5 Five

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According to Tomie Tsujii, the elderly couple who adopted him seemed to have lost their sanity. Driven by the allure of the young, handsome boy, they sought to absorb the "youth" within Tomie to reverse their aging and regain their youth.

As the boy spoke, he rolled up his sleeve, revealing pale arms covered with bite marks and teeth impressions. The surrounding officers were filled with anger.

"I thought that elderly couple seemed decent."

"Yeah, I never expected them to do something like this to Tomie!"

"I remember that couple adopted several other children before. No one knew exactly why, but those children all died, and it caused quite a stir at the time."

"Didn't the hospital say those children died from illnesses?"

"Looking at what they did to Tomie, I doubt that's true. It’s very likely they adopted those children with the same intention—to regain youth."

"You’re right!"

"I suggest we search their place immediately. Maybe we can find evidence to avenge those lost children!"

...

The officers chattered excitedly, having already classified the elderly couple as murderers. They were even preparing to punish them on Tomie's behalf.

Akira Sujiro clenched his water cup tightly, his gaze fixed on the boy surrounded by the crowd. At that moment, the handsome youth turned to look at him, and their eyes met unexpectedly.

Within those jet-black eyes seemed to lurk an unfathomable, dark desire—whether a demonic craving or a sinister beast.

When Akira looked again, those charming, expressive peach blossom eyes only reflected fear and unease, as if the wild, predatory gaze he had sensed was merely an illusion.

“Mr. Sujiro, please sign here, and then you may leave,” an officer approached, handing him a logbook. Akira glanced over it and signed promptly.

The atmosphere in the police station was unnerving; he didn’t want to stay there even a moment longer.

Moreover...

Akira cast a long, deep glance at Tomie Tsujii. From now on, he vowed to keep his distance from that boy.

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By the time Akira returned home, it was late at night. He first sent a message to his supervisor requesting leave, then entered the bathroom.

The warm water washed away the alcohol and exhaustion. Wiping the fog from the mirror, he looked at his reflection.

Thanks to his Italian father, he was a mixed-race man, inheriting some foreign features: gray hair, green eyes, a tall stature, and sharper, more defined facial features.

Drying his face, Akira exhaled, muttering to himself, “Maybe it’s time to move.”

That boy gave off an unsettling aura. For days after crossing paths, everything was fine, but whenever he encountered Tomie, trouble seemed to follow.

Last time it was provocation; this time, it was outright horror.

Wrapping a towel around his body, Akira stepped out of the bathroom and glanced toward his bookshelf, suddenly freezing.

Something was wrong with his bookshelf!

He hurried over and quickly noticed what was amiss. His collection of classic literary masterpieces had vanished!

Natsume Sōseki’s "I Am a Cat," Osamu Dazai’s "No Longer Human," Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s "Rashōmon," Chūya Nakahara’s "Goat Songs," and more—all replaced by strange, unfamiliar books.

Akira fell silent. No one had broken into his home. Even if a thief had, why steal these particular books? They were heavy, after all.

What kind of foolish thief would specifically take a bunch of books like these? Besides, even if they were collectible editions, these were readily available in bookstores and held little monetary value.

Yet the books had inexplicably disappeared. Thinking of the colleague who had been replaced after crossing over, Akira inhaled sharply, hastily threw on some clothes, and booted up his computer to investigate.

After a while, he fell silent, staring at the screen with a strange expression. They were all gone—not only Japanese authors but worldwide, all those he knew, vanished!

Shakespeare, Tolstoy—every single one was missing.

Akira’s expression blanked out. Without these figures, he could scarcely imagine how empty and barren the once flourishing literary world would become.

Shaken by this harsh reality, Akira had no mood to dwell on Tomie Tsujii’s matter. He quickly tidied the bathroom and drifted into a restless sleep.

The next morning, Akira was awakened by a rapid ringing of the doorbell. Opening the door, he found several police officers standing there.

Akira was puzzled by their arrival. The officers didn’t waste time and immediately began questioning him about what he had seen at the station the previous day.

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Unlike the officers from yesterday, these ones bore the hardened demeanor of seasoned investigators, their aura sharp and severe.

Akira recounted everything he witnessed at the station the night before. The officer in charge of records furrowed his brow. “No abnormalities?”

Abnormalities?

Akira hesitated. The lead officer quickly said, “Don’t worry. Tell us anything that felt off.”

“The atmosphere at the station yesterday felt very wrong. The officers seemed overly fixated on Tomie Tsujii.”

The officers exchanged heavy glances, their expressions grave.

Sensing something unusual, Akira cautiously asked, “Did something happen?”

“As someone under investigation, you have the right to know. Yesterday at the station, seven officers inexplicably turned on each other, brutally murdering and dismembering Tomie Tsujii.”

“What...” Akira was stunned. He hadn’t expected such a horrific tragedy to unfold after he left. One officer tried to console him, “You were there yesterday. Did you notice anything unusual?”

Akira thought carefully. “Apart from the officers’ intense focus on Tomie, nothing else seemed abnormal. No one showed any signs of aggression before I left.”

The thought that such a gruesome event occurred so close to him sent chills down his spine. If he had stayed even a bit longer, would he have become another corpse?

“It’s okay. Just cooperate with our investigation,” the record officer reassured. Although the internal station cameras were destroyed, the external ones were intact, confirming Akira had no involvement.

Moreover, Akira’s own inquiries suggested he was just an ordinary man, with no supernatural abilities.

Akira nodded grimly. He had been planning to stay away from Tomie Tsujii, that strange boy, but never expected him to meet such a tragic end...

Someone he knew had died so cruelly, and Akira felt a profound sense of regret and sorrow. No matter what, it was still a human life.