But then, suddenly, something happened to Candy.
Thwack!
"?!"
Candy's eyes shot wide open.
Red blood trickled out from beneath his shirt.
A moment later, the pain caught up with him.
"?!"
Wh–what the hell...?
Thwack!
Something was stabbing him from inside his shirt—and it hurt like hell, as if something sharp and solid had pierced through.
Candy tore off his blazer... and that's when he saw it.
Coral.
"Coral?!"
When he looked over at Sera, he realized it—
The piece of coral… the one Mickey threw to that girl?!
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Jagged coral, coated in a pink aura, burst from Candy's body—over and over again, stabbing through his skin.
"AAAAAAGGHHHH!!"
His blood spilled freely, mixing into the water… thicker… denser… redder...
So much so that the great white shark mauling Sera suddenly let go and turned—drawn toward Candy instead, its predator instincts zeroing in on the more potent trail.
Sera understood now why Mickey had thrown her that coral shard.
He gave it to her because he knew Candy might use his power to trick the sharks into attacking her instead. The coral was meant to change that. It was up to her to make it count.
And now, as Sera floated there, she watched the sharks veer toward Candy—who now thrashed in pure, primal fear.
"Heh… heh… serves you right…"
This was her chance to escape—to swim up and out of the water, away from the sharks.
But her body didn't respond.
Sera's consciousness faded. Her eyelids fluttered.
The air she'd stored from earlier was gone. That last shark attack had knocked it all out of her.
Her body slowly sank toward the aquarium floor.
No more bubbles escaped her mouth. Her muscles slackened—
Darkness.
Sera could no longer swim.
But just then, Mickey caught her by the arm and began to pull her upward.
It wasn't easy. The car tire rubber Sera had wrapped around her arm weighed her down, making it much harder for him to drag her to the surface.
But he managed.
"HAHHHHHHHH!!"
Their heads broke the surface of the aquarium pool beneath the VIP floor.
They could breathe again—but Sera remained unresponsive.
Mickey hauled her up onto the pool's edge and dragged her onto dry ground.
Just then, as if fate had intervened, Syd Barrett and Toshi Ishii arrived at the scene.
It wasn't hard to find the VIP room—the wreckage and ripped-up carpet had already told them something big had gone down here.
They both saw Mickey and Sera, drenched and battered, lying beside the pool.
"Oi?! What the hell happened?!"
There were a lot of questions Mickey would have to answer.
But right now, the priority was Sera—who wasn't breathing—and Candy, who needed to be taken alive.
Syd and Toshi understood that immediately. They saw Sera's limp body by the pool and didn't hesitate.
"Watch her," Mickey said.
Then he grabbed a chunk of broken cement wall and tossed it to Syd.
"We're going back in. Candy's still down there—and he's about to get eaten."
"…What are you planning?" Syd asked.
"We're bringing Candy back. Before he dies."
There wasn't time to waste.
Without hesitation, Syd leapt into the water behind Mickey.
Splash!
Below, they saw Candy's body being ravaged by a great white shark, thrashing wildly.
The two swam toward him.
At the same time, Syd noticed another ten sharks closing in—less than five meters away.
They reached Candy just in time. Syd wedged himself between Candy and the shark, grabbing Candy with one hand while clutching the cement chunk with the other.
A red aura surged from Syd's body.
He used his ability to transfer the properties of the cement into Candy's skin—giving the man the toughness and electrical resistance of concrete.
Syd gave Mickey a nod—he's ready.
Naturally, the shark turned on Syd, preparing to strike.
But it froze.
Mickey had released his green aura—his signature wires spreading from his body and plunging into the water's surface.
An immense electric current surged across the aquarium.
Crackle! SZZZZZAAAAAPP!!
Electricity danced through the water at lightning speed.
Every conductive creature in the tank—including every fish, every shark—convulsed violently, their bodies seizing from the voltage.
Then, they stopped.
Floating silently, lifeless.
Toshi, who was tending to Sera above, saw the sparks crawling across the water's surface.
Mickey, Syd, and Candy were untouched by the electric shock—thanks to the cement skin Syd had given them.
The water calmed. The wires retracted.
The two boys resurfaced.
Syd dragged Candy to the pool's edge and smashed a fist into his face—knocking him clean out.
Mickey didn't stop for a second.
He ran straight to Toshi and dropped down beside Sera.
"How is she?"
"…Water in her lungs. Still unconscious. She's been without air too long."
"…"
Mickey sat down across from Toshi, by Sera's side.
He slapped her cheeks gently. No response.
Then he placed his hands on her chest and started compressions—pumping rhythmically.
Water trickled from her mouth.
It was working.
"Oi… is she dead?" Syd leaned over and asked.
He sounded casual, but deep down he was worried too.
"…You'll need to breathe into her lungs soon," Toshi suggested.
Mickey replied, still doing compressions, "
"They say not to do that anymore," Mickey replied, still pumping.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Still worth a shot..."
"You read too many novels."
"Mix it up, man."
Mickey didn't reply.
He summoned a green wire and inserted it into Sera's chest.
Then, he sent a gentle electric current through her.
As it reached her lungs, he split the current into positive and negative charges—manipulating the ions in the salt water inside her to drag it back out.
A second wire stimulated her heart.
Cough! Cough!
"..."
The water started flowing—more and more, out her nose and mouth.
But Sera still didn't wake up.
Mickey lifted her head, kept pumping... until finally, he sighed, leaned down, and pressed his lips to hers—breathing air into her lungs.
No one could say whether it was the old-school method or the build-up of everything else that did it—but...
Cough! COUGH! COUGH!
Salt water spewed out from her nose and mouth as Sera jolted back to life.
Her throat burned. Her sinuses stung. She rolled her head and vomited seawater again, then opened her eyes.
Not all the way—but enough.
Her voice was hoarse.
"...Did we... get him?"
Mickey's eyes widened at her question.
"..."
He smiled softly and met her gaze.
"...Yeah. We got him."
A grey sedan pulled away from the scene of the incident.
"They told you to capture the target, not take him for a swim," said Roxy from the passenger seat, giving the three boys in the car a sharp glance. Toshi was driving.
In the very back, Jody wasn't just sitting around doing nothing—she was keeping an eye on Candy's unconscious body, now seated between her and Syd, while also handing Syd a towel.
Mickey sat in the middle row with Sera, who was slumped against the seat, still out cold.
"Wasn't exactly my idea to go for a dip," Mickey replied dryly. Then he glanced toward the back. "What took you guys so long?"
"There wasn't just Candy up there. The place was crawling with guards," Toshi answered from the driver's seat.
"Then why didn't Sera and I run into any?"
"No idea. Probably wanted to play dramatic or something," Syd replied, looking down at Candy's limp body. "And we got messed up by his power, too. Ended up wandering around a damn illusion forest."
"You? Grown-ass men falling for a basic illusion?" Mickey turned back toward them with a smirk.
"You fell for it too, asshole." Syd flipped him the bird.
"Hey, at least we found something useful." Toshi cut in, immediately drawing everyone's attention.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flash drive.
"I hacked into their office system while I was in there. Found something interesting. Check it out."
He passed the drive to Roxy, who plugged it into her laptop.
A flight history log appeared on the screen—records for a private plane belonging to Candy.
"What is it?" Mickey asked from behind.
"Candy's flight history," Roxy replied.
"Didn't we already have that? Former Congressman, flying all over the place."
"No… this one's different. It's not his private jet—it's a cargo plane that's been landing at his private hangar," Toshi explained.
"Cargo? What was he shipping?"
"Over the past two years, cargo planes have been docking there frequently… from…"
Roxy trailed off.
"From where?" Jody asked.
"…From the Middle East."
"!"
The whole car went quiet.
"If I remember right… Betty was involved with something in the Middle East too," Jody added.
"Exactly. You see the connection now? But that's not all. I found a photo saved on his computer," Toshi nudged Roxy to flip to the next file.
A picture of a young girl with orange hair appeared on the screen.
She looked much younger than any of them—possibly still in primary school.
But what stood out most were her heterochromatic eyes—two different colors.
"…Isn't that…"
"…Might be the girl you saw inside the old hag's mind," Mickey said quietly.
"That's all there was?" Roxy asked Toshi.
"Yeah. Just that."
Mickey stared at the picture of the girl for a long while.
Suddenly, the movement of the car jolted Sera's head off the soft cushion of the seat and onto Mickey's shoulder.
Thump.
"…."
Mickey glanced down at her. She was dead asleep.
He tried to gently nudge her head back onto the seat, but no matter how many ways he adjusted it, her head always slumped back down onto his shoulder.
"…."
He tried shifting himself to the side—but that just made her flop forward in the most awkward, ridiculous angle.
Finally, Mickey gave up.
He let her sleep there, drooling on his shoulder.