Chapter 43

6 “Er…thank you for dinner and everything.” Getting out of the car, Ryuu Mikawa ducked his head to face Liquidizer, who leaned toward him from the Swift’s driver’s seat. “Yes, I quite enjoyed it myself. I believe it’s fairly likely that you’ll be called in for that memory check soon enough, so do let me know if you hear anything.” “Sure. I appreciate your help with that.” “Not at all. Well, au revoir.” Liquidizer waved her left hand lightly before grasping the shift lever. Mikawa took a step back, and the white Swift took off smoothly, slipping in among the traffic along Kannana Road. After treating him to okonomiyaki in Odaiba, Liquidizer had ended up insisting on driving him back to Ota Ward. Mikawa was now standing in front of the Keikyu Heiwajima Station, just ten minutes’ walk north from the apartment where he lived alone. Technically, Oomorimachi would’ve been closer, but just in case—Ruby Eyes were nothing if not precautious—he decided against having her bring him to the closest station. Of course, since Liquidizer had already tracked Mikawa down to the cold-storage warehouse in Ooi Futo, the place he most wanted to keep secret, this was probably a meaningless effort. If anything, she had probably long since figured out where he lived by now. However, even if that were the case, he wanted to at least demonstrate that he wasn’t willing to reveal his location so easily. Liquidizer was his benefactor, his former teacher, and had even treated him to okonomiyaki, but in the end, they were still both murderous Ruby Eyes. Members of the Syndicate were forbidden from fighting among themselves, but nevertheless, there was no telling when they might end up trying to kill one another. If nothing else, he was fairly certain that Liquidizer would kill him without hesitation if she deemed it necessary, and Mikawa himself had a certain line that he would let no one cross, too. If anybody tried to disrupt OO’s sleep in the pillar of ice inside that cold-storage warehouse, he would have to kill them, no matter who it might be. ……That’s right. Kill. A voice seemed to whisper from just behind Mikawa’s head. His instinct was to turn and look behind him, but he didn’t bother. There was no one there. This was the voice of the parasitic Third Eye inside of Mikawa. Or more accurately, it was his brain translating the murderous impulses brought on by the Third Eye into a voice. It was only six days ago that Mikawa killed seven people in the major accident at the Akasaka crossing. So he would still be able to ignore the voice for a while longer. But after ten days or so, the voice would become increasingly vexing. And after twelve days, he would feel an overwhelming thirst, like his insides were turning to sand…and then he would kill again. It didn’t matter who. He just had to unleash the power building within him, turning muddy water to pristine ice and extinguishing the flame of life. It was no lie when he told his former teacher that he wanted to see the entire planet frozen over—Snowball Earth. If the entire world were to be covered in pure-white ice and everything ceased to move, he imagined it would be calm beyond words. But at the same time, he couldn’t help but wonder. Was this longing truly his own…or was it a fake feeling, planted by the Third Eye to motivate him to kill? Tugging the zipper of his jacket up to his neck, Mikawa shoved both hands into his pockets as he walked along the path below the elevated railway, his thoughts spinning out of his control. What if… What if it had been a black Third Eye that entered Mikawa’s body instead of a red one? Would he be striving against the Ruby Eyes as one of the black hunters…the “SFD”? Standing side by side with the likes of Divider, Accelerator, and that ashen-haired Isolator…? “…No, of course not.” Mikawa snorted bitterly. Before the Third Eyes, he had already killed one person…or at least, suspended their life-sustaining activities. On that day six years ago, Mikawa was the one who invited OO along. At that time, Mikawa and OO were both victims of abuse, the former from his mother and the latter from her father. But while Mikawa’s mother had abandoned all pretense of taking care of him, OO ’s abuse was sexual in nature, and her mother was either unaware or ignoring the situation completely. After OO confided in him, Mikawa sent several anonymous e-mails to the child services center about it. But when the center finally conducted an investigation, because OO’s father had a good reputation and a well-respected occupation, it was perfunctory at best and ended quickly. And so, Mikawa and OO decided to escape to the future. As a cold rain fell, they once again entered the frigid warehouse. This time, they had no plans of running away, no matter how cold it got. Cold sleep. Mikawa had read about it in a book, and the two of them intended to carry it out. When they next woke up, they would be in a far-off future, in an ideal society where no adult would ever mistreat a child… They truly believed that. Why was only Mikawa found right away and not OO? He still didn’t understand how it had happened. When he woke up, Mikawa was in the break room of the storage warehouse, where he was wrapped in a warm blanket and given a cup of hot cocoa. The staff, perhaps afraid of getting the police involved, let him off with a light scolding of “Don’t sneak into places again!” and so Mikawa gave up and went home. Naturally, OO’s disappearance became a massive incident, with the mass media paying frequent visits to their school. Since Mikawa was close with OO, her parents—her father was sobbing, his eyes red—and the police all questioned him up and down, but he simply stated each time that he didn’t know anything. Mikawa had failed, but OO would go on to the future and find happiness there. A year passed, then two, and the investigation faded into obscurity, but Mikawa still believed that. It was three years later that he finally learned that humans can’t enter cold sleep just by being frozen. Water increases in volume as it freezes. Due to this obvious phenomenon, the cells in a human being’s body would be destroyed in the process, and even if thawed, they would never wake again. In the present, deep down, Mikawa already knew the truth. OO wasn’t sleeping in that pillar of ice in the warehouse…she had died the moment her body froze over. However, her death would truly be final if that ice were to melt. It had to stay frozen forever. If the entire earth were to freeze, not just the warehouse, and an eternal ice age spread stillness over the planet… Couldn’t OO stay on the threshold between life and death forever…? Truly, it was fate that gave Mikawa a red Third Eye and not a black one. If he’d been a Jet Eye, he would never have joined the Syndicate or learned of their plan for human extinction. He was still a lowly member and didn’t know the full story behind the organization or where its headquarters were located, but he would carry out his duties, rise through the ranks, and someday become an executive. Then he would induce the Syndicate to adopt Snowball Earth as the means for its human extinction plan. To do that, he would use Liquidizer or even betray her if the need arose. Yet despite all that determination, he felt the fervor inside him growing dimmer. It was only because the heat at the okonomiyaki room was too high. With that decided, Mikawa quickened his pace. Above his head, the high-speed train passed on the rails with a roar. It was six o’clock on the dot when the meeting at SFD Headquarters ended. The night had already grown pitch-dark outside the windows that lined the south wall of the room, and the glow of lights from Shinjuku twinkled beyond the trees in Toyama Park. He had already told Norie that he was “visiting an injured friend,” so he was probably still good on time. If he left now, he would be home by seven thirty. With that in mind, Minoru took out his smartphone to text Norie his estimated arrival time. But before he could touch the screen, the Professor called to him from the lab area. “Sorry, Mikkun, but could I have a little more of your time?” Yumiko’s voice followed shortly thereafter. “I have business with you, too, Utsugi… Something I’d like to consult with you about, I suppose…” “Oh…s-sure…” Minoru glanced quickly at his phone before nodding. This must have conveyed his thoughts to Yumiko, who was quick to add, “I’ll take you home on my motorcycle.” “Oh…um…” If Yumiko gave him a lift on her beloved Agusta F3, it would shorten the length of his commute home significantly. But if, by chance, she was to use her acceleration ability, Minoru’s ride in the tandem seat would be ten times more terrifying than any roller coaster. Still, thinking about it, he realized this was probably the first time Yumiko had wanted his advice on anything. They’d fought together many times as a duo, too, and Minoru had the feeling that she wouldn’t appreciate it if he said he just wanted to get home and eat dinner. “Okay, then, if it’s all right with you.” Minoru ducked his head, and the Professor beckoned again. “All right, let’s get our business over with first, then. What? It won’t take long.” “Oh, um, right…” Minoru hastened over to the lab area, and the Professor pulled an incredibly bulky envelope out of a desk drawer and handed it to him. “Here, this is for December.” “Erm… Wh-what is it?” Tilting his head uncertainly, Minoru shook the contents of the unsealed envelope into his hand. Whump! Out slid a thick stack of ten thousand–yen bills, more than Minoru had ever seen in his life. There were two bundles wrapped in currency straps. In addition, he found two coins and a three-millimeter stack of banknotes with a rose seal. “Wh…wha—?!” Minoru held the stack away from himself as if it might explode, nearly throwing it onto the floor. “What…what on earth is this?!” “What do you mean? It’s your salary for December. Or your remuneration, if you want to be technical about it.” “H…huh?!” Minoru stiffened, unable to process the Professor’s words, and Yumiko spoke up calmly behind him. “Oh, I see. Utsugi’s first paycheck is in cash since he just joined in December, is it?” “Mm-hmm. Starting in January, it’ll be deposited into your own confidential bank account, so this is the only time you’ll be paid in paper money like this. Feel free to roll around in a bed of it and such.” “I…I-I-I’m not going to do that! I mean…” Minoru managed to calm himself down a little and pushed the roll of banknotes and coins back into the envelope. Then he offered it back to the Professor with both hands. “…I can’t accept this.” “Hmm? Why not?” “Because…I promised Chief Himi. I told him I didn’t need any money, just to borrow his ability once it’s all over… That was my condition for fighting with the SFD. So I don’t need this.” The Professor blinked at Minoru for a moment, then started to open her mouth. But it was Yumiko, standing next to Minoru, who spoke up first. “Are you sure that’s quite accurate?” “Um…accurate…?” “I was right there when you and Chief Himi had that conversation. And I distinctly remember you asking if there would be some kind of reward when the Ruby Eye situation is resolved.” “R…right…” “And the chief responded that when the SFD is disbanded, its members will be paid in recognition for their services. I was told the same thing, but that bonus is like a completion bonus or severance pay, completely unrelated to monthly recompense. In other words, you only relinquished your final bonus, so I believe you ought to accept your monthly salary as per the norm. I’m sure Chief Himi expects the same.” “What…? No, but…” Minoru stammered for a while before coming up with a rebuttal. “I mean, I wasn’t expecting there to be a monthly salary at all! Why would I? Especially not one as large as this!” This time it was the Professor who countered him. “No, if anything, why wouldn’t you expect a salary?” “What do you…?” “All our members, including you, Mikkun, put their lives on the line to battle Ruby Eyes. When you fought against Biter, Igniter, and Liquidizer and Trancer, you narrowly escaped death each and every time. There’s probably no occupation in modern Japan that requires people to work so closely with death as the SFD and the Self-Defense Forces’ STS. And Sanako—that is, Sanae—is in a coma after falling into a state of brain death after an attack from Igniter. Do you really think anyone should be made to volunteer without pay for such a job?!” The Professor’s sharp words left Minoru at a loss. She was probably right—at the very least, Sanae, who was still comatose in room 404, and the six elite STS agents who were killed in battle certainly deserved to be paid highly. And of course, he had no objection to Yumiko, DD, Olivier, and the others being paid for their dangerous work. But I’m not… Minoru looked at Yumiko and the Professor in turn before speaking. “…I didn’t join the SFD because I wanted to protect Japan, or save the world, or anything like that. I’m only here because of a selfish wish—to go to a world where no one knows who I am. I can’t take all this money, I don’t deserve…” Yumiko physically prevented him from finishing his sentence, namely by suddenly pressing his mouth shut with her left hand. “I beg your pardon, Utsugi. But your motivation doesn’t matter. When I first met you, I foolishly told you that as a Jet Eye, you have an obligation to keep fighting until all the Ruby Eyes are gone… But I take that back. There’s no such obligation to put your life on the line like this. And everyone has different abilities… If someone chooses not to fight, nobody has the right to judge them.” With that, Yumiko finally released Minoru’s mouth. She pressed that hand to her chest instead, casting her eyes downward as she spoke. “…It’s not as though I’m fighting for some noble cause, either. To be quite honest, I think I’m fighting for much pettier reasons… My pride, my self-worth, my reason for living after being injured and losing the ability to run. And…for Sanae. So that she’ll know that she doesn’t have to worry about me anymore. But in the end, even that’s just for my own satisfaction…” “Yumiko…” That’s not true. I’m sure Sanae understands your feelings, Minoru wanted to say. But he couldn’t do it. She knew better than anyone else that Sanae’s consciousness was gone, lost when she fell to brain death, and that she was only still breathing at the will of her Third Eye. “…But I still accept the money. And after the SFD dissolves, I’ll need it to ensure that Sanae is cared for. If it will ease your conscience, then you should find one, too…a way to use it that isn’t for yourself. There must be something you can think of.” Minoru’s breath caught in his throat. She was right, of course. The first thing that came to mind was strengthening the security at his home, and while Suu’s brother and his “observing figures” were taking care of her right now, if Minoru had money, he could help with that, too. Really, his adoptive sister Norie must have spent a great deal of money on raising Minoru for the past eight years. It made sense to save up now, even just to pay her back for that someday. Minoru slowly lowered the envelope, which he’d still been holding at an arm’s length, and Yumiko nodded with a little smile before furrowing her brow. “Besides, that money probably includes the pay for when you went into the reactor core at the Tokyo Bay Nuclear Power Plant. Isn’t that right, Professor?” “Yes, that’s about thirty percent of it.” “That seems much too small, don’t you think?! I heard the development cost for that robot, that Loser or Muser or whatever, was over five hundred million yen. He should get a ten percent finder’s fee at least—five million yen!” “Five million…?!” Minoru shook his head rapidly, but the Professor responded quite seriously. “To be precise, it’s stipulated in Article 28 of the Lost Items Act that the reward must be ‘no less than five percent and no more than twenty percent’ of the item’s value, so the max would be one hundred million yen.” “One…hundred…” “Oh, right, speaking of Muser… Ah, well, that can probably wait until next time.” Stopping just shy of saying something else, the Professor clapped her hands together vigorously, as if to say the matter was closed. “Well then, we’ll just say that Mikkun’s recompense for next month will remain the same. To be clear, we SFD members aren’t actually employees of the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare but sole proprietors of an outside business, so the amount of our pay does fluctuate based on the work done in that month. Generally, you can think of each Ruby Eye case as around five hundred thousand yen.” “Really, doesn’t that seem low? Our lives are on the line here!” Yumiko grumbled. To Minoru, who was still in high school, even five hundred thousand yen sounded like a truly outrageous amount of money. Lifting the heavy envelope to his chest, he bowed his head to the Professor. “No, no… This is more than enough. So…thank you very much.” “Of course. But don’t just save it up for someone else—if you deem it necessary, you should most certainly use it for yourself. Ideally, that money is meant to be used so that you can better prepare yourselves for your duties.” “R…right.” Minoru wondered what he could possibly use this for as he nodded, but then Yumiko interjected again. “Buy a motorcycle already. It’ll make getting around much easier.” “A motorcycle…?!” “Yes, excellent idea. It is possible to use the equipment budget to buy a vehicle if you keep it at headquarters, but if you want to keep it at home, you have to buy it with your own money, I’m afraid.” “B…but I don’t even have a license.” Minoru hurriedly cut in, getting the feeling that the two of them would get the better of him again if he let them keep discussing this without him. However, Yumiko promptly responded with some new information. “Oh, the SFD can take care of that in no time. Though, of course, I’m a highly skilled driver already.” “……Well, if I decide to buy one, I’ll be sure to ask about it, then…” Managing to escape that topic for the time being, Minoru put the envelope at the bottom of his messenger bag. Thinking that he didn’t want to walk around with nothing but that stack of money in his bag, Minoru suddenly had an idea. “Oh, right, I should bring the containers home… Excuse me a moment.” Minoru started to walk toward the kitchen area, but Yumiko suddenly accelerated forward and grabbed his shoulder at breakneck speed. “Containers? What containers?” “Oh, um…I brought mochi from home, so…” “Mochi?!” Yumiko’s face became far more serious than it had been during the conversation about money, and her tone made it sound like a cross-examination. “If there was more than one container, that means it wasn’t just prepackaged mochi slices, correct?” “Y-yeah. They were soy flour, seaweed wrapped, and cheese, I think…” “…!! Don’t tell me you and the Professor ate them for lunch?” “Well, we did, but…there should be more left, I think…” “I’ll have some.” With that curt declaration, Yumiko shot over to the kitchen, yanking Minoru along by the arm. Along the way, she paused to look at the blanketed table in front of the TV and nodded triumphantly. “I knew it! I was wondering why there was a kotatsu out here. So this must be the scene of the crime…” “Wh-what crime?! …I’ll heat the mochi up, so you can just wait here, all right…?” “Oh, really? Don’t mind if I do, then!” Minoru headed to the kitchen on the other side of the lab area, leaving Yumiko to dive gleefully under the heated table. He retrieved the three containers from the German-made refrigerator—rumor had it that DD, who enjoyed cooking, had purchased it with SFD funds—and heated up the soy flour mochi in the microwave, using the water oven to heat the other two kinds. Since there were only two of each left, he arranged them on one long bisque platter and carried it over to Yumiko along with some tea. Yumiko was already nestled snugly under the kotatsu watching the news on TV, and her face lit up like a child’s when the mochi was placed before her eyes. After agonizing over the decision of which to try first for a moment, she placed a cheese mochi onto her plate and barely uttered a quick “Thanks” before taking a huge bite. “Hot, hot…! Oh, this is excellent, though. This mochi was made with a mortar and pestle, wasn’t it?” “Y-yeah… How can you tell?” “The stretchiness and mouthfeel is quite different from pounded mochi…” Yumiko looked at him suspiciously. “Wait, aren’t you the one who brought them in, Utsugi?” “Oh yeah, but…” Minoru was about to explain that he’d gotten them from Minowa’s family, but he quickly stopped himself. Yumiko knew Tomomi Minowa from the time that the latter had almost become the Biter’s victim, of course, and had seen Minoru talking to Minowa near their school. So she would presumably recognize the name…but for some reason, Minoru had a gut feeling that he’d be better off not mentioning that part. “…I actually got it at a f-friend’s house. Apparently, they get them from family in the countryside every year, but I didn’t know that they were made with a pestle, that’s all…” “…Your voice sounds a bit unnatural right now, don’t you think?” “I—I—I don’t know what you mean. I’ll have one, too, if you don’t mind.” With that, Minoru quickly grabbed one of the seaweed-wrapped mochi and took a huge bite. Yumiko was still looking at him suspiciously, but in the end her hunger won out, and she put the rest of her cheese mochi into her mouth with her left hand even as she reached her chopsticks toward the soy flour mochi with her right. After Yumiko decimated the five mochi in a matter of minutes, she sipped on the tea with a contented expression, so Minoru inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Then he remembered something. “Come to think of it, didn’t you want to talk to me about something?” “Oh…yes. I thought we’d do it in my room, but… Well, this should be fine.” Yumiko glanced at the lab area on her right. Once she confirmed the ongoing sound of the Professor’s ultra-high-speed typing, she turned back toward Minoru. “I wanted to consult with you…about Sanae.” “Huh? Miss Ikoma…?” Minoru drew back a little in surprise at the unexpected name. Sanae Ikoma, code name Shooter, was an SFD member who had originally been Yumiko’s partner in battle. She was said to have brought in many a Ruby Eye with her bow and her powerful combat-based Third Eye ability, which allowed her to hit any target that she could see, but Igniter’s oxygen deprivation attack had caused her permanent brain damage. Apparently, both the NCAM’s diagnosis and the Professor’s judgment with her speculation ability had concluded that there was no possibility that Sanae would ever wake from her coma. But Sanae was still sleeping in room 404 of headquarters, and Yumiko had just said earlier that she was prepared to care for her after the SFD disbanded. What could she possibly want to “consult” with Minoru about regarding Sanae…? Minoru held his breath and waited for Yumiko to continue. She leaned just a little closer to him before speaking. “Utsugi, your ability…your protective shell…has many characteristics that are still shrouded in mystery, even to you.” “Huh…? Well, yes…” “So I won’t ask for any concrete evidence. I just want to know your…feelings, your instinct…about what I’m going to ask you.” With this mysterious introduction, Yumiko brought her serious face even closer to Minoru and whispered her question. “Do you think it’s possible if you bring Sanae into your shell…that she might wake up, like Komura did?” “……!!” It was a question that had never even occurred to Minoru in the slightest before. But in Yumiko’s position, it was only natural that she would ask it. Something…or someone…had touched Suu Komura’s head when she was gravely wounded and inside his protective shell. Minoru had felt it. If he had to put it into words, it was like a young child, nervously reaching out to make contact with an unknown being… Minoru had explained this sensation to the Professor and Yumiko at the hospital in Hiroo. And immediately after waking up, Suu also said that she had felt something touch her head. So if he brought Sanae Ikoma into the protective shell, perhaps that unknown force might heal her, too. More likely than not, Yumiko had been thinking about it since the moment Suu regained consciousness. Above all, Minoru had to answer this question completely truthfully and sincerely. Closing his eyes, he tried to call back the memory of what he felt at that moment. At the same time, he once again thought about the mysterious power of his protective shell. “……I think……” When he finally spoke, it was so faint that even Minoru himself couldn’t hear it. He took a deep breath, steadied himself, and tried again, a little louder this time. “…I think…there might be a possibility. At the very least, I can’t say for sure that there isn’t…” Yumiko caught her breath sharply. Minoru knew that he might be giving her nothing but false hope. But this was also how he honestly felt. “…I think the inside of the protective shell is more than just a tiny space protected by a barrier. I can hear that strange echoing sound, and I never run out of oxygen inside… It’s a little frightening to think about it, to be honest, but if there’s something in there that I can’t see, making that noise and providing oxygen…and if it’s the same something that woke Suu up, then maybe it would heal anyone inside the shell…at least, that’s the feeling I get. Although I don’t have any basis for it…” “……I see. Hmm… All right…” Yumiko nodded slowly, as if reflecting on Minoru’s every word. Then Minoru asked her a question of his own. “Um, there’s something I wanted to ask you, too… When we fought Igniter at Ariake Heaven’s Shore and again when we fought Liquidizer at the factory in Minami-Aoyama…you came into my protective shell. Did you…feel anything when you were in there with me? Like there was another presence there besides just us, for example…?” “……Hmm…” Now Yumiko looked down at the surface of the kotatsu, her expression complicated, as if she were searching her memories. After a moment, she shook her head without looking up. “…To be honest, both times I was only thinking about the enemy in front of us… I didn’t have time to feel or think about anything else. I don’t even remember whether I heard the sound you mentioned.” “I see…” “But the one thing I do remember is… In both cases, we were fighting for our lives, but when I was in the shell, I felt safe. How should I put it…? As if I was being protected…? …Well, I guess that’s pretty obvious.” With that, Yumiko smiled a little. In the moment he saw that smile, Minoru made a suggestion that even he wasn’t expecting. “Um…would you like to try the experiment again?” “Huh? What experiment…?” “The experiment of bringing you into the protective shell. It never worked when we did it here before, but I think maybe…right now…” Yumiko blinked a few times, then looked away, a little flustered. “Ah…y-yes, well, you might be right. I do have the same feeling, I suppose.” “Then why don’t we get the Professor and…” Minoru started to stand up, but Yumiko raised her left hand to stop him, gesturing for him to sit back down. “But no, let’s not do it right now. If we fail again now, I don’t think I’ll be able to recover.” “……All right…” Minoru sat back down on the cushion, gathering his thoughts for a moment before looking up. “…Sorry for making such a strange suggestion. Anyway, to get back to the main subject…” “N-no, it’s all right. I was rather happy that you suggested it… Oh, sorry, go ahead.” Yumiko still looked a bit flustered, so Minoru gave her a moment to calm down before he continued. “…Like I said before, I do think it’s possible that something could happen if I bring Sanae into the shell. But what worries me is that I can’t guarantee that it’ll definitely be a positive phenomenon… Not to mention, we don’t know whether I can actually even bring her inside.” “Oh…” Yumiko looked as if that possibility hadn’t occurred to her. “But Sanae is sleeping. No matter how close you get to her, there will be absolutely no response. You still don’t think it would work?” “Um…” Minoru searched for the words to properly explain. “…Um, for a long time, I thought the protective shell was the embodiment of rejection… That the Third Eye had given me an impenetrable barrier so that I could reject everything around me. But…after I brought you into the shell and then Suu, I’ve realized that I might’ve been wrong.” “About what…?” “Everything. I think the protective shell might be the opposite of rejection… Um, it’s hard to say it without sounding weird, but maybe it’s something like…affection…?” Minoru paused for a moment, bracing himself for Yumiko to object. However, the girl in the blazer made no move to speak right away and instead pushed both her hands under the kotatsu quilt. She seemed to be stretching her legs out underneath; the tip of one small toe even touched Minoru’s right foot. But Yumiko didn’t seem to notice, and her long silence continued. The light sound of the Professor tapping away at her keyboard continued from the lab area. On the large television, the weather forecast portion of the news program began; the weatherman warned of cold with exaggerated gestures. “Affection…,” Yumiko muttered unexpectedly. “…I think I understand what you mean. There was nothing harsh or prickly about the inside of your shell. Like I said earlier, it felt as if I was being completely protected…a gentle, calming place… But if that’s the case…doesn’t that mean it would have no reason to reject Sanae…?” “…I don’t think my feelings alone are enough.” “What…?” “I think I have to be sort of in sync with the person I’m trying to bring inside… Um, this is going to sound really corny, but it’s like—our hearts have to become one or something. In the hospital, when I brought Suu inside the shell…it seemed like she was in a coma, but her heart was still open somehow. It was like she felt our presence through the glass, and she was just aware enough to send the Morse code message. But in Sanae’s case…” Minoru fell silent, unable to bring himself to complete the statement. Instead, Yumiko filled in the rest in a painful voice. “…Sanae’s heart is completely closed off… I was her partner, and even I can’t feel her presence there. So it’s probably too much to ask you to try to do the same…” “…Of course, I can’t say for sure that it would fail. For all we know, if I tried to bring her into my shell, it could succeed easily. But…if it does fail, Sanae’s body will be thrown violently out of the shell. And I think the shock might be bad enough to negatively affect her condition…” “……” Yumiko said nothing for a while. Minoru tried to look away, unable to watch her expression as she fought off a wave of grief. But as he turned, he caught a glimpse of the small tears trembling on her long eyelashes. He watched helplessly as the two droplets grew until they finally fell from her lashes onto the surface of the kotatsu. “…If…if you’d been a member of the SFD back then, too…” Her lips trembled a little as she spoke softly. “…You and Sanae would have gotten along, I think. You’re both shy yet surprisingly stubborn… If only you’d been friends, you might be able to bring her into the shell, even while she’s unconscious…” For a moment, Yumiko’s feet moved under the kotatsu to press against Minoru’s right leg. Then, after staying like that for a few seconds, Yumiko slowly pulled her legs out and stood up. Brushing off her skirt lightly, the Accelerator’s expression returned to its usual cool smile as she looked back at Minoru. “…I’m sorry for taking up so much of your time. I’ll take you to Saitama now.” As he neared his apartment, Mikawa relaxed his pace a little. Staring at the curved mirror at the intersection in front of him, he checked carefully that there were no suspicious shadows behind him. At the same time, he inhaled slowly, making sure he didn’t smell the presence of any black Third Eyes. It was a routine that he always practiced on his way home; he had never been tailed yet, but Liquidizer once said that these kinds of precautions could make the difference between life and death. Indeed, earlier today, Liquidizer herself had followed Mikawa into the cold-storage warehouse in Ooi Futo without his noticing. If that had been an SFD agent instead of his former master, Mikawa would be dead or captured by now—and even if he did manage to escape, OO would still have been discovered. Confirming that he was safe, Mikawa turned the last corner. Before long, he could see the ordinary, two-story wood apartment building on the right side of the street. Mikawa was renting room 201, the corner room at the front of this building, so he would be able to see if there were any lights inside before he entered the building. Everything seemed normal as usual, but just to be sure, he took his final precautionary measure. He stopped at the very edge of where his apartment’s wireless signal would reach and took his smartphone out of his jacket pocket. Connecting to the network, he brought up the real-time feed from the webcam he had installed inside. Nothing out of the ordinary. Now confident that everything was safe, Mikawa headed up the stairs to his apartment. As he took the key ring out of his jeans pocket and brought the dimple key up to the doorknob, he made an annoying mistake that happened occasionally: The titanium chain attached to the key ring was pulled too tightly, tugging on the body piercing on the left side of his waist. “Ugh…” Reflexively, Mikawa twisted to the side to ease the unpleasant sensation of his skin being pulled tight. It was this unintentional movement that saved Mikawa’s life. At that exact moment, there was the faint sound of something whizzing through the air, and a flying object grazed Mikawa’s neck and lodged itself in the door before his eyes. “……?!” Though he was now in high-alert mode, Mikawa’s line of sight was drawn for a moment to the object that had stabbed itself into the door. At first, he thought it was an insect, but he’d never seen one like this before. It was no larger than seven millimeters. The head tapered off into a needle-like tip, which was wedged into the plywood door. The swollen rear section of its body lacked the six legs of an insect and was instead covered in tiny hairs, which were squirming about like the feelers of a sea anemone. If he hadn’t been bent to the side, this insect might have stabbed into Mikawa’s neck instead of the door. This didn’t look like any insect that was native to Japan. Was it an invasive pest from another country…? It seemed like the bloodsucking type, too. Mikawa’s face wrinkled up in disgust, and he reached out a finger of his right hand, meaning to crush the bug that was lodged in the door. Just then, he felt the tiny hairs on the nape of his neck bristling. What if this was no mere pest but a man-made object? If it was a living weapon created by a Third Eye ability…? Mikawa turned sharply on the spot. In front of the two-story apartment building was a one-way street, on the other side of which was a four-story building with larger apartments. It looked about as old as Mikawa’s cheap building, and its spray-painted walls were cracked and stained in several places. And between the second and third floors of that apartment complex… Someone was standing on the outer staircase, illuminated faintly by the fluorescent lights. Whoever it was, they weren’t very tall. Because of the obstructing wall, Mikawa could only see them from the chest up, but it was impossible to gauge their age or gender. The hood of the red coat they wore was pulled deep over their face, shrouding it in total darkness. Silently, the figure raised their left hand. The fluorescent light glinted off something metal in the center of the person’s gloved palm. There was neither sound nor flash, but Minoru could sense with his eyes, ears, and even his skin that something had fired out of it. It wasn’t a gun, a crossbow, or anything of the sort. It was an ability. The person in the red coat had to be an enemy—someone who possessed a black Third Eye.