Chapter 35

Sect. 004 THE STINGER 1 Early morning in midwinter. The temperature was just above zero. Even with a face mask, the air was so cold that it stabbed at his lungs. The asphalt glittered with flecks of frost as he crossed it in long strides. The shaking motion reverberated through the cast on his arm, but the pain wasn’t too intense anymore. The morning mist clinging to the promenade on the bank shone crimson in the light of dawn. Beyond the haze, a set of steady footsteps was approaching. It was probably a man, judging by the pace and body weight. He seemed strong. He was moving fairly quickly, too, but wasn’t very young. In his thirties…no, forties, perhaps. As he sensed all this just from the sound of the man’s footsteps, Minoru shifted to the left-hand side of the cycling road, slowing his speed from sixteen kilometers per hour to ten. After a few seconds, the person’s shadow appeared before him. They passed each other in silence. Just as he’d suspected, it was a male runner in his prime, sporting a thin beard. The athlete was moving at a speed of almost thirteen kilometers per hour. Running at a powerful clip that seemed to carve through the mist, he was soon far behind Minoru, the strong scent of sweat disappearing shortly after. Returning to his original pace and position, Minoru fell deep into thought. It was probably quite difficult to maintain such a pace at that age. And considering how much force of will it took for Minoru to drag himself out of bed to go for a run before school, it must be twice as tough to do so before a morning commute to work. Even his adoptive older sister Norie, who was always bright and cheerful, tended to be a bit low energy in the morning. Though since it was January 3, Norie was still sound asleep in bed. Minoru wanted to keep running when he reached that man’s age, too, which was why he had started this morning routine, but three—no, four—months ago, he’d had to admit that his morning runs had lost a bit of their meaning. The goal of exercise is to exert one’s body, so if it isn’t at least a little challenging, there isn’t much point. It could even be said that what makes exercise enjoyable is withstanding the pain and struggle to push the body’s limits. But now, even if Minoru ran at a speed of twenty kilometers per hour for nine or ten kilometers, he didn’t feel short of breath. And twenty kilometers per hour is the average for top-class male marathon runners appearing in the Olympics. If he wanted to put serious strain on his lungs, he’d have to run even faster, but speeding along the bank of the Arakawa River at almost thirty-two kilometers per hour was sure to draw more than just suspicion. And since Minoru was afraid of being remembered by other people, he could never do something like that. “…I wish I could turn your powers on and off…” Minoru murmured in a low voice as he ran. Of course, there was no answer. The sphere, roughly two centimeters around, embedded in his chest—the inky-black “Third Eye”—had no consciousness of its own. It only served to increase the physical abilities of its host and provide that host with a supernatural ability. Riri Isa, a professor who worked along with Minoru for the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare Industrial Safety and Health Department, Specialized Forces Division (SFD for short), was researching how Third Eyes could give their hosts such abnormal strength, endurance, and so on, but so far, she hadn’t made any progress in understanding the parasite’s basic structure. However, as a phenomenon, a few discoveries had been made. All eukaryotes, including humans, use a substance known as “adenosine triphosphate” as an energy source for cellular activity. Minoru remembered learning about ATP in biology class. ATP is a molecule composed of three phosphate groups sticking to a nucleoside called adenosine. When one of the phosphate groups detaches, a large amount of energy is generated. The human body uses this energy for tasks like contracting muscles and digesting food particles. ATP that has lost a phosphate group in this way changes to “adenosine diphosphate,” or ADP. Energy obtained from meals is used to attach phosphate to ADP to turn it back into ATP. This cycle is constantly being repeated in the human body. However, the Professor had discovered an unknown compound among the cells of Minoru and the other Jet Eyes. Like ATP, it was composed of phosphate groups attached to adenosine. But in this case, there were actually nine phosphates attached. Professor Riri Isa gave the compound the temporary name “adenosine nonaphosphate,” or ANP for short. ANP could disconnect seven phosphate groups before becoming ADP. In other words, it could generate seven times more energy than that of ATP. The Professor said this was probably one of the reasons that Third Eye holders had higher physical strength and fitness than the average person. At the same time, however, she had no idea how the Third Eyes were producing such a powerful compound. The Professor herself was a Jet Eye with an ability that allowed her to immediately answer any question as long as it was possible to glean the information from available data, skipping the reasoning process entirely. If even she couldn’t understand it, Minoru suspected that the mysteries of the Third Eyes would never be solved. Perhaps the power of these small spheres—and the reason for their existence—stood beyond the scope of human comprehension. This miraculous parasite known as the Third Eye was far from being all-powerful, though. There was still a limit to its ability to enhance its host’s body. Third Eye hosts couldn’t run forever without needing to rest, or lift a car, or anything like that. And if one were flung against solid concrete at full force, they would certainly be seriously injured. “……Suu…” Once again, an unintentional mumble escaped Minoru’s lips, but there was no answer. Feeling thirsty, he started slowing down. In front of him, he could make out a bollard on the north side of the Sakitama Bridge. He stopped and took a deep breath. Looking at the special SFD-made running watch on his left wrist, he noticed his slightly elevated heart rate come down immediately. Before the Third Eye took root in Minoru’s body, he hadn’t needed to hydrate during his daily six-mile run. But in exchange for raising the host’s physical strength, the Third Eye consumed a great deal of fluid and glucose. Of course, if he kept his running speed at the same level as before, the consumption would decrease accordingly, but then it would barely feel like running at all. He’d gotten carried away and averaged around fifteen kilometers per hour, too, so he was already parched at this turnaround point on his route. Vending machines were mostly absent from the riverbanks of the Arakawa. He could theoretically buy something to drink at Saiko Park on the west side or head over to the residential area on the east side, but either detour would interrupt his running for quite a while. As a result, Minoru had started wearing another special SFD device under his Windbreaker: a hydration pack. There was a five hundred–milliliter waterproof PPS-film reservoir on the back, which he could drink from with an attached tube. The capacity was rather modest compared with most packs on the market, but it didn’t feel as burdensome as a rucksack or waist pouch and had no effect on his freedom of movement. Lowering his face mask, Minoru pulled out a thin tube from beneath his collar and popped the valve on the end into his mouth. The water that flowed into his mouth was a bit lukewarm, of course, but he had no complaints. Besides, drinking cold water on a midwinter run would just chill his stomach more. Leaning on a bollard and sipping on the water warmed by his own body temperature, Minoru looked up at the south sky. New Year’s Eve had been three days ago—December 31, 2019. Sent on a reconnaissance mission for the SFD, Minoru had infiltrated an unmarked building in Minami-Aoyama, Minato Ward, Tokyo. It was the location of a safe house for the Jet Eyes’ opposition, the Ruby Eye group known as the “Syndicate”…in other words, a hideout. Of course, since the mission was expected to be dangerous, Professor Riri Isa had prepared the best defensive measures that could be mustered with the current members of the organization. Under the code name of Isolator, Minoru had the ability to make a transparent barrier capable of shielding him from any attack, and he could combine it perfectly with Refractor’s—Suu Komura’s—power of invisibility. The mechanics of their combination were very primitive, though: Minoru carried Suu on his back while they both invoked their abilities. But at the same time, their combination was nothing short of miraculous. Because Suu Komura was the only member of the SFD—the only person in the world, in fact—who Minoru had been able to bring into his shell. Protected by Minoru’s barrier and Suu’s invisibility, the two of them entered the safe house in Minami-Aoyama as an invisible, invincible pair. But they fell into a trap set there for them by a presumed executive of the Syndicate, the Ruby Eye who went by the code name Liquidizer. With the terrifying ability to turn substance into liquid, she had liquefied the concrete that filled the first floor of the safe house, trapping Minoru and Suu inside. The heavy concrete, which rehardened instantly, wouldn’t crack no matter how many times Minoru hit it with his shell. When the two SFD members positioned outside—Denjirou “DD” Daimon and the Accelerator Yumiko Azu—warned them that danger was approaching, Suu attempted to enact a desperate last-ditch measure. The instant a Jet Eye or Ruby Eye ceases living, it triggers a reaction in the Third Eye located somewhere in their body known as the “exodus” phenomenon. The Third Eye separates itself from the host and shoots up toward the sky, probably to space, at tremendous speed. There was no way of stopping it. Even if it were surrounded by steel ninety centimeters thick, the Third Eye would open a large hole right through it. Suu tried to use that supernatural phenomenon. She deliberately ejected herself from Minoru’s shell, trying to let herself be crushed to death by the pressure of the concrete and the shell to induce the Third Eye’s exodus. Minoru was able to deactivate his power just in time to prevent Suu’s death. However, she sustained serious injuries from flying into the concrete at top speed and was taken away in a comatose state by medevac. She was still currently being treated at the ICU of the hospital in the city center, and Minoru hadn’t heard anything about her regaining consciousness. Minoru planned on visiting Suu for the first time in the early afternoon. He’d asked for permission countless times since the night of the mission, and the Professor had finally granted it. Of course, even if he went, they wouldn’t be able to talk together, and he might not be able to see her at all. But no matter what, he wanted to share his thoughts with her from as close by as possible. He hadn’t even thanked her for saving him and the lives of the others, after all. Removing the water tube from his mouth, he lifted his injured right hand. A simple fracture of the ulna. An open fracture of the third and fourth metacarpal bones. Avulsion fractures of the ring finger and little finger. Extensive muscle lacerations. It was severe enough that the doctor who treated him furrowed his brow, but compared with most of the other SFD members who participated in the recon mission, Minoru’s injuries were minor. In fact, the initial pain was almost gone after just three days. Yumiko’s wounds were limited to the scratches on her legs, but Olivier Saito (the Divider), who’d arrived just in time for the battle with the Trancer, a Ruby Eye, took a direct hit from a hand grenade made of ice and suffered gashes and bruises all over his body. Thanks to his cutting ability and the healing powers of the Third Eye, none of his wounds were fatal; but he was still admitted to the hospital near headquarters, and apparently, it would be a few more days before his release. Meanwhile, their enemies, known only as Liquidizer and Trancer, seemed to have been seriously wounded as well, but they had escaped by liquefying the ground of the factory that had served as the battlefield, and their whereabouts were unknown. The Japan Self-Defense Forces were supposed to be carrying out a new strategy based on the information Minoru and Suu acquired in the safe house, but there was no news of any results yet. “…So why…did Suu have to…?” Muttering in a strangled voice, Minoru tried to clench his still-injured right hand, but the 3-D-printed synthetic was incredibly tough despite the thinness of the material, so he was only able to cause the slightest creak. With a long sigh, Minoru raised himself off the bollard. When questioned by his adoptive sister, Norie Yoshimizu, he told her that he’d only fallen and bruised his hand while running, but he couldn’t help but feel ashamed at how often he lied to her since joining the SFD. He treasured Norie above anyone else in the world and never wanted to cause her sadness or concern, but the situation seemed to be rapidly going downhill. Three days before the reconnaissance mission, he’d even gone to the Tokyo Bay Nuclear Power Plant, a place full of highly lethal radiation, and entered the housing unit of a nuclear reactor unaided. Ruby Eyes killed people. Jet Eyes stopped them. Minoru couldn’t deny this reality any longer. But if he kept on accumulating secrets like this, Minoru was sure that one day everything would fall apart. There was only one way to solve this problem. He would have Chief Himi, the head of the SFD who held the frightening power to manipulate other people’s memories, remove all traces of Minoru from Norie’s mind. Then he would leave home without a trace and move into SFD Headquarters. That way, no Ruby Eyes would be drawn to the house by Minoru’s scent and attack Norie. But…Minoru didn’t want that. It didn’t seem right to manipulate Norie’s memories, but more than that, Minoru himself didn’t really want to leave his current home. He didn’t want to give up his life with Norie. So because of his own ego, he continued to lie to the person he loved most in the world and expose her to danger. “……” Heaving another long sigh, Minoru got ready to resume running. However, right before taking his first step, he noticed the presence of another person again. This time, the footsteps that approached through the thick morning fog were clearly different from those of the man who passed a few minutes earlier. How strange that this many people would be out running on the Arakawa River so early on the third day of the New Year… As he contemplated this without a hint of irony, Minoru retreated to the side. Keeping his eyes down, he waited for the runner to pass. Wait… By the time he started to think this, the other person was already calling out to him. “Ah, it’s Utsugi!” A petite girl in a green Windbreaker slowed her pace as she shouted. This was no stranger but instead Minoru’s schoolmate. She was a first-year at Yoshiki High School just like him and a member of the track-and-field club: Tomomi Minowa. Minoru had no idea how to respond as she ran up to him. He and Tomomi had met up five times in the past two weeks to go running together, but today they had no such plans. But a chance encounter like this might make it seem like Minoru had been waiting on the bank to ambush her. Oblivious to the worries saturating Minoru’s mind, Tomomi showed him a carefree smile as she spoke. “Man, you should’ve let me know you’d be running today! I figured you were starting tomorrow.” “Oh, um…” His thoughts still scattered, Minoru straightened his back and spoke. “Happy New Year, Minowa.” Tomomi blinked for a moment, then quickly flashed another smile and ducked her head. “You too, Utsugi. Happy New Year! Let’s both make it a good one, yeah?” “Y-yeah, definitely…” Tomomi seemed to be giggling a little as she looked up toward him, so Minoru couldn’t help but ask a question. “D-did I say something funny…?” “No, no, not at all. Sorry for laughing.” Her short, bobbed hair swaying as she shook her head, Tomomi smiled again. “I’ve just never been given such a polite New Year’s greeting by someone my age before.” “…That might’ve been my first time doing it, too.” “Ah-ha-ha! But it’s kind of nice, saying it in person instead of over LANE or whatever.” When Tomomi mentioned the name of a popular messaging app, Minoru couldn’t help but nod in agreement. “Yeah. I mean, you only get to say it once a year.” Hearing that, Tomomi snorted again despite herself. Minoru and Tomomi became friends and agreed to run along the Arakawa River whenever time allowed about eighteen days ago, on December 16. But the first time Minoru had spoken with Tomomi was December 3, another two weeks earlier. However, Tomomi’s memories of that time had been erased by the section chief’s ability because Tomomi was attacked by a Ruby Eye called the Biter and narrowly avoided being eaten before Minoru saved her. They couldn’t let her retain the memory of seeing the Biter’s grotesque face. Minoru agreed with that, of course. But as a result, Minoru had to keep on lying to Tomomi, too, even though she’d been kind enough to be his friend. This is just what happens when getting close to people. The more he closed the distance between himself and another person, the more likely something terrible would happen. Rather than face that possibility, Minoru had always kept away from others…until he rescued Tomomi from the Biter. But then, Minoru chose to become friends with Tomomi a second time after her memories were erased. He didn’t want to regret that choice. At least as far as Tomomi Minowa was concerned, he wanted to accept and overcome whatever might happen in the future. “Huh…?” Tomomi suddenly took a step closer to Minoru, causing him to wonder, in a panic, if she’d read his mind. But no, her eyes were on Minoru’s right hand that had slipped out from the sleeve of his Windbreaker. Reflexively, he tried to pull back, but he was already too late. “Utsugi, what happened to your hand?! Are you hurt?!” The girl’s expression was full of concern as she came even closer, so Minoru hastily shook his head. “N-no, it’s fine, I just fell on it a bit hard. It doesn’t even hurt anymore.” Minoru tried to flex the fingers of his raised right hand as he spoke. The thin plastic cast had different parts for each finger, but at a glance, it just looked like his hand was wrapped in a bandage. “Okay…” Tomomi gave a sigh of relief, but her brow was still furrowed. “Honestly, Utsugi. You’re an athlete, too, so you have to take care of your body!” “I—I don’t know if I’m really an athlete…” “If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be out running right at the beginning of the new year!” Tomomi finally smiled again after saying that, but then her face became suspicious again. Minoru worried that she’d found a new injury, but this time, she’d discovered something else: the drinking valve peeking through Minoru’s collar. “Are you wearing a hydro, Utsugi?” Assuming that she was referring to a hydration pack, Minoru nodded. “Y-yeah. I get thirsty easily, even in winter.” “I totally get that. I want to bring water along sometimes, too, but I never end up doing it… Hey, can I have a little of yours?” Minoru was taken aback by Tomomi’s innocent grin. “Wha—?! B-but…” He wanted to say that he’d just had his mouth on the valve earlier, but realizing that would be a childish response, he quickly came up with something else. “Um… Th-the pack’s on my back, so the water is totally warm…” “Ha-ha, so you do say stuff like ‘totally.’” “Huh? Oh, uh, I guess…” “It’s totally fine! Cold water’s not good for your stomach anyway.” Minoru had no counter for that. “O-okay, then… Here.” Once Minoru pulled the tube out from his collar as far as it would go, Tomomi accepted it without hesitation, bringing it to her lips and taking a drink. Minoru’s powerfully negative instincts warned him that Tomomi would probably shout “It’s waaarm!” or “Grooooss!” and spit it out, but nothing of the sort happened. In fact, she gulped down a good 70 percent of the remaining three hundred milliliters left in the pack before letting out a satisfied sigh. “Ahh, that’s much better! Thank you sooo much, Utsugi.” “D-don’t mention it…” “I’m impressed, actually! Usually water in a hydro-pack ends up tasting like plastic, but that wasn’t bad at all.” “R-really…” That was because the built-in hydration pack developed by the SFD used a high-tech, tough-to-pronounce material called polyphenylene sulfide instead of regular polyethylene, but he couldn’t explain that to Tomomi. “…Apparently, if you put baking soda in there for a while before using it, the plastic smell will go away.” Tomomi’s eyes widened at this knowledge, which was a bit of trivia Minoru had overheard somewhere. “Wow, I didn’t know that! I’ll have to try it out when I get home!” “I think it was about five percent…” …Now that was yet another lie. Of course, it was the SFD that troubled him, not the random trivia about baking soda; but in the past few weeks, Minoru had become painfully aware that lying by omission was a form of dishonesty, too. He and Tomomi had been in the same class in the second year of junior high, but at the time, they hardly ever spoke. After that, they wound up attending the same high school and started chatting regularly after running into each other on the bank of the Arakawa River…or at least, that was what Tomomi thought. But a major event was missing from that version of events. If the Ruby Eye Biter hadn’t attacked, Minoru and Tomomi probably wouldn’t have gotten this close. Most likely, Minoru would have been seized by his usual fear of remaining in people’s memories and tried to distance himself from her. The main reason that he didn’t do that was guilt over the fact that he alone knew Tomomi was missing important memories. Even he understood that it would be terrible to reject her when she asked him to be friends after forgetting so much. But as they became better friends, the number of lies increased every time he spoke with her. If only the government would formally announce the existence of Third Eyes—revealing the Ruby Eyes who attacked humans and the Jet Eyes who fought against them. Then he could just tell Tomomi and Norie everything, letting him ease his conscience. But though he might think that from time to time, Minoru knew he couldn’t really handle having the people around him know that he was a member of a “righteous organization that fights evil.” In the end, all he could do was continue hiding for as long as possible. As these thoughts churned in his mind, Tomomi took the valve again and drained the rest of the water. “Ah, sorry, Utsugi! I drank it all…” “Wha…? Oh, um, it’s okay. I already had some earlier.” “Eh-heh-heh…thanks.” Tomomi handed the tube back to him, and it snapped into place as the tiny magnet on the valve connected with the metal plate built into his collar. Glancing around, Minoru realized that it was starting to get brighter out. Tomomi squinted toward the east into the dazzling glare of the morning sun. “Our first year of high school will be over soon…” After her abrupt murmur, Minoru tilted his head. “Isn’t it a little early for that? We still have three months left.” “Three months’ll go by in no time! I mean, I still feel like our entrance ceremony was just a few days ago!” “Th-that’s something…” It feels like it’s been ages to me, Minoru was about to say, but then he shut his mouth. Come to think of it, it did feel like the four months since the Third Eye had entered his body—especially starting from the encounter with Biter—had been so hectic that they’d passed by ten times faster. Maybe I’ll ask the Professor why our perception of time changes like that…, Minoru thought as he opened his mouth again. “Well, should we head back so we don’t waste any time, then?” Tomomi blinked and responded in a strangely flustered tone. “N-no, um, I didn’t mean it like that…” “Huh…? Like what?” “Uh…n-nothing, never mind! C’mon, let’s go!” Spinning her arms in circles, Tomomi started running north on the bank without waiting for Minoru’s reply. Hurrying after her small silhouette, Minoru caught up alongside her. Glancing over at him, Tomomi raised her pace. Thirteen kilometers per hour…as the pride of the girls’ track team, Tomomi was certainly able to attain speeds that Minoru might not have been able to keep up with before, but now he didn’t even feel any shortness of breath. However, looking too composed would seem unnatural, so he tried to breathe a little more heavily. Feeling a fresh wave of guilt for adding yet another layer of deception, Minoru tried to cover it by speaking to her between breaths. “By the way…which distance is your main specialty, Minowa?” “The three-kilometer run since we started high school.” “Wow…and what’s the winning time for the inter-high championship…?” “It’s been around nine minutes recently.” “Nine minutes…which means…” After a brief period of mental math, Minoru gave a little shout of surprise. “Over twenty kilometers per hour?! You have to run that fast for three kilometers?!” Tomomi laughed wryly, as if to imply that it was a little late to ask this now. “Well, yeah. I mean, for the Olympic men’s marathon, they have to run around that speed for forty-two kilometers!” “R-really…” Nodding absently, Minoru turned his attention toward the sphere embedded in his breastbone. He hadn’t seriously measured his time since gaining the Third Eye, but he doubted he could finish a full marathon at a speed of twenty kilometers per hour even now. So as far as raw physical abilities were concerned, the Third Eye still didn’t necessarily make its host into a superhuman that exceeded normal limits. Now that he thought about it, if Third Eye hosts all became as physically strong as Olympic gold medalists, surely the government would try to use that somehow. At the very least, they’d probably want to administer a physical fitness test. Since that wasn’t happening, clearly the government also knew that Third Eye users wouldn’t automatically win in a competition against true Olympic athletes. Feeling just a little bit better, Minoru took a deep breath of the cold midwinter air. Then, as if she were aiming for this moment of vulnerability— From his left side, there came a completely unexpected question. “Hey, Utsugi. Do you want to stop by my place?” “Oh, sure… Wait, what?!” After nodding automatically, Minoru jumped several centimeters in the air. Once he managed to land without falling, he peered at Tomomi’s face from a strange angle. Since she was looking straight ahead and breathing in an orthodox 2:2 rhythm, it was impossible to tell what she was thinking. Her cheeks and ears were a little bit red, but that was probably just because of the near-freezing air. As Minoru struggled to respond, Tomomi spoke again without taking her eyes off the road ahead. “Our extended family in the boonies sends us homemade mochi every year for New Year’s, but we never manage to finish them. So I thought it might be nice if you could help us out a little?” “I…see…” Maybe it was his imagination, but she seemed to be speaking a little faster than usual. Minoru thought hard about how he could refuse. That’s right… He had no choice but to refuse. Suddenly going over to her house and eating her family’s rice cakes would be way out of line. He’d probably have to meet Tomomi’s family, too, and he had zero faith in his own ability to handle a situation that would undoubtedly put him into so many memories. Besides, he was supposed to go and visit Suu Komura today. He couldn’t be off enjoying himself at a friend’s house…especially a girl’s…while a fellow SFD member who saved his life was still fighting for her own in the ICU. Figuring it was best to use a harmless excuse like “my family is making breakfast for me,” Minoru drew a breath to speak. Then he finally noticed how tightly Tomomi’s hands were clenched as they rhythmically swung back and forth at her sides. Tomomi Minowa wasn’t the kind of person who was naturally social, either. At least in middle school, he remembered that she’d been rather isolated, whether of her own accord or because the other girls kept their distance from her. So for Tomomi to invite a boy from a different class to her home, even if they were jogging buddies, probably took more courage than Minoru could imagine. If he refused right away, she would certainly regret inviting him in the first place. Then she would only remember this interaction as a bitter, painful disappointment. Tomomi already had her memories of Biter erased. Minoru didn’t want to cause her any more pain. …Even if that might just be his own ego talking again. With that in mind, Minoru took another breath, checked the watch on his wrist, and spoke. “It’s still pretty early… Won’t it bother your family if you have someone over?” Right away, a smile brightened Tomomi’s face, and she turned her head and upper body to face Minoru. “No, it’s totally fine! My whole family is made of early birds.” “Really…? Then I guess I’ll take you up, if that’s all right…” “Eh-heh-heh, make sure to eat a lot!” Minowa bumped Minoru’s left shoulder playfully with her still-clenched right hand, then quickened her pace even more. After running for a while, the two approached a silver U-shaped car barrier. The Hanekura Bridge bumper—a place where Tomomi said that whenever I go past there, I find my feet stopping and my chest tightens. Even with her memories erased, the fear she felt when the Biter attacked her had left its mark on her heart. But this morning, Tomomi was able to pass right by the traffic barrier without even slowing down, as if she hadn’t even noticed she was passing it. Following her past the fateful spot, Minoru hoped with all his heart that those terrifying memories would soon be gone completely from her mind. After they crossed Hanekura Bridge and left the bank of the Arakawa River behind, the two headed north up prefectural road No. 57. Of course, Minoru didn’t know where Tomomi Minowa’s home was, but it presumably wasn’t far away since they had been in the same middle school. As he thought about this, he followed Tomomi to a point where the road turned east, across the Kamogawa River into a residential area. Drawing a straight line from there to Minoru’s house probably wouldn’t even take a third of a mile. Tomomi stopped in front of a still new, single-family house with white-tiled outer walls and smiled. “This is my house.” “Wow… What a nice home. My house probably isn’t more than a ten-minute walk from here, actually.” At his casual reply, Tomomi brought her face near his. “Really? Where’s your house, Utsugi?” “Well, um… Along the road we were just on, Route 57, there’s a traditional sweets maker… Do you know where I mean? It’s not far from there…” “Whaaat? I go there all the time to buy fresh-baked castella cake!” Tomomi came even closer with her eyes wide, so Minoru leaned his upper body away as he nodded. “Y-yeah, those are really good…fluffy…” “Right?!” With a big smile, Tomomi finally stepped away. Puffing out a long breath, she held her stomach with both hands. “Ah, geez, just thinking about it is making me hungry… C’mon, Utsugi, let’s go eat that mochi!” With that, Tomomi headed toward the entrance, but Minoru hesitated. “Um, Minowa, are you sure it’s all right for me to come over unannounced like this…?” “I told you, it’s fine!” “But I mean… I’m probably smelly from all that running…” “Hmm?” Tomomi quickly came up to him again and sniffed the air. “Nah, you’re fine. But if you’re that worried about it, you wanna use our shower?” “N-no, thanks, it’s not that big of a deal!” Minoru shook his head wildly, while Tomomi giggled as she hopped onto the tiled porch. Minoru followed after her, resigned. Ten minutes later… How on earth did things end up like this…? Sitting stiffly on the floor, Minoru pondered this as his fingers moved busily. Grasped firmly in his hands was the controller of the latest gaming console. The TV in front of him displayed a soccer game. Next to him, an elementary school boy shouted enthusiastically. And curled up on his lap was a gray tabby cat. “Raaah, Inazuma shoooots!” The boy shrieked as one of the players on the screen attempted a middle shot. However, Minoru’s goalie jumped into the ball’s path and knocked it away. “Nooo! How’d you get that?! You’re good!” “Th-thanks…” Minoru cleared the loose ball as he responded. The screen scrolled away quickly. Minoru wasn’t very good at games and hadn’t actually played this kind much at all. Since moving in with Norie, his life had little to do with video games or mobile games, and he never really went over to friends’ houses to play them, either. He had a faint memory of playing on a retro game machine with his older sister Wakaba before the incident, but he didn’t remember the title. The fact that he was still able to play the current-generation soccer game with all its complicated controls was probably—no, it was most definitely—because of the Third Eye. Because of his experience fighting Ruby Eyes when every second counted, he was able to concentrate so intently that time seemed to slow down for him. But because of the adenosine nonaphosphate that Professor Riri Isa had told him about, he couldn’t just be happy that his reflexes had improved. After all, it was entirely possible that the Third Eye was synthesizing some strange chemical substance in his body that was having an effect on his brain functions. As he thought about all this, Minoru’s fingers almost moved automatically to manipulate the buttons and joysticks, guiding the athlete marked with a green cursor toward the opposing team’s goal. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, his right thumb, index, and middle finger were mostly unharmed, so he had no trouble using the controller. He dribbled and passed his way through four enemy players and took a shot at the goal. Grazing the hand of the goalie as he stretched his arm out to its limits, the ball slammed firmly into the upper left corner of the goal net. “Gaaaah, you got meeee!” Shouting dramatically, the boy flopped backward onto the floor, controller still in his hand. Then he turned toward Minoru bitterly. “Was that really your first time playing this game, Minoru?” Feeling a little embarrassed at being addressed so casually by a boy he’d just met, Minoru nodded. “Y-yeah. But I read the instructions before we started.” “Who are you supposed to be, Amuro?” …Who’s that? Minoru stared at the boy blankly and was greeted with an astonished expression, but before the child could explain, someone shouted from the dining room. “Hey! Sou! You’re supposed to only call him by his last name, Utsugi!” Minoru turned to see Tomomi, who was in the middle of preparing food, waving her chopsticks threateningly. Her bespectacled mother, who was standing by her side, immediately pulled on the sleeve of her jersey. “Dear, don’t wave the chopsticks around like that!” “But Sou was…” “Just bring me a serving plate from the kitchen.” “All riiight.” Sitting nearby the mother and daughter pair and reading the newspaper was Tomomi’s father, who also wore glasses. Since he had come over to their house without any notice, Minoru wanted to at least help with the food; but Tomomi’s younger brother Souta, a fifth grader, dragged him over to play video games, and now he was rooted in place because of the cat that had curled up on his lap. Grinning smugly as his older sister got a scolding, Souta sat up and resumed the soccer game. “All right, Minoru, I’m gonna get you back this time…” Immediately, though, his mother’s voice cut in. “Sou, we’re about to eat, so don’t start another game!” Minoru expected another quarrel, but Souta was surprisingly quick to yield, turning off the console with a reluctant “all riiight.” When Souta stood up, the tabby on Minoru’s knees also deigned to return to the floor after a nice long stretch. Minoru stood as well, following the boy into the dining room. The Minowa family seemed to consist of Tomomi, her younger brother, and her parents, but there were five chairs set up at the table. Noticing Minoru’s presence, Tomomi gestured to the seat next to her father. “You can sit there, Utsugi.” What is Mr. Minowa going to think of his daughter’s male friend suddenly showing up at their house on the third day of the national New Year’s holiday…? Minoru was anxious, but he obediently sat where he was told. He felt awkward wearing his Windbreaker at the table, but all he had underneath was a tight-fitting undershirt, so he couldn’t remove it. Though he’d already done so when he first introduced himself, Minoru felt he should apologize again for intruding on the family’s time together. But before he could open his mouth, Tomomi spoke instead. “How many mochi do you want in your New Year’s soup, Utsugi?” “Oh…um…t-two, please…” Minoru was flustered about receiving food before the family patriarch but apparently, that order had already been decided. “Papa’s having two as well! What about you, Sou?” “Three!” Souta replied cheerfully. Tomomi nodded and returned to the kitchen. After a few minutes, she returned with a tray carrying a set of five genuine lacquerware bowls full of traditional New Year’s soup. The soup she placed in front of Minoru was just as genuine as the bowl containing it. There were two mochi seared on the bottom, as well as grilled chicken, mustard spinach, carrots, finely sliced mushrooms, honeywort, and thin cuts of golden yuzu. Minoru did a fair amount of cooking, but he always prioritized conservation of time and effort, so he couldn’t help but voice his admiration. “Th-this looks amazing… It’s three days after New Year’s, but you still made such incredible New Year’s soup…” “Where I come from, we eat it every day for the first three days of the New Year.” Sitting at his right, Mr. Minowa responded in a calm voice. “It’s also customary to increase the amount of mochi by one each day.” Tomomi’s father put the newspaper down on the tatami mat as he spoke, causing Minoru to gulp nervously before he continued to voice his thoughts. “Wow…adding that many mochi to the soup from New Year’s Day must make the second and third days tough.” “Ha-ha, that’s exactly right. The kids get pretty sick of it when they’re stuck eating five or six of them…” Mr. Minowa gave a surprisingly cheerful laugh, and Souta, sitting at the head of the table, got caught up in the moment. “I can eat six, no problem! Sis, I want six mochi!” “No way, stupid. You’d never finish them!” “I’m not stupid! And I definitely can!” “Eat the three in front of you first!” As he watched the brother and sister’s exchange, slightly concerned that it would turn into a fight… Suddenly, Minoru realized that tears were welling up in his eyes. It took a moment before he understood why. The sight of Tomomi and Souta had stirred up deeply buried memories. If he opened the lid on them now, he would undoubtedly cry. Forcing himself to think about anything else, he casually wiped the tears away with his fingertips. Barely managing to swallow the emotions that he was feeling more and more keenly, Minoru let out a little sigh. When he looked up, he locked eyes with Tomomi, who was looking at him strangely. Fortunately, though, before Tomomi could say anything, Mrs. Minowa returned from the kitchen. She placed large plates filled with fish paste, rolled omelets, herring roe, and so on in the center of the table, then sat down across from Mr. Minowa. “Utsugi, be sure to eat lots of the other New Year’s dishes, too. Tomomi, hurry up and sit down!” “Okaaay.” Tomomi sat down in front of Minoru, and Mr. Minowa picked up his chopsticks. The family of four chorused their thanks for the food in perfect unison, with Minoru joining in a step late. Then they all picked up their soup bowls. As soon as the clear broth entered his mouth, rich flavors spread across his taste buds. Until the incident eight years ago, the Utsugi family must have eaten New Year’s soup together every year, too, but he couldn’t remember the taste anymore. Still, the flavor and warmth that washed over Minoru felt somewhat nostalgic. After the meal, Souta insisted on challenging Minoru to a rematch, so it was around half past eight by the time he left the Minowa house. Norie was probably awake at this point. He’d let her know via text that he’d already had breakfast, but she would definitely want to know exactly what happened. Minoru’s stomach was heavy with food, but he figured he’d run home anyway. Just as he raised his arms to stretch, he heard the door opening, and Tomomi’s voice rang out behind him. “Oh, Utsugi, wait a second!” Turning around, he saw Tomomi jogging toward him in sandals. She held up the plastic bag in her right hand around chest height and handed it to Minoru. “Here, eat this at home.” “Huh…?” Peering inside, he saw two plastic containers filled to bursting with New Year’s food and sliced mochi. “O-oh, no, I couldn’t possibly take all this after everything your family fed me already…” Flustered, he tried to return it, but Tomomi hid both hands behind her back. “It’s fine, it’s fine! We always make more food than we can possibly eat. Besides, I drank all the water from your hydro-pack earlier.” “Lukewarm water and homemade New Year’s food definitely aren’t on the same level…” “Ah-ha-ha, in that case…you can just treat me to something next time!” “Huh?” As Minoru stared, dumbfounded, Tomomi grinned at him and waved. “See you on the riverbank!” And with that, she disappeared back into her house. Reluctantly slinging the plastic bag over his right arm, Minoru bowed politely toward the Minowa residence, then headed west on the residential road. The Yoshimizu household was a fifteen-year-old, four-bedroom single-family house that stood on the north side of the Sakura Ward of Saitama. The precast concrete wall was a warm gray, and the roof, black. It was a fairly subdued design compared with the white outer wall and red brick of the Minowa household, but it was Norie’s father Mr. Kouhei Yoshimizu, not Norie herself, who’d chosen the colors. Mr. Yoshimizu had passed away from a brain stem hemorrhage five years ago, and Norie’s mother, Tamami, had been gone long before that, so she’d been living alone with Minoru ever since. Minoru felt guilty for burdening her so much—even before the Third Eye complicated things further—when she was only thirty-one years old, but he still couldn’t bring himself to imagine giving up his current life. Getting caught up in such thoughts again, Minoru drew a key from his small waist pouch and opened the front door. Immediately, the smell of coffee tickled his nose. Norie was indeed awake. “I’m home…” For some reason, Minoru only mumbled as he exchanged his running shoes for slippers, and the moment he entered the living room from the hallway… “Welcome back, Mii!” Norie greeted him with a bright smile, standing as if she’d been waiting for him. “Th…thanks, Norie.” Minoru couldn’t help wondering what was going on behind that smile as he returned the greeting. Getting a bad premonition, he was tempted to hightail it to his room as soon as possible, but first he had to hand over the plastic bag to Norie. “Erm…did you get my text?” “I sure did! I didn’t know that you had friends who would invite you to breakfast like that, Mii!” If it were Minoru’s fellow SFD member Yumiko Azu saying these words, the tone would have been 100 percent sarcastic, but there wasn’t a single trace of that in Norie’s cheerful smile and fluffy short hair. She was probably just genuinely happy to hear that Minoru’s social life was improving… But just as Minoru thought this, Norie’s smile became a little bit mischievous. “…So was this ‘friend’ the girl from before? Miss Komura?” “Wha—?!” His voice cracked as he quickly shook his head. “N-no, it wasn’t her! I-it’s just a friend from school.” As he responded, a tight pain gripped his chest. Norie didn’t know that Suu was seriously injured, and he couldn’t tell her. He’d even had to make up a story about injuring his right hand from a fall while running. Norie blinked for a moment, then inched closer. A sweet fragrance wafted from her petite frame, clad only in pajamas and a down jacket. “Uh-huh… So is this friend a boy? A girl?” “It’s…” Reflexively, Minoru wanted to shout, A boy! but the words caught in his throat. He was already lying to Norie about so many things. He didn’t want to add even more dishonesty on top of that. “…A girl…,” he mumbled. “Her name’s Minowa. She’s in the track-and-field club at Yoshiki…” Her face still close to Minoru’s, Norie tilted her head thoughtfully, as if she was searching her memories. “Huh…Miss Minowa? Wasn’t she your classmate in junior high school?” “I-I’m surprised you remember… I’d forgotten myself, to be honest…” “Well, her name was in the school news pretty often back then. She went to all sorts of tournaments, didn’t she?” “Yeah, she’s really fast. We’ve been running together on the Arakawa riverbank lately, and her form’s so perfect that it’s hard not to stare sometimes…” As soon as he said that, he noticed that Norie’s face was slipping back into a sly grin, so he quickly cleared his throat. “A-anyway, her family ended up giving me some mochi and stuff to take home, so…” Minoru handed the plastic bag over to Norie, who gave a little “oh my!” as she accepted it with both hands and carried it to the nearby dining table. Taking out the two plastic containers, she let slip another “oh!” “Wow, just look at all these lovely New Year’s dishes…! The mochi look delicious, too…” She looked up, her expression a little worried. “…What do you want to do? Should we…celebrate New Year’s?” “……” Minoru didn’t answer right away, instead turning his head downward slightly. The Yoshimizu household generally didn’t celebrate holidays. This extended not only to Valentine’s Day and Christmas but even their birthdays as well as New Year’s Eve and Day. The only exceptions were the visits to the graves of Minoru’s family members and Norie’s parents on the anniversaries of their deaths. The reason for this was that when Minoru first came to the house, he’d ended up crying on days like Christmas and birthdays because they reminded him of his sister and parents. After some discussion, Norie and Mr. Yoshimizu had decided not to celebrate any yearly occasions until Minoru was able to handle it without needing to shed tears. Even so, he still received presents and such, so all that had really happened was that Norie and Mr. Yoshimizu had lost the chance to celebrate events that should’ve been happy memories. Of course, now that he was sixteen, Minoru didn’t cry so easily, even if he remembered his family’s faces. Nonetheless, he had never been able to speak up and suggest that they start celebrating holidays again. The reason for this was probably that somewhere deep in his heart, he instinctively rejected change. Time always seemed to slow to a halt when he was at home, and he was afraid of what would happen if it started to move again. But sooner or later, he had to accept that some changes were inevitable. In reality, Minoru’s daily life had already been drastically altered by the Third Eye. Among those changes, there were some that he had even chosen himself. So he couldn’t try to make Norie alone stay the same forever. “……Yeah.” Minoru looked up and nodded firmly. “Let’s do it. Celebrate New Year’s. I’ll go buy the ingredients to make the soup.” This time it was Norie’s turn to gaze silently at Minoru for a moment, but finally she broke into a kind smile. “Okay, Mii…” Adjusting her posture, she bowed formally. “Happy New Year. Let’s have another good year together!”