Chapter 59

8 One hour later, January 7, 7:30 p.m. A drugstore shopping bag hung from Minoru’s right hand as he walked quickly along the sidewalk. Heading to the shopping district west of Inokashira Street, he found a fair number of passersby, though not as many as in front of Harajuku Station. This area was apparently called Kamiyama Street, but the banners hanging from the iron streetlights read OKU-SHIBU in bold gothic letters; it took Minoru a moment to realize that it must be short for “Heart of Shibuya.” Within a few minutes, he reached the center of the shopping street and turned left onto Inokashira Street. His destination was a business hotel across from the enormous NHK broadcast center. Minoru entered the lobby, strode past the front desk, and took the elevator to the sixth floor. Once he made sure there was no one else in the hallway, he pushed his key card into the door of the twin room. The lock clicked open, so he retrieved the key and hurried inside. Once the door closed behind him and locked automatically, he heaved a sigh of relief. But there was certainly no time to relax just yet. Minoru washed his hands thoroughly in the restroom, then went down the short hallway into the bedroom. Fairly large if a little narrowly shaped, the room contained a sofa and two single beds. A lone woman was resting in one of them. “…I’m back.” As Minoru walked over, the woman whispered “Merci” without getting up. She slid her right hand out from under the blanket, placing her small pistol on the sideboard. Every woman I’ve met up with today has been carrying a pistol, Minoru thought as he set out his purchases from the drugstore on the table next to the sofa: disinfectant, analgesic, extra-large hydrocolloid dressing, antibiotic ointment, bandages, scissors, tweezers, athletic tape, and alcohol wipes, plus about four thousand yen in change. “I think I got everything you asked for…” “Thank you.” Thanking him in Japanese this time, the woman—specifically, the Ruby Eye Liquidizer—put her feet on the floor and got out of bed. She staggered for a moment, but she held up a hand to stop Minoru from standing and walked to the sofa on her own. Sitting down heavily, she closed her eyes for a moment. “All right, let’s do this.” “…Okay, whenever you’re ready.” At Minoru’s confirmation, Liquidizer removed the towel that was wrapped tightly around her left shoulder. Her ivory knit sweater was stained dark red from the shoulder to the elbow. Grimacing, Liquidizer leaned forward and looked up at Minoru. “Pull the sweater off.” “Wh-what?” “Quickly. I would prefer to cut it off, but that would take too long with those scissors.” “But…” I can’t do that, Minoru wanted to declare, but her wound was still bleeding as he hesitated. Reminding himself that this was an emergency situation, Minoru took hold of the hem of the sweater on Liquidizer’s back. Pulling carefully, he first lifted it over her head, then moved down and began freeing each arm. Luckily, for Minoru at least, she was wearing a simple camisole underneath the sweater, so he didn’t have to do the rest with his eyes closed. The bigger problem was the gunshot wound in her left shoulder. The man’s weapon, which Suu had called a SOCOM pistol, seemed to be a bigger caliber than the ones the SFD used, so the wound was awful to behold. There was a hole more than one centimeter in diameter marring her pure-white skin, with blood still gushing out of it. Liquidizer, too, winced when she saw her own wound, but she quickly smoothed over her expression. “The Isodine, please.” “Right.” Minoru took the cap off the disinfectant and handed it to Liquidizer, who poured it over her wound without hesitation. As the distinctive smell filled the air, she let out a muffled groan of pain. “Tweezers.” “Right.” He pulled the tweezers out of the packaging and held them up, and Liquidizer put more disinfectant on them. After a moment, she took the tweezers and brought them close to the wound on her shoulder. But her hands were shaking, probably from the pain, so she couldn’t hold them steady. “…This isn’t working. You do it, boy.” “Huh? I…I can’t!” This time, Minoru voiced his objection aloud, shaking his head rapidly. “I’ve never, ever extracted a bullet out of a wound before…” “I haven’t, either, obviously. Don’t worry—it’s not near any big veins. And we have no anesthesia, so all you have to do is grab it and pull it out.” “B…but…” “Please? I’ll buy you a present later.” “I’m not a kid, you know…” With that weak retort, Minoru took a deep breath, steeling himself. There was no one here but Liquidizer and Minoru. If she couldn’t do it, then he was going to have to. Liquidizer handed him the tweezers, then leaned against the back of the sofa. Minoru leaned over her and stared at the wound. It’s too dark, he thought, but then the visibility instantly improved. Perhaps his Third Eye had gone into night-vision mode. The lead-colored clump was visible surprisingly close to the surface. The bullet must have stopped when it hit the large tubercle of her humerus. I guess this won’t be too bad, he thought for a moment, but then he remembered that Liquidizer would feel every bit of it. “Shouldn’t you at least take a painkiller first…?” “I’d have to drink a ridiculous amount of that over-the-counter stuff for it to help at all, and then I won’t be fit for battle for a while yet. I’ll take a bit later, but I’m fine for now. Just get on with it.” “…All right.” If he kept fighting, Minoru might someday need to have someone do this same thing for him. Reminding himself of that, he strengthened his resolve as best he could and plunged the tips of the tweezers into the wound. He was trying to avoid touching her flesh, but that turned out to be impossible. Liquidizer groaned faintly, clutching Minoru’s shoulder with her right hand. Holding his breath, Minoru moved the pincers in farther little by little until they touched something hard. He opened the tweezers slightly, moved them in a little deeper, and closed them around the bullet. He had to put some force into it to hold on to the bullet, but too much and the tweezers might slip, which would undoubtedly be incredibly painful. Restraining his strength to the bare minimum, Minoru gripped the tweezers and slowly, slowly began to pull the bullet out. Though it was a distance of less than two centimeters, it felt ten times longer. Minoru forgot that he was holding his breath as he delicately moved his right hand. Then, finally, the clump of metal emerged from the wound. “Whew…” Letting the air out in gasps, Minoru slackened his grip. The bullet fell from the tweezers and hit the carpet with a dull thud. Liquidizer sighed, too, letting go of Minoru’s shoulder. She sank back onto the sofa and breathed deeply for a while, then cleaned the wound with more disinfectant. “…The dressing, please.” Minoru hurriedly opened the paper box and pulled out a large roll of hydrocolloid bandage before a thought occurred to him. “Erm…shouldn’t the wound get stitched up first?” “That would probably be best, yes, but I don’t have the skills to do that. I’m guessing you don’t, either, do you, boy?” “D…definitely not.” “Well, the bleeding has just about stopped, so I’m sure it’ll be fine. Be a dear and put that dressing on it, would you?” “…All right.” Minoru began affixing the plaster dressing to the wound, closing it up from either side. Then he carefully wrapped athletic tape around it, completing the emergency first aid. But still… “Um…you should probably still go to the hospital, I think.” Liquidizer smiled mirthlessly. “Listen, boy. I’m sure any old doctor would fix up this bullet wound for me, but they’d call the police, too. We Ruby Eyes don’t have any official backup, so we have no choice but to deal with wounds like this on our own.” It was only then that Minoru remembered that the woman in front of him was a sworn enemy of Jet Eyes like himself. But for some reason, the concern in his chest didn’t go away. “But…if you don’t get it treated properly, it might leave a scar and all that…” “Goodness, are you actually worried about me?” “Well…yes, I am. You only got shot because I couldn’t guard you in time.” Minoru looked away and heard a faint chuckle in response. “You have an odd sense of responsibility about things like that, hmm? No need to worry. It’ll probably leave a little scar but hardly any worse than one from a BCG vaccine or something along those lines.” With that, Liquidizer opened the box of painkillers herself. Looking up, her eyes wandered to the refrigerator in the corner of the room. “Would you mind getting me a beer?” “Ah, sure…” Minoru started to get up, then stopped and shook his head. “N-no, you shouldn’t be drinking when you’ve been wounded! Just have some mineral water, please!” “All right, all right. Water is fine.” Stifling a sigh, Minoru retrieved a bottle of water from the small fridge, removed the cap, and handed it to Liquidizer. While she took the medicine with it, Minoru picked up the bullet from the floor. Partly crushed, it was about the size of a black soybean and surprisingly heavy. “…I’m amazed a bullet this big stopped at the bone,” he murmured. Liquidizer was similarly serious as she replied, “Most .45 ACP ammunition is subsonic, and my coat has a bulletproof lining, but you’re right—that normally would’ve shattered the bone. Look closer—are there rifle marks on the bullet, or no?” “Erm…” Minoru squinted at the bullet. He was a complete beginner when it came to guns, but he did sometimes read mystery and detective novels, so he was familiar with the existence of rifle marks in theory. Normally, the barrel of a gun was carved with a helix shape, imparting spin to the bullet as it traveled along, which raised its speed and power. This leaves spiral traces around the bullet, which are called rifle marks. There were no modern pistols that wouldn’t leave rifle marks—at least, there shouldn’t be. But the bullet in Minoru’s palm had no such marks on it. “Ah…it doesn’t…” “I knew it. They must have been targeting me, so they brought a gun without rifling.” “D-does that even exist? Refractor said his gun was called a SOCOM pistol…” “That’s just the popular name for a gun called the H&K MK 23. It’s referred to that way because SOCOM—the United States Special Operations Command—uses them as their standard weapon. They have rifling, of course. But with a lathe or a milling machine, it’s actually quite easy to make a gun barrel from scratch. Especially if you don’t need to add rifling.” “From scratch…? But why would a gun with no rifling be effective against…?” Then it dawned on him. Minoru hadn’t seen it himself, but Yumiko said that in the battle in Minami-Aoyama, Liquidizer liquefied all her bullets, sending them scattering in a spiral pattern. When a bullet rotating at high speed because of rifling was liquefied, it would be scattered by the centrifugal force. But this time, the bullet aimed at Liquidizer wasn’t rotating. So even if it was liquefied, it would just be melted into hot lead and keep moving forward. As if to confirm Minoru’s theory, Liquidizer opened the palm of her right hand and showed it to him. Her pale skin was covered in blisters and burns. No wonder she couldn’t control the tweezers before. Lowering her hand, she muttered angrily, “I managed to liquefy the first two shots, but the melted bullets just hit my hand. The pain and heat made me go Ouch! and then I lost my focus, which is why I wasn’t able to melt the third one.” The way she said “Ouch!” was so funny that Minoru’s lips quivered for a moment, but he quickly straightened out his expression. “…We should probably treat your hand, too.” “That’s why I had you buy the ointment and the bandages.” Liquidizer looked from the burns on her right hand to the ointment on the table and back, then shrugged with her right shoulder. “Sorry, but could you put that on for me, too?” “Huh? Oh, um, sure…” It certainly would be difficult for her to do it herself in this state. Her left shoulder was wrapped in the athletic tape, but the slightest movement would probably cause searing pain. Telling himself that this was nothing compared to removing the bullet, Minoru placed it on the table, then took out one of the alcohol wipes. He wiped his own hands first, then used a new one to carefully clean Liquidizer’s right hand. Opening the box of ointment, he squeezed a small amount from the tube onto his fingertip and started gently spreading it over her injured palm. This very hand held one of the most dangerous powers of all known Third Eye hosts. It hadn’t worked on Stinger, and the man in the trench coat had landed a hit on her, too, but that didn’t change the fact that this was a weapon to be feared. But secretly, Minoru was surprised to find that Liquidizer’s hand was far smaller and daintier than he’d expected. A girl’s hand, just like Yumiko or Tomomi. It seemed far better suited to holding a fountain pen or a teacup than a gun or a knife, but right now it was covered in burns and bruises, as well as tiny cuts that were likely from the battle with Stinger. Why…? Minoru found himself wondering. Why did Liquidizer have to keep fighting like this, being injured so much in the process? Because she was a Ruby Eye? But she’d said herself that Ruby and Jet Eyes alike were all being “manipulated by that tiny little sphere.” If she knew that, though, then why did she choose to act as an enemy of humanity? “…That’s plenty.” Liquidizer’s voice brought Minoru back to his senses with a start. Realizing he’d rubbed on more ointment than necessary, he quickly withdrew his hand. “I, um… I’ll do the bandages now.” “Please.” Unable to look Liquidizer in the face, Minoru kept his head down as he pulled out the bandages and carefully wrapped them around her hand. Once that was done, he realized he should’ve cut some athletic tape in advance. “Um, I’m sorry. I’m sure your hand hurts, but would you mind holding the end of the bandage in place for a second?” “Oh, there’s no need.” Liquidizer moved her left hand, touching a fingertip to the edge of the bandage. Immediately, the end stuck in place, as if it had been stuck there with quick-drying glue. When he smelled the faint scent of a Ruby Eye ability, Minoru finally realized she’d liquefied it. “…That’s convenient.” “It certainly is now, but it took a considerable amount of practice to be able to selectively liquefy something so thin.” Liquidizer used her bandaged right hand to take a drink of the mineral water. Then she handed the bottle to Minoru, who put on the cap. Now the first aid treatment was definitely complete. As Minoru cleaned up the supplies on the glass tabletop, he heard a soft murmur. “I’m lucky you were here, boy. Thank you.” Startled, he looked up and found that the Ruby Eye was gazing at the window, the curtains of which were closed. As always, her makeup made it difficult to guess how old she was, but looking at her exhausted face from the side like this made her seem almost close to his own age. “I…it’s fine. This is all just part of the deal.” When Minoru managed to respond thus, Liquidizer looked at him with a faint smile. “…Of course.” She stood up laboriously and moved to the closest bed, where she flopped down and closed her eyes. “I’m going to rest for a bit, if you don’t mind. Wake me by ten, please.” “…All right.” Minoru looked at the clock on the wall. It was 8:15. Standing up, he turned off the main light, then crossed the room and sat on the sofa. He’d told Norie that he was going to be late due to a study session with the volunteer organization, but most likely he wouldn’t be going home tonight at all. In a little while, he would have to send a message that he would be staying at a friend’s house for the night. Staying over at a friend’s house on a weeknight was less than ideal behavior for a high school student. Each time he had an SFD mission, he felt like he was slowly breaking down the trust he had built up over the years. Norie would surely start to find his behavior strange sooner or later—in fact, it was entirely possible she did already. The excuse of the volunteer group was only a temporary measure, and soon he would need to find a real solution. Of course, the SFD had already offered him a more practical solution. He could transfer from Yoshiki High to Kousai Metropolitan High, a city school with dormitories—the same school Yumiko and Olivier already attended. Kousai was under the control of the 3E Committee, so the pair was registered as boarders but actually lived at SFD Headquarters. If Minoru did the same, he could participate in late-night missions without a problem and reduce the chances of Norie getting caught up in a Ruby Eye attack. But emotionally, Minoru didn’t want to move away from Yoshiki High, or from Norie. It wasn’t that he hated change; rather, he suspected he actually liked his current life. Like the moment when the New Urban Center buildings first came into view on the way to school in the morning, or the cool air when he met up with Tomomi to run on the bank of the Arakawa River. Making dinner with Norie, chatting as they ate, cleaning up afterward, and watching a movie or a TV drama together—how dreary would his life be without those things? He doubted he could go on lying each time he had a new mission. But he was hoping to keep it up just a little longer…until the end of third semester, at the very least. As these thoughts ran through his mind, Minoru used his phone to start typing a message to Norie. Then, abruptly, something vibrated in his breast pocket. It was an unfamiliar number calling the phone Liquidizer had given him. Quickly glancing at the bed, he saw that she was sound asleep, lying primly on her back. Turning away, he pressed the answer icon and covered his mouth with his hand. “…Hello?” “Status?” It was Yumiko’s voice. She must have acquired a new phone, too, to avoid being tapped by the 3E Committee. Minoru answered her brusque question as best he could in a near-whisper. “Liquidizer’s wounds have been treated. There doesn’t seem to be any bone or nerve damage.” “I see. Good work. I can’t believe we’re actually helping her recover…” I actually took the bullet out myself, Minoru thought, but he kept that to himself. “We have to cooperate with her until we can rescue Stargazer,” he answered instead. “But how are Divider and Refractor?” “Komura just has a light contusion, so her brain is fine. Oli-V is doing well enough, too. The bullet must have been fairly low speed, so although it pierced his protective undershirt and his abdominal muscle, it just barely stopped before reaching the stomach wall. He’ll need to go back to NCAM for a while, though, so he won’t be able to help with tonight’s mission.” “Oh…I see. So who’s going to be guarding the car?” “DD still, and I’ll be Oli-V’s replacement.” “You, Y—Accelerator…?” Minoru’s mind raced. Tonight, they were to enact a mission that would betray the SFD…or rather, the 3E Committee. Once the car left the hospital, Liquidizer would stop it in a secluded area, and they would spirit away Trancer from the trunk of the car, put him in a different vehicle, and escape as fast as they could. It was a simple, bare-bones plan, but since the only guards were supposed to be DD as the detector and Olivier as the attacker, it shouldn’t have been too difficult. DD didn’t know anything, but Olivier was on their side, so he could simply pretend to attack them and get one of his swords melted, and no one would suspect a thing. But if the attacker was Yumiko, that changed things. Because even without her bike, she could move faster than a car on her own two feet. They would have to come up with a reason that she’d be unable to chase Liquidizer’s car, or else lose sight of it somehow. “…Now what?” Minoru asked an equally short question, and Yumiko huffed in response. “I hate to say it, but I’ll probably have to let her melt a shoe or two, at least. I’ll come up with something. But the departure time hasn’t changed from one a.m. I’ll contact you again before then.” She hung up without waiting for an answer. Returning the phone back to his pocket, he went back to writing the message to Norie, but he couldn’t focus. Nonetheless, he forced himself to finish and send it: “Looks like the study session’ll run late, so I’m staying at Saito’s tonight. I’ll be back tomorrow right after school.” Before long, the response came from Norie: “Okay. Don’t forget to thank his parents. Be good!” Guilt squeezed painfully at his chest as he held the phone and bowed his head deeply. I’m sorry for lying. It’s to help my friend and his sister, he thought, suppressing the pain as best he could. How did Yumiko and Olivier come to terms with the fact that they had to keep lying to their families? I’ll have to ask them sometime, he thought as he put the smartphone away in his pants pocket, then glanced at the bed again. Liquidizer didn’t look like she would wake up anytime soon. In the faint glow of the night-light, her face appeared surprisingly young. It was a little surprising that the most terrifying and strongest Ruby Eye would sleep so vulnerably like this, but he couldn’t blame her. She’d been mortally wounded in the fight against Stinger on January 3 but rested only one day before staking out the Saitama New Urban Center station to find Minoru. She’d finally contacted him on the night of the sixth, only to be attacked by the mysterious man in the trench coat the very next day, sustaining serious wounds again. Third Eye holder or not, she must be reaching her limit, both physically and mentally. Yet, she was only going to rest for less than two hours before heading back out into battle. In theory… If Minoru took the pistol that was still on the sideboard and shot Liquidizer in the head, he could probably kill her easily. Sharp as she was, she must have considered that possibility. But even with that awareness, she had chosen to rest, to raise their chances of successfully stealing Trancer back even a little. It wasn’t that she trusted Minoru or was underestimating him. Most likely, she had simply calculated the risks and accepted them. …She must have a family, too, Minoru thought suddenly. Until four months ago, when the red Third Eye entered her body, she was surely living an ordinary life as an ordinary girl. But whether that life had been stolen from her or she’d chosen to cast it aside, she had lost it now. All because of a tiny parasite that infected its host with the irresistible urge to kill. Stop sympathizing with her, he reminded himself firmly, looking away from Liquidizer’s sleeping face. Ruby Eyes weren’t under constant brain control. She could have surrendered to the SFD and willingly had the removal operation. But Liquidizer didn’t do that—nor did Biter, nor Igniter, nor Trancer. All of them made the choice, to be enemies of humanity of their own free will, even if indirectly. Once Liquidizer had Trancer and Olivier rescued Claire, this temporary truce would be over. Liquidizer and the SFD would go back to being enemies, and they would probably try to kill one another again when next they met. Minoru had to be sure he didn’t forget that.