The room fell silent. “I don’t care who you are,” she said through clenched teeth. “You’re not touching him again.” The man froze, caught completely off guard. He hadn’t expected resistance, especially not after what he’d done to her. Kael noticed it too. Even through his pain, he felt something spark inside him. His sister was hurt, her face bloodied, but she was still standing, protecting him. She had always been the shield between him and the world’s cruelty. For a moment, even the men holding her hesitated. Then their rage returned. They yanked her back harder, dragging her across the floor. She didn’t stop fighting. She kicked, screamed, and thrashed with all she had. She didn’t care what they did to her so long as they left her brother alone. But there were too many of them. Hands pinned her wrists. Others dragged her down the hallway. “LET ME GO!” she screamed. “STOP!” Kael cried, his voice too weak and broken. She reached for him, her fingers scratchi

Kael blinked, trying to make sense of the words. “Kamen… Riders? Wait—you mean like the armored hero who saved me?”"Hero?" Tucker echoed.“Saved you?” Selena’s voice went sharp. “Now that’s quite the assumption.”“What do you mean?”Tucker set his beer down with a dull thud. The bottle rattled against the wooden table. “Thing is, there are a lot more of them in this game,” he said. “Each one with their own goals, their own unique way of going about things. But in the end, the end goal stays the same—” he paused, his voice hardening—“be the last Rider standing. By any means fucking necessary.”The room seemed to shrink around Kael. And for a boy his age, he didn't know what to think.“Riders? Games?” He stared at them, almost laughing from disbelief. Then a small, nervous chuckle slipped out. He rose unsteadily to his feet.“I see,” he said quietly. “This is all starting to make sense now.”He started pacing toward the door, running a shaky hand through his hair. “I’ve gone crazy,” he

The monster struck, sending Kael and itself tumbling off the rooftop. Kael managed to grab the ledge in time, the sudden jerk nearly dislocating his shoulder. He hung on for dear life as rain poured around him.Rain fell heavily, soaking the metal beneath Kael’s hand. His grip slipped for a moment, then tightened again as the monster below grabbed his ankles and yanked him down.“Let go of me!” Kael yelled, his voice cracking with panic.The creature’s claws sank deeper, tearing into his skin. Kael yelled in pain and kicked wildly with his free leg until a final hard strike knocked the monster away.It fell, crashing to the ground below with a horrible thud.Gasping for breath, Kael hauled himself up over the ledge and collapsed onto the rooftop. He lay there for a long moment, catching his breath and trying to calm the pounding in his chest.“Still alive…” he muttered between ragged breaths, almost in disbelief.Suddenly, glowing words appeared again in front of him.【 Countdown Init

‎Kael ran as fast as he could through the rain. His shoes splashed through puddles, and his heart pounded so hard it hurt. Behind him, the creatures screeched, getting closer. ‎He turned sharply into a narrow alley. The smell of trash and wet metal filled the air. Kael crouched behind a broken trash bin, trying to stay quiet. ‎One of the creatures stopped at the alley entrance. Its head twitched from side to side, like it was sniffing for him. It looked like it suspected it's prey was near. ‎’Think, Kael. Think.’ ‎His eyes landed on a crushed soda can in the mud. He grabbed it, hesitated, then tossed it down the opposite end of the alley. ‎The can clattered loudly. The creature’s head turned toward the noise. Then, with a shriek, it lunged that way. Kael didn't waste the opportunity. He ran in the opposite direction as fast as he could, splashing through puddles. ‎He ran between parked cars, moving low and using every bit of cover he could find. A sharp growl behind

The next morning, Kael followed Madam Kaname up to the rooftop. He carried a small metal plate of food in one hand, eating as he walked behind her. The food wasn’t much. Just cold rice and something that might have been fish, but he ate it like it was a feast. “We lost water pressure about three weeks ago,” Kaname said, pushing open the rooftop door. “For a while, I thought we’d be fine living off the water left in the tanks. But it vanished so fast you wouldn’t believe.” The door opened with a loud creak. The rooftop was covered with buckets and containers of all shapes and sizes, each filled with rainwater from the night before. Kaname sighed, brushing back a few loose strands of hair. “This is what we’ve come to. You drink it, it evaporates. You store it, and it goes bad. It’s like we’re trapped in some cruel version of the water cycle.” She crouched to scoop some dirt out of one of the buckets. Kael pointed to some plastic sheets stacked in the corner. “What about those?