Without warning, the edge of a knife floated right before my neck.

『Don’t move.』

It was a feminine voice without a single shred of emotion within it. When she spoke right behind me, the animosity within her words grew even sharper by several degrees.

「...」

『Good. Now drop the bag you’re carrying, slowly.』

The bag? 

This woman(?) must be here for the black card, she must have been sent here under X’s command! Feeling a sense of danger, I tried to----

---!!! Before I realized it, the cold steel had pressed down harder on my neck! A painful ember singed my neck with the scent of blood slowly wafting into the air, and I immediately stopped moving.

『...Hey. Did you not hear what I said? I said... Drop, the bag!』

Her next action became even more aggressive, as the knife plunged deeper.

But I couldn’t move. Fear had started to take over my mind, as I stood there, trembling. From her perspective, it must have looked like I was defiant till the end. 

Noticing my inaction, the woman moved closer to my right ear, and whispered.

『Commendable bravery… But unfortunately, I need it back. The card that you stole from us.』

My body stiffened even more from the mention of the card.

...As expected, she was here for it!

But where did I go wrong? How did they find me this time? I made sure not to expose myself, but it still wasn’t enough? Shit! Am I so easily…

Frustration and unwillingness filled my heart. It shouldn’t end so easily! I still had so much more to do!

『Don’t worry.』

Her knife slowly cut deeper into my flesh.

『I will grant you a painless death.』

A painless… death.

Ah, I’m going to be killed. Just like this? 

I can’t even move an inch. If I cry for help, I would be dead before I could. Disarm the knife? I’m not that agile to pull it off quickly before I lost my head. There is no way to prevent it. There is no way to avoid it. I knew too much, and so I had to die. 

I was going to die. She had given me a death sentence that could not be overruled. 

I had plans. My everyday life. 

Had it been turned upside down before I realized it? 

Playing with fire? Change my life with money? 

Why did I still think it was a game?

I know, I must have believed that everything was too unreal to be true.

I should have known, that money bore some kind of unknown risk. And I had not taken enough precautions.

Because of this, X had tracked me down.

When you play with fire, you get burnt. The moment I was caught in this game where life was a collateral, the price would be paid in blood-----

Realizing my inevitable end, my mind throbbed painfully. I closed my eyes, frightened, afraid to face the consequences of my short-sighted choices.

『...Goodbye.』

Hesitation was heard within that one word, but her decision was merciless. When she was finished, the blade smoothly slid past my neck.

Immediately, I felt the searing hot pain burning my throat.

But I had a feeling that she would keep her promise. I believed in the fact that the pain would only last for an instant. 

Once I had accepted the fact that I was going to die quickly, I no longer felt the pain.

With my eyes closed, I began to think about everything calmly.

Was this strange stillness what people call a state of recollection? My best buddies, guys in the club, Bailey, acquaintances I’ve made my entire life… and… my little sister who was still waiting for me, Yama... 

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As I watched my life through a revolving lantern, I began to see memories of us.

【---Alert, fluctuation.】

The tomatoes I would steal from the orchard for us to eat at the countryside. When we eventually came to the city for the first time, we saw red cars, traffic lights. As the seasons passed, we saw candy canes on glass displays as Christmas drew near, people dressed in Santa’s costumes all around the streets...

【Critical condition detected, activating emergency protocol.】

Roses in the hospital garden, apples I brought when I visited her. The blood packets hung on the IV racks, and the color of her heart as I… 

...Hold on. Why was everything in my recollection red?

【Number Seven, [Hyperbolic].】

Within the space of my conscious mind, I saw a familiar string of red words. But I did not understand what it meant.

...Hyper...bolic?

Before I could comprehend them, my eyes were forcibly opened all of a sudden! A strange soreness seeped into them, but more importantly---

「...!!!」

Wait. What is going on?

The sight that greeted me was too strange.

The buildings, the clouds above, everything around me…

...Had turned to grey!

Was I dead? No, I could still ‘feel’ myself alive. But something was different about this ‘space’.

There was no longer sound in my surroundings, and all I could hear was the rhythmic pace of my heartbeat. When I saw the splash of blood on my throat hovering and moving slowly in mid-air, I realized then.

Everything had seemingly gone into slow motion. Even the woman behind me did seem to be moving incredibly slowly, although it seems like my body was affected by the unusual time flow too, thus I was unable to turn around or escape. 

Was I perceiving time differently?

But there was no time for me to understand why I had entered this space.

Before long, I felt it. A wrangling pain on my neck! Followed by burning eyes, ringing ears----My entire body was screaming. 

Every orifice of my skin felt as if someone had poured a bucket of lava onto it. I burnt, blazing up like a witch nailed onto a stake. Every strand of torturous flames crawled restlessly in my bloodstream like fire ants, as if they were trying to burn me from the inside.

It hurts unbelievably bad, and yet in an immovable world, I was unable to scratch that ‘itch’. In that state, I could neither move nor scream. Experiencing a flow of time that was different from the world, it was no different from hell. 

And yet, I could feel it succinctly. From the rapidly moving blood vessels that condensed and vibrated around my throat, I understood from the blood that was ‘returning’ back into my flesh that the fatal wound was being healed in this monotonous domain. As if I was looking at a video in reverse, the cut slowly returned to a point where a wound had never been there in the first place. 

… …

【Body tolerance has dropped to 37%.】

【Effect of [Hyperbolic] has ended.】

After a long period of agony, time had returned to normal and suddenly a burst of steam emitted from my throat!

「...!!!」

『What!?』

A cry of astonishment came from behind me, as she immediately jumped back a few steps.

From within the steam that had formed a hazy cloud around me, all the woman could see was a pair of bright red eyes.

While I was still confused from the change in time perception, I heard the woman muttered under her breath.

『No way… you’re telling me, the card was already synchronized with him? But that’s impossible... !』

What was going on?

The card? Synchronized? 

When I touched my neck, I realized the wound had completely disappeared.

The mist finally dispersed, and the color of my eyes had returned to normal. However because of the earlier pain, I had unconsciously formed a frown on my face while trying to adjust my eyes with a squint.

If I had seen it from the perspective of that woman, I would know that she had seen my appearance differently because of the shift in my blank, detached expression: 

With a dangerous glint in my eyes, and a savage look that imposed an aura of unconcealed menace, this ‘ normal university student’ struck her as someone with a background. In her mind, the existence of ‘Tsukasa Yato’ had garnered her attention, which while not unheard of, was certainly not someone to be taken lightly.

Flicking the knife back into its sheath at the side of her left thigh, the woman intensified her glare by several levels. Like a hunter who had alerted a beast, she assumed a more vigilant stance towards me.

『...Noir doesn’t just accept anybody.』

The woman suddenly spoke.

『...Tsukasa Yato… who on earth are you.』

A hint of nervousness could be seen from her figure, it was then that I had taken a closer look at her. 

The woman turned out to be a beauty!

My heart skipped a beat as I looked at what was considered my ideal type of woman.

Amber orange hair tied with a ponytail at the back, an effeminate nasal bridge, spotless white skin, the woman’s porcelain face looked exquisite to the touch. 

She wore a long-sleeved white collared uniform, giving off a youthful vibe. Her chest area clasped together with three leather buckles created an emphasis on her skin-tight figure, and the addition of those white stockings over her long, slender legs created an unsullied impression, like a single white tulip blooming utop a hill.

Her deep-set eyes glared at me as if she had noticed that I was checking her out, and I quickly removed my gaze. 

Of course, no matter how attractive she looked, I did not have any plans of forgiving her for what she tried to do to me. From the dangerous look in her eyes however, it would seem that she would not let me go that easily. Feeling a little conflicted inside, I decided to stall for time for now by returning her a question.

But because I had still not completely recovered from the bodily strain that I had experienced earlier, my voice came off as a little more bothered.

「Before asking for a person’s name, isn’t it common courtesy to identify yourself first?」

『...』

It was to the point where it even surprised me because of how deep it had gotten.

The woman had shuddered for a second when she finally heard me speak. But soon things returned to a standstill once more, as both of us continued to stare at each other in this empty morning street.

While I wasn’t sure of what had just happened, I could tell that this fragile moment of ‘peace’ would soon break. And so I braced myself for the impending, turbulent face-off that was about to occur once more between the two of us...