The Third Clash, Showdown atop the Hospital!

"I'm Nagai."

"It looks like you've already agreed to Tozaki's request." Sato's voice quickly came through the phone.

Nagai did not answer directly. "You didn't call just to spout nonsense, did you?"

Sato chuckled softly. "Of course not. Since it's inevitable that we'll become enemies, and since your performance intercepting that passenger plane last time earned my recognition, I figured there was no time like the present. Remember, I'll be waiting for you at Enoki General Hospital. I hope you'll hurry, so I can get a good look at what this little cricket of yours is capable of."

The instant Nagai heard the name Enoki General Hospital, his expression changed dramatically!

He did not even have time to ask what Sato meant by "little cricket."

"If you dare hurt her, I'll never forgive you!!"

Unfortunately, Sato only answered with a quiet chuckle.

Then the call disconnected.

Nagai fiercely tossed the phone back to Tozaki Yuu. Before Tozaki could say anything, he turned and sped away!

He was so fast that even Tozaki Yuu felt his heart leap into his throat.

The reason Nagai cared so deeply was that someone extremely important to him lived in that general hospital!

His younger sister, Nagai Eriko!

Eriko had been frail and sickly since childhood. She had spent more time living in the hospital than at home.

A major reason Nagai Kei had chosen to study medicine was so he could cure his sister Eriko.

Yet now, even Eriko had been threatened!

As Nagai Kei sprinted at full speed, his eyes were bloodshot and his teeth clenched tight.

This time, he truly felt murderous intent toward Sato!

He completely ignored the astonishment of passersby and the commotion he caused along the way.

Nagai Kei pushed himself to the limit, crackling currents of electricity constantly flashing around his body.

Every time he leaped, the force was so great that even the hard asphalt pavement was blasted into dents filled with fine cracks.

Like a black shadow carrying a storm with it, he raced forward at incredible speed.

Meanwhile, after a brief moment of stunned silence, Tozaki Yuu immediately realized something was wrong.

He hurriedly called the police.

He did not possess Nagai Kei's absurd hearing, so he had no idea what Sato had said to him.

Fortunately, Nagai had made no effort to conceal himself along the way, and with police assistance, they quickly pinpointed his location.

Tozaki Yuu pulled up a map and studied it. Following Nagai's route ahead, he quickly guessed where he was headed.

Enoki General Hospital!

"Let's go!"

Without hesitation, he immediately set off with Shimomura Izumi.

At the same time, Nagai Kei had already arrived at the general hospital.

He leaped straight up and scaled the outer wall. Amid countless cries of alarm, Nagai slipped through a window into a hospital room.

Only when he saw Eriko lying unharmed in her hospital bed did the knot in his chest loosen slightly.

"Big brother? You—"

"No time to explain. I'm getting you out of here first!" He picked Eriko up and, ignoring her scream, jumped straight out the window.

Boom!

He landed with a thunderous impact, drawing astonished looks from everyone nearby.

Nagai set Eriko down and said seriously, "Run!"

Then he turned and looked upward, following his senses.

A figure stood at the edge of the hospital rooftop.

Staring directly at him.

He wore a white shirt and a dark green baseball cap.

His eyes were slightly narrowed, with a faint smile at the corner of his lips.

It was Sato!

"W-what is going on, big brother? Aren't you wanted? And—"

"No time to explain! Get out of here! This place may become very dangerous soon!"

Seeing how grave Nagai looked, Eriko knew the situation was likely serious.

She said nothing more and hurried toward the hospital exit as Nagai instructed.

But the other people in the hospital were all gathering in this direction.

Someone had already recognized him.

After all, the authorities had issued a substantial reward alongside the wanted notice.

Nagai understood that there was no way he could persuade all these people to leave.

Gritting his teeth, he sprang upward. After several leaps and a climb along the wall, he quickly reached the hospital rooftop.

He faced Sato from afar.

"What exactly do you want?!"

"Relax, Nagai-kun. If I wanted to harm your sister, I wouldn't have waited for you to take her away just now, would I?"

Even so, Nagai's guard did not lower in the slightest.

"You lured me here. What's your purpose?!"

"I think I made it very clear on the phone. Whether because of the different sides you and I stand on, or because I need to improve the entertainment value for someone's sake, I must kill you if only to keep the promise I made back then."

Nagai frowned. He could understand being on opposing sides, and the promise from back then was likely Sato's vow to kill him after being shot during their first meeting.

But what did he mean by improving the entertainment value for someone's sake?

Suddenly, Nagai recalled that Sato had also used the strange term "little cricket" on the phone.

A string of doubts rose within him.

But Sato had no intention of giving him any more chances to ask.

Screech! Screech!

The iron frames and wire fencing on the rooftop twisted under the pull of an unseen force.

Then they broke apart into individual wires and shot through the air toward Nagai.

An ordinary person would have been turned into a pincushion in an instant.

But Nagai also possessed Magnetic Force.

With a spread of his hands, every wire that had approached him stopped dead in midair.

Both of them had been implanted with Fruit Cores by Bai Xing, and both possessed the power to control magnetic fields. A clash of this level could not break either man's moves.

"Looks like fists are the only way."

As he spoke, Sato had already arrived in front of Nagai.

Crack!

A fist wrapped in electricity slammed viciously into Nagai.

He was instantly sent flying, crashing the rooftop ventilation system into pieces.

Before he could react, the fragments suddenly began compressing around him, wrapping him into an irregular metal sphere.

But in the next second, the metal sphere wobbled into the air and began expanding outward.

Boom!

Nagai roared, and countless metal fragments tore through the air, scattering in every direction like a celestial maiden scattering flowers.

Though small and fragile, those metal fragments possessed tremendous destructive power. Even the concrete ground could not stop them, and they embedded themselves deep within it.

Yet Sato was untouched, because every metal fragment before him had stopped in midair.

Whoosh!

Nagai swung his fist and launched an attack.

Unfortunately, Sato was a battle-hardened warrior, not someone a hotheaded rookie like Nagai could match through sheer passion.

With a slight turn, he evaded Nagai's attack.

Then he raised a foot and kicked Nagai squarely in the stomach, where his guard was wide open.

Boom!

As if struck by a cannonball, Nagai instantly smashed through the reinforced concrete railing at the rooftop's edge.

A large number of fragments fell below, and several of the people gathered beneath to watch were immediately injured by the debris.

Nagai, however, grabbed an exposed steel bar in time, preventing himself from falling.

Hearing screams below, he hurriedly waved and shouted, "Get out of here! Stop gathering around here!!"

But just then, the steel bar in his grip seemed to come alive.

Like a venomous snake, it coiled around his arm and slithered before his eyes.

"Nagai-kun, remember not to get distracted when fighting me."