Chapter 26

"It should have been just an ordinary crow."

Kamiki Yūhaku gazed at Jōno Saigiku. A moment later, he smiled.

"Yes. If Little Crow were here, it would have been pulling desperately at me to leave from the very beginning. It would never have let me resort to something like this."

"But what else could I do?" Kamiki Yūhaku said. "Only if 'Little Crow' and I were destroyed here together, our bodies reduced to ash, would the government stop bothering it, right?"

"At the very end, I had to do something for it."

With a bang, Jōno Saigiku and Ōkura Teruko lost all interest in Kamiki Yūhaku. They hurriedly looked toward the door, which was shaking as someone outside tried to break it down.

"Captain!" Jōno Saigiku called out. "Don't break down the door!"

"It's no use. This door is very well soundproofed. They can't hear you," Kamiki Yūhaku said with a smile. "The Hunting Dogs should be able to survive the self-destruct. I'd intended to let Little Crow 'die' like this, but I was unlucky enough to run into the Hunting Dogs. What a shame."

"I hope it can live a good life and never meet another awful owner like me."

With a crash, a saber pierced straight through the door in front of them. At the same time, a voice began playing on a loop throughout headquarters.

"Warning. The defense system has been breached. The self-destruct sequence will activate in ten seconds."

Ōkura Teruko went deathly pale. "There's no time."

"Jōno, run!"

The crow on Kamiki Yūhaku's shoulder was startled and quickly took flight, flapping its wings.

Those ten seconds seemed to shrink to almost nothing, imprinting themselves on Kamiki Yūhaku's mind. Perhaps never before had he been so clearly aware of everything that happened in ten seconds.

People wailed in despair. Some ran desperately for the door, hoping to escape within those ten seconds; the door was torn apart, and two men in military uniforms were greeted by their comrades' signal to flee. At the same time, a crow swooped through the shattered doorway and plastered itself against Kamiki Yūhaku's face like a sheet of paper.

The crow cawed incessantly, as if scolding its owner for leaving it behind.

"...Little Crow?" Kamiki Yūhaku's voice finally faltered. "Go!"

Before his words had even faded, an explosion rang out. Kamiki Yūhaku turned his head and saw the massive blast.

The flames and the explosion were reflected in his eyes. In that moment, he seemed to see the past.

The explosion in the French Concession fifteen years ago, and Dr. Kōbe's burning house ten years ago, had marked the turning points in Kamiki Yūhaku's fate. And now, another explosion like them would determine Kamiki Yūhaku's end.

As the flames rushed toward him, Kamiki Yūhaku could only shield the crow instinctively.

[Recognition increased to 99%]

Chapter 26

"Emergency announcement: An office building on the outskirts of Yokohama has collapsed. Citizens, please evacuate immediately. Do not approach until experts have confirmed that no further collapses will occur as a result."

"Repeat: Do not approach the collapsed building!"

"A building collapsed? Yokohama really hasn't been peaceful lately."

"Exactly. It hasn't been long since all those vehicles and buildings were badly damaged in the middle of the night. Another war isn't going to break out, is it?"

"Would it be better to move away for a while?"

The explosion at the Number Seven Agency had brought down the office building above it. The underground facility caved in, and the offices above promptly collapsed, crashing down to ground level and leaving only wreckage behind. Flames occasionally flickered through the debris, setting sheets of paper alight and burning them to ash.

Just then, a stone slab shifted, and a person in a military uniform climbed out from beneath the rubble.

"Cough, cough. We're out." Fukuchi Ōchi was covered in dust, and his arm bore burn marks. He pulled a teammate out from below. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." Suehiro Tetchō had a smudge of black ash on his face.

Ōkura Teruko threw her hat to the ground. "I can't believe it came to this. Damn it."

"He concealed his objective and prepared for every possibility. No matter which way things went, he would get the result he wanted. He used his own life as a wager in his calculations, so this outcome is only natural." Jōno Saigiku dusted himself off. "But that brings us to a second problem."

"Both missions failed." Ōkura Teruko snorted. "The Number Seven Agency was wiped out, Kamiki Yūhaku was crushed to death underneath, and that Ability Beast was buried in there too."

Fukuchi Ōchi listened to them. Still hungover, he hadn't learned much about the mission, so he spoke up. "It's over, then?"

"Yes, Captain!" Ōkura Teruko instantly became well-behaved. "You actually came to save us, Captain! Teruko is truly honored!"

"I'll discuss the mission with the higher-ups." Fukuchi Ōchi looked over the ruins. "For now, let's contact the government and assess the losses. The Number Seven Agency held a great many secrets. Even a couple of them would be enough to shake all of Japan. What a devastating loss."

"But if Kamiki Yūhaku hadn't hated the government and had grown up as an ordinary person instead..." Fukuchi Ōchi stroked his chin. "Perhaps he would have made an excellent intelligence agent for the cause of justice."

"What a shame."

The Hunting Dogs turned and left, leaving only the still-burning ruins behind.

After the Hunting Dogs departed, a man emerged from nearby. He looked at the vast expanse of wreckage, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.

Ango Sakaguchi.

As an assistant counselor of the Armed Detective Agency, Ango Sakaguchi had received the news earlier than most. He had said he would go check on the situation and arrived as quickly as he could.

Just then, the earpiece on his ear lit up.

"Ango, are you there? How does it look?" It was Osamu Dazai's voice.

"It's all rubble. I can't even see where it ends." Ango Sakaguchi took a photo of the scene and sent it to Osamu Dazai. "An explosion on this scale... Is Yūhaku really still alive?"

Osamu Dazai looked at the photo of the ruins, uncertainty in his tawny eyes. A moment later, he spoke. "Giving up before you even start looking isn't like you. Chuuya will be there soon. Can you pinpoint Kamiki's location?"

"If Yūhaku didn't throw away what I gave him..." Ango Sakaguchi said quietly.

Before giving Kamiki Yūhaku the screen, Ango Sakaguchi had attached a transmitter to it, allowing him to track Kamiki Yūhaku's location at all times. The signal had been blocked inside the Number Seven Agency, and Ango Sakaguchi hadn't been able to receive its location. But now the entire agency was in ruins and the signal was no longer blocked. Even underground, it would still send out a faint signal.

As long as Kamiki Yūhaku hadn't thrown it away, and as long as it hadn't been smashed to pieces, he could be found.

Ango Sakaguchi watched for the signal as he took photographs. He moved carefully through the wreckage, his eyes full of anxiety.

He had to find Kamiki Yūhaku before the Military Police assembled and arrived to clear the ruins.

Whether he was alive or already dead.

Ango Sakaguchi walked around a large stone and continued forward. Suddenly, he heard a faint sound. His eyes flew wide, and he stared at the screen in his hand.

A faint signal was coming from a spot beside him.

"Found him!" Ango Sakaguchi quickly put down what he was holding and began moving the rubble by hand.

As an office worker who routinely worked overtime, Ango Sakaguchi had little physical strength. Panting, he tossed a stone aside, only to see more broken rubble beneath it. He frowned slightly, then rolled up his sleeves and kept moving it.

Ango Sakaguchi knew that Kamiki Yūhaku was buried several meters underground, though he didn't know exactly how deep.

Just like fifteen years ago, when he had been buried beneath the ruins of the French Concession, unable to escape and able only to watch as death approached.

He had remained buried in that darkness forever, never coming out again.

"...Yūhaku." Ango Sakaguchi heaved a stone aside. "Hold on a little longer."

He wanted to save him, to pull him out of this darkness.

To let him see the light.

Ango Sakaguchi moved the stones with all his strength, trying to dig downward. Just then, the wreckage beside him creaked, and the stones abruptly caved inward. His pupils contracted, and he quickly dodged, but the stones didn't fall. Instead, they slowly floated into the air.

"Don't go getting yourself buried before you've even saved him."

The stones moved aside, revealing Chūya Nakahara. Ango Sakaguchi breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you."

"Now's not the time for that. Is Kamiki under here?" Chūya Nakahara crouched and looked at the spot. "Underground?"

"Judging by the signal strength, he is underground, at least three meters down." Ango Sakaguchi looked at the spot worriedly. "And I can't confirm whether he still has that thing on him. He might have thrown the screen away while he was down there."

Chūya Nakahara frowned slightly. "We'll find out if he's there once we look. Move aside."

"What are you going to do, Mr. Nakahara?"

"Get these stones out of the way, of course." Chūya Nakahara was enveloped in his orange-red ability. He knelt on one knee in the middle of the wreckage and placed a hand on the stone beneath him.

Ango Sakaguchi immediately understood what he meant and stepped back.

"Please."

"I know what to do without you asking."

His ability spread from his hand to the stones beneath him in an instant. The powerful ability controlled their gravity, and the stones slowly rose and floated in the air, like something from a game level. The moment they moved away, the signal receiver in Ango Sakaguchi's hand began to sound.

With the obstructing rubble moved aside, the locator's signal finally became clear.

Ango Sakaguchi rushed in, never stopping to think that if Chūya Nakahara released his hold on the stones now, he would be crushed to death.

Following the signal receiver, Ango Sakaguchi knelt on the ground and moved a piece of rubble aside. Behind the man-sized piece of debris, the young man lay on his side, his white hair matted with blood. His legs were pinned tightly beneath stones, and the black clothes he wore were badly torn. In his arms was a crow the same color as his clothes.