Chapter 50

Sect. 005 THE LIQUIDIZER 1 “I’m home…,” Minoru muttered meekly. But as if to make up the difference from his usual tone, two booming greetings immediately rang out from either side of him. “Good evening!” “Thanks for having uuus!” As Minoru entered the hall, he was followed by a girl in a black blazer and a caramel-brown duffel coat, along with a boy wearing an identical blazer under a gray mountain parka, both high school age. Watching them as they bowed deeply with perfect posture, Minoru couldn’t help thinking they were acting nothing like their usual selves, but of course he kept that to himself. Coming to greet them in the hall, Minoru’s adoptive sister, Norie Yoshimizu, widened her eyes in surprise for a moment, then smiled brightly. “Welcome! I’m Mii…I mean, Minoru’s older sister, Norie. Nice to meet you.” The other two promptly introduced themselves in return. “The pleasure is all ours. I’m Yumiko Azu, a first-year at Kousai Metropolitan High. Thank you so much for having us today.” “Hello. I’m Olivier Saito, a second-year at Kousai. I’m not sure if this will be to your liking, but you’re more than welcome to it.” Olivier held out a paper bag from a Western-style bakery with both hands, and Norie accepted it, looking genuinely apologetic. “I’m sorry! You didn’t have to go to any trouble for me. Now, please come in. You can hang your coats right there.” “Yes, ma’am!” “Thank you!” The pair promptly did as told. Minoru took the garments and hung them up alongside his own using the hangers in the corner. As they followed Norie down the hall and into the living room, the scent of cream stew tantalized their empty bellies. Olivier clutched his stomach and almost said something, but Yumiko silenced him with a sharp nudge. Fortunately, Norie didn’t notice the Accelerator’s speedy reaction as she donned an apron that was hanging off the back of a chair. “Lunch will be ready soon, so feel free to watch TV while you wait.” As she started to head into the kitchen with the paper bag, Yumiko hopped forward. “Please let me help you.” Of course, the two boys couldn’t let her show them up. Minoru and Olivier gallantly threw their hats into the ring: “I’ll help, too, Norie.” “Oh, uh, me too.” However, Norie just chuckled and held up her hands. “My kitchen’s not big enough for four people. You boys can help with the cleanup instead, so just wait out here for now.” Unable to protest against a direct order from a superior, Olivier and Minoru exchanged glances, then stayed behind in the living room. As they sat down on the sofa, the Divider let out a sigh and returned to his usual demeanor. “Got any games, Mikkun?” “Erm…yes, although they’re not exactly the latest consoles. I’ve got one from two generations ago, but we don’t use it that much.” “You should play while you can, dude. Once you’re a second-year, entrance exams will be on you before you know it.” Olivier himself was a second-year already and would be a third-year in a scant three months. Minoru gazed at his handsome half-Japanese, half-French features as he posed a question in a small voice. “Are you going to college, Oli-V?” “Ehhh, haven’t decided.” “H-haven’t decided…? Won’t you be a third-year soon?” “Well, yeah, but…” Adjusting the blue polyamide frame of his glasses, Olivier spoke in a low voice for a moment. “Those black balls that live inside us are aliens, y’know? So there could totally be other alien life-forms and monsters and junk out there, too. If they ever attack in full force and put Earth, all of Earth, in danger…what’s the point of studying and going to college?” “…Why did you say ‘Earth’ twice?” Minoru wasn’t sure how serious Olivier was being, so that was his only response at first, but Olivier just shrugged dramatically. Eventually, Minoru ventured a different question. “So, erm…by that logic, doesn’t that mean our current duties are pointless, too? It won’t matter how many Ruby Eyes we neutralize if aliens from the planet such-and-such destroy Earth with a giant laser beam.” “Nahhh, that’s not true.” Olivier winked back. “You got your paycheck for last month, right? That’s enough to keep us entertained until Earth is destroyed, at least. You could cover your bed in ten-thousand-yen bills and roll around on it or something.” “…The Professor said the same thing.” Suppressing a sigh, Minoru glanced at Olivier again. His careless attitude wasn’t how he really felt, of course. Minoru knew that the Divider was fighting not for money but for a more personal reason—something deeply connected to Ryuu Mikawa, the Trancer, who’d been captured two days ago. Trancer was currently being held on the eleventh floor of the National Center of Advanced Health and Medicine, aka the NCAM, which wasn’t far from SFD Headquarters. SFD policy said that as a red Third Eye holder, he should immediately have his Third Eye removed and his related memories erased, as they’d done with Igniter, but as of now, 12:00 noon on January 5, they had yet to perform the operation. Olivier insisted to Professor Riri Isa that he wanted to be present for Trancer’s operation. If he had his way, he would probably be waiting impatiently at SFD Headquarters that very moment, but Yumiko had dragged him out for today’s “mission” at the Utsugi household. He had agreed on the condition that Yumiko would bring him back on her bike immediately if there was any word from NCAM, but Minoru hoped they could at least relax through mealtime. “Lunch is ready!” Olivier hopped to his feet at the sound of Norie’s voice, as if he couldn’t wait another second. The dining room table was lined with bowls of cream stew, one of Norie’s best dishes, as well as mesclun salads. Yumiko stood to one side, a bread knife in one hand and a rice scoop in the other. “Oli… Erm, Saito and Utsugi, would you prefer baguettes or rice?” “‘Saito’? Really?” Olivier muttered under his breath, but he soon responded with a bright “Rice, please!” which allowed Minoru to mumble the same without feeling too embarrassed. Yumiko nodded, then called to Norie in the kitchen. “Rice for all three of us, please, my lady!” “My lady”? Are you serious? Minoru thought, but he bit his tongue. “Okaaay!” Norie called back, followed by the sound of a rice cooker clicking open. Yumiko headed into the kitchen and soon returned with a square tray. On the tray were three fancy Kasama-ware bowls containing piping-hot white rice. Looking closely, Minoru noticed that the stew was in matching Kasama-ware dishes, while the salad was served in wooden bowls; Norie must have somehow suspected from the start that the high schoolers would choose rice, not bread. Two of the servings were particularly large, and Yumiko placed those in front of Olivier and Minoru. As a fellow Third Eye holder, the intense rate at which she burned calories was just as high as theirs, which almost made them say You should get some more, Yumiko, but she was probably holding back to ensure their mission went well. Once the others had all sat down, Norie removed her apron and took the seat next to Yumiko. The last time this four-person dining room table had been full was when Mr. Yoshimizu, Norie’s father and Minoru’s grand-uncle, was still alive. “Go on, dig in!” At Norie’s prompting, the three gave a chorus of “Thank you!” and picked up their wooden spoons. Instead of the usual poultry, the Yoshimizu family’s cream stew recipe was made with ham. The large pieces of meat looked tough at first glance, but they had actually been simmered so well that they came apart easily with the press of a spoon. And in addition to the usual potatoes, carrots, and mushrooms, this recipe also included seasonal vegetables like brussels sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, and turnips. This made it look like a Western-style dish, but it included just enough Japanese flavors that it paired with rice beautifully. The two boys dug into the stew with vigor, but Yumiko tasted hers primly before turning to Norie. “Might I ask what the secret ingredient is, my lady?” Norie responded with a mischievous grin. “There are three secret spices, but the recipe has been handed down through my family for generations, so I can only tell Mii’s future bride.” Minoru nearly choked on his stew, but he managed to get through it somehow. Unfortunately for him, though, Norie wasn’t done speaking. “I’d be happy to let you in on the secret if you were his bride, Yumiko, but it seems like you might have some competition. Like that young lady Komura who came over the other day, or Mii’s schoolmate Minowa…” “N-Norie!” Minoru couldn’t help exclaiming. Next to him, Olivier snorted loudly. But Yumiko displayed terrifying resolve, managing to respond with a straight face. “Is that so, my lady? I know of at least one other girl who seems quite close with Minoru in our circle, too. She’s only in elementary school, though.” “Oh my…!” As Norie’s eyes widened, Minoru could only despair in silence that their mission was clearly doomed to failure. The meal proceeded more or less peacefully after that, followed by coffee and the puddings Olivier had provided (which he’d procured at the nearest patisserie to SFD Headquarters). After the two boys cleaned up, the three of them thanked their host for the delicious meal and then went up to Minoru’s room. The instant the door closed, Olivier caught Minoru in a headlock and noogied him. “Damn, Master Mikkun. Can’t take our eyes off you for a second, can we?” “I-it’s fine even if you do! Also, that actually really hurts!” “I dunno, dude. I think I’m gonna have to tell Komusho about this one…” “Komusho” was a nickname for the Spectator, Shou Komura, older brother of the Refractor, Suu Komura. One of the female anime figurines that served as his viewing terminals was placed on the control box of a utility pole in front of Minoru’s house, so if Olivier shouted something out the window, it really would reach Suu’s brother. “P-please don’t! There’s nothing between Suu and me, not at all!” “Of course there isn’t,” Yumiko agreed, staring at the bookshelf. “And there’s no reason that she’s the only person you can bring into your barrier, too, I’m sure.” Judging that it would be dangerous to stay on this topic for much longer, Minoru hurriedly said, “M-more importantly, you two haven’t finished your winter break homework yet, right? That was technically the goal today, so we should get right to work…” Freeing himself from Olivier’s grasp, Minoru set out some cushions around the low table in the center of the room. His two guests looked reluctant, but they obediently sat down and produced some workbooks from their bags. “Bet the Professor could finish this whole book in five minutes flat…,” Olivier grumbled as he opened his English workbook. “You’re not good at English, even though you’re half?” Yumiko asked, posing a characteristically blunt question. “It’s not nice to assume, Yukko. I’m half-French, not -English, remember?” “So you can speak French, then?” “Nah, not at all.” “What a waste of space.” Mercilessly dismissing him, Yumiko opened her math book. After looking at it for all of two seconds, she glanced up at Minoru. “Utsugi, show me how to do this one.” “Ah…um, okay.” “How are you any better than me?” Olivier muttered as Minoru leaned forward, but Yumiko shut him up with a glare. Minoru’s high school, Yoshiki High School in Saitama, was a top-class college-prep school, but Olivier and Yumiko’s school, Kousai Metropolitan, boasted a respectable standard test score of seventy. As Minoru expected, the question Yumiko pointed at was a difficult higher-degree equation, but he summoned up all his knowledge and inspiration to answer it as best he could. “So first, try using synthetic division to get x − 1 as the left side of the equation…” “Right, right.” While Minoru was watching Yumiko write out neat, precise digits with her mechanical pencil, Olivier started demanding help from his other side. “Hey, Mikkun, what does this mean? ‘I only see Bob once in a blue moon.’” “Huh? …Oh, ‘once in a blue moon’ is an idiom. It means ‘very rarely’ or ‘hardly ever.’” “Oh-ho, I see.” As Olivier started writing his translation, Yumiko tugged Minoru’s sleeve. “All right, I did the synthetic division.” “Okay, um, you ended up with a remainder of zero, right? So now you just do the factorization with this formula…” “Ah, so that’s how you solve it. I see now…” Yumiko seemed to have a strong grasp of basic calculations; she quickly started solving the equation. Plus, Olivier was finally starting to focus, so Minoru backed away a little, leaning against his bed and breathing a small sigh of relief. Accelerator and Divider really had come over his house to finish their homework, which was how he’d explained it to Norie, but there was actually a hidden objective behind this mission. However, the target in this case wasn’t a Ruby Eye but Minoru himself. The goal was so that he could explain to his legal guardian why he’d been coming home so late and going out so frequently this past month, as truthfully as possible. During lunch, Yumiko and Olivier had told Norie that they were members of a student-run community service organization. Their cover story went that they had met Minoru while they were cleaning up around Akigase Park, and they had invited him to join. Fighting the Ruby Eyes certainly was a form of community service in a way, and he really had first met Yumiko in Akigase Park, so it wasn’t entirely made-up, although he couldn’t deny that they were still deceiving her. But of course, it wasn’t like they could explain that Minoru was putting his life on the line in fierce urban combat. When Minoru had joined the SFD, it was on the condition that once the battle against the Ruby Eyes was over, Chief Himi would erase Minoru from the memories of everyone who knew him. That included Norie, of course. As soon as all the Ruby Eyes were gone from Japan, assuming Minoru was still alive, then Chief Himi would fulfill that promise—and Norie would forget all about the adopted brother she’d lived with for the past eight years. It was better that way. Norie was turning thirty-two this year, and the fact that she had been single all this time was probably because she was prioritizing her duties as Minoru’s guardian. Leaving would ease her financial burden, too, and more importantly, Norie would be able to live for her own happiness. The fact that he’d lied to her yet again today would be canceled out, along with Minoru’s own existence… “Having negative thoughts again, are we?” Raising his head at the unexpected voice, Minoru saw that Yumiko was right in front of him, peering into his face. Instinctively, Minoru shook his head. “N…no, not particularly…” “You always rub your fingertips when you’re lost in thought. Like this.” Yumiko rubbed her right thumb and middle finger together. “What? I do not…,” Minoru balked, but when he imitated her action with his own hand, it felt all too familiar. As he fell into a sheepish silence, Yumiko’s expression softened for just a moment. “I’m sure you’re feeling bad about lying to your sister, but someday you’ll be able to explain yourself and apologize for it…probably. So there’s no point worrying about it right now.” “‘Someday’… When are you referring to, exactly?” “Once we’ve wiped out every last Ruby Eye.” “………” Minoru had been thinking about the same thing less than a minute earlier, but their conclusions were completely different. Yumiko’s suggestion that he tell her the truth and apologize was obviously the “right” thing to do, but Minoru couldn’t change his path now. The reason he fought as a Jet Eye was so that he could live in a world where not a single soul knew him, a world of absolute solitude and isolation. Yumiko knew this, too, but instead of pushing him about it as she usually did, she just sat back. “…Although, if Ruby Eyes keep popping up one after another like this, that day probably won’t come for quite a while.” Minoru was relieved that she’d changed the subject. “We still don’t know what Stinger is up to, do we?” he asked. Immediately, Yumiko glared at him again. “Listen, Utsugi, you and I are on the same SC level in the SFD. If you don’t know, then how should I know, either?” SC was short for security clearance, referring to an individual’s access to information. The SFD was a small, close-knit organization, but since it was managed by the government, it still technically had to follow certain rules. Chief Himi was the only member with SC1, meaning he could access all information about the Third Eye (3E) incident; the commanding officer Professor Riri Isa was SC2, while field and combat personnel like Minoru and Yumiko were SC3. “I guess so, but…you spend more time at headquarters than I do, so I thought maybe you might have heard some rumors or something…” “If you would just move in and transfer to Kousai, you could be at headquarters all day long,” Yumiko snapped, then composed herself. “…As far as I’ve heard, there’s no information whatsoever. DD hasn’t picked up on any scents, and Public Security can’t seem to find a trace of him, either.” “I see…” It had already been two days since the escape of Stinger, the most mysterious Ruby Eye who Minoru—no, the entire SFD—had yet encountered. In Ota and Shinagawa Ward’s Ooi Futo Park, Stinger had simultaneously taken on Minoru, Yumiko, Trancer, and even Liquidizer, who was considered the strongest known Ruby Eye. Yet, Trancer and Liquidizer sustained serious injuries, Trancer’s being near-fatal, and even when Minoru’s last-resort “barrier burst” move severed his right leg at the knee, the Ruby Eye still managed to get away. And he’d done so with the inhuman feat of flying with his own wings. Even he probably couldn’t jump back into action so quickly with one of his legs gone, but after one of his minuscule, hyper-explosive insects had nearly blown up Minoru’s carotid artery, he couldn’t afford to be that optimistic about Stinger. “…I wonder if they were able to find out anything from that leg he left…” Yumiko shrugged. “They’re analyzing it thoroughly at NCAM, but considering it’s been two days and we haven’t heard anything, I doubt we should get our hopes up.” “Hey, Mikkun.” Surprised to hear his name, Minoru looked to his right. Olivier was frowning, spinning a mechanical pencil skillfully between his fingertips as he spoke. “That Stinger guy said something before he took off, right? Something about coming back for his leg?” “Yes… Well, his exact words were I’ll be back for you soon, so I’m not sure what he was referring to.” “Doesn’t that mean he might attack NCAM again, then?” “……” Yumiko and Minoru exchanged glances. If Stinger really had meant that he planned to take his leg back, then his only option would be to break into NCAM. But the eleventh floor, where his leg was being analyzed, had essentially been turned into a fortress to contain captured Third Eyes. It was protected by machine guns, high-voltage currents, and incapacitating gas, and that was just what Minoru knew about; even Liquidizer evidently hadn’t been able to break in. When he fixed up Minoru’s right hand, Dr. Satoru Nitamizu had smiled and said, You might be the only person who could get past our security system, young Utsugi. “…Stinger was able to survive a nine-mil bullet, Trancer’s ice bombs, and even Liquidizer’s liquefaction,” Minoru noted, “but still, his attack power is only suited to fighting other people. He can’t just bust through NCAM’s doors and walls, right?” At this, Olivier stopped the pencil he’d been spinning in his right hand. “Yeah, he probably couldn’t break in head-on. At the same time…” The mechanical pencil spun one more time, then disappeared like smoke. Showing Minoru his now-empty hands, Olivier continued gravely, “There are plenty of Ruby Eyes who can pull off things that seem like magic tricks. That Liquidizer woman manipulates intermolecular forces, so it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if someone showed up and walked right through a thick concrete wall or whatever. For all we know, Stinger already could be working with someone like that, yeah?” “I…I suppose so, but wait…” Unable to resist his curiosity, Minoru totally derailed. “First of all, where did the pencil go?” With a straight face, Olivier reached out with his right hand into the hood of the sweatshirt Minoru was wearing. Then he withdrew his fingers again, which were now holding a mechanical pencil the same color as his glasses. As Minoru’s eyes widened again, Yumiko sighed loudly. “The pencil was up his sleeve, all right? That’s Olivier’s only trick. If you act that impressed, he’ll just keep doing it until it drives you insane.” “Hey, c’mon now, Yukko! I’ll have you know that I’m working on a new trick right this very moment.” “And I’m waiting with bated breath, I assure you. At any rate…you’re right that Third Eye holders can have an infinite range of possible powers, but there’s no point letting your imagination run too wild. Otherwise, you’d have to worry about someone whose power can destroy the earth in a single blow or something like that. All we can do—no, what we must do—is chase down and apprehend the Ruby Eyes we’ve already identified. Leave the guesses and hypotheticals to the people in charge.” All that being said, Yumiko then let out another little sigh. “…Although, I don’t quite know how much we can actually trust the people in charge…the government’s so-called 3E Committee.” Minoru had heard the committee’s name a few times now, but he still didn’t know that much about it, so he decided this was his chance to ask. “Who exactly is involved with that committee anyway?” Yumiko and Olivier looked at each other for a moment, then shrugged in unison. “Even Professor Riri doesn’t know who the members of the committee are,” Yumiko noted. “I doubt even Chief Himi has the full picture, and he’s got SC1.” “What…? Does that mean there’s a level of clearance higher than SC1?” “Most likely, even if it’s not explicitly part of the rules,” she explained. “All kinds of nasty businessmen and politicians have latched on to the Third Eye incident, and they’re all trying to confuse and trip one another up. That’s why the existence of Ruby Eyes still hasn’t even been made public. I think it’s about time to stop hiding it, if you ask me… Say, does this room have a TV?” Minoru shook his head. “No, I don’t watch TV very often, so…” “Neither do I, but it is good to at least check the news every once in a while.” With that, Yumiko produced her smartphone from her pocket, tapped the screen a few times, then stood the phone up against her pencil case on the table. It seemed to be a commercial broadcasting news station; a female newscaster’s level voice spoke over the backdrop of savagely destroyed buildings. “Regarding the police department’s Special Assault Team’s raid on a private warehouse on Keihinjima in Ota Ward, which took place the night of New Year’s Eve, Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsukubo stated at a press conference on January fourth that multiple heavy firearms, including a rocket launcher, were discovered inside the warehouse. The chief cabinet secretary stated that the warehouse was a base for a radical military organization. It is strongly suspected by authorities that they were plotting to attack airplanes taking off or landing at Haneda Airport, which the police department says justified the operation. No information was released at the press conference regarding the potential number of casualties, citing a matter of national security.” “…The police department?” Minoru looked at Yumiko. “Wasn’t it the Self-Defense Force’s Special Task Squad that stormed the warehouse on Keihinjima? Why…?” “It’s called media manipulation, dude.” Olivier frowned. “As a general rule, the Self-Defense Force is only supposed to act if the prime minister orders a public security or defense operation, with the approval of the National Diet. Whether the enemy is a terrorist group or humongous alien monsters, it doesn’t matter. But there hasn’t actually been a single official public security or defense operation since the Self-Defense Force was formed. If it came out that the Special Task Squad was opening fire in the middle of the city without an official order from the minister, the public and the National Diet would both riot, meaning the whole cabinet would be forced to resign.” “…So they’re saying it was the police department’s Special Assault Team because they can’t say that it was the Self-Defense Force? But why the rocket launcher…?” “That’s most likely a fabrication, too,” Yumiko said. “As far as I’ve heard, all they found in that warehouse were some ordinary appliances and a few laptops.” Olivier spread his arms wide. “Yeah, there’s no way some rando group could get a hold of rocket launchers in Japan that easily. This isn’t a Grand Theft Ammo game.” “……” Minoru wasn’t sure what Olivier was referring to, but it was probably the title of a game or something, so he quickly moved along. “But all six members of the STS team in that operation were killed by Stinger. They must have had families… So pretending the operation never even happened seems pretty awful, not to mention difficult…” “That’s exactly what they plan to do, I’m sure. After a few days, they’ll probably announce that there was a plane crash during a Self-Defense Force training exercise that resulted in the deaths of six people or something along those lines… Ridiculous, isn’t it? The helicopter the SAT uses is the Bell 412 EP model. It doesn’t look anything like the Blackhawk the STS used for the operation on New Year’s Eve.” Minoru stared blankly at the table. “…But that’s so……” The day before yesterday, he’d asked Professor Riri to tell him the names of the six people who were killed by Stinger’s poison. Their leader was First Lieutenant Nakaoka, and the team members were Sergeant Major Yarai, Sergeant Major Tomita, Sergeant First Class Omi, Sergeant First Class Nojima, and Sergeant Maki. They had all been drawn from the Ranger Corps or the Special Task Squad, and none of them had black Third Eyes like Minoru and the other SFD members. They had been wearing special, highly advanced combat suits, but ultimately, they were ordinary people who went into battle against a Ruby Eye—Stinger, the strongest known Third Eye user yet—to protect innocent citizens, and they lost their lives in the battle. To be exact, they’d fallen prey to the deadly “spinebugs” Stinger had created before the battle could even begin. And now, not even their blood relatives would know the truth behind their final moments? If the safety of the citizens was really the top priority here, wouldn’t it be better to formally release all the information the SFD had found about the Third Eyes over the past ten months, sooner or later? Certainly, it would probably plunge society and the economy into chaos, but there were ways to identify Ruby Eyes and to “cure” them. If warnings were spread around, surely the number of victims would decrease. And yet, the 3E Committee was continuing to keep such vital information to themselves for ridiculous reasons like infighting among various government agencies and departments… Was it really right to leave them in charge of everything? “…It’s not just the STS, either.” Yumiko spoke as if she’d read Minoru’s thoughts. “Not just them? What do you mean…?” “We in the SFD are handled the same way. If you or I was killed in battle against a Ruby, they wouldn’t tell my family or Ms. Norie the truth…certainly not officially anyway. I don’t think it’s right, either, but we have no choice but to go along with it for now. There are forces in the 3E Committee who view Jet Eyes as dangerous, too, not just Ruby Eyes. If we do anything to seem like we’re bucking their control, they might declare that Jet Eyes need to have their Third Eyes removed as well.” “What? But who would fight the Ruby Eyes then…?” “That’s probably why they formed the Special Task Squad. They’ve been recruiting non–Third Eye users…ordinary people, not just Jet Eyes like Nishikida and Kakinari, who we met at the nuclear power plant in Tokyo Bay.” Minoru processed Yumiko’s explanation for a few seconds before he responded. “You mean…the STS was originally formed to fight Ruby Eyes without needing to rely on Third Eye users’ powers?” “I think that’s safe to assume, yes… The Professor has been a bit depressed since the beginning of the year, don’t you think?” “Huh? Sh-she has?” Minoru blinked in surprise, thinking back. When he’d gone to SFD Headquarters the day before yesterday, and the Professor made him put the kotatsu together, she’d sat down next to him. It had occurred to him that she’d been unusually physical with him that day, but he hadn’t realized it might be a sign she was depressed. But even so, why would she be? He looked back at Yumiko, who was twirling a strand of her long, straight hair around her fingertip. “This is just a guess,” she began, “but I think the Professor might not have known that the STS was going to send a team of regular humans to the Keihinjima warehouse. That day, she’d sent the data you and Komura got from the Syndicate hideout over to the STS. It was that information that led them to dispatch a team in high-tech combat suits to attack the place. But Stinger’s spinebugs were able to get in through the ventilation slits in the suits, so all of them were killed…” “But… But that’s not the Professor’s fault, is it?” “Of course not. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the Professor thinks she should have realized what the STS—no, what the person in charge of the STS—intended to do. That person likely thought the battle on New Year’s Eve showed that they could handle Ruby Eyes without any Jet Eye involvement, and they intended to use this assault to prove that the SFD is unnecessary. But that eagerness backfired and led to six elite members of the Self-Defense Force being killed in action… The Professor has the ability to solve any question as long as she has all the information, right? So she probably feels that if she’d just thought about it a little more, she might have been able to prevent that tragedy.” “But that’s… Why would she…?” Minoru was at a loss for words. After a moment of silence, Olivier spoke up instead. “It’s ’cause that kid has a bad habit of trying to shoulder everything all by herself.” Lacing his fingers behind his head, he stared up at the winter sky through the window. The dim white sunshine reflected off his glasses, obscuring his expression. “…I mean, yeah, the Professor’s brainpower is pretty crazy. She’s probably the only one who could rein in all of us crazy SFD members. But her job is to give directions during field operations, so what to actually do about the Third Eye incident itself is up to that 3E Committee. And since those bastards are always in some stupid power struggle, the Professor gets burdened with stuff that shouldn’t be her problem in the first place.” His tone was quiet and calm, but Minoru could still detect a frustration behind those words that the Divider couldn’t entirely hide. Yumiko, however, wasted no time in tossing a snide comment at him: “I guess even you say something intelligent once in a while.” “Excuse me, everything I’ve ever said is intelligent. Right, Mikkun?” “D-don’t look at me…” As Minoru was stalling for an answer, he suddenly thought of something. “Oh! But I did think what you said that one time was pretty wise. You know, the thing about ‘why can’t the demon lord save, too?’” Olivier had said that to Minoru the day before the infiltration of the Syndicate hideout, so it must have been December 30. He had been playing an old role-playing game on the big-screen TV in the SFD hideout and had just turned off the console after a wrong button press caused his entire party to be wiped out. That was when he remarked that it seemed unfair that the hero, the protagonist, could die over and over and still restart from the last save point, but the demon lord couldn’t do the same. So whenever his party died and he got a game over, he stopped playing that RPG for good. Yet, when Minoru repeated his “wisdom” back to him now, Olivier smiled a little sheepishly. “Oh yeah, I guess I did say that… I dunno, though. I kinda wish you’d remembered what I said after that instead.” “I do remember. Erm…” Thinking back to that moment six days ago, Minoru repeated Olivier’s words almost verbatim: “‘Even if you max out your levels and prepare everything, all it takes is one moment of spacing out for you to lose everything. And at any moment, even the smallest action can turn into something that you can never take back.’ …Right?” Olivier blinked a few times, then grinned widely. “Damn, you’ve got a rock-solid memory, Mikkun. I guess guys who’re aiming for Tokyo U really are on another level.” “I—I never said I was aiming for that…” The truth was that Minoru would be content to simply get a job without going to college, but he couldn’t bring himself to say that, so he looked away and found himself making eye contact with Yumiko, who was giving him a puzzled look. Straightening up self-consciously, he timidly ventured, “Wh-what is it…?” “…Utsugi, have you always been so…so…?” But she didn’t say any more. Shrugging, she quickly shifted back to her usual tone. “No, it’s nothing. Now, that’s enough chatter. If we don’t focus, we’ll never finish our homework, Oli-V.” “You’re the one who started it, Yukko…” Olivier grumbled, but he reopened his English workbook. Yumiko, too, returned her smartphone to her pocket and started attacking a new equation. Minoru had already finished all his homework, so he quietly withdrew so that he wouldn’t disrupt them, leaning against the bed and peering out the window. The weather was a bit windy today but otherwise pleasant; feather-like cirrus clouds wafted across the light-blue sky. No doubt there were children flying kites all along the banks of the Arakawa River. It was now 2020, the year of the Olympics, but here in this area of Saitama, at least, it was a January like any other. Yet, somewhere under that sky, the still-mysterious Ruby Eye organization known as the Syndicate was continuing its schemes. Stinger, who’d escaped from Ooi Futo Park, seemed to be just as hostile toward the Syndicate as he was toward the SFD, but he would surely reappear once his wounds had healed. Quietly, Minoru grazed the back of his neck with his right hand. The wound that Stinger’s spinebug had caused was already closed up, but he could still feel a sensation there like a slight muscle cramp. The only reason Minoru had survived was that he happened to be wearing earphones, blocking the earhole that Stinger usually targeted. But the six fearless STS members, despite being equipped with the latest cutting-edge combat suits, fell due to the tiniest weakness, the ventilation slits in their helmets. When the spinebugs entered their ears through the opening and pierced their eardrums, in the few seconds before they exploded, how much fear and regret must those men and women have felt? Stinger was the one who had killed those six people. But surely some of the blame for their deaths also fell on the 3E Committee and their meaningless power struggle. If there had been even one Jet Eye on the assault team…even if it wasn’t an SFD member, someone like Nishikida or Kakinari might have been able to detect the spinebugs’ approach with their sense of smell. “…Yumiko?” Minoru waited until she’d finished solving her equation to speak. “Yes?” “Erm…would you mind telling me the names of any 3E Committee members you might know about?” The Accelerator blinked a few times, then shrugged lightly. “Like I said earlier, even the Professor doesn’t have any confirmed information about that. But…if you’re all right with conjecture, then yes, I can give you a few names.” “Yes, please.” Minoru started to sit up, but Yumiko raised her right hand and pushed his shoulder back with a finger. “This is just between us. And don’t write it down or anything like that. All right?” “R…right.” “First of all, the head of the committee is probably Prime Minister Aizaki. And there’s a high probability that these other bigwigs are involved: the minister of defense; the commissioner general of the National Police Agency; the chief cabinet secretary; the minister of foreign affairs; the minister of finance; minister of economy, trade, and industry; and the minister of health, labor, and welfare, who’s the boss of the SFD. As for nongovernment officials, I’d say the head honchos of weapons manufacturers like Itsuki Heavy Industry, Hisakawa Industries, and Shikishima Machinery and a few academics as observers, perhaps.” As Yumiko rattled off names, Minoru seared them into his brain. Technically, though, only one person’s name had been given instead of their title: the ninety-ninth prime minister of Japan, Itaru Aizaki. He was a brilliant man still in his late forties, setting the record for the youngest prime minister in the post-WWII period. It had been almost two years since his appointment, but he still boasted a near 60 percent approval rating, and even Minoru, who only had about as much interest in politics as any other average high school first-year boy, could easily call to mind Prime Minister Aizaki’s calm, sophisticated-looking smile. “The prime minister is steering the 3E Committee? But the media’s always saying that it’s a puppet government and that he’s just a figurehead and so on…,” Minoru murmured. This time, it was Olivier who answered him, not Yumiko. “Look at it this way: If that privileged pushover of a prime minister is in charge, it would explain why the committee has no backbone. I bet the ones who’re really pulling the strings are the minister of defense and the minister of HLW, who’s clinging to the SFD like it’s a winning lottery ticket.” “Why would the SFD be a winning lottery ticket?” “Because old Himi, who was already working for the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, became a Jet Eye. Aside from those two in the STS, I think the old man’s the only Jet Eye who’s a current government official. If he’d been in the agri ministry or the sports office or something, the SFD might’ve been made there instead, y’know?” “Old man? Chief Himi doesn’t seem that old to me…” As Minoru pictured the man’s sharp, militant appearance, Olivier smirked slyly. “He’s got the soul of an old man; he just doesn’t look it. Besides, he’s never played a single video game in his whole life, dude. A thirty-year-old Japanese man who’s never once experienced a DQ or FF game? Can you believe that?” “Don’t use yourself as the baseline for normality. I’m sure there are plenty of people like that.” Yumiko rolled her eyes, then looked back at Minoru. “Utsugi, I understand how you feel about Stinger’s victims, and you’re right to feel that way, but don’t obsess over it too much. All we can do is try our best and focus on what’s in our reach.” “……Right.” Minoru nodded. But at the same time, he couldn’t help thinking that, at the very least, he wanted to extend his reach as far as he could. With occasional help from Minoru, Yumiko and Olivier finished their math and English homework, then had dinner before going home. NCAM never contacted them, so apparently Trancer’s Third Eye removal surgery wasn’t being conducted today, either. After he helped Norie clean up some more, Minoru returned to his room and opened his math textbook to start brushing up for his third semester. Usually, he was able to focus right away, but today he couldn’t quite seem to commit the formulas to memory. Maybe it was because of the sweet aroma that still lingered ever so faintly in his room. With his senses sharpened by the Third Eye, he could still smell Yumiko Azu’s characteristic scent even two hours after she’d left. SFD members didn’t wear perfume as far as he knew, so maybe it was her shampoo; at any rate, something about it stirred up his feelings in a strange, distracting way. Standing up, Minoru opened the window that faced the veranda. Immediately, the cuttingly cold air of the January night flooded his room afresh. “…Try our best and focus on what’s in our reach…” Repeating Yumiko’s words, Minoru looked at his right hand. Reaching out the window, he stretched it toward the stars above as far as he could, but it just reminded him how small he really was. The heroes in the anime Minoru had watched with his sister Wakaba when they were young always fought to defend the world…the Earth, sometimes even the universe itself. Even now that he was a Third Eye host, Minoru had never seen himself as a hero, but the more he fought against the Ruby Eyes, the more powerless he felt. In the end, am I just a single piece being moved around on someone’s game board? With that thought, he withdrew his hand and closed the window. When he breathed in deeply to let out a sigh, the sweet aroma was gone without a trace.