Nico Saiba

"Game start!"

- Nico's quote when transforming into her Ride-Player form

Nico Saiba (西馬 ニコ) is a professional gamer and supporting character in Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. Originally approaching Taiga Hanaya for her vendetta against "Genius Gamer M", Nico eventually becomes Taiga's assistant in handling the Bugster crisis.

She later became Ride-Player Nico (ライドプレイヤーニコ) during the Kamen Rider Chronicle crisis.

Early Life
Nico was already a skilled gamer by the age of 12, going by the alias of "N". During a gaming tournament in 2010, Nico was observing Genius Gamer M winning against another gamer. She later made it to the final round playing against M but lost, attaining second place in the tournament. Though M was impressed by her gaming skill and hoped to play against her again sometime in the future, Nico was dissatisfied and developed a grudge against M.

Nico would later go on to win numerous game tournaments as "N", earning a huge amount of income. As her only loss in gaming was her loss to M, she vowed to avenge this, waiting for a chance where she could defeat M once and for all.

Meeting Taiga
Nico first appears in Taiga's clinic, asking if he could defeat M for her and introduces herself before Taiga leaves.

She visits Taiga again during his internet investigations into Kuroto Dan and Genm Corp. Nico fakes Game Disease in order for Taiga to pay attention to her, but she shows gratitude for him actually checking her anyway despite his annoyance of her lying. She reveals she knows of Taiga from stories on the internet including eyewitness reports. Nico once again asks for Taiga to defeat M and she seems puzzled as to why he has Genm Corp. games for use as medical equipment, but Taiga tells her not to touch his Gashats and forces her to leave.

Attempting to Transform into a Kamen Rider
Nico eventually pushed Taiga too far by attempting to move into his hospital, after which he told her never to return before storming off. In an effort to take matters into her own hands, she stole Taiga's Gamer Driver and the Bang Bang Shooting Gashat, and faked a call to CR. When Emu and Asuna arrived, Nico attacked Emu and attempted to transform. However, without the compatibility surgery, she instead awakened the dormant Bugster Virus inside of her. After Revol emerged from her and escaped, Nico was brought to CR.

Due to her grudge against M, she refused treatment and openly antagonized him. Eventually Taiga came to retrieve her from CR.

Kuroto told Emu the reason behind Emu becoming Ex-Aid without the need of a compatibility surgery, his recent headaches after transforming, and his ability to create Gashats. Nico attempted to stop Kuroto from revealing the reason behind all this, but it was too late, as Kuroto revealed the reason despite the objections against it: Emu was the first patient in the world to be infected with the Bugster virus.

Nico was one of the witnesses of Emu's Game Disease breaking out, and upon returning to Taiga's clinic, she stated that if she lost to "Genius Gamer M", she didn't actually lose to M himself, but rather the Bugster inside him.

After Kuroto's death at the hands of Parad, Nico was relieve that Kuroto is no longer a threat anymore, but Taiga replies even after Kuroto is gone now, the remaining Bugsters like Parad are still on the loose, as the battle still continues to stop Kamen Rider Chronicle Gashat from being produced completely.

Nico got a shocking info about sudden mass-production of Kamen Rider Chronicle Gashats and show it to Taiga. Becoming suspicious of this "new" Genm Corp. marketing, she and Taiga goes to the company to find the new CEO Ren Amagasaki, and Hiiro also goes there for the same thing on this suspicion.

Becoming Ride-Player Nico
Tantalized by the prospect of becoming a hero, Nico found a copy of Kamen Rider Chronicle and became a Ride Player. Christening herself as "Ride-Player Nico", Nico's skills as a gamer allowed her to become the first Ride Player to defeat a Bugster.

Personality
Nico has a tomboyish yet bubbly personality, but is immature and incredibly childish. Competitive to a fault, she had a vendetta against Emu simply because he beat her in a gaming tournament. She has shown herself to be bossy and manipulative: completely redecorating a room in Taiga's hopsital and CR during her stay (done in both instances without permission), and faking a Game Illness outbreak in an attempt to defeat Emu (ironically, this attempt actually triggered an outbreak). Her bark is much worse than her bite: she often boasts and makes claims that can't be backed up, particularly in regards to the other Riders.

Despite her somewhat unlikable demeanor, Nico is not completely self-absorbed: she helped civilians escape during Genm's attack on Genm Corp. Nico has also shown to act somewhat as a moral compass for Taiga, occasionally asking him questions about his true intentions that break through his tough demeanor.

Powers and Abilities

 * Genius Gamer: Nico is a professional gamer who goes by the alias "N", a reference to the genius gamer M. Her skills are such that she was able to be the runner-up in a gaming tournament at the age of only 12. According to Taiga, she makes around ¥100 million a year in winnings. This is also shown as she becomes a Ride Player, beating Revol easily with a coordinated use of Energy items and her skills.

Ride-Player Nico
"Enter the Game! Ri-Riding the End!"

- Transformation announcement

Ability Perimeters:
 * Height: 198.2 cm.
 * Weight: 98.4 kg.
 * Punching power: 21.7 t.
 * Kicking power: 27.3 t.
 * Maximum jump height: 32.5 m.
 * Maximum running speed: 100 m. per 2.5 sec.

Ride-Players are the "Kamen Rider" form used by civilians to play Kamen Rider Chronicle. To transform into a Ride-Player, a person must activate their Kamen Rider Chronicle Gashat, and press its button again to transform. In this form, all Ride-Players are equipped with the Ride Weapon, which can transform between a sword and a gun.

Despite having a similar appearance to normal Ride-Players, Nico uses her personal items to differentiate herself from others, including wearing her civilian hat, carrying her civilian backpack, wearing her arm bands, and putting a sticker on her left chest mail. Additionally, after applying these items, she doesn't need to re-apply these when she transforms again.

Also, despite Ride-Players have their default stats and assuming Nico should be the same as them, she actually has much higher stats, beating every Ride-Player in existence and slightly lower than Ex-Aid Level 10 and Genm Level 10, making her on par with a Level 10 Rider. She is also shown to be quite fast and agile, easily dodging Revol's attacks while using her surroundings and the Energy Items to help her fight against the Bugsters.

This form's finisher is the Nico Critical Kick (ニコクリティカルキック): Nico jumps high in the air and performs a Rider Kick at the enemy charged with rainbow energy. Also, unlike any Critical finisher, she announces this finisher name by herself when using it.

Ride-Players detransform by pressing the Kamen Rider Chronicle Gashat's button again. Where they store the Gashat while transformed is unclear.

Appearances: Ex-Aid Episode 27,28

Portrayal

 * Nico Saiba is portrayed by Reina Kurosaki (黒崎 レイナ) and by Noa Miyano (宮野 叶愛) as a child. As Ride-Player Nico, her suit actor is Satoshi Fujita (藤田 慧).