Black Bullet - Volume 4 - Chapter Ep

EPILOGUE VENGEANCE IS MINE

The somewhat musical cry of a cuckoo could be heard. It was 5 p.m., and the sunset was dazzling. Kazumitsu Tendo was accompanied by his secretary, Kazumi Shiina, walking quickly to leave the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and hurrying to his destination.

The moment they stepped outside, they were met with a stuffy heat that wrapped around their whole bodies, and he suddenly wanted to call a limousine like he usually did, but that was something that he just couldn’t do today, he told himself.

It was then that he realized that his Armani necktie was crooked and he fixed it with an irritated hand. It was an error his normal self would never have made. He had been like this since the morning, and he couldn’t even put his mind to his work.

He couldn’t bear the sweat anymore and took off his suit jacket, looking up in the direction of the faraway Monolith, where on a sunny day, he should have been able to see a corner of it. However, even though the weather was nice today, there was no sign of the Monolith.

That was to be expected. The collapsed Monolith 32 was currently only restored to about six hundred meters tall, and it would still be some time before it would be completely restored to its original 1,618 meters.

It had been two weeks since the incident, and summer had returned to Tokyo Area. When the ashes from the Monolith had covered the sky and the temperature had dropped suddenly, he had mistakenly yearned for summer, but now that the hot weather had returned like he had wanted, it felt like an extension of reality and made him irritated.

No, he shook his head. Unusual days were still continuing. At least, they were for Kazumitsu.

He felt a sharp pain in his stomach again due to stress. Such pain had been Kazumitsu’s companion since the day he received the report that Aldebaran was clinging onto Monolith 32. And the place where Kazumitsu and Shiina were going was a place with deep connections to that matter.

They changed trains and got off at Tokyo Area Outer District, District 37. The exit was deserted. It went without saying that once it became night in a few hours, it would be suicide to stay overnight here in this place full of abandoned buildings with no streetlights.

Kazumitsu and Shiina walked for a while until they stood in front of a dilapidated dojo. It was a one-story building with a high ceiling, and the house part was half-destroyed. On the sign hanging outside was written TENDO STYLE with free-flowing brushstrokes written by Sukekiyo Tendo, who was also a calligrapher.

The Tendo Style was originally a very insular school that was only passed down within the Tendo family, but there had been a few dojos that were open to outsiders, and this was one of those few.

Seeing the blasted edifice, Kazumitsu sighed. It might be over for the Tendo Style. Giving Shiina an order, he opened the half-collapsed door and stood in the doorway. He hesitated for a moment before deciding to enter with his shoes on.

And then, he opened the sliding door and saw her in the middle of the wide tatami-mat dojo, her murderous blade Yukikage sheathed and stuck into the ground. She had both hands folded on top of the hilt and was standing with her legs slightly apart.

She slowly raised her face. “Welcome, Brother Kazumitsu. Or should I call you vice minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism?”

“Kisara…” He never thought he would ever say his little sister’s name with such hatred.

The evening sun shone in slanted rays on her glossy, straight, jet-black hair, making it shine in contrast to her porcelain white skin. Kisara Tendo stood there with her thigh-high socks and black sailor-school uniform. That more than anything proved that this would be the location of a fight to the death.

At the side of the dojo wall was a familiar face he hadn’t seen in a while. “What, you brought children with you, Rentaro?” Kazumitsu said it malignantly, but Rentaro just continued to look nervous and did not answer. Next to him were two equally nervous-looking girls, one with pigtails and the other with blond hair. The girls were probably Rentaro’s and Kisara’s Initiators.

“Brother, did you refrain from telling anyone that you were coming here, as you promised?” Kisara asked him.

Kazumitsu shrugged his shoulders. “Thanks to that, I came on my own two feet without calling for a car. What about you? You brought what you promised, right?”

“Are you talking about this?” Saying that, she pulled out a bundle of papers from her chest and threw them at Kazumitsu’s feet.

He pretended to be calm, but inside, he wanted to groan. He had Shiina pick up the documents and took them, flipping through them one by one.

Unmistakable evidence was laid out in front of Kazumitsu. “Damn it, where in the world did you get this?”

Kisara scoffed and chuckled. “I just happened to find it.”

“There’s no way you could find it. This was all supposed to have been disposed of!”

“Even so, I found it. Even I still have some connections I trust that I can use.”

Kazumitsu was taken aback and glared at Kisara. “You little… You snuck into the Tendo vault, didn’t you?”

Kisara shrugged as she smiled. “Shall we continue with our discussion, Brother?”

Kazumitsu didn’t say anything.

“While we were fighting in the Third Kanto Battle, we kept thinking it was strange. How was Aldebaran able to cling to the Monolith if it was no more than a Stage Four? At first, we thought it might have been because of where it was situated or because of a special ability Aldebaran had. However, after a while, we considered the idea that something could be wrong with Monolith 32 itself. And then after looking into it, just as expected, I found something strange. You were the one responsible for ordering Monolith 32 built at the end of the Great Gastrea War, weren’t you, Brother Kazumitsu?”

Kazumitsu still didn’t say anything.

Kisara narrowed her eyes like a cat cornering its prey, spread her arms sadistically, and continued. “Up until now, public works projects have used a general bidding system to prevent corruption and collusion, but because of that, it can be quite complicated. For construction projects like the Monoliths, where speed is more important than anything, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is responsible for gathering general contractors and directing the construction.

“It’s not like I have objections to this system in general. However, Brother, I cannot appreciate how you had filler materials mixed with Varanium in order to make the Monoliths more cheaply, using the leftover money to line your pockets.”

Kazumitsu gave a start, and his fist shook.

“Of course, the Varanium with filler materials in it had a lower degree of purity and gave off less of the magnetic field that Gastrea hate. Because of that, it’s possible that certain Gastrea can overcome the magnetic field of a weakened Monolith and cling to it.”

“Theoretically, that level of purity should have still been good enough! In reality, Monolith 32 stood for these past ten years, didn’t it?!”

“But it did not work against Aldebaran.”

Kazumitsu gulped.

Kisara lifted the corners of her mouth and smiled, concluding ruthlessly, “You were the one who created the trigger for the Gastrea Aldebaran to come and start the Third Kanto Battle, Brother Kazumitsu.”

Kazumitsu’s nails dug into his palm as he squeezed his fist, breaking the skin and allowing blood to well up. He wanted to shut this woman’s mouth up immediately. It was a feeling that was hard to get rid of.

“But isn’t it ironic? Even though citizens of Tokyo Area who didn’t win the lottery for shelter tickets couldn’t sleep at night and shook with fear at the thought of being slaughtered by the Gastrea, because you are considered a VIP in this nation, you and your whole family received shelter tickets. So when we civil officers were desperately fighting for our lives, you were snug inside the shelter. What do you think the citizens of Tokyo Area would think if they knew this fact?”

“…Do you have copies of these documents?”

“No. That is the only copy.”

“Are you telling me to believe you?”

“I am believing that nonsense you spouted about how you didn’t tell anyone that you were going to come here today, so shouldn’t we call it a gentlemen’s agreement?”

Kazumitsu snorted. “I didn’t think my opponent in this fight to the death would be preaching to me about a gentlemen’s agreement.”

Kisara smiled back ruthlessly. “I don’t care, but I suppose I’ll at least ask: Why did you mix filler materials into the Varanium? Don’t you have more money than you know what to do with already?”

Kazumitsu snorted again. “Kisara, you don’t know anything. In order to be successful in life, more money is needed than you can imagine. Bosses have many different desires. Like wanting to hunt people with a rifle, or wanting to have a three-way with twin virgins, or wanting to star in a snuff film to kill someone. It takes an enormous amount of money to make the desires of bosses like that come true.”

A new expression crossed Kisara’s face. “Hearing you say it straight out like that disgusts me. You wanted money in order to make desires like that come true?”

“That’s right. And I used that money to make those bosses owe me. I was able to become the vice minister of LITT not just because I had the shield of Tendo behind me.”

Kisara’s eyes, which were narrowed with hatred, became even sharper. “Scum of the earth like you should have died during the first War.”

“Hah.” This time, Kazumitsu sneered. “You don’t know anything, Kisara. True villains do not die. They throw money around, and then while ‘Death’ is desperately picking it up, they make their escape.”

Kisara suddenly closed her eyes and then took her time opening them slowly. “Another reason to let you live is gone now. That is enough. Let us begin. Will the two witnesses please come forward?”

Kazumitsu pushed Shiina up. Apparently, Kisara’s witness was Rentaro. The two of them went between Kazumitsu and Kisara and stood facing each other. Shiina raised her right hand and swore first. “I, Kazumi Shiina, am a witness to this duel, and even if one side dies, I swear that I will not call the police or any other judicial authorities.”

After seeing Shiina’s oath, Kazumitsu and Kisara naturally turned their eyes toward Rentaro. Rentaro had a pained expression on his face as he slowly raised his right hand, but then he immediately shook his head.

“Wait a minute, you two! Let me ask one last thing. Do you really have to fight like this? Even I’m interested in a fight between two master initiates of the Tendo Style. But that should be done with wooden or bamboo swords. Not with real blades!”

“You’re talking too much, Rentaro!” hissed Kazumitsu. “If I don’t shut this woman’s mouth now, she’ll blab the truth. There’s no way I can allow her to live!”

“But Brother Kazumitsu—”

“Don’t call me your brother. If you’re on Kisara’s side, then you’re an enemy of Tendo. Rentaro, open your eyes. She’s tricking you. That woman is a monster!”

“Let me do it, Satomi,” said Kisara. “I’ve been waiting for ten years. I’ve finally cornered one of the people I need to kill to avenge Father’s and Mother’s deaths. My fight with this man is fated.”

Rentaro opened his mouth to argue, but in the end he just said, “Damn it,” and gritted his teeth. Finally, he raised his right arm and swore the oath. When he and Shiina finished the vows, they withdrew to the side of the walls, and only Kazumitsu and Kisara were left in the center of the wide dojo.

Kazumitsu gave directions to his secretary with a jerk of his chin. She pulled out a spear from one of the two spear bags and threw it at him. Kazumitsu caught it with one hand. The spear came up to around his chest. When he held the spear, energy seemed to flow into his body from it and fill him with breath. His former feelings came back—confidence welled up, making him feel like he could take over the world with just one spear.

Kisara shrugged scornfully. “Don’t tell me you’re really fighting with just a spear, Brother? I was sure that you would at least sneak in a gun…”

“Don’t be mistaken. I don’t need to rely on projectile weapons just to pierce your heart.”

Just then, Kazumitsu noticed Kisara’s ample chest shake and looked her up and down as if licking her. “Kisara, one of my bosses said he just slept with a dark-skinned girl kidnapped from one of the countries he passed through, and now he wants a pale girl. If I defeat you without killing you, can I pull off your arms and legs and give you to him?”

Kisara chuckled. “Sure. In exchange, if I defeat you without killing you, maybe I’ll feed you alive to some pigs.”

Kisara dropped her hips, narrowed her eyes, and took a stance with an expression of carnage. Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing Style, Nirvana Stance—the stance encompassed all the offense and defense of the Tendo Sword Drawing Styles by being in a state of constant change and existing freely in that state. “I’ve been waiting for this day for ten years. Taste the depth of my resentment and despair and die.”

Kazumitsu also took a stance. Tendo Martial Arts Divine Spear Style, Perfect Serenity Stance—the stance encompassed all the offense and defense of the Tendo Martial Arts Divine Spear Styles by abandoning all the cares in one’s heart and achieving a state of nothingness, leaving the heart clean and serene. “I’m glad, Kisara. Even if we had different mothers, I’m glad I can bond like this with my little sister. I’ll let you practice with me, so come at me.”

The atmosphere inside the dojo changed in an instant to one of tension.

“Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing Styles Master Initiate, Kisara Tendo.”

“Tendo Martial Arts Divine Spear Styles Master Initiate, Kazumitsu Tendo.”

After saying their names, they both jumped back a step and faced off. Seeing Kisara take an offensive position, the Virtuous Heart Stance, without a moment’s delay, Kazumitsu took a defensive position, the Iron Will Stance. When he did, Kisara flowed smoothly into the Nirvana Stance, and seeing that, Kazumitsu skillfully took the offensive position, Mythical Beasts Stance. It was Kisara’s turn to be on the receiving end, and she transitioned into the defensive Moonlit Heart Stance.

Kazumitsu watched Kisara’s movements in silent admiration. Her transitions from one form to another were seamless and could even be called beautiful. He had been sure the blood would rush to her head and she would rush at him like a wild boar, but he was wrong. She might be a tougher opponent than I thought, he reconsidered.

Because it was a fight between fellow students of the Tendo Style, they knew each other’s hands completely, so naturally, there was a tendency to decrease the number of pointless moves and read ahead to predict each other’s moves.

And in Tendo Style, there was a paradigm of strategies where one must break down the other person’s form by repeating moves in defensive position against someone in offensive position, using moves in neutral position against an opponent in defensive position, and using moves in offensive position against someone in neutral position, rules that created a three-way deadlock. It was like how snakes were scared of slugs, slugs scared of frogs, and frogs scared of snakes.

A fight between two people well-versed in this theory was a dizzying series of changes from form to form. From the sidelines, it almost looked like a martial arts demonstration. However, in these changes of position without an exchange of swords, if one was even a split second late, then it would create an opening and the match would be decided in that moment. That was why they had to change positions with a smooth flow.

Kisara was doing them with near perfection, to the point that they could be called beautiful. Kazumitsu had to admit it as well—that Kisara Tendo’s abilities were on par with his own. It was as he thought this that he understood: In this fight, the first attack would decide it all.

Outside, the chorus of cicadas was noisy, but inside was completely the opposite—there was almost no sound inside the room. The two of them changed forms silently, their shifting weight making the rotting tatami creak slightly. That was the only sound that filled their world.

Kazumitsu wondered how many times they repeated the cycle of offense and defense. Just then, Kisara abruptly broke her form and let the strength leave her, only to lunge and raise her arm, sword and all, taking a stance he had never seen before. It was a form that connected drawing the sword to a downward slashing attack.

“What is that form…?” The words came out of his mouth involuntarily. Rentaro also looked like he was dumbfounded. He was frozen with his mouth gaping open.

Kisara spoke with a dignified expression. “I’ll tell you the name of it at least, Brother. This is called the Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing Style, Dragon and Tiger Twin Attack Stance. I invented this form to obliterate all the Tendos.”

“You…created a form…?” Simmering anger welled up in him and before he knew it, Kazumitsu was screaming. “What the hell?! It is inexcusable to add your own arrangement to Master Sukekiyo’s techniques! You should be ashamed, Kisara!”

Kisara chuckled, looking at him with scorn. “Don’t you think you’re mistaken about something, Brother? Master initiates are allowed to create techniques and teach them. Well, I don’t think someone who only has enough talent to swallow what they’re taught and adhere to them can possibly reach that level of thinking.”

Kazumitsu’s spear hand shook with anger. As if he would let her say what she wanted… He wouldn’t let this woman say any more.

“Shiina!” He called his secretary. She guessed what he wanted and pulled out a spear from the other bag. It looked heavy when she threw it to him. Kazumitsu threw away the spear in his hand and switched to the longer, more sinister-looking weapon.

It was so strangely shaped that one almost hesitated to call it a spear. At its tip was a double-edged spearhead with four notches on it, and a crescent blade that practically surrounded it on all four sides. On top of that, there were four weights attached to the crescent by chains.

Even if Kisara evaded the tip of the spear, the crescent blade would cut her, and even if she evaded the crescent blade, the weights would crush her bones. The spear looked as if it were a flower with petals blooming around the stamens and pistil in the middle. Yes, this was the Spear Flower—Kontensetsu.

Stab, cut, strike. It was a special combination weapon that could do all three at once, and like a scimitar or Chinese halberd, it required its wielder to be very skillful and have a strong physique.

“I didn’t want to use this, Kisara. I didn’t want to use such a treasured weapon to cut a whore like you.”

Kisara just silently narrowed her eyes.

Kazumitsu took a stance—the Mythical Beasts Spear Stance. Kazumitsu daringly chose an offensive form for this deciding round.

Kisara’s Dragon and Tiger Twin Attack Stance was clearly either offensive or neutral, but Kazumitsu’s instincts judged that this was as offensive form. If that were the case, then attacking in a defensive position would be the standard move.

However, Kisara said she created the Dragon and Tiger Twin Attack Stance to kill Tendos. In that case, he could probably assume that it was an innovative form that could break through the defensive form.

Kazumitsu also decided to abandon the standard reply to this situation.

The onlookers held their breaths and didn’t move an inch. The evening sun slanting in from the window made the dust in the air sparkle. The tense atmosphere filled with a thirst for blood was enough to make a normal person go mad.

Beads of sweat appeared on Kazumitsu’s forehead, and they dripped down the tip of his nose. He looked back at the image of himself reflected in the glass. A tall and lean man with a slender face. This year, he would turn thirty-nine, but he looked about ten years younger than his real age. His physical age was even younger.

Kazumitsu asked himself, Am I going to lose?

He replied immediately: No, that is impossible.

He was a superelite who was born in the Tendo family and had been promised success. He was made to govern people. There was no way he was going to rot away in this dirty dojo that was less than a pigsty. He was not the kind of person who would fall like this.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” With a piercing scream, Kazumitsu launched his attack. With a powerful step, he thrust.

Tendo Martial Arts Divine Spear Third Style, Number 1: Amako Genmeika.

With a thrust that could have been called too honest and a Tendo-style step, he brought down the spear with a powerful stroke and incredible speed. With the addition of the compounding effects of his spear, Kontensetsu, there was enough force to kill Kisara ten times over.

Kisara also drew the murderous blade from its scabbard fractions of a second later, but it was too late.

Kontensetsu was expecting to bring certain death—but impossibly, there was a screech of steel and it was repelled upward.

“What?!” Kazumitsu suddenly jumped backward. Both sides were uninjured.

Kazumitsu was shaken by the fact that his special technique was repelled, but he had gotten an unexpected chance to regroup. Thinking that he would definitely rip her to pieces the next time, he kicked off the ground again.

Just then, a shocked expression came over Kisara’s face.

Thinking he could do it, Kazumitsu advanced again to thrust his spear forward.

But then, he realized that he had misunderstood Kisara’s shocked expression. The next instant, his vision shook violently, and he felt like he had lost control of his legs. He was thrown forward by inertia for some reason and fell, and the tatami rushed toward him, filling his view.

He couldn’t even take a defensive position as he fell face-first into the rotting tatami mat. The match had been decided before the person fighting in it even realized.

Kazumitsu had not realized that he had already been defeated.

The instant the match was decided, Rentaro let out an involuntary groan. The match of Tendo Styles was decided in one attack, just as Rentaro had predicted. And it meant the inescapable defeat of the Tendo Martial Arts Divine Spear Style.

The fallen Kazumitsu looked up at Kisara with an expression of incomprehension. “Guh, Kisara, why am I… What happened to the match? Did I lose?”

Kisara looked down at him coolly. “You have not even realized that, have you, Brother? Why don’t you check your legs?”

“My…legs?” After she said that, Kazumitsu slowly shifted his gaze to his legs.

Hearing Kazumitsu’s heartrending scream, Rentaro wanted to cover his face. Kazumitsu’s legs from the thigh down had disappeared cleanly. It was as if they had abandoned their master and had been thrown far backward into the wall.

“Brother, you didn’t even realize your legs had been cut off and tried to step toward me. I was so surprised, I almost laughed.”

As if they just remembered to bleed, Kazumitsu’s legs started spurting blood, and the surface of the tatami mats turned into a pool of hell.

Rentaro looked at the scene dumbfounded, shaking. He considered—Who was the strongest member of the Tendo Civil Security Agency? Was it himself, who possessed the abilities of a mechanized solider? Or Enju, who manifested the superhuman physical powers of the Cursed Children? Or Tina, who had the qualities of both?

“Papa, no! She’s the most dangerous out of everyone here!”

The night before Operation Rapier Thrust, when Tina and Kohina were about to fight, this is what Kohina shouted about Kisara when Kisara went to intervene.

Even though Kohina thought that she could win or at least put up a good fight against Tina and tried to continue their match, the moment Kisara intervened, she put her swords away. Even Kohina, an Initiator, understood that she was at too much of a disadvantage if she had to fight Kisara. Against Kisara, an ordinary human.

Why hadn’t he noticed before? The strongest person currently in the Tendo Civil Security Agency was—

Kisara brushed back her black hair. “Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing Style Zero, Number 3: Azao Soutouken. This is the name of the technique I used on you, Brother.”

“S-style Zero…?” Kazumitsu whispered.

“It attacks once and then attacks again. The second attack is faster than the speed of sound. With your kinetic vision, I’m sure you only saw the first attack that repelled Kontensetsu. With the second attack, your legs were already cut off.”

“N…no way… My spear was… The Tendo Martial Arts Divine Spear Style was……”

Watching Kazumitsu saying that in a daze, Kisara mercilessly put her hand on the hilt of her sword. “Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing Style Zero, Number 1—”

“Kisara, no!”

“Kisara!”

“President Tendo!”

Rentaro, Enju, and Tina had decided not to interfere with this duel, but they had to yell out, unable to overlook this gruesome execution.

Kisara gave them one bored look before murmuring the name of the technique, not thinking of the circumstances. “—Rasen Manzanka.”

There was a swift whistling sound, and then before they knew it, Kisara’s sword had returned to its scabbard as if nothing had happened.

Everyone present at the scene gulped.

“Kisara, what…did you do to me?” Kazumitsu asked hesitatingly as he realized that nothing strange had happened to his body.

“I stopped the bleeding. There are still things I need you to tell me.”

When he looked, Kazumitsu saw that the blood spurting from his legs had stopped completely.

Kisara started to walk happily around Kazumitsu, who had lost both of his legs. “Now, Brother, since I won, I can feed you to the pigs like you promised, right?”

“N-no, please don’t! Please don’t kill me!”

Kisara placed her naked blade right at Kazumitsu’s throat. “Then, please talk. Ten years ago, my parents were killed in front of me by Gastrea; Satomi lost an arm, a leg, and an eye; and my kidneys started failing. Officially, it was seen as an incident caused by a wild Gastrea going astray. However, don’t you think it’s unlikely that a Gastrea would suddenly appear in the heart of Tokyo Area? That was premeditated murder by someone in the Tendo family. Someone released the wild Gastrea to kill Father and Mother. I know that you participated. Who else was involved in the crime? Answer me!”

“I…I don’t know!”

Kisara gave a thin smile. “Is that right? Then, I have no choice but to toss you into the stomach of a hungry pig while you are still alive.”

“N-no! Spare me, Kisara!” Kazumitsu seemed to think for a moment and then lifted his face up at Kisara pleadingly. “If I tell you… Will you spare me?”

“It depends on whether or not the information you have is useful or not.”

Kazumitsu ground his teeth and groaned. Rentaro thought he would probably talk. It was obvious even to Rentaro watching from the outside which way the profit-and-loss arithmetic inside Kazumitsu was going.

Above all, right now, Kazumitsu was being pressured by the revenge demon in front of him, and his teeth were chattering. “Th-there were five people involved in the plan. Me, Hyuga Tendo, Gentaku Tendo, Terutoshi Tendo, and Kikunojo Tendo.”

“Five people, huh? That’s less than I expected.”

“Now, with that—”

“Not yet. Brother, why did you kill Father and Mother?”

Kazumitsu lifted his face and looked at her plaintively. “The old man was going to blow the whistle on the dark dealings of the Tendo.”

“Dark dealings?”

“That’s right. The Tendo family is famous in the political world for turning out a large number of leaders. Of course, there were one or two dirty dealings in the process of creating that legacy. The old man suddenly had some sort of awakening of justice and said he was going to expose all of that. If he had, it would have been over for the Tendos. That’s why—”

“—you had no choice but to kill him? He was still your father, you know?”

“We only truly swear loyalty to our grandfather, Kikunojo. That man was not a father. After Mother died, he immediately remarried, this time with his mistress, and even had a child…” Just then, he looked at Kisara suddenly, taken aback, and his panic was obvious.

“It’s fine. It’s true that I’m the daughter of his mistress. You and our other brothers apparently called me a whore’s daughter behind my back, right?”

“I-I did not! It was all our older brothers. I did not say that!”

Kisara glanced at him coldly. “I don’t care about that. Well, why did you attack me and Satomi, too?”

“You two were only six and seven back then. Even if we explained our ideals to you, you would not have been able to understand. That’s why—”

“That’s why rather than have us suffer the loss of our parents, you thought you’d send us with them? That was kind of you.” Kisara smiled broadly. Because Rentaro knew the hatred chilled to absolute zero beneath that smile, Rentaro felt chilled, too.

“Th-that’s all of it. My information was useful, wasn’t it? So please, spare me.”

“That’s true.” Kisara put her index finger underneath her chin and nodded cutely. “That’s fine.”

“Huh?”

“I said, that’s fine. The information you brought me was extremely useful. Thanks to that, my revenge has been considerably narrowed down.”

Kazumitsu looked dazed for a while, and then hugged Kisara’s legs. “Th-thank you! Thank you! I-I will mend my ways from now on. Really, I will!”

For a second, Kisara looked at Kazumitsu like he was a bug, and then she nodded at Rentaro. “Satomi, Enju, Tina, let’s go.”

After watching Kisara walk briskly out of the dojo, Rentaro and the girls also followed her out of the dojo, looking back and forth between Kisara and Kazumitsu.

The moment they stepped outside, they were met with orange rays of light that blinded their eyes, and the chorus of cicadas sounded an octave higher. The cirrocumulus clouds in the sky were dyed red.

“Thank you! Thank you!” Kazumitsu’s grateful voice continued. Rentaro wasn’t sure if it was a reaction to being freed from the terror of Kisara or what, but Kazumitsu’s voice seemed to be on repeat like a broken record and showed no sign of stopping.

Walking in front of them, Kisara stopped suddenly and said without turning around, “Satomi, it’s too noisy. Can you close the door?”

After Kisara said that to him, Rentaro hurried back and slid the sliding door of the dojo shut. Even so, he could still hear the slight sound of a voice shouting “Thank you!”

“Kisara, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but you did a good job holding back,” said Rentaro.

“Satomi, there is no move in my Sword Drawing Style that stops bleeding.”

“Huh?”

Kisara kept her back to him as she stretched out her left hand levelly and snapped her fingers.

“Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing Style Zero, Number 1: Rasen Manzanka, Open. I will have my revenge.”

Suddenly, the sound of an explosion roared inside the dojo, and the windows and sliding doors were splattered with something bright red.

For an instant, the world became still, and the cicadas stopped their chirping.

The next moment, a high-pitched scream could be heard coming from inside the dojo.

Enju, Tina, and Rentaro all seemed to be caught in a spell and were unable to move.

Rentaro’s body started shaking wildly on its own. Don’t tell me, don’t tell me—

He had to check. Rentaro slowly put his hand to the bloody sliding door and pulled it open. The stifling smell of blood rushed into his nostrils. The strength left the lower half of his body, and the next thing he knew, he was on his knees, his eyes still open wide.

Inside, what had once been Kazumitsu was now scattered all over the place. The woman who had once been his secretary continued screaming as she desperately tried to gather pieces of what used to be her boss.

Her scream, which made the hair of those listening stand on end, was the scream of someone who had lost their senses. The mental state of the secretary named Shiina would probably not be able to return to the world of reason and sanity.

Rentaro closed the sliding door again and turned around.

Kisara was holding her stomach with both arms as she laughed. She seemed unable to hold it in any longer and threw her head back to look up at the sky, laughing loudly.

“Rentaro, open your eyes. She’s tricking you. That woman is a monster!”

Kisara spread her arms and turned back to look at him. She was smiling happily from the bottom of her heart. “Hey, look, Satomi. Look, Satomi! I did it. I finally defeated one of the people I needed to defeat to avenge Father and Mother. Isn’t it amazing! Come on, look!”

Even when the excited Kisara rushed into Rentaro’s chest, Rentaro wasn’t sure if this was reality or not. Of course, one of the reasons he was surprised was that Kisara, who blushed when she just held hands with a boy, had suddenly rushed into his chest, but besides that, what was with Kisara’s attitude?

He had thought that he wanted to hold this beautiful woman in his arms forever. He had thought that he wanted her for himself. So then why was his body shaking right now? Why did Rentaro feel chills from Kisara’s arms wrapping around him?

Her lips were a glossy red. Her eyes shone brightly with excitement. She was so beautiful it gave him goose bumps. “I can win, Satomi. Right now, I can kill all the Tendos!”

And then, Kisara looked at him suspiciously. “What’s wrong? You’re not happy, Satomi? I was finally able to get my revenge on one person. I defeated one of the people who stole your arm and leg. Isn’t this our revenge?”

“It’s your execution!” Rentaro put both his hands on Kisara’s shoulders and shook her hard. “Why did you kill our brother, Kazumitsu?! I didn’t think there would be that much of a difference in power between two master initiates. But you knew before you started, didn’t you?! Why did you kill him?!”

Kisara tilted her head slightly. She looked like she didn’t understand what Rentaro was saying.

“Kisara, this is no good. Right now, you’re crazy! You’re wrong. Kisara. You always tell me to carry out justice, don’t you? Where’s the justice in what you just did?!”

Kisara slipped out of Rentaro’s arms and clasped her hands behind her back, moving backward a step. “Satomi, I just realized. You couldn’t punish the mastermind behind the Kagetane Hiruko Terrorist Incident, Kikunojo Tendo. You couldn’t punish the mastermind behind the Seitenshi Sniping Incident, Sougen Saitake. But I was able to punish the person responsible for the Third Kanto Battle, Kazumitsu Tendo. Do you know why?”

The ends of Kisara’s mouth turned upward.

“That’s because I’m evil. Your fist of justice could not reach Kikunojo Tendo or Sougen Saitake. Don’t you understand? Justice isn’t good enough. Justice can’t oppose evil. Absolute evil that goes beyond evil can. I have that power. I am convinced of that now! With my absolute evil that gathers hatred, I can kill everyone. I have that power!”

“Please be careful, Leader. She smells strongly of destruction. She seems to be easily drawn to darkness.” Midori’s voice echoed in his head.

Rentaro slowly shook his head from side to side. He gasped as he squeezed out his words. “No, Kisara. Don’t go to that side… No… You won’t be able to come back.”

Kisara tilted her head. “What are you saying?”

Then, she realized that she was even looking reproachfully at Enju and Tina, and looked a little embarrassed.

“I’m going home.” Saying that, she turned around and walked away.

The setting sun the color of blood sent Kisara’s long shadow onto the ground.

“That’s…not Kisara,” said Enju, shaking.

“Big Brother, that’s…” Tina paled as she looked at Rentaro.

“That’s right, Tina. That’s the real Kisara Tendo, the Tendo Killer… No, she’s gotten worse since before.”

Rentaro’s heart sank. Kisara, you haven’t changed at all since a year ago, have you?

He remembered the conversation they had, lying in the grass before the Monolith collapsed, but it felt like a distant memory. Kisara had told Rentaro that she had recently been having nightmares.

“I realized that I was crying because I understood that this happiness had to end some day.”

“I killed them. I killed everyone in the world.”

Rentaro lowered his eyelids slowly.

The end that she knew would come someday.

The days she knew were lies.

But this was…

He opened his eyes resolutely.

As he watched Kisara’s back disappear beyond the setting sun, he said, “Tina, Enju. I will tell you two this, at least. I might have to become Kisara’s enemy.”

“I’m back.”

Kisara didn’t expect an answer as she spoke into the empty office at the agency. She closed the door with her hand behind her and walked around the work desk to sit in the executive chair.

She suddenly felt tired, like she could fall asleep just sitting there. But then she remembered something and opened the drawer of the work desk and pulled out a framed picture. Inside the frame was the image of the family she had lost.

It was a picture from right after Rentaro had come to live with them: Kisara was in the middle, and she held hands with her mother and father. Six-year-old Kisara was all smiles sandwiched between her parents. She had no way of knowing the misfortune that would befall her after this…

Rentaro was looking around shiftily, as he stood, bored, at the edge of the picture. Satomi was cute back then, she thought, petting the surface of the picture softly.

“Father, Mother, I did it. I finally defeated one. I will definitely send the other four to join him.”

No voice answered her. The stillness of the agency had never felt as painful as it felt today.

Kisara stood and went to the window, looking at the world with clouds lit by afterglow. And then, she thought of her four sworn enemies who were somewhere outside of that window. Each one was a master initiate of the Tendo Style. She did not expect to survive her fights with them.

But gaining something meant giving up something else.

She had given up everything. She had long given as an offering the happiness of falling in love with a boy, having a child, and creating a warm family.

God would not manifest himself. But neither would the devil.

In this world with no god, the only thing she could believe in and rely on was her sword. Her demon sword that slurped up mud and was polished with blood. The heretical sword. The sword of revenge. She would definitely make the remaining four rust on her blade.

And then, once she successfully had a bloodbath with those four, she herself would be…

Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in her lower abdomen, and her face twisted in pain as she crouched down. “Ow……”

Her kidneys, which had given up on purifying their own body, were throbbing. As she felt the throbbing pain of toxins dirtying her body endlessly, she pounded the window with her fist. There was the sound of a crack as the glass broke radially, and Kisara spit out a curse at her enemies from the bottom of her stomach. “Hyuga Tendo, Gentaku Tendo, Terutoshi Tendo, Kikunojo Tendo—Everyone… I will kill you!”

First, there was darkness.

There was the strange feeling of floating around in space. The individual was stretched, up became down, down became left, and left was inverted, becoming something else.

He didn’t know who he was. Not even that was certain anymore. His own existence had probably disappeared. Who was he?

“Wake up.”

He heard that voice, and it felt as if he was being pulled out from the bottom of a body of water. Opening his eyes slightly, he was exposed to light many times brighter than the sun and groaned.

It took him some time to realize that it was the white light of a halogen lamp mounted above an operating table.

He had probably been made to lie faceup. He couldn’t feel his limbs. His body wasn’t free. His vision was trapped. What state was he in?

Suddenly, he saw an empty black dot in his vision where the halogen lamp had shined.

A fierce-looking man was looking down at him. The man’s hair and beard were connected like a lion’s mane. He felt like he had seen that man before—that face that was full to the brim with confidence.

“Who…are you?” He realized that he could talk.

“Huh. You came to without knowing who I was, huh? Oh well, can you remember your own name?”

“Name……” He was surprised. He remembered. “I’m…Shoma…Shoma Nagisawa…”

“Oh, you remembered? When we retrieved your body from the center of the explosion, they said you would have a hard time even regaining consciousness. You’re a very surprising man.”

His thoughts accelerated one after another. That’s right, he had been fighting to defeat Aldebaran, and he had accomplished that. And then—

“I did some research on you. Apparently, you were a master who studied those abominable Tendo techniques. It really is regrettable.”

“Regrettable? What…are you saying…? Where am I…? What happened…to me…?”

“Whoops, it would probably be wiser if you do not look at yourself. Right now, your arms and legs have all been blown away, one eye has been crushed, your hair has melted, and seventy percent of your body is covered in burns. If you had not received the most advanced medical care the year 2031 could offer, you would have died.”

“Wha…?” Then the reason why he couldn’t move his body the way he wanted was not because he was restrained or anything like that…

Before he knew it, another four shadows appeared and surrounded Shoma, looking down at him. The halogen lamp made them backlit, and he could not make out their features. Including the first man, there were five of them, with a total of ten eyeballs appraising him.

“This man has won the favor of the venerable Mr. Grünewald? I cannot believe it,” said one of the shadows.

The lionlike man responded. “It’s not that hard to believe. I like him. I want this guy.”

Unable to stand the incomprehensible conversation around him, Shoma groaned. “…What are you? What in the world…are you people?”

The lion man coolly chanted, “We are the Five Wings Syndicate. There is no need for you to know more than that right now.”

“Five Wings…Syndicate?”

“If we leave you like this, you’ll die soon. However, there is just one way for you to be saved.”

The man grinned. “Wanna take me up on that one, kid?”

Rentaro had his elbow on the train car window and was looking absentmindedly outside. The scenery was flashing quickly by before his eyes. The city, the people, and the scenery were all the embodiment of peace.

Peace had returned to Tokyo Area. The once widespread violence was quickly subjugated, and the people who had fled Tokyo Area on airplanes also returned.

Rentaro gave a big sigh.

In the process of restoring order to the area, a number of kinks were found. Winning shelter tickets were stolen and swindled, there were counterfeits, of course, and since women and children were given priority, there were men who had dressed up as women in order to get rations inside the shelter. There were even two self-defense force troops who were arrested when they tried to get on the last flight out of the area with underground tickets.

Rentaro was also flabbergasted to find that there were a large number of civil officers mixed in with the people who were coming back by plane. They had promptly run away and abandoned Tokyo Area, and they came back looking as if nothing had happened.

“Mphntaro.”

Rentaro tilted his head when he heard this and saw Enju stuffing chocolate in her mouth as she chewed, getting her mouth dirty.

He tapped Enju’s forehead lightly. “Idiot, don’t talk with your mouth full.”

“Hmph,” said Enju sullenly.

Watching her face, he was glad in his heart that Enju had recovered.

The other day, Rentaro and Enju had attended the funeral of the girls who were his students. Kisara and Tina were saddened by their deaths, and Enju had cried loudly the whole time. Seeing that, Rentaro thought from the bottom of his heart that he was glad he brought Enju with him.

Funerals were places to mourn the dead, but at the same time, they were also places for the living to sever ties with the dead. Enju cried and cried and cried, and that probably allowed her to finally be able to give up any regrets she had about the girls who had passed. Those girls probably did not want the lives of those still alive to be continually influenced by shadows of their deaths.

Seeing the bones of the girls at the crematorium, Enju murmured, “When people die, they turn into ashes and smoke, huh…?”

For some reason, Rentaro could still hear her saying that in his head.

They also saw the old man, Matsuzaki. All of his precious students were gone, so Rentaro was prepared for the man to be spitting curses, but contrary to Rentaro’s expectations, the man came over and thanked him over and over, making Rentaro feel perplexed and embarrassed.

“I’m sure the girls were happy. Thank you for looking after them,” the man repeated as he grasped Rentaro’s hand.

Rentaro accepted that with mixed feelings.

Ever since that day, Kisara had hidden the Tendo Killer and returned to being her usual self. No, it was probably more accurate to say that she appeared to have returned to her normal self. Even when Rentaro tried to talk about what happened then, she avoided the subject. However, ever since that day, there was no doubt that something inside Kisara had definitely changed.

There were four people left for Kisara to get revenge on. The only time to confront her about this was when she appeared as the Tendo Killer.

“Rentaro, I’m getting nervous. Do you think my outfit’s all right?” When he looked, he saw Enju turn around once for him. She was dressed up in her best clothes, wearing a brightly colored dress. It was an understatement to say she looked lovely, but he didn’t want to tell her that directly, so he just said curtly, “Well, it’s probably fine.”

And then, Rentaro also looked at his own clothes. He was wearing a pure white formal suit that he had worn before, for another ceremony. Rentaro and Enju were on this train headed to Tokyo Area’s First District, where they had been invited to the Seitenshi’s palace to attend a decoration ceremony. This time, Enju was also with him.

Rentaro thought he knew that he had taken heroic actions, but it was still hard for him to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling he got when he was called a hero. Apparently in war, those who ordered the deaths were the ones who benefited, but the real heroes weren’t people like Rentaro. The real heroes were those who threw their lives away and died glorious deaths without even having their names made known. They were people like Midori Fuse, Shoma Nagisawa, Nagamasa Gado, and a great many other civil officers and self-defense force troops. Not Rentaro.

Shoma and Midori were both gone. They had already gone past the boundary to the world beyond and now existed there. Rentaro would never be able to see them again in this life.

He himself would likely also have to make a decision soon to live or die.

Rentaro shook his head. He was glad at least that the Family Register Revocation Law had been rejected in the National Diet. The danger still remained that they would look for a chance to present it again, but this could be called a modest victory for Rentaro and the others.

On a different day, he had been cross-examined by Enju about how he had knocked her unconscious without permission during the fight with Aldebaran. She cried and hit him and finally bit at his head, and he couldn’t get her off no matter how hard he pulled.

They finally struck a deal after she made him swear by the “pledge” the teary-eyed Enju wrote in messy letters.

“I will not face the enemy by myself.”

“I will do everything with Enju from now on.”

As he was being made to read the pledge with such conditions written into it, Rentaro realized that he was crossing his fingers where Enju couldn’t see them. If another time came when only one of them, either Enju or him, could be saved, he would do the same thing to Enju without hesitation. That was his own way of showing his path to the one he loved who was too close yet too far away. Rentaro Satomi did not know how to show Enju Aihara his love in any other way.

He checked the time. At this rate, they were cutting it close on whether or not they would make it to the ceremony on time. If he was even a minute late, it was obvious that Kisara would nag at him at the Seitenshi’s palace again, so he definitely wanted to avoid that this time.

But just then, there was a clang, and the train suddenly slowed down, and the grips all shook at once.

An announcement was played inside the train. “There has been a passenger injury before the Tokyo Area District 3 station. The train will be stopped for a while.”

They were definitely going to be late now.

Rentaro noticed that he had clicked his tongue without realizing it.

Just then, Enju murmured in a faint and forlorn voice, “Rentaro, why do people jump…? Are they in pain? Are they having a hard time? Isn’t there anything we can do for them…?”

Rentaro was shocked. Just now, he had been more concerned about the train being late than about a person’s life. He hugged Enju close with a shaking arm and buried his face in his chest, closing his eyes tightly.

“Wh-what’s the matter, Rentaro?”

“I’m afraid of myself. I’ve become numb to the deaths of others. Enju, please stay with me forever. Please don’t leave me.”

Enju smiled with mixed feelings. “Don’t worry, Rentaro. You and I will always, always be together.”

• Enju Aihara has a Gastrea virus corrosion rate of 43.5%

• An estimated 520 days left until shape collapse