shook his head. "It's not like you asked to be born, you were simply an innocent product from the sacrifices that were made."
"But you, your family…"
"It's no good crying over spilled milk, Ace." Keiwa smiled. "I leave the world in your capable hands."
Ace watched his friend disintegrate into bubbles that floated to the sky.
-----
Ace knocked on the door to the Sakurais' apartment. He knew he had to fulfill Tycoon's dying wish.
"Coming"
Ace could hear the slight whimper in the older sister's voice as she responded to his knock.
"A-ace-sama." The elder Sakurai's eyes widened as she haphazardly wiped the tears away from her eyes and face. "Wh-what are you doing here?"
"Tyco – no – Keiwa wanted you to have this."
Ace retrieved a purple shuriken from his person and showed it to Sara.
'No…" Sara shakily took the paper shuriken from Ace's hand before she placed it on her chest as tears streamed from her eyes once more. "Did he…"
Sara couldn't bear to continue the thought, Keiwa couldn't have, right?
"Did he… did he k-know he wasn't g-go-going"
The thought of continuing to ask the sentence felt like her heart was stabbed a million times. Sara wouldn't – couldn't – ask the question completely.
"I don't know," Ace shook his head. "He just wanted me to give that to you if something ever happened to him."
"T-thank you…" Sara tried so hard to smile at the man who took care of her brother's wishes. "I… I want to be alone, if you don't mind, Ace-sama."
"Of course." Ace nodded as he stepped back and let the elder Sakurai close the door.
As Ace proceeded to exit the apartment building, he could hear Sara wail and sob her heart out. All because of the goddess of creation, all because of her mother, a family is devoid of happiness.
A family is reduced to one.
