Black Bullet - Volume 2 - Chapter 2.3

3

“Why did you have Rentaro leave?”

“Because I thought you wouldn’t want Rentaro to hear this. That’s the kind of thing we’ll be talking about now.” Sumire sat back down into her chair, and it gave a sharp creak. “Enju, let’s make this brief. Have you ever felt sudden chills on the back of your neck when fighting a strong Initiator or when walking around town?”

Enju couldn’t tell where the question was going and was mentally tilting her head in bewilderment, but she answered honestly. “No.”

Sumire recrossed her legs and put a coffee-filled beaker to her mouth. “Let me rephrase the question. Enju, you’re an Initiator who specializes in speed, but has that speed continued to improve? Have you had trouble improving your speed? Where it suddenly stopped getting better?”

Enju put her hands on the table in surprise and leaned her body over the table. “Do you know something about that, Sumire?”

Sumire sank her body deeply into the chair. “It’s just as I thought. You’ve reached your growth limit point, huh?”

Growth limit point. Enju couldn’t help but feel chills at the sound of those words.

Sumire flipped a lamp switch and pulled out a binder from a pile of documents, flipping through its pages to find the document she was looking for. “Enju, will you tell me a little about that feeling in your own words?”

It was like a doctor interviewing a patient, and remembering that Sumire actually was a doctor, Enju righted herself on the stool and sat up straight. “Yes, well, it was not something I was aware of in the past, but the more I used my power, the faster I became. However, that has not been the case recently at all. How can I describe it—?” She couldn’t find suitable words and folded her arms.

Sumire said helpfully, “Is it like you’re running into an invisible wall?”

“That’s it! It feels like I am running into an invisible wall. No matter how much I practice, it does not feel like I am getting faster at all.”

“I see, it’s just as the report says.” Sumire threw the binder onto the desk.

“Sumire, what is this?”

“That is the growth limit point. After an Initiator’s abilities improve to a certain point, they reach a plateau. In conclusion, Enju, your speed will not improve more than this.” The words echoed gloomily in the basement room.

“No… Isn’t there anything you can do, Sumire?!” Before she knew it, Enju had pressed up against Sumire, breathing hard.

Through the curtain of hair that covered her eyes, the doctor looked back at Enju in amusement. “No, there isn’t. However, it’s not all bad. It means that God has proclaimed that you don’t need to get any stronger than this.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in God, Sumire!”

Sumire spread her arms. “It’s regrettable. I think every day that it would be nice if God did exist. However, there is so little evidence that God exists from an objective standpoint that I have merely deferred my opinion for now.” After saying that, she told Enju, “You can go home now,” and turned her back to the girl.

Enju looked at her and cast down her eyes, her mouth opening and closing until she suddenly murmured, “Sumire… What is Zone?”

Sumire turned back in surprise and looked at her sternly with narrowed eyes. “Who did you hear about that from?”

“I overheard rumors about it from Promoters and Initiators that we work with. Doesn’t it refer to very strong Initiators?”

“More accurately, it does not refer to the Initiator herself, but to the state of the Initiator. And, it has nothing to do with you.”

Enju practically threw herself on Sumire as she grabbed her lab coat and shook it. “Sumire, what is this Zone? Does that have something to do with how I can become stronger?”

Sumire showed a moment of indecision.

“Sumire, I must become stronger, whatever it takes!”

That was the last straw, and Sumire said, “Damn,” putting her hand to her temple and flopping into her chair in desperation. “Enju, I will answer your question from before. There is actually a way to overcome your growth limit point. It’s the Zone you were just talking about.”

Enju held her breath, waiting for Sumire’s next words.

“The wall you feel right now is also frustration born of the desire to rip through your growth limit point. It might be easier if you imagine pulling yourself up onto a horizontal bar. At first, no matter how many dozens of times you practice, you can’t do it at all, but one day, you are suddenly able to do it. Once you are able to do it once, there’s no going back. Apparently Zone is like that. And Initiators attain Zone, which breaks through their growth limit point through strict self-control and discipline. It is also called ‘Awakening Zone.’”

“Attain Zone…? Awakening……?”

“I’m not an Initiator, so I don’t really know the details, but from the literature I’ve read on it, only a small handful of Initiators can actually attain Zone. And of the super-high-ranking pairs, there are many Initiators who have attained Zone. You and Satomi are probably alive right now thanks in large part to the fact that you have not met anyone who’s reached Zone yet.”

Enju was startled. “Is this Zone thing truly that strong?”

“It is. There is a large difference in ability between those who’ve reached Zone and those who do not. It is said that those without Zone cannot beat those with Zone. When you encounter them, apparently you feel tingling at the back of your neck, so if there is an Initiator your instincts tell you is someone with Zone, you should definitely not get involved with them. You guys fought Kohina Hiruko, who was pretty strong, but since you beat her, she must not have had Zone. If she did have Zone, then there’s no way you two would have survived.”

It was hard to believe this all of a sudden. “If even after all that, I do end up fighting someone with Zone, what should I do?”

“Run away. Take Satomi with you and run as far as you can.”

“Is that the only way?”

“Yes. It would be a different story if you attained Zone, though.”

Not even Enju could hold back her gloomy feelings. The foolish expression about how the super-high-ranking pairs were strong enough to rock the world’s military balance single-handedly suddenly seemed to have a seed of truth in it.

Sumire looked at her with eyes tinged with compassion. “Rentaro and Kisara will probably both continue to become stronger. Enju, they’ll become stronger than you.”

“Stronger than I?” She laughed, thinking it was a joke, but Sumire’s face wasn’t smiling.

Enju crossed her arms and considered. During the fight against Kohina Hiruko, Enju had noticed several weaknesses with Rentaro’s artificial limbs. Rentaro’s artificial limbs relied on the propulsion provided by exploding cartridges built into them to provide an incredible attack power, but they also missed a lot. In actuality, when he fought the swordswoman with two swords, Kohina Hiruko, he used the function in his artificial eye to predict the trajectory of the enemy’s attack before he readied his fist for a counterattack. This was entirely to minimize the risk of missing. Also, because she herself was a speed specialist Initiator, even if she fought Rentaro, she thought she could easily lead Rentaro to miss.

Next was Kisara, and the truth was that she wasn’t sure how their matchup would be. To Enju, Kisara was almost a complete unknown, and Enju had never really seen her fight. According to Rentaro, she was “crazy strong,” but if Enju thought about it as the strength of a human, then it was hard to believe that she could be a threat to Enju. It was hard for Enju to imagine the two of them becoming stronger than her.

“Enju, do you know the story of the race between the turtle and the hare? The one where the hare falls asleep and is overtaken by the turtle? Enju, why do you think the hare lost to the turtle?”

“Isn’t it because the hare let down his guard?”

“No.”

Enju was surprised and looked at Sumire again. “That’s not it?”

Sumire nodded once. “The answer lies in what the goals of the turtle and the hare were. The hare’s goal was to pass the turtle, so after he passed the turtle, he let his guard down. The turtle’s goal was to finish the race, so he didn’t let his guard down until he was done. It was this slight difference in the way they thought of their goals that resulted in their respective win and loss. Enju, you’re the hare. I’m not just saying this as a joke. Your myopic way of looking at things will likely one day lead you to a definitive defeat.”

Enju opened her eyes wide and shook her head furiously, yelling, “Even if that’s true, it’s something that’s way in the future! It’s not now!” After she said it, she was surprised at herself. She didn’t know why she was yelling so loudly herself.

Before she knew it, Sumire had come in front of Enju and put both hands on Enju’s shoulders, looking her straight in the eye. “Enju, do you understand? Do you understand what it means to attain Zone? If I can give my personal opinion, I would strongly urge you to forget it. Try asking Satomi, too. There’s no doubt that he would say the same thing as me.”

Enju had some idea of why Sumire would be opposed to it. It was likely that once she achieved Zone, her body’s corrosion rate would increase faster than usual.

If she remembered correctly, her corrosion rate during her last exam was 24.9 percent. That was dangerous, but even if she were able to attain Zone, if she used it sparingly, it shouldn’t be a problem, right? Was it really something that should garner that much opposition?

Sumire looked sad that she was unable to deter Enju’s motivation and murmured, “Let’s leave it at that for today,” cutting their discussion short. “You should just prioritize the job you have in front of you right now. Let’s take our time to talk about this after you’ve taken care of your escort duties.”

Sumire waved her hand, seemingly done with this conversation. Even though Enju was not quite satisfied, she could do nothing but nod.

“By the way, Enju, what is the Lady Seitenshi’s guard like right now?”

Enju wasn’t sure how much she should tell her, but in the end, she told Sumire everything.

After Sumire heard everything, she put her elbow on the table and cupped her chin in her hand, making a troubled face. “Isn’t that…bad…?”

“Hmm? Why?”

“To be able to deduce the Lady Seitenshi’s guarded route means that the enemy has considerable ability to gather information. It’s likely that it has also been leaked that the Tendo Civil Security Agency has been hired to guard her. If I were the assassin, in order to make sure my second assassination attempt succeeds, I would crush the Tendo Civil Security Agency decisively. This is bad, Enju. Hurry up and tell the other two.”