Another World - Chapter 3

[honou_no_izumi]

Title: Another World
Chapter: 3 - Junction ~ The other Rider
Fandom: Kamen Rider Decade/Den-O
Character: Kadoya Tsukasa, Sakurai Yuuto, many other people
Summary: Post series. Finally Tsukasa started on another journey.
A/N: The earlier chapters had been revised as well, since I find it better to just assume Kiva and Den-O were set in same universe. Not just because of Climax Deka but also (I realized now) Cho-Den-O.

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Tsukasa walked out of the house and stretched his body out. He sighed as he looked around him.

"Still the same world. Why haven't I noticed it before? Could it be because this time the studio ended up popping out at a different district than before this?" he wondered aloud as he took a stroll along the road. He paused a bit before changing his mind about asking either Natsumi or Yuusuke to go out with him. If they wanted to go out, they shouldn't have needed him to prod them at it. Take a look at Kaito, even if nobody asked him he's already went off by himself. Hopefully he wasn't off for some mischief again. He did seemed to be up to something after hearing what Kivaara had said the other day.

Tsukasa looked up towards all the scenery around him.

Amazing. To think that this world was the only one that he visited prior, to be the exact one belonging to one of the Original Riders. As well as being the same one that Kurenai Wataru lived in. Why haven't they clashed path with each other before when he arrived here for the first time? Then again... usually whenever he arrived to a new world, he always automatically knew what world he was in. Why haven't he notice this before? Moreover, why haven't he realised this way before?

Then again, this world's order... with any slight changes in the events of the past could already triggered a different outcome of a reality, it did not need his interference to have caused a creation of another alternate world. Was that why he haven't noticed it? Could it be, the way this world reacted to the disturbance Decade had created in the past... was different than the other worlds? Why was that? Because in a way... was there a similarity to this world, with the world he should have come from?

"You looked like you're holding the whole world onto that small shoulder you have there."

Tsukasa tensed as he turned around to find a young man watching him from across the road.

"So what? And what did you mean my shoulder was small? Yours ain't bigger as well!"

The man just laughed suddenly at him, though Tsukasa felt that the laugh was slightly more forced than natural amusement. He sensed that so easily that it irritated him. Whythe guy had to force a laughter that badly?, Tsukasa fumed as the man glanced towards him.

The man whistled. "You looked like you're fine now. Guess all that work was worth it after all."

Tsukasa blinked at him. Work? What?

The man shrugged at him. "Care to join me for a cup of coffee? You looked like you're free."

"Aah, I might as well. Eh, why are you suddenly taking me out?" Tsukasa asked as the man grinned.

"I might as well greet you. I heard you met Kurenai already earlier... didn't you? Well, since you happened to be passing here today, I thought I'd take you around. I didn't have much to do nowadays anyhow and kid's practically told me not to work myself too much. Kinda unfair, considering he gets so busy nowadays... that Nogami!"

Tsukasa stared at him so hard he'd almost screwed his eyes. "Eh? Nogami? You mean... Nogami Ryoutaro? And you also knew Kurenai Wataru?"

The man chuckled. "Of course I knew them! Then again, I don't think you remembered me... right? The only time I actually got close enough to you was during that time when I'm helping Kabuto and the others to distract those other DaiShocker troops." Tsukasa held his breath as the man cocked his head to the side. "Though, honestly... I didn't do much."

Tsukasa frowned at him. "Who are you... really?"

The man shrugged. "I'm Sakurai Yuuto, and let me tell you this. Today, I'm consi—derately free so you better appreciate it that I'm spending my time with you."

Not sure when did it happened but Tsukasa's jaw dropped a bit at that unexpected intro. He hastily followed the man as Yuuto led him towards the shop area.

xxx

"Milk Dipper?"

Yuuto shrugged. "It's a nice place for a cup of coffee, and Nogami's sister was the one managing it. We should be able to have a nice quiet talk." he said as he dragged Tsukasa in.

Inside, Tsukasa noticed that the cafe was just a small one. It looked more like a small library rather than a cafe, and much less a library than a small coffee house. Guess this was what one could call a book cafe... huh? Even then... these other decorations, these constellations on the ceilings...

"Pretty... huh?" Tsukasa turned towards Sakurai suddenly. "Even if it wasn't real stars it was still as amazing. Even if keeping these decorations might be a bit painful for her, she still refused to take it down. Airi... was really strong."

Tsukasa frowned at him. "Airi?" he asked as an older woman walked to their table and placed a cup of coffee in front of Sakurai.

"It's the usual... isn't it?" she asked before placing another cup for Tsukasa. "An acquaintance?"

Sakurai nodded as the woman smiled at him before excusing herself. He sighed.

"That's Airi. Isn't she nice?"

Tsukasa blinked as he turned to look at Nogami Airi again. Strange. It felt as if there was something important just happened in front of him, but he could not figure it out. Sakurai chuckled before sipping on his coffee. Tsukasa stared at him in amusement as Sakurai made a slight frown.

"Occasionally you wondered... if it was possible to restore things back to the way it used to be. Sometimes you just can't and you try to compromise on certain things." Sakurai turned towards him before giving a weak smile. "Don't push yourself too hard. I understand some of the things that you did in the past, was not something you could avoid happening. We won't put all the blame on you... so you shouldn't really worry about it."

Tsukasa blinked at him. What... was he talking about?

Sakurai raised his cup towards him in a mock toast. "You know, even without your interference on the rest of the worlds—a lot of weird things would still happen. You can't really predict that. Espescially with this world where changes in the past could affect things. Like how Nogami and Kohana having a child-like appearances."

"Oh, I heard about that before. Nogami Kotarou was a bit miffed at me about that, because of what happened before..."

Sakurai shrugged. "Well, it was his grandfather you're messing with. I'd be pissed as well if anything else happen to this world's time after everything I've sacrificed to protect it. Even now, it would still be tricky to try fixing those situation. Tampering with time is serious business. I still had to worry about that problem." He turned towards Tsukasa.

"Isn't it troublesome? This world where Imagins can travel into the past and tamper with the order of things." He shrugged towards Tsukasa. "I guess your ability to cross worlds was as troublesome as well. Don't you think?"

Tsukasa looked at him strangely as Sakurai suddenly smiled. "That aside, you must have been worried about your own powers, right? Because of that power of yours, the fate of many worlds were tied to its respective Kamen Riders. You must have worried about that when you died. Because by rights, if Kamen Rider Decade should perish... the world of Decade should suffer that same fate. Don't you agree?"

Tsukasa gasped. This man... did he notice the things that have been troubling him? He bit his lips before nodding his head.

Sakurai sighed. "I wonder... does your original world, worked similarly like ours? But that can't be right."

"Eh?"

The man gave him a meaningful look. "The way your friends brought you back after you supposedly died, wasn't that the same as how this world worked? In this world, whenever something in the past was abruptly changed... once we stopped the culprit that caused the change, the changed time would restore itself to its proper setting. That was possible, as long as the memories of those original times continued to exist."

"As long as memories... exist?" said Tsukasa slowly to himself. Come to think, wasn't that what actually happened? He had returned... because all of those Riders from the Alternate Rider worlds remembered him. Because even if he had nothing or no one else with him to keep his existence remaining, those people remembered him. They brought him back.

So did that mean, with him returning to existence... his world, his family... could those still exist? Obviously his parents would—should—still be dead, even if his world still exists. But his sister... Sayo, she should still be around, isn't it? Somewhere. He would not care about those other relatives that might still be around but Sayo. Just Sayo...

The only thing he was worried about his own 'world', was his sister. Did he... still continued to be Sayo's brother?

"I'm not really sure actually. Your world might still behave differently than here. Your world might be no more... or it might still exist. You can't really tell these days."

Sakurai turned his glance towards him. "But what I'm sure, right now... the many worlds would not start to converge anymore. You might as well enjoy your trip through the worlds."

Tsukasa started to open his mouth to ask him something before changing his mind. He slowly stand and excused himself, before thanking him for the coffee...

xxx

"Yuuto's being nice today... good, good!"

Yuuto immediately turned towards Deneb before jumping onto the Imagin and wrestled the life out of him.

"What're you taking about... Deneb?"

Deneb hastily waved his hands in defeat. "But Yuuto! Didn't you said all that... because you wanted to cheer him up?"

Yuuto slapped Deneb's head very hard. "Idiot! That's because he was making a pathetic face!"

xxx

Natsumi turned towards Tsukasa as he and Yuusuke were idly talking about something in the papers. He seemed to be a bit more relaxed than this morning though she wondered what could have been the reason. She turned around as she noticed someone coming in.

She walked towards the front door as Kaito entered, acting as if nothing was amiss. Natsumi cocked her head at him as he took a seat on the chair nearby.

Natsumi glanced out of the house to see if there was anything of interest outside. She frowned as she thought she heard a familiar sound. The sound of a Denliner passing by.

"Maa... I might have imagined it!" she said aloud before going back in.

Back inside, Natsumi started to notice things again. If the other day Tsukasa had been a slightly distracted, this time... the one having the faraway look was Kaito. And she was hoping that this time, if they really are going to travel the many worlds once again—they could do it with cheerful thoughts. But it seemed it could not be helped with a lot of issues remained unresolved with Tsukasa.

Natsumi sighed. Ah, Kaito aside... she might be able to do something about Tsukasa.

Natsumi started marching towards Tsukasa as the latter looked up towards her warily.

"Oi, Tsukasa-kun! Cheer up a bit, won't you?"

Tsukasa frowned at her. "W-what? I AM cheered—aah!"

Natsumi smiled as Tsukasa started rolling on the floor laughing because of her special technique. Now, that was punishment for not being cheerful and not taking her out to see the places around...

She glanced towards Kaito as he seemed to be in a daze. She sighed.

She had been hoping that the journey they took this time would be a bit more cheerful than last time. Well, she could still try making that happen.