However, even though he was extremely dissatisfied with the strange label they’d slapped on Glory, Lu Xun couldn’t step forward to clear Glory’s name himself.
He could only voice a few complaints about Legend.
Not revealing one’s identity lightly was an unwritten rule among vigilantes; otherwise, it could lead to all sorts of problems.
For example, if the true identity was exposed, enemies could use people close to them as leverage, dragging friends and family into danger—just like the girlfriends of Spider-O and Super-O, who ended up as professional hostages…
There was also the risk of being attacked before transforming, since not every Kamen Rider’s human form could fight monsters barehanded.
The human forms were vulnerable before transformation.
This tacit rule had been learned through many past mistakes.
Therefore, every vigilante with a special identity would try their best to protect their real selves and only tell the truth to a few close friends or family.
As a veteran Kamen Rider fan, Lu Xun understood this clearly.
Even though he was somewhat introverted, he had important family and friends and didn’t want to drag others into danger because of him.
Of course, he also enjoyed the secretive feeling that came with being a Kamen Rider, the pride that came with guarding a secret…
cough The latter reason was only a small part, really just a tiny bit.
So he didn’t impulsively transform in public the moment he heard of a suspected monster’s appearance.
Instead, he chose to first go to an empty restroom during class.
But maybe because he had watched too many tokusatsu shows and read too many manga, he had an inexplicable obsession: he absolutely had to say the word “Transform” with thunderous conviction, as if it would lose its soul otherwise.
Because of this insistence, on the very first day he became Yun You’s classmate, Lu Xun was exposed immediately—not even a whole day passed.
From Yun You’s perspective, it was as he was about to step out of a stall that he saw the cool-faced, handsome new classmate with a serious expression rush to the stall next to his.
After a heavy slam of the stall door, a very righteous and solemn “Transform!!” rang out from inside.
Those two short words were spoken with such precise intonation and emotion that one couldn’t help but wonder how many years Lu Xun must have rehearsed in private to say “Transform” with such faith.
Then, a dazzling light filled the entire restroom.
When the light faded, the figure stepping out was a rider clad in deep blue leather armor.
A scarf woven in stripes of blue and black was wrapped around his neck, held in place with silver-white accessories, like a sash.
At that moment, Yun You, after a brief daze, understood what was happening.
He felt pleased to have found a companion who shared his stance—and they were classmates, too.
He thought they might become good friends in the future.
With that in mind, he hurried a few steps to catch up and clarify his identity.
But Glory gave him no chance—he opened the window and jumped straight out of the second-floor window, leaving Yun You unable to catch his exhaust trail.
As for what happened after…
Due to various accidents and Lu Xun’s extreme unwillingness to cooperate, Yun You still hasn’t managed to tell Lu Xun that he is Legend.
No surprises there—Glory likely transformed in the restroom today, too.
It feels strange to say, but if it weren’t for Yun You covering for him, Lu Xun’s identity as Glory would probably be known by the whole school by now.
Meanwhile, Yun You, who also received the monster alert, didn’t rush to find an empty place to transform like Lu Xun did.
It wasn’t that Yun You was avoiding this mission or trying to shirk responsibility, leaving it all to Lu Xun.
It was because his transformation was different.
Yun You himself didn’t quite understand why.
His process was the same as Yun Li, Lu Xun, and others: strap on the belt, then activate the transformation device.
Others would be wrapped in various types of armor and smoothly complete the transformation.
But for him, a whole new body would materialize out of nowhere.
The rider’s armor would cover this body, and he would gain a second perspective—the perspective of Kamen Rider Legend.
The first time Yun Li saw his transformation, he was stunned for a moment, then nonchalantly patted Yun You on the shoulder, saying something like
“As expected of my son.”
“Don’t worry, it’s nothing major. I’ll handle it,”
Yun Li said with a dazzling smile, hiding any worry or gloom behind that grin.
Perhaps because his two closest people behaved like performance artists daily, Yun You had developed a habit since childhood to observe others carefully—not what they said, but how they acted.
His closest people, Yun Li and Lin Zhifeng, were his main focus.
Over the years, this foolish couple had almost no secrets left in front of him.
So Yun You knew very well that Yun Li wasn’t as confident as he pretended to be, but he also wasn’t completely clueless.
This was probably Yun Li’s habit of many years—Epic couldn’t show panic; otherwise, the people he protected would be even more helpless.
So Epic habitually reassured others with an invincible attitude, which may also have been a way for him to keep calm.
Since he hadn’t immediately told Yun You, it meant he had his reasons.
Yun You didn’t press further.
Besides, if he asked Yun Li, the answers would be evasive anyway.
He’d just wait until Yun Li was ready to explain.
After all, having an extra body probably wasn’t a bad thing.
So every time he transformed, Yun You left his original body in the classroom or at home, finishing mechanical tasks like taking notes and doing homework.
Most of his spirit focused on himself as Kamen Rider Legend.
Thanks to this divided attention, Yun You’s attendance remained high.
Not only did he help Lu Xun catch up on missed classes, but there was even an incident of Legend rescuing Yun You—essentially saving himself.
…Well, no wonder Lu Xun never suspected Yun You was the guy he hated the most.
Yun You’s gaze drifted from the blackboard to the watch on his left wrist.
Like Lu Xun’s, his watch was styled in a classic way, looking like it was a century old.
But Lu Xun’s had a square deep-blue dial, while Yun You’s was pure white and round, with metallic gold hands.
The moment his finger touched the dial, the golden hands glowed faintly.
At the same moment, a white armored Kamen Rider silently appeared on the rooftop of the adjacent teaching building.
Yun You and Legend locked eyes behind their armored helmets.
Then, with an incredibly light movement, Legend leapt away, leaving campus.
At the podium, Gu Ruofeng pushed up his glasses and looked toward Yun You in the penultimate row.
“…Next question. Yun You, your turn to answer. What formula should be applied here?”
The engine roared as Kamen Rider Glory sped along the road on his deep-blue Motorcycle matching his armor.
Pedestrians stopped in amazement, taking out their phones to snap photos, but Glory was too fast—only a stretched blue-black blur remained in the frame.
Lu Xun had no time to pay attention to them.
He looked down at his left wrist.
After transformation, his watch had also grown larger, like a small square shield.
And it truly had defensive and tracking functions.
The enlarged dial’s golden hands pointed toward the detected monster’s location—the direction he was heading.
The golden hands trembled faster as they neared the energy reaction.
Soon, Lu Xun arrived at his destination.
A transparent barrier blocked his way, forcing him to spend a little time to break through it.
But he confirmed his target was right in front of him.
What kind of opponent would it be this time?
A three-headed dog, or a monster covered in snakes?
No matter what, he would—
But the scene before him interrupted his bold ambition, and he couldn’t help but utter,
“Ah?”
It was the playground of an elementary school.
He recognized it: Sunshine Elementary School, a thirty-minute drive from the first middle school where Lu Xun studied.
But with the speed of the Kamen Rider Motorcycle, it only took ten minutes to get there.
It was class time, but the playground was empty of children having PE.
Only two beings remained: a person and a bizarre monster.
Thanks to his enhanced vision after transforming, Lu Xun confirmed the teaching building was also empty.
Had the person on the playground evacuated everyone early?
Lu Xun fixed his gaze on the scene.
Dazzling magical orbs flew about like living creatures.
The girl, dressed in a sapphire blue gown, gripped a long, heavy Magic Staff.
A sapphire embedded at the staff’s top shimmered with every attack.
Her silk-like blue hair spilled over her shoulders, tied at the back with a huge Blue Ribbon centered with a gemstone.
This blue-themed Magic Girl naturally had the signature delicate features of magic girls.
Her elegant aura had a unique classical beauty—one that made people feel that instead of a Western-style magical girl dress, traditional Eastern Hanfu might suit her better.
…But this classical beauty wasn’t leisurely reading tea leaves; she was pelting the monster with a dense rain of Magic Bullets, utterly beating it.
Lu Xun was far away and could barely hear her yelling things like, “It’s rare this class isn’t mine, and you pick this time to mess with me?”
“Don’t you know the midterms are in a month? Are you crazy, looking for death?”
Startled by the Magic Girl’s overwhelming aura, Lu Xun instinctively took a half-step back.
Strangely, he felt like his bloodline was being suppressed…
He quickly snapped out of it, feeling annoyed and confused.
“Hey, who are you?”
He was annoyed because he’d just flinched for a moment.
He was confused because why would he fear this girl?
Lu Xun wasn’t afraid of anything in the world—at most, he feared not doing well on exams and Gu Ruofeng calling his parents, and the recurring dream of Epic saying Legend was his most trusted junior.
Besides that, what was there to be afraid of?
His voice was low, but the blue-haired girl floating in the air paused her Magic Staff’s attack for a moment.
That meant she had heard Lu Xun.
The next second, the circular Magic Bullets charging at the staff’s tip stretched out into ribbon-like beams under her will.
No longer offensive but more flexible, the beams wrapped tightly around the limbs and body of the huge bull-headed monster, binding it in place.
The monster could only emit angry low growls.
The Magic Girl herself turned her face slightly, looking down at Glory not far away.
Her brow twitched ever so slightly, then relaxed quickly.
She offered a faint smile and descended to stand before him.
“…Hello, I’m Magic Girl Yulan. May I ask who you are?”
Yulan’s mood wasn’t as calm as she seemed.
She considered herself the eldest among this generation of magic girls and always tried to appear steady.
Unconsciously, her public image became that of a serene and composed magic girl.
No matter what her companions thought, ordinary people and the media, who didn’t know the full story, took her persona seriously.
They called her “The Big Sister Magic Girl,” “The Chosen Ancient,” and other related titles.
Yulan had nearly scrolled through every fan-made post about herself.
With a strong habit of self-research, Yulan quickly noticed the persona pinned on her.
After a brief awkwardness, she secretly enjoyed saving countless fan creations about herself.
She accepted the setting quickly, determined not to disappoint her supporters!
…Mainly to not let them down, really not because she liked this image herself!
Really, really!
In short, Yulan was determined to protect this persona with all her might and never do anything that would tarnish the images of Yulan or magic girls in public.
For this reason, she always volunteered to evacuate innocent civilians before battling monsters.
She personally escorted teachers and students today and counted heads carefully to make sure no one was left behind.
She even set up a Magic Barrier—not only to prevent the attacker’s escape, but, ahem, also because she didn’t want outsiders to see her lose control.
But after all her efforts, how was she still seen!?
How many things had this guy just seen?
Would anyone believe she was mentally affected by the monster?
…Speaking of which, who is this guy anyway?
“He doesn’t even know who I am, yet he’s been fighting a Chimera for so long…”
Lu Xun compared his own combat power with Yulan’s.
He found he couldn’t confidently say he could completely crush her, but she could actually do it.
That made him clench his fists with some resentment.
“A Chimera is a general term for this kind of monster. Also, I’m Glory. Remember that!”
Yulan and Lu Xun simultaneously twitched their mouths.
Damn it, don’t they watch short videos?
They don’t even know that this month’s number one gentle goddess, Magic Girl Yulan, and the future Kamen Rider closest to Epic, Glory, exist?
How narrow-minded!