Multi-Anime, Kira Yoshikage Yearns for a Peaceful Life

Chapter 17: Thinking Is a Trap, Knowledge Is Poison

"Yare yare~"

Kira Yoshikage swept his gaze across the crowd, his expression utterly calm.

From the moment the explosion occurred, to when someone was injured, to the entire venue plunging into chaos—he had been a pure observer throughout, watching everything unfold with perfect composure, never once attempting to lend a hand to any stranger.

As for helping Kitagawa Marin, that was because she had paid him, and the final installment was still outstanding.

Kitagawa Marin and Yuibihama Yui stared at the scene before them, momentarily unable to accept it. Only Miura Yumiko was slightly more composed, pulling them closer to Kira Yoshikage as she asked softly:

"Kira-kun, w-what should we do now? Should we run?"

Kira Yoshikage watched the crowd frantically surging toward the exits and replied calmly:

"Wait."

Though in this situation, most people would instinctively bolt for the exits, that wasn't the correct move.

Because in such chaos, a dense crowd could easily trigger more severe secondary incidents—like a stampede. Or, the bomber might still be inside the venue, waiting for the crowd to thicken before hurling more bombs into their midst.

But most people wouldn't consider this. The moment the bomb detonated, their brains would only process things in simple terms—

The venue equals danger, while leaving the venue equals safety.

In contrast, finding a safe place to hide was the better choice.

It could avoid secondary accidents caused by crowd congestion, as well as the risk of another bomb attack.

Of course, staying also carried its own risks.

For instance, if the criminal was still in the venue, the two sides might run into each other head-on.

And in that case, hiding inside the venue would be the most dangerous option.

But Kira Yoshikage clearly had no such concerns.

"Kira-kun, the criminal... the criminal might still be here..."

Kitagawa Marin's voice trembled slightly.

Kira Yoshikage asked:

"Why do you say that?"

"Because..."

Kitagawa Marin's face was pale, and she bit her lip lightly as she said:

"When he gave me the bomb, he ran toward the Exhibition Hall..."

Kira Yoshikage immediately understood. The bomber had disguised the bomb as a Frog Plush and handed it to visitors touring the Exhibition Hall. But it was now noon, and most visitors would choose to leave the hall and head to the Restaurant Street outside for lunch.

So the visitors who received the Frog Plush were mostly moving toward the exits. And since the bomber knew the bomb was about to explode, to avoid being caught in the blast, he naturally wouldn't head toward the exits where the bombs were.

Thus, he could only run deeper into the venue!

"What does he look like?"

Kira Yoshikage swept his gaze across the crowd one by one as he asked.

"He was wearing a Frog Mascot costume, so I couldn't see his face, but he was a bit taller than me, probably around 170 cm..."

Kitagawa Marin tried hard to recall the bomber's appearance, but he was in a full-body suit, making it difficult to glean any useful clues.

For Kira Yoshikage, however, that was enough.

His eyes began to rapidly scan the crowd, filtering out those around 170 cm tall.

Clearly, the criminal had another reason for running deeper into the venue—

He needed to hurry and take off his mascot costume.

The fluffy costume might have been deceptive when handing out the bombs, making the recipients let their guard down.

But once the explosion happened, anyone wearing a Frog Mascot would become a prime suspect.

So he had to shed the costume, hoping to blend into the crowd and escape.

Right.

Miura Yumiko and the others were also trying hard to observe the passing crowd, attempting to spot the criminal.

But how easy was that?

There were tens of thousands of visitors in the venue, and they didn't even know what he looked like. Trying to pick him out from the vast sea of people was like searching for a needle in a haystack—nearly impossible.

Kira Yoshikage had thought the same, until his gaze locked onto a young man wearing a cap—

He was around 170 cm tall, and unlike the others, whose faces bore varying degrees of fear, his expression was somewhat sullen.

But when his eyes swept over the victims lying in pools of blood, the corners of his mouth involuntarily curled into a pleased, cruel smile. That smug expression was like an artist savoring his masterpiece.

Kira Yoshikage watched him silently, and the Pink Panther materialized without a sound.

Bam!

Before the young man could even rein in the pleased smile on his lips, his body was sent flying by an invisible force!

Kitagawa Marin and the other two were also drawn to the sudden scene, but they hadn't seen what had struck the man—only that someone in the crowd had been sent flying into the wall. Amid the dull impact, there seemed to be a crisp sound of bones breaking, enough to send chills down anyone's spine.

Everyone was stunned by why the young man had been suddenly launched, but few paid attention to the black tattoo on the back of his hand. The tattoo was shaped like a sewn-shut eye, surrounded by a black ring. Outside the ring, black lines radiated outward in a regular pattern, making the ring look like a pitch-black sun.

"Eye of Foolishness?"

The moment Kira Yoshikage saw that tattoo, he connected everything—this was a terrorist attack orchestrated by the Anti-Intellectual Cult.

The Anti-Intellectual Cult, an extremist religious organization that had risen in recent years.

This cult was spread across the world, and their symbol was a sewn-shut eye.

Within the cult, they called it the Eye of Foolishness, the All-Black Eye.

And that matched the cult's long-standing ideology: thinking is a trap, knowledge is poison.

They advocated burning all books, eliminating every place that provided education, and making people live solely by instinct and the experience passed down by their parents.

At first, the Anti-Intellectual Cult only handed out flyers and recruited people on the streets.

But as time passed, their actions grew increasingly extreme, eventually escalating into full-blown terrorist attacks.

Bombing schools, bombing libraries, even bombing TV stations and government buildings!

In just the past year, at least a hundred schools had been hit by the cult's bombings, and even the teachers at those attacked schools had received death threats from the cult.

It was precisely because of the Anti-Intellectual Cult's terrorist attacks that tens of thousands of students could no longer continue their studies and had to transfer to schools in other regions.

Kira Yoshikage was one of them.

He had originally been able to attend a public school, but now he could only go to an expensive private school.

All thanks to the Anti-Intellectual Cult.

No matter what the cult's goals were, they were still terrorists, secretly orchestrating one attack after another.

And every action of the Anti-Intellectual Cult was undoubtedly destroying the peaceful life Kira Yoshikage had worked so hard to maintain.

Chapter 18: Another Peaceful Day Today

"Kira-kun."

Kitagawa Marin was startled by the sudden turn of events and instinctively looked toward Kira Yoshikage.

Kira Yoshikage withdrew his gaze, acting as if he had seen nothing, and said calmly:

"We need to leave. Follow me."

The man's spine had already been broken by Killer Queen, and he would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

So he could only lie sprawled on the ground, waiting in pain for the police to arrive.

And once the police saw the Eye of Foolishness mark on the back of his hand, they would know he was a member of the Anti-Intellectual Cult, deduce that the cult had orchestrated this attack, and might even follow the trail to catch other cult members.

Even if the Japanese police were as incompetent as ever, they were surely already on their way.

Cleaning up the mess was best left to the police.

Kitagawa Marin, hearing the calm tone in Kira Yoshikage's voice, inexplicably felt a sense of reassurance and nodded obediently.

By now, not many people remained in the venue, but the exit was still packed to the point of being impassable.

Yet Kira Yoshikage still forcibly carved a path through the crowd, leading Kitagawa Marin and the other two out of the Exhibition Hall and into the square outside.

Looking at the crowd scattering in all directions across the square, Yuibihama Yui seemed at a loss:

"Where should we go now?"

Kira Yoshikage's gaze remained fixed on the people passing by, and he said:

"First, get away from here. Take the main road, don't go to the subway station."

Like the Exhibition Hall, the subway would be packed with people, still at risk of a stampede. Besides, with the explosion just happening at the Exhibition Hall, the nearby subway station might not even be running.

In comparison, the spacious main road was safer, and there might even be police along the way.

Moreover, in Kira Yoshikage's view, the bomber had most likely come by subway—

Japan's subways had no security checks, so even if the bomber had swaggered in with a full bag of bombs and taken the subway to the Exhibition Hall, no one would have stopped them. Given how insane the culprit was, if they could 'distribute' time bombs at the Exhibition Hall, they might have planted bombs in the subway station in advance.

If that were the case, no one in the subway station would likely survive.

As for Kitagawa Marin and the other two girls, having nearly been blown up by a bomb, they now had blind trust in Kira Yoshikage. Even if Kira Yoshikage suddenly said they should go back into the Exhibition Hall, they would follow him despite their fear, let alone when leaving via the main road sounded quite reasonable.

With the piercing wail of sirens, police cars with red and blue flashing lights on their roofs sped past.

But just as Kira Yoshikage had thought.

The police weren't trying to screen the passersby for criminals—not because they didn't want to, but because they couldn't.

Tens of thousands of people had come to visit the Exhibition Hall, while the total number of police in all of Tokyo was only forty thousand. Forcing everyone present to stay and be screened was simply unrealistic. All they could do was rush to the scene as quickly as possible to cordon it off and investigate.

Watching the police cars race by on the road, Kira Yoshikage stopped:

"Kitagawa-san."

"Ah, I'm here."

Kitagawa Marin, who had been somewhat dazed, snapped back to attention and looked up nervously.

Kira Yoshikage stared intently into the girl's eyes and spoke calmly:

"Don't tell anyone about what happened today."

"Okay."

Kitagawa Marin hesitated, then spoke in a small, uncertain voice:

"Kira-kun, can you tell me why?"

Kira Yoshikage withdrew his gaze from the girl, his tone utterly flat:

"Because it would make things troublesome, and I hate trouble."

"I understand."

Kitagawa Marin was silent for a moment, then nodded solemnly:

"I'll keep the secret. I won't tell anyone."

She wasn't stupid. Kira Yoshikage hadn't touched a thing, yet he could tell at a glance that the Frog Plush hid a bomb. Even the bomb had detonated right in front of her without causing harm—none of it was coincidence. Perhaps Kira Yoshikage possessed some kind of special ability.

Maybe it was the kind of superpower that often appeared in fantasy novels, or maybe something else entirely.

Kitagawa Marin was curious, but she understood even more clearly that if not for Kira Yoshikage, she would already be a mangled corpse. So what she needed to do wasn't to probe Kira Yoshikage's secrets, but to keep them for him.

"I'll keep the secret too." Miura Yumiko immediately chimed in.

"I—me too." Yuibihama Yui said nervously in a small voice.

Kira Yoshikage withdrew his gaze from the girls and swept a look at the security guards maintaining order.

Barring any surprises, the police should be able to find the Anti-Intellectual Cult members in the Exhibition Hall, and their attention would be drawn to him.

As for passersby like them, they would surely be smoothly overlooked.

Good. Today was another peaceful day.