After hearing this, something flashed in Riho"s eyes as she unhesitatingly turned around and ran away.Isamu continuously shot at the tree monster while approaching it.
The tree monster turned around to deal with the boy that was injuring it with spiritual bullets. The monster waved its claws again, releasing another shock wave!
Isamu dodged this shock wave by jumping into the air while continuing to shoot.
Meanwhile, he took out his cell phone with his left hand and dialed a number while still shooting his gun with his right hand.
This wasn"t a monster that he could deal with on his own. He had to contact Seigo Harano!
Although Isamu activated his powers and started this fight to try and save others, he was more aware of his own limits compared to last time. He knew that he should ask Seigo for a.s.sistance and simply try to stall the monster the best he could until Seigo arrived.
But, before he could dial Seigo"s number, the tree monster"s claws suddenly lengthened and reached towards him!
Isamu hurriedly retreated at full speed. However, a large patch of red mist explosively shot out from the monster"s claws and enveloped his entire body!
Isamu"s vision instantly turned bright red as he smelled the scent of blood. An icy chill permeated his entire body as he froze solid and couldn"t move…
"I"m going to die."
Once again, Isamu felt the closeness of death. An unstoppable fear welled up within him.
However, Isamu had already resolved himself. He controlled his own fear.
And if he died just like this… He was unwilling!
He couldn"t even stall for time. He felt that he was truly too weak.
He desired more power. At the very least, he wanted to stop this tree monster"s rampage!
Isamu gritted his teeth and resisted the chill the best he could. He forced his arm to move as he aimed his gun at the monster.
Although he couldn"t see anything anymore as his vision was covered in red, he could sense danger rapidly approaching him.
A simple gunshot wouldn"t be strong enough. He needed more power… Isamu concentrated fully, trying to muster up all his power.
Maybe due to being in the life and death situation, Isamu actually accomplished this! Energy started swiftly gathering to his hand and being injected into his revolver. Meanwhile, he also felt the chill invading him even deeper as his consciousness went hazy.
This would be the last time he ever shot this gun…
"No, this won"t be the last!
"I can do this! I"ll definitely succeed!!" Isamu roared in his mind.
This wasn"t going to be a final counterattack in despair! It would be the final attack containing hope and victory!
"Go, my bullet! My power!! My soul!!!
"Carry out… my justice!"
Isamu injected everything he had into his spiritual gun, and shot out...
*BOOM!!*
This was no ordinary gunshot. It sounded more like a bomb had gone off.
Isamu didn"t see what his gunshot looked like.
That was because he fell unconscious the moment that he shot his gun.
.........
Isamu saw an unfamiliar ceiling above him when he woke up again.
"You"re awake, Seimsan," a familiar female voice spoke next to him.
Isamu saw that Riho was sitting next to him.
"This is a hospital…" His cla.s.smate explained the situation to him.
He had defeated the tree monster and then fallen unconscious. He was then brought to this hospital and given a checkup which determined that he was mostly alright.
At this moment, the black-clad woman walked into Isamu"s hospital room. Now that she wasn"t wearing her sungla.s.ses, it could be seen that she had a pretty face. She introduced herself to Isamu that her name was Shouko Hirase, a member of the "Special Safety Department." Basically, she explained that she was a special type of cop who dealt with spiritual and supernatural affairs.
"I"ve already learned about your situation from your cla.s.smate Heijou-san and reported it to my superiors. My superiors told me that both of you have talents that we need, so we"d like to invite you to a.s.sist us. We"ll also pay you accordingly…"
a.s.sist the Special Safety Department… Isamu was unable to come to a decision regarding this invitation.
However, Riho instantly agreed.
"Having an organization back us up will be far better than investigating by ourselves," Riho told him.
Isamu felt like she was correct.
However, he still had his doubts about this so-called "Special Safety Department." He wanted to first talk things over with Seigo.
Riho had only told Shouko about her and Isamu"s situation. It seemed that Riho hadn"t mentioned anything about Seigo Harano—or White Night.
So, Isamu told Shouko that he wanted to think things over. Shouko looked at him and nodded. She then told him to take a good rest as she left his hospital room.
"You didn"t tell her about White Night, did you?" Isamu asked Riho for confirmation.
Riho shook her head.
"Although I think that White Night is somewhat suspicious, that doesn"t mean that I"ll just casually tell others about him," Riho told him. "And, you activated your powers right on the street in front of many people. It would be impossible to conceal, so I had to tell her about you. As for myself… I felt that joining an organization would be a good approach, which is why I told them about my new power."
Isamu nodded in understanding.
He then looked around for his cell phone.
His cell phone had taken a beating, but luckily it was still in working condition.
He dialed Seigo"s number. Seigo soon picked up.
"Harano-kun, I met another monster…" Isamu explained the situation to Seigo.
Seigo fell silent for a moment after hearing the full story.
"You should decide for yourself whether or not to help this "Special Safety Department" organization," Seigo told him. "This is your path to choose… whether you want to go deeper down this path or stop here, it"s all up to you."
"Harano-kun…"
"It"s good to act for the sake of justice. But, never forget about yourself. While protecting others, you also need to know how to protect yourself, Isamu-kun."
Seigo hung up the phone call after leaving that warning.
...........
After hanging up the phone call, Seiji grabbed onto a rope ladder and climbed into a helicopter.
Just like the last time, he was working as a "janitor" for the Messengers.
Seiji was actually present all along while Isamu fought against the tree monster. Seiji was the one who finished the tree monster off with a killing blow.
Seiji had read Kamitani"s "script" on how Isamu was supposed to grow and develop into a hero.
This incident caused Seiji to recall a famous movie he saw in his previous life, called "The Truman Show." The main character of that movie lived in a completely fictional world, where all his relatives and friends were actually actors. Yet, the main character didn"t know any of this.
Of course, Isamu"s experience wasn"t anywhere near as exaggerated as in that movie. Seiji just felt that they were rather similar.
But even though this was a script written for Isamu, that didn"t change the fact that Isamu"s sense of justice was real. His willpower and ability were also real!
Although Isamu"s final powered-up spiritual bullet wasn"t strong enough to actually defeat the tree monster, the bullet still caused significant damage. As long as Isamu Seima managed to level up successfully, he would become a real hero… that was what Seiji believed.
For now, Seiji decided not to think about what might happen in the future if Isamu grew sufficiently powerful and learned the truth about the Messengers. Seiji simply resolved himself to accept the full responsibility in the future for what might happen.
Monsters kept appearing everywhere today in this gloomy weather of overcast skies and rain. The new hero "Blackwing" that the Messengers created fought all these monsters on camera, just like last time.
The monsters that Seiji cleaned up for the Messengers were obviously much stronger than last time.
He felt that there were probably more monsters than last time… but he didn"t know the specific numbers.
Based on this level of strength increase, he could probably take care of the next round of monsters without a problem. Of course, the issue at hand was whether he would continue working for the Messengers or not.
The payment for his janitorial services this time was another piece of information. Kamitani said that this was top secret news even in Soul Society.
"Maybe you"ll be happier off not knowing this information, just like the girl in that story I told you. Perhaps this information won"t be worth anything to you, so it"s fine even if you refuse."
"Do whatever you want." Kamitani expressed such an att.i.tude.
However, Seiji chose to accept the deal for that information and work for the Messengers again.
Seiji could guess at the type of information judging from Kamitani"s words. Perhaps this information truly wasn"t that valuable to him and he would be better off not knowing. Yet, Seiji wasn"t the type to avert his gaze.
There were many cruel things in the world. It would be impossible for Seiji to know about everything bad happening in the world. It would be similarly impossible for him to deal with all evil in the world. But, this didn"t mean that he would avert his gaze, especially when the darkness was right on top of him.
Standing on top of a tall building, watching the illuminated city in the rain, with cars coming and going, light and darkness, and the cold flow… Under the surface of this large and peaceful city was an indescribable cold flow that secretly ran through it.
"The darkness has always been present." Seiji couldn"t help but recall this quote from Yui.
Indeed, the darkness had never left.