The story we started

[“Indeed, it seems to have suddenly risen.”]

[Kousaka Kyosuke looked at the place where her finger pointed. The tentacle tissue there was thinner in the lower half and thicker in the upper half, and there was an awkward size difference at the connection.]

[“This is probably because the nerve tissue suddenly grew at an incredible speed. Because the speed was too fast and the changes were too great, it caused damage and injury to the original nervous system, and then it was repaired again. In a way that you can understand - well, it’s probably the same as prostate hypertrophy or inflammation in men~”]

[“…Thank you. I completely understand.”]

[Kousaka Kyosuke, who subconsciously crossed his legs, coughed, interrupting Makishima Saori's dirty talk. ]

[“So what does this have to do with Zaimokuza itself?”]

[“According to what you said before, Kyousuke-kun, Zaimokuza-san turned into a red form just one day after he turned into a white form, so this nerve system should have started to change like this at that time, right? Not only did the nerves become thicker, but the spread became more dense and faster. I’m afraid that as time goes by and the number of transformations increases, this nerve tissue will spread to his entire body and even his brain. Maybe by then—”]

[“What will happen then?”]

[Kousaka Kyosuke suppressed his anxiety and stared closely at the graceful profile of Makishima Saori, hoping to get a better answer from her, even though he knew it was just self-deception.]

【Makishima Saori did not reply at this time. She silently took off her glasses and turned to look at Kousaka Kyosuke with a meaningful look.】

[“By then… Mr. Zaimokuza might turn into a monster beyond imagination, or—”]

[“——Become a pure combat weapon.”]

22. Azure Dragon Shadow in

[“Ah~ I wonder if I will become so powerful in the future?”]

[A familiar voice sounded between the two people who were looking at each other. The two people were startled by the sudden voice and turned around to look. Zaimokuza, who had woken up at some point, was standing behind them and looking at the X-ray film displayed on the computer screen with a curious look on his face. bookzun.com]

【“You, how did you get out?”】

[Makishima Saori said in a panic that in order to prevent Zaimokuza from hearing something he shouldn't have heard and getting emotional, she not only turned off the microphone, but also locked the door! ]

【"hey-hey--"】

【Zaimokuza smiled cunningly, raised his palm, and pinched a bent wire between his index finger and thumb.】

[“This is the 2000th skill among my 48 skills. As long as there is a keyhole, even a police station, I can come and go freely!”]

[“…You know a lot of strange things.”]

【Kousaka Kyosuke, a criminal policeman, had his eyes twitched because of Zaimokuza's very criminal remarks. His professional habit made him subconsciously want to take out the handcuffs and put the beast in front of him in a hurry. He wanted to put the beast in a hurry and put it in a hurry. He wanted to put the beast in a hurry and put it in a hurry. He wanted to put it in a hurry and put it in a hurry! �

[“Ahem… Since you, Zaimokuza-san, have heard what Kyousuke and I just said, I’ll just speak my mind.”]

[Makishima Saori pretended to cough a few times, then spoke seriously.]

[“——This is my advice as a doctor. You’d better not transform again.”]

[“This strange stone is now highly integrated with your body. The nerve tissue that has grown from it has even partially eroded and assimilated your original nervous system. Therefore, if you forcibly remove it, it may result in your death.”]

[“Until we find a way to safely separate this stone from your body, Mr. Zaimokuza, in order to prevent these nerve tissues from spreading to your body, you’d better not transform again—”]

【“What a man!”】

【Zaimokuza interrupted Makishima Saori who was about to continue speaking and gave her signature thumbs up and smile.】

[“I am the great General Ashikaga Yoshiteru, so there will be absolutely no problem for me! Please rest assured.”]

[“Do you want to listen to what you are saying?”]

【Kousaka Kyousuke looked at Zaimokuza who said this with a smile, and his brows slowly twisted into a knot. 】

[“Now is not the time to act like a chuunibyou. According to Makishima, if you continue to use that belt to transform and fight, when these nerve tissues spread throughout your body, no one knows what you will become in the end!”]

[“Like I told you before, don’t get involved in these matters anymore. Leave the remaining unidentified life forms to us, the police—”]

【"but."】

【Zaimokuza interrupted Kousaka Kyosuke's words with a smile, his clear eyes staring into the other's black eyes.】

[“If I hadn’t been here, more people would have died, right? Mr. Kosaka, didn’t you know this and gave me the motorcycle to use?”]

【“…”】

[Kousaka Kyousuke opened his mouth in astonishment. Zaimokuza's sharp counterattack made him at a loss for words for the first time.]

[Although Kousaka Kyosuke was reluctant to admit it, he knew in his heart that what Zaimokuza said was absolutely correct.]

[Excluding the No. 0 that only appeared in the video, whether it was the No. 1 that appeared at the beginning, the No. 3 that followed, or even the No. 5, all of these unidentified life forms were repelled or even killed with the help of Zaimokuza after his transformation.]

[And if Zaimokuza didn't help, then according to the destructive power and bloodthirstiness displayed by those unidentified life forms, even if the police were able to expel them in the end, the price they paid would definitely be much more severe than it is now. ]

[It is not just the ordinary people who are at risk of being killed by unidentified life forms who cannot do without Zaimokuza, but also the police officers who are on the front lines. It can even be said that at this stage, facing those terrifying killer monsters resurrected from ancient ruins, Zaimokuza's power is indispensable. Without him, countless people would probably die.]

[Zaimokuza's life is life, so does that mean other people's lives are not lives? This is exactly what left Kousaka Kyousuke speechless. ]

[“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”]

[A hand patted Kousaka Kyosuke's shoulder. He looked up wordlessly. Zaimokuza's smiling face was glowing in the reflection of the computer screen, without a trace of gloom.]

【“My dear husband.”】

"You know that continuing to transform is so dangerous, why are you still so optimistic?"

Zaimokuza looked at the "himself" who was smiling in the video on his mobile phone. Even though he knew that he would become a monster if he continued to fight, that smiling face never wavered in the slightest. Suddenly, his heart began to waver like never before.

"In order to protect everyone's smiles...are you willing to go this far just for this?"

He slowly raised his thumbs and made the gesture that "himself" often made in the video, but unlike the determined eyes in the video, his own eyes were full of confusion, because he couldn't imagine why someone would fight desperately for a reason that was almost as ridiculous as "world peace", and never backed down even though he knew what the outcome would be in the future. Zaimokuza had never seen such a person in his previous life, and he couldn't imagine that such a person would exist in reality.

And now he "saw" it, in an incredible way, that this idealistic and heroic person might even be his future self.

"The "me" of the future...are you really me? Can I really be you in the future?"

Hikigaya Hachiman stood silently beside Zaimokuza and looked at him. Seeing Zaimokuza's confused look, he rarely said a word and just stood by his side quietly.

He knew very well that sometimes he had to find the answers to some things by himself, and the only help others could provide in this regard was companionship.

【Seongnan University. 】

[Yukinoshita Yukino was typing on the keyboard. The words recorded on the ruins and the words recorded in various countries around the world were constantly compared, deciphered, and then combined. The blue light from the computer reflected on the lenses of her plain glasses. Her dark blue eyes scanned the text records one by one, capturing useful information and filtering it out.]

[After nearly an hour of screening, Yukinoshita Yukino's fingers slammed the enter key, ending the search. ]

[She looked at the translated information on the computer screen in front of her and read it out softly.]

[“When an evil being appears, he uses the Spirit Stone of Hope to bless his body, transforms into a blazing fire and defeats the evil warrior… This should be a description of the red Kuuga that Zaimokuza-san transformed into.”]

[“Strange, why is there another text below the end of this inscription, and the translated meaning is completely different. Does this mean that Kuga has another form?”]

[“When an evil creature appears, the warrior who transforms its various skills into invisible forms and calms down the evil like flowing water - what kind of form does this refer to?”]

【Kwandong Medical University Hospital. 】

【02.32pm】

[“Strange, why do I feel like I’ve forgotten something?”]

【Zaimokuza and Kousaka Kyosuke walked side by side towards the car parked in front of them. Zaimokuza scratched his head as he walked, his face full of confusion.】

[“Don’t think too much. You may have been confused because of your sleep. You won’t feel this way if you sleep well next time.”]

【Kousaka Kyousuke recalled that when the two of them walked out of the infirmary just now, Makishima Saori waved goodbye to them with one hand with a smile on her face, and the other hand was hidden behind her back holding a masonry hammer, ready to smash Zaimokuza's head with a hammer and make it into a braised rabbit head if he said something he shouldn't say. For the sake of Zaimokuza's life, he decided to lie against his conscience.】

[Although he was also very curious about what Zaimokuza remembered, he even let Makishima Saori go to the extreme of physically erasing his memory. ]

[——Could it be that Makishima became a psychopath due to her constant dissection of corpses, and when she was dissecting living people, Zaimokuza saw her murder scene? ]

[Kousuke Kosaka's habitual thinking as a criminal police officer made him subconsciously think of some heavy-tasting scenes, and his face could not help but change slightly. He always felt that sooner or later Makishima Saori would have mental problems due to dissecting too many corpses, and maybe she had already become a serial killer without him knowing.]

[It's really not his fault that he has such thoughts, mainly because Makishima Saori has left a deep psychological shadow on Kousaka Kyousuke. ]

[He had worked with Makishima Saori on a murder case before, and later received a video call from her. As soon as the video was turned on, the woman was sitting on a chair in the autopsy room, with the deceased's dissected body on the operating table in front of her. She took off her gloves and held a hairtail rice ball in her mouth and bit it. With her other gloved hand, she took out a severely rotten large intestine from the body's stomach and put it into the operating basin. She had a smile on her face throughout the process, and talked to him about the findings of the autopsy.]

[The scene was so heavy that even Kousaka Kyosuke, who had experienced countless corpses at murder scenes, was shocked. What impressed him most was the last sentence the other party said before hanging up the video.]

[“Ah~, this is the first time I’ve seen human internal organs decay to this extent. They look so different from when they were just taken out of a living person~Ah, are they broken?”]

[As she spoke, she took the broken rotten large intestine in front of her eyes and looked at it carefully. She even took off her mask to smell it. Her eyes were full of curiosity and eagerness to discover something new.]

[After getting the information, Kousaka Kyosuke couldn't bear it anymore and hung up the video call. He forced himself not to think about the terrifying meaning hidden in that sentence. From then on, his impression of Makishima Saori changed 180 degrees. In his heart, he always regarded her as a potential high-risk criminal in reserve.]

"vomit!!!"

Everyone watched the video of Kyosuke Kousaka's memories in clear, uncensored and blue-ray quality. Those who had the means simply grabbed the nearby trash can and vomited uncontrollably, while those who didn't had to cover their mouths and rush to the nearest toilet. Only the vast majority of medical students remained calm.

"Are you okay? The content above isn't that disgusting. It looks similar to the material of the person who cheated and was stabbed to death in my last anatomy class."

A girlfriend who is a medical student hurriedly slapped her boyfriend who was holding onto a telephone pole and vomiting, and inadvertently revealed a horrible truth. The boyfriend who had been cheating on her without telling her was horrified when he heard the word "material" and secretly prepared himself to move away immediately after the breakup.

[“I can’t help it. I’ve been busy at the store until very late these past few days. Ms. Saki wakes me up on time every morning, so I can’t even take a break.”]

【Zaimokuza yawned with a few tears in his eyes, and turned to look curiously at Kousaka Kyousuke who put on sunglasses again to cover up the dark circles under his eyes.】

[“Mr. Kosaka, have you not been sleeping well recently? You have dark circles under your eyes!”]

[“Nothing. Recently, we have been investigating cases involving unidentified life forms. Many people in the Metropolitan Police Department have been staying up all night. I am just one of them.”]

[“That’s a relief~ Mr. Kosaka, if you have trouble sleeping, why don’t you read my new novel? This is something I’m very confident about! Maybe it can help improve your sleep quality.”]

【"novel?"】

[Kousaka Kyosuke was stunned, then he remembered that in the files he checked, it was written that this guy was a literary worker engaged in artistic creation. It seemed that the woman named Machida who he had investigated before, who was suspected of murder and eating meat and was found to be a false alarm, was this guy's editor? ]

[“That’s right! I’ll show you the manuscript when I get back. Mr. Kosaka, you’re the first reader of this work of mine!”]

[When talking about his latest creation, Zaimokuza's eyes twinkled with many little stars, and he looked like a fan who was telling his friends that he was a fan of an idol. ]

[“Thank you very much. I really want to find a book to read recently.”]

[Kousaka Kyosuke raised his eyebrows and agreed with interest. ]

[“Don’t worry! I promise I won’t let you down! I will definitely shock you both mentally and physically, Mr. Kousaka!”]

[Zaimokuza raised his thumb, and his exposed teeth reflected a gleam that was blinding to Kousaka Kyousuke even with sunglasses on.]

【Di-】

[Just as the two chatted and laughed as they walked to their respective police cars and motorcycles, two rapid beeps interrupted their conversation. They turned their heads to look in the direction of the sound. The communication channels of the two cars suddenly opened at the same time, and a full-channel broadcast sounded.]

[“Notice to all vehicles! Notice to all vehicles! An unidentified life form has appeared in Asagaya, Suginami District. The newly appeared sixth unidentified life form killed a police car that discovered it and three police officers before escaping! Please ask nearby police stations to provide support immediately! Repeat! In Suginami District——”]

【“Zaimokuza!”】

[Kousaka Kyosuke's face changed drastically. When he turned to look at Zaimokuza, he had already put on his helmet and got on the body of the Triangle Chaser 2000. He turned around and gave him a thumbs up.]

[“Mr. Kosaka! I’ll go over first!”]

[After Zaimokuza finished speaking, he did not wait for him to reply, and immediately drove the motorcycle towards the Suginami District, and soon became a small dot in Kousaka Kyousuke's sight.]

[“Please, I’ll be there soon!”]

[Kousaka Kyousuke was also not ambiguous, he immediately opened the car door and got in, and conveniently hung the portable police light on the car body. As the police car started, a hurried sound was heard, and he quickly chased after Zaimokuza's back that disappeared from his sight. ]

【Suginami-ku, Tokyo. 】

[“Wow wow wow wow!!!”]

[A man screamed miserably as he fell from a building more than ten stories high. When he hit the ground, there was a dull sound, and the screaming stopped instantly. Amid the screams of the people around him, blood flowed from the man's facial features that were pressed against the concrete floor. The man's eyes widened, and blood gushed out of his open mouth like a spring, mixed with fragments of internal organs destroyed by the impact, and his pupils gradually dilated.]

[“The 32nd one~ It was so easy.”]

[A man in a short coat stood on the edge of the roof, boredly looking at the crowd gathered below and the pool of blood spreading from under the fallen man, and pushed one of the many magatama on the bracelet on his left wrist to the left.]

[“There are too many Lindos in this era. It won’t take long to complete the game at this rate. I should have asked Baruba to increase the difficulty.”]

[zu-baduu-ba yawned out of boredom, and simply squatted on the edge of the stairs to look at the people walking downstairs. There was no trace of emotion in his eyes towards the tragedy he had created, but he was just as excited as a naughty child, with the corners of his mouth slowly raised.]

[“You should be here too, right? Kuuga~ Come quickly, I really want to see you. Kikiru is meaningless without you.”]

[“I have a surprise for you to try——Hmm?”]

[As he spoke, Baduu narrowed his eyes slightly and looked into the distance. A half-smile appeared on his face painted with strange oil paint.]

[“The 33rd prey will be her~”]

[He slowly stood up following his crouching figure, and amid the exclamations of the people gathered downstairs, the figure of the locust monster wearing a scarf replaced the human figure. ]

[“Taku!”]

[It slightly bent its knees, then jumped with force. The concrete guardrail beneath its feet broke apart where its soles stepped. The reaction force gave it a strong jumping ability. When its soles left the ground, it left a clear footprint on the spot, and the footprint spread out dense cracks in all directions.]

[Baduu's figure suddenly jumped from the rooftop into the distance, and the target's smiling face that was constantly approaching was reflected in his locust-like dark compound eyes.]

[Zaimokuza drove towards the tunnel in front of him with a stern look in his eyes. The dim lights in the tunnel completely blocked the sight and light from outside.]