“There’s also no way to see what could be outside from inside the shell...”

There was nothing there.

A section of the floor, as if it had been carved out from the rest, was empty. The shops and designer-brand stores for lease around it had been devastated—buried under the falling rubble, or trashed by people fleeing the scene—but this space alone remained completely unchanged. There had never been anything in it to begin with. Looking out across the floor, there were a number of holes caused by the destructive phenomenon that Pearl had set in motion. This space, however, had been spared from all that.

It was in such a space that Boogiepop stood, alone. It seemed to be the only place detached from all the tumult.

“…I do wonder, though. Are you sure you want to die, in the end?” spoke Boogiepop, alone though he was.

[[…Hmm.]]

And alone though he was, there came a reply. It was the voice of Embryo, held in his hand.

“If you still claim to want to die after being told that, then perhaps your will is the real thing after all,” teased Boogiepop.

[[………]]

Embryo had never shown any change in outward appearance when he spoke. Yet this one time, it seemed that his silence spoke volumes.

“It’s my fault!”

Honami Akiko’s scream did nothing to shake Boogiepop.

“You say it’s your fault. Can you do something about it then?” he asked. “Can you extinguish these kindling coals that Embryo seems to conjure, and stop these problems from ever happening?”

“I-I…” Akiko almost tripped over her words, but she held her gaze firm. “I can’t do that. But…but then, if you kill Embryo, can you really say for sure that all the problems will go away?”

Boogiepop hummed thoughtfully.

“True enough, I can’t say that they will,” he admitted.

“Whether Embryo’s around or not, you’re still gonna get problems, right? Like…who’s to say you didn’t come into contact with Embryo in the past? Maybe that’s how you ended up like that?”

Depending on how you took it, it could have sounded like an extremely rude question, but Boogiepop answered without a trace of reluctance.

“I’m afraid that’s not the case.”

“Do you even know why you exist?”

“…Being automatic, that is a difficult question for me to answer.”

“Nuh-uh, there’s nothing difficult about it!”

“Oh?”

“You know why people like you and me exist? …It’s because those things are miracles.”

“The miracle of existence itself, is it?”

“That’s right. Each and every thing, just by virtue of being in this world, is a miracle. All that stuff about raison d'êtres and finding meaning in life… They’re all strained arguments tacked on later.”

Akiko was speaking fluidly, as if she’d been possessed by something.

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, it goes the same for Embryo. Saying that there’s no point in him living, or that letting him live won’t be for the good of the world… Compared to the miracle of his existence, those things all take second place. So long as nothing serious happens.”

Gone was the timid girl from before, her speech now refined enough to sound like a different person. But what could possibly have possessed her?

Minahoshi Suiko was no longer within her. Embryo, too, was no longer at her chest. Her special ability was already disappearing. Right now, she was wholly unburdened by anything that could bewitch her.

“You’re saying nothing ‘serious’ could happen with Embryo?”

“All Embryo does is draw out the talent sleeping within people, so you can’t know for sure it’s his fault. It doesn’t make a difference if he’s there or not. And if that’s the case, I know a reason why Embryo should exist.”

“Tell me.”

“Because I think I want him to live. That’s my reason.”

Even that reason should have been shaky for her at best. Nevertheless, she had asserted it firmly.

“I see,” Boogiepop nodded. “Then it is indeed your fault. You’ve made your point clear. In other words, if I’m to do with Embryo as I see fit, I’ll have to defeat you first…”

Boogiepop’s gaze was intense, but Akiko took it head on. Black Hat shrugged.

“But I have no reason to do such a thing, either. It’s too bad. I suppose I’ll have to shelve this matter.”

“…What do you mean?”

“I think we ought to entrust it to someone else. Though, it would do no good in the hands of the half-hearted, so for now I’ll store it in what is currently the safest place in the world.”

With what seemed like a smile, or a mischievous look, Boogiepop turned to her and winked. Then around he whirled. Before she could react, it was already too late—the black figure had, in an instant, turned the corner and vanished into the beyond.

…And now, in the empty space, Boogiepop and Embryo stood.

[[I’ve…always wanted someone to kill me. It was all I’d ever been waiting for.]]

His voice lacked its usual derisive ring.

[[I don’t know when it started exactly. Maybe I got it from my past incarnation—the real one that this ‘Embryo’ originated from. Maybe he’d been thinking all this.]]

“In which case, it would indeed not be your own will, but borrowed from another?”

[[…No clue. The real me wouldn’t’ve had a way of knowing whether he wanted to be killed the way I’d thought about it either. It’s just…]]

Embryo paused.

“Just what?”

[[There anything like a mirror around? If so, could you take a look in it?]]

There was no mirror, but there was a glass display window. When Boogiepop turned to look in it, Embryo resonated with his vision and sighed.

[[Ah… Knew it. I kinda get the feeling I already know you.]]

“Though I don’t believe we’ve met.”

[[But I still know you. Dunno why, but somehow, I’ve known all along that a shinigami like you would appear before me. If I knew someone like you was gonna show up anyway, maybe that’s what got me thinking I should just hurry up and check out already.]] There was almost a hint of a smile in Embryo’s voice. [[In that sense, maybe I owe all the folks who got involved with me an apology…for shoving my own understanding down their throats. Especially Akiko. I’m sorry for what I got her into.]]

“Rather admirable of you,” said Boogiepop, feigning ignorance to the last. “But having had a little chat with said Honami Akiko-san myself, I’ve decided to spare you. What are you going to do about that?”

[[…What can I do? An egg’s just gotta be an egg and sit patiently in its shell. Maybe someday, someone’ll take me out of it. Couldn’t say if that’d end up killing me until it actually happened… Like how you can’t tell if an egg’s fertilized or not just by looking.]]

“It is the act of waiting on which an egg prides itself, is it?” said Boogiepop, nodding. Was it a nod of admiration, or of ridicule?

[[…Real talk, though. What are you?]] Embryo asked in earnest. [[How come you can hear my voice? Are you ‘half-awakened’ too? Or have you got some power that lets you hear all voices, or what?]]

“Who knows. I am, after all, automatic. I’m not certain myself in regards to that.”

It was impossible to discern from his tone of voice whether he was serious or joking.

[[Y’know, if you’re on the edge, killing me might solidify that power,]] Embryo dared.

“I see. So you can give even me ‘incentive.’ And is that something you would ask of me?”

Embryo snickered. It was the same sardonic tone that he’d always used with Akiko. He was back to his old self.

[[I don’t think there’s anyone I’d rather be killed by less than you at the moment. ‘Cause that’d mean I was born just to follow some vague premonition I had. That’s the one thing I sure as hell don’t want.]]

“Well, well. Quite the contrarian, aren’t we?”

Embryo laughed again. Boogiepop didn’t answer, but instead turned to look at the stairs leading to the floor above.

“Now then… He should be here any moment,” he murmured.

[[I dunno. You think the guy’s really gonna take you up on this?]]

“Whether he does or not, it makes no difference to me. It’s your fate on the line, after all.”

[[Oof, savage. But eh, that’s fine.]]

As the two made this incomprehensible exchange, sure enough, there came a sound from that direction. The sound of descending footsteps.

The moment he saw Boogiepop from the corner of his eyes, he tensed, readying himself for combat.

His somewhat stained, but nevertheless elegant clothes of pale purple conformed to his not-so-large body. His boyish face, too, suggested some fatigue. The fall from earlier had placed him at quite a distance.

“The hell are you…? What are you doing here?!” he snarled at Boogiepop.

“Waiting for you, of course. Fortissimo-kun,” said Boogiepop quietly.

Akiko looked up with a start.

But it was too late. The crumbling ceiling was already falling straight toward her.

“…Ah.”

It had happened so quickly, her body hadn’t had time to react. She just stood there, rooted to the spot. A sudden and unexpected end was nigh.

But then…

“…Look out!” she thought she heard a voice say.

The next moment, something slammed into her, launching her sideways through the air.

As she landed on the floor, the rubble from the ceiling hit the ground immediately beside her with a thunderous crash.

“………Huh?!”

She gasped. Underneath the rubble was the one who’d come all the way here to look for her: Takashiro Tooru.

“T-Takashiro-san!”

She rushed to help him out as best she could, frantically pulling him from beneath the rubble.

Then, her heart leapt.

His missing eye surprised her too, but it wasn’t just that. It was barely visible to her now, but welling up around Tooru’s body was the clutch of “death.”

Trying her best to stitch up Tooru’s “life” with the last of her remaining power, she reached out her hands to his left wrist, where she could see the life was concentrated. But in that moment, Tooru suddenly grabbed them.

With one hand, he had grabbed both of hers by the wrist. It felt as strong as a vice. He hadn’t lost consciousness; he’d held on.

“T-Tooru-san…”

“…Honami-san, stop,” Tooru said quietly. “I can see it. I don’t know exactly what it is you’re trying to do, but I do know that you’re about to cross the line of death.”

Akiko fell silent. Maybe it was true. The power was never even hers to begin with, and now even that was almost gone. There was no question that forcing it now would scrape away her own life.

But even so…

“B-but how can I stop when I can see your life spilling out of you right before my eyes?!”

Tooru’s eyes widened.

“My ‘life’…? Honami-san, you can see that? My ‘life’ is spilling out?”

“That’s right! So we have to hurry, before it’s too—”

“………”

But Tooru’s hand wouldn’t budge. He was thinking about something. All the while, Akiko’s power was rapidly slipping away from her. Her ‘sight’ was fading.

“Ahh, we have to hurry! Please, Tooru-san!”

Akiko tried to shake off the arm clasping her, but his grip was far too tight.

“No,” he insisted. “This is it... Heaven has granted me this final chance.”

As he uttered these cryptic words, the vision of ‘life’ that Akiko could see continued to dissipate, blurring into a mist. And then finally…it vanished.

At this worst possible moment, Honami Akiko had returned to being an ordinary girl.

“Ah… Ahh…”

She slumped, the strength leaving her body, and Tooru let go.

“The ‘line of death’ disappeared. It seems the danger has passed. That’s good.”

“It’s not good!” she wailed. “The way you are now, you… you could die at any moment!”

“So could you. I don’t know what you’re doing here, and I’m not going to pry…but we don’t have much time left to reach the exit.”

Tooru stood up, grabbed Akiko by the arm and started moving at a steady pace. Though bloody from head to toe, he was astonishingly full of energy.

But she really had seen ‘death’ lingering around him then. She didn’t know if it was physical or mental, but what she did know was that his life hung in the balance.

“T-Tooru-san, please, listen to me—!”

“Can’t. There’s no time,” Tooru replied bluntly.

Once he’d dragged Akiko over to a wall that read “For Emergency Use Only,” he pulled out the safety valve of the emergency escape chute installed there.

Immediately, a “pipe” extended—if they slid down it, it would take them straight out of the building.

“Okay, you’ll be able to get out from here. There should be police on the outside. Ask them for protection.”

“W-what about you?”

“I…” Tooru’s face darkened. “I would have said there’s something I’ve got to do, but…there’s still one last piece of unfinished business. Until I’ve taken care of that, I won’t be going anywhere.”

His tone was somber. Somehow apologetic.

“He and I… I suspect that if we miss this chance, there will be no ‘way forward’ for either of us.”

“………”

It didn’t make an ounce of sense to Akiko, but the look in Tooru’s eyes told her everything. Yet she still couldn’t just let him go.

“B-but…!”

“Oh, that’s right, Honami-san…” Tooru interrupted. “I hear you’re holding onto something called ‘Embryo.’ Do you have it with you? I seem to recall someone telling me that if you kill it, your power will become complete.”

“I…I don’t have it anymore…” Boogiepop had taken it away from her. “It’s gone…!”

Akiko’s head drooped. But Tooru carried on, unfazed.

“I see… Then this half-baked state of mine must be one of my strengths after all,” he murmured, then turned and began to walk away. “You hurry up and get out of there, got it? If you don’t have the courage to take it down, wait there a moment. You’ll be forced to whether you like it or not.”

“T-Tooru-san!”

Akiko tried to follow him, but then Tooru spoke.

“The kind Takashiro Tooru you used to know is gone,” he said, his back still turned. “After my shameless fall, I was robbed, too, of my right to be a samurai.”

“What…?”

“The one you see here…is just Inazuma.” His voice was chillingly cold. “I won’t say thank you. So don’t you feel sorry for me either. It goes both ways, for us…”

With those parting words, he ignored Akiko, frozen and speechless, put his hand on his tachi and headed into the building’s depths.

Thus began the third battle between Inazuma and Fortissimo—the battle that would settle things once and for all.

What the hell is this guy…?

Fortissimo was puzzled by the sudden appearance of this mysterious, black-hatted figure. It wasn’t clear if they were an enemy. But to call them an ally... There were far too many unknowns.

The distance between them was approximately twelve meters—a little out of reach for him. Normally he’d approach people quickly and without reserve, but something here gave him pause, and so he stood there on the spot.

“I have to ask. Are you always like this?” asked Boogiepop, his tone derisive.

Fortissimo frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Do you always glare at people you’ve never met before like that? It’s hardly a way to make good friends.”

It was spoken without a hint of concern.

“…That’s none of your damn business! What the hell are you supposed to be anyway, wearing that ridiculous costume?!” he spat.

“Who gives a shit about that?!” Fortissimo was about to snap. “Who the hell are you? What are you after?!”

He couldn’t believe that they were a member of the Towa Organization. That said, they didn’t seem like they’d fit into a rebel faction either. An unknown quantity. There was no other way to say it.

“There would be little meaning in telling you my name. As for my objective, however… You may have some involvement in that.”

“…What? What do you mean?”

“Might you happen to know what this is?” said Boogiepop, holding aloft an egg-shaped, portable gaming device.

“…What?!” Fortissimo’s face stiffened. “Y-you’re telling me…”

“‘Embryo’ is what you all seem to be calling it,” stated Black Hat matter-of-factly. “If you promise to keep Honami Akiko out of the picture from now on, let’s say I wouldn’t be averse to giving it to you.”

“Bastard. So you’re involved with the girl…?”

“Was. Despite what happened to her two years ago, she’s still been able to survive up until now. There’s no reason for her to throw her life away for this pointless incident. Though if she were still her old self, she might have ended up following in Minahoshi Suiko’s footsteps and chosen the path of the Imaginator too. That would have been problematic, for my part.”

None of what he said made any sense.

“What the fuck? Are you telling me you know what Embryo is?” Fortissimo asked back, seething, in contrast to Boogiepop’s almost placid air.

“Of course. And incidentally, I probably know some things about it you don’t. For instance…this.”

In addition to Embryo, Black Hat took out something else from under his cloak and showed it to Fortissimo. It was a small, T-shaped pendant made of silver. An Egyptian ankh, was it?

“…And?! What’s your point?!”

The impromptu lecture had further incensed Fortissimo. He had no idea what they were getting at. Black Hat paid this no attention and continued.

“However, what makes Embryo an extreme case is that these waves are not so firmly tied to its matter. Which is why, if one uses the phenomenon of resonance, you can do this…”

Black Hat then started to tap the ankh in a curious rhythm against Embryo’s game device. The tempo was precise and complex.

Fortissimo’s keen eyes very clearly picked up the phenomenon that occurred then.

“Wha…?!”

This was because although Black Hat hadn’t pressed any buttons, the text reading <EMBRYO> on the device’s LCD screen had vanished completely; in its place was a two-legged character that looked like a bear or a cat.

Then, for but a brief moment, the ankh seemed to shudder.

“…Like so. Do you understand?”

“W-what did you just do? Don’t tell me…”

Had they transferred the core energy wavelengths from one to the other…?

Surely not. Such a thing shouldn’t have been possible, not without one of the Towa Organization’s highly specialized facilities. To do that so effortlessly…

Once Fortissimo came to this conclusion, he trembled.

“So you’re not just a weirdo.” He couldn’t have hidden the mirth in his voice if he’d tried.

“Oh? Now that’s a different expression... I see, so that’s your ‘hobby,’ is it? You want to fight powerful opponents near to you in strength. And you prioritize that above all else, it would seem,” responded Black Hat with a similar relish. “Though I’m sorry to say, you and I won’t be able to fight here and now.”

“What? What do you mean?”

Fortissimo frowned. He knew they weren’t saying that out of fear. He couldn’t imagine anyone with their personality trying to bluff their way out.

Black Hat shrugged.

“I believe you already know the meaning behind that,” he said, and casually tossed the ankh that now contained Embryo over to Fortissimo.

Fortissimo caught it. Then, out of nowhere, he piped up.

[[Hey there, partner. Nice to be workin’ with ya.]]

Fortissimo was taken aback.

The next instant, a mighty tremor rocked the entirety of Sphere, the sound of explosions rumbling all throughout the complex.

“…Wha—?!”

The first thing that hit Fortissimo as he looked up was a flash of bright red.

Flames…

They were erupting all over the building, running across the ground, licking the ceiling and engulfing the walls.

“W-what is this…?”

“It doesn’t look accidental, that’s for sure,” came Black Hat’s voice from beyond the roaring blaze. Though they were still the same distance apart, the flames now dividing them made it feel as if he had become something incredibly distant.

“D-did you do this?”

“Of course not. I didn’t even know ahead of time that you people would be coming here. It is not so easy to set a trap of this magnitude without prior planning.”

And then it hit him. Could he have done this…?

Who else could it have been? It must have been why he’d run away to let Honami Hiroshi escape earlier. He had known these flames would appear. But why would he do this?

“…Ah!”

No… It was obvious. He’d told him.

“In an exceptional environment…”

That’s what the trap was for.

“W-which means…”

It wasn’t over yet. Was that it?

Was this what he’d been waiting for…?

“So it would seem. It appears you still have some business to attend to. Let us postpone our battle until after that.”

The voice grew distant.

“W-wait!” Fortissimo cried out hurriedly.

Then something else flew through the flames towards him—something white.

He caught it on reflex. It was the gaming device that had been Embryo’s vessel up until now.

If you wish to fight me, keep that ankh safe. It is the “warranty” that binds me and you. Give that game to the Towa Organization. Don’t worry, I assure you there’s residual energy left. You’ll be able to fool them easily.

It all sounded so flippant.

“Y-you can’t just damn well say that!” Fortissimo cried, snapping at his cavalier attitude. “How the hell can I even be sure you’ll fight me?!”

You may not think it, but one of the few things I pride myself on is that I have never once told a lie, replied Black Hat. I swear it. On this day, one week from now, at the stroke of dawn. I believe you know the abandoned amusement park on the outskirts of the city. I’ll be waiting there. Though, there is of course one problem.

“Problem? What problem?”

You.

“Huh? …What’s the matter with me?!”

I wonder. Can you really escape this place with your life…?

And that was that. The presence beyond the swirling flames fully vanished out of sight.

From the outside, the fire had completely engulfed Sphere. It burned far more dramatically than a typical fire, too. Flames spouted up into the air, rising to almost twice the height of the building itself.

There was something familiar about it. That’s right… You could almost mistake it for firewood on a campfire, stacked to burn well. And in fact, this was very much the instigator’s intent; it had been secretly designed to flare up in spectacular fashion, while at the same time keeping the flames from spreading outwards with the right amount of space and ventilation.

“Picture it. A great, flaming bonfire in the dead center of a modern-day city. Like a spiritual ritual the people of old used to perform, making an offering to the heavens. Quite a poetic scene, wouldn’t you say? Don’t you think that, in this boring day and age, kindling a signal fire like this could bring about something truly remarkable?”

This was probably the sort of thing he thought, deep down.

But it was unlikely that he seriously meant it through the act of building it alone. That, and things were panning out a little differently from its intended use. It was still midday outside, rising up at the least noticeable time of day for a person to appreciate the beauty of the flames. Having said that, the smoke at least billowed up quite dramatically, so its purpose as a fire to herald the advent of something was indeed achieved.

The police encircling the building had no choice but to retreat from the sudden conflagration. It was important that they handled this without making the neighboring residents panic, while also guiding them to safety. The fire department was of course contacted immediately, but they would need a few minutes to get there.

It was enough. The series of events surrounding The Embryo would be over before that.

In just a short while, everything would be brought to an end.

“Urggh, god-fucking-dammit!”

It felt like nothing was going according to plan. Everything was deviating from what Fortissimo expected. This had never happened before.

“Seriously… How the hell did it come to this…?”

Cursing, he advanced through the brightly burning flames.

Having the power to sever space, even the flames and their heat did not reach him—they merely formed a circle around him, as if trying not to get too close. The lack of oxygen posed a risk, but the building had apparently accounted for that by being well-ventilated when it burned, so breathing was almost no issue. That said, being enveloped by flames still wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences.

Although…

Although he had completed his actual mission.

He had been tasked with finding Embryo, and he had retrieved it. Now it was at his chest on a pendant chain. He thought he heard strange chuckling sounds from it occasionally, but there was no point in wondering. The gaming device—Embryo’s previous vessel—also hung from the chain, but Fortissimo was too irritated to think straight about what to do with these two things.

I can think about that later. My number one priority is to get outside. Besides, if I’m engulfed in all these flames, it should be pointless for him to be plotting much of anything at this point. And yet…

“And yet, if it was pointless…why go through all this?”

Fortissimo realized that he’d been trying as hard as possible not to think about it. If he thought too hard, he had a gnawing feeling that his understanding might go places he could never bring it back from.

“…This is so damn stupid!” he spat.

[[Heh heh heh. Now, you know that ain’t true,]] he felt a voice answer.

“………”

He found it hard to tell whether this was his inner voice or Embryo talking to him, so he ignored it.

Proceeding farther down the stairs, he reached a place exactly halfway along the route that led from the rooftop to the outside.

“………"

He looked from the stairway to the floor and made a small gasp. It was a long, tall corridor that extended far into the distance. It seemed to be linked to two emergency stairwells, and likely spanned the length of nearly the entire building.

It was a gallery.

Sandwiched between retail stores on either side, this free-of-charge exhibit area had been designed to fill the gap. It was titled “Impressionists of Modern Japan” or something or other and was wholly unremarkable, the walls lined with dirt-cheap pictures scrounged from a bargain bin. Half of them were aflame, but the area around the fire was left relatively unscathed compared to other places, perhaps because there was little to burn. That said, it didn’t change the fact that the heat was worse than a steam-filled sauna, and there was no telling when something might explode.

There he stood.

Tachi still sheathed at his waist, his one eye staring.

“You’re a little later than I expected,” he said quietly.

Somehow, despite this hellish landscape, there was not a drop of sweat on him.

It is said that a high priest who reached Nirvana amid the flames of intrigue once said, “Purge the mind of thoughts and even fire will feel as the cool breeze.” Could that have been what this man had done…?

His name, as Fortissimo had named him, was Inazuma.

“………”

Slowly, Fortissimo stepped off the stairs, his face as impassive as a Noh mask.

“I see… Since the shutters blocked off the usual route, anyone trying to descend from above via the emergency exits given the layout would have to pass through here. You could therefore use that fact to set an ambush… But if you’d miscalculated even slightly… Say I’d taken a different route and never encountered you, what then? Weren’t you leaving a little too much to chance?”

“I was not.” Again, his voice was calm. Fortissimo wrinkled his brow.

Then he noticed.

Inazuma was standing between the entrances to the retail stores on either side of him. Being internal partitions, these entrances weren’t equipped with any kind of shutters. This meant that it was possible for him to check each of those spaces from his position. So long as he had the ability to detect someone’s presence, he could run to wherever they might come from.

“…You’ve been thorough. So? Are you done with all this preparation of yours?” he said with something of a sneer. But Inazuma stayed level-headed.

“I’m done,” he simply informed him. “I don’t need to keep my distance anymore.”

Then, he unsheathed his tachi in one deft motion.

The dull gleam of the blade shone dimly in the fire’s glare.

What…? He wasn’t going to use iai?

But then why hadn’t he drawn the sword until now? He mentally shook off the thought. This wasn’t the time for idle worrying—nor was there any need for it.

His opponent had said he would fight. All he had to do now was break through that.

If Inazuma had confidence in his strategy, Fortissimo was assured of his strength. What was there to be afraid of?

No. If this is fear, I welcome it.

Fear meant struggle. And overcoming struggle was the kind of feeling he seldom got to taste.

He’d take it head-on and smash it to smithereens…!

Fortissimo took his first step forward.

Inazuma didn’t move.

It really did seem like he was done retreating. Of course, even if he did, he’d quickly run into a dead end. He’d catch him as he was descending the stairs. There was no escape. And though this place had vertical space, it was narrow. Even if he moved to the side, there’d be no way for him to get out of Fortissimo’s range.

In just a few meters, he would reach that range.

The air around him seemed to shimmer. A heat haze had formed.

On the other side of that haze stood Inazuma. His opponent must have seen him shimmering the same way.

“…Ah, that’s right. There’s one thing I’ve been meaning to ask you, Inazuma.”

Fortissimo stopped, though he was so close now that even a light kick off the ground would immediately place him within striking distance.

“You told me before that I’d win ‘nine-hundred-and-ninety-eight times.’ What about the other two times, then? Assuming this is one of them, what would the other one be?”

It was a simple, unadorned question. There was no sense of Fortissimo trying to play his cards right. He simply asked because he genuinely had no idea. And if he defeated Inazuma here, the answer would forever remain a mystery.

His opponent’s reply was equally frank.

“That one already failed.”

“…Hm? Come again?”

“Before…when we fought in the rain. The way things were going, I may well have won. But I was a fool and hadn’t realized that fact… If Masaki hadn’t saved me, I would never have had the chance to come back, here, like this. Which is why…” Inazuma hesitated briefly. “It won’t be me who wins here this day. It will be Masaki who defeated you.”

Fortissimo’s brow creased. He didn’t follow.

“You’re telling me you could have won back then too…?”

“That’s right. This is, in a way, a second chance. So…I will not fail again,” he declared quietly.

“………”

Fortissimo fell silent.

In the pouring rain… and amidst the flames…

What was the connection between those two things? They were polar opposites.

Though Fortissimo didn’t imagine that this guy would spout nonsense—not under these conditions. It must have just seemed that way to him.

“I see…”

At last, Fortissimo’s signature, fearless smirk surfaced.

“Then evidently, we have a fair ‘duel.’ I underestimated you last time… Allow me to take that back now. I have no idea what you’re hoping for… But for that reason—for that very reason!—I tell you this: I, too, promise to strike you without a shred of mercy!”

He began to walk forward.

One step. Then another…

At the last moment, Inazuma spoke.

“Fortissimo. There’s something I have to ask you too. Have you ever truly thought about what it means to be strong?”

“Good question. Maybe I don’t have a clue after all,” he answered, fearless as ever.

Inazuma gave a small nod.

“I thought so…” he started, but by that point the fight had already begun.

Fortissimo had already stepped into range. And he had not been bluffing.

In that instant, the space Inazuma occupied instantaneously burst apart. It was a full-out attack, without hesitation or restraint.

But by that point, Inazuma was no longer there.

He had instead stepped forward. Just because Fortissimo had attacked that space, it didn’t necessarily mean that anything in between would be subjected to the attack.

…Well played! However…

However, it didn’t mean that this was a hard-and-fast rule. He was capable of launching attacks in a straight line too.

He assumed a stance planning to do just that, and in that moment, Fortissimo realized. His eyes focused not on Inazuma, but on what was behind him.

Because he had attacked at full force, a hole had opened up in the ground. Normally, a simple hole wouldn’t have meant much. But right now, the whole area was brimming with raging flames…

By the time he had realized his mistake, it was too late. Inazuma, propelled forward by the blast of the erupting flames, was approaching with blinding speed.

The tip of his blade drew right before Fortissimo’s eyes.

——N-not yet!

But his absolute guard had not been broken just yet.

The sword shattered to pieces in an instant.

Fragments danced through the air as if in slow motion.

In the wavering haze caused by the heat, they shimmered.

And then…he understood everything.

Why it had to be burning around them.

Why the conditions were the same as in the pouring rain.

It was all for this. Whether the air was shimmering from the heat or filled with water droplets… Either way would have worked. It didn’t matter, so long as the environment let you physically see the changes in the air.

The entire building had to have been set aflame so that wherever their fight led, this condition was guaranteed to be met. As for why he hadn’t drawn his sword for so long…that too now became clear.

The sword was in tiny pieces. But this was not a problem, for it had already served its purpose. The true weapon was already in Inazuma’s left hand.

It was the scabbard.

The overly thick, heavy, iron and unremarkable scabbard, finished only with rough lacquer to stop it from rusting.

This was why he’d had the sword sheathed the whole time. If he had drawn it, Fortissimo would have noticed why he hadn’t discarded something so insignificant.

Now all the conditions were met.

An environment where he could see the air itself.

Speed with which he could take Fortissimo unawares for just a split-second.

And getting Fortissimo to attack, leaving the line which shattered the sword in full view.

Fortissimo’s power was to proliferate the countless fractures that ran through the air. But now, the shape of those fractures was visible to Inazuma too.

By exploiting that fraction of an opening, his strike—propelled forward by the explosive pressure, as if being sucked in—had buried itself deep in Fortissimo’s chest.

Indeed, someone somewhere had once spoken of such an attack.

“When you are focused solely on the sword, you cannot call it a weapon…”

“Ga-hagh!”

Spewing up blood, Fortissimo’s body was blown away by the impact and recoil.

It was just as he had thought. The battle had been decided in an instant.

Droplets of blood rose from Takashiro Tooru as well. Fortissimo’s space-rending power wasn’t his only weapon—the shockwaves that accompanied the destruction came with it. They had landed wounds across his body.

Fortissimo was blown backwards and, without losing momentum, smashed through the stairs weakened by the fire and flew right out of Sphere.

Amid the raging blaze which had quickly caught up with him from behind, Tooru rolled along the floor, somehow evading the main torrent of flames.

In the slightest of spots where the flames had subsided, he rose.

The iron scabbard in his hand was already battered, bent and half-missing. It had been severed where the shockwave and line strayed apart. If he hadn’t landed his hit, the thing would have been rendered completely useless. He’d had one chance to win, and one alone.

And he had won.

With his own skill, the one they called the Strongest had tasted defeat.

But then…

“…I knew it.”

He looked down at where Fortissimo had fallen.

“It’s just as you said, Sensei… ‘Becoming stronger is the same as giving up on everything else.’ It really is.”

He looked up at the sky. “There really is…nothing left.”

A trickle of blood fell from his ruined eye.

Then he turned on his heel and returned into the flames.

He, who had nothing, still had one thing left to do.

Just one. And it was a matter of life.

As for Fortissimo, half of what had blasted him away was his own doing. Even after crashing through the building, flying outside, falling and slamming into concrete several dozens of meters below, the shockwave around him had sheltered him the whole time.

And so, lying there buried in the crater turned to rubble, it wasn’t long before he raised his upper body with a groan.

“Uhn, urrgh…”

Not even aware of the situation he was in, he surveyed his surroundings. At last, he had to acknowledge that he had dropped out of the battlefield itself.

“………”

A piece of the iron scabbard was still lodged in his chest, but it was on his right side, so it hadn’t struck him directly in the heart. Just a few broken ribs and a badly injured lung, that was all. He was lucky. A narrow escape, you might say… But he could hardly believe that.

If there was one thing he had to accept, it was that he’d been let off lightly.

It was his total defeat.

“………”

While he sat there in his daze, something buzzed in his hip pocket.

He jumped, but then quickly realized what it was. Slowly, he inched his left hand out toward it.

He took out a cylindrical stick-shaped device with what looked like a lens attached to the end. It had been vibrating like a phone. The fact that it was still intact in spite of the beating it had taken suggested that it was exceptionally durable for a device of its kind. But then again, this was the sort of environment that it had been specially designed for.

He brought the device to his mouth and ears and answered the call.

“This is Fortissimo.”

[[Please report your mission status.]]  It was the same robotic, female-sounding synthesized whisper as always. He didn’t know whether there was someone on the receiving end or if it really was just a machine.

They’d probably made the sudden call because of that Swallow Bird woman. She had likely “reported” his location to her superiors. They probably felt that the conditions they’d agreed upon had been met by the time Sphere started burning.

“Ah, well…” He looked at his chest.

The pendant and the gaming device were both still hanging from his neck. The gaming device, however, was beyond repair after the impact. But the pendant…?

“Embryo is…”

[[Did you successfully retrieve it?]]

“N-no… But never mind that—something much more urgent came up.”

[[That has nothing to do with you. Your mission is to retrieve Embryo. I repeat: Did you retrieve it?]]

“………”

Fortissimo looked at the two objects. He had to say something. It was his mission. He had to tell the truth.

“…I’ve retrieved Embryo, but its vessel is broken. Unclear as to whether the energy’s preserved.”

[[What form does it take?]]

“…A family game device.”

He couldn’t believe what he was saying, but he’d already run his mouth.

[[Then your mission is complete. Congratulations. Embryo’s preservation was not one of the achievement criteria. Proceed to the designated location immediately.]]

“Yes, but… As I was saying, this isn’t the time for that! I’ve detected the appearance of a powerful MPLS—I’m sure of it!”

[[And you want to fight them, is that what you want to say?]] came the icy reply. [[As I keep telling you, that is not your mission. We will take the necessary measures on our side.]]

“………”

Fortissimo didn’t retort. Rather, he couldn’t.

He had to acknowledge that, if asked whether he wanted to fight Inazuma once more, he couldn’t give an immediate answer.

“…Understood,” he groaned with resignation.

[[Then stand by on Code F until your next orders.]]

With that, the mechanical voice cut off. Fortissimo lifted himself groggily to his feet.

“………”

He lifted the pendant at his chest between the fingers of his left hand, sensing that someone somewhere was saying, [[Thanks, pal. Heh heh heh.]]

“…Well, they did say it was warranty,” he murmured, smiling wryly.

Then he looked up at Sphere, blazing away.

He couldn’t tell which of the holes he’d fallen from. With the building wreathed completely in flames, it was impossible to distinguish just about anything.

“Except…now the Towa Organization’s minions will keep coming after you. How do you plan on getting out of this one? No place on earth is safe for you anymore. Living hell is all that awaits you now…” He shook his head. “But maybe that goes for me too. All right then, Inazuma… As your struggle to survive goes on, they’ll have to give me the order to erase you sooner or later. Until that day comes, you can hang on to the title of Strongest One for a while. Fight, and become ever stronger. Because in that time, I too—”

Then he smiled.

It was a strangely peaceful smile, different to any he’d made before. Yet for some reason, it made his past smiles feel somehow friendlier. Now there was something even more egomaniacal about him.

It was as if to say the desire to challenge another was more suited to him than being the strongest.

Grave as his injury was, with a virtually unchanged gait he spun, turning his back on the blazing Sphere, and strode away.

Very soon, firefighters would rush into the area, and the police who had momentarily retreated would return.

Honami Akiko gazed at the burning building from the outside.

“………”

She had no words for it.

“It sort of feels like a dream, the whole incident.” By her side was her little brother, Hiroshi.

That she was there alive and well was, in a way, thanks to her brother. Afterwards—after she’d parted with Takashiro Tooru—she had sat down on the spot, her mind in a daze. Then the flames sprang up, and just as a blind panic was about to overwhelm her, suddenly her brother showed up, took her in his arms and jumped into the escape chute.

She didn’t know why he was even there to begin with. It seemed he had some complex reasons, but she just couldn’t make sense of any of it.

“That figures, since the real you showed up right after fake Nee-chan left… I had kind of a weird hunch about it. But I don’t get how I’d know that…” Hiroshi said, tilting his head.

“………”

Akiko simply looked up in silence at the flaming building. It almost looked like half of it had already burned to rubble. It had been raging with such intensity, perhaps it wouldn’t be long before it burned itself out fully.

A number of fire trucks had already turned up at the scene and started spraying water, but she expected it would run out of things to burn even before they put it all out.

Maybe the building itself was designed in such a manner.

Even Takashiro Tooru had left her in that place with a clear objective in mind. Though he had saved her, it hadn’t really felt like it. Then there was Boogiepop, and the person she couldn’t recall, and even Kyou nii-chan, who’d died ten years ago… It felt like they’d all headed down their own separate paths without a thought for her.

She’d been the only one left alone here like this, the only one who had ultimately remained insignificant.

An unhatched egg, no different than before.

“…It’s all so dumb,” she mumbled. “Seriously, why am I such an idiot…?”

“Nee-chan?” Hiroshi cast a worried glance at his dazed sister.

Her brother was about the only one who’d consciously thought of saving her, she thought vaguely. But she didn’t feel like thanking him right now. She was having a hard enough time dealing with herself.

She’d been concentrating solely on whether this incident had given her anything of value. She didn’t want to believe that all of her efforts had been for nothing.

But perhaps sadly, she didn’t have a clue what that could be.

Sphere was still up in flames.

The central part that had acted as the axis must have finally burned out, as it flared up suddenly only to collapse in on itself straight after.

It was like part of an eggshell had cracked and something had come out from within, Akiko thought. Though, of course, no phoenix was going to rise out from it—only a pillar of fire and nothing more.

“…I wonder if this is where I’m supposed to admire how pretty it is…”

Still in a daze, Akiko looked on blearily, regarding the lurid spectacle with an air of indifference.

Eventually, as Akiko had thought, the flames burned all that there was left to burn and died down, extinguishing of their own accord almost effortlessly. It was reported that it had burned for thirty minutes at most. The police had, naturally, conducted a thorough investigation, but were unable to find any pertinent clues. Just as with the previous incident, they were in the end unable to ascertain whether it’d just been an accident caused by a chain of coincidences or a purposeful human act.

Having found no dead bodies or any signs of foul play, the official view was that there were no casualties.

…As I lay alone in the darkness, someone came to my side.

Someone tall. Very tall. But somehow unthreatening. On the contrary, they looked awfully frail.

I know this person, I thought in passing.

“Hey there…Masaki,” they said to me.

“Tooru. You’re all right… Thank goodness,” I answered.

“Guess so. Can’t say I was completely unscathed, but considering the trouble I caused for you and everyone else, it’s nothing, really,” Tooru muttered. He sounded incredibly exhausted.

“That’s not like you. What happened to the bright, peppy Tooru I know?” I teased. “You’re not gonna become a fine samurai with that attitude.”

“Yeah… You’re right. In the end, I…” Tooru smiled sadly. “I…couldn’t become a samurai.”

“How come?”

“I’ve made too many shameful mistakes. Some of which can never be undone…”

“What are you talking about? If that’s your argument, Master’s always bringing unwanted shame upon himself. He wasted his precious life as a martial artist to train me, for starters. Isn’t that a past to be ashamed of? But I still hold him in the highest regard. The shame you speak of must be important to someone too. I’m sure of it.”

I smiled. Every time I spoke to Tooru, I always seemed to end up preaching to him. The same way Master did to me.

“…Thank you,” Tooru smiled weakly, but his expression quickly darkened. “But personally, I don’t think I can ever forgive myself for almost leaving you to die. I was too self-centered, only thinking about how I could win the battle in front of me.”

“So? Did you win or lose?”

“…It doesn’t feel like either.”

“Then put your shame aside till it’s decided. You’re still on the road. If you’re gonna do this, you’ve gotta do it right.”

Despite my words, Tooru just kept smiling weakly.

“Did I say something wrong?”

Tooru shook his head.

“No… you’re probably right. Either way, it looks like there’s no turning back on this path. Seems I’ll have a lot to see through.”

It was apparently a grave subject.

“Then, does that mean this is goodbye?” I dared to ask.

“…Probably, yeah.”

“In that case, I have a favor to ask… There’s this girl, Orihata Aya. I think you’ll know her,” I said quietly. “Could you give her a message for me? Tell her, ‘Thanks for everything.’ Seeing as it looks like I’ll die here. I don’t think I can tell her myself. That’s the only real regret I have.”

“And you couldn’t tell her this yourself?”

“Well, yeah… It’s embarrassing.”

“What was that about having no shame while we’re still on the road?” teased Tooru.

I smiled wryly. “I guess that makes two of us. But really, I’d like you to do this.”

“Sorry, but no,” Tooru said emphatically.

“Huh?”

“That would be your job. No one else can do that but you, Taniguchi Masaki.”

“But…”

“You won’t die. I won’t let you. It really was a stroke of luck—Honami-san just barely taught me the method in time.”

Tooru placed his left hand over me and drew the other up to its wrist.

“I’m told my ‘life’ is concentrated around here, and it’s ready to spill out at any moment… I can’t see it, but if it truly is there, then I can predict where the ‘line’ is. So…”

Then Tooru moved his right hand with a snap. He did indeed seem to cut something in the air, unseen to the naked eye.

“According to Fortissimo, the only way to seal the wounds is to pour another’s life into them…”

I… I could see it.

A blackish, mist-like thing was spilling out from Tooru’s wrists, falling onto my chest and being absorbed.

My body was steadily growing hotter from within. I became conscious of all the pain throughout being pushed outward, like a chick trying to break free from its shell.

This is…

The blotches I could see were invisible to Tooru, it seemed.

“Stop! That’s enough already! If you keep going, you’ll be the one who—” I cried.

Tooru pressed down on his wrist.

“So it seems… Looks like I made it in time.”

“Tooru, do you realize what you’re doing?! You just gave me half of your own life force! That means there’s over twice the risk of you dying from something!”

I knew this intuitively. But Tooru was unfazed.

“No, I was lucky. That there was even some left over for me,” he said, nodding. It seemed he’d already accepted it.

“E-even so…”

“In terms of ability, I’m far better equipped to deal with that risk than your average human… You could say it balances out,” he said calmly. “And that applies to your life, too. I’m just returning what I owe. Though, given the trouble I’ve caused for Kirima-san and the rest, it might still not be enough…”

He spoke so matter-of-factly, I was lost for words.

“Well then, this is goodbye. Enjoy your life with Orihata-san.”

Tooru bowed his head slightly, then drew away from me as I lay there in the darkness.

“W…wait, Tooru! You can’t be serious!” I cried desperately. He couldn’t mean it.

Hearing the anger in my voice, Tooru looked back.

“You can’t honestly believe you’re the one at fault here?!” I roared.

He must have seen how serious I was. Tooru looked straight at me and nodded.

“Then—then before you go, there’s just one thing I need to say to you!”

“…What is it?”

“Swear to me… You swear to me that you’ll stay alive, and that we’ll meet again. Swear it to me here! ‘Cause no way in hell am I letting us part like this!” I glared at Tooru as I spoke.

“………”

For a while, Tooru was silent.

“Heh,” he said finally, with a smile, and nodded. “Sure. I swear it.”

“You better! ‘Cause if you don’t, I’ll never forgive you for the rest of my life!”

“Fine by me. But I’m quoting that right back at you, Masaki. If you push your luck any further and end up making Orihata-san cry, I won’t forgive you either.”

Tooru smirked, and finally vanished this time into the darkness.

“………Hah!”

I awoke. The first thing to fill my eyes was a clinical, pure white ceiling. I became aware that I was lying on a bed, with several tubes attached to my body.

There were bandages wrapped tightly all over me, presumably to staunch bleeding. But I could already tell that all of my wounds had closed up.

“………”

Slowly, I turned my head and saw a girl sitting by the side of the bed. She was asleep, however, and must have been ridiculously tired, because she looked practically unconscious.

Assaulted by a constricting feeling in my chest, I sat up. After shutting off all the valves from the IV drip and other medical equipment, I ripped out the tubes attached to my body and massaged the wounds.

“Damn, he really wasn’t making it up… Looks like I owe a proper apology after all,” I muttered, gently draping the blanket I’d been covered with over the girl—Orihata Aya.

Just then, there was the sound of footsteps heading towards the private room I was placed in.

I sensed someone standing outside the door, hesitant to come in and wondering whether or not to knock, until at last the door creaked slowly open.

In came Nagi-nee-san’s good friend, Habara Kentaro. His head was drooping and there were bags under his eyes—he’d been working hard through the night, it seemed.

“Hey, Aya-chan… C’mon now, you need a little rest. I’ll swap with you, so—” As Kentaro-san looked up, our eyes met. “…Ah.”

Just as he was about to raise his voice, I quickly raised a finger to my mouth and shushed him, then pointed to the sleeping Orihata.

“…A-ah… Err…”

Flapping his mouth, there were no words for Kentaro’s expression. It was like he had gone all flabby, like a rubber doll.

Then he began wriggling his fingers animatedly, as if dialing on a push-button telephone.

“…I-I’ll go tell Nagi…!” he said quietly and then flew back out the room.

Chuckling at Kentaro-san’s comical reaction, I looked again at Orihata.

She was breathing softly in her sleep. I gently touched her head and the look on her sleeping face seemed to ease a little.

I decided I would wait for however long I had to until she woke and sat back down on the bed.

Then I noticed the neatly folded kimono in the corner.

“………”

I didn’t need to confirm it.

It was the kimono my master had. And it was proof that the one who’d worn it really had come.

“…It’s a promise,” I murmured through clenched teeth.

We’ll meet again, my friend…

[1] If you’re thinking that this is Takeda, you’d be right. The original JPN is explicit about this, but it’s written in a weird way unique to Japanese. Basically, the novel writes the characters for Takeda’s name, but then writes the pronunciation for the word “acquaintance” above it.

[2] If you needed any more evidence of Kadono’s love of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, this is really similar to Hamon from the first 2 parts.