Chapter Five: The Next

The sunset was as beautiful as ever, and beneath its golden glow, the airport remained tranquil and serene. Shouldering his mementos and clad in his discharge uniform, Maki walked with his head bowed along the outer road of the base. By his side, Kurashima walked silently, accompanying him for the final stretch of his journey as a fighter pilot.

“He didn’t have to die…” Maki finally spoke, his words slow and heavy after a long silence.

Kurashima struggled to reply. Comforting others had never been his strength. Ever since they’d received the news that Tetsuya had perished in that flight, Maki had been in this state—his heart filled with guilt toward Tetsuya.

“Tetsuya was a fine fighter pilot,” Kurashima said.

“Yes… When we saw that glowing object, it was he who bumped my plane, forcing me to change course. That’s what let me dodge it at the last moment.”

Maki’s voice was thick with guilt. “He could have avoided it himself, but in the end, he was too close… There wasn’t enough room to maneuver…”

Maki raised his head in anguish, gazing at the sunset. The days when the three of them walked together in this light would never return.

“At the very last moment, he was still chattering away—just like an old lady—telling me not to set him up on any more blind dates, because he’d already fallen for a woman named Sara Mizuhara. He told me that if he didn’t make it back, I must let this Sara Mizuhara know that someone once liked her, that someone once longed for her smile.”

Kurashima listened quietly and then, uncertain, said, “Sara Mizuhara? That name… I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere before…”

“Really?” Maki’s voice trembled with excitement. “You know, he was an orphan. He had no one in this world, no one to fulfill this last wish. I hope I can be the one to do it!”

Kurashima thought for a moment, then shook his head. “I’m not sure… Maybe it was too long ago. But don’t worry, Maki, I’ll find this Sara Mizuhara. Just wait for my news when you’re back home!”

Maki looked back at the base, reluctant to leave. “It’s been a joy, the time the three of us spent together.”

Kurashima patted Maki on the shoulder. “Once you’re home, spend time with your family. Be there for Nemoto. As for your dream of flying, I’ll carry it on with you in the sky!”

They embraced. “And with Tetsuya’s dream too,” Maki said.

“Yes, with Tetsuya’s as well.”

Beneath the sunset, the two parted ways. Maki returned to await his family; Kurashima remained, bound to the promise of soaring through the clouds in a fighter jet.

But what awaited Tetsuya?

In a brightly lit medical facility, Tetsuya lay with his eyes closed, his wrists and ankles shackled by steel cuffs that held him fast to the hospital bed. As the machine hummed, he was slowly slid into a diagnostic scanner.

On the other side of a wall of reinforced glass, a middle-aged doctor studied the results and turned to report to Sara Mizuhara.

“The comprehensive examination shows nothing unusual. In fact, he isn’t injured at all—he appears perfectly healthy.”

The doctor paused, a note of wonder in his voice. “But given the air disaster he survived, not even a single broken bone… That is, perhaps, the strangest thing of all.”

As Sara Mizuhara listened to the report, the military had sealed off a coastal area and was on high alert. There, a massive cruise ship lay stranded on a reef, looking lonely in the vastness of the sea.

A senior officer, escorted by two special forces soldiers, approached the ship. At the bow, there was a gaping hole the size of a person, as if some creature had pierced straight through from the outside and entered.

Seeing the officer arrive, a soldier hurried over and saluted.

The officer’s expression was grim as he asked in a low voice, “How is the perimeter holding?”

“The lockdown is complete, but we haven’t caught him yet.”

“And the crew?”

“All confirmed dead.”

The officer paced for a moment and then stood atop a rock.

The soldier hesitated. “To be honest, sir, the scene is horrific. It’s as if a wild beast ravaged the ship.”

“A beast?” The officer turned, his tone heavy. “Regrettably, our enemy won’t be so easily dealt with.”

Outside the medical testing room, the doctor hesitated, then finally spoke. “I have to ask—why are you treating him like this?”

He gestured at Tetsuya, unconscious on the bed. “Not only is he shackled, but you’ve also injected him with enough anesthetic for three ordinary men.”

“Human?” Sara Mizuhara’s gaze was icy. “Regrettably, he may well be a beast in human form.”

Tetsuya’s mind was foggy, as if he were waking from a heavy sleep. His eyelids fluttered open, and the room swam before his eyes. It took him a long time to gather his senses. He found himself in a sealed chamber, two people facing him, and behind them, several soldiers stood on guard with their submachine guns loaded and pointed straight at him.

He was startled—not so much by the situation itself, but by the absence of the mysterious crystal at his side, which filled him with a sense of crisis. Yet just as the thought crossed his mind, a strange sensation rippled through his consciousness—the crystal, it seemed, had already merged with his body at some unknown moment. Relieved, he relaxed.

He glanced at his wrists, bound to the chair by steel cuffs, and forced a wry smile.

Of the two before him, one was a stern-faced officer in uniform—Ichiza Sogabe, the highest-ranking commander of the BCST. The other was someone he knew very well: Sara Mizuhara.

“Miss Mizuhara, we meet again at last.” He managed a smile, despite the circumstances. “To wake and see you first is truly a delight.”

Ichiza Sogabe shot Sara Mizuhara a questioning glance, clearly puzzled by Tetsuya’s words.

Sara Mizuhara glared at Tetsuya and then explained quietly to Sogabe.

Nodding, Sogabe turned back to Tetsuya, rapping his knuckles on the table. “Don’t you have any questions?”

Tetsuya shook his head. “First, I’ve done nothing wrong, so I don’t believe I’m in danger.”

He leaned forward slightly, his gaze almost predatory as it lingered on Sara Mizuhara, teasing, “Second, as I said, seeing Miss Mizuhara upon waking is satisfaction enough for me.”

Sara Mizuhara drew a pistol from her lab coat, chambered a round, and pointed it at Tetsuya.

“Whoa, whoa…” Tetsuya exclaimed. “Why do you always greet me with a gun, you madwoman?”

Sogabe rapped on the table again, halting their endless banter. “We are BCST—a special task force established under the Defense Ministry in cooperation with the US military to counter bioterrorism. As for your treatment, the situation leaves us no choice.”

Sara Mizuhara continued, “Three months ago, a deep blue light appeared above Shinjuku. The Maritime Self-Defense Force scrambled fighter jets to intercept. Among them was Second Lieutenant Takafumi Ayudō, who collided with the blue light. Though his body was covered in a viscous fluid, he miraculously survived.”

She paused, averting her eyes. “A week later, in the research facility on Iwo Jima, he began to mutate.”

She tapped a few buttons on the table. Images flashed onto a wall screen, showing Ayudō before and after the incident.

“The luminous entity altered his genes. He escaped from the facility.”

Sogabe took over. “He assimilated a gecko, fusing with it, and gained its abilities.”

The screen shifted to security footage of Ayudō’s escape. He climbed walls with ease, disabled lights, killed guards with his tail, and fed on their bodies. With each bite, his physique changed—becoming larger and stronger before their eyes.

“He can absorb other organisms to continue evolving. We let such a monster escape, which is why…”

As Sara Mizuhara spoke, a prompt sounded in Tetsuya’s mind: “A data stream from the luminous entity is available. Would you like to receive it?”

Tetsuya hesitated. He was curious about The One’s abilities, so he chose to accept.

In an instant, his consciousness plunged into a scene like an oil painting: the mutated Ayudō battling the facility’s guards. But it was no battle—it was a massacre.

The information flow ended almost as quickly as it began. A sharp pain stabbed through his mind, catching Tetsuya off guard.

Seeing his reaction, Sogabe sprang to his feet, hands braced on the table. “What did you see? Speak!”

Tetsuya bared his teeth in a smile that was more infuriating than reassuring. “Nothing at all…”

Sogabe’s face tightened, at a loss for words. Sara Mizuhara said, “You saw it, didn’t you? The scene from Iwo Jima’s research facility.”

“And that was only the initial stage…”

“At first, his senses became unnaturally acute. That was also true for Second Lieutenant Ayudō.”

Tetsuya showed no fear. He even gave a calm smile, as if all this were happening to someone else.

“So, beautiful Miss Mizuhara, are you questioning my humanity?”

“Shouldn’t I? You saw the tragedy on Iwo Jima because you synchronized with The One’s consciousness and visualized it!”

“The One…” Tetsuya echoed, his smile enigmatic. “And what will you call me, then?”

Sara Mizuhara met his gaze. “The Next…”

Tetsuya smiled. “I like that name.”