"Huh? It's noon?"
Akira was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at the clock on the wall. It was nearly 2:00 PM.
She had completely failed to notice that it was already midday, assuming she had woken up at her usual time.
"Well, I guess we'll have to take another day off then," Akira said with her hands on her hips, a look of helplessness on her face.
Then she shot Raven a playful, exasperated glare. She seemed to be blaming him for keeping her up so late because he had been revitalized after replenishing his energy the previous night.
"I absolutely cannot indulge you like that again." Akira's beautiful eyes looked at Raven with mock grievance.
A few days passed just like that.
Because the cracks continued to appear, Kamen Rider Gaim was constantly rushing around saving people.
Meanwhile, the various dance teams, organized by Mai Takatsukasa and Kamen Rider Gaim, prepared to hold a joint dance competition. They also promised that after the event, they would no longer play the Inves Game, attempting to clear their names of the unfair misunderstandings from the public.
Of course, this process was not smooth. Oren and Jonouchi repeatedly came to cause trouble and try to stop them.
During this, several more cracks opened, allowing many Inves to pour through. The few Riders who still possessed Drivers began fighting to protect the stage.
Separately from the chaos, a woman with exceptional looks and a stunning figure stepped off an international flight.
Among her carry-on luggage was a Sengoku Driver and a Forbidden Apple Lockseed—the same type as Raven's.
She was now in a taxi heading toward the city center. Through the car window, she gazed at the Yggdrasill Tower standing tall in the middle of Zawame City. Her beautiful eyes were filled with pure hatred.
Her name was Touka Akatsuki.
She had been trained since childhood as a servant for the Kureshima family, primarily looking after Amagi Kureshima, who had retreated overseas to recuperate due to ill health.
Until recently, she had personally murdered him.
She had witnessed her former orphanage companions being subjected to human experiments by Yggdrasill because they were deemed worthless. After years of suppressed resentment, she had finally gotten her revenge.
But for her now, it was far from enough.
After using the Forbidden Apple Lockseed, her body had been corroded by Helheim. She didn't have long to live. She had returned to Zawame City to kill the last two members of the Kureshima family before the end of her life.
Upon returning to the city where she grew up, Touka first found a temporary place to stay and planned to observe the local situation. Because she had received a lot of training since childhood, she was also skilled at gathering intelligence.
As an insider of sorts, she even used her old access to infiltrate Yggdrasill's database.
She eventually discovered that someone in Zawame City was actively opposing Yggdrasill. The foremost among them, naturally, were Raven and Gaim.
"Impossible… isn't this Lockseed in my possession?"
"Perhaps more than one was manufactured."
From surveillance footage captured by the investigation team, she watched Raven transform into the Apple Arms form and effortlessly crush his opponents. His ruthless strength astounded her.
The Lockseeds are identical, so why can't I unleash that kind of power?
And he doesn't seem to have any burden at all.
Furthermore, when Touka saw footage of Raven breaking in and out of the Yggdrasill Tower multiple times yet always leaving unharmed, she was completely convinced.
"This man named Raven might be able to help me completely destroy the Kureshima family's hopes."
She quickly began investigating Raven.
She found that he was the owner of a very popular, trendy café in Zawame City and even had his own small website. This site was meticulously created and managed by Akira after she took over as shop manager.
Clicking on it, she saw three job postings that Akira had just posted in the last few days.
Because the shop was already popular and Raven himself was something of a celebrity in Zawame City, many people were desperate to work there.
Akira had therefore set very high requirements and certain restrictions. First, they were only hiring women, and they had to be beautiful enough to meet the aesthetic standard.
The second stage would be the interview, scheduled for the following day.
Suddenly, an idea sparked in Touka's mind. She wanted to apply for the position to get closer to Raven.
This would allow her to assess whether he was trustworthy and to figure out the secret behind his ability to safely wield the Apple Lockseed's power without suffering the side effects.
That night, Touka took several beautiful photos of herself and sent them to the Amazon café email address.
The next day, Touka received an interview invitation. As Raven was absent at the time, they did not meet. She proceeded directly with the interview with Akira, the shop manager.
Having been raised and professionally trained as a servant in a major family since childhood, Touka was proficient in all necessary skills. She performed flawlessly when applying for the café staff position.
Akira truly couldn't find any fault with her. The only thing she found problematic was that Touka was too beautiful. Even as a woman, she genuinely thought so. It was inevitable that Raven might be tempted later on.
However, she also had confidence in her own charm, so she ultimately decided to hire the applicant.
She originally intended to give Touka some time to prepare before starting work, but unexpectedly, Touka immediately entered the staff work state that very day.
....
Meanwhile, Raven, who was currently back in the Faiz world, was naturally unaware that Akira had already hired a new employee for the café, and a major beauty with a complex background at that.
After all, he had completely entrusted the shop's management to her, allowing him the time to focus on other matters.
He had returned to the Faiz world this time for a specific reason: he intended to visit the Smart Brain Corporation. He wanted to check on the progress of Hanagata's research on his original Amazon belt.
He had specifically instructed them to achieve the best possible suppression of the Amazon cell's wild instinct without compromising its performance.
Fortunately, Hanagata did not disappoint him this time.
Based on the original belt, they successfully redesigned a new Neo Amazon Driver that had the same exterior but much stronger suppression and stability effects.
The smooth success was largely due to the two Amazon belts Raven had provided for reference and research. This saved them a lot of time. They were able to combine the respective advantages of the two belts to develop a more comprehensive and powerful Neo Amazon Driver.