Volume 3.5
Chapter 4: The Nihilistic Monster Meets the Tool of Justice
December 31st, 2026.
11:30 PM.
The blue glow of the monitor illuminated the room.
Kenzo sat lazily in his chair while Ren leaned against the wall with visible impatience. Mr. Yamada stood near the window, smoking silently.
I focused on the tracker signal moving across the map.
Principal Sobu's vehicle was moving.
Interesting.
After several minutes of observation, I stood and put on my coat.
"We're leaving."
Kenzo immediately stood.
"Thought you'd never say it."
Mr. Yamada exhaled smoke.
"You boys sure about this?"
Kenzo grinned.
"When are we not?"
Ren rolled his eyes.
I ignored all of them and headed toward the door.
The signal continued moving.
For now, that was all that mattered.
---
The drive was uneventful.
At least on the surface.
I sat in silence while monitoring the route.
Behind us, Ren suddenly spoke.
"By the way."
Kenzo glanced at him.
"At your service."
Ren crossed his arms.
"How did you randomly appear when I needed a ride?"
Kenzo laughed.
"Oh, that? Coincidence."
"It wasn't."
Ren stared at him.
"And the janitor outfit?"
Kenzo's smile somehow widened.
"I gamble away all my money. Had to get a part-time job."
A ridiculous answer.
Even by Kenzo's standards.
I slowly turned toward him.
Kenzo never lost.
Not once.
The man treated gambling the same way a mathematician treated arithmetic.
And he certainly never worked ordinary jobs.
Ren stared at him for several seconds.
Then, surprisingly, accepted the explanation.
I returned my attention to the road.
Some mysteries were more useful unsolved.
---
Twenty minutes later, we arrived.
11:52 PM.
The facility stood before us in complete silence.
Old.
Abandoned.
Almost forgotten.
Almost.
As we prepared to approach the entrance, I raised a hand.
"Stop."
Everyone paused.
I looked toward a vehicle parked farther away.
"There's a car following us."
Kenzo glanced in its direction.
"Oh."
His reaction was disappointingly calm.
"It's probably the senior officer."
Ren frowned.
"The what?"
Kenzo stretched.
"The FBI assigned someone to monitor us."
"We just forgot to mention it to you."
Ren immediately responded.
"Then let's get rid of him."
Predictable.
I rubbed my temple.
Something bothered me.
Something small.
Yet significant.
Kenzo noticed immediately.
"You found something."
"Two things."
His expression sharpened.
I continued.
"First."
"We assumed the person following us was a senior FBI officer."
"Second."
I looked toward the facility.
"The route that led us here was too simple."
Kenzo nodded.
"Like someone wanted us to find this place."
Exactly.
Ren scoffed.
"The only reason we're here is because I planted the tracker."
I said nothing.
Kenzo said nothing.
The silence was answer enough.
---
We entered.
Dust covered nearly everything.
The building appeared abandoned.
Empty hallways.
Unused equipment.
Rooms stripped of purpose.
Yet the feeling persisted.
Something was wrong.
Every instinct I possessed told me so.
The deeper we went, the stronger that feeling became.
Eventually we reached a single room.
I checked my watch.
11:59 PM.
One minute remained.
I opened the door.
---
Principal Sobu stood inside.
Waiting.
Smiling.
Not the smile of a friendly educator.
Not even the smile of a manipulator.
It was the smile of a man watching pieces move exactly where he intended.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
At that moment I understood something.
He knew.
Not part of it.
Not pieces of it.
Everything.
The tracker.
The investigation.
The facility.
Us.
He knew.
And yet I felt no fear.
Fear was useless.
Fear clouded judgment.
To me, Toshiro Sobu was merely another obstacle.
A man standing in opposition to justice.
Not legal justice.
Not the diluted version sold by governments and politicians.
True justice.
Balance.
Order.
Accountability.
The laws that existed long before nations ever did.
I checked my watch.
Five seconds.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
---
A door opened to our right.
I didn't bother looking.
The observer.
The FBI officer.
That was the logical conclusion.
The expected conclusion.
Then footsteps entered the room.
Two sets.
Not one.
My eyes shifted.
And for the first time that night—
I miscalculated.
Aoi Fushimiya.
Kei Fushimiya.
Standing in the doorway.
My thoughts stopped.
Only briefly.
But they stopped.
Impossible.
They shouldn't have been here.
The probability was far too low.
More importantly—
How did Sobu know they would arrive?
The answer was obvious.
Because he expected them.
Just as he expected us.
My mind immediately began reconstructing every assumption I had made.
Every possibility.
Every unseen variable.
Every missing piece.
This wasn't coincidence.
This was design.
The realization should have been concerning.
Instead—
I felt something else.
Kenzo looked at me.
Ren looked at me.
Both seemed surprised.
Then I understood why.
I was smiling.
Not from confidence.
Not from victory.
Not even from amusement.
For the first time in a very long time—
I had found something genuinely interesting.
I looked at the two brothers.
Then at Sobu.
Then back again.
The game had finally begun.
And for once...
I wasn't entirely certain who was controlling the board.
Good.
Very good.