Evening. Adachi District, Ayase Apartment.
Morimoto Chiyoda busied herself in the kitchen, following her usual dinner preparation routine. The steak sizzled as she fried it, flipping it over while her smartphone on the kitchen counter played a TikTok short video. The video's content praised a miraculous sighting of some floating object, but most comments complimented the creator's impressive special effects.
Since yesterday, the CIA had been relentlessly creating various videos, aiming to flood major platforms with fake news to conceal the truth about the Dio Treatment Hospital. This included, but wasn't limited to, restricting the reach of such short videos. Regrettably, while the CIA could pressure platforms like YouTube and Twitter, they had no influence over TikTok's public discourse due to very complicated underlying relationships. As a result, on TikTok, one could still find posts about patients who had miraculously recovered.
A newbie vlogger named Hibino Jam, who possessed some talent, was particularly riding this wave of viral content. Her subscriber count was soaring, having already surpassed the 20,000 mark. Her backstory was also compelling: originally a healthy girl, she became blind after a hit-and-run by a wealthy individual. Yet, she never gave up and would sing in the park whenever she had time. Her mother had taken on high-interest loans to pay for her daughter's treatment, making life very tough, but then the loan company suddenly declared bankruptcy. Their lives had improved slightly when Hibino Jam miraculously regained her sight. Born anew, she began to play songs of divine praise online and became a devout follower of God, believing God had saved her.
In the past, such incidents would have been prime targets for CIA suppression, but recently, the number of people healed by Dio had grown too large. All sorts of people were signing up on TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube, starting to share their own stories. Moreover, due to religious factors, even the CIA couldn't erase these accounts, only attempt to attribute the events to God rather than Dio.
Morimoto Chiyoda flipped the steak, lost in thought. Something feels amiss, she mused. Is Dio really doing this to comply with the steps for entering Paradise?
Although some religions clearly emphasized the importance of faith, Morimoto Chiyoda found the idea of Dio seeking the people's belief questionable and maintained a skeptical attitude.
Lately, no information related to the Different World had been captured. Could the Different World actually be an illusion, just a dream? she couldn't help but wonder. But the scenes I saw back then were so real, and the characters so vivid! She couldn't imagine it was fake. Dio's actions must be attributable to metaphysics, something outsiders simply can't fathom. After all, doing a specific thing at a specific time does align with metaphysical concepts. And while Hagaushi was most likely spouting nonsense and planning to abscond with the money, the knowledge he shared was, in fact, documented.
While Morimoto Chiyoda's mind was on work, she didn't neglect the pan. Seeing the steak was about done, she turned off the induction cooker and plated it.
At that moment, the door handle turned. "Chitose, I'm back."
"Mm, go wash your hands. Dinner's ready."
Morimoto Chiyoda put down the pan, untied her white apron, and carried the plate to the kitchen counter.
Aozawa glanced at the short video playing on Morimoto Chiyoda's phone and laughed. "These vloggers are really upping their game; the special effects are almost on par with Hollywood movies."
"Yeah, and some have very rough special effects that end up looking quite funny."
Morimoto Chiyoda swiped the short video away with her index finger and looked ahead, a strange thought suddenly striking her. I'd stopped doubting Aozawa until recently, but looking at him again today, a flicker of suspicion has returned.
It's probably because my work isn't progressing that my mind is starting to wander like this, she mused. Such thoughts might only truly disappear if Aozawa loses to Sunaga Takashi.
"Aozawa, when is the Jade Dragon Flag tournament being held?"
"Early August."
Aozawa replied with a smile, "This time, I'm definitely going to win the championship."
"Win the championship, huh." A glint of complexity flashed in Morimoto Chiyoda's eyes. Does his confidence stem from an amateur's ignorance, or is he genuinely sure he'll win? Why not test Aozawa's Sword Dao skills right now? The idea flashed through Morimoto Chiyoda's mind as she sliced the steak. "Aozawa," she said, "let's have a long-overdue spar later. I want to see if your Sword Dao has improved."
A look of surprise flashed across Aozawa's face, and he nodded. "No problem. Let me show you just how much someone can improve in a short time."
"Hehe." Morimoto Chiyoda let out a light chuckle, the kind that best showcased the charm of her gentle, alluring voice.
As a police superintendent, she was naturally no stranger to Sword Dao; in fact, she was extraordinarily formidable, still holding the record for the most consecutive wins—forty-eight—at the women's Jade Dragon Flag competition. Her Sword Dao prowess hadn't diminished even after joining the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. She rarely sparred with Aozawa, fearing it would dent his confidence—not because she couldn't defeat him.
「...」
"MEN!" The shout, though from her gentle voice, carried the sharpness of a blade. Morimoto Chiyoda's bamboo sword sliced fiercely through the air, whistling just above Aozawa's forehead but not striking him.
The bamboo sword halted inches from Aozawa's forehead. Morimoto Chiyoda retracted it, her expression complex. "Aozawa," she said, "I'm not trying to discourage you. Your Sword Dao has improved considerably, but it's still within the realm of an ordinary person. You can't beat those geniuses."
"Chitose, this isn't the first time you've told me that." Aozawa wiped sweat from his forehead. He hadn't used his Superpower to cheat this time; using the Time Stop Ability would have been too easily noticed by Chitose. She wasn't an unrelated bystander; if she grew suspicious, she would undoubtedly make Aozawa demonstrate the technique repeatedly until she got to the bottom of it.
Clearly, Aozawa's current physical condition wasn't yet sufficient to demonstrate the skill needed to defeat Morimoto Chiyoda without using Time Stop. He could only rely on his abilities unaided by his Superpower when sparring with her.
"It's the truth. If you're planning to participate in the Jade Dragon Flag tournament, the chances of you winning are very slim. I hope you are mentally prepared for that," Morimoto Chiyoda said, sighing softly. She remembered sparring with Sunaga Takashi out of curiosity once, only to find she couldn't withstand a single move from him.
In terms of Sword Dao, Sunaga Takashi, a second-year in high school, had already reached a level unattainable by many adults. It was no exaggeration to say he could be compared to the legendary sword saints and masters who had etched their names in history with their Sword Dao. He was, without a doubt, a monster. His talent in Sword Dao made the gap between him and ordinary people comparable to the size difference between a three-year-old child and an ant. The ant had no chance of winning unless it faced another monster—a Superpower User who defied reality and science.
"Haha, don't worry. Regardless of the outcome, I'll give it my all," Aozawa laughed, tossing his bamboo sword onto the sofa. "It's getting late. I want to go out for a run to train."
"Mm." Morimoto Chiyoda reached out to ruffle his hair, her eyes full of affection. "If that's what you want to do, then give it your all, Aozawa."
「...」
The evening breeze was somewhat cool as Aozawa sprinted at full speed along his familiar route, eventually reaching his destination: the small park. The sky grew dim. Even in summer, night fell astonishingly fast after seven o'clock, not to mention Tokyo was in the midst of its rainy season.
Faulty street lamps flickered erratically. Aozawa paused to catch his breath, wiping sweat from his forehead. Pushing my running speed to fourteen kilometers per hour is still pretty challenging, he thought. I nearly exceeded the time limit.
He sat down, placing his right hand on the ground, and used his Catalyst Sensing ability to enter a state of desirelessness, alleviating his fatigue from the run. Through his Ability, he confirmed no one else was in the park.
Aozawa withdrew his hand and stood up. He headed towards a small grove of trees, hid his phone, and used his Element Replacement ability. His body transformed into a wisp of breeze that flickered among the leaves before he activated his Schrödinger's Cat ability.
In an instant, he, as a gust of wind, appeared in Shibuya. The number of diseases his Marvelous Resurgence could store was limited. Once it reached five hundred, he had to release some of the collected ones. Returning those diseases to the general population was obviously not appropriate, so he decided to find some deserving individuals to afflict.
Aozawa drifted through the streets of Shibuya. Its nightlife, much like Shinjuku's, was bustling, yet the street scenes were distinctly different, with young people passing by in bizarre outfits. Strangely dressed women were somewhat tolerable; if they had good looks and figures, they could still be pleasing to the eye. But some of the men's costumes made Aozawa deeply question things—for instance, a middle-aged man in a pink Pikachu coat was live-streaming. Does anyone actually watch that? he wondered.
Aozawa didn't understand, but watching the man twist and contort, there seemed to be a kind of demonic charm to it. Occasionally, other oddly dressed youths would join in, dancing around him in a circle like a rural shamanistic ritual, moving freely before departing with laughter. Perhaps such random interactions are the appeal of his live stream, Aozawa mused. Of course, I still prefer watching women dance.
Having reached this conclusion, he didn't linger to watch the Pikachu-clad man dance. Instead, he moved closer to the buildings, using his Catalyst Sensing ability to scan a one-kilometer radius. Let's see if any 'lucky' individual happens to be committing a crime right now, he thought.
Images flooded into Aozawa's mind. Even as wind, I still have a mind, though I can't quite explain why, he pondered. A cacophony of sounds arose; the one-kilometer area around Shibuya Station was clearly more bustling, with many more people.
Aozawa rapidly differentiated the images, filtering out the normal ones. When he found no crimes occurring, he swiftly vanished, moving to the next location to continue his search. This is like a lottery, he thought. You don't usually win on the first try.