The Faker walked up to the unconscious Ito Seigo. From who knew where, he pulled out a piece of cloth like a curtain and casually wrapped Ito Seigo in it.
As soon as he finished, he hoisted Ito Seigo onto his shoulder. Then, as if sensing something, he looked toward a nearby rooftop.
"Drone, follow his line of sight," Noguchi Yuji ordered.
The people below immediately carried out his command and sent out more drones.
As the camera aimed and zoomed in, he soon realized what The Faker was looking at.
Standing on the rooftop The Faker was watching was one of Noguchi Yuji's "old acquaintances"—the Ninth Guardian.
"When did he show up here?" Noguchi Yuji asked in a low voice.
The others hesitated, then shook their heads. They had just been focused entirely on The Faker, so how could they have noticed someone on the rooftop? Besides, they hadn't had a camera pointed over there. They would probably have to wait for satellite footage to be reviewed later to find out.
The Faker once again showed his "brilliant smile." The sight of an alien imitating a human expression made anyone watching feel deeply uneasy.
The Ninth Guardian's face remained expressionless. Though, that wasn't entirely true—there was at least a hint of disgust.
It was unclear whether the two had ever crossed paths or had a grudge between them.
The Faker didn't linger. He turned and vanished after a few leaps.
The Ninth Guardian remained where he was, as if lost in thought.
But he didn't stay long. He walked straight down the stairs and never appeared outside.
Only then did the Self-Defense Force, fire department, investigation teams, and other organizations dare to enter the devastated battlefield and begin the many complicated cleanup operations.
Without a doubt, this place would become the center of the global news storm for days, if not an entire month.
Supernatural powers had officially taken the stage of history in a manner that shook the world.
Several days later, the Special Incident Countermeasures Bureau was officially established. The Minister of Defense also served as its director, and the bureau reported directly to the prime minister.
There were three deputy directors, each a senior official transferred from the Metropolitan Police Department, the National Police Agency, and the Public Prosecutors Office.
The Special Intelligence Division was headed by Tristan William, who had urgently retired from the U.S. military and swiftly obtained Japanese citizenship. Its First Section was mainly responsible for collecting and analyzing domestic supernatural intelligence, while the Second Section handled intelligence from abroad.
The Special Investigation Division was headed by Kuroki Niizumi. It oversaw multiple investigation sections, divided according to the region covered by the intelligence, the identity of the subject, and the target's strength.
The Special Operations Division was headed by Noguchi Yuji. It oversaw various mobile units, as well as the Special Assault Force, established on the model of the SAT. The plan was to staff it with superpowered individuals or ordinary people with exceptional combat skills.
Alongside these major departments were support units such as the Forensic Research Institute and the Security Division.
After the Tokyo Fire Giant incident, the government urgently needed a piece of news like this to reassure the public and boost their confidence. As a result, Kuroki Niizumi, Noguchi Yuji, and William were suddenly pushed into the spotlight as mascots. The major media outlets praised their past achievements over and over.
They slapped all kinds of nicknames on them as if they cost nothing: the Iron Lady of the General Affairs Division, the ace detective of the Criminal Investigation Department, and the Iai Undertaker, who had gone toe-to-toe with the Fire Giant before its transformation, among others.
It had to be said that after hearing all this hype, the public did regain a little confidence. And, strangely enough, the earlier incident had even benefited tourism. Every day, countless foreigners showed up with professional equipment, eager to "film the battlefield" and "make a pilgrimage to the site."
The stock market had crashed for a while, but soon bounced back. Some organizations even claimed that Tokyo was currently the easiest city in the world in which to encounter the supernatural. That one line boosted real estate sales, and wealthy people who had never intended to live there began buying houses in Tokyo. For a time, tourism, stocks, and real estate were all booming!
Even Akihabara had started opening supernatural-themed cafés! Rumor had it they had collected lots of old items from people who had experienced supernatural battles. They claimed the items were authentic, drawing in plenty of tourists who stopped by while sightseeing.
Economists had named this phenomenon "supernatural economics," claiming it was the perfect opportunity for Japan to break out of its slump!
Shiraishi Wataru could only say they were getting ahead of themselves.
A few more scenes like this, and Japan's economy would probably be the first to collapse. After all, capitalists didn't care about nationality.
If he weren't still living here and hoping for a generally stable environment, he could recreate another Fire Giant incident right now.
Still, Shiraishi Wataru was in a good mood and didn't dwell on it.
Ito Seigo had already proven to him that people on the verge of collapse and burdened by intense negative emotions seemed more likely to undergo a sudden mutation and develop an ability.
That gave him a target. He could find people like that, grant them symbiosis, and keep collecting data. He could save some promising candidates when the time was right. As for the useless ones, he could make them put their remaining value to use before they died, and see whether that might spur someone else to mutate.
Choosing the candidates wouldn't be easy. People had different mindsets. Faced with the same thing, some might force a smile, sleep on it, and be fine the next day; others might completely break down.
He also wasn't sure whether the former accumulated more negative emotions or the latter.
The best approach was to try both.
But before that, he should settle Ito Seigo somewhere.
At the moment, Shiraishi Wataru was splitting his attention. His main body was thinking over the gains and losses of this incident, while part of his mind remained focused on The Faker. The Faker had already brought Ito Seigo to a dilapidated shrine in a remote part of the Central Forest Sea.
From the mountain, the view below was almost entirely endless, dense forest. A narrow path could just barely be made out, along with a cluster of low buildings that had been abandoned for at least several decades.
There might once have been a small village here. For some unknown reason, its people had all moved away, leaving behind the houses they couldn't take with them to quietly await nature's reclamation.
The Faker was the second "supernatural being" Shiraishi Wataru had established as having descended from a high-energy plane. He was a lone wolf, at odds with the Holy Infant and even most other factions. He had the mindset of a thrill-seeker and acted on a whim. He could cooperate or make a deal at any moment, and just as easily turn around and betray someone.
His main purpose in coming to this world was to search for the "Wheel of Wisdom" and "inheritance" left behind by a certain Pioneer, according to legends, tens of millions of years ago. In Shiraishi Wataru's made-up setting, the Wheel of Wisdom was a treasure capable of accelerating the evolution of civilization in living beings. Even in a high-energy plane, it was an exceedingly precious artifact.
That was why supernatural factions had descended: most were after the Pioneer's Wheel of Wisdom and inheritance. As for what the inheritance was, he could make it up as he went. If someone ever suddenly developed an ability powerful enough to defy the heavens, he could simply declare that ability to be the inheritance.
In the end, Shiraishi Wataru had the final say on how everything was explained.
Got a problem with that? Tough.
Before you continue