It turned out that Erdyn was expecting to get a call from the people he attacked yesterday in the abandoned factory. Erdyn’s expression turned curious; he then sighed.

“Looks like it’s going to be a boring night….”

Erdyn put his smartphone back into the pocket behind his overcoat and walked away.

Sometime later, Erdyn arrived in front of an electronics store, which immediately drew his attention; he walked to the front of the store. He stood before an electronics store displaying rows of smart TVs from various brands and sizes arranged vertically and horizontally behind the glass wall in front of the store. He looked at these TVs with a curious expression. It wasn’t the TVs on display that caught his attention, but what was being shown on these TVs.

The TVs displayed here remind Erdyn of the raid he did at the factory yesterday, where he saw many computer monitors that Hardy used for observation and displayed what Erdyn thought was unusual. But because he was also being observed on some of those monitors, it made him think maybe it was not really that unusual.

Erdyn came to his senses; he watched the TVs before him again, showing a news report entitled: “Black Star has arrived at the Pentagon, United States, to discuss his attack plans on several targets that he calls “Hero or Villain?”. Because these TVs were behind the thick glass walls, the news conveyed couldn’t be heard too clearly if Erdyn didn’t concentrate to focus on it. Erdyn appeared to remember something as he thought.

“I saw him yesterday on the mysterious people’s monitors at the factory. Black Star, huh? What a strange name… suitable for a freak.”

Erdyn was slightly surprised because he realized something as he thought.

“Wait a minute, I got into the habit of calling them strange or freaks….”

Erdyn’s attention returned to the TV. The news said the targets that Black Star will attack are still pending approval from the Pentagon, which will consider not intervening in Black Star’s action. Black Star named the list he would attack as “Hero or Villain?” without any details. Erdyn was surprised.

“What do you mean, Hero or Villain? Is he judging or something?”

Erdyn’s expression turned serious.

“Why is he called a Black Star anyway….”

Somehow, Erdyn then felt a bad feeling.

These TVs alternated showing the news headlines they conveyed: “Black Star had been heavily criticized for his recent actions.” The news then showed a destroyed skyscraper, leaving less than half of the building, which was said to be the fault of someone called the Black Star. Erdyn stood silently where he was as he thought.

 “I don’t believe in heroes. In this case, they were more like superheroes or anything like that, as people called them. Hero? One of them could even destroy a skyscraper with one strike, you call a hero? Whether people have lost their minds or something, I think calling them “Monsters” was more appropriate. However, I couldn’t bring myself to trust them; the mysterious people I met at the factory before made me even more certain not to trust them. Even worse, there appeared to be a lot of them….”

Erdyn remembered again if he was also being observed by Hardy and his team, along with Black Star. His expression then turned deadpan.

Erdyn looked back at these TVs. The news could only record the situation around the Pentagon from afar, so it was unclear what he would look like if he came to the Pentagon unless he was called Black Star. Erdyn’s expression turned astonished.

“Mysterious people at the factory, and now this? What exactly is going on?”

Erdyn’s expression showed that this matter was bothering him, and he had a bad feeling about all of this. His expression turned serious.

“If so, I’ll become a monster for my own self….”

Erdyn walked away. Back to the TVs, the headline news now entitled: “Hero or Villain?”

Japan, 20xx AD.

The time was 6.00 pm. Suga Hisoka walked through the automatic sliding glass double door entrance with his two male and female friends at a five-story hospital building in a suburban area. The three wore their high school uniforms: long-sleeved white shirts, waistcoats, loafers, black trousers for the boys, and a pleated skirt for the girl. Suga was the boy who was previously in the drone camera video footage displayed on Hardy’s main computer monitors when Erdyn attacked Hardy and his team in an abandoned factory building.

Suga and his two friends walked into the hospital building carrying their black attache case school bags. On Suga’s bag, a Nellson wooden statue keychain was hanging. Suga carried his school bag in his left hand and a cane in his right hand to help him walk because he was blind. Suga’s female friend looked at her smartphone and appeared to realize something.

“There’s still a bit of time before our showtime.”

Suga’s male friend looked at his watch and appeared to realize something.

“That’s right. How about if we use the remaining time for practicing?”

Suga smiled; his eyes stared far away because he was blind.

“Good idea; there are still things I want to perfect.”

After agreeing with each other, they walked into the hospital building. Suga’s friends walked while adjusting their steps to him. Suga and his two friends will perform at regular music events held every week at this hospital, and the representatives were from several schools as a form of charity fundraising.

The time was 9:00 p.m. The event that Suga and his two friends had participated in had ended; they were now walking in the hospital hallway with white walls and floors. To their right was the hospital wall with entrances to the patient rooms, and to their left were rows of windows with a night view of the city and the quiet highway and sidewalks with just some cars and some pedestrians passing by. Shortly after, Suga stopped his steps.

“You guys go ahead first; I still need to do something.”

Suga’s two friends’ expressions turned astonished. Suga’s male friend replied.

“Something you need to do? At this time?”

Suga smiled.

“Right, there’s someone I want to meet.”

Suga’s two friends’ expressions turned curious; they said goodbye to Suga and walked away.

Suga walked along the corridor alone, using his cane to locate the wall on his side until finally, his cane hit one of the long chairs. Suga sat on this long chair, facing the row of metal-framed window panes before him, and leaned his cane against the wall beside him. Suga placed his black attache case school bag on his lap, with a brown Nellson wooden statue keychain hanging. Suga was silent momentarily, trying to hear his surroundings carefully. Suga smiled.

“Okay, it seems no one is around; I’ll call Nellson.”

Just when Suga was about to call Nellson, Suga stopped what he was about to do because he heard footsteps not too far from him. The sound of these footsteps getting closer to him, Suga was waiting for this person to pass.

Beyond Suga’s expectations, this person sat beside him, slightly surprising Suga. Sitting next to Suga was a man wearing a leather jacket that opened in the middle, a black T-shirt, long black jeans, a tactical belt, black army boots, and a handgun holstered in the holster attached to a baldric on his right thigh. Sometime later, Suga was still waiting for this person to leave. Suga’s expression turned astonished as he thought.

“I’ll look for another place….”

Suga was about to get up from his seat, but he didn’t because something unexpected happened. The person next to him drew his handgun from its holster and then pointed it at Suga by sticking the muzzle of the handgun to the side of Suga’s head, which surprised him. The man who had been sitting beside Suga all along was Hardy Aylward.

“Don’t move. Believe it or not, what I’m pointing at your head right now is a handgun.”

Suga was surprised as he thought.

“Handgun, he said?”

Suga clutched a Nellson wooden statue keychain in his right hand as he thought.

“Damn, I haven’t had time to call Nellson to reverse my blindness.”

Seeing Suga, Hardy appeared to realize something and continued speaking.

“Don’t try to summon your Yokai; I just need to move one finger to fire this gun.”

Suga’s expression showed that he was bothered by this, as he thought.

“He knows about Yokai? Is he a Yokai controller or a Yokai investigator? Although I can’t tell if what he’s pointing at my head is really a handgun or not, I’d better be careful….”

Suga’s expression turned serious.

“What do you want?”

Hardy smiled.

“I just want to talk; meet me on this hospital’s rooftop. Let’s say you’ll do it in exchange for me not firing this gun.”

Hardy drew back his handgun. He stood up from his seat, put his handgun back into the holster on his right thigh, and then walked away.