The Guardian (Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Crossover)

Chapter 33 The Rebirth!

Ophelia refused to believe Hiiro's betrayal. He's switching sides to stand against Masamune rather than them. It pains her to see how much Hiiro suffers; he is desperate to save Saki.

"Hiiro betrayed us!?" Haima asked in shock as Zilar informed him about Hiiro's betrayal.

Zilar handed her a lavender tea. "Drink this, Ophelia." He spoke softly and was scared she might have a mental breakdown.

Ophelia smiles softly at his thoughtfulness before drinking her tea. "I wish we were lying Haima-san but we're not." She whispered.

Kuroto nodded. "It appears that Dan Masamune headhunted him." He pointed out while playing Ophelia's Rubix cube.

"There must be some mistake. Hiiro would never do this!" Haima denied their words.

"Whether it's intentions or not— he doesn't have to stoop this down low." Kanade commented bitterly while glancing at Ophelia.

"He must have some reason!" Asuna exclaimed and refused to believe Hiiro was a traitor. "Otherwise, there's no way Hiiro would betray us!"

"That's right! Hiiro would never do this!" He agreed with Poppy's opinion.

"Dan Masamune said..." Emu recalled Masamune's words.

"𝙱𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚒𝚖𝚋𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚍𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎'𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚜, 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚊 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚊𝚗𝚢. 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚊 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚒𝚜 𝚛𝚞𝚗."

"Why did he mean by that?"

"Simple." Zilar spoke up and everyone stared at him. "Ophelia was right when she asked him back then."

"Back... then?" Kanade muttered and her eyes widened in shock. "You mean—"

"He can save Saki in exchange for working with him and obeying his every command." Zilar explained in a grim tone. "Whenever he achieves successfully, it's up to Masamune either to give Saki and the others to him or not."

"We'll have to assume Dan Masamune stole the Proto-Gashat, Zilar-sama?" Luna asked the knight curiously and he nodded. "It makes sense because he can use the Pause ability to stop the time."

"How did you know it was him, Zilar?" Taiga asked the Knight.

"My partner, Tomari Shinnosuke and I checked their CCTV footage. We discovered Dan Masamune who stole the Proto-Gashat on the day we fought Graphite, Lovelica and Parado." He showed them the USB and placed it on the table.

Ophelia frowned while gripping her cup. "Even if we have that as a solid, we cannot apprehend Masamune because of the Gashat he had and Hiiro. After all the Proto-Gashats contain the data of these people who vanished from five years ago to the present."

"Fee-chan, you're right." Emu agreed with her theory.

Kuroto matches all six sides colors of the Rubix cube. "So he's manipulating Kagami-sensei with reward?" He asked curiously.

"Impossible. No way would Hiiro...!" Haima whimpered, shaking nervously and holding the cake.

"Zilar is right then?" Nico muttered.

"Yeah. Brave's vanished former girlfriend." Taiga answered and noticed Ophelia's tense.

"Ophelia-neesan..." The female genius gamer was worried about her after the mental breakdown of Hiiro's betrayal.

"But still... there's always been an alternative way to take it back—" Luna was cut off by Ophelia.

"Shem-Ha was always a manipulator and one step ahead of us." She explained calmly. "Whatever weaknesses we gain, she'll do anything to crush and destroy each of us. She was reborn as a man and called himself Dan Masamune— he won't make a mistake again after finding out there's us. An obstacle was trying to stop his schemes."