The members of HSOS 6 walked down the abandoned school hallway that had once been noisy with students and teachers. Now it was just empty desks, scuffed floors, and the faint echo of shoes tapping against tile.
Soukaku looked around like the walls might suddenly lean closer. A cold wind slipped through a broken window, carrying a weird whistling sound that really didn't help the atmosphere at all.
She hunched her shoulders. "Chief… are we seriously looking for Doppelganger Ryoko in the middle of the night? In this place? This school is way too creepy…"
Miyabi didn't even slow down. She didn't answer either. She just walked, steady footsteps, sword in hand, like this was just another hallway and not a horror set.
Next to her, Tsutsumi walked with zero tension in his body, hands in pockets, even letting out a lazy yawn like he was being dragged out for grocery shopping instead of a Hollow hunt.
Harumasa, walking slightly behind them, chuckled under his breath. His posture was relaxed, but his eyes were sharp, constantly scanning broken doors and shadowy corners for movement.
Only Yanagi bothered to explain anything.
"Because Doppelganger Ryoko mimics Tsutsumi Ryoko," she said calmly. "And according to reports, other squads were mostly attacked at night. So the probability of encountering it now is the highest."
"Still..." Yanagi turned his gaze toward Miyabi and Tsutsumi's backs. "Tsutsumi, are you sure that you can do this? Doppelganger Ryoko had already killed several soldiers."
Miyabi suddenly stopped walking. After a brief pause, she resumed her pace, her tone calm but cold. "That's still a military issue."
"What do you mean by that?" Tsutsumi asks, tilting his head back to look at Yanagi.
Before Yanagi could continue, Miyabi added. "It's not my son's fault the Ethereal chose to imitate him. If we start forcing people to atone just because they've been copied, everything will spiral into chaos."
Tsutsumi raised a brow. "Oh? You are worrying that I might blame myself for their death? Blaming me for a monster that mimics my appearance is just stupid. But if they are somehow stupid enough to go through with it and actually try to make me take responsibility for something that dumb..."
He lifted his right hand slightly, curling his fingers into a fist.
"…then I'll just destroy them."
He stopped for a moment, looking at his own hand, almost bored at how natural that answer felt to him now. At some point, he had gotten used to his nature as the Destroyer of Worlds.
Creation can't be born without destruction.
The main theme of Decade's story is "Destroy everything, connect everything!" By bringing stories to an end, he makes them eternal.
Maybe the reason for his suddenly acting more on his impulses to destroy and continue the cycle of rebirth was because of the blessing of Terminus. Although the blessing became inactive the moment he left that world, it still ignited his instinct as a Destroyer of Worlds.
"Uhh, Tsutsumi, isn't that a bit too extreme?" Soukaku swallowed, somewhat nervous and worried.
Although Tsutsumi has been a bit lazy the past few days, no one doubts his ability to do it. Not with all the records of what he has accomplished at such a young age. Combined with his overwhelming powers. Anything he said sounded less like a joke and more like an advance notice.
"It won't come to that," Miyabi said simply. "I won't let it happen."
She didn't need to say more than that. The others already understood. To her, Tsutsumi wasn't a weapon, a case file, or a potential hazard.
He was her kid.
Miyabi suddenly raised her hand, signaling everyone to stop. Her posture lowered a little, relaxed but ready, one hand resting on the hilt of her blade.
The building was quiet in that weird, empty kind of way. Just wind slipping through broken windows, the occasional beep from the Ether Detection Device, and then, a soft footstep that didn't belong to anyone on their side.
"Over there."
Her eyes narrowed. A faint icy light traced along her blade and disappeared just as quickly.
The next moment, she was already moving. Glass scattered as she went straight through the fourth-floor security window and brought her sword down toward the dark Ethereal waiting there.
It simply stepped back, calm, like it had seen that coming from the start. Crimson eyes looked straight at her, then at the ice fox who had just casually jumped four floors like it wasn't a big deal.
"So you're Doppelganger Ryoko. You don't look all that strong," Miyabi said flatly as she walked forward, the pale glow of her blade reflecting the Doppelganger's face.
The Doppelganger tilted its head slightly.
"Aren't you a bit cold, Mom?" It said in Tsutsumi Ryoko's exact voice. "We finally meet, and you already want to cut me down. No warm welcome or anything?"
It opened its arms like it was joking around, even though its eyes didn't match the tone.
"Couldn't you at least pretend to care like what you did for him?" The Doppelganger said playfully, showing no hint of fear in its voice as it met Miyabi's icy glare.
The Doppelganger's gaze shifted toward Tsutsumi.
"You already knew she had an ulterior motive when she adopted you, but you still went along with it anyway," It continued, sounding more curious than accusing.
Ice spread across the floor a second later as Miyabi slashed without replying. The Doppelganger hopped back, barely avoiding it, then looked back at her again.
"Trying to shut me up? You don't really need to. He already knows. I only know because he knows. I am him, and he's me."
It then pulled out a card like it was the most normal thing in the world.
"Henshin."
The card slid into the dark Driver at his waist.
Form Ride: Decade!
Ten afterimages flickered and crashed back together. His outfit shifted into something very close to Tsutsumi's Decade form, only the colors were off: black, gold, and dark gray instead of Tsutsumi's usual black, white, and magenta. His horns formed. The bandana moved slightly in the air, and the yellow gem in the center horn glowed a bit.
Section 6 members tightened their grips on their weapons. Tsutsumi just watched, more curious than bothered.
He was more interested in seeing how accurate these Doppelgangers could get before things fell apart for them.
Miyabi stepped forward and swung again. The Doppelganger reacted quickly, pulling out a dark version of the Rider Book sword mode. The clash shook the floor, sending both of them crashing down to the third level. The blade skimmed over the top of its head as it dropped.
Miyabi landed after it. She saw it retreating and, instead of chasing right away, lifted her sword again. Cold light gathered along the edge.
The slash froze long stretches of hallway in one go. Metal groaned. Frost spread across the walls.
The Doppelganger avoided it at the last second, already holding another card.
Attack Ride: Illusion!
His form blurred and split into five copies, each one heading straight toward a Section 6 member.
One of them blocked Miyabi's strike and spoke calmly. "That's right. Go on. Do what you always planned to do to him."
Miyabi ignored it, trying to remain calm despite her troubled heart.
"You never saw him as your son. You just kept him because he was useful."
It kicked her back, forcing her to skid a few steps before stopping. The strength caught her off guard for a moment.
"Enough," Miyabi said, swinging again. The clone rolled aside, ice forming across its arm and shoulder where the cold brushed it.
"There's no point denying it," the Doppelganger clone continued. "He knows. So I know. Would you still have kept him if he were useless? Or is your love to him conditional?"
Elsewhere in the school.
"Befriending him won't change how you all really see him!" another Doppelganger clone shouted at Soukaku, spinning its dark drumsticks before slamming them against her metal banner.
"An outsider."
The drumsticks struck again, the sound echoing through the hallway.
"An anomaly."
"A walking disaster."
"Something that shouldn't have even been here in the first place."
Each word landed together with the blows. Soukaku blocked, but her grip tightened a little. It wasn't that the strikes hurt physically; it was the way the words slid under her guard.
"That was before!" Soukaku yelled back, jumping away as the next hit dented the floor where she had been standing. "We're teammates now. It's different."
The Doppelganger clone tilted its head.
"And if you weren't teammates? Then what?" it asked in a flat tone. "Just gang up and get rid of him like every other 'problem'?"
It didn't wait for an answer and rushed forward again, drumsticks raised.
A short distance away, Yanagi crossed weapons with another Doppelganger clone. Her naginata locked with its spear, neither side moving much.
"You humans really think you can control someone like him?" the clone said, pushing a little harder. "That's kind of funny."
It twisted its spear and forced Yanagi back a few steps before she recovered and returned to her stance.
"The only reason Section 6 kept someone like him was because he's useful. Be honest. If he was normal, weak, or just average, would you still treat him the way you do now?"
The two of them circled each other slowly, keeping their distance, both waiting for the next move. Yanagi didn't answer, not because she couldn't, but because she could see what the Doppelganger was trying to do.
She wasn't going to give it that satisfaction.
In another hallway, Harumasa and a different clone ran in and out of classrooms, exchanging arrows and bullets as they moved.
"Quiet now?" the Doppelganger clone called out casually while sliding across the floor to avoid an arrow. "Worried he'll realize you were only using him?"
It fired several shots in return. Harumasa kicked a desk over and used it as a makeshift shield, wood splintering under gunfire. He moved again right after, not staying still, and sent another volley of arrows down the hall.
"It won't disappear just because you avoid talking about it," the clone continued, hopping up onto a windowsill and dropping back down as arrows thudded into the wall behind it. "Those thoughts don't just go away."
The fighting kept spreading throughout the school.
Different hallways. Different rooms. Same pattern.
Each Doppelganger clone wasn't just attacking physically. It was pushing at conversations nobody wanted to have out loud, dragging out doubts and half-formed thoughts, and just saying them plainly.
They kept everyone separated, pinned in their own little fights, forcing them to hear things they didn't really want to admit, especially when it came to Tsutsumi Ryoko and Section 6's relationship.
"Why do you even bother playing house with them?" the Doppelganger asked Tsutsumi directly. Unlike the others, these two were the only ones who still hadn't started fighting. They just stood there facing each other in the empty corridor.
Tsutsumi didn't look bothered. "That's none of your concern. How I live my life and how I write my story is up to me," he replied, his purple eyes meeting the Doppelganger's crimson gaze.
"You really are a fool," the Doppelganger said flatly. "Instead of destroying them, you're getting attached. You're making friends. When it matters, they'll still turn on you."
Tsutsumi didn't answer right away, understanding what the doppelganger meant by that. He would eventually become Decade, the Destroyer of Worlds.
He isn't a protector; he is a destroyer.
Someone who causes all the worlds to be destroyed just by existing alone.
By the time Tsutsumi Ryoko disappeared and Decade remains, the only way people can actively stop their worlds from being destroyed is for Decade to perish.
Some won't hesitate. Some might hesitate and still do it. Some will try to talk first. But in the end, there will always be people willing to point weapons at him if it means keeping their world safe. Even if they knew him before. Even if they laughed with him. Even if they once called him an ally.
By then, it's the process of facing those whom he once called an ally is the hardest.
"Maybe..." Tsutsumi answers, not denying the hypocrisy in his action.
In the history comes from the Nameless, from a future that has been erased, his future self was forced to cut down those he once called friends with this very same blade. People who once stood next to him now standing across from him. Just doing what had to be done because neither side could turn back.
"I'll deal with it when it comes." He finishes. "Henshin."
Form Ride: Decade!
Ten gray afterimages appeared around him, overlapping one after another until they merged into his familiar Decade form. Color washed in a second later, the usual black, white, and magenta pattern settling into place. His long coat and bandana waved gently as he stared back at his own twisted reflection in black.
He didn't take a stance immediately. He just looked at the Doppelganger, as if asking whether it still had something left to say, or if they were finally moving on to the part where they stopped talking.