Chapter 109

Those words dragged Chuuya back to reality. It was just N and him. The cylinder was still intact. Chuuya placed a hand on the cylinder’s surface. It was neither cold nor warm. It was a temperature he knew very well. “…So?” Chuuya faced N after managing to regain his composure. “What kind of national secret does this place—?” Bam! Something had suddenly hit the glass from the inside. Chuuya froze. There was an outline of a hand right next to Chuuya’s that was touching the glass. It was around the same size as his, but only the palm was visible. The rest was hidden within the bluish darkness. He immediately came to a certain realization. The glass itself wasn’t black; that wasn’t what was making it impossible to see inside. The vessel’s glass was actually clear, and the cylinder was filled with a bluish-black liquid, obscuring the contents from view. “Is somebody in there?!” Chuuya shouted at N. But N did not reply; he simply fixed him with a calm gaze. “Answer me, damn it! Who’s in there?!” The hand was almost the exact same size as Chuuya’s. “No need to rush. I’m about to introduce you.” N took out a remote control from a pocket in his white lab coat, then turned one of the many knobs. The sound of wastewater draining could be heard as the bluish-black liquid began to bubble. The water level slowly lowered from the top of the cylinder. Chuuya took a step back as he stared in mute amazement. “Is that…?” What appeared from inside the liquid…was Chuuya. His eyes were closed. All he was wearing was a plastic lab garment. He was ghastly thin, which made him appear slightly younger than Chuuya himself. Both ankles were shacked with silvery-white chains attached to something deep within the water. “Allow me to introduce you to the original you.” Chuuya stared in a daze. “The owner of the self-contradicting skill. Other than his skill, he was an ordinary boy born in a hot spring district in the San’in region. This special vessel was calibrated so he wouldn’t be crushed to death by the singularity’s gravity. That’s the only reason why he’s still alive.” The boy in the cylinder suddenly began violently coughing in agony. It looked like he was having trouble breathing. Before long, he bent completely over while vomiting so painfully that it seemed like he was going to hack up his organs. The cylinder vessel, however, muffled the sounds within. “Hey! He’s in pain! Is he gonna be okay?!” “Of course not,” N replied calmly. “He just lost the amniotic fluid that was keeping him alive.” “What?!” The boy inside writhed on the floor of the vessel while screaming something and violently hitting the glass, although Chuuya could not hear what he was saying. “What the hell are you doing?! Save him!” “There’s no need. He already fulfilled his role long ago—his role to bring you to life.” The boy went into convulsions on the floor while vomiting an unbelievable amount of blood. Chuuya’s complexion instantly changed. He grabbed N by the collar and pulled him forward. “Fill that tank with water again!” he screamed. “This instant!” “Why?” N’s expression didn’t change. “Do it, or I’ll kill you!” N shrugged. “Very well. Here.” He then held out the remote he used to drain the water, which Chuuya immediately ripped out of his hand. It had three black knobs, three black buttons, and one red button. Chuuya turned the knob—the one that had drained the water—back in place, but nothing happened. He pushed several buttons, but still nothing happened. The boy continued to suffer. His body trembled while dark-red blood gushed from his mouth. His face turned bluish purple due to the blood in his lungs making it impossible to breathe. Chuuya desperately pressed every button combination he could think of until he heard a clank, and the vessel began to tilt sideways. It then leaned forward as if it were bowing until the front half of the vessel popped open, releasing the liquid inside along with the young boy. Chuuya lifted the boy’s body off the floor. “Don’t die on me!” The boy gasped in Chuuya’s arms, his chest contracting and expanding aggressively as he still struggled to breathe. His face was no different from Chuuya’s, but his eyes were a little kinder and much feebler. The boy grabbed Chuuya, his gaze pleading. He opened his mouth as if to say something. His lungs filled with a puff of air. And that was it. His life had come to an end. His grip weakened, and his hand dropped to his side. His eyes clouded over after losing focus. The now-useless air in his lungs was expelled like a sigh, signaling the end. Chuuya watched in a daze as the boy’s body began to deteriorate. His skin peeled off as his flesh melted—until they eventually turned into a puddle of that same bluish-black liquid. There was no way to stop it. His flesh fell to the floor, leaving only his skeleton. All that was left was the young boy’s small white bones, his garment, the bundles of transfusion tubes and measurement cords still attached to him, and the bluish-black sludge at Chuuya’s feet. Chuuya laid the skeleton on the floor, then violently grabbed N. “What is wrong with you?!” But N didn’t even blink. “I wasn’t lying when I said I was your father,” N stated flatly, as if he were reading from a set of cue cards. “I designed your body. I tweaked your genes so you’d be able to withstand Arahabaki’s power.” That was when the unbelievable happened. N effortlessly pulled Chuuya’s hand off his clothes. “What…?!” Chuuya tried to punch him, but he couldn’t. In fact, he couldn’t even stand. His knees wobbled. His body grew heavy. N wasn’t strong; Chuuya was growing weak. He’d felt this way once before. “This is…the same as when…” It was a year ago, at the cemetery by the cliffside. This was the same feeling as when Shirase stabbed him from behind. What was it that Shirase said that day? “I wouldn’t squirm so much if I were you. The blade was tipped with rat poison… Your arms and legs are gonna be numb for a while, so you won’t be able to move like normal.” His voice was far away yet strangely prominent. Chuuya dropped to his knees. His hands were too heavy. But why? Why now? “I designed you. That’s why I know all about you. I know how physically strong your body is, yet how you’re just as weak to poison as any ordinary person.” “‘Poison’…?” Chuuya searched his memory. Poisoning him was not an easy task. He would’ve immediately realized it if he had been attacked. That was when it hit him. It happened before they entered the facility when they were told they needed to have their belongings checked and their blood tested. The blood-drawing kit. The needle. “The syringe from when we got here…!” “I invited you here in order to tell you the truth because I believed we could avoid being assassinated by Verlaine that way,” N casually admitted as he adjusted his shirt and smoothed out the wrinkle left by Chuuya’s grip. “But that strategy had an element of uncertainty. There’s no absolute proof that Verlaine would give up if we simply told you the truth. That’s why we decided to take a more reliable approach.” Chuuya struggled in an attempt to stand, splashing the bluish-black sludge at his feet. “Do you get it? If you die, Verlaine will have no reason to stay in this country.” “I’m gonna kill you!” Chuuya exploded with rage. He leaped to his feet with a surge of emotion, no physical strength involved, and swung at N. N calmly took out a gun and shot Chuuya. The point blank hit ricocheted off his forehead and knocked him backward until he fell to the ground. His forehead was bleeding, but the bullet hadn’t reached his brain. It simply slid across his skin and continued to soar past him. He had focused every bit of his skill to redirect the bullet before it struck his head. Showing no emotion, N continued to shoot Chuuya as he lay on the ground. Chuuya was unable to deflect all the bullets as a few hit him in the chest and stomach, sending blood and bits of flesh into the air. He let out a voiceless scream. “I’m sure you think I’m an awful person, but I’m not doing this merely because I don’t want to die. I’m doing this to continue our research. In other words, I’m doing this for our country.” N took a container out of his lab coat pocket. He then opened it, revealing a syringe that he thrusted into one of Chuuya’s fresh wounds. “I am committing a fiendish act for the sake of my organization. You can sympathize, right? After all, you’re part of a large organization, too.” “Eat…shit…,” Chuuya growled. He lifted his hand, but it never reached N. It fell to the floor. And then there was darkness. Shirase suddenly appeared to be in pain. He collapsed to the floor, grabbed his throat, and began writhing in agony. “Shirase! What’s wrong?!” I asked, already running a diagnosis. His heart rate was slowing. His blood pressure dropped. He was clammy and twitching, and he was having trouble breathing. It was a textbook example of poisoning, but the air composition was as per usual, no irregularities. I checked my logs from previous environmental scans, but there were no traces of poison gas anywhere. I promptly gave him a shot of atropine, an anticholinergic agent, in order to alleviate the symptoms. After observing him for a while, I saw signs of improvement, so I decided to give him an even bigger dose. I had a moderate stock of drugs to combat biological and chemical weapons, since I was originally designed for use in warfare. With this drug, his life was no longer in danger. After Shirase had settled down, I gently laid him on the floor and tried to leave the room. But I could not. The door wouldn’t open—neither the door we came from nor the door to the elevator. I could not connect to the control panel, either. I was also unable to contact anyone outside the facility since I already learned the room had electromagnetic shielding. N had lured us into this room to trap us. That was his plan all along. The mission’s risk level suddenly increased 38 percent. This was an extremely unfavorable position to be in. After thinking for a few moments, I rammed my body into the exit, but the iron door did not even budge. I threw a metal chair at it, but that only left a slight dent. I was in a narrow, corridor-like room with only a chair, desk, and lockers for the employees. I could have contacted someone outside if there were a device that could take a wired connection. Furthermore, the floor and ceiling were made of extremely thick iron for the electromagnetic shielding, so breaking through them to escape would prove extremely difficult. There was no other option. I reached for my lower back and opened the attachment port, then felt around for the correct part before pulling it out. Next, I opened up my right hand from between my index and middle fingers down to my wrist and equipped the new part in the crevice. It was a military-grade attachable handsaw. The rotating saw was around the size of my palm. It was typically used to chase after a suspect who escaped behind a locked door. While rotating the blade, I pressed the saw against the locking mechanism on the door leading to the direction we came. A high-pitched, harsh noise filled the air as sparks flew onto my suit. It was going to take a while, but I had to hurry. This research facility was dangerous. The poison was probably meant for Master Chuuya while Shirase was merely collateral damage. And now we were trapped. Master Chuuya was in danger. He might have already been killed, even. Or worse… The room was empty. There were no tables, no chairs, no monitors, no decorations—nothing. There were only notches carved into the wall for measuring height. The room was around the size of a small school pool—in fact, it was actually a tank for storing water to be used during laboratory emergencies. Chuuya was hanging from the wall in that room. He was held up by his wrists which were tied up with thick barbed wire that pierced his skin like a wild beast sinking its teeth into its prey. His feet barely managed to touch the floor. His shirt had been removed, revealing the bleeding holes left by the bullets. The two deepest holes were in his chest and stomach and had large stakes stuck inside them. These stakes were connected to the ceiling with a chain that carried an electric shock through them. Chuuya screamed. The smell of burnt flesh tickled his nose. The electric current went through the stakes and exited through the barbed wire around his wrists. Each shock tore his muscles, nerves, and organs so excruciatingly it felt like he was being turned into mincemeat. Agony like this would make most wish they were never born. “I’m…gonna kill you…,” Chuuya groaned while he glared at the monitor hanging from the ceiling. Another electrical shock. He growled deeply like a wild beast once more. N was watching from the observation room. The electric current’s white flashes were visible, but N didn’t even blink. “Give him ten milliliters of Midazolam,” he ordered his nearby subordinate, keeping his eyes glued to the screen. “But his heart rate…,” a young researcher said while checking the measurements on a device. “It won’t kill him. Do it.” A few devices suddenly moved, and a clear liquid began flowing through one of the four white tubes inserted in Chuuya’s back before disappearing into his body. His eyes opened wide and he began to groan in agony as if his innards were being twisted. Nevertheless, N’s expression still didn’t change. He showed neither sympathy nor malice. His eyes seemed to only be seeing numerical values as he observed Chuuya. There were around twenty chairs, several gauges, and a group of researchers in the observation room. Everyone was busily shuffling back and forth while comparing any situational changes against their notes to make sure nothing would get in the way of this important experiment. “Does it hurt, Chuuya?” N asked into the microphone in front of him. Chuuya remained hanging lifelessly without replying. “Sorry. I wish there was another way we could do this.” N didn’t sound remotely guilty. “But this is the only way to save you,” he added while checking the experiment’s values out of the corner of his eye. “Just like how we respect your will, we respect the will of your skill, Arahabaki, as well. But…how should I put this? Your will is tying Arahabaki down, and as long as your will is firm, we won’t be able to remove Arahabaki from you. We won’t be able to remove the only singularity in this country that we can control—the one thing that reshapes what is considered common knowledge when it comes to skills.” After that, N cut off the microphone with the switch in his hand, then asked the subordinate next to him, “How is he reacting to the Midazolam?” “He’s showing symptoms. It will take another two minutes before we see a significant response.” N nodded. “Give him another twenty milliliters,” he ordered before turning the microphone back on. “Chuuya, your persona model is clutching the reins of Arahabaki and holding it back. Basically, killing you would cause us to lose a singularity we have under control. Moreover, attempting to override the current persona model—you—with another one would make the two models clash, which could cause Arahabaki to go out of control. And we’d prefer not to have another research facility blown up.” N snorted at his own joke so quietly that no one else heard. But his smirk immediately evaporated. “That’s why we’ve come up with this.” He then turned a knob on his remote control, and a heavy current immediately ran down the chains and into the stakes piercing Chuuya’s wounds. He howled in extreme agony; it felt as if his entire body were being ripped apart. He twisted and turned to escape from the pain, but the barbed wire around his wrists only dug deeper into his flesh, causing him to bleed even more. “We’re going to make you willingly release Arahabaki. You don’t need to think too much about it, though. All you have to do is recite the control incantation. It’s the authentication code that initializes the seal. After that, we’ll be able to input your character set, and once we confirm the control incantation, we’ll delete you and override your personality with a different one. You’ll finally be freed from all pain, including the pain you’re experiencing now, which could go on for who knows how many days… That—and the never-ending darkness you’ve inhabited for years.” Never-ending darkness. That was the first phrase Chuuya reacted to. He hadn’t responded to anything said to him up until then, and yet those words made his neck twitch. That change did not go unnoticed by N, either. “You’re going to repeat the following phrase. You can say it in your head if you want. It’s a simple phrase,” N told him before closing his eyes to monotonously recite the authentication code he knew by heart. It was a simple couplet. “O grantors of dark disgrace, do not wake me again…” “‘O grantors of dark disgrace…’” Chuuya’s lips moved almost automatically. The drugs were taking effect, and his eyes were having trouble staying focused. They were the eyes of someone who didn’t know what he was saying. The movement of his mouth and trembling of his throat were completely involuntary. “Good,” muttered N with a faint smirk. “‘Do not wake………,’” Chuuya continued. “Who…am I…?” His words listlessly fell to the floor before spreading out and cooling the room. N frowned in disgust at the monitor. “Increase the voltage,” he ordered, never taking his eyes off the screen. “But…” “Do it!” A heavy current was subsequently sent into Chuuya’s body through the stakes. An amorphous electric snake rampaged through his organs, nerves, and muscles. Chuuya howled. My rotating saw severed the lock shaft on the door, which finally brought an end to the unpleasant sound. The saw attached to my hand had distorted due to the heat. I was not going to be able to use it again, so I decided to discard it there. I could finally escape, but I could not abandon Shirase, who was unconscious. As an android programmed to protect humans, I did not have the option of leaving a defenseless human somewhere dangerous, regardless of the circumstances. I had to bring Shirase to a safe location before I could search for Master Chuuya. I reached out to open the sliding door with its severed lock, but there was no need…because the door was suddenly blown away, along with me as well. The floor was above my head, then under my feet, and then above my head once more. As I tumbled backward, I felt a strong concentration of stress in my shoulder and head. An impact had knocked me back. I had been shot. My main priority was getting back to my feet, followed by scanning the environment with my sensor. It picked up three enemies—heavily armed soldiers. That was no surprise, considering that this was a military facility. They must have blown the door up with an explosive before rushing inside. I analyzed where I was shot and discovered a spiral fissure in my exodermal armor. This was not good. I had been hit with a full metal jacket bullet. Softer bullets are typically used in battles against other humans because they get lodged in their bodies and cause greater damage. However, seeing as these bullets prioritized speed and penetrating power, the enemy must have come prepared to go into battle with an inorganic target like me. This was extremely unfavorable. My vision stabilized, which allowed me to see the door, but the three soldiers were already aiming their weapons at me. A storm of bullets was coming my way with such high precision that it would not be possible to evade. A heart was beating. It was painfully loud, as if someone was pounding a large drum right next to his ear. Chuuya Nakahara looked in the direction of the noise, but of course, there was no heart there. Whose heartbeat is it, then? Mine? That’s absurd. I’m not even human. Something as sophisticated as a heart wouldn’t suit me. Another electric current sent Chuuya’s body into convulsions whether he resisted or not. It felt as if each blood vessel were being chopped into thousands of pieces and his body fluids were being boiled until nothing remained. This was far beyond the kind of pain a sixteen-year-old boy like him could endure. The only silver lining was that nobody cared how much he screamed or wailed. That was why Chuuya yelled every time he felt pain; he could taste the blood in his throat. He hadn’t heard from N for some time. Researchers despised unproductive labor. He must have wanted to let Chuuya suffer alone in silence for a while. Chuuya’s skill hadn’t completely disappeared, but it was extremely weak. They must have been constantly pumping poison into his body through the tubes in his back. His limbs were numb, and his head was in a daze. He could no longer tell what he was physically doing in reality versus what was just in his head. And he was being injected with other drugs as well. Some sort of truth serum or hallucinogen. Who knew how much longer he could take it? Obviously, I’m gonna never gonna give in. I can keep this up forever. But for what purpose? “I told you, Chuuya.” He looked up in the direction of the sudden voice. It was a familiar voice, one that belonged to the person he hated most in this world. “Your birth itself was a mistake. We’re the same. Is there really a point to suffering through all that pain for a life that isn’t even real?” The voice was taunting him. “Shut up,” Chuuya spat, but even he knew he was talking to himself. He was most likely hearing things due to the drugs he was given. There was nobody there, but his mind was scattered, and the voice wouldn’t stop. “Screw you, Dazai.” “That’s the best comeback you could come up with?” Chuuya wanted nothing more than to slice off the ear the voice was whispering into. He could see Dazai’s wavering shadow by his side, and he wanted to gouge out his eyes. “That’s just proof that you at least somewhat believe what I’m saying. Because deep down inside, you’re the same as me.” “Shut up, shut up, shut up! I’m me! I’m not some piece of shit like you!” “I figured you’d say that to him.” Another voice, this one deeper than the last, suddenly grabbed Chuuya’s heart, freezing it over. “But you can’t keep lying to yourself forever. Didn’t I tell you that when I welcomed you into our group?” Chuuya looked at the individual. This was what convinced him that he was hallucinating because of the drugs. “Piano Man…” Chuuya’s voice was hoarse. A drop of sweat ran down his chin and fell to the floor. Piano Man was leaning against the opposite wall with his arms crossed, languidly looking this way. It was just like how he always stood against the wall at the pool hall. Chuuya couldn’t possibly forget. “I told you why I let you into the group, right? It was because I was worried you might start a rebellion against the organization. You looked like you wanted to destroy everything in your path, burn it all to the ground in revenge. Still do.” Shadows began to walk through the wall past the worried Piano Man’s side: Albatross, Iceman, Lippmann, and Doc. They smiled and spoke to Chuuya as well. “We all died ’cause of how unique you are. But we don’t hate ya for it,” said Albatross. “We were all members of the Mafia. We knew we could die at any moment,” said Lippmann. “Don’t be stupid! I…!” Their smiles faded, and the next voice whispered right into Chuuya’s ear. “So just die already.” When Chuuya immediately turned around, alarmed, he saw Shirase’s ghastly pale face staring back at him. “Atone for what you’ve done to your friends in the Mafia and us Sheep. Pay for it with your life.” That was when Chuuya realized the kids from the Sheep—his old friends—were all gathered around him. Betrayal and separation. Dozens of children coldly glared at Chuuya. “Chuuya, you always said you were simply fulfilling the duty of those with power. Was that a lie?” “I thought you said you’d protect us. Did you forget how we fed you when you were on the verge of starvation? How we protected you?” Stop. Chuuya twisted his body and tried to cover his ears, but his arms were still chained to the ceiling. “Hmph. You’re the king? Yeah, right. All you did was ruin our lives.” “Chuuya, you—” “Shut up! If you think you can become king, then do it! You can have this power!” Chuuya howled, unable to take it any longer. “To hell with power! If I didn’t have this skill, I’d still be with you guys…!” Another electric shock. A blinding white light flashed in Chuuya’s mind, and deep within the light, he saw the impossible. The Sheep never disbanded. They were still a group just like they always had been. Chuuya wasn’t anyone special; he didn’t have a skill, either. He was just a regular member of the group. He wasn’t the king, he had no powers, he wasn’t the center of attention—he was simply a single Sheep among the flock, chatting with his friends. “I…” The illusion disappeared, leaving only Chuuya and his wounded body. And then there was silence. The next hallucination Chuuya saw was someone’s fingertips. “Your colleagues and friends all left you. Why do you think that is, my dear brother?” Chuuya sluggishly lifted his head. He had a good idea of who it was. “You now, huh…?” “Yes, me. Of course it’s me. I was created in a lab just like you. I’m the perfect person to answer your questions,” the illusion said as he adjusted his black porkpie hat. “My questions…eh?” Chuuya repeated. “Then tell me this. What did I do wrong? When did I mess things up?” The hallucination—Verlaine—appeared a touch sad. “At the very beginning.” His eyes were crystal clear with no lie hidden behind them. “After all, your birth itself was a mistake, just like mine.” Being born was a mistake. Chuuya’s fists were trembling. Is that really okay? Can I just let them get away with it? “No, they can’t simply get away with it. Of course not. It is time for judgment to begin. They need to be punished.” “Punished…” “I’m proud of you for fighting through the pain.” There was even kindness in Verlaine’s voice. “You took responsibility for being powerful. Now it’s time for them to take responsibility for what they did. Make them pay. Only then will it all finally balance out.” “Ha-ha… Wish I could.” Chuuya’s hollow laughter was directed at himself. “I wanna tear ’em to pieces, but that’s not possible. I can’t get out of here. I’m gonna die in pain and despair.” “I won’t let you die.” Verlaine approached Chuuya, then pulled a stake out of him. Chuuya’s eyes flew open. After Verlaine removed all the electrodes, he crushed them with gravity. He ripped the barbed wire off Chuuya’s wrists while pulling out all the tubes in his spine as well. “I’m going to kill that researcher,” Verlaine said after removing all the restraints, checking Chuuya’s wounds, and getting to his feet. “Just like I originally planned. You’re free to just sit here. But if you want to make the man who ruined your life take responsibility, then…” Verlaine extended a hand to Chuuya. “Come with me.” Chuuya quietly stared at the hand as if he were observing something bizarre. “Why…?” “I told you when we first met. I came here to save you.” Verlaine smiled. It didn’t look like the smile of a spy or an assassin. It was the smile of a young man. “Be angry, Chuuya. Be mad at the unfair hand you were dealt. Be enraged at the researchers who played with your life. That rage will help you take it back. Reclaim your life, Chuuya. It belongs to you. That is, unless you want to spend the rest of it as a guinea pig with a serial number.” Of course I don’t. The rage got Chuuya’s blood flowing, which heated his muscles. He stood and took Verlaine’s hand with a viselike grip. “Let’s go, dear brother.” Verlaine smiled as he held Chuuya upright. “Let’s kill N and get your soul back from this irrational world.” The incoming storm of bullets was about to land when I released the impact-resistant shield in my forearm. The umbrella-shaped shield’s surface was coated with a superalloy that was both heat and impact resistant and could defend from most lightweight attacks. It was specially created to withstand the high energy of Arahabaki. The full metal jacket bullets slid off the shield’s surface and soared past me. Three of those shots stopped upon impact. The kinetic energy caused the alloy to peel off the surface, but the damage was minimal. I leaped into the air with my shield still raised, then kicked off a soldier’s rifle and jumped once more. After landing on the wall behind them, I kicked off it and charged right into one of the soldier’s backs. My sensor picked up the light impact cracking his ribs. One man down. Still atop the soldier, I swung one long leg like a scythe to sweep another soldier’s legs. When he fell to the ground, I pricked his neck with the needle in my finger and injected him with a drug. Two men down. However, the third soldier had plenty of time to face me and fire his gun while I was handling the other two, and that was what he was about to do. My hands were on the floor, so I could not release the shield on my forearm fast enough. I rapidly searched for a solution, but nothing I found would make it in time. I ended up not needing a solution, though. The soldier’s body was knocked into the air. I heard a burst of electricity, and he then immediately went into convulsions, dropping his gun. Only a few seconds of pained groaning went by before he lost all strength and collapsed. I hadn’t done a thing. A savior had appeared from the corridor behind the soldiers. It was a very unexpected individual. “Well, that was boring,” the individual said, yawning as he lowered the Taser in his hand. “You kill a guy with electricity, and he just dies. What a snore.” “You’re with the Port Mafia…” It was Osamu Dazai. “Nice to meet you, detective. Where’s Chuuya?” Dazai asked upon tossing the Taser to the floor indifferently. He looked to be around the same age as Master Chuuya. “Master Chuuya has been…” “Seeing how much time has gone by, I’m guessing he’s been captured? Or did you already save him?” He stepped onto and over the unconscious soldier as he approached me. “Because I’d hate to miss out on seeing a crying Chuuya get tortured.” “‘Tortured’? Master Chuuya?” Was he really being tortured? It was possible, but how would this boy know that? Why was he even here? I recalled Dazai could nullify other skills and was going to be our secret weapon against Verlaine, but he never answered his phone, no matter how many times we contacted him. So why was he here now? “You’re going to ask me why I’m here, and I’m going to reply, ‘This was all part of the plan.’ Then you’re going to ask me, ‘What is the plan?’ And I’m going to tell you, ‘Everything. From the very beginning. It was all part of my master plan.’ After that, you’re going to say, ‘What do you mean?’” I tried to analyze the information with my processor as high priority in order to comprehend what Dazai was saying, but his mind was quicker. It took everything I had to keep up. “Then I’ll tell you, ‘Everything means exactly how it sounds. Everything. Verlaine’s targets, the detective, the researcher—it was all based on the information I gave Verlaine. In other words, the system he used to assassinate people was my system, too. Next, you’re gonna ask me, ‘Why would you do that?’” He was right. That was indeed the question on my mind. What he had just said highly suggested he was working with Verlaine. It was possible that Dazai was calling the shots behind the detective’s death and the danger Master Chuuya was currently in. In other words, this was a betrayal. Another battle could be inevitable depending on what he said next. However, Dazai’s eventual reply went far beyond anything I imagined. “I did it to buy time before Verlaine reached his biggest target. His final target is Ougai Mori, the Port Mafia boss. Normally, he would’ve been the first to be assassinated, but after manipulating the intel a bit, I got him placed last in line. And thanks to the time I bought, I’m ready to assassinate Verlaine instead. Just need to make a few final touches to the plan first.” Dazai then smiled and helped me stand up. After that, he stared into nothingness like some sage who saw all. “Chuuya’s gonna kill N at this rate and lose his humanity, but I want to see him suffer as a human. That’s why I have to stop him.” Alarms blared as if the apocalypse had arrived. Red emergency lights flashed, instantly transforming the facility into the belly of the beast. All wireless feeds for general staff were activated, and every line repeated a warning over the radio: “Intruder detected within the facility. All intelligence officers present are to destroy specified documents, then leave the facility immediately. Ops Division members are to be armed and waiting in position. This is not a drill. I repeat. This is not a drill.” I specifically blocked out the aggravating alarm from my hearing and continued my preparations. After putting the unconscious Shirase inside the storage room, I closed the door and electrically locked it. “I switched the lock with an encryption key that changes after a certain amount of time. Shirase should be safe for the time being.” “Good work. Looks like that just leaves Chuuya,” Dazai said as he began walking off, wholly uninterested in Shirase. “Dazai, wait,” I pleaded. “You said ‘as a human’ when referring to Master Chuuya earlier. Do you know whether he is human?” I was curiously hopeful that he would know the truth. I did not have any evidence to back it up. It was simply how I felt. It was the hubris of man to believe that machines did not have gut feelings or flashes of inspiration. Anything a human could do, a machine could do as well, of course. “No clue,” he quickly replied, but his eyes faintly narrowed as if he was deeply speculating something. “Both N and Verlaine claim Chuuya’s not human, but I think they could be wrong. At least that’s how I feel after reading this notebook—Rimbaud’s memoirs. In a way, this whole thing started because of what was written in here,” revealed Dazai as he took an old, leather-bound notebook out of his pocket. Rimbaud’s journal! I immediately scanned the notebook in Dazai’s hand. Was it real? It was possible. The late spy’s notebook was a sort of diary that he wrote in secret before each mission. It was a book of national secrets in a way, since it contained information regarding his wartime missions. There were rumors of its existence, but nothing about it ever being found. “Where did you get that?” “You can try to get me to tell you, but you’d just be wasting your time. All I do is lie. I’m a huge pathological liar.” Dazai’s lips curled into a cryptic smile. I used my built-in lie detector, but it failed to pick up anything. His vitals were hardly any different from a sleeping human’s. If anything, his level of output was strangely average despite the circumstances. Just who was this boy? “Looks like we don’t have time to chat over some tea right now. We’ve gotta find Chuuya,” Dazai said drowsily while scratching the back of his neck. “How do we even start, though?” “With Chuuya, it’s simple, really.” He smirked knowingly, as if he had all the answers. “We just need to go to the noisiest place here.” An explosion roared as the wall burst into pieces. Chuuya rushed through the rubble and dust cloud like a cannonball, and the air-splitting shock wave dispersed the dust a few moments later. Standing before him was a group of armed facility guards prepping for battle. “I want Shock Squad Pomegranate at the east corridor! Engineer Squad Bracken, go blow up the west corridor and seal it off! Buy as much time as you can so the intelligence officers can escape! Now, get mov—” But the commander never finished that sentence. Chuuya’s knee had bent the man in half before sending him flying back. Eight seasoned soldiers, carefully selected to protect a top secret military facility, immediately got into position with their guns in unison. It would be insulting to compare their skill level with the average enlisted soldiers who were hired to guard rations or equipment. Only those with the highest level of marksmanship, stamina, focus, and battle prowess were allowed to work here. However, they were only skilled when it came to battling other ordinary humans. Never once did they imagine they’d have to fight a human-size beast that was flying toward them with the speed of the wind and the weight of a truck. “Don’t let him through! The panic room’s just up ahead! We have to buy time until the top intelligence officers finish evacuating!” Chuuya, low in the air, rammed his body into one of the soldiers who was about to shoot, which sent the soldier flying like a leaf in a storm. Chuuya then kicked the soldier in the stomach, knocking him into another solider on the opposite side of the room. It was as if a violent gale had passed through the narrow chamber; the soldiers bounced off the walls like billiard balls. A mere dozen or so seconds went by until only silence and death reigned. Chuuya stepped over the guards’ bodies on the floor as if they meant nothing, then placed a hand on the door to the panic room. It didn’t open. The door felt heavy and had an electric lock. Chuuya used pressurized gravity on the door in an attempt to break the lock, but it still didn’t open. The poison had weakened his skill. “Focus.” Before Chuuya even realized, Verlaine was leaning against the wall by the door with his arms crossed. “You’ve been poisoned. So what? You’re the beast who will end this world. Make that skill yours. Because that’s what you’ll have to do if you really wish to destroy the evil behind this door.” “I know that…!” Chuuya placed both hands on the door and clenched his jaw. His skill’s output gradually grew stronger. The door—which was resistant to explosives, chemicals, and skills—was built to withstand intruders’ attacks. Most skill users wouldn’t be able to destroy it, let alone even make it creak. “Focus. Tame the beast with your will. You will die if you don’t.” The air distorted. Chuuya’s clothes began billowing as his skill’s glow concentrated around his fists. Where am I? That was the first thought Shirase had when he woke up. He was inside a weapons locker. He could barely touch the walls with his arms and legs if he stretched, but there was hardly any light. Shirase couldn’t even see his own nose. “Chuuya? Adam?” He called out to them, but nobody replied. He didn’t sense anyone’s presence, either. That is, until he noticed the emergency alarm going off outside the locker along with rushing footsteps and panicked voices. He heard some people mention an intruder while others were talking about non-researchers evacuating. The facility was clearly in some sort of trouble. Research facility. Oh yeah. He had finally remembered what was going on. Shirase sat up. He’d been invited into the facility and descended deep underground until all of a sudden, it was painful to even breathe, and he passed out. Gunfire could be heard in the distance. He was all alone trapped in this cramped space. They left me here. They abandoned me. “Damn it! Chuuya! Where’d you go?! Get me outta here!” He kicked the door with brute strength, and it easily opened. Shirase was instantly taken aback, as he did not expect it to open, so he closed the door. He then slightly opened it again to see what was happening outside the locker and discovered numerous lockers, just like his, in what appeared to be a dark supply room. It looked like he was the only one there. Shirase rolled out of the locker then tried to stand, but he was immediately hit by a dizzy spell that brought him to his knees. He suddenly realized he couldn’t breathe, and his heart started to hurt. Most likely poison. Damn it. They thought I was a deadweight after I got poisoned, so they stuffed me in this room and escaped without me. Shirase closed his fist, then opened it. He was awake and alert. He wouldn’t have a problem moving like this, which to him meant there was no reason for him to sit around here any longer. Fortunately, there were a few white lab coats hanging on the wall for the researchers. He stood up and put one on because he remembered the voice on the intercom ordering all noncombatants to evacuate immediately. I should be able to escape pretty easily if I pretend I’m one of the researchers. But Chuuya wouldn’t be so lucky. All the guards are keeping an eye out for him. No way he’d be able to blend in and escape. He’s probably in danger right now. But who cares? It’s not my job to save him. It’s not…my job… “Destroy all documents! Cut off the power to all areas except for Evac Route 8 and buy some time!” N shouted from inside one of the facility’s few panic rooms. This long, narrow chamber shaped like a rail carriage was supplied with a communications terminal, food, a generator, bulletproof vests, and every other essential for emergencies. There was even a single-passenger elevator in the back of the room for evacuating. N was yelling orders for each department into the terminal while simultaneously attaching a bundle of chains to a power source and carrying it toward the entrance. “Notify the Operations Division in the control room to drag the battle out as long as possible! Then contact the general—” The door blew clean off its hinges, nearly grazing N’s nose before piercing the wall. “What kind of father tries to run away from his own son? Heh.” Chuuya was standing at the entrance, glaring at N as his entire body was steaming with rage. “Eek…!” After the chains slipped out of N’s hand, he retreated a few steps until his back was rubbing against the wall. “What were you doing in here? Gettin’ ready to die?” “W-wait! I didn’t have a choice! Everything I did, I did because it’s my job! I never personally wanted to make you suffer!” “Uh-huh. I feel bad for ya, then.” Chuuya strode menacingly toward N, who retreated at the same pace on trembling legs. Verlaine was smiling at the entrance with his arms crossed, enjoying the show. Chains were lying by Chuuya’s feet. N seemed to be using them for something, so Chuuya picked them up and checked their tips. The ends of the chains had metal stakes with thick wire that ran all the way down the chains and looped through the holes. These were the electric shock devices that had been used to torture Chuuya. “So these are what you jabbed in my stomach earlier. Now I get it… Setting up a trap to ambush me, so you could stab me one last time, eh?” “I—I…” Chuuya reeled in the two chains connected to a power source in two corners of the room. “I’m gonna be honest. It hurt pretty bad. Still a valuable experience, though. I was thinking I could have you experience a hundredth of what I did,” said Chuuya while staring at the chains. But N used that brief moment to take off, running toward the door to the elevator in the back of the room until the tip of a chain pierced the hem of his coat. “Not so fast,” Chuuya hissed with rage. The tip of the chain went through N’s coat and pierced the wall behind him. Chuuya was already spinning the second chain, the tip almost touching the floor, as he slowly aimed at his next target. There was no way for N to run, let alone dodge the next attack, with his clothes pinned to the wall. “Wait! You’re making a grave mistake!” “Don’t listen to him, Chuuya,” Verlaine said over by the entrance. He checked his fingers in a bored manner. “People like him will lie about anything to survive. It was the same with me. The exact same.” Chuuya’s eyes sharply narrowed as they glowed with transparent, ruby-red bloodlust. “W-wait! I was only doing it because it’s my job! Really! That’s all this was!” “Yeah, it was your job,” Chuuya spat as he got even closer to him. “You toyed with my soul because it’s your job. You locked the other me away and killed him because it’s your job. You’d do anything for your job because you’re a piece of shit. So now’s it’s time for you to die for your job.” Gravity lifted the metal stake on the chain into the air. Dazai and I were quickly traveling down the corridor. “There’s no proof that Chuuya is human, but there’s no proof he’s not human, either,” Dazai told me. “All Verlaine did was steal Chuuya from that facility. That means he’s an outsider in this regard. It’s not like he saw Chuuya’s creation as an artificial skill with his own two eyes. That N guy could be lying, too.” N could be lying? “What would be his reason for lying?” “Beats me. But the best liars even lie about why they lie to cover it up, and that guy smells like a first-rate liar to me. Am I wrong?” Dazai smirked with chilling ecstasy. However, he had a point. I scanned the vitals of every human I encountered since entering the research facility. I checked infrared intensity, heart rate, the levels of carbon dioxide exhaled, pupils, and the amount of sweat produced. Naturally, I did the same for N. Nevertheless, I did not discover any clear signs that he was going to betray us. Master Chuuya might be a man-made creation. Or he could be human. It could go either way. I leaned forward and increased my speed by 40 percent. If there was a 50 percent chance he was human, then I could not let him kill N. There would be no turning back if he did that. The metal stake floated in the air, jerking the chain like a mad dog about to lunge forward. “It’ll all be over soon.” Chuuya was holding the chain back while it tugged in the opposite direction as if this were a game of tug-of-war. Loosening his grip only a little would send the chain flying forward like a rocket. The sharp tip of the metal stake was pointing right at N, who couldn’t move because another stake had already stapled his clothing to the wall. “Do it, Chuuya,” urged Verlaine, crossing his arms. He sounded giddy, almost ready to start whistling a little tune. “With that much gravity, you’re not going to simply pierce his body. It’s going to blow him apart. He’ll die instantly. Isn’t that right, N?” “Chuuya, wait! You’re going to regret this tomorrow! I guarantee it!” “I don’t give a shit about tomorrow.” Chuuya’s eyes narrowed with ferocity. “I’ve always done what I’ve wanted. I protected those I wanted to protect and knocked down anyone who got in my way. This is no different.” “Wait! You can’t!” “There it is! The panic room!” shouted Dazai the moment he turned the corner. When I followed his gaze, I saw a door at the end of the hall with a few guards collapsed by its side. “Pardon me—I’m going on ahead!” I leaped past Dazai and straight over the pile of fallen guards before landing in front of the door. After promptly touching the door’s port, I searched for the code to unlock it. It took me 1.22 seconds to find the correct number and unlock the door. “Master Chuuya! You must not kill him!” I rushed into the panic room, unable to wait for the aggravatingly slow automatic door to fully open. My eyes widened in shock. The room was empty. Not only was it empty, but there were no signs that anyone had been there, either. When I scanned the floor, I discovered a faint buildup of dust but no footprints. It was as if the room had not been used in years. This was not the right location. Master Chuuya was in a different panic room. And there was no way we were going to make it in time now. “I don’t give a shit about tomorrow.” Chuuya’s eyes narrowed with ferocity. “I’ve always done what I’ve wanted. I protected those I wanted to protect and knocked down anyone who got in my way. This is no different.” The chain was swelling with tension like an arrow pulled taut. And then it was loosed like one. “Wait! You can’t!” screamed N with his hands in the air. There was nothing else he could do. Chuuya released the chain with enough power to easily run straight through an entire building. A roar shook the room. It was emitted by the shock wave from the chain breaking the sound barrier. The speeding metal bundle soared through the air before piercing its target without even a second of hesitation. The enemy’s chest was impaled with perfect precision. Verlaine’s chest. “Gwah…?” Blood spurted out of the wound. Verlaine froze. He had slowed down the attack by manipulating its gravity, yet the stake still dug its way deep into his torso. Chuuya had twisted his upper body and was facing Verlaine. He’d turned around the moment he released the chain, dramatically changing its trajectory. “Don’t act like you’re the good guy here, Verlaine. Yeah, this researcher’s a piece of shit, but you’re the one who killed my friends.” Chuuya smacked himself in the chest. “I can feel their lives burning right here inside me, and till those flames die down, I can’t just do whatever I want. I’m gonna do what I need to do. That’s who I am.” “Chuuya…!” Verlaine grabbed the metal stake and tried to pull it out of his chest. But before he could, Chuuya sprinted to the back of the room and pulled the lever connected to the chain. The peak output current snaked through the glittering chain like a dragon before crashing into Verlaine. “Gaaaaaah?!” Electricity coursed through his body. Even Verlaine, who was strong against physical strikes and bullets, was no match for electric shocks—just like Chuuya. “What you ‘need to do’?” Verlaine’s flesh blistered; he grabbed the chain while he went into convulsions. “Why don’t you get it? There isn’t anything you need to do! Live how you want to live! Destroy what you want to destroy! Because there’s only one thing we needed to do, and that was to not be born!” Verlaine’s trembling fingers tightened around the chain as he slowly pulled it out. “Just shut up.” Chuuya’s eyes burned with fierce determination. “Maybe that’s what you wanna do, but don’t shove your beliefs down my throat. ’Cause that ain’t how I feel at all.” Several shadows ran through the light in his eyes: His friends in the Sheep. His friends in the Port Mafia. The light in his eyes was determination. It was the powerful brilliance of humankind, something gained only through encounters and partings with other people. “You’ve been completely wrong from the very start,” Chuuya spat in disgust. “‘Being born was a mistake’? Sounds like the kind of garbage Dazai would spew, and no way in hell am I ever gonna think the way he does!” Verlaine pulled out the chain, then tossed it to the ground. But Chuuya simultaneously charged at him. “Chuuyaaaaa!” “Verlaaaaaaine!”