"Senpai, why are you just standing there watching? Come help me!" Lucy called out as she dodged attacks from the maid squad, her voice filled with desperation.
Unaccustomed to fighting, being surrounded by five people was quickly overwhelming her, making her feel like she was about to lose confidence. Left with no choice, she sought help from Roy.
Leaning casually against the wall, Roy couldn't help but feel both exasperated and amused at how fast Lucy had started calling for help.
Who was it that had confidently declared she wanted to sharpen her skills and asked him only to intervene if things got truly dangerous? And now, barely into the fight, which was essentially still the warm-up, she was already struggling?
Come on, at least hold on for a few more minutes! Even Tryndamere would last longer than this!
Roy silently vented his thoughts while watching Lucy.
But despite his inner monologue, Roy's actions were straightforward. His adorable kouhai was calling for help, and as her dependable senpai, there was no way he'd let her down.
With a swift motion, he summoned the card deck of his Dragon Knight form into his hand. He tossed it into the air, letting his right hand drop to his side naturally.
In the next moment, as the card deck fell in front of him, Roy caught it with his left hand, smoothly inserting it into the V-belt slot at his waist in a slick motion.
"Henshin!"
With the sound of glass shattering, overlapping shadows flickered.
Kamen Rider Ryuki appeared.
All of this had happened in less than a second, and Lucy hadn't even come close to being in real danger yet. She even had enough focus left to glance over and see what was happening with Roy.
When she saw Roy transformed into Ryuki, she froze in place, unable to resist making a snarky remark. "What's with this look? Senpai, why do you look so… goofy?"
In truth, Lucy's reaction wasn't entirely unreasonable. Ryuki's prominent red compound eyes were quite eye-catching. Anyone seeing Ryuki for the first time would be drawn to those big eyes, which gave him a slightly silly appearance rather than an intimidating one.
Hearing her comment, Roy's eyebrow twitched as he approached her. A fleeting thought crossed his mind—maybe he should let her take a few more hits before stepping in to help. This girl clearly had never experienced the harshness of reality.
And she wasn't just talking; she was standing still! Virgo's meteor hammer, nearly as large as her own head, was about to come crashing down on that pretty little head of hers!
What a troublesome kouhai! Roy shook his head, then vanished in a blur. Naturally, he wasn't about to let Lucy get smacked, so he intervened to save her.
Lucy, momentarily disoriented when Roy vanished, was about to call out for him again when she felt a strong gust of wind beside her.
She quickly turned to see the source, her face paling as she saw Virgo's massive meteor hammer descending toward her.
It's over! That hammer's too big—there's no way to dodge it now!
Senpai, where did you run off to at a time like this?!
Using every bit of strength she had left, Lucy screamed this with all her heart.
And, just in time, Roy reappeared by her side, extending his right hand to effortlessly stop the massive, spiked hammer.
Staring in awe at Roy's tall, elegant figure, Lucy felt a strange, unidentifiable feeling rise within her.
He'd appeared beside her in her moment of need, like a hero from above, effortlessly protecting her from a potentially fatal blow.
There was something undeniably cool about that!
But in the next moment, Roy shattered this impression entirely with his next words, instantly extinguishing the unusual feeling Lucy was starting to have.
"What's the matter, my adorable kouhai? Shocked speechless? Can't even say a quick 'thank you, senpai'?"
With a slight squeeze of his hand, Roy crushed the meteor hammer into pieces. Tilting his head, he looked over at Lucy with a teasing smile.
"I must have been out of my mind to think he was cool!" Lucy thought, rolling her eyes and retorting, "With a face that ugly, don't try to act cool—it just doesn't work, alright?"
In reality, Lucy didn't find Roy's transformed appearance ugly at all.
In fact, she thought it was rather handsome.
But seeing him smirking like that, she just couldn't resist taking him down a notch.
"U-Ugly?"
Roy was momentarily frozen by her comment.
From 'silly-looking' to outright 'ugly'—did she really think he looked that bad?
Anger surged through him as the red light in his compound eyes flickered. Without hesitation, he delivered a powerful punch to Virgo, whose massive body went flying, crashing through three walls before finally landing somewhere outside the mansion, a considerable distance away.
Roy then dealt with the remaining bizarre maids charging at him, dispatching them with a few swift moves.
Suddenly, everything went silent.
"That's much better!"
Roy exhaled deeply, feeling his mind clear with satisfaction.
Lucy, unable to hold back, burst into a fit of laughter at Roy's "temper tantrum." Her laughter was like the sound of silver bells, clear and joyous.
Though senpai could be quite annoying at times, he could also be unexpectedly fun!
He really is cute in his own way!