CHILDREN RECORD SIDE -NO. 3-

As I ran down the stairs, my eyes were greeted by a brand-new metallic wall painted white. We were at the floor we were seeking, and we had momentum. Once we made it through this hallway, we would be standing right in front of the room where the “clearing” was.

Shintaro, breathing hard, kept looking behind him. I could see he had an earbud in one ear.

“Geez, Momo…I told you to go all out, but I didn’t mean this all out.”

Just like he’d promised, the full, unhinged power of her “captivating eyes” was beyond belief. Even this far away from her, it took nearly all my mental concentration to force myself to think about anything besides the look, the feel, the concept of Momo Kisaragi. I couldn’t believe she had the fortitude to keep it all under wraps until now. If this kept up, this whole event might just go down in history.

“I’d have to guess there’s a crapload of people on the ground above us right now,” I said. “I can’t believe how much of a hit Kisaragi is.”

“Yeah,” Shintaro replied, taking another look back. “With enough people, the enemy won’t be able to call for reinforcements at will. Assuming he can get Momo outta there like we planned, that should take care of things up there. But…ugh, I told her not to do anything dangerous, and now look…!”

Kisaragi’s mission in this operation was to divert our foe and prevent them from calling for backup. I knew Shintaro said it, too: “Take absolute care, Momo, that you don’t hurt yourself along the way.” I guess Momo had gotten a little…okay, a lot carried away.

“Hey, she’s doing her best for us, you know? I mean…we’re all risking our lives here.”

“Yeah, but there are certain limits, man,” Shintaro whined as he turned his head back forward.

The twisty, undulating corridors forked with regularity, proceeding inward like a labyrinth deliberately built to stymie us. I had been here several times before, but it was the first time I could manage the traversal without any hesitation. It really all came down to Hibiya and his map, and that we made it this far in such a short time.

That “focusing eyes” skill is nuts. Totally nuts. We practiced it just a little bit last night, and Hibiya had it down. All he had to do was look at (or picture in his mind, really) his target, and he could recall several kinds of things about the target, just like that, right down to the last detail.

It was psychometry taken to absurd extremes. I showed him a photo of Dad just to test it out, and bam—he had a grip of this building’s entire floor plan. Every nook and cranny.

We were hoping for some kind of basic map, but what he gave us was more like a road atlas. It shocked me. “I always liked mapping intricate structures and stuff” is how he explained it, but this might be some genius-level talent we had here.

As I marveled at Hibiya’s mental prowess, Shintaro’s phone rang. We stopped, eyes opened wide. This was the third phone call of the night, but that didn’t make the mood among us any less frazzled than the previous two.

Shintaro picked up the phone, then pointed at the T intersection right in front of us.

“It—it’s coming from the right! …You got it, Konoha?!”

His short white hair fluttered past for a single moment.

“…Okay!”

Konoha, perfectly silent up to now, followed Shintaro’s command and leaped forward like a bullet. At the same moment, a man in white defensive gear appeared from the right-hand fork. He was armed with a handgun, and the moment he noticed us, he readied its sights on us.

“No you don’t!”

Before he could even finish saying it, Konoha’s right foot kicked the gun away. It clanked loudly against the ceiling. The man was surprised by it just long enough for Konoha’s right knee to bury itself in his solar plexus.

“Whoooa,” I couldn’t help but say. It was like something out of an action film, as the man fell to the floor without so much as a shout. We checked to make sure he was out, then let out a sigh of relief.

“…Haah! How many of those bastards are there, anyway?!”

“I don’t think there’re any more nearby,” Hibiya replied through the phone, “but be careful, all right?”

That was right…His “focusing eyes” were on us the whole time—exposing dangers in our path, offering advice. That was his job.

Konoha bowed politely at his fallen foe, then returned to us, a sorrowful look on his face.

“I…I really don’t like hitting people, I guess.”

It was so meek of him—too meek for someone who just pulled off that kung fu nonsense. He was averting his eyes, even.

Shintaro sighed and scratched his head. “Look, I know this is a pain in the ass for you, but it’s kind of an emergency, you know? I think you’re gonna have a break for a while, anyway.”

Konoha visibly brightened at this, looking expectantly at Shintaro.

“Am…Am I being a help to you guys, Shintaro?”

“We’re friends. It’s a lot more than ‘being a help.’” He smiled. “We’re totally relying on you.”

Nothing he said could’ve made Konoha happier.

Friends, huh? I think I’m starting to like the concept.

After catching our breath, we moved on, taking the next fork left and immediately finding the door we were after.

I felt a chill down my back. It’s here. Beyond this door. Our mortal enemy.

Shintaro, sensing my nervousness, patted me on the shoulder.

“That’s your dad in there, right? If you’re his kid, it’s time to give him a piece of your mind, okay?”

…Damn, Shintaro. You’ve got such a gift for words at times like these. I hate to admit it, but I’m really gonna have to tell Kido about this.

Driven on, I approached the door. At Shintaro’s signal, Konoha kicked it open.

The moment he did, I winced at the intense odor of formaldehyde.

Cables, in a variety of colors, lined the room. Experimental equipment was strewn around, and there was a countless number of monitors on the wall…

And there he was, deep inside the dimly lit laboratory, looking right at us from his seat. The glare from the monitors made it impossible to see his expression, but I could tell he was flashing a vulgar smile.

“Whoa, whoa, what’re you doing smashing up someone’s house in the middle of the night? You ever heard of proper discipline, you little brats?”

It was my dad’s voice, but he had never talked like that. It was harsh, off-putting, like a snake licking its lips. There was no doubt now. He was now on the forefront.

“Heh,” Shintaro grunted. “Sorry about that. We’re all still in high school, y’know. If you don’t like it, just try to lecture us about it.”

He started walking into the lab, demonstrating not even the slightest iota of fear. There was no one else in the room, and none of us could even guess what kind of traps may have been set. It seemed incredibly brash, but you could see it on his face. That confidence. It hadn’t dissipated at all. I wouldn’t want to have anyone else on my side.

“Well…really, though? Just the three of you, advancing on me? That’s really all you think of me, huh? And here I thought you were smarter than that.”

His eyes were on me now. They were a deep crimson. That hateful, hateful color, one I’d never forgotten since that day. I tried to hold back my anger as I spoke:

“Yeah, well, we kinda got some promising new talent on our side, all right? And I don’t think he’s about to get taken down that easily…I think you know that.”

The crimson eyes turned toward Konoha. Despite all his namby-pambiness of a moment ago, his mouth was now stretched out in a straight line, matching his gaze.

“I heard about you,” he said, his monotone quietly echoing around the room. “Mr. Tateyama…No. The ‘bad guy.’ Trying to kill everyone…I can’t let that happen.”

Then the room was filled with exaggerated laughter. “Oh, come on—what’s the big deal?” our nemesis said, rubbing his hair. “You’ve finally got the ‘friends’ you’ve wanted, too, huh?”

Shintaro stepped up to cut him off before he could continue with his breezy ravings. “We know about your scheme,” he said. “About Azami…about the Kagerou Daze…and the way you want to kill them all so you can create a new Medusa.”

It didn’t faze Dad at all. Shintaro didn’t let that stop him.

“I don’t know why you’re doing this, but it’s over. Surrender right now and release everybody who’s in your grasp. If you can’t…” He pointed at Konoha. “We…Konoha’s gonna mess you up.”

Konoha snorted to accentuate the point.

Man. I feel pathetic right now. Shintaro should write all our dialogue for us.

There was a pause. Then my dad let out a deep, lazy sigh and finally got up off his chair.

Shintaro blinked. I didn’t notice it in the dimness before, but our enemy had a gun in his right hand. Konoha steeled his body in response, ready to fight.

“Ugh,” the man on the other side said. “I swear, why the hell do I have to put up with these little kids all the time…?”

He slowly raised his arm, pointing the gun at Shintaro as his crimson eyes drilled into him.

“N-no!”

The next moment, Konoha was between the two, both hands outstretched.

“D-don’t be stupid, Konoha!” shouted a panicked Shintaro. “You’re putting yourself in danger!”

“We—We need to stop this,” Konoha said to the man he was facing. “It’s gonna take more than a pistol to kill me…and I’m pretty sure I can beat you in an instant.”

I knew Konoha’s body was blessed with incredible physical and regenerative skills. According to what Kido told me, he had a huge hole blown in his stomach and was just fine afterward. That guy must’ve known that. It was obvious he had no chance.

“Ah, Konoha. Yeah, you’ve got a pretty sturdy body there. This one wouldn’t stand a chance against you.”

He sounded like he was ready to surrender. But his easy smile remained on his face, his finger still on the trigger.

“So…how ’bout this, then?”

He turned his gun. I thought it’d be on me, but it kept turning…until it was pointed straight at his own head.

“Ah…!” I couldn’t help but shout out. “What’re you doing?!”

“Hmm? What…? Isn’t it plain as day? I’m gonna blow your father’s brains out.”

The sight made me recall the disgusting words I heard not long ago. There, on the roof that evening, he said, “I’m the one allowing both you and your family to stay alive.”

Oh. So that’s what he had meant. I thought he was talking about us—the kids. But he had meant he had our father’s life in his hands.

“So, now what’re you gonna do, you little brat? It’s all your lives, or this guy’s. Who’s gonna win out?”

He was talking to Shintaro, standing stock-still behind the flustered Konoha. Asking him to decide who lives or dies…Nobody could ever do that. Especially someone with Shintaro’s outlook on life.

“Hey, now,” the gunman continued, twisted smile on his face, “don’t keep me waiting. Hurry it up, or else I…”

“…I thought I told you. It’s over.”

The declaration from Shintaro made his smile crumble just a little.

“Uhh? What do you think you’re saying?”

“Oh, you don’t get it?” Shintaro said, his voice unwavering. “Well, lemme make it clear, then…”

Oh great. I was trying to hold it back, but now even I was grinning. Shintaro’s such a hoot. I love him.

“Blindfold complete.”

Suddenly, the room began to waver, a purple hood twirling in the air before us.

The white-haired girl who followed immediately after caught our mortal enemy in her sights. Without another word, he froze in place, returning the room to an uncanny quiet.

“…You mind not stealing my lines, Shintaro?” accused a nonplussed Kido.

“Oh, what’s a little fun gonna hurt? I kinda needed to say something to round things out just now!”

Marie arched her brows at this. “It…I don’t think it sounded that cool.”

“Uh? But…nnnhhh…”

He brought both hands to his face and fell to his knees. Aw, don’t get so torn up over it, Shintaro. I thought it was kinda neat, myself. Not that I was gonna say it. Not around her.

“…Right.” Konoha poked at my dad’s body a bit, then turned around. “Looks like he’s immobile for a while.”

Kido let out a sigh of relief. “…Man. That was one risky operation…but I guess it turned out all right. I thought we were dead once Marie ran out of breath on us…”

“Y-you guys all run too fast!” a puffy-cheeked Marie protested. “I tried calling for Kano, but he just left me behind…!”

“What do you want from us? We couldn’t see you. We had no way of knowing. That’s how the operation worked.”

“Yeah,” Shintaro interjected as he stood up and smiled. “But we all still had to be here, or else we couldn’t have caught that guy off guard. But what’s done is done, right? I was kinda scared when he brandished that gun, but…”

He was so calm and dignified just a moment ago, when he was talking down our nemesis. Now, there was no sign of it.

Ah, well. I kind of liked this Shintaro more, anyway.

The operation came as a major surprise when I first heard about it, but I had to admit, Shintaro solved everything for us. Along those lines, I just kinda sat there, stewing in my own juices…Never really did anything at all, in the end.

“When he took Dad hostage like that,” I began, “I mean…Man, what a surprise. Like, wow, just like you said he would, Shintaro.”

“Ah, it was just an estimated guess on my part,” he replied modestly. “One way or another, I was planning to neutralize him with Marie’s power, anyway.”

“Yeah, but…I really owe you one. We could’ve just had Konoha restrain him or something, but you came up with a way to save Dad without hurting him…I dunno how to thank you.”

“Ah, geez, quit it,” Shintaro protested, blushing. “That’s not like you at all.”

Something about his act was familiar. I don’t think Ayano ever noticed, but Shintaro always smiled at her in a different way from all of us. I never really dug that much. That’s why I was always so cold to him when I started posing as her in school. Now I felt bad about being so mean to him in her form. I’m hopeless.

But despite all that, Shintaro let it slide. And now he was smiling at me…just like that.

Ahhh, I can’t win against him. He’s invincible.

“…So, what now?” Kido said, pointing at our frozen father. “We gotta do something before Marie’s power wears off, don’t we?”

“Oh, right. Konoha, did you bring it with you?”

“Uh, yeah. You mean this?”

Konoha took out a spool of metal wire.

“We’re gonna tie him up with this and take him out of the hideout,” Shintaro explained. “Kido can use her ability to keep anyone from noticing us…and that oughta be it, really.”

“Yeah,” Kido added, eyes sparkling. “Whatever abilities he has, he won’t be able to use them if he doesn’t have a free body. After that, we can just put ’im through the wringer at our hideout until he coughs up some info on the Kagerou Daze…”

“Um, lemme remind you,” I protested, “he is our father, so…”

“Oh, I know, I know. You ready, Konoha?”

At her command, Konoha began to wrap the wire around my father’s body.

I never imagined in a million years we could actually stop him.

Or that any one of us actually had a future.

If things kept going this well, maybe we really could get my sister out of the Kagerou Daze. Maybe even our mother.

I’d never thought about that. Not even once.

What would I even say if I ran into them again? There was so much to talk about, I wouldn’t know where to begin. But I knew they’d be smiling for me. Smiling, laughing, talking about all kinds of stuff…

…Like an idiot, I was imagining that impossible future right up to the moment that Konoha fell before my eyes.