Kamen Rider Gotchard: Awakening of the Shadows
A year later, the smoke of the Alchemy Wars has cleared from Fuuto, but the city remains shrouded in an unshakable gloom.
The streets are full of traffic and hurried pedestrians. Everything seems peaceful on the surface, yet anyone who knows the city can sense the subtle oppression hanging in the air. The Alchemist Alliance's insignia is everywhere among the towering buildings. Chemy legends, once whispered only in dark alleys, have become an open secret. But behind that openness lies the Alliance's strict control over alchemical power, as well as ordinary people's unspoken fear of the unknown and the supernatural.
With a half-worn schoolbag on his back, Houtaro Ichinose weaves lightly through the crowd, wearing his trademark sunny, carefree smile. “Rinne! Wait up!” he calls to the slender figure in a white dress ahead of him, his booming voice rising above the noise of the street.
Rinne Kudo stops and turns. The breeze lifts the hair across her forehead, and her eyes behind her glasses are clear, though touched with exasperation. “Houtaro, I told you to get to the Alliance branch ten minutes early. You overslept again.” Her tone is as teasing as ever, but there's no real reproach in it. Her fingers unconsciously rub the Majade Driver at her waist, a mark of her identity as a Kamen Rider and a symbol of the bond that has her fighting alongside Houtaro.
“Sorry, sorry!” Houtaro scratches his head and hurries to her side, pulling a faintly glowing Chemy card from his schoolbag. “But you
