2 – The same day, around 3 PM

Kei rode the bus to the heart of Sakurada, ate a fast food lunch, and visited a bookstore and CD shop. All the while, he was only thinking of one thing.

He thought of it as he ate his cheeseburger, while reading through mathematical logic puzzles in the corner of a bookstore, and when the new album of an underground band was playing in his ears. It never left his mind. The only thing encompassing his thoughts was that girl in Sasano’s photo.

He made it home somewhere around 3 PM. He took a cold shower, turned on the A/C, and sat down on his bed, looking out the window. The sky was tinted in the deep blue color of mint gum, headed into a summer evening. Tearing his eyes from the sky, Kei picked up his phone. He scrolled through the address book until he found a Murase Youka, and pushed the call button.

He waited for 10 rings, yet she didn’t answer. After the 11th, Kei hung up. It wasn’t long until she called him back.

He pressed the answer button, and started with the standard, “Hello.”

After a short silence, Murase gave a curt, “What is it?” in a thoroughly displeased tone.

“We haven’t talked in forever. Are things okay on your side?”

“Of course they are. I wouldn’t have been able to call you back otherwise. What do you want?” She asked again, sounding cautious.

“I’ve got a favor to ask you. Can you meet up with me the day after tomorrow?” He would’ve preferred more haste, but he and Haruki had been scheduled to visit the Administration Bureau tomorrow, and Kei had no intention of going against the Bureau’s wishes.

Murase was silent for a while, before finally responding, “Maybe in the afternoon.”

“If you have other business, we could plan for another day.”

“I just have supplementary lessons every weekday.”

Her admission reminded Kei of just how much school Murase had missed in the recent past due to her circumstances. She had likely even missed the midterms and final exams.

Murase continued, “I think I can still move up to the next grade for now. Evidently I had been taking supplementary exams without even knowing it.”

“How could that even be possible?” Tests were, by design, taken intentionally when you went to school.

“Tsushima kept coming over to my place and making me take tests. Evidently those qualified for supplementary education.”

Ah, he did say something about that. A truant student who got perfect scores on the tests he gave them, making it harder to convince them to go to school.

Murase’s grumpiness turned up a notch, probably to hide her embarrassment. “I guess the school wants to keep its dropout rate as low as possible.”

“Well, however it came about, I’m glad for you.”

“I have to attend classes all summer to make up for my missed days. They don’t even have working A/C in there right now. I don’t know how Tsushima does it.”

That was probably the closest to complimenting Tsushima that she could manage. Kei almost smiled by reflex, but managed to push it down just in time. “I don’t have any time constraints, so we can just do whatever works for you.” He was frustrated, but it was true that there was no pressure for time.

“Well, my supplementary lessons end just around now, so I’m good to go anytime after this most days.”

Kei checked the clock at his bedside. It was slightly after four in the afternoon. Since it was summer and the days were longer, they would have plenty of time to work with. “Then let’s go with the day after tomorrow, if you don’t mind.”

“Gotcha. What exactly do you want to do?”

“There are two things I’m asking for.” But first, he had to establish something. “You can erase people’s powers, right, Murase-san?”

Murase’s ability gave her the power to erase whatever she touched. Hopefully, she could undo the power of the person that was sealing off Sasano’s ability.

Kei explained the basics of Sasano’s situation, and Murase responded with, “There are a few problems to keep in mind.”

“Such as?”

“I’m sure you remember that my ability only works for five minutes at a time. I can use it consecutively, but that would require me to constantly be around this Sasano person, which simply isn’t possible.”

“You’re right. But just getting his ability back for five minutes could prove valuable.” At the very least, it would give them some kind of ammunition against this mysterious red-eyed girl. If she discovered that Sasano got his ability back, she might move in to investigate. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer, as the saying went. It was at least worth a shot.

“Well, if you’re sure, then whatever.”

It was nice for Kei to hear that Murase trusted him. He pushed the conversation forward. “What are the other problems?”

“Right, the next one. I’ve never erased something like a preset ability. I’ve only been able to erase things that I physically touch one way or another. Would touching this Sasano person count as touching this other girl’s ability?”

“That’s a good question.” If Murase herself didn’t know, Kei sure couldn’t answer that question.

“I don’t mind trying, I just wanted to put that out there.”

“That’s still fine, if you’re okay with it. Anything else?”

“Yes. This is the last issue.”

“What is it?”

Murase continued, her voice turning stiffer. “I can’t use my power to hurt people anymore.”

Kei’s words of reply caught in his throat.

He knew that abilities all came with their own limitations. He himself could name a few edge cases. Plenty of restrictions and conditionals had been noted in several studies.

But this wasn’t a matter of ability. This problem came down to the individual. Another commonly accepted premise was that abilities didn’t work unless the user wanted them to. If the user was unwilling to do something, then their ability would be unable to perform that function.

Murase no longer wanted to use her ability to erase people.

“I’m sorry…” was all that Kei could squeeze out.

It was obviously Kei’s fault that she had gotten to this point. Yet another consequence of what he had done to her just one month prior.

“Don’t be,” came her soft reply. She was speaking gently, certainly for his sake. “I really think that it’s better this way.”

Kei wanted to nod along happily. She was right, it was better that way. Being unable to erase people with her power was a meaningful and amicable change. It could even be considered a growth of character. But that surface-level change had come at the cost of a deep scar, and that was nothing to be happy about.

Kei had put Murase through great pain. Given his options, he still didn’t regret it. But he knew that it was far from the best outcome possible. It certainly wouldn’t have been considered the right thing to do.

“I’m sure there was a better way. I just… couldn’t find it.” Kei had wanted the best ending where nobody got hurt and nobody had to suffer. A fairy tale’s happy ending. But he knew he was only dreaming. In the end, his options were limited, and even the best outcome he could design was flawed.

“I wouldn’t expect to hear that from you.” From the other side of the phone, he heard Murase’s slight giggle. “I thought that you always had it together.”

“No, I’m nothing like that.” Kei didn’t have any self-confidence, not even the slightest bit. But he knew how to pretend with the best of them when he needed to.

Murase’s voice whispered from the phone’s receiver, quietly and gently. “So it’s up to me to make you feel better? Don’t worry, you did the right thing.”

Kei smiled. “You’re quite the charmer.” Her support was reassuring, but the fact that he had to guilt trip her to receive it only compounded his self-loathing.

Murase responded, her voice still a whisper. “Don’t lie to me. There’s no way you enjoy being treated like that.”

“Whatever could you mean? I love being treated kindly.”

“Then you should spend your time with Haruki, not me.”

Kei’s words were choked off yet again. “…Maybe so.” He wished it could be that easy, but there was a towering wall between him and Haruki that he had yet to scale.

“Well, whatever.” Murase moved on. “Like I said, I can’t use my powers to hurt people, but since I’ll just be using it on an ability this time, I should be fine. Honestly, though, I’m kinda nervous to touch another person with my ability again.”

Kei tried to imagine what she meant by that, but he simply had no frame of reference. “Then we’ll call this one off.” Murase was more important than solving this problem. Besides, he wanted to ask for two favors, and this one was of lesser importance.

But Murase spoke back up. “I’m not saying that I’m unwilling to try. But it’s worth sharing that there’s a possibility of failure.”

Kei was still worried, but he decided to go along with her. He hoped he could understand her feelings, and it seemed to him like she wanted to give it her best. “Then let’s go for it. There’s also one more thing I want to ask you for.”

“Pretty sure I’ve got the idea. You want me to find this other girl, right?”

“That’s exactly right.”

Murase’s ability had very unique and flexible applications regarding what she was allowed to erase. For example, she could call out to erase anything between her and another person, and when whatever she touched disappeared, it would indicate the direction of the other person related to her. Ideally, she could call out to erase anything between her and the person who sealed Sasano’s ability to find this girl they were looking for.

“Would you be willing to try?”

“Of course,” came Murase’s reply, blunt and emotionless. “I’m not always the best at expressing myself, but I’m grateful for what you did. I hope you know that.”

“It was all just according to Tsushima’s plan.”

“Yeah, I know. Why else would I bother with all these supplementary courses?”

After once again confirming they would meet the day after tomorrow, Kei hung up. Likely due to the length of the call, his phone’s battery was warm in his palm. Almost like the warmth of holding someone else’s hand.

Kei set his phone down on his desk and let out a deep breath. He was grateful that it didn’t come out as a sigh.

Alright, what do I do from here? Kei considered his options, but there wasn’t much he could accomplish at present.

He had already contacted Sasano, and arranged to meet with him in the evening of the day after tomorrow. With Sasano and Murase taken care of, all that was left was to wait for The Operator to call him back about the investigation into Sasano.

At 6:47 PM, Kei’s cell phone rang once more. The display read, “Unknown Caller”. The sun was slowly setting, filling Kei’s room with long shadows and deep navy blues.

Kei answered the call. “Asai here.”

“Good evening. It’s me,” came The Operator’s robotic, feminine voice.

Kei replied with the usual pleasantries before getting to business. “What did you find on Sasano-san?”

“Enough for us to work with. It’s actually quite interesting.”

With the way things had been going, Kei would have preferred to find he was uninteresting. Sounding quite proud of himself, The Operator continued.

“Sasano Hiroyuki. He was formerly employed in City Hall, and retired three years ago.”

That doesn’t sound particularly strange. “This is your interesting information?”

“As if. Anyone could find that out within two minutes of research. That’s like the cup ramen of information.”

“Then what else do you have?”

“I’m getting there. He was assigned to City Hall 28 years ago. In that case, just what was he doing until then? For that, we look to the Administration Bureau. He was a former Bureau employee.”

Okay, fine, that’s a little bit surprising. “Does that mean anything in particular?” Even if he had worked for the Bureau, that just made him a civil servant through to the end. By itself, that was nothing of import.

But The Operator continued, his voice becoming even more grandiose. “Now, just hold on a moment. It means something extremely important. The question is not where he worked, but rather what his work was. After all, he spent 10 years of his life there.”

Kei did some simple math. 28 years in City Hall, after 10 years in the Bureau. That meant he started his career with the Bureau 38 years prior. Then, he finally understood. 38 years ago. The time when Sakurada became more than just another town.

The typically feminine and robotic voice of The Operator spoke as if brimming with excitement. “38 years ago. That was when the first special ability was discovered, and the Bureau was created in response. Sasano Hiroyuki was one of the founding members of the Administration Bureau.”

The appearance of abilities in Sakurada was sudden and unexpected. It spread faster than an epidemic, and caused more public confusion than a natural disaster. Suddenly, completely normal people were gaining powers that were anything but normal.

But despite that, the world as a whole wasn’t thrown into chaos. Somehow, the only people to notice such a significant event were the residents of Sakurada. Of course, problems were popping up within the city itself, but the issues never went farther than the town’s borders. A completely world-shattering event was contained entirely within the small town.

There was one simple reason for that. An organization was formed, responding with unprecedented speed to a situation that nobody could have possibly expected. The Administration Bureau. Within the month of the first ability sighting, the organization was created and in control.

Unless, of course, one were to assume that the organization had already been functioning before its public formation.

Although Kei’s mind was running wild, he forced himself to listen to The Operator.

“The Administration Bureau is an organization without comparison. Their funds, staff, and established systems are unlike anything else out there. And quite frankly, it’s rather hard to believe how fast it all came together. You could even call it impossible. Public institutions just don’t work the way that the Bureau does. It came to life like a foregone conclusion, as though its purpose had been long decided before the first ability ever appeared.”

Few people could answer the whys and hows of the Bureau’s creation. It was likely that the only people who would know were the founding members.

“Would Sasano-san know the details behind the Bureau’s founding?”

“I can’t answer that, unfortunately. It looks like he worked at City Hall even before the Bureau. Then, once his ability was observed, he was transferred into the Bureau and became incorporated as a founding member.”

He could have even been transferred just to pad the numbers of founding personnel. Civil servants could be sent to either City Hall or the Bureau, so it was possible that there was no foul play.

But, there was another possibility. What if Sasano was actually a crucial member of the Bureau? The possibility alone made it worth looking into.

The Operator continued, “But hey, this is our first real lead for the MacGuffin. A founding member of the Bureau wants it, after all. If Sasano Hiroyuki believes in its power, he must have the information to back it up.”

But why did he want it? Sure, that theory was plausible, but Kei had his doubts. “But Tsushima-sensei said that the Bureau looked into it, and definitively declared it to be a phony.”

“Huh. Well, then… maybe the MacGuffin you have is just a fake.”

“Even if that were true, why would they just hand it over to me?” If the Bureau truly believed in a real MacGuffin, then they would keep everything related to it close at hand, even a fake. Kei trusted Tsushima’s capabilities as a teacher, if nothing else, and no teacher worth their salt would just give a student something that would spiral them into disaster.

“Well hey, I’m just spitballing here. I’ll do a little more research into the MacGuffin.”

That was exactly what Kei wanted to hear. “Please do. Thanks for helping me out with Sasano-san.”

“Well, I do what I can. Seeya.” The Operator hung up.

Initially, Kei was going to ask The Operator to look into people with the ability to seal other abilities, but he had since changed his mind. The Operator’s life hung on the balance of his ability to convert information into nourishment. He refused to let anything but purified mineral water enter his mouth. If their opponent managed to seal his ability, then it could very well turn into a life-or-death situation. Kei figured it was best to keep him out of the loop as far as the red-eyed girl was concerned.

Kei stretched, pushing his arms far above his head, and tried to relax a bit. The deep summer night had already thrown his room into darkness.

Laying down onto his bed, Kei closed his eyes. He went through the events of the day, taking in each detail and minutia. Information and events clashed and fought for attention. The MacGuffin, Sasano, the Bureau, a red-eyed girl, and the girl in the photo. The black stone in her left hand that looked exactly like the MacGuffin. But why?

He felt like a puppet suspended on his strings. Thin, transparent threads held everything in place, twisting this way and that way. Some sections were distant, some were entirely tangled together, and he couldn’t see enough of the whole picture to fully understand the difference. But those thin, invisible threads controlled Kei, forcing his limbs to move regardless of his will.

Their power and authority over him were absolute and undeniable.

✽

He lay awake for hours, just thinking.

About the MacGuffin. About the girl in the photo. About conversations with her that nobody else would remember. His thoughts moved hither and thither, spreading near and far. Like that one time, where they talked about a man who was struck by lightning near a swamp.

Late into the night, just before lulling into sleep, a particular moment from two years ago crossed Kei’s mind. More specifically, it happened two years and 122 days ago. The day he first met her.

It was a chilly evening in early April.

Kei had just recently started his second year of middle school, and found himself huddling behind the concrete tetrapods of a nearby riverbank, far out of sight.

He really didn’t feel like seeing anyone at the moment. He was tired of fake smiles and surface-level conversations, and he certainly wasn’t going to try and be vulnerable with anyone. All he wanted was to stay here by himself until it got dark. He could hear the sound of light footsteps coming from the tetrapods behind him, but he paid it no mind. He just wanted to stay in place, all by himself, unbothered by anyone.

The sound of footsteps got louder, slowly approaching Kei. Eventually, he could locate them to the tetrapod diagonally above him. Then, he heard a girl’s voice.

“Hey.”

Kei stared ahead silently, taking in the sight of the sunset on the river.

“Hey, you.”

He didn’t know who she was, but if he ignored her long enough, she would probably go away.

The girl spoke again. “Are you crying?”

He definitely didn’t expect that one. He found himself looking backwards despite himself. A small, slender girl was standing atop the tetrapods, illuminated by the setting sun.

“Why would you just assume that?” he shot back.

She looked every bit the part of a feral, daring, and carefree cat as she stared at him with her large eyes. Suddenly, she smiled. “No reason, really. I just figured that would finally get you to respond.”

Kei’s mouth twisted into a warped smile. “What do you want from me?”

“I have something to ask you.”

“Well, sucks to be you. I don’t wanna talk to anyone.”

“Why?”

“Gee, who’s to say?” Not even Kei really knew the reason. Talking to people was just such a hassle sometimes. He decided to ask some of his own questions. “Why do you think I don’t wanna talk to anyone?”

The girl gave it some thought, before replying, “Because the sunset is so beautiful?”

As if that would make any difference. “Yup, you got it.” Kei gave an affirmative nod, and turned back towards the river.

From the sound of rustling cloth, Kei made out that the girl had sat down on the tetrapod. They sat there together for some time, taking in the sights. Over time, the aggressive reds of the sun slowly gave way to the deep blues of nightfall.

As for why the girl felt the need to sit so close to him, Kei had no clue. But as long as it meant they didn’t have to talk, he would stare at the sunset unperturbed. He held his breath, so not even that could be heard, as he thought about the girl.

I have no idea who she is. No, wait, I’ve seen her at school. Their matching school uniforms were evidence enough to prove that. At the very least, he was certain that they had never spoken before.

The sun slowly fell into the horizon, eventually dipping below a mansion in the distance. Once the sun was entirely out of sight, the girl spoke once more. “Now you don’t have a reason not to talk to me.”

Kei sighed. He could have argued back, but that felt like more trouble than it was worth now. “Guess so. What do you want?” He looked back towards the girl.

She had an innocent smile on her face, like a child pulling a prank. “I have something to ask you. Why are there tetrapods lined up here?”

Typically, tetrapods were lined up to dampen waves and prevent erosion. There was certainly no need for them on a calm riverside bank.

“Have you been waiting this whole time just to ask me that?”

The girl nodded as if her actions were only to be expected. “Yup. I don’t really care though.”

Great, she doesn’t even care. Kei thought about it for a while, then responded, “Probably because the river being here makes the sunset look so pretty.”

The girl tilted her head. “Does that even count as a reason?”

“I dunno. If you ask me, the sight of the tetrapods in the sunset is really nice.” It wasn’t impossible that some ritzy government official just thought the sunset was pretty here and installed the tetrapods to keep the shoreline.

The girl smiled at his response. “I like the look, too. It’s like a scene from a storybook. Doesn’t this look like the perfect place for a boy and a girl to make a promise to each other?”

“Yeah. Well, it’s not bad, anyway.”

“Then, shall we make a promise?”

Kei’s mouth twisted into another smile. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but the sun’s already set.”

“But the tetrapods under the moonlight look just as good, don’t you think?”

“The moon isn’t gonna come out for a while.”

“Then we can just wait on it, can’t we?”

“If I’m late for dinner, then they’ll get mad at me.”

“I see. Nothing to be done about that, then.”

Kei didn’t start living alone until high school. Up until then, he was being kept at someone else’s house. “Anyways, I gotta get going,” he said, standing up from underneath the tetrapods.

“I’ll see you again, Asai-kun,” the girl said, looking down at Kei.

He didn’t even think she knew his name until that moment. “Is that a promise?” he asked back.

“If you nod back, then it will be,” came her reply.

That all happened 2 years, 122 days, 8 hours, and 45 minutes ago.

The sun had already set, but a faint light still illuminated the sky.

Dyed in that blue light, the cat-like girl looked Kei’s way, smiling once more.