The men of the Fourth Division were pursuing Tsushima and Holy, who had disappeared down the employee hallway. There weren’t any surveillance cameras installed in the employee hallway, and Tsushima had undoubtedly chosen that route because he was aware of that.
At their headquarters, the command team exchanged radio communications with the on-site pursuit teams while intently monitoring grainy footage of multiple surveillance cameras. After confirming the layout of the employee hallways, they positioned all the pursuit teams at the exits.
Thanks to that decision, an on-site squad quickly spotted Holy.
A report came through the radio along with static.
“Team C here. Target confirmed. In pursuit.”
“Roger that. Don’t kill her yet. Force her into an area where there isn’t anyone else around.”
There was absolutely no hesitation in the men’s cold tones.
“Identify the companion’s position. He should still be in the station,” came the voice of the commander over the radio.
“Team F here. Companion confirmed. He’s moving in a different direction from the target.”
“Roger that. Tail him and don’t let your guard down. If he tries to approach the target, eliminate him.”
Team F responded in the affirmative to the commander’s order, then started chasing Tsushima.
Even though there were only a few minutes left until Tsushima and Holy’s train departed, Tsushima was heading in an entirely different direction. The commander sensed something was off, both in how the two of them had split up and in Tsushima’s movements.
“This isn’t adding up.” The commander raised his head with a doubtful look on his face, his gaze on the station’s security camera footage.
The grainy screen showed a man in a jacket, avoiding crowds as he walked. The commander watched him for a while, then suddenly realized something.
There was a subtle difference in his gait. Tsushima typically moved with a hint of sluggishness while maintaining a strange amount of vigilance.
But the man in the footage wasn’t walking like that. The commander activated his radio and shouted, “Team F, that’s not him!”
At the exact moment the commander raised his voice, the person wearing Tsushima’s clothes suddenly collapsed on the spot. The crowd inside the station became a chorus of commotion, and the sea of people parted, leaving a space large enough to give the security cameras a clear view of the floor. Lying there, in the very center of the opening, was Tsushima. But as the commander continued to observe, he couldn’t believe his eyes.
They had been played. Tsushima’s skin started gradually peeling off with a blue glow, leaving behind a metal doll resembling a human skeleton.
It was a masquerade mannequin—an advanced tool created by combining several Codes. You rarely saw them in public due to their extremely high manufacturing cost.
“Damn Informationist!” the commander yelled in frustration.
Tsushima had undoubtedly planned to pull this off from the very beginning.
The commander barked his next orders over the radio in a frustrated tone.
“Team F, suspend pursuit. Be on alert against surprise attacks while making preparations to withdraw.”
The Fourth Division was supposed to have been getting ready to intercept and attack Tsushima, but it turned out they’d been dancing in the palm of his hand. This caused the commander to panic.
Just then, a report came in from the field that compounded his anxiety.
“The target has boarded the train. What should we do?”
“There’s a high probability the companion is concealed in the area surrounding the target. All pursuit teams, regroup near the target. Board the train together. Do not let them escape under any circumstances.” The commander issued these aggressive instructions as he glared at Holy’s back on the monitor.
In accordance with his orders, the pursuit teams leaped onto the train just before it departed. They numbered twenty people in total, and they instantly surrounded the train car Holy had boarded.
The train departed on schedule, in line with the station announcements. Meanwhile, the commander instructed all pursuit teams to maintain strict vigilance and listened intently to their reports over the radio.
“The train has left the station. We’re starting the operation.”
Giving the go-ahead for his men’s decision, the commander held his breath and watched them get to work.
The train’s interior was separated into private compartments. He could hear the footsteps of the rugged men slowly advancing down the aisle of the communal space. They all gathered in front of one room. There was nowhere left to run.
Immediately after exchanging signals, they all flooded into the compartment at once. A continuous burst of suppressed gunfire rang out.
Eventually, the men stopped shooting, and a brief silence fell. The commander heard what sounded like something being picked up, and a hint of unease stirred in his chest. Soon, his anxieties became reality.
“They tricked us. The companion was also a decoy.”
Picturing a masquerade mannequin collapsed in the passenger compartment, the commander violently slammed the desk.
“All units, prepare for withdrawal. Our work ends here. We leave the rest to him.”
The commander exchanged glances with his colleagues in the same room. Then he bitterly looked up into empty space and muttered, “…Even though this is the last thing I wanted.”