by <unknown>
As though showing off his composure from a position of advantage, Litvintsev deliberately slowed down his speech and said:
"Fear has its own smell. You are merely using anger to hide your fear."
"..."
Suppressing the wavering in his heart, Rentaro clenched his fists on his lap.
He lamented mentally how sad it was that Litvintsev was so much superior in these types of psychological warfare than him.
Andrei Litvintsev.
This spy had attempted to approach politicians in the Tokyo Area and bribe them, turning them into militants to stir up war against other Areas.
He investigated the Tokyo Area's heavy industries, state of the economy and national resources, providing the information to Russia. It was said that Russia even established a specialized intelligence agency in the Tokyo Area just to support him.
When he was arrested, only a total of five people were implicated, including his accomplices. Because all suspects adhered strictly to silence, the judge ran into trouble and could only sum up the case using an ambiguous motive of "disturbing the Tokyo Area's peace and leaking secrets to other Areas."
For such an expert spy to be arrested, it could be described as completely by chance.
Together with his accomplices, he was installing eavesdropping equipment at the home of a politician belonging to an opposing camp. As a result, the neighbor complained about the noise and hired civil security to take care of the problem, which was how Litvintsev came to be arrested all of a sudden.
After his arrest, Litvintsev's other crimes came into light, instantly causing an uproar. In the ensuing chaos, the prosecutor ended up stealing all the credit, leaving the Tendo Security Company with the lame accomplishment of "solving complaints regarding a neighbor's noise." Absolutely shameful.
"You were only able to apprehend me because my Initiator was not by my side. I hope you won't forget that."
"What a shameful excuse. How lamentable the fate of a high IP ranker. Rather, I should say formerly a high IP ranker."
"How is that princess lately?"
"You mean Her Highness Seitenshi? Did she ever visit?"
"A very brief one, but yes. A very delicate woman."
"Don't you go bullying her. She's a very devout believer of God."
"So there are people who still believe in God in such times?"
Litvintsev's voice turned gloomy.
"Are Belarusians all atheists?"
"By the time the Greater Minsk Area was plunged into hell, faith had already disappeared a long time ago."
"...Litvintsev, you know the Tokyo Area's current situation, right? The Tokyo Area has been unjustly accused of summoning Libra and a war against the Sendai Area could break out any moment. At this rate, in their desperation, the Sendai Area will surely make a move first. Once war begins, foreign powers are going to join in one after another, possibly turning this into a world war. In addition, this incident is very likely related to your former subordinates stealing Solomon's Ring and the Scorpion's Head. Of course, you're involved too."
"Why do you think that?"
"If it's you, bribing the staff here and making contact with the outside world should be a piece of cake."
Litvintsev shook his head with a wry smile.
"Just be a good boy and spit out where your friends are hiding, then we'll talk about reducing your sentence. Let me be clear up front, if you don't hurry up and talk, the info will soon become worthless. Unlike you, I'm not sitting around with nothing to do."
Rentaro finished in one breath. How about that? He observed the other guy's reaction.
Although Rentaro was no expert negotiator, the speech he just delivered ought to deserve a passing grade.
To be honest, Rentaro had obtained prior permission from Seitenshi to deport Litvintsev back to Russia and forbid him from entering the five principal Areas of Japan to serve as a bargaining chip. But revealing all his cards at the start would be the worst thing you could do when negotiating.
As much as Rentaro had dropped out from that path, he had been groomed as a candidate to enter politics as a member of the Tendo family. He had done his homework beforehand to study the absolute rules of negotiation to some extent.
The rules of this prison were strict to an obsessive degree. One visitation per month and only limited to family. Items delivered to single jail cells were also tightly controlled.
Originally meant to be a social venue for inmates, private conversations were banned in the cafeteria. The ceilings were even fitted with tear gas that would be sprayed as soon as a riot occurred.
Roll call twelve times a day. Failures to respond would be mercilessly deemed an attempt to escape prison and subjected to time in the punishment room.
The sports ground where one could get a breath of fresh air was opened twice a week, but that place was surrounded by towering concrete walls manned by prison guards armed with real bullets, patrolling like hawks.
It was supposed to be a place where even time for catching one's breath would be hard to come by.
In fact, many convicts had attempted to escape, unable to bear this prison's harsh conditions, but there were no successful cases.
In contrast to the prison's run-down appearance, these were metaphorically walls of iron. Simply the beds of spikes installed on the ground were enough to serve as proof of its security.
Even vile criminals who had repeatedly engaged in robbery, murder and arson would cry like children as soon as they heard they were going to be sent here. As much as Litvintsev feigned calmness on the surface, Rentaro was certain that his half year of prison life must have been unbearable.
Given the chance to be released, he would take it even if it meant betraying his comrades.
Including the fact that he had named Rentaro for negotiations, this meant that he was willing to negotiate terms and conditions.
The above was what Rentaro had deduced beforehand as Litvintsev's psychological state.
As a basic rule, holding the fishing rod dangling the carrot in front of that guy's face, Rentaro was not going to give way easily. He must spin the guy in circles.
—However, despite knowing that in his mind, on a completely different dimension from these calculations, he was feeling a type of indescribable chill, stinging his temples.
He could not see any short-sighted anxiety in the man before him at all. Was this also an act? Or perhaps, Rentaro's thoughts had missed out something critical...
At this moment, Litvintsev giggled as though he could not suppress himself any further. Finally turning into a massive laugh of mockery.
"What are you laughing at?"
While feeling uneasy, Rentaro saw the prisoner in the cage glare at him with dark eyes.
"You seem to have mistaken something. I have no intention of negotiating terms with you."
"What...!?"
Rentaro doubted his own ears. What did this guy just say...?
Ignoring the dumbfounded Rentaro, Litvintsev continued:
"I did indeed tell government officials that I wanted to see you. That is not a lie. But I did not ask for you to negotiate."
"Then why on earth did you..."
Rentaro muttered in a hoarse voice.
Litvintsev stood up and walked over.
Despite knowing there were bars between them, Rentaro still shrank back reflexively and entered a combat stance. Leaning his face against the bars, Litvintsev spoke in a knowing tone of voice:
"Listen here. I will destroy the Tokyo and Sendai Areas next. The people you love will kill each other, get blown up, rolling on the ground with intestines squirting out like bugs, and all you can do is watch all this while hating your own helplessness."
Instantly, Rentaro felt an illusion as though himself was the one being caged.
The light streaming in diagonally only lit up Litvintsev's body below the neck. Almost completely dark, all that was left of his face was eyes giving off vicious light.
Rentaro was
intimidated, completely unable to move. But in a corner of his numb mind, he still understood one point.
Rentaro's deductions were completely overturned from their premises.
This was not a negotiation.
Instead, this was a declaration of war.
"Take your own people and escape to another Area. This is the respect I offer you as the one who managed to arrest me once. If you don't heed my advice. you will witness a tragic hell worse than death."
"Stop fucking around!"
Noticing his hand moving, Rentaro immediately pulled out his handgun and aimed at Litvintsev between the eyes.
With the XD's muzzle pointed at his face, Litvintsev fell into a terrifying silence. Only those eyes of his were quietly piercing Rentaro.
"Why!? Why the heck are you doing this!? Are you controlling Libra just because you want the Tokyo Area to suffer the same fate as your former homeland? Why!?"
"Even though you caught me once, I won't lose again."
Just as Rentaro was wondering about a panicking cry coming from the side, he was suddenly tackled to the ground. His view shook intensely.
When he realized it was a prison guard who had charged in panic to stop him, two prison guards had snatched his weapon away and pinned his arms down from behind. Rentaro struggled violently for a while, but this only caused intense pain. As soon as he turned his neck forcibly, his joints would be restrained.
As for Litvintsev, he was staring at him with cold eyes.
While dragged away by the prison guards, Rentaro cursed "damn it."
He had been totally played for a fool
Originally thinking he was in control and storming in here—In the end, he was nothing more than a stupid clown.
In the end, what he instinctively felt before the meeting turned out to be correct.
He should have shot the guy to death on first sight. To Rentaro, this was the kind of nemesis he was.
After getting scolded harshly by the prison guards and told to leave, Rentaro was thrown out and suffering from an intense feeling of defeat.
Dragging his utterly exhausted body, he turned towards the trestle bridge and drawn to the calls of seagulls, looked up at the sunny sky.
Rentaro suddenly wondered whether Enju was having a good time at school or not.
Part 3
During roll call, Ms. Yagara's monotonous voice droned endlessly like reciting a prayer.
This obese teacher seemed completely defeated by today's hot and humid weather.
"Houzui Watanabe... Hmm, next, a girl. Enju Aihara... Oh dear, Aihara?"
As though urged by Ms. Yagara's voice, Momoka Hieda stole glance at the spot two seats away from her.
There was only an empty seat and desk with no signs of the friend she was looking for.
The sounds of waves was cleansing the soul. Listening to the calls of seagulls, she closed her eyes at the same time.
A faint sound of water flowing could be heard from behind the bumpy beech tree trunk she was leaning her back against.
Enju Aihara swung her outstretched legs while enjoying the prickly feeling coming from the grass. Her gaze settled on a building visible on the far side of the Tokyo Bay in the distance.
It was a marine prison connected via a long trestle bridge. Due to the evaporation of seawater, its reflection in the rippling water was wavering unsteadily.
Rentaro was probably inside right now, meeting the convict mentioned earlier.
Having only heard of the location, Enju skipped school today, finding this seaside park just by using the name.
Opening the bag next to her, she took out a sandwich she had bought at a convenience store.
Peeling off the wrapper, she took a bite and swallowed. However, to Enju who had gotten used to having meals as a social affair, eating alone made food taste worse.
Hearing laughter, she looked up to see a family of three visiting the park for recreation despite the tense times at hand. Holding the hands of who were probably her wryly smiling parents, a young girl was yelling "Hurry up, okay?" while dragging them forward.
The parents looked like their only intention was to take stroll in this setting of a seaside park, but for a child already used to stimulating entertainment such as social network gaming, this place was utterly boring.
Confronted with a happy family whom blessings ought to be offered to, Enju felt her feelings entering a turmoil.
Born as a Cursed Child, unable to find anywhere in the world to belong to, Enju always held complicated feelings towards other children who took their right to enjoy parental love for granted.
Although she normally did not notice these things, whenever she lowered her guard, the tiniest occurrence would break through her seal, causing negative memories to come pouring out.
The first to awaken in her ears was the acute sound of hitting. For a hallucination, this noise was far too realistic, making Enju's entire body tense involuntarily.
Two figures were maliciously staring down at her swollen cheeks.
They were the unforgettable Mr. and Mrs. Aihara.
This pair of foster parents hated talking to Enju, using physical strikes in place of language.
Depriving her of food, making her sleep in the kitchen, what they wanted was not Enju but the allowance paid to those who adopted orphans from the war.
"When setting the price on benevolence, one absolutely must not go too high or too low."
Enju recalled Sumire's past explanation.
"Take blood donation as an example. It is respected precisely because it is unrewarded sacrifice. Suppose a very cheap reward was given, it would hurt the donators' pride. Conversely, an excessively high reward would start black market activity such as the selling of blood.
"Although the first Seitenshi was universally acclaimed as an enlightened ruler after her death, one mistake in her policies has been pointed out.
"Namely, she set the monthly allowance for adopting war orphans too high."
Most likely, the first Seitenshi had established this policy with 100% benevolence, but in hindsight, the greedy people who adopted Enju from the orphanage were jackals like the Aihara couple.
Naturally, parents devoid of love could not possibly be good parents. Their only expectation of Enju was "as long as she was still breathing." Apart from that, all they did was starve her or beat her as they pleased.
Foster parents like those could not possibly establish good parent-child relationships. Breakdown was inevitable.
Enju recalled herself in the past, in the living room, her shoulders heaving up and down intensely from her violent panting.
The dirty tatami floor was completely destroyed. The foster father, dressed in semi-long underpants, had his face beaten in, unconscious. The foster mother with the face like a seal lion's was also beaten severely in the face, struggling to retreat while sitting on her ass on the floor.
Enju's pair of eyes were scorching red. Blood was also dripping from her tightly clenched fists. She believed she was crying at the time.
After spending a year desperately trying to earn their love, but getting no return no matter how hard she tried, that final line was eventually crossed in their relationship.
"Y-You're on a one-way trip to hell! You'll be treated as an antisocial red-eye from now on, to be driven out from society! Serves you right!"
Baring her teeth and snarling like a baboon, the foster mother cursed, making Enju come to her senses and flee, driven by fear.
After escaping to Ward 39, Enju engaged in every kind of crime apart from murder in order to survive. Getting shot by handguns or shotguns in retaliation happened not just once or twice.
After finding out that Enju was a Cursed Child, the orphanage where Enju lived before being adopted by the Aihara family had wanted to get rid of her a long time ago. Hence, she could not possibly go back there.
Enju's gaze became vicious.
Fearing malice from others, she kept her power released at all times.
She was unable to trust anyone.
After some unknown amount of time passed, one day, some of her fellow Cursed Children told her that corrosion rate suppression drugs could be obtained for free just by becoming an Initiator, and meals would be guaranteed henceforth. Hence, Enju tried enlisting.
Only now could Enju admit honestly that in the very beginning, she did harbor some hopes for the Promoter assigned to supervise and assist her.
However, as soon as she saw the sorry-looking Promoter brought in by the IISO staff, Enju could not help but sigh.
That guy was not only deplorable in appearance but also had an attitude like a little punk as well as being incurably poor.
By the time she met the company CEO whom she wondered if her breasts had sucked away all nutrients, Enju went as far as to vow secretly in her heart never to open her heart to these two.
Enju took a forceful bite of the sandwich she was gripping tightly.
Why was she recalling such things now?
It must be because of dinner last night when Rentaro had mentioned the "Aihara family" again after so long.
In the end, Enju had received nothing from her foster parents apart from her family name. Truly a sad relationship.
And this time, she had escaped again. Last time it was away from her foster parents whereas this time it was her classmates.
"How disgusting, eyes glowing red. I hope people like that don't come to school."
"Scram back to your ghetto in the outskirt zones."
"So creepy, stop disguising as humans, okay?"
The many cursing profanities said to her over the years were replaying in the depths of her ears, surfacing together with the faces of hatred directed towards her. Although eyelids existed to block off seeing things she did not want to see, there were no "earlids" to block away sounds she did not wish to hear.
What pulled Enju out of her endless vortex of self-rejection was a mumbled scream of "Ah—!"
Enju looked back to see a girl, a size younger than herself, tearfully looking up at a beech tree on the side.
Following her gaze, Enju finally understood the situation.
A bright red balloon had apparently escaped its owner's hand, getting caught in the beech branches during its quest for freedom.
