The researcher, still clutching the stun gun, was pinned in place by Rin's gaze. He had already realized how dire his situation was, yet the sheer ferocity displayed by Kobayashi and Toumi—the two walking calamities before him—left him rooted to the spot, legs trembling, mind completely blank.
Then, suddenly, Kobayashi looked at him.
—Was this really still that worthless "Level 0" from before?
The male researcher thought so, even as—
His hand moved against his will.
Gripping the stun gun, he slammed it hard into his own thigh.
"AAAAAH!!"
The violent electric shock sent his entire body into spasms. Yet restrained by psychic force, he couldn't even collapse. Again and again, his own hand forced the stun gun against his body.
"Then what about the blood on her head?" Kobayashi murmured, noticing the crimson-stained hair of Kōru Jihō.
His gaze shifted to the metal protrusion at the butt of the stun gun—shaped like a window-breaking hammer.
A moment later, the male researcher raised the weapon and smashed the metal end down onto his own skull.
An eye for an eye.
A tooth for a tooth.
Kobayashi was returning every bit of suffering Kōru Jihō had endured—back to the abuser who inflicted it.
"Kobayashi!"
Supporting Gang Rin, Torahachi Toumi walked over.
"Sorry. It'll be over soon," Kobayashi promised.
Seeing Kōru Jihō's miserable state had shaken him deeply. In that surge of emotion, he had chosen this form of retaliation.
It wasn't rage.
Nor was it some lofty sense of "justice."
What welled up in Kobayashi's heart… was fear.
—If I hadn't gone through this… how unbearable, how utterly devastating would it have been?
After all, this body of his had once been an experimental subject in this very facility. Such an experience wasn't some distant impossibility—if he hadn't awakened his esper powers, if he had been captured again…
It was precisely because he feared suffering the same torture that Kobayashi reacted so violently.
To soothe that fear, he abandoned his own principles without hesitation and chose to kill the abuser.
And to do it in the most brutal way possible.
At its core, it was an instinctive stress response.
Torahachi Toumi understood that.
"I'm not here to rush you," she said, shaking her head—Do whatever you want to these scum.
Compared to Torahachi Toumi, who resembled a demon incarnate, Rin was far more gentle by nature.
Even though she herself was a victim, she couldn't bear to watch the male researcher screaming in agony.
But her kindness ended there. Children raised in research facilities matured quickly—they were not naïve enough to beg for mercy on behalf of a researcher.
"Big Brother Nana… Kōru Jihō…"
Gang Rin hesitated.
What she truly cared about was her friend's survival. More than punishing evil, she wanted to save her as soon as possible.
"I know. I won't take much longer," Kobayashi assured her.
Crack.
With a sharp sound, the male researcher's cervical spine snapped, finally releasing him from his suffering.
Revenge complete, Kobayashi looked around for something that could serve as a stretcher. They needed to transport the critically injured Kuro Jiho carefully.
"Kobayashi!"
This time, Torahachi Toumi grabbed the wheelchair directly and spun him to face her, staring straight into his eyes.
"Is that it?" she demanded. "Your revenge—does it end here?"
"Yes?" Kobayashi nodded, still a little confused.
"All the armed personnel here are wiped out. Once we destroy the laboratory and the databases, the Dark May Project will be over."
Toumi's eyebrows shot up. A dangerous expression crossed her face, murderous intent practically overflowing.
Kobayashi broke out in goosebumps, once again reminded of just how terrifying this girl could be.
"Is… is there still a problem?"
He remembered that Toumi had joined him for revenge as well.
Had her revenge not ended yet?
"What about them?" she asked coldly, pointing behind her at the white-coated researchers.
Thirty-seven researchers in total.
The only ones who had actually died were the male researcher just now and the unlucky Section Chief Hayashiki from the very beginning. The rest had suffered nothing more than terror.
"They cannot resist or threaten us," Kobayashi replied.
"And?" Her eyes grew even colder.
"..."
Kobayashi hesitated.
"Hand them over to the security forces… have them imprisoned. How about that?"
With a long, weary sigh, Toumi reached out and brushed her fingers along Kobayashi's cheek—past his ear, down his jaw, to his neck…
Not like she was choking him.
She was choking him.
"Kobayashi," she said, her emerald eyes blazing with authority, "how long do you plan on staying this naïve?"
"What do you think happens after they're arrested?"
"Even I know this much," she continued.
"In this city, they're not criminals. They're 'researchers'—valuable, highly skilled personnel."
"They might be locked up for a while. But it won't be long before they're rehired. And because they've worked on something like Dark May, they'll be reused as 'experienced staff'… to do the same things all over again."
"I know," Kobayashi replied helplessly.
If even Toumi knew this, how could he—someone who had lived two lives—not understand?
But this wasn't a problem he could solve alone. Nor was it something that could be fixed by killing a handful—or even dozens—of people.
Illegal experiments. Human test subjects.
These grotesque practices were an inevitable byproduct of Academy City's existence.
As long as Esper development research continued—so long as Academy City itself existed—these tragedies would repeat, again and again.
Even Level 5 espers couldn't escape that fate.
"So what?" Toumi pressed coldly.
"Because it's meaningless, you'll stop resisting? You'll let these murderers walk free and start torturing other children again in a few months—no, maybe just a few weeks?"
Kobayashi looked away—
Only for the girl to grab his cheeks and force him to face her again.
"Kobayashi-kun, I'm disappointed," she said quietly.
"After everything that's happened, what are you still afraid of?"
"Or is it that you don't want to dirty your own hands?"
"If that's the case, I'll do it."
The ribbon in her other hand snapped taut.
"Just say the word. Give me the order."
"Or… can't you even bring yourself to do that?"
"No."
Konayashi let out a deep sigh.
"I'll do it myself."
He closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, his decision had been made.
(End of Chapter)
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