Chapter 5 (1/2)
Chapter 5 - Blue Sky
Looking at his watch, it was just about 3 AM in the
His should-be familiar room had a completely different look Even back when he s that had been in his bags, bookshelves, and closets had been piled all over the room And that was not the end of it either
Ichijou had been searching for a certain so
He had been certain that he took care in putting it away, but it would not show up no ht away, and he hadYet despite all of that, Ichijou continued to cut away at the hours he had left to sleep, as his search reached a late hour He knew that he was not acting like hirow o take a shower and have a short nap Just how did it come to this?
I know I put it in here, Ichijou thought, as he pulled out the deepest drawer in his desk This was the third time Stored in it was a bundle of loose-leaf notebooks Ichijou picked up the notebook with the year 2000 printed on it, dating back 13 years He was certain he had put it inside this notebook, but it was not there Thinking that perhaps it had dropped to the bottom of the drawer by accident, twice he had taken out and sorted all the loose-leaf notebooks he had, but to no avail
I can’t think of any other logical place it could be in, he thought, as he checked everything a third time with an unhealthy tenacity When it see softly dropped onto the floor
“Huh…?”
Ichijou could hardly believe his eyes It was the picture he had been looking for
So, and it appeared that the picture had stuck onto it Ichijou wondered how he could have glossed over such a si Baffled, he plopped himself down onto the backrest of his desk chair The hours he spent piling up everything in his roo
“What the hell I a…”
For the first time in a while, Ichijou felt appalled at hi, thatat him as well
Taking place 13 years ago, right after it was decided that the Unidentified Lifeforations would come to a close, the picture was taken from afar Ichijou had no recollection of when it could have been taken Sitting between the tables messily stacked with various docuh the roo at the whiteboard with a serious face, Godai was flashi+ng a friendly sraph of Godai that Ichijou had
Ichijou intently gazed at the photograph He had spent all those hours to make sure he still had it
There was no denying that the White Kuuga had shown itself But Godai would yet to reveal his true face
Would Godai sain after the current Unidentified Lifeforets wrapped up?
No, Ichijou whispered within his heart
That would never happen until we ain all depends on us You won’t have to fight anymore… If on’t be able to say those words to him from the bottom of our heart, then Godai will never truly be at rest
While it was true that they held unfamiliar forms, the lives that Godai took were those with human personalities If those elements were taken into consideration publicly, he would be arrested by the police and sentenced under the pretense of co murder, despite all he had to suffer for them The Unidentified Lifefor thea was identified as either No 2 or No 4, the incidents were officially recognized asbetween the Unidentified Lifefor the police force to one-sidedly reap the benefits
But, what kind of feelings did Godai end up going through behind the scenes? Godai had never spoke of them to Ichijou, nor had Ichijou ever asked hi between them Despite that however, Ichijou was confident about how he felt On that day he found the human body of No 0, he had no doubt that Godai had been crying throughout the fight
That hy that Ichijou was resolute in wanting to seal away the Unidentified Lifeforms under the hands of only a police officer All so that the now returned Godai would undo his transformation to reveal his smile
At about 6 hours later, Ichijou was on his way to the NRIPS with Mika at the wheel Enokida had contacted the that she would have the results to the analysis of Lionel’s structure not too long before noon, so they decided to meet at 11:30 AM
The samples to be inspected ca the sainal solution, obtained froh there were notwas approved within an abnormally short timeframe, there were still quite a feho did
Sugita had told theo near the Tokyo Police Department, and instead to meet up with Mika outside and head for the NRIPS This was likely out of concern over any officials catching on to what they were doing and getting in the way Avoiding the use of any government-owned vehicles, Mika was to pick up Ichijou at his apartita would take a different route in order to separate their ti and lower suspicion
Mika followed the plan perfectly and picked up Ichijou while skillfully avoiding traffic Their drive ended up being exceedingly s at their destination an hour early Since there was still plenty of tiested they wait it out in a nearby family restaurant
It was still a bit early for lunch, but because it was during su all over the place The mothers in the central table would scold the in an immediate silence But eventually so the rest of the toddlers to follow suit in a roar of exciteain as this pattern continued to repeat itself
It was a scene you could see anywhere Mika and Ichijou took their seats at a table for tithout paying much mind to the ruckus They just felt that they had a lot of energy If the toddlers got out of hand, the adults would scold theh Ichijou’s mind, he saw a mother take out a small bottle
“How about we just take a drink now?”
Seeing that, another mother went “Oh, then maybe ill too!”, as she took out the sa It was Lionel Z
“Oh , you’re giving him Z? It’s not too harsh?”
One more mother saw the scene and asked, with the firstwith a smile
“It’s completely fine The label says that it’s okay for 5-year olds”
“Oh, really? Does it work?”
“It’s just a! It has even a faster kick than the strawberry flavor, and it lasts long too Just half a bottle will keepfor half the day”
“Wow, that sounds great!”
“Shall I give you half of it?”
“Sure, I’ll gladly take it!”
Theabout at the toy display in front of the register and had the, reflexively got up and was about to stop theusto The children then all sat down quietly with an angelic smile on their faces
“How cute!”
“It really is, huh?”
“I feel like I’ at their faces!”
“You’re exactly right!”
Mika sat back down and looked at Ichijou for an instant, before lowering her head doith a quiet mutter
“That thing sure packs a punch…”
“Yeah…”
“I once had a class a little boy, and she clais that she would tell hiirl, she would always go ‘I’m so jealous’”
After a temporary silence, Mika continued
“Sheabout it…”
“”
“I’ the sa…”
“We’ll go hear the results from Enokida’s analysis and come up with the best countermeasure we can I’ame”
“Yes…”
The strawberry yogurt sundae that Mika ordered then ca the preht before Mika was about to scoop a strawberry into her mouth, her hand suddenly stopped
“I wonder why he can’t become red”
“Are you talking about Godai?”
Mika lifted her head with a surprised look as if Ichijou overheard her talking to herself She quickly shoved the strawberry into her mouth, and then continued to ask her question after she calmed down
“Were you with Godai-san when he turned red?”
“Yeah… But that time, Godai transformed from his human form immediately to that red form”
“Why did he become red?”
“To be honest, I don’t know the exact reason But according to Sawatari, Godai said that the reason why he couldn’t becos were half-hearted”
“Feelings were half-hearted…”
In the end, Mika did not continue to touch her strawberry yogurt sundae at all The only sip Ichijou had of his pre off their heavy feelings, the two of them left the family restaurant
As they made the short trip to the NRIPS in Mika’s rental car, Mika spoke to Ichijou while looking straight ahead
“He was a really strong person, huh…”
“Huh?”
“He sacrificed himself for the sake of everyone’s s… Godai-san’s like a mass of pure justice…”
“You’ve got that wrong”
Ichijou reflexively responded
“Huh?”
“At the very least, I’ve never heard a single word about justice fro himself either”
“But…”
“He’salways said that he’s only been doing what he wanted to do”
“What hewanted to do?”
“He was always fond of the sht to protect it”
“”
“That’s not justice It’s so simpler than that”
“”
“That’s why I wonder if he had suffered”
Ichijou felt as if he saw Mika’s grip on the handle tighten
Upon arriving at the NRIPS, Sugita had surprisingly made it to the lab ahead of the out the information, but Enokida was yet to be seen The analysis she orking on contained top-secret classified infor a lot fro like this They mainly consisted of al drug use A reeted them
“Enokida-san appears to be unable to come to a conclusion The analysis itself has been coeneral outline… But, to be honest, soh explanation?”
They were handed so it after taking a quick glance
“Make it really rough”
“From the samples we’ve received, there were 5 varieties that differed from the rest However, for the uidelines It matched up with the clinical data perfectly”
“So there’s nothing suspicious, huh?”
“Technically speaking, that’s correct”
“Technically? That’s a bit too vague”
“Don’t get too worked up over it, just have a look at this”
Displayed on the ons and hexagons were connected by lines, for a circle
“This is one of the lactic-acid bacterias anized that if this bacteria enters the hu exhaustion and di stress”
“Hmm”
“According to the coet a smile on their face Commercials and such heavily associate Lionel with smiles, so it’s possible that this could just be a placebo effect, but even then it’s still ridiculously effective So, we decided to replicate its state while in the human body”
“I see”
Ichijou ita abandoned, while Mika read through it as well silently
“In order to take into account individual differences, we set up four different settings of acidity and temperature”
“And soht?”
Sugita took a half step forward
“No, there were no changes whatsoever”
“What the hell’s up with that?”
“By the way, Enokida-san suggested to run soh them…”
“Soht?”
“Yes It decomposed to an entirely different substance that directly affected the central nerves The fine details are in the docuo into the the face muscles”
“So that’s what causes the smile”
“That’s correct”
Ichijou recalled the children at the family restaurant Those who had drank the Lionel were definitely s The expression that the
“But the drug’s ht? Why would it go under this kind of change?”
“I don’t know”
“Is Klaut Basip GK sonals?”
“No Normally, that would be considered impossible Because of this new result, Enokida has for soan to analyze the smartphone taken in as evidence”
“The smartphone?”
Ichijou exchanged faces with Sugita An exhausted “Sorry for keeping you waiting!” was then heard as Enokida entered the roo their way off Enokida, saying “Ahhhh, I’ita before stopping with her eyes closed saying “I don’t want an old ou She laid against hi “Let racefully with a “Thanks!” While Mika was a bit startled, Sugita and Ichijou an tohad happened
“Now, I’ht?”
Ichijou and Sugita instinctively looked at each other Having known Enokida for a while now, they were surprised to hear so like that fro that science could not reveal
“How uys heard already?”
“The bacteria Klaut Basip GK deco exposed to electric signals…”
“And that change was so normally considered impossible”
“That’s right It has a completely unknown chemical structure, and while it does have a na to call it ‘A’ for now… On its own, it’s so that you could find just about anywhere, but it also serves as a puzzle piece for Klaut Basip GK”
“A puzzle piece…”
Mika recalled the complicated molecular structure If that was the GK structure, then one of its components must have been Substance A
“Right It would be as if Substance A in the GK structure was a hidden ninja that just suddenly threw off its cae and jumped onto the scene! It would then move to the brain and relax the face muscles”
“But that should be iht? Under normal circumstances, that is”
“Right So how exactly did this change occur…? This is where lenificant role”
“Quantu that term in an article on quantum computers”
“That’s e person would know about To put it really siine that Ninja A fro really far away named Ninja A’”
“First, puzzle pieces, and noe’re talking about twins…”
“Just like the Corsican Brothers, when Ninja A goes to take a bath, Ninja A’ does too Of course, when Ninja A goes to bed, so does Ninja A’ Now, thereon between the that can’t be picked up by the typical instru place on the particle level is ould be called quantulement Got it?”
“H to ot it’ for now”
“I’ht be particles involved in quantulement within the secretions of the final Unidentified Lifeform player First, the secretion, while still in a harh of it reaches the brain, the ‘twin’ particles can relay alike ‘turn into poison’, which will instantly trigger the slaughters Oh, of course, it would be a poison that wouldn’t affect the player”
“Um…”
Mika, who had been silent up to now, chimed in
“So basically, you’re saying that the UL can control the poison it secretes telepathically”
In response to that, Enokida stopped for a moment, but quickly continued with a strained smile
“I didn’t really want to word it like that since it sounds so fake, but yes, I suppose that would be a si it”
“C’mon, if that’s all there is to it, you could’ve just said so, Enokida!”
“Tee-hee!”
Ichijou then sharply interjected
“Enokida-san, I heard you took a closer look into Rin Togibe’s s new?”
“Wow, nice follow-up! You’re absolutely right! That completely inexplicable co it out, so I investigated it a bit more”
“And…!?”
“Just as I thought, protein of organic origin was located within the SIM card!”
Enokida flashed a “I knew it!” face to everyone as she nodded vigorously
“And it’s Substance A!
The trap had been revealed There was no doubt that the final player was Gouhara!
Because the conclusion reached by Enokida was a lot to take in, Mika asked Ichijou to take the wheel for the ride back from the NRIPS
After receiving the analysis results from the various theories they made, Enokida headed to the whiteboard and drew a crude sketch of the cross-section view of the human head
“Exa the results from the simulation, it’s shown that the Substance A, which broke off froins to accu its role as a centralthe facial muscles The prefrontal cortex is what controls how a person thinks and feels If left alone, the Substance A won’t do any real harlement, Gouhara can alter it to whatever he’d like We have no idea how much Lionel has been produced and consumed so far, but all of it contains Substance A within the state of quantu amount…”
“So what you’re saying is…”
Ichijou spoke while breaking everything down
“Within just a moment’s notice, millions of people could fall into a state of er for all of that…is Gouhara himself”
An invisible threat was on the way
“Are we able to jalement?”
Mika, who had been completely silent up until now, asked Enokida with visible concern
“Once particles have entered quantuood Even if they were on opposite sides of the Earth, they would still react with each other, and no kind of interference could stop that”
“That means that we’ll have to kill Gouhara before he can flip the switch”
It was a violent way of putting it, but Ichijou had no means to deny it
“But…”
Mika’s eyes were cast down momentarily, but she quickly lifted her face and blurted out exactly how she felt about the situation
“Just how are we going to fight against someone like him!? It took all we possibly had to take down No 48! There’s no ould be able to stand a chance!! Not with just the white Kuuga, at least…”
Mika’s voice was tre Ichijou surmised that she ainst No 48 And the opponent they were facing now could very well be ten times the adversary
“That’s exactly e’ll have to do the best we can this time”
“But there’s no doubt that Gouhara will use his position as a politician to get in the way of whatever we try to do! He was even able to move the top of the police force at his will! We have absolutely no chance against him!”
Mika, who had always conducted her investigations with a cool head so far, had began to feel cornered due to the enorained with all his work behind the scenes Considering how long his system has been nurtured and maintained, it would be difficult to see it penetrated in any way, even if society itself would deem it to be an evil…
Enokida wrapped her aresture, Mika slowly caain cast down her eyes In response to that, Ichijou spoke with a calm tone
“Even if we get pressured by our superiors, there are still many people ould without a doubt support our cause Enokida-san and the rest of the NRIPS has shown us exactly that”
“It h”
“Once everyone does everything they could do to the best of their ability, ill definitely see the light We’ll have to do everything we can to prepare for that moment”
“”
“If Kuuga is unable to take on his red form, then he will most certainly die if he takes part in this battle”
“!”
“It’s not just Kuuga No one should sacrifice theether… With our ideals and determination, we definitely have it in us to make that a reality”
As Mika slowly began to face Ichijou, Sugita quickly cut in with an “Anyway…”
“Right noe’ll have to think about hoe’re going to capture Gouhara While our strength is ally weak, we’ll just have to steadily work at it hatever we can do Don’t even think about spouting anymore complaints”
“The NRIPS will also continue to investigate further into this It ht not mean much because of how absurd of a conclusion we reached, but we ht as well send a document of our reports to the Ministry too Even if the chance is one in a hundred ot recalled”
“Thanks for your continued cooperation”
After excusing himself, Ichijou laid his hand on Mika’s shoulder and looked at her in the eyes
“I’ll be counting on you, too”
Mika lifted up her face but failed to ht nod Enokida then began to discuss with Sugita about handling weapons, and Ichijou and Mika made their way out of the NRIPS
The series of incidents lied far beyond the realm of detective work Especially for Mika, who had never experienced anything like it The weight of responsibility on her shoulders was likely ten times heavier than what Ichijou felt But Ichijou knew that she would be able to stand up against it as a police officer, as he glanced at her face and stepped on the gas pedal
The final results the NRIPS obtained from the Lionel analysis were sent to the Ministry that sah theht, they made no plans to recall the product
Officially speaking, the investigation on these incidents were supposed to be tered to obtain cooperation from several detectives, and they for Gouhara’s actions and whereabouts
“This is really reassuring”
Ichijou was speaking to Sugita as he looked over a docu
“Although they’re all people ere part of what happened 13 years ago Couldn’t really talk about it that openly, after all”
While listening to Sugita, Ichijou looked for a naita quickly caught onto what he was doing
“Well, um, yeah, in the end, we didn’t contact Sakurai Rather, we couldn’t contact him”
“Right, he got transferred to another department, after all”
Ichijou had recently received a postcard fro to his new home and decided tosoon
“I’ to join our cause if we contacted him, but at the same time I’m sure that would ruin his current career plans”
Sugita rubbed his shaved head in self-contempt and added another remark
“You knowhis wife, Sasayanant”
“Wow, really?”
The good neas like a shi+ning light aly heavy days
“If we contact Sakurai, I’m sure Sasayama would want to join in too… I know I shouldn’t just leave the about this”
“I completely understand”
“We went through a lot to get all these people on the list, but you have to understand that they won’t be at our beck and call Considering the situation, it’ll take tiet your hopes up”
The door to theroo a duazine
“What’s wrong, Natsume?”
“Take a look at this”
Written in an incredibly gaudy font was the title “Over 100 Million Lionel Bottles Sold Can!”
“‘Thanks to all of you, we are close to reaching over 100 million Lionel bottles sold’’The popularity of this product has grown at an incredible rate during the past three ?”
“Look at the next page, too”
Turning the page revealed an interview-style advertise industry holding a bottle of Lionel Z while having a lively chat with none other than Tadayuki Gouhara
“Gouhara…!”
Sugita glared at the article as he began reading it with Ichijou The dialogue between the tas completely transparent
“I’ve had a look at the results for the questionnaire, and it see about two bottles of Lionel every three days I have to say, that’s quite the achievement!”
“Yes Our fir various drinks for about 40 years now, but we’ve never seen people enjoy our product this much”
“It really is a it I’ve actually often foundof ways to counter o buy hs)”
Before even finishi+ng reading the article, Sugita picked up the round
“Geez, what the hell does he ”, this is ridiculous!”
“It’s expected that the total of Lionel bottles sold will reach 100 million three months after it first went on sale… That’s five days from now!”
Mika continued with a pale face
“If we take into account the average of one person drinking two bottles of Lionel every three days over the course of three100 million, that means that about 166 million people have consumed it!”
“166 million…!”
That was the nuibe and Gouhara about his intended slaughter count