Chapter 42

Minoru apologized for dear life, but Yumiko showed no signs of letting go. As he tried to continue repeating his apology despite the tears welling up in his eyes, Minoru suddenly thought he heard someone laughing. DD and Olivier looked frightened, and the Professor seemed rather cross, so it wasn’t any of them. The source of the giggling voice seemed to be the speakers of the laptop computer on the desk nearby. A moment later, Yumiko noticed the laughter, too, and finally released Minoru’s cheek. Olivier and the others looked at the PC, too, and the laughter gradually subsided, until eventually a girl’s husky voice came through the speakers. “…Sorry, I shouldn’t have laughed. It’s just, it was just so funny.” This was unmistakably the voice of the Refractor, Suu Komura. Finally remembering that the video of the meeting was being relayed to Suu’s hospital room, he turned toward the PC in a panic. “N-no, I’m the one who should be sorry for joking around at a time like this…” “No need to apologize to me. The SFD has always been like this.” Yumiko shrugged in response to Suu’s words. “Yes, I suppose that’s true. It’s mostly DD’s fault, though.” “Huh? Why me?! No way, I’m the most serious guy in the whole shebang!” DD continued protesting until Olivier cut in. “No, I agree, it is D&D’s fault. I mean, you were eating a meat bun during half the meeting.” “Wh-what’s wrong with that? I took the Kanetsu nonstop train back here, so I didn’t get to eat lunch. Besides, if you want the organization to get serious, maybe you should quit calling me D&D for starters, Oli!” “Really? Okay, then we’ll call you Advanced Denjirou Daimon, or for short…” “Stop, that’s even worse!” The back-and-forth volley between the two made Suu collapse into giggles again. “Oh, how nice… I hope I can come back soon, too.” At that, Olivier quit grinning long enough to respond so loudly it seemed like he was trying to make his voice reach the hospital in Hiroo. “Yeah, come back soon, Hinacchi! We’ll throw you the best welcome-back party ever!” Having recovered from their physical disgust at the mysterious insect thanks to the unplanned comedy act, the group focused on the monitor again. Taking out a laser pointer, Professor Riri Isa resumed her commentary. “They’ve only just started dissecting it in NCAM, but this pointy little thing… Dr. Nitamizu has taken to calling it a ‘spinebug,’ so we’ll go with that for now… It appears to be some kind of pseudo-living creature created by the ability of the unknown Ruby Eye who attacked the hospital. It’s incredibly small, only seven millimeters long and three millimeters wide at the widest point. But being stabbed with it would probably hurt much more than a needle…is that correct, Mikkun?” Minoru winced, remembering the pain from when the spinebug stabbed his neck. “Yeah…it was more like an awl drilling into me or something.” “Drilling is probably an apt word for it. Everyone, please look at the thorn section closely.” The laser pointer’s light drew a circle around the sharp, pointed end. “This thorn has a helix-shaped spiral carved around it, just like a drill. Apparently, it’s made of iron nitride.” “And what is iron nitride…?” The Professor answered Yumiko’s question smoothly, without consulting anything. “As the name suggests, it’s iron fused with nitrogen. There are several different variations on the molecular structure, but Fe2N, which this drill is made of, is often used for surface treatment of mechanical parts. However, the rear part of the bug—the swollen portion and the hairs that grow from it—they’re made up of an unknown protein, not metal. The structure of the hair is very similar to that of the flagella possessed by some microorganisms.” “Flagella… Does that mean these things move?” The Professor nodded at Olivier’s question. “Mm-hmm. This is just speculation, but we believe that when this spinebug pierces human skin, it uses its flagella to rotate itself and burrow deeper like a drill. There was a two-centimeter scar in Mikkun’s neck where the spinebug broke through his muscle. If it had gone three millimeters farther, it would’ve reached the common carotid artery.” Although he’d more or less known that at the time, hearing it put into words brought Minoru back to the terror of that moment. Unconsciously, he touched the protective patch with his fingers again. With a glance at Minoru, Yumiko spoke from his left side. “But even if it did, that wouldn’t be the end, would it? No matter how important the blood vessel, I can’t imagine a hole of only a few millimeters could kill someone instantly like that.” “You’re right. Judging by the images on the security camera, the spinebugs’ goal isn’t to damage the blood vessels or organs with drilling.” “What happens after the bug enters the carotid artery?” Minoru had already guessed the answer. The moment when Olivier deflected the projectile fired from the red-coated Ruby Eye’s left hand had given him a frightening clue. After that, the bug that hit the pillar of the wall had… “They explode…right?” All eyes in the room turned toward Minoru. Usually, this sort of scene would make him wither immediately, but he seemed to have built up some resistance, or else the conversation before had affected him, because now he was able to continue speaking without hesitation. “I’m only guessing, but the swelled part at the back of the bug…couldn’t there be some kind of explosive substance in there? I mean, when Oli-V blocked one of the bugs earlier…” Minoru pointedly turned toward Olivier, whose eyes blinked for a moment behind his blue-framed glasses before widening in realization. “Ooh…so that was a spinebug? I thought it was some kind of firecracker or something… So that means, if I hadn’t blocked that thing, one of those insects would’ve gone into my body and…” Olivier shuddered, and Minoru nodded gravely. “That’s exactly right… Well, the explosion I saw was really only about as intense as a firecracker, but if that were inside your body—especially near your heart or your brain—I think that’d be a fatal wound even for a Jet Eye.” “Most likely. In fact, that’s exactly how Ms. Yoshijima and Mr. Sakai were killed. The spinebug entered through the ear, pierced the eardrum, and exploded inside the cochlea, fatally injuring the brain.” After the Professor spoke, DD’s voice was thick with thinly veiled anger and fear. “…So that’s why the security guard put a hand on his ear in the security video…” “Mm-hmm. It’s likely that our red coat’s standard tactic is to send a spinebug through the ear to destroy the brain.” Imagining an insect drilling into his ear, Minoru ducked his head, his ear canal feeling itchy. His freshly treated wound throbbed painfully, which brought yet another question to mind. “Wait, but…why did the spinebug enter my neck, not my ear, then…?” But even as he voiced the question, Minoru realized the answer himself. “…Oh, wait… I…I was wearing earbuds.” “Exactly. You got lucky, Mikkun.” The Professor snapped her fingers and pointed at Minoru’s right ear. “If you weren’t wearing the earbuds, the spinebug most likely would’ve entered your ear. In that case, you still could have prevented the explosion by activating your shell, but there’s a nonzero possibility that you wouldn’t have made it in time.” “More than ‘nonzero’… I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have made it. If I didn’t know what was going on, I probably would’ve just assumed a fly had buzzed into my ear or something. It would’ve startled me, but I doubt I would’ve put up my protective shell because of it.” Sitting on his left and listening, Yumiko stared intently at the spinebug on the screen. “But…it can only carry the amount of explosives that would fit into its body, right? That’s got to be ten or twenty milligrams at most… Would that really make a big enough explosion to destroy the brain?” “Excellent question. Take a look at this.” The Professor touched the tablet again, advancing the slide on the screen. This picture showed the NCAM hall where the fight against the red coat had taken place just an hour ago. In the next photo, it focused on one of the four rectangular pillars. There was a distinct burn mark on the surface in a radial shape. “…The residue left behind by the explosion here has just been analyzed. The substance is called acetone peroxide.” “What…?!” Yumiko exclaimed in surprise. “Acetone peroxide is what they call TATP, isn’t it? It’s a high-performance explosive often used by terrorists… In which case, even a tiny amount would certainly pack enough power to kill someone, but how could that stuff be inside such a tiny pseudo-creature? Does that mean…the insects were made with the ability, then manually filled with TATP?” “No, that’s highly doubtful.” The Professor shook her head, then looked at Minoru. “According to Mikkun’s explanation, the Ruby Eye—let’s call them Red Coat—shot the spinebugs from their left palm, right?” “Right…” Minoru nodded and tried to explain the strange object that had been attached to Red Coat’s palm. “The Ruby Eye was wearing gloves, but in the middle of the left one, there was something that looked like a smooth metal nozzle attached… The insects shot out of that. I think maybe the materials were stored in the gloves, and that fired at the same time as the insects were made. It definitely didn’t seem like they were manually stuffing explosives into every single bug.” “Hmm…” The Professor nodded shortly, then folded her arms. Her white lab coat fluttered as she paced back and forth in front of the screen. “…The constituent elements of the spinebug are iron nitrate for the drill portion and protein for the body… So carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus. They’re all common chemical elements, so they’d be easy to obtain, and they could probably be put into a plastic bag or something and hidden inside a glove… No, wait. The chemical formula of TATP is C9H18O6, so that’s still only carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. So it could easily be generated from the same materials as the bug…” As the Professor muttered to herself rapidly, DD raised his hand conscientiously for permission to speak. “Um, ’scuse me, Professor…” “Go ahead, DD.” “So this Red Coat fella’s ability is to, uh…make little murder bugs full of explosives out of iron, nitrogen, protein, and stuff, right? But Mikkun said the Ruby was controlling the bugs after they were made and fired, didn’t he?” Feeling eyes on him, Minoru nodded firmly. “Yeah. It definitely felt like the spinebug in my neck was moving according to the Ruby Eye’s will. And it stopped moving once I activated my shell… If it was really perfectly autonomous, it would’ve kept moving.” “Hmm, no objections so far. And?” Urged on by the Professor, DD gestured vigorously as he spoke. “So, uh…that means that Red Coat can control bugs made of at least six different elements from a distance. But doesn’t that go against the rule that the range of molecules a Third Eye ability can manipulate decreases as the range gets longer?” “Ooh, that’s pretty sharp for you, D&D. Maybe I really should start calling you AD&D…” “I told you to cut that out!” The argument that was about to break out between the chair on the far left of the line and the one on the right was interrupted by Suu’s voice coming from the PC. “I thought so, too.” The room quickly fell silent, and Suu’s wispy voice echoed through it quietly. “If this person could freely manipulate a protein insect inside a person’s body, they wouldn’t need to make the insects at all. They could just use the same proteins in the person’s own body to attack the blood vessels of the heart or brain to kill them.” This frightful concept expressed in Suu’s innocent voice gave even the Professor pause along with the others. A few seconds later, the Professor unfolded her arms and spoke in an uncharacteristically strained voice. “That’s certainly true… With one exception, all the Third Eye abilities we know of are based on manipulating either molecular motion or molecular bonds through a mysterious means that we call the seventh force. If this person could continue manipulating these insects made of protein inside another human body, it would only make sense if they could do the same with the very proteins that make up the human body itself.” “Um…what is the ‘one exception’?” The Professor, Yumiko, DD, and Olivier all raised their eyebrows at Minoru’s question. “Oh…erm…” “Isn’t it obvious, Utsugi? She’s talking about you.” “Ah…” Yumiko’s words prompted a memory in Minoru’s mind. Now that she mentioned it, he felt as if the Professor had told him something similar before. Professor Riri Isa chuckled, puttering over toward Minoru in her slippers. “Yes, of course it’s you, Mikkun. Your protective shell isn’t a substance or a force field. And as of today, there’s yet another mystery about it…” “A-another…? Oh…” Minoru trailed off, realizing what she meant. Most likely, the Professor was referring to the incident in which the protective shell restored Suu Komura’s consciousness. In that moment, Minoru did feel as if some kind of presence had made contact with the two of them from inside the shell. But thinking back on it now, he thought it might’ve just been a hallucination brought on by his desperate plea to his deceased sister Wakaba. Suu had already been recovered enough to send a Morse code message with her finger, after all. Even if Minoru hadn’t brought her inside his shell, she might very well have woken up at the same time… As if detecting Minoru’s train of thought, the Professor smiled knowingly. “There’s no point in denying it now, Mikkun. Hinako said she felt something inside the shell, too.” “Wait…really?” “Once she’s discharged, I’d like to interview the both of you. But right now, we should be focusing on Red Coat’s ability…” Her smile fading, the Professor turned away and walked back to the monitor. Feeling someone’s gaze on the left side of his face, Minoru turned to look. Yumiko’s eyes met his for just an instant, but she immediately turned back toward the front, so he couldn’t tell what she’d been thinking. “Just as DD said, this Ruby Eye’s power contradicts a fundamental principle of Third Eye abilities…or so it would seem.” Since the Professor had started talking again, Minoru tried to concentrate on her words. “But in the end, that principle is only based on our experience. All it really means is that the abilities of the Third Eye holders within the scope of our knowledge seemed to follow that pattern. If some parameter of the host, or perhaps the Third Eye itself, were particularly high, it may be possible to break that rule. But for now, we have to assume that there’s still some restriction that prevents this Ruby Eye from manipulating the bodies of others, even though their ability can control the insects they create from a distance.” “Okay, sure, but…” Olivier looked down at his right hand as if remembering something. “It’s dangerous to underestimate a Ruby’s ability, y’know? We’ve already paid the price for that against both Igniter and Trancer.” “Yes…you’re right, of course. From now on, we’ll upgrade our assessment of Red Coat’s ability and assume that control of our bodies isn’t necessarily outside its scope. But as of now, based on what we’ve seen with the attacks on Mikkun and the hospital staff, it seems as if the spinebugs are the only…well, one of the only means of attacking anyway. There is actually one other kind of insect…” The Professor tapped on the tablet, displaying a new picture on the monitor. The image showed what looked like string coiled on a glossy ceramic tile floor. Minoru quickly realized what it was. “Ah, that’s…the wire that was used to tie up my legs and pull the Ruby Eye around. It’s…it’s an insect, too?” “So it would seem, although its structure is simpler than the spinebugs’. It’s made up of strands of an incredibly fine, 0.1 denier high-polymer fiber, twisted together to form a wire rope three millimeters thick. Dr. Nitamizu said it would be virtually impossible to cut without a specialized tool or some kind of ability. He’s analyzing the molecular composition of the polymer as we speak.” “Denier…?” Minoru mumbled, quietly repeating an unfamiliar word from the Professor’s explanation. Tugging on the fabric of her black tights, Yumiko responded. “It’s a unit representing the thickness of a thread or string. The thread used for these tights is sixty deniers thick, so 0.1 denier would be mind-bogglingly thin.” “I—I see…” Realizing that he’d reflexively been staring at Yumiko’s tights, Minoru hurriedly looked away. The Professor grinned at this. “Goodness, you’re really going the extra mile, Yukko. I read somewhere that eighty denier is the standard for girls in winter.” “I-I’m not doing anything extra! I’m just a little more immune to the cold because of the Third Eye, that’s all!” “I see. Pardon me, then. Anyway, back to the matter at hand… This wire, which Red Coat created, has a structure very similar to human muscle fibers at its center, which can expand and contract freely. In other words, this is another pseudo-living creature. The doctor is calling it ‘wireworm.’ So to sum it up… Red Coat’s Ruby Eye ability as we know it so far consists of firing two types of artificial insects from the left hand and controlling them: spinebugs, which explode, and wireworms, which are used for movement and restraints. Both seem to be designed solely for efficiently killing or capturing people in mind.” DD gave a little “hmm,” lost in thought about the Professor’s explanation. “So…this person’s not concerned about the method of killing, either…” “That’s right. Most likely, Red Coat doesn’t particularly care about whether the insects come into play. If they had a handgun with a suppressor, they would probably use it without hesitation. Like a venomous insect… And so!” The Professor manipulated the tablet again, then slapped a hand against the large monitor. “For now, let’s call this Ruby Eye—Identified Ruby Eye Host No. 30—by the temporary code name Stinger!” Minoru stared intently at the security camera image on the screen. The Ruby Eye in the red coat, standing in the darkness of the entrance hall, leaning forward slightly. Most likely, this was from the moment the murderer leaned down to look at Minoru. Due to the high position of the camera, the face was still hidden under the hood, and even the right half of the Ruby Eye’s body couldn’t be seen. As he looked at the image, Minoru felt the memories of the battle prickling in his mind. Again, he had the feeling that he was forgetting something. Minoru bit his lip. However, before he could come up with the source of the feeling, Olivier shouted something on his right. “Stinger, huh? Finally, a new face! C’mon, D&D, let’s go on patrol tonight!” Immediately, DD and the Professor shouted in response. “Idiot! You’re so bandaged up, you’re practically a mummy!” “He’s right, you fool! Get yourself back to the hospital now!” “…Geez, can’t a guy be a little pumped without getting yelled at…?” Minoru smiled wryly, trying to console Olivier, who was sulking childishly and fidgeting with his glasses. “Oli-V, you already did plenty of fighting at the hospital. Thank you again for your help… Now, please go rest so your wounds can heal, and leave the rest to us.” “Ah, Mikkun…you’re the only nice person around here…” With his exaggerated lament, Olivier reached out his right hand and clapped Minoru’s shoulder lightly. “But for real, I’m counting on you, Mikkun. As of right now, you’re the only person who we know for sure can defend against that creep’s insect attacks.” Minoru put his left hand over Olivier’s—the same hand that had punched Minoru in the past—and nodded resolutely. “Got it. We’ll definitely catch him next time.” Yumiko and DD nodded in agreement with his declaration. Even Suu’s quiet voice chimed in through the laptop on the table. “I’ll be back soon, too, so please wait just a little longer.” It was an uncharacteristically decisive statement for Suu. Yumiko nodded. “Yes, please do come back quickly, Komura. You’re the SFD’s best forward.” For that moment, Minoru felt as though all five of them, including the absent Suu, were united by the same feelings. Then a tinny, upbeat ringtone loudly filled the air. “Whoops, sorry,” the Professor apologized, reaching into the pocket of her lab coat. She put the phone to her ear briskly. “Yes, this is Isa.” After a brief moment, the Professor’s face froze, and a tremble ran through her tiny frame. “Understood. I’ll be waiting for the follow-up report.” Hanging up the phone, the Professor turned toward the other four, who were staring at her uncertainly, and moved her lips soundlessly as if searching for the right words. When she finally spoke, her voice shook tremulously. “…That was a report from Dr. Nitamizu. They’ve finished the autopsy of the six Special Task Squad agents who were killed at the Syndicate base.” As soon as he heard that, Minoru’s blood ran cold, and he breathed in sharply. “…All six people had holes in the eardrums of their left or right ears, and their inner ears and brain stems were destroyed from the inside. And when they double-checked the helmets from their combat suits, they found tiny holes in the ventilation slit filters.”