This is something I’ve been referencing quite a bit due to Gaim Gaiden possibly taking the route of adapting it, so here’s a post to explain what I’m referring to.
Real Riders is a short spin-off story written by Mitsunori Enami about the show’s immediate secondary Rider, Kaito Kumon, and how he became the man he is now.
It was published in the guidebook Gaim The Guide, and while there is currently no translation for the novel, scans can be found here for those willing to try or are able to read. The plot details were provided by a contributor on 4chan whose bullet points can be found here and here, with additional details here.
Below is a summary I created based on the details provided in the above links.
The story deals in Kaito’s rough childhood after Yggdrasill began reforming Zawame City. Kaito’s father lost his company when the land was bought by Yggdrasill, and since this was their only source of income, they had to put Kaito in an orphanage because they couldn’t afford to raise him. While there, he learned of a family and their daughter who owned and worked at a nearby shrine. Kaito was too shy to play with the girl, but he watched her dance from afar and it gave him the strength to go on. Little did he know until later on that this girl who gave him such strength was Mai.
One of the friends Kaito made at the orphanage was a boy named Mihara Takeshi who was in the same situation as him, but unlike Kaito who refused any adoption offers, believing his parents would come back for him, Mihara would gladly accept any family but was unable to be adopted - possibly due to his attitude, says the contributor who was only vaguely recalling the details.
Kaito lived at the orphanage until he was 16. The source once again has a foggy memory here, but it seems that before or during high school, Mihara was injured in a vehicular accident, and died in Kaito’s arms. His final words to Kaito were what Kaito carried with him since: “Show them the difference between strength and power.”
Kaito dropped out of high school and ended up forming a street dance team in rebellion against Yggdrasill’s control over the city. He wanted to dance to pay tribute to the shrine dancers whose shrine was now gone, and named his team Baron in honor of Mihara, who used to call himself that. He also liked the name as it was a powerful title fitting of a powerful team.
The dance teams used to dance in outer city areas before Yggdrasill bribed them to start taking it to the inner area with the Lockseeds and Inves Games. Baron was one of the first to take part, and their first victory was against a team called Severe Beat (I couldn’t find the name spelling in the scans to be sure if this was English or a translation). Zack, a member of this team, came to join Baron. Peco, a classmate of Mai’s, was invited to join Gaim but declined because he wanted to be a top ranker with Baron.
Anyone who’d like to contribute a more solid summary based on freshly gathered thoughts is free to send them my way.
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