The city is a so-called 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦.
Large and small accidents, the cold indifference of passing strangers, car exhaust, and the stifling heat trapped between skyscrapers—these things slowly gnaw away at a person's mind and body. To live in such a place without a second thought is like wandering through a rainforest without realizing you've been shipwrecked.
That is why, occasionally, we must soothe our weary spirits. We escape the concrete jungle in search of freedom. A mountain filled with lush greenery and cool, flowing streams is good; a beach with soft sand and the rhythmic lullaby of the waves is equally fine.
A vacation. A 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, as some call it. For those exhausted by society, it is an essential element of healing.
Since I had recently survived a string of life-threatening incidents, I proposed a vacation shortly after my discharge from the hospital. Hitokawa, feeling a sense of debt toward Eto, reluctantly agreed.
And yet….
"I distinctly remember saying we should go on a 𝘷𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯."
"Shut up. Just getting here was a stretch."
The place we had arrived at, with Eto's hand in mine, was neither a natural forest nor a sprawling beach. It was a water park ten stops away by subway. It was a fairly famous local attraction, packed with people and plenty of things to do, but a sense of lingering dissatisfaction refused to leave me.
I spoke as I stared at the sign featuring a cheerfully leaping dolphin character.
"I wanted the ocean. I wanted to run wild in the vast sea, far away from this suffocating city! Eto even bought a cute new swimsuit, and I bought a brand-new camera to capture the memories!"
"Did you forget whose money paid for that camera?! You bought a ridiculously high-end model!! I gave you my card as a thank-you for helping in the last fight, but don't you think you overdid it? The bonus I got for taking down The Artist is completely gone!!"
Because the budget had been blown, we were forced to settle for a nearby water park. However, I had my own defense.
"You moron. You don't understand. Children grow up in the blink of an eye. You don't get many chances to see them exactly as they are now! Did you expect me to record Eto's childhood memories with some cheap, low-resolution piece of junk?!"
"Who gave you the right to shout, you obsessed 'daughter-dummy'?!"
"Um… could you two please stop fighting and just go in? Everyone is staring at us."
Eto mediated the conflict, tugging on my hand and Hitokawa's sleeve. Just as she said, the other guests at the water park were glancing our way, enjoying the impromptu comedy show.
"And I like the water park! There are water slides, a wave pool—it's like being at a theme park!"
Eto spoke with a bright expression, emphasizing that she was perfectly happy with this choice. Seeing her like that, my excitement—and Hitokawa's—simmered down. We looked at each other.
"I think we need to reflect on the fact that Eto is the most mature person here."
"Heh. She's the daughter I raised."
"Sure, sure. You're a genius."
Ultimately, we agreed to be satisfied with the water park and headed through the main gate.
A man is a creature who keeps the heart of a boy no matter how old he gets. I realized that my mother's old saying applied to me as well.
I had brought Eto here for her enjoyment, and she was certainly having fun… but I found myself caught up in the high-tension excitement as well.
"𝘠𝘦𝘦-𝘩𝘢𝘸!!"
"Papa, you're so cool!"
"How did you balance on that?! Teach me too!!"
"You over there!! That's dangerous, stop fooling around!!"
Getting scolded by the lifeguard for surfing on a board in the wave pool was a given. I pushed Hitokawa under a waterfall pool, resulting in a water-bomb that nearly cost him his swimsuit; in retaliation, Hitokawa hit me with a German Suplex into the pool. Eto, getting caught up in the excitement, kicked Hitokawa, and we all ended up submerged.
It was fun. It felt like returning to childhood, a precious moment where I could forget the reality where life and death were constantly at odds. If only every day could be like this… but it was a fleeting dream. We were just animals of the jungle pausing at a watering hole; eventually, we would have to return.
So, for today, let's forget it all. Let's soak our parched hearts at the water's edge. Let it be the fuel that keeps us going. To that end, we played hard, ate with everything we had, and took plenty of photos to keep as memories—ah.
"Hey, Hitokawa. By the way, where's my camera?"
I asked Hitokawa as we emerged from the water after our three-way scuffle. I had certainly entrusted it to him when I went to buy drinks. But Hitokawa looked at me as if I were talking nonsense.
"What? I gave it back to you as soon as you returned with the drinks. You said you were going on the water slide. Your hands were full, so I put it on the table right next to us."
Now that he mentioned it, I did vaguely recall him saying that. The problem was that Eto had started choking on her drink right then. I had been so busy checking on her that I completely forgot Hitokawa had left the camera on the table.
Then the camera is…? We looked toward the table we had been using.
It was gone. The tabletop was empty.
The realization hit us, and our faces went pale.
"It's GONE-EEEEEE!!! My 880,000 yen camera!!"
"What?! 880,000?! You told me you bought it for 900,000! You bastard, where did you pocket that extra 20,000 yen?!"
"Let's talk about that later! We have to find the camera first! I'm going to the Lost and Found!"
"Dammit! I'll search the area! You'd better hope we find it!"
"Then I'll try to find it by Papa's scent! It might be hard since there's so much water, but it's better than doing nothing!"
And so, the three of us split up to find the missing camera. I went straight to the Lost and Found, praying someone had turned it in, but the result was a bust. The staff told me no camera had been reported missing today.
I walked out of the center like a zombie. I had negotiated and haggled with every ounce of my wit to knock that price down by 20,000 yen! To lose it like a fool!
Cursing myself, I banged my head against the wall. Perhaps because they were careful about children falling, the wall was covered in soft, cotton-like padding. It was just… squishy.
I'm not sure how long I stood there squishing my head against the wall, but suddenly, someone spoke to me.
"Is this the camera you're looking for?"
"Huh?"
I turned toward the voice, and there it was—the camera I had been so desperately seeking.
"Ohh! Thank you! I was so devastated, thinking I'd lost it for go—...."
My joyful voice trailed off. It was because of the woman holding the camera.
She wore a provocative black bikini under a sheer white shirt. Long, flowing black hair. A beautifully curved jawline. I knew this silhouette. I knew this voice!
"You...! You...!"
My mouth was frozen, unable to form words. She pushed up the sunglasses that had been obscuring her face, as if simply deciding to reveal the answer. With a face that was shamelessly innocent, she smiled broadly at me.
"It's been a while, Koma-kun~♡"
"What the hell are you doing here, Minami Sinaoto?!?"
It was Minami herself—the woman who had caused me, Eto, and Hitokawa to nearly lose our lives a few months ago.
This was a disaster. A remnant of the psychopath collective that dismantled people like art projects was standing right in front of me. The terrifying thing about this woman was that her behavioral patterns were so radical and incomprehensible. She was the kind of person who could dump poison into this pool right now and find it perfectly normal.
If Eto or Hitokawa were here, they could subdue her instantly, but since I was alone, I had to do something…!
"Don't look so scared~. I quit that job. I'm just living a leisurely life now and happened to run into you by chance~."
"Leisurely life, my ass. Do you even know you're on the wanted list?"
It was absurd that a wanted criminal would come to a crowded water park instead of staying in hiding.
"I'm enjoying a 'leisurely life as a fugitive'~."
"I could catch you right here and turn you in to the police."
"My, will you? I don't really want to be your enemy~? But if you try to catch me, I'll have to get serious, too~."
Minami's gaze sharpened. She was clearly signaling that she would fight back if I made a move. I tensed reflexively.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'll collapse and scream like a tragic, pitiful heroine. Then I'll point at you and scream that you're a molester. You'll try to tell them I'm a wanted criminal, but people don't go around memorizing the faces on every wanted poster. In the end, your voice will be ignored, and people will swarm you to protect the 'helpless woman.' I'll just slip away in the chaos~."
"The goddamn presumption of guilt principle!!!"
For some reason, I felt like everything she said would actually happen, which made it even scarier. If that was the case, I couldn't touch her. What was I supposed to do?
"Just pretend you didn't see me~. Humans look the other way from injustice several times a day without even knowing it~."
"Still, looking the other way from a serial-killing psycho is a bit much."
"You deserve a Brave Citizen award~. I'll even congratulate you. Yay~!"
𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘱, 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘱, 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘱!
Minami began to applaud mockingly. I had no idea what this woman wanted. As I scanned her for any opening, my gaze stopped at her knee.
Visible on her inner thigh was a scar about a hand-span wide—one that didn't look very old. It wasn't a jagged wound from being bitten by a ghoul. The edges were clean. It wasn't a wound caused by a ghoul; it looked like a chunk of flesh had been carved out intentionally with a knife.
Seeing that scar, a question from the battle against The Artist flickered in my mind. Eto, who had been critically injured, had suddenly recovered after consuming flesh. At that time, there was only one person near Eto who could have provided it.
"Did you… give that to Eto?"
Minami, realizing my gaze was fixed on the scar on her thigh, answered.
"Ah, this? Yeah, I guess so. She looked like she didn't even have the strength to chew, so I carved it out and fed it to her myself~."
"Why?"
I knew Minami was an enigma, but I also knew she wasn't the compassionate type to save a dying soul. So why? Why did she save Eto?
"I wonder…. Why 𝘥𝘪𝘥 I?"
Minami tilted her head, not as if she were hiding the answer, but as if she truly didn't know herself.
"At first, I was just going to leave. The President was fighting, but I had no lingering attachment to the company. But then Eto grabbed my ankle. I don't know if she recognized me or if it was just an unconscious reflex…. But for some reason, I just couldn't walk away?"
"So you carved your own flesh to save Eto? You, of all people?"
"Strange, isn't it? I think so, too~. Maybe that 'compassion' Koma-kun talked about… maybe a tiny speck of it was left inside me after all~?"
"...."
I fell silent. I had suspected it, but hearing the truth from her own lips left me with a whirlwind of complex emotions.
"...You're still a piece of work, and I can't ignore the things you've done. But..."
I hated this woman, but as a parent and as a human being, I had to say it.
"Thank you for saving Eto."
"...."
This time, it was Minami who fell silent. Her eyes widened, as if she were hearing the word "thank you" for the first time in her life. After a moment, she let out a short laugh.
"You really are strange. I like that. I like it enough that I considered becoming Eto's new stepmother."
"Don't. Please."
I pleaded with the most sincere voice I had ever used. Minami as Eto's stepmother? Just the thought made my knees weak. My home would become a bloodbath.
"Well, I'll be going now. I think Eto has caught my scent and is closing in."
"Hey, wait!"
As Minami waved and turned to leave, I tried to grab her. No matter what change had occurred within her, she was still a person far too dangerous to be left alone. But Minami held up a hand to stop me. She gave me a thin smile.
"Don't worry~. I won't kill people anymore. At least, not ordinary citizens~."
"What?"
"Hey, Koma-kun. You said it, right? Humans have empathy, so they feel sad when they see someone else's misfortune. Well… what about a person who isn't worth empathizing with?"
The smile on her face had lost its bizarre quality, but there was still something in it that sent a shiver down my spine.
"What are you talking about?"
"Exactly what I said. Someone with no value for empathy. A 'Final Boss' type villain. Someone who drives countless people into the depths of despair. If I were to tear out 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 intestines and make them scream, wouldn't that make a lot of people happy?"
Is she talking about that "happiness" nonsense again? But something was different. The nuance of the "happiness" she spoke of had shifted.
"A final boss villain? Who are you talking about?"
"As you know, my parents ran a cult. That's why I noticed it, and that's why they were slaughtered. The world looks different from the perspective of a lunatic. Someone wanted to shut those useless mouths, I suppose."
"Talk so I can understand you! You've been talking in riddles this whole time!"
I shouted in frustration, and in response, the emotion drained from her voice.
"I'm going to make the one who created the 'Cage' miserable. Then, for the first time, a lot of people will be happy, won't they?"
"...Cage?"
Was it some kind of slang? As I was trying to decipher her words, she turned away.
"Oh, right. I was bored earlier, so I pushed a kid into the water and took a photo with that camera~. If you don't want the parents to suspect you, you'd better delete it~."
"WHAT DID YOU DO, YOU CRAZY BITCH?!?!?!?!!!!"
Don't put a gruesome photo like that on a memory card meant for family memories!! Cursing Minami, I frantically checked the camera's memory.
"...Huh?"
But there was no photo of a drowning child. Instead, I stared at the screen, stunned, and looked back for Minami. But she was nowhere to be found. She had already vanished.
What was her deal, really…?
Hearing Eto and Hitokawa calling out from the distance, asking if I found the camera, I looked at the photo once more.
"Her photography skills are unnecessarily good."
Captured on the screen was a photo of the three of us—Koma, Eto, and Hitokawa—playing joyfully in the water, their faces filled with genuine laughter.