Chapter 24

But just as they were rejoicing, anticipating that they would soon have the crow in a cage, the hologram crackled.

The sudden change made the crow stop flying at once. As if disrupted by an electrical current, the hologram distorted over and over before finally shattering into fragments.

"Quick!"

"Yes!"

The person controlling the trap hurriedly pressed the button, but it was too late. The crow flew swiftly into the sky, and when the net closed, it did not even touch its wings.

"Damn it!" A man ran out from behind the wall. "How did this happen? Where's the person in charge of the hologram? Why did something suddenly go wrong?"

But no one answered him.

"Where is everyone?"

The world was silent. The man's eyes widened slightly as he suddenly realized that the people who had been helping capture the crow behind him had also fallen silent.

"Hey," he called. "Everyone, come out."

There was no sound, no response. Everything around him was deathly quiet.

His pupils contracted slightly. After swallowing, he cautiously walked behind the wall. The moment he saw what lay there, his face turned pale. The people who had been with him lay on the ground, blood flowing out across it. The warm liquid was still steaming in the cold autumn air.

Just then, something dripped onto his face.

He touched it and saw red blood. Slowly, he raised his head. A hooded figure dressed in black was gazing calmly at him, smiling red eyes fixed on him.

"You found me." The figure's voice was gentle, his expression as innocent as a child playing a game. "Now it's my turn to be it."

Sharp needles pierced his body from above, and the last man fell.

The crow descended from the sky and landed on Kamiki Yūhaku's shoulder, preening its feathers as though nothing had happened.

"Don't think you can get away with it by pretending nothing happened." Kamiki Yūhaku tapped the crow. "I told you long ago not to let yourself get lured away so easily."

The crow cawed twice, as if protesting.

"I know you miss Dr. Kōbe." Kamiki Yūhaku jumped down from the high perch. "I miss him too, but we won't find him by looking like this."

"...Once you've lost family, you can never get them back."

The crow stopped cawing. Kamiki Yūhaku held out his hand, and the crow landed on his finger. They looked at each other.

"We can't be separated again, all right, Little Crow?"

Whether or not it understood, the crow reached out and pecked his fingertip. It did not use much force, and Kamiki Yūhaku felt no pain, only a tingling sensation as its sharp beak touched his fingertip.

But Kamiki Yūhaku knew Little Crow understood. It was comforting him in its own way.

Little Crow had been with Kamiki Yūhaku for fifteen years. Crows did not live long; even those raised in captivity only lived thirty years. In human terms, Little Crow was already a middle-aged man. So although it could not fully understand Kamiki Yūhaku's words, it could sense his emotions.

This child, who had lived in pain for so long, was now immersed in anguish he could not easily vent.

Whenever this happened, he would hurt himself, trying to find comfort in self-harm, even though it only brought him an ever-deepening emptiness.

So he had come with his injuries, blood dripping from his arm all the way to the ground.

The crow pecked Kamiki Yūhaku's hand, signaling him to bring it closer. Once it was close enough, it spread its wings and patted his hair.

It did not know how to comfort Kamiki Yūhaku. It only remembered that when he was little, whenever he was sad, Dr. Kōbe would gently ruffle his hair.

Feeling the crow patting the top of his head, Kamiki Yūhaku could not help laughing.

"Thank you," Kamiki Yūhaku said with a smile. "All right, all right, stop patting. You're going to mess up my hair."

The crow folded its wings, then hopped along Kamiki Yūhaku's fingers and back onto his shoulder.

Kamiki Yūhaku reached out and stroked the crow's feathers.

"I'll never let you go through the same things I did," Kamiki Yūhaku murmured.

"Little Crow is all I have left."

Chapter 24

"The operation failed?"

"Yes. When I went over there, I found that all our people..." The man giving the report lowered his head. "I'm sorry."

The man sitting behind the desk sighed. "Forget it. I never expected to catch that crow so easily in the first place. We should have taken Otsu Zero's resistance into account too. As long as we get rid of Otsu Zero, we can catch the crow however we like."

The other man nodded. "But what should we do? Otsu Zero gained an ability through human experimentation. His powerful defensive ability makes him immune to all harm. There's no way to get rid of him."

"Don't worry. I've invited someone specifically to deal with this. The location of the Number Seven Agency's headquarters has always been a secret; there's no way he could know it." The man's voice turned mocking. "He only survived until now thanks to the ability we gave him, and yet he repaid the government's kindness with hostility. He deserves to die."

"Sir, you invited someone? The Armed Detective Agency?"

"Of course not." The man frowned slightly. "The Special Division can't be trusted. Although we both belong to the government, the Special Division isn't as loyal to it as one might imagine. The people I've invited this time will definitely be able to eliminate Otsu Zero in one fell swoop."

The other man thought for a moment, then his eyes widened in surprise. "Could you mean... the Hunting Dogs?"

"That's right." The man in the suit stood and walked calmly over to the bookshelf. "Otsu Zero's danger level has been classified as extreme. The crow with him is also suspected to be a valuable Ability Beast, so I applied to my superiors to deploy the Hunting Dogs. They agreed and said they would send two members to assist us."

"That's wonderful! With the Hunting Dogs here, he definitely won't escape this time!"

The man snorted. "It's time to bring all of this to an end."

No sooner had he spoken than the phone on his desk rang. He picked it up and nodded after hearing the voice on the other end.

"The Hunting Dogs have finally arrived."

Ōkura Teruko sat in a chair, with Jōno Saigiku standing behind her. Across from them was the head of the Number Seven Agency. He wore a polite smile and an immaculate suit, looking no different from the sort of old politician who never spoke plainly.

"Welcome, both of you," the head of the Number Seven Agency said first. "Would you like to see the documents?"

"There's no need. We already saw the mission list at headquarters," Ōkura Teruko said. "I'm here to take over the mission. Please provide us with the target's address."

"Of course." The director raised a hand. "Bring me the mission request form."

The secretary behind him hurriedly took a sheet of paper from a folder and placed it on the table.

With few words exchanged, the two sides completed the handover according to procedure. The director issued them temporary access cards, and once Ōkura Teruko had hers, she led Jōno Saigiku out.

It seemed they had come here merely to go through the formalities.

As they walked down the corridor toward the exit, Jōno Saigiku listened to the sounds nearby. This was the Number Seven Agency's headquarters, and the agency was a well-known place where the government whitewashed things. Its specially built prison held many serious offenders useful to them, and Jōno Saigiku's acute hearing allowed him to hear every prisoner's movements clearly.

"This place really is oppressive." Jōno Saigiku tapped his ear. "I can hear a great deal of evil."

In fact, the Hunting Dogs had all heard of Kamiki Yūhaku without needing any documents.

An experimental subject who had narrowly survived the explosion in the French Concession fifteen years ago, he was taking revenge without restraint on those who had participated in the human experiments. Everywhere he went, he stirred the waters into a muddy mess, and he had destroyed every organization in France involved in artificial ability experiments.

The Hunting Dogs had undergone government procedures to enhance their bodies, but those were human procedures, after all, and they could not simply sign their names without a thought.

So they had looked into Kamiki Yūhaku and learned that the procedures they had undergone were an improved version of the human experiments conducted in the French Concession back then.

When they received their orders, none of the Hunting Dogs were surprised. Things were bound to come to this eventually.

"Don't say anything unnecessary. As soldiers, our job is to obey orders." Ōkura Teruko crossed her arms, little emotion in her golden eyes. "Why the government wants to get rid of that person has nothing to do with us."

"But don't you find it sad, Vice Captain?" Jōno Saigiku said with a smile. "He became an experimental subject against his will, yet simply because he didn't die, it became a favor to him. Is blindly erasing mistakes really the right thing to do?"

Ōkura Teruko turned and glanced at Jōno Saigiku. "Since when have you cared about right and wrong? You're usually the one who takes things too far."

"I just find it interesting." Jōno Saigiku rested a hand on his chin. "Do you think he knows?"

"That even if he destroys it for now, the same evil is bound to happen again in the future."

Ōkura Teruko clicked her tongue. "Our job isn't to analyze the criminal's psychology. Rein it in, Jōno."

"Yes, Vice Captain," Jōno Saigiku said with a smile.

The two walked toward the exit. Just then, Jōno Saigiku's nostrils twitched slightly. A young man in an ordinary suit emerged from around the corner, bowed politely to the two Hunting Dogs, then continued farther inside. Jōno Saigiku turned his face to follow his movements.

Noticing something was wrong with Jōno Saigiku, Ōkura Teruko turned to look at him. She glanced in the direction the man had gone, and as he rounded a corner, she seemed to see a flash of white.

"What is it?"

"There's a smell." Jōno Saigiku pinched his nose. "The smell of blood, and the smell of a chick."

"A chick?" Ōkura Teruko frowned. A moment later, her eyes widened. "It's the crow!"

"After him!"