"Yo, Sento. Fancy seeing you here," Gentaro said as the scientist joined him at the park.

"Needed a break from Misora and the others," he answered, sitting down on the bench beside him. "They worry too much at times."

He laughed, hollow as it was. "Well, that means they care for ya."

"... Why... Would they still care?" Sento asked.

Gentaro paused. His body language shifted ever so slightly, eyes narrowed as he turned to face the other. "Why wouldn't they?"

"I'm the reason we had to... We had to go through everything. Kazumin, Gentoku-san's death... Katsuragi Takumi was right... If I hadn't made so many mistakes, it wouldn't have cost us the world. We wouldn't have come here and that's bad, sure, but what about the emotional damage my actions managed to inflict on the civilians...?" Sento gritted his teeth. All his friends... those deaths, those sacrifices... "It wasn't worth it. I could have avoided all that... Turns out... I'm just the same as him. I'm still the Devil's Scientist..." 

A part of him resonated with that. His actions did tend to land him in trouble but... "You didn't mean to cause that pain!" he snapped. "It's not your fault it happened! You were just manipulated by that alien!" 

"And yet I still did it! How do you justify that?!" Sento got up from the bench, eyes burning despite his arms still recovering from the burns.

"You can still fix it!" Gentaro tried to get up to glare even harder, but hissed. Ugh, that stupid leg injury from the Kengo imposter! 

"Fix what?! The fact that I messed up in the past!? That I'm the reason Banjo lost his girlfriend!? That I'm the reason Kazumin has to suffer through the memories of losing his friends?" Sento grabbed his shirt, still holding himself back from pulling him up all the way because of his leg injury.

"Are you even listening to yourself now!? You messed up, that's all! You can still change it! It's not permanent!" 

"How are you even sure of that?! How are you sure I won't turn out like Katsuragi Takumi!?" 

"Oh, we're really having that conversation, huh?" Another voice remarked, making both of them pause as they turned to see Aruto and Ikki joining them. Ikki was leaning on a crutch slightly while Aruto was in a wheelchair. Their injuries were pretty bad too, especially with Ikki's gun wound and Aruto's beating by the Isamu Impull. It was a miracle they were still standing, really. 

"Ikki? Aruto?" Gentaro blinked. What were they...?

"Needed a break like you two, but we overheard what you said." Ikki sat on the bench across them. "I can't say that I understand what you went through fully." 

"I can," Aruto offered. "I was Ark-One for a while because of grief overtaking me, and... I was very much aware and conscious of my actions." 

"You were WHAT?" Sento's eyes widened. He had heard about it from Sougo, but to think he had been conscious the entire time...

"Yeah, not pleasant..." Aruto sighed, gingerly looking at the immense amount of gauze around him. 

"My brother would relate to the whole 'I once went to the dark side' thing, but that's mainly my fault for accidentally making the standard too high," Ikki added. "If anything, I still blame myself for Vice disappearing. Sure, I remember him now, but..." 

He closed his eyes. The Impull's words were true, sadly. 

"I still hurt my loved ones," he said. "I was the key factor of Kagero forming, am to blame for Lovekov to some extent. I... I messed up as well." 

"I just... wanted to protect my loved ones. How did it go so, so wrong...?" Sento mumbled. 

"Hey, we all mess up. It's not like you don't feel anything about it, anyway," Gentaro cut in. "Isn't that a sign that you can grow and become better?" 

"I... I guess you have a point. But what about you?" The scientist aimed the question back at him. 

That was not what Gentaro expected. "H-Huh?" 

"Yeah, he's not the only one who noticed that you were acting off when you mentioned friends, while we were in the Akasei household," Aruto admitted. "We all did. Something about your Impull got to you as well right?" 

Here, he went quiet. He... Would they understand...? They all clearly felt bad for what they had done, yet...

He looked down at his hands, and groaned into them as he said, "Sento, you remember when we had the funeral for Eiji-san?" 

Sento frowned. No one really brought up Eiji's death among the Heisei riders. A touchy subject, really. "What about it?" 

"Did you notice... something about me?" 

Huh? Sento tried to rack his mind for it as Ikki looked at Aruto. The CEO shook his head quietly, telling him not to prod for now. 

He remembered many tears from Shotaro, Philip, Kouta, Takeru, and Ryuga. Haruto had looked away. Shinnosuke and Emu had just stood there and kept the irritable Ankh company. He and Sougo hadn't done much... And the others-

Hang on. 

What had... What had Gentaro done?

All he remembered was...

A quiet face.

Sento's eyes shot up to look at the other. He hadn't cried....? Even though...

Gentaro gave a sad smile. "I didn't cry for the sempai I cared for a lot. That was what the Impull was telling me; that for all my proclamations about wanting to be friends... It's just an obligation towards the promise I made to my parents before they died. That in all honesty... DO I actually care for them?" 

"Gentaro..." 

"I just... I don't know, I pretend that the gap in my heart that my parents' death left behind was ever filled... But..." Why was he crying?! He shouldn't be crying. That wasn't the point of telling them. He didn't need pity! "I just... I just don't know anymore, how to feel." 

"... Maybe you sealed it off after their deaths? Kinda like a self-conscious thought?" Ikki offered. "I wasn't even aware of my lack of self-care until Vice came into my life, and it took me being really hurt to truly understand how much I didn't care for myself at all. It just... happened. Could have been what happened to you, Gentaro. Losing family could have left you feeling empty."

"I don't even remember much about them!" he snapped. "When I met Yuki they were already gone, and I had to move soon after!" 

"But childhood trauma does affect us, even if we don't know or are aware of its influence," Aruto said. "I should know. The Daybreak Town Incident left me kinda scarred in a way. Losing my father, even if he was just a Humagear copy of him..." 

He sighed. "And now, having to fight both him AND Fuwa-san... I don't know how to face them. I thought everything was over already but..." 

"Nothing is ever truly over. As long as you're a Kamen Rider, you still gotta fight for the world. Some days, even if it's hard, you can still overcome this darkness," Sento said. "After all, we fight for love and peace, don't you think?" 

The three looked at him in surprise. 

"Love... and peace?" Gentaro repeated. 

Feeling a bit inspired, Sento got up, a smile on his face as he remembered his principles, moving forward as he spoke, as if lecturing a university class, "To protect the world, to allow love and peace to reign... That was the principle I was taught even when I was Katsuragi Takumi. It's a principle I kept on holding onto, and even now... No matter what insane threat comes my way, I will still fight, because I fight for love and peace. I fight for the people who believe in a better world... No, to be more accurate..."

He turned back, grinning while his hair stuck up, even doing his signature pose. "I fight for a better world. I believe that love and peace WILL reign in the world one day, even if it's a slow process. So what if I used to be Katsuragi Takumi?" 

The doubts were breaking away. Being reminded of why he fought, why he was Kamen Rider Build... 

"I have the winning formula, and as long as I keep on believing in that, as long as WE keep on fighting for the right thing, we CAN do this!" he finished up. "So regardless of who we were in the past, be it a villain, someone who hurt others, or someone who can't feel, who's to say that won't change? Life changes all the time! The changes WE bring to the world by fighting as Kamen Riders, being ourselves while in those suits, and fighting for what WE believe in! I'm proud of who I am now, of the person I will be in the future because I continue to fight for my ideals, so... why don't you fight to understand yourselves as well? I definitely learnt my lesson through fighting as a Kamen Rider." 

Ikki couldn't help but laugh as well. He had a point. "You have a point! Vice would have gone, 'This ain't ya, Ikki! Don't go moping around like this, Ikki!' That Vice is a mockery of the Vice I said goodbye to. I refuse to let that be, so I WILL take him down! Man, look at this now! I feel so revved up it's impossible to contain!"

Gentaro felt a grin form on his face as he shook his head. Man, these people... He really was an idiot at times. 

Maybe he HAD suppressed the feelings, maybe he HAD clung onto that promise for so long, but... now he had actual friends. Those he could call his dachis, be it the KRC or even his fellow Kamen Riders. "I am such an idiot at times. No wonder Kengo still calls me one after all this time." 

"Hey, we all are. I think that's why we're Kamen Riders. Cause we're pretty much KAME-NO RIDERS, (Turtle Riders)" Aruto said before he did his signature pose. "And that's a show from Aruto everyone!" 

"The fact that it's so illogical makes it even better!" Sento burst out laughing, and Ikki snorted while Gentaro hugged his stomach, laughing his heart out. Man, it felt good to finally realise the truth, even if it would take time for it to truly settle in. 

Well, thank goodness he had his friends with him now!