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writingpaperghost · 2 months

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The Wind Will Take You Along (Chapter 1)

Chapter 1: The W Search/Two Detectives in One

Having recently taken over her father's detective agency, Akiko Narumi finds herself with a lot to worry about. Her best friend, Shoutaro, who doesn't even know of her father's fate, the mysterious boy she now has to protect, Phillip, who aids her on her cases, and the ever looming threat of Dopants and the organization that creates them. Will Akiko be able to make her father proud and not only solve her cases, but protect the city of Fuuto as it's Kamen Rider too? Or will she find herself crumpling under the pressure and the circumstances? As everything changes too much and too fast, Akiko can only hope to keep up.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57870910/chapters/147303886

Her father falls to the ground and there’s blood, a wound in his shoulder as he tumbles. Above him floats that horrible monster, appearing almost like a woman, but with not quite. To her side is another monster, black and purple, equally inhuman. The one that was responsible for the wound in her father’s shoulder.

Uncaring of the monsters still in sight, Akiko rushed to her father’s side on the ground, forgetting all about the boy they’d come here to save. “Dad!” she can see blood staining his white suit jacket, all she can think in that moment is that it’ll never come out.

“Akiko,” her father said, and she stopped just short of touching him. As much as she wants to, she knows she can’t, and it makes this all worse. He doesn’t touch her, either. “protect the boy…” The boy. The damned boy.

Even while dying, his priority was still on his case. Normally, that determination to see things through was something Akiko could at least understand, but now… now Akiko hated it. His dying breaths and all he’ll do is give her a task, not a word of love or anything else. “I…”

Weakly, he reached up, taking ahold of his hat, placing it on Akiko’s own head. It’s lopsided, not quite in the right spot, but she doesn’t bother fixing it. “Becomes someone fit to wear it.”

As his hand falls, Akiko’s heart dropped, “Dad!” wailing, she throws caution to the wind, grabbing her father.

Nothing happened.

He was dead. Never coming back. Again, Akiko wailed, tears in her eyes as she cried and cried, the world around her unimportant.

Then she’s pulled away from her father’s body and suddenly it’s all there again. The people with guns, the monsters, the boy and the briefcase. He was the one who pulled her away, briefcase still in hand.

“Let me ask you a question,” he began, unclasping the briefcase and opening it, once more revealing the strange device and USB sticks within. “are you ready to ride with the devil?”

Later, Akiko would attribute the decision in part to shock over her father’s death, but in the moment… she could only nod and take the device and three of the USBs, while the boy took the other three. Placing the device on her waist, another identical one appeared on the boy’s.

He clicked the button on one of the USBs, and Akiko did the same.

Cyclone!

Joker!

He slots the USB into the right slot of the device on his waist. Then it appears in the same spot on Akiko’s, and she decides not to question it in the moment. She follows suit with the USB in her hand and the other slot, then pushes the two sides of the device apart. Wind whips around them, spinning, as Akiko’s overcome with a strange feeling, like electricity in her veins and the boy falls to the ground unconscious.

Even as strange green and black armor appears on Akiko’s body and she becomes aware of this other presence in her mind, the wind around them doesn’t die down. If anything, it only becomes stronger until it lifts them off the ground.

“Akiko,” a familiar voice snapped Akiko out of her memories, bringing her back to the present. “Are you staring off into space again?” Standing in the front of her father’s – her desk, was Shoutaro Hidari, Akiko’s close friend, and he had been for most of the now two years she’d been in Fuuto. He leaned over, bracing a hand against the desk, watching her.

“I… was just thinking,” She couldn’t tell him that she was remembering that night, nearly a year ago, when her father died. Shoutaro didn’t even know Sokichi Narumi was dead, let alone any of the details of how it happened. Akiko felt a bit bad about it, she wanted to tell Shoutaro, he was probably as close to her father as she’d been, maybe even closer, but… She didn’t want to risk dragging him into the world she was now in, he was in danger enough with his job with the police putting him near Dopant attacks. “And anyway, I’m out of cases, found the last lost dog like an hour ago.” Never mind that the dog had tried to bite her.

Shoutaro shook his head, “A detective who makes a living off of looking for lost pets…” His gaze wandered, landing on the shelf still filled with her father’s old detective books, their pages worn. Akiko had skimmed through a few, she always wondered if they were where her father got his idea of what a detective was from, an idea that Shoutaro picked up, even if he wasn’t so good at being.

“It pays the bills,” Akiko said as she stood up, picking up the casefiles from the day to file away. “Besides, we take other cases. It’s just that lost pets are more common than much else.”

Hands on his hips, Shoutaro considered it for a moment, “Well, I’m sure the boss will be proud of you either way, when he gets back.”

Things like that weren’t uncommon to hear, since so few people really knew that her father was dead. It didn’t make them hurt any less, though. She knew Shoutaro meant well, but the words still made her hurt, made the guilt bubble up again. But she had to keep it together, she couldn’t bring herself to break the news still.

“So!” Akiko wanted to change the subject, anything but Sokichi, “Anything interesting happen today?”

Sighing, Shoutaro answered, “Not yet.” Then, looking a little more hopeful, he added, “But there’s still time left in the day, who knows.”

The last thing a police officer should really be hopeful for is a case. But Akiko knew Shoutaro, he didn’t feel that way out of some desire for thrill or fame, he felt that way because he wanted crimes to be reported to the police, so their perpetrators could be found and dealt with accordingly. He wanted nothing more than to protect Fuuto, even from the things he could do little about directly, like Dopants.

No, the only one who was capable of fighting back against Dopants was the Kamen Rider. A pair Akiko was intimately familiar with. It wasn’t even really that big of a secret that Akiko somehow knew him, Shoutaro and others on the police force she worked with, like Jinno and Maki, knew that well. If you needed the Kamen Rider, or to get a message to him, then you could probably tell Akiko and she’d find a way.

Yet the only thing the police could reasonably do against the Dopants was to arrest the users of the Memories after the fact. Unless they could somehow track down and arrest the members of the organization that was responsible for making and distributing the Gaia Memories, but Akiko didn’t think that was likely. She had more to work with than they did, and she and Phillip still hadn’t learned much more than they’d known a year ago.

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” Akiko shook her head, “we haven’t even had much of interest here, and usually people bring some interesting cases.”

“Not with you,” Shoutaro countered, “You spend more time chasing lost pets. And you don’t have the same reputation that Boss did, so that probably doesn’t help either.”

Frowning, Akiko countered, “We still get interesting cases,” Then, she gestured towards the door, “I bet one will come in before you leave!”

Shoutaro rolled his eyes, “Sure it will, just face it Akiko, you’re still working up to being a detective like-“

The door opened, and in walked a woman.

Glancing between her and Shoutaro, Akiko noted an odd expression on his face. Then he seemed to smile and said, “Oh, Marina! It’s been a while.”

The woman appeared surprised, “Shoutaro? I didn’t think I’d see you here, I heard you’d join the police.” She, Marina, paused in the doorway.

“I did,” Shoutaro grinned a little, “But Akiko here’s a friend so I like to stop by the agency and see how she’s doing.”

“And because you’re bored,” Akiko grumbled beneath her breath, before brightening up and turning her attention to Marina, “So, what can the Narumi Detective Agency do for you?”

“Ah, yes, you see… I’m worried about my boyfriend,” Marina said, any happiness at seeing Shoutaro fading away. “He seems to be missing.”

A missing boyfriend. Not the most unusual, but certainly far more interesting than a missing dog. “Alright, do you know if something happened that might have caused him to disappear? Any strange behavior or big occurrences?” There were a few things they’d have to figure out before she started her investigation.

“Hold on,” Shoutaro interjected, “If your boyfriend is missing, Marina, shouldn’t you bring this to the police?”

She shook her head, “I have, but I’m not sure that they’ll be of much use… I’d rather have even one more pair of eyes looking for him.”

Glancing at Akiko, Shoutaro frowned, “I suppose so, but…”

Marina continued, “I don’t know much. He’d recently been fired, but I only learned that after he disappeared. He had been going to work that day, I think it might have been when he found out? I haven’t seen him since the day before.”

“Do you know where he was last seen?” That would be where Akiko investigated first. Narrowing down the start would make it a lot easier.

They discussed the case for a little while longer, Marina doing her best to answer Akiko’s questions. Shoutaro assured Marina that the police were surely doing their best to find her boyfriend, which Akiko knew meant that he’d be digging around a bit in his free time. Since he was a part of the unit that dealt with Dopant attacks, he wouldn’t otherwise be anywhere near a missing person’s case. Unless it was thought to be connected, but as it was, there didn’t seem to be a Dopant active currently.

The three part ways, Shoutaro likely to go back the police station, Marina to wherever, and Akiko to begin her investigation. She’d picked up a fair amount from her dad in the year or so that she’d been working with him at the agency, and since the night that she’d met Phillip, she’d only learned more. It made no guarantee that she’d find any clues, but it at least made her a bit more confident in the endeavor.

She missed investigating with her father. It felt so… isolating, being alone. She doesn’t know how he did it for so long. Though she’d never tell Shoutaro, she appreciated being able to investigate with him, if only because it made her feel a bit like her father was still around. Of course, Shoutaro didn’t usually try to correct what she was doing like her father did, and though he tried to emulate the hard-boiled image her father put up, Shoutaro cared too much, no matter how much he tried to pretend he didn’t. Though she often wasn’t working on a case alone, she did the footwork by herself, especially when she wasn’t receiving help from one of her informants or Shoutaro.

Marina’s boyfriend used to work at Windscale, a mid-end clothing store that Akiko was mostly familiar with because Shoutaro liked to frequent it when he needed new clothes. She didn’t really see the appeal, even with some of her attempts to emulate her father’s style of dress. Still, it would be good to ask around with the employees, see if they knew anything further about Marina’s boyfriend.

That drummed up something of a lead. The employee she was talking to told her that Marina’s boyfriend had been pretty angry about being fired. While that didn’t point her towards any answers, it could be a reason. His disappearance could have something to do with the anger, but that alone wasn’t quite enough. She needed more, though she wasn’t entirely sure yet where to look.

She’d go back to the agency, then, and see if Phillip could be of any use. Provided she could get him to pay attention and stop being absorbed in whatever newest topic had taken up his attention. Sighing, she got on the Hardboiler and pulled her helmet on. If someone had told her, a year ago, she’d be riding a motorcycle around Fuuto, she’d have probably called them crazy. But a lot had changed. She had changed, at least she liked to think so.

It's not even halfway back to the agency when she’s forced to stop, several police cars blocking off the road just at an overpass. And with good reason, she figures, given the smoke she can see. Hopping off the Hardboiler, she pulled her helmet off and placed her fedora on her head. Having gotten a bit closer, she can see Shoutaro, Jinno, and Maki, which meant that whatever happened here was no accident.

“A Dopant?” She called to them.

“Bright, glowy, and hot,” Answered Jinno, “Burned a hole straight through the overpass.” He gestured to a clearly still hot and smoking piece of rubble. She could already tell whatever Dopant had caused this was going to be causing a lot more property damage.

Still, the location was kind of odd. Was it destruction for destruction’s sake or something else? “Why the overpass though?”

Shoutaro crossed his arms, “We chased it here. It had been attacking a Windscale store.”

Windscale? She knew there were several locations in the city, but it certainly was an odd time… The question then being, was it a coincidence or not? That’s what Akiko had to figure out, and while she could probably make an educated guess, she’d feel a lot better if she could consult Phillip about it. The last thing she needed was to come to the wrong conclusion.

“We’ll be keeping an eye on other Windscale stores,” Jinno said, “In case it strikes again.”

“And when it does,” Maki added, “We’ll be ready to show it why you don’t mess with the Fuuto PD!”

They all knew that the police couldn’t really fight a Dopant. Guns weren’t usually all that effective, and even Maki knew that. But Akiko couldn’t blame him for hoping they could. Nothing was worse than feeling like you were helpless, and the Dopants brought that to the people of Fuuto more than she liked.

“When did you find it?” She asked. It was possible it was still nearby, or at least the Memory’s user.

“About fifteen minutes ago is when we lost track of it,” Shoutaro answered, obviously knowing what Akiko was thinking. Sometimes, he knew her too well and she worried she wouldn’t be able to keep from him the things she needed to.

Was that a recent enough time to be worth it to try to hunt it down? It was presumably on foot in some capacity and likely had only lost the police because of the damage it had caused. On the Hardboiler, she might be able to catch up with it, depending on just how fast it was. It would be better to stop it now than give it another chance to cause damage. But it wasn’t impossible that whoever was using the Memory had already stopped and was laying low.

She frowned, before turning and heading back to the Hardboiler, “I’m heading back to the agency, I have some leads to look over.” She took her hat off and pulled her helmet on, “You know where to find me.”

It was mostly true, she was going to go back to the agency. It was just also true that she was going to see if she could find anymore sign of the Dopant first. If she was lucky, she could find it and stop it from destroying anything else. She wasn’t looking particularly hard, going at a slower speed and looking around at her surroundings. Just seeing if she could find it, and if she could, she could deal with it, if not, she’d just head back to the agency. Simple.

Down at the end of an alley, she sees something glowing, and even from here she can tell it was orange and hot. Just like the debris she’d seen earlier. The Dopant had definitely been here, though how recently was hard to say. She parked the Hardboiler, taking of her helmet and went to investigate. Upon getting closer, she could more easily tell that the burning chuck of cement was nestled in an intersection between two alleys. Even closer, and she could tell this molten cement must be recent, given how strong the heat is, keeping her from getting too much closer, even with its small size. Still, she stood in the middle of not one, but two alley ways, and that left her unsure just which direction the sudden thudding sound was coming from.

With back, forward, left, and right out of the question, as she could tell by how much louder the sound was becoming that she didn’t have time to determine the sound’s location, that only left up. Pulling up her sleeve, she pointed her arm up and let the SpiderWatch launch its grappling hook out and pull her up. It was never the most pleasant experience to be pulled up by something attached only to her arm, but she’d learned how to get used to it for a short while. Long enough that she can get high above and dodge the Dopant that charged through where she’d once been, leaving a trail of molten lava behind it.

Glowing bright orange, hot, and molten, this had to be the same Dopant that the police had encountered earlier. It didn’t double back, thankfully, so it must not have realized that she had gone up and either thought it had bowled her over and likely burnt her or that she’d somehow run off without it noticing. Which it thought didn’t matter, only that she’d managed to keep herself out of harm.

Still, as she lowered herself back to the ground, she found it odd that it seemed to set a trap like that. Why go through the trouble? And just who or what was it hoping to lure in? The police? She certainly didn’t look like a police officer, though she couldn’t rule out that it was simply hoping to just find someone to hurt.

Well, with more knowledge of the Dopant, it was probably better to head back to the agency and see if Phillip could give her any information that would help with fighting it. And, of course, she still had Marina’s missing boyfriend to worry about, though something told her these two things were more connected than they at first seemed.

Upon her return to the agency, she bypassed hanging up her hat and instead pulled the door that the hat rack sat upon open, climbing down the stairs to the garage. Most didn’t know the room existed, and she’d only been in there a few times when her father had still been alive. He’d told her that there was usually someone in there who liked their privacy, so she could only ever go when he knew that person was gone. And there was rarely even really a reason for her to go in, he’d mostly just asked her to go and clean up on those rare occasions. Since her father’s death, she hadn’t found anyone in there other than Phillip, like this mysterious person left with her father, or never existed to begin with.

Now, the garage was Phillip’s place. The entire upper railing was covered in whiteboards that were usually covered in his notes about whatever his newest interest was. As she reached the end of the steps, Akiko could see him, pacing across the railing, whiteboard marker in hand as he muttered to himself. Despite his movement, he’d simply memorized the layout of the railing and was, in reality, lost within his thoughts and probably entirely unaware of what was going on.

“Phillip,” She called, and when that didn’t elicit any response, she tried again, “Hey, Phillip!”

Finally, that seemed to break him out of his thoughts, “Ah, Akiko, perfect timing. Did you know that Mount Fuji-“

She waved her hand, “I’m sure it’s very interesting, but I need your help with something, so you can come back to that.”

“Ah, but-“

“I need you to look some things up for me. We’ve got another Dopant running around.” She placed a hand on her hip, “I think I have a pretty good idea as to what’s going on, but I want to make sure.”

Though Phillip frowned for a moment, he closed his eyes, “Very well.”

Something about him seemed to shift, a breeze ruffled his hair and his clothes as lights almost seemed to shine on him, giving him some strange, inhuman feel. Akiko was long used to it and about every other odd thing about Phillip. “Windscale,” she began, “[Marina’s boyfriend’s name].”

Phillip hummed, and then a moment later said, “The Magma Memory. Angry at being fired, Yousuke began to attack Windscale locations using the Magma Memory.”

“I figured as much,” Akiko frowned, “I don’t look forward to telling our client about this… but that’s for later.” She turned around, beginning back up the stairs.

Though she couldn’t see it, Phillip rolled his eyes, before turning back to the whiteboards. “Now where was I…?”

She makes her way back to the Windscale location she’d been at earlier. It was a surprise that Yousuke hadn’t attacked there first, since it was where he’d been fired from. Regardless, he’d surely make it there eventually, and she was confident it would be soon.

Sure enough, it doesn’t take much searching around the store to find a man who matched the picture Marina had given her. “You know,” She said, “I’m not the biggest fan of Windscale either, but trying to turn them all into molten lava isn’t exactly the greatest plan.”

“That isn’t what this is about,” Yousuke said, pulling out a USB stick. Without another hesitation, he pressed the button and inserted it into the port that appeared on his arm.

Magma!

Akiko dodged out of the way of the glob of magma that was hurled at her, the top of her fedora just barely getting singled. She frowned, knowing there was no getting around a fight. She’d known from the start, but some part of her had been hoping.

“Fine then,” She pulled out the W Driver, placing it on her waist. “Two can play at that game.” Feeling the connection to Phillip begin, she pulled out the Joker Memory.She knows, back at the garage, Phillip does the same with his own Memory.

Cyclone!

Joker!

The Cyclone Memory appeared in its slot in the Driver and she quickly add her own Joker Memory into it’s own. Then, activating the Driver, she can hear Phillip echo her own words, though spoken at the same time. “Transform.”

Wind whipped around her, lights and circuits forming around her body into green and black armor. It settled against her, the weight and tingling feeling long since having become a second skin to her, even when it bites at her. Another mind sat next to her own, a presence that wouldn’t go away as long as they were like this. She was used to him, too.

Pointing at the Magma Dopant, she and Phillip both said, “Now, count up your sins.”

This is when the battle really starts. They’ve got plenty of practice at this point, after having been the Kamen Rider for nearly a year, and having fought plenty of Dopants. This one would be no different, even if it may be constantly molten hot. They could work around that. They dodge out of the way of a hurdling glob of magma.

“May I suggest a change?” Phillip intoned. Though he had control over a part of her body, he it was a struggle to make it do anything she really didn’t want him to. Even now, she wasn’t always the most comfortable with someone else having any say over what she physically did, but she’d grown used to the nagging influence of Phillip. In a fight, at least, she didn’t always have the attention to try to stop him, and it usually worked out well enough.

As her right hand removed the Cyclone Memory from the right side of the Driver, she asked, “You got something in mind?”

The Cyclone Memory was quickly switched out for the Luna Memory, as Phillip answered, “Getting close is dangerous, obviously the Dopant is quite hot. Likewise, Heat isn’t likely to be of much use.”

Akiko’s left hand, the one she had complete control over, pulled the Joker Memory out of its slot, replacing it with the Trigger Memory, “I see what you mean. Don’t get hit and attack from a distance.”

Where previously her right half had been green with yellow accents, and her left half black with purple accents, each side had now changed. Her right half was now yellow, and her left half blue. Using Luna’s ability to extend the limbs on her right side, Phillip guided them out of the way of the Magma Dopant’s attacks. With her left hand, Akiko did her best to aim her gun.

The flaw in using the Trigger Memory with a Memory like Luna, one that kept her right hand preoccupied, was that Akiko was right-handed. And even with the practice she’s had as Kamen Rider, her aim with her left hand still left much to be desired. Add in the constant swinging and yanking that her right arm was doing, and it was going to be a miracle if any of her shots even landed close to the Magma Dopant.

“I’m finding a flaw in your plan,” She grumbled as they landed across from the Magma Dopant once more. For the moment, at least, they were holding still, and she had time to actually aim.

Finally, she managed to get a few good shots in on the Dopant. “Is it a flaw?” Phillip asked in that somewhat smug tone he often used when he knew that he was right.

As she slotted the Luna Memory into its slot, she responded, “There’s no way you could have planned for this.”

Just as she was about to fire, the ground shook, then opened up beneath the Magma Dopant. Out came jaws, which swallowed up the Magma Dopant.

Akiko couldn’t help but stare at where the Magma Dopant once was. “So… there’s another Dopant.”

And still no clue as to who was making all of the Gaia Memories in the first place.

---

Settled into his apartment for the evening, Shoutaro pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number he called so much, it was on speed dial.

The phone rang once, then twice, and then a voice answered, “Shoutaro,” in a fond tone, “I can’t tell you how nice it is to hear you after today.”

“It’s been a long day, then?”

The voice on the other end scoffed, “It’s been more than long. All day, preparing for the wedding. And he’s so annoying.”

“He’s not a bad person,”

Though he couldn’t see her, he knew she rolled her eyes, “Good people don’t get involved with us.”

A frown came to Shoutaro’s face, “What about me, then?”

“You’re the exception, not the rule.”

“It won’t be for long-“

“I know.” She laughed a little, “You may both care about the city, but you have something he doesn’t. That’s why I like you so much.”

Sheepishly, Shoutaro responded, “Well…”

“Now enough about my day, how was yours?”

He shrugged, even though he knew she couldn’t see it. “Fine. We had a Dopant case, but it got wrapped up pretty quickly…”

“I suppose if you can give him one thing,” She said, “it’s that the Kamen Rider has gotten quite good at dealing with weak Dopants.”

“It keeps people from getting hurt,” Shoutaro said.

“Of course.”

He sighed, “Better something than nothing.”

“I know,” She sounded sympathetic, “I just… don’t think there’s much he can do in the grand scheme of things. Maybe there isn’t really anything for him to do.”

Frowning again, Shoutaro said, “I don’t believe that.”

“I know you don’t.” Again, it was spoken with a fond tone. “I’d love to keep talking, but I’m afraid I have to go.”

The frown lessened, more into something neutral, “I’ll listen to you tomorrow.” “My number one fan,” She said in response.

#kamen rider w #kamen rider #roleswap #akiko narumi #my writing #the wind will take you along #the kamen riders the detectives and the princess

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