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What should he do?
"I..."
He was nothing but an ordinary human being. What could he possibly do against a monster capable of blowing up an entire building?
"S-Soone... soone help ...!"
However.
He froze in that instant.
He dropped what he was holding.
mories flooded his mind.
"Wait! What are you doing with that puppy?!"
The day he stopped a group of cruel kids from tornting a small puppy.
He got beaten down every ti, yet he kept coming back like a madman.
"A Super Rider...! Never gives up!"
How he had scread at them from the top of his lungs, rescued the puppy, and sent the kids running in fear.
"Bullying is wrong! Stop doing that!"
Or the ti he protected a friend from the scariest thugs at school.
"Hah? And who are you, shrimp?"
How he was beaten again and again...
Even as he bled, even with a broken rib and his body covered in wounds.
How he kept rising, against all reason.
"HEN... SHIN!!!"
And how, out of nowhere, he raised his hands and "transford," suddenly gaining overwhelming strength that let him...
BAAM!
BAAM!
BAAM!
"W-What the hell is wrong with this fucker?!"
"He keeps coming back?!"
"Fuck it! Run!"
With tears and blood streaming down his face, he had scread at the thugs.
"AND DON’T YOU DARE EVER CO BACK! BECAUSE I...! SUPER RIDER WILL BE HERE TO STOP YOU!"
It was cringe. Everyone looked at him like a weirdo.
But the people he saved...
They always thanked him. They always saw him as a great guy.
But how long had it been since then?
Over twenty years...
Did he still have it in him?
That burning, endless passion.
Back when the world felt more peaceful—when there were no monsters devouring people.
"Soone... help... ..."
As he clenched his teeth and gripped his fists until they hurt, he heard the clerk’s voice fading.
And then.
In that mont, his heart began pounding faster and faster.
Tears stread down his face.
"Is this really the ti to hesitate, Keitaro?!"
"...?!"
A voice echoed from deep within his mind—fierce, angry, and full of disbelief.
A heroic voice.
His own mind? His own consciousness?
"Aren’t you a Super Rider?!"
"I..."
"Haven’t you trained your whole life for this mont?!"
"...!"
"Soone’s life is about to end because you’re just standing there doing nothing!"
"I...!"
"Keitaro! It’s now or never...! Are you a Super Rider or not?!"
"I...!"
Keitaro took a step forward, facing his fear, his doubt, his every insecurity.
Still crying, he ran.
He ran as hard as he could!
Not away from danger—
But straight toward it!
"STOP THAT!"
He leaped into the ruined convenience store, confronting the skeleton that was about to behead the young clerk—a woman whose legs had been crushed under rubble.
"GRACK?"
The skeleton hissed.
Then sothing absurd happened.
An ordinary man...
"SUPER... RIDER... PUNCH!!!"
BAAAM!!!
"?!"
RUMBLE!
The ground shook violently. The skeleton’s skull—harder than tal—cracked. The entire monster was hurled backward, smashing into the walls.
BOOOM!
The woman stared in disbelief. The ordinary man she had thought was a nobody had just punched a terrifying monster in the face and sent it flying like nothing.
"Ahh..."
Keitaro’s hand bled profusely. Bone was exposed beneath torn skin. He could barely move his fingers.
But he had done it.
"I-I did... it...!"
Tears poured down his face. He couldn’t believe it himself.
"Um... hey? Can you help ?"
"Ah!"
Keitaro rushed to the clerk. Seeing the collapsed rubble pinning her legs, he shoved it aside with unnatural strength.
"Your legs! Are they broken?" he asked.
"I think so... I can’t feel anything below the knees," she sighed weakly. "C-Can you call an ambulance please?"
"Of course!" He was about to lift and carry her outside when...
RUMBLE!
Heavy footsteps charged toward him. The skeleton—with half its skull cracked—rushed back.
"?!"
"It’s alive after that punch?!" the clerk scread.
"Filthy... human...! You think...! You can beat... ?! You are not even... awakened!!!"
The skeleton roared and smashed its skeletal fist into Keitaro’s face, nearly dislocating his jaw and sending him crashing through the convenience store.
CRASH!
"Ungh...!"
"Die!"
"Ahh!"
Keitaro saw the monstrous skeleton swing its ghostly axe toward him.
In that instant, his heart pounded at a speed he had never felt before.
Adrenaline flooded his veins.
His senses sharpened to an extre.
CRAAASH!
The axe struck the ground, carving a sharp gash across the floor—but he...
He managed to dodge.
"What was that?!"
His eyes widened as he felt sothing inside him.
An invisible aura.
"DIE ALREADY, HUMAN!!!"
The skeleton raged, swinging its axe relentlessly.
"Nnngh!"
Keitaro pushed himself to his absolute limit once more.
CRASH!
CRASH!
CRASH!
CRASH!
As the giant axe tore through everything, Keitaro dodged and rolled away, crashing into another wall. He glared at the skeleton, breathing heavily.
Sweat drenched his body. His senses had never been sharper.
"Can you feel it, Keitaro?"
"...!"
That inner voice spoke again—this ti with the heroic tone of Super Rider.
Maybe... Keitaro was truly losing his mind now.
"I’m really going insane..."
As he smiled bitterly, the voice snapped back.
"This is not insanity! Fool! Can’t you feel it?! Deep within your heart, Keitaro?!"
"...!"
"This is the power of your Super Rider’s Heart! A Hero’s Passion!"
He looked at his hands. Steam rose from his exhausted body—slowly turning red like fire.
Was this an illusion? Was he truly going mad?
Or...
Or was there another reason entirely.
"Human...! You’re good at dodging, but is that all?"
The skeleton sneered, pointing its hand at Keitaro and gathering a massive ghostly fireball.
"Perish alongside this entire place!"
The enormous fireball hurtled toward him.
"Ah!"
He had no way to dodge. He either had to take it or...
Punch it.
No—rather...
Kick it!
He swung his leg upward.
"SUPER... RIDER... KICK!!!"
His strange aura gathered around his leg and...
Before the clerk, who thought it was over—
The phantasmal fireball was blasted back at the skeleton. Its mouth fell open in shock.
"WHAT?!"
The skeleton scread in disbelief as the fireball struck it, sending it flying out of the convenience store in a thunderous explosion.
BOOOM!
"Haaa... Haaa... Haaa...!"
Keitaro gasped for air. He stared at his own hands in disbelief. His breathing grew heavier and heavier.
A foolish, joyful smile spread across his lips as tears stread down his face.
"I-I did it?! I did it!"
He scread, raising his arms in triumph.
"Keitaro, it’s not over yet! Snap out of it! That thing is no ordinary monster—it’s likely a boss monster!"
"?!"
"Human!!!"
The skeleton roared once more. It rose, covered in bruises and cracks. Its aura surged with terrifying power.
A power no ordinary human could ever hope to fight.
Keitaro stepped out of the store, making sure the clerk was safe. He handed her his phone so she could call an ambulance.
"I got this."
"A-Are you sure?! Eh... why is your wallpaper and everything else Super Rider thed?"
"It’s cool, right?"
"..."
She chose not to comnt as Keitaro ran outside to confront the undead that waited for him—as though it recognized his newfound strength.
"I am Skrel, General of the Demon King of Death’s Army! You stand before one who has consud over one thousand souls. Do you truly believe you can match ?!"
"I have to believe I can."
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