Saikyou Series

JinruiSaikyou on Jun"ai –Nisioisin
p. 28-30

Idid know Doctor Kitsuregawa. He’s something of a celebrity, but atthe same time, he’s remained anonymous and unacknowledged. That’sbecause, as a researcher, he could be described as a world-wearyhermit who prefers to avoid people, and also as a mad scientist whompeople prefer to avoid—when both sides are avoiding each other,there’s no way for them to communicate. If you remember dear oldDoctor Kyouichirou Shadou,(1) he probably makes a similar impression;however, compared to that Mad Demon, Doctor Kitsuregawa’s research isa bit on the shadier side. I mean, his research is utterlymystifying, and in that sense, he’s seriously deviated from normal society—atthe very least, his accomplishments could never win him a n.o.belPrize. To give some examples, he’s done stuff like cramming multiplepeople’s consciousnesses into a single body, or conversely, makingone consciousness control multiple bodies; trying to give a personthree hearts, swapping people’s minds, and making gla.s.ses that turnthe world upside down; his research isn’t so much uselessas it is liable to cause trouble. If there’s an ideology he’sconsistently followed, it’s like he’s constantly questioning, “Howcan I best agitate the world?” It pains me to say so, but comparedto Doctor Kitsuregawa’s ideas, both the ER3 System and the M that myfathers made would be categorized as decent.Naturally, a guy like that is an outcast in the scientific world, butin extremely rare cases, his inventions match up with a demand fromsociety. Just like planets sometimes align, cases like that dohappen—Izumu Niounomiya, the Man-Eater, is a good example. TheNiounomiya siblings; one as two, two as one. He’d probably be knownas the strongest if itweren’t for me; that’s the quality of personnel Doctor Kitsuregawa isable to create, if he feels so inclined. Even I’ve shared in thefruits of his research—I could probably say I was harmed by it, butafter all, I landed and walked on the moon in his “Closet”s.p.a.cesuit. The s.p.a.cesuit was durable and easy to move in, and it waspromptly adopted for use by s.p.a.ce agencies around the world, but itsoriginal purpose was to be able to fight aliens, which was prettycrazy. A researcher who devotes his life to bring useless andpointless fantasies into reality—that’s Doctor Kitsuregawa.

“Totell you the truth, I’m one of Doctor Kitsuregawa’s products—thoughyou might say I’m more like an experiment.”

Shimegiwadidn’t have to tell me; that’s what I a.s.sumed. Whether his arm couldturn into a fire or a psycho-gun,(2) as soon as he said it was theresult of that doctor’s research, I understood perfectly. Asmysterious as the trick up Shimegiwa’s sleeve had been, all sense ofmystery immediately disappeared. It’d be more mysterious if thatwasn’t the case.Doctor Kitsuregawa’s latest work, Matsuri Shimegiwa—“Campfires”,huh. Dear me. The client is Doctor Kitsuregawa… what’s more, he’snot acting through any agency, but commissioning me directly.

“I’vebeen instructed to guide you. Of course, I’ll wait for you to be donewith your next job or whatever…”

Oh,no need to wait.

“……”

Ididn’t really mean “no need to wait” as in “I’m turning youdown”. Don’t give me that look. I meant that you don’t have to waitfor me to be done with my next job because I’ll be canceling it,just like you predicted; so, let’s get going right now.

“W-what?Is that alright? Being so irresponsible with your work…”

Idon’t need a spiky-haired youngster teaching me how to do my job.It’s fine; that’s my style. Didn’t you know? My job completion rateis super low.

“…Thisis the first time I’ve met someone who got excited hearing DoctorKitsuregawa’s name.”

I’mnot excited, I’m feeling reluctant. It’s just, I wouldlike to meet and talk with at least once. How to put it; in this flowof events, it wouldn’t be right to not meet him. But only if wedispense with any nasty stuff right away—though I can’t deny I’mlooking forward to it, since everything I know about him is fromrumors.

“……”

Well,if the job is to serve as his guinea pig, then I’ll have to beg off.Something on the level of testing a s.p.a.cesuit might be alright, butI’d rather not have my arm turned into gas or anything like that.

“That’snot what this is about. Please, hear the rest from the doctor… Ican’t explain it very well. I’m not sure what Doctor Kitsuregawa’sintentions are.”

Idoubt anyone is sure of that.

Footnotes:
(1)Kyouichirou Shadou, also known as the Mad Demon, was the leader ofthe research facility that served as the setting of Psychological,the third Zaregoto book.
(2) The “psycho-gun” is a cyberneticarm-laser gun that appears in the manga Cobra.