 This article is about an event in Kamen Rider Zero-One.
|
The Workplace Competition (仕事勝負, Shigoto shōbu) is a five-part competition between Hiden Intelligence and ZAIA Japan to determine whichever one of their products was more superior, the Humagears or the ZAIA Spec.
It was proposed by Gai Amatsu to Aruto Hiden following Gai's announcement of his intention to purchase Hiden Intelligence after concerns regarding the security of Humagears were raised.
Prelude[]
Although the MetsubouJinrai.net threat was seemingly eliminated from society, the public continued to have doubts over the safety of Humagears. As Hiden Intelligence as well as Aruto's own public image continue to be tarnished, Gai Amatsu, the CEO of ZAIA Japan announced a takeover bid to not only save Hiden Intelligence but to also take over all of humanity's technology.
In an effort to save his company, Aruto refused to go along with the buyout, which Gai responded by making him a deal. If they underwent a competition to determine which one of their applications of AI technology was superior in the workforce, Gai will rescind the buyout if Aruto and the Humagears prove supreme. However should they lose, Aruto will agree to give Hiden Intelligence up and proceed with the takeover.
Belligerents[]
Competition Participants[]
Hiden Intelligence[]
- Aruto Hiden
- Is
- Humagear Representatives
- Jun Fukuzoe (4th round only)
- Sanzo Yamashita (4th round only)
- Shesta (4th round only)
ZAIA Japan[]
- Gai Amatsu
- Yua Yaiba
- ZAIA Spec Representatives
- Fire Department firefighters (4th round only)
- Several unnamed ZAIA Japan employees (5th round only)
Third Parties[]
A.I.M.S.[]
- Isamu Fuwa
- A.I.M.S. Soldiers (4th round only)
MetsubouJinrai.net[]
The Competition[]
Round 1[]
- Activity: Ikebana
- Sakuyo Ichirin vs. Rentaro Tachibana
- Episodes: 17 & 18
Rentaro vs. Sakuyo
In the first round of the workplace competition, florist-type Humagear Sakuyo Ichirin and ikebana master Rentaro Tachibana with a ZAIA Spec competed against each other, in which they must showcase the best Ikebana piece using the theme sunrise. Rentaro was initially declared the victor by the judges, but the decision was rescinded upon the discovery of Sakuyo's piece being sabotaged by her opponent beforehand out of fear of losing. In the process, Sakuyo became a Magia and Rentaro become a Raider.
In a rematch, Rentaro secured a fair victory and congratulated Sakuyo on her otherwise beautiful piece, which she replied that her piece was inspired by some of the Tachibana School's teachings. This scored ZAIA Japan's first point, putting them in the lead.
- Hiden Intelligence - 0
- ZAIA Japan - 1
Round 2[]
- Activity: Real Estate
- Smile Sumida vs. Tatsumi Arayashiki
- Episodes: 19 & 20
Smile vs. Tatsumi
In the second round of the workplace competition, realtor-type Humagear Smile Sumida was pitted against the realtor Tatsumi Arayashiki in a match of real estate, with the condition of victory being whoever can sell the most homes within the next two weeks. However, a rematch was declared after Tatsumi became a Raider and sabotaged Smile's clientele.
In the rematch, the two were given the task of selling a home to Ginnojou Oshiiro with a budget of 500,000,000¥. Smile's house was chosen by Oshiro, as it fit all of his criteria. However because Tatsumi racked up more profit in the competition overall, the win went to ZAIA Japan, scoring their second point.
- Hiden Intelligence - 0
- ZAIA Japan - 2
Round 3[]
- Activity: Trial
- Bingo Bengoshi vs. Naoto Ichimori
- Episodes: 21 & 22
Bingo vs. Naoto
In the third round of the workplace competition, a trial of litigation was held. The defendant is Yuto Sakaki, a young man accused by his fiancé Chiharu Ebii of swindling monetary funds from her. Attorney-type Humagear Bingo Bengoshi took the case to defend Yuto and competed against the prosecutor Naoto Ichimori in a battle of law. If Bingo is successful in winning the case, Hiden Intelligence will win the round and their first point. However if Yuto is found guilty by the prosecution, then ZAIA Japan will gain their third point and therefore win the competition.
In the climax of the trial, Bingo was able to acquire new evidence regarding the fact that Masuji Narusawa, the police detective who had arrested Yuto, was actually the true culprit. Taking advantage of Yuto's past record of illegal activities, Detective Narusawa hacked into Yuto's phone and embezzled money from Chiharu using Yuto's identity. To ensure Yuto's guilty verdict, he transformed into a Raider and attacked Bingo in an attempt to stop the defense from coming up with a clear verdict and make the defense blame the prosecution for malpractice. With this new evidence, Yuto was declared innocent and thus Hiden Intelligence scored their first point. Currently, Yuto and Chiharu both remain separated, with Chiharu later becoming engaged to someone else.
- Hiden Intelligence - 1
- ZAIA Japan - 2
Round 4[]
- Activity: Firefighting
- 119nosuke vs. Captain Takeshi Homura
- Episodes: 26 & 27
Nosuke vs. Homura
In the fourth round of the workplace competition, a fire drill was held in a three-story building with one basement floor. The firefighter-type Humagear 119nosuke competed against the public firefighting captain Takeshi Homura to see who could evacuate the most civilians. The round was held in different stages, with the 3rd floor of the building not being used for the competition.
The first stage took place on the basement floor, with 10 civilians trapped under the rubble. Both 199 Nosuke and Captain Homura rescued five civilians each. The second stage took place on the building's first floor, in which an artificial fire took place in the vicinity of four civilians. However a Raider appeared and elevated the competition to a real and actual emergency status. After the commotion, both parties manage to rescue two civilians each.
Due to the competition elevating to a live emergency, the win conditions were changed amongst entering the third and final round, which took place on the building's first floor. While the smoke had visually impaired all contenders, the round's would be given to whoever can successfully rescue Jun Fukuzoe, Sanzo Yamashita, and Shesta, who were trapped in the burning building. With the help of Isamu Fuwa and Yua Yaiba who had arrived to help whoever needed it, the three trapped persons were all rescued by Captain Homura, while 199nosuke heroically sacrificed himself to allow everyone else to escape the crumbling building.
At the results meeting, it was determined that ZAIA Japan won as it was Captain Homura who had rescued trapped civilians, but the latter acknowledged 119nosuke's heroic sacrifice that made the rescue possible and posthumously gave him his respect and praise. However, it was discovered that the Raider was an employee of ZAIA Japan, who had sabotaged the competition in an attempt to secure a victory for ZAIA Japan. Gai recognized that his company was in the fault, and allowed Hiden Intelligence to gain their second point and tie the competition.
- Hiden Intelligence - 2
- ZAIA Japan - 2
Round 5[]
- Activity: Election Campaign
- MC Che.ck-It-Out vs. Masamitsu Yuto
- Episodes: 28
Check It Out vs. Masamitsu
In the fifth and final round of the workplace competition, a referendum campaign was held between the Humagear rapper MC Che.ck-It-Out and the politician Masamitsu Yuto. The goal was to collect the most popular vote on the issue of whether Humagears should be accepted into society or not, while also voting on a potential rebuild of Daybreak Town.
However, Aruto and MC Che.ck-It-Out discovered that their opponents rigged the majority of the votes using a monetary bribe, and brought the issue up during the live debate to which Yuto's party denied the allegations saying the footage was doctored. After the populace publicly voiced their support for ZAIA Japan on live television, ZAIA Japan won their third and final point. This won them the competition as well as their acquisition of Hiden Intelligence.
- Hiden Intelligence - 2 (LOSE)
- ZAIA Japan - 3 (WIN)
Impact[]
A remnant of MetsubouJinrai.net named Naki began distributing Raidrisers, which sent the competition back following the 3rd round.
- Competitors Rentaro Tachibana and Tatsumi Arayashiki both willingly became Raiders out of fear of losing their round.
- Daiki Kyogoku stole the Raidriser from ZAIA Japan, became a Raider and sabotaged the safety of the civilians during the 4th round. This is an exception as Gai expressed his disappointment with Kyogoku's cheating.
- Masuji Narusawa became a Raider and attacked Bingo Bengoshi in a failed attempt to ensure the success of Yuto's prosecution.
While the competition was originally proposed by Gai Amatsu, he and several of his associates used malicious means to cheat on several instances despite being vocal against it:
- Gai severed his competitors' connections to There and uplinked them to the Ark instead, with the purpose of disabling their means of retaliating and render them unable to compete. This included using Zetsumerisers and Zetsumerisekeys to turn his opposing Humagears into Magia and creating the MetalCluster Hopper Key to disable Aruto's means of accessing Progrise Key data from There.
- Under normal circumstances, a Humagear turning into a Magia would immediately render them unable to compete, allowing ZAIA Japan to take a win by default as there is no mediator to enforce fair play. However, after receiving the Progrise Hopper Blade, it allowed Aruto to return the Humagears to their original state by safely severing their connection to the Ark and restore his and their connection with There. This however only works if Aruto is able to do so in time before they are permanently destroyed.
- Gai destroyed incriminating evidence regarding his illegal activities, which would result in his disqualification and possible arrest had it been made public.
- Several ZAIA Japan employees were bribed to help endorse Masamitsu Yudo.
- Gai installed special control chips in the brains of both Yua and Isamu to force them into his servitude and ensure his victory against Hiden Intelligence. Additionally, Gai created the Rampage Gatling Key for Isamu in the hopes that he'd use it against Zero-One, but Isamu resisted his control chip and used his new RampageVulcan form to overwhelm ZAIA completely.
Despite ZAIA Japan's malicious efforts to undermine the competition, there were a select number of ZAIA Japan representatives who did not do so, and instead praised the Humagears:
- Naoto Ichimori applauded Bingo Bengoshi for his successful defense of his client, as Naoto himself also already admitted he disliked ZAIA Japan because he was encouraged to cheat during the competition.
- Takeshi Homura applauded 119nosuke for his heroic sacrifice on the 2nd floor during the 4th round, effectively supporting the decision to give the point to Hiden Intelligence instead.
As a result of both Hiden Intelligence and AIMS being kept busy by fighting Raiders, Horobi escapes from A.I.M.S. custody with Naki's help and reunites with Jin, who had received the new ZAIA Slashriser.
Aftermath[]
As per the deal agreed on by both Gai and Aruto, Hiden Intelligence was acquired by ZAIA Japan as a new subsidiary of the company. Removing Aruto from his position, Gai took over as the new CEO of Hiden Intelligence and effectively rolled out his nationwide recall of the Humagears, reimbursing the public with free pairs of ZAIA Spec instead.
Due to his removal as a company president, Aruto's transformation rights are revoked, forcing him to relinquish both Is and the Zero-One Driver to Gai himself. However after regaining both thanks to Jin's help, and Is filing the rights to a new company, Aruto's transformation rights were restored. With ZAIA's goals no longer aligning with Isamu's own beliefs, he leaves A.I.M.S. to work at Aruto's company as a security guard.
Notes[]
to be added