My youth story cannot be a knight war

【"sorry!!!"】

After saying this, he suddenly threw the shoe he was holding up into the air, turned around, and ran in the direction he had disappeared at a speed no less than his friend's. His obese body suddenly appeared to be moving with a sense of swiftness and grace. His back looked like a rabbit that had stolen a farmer's radish and was now hopping away over the fence.

[“Puff!”]

The shoe he had thrown flew into the air, spinning before being caught by gravity and plummeting downwards, hitting Kousaka Kyousuke on the head. He screamed in agony, burying his face in the open takeout box in his arms.

"You bastard! Don't let me see you again!!!"

【"--sorry!!!"】

[Kousaka Kyosuke pulled his face out of the takeout box and looked back. The tears on his face mixed with the soup made him look extremely embarrassed. He roared at the white-haired boy's retreating back, and the sound of apology came from the distance.]

[“Damn it! I’m so unlucky today!”]

An enraged Kousaka Kyosuke put the takeout box back on the back of his bicycle, picked the watermelon rind off his head and threw it back into the trash can. He looked at the figure disappearing at the end of the fork in the road with resentment in his eyes.

Now that the matter is settled, he can only go back to the store to get a takeout order. Thinking about the salary that will be deducted later, Kousaka Kyosuke felt a pang of blood dripping from his heart.

[But for some reason, despite such a tragic event, Kousaka Kyosuke felt a sense of familiarity and nostalgia in addition to resentment?]

[Have I met that person before? And something similar happened to me?]

[Kousaka Kyosuke's face fell as he thought of this. If this was really the case, then this wasn't just bad luck; it was simply bad karma!]

He sat back on the back of his bicycle, pedaling and muttering to himself.

[“What a terrible day! That damn white-haired bastard, damn it! He’s just like a—”]

[The foot that was pressing the pedal suddenly stopped, and Kousaka Kyosuke also froze.]

[——He remembered! He did know that person! He knew him!]

[Once upon a time...Once upon a time...]

[Kousaka Kyosuke suddenly turned around, but what he saw was an endless fork in the road. The figure had disappeared.]

[Some people in this world are like this. How we first met is probably the same as when we part, always leaving us unprepared.]

["——Zaimuzuo!?"]

……

【“!”】

[Kousaka Kyosuke suddenly opened his tightly closed eyes. Waking from his dream, he subconsciously wanted to raise his upper body from the hospital bed.]

But a pair of hands were quicker than Kousaka Kyosuke's, pressing down on his bandaged chest and pushing him back down before he could even stand up. The bed shook as he rose and fell.

[“Hmm!”]

[The moment he lay back on the hospital bed, he felt a sharp pain in his right arm, and Kousaka Kyosuke let out a suppressed cry of pain, caught off guard.]

[“Don’t move!”]

【A familiar voice sounded beside my ears, the words were hurried and worried.】

"Your chest wound and severed right arm have just been treated. Do not move, or the stitches will break!"

["Maki, Makishima?"]

Kousaka Kyosuke forcibly suppressed another muffled groan that threatened his throat. He blinked, and the scene before him, which had been slightly blurry due to waking up too quickly, gradually became clear, and a face with bright features appeared before him.

It was Makishima Saori's face, but the face that had always held an unpredictable, sinister smile in Kousaka Kyousuke's memory was now pale, and the corners of her eyes behind her glasses were red, revealing she had been crying recently. Even her voice was a little hoarse.

Kousaka Kyousuke glanced around bewilderedly, realizing that this was the same ward he and Zaimokuza had often stayed in. His long history of hospitalizations had made him incredibly familiar with the ward, and upon discovering it was this place, he felt a sense of security, like returning home.

He looked down at his body and found it was completely wrapped in bandages, especially his right arm, which was covered in a thick layer of plaster and tightly wrapped around his body with ropes, making it impossible for him to move on his own.

[“I… Oh right! B1! She—”]

"She left after defeating you. Zaimokuza-san brought you here."

[Kousaka Kyosuke thought briefly, and everything that happened before he lost consciousness came back to his mind. Just as he opened his mouth to ask, the female doctor had already answered his question.]

【"Yeah?"】

[Kousaka Kyosuke was stunned for a moment, then silently relaxed his body, quietly watching Makishima Saori remove her hands from her chest.]

"Looks like those guys got away after all... How long has it been since I was sent here, Makishima?"

[But this time, Makishima Saori didn't answer his question. She stared at Kousaka Kyosuke closely. Her red eyes shouldn't have been intimidating, but Kousaka Kyosuke felt that the female doctor's eyes were like two sharp daggers, making him want to look away involuntarily.]

"Before that... Kousaka-kun, don't you think you need to explain something to me?"

The female doctor lowered her head, her right hand, which hung below her white coat, clenched into a fist as she spoke in a low voice.

【"What?"】

[Hearing his words, Kousaka Kyosuke couldn't help but reveal a puzzled expression.]

【Snapped. 】

A crisp sound echoed in the intensive care unit. Lying on the bed, Kousaka Kyosuke tilted his head, leaving a red slap mark on his left cheek.

After being slapped, he was stunned for a moment. After coming to his senses, he slowly turned around and looked. Makishima Saori was trembling as she looked at him, waving her hands. Tears welled up in her eyes and slowly flowed down her face.

The person who was slapped didn't cry, but the one who slapped him did. This scene was really weird.

[“——You idiot! Idiot! Idiot!”]

[The female doctor, feeling unable to bear it any longer, shouted angrily, her voice filled with the sound of uncontrollable tears.]

"Do you even know what your body has become?"

36. Unsolvable Deadlock (5K)

On a dim CT scan, a male torso looms large. Muscles are evenly distributed across the body, flowing like a winding painting. Anyone familiar with ergonomics would be amazed by the figure depicted in this CT scan.

[This is because the muscle distribution of this human body was designed on a piece of rough paper in the most aesthetically pleasing and powerful way imaginable to humankind. In the words of an art student, this is a body with a heroic spirit comparable to that of Michelangelo's chisel, such as the David.]

[…Assuming you ignore those weird lines in this CT scan.]

[On this CT scan, strange linear proliferations of tissue begin to spread from various parts of the body toward the periphery, and each line branches out again, spreading along the trajectory of each muscle, like creepers climbing up a wall.]

These creeping-like growths covered nearly every part of the body on the CT scan: thighs, calves, left shoulder, chest, back...except for the neck area from the buttocks bones upwards and even the head. It's safe to say that no part of the body was spared.

Because of these tissues, the human body on the CT scan looks like an old statue, neglected for years, entangled by vines that have sprouted from countless seeds hidden in the cracks between the stones. The vines wrap around the statue, becoming a part of it while also constantly destroying its structure.

【“…”】

Looking at the image displayed by the whole-body CT scan in his hand, Kousaka Kyosuke, lying on the hospital bed, fell into a rare silence.

[It can be said that even if someone with no medical knowledge sees this CT scan, their first reaction will always be:]

"This is a textbook drawing made from a cadaver specimen from how many years ago?"

This statement isn't an exaggeration at all, as the image presented by this CT scan is so outrageous. If someone else's CT scan showed even a third of the same degree as this one, the doctor in charge would immediately consider whether euthanasia on the spot is in line with international humanitarian law. At the very least, doing so would help alleviate the patient's suffering.

【And this CT scan is exactly the result of Kousaka Kyosuke's own physical examination.】

After reading it, he silently placed the CT scan back on the bedside table. There were already more than a dozen similar CT scans stacked on top of it, all showing the results of different parts of Kousaka Kyousuke's body. The one he just saw was the whole body.

[“You discovered me.”]

[Kousaka Kyosuke spoke calmly. He looked up at Makishima Saori, who was looking down at him from the bedside. Her expressionless face suddenly broke into a smile.]

"You actually took advantage of someone seriously injured and unconscious to conduct a physical examination without their consent... You've violated various criminal laws, including invasion of privacy and abuse of power, and the target was a police officer. This is a crime of knowing and committing an even greater offense."

"If I complain to the hospital, your medical license will be revoked, Makishima."

"But the prerequisite for breaking the law is that the other party must be human."

[Makishima Saori, who had been silent until then, suddenly spoke in a very dull voice.]

"The law's application criteria and targets must be humans. The law that includes other species is called the Wildlife Protection Act, but it doesn't contain the legal provisions you mentioned above."

"And Kousaka-kun... can you still be considered human now?"

【“——”】

Makishima Saori spoke word by word, and upon hearing her words, the smile on Kousaka Kyosuke's face gradually faded, and finally disappeared completely.

"Remember not to say these things in front of Zaimokuza from now on. That idiot will be sad if he hears them."

[Kousaka Kyosuke shook his head and said it casually.]

"After all, my body is probably similar to that guy's now, so I can kind of understand what he's feeling... Honestly, it's really uncomfortable."

"Same? Kousaka-kun, do you really think your situation is the same as Zaimokuza-san's?"

Makishima Saori was so angry at his words that she laughed. She opened the drawer of the bedside table, took out a stack of old CT scans and threw them on Kousaka Kyosuke's quilt.

"Take a good look at yourself! Besides the symptoms, what else do you and Mr. Zaimokuza have in common?!"

Kousaka Kyosuke silently picked up one of Zaimokuza's CT scans. He looked at the growths on the body, which were similar to his own, but arranged in a completely different way. His eyelids narrowed slightly, blocking out the colors in his eyes.

"Although Zaimokuza-san's nerves have gradually spread throughout his body over time, his symptoms have remained normal. They have all spread from the belt hidden within his body, and each stage of spread has been very stable... But your situation is completely different, Kousaka-kun!"

Makishima Saori snatched the CT scan from Kousaka Kyosuke's hand with one hand, and with the other hand took the top CT scan that had been placed on the bedside table. She placed the two scans side by side and thrust them directly in front of his face.

"The areas where these enhanced nerves in your body spread are completely irregular, and there's not even a single, precise source. They appear randomly in various locations. This alone eliminates the possibility of surgically removing these enhanced nerves!"

"Also, when did these symptoms begin?"

Makishima Saori put down the two CT scans in her hands and stared directly into Kousaka Kyosuke's eyes, trying to confirm whether he was lying through his eyes.

[Kousaka Kyosuke looked at her in silence, but finally, under Makishima Saori's sharp gaze, he finally gave the answer.]

"About a month ago, when I first used the G1."

"...So you knew about this a long time ago, right? You knew about the changes that were happening to your body? When you first used the G1?"

[His response caused the female doctor's entire body to tremble slightly, and her words were filled with undisguised anger.]

[But this anger was not directed at Kousaka Kyosuke, but at another person, someone who could be said to be a close friend of Makishima Saori.]

"Hina—she knows about this, right?"

"After my first transformation, I went to see Ms. Ebina for a checkup... and I was the one who asked her to keep it a secret."

[Kousaka Kyosuke immediately saw what Makishima Saori was thinking and immediately spoke up to defend Ebina.]

"Are you crazy? Or has fishing too much made you lose your mind?!"

Saori Makishima, already furious at having her best friend keep a secret from her, felt driven mad by this man after hearing his words. She yanked the CT scanner from the hospital bed to the floor and placed her hands on the pillows on either side of Kousaka Kyosuke's cheeks, their faces meeting his at such close range that they could practically feel each other's breath.

This scene, which should have been ambiguous and erotic, was completely devoid of that feeling due to Makishima Saori's gaze. The rage burning in the female doctor's eyes was like two scorching fireballs, so intense that Kousaka Kyousuke couldn't help but want to avoid them, but he couldn't because of the restraints on his movements.

"Just over a month! You've only been using the G1 for a little over a month! And your symptoms are already the same as Zaimokuza-san, whose belt has been fused to his body for almost a year! Even worse! Do you understand what this means?"

If it weren't for the fact that Kousaka Kyosuke was currently seriously injured, Makishima Saori felt she would have to give him a few more slaps to wake him up and make this bastard realize the seriousness of the situation.

"Except for your brain, which hasn't been corroded, nothing inside you resembles a human anymore! Especially your right arm. It's like muscle growing on a reinforced nerve plexus. When I was stitching your arm together, the reinforced nerves in the severed area were wriggling like earthworms!"

"...That's great. I finally don't have to worry about retiring early because of my right arm amputation."

【Snapped! 】

The female doctor, unable to bear it any longer, slapped him again on the right cheek. Her utter enrage instantly forgot that Kousaka Kyousuke was a seriously injured patient. After slapping him on the right cheek, she slapped him on the left cheek again, with such force that two delicate, bright red slap marks were left on his face, which were particularly noticeable.

[“Retire? You still want to retire normally? Hahaha——”]

[Makishima Saori's laughter grew louder and louder, until tears welled up in her eyes. Kousaka Kyosuke just stared at her belly-laughing, not saying a word.]

"You can't retire now! You'll only end up dead!"

The female doctor's expression suddenly changed, and she stared fiercely at the silent Kousaka Kyosuke. However, the redness and tears in her eyes made her originally fierce gaze completely intimidating, more like the protest of a bullied child.

【Snapped--】

[“Hmm!”]

Makishima Saori took a file envelope from another bed, grabbed it with both hands, and threw it hard at Kousaka Kyosuke's chest. The intense dull pain near the wound made Kousaka Kyosuke's face twitch.

[And with this collision, several white paper documents flew out of the unsealed opening of the file bag and scattered all over Kousaka Kyousuke's body. The scene looked like the white roses people scatter on the coffin at a funeral.]

"Don't you have strong resilience? Aren't you the 'immortal detective' mentioned in the media? So you feel pain too?"

[No longer her usual elegant and sinister self, Makishima Saori now looked like a street-swearing aunt, even her tone becoming furious.]

"Kousaka-kun, aren't you planning to retire? You should know the legal retirement age in this country, right? And how old are you this year?"