The story we started

He has not already, already...

"Wait a moment……"

The land covered by snow and wind reappeared before his eyes, and the figure was swallowed up after walking into the snow. He never came back, and thus he set foot on his own battlefield alone.

Recalling the back figure he last saw a year ago, Kousaka Kyosuke ran so fast that he almost broke his teeth with such force. It was a memory he would never forget.

Why, why are you here...

"Wait a moment……"

Kyosuke Kousaka tried desperately to catch up with the figure, but no matter how fast he ran, the figure always appeared far away at the end of his sight. Every time when Kyosuke Kousaka rushed to his original position, he would only see the figure appear at the end of another intersection. The distance between the two had never been shortened.

Kyosuke Kousaka felt as if he was chasing not a person, but an illusion, an illusion from the past, an illusion that had long been buried by time.

But how can people catch up with time?

"I said wait a minute—"

Kyosuke Kousaka, panting, grabbed the railing in front of him with one hand, looked up unwillingly at the figure who disappeared from his sight after crossing the last step of the overpass stairs, and forced himself to catch up with him, dragging his almost exhausted body.

Kyosuke Kousaka felt that his lungs were as hot as magma at this moment, and every breath of air he exhaled was so hot that it condensed into an almost substantial white mist in the cold air. But even so, he still walked up the stairs stubbornly, like an unwilling mortal walking towards the steps leading to heaven with the strength of his own flesh and blood.

Finally, he walked up the last step and stepped onto the top of the overpass, and those words could no longer be shouted out of his mouth.

"——————Taimu Seat!!!!!!!!!!!!"

A year later, this name was called out by Kyosuke Kousaka again. It seemed that time had not taken away his familiarity with this name at all. A year seemed to have passed just like yesterday, even his farewell to himself.

"Wait……"

Kyosuke Kousaka stopped trying to persuade her to stay and stared blankly at the figure standing not far away.

He just stood there and didn't move.

Now that he saw this figure again up close, Kyosuke Kousaka's original doubts were finally put to rest, because now he could confirm it.

——There is no mistake, the figure behind is none other than Zaimokuza Yoshiki.

"How-how could you???"

Kyosuke Kousaka held the railing of the overpass with one hand and walked towards Zaimokuza with unsteady steps in disbelief. However, he still stood there, showing no signs of moving like before.

Kyosuke Kousaka stopped and looked at the figure close in front of him. He opened and closed his mouth but could not utter any words, as if all languages ​​were frozen in this cold night. His right hand raised tremblingly.

Zaimokuza Yoshiki seemed to finally sense the presence of Kyosuke Kousaka. He turned his head slightly, revealing the familiar half of his face and mouth. Kyosuke Kousaka was so excited that he was about to pat him on the shoulder.

——Swish.

The sudden blowing of ice and snow was bone-chillingly cold. It brushed across Kyosuke Kousaka's face, completely freezing his expression.

Just as his hand was about to touch Zaimokuza's shoulder, he suddenly turned into pure white particles in his sight, shattered before his eyes, and was swept away by the wind.

There was nothing in front of me again.

"—"

The raised right hand remained stiff in mid-air and did not come down for a long time.

After a long time, Kyosuke Kousaka's raised right hand finally fell down weakly. He looked as if his spine had been taken away. He stood with his back against the guardrail, his upper body leaning forward, and remained silent.

He looked down at the fallen snow piled on the overpass in front of him. His eyes hidden by his bangs were so dim that people who knew him could not imagine that this was the warrior who was not afraid even in the face of death.

"...?"

After a long time, the warmth coming from behind and the light passing before his eyes made Kyosuke Kousaka's eyes slightly stunned, and he turned his head to look behind him.

——In front of me is a small town that shines in the darkness.

In the pitch-black night, all the houses in the town were covered with a layer of white coat under the falling snow. Lights were on in every household, and the rows of houses were shining in the darkness. Countless tiny lights combined into a grand light. This dazzling light illuminated the entire town. The light of this town seemed to resist the long night that was coming, and it was like a dazzling star on land in the dark night.

Kyosuke Kousaka stared blankly at the shining town in front of him, and an inexplicable sense of familiarity surged in his heart.

Suddenly, he finally remembered.

He had been here, he had been here, just over a year ago, with Zaimokuza!

At that time, they had just dealt with the unidentified life form No. 40 and happened to pass by here when they were about to return to Tokyo.

Kyosuke Kousaka remembered that at that time Zaimokuza dragged himself here in broad daylight with an excited look on his face, pointed at the town and said that if he stood here and looked at it, the scenery would be very beautiful when the lights were on at night, especially when it snowed, the scenery would be even more beautiful and fascinating.

Kyosuke Kousaka didn't care much about these things because he was thinking about some issues regarding the unidentified life form case at that time, so he just asked Zaimokuza why he brought him here.

At that time, Zaimokuza said—

"...!"

Kyosuke Kousaka's eyes slowly opened wide, and his trembling eyes reflected the intoxicatingly beautiful scenery before him, but they could not conceal the intense emotions surging in his eyes.

He slowly turned his head and looked to the right, where a white-haired young man with a smile on his face appeared.

——That was Zaimokuza Yoshiki from a year ago. At this moment, he turned around and said to him with a smile.

[“Because I feel that the incident with the unconfirmed life form will be over soon, so when that time comes I want to bring you here again, Mr. Kosaka, to have a look. It’s very beautiful!”]

【“Why are you telling me this?”】

[“Because I thought that by then I should have already set out to continue my adventure, and maybe Mr. Kosaka would feel lonely because of my absence, so I wanted to tell you about this place first. If you feel depressed or lonely, you can come here to have a look. It is really beautiful here at night, especially when it snows, which gives people a feeling of cleansing the soul. I also discovered this place by accident, so I also hope that you, Mr. Kosaka, can laugh when you see the scenery.”]

[“It’s a promise. After defeating all the Gurongis, I will bring you here, Mr. Kousaka, and I will definitely let you see the scenery I saw that day. And I believe that after the Gurongis are gone, this scenery will be even more beautiful.”]

[“I want to protect everyone’s smiles, but I rarely see you smile, Mr. Kousaka, so I thought that maybe I could make you smile here, after all—”]

[“The smile I want to protect also includes Mr. Kousaka’s!”]

The smile of Zaimokuza Yoshiki that day was now shining in front of Kyosuke Kousaka's eyes and in his memory, like a bright light illuminating the path to his future.

"That idiot..."

Kyosuke Kousaka clenched his fists and placed them on the guardrail, lowered his head towards the glittering town in front of him, his body trembling slightly.

Tick-tick-tick-tick…

A few drops of water fell on the guardrail, blooming into water flowers.

——Kyosuke Kousaka, the tears he had been holding back for a year finally could no longer be suppressed and flowed from his eyes, running down his clenched teeth face, and falling drop by drop onto the guardrail under his fists, the warm tears melting the floating snow on top.

Even though you are no longer here, are you still abiding by the promise you made to me and guiding me here?

He raised his lowered face, and his eyes filled with tears gazed at the beautiful world in front of him. The corners of his mouth twitched and slowly curled up.

This was the first time in more than a year that he smiled so genuinely without any falsehood or sadness.

You are right, Zaimokuza, the world is really beautiful without Gurongi, as beautiful as a sparkling diamond. Smiles are gradually appearing on everyone's face, and those are the smiles that you are protecting.

Is this the reason why you want to protect this world even at the cost of becoming the ultimate darkness?

You really did it. You fulfilled that playful promise. You protected this world and everyone's smiles. Even after you left, you protected my smile.

The world is beautiful, so beautiful that it makes people linger and don’t want to leave.

——But in such a beautiful world full of smiles, the only thing missing is you and your smile.

(Finish)

42. Mysterious Plan

Chiba Prefecture, Sobu High School, Service Club. 133txt.com

"...Zaimokuza, I didn't expect you to have such a nice figure."

Everyone in the Service Club saw the "tragedy" that happened at the Scientific Research Institute that day through the perspective of Kyosuke Kousaka's memories on their cell phone videos. The naked Zaimokuza was lying on the laboratory table and was being pointed at by a bunch of people. Every muscle line on his body was clearly visible. If there had not been a few female researchers blocking the way in Kyosuke Kousaka's perspective, Zaimokuza, both inside and outside the video, would have truly experienced what it meant to sacrifice one's body to make it known to the world.

Although it’s almost the same now.

Apart from Shizuka Hiratsuka who was watching with great interest, almost all the girls in the club room turned their heads away with red faces, and all the boys were holding back their laughter. Some people also looked at his eight-pack abdominal muscles in the video, lowered their heads to touch their own flat or fat abdomens, and then looked up with envy and jealousy on their faces.

In addition, there were countless screams of girls and gasps of boys outside the Service Club. Such sounds could be heard throughout the Sobu High School. Considering that this video was broadcast worldwide, it can be said to be the world's first box-opening tragedy in history.

"I--"

Zaimokuza's face turned green. When he thought that countless people in the world would see his "original true body" through this video, which no one had ever seen since he was born except his parents and the nurse who delivered him, he felt a black screen in front of his eyes and wanted to faint immediately to escape reality.

Tokyo City, Shuchiyuan Academy, Student Room.

"……I lost."

Baiyin Yuxing stared at the eight abdominal muscles with clear mermaid lines and bulging curves in the video. He unconsciously reached out and touched his abdomen. After feeling his abdomen that could only be described as flat, he lowered his head in frustration.

"Don't, don't be like that! President, you are still young. You have a lot of time to train before you become as old as Zaimokuza-san in the video. I believe you will be able to have a better figure than him!"

Shinomiya Kaguya's face turned red as she watched Zaimokuza's muscles clearly visible on TV, but after hearing Shirogane Miyuki's frustrated words, she immediately turned around to cheer him up, trying not to let her attention be attracted by the human body display feast on the TV in the student council room.

As for Fujiwara Chika?

After seeing this scene, this silly girl was directly knocked over by the masculine Asian body in the video. She lay on the chair, and her broad chest was squeezed into two cushions on the soft sofa back so that her whole body was not completely stuck to the back of the chair. Two clearly visible streams of blood flowed down from her head. When the blood flowed to the side of Shinomiya Kaguya, she pinched the corner of her skirt with her fingers and sat away with disgust on her face. She looked at her as if she saw a large non-combustible garbage, and she didn't worry at all whether her only remaining friend might be hospitalized due to excessive blood loss.

【Metropolitan Police Department, Scientific Police Research Institute. 】

【"drink!"】

[Zaimokuza transformed into his almighty form and took a deep breath while looking at the 20-centimeter-thick steel plate in front of him. Then he took a lunge step forward with his left foot and fiercely punched forward with his right fist that was ready to strike! ]

【boom! 】

[The fist wrapped in the gauntlet hit the center of the steel plate squarely. The auxiliary equipment supported by the steel plate vibrated visibly because of the punch, and several pillars inserted into the ground swayed like cheering sticks.]

[At the same time, the electrode-like things attached to Zaimokuza's body began to flash green light, transmitting the power of the punch and the data of his body changes to the computer outside the laboratory at the first time.]

[“Ok! Thank you for your hard work, Yoshiteru-kun~”]

[Outside the laboratory, Hina Ebina looked at the data refreshed on the computer screen in front of her and nodded with satisfaction. She smiled and extended her hand through the tempered glass of the laboratory to Zaimokuza inside, and Zaimokuza breathed a sigh of relief. The armor on his body flickered and turned back to his original human appearance in the surprised eyes of all the people outside the laboratory.]

[“Hmm~ This data is really astonishing.”]

[Hina Ebina's glasses reflected the data displayed on the computer in front of her, and she pushed the frame of her glasses in amazement. 】

[“The peak power of the right fist at the moment of explosion actually reached 6.0t. According to the physical signs and the force of the right arm muscle model, this is not the full power. If it is swung with full strength, I am afraid that this punch can exceed 10.0t.”]

[“No wonder those unidentified life forms possess such terrifying strength. They can easily destroy things made of steel and cement with just their hands and feet. Their body structures are similar to those of humans, but the power hidden in their muscles is even stronger than that of ants of the same size.”]

[“Sure enough, the real source of this power is not the muscles, but the strengthened nerves throughout the body?”]

[“…Ms. Ebina, why did you make Zaimokuza do this test so many times?”]

[Kousaka Kyosuke, who was standing nearby, looked at the experiments that Ebina Hina had Zaimokuza repeat for the tenth time, and was a little puzzled. In his opinion, the data obtained in the fourth test was basically the same as the previous values. If he just wanted to understand Zaimokuza's most basic physical data, there was no need to repeat it so many times.]

[“Of course I have my reasons for doing this, Takasaka-kun.”]

[Hina Ebina smiled and shook her delicate fingers, her eyes narrowed behind her glasses, full of meaningful expression.]

[“If I were to say, a lady would become more charming because of her secrets – but of course that’s a lie~”]

[After looking at Kousaka Kyosuke's speechless expression that said "You can make it up, I'll see if I believe it or not", Ebina Hime laughed and finally told the real reason. ]

[“Okay, okay, actually there is a reason for this. This is related to a plan of our government. However, I cannot tell you what the plan is because the higher-ups have asked for this plan to be kept confidential. The confidentiality level is very high. Right now, only people at the level of the Superintendent General in the entire Metropolitan Police Department know the full picture of this plan.”]

【“…”】

[Kousaka Kyosuke said nothing, but stared at Ebina Hime with a suspicious look. This sentence made him feel that this so-called plan was even more suspicious.]

[It’s not that Kyosuke Kosaka didn’t deal with politicians and officials when he was in office in Nagano Prefecture. On the contrary, because he knew the nature of politicians in the political arena very well, he didn’t distrust the character of those senior officials, but he simply didn’t believe that those old foxes had such things. ]

[For example, ordinary people believe that if they make a mistake, they must be punished, but those politicians believe that if the benefits of making a mistake outweigh the price they have to pay, then they will make any mistake without hesitation, and call it "necessary sacrifices and mistakes on the road to progress." In the minds of those guys, there is only the level of interests, and there is no so-called good or evil morality. The bottom line is as flexible as skipping rope. ]

[What would happen if this was discovered and known? As we all know, all Japanese bureaucrats are masters of the seventh dan or higher level of Gongdō, and those who can climb to the top of the political arena are all masters who have reached the tenth dan level.]

[When things suddenly change, they bow and apologize, refuse to repent, and never take responsibility. This one-stop public relations sequence is their specialty and it works every time.]

[“Ms. Ebina, I don’t ask you to tell me what the plan is. I just want to confirm one thing with you.”]

[“——Is this plan harmful to Zaimokuza, or is it harmless? I will decide whether or not to have Zaimokuza stop these experiments based on whether what you say next is a lie.”]

[“Ah, ah, Kousaka-kun, you seem to be treating me as someone with bad intentions—”]

[Hina Ebina originally wanted to laugh it off, but after seeing Kousaka Kyousuke's expressionless face and serious eyes, she knew it was useless and finally sighed helplessly. ]

[“…Really? Looking at you like this, I don’t know who Yoshiki’s ex-girlfriend is.”]

[She muttered a few words under her breath, then raised her head and looked at Kousaka Kyosuke and said seriously.]

[“Don’t worry, Kosaka-kun. I assure you that this plan is to save more citizens and will not have any negative impact on Yoshiki.”]

[“After all, he is my dear first love, so how could I possibly hurt him?”]

Chiba Prefecture, Sobu High School, Service Club.