Tangze Contagion Phenomenon

"Matsuda—!"

Hearing the sound quickly disappear into the crowd, the man standing among them turned his head warily, scanned both sides, then suspiciously withdrew his gaze.

It was a very familiar name. Having clearly learned through television about the souls he had wronged, of course he had heard similar names before.

Perhaps that was why, at such a special time today, an otherwise common surname had caught his attention.

He turned back and continued forward with the excited crowd, the corner of his eye fixed on the outskirts of the procession, on the vehicles parked beyond the barricades. The smile on his lips gradually widened.

He was waiting, lying in wait for prey, waiting for an opening.

Finding a vulnerable lamb separated from the flock and easily ending its life, tearing open its flesh and blood—that was a hunter's instinct.

It was time to reap another harvest. His carnival was about to begin.

Last time had been too rushed. It had been a pity that he had not gotten to properly play with those sanctimonious police officers. Hopefully, this year's celebration would satisfy them.

The man whose attention remained focused outside the crowd failed to notice that, as his emotions rose, more and more eyes in his field of vision were shifting toward his face. A strange sense of tearing was slowly encroaching upon him.

The tale of the mantis stalking the cicada while the oriole waited behind was playing out on this day filled with streamers and flowers.

"What's wrong with Officer Sato? She looks so sad."

Spotting Miwako Sato standing at the roadside from afar, staring blankly at the crowd ahead, Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya quietly asked the classmates beside him.

Having dealt with these officers many times and gradually become familiar with them, he had come to understand