Volume 1, Chapter 6: Why Does This Kind of Trouble Have to Live Next Door to Me?
At 9:17 p.m., Asakawa Mio was finally ready to go home.
She'd only meant to talk for a few minutes, but somehow she had ended up spending more than two hours at Yusei's place, testing her transformation twice and eating a whole big plate of his curry.
As she stood in the entryway changing her shoes, Yusei was still cleaning up dishes in the kitchen.
"You really don't want me to walk you home?"
"No."
Mio bent down to tie her laces without looking up.
"It's not like I can't walk."
"You got hurt today."
"It's a lot better now."
"Then at least to the station?"
"Yusei."
"Hm?"
Mio raised her head and looked at him very seriously.
"I'm twenty-two."
"I know."
"I have a phone, I have money, I can take a train, and I know the way home."
"..."
"So I can get back on my own."
Yusei opened his mouth, and in the end could only nod.
"Okay."
Only then was Mio satisfied.
Shuichi had been leaning against the wall nearby, watching for a while. He suddenly spoke.
"You're like a parent sending his daughter to her first day of school."
Yusei turned his head.
"Are you just not happy today until you get punched?"
"No."
"Then shut up."
Mio couldn't help laughing a little.
She took hold of the doorknob, then looked back at Yusei as if she'd remembered something.
"If you get that feeling again tomorrow, tell me."
"What feeling?"
"Your body getting stronger."
"Oh."
"And don't go testing it on your own."
Yusei was puzzled.
"How would I test it?"
"Like jumping off the second floor to see whether you'd die."
"What kind of person do you think I am?"
Mio looked at him.
She didn't answer.
Yusei's face darkened.
Shuichi, very unhelpfully, laughed out loud.
"You're laughing?"
"She's a pretty accurate judge."
"Get back to your own place."
"I'm about to."
Shuichi straightened up and put on that pair of gray slippers, and only then remembered they belonged to Yusei.
He looked down at them again.
"..."
Yusei folded his arms.
"Take them."
"Really?"
"You'll be over again tomorrow anyway."
"Fair point."
Shuichi very naturally walked out the door in the slippers.
Yusei stood in the entryway and watched a pair of his own slippers get worn into the apartment next door, and it was a good while before he reacted.
"No, wait."
"Am I spoiling him too much?"
Mio thought about it.
"A little."
"Right?"
"But you'll still cook for him tomorrow."
"..."
Yusei suddenly didn't want to talk about this anymore.
The motion-sensor light in the hallway was getting old; after staying on for a moment, it started to flicker faintly. Shuichi lazily took two steps toward his door, and he had only just slid his key into the lock when Mio's voice came from behind him again.
"Shuichi."
"Hm?"
He looked back.
Mio was standing at Yusei's door.
"About today."
"Don't worry."
Shuichi knew what she was going to say.
"I won't tell anyone."
Mio paused a little.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
"And one more thing."
"Hm?"
"Today, you sort of saved me too."
Shuichi looked at her.
Mio clearly wasn't just being polite.
It was Yusei who had actually charged in, but if Shuichi hadn't followed him, they might not have found her in time.
"So if you ever need help with anything, you can come to me."
She said it very seriously.
Shuichi was silent for two seconds.
"Does covering shifts at the supermarket count?"
The seriousness on Mio's face stiffened.
"..."
"Joking."
"It had better be."
Shuichi pushed his door open.
"Good night."
"Good night."
The door closed.
Mio stood outside for two seconds without thinking much of it, then quickly said goodbye to Yusei and went downstairs.
As far as she was concerned, Shuichi was just someone with a very odd personality.
Lazy, smart-mouthed, uninterested in other people's business, his daily schedule a total wreck, occasionally saying things nobody could make sense of, but if there was anything about him that deserved special attention—
It was probably that his health was too poor.
Other than that, nothing.
***
The instant the door shut, most of the footsteps outside were cut off.
Shuichi didn't turn on the light.
The entryway was dim, lit only by the city lights coming in through the living room window, laying a hazy gray-blue over the floor.
He stood by the door in silence for a while.
Not until he heard the elevator doors close at the end of the hallway did he reach up and switch on the wall light.
Warm yellow light filled the living room.
The coffee table was still a mess.
Yesterday's empty drink bottles were still there.
An unfolded jacket was piled on the sofa, and the cardboard boxes in the corner were exactly how they'd been when he went out that morning.
Shuichi walked in, kicked the slippers he'd brought back from Yusei's over by the shoe cabinet, and changed into his own pair, which had already lost some of their shape.
Then he dropped straight into his computer chair.
He didn't start a game.
He stared at the dark monitor for a long time, then reached out and pressed the power button.
The computer's fans spun up.
The desktop lit up.
But Shuichi didn't do anything right away.
"King..."
Leaning back in his chair, he murmured the word once under his breath.
He hadn't heard it in many years.
To be precise, even back then he hadn't heard many people call it that.
The researchers had preferred the term "Operator."
It was easier to write into experiment logs.
Stuff like Category Seven ability-compatible subjects.
Stuff like external interference with transformation structures.
Stuff like the possibility of multiple connections.
A crowd of people in white coats had huddled around screens, studying those things like animals, and only at the very end had they dug up an older name from some old record or other.
—King.
Shuichi reached under the desk and pulled out a black external hard drive.
Its casing was badly worn.
He plugged it in.
Nothing happened.
He pulled it out and plugged it in again.
The icon finally popped up in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
There wasn't much on it.
A few corrupted videos.
A few dozen photos.
And a folder with a lot of layers.
Shuichi entered the password.
Wrong the first time.
He frowned.
Typed it again.
Still wrong.
"..."
He'd forgotten.
He stared at the password box for a long time, and finally entered a date.
It worked.
The folder opened.
At the top was a batch of experiment logs with no formal names.
Shuichi scrolled down.
The mouse wheel made a soft clicking sound.
【Operator-Type Specimen Observation Log】
【Designation: M-03】
【Sex: Male】
【Age: 31】
【Currently confirmed connections: 2】
Shuichi stopped.
He opened it.
Most of the contents were fragmentary, and some files had nothing left but a title, but the important parts were still there.
Operators can produce abnormal empowerment in specific ability users.
Once a link is established, both parties exhibit physiological changes of varying degree.
The Operator's own body receives ability feedback as the number of links increases.
Experimental objective one: attempt to have an Operator forcibly establish a link.
Failure.
Experimental objective two: have an Operator synchronize with a test subject already in a high-intensity transformed state.
Failure again.
Shuichi kept scrolling.
Until he stopped on one entry.
【M-03 deceased.】
No process.
No cause.
Just that one line.
Shuichi looked at it for a few seconds.
Closed it.
"Same as I thought."
He leaned back in his chair.
In the parking lot that afternoon, Yusei had behaved basically the way these records described.
The difference was that he was stronger.
Back then, that man had only been able to give a linked test subject about twenty to thirty percent more power, and he couldn't directly force the other party to release a transformation.
The very first time Yusei's power appeared, he had hauled Mio, who was already near her limit, far above her normal level.
He had even changed her battle attire.
That wasn't in the records.
At least not in any of the records Shuichi had seen.
"Trouble."
He raised a hand and rubbed between his brows.
If it were just an ordinary ability, it wouldn't matter either way.
But it had to be a King.
If those people from before were still around, then once word got out, Yusei would probably be targeted very quickly.
As for what would happen once he was targeted—
Shuichi knew very well.
He really hadn't wanted to get involved.
That wasn't a lie.
When he'd left a few years ago, he had already decided he would never touch any of this again.
There were people to kill the monsters.
There was no shortage of heroes.
The world kept turning no matter who was missing.
All he had to do was find a place where nobody knew him, work a part-time job, pay the rent, eat whatever he felt like, and if his body really couldn't hold out one day, so be it.
Simple.
And now a King lived next door.
Shuichi tilted his head back and looked at the ceiling.
From next door came the faint sound of a cabinet door closing.
Yusei was probably still cleaning up the kitchen.
"Why did it have to be you..."
He muttered under his breath.
And immediately felt a little irritated.
No.
The real point was why it had to live right next door to him.
If he lived three blocks away, Shuichi could have just pretended not to see.
Now it was right outside his door.
Hard to avoid.
Shuichi closed the folder.
His fingers had just touched the hard drive when his chest suddenly seized.
He froze.
The pain came with no warning at all.
As if someone had reached into his chest, grabbed his heart, and squeezed hard.
Shuichi doubled over.
His left hand braced against the edge of the desk.
His breathing went haywire in an instant.
"..."
The only sound in the room was the computer fans.
A few seconds later, he slowly scooted his chair back a little, bent down, and opened the bottom drawer.
It was a mess inside.
Chargers.
Scissors.
A few boxes of long-expired cold medicine.
Pressed down at the very back was a sheet of silver pills.
Shuichi took it out.
There were only two left.
He looked at it for a while.
Popped one out.
No water.
The cup on his desk had been empty since yesterday.
Shuichi couldn't be bothered to get up, so he tossed the pill straight into his mouth and swallowed it dry.
It stuck in his throat uncomfortably.
He frowned.
He sat and waited for a while.
The pain slowly passed.
But his fingers still felt a little cold.
Shuichi looked down at his palm.
Pale.
Barely any color.
Compared to before, it really was getting worse and worse.
But it still worked.
That was good enough.
He shoved the pill sheet back into the drawer and closed it.
Just then, his phone lit up.
A message from Yusei.
【Give my slippers back.】
Shuichi looked at the screen.
He replied half a minute later.
【No.】
The answer came instantly.
【Those are new.】
【Once they're worn, they're old.】
【You wore them for five minutes!】
Shuichi thought about it.
【They're old now.】
The other side went silent for a dozen seconds or so.
Then sent one line.
【Make your own breakfast tomorrow.】
Shuichi looked at it for two seconds.
He started typing.
【Kidding.】
Sent.
Then added one more.
【I want eggs tomorrow morning.】
Yusei didn't reply.
Shuichi waited a while.
Still nothing.
"So stingy."
He tossed his phone onto the desk.
The heaviness that had been pressing down on the room a moment ago had cleared a little at some point.
Shuichi stretched.
He decided to stop thinking about it.
At least for today.
He unplugged the hard drive, shoved it back into the farthest corner under the desk, and started up a game.
Logged in.
Update.
Twelve gigs.
Shuichi looked at the progress bar.
"..."
Shut down.
Went to bed.
***
The next morning.
Shuichi woke up to noises coming from a kitchen.
To be precise.
Not his own kitchen.
The one next door.
BANG!
A dull thud.
Followed by Yusei's voice, muttering low.
"Holy shit."
Shuichi opened his eyes.
The room was very bright.
He'd forgotten to close the curtains last night, and the morning sun shone in unobstructed, landing right on his face.
He raised a hand to block it.
And closed his eyes again.
More clattering came from next door.
Shuichi endured it for ten seconds.
Threw off the blanket.
Put on his slippers.
Went out.
Knocked.
Yusei opened the door almost immediately.
"You're up this early?"
Shuichi checked the time.
7:41.
"You're too loud."
Yusei looked a little embarrassed.
"There was a bit of an accident."
"What?"
He stepped aside.
Shuichi looked into the kitchen.
A cabinet door had come off.
The whole door panel had been ripped away, two screws and all.
Right now it was leaning against the counter.
Yusei was still holding the cabinet handle.
"..."
Shuichi looked at him.
"You're demolishing the place?"
"I just opened it normally."
"Normally?"
"Really."
Yusei pointed at the cabinet.
"I just did it like this—"
He reached for the cabinet next to it.
Shuichi spoke up at once.
"Don't."
Too late.
CREAK.
The second cabinet door made a very bad noise.
Yusei's hand froze.
Shuichi: "..."
Yusei: "..."
He pushed the door shut very gently.
"It still works."
Shuichi glanced at the hinge, which was already crooked.
"Mm."
"At falling off."
Yusei rubbed his face.
"Yesterday it was just squeezing a can."
"Today I'm tearing off cabinets."
Shuichi walked into the kitchen.
Breakfast was on the table.
Fried eggs.
Bread.
Milk.
He very naturally pulled out a chair and sat down.
Yusei was stunned.
"What are you doing?"
"Eating."
"Did I say you could have any?"
Shuichi picked up a slice of bread.
"You made too much."
"That's my lunch!"
"You shouldn't eat too much for breakfast."
"That's my line!"
Shuichi took a bite.
He was in a good mood.
At least after getting stronger, Yusei hadn't suddenly developed any weird new hobbies.
He was still the same idiot.
Just stronger.
Yusei sat down across from him, obviously still worried about his own body.
"I don't think it's just strength."
"Mm."
"My reflexes are faster too."
"Good thing."
"How is that good?"
Yusei raised his hand.
"When I was brushing my teeth this morning, I almost jammed the toothbrush down my throat."
Shuichi nearly choked.
"Why?"
"I raised my hand too fast."
"..."
Shuichi lowered his head and drank his milk.
His shoulders shook very slightly.
Yusei stared at him.
"Are you laughing?"
"No."
"Look up."
"No."
"You're definitely laughing."
The doorbell rang right then.
Yusei had no choice but to let him off for now.
He opened the door.
Asakawa Mio was standing outside.
It wasn't a workday, so she wasn't in her supermarket uniform.
She wore a simple light-gray T-shirt with a very thin white sun-protection jacket over it, black cropped pants below, and white low-top sneakers. Her black hair was tied back in a simple ponytail, and she was carrying a paper bag; she looked like she'd already been out walking for a while.
Yusei was a little surprised.
"This early?"
"Eight o'clock is early?"
Mio looked at him.
Then, past his shoulder, saw Shuichi sitting at the dining table eating.
"...I knew you'd be here."
Shuichi raised his bread a little.
"Morning."
Mio walked in.
"I bought breakfast."
She held up the paper bag.
Yusei looked down at it.
"Why'd you buy more?"
"I ate your food yesterday."
"So?"
"Paying you back."
"It was one plate of curry."
"It was still a meal."
Very much her personality.
She didn't like owing people.
Yusei had no choice but to take it.
"All right, then."
Mio changed her shoes and came in.
Her eyes were quickly drawn to the cabinet door that had fallen off in the kitchen.
She stopped for a moment.
"What happened?"
Yusei was silent.
Shuichi answered for him.
"He evolved."
Mio: "?"
"Evolved how?"
"From ordinary human into a demolition crew."
Yusei's face darkened.
"Can you just eat your food?"
Mio looked at the cabinet door.
Then at Yusei.
She seemed to understand.
"Your strength increased again?"
"Looks like it."
Her expression immediately turned serious.
"More noticeably than last night?"
"Yeah."
"Any other changes?"
"Yes."
Yusei's face was blank.
"My toothbrush almost stabbed through my gums."
Mio was quiet for two seconds.
She couldn't help turning her face aside.
"If you want to laugh, just laugh."
"I'm not."
"You had the exact same face Shuichi had just now."
Shuichi stopped eating his bread.
"Leave me out of it."
Mio had already walked over to the table and sat down.
She took out her phone.
"This is exactly why I came over today."
Yusei sat down across from her.
Shuichi kept eating.
Nobody chased him off.
"I looked into a few things last night."
Mio said.
"But there's basically nothing on an ability like yours in any of the material I have access to."
Yusei asked.
"Nothing at all?"
"There are some similar phenomena, but none of them match."
"Like what?"
"Some heroes can form a brief resonance with each other, and there are support-type abilities that can empower others, but none of them can make such a huge change in me from outside my own ability system, and there's definitely nobody who can undo someone else's transformation with a single word."
Mio paused.
"So I want to settle the most basic question first."
"What?"
She looked at Yusei.
"Whether the connection from yesterday can be actively cut off right now."
Yusei was taken aback.
Shuichi glanced up too.
It was the right question to ask.
Set the empowerment aside for now.
If it couldn't even be broken, that was a completely different matter.
Yusei put down his cup.
He closed his eyes and felt for it for a while.
The connection appeared quickly.
He could feel Mio sitting right across from him.
And he could feel that the connection wasn't a simple thread.
It was more like something that had already been fixed in place.
Cut it?
The thought had barely surfaced.
When a faint sense of resistance rose in his chest.
It wasn't that he couldn't.
It was more that...
It wasn't advisable.
Yusei opened his eyes.
"I think I can."
Mio's expression didn't change.
"Try."
"Now?"
"Yes."
Yusei looked at her.
"What if it really breaks?"
"Then all the better."
Mio's answer was blunt.
"At least it proves you can't only tie people on, you can also let them go."
Shuichi lowered his head and took a bite of bread.
She was the one who thought things through.
Yusei hesitated for a while.
But in the end, he started trying.
In his mind, he touched that connection.
And pushed outward.
A very faint golden glow surfaced on the back of his hand for an instant.
Mio felt it immediately too.
Something inside her body was pulling back.
But the next moment—
The connection didn't break.
Instead, Yusei's face went white.
His body lurched forward.
"Hey!"
Mio reached out and grabbed the table.
Shuichi looked up too.
Yusei lowered his head and caught his breath.
"I'm fine."
"What happened?"
"It was like..."
He frowned, searching a long time for a description.
"Trying to rip out one of my own bones."
Mio was silent.
Shuichi finished the last bite of his bread.
A King's contract.
Of course it wasn't as simple as linking up on a whim.
Yusei sat back up.
"It can be broken."
"But I don't think it can be broken like that."
Mio asked.
"You're sure it can?"
"I can feel it."
"Then what does it take?"
"I don't know."
Shuichi stood up.
"You two take your time figuring it out."
Mio looked at him.
"Where are you going?"
"Back to sleep."
Yusei's eyes went wide.
"How long have you even been up?"
"I'm done eating."
"So?"
"I get sleepy when I'm full."
Yusei looked at the table, now short two slices of bread, one egg, and half a glass of milk.
"That was my breakfast."
Shuichi was already heading for the door.
"Thanks."
"You're eating instant noodles tonight!"
"Okay."
"You actually have the nerve to say okay?"
"Mm."
The door closed.
Mio glanced at it.
She couldn't help asking.
"Is he always like this?"
Yusei sighed.
"You get used to it."
"You're not mad?"
"Of course I'm mad."
"Then why do you still look after him every day?"
Yusei was taken aback.
It seemed he had never seriously thought about it.
It was a while before he spoke.
"He lives next door, you know."
Mio looked at him.
"That's it?"
"What else would it be?"
Yusei laughed at himself.
"Besides, that guy lives such a crappy life on his own that if he really died in there one day, I'd feel jinxed even with a wall between us."
Mio didn't ask anything more.
She just looked down at the phone on the table.
Next door.
After closing his door, Shuichi didn't go back to the bedroom.
He stood in the entryway.
Listening until everything outside had gone completely quiet.
Then he slowly raised his right hand.
Palm up.
A few seconds passed.
Nothing happened.
Shuichi looked at it for a while.
Lowered it.
"Never mind."
All of that.
Kings.
Heroes.
None of it had anything to do with him anymore.
He turned and walked toward the bedroom.
As he passed the living room window, sunlight fell right across him.
His steps slowed a little.
The glass reflected a pale, thin young man with messy hair.
A bit burnt-out.
Shuichi looked at that face.
For a long moment.
Then he reached up and messed up his hair, which hadn't been tidy to begin with.
This was fine.
The way things were now was fine.
He drew the curtains.
The room went dark again.