"Come with me for now."

  Haruki gnced at the girl, deciding against sending her back to the Outer Districts immediately.

  Setting aside the fact that the living conditions there were abysmal, the deaths of these two officers would likely be traced back to her if she were found alone near the scene. If the police force decided to retaliate against the girl, it would be a disaster.

  Haruki pnned to let her stay at his apartment for a short while before personally escorting her back to the Outer Districts. He wanted to see the reality of the Cursed Children with his own eyes.

  As Haruki turned to lead the girl away, his Sense of Fluctuation pinged. He felt a living presence nearby. Despite the person's best efforts to mask their breathing and heartbeat, they couldn't hide from Haruki's heightened perception.

  "Who's there?!"

  Haruki didn't hesitate. He drew his bde halfway, releasing a sharp arc of killing intent that sliced through the air.

  The pressure was enough to force a figure out from behind a crumbling wall. It was none other than Rentaro Satomi.

  Rentaro stood there, trembling. He had clearly witnessed Haruki killing the two officers. His eyes were wide with a mixture of terror and shock, but strangely, he didn't seem to harbor any direct hostility.

  Haruki didn't move to silence him. Instead, he spoke in a low, level voice. "Rentaro Satomi. Tell me—who was right? Me, or those officers?"

  "I..."

  Rentaro fell into a stunned silence. He wanted to say that Haruki's act of killing w enforcement was a crime, but the reality was undeniable: if Haruki hadn't acted, an innocent child would have been executed in cold blood.

  He couldn't bring himself to call Haruki a vilin. But he also knew he didn't have the courage to defy the "order" of the world himself. If Haruki hadn't been there, Rentaro likely would have stood in the shadows, watched the execution, and only emerged once the officers were gone.

  Haruki saw right through his hesitation and let out a cold, mocking ugh. "If you don't have the stomach for this, then keep your eyes shut. You ck the courage to fight evil, yet you cling to a useless sense of morality. That half-hearted resolve of yours is going to get you killed sooner or ter."

  "I..."

  Rentaro had no comeback. Haruki was right. He hated the way Cursed Children were treated, but he cked the spine to actually do something about it. The word "half-hearted" pierced him more than any bde could.

  Seeing that Rentaro was too conflicted to be a threat, Haruki lost interest. He turned his back on the boy, leading the tattered girl away from the blood-scented ruins.

  He met up with Kayo, who was waiting in the city, and brought both girls back to his modest apartment.

  With another girl in the house, Haruki's apartment felt a bit more crowded. However, Haruki didn't care about the ck of space, and neither did Kayo or the new girl.

  They stayed in the apartment for a few days to ensure the police weren't unching a massive manhunt for the "missing" officers. Once it became clear the precinct was trying to keep the deaths quiet (likely to avoid admitting their officers were off-duty child killers), Haruki decided it was time to visit the Outer Districts.

  The Outer Districts were the ruins located right up against the Monoliths. Unlike the safe, polished core of Tokyo, this was a buffer zone—a wastend between civilization and the Gastrea.

  The area had been abandoned after the war. No "normal" human would dream of living here. Only the Cursed Children, cast out by society, called this desote pce home.

  When Haruki arrived, he didn't see any children at first. Instead, he saw a massive industrial pnt looming in the distance. He recognized it as a nuclear power station.

  Because nuclear pnts carry a high risk of contamination, they are rarely built near major popution centers. Pcing it in the Outer Districts—where only the Cursed Children lived—was a calcuted move by the Tokyo Government. It proved they didn't even consider these girls to be human.

  Haruki's jaw tightened. He followed the girl he had saved as she led them toward their "base."

  She stopped in front of a rusted manhole cover and tapped on it three times. The heavy iron lid slid aside, and a tiny girl, barely four or five years old, poked her head out.

  "You're back? You didn't die?"

  "No. I made it back alive."

  Hearing children under ten talk so casually about death was a punch to the gut. This was their reality.

  Haruki watched in silence. Once the girl expined that Haruki was their savior, the younger girl's eyes filled with a cautious trust. When Haruki began pulling out bags of food and supplies he had bought from the supermarket, that trust turned into a frantic, desperate joy.

  Soon, dozens of tattered little girls emerged from the shadows. They all had different faces, but one common trait: glowing red eyes.

  "Their eyes... they stay like that?" Haruki asked.

  Kayo, standing by his side, answered quietly. "The children who live out here are usually those who can't control their emotions well enough to keep their eyes human-colored. Only those who can maintain a 'normal' appearance can survive in the city or become Initiators."

  "I see..."

  Haruki realized that these "Red-Eyes" were the true bottom of the social hierarchy. He stepped back and let them take the food and water.

  "Is the big brother a 'good person'?" the little girl from the manhole asked, looking up at Haruki with confusion. She couldn't understand why a Promoter would give them anything.

  "I wouldn't call myself a good person," Haruki replied. "I'm just doing what's natural."

  "Natural?"

  "In this world, some things don't need a reason."

  The girl looked puzzled. The concept was a bit too philosophical for a five-year-old. Haruki then asked to see whoever was in charge. He had heard there was an "Elder" or a caretaker in the Outer Districts, and he wanted to discuss a more permanent way to improve their lives.

  "I'll take you to the Elder," the girl said. "I'll go call him. Please wait inside."

  Haruki followed them down into the sewers. To his surprise, the space was retively clean and sprawling. However, being so close to the power pnt meant the water and air were likely heavily irradiated. Haruki's own constitution could handle it, but it was no pce for children. The only reason they survived was because the Gastrea virus made them incredibly resilient to environmental toxins.

  After a few minutes, a short, middle-aged man with thinning white hair approached. He leaned on a cane with a rubber tip and looked physically frail.

  "And you are?"

  "Haruki Aizawa. I'm a Promoter."

  "I see. My name is Matsuzaki. I look after these children."

  "You look like a Tokyo citizen yourself," Haruki noted.

  Matsuzaki didn't take offense. He smiled sadly. "I am. But I don't hate them. The Gastrea's invasion of humanity has nothing to do with these girls. They were infected in the womb—they're innocent victims, not the enemy."

  "You're one of the few sane people in this city," Haruki said.

  "Perhaps. But sane people are the minority. Ten years isn't enough to erase the hatred people feel. To the public, the word 'Gastrea' is a trigger. When they see children with the virus in their blood, they see the monsters that killed their families."

  Matsuzaki's logic was sound. Haruki understood why the girls trusted him.

  However, Haruki didn't fully trust Matsuzaki yet. The man clearly had connections to the IISO to facilitate Initiator contracts. Haruki gathered as much info as he could, promised to return with more supplies, and prepared to head back.

  This trip had taught him two things:

  The children were defenseless not just physically, but because they cked education and self-awareness.

  The Tokyo Government was intentionally facilitating this cruelty by treating them as sub-human.

  He resolved to find a way to fix the root of the problem. But before he could even start his pn, the threat he had been waiting for finally boiled over.

  That evening, the IISO sent out an emergency broadcast. They had located the hideout of the Gastrea that had swallowed the Seven Stars Legacy. Every high-ranking Promoter was ordered to intercept immediately.

  Tokyo was officially under a Stage V threat.

  By the time Haruki and Kayo reached the IISO headquarters, the pce was in a state of absolute panic. Staff were sprinting down hallways, and the air was thick with the scent of fear.

  "Aizawa-san! We've pinpointed the source! Area 32!" the supervisor shouted.

  Haruki nodded curtly. He didn't waste time with a transport vehicle. He scooped Kayo up into his arms and took off.

  His current physical state was beyond human. Even carrying Kayo, his running speed far outpaced any car. He became a blur of motion, leaping over traffic and sprinting across rooftops as he raced toward Area 32.

  But despite his speed, others were already ahead. Other Promoters were using armored trucks, and some—like Rentaro and Kisara—had secured a military transport helicopter.

  Using his enhanced vision, Haruki could see the helicopter hovering over a dense forest in the mountains of Area 32.

  "Haruki, take the path to the left," Kayo said, holding her tablet and tracking the topography in real-time. "It's a 15% steeper grade, but it cuts three minutes off the arrival time."

  "Got it."

  With Kayo's tactical guidance, Haruki bypassed the main roads where the other Promoters were bottlenecked and plunged into the deep forest.

  The rain began to fall in a steady, cold drizzle.

  Rentaro Satomi scrambled up a ridge, gasping for breath as he looked down at the battlefield below.

  On one side was a terrifying Spider-type Gastrea. It had venomous fangs and eight spindly, sword-like legs that moved with lethal precision. On the other side was his Initiator, Enju Aihara.

  The two were locked in a ferocious struggle. Enju was a whirlwind of motion, using her incredible leg strength to dodge the spider's lunges. She slid under the monster's belly and delivered a crushing "Hammer Kick" to its jaw.

  The impact shattered the monster's exoskeleton and sent it flying ten meters into the air. It crashed back down, leaking dark, viscous fluid. Three of its legs were snapped, and it writhed in the mud.

  "Rentaro! I did it! We're the first ones to get it!" Enju cheered, her face lighting up with excitement.

  Rentaro let out a sigh of relief. He cautiously approached the dying monster, looking for the suitcase.

  ***********************************************

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