A young man—nameless for now, as the author was too lazy to name him—kicked the door open, grabbed a courier box, and strode into his room. He placed the box gently on the table… then promptly flung his computer bag across the room, regardless of whether the laptop inside would survive the landing.
But that didn't matter to him. Whether at home or out in the world, money was never a concern. For him, the laptop was merely a tool for the mundane job he kept to "experience life." What truly mattered—his only real passion in this dull, repetitive world—was inside that box.
It's no exaggeration to say: if his family were to go bankrupt, he would rather sell his rice bowl and starve to death than sell what was inside. He'd swear by that—no matter what, it would never be "fragrant after the fact"!
"Finally arrived!" he exclaimed, rubbing his hands with glee.
With the care of a sacred ritual—but none of the technical finesse—he began to unbox it. As the packaging peeled away, what emerged was a dazzling, mysterious, high-quality box featuring the sleek silhouette of a well-known villain rider. To any outsider, it might look like a toy. But to fans, it was the Evol Driver—a premium figure modeled after Evolt from the tokusatsu series Kamen Rider Build.
They say Gundam is a man's romance—but that never appealed to him. Large, impersonal mechas with no tactile connection? Not his thing. What captivated him were one-man suits like Iron Man's armor, tactical exosuits, and of course, Kamen Riders: armor worn tight against the body, infused with style and raw power.
The wall behind him was a shrine to that obsession—lined with belts and accessories from every Heisei-era Rider. Belts from Double, all the Full Bottles from Build, the Time Watches from Zi-O—all of them proudly displayed. With this Evol Driver, his collection of Heisei belts was now officially complete.
And it didn't end there. In the villa's underground collection room—shared with Iron Man figures and other high-end models—were full-body suits of several Riders. Unfortunately, space constraints forced them to gather dust in quiet solitude.
"Hell yeah! This doesn't feel like a cheap knockoff at all!"
Of course, a new belt demanded a test run.
He opened the box and took out the driver, already mentally preparing to dig up a pair of AA batteries from the drawer under the display shelf. But the moment his eyes scanned the back of the belt, he froze.
Strangely, there was no power switch. No battery slot. None of the typical design features you'd expect, especially since the Evol Driver and Build Driver were structurally similar—at least in theory.
"What kind of shady bootleg is this?!" he muttered, his face twisting in irritation. "I swear, if this thing doesn't work, I'll sue them into next week!"
Yet before he could do anything else—
Click.
The belt suddenly activated, attaching itself to his waist with a snap.
"...Huh?"
He looked down in disbelief. He hadn't even tried to put it on properly. He had just mimicked the motion from the show out of frustration, and yet… the driver had actually responded—as if it were real.
"This… this can't be real. Did I drink fake wine last night or something?"
Then it happened.
A series of bright, digital texts scrolled across his vision:
[UNLIMITED EVOLUTION SYSTEM: ACTIVATED][RANDOM TALENT DRAW: COMPLETE][TALENT ADAPTIVE SEARCH: IN PROGRESS][TARGET WORLD: LOCKED][INITIATING TRANSFER...]
Before he could make sense of it, space itself seemed to ripple. A black vortex opened in front of him—and in the blink of an eye, it swallowed him whole, leaving not even a trace behind.