chapter3 · 050-ep50

Episode 50: The Limits of Kanzaki Jinya

Kanzaki and the others had gone quite far from the entrance.

When he first gathered them, he'd explained it as simple inspection work near the entrance.

But Kanzaki figured that, to him, this much could still be called near the entrance.

How many meters counted as near the entrance, and from where it counted as deeper inside.

He hadn't thought about little details like that.

The participants just had to enter without getting scared.

Their faces just had to be on camera.

There just had to be footage of them entering the Gate on their own two feet.

That alone would be enough, but Takatsuki had told him to film them working farther inside too.

Kanzaki didn't know the detailed reason.

Footage of people doing something farther inside would cause a bigger firestorm than footage of them merely standing at the entrance.

It was probably something like that.

So he would take them farther in.

That was all Kanzaki thought of it as.

The participants walked uneasily behind Kanzaki.

The men in work clothes moved behind them, as if surrounding the participants.

One held a light, one carried a small piece of equipment, and another held a camera.

Kanzaki looked back and put on his usual gentle face.

"Just a little farther. Please just watch your footing."

If he said that, it would be fine for now.

That was what Kanzaki thought.

With people like these, if you put on a proper face, use a proper voice, and say everything is okay, they usually shut up.

It had been the same outside.

Just Takatsuki mentioning the representative's name had loosened the faces of those people who'd looked so anxious.

To Kanzaki, they were simple people, easy to handle.

Awakeners or whatever—they were still just people in the end.

Dangle a decent reward, stand some important-looking people beside them, then string together some plausible words.

That was all it took, so it was easy.

And if that Enchanter was following them along the way, that wasn't bad either.

Kanzaki turned his attention toward the way they'd come only once.

Former Minami Ward Third Materials Yard.

He remembered the presence hiding outside.

It had felt the same as Meeting Room Seven.

That brat was probably here.

He didn't know what the brat wanted.

Maybe he knew someone among the participants, or maybe they had run into each other by chance.

But he didn't look like the kind of guy who'd be there and quietly go home.

He'd probably come.

He'd pass through the Gate and chase after them.

Kanzaki was sure of it.

No, he wanted it to be so.

Kanzaki liked fighting strong people.

Beating up weak people wasn't fun.

Crushing someone who wasn't a match from the start felt good in its own way, but it didn't give him that feeling of heat rising from the depths of his gut.

The best feeling was the instant you finally broke an opponent who wouldn't go down easily.

He wanted to feel that.

That was all.

When the Enchanter landed a hit on him in Meeting Room Seven, irritation had welled up from the bottom of Kanzaki's gut.

He didn't think he'd lost.

He didn't think it was over.

He just wanted to continue from where they'd left off.

He wanted it soon.

Next time, he'd catch that skinny body without letting it get away and punch it as many times as he wanted, until it stopped moving.

Just thinking about it made the corner of Kanzaki's mouth twist slightly.

But the job came first for now.

Film them working farther in.

Get what Takatsuki told him to do done.

Once that was over, he could do whatever he wanted.

"Um."

One of the participants spoke up.

Kanzaki stopped walking.

"Yes? What is it?"

He thought it was a bother, but didn't let it show on his face.

The one who had spoken was a man around college age.

The man glanced at the camera held by one of the men in work clothes.

"I've been wondering this whole time, but are you filming us?"

At those words, the other participants looked at the camera too.

Kanzaki nodded lightly.

"Yes. It's for safety confirmation."

"Safety confirmation...?"

"It's this kind of place, after all. It's for if anything happens."

Kanzaki offered no further explanation.

Or rather, the thought of one hadn't even occurred to him.

Safety confirmation.

For if anything happens.

He figured that would be enough.

In fact, several of the participants fell silent at that.

Not because they were convinced.

Only because the words to object hadn't come to them right away.

To Kanzaki, that was the same thing.

They just had to be quiet.

They just had to keep walking.

The fine reasons didn't matter.

The camera had their faces.

It had their voices too.

It had the fact they came this far.

That alone meant the goal was as good as accomplished.

"But..."

This time another participant—Segawa—spoke up.

Kanzaki's eyes turned toward him.

"We were told it'd be near the entrance, but haven't we walked pretty far already?"

The air among the participants shifted a little at those words.

It was probably something everyone had been thinking.

Every time they turned a corner, the feeling of being farther from the entrance grew stronger.

But nobody had said it.

So they had kept walking in silence.

Segawa broke that silence.

Kanzaki's eyes narrowed in annoyance for just an instant, then he immediately returned to his smile.

"Just a little farther."

"But—"

"It's fine. We won't go anywhere dangerous."

That was all Kanzaki said.

Nothing more came out.

Even though he'd said near the entrance, how far were they going?

Was it really not dangerous?

What did safety confirmation mean?

Even if he were asked, Kanzaki had no intention of explaining properly, nor had he thought it through enough to be able to explain.

"...Excuse me."

The man who had first asked about the filming spoke again, this time in a slightly stiff voice.

"Can I go home after all? I don't need the pay."

The participants stopped.

Kanzaki's cheek twitched ever so slightly.

Go home?

At this point?

He'd brought them all this way, the camera was rolling, and they were right at the point where all they had to do was perform some throwaway inspection work and be done.

Just as Takatsuki told him, he had their faces on camera.

He had footage of them walking into the Gate on their own two feet.

If he made them do a little work farther in now, Kanzaki's role would be over.

And now the guy was saying he wanted to leave.

Kanzaki felt irritation swelling in his chest, but his outward face still didn't break.

"Of course, that's fine."

Kanzaki spoke slowly.

"But we're almost at the inspection site. Once that's done, we can go straight back."

"But I want to go back now."

The man didn't back down.

At that, Kanzaki's brow moved slightly.

What a pain.

That was what Kanzaki thought.

It didn't have to be now.

Just walk a little farther, carry some luggage or something, do some plausible work in front of the camera, and it would be over.

And yet he wanted to go home now.

He didn't need the pay.

He was scared and wanted to leave.

Then don't come in the first place.

They had been the ones lured in by the high pay and applied. They had been the ones who'd heard there was someone connected to a representative here, reassured themselves, and followed him this far.

That was how Kanzaki saw it.

"Me too..."

Another participant quietly said.

"If I can go home, I want to go home too."

That one sentence made the atmosphere even worse.

"I'm getting kind of scared too."

"I feel like this is different from what we were told."

The voices started increasing, bit by bit.

Kanzaki gritted his back teeth.

This was what happened when one person said it.

If you were scared, don't come in the first place.

They came because they wanted money, then the moment they got a little scared, they put on faces like they were victims.

Watching those faces made Kanzaki's irritation grow still further.

He had been told to handle it well.

If he finished this job properly, Black Gate's upper ranks would evaluate him too.

Then maybe he would be involved in bigger jobs next time.

Maybe he wouldn't just be given roles like gathering young Awakeners and making them walk around.

That was why Kanzaki had been careful.

He had spoken kindly.

He had smiled back at faces that looked uneasy.

And still, these people were getting in his way.

To Kanzaki, it could only look that way.

"All right. Let's calm down for a moment."

Kanzaki still used a gentle voice, but the irritation mixed beneath it was no longer fully hidden.

Several participants took a step back.

In the gap between them, the man who'd first said he wanted to go home turned toward the passage leading back.

"Excuse me. I'm going home."

With that, the man started walking toward the entrance.

In that instant, something inside Kanzaki snapped.

"Hey. Don't let him through."

The temperature of his voice changed.

The men in work clothes moved around to the entrance side.

The man trying to leave stopped walking.

"Huh...?"

Someone among the participants let out a sound.

Kanzaki's smile disappeared.

Nothing remained of the soft face he'd worn until a moment ago.

"Aah... what a pain in the ass. Screw it."

Rolling his shoulders, Kanzaki looked over the participants.

Their faces now showed anxiety, fear, and confusion more clearly than before.

Seeing it made Kanzaki feel a little better.

"This place ain't under national management anyway. The people outside ain't got any way of knowing what happened in here."

The participants froze.

"We got your faces on camera. We got footage of you walking in here on your own two feet. We've already more than accomplished the original goal."

Kanzaki turned his gaze toward the closest participant.

It wasn't the man who'd said he wanted to go home.

It was another young man, standing frozen without understanding what was happening.

That man noticed Kanzaki looking at him and tried to take a step back, but it was too late.

"Then there ain't a problem anymore, right?"

The next instant, Kanzaki swung his arm.

It was a blow that smashed in from the side.

He wasn't using a weapon, nor did he make a big windup.

Even so, Kanzaki's arm, as a Fighter, moved at a speed a Beginner Awakener couldn't react to.

Before the man could even cry out, he was crushed sideways by the blow.

Kanzaki's arm slammed into his chest and shoulder, driving him straight into the wall.

A dull sound rang through the dungeon.

The body that hit the wall couldn't even bounce back, collapsing onto the floor instead.

His arm bent in a strange direction, and around his shoulder was sunken in as if it had been crushed.

The man didn't move.

Nobody could speak right away.

Before they could understand what happened, the sight in front of them alone was burned into the participants' minds.

"Even Awakeners are this pathetic if the Level gap's big enough."

And Kanzaki alone looked down at the man crumpled on the floor and laughed in enjoyment.