The Destruction of the World by Fire by Shiden Kanzaki Page B

swarming around her at eight years old? How about the heroic expression twisted by agony of a six-year-old who had ruptured organs after being forced into sexual relations with a piglike man? There’s still more—”
    Suddenly, the shrill sound of something shattering to pieces echoed around the basement room. There was a dull pain in Rentaro’s hand, and when he looked at it, he slowly realized that his left hand had moved on its own and broken the mirror he was looking at. Fragments were piercing his fist, and lines of blood dripped onto the tile that covered the ground.
    “Stop! It’s making me sick!” he shouted.
    “Rentaro, it’s not like you believe that the Children outside of Tokyo Area are living heavenly lives, right? Thinking that you can solve all their problems is arrogant. Even the strong acts of discrimination against the Children in Tokyo Area are happening because they’re
supposed
to happen. Everything has a reason and a consequence.”
    Rentaro finally understood where Sumire was going with her charade. “Are you saying that foreign Initiators have it much worse, so it can’t be helped if Enju and Tina get dirty words thrown at them or are stepped on?”
    “If you take the argument to the extreme, that’s exactly it. Since it’s you, you’re probably worrying about useless things and thinking about something stupid.”
    “Let me say this, Doc. I hate people like you, who act so cold.”
    “You are powerless, Rentaro. If you really want to change the world, then you shouldn’t have left the Tendo family, which controls the politics and economics of this country from behind the scenes.”
    “I…” Was he wrong? The next words wouldn’t come out, and his breathing was quick and shallow. He shook his head once andclosed his eyes, forcing his heart and breathing to calm, searching for Sumire’s meaning.
    “Then, I will drive off the Gastrea from this world as a civil officer in the place of those politicians,” he said finally. “There’s no way there’s only one way to change the world, right? Tokyo Area is small. Without the civil officer guards, aircraft can’t fly, and because of the dangers of marine Gastrea, we can’t really swim in the ocean, either. I want to give Enju the freedom to look around at a wide world. Doc, I will reform the world for Enju’s sake. That’s why I’ll defeat them. Even all of the Stage Five Gastrea.”
    Sumire was frozen, her mouth slightly open. But in a moment she looked up at the ceiling, slapped her forehead, and burst out laughing. “I see, so that’s how you took it. ‘All the Stage Five,’ huh? Well, I’ve lost. Leaving aside whether or not you can do it, that was well said, Rentaro.” Her laughing suddenly cut off and she sat back down in her chair, eyeing him with a smile on her face. “You’re different from me after all. You’re so bright, it’s blinding.”
    “That’s not true. Doc, you’re—”
    Sumire shook her head gently. “No, I’m no good. Once humans think they know something well, they start looking at only the useless stuff. I’m more suited to this dark basement, after all. I can’t walk under the light of the sun.”
    Rentaro didn’t speak.
    “Rentaro, do you know what the most beautiful thing in the universe is?”
    “No… What is it?”
    “From the Buddhist worldview, it’s said to be the flower of the sacred
ren
lotus. In other words, it’s you.
Ren
taro. Your soul is beautiful.”
    Rentaro felt a knot in his chest and looked at Sumire, at a loss for words. Coming from Sumire’s roundabout personality, this could be said to be the greatest praise.
    “Doc……”
    Sumire stood and spread both arms. “As you are right now, it’s probably okay if I showed you
that.
”
    There it is
, he thought, and braced himself. In the first place, Rentaro did not come to Sumire’s lab today to watch Tina and the doctor meet each other.
    With last month’s Seitenshi assassination case, he had defeated the