“Huh? Ah! No! The fish!” Norie said, running off. When she finds a husband, it had better be someone who can keep tabs on her, thought Minoru as he chased after Norie. 7 Glug. Glug, glug. The source of the loud sound was coming from my throat and lungs. It was the sound of precious air, precious oxygen being pushed out and being replaced with water. When water flows down your esophagus and into your stomach, it serves a purpose vital to life. In that role it is nothing other than “the water of life,” but in this case, when it flows into your lungs through your bronchial tubes, it becomes a lethal poison. What a fickle thing. Ah, but really… This is incredibly painful. If I knew it was going to be like this, I would have chosen a different method. I could have used charcoal or hydrogen sulfide… There were many other things I could have tried. But to be absolutely sure, this really was the only way. This locked car, drifting on its way to the bottom of the water, was nothing short of a death chamber. Already, the two other passengers have stopped moving, just seconds ago. All that is left is for me to follow them. Then everything will be over. I will be free, and yet… Why is my left hand struggling desperately to undo my seat belt? Why is my right hand using my beloved Montblanc pen to try and break the window? Why is my freed body trying to slip out of the car through the broken window…? I am going to die. I already decided that I have no other options when I floored the pedal. I ignored the pleas from the passenger’s seat and the screams from the backseat and flung us into the dark sea. Yet here I am, swimming desperately with both my arms and legs. I can see the gray surface of the water. I will soon have returned. To that world of life, filled with sweet air… Air. Oxygen. I want to breathe. But now my arms and legs have stopped moving, and I begin to sink again. No… I want to live. I want to live. I want to live, I want to live, I want to live! Even though it makes me a coward, a traitor… No matter how much I might regret it in the end… With the last ounce of my strength, I kick the water. My outstretched hand breaks through the surface of the water, countless oxygen molecules gently caressing it. I want to breathe. I want to breathe. I want to breathe, I want to breathe, I want to breathe. But I just can’t seem to get my head above water. But at that moment, through the wavering surface of the water, I see a strange red light falling down toward me, and in my right hand, I grasp it. I feel a terrible, burning pain. “…Aaaahhh!!!!!!” Ayato Suka screamed as he leaped up violently. “Gah… Gah… Gah…” went the sound of his throat as he sucked in large quantities of air. As he breathed, with both hands he gathered oxygen around his mouth, as if he were eating it. When Suka came to a few seconds later, he realized that he was not underwater, but in his bed. It was the dream Suka always had. Wiping the sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his pajamas, he let out a deep sigh. Even though it had already been three months since then, he had seen that dream as often as he did when he first saw it. Once every three days he was sure to have that nightmare. It certainly was a frightening dream to have, but…surely this was part of the process, he thought. He had these nightmares so that he would always remember his obligation, his obligation to renew his hatred and disdain of the garbage that would not understand the preciousness of oxygen. Of course, his is a necessary pain, Suka thought, and the deaths of those two, they were a necessary sacrifice. Once Suka confirmed that his breathing had returned to normal, he got up out of his futon bed, neatly folded the mattress layer and cover, and put them away in his closet. He washed his face, brushed his teeth, and got to work moving plants from his living room and out onto the veranda. As he worked, he looked at the large map he had put up on the wall. On Monday of next week, he wanted to burn at least one, if possible two more pieces of human garbage, so that he could draw a beautiful symbol in the middle of this polluted city. “Oxygen… Oxygen…,” sang Suka, having already forgotten about his nightmare as he went about his work. 8 Saturday and Sunday passed by peacefully without event. Minoru didn’t sense the smell of a Ruby Eye, and he didn’t receive any calls from Yumiko, either. The only time Minoru went outside was to do his morning running routine, and inside he did things like help Norie, watch movies with her, and of course study. On Monday, December 16, the sky was overcast since morning. When Minoru had finished his morning classes, he, like always, went alone toward the cafeteria. The sky that he could see from the hallway looked heavy, as if it might snow at any moment, but the expressions of all of the students around were bright. The end of semester, midterm exams were over, and there was only one week until Christmas and winter break, so an excitement characteristic of this time enveloped all of the students. Minoru had visited that strange apartment building in Shinjuku and had become a member of the Jet Eye team that fights against Ruby Eyes just three days before. But after having returned to his daily routine, Minoru felt that all of the things he experienced in that place had quickly lost their realism. I’ll need to buy a present for Norie soon, but it feels kind of wrong to buy a present for someone out of an allowance you’ve received from that person, doesn’t it? If she could just let me get a part-time job…, thought Minoru as he lined up in front of the cafeteria meal-ticket machine. “Oh, hey, Utsugi.” Just then, Minoru was called from behind, and after freezing up a moment, he slowly turned around. The person standing there was of course not a Ruby Eye, but a male student wearing the same uniform as Minoru. After all, he was at school, in the cafeteria of Saitama Prefectural Yoshiki High School. But at the same time this wasn’t someone that Minoru had expected. It was Oguu, a first-year student from Class Eight who was also a member of the track club. A week ago, together with two upperclassmen from the track club, he had called Minoru out behind the school’s dojo to beat him up. As Minoru was thinking about how he should react to being called out by someone like that, Oguu changed his expression from the intrepid look of an athlete to a bit of an awkwardly ironic smile. “You don’t have to get all worried like that. I’m not going to pull any of that crap anymore,” he said. “…Is that right?” “Do you always eat in the cafeteria?” asked Oguu. “Well, usually. What about yourself?” “Same here. And you don’t have to be so polite, man,” said Oguu. “Umm… Okay,” said Minoru, taken aback. By the time their conversation reached that point, they had already made it to the front of the line, and after a little bit of thought, Minoru pushed the button for a Meat Udon Set. Before he got his Third Eye, Minoru had been fine with just the udon, but ever since he was infected by it, his metabolism seemed to have gone up, and without the two Inari sushi that came with the set, he wouldn’t be able to last until dinner. After paying with his IC card and taking the ticket, Minoru quickly turned to go to the food counter, but… “I’m surprised that’s enough food for you.” …Minoru was called from behind again and lost his chance to escape. “…Well, I’m not in any clubs, after all,” said Minoru to Oguu, as Oguu slipped a thousand-yen note into the machine and ordered tickets for a Chicken Nanban Set, as well as a large bowl of rice and croquettes. After he grabbed his three meal tickets and change, he immediately walked over to join Minoru. They continued to have a strange conversation after that as they picked up their trays from the food counter and moved to an empty table to sit across from each other. After Minoru took one sip of his udon while Oguu started to wolf down his food, he set his determination and ventured into delicate territory. “Umm… Oguu? Is Minowa doing well?” he asked. Oguu furrowed his brow, shaved so that it was just barely within school rules, and froze with his chopsticks held in midair. The sweet sauce from his chicken dripped onto his plate. But the way he furrowed his brow and frowned was apparently not an expression of anger. “Well… I mean… Sure, she’s doing well. Ever since she returned to school she’s been practicing with her club like usual,” Oguu answered and then opened his mouth wide and stuffed the chicken into his mouth. Tomomi Minowa, who was in the same class as Oguu and a track club member, had been attacked by Biter ten days earlier. Minoru and company were able to rescue her before she sustained any physical harm, but the psychological shock at seeing Biter transformed up close had a large effect on her, and given that there was also a chance that she might be attacked again, she had been kept safe at a hospital connected with Chief Himi. Tomomi, who after four days of hospitalization was able to calm down, had her memories associated with Biter sealed away by Chief Himi’s power and supposedly returned to school Wednesday the week before. According to Oguu, even on the first day back, she also returned to practice for the track club that same day. “Well… That’s good to hear,” said Minoru, lowering his shoulders along with his anxiety and took a bite of his Inari sushi. However, Oguu’s expression was still clouded. Staring at a tomato on his plate, he continued in a low voice. “She does seem fine…but I don’t know. She seems a bit different from before she got hurt.” “…” Minoru paused. There was no way they could let the truth out about the attack, so officially, Tomomi had been “injured while practicing on her own.” Oguu, and possibly Tomomi herself, believed that that’s what happened. While Minoru felt bad about having to hide the truth from Oguu, who seemed genuinely concerned about Tomomi, he asked, “Different how? Has her running form changed or something?” “No, it’s nothing like that. Her times haven’t gotten any slower, either; it’s just when she’s running…sometimes she has this really painful look on her face. No, painful might not be the right word to describe it… Ugh, I don’t know how to put it exactly…,” said Oguu, moaning a bit at the end, before popping the tomato into his mouth. Maybe he didn’t like tomatoes, because he grimaced as he ate it before washing it down with barley tea and looking at Minoru. Oguu scratched his head of shortly cut hair and then said in a rough manner, “…I know I don’t have any right to be asking you something like this… I mean, I had my upperclassmen come to beat you up because I didn’t like to see you and Minowa getting along… That was pretty damn uncool of me. I apologize for that. Seriously.” Oguu bowed his head so low it looked like he was about to stick his nose into the chicken on his plate and ignored the curious stares coming from the students around them. After holding that position for a little while, he lifted his head and with a serious look on his face said, “Utsugi, could you talk to Minowa for me?” What do I say to that? was the phrase that ran through Minoru’s head several times throughout his afternoon classes. Minoru knew that he couldn’t ignore Oguu’s request, as Oguu was seriously worried about Tomomi Minowa, but ever since Tomomi had been discharged from the hospital, Minoru had been intentionally avoiding her. There were two reasons for this. One was that if they talked, there was a chance that he might revive Tomomi’s memories of Biter that Chief Himi had sealed away. The second reason was because he felt incredibly guilty in a way he couldn’t even put into words. Right before Tomomi had had her memories sealed away, Minoru had made a promise with her. The promise was, “If we meet again on the banks of the Arakawa River, we’ll become friends again.” Minoru intended to honor that promise. But at the same time, he realized that he was being deceptive. After all, he had made a deal with Chief Himi that in exchange for joining the SFD, once all of the Ruby Eyes were exterminated, he would have everyone’s memories of himself, including Tomomi’s, erased. Minoru didn’t know if that would ever actually come to pass. Fear might drive him to leave the SFD, or he might be killed in a battle with the Ruby Eyes or sustain irreversible injuries just like Yumiko Azu’s partner, Sanae Ikoma. At the very least, Minoru’s deal with Chief Himi contradicted his promise with Tomomi. From this point on, Minoru was going to fight as a Jet Eye in order to have the memories of himself erased from Tomomi. Minoru had been worrying about this for the past few days, and as a result, he half looked forward to and half feared meeting Tomomi again on the banks of the Arakawa River in the morning and ended up avoiding her at school. But really, what do I say to a request like that…? Minoru thought, sighing for what seemed like the hundredth time, just as the bell marking the end of sixth period rang. Minoru got his things together and left the classroom, walking down the stairs. He changed into his shoes at his shoe locker, walked out of the front entrance, and then stood in place, looking left and right. If he was going to head to the bike parking lot, he needed to turn left, and if he was going to make his way to the school grounds area, he needed to turn right. After a few moments of hesitation, Minoru turned right. Minoru made his way to the grounds after a few minutes of walking and saw that the track club members were already doing warm-ups. The female members all had on light lavender tracksuits and were doing stretches. Minoru spotted the one with short hair he recognized and stared at her from across the fence. He was probably fifty meters away, but perhaps because his eyesight had been improved by his Third Eye, Minoru was clearly able to see Tomomi’s face. The reason she had a grimace on her face was probably because she was stretching her calves and Achilles tendons to their limit, Minoru thought. But just from her serious expression, Minoru wasn’t able to read what was going on inside of her. Well, if they’ve already started practice, it’s not like I can call out to her or anything. No, even if they hadn’t started, I couldn’t do something that would leave a memory of me in all of the track club members… The watch on my left wrist says it’s 3:50 p.m. The track club’s practice should continue until around 7:00 p.m. Just standing around at the corner of the grounds would be too suspicious, so I should probably retreat to the library and then come back later, Minoru thought and turned to head back toward the main school building. Minoru left the grounds and took a left turn past the gym. After walking a little bit after that, Minoru noticed footsteps approaching him from behind. By the time he had noticed them, they were already close by and slowing down. It can’t be, Minoru thought as he turned around, but next to him jogging in place was Tomomi Minowa, who had been practicing with the track club not a minute before. Tomomi, still jogging in place, looked up at Minoru, who froze from this unexpected development, and asked in a small voice, “…You were looking at me from the grounds just a second ago…weren’t you?” Apparently Tomomi also had exceptional eyesight. Minoru wasn’t sure if Tomomi had identified him as “Minoru Utsugi from Class One,” but he had no choice but to nod in response. “Y-yeah…” “…Why were you looking at me?” Minoru had trouble answering this second sudden question and averted his gaze from Tomomi and looked down, thinking hard about what he would say. Tomomi Minowa had had all of her memories related to Biter sealed away by Chief Himi. The problem was exactly what memories were included in that scope. Tomomi should have forgotten that she’d been locked in that shed in Akigase Park, as well as the fact that Minoru had saved her. She probably also had forgotten about how she met Minoru in the park before that incident. However, it seemed that from how she was questioning him now, she might remember part of when she met Minoru in the morning on the banks of the Arakawa River two weeks ago. That was probably not intentional on Chief Himi’s part. Then, perhaps, if Minoru said something careless now, the seal on her memories might weaken, and there was a possibility that it might cause a chain reaction that would lead to her remembering everything about being attacked by Biter. Minoru thought that he might avert the conversation by saying that he was thinking of joining the track club, but that was very unnatural given that it had been nine months since the start of the school year, and furthermore, he didn’t want to lie. Minoru didn’t think he had any other option but to tell the truth. “Well… I actually wanted to talk about something… But since your club practice started, I thought I might wait for it to be over…,” he said. “You wanted to talk…to me?” “…Yeah.” After Minoru nodded in response to Tomomi’s third question, Tomomi stopped jogging in place and adjusted her stance. Her clean-cut hairstyle and large brown eyes were just as Minoru remembered, but he felt that compared to before, her brilliant, energetic nature was more muted and replaced with a certain melancholic, hesitant shadow that came over her expression. Tomomi looked straight into Minoru’s eyes and asked her fourth question in almost a whisper. “We’ve…talked before, haven’t we?” “…!” Not knowing how to respond, Minoru felt sweat form on his forehead, but Tomomi, who continued to stare at Minoru, suddenly let out a chuckle for some reason. “Let’s talk somewhere else. I’m going to go do road training right now, so could you follow me from a little distance behind me?” Tomomi said. Minoru followed Tomomi, who was jogging very slowly, from about thirty meters behind about as fast as he could walk, as she led him to a small stream about two hundred meters east of the school. When Tomomi stopped as she got to the road that ran along the stream, Minoru caught up to her about thirty seconds later. He stood next to her as she looked at the water’s surface beyond a white chain-link fence. Just as Minoru was wondering what to do, Tomomi asked, “…Do you know the name of this river?” “…No, I don’t,” replied Minoru, blinking in response to that unexpected question, but Tomomi quickly gave the answer. “Its name is the West Minuma Irrigation Canal.” “That’s interesting…” Minoru had learned about the Minuma Irrigation Canal in elementary school as part of his social studies class. A person named Sobee Izawaya constructed the canal, during the Edo period under the reign of Emperor Kyouhou in the early 1700s, as part of the Nitta Development Project under the orders of the eighth shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune. Minoru had a memory of riding a bus far upstream to look at the dams along it, but he had no idea it flowed this close to his high school. “…Do you like rivers, Minowa?” Minoru asked as he looked down at the water’s flow, and Tomomi responded with a short nod. “I do. I think it’s strange…that all this water keeps flowing without stopping even a single second. Far to the south, this stream flows into the Sasame River, and then the Sasame River flows into the Arakawa River,” she said. “Huh.” “Every morning, I run along the banks of the Arakawa River. It’s calming to run while sensing the river’s feelings, and it helps me concentrate…” Minoru felt like he understood what she was talking about and nodded. “I think I understand what you mean. I also run along the banks of the Arakawa River every morning.” But after he said that he realized he had made a mistake. Feeling Tomomi’s stare on his left cheek, Minoru slowly turned to look at her. When he did, he felt as though he had been pierced through by her eyes filled with a serious light and was unable to look away. “You know, last week I was absent for a few days because of a light injury, but…something feels strange about it,” she said. “Strange?” Minoru replied. “Past Hanekura Bridge, just a little farther upstream there’s a barrier for traffic…and whenever I go past there, I find my feet stopping and my chest tightens. I feel as if something very frightening happened there…but also something that made me happy…,” Tomomi continued. “…Something frightening?” Minoru repeated, as his thoughts began to race desperately. The car barrier near Hanekura Bridge… That was where, in the early morning on December 3, Minoru first ran into Tomomi. Tomomi seemed to have forgotten what happened, but as they were talking, a bike had come along at an incredible speed, and Minoru had protected her as it almost clipped her. That certainly was a chilling experience, but at the same time he didn’t think anyone would call it “very frightening.” Maybe Tomomi was conflating that incident with the fear she felt when she was attacked by Biter in the adjacent Akigase Park. As Minoru looked at her, Tomomi closed her eyes tightly, furrowed her brow, and bit her lip as if she was trying to remember something. This had to be the “painful expression” that Oguu was talking about at lunch. What should I do? Minoru thought. Should I contact Chief Himi and have him reseal her memories? But would that help the situation at all? Tomomi would still continue to run along the banks of the Arakawa River, so the same thing might happen whenever she ran past the barrier… “…You’re Utsugi, aren’t you? We were in the same class in middle school,” Tomomi said after slowly opening her eyes and staring at Minoru. “…Yeah.” “Just a little while ago, you said you came to the grounds because you said you wanted to talk to me about something, right? What is it?” Tomomi asked. “Well…” He could tell her that it wasn’t anything important. That he was sorry, that she shouldn’t worry about it. Then, he could leave and never talk to her again. All things considered, that was his best option. If the seal on her memories of meeting Minoru was unstable, he shouldn’t do anything to make it worse. Even if that meant ignoring Oguu’s request… Even if that meant breaking his promise to Tomomi about becoming friends again. Even though that was what he thought intellectually, Minoru’s mouth would not move. Somewhere deep in his chest he felt a sort of helplessness rising up and catching in his throat. Three months ago, in an area with Tokyo at its center, mysterious spheres fell to Earth and infected dozens of people. Minoru was one of them, and so was Hikaru Takaesu, code name Biter. As a result, Minoru was dragged into an extremely abnormal fate, but he had no intention of bemoaning his circumstances. After all, in a way, Minoru might have called this black sphere in his chest to himself. However, Tomomi Minowa was not liable for these circumstances. Attacked by Biter, she was almost killed, and to top it all off she had her memories altered… There was no reason for her to have to feel these lingering feelings of fear, even after she returned to school. “I made a promise with you,” Minoru said, after a time. Tomomi’s eyes opened wide. “…A promise? What kind of promise…?” she asked. “I promised that if I met you again, I would become friends with you,” Minoru replied. Since Tomomi shouldn’t have any memory of that promise, Minoru had prepared for Tomomi to either laugh at him or think that he was being creepy, but he answered truthfully anyway. However, Tomomi had a serious look on her face and walked a half step closer to Minoru. “…Are you talking about a promise made when we were in middle school? I’m sorry… I can’t remember…,” she said, twisting her face and pressing a finger from her left hand against her forehead as she tried to recall her memories. She seemed to be dizzy. Her small body started to tilt, and she hit her right shoulder against the white fence. “Minowa, are you all right?!” Minoru quickly reached out his right hand to support her shoulder. Over her clothes he could feel that her small body was very cold, and again he felt as if something was caught in his throat. Was it even right for Tomomi, suffering the shock of being attacked by such a monster as Biter, to have been treated only by the manipulation of her memories? Rather than forcefully putting a lid on that shock, wouldn’t it have been better to carefully explain the situation and give her proper counseling? Was the reason Chief Himi sealed away her memories really for Tomomi’s sake? Or was it just to protect the secret of the Third Eyes? Were they prioritizing the SFD or perhaps even a higher authority over Tomomi? The moment Minoru thought that, he felt a strong anger well up inside him and he clenched his teeth. However, that emotion quickly turned to one of surprise. Tomomi had clasped both of her hands around Minoru’s right hand and was holding it against her chest. “Your hand is really warm…Utsugi,” she said. It’s not as if Minoru could say that it was because of his Third Eye. “…Well, it’s because I’m wearing a lot of layers…,” he said in a small lie. Tomomi chuckled a little and looked up at him. “I’m sorry. I can’t seem to remember making that promise with you… But if you’re okay with that, I don’t mind being friends,” she said. “Ah… O-of course! I mean, I’m sorry for bringing this up all of a sudden. It’s no wonder you forgot about it. It was a really…really long time ago,” Minoru replied. “Well, okay… But it’s kind of strange. This doesn’t feel like the first time we’ve done this. When I’m with you like this, it feels like the fog in my head is starting to clear…,” Tomomi said, closing her eyes with Minoru’s hand still held against her chest. The dry December north wind rushed past them and created ripples on the surface of the irrigation stream. Minoru instinctively moved to shield Tomomi, who seemed to shiver in the cold from the wind, taking her hand and pulling her closer. However, before he could do that, his smartphone vibrated in his coat pocket. Tomomi, who seemed to hear the noise and come to her senses, let go of Minoru’s hand and took one step back. “Um… Ha-ha, I’m sorry for being weird like that,” she said, blushing, before starting to jog in place while slowly taking a few steps back. “But I’m really happy you asked me to be friends. Let’s meet up some time and run along the banks of the Arakawa River!” After saying that, Tomomi turned around and started running down the road along the irrigation stream at a fast pace. As Minoru watched her run away in her lavender tracksuit, he wondered to himself whether this really was for the best. But he knew that the answer to that question would only come after all of the incidents relating to the Third Eyes came to a close. For the time being, he could only do what he was able to do—even if once he got home, he ended up regretting the choice he’d made here. After taking a deep breath in the cold air, Minoru took his smartphone out of his pocket. Displayed on the screen was a short text message that had arrived about ten seconds ago. The sender was Yumiko Azu, and the text was a single line: “I’ll be there to pick you up in ten seconds.” …In ten seconds? In ten seconds from when? Minoru thought, staring dumbfounded at the screen when immediately behind him—vroom!—he heard the loud but smooth rumble of an engine. What Minoru saw as he nearly leaped, turning around, was a sport bike–type motorcycle with a pitch-black fairing, its rider dressed in a full-body black leather riding suit. Behind the rider’s full-face helmet flowed long, straight black hair. After setting the kickstand, the rider flipped a slender leg over the back of the bike and dismounted before lifting the visor on her helmet. As soon as Minoru saw the shining eyes within, he gave a shout. “Y-Yumiko?!” “Sorry for interrupting you in a good moment,” Yumiko replied. Her voice was a little bit muffled by the helmet, but there was no mistaking that it was her voice. “It wasn’t anything like that, but…why are you dressed like that?!” he asked. “Well, I came here on a motorcycle, so this is pretty normal wear, right?” she replied. “Ah, right… No, that’s not what I mean!” said Minoru, flustered. Ignoring Minoru, Yumiko set down her large backpack and took out a white roundish thing. Minoru, who reflexively took the object as Yumiko thrust it in front of him, realized it was the same kind of helmet Yumiko wore but a different color. “…Umm…?” “Put it on,” said Yumiko. “But I mean…” As Minoru thought to himself that he had never worn one of these things and didn’t know what to do, flipping it over in his hands, Yumiko grabbed the straps hanging from the helmet with both of her hands and forcefully put it on over his head. Just as Minoru was panicking from the sudden change, he heard Yumiko’s voice incredibly clearly in his ear. “Not bad. I think it suits you,” she said. From the nature of the sound, Minoru realized that there must be a speaker on the inside of the helmet, which also meant that there was probably a microphone as well. “Umm… It’s a little tight…” “It used to be Sanae’s. Later we’ll have the inside padding switched out so that it fits you better, but you’re going to have to bear with it today,” Yumiko said, returning to the motorcycle and putting her empty backpack in the trunk compartment attached to the back of the motorcycle. “Let me see your bag,” Yumiko said, extending her right hand. Minoru gave her his school messenger bag, and once she put it away in the trunk compartment, she leaped back on the motorcycle. “Get on behind me,” she said. Ever since he had the helmet put on his head, Minoru had figured that this was what was going to happen next, but he still took a hesitant step back. “B-but I’ve never ridden a motorcycle before…” “I’m not asking you to drive it or anything, all you have to do is hang on.” “…Okay,” said Minoru, realizing that it was impossible for him to escape. After securely buttoning up his Chesterfield coat, he reluctantly mounted the rear seat. Since there was really no place to hang onto, he felt very anxious. “Put both of your feet on the passenger foot pegs and hold onto my hips firmly with your knees,” Yumiko said. “Your…hips?” repeated Minoru before doing as Yumiko said and hesitantly gripping her slender hips between his knees. “Good. Now position both hands around where my eighth ribs are and hold onto me,” she continued. “…Eighth?” repeated Minoru. It wasn’t like he could touch and count her ribs from the top, so he guessed and wrapped his arms around her. “Around here?” he asked. “That’s right. Now make sure you do not move your hands either up or down!” she commanded. “O-okay.” “All right, let’s go,” Yumiko said, kicking back the kickstand and putting the motorcycle into gear. The engine made a light rumble, and Yumiko deftly maneuvered the definitely-not-small motorcycle into a U-turn on the thin road beside the stream. Perhaps because she was paying mind to Minoru, a complete beginner, Yumiko drove slowly, and after a while they stopped at the light of an intersection right under the highway. Then, a group of elementary school boys, on their way from school, who were just crossing the crosswalk, all raised their voices at once and ran over. “Whoa! That’s so cool!” “Hey, Miss, what kind of motorcycle is this?!” Minoru thought that Yumiko would ignore them, but she gave a serious answer. “It’s an MV Agusta F3 800,” she said. “How much horsepower does it have?!” “One hundred forty-eight horsepower,” she replied. “What’s its top speed?!” “Mach 0.7,” she replied. “No way!” all of the kids shouted at once. It was at that moment that the light turned green, and after waving to the kids, Yumiko slowly set the motorcycle in motion. After Yumiko took a right turn under the highway bridge and started speeding off down the lane, Minoru felt his shoulders drop as he relaxed and said, “So even you make jokes sometimes, huh?” “What do you mean?” “What? I mean with the kids just a second ago…,” responded Minoru. “I was being completely serious when I answered them. Also, isn’t there something else that you should have asked me already?” asked Yumiko. “Huh? …Oh, you mean that,” said Minoru—perhaps because his feelings had finally caught up with the current state of things, a doubt he had left in the back of his mind resurfaced. “Um… Why did you come to pick me up?” he asked. “Igniter has made a move,” Yumiko replied. “What?!” “Right now, DD and Oli-V are trailing him in a car. We’re supposed to head him off.” Minoru felt his hands that were wrapped around Yumiko go sweaty, and he asked in a hoarse voice, “Does that mean we’re…heading into battle?” “Yes,” Yumiko replied immediately with force in her voice, and Minoru flashed back to that room at SFD Headquarters where Sanae Ikoma lay sleeping. “…Understood,” Minoru replied. But getting just that one word out of his mouth took an enormous amount of effort. Of course, this was not the first time Minoru would be fighting a red Third Eye host, also known as a Ruby Eye. Minoru had fought twice against Biter, who had attacked Tomomi Minowa and kidnapped his adoptive sister, Norie. However, both of those incidents were when he was passively caught up in a battle. This time, though, as a member of the SFD, a black Third Eye host, and a Jet Eye, he was going to proactively attack a Ruby Eye and disable him. That is what Minoru now was going to do of his own volition. He was going to fight in a real life-and-death battle, with someone whose face and real name he did not know. Just then, as if in an effort to cut off Minoru’s cowardice, Yumiko flipped the turn signal on the large motorcycle. She drove the motorcycle through the entrance to the expressway headed for Tokyo, through the underground ETC gate, accelerating to eighty kilometers an hour through the tunnel. I suppose, given that we are technically an organization under the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, Yumiko really does carefully obey the speed limit, huh, Minoru thought, even as his heart was racing given that this was the first time he had ever ridden at such speeds on a big sport bike. But suddenly after, from above the trunk compartment on the back of the bike, right behind Minoru, rang a high-pitched siren sound. As Minoru jerked his head behind himself, he saw red flashing lights on both sides of the trunk compartment case. “Wh-what is that?!” yelled Minoru. “It’s a siren and red emergency lights,” Yumiko replied. “D-did you just stick one on the motorcycle?” asked Minoru. “Of course not. This is a proper siren obtained with the permission of the Public Safety Committee, according to Article 13 of the Enforcement Ordinance of the Road Traffic Act.” “And what do you plan on doing with this?!” Minoru yelled back. “What do you think? This is dangerous, so make sure you hold on tight,” she shot back, unperturbed, as she twisted the throttle in her right hand. The engine gave a roar and the big bike shot forward into the passing lane as if it had been kicked. From over Yumiko’s shoulder, Minoru could see the digital speedometer leap above one hundred kilometers an hour, closing in on 120. After clearing a gentle left curve in the tunnel with a deep tilt of the motorcycle, they raced up an incline and onto a highway bridge. After another left following the road, they came upon a long straightaway on the Omiya section of the Tokyo-Saitama Expressway. “It looks nice and clear, doesn’t it?” said Yumiko, and just like she said, there were very few cars on the weekday evening section of the expressway headed for Tokyo. Spurred on by a bad feeling about what was about to happen next, Minoru shouted, “I mean, since we’re two people riding together, I think we should drive safely…!” “Of course,” replied Yumiko. “But we need to get to Ikebukuro in five minutes.” “What?! Five minutes?! There’s no way!!” shouted Minoru. The distance from Saitama’s new urban center to Ikebukuro was more than twenty kilometers by road. Even if a person traveled at an average of one hundred kilometers an hour, it would take at least twelve minutes. If they wanted to reach Ikebukuro in five minutes, they would have to speed at 240 kilometers an hour. Even if they were treated as an emergency vehicle, there was no way they could go that speed on a public road and Minoru didn’t think that it was even physically possible. But Yumiko had apparently sensed Minoru’s thoughts, and he heard her voice again over the intercom. “Igniter last used his power thirty-seven minutes ago in Shinjuku. Even with DD’s power, there’s only about five more minutes he can track him based on his lingering scent. So we’ve only got five minutes. So I’m going to send us flying. Hold on tighter.” “R-roger…,” said Minoru, who took a deep breath and held on as tightly as he could around Yumiko’s hips with his knees and around her waist with his arms. Only three seconds later did he learn the true meaning of what Yumiko meant when she said “send us flying.” Yumiko dropped the motorcycle, which was cruising at 120 kilometers an hour, two gears and twisted the accelerator with her right hand all the way. The engine roared as the rotations per minute of the engine leaped up. As the front wheel rose slightly above the ground, the steel frame of the large motorcycle shot forward like a bullet. Acceleration. That was Yumiko’s power. Yumiko, who was given the code name Accelerator, amplified her own acceleration to charge forward almost instantaneously. If the bike’s engine power fell within the scope of “her own acceleration”… “You’ve got to be kidding me…,” muttered Minoru as an unnatural and overwhelming force sent the motorcycle flying forward a few centimeters above the ground at an incredible speed. The highway and sunset-filled sky melted into a radial blur around them. The air pressure came at them like a wall, and Minoru clung desperately to Yumiko’s body. If Minoru didn’t have the strength of a Jet Eye, he might have been thrown from the bike and tumbled onto the road. Minoru stared dazed as a large truck in the distance looked as small as a grain of rice, then came flying at them, as if he were watching a video sped up to twenty times its normal speed. By the time Minoru was able to scream, the motorcycle’s front wheel had come down, screeching as it contacted the road and retained its grip. The truck was right before their eyes in an instant. Reducing the speed to 120 kilometers an hour, Yumiko lightly tilted the motorcycle and passed the truck on the left. When they were all clear again, as Yumiko stared down the road, she said, “I said earlier, didn’t I? That this motorcycle’s top speed is Mach 0.7.” Then, before Minoru could say anything, she opened the throttle again. Unable to do anything else, Minoru let out another loud scream. 9 Making himself comfortable in the backseat of a taxi, Ayato Suka slowly exhaled. It was long ago that smoking had been banned in taxis throughout the Tokyo metropolitan area, but the inside of the vehicle gave off the odor of new smoke. Trying not to click his tongue, Suka opened the left passenger window all the way. Sending the unpleasant smell of the car heater along with the odor of the smoke out the window, Suka instead took a deep breath of the sharp, cold outside air. Of course, the outside air was full of the exhaust from all of the cars passing by on Meiji Street, but it was at least better than the unbearable air inside the taxi. “Excuse me, sir. I do have the heater on, you know?” complained the forty-something-year-old taxi driver, but Suka quickly replied. “Then turn it off, it’s too hot in here,” he said, ignoring the taxi driver as he loudly clicked his tongue, and once again Suka took a deep breath—this time through his nose—and paid close attention to the scent. Mixed in with the exhaust very faintly was that one particular odor. It was a kind of chemical smell that prickled the scent-sensing cells of his nose. It was their scent. The scent of the black hunters. Both the “reds,” like Suka, and the “blacks,” their enemies, could sniff out each other’s existence. Fundamentally that scent could only be detected when they were using their powers, but Suka’s sense of smell was a bit of a special case. Perhaps it was a beneficial side effect of being able to manipulate oxygen over a wide area, but he could detect when he was being chased by the enemy. However, the range of that detection was only two kilometers. In other words, right now, they were closing in on him. “Keep going on Meiji Street and then take a right on Kasuga Street,” said Suka to the taxi driver, as he leaned back into the seat. Even though Suka knew the danger of being chased, at the same time he felt a deep satisfaction rising from the pit of his stomach. Again today, he burned a fool who did not understand the preciousness of oxygen and sacrificed him for the sign he planned to draw in the city center. Furthermore, the time it took him to carbonize the body so that no bones were left behind was nearly a minute less than before. He really wanted to burn a second person, but he thought he should be satisfied with his results for the day. His power to manipulate oxygen was still improving. At this rate, the day he reached a new stage of his power was not far in the future. When that time came, in the pure shine of combustion, he would oxidize all of those annoying black hunters together. I am different from Liquidizer and the rest of her organization, those who have thrown away their righteous calling just to concentrate on staying alive, Suka thought. Suka’s calling was to take back the oxygen cycle on this planet. In that cycle, there was no place for the filthy combustion done by humans. “Ha-ha.” As Suka held back the desire to hum his oxygen song, he instead let out a short chuckle from deep inside his throat. The taxi driver gave him an unnerved look through the rearview mirror, but Suka didn’t care. Just as Yumiko had declared, they went a distance of twenty kilometers in just under five minutes. There were often times that its wheels were off the ground, but the large motorcycle finally turned off the expressway at the East Ikebukuro Interchange. As soon as the siren and beacon on the back of the motorcycle stopped, Minoru leaned forward against Yumiko, exhausted. But immediately after he did so, he heard her voice over the intercom. “It’s way too early for you to be tired,” she said. “Soon we’ll have caught up to Igniter. You have the air tank that Professor gave you with you, right?” “Y-yes…,” replied Minoru. “Then get it ready while we still have time,” Yumiko said. But just then Minoru remembered. He did have the compressed air tank with him, but while he was at school he didn’t have it in his pocket, but in his… “Ah… I’m sorry, it’s in my bag in the back…,” he said. “…All right. I’ll make a quick stop somewhere, so hurry up and…,” Yumiko started, but just then another voice Minoru recognized came in over the intercom. “This is Searcher. Accelerator, where are you right now?” There was a lot of noise on the channel, but there was no mistaking that it was DD. Yumiko answered quickly, “East Ikebukuro, right under Sunshine.” “We’re heading north on Meiji Street right now, but we’re losing the scent. Igniter should be right on top of you. Do whatever you can to find him somehow!” “Somehow… Just how many cars do you think I can see right now?” Yumiko replied. “Just do whatever you can!! We’ll meet up with you shortly. End of transmission!” Just then, Yumiko’s back, with Minoru still attached to her, sank dejectedly. “He says things like they’re so easy… Uts— I mean, Isolator, that’s the situation right now, so look around at all of the cars, and if something pops out at you, tell me!” she said. What am I even supposed to be looking for? Minoru thought, but he scanned what he could see, left and right. Given that the one photograph of Igniter he was shown at SFD Headquarters was unclear and shot from a long distance away, all he knew was that he was a thin man. Plus, most of the people driving by in cars fit that description. “Everyone kind of looks suspicious… Yu— I mean, Miss Accelerator, you’ve seen Igniter directly, right?” asked Minoru. “Drop the ‘Miss.’ The one time I did see him was for a split second, and he was wearing a knit cap, sunglasses, and a mask.” “I see… Thanks. That’ll come in handy,” said Minoru, expanding the scope of his search. Just above Minoru was the No. 5 Ikebukuro line Expressway bridge, from which they had just exited the expressway. The giant building with brick tiles to the right was probably Sunshine City. To the left, across a walkway, ran rows of fashionable shops, and all around were countless cars. “…For the time being, I’ll turn at the intersection and make a stop up ahead, so when I do, prepare your air tank,” said Yumiko. “All right,” replied Minoru, just as his eyes reflexively settled on a single taxi. I don’t believe it, thought Suka, aghast, as he stared at the taxi driver. Even though he was in the middle of driving a customer, he had taken up a pack of cigarettes and pulled one out with his mouth. Tossing the pack to the side, he then took out a lighter and lit up without a second thought. After breathing out a large puff of smoke, as if he were shoving it in Suka’s face, only then did he open up the driver’s window. When their eyes met in the mirror, after letting out a long, thin stream of smoke from his mouth, the driver smirked. “Ah, sorry about that. This is a personal taxi, so we’re free to smoke. Feel free to take a smoke yourself.” The Tokyo Society of Personal Taxis banned smoking eleven years ago in 2008. Even disregarding that, what was he thinking smoking while he had a passenger? Was he really so childish that this was his way of getting back at Suka for not closing the window? Suka was on the verge of saying, “I’m getting off. Stop the car now,” but he swallowed his words at the last moment. His shock and disbelief coupled with oxygen in the core of his brain, which quickly turned to murderous intent. I’ll burn him. I’ll turn that head of his along with his cigarette to ash, he thought, but just as he raised his right hand, his reason slammed on the brakes. Now was not the time. He was being chased. Using his power right now was like calling out to the black hunters and asking them to find him. But still…, he thought, unable to bear it. The oxygen in the car was being eaten away by a filthy form of combustion. The carbon dioxide and harmful substances entered his lungs with every breath, polluting his blood. Even if he were to resist burning the driver and just exited the car, he would be tracked down by the black hunters before he found another taxi. …I have no other choice, he thought and pulled something out of his favorite bag that he always had prepared for just such an occasion. It was an oxygen canister, the kind that could be picked up at any sports department store. With a clear mask, he covered his nose and mouth and pressed the button on the small canister. With the small sound of rushing air, a sweet, thick gas came flowing out. As he closed the window with a small grin, the taxi driver opened his eyes wide. …What was that? thought Minoru as something crossed his line of sight and drew his attention. It was a white taxi, and the driver was—outrageously in this day and age—smoking inside the car. But that was not what caught Minoru’s attention. The passenger in the backseat of the taxi had something strange held to his mouth. “…I’m sorry, could you make a U-turn?” said Minoru to Yumiko over the intercom. “Did you find him?!” shouted Yumiko. “N-no, I can’t be sure yet, but something caught my eye…,” started Minoru. “What did you see?!” shouted Yumiko again. Even as she was throwing questions at Minoru, she quickly put her turn signal on and made a turn into the oncoming lane, as soon as it was clear. The taxi was about ten cars ahead. “Do you think you can catch up with that white taxi?” asked Minoru. “Of course.” Yumiko opened the throttle in the left lane and accelerated between the right lane and the stopped cars on the left. They were getting closer and closer to the taxi. As they pulled up alongside the taxi, Minoru looked into the passenger’s seat through the window. The passenger still had something placed against his mouth. It was an O2 can, the kind that one might use when climbing a mountain. In other words, it was oxygen. Gulping, Minoru stared at the man’s face. But then his shoulders relaxed and he whispered into the intercom,“I’m sorry, this isn’t him.” It couldn’t be. After all, the passenger, a man in a suit, was an elderly man who couldn’t possibly be less than sixty. His half-white hair was carefully combed back, and his dry skin had deep wrinkles. He had an intellectual air about him that made him look like a teacher and not at all like a serial murderer. He probably had some disease that made it necessary to use an oxygen canister to breathe. If you could make another U-turn, Minoru started to say to Yumiko but stopped. “Um… I’m going to activate my shell for a second.” “What?! Why?!” “I think I’m wrong, but I just want to make sure,” he said, unwrapping his arms from around Yumiko’s body and taking a deep breath. Minoru then held his breath and “pushed” against the pitch-black sphere in the middle of his chest. “What do you mean by ‘wr—’” Yumiko’s voice was suddenly cut off. The sound of the motorcycle engine, the sounds of the surrounding cars, and all of the other noise went silent. Minoru’s vision took on a slight blue tint. His hips and legs levitated slightly above the motorcycle. With his three-centimeter-thick defensive shell, Minoru was isolated from the world. Still, not much change could be seen from the outside. Even if the old man had been looking at Minoru, he probably wouldn’t have realized that Minoru wasn’t directly touching the seat of the motorcycle. But… A half second after Minoru activated his shell, the old man in the taxi leaped up and looked at Minoru from across the window. The sharp gaze Minoru felt from the man pierced both the window of the taxi and the faceplate of Minoru’s helmet, straight into his eyes. Minoru stared on, surprised, as he saw the expression on the old man’s face change from shock to that of a deep red intent to kill. Suddenly, the inside of Suka’s nostrils flamed up. There was a chemical smell so strong it felt as if it were going to burn away the scent-sensing cells of his nose. For a second, Suka thought that the taxi driver had sprayed him with pepper spray, but in the next instant he realized, with a shiver, what that smell meant. It was the scent of the black hunters. It was a signal that let him know that they had used their power. However, this was the first time he had ever felt so strong a scent. Even the time that that young girl had stabbed him in the stomach with a knife, the scent had not been this strong. For some reason the smell quickly disappeared, but he turned his head to look left, as if he were being sucked in. Right outside the window was a black motorcycle running alongside the taxi. The driver, in a black leather jumpsuit, was looking straight ahead at the road, but a passenger riding behind was looking straight at him. Because of the helmet’s faceplate, he could not see the passenger’s face, but Suka was certain it was him. It’s that one. There’s a black hunter just a meter away from me, using some power of his to capture his prey…, Suka thought. A hatred he could not control welled up from his stomach, and Suka clenched his teeth together, bringing wrinkles to his nose. Immediately afterward, Suka realized his mistake. The one riding the motorcycle must have activated his power to test Suka’s reaction. Feeling something strange about the fact that Suka was using an oxygen canister, he must have revealed his scent to test if Suka was really a red Third Eye host. In other words, being surprised at the smell, looking left, and expressing his hatred had been a threefold mistake. Suka’s hatred mixed with humiliation and transformed into an overwhelming rage. I’ll kill him, no matter what it takes, Suka thought. Transferring his oxygen canister to his left hand, Suka raised his right hand toward the motorcycle. The moment Minoru saw the face of an old man who he guessed might be in his sixties, something in his memory tingled, but he didn’t have the time to figure out why. The old man had raised his right hand, bending his five fingers into a claw. The middle of his palm split open horizontally to show a crimson sphere. The sphere, which looked like a living eye, gave off a light the color of blood. Suppressing an instinctive desire to hide away in his shell, Minoru deactivated his power. Given that their prior conversation was cut off, it seemed that Minoru’s shell cut off the wireless communication of the intercom as well. With his shell activated, he could not communicate with Yumiko. The moment he sunk back into his seat on the motorcycle, he yelled in a hoarse voice, “Igniter is in the taxi to our right! We’re going to be attacked!” “…!!” Minoru heard a sharp intake of air over the intercom. Immediately afterward, Minoru felt a rush of air from his right side, flowing left. It wasn’t that strong of a wind, but it took away Minoru’s breath. Flustered, Minoru tried to breathe in deeply, but the pain in his chest would not go away. The air was thin. This was Igniter’s oxygen deprivation attack. It was likely that oxygen that Minoru and Yumiko should be breathing was being collected in a place away from the motorcycle. Minoru’s lungs hurt as if they were being wrung out by something. The scene in front of Minoru’s eyes grew dark. Minoru thought to breathe through the compressed air canister, but then realized that the canister he had been given by Professor Riri Isa was still in the motorcycle’s trunk compartment. I’ll just reactivate my defensive shell, thought Minoru as he gasped for air. He didn’t understand why, but he never lacked oxygen inside his shell. In other words, he should be able to defend against Igniter’s oxygen deprivation attack. But he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t breathe. In order to activate his protective barrier, he needed to fill his lungs with air and hold his breath. But right now, it felt as if something was caught in his throat, and no matter how he tried to breathe in, his lungs wouldn’t respond. …This…might be a problem, thought Minoru dizzily, as if he were thinking about someone else. Minoru’s black Third Eye beat firmly against his ribs. I wonder if it will eject itself, thought Minoru. Realizing that its host was about to die, maybe it would return to the sky, just like how the Third Eye leaped from Biter’s corpse in the Saitama Super Arena underground parking lot. At that moment… “We’re going to jump! Hold on!” came a voice screaming over the intercom, which brought Minoru back to his senses. With all of his remaining strength, he gripped onto Yumiko’s body. Perhaps due to the lack of oxygen, the motorcycle’s engine had been whining, but it now suddenly roared a bestial roar. An intense force traveled from the engine through the chain to the rear wheel and then to the street. Due to the counter torque, or a reactive moment of force in the opposite direction of the rear wheel, the front wheel rose in the air. Yumiko used her power to take that diagonally upward acceleration and amplify it. Ka-boom! With a crashing sound, the bike with its two riders leaped into the air at a ferocious speed, and the deep red evening sky spread out through Minoru’s clouded vision. They shouldn’t have been able to escape, thought Suka. He had moved the oxygen around the two black hunters a full ten meters away from them. Suka expected both the rider and passenger to immediately faint after they breathed in oxygen-deprived air. Really, Suka wanted to aim for the motorcycle’s engine. Inside the internal combustion engine, gasoline aerosol was constantly being burned. Even an elementary school student would be able to tell a person what would happen if he concentrated oxygen in that spot. But unfortunately, the motorcycle was too close. If he caused the engine to explode, the taxi Suka was riding in would not escape unscathed. In the worst-case scenario, a scrap of the motorcycle could come flying through the glass window into the taxi. Therefore, as a second-best option, he had attacked by depriving them of oxygen, but… “Wha…?!” said Suka in surprise, loosening the grip of his right hand. The large motorcycle, which should have been caught in the oxygen-deprived area, suddenly pulled a flashy wheelie and then shot up diagonally into the air like an antiaircraft missile. That was probably due to the power of the one who stabbed him deep in the stomach, Suka thought. The driver wearing the black jumpsuit must have been her.
Chapter 17
52 min read