“The egg is lost in all of its parts as they continue to swell without purpose…”

“………”

Orihata Aya gazed at the boy lying in bed, immobile. He was hooked up to various drips and blood transfusion tubes, and his chest rose and fell for breath. But from the way the blood was still seeping even now into the bandages wrapping his body, it was looking grim. It seemed almost like hemophilia, but in this case, it wasn’t that the blood wasn’t clotting. It kept seeping even from the hardened scabs and sutured wounds, with no apparent sign of stopping.

That, and Masaki was still unconscious. He’d had a severe shock and wouldn’t wake from his comatose state. Without knowing what that shock was, the doctors had no way to treat it. Their only option was to wait it out. And that was already…

It was for this reason that they weren’t against the girl staying by his side. Normally he wouldn’t be allowed visitors, but there was little more the hospital could do. She was the patient’s girlfriend, it seemed. Letting them stay together until the end was the least they could do for this hopeless patient and the girl.

“………”

Aya gazed intently at Masaki. He was still breathing. She gazed at him constantly, without end, as if to make sure that, if nothing else, kept going.

<The prefectural headquarters and competent authorities have, as of yet, still not released an official statement regarding the motives of the officer who perpetrated these indiscriminate killings. It’s even unclear as to whether this police officer exhibited any suspicious behavior prior to the incident…>

“So it wasn’t Tooru-san…”

With an earphone in one ear, Honami Akiko slumped as the tension left her. She should have been happy to hear that the thing she’d thought dubious in the first place had been proven to be exactly as she had thought it, but no—she was feeling guilty about the little voice in her head that had been telling her “what if?” And so at first, she slumped.

[[Are we sure the cops really got ‘em, though?]] came a voice from her chest.

It hung from her neck like a pendant—a small, round and white portable family game device. This egg-shaped object was speaking to her.

“They didn’t say anything about it on the radio.”

[[Well yeah, ‘course they’re gonna keep schtum about that stuff. How are they gonna introduce him? “This young man single-handedly took out a regiment of berserk police officers?” Their reputation would be in the shitter.]]

“…As soon as they realize he’s not the culprit, they’ve got to let him go. They have to,” she said, trying to convince herself.

The place was dim.

They were in a maze of caves carved into and through the mountains, like the catacombs of Ancient Rome. The flat stone paving the ground and walls suggested that they were clearly man-made. Windows were dotted here and there to let in light, but they were more slits than proper windows, thin slivers of light streaming across the open space. She’d sat herself down somewhere along a corridor—it was the only spot she could get even the slightest reception from.

As Akiko recalled, she had found the place in middle school, when she was taking a look at prospective high schools. Was it in the summer…? She was walking along casually when she discovered the hidden place right by one of the high schools facing the mountains, Shinyou Prefectural Academy . She’d completely forgotten about it, but now, faced with the need to hide, it had suddenly popped into her head.

Indeed, she had to keep herself hidden from the world.

“………”

A scarab beetle had flipped over at her feet, weakly moving its legs. Its time had probably come. It looked like it was in its death throes even now.

To her eyes, there was a patch of black clinging to the beetle, dripping onto the floor. This vision, which others could not see, was its life force—its so-called essence—spilling out. Once it had all sunk into the ground, the insect would die.

“………”

She didn’t reach out for it. Before long, it had stopped moving completely. The patch, too, had completely vanished. But if she had reached out, if she had stopped the scarab’s leaking essence, its brief life would surely have been prolonged. Such was the curious power which she now possessed.

[[‘This too shall pass ,’ huh. Time to say a prayer for our dearly departed beetle or what? Heh heh heh,]] cackled the egg at her chest. He seemed in tune with her, as if he was looking at the world through her eyes. This would be why the things she felt were shared with him too.

It may have been a games console, but it was by no means a downloaded minigame. The body of energy sealed within the egg had a will of its own, and spoke directly to her mind. Thus, others couldn’t hear this ‘voice.’ This thing, which went by the name of Embryo, apparently had the effect of unlocking the potential hidden within others.

And it had even drawn out from within her the power to see life. But despite the fact that she’d already saved the life of one person, it still didn’t feel real to her…

Is bringing back someone about to die really going to save them…? Ahh, what the heck am I thinking?

…Even so, she couldn’t believe that this was her own gift. She couldn’t seem to accept it internally. Weren’t hidden talents normally something that felt a little more responsive? Was that not how it went? She felt as if she was masquerading in someone else’s clothes.

But however out of place it might have felt for her on the inside, her ability was very clearly real. She needed to come up with a countermeasure for it. When she used her power to revive someone, she herself had to let “life” out of her. Something would have to be consumed, it seemed. Which meant that if she were to overuse it—no, that was naïve—if she were to use it even once more, she might find herself in a situation there was no coming back from.

Though her power was to save living things from death, there were precious few uses for it. Unless...there was a different way of using it, one that didn’t involve saving lives?

[[Like I keep saying, just kill me. Then you’ll be directly bathed in my energy and you’ll have a proper, concrete power on your hands.]]

For some odd reason, Embryo took every opportunity to tell people to smash him .

“Concrete…? OK, let’s say I do that. What if stuff gets weird? Like, what if I turned into a ghost or something?”

[[Eh, guess you’d just have to call it fate and give up.]]

“…You don’t care about me at all, do you? You just want to die.”

[[There’s some truth in that,]] he said plainly.

“Why do you want to die so much anyway?”

[[Because I’m a fake.]]

“…A fake? What now?”

[[My energy waves are a kind of copy. No way to know what of, though. Point is, I’m not myself.]]

“…Yeah? So what? You’re still you. What’s the point of thinking about what’s real and what’s not?”

[[You just don’t get it, do you?]]

Embryo snorted—or he would have if he were human. Instead, he gave an approximation of one.

[[If I’m a copy, that means there could be some guy walking around out there who’s exactly the same as me.]]

“…So?”

[[Can you really call this living?]]

“…Humans go on living, even if they look the same or do the same stuff!”

Something had really struck a nerve for Akiko.

[[You can say that because you’re special. Try putting yourself in my shoes for a goddamn moment. I can’t do anything by myself. I have to lie around waiting patiently for someone to hear my voice. The whole damn time. Fuck, I’ve waited years upon years. None of the folks who created me could hear my ‘voice,’ after all. Just when I thought I’d found someone who could, he…]]

“…He what?”

[[…Sidewinder turned traitor. It’s his fault I’m in this pathetic state. Idiot practically died to get me out of there.]] There was a bitterness in his voice.

“…So what, you’re salty about that person?”

Embryo laughed at the question.

[[That’d be a human emotion. I’m not a human—I’m nothing. Just a soulless energy wave.]]

“………”

Akiko’s expression darkened.

Why? The things he was saying seemed so full of pain. Why did she think that? There was something about it that felt unbearable, like she was seeing an old friend fall to pieces. But who could that have been…?

“If you die…I wonder what that person would think.”

[[Like I give a shit.]]

“He must have said something to you. In fact, I’m positive he did!”

[[What are you getting so worked up about?]]

“He must have! What did he say to you?!” she shouted.

[[They’re gonna hear you out there,]] said Embryo. She zipped her mouth shut. [[Anyways…you can’t afford to be wasting your time fretting over someone like me. You’ve got your brother and crap to be worrying about, don’t you?]]

“…They didn’t say anything about a kid on the radio, so…”

[[They didn’t find a body. And now that the case is closed, he has to be fine? That’s what you’re thinking? Hah. You really believe that?]]

“………”

Akiko turned glum. In the short time she was out, her home had been ransacked and her brother had vanished. She didn’t know what to do, but she couldn’t just hang around, so she fled. She couldn’t shake the niggling feeling that danger was around the corner.

[[…Eh, your brother’s probably all right, though. If the system got a hold of him, then it’s pretty likely that he’s under their protection. They kinda need him, so they can take me back from you.]]

“…Are you sure you should be saying that? If that’s the case, then I really don’t want to smash you. It means you’re a bargaining chip for my brother, right?”

Embryo made another snort-approximate laugh.

[[Like I told you, those guys can’t hear my voice. They wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Hand them something the same as this vessel and tell them the screen went dead at some point and they’ll have to take it. Anyhow, it’d be dangerous for you to try anything else. If they catch wind of you ‘awakening,’ you’d better be prepared never to lead a normal life again.]]

“………”

Little late to say that, she thought.

Tooru-san…

She wanted to meet that big man. Takashiro Tooru. The man who said he wanted to be a samurai, and other equally strange things. He should have heard Embryo’s voice too. They were in this together. She wanted to see him. She wanted to tell him about this strange situation she was in.

For a time, she feared he might have been a killer, and had run away from him. Ahh, if she’d just let go of her apprehension, then just maybe, she could have met him…

If life is just an accumulation of irrevocable acts, then Honami Akiko was truly at her peak.

<—situation . As for why the police officer was compelled to commit this atrocious, unpremeditated act, we are still completely in the dark. Live at the scene is—>

Honami Hiroshi was transfixed by the reporter speaking on the TV. At his back stood a man.

“…Seems it’s been wrapped up as one lunatic cop’s crime of passion.”

The man was short, and wore a pale purple, body-hugging suit with a standing collar. His age was hard to determine—the face was boyish, but the look in his eyes a little too keen to label him a child. People called him Fortissimo, or Lee Maisaka, but whether they were his actual names was unclear.

“Looks like Takashiro-san and Nee-chan aren’t under suspicion anymore, huh!” Hiroshi’s face lit up.

“As regards the police, I’d say so,” said Fortissimo quietly.

“Woo-hoo! I wonder if we get to go back home now?”

“Not sure… If the cops are backing off, then the ones behind them could show up. It’s probably best if you stay here a while longer.”

“Tch…” Hiroshi clicked his tongue, then cast his eyes over the spacious room he was in.

The carpet was of high quality—your hands and feet were sure to sink in a good 10 centimeters—and a chandelier hung from the very high ceiling. It looked to be studded with actual crystal. Even the table, which he didn’t know the proper term for, had been carved straight out of authentic high-grade wood. The sofa, too, was absurdly large, and far comfier than it needed to be.

That, and there was the TV before him, twice as big as the one in his house, with massive speakers planted on either side. The room was filled with top-of-the-range amenities.

From the window, you could look out over the streets below.

This was the suite room of a high-rise, ultra-luxury hotel.

Of course the police weren’t going to come looking here. Nobody would—because no one would even think to look in such a place. It was the perfect blind spot.

When Fortissimo had said that they would “go to a safe place,” Hiroshi was sure it was going to be more like a secret hideaway—an old worn-down warehouse, maybe—that they’d go to. But no. Even more surprising was the fact that Fortissimo had walked straight into the lobby and took the room without any trouble, acting completely familiar with the staff. Hiroshi wondered exactly how much a single night here would cost.

Maybe he’s filthy rich…?

His mysterious appearance certainly suggested that he wasn’t your average guy.

“But what am I gonna do about school? Tomorrow’s Monday.”

“Just say that you’re staying home. Do you have any classes you think you might fail?”

“No, not really…”

“Then the teachers have no reason to believe you’re lying if you tell them a cold knocked you out for a day or two.”

“…Eh, not like I can do much else. Right, Nee-chan?”

Hiroshi turned to the side. There was Honami Akiko—she’d been sitting there the whole time, in silence.

“…Y-yes. Right.”

It was Honami Akiko. There was no mistaking it…and yet, the real Honami Akiko was cradling her knees in a cave at the back of Shinyou Academy. The one who was here was only borrowing her appearance.

Her name was Pearl.

An artificial lifeform created to look like a human. As for what she was capable of, she possessed combat skills far beyond the realms of human ability, as well as the power to transform into others. Hence she was disguised here as Honami Akiko. She’d formerly belonged to the Towa Organization, but had turned traitor and fled. Now she was investing her strength in assembling a counterforce.

Her goal was to recover a special device which the Towa Organization had been researching in secret, called “The Embryo.” Although…

Dammit! None of this would have happened if that Sidewinder hadn’t gone batshit crazy and run off with Embryo all of sudden just when it was meant to be getting sold…!

…The allies who’d accompanied her had either been killed or forced to retreat, and now she was all alone in enemy territory. And with Fortissimo right beside her, who was said to be the strongest even within the Towa Organization, she’d been forced to keep up her act as Honami Akiko, never knowing when the jig might be up … It was madness. But she hadn’t given up just yet. She’d find a way out of these dire straits and survive. She didn’t give a damn about Embryo anymore. In fact she didn’t care what happens, so long as she could escape with her own life…!

“Hey, Akiko?” asked Fortissimo suddenly.

“Y-yes?”

“Do you like Takashiro Tooru?”

“Huh?”

Why the hell was he asking her such a hard-to-answer question…?!

“U-um, well… No, it’s not like that.”

She was just going to have to wing it.

“Really? But Nee-chan, when you were in front of Takashiro-san, your eyes lit right up!” chimed in Hiroshi.

Blissfully unaware of who Fortissimo was. Oh, to be a fly on the wall, thought Pearl, mentally clicking her tongue.

“I-I did nothing of the sort!”

With all the acting skill she could muster, she attempted to blush and take offense. A cold sweat crawled down her back.

“So you two aren’t going out yet. Is that what you’re saying?”

“I, well… yeah.”

She’d done enough homework to know that much. As far as she could see, the two of them simply shared the same part-time job. It was possible that they could be dating in secret, but these two would never know.

“I see… What sort of man do you think this Takashiro Tooru is?”

“W-what do you mean…?” She couldn’t just blurt out anything. She was just going to have to play the fool for now. “Uhh… He’s a big guy, I guess?”

“Seriously?” As expected, Hiroshi laughed. Better to be the butt of a joke than to come out with some unusually keen observation.

“ He’s a tall guy, for sure… But I’ve have to wonder about him mentally. You don’t think he’s a deadbeat ?”

Pearl was taken aback at this sudden forceful tone. “I-I don’t think so…?”

“You don’t think he’s a blockhead who just stands there vacantly instead of running away in the face of imminent danger?”

There was clearly a hint of anger, or else irritation in his voice.

What happened between those two? Come to think of it, he and Takashiro Tooru went head-to-head… Is that where…?

“He’s not that kind of guy at all!” Hiroshi retorted. “Takashiro-san’s strong. Guns don’t even make him flinch.”

“Isn’t that just because he’s determined that his opponent’s weaker than him? When there’s nothing else for it, he’s not just going to cower like a scared little bunny-rabbit?”

“No, you’ve got it all wrong!”

In the brief time that he’d known Takashiro Tooru, Hiroshi, it seemed, had come to somewhat admire the man. When Pearl’s gang had first tried to attack Hiroshi, Tooru had fought them off, and that had probably made quite an impression on him.

…In which case, I’d better defer to my “little brother” here.

Pearl made her decision.

“Th-that’s right. That’s not the kind of person Takashiro-san is. He’s brave, and strong… In fact, he’s just like—“

“A samurai. Right?”

Having her sentence finished off, Pearl’s heart almost capsized. “Th…that’s right.”

So that’s what the man had been calling himself. There was no doubt about it.

“A samurai, huh?” Fortissimo snorted. “You know why we think samurai and knights are such noble figures? It’s because once the age of warfare ends, there aren’t any of their kind around anymore. We’ve glorified them.”

“Huh?”

“In times of war, when they were really fighting, they were little more than thugs. Even in Japan, all this ‘bushido’ stuff only started in the Edo period, once samurai had actually stopped fighting. It’s the same with ‘chivalry’ in Europe—they only began to utter words like that after war technology had advanced to the point where the idea of a knight riding on a horse was ludicrous. To put it simply, it’s just a concept that serves at least to perpetuate their image, long after they’ve served any purpose.”

This proved that there was a surprisingly knowledgeable side to him. Pearl was starting to wonder just how old this boyish man was. It wasn’t possible—it couldn’t have been—but it gave the impression that he might really have come from such an era. In truth, this man seemed not to care one ounce about the so-called “weight of history.”

“I don’t know what’s possessed Takashiro Tooru to call himself a ‘samurai,’ but whatever it is, it’s making him run away from reality.”

There was a logic to his words, but there was something else in the way he spoke… Exasperation.

Takashiro Tooru and Fortissimo… Just what happened between the two of them?

Come to think of it, Takashiro Tooru was still alive after being Fortissimo’s mark. For the old Fortissimo, this would have been unthinkable.

So the opening I need to exploit here might be in that ballpark…

Even as Pearl considered all this, she continued to maintain the look of a girl in love, offended at these slights on her crush.

Indeed, this was a battle.

It was possible that Fortissimo had already seen through her ruse and was even simply playing along. But even so—no, for that very reason—her chance was sure to come…!

That’s right… That’s how I’ve always survived until now, haven’t I?

A synthetic human in the Towa Organization called the Manticore, who was the same type as Pearl, had turned on them. It was looking like they would dispose of her as well, but she’d escaped with her life by a hair’s breadth. It was no different now.

Even if to live is like walking on thin ice, I’ll run across the whole damn thing…!

She may have been up against Fortissimo, the Strongest One, and she may have had no other cards to play other than to bluff her way through, but she had no intention whatsoever of dropping out.

I will not fail. If I can make it out of this alive, this is my win…!

But an observer would have realized none of this; they would see only a girl protesting vehemently to Fortissimo, blurting out things like, “But, Takashiro-san’s a kind person!”

“Oh boy.”

Fortissimo shrugged his shoulders and smiled thinly. There was no way of knowing what hid behind that smile.

And so, the man in question was now in a holding cell at the police station.

He was sat upon his bunk, his left eye closed. He no longer had a right eye. It had been cut so severely that treatment had ceased to be an option, so the doctors had had it removed. This really was the appropriate procedure. The cut wouldn’t heal up, and if left untreated, blood would have continued to pour out. If they gouged out the whole thing, the rest would heal after. A bandage was wrapped over it, but removing it at this point would make little difference.

“………”

Because in spite of that, a section of the cut refused to heal. Once in a while, blood would trickle down behind the bandage from the scar that ran from his eyebrow to his cheek, where his eye used to be. And this gouging-out treatment was of course unimaginable in the case of Taniguchi Masaki. He’d sustained injuries in too many places. Removing those parts alone would cause fatal injury. The man knew this full well.

“………”

He had been sitting there in the darkness for hours, his left eye closed the whole time. He was helpless. But unless he did something about it, he couldn’t live on.

“………”

Occasionally, his big but slender body, 190 centimeters tall and 75 kilos , would tremble. And from his missing right eye, blood would trickle down, flowing like tears.

“………”

But even so, the man who had at one point been screaming and smashing his head off the cell wall was changed.

Calmly, intently, he sat there in the darkness, as if trying to seek out something from within his mind.

“…How’s it looking for Takashiro Tooru?”

A police officer, his arm in a sling to protect his injured shoulder, had come over to the cell and inquired with the officer on guard duty. This visitor was one of the people who had actually engaged in combat with Tooru, and had testified when Tooru’s fate was to be decided that he had harbored no malice toward the police and that he’d acted in self-defense.

“…He’s quietened down now, but it’s actually kind of creepy. He won’t move a muscle and doesn’t touch the food I bring him. Hasn’t drunk a drop of water for hours or gone to pee,” the guard grumbled.

“…Almost like a martial arts ascetic on a fast of abstinence, eh?” murmured the officer as he looked at Tooru from the shadows. “Let’s hope he’s not trying to follow the way his friend’s going and die a martyr.”

The guard went pale. It was easy to draw such a conclusion, but something about the man evoked an air of antiquated values, like the warriors of old. There was good reason to think that he might.

“The Taniguchi kid ain’t dead yet. There’s still a chance to save him,” chided the officer. “Besides…look at his face. That look like someone who’s determined to do anything to you? He seems more…stuck in a rut.”

“You think he still hasn’t calmed down? But he’s not even moving.”

“…I’ve seen people like him before. At the kendo nationals, I’ll admit, but… They said that in the downtime between matches, the champion would just be thinking the whole time. About how his opponent might strike. How he’d counter.”

“Visualization, right? …So what, you’re saying that Takashiro Tooru’s fighting someone in his head now?”

“Can’t say for sure, but that’s the feeling I get,” the officer nodded. “Like he’s not sitting there on his own, but on his guard against an opponent standing before him…”

“T-then, who’s this opponent of his? What sort of person does our pal here expect to be up against?”

The guard sounded distraught. This was because the abnormal concentration that Takashiro Tooru expressed felt somehow…as if he were confronting something quite enormous.

“…Cross-examination won’t get anywhere with him like that. He wouldn’t even be exercising his right to remain silent. He’s done with the likes of us—we’re not opponents worth his time.”

The officer sighed.

“………”

The whispers of the men had also reached Tooru’s ears. They likely thought that he couldn’t hear them—in fact, they normally would have been talking at a distance out of earshot, but Tooru heard. Perhaps what he was picking up weren’t voices, but an acute sense that simply conveyed their presence. The difference didn’t really matter one way or another.

“………”

Tooru hadn’t really caught the officers’ general banter, like how they’d need to let him out as soon as they could if they didn’t want to bring all sorts of trouble upon them, and that if they kept him locked up for too long, the mass media would get wind of it. He’d heard these things, but he wasn’t listening to them.

There had been only one thing on his mind the whole time.

Is there really any meaning in doing that?

This was his only thought: whether or not to challenge the man who called himself the Strongest to a duel once more.

It really seemed as if there was no other option. Even if it resulted in his death, he would have next to no regrets. But there was a matter far more important than his pride and obstinance: Would it save the life of Masaki?

No, it was unlikely that it would. Not a chance. It was in fact far more likely to cause Masaki’s sister-in-law, Kirima Nagi, mental anguish that she didn’t need.

Despite that, I’m still trying to find meaning in doing this?

He had already suffered an ignominious defeat, a blight on his record. Was he only thinking of himself, and in his egotistical arrogance trying to fall further…? Nothing could be more shameful…!

“………”

Another trickle of blood ran down his cheek.

Unable to move forward or back, Takashiro Tooru’s mind drifted in solitude, aimlessly wandering a wasteland of spiritual darkness.

In the secret tunnel, Honami Akiko stood up.

She had to buy food. There was no issue with regard to the lavatory—there was one in the park immediately across—but there was, of course, nothing to eat or drink out in the mountains.

The neighbourhood had a convenience store. She was going to have to go there.

In the same way that she’d got here, she put on her glasses to disguise herself—fake, lensless glasses  used for fashion, not something she normally wore.

[[You really think that’s gonna fool people? This is the school convenience store we’re talking about here. You could bump into someone you know.]]

“It’s Sunday. There aren’t any students.”

[[They could be here for club activities.]]

“Yeaah, none of the clubs at my school are that dedicated.”

Akiko stepped out, knapsack over her shoulder.

[[This is starting to get a little ridiculous though, no? An ordinary girl like you hiding out here in the mountains?]]

“………”

[[The biggest reason you’re hiding isn’t because of your power, is it? It’s ‘cause of me.”

“………”

[[Someone like me, who can draw out unknown power from people, who knows what calamity I might spread to the world? So you’ve gotta hide me. That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it?]]

“…So what if I am? And don’t go telling me I should ‘kill you.’”

[[…Some folks just don’t deserve to live.]]

“…I’m never killing you so long as you keep saying stuff like that,” spat Akiko, who had begun to descend the mountain.

But…why was it?

Though they bickered like this, somehow, she didn’t mind talking to Embryo at all. In fact, she found it a little bit—just a fraction, mind you—entertaining. It just happened to be a bad time for it. If this had all been just a game, she would have been enjoying it so much.

Why was it?

It felt like she was talking to an old friend. The topics were always the same and she knew what was coming, but she wasn’t getting tired of it. On the contrary, it was somehow comforting…

[[…Weird. It feels like I’m actually getting somewhere with you.]] Even Embryo had to admit it. [[Even Sidewinder never spoke to me this much.]]

“Girls gossip a lot. If there’s someone to speak to, they’ll chat. Doesn’t matter who it is, half the time.”

She had, in fact, surprised herself with this remark. With the egg hanging at her chest, she snuck into the convenience store.

“OK, shut up now. If someone hears your voice, there’ll be trouble.”

[[Gotcha. Even though you’re not just gonna bump into any old person who can hear me that easily.]]

“I just told you to shut up, didn’t I…?!”  said Akiko, raising her voice slightly.

She looked around hurriedly. There weren’t any customers inside. There was the shop clerk, but they were far away and in mid-yawn. She sighed with relief.

And then…

“…I’m sorry,” came a voice at her back.

She turned with a fright to see a woman standing there. It wasn’t that there were no customers. The woman had been right behind her. It was just that her presence was so subtle, she hadn’t noticed.

“I couldn’t help noticing you were muttering to yourself. Was I too loud?” asked the woman quietly.

It seemed she’d thought the “shut up now” had been addressed to her. Which meant that she hadn’t heard Embryo’s voice. That much was a relief. But Akiko had seen something else—something that was not relieving in the slightest.

S-she’s…

From her back to her shoulders, there clung a faint black shadow. It was a vision of life spilling out that only she could see. But this woman didn’t seem particularly injured, or even ill. And yet, if she was seeing such a thing, then…

This person… Very soon, she’ll die…

And this was visible to her now.

[1] News reports are typically kept in angle brackets in JPN novels. We’ll be doing the same here, just for simplicity’s sake. Also, a Walkman is a portable cassette player.