A hush fell over the Darkside Destroyer lab, broken only by the low hum of machinery. In the center of the room, a scientist stood before a table, his eyes glued to a sleek laser scanning machine.
He'd just placed a small, jagged cube of the honden's roof beneath the scanner.
The machine whirred for a moment, and then the display lit up, showing a single, impossible number:
"< 0.0001 mm."
The scientist's breath hitched. He had been a part of Darkside Destroyer for years, had seen impossible technology countless times, but this was different. He squinted at the screen, a disbelieving smirk spreading across his face. "No way," he whispered, shaking his head.
"For real?" He leaned in closer, his fingers hovering over the keypad as if to confirm the reading.
It was a flawless cut, a level of precision that shouldn't have been possible even with the most advanced laser cutters.
He had to be sure. He ran the scan again. The same number flashed back at him. "This is the real deal," he said aloud to the empty room, a giddy excitement bubbling up inside him.
"That's a whole new level of threat." He grabbed his clipboard, jotted down the measurement, and hurried toward the door.
The discovery felt monumental, a new data point in a puzzle he had no hope of solving, but a data point nonetheless.
In another room, two people were watching surveillance screens. The footage from the shrine was still, but many of the monitors were now blank, a jarring contrast to the bustling scenes on the others.
They had watched the footage over and over, trying to pinpoint the exact moment the drones had gone dark. So far, nothing.
Suddenly, the door slid open, and Mizuki stepped in, her posture straight and her expression serious.
"Did you get the footage of what happened there?" she asked, her voice cutting through the silence.
"We tried, but something strange happened," one of the operators replied, his eyes still fixed on a blank screen.
"Strange?" Mizuki asked, a concerned expression on her face.
"Yes. All the camera drones were working perfectly until the exact moment the person Ishizawa Tetsu mentioned attacked the place. At that same time, all the drones in the area suddenly went black."
"All the drones went black?" Mizuki repeated, her hand going to her chin.
The pieces clicked into place. The same moment the Anomaly was destroyed, the drones were taken offline. It was too precise to be a coincidence.
"Hm." She then issued a direct order.
"Continue investigating this. Contact me if there's any progress."
"Roger that," the two replied in unison. Just then, the scientist from earlier entered, a clipboard in hand.
"Ms. Mizuki, this is the analysis result," he said, handing her the clipboard. She took it, quickly scanned the results, and nodded.
"Alright, good job."
She then left the room.
Outside, Mizuki stood for a moment, her mind replaying the scene of the destroyed underground tunnel at the shrine—a total mess, covered in rubble, severely damaged. She remembered a recent conversation with Saya.
"Kamizaki Saya, I'm pretty sure Reiji gave you a mission to eliminate Ishizawa Tetsu, right?" Mizuki had asked. "How's it going?"
"I don't think he's posing any threat to us," Saya had answered, her tone clear and confident.
"Are you sure... so far?" Mizuki had pressed. Her words had a way of piercing through confidence, and she watched as a flicker of nervousness crossed Saya's expression.
"He indirectly brought us into contact with a serious risk. That mysterious man went so far as to destroy N-178, an Anomaly that could have benefited us." And who knows if next time it'll be our base, our people, or even civilians? I know it wasn't Ishizawa's fault, but we can't deny that he bears some responsibility. Keeping him here might mean we'll have to confront that mysterious man."
Mizuki had looked at Saya, who was now swallowing nervously. "Kamizaki, are you ready to shoulder the responsibility for your trust in him?"
"Yes, I am," Saya had replied without hesitation.
Now, as she walked away, Mizuki thought to herself, a cold unease settling in her stomach. "Simply erasing his memories won't be enough this time. I must end him... yet I can't." The thought brought a strange, almost foreign feeling to her. She had been tasked with eliminating threats for so long, but with him, it was different. "It's only been a few weeks, and yet he's made me unable to take his life away." She sighed and looked at the ceiling. "He's strangely influential."
The scene shifted to Tetsu's bedroom at home. He woke up, the morning light filling the room. He took a deep breath, the fresh air a stark contrast to the sterile environment of the underground base. He yawned, the events of the past week weighing on his mind like a physical burden. "It's been a week since I made that promise," he thought. He could feel the pressure tightening around him, a knot in his chest. "Only two weeks left to find the EERF," he repeated under his breath, the weight of urgency crashing down like a freight train. He could almost feel the cold hands of desperation gripping his throat. "If I don't uncover the truth soon, what happens next? Will we lose everything?" The thought sent a sharp pang of fear through him, igniting a fierce determination to succeed.
He remembered his conversation with Hideo and groaned inwardly. "I'm so dumb. Even if I find an EERF base, it's not a guarantee that the culprit is there. There are so many bases. And even if I find the culprit, I'll need evidence. I'll blow my cover." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I definitely can't break that promise. I guess I'll just try my best."
Just then, his phone vibrated. It was a new message from Commander Arata.
Ishizawa. There's a mission for you.
A train sped through the snowy landscape of Hokkaido. Tetsu sat by the window, mesmerized by the pristine white world outside. The automated voice announced, "The train has arrived at Sapporo station. Please check your belongings and proceed to the exit."
The doors opened, and a river of people exited. After the crowd thinned, Tetsu walked out, wearing ordinary winter clothes. His breath puffed out in a white cloud as he took in the scene. "Whoa," he said, his eyes wide. "This is Hokkaido." He dashed over to a massive pile of snow, his fingers diving into its soft depths. The snowflakes melted upon contact, cool and refreshing against his skin, sending shivers up his spine. "It's like touching a cloud!" he exclaimed, a smile stretching across his face. He savored the way it crumbled and slid through his fingers, each flake sparkling like tiny diamonds in the winter sun. "It's so fluffy and cold." His gaze shifted, and he spotted the Sapporo TV Tower looming over the city. "Yo, that's the Sapporo TV Tower. It's truly huge and even more outstanding than in the videos." He ran around, his eyes sparkling with a child-like excitement.
"This... this... and this too!"
Suddenly, a hand chopped him on the head. "Ahhh!" Tetsu yelped, rubbing the sore spot. He turned to see Saya, also in winter clothing, standing behind him.
"We're not here to play around, remember?" she said, her voice dry.
"Yeah, I know," Tetsu replied, his playful mood instantly vanishing. He immediately became serious. "We have to find the anomalistic object."
"Yeah," Saya said, her gaze fixed on the distance. "But finding a Nonentity-Type Anomaly is much harder. There's no fighting involved, so it doesn't just show up. We have to search through everything. Do you know what the chance of failing is for this type of mission?"
"No, what is it?" Tetsu asked.
"Ninety-five percent," Saya stated. "That means we have only a five percent chance of completing this mission. Not only that, but this kind of task can take a couple of days."
"Ugh, why did I agree to this?" Tetsu groaned.
"It's fine," Saya said. "For now, let's just check into a nearby hotel, and then we'll ask people around for useful information."
"Ahhh, sure," Tetsu said, a sigh escaping his lips. They soon checked into two different rooms at a nearby lodge and began their investigation.
Later that afternoon, Tetsu ran into Saya. "Did you find anything suspicious?" he asked.
"No," she replied, breathing heavily.
"Me neither. Everyone just seems to be saying ordinary things," Tetsu said.
"I see. Then let's call it a day," Saya said. As they headed back to the lodge, a boy in a white Japanese robe with white fur ran into Tetsu, causing him to fall.
"Are you alright?" Tetsu asked, bending down to help. He touched the boy's robe, and a surge of energy went through him. It wasn't a static shock or a simple jolt. It felt like a low, humming frequency, a quiet vibration that resonated deep in his bones, a feeling he hadn't experienced since... since the Anomaly.
The boy quickly knocked Tetsu's hand away and ran out of the lodge. Saya, who had turned back, asked, "Hey, what are you doing?"
Tetsu was still processing the sensation, his hand tingling. "That boy," he said. "I felt a presence of energy in his jacket."
"Really?" Saya asked, turning to look for the boy, but he was already gone. "Then that jacket might be the Anomaly we're looking for."
"Then what should we do now?" Tetsu asked, his mind racing.
"Let's go and rest for now," Saya replied. "Don't worry, I already remembered his face and the robe's features. We can find him tomorrow."
"Understood," Tetsu said.
At midnight, deep in a snowy forest, the same boy in the white robe was running. In the distance, a pair of chilling blue eyes illuminated the darkness.
The next day, in front of a house in the city, a woman opened her door to a delivery person. "Who's there?" she asked. The person was Saya, wearing a delivery uniform and a cap pulled low.
"Hi. I'm from the Aomori delivery service," Saya said, her voice perfectly modulated to sound friendly and casual. She held out a sealed cardboard box. "Here's a package that was sent to you."
"A package?" the woman asked. She remembered a call from her relative the day before, whose voice sounded exactly the same. What she didn't know was that it was a Darkside Destroyer agent on the other end, perfectly faking the voice. "Oh! It's from my brother, right?" the woman said, smiling.
Saya asked her to sign for the package, and the woman brought it inside. She opened the box to find a pair of shoes. "My brother is so nice! He even sent a gift for my son," she said, pleased.
She was so focused on the shoes that she didn't notice a tiny, robotic spider, no bigger than a coin, fly out of the box at bullet speed and land on the floor, disappearing into a dark corner.
Outside in a black car, Tetsu was watching the scene through the spider's eyes on a small monitor. He expertly controlled the spider, sending it into a room where it hid under the bed, its small camera providing a clear view.
A moment later, the boy from yesterday, named Hito, returned home. "I'm back," he said. He walked into his room, took off the robe, and placed it on his desk.
Tetsu, watching from the car, saw his chance. "It's now or never," he thought. He pressed a control button, and the spider leaped onto the desk and attached itself to the robe. It was a perfect plan.
After a while, the boy put the robe back on and walked out the door. "Hito, are you going out again?" his mother asked.
"Just for a while, Mom," he replied.
Once Hito had walked a good distance from his house, Tetsu pressed a button on the controller. The spider emitted a signal, and the boy was instantly paralyzed, his body locked in place. From behind, Saya walked over, slowly took the robe away, and replaced it with an identical one. The entire process took less than ten seconds.
After Saya had walked a safe distance, Tetsu clicked the button again, and the spider released another signal. Hito could move again, but his expression was confused. "Why did I stop?" he thought to himself. He had no idea what had just happened.
Saya got into the car, holding the robe. "Here it is. We've completed the mission."
"Sure. Nice job," Tetsu said, throwing the controller onto the seat.
As the car drove away, a non-human figure with chilling blue eyes in the snowy forest watched them, following in the same direction.
The hunt was far from over.