Safety

They didn’t search for an exit for long.

And as they finally escaped Pixie’s twisted realm, the fresh evening air brought them a bit of relief, though the horrors still clung to their minds.

Rika was shaking, still in shock. She walked slowly, as if she didn’t quite know where she was.

At one point, she stopped. The memories, the images flashed back in an instant, and now they began haunting her mind...

'He… he really killed her… I saw it… her head… her face…'

Suddenly she felt an unpleasant twist in her stomach. As if she was about to throw up everything she had eaten until now. She barely stopped herself at the last moment.

Her eyes grew glassy, and she was gasping for air through her mouth so anxiously as if she were about to suffocate.

Out of the corner of her eye, she quickly glanced at Hideaki, still completely unconscious. Seiji carried him with that strangely unreal calmness on his face, as though he’d dealt with things like this far too many times.

Rika quickly looked away.

'He… he’s going to wake up… he’ll wake up and…'

Suddenly she heard the sound of a bottle opening next to her.

It was Ken.

He was trembling as well. His hand barely held the plastic water bottle he had just bought from a nearby vending machine seconds ago.

"Oh God… oh God… it really happened…"

He whispered to himself. His voice was shaking.

He turned his back to the machine; his knees almost buckled from the movement. Instinctively he grabbed the side of the vending machine to support himself, trying to calm down somehow. But he couldn’t.

He looked at Rika. Sweat trickled down his neck.

'What am I supposed to do?'  he asked himself. 'I-I saw him… cut someone alive…'

Rika carefully walked up to him. As she came closer, her hand gripped the vending machine’s casing tightly.

When she reached him, her eyes grew glassy again, and she began choking on her tears.

But quietly.

A silent, breathless sob trapped in her throat.

She leaned against the wall, and with trembling lips, said:

"K-Ken… I d-don’t want to go back there… I don’t want to see him…"

Ken looked at her with those helpless eyes.

"M-me too, Rika-chan. Me too." he said, his words ragged.

Both of them instinctively glanced at Seiji and Hideaki.

Seeing Seiji emotionlessly tending to a murderer… it really made them question everything they thought they knew about these two.

Suddenly Seiji looked at them.

But there wasn’t that usual coldness in his eyes this time.

"Are you two alright?" he asked.

Both nodded instinctively, yet both knew it wasn’t true.

"S-Seiji…" Ken whispered, "Are we really safe now? Do you think Miyahara-san might… you know… s-snap and kill us?"

Seiji glanced at Ken calmly. "I’m sure he won’t. He’s unconscious after all."

Ken nodded, but his thoughts only grew more troubled.

He took a heavy breath. "I just… don’t know what to think anymore. About it. About him. This is all too much."

He stared at Seiji for a moment.

'He… he’s my coworker. My friend. But now… I’m seriously starting to wonder if I truly know this man at all…'

Then his eyes darted nervously to Hideaki.

'What kind of person can kill someone without hesitation… and laugh like a deranged psychopath while doing it?'

He couldn’t help but question Hideaki’s mental stability — or even his actual occupation — given his disturbing behavior.

Seiji nodded once.

"You’re in shock. That’s normal.

You went through something no one should ever have to see."

Rika lowered her gaze.

Ken grabbed his sleeve, as if apologizing.

"But trust me on this one thing:

If Hideaki were an actual threat to you — I wouldn’t let him even breathe near you."

"B-but… he killed someone…" Rika said nervously.

A car suddenly drove by them.

Ken flinched.

Rika kept staring at the ground.

"R-Rika is right. So what if he saved us? Seiji… that lunatic… he killed a person."

"Ken, I already told you. We’re alive because of him."

Ken looked at Hideaki reluctantly, but said nothing.

Rika felt conflicted — she knew it was true, but she was still terrified of Hideaki.

Ken took a sip of water, slowly catching his breath.

Then he spoke.

"Yes… it’s true, he saved us. We got our Magic Abilities back, and for that I’m grateful."

"M-me as well," Rika added shyly.

"But," Ken continued, "it doesn’t change the fact that Miyahara-san — he… h-he is sick… With what he showed down there, I’m sure he could actually kill us…"

Seiji looked at both of them calmly, but his tone now was gentler — almost soothing.

"Listen to me carefully."

Ken and Rika lifted their heads, though both were trembling.

"What Hideaki did down there… was brutal.

I’m not going to pretend it wasn’t."

Rika clenched her hands.

Ken averted his eyes.

Seiji continued:

"But Pixie wasn’t a normal person. This wasn’t a normal situation.

It wasn’t a 'normal' death."

Ken swallowed.

"What do you mean…?" he asked quietly.

"Pixie had been manipulating each of us since the moment we arrived there.

You and Rika — your Magic Abilities were taken. We were all her prisoners.

And her Magic Abilites made Hideaki… lose control more than usual."

It wasn’t a lie.

It was the part of the truth Seiji needed to use.

Rika blinked.

"So… you’re saying he did it because he was under her influence?"

"In part," Seiji nodded.

"But more importantly—"

He stepped closer.

"He didn’t attack either of you. Not once.

All of his aggression was directed at Pixie."

Ken froze.

'And what about the moment he said he’d kill everyone in that room? That he’d kill you?'  Ken added in his thoughts.

Rika looked at Seiji uncertainly.

"W-wait, Seiji…

If he was under Pixie’s Magic Ability…

then when she was killed… why did he still act so… so terrifying?

Like… even after her death his mind didn’t go back to normal at all…"

'You read my mind, Rika.'  Ken exhaled softly in relief.

Without surprise or frustration — Seiji responded as if he had expected this question.

"When someone is under the influence of a powerful Magic Ability for a long time, and it suddenly stops — the brain doesn’t return to normal instantly.

You know that feeling when a drug or sedative wears off?

The body reacts with aggression, shock, disorientation."

He glanced at Hideaki, whose face was covered with light bruises and scratches from the fight.

"Besides… he was in full combat mode. That doesn’t disappear in a second.

Especially after being attacked mentally and physically."

'Th-that makes sense… But the fact remains… I saw a dead person… W-we need to call the police,'  Rika thought.

"S-Seiji… I think… we should call the police. After what we saw…" she added nervously.

Seiji cut in quickly, firmly:

"No, Rika, that’s not a good idea."

"W-what?" Rika asked, shocked by his reaction. "But… we can’t just ignore this."

"What happened was awful, but calling the police won’t help now."

His voice was cold, logical, absolutely confident.

"They’d make things worse, and Hideaki… he’s unconscious.

Even if they wanted to question him, they couldn’t. It’s better if we just move on. Trust me, Rika. It’s over."

"And if you report this to the police… it won’t stop at one report."

Seiji continued, almost like a doctor explaining a procedure:

"We’d all be questioned. Multiple times.

They’d drag us to the station again and again, check our stories, analyze every detail.

I know how it looks — I went through it as a kid.

Everything you saw today would replay in your minds for hours.

And they’d keep asking the same questions until something didn’t fit."

He paused briefly, and when he resumed, his voice carried a quiet, icy certainty.

"You don’t want that.

I don’t either.

And Pixie… won’t be answering any questions anymore anyway."

He looked at the building they came from.

"That place was one giant crime scene. If the police saw what was there… they wouldn’t let it go. They’d look for culprits. All of them…"

Seiji narrowed his eyes.

In front of him stretched a narrow, dim alleyway — a typical Tokyo backlot. Concrete cracked from age, plastic beverage crates stacked crookedly against the walls, a few metal trash containers emitting the smell of moisture and ferment. Above them hung tangled air-conditioner cables, and from afar flickered a faint pink neon reflected in wet stains on the asphalt.

Everything was cramped, muted, and empty — the perfect place to slip by unnoticed, as long as he chose the right path.

'I need a route with as few people as possible… Especially with him in this state. People in this city are too vigilant. One look and someone will call a patrol.'

Seiji analyzed calmly, mapping the route in his mind — where to turn, where cameras were, which alleys were usually empty after dusk.

And just then — as if someone tugged him back into reality — Ken’s voice cut through his thoughts:

"Seiji… how do you know all this?

How do you know so much about interrogations, investigations, procedures?

It sounds like… you’ve been through this before."

Seiji froze for a second.

He looked at them, his expression making it seem strangely difficult to say the next words… But he pushed through anyway.

"Because… when I was younger, I tried reporting violence a few times. The details aren’t important."

He looked away nervously, as if trying to avoid the subject like fire. Avoid the years of being bullied… even outside school.

'Chichibu is a small village. Everyone there knows everyone... Even too much'

Before him appeared an image of an evening in Chichibu.

Seiji was coming back home from shop.

The streets were quiet. The wind blew gently. It was almost too quiet, until he saw the figures of his classmates — his bullies. 

"Yo, it's Sekiguchi." First one whispered.

"He's walking here again-" another one added with clear disgust in his voice.

"Tsk- " one hissed through his teeth.

Then, the leader walked up to Seiji and glanced at him with cocky, yet aggressive eyes, "Oi, Sekiguchi - Getting punched in school isn't enough for you!?" the voice boomed in a powerful bass. 

Then came the sounds of fists, albeit in self-defense, and the squeak of shoes on the pavement.

The ghosts of bruises on his body, kicks and insults flickered unwelcome in his mind. He clenched his teeth, trying to shake the memories off.

Then he continued in a drier, matter-of-fact tone:

"There’s one problem with the police — they don’t understand the difference between a victim and the culprit.

Sometimes they just take the first person who fits.

So they interrogated me as if I were the one at fault.

But the one who was guilty has never met their punishment. And because of that, I learned the system only works when the perpetrator is someone insignificant. And the police itself? ... Isn't worth trusting all the time."

He paused. His gaze turned calm, but sharp.

"…I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

Even if you’re innocent, it feels like you’re constantly proving you’re telling the truth."

Ken fell silent.

Seiji added — very quietly:

"And now imagine adding murder, torture, and a place that looked straight out of a horror film.

The police wouldn’t let us go until they wrung every drop of information out of us."

Both nodded, silently processing every word.

A short silence fell between them, broken only by quiet breathing and the tapping of footsteps on pavement.

Seiji didn’t even lift his head. He shifted his grip, adjusting unconscious Hideaki on his back.

"And now…" he sighed, "I suggest we head home."

"I... think so too…" Ken replied, glancing at Seiji nervously, trying to judge whether this decision was truly safe.

Seiji nodded and began walking, as if the conversation were finished.

Ken and Rika didn’t speak. They simply followed him quietly, still watching Hideaki, whom Seiji carried carefully on his back.

When they reached a small, shaded courtyard, Seiji gently laid Hideaki on the ground, making sure he wouldn’t draw attention from passing strangers. He adjusted his position so that he didn’t block the path and wouldn’t attract unwanted eyes.

"Alright… we’re safe here," he said calmly. "You two can go home now. There’s no reason to stay any longer."

Ken and Rika exchanged tense glances but didn’t protest.

"Th-thank you, Seiji…" Rika whispered, timid but relieved.

"Even though this whole… meeting didn’t go as planned… yeah, thanks from me too," Ken added.

"No problem… though I’m not sure what you’re thanking me for," Seiji admitted.

"What happened… i-it wasn’t your fault — n-no one could’ve predicted it," Rika said but as she quickly recalled these horrible images in her mind, she trembled slightly.

"I guess…" Seiji shrugged lightly, almost indifferently.

Ken glanced at Hideaki one last time. A faint grimace crossed his face.

'After today… it’s hard to think of him as a potential friend.'

Seiji let out a quiet sigh.

'Ken’s already seen too much… He knows more than I wanted him to. And now there’s Rika too… Great…'

The weight of the truth pressed on him…

He checked the time on his phone.

"So… I guess this means, see you…?" Ken asked.

Seiji nodded, sliding his phone into his pocket and preparing to leave.

"Take care of yourselves. And… remember, don’t go back there. Not a single step. The important thing now is that you’re safe."

Ken and Rika nodded, then slowly headed off in their own direction. Seiji watched them until they disappeared from sight, then turned back to Hideaki to continue his route.

'Sometimes I want nothing more than to get rid of him, to kick him out of the apartment for good,'

He thought, thinking of how chaotic things had become.

'But that would cause even more problems than we already have…'

Ken walked Rika to the station. His mind was still a mess from everything that happened.

'I’m honestly one step away from calling the police right now, Seiji… And I mean it. Today… was too much.'