Bzzz~ Bzzz~ The vibration of a phone beat the morning sunlight to waking Buyuan.
“Hm?” Still groggy, Buyuan picked up his phone to check the message.
Ellen: Got something going on.
Took the day off, won’t be in class.
“Victoria Housekeeping got another commission, huh?
Almost forgot Ellen’s whole deal.
She’s a combat maid for Victoria Housekeeping.
Gotta place an order sometime, go check out Ellen’s service quality.” Buyuan rubbed his chin, a mischievous grin curling at the corner of his mouth.
“But Ellen actually let me know she’d be out.
Guess we really are friends now.” Buyuan immediately broke into a goofy, happy grin.
En?
Raiden Makoto, stirred by the noise, opened her eyes in confusion, only to catch her master’s mischief-laden smile.
“Morning, Baal.” A flicker of teasing amusement flashed in Buyuan’s eyes.
After all, suddenly shortening Beelzebub to Baal — she’d probably spent the whole night wondering if she’d blown her cover.
Ehn-na?!
“Ellen’s not around, so I guess there’s no point in me going either.
Today, I’m gonna take it easy.
Baal~ Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are in your hands today.” Buyuan smiled as he spoke.
Then he glanced over at Raiden Makoto, still on the bed, deep in an existential Bangboo crisis.
En-da!
En-na!
Baal’s stubby little arms thumped against her chest.
Buyuan, for his part, planned to air out the bedsheets and duvet cover.
He reached for his pillow and spotted a red mechanical beetle.
“Hm?” Buyuan put the pillow back down, then lifted it again.
“WTF?
A Zecter?
And it’s Kabuto!” In disbelief, Buyuan tossed the pillow aside.
The moment his fingers touched the Zecter, it lifted off on its own, circled around him once, then flew straight into a dimensional rift and vanished.
“?” “Oh!
I know this one.” Buyuan froze for a second, then caught on immediately.
He reached out and grasped the empty air.
Sure enough, the Kabuto Zecter appeared directly in his hand, and a Rider Belt materialized around his waist.
“Bwahaha, this Hiki-Buyuan is a Kamen Rider now too.
Wait, hold on!” Buyuan’s excitement fizzled out in an instant.
“Who the hell is a nine-tails and also a Kamen Rider?” He hugged his tail in his arms, questioning his life choices.
Shouldn’t the first question be where the hell this thing came from?
“Hold on…
Raiden Makoto’s soul…
that’s right!
She showed up right when I decided to make a Bangboo!
And just yesterday I decided to write a Kamen Rider light novel.” Buyuan shot a discreet glance backward, catching sight of Raiden Makoto bustling about in the kitchen.
She seemed a bit unused to the Bangboo body, a little clumsy in her movements.
“Looks like, in some sense, before the rest of my tails grow out, there’s some kind of power providing me protection?” Buyuan examined the Kabuto transformation device in his hand.
“Wait, no, I didn’t cross over — I just lost my memories.
Seems like the me from before the amnesia arranged some things.” A critically important thought suddenly struck Buyuan.
“Looks like there’s a bit too much mystery wrapped up in me.” The more he thought, the more tangled it got.
Finally, his gaze landed on the busy Raiden Makoto.
“Could I just ask her, maybe?
But given my personality, there’s no way I’d arrange something like this and then tell anyone else.
I mean, I’m a chaos-loving troll at heart.
Forget it.
That’d be way too boring anyway.
With my brilliance, pre-amnesia me definitely set everything up perfectly.
Trust in myself, and enjoy life~” In an instant, Buyuan felt a profound sense of clarity wash over him.
Completely at ease, he opened his novel software and deleted every last bit of the outline he’d written.
“Sorry~ Either way, what comes next isn’t a light novel anymore!
It’s a biographical chronicle.
Until I figure things out, I’ll grudgingly play the part of a Kamen Rider for a while.” En-nah, en-neh~ Just then, Baal hopped over, bounce by bounce.
“Breakfast ready?
Thanks for the hard work, Baal.” Buyuan reached out and ruffled Baal’s head.
Buyuan looked at the sandwich and warm milk on the table, deeply satisfied.
Watching Raiden Makoto clumsily tidying up, he decided that when the time came to clear the air about her identity, he’d arrange a proper body for her.
Even if she didn’t need to fight, she should at least be able to live like a normal person.
“Baal, come here a sec.” Buyuan seemed to think of something and called over the busy Raiden Makoto.
Nah?
(What?) “Link up to my phone.
Use the internet to create an Inter-Knot account for me.
While you’re at it, use the network to absorb the knowledge of this world.
You just rolled off the assembly line — you’re still lacking a lot of basic info.” Buyuan didn’t even need to guess.
This primitive soul probably had no idea a Bangboo could directly connect to a phone and use the network to download knowledge.
Na…
en-neh, en-da!
(What are you talking about, qwq?
Let me figure this out.) Seeing Raiden Makoto deep in contemplation, Buyuan couldn’t help feeling a bit amused.
After finishing breakfast, he saw Raiden Makoto was still in standby mode, so in the end, he had to go clean up the house himself.
En-na!
Ehn-neh!
Wah-dah, en-noh!
(Amazing.
This thing is way more fun than Teyvat.) The round, chubby Bangboo wiggled side to side.
“She’s just as bad as her little sister.
At least this whole ‘country girl visits the big city’ vibe is absolutely on point.” Buyuan didn’t interrupt Raiden Makoto’s excitement.
Absorbing information was way faster than reading — she’d probably digest it all pretty quickly.
Clearly, the biggest difference between Makoto and Ei was this: one knew when to stop, and the other absolutely did not.
En-nah, en-da~ Raiden Makoto didn’t get overly lost in the web.
She first helped Buyuan set up his Inter-Knot account.
“Alright, nice!
Set the username as Kamen Rider Kabuto King, then find Phaethon.
Put up a commission for 100,000 Dennies.
The objective is to take me into a Companion Hollow in Crete for some practice.” Buyuan didn’t plan on revealing his identity outright.
He intended to wait until the main storyline kicked off, then suddenly appear and scare the daylights out of them.
En-na.
(No problem.) Baal handed the phone to Buyuan.
The moment he took the phone, it vibrated.
Buyuan knew it was Phaethon replying.
Sure enough, a new Inter-Knot app now sat on his phone — Raiden Makoto had installed it.
A Bangboo itself can’t directly connect to the internet.
It needs a medium, like his phone.
The Bangboo used his phone as a more convenient way to do its Googling.
Phaethon: Are you sure you only need us to take you into a Companion Hollow in Crete for practice?
No other commission requirements?
Kamen Rider Kabuto King: That’s right.
Just need you to find me a few Ethereals to train against.
Inside the video store, the Phaethon siblings were being exceptionally cautious.
“Belle, something feels off.
If he just wants to train against Ethereals, he shouldn’t need to come to us, Phaethon.” Wise felt this client was a bit strange.
“Bro, maybe you’re overthinking it?
With a name like that and throwing money around so casually, I get the feeling this is some justice-obsessed, chuunibyou rich kid.” Belle had a different take on Buyuan’s alias.
“Either way, let me probe a little more.
If nothing’s wrong, we’ll take it.” Phaethon: For simple training, it seems like plenty of Proxies could handle this.
Kamen Rider Kabuto King: Simple.
I’ve only just come into contact with Inter-Knot.
I don’t know much of anything.
Kamen Rider Kabuto King: Under these circumstances, going for the most famous Proxy — isn’t that the best choice?
The only downside is the fees being steeper than other Proxies.
Kamen Rider Kabuto King: Too bad.
I’m not short on money.
Phaethon: Understood.
We’ll take this commission.
Kamen Rider Kabuto King: Consider this a long-term commission.
I’ll contact you at irregular intervals for Hollow entries.
Kamen Rider Kabuto King: Future sessions will be billed according to the specific Hollow and commission situation.
The base rate is 100,000 Dennies, of course.
Phaethon: Let’s discuss further cooperation after this job is complete.
Kamen Rider Kabuto King: Fine.
Pick a meeting spot for 1 PM onwards.
Phaethon: No problem.
Phaethon: Let’s meet at Coff Cafe on Sixth Street.
“Brother, so?” Belle leaned in the moment she saw Wise set his phone down.
“I know you haven’t taken a commission in a while, Belle, but do you really have to be this eager?” Wise looked at his little sister with a hint of exasperation.
“From what I can tell so far, this guy seems fine, and he’s got long-term cooperation in mind.
We’ll make the final call after this commission wraps up.
I set the meeting for 1 PM at Coff Cafe.
Belle, you’ll control Eous for this one.” Wise gave Belle the meetup location, then went back to organizing the video tapes.
“Meeting up right outside your own video store…
Wise, you really are lazy.” Buyuan stared speechlessly at Phaethon’s final message and changed Phaethon’s contact name to Wise.
What he didn’t know was that Wise had long since renamed him “Cash Cow.” “Gotta disguise myself.
Can’t just stay transformed the whole time.” Buyuan said a quick goodbye to Raiden Makoto and headed out to prep.
“Oh, right, Baal.
I won’t be back for lunch, but I’ll be home for dinner.” Buyuan figured if he ate at home and then left, he might very well run straight into Belle.
Something about that felt like it’d blow his cover way too easily.
After getting everything ready, Buyuan spent the whole afternoon playing Snake at the arcade.
With his handsome looks and top-tier skills, he became an instant celebrity in the shop.
When he made his smooth exit, all he left behind was the all-time high score on the Snake machine.
Buyuan’s current getup was a large black cloak, its sole purpose to hide his tail.
He wore purple colored contacts, a mask covering half his face, and his messy white hair was swept completely back, tied into a ponytail with a white cord.
Buyuan was dead certain that not even Ellen would recognize him.
With his forehead exposed, that usual lazy, languid vibe vanished entirely.
A shift in aura was, in fact, the best disguise.
Even his ears — the one thing that might have given him away — were prepped with clip-on accessories that needed no piercings.
What stood before them now was no longer a laid-back, languid young man, but a sunny, dashing, chuunibyou rich kid.
Buyuan sat quietly in a chair outside the cafe, fiddling with his phone.
Seeing that Ellen still hadn’t replied, he felt a bit helpless.
He realized he really didn’t have any friends he could just chat with.
Ehn-nuh?
En-na-da?
Just then, a Bangboo wearing an orange scarf tugged at the leg of his pants.
“Phaethon?” Hearing Belle’s imitation of Bangboo-speak, Buyuan felt his entire soul ascend.
But he kept a straight face as he asked.
“You must be Mr.
Kabuto King.” Belle, controlling Eous, leaned in close to Buyuan and said quietly.
“Yeah.
No time like the present.
Let’s move.” Based on what he knew of the plot, Buyuan judged that Belle’s and Eous’s senses were shared, so he didn’t recklessly scoop up Eous to hurry things along.
“Alright.
Do you have transportation?” Seeing that Buyuan hadn’t presumptuously touched Eous the way so many other Proxy clients did, Belle felt a little pleased.
“I do.
I parked it over at Turbo.” (AN: Turbo Remodeling Shop is that car frame next to the Bangboo mod shop.
Seems like on the surface, it’s a vehicle repair shop.) ‘This guy’s seriously loaded!
That’s last year’s latest supercar.’ Belle, controlling Eous, climbed into the passenger seat.
Following Belle’s directions, Buyuan drove Eous to a concealed Hollow entrance.
“Let’s go.” Belle piloted Eous, dashing towards the Hollow.
“Mm.” Buyuan quickly followed suit.
Ehehe, Hollow adventure!
Here I come!
Comment it and let me know.