12 / 03 / 2019 - Daito, Prefecture Osaka, Japan.
9 AM.
The yellow light is bright, gentle yet pale, mid-March, falling softly towards the side road and the residential area as the sun begins its quest to climb.
And at this moment, on the side of the street.
"Haahhhhh… Hahhhh…" Breathe in and out steadily, the cold wind blowing to his face, and each breath brings a bit of white mist.
Body hunched, holding his knee down as his eyes gaze at the dark concrete, weary and tired from his walk.
The nose is a bit red from the chill, but his face remains as it is, expressionless as always.
The boy's black hair is messy, medium-length, falling loosely over his eyes, with some particularly dense strands covering his left eye.
His face is slim and full of youth, not yet fully sharp, composed. The eyes are now glowing with bloody-ashen, observant, quiet, and distant.
Some passing pedestrians often glance in his direction with some confusion or a smile, and the car's busy noise drifts to his ears.
But the boy ignored it; right now, an evaluation is formed inside his mind, 'After nine months of unresponsiveness and then just in three days… three days.'
Then, pushing his knee, he straightened his body up and narrowed his eyes against the striking light. His face is sweaty, but then again, he is inherently surprised by this.
'It is simply unbelievable, huh.' Hands hanging limply to the side, though he felt that his body was warm and aching at the same time, probably from over-exertion.
Then he continues his walk, this time he will take a casual stroll around, tucking his hands into his pockets, trying to cool himself while he thinks.
After the event yesterday, he thinks it's not an exaggeration for his little sister to act like that.
'Though I doubt she understands this matter more than I do, but if we think logically, a normal person shouldn't be able to walk in this short time.'
As to why? "There are many reasons, but partly it is some medical condition, such as atrophy, loss of coordination, etc." He mutters lightly while looking towards the bare trees.
Stopping in his tracks, he paused. Then again, why can he do what others cannot, or even do what is impossible?
Hmmm…
His face turns a bit uncertain, while the corner of his mouth is twitching, thinking hard of formulating that guess that has been stuck inside.
'For other people, it is probably nine months… though I'm also uncertain of how long or even if the concept of time itself exists in that River, but—'
His eyes reflected the trees that are in the midst of bloom in pink, of sakura. '—That pain and transformation is immediate as it is, he has never been to sleep or slumber.'
So, "For me it is not a coma, just a nap, a long and painful nap, after all." Clenching his hands in his pockets, he looks at the buds of the tree deeply.
'If you can be called active even if you are asleep, if you can be called alive when you are in a coma.' Then all those medical conditions or setbacks are just a dream in itself.
Turning his head, he continued his walk. He shakes his head slightly, all that has already passed; lamentation is just a burden, so why immerse himself in it?
"Well, the destination is close by." Voice carried by the wind, the corner of his mouth upturned lightly, unnoticeable, yet unmistakable, his steps feel lighter than ever before.
————
'Is it here?' Akane's footsteps stop naturally; his gaze did not dwell in one place too much, and coupled with what he had prepared, he did a stretch just like a normal person would.
His gaze has already turned bluish-silver, and he has activated his
"Hmmmm…" He is thoughtfully looking around, secretly using his superior observation and analysis to find any incongruity in this place his sister has described.
Then again, he is quite surprised inside that it is not some noticeable landmark or anything; he arrives in another residential area near the mountain.
Low-rise buildings and narrow roads all over the place, as he began to inspect around, his eyes stung in pain, he instinctively winced, eyes narrowed into a slit.
His movement briefly stopped as one hand held his head in pain. "So, that's how it is." His body hunched, he tried to control himself immediately, lowering his head.
For others, he may be a bit tired or getting a headache, and as such, he positions himself like this to avoid suspicion if there is something wrong.
But the pain is real, he could feel that his vision and brain are throbbing crazily as useless junk of information and data keep flooding his mind.
Gritting his teeth quietly, he knew that if he decided to go further, he might suffer some consequences, so he decisively deactivated his ability, and only then did he let out a breath.
'Hahah, I'm a fool not to think of this.' Just in a second, he knows what is wrong; his eyes are weary, a minute is like a long time for him, as his Manifestations are running out of control.
Composing himself for a minute, as he gasps for breath, sweat trickled down from his temple and slid off, falling to the ground, drip by drip, smiling in satisfaction.
"Haahhhh", a gleam of red seemed to bleed in. He walked a stride to the side of the road and sat on the pavement, beneath the shadow of the building.
'Unfortunate, unfortunate.' This morning, it was quite tame, but in the moment, it ran out of his control, but then again, a smile still plastered across his face.
If not for this pain and mistake, he would not have identified it this quickly, as a limitation of his Manifestation.
Looking down at the ground, he could still feel the pain over his head; he felt his brain was throbbing and burning at the same time. Hands limp above his knee.
Observation and Analysis, if he might comment, is not a very powerful ability; it is not capable of offense or defense in a conventional manner.
But—
'The flexibility and versatility itself are what matters.' For him, or another thinker of the same mind, it could be a lethal weapon in itself.
'Observation is an act of recognition or gathering of surface data that he could sense.' This is his first summary of observations from an earlier mistake.
He knows it as he used it this morning, but he wants to reaffirm it once again, as even for him, he can't understand or see the "Rhythm" that Irina talked about.
Well, partly it is because of her specialty, but also because of incompatibility, and strange things will at least leave a trace, right? Thus, the matter of recognizing it, Observation isn't capable of doing so.
He affirmed this, and furthermore—
"My vision, control, or range affects the matter of whether Observation and Analysis work." Yes, this is the key factor that is so simple yet overlooked by him.
Raising his head slightly, he tried to look around. This time, he tried to activate his Manifestation once more, dim bluish-silver rising from the depths of his eyes.
Controlling his gaze, he tried to focus on one single thing rather than see the whole thing. At the same time, he prepared his Analysis to process the data to avoid flooding as before.
Then, he saw the familiar new world, as if reality had been enhanced and cleared of dust or filth that obstructed his vision.
Choosing a target, he chose to observe an individual instead, instantly flicking his gaze and emptying his mind in between to blur the unrelated objects at the edge of his vision.
Although it is quiet, some passersby are still walking around, some are a woman carrying a basket of vegetables, or an old man who is walking unhurriedly to bask in the sun.
And amidst this, "Let it be you then," as he said it, his gaze clicked into a hooded man who stepped out of a building, apparently a studio, taking out a cigar and leaning on the wall to smoke.
Akane's eyes followed suit, recognizing the strange gait, the unconventional muscle movement, and the bulging movement in his hoodie pocket.
His face turned strange for a moment. 'It can't be right?' He doesn't want to rejoice too soon; he chooses to gather the data further first rather than making a hasty conclusion.
Hmmm, his breathing is a bit ragged, or rather, there is a long pause and then a short pause, what is this? Did you turn your breathing pattern into a morse code? He can't resist the impulse to complain.
Then again, all indicators seem to point to inconsistency or unusual behavior, but without any further prior knowledge or pattern, this person may just be ruled out as sick, etc.
Akane's eyes brightened slightly as he found a few more things from his ability. "Without prior knowledge and a consistent pattern, there are many possibilities to assume. So, I can't conclude anything beyond what I know."
Muttering under his breath, he turned off his vision, as he saw no further need to do this. 'Not omniscient, but if used in the right way, it can probably reach near that level someday, so—'
Having decided something, he stands up as he can feel that the headache subsides slightly, albeit not fully, and shakes his head to throw off the dizziness.
'—I still need to learn after all.' His expressionless face seems to crumble at the thought of having to take notes and scramble over a biology or psychology textbook.
"Haahhh…" Letting out a sigh, placing his hands in his pockets, he walked towards the next destination for further analysis, also to find out the pattern that he could discern.
Then again, his back is a bit hunched, as he seems to be able to see the future where he is holed up in a room like a wizard, interpreting knowledge without any end in sight.
….
"This is the last one, huh. Took a long while…" Eventually, he arrived at the last place, and for now, he can at least conclude one thing after all the long walk he took.
'There doesn't seem to be any relation at all.' He is pondering while holding his chin, looking outside the izakaya at the center of the city, well, when he thinks of this.
His temple is frowning, 'How the hell did Irina even get here?' to be able to sense this place as off means that she has passed by this place, but if he tries to make sense of it.
'It's probably nee-chan when she takes her to the office, maybe?' well anyway, he tried to be focused on the task at hand, apart from all five places that are marked.
There is nothing out of the ordinary, well, that's his conclusion for now; it's been two to three hours since he took a walk from his apartment.
First is the residential area at the edge of the city, the ragged breathing man from earlier is suspicious, but probably he needs a health checkup, and Akane marks him up regardless.
Second is a warehouse near the mountain. This looks suspicious, but apparently it has been abandoned a long time ago, and there are no unusual tracks, so moving on.
Third is near the park of Fukakita. Personally, he didn't sense anything suspicious since there are many people here, hindering his observation.
Fourth is a high-rise building also in the center of the city, near the last place. From the outside, there is also nothing out of the ordinary; he also can't get inside in the first place.
So, that leaves the last place. Akane hid himself in the alley, leaning on the wall while watching the front of the izakaya cautiously.
For now, he set the time or window of observation for 10 minutes at every place, but in the end, he found nothing after all, to which Akane is a bit disappointed.
"A week, I'll give it a week, if there's nothing, then there's nothing." He spoke softly to himself, his face was weary, as he massaged his temple, the toll on his brain in this short time is unimaginable.
"Better go home now." With this, he pushes his upper body lightly and walks out of the alley, drawing the hood over his head. He casually thinks of his gains of today to cool his mind.
'While I can't find anything exceptional, the findings over my Manifestation are more than enough to make up for it.' His hands are still in his pockets, while feeling the breeze that blows over his face.
Weariness and sleepiness hit his face as he yawns, covering his mouth. 'Cycle of depletion and accumulation, well, I'm tired.' How could it not be? The second time he tried it, he could feel his head smashed with a hammer.
The third time of prolonged use proves what it feels like to have a thousand needles inserted into your brain at the same time, slowly and painfully, and that's what he feels.
"The limit is one individual." This is the formal limit that he can accept for now; anything beyond this risks his mind and depletes his energy.
Then again, he has had a taste of overloading it, out of curiosity. His mouth churns slightly as he tastes the dried feel of rust in his mouth; probably something is off in his skull or head.
The corner twitches out of irony at his foolishness or recklessness, but having blood is proof that he is alive after all, not that it matters for the pain or anything in any way; he is used to it.
"This nap must be divine after all of this." Forgetting the previous matter at the back of his mind, he carried his tired body and walked to the apartment lazily, half-awake.
————
Four days forwards.
"Hummm, mmmm, hmmmm…?" Akane is walking casually with his timely routine as usual, with his hands in the pockets of the black hoodie and the matching track pants.
If you ask, why bother to create a routine, and why don't you go straight to asking them directly, 'Hey, are you a murderer?' his mind echoed with the thought to alleviate some burden.
The answer is, of course, to look innocent after all, who would suspect a handsome boy like me who goes jogging every single day to investigate suspicious behavior.
'Then again, who would be so dumb to ask a thief if they are a thief?' These people surely don't even exist, right? Oh well, anyway, it is what it is after all, he is a bit bored.
Humming while he takes a look at his surroundings, the difference is those dim, bluish-silver eyes, which are probably scanning around without care, a sign of his control, perhaps?
Well, yes, it is.
'Still needs some sophistication, after all.' That's the honest assessment of his growth over these four days.
After thinking for a while, the past few days, he found a suitable way to circumvent his Observation, which is why he could control the degree of his vision freely.
'That's the allocation of focus.' The key is to blur or ignore, giving a suggestion to the brain to process or view the selected region in its field-of-view, just like tunnel vision.
'Controlling the flow of information means controlling the Analysis itself,' which hits two birds with one stone, great results. Then again, it is pretty boring these days.
He has been pondering carefully over and over, analyzing or seriously trying to find or discern a pattern he has overlooked in his mind based on various data that he gathers.
Or he is learning through various books or materials that could make those students above him ashamed as to why they didn't try that hard to be a good student.
All in all, everything is progressing smoothly, or it could stay like that to prove his hunch is wrong.
"Where would you go, suspicious smoker-san…" While he turned the corner of an alley, he saw the hooded man from the first day, walking briskly in a hurry, and if his guess is correct….
'The mountain forest, huh?' As expected, if you are a murderer or a suspicious man, you wouldn't be going in broad daylight as long as you are not psychopathic enough.
Then, lowering his head from the view of the mountain, he stepped out of the alley and decided to follow quietly, "This better be something, or all my effort will go to waste…"
Complaining slightly, though he is smiling as if he found an exciting toy, those bloody-red eyes are spilling slightly over the bluish-silver radiance, narrowed into a slit.
….
20 minutes passed.
"Oh, for Serpent's Sake, I take back my words." This surely is beyond my capabilities to handle, right? Akane's whisper was barely audible behind the trunk of a tree.
His hands clenched tight into the trunk, his nails embedded, after witnessing the sight in front of his eyes. The corner of his mouth twitched in helplessness and partly excitement.
Not far from him is a fighting scene, surely out of a movie, as the large area is cleared out in the center of this forest.
It is a humanoid crocodile that stands upright on two feet, its height approximately exceeding 200cm, with black scales gleaming with dark luster reflecting the sun.
Its mouth is agape, smell of sulfur drifting out, along with an occasional fire that renders the space around it warm, so that even Akane feels a bit sweaty just watching it.
This crocodile-man is the same man… the hooded, suspicious, ragged breathing smoker-san from four days ago. And besieging it, his eyes turned over to the opponents in front of him.
There are two of them, one is a cool onee-san wearing a black windbreaker zipped up to the top and a creamy skirt, along with black stockings. Her profile is serious and calm, hiding behind the second person.
And yeah, the other is a man, wearing a formal untucked white shirt, holding a gun in one hand and a knife in the other, his face is cold and solemn.
Ignoring the rest, Akane focused on the knife itself, which was coated with a greenish wave of winds that cut the air itself, a flame that roared from the spiked reptile jaw, a black crystal skin, and the swirling starlight in the hands of the woman.
Alternating between them, "Irina, just what the hell did you get your brother into here?" his face is dead expressionless; he could imagine a future workload seemingly doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled.
Well, the ordinary is not so ordinary anymore, as it turns out to be extraordinary. What a mess.