The Biter

by Reki Kawahara

  At last, he reached the top of Saitama Super Arena. The huge roof looked just like a massive glacier falling from the night sky.

  The slope, which rose slightly in the center, stretched upward from Minoru’s location toward the front of the building. The scale of it was overwhelming. The actual incline was probably less than ten degrees, but from Minoru’s location, it felt like a steep cliff.

  Minoru stood still as the cold moon showed its face from a tiny gap between the clouds in the faraway sky. The moon on December 10, 2019, was a waxing gibbous moon, just a little bit short of a full moon. Even so, Minoru’s eyes, strengthened by the Third Eye, were filled with bright moonlight. It made the large slope with a width of 150 meters and a length of 200 meters glitter silver.

  Then Minoru saw it.

  Near the highest point of the huge roof. A single figure standing upright in the center of the slope.

  The figure moved his left arm and held something close to his face. After Minoru did the same, pressing the cell phone to his head, a calm voice flowed out.

  “Here’s your final instruction: Come here.”

  Then the figure hurled the phone in his right hand far away. The call was cut off at the sound of the impact.

  Minoru flung off his Windbreaker and put his cell phone in the front pocket of his uniform.

  Tearing his right foot away from the stainless steel sheeting the roof was made from, he stepped forward. Next came his left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Steadily increasing his speed, Minoru dashed about two hundred meters up the slope in one go.

  When he was ten meters in front of the figure, Minoru came to a halt.

  That man—the Biter—was standing near the edge of the roof with the hint of a smile on his face.

  He gave a completely different impression than he had three days ago. He was wearing not training wear, but a dark-colored suit, and his shoes seemed to be of high quality as well. Most importantly, his face wasn’t transformed.

  Seeing the Biter’s bare face for the first time, Minoru saw he had a stylish and intelligent appearance. The skin around his mouth, which should’ve been burned black from the stun baton, had healed beautifully in just three days.

  Minoru had a feeling he had seen that face somewhere before, but before he could remember, the Biter spoke to him in his unfiltered voice.

  “How wonderful to see you. Quite a nice view, don’t you think?”

  The nighttime view of central Saitama would have been spread out behind Minoru, but he questioned the man in a tense voice without taking his eyes off of him.

  “Where’s my sister?”

  At this, the man shrugged and gestured diagonally behind him with his right arm.

  Six massive beam-like structures stuck out far from the southern edge of the huge roof. These protrusions were about three meters wide and stretched out into the open air. Close to the end of the third beam from the left lay a petite figure. In an instant, Minoru’s eyes confirmed that it was a woman wearing an apron who was bound with tape. She seemed unconscious.

  Norie!! he screamed in his mind.

  In that instant he felt as if he might run toward the beam, but he somehow managed to stay put.

  The smile on the man’s face grew bigger as he watched Minoru like this.

  “Don’t worry, boy. I’ve only put her to sleep with a strong sleeping medication. I said this on the phone as well, but I haven’t bitten even a single finger.”

  “…”

  Right now, he had no choice but to believe what the man said. But it was clear that Norie had been put in an incredibly dangerous situation. It was close to a seventy-meter drop from the tip of the beam to the ground. To fall from there would be certain death.

  No.

  Minoru alone might be able to come out alive if he fell. He had never tested it, but there was a possibility that his protective shell, which had staved off the Biter’s teeth, could withstand a fall from seventy meters high. But Minoru couldn’t cushion Norie’s fall. The shell was hard enough to bash in a metal door; if he screwed things up, he could damage Norie more than the asphalt would have.

  He understood all over again what a self-centered power this was. Minoru’s shell cut him off from the world, creating a physical solitude. He could block out all danger outside of the shell, but he couldn’t save anyone but himself. It was the ultimate self-protection, only concerned with his own safety.

  That’s exactly how I’ve been living.

  As he thought this bitterly, he was forced to make a decision.

  There was only one way to get Norie back safely. That was to rescue her from the dangerous tip of that beam and to bring her down the ladder behind him. But there was no way the man standing right there in his way would sit back and watch Minoru do that.

  There was nothing to do but fight him and take him down.

  Just as if he had taken a peek inside Minoru’s head, the Biter lifted the corners of his lips in a sneer.

  “Have you set your mind to it, boy?”

  Wordlessly, he moved his head up and down in a small motion.

  Things were as surreal as ever. He was standing on the roof of the Saitama Super Arena, which he was used to seeing on his way to and from school but had never looked at from the top. He was facing a fearsome monster who had already bitten and killed numerous people, and he was doing it alone. That monster and Minoru himself had received supernatural powers from mysterious orbs that came from space. Everything was like a poorly written joke.

  But there was just one thing he was sure of. He had to protect Norie.

  The man in front of him would probably kill Norie after Minoru. The man’s words and actions themselves were rational, but deep in his eyes, hatred and desire danced red like flickering embers. Minoru didn’t know if this was the mental contamination of the Ruby Eye as Yumiko had said or if it was something the man had always had—but at this point, it was the same either way.

  If Minoru was killed, Norie would die, too.

  The Biter watched Minoru as he focused his consciousness on the Third Eye buried in his chest, preparing to put on the protective shell whenever he needed to. The Biter’s smile deepened a bit further.

  “That’s good, ragazzo. Truthfully, when I saw you at the park, you yourself didn’t tempt me much… But that expression of yours is giving me more of an appetite.”

  His body swaying, the man rubbed the underside of his chin with the back of his right index finger.

  “Well, then, before we fight, I suppose I’ll have you answer a few questions. I’m the sort who likes to learn about my food in detail…”

  Why do I have to give that kind of special treatment to a guy who’s trying to eat me?

  Although his mind resisted the concept, he continued thinking things over, his mouth in a tight line. There was no guarantee that Minoru could bring down the Biter on his own, so it wouldn’t cost him anything to use up a little bit of time on this.

  That was because when the Biter had used his ability to break into Minoru’s house and the door to the emergency stairs at Saitama Super Arena, he should have produced that smell for at least a moment, even if Minoru hadn’t been able to pick up on it.

  “…Then I’d like you to answer a question for me first.”

  At Minoru’s answer, the man nodded with an air of generosity.

  “That should be fine. What would you like to know? I’ll answer what I can.”

  “Why did you choose a place like this?”

  It seemed that he hadn’t expected that question, and the Biter chuckled after blinking a few times.

  “I was convinced you’d ask me a personal question. Although I wouldn’t be able to answer those… One reason I chose to meet you here is because it’s a suitable place for my dining table. It’s spacious and actually quite extravagant, don’t you think? It’s just like being on the ocean floor.”

  It was strange to think that the top of a roof more than sixty meters above the ground was comparable to the ocean f
loor. Still, Minoru also had the sense that he could understand just a little. But he kept his comment to himself and pressed for more.

  “And the second reason?”

  “Simply because we won’t be disturbed here… Now then, it’s my turn, boy,” the Biter said as he gave a quick wave behind him. “Is that woman your real sister?”

  “…”

  Minoru was under no obligation to give honest answers to the guy who was trying to kill Norie. But he got the sense that he would be found out if he lied and the discussion would break down, so he couldn’t help but shake his head.

  “She’s not. She adopted me when I was a kid.”

  “Oh ho…”

  “Now it’s my turn. You said earlier that I ‘didn’t tempt you much,’ so why are you targeting my sister and me?”

  The Biter made another elegant gesture as he responded to the question.

  “To be precise, I said, ‘You yourself didn’t tempt me.’ However, your ability is intriguing. What is that transparent shell made of? How hard is it? And why did a power like that spring up…? I’d very much like to know.”

  He spread his arms a bit, then crossed them over his chest.

  “So tell me, ragazzo. Why did she adopt you? Did something happen when you were a child perhaps…?”

  The Biter leaned his upper body forward, practically licking his lips. The depths of his long slitted eyes were tinged with a pale red light.

  Minoru had a sensation as if the memories of eight years ago, shoved deep down into his consciousness, were cracking open slightly.

  He clenched his teeth hard. He was under no obligation to tell some guy like this the truth, but he felt like the man would see through a lie, and he had his reasons for needing to drag out the conversation for every second he could.

  Taking a few breaths, Minoru answered in a restrained voice.

  “Because a sicko like you…murdered my family.”

  In that instant, the corners of the Biter’s mouth twitched upward. His now-exposed teeth seemed to have a metallic luster. He had been leaning forward, but now his body sprang back forcefully like it was attached to a spring. The Ruby Eye let out a gale of laughter.

  “Ahah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! So that’s it, now I see, so that’s what it was! Your whole family was killed… And you’re the only one who survived. So that’s why you got that shell. Excellent… This makes me want to bite you more and more! I bet your bones must taste like tears!!”

  Crunch.

  The peculiar sound came from the jaws of the Biter, who was bent over backward. A foul, beastly smell that was savage and brutal and cruel made a direct assault on Minoru’s senses. The smell of the Ruby Eye.

  “Ah… It’s no use, I can’t hold back anymore. Let’s bring this Q-and-A session to a close. Well, then, let’s enjoy this until we’ve had our fill…”

  Crunch. Crunch, crunch.

  “A feast…for just…you and I!!”

  The Biter’s pointed lower jaw stretched and stretched up toward the sky, the bones making a crunch, crunch, crunch sound. When he sprang upright again, he was no longer human. The shark man that Minoru had seen three days ago in Akigase Park was there.

  Inside the savage smile playing across his massive mouth, rows of knifelike teeth glinted in the moonlight.

  “Well, then, to start, I’m going to test you one more time as a tiger shark!” the Biter announced in a strangely warped voice as he tilted his body forward even more. Thick bundles of muscle heaved under his straining suit.

  The shell. I have to get it on, Minoru thought, a heat coming over him like the core of his brain was burning up.

  But it wouldn’t activate.

  His breathing, his lungs, wouldn’t listen to him. He just panted in rushed, shallow breaths over and over. He couldn’t perform the movement that was the key to activating the protective shell: taking a deep breath, holding it in, and putting pressure on the Third Eye in his sternum.

  The Biter’s shoes pushed off from the roof’s steel sheeting. The tall figure was coming at him full tilt just like a shark. His triangular jaws popped open.

  Giving up on activating his ability, Minoru desperately dove to the right.

  The shark fangs passed only a few centimeters from Minoru’s left shoe. Diving in headfirst, the Biter had ended up biting the steel frame of about fifty centimeters thick that was holding down the stainless steel plates of the roof.

  Amid the huge crashing sound of the impact and the flying of bright sparks, the Biter chewed off a part of the steel frame as if he were biting into a pastry.

  “…!!”

  Minoru narrowly avoided falling and his eyes widened in shock. Since he had seen the bite marks left on his door at home and on the door to the emergency stairs of Saitama Super Arena, he had assumed that the Biter could bite through even metal. But still, he had never thought that the man’s teeth could be this sharp.

  Even for a large diamond cutter, it would take a few minutes to cut a steel frame of that thickness.

  If he were bitten without the shell on, even an arm or leg would be taken off in an instant.

  Calm down. Calm down and take a deep breath.

  No matter how much he thought this, his lungs wouldn’t listen to him at all. The air was forced back as if the very end of his trachea were blocked off.

  Having tottered back up to his feet, the Biter spat out a huge lump of metal and charged ferociously. This time he opened both arms wide as if to stop Minoru from escaping by jumping aside.

  “Shaaaa!” he cried as he drew near.

  Minoru dodged the shark’s teeth by dropping down. But if he stayed that way, he would be forced down onto the roof.

  Resolutely, he dove headfirst at the Biter’s waist, slipping behind him through his long legs. He did a forward roll and stood up just like that.

  He still hadn’t caught his breath. He needed to just start over again. But how? The Biter had those deadly teeth and those long arms. If he caught Minoru, it would be over in an instant.

  At that moment, the running shoes Minoru was so used to wearing rubbed against the stainless steel plate at his feet with a squeak.

  That’s right. That’s what I can do now. Something I might even be better at than the Biter. And that’s—running!

  Instead of turning to face his opponent, Minoru leaned forward and pushed off from the roof as hard as he could.

  He had a feeling that man-eating shark was right on his heels. With a shiver, he felt the sharpness of those pointed fangs on the skin at the nape of his neck. Kicking away the urge to cower, Minoru tore off down the vast roof of the arena in a straight line.

  Sprinting wasn’t really his strong suit, but he knew how to run. Keep one’s shoulders relaxed and really swing the arms with a good rhythm. Push off from directly below the center of gravity, staying aware of one’s core.

  Sprinting was anaerobic exercise, so he didn’t breathe. His diaphragm, which had been about to spasm, stopped moving. The carbon dioxide trapped in his lungs escaped. The sound of the Biter’s footsteps grew farther away. His thoughts, which had been overtaken by panic, gradually calmed.

  The jet-black Third Eye in the center of his sternum gave a throbbing shiver.

  It’s working!

  Suddenly braking with both his feet, he filled his empty lungs with cold air.

  Hold in. Push.

  His field of vision took on a blue cast, and all sound and temperature disappeared. His body floated up three centimeters.

  When he turned around, he saw the silhouette of the shark man flying toward him with arms outstretched, the skyscrapers that stood on the other side of Saitama Super Arena in the background.

  “Whoa… Whoa, whoa, whoa!” he shouted inside the shell.

  Turning to face the Biter, Minoru charged at him headfirst.

  Even when he collided with the Biter’s chest through the man’s suit, he felt almost no impact or recoil. It seemed that even the three laws of motion were bent by some kind of m
echanism when the shell was on. Minoru was clearly the lighter of the two men, but the Biter was the only one who was sent flying.

  The shark man was thrown against the steel plate on his back. This time it was Minoru who came flying at him.

  Doing as he had seen on fighting shows, Minoru straddled the Biter and swung his clenched fists in turn.

  The first swing connected with the Biter’s shoulder. The second caught him in the throat—but the third punch with his right fist, which he had been aiming for the lower jaw, was stopped along the way.

  The jaws suddenly opened wide and took hold of the fist through the shell.

  This time Minoru felt a sharp, hard impact. On the other end of Minoru’s arm, which wouldn’t budge whether pushed or pulled, the Biter’s eyes gave off a red gleam.

  The right side of his chest where he had taken the head butt hurt like it was burning, and his left shoulder and collarbone twinged where he had been punched. He might even have cracks in the bone.

  He may have slightly underestimated the ragazzo’s physical abilities. Takaesu hadn’t expected the boy to outrun him, since he himself sweated at the gym every day training… And he hadn’t expected the boy to whip around and charge at him, either.

  Those weren’t the only events he hadn’t predicted.

  He hadn’t said this to the boy, but there was one more reason that Takaesu had chosen the roof of Saitama Super Arena for the fight. The entire roof was covered in coated stainless steel sheeting, making it easier to slip on than dirt or asphalt.

  The transparent shell the boy cloaked himself in had an unnaturally smooth surface and was fearsomely hard. The boy’s feet should slip on the metal plates, supposing it was a glass-like substance with an uncommon strength, leaving him unable to move properly. However, when he had braked suddenly and body-slammed Takaesu, the boy’s balance hadn’t been thrown off in the least.

  It seemed as if the boy had a more solid hold on the roof plates than Takaesu in the rubber-soled walking shoes he’d worn.

  He didn’t understand exactly how that could be possible. But the powers granted by the eye were out of the ordinary in the first place. Anything could happen.