The incredulous Lied turned to the placid red hooded figure.

“Who... are you?”

He ignored his question and walked towards him. There were a few inches difference in height between them. Lied wavered whilst their eyes met for a brief second, a cross could be seen stirring under his hood.

He gave Lied a fond smile. The latter noticed a sharp sadness behind his smiling expression. The red hooded man faded away as everything turned white...

...

“Lied!” Naomi and Susumu called his name.

They returned. Martyr hardly stood as his whole body ached. Lied felt incomprehensibly tired, as if his sojourn in the soul had worn him out. Susumu realized that these after-effects didn’t happen before.

“Don’t get up yet!” Naomi said.

“I’m fine. More importantly...” Lied said.

The three stared at Martyr. The wound in his hand caught Naomi’s attention.

“He’s bleeding…!”

“Haha, don’t look at me like that... I don’t want anyone’s pity...”

His eyes full of hate didn’t fool Lied. He had seen them somewhere. Yes... Lied and Martyr shared the same eyes.

“Next time, I’LL BE THE ONE TO DEVOUR YOU.”

Eyes guided by the same fate. Martyr was gone without a trace.

“What... was that...?” Naomi asked.

Susumu came face to face with Lied and lifted him by the collar.

“I told you to stay at the police station. Why did you disobey me? Do you want to die?”

Lied remembered himself being in a similar situation not long ago. Ah, that day, with his father. The last time they exchanged words.

“I wouldn’t be safe even if I had stayed. They managed to easily deceive the police.”

“Shut up... what do you...”

“To be honest, I find it pathetic. The way they played you like a fiddle and how you tried to resume the case already too late... a pretty foolish attempt to redeem yourselves.”

“You don’t know anything, so don’t talk as if you do!”

“You two, please, stop...” Naomi asked.

Susumu complied with the girl’s wish and dropped Lied.

“Who do you think take care of the people of this island in the shadows? You have no idea... how hard it is to uphold justice. You don’t understand our pain” Susumu said.

“This society is rotten to the core. There’s no salvation” Susumu thought.

Lied and Naomi found themselves without a response ready to shoot back at him. Crestfallen Susumu walked away shortly afterwards.

...

The unsuccessful detective trod through the dark streets at night, the crescent moon hanging over his head. It was getting late and as such he called time on today’s work.

“Better days will come” – his heart spoke. Unlike the heart, his mind took into account past outcomes in order to predict the future. Susumu stopped walking and leaned against a wall on which he placed his cold gripped fist. By coincidence, light rain began to fall in very fine drops. A feeling of failure overcame him.

Susumu arrived home. Tatsuo dozed off on the couch while waiting for his son. Susumu recalled bittersweet memories: his dad unfairly criticized in public for the ending of a case; the other way around, the detective wasn’t properly credited. Susumu always watched from afar, bearing witness to injustice. Yes, this was for his father’s sake too.

He took a shower and lay down on the bed. His limbs were blowing up, his mind interweaving thoughts. The vigilante went out like a light toward tomorrow...

...

Inside Susumu, the Chains Man thought deeply about Martyr.

“Those eyes... there’s no doubt...”

...

Naomi hoped Lied and Susumu would make up one day. Without saying a word to her, Lied headed out the alley.

“Wait!”

Naomi wouldn’t let him leave just like that, not after everything…

“It’s weird... it doesn’t feel we last met only a week ago. A lot happened… in so little time. You know, these last couple of days I made sense of several things. And in the end, I think I came to a decision: live forthrightly and push on through the path ahead of me. You also found one, right? A goal...”

The boy was reminded of his oath to Martyr, pledging to protect the Adam’s Apple.

“Yeah.”

For a moment, Naomi swore she saw a familiar person with hair red as tomato. There was nothing to worry about. Like her, Lied found a reason to keep living.

Lied and Naomi went in opposite directions. That said, no matter the means, they always met each other. That is the fate both shared.

...

Martyr was in an angry mood whilst he entered the building. Zechariah and Varius awaited him outside the room, Core and Nemo were already inside. Zechariah was free from worry whereas Varius kept a straight face.

“Welcome back” Zechariah said.

“Tss...”

Martyr clenched his bandaged fist, the squeeze caused some blood to gush out of his hand. Hopeless, he looked at Varius.

“It’s as you said, Varius. He… that flipping red hooded was watching over the apple.”

Recollections of the unbalanced battle came up…

“Ridiculously fast... my eyes couldn’t keep up. Too strong... those roots he controlled were of unbelievable stiffness.”

Overly upset to continue talking, Martyr left them.

...

While in Lied’s soul, Varius sensed another hostile presence. Upon approaching the Adam’s Apple, he even triggered a self-defense mechanism.

“A guardian” Varius muttered.

“Red hood… and roots…” Zechariah said.

“Could it be... Adam?”

“Now it’s getting interesting” Zechariah smirked.

...

Nemo left the room without anyone noticing to follow Martyr. The man entered the bathroom, Nemo decided to stay at the door.

“I know you’re there” Martyr said.

“Hard to believe you were easily beaten. The guy was that tough...” Nemo popped up.

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe you’re a bit weak, no?”

Martyr lowered his head and wriggled his entire body forward suddenly. Fiendish eyes awakened. A snake, incarnation of fear itself, slid around the child’s skull. An illusion so real it almost seemed true.

“Do you… wish to be devoured?”

His body went numb and Nemo wasn’t able to move for a few seconds. The psychological trauma would take a long time to heal…

“I’m sorry” Nemo thought before running away.

“Haha. Hahaha. Hahahaha!”

Such as a snake, Martyr licked all the blood off his hand. Lied, the red hooded figure and the Adam’s Apple came to his mind…

“HOODIE...!”