Sky Wall, secret entrance, Hokuto side.
Sento returned the bike—him and Ryuga had just escaped through the secret smuggling tunnel—onto its condensed phone form.
He had already untransformed from his Build form too—that was the very first thing Sento did as soon as they pulled over after exiting the tunnel, not keen to have anyone on this side of the wall see him as Build.
Now, Ryuga? That was another story. He didn't exactly blend in looking like Bozo the Clown at all.
Ryuga sat on a small wooden bench at the edge of the trail they were following. It overlooked bleak, sparse farmland, and the hazy sky in the distance added to the somber atmosphere, leaving their first impression of Hokuto feeling rather dismal.
"Don't expect any thanks..." Sento half-regarded Ryuga and looked down at the nearest farm. Aside from the shoddy-looking farmers, there were also many armed patrols on the roads. "So, this is Hokuto..."
Ryuga rose from the bench, stood beside his friend, and also took a look while squinting at the patrols. "Lots of soldiers around."
They snuck past the soldiers and ended up in a less-patrolled area, a further distance away from the Sky Wall.
"When the Sky Wall Disaster happened, society became unstable. The changes in Hokuto's crops made agriculture unsustainable, and the economy has been reeling ever since."
Sento gave the clueless Ryuga a rundown of the situation as they walked down the dirty, narrow street. They had to watch their step to avoid stumbling on the worn and cracked pavement in places.
"Hmmm, she should be around here."
Sento held a piece of paper with an address written on it, scanning the surroundings until he finally spotted a nearby property that matched.
The property was fairly large, slightly worn down due to the times, but the courtyard boasted plenty of greenery. Sento and Ryuga stepped inside and made their way toward the sound of a woman's voice.
"Alright, that's it for today... Make sure you do your homework."
Several youthful voices answered in unison, "Okay! Thank you!"
Ryuga and Sento watched as a group of kids rose from their seats on long benches, stuffed some books into their bags, and headed toward the entrance they had originally come through.
One of the young boys suddenly noticed Ryuga, and his eyes widened with surprise. "Hey, a Clown!"
Another kid traced where her friend's eyes were looking and also locked onto Ryuga. "You're right! Awesome!"
All of them raced toward Ryuga as if a signal had been fired.
Ryuga furrowed his brows in warning, then opened his eyes wide in shock as the children rushed him, overwhelming him immediately. "H-hey, wait!"
He tried to gently push them away while they tugged on his costume, smiling happily.
"Hey! I said cut it out! Stop it!"
"Sto—Aggh!" His last protest was cut short as his bright, round, orange nose was stolen off the front of his face.
"I said stop!"
As soon as the female teacher got a look at Ryuga's face, she stiffened slightly, recognizing him.
"Ryuga Banjo..."
She whispered his name with disgust.
"Hey, don't take that!" Ryuga was still trying to get his nose back from the kids.
Sento, who was half-heartedly trying to help Ryuga retrieve his face, noticed the look the female teacher was giving them.
He rolled his eyes in annoyance, worried that Ryuga was going to scare her into exposing them with his crappy disguise. He quickly jogged up to her with a smile.
"Excuse me, so sorry, but... Are you Mrs. Katsuragi? There's quite a long story behind this..." Sento gestured behind him at the grumpy-looking Ryuga, who had finally escaped the now-departed kids, still missing his clown nose, of course.
He got close and, of course, had heard Sento call out her name.
Ryuga locked eyes with her, and both of them felt an extremely uncomfortable connection.
"Leave." She glared at Ryuga, with a look of loss and anger mixing on her face.
"Get out of here, right now!"
She turned around and entered the building, slamming the sliding door shut behind her.
...
A little while later, Sento and Ryuga sat together on a nearby bridge. It was a crossing over a tiny, nearly dried-up creek, full of greenery and algae running up its embankments.
Sento softly said, "I told you not to come, man."
Ryuga had nothing to say. He held the orange wig in his hands and lowered his head, not daring to argue with Sento this time.
Suddenly, the voice of a boy called out to them.
"Hey, old dudes!"
It was three of the 'school' children from earlier.
Ryuga and Sento both looked in their direction and waited for them to continue.
The same voice asked them a question. "Do you know Takumi?"
Sento thought about how to answer for a few moments before simply saying, "Kinda..."
Meanwhile, the only thing Ryuga muttered was, "Old dudes? We're not old. We're like, young dudes."
"Who are you kids anyway?" Sento rose to his feet and engaged the children.
"We're learning how to read and write from our teacher. We don't have enough money to go to a real school..."
Sento thought for a moment and said, "I see... Say, is your teacher nice?" He leaned on his hands, lowering his head to their level while smiling.
The lead kid smiled back and answered, "Yep, she sure is! When I get older, I want to teach people for free too. And then, after that, I wanna be a scientist like Takumi."
"Oh, I see. Have you met him before?"
"No... But our teacher talks about him all the time. She says she's proud of her son because he's really smart. She even makes his favorite rolled omelette every day so he can eat it whenever he comes home."
The kid crouched down beside Ryuga, who was still dangling his legs over the bridge, picked up a rock, and threw it into the water, making a tiny splash.
He looked back up at Sento and said, "That's weird, though, right? I mean... He's already dead."
"Why have you come here?"
Another voice suddenly interjected. It was Mrs. Katsuragi.
She addressed the kids before either Sento or Ryuga could answer her first question.
"You kids, hurry and head home, right away."
"Okay." One responded, and the three obediently ran toward their respective houses.
They waved at Ryuga and Sento as they left. "Bye-bye!"
The two men both gave the kids lackluster waves in return, neither expecting their next interaction with this woman to be very pleasant.
"How much more do you want me to suffer?!"
The moment the kids were out of earshot, she confronted the pair.
Sento rushed forward, trying to explain, while Ryuga rose to his feet. "It's not true! He didn't do it; this isn't the man who killed your son!"
Sento gulped and tried to stay composed as he delivered the next part. "Actually, it may have even been me who did it..."
Mrs. Katsuragi narrowed her eyes at Sento and quickly asked, "What do you mean? It might have been you?"
Before Sento could answer, one of the kids who had just left suddenly let out a blood-curdling scream from around the corner.
"Don't tell me..." Sento's heart stopped for a moment.
The three looked at each other with shock and sprinted toward the scream.
Around the corner, Sento's suspicion was confirmed: one of the boys was on the ground, his face inches from the business end of Kamen Rider Blood Stalk's bayonet.
Blood Stalk heard their footsteps and glanced over. With glee, he called out, "Yo, it's been a while! Well, not really."
"Stalk."
Sento and Ryuga had started walking toward Blood Stalk but then stopped when he nudged his weapon closer to the kid, forcing them to hesitate.
"Why are you here?" Sento asked, holding himself in place.
"Well, I heard you two were sniffing around Takumi Katsuragi... So I figured..."
While Blood Stalk responded, he crouched beside the child he had taken hostage, now turning a bright red gate valve attached to the side of his weapon.
DEVIL STEAM!
"Maybe we could have a little fun!"
A thick swarm of glowing blue and white particles formed at the end of Blood Stalk's bayonet, and before anyone could react, he flicked the energetic particles toward his captive.
The cloud instantly engulfed the small boy, who rolled and panicked, struggling to breathe.
"Takehiko!" Mrs. Katsuragi called out desperately, tears in her eyes. She tried to rush forward, but Ryuga held her back, shock on his face. Sento understood what he was seeing but couldn't believe it.
In under ten seconds, a new, blue, red, and black Smash was born!
Ryuga finally understood what had happened and gasped. "How'd he turn into a Smash!?"
Blood Stalk spun his gun around a few times, seeming to be having a blast.
"With this bad boy, I can administer Nebula Gas without all that tiresome equipment. Pretty sweet invention, right?"
Sento ground his teeth, fists clenched, toes curling in white-hot rage.
"It doesn't deserve to be called an invention! You piece of shit."
With a dark, furious expression, Sento pulled his driver from his trench coat, placing it on his midsection. He then grabbed a purple and yellow set of Full Bottles.
He shook them quickly, twisted their caps, and smashed them into the Build Driver.
NINJA! COMIC!
BEST MATCH!
The holographic images of a comic book panel and a shuriken glowed as Sento started turning the crank on the driver madly.
ARE YOU READY!?
"HENSHIN!"