“This is but one brief stage of growth within its shell…”

Swallow Bird was one of the Towa Organization’s synthetic humans. She had no special objective. Rather, the standard directive of all infiltration-types was to “find and deal with MPLSes” or else “find and eliminate traitors,” but besides these things, she had no particular orders.

And so it was that Swallow Bird had been assigned to that mission. She met the requirements for it too and had easy access to the location. No one would bat an eyelid at an actress visiting a first-rate hotel. To put it another way, a famous woman like her going all alone into a hotel might raise suspicions, but it was dubious in a way that the Towa Organization had absolutely no qualms with.

Even so…

Dressed to the nines, wearing a fur coat and sunglasses, she pondered as she walked through the lavish interior of the hotel lobby.

We’re talking Towa here, so it’s pretty much a given that they’d be monitoring my performance on this mission, right…?

Given who she was dealing with, most certainly.

Fortissimo. She’d been told to test the waters with the man (or woman—she wasn’t sure) lauded as the Strongest One. If he really was showing signs of defiance, she was essentially being told to go and get herself killed.

What to do…

Towa didn’t like people sticking out too much. She knew about someone who’d been taken out just the other day.

Most importantly, though, she had in fact already lost her sense of loyalty to them. If there was something she could do to rectify that, then so be it.

“Segawa-sama?” The concierge in the lobby bowed and came out to receive her.

“The room I reserved. You have it ready?”

“Of course, madam.”

“I came here because I heard this was a first-rate hotel. I do hope that’s the case.”

She had to wonder what was first-rate about the place. As someone who liked simple things, the lavish atmosphere didn’t suit her at all. Her back felt itchy just thinking about it.

“Absolutely, madam. We are confident you’ll be satisfied.”

She signed in, picked up her room key, then shared the elevator ride with the bellboy, who carried her luggage. They passed a shopping mall on the floor below, and when there was a direct path to her room, the bellboy reached out his hand.

“…Here’s the key.”

“Thank you.”

Swallow Bird accepted the spare key for the suite in which Fortissimo and the Honami siblings were lying low.

She wondered if her contact was human or synthetic, but quickly decided that it wouldn’t make a difference to her either way. So long as she hadn’t been given instructions to work in tandem, it was better for her to ignore this one. There was no point wondering if he was monitoring her. The key to survival was never to do more than you were asked.

The more pressing issue was in discerning what kind of person this “Fortissimo” was.

Has he or she done something to arouse Axis’s suspicion? Or is this person so incredible that they’ve become the subject of constant monitoring?

If they really did intend to oppose Towa in earnest, how should she act? If the rumors really were true, then their battle capabilities had to be exceptional. She’d never stand a chance. She had no desire to fight—though she didn’t imagine she’d be allowed to just walk away, either.

What do I do…?

When the elevator had stopped at her requested floor, the bellboy scurried out with her luggage. But instead of getting off, she had to go higher.

“………”

She continued to fret the whole ascent. But this was a dangerous train of thought; she dares not even mutter it aloud.

She wondered if this could in fact be the chance she was waiting for…

If Fortissimo really is planning on betrayal, it might be better for me to join them… That’s right, they are the Strongest One, after all. There’d be no greater ally to rely on. Although…

She didn’t know if Fortissimo was the type who’d want allies. If they said they didn’t need any, she’d be a traitor and of no use to Fortissimo, with nowhere else to turn. That was the one thing she couldn’t let happen.

How do I play this…?

Still undecided, Swallow Bird arrived at Fortissimo and the Honami siblings’ suite. When the elevator doors slid open, already a portion of the suite floor lay before her. There was a corridor, but no numbered rooms. These rooms all belonged to the same guests.

“………”

She took a step forward. “Mr. Lee? Are you there?” she called out.

No answer.

“Sir…?” She tried knocking on the closest door just to make sure, but it wasn’t properly closed and swung open as she struck it. There was nobody inside.

“What…?” She peered around the room, but there was no trace of Fortissimo or the Honami siblings. They were gone.

“…What does this mean?”

She was confused. She wasn’t sure how to report this. Was Fortissimo even at this location?

Was this not a trap that Towa laid out to test me…?

Unless she thought otherwise, how could anyone escape from a room on the top floor of a high-rise hotel without anyone noticing?

In any case, it wasn’t her responsibility if Fortissimo wasn’t here. She’d have to report this. There was the contact from before. He should still be in the room she’d booked to spend the night.

Shit. What does this mean?

Swallow Bird got on the elevator and started going back down. As soon as she arrived at the reserved room, she lifted her voice.

“Hey, what’s going on here?! There’s neither hide nor hair of Fortissimo in—“ She broke off mid-sentence. “…Huh?”

Her contact was there, all right, but he was lying flat out in the center of the room, the whites of his eyes visible. He wasn’t moving a muscle.

And on the sofa across from him sat a man, who began to speak to her.

“Can’t say I’m especially hiding my hide or my hair, though,” he chuckled.

“………”

She didn’t know the man—he looked almost boyish—but there was no doubt about it.

“Y-you’re…Fortissimo?”

This was unexpected. She hadn’t thought he’d approach her… But now that she thought about it, if there was no way for them to have escaped the hotel unnoticed, the logical conclusion was that they hadn’t gone downstairs... She’d been blindsided.

“So uh, what should I call you?” he asked, as she stood there rooted to the spot.

“Swallow Bird...sir.”

“Aha. Nice name,” he nodded. “So, Swallow Bird, I take it the Towa Organization issued you an order to find out what I’m up to?”

“…That’s right,” she answered honestly.

She knew that it was futile to resist. With her power, she could see into people’s minds—using her enhanced eyesight, she could read them through close observation of their facial skin. So she knew.

This man wouldn’t spare a second thought about killing her. Even when he had the luxury to relax, he didn’t let his guard down for a moment. If she made even the slightest misstep, he’d attack her instantly.

Yet despite this, he wasn’t displaying a trace of hostility toward her. She knew this for a fact. She didn’t know what he was up to, but this meant that Fortissimo hadn’t turned against Towa.

“So, what are you planning to do?” he asked, grinning.

“…Did you kill him?” Her eyes turned to the bellboy on the floor.

“What if I did?”

“Ah, I just thought that if you did, it would be a pity. He hadn’t revealed his identity to you. Since you approached him without informing him that you were a member, I would think that was rather imprudent,” she said coldly. On the inside, she was shaking like a leaf.

“Huh,” he snorted, seemingly impressed. “Calm judgment. Your answer works whichever side I’m on. You’re a smart one.”

“…Thank you.”

“Are you curious? About which side I’m on? …Stupid question, huh. You already know full well. I see, so that’s your power.” Fortissimo nodded to himself. One had to doubt at this point who was reading who.

“There are things my power can’t work out,” she said, and Fortissimo smirked.

“I’ll bet. So? Are you going to make sure of those things?”

“If necessary.”

“That’s what you think, but I do wonder how that’s going to go down.”

“…Meaning?”

“Towa might have sent you here to gauge my reaction, it’s true. After all, those guys never said a word to me.”

“…Hm?”

Swallow Bird was lost. He wasn’t making sense.

“Do you know why you were dispatched here all of a sudden? Why it is you had to suddenly find out what Fortissimo’s up to?”

A grin was still plastered on Fortissimo’s face. Swallow Bird felt a chill run up her spine. What? What was he trying to say?

Don’t tell me… He’s trying to whisper something in my ear I mustn’t know?

Something that, if she were to learn of it, would by its own merit warrant her disposal at Towa’s hands…

“…There’s no need for me to know such a thing.” She could barely wring out the words.

“Oh really? Then what if I told you that if you don’t want to know, I’ll kill you here, right where you stand?”

His look was deadly serious. His words were neither lies nor jest.

“…………!”

Swallow Bird was struck dumb.

…From the adjacent bedroom, Pearl and Honami Hiroshi peered in to watch the two of them talking. Their voices were subdued, however, and furthermore, they were using the Towa Organization’s special language, rendering it impossible to follow even a single detail of their conversation.

Damn. Did the code change since I was there?

The words were incomprehensible to Pearl too. She and Hiroshi had been made to move out of the upper suite with Fortissimo.

“But…that’s Segawa Kazami, right?” Hiroshi’s eyes grew wide when he saw the woman who’d come into the room. “Someone so famous, doing stuff in the shadows… I don’t believe it…”

Despite his words, he seemed oddly moved. Lucky for him, Pearl thought, mentally clicking her tongue.

Fortissimo had finally moved away from her, but now she had no escape route. The only entrance was in the room that the others were occupying. There were windows, but this was the twentieth floor. Pearl didn’t have any powers that would let her survive such a fall. She’d thought about jumping into another room’s window or smashing a wall, but if she did and revealed her identity in the process, it was unlikely that she’d be able to escape from Fortissimo and the woman who’d just arrived.

…Not yet. My chance will come later…

For now, she just had to be patient.

It looked like Fortissimo was toying with this surveillance woman. Her face was turning pale. Pearl could probably take her one-on-one, but the problem was Fortissimo, who seemed almost without weakness.

The two of them continued to talk.

“…Why do I need to know this?” Swallow Bird asked, despite her circumstance. Something about the man before her told her that if she kept silent, there was no telling what he’d do.

“Well, Miss Swallow Bird, that would be because rather than trying not to know anything, the smart thing to do would be to act like you don’t.” Fortissimo’s smile disappeared. “All the more so for the Towa Organization. If you did learn something here today, you could simply keep schtum, and no one would be any the wiser. If you know nothing, then you can’t act accordingly, can you? Am I wrong?”

“………”

This wasn’t the kind of thing you’d say to someone who was monitoring you. And yet…

Swallow Bird nodded. “Valid point.”

“Glad you understand.” Fortissimo’s grin returned, and he tossed her the electronic notebook he’d been holding.

Swallow Bird caught it and looked at the screen. Something curious was written on it.

That was the sense of the text, followed by a string of unintelligible symbols and numbers.

“What is this? It was sent to you?”

One could infer logically that “ff” pointed to Fortissimo by means of musical notation. The symbols and numbers likely referred to a time and place. But what was “Inazuma”?

“Looks like it was sent out all over the place, published in a bunch of different locations. Towa’s Axis is bound to be keeping an eye on it. Thing is, I can’t say for sure whether it really is addressed to Fortissimo or if it’s something unrelated. That’s about the size of it.”

“………”

Swallow Bird thought, eyes fixed upon the screen.

Would the Towa Organization really have sent her specially to investigate this man when they could have done so by asking him directly? And to use such a roundabout approach, basing their judgment on the trend of the reports without informing her of the circumstances…

So they really did send me to be first in line for the slaughter when this man betrays us…

She was sure of it now. Which meant that this man was powerful enough that they had to tread especially carefully around him.

“…Why?” she asked suddenly.

“Hm?”

“Why don’t you consider fighting Towa?” She couldn’t say for certain that the question was pointless. She believed that he at least had the power to confront them.

“………”

Fortissimo stared at her with upturned eyes. “…How much do you know?”

“Huh?”

“How much do you know about the Towa Organization? Have you, for instance, ever met with Axis directly?” he asked, his expression serious.

“You’re kidding, right? …Of course not.” A vague grin rose to Swallow Bird’s lips. For a constructed being like herself, that sort of idea was a pipe dream.

“Me neither. You can’t even tell whether they’ve got a kind of committee, or if there’s some boss behind the scenes personally pulling the strings. Is that something you’d want to know?”

“…I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious.”

“Not like you’d ever find out, eh?”

“I suppose not, no.”

“In my case, it’s a little different. For me, finding that part out… It’d just piss me off.” Fortissimo’s face turned sour. “Even the thought of it annoys me. When I think about how Towa’s Axis might be something completely trivial and hollow, I feel incredibly put out… It would mean I’ve got nothing to sink my teeth into.”

“Teeth?”

“In all my time, Towa’s the biggest thing I’ve encountered, so I figured I’d stick around with them. Other folk just don’t measure up. They set me up with places and opportunities for me to use my power. Except…”

Fortissimo glared once more at Swallow Bird.

“Except, if the most crucial part of it really is something totally pathetic… if it’s nothing more than some admin program… then where in this world would I find my equal…? There’d be nothing else on the planet like that. And you can imagine what that would mean, couldn’t you, Miss?”

“………"

There was such keenness in his eyes, Swallow Bird couldn’t utter a reply. Yet nor could she pull herself away from his gaze.

“Do you want to be my opponent for me? Have you got the strength that it takes? ‘Cause if so, I’ll gladly turn on Towa and be your enemy.”

He spoke with disinterest, but there was an icy coldness from deep within. Swallow Bird was no longer in a hurry to read his face. She didn’t need to—he wasn’t hiding a single thing.

“If you want to betray Towa, that’s fine. I’m happy fighting them in your stead… But that’s only if you have some kind of ‘reason’ to rival my power. So? How about it?”

“………”

How about what? What he was saying was preposterous. But how was she supposed to answer him? The dark loneliness in this man’s depths was not something anyone could fill. If she gave him an honest answer, her life was most likely forfeit. She had to bluff her way out somehow…

“…That…written challenge.” She began to weave her words out by force. “Do you intend to accept it, Fortissimo? Are you telling me, your overseer, to overlook this?”

“………”

“Because if you do, I’ll report back that we just missed each other. I can always find you after the appointed date.”

“………”

Fortissimo didn’t take his eyes off her, but the keenness in his eyes softened just a little, and it seemed that his attention had turned to other things.

“…I don’t know yet. I haven’t decided whether there’s any worth in it.”

“So, it’s making even you worry. That’s something at the very least, isn’t it?”

She had no idea of the details, and nor did she want to know, but she had to give it a shot—if only to stop staring down the barrel of the gun.

“…Could be,” Fortissimo said in a whisper, then lightly snorted. “‘If I play it this way, I can get away without having to fight this monster.’ That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it?”

“…I’m beside the point here. I believe that the problem lies in your heart.”

Swallow Bird refused to back down. If she did… if she disappointed this man, she knew that it would signal the end.

“………”

For a while, Fortissimo was silent.

“Ah… Looks like they’re done talking.”

Even as Hiroshi whispered this, it looked as if they’d finished muttering about whatever it was they were discussing. Segawa Kazami lifted the man on the ground onto her shoulders and made for the exit. Given the way the man’s arms were twitching, it seemed that he had not been killed.

Fortissimo, now without further company, headed towards them. “You can come out now.”

As instructed, Hiroshi and Pearl poked their heads out from the bedroom.

“What were you even talking about?” Hiroshi asked without hesitation.

Fortissimo shrugged his shoulders. “No time for that,” he said abruptly, his meaning unclear.

“Huh?”

“It’s no fun if I’m always the one ‘accepting challenges’ in the ‘proper’ manner. Not exactly fair if I don’t give the other side a little incentive now, is it?” He was talking to himself.

“Uh, what? …What are you talking about?”

But instead of answering, Fortissimo made a small motion with his index finger in Pearl’s direction. All the strength suddenly left her and she fell to the floor.

………!

Pearl, still in the form of Honami Akiko, couldn’t move a muscle. To an onlooker, it would have almost looked as if she’d died, but she was fully in control of her mental faculties. He’d done something to her.

“Wha-…” Hiroshi was stunned. “N-Nee-chan?”

“I created a ‘gap’ in a section of her brain stem’s nerves… She can’t move her body, but there’s no risk to her life. If I reconnect the gap, she’ll return to normal,” Fortissimo explained coldly.

“Why are you doing this?!”

“She’s going to be my ‘hostage.’ For Takashiro Tooru, that is,” he stated frankly. “He gets to be the hero who fights to save his damsel-in-distress. I don’t want to be fighting an opponent who’s challenging me just to redeem himself. If I were to defeat him now like that, it’d feel like I failed to finish him off before. In which case, it’s much more refreshing for the both of us if I’m playing the ‘bad guy.’”

Hiroshi had no idea what Fortissimo was saying. In any case, he grabbed a hold of his sister and shook her. She had a pulse. She was breathing, too, but showed no signs of stirring. It was as if her entire body had turned fully pliable, like a rubber doll.

“D-damn it! Turn Nee-chan back to normal!”

Fortissimo reached out and seized hold of him. No matter how much Hiroshi punched and kicked, Fortissimo wouldn’t budge. Every part of him, even his clothes, was rock solid—Hiroshi may as well have been punching a stone slab. What the hell? Hiroshi was speechless at this impossible phenomenon.

“You’re that worried about her, are you?” Fortissimo grinned. “Then you can carry her and come with me. Do you remember the first thing I told you? I said I would save you. I won’t let you come to any harm. But…you better not regret it in hindsight.”

He gestured with his chin towards the immobile girl, as if to ask “Right?”

…………

Pearl was reflected in his eyes, but she didn’t feel any fear. In fact, her thoughts were just the contrary.

This is it! The chance I’ve been waiting for!

Since he still hadn’t killed her by this point, it was clear now that he was letting her live because he had some use for her. He may have immobilized her for now, but he’d have to release her at some point. And when that time came, that would be her one and only chance to survive and make her getaway.

That’s right… I won’t give up. I refuse…!

“C-come with you…? Where are you planning to go?” asked Hiroshi, carrying Pearl. His voice was shaking.

“Hm? Let’s see…” He peered at his electronic notebook. “It’s a code, so… we won’t know the exact location until we get there, but if I had to take a rough guess, I’d say… Oh? Well, this is a surprise,” he remarked. “It’s right in the center of the city. Smack dab in the middle of the high-rise district.”

The skies were wonderfully clear that day, but the winds were strong; it was almost typhoon weather. Garden trees bent heavily, and few had taken to the streets thanks to the dust clouds whipping up around them. Discarded pamphlets spun and swirled through the air. People on the streets had no choice but to lean forward as they walked, holding down their bags for fear of them blowing away.

Amidst all this, one man walked as if wholly unaffected by the wind. He was slim, but large. His long, unkempt hair was about as messy as could be, but he appeared to pay it no mind.

He wore a T-shirt and jeans, unadorned by any belt or accessory, and a simple coat. He shouldered a golf bag, which looked very out of place, and had sunglasses on. Below one eye, on his right cheek, his raised scar was showing.

“………”

It was Takashiro Tooru.

“Wind… That could be a slight hitch,” he said to himself quietly, then raised his head and looked up at the building that loomed before him.

It wasn’t incredibly tall, but it extended quite some distance lengthwise. An ensemble of gorgeous interior decoration and design, it had been built to be the city’s go-to place for entertainment, lavishly integrating leisure facilities like cinemas and restaurants into a shopping mall complex. Its construction had had the joint backing of numerous different investors, but the corporate body at the time, MCE, was no more. Now it was in a strange position, absent of any tenants, the dominion of property insurance companies.

“Sphere” was its name. And as the name suggested, it had a rounded shape to it.

“………”

Bag on shoulder, Tooru entered this “dome.” It being a shopping mall, the interior was staggeringly spacious. An overhead roof prevented the wind from getting inside, and people were casually strolling around. For noon in the middle of the week, it was unexpectedly busy. There was even a fountain at the center.

“Really? You’re just going to walk on by?”

Just as Tooru was passing by, he heard a voice right beneath him. He looked down to see a girl sitting on the fountain’s edge, pointing to something. He followed her finger to a fallen paper cup, whose juice had spilled out and was mixing in with the fountain water.

Tooru looked at his golf bag. There was a juice-like stain on one corner.

“Did I spill it? Sorry about that.”

He thought it odd as he hadn’t felt anything, but the proof was right there, and so he bowed.

“No, I’m not really bothered about that.”

With her tartan skirt and black beret, the girl looked a little like a rich young lady, but she had something of a tomboyish attitude. Probably not uncommon for girls these days, he thought, not being very au fait with girls himself. And at the feet of this girl with the black beret, there sat what he assumed was her luggage, a Spalding sports bag.

“Now what would a guy be doing here all on his own? This is a date spot, you know,” she teased, tipping her black hat.

Tooru shrugged. “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you,” he said plainly.

“Hmm?” Black Hat narrowed her eyes. “Planning on risking your life or something?”

Tooru nodded. “How’d you know? That’s right, I’m on my way to a duel.”

Again, he openly admitted it, but it was hard to take as anything but a joke.

“Well, that can’t be good. With all these people around?” asked Black Hat, going along with the joke.

Tooru replied with a serious look. “I’ll warn them. You should get out of here as soon as you can, though, miss. I don’t think you’ll need to worry about these folk. There should be just enough time to escape after the warning.”

“You’re making it sound like in just a few minutes, Sphere will turn into a hell-hole and be erased from this world,” replied Black Hat, also with an oddly serious look.

“You’d be correct.”

“Why would you do such a thing?”

“Without consideration for others, you mean?”

“No, my question more lies in the necessity of your doing this.”

There was an odd rationality to her words, in the academic way she addressed him, but Tooru didn’t think it especially unnatural. He’d gotten used to the mood. It was as if Black Hat wasn’t really a girl.

“Well… have you ever considered why it is that people fight?”

“All people live to seek worth in life,” she answered immediately.

Tooru ruminated on this, but then gently shook his head. “If only that was possible,” he replied.

“Meaning, you’ve already found your worth?”

“More like I’ve already lost it, in my case,” Tooru said wryly. “Someone said something to me once. I forget where exactly, but I think it was… ‘People live to battle the possibilities within themselves.’ I don’t fully understand it, but I think I kind of get where they’re coming from. Right now, there’s one possibility that exists inside me, and there’s no way in hell I’m dying before I get to use it. I think that might be the gist of it.”

“You directly connect testing that possibility to living? Now that strikes me as a very practical life.”

“You might be right about that,” Tooru laughed.

It was an odd conversation. Not the kind you would think could have developed from a girl who started speaking to a man on the roadside. But Tooru had gained a sense of stability out of it.

“Things like finding meaning in life are luxuries far beyond my means now. Seeing as how I’ve trampled all over what’s most important to me.”

“The one who got trampled might not necessarily want you to be doing such things.”

“………”

Tooru bit his lip and pondered, but soon replied. “I’m sure he doesn’t. And I won’t blame him for it either. It’s my problem and mine alone. A selfish, shameless one at that.”

“Is that frustration I’m seeing at the root?”

“No.”

“Anger?”

“I doubt it.”

Black Hat nodded inquisitively and then broached another thought. “Then…what about fear?”

“…Maybe, but I’d rather not choose that as my reason. That comes second place,” he said, shaking his head.

At this, Black Hat shrugged. “…I wonder if you know,” she said, suddenly changing tack.

“Know what?”

“Certain kinds of strength, special talents… These things never work out well from the outset. Most people act much like they did in the past, and grasping at similar things, they fail,” she said, affixing her gaze on Tooru with upturned eyes.

“………”

Tooru wondered what she was trying to say. His power, Inazuma, was seeing his enemies’ weaknesses. Striking with precision at their weak points, perhaps. Was she saying that it was in its infancy, so it was bound not to work well?

Tooru took off his sunglasses. It exposed his freshly scarred face and eye, but Black Hat continued as if completely unbothered by them.

“There was a woman, among those I knew. She was gifted with a very special talent: to perceive the weaknesses in people’s hearts. But she never learned to master it, and in the end became an ‘eater of fear,’” Black Hat said with a sigh, then looked Tooru directly in the eye. “A great many carry similar things, each failing in their own way. But I don’t believe it was at all wasted on them. Their efforts are carried on by those who succeed them. Even if that person is unaware of those who came before, the fact that they once existed, be it near or far, is sure to leave a mark on them.”

“…Meaning that someone came before me too?”

“What you are doing here is certainly not something that belongs to you alone. You—all of you—may not know it, but you shoulder the will to ‘break through’—a feat many could not achieve.”

“………”

Tooru stared at Black Hat with his one eye. He no longer believed their meeting pure chance…but this fact did not concern him.

“You believe that if I fail, someone else will pick up the reins?”

“Perhaps.”

“Then… even more reason for me not to give up. Wouldn’t want someone else taking up the mantle to do a thing like this,” he smirked.

Black Hat made a strange expression then. Something asymmetrical, as if she were smiling, or shocked.

“I see. So that’s your pride, is it? Is that backward or forward? I can hardly tell.”

“I can’t move forward or back. What else can I do but hold my ground here?”

“I see…” Black Hat breathed in gently. “If the balance had shifted even slightly, you would have become an enemy of the world.”

Without lending a thought to what those words meant, Tooru’s eyes turned to his watch.

“…Whoops, it’s almost time. Er, so, do you plan on stopping me?”

“No. I have no reason or need to. Do as you will,” she announced, spreading her arms wide.

Tooru smiled wryly, then donned his sunglasses and turned on his heel.

“See you around then, whoever you are. Though…why is it?” In the process of leaving, he turned back, pulling his sunglasses down to peer over them. “It feels weird, you telling me I can do as I please. It’s a bizarre feeling… Like I’ve just been encouraged by a sworn enemy from a hundred years ago.”

Black Hat simply raised an eyebrow in silence, and then, playing dumb, simply said: “Well, best of luck to you.”

“My thanks,” said Tooru, keeping up the pretense, then hid his eye once again, adjusted his bag and stepped into the building.

Black Hat watched him go, and then, once he had disappeared through the entrance, looked up at the tall ceiling. Its rounded edges made you feel as if you were looking from the inside of an eggshell.

“…So, the hellscape begins. Give it some time and he’ll surely be on his way too,” murmured Black Hat. She then removed the beret from her head and, Spalding bag in hand, stood up.

Outside, the wind, which had been so fierce, had settled like a distant memory. Perhaps it was divine intervention, a stroke of good luck that would prevent the damage from spreading, but seldom few could have yet known this fact.

And thus, the second battle between Fortissimo and Inazuma began.

[1] I haven’t been able to find anything worth noting about song references with this one. As far as I know, the meaning of her name only comes from the bird. It’s worth noting, however, that swallows are a type of songbird, which could justify considering her name a reference to music in some way, similar to how Fortissimo isn’t a reference to a specific song.

[2] Again, like in the last Verse, this uses the spelling ‘INNAZZUMA.’