Out of Control

"Are you not going to apologize?"

After Sato Gafeng said those words,

time around him seemed to freeze for several seconds.

The Yakuza was startled at first, then his expression gradually darkened. Even the tattoos covering half his face seemed to twist.

Everyone was standing close together, so the people nearby had naturally heard what he said.

The high school student who had been playing on his phone looked up at the salaryman, then at the Yakuza. He edged away as best he could, leaving just enough room that he wouldn't get hit if the other man threw a punch.

He wasn't the only one. Many of the people around them silently took a step back, just in case they got caught up in what happened next.

Only the female office worker wearing headphones kept listening to music and scrolling through her feed, swaying slightly to the beat.

"How do you want me to apologize?" The Yakuza's voice was hoarse, and he looked every bit the stereotype. He turned and stared at the ordinary salaryman in front of him, wondering where he'd found the nerve to provoke him.

"Just a normal apology." Sato Gafeng tried to hold back his anger, which was threatening to spill over, and spoke in a low voice.

"Oh." The Yakuza's face lit with sudden realization. He cleared his throat twice. "Ahem. Ptooey."

A thick glob of spit landed right on Sato Gafeng's leather shoe.

"Oh, that's how we apologize back in my village." The Yakuza gave him a beaming half-smile.

It was only half a smile because the moment Sato Gafeng threw his punch, half the man's face was smashed in.

From everyone else's perspective, the salaryman threw a punch, and the Yakuza's head burst like a tomato. Red and white matter sprayed out in a fan, and the force of the punch sent his body crashing into the people around him, knocking down half the train car like dominoes.

The female office worker had been happily scrolling on her phone. Then she was suddenly splattered from head to toe. Half her face and the phone in her hand were stained red. She shrieked in terror, scrambled into a corner, and crouched down with her head in her hands.

Sato Gafeng looked dazed, but in truth, he was savoring the afterglow. So this was how good it felt to throw a punch.

It was more exhilarating than anything else. Dopamine flooded through him like a dam had burst, and his whole body trembled with pleasure.

His fist was badly damaged, but he seemed not to notice at all.

Screams rose and fell throughout the car. Most of the people who didn't know what was going on thought they'd run into another bomber and tried desperately to flee.

Those who had seen what happened were even more terrified. What the hell? Had they run into some real-life superpowered brawler?

Who could knock half a man's face in with a single punch?

The anger that had begun to subside faded as Sato Gafeng caught the scent of fear all around him. The urge to tear everything apart and destroy it all swept over him again like a tide.

As he watched everyone desperately back away, their fear washing over him, the last of the reason in his eyes finally vanished.

While observing Sato Gafeng's killing through their symbiosis, Shiraishi Wataru took notes.

"So pure [Super Strength] can leave someone at the mercy of their emotions. Does that mean [Super Strength] has to be paired with [Steel Body]? Then why didn't [Steel Body] alone cause abnormal emotions? Is that ability more stable?"

Although the outcome was beyond Shiraishi Wataru's expectations, the accident didn't seem like a bad thing. After all, he had learned that being granted [Super Strength] alone could leave someone emotionally disturbed, and that pairing it with [Steel Body] would most likely prevent that.

It could also let Shiraishi Wataru test the waters of this society ahead of time and see whether it would draw out other superpowered individuals or mysterious organizations. He could sever his connection to the Holy Infant Society at any time, and there was no trace of his true body left behind—unless someone could track him through divination or some other mystical means.

At the subway platform, Sato Gafeng had no idea how many people who couldn't escape in time he had torn apart with his bare hands. He had killed his way from the train car to the platform, where the train had stopped. His entire body was drenched in blood, and both hands were already deformed. Nearby security guards finally arrived. After warning him repeatedly, they saw him charge straight at them and opened fire.

But perhaps the handguns were too small-caliber. Even after several shots, all they managed to do was leave a few insignificant holes in him. Sato Gafeng quickly closed the distance. As the guard stared at him in despair, he brought his hand down on the man's neck, and the guard's head flew from his body.

In the end, it took several people firing together to kill Sato Gafeng.

The first human trial of [Super Strength] had taught Shiraishi Wataru a great deal. Paired with [Steel Body], which had excellent compatibility, it would definitely achieve more than the sum of its parts.

But even [Super Strength] alone was already formidable. It seemed to come with pain immunity, though the symbiotic host was prone to losing control.

After making the parasite inside Sato Gafeng dissolve itself, Shiraishi Wataru decided to focus on Mrs. Sato. Perhaps he would soon find out whether [Steel Body] could fight back against firearms.

Officer Yamaguchi and his colleague returned to the interrogation room.

Sato Tomomi sat there with her head bowed, quietly sobbing.

"Mrs. Sato, what did that man just tell you? Perhaps we can help."

It took a while before Sato Tomomi lifted her head. Her bloodshot eyes fixed on Yamaguchi. "He said you were incompetent at your jobs, and that you killed my husband to use him as a scapegoat."

Officer Yamaguchi and Noguchi Yuji, who was behind the one-way glass, felt their hearts jump. He pulled out his phone, intending to tell the subordinate tailing the lawyer to detain him and bring him back immediately.

At the same time, another subordinate who had been sent out earlier returned.

"Report: Okamoto Ritsuichi hasn't been answering his calls. I got in touch with him another way. He said he never hired a lawyer to help Mrs. Sato. He didn't even know she was at the Metropolitan Police Department."

As he listened to the report, he found his subordinate's number and called.

Then came a long, agonizing series of rings.

Unable to get any instructions from the call, Officer Yamaguchi could only force himself to stay calm and firmly deny what Sato Tomomi had said. But she refused to believe him and grew agitated, demanding to see her husband.

The call connected.

Silence on the other end.

"...Let him go, and I won't pursue this." Noguchi Yuji, who had already guessed what had happened, spoke first.

"Sorry, but once someone's head comes off, you can't put it back on."

In an unlit alley, the Ninth Guardian, controlled by Shiraishi Wataru's parasite, casually tossed away the phone and the head. Like an ordinary passerby out for a stroll, he slowly disappeared into the depths of the dark alley.

There was no expression on Noguchi Yuji's face, but everyone who knew him could tell that a volcano was about to erupt.

"Take two people and track down Ishida. Find him," Noguchi Yuji ordered.

"Yes, sir!"

Meanwhile, as Officer Yamaguchi tried to change the subject, Sato Tomomi finally understood: her husband was dead. She didn't care whether, as the Ninth Guardian had said, he had died at the hands of the Metropolitan Police Department. All she wanted now was to destroy everything.

"I see. Anger can temporarily improve compatibility with [Super Strength]. So what I felt earlier—that forcing compatibility with [Super Strength] would lead to loss of control—was actually about deliberately using the parasite to make the host angry before giving them [Super Strength]?" Shiraishi Wataru understood and made a note of this possibility.

"But now that Sato Tomomi is enraged by her husband's death, she can become compatible on her own. Will she still lose control?" Shiraishi Wataru considered it. "That remains to be seen."

The parasite attached to Sato Tomomi's heart officially became compatible with [Super Strength].

Mrs. Sato seemed to have calmed down, but she was almost too calm. A heavy, oppressive atmosphere spread out from her, making it hard for those around her to breathe.

"...Without me, Gafeng must be so, so lonely." She slowly raised her head, turned to the side, and looked at the one-way glass. Her gaze seemed to pierce right through it, fixing on Noguchi Yuji's position.

"I'll go join him. But before that..."