"Has a new Desire Grand Prix begun?" Ace asked Tsumuri.
"Yes," Tsumuri nodded, then turned to leave.
Raven greeted Ace at that moment: "Well, well, if it isn't the Star of Stars?" He added, "I'm quite curious what wish you managed to achieve."
Ace asked Raven in return.
Raven simply gave him a playful smile, said nothing, and then hooked his arm around Tsumuri's slender waist, leading her away. Tsumuri offered absolutely no resistance the entire time, allowing Raven to be affectionate with her. After all, she had become accustomed to it over the past few days.
This made Ace realize something was amiss. "So that's how it is."
He then understood what Raven's wish must have been. I never thought his wish would be so similar to the one I wrote down. His own wish was to be family with the DGP staff, while Raven's was to become "family" with the Game Navigator, Tsumuri.
Leaving Ace Ukiyo behind, Raven and Tsumuri traveled to an area near a construction site. They found Michinaga Azuma, who was taking a break after a shift of manual labor.
It had to be said that among the main cast of Geats, Michinaga was the most hardworking. When he wasn't participating in the game, he was working at his construction job. He was unlike Keiwa Sakurai, who remained unemployed and relied entirely on his sister working two jobs to support the household.
"Who are you two...?" Michinaga looked confusedly at the two people walking toward him.
"Following a strict review, you have been selected by us." Tsumuri walked up to him and opened the box, revealing the Driver and ID Core inside.
"From today, you are a Kamen Rider."
"Huh?" Michinaga was a little perplexed, but his attention was immediately caught by the contents of the box.
"What is this thing?"
Seeing Tsumuri didn't answer, he didn't press further and simply reached out for the Buffa ID Core.
In an instant, all his memories came rushing back.
"I remember everything." Michinaga's expression immediately changed. He went from his relatively normal state to one of seriousness and intensity. For him, remembering everything about the Desire Grand Prix meant returning to the traumatized state he was in after the death of his best friend.
"Why are you with Tsumuri?" Michinaga took the box but looked curiously at Raven, who was standing nearby.
"Does a man need a reason to be with a woman?" Raven smiled faintly.
"You, on the other hand, look truly busy, having to juggle working construction and participating in the game," Raven commented.
"That's none of your business," Michinaga replied with his typical coldness.
"So, is your wish this time still to possess the power to crush all Kamen Riders?" Raven continued.
"Of course. I will crush every Rider, including you," Michinaga said with unwavering determination. He then turned and left after being called back by his foreman.
"We will issue a summon order when the game is about to start, so please be patient," Tsumuri said to Buffa's retreating back before preparing to head to the next selected contestant.
"Tsumuri, is there no Keiwa Sakurai or Neon Kurama among the candidates this time?"
Raven followed Tsumuri to many different locations, but they only encountered contestants who were essentially cannon fodder.
In the afternoon, the two sat resting inside Raven's café. Tsumuri shook her head. "The Game Master decides who participates; I don't know."
"I see." Raven smiled faintly, not pursuing the question further.
"Are you sad about it? If she doesn't participate, her memories won't return unless she touches her ID Core," Tsumuri said, initiating the conversation for a change. She was well aware of the ambiguous relationship between Neon and Raven. For some reason, she felt a slight twinge of discomfort.
"What, are you jealous?" Raven teased, reaching out to tap Tsumuri's nose.
"Of course not," Tsumuri quickly denied.
"By the way, isn't that PunkJack one of your operational staff from the last round? Why is he participating this time?" Raven asked, pretending to peek at the contestant list on Tsumuri's tablet.
"I'm not sure about that. It's possible for different people to use the same ID Core," Tsumuri answered vaguely. Although she was now Raven's woman, she knew she primarily worked for the DGP. Some information was not convenient for her to share with Raven without the Game Master's permission.
"Oh," Raven said playfully.
In the original series, PunkJack's participation was arranged by the Game Master Girori with the goal of hindering Ace Ukiyo and forcing his retirement. Raven wondered if this would still be the case now that his interference had caused Geats to lose the previous game.
....
Meanwhile, inside the Kurama family mansion.
Neon had completely changed. She was no longer rebellious but obediently followed her mother's every word, like a doll.
Her father, Kousei Kurama, noticed this. As the DGP's sponsor in this era, he was well aware of the problem shared by contestants who left the Desire Grand Prix and lost their memories: they also lost their fundamental desires. The wish written on their Wish Card would disappear from their hearts along with their memories, potentially affecting their personality depending on the importance of that desire. The current Neon was a perfect example.
Naturally, he couldn't accept his daughter remaining this way forever. So, he planned to use his sponsor privileges to make Neon participate again.
On the other side, Keiwa Sakurai faced the same issue as Neon Kurama. His original desire was for world peace. Having lost that desire, he had become lazy and was now focused on slacking off and scratching lottery tickets.
In contrast, Michinaga's desire was only to gain the power to destroy all Kamen Riders. Losing this desire had no significant impact on his core personality, so he remained his usual aloof self.
Although neither Keiwa nor Neon had been selected by Girori for this season, Raven knew that the difficulty of the new season would soon exceed Girori's control. At that point, Girori would actively need to add new contestants, and those two would inevitably return.
Moreover, in this new season, Raven had no intention of quietly participating. He planned to become a new "Mastermind" himself, using his divine powers to toy with the DGP staff and gradually expose their true nature.