Disclaimer: I do not own Kamen Rider OOO, and I am making no money off of this. This is solely for my own and other’s entertainment.
Warning: Minor spoilers for one part of the 21 Core Medal movie. Nothing big, and nothing that gives away any major plot points. Also spoiler for who Eiji’s family is (or at least what they do)
AN:This is my take on Eiji’s thought process during the scene in the 21 Core Medal movie where Gara tried to make him leave everyone else behind because my Eiji muse would not let this one go. Not obviously Ankh/Eiji…for once O.o (and I believe this is a first for me to not even imply them being together in story)
AN 2: I used the Overtime translations for the quote at the beginning since those were the first subs out, and my muse refused to wait.
Family
“Would you, and you alone, like to return to your original time? But in return, this town and everyone else in it will be annihilated! So, yes or no?”
Yes or No?
Such a simple yet loaded question. Either damn everyone to be trapped here or leave and know that they would all die. If he’d been the only one trapped, the answer would’ve been easier. He could’ve stayed if it meant everyone would be safe, but with so many others also trapped in the past and Gara’s power still growing he couldn’t just say no, especially since he still had Date-san's Birth Driver. He had to find a way around the stipulations she’d put up. He had to think. What had the jester said when she’d first come up? Something about fulfilling his heart’s desire?
That was a start. What he wanted most at the moment was to get everyone out of this mess safely, but that wouldn’t help with the fact that she had specified that he would be the only one to return. He didn’t think Gara would allow him to negotiate far enough to get even all the ones form his original time back where they belonged much less keep everyone else safe. He had to find a way around their constraints.
“There are always loopholes that can get you out of tight spots. A good politician must learn to find and exploit them if he is to survive.” Eiji could practically hear his father’s voice in that thought. That had been one of the thing’s he’d practically drilled into his children’s heads. That and that they must always, no matter what difficulties they had, present the image of a strong…family…
Family! That was it! Hina-chan had said he and Shun-kun and looked like father and son, and Gara would likely assume the same. They’d never think that family could mean more, that a family, to him, consisted of people who helped each other without asking for anything in return…exactly as everyone in the town had done while he’d been fighting the knights and the Yummy.
It was definitely a long shot, and if Gara was watching him and was even close to as good at reading people - especially him - as Ankh it wouldn’t stand a chance. They had to believe that he was torn, and that he only meant Hina-chan and Shun-kun when he said it. He would have to make them use the term “family” to get it to work. It would have to be the best performance he’d ever given to anyone. It was the only chance they had, and he would take it.
Locking the thought of everyone being his family in his head and the desire to get them all out safely in his heart, Eiji turned, took hold of Hina-chan and Shun-kun, and prepared to make his act a good one.