Chapter 20

This was not the time to be thinking about unnecessary things. Minoru nodded along with Yumiko and Olivier. DD, in his black tracksuit, then soundlessly disappeared into the darkness, followed by Yumiko and Olivier in their blazer uniforms. After checking the hose from the air canister that extended up to his collar, Minoru took a deep breath and silently raced up the narrow staircase. After about twenty steps, there was a stainless steel door. DD, who was up against it, sniffed and nodded. Then, he carefully turned the silver knob. The door opened with a quiet click. From the crack in the door, a dark orange-colored light shone in, and with it came the smell of cool, damp air. In that air was not only the smell of water, but also a sort of chemical smell. What is that smell…? Minoru thought, as DD disappeared on the other side of the door. Olivier with his sword and Yumiko with her stun baton followed after him. Wiping his sweaty hands on his uniform, Minoru went up the last step and through the door. What he saw was a section of tiles made to look like light brown bricks and several palm trees beyond it. Between the hairy trunks of the palm trees an orange light waved back and forth. It wasn’t fire, just reflections from the lighting… In other words, water, and that chemical smell was the smell of chlorine. It was a pool. That made sense, as Ariake Heaven’s Shore was a water theme park with the goal of making one feel like they were at a tropical resort even during the winter, but… At that instant, Minoru finally reached the source of the disconnect he was feeling. Why was the wine cellar flooded? Why was the real Ayato Suka, who had defrauded Igniter’s company out of a large amount of money, not incinerated? Why did Nakakubo’s residence in Kaki-no-ki-zaka in Meguro have a mark for a future incident, but not a pin for an already completed crime? The answer was that that place was still being prepared. He still planned on burning the real Suka. The water that filled the basement was part of that preparation. The water wasn’t there to slow the discovery of the corpse. Water’s chemical formula was H2O. In other words, it was composed of one-third oxygen. That water was his fuel. “Professor! Professor!!” Minoru whispered loudly into the intercom. “What is it? DD and the others have already surrounded the pool! Hurry up, Mikkun!” “No…this is a trap! The true nature of Igniter’s power is not fire, it’s water!!” “W-water, you say?” Riri replied in a strained voice. “Exactly. Nakakubo… Igniter was infected by his Third Eye moments from drowning. If the source of Igniter’s power comes from his fear of death, then it must also come from a fear of water. Igniter’s power to control oxygen is fundamentally the power to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen!!” An instant of silence. “Oxyhydrogen… In other words, explosive hydrogen knallgas!!” Riri shouted. The principles Minoru had learned in middle school chemistry flashed in the back of his mind. When oxygen and hydrogen gases were combined in a 1:2 ratio and ignited, they would instantly and violently react, giving off high heat and a shock wave. In other words, they would explode. That mixture of gases was called oxyhydrogen, or hydrogen knallgas. In order to make the explosive gas, one would only have to prepare tanks of pure oxygen and pure hydrogen and open them both at the same time. However, by this method, it was difficult to get an exact ratio of 1:2. However, there was a simpler method that gave a much more accurate ratio of the gases, and that was to separate water through electrification. Water’s chemical formula was H2O, so when it was separated, for every O2 molecule created, there would be two H2 molecules created. A perfect ratio of 1:2. “Mikkun,” said Riri in despair. “It’s too late. Yukko’s about to rush in.” A fatal poison and life’s miracle medicine. Yousuke Nakakubo stood still in the center of a one-meter-deep pool, still wearing his work clothes, touching the surface of the water with his right hand. Deep in the mountains of Okutama, he had stood like this every day in the middle of a stream and resonated with the high concentration of oxygen there. Compared to the oxygen molecules floating about in the atmosphere, the oxygen tied to H2O molecules was both incredibly stubborn and proud. Even if Nakakubo tried to grasp them, his five fingers would not budge, as if he had gripped a clump of steel. They would reject the control of his Third Eye. However, in these past few days, Nakakubo’s power had made several far-reaching advancements. He could already grasp half of the oxygen in his aquarium at his apartment at once. In other words, he could separate water into oxygen and hydrogen. At this rate, soon he would be able to grasp all of the oxygen in the water that filled his wine cellar, ignite the resulting oxyhydrogen, and blast away not only Ayato Suka’s corpse, but also his entire residence in Meguro that the thieving banks had stolen from him like hyenas. After that, he would continue to grasp larger amounts of water, drawing a 16O oxygen symbol in the center of the city, and finally he would blow away the entire Ariake Heaven’s Shore water park with its pools. Plus, he would do it during operating hours. He would cleanse all those writhing foolish humans all at once. If he could get that far, it would be no exaggeration to say that all fourteen million souls in Tokyo would be in his hands. Every river and pond, every water tank atop a building, and all of the water piped throughout the city would serve him as a high-purity explosive. He would blow them all away, together with all of human civilization. “…Heh, heh-heh, heh-heh-heh,” Nakakubo laughed, and small waves spread out from his right hand across the surface of the water. But just then… Throb! …The sphere in his right hand pulsed. The pain left as quickly as it had come, but Nakakubo held his breath, opened his eyes wide, and used all of his five senses to search the surroundings of the pool. Nakakubo couldn’t sense the organic solvent-like smell of the black hunters. He couldn’t see anything moving, and he couldn’t hear any footsteps. Furthermore, it was just too soon. He had only just been approached by them nine hours ago. For them to find Nakakubo’s real name from seeing his face, to search his old residence in Meguro, to find the body, to see through his disguise as Ayato Suka and trace that to Ariake Heaven’s Shore… Nakakubo didn’t believe that they could accomplish something like that in half a day. However, at the same time in the back of his mind he heard the words of that woman from the organization, Liquidizer. “The black ones have already started to move.” Impossible, thought Nakakubo in denial. It would be impossible for them to track me down this fast. But the throbbing of his right hand just moments ago couldn’t have just been inside his head. It must have been a warning from the oxygen in the air around him. The possibility that he was already surrounded was high. Nakakubo looked left and right again. Coco Island was, as its name inferred, an attraction based off the image of a southern island’s beach with coconut palms. The large circular pool was surrounded by a man-made beach, and around it real palms were planted. During the park’s hours, sunlight poured in from the glass dome roof, but now it was lit by only the orange color of its reserve lighting. The area beyond the palm trees was completely shrouded in darkness, and even with his strengthened vision, it was hard to see through it. If his enemies were hiding in that darkness, Nakakubo, who was standing in the middle of the pool with water up to his stomach, would have been seen by them long ago. If he was suddenly rushed, he wouldn’t have the time to stage an oxygen-deprivation attack, and he wouldn’t be able to deal with multiple enemies at a time with his combustion attack. If that was the case, then… He didn’t have any other options. Here, Nakakubo would use the true power hidden in his right hand, his explosive oxyhydrogen attack, to blow away all of the surrounding black hunters at once. If he dived to the bottom of the pool, he should be able to avoid the brunt of the attack. The problem was how to ignite it. No matter how much oxyhydrogen he was able to generate, if there was not a spark, he couldn’t make it explode. Is there anything he could use? he thought. He didn’t need a flame, if he could just cause a small spark, that would be enough…