The Biter

by Reki Kawahara

  Since the Biter had twisted his body right before they hit, Minoru landed on the road on his left shoulder.

  There was the feeling of a sudden slowing and the feeling of pressure as if the core of his body was being pushed on. That was all.

  He’d made a huge crater in the asphalt, yet Minoru hadn’t even felt an impact, let alone pain. The invisible protective shell had completely blocked the fatal blow to Minoru’s body that a sixty-meter vertical drop would have dealt him.

  What in the world is this shell?

  This was the first time that Minoru had felt something akin to fear about his ability, but even that was only for an instant. Right now, he was nothing but thankful. Because the Biter, who’d fallen at the same time on his right shoulder, was lying a little way away on the road, unmoving.

  An inky black pool of blood was spreading out underneath his massive body. The tips of his hands and feet alone were convulsing with irregular twitches.

  He was dead—or was he? Had the “weapon that left no chance for escape” Minoru used—in other words, the asphalt-covered ground—destroyed the Ruby Eye who was so proud of his menacing power and toughness?

  That would mean I killed him.

  The realization came on him suddenly, and he deactivated his power without thinking. The soles of his shoes stepped on asphalt debris, making a gritty, crunching noise.

  There should have been an unbelievably deafening noise when they fell, but a complete silence hung over the world.

  On the right was the wall of Saitama Super Arena. On the left was a road hemmed in by train tracks. Geographically, the only ones who would enter this road were cars headed for Saitama Super Arena’s underground parking lot, and the parking lot had already closed quite a few hours ago. There was no sign of security guards or police running over, either.

  Minoru stood still for a while, hearing only the sound of the northerly wind shaking the leaves on the trees lining the street.

  Fight the Biter and take him down… He had intended to harden his resolve to do just that. But now he realized that he hadn’t been prepared enough to consider what it meant to take him down.

  Unconsciously, he had been avoiding the word kill. It had been the same as a message in an RPG to defeat a monster, to punish it.

  Ultimately, Minoru hadn’t been able to look reality full in the face until the very end…

  As he thought this, Minoru cautiously took one step toward the Biter, then another.

  The Ruby Eye was lying facedown. His head was still the sharply pointed one of a shark. Even the hair that remained on the back of his head had become blue and needlelike. If he was going to stay like this, not returning to his human form, how could his body be disposed of? And was it even Minoru’s responsibility? But how would he do it?

  As Minoru considered this, taking another step forward, it happened.

  He heard a weak yet strange sound.

  Crack, crack, crack. Crunch, crunch, crunch. Like something hard being crushed. No, to be precise—like something hard being crushed by teeth.

  “—!!”

  His eyes widening in horror, Minoru jumped back a step.

  A moment later, the Biter’s huge body moved as if it were on a spring. When his sturdy right arm slid out like a serpent and grabbed Minoru’s right ankle, Minoru flung it off with all his might. Without even time to put on the shell, he plunged backward into the bushes between the sidewalk and the roadway.

  Minoru couldn’t get up immediately. Right before his eyes, the Ruby Eye he had just believed to be dead dragged himself up.

  He had taken serious damage. There was no doubt about that. His white shirt was dark with blood, and blood still dripped from his lower jaw. But something else was also dropping to the ground. The Biter’s mouth kept making tiny movements, and from the corners of it, fine little pieces fell one after another.

  Crunch, crunch, crack, crack.

  He was eating. The street. Lumps of asphalt.

  When Minoru looked, there was a large hole at the Biter’s feet. It wasn’t one that had been created by the man’s fall. He had bitten it open with his massive fangs.

  “…Cattivo,” the Biter spat.

  Minoru couldn’t even identify what language the word was from. The shark man lifted his face, and the edges of his mouth twisted in a smile.

  “…Well, I suppose there are similarities between the main component of asphalt, hydrocarbon, and the main component of rice and bread, carbohydrate. Once you eat them, isn’t it all the same?”

  “…You can’t… No matter how much of a shark you are, there’s no way you could digest asphalt…,” Minoru muttered blankly, still toppled over.

  As he did so, the countless lacerations carved into the Biter’s upper body closed up little by little.

  His ability to recover was unbelievable.

  “Ha-ha… Don’t underestimate a shark’s power of digestion. Sharks can also recover from wounds that would instantly kill any other fish,” the Biter claimed as if he had read Minoru’s thoughts. “…But it is true that a fall from that height was a bit much to bear… It would be an annoyance to climb up there again; should I have you reschedule for a new time and place? You can just keep lying there.”

  Turning to face the other way, the Biter started walking slowly. As far as Minoru could tell from the way he was avoiding using his right shoulder and dragging his right foot, there was definitely still remaining damage.

  In the direction the Biter was heading was the slope that continued down to the underground parking lot. Did he have his car parked inside? If he took the car, there was obviously no way Minoru could catch him by running.

  Minoru should finish him off while he was hurt. If he lost sight of him here, he would probably go after Tomomi or Norie once his wounds were healed.

  Even though he understood that in his mind, Minoru stayed buried in the bushes, unable to move.

  He wouldn’t be taking him down, he would be killing him. Although he was this strangely formed shark man now, Minoru would be taking the life of someone who had started off human. The weight of that action pressed down on Minoru and drained the power from his limbs.

  I can’t do it. There’s no way I could kill a person. I never once considered something like that. I didn’t even imagine it. That’s why it’s impossible. I can’t fight any more than this.

  And even the Biter might have been just a normal person before he had encountered the Third Eye. If mental interference affected him and he was forced to kill people in a so-called brainwashed state, then do I have the right to punish him for those sins?

  That’s right… I can’t do it. Whether it’s the Biter or anyone else, taking someone’s life by my own choice… That’s not something I’m…

  No. That was wrong.

  There was just one person who Minoru could kill without a moment’s hesitation if he had the chance. Minoru had within him a murderous intent that would never disappear no matter how much time passed.

  The perpetrator who took the lives of his father, mother, and sister. The perpetrator who hadn’t been caught even after eight years had passed. Minoru didn’t know what they looked like or what their name was or even their gender, but whatever the person was like and whatever the circumstances were, that was the only person he could kill.

  He wanted to kill them. He wanted to kill them in the most brutal way possible.

  The Biter had done the same thing. He himself said that he had already killed four people before he attacked Tomomi Minowa. Whether he was or was not being manipulated by the Third Eye, that didn’t change those facts.

  The victims probably had families, too. Families pushed down into the same abyss of grief, anguish, and despair as Minoru.

  It did have something to do with him. It did matter.

  Even if he didn’t have the right, Minoru had the duty. The duty to take down—no, kill—the Biter here and prevent him from taking the next victim.

  The Biter had already finished d
escending the gentle slope and was now making his way into the parking lot. The lot’s business hours were over, so the interior was pitch-black. His huge back sunk down slowly into the darkness—

  Balling up his fists and clenching his back teeth, Minoru tore himself away from the bushes.

  He stood up. He put his left foot forward. He pushed off from the pavement with determination.

  He ran. He dashed down the long slope, came out through the pedestrian walkway next to the bar gate, and ran into the underground parking lot.

  There were almost no cars in the large space dimly lit by green emergency lights. But at the Biter’s destination was parked a large sports car with a flashy exterior.

  Pouring every last ounce of determination into his voice, Minoru yelled out to the large figure that swayed irregularly.

  “Wait!!”

  The strange silhouette came to a sudden stop.

  “Are you going to run away with your tail between your legs because of a little fall from a roof?!”

  The figure was briefly still, then slowly turned around.

  “…Run away…?”

  Deep in the darkness, his eyes gave off a red light.

  “Ha-ha-ha… What daring things you say, especially when you yourself fled in panic on the roof like a little sardine.”

  “Yeah. But I won’t run anymore! Right here, I’m going to…kill you!!”

  Minoru’s declaration reverberated through the large parking garage.

  The red eyes gave one slow blink. Minoru was struck by the feeling of the temperature plummeting but gathered his mental strength and continued to stand his ground.

  “…Kill me…? You, the prey…are going to kill me, the predator…?”

  The Biter took a step forward with his right foot, the sound of it solemn.

  “Are you saying that you, with only that single thin layer of that measly shell, are going to kill me, the truly superior species…?”

  Next came his left foot. The black figure was becoming larger at a speed beyond what could be accounted for by perspective.

  “I can’t allow that… I’ll have to teach you just how foolish and sinful those words are…”

  The Biter’s muscles bulged as his bones squealed. His countless fangs glinted viciously in the hazy light.

  “I’ll bite you… I’ll bite you…bite you, bite you, bite you, bite you, bite yoooou—!!”

  With this strange war cry, his massive body leaped into the air.

  At the same time, Minoru pushed off from the concrete floor, too. He activated the shell. He clenched his right fist as hard as he possibly could.

  “Waaaaaaah—!!” Minoru screamed as he drove his fist toward the shark that was descending on him from directly above.

  The fist wrapped in the shell smashed into the tip of the Biter’s pointed nose. The bluish-black skin split, tears radiating outward, and huge amounts of blood sprayed into the air. But after the shark turned his head to the left and deflected the fist, he opened his jaws as far as they could go and took Minoru’s entire head into his mouth.

  Rage.

  A rage like something he had never felt before—a fierce rage that surpassed even what he had felt when his mouth was being scorched by the girl’s stun baton raced through Takaesu’s entire body.

  Was it because he’d gotten caught up in the boy’s plan and taken an unsightly fall?

  Was it because he’d been in such a mess that he’d eaten asphalt to heal his wounds?

  Was it because the boy had rained those disgraceful words down on him, saying that he’d fled with his tail between his legs?

  It was, and it wasn’t. This rage had existed deep in Takaesu many hours before…since the time he’d raided the boy’s house and abducted that woman, the boy’s adoptive sister.

  Truthfully, he’d intended to kill her right away.

  Compressing her carotid sinus would do nothing more than knock her out for a few minutes. This time he would be passing through the center of an urban area, so it would be a nuisance if she came to in the trunk of the car. He would be killing the boy right away anyway, so as long as she seemed to be alive when looked at from a distance—no, even if the boy spotted that she was dead, it wouldn’t be much of a problem.

  But once he had silently chewed through the key cylinder, opened the door to slip inside, and stood behind the woman as she made dinner preparations in the kitchen, Takaesu was overcome by a certain indescribable sensation. He hadn’t even been able to recall what he came there to do.

  As she checked the heat of the gas stove where she’d placed a frying pan, she spoke to Takaesu in a bright voice as he stood there behind her.

  “Welcome back, Mii. You came in so quietly today. Wait just a minute; I’ll get dinner ready right away.”

  In reality, Takaesu probably stood frozen behind her for only about a second. But in that second, he felt waves of confusion and turmoil like he’d never experienced before. It might have had something to do with the atmosphere that filled that space.

  The smell of freshly cooked rice billowing out from the rice cooker. The light sound of oil popping in the frying pan. The apron strings swaying along the woman’s small back.

  The atmosphere that these things came together to create should have been something unreachable for Takaesu. Still, he was enveloped by the sensation that he had returned home from a place that was cold and dark.

  Someone was speaking to him with a smile on her face as she sat in a chair on the other side of the table, which would soon be set with rows of dishes.

  As a reward for getting 100 percent, I made your favorite spaghetti and meatballs today, Hika. Eat a lot and chew it well…

  Once he had become aware of things again, Takaesu had his right arm wrapped around the woman’s neck and was carefully pressing on her carotid sinus. When the strength soon drained from her petite body, he laid her gently on the floor.

  This wasn’t what he had planned. Knowing this, he tried to make himself break her cervical vertebrae, but his right hand around her thin neck could only tremble and didn’t have an ounce of strength in it.

  Since the red eye had come to dwell in his body, Takaesu had already taken the lives of four people. And when he’d tied up his prey on the big dining table in the basement of the villa and chewed on their bones from the feet up, he hadn’t felt a bit of hesitation.

  But no matter how many times he tried to put some force into his right hand, the muscles of his arm would only quiver, not obeying Takaesu’s will. The eye pounded in his lower jaw and called for him to kill her, kill her. But this voice that had always been pleasant now brought only a dull pain in the center of his head.

  Unable to avoid changing his plan, he’d had the vaguely conscious woman take some of his valuable barbiturate sleeping pills.

  Then he shoved her in the large suitcase that he had originally prepared to carry her corpse in. He went so far as to leave the zipper open a bit to keep her from suffocating.

  He left a message for the boy on the tablet he had found in the dining room and left the house. He piled the suitcase into the back of the minivan that he had parked nearby. The car was something that he’d stolen yesterday up north. His beloved Maserati would attract too much attention, and the trunk was small. He’d also had another motive for the trip.

  By the time he was gripping the steering wheel and starting to drive toward the new city center, he had stopped thinking about the reason his right hand hadn’t worked.

  But deep in his subconscious, he already knew. It was a fact he never wanted to admit to. The fact that he hadn’t been able to kill the woman even though he’d planned to was because he sensed in her the aura of a mother.

  Takaesu had killed his real mother the day he graduated from college. For twenty-two years, she had been his ruler, constantly giving him countless commands and refusals, pains and humiliations. Now he had removed her from existence.

  He took the plan he had perfected over time and put it in action. The
moment he did, the only things that existed inside his heart were hatred and bitterness at having had his teeth pulled out with pliers. In the six years since then, he had never once regretted it.

  That’s why this was unacceptable. It was unacceptable for him to feel something maternal in the woman, who was nothing more than bait to lure the boy out.

  Because he, Hikaru Takaesu, was the superior species that had discarded all worthless emotions. Because he was a predator who swam elegantly through the city hunting humans as prey.

  He would prove it.

  After he broke open both the shell and the boy’s head, he would return to the roof of the arena and bite the woman to death as well. If he did that, Takaesu would wipe out the weakness left within him.

  “Garraaaa!!”

  Channeling an energy that was probably rage into a roar and dispersing it, Takaesu bit. And bit and bit.

  Every time the boy’s swinging fists hit his chest and shoulders, his muscles were crushed and his bones creaked, but he ignored the pain and continued to bite.

  “Grrrooooooo!!”

  Another hoarse howl shot from his throat. The eye in his lower jaw was pulsing stronger than it ever had before, and something hot permeated his entire mouth. The tendons and muscle connecting his upper and lower jawbones made a stretching noise as they enlarged.

  Takaesu’s mouth already took up more than 70 percent of his head. The fangs grew bigger and bigger. They grew thicker. The roots of his teeth penetrated deeper and deeper into the alveolar ridge so that they could endure the intense pressure. A pain shot through his nerves, worse than what he had felt when the stun baton burned him.

  Despite this…

  The boy’s shell continued blocking Takaesu’s teeth without even a sound of protest.

  Even if this was a supernatural phenomenon created by the eye, the shell was made of some sort of matter. So, then, was it really possible for it to take this much pressure without deforming even a little?

  No. It shouldn’t be. If he mustered just a little more strength…just a little more, it would certainly break.

  He heard a strange clicking sound coming from inside his body. Unable to take the extraordinary pressure, the bones of his jaw were cracking and being restored immediately. Tendons and muscles were being created by the same process, and every time his skin split and then closed, drops of blood went flying.