Baccano! - Volume 7 - Chapter 5

FINAL CHAPTER

SLASH

“You kept a rat, didn’t you?

“You entrusted your heart to that rat, and you built your own world inside it. Isn’t that so?

“Ha-ha. I told you I’d learned all sorts of things about you, remember? I know everything about you.

“But your world broke far too easily… Or rather, it was killed.

“That rat-vessel was much too fragile to hold it.

“And so—wouldn’t you like to actually create a world?

“You can simply remake the world to suit yourself.

“If you say you’ll help me… Yes, there’s an idea: I’ll take the place of your rat.

“Tell me of the world you wish for, of all the malice you hold toward this world.

“You could say that the world you desire is inside me.

“After all, I came from the world you seek…”

10:00 AM In front of Mist Wall The Nebula New York branch office

In the rain, the monolith that was Mist Wall spread out hazily.

As Tim looked up at that faintly shining whiteness, he was remembering two “worlds.”

One was the white rat he’d kept as a boy.

The other was the man to whom he now devoted his entire being.

Tim had enclosed the world he wished for in both of them. It was safe to say that the man—Huey Laforet—still held it.

When he was a child, all he’d done was long for things and seal them inside others.

Things were different now, though. Now, he had power. The power to take the world he’d sealed inside Huey and pull it out, into reality.

However, his power was far too weak to transform the world completely.

I’ll change the world that didn’t accept me with my own two hands.

In order to do that, he had to gain the “power” Nebula held.

But he still had a mission to do. Tim quietly clenched his fists.

Just as they’d done yesterday, the members of Larva—himself included—were now standing across the street, observing the building.

“…Christopher’s group?”

“I don’t see them.”

“Tch… Adele… Well, that’s all right. They weren’t part of my calculations to begin with. Once it’s time, we’ll just begin the operation on our own.”

As he issued that order to his subordinate, Tim was watching the entrance of the skyscraper, Nebula’s pride.

Possibly because it was still morning, or maybe due to the ferocious rain, even though the building was as big as it was, almost no one was entering or leaving.

“All according to plan. We have to finish everything while the building isn’t getting much traffic.”

Tim went on quietly observing, and for a little while, he watched with an easy mind, but…

When about ten minutes had passed, he spotted something that seemed off.

“…?”

One of the cars that cut across the avenue slowed, then stopped at the base of Mist Wall, in front of the entrance.

If it had been an ordinary car, this wouldn’t have been a problem, but the black vehicle was clearly different from the other makes and models that drove around it. It was a luxury car, the sort that seemed to give a physical shape to the assertion that only the elite were allowed to ride in it.

“…A Nebula exec?”

The luxury car that had suddenly appeared concerned Tim, and he watched to see who got out of it.

“!”

When he realized who that individual was, the Larva boss stiffened involuntarily.

“What is it, Tim?” one of his subordinates whispered, sounding worried.

“Uh, no… Nothing.”

Tim’s response was delayed a moment; he drew a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

That’s crazy. What on earth…? What for?

From under his umbrella, he watched the man enter the building, making sure that it really was who he’d thought it was, that he hadn’t seen wrong.

Once he’d watched the figure disappear through the doors, Tim quietly murmured the name of the big shot.

“—Beriam… Senator Manfred Beriam…”

At the same time Little Italy

In a room that was spacious but plain, reminiscent of a midsize hotel—

—a man was speaking to the room’s owner.

“Seriously, thanks for putting us up for the night. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve leveled up from ‘friend’ to ‘good friend’! Boy, are you lucky! Check you out!”

Although there was no telling what was so funny, Christopher cackled away as he opened the front door.

Following suit, Chi and Adele each thanked him in turn:

“I apologize for the inconvenience. I will repay the favor of this night’s lodging someday.”

“Uh, um, um… Thank you very much.”

And then they left the room.

Firo, who’d been left behind, immediately reached for his coat and hat on the wall, intending to follow them.

In the end, Christopher and the others had persuaded him to go to the Nebula building the next day, after which Christopher had pointed out, shamelessly, that they had no place to spend the night.

Firo hadn’t wanted to get the Martillo Family involved with this shady group, so he’d had no choice but to put them up in his own apartment.

He pulled his hat down low on his head, and just as he reached for the umbrella in the entryway, a young voice called from behind him:

“Firo.”

It was Czeslaw Meyer, the boy who’d become the apartment’s second rent-free lodger, after Ennis.

“Hey, Czes. Sorry about all the noise last night… Ennis is fine, absolutely, so don’t worry.”

“No, that’s okay, but… Um, about Christopher’s group…”

Czes hesitated, as if this wasn’t easy to say, then murmured in a voice too low for anyone else to overhear, “…I think you should be careful.”

“Yeah, I know. They never did say anything about themselves.”

“No, not that… How should I put this…?”

Firo stopped talking and waited for his inarticulate roommate to state his conclusion.

“…They’re similar. The way they feel…”

“Similar to who?”

“…To Ennis.”

At that answer, Firo looked blank for a moment. Then he laughed and set a hand on Czes’s head.

“Ha-ha-ha! C’mon, Czes, there’s no way that’s true. What about that bunch of wackos is like Ennis?”

“…You’re right. I’m sorry; I said something weird.”

“Yeah… Really, don’t worry. Let’s take Ennis and go out to eat somewhere tonight.”

Giving Czes a confident smile, Firo followed Christopher and the others outside.

On his own, after he watched Firo leave, Czes organized the thoughts he’d had a moment earlier.

“If what I felt was accurate, then, now that Szilard is dead, the person who could pull something like that is…”

Remembering a certain man, Czes murmured his name without thinking.

It was the name of a former companion, and as he spoke, he felt a bottomless chill…

“Huey… Huey Laforet…”

Near Mist Wall The parking lot

An empty space, squeezed into the gap between buildings.

It was too cramped to call a “parking lot,” but even so, it was crowded with private automobiles in the latest models.

Jacuzzi’s group was disorderly assembled there, scattered among the cars, and everyone except for Jacuzzi, Nice, and Donny was wearing the same type of white work clothes.

A group of guys in uniforms, under several open umbrellas.

“Is this gonna be okay…?”

With an expression that didn’t hide his unease in the slightest, Jacuzzi was remembering the talk he’d had with Tim.

“I’ll say it one more time: We don’t want to be involved with killing.”

Squeezing out an unusually firm voice, Jacuzzi checked the content of the job with Tim.

“I know, I know. Your pals just need to disguise themselves as the building’s janitorial staff and spread this gas around in the places I told you.”

“It… It’s not poison gas, right?”

“If that’s what you think, want me to breathe some for you right here?”

Jacuzzi eyed it suspiciously for a little while, but before long, as if he’d given up on something, he accepted the object. It looked like a hand grenade.

“Wh-what is this? …Gas that puts people to sleep is going to come out of this thing? That’s just…”

“They’re like the smoke bomb the sister with the eye patch used this afternoon. Our boss makes weird things like that as a hobby.”

“Huh… Is that right.”

“According to the plans we got earlier, there are three labs. They’re supposed to be researching that liquor in one of them. Larva will handle that end of things. All you have to do is spread that knockout gas around and attract the guards’ attention.”

Thumping Jacuzzi on the shoulders, Tim gave a murky smile and murmured:

“I expect great things from you…Jacuzzi.”

“I…refuse to acknowledge the sort of people who’d take hostages in order to force other people to act. So—”

Jacuzzi’s words held serious determination, but his companions spoke up lightly, interrupting him.

Because he and Nice would have stood out too much, they weren’t dressed like janitors. Instead, they would wait in the sky-view restaurant on the top floor.

“We know, Jacuzzi. We’re pulling a fast one on ’em, right?”

“That’s what we always do, ain’t it?”

“I don’t really get it, but we’re planning on being the only winners here, yeah?”

“Hya-haah.”

All the usual responses.

The comments did sound dim, but to Jacuzzi, they were the best possible nourishment.

“Yeah… We’re doing it.”

As the young crybaby nodded firmly, a sharp light came into his eyes.

“Once they steal that ‘liquor of immortality’—we’re going to steal it again.”

They didn’t want to cooperate, but they did want a way to stand up to the mafia. They might be able to use the liquor of immortality as a bargaining chip.

Jacuzzi had thought up this theft, the redheaded hitman who’d shown up later had egged them on, and then they’d put the idea into action.

Confronted with this daring plan—robbing the robbers—not one of Jacuzzi’s companions had lost their nerve.

“We…managed to steal cargo from the Flying Pussyfoot. And so…I’m positive this heist is going to go well, too!”

In the midst of the downpour, Jacuzzi’s friends sent up a cheer.

Their voices nearly drowned out the sound of the rain, and they didn’t have the slightest doubt of their victory.

They didn’t know what was waiting for them, within the “mist” that towered in the rain…

Little Italy The restaurant Alveare

“Hey, Ennis. Good to see you again.”

“Welcome back, Ennis.”

When Ennis entered the restaurant, several of her friends called to her.

As she was returning each greeting conscientiously, Maiza, who was sitting at the counter, spoke to her as well.

“Hello, Ennis. What happened to Isaac and Miria?”

“Oh, Maiza… Well, you see…”

“Do you want to know the answer?”

If she’d said Ronny’s words last night hadn’t intrigued her, she would have been lying.

For now, however, she’d chosen to reassure Firo.

He may be angry with Isaac and Miria, but I’ll tell him it’s payback for knocking over the dominos and that they’re even now. He’s probably mad at me, too, but…if he is, I’ll just apologize honestly.

In the end, she’d spent the evening with Ronny, Isaac, and Miria at the office, and as soon as she’d awakened, she’d come back to Alveare.

Ronny had said he was going to go settle things with Jacuzzi and his friends. On hearing that, Isaac and Miria had kicked up a fuss—“You’re going to see Jacuzzi and everybody? I’m going, too.” “Me too!”—and they’d followed Ronny, just as if they were going on a picnic.

“I didn’t think Ronny would take them with him…”

Ennis was relieved by the fact that nothing had happened, and Maiza spoke up, explaining Ronny’s behavior to her.

“Oh, that was because…they said they were friends with Jacuzzi’s group, so he probably assumed the discussion would go more smoothly if they were there. Besides…Ronny seems to really like Isaac and Miria.”

“Does he?”

“Yes, although I couldn’t say why.”

Ennis smiled, seeming vaguely relieved. Then she looked around the restaurant, searching for the person she most wanted to see.

“Um…where is Firo?”

“I think he’s still out looking for you. Today was his day off.”

“Huh?”

Brrrrrrring Brrrrrrring Brrrrrring

Just as feelings of intense guilt began to well up inside Ennis, the telephone rang loudly.

Seina, who was at the counter, picked up the receiver, said a few words into it, then held it out to her.

“Here, Ennis. It’s for you.”

“For me…?”

Could it be Firo?

If it is, I’ll have to apologize right away.

Hastily putting the receiver to her ear, she was on the verge of shouting an apology, when—

“Hiiiii.”

The voice she heard was unfamiliar, and it belonged to a woman.

“…Oh, u-um.”

“You’re Ennis, aren’t you? That wasn’t very nice. We waited for you at your place all last night…”

“What?”

“Ennis’s place” was the apartment she shared with Firo and Czes. This woman was saying she’d spent the night there, and in spite of herself, Ennis was flustered.

“U-um! Who on earth are you…?! You were waiting for me…?”

“My, my. I’m sorry. My name is Leeza. It’s a pleasure.”

The voice that giggled stealthily on the other end of the phone struck Ennis as terribly creepy. She fell silent, and as if mocking her, this “Leeza” continued, sounding unconcerned.

“I’ll get straight to the point: We have Firo Prochainezo.”

“…!”

The moment she understood the other woman’s words, Ennis felt a shock run through her.

“But you see, to be honest, we don’t have any use for him yet. Only— There’s someone who desperately wants to say hello to you… And so…I’d be very happy if you’d come, alone, to the place I’m about to tell you.”

“…”

“What’s the matter, Ennis?”

Maiza spoke from the counter; he seemed to have picked up on the fact that something was wrong from her expression.

Ennis couldn’t answer. All she could do was wait for the woman’s next words.

Could this be some kind of mistake? Maybe Isaac and Miria’s prank made Firo mad, and now he’s trying to trick me?

Those faint hopes crossed her mind, but the next words dashed them.

“Let’s see… The sky-view restaurant on the top floor of Mist Wall. Let’s meet there.”

Mist Wall.

Ennis immediately remembered the significance of that place.

It was the location Ronny had mentioned yesterday, and according to him, the spear woman would be there as well. The place where she could find the truth.

“Oh, that’s right: You mustn’t be sneaky and bring any friends with you. Such as, for example, the young man with glasses who’s sitting next to you at the counter…”

“…!”

“Can you guess how I managed to phone right after you went into the restaurant?”

“ !”

Realizing what she meant, Ennis looked around in spite of herself. The voice on the other end of the telephone gave a long, musical laugh.

“Do you understand? ‘The twins’ are always watching you… All right. We’ll be waiting.”

“Please don’t go yet! Who on earth…? Who are you?!”

At Ennis’s yell, Leeza fell silent for a moment. Then, mockingly, she responded.

“I’m just Leeza. However…”

When she heard her answer—Ennis’s heart froze completely.

“…the others have inherited the will of Szilard Quates.”

“Geez… Is that bastard Dallas really here?”

He shifted his umbrella back slightly, looking up at the white building for just a moment as the rain fell on his face.

Using his fingers to wipe water out of his eyes, Firo spoke to the trio behind him.

“I dunno. I only heard about it from Adele. What do you think, Chi?”

“Why are you asking me? …Adele.”

“Huh? Oh… Y-yes. Our companion…is watching him, so…it should be all right, I think…”

Adele’s answer didn’t sound confident, and Firo looked up at the structure again uneasily.

It was hidden in the shadow of the Empire State Building, but even so, Mist Wall’s height was quite striking.

“Where in this place is—?”

“Never mind that. More importantly…”

In sharp contrast to Firo, who was looking tense, Christopher’s expression was easygoing.

“You’re one of those types, aren’t you, Firo? I’m impressed you can walk around in public with us like it was nothing.”

“Hunh?”

Firo’s train of thought had been disrupted. He turned around…and took another look at the group he was traveling with.

The most decent-looking one was the woman, who was carrying an odd, stick-shaped object on her back.

A slender man whose arms were covered in bandages and who was holding a bright-red, Asian-style umbrella.

And a guy in aristocratic clothes, with red eyes and a jaw that was all fangs.

Considered against the ordinary, they were people you’d absolutely never want to walk around with.

Why am I…?

Part of it was probably the fact that his mind had been fully occupied with Ennis, but Firo suspected something else.

It was because he’d spent nearly three years with the sort of people who’d dress up as Indians or clowns, or even don Japanese kimonos and wander around town with him.

I got used to people who look nutso? …Me?

It felt as if admitting that would mean taking a step over to “that side of things” himself, and Firo hastily shook his head.

Dammit. Come to think of it…I wonder what Isaac and Miria are doing now.

Even in this hopeless situation, if they’d been here, would he have been able to rest a little easier, mentally?

That was what Firo thought, but in the end, it didn’t change the fact that they weren’t here.

Argh, dammit to hell. I shouldn’t have fought over something that dumb.

Just for a moment, Firo smiled as if he were laughing at himself. Then he folded his umbrella and started into Mist Wall.

“…Don’t tell me those guys have been walking around town like that.”

On seeing Christopher’s group enter the building, Tim held his head briefly.

The entrance of Mist Wall felt like a hotel lobby: The building was a commercial terminal that brought the various businesses of the Nebula conglomerate together, and in its center, there were easily more than ten elevators, installed in rows. Among those elevators sat a general information center that looked like a department store.

Two women with even features sat behind the information center counter, wearing professional smiles and nodding constantly to the people who were entering or leaving the building.

Immediately beside the information center, there was a waiting area with several tables.

Tim had settled in at a table right on the edge and had been supervising the situation while pretending to read a newspaper, but…

On seeing Adele walking over to him, he was relieved in spite of himself.

If it was Christopher or Chi, I’d have had to pretend I didn’t know them.

“U-um…Tim…”

“You’re late. Everyone else is already in place. We’re about to get started.”

Tim was looking at his watch as he spoke, but Adele ignored him and asked an apologetic question instead.

“U-um…where is Dallas…now?”

“? What about him? He’s—I told him to keep an eye on Jacuzzi’s group in the restaurant on the top floor. Jacuzzi and those other guys might sell us out… He could also be plotting something with them, but it looks like the hostage is still working.”

“I see… The restaurant on the top floor, you said.”

Murmuring as if in confirmation, Adele turned on her heel and started back to Christopher and the others.

“Hey. Adele?”

His subordinate’s inexplicable behavior concerned him, but Tim couldn’t do anything conspicuous here, so for the moment, he decided to just keep an eye on the situation.

The group Adele was walking toward consisted of Christopher, Chi, and—

“…Who’s that?”

“Um, uh… I found out, Firo. He says Dallas is in the restaurant on the top floor.”

“! The top floor? Thanks.”

No sooner had Firo heard that than he dashed into an elevator whose doors had just opened.

Christopher made no move to follow him. He just saw his “friend” off with a mild expression.

“All right.”

Christopher cracked his neck—and the atmosphere warped slightly.

Noticing this, Chi and Adele quietly narrowed their eyes…and smiled happily.

The red-eyed youth walked right up to the table where Tim, the leader of Larva, was sitting and looked down at him.

For his part, Tim kept his eyes on his newspaper and pretended not to know him.

“Hi there. It looks like you set up another play-it-safe maneuver, huh, Tim?”

“…”

“You’re always like that. You pick up ‘disposable pawns’ near the job site and use the hell out of them, while you work in a safe, key spot… Oh, I get it: Are you ‘Larva’ because you possess people and control ’em?”

“…Quiet.”

Tim muttered the word in a voice so low he might almost have been talking to himself. His eyes were still skimming his newspaper.

Shrugging gracefully, Christopher shook his head. He seemed entertained.

“You don’t score any big successes, but you almost never fail, either. That steadiness of yours is more intelligence than genius. It’s sort of, well, you know: a pale imitation. Anyway, don’t worry. Since we’re here…we’ll take this smart job and bump it up to genius level.”

Christopher smiled brightly, and Tim finally looked at him.

“…I don’t know what Mr. Huey wants to do here, but there’s nothing for you to help with anymore.”

He’d declared them unnecessary in a cold voice, but Christopher shook his head, looking even more entertained.

“Right… You don’t need to know, Tim. Not about what Huey wants to do.”

“? What do you mean?”

Without answering, Christopher spread both arms wide, turning on his heel.

“All right, welcome to dreamland—but it’s nightmares only. You’ll be lonely. Do your best, Tim. Act responsibly, as our leader. In other words, I’m not taking responsibility for this.”

“?! Hey…”

He didn’t understand what the other guy was getting at, and he stood up, trying to stop him—but it was too late. Christopher had reached the general information center.

“Merry Christmas!”

When the man in the strange clothes offered his greeting, the eyes of a woman at the counter went round.

“U-um… Welcome to Nebula…?”

“Merry Christmas?”

The man had rephrased his statement as a question, and the woman wondered whether there was some sort of event on Broadway.

Keeping her customer service smile in place, she attempted a response, but…

“It’s still two months too early for—”

“Sorry, it’s actually Halloween.”

Shink.

In reality, there was almost no sound.

Yet everyone who saw that sight almost certainly heard it.

That shink.

It was her throat.

The point of the handgun that Christopher had drawn, unnoticed, was stuck in the woman’s throat.

That odd gun, which had a knife fused with its tip, had definitely inflicted a fatal wound on the woman’s white neck.

“ ”

The woman at the counter tried to say something, but the words wouldn’t come. All she produced was the noise of bubbling blood.

“Yeek…”

The girl beside her was the first one to register the situation, and she opened her mouth to give the loudest scream she could manage, but—

—the tip of another gun was shoved into it.

“—Ghah!  AAaagkg…”

The left-hand weapon was stuck into the trachea of the woman on the left, while the right-hand gun was in the mouth of the woman on the right.

Pausing for a moment with both arms stretched out horizontally, Christopher slowly broke into a smile.

On seeing the many fangs in that mouth, the woman on the right, who was still conscious, nearly passed out from fright and pain. Her final sensations were seeing Christopher’s right hand pull the trigger, hearing the hammer fall and the gunpowder explode, and then, before her feeling of pain could tell her anything, all her senses went dark.

The gunshot was significantly more muted than an ordinary one. To the people who’d been far away, it probably only seemed as if a firecracker had burst.

However—the people who’d been in the hall just then had seen the atrocity clearly.

The guns left the throat and mouth of the women. Their tips were dripping with bright-red blood—and having lost their support, the women fell back behind the counter and disappeared from view.

Almost no ordinary members of the public had seen it, but many Nebula employees and security guards had witnessed the act, and after a moment’s silence, screams and shouts filled the air.

“What…is he…?”

Tim couldn’t process the situation; he was blinking behind his glasses.

As if mocking him, Christopher sang loudly, like a little kid.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, trick or treat, trick or treat. If you don’t give me a treat, I’ll slaughter you.   If you give me a treat, I’ll slaughter you anyway.  ”

As if it were a children’s tune, Christopher randomly improvised a little ditty.

The security guards tried to draw their guns, but he fired before they managed to do the same, sending dry sounds echoing through the hall.

“Red flowers bloomed.   Let’s eat, let’s eat, flower-petal treats.  ”

Punctuating the rhythm of his song, the gunshots inflicted fatal wounds on one guard after another.

“La-la-la, la, la.  ”

“What…is he doing?”

Tim tried to squeeze his voice out, but his tense muscles wouldn’t let him.

A nasty shiver ran down his whole body.

He couldn’t think of what he was seeing as reality. The cold sensation of sweat trickling down his back was the only thing keeping him anchored to the real world.

Staff members who didn’t have guns started running, trying to flee outdoors.

But the glass doors, which should have been standing open, were now closed and had some sort of sign on the outside.

From the fact that nobody new was coming in, the message on it was probably turning people away.

Even so, if they hit the doors from the inside, they should have been able to break through easily, but—

“…Poor wretches.”

A lean shadow ran from the front of the entryway, passing the people who were attempting to escape.

The next moment, the employees’ throats gaped open, and they tumbled over, one after another.

The ones who had fallen had stopped moving, and red blood formed widening puddles on the white, glossy stone floor.

A few people saw this and broke into a run, heading for the doors on the opposite side of the building, but—

—silver rings flew, seemingly out of nowhere, and lodged in their heads.

“Leeza…!”

Realizing what the silver discs were, Tim clenched his fists tightly and stared at his surroundings with bloodshot eyes, trying to absorb the current situation.

It had seemed as though everyone in the hall would die, but there were a few survivors, and some people had managed to escape through the doors.

As Tim noticed what these people had in common, question marks appeared in his mind.

—?! Just the ones who aren’t employees here…?

Everyone who’d been killed was wearing a Nebula employee badge.

Just as he realized this, Tim noticed he was calm again, and he yelled.

“What… What are you doing, bastaaaaaaards?!”

That scream reverberated in the hall, and when Christopher’s group heard it, they quietly stopped moving.

“‘What’?” Turning his usual kind smile on him, Christopher told him the reason in an unconcerned voice. “It’s work. What else would it be? Part of it is to make things easier for you people. The other part—is because it’s a direct order from Huey.”

“Wha…?”

As if she’d seen through Tim’s confusion, Adele, who hadn’t done anything up until that point, spoke. “Tim, um, you see…Master Huey himself contacted us…through the twins. Us, Lamia, directly. Not Larva… And, um…he said to kill everyone at Nebula’s New York branch office…”

“Wha—?!”

That’s ridiculous! That could never…!

The Huey Tim knew didn’t like it when people who didn’t need to be involved died. For that reason, even the Lemures’ terrorist activities hadn’t been indiscriminate, but—

When his thoughts had taken him that far, Tim abruptly realized something.

During that massacre, Christopher’s group hadn’t killed a single person who wasn’t on the staff.

Tim made a certain conjecture—and at the same time, the horror of his own guess nauseated him.

“Don’t tell me… It can’t be, right?”

“Yes, it can, Leader!”

As if he’d read his mind, Christopher spoke, sounding cheerful.

“It’s a real honor, isn’t it? This building— No, everything involved with Nebula has been selected as a subject for Huey Laforet’s experiment!”

Huey Laforet was a man who was meticulously careful to do no harm to anything that was not a subject in one of his experiments—but once something had been set as a guinea pig, he’d use any method, no matter how cruel.

Tim had thought he understood that, but he’d never encountered a “guinea pig” this large before.

“Why…? That’s…”

“Remember what I said? You don’t need to know what Huey wants to do here, Tim. We don’t need to know, either, of course. So I haven’t heard a peep about it myself.”

“…”

Ignoring Tim, whose blood was running cold, Christopher and the others discussed their next move.

“All right, Adele and I will go kill the cooks and staff in the sky-view restaurant and work our way down, so you start from below, Chi. Leeza, you stay here and pick off the employees who run. That okay?”

Chi and Adele nodded wordlessly, and then they all started off on their separate routes.

Christopher and Adele disappeared into an elevator, while Chi vanished into an emergency stairwell.

Once he’d quietly watched the killers go, Tim took the newspaper he’d been holding and hurled it to the floor.

“I see,” he muttered softly. He wore a defiant smile.

On realizing just what sort of situation he’d wound up in, he’d been shocked, then afraid—but now he was smiling.

“A cursed path, was it? This is the path I chose. I must have known as much going in. Right?”

It was less as if he was defiant and more as if he’d reaffirmed his determination concerning the path he’d chosen.

“…I’ll do it. In any case…I threw everything away eight years ago.”

Just then, the hands on Tim’s watch reached eleven o’clock.

“…It’s time.”

In the offices on every floor, a thin, misty smoke went up.

That mist dissolved into the air right away, but its effects didn’t vanish: Everyone who breathed that smoke fell into a deep sleep.

Unaware of the tragedy that had taken place on the first floor, Jacuzzi’s companions and the members of Larva had taken their first steps toward their own objectives.

And so: A quiet confusion enveloped Mist Wall.

Top floor The sky-view restaurant Babel

A short while earlier…

Mist Wall’s biggest draw was its overlook restaurant, which was run directly by Nebula.

The surrounding walls were made almost entirely of glass, and it was a place where visitors could relax and enjoy the sensation of being in a midair garden. It was also an observation platform, and although not as tall as the Empire State Building, it was high enough to have an unbroken view out over Manhattan.

The prices on the menu spanned a wide range, from economical dishes to luxury items, and the restaurant had regular visitors from a variety of social classes.

“Hmm. So the Babel chain is managed directly by Nebula, too… Nebula really does have its fingers in every pie, doesn’t it?”

Adjusting her glasses over her eye patch, Nice gazed out at the view as she ate her sandwich.

“I-I’m scared. Come on, let’s not sit by the window, okay…?”

Shivering like a puppy, Jacuzzi averted his eyes so he wouldn’t see outside.

“I think it’s better than being on the roof of a moving train, Jacuzzi.”

“I—I was…desperate that time, so…”

“Go on, you eat something too.”

“Mrrrgh, yum. Jacuzzi, eat, good.”

“I c-can’t eat while everyone else is walking a tightrope out there…”

Mumbling and hesitating, Jacuzzi kept his face turned away from the window.

He, Nice, and Donny—who took up two chairs on his own—were seated at a big table meant for six people.

Dallas was sitting a short distance away, scowling and glaring fixedly at a menu.

“It’s okay, Jacuzzi. I’m sure it’s all going to go just fine!” Nice encouraged.

“Uh-huh…”

He tried a listless nod, but as he did so, he accidentally looked out the window. When Jacuzzi glanced away again, he was on the verge of tears.

As they were having that sort of mechanical conversation, a waiter, who wore a formal expression, came up to them.

Even though Jacuzzi’s group looked like thugs, the waiter bowed, just as he would have for any other customer. Then, with a look that seemed slightly apologetic, he spoke:

“My sincere apologies. Would it be all right if three guests joined you at your table?”

“Oh, s-sure, we don’t mind.”

“Really?”

Nice had asked her question in a whisper, and he responded: “I mean, if we say no, they’ll get suspicious.”

Jacuzzi attempted to greet the newcomers with a smile, and—

“Thanks.”

On seeing Ronny Schiatto sit down in front of him, he almost passed out with that smile still on his face.

Just barely managing to keep his consciousness grounded in reality, Jacuzzi spoke, looking as if he was about to cry.

“Wh…why? How did you know we were here?!”

“Magic.”

That’s nuts.

Jacuzzi was about to yell the words, but when he saw the faces that darted in from beside Ronny, he shut his mouth.

“Say, Jacuzzi! Ronny’s magic tricks are amazing, aren’t they?!”

“Yes, it’s a people-finding show!”

At Isaac and Miria’s abrupt appearance, Jacuzzi’s eyes went round again.

“Isaac! Miria! Wh-wh-wh-why are you here?!”

Gazing at the three startled faces, Ronny spoke, sounding amused.

“All right… I’d appreciate it if you’d hear me out without running away today…”

At the sight of Isaac and Miria, who were smiling innocently, a certain individual’s fists began trembling.

Why…? Why are they here?!

The couple who’d hit him with a car were chatting happily a mere two tables away. They looked as if they hadn’t experienced a single one of the world’s hardships.

Calm down. Not yet. You don’t have time to kill those guys now.

Just when he was toughing the situation out with an angry expression—someone appeared to collapse his levee.

“Ronny! Isaac and Miria, too… Why?!”

Dallas had heard that voice somewhere before, and on reflex, he looked up.

The individual he saw…was the one who had planted this horrific urge to kill in him. The one who was, as far as Dallas Genoard was concerned, the root of all evil—Firo Prochainezo.

“Fiiiiiiiirooooooooo!”

Before he knew it, he was screaming.

The vengeful yell seemed to have been wrung from his very soul, and it pulled all eyes in the restaurant to Dallas.

“Dallas…!”

As Firo shouted, Dallas got up from his chair and slowly stalked forward.

“Hey…Greaser… To think you’d come all the way out here to get yourself killed…that’s real impressive.”

“D-Dallas?!”

Jacuzzi was startled, and he hastily looked at Dallas’s face, but when he saw the murder in his eyes, he glanced away again in spite of himself.

With a mass of killing intent bearing down on him, Firo glared back without flinching, and—

“Dallas…where is Ennis?!”

The commanding shout made the man freeze for a moment.

“…Hunh?”

For a beat, silence flowed between the two.

As everyone in the restaurant watched them, only Isaac gazed into space, as if he was thinking about something—and then he remembered his own objective.

“Aaaah!”

“?!”

His abrupt yell had broken the silence, and the eyes around him shifted to Isaac.

“Ah-ha-ha! Don’t you worry, Firo! Miria and I rescued your precious Ennis!”

“Yes, we sure did!”

“Huh?”

Isaac’s shout had unsettled Firo, and the couple’s words made him involuntarily dial back his hostility.

“Wha—? Y-you… Really?!”

Ignoring Dallas, Firo went closer to Isaac and Miria, then looked at Ronny.

Ronny glanced at Firo’s eyes, then murmured, “Hmm, well.”

“You mean it?! Ennis is really okay…?”

Relieved, Firo relaxed.

Dallas had watched the scene from the sidelines, looking confused, but it didn’t take him long to realize he’d been completely ignored. His animosity exploded, and he launched himself off the floor.

“Don’t you go ignoring m—”

In the next moment, the sole of Firo’s shoe connected solidly with Dallas’s knee.

“—Huh?”

Then he lost his balance, Firo grabbed his arm, and—

—in the next moment, Dallas’s body flipped neatly and was pinned to the floor.

Oooooooooh.

A light stir ran through the restaurant.

Crouching down and restraining his arms, Firo muttered to the man who was groaning below him. He sounded disgusted.

“You’re as weak as ever.”

“…!”

Dallas’s eyes flew open, and he glared at Firo’s leg. There was still murder in those eyes.

Even so, he was completely pinned, and he couldn’t even move his head the way he wanted to.

“All right… You kidnapped Ennis. How are you going to make it up to me?”

Just when it looked as though all the trouble was under control—Ronny’s expression clouded.

“? What is it, Ronny?”

“Not feeling so great?”

“Oh, I see. It’s because Firo was only worried about Ennis.”

“Yes, he’s jealous!”

Ignoring the ruckus Isaac and Miria were making, Ronny quietly strained his ears. Before long, he lightly tapped his temple with his index finger.

Then he frowned abruptly, murmuring softly to Firo and the others.

“This is bad. I didn’t think they’d go this far.”

“? What is it, Ronny?”

“Wh-what? What’s going on?”

In response to Firo’s and Jacuzzi’s respective questions, Ronny closed his eyes and spoke.

“…I heard gunshots from the first floor.”

“? From the first floor? Ronny, this is the top floor. You can’t have heard…”

Ronny had specifically said “the first floor,” not “from the direction of the first floor,” and Firo called him out on it, but there wasn’t a trace of uncertainty in his mentor’s expression.

“It isn’t a battlefield yet, but…this building…has become a killing field.”

His tone was serious, but inwardly, Ronny was enjoying the situation.

Now then…the players are very nearly all in place.

The Mist Wall entrance

“What do you think, Mariaaa?”

“Hmm. It stinks of risky business in there, amigo! There are tons of people on the floor!”

Maria peered in through the closed glass doors, reporting what she saw to the group behind her.

Tick stood there, along with Vino, Chané, Fang, and Eve.

“He was saying something about knockout gas, so they’re probably just asleep,” Claire hedged.

“Still, to think they’d do it that openly…,” Fang muttered. “This looks hairier than I thought it would be. Eve, we should probably wait outside.”

“But…”

For a moment, Eve seemed bewildered.

She’d been told that her brother Dallas was here, inside Mist Wall.

The brother she’d been searching for after all this time was inside this building, and something was clearly happening in there. In that case, she wasn’t sure she could wait somewhere safe on her own.

“Nah, just wait. If you say you’re going in, the cook’s probably going to go with you. Even if you’re fine with it, you don’t want to put him in danger, right?”

Vino’s words convinced Eve, and although she did feel some lingering regret, she nodded.

“Um…please…take care of my brother.”

“Well, I’ll guarantee his life for you, at least. And actually, they say he’s immortal, so I doubt you’ve got anything to worry about.”

On that note, Vino started for the building’s entrance.

Eve and Fang decided to wait beside the building across the way, under their umbrellas. As the girl turned around, Maria spoke to her back, smiling.

“Sorry about last night.”

“Huh?”

Eve had already almost forgotten she’d been taken hostage, and she wasn’t sure how to respond. She gave a timid nod.

“You didn’t cry once yesterday. I bet you’re going to be strong and gorgeous, amiga.”

At those brisk, pleasant words, Eve blushed.

“No, that’s… I mean… It was because I believed…”

“Believed what, amiga?”

“I thought, if you were Mr. Luck’s friend, you must have some sort of reason…”

Eve was smiling gently. Maria saw it, and her response sounded mildly appalled.

“You’re too much of a pushover, amiga. If you keep that up, you’re sure to get burned someday.”

She’d meant the words as sarcasm, but Eve accepted them at face value.

“Yes, I think you’re right… But even so, I don’t mind.”

“…You really are going to be strong, amiga.”

Maria secretly envied the intense light in the girl’s eyes.

I wonder if I was like that, too, when I was a kid…

What would her past self say if she saw her current self, the one who was still wavering?

With a slightly masochistic smile, Maria reaffirmed her resolution to reclaim herself.

Even if it means the spear woman and I take each other out…?

Possibly because she’d picked up on her attitude, Eve hastily added, “U-um…give it your best, please!”

Eve didn’t really know what she’d told Maria to “give her best” at. Nevertheless, she’d overheard Tick and Maria’s conversation yesterday, and she’d felt as if she needed to tell her something, too. Those were the words that had slipped out automatically.

“I-I’m sorry… It’s just that, a moment ago, you looked as if you were really brooding, Maria…”

An outsider had cheered her on, telling her to “give it her best.” Depending on the situation, some people might have been angered by that, but Maria accepted the words with good grace, waving a hand and beaming.

She’s right. If we take each other out, there’s no point.

Should she live, or should she risk her life…? Maria had been wavering on top of those scales, but Eve’s casual comment had given her a push, and she’d decided to come back alive, no matter what.

And I took this girl hostage. I’ll have to make it up to her properly.

Now that she’d decided to survive, her smile had its usual innocent sparkle.

That smile had nearly been lost once. In this town, as the rain poured down, Eve felt as if she’d seen the sun for the first time in ages…and she smiled involuntarily.

“How pretty…”

At the entrance to the building, there was a sign that read EMERGENCY SAFETY EQUIPMENT INSPECTION IN PROGRESS. DO NOT ENTER, and all the doors were locked.

“Want me to cut through those and get us in, amigo?”

Looking at Maria, who was holding her Japanese swords at the ready, Vino muttered, sounding disgusted, “Good grief. Do you want to make this brouhaha bigger or something? For a hitman, you’re pretty gutsy.”

“…Then what do we do?”

Maria puffed her cheeks out sulkily, and Vino reached over and plucked a hairpin from her abundant locks.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing, amigo?!”

Ignoring her protest, Vino stuck the end of the hairpin into the keyhole on a door.

“Wow, Claire, you can do that, toooo?”

“It’s Felix. Yeah, well, checkered past, etcetera.”

He twiddled the hairpin skillfully, and just as the lock was about to open—

—Vino saw a figure approaching in the glass.

The shape wasn’t inside the building. It was part of the reflected scenery from outside. In other words, it was coming up behind them.

Perceiving the unusual aura the figure radiated, Vino slowly turned around.

He saw a lone young woman, without an umbrella, as wet as a drowned rat. She wore a black suit, and Vino didn’t recognize her. Although, after a moment, the other three remembered they’d seen her at Jacuzzi’s (Eve’s) house the day before.

“…”

As if she didn’t even see Tick’s group, the young woman in the suit walked to the next door over. When she discovered it was locked, she took a big step back.

And then—

—she jumped, spinning as if she were turning her back, focused all that momentum into her leg, and slammed an aerial spin kick into the doorframe.

Impact.

The collision was so violent that it seemed to shake the whole building.

Something snapped noisily, and then one of the doors warped and came loose, outer frame and all, and fell into the building.

The woman in the suit went inside, glanced at the people lying around her, and stopped for a moment as if she wasn’t sure of something. Then, possibly because what she wanted wasn’t there, she briskly made for the elevators in the center.

Click

As they watched her go, there was a soft noise by Vino’s fingertips, and the lock opened.

“Wow. Destroyed. She gummed me up.”

Still smiling, Vino straightened up, set a hand on the door—which was the type that opened outward—and, for some reason, pushed it in.

Krik creak grunch

There was the sound of something slowly tearing apart, and gradually, the door bent inward, in a direction it really shouldn’t have opened.

“That helped a bit. I’m not letting her get away with that, though. I’m lodging an emphatic complaint with that broad!”

“Calm down!! That’s way too immature, amigo!!”

“Bull. The line between adults and kids is practically nonexistent. In other words, as far as I’m concerned, there’s no such word as immature.”

Vino was wearing an odd expression—an angry smile—but Chané blocked his way, gazing at him steadily with golden eyes.

After a moment, Vino spoke, smiling bashfully. “Well, uh…Chané, if you’re going to say all that, then…”

“She didn’t say anything.”

“But listen, Chané, if you say stuff like that in public, you’ll make me blush. Ha-ha-ha-ha.”

“…Right now, to the average bystander, you look like a complete moron, amigo.”

Maria gazed at Vino as if she was seeing something pathetic. However, when she glanced at Chané’s face, she saw that the girl had averted her eyes rather self-consciously.

“Claire and Chané, you’re all lovey-doveyyy.”

“Knock it off, Tick! And it’s Felix.”

As she watched Vino blush and thump Tick on the back, Maria, sounding mildly amazed, muttered to herself, “…How did I lose to a guy like that?”

The sky-view restaurant

“Ladies and gentlemen…do you like Nature?”

Those were the first words from the man who’d stepped out of the elevator.

“Observation decks are great. There’s nothing but sky all around you. Nothing but Nature for three hundred sixty degre… Whoops, hey, there’s the Empire State Building. It’s ruined. Gimme back my money. Gimme back my Nature. Don’t you agree?”

The odd red-eyed man had abruptly begun saying nonsensical things. A woman who was carrying a strange stick on her back waited behind him, silently watching his movements.

The restaurant’s customers seemed to think this was some sort of show: Although they were paying attention, nobody had started making a fuss about it yet.

“That guy…”

Firo, who was still holding Dallas down, glared at Christopher, sour-faced.

I’ll just pretend I don’t know him.

The moment he’d made that decision, with truly awful timing, the other guy noticed him.

“Hi, Firo! Did you find that Dallas fella?”

Christopher spoke to him companionably. The diners’ attention, which had left Firo once, came back to him again.

“…”

Beside Firo, whose face had gone bright red, Isaac and Miria were whispering to each other.

“H-hey, Miria! It’s the magician! The doll in back is the magician from yesterday!”

“You’re right! That’s amazing! If we’re running into her here, that must mean the magic show’s already started!”

“I bet the guy who’s sort of dressed like a magician is the doll’s teacher!”

“Woooow!”

In contrast to Isaac and Miria, who were getting excited all by themselves, Jacuzzi’s group was looking back and forth from Adele to Christopher as if they were seeing something eerie, while Dallas, still pinned to the floor, was glaring at Adele with more murder in his eyes than he’d focused on Firo.

Only Ronny wore his usual expression, as if this had nothing to do with him.

Maybe because he’d grown unable to stand the silence, Firo managed to speak, although he sounded uncomfortable.

“Listen, seriously, why did you come to this town?”

Instead of answering that question, Christopher nodded quietly, then turned to face the staff room, which was behind him.

“By the way, who’s the manager here?!”

At his question, all the staff members in the restaurant looked at one another. Before long, a middle-aged man in the kitchen raised his hand.

“That’s me.”

After making sure there was a small Nebula employee ID on the gentleman’s chest—

—without even giving the man time to be startled, Christopher drew a knife-gun from his jacket and fired.

“ !”

The bullet struck him squarely in the head, and the manager collapsed in the kitchen.

And then—this time, screams and confusion enveloped the sky-view restaurant.

“What…? Hey. What are you doing?”

Firo was gazing at the sight that had unfolded in front of him as if he couldn’t believe it.

But the restaurant was in an uproar, and his murmur was completely lost in the noise.

In the midst of this abrupt, abnormal situation, one person moved faster than anybody else.

“Donny!”

Even as Jacuzzi shouted, Donny picked up the table in front of him with one hand and—as lightly as if it were an empty box, but with lethal force—lobbed it at Christopher.

“Whoops.”

Christopher dodged that table without moving his feet.

As if doing a gymnastics bridge, he leaned way over backward, bending his body almost ninety degrees.

An enormous mass flew past the tip of his nose, which was now parallel with the ground.

“Close, but no cigar… Whoa.”

When he righted himself, a giant was standing in his way.

Donny had closed in as he threw the table, and he grabbed Christopher’s arm, the one that held the gun.

“Donny! That’s it; hold him down!”

“Mrrrgh…”

Doing as Jacuzzi bade, Donny tried to pin Christopher, throwing all his weight into it, but—

“That’s some fantastic strength. You made me shiver a bit.”

Christopher checked Donny’s right hand with his own free left, then began to push at the other man, as if boosting him up from below.

“Mrrgh… Jacuzzi… This guy…strong…”

“It can’t be… Is he trying to match Donny’s strength?!”

As Nice cried out in astonishment, Christopher smirked and abruptly shifted his weight.

“You really think I’d try to match the strength of a big lug like this?”

Vigorously shaking his trapped right hand free, Christopher slipped through Donny’s legs and got around behind him.

“Bye-bye, Gulliver.”

Smiling mischievously, Christopher trained his gun on the back of Donny’s head.

A black lump materialized right in front of his eyes.

Nice had thrown a flash bomb.

“?”

The next instant, the object burst, and a dazzling light blinded Christopher.

“!”

Grabbing that chance, a new shape leaped at the man. Jacuzzi had launched himself off the floor, intending to take the guy’s gun away.

However…

“ !”

…when he was just a step away from touching the gun, Jacuzzi stopped.

A sharp, gleaming, cross-shaped spearhead was pointed at his throat. There was no telling when she’d equipped it, but Adele stood there, long spear at the ready.

“Um, I, I’m sorry. Jacuzzi… This man is, um… He’s an ally…”

Adele’s murmur sounded apologetic, and Jacuzzi retorted with anger in his eyes. “You promised we wouldn’t kill people!”

Adele looked down, troubled—

“That’s, um, I’m sorry, I’m really sorry…”

—and then she gave a conflicted smile.

“But, you know…I wasn’t the one who made that promise!”

Adele was smiling brightly, and the sight of her face froze Jacuzzi’s spine.

No.

This Adele lady… She’s something much, much creepier than that Tim guy—

When he’d gotten that far, his thoughts broke off.

He felt something sharp and cold touch his temple.

“Jacuzzi!”

Nice’s cry was almost a scream.

When he glanced to the side, moving only his eyes—he saw a strangely shaped knife, fixed to the barrel of a gun.

“Not bad, guys. It’s a waste to let Tim use you as throwaway pawns. I mean it.”

Christopher had a kind smile on his face, but his finger was already on the trigger.

In this situation, any small jolt would result in a gunshot, and the guests, who had been screaming, all fell silent at once. Some averted their eyes, while others stared, unable to look away.

“Stop it.”

Firo, who was still restraining Dallas, had been the one to speak.

“Seriously, what are you thinking?”

“I told you, remember? This is work.”

“Like there could ever be a job like this, you idiot!”

At hearing the anger in that yell, Christopher spoke a bit awkwardly. “Well, we don’t really have any reason to kill this inked kid, you know? We just want everyone here to settle down and behave a bit, for the sake of the job after this one. So, see, taking a hostage seemed like a good move. It was all real casual. That’s no good?”

Christopher’s words were indifferent, and Firo got up, irritated.

“Gweh!”

As he did so, Dallas gave a weird shriek. As Firo stood up, he’d pressed his knee down onto his neck to knock him out.

“I’ll be your hostage, then. That should work just as well. Right?”

In response to Firo’s proposal, Christopher fell silent for a little while…

…and gradually, that silence turned to laughter.

“Heh-heh-heh-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, no, no, no, that’s no good, Firo. No can do.”

“Why not?!”

“Well, you know, I spent a night with you already. We’re pals. I can’t take a friend hostage, can I?”

“…I’ll deck you.”

The young guy’s temples were twitching, and, still laughing, Christopher told him the real reason.

“I mean, c’mon. You’d make a lousy hostage, Firo. You don’t die!”

Hell was rising from below.

Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Bloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodblood bloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodblood bloodbloodbloodblood

It was a true hell, colored with nothing but blood.

Before anyone had time to scream, before they even noticed, new mouths gaped in their throats.

Just before those who saw it understood the situation, hell yawned in their throats as well.

That hell was being generated by the utmost sharpness, speed, and cruelty.

“I heard there were twelve hundred employees here… Five hundred each, huh? That’s going to take some doing.”

Grumbling, Chi left an office.

“It would be faster to just demolish the building… But then nontargets would get pulled in as well.”

The office behind him had been as white as mist but was now dyed bright red.

It hadn’t even been a full thirty seconds since Chi had entered the room. In that brief span of time, he’d slit the throats of the several dozen Nebula employees who were inside.

“…Distinguishing between targets and nontargets is more work than the actual killing. It would be better if we could just rebel like the Lemures, but… Hmm?”

Chi, who’d been muttering to himself, abruptly noticed shapes writhing ahead of him.

The shapes were two men crawling along the floor on their bellies, and they were wearing the uniforms of the building’s janitorial staff.

“…Hey, Nick,” said one, “there’s somebody walking up there.”

“What? Does that mean the gas hasn’t gotten this far? Well then, let’s get up.”

When he heard what the prone figures were saying, Chi realized who they were.

Are these the “sacrificial pawns” Adele mentioned?

As Chi quietly narrowed his eyes, Jacuzzi’s friends—Jack and Nick—got to their feet.

“Phew. So, sure, we’re fine if we stay low, but that’s still pretty rough.”

“By the way, you don’t look like an employee… Are you the reinforcements Tim was talking about?”

Poor wretches. They don’t even know that, after they’ve been given the “failed” liquor, they’re fated to be used up as guinea pigs.

Wouldn’t they be better off if he killed them here?

On that thought, Chi licked the iron claws that were affixed to his arms—

—and then he noticed that something felt off.

“…?”

“Hmm? What’s wrong, Mr. China?”

“Maybe he doesn’t speak the language?”

Chi ignored the pair, who were peering at him and looking worried. The theory coming together inside his mind terrified him, and he immediately turned around to see whether it was true.

“Uh, hey!”

“What’s up?”

Leaving the two guys in work clothes behind, Chi ran back the way he’d come at full speed.

If…if I’m right about this—!

Several minutes later…

He was sprinting as fast as he could up the emergency stairwell to the top floor.

“What have I done…?! Did I savor the pleasure of killing too much?!”

Angrily admonishing himself, Chi leaped up the stairs at an extraordinary pace.

“Did he know…? Did Master Huey know about this?!”

For some reason, Chi avoided the elevators and continued to run up the stairs.

Somehow, he was traveling just as fast as an elevator.

When he was more than halfway up, his legs tangled, and he fell to his knees. As if that had been the trigger, he looked up toward the roof and screamed loudly.

“…Run for it… Christopher, run!”

Tim was walking through a research wing near the top floor.

At the “go” sign, the members of Larva had destroyed the telephone circuits, cutting off all contact with the outside. On top of that, the gas Jacuzzi’s group had spread around should have almost entirely knocked out the functions of the important divisions.

No, if you add what Christopher’s group is doing, it’s probably safe to assume this building is completely done for.

However, Tim wasn’t thinking about that anymore.

He didn’t know what Huey was thinking, but he was here to do his job, nothing more.

On that understanding, he’d decided to carry out his own duties.

“It wasn’t in the other two labs, which means this is the only place left…”

When he reached the lab entrance, two of his Larva henchmen were at the door. They seemed to be struggling to jimmy the lock.

“…What’s the matter?”

“Oh, Tim… Sorry. It’s taking a bit of work… This place is locked up pretty tight.”

“I see. So it is in here, then?”

According to the report from the twins, their information source, this was the likeliest laboratory. The research wing was active during times that were clearly different from the other businesses: It wasn’t used at all during the day, and the lights came on only at night.

Still…in that case, the security’s too thin. Even if there’s trouble elsewhere, I figured they’d leave one or two people here…

Before long, the lock came open, and Tim’s two underlings carefully went in.

As they’d been told, there was nobody inside, and he thought they’d be able to relax and rifle through the research materials, but—

“Nothing? That’s insane…”

All that was in the lab were a variety of machines used in experiments. The products of those machines were nowhere to be seen, and there were no research materials anywhere.

“Did they move them somewhere? …But the twins confirmed they were in this room three days ago. If they moved them between then and now… Did they know about our attack?”

Several conjectures crossed his mind, but none of them changed the fact that nothing was here.

“Should we ask a researcher directly? I’d rather not show them our faces, but… Well, I guess Christopher’s group will get rid of the witnesses.”

“Let me give you a word of advice to keep you from wasting your strength.”

The voice had addressed them suddenly, and Tim and the others ducked behind desks, then turned to look back.

“What you want isn’t in this building. The information you acquired was all a bluff directed at Huey Laforet.”

The man who stood there looked about halfway between youth and middle age—and Tim knew his face.

There were two men in black behind him who seemed to be bodyguards.

“Senator…Beriam? Wh…why are you here?”

“The top management of Nebula and I go way back. I’ve been providing a little support for the research in this laboratory as well. Besides—I wanted to get a look at Huey Laforet’s hand-raised protégé. I invited the branch manager as well, but he’s a timid sort, and he’s been away on leave since yesterday.”

“Uh, thanks… Well, that speeds things up, anyway. Tell us where the ‘failed’ stuff is, would you? If you’re funding the research, you must at least know where they put it, right?”

The big shot had appeared out of nowhere, and he pierced Tim with eyes that seemed to see through everything. But Tim bluffed right back, undaunted.

Bluffing’s all I’ve got, huh? Dammit, if Adele were here…

Tim had no personal combat power, and all he had to rely on was the handgun in his jacket. He felt very uneasy about whether it would be effective against the brawny bodyguards in front of him.

“I already told you. There’s no ‘failed’ liquor here anymore.”

“Do you think we’d believe that?”

“You have the wrong idea about the laboratory.”

“…?”

At that abrupt statement, Tim sent a dubious look at Beriam.

“Did you think this tiny room was the lab? Even though we are researching a powerful, abominable thing like immortality?”

“…What are you getting at?”

Up to that point, Beriam’s face had been expressionless, but on hearing Tim’s words, it warped in what looked like self-mockery.

“Put briefly…this building, Mist Wall itself, is a gigantic experimental facility.”

The sky-view restaurant Babel

“…You knew?”

“Knew what?”

“Did you know about me from the start?”

Firo’s question sounded extremely irritated, and Christopher shook his head, sighing:

“No, no, no. The beginning was all a coincidence! When I met you, soaking wet in the rain, I never dreamed you were—you know. Is it a bad idea to say more in front of ordinary folks? I’ll be careful. You are the first friend I made here in New York, after all.”

“Quit talking crap.”

Almost none of the diners around them had heard Christopher’s joking reply. A few of the calmer ones had probably heard the words, but it wasn’t likely they’d understood much of what was actually being said.

Dammit. They even know I’m immortal…?

Just as Firo was about to ask another question in an attempt to suss out the other guy’s identity—

…Ding…

—a single cool, bell-like tone sounded, notifying the surrounding people that an elevator had arrived at the top floor.

“…? Who’s that?”

Because the restaurant covered the entire top floor, there was no entrance. It was designed so that, beside the cash register, there were three elevators that traveled directly to and from the first floor.

Curiously, Christopher approached the elevator whose meter indicated the top floor and waited for the doors to open.

However…when they did slowly open, no one was behind them.

“What’s this about? …Maybe Tim or somebody hit the button by mistake?”

He sauntered closer to check the interior—and then, abruptly, feet sprouted from the ceiling and connected solidly with his face.

“Bugwuh!”

Christopher flew backward.

“Christopher!”

The suddenness of the situation had startled Adele, too; she retracted the spear she’d been pointing at Jacuzzi and ran over to her boss, who was lying on his back.

On seeing the thug collapsed on the floor, the restaurant customers fell over each other in their haste to get to the emergency stairwell, and a mild panic ensued.

Walking right past that crowd, Ennis—the owner of the legs that had appeared from the elevator—looked around the restaurant as if searching for something.

On seeing her, the person she was looking for had a marked reaction as well:

“Ennis!”

Responding to Firo’s shout, Ennis ran to her “main body.”

“Oh, good… I’m so glad you’re safe!”

Ignoring the pair, who were overjoyed by their reunion, most of the people disappeared down the emergency stairwell.

The restaurant’s population density had thinned out dramatically. There weren’t many people left, but naturally, Jacuzzi, Firo, and the rest were all present.

“Yeow-ow-ow-ow-ow-owch.”

An incredibly laid-back scream echoed in the empty space.

“Ooh, that hurt. That was mean. Even my parents never kicked me in the face.”

In contrast to what he was saying, Christopher didn’t seem fazed at all. He got up, speaking cheerfully to Ennis, who was nestled close to Firo.

“Well, it’s not like I actually have parents.”

Brushing the dust off his clothes, he smiled at her as if he were talking to a friend.

“Since I’m like you and all.”

At those words, Ennis flinched. Firo felt it, and looking grim, he started to grill Christopher again.

“Look… What are you? You’d better give me a serious answer this time.”

“I am always serious… Well, never mind. I’ve gotten to meet my cute ‘little sister,’ so maybe I will tell you the truth.”

“…Little sis…ter?”

At Firo’s mutter, Christopher began to relate the “truth” Ennis had wanted to know. He was still wearing that kind smile, a trademark of his by now.

“We were made based on Szilard’s research into the process of creating homunculi. We are…failed homunculi.”

“…”

Firo and Ennis listened quietly to what Christopher was saying, while Jacuzzi’s group glanced back and forth between them, looking as if they had no idea what was going on. Ronny stayed in his chair, his expression calm. At some point, Isaac and Miria had disappeared.

“As ‘one who knows all,’ Ennis was utterly flawed, but even so, she managed to be both undying and unaging. The thing is, though…we were manufactured based on research that was stolen before that stage, so we’re just unaging. Although, in exchange, we don’t have to worry about having our lives managed by a ‘main body’ the way Ennis does.”

Faced with this fact, which had been stated indifferently, Firo murmured something he’d been wondering about. His expression was still serious.

“Stolen? Meaning…Szilard wasn’t the one who created you?”

“Ah… ‘Created.’ Treating artificial life-forms like us as if we were proper humans… What a nice thing to say. You really are my friend, Firo.”

“Answer the question.”

“…If you’ve got Szilard’s memories, you probably have a pretty good idea already, no?”

At that, Firo began to rifle through the area Szilard occupied in his mind.

To be honest, he didn’t even want to touch those corridors of memory, but the other guy’s words had pulled him in, and his mind had automatically begun searching for that image—and before long, it pointed him to the name of a certain individual.

“Huey… Huey Laforet…”

…Ding…

Just as Firo said that name, an elevator bell rang again.

“Oh, for crying out loud. We were just getting to the good part. Who is it?”

Christopher muttered, sounding bored, and picked up a few unused knives from a nearby table.

“Well, it doesn’t matter who.”

“Hey… What are you…?”

Before Firo could stop him—Christopher threw the knives he’d picked up.

Right at the elevator doors, which were just beginning to open—

“Stop!”

Even as Firo yelled, the doors opened, and three knives disappeared inside.

He didn’t hear them hit the walls or the floor.

Thinking about what that meant, Firo felt a light sweat break out on his back.

However: What emerged from that elevator was something that far surpassed Firo’s imagination.

“That’s not safe.”

An unconcerned voice spoke, and a lone man stepped from the elevator onto the expensive carpet.

There were three knives in his hands, and as he took a step forward, he was juggling them lightly. A young woman in a black dress, a Mexican girl with Japanese swords, and a man with threadlike eyes and scissors at his waist appeared from behind him.

“Did they put a dartboard on the elevator doors or something? If so, I want to congratulate the manager on his thrilling experiment. How about it?”

Entertaining thoughts that made no sense and ignoring the question of who’d thrown the knives, the guy who’d caught those knives with no trouble broke off his juggling.

“Claire…?”

At first, Firo doubted his eyes, but he recognized the young redhead, and in spite of himself, he gave a faint cry.

“Claire… Hey, Claire, it’s actually you?!”

“Whoa, if it ain’t Firo. Man, you’re as baby-faced as ever.”

“Ha-ha! Come on, it’s been years; that’s really cold!”

On seeing Firo’s attitude in this exchange, Ennis, who was standing beside him, looked mildly startled.

Firo’s boyish face bothered him, and she knew that, when a hoodlum had taunted him with the name “Baby Face” at the casino, he’d broken all the guy’s fingers. As a result, she was having a hard time believing his current behavior.

“Oh, that’s right. Sadly, Firo, Claire’s dead. Call me Felix Walken.”

“Luck told me about that. I seriously don’t get you, guy.”

There was no telling where his tension up until a moment ago had gone. Firo’s expression had completely reverted to a smile.

Christopher, on the other hand, had totally lost control of the conversation. Looking cross for the first time, he demanded, “What are you, and how in blazes did you get into this buildi—?”

“Ha-ha-ha. Yes, okay, got it. So shut up.”

That peremptory remark seemed to stun even Christopher, and he shut his mouth.

Smiling at Firo, Vino turned to look at Jacuzzi, who was standing dumbfounded beside him.

“By the way…from the looks of things, something dicey is going down, right?”

Coming back to himself at the sound of that voice, Jacuzzi hastily answered, “Th-that’s… We have no idea what’s…”

“For starters, from the looks of the crowd napping in the first-floor hall, is it okay to assume the knockout gas maneuver worked?”

Picking up on something intensely wrong in those offhanded words, Adele and Christopher glanced at each other involuntarily.

Then, laughing, Christopher tried to correct Vino.

“Ha-ha, napping? You’re a comedian, fella. You saw all that blood and thought ‘asleep’…?”

Ooooooooooooooh!

Christopher’s words were drowned out by a cheer from a male and female voice in sync.

“Wow! The power of magic tricks really is phenomenal!”

“Yes, it’s a miracle wonder show!”

“?”

Everyone in the restaurant looked in the direction of the voices. There was no telling when they’d gotten in there, but Isaac and Miria were in the kitchen, shouting and applauding loudly.

“What are they doing?”

Firo strained his eyes. Isaac and Miria were sitting on either side of the manager, who’d received a bullet to the head from Christopher a little while ago.

And the next moment—he saw it.

It wasn’t just Firo. Everybody in the restaurant witnessed that miracle.

“Uh… What on earth…just…?”

The moment when the once-dead man groaned and muttered those words.

The manager, who had been plugged right in the head, sat up, uninjured, without a single drop of blood on him.

“?!”

“…!”

“?”

Firo and the others were astounded, Christopher and Adele registered a certain possibility, and the people who didn’t know the manager had been shot looked perplexed.

“It can’t be…”

As that possibility crossed his mind, Christopher’s eyes went to his weapon.

“ !”

The tip of the knife-gun was the blade that had pierced the information girl’s throat.

He’d shaken the blood off—but even taking that into account, the blade shone too brightly.

Just as he realized this, a familiar voice echoed from the emergency stairwell.

“Christopher!”

“Chi…”

Chi was supposed to have been traveling a path of carnage up from below, but there wasn’t a single drop of blood on his blades, either.

“Christopher! Not good… This building is bad news! We’re pulling out!”

Not caring that outsiders would overhear, Chi shouted an important fact.

“The employees in this building— The Nebula staff—”

“—they’re all immortals!”

“Impossible…”

As Tim muttered, he felt a violent nausea working its way up from deep inside him.

“That can’t be…”

“But it is a fact. I was against it, but there’s a deranged female scientist at the Nebula head office.”

“The problem isn’t who proposed it… You know that’s not the problem…”

The reality that confronted Tim was far too hideous, and his nerves were enveloped in a violent confusion.

“That far…? You people went that far…?”

He wanted to believe it was a lie, something meant to disorient him, but he couldn’t think of a reason for telling a lie like that under circumstances like these. And more than anything, Beriam’s eyes were clearly those of a man who was telling the truth.

“You’re telling me you took twelve hundred employees…and turned them all into failed immortals?!”

“That’s right. We said it was a vaccine: The failed liquor we took from Szilard’s organization.”

Beriam stated the facts, sounding unconcerned, and Tim hit him with a look of ferocious disgust. Behind him, his two underlings were also overawed by what Beriam was saying. Their faces had gone pale.

“For the sake of your ‘research,’ you turned twelve hundred people into monsters?”

“When they reach the end of their natural lives, they’ll die—so they’re still human. Barely. Besides, while there is a difference in numbers, you are attempting to do the same thing for Huey’s sake, aren’t you?”

Beriam’s words were endlessly dispassionate and infinitely cold-blooded, and Tim wasn’t able to argue with them.

“However…I think Huey may have been aware of this. I imagine that’s why he’s letting that strange crew run amok… Although you don’t seem to have been informed.”

His smile, which had been a bit self-deprecating up until then, changed into unmistakable pity for Tim.

“Did you think it was coincidence?”

“Huh?”

“The fact that I came here today.”

Abruptly, Beriam looked away from Tim, continuing as if he were talking to himself.

“What I mean is that, behind what you mistook for coincidences or miracles, some sort of calculations were always at work. I don’t just mean today. That earlier Szilard Quates incident, and the affair on the Flying Pussyfoot…”

“…”

“You and your people are like butterflies. Hapless butterflies who have gotten dragged in by accident, as Nebula and Huey cast threads, trying to entangle each other. No one will prey on you. You’ll simply be immobilized and starve to death… Now then, I’ll take my leave. If I don’t, I’ll be late for this afternoon’s assembly.”

After delivering that one-sided analysis, Beriam left the laboratory, trailed by his two bodyguards.

Over his shoulder, he made one last comment to Tim.

“I hate immortals. The failed sort included… You are a mere human, one who fears death and the loss of the world. Even if we are in different camps, you have my support.”

Left behind, Tim was silent for a while—until, abruptly, he raised his head and issued orders to the two subordinates behind him.

“Meet up with the other guys right away and get out of this building. After you’re out, ditch the SoHo hideout and wait at Point C in New Jersey.”

“…Understood.”

“I’ll…settle things with Dallas and Jacuzzi’s group, up on the top floor, then bail.”

His eyes seemed to be brooding over something, and he spoke firmly, as if trying to convince himself.

“…Although there’s no telling what things are like up there now…”

The sky-view restaurant Babel

All the employees who worked at Mist Wall were immortal.

That sudden, implausible fact sent chills racing down the backs of Firo and Ennis. Even Ronny’s eyes widened slightly, although he hadn’t so much as twitched an eyebrow up until then.

They were facing a reality that was far too abnormal, and a variety of thoughts intersected in their minds.

Yet Vino only muttered, “Huh.”

The mention of immortals didn’t seem to have made much of an impression on him.

Meanwhile, Isaac and Miria were having one of their usual conversations:

“Say, Miria, what’s an immortal?”

“Maybe it means somebody who isn’t dead?”

“I see. So it’s someone who’s alive, hmm? In that case, he meant there are no dead people in this building!”

“Yes, a happy workplace!”

Jacuzzi was unable to cope with the situation, which had abruptly ballooned on him, and his eyes were beginning to fill with fat tears.

Tick and Maria might not have been particularly interested: For the past little while, they’d been focused on Adele.

And as for Christopher, the key person here…

“…I see. And? Why are we running?”

…he looked back at Chi, seeming genuinely mystified.

“I did think you were a moron, but are you really that stupid?! Just wait until security guards who’ve learned they can’t die swarm all over us! In any case, how are you planning to fulfill Master Huey’s instructions to massacre everyone if they’re immortal?!”

Chané had been unreactive up until then, but at the sound of Huey’s name, her eyebrows shot up.

Utterly ignorant of anyone else’s circumstances, Christopher smiled and gave Chi his answer:

“How? But that’s easy.”

As he murmured, Christopher looked at Firo and Ennis.

“We have two people who can kill immortals right here, remember?”

“Wha…?!”

Ignoring those two people, who’d been struck speechless, Christopher kept right on talking nonchalantly.

“We can just get Firo to help us out by eating twelve hundred people.”

It was true that Firo and Ennis could “eat” failed immortals, although it didn’t work the other way around. To be completely accurate, Ronny, Isaac, and Miria could do it as well, but at this point, Christopher didn’t seem to have realized what they were.

However, while this killed the other person, it also meant taking on the memories of their entire lifetime. Firo had already had far more than enough of that when he’d eaten Szilard, and Ennis probably had no intention of ever eating anyone again, either.

Regardless, the man in front of them kept talking matter-of-factly, without giving the slightest thought to their convenience.

“Who’d listen to this applesauce? Let’s go, Ennis.”

“Oh. Right…!”

To be honest, Ennis had wanted to talk a bit more with Christopher and the others, who were similar to her, but…

If I talk to them carelessly, I’m bound to get dragged into this.

She’d felt that sort of danger around Christopher, so she’d agreed to distance herself from them for now.

“Ah-ha-ha-ha, aw c’mon, Firo. It’s not nice to abandon your friends. Besides, we haven’t finished that earlier conversation yet. Have we, Ennis?”

“I understand what you’ve told me about yourselves. Nevertheless, I have no connection with Mas…with Szilard any longer.”

“Not now. I don’t mean now… What our boss is interested in is the past.”

Christopher chuckled, shaking his head. Seeing Ennis stop in her tracks, he went on, sounding satisfied with himself. “You…or Firo, who ate Szilard. You probably know, don’t you? How to create a homunculus that’s close to perfect, such as yourself…”

“…!”

“Old man Szilard guarded that bit real well. Nobody managed to steal the secret.”

He was asking about her origins, and Ennis’s palms broke out in a cold sweat.

Picking up on her agitation, Firo spoke sharply, with his back still turned to her:

“Ennis, don’t listen!”

“Firo, you keep your mouth shut for a bit… Adele.”

When Christopher called her name softly, Adele nodded quietly.

Firo and Ennis had started for the elevator. Adele ran up soundlessly—and, with no hesitation, thrust the cross-shaped spear she’d held ready at her side at the back of Firo’s head.

“…!”

However:

At the last second, the tip abruptly halted.

Before anyone noticed, Vino had gotten between Firo and Adele, and he’d pinched the spearhead between his fingers, stopping it.

The spear thrust, which she’d unleashed with lethal force, had been stopped completely using only the strength in his fingers.

“It can’t be…”

In a way, Adele was more shocked than she had been when Ronny had outmaneuvered her yesterday.

“Hey. What do you think you’re doing to my childhood pal, huh?”

Vino glared at Adele with cold eyes.

“Thanks, Claire. You saved my neck.”

“It’s Felix.”

Firo thanked him as if it was a matter of course, and Vino responded as if he was making small talk.

Then Firo gave Christopher and Adele some perfunctory advice: “You’d better be careful not to make this fella mad. As far as I know, he’s the strongest human around.”

“Quit that ‘strongest human’ stuff. It’s just lame.” Vino smiled and protested, but the strength in his fingertips didn’t weaken in the slightest.

Adele tried to pull the spear back, but it didn’t move. It might as well have been trapped in a vise.

Vino stared at the woman’s face, then, suddenly remembering, murmured, “A cross-shaped spear… Oh. You’re the one who scratched Chané’s face, aren’t you?”

The moment Vino said that—Christopher, smiling, turned a knife-gun on him.

“You’re in the way, guy.”

Bang Bang Bang

Three dry sounds rang out, and at almost the same time, three sharp, metallic noises echoed in the restaurant.

“…”

Just as Christopher fired the gun, Vino had moved the spear’s tip, using it as a shield, and deflected all the bullets.

If he’d misread the bullets’ trajectories even slightly, he probably wouldn’t have survived. But there wasn’t even a trace of cold sweat on Vino’s face. On the contrary—

“…Should we call that even?”

At those words, Adele noticed that something about her cheek felt wrong.

When it ricocheted, one of the bullets had grazed her, leaving a horizontal wound.

The same sort of wound she’d left on Chané’s cheek the day before…

“Was that…on purpose?”

A thin film of sweat broke out on Christopher’s face. He felt convinced of Vino’s strength—and he smiled.

Vino didn’t understand what that smile meant, and just then, a new voice echoed from the direction of the emergency stairwell.

“What the heck is this?”

Tim had come up the emergency stairs from the laboratory below, and he was blinking, unable to process the situation.

“Hey, Chi. Explain what’s going on, would you?”

The man in question was standing silently beside the stairwell, dripping with sweat. As he answered, his expression was unusually serious. “The same as always. Christopher’s indulging himself.”

Chi sounded as if he was feeling impatient and on edge, and Tim realized he already knew the building’s secret, too.

“Dammit… Hey! Christopher! Retreat! We’re pulling out!”

Christopher, who had his gun trained on Vino, answered without even looking. “Well, that’s a problem, Tim. We’re acting on orders different from yours, you know.”

“I’m ordering you as the leader of Larva! I’ll assume your responsibility as well!”

His yell was laced with anger, and Christopher quietly lowered the hand that held the gun.

“I see… If you’re going to go that far, then we’ll give up on the mission for now. We can’t actually do it without help from a full immortal anyway.”

Smiling quietly, Christopher spoke to Tim.

“In that case, we have free time now, right?”

“…Say what?”

By the time Tim spoke dubiously, Christopher was already moving.

Even though he had a gun, he intentionally closed the distance until he was within arm’s reach of Vino.

“!”

The sudden charge had taken the redhead by surprise, but he wasn’t particularly flustered. To counter it, he struck out sharply with the outer edge of his foot, but Christopher had already predicted that move.

“That’s no good. Just because God loves you—”

He jumped up onto Vino’s extended leg, stepped over the other guy’s thigh, and slammed a full-force knee kick into his exposed jaw.

With enough momentum that it seemed likely the people around him had felt the impact, Vino’s upper body arched backward unnaturally.

“—that’s no excuse to get full of yourself, puny human.  ”

Claire…took an attack straight on?

It was something Firo had never seen before, and in spite of himself, he doubted his eyes.

Bent backward, for a moment, Vino stopped moving.

Christopher didn’t let that opportunity escape him: He launched a follow-up attack.

At some point, those unique knife-guns, the size of pistols, had appeared in both his hands.

He spread his arms wide, then, like a praying mantis, brought both knife-guns down.

He was aiming at the base of Vino’s throat, and the knives were on a course to sever the arteries on both sides of his neck.

However, Vino recovered a moment sooner, and he caught both those wrists with his hands.

“…That startled me a bit.”

“You’re just a human… Why did you hurt my friend Adele?”

What he was saying was thoroughly angry, but Christopher was wearing his usual gentle smile.

“Why? …Yeah, well, if she’d apologized nicely, I guess I could’ve let her off, but… Let’s just say it felt like the right move at the time.”

“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. You’re funny, guy. That answer was boring, though.”

The tips of the knife-guns were still pointed at Vino’s throat.

That meant the gun muzzles were trained on the same spot.

“Bye-bye.”

He pulled both triggers simultaneously, and twin gunshots echoed through the top floor.

However, the bullets didn’t gouge out the throat they’d targeted.

The moment his fingers had begun to move, Vino had launched himself off the floor, using the wrists he’d caught as pivots, and had vaulted over Christopher’s head in a motion like an upside-down pendulum.

“…Whoops.”

Vino tried to slam an elbow into him as he turned around, but Christopher had seen it coming, and he ducked and twisted, slipping past the elbow and aiming for the other guy’s side with the blade of a knife-gun.

But Vino had seen that coming, and he launched himself into motion again, spinning to the side and putting some distance between himself and his opponent.

“You’re amazing, fella. No, I mean it, seriously amazing. You’re about the third-strongest person I’ve ever seen. The strongest one is me, of course.”

It was Firo, not Christopher, who reacted to those words.

“…Who’s the second strongest?”

“The former Felix.”

“Who’s that?”

Ignoring Firo’s comeback, Vino cracked his neck and said to Christopher, “Well, what do you want to do? Keep going?”

“Didn’t I tell you? I’m planning to kill you.”

“Because…?”

“Because the rain is noisy.”

After he’d answered the way he always did, his face went just a little serious.

“Kidding. The actual reason is because you’re strong.”

“What’re you, a martial artist on a training journey?”

“See, I want to challenge God. God obviously loves you, so I want to kill you and destroy my complex over being something humans created… How does that sound?”

“Honestly, it’s appreciated. In a pain-in-the-ass sort of way.”

As Vino kept up his end of the dialogue, he smiled lightly, then started to walk, heading for the window.

“Firo and Chané can deal with stray bullets just fine, but…”

Tapping on the window, he made a suggestion to Christopher.

“…if we’re inside, we’ll drag Jacuzzi and the rest into this. Let’s take it outside.”

“…I think I’d probably lose interest during the elevator ride down.”

“No, I mean…”

There was a sharp crash, and the glass behind Vino shattered and fell away.

He’d smashed a big hole in it with a single backfist, and the air was violently sucked outside through the hole.

“Outside. See?”

No sooner had he spoken than Vino stepped out through the large hole in the window. The upper area of Mist Wall was shaped like a pyramid, and the sky-view restaurant ran from the base of the pyramid to a little farther up.

That said, one false step and the momentum would send them plunging straight toward a sheer cliff. On top of that, it was currently raining hard.

“Apparently, God had it in for your brain, at least…”

Christopher shook his head, sounding mildly appalled, but he also started toward the hole in the window with no hesitation.

“Hey… Christopher, wait!”

Tim had been watching from the sidelines, unable to keep up with the speed at which the situation was developing, but he abruptly came to his senses and called out, attempting to stop his on-paper subordinate.

“It’s no good.”

However, Chi—who’d known the man for many years—shook his head, having already given up.

“…I’ll go see this through.”

No sooner had he spoken than the claw user broke into a run as well, heading toward a world enveloped in a downpour.

Tim reached out, trying to stop him, but his hand cut uselessly through empty air. But he noticed there was already another figure making for the window:

“That’s…the one who tried to slash me at Millionaires’ Row…”

“Aaah! Chané! Don’t go!”

Jacuzzi’s scream was in vain as well: The woman also disappeared through the broken window.

That meant the only ones left in the restaurant were Jacuzzi’s group of three, Firo and Ennis, Isaac and Miria—who were in the kitchen, congratulating the manager for some unfathomable reason—Tim…and Adele, who stood as still as if she’d been frozen.

And:

The man who saw through everything. He still hadn’t moved from his seat at the table.

Tick, too, was just looking around bewildered, while Maria was bound fast by her own heart, unable to move.

Why couldn’t I do anything back there?

When the spear woman tried to stab the guy in the green hat…

Why didn’t I knock that spear away with my katana and yell, “I’m your opponent!”?

Was it because the guy she went after was a total stranger? No. No, that’s not it, amigo.

Am I afraid?

Why…? Why…?

Why was I relieved when Vino stepped in…?!

The howl of wind and rain intruded through the broken window.

In that space, which would have been perfectly silent otherwise, Maria kept her fists clenched.

She’d thought Tick’s words had set her back on her feet.

Next time she ran into the spear woman, she’d been planning to challenge her to a rematch, and she’d intended to win it.

But what was she feeling now?

She was scared.

Confronted with the spear that had already defeated her once, she was completely intimidated.

Can I win? Can I really win?

She kept asking herself that question, internally, over and over.

Can I still believe…in Murasámia?

While Maria stood there, unable to grasp the sword at her waist—Adele, who had seemed frozen until then, quietly raised her head.

Her face looked vaguely distracted, and before long, she began to murmur to herself.

“I was…um…frightened.”

“Huh?”

Not realizing she was talking to herself, Jacuzzi responded involuntarily.

At that, Adele turned to look at Jacuzzi and, still expressionless, slowly began to speak.

“I… Well… When that man…grabbed the tip of my spear, and I couldn’t move…I was really, really frightened… Nobody has ever done that to me with their bare hands before, and I… I never dreamed I’d lose to a bare-handed opponent…”

“U-um?”

“They’re all…so lucky… Christopher and Chi-Mei and Leeza all got to kill lots and lots of people. But I…”

Light began to gleam in her eyes, which seemed to be on the verge of breaking somehow, and Adele smiled at Jacuzzi.

“Uh, um, thanks.”

Jacuzzi ducked his head at her on reflex, but Adele ignored him. She turned and called to Tim, who was by the emergency stairwell.

“Tim…”

“Hey, you’re back, huh? Sorry, but could you go outside and bring Christopher and company back in…?”

“It’s all right, isn’t it?”

“Huh?”

When he saw Adele’s smile, Tim started to get a very bad feeling.

And then—that hunch became words and presented itself in reality.

“If this job has failed…it’s all right to dispose of the throwaway pawns now, isn’t it?”

“Huh?”

“I’m shaking. I can’t stop shaking. I’m sure it will stop if I kill someone; I just know it. If I kill and kill and kill, ever so many people, I’m absolutely positive it will stop…I think. So…it’s all right, isn’t it?!”

“Wha…? Huuuuuuh?!”

Jacuzzi gave a stunned shriek, and in that moment—

—Adele drove her cross-shaped spear at the tattoo on his face.

As she gazed up at Mist Wall, Eve kept praying for the safety of her brother and Chané and all the others.

“Dallas is there, on that top floor…”

With a mixture of unease and anticipation, the girl looked at the towering white wall again—and abruptly realized something felt wrong.

Mist Wall’s silken whiteness was one of its selling points, but that looming monolith currently seemed to have a very slight red tinge to it.

The girl strained her eyes, and then she saw it.

To her regret, she saw it.

It wasn’t that the wall was stained red.

There was something very red mixed in with the rain falling in front of the building.

It vanished in an instant, but the girl’s eyes had caught it.

Blood. A rain of blood that seemed to slash through the white mist…

The very top of Mist Wall

“When I’m getting soaked by the rain, do you think I could say I’m coexisting with Nature?”

“What a shame. Since you’re in between ’em, the rain and the ground have to part in tears.”

“…That’s good. I didn’t see that comment coming. I’d expect no less from you.”

In the midst of the downpour, two men were cheerfully conversing.

Despite the fact that storm winds blustered around them; even standing would have been difficult for an ordinary person.

“You’re bleeding quite a lot.”

This quiet note came from Christopher.

As Vino stood in the rain, there was a growing dark-red stain on his shoulder.

“I don’t think you should push yourself. If you’ll admit you’ve lost, I’ll wait until after we’re friends to kill you.”

As he proposed this deal with incomprehensible terms, Christopher smiled benevolently, looking bashful.

“Well, it’s a handicap. Don’t worry about it… Or actually, if you worry about it and hold back on me, I’ll have it easier. That’ll be a big help. Frankly, I’m not really into this fight.”

Vino wasn’t the least bit out of breath, to the point where you had to wonder if he’d really been saddled with a handicap at all. It had to hurt quite a bit, but his only reaction had been a slight one, smaller than if he’d been stung by a mosquito.

“The biggest reason I don’t care is that, even if I win this, I don’t get anything out of it.”

“Sure you do. If you beat me, you can brag about it to the rest of Lamia.”

“Oho… So about where are you in the strength rankings for this Lamia group?”

“Who knows? We’ve never tried to kill each other, so I’ve got no idea.”

At that irresponsible response, Vino gave a small, quiet smile.

“Good answer, but I feel like you ducked the question.”

“I feel like I did, too. It feels pretty good.”

Up here, at the top of the building, the terraces at the corners were small and frequent, so it was possible to climb higher than the restaurant.

They’d headed up toward the peak and had had another ferocious exchange with knife-guns and bare hands about halfway up the white pyramid, but—

—Christopher’s bullet had ricocheted off the wall of the building and, by accident, had struck Vino square in the shoulder.

The blood that had burst from his shoulder had sprayed into the air, then turned into a rain of red and fallen to the ground.

If this had happened to a regular person, the mental shock alone would have been pretty bad. To Vino, however, the blood flowing from his own body seemed to be as natural as breathing.

Vino kept his cool, and Christopher looked just as composed as he spoke to him.

“…You can’t beat me.”

“What, really?! I had no idea. Oh man, what’ll I do?”

His opponent was still joking around. Ignoring that, Christopher continued, indifferently, “Our careers are different, see. In the time since I was born, for nearly fifty years, this is all I’ve done. Without even being told why, I’ve killed, killed, killed, killed, killed, killed-killed-killed killedkilledkilled… That’s the kind of life I’ve led.”

Closing in, step-by-step, he gradually tightened his grip on the knife-guns.

“Even at night, when I’m asleep…I’m constantly imagining the moment of the kill. If I don’t do that, I can’t sleep well! I’ve actually killed about five hundred people, and in my head, I’ve killed ten or twenty times that… I don’t even bother to differentiate between dreams and reality anymore… What do you think of that, hmm? Of me?”

As he asked his question, Christopher temporarily stopped in his tracks, and Vino candidly told him exactly what he thought.

“It’s a bit late to point this out, but…your eyes and teeth are awesome.”

“You’re correct, but I feel like you ducked the question!”

“…So while you were blowing smoke to camouflage it—did you figure out what you’re going to do now that you’re out of bullets?”

At that remark, which was delivered as if he’d seen right through him, Christopher’s smile grew even more entertained.

“Not at all!”

The sky-view restaurant Babel

Adele’s cross-shaped spear thrust forward sharply.

Its tip seemed about to impale Jacuzzi’s face, but just before it did, a silver object intercepted and stopped it.

There was a metallic clang, and white sparks scattered across the carpet like snow.

“…Please…don’t get in my way.”

“I can’t do that, amiga! I’m—your opponent. Right?”

I went and did it.

After she spat out the aggressive words, a fierce regret welled up in Maria’s heart.

But…I can’t go back now, I guess.

“…I will kill you, you know? Um… That means it’s all right, doesn’t it…? If I kill you…” Adele timidly followed up with that unsettling question, and for a moment, Maria hesitated to answer.

Then, to disguise her own feelings, she looked back at Jacuzzi and the others.

“Go on! What are you doing?! You’d better get away fast, amigos!”

“Huh? Oh… Y-y-y—yes’m!”

Maria had yelled to spur them on, but she’d also widened the distance between them.

The next moment—

—as she leaped back, something sharp and silver skimmed past the tip of her nose.

“…!”

Adele had been standing in the middle of the restaurant, and she’d held the spear as close to the butt end of its shaft as she could, then swung it around in a circle, with herself at its center.

Maria should have put more than enough distance between them.

Even so, it hadn’t been enough.

The range controlled by that spear was far beyond what she’d imagined, and another shiver ran down Maria’s back.

Still…what she did just now isn’t how you’d normally use a spear.

As if to reinforce Maria’s thought, Firo, who’d been watching from a distance, was muttering, “Oh, c’mon… Don’t swing that thing around like a kid.”

As weapons, spears were designed with a focus on thrusting, but Adele tended to use her cross-shaped spear to pay out a variety of slashing attacks.

It seemed likely that, instead of learning from a proper teacher or textbook, she’d polished her skills using nothing but her own instincts.

As a result, even simple “swings” like the one she’d just performed had a nasty, intimidating edge, and they frightened everyone who saw them.

Still…I’m self-taught, too!

Now it’s just a matter of seeing which of us is better at outfoxing the other…

Her defeat yesterday had shown far too plainly that this wasn’t an opponent who could be easily beaten through spirit or grit. Still, she wasn’t sure whether simple but clever schemes would work on her, either.

I won’t lose. I have to believe in katanas, in Japanese swords, in Murasámia’s strength…!

Firo, who’d been watching, whispered to Ennis beside him:

“…If the dame with the Japanese swords doesn’t manage it, I’ll stop her.”

“Firo.”

“…Seriously… For claiming to be your siblings, they’re all so loony that there’s no comparing them to you.”

As she listened to him, Ennis remembered something.

“There’s one…missing…”

“Huh?”

The woman who called me on the telephone. The one who said her name was Leeza…

Where is she now?

Holding an empty knife-gun in each hand, Christopher squared off against Vino, keeping a certain distance.

“Those are some unique heaters. Are they a type of Apache pistol? …Frankly, though…both as guns and as knives, they’re kind of half-assed, aren’t they?”

Vino’s ruthless comment actually cheered Christopher up.

“That’s what’s good about them.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Both as a natural creature and as something artificial, I’m also half-assed. They’re perfect for me.”

“You’re weirdly masochistic… I bet you don’t have many friends.”

Christopher took that additional mercilessness with a smile.

In the downpour, that smile exaggerated his peculiar eyes and teeth. The fact that his other features were handsome only served to strengthen the “vampire” impression.

“Friends are great, aren’t they?”

“I don’t deny it.”

“At times like this, during mortal combat with no rules—they do things like help you from the shadows…”

Just as he finished speaking, a small silver disc appeared in the rain-drenched sky.

It wasn’t a UFO. If you looked closely, you could tell it was a ring made of steel or a similar material. If you held still and looked, you could also tell the ring’s edge was sharpened.

And that the object was a type of weapon popularly known as a chakram…

There was no telling where the silver blade had come from, but it was headed straight for the back of Vino’s head.

When it was just about to strike his cervical vertebrae, Vino spoke quietly.

“Yeah—you said it.”

The next instant, there was a noise of metal scraping against metal—

“Apparently, if you’re engaged to them, they watch your back right out in the open.”

Behind him stood Chané, wet from the rain…with a metal ring caught on the blade of her knife.

The sky-view restaurant Babel

“Um…pleeease, mister. Stop that lady.”

“?!”

Right as Maria and Adele were squaring off, Tim felt as though his heart might stop.

He’d been caught completely by surprise.

He’d never imagined that Tick, his brother, would speak to him in a situation like this.

“…Stop her?”

What’s this “please, mister” business? Don’t talk to your little brother like that.

“Yes. I thought yooou could probably do it, mister…”

“I doubt it. Her switch got flipped. It’s that Claire fella’s fault.”

What’s with the “mister”? Quit being polite to your kid brother. This is what makes you a moron, big bro.

“Is thaaat right…”

“…”

Notice already. Figure it out, you idiot! We’re right here, looking at each other, and you still…

“…Do you want to save the Mexican doll that badly?”

“Huh? No. Thaaat’s not it. Because, I mean, Maria won’t lose. Not ever.”

“Not ever”? Yeah, right. Did you forget about yesterday’s death match already?

“Then why do you want to stop her?”

“Well…they’re both just fighting to redeem themselves, so…there’s really no point in the fight itself…”

“…You’re right there.”

You’ve always been like that. You’ve always said stuff that made you seem like a mind reader… Hunh. Redeeming themselves? That’s the opposite of me. Listen, Tick, I’m here to throw away everything about myself and my past, including you.

“Buuut…if you won’t stop her… Maria’s my precious friend, so I’ll be taking her side… I’m sorry.”

With those final words, he ambled back to where he’d been standing earlier.

As Tim watched him go, for a moment, he had an impulse to introduce himself to the guy as his little brother—but he managed to quash the idea at the last second.

Am I an idiot?! What would be the point of introducing myself now?!

As Tim shook his head violently, what Beriam had said a short while earlier ran through his mind.

“You and your people are like butterflies.”

“No one will prey on you. You’ll simply be immobilized and starve to death.”

That’s never gonna happen to me. Even if I’m a butterfly now—someday, I’ll turn into the kind of butterfly who tears the web apart and eats the spider.

If I’m going to make that happen, I can’t retake my past here.

Because right now, for the past me, the one who wanted bonds with other people, this spot where I’m standing is much too painful…

“In the end, see, those of us in Lamia have personalities that were practically formed by Huey’s experiments.”

Christopher held out the blades on his knife-guns, smiling masochistically.

“In that case, I’d guess all his experiments were biased. Are you one of those guys? During the banana-stealing experiment, I bet you were the type who went and grabbed the spare banana from the storeroom around back and ate that.”

“Wrong. I wouldn’t eat the crummy banana. I’d take the stick, jump the researcher, and steal his valuables. Not that you can do stuff like that to Huey.”

“Didn’t Huey ever teach you it’s better not to tell people what you can’t do?”

Giving an odd answer, Vino evaded a knife by a hair.

“Come to think of it…Adele… She wasn’t taught anything. She’s empty inside. They branded her useless right at the start, and at first, they only used her in human experimentation. Except, during the last half, she helped me out at work quite a bit, so…she seems to feel she’ll be accepted if she kills people.”

While the two men fought, Chané was keeping an eye out for the silver rings, which came flying from nowhere in particular.

They were thrown at irregular intervals, and they were obviously aimed either at Vino or at her.

She’d assumed this was the type of enemy who’d never show itself, but when she’d deflected a tenth ring with her knife, a voice that seemed to belong to that enemy spoke to her.

“Hiiiii.”

“…?”

In the driving rain, a voice that seemed to have no source pierced Chané’s ears.

“You must be Chané. I’ve heard lots of stories about you from the twins…”

It was a sultry woman’s voice, but Chané didn’t care; there was a good possibility she could take advantage of the voice to catch the woman off guard.

“You and that red-headed boy seem pretty close, but…you do know we’re Master Huey’s messengers, don’t you?”

After a little hesitation, Chané nodded quietly. She couldn’t bring herself to ignore or lie about questions regarding her father, no matter what.

“If… Just hypothetically, mind you… If Master Huey told you to kill that man…who would you choose? Him, or Master Huey?”

“…”

On the surface, Chané stayed calm, but as a matter of fact, at this point in time, her emotions were already running very high. It was a possibility she constantly kept in mind, and it was what she feared most.

For just a moment, that straightforward question in the midst of battle made black spots appear in her vision. And, as if her adversary had been waiting for that, four rings flew at her at once.

Chané slapped down all four of them with the knives she held, but her momentary confusion kept her from seeing the fifth one that had been launched a bit later.

In the instant that fifth disc was about to slice open Chané’s throat—Vino’s hand reached in from behind her and caught it like a Frisbee.

He’d stopped it by pinching it with his fingers to kill its rotation, and the blade hadn’t touched his skin. Vino answered the mystery voice—or, more accurately, Chané.

“What’s the problem? Just carry out that order and choose me.”

“…What are you talking about?”

Leeza’s voice sounded put out, but Vino didn’t care. He kept going.

“If he tells her to kill me, she can just keep trying to kill me. I’ll keep defending, and we can romance each other while we’re doing that. Hey, that sounds a bit like true love.”

At this, Chané turned mildly disgusted eyes on her fiancé…and then gave a gentle smile that only he could see.

In response to that smile, Vino shouted, amping up his energy.

“Okay! The mystery voice’s true form is—there!”

No sooner had he spoken than he hurled the disc he’d caught at Christopher.

Christopher dodged it by the skin of his teeth and protested: “I don’t know what you’re trying to pull.”

“…I thought the punch line was that you were a ventriloquist or that you had another face in your stomach! Or something…”

“How were you going to explain the chakrams?”

“They just flew over here by accident.”

As he spoke, Vino tried to climb to a higher terrace—and realized that, before they’d noticed, they’d reached the very top of the building.

While they’d been carrying on that futile conversation and continuing their migrating battle, they’d finally conquered Mist Wall.

Not that there was any point in doing so…

How many clashes did this make?

The sparks illuminated Maria’s face, and she sprang away, putting distance between them.

Unlike the fight in the entrance hall yesterday, she was able to take as much distance as she needed here.

If there was a problem, it was that Adele was also able to brandish her spear as freely as she wanted to.

“If this keeps up, we’ll just have a repeat of yesterday, amigos.”

As she remembered the end of that earlier battle in the entryway, before the shame hit her, Maria came up against a hard question:

If she was willing to go down with her opponent, she might be able to manage it somehow.

That wouldn’t count as a victory for her, though. Furthermore, it would be a betrayal of what Eve had said to her a short while ago.

“I’ve absolutely got to defeat this spear woman and survive…”

Come to think of it, there at the end yesterday…how did he get my swords away from me?

Due to the shock of losing to Adele, she’d completely forgotten about it, but she’d remembered that their bout had ended in an exceedingly incomprehensible way.

And…that the individual who had been at the heart of that mystery was currently seated in a chair very close to her.

…Ding…

Just as she registered that fact, an elevator announced its arrival, and as the doors opened, several security guards swarmed out.

There were all wearing Nebula employee badges, and it wasn’t clear whether they’d heard the noise and come to check it out, or whether they were security guards from the first floor who’d woken up.

As soon as the doors were open, they spotted Adele waving a large blade around right in front of them, and they attempted to subdue her, their hands going to the guns at their waists.

However—

“Please…don’t interfere…”

—with no hesitation, Adele ran one of the guards through. Then she set to work finishing off the others, who were quaking with fear.

And for that brief interval, Maria got some time to herself.

As she breathed deeply, catching her breath, her eyes went to Ronny, who was sitting beside her in a chair.

The day before, Ronny had displayed terrifying presence, but now Maria was hardly able to sense any sort of aura from him at all.

In spite of the ongoing situation, the man’s breathing was perfectly calm. His attitude seemed to say that, no matter what happened, he’d be able to do something about it—even if no one else could.

“…Yes?”

With no particular change of expression, Ronny turned reptilian eyes on Maria.

“Uh…”

“If you want to know the secret of yesterday, I don’t believe this is the time for that. Or, if you’d like me to help you, I’ll take active steps to do so, but…”

Ronny spoke before Maria did, as if he’d read her mind.

Then, at the end, he made a comment that tested her heart:

“If you borrow my help to defeat that girl…will you be able to refrain from throwing your swords away?”

His voice had been cold when he asked the question, and it shook Maria’s heart violently.

What…was I about to do?

She hadn’t been thinking of having this man help her. She’d thought only that learning about yesterday’s situation might give her some sort of clue.

But—is that really true? Deep down, wasn’t I considering relying on this guy, who seems to be a friend of Tick’s?

If I was…then I’m not qualified to hold Murasámia any lon—

When she’d thought that far, a figure interrupted from beside her.

“Ronny.”

“Tick…?”

Tick had been watching from the sidelines, and he beamed at the man.

The situation wasn’t really conducive to smiles, but no matter the circumstances, Tick’s eyes always retained the shape of one. Even in this moment, when Maria was headed into another crisis, Tick was beaming as if he wasn’t worried about a thing.

“Maria won’t eeever throw away her swords.”

“Oh? What makes you say that?”

Intrigued, Ronny’s eyes went to Tick.

“Because Maria won’t ask for your help, Rooonny. Even if she did, she wouldn’t feel obligated to you, you know? After all, Maria’s strong!”

“I see… You’re right. I apologize for tempting you.”

Ronny softly lowered his eyes, then said nothing more.

“…”

Meanwhile.

Every one of Tick’s innocent words had made Maria feel quietly inferior.

This, when she wasn’t able to believe in herself…

Oh, that’s right.

Back then, when I jumped in to save that tattooed guy in spite of myself—it was because Tick was watching me.

It wasn’t that he’d seemed to be hoping for anything. Their eyes had simply met by accident.

But it had made Maria feel indebted.

To the man who’d promised, with a frank smile, to believe in her victory.

Exposed to Tick’s gaze, she’d wanted to run from herself and from the burden of his promise as fast as she could.

She’d chosen to flee into the fight.

One more time.

Just one more time, I want some kind of push. I know it’s wrong to lean on stuff like this. Right now, though, even if it’s only two or three of them, I want words that show I believe I’ll win.

When she thought that, Maria held Murasámia out to Tick.

“Tick… I’ll do it. This time, I’ll beat that girl.”

“Wooow.”

“So listen, Tick… Will you believe in Murasámia’s strength with me?”

“I can’t do thaaat.”

She hadn’t expected that answer from him, and her posture crumpled.

“No, but—! Tick…”

Maria sounded as if she were pleading for something, but Tick interrupted her, speaking firmly.

“I can’t, because you’re what I believe in, Maria. Not that sword.”

“Huh…?”

Tick was smiling away as he spoke, and Maria’s eyes widened in curiosity.

“I said it lots of times before, but I can only believe in what I’ve seen… So I might not be able to believe in your bond with that sword or in your convictions or in your determination. I did want to believe you’d win, though, so…I decided I’d believe in yooou.”

This wasn’t empty consolation; nothing like it. Tick was simply putting what he felt into words, carefully, and conveying it honestly to Maria.

“I’ve seen you, Maria, so I know. I know that when you don’t have a job, you’re alllways practicing in all sorts of ways. I know you worked really, really hard. I saw that with my own eyes. Of all the people I’ve seen up till now, you worked the hardest at training for fights. That’s why I believe you’ll win, Mariaaa.”

“Tick…”

“Why don’t we do this, then? You know that katana lots and lots better than I do, right? So, you believe in your katana, and I’ll believe in yooou. You see? That way, nobody’s lonely.”

Tick’s thoughtless words made Maria think hard.

Looking at the sword in her hand, she questioned herself.

How well do I know these katanas, I wonder?

How well do I know my own strength?

Wasn’t I fighting in order to find out?

While she searched for those answers, Maria squeezed Murasámia tightly.

“Maybe I haven’t been looking at Murasámia at all. Maybe, in the end, I was only looking at myself…”

“Huh?”

Just as Maria murmured softly, and Tick tilted his head, looking bewildered…

…a guy’s tearful voice rang out, yanking her heart back to reality.

“Aaaaaaaaaah! No, stop, the security guards are getting slashed! Why are you just standing there talking?!”

Jacuzzi’s voice woke up Maria’s mind, and she looked to Adele.

The security guards had already been wiped out, and the blood that stained the carpet was just beginning to writhe, preparing to return to its owners’ bodies.

At the moment, Adele was fighting Ennis and Firo.

Apparently, Ennis had tried to stop her from killing the security guards, and they’d clashed. This seemed to be Firo’s first time going up against a spear as well, and even though it was two against one, Adele didn’t seem to have retreated a step.

Even if she was self-taught, Adele’s movements left her opponents no openings. Watching her fight, Maria had to murmur, in spite of herself, “She’s…tough…”

A shudder ran through the Latina’s back, but this shiver didn’t feel like the sticky terror she’d had up until a moment ago.

“Still—we’ve just got to do it, don’t we, amigos?”

Quietly drawing her katanas and standing tall, she turned to face the center of the restaurant, where Adele was leveling her spear.

It looked like a gunslinger’s dueling stance, but she already held a katana in each hand.

“I’m sorry, Murasámia. Up till now, I’ve been pushing all the work onto you. I let your strength determine whether I won or lost…”

As she whispered, she planted a light kiss on the back edge of the blade.

“Murasámia’s not my tool. This kid’s…my compañero!”

Addressing those words to Tick, who was looking on behind her, she nodded, then shouted at Firo and Ennis:

“Hold it! That woman—she’s my prey, amigos!”

At that clear declaration, the pair paused for a moment, while Adele turned to look at her dubiously.

“Oh… You’re…still here?”

Spitting out hypocritically courteous words, Adele leaped one step back from Firo and Ennis, shifting her attention to the swordswoman.

“You still…don’t understand? I…did tell you, didn’t I? In order to beat a spear, you need to be three times as strong as your opponent…”

“I heard you, amiga. And right now, I’m twice as strong as you, right?”

“That’s…right. I admit that, but—”

At those words, Maria broke into an artless smile.

“There, you see?! Then I’m going to win this!”

“…?”

Adele looked perplexed.

The other onlookers also waited for Maria to go on, wondering what she meant, and—

—with a pointed smile, like a little kid who’d just thought up a prank, she spoke firmly.

“Because I’ve got two katanas, see? That’s twice as strong, times two swords, so I’m four times as strong as you, amiga!”

“?!”

At that crazy logic, an uncomfortable hush enveloped the restaurant.

Isaac and Miria, who’d heard that a sword dance had started again and had come to watch, gave innocent cheers:

“It’s true! If it’s three times versus four times, then four times is tougher!”

“Yes, the katana girl wins, then!”

Tick, who was bending his fingers down and counting, seemed just as impressed as Isaac: “Wow, it’s true!”

Most of the others looked as if they wanted to yell, “Like heck it is!” but her voice had been filled with such self-confidence that they couldn’t make the retort.

And Ronny… Unusually for him, he was chuckling quietly, as if genuinely amused.

“…Even empty bravado is impressive when you take it that far.” Adele probably thought she’d been made fun of. With an expression of blended disgust and anger, she quietly took a step forward.

It had been a casual step.

She was taking her opponent lightly, so she hadn’t put any thought into the move.

And—Maria didn’t overlook it.

Right before Adele’s foot touched the floor, she dashed forward—

—and threw her treasured katana, Murasámia, into the air.

“?!”

Adele had been caught off guard by the sudden approach, too, but the thrown katana confused her completely.

The blade that had been flung into the air was parallel with the ground, and its tip was pointing at Adele.

Gradually, gradually, as if moving in slow motion…

She threw it at me? No, it won’t reach me from there!

When she looked at Maria, the swordswoman was gripping her remaining katana with both hands, in a thrusting stance not found in any textbook—holding it still by her left shoulder, parallel with the ground—and charging at her.

One sword, and she’s speeding up?! In other words…that “two katanas” declaration was a bluff?

Deciding that it must have been, Adele narrowed her target to the single katana.

However, in the next instant, Maria shoved the tip of Kochite—the sword she was holding—into the guard of Murasámia, which was flying through the air.

They formed a shape like a series of batteries and, propelled from behind, Murasámia rushed toward Adele.

For this one moment, when her weapon was the length of two swords, Maria had definitely pierced the spear’s range.

As if I’d let her confuse me!

Adele promptly swung her spear up from below, slapping the tip that was headed for her throat out of the way.

That move sealed her fate.

Adele had already been tricked earlier, when the katana was hurled.

Ordinarily, no thrust would have worked well from a configuration like that one. She should have just waited for it to fall apart on its own.

On being shown the double-long sword, her anxious mind had arbitrarily added “mass” to the equation, and she’d used what she felt was appropriate force to slap it away.

As a result, the katana whose tip had been deflected spun vigorously through space.

But—the second katana kept coming.

The blade of the sword, supported by a two-handed grip, was heading straight for Adele’s upper body.

Maria concentrated all her heart, mind, and strength on the tip of the thinly struck blade—

—and charged, slicing through the air, determined to slash through a single enemy. When Adele realized what that sight meant—

—she locked eyes with the blade.

Oh n…

By the time she caught on, it was too late.

She’d swung the spear up with too much force. As a result, she’d left her body wide open, and she wasn’t able to shield herself in time.

And more than anything—

She’s fas— AaaaaaAAAAaaaaaah!

Once Maria’s blade was within striking distance, it stretched with a speed beyond what she’d imagined.

The tip of the second blade was drawn into the top of Adele’s completely defenseless shoulder.

Adele’s pale skin.

The silver blade seeped into that skin, the color of which contrasted nicely with Maria’s.

Quickly…

Sharply…

Deeply…

Surely—

From that thrust, the blade moved, shifting slightly upward, and—

—Maria’s katana emphatically tore through Adele’s body.

That one attack decided the fight.

“—Ah aaah ”

The moment when flesh split, and an impossible space suddenly opened up.

Pain and a sense of loss coursed through her simultaneously, and for the space of that first breath, her brain made her forget to scream.

Even though it was her shoulder that had been impaled, electricity ran down the nerves in her legs, and the strength went out of her knees all at once.

The deep wound gored her shoulder. And inside the red, just for a moment, she thought she glimpsed white.

The instant Adele’s entire body found its pulse again in the midst of that shock—

—blood spurted out.

It was as if the blood itself were a living thing.

“…… ”

Even then, Adele didn’t scream.

As if to shore up her dimming consciousness, she braced the spear’s ferrule near her feet, letting it hold her weight instead of her nerveless legs.

She fell to her knees, then tried to catch her breath, but even breathing in and out by turns wasn’t working the way she wanted it to.

When she tried to exhale, she kept inhaling in short, small gasps.

The sensation that her lungs were spasming ran through her, and blood pulsed out in rhythm with her trembling.

As if to strike an additional blow—

—a long, thin silver object pressed against the back of her undamaged left shoulder.

“…Was this your first time getting cut?”

Maria was now the uncontested victor, and Adele answered her question with silence.

It wasn’t clear whether she’d never intended to answer or whether she wanted to but wasn’t able to speak.

There was no strength left in her wounded right shoulder, and it hung limply. She didn’t even try to look at her opponent.

“…It looks like this is the first time you’ve been cut for real, amiga.”

Among the people Maria had killed in the course of her work, some had tried to rip out her throat with their teeth even after she’d cut off both their arms, and others had lived for a little while after she’d stabbed them through the heart.

This meant that an impaled shoulder wasn’t enough to set her mind completely at ease, but from the way Adele was looking, there was no need to be wary.

Maria sighed, drew her sword back, then turned to Tim.

“If you get the bleeding stopped soon, she’ll live.”

Those words seemed to bring Tim to his senses, and he hastily ran to Adele, calling her name.

He tore up a nearby tablecloth, using it to stanch the bleeding. As he worked, he spoke to the Latina: “I thought you were going to kill her.”

“If this were a job, I would have. But also, yesterday, I was the one who should have died, so…I’m paying for that.”

As she said those words, Maria walked up to Tick. Her face, which had been tense, broke into a huge grin. “I won, Tick!”

Tick, who’d been given that report before anyone else, met her with his usual smile. “So, Maria, what you’re feeling right now is—”

“You don’t have to say it! Just smile with me, okay, amigo?!”

When she grinned and said that to Tick, the smile wasn’t her ordinary, innocent, splendid one. It was filled with something gentle, and there was a warmth to it.

However, she promptly switched back to her usual confident face, then got carried away and started boasting: “Thanks, Tick. Because of you, I feel really fantastic! Right now, I could— Yes, I’m positive. I could cut even God! Even iron, even the wind, even these gloomy rain clouds!”

Beaming, she walked over to the window, quietly lowered her hips—and drew, in one fast, vigorous motion.

As the blade slid from its sheath, it made a bell-like sound…

And outside the window, a miracle occurred.

“Wha…?”

“Ooooh…”

As if synchronizing itself to Maria’s katana stroke, a break had opened in the clouds, and bright curtains of light had begun to shine through in places.

As the sunlight lanced in with timing that seemed nothing short of miraculous, Maria let it beam down on her as if it were only to be expected.

“—There, see?”

Firo and the others were making a racket about phenomenal coincidences, but Ronny had concealed his presence, and he murmured to himself, ignoring them.

“You know that was no coincidence… Much less a miracle.”

As he tapped his temple lightly with an index finger, he was smiling as if he’d just pulled off a successful prank.

“It was congratulations… That’s right: Congratulations…”

While the people in the restaurant were distracted by the view outside, Tim had managed to stop Adele’s bleeding.

“Are you all right?”

The young woman seemed to have finally calmed down; little by little, she began to speak.

“Tim… Tim…”

“I don’t have any painkillers, but we’ll get you to a doctor right away. Just hang on.”

“Am I…use…less?”

As she bore up under the fierce pain, Adele spoke as if she was frightened of something.

“I was cut… First time…in my life… Cut… The blood… With his fingers… The spear…wouldn’t move…”

She was probably disoriented from the shock: Her losses to Claire and Maria seemed to have gotten muddled together in her mind.

“Enough of that, just calm down.”

“I…I…!”

“Calm down!”

Tim helped her sit up, then put his arms around Adele and got her on her feet.

She also tried to stand under her own steam; she used her spear as a staff, managing to support herself.

“Dammit, we can’t wait around for Christopher and the rest of ’em.”

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Tim started to leave the restaurant, but—

—a familiar figure blocked their way.

“—Hey there.”

“Dallas! Where have you been? Well, never mind that; here, help me get Adele out…”

Tim swallowed his words without finishing the sentence.

Dallas was gazing at him and Adele, and Tim had registered a clear intent to kill in those eyes.

“You…”

“Who’d have thought I’d get my chance this soon…? I figured I’d use Jacuzzi and his pals, but… I guess I got lucky.”

Slowly, he walked up to the two, who each had an arm around the other’s shoulders, and drew his trusty knife from his jacket.

It had ended up going into the oil drum with him, so the whole blade was rusted, but getting stabbed with that would probably result in more pain and suffering than if he’d used another knife.

“To think you’d go out of control and destroy yourselves for me— Wha…?”

In midsentence, Dallas realized a silver blade had sprouted from his own chest.

He’d begun to raise his knife, but the head of the cross-shaped spear was buried deep in his torso.

“Hunh…?”

Just as he realized the spear in Adele’s left hand had run him through, Dallas coughed up a large quantity of blood.

“For someone on…your level, Dallas…one arm…is…enough…”

“Looks like you underestimated us. Go take a nap.”

Tim drew a handgun from his jacket, preparing to send a bullet into Dallas’s brain, but—

—as he spat up bloody foam, Dallas was smirking.

“But…the luckiest thing was…!”

Reacting to that yell, the people who’d been looking out the window turned around.

“Meeting that mad bomber with the glasses and eye patch last night!”

As Dallas’s shout ended, Tim realized something felt wrong.

Sizz z-z-z-z sizz z-z z-z z-z-z z

What’s that noise?

“Huh?”

When she heard Dallas’s yell, Nice looked at him, blinking her eye.

She had absolutely no idea what had been lucky about meeting her.

However, the next instant—a vaguely familiar light caught her eye. It was flickering inside Dallas’s jacket.

The light was unique, a mixture of red and yellow and white sparks, like a firework…

When she realized what it was, Nice’s face went pale, and she screamed.

“Ru— …Get doooown!”

That’s…that’s—! That’s the high-powered explosives we stole from the train—!

“A rain of blood? It couldn’t be.”

“But just a moment ago, I’m sure I…”

Eve and Fang were looking up at Mist Wall’s top floor from where they stood, near the entrance of the building across the way.

“In the first place, if something was happening inside, you know it wouldn’t be raining blood out here.”

“That’s true, but…”

Eve still looked uneasy, and Fang spoke firmly, trying to cheer her up.

“It’ll be fine! Vino and Chané are with them. As long as the building doesn’t disappear on us, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about.”

Just as Fang thumped his chest, a red explosion welled up near the top floor of Mist Wall.

Boooooooooooooom…

A fraction of a second later, there was a roar—

—and a few seconds after that, lots of glass fragments rained down, right before their eyes.

As they stood there, speechless, the splinters of glass sparkled.

Some of them were tinted red with blood…

Even more strangely, some of that red raced back toward the sky, traveling up the white wall at breakneck speed—but unfortunately, not a soul noticed.

“The sun’s come out, and Lamia means ‘vampire,’ right? Shouldn’t you be turning to ashes?”

“Vampires turning to ashes in the sun… You’ve been watching too many talkies.”

“Even a human would turn to ashes if you shoved them into the sun, though. Or, no, would they evaporate?”

Christopher and Vino had kept up their absurd conversation as they fought, and even now, neither of them was showing any sign of fatigue.

They were soaked to the skin with rain. It was likely that neither of them was sweating much, if at all.

For some reason, there was an abrupt break in the clouds, and even though it was raining, sunlight shone on their skin.

“Nature can be so whimsical. That’s why I love it.”

Smiling quietly, Christopher spread his arms wide in the rain, an exaggerated gesture.

“So because your birth was unnatural, you’re trying to merge with nature by loving it?”

Vino was indifferent, and Christopher scratched his head, as if embarrassed.

“You nailed it.”

But just as he admitted it—

—a flash of mixed red and orange flickered below where Vino, Christopher, and the others were standing.

A moment later, there was a dull quaking under their feet, and the noise of the blast reached them clearly.

“What was that?”

Christopher looked at the explosion as if it mystified him, but to Vino, the color of the blast seemed familiar.

“Oh.”

I’m pretty sure that stuff was the Flying Pussyfoot’s hidden cargo…

He didn’t say it, and the two of them watched the flames disappear into thin air.

For a moment, Chané had glanced in the direction of the explosion as well, but because a chakram had come flying at her immediately afterward, she hadn’t had time to really look.

Vino gazed at the situation for a while, but then he muttered, as if he’d remembered something, “Sorry, but… Chané? Would you go see if everybody’s okay down there?”

The woman nodded, then, deflecting a spinning spike wheel, ran down as if plummeting over the edge of the building.

“Hey, hang on… What about you, guy? In the meantime, you’re what? Are you planning to take on Leeza and me by yourself?”

Christopher shook his head, appalled, but after some light warm-up exercises, Vino squared up, and his eyes looked just a little different from what they had a moment ago.

“Okay, then. The sun’s out and everything. It’s about time I got serious.”

“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You’re a cocky one… Really cocky.”

Right after Christopher, startled, muttered this, several chakrams bore down on Vino’s back. Leeza had apparently given up on Chané, and she was putting all her efforts into cooperating with Christopher.

“Great… Sure. I’ll take ’em!”

Even as he spoke, those six silver rings should have been carving up Vino’s body.

However—in the next instant, an unbelievable sight leaped onto the stage.

“Huh…?”

“These are pretty nifty.”

Vino’s hands, which had been empty up until that point, now held six chakrams.

There was no doubt that several silver rings had flown at his back with the aim of assassinating him.

However—Vino hadn’t even turned around.

“What’s going—”

Just as Christopher spoke, Vino threw all the chakrams he held at once.

“—on?”

The six blades had been flung at the same time, but each sketched a beautiful spiral—and began to converge on the spot where Christopher stood.

“ !!”

In the instant he sensed danger, he’d already leaped, and multiple rings plunged into the spot where he’d been standing a moment ago.

“How…?”

Flustered, he recovered his balance—but Vino was already right there.

“Checkmate.”

Smiling, the redhead put his right hand on Christopher’s throat.

“The thing is, I wanted to fight with Chané a bit longer, so I was holding back. It doesn’t look like the situation downstairs is going to let me get away with that, though.”

“…!”

Christopher couldn’t read the extent of this guy’s skills, so he wasn’t able to resist or surrender.

“That’s insane… Leeza’s chakrams… How did you…?”

Even as he spoke, a ring flew at the back of Vino’s head.

Without so much as shifting his gaze, Vino put an arm around behind him and snagged it out of the air.

“What? You’re not even looking, so why…?”

“No, I’m looking. Don’t worry; I don’t have eyes back there. I’m not that inhuman.”

“Then what are you looking at, huh?! There’s nothing here that would reflect what’s behind you—”

In the moment when he began to yell those words—Vino put out two fingers and gently poked Christopher with them, right below his eyes.

It can’t be.

“You just thought, ‘It can’t be,’ huh?”

“…”

“I bet you didn’t think I was watching the scenery reflected in your eyes, did you?”

That’s ridiculous… What sort of vision does he have?

Is this guy—really human?

The next thing he knew, Christopher realized cold sweat was running down his back in earnest.

“I see… You really are humanity’s strongest.”

“Don’t say that sort of stuff.”

Christopher fell silent for a little while. Then he murmured, smiling in a self-mocking smile, “God might actually love you.”

In response, Vino’s voice was quiet. “There’s no God anywhere in the world. The only one’s inside me. From your perspective, he’s inside you. That’s how it works, right?”

Vino sounded unconcerned, but Christopher saw a faint anger in his eyes.

“What I can’t forgive—is when this strength of mine gets tidied away as a ‘miracle’ or a ‘present from God.’ Do you think I didn’t put in any effort to get this power or something?”

The hand that covered his throat gradually tightened, and little by little, Christopher’s neck started to creak.

“A ritual to summon and control the god inside you—that’s what ‘effort’ is, right? I never skipped that ritual. That’s all it is… And? Do you admit you lost?”

In response to those abrupt words, Christopher smiled and lashed out with his arm, trying to drive the blade of his knife-gun into Vino’s head.

“Fair enough.”

In the next moment, the hand on Christopher’s throat tightened, then drew a half circle, slamming the back of his head into the uppermost part of Mist Wall.

“Gah…!”

At the end, just as Christopher was blacking out, he heard Vino’s quiet murmur.

“Don’t worry. Compared with me—you’re way closer to nature.”

When he heard that, Christopher tried to say something…but his voice was much too faint, and it didn’t reach Vino’s ears.

The sky-view restaurant Babel

“Uuuhn… Are you okay, Ennis?”

“…Yeees.”

The people who’d been thrown by the hot wind that had followed the explosion picked themselves up, checking to make sure the others were all right.

“Mggrh, you okay, Jacuzzi, Nice?”

“…I think we’re done for.”

“Meep…”

Donny had shielded Jacuzzi and Nice from the blast, but in the process, they’d been squashed by his body, and it would be a little while before they could get up again.

Maria had slashed sideways with Murasámia, trying to cut the blast, and she’d managed to slice through a portion of the air currents splendidly—but of course she’d been sent flying, and she was stretched out in a corner of the room with Isaac and Miria.

“That fink Dallas… What’s he trying to pull?”

Getting to his feet, Firo scanned his surroundings. Most of the tables had been toppled by the blast wind, and a few of the tablecloths had caught fire.

He’d just assumed Dallas would be gone without a trace, but, possibly due to the qualities of the bomb, he was lying near the elevators, and his body was nearly whole. Even so, since some of him was missing, it seemed as though it would be a while before he recovered.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side, by the window, two figures lay on the floor.

From the looks of it, they were Tim and Adele. Before Firo could head over to them, Tim slowly sat up.

“Dammit… Dallas…”

His whole body was pulsing like his heart, and it hurt to breathe.

The blast wind seemed to have banged him up all over, but he had almost no burns from the flames.

Did I luck out?

Tim tried to get to his feet, but his legs still weren’t moving well. It looked as if he’d need to sit quietly for a little while longer.

Most of the flames from the explosion seemed to have been sucked out through the broken window, and while tablecloths and patches of carpet were burning here and there, there didn’t seem to be much danger that it would turn into a real fire at this point.

“Adele… Are you okay? …!”

When he looked at Adele, who was lying beside him, Tim gulped.

The clothes on her back had been scorched away in places, and he could see several awful burns on her back and arms.

“Oh hell… And she… She was already injured…”

At that point, Tim started to wonder why Adele had burns when he didn’t.

Wait… Did she protect me?

When he heard the woman’s delirious murmur, his guess became certainty.

“Am…I…not…use…less…? Did I…help…?”

“You utter moron…”

Lamia tended to act separately from Larva more often than not, and Adele had been the only member of the team who was directly responsible to Tim. Even if they had known each other for a pretty long time, there was no reason for her to shield him.

She’d probably been pushed to act by the trauma of being in Lamia’s unique position.

That was what Tim thought, but at this point, it didn’t matter.

Intending to help Adele up somehow, he went closer, dragging his upper body across the floor in a crawl, but—

—somebody’s foot stomped down hard on his arm.

“Gahk…! Dallas…!”

When Tim tipped his head upward, there was Dallas, his eyes charged with pure bloodthirstiness.

More than half the clothes on his upper body had been blown off, and there were several burn marks on his trousers, too.

“At times like this…being immortal is great, ain’t it? I get to retire from being a loser a lot faster than you losers.”

“Did having us work you like a carthorse tick you off that much?”

“I don’t give a shit about that… I’ll never forgive anybody who messes with Eve or anybody who tries it. That’s all.”

“…In that case, why did you come back? Wouldn’t it have been easier to take your kid sister and run?”

Tim’s question was loaded with sarcasm, and as Dallas answered, he averted his eyes in exasperation.

“I couldn’t…think of any way to protect her other than killing. That’s all it was.”

“Good grief… You’re a bigger scumbag than I thought you were.”

“Quiet.”

Spitting the word out, with no hesitation, Dallas kicked Tim in the stomach.

“Gahk…!”

Then, grabbing Tim’s and Adele’s arms—he stepped out through the broken window.

Since the entire wall had been glass, there was no difference in level between the room’s interior and the edge outside. Step-by-step, dragging the other two, Dallas steadily made for the white precipice.

“Christopher…!”

Watching until his partner had blacked out, Chi groaned, calling his name. He ran into the fray in the midst of the strange weather that was a mixture of sun and rain, readying to face Vino, his expression stern.

“That’s enough, isn’t it?”

“…You didn’t help. When those rings came flying at me, I figured you’d jump me along with them.”

“If this had been a job, I would have. If you intend to finish Christopher off, I’ll do it now.”

Chi fixed him with a sharp glare. Vino had shown overwhelming strength, but he wasn’t the least bit daunted by him.

Taking that look coolly, Vino gave Chi a light smile.

“Don’t look so scary. If this had been a job, I would’ve killed him, too, but… You people work for Chané’s old man, right? I can’t just end you out of hand.”

“What…?”

Chi didn’t understand what the other guy meant, and his expression was dubious, but…

A moment later, Chané returned from checking on the situation below.

“Hey. How was it, Chané?”

“ ”

“I see; Firo and Jacuzzi’s group are safe, huh? That’s fine, then.”

Satisfying himself regarding the safety of his own “relatives”—and no one else—by checking Chané’s eyes, Vino hauled Christopher up from where he lay at his feet and threw him at Chi.

Dexterously catching Christopher, who was like a puppet with cut strings, Chi skillfully slung his pal’s body over his shoulder.

“…What on earth are you people?”

After muttering that one phrase, Chi gazed at Chané’s eyes as if trying to confirm something—and realized the truth.

Shining golden eyes, deep and clear.

Remembering a man whose eyes were that same color, Chi narrowed his own eyes slightly and spoke.

“Ah… I thought I’d heard the name ‘Chané’ somewhere before.”

If the information the twins gave us long ago is accurate, then this guy is Vino, hmm?

“I see.”

Satisfied with the reasons behind the man’s strength, Chi quietly turned his back on Vino.

As he did, he was privately working out how to kill this monster the next time they faced off.

Once he’d watched his enemy walk away without saying a word, Vino gave Chané a relaxed smile.

“That weird dame’s voice disappeared somewhere in there, and the flying rings aren’t coming anymore… It’s probably safe to assume this one’s over, right?”

After making sure Chi was completely out of sight, Vino turned to Chané and murmured, sounding entertained:

“I think the world’s pretty small—but that does mean it’s pretty deep, doesn’t it, Chané?”

“…?”

“If that fanged fella had had a decent weapon and used it well…”

Thinking back over the recent death match, Claire paid his opponent the highest possible compliment:

“…I might’ve broken out in a cold sweat, at least.”

The sky-view restaurant Babel

“Hey, Isaac, snap out of it.”

“You too, Miria… Are you all right?”

Isaac and Miria had been lying in a corner of the restaurant.

When Firo and Ennis pulled them into sitting positions and slapped their cheeks, they managed to regain consciousness.

“Unnhn… What was that? Did somebody do an escape routine or something?”

“Koff… Yes, that was a big explosion.”

When he was sure the two of them were their usual selves, Firo looked around the restaurant again—and noticed that something felt very wrong.

Dallas?!

He’d figured it would take a while longer for Dallas to recover, but he was already fully healed up and conscious—and he was just about to pitch Tim and Adele out the window.

“…You little—!”

He didn’t really know the two, but he couldn’t just watch Dallas murder somebody.

However, the moment he launched himself into a run, he realized there was another figure standing behind Dallas.

“That’s—Claire’s friend, the one who’s been hanging around here for a while. The scissors guy…”

Just as Firo thought this, the “scissors guy” raised the pair of big shears he held high in the air—and slowly sank them into Dallas’s exposed back.

So this is it, huh?

Tim had half steeled himself already, but abruptly, he realized the hand that had grabbed his arm had left it.

“…?”

“…Gahk…gah…kkhka kh .”

“…I’m sorry. You’re…Dallas, right?”

Tick spoke, not in his usual easygoing way, but in a voice that sounded rather grave.

He held a pair of scissors in his right hand, and the tips of the blades had accurately pierced a portion of Dallas’s spinal cord.

“You basta— Wh-why…? ’Snone of your business…”

Dallas’s growl sounded vengeful, and as Tick responded, he looked sad.

“…I’m sorry. I know what you’re feeling really, really well. I also know that if your precious little sister got taken hostage, you’d never forgive the people who did it.”

“Th…then why…?”

“That’s why—I can’t forgive you, either. When someone tries to kill my little brother, I can’t just pretend I’m not seeing it.”

 !!

The one who was most surprised by those words was the little brother in question: Tim, aka Tock Jefferson.

“Tick… Why…?! When did you…?”

When his brother asked that question, eyes wide, the set of Tick’s lips relaxed just a little.

“Yesterday. When I saw you at Jacuzzi’s house, I knew riiight away.”

“! But then… Why?!”

“Hey…scu m bags… Don’t you ig nore m—”

As the brothers talked, Dallas tried to reach for the scissors with his right arm, which he could still move a bit.

As he did so, Tick took another pair of shears from his waist, stabbed them into a certain spot on Dallas’s right shoulder, and twisted them in lightly.

“Ah ah ah… Ah.”

Immediately, Dallas’s right arm fell, dangling limply, and went perfectly still.

“I’m sorry. Please take your anger out on me.”

Hanging his head slightly, Tick took a step forward.

Dallas’s legs moved jerkily, like the feet of a marionette, taking a step toward the edge of the building.

“Ah, that’s right. When I ran into you, Tock, I wanted to celebrate right away, but you were calling yourself Tim, and when I saw your clothes and things, it made me think, ‘I bet he wants to get rid of his past…’ So I thought I shouldn’t hold you back… I was going to just keep pretending I didn’t know, forever and ever.”

“…Mind your own business, Tick. I just—wanted to sever my ties with you people…”

At his brother’s words, Tick smiled a little sadly.

“I’m the other way around. I’ve done all sorts of things because I wanted to know about the bonds between people, and about family ties, but…in the end, all I learned to see was—”

Leaving the shears he’d twisted into Dallas’s right shoulder where they were, Tick took out another pair of scissors and stabbed them into the left side of Dallas’s lower back.

“Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah… Ah… Ah…”

It was possible his lungs weren’t working well: The only thing escaping Dallas’s lips was a weird, drawn-out sound.

“—where to cut in order to stop certain body parts from moving. Things like that.”

When he’d said that much, Tick took another step forward, circling around to Dallas’s side, and turned the guy’s face toward himself.

“Look at me, please.”

Showing him his face, Tick quietly spoke to Dallas.

The sunlight that lanced through the breaks in the clouds illuminated Tick’s face brightly.

His expression held both sorrow and joy, and due to its squinty eyes, once you saw it, his face wasn’t the sort you’d manage to forget easily.

“The one who’s hurting you right now, and the one who’s about to push you over the edge, is me. Tock… Tim has nothing to do with it. I’m Tick. Tick Jefferson. Resent me more than anybody else, Dallas…”

Then he fell silent, and after a pause, he spoke his final words.

“If you go after Tim again…I know what Eve looks like and where she lives.”

Instantly, Dallas’s expression changed dramatically.

Up until then, his face had been filled with anger and the murderous intent that went with it, but now the anger disappeared completely—and all that remained was an unadulterated intent to kill.

Seeing the change in his expression, Tick nodded, looking satisfied.

“I’m sorry… Thank you. Oh… Also, there’s somebody waiting for you, down below…”

Adding that comment as if he’d just remembered, Tim pulled the scissors out of Dallas’s back and gave him a gentle push forward.

* * *

“When I look at you, I think I can sense family ties, just a little… I’m going to use them, though… The bonds between you and your sister… I’m sorry.”

“I am going to go after all!”

“Wait, wait, wait! It’s not safe, all right?! It’s dangerous!”

After the sudden explosion at Mist Wall, Eve had started insisting she was going inside, too.

“It’s fine! Your brother’s—you know! He can’t die, remember?!”

“But, but…”

As he desperately talked Eve down, Fang took another troubled look up at Mist Wall.

The fire and smoke didn’t appear to be spreading, and except for the scars from the blast, nothing seemed to have changed.

“It’s fine—look, things have already settled down. Besides, I don’t really get it, but the cops haven’t shown up, either.”

“…”

Eve finally seemed to have calmed down, and she stayed there with Fang, looking up at the white wall.

They’d been watching for about thirty seconds when it happened.

After the explosion, a small dot of some sort shot out.

“?”

The dot grew bigger and bigger, and as it did, its shape grew clearer.

Fang gazed at it for a little while—and then he realized the dot had arms and legs.

“…! Don’t looook!”

Even as he said it, he pulled Eve into a hug, completely blocking her vision.

A few seconds later, there was a noise as though someone had kicked in a corrugated tin door—and violent screams went up from the surrounding passersby.

Eve didn’t know what had happened, and for a little while, she only stood there and trembled, but then… Timidly, she peeked past Fang’s side at the scene in front of the building.

And what she saw there was—

Just after Tick had defenestrated Dallas, Chi came down from the top, carrying an unconscious Christopher.

The sack of potatoes didn’t have any conspicuous external injuries, but he was out cold, and it seemed like it would be a while before he woke up on his own.

As soon as Chi got inside, he saw Tim and Adele, and his eyes went round.

“You too?! What happened?!”

“Never mind me. Take care of Adele.”

At Tim’s words, Chi thought hard for a minute. Then, as if he’d made up his mind, he shouted, “Sham! Hilton! Either’s fine! Is there a twin here?!”

Chi’s scream was anguished—and someone did respond.

Maybe he’d been hiding: A man appeared from the shadows of the kitchen.

“Huh? That guy… He didn’t run?”

Seeing the figure, Jacuzzi spoke up, sounding startled.

It was the waiter who’d first seated Ronny at his group’s table.

“You’re…Sham, huh? Sorry, but help me carry Adele.”

The waiter nodded wordlessly at Chi’s instructions, then shouldered Adele, boarded the elevator with Chi, and rode it down.

As if to replace Chi’s group, which had left mysteries in its wake, Chané and Vino descended from above, making it clear that things had been settled up there.

“Hmm? Where’s Dallas?”

“He went down fiiirst.”

“Oh.”

When they heard Tick indifferently report that fact to Vino, the people who knew what had happened got worried, wondering whether he might secretly be an incredibly nasty customer.

The fact that he wasn’t lying made them particularly uneasy, but Tick had already reverted to his usual expression.

Then, with no one left to run the situation, they naturally broke up and went their separate ways.

Since everyone who was being pursued by the security guards had gone downstairs ahead of the rest, the people who were still present were able to leave with a certain amount of leeway.

However—some of them didn’t feel so great.

“…Ennis, do you think that was true? The stuff they said earlier.”

“The stuff from…earlier?”

“You know, about how all the employees in this building are…”

“…If it is true, I don’t know if there’s anything we can do…”

In the elevator, Firo and Ennis were having a rather stiff, awkward conversation.

“Besides, that Lamia group… Claire ran them off today, so that’s all right, but… You think they’ll be back?”

“My…siblings.”

“Don’t worry about that.”

When Firo spoke, Ennis smiled at him.

“I know. I already have two wonderful brothers: you and Czes!”

“…”

Unable to genuinely approve of that answer, Firo looked down quietly.

Siblings… Brothers… Brothers… That’s how Ennis thinks of me…? Agh…

“You’re not hurt, right, Chané?”

Once he’d made sure the elevator doors were closed, Vino spoke to his fiancée with a soft look in his eyes.

Chané nodded wordlessly, and silence descended in the closed room.

When they were about halfway down the building, Vino abruptly broke that silence.

“…Huey Laforet and Nebula, huh?”

“?”

“That red-eyed fella’s group, too… There was all sorts of stuff I didn’t get here. At times like this, it feels like I’m outside the world looking in, and it’s incredibly frustrating.”

He spoke as if he were talking to himself, and Chané listened, watching him with quiet eyes.

“I think it’s about time I got inside that world.”

Realizing what those words meant, Chané’s eyes widened slightly.

“Next time something happens—I’ll go pay your old man a visit, Chané.”

Visit the man who’d been put in a prison that would later be called “impregnable.” He’d said the words quite casually, and Chané nodded, not doubting them in the least.

“…Hmm? By the way, it feels like I’m forgetting something important…”

Unusually for him, Vino seemed puzzled. Chané only shook her head, looking mystified.

“Somehow…I feel like we got pulled into some sort of dream for an hour or so.”

“You’re right. I’m really worn out. I hope Nick and the others managed to get out of the building safely.”

“Mrrgh.”

Breathing a sigh of relief for the moment, Jacuzzi and the others boarded the elevator, preparing to head for their rendezvous point.

“By the way, I think I’m forgetting something…”

“You’re sure it isn’t Fang?”

“Ngah.”

“…You’re even more easygoing than Tick. Well, never mind. Your real business begins now.”

At the sound of the voice that spoke behind them, Jacuzzi’s group completely froze up.

Since they were petrified, they weren’t able to escape from the elevator before the doors shut.

Once the doors closed, in that sealed room, they fearfully looked back…

…and in the elevator, a long, long time began to pass.

As Tick and Maria lent him their shoulders, Tim stayed silent.

The atmosphere couldn’t have been worse, but Tick spoke to him without reading it.

“What are you going to do nooow, Tim?”

“Tock’s fine, brother.”

“Huh?! You two are brothers, amigo?!”

Maria had been out of it earlier, so Tick filled her in on the situation, then spoke to him again.

“Soooo, what are you going to do now, Tock?”

“I’ll…stick with what I’ve been doing. I’ll keep working for Mr. Huey. He may just be using me, but…someday—I’ll slash through my fate.”

“You can’t cut that, Tock.”

Tick smiled as he spoke, and Tock looked at him quizzically.

“There’s no such thing as being fated to be used by somebody else. No matter how hard you work at it, you can’t cut something that never existed, you know?”

“…”

Looking at his older brother, who seemed as happy as ever, Tim began to wonder whether the one who’d pushed Dallas off the building back there had been somebody else entirely, but—

Abruptly, something occurred to him, and he decided to ask his brother about it.

“Tick… Listen…”

“What, hmm?”

“Why did you kill Jimmy?”

Tim had decided he wanted to get to the bottom of his pet white rat’s murder, here and now.

However…his brother’s answer was one he’d never imagined.

“Oh, Jimmy? I wasn’t the one who killed him.”

“…Huh? Hey, hold on, Tick. In that case, why didn’t you say anything when it happened?”

“If I’d said it wasn’t me, you would have suspected me even mooore, right?”

There was a short silence. Then Tim asked another question, looking for confirmation.

“Then, when I yelled at you and told you to give Jimmy back, why didn’t you argue?”

“Well, I thought, it would have been really nice if I could have given him back to you…”

Tim’s head was starting to hurt, but at the same time, he used that aching head and thought.

“It…really wasn’t you, Tick?”

“Nope. When I came home, the scissors were already like that.”

“…”

“You lost me, amigos. Who’s Jimmy?”

Ignoring Maria, Tim kept thinking quietly.

Before he came to a conclusion for everything, the elevator reached the ground floor.

Tim carefully stepped out into the hall, only to find himself in a world where all was normal.

The ladies at the reception desk were talking away, wearing their usual customer-service smiles, and the security guards were gazing at the posters on the company walls, looking bored.

Employees walked past, down the middle of the hall, chatting with each other about their lunches, and it was as though the earlier uproar had really and truly never been.

He saw police cars stopped at the entrance, but apparently, they were there because of the restaurant explosion, not Christopher’s group’s massacre.

…Even though there had been quite a few regular members of the public who’d fled. Wondering just what sort of pressure was being put on the police, Tim remembered what Senator Beriam had said, and he shivered a little.

Still…all the Nebula employees in this hall were immortals.

There were no visible changes. Although, that made the knowledge of that fact all the more frightening.

Huey had wanted lots of “failed immortals,” too. Were Nebula and Huey planning to use them for the same purpose?

No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t find the answer. The eerie feeling just kept growing.

It was as if thick mist was covering a gathering of something alien, hiding it…