"The strongest?"
"Someone who looked like he could be your brother said that?"
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's pupils dilated. Expressionless, he pressed a hand against his tightening chest as though suffering a heart attack.
He couldn't help thinking of Asou Akiya.
He no longer dared dismiss the analyst's words as a joke.
There really was one... two... three people in this world who were stronger than him, whose abilities ranked above his in priority.
Asou Akiya—High-Dimensional Observer!
Edogawa Ranpo—Super Deduction!
Nakahara Chuuya—Upon the Tainted Sorrow!
Even though he had lost to all three of them, he still ranked them in his own mind.
Akiya-san was unquestionably the strongest, capable of seeing through his heart and even his future.
Next came Ranpo-kun, whose powers of deduction were terrifying.
Last was Chuuya-kun, whose intellect simply couldn't keep up with him.
When Akiya-san had guided him toward Ranpo-kun, he had never once claimed Ranpo-kun was the strongest.
He had merely said that Ranpo-kun's intellect surpassed his.
That was a lesson Shibusawa Tatsuhiko had learned the hard way after spending an entire month trailing behind him.
And now...
A once-prominent wealthy family in Aomori Prefecture, whose greatest glory had been producing a single member of the House of Councillors before declining into obscurity...
...had somehow produced someone Akiya-san had called "the strongest"?
What did the strongest even mean?
It meant a power that surpassed even Akiya-san's!
Was Tsushima Shuuji's ability stronger than Akiya-san's?
He refused to believe it!
He was nothing more than a canary raised in captivity—a frail boy who had never received any training in using an ability!
The cracks spreading through Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's composure gradually knit themselves back together as his gaze regained its focus.
His weariness with the world vanished, replaced by utter shock.
Again and again, reality kept shattering everything he thought he knew.
A frog at the bottom of a well, staring despairingly toward the opening above.
Still stubbornly croaking.
"Shuuji-kun."
Without warning, Shibusawa Tatsuhiko seized his hand in a tight grip. Before Tsushima Shuuji could wrench himself free, his disgust surfaced without the slightest attempt to hide it.
"Let go of me!"
Ignoring his aversion to physical contact, Shibusawa Tatsuhiko smiled. The expression twisted across his cool, elegant face, like a beautiful flower ensnared in a spider's web—still exquisite, yet something no one would dare touch.
"The strongest ability?"
"There is no such thing as the strongest ability. That's common sense."
"You're lying to me, aren't you?"
"Do you understand... what happens to people who lie to me?"
Tsushima Shuuji stared at him with wide eyes, only half understanding, as though some switch inside the man had suddenly been flipped.
If one ignored the suffocating pressure pouring off him… he looked more like someone frantically losing his composure.
Tsushima Shuuji had already tasted a despair ordinary people could never endure.
Why would he fear someone like this?
Smiling softly, he said, "Shibusawa-san, don't you think you should look in a mirror?"
Instead of trying to pull his hand away again, he guided Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's hand toward his own face.
"Are you jealous of me? Are you doubting me? Is my ability really something you long for that badly?"
What an even more naïve person than I am.
Believing in black magic.
Believing in abilities.
Wasting a perfectly free life chasing after such things.
Watching from the sidelines, the servants were drenched in cold sweat, ready to intervene at any moment. They had no idea why the usually quiet, withdrawn young master became so animated whenever he was with outsiders.
Tsushima Shuuji let out a light, tinkling laugh.
Something like black sludge seeped from the emptiness in his eyes.
"How ugly."
His hand, which is so much smaller than that of the eighteen-year-old before him, darted sideways.
He suddenly grabbed the braid hanging beside Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's ear.
He had noticed it earlier.
The man treasured something on his person above all else.
A blue ribbon.
The twin lily-like braids bound together unraveled in an instant. Snow-white hair spilled loose over his shoulders.
And the ribbon changed hands.
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko instinctively reached for his hair.
No one had ever dared treat him like this before. For a split second, he forgot that his first reaction should have been to snatch back the ribbon.
It was Akiya-san's gift to him—a keepsake he always carried.
The corners of Tsushima Shuuji's lips curved upward. Taking the ribbon, he tied the ends of his own hair near the nape of his neck into a tiny ponytail.
Come on.
Kill me.
Let me see what it is you're really after.
The combined assault of Shuuji's words and actions finally pushed Shibusawa Tatsuhiko past the breaking point.
"Draconia—!!"
Without warning, the sunlight outside was swallowed by a spreading mist.
The room filled with fog as though someone had released dry ice indoors. The servants screamed in terror at the sudden change.
Still wearing only his white tabi socks, Tsushima Shuuji quickly retreated several steps. The mist coiled around his feet, and then the servants' voices vanished.
He looked toward the doorway.
Silence.
There were no servants.
No birds.
Not a single sound.
It was as if everyone in the Tsushima estate had disappeared. The cherry tree stood rooted in the courtyard, cold and motionless, like something out of a dream.
Cautiously, he pinched his own cheek.
"...It hurts."
His cheek reddened beneath his fingers.
Yet he still didn't wake up.
There was no one in this dream but himself... and the utterly furious Shibusawa Tatsuhiko.
Tsushima Shuuji crouched down and touched the floor.
It felt completely solid.
The mist had already faded from view.
His voice trembled ever so slightly as he asked,
"What is this?"
Deep down, he sensed that he was about to come into contact with something...
Could this be it?
By then, Shibusawa Tatsuhiko had already straightened up. His crimson eyes looked as though blood might seep from them as he stared fixedly at Tsushima Shuuji for a long while.
Yet nothing happened to him.
Exactly the same as Nakahara Chuuya.
Something wasn't right.
If Tsushima Shuuji truly possessed an ability that surpassed even Akiya-san's, how could he have entered the mist domain?
What did that mean?
It meant Akiya-san's and Ranpo-kun's abilities still held higher priority!
Akiya-san's assessment of "the strongest" would have to be reconsidered.
The foundations of Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's pride wavered, though he clung stubbornly to the last remnants of his dignity.
"Welcome to my world of mist..."
"...my ability, Draconia."
This was his world.
His space-type ability dragged every ability user into a mist-shrouded world that mirrored reality.
Tsushima Shuuji stared blankly.
"An ability?"
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's face was pale, his white hair making him seem even more ghostly.
"That's right."
Shuuji asked again, "Then... I have an ability too?"
Shibusawa looked as though he was on the verge of tears.
"You don't even know whether you have an ability?"
You have to be kidding! Was this what it meant to win the race before it had even begun?!
Shuuji shook his head in confusion.
"I have an ability? That's impossible. I've never felt anything special! If I really had power, then why would my life have turned out like this...?" The brown-haired boy lowered his gaze to his own hands. The lines on his palms were faint, his hands delicate and frail.
He had power?
["You are the strongest."]
["This place won't be able to imprison you for long; now go home."]
The life that had trapped him like a nightmare suddenly split open with a crack, revealing a fantastical world beyond.
That person hadn't lied to him.
Not a single word he had said had been false.
"If that's true..."
At eleven years old, Tsushima Shuuji seemed to tumble into an even deeper terror. Tears welled up in his eyes, glittering as countless questions that had tormented him suddenly found another possible answer.
Staggering forward, he stopped in front of Shibusawa Tatsuhiko and made a broken, desperate request.
"Shibusawa-san... slap me."
"..."
Shibusawa stared at him in silence, his expression shifting as every moment he had spent in the Tsushima household replayed itself in his mind, until the truth finally came into focus.
Akiya-san had met Tsushima Shuuji years ago. He had known the boy possessed an ability, yet had never revealed it, instead allowing him to grow up peacefully at home and intending to approach him after he turned eleven. But the Tsushima family had apparently discovered Shuuji's ability as well. They concealed the truth from him, subjecting him to both psychological and physical control, intending to keep him hidden away as the family's trump card.
Was the activation condition for his ability... a slap?
No. Akiya-san would never have struck this child.
This boy was one of the same kind as himself and Edogawa Ranpo. He should have lived with pride, letting the brilliance of his ability shine—not been locked away in a cage like a canary.
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko slowly raised his hand.
Under Tsushima Shuuji's tangled emotions—hope, hatred, pain, and countless others—he did not slap him. Instead, stiffly imitating the "concern" Akiya-san had taught him, he reached out and gently cupped the boy's cheek with a hand that carried a trace of warmth.
That's right.
You are one of my kind in this world.
The instant the ability user made skin contact, the faint white radiance hidden deep within Tsushima Shuuji was triggered—the ability-nullifying gift, No Longer Human.
The mist realm shattered.
The ability was forcibly dispelled, and the two of them returned to reality.
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko, who had long since grown accustomed to the effects of his own ability, froze on the spot. His hand remained stiff against Shuuji's face as an overwhelming urge to strangle him surged up once again.
Draconia... had disappeared.
Watching everything unfold before his eyes, Tsushima Shuuji coldly slapped Shibusawa's hand away.
He turned his back on him and looked toward the servants outside, who had already run off to seek help.
"So that's how it is."
In that instant, most of the invisible shackles binding him snapped apart.
But the little bird's broken wings were still bleeding. Covered in the down of a fledgling, it still lacked the strength to fly. One final shackle tightened around his heart, dragging him another step closer to the abyss.
His ability is activated through skin-to-skin contact.
Not through a slap.
So this... was the power that person had spoken of seven years ago.
The strongest power in the world.
Tsushima Shuuji's expression was caught somewhere between laughter and tears, his face as ghastly as a specter.
"Father..."
"You really did 'love' me."
His own father had shown him less kindness than a complete stranger. Even though that stranger had known about his ability, he had still sent him back home, believing he should grow up surrounded by his family.
Tsushima Gen'emon hurried over and found his youngest son completely unharmed.
A bright smile spread across Tsushima Shuuji's face as he threw himself into his father's arms.
"Father, I'm fine! Just now, it seemed like thick smoke suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It was Shibusawa-san who saved me. The servants didn't know what happened, so please don't wrongly accuse Shibusawa-san."
"Look—he cares about me so much that he even let me wear his favorite ribbon."
His account was the complete opposite of what the servants had reported.
Gen'emon frowned, suspicion creeping into his eyes as he turned to look at Shibusawa Tatsuhiko, who emerged wearing a dark expression.
Shibusawa glanced at the father and son, a trace of mockery flickering across his face, but offered no denial.
Still seething with anger, he returned to his quarters. Once he was alone, he picked up the phone and made a call.
"Akiya-san, Tsushima Shuuji is an ability user."
"I know."
"Is he the strongest ability user?"
"This isn't a conversation we should have over the phone. Come out and meet me. Randou and I have arrived in Aomori Prefecture. We're not far from the Tsushima estate."
"Weren't you supposed to be traveling? Why did you come here?"
"The situation changed."
Asou Akiya lowered his phone.
He looked toward Randou, who had just stepped out of the car beside him. A faint smile curved Randou's lips.
On the second night after reading through Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's diary-like reports, Akiya had been struck by a dreadful suspicion. He had tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep.
Because he might have been responsible for giving birth to a dark IF timeline.
One should never underestimate the bottomless malice within the human heart.[1]
The words lodged in Asou Akiya's throat like a fishbone.
At last, in broad daylight, he told Randou everything.
Randou had originally opposed making the trip to Aomori Prefecture to see Shibusawa Tatsuhiko and Tsushima Shuuji. After hearing the full story, however, he asked only one question.
"The child who looks so much like you... Did his family has imprisoned him? And they may even be abusing him?"
Akiya nodded miserably.
Dazai Osamu would've never be afraid of maids.
He would've never feared his own family.
That had once been a lively, cheerful child.
Randou fell silent before asking softly, "How old is he? Are there any ability users in his family?"
"Shuuji turns twelve next month," Akiya replied. "I don't know the family's full situation. In the worst case, there may be one or two ability users."
"So young..." Randou sighed.
He had killed targets that young before.
He had also raised Chuuya when he was that young.
Reaching out, Randou gently smoothed the worry from Akiya's brow. How could he not understand what was weighing on his heart?
"Then let's go save him, Akiya."
"I'm happy."
"I fell in love with a man who knows right from wrong."
The hands he had washed so many times were no longer as cold as ice. They always melted beneath the warmth of the man before him.
In the darkness, we commit evil.
In the light, we choose to do good.
My dear Akiya.
As long as you remember to take me with you, every moment we spend together will be another adventure, another journey.
[1] This was a reference to Isaac Netero's (HxH) last words.