Volume 1, Chapter 4: Give Me Your Hand First
4:27 p.m.
The supermarket's rolling shutter slowly came down, leaving only a gap at the bottom less than half a meter high.
Tanaka Makoto bent down to double-check the lock, and as he straightened up he gave his aching lower back a couple of thumps.
"Everybody go home."
"If anyone's still wandering around outside after dark and loses an arm or a leg tomorrow, don't expect me to count it as a workplace injury."
The young clerk nearby couldn't help himself.
"Manager, wouldn't anything after our shift not count as a workplace injury anyway?"
Tanaka Makoto gave him a look.
"That's why I'm telling you not to lose an arm or a leg."
"...Fair enough."
After that attack, there were clearly far fewer people out on Changze North Road.
The police cordon hadn't been taken down yet; two patrol cars were parked at the intersection down the road, and several workers were clearing away the guardrails the calamity beast had flipped over.
The setting sun slanted down between the buildings.
The air wasn't as scorching as it had been at noon, but it still carried the smell of asphalt, dust, and something that had burned.
Yusei was holding a bag of groceries he'd just paid for, and looked through it once more.
Potatoes.
Onions.
Carrots.
Beef.
"Curry tonight."
He looked up.
"You're paying half."
Shuichi stood beside him, looking at his phone.
"No money."
"You got paid today."
"That's next month's rent."
"Yesterday you said you'd worry about next month's rent next month."
"People grow."
Yusei stared at him.
"You're growing pretty fast."
Shuichi slid his phone back into his pocket.
"Thanks."
"Not a compliment."
Footsteps sounded nearby.
Asakawa Mio came out from the other side of the staff exit.
She'd already changed out of her work clothes.
A thin off-white jacket hung loosely from her shoulders over a black T-shirt, with simple dark gray pants and white sneakers below.
The black hair she'd tied back for work was down now.
Her shoulder-length hair swayed gently in the evening breeze.
But her face looked noticeably worse than it had that afternoon.
Her lips were very pale.
Her left hand stayed hidden inside her sleeve, and she was walking more slowly than usual.
Yusei looked at her a couple of times.
"Is she really okay?"
Shuichi followed his gaze.
"Go ask."
"I asked this afternoon."
"What'd she say?"
"That she's fine."
"Then she's fine."
Yusei turned to look at him.
"You say you're fine when you've got a forty-degree fever."
"So?"
"So 'fine' from people like you is worthless as information."
"And yet you're asking me."
"..."
Yusei suddenly found he had no comeback.
Mio saw them too.
She stopped once she got close.
"Not leaving yet?"
Yusei gave the bag a shake.
"Heading back to cook."
Mio glanced at it.
"Curry?"
"How'd you know?"
"Potatoes, onions, carrots, beef."
"Could be beef stew."
Mio pointed at the box peeking out of the top of the plastic bag.
"Curry roux."
Yusei looked down.
"..."
Shuichi, very unhelpfully, let out a laugh.
"What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing."
"You just laughed."
"You're imagining it."
The corners of Mio's mouth curved a little too.
Yusei couldn't be bothered with either of them.
"Oh, right, want to eat with us?"
Mio blinked.
"Me?"
"I'm making a whole pot anyway."
"No, thanks."
The answer came fast.
Before Yusei could say more, Mio added something.
"I'm a little tired today."
"Makes sense."
Yusei didn't push, but he took another look at her pale face.
"You're really not going to the hospital?"
Something seemed to twitch at Mio's temple.
"That's the third time you've asked today."
"And you haven't gone the third time either."
"Because I'm fine."
"You—"
Shuichi reached out and patted Yusei on the shoulder.
"Let it go."
Yusei looked back at him.
Shuichi's tone was flat.
"She's not a kid."
Mio looked at him.
She didn't say anything.
"See you tomorrow."
She gave a little wave.
And turned to leave.
Yusei watched her go.
"Why do I feel like she's a little mad?"
"Because you're annoying."
"I was being considerate."
"Annoying people always think that."
"Shuichi."
"Hm?"
"You're not eating tonight."
Shuichi was silent for two seconds.
"I think you've been especially thoughtful today."
"Too late."
The two of them headed toward the apartment along the other side of the street.
Neither of them looked back.
So nobody saw Asakawa Mio, already past the intersection, suddenly grab hold of a streetlight pole.
She kept her head down.
Her breathing had suddenly gone ragged.
"Hah..."
Her left wrist hurt.
Not the pain of a wound reopening.
It was something under her skin, working its way up her veins, bit by bit.
Mio quickly pushed up her sleeve.
Where there had only been one thin, long scar, several dark-red lines had now surfaced.
They radiated from the wound and were spreading up her arm.
The fatigue on Mio's face vanished instantly.
Wariness took its place.
"Since when..."
It hadn't been there yesterday.
It hadn't been there after the fight this afternoon either.
Her phone suddenly buzzed.
Mio pulled it out at once.
The screen had switched on its own to an interface ordinary people couldn't access.
A black base map.
In the center, a simplified map of Linjiang City.
A red dot was flashing over and over at her exact location.
【Abnormal reading confirmed.】
【Distance: 0M.】
Mio stared at the number.
Zero?
Her pupils contracted slightly.
The next second—
The skin of her left wrist suddenly bulged.
"Ngh!"
She clamped a hand over her arm.
Something hard was pushing up from under her flesh.
She couldn't stay here.
Mio didn't hesitate.
She glanced around once, then turned and walked away from the residential area.
Her pace kept picking up.
Until it was almost a jog.
Two intersections later, a narrow road ahead led toward the old river embankment.
Most of the shops on either side had already been cleared out, their rolling shutters covered in faded ads and demolition notices.
Farther in, beneath an elevated overpass, was a parking lot that had been abandoned for a long time.
No one.
Good enough.
Mio strode in.
The overpass blocked out most of the setting sun.
Thick concrete pillars held up the shadows, and the ground was strewn with gravel, cigarette butts, and plastic bags the wind had blown in.
She didn't stop until she reached the middle of the lot.
Her left hand was shaking badly now.
"Come out."
Mio watched her surroundings.
No sound.
"You got into my body, so don't play dead."
Still no answer.
Mio looked down.
The dark-red lines suddenly stopped spreading.
And then—
SQUELCH!
A black spike burst out of the wound on her wrist.
Blood instantly soaked her sleeve.
Mio grunted.
Her right hand had already seized the thing.
No hesitation.
She yanked it straight out.
The black spike fell to the ground, trailing blood.
It was no longer than a finger.
Like a thin sliver of jet-black bone.
But the next moment.
The bone moved.
CRACK.
The black spike split down the middle.
Several limbs so thin they were almost invisible reached out from inside and dug into the ground.
Then its body began to swell.
Ten centimeters.
Thirty centimeters.
Half a meter.
One meter.
Within a few breaths, a jet-black monster nearly two meters long was crouched in front of Mio.
It was shaped like a spider.
But its eight limbs were so thin and long they looked incapable of holding it up.
There were no eyes on the center of its body.
Only a round mouthpart that kept opening and closing.
The moment Mio saw it, she understood.
"A parasitic type..."
When had it happened?
When her combat suit was torn?
Or that collision?
The thought stayed in her head for only an instant.
The monster was already lunging at her.
Mio raised her hand.
Blue light rose from beneath her feet.
Her black hair was swiftly overtaken by pale blue, the ends flaring back.
Her clothes were rebuilt in the light.
Silver-white armor covered her shoulders and arms, a snug blue-and-white combat suit wrapped her body, and over-the-knee battle boots stamped down onto the ground.
A silver lance nearly as tall as she was dropped into her palm.
The next second.
Lance tip and monster met head-on.
BOOM!
A shockwave swept outward.
Dust exploded off the ground.
Mio gave only half a step.
She pressed down with her right hand.
Twisted at the waist.
And flicked the lance upward with the momentum.
The monster, several times her size, was pitched straight into the air.
"Pretty weak, actually."
Mio looked up.
Stepped in.
And drove the lance through its central mouthpart.
Blue light burst.
BANG!
The monster exploded in midair into a mass of black chunks.
Mio didn't lower her lance.
She stood where she was.
Quietly watching the pieces fall.
One second.
Two seconds.
The third.
One of the black lumps of flesh suddenly twitched.
Mio's eyes went cold at once.
Then.
A second one.
A third.
All the remains began to squirm at the same time.
They didn't reassemble. Each one sprouted thin, long limbs of its own.
One became two.
Two became four.
A few seconds later.
The whole lot was filled with a dense, teeth-grating skittering.
Mio tightened her grip on the lance.
"...So that's how it is."
Splitting.
That was going to be trouble.
At the same time.
Outside the parking lot.
Yusei was crouched at the roadside, digging through his pockets for ages.
Then he looked up.
"Crap."
Shuichi was walking ahead and didn't even turn his head.
"What?"
"My wallet."
"Lost it?"
"I think I left it in the break room."
"Then go get it."
"Come with me."
"No."
"Curry."
Shuichi stopped.
He turned around.
"Are you threatening me?"
"Yes."
"Low."
"Whatever works."
Five minutes later.
The two of them doubled back the way they'd come.
Before they even reached the supermarket, Yusei spotted a familiar figure turning off down a side road in the distance.
"Isn't that Asakawa?"
Shuichi took a look.
"Looks like her."
"Why's she running so fast?"
"No idea."
"She just said she was tired."
"Maybe she suddenly isn't."
Yusei stared at him.
"You really want me to stay out of this, don't you?"
"Very much."
"Then go home by yourself."
Yusei was already heading down the side road.
Shuichi stayed where he was.
Watching his back.
Two seconds.
He sighed.
And followed anyway.
"I'm only worried that if you die, nobody'll cook tonight."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
Just as the two of them neared the abandoned parking lot, a tremendous crash came from inside.
Yusei stopped in his tracks.
Blue light flashed between the pillars.
A moment later, the woman they had just seen in the supermarket had become someone else entirely.
Pale-blue long hair.
A silver lance.
A blue-and-white combat suit.
Yusei's mouth fell open.
"..."
He turned his head.
Looked at Shuichi.
Turned back.
Looked inside.
"Asakawa?"
"Yeah."
"Blue Lance?"
"Yeah."
"She's the one from yesterday?"
Shuichi looked at him.
"Do you need more proof than this?"
Yusei was silent for a full three seconds.
"So when she said she had a stomachache this afternoon..."
Shuichi: "..."
"You're really hung up on that."
A string of explosive bursts suddenly rang out in the parking lot.
Both of them shut up.
Mio had already been driven into the center.
More than a dozen black larvae were leaping at her from the pillars, the ground, even the ceiling, all at once.
The lance swept across.
Blue light shredded the three at the front.
But the broken pieces started growing again as soon as they hit the ground.
The more she killed, the more there were.
Mio had obviously noticed too.
"I can't keep smashing them..."
She quickly fell back.
Tapped the ground with the butt of her lance.
A monster leapt at her from the side.
Mio tilted her head to dodge, swung the shaft around past her shoulder, and pinned the monster precisely to a pillar.
No blowing it up.
No cutting it.
Pin it first.
A second one burrowed in at her feet.
She kicked it away.
A third landed on her shoulder.
Its sharp limbs stabbed into a gap in her armor.
Mio's brows knit.
She reached back, grabbed it, and slammed it into the ground.
But more were already closing in.
Her movements began to slow.
Her left hand had been injured to begin with, and she'd been through fight after fight that afternoon.
Just now she'd transformed a second time to force out the parasite.
Her stamina and energy were both nearly spent.
Yusei could see it too.
"She's not going to make it."
Shuichi watched the scene inside.
He didn't answer.
"Hey."
"Yeah."
"Can you do anything?"
"No."
The answer came quickly.
Yusei looked back at him.
There was no expression on Shuichi's face.
"What can ordinary people like you and me do right now?"
"...Yeah."
Yusei looked back at the parking lot.
The next second.
Mio suddenly drove her lance hard into the ground.
A wide web of blue lines spread outward along the cracks in the concrete.
Shuichi's brows drew together at once.
She was going to burn them all at once.
In her condition?
Insane.
Mio gripped the shaft with both hands.
The blue light grew brighter and brighter.
If she could vaporize all the remains along with these things...
But at that moment, her wrist flared with pain.
"Ugh..."
The light wavered for an instant.
Then.
The backlash surged up her arm into her body.
Mio's face went white.
Half the blue light went out.
She nearly lost her grip on the lance.
She dropped to one knee.
The monsters all around her had already pounced.
Inside his pocket, Shuichi's right hand slowly clenched.
For an instant, there was the faintest warmth at his fingertips.
He closed his eyes briefly.
Just then—
"Asakawa!"
The person beside him had already charged out.
Shuichi's eyes snapped open.
"Yusei!"
He didn't catch him in time.
Yusei snatched up a length of discarded iron rack from the ground and charged into the parking lot.
When the first black larva leapt at him, he swung it sideways almost entirely on instinct.
BANG!
The monster went flying.
Yusei's own hands went numb from the impact.
"They're this hard?!"
Mio looked up.
The moment she saw him, her whole face changed.
"What are you doing in here?!"
"Helping!"
"How are you helping with an iron bar?!"
"I—"
Yusei glanced at the half-bent rack in his hands.
It really wasn't very convincing.
Mio was already clenching her teeth and getting up.
"Get out!"
"Right now!"
"Now!"
"Worry about staying on your feet first!"
"If you stay, you'll just get in the way!"
That was blunt.
Yusei opened his mouth.
He actually couldn't find anything to argue with.
He was in the way.
An ordinary person's body.
An ordinary person's strength.
He couldn't even kill these little things.
But turn around and leave now?
He couldn't do it.
A larva suddenly sprang from behind a pillar.
Yusei didn't see it at all.
Mio's eyes changed.
"Get down!"
Her lance was already stabbing in.
Blue light grazed past Yusei's ear.
The monster burst apart behind him.
And Mio, having forced that strike, lost her balance completely.
She pitched forward.
Yusei caught her on reflex.
"Hey!"
The instant his palm touched Mio's arm.
The world suddenly changed.
All the sounds were still there.
But it was as if something had pushed them far away.
Yusei stared blankly at the person in his arms.
Countless pale-blue lines appeared in his vision.
They spread from her heart.
Through her spine.
Her arms.
Her legs.
And finally stretched toward somewhere he couldn't see.
Some were bright.
Some had already dimmed.
Near her left arm, there were even large patches that were broken and flickering.
He had never learned anything about this.
Yet the moment he saw it, he understood.
Damage.
Overload.
Instability.
Insufficient connection.
And at the place where all the lines converged.
There was a gap.
Yusei looked down.
His own right hand was glowing.
Glowing gold.
An extremely fine golden thread stretched out from his palm.
And stopped in front of Mio's chest.
It didn't connect on its own.
It was waiting.
For what?
An extremely clear thought suddenly surfaced in Yusei's mind.
—She had to agree.
"Asakawa."
Mio was gasping for breath.
"What?"
"What I'm about to say might sound a little crazy."
"Then don't say it."
"I think I can help you."
Mio looked up.
"You've already helped plenty in the wrong direction."
"I know."
For once, Yusei didn't argue.
He held out his hand.
The golden light in his palm grew clearer and clearer.
"But this is different."
Mio stared at his hand.
She could feel it too.
The moment that golden light appeared, the nearly exhausted power inside her had actually responded.
As if waiting for some kind of command.
The feeling put her instinctively on guard.
"What is this?"
"I don't know."
"..."
"I really don't know."
Yusei gritted his teeth.
"But I get the feeling that as long as you say yes, I can connect in."
"Connect to what?"
"Your power."
The look Mio gave him was already the kind people gave lunatics.
Yusei knew exactly how weird that sounded.
"Ten seconds."
He said.
"Just try it for ten seconds."
"If anything goes wrong, cut it off right away."
Mio asked.
"You can cut it off?"
"...I feel like I can."
"Your ability runs entirely on gut feeling?"
"For now."
A monster came streaking across the ground at her.
Mio raised a hand and loosed a bolt of blue light.
It was visibly more of a strain than before.
There was no time.
She glanced at Yusei's hand.
"Ten seconds."
"Right."
"If it goes over ten seconds—"
"You'll beat me up."
"No."
Mio grabbed his hand.
"I'll kill you."
Yusei: "..."
The next instant.
The golden thread connected.
BOOM—!
A ring of golden light burst outward from beneath their feet.
The dust in the parking lot was blown away in an instant.
Mio's eyes flew wide open.
The power that had been nearly exhausted was like a dry riverbed over which someone had thrown open an entire reservoir.
Blue light flooded wildly into her body.
Everything was expanding.
She could clearly feel the boundary her power had always had.
And now.
That boundary was being forcibly pushed back.
The lance let out a clear, ringing hum.
And then—
Her combat suit began to change as well.
The heavy silver-white armor at her shoulders was the first to dissolve into light.
Mio froze.
"Wait—"
Blue-and-white light was already weaving itself anew along her body.
The combat suit rapidly drew in, becoming a far lighter, more form-fitting set of blue-and-white battle attire.
The snow-white top hugged her waistline and left her shoulders completely bare, with only a high dark-blue collar sweeping from her collarbone up the sides of her neck.
At her sides, large stretches of solid fabric had been conspicuously cut away, leaving only interwoven gold-and-blue energy lines running along her body.
The lower half became a high-cut dark-blue battle garment, with two short, crisp white split tails over the outside.
Her thighs were almost entirely freed.
The bulky leg guards were rebuilt into silver-blue battle boots that rose past her knees.
A slender gold line coiled up from the top of the boot, forming a ring-like King's Mark on the outside of her left leg.
Mio looked down.
"..."
For a moment she even forgot there were monsters around her.
Yusei looked too.
And then looked again.
Mio's head snapped up.
"Did you do this?"
"No!"
"Then why did it turn into this?!"
"How should I know!"
"Why is it like this at the waist—"
"Is this really the time to talk about clothes?!"
Mio gritted her teeth.
"It had better not be you."
She let go of Yusei's hand.
Turned.
The silver lance rose with her.
Between the blue patterns on the shaft, a thin golden vein had appeared.
The swarm of monsters lunged again.
Mio took a deep breath.
This time.
The world suddenly slowed down.
Every monster's position.
Distance.
Direction of movement.
Even where each one would land next.
All of it was as clear as if it had been written out in front of her in advance.
She stamped forward.
The lance tip thrust out.
The first monster was skewered clean through, but didn't explode.
The shaft swept across.
The second was swept straight into the first one's body.
The third.
The fourth.
The fifth.
Several monsters were forced into the same spot.
Mio spun.
Her heel came down.
The air in front of the lance tip abruptly collapsed inward.
A wisp of gold mixed into the blue light.
BOOM—!
A huge gold-and-blue beam swept out low along the ground.
It vaporized everything, down to the smallest bit of tissue.
Every black larva.
Every remnant.
Every chunk of flesh scattered across the ground.
Not a single speck of tissue capable of splitting again was left.
The beam slammed into a far wall.
The whole parking lot shook violently.
Then everything went quiet.
Mio stood where she was.
Lance still pointed forward.
Her pale-blue hair streamed in the air currents that hadn't settled yet.
For the first time, she knew.
Her power could be used like this.
"..."
Yusei was stunned too.
It was a long moment before he spoke.
"It's this strong?"
Mio turned around.
"This is my power."
"I know."
"So don't act like it's all your doing."
"I didn't say anything."
"It's written all over your face."
"..."
Yusei reflexively touched his face.
But the next second.
The blue light around Mio suddenly surged higher again.
Her expression changed.
"Wait."
The fight was clearly over.
But the power wasn't stopping.
The gold-and-blue lines kept getting brighter.
Like a floodgate that had just been opened, with no idea how to close.
The lance in Mio's hands began to emit a high-frequency whine.
It was too much.
If this kept up—
It would exceed her body's limit.
Yusei could feel it too.
The connection was still there.
And much clearer than before.
He could feel the power inside Mio spiraling out of control.
And he could feel that he could do something about it.
A thought surfaced naturally.
Yusei spoke without thinking.
"Stop."
Nothing changed.
He frowned.
The next second, he switched to a more precise word.
"Release."
SNAP.
All the light went out at once.
Mio's whole body locked up.
The silver lance was the first to dissolve.
Then the pale-blue hair.
The gold lines.
The evolved battle attire.
Everything that belonged to the transformed state vanished in an instant, as if someone had yanked out the power cord.
Long black hair fell back to her shoulders.
The off-white jacket and her original clothes returned.
The parking lot was so quiet they could hear cars passing over the overpass in the distance.
Mio looked down at herself.
Then up.
At Yusei.
Yusei was looking at himself too.
"..."
Mio asked.
"Did I just release it?"
"I don't think so."
"I don't think so either."
"Then..."
They both went silent together.
Yusei tentatively pointed at himself.
"Me?"
Mio's expression started turning dangerous.
"You'd better explain this."
"I got this power five minutes ago."
"And you had the nerve to connect with me?"
"Didn't you say yes?"
"And now you're talking back?"
"..."
Yusei very sensibly shut his mouth.
The stranger part was yet to come.
Even though Mio had released her transformation.
The connection hadn't fully disappeared.
Yusei could still vaguely sense her.
Her left hand hurt.
She was exhausted.
Her heart was beating faster than normal.
And also...
Angry.
That one didn't take any special ability to see.
"I think I can still sense you."
Mio's look turned even less friendly.
"Where?"
"Where what?"
"Where on me are you sensing?"
Yusei was taken aback.
"Your condition."
"Be specific."
"Your left hand hurts, your body's really tired, your heart's beating a little fast..."
He stopped abruptly there.
The more he said, the worse it sounded.
Mio folded her arms.
"Go on."
"That's all."
"Really?"
"Really."
Yusei was silent for a moment.
"And right now you really want to punch me."
Mio nodded.
"That one's very accurate."
"..."
Not far away.
Shuichi stood in the shadows.
He hadn't said a word since that golden light appeared.
The lazy look was long gone.
He looked at Yusei.
Then glanced at Mio.
Connection.
Empowerment.
Direct interference with transformation.
Even the ability to force a transformation that was linked to him to end, without going through the person's own will.
There was no mistaking it.
The Organization used to call people like this Operators.
But that was only the name the researchers used in their reports.
In some older records, there was another name.
King.
Shuichi had seen one once.
Through the glass of a laboratory.
So thin he barely looked alive.
The Organization had tried to make that person establish a connection with him.
It failed.
Later...
That person died in some other experiment.
For an instant, Shuichi's eyes went cold.
Images from many years ago flashed through his mind.
He quickly forced them back down.
Of all people, it had to be Yusei.
Trouble.
Real trouble.
If those people were still looking for someone like this...
"Shuichi."
Yusei finally remembered there was a third person here.
Shuichi looked up.
Every trace of emotion was already gone from his face.
"What?"
"You saw all that just now, right?"
"Yeah."
Mio turned her head too.
Only now did she truly realize.
Her identity.
Had been completely exposed.
The air went briefly silent.
Shuichi looked at her.
A few seconds later.
He spoke.
"Blue Lance."
Mio said nothing.
"Some stomachache."
"..."
Yusei couldn't hold it in.
"Pfft."
Mio's head whipped around.
"What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing."
"You just laughed."
"I was thinking about something happy."
"What happy thing?"
"My wife just had a baby, ah, no wait... my wallet might not be lost after all."
"..."
For the first time, Mio felt the urge to beat him up as well.
Shuichi had already turned around.
"Let's go."
Yusei was stunned.
"You're not going to ask?"
"Ask what?"
"I think I just awakened some kind of incredible ability."
"Oh."
"What's that 'oh' supposed to mean?"
"Congrats."
"No, I mean, aren't you curious at all?"
"Not curious."
Shuichi didn't even look back.
Mio watched his back.
Her eyes slowly narrowed.
Too calm.
From the moment he saw her transform.
Had this person never truly been surprised at all?
Yusei had already run ahead.
Then suddenly stopped.
"Wait."
Shuichi looked back.
"Now what?"
Yusei's face froze.
"My wallet."
"Yeah."
"Didn't we come back to get my wallet?"
"We did."
"Then why are we walking home again?"
Shuichi was silent for two seconds.
"Because you're an idiot."
"Holy shit!"
Yusei turned and ran toward the supermarket.
"The manager can't have left already!"
The setting sun had nearly sunk behind the buildings.
The last bit of golden light in the parking lot slowly faded.
Shuichi stood where he was, watching Yusei run off.
His lips moved very slightly.
"King..."
It wasn't loud.
But Mio, who had just come up behind him, stopped.
"What did you say?"
Shuichi paused.
He turned around.
His expression was so natural there wasn't a single thing wrong with it.
"I said he's a king-sized idiot."
In the distance, Yusei spun around.
"I heard that!"
Shuichi kept a straight face.
"You heard wrong."
"You definitely just insulted me!"
"Got proof?"
"Asakawa heard it too!"
Mio looked at Shuichi.
Then at Yusei in the distance.
She was silent for two seconds.
"I didn't hear anything."
"You two?!"
For the first time, Mio felt a little better.
Shuichi was already ambling on ahead.
It was just that the hand in his pocket never unclenched.
King.
Of all times, one had to show up now.
And of all people, it had to be Yusei.
He lowered his eyes.
Forget it.
It had nothing to do with him anyway.