NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3 - Reese Eric
“Oh, thanks for your hard work… Sorry about the other day. I missed the bullet.”
It was currently 2:30 in the afternoon.
Inside an abandoned building a little away from the urban area—perhaps there had been a fight here recently, as parts of the floor and walls were damaged. Several men were tied to the pillars.
The men showed no signs of movement, possibly unconscious.
In front of them, a boy, seated on a chair, directed his gaze towards the bag held by the person speaking to him.
“…You must be hungry, right? It’s not much, but I bought something.”
“Thank you… very much.”
The person with disheveled white hair was an old man.
However, the muscles visible from his chest were thick and slightly scarred.
The old soldier—Reese Eric. Apparently, he was still active.
By the way, the earlier remark referred to the incident caused by Yamada Genkō two days ago.
Such sudden incidents can’t be prevented, which is why quick response is required.
Reese, who serves as a sniper in the ‘Special Abilities Division,’ said this apologetically and held out the plastic bag he was carrying to the boy.
Inside the bag were canned coffee and two packets of sandwiches.
Peeling off the wrappers, opening the pull-tabs, and consuming everything quickly.
The taste didn’t matter. As long as he got the calories and nutrients, he was satisfied.
“Still, it’s amazing.”
Reese looked around in amazement.
—At least, he thought there would be casualties.
This place was supposedly a base for an anti-government organization, and in a few days, a terrorist attack would occur, resulting in numerous deaths in this city… or so the supercomputer predicted.
A large number of weapons were found in the basement of this abandoned building. There were also tons of explosives.
It seemed a bit difficult to suppress it—.
(Mikoyuki took care of everything. And without any casualties… As expected of the one hailed as the strongest.)
He arrived at the scene thirty minutes ago.
The area around the abandoned building was filled with police units.
But—
“I’ll handle the rest, so everyone, please step back. If I finish quickly, I’ll treat you to beef… no, never mind.”
He said that and really took care of everything by himself.
The boy had no noticeable external injuries and was leisurely consuming the sandwich.
When he finished drinking all the coffee… Mikoyuki lightly wiped his mouth and said,
“No… this isn’t over yet.”
“Why… is that? We’ve collected most of the weapons. The guys are lying there now.”
Reese listened to the search sounds of the police units from below while looking around.
A luxurious sofa and table. Perhaps for transactions, that area alone was kept clean.
And Reese remembered the rooms on each floor they had passed through to get here.
“Ah… I see.”
“…This is the base of an anti-government organization. But there are too few places to rest. The only place to sit down is that sofa.”
“That’s right. No matter how poor an organization’s country is, they have plenty of makeshift beds.”
“And there’s also not enough food. There were no preserved foods here.”
Mikoyuki gazed at the clouds outside the window.
After a while, Reese muttered,
“A decoy…?”
“I think that’s highly likely. The information probably leaked. So, the top brass left this place, abandoning their subordinates.”
“No… someone like that wouldn’t make such a blunder. The enemy is extremely cunning and ruthless. After all, we still don’t know their true face.”
Collad Bomb is recognized as a top-tier dangerous organization.
Yet, even now, they haven’t shown any signs of slipping up, and no one knows their true faces.
Even with the police’s information network, they still haven’t been identified.
The wind blew in through the broken window.
Mikoyuki put the trash from his meal into the plastic bag. There was no longer any reason to stay here.
At the moment he stood up—
“Ha… ha… You’re the one! The one who attacked us!”
Several gunshots and the sound of someone hurriedly running up the stairs could be heard from below.
Then, the door was flung open. In the hallway stood a young man.
He was holding a pistol with trembling hands. The gun barrel, like his hands, was shaking.
Any sudden movement could provoke him.
“Drop the gun. If you do that, we won’t harm you.”
“…Damn it, don’t mock me!”
He probably intended to be considerate, but due to his youth, it was taken as provocation. The enraged man’s face twisted, and he pulled the trigger.
At the same time, Reese moved. However, even a seasoned soldier like him couldn’t see the bullets, let alone move to shield someone, as the distance was too great.
But—the boy wasn’t ordinary.
“No way…”
“…”
The phenomenon that occurred in front of him was unbelievable, even to Reese.
Abilities had been seen daily since coming to this city.
But, abilities, such as breathing fire or rotating arms 360 degrees, were merely extensions of individuality. However, this was something far beyond that.
—In front of the boy, the bullet was suspended.
No, it was moving. The rotation was clearly visible to Reese.
But it wasn’t advancing. It was as if something was hindering it, not moving even a millimeter.
Eventually, the boy pinched the bullet, whose rotation had stopped, and said,
“We won’t harm you. Could you listen to us?”
“—Monster!!”
In terror, the young man fired his gun wildly.
But every bullet stopped in front of the boy.
Then, Reese intervened from the side, choking the young man until he lost consciousness.
“…Thank you, Mr. Reese.”
“It’s nothing, just doing my job… And Mikoyuki, are you hurt?”
There was no red visible on his clothes.
Mikoyuki spread his arms, indicating he was fine.
Bullets fell to the ground one after another.
Mikoyuki, having finished his task, descended the stairs.
“…”
I picked up the fallen bullet without hesitation.
The bullet still retained some heat.
“Did you fix the bullet in place while keeping its kinetic energy intact? I don’t understand it at all…”
Reese sighed as he said this, carrying the unconscious young man out of the room.
＝＝
Reese Eric was a mercenary from Russia.
His ability was called “Trajectory Correction Order Route.” It allowed him to alter the trajectory of any projectile, including bullets. Using this ability, Reese had survived countless life-threatening situations.
He had been targeted for assassination numerous times. And then, he met Oriki Mari.
“You’re going to crack down on ability criminals in Japan?”
“Yes. You know about the Third City, right? I’m thinking of forming a large-scale organization there. I have a favor with the head of the Metropolitan Police Department… Under the condition that it stays small, I was granted permission.”
Reese met Oriki Mari in a bar.
He was drowning in debt and had taken to frequenting the bar in a self-destructive manner.
But a woman paid off all his debts at once. That was how they met.
And eight years passed in a daze.
Friday, December 8, 2018
On this day, Reese reunited with Mari after six months.
However, it wasn’t a reunion in a fancy bar; he just went to her workplace.
“The Public Security Bureau’s ‘Special Abilities Division’—it’s still an experimental organization, but it’s sufficient.”
“I owe you… Use me as you like.”
“Alright, I will. But don’t worry, I don’t plan to send you to your death.”
“Then what do you want me to do? Unfortunately, I can’t do anything but kill.”
The only thing Reese could do was kill.
That’s all this old man was good for.
He had no other skills… for example, he couldn’t do laundry at all.
Even at his age, he still couldn’t wash his clothes.
He claimed that he turned the latest washing machine into junk with a single use.
“There are killing jobs too. The targets will just be ability users. You should be careful.”
“Heh. Even if they’re ability users, Japanese people are weak. Do you think I would lose to kids who don’t know the battlefield?”
Reese jested while looking at his beloved large sniper rifle, the L96A1, displayed on the wall. The Third City in Tokyo was mostly composed of people in their thirties or younger.
He couldn’t possibly lose to such greenhorns.
“…Well, whatever.”
Mari didn’t stop typing on her keyboard while looking at Reese.
“…Huh? Who’s that kid?”
“Oh, I picked him up recently.”
A child’s face suddenly appeared on the screen below the digital clock, which was displaying landscape photos. He looked like a middle schooler in a black uniform, and Mari was also in the picture. They both had awkward expressions in front of a school gate.
“No way, is this kid also an ability user?”
“Yes, he’s in the Special Abilities Division too. There are currently four members, one of whom is borrowed from the information team. So, only three of them, including him, can fight.”
“Huh!? Is that enough?”
Reese stared intently at the boy.
He thought the kid seemed sharp but not quite sharp enough.
Not that he could talk.
“Don’t underestimate that boy… he’s one of the few you shouldn’t.”
“You, a former ‘SSS Rank,’ say that? What did you see in him?”
There was no lie in Mari’s words.
Reese, having known her for a long time, understood this.
Suppressing his surprise, Reese asked Mari.
“It’s a secret. You know the difference between information you should and shouldn’t know, right? Actually, the Prime Minister is involved in this. He’s been looking for this boy for a long time.”
“Is he really that dangerous of an ability user?”
Mari’s ominous tone made Reese swallow his saliva.
“Think of it as telekinesis. By the way, shooting is meaningless in front of him.”
This statement made Reese straighten his back.
He reached for his cigarette box, but Mari’s sharp gaze made him reluctantly put it back.
Mari looked towards the glass window behind her.
The Third City—a city of ability users only.
The world was now in chaos. Even in Japan, prejudice and discrimination against ability users ran deep. In South America and Asia, mass killings of ability users, called “ability hunts,” were occurring.
There were also religions that revered ability users as gods, countries gathering ability users for military purposes, and nations trying to artificially increase ability users.
The Third City was created to prevent these things.
And it was the police and public security who maintained and corrected its order.
“I want you to watch over them. I’ve gathered the top-level ability users I’ve seen… but they’re still young. A single wound could leave a lifelong scar.”
“Hey, I can’t babysit kids…”
“I can’t either. But you said you’d do anything, right?”
Reese groaned. The woman in front of him smirked.
It was a familiar exchange they had had many times over the past eight years. Reese thought it was better than risking his life, so he put his gun over his shoulder and started to leave the room.
“…Be sure not to probe into his ability.”
That statement felt like it carried another meaning.
“Yeah, yeah. Got it.”
With a hint of curiosity sparked by her words, Reese left the room.
And then, he met the boy.
The world’s strongest ability user.