After a series of dazzling defenses from the uniquely gifted crowd, all eyes finally turned to Titania.
Everyone else had already proven their innocence in the theft of Sora's body—leaving Titania as the last unresolved suspect.
"Now that I think about it, isn't she the only one here who actually has a grudge against Sora?"
"Exactly. Their rivalry's basically public knowledge. If anyone had a reason to mess with his body, it'd be her."
As the whispers spread, the looks aimed at Titania grew sharper and more dangerous.
If she really had taken Sora's body—what had she done with it?
Many of them had secretly wanted the same access, but no one had dared cross that line. Who would've guessed that Titania, of all people, might've actually gone and…
Facing their accusing stares, Titania instinctively took two steps back.
Her eyes darted toward Shunji. If he just admitted their secret activities, all suspicion would vanish immediately. After all, whenever she was gone, so was she—they'd always been together, secretly commenting online.
But if that truth came out, all those mortifying posts she'd exchanged with Shunji would come to light as well.
If that happened, wouldn't her divine dignity be completely destroyed?!
No way! That secret was going with her to the grave.
Reaffirming her resolve, Titania straightened up, mask firmly in place, and swept a regal glare over the room.
"You're suspecting me—a literal deity? What could I possibly gain from stealing Sora's body?"
It sounded like a reasonable argument. What would she even want with it?
"That's where you're wrong!" Unkyō stepped forward, countering without hesitation. "If you had Sora's body, you could do plenty!"
Titania blinked in disbelief. Aside from doodling 'turtle' on his face or some other childish prank, what else could she even—
Unkyō, oblivious to Titania's confusion, confidently laid out her theory:
"For instance, you could scan his body data, make a life-sized replica body pillow, and promise to give one to everyone who votes for you!"
Sora, who'd been listening closely, suddenly felt the floor drop out from under him.
Wait—what?
Who in their right mind would buy a life-sized body pillow of him?! How bored would you have to be to even...
Robin silently shared Sora's disbelief. Human body pillows weren't exactly a galactic bestseller. Surely no one would—
"Hiss~ So that's her plan! How devious!"
"Damn you, Titania! Resorting to such dirty tricks!"
"Wait, does that mean voting for her gets us a real, full-size Sora pillow?!"
"If only… sleeping with a Sora pillow would feel so safe and cozy…"
The crowd's reaction was completely opposite of what Sora expected. Apparently, there was a market.
No, no, no—hold on!
"Hey, hey, hey! Isn't this the wrong thing to focus on right now?!" Sora snapped, glaring at Unkyō. Who let this woman derail the discussion like this?!
"Shouldn't we be figuring out where my body actually went?!"
Snapped out of their collective daydream, everyone coughed awkwardly. "Ah, right."
Then, with renewed seriousness, they all turned back to Titania. "So? Where exactly did you hide the Sora pillow replica?"
Why won't this stupid pillow topic die already?!
Sora felt his soul leaving his body—figuratively this time. Thankfully, someone stepped in before things got any worse.
"Why all this baseless speculation? Just check the capsule's logs," Fenille said evenly. "It's not like we're in the dark ages."
Her logic was unshakable.
This was the interstellar age—the Galactic Federation era, no less. Not to mention, Sora's body was stored in a heavily monitored chamber.
"Exactly! How could you forget something that obvious and blame me instead?" Titania scoffed, seizing the chance to mock everyone.
At the same time, she let out a silent breath of relief. Thank the stars her secret hadn't come out—her social death had almost been sealed.
Her divine image had to remain spotless. Absolutely.
Unfortunately for her, no one was listening anymore. Everyone was focused on the capsule footage.
They quickly pulled up the log from just before the disappearance.
Once playback began, the room fell dead silent.
The fixed camera showed Sora's peaceful, sleeping form inside the capsule.
Everyone leaned in, waiting to see the culprit appear.
But the very next second—without warning—Sora's body was just… gone.
"What the—?!"
"What happened?!"
It was instantaneous. One frame, he was there—breathing normally. The next, he'd vanished without a trace.
They slowed the footage a hundredfold, combing through each frame, but the result was the same.
He was there one moment—and gone the next.
No intruder, no signs of tampering, no movement at all. It was as if his body had simply ceased to exist.
The absurdity of it left everyone reeling.
What kind of power could move a body instantly, without triggering any of their advanced sensors?
"Power like this…" Robin murmured, feathers beside her ear shifting to a sharp purple hue. "Could it be the work of an AEON?"
Such seamless interference—bypassing all systems—wasn't biological. It was divine.
Given Sora's past encounters with AEONs, her suspicion made perfect sense.
Meanwhile, Sora narrowed his eyes at the footage. He'd noticed something—something no one else could see.
"Leave this to me," he said quietly. "And keep this incident confidential."
Robin immediately caught his tone. This was indeed connected to an AEON.
She turned to the others. "Not a word of this to anyone. And stay alert—report any strange phenomena to the Federation at once."
Everyone nodded gravely.
"But… which AEON could it be?" Robin mused aloud, her feathers shifting to a thoughtful yellow.
She'd grown used to the color change by now.
It was definitely the work of an AEON—but which one?
Most would guess HOOH, the AEON of Equilibrium, whom Sora had clashed with before. Or maybe AHA, the AEON of Elation, notorious across the cosmos for chaos and pranks.
Either could have pulled this off.
Yet Sora had seen something that ruled them both out. Just before his body vanished, a faint gray-black mist had coiled around its hand—then swallowed it whole.
He'd seen that mist once before.
It belonged to only one AEON.
"The Finality AEON—TERMINUS…" Sora murmured, naming the true culprit behind his body's disappearance.
How could it vanish in an instant?
Because TERMINUS was bound to time itself.
And why was Sora the only one who saw that brief mist?
Because he'd faced that AEON's power firsthand.
To everyone else, it was an ordinary second. But to Sora, the truth was unmistakable.
"So this is your idea of a 'deal,' TERMINUS?" he muttered under his breath. "Taking my body behind my back… You've gone too far."
Standing alone in his room, Sora took two deep breaths to steady himself.
Sure, he could function just fine as a spiritual entity—but that didn't mean he'd ever agreed to stay that way.
And now, just when he thought his vacation was finally going smoothly, trouble had decided to show up uninvited.
"Alright then," he muttered, exhaling sharply. "If that's how you want to play it, don't blame me for relying on my senpai's power!"
[Welcome, Host, to the Rider System space. Please begin your random power selection.]
"Please, my senpais—help me find my missing body!"
Sora pressed the activation button, silently praying for luck.
[As you wish, Host.]
The holographic Rider images before him dimmed.
Capsules began spinning wildly, flashing and colliding until a familiar red button materialized in front of him.
Without hesitation, Sora slammed it.
The images spun even faster, light bursting and scattering—until one capsule finally dropped through the exit below.
It opened, and a Rider's image instantly fused into Sora's spirit.
His eyes widened as his vision warped, fading into a strange illusion—
Wait, what?!
Sora blinked, scanning his surroundings. Something was off.
Normally, he'd find himself meeting one of his Rider-senpai—Shotaro, Touma-sensei, Heart, Keiwa... It was always one of them.
So why did this scene look exactly like his own room?
"Oh! This is fascinating!"
A delighted voice suddenly rang out beside him.
Sora turned—and froze when he saw a man in a long robe, enthusiastically poking at the holographic alarm clock on his desk. The device shifted and morphed into different shapes under the man's curious touch.
"Yuri-choujin?!" Sora blurted, eyes wide.
"Correct!" Yuri said brightly, nodding before turning back to inspect every strange gadget within reach. His eyes sparkled with unrestrained wonder, like a scholar dropped into a future museum.
Though Sora's room wasn't particularly big, to Yuri, it was an endless playground of marvels.
"What... is this curious object?" Yuri asked, tracing the smooth surface of a nearby machine.
"That's a printer," Sora explained. "It creates physical items from digital blueprints."
"Incredible!" Yuri exclaimed. "In my time, we had to carve everything by hand. And—wait, is this Touma?"
He picked up a small 3D-printed figure holding a bright-blue [Seiken Swordriver].
"You really admire him, huh..."
Sora scratched his cheek. "Well, there are others too..."
Indeed, more figures sat nearby—a two-toned detective, a rocket-headed hero—all recent additions to his collection.
But Yuri had already moved on, picking up another gadget with reverent curiosity.
"That's a holographic projector," Sora said. "Press it once—you'll see what it does."
Yuri hesitated, then tapped the device.
In an instant, the entire room transformed.
He now stood in a lush, sunlit forest. Towering trees reached toward the sky, beams of light filtering gently through vibrant leaves. The air even felt damp and cool.
"Whoa, amazing!"
Pure awe filled Yuri's voice as he reached out to touch the leaves. They felt real.
"Is this truly not a fantasy world?"
"The holograms cover the whole room," Sora explained, smiling faintly. "It's basically a full-environment simulation."
"This is remarkable! So this is humanity's future?" Yuri's eyes gleamed. "It's simply saikou!"
Then, without warning, his tone shifted. "But we shouldn't waste time. You're worried, aren't you?"
As he spoke, his body began to dissolve into motes of light, merging with Sora's spiritual form.
"Touma asked me to pass along a message: 'The thing separating you from your body isn't distance, but time itself.'"
"If you want to find it, use my power—transform into a sword. That way, no one will detect you. That's all from me. Goodbye for now."
As Yuri's voice faded, a folded sword and driver appeared in Sora's hands.
No doubt about it—this was Yuri's power.
But still—
"You didn't actually tell me how to find it," Sora said flatly.
TERMINUS had sent his body drifting through time, sure—but how was he supposed to follow it?
"Oh, right! I almost forgot—Touma left you something to handle that part. Anyway, goodbye for real this time!"
Yuri's cheerful voice echoed one last time in Sora's mind.
Silence fell.
"…Seriously?" Sora groaned, staring up at the ceiling.
So if I hadn't asked, you just wouldn't have told me at all?!
---
T/N: heheh i love how the actual riders show up
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I DONT THINK ANY OF YOU READS THE THOUGHTS SECTION SO IM GONNA JUST TRY POSTING IT HERE
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say thank you to Girantina for that thoughtful message