2 – The same day, 9:30 AM

Asai Kei stood on the hospital rooftop. Clotheslines were hung up all around, but none of them held any laundry, lending to a very lonely feeling. The fencing surrounding the rooftop only added to that, almost making the place into a small, independent world. A world small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. A world where he was alone.

He walked slowly, remembering the building’s structure beneath him. The width of the hallway, the placement of the door, the layout of the hospital room where a particular woman continued her unending sleep.

He sat down right above where the woman’s bed would be, his back up against the fencing. He closed his eyes as a slight, humid breeze blew past him. He thought about how awful it’d be if it started raining on him. Then he tried to not think about anything at all.

He would need to sleep for quite a while if he wanted to meet with the god of the dream world.

Kei opened his eyes. He stood up, looking at the town beyond the roof’s fencing.

Sakurada still lay before him, but it was surrounded by a thick white mist, and east and west were mirrored.

He was in the dream world. A place nearly identical to the real Sakurada, created within a dream. It could be entered by sleeping nearby the woman known as Katairi Honoka, who herself lay asleep in a hospital bed. Fortunately, a small section of the hospital rooftop lay within the range of her ability.

The dream world was typically a perfect reproduction of reality, but could be shaped and molded to the wishes of its god. Kei couldn’t think of a better place to gather information.

He turned towards the sky, shouting out, “Tyltyl, Mytyl. I have a request to ask of you.”

He didn’t receive an answer. Had the god-like beings somehow failed to hear him?

There wasn’t much else he could do, so he left the rooftop, entering the building proper and taking the elevator down. His destination was the fifth floor, the highest in the hospital. But to get there, he’d have to go down to the fourth floor, then take a special elevator up to the top. The special elevator required a PIN code, and the code Kei had memorized still seemed to work.

He walked down the fifth floor hallway. Everything was quiet. As far as he could tell, nobody else was around. His echoing footsteps were the only sound there, like the steady drip of water in a deep cave. Even by the time he reached his destination, Mytyl’s room, nothing seemed to have changed. It was still strangely quiet. He knocked on the door to no reply. His only option was to open the sterile, white door himself.

Inside the room, he saw a man who looked around 20 years old with a girl who seemed to be around middle school age. Tyltyl and Mytyl, the gods of the dream world. But Kei didn’t believe for a second that they were the real Tyltyl and Mytyl. They seemed to be some form of dolls created in their likeness. They both stood by the window, completely unmoving, not even blinking.

“Tyltyl? Mytyl?”

Kei walked over to them. He held his hand in front of their faces to check their breathing, and felt for a pulse. But there was nothing.

It was like time had stopped for them. Like everything had stopped.

Looks like they made their move first.

He knew the Bureau employee with the ability to do such a thing. It was the suit who had led him to the Witch. Anything he touched with his right hand would become incapable of changing.

The last time Kei had seen that man was a month ago, also in the dream world. He was tagging along with The Index and the Bureau officer who was always smiling. They were definitely the ones behind what he was currently seeing.

I only came here to borrow Tyltyl and Mytyl’s power. He could have easily learned everything he needed to know. He even could have questioned The Index and her entourage directly, forcing it out of them with Tyltyl if that was what it came down to.

But they had seen that coming.

I was too late.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, Kei heard a sound near the window. He turned to find a small blue bird pecking on the glass. He walked over and opened the window, and the blue bird flew into the room, taking a few laps before settling on one of the bed rails.

“Tyltyl?” Kei sputtered. He had previously seen Tyltyl take the form of a small blue bird.

“No, I’m not Tyltyl,” the bird answered. “I’m just a regular bird.”

“Regular birds don’t talk.”

“Then I’m just a regular talking bird. I don’t have any godlike powers, at least. Why don’t you have a seat?”

Kei took the bird’s suggestion, sitting down on the bed. “Did Tyltyl create you, or Mytyl?”

“Tyltyl did. He created me just before his time was stopped.” The bird tilted his head to get another look at Kei in a strangely human fashion.

“What happened here?”

“Well, I’ll tell you in order. First, Mytyl’s time was stopped.”

“You mean the Bureau employee used his ability to make her unchangeable?”

“I dunno. Mytyl just stopped moving. Tyltyl tried everything he could think of, but he couldn’t help her. Then the Bureau staff came in.”

How does that work? Kei wondered. As far as he knew, the Bureau suit’s ability was to “lock anything he touches with his right hand.” So how did Mytyl’s time stop before he got to them?

Oh, right. It’s because Mytyl is Katagiri Honoka.

They would have made Katagiri Honoka unchangeable first, then entered into the dream world. They couldn’t do anything about Tyltyl in the dream world while out there in the real world. At least, Kei figured that was how it worked out.

The blue bird continued, “Tyltyl couldn’t defy the Bureau. They were holding the real Mytyl… Katagiri Honoka, as a hostage, so there was no way he could go against them. He just had to do as they said.”

“And what exactly was that?”

“First, they talked with Tyltyl. It was mostly about Sumire-chan. Her name, ability, relationships, and such. Tyltyl answered any questions they asked. Then, when they had asked everything, one of them touched Tyltyl, and time stopped for him, too.”

I get it. The dream world was an ideal place to gather information, for Kei and the Bureau alike.

“Just before they stopped Tyltyl’s time, he created me. He found it likely that someone else would come in here from reality, though he probably expected Sumire-chan, and made me to talk to them.”

“Why didn’t Tyltyl just create another version of himself?” Tyltyl was nearly omnipotent within the dream world, so creating a copy of himself would be more than possible.

“That was the plan, at least at first. But then The Index asked him, ‘Does anyone else in this world have your god-like powers?’”

Well, he couldn’t lie to The Index. “So Tyltyl had to answer honestly,” Kei remarked.

“Mhm. ‘I was going to create another me, but I stopped.’”

“Just the fact that he was able to make you is pretty impressive.”

“Well, I’m just a talking bird. I can’t do anything else. Me being here doesn’t change much.”

So the Bureau didn’t know about the little bird that was only created to talk.

“I’m just a messenger. The only point to my existence is to ask for help. I don’t know what’s going on in the real world, but please help Mytyl.”

Kei looked over at Mytyl again. She sat there like an unmoving doll. “Tell me something. When did those Bureau members show up?”

“That was three weeks ago now.”

They had been way ahead. Late didn’t even begin to describe his visit. He never would have been able to beat them, and they were still moving.

“Did they leave right after stopping Tyltyl’s time?” Kei asked.

“No. They went to see Sumire-chan next. They talked to her, then stopped her time, too.”

They had even stopped Souma’s time in the dream world? They were farther ahead on information sources than he had ever thought. “Do you know what they talked about with her?”

“No. I was up in the sky, so I could only watch.”

“Where’s Souma now, for reference?”

“In an old hotel. It’s all broken down, and she was living in the ruins.”

Well, that sounded about right. There weren’t many places a middle schooler who should have been dead could afford to live.

“What did they do after stopping Souma’s time?” Kei asked.

“Nothing, really. They left the dream world right after.”

“I see.”

They had been exceedingly thorough. They squeezed out all the information they could, then plugged away the sources.

They planned ahead for everything I wanted to do. It only made sense, really, since they were the specialists at ability usage. But the fact that they went out of their way to talk to Souma in the dream world only complicated things further.

Let’s see, if I was The Index and her crew…

The first priority would be learning about Souma’s ability. That meant they knew every facet of how Souma’s future sight worked.

“How many Bureau members were here?” Kei questioned.

“Three.”

“The Index, Kagaya, and the man with the eternal smile?”

“Yup. That last one is called Urachi Masamune.”

Urachi? Kei’s next breath halted in his throat.

“Something wrong?”

When the blue bird’s voice finally registered, Kei shook his head. “No, I just recognized the name, and it surprised me.”

“Well, whatever you do, please contact Sumire-chan when you get back to reality. I’m sure she’ll be able to do something about this.”

“Right. I’ll do everything I can.” Kei wanted to see Souma Sumire himself, anyway. “The only problem is, I don’t know how to get a hold of her.”

As soon as the sentence left his lips, he felt a tickle on the tip of his nose.

An intense wave of drowsiness fell over him, and Asai Kei lost consciousness.

Kei opened his eyes. He found himself on the hospital rooftop.

A soft, gentle rain was falling. It wasn’t much in the way of force, but evidently the rain had woken him up. Waking up in the real world had forced him to sleep in the dream world.

Urachi? Really?

It was a name that Kei knew, but had only learned about a month prior. He had found it in the Script, as part of his reading in “No. 407”.

The first year. The three ability users. The other two, the pair outside of the Witch that made up the Boundary Line.

Forty years ago, they were just a young married couple.

A couple that shared the family name of Urachi.

✽

It had happened so long ago.

The Witch spoke. “Masamune-kun… try not to hate the abilities that your parents loved so much.”

Urachi Masamune shook his head. “Someone else loving them is no reason for me to love them.” And of course it wasn’t. Nobody else was allowed to determine how he felt.

“I can understand why you would hate abilities. Perhaps that may even be the natural reaction. But…” The Witch’s eyelids lowered slightly. “There are redeeming qualities to them, as well. You shouldn’t be able to deny that. You represent those very qualities.”

Urachi smiled. It was true that if abilities did not exist, certain people would not have been born.

People like me.

Urachi Masamune’s parents were the pair of ability users that made up the Boundary Line. Urachi’s father should have died young, but his life was extended due to an ability, allowing for the birth of Urachi Masamune.

“That only proves my point,” Urachi said, his tone relaxed. “The fact that I have been blessed by abilities even before I was born, and should be the one to love them the most, yet still deny them, is very meaningful. I am obligated to set aside my selfish motives, even my own existence, to speak to the evils of abilities.”

The Witch looked at him, a glare in her eyes. “Are you trying to say you would rather not have been born?”

“No such thing.” Urachi Masamune shook his head. “I’m grateful to my mother and father. I’m grateful to cows, pigs, and chickens. I’m grateful to all the crops, the water, the sun, the Earth, and the sky. I am glad I was born. I am happy to be alive. I love the world.”

But he wasn’t finished.

“But that doesn’t mean anything. So I happen to be alive because of abilities. So I happen to be living happily. What of it? That doesn’t speak at all to the validity of abilities.”

“It’s okay to accept the power that can make even a single person happy.”

“That’s not true in the slightest. There are those who have been blessed by war, and those whose lives have been made better because of crime. Would you sing the praises of war and crime as a result?”

“You’re just using extremes.”

“Hardly. It’s all the same to me. War, crime, and abilities. They all have victims, and they all spread misfortune. Trying to isolate some individual happiness to justify them is a scam.”

The Witch continued to stare at him. “I understand. Very well, then.”

“You accept that they are evil?”

“In all honesty, the moral nature of abilities has never been my concern.” The Witch smiled, her eyes never leaving Urachi’s gaze. “Your very existence is our hope. Your own voice that claims the evils of abilities is still what saves your father, mother, and even me.”

The Witch’s smile was artificial and off putting.

Urachi Masamune nodded. “I don’t care to know what it is that you all put your hope in.”

“Are those hopes not enough to prove the righteousness of abilities?”

“No.”

“Then you’re going about this the wrong way.” Her smile unfaltering, the Witch shook her head. “Without hope, we could never decide whether something is right,” she declared, her voice strong and firm.

Urachi Masamune responded with his own unwavering smile.

✽

The pieces of the puzzle were all coming together. Small, individual parts were all connecting into a towering structure.

Asai Kei remembered. He recalled the series of events kicked off by the MacGuffin in the summer. He recalled everything that had happened since meeting Souma Sumire two years prior. Then, he thought. He thought about the problems that the town had been facing for the last 40 years. Were abilities right, or were they wrong? That was the central conflict of the story.

So who was the mastermind? Souma Sumire, or Urachi Masamune?

In all likelihood, it was probably both of them. They had each crafted their own plotlines, each progressing at their own rate. The two were very intricately connected, but Kei knew he had to carefully separate them.

Think. Think. Think. He couldn’t stop thinking.

In the immediate present, there were the ability outburst incidents. That was Urachi Masamune’s plotline. Kei more or less understood his goal, which was to get the Bureau to play the trump card. To erase abilities from Sakurada. No more, and no less.

That being the case, what would Urachi Masamune be doing next?

What would help move his plans along the smoothest?

The sound of the rain grew louder, as if someone was turning a volume knob. Looking out into the vision-distorting rain, Kei suddenly recognized a piece on the board that had remained unplayed.

Ukawa… Sasane.

He remembered what she told him the day before.

I went back to college for about two weeks, then got called back here for more Bureau work.

Ukawa had been working as an accomplice for Urachi Masamune in the last month. If Urachi had also been the one to call her back… his intentions couldn’t have been more clear.

Ukawa-san is the exact wrong person to have in Sakurada right now.

Her ability could destroy the world. That wasn’t even an exaggeration; she could literally split the world in two, if she so desired.

If she became involved… if her ability were to experience an outburst… The Bureau would most definitely make the final call.

That’s what I would do if I were Urachi Masamune.

There may not have been a single ability user more suited to Urachi Masamune’s plans than Ukawa Sasane.

Kei bolted outside. Raindrops slipped down his neck as he yanked his cell phone from his pocket.

He needed to see Ukawa Sasane as soon as humanly possible.

✽

10:45. The sound of rain pelting down penetrated through the window glass, but that didn’t bother her one bit.

A good 80 percent of Ukawa Sasane’s attention was focused on the chocolate parfait directly in front of her. The remaining 20 percent was on the Bureau employee sitting on the other side of the table. If she remembered correctly, his name was something like Tsushima.

Ukawa had been personally called by him into the café they were sitting in. Evidently he had something important to talk about. But that aside, she had a chocolate parfait sitting in front of her eyes.

Chocolate parfaits were such a fickle food. They had a supremely happiness-inducing form that was created from the likes of a child’s dream, and yet time would so easily strip that appearance away. The ice cream would melt, mixing with the chocolate syrup to create an unpleasant color, and the colorful fruit piled on top had only one direction to go: tumbling down. Then, the cereal at the bottom would absorb all the moisture, losing its pleasant texture. The unfortunately melting ice cream always induced a cavalcade of ruin.

That being the case, Ukawa Sasane had decided to prioritize the chocolate parfait before her over the Bureau employee. It wasn’t like the human would melt away if she left him alone for a little while.

She scooped up some ice cream and whipped cream, bringing it to her mouth while reaching for one of the Pocky sticks placed in the dish.

“I don’t mind doing this while you’re eating, so long as you’ll listen,” Tsushima said. He sounded tired.

“Sure. My bad, it’d just be a real problem if the ice cream melted.” Still keeping her attention on the parfait, she plucked the cherry from the top.

With about a fifth of her conscious mind, she considered the last few run-ins she’d had with Tsushima. Each time, he’d given off the same distinct impression. He didn’t at all feel like a Bureau employee. There was something about him that separated him from all the others.

He took a sip of his coffee. “I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Well, when the Administration Bureau is asking, I rarely turn down a job.” As an organization that protected the peace of Sakurada, they hardly ever went against Ukawa’s sense of justice.

But Tsushima shook his head. “No, this isn’t about the Administration Bureau. This is a personal request.”

“From you?”

“You could think of it that way.”

“That’s a strange way to answer that.”

“It isn’t as though the person asking makes any difference to you, does it?”

“Eh, well, yeah.” If it was the right thing to do, she’d just do it. “What is it?”

“I want you to use your ability.”

“To what end?”

“It doesn’t really matter. The flashier, the better, though. Once you’re done, you have to testify to the Administration Bureau that you had used your ability unintentionally.”

“You can’t lie to the Administration Bureau.” Ukawa chuckled to herself. She thought that he, a Bureau employee, would’ve known that much.

“That will be handled on our end. I have reason to believe it will go over just fine.”

Ukawa scooped up some cereal mixed with ice cream, answering, “I think I’ll have to refuse.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know what’s going on, and I don’t want to lie. Your little idea is giving me a bad feeling. I don’t think I’ll take something like that on.” She thought that would make her refusal clear enough.

But he spoke as if she hadn’t said anything at all. “Allow me to explain the situation.”

“I’ll listen, but I get to decide what’s the right thing to do.”

“Of course. If, at the end, you aren’t satisfied, then so be it.”

Once she finished off the ice cream that was in danger of spilling out of her bowl, Ukawa shifted her focus. She was now giving equal attention to her parfait and Tsushima.

“Yesterday, there were two sequential incidents of ability outbursts,” Tsushima began.

“Outbursts?”

“Yes. Unintentional ability usage.”

“That sounds dangerous.”

“Very much so. It makes me scared.” Tsushima’s tone was joking, but something about the way he said it gave Ukawa the impression that those words had come from his gut. He was scared, but trying to act tough. It immediately made him more persuasive. “That said, I’m quite sure you experienced it yourself.”

“Me?” When she thought about it, it struck her. “You mean what happened at the supermarket?”

“Exactly.”

“Well, I’ll admit I’ve never laughed that loud before. But it was hardly dangerous.”

“I would agree, if the other incident hadn’t caused a traffic accident. One driver was impacted heavily in the chest. He was fortunate enough not to break anything, but similar events have caused fatalities.”

Oh. It really was dangerous. But that still didn’t explain everything. “And what does that all have to do with your request?”

“The Administration Bureau is stalling right now. A decision has to be made, but they can’t make one.”

“What decision?”

“Whether abilities ought to be in Sakurada or not. If they wanted to, the Bureau could wipe out all abilities in Sakurada.”

No more abilities in Sakurada.

Ukawa had never even considered such a concept. She was born in Sakurada, born with an ability. Abilities had simply become a natural part of life for her.

Tsushima continued, “A plan for countermeasures against the ability outbursts was approved this morning. It outlines that in the worst-case scenario, defined as a person with a particularly dangerous ability having an outburst, an ultimatum could be passed.” He took a sip from his coffee, staring at Ukawa. His eyes were strange. They were cloudy, yet still seemed somehow pure. “If you testify that you experienced an ability outburst, then the Bureau will erase abilities from Sakurada. You could cause the end of abilities with one fell swoop.”

Ukawa realized she had been swept up in his speech. She quickly scooped up some melting ice cream. It was cold and sweet. “You’ll have to give me a bit to think about that. My gut hasn’t decided whether abilities should come to an end or not.”

“I appreciate that, but we don’t have much time.”

“Why not?”

“Abilities are going off everywhere, and we don’t know why. Because of that, restrictions are being placed over powerful abilities.”

“What do you mean by restrictions?”

“Making someone unable to use their ability. It’s like turning off the gas main. The Bureau’s been working all morning to seal off dangerous abilities.”

“How?”

“We’ve requested the cooperation of an ability user who can manipulate memories. If someone forgets how to use their ability, then that means they can’t use it for now.”

After thinking for a moment, Ukawa asked, “Would that really solve the problem if an ability outburst is unconscious?”

“I don’t know. I don’t understand almost anything that’s happening right now. But I can’t just sit around and wait, so I’m doing whatever I can.”

Sometimes, that’s all you can do. “Well, I think I get it.” Ukawa Sasane nodded. “Won’t be long before I can’t use my ability either, huh?”

If they were trying to seal dangerous abilities, then Ukawa definitely wouldn’t be able to get away unscathed.

Tsushima nodded. “If anything, your ability will be prioritized. You might be able to skirt it for a while, but you’ve got a few hours at most before someone gets to you.”

Which meant she only had that long to make her decision.

Should Sakurada’s abilities really come to an end?

Ukawa had been attending college outside of Sakurada since the springtime. She had rented a nearby apartment space, living there while attending classes. Of course, when she left Sakurada, she would forget about abilities. That had given her about half a year to experience a world that didn’t have abilities.

It was a peaceful world. Which wasn’t to say that Sakurada was particularly dangerous. The world was just as happy and peaceful as Sakurada.

Abilities or no, people worried, smiled, and tried to be happy all the same.

If that’s true, then what’s the point of abilities? If abilities had such dangers lurking within them, was there anything worth protecting about them?

As she thought, a question came to mind. “Why do you want there to be no abilities in Sakurada?”

Now, Ukawa Sasane never left her decisions up to others. As she asked the question, she was carefully observing her gut reaction. It was, after all, her gut that could tell her what was right. She didn’t need anything else. So she paid close attention to her reaction.

“I’m scared of abilities. Always have been,” Tsushima answered.

“Even though you’re part of the Bureau?”

“I joined the Bureau because of how much they scared me. I couldn’t just close my eyes to the thing that terrified me so much. I joined the Bureau because I wanted to keep my eyes open.”

Ukawa never had been able to understand the fear of abilities. As far as she was concerned, an ability was like a limb. Someone with hands could use them to beat or strangle others, but that didn’t make anyone afraid of having hands. Abilities were just like that. The possibilities alone didn’t make them something worth fearing.

Anyone with an ability should have known that.

“You don’t have an ability, do you?”

“No. But you know that’s how it works, right? Half of the people in Sakurada don’t have an ability.”

Ah. I get it.

He was a person without abilities. A representative of half of Sakurada, and indeed the majority of the world. To someone without an ability, abilities were scary. Of course they would be.

“And despite joining the Bureau, you’re still scared of abilities?”

“Of course I am. And, to be honest, that makes me kinda sad.”

She hadn’t expected to hear him say he was sad. That concept was so far removed from fear. She couldn’t see the connection.

Tsushima continued, “I’m the club advisor for the Service Club at Ashiharabashi High. It’s the one that Asai Kei and Haruki Misora work for.”

The names of those two always came up at the strangest of times. Even in the midst of such an important conversation, there they were.

“What about them?” Ukawa asked.

“Kei and Haruki… they just aren’t normal high schoolers. They’re taking on all these burdens they shouldn’t have to. Their abilities are forcing them to carry too much.”

“Do you really think Asai Kei not having an ability would make him a normal high schooler?” Whenever Ukawa saw that boy, she knew there was something different about him. He was like a child and an adult, a human and a beast, a strange balance of strong and weak. Would that Asai Kei really just become any other high schooler by the simple loss of an ability?

“I don’t know. But that kid just can’t leave well enough alone. He’s always doing every little thing he can, even when there’s no need to.”

“If there’s ever anything you can do, you should do it to the best of your ability.”

“Maybe you think that way. But I disagree. Even if one person’s sacrifice was necessary to save the entire world, that doesn’t mean that person should have to die. If he gets scared, he should be allowed to run away.”

But why? As far as Ukawa saw it, one person being sacrificed for the sake of the world was justifiable.

Tsushima continued, “I’ve seen it so many times. A regular person has to sacrifice their livelihood like some kind of hero just because they have an ability. Their capability becomes a cruelty. All of their hope just crumbles away.”

Ukawa Sasane shook her head. “But people still need to have hope.”

“Of course they do. But Sakurada’s abilities take it too far. Anything that goes beyond the laws of physics is more than any human should have to handle. But they just won’t give it up, and they keep on suffering. It’s so sad to watch.” Tsushima looked her in the eyes. “People can be happy without abilities.”

It was such an honest sentiment.

Ukawa gazed intently into herself, focusing on her gut. She wanted to be aware of everything it felt. But even so, she couldn’t quite understand.

It was true that technically, abilities weren’t a requirement for human happiness.

But does that mean we have to disregard them wholesale, because they can be unnecessary?

Something about that idea bothered her. But she was aware that it could be the simple pull of her selfish emotion, a desire to not lose what made her special.

I definitely can’t let that make my decisions.

Ukawa checked her gut intently. She still had no answer.

The banana perched atop her ice cream tumbled over, and she remembered the existence of her chocolate parfait.

✽

“Do you think you will acquire Ukawa Sasane’s assistance?” The Index asked beside him.

“Can’t guarantee it. But I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Urachi Masamune answered, flipping through his notebook. “At the end of the day, a champion of justice is a champion of the weak. I doubt she’ll be able to ignore the pleas of a person without an ability.”

“And that’s why you wanted Tsushima Shintarou?”

“Anybody without abilities would have worked, but he is rather competent for this position. He doesn’t mind telling a convenient lie here and there, and he’s completely on board with my plan.”

Or at least, that was what Urachi had written in his notebook. He couldn’t even remember what this Tsushima person looked like, but if that was what he had decided in the past, then surely he had been correct.

“How are the ability restrictions progressing?” he asked.

On paper, the ability restrictions were part of his countermeasure, claiming that it would be dangerous if such abilities experienced an outburst. In reality, it was just a way to make sure that there wouldn’t be anyone else capable of opposing him.

“There haven’t been any issues, but it is worth noting that none of the ability users within Kei’s circle have been affected yet.”

Urachi had noted down that it was dangerous to let the memory manipulator, a girl by the name of Oka Eri, get anywhere close to Kei. He had written that of all the ability users in his plan, she was the most unstable element.

Ultimately, I didn’t expect much of her to begin with. It was just another way to signal to the Bureau that he was taking the problem seriously.

“Looks like everything’s going to plan. It should all be over by tonight.”

Before long, the 40-year distortion of Sakurada would be made right once more.

✽

Asai Kei sent several e-mails as he ran, desperately clutching a plastic umbrella that he had bought in the hospital convenience store. Half of his e-mails were related to finding Ukawa Sasane, and the other half was shoring up insurance plans. He knew that to counteract Urachi Masamune’s plans, he had to focus on more than just Ukawa. Then, he boarded a bus.

He was on his way to meet with Murase Youka. He couldn’t think of anyone more suited to finding Ukawa. His e-mails with her had culminated in calling her to the bus stop closest by her house.

When Kei’s bus made it to the stop, she was already waiting. She stood under a roof to protect her from the pouring rain, leaning on a pillar beside the bus stop bench.

 Rainy bus stops always brought a scene from two years ago to Kei’s mind. Especially when a girl was standing in one. He was relieved to see that Murase was holding a blue umbrella. If she was holding a red one, he likely wouldn’t have been able to keep himself from making a face. His last conversation with Souma Sumire had been at a rainy bus stop those two years ago, as she clutched her red umbrella.

He clambered down the bus steps, apologizing. “Sorry I took so long.”

With a glance at her watch, the girl responded, “It’s still five minutes before the time we agreed upon.”

He almost responded by saying it was rude to keep a girl waiting on a rainy day, but stopped himself. Instead, he implored, “I need you to find a person called Ukawa Sasane for me.”

“That doesn’t really bother me, but… it seems like all I ever do is use my ability to go on manhunts for you.”

Kei didn’t think that was true. “Even if your ability was only for the sake of finding the person you wanted to see, I’d say that was useful enough.”

“You know you could just, like, call their cell phone.”

“Well, sometimes you don’t always know their number.” Or they wouldn’t answer when you called.

“Well, whatever. Let’s go.” She pulled her umbrella up, walking away from the bus stop. Kei also put up his recently purchased plastic umbrella.

The sound of the rain mixed with every other ambient noise, coating all of the scenery before him. Rainy days made the world feel more uniform and orderly, which was a concept Kei rather liked. But even so, he had a particular distaste for rainy days. They reminded him of his final conversation with Souma Sumire.

“Right hand, anything separating me from Ukawa Sasane,” Murase Youka called. She first touched a southern wall, which remained unchanged. She seemed particularly bothered about touching the wet wall, immediately following up with, “Right hand, rain.”

“You don’t even need an umbrella with that ability, do you?” Kei asked. From what he knew, she could call out, “Whole body, rain,” and never get wet.

Murase frowned. “I might not get wet, but I don’t wanna walk around in the rain without an umbrella.”

That was fair enough. Kei figured he wouldn’t much like seeing a young girl walk around in the rain without an umbrella, either.

Murase crossed the crosswalk, touching a northern wall. A hole appeared in it, taking the shape of her palm. That told them that Ukawa Sasane was somewhere to the north.

The two walked beside each other on the sidewalk, turning the corner to head north.

“So, why are you looking for this Ukawa person?”

Kei thought for the length of three steps, answering, “I’m really struggling with an issue right now. There are two choices, and neither of them are inherently wrong.”

“Yeah, that happens.”

“If I just leave things alone, then I’ll be forced into one option. But I want that to have been my decision.”

Kei was aware of how arrogant that made him sound. In reality, he shouldn’t have had a choice in the matter.

The issue he struggled with was the existence of abilities in Sakurada. Whether abilities were a good or a bad thing for people.

But I want to make a choice. Whether it all went according to his choice and plan was one thing, but he at least wanted to come to his own answer of what was right. “If I can find Ukawa-san, then maybe I can make a grab at the choice that’s slipping away. So, I want to see her.”

“I don’t really get it.”

“I’m stuck on my career path, so I’m going into exploratory studies.”

“Wait, this was about your career?”

“No, that was just an analogy.” It was close enough, though.

He was worrying about the direction he wanted to go in. Whether to live in a town with abilities or a world without them.

At the next corner, Murase touched a northern wall, once again creating a hand-shaped hole. Kei wished he could discern the direction he had to go that easily.

“So what exactly are you worrying about?” she asked.

“Well, I’m worried about the difference between the convenience and the cost of having something. Or like, how much I have to be willing to sacrifice to make people happy.”

He was waiting for her to say that she didn’t get it again.

But Murase’s face turned oddly serious, and her gaze focused on a car passing by them on the road. “”So you mean… stuff like cars?”

“Cars?”

“It’s something I’ve thought about before. Like… why aren’t cars just banned?” She looked past her umbrella towards Kei. “You know the statistics for how many people die in traffic accidents?”

“Country-wide, it’s a little more than one person every two hours.”

She gave what was probably a sad smile. It was hard for Kei to tell, since he could only see her mouth under the umbrella. “You sure know your stuff. I didn’t find out until last year.” Murase had lost her brother to a traffic accident the previous year. “So, that means that you could convert the cost of driving a car into one human life every two hours. Seems a bit much, doesn’t it?”

It hurt to hear her using words like “cost” to separate herself from the statistics. Her brother was one of those costs.

But Kei couldn’t leave the question hanging, so he answered, “I think that at least ambulances save more people than that, which is good.” He didn’t have the data to back it up, but it seemed likely to him that ambulances saved a greater number of people than those who died in traffic accidents.

“Fine, then allow ambulances. But everything else goes. If human life is really what matters most, then that should be the answer.”

It was hard to argue against her. But Kei could hardly imagine a society without cars. Inconveniences aside, it would ultimately shorten the lifespans of most people. Distribution played a massive role in modern society, and there had never been a society enjoying longer human lifespans.

But none of that seemed to matter in the face of her brother, lost to a traffic accident.

“Still, though…” she mumbled, her voice low. “I drive a car. Dad’s got a car, and he uses it all the same that he did last year. He might be a little more careful driving, but that’s the only real difference. That’s like what you’re worried about, right?”

Kei nodded. “Yeah, it’s pretty much the same thing.”

They came up to another intersection, and Murase once again called out, “Right hand, anything separating me from Ukawa Sasane.” They once again were pointed north.

I hope I can find her before it’s too late.

His time was limited to the moment when Ukawa used her ability.