The Trancer

by Reki Kawahara

  So this time, Divider had come to kill him, no questions asked.

  Mikawa reflected on all this in the short moments before Divider unhesitatingly squeezed the trigger. But of course, he had nowhere to run. The muzzle of the gun was only six meters away. Even if he used his Third Eye–induced speed, the bullet would be in his chest almost as soon as he saw it fired.

  But it’s raining today, you know.

  Mikawa stood fast and took in a lungful of the cold, wet air.

  Divider’s finger pulled the trigger three times in rapid succession.

  Aiming at the gun’s muzzle, Mikawa pursed his lips and blew.

  In the darkness of the rain, three yellow flashes blinked in succession. With a dry bursting sound, three nine-millimeter bullets were fired, and the first round made contact with a raindrop.

  Kshhh. Instead of being scattered into smaller droplets by the rotating bullet, the raindrop froze around it.

  Kshh! Kshh! Kshh! Kshh!

  As they flew through the six meters of air between the gun’s muzzle and Mikawa, each of the bullets made contact with dozens of raindrops, which all froze onto the bullets, dragging them down with the added weight.

  The first and second bullets flew off course and passed by Mikawa harmlessly; the third hit him in the left shoulder, but by then the snowball-sized lump of ice around it had created enough air resistance to slow it down to a speed that wasn’t nearly high enough to pierce the tough skin of a Third Eye user. Still, its impact was akin to taking a hit from a blunt weapon, but even as Mikawa’s body was shaken by it, he continued to let out sharp breaths of air.

  Kshh! Kshh! Now the sound of freezing ice came from the pistol in Divider’s hands. The water that had permeated the gun’s mechanisms turned solid, stopping the firing hammer before it could strike a fourth time.

  Quickly, Divider tossed away the gun before the ice could freeze it to his left hand. By the time it hit the flagstones, there was nothing but a hunk of ice.

  “…Phew, that was close. Even bad cops in Hollywood movies don’t just start shooting without warning, you know,” Mikawa remarked with another smile. “See, this is why I hate firearms.”

  His gun rendered useless, Divider licked his lips and spat off to one side, but his expression was as determined as ever. He grasped his heavy-looking sword with both hands, holding it out at the ready. The last time they had fought, he’d been using a Japanese sword that may or may not have been the real thing, but this time his weapon was so absurd that it looked like it had been pulled straight out of a fantasy movie.

  “So hey, where do you buy a sword like that, anyway? Or did you make it yourself?” Mikawa asked, genuinely rather curious.

  But Divider just shook his head flatly, his curly hair bobbing. “No way, I’m not tellin’ you that so you can go off and attack their shop or somethin’. I mean, not that you’re making it out of here alive today anyway, but y’know.”

  “Aw, c’mon, I wouldn’t attack them. I just wanted to buy one for myself.”

  He shrugged and sighed deeply. Then, focusing on Divider’s feet, he exhaled lightly.

  Kshhh! Kshhh! The sharp noise resounded through the graveyard as pure white ice formed quickly around both of the black agent’s legs. However, instead of freezing him in place, as it should have, the ice cracked and fell away as soon as Divider took a step forward.

  “Hah!” With a strident battle cry, Divider leaped toward him at a dizzying speed, attacking with sword aloft. Glittering in the light of the distant streetlamps, the blade came straight down toward Mikawa’s neck.

  Continuing to blow out cold air, Mikawa was only narrowly able to dodge by freezing over the flagstones underneath Divider’s feet. His boots, connected to his bodysuit, slipped slightly on the fresh ice, altering the trajectory of his blade so that it only just cut through the right side of Mikawa’s jacket. Mikawa quickly put some distance between them as the sword continued straight down, cutting nearly a meter into the flagstones of the cemetery path like a knife through butter.

  The sharpness of his cuts was as absurd as ever. Underneath his jacket, Mikawa was wearing a Syndicate-distributed knife-proof aramid fiber undershirt, but against Divider’s sword, it would do about as much good as a thin sheet of paper. But more importantly…

  “…So that fancy new suit of yours isn’t just cosplay, huh?”

  “Yeah, we came up with it after you froze up all my clothes last time. This suit’s totally waterproof, so you can huff and puff at it all you like.”

  “I see… You’re actually getting smarter.” Mikawa had to admit, the black group was a step ahead of the Syndicate when it came to developing this kind of equipment. They did have the government on their side, after all.

  Narrowing his eyes, he glanced up at the sky. The rain clouds were still dark and heavy; it didn’t seem like he’d have to worry about the worst-case scenario of the rain letting up anytime soon. However, he still couldn’t let this battle go on for too long. The sniper was probably well on his way to a better vantage point by now and had quite possibly called for backup, too.

  That invisible black agent was much more concerning to him right now than even the sword-wielding maniac in front of him. Like most attack-based Third Eye abilities, Mikawa’s powers required the target to be within his sight line, so cheap tricks like invisibility rendered his talents practically useless. If that black agent had used a knife or a gun instead of a Taser last time, Mikawa would probably be dead.

  As much as he wanted to keep playing with the swordsman, it was probably time to wrap things up. With that decided, Mikawa’s smile left his face. Perhaps sensing his resolve to kill, Divider narrowed his eyes as well.

  Mikawa breathed in deeply through his nose and mouth.

  Divider charged at a terrifying speed, white sparks flying as his sword glided along the wet pavement.

  In the instant when the blade hung in the air, glinting in the twilight as it shifted downward toward him, Mikawa aimed at its edge and blew with all his might.

  Imbued with Divider’s power, the blade sliced through the torrential rain as it drew nearer.

  In turn, imbued with Mikawa’s freezing power, the raindrops froze into ice instantaneously as they hit the sword’s edge. The blade sliced these in two and flung about half the frozen droplets away, but the rest stuck to the sides of the metal. These pieces of ice piled up quickly as the blade cut through the air, and in moments, the blade was coated with ice on either side, making it not so much an edged sword as an icy pole.

  Divider’s power could work only with a weapon that had an edge. The sword had lost its cutting ability before it reached Mikawa, but Divider carried on, swinging it toward him anyway. However, the strength of his Third Eye–enhanced body and the knife-proof undershirt were enough to defend against a strike from a simple blunt weapon. Blocking it with his right arm, Mikawa aimed the rest of the air in his lungs at Divider’s face. At this short distance, he could easily target his opponent’s eyes.

  This was just like their previous encounter. Is this loser so confident in his own victory that he couldn’t bother to protect his face with a waterproof mask while he was at it? Mikawa thought.

  But in that instant, the other side of the long sword he had repelled with his arm came back around, slicing neatly up from Mikawa’s abdomen to his right shoulder.

  Mikawa didn’t register any pain or even the impact of the attack, but he knew at once that the depth of the cut was fatal.

  His sword held high in the air, Divider grinned savagely.

  “Tough luck, pal. Unlike ol’ Masamune, Excalibur here is a double-edged sword.”

  When Minoru got off the bus at the stop nearest to his house, it was still raining steadily.

  Minoru looked at his running watch as he opened his umbrella. The digital face read 6:15 p.m. He would be just in time for dinner.

  He hadn’t heard anything from SFD Headquarters…meaning that the traffic accident in Akasaka probably wasn’t t
he work of a Ruby Eye after all.

  So why do I still feel so worried? Maybe I should call and ask them about it…but if I were going to do that, I probably should’ve done it while I was still at the train station.

  Minoru was still dwelling on these thoughts as he walked quickly down his street toward home. Still, when he saw the gentle light streaming out from his kitchen window, he breathed a sigh of relief.

  Norie had said this morning that she was making hand-rolled sushi for dinner tonight, he remembered. He had eaten a late lunch when he got back to headquarters earlier, but his energy consumption had vastly increased since he was infected by the Third Eye parasite, and considering that he successfully completed the absurd mission of going into a nuclear containment vessel earlier today, he felt that he had earned the right to overeat a little.

  His mind now full of thoughts about his favorite tuna and avocado sushi, he almost didn’t notice the car parked across from his house as he walked past it.

  Then, suddenly, a nearby voice spoke to him.

  “Welcome home.”

  Minoru jumped, nearly dropping his umbrella. Grasping it tightly, he quickly looked around, but there was no one else in sight. The passenger-side window of the car, a yellow first-generation Daihatsu Copen, was open, but both the passenger’s and the driver’s seat were clearly empty.

  And the car was a two-seater. Was he hearing things?

  “You’re not hearing things,” the voice, a woman’s, said with impeccable timing. Reflexively, Minoru prepared to bring up his protective shell, but before he did so, the thin, slightly husky voice continued.

  “It’s all right, I’m an SFD member like you. I thought I’d take this chance to say hello.”

  The empty Copen’s left-hand door opened on its own, and the voice spoke again.

  “Get in quickly before the seat gets wet.”

  Minoru was unconvinced. What if this was a Ruby Eye trap, or maybe even an actual ghost? But as his mind churned, he suddenly realized that he had heard this voice somewhere before: two weeks ago, in the raid on Igniter’s workplace, Ariake Heaven’s Shore, over the radio…

  “Ah…you’re, um, Re…Refrac…?”

  “Yes. Hurry and get in, please.”

  “R…right.”

  Gathering his resolve, Minoru folded his umbrella and ducked under the low roof of the Copen, sliding himself into the passenger’s seat. When he closed the door, the sound of the rain died away.

  Minoru took a deep breath and stole a sidelong glance at the driver’s seat, but it still appeared to be completely empty. He did notice, however, the faint scent of perfume inside the car. It was different from the kind Yumiko used, but the fragrance was definitely there.

  Minoru gulped and cleared his throat nervously. Slowly, gingerly, he started to reach out toward the driver’s seat with his right hand.

  “While I understand your intent, I would prefer not to be randomly touched.”

  “O-of course.” Minoru hastily put his hand back on his lap. After a moment, the voice from the driver’s seat spoke again in a slightly softer tone.

  “…My name is Suu Komura. SFD code name: Refractor. Nice to meet you.”

  “N…nice to meet you. I’m Minoru Utsugi. My code name is Isolator.”

  “I look forward to working with you.”

  “Y-yes, you, too.”

  As they exchanged greetings, Minoru continued to squint at the driver’s seat, straining to see the source of the voice. But he still couldn’t see her. The faint glow of the streetlights and the shadows cast by the raindrops streaming down the front window fell onto the camel-colored leather seat without the slightest distortion.

  He started to wonder if her power wasn’t so much invisibility as it was cognitive indetectability, the type of ability like Chief Himi’s that alters the minds of others, but that wouldn’t explain how he was able to see the parts of the seat and driver’s side door that should have been hidden by Suu Komura’s bodily presence. Forgetting for a moment that he was inside a cramped car next to someone he had just met, Minoru mumbled to himself absently.

  “What kind of ability is that? She’s… She’s too invisible!”

  “Have you heard of something called negative-index metamaterial?”

  His question answered with another question, Minoru blinked with surprise, turning a little red.

  “N…no, I’ve never heard that term before.”

  “I see.”

  There was silence for a moment, as though Suu were gathering her thoughts, before she continued in a voice that sounded almost entirely devoid of emotion.

  “All materials in existence have a parameter called a ‘refractive index.’ To put it simply, it’s a number that determines how much the angle of light changes when it comes into contact with that material. For instance, water’s refractive index is 1.3; in comparison, a glasses lens has an index of about 1.7. In other words, when it penetrates a lens, light is bent more than it would be by water.”

  “R-right.”

  It was a bit strange getting a science lecture from someone he couldn’t see, but Minoru did his best to keep up.

  “A negative refractive index—in other words, a material that when penetrated by light would bend it in reverse—was thought to be nonexistent in nature. However, it was recently discovered. Or rather, it was created. A metal with a nanostructure smaller than the wavelength of light…that is what negative-index metamaterial, or NIM, is.”

  “It bends light…in reverse…?” Minoru tilted his head, unable to picture the phenomenon, but the invisible driver continued indifferently.

  “If scientists can control the angle of light both positively and negatively, it becomes possible to prevent light from hitting an object entirely. For example, say we have a ball, and we wrap it in NIM. Light, which should normally reflect off the surface of the ball from all directions, would instead be circumvented to the ball’s surroundings. Now, would you be able to see this ball?”

  “Erm…” In order for the ball to be visible, some amount of light would have to either reflect off or be absorbed by its surface. If a lot of light reflected off it, the ball would appear white, or if the light were absorbed, it would appear black. But if all the light simply slid onto its surroundings without touching the ball…

  “Ah…,” Minoru murmured, finally understanding.

  “That’s right,” his invisible companion affirmed quietly.

  “Think of my power, refraction, as the ultimate form of this kind of metamaterial. Light completely avoids my body and any objects attached that indicate my body’s presence. Thus, nobody can see me.”

  “Light…avoids you…” Certainly, when a person sees something, they’re actually seeing the light that reflects off or is absorbed by that something. If that light were to instead avoid the object, it would essentially be rendered transparent.

  He had somehow grasped the explanation, but for some reason, Minoru thought he detected a note of deep loneliness somewhere in her words. After a moment, the reason dawned on him.

  “If… If light completely avoids you…doesn’t that mean that you can’t see the outside world, either…?”

  There was a brief delay before his question was answered. “…That’s right. When I use my ability to its fullest, not only am I invisible to the world, but the world is invisible to me, too… I’m a bit surprised, though.”

  “Huh? About what?”

  “You’re the first person to come to that conclusion so quickly after hearing my explanation.”

  “Oh…um, I-I’m sorry,” Minoru blurted out reflexively, afraid he had said something impolite, but then he heard the invisible girl next to him stifle a laugh.

  “There’s not really anything to apologize for. I was a bit impressed, that’s all.”

  When Minoru gave no response but to stiffen nervously, she spoke again.

  “…Well, now that we’ve been introduced and all, I should probably be going.”

  At that, M
inoru blinked and opened his eyes wide, staring at the driver’s seat. Was she really going to drive with her abilities still activated—in other words, without being able to see anything?

  Then he spotted something unusual. At about Minoru’s eye level, two tiny black dots were floating in thin air. They didn’t look like anything, really—just like two little spots of darkness, perfectly absorbing all light.

  What are those?

  Furrowing his brow, Minoru leaned in to get a closer look. At that moment…

  “Are you planning to kiss me good-bye?” The voice came from incredibly close to his ears, so close that he realized what he was looking at. The two dots were Refractor’s eyes. More specifically, her pupils—No, even more specifically, the light being absorbed through her pupils into her retinas to be converted into information and transferred to her brain via the optic nerves.

  In other words, Minoru’s face was currently just five centimeters away from the face of a person he couldn’t see—a person who he was 99 percent sure was female.

  “Aah!”

  With an exclamation of surprise, Minoru jumped backward with such force that he slammed the back of his head into the passenger-side window. “I’m so sorry!” he cried, shaking his head partly for emphasis and partly to clear away the pain of the impact.

  “I didn’t mean to do that! I wasn’t, I, um…”

  “Don’t worry about it… Well, then.”

  As she spoke, a key with a cute animal design on it turned right in the ignition, and the starter motor rumbled into action. Though the car was small, Minoru heard a four-cylinder turbo engine start up sharply. His mouth dry, he reached for the door, still apologizing profusely.

  “Um, I…I’m really sorry. I-I’ll just be going now…” Just then, he realized that he still hadn’t heard the answer to the question that he should have been asking from the start.