Chapter 107

CHILDREN RECORD SIDE -NO. 3- As I ran down the stairs, my eyes were greeted by a brand-new metallic wall painted white. We were at the floor we were seeking, and we had momentum. Once we made it through this hallway, we would be standing right in front of the room where the “clearing” was. Shintaro, breathing hard, kept looking behind him. I could see he had an earbud in one ear. “Geez, Momo…I told you to go all out, but I didn’t mean this all out.” Just like he’d promised, the full, unhinged power of her “captivating eyes” was beyond belief. Even this far away from her, it took nearly all my mental concentration to force myself to think about anything besides the look, the feel, the concept of Momo Kisaragi. I couldn’t believe she had the fortitude to keep it all under wraps until now. If this kept up, this whole event might just go down in history. “I’d have to guess there’s a crapload of people on the ground above us right now,” I said. “I can’t believe how much of a hit Kisaragi is.” “Yeah,” Shintaro replied, taking another look back. “With enough people, the enemy won’t be able to call for reinforcements at will. Assuming he can get Momo outta there like we planned, that should take care of things up there. But…ugh, I told her not to do anything dangerous, and now look…!” Kisaragi’s mission in this operation was to divert our foe and prevent them from calling for backup. I knew Shintaro said it, too: “Take absolute care, Momo, that you don’t hurt yourself along the way.” I guess Momo had gotten a little…okay, a lot carried away. “Hey, she’s doing her best for us, you know? I mean…we’re all risking our lives here.” “Yeah, but there are certain limits, man,” Shintaro whined as he turned his head back forward. The twisty, undulating corridors forked with regularity, proceeding inward like a labyrinth deliberately built to stymie us. I had been here several times before, but it was the first time I could manage the traversal without any hesitation. It really all came down to Hibiya and his map, and that we made it this far in such a short time. That “focusing eyes” skill is nuts. Totally nuts. We practiced it just a little bit last night, and Hibiya had it down. All he had to do was look at (or picture in his mind, really) his target, and he could recall several kinds of things about the target, just like that, right down to the last detail. It was psychometry taken to absurd extremes. I showed him a photo of Dad just to test it out, and bam—he had a grip of this building’s entire floor plan. Every nook and cranny. We were hoping for some kind of basic map, but what he gave us was more like a road atlas. It shocked me. “I always liked mapping intricate structures and stuff” is how he explained it, but this might be some genius-level talent we had here. As I marveled at Hibiya’s mental prowess, Shintaro’s phone rang. We stopped, eyes opened wide. This was the third phone call of the night, but that didn’t make the mood among us any less frazzled than the previous two. Shintaro picked up the phone, then pointed at the T intersection right in front of us. “It—it’s coming from the right! …You got it, Konoha?!” His short white hair fluttered past for a single moment. “…Okay!” Konoha, perfectly silent up to now, followed Shintaro’s command and leaped forward like a bullet. At the same moment, a man in white defensive gear appeared from the right-hand fork. He was armed with a handgun, and the moment he noticed us, he readied its sights on us. “No you don’t!” Before he could even finish saying it, Konoha’s right foot kicked the gun away. It clanked loudly against the ceiling. The man was surprised by it just long enough for Konoha’s right knee to bury itself in his solar plexus. “Whoooa,” I couldn’t help but say. It was like something out of an action film, as the man fell to the floor without so much as a shout. We checked to make sure he was out, then let out a sigh of relief. “…Haah! How many of those bastards are there, anyway?!” “I don’t think there’re any more nearby,” Hibiya replied through the phone, “but be careful, all right?” That was right…His “focusing eyes” were on us the whole time—exposing dangers in our path, offering advice. That was his job. Konoha bowed politely at his fallen foe, then returned to us, a sorrowful look on his face. “I…I really don’t like hitting people, I guess.” It was so meek of him—too meek for someone who just pulled off that kung fu nonsense. He was averting his eyes, even. Shintaro sighed and scratched his head. “Look, I know this is a pain in the ass for you, but it’s kind of an emergency, you know? I think you’re gonna have a break for a while, anyway.” Konoha visibly brightened at this, looking expectantly at Shintaro. “Am…Am I being a help to you guys, Shintaro?” “We’re friends. It’s a lot more than ‘being a help.’” He smiled. “We’re totally relying on you.” Nothing he said could’ve made Konoha happier. Friends, huh? I think I’m starting to like the concept. After catching our breath, we moved on, taking the next fork left and immediately finding the door we were after. I felt a chill down my back. It’s here. Beyond this door. Our mortal enemy. Shintaro, sensing my nervousness, patted me on the shoulder. “That’s your dad in there, right? If you’re his kid, it’s time to give him a piece of your mind, okay?” …Damn, Shintaro. You’ve got such a gift for words at times like these. I hate to admit it, but I’m really gonna have to tell Kido about this. Driven on, I approached the door. At Shintaro’s signal, Konoha kicked it open. The moment he did, I winced at the intense odor of formaldehyde. Cables, in a variety of colors, lined the room. Experimental equipment was strewn around, and there was a countless number of monitors on the wall… And there he was, deep inside the dimly lit laboratory, looking right at us from his seat. The glare from the monitors made it impossible to see his expression, but I could tell he was flashing a vulgar smile. “Whoa, whoa, what’re you doing smashing up someone’s house in the middle of the night? You ever heard of proper discipline, you little brats?” It was my dad’s voice, but he had never talked like that. It was harsh, off-putting, like a snake licking its lips. There was no doubt now. He was now on the forefront. “Heh,” Shintaro grunted. “Sorry about that. We’re all still in high school, y’know. If you don’t like it, just try to lecture us about it.” He started walking into the lab, demonstrating not even the slightest iota of fear. There was no one else in the room, and none of us could even guess what kind of traps may have been set. It seemed incredibly brash, but you could see it on his face. That confidence. It hadn’t dissipated at all. I wouldn’t want to have anyone else on my side. “Well…really, though? Just the three of you, advancing on me? That’s really all you think of me, huh? And here I thought you were smarter than that.” His eyes were on me now. They were a deep crimson. That hateful, hateful color, one I’d never forgotten since that day. I tried to hold back my anger as I spoke: “Yeah, well, we kinda got some promising new talent on our side, all right? And I don’t think he’s about to get taken down that easily…I think you know that.” The crimson eyes turned toward Konoha. Despite all his namby-pambiness of a moment ago, his mouth was now stretched out in a straight line, matching his gaze. “I heard about you,” he said, his monotone quietly echoing around the room. “Mr. Tateyama…No. The ‘bad guy.’ Trying to kill everyone…I can’t let that happen.” Then the room was filled with exaggerated laughter. “Oh, come on—what’s the big deal?” our nemesis said, rubbing his hair. “You’ve finally got the ‘friends’ you’ve wanted, too, huh?” Shintaro stepped up to cut him off before he could continue with his breezy ravings. “We know about your scheme,” he said. “About Azami…about the Kagerou Daze…and the way you want to kill them all so you can create a new Medusa.” It didn’t faze Dad at all. Shintaro didn’t let that stop him. “I don’t know why you’re doing this, but it’s over. Surrender right now and release everybody who’s in your grasp. If you can’t…” He pointed at Konoha. “We…Konoha’s gonna mess you up.” Konoha snorted to accentuate the point. Man. I feel pathetic right now. Shintaro should write all our dialogue for us. There was a pause. Then my dad let out a deep, lazy sigh and finally got up off his chair. Shintaro blinked. I didn’t notice it in the dimness before, but our enemy had a gun in his right hand. Konoha steeled his body in response, ready to fight. “Ugh,” the man on the other side said. “I swear, why the hell do I have to put up with these little kids all the time…?” He slowly raised his arm, pointing the gun at Shintaro as his crimson eyes drilled into him. “N-no!” The next moment, Konoha was between the two, both hands outstretched. “D-don’t be stupid, Konoha!” shouted a panicked Shintaro. “You’re putting yourself in danger!”