Nico Saiba

**Nico Saiba** (西馬 ニコ, *Saiba Niko*) is a professional gamer and supporting character in *Kamen Rider Ex-Aid*. Originally approaching Taiga Hanaya, Nico eventually becomes Taiga's assistant in handling the Bugster crisis.

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

## Character History

### 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/Emu

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, and 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 Illness/Game Syndrome 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

 File:Unsuccessful Gashat activation.png   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.

Nico was one of the witnesses of Emu's Game Illness 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.

## 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 hospital 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. Later on, after defeating Lovelica, she even helped him locate the Bugsters they needed to beat to clear Kamen Rider Chronicle, even if they both have their own reasons for playing.

Nico is also shown to have somewhat of a sincere side. After learning that the person she lost to six years ago was not really Emu but in reality Parado who was possessing Emu, she feels apologetic towards Emu for the unnecessary trouble, and now resolves to settle things with Parado instead.

Eventually, while Nico was infected with Gamedeus' virus, she also decides to let go of her childish demeanor and realizes that she didn't want to just beat Emu or Parado for losing to them, but that she wanted to beat someone strong instead.