Chapter 41

5 “Well, we’re here. Thank you for everything today.” Minoru ducked his head once he got out of the car, and the Professor raised her right hand from the passenger’s seat. “Of course. Say hello to Oli-V for me.” “Yes, me too,” Yumiko added from the driver’s seat. With that, she stepped on the accelerator pedal somewhat vigorously. When the red Alfa Romeo disappeared into the line of taillights streaming along Okubo Avenue, Minoru turned his face up. The time was still before four o’clock, but the winter sky was already tinged with red. Since all the densely packed buildings in Tokyo limited the view of the sky, it got dark there more quickly than in Saitama. The wind was colder than it had been in daytime, too, but strangely, Minoru didn’t feel it. This might have been thanks to his Third Eye, but Minoru also thought he could still feel the warmth from having Suu Komura pressed against him. “Thank goodness…” A man who looked like an office worker glanced at Minoru when he mumbled to himself, but for once, Minoru didn’t mind. If anything, all he felt was an urge to raise his fists in the air and shout for joy. When Suu woke up from her coma, she promptly underwent a thorough examination, which confirmed that there were no serious complications that would affect her body or mind. Of course, she wouldn’t be able to move around right away, so she would remain hospitalized in the ICU for a few days to be safe; but if she made good progress, she would apparently be transferred to a different hospital at the beginning of next week. It was still unknown why Suu had woken up or what had happened inside the protective shell. Apparently, Suu herself barely even remembered sending the Morse code message with her finger. Dr. Hongou, who was knowledgeable about Third Eyes, wanted to inspect Minoru, too, but the Professor quickly stepped in on his behalf. He was only able to talk with Suu Komura for five minutes after she woke up, so there was barely enough time to catch her up on the events of the last few days, and Minoru didn’t get a chance to ask what he wanted to know most—the continuation of what she had said that day: For the first time in my life, I… However, there was no need to rush. Once she was released from the ICU, Minoru would be able to go and visit her on his own. The towering chalk-white building before Minoru’s eyes now was the National Center of Advanced Health and Medicine (NCAM)—where Olivier Saito was currently admitted and the planned location of Suu Komura’s transfer. The outside walls were more of a serene, sandy yellow than pure white, but the structure of the building, with the tallest part in the center and the other sections gradually getting lower on the left and right, called to mind a Western cathedral. This hospital, the city’s most prominent national health center, was the first in Japan to conduct an examination of Third Eyes—in other words, the place where Third Eyes were discovered. According to Yumiko, there was a rumor that the subject of the examination was Chief Himi himself and that he had bartered with the government to undergo this in exchange for approval of the founding of the SFD. It was a strange story, but there was evidence to support it. NCAM’s location was Shinjuku Ward, Toyama 1-chome—just over a quarter of a mile away in a straight line from the hidden location of SFD Headquarters in the park in Toyama 3-chome. Currently, NCAM was at the forefront of Third Eye research and an important backup facility for the medical treatment of SFD members. There was a special area exclusively for Third Eye–related procedures on the eleventh floor, where the resident doctor had treated Minoru’s seriously injured right hand three days ago and outfitted him with a high-tech cast. Naturally, NCAM wasn’t the only establishment that had a connection with the SFD. Within the twenty-three wards alone, there were apparently SFD-partnered hospitals in Hiroo, Tsukiji, Komagome, Yokohama, and even Saitama. The reason Suu was brought to Hiroo instead of NCAM was that the former was more specialized in cranial nerve damage, or so Minoru was told. If it weren’t for Chief Himi, there probably wouldn’t be such an accommodating health care system in place. In fact, the SFD might not exist at all. On the other hand, the Ruby Eyes who fought against the SFD probably couldn’t hope to attain such advanced medical backup, no matter how organized they might be. How did they treat their own injuries? What had happened to the seriously injured Liquidizer and Trancer after they liquefied the ground and fled three days ago? With these thoughts on the back of his mind, Minoru took his smartphone out from his jacket’s inner pocket, checking the time. When he contacted Olivier Saito to say he wanted to pay him a visit, the response was “anytime after four,” but that was still almost ten minutes away. Figuring he could walk slowly and listen to music, Minoru pushed his phone’s earbuds into his ears. Setting the playback on shuffle, he crossed Ooku Avenue and entered the hospital grounds. Since it was January 3, still part of the national New Year’s holiday, the front entrance was closed. Instead, Minoru went around to the side entrance on the left of the building and entered using the key card they’d made for him when his right hand was being treated. The lights were down in the wide entrance hall, and there was no sign of anyone around. He peeked through the nearby after-hours reception window, but there was no one there, either. Wondering if even the hospital suspended work entirely for the New Year’s holiday, Minoru headed farther inside toward the elevator. At the very least, the 3E Committee should still have a guard stationed on the eleventh floor, and of course, Olivier Saito would be in his room. Minoru used the controls on the earphone cord to lower the volume of the music as he walked through the dimly lit hallway. Then, when he had made it about five meters down the hall, it happened. Suddenly, Minoru smelled a faint odor. Mixed in with the antiseptic smell of the hospital was something altogether different. A raw, metallic, beastly smell… The smell of a Ruby Eye. “……!!” A powerful shudder ran up his back, and the middle of his chest throbbed. It was the Third Eye’s passive reaction to the threat that Minoru hadn’t yet perceived. Reflexively gulping down air, Minoru tried to activate his protective shell. However, he was a second too late. A sharp pain toward the right side of the back of his neck made Minoru gasp. The air expelled from his lungs, preventing him from pressing the “switch” in his chest. Staggering and dropping his left knee to the floor, Minoru touched his right hand to the nape of his neck. It felt a little sticky. Blood. He’d been stabbed by something. Judging by the amount of blood, though, it wasn’t a deep wound. His major blood vessels seemed safe. The damage was negligible—he could ignore it for now. What he needed to do was locate the enemy… But this thought was blown away by a second rush of intense pain. “Agh…!” Minoru gasped out a little cry of pain, curling his body inward. The wound on his neck… No, it felt as if something inside it was being bored into by a sharp blade. Minoru instinctively felt out the identity of the pain. Some tiny thing was moving just under his skin. It was tearing through his muscles, burrowing in somewhere even deeper. Almost like a parasite. This was an attack by a Ruby Eye. If the source of the pain reached his blood vessels—the common carotid artery—it would all be over. That thought brought with it a flood of panic, but Minoru quashed it as best he could. The common carotid artery was about two centimeters below the skin. He had at least ten seconds before that thing would reach it. Whether he lived or died would depend on the next handful of moments. There was no doubt that the foreign object digging into his neck was the ability of a Ruby Eye hiding somewhere nearby. Most likely, the Ruby Eye was controlling this object from a distance. In which case, if he could interrupt the so-called seventh-force link between the Ruby Eye and the parasite-like object, the latter should stop moving. There was only one way to do this. He had to move his mouth and throat, which were stiffened with pain, so that he could breathe in air and activate his shell. Forcing his involuntarily clenched teeth to pry open, fighting to expand his blocked-up respiratory tract, Minoru managed to squeeze a little bit of air into his lungs. It wasn’t nearly as much as he normally used to activate the sensory switch of the Third Eye. But right now, it was the most he could do. Connect!! For some reason, this was the word that Minoru thought with all his might, not defend or close, as he pressed the Third Eye’s switch. His body floated upward, and the color of the floor changed. The pain in his neck eased little by little, gradually subsiding into a dull ache. The foreign object was still inside him, but it seemed to have stopped moving. However, it was probably close to his artery by now. If he moved his neck too far, it might break through a blood vessel. It was at this point that Minoru finally noticed that music was still playing in his ears. Gently, he tugged the earbuds out with his left hand, hanging them over his shoulder. Now all that was left in this silent world was the mysterious low rhythm. That and the violent pounding of Minoru’s heart. On top of that, he could hear his own shallow, rapid breathing. As long as he kept still, the foreign object shouldn’t scratch his artery. However, because of the holiday, the first floor of the hospital was completely empty. It was unlikely that anyone would come through here, and if an ordinary civilian were to enter, the hidden Ruby Eye might attack them. …No, wait. Even on a holiday, wasn’t it unnatural for the reception desk to be unmanned? And Minoru had entered the building with a key card. It was highly possible that any staff members who might have been at the reception desk had already been attacked by the Ruby Eye. He couldn’t stay at a standstill much longer. He had to neutralize the enemy before anyone else got hurt. Shifting from one knee to all fours, Minoru let the strength out of his left arm, then his right leg, collapsing on the spot. He closed his eyes, letting his entire body go limp. He was playing dead, or rather, playing unconscious. The enemy probably knew as well as he did that the Third Eye exodus would occur if its host died, so he wouldn’t be able to pass for dead. Instead, pretending to have passed out was more likely to fool the enemy—provided they didn’t notice that Minoru’s body was floating slightly above the floor. It was a chance he would have to take. The problem was that Minoru couldn’t hear any sounds outside his shell, so he had no way of knowing the enemy’s movements with his eyes closed. I’ll have to ask the Professor to find a way around this problem soon… But Minoru quickly banished this idle thought, focusing all his efforts on pretending to be unconscious. All he could count on now was his intuition—his sixth sense. It wasn’t exactly scientific, but if the Third Eye’s seventh force existed, then surely the sixth sense did as well. Forcing himself to resist the urge to crack his eyes open, Minoru waited. Try to imagine what the enemy is thinking. If I were the type of person to ambush others, I would still be trying to gauge the situation. I’d observe for a good two…no, three minutes…making sure the enemy was really unconscious before I move. So not yet…not quite yet. A little longer…just a little bit longer, and…… Minoru thought he felt the hair on the nape of his neck move. Instantly, he opened his eyes. Then he saw it. Just three meters away, there was a person crouching down to peer at Minoru’s face. The person was tall and thin, but Minoru couldn’t tell whether they were male or female, young or old. They were wearing a dark-red coat that looked like rubber, with the hood pulled down over their face, and since there was an entrance directly behind them, their face was completely dark. But one thing was clear: This was no ordinary passerby looking at the fallen Minoru with concern. It was, without a doubt, the mystery Ruby Eye who had assaulted him. Because in the unknown person’s outstretched right hand was a large needle. No well-intentioned individual would suddenly try to inject something into an unconscious person. That syringe was a symbol of malice. The enemy seemed startled that Minoru’s eyes had opened, and they stood up with a snap. Taking care to move his neck as little as possible, Minoru pushed against the floor with all his strength and stood up. If the enemy’s ability was to remotely manipulate a small but deadly weapon, then Minoru was in no danger of taking further damage as long as his shell was protecting him. And since the person wasn’t very large, a punch from Minoru’s shield-enforced fist should be enough to knock them out. As Minoru charged forward, the enemy’s left hand moved toward him. There was something strange attached to the palm of the hand, which was covered by a dark-red glove the same color as the coat. It was a metal disc, no more than two centimeters in diameter. There was a small hole in the slightly raised center. It was almost like a nozzle. As if to confirm Minoru’s intuition, something fired out of the hole. It was a very thin thread of some kind, around fifty centimeters in length. It doesn’t matter what it is! Minoru tried to ignore the thread and throw a punch. But suddenly, his legs wouldn’t move, as if they were caught in something. “……?!” Minoru tumbled helplessly to the floor. Thanks to the shell, he didn’t take any damage, but the wound in his neck throbbed painfully. Ignoring it, Minoru looked at his legs. Then he widened his eyes. Outside the shell, some kind of thin wire was wrapped around his ankles, obstructing his movement. The wire only looked to be about three millimeters thick. It seemed like it would be easy to tear, but no matter how hard he tried, even Minoru’s Third Eye–enhanced strength couldn’t budge it. The enemy had backed away considerably, with one foot through the door of the entrance, but they stopped there in a strange posture to look down at Minoru. Most likely, they were trying to decide whether to run away or attack again. Minoru still couldn’t see their face beneath the hood. At present, Minoru’s protective shell’s greatest weakness was that he couldn’t move if he was tightly restrained from outside of it. When he was buried in concrete by Liquidizer’s power or closed in liquefied iron, he physically hadn’t been able to do a thing. There was a way to remove the constraints, though: the new “burst” power he’d come up with in order to escape from the concrete. He could diffuse the protective shell explosively, blowing away whatever was restraining him. However, once he did this, he couldn’t make another shell for about three minutes. On top of that, the enemy’s deadly device was still embedded in Minoru’s neck. If he started to move again, his carotid artery would be ruptured in a matter of seconds. So, just as he thought, he wouldn’t be able to use “burst” right now. “Ngh…nnngh!” Groaning, Minoru put all his strength into trying to tear off the wire. Since the protective shell was impenetrably hard, he could do this without worrying about hurting himself. At this level of thinness, he was sure he could break even stainless steel wire. However, though the mysterious substance the enemy had launched from their palm seemed somewhat elastic, it gave no sign of breaking. Seeing that Minoru couldn’t move, the enemy slowly stepped forward again. As they approached with caution, they raised the syringe in their right hand. There was no need to fear that the syringe would penetrate his shell, but Minoru stared at it anyway, wondering what his mysterious opponent was trying to inject into him. “……!!” Then he noticed it. The piston of the syringe was fully pushed in. There was nothing inside. So that syringe was… At that moment, the enemy quickly looked up. Reflexively, Minoru also turned to look. Behind them, about eighteen meters away, one of the elevators that lined the wall was starting to open. Someone had come down. Oh no—they’ll be killed… Minoru clenched his teeth. If the enemy tried to kill an innocent person, he had to stop that no matter what, even if he had to use “burst.” Lowering the syringe, the enemy raised their left hand instead. The nozzle in the center of the palm glinted faintly in the backlight. Even knowing that no one could hear him, Minoru started to shout “Get away!” but he swallowed his words partway through. The person who leaped out of the elevator was wearing nothing but white bandages that covered his chest and pajama pants—and holding an unsheathed Japanese sword in his right hand. Minoru didn’t even need to see the loose, wavy hair and the handsome, foreign-looking face to know that it was the member of the SFD with the code name Divider: Olivier Saito. He had probably smelled the Ruby Eye from the eleventh floor. As Olivier took in the situation with a glance and dashed forward fiercely, the Ruby Eye launched something toward him from the palm of their left hand. It wasn’t the wire that was binding Minoru’s legs. It was much smaller, like a thorn only two to five centimeters long. Even with his enhanced kinetic vision, Minoru could barely follow it with his eyes, but he still realized that it must be the same weapon that was lodged in his own neck. “Don’t let it hit you!” Minoru yelled, then realized Olivier couldn’t hear him inside the shell. He started to deactivate it, accepting the risk that the object in his neck might move again, but then— The sword that had been hanging loosely from Olivier’s hand swung up from the bottom and swept to the right at a terrifying speed. Sparks burst from the edge of the blade, and immediately, a yellow light flashed on the side of the thick pillar behind Olivier to his left. Minoru couldn’t hear the sound, but it looked as though the small object had been repelled by the sword, collided with the pillar, and exploded. The explosion was miniscule, no more intense than a firecracker, but it would undoubtedly be no small matter if it happened inside a person’s body. An explosion like that near a major organ or a thick blood vessel, like the common carotid artery, would surely kill any victim, Third Eye or no. Minoru was intensely aware of the foreign object still embedded in his neck, but he forced the fear down, kicking off the floor with his still-restrained legs. The friction coefficient of the shell’s surface was normally near zero but could be focused on a specific point of contact if he was moving or grabbing something. Taking advantage of this unique characteristic, Minoru glided across the ceramic tile floor as if skating on ice. Aiming at the legs of the Ruby Eye who was trying to fire another shot from the nozzle, Minoru slammed into the person’s legs, shell and all. Apparently, the enemy had been focusing on Olivier—their reaction was a moment too late to stop Minoru from knocking them off-balance. Once the Ruby Eye was on the floor, Minoru planned to cover them with his body, giving Olivier time to close the eighteen-meter distance between them. Judging that the foreign object in his neck wouldn’t touch the carotid artery so long as he didn’t move too much, Minoru reached both hands toward his opponent, planning to simply weigh the person down instead of engaging in hand-to-hand combat. But in that instant— Just as the enemy was about to hit the floor, they aimed their left palm away from Olivier and toward the entrance. This time, it was extremely thin wire that fired from the nozzle. The wire that hit the wall near the entrance was several times longer than the one around Minoru’s legs. Immediately, the body of the enemy switched from falling to speeding away to the side. The wire, secured to the wall, was pulling the enemy’s body like a winch. The hem of the red coat beat through the air until the Ruby Eye landed in front of the entrance. The wire flew back to their left hand as they opened the door with their right and fled outside. A few seconds later, Olivier reached Minoru. He already seemed to have seen what was stopping Minoru from rising, and with a swing of his sword, he cut through the incredibly strong wire in an instant. But Olivier’s body was shaking as he turned to follow the enemy through the door. “O…Oli-V!” Calling from inside the shell, Minoru stood up. Just as Olivier collapsed to his left, Minoru caught him through the shell. Looking closer, he saw that the bandages that covered his chest, abdomen, and both shoulders were dyed a vivid red in several places. The wounds from three days ago, when he took a direct hit from the Ruby Eye Trancer’s ice bomb, had opened up again because of his vigorous movements. Olivier grimaced in pain for a few seconds in the arms of the alarmed Minoru, but then he quickly braced himself and stood up. At first, he started to head toward the entrance again, but then he stopped, probably realizing that he wouldn’t be able to catch up with the Ruby Eye now. Perhaps because he was still hospitalized, Olivier wasn’t wearing his usual blue glasses as he turned to look at Minoru. Even in this situation, and despite the fact that they were the same gender, Minoru couldn’t help but be captivated by the frustrated Olivier’s good looks for a moment. Then he noticed that the other boy was saying something, but he couldn’t hear it through the protective shell. “Um…there’s some kind of remote-controlled needle in here, so I can’t deactivate the shell.” Pointing at his neck with his cast-bound right hand, Minoru moved his arm exaggeratedly as he spoke. Furrowing his brow, Olivier put his left hand on Minoru’s right shoulder over the shell and peered at his neck. His expression turned grave at once, and he nodded, taking a small smartphone out of the pocket of his pajama pants. After a short call, Olivier ran a slim finger across the screen, then turned it toward Minoru. There was a message displayed on the screen: “The Professor is coming. Sit down for now.” Minoru started to nod, then widened his eyes. He’d assumed the Ruby Eye had escaped, but what if that had been a feint and the attacker was still hiding nearby? They might even try to attack the Professor with a needle when she arrived. Without any way to interrupt the remote-control connection, she wouldn’t be able to remove the needle quickly enough. “It’s too dangerous; the enemy could still be nearby…” Olivier seemed to understand the movements of Minoru’s lips this time. Again, he nodded and flicked the smartphone screen. “Apparently, DD just got back, so he’s coming, too. If there’s a Ruby nearby, he’ll notice for sure.” Even Minoru couldn’t argue with that statement. Denjirou Daimon, also known as Searcher, didn’t have any offensive abilities, but in exchange his detection abilities were extremely long-ranged. Minoru and the others could tell if a Ruby Eye was using their powers nearby, in the form of a beastly smell, but DD could sense them in a ninety-meter radius even if they didn’t use their abilities. So if DD was with her, there was no chance of a surprise attack… Logically, Minoru understood this, but he still felt uneasy. This Ruby Eye could fire small needles or elastic wire from the palm of their hand and manipulate them at will. There was no telling how the mechanism worked, but it could be classified as a relatively simple Third Eye ability. It wasn’t quite so terrifying as Liquidizer’s ability to liquefy anything or Igniter’s ability to manipulate oxygen. But there was something about that which made the red-coated Ruby Eye all the more sinister. This ability was quiet and inconspicuous, like an assassin. Minoru wanted to go outside and keep watch until Professor Riri Isa and company arrived, but he forced himself to sit in a chair in the lobby and wait with Olivier, which only took about five minutes. The red Alfa Romeo pulled up in the rotary in front of the hospital, white smoke billowing from its tires as it slid to a stop, upon which Yumiko Azu burst out of the driver’s seat. Initially, she charged at the automatic door, then made a face quite unbecoming of a high school girl when she realized it wouldn’t open and used her ability to dash away to the right. Within ten seconds, the side entrance opened, and Yumiko reappeared. Next, she used her acceleration ability to close the eighteen-meter distance in an instant, skidding to a halt in front of Minoru. Grabbing his shoulders over the shell with both hands, she shouted something inaudible. Having somewhat expected this turn of events, Minoru awkwardly operated the smartphone grasped in his left hand inside the shell, holding it up to show a two-word memo to Yumiko: “i’m fine.” Yumiko, who was apparently quite a worrywart despite her usual tart attitude, relaxed her sharp features into an expression of earnest relief and finally let go of his shoulders. Then she turned to Olivier, who was sitting at Minoru’s right, and commenced a rapid conversation. The door opened again, and the Professor and DD came inside. Olivier must have told them to exercise extreme caution, as DD was gripping an automatic pistol in his right hand and staring around wildly beneath the brim of his trademark cap. At this point, Minoru finally considered how strange it was that no security guards had come onto the scene in spite of all the commotion. It was possible that Olivier had told the 3E Committee guard stationed on the eleventh floor not to come down, but there was probably a security guardroom on this floor, too. Trying to look around without moving his neck, Minoru noticed a window next to the reception desk that seemed to fit the bill. But it was completely dark inside, with no sign of any people. Minoru sat preoccupied with anxious premonitions as the Professor jogged up to him and showed him the screen of her phone: “explain the situation, please.” Minoru nodded and typed up a rather long text on his own smartphone. The small foreign object that was still in the right side of his neck, too close to a major artery for comfort. The possibility that it might start moving again if he deactivated the shell. And the fact that it might explode if it were attacked… Reading his message, the Professor nodded grimly and contacted someone on her phone. A few minutes later, two of the elevators opened at almost the exact same time, and two men wearing white coats, one guard in a black uniform, and two stretchers appeared. Prompted by a brisk hand wave, Minoru lay down on the stretcher, and Yumiko, not the staff in white coats, began to push it. The exasperated expression of the Professor vanished in an instant, and Minoru was brought back to the 3E area where his right hand had been treated just three days ago. One hour later—5:20 p.m. For the first time in some while, five SFD members gathered in a meeting space on the fifth floor of headquarters. Professor Riri Isa, Yumiko Azu, DD, Minoru, and Olivier Saito. Unfortunately, Suu Komura wasn’t physically present, but the meeting was being relayed to her hospital room via webcam. The Professor had tried to tell Olivier to stay in the hospital, since his wounds had just reopened, but he managed to get permission to leave temporarily after insisting that he’d go back immediately after. The reason he didn’t give in was simple: The bodies of one hospital staff member and one security guard had been found inside the after-hours reception desk and the security guardroom. Sitting in a chair with the help of DD, Olivier’s face was twisted with regret as he spoke. “Damn it, why didn’t I notice…? If that damn red-coat bastard was using their abilities in the same building as me, I should’ve smelled it right away.” The Professor shook her head gently at Olivier, who had thrown on a fleece parka over his pajamas. “We checked the images from the security cameras, and found that those two were attacked at ten a.m. this morning. You were sleeping under an analgesic at the time, remember? There was no way you could’ve noticed.” “…That stupid sadistic doctor said I’d heal faster if I slept…” Olivier muttered darkly, and the Professor gave a faint, bitter smile. The sadistic doctor in question was Dr. Satoru Nitamizu, who single-handedly managed the NCAM’s Third Eye research. Apparently, the man, a leading expert on neurophysiology, was also a friend of Chief Himi’s from his student days, but if Chief Himi had the air of a military man, then Dr. Nitamizu had that of an aristocrat. He had an intimidatingly elegant demeanor and refined manner of speaking, but he was also the person who made the high-tech cast on Minoru’s right hand and who had just removed the foreign object from Minoru’s neck with expert speed and precision. Minoru gently touched a hand to the protective patch affixed to his neck. “I think that’s true, though. According to Dr. Nitamizu’s analysis, when we sleep, our Third Eyes shift their focus from strengthening to healing and stuff…” “Hmm, be careful there, Mikkun. If that man takes a liking to you, no good can come of it.” “I—I don’t think he’s particularly taken a liking to me or anything…” This time, it was Yumiko who chimed in with a serious expression. “If you ask me, the way that old man looks at you is awfully suspicious.” “Y-Yumiko, you too…?” “Those eyes are saying he wants to dissect you someday, Utsugi. Don’t go with him if he invites you out to dinner or anything, all right?” “……” Minoru fell silent for a moment, remembering that Dr. Nitamizu once said, I’ll treat you to something to celebrate once your wounds heal, but he decided to forget about that for the time being and focused on the Professor, who was now standing at the front of the room. “So, Professor…what was the cause of death of the two people who passed away?” “Hmm… Yes, let’s start from there, shall we?” The Professor cleared her throat and moved her fingers across the tablet in her hand. A somewhat grainy image appeared on the two-meter monitor behind her. It showed a corner of a confined room, where a female staff member wearing a cardigan over her vest-style uniform and a male guard in a navy-blue security uniform were slumped in a heap. “The hospital staffer is Ms. Miya Yoshijima, and the security guard is Mr. Takanori Sakai. At 10:07 this morning, Mr. Sakai finished his outside patrol and was opening the side entrance when the culprit—the red-coated Ruby Eye who fought against Mikkun—killed him with a long-distance attack. As far as we can tell from the security camera image, it was a nearly instantaneous death. When Mr. Sakai fell, the culprit entered the building before the door closed and dragged the body inside. The culprit’s reason for targeting the NCAM is still unknown.” “W…wait a minute.” The voice belonged to DD, who had thus far been silent (since he was busy eating a meat bun he’d apparently bought at a convenience store). “You said the guard was killed instantly from a distance as soon as he started to enter the building, right? Without a gun, what Ruby Eye ability could possibly kill someone instantly at such a precise moment?” That doubt was quite natural. All Third Eye abilities—not just Ruby Eyes’—were based around manipulating specific molecules. The variety of molecules one could manipulate generally decreased in proportion to the range of the user. For instance, the Biter, the first Ruby Eye that Minoru fought, had the power to strengthen his mouth and teeth. The molecules he manipulated ranged from protein to metal, but that was because as a transformation-type ability user, the range of its use was almost zero. On the other hand, users like Igniter and Trancer who had a range of several meters could only manipulate very limited kinds of molecules, like oxygen or hydrogen. They were still powerful enough, but it was unlikely that they would be able to kill someone instantly from such a distance. “Hmm… Well, have a look at this.” The Professor ran a finger over the tablet, and the image on the monitor changed. What was displayed now was the side entrance of NCAM, which Minoru had passed through just an hour ago. This must be the security camera image the Professor had mentioned. Right away, a uniformed security guard entered the frame from the right side of the screen. Stopping in front of the door, he pressed the key card to the sensor with a practiced movement. Just after he pushed the door open with his right hand and took a step inside, the security guard froze. Tilting his head, he pressed his left hand to his left ear—then his body stiffened, and he fell to the ground. “…That was only three seconds after he opened the door…,” Yumiko murmured in a hoarse voice, and Minoru gulped. Slumped on the threshold of the entrance, the security guard’s body prevented the door from closing. Immediately afterward, a red silhouette appeared. It was the hooded Ruby Eye. “Bastard…,” Olivier croaked in a low voice. The murderer had a slender figure but still displayed the brute strength of a Ruby Eye, pulling the security guard inside with just one hand. The figures disappeared, the door closed without a sound, and the video ended. “…After this, the culprit used the same method to kill Ms. Yoshijima, who was at the after-hours reception desk, and hid the two bodies inside the reception area. Unfortunately, this was in the camera’s blind spot, but the criminal was most likely hiding in the same place.” Without thinking, Minoru tilted his head at this explanation. The scar on the right side of his neck throbbed, so he hurriedly straightened up while he spoke. “Um…this video took place shortly after ten a.m., right? And it was four in the evening when I went to visit Oli-V… So the criminal was hidden behind the reception window for six hours, but nobody found them?” “So it would seem.” The Professor pulled up the floor plan for the first floor of the hospital on the monitor. “The hospital was closed until today for the New Year, and visitation for patients was limited to emergencies. On top of that, the emergency outpatient area at NCAM is in a different building, and the entrance is quite far away. In other words, the first floor of this central building was nearly empty. Still, staff members did pass through the side entrance several times in the course of the six hours, but none of them seemed to notice that nobody was at the reception window. If they had noticed and looked inside, they probably would’ve been killed as well…” “…So this Ruby Eye is the type that doesn’t choose targets, like Trancer, then.” “I guess so,” Olivier spat in agreement with DD. Minoru understood what he meant by “choosing targets,” too. There were two predominant types of Ruby Eyes: those who carefully chose the targets of their killings and those who were only concerned with the method of the murder. Biter was one representative of the former type. Masquerading as the gourmet critic Hikaru Takaesu, he patterned himself after a shark and chose the victims he bit to death according to his aesthetic sense. He had attempted to kill Minoru’s friend Tomomi Minowa because she was healthy and athletic, with strong bones. On the other hand, there were Ruby Eyes like Trancer, who had caused a large-scale accident that killed seven people just six days ago: He preferred to commit his murders on rainy or snowy days but didn’t care who he killed. What DD was saying was that this “red coat” Ruby Eye was likely the same way. This made sense to Minoru, but in the back of his mind, something still weighed on him. Just as he was about to put his finger on the reason, the Professor spoke again. “It’s true that this Ruby Eye doesn’t seem to choose targets, but it’s possible that our culprit doesn’t care about the means, either.” “What do you mean? It certainly seems as though they do all their killing with their ability to me…” Without answering Yumiko out loud, the Professor operated the tablet again. The monitor changed to yet another image, this time displaying a large, unfamiliar object. “…An insect…?” Yumiko murmured, puzzled. Minoru had the same first impression. The strange item on the screen had an elongated teardrop shape. The sharp, pointed end had a glossy black luster, while the larger end was dark red. There was a spiral groove carved around from the point to the middle of the object, and the large end had sparse hairlike growths. If it wasn’t an insect, it looked like it might be some kind of seed. “Ew… I wouldn’t wanna get anywhere near those things. What are they anyway?” Finishing his meat bun, DD balled up the paper bag as he spoke, and the Professor gave a sidelong glance at Minoru before answering. “This is what was removed from Mikkun’s neck.” “Geh!” Olivier yelped on Minoru’s right, and “Whoa!” shouted DD from two chairs to the left. At the same time, both of them scooched several centimeters away from Minoru, chairs and all. However, Yumiko, in the seat at his immediate left, stayed composed and scolded the two boys. “Don’t react like elementary school children, you two. It’s already been removed from Utsugi, remember?” At this, DD and Olivier sheepishly returned their seats to normal, and Minoru managed to resist the urge to scratch his neck. On the other hand, though, he couldn’t resist the urge to test whether Yumiko’s unperturbed state was the real thing… “Ah, Yumiko, on your shoulder!” With this exclamation, Minoru reached out as if to pluck some small object from her shoulder with his left hand. “YAAAAAAH!” With a tremendous shriek, the Accelerator literally jumped out of her chair. The recoil from her kicking off the floor was clearly stronger than she anticipated, as she went up a couple of meters in the air before landing back in her seat with an audible thump. And her panic didn’t subside there. “Where, where?!” Now I’ve done it, Minoru thought as Yumiko frantically brushed her right shoulder with her hand. “U-um… I’m sorry, it was a joke…” “…What? Wait. Whaaaaat?” Raising an increasingly shrill cry, Yumiko’s right hand shot out at superhuman speed and pinched Minoru’s cheek between her thumb and index finger. Restraining her Jet Eye strength, she nevertheless put a great deal of power into her fingers as she yanked his cheek painfully, eliciting a helpless shout from Minoru. “Owowowowww!” “Listen up! Next time you pull a prank on me, I’ll do this three times as hard, got it?!” “I-I-I’m sorryyy!”