CH 70

By Effugium March 8, 2023

White crystals poured down from the night-filled sky. With the night view of Tokyo on their backs, the girl and the mysterious being had their umpteenth encounter.「Who are you really?」

The single word was so heavy, sharp, and full of pleading. Rintaro took several breaths before he understood the meaning of the word.

「What are you talking about? I am Rintaro Kuriyama’s younger brother, Shinjiro, though?」

Kirika approached Rintaro, who was visibly flustered. And she spoke to Rintaro as if she could see through everything.

「The other day, I went to your parents’ house to say hello. Your mother is a really nice person……」

「Y- you’re quite proactive… ahaha」

「That day you and I first met, I received an international mail with a photo. It’s called a New Year’s greeting card, I think. I heard it’s sent every year because of the law.」

Rintaro was drenched in cold sweat and regretted his thoughtlessness. After all, he should have heeded Tagarack’s warning and never met with Kirika again. He had no idea that Kirika would be so active as to come to investigate the identity of the man named Kuriyama Shinjiro.

Rintaro was more than a little confident in this impersonation strategy. The reason for this was that Kirika and Shinjiro would never bump into each other in person. As for why, it’s because the place Shinjiro is right now…

「The sun must have been harsh. It’s right on the equator, after all.」

The real Shinjiro is now living with his family in Nairobi, Kenya, after an international marriage! When he visited their parents once last year, he saw him for the first time in a long while, but he was so black and tanned that he could not see even the slightest blood connection.

「Hauh…… Habururururu……!!」

「Let me ask you again. Who are you?」

Rintaro had underestimated Mayuzumi Kirika’s enthusiasm at this stage. With the evidence in her possession, he could no longer hide it from her. The only thing left to be seen was whether this Kirika Mayuzumi would let him remain alive even after learning his true identity.

「Fuu, oh well……. It seems like it’s time to pay the dues… ……」

It had been exactly one month since he was brought to Ark Dominion by Samecchi.  Over 30 hero teams destroyed, including Victor Ranger.

Destroyed 8 giant robots and cleared Jimbocho and Saitama Shintoshin.

He believes that he have done a lot. If he was caught, he would probably be given the maximum sentence.

But even so, Rintaro is the mysterious being’s, the shark’s, aniki. He has a reputation for not giving up.

At the very least, I’ll do my best.

Rintaro readied his death green transformation gear.

「Great guess Mayuzumi, why don’t you quit being a hero and become a private detective. However, next time you raise a deduction, you’d better bring the riot cop with you.」

The V emblem on the gear spins at high speed. Rintaro’s body is enveloped in a green light.

「I’ll tell you about it as a souvenir from the underworld. My name is Kuriyama Rintaro. Also known as the heinous mysterious —-」

A shock hit Rintaro’s chest, interrupting his best efforts to identify himself. Kirika tackled Rintaro in the middle of his transformation and pushed his body down.

Rintaro was knocked to the ground, and in the process, he dropped his death green transformation gear.

「Nowaaah!? I messed uppppppppppp!!!」

If he could not transform into Death Green, Rintaro, who was inferior to Kirika in physical ability, had no chance to win. Kirika, who was mounted on top of him, easily took hold of his right to life and death. Rintaro flapped his hands in the air and begged for his life.

「Aah! No, I’m not! I’m Shinjiro! I’m not Kuriyama Rintaro!」

「Why……」

A cold drop, not unlike snow, fell on Rintaro’s cheek.

「Why are you saying such a lie……」

「Mayu……zumi……?」

Kirika’s blue eyes were streaked with tears. A sob escaped her throat, and her slender shoulders bobbed up and down with each sob.

Her well-groomed face, which is always described as cool and emotionless and even frightening to those who encounter it, was crumpled up in tears and snot.

「Why didn’t you tell me the truth right away?……」

「Because, you know, Mayuzumi was seriously trying to kill me, weren’t you.」

「Senpai is an idiot……! Idiioooot!!!」

While in the position of riding Rintaro like a horse, Kirika hit Rintaro’s chest and cheeks. Perhaps because of her high physical specs, he felt a lot of pain.

「Waaaaah! Waaaaahhhh!!」

「Gufu! Geffuu! Wait Mayuzumi, forgive me, I’ll die……!」

Rintaro couldn’t bear it any longer and took Kirika’s arm, and her body fell on Rintaro’s as if she had lost her support. Rintaro felt the light weight of Kirika Mayuzumi’s chest, which did not match her title.

When Rintaro ran his hand through her silver-white hair, which touched the tip of his chin, his body jumped for a moment.

Feeling each other’s heartbeats, the snow just keeps falling, wetting Kirika’s back and Rintaro’s cheeks.

How long had it been since then? Rintaro was pushed down on his back and his glasses were covered with snow as he looked up at the sky.

「I am sorry, for being mean.」

Kirika slowly raised herself up and pulled her face away from Rintaro’s sticky shirt. The sharp eyes looking up at Rintaro were red and swollen.

「It’s okay, I’m used to you being mean to me……」

Kirika stood up first, brushed the mud off her buttocks, and reached out her hand to Rintaro. Rintaro, his back covered in mud, took Kirika’s hand and stood up, resting his weight on her slender arm.

At that moment, with the same momentum with which Rintaro stood up, Kirika forcefully hugged Rintaro. With a body one size smaller than Rintaro’s, Kirika forcefully pulled Rintaro into an embrace.

「I’m sorry…… senpai…… I can’t hold it back anymore ……」

「O-oi?! What, you still didn’t get enough!?」

Rintaro was surprised three times by this unexpected action. Was this the reason why she had deliberately chosen an unpopular place? He had never imagined that Mayuzumi Kirika, who had even cursed him to be buried in the ground, liked him so much!

「From inside me…… Something hot.」

Kirika breathes hard and exhales hot breath on Rintaro’s cheek. Kuriyama Rintaro is not so insensitive that he can’t guess what is going on. As if he would be ashamed of himself if he didn’t eat the meal, he put his arm around Kirika’s thin waist.

「Y- You’re okay with this? I can see it as a consent, right?」

「It’s suffocating…… It’s already overflowing.」

Kirika put her thin, moist lips to Rintaro’s flushed ear. Then she murmured in a clear but warm voice.

「Thank you…… I am happy to see Senpai in the end……」

With a thud, Rintaro’s body floated in the air as if he had been pushed away with both hands. With the sudden rejection, The sky and the earth were turned upside down.

「Uoooooh!? Come oooon!!??」

Rintaro was thrown out about 10 meters and barely managed to catch himself. Rintaro quickly braced himself, and then he saw a “black light”.

「Oi Mayuzumi! What’s with that, Mayuzumi!」

The light that envelops Kirika’s entire body is the exact opposite of what happens when a hero transforms, converging rather than diffusing.

「Ugh…… ugh……! I can’t hold it back anymore!」

With a groan of pain, Kirika’s body is transformed into something “different” from what it has been until now.

Her clothes were torn, and her arms and legs were covered with such hard scales that they looked like the armor of a knight. The black shell spread out to crawl across Kirika’s pure white skin, covering about half of it.

Her long tail, which seems to be many times longer than her body, lolls back and forth. From her small back, huge wings, reminiscent of those of a pterosaur, spread wide from side to side.

Two pitch-black horns protruded from between the silvery white hair, flowing down the back of her head. Two eyes, stained red like blood, gleamed dully in the darkness.

The figure of the woman was like, or rather, a mysterious being in the truest sense of the word.

「Mysterious being…… Awakening……!?」

This is a story that has been spun since ancient times as an unavoidable tragedy common to all mankind. The transformation into an inhuman thing, whose very existence is considered a mortal sin.

What it means is a complete and irreversible separation from human society.

「You’re kidding me, right! Mayuzumiiiiiiiiii!!」

Rintaro desperately ran up to the awakening Kirika. However, her thick tail ripped through Rintaro’s stomach and threw him off the observatory.

「No waaaaaaay!!!!??」

Thrown into the air, Rintaro saw Kirika’s faint smile in the torrent of black energy. He fell, snapping a dead branch with a crack, and his back was impacted with a thud.

Immediately after, the sky glowed a dark color.

A black shockwave is emitted from Kirika’s entire body, which has turned into a mysterious being. It was an eruption of energy comparable to the impact of a micrometeorite. It gouged out the earth, knocking down trees for several kilometers around, and destroyed the observatory without a trace.

…………

It was not until early the next morning that Rintaro, who was caught in the massive explosion, returned alive from under the earth.

「To- To actually be buried……」

He crawled out of the soil and involuntarily coverer his eyes from sunlight.

When his eyes adjusted to the brightness, Rintaro saw Mt. Takao, which had been gouged out and half disappeared.

Snow was still falling.