In only ten seconds, he crossed a dozen kilometers and reached the other end of the city.
The speed was so great that even the forces stationed in the city got a bad fright.
Those who did not know thought some country’s cruise missile had come in, and the military was instantly as if facing a great enemy.
Of course, all of that was only an interlude.
The moment he landed, Kagami Yuto felt his head spin with dizziness.
Perhaps it was the speed being too great, and that he was not used to flying.
The instant he touched down, he staggered.
“So, so dizzy…”
To avoid making a commotion, he found an alley and canceled the transformation, and took the chance to rest a while.
“Yuto, you still need practice. You can’t even handle a speed like this.”
“What will you do if you run into a monster that can fly someday.”
Roa’s voice rang in his head, carrying a rare note of teasing.
“Ugh… Then I’ll find a chance later and get used to it.”
Kagami Yuto helplessly let out a breath of stale air.
After tidying his clothes a little, he stepped out of the alley full of caution.
The southwest district counted as a rather remote stretch of Minamihara City.
There were many mountains around, highways into and out of the city could be seen everywhere, and this was also the industrial district of the whole of Minamihara City.
It was a place most ordinary people would not usually come.
If someone secretly did something here, it would indeed be hard to discover.
“…I suspected this area before. I didn’t think the enemy really was here.”
“Yes. What I sensed before was also in this area.”
“That said, this place seems a bit too big. And there are so many mountains. It feels like there are ten thousand places a person could hide.”
“No matter. Just blast it apart with a beam. It’s only one Shioms Beam anyway.”
“…Ah, this. Are you serious, Mr. Roa.”
“I’m joking. But this really does take a lot of time. I do want to settle it sooner.”
“Mm… I think it’s better not to startle the snake in the grass for now. After all, we finally locked onto it this time.”
“Besides, wasn’t a monster released? We still don’t even know where it is.”
As he spoke, a thread of gravity gradually rose in him.
Because he had no concrete experience in this, even with a direction, he still felt somewhat tied hand and foot.
So he could only start investigating suspicious places nearby, bit by bit, such as underground shelters no one went to, or factories that had already been abandoned.
“Strange. How could a monster that big hide without making a single sound. I asked the people around here too. They all said they didn’t see anything suspicious.”
“…Then only two possibilities are left.”
As he spoke, he heard the other’s voice suddenly turn grave.
At those words, Kagami Yuto grew a little curious.
“Either the enemy has mastered spatial technology, or… what was released is a vicious cosmic criminal.”
“A vicious cosmic criminal?”
It was the first time he had heard this term.
“The ones imprisoned in the Evil Beast Lock aren’t only monsters?”
“Mm. The Evil Beast Lock is only the key that releases the monsters. What imprisons the monsters is a device called a Prison Capsule. It was designed that way at first only to make them easier to transfer, and to keep someone from releasing every monster at once.”
“So what was stolen wasn’t only the Evil Beast Lock?”
“…Mm.”
At those words, Kagami Yuto finally understood.
“I didn’t think that guy wouldn’t be satisfied with stealing the lock, and would take most of the capsules along with it…”
“Even if he got his hands on them, he has no way at all to control these utterly vicious fellows.”
Listening, Kagami Yuto only felt the pressure was enormous.
Before, he had not known how serious the matter was.
Only today, hearing him explain it for the first time, did he understand what kind of potential crisis he was about to face.
If the enemy were driven to smash the pot because it was cracked, and released hundreds or thousands of monsters at once, wouldn’t the Earth be finished.
Right now his head only ached.
“Well, I get why you’re so anxious to take the Evil Beast Lock back, Roa.”
“…Sorry. This matter really is my responsibility.”
“It’s fine. What I mean by saying this is that I understand you. Now I’m the same as you. I want to settle this as soon as I can too.”
He smiled helplessly, then thought about how he should act next.
That night, having found no clues, he returned to the area near his home.
Everything around was still as peaceful as ever, but only Kagami Yuto knew what all of it rested on.
No one could bear it with him, and that made the pressure in his heart now extraordinarily great.
“Hey, young man, want a bowl of tonkotsu ramen? You look worried all over your face. Eat something and your mood might improve.”
The owner of a roadside ramen stall smiled at him.
As it happened, he was a little hungry, and he had not bought dinner today.
So he simply sat down.
“All right, wait a moment. I’ll have it out for you in five minutes!”
“Have some sides first. Sachi, bring the guest a plate of sides!”
Kagami Yuto returned the smile politely, and then saw a little girl somewhat timidly bring him the sides.
The girl looked only in her early teens, and should still have been in middle school.
Short hair, a school uniform, a face that could not be called very pretty, but a very good air about her, giving the feeling of someone quite obedient and well-behaved.
“Guest… your sides.”
“Thank you.”
Under his gaze, the girl quickly lowered her head and ran off, as if she were a little shy.
“My daughter is just like that. She says she wants to help me, but she’s afraid of strangers. I tell her there’s no need, and she still comes.”
The ramen stall owner sighed as he boiled the noodles.
“Is that so. So that girl just now was your daughter, boss.”
At those words, the man gave a simple, honest smile, and scooped out the ramen that had already been cooked.
“I feel like you’re very happy, boss.”
“…Happy. I suppose I can count as that.”
“She’s my whole hope in life now. I divorced her mother early, and raised her all by myself. I used to hope she could bring me some pride, and when she grew up take her father into a good life. Now…”
“What’s wrong now?”
At those words, Kagami Yuto curiously set down his chopsticks.
“Nothing. I just feel that being able to live is already good enough.”
A thread of bitterness rose on the man’s face, and then he heard him say it.
“You must have been through what happened a while ago too, young man? Monsters came from who knows where and wrecked the city all over. Even the army couldn’t stop them. In the end it was a mysterious giant who appeared from who knows where that beat them.”
“A mysterious giant?”
“Yeah. The monsters were all beaten by the giant. The army was no use at all. You don’t not know, do you, young man?”
As he spoke, the owner took out his phone and played a video for him.
The chopsticks in his hand unconsciously slowed.
His gaze did not go to the phone.
He looked at the man with somewhat complicated feelings instead.
“Now some people say the monsters will appear again. I have that feeling too. But more than that, I’m worried whether that giant will still come out when the time comes.”
“After all, the reason we can still be alive now is all because of him. If someday even the giant is defeated, or disappears, it might really be the end of the world.”