School was over.
As members of the "Go-Home Club," Tōno Kanade and Izumi Konata quickly packed up and headed home.
One was eager to get back and draw manga.The other was dying to go home and watch anime.
"You know," Konata said as they walked, "I still don't get why you insist on hanging yourself from the manga tree. Aren't there light novels? Make it big writing one of those and you can live off royalties just the same."
"I don't want to write toilet paper. And that's still not a valid excuse for ruining my original art."
"Geez, you're such a stingy guy. A beautiful girl's drool is a priceless treasure to any true gentleman."
"To think you just called yourself a beautiful girl. Get real, Konata."
"Hmph! I am a beautiful girl, thank you very much. Still… I feel like we're forgetting something. Like something's missing."
"What? Forget what? Missing what? You know the saying: anything you can forget is something that doesn't matter. Don't try to change the subject. My manga. The manuscript. Let's hear it—what are you going to do about it?"
The two continued bickering all the way down the path home from school, still hung up over the soggy, ruined manga draft.
Tōno Kanade's dream of becoming a manga artist had nothing to do with some promise to a beautiful girl, or a vow to get married once the anime adaptation came. He just wanted to be a manga artist. To live off royalties. That was it.
And he had some real confidence in his skills. After all, in his previous life before the isekai, he'd been an art student. Sure, he'd majored in animation hoping to revive the Chinese animation industry—only to fail spectacularly and end up as a corporate art drone, crushed under deadlines and unreasonable demands. But after reincarnating, he'd found his artistic ability had significantly improved. His grasp of drawing, panel composition, even scriptwriting had all deepened.
As everyone knows, reincarnators come with cheat powers. No cheat, no isekai license.Tōno Kanade was no exception. But instead of the usual system-based cheat, his was a supernatural power.
A very versatile one, in fact: telekinesis, teleportation, hypnosis, flight, exorcism—it was an incredibly handy ability.
The only drawback was how much it drained his mental energy. Use it too much and he'd get dizzy. Go too far and he'd black out. And when he came to, he'd often find himself in a Pokémon Center. (Bushi.)
Okay, not really a Pokémon Center, but the blackouts were real. Where he'd wake up, though, varied.
He'd gotten lucky both times it happened so far—he passed out at home, and came to there too. Though both times felt like the worst hangover of his life.
His supernatural power was fueled by his mental energy, which seemed to grow stronger with each passing year. Probably thanks to that growth, his art had also leveled up dramatically. Stuff that used to stump him now felt simple. Stuff he couldn't draw before was suddenly doable. Creative blocks that once seemed impossible to push through now felt like minor speed bumps.
Of course, part of that was just how limited his skills had been back then.
These days, even if he wasn't manga-god-tier yet, becoming a pro manga artist felt entirely within reach.
"Look! It's the no-ear freak and her freaky sister!"
"She's an alien or something, right? Doesn't react even if you chuck stuff at her."
"Ugh, she smiled at us! So gross!"
What the hell?
The bratty little voices caught Kanade and Konata's attention.
Down by the riverside path, three boys were chasing two little girls, throwing pebbles at them. One had brown hair, the other black. The chubbiest boy darted ahead of the brown-haired girl, and as he passed her, he snatched something off her ear and flung it into the water.
A hearing aid.
Kanade's sharp eyes caught the detail.
"That's horrible," Konata muttered, eyes narrowing. She started looking around the ground, clearly searching for something to use as a weapon.
Evil deeds must be punished.
"You gonna throw down with them?" Kanade asked as he started doing warm-up stretches.
"Hehe… that's what I've got you for."
Konata grinned like a gremlin. Sure, she couldn't beat three boys by herself. But hey, didn't she have a childhood friend with superpowers?
"As expected." Kanade handed his backpack over to her. "Watch closely—I'm about to go full hero mode."
"OK!" Konata took the bag and raised a fist with solemn seriousness. "Use Flame Punch! Finish them!"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm a Kamen Rider. Now watch—Rider Kick!"
With an exaggerated thumb swipe under his nose, Kanade sprinted forward.
"Skyfire Thunder Double Kick!"
The pudgy boy looked back at the sound of the yell—just in time to see a black silhouette leap into the sun. Then something slammed into his belly and sent him flying.
"That's not even a Rider Kick!?"
Konata screamed in frustration.
What the heck was "Skyfire Thunder Double Kick" supposed to be?! What kind of made-up move was that?!
This world's ACG (anime, comics, games) culture was almost entirely different from his old world's. Sure, it had stuff like Action Mask in Crayon Shin-chan and Kamen Yaiba in Detective Conan. Even Kamen Rider existed—but the characters, plots, and music were all different. Same name, different content.
Konata had never seen Luoluo's Adventures, so she didn't catch the reference.
She watched as Kanade, now fully unleashed, roundhouse-kicked one kid so hard the seams of his uniform tore. Then he snatched another kid's backpack and chucked it into the river before turning back and unleashing a flurry of savage kicks on the third.
Damn. Brutal.
Konata had seen Kanade throw punches before—especially when someone bullied his little sister Suzune. But this? This was next-level violence. Tossing backpacks into the river was one thing, but kicking kids into the water?
Even she was getting hyped.
It was like watching a fighting game in real life.
Not that she was worried about him losing. Her childhood friend was basically a real-life Kamen Rider. One versus three? He could probably take ten. With his powers, this was a total curb-stomp. Like a god descending from the heavens, he chased the boys down and drove them toward the river.
It wasn't a deep river—barely up to a kid's knees. If it had been deeper, Kanade wouldn't have dared. But like this, it was fair game.
"You brats—get in there and find the hearing aid. You're not getting out 'til you do."
"If you don't have it by sundown, I'll cement your feet and drop you in Tokyo Bay."
"Crying? Cry all you want. Clock's ticking."
Looking every bit the villain, Kanade growled at the soaking kids from the riverbank.
"Kanade… I think we did forget something," Konata said, suddenly serious.
"Huh? I told you already—if you can forget it, it's not important," he muttered, scratching his head. Still, now that she mentioned it, he did have the nagging feeling something was off...
"I mean... is there a chance the 'unimportant thing' you're talking about is the fact that you have a little sister?"
Konata glanced around, looking for a certain bouncing bundle of energy that was usually glued to Kanade's side.
"Oh crap. You're right. Holy sh—did we leave Suzune at school?!"
Kanade's annoyed face twisted into panic as he remembered.He had a sister. He had left his sister at school!
"Then what are you waiting for?!" Konata shouted.
"Run!!"
"I'll wait here. You go."
"No way!"