Chapter 27: Collecting Information.
October 7
Time: 2:12 AM
Amanika-san was asleep. The soft rhythm of her breath barely touched the still air.
And yet, everything inside me was shaking.
Should I take revenge?
Or wait for her to decide?
The thought circled my mind like a vulture. Over and over again.
But I already knew her answer. She's not the type to say "kill him."
She's too gentle. Too human.
The kind of girl who still believes in repair instead of ruin.
The kind of girl I would've laughed at... before I met her.
The kind of girl who makes me want to sit down quietly.
But I know others. I've met women who would've sliced Aqua open before he could even speak. Burned his name out of memory.
They wouldn't have waited for permission.
But I'm not them.
And so, if she won't choose the path of vengeance, I will. But only if I can find the crack in that guy's armor.
He may be a Source User-but he's still human. Somewhere.
He's not like ｢Nameless｣.
He bleeds.
He breaks.
••••••
Time: 4:45 AM.
Firearms? Useless.
Most Source Users are said to have skin denser than advanced alloys.
Explosives? Nuclear weapons might work, but what about the collateral damage? Do I wipe a city for one man?
No. That won't do.
Maybe emotions.
Maybe a weak point.
A loved one.
A secret.
But it's possible he's erased anything that could be used against him.
That he burned the very concept of vulnerability from his life.
Still...
Somewhere, the bastard is human.
And even humans who kill without remorse... sometimes love something. Or someone.
"What are you doing here, Koji-san?"
"First name basis?"
"Yes. Now tell me why you are here."
I sighed.
"Later. When time's right."
•••••
Time: 3:50 AM.
After everything at the apartment, we returned home. But no one was really there.
Mother locked herself in her room.
Father vanished into the night without a word.
Me?
I stood in the middle of the hallway, numb.
One night. That's all it took to fracture everything.
One night to change us.
Big sis Miko had gone back to her lab. Said she wouldn't return anytime soon.
Time passed.
An hour later, I boiled instant noodles. Just something warm-for Mom.
She hadn't eaten. I knew that much.
But as I approached her room, I heard it.
A sound I hadn't heard in years.
Soft sobs.
I paused.
The tray in my hands trembled. I peeked through the doorframe and saw her hunched over a notebook, pen trembling in her grip, her shoulders shaking.
A page filled with frantic handwriting.
A cry without voice.
I left the food gently by the door and walked to the bathroom.
I'm not crying.
Just... something in my eyes.
Right?
Right?
I took in a breath, steadied my pulse.
And then walked in the room.
"Mom," I said gently, placing the tray on her desk, "I brought something."
She wiped her eyes in embarrassment. "When did you..."
"I saw," I said simply, offering her a napkin. "You're allowed to cry, you know."
Her eyes searched mine-red-rimmed, puffy. Just like mine.
We didn't say anything else.
She reached for the noodles and smiled, faint but real.
"You must be hungry too," she said, motioning for me to sit. "Let's share."
I sat beside her.
She fed me with her hands like when I was little.
And for the first time in days, I felt full.
Not just my stomach.
My soul.
•••••
Time: 5:10 AM.
Iruma tore through government files like a man possessed.
He'd been at it for only thirty minutes, but the ground around him was littered with open folders, classified reports, useless scans.
Nothing.
No admission records. No medical visits. No digital traces.
If Aqua ever got treated, it was off the books.
"Dammit... not a single trail?" he muttered, clenching his fists.
But he didn't stop.
He couldn't.
"Let's keep going till dawn. There's something. There has to be."
•••••
Time: 4:55 AM.
Miko sat in her dimly lit lab, staring blankly at her computer screen. Tabs open. Equations flashing. Her hair was a mess. Her fingers trembled from the caffeine overdose.
How do you kill the unkillable?
That was her question.
"Nuclear warhead's too much," she muttered, "but I could spin a narrative... say he's a rogue inhuman. Push for authorization..."
She slapped her own forehead.
"No. That'll get my whole family erased."
Then-her eyes caught a blinking notification.
New Scientific Report: "Energy Compression in High-Yield Micro-Cores."
Her breath caught.
She clicked. Read. And her mind exploded.
"The power of a punch (P) is defined as the product of force (F) and velocity (v) P = Fx v..."
Spring-loaded tendons. Muscle rebound. Amplified velocity.
It clicked.
"...If I could harness HEU and plutonium-239... compress them to punch out a localized blast zone... I could potentially kill a Source User."
She grinned.
Wild. Terrifying. Gleeful.
"I've found a way."
Then the grin faded. She looked at her hands.
"No way they'd ever let me build this."
And that's when he appeared.
Not in body. Just a presence. Watching.
A shadow on the wall that shouldn't have existed.
〔I'll give this to Leader, he thought. But not before leaving behind a tracker.〕
A voice whispered into the nothingness.
〔Just in case.〕
•••••
Time: 4: 58 AM.
"Nothing... Still nothing..."
He stared at his screen, bloodshot eyes wide.
Then-
"Fragment located."
One word. A half-deleted line in a corrupted file.
He placed his ID card on the scanner.
⌈Authority recognized. Amanika Iruma. ⌉
He opened the file.
It read:
"Aqua - Recovered near L-Site, fractured limb, embedded tech... Mother Unknown. Memory suppressed."
He stared.
"...L-Site...?"
A lead.
His hands began to shake.
He didn't know it yet.
But the game had just changed.
•••••
Time: 5:12 AM
In her lab, Miko sipped coffee, half-asleep, muttering formulae under her breath.
Then paused.
She looked at the corner of her room.
Something was missing.
A small, eye-shaped lens she always kept hidden under the panel...
Gone.
Someone was here.
She stood up, slowly.
Picked up a scanner.
Traced energy residue.
Inhuman.
Without doubt.
She clenched her jaw.
"If they think I'm stopping now..."
She smiled.
"...they have no idea what I'm capable of."
•••••
Time: 5 AM.
A white haired man stood above a building.
"You wanted war?"
He spoke voice calm and composed, echoed through a private channel.
"Then let me introduce you to our specialty:"
"Counter-inhuman warfare."
"You strike first."
"We will strike harder."