And he was making the same face now as well.
Gathering what little courage he had, Minoru answered, “…Because Minowa’s my friend,” without turning his eyes away.
The reason he hadn’t uttered one of his usual lines—“it’s nothing,” “it’s fine”—was because a faint voice replaying inside his ear had returned.
You have a duty to go on fighting.
It was the voice of Yumiko, who he would probably never see again.
He didn’t think that fighting the Ruby Eyes as a Jet Eye was something he could do. But Minoru felt like Yumiko’s words called into question his way of living itself—intent on always averting his eyes from everything these past eight years, saying that things didn’t matter or that they had nothing to do with him.
Minoru had talked to Tomomi Minowa a bunch of times, saved her from the Biter, and told her that everything was okay now. After all that with Tomomi, it would be wrong to discard her, saying she didn’t matter. And the same thing probably applied to Oguchi, who was right in front of him.
Oguchi heard Minoru’s response, and his eyes widened for a moment and his mouth went completely tense. Seeing his bony, athletic right shoulder twitch, Minoru wondered if he wanted to hit him. But Oguchi relaxed his body after a few seconds and murmured, “…Minowa’s gone today, too. She got hurt training on her own last week, and I guess she’s been in the hospital for a few days.”
“…”
After a brief silence, Minoru nodded and said, “Okay.”
Yumiko and DD had probably taken Tomomi to the hospital, called her family there, and given them that explanation about the deviant and all that. Consequently, people had been told by the school that she was injured during independent training.
Minoru knew that Tomomi wasn’t physically injured, but of course he couldn’t go and tell that to Oguchi. Minoru dropped his head and said, “Thanks. Well, I’ll go.”
When he had turned in the other direction, he heard a tiny voice.
“Utsugi. You…and Minowa…?”
After considering this question with no verb, Minoru answered truthfully, “It’s not like that. But we’re friends, so I was worried.”
“Huh. Well, see you,” Oguchi muttered, going into the classroom through the nearby door.
As he set off for the cafeteria, Minoru suddenly wondered if he should go see Tomomi in the hospital. But he immediately realized he didn’t have that right.
Since he had come late, the popular food items were sold out across the board. He wolfed down a Chinese-style rice bowl, which was unpopular but not something he personally disliked. The warning bell rang right as he was going back to the classroom.
Since Tomomi Minowa had been on his mind all morning, he hadn’t exactly been paying attention to his classes, so he wanted to do his best in the afternoon. But his thoughts from the conversation with Oguchi kept resurfacing in fragments and disturbing his concentration.
The reason he couldn’t get his mind off of Tomomi Minowa wasn’t because he had some affection for her as a member of the opposite sex. It was because while she was absent from school, he couldn’t yet say that his life was completely back to normal. It wasn’t as if he wanted to get closer with Minowa than he was now once she was discharged from the hospital. He just wanted her to get better and run as hard as she used to.
She wasn’t injured, so she should definitely be back to school tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. He didn’t plan on talking to her, but this anxiety he was feeling should disappear if he spotted her in her workout clothes on the way to and from school or on school grounds.
Minoru made it through fifth and sixth periods telling himself this. Quickly changing his shoes—there were no notes stuck in his shoe locker—he left the school building. As he headed toward the bike parking lot, he breathed in slowly through his nose. The only smells he could pick up on were the scent of dust that was unique to school and the odor of exhaust from cars.
The book he had neglected to return to the city library on Friday was still in his bag. After wondering whether he should head straight home at a time like this, he dispelled the thought; there was no longer a reason to call it “a time like this.”
When Minoru arrived at the large library near city hall and stepped into the heated building, the first thing he did was smell the air. Of course, there was nothing abnormal about it. He shrugged, and after dropping his book off at the return counter, he had a sudden realization and made his way to the computer lab.
Minoru slid into the booth at the very end and grabbed the mouse. He started up the browser and entered “Third Eye” into the search bar at the top of the page.
He did have a notebook computer in his room, but he felt a bit hesitant about searching at home for the many words he had heard from Yumiko and DD. He never expected it to happen, but he had the feeling that it wasn’t completely impossible for their organization to monitor even the Internet and to locate Minoru’s house based on search keywords.
Of course, there were surveillance cameras in the library, too, but it was probably better than his house…
He mulled these things over as he looked at the search results. He had expected this, but the hits he got were full of similarly named company websites and sites related to good luck charms and fortune-telling.
He typed in “Ruby” and “Jet” as additional search terms, but the search results didn’t change much. Adding words like “eye,” “powers,” and “murder,” he started to check the sites displayed from the top down, but as expected he didn’t find even one site that seemed to contain relevant information.
After dozens of searches, the only information he’d gained that could be called beneficial was about the jet gemstone that DD had mentioned. It was not a mineral, but a gemstone made of fossilized plant matter, and it was spelled the same as the jet in jet engine. If they’d wanted a black gemstone, they could have gone with onyx or morion. As he thought this, he erased the browser’s search history, took a wet wipe from his bag, and wiped down the mouse and keyboard. Of course, he was doing this to get rid of fingerprints, not for the benefit of the person who used it after him.
He walked away from the booth feeling embarrassed by his actions and moved to the magazine reading section. Scanning the rack, he pulled out a monthly science magazine that caught his interest with the words on the cover: SPN Signal Special Edition.
He took a seat on the nearby couch and opened the magazine, but the content of the articles just wasn’t sinking in. Whatever he did, his thoughts kept drifting back to the abnormal things he had experienced in Akigase Park.
The two types of Third Eyes, Rubies and Jets, had come down from space three months ago, invaded the bodies of dozens or maybe hundreds of people, and given those people supernatural powers.
On top of that, the humans who had been taken as hosts by red orbs, the Ruby Eyes, were even given the urge to kill and began to attack people like the Biter had. That’s why those who had the power to oppose them, the Jet Eyes, were fighting the Ruby Eyes. That’s what Yumiko, the girl in the black blazer, had said.
It was a ridiculous story, but since Minoru himself had received the invisible shell ability, he couldn’t doubt it.
Still, there was some part of it that didn’t make sense to him. After thinking a bit, he realized what it was.
The Ruby Eyes had been given power and homicidal impulses. The Jet Eyes had only been given power. It was that imbalance.
What if the homicidal impulse that drove the Ruby Eyes was something similar to hypnotism or brainwashing? Then could they really say that Jet Eyes like Minoru and Yumiko weren’t experiencing some sort of mental interference?
My attitude today in front of Oguchi from the track team was really unlike me. Instead of speaking evasively and running away, I faced him, looked him in the eye, and said the things I thought I should say. And it didn’t even come to mind that I’d be increasing the memories I couldn’t get rid of if I did something like that.
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What if that was the result of mental interference…? Nothing about the real me has changed, but could I be getting more aggressive because of the Jet Eye…?
He was putting too much pressure on the magazine he held in his hands, making a little crease in the page. The sound of it brought him back to himself and he hurriedly relaxed his hands.
I’m overthinking this. Everything I do is my own choice.
That’s what he told himself, but for a while he couldn’t bring himself to stand up. He gazed blankly at the feature story on the page he had open.
Six months ago, there had been an uproar about whether the faint signal captured by the telescope on the moon was a message from an extraterrestrial civilization.
That was because the signal repeated the same number of times as the seven prime numbers from two to seventeen. But no one could decipher the content of this important signal, and things quieted down.
Nobody was talking about it at Yoshiki High School anymore, either, but Minoru still thought about the SPN Signal from time to time. Of course, that was because he had encountered the strange thing that had descended from the sky.
Was there some sort of connection between the signal and the orb—the Third Eye? Or was it just a coincidence?
Yumiko and her organization probably had some kind of information about it, but he wasn’t in any kind of position to ask. Depending on how things had gone, he probably could’ve been given a suspicious shot and had the Third Eye in his chest surgically removed.
No.
If he was even becoming afraid of mental interference, would it have actually been better to just let them do it? Should he have jumped at the chance to escape from that abnormal situation—people who possessed suspicious powers fighting each other—and return to his previously peaceful life?
Taking his gaze away from the magazine, he shifted his eyes to the area around the second button of his uniform. With his thoughts, he approached the black orb that was probably deep inside his chest.
Hey. Did you really come from space? Do you have some connection to the SPN Signal?
What do you want to make me do…?
Of course, he heard no voice answering him. But Minoru felt an incredibly faint throb deep in his chest.
The sensation felt like he might be getting a question in return. Something like, Do you know what to do with the power you’ve been given?
Once he had finished reading several magazines and left the library after visiting the bathroom, it was six o’clock in the evening. If he hurried a bit, he should be able to make it home right around the time Norie was starting dinner preparations. He sped down the dark residential streets on his bike.
When he increased his speed, a piercingly cold headwind bore down on him. Wind was pleasant on his morning runs because his temperature was elevated, but peddling his bike wasn’t enough exercise to work up a sweat. Minoru’s favorite scarf, hand knitted for him by Norie, was hundreds of times better than something off the rack as far as the emotion it contained, but he couldn’t say that it was especially great at keeping out the cold.
The wind penetrated the loose stitching unrelentingly and his ears stung painfully. If he activated the shell, this wind wouldn’t stand a chance… Although he considered it, he probably couldn’t pedal his bike while using his power.
“…Huh, using my power…,” he said, voicing his thoughts quietly with a wry smile.
It was a familiar phrase from all sorts of manga and novels, but he never thought the day would come where he’d say it in real life—
“…Ah!”
Minoru’s eyes instantly widened.
That was it. The little thorn in his side that had been bothering him. The conversation between Yumiko and DD that he hadn’t been able to remember.
Go sniff out the Biter or something.
Can’t smell him if he doesn’t use his power.
That’s what the two of them had said.
He forcefully gripped the brake lever without thinking, and his bike came to a halt with a shrill screeching noise.
If they weren’t using their powers, one couldn’t pick up on a Ruby Eye’s scent.
When the Biter used his ability, his mouth and teeth were transformed into something like a shark’s and he could bite through anything. In other words, while he was transformed into a shark man, he was continually giving off that beastly smell.
But to put it the other way, that meant that when he wasn’t transformed… When he appeared to be a normal human, he couldn’t be detected through smell even if he was just a stone’s throw away.
Minoru quickly turned to look behind him. He looked to the left and the right many times, too. There was no one around the little residential intersection. Still, he couldn’t say that the man wasn’t lurking on the other side of the concrete block wall or that he wouldn’t notice that smell right when his head was already being bitten clean off.
He nearly activated his protective shell in fright but thought better of it. Three days ago, he had lost the Biter’s scent the instant he put the shell on. Right now, it was more dangerous to block out the smell. The Biter would have to transform right before he attacked, so Minoru should be able to put the shell on in time after noticing that foul smell.
First, he had to get home as soon as possible. He could think of a plan after that. Minoru was able to calm himself down somehow, and he pumped the pedals again.
Forgetting the cold as he exhaled white puffs of breath, he raced down the road home almost nonstop.
When he turned the final corner and saw warm light filling the living room window of his house, his whole body finally relaxed. Norie was probably beginning dinner preparations right about now. Tonight’s dinner was supposed to be the gyoza they had made and frozen five days earlier.
He opened the gate, stopped his bike in its usual spot, and headed for the entryway at a jog. Switching his bike key for his house key, he came to a stop in front of the door. That was the moment.
Minoru felt his heart constrict.
The keyhole where he should have put his key in—it wasn’t there.
Above the door handle in place of the keyhole gaped a large hole with a diameter of around ten centimeters. Minoru stared blankly at the hole; he could see right through it to the other side.
The hole hadn’t been created with a tool like a drill. The edges of the hole that had been opened in the metal escutcheon plate were jagged, irregular, and sharp, but the cut edge of the inner cylinder shone smoothly. It was exactly as if a beast with a pointed mouth had chewed through it with sharp, strong teeth.
Minoru gripped the handle with his cold, numb right hand and pulled gently. The door opened, gliding open without a bit of resistance. There were no people or animals anywhere he could see—the hall extending straight from the entryway, the stairs going up on the left, or the glass door at the end of the hall that led to the living room. He couldn’t hear a single sound. A slightly orange light poured into the hall from the glass door.
His thoughts at a complete standstill, Minoru took off his shoes and stepped into the hall. After dropping his messenger bag, Chesterfield coat, and scarf in the hallway and taking a few steps forward, it finally hit him.
The sound he always heard at this moment. He couldn’t hear the pitter-patter of slippers running toward him.
His brain finally started up again, and two thoughts exploded from the center of his mind.
The Biter’s here.
Norie.
The only one who could have conceivably bitten through the sturdy dimple key cylinder was that strangely formed shark man.
In other words, there was a possibility that the Biter was lurking somewhere in the house at this very moment. But Minoru charged single-mindedly down the hallway and flew into the living room with enough force to smash the glass door.
“Norie!!”
As he shouted, he looked around the kitchen on the far left, then around the living and dining room on the right. T
he ceiling light shone brightly and the heater had been left on, but neither the Biter’s bulk nor Norie’s petite figure was there. When he wheeled around, wondering if they were on the second floor, he stepped on something mushy and soft with his left foot.
“…!”
Jumping back a step, he looked at his feet.
The thing on the floor was a small, milky-white semicircle. Bending down, he picked it up with trembling fingers.
It was one of the gyoza that he and Norie had made together five days earlier. When he had rushed into the kitchen, he saw that the silver tray was flipped over on the floor and dozens of gyoza were scattered around.
It was immediately clear what had happened. Norie had taken the gyoza tray out of the freezer to prepare dinner when the Biter attacked her.
Minoru’s eyes pored over the entire kitchen. He didn’t find anything that looked like a bloodstain. Next, he prodded the gyoza still clutched in his right hand with a fingertip. The outside was soft, but the ingredients inside were still half-frozen.
With the temperature in the room, the gyoza probably would have thawed all the way to the center within thirty minutes. That meant that the attack had probably happened a mere twenty minutes ago or less.
Dropping the half-raw gyoza in the sink, Minoru left the kitchen again to head up the stairs. When he did so, he noticed that there was a black rectangle placed ostentatiously in the middle of the dining table that hadn’t come into his line of sight earlier.
It was the terminal for the tablet that they always had standing up on the edge of the kitchen counter.
Rushing over to the table, he picked up the tablet and pressed the button. The notepad app was displayed. Minoru’s eyes pored over the lines written there.
I guarantee that the woman is unhurt. Stay where you are and wait for the next communication. Surveillance cameras have been set up there. If you leave the room, try to contact someone, or try to disable the cameras, I will kill the woman.
The words were clear and concise, which consequently made them surreal. But it felt like the Biter’s malice still remained on the glass surface of the tablet even a few dozen minutes after he had typed those lines. Minoru returned the tablet to the table and dropped into a dining chair.