T&B: The Rising Novel Excerpts

Prologue (Ryan)

(...)
Just like the shining sun makes it impossible to see the stars in the sky, the man’s presence transfixed the onlookers’ gazes, shrouding everything around him in misty haze.
(...)




Chapter 1:  If there were no cloud, we should not enjoy the sun.

(...)
Yet, Apollon Media alone had found itself standing at the administrative precipice. The crimes of their CEO had hurt their image greatly and their stocks plummeted. With no real recovery prospects in sight, there had even been whispers that their formerly chief business enterprise — the Hero Department — would be abolished before long.
In the midst of this, Apollon Media had found their saviour.
Mark Schneider. The owner of the large IT corporation Gargoyle Technica had invested greatly in the listing Apollon Media and assumed the position of their owner.

What an odd fellow he was, though.

Underlining his entire personality was a childlike desire that whatever he did, it had better be big.
The man lived by his curiosity. Once he had taken interest in soccer, he felt compelled to buy the champion soccer team and —  armed with his considerable finances — started collecting the famous players from all over the world. Noticing that the movie business was booming, he would invest into the production of the biggest blockbuster around. For what it is worth, his fondness for absurdly large enterprises had captured the consumers’ attention and the name Gargoyle Technica rumbled across the world.

Nevertheless, his financial know-how did not lay there alone. What he had was a talent for stage performances and the ability to tap into the consumers’ antipathy toward his corporate rivals. Sometimes it would take something so small as a trifle accusation of patent and copyright infringement. Before long, there would be no shortage of entities all too willing to file some lawsuits.

And of course, Schneider being a businessman par excellence meant he was a man resilient against adversity, in the sense that many court proceedings tended to result in his victory.
It was not just that he employed an in-house team of capable corporate lawyers and advisors — of course he did. The deeper reason, however, lay in his business style: he was a man of attack, not defense. When dealing with legal cases, he would not be satisfied with simply having sound counter-arguments and rebuttals; he would search the plaintiff’s weak points and then launch the counterattack. Attacking him would then turn into a double-edged sword and having realized that, most opponents would have little fight left in them.

Why would someone like that take an interest in struggling Apollon Media?
What had first captured his attention was the peculiar lynchpin of Sternbild’s culture, the Hero business. For someone eternally in search for something grander and more fascinating, there could be no better bait.
Yet, being a businessman, he obviously could not afford saving Apollon Media out of the sheer goodness of his heart. Having the Sternbild media business in his hands would allow him to direct it at will and grow his Gargoyle Technica into something even bigger.

To do that, he had a capable right hand by his side — his private secretary Virgil Dingfelder.
The talented man had been distinguishing himself since the very start of his employment in the company and had even won respect and appreciation of someone so notoriously individualistic and unwilling to share his duties as Schneider.

Working with Schneider — a free man of abrupt decisions — would be an ordeal for many. Virgil’s was the ability to quickly and accurately grasp these quicksilver actions and interpret them in the proper way as his spokesman. His another prized feature was the talent to deftly and correctly execute his professional duties with minimum talking and maximum speed; for short-tempered Schneider, who loathed lengthy explanations, there could be no better secretary.

That day, the conference room of Apollon Media was full. It was time to discuss the business details for the upcoming quarter. The room was packed with the Apollon Media executives, each tasked with holding a presentation for the new company owner.

First came the chief of the Music Business Department. His countenance drawn tight by nervousness, he started flipping through the last quarter reports and introducing the business plans for the next quarter, all projected on the large screen in the meeting room.

“Er, as you can see from the data, these are the plans of the Music Business Department based on the SWOT analysis. We are thinking that for this quarter, department should focus on streamlining our ventures; outsourcing those events and live shows that have been showing notable losses. Based on the schedule—”

Schneider, who until now had been watching the Music Business Department presentation, had apparently heard enough. With a deep sigh he looked away and tossed the stack of reports on the table. Sensing Schneider’s displeasure, Virgil promptly interjected.

“Next!”

The data on the screen abruptly changed and plans and business projects of the Publishing Department started scrolling by. His voice rendered shrill by discomfort, the Publishing Department chief hurriedly began his presentation.

“Following the shifting climate in the media sphere, me and my department have implemented a broad scale of cost-cutting measures. However, the envisioned targets have not been achieved yet—”

Schneider managed to hear out about half of what the executive had to say, and then — once again — the stack of reports landed on the table.

“Next!”

This time, Virgil’s gaze focused on the bearded middle-aged man with dark skin — the general manager of the Hero Department, Ben Jackson.

“Ah, um, yes. I’m from the Hero Department. For starters, I suppose I’d like to—“

At Ben’s leisurely pace, Schneider visibly bristled in irritation.

“Get to the point!”

Virgil’s voice was sharp like an arrow. Sensing trouble, Alexander Lloyds, the head of the Hero Department, hurriedly left his spot in the corner of the meeting room and joined Ben as his backup.

“Right!” As you can see in the report of our earnings call, we are expecting to achieve profitability. The main factor behind it is that HeroTV is doing exceedingly well.”

As if trying to show that he had been planning to say exactly this, Ben punctuated every single point in Lloyds’ speech with unintelligible noises of vehement agreement. Schneider on the other hand had gone completely silent. He intently studied the Hero Department reports, his face showing neither approval nor disapproval. Feeling disquieted by Schneider’s change in manner, Lloyds continued his presentation.

“However… our company contractually employs two Heroes in the Second League. The related ventures are… still in the red.”

The ‘Second League Heroes’ referred to the Heroes supported by Apollon Media alone.
In Sternbild, the superhero work was viewed as an activity wholly within the sphere of public security enforcement, and as such it was subject to clear legislative regulation. At present, there were six Heroes working in the First League. However, those Heroes were not affiliated with Apollon Media; they belonged to others.

In the past, Apollon Media too had had two Heroes representing its name, but both of them had temporarily retired together following the Maverick incident. After that, Apollon Media had been without its own Hero in the First League for quite a while. The two had later returned, true, but it was in the middle of the season. Even that had been allowed only because of their close connections with the system; reinstating them into the First League immediately would have been impossible.
And so the two had landed the position in the Second League, dealing with petty crime. But the Second League was but a reserve farm at best; its work far removed from the eye of the HeroTV cameras. That in turn meant Apollon Media could not launch any proper PR projects or harvest the Hero popularity in form of merchandise sales and other brand name business. Simply put, there was not much to expect.

The Second League topic was something Ben and Lloyds did not wish to touch. Unsurprisingly, Schneider glanced at them with a displeased glare. They felt like a pair of frogs being stared down by the snake.
After all, Schneider was the one who had the final say. If he were to find them wanting, they could expect to receive a message informing them they were being shipped away to some subsidiary company at a day’s notice. Both Ben and Lloyds trembled in trepidation.

What is he going to say?

The air in the conference room was thick with tension. Ben and Lloyds held their breath and waited.

It was then that a ‘certain idea’ flashed in Mark Schneider's brain. Characteristically capricious and fantastic, there was no point in sharing it with others.
Not yet, that is.



(...)


In most cases, his conduct tended to backfire on him in the way directly proportionate to his expectations.
Buried under the scrap wood a feeling aches and pains all over his body, Wild Tiger moaned in a way hardly resembling a human voice.
“Uuuuh….”
At that, a lone suited man landed on the collapsed mountain of wood and exasperatedly called on him.
“What in the world was that supposed to be? Pathetic.”
“You’re late, dammit!”
At the sound of the voice the heap of wood moved and Wild Tiger stuck out his head and looked above him. There stood the figure of a Hero, clad in his red suit.

Wild Tiger’s partner*, Barnaby Brooks Jr.

The young man with characteristically curly and long blond hair, whose deceptively sweet and kind mask held the female Hero fans in a trance like a steel trap. Gifted with the same Hundred Power NEXT ability as his partner, Wild Tiger.
He too had had his time in the First League. An efficient and capable Hero, he had made a striking debut as the Super Rookie and later reigned unchallenged as the King of Heroes himself.

“I had some business to attend to. I will make up for my tardiness, though.”
Barnaby clicked his visor closed and raised his eyes up to the hole in the roof. The vernier thrusters on his back flared to life and he disappeared from view in one long jump.
Outside, he sighted the escaping thief at four o’clock. Moving with well measured, almost rabbit-like jumps, Barnaby bore on the criminal with ferocious speed. He crossed the distance in but a few moments and then his vice-like grip closed on the purse snatcher’s neck and jerked the man back, elegantly swooping the bag the thief dropped in shock from midair in the process. The sheer force of the jerk propelled the man into air and his body slammed into the roof’s surface, losing consciousness from the impact.

All Barnaby needed to secure the criminal was a couple of seconds.

The passerbys on the nearby hill, who had seen Barnaby’s escapade, cheered loudly and broke into an enthusiastic applause and the four Second Leaguers hurried to where he stood.
“Amazing, Mr. Barnaby!” extolled Chopman his senior colleague’s accomplishment. He would do better worrying about his conspicuous failure to secure the criminal himself, but there’s only so much you would expect from a Hero-in-training.
“We’ve been blown the hell away, yo. Again.”
Blatantly reminded of the difference in caliber, Sumo Thunder looked at Barnaby with reverential gaze.
Meanwhile, Barnaby unlatched his visor and threw the people crowding on the hill his trademark aristocratic smile.
“Heh.”
At the sight of his smiling face, the shrill cheer of the female voices nearly reached the stratosphere. And it was in that moment that Tiger, who had hurt his hip during the fall, reached him, tottering on the unsteady feet.

“Owww…”

A few boys in the rubbernecking crowd noticed Wild Tiger’s presence and promptly tossed a few jeering comments his way.
“Hey, it’s Kotetsu!”
“Get your shit together, Kotetsu!”

Yes, for Kotetsu was the man passing himself as Wild Tiger, Kotetsu T. Kaburagi. Not young by any stretch of imagination, the middle-aged man had declared his intention to remain an active Hero until the end of his life and was working in the field even now, with his trademark beard unchanged.
For many years, Kotetsu had adhered to the idea that under no circumstances must Heroes reveal their real selves — an idea propagated by the Heroes in the days bygone. Regardless of his wishes, his identity had become public knowledge at the time of the Maverick incident. Conforming to his personal Hero philosophy, though, he would still refuse to show his face without putting on the domino mask first.

“It’s not Kotetsu; it’s Wild Tiiigeeerrr-!”

As Tiger feebly attempted to argue with the boys, Barnaby calmly doused his ego with a metaphorical bucket of cold water.

“Everybody knows it, anyway. Might as well accept it.”
“Heroes must never show their identity!”
“Instead of obsessing over your personal hang-ups, how about you try figuring out how to capture criminals, hmm?”
“Whaa!?”

Gifted with sharp tongues, Kotetsu and Barnaby’s conversations always involved a good dose of biting remarks.

(...)

In short, the two of them were people of different eras and almost complete opposites when it came to their fundamental values, and as such there were spots where pretenses and posturing could not be dropped entirely.


(...)
“Enjoy!”
As the First Leaguers were departing for the mission, the Second League Heroes, wholly ignorant of the new developments and still fully suited up, were stuffing their faces with hot dogs bought from one of the stalls dotting the city.
Kotetsu, who held a vaguely Scouter-like position for the inexperienced Second Leaguers, had decided to reward his juniors for the successful capture of the purse-snatcher and was now busy offering them all snacks.

“Yeah, just eat it all up! ...Huh?”

As he glanced at Barnaby’s hands by his side, he realized that the hot dog pickles, originally stuffed into the snack, had been neatly put aside.

“Yo! Don’t you skip those! Vinegar is exactly the thing you need when tired—”
“Please. Don’t even start.”
”Ooh, here it comes!”

Chopman noticed as the large city screen relaying the live HeroTV broadcast had flickered on and decided to interject. The screen was showing a smoke bomb thrown by the robbers exploding near the external wall of some bank. The HeroTV’s commentator’s voice rose in pitch, doubtless in effort to generate more excitement.

“What speed! The Hero team has entered the building!”

The Second Leaguers stared at the screen in mute fascination. One day, it could be me in that camera’s eye; a full-fledged Hero by all accounts. Each of them nursed the same hope.
Knowing their aspirations, Kotetsu decided to give them a pep talk from the position of a former First Leaguer and a person of experience.

“Watch and learn, guys! Make sure you do your homework!”
“Right!”

Weary exasperation pressed down on Barnaby. Kotetsu will never change.
He knew there was no malice in it, but Kotetsu loved exploiting every crevice, every chance, to patronizingly flaunt his worth before his juniors. He had no intention of denying Kotetsu his grandmotherly urges to educate and guide the promising youngsters, of course. But one should not preach what he himself does not practice.

“You also have much to learn, Kotetsu. Kindly do that.”
“Wha?”
“Using his power without putting any thought into it, always letting the criminals escape... Who do you think I am talking about?”
“It can't be helped! My power lasts just a single minute!”
“Then how about you work on your activation timing—!”
“Stop stop stop!”

As always, the Second Leaguers around them jumped in to mediate.




(...)
On the monorail station, the setting sun shone on Kotetsu and Barnaby on their way home.

“Nothing like the First League, eh? The scale is just completely different.”
Kotetsu knew immediately what Barnaby meant. Not so long ago, they themselves had been in the very first line of the First League, with HeroTV cameras following their every move. Big-name celebrities. And that life had felt like the second nature.
Now there was nothing but days filled with petty crime, away from the cameras and with every day being the same.
Of course, the scale of the crime should not matter. Even their Second League job was helping to make the city safer and that was important.

Yet, considering Barnaby’s sheer caliber, he couldn't help but feel like it was all casting pearls before swines.

He had never felt it as strongly as he did now, in the Second League. Just like one does not appreciate the sun shining high in the sky until the clouds shroud its light, for them, the First League had been a sea of plenty. And of glory.

“Half a year left. We need to shape up,” murmured Barnaby.
“What’s the point? Work hard or work little; it’s not like they’d let us in before the season’s end, anyway. Besides, our promotion is a sure thing.”
“Our skills and ability grow duller every day. You don’t want that.”
“Oh, who cares. First League, Second League — it’s all about protecting the people.”

To say that Kotetsu did not regret leaving the first division would be a lie. But now, with his declining powers, he feared that in the First League he would be nothing but a sack of cement on his partner’s back. So why not just stay here and do what he could? He did not want Barnaby to know that, though. He hid the feeling deep inside his heart lest his partner should sense it.
Barnaby, however, did not oblige. His sharp eyes pinned Kotetsu down, objection clear in his gaze.

“It’s not enough for you, is it? The Second League.”
“... Doesn't it feel stifling to you?”
“Well, it’s not we could deal with every incident, anyway.”
“The pay could be better, too.”

Kotetsu frowned despite himself. He did not like Barnaby talking about the money.
True, the difference between the First League and Second League paychecks was like heaven and earth, but even the second division pay was enough to make ordinary living. And most importantly, money should not be what matters the most about being a Hero. A Hero should mainly care about protecting the people.

If felt weird to hear Barnaby mention it. Had he ever fussed about money this much?
Kotetsu’s train of thought was interrupted by his phone, signalling an incoming call. It was Apollon Media’s Hero Department. Still anxious over Barnaby, Kotetsu picked up the phone.

“Yeah? Hello?”



The two were called into the office of Apollon Media’s new owner, Mark Schneider.
Kotetsu and Barnaby stood before him, flanked by Ben and Alexander Lloyds from the Hero Department. Schneider had assumed the owner’s post only a short while ago, so for the three it was their first meeting face to face.

Schneider extended his hand to Barnaby, initiating the handshake.

“You’re Barnaby, right? Those are some curls you have,” he relayed his strong first impression of Barnaby’s hair.

“Hm.”

Schneider’s eyes then moved to Kotetsu and he shook his hand as well.

“And you must be Ko — actually, you don’t look like a tiger at all. More like a raccoon.”

And that seemed to be his first impression of Kotetsu. It was probably Kotetsu’s odd beard that had inspired the picture in his mind.
Kotetsu’s face involuntarily stiffened into a pained smile.

“Haha…”

“Mr. Mark Schneider has bought our nearly bankrupt company, allowing us to start rebuilding.”

As Lloyds spoke up for him, Kotetsu’s stiff grimace quickly slackened.

“I see!”

Before Schneider’s intervention, there had been a very real chance that Apollon Media’s Hero business would be abolished altogether. He was the sole reason why Kotetsu and others were still in active duty.

”With everything that has happened since the incident with Maverick, Apollon Media could be a neat business chance, I think.”

Barnaby, familiar with Schneider’s undeniable managerial feats, graciously responded.

“Much has been said about you. Kickstarted Gargoyle Technica at the young age and turned it into a top class global IT empire before long.”

“And that’s not all. The companies he’s acquired so far have all managed to get back on their feet,” Lloyds chimed in, his eagerness to curry favor with the company's savior making him speak a great deal louder than usual.

“Wow… Uh, so, why did you call us today?” asked Kotetsu.

“To be honest, I’ve been thinking what to do with you.”

“Huh—?”

“I mean, the losses just keep piling up. I thought I might axe you, but…”

The word ‘axe’ made both Kotetsu and Barnaby tense up. Schneider was now the most important person in Apollon Media. A word from him and their future life could be thrown in disarray.

Indifferent to their worries, Schneider fished out a popper from his pocket and popped it with a loud crack.

“Well, I’m doing the opposite. You’re promoted to the First League.”

The twist was so sudden and unexpected that Kotetsu and Barnaby were rendered speechless.

“Huh? I’d thought you’d be happier. We’re talking ‘starting tomorrow’, you know.”

Kotetsu’s face was all bewilderment.

“Wha? N-No, b-but…”

“There won’t be any problems about the season participation. It’s all taken care of.”

At hearing Lloyds’ explanation Kotetsu broke into a huge grin and whooped like some creature from the deep.

Unsurprised by Kotetsu’s unbridled joy, Ben extended a hand in gratulation.

“For what it’s worth, congrats.”

"Thanks!"

Kotetsu enthusiastically shook Ben’s hand and then turned to Barnaby, looking every inch a five-year-old boy who had just gotten his dream present from Santa Claus.

“We did it, Bunny!”

He was his partner. Nobody else but Kotetsu could understand how badly had Barnaby wished to return into the First League. Even for Kotetsu himself, chasing the real deal criminals in the first line would be like a dream come true.

Kotetsu’s unrestrained happiness was not shared by Barnaby, however.
For him, the First League promotion alone was hardly enough. What interested him the most about the proposition was ‘money’. He had his reasons to require them.
The rumors about Schneider’s all too eager willingness to trim the fat and fire his employees might have been overstated, but no manager would want to operate a lossy enterprise. Taking the current sad state of Apollon Media’s financials into account, Barnaby fully expected Schneider to pull a fast one on them to drive down the paycheck as much as possible.

Wary and skeptical, his voice was utterly flat when he addressed Schneider.

“Let’s discuss the terms first—”

“Who cares! Bunny, we could be in the First League!”

It was Kotetsu who held him back.

“But—”

“No worries. Virgil?”

At Schneider’s bid, Virgil produced the promotion contract and handed it to Barnaby.

“Write down your price.”

“What?”

“You’re worth any money.”

Barnaby had not expected Schneider to be so generous, and when something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. On the other hand, if he refused the offer here, who knew if they would ever get another.

He decided to sign the offer. For the present, let’s say that I accept.

“Thank you.”
He took the pen Ben presented him and looked at the contract. Satisfied, Schneider turned his gaze from Barnaby and cheerfully addressed Kotetsu.

“I heard you've been doing this Hero thing for a long time now?”
“Yep!”

“Drop by my office later. Could tell me a story or two.”

“Sure thing!”


(...)





Chapter 2 : The morning sun never lasts a day.



Kotetsu’s flat was a mess; much worse than usual.

Countless bottles and cans, now emptied of their alcoholic content, were scattered over the living room table, and the kitchen sink was overflowing with dirty plates and cups.

That night there was a reason for it, lodged deep inside Kotetsu’s heart. A reason very different than the cliché ‘men can’t keep house’. Now he was sitting on the stairs leading to the loft, with the telephone receiver pressed to his ear. He was not doing much talking, though. Just staring blankly into space.

The person on the line was his daughter Kaede, living in Oriental Town.

“For the sun is the source of all life; it completes us and it liberates us. And in my eyes I see two phoenixes, dancing the eternity away…”

Kaede was reciting into the telephone, struggling with the advanced vocabulary. She had called Kotetsu to ask for his help with her poetry homework.
But Kotetsu’s mind was a million miles away and he had heard almost none of Kaede’s words.
Tired of his continuing silence, she decided to question him.

“So? What do you think, Dad?!”

Suddenly jolted back into awareness, Kotetsu provided her a forced resemblance of his impressions.

“Uh, it’s a great poem, really. Drove your Papa to tears.”

“What? What is there to cry about? It’s a riddle!”

“Huh?”

“A poem recommended by our teach, remember? I don’t get the meaning, though.”

Kaede stared into her books, twirling the mechanical pencil in irritation.

“Uh-huh. It's a riddle, alright.”

“You've just said it made you cry! It was just a totally random answer, wasn't it?”

“Nonono, it wasn't! Anyway, who forces kids to write poetry about the sun? Talk about tough homework.”

While Kotetsu and Kaede had engaged in their empty small-talk, the newscaster on Kotetsu’s switched on TV started reading out the news report.

“There has been an outbreak of incidents characterized by spontaneously shattering window panes. Nobody has been wounded so far, and the police says the investigation is under way…”

“Yeah, being an elementary schooler sucks… So, what about you? Barnaby and you, you guys getting along?”

“...Yeah, we’re fine. Just fine.”

Kotetsu’s answer held layers of things unsaid.



(...)





Inside the waiting room of Sternbild’s city event hall, a man was awaiting his turn.

Clad head-to-toe in his sparkling new Hero suit, he was merrily humming an impromptu tune to himself.
He had been told there were six capable Heroes in Sternbild. They all would become his rivals in the point race from now on. In truth, however, his rivals interested him very little.

The man never really cared what other people said or did.
He trusted in his own strength and his ability to carry out his tasks.
Those worth something needed to be appropriately valued and compensated.

For the man, the size of his paycheck was yet another barometer of his value. If there were a sponsor who would offer him even a little bit more, he would answer the call and provide the results appropriate for the price. Simple and clear.

Inwardly, the man could not wait to show his worth to the sponsor behind his new fat paycheck.




The interiors of the city event hall were abuzz with HeroTV associates and mass media people.
HeroTV belonged under the OBC network umbrella and thus those involved in its production were mainly OBC staff.
It had been announced that that night, Apollon Media would be holding a press conference to formally announce its two newly registred First League Heroes.

In the atmosphere of mounting excitement, the HeroTV switcher operator Mary was currently counting the tall pyramidal towers of champagne glasses, stacked all over the hall.

“Holy crap. With each of those glasses costing about thirty bucks, it’d make—”

Her boss Agnes, who was standing nearby and had been trying to converse on her phone, covered the speaker with her palm and snapped at Mary.

“Do you mind? I’m trying to talk here!”

“Oops, sorry.”

Readjusting her grip on the phone, Agnes addressed the man on the line.

“Yeah, I’m listening. How does it look?”




(...)
Ben made his entrance then and spoke up from behind their backs.

”He’s made quite a name for himself on the continent. Or so I've been told.”

The six Heroes turned around at the sound of his voice.

“The owner scouted him out personally,” Ben added.

“And, uh, Kotetsu’s—”

Before Antonio could ask anything more, Karina cut him off and snapped at Ben.

“ Weren't you supposed to promote Tiger too?”

“...I thought we were.”

Ben told them what he knew.


It was all Schneider’s idea, executed at his own discretion.
After settling the promotion deal with Barnaby, Schneider invited Ben and Kotetsu for a private chat and confidentially told them what it all entailed.
Virgil manned the tablet terminal and started showing them the video feeds. The records depicted the work of one Hero from the continent, nicknamed Golden Ryan. They watched as he bound the fleeing robbers with his gravity powers and elegantly secured the catch, sounding off his catchphrase at the end.

“Kiss my boots, fellas.”

Seeing Ben and Kotetsu’s bewildered faces, Schneider brusquely cut in.

“You get it, don’t you. The one who’s going to team up with Barnaby won’t be you, but somebody who actually shows some promise.”

Ben tried to object.

“But that’s not what you—”

“Did I ever say ‘Yes, I’m promoting both of them together’? I didn't. Besides, nobody wants a has-been.”

At Schneider’s harsh judgement, neither Kotetsu nor Ben could find the words to retort.

”Look, I’m sorry, but I only invited you today so Barnaby would agree to sign the contract on decent terms.”

If offered the promotion alone, Barnaby could have had very well rejected it. To gain his agreement, Schneider had made it seem like Kotetsu would get to go with him.



After hearing Ben’s story, a wave of indignation swept over the six Heroes. Even Keith — normally so gentle and cordial — was frowning.

“What a mean thing to do.”

“I thought I’d protest, but Kotetsu didn't want me to,” said Ben.

Kotetsu didn't want him to? His words perplexed the Heroes even more.

“But why…?”

Karina’s voice was barely above a whisper. Below them, indifferent to their confusion, the press conference was quietly drawing to a close. After the last word from Mario, the curtains fell for good.

“Ryan & Barnaby, everyone! Expect much from them, folks!”




“You deceived me!”

Inside the Apollon Media office building, Barnaby came after Schneider hard. Having found out that some guy named Golden Ryan had been assigned as his partner, he could not restrain his fury.

“What? You signed the contract, didn't you?”

“Changing my partner was not part of our deal!”

Ryan Goldsmith, who had been striding by his side, made the money gesture with his fingers and decided to cut in.

“Why’re you fussing so damn much? You’re better off this way, you know?”

“Nobody asked for your input. Kindly hold your tongue.”

It was true that money was one of the factors why he had wanted to rise into the First League. However, it all hinged on one absolute prerequisite, namely that he would take Kotetsu with him. It was the only reason why he had signed the contract in the first place. This was not how things should have gone.

Schneider assiduously ignored Barnaby’s forceful hounding and continued walking down the hall. Barnaby pressed harder.

“We’re not done, you hear? I will make sure—”

“Don’t.”

Taken aback, Barnaby turned around and saw Kotetsu, standing with his arms crossed.

“Kotetsu!”

At the utterance of the name, Ryan reacted.
Realizing this must be the former partner Barnaby had been talking about, he haughtily leaned against the wall, supporting himself by his elbow.

“So this is the infamous raccoon-guy?”

Kotetsu did not say a word to Ryan’s insult. He just stared at Barnaby, his gaze gentle and soft.

“I knew it. You looked stunning under the spotlight.”

Barnaby did not reply. He couldn’t.

Kotetsu should have been angry at Schneider’s ploy. He had been deceived just the same. So how could he be so damn calm?

Schneider abruptly paused his walk and carefully scrutinized the two. A slight smile flittered over his face.

Everything had gone according to plan.

For the sake of your company’s prosperity you have to preserve and reward the employees you need and curtly dispose of the employees you do not.
It was nothing personal.
This was the age where corporate giants like Gargoyle Technica could be built in a single generation. And such was its celebrated architect’s way.



The searchlights of the city were sweeping the skies, illuminating Sternbild’s night. On the roof of the Apollon Media building, underneath the dark sky, Kotetsu and Barnaby held their talk.

“And you seriously agree with it?”

“Yeah. It’s perfect, actually.”

It’s perfect, actually. At Kotetsu’s phrasing, a confounded look passed over Barnaby’s face.

“You were stuck in the Second League because you were paired with something like me. I don’t want to be an even bigger burden than I already am.”

“You are not.”

“Don’t force yourself. You don’t have to spare my feelings.”

“I’m saying the truth.”

“Come on. I know my own worth, if nothing else.”

“You were the only reason why I even bothered—”

“You know, the Second League would be more convenient for me. More flexible hours, more time for Kaede.”

“...”

“It fits me just right.”

“...You are seriously telling me this.”

“Yeah.”

Barnaby was speechless.

It was his stubborn spirit that had allowed Kotetsu to keep fighting in the First League. It had been him who kept insisting - in every way and form - that he would live his life on his feet.
Barnaby respected that Kotetsu; had been married to him as his partner until now. He did not want to hear him spouting this kind of lazy defeatism. He knew this for certain.

“So that was the extent of it? Of your Hero conviction?”

“Second League doesn’t count to you? That’s what you’re saying.”

“...”

“So it was the money after all?”

The words were so absurd it took Barnaby a second to really grasp them.

“The First League pay looks very different, I know.”

“That’s not—”

“I don’t blame you, you know. You and me, we just think differently.”

“What are you really trying to tell me here?”

“Anyway, maybe it’s just time for us to go our own ways?”

“...”

Barnaby was very still. He could not summon the strength to do anything else.

At that moment, the PDA on his wrist sounded the alarm signalling a Hero dispatch.

“Do your duty.”

With these few words, Kotetsu left.

Kotetsu had a million things he wished to tell him. To make him know. But the right words would not come. Even if they did, the only response he would probably get would be ‘Are you trying to lecture me again?’
And now, with the urgent dispatch, Barnaby had no more reason to stay here. The only thing he could do was to send him off; not allow him to turn back.
Make him look forward and nowhere else.

Barnaby, on the other hand, was worried. Kotetsu’s curt attitude anguished him more that he would have expected of himself.
The Kotetsu he knew would have gotten preachy to the point of exasperation. He had no doubt that the reason why Kotetsu had folded so easily was because of simple shock.

This was a crucial time; miss the opportunity and any future First League return would become very uncertain.
But here and now, Barnaby could not help him.
It was a cruel thing to decide, but it was true. They were but contract workers and they had to obey their employer’s directives. Their employers were funding their lives, Hero suits and all related accomplishments included. The megacorps cared little about the dreams of a single worker, even if that worker was a Hero.
Besides, he would have time to think things through later. Now, he had a mission to carry out.

He knew it all in his head… but his legs would not move.
Should he really let Kotetsu walk out on him? He had plenty of things he would like to tell him, did he not? Should he really just accept things for what they were?

The answer he wanted did not come. Barnaby put his feelings aside and resolutely headed out to get ready for the mission.



The city displays and screens lit up with the HeroTV broadcast.
Schneider watched it at home, leisurely seated in front of his big-screen TV. The two voluptuous women by his side sipped their glasses of expensive champagne.
Currently, the TV screen was showing an office building seemingly on the edge of collapse, with the media choppers circling in elaborate patterns everywhere around and above it. Mario was doing his best to fan up the the seriousness of the situation.

“We’re joining you live, straight from the scene of emergency! We have reports of fissures appearing all over the Amethyst Tower! The cause is still unknown and the building may collapse any minute! The Heroes can’t arrive soon enough!”

“Whoa, not bad. Those two have all the luck, I guess.”

Schneider’s spectator-like curiosity was focused wholly on the new duo’s debut accomplishments. For him, the panicking neighborhoods and the looming danger was just something that concerned other people. His only interest was that the new duo he had produced would pull off a striking premiere.

At the main entrance of the Apollon Media building, Barnaby — clad in his newly redesigned Hero suit — swiftly descended the stairs to depart on the scene. The Double Chaser was waiting for him on the side of the road.
The Chaser docked to his red one was not Tiger’s green, but gold, patterned after Ryan’s image. At the sight of the machines, an old, dear memory came flooding back.

—He and Kotetsu had barely known each other then. That day, they had an altercation over who should be the driver and who should be in the sidecar. Being seated into the sidecar made Kotetsu — who thought himself senior — resentful and sullen.

“Why am I on this side?!”

“It suits you.”

Back then, Barnaby had been fed up with his cantankerous and endlessly carping partner and honestly wished to cancel their partnership as soon as possible.
But at some point of their long time spent together, his feelings had changed into something very different and dear.


“We’re ready, ain’t we?”

The voice behind his back abruptly brought him back into the present. He turned around and saw his new partner Ryan inching near him. Barnaby gave no real acknowledgement of his existence and straddled his driver seat.

“Taking that side?” Ryan again.

“Have a problem with that?”

“Nope, none at all. Suits me just fine.”

That said, Ryan plopped down into his seat almost horizontally and luxuriously stretched out his legs.

“Ahh, this is heaven.”

Barnaby scrutinized Ryan and felt a wave of indescribable vexation wash over him.
It was not because of Ryan; he had no inclination to ever compare him with Kotetsu.
He was angry at himself. Angry at the part of him that had allowed him to accept the orders from above despite hating the very idea of letting their partnership be broken up. Angry for allowing himself to be swept up by the circumstances.
Nevertheless, letting Ryan face the fallout of his own personal feelings would be ill-mannered, to put it mildly.

What in the world should I do…

Irritated by Barnaby’s stillness and seeing no signs the Chaser would leave any time soon, Ryan decided to call on him.

“Hurry up and drive, Jr.”

The sudden appearance of the nickname without any preamble briefly stunned Barnaby. He glanced at Ryan over his shoulder.

“I might have misheard you, but did you just call me ‘Jr.’?”

Ryan did not seem particularly willing to explain his reasoning. He stayed quiet and a complacent grin lit up his face.



(...)

“Use your head, Jr. Unlike the rest, you’d be able to move, no?”
Barnaby understood the meaning of Ryan’s words in a fraction of a second. So this was what he had been betting on the whole time, regardless of the risks.

“Gh-haah!”

Barnaby lit up with Hundred Power, skyrocketing strength and output surging through his body. He braced himself and jumped toward the collapsing building with the force sufficient to surpass the gravitational pull.
Schneider, who had been watching the broadcast at home, could not help but cheer aloud.

“Yes! Go go go!”

The force of his jump was more than what Ryan could hold back and Barnaby broke through his gravity zone. His eyes fixed on the radio tower, he started leaping and running over the steel beams.

“Come on, hurry. No point in having a team when one party gets all the credit,” whispered Ryan, still holding the power field.

“...Can’t say I like this style, though.”

Still somewhat perplexed, Barnaby scooped up a young man from mid-air and slid down the tower columns to deliver him to safety still in one piece.
Confirming the rescue, Ryan let go of the ground and his power flickered out, releasing the zone from its gravity well.

“Time to get ourselves some points, I guess,” he uttered and moved to the search and rescue support duty. Together with Barnaby he darted up the leaning radio tower and they started plucking out the falling people, racking up points like a conveyor belt.

The other Heroes could just watch in dumbfounded amazement.

“They got us, de gozaru…”

“Why is this allowed?!”

Standing near the steaming Blue Rose, Rock Bison grumbled his own dose of complaints.

“Should be against the rules, seriously…”

(...)






In another part of the city, Kotetsu found himself enraptured by one part of the HeroTV broadcast. Mario was currently almost beside himself, so breathlessly he was praising the new Hero duo.

“We were all preparing for the worst, but it was them, the new Hero duo! Ryan & Barnaby have saved the day!”

Stealth Soldier too, who had been taking care of the analysis inside the studio, had a glowing assessment to make.

“The teamwork they showed was spectacular. It’s almost impossible to believe this really was the first time they ever worked together.”

Kotetsu’s smile was sad and a bit lonely, and his voice was a whisper.

“Congrats… I’ll do my best too. In the Second League.”

This was for the best, he kept telling himself.
Had he been there with Barnaby, he thought, would they have pulled it off? Would they have saved all those people without a single casualty? Probably not.
Of course, you never know until you try. But Kotetsu was thoroughly unsure he could ever achieve this kind of smooth success. Golden Ryan might be an arrogant show-off of a Hero, but he definitely had the skill to back it up.
And Barnaby was still young. For the sake of his future career, it really was about time he made some big changes in his life.

The big screen above him was now showing Barnaby and Ryan surrounded by the media people clamoring for an interview.
Kotetsu’s former partner had returned in splendid style and there he stood, showered by the people’s adoration and applause. Impossibly bright in his radiance.

The morning sun heralds the day and later sinks beyond the horizon. In this world, nothing could ever last forever. Drawn by the time’s flow things change, morph, and eventually vanish. And the world keeps turning.

There would come a time where the Hero has-been had to leave for good. And that time was now, that all.
Kotetsu was not sad about it, really. There were still things he could do in the Second League. Just do what you can do and that’s it.

Having told it to himself once more, Kotetsu turned his back on Barnaby, shining bright on the sprawling city screen.
With the people’s voices extolling the new duo Ryan & Barnaby all around him, he quietly slunk away.




Chapter 3: There is nothing new under the sun.


(...)
“Sorry ‘bout that… Feel bad about giving you trouble, bro.”

Inside his apartment, the man sounded like a drowned mouse. Kotetsu was talking on his phone, gazing at his trusty domino mask in his hand. The other speaker was his brother Muramasa, the owner of a liquor shop in Kotetsu’s hometown.

“I’m used to it, you know.”

“...What’s Kaede doing?”

“Sleeping. Made quite a fuss about you getting fired; guess it tired her out.”

“I see.”

“...You could come live here.”

Go back to Oriental Town. Forget about Heroes, in other words.

He did not want to.

Now, with the Second League abolished, Kotetsu had nowhere to be a Hero no matter how much he might have wanted to. But what would be the point in staying in Sternbild as an unemployed loser?
Besides, Kaede was in Oriental Town too. There was a life for him there, not as a Hero, but as her father. Maybe this was the right time to try.

And yet…

He asked himself again and again. But no matter how much he would think, the right answer would never come. Perhaps Muramasa guessed his feelings, because he brusquely announced.

“...Well, take your time to make up your mind.”

“Thank you. Call you later.”

“Bye.”

After hanging up, Muramasa breathed out a sigh, his mood utterly gloomy.
It was inevitable. Every job had to end someday. This was doubly true for a job as heavily dependent on physical shape and popularity as the Hero work. And Kotetsu was way more in shape than most people, so surely there was a plethora of jobs he could do. He should be able to support himself just fine.
But regardless of how he attempted to frame it, Muramasa knew this was not the problem here. As far as Kotetsu was concerned, either he was a Hero or he was not, and that was the end of it. He had no words of encouragement to give him.

Muramasa was not the only one worried about Kotetsu, either. Through the barely open door, Kaede had eavesdropped on the whole conversation.
She knew how passionate he was about his Hero job. She had fun watching him do it. She had been happy for him and she was proud.
If he decided to come back to Oriental Town, they could live together. Kaede liked the idea, but at the same time, she did not.


Having hung up, Kotetsu looked at the row of photographs in the room. There was his mother with Kaede, and there was his dear wife Tomoe, who had passed away long ago. Her last words from the hospital bed had been “No matter what, continue being a Hero.” He had used those words as his support and frantically clung to his Hero role. But he could no longer live up to that request.

Kotetsu vacantly gazed at the ceiling and then softly pulled his phone out of his pocket. After a few touches of buttons, Barnaby’s phone number popped up on the screen. His finger almost brushed the call button, but then he hesitated.

What would he tell him now?

He would become a burden for Barnaby all over again. Dealing with me now of all times would just make things difficult for him.
Kotetsu pulled his finger from the call button and gently put the phone away.

Exactly at the same moment, another person was staring at Kotetsu’s number on his phone.
It was Barnaby.
He was in his barely furnished, spartan apartment and he was hesitant. The PC on the desk in front of him was displaying a news story about how Wild Tiger had gotten caught in the Apollon Media downsizing and abolishment of the Second League.

What would he tell him now?

One of them was a First League Hero with a rock-solid future career.
Another was somebody who had been forced to abandon all his Hero hopes and dreams.
Barnaby knew better than anyone just how much Kotetsu had staked his entire life on his Hero job. Take that away from him, and he was like a bird without wings.
If he contacted him now, his very presence would cause more harm than good. No matter how careful his approach, things would not end well.

The knowledge was bitter on his tongue, and Barnaby gently put the phone away.




(...)

The famous Hero Bar was a place where every Hero fanatic in Sternbild had gone at least once. Offering a wide variety of official Hero merchandise and a reasonably priced menu, the popular business gave its patrons a venue where to watch the live broadcasts and browse the older video archives while enjoying a meal.
It was also where Kotetsu and Ben, his former boss, met for a talk.

“What are you planning to do now?” Ben’s question sounded worried.

“This and that. Nothing major, you know, just until the Hero business gets back in gear and brings back the Second League.”

Kotetsu's grasp of the situation was forcedly, delusionally optimistic. It was beyond obvious that the abolishment of the Second League was not a temporary measure.

“...I see.”

Ben did not know how to react. He had to admit that even he himself had no idea what would happen to the two-league system in the future. It was up to Schneider to decide, and Schneider was quite an oddity.

“...You still need to pay the bills. It could be a while before they take you back.”

“Well, about that... I do have some savings, but I need to send money home, so—”

Kotetsu’s tone changed, colored with a blatantly fake effort to make it seem like he had just gotten an idea.

“Speaking of which, when you quit TopMag...”

Ben got his implication quickly enough.

“...Good grief. Never thought I’d be introducing you to my former employers.”

“I knew I could count on you! You just get it!”


(...)





“Wha?”

Ryan’s surly and bemused voice sounded loud in the quiet mechanics room inside the Apollon Media building. He and Barnaby had come at the request of Mr. Saitou, their suits engineer.
Saitou, dressed in his usual white coat, was now primly sitting on his chair and was whispering something unintelligible.

“.......”

Ryan could not hear a word he was saying. Saitou then turned back to his console and pressed a few buttons.

“Huh?”

Ryan could not understand a thing about what was happening. To hear at least something from Saitou’s mosquito speech, he reflexively tried to bend closer.

“...This is the suit I developed. This one’s the crapsuit you wore before.”

“Something about a suit?”

Saitou slowly pushed the start button on the monitor. In the space behind the glass, two robotic arms brought in two suits: one was Ryan’s old suit and the other was his current, provided by Apollon Media. The arms started pumping in the air and before long, the old suit could not withstand the pressure and burst with a loud snap. The new suit, on the other hand, held firm.
Saitou stared triumphantly at Ryan and grinned with self-satisfaction.

“Shit, that was boring. It’s a suit; it’s just something I wear.”

At Ryan’s dry response, Saitou visibly deflated.

“... Tiger’s reaction was so good, too.”

“Wha? I can’t hear ya!”

Saitou’s inaudible voice was clearly getting on Ryan’s nerves.

A few feet away, Barnaby observed their antics with an air of faintly amused exasperation.
Saitou was absolutely, unshakably proud of his Hero suits. This obligatory suit comparison was his way how to show-off; a performance of bragging and ascertaining his self-worth. And with Ryan, he had suffered his first minor failure. To Barnaby himself it might seem like a triviality, but he had no doubt that this had been Saitou’s biggest shock of the year.

(...)







In the backseat of the taxi, a fuming woman checked her watch again.

“You know, I’d really prefer if you hurried a bit.”

”Sorry, ma’am. You see, I just don’t really get this thing here—”

As he talked, the driver kept fumbling with the GPS car navigation system. It was Kotetsu.

The taxi company had given him a crash-course in how to work the GPS right at the start of his employment, of course. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Kotetsu, who had never liked instructions of any kind, had simply not bothered to pay attention. He had figured that a being a Hero, he should be well-familiar with any location the city could offer. No need for any car navigation gizmos.
To cut the story short, the female customer had named a building constructed only recently and the GPS turned out to be very necessary indeed.

Kotetsu’s fumbling showed no progress and the woman was dismayed.

“Forget it, pops.”

She was done being polite. She exited the car and walked away without paying.

“Wait a sec, ma’am!”

Should’ve just listened to the damn lecture, he thought. Deeply regretful, Kotetsu looked out of the window after the departing customer. An imposing police car passed him in the oncoming lane.
Kotetsu briefly wondered what it could be, but then the HeroTV emergency broadcast lit up the city screens. The cameras showed a birds-eye view of the Stern Bridge. A car and a trailer were sinking into the river below, surrounded by panicking horses and cows.
The rescue operation was already underway and Mario began his commentary.
“Er, we’re joining you live from the scene of the latest incident. As you can see, several vehicles have fallen into the river following the multi-vehicle crash on the bridge.”

With their company logos on display, the Heroes were shown pulling out the the driver of one of the cars — supposedly a Blue Rose fan — and then a number of horses and cows and transporting them onto the bridge. The car crash and the fuss surrounding it had completely blocked the traffic and turned the bridge into one large traffic jam. The policemen who had arrived to unclog the chaos were doing what they could, shouting “Turn back, please!” and “Stay in your cars!” to the irate drivers.
Kotetsu stopped his taxi near the traffic jam and rushed to the nearest policeman.

“Hey, what happened here?”

He tried to get past the police cordon, but the officer briskly stopped him.

“You’re not allowed there, sir.”

“Wha—? It’s me. I’m Wild Tiger, you know?”

Kotetsu pulled his domino mask from his pocket and presented his usual disguise. He honestly thought the man would let him in if he just knew he was Wild Tiger.
The officer, however, had other plans. He stood right before Kotetsu, effectively blocking his way.

“You’re not a Hero anymore.”

“!”

“There are rules for that. The place is off-limits for the ordinary public, so if you’d be so kind—”

He knew what Kotetsu was, but it simply did not matter. He would not be allowed any further. The feeling Kotetsu got from the officer’s attitude was indescribable.

Ordinary person. That’s what the world thought of him now.

No matter what happened, he would not be fit to help. He was not a Hero anymore.




Elsewhere, the medics were treating the shaken driver as he relayed the circumstances of his accident to the Heroes. Rock Bison could just gape in disbelief when the man told them he had swerved the car to avoid hitting a dancer who had suddenly appeared before him.

“A dancer???”

“Yeah... Jumped down from above. Turned the wheel to avoid her and then—”

As he talked, the man kept surreptitiously glancing at Blue Rose. Getting into a car accident was obviously unfortunate, but on the other hand, he got to ogle his most admired Hero from up close. Perhaps in some odd way, he counted himself lucky.

“And? Where’s that lady now?”

“Dunno. Thought I’d run her over, but there’s no body, so…”

Sky High’s question earned them little and Rock Bison was just about fed up. The man’s testimony was too vague and therefore shifty.

“You’re lying, dammit! You just ran somebody over and now you’re trying to cover it up—”

“I’m not! I heard a roar or something and then there was that woman, right before me!”

“A roar?”

The man’s words caught Fire Emblem’s attention.

“Maybe that rumble people have been hearing lately?”

Dragon Kid’s casual remark just raised more questions.

“Remember that building collapse? There was that ‘whoooom’ sound, too.”

“That’s it! That’s what it sounded like!”

Driver added his two cents and threw a few glances in Blue Rose’s direction. Disturbed by his attention, she blurted out a confused ‘huh?’. Origami Cyclone seized the chance to ask his question.

“So maybe there’s some connection between that incident and the one from today, de gozaru?”

Barnaby stroked his chin in thought, remembering the story he had overheard during his facility visit. There was an order to it.

Wracked with grief, she bellowed across the land and her figure was terrible in its wrath. Light rained from the heavens, each ray sharper than a sword of steel. Horses and cattle ran into the sea, crazed with terror. And then the sleeping sickness fell over the land and people suffered, trapped in their nightmares.

Barnaby did not think it was merely a coincidence.

“The legend of the Goddess.”

“Huh? What?”

Before he knew it, Ryan was hanging on his words.

“It seems to me that the string of incidents is supposed to resemble the legend.”

“Wha?”

“The Goddess bellowed across the land and light rained from the sky. Houses turned to ruins and horses and cattle fell into the sea. I think somebody is trying to reenact the story.”

“You’re overthinking it!”

Rock Bison sounded almost scandalized.

“And yet...”

“Even if you were right — which you aren't — I’m not seeing any goddesses around here.”

The succession of inexplicable phenomena had scared them beyond belief.


(...)



The Double Chaser ran smoothly under Barnaby’s hands, weaving through the city side streets. Barnaby kept a watchful eye on his surroundings, looking for anything that could arouse his suspicion. Meanwhile, Ryan was stretched in the sidecar, basking in the wind and looking thoroughly relaxed.

“… The wind sure feels nice.”

“This is not a vacation.”

A split second later Barnaby detected a figure of a woman, standing on the road ahead of him. A revealing ethnic costume. Large veil. Brown skin. Her appearance matched the half-drowned driver’s testimony exactly.
To avoid the collision, Barnaby sharply hit the brakes and the Double Chaser skidded on the road. Startled, Ryan angrily roared at the dancer woman.

”The fuck?! Watch where you’re going, dumbass!”

The woman made an elegant turn.

“She’s—!”

Barnaby and Ryan could barely believe what happened next. The woman was suddenly joined by her twin, and then another. And another. They began dancing, each move completely in synch.

“...You gotta be shittin’ me. Quintuplets?”

It was Ryan.

“No. She is a NEXT.”

Ryan knew that. He had tried to make a joke, but apparently, he just didn't know his partner well enough. The joke fell flat.

“I was kidding. Geez, you’re so serious!”

Barnaby being Barnaby, he felt little appreciation for Ryan’s attempt to bring more chaos into the situation. He had no time for talks. He needed to investigate the cause, examine it, and then neutralize the threat.


(...)




In the end, not a single passenger had made it to his or her destination that day. Now the taxi was parked near the sidewalk and the driver was at a loss what to do with his time.
Kotetsu pushed his hat low over his eyes and decided to take a nap.

He was startled when somebody rapped his car window with three brisk knocks. The male customer had gotten inside the car before Kotetsu could even properly raise his head.

“12th Street.”
“Sure thing.”

Kotetsu adjusted the rear-view mirror and was surprised to discover that his passenger was actually Lloyds.

“Hello, Mr. Lloyds!”

“Er, what?”

Kotetsu shifted the gears and stepped on the pedal. The car was on the move.

“Ben got me this place. Just a stopgap thing, until they reopen the Second League.”

“Nobody is planning to reopen it. And even if they did, the Seven have no reason to hire you of all people.”

Kotetsu could only manage a pained smile.
His optimistic outlook was not entirely thoughtless. The idea that it would not end as he hoped had crossed his mind. But what’s the point in being a pessimist, right? He had to believe there would be a second chance for him. He just had to believe that and look forward and nowhere else.

“...Well, there are some Hero programs abroad, too. In the worst case—”

“Maybe you should finally start getting acquainted with reality.”

Lloyds’ cut off was a declaration and it contained the words that Kotetsu hated the most now. They hurt because he knew it too. He knew it and pretended he did not. Or perhaps he was not even pretending: he simply refused to understand, refused to know. There were things he did not want to see.

It did not take long for the car to reach its destination. Kotetsu stopped the car and Lloyds paid the fare and swiftly exited the car. Before he could leave for good, he turned to Kotetsu.

“Nobody can live on hopes and dreams alone. You need to learn how to make compromises, how to live with what is. It’d help you, believe me.”

It was a harsh thing to tell somebody who had just gotten fired, but Lloyds had a reason for it. He was older than Kotetsu and considerably more world-weary. He understood Kotetsu’s suffering well enough. Being a white collar employee since the young age, he had seen his share of demanding personages and unreasonable demands.
And he was just one of many. Swept up by the circumstances, people had to learn how to choose the best of bad choices. It was their duty to do so. Even more so if they had a family to take care of.
Chasing the ideals was for those who were each man an island. Not for those who had something to lose.
Kotetsu had a family and Lloyds knew it was a life that could not be replaced.

Kotetsu, on the other hand, could not manage a proper response. ‘Compromise’ was one of the words he loathed the most.
Yet, the world was rough and there were some things that were simply unavoidable. Banging your head against the brick wall did not always end well. In his situation, he felt it more keenly than ever.



(...)

“The rest of the victims all show the same symptoms as Fire Emblem. Not a single one has regained consciousness yet.”

By now, all Heroes had realized that the string of the incidents was no coincidence. The pattern mirrored the legend down to every detail.

“The sleeping sickness... Just like in the story, isn't it.”

It was Keith. Antonio slapped his own thigh, as if to vent his anger and frustration.

“What the hell are they?! What’s the point—”

“A reformation, perhaps?” Agnes’ voice sounded over the comm.

“Reformation?” Pao-Lin was confused.

“In the story, the Goddess brought down the calamity to make people repent for their deeds. And considering not a single person has been killed so far…”

Ivan peeked out from behind Keith, his voice a whisper.

“An ideological crime, maybe.”

The conversation had left one of them behind, though. Ryan, who had arrived to Sternbild only recently, had no reason to know the old city tales. His chattery voice was light as he broke the ensuing silence.

“Blah blah blah. So what did she do? The goddess, I mean.”

“What? You don’t know?” Karina glared at him.

“I sure as hell don’t ‘cuz I’m not from here! Anyway, what happened?”

Barnaby, who until now had been observing Nathan and had maintained complete silence, spoke up.

“The Goddess unleashed several plagues, yet the people refused to change their ways. She decreed that everything would return to nothing and the city was swallowed into a deep chasm. Inside the darkness the people started to rue their wickedness and the concept of inner justice was born.”

“Huh? Wha? So what’s next, holes in the ground? Or, ya know...”

“We've had the old man with sleeping powers and the boxer-like guy, who’s probably behind those weird sounds,” said Agnes.

Antonio made a vigorous nod and Ivan added, “It had to be him, I think.”

Barnaby, who had come into contact with the dancer, gave his disinterested report.

“The woman can make copies of herself.”

“So the only thing that remains unexplained is that Goddess shadow.”

“But is it really a reformation what they have in mind?”

Keith’s remark was on point, but nobody knew the answer. As the Heroes started throwing out and exchanging their ultimately meaningless guesses, Barnaby alone followed a very different and cynical chain of thought. His suspicions lay with Ryan’s NEXT power.
Ryan had the ability to manipulate gravitational force at will. If somebody wished to reenact the story and open fissures underneath the city, Ryan’s power would be absolutely ideal. Moreover, the string of incidents had begun right at the time of Ryan’s arrival to Sternbild. If he were the ringleader behind the plot, then...

Nevertheless, there was no evidence. Barnaby provisionally shelved the notion into the recesses of his mind and addressed the people present.

“Whatever it is, we shall find out tomorrow.”

“Wha? Why tomorrow?” Ryan again.

“Tomorrow is the supposed day when the Goddess opened the chasm. The Justice Day.”

The feeling of apprehension and fear settled over the Heroes.


(...)

Inside the offices of Apollon Media’s Hero Department the accountant was busy clattering away on her keyboard, the sound echoing loudly in the surrounding silence. Barnaby sat at his desk, decorated with a photo of his younger self with his family and their housekeeper Samantha at the time — all now long dead. He was eating a hot-dog for lunch.
It was nothing he particularly liked, of course. Still, it was cheap and quick and besides, he just felt like eating a hot-dog.
His thoughts drifted and he found himself gazing at the pickles left over inside the wrapping. Kotetsu’s words came vivid in his mind.

“Don’t you skip those!”

It was then that Ryan barged into the office, holding a newspaper in his hand.

“Shit’s amazing, yo. All the news channels are running the festival specials; tomorrow’s ratings are gonna be crazy.”

Ryan plopped down on his seat and threw his legs on the office table. The desk had belonged to Kotetsu.
Rolling up the wrapping with the leftover pickles, Barnaby responded — if only to sunder the complicated, mixed feelings that had welled up inside him.

“This is all well and good, but don’t forget that we are Heroes.”

“...And here it comes again. You know, you’re so young, but you often sound like a grandpa.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your former partner’s influence, maybe?”

Barnaby's poker face briefly wavered at Ryan's remark.

“Don’t compare us, okay? I’m just me, Golden Ryan.”

“I have no intention to make any comparisons. And he and I... I have nothing to do with him anymore.”
As he spoke, Barnaby’s face was as still as stone. He then gripped the wrapped pickles in his hand and left the office without a word.

Barnaby’s attitude left Ryan utterly exasperated. His mouth might insist they had nothing to do with each other, but it was all too clear he had feelings for his former partner even now. Still, it was none of Ryan’s business and honestly, he was not that interested.
To make light of it, he spoke into silence.

“If you say so.”







Unusually for himself, Kotetsu was glued to his PC monitor. The screen displayed Wild Tiger’s official website, the loud, garish text shouting “Need a Hero? Contact me now!” plastered over it.
For Kotetsu, who could not work even a simple GPS system, it was quite a feat. Unused to reading instructions and manuals as he was, it had taken him several days to put the site together.
The point of all this work was, of course, to find a sponsor and hopefully return into the Hero business. It was not enough to sit and wait for somebody to reopen the Second League for him; he himself needed to put in whatever effort he could.
He anxiously clicked the message column at the top of the page and accessed the inbox. “NO NEW MESSAGES,” announced the screen. Disappointed, he sighed deeply and quit his browsing, deciding to watch the TV instead.

The TV was airing a news program, with Stealth Soldier serving as the commentator. He was reporting the update about Fire Emblem’s condition.

“Fire Emblem’s continuing coma remains a cause for concern.”

The unexpected news about his comrade in arms surprised Kotetsu. His interest piqued, he listened on.

“We all hope to see him hale and hearty soon.”

Did something happen to him? Was his life in danger? Or maybe it wasn't?
Unease bit into Kotetsu and his pulse gradually sped up.

(...)

Inside the hospital, Karina was still busy containing Fire Emblem’s tumultuous flames. Morphed by her NEXT powers, tiny droplets from the sprinkles rained down into the fire, keeping it at bay. Pao-Lin dozed on the nearby couch, perhaps tired from the long wait.
Irritated by her hair, Karina had just pulled it into a ponytail when she heard somebody jogging through the hospital corridor. The  source of the footsteps stampeded into the room a few moments later — it was Kotetsu.
Karina was secretly happy to see him again, but hid it with a snappish affect.

“...About time you got there.”

“How is he?”

“See for yourself.”

Nathan was still comatose, his flames flaring up and dying down erratically. Seeing him like this, Kotetsu could not ask anything else. Why did he end up like this?

“You’re driving a taxi now, right?”

“Huh?”

“Saw it on the net.”

“Oh man, what a pain. People just write whatever they want nowadays.”

Looking at Kotetsu now left Karina cold. She had always thought that he alone would never give up being a Hero. She had believed it.
True, maybe there were things beyond his control — like the company business. But she had wanted him to just forge his own path, to always stick to his principles.
Kotetsu, however, was wholly ignorant of her sentiments and kept playing the fool.

“Said I’d stay a Hero until death, but ya know, our most esteemed society had other plans.”

“Who cares about society or whatever!”

She was right, true, but Kotetsu could only grimace.

“I thought so too, when I was a little kid. Reality’s harsh, you know.”

“...”

“Just look at Bunny. Fussy about money and stuff; I thought it’s not very Hero-like, but I was wrong. He just keeps both feet firmly on the ground, unlike me. Sees the reality.”

“...You don’t understand a thing.”

“...Huh?”

Karina was astonished by Kotetsu’s idiocy. It was him who had always been the closest to Barnaby. His partner. And yet Kotetsu of all people did not understand a thing about him.
The thought upset Karina even more.

"When you look at him, what the heck do you see?! Barnaby does have his ideals! And he pursues them!"

The word "ideals" made Kotetsu flinch. Karina did not know anything about Barnaby. What was she even saying?

Unbeknownst to him, Karina could not decide if she should say anything at all. Still, deep down, she did not want their relationship to go sour over a misunderstanding.
Making up her mind, she decided to be frank.

“I heard it from a clerk in the Justice Festival office.”

“Heard what?”

Karina had gone there to buy tickets for the festival after talking with worried Kaede. The tickets had been a present to her. She had thought that spending some time together would make them happy again and that the father and daughter would get a chance to bond. She did not want to tell him that, of course, so she just tried to relay what she had heard.

“There was a talk that Barnaby had bought a large number of tickets for the institutionalized children. So they could go too.”

“He did?” Kotetsu did not believe his ears in spite of himself.

“They say he’s been doing things here and there since the Maverick incident; assisting the abandoned children like he himself had been.”

“So Bunny talked about the money because…”

“...”

“...Why didn't you say anything.”

Kotetsu’s voice was almost a whisper. The words were meant for Barnaby.

“You serious? You hide stuff more than anybody.”

“...”

“In some weird way, you and him are two peas in a pod.”

A look of intense embarrassment and shame passed over Kotetsu’s face.
He had thought Barnaby simply wanted to have more money. Had felt sullen about it and threw a temper tantrum. But in reality Barnaby needed it for those less fortunate than himself.

“...Sorry, I gotta go.”

Looking all pins and needles, Kotetsu swiftly left.

Mad at his thickheadedness yet still smitten, Karina whispered.

“...He’s really an idiot.”

On the couch, Pao-Lin cracked her eyes open. She had pretended to be asleep and eavesdropped on the whole talk. Seeing Karina show at least a speck of honesty when talking to Kotetsu made her smile.


Having left the hospital Kotetsu started walking toward the Apollon Media building, accompanied by the memories of all the awful things he had said to Barnaby until now.

“The First League pay looks very different, I know.”

“Anyway, maybe it’s just time for us to go our own ways.”

He felt terrible. He had known nothing and yet babbled all this stupid crap.

His pace gradually changed into a jog and then into a breathless run.

He had to apologize. As fast as possible.

The feeling of overwhelming regret and guilt pushed out all his other thoughts.

When he finally reached the Apollon Media building, the sight he saw on the road involuntarily made him stop dead in his tracks.

The Double Chaser was parked in front of the building, and there, straddling it, was Barnaby himself.
It was a dear sight to Kotetsu and the one he had missed very much. This was the place where they would meet up before the mission.
Kotetsu would always be late and Barnaby would always wait for him, right in his driver seat.
All their trivial quarrels — like who should be the one driving — now seemed lovely and charming.

Seeing Barnaby there now, at this very moment, felt like fate, or like something directed by the hand of God himself.

A smile lit up Kotetsu’s face and he tried to approach him.

It was then that he noticed Ryan’s figure lounging in the sidecar and his feet froze.


“You nuts? I mean, a patrol?”

“Large crowds will be coming here tomorrow... Nevermind. I will take care of it myself.”

“No can’t do, Jr. You’d grab all the goodwill and leave me in the dust.”

“Oh?”

“Can’t let ya have all the laurels.”

Barnaby had failed to grasp the entirety of what constituted the character of the man called Ryan.
He would get no TV cameras here; the patrol was almost a private matter. Why would he want to accompany him, then?
Based on Barnaby’s analysis of his speech and conduct so far, it was highly unlikely that he would act expecting nothing in return. There was no advantage in it.

“I simply want to—”

“Protect the citizens. Am I right?”

Ryan cut him off as if guessing where it would lead.

Frankly, he still had not fully read Ryan’s thought processes and assessed whether the man in question would merit his trust. However, Barnaby was quite certain that the man trusted him and wished for them to act together.
The realization made him smile faintly.

“...Let’s go.”

“Yep.”

Barnaby closed his visor and started up the Double Chaser.

Kotetsu could do nothing but watch in silence as the Chaser disappeared from view.

Barnaby had left for a new life, with a new partner by his side.
He could call on him and attempt to explain himself, but then what? Left to his own devices, Barnaby would keep moving on — he and his new partner both. No more looking back and over his shoulder.
It would be better for him, no? Of course it would.

But if left to himself, what would become of Kotetsu?

Trembling with warring emotions and still rooted to the spot, Kotetsu breathed out a long sigh.



The big day was coming and the Heroes were as ready as they could be, harried by their ordinary human worries.

Karina was still on her fireguard duty, watching over comatose Nathan and praying for his swift recovery.

Pao-Lin alternated her Nathan watching duty with practice sessions in the deserted area behind the hospital. If she learned to shape her lightning bolts better, she would become a stronger Hero. A better protector for the city. She believed that and — unseen to all — pushed herself to the very limit.

Ivan, dressed in his hakama pants, immersed himself in mediation to sharpen his concentration skills. Until now he had been a fighter of lies, hiding behind others or behind his powers of mimicry. Origami Cyclone could not go on like this or he would be stuck. There will be times when he would have to face his opponents head on. He needed that bravery more than anything else.
“Fair and square! In the open!”
As if trying to convince himself, he snapped his eyes open and reached for his shuriken.

Antonio was at the bar, alone with his bottle of beer.
He was Rock Bison, the one with no real accomplishments, corporate appeal, or popularity. Considering his age, he did not have much time left in this business. At this rate he would retire with a whimper; dwindle into a nobody.
He wished for at least one more success. But how to do that? Communing with the alcohol, Antonio brooded; his thoughts rambling and wandering.

Keith was at home. Stroking his dear John’s shaggy head, he was looking at a picture — a commemorative photograph of all Heroes. They had thrown their arms up and imitated Sky High’s trademark pose.
He was simply a Hero who protected the peace. He was not, though — not quite.
What did he lack? What could he do to change it?

The last few days had seen much soul-searching.
The clock marched on and the deepening night swallowed it all.




Chapter 4: Make hay while the sun shines.



The Justice Day was finally here and Sternbild was abuzz with excitement.

Kotetsu stood on the monorail platform and uneasily awaited the arrival of his delightful relatives. Somebody called on him from behind his back.

“Dad!”

Kotetsu’s reaction was immediate. He turned around with his smile already pasted on and saw Kaede, accompanied by Anju and Muramasa.
Working in Sternbild, he usually saw Kaede only a couple of times per year. Every time they met she was always a little bit bigger — unsurprising, considering she was a growing girl — which just drove home the feeling that inevitably, she was turning into an adult.

“Oh! Oooohhh! Kaedeee!”

Kotetsu opened his arms and rushed to her, fully intending to envelop her into a bear hug. She sidestepped and deftly dodged the attempt.

“Huh?”

“I knew you would try. Come on, stop it already.”

“Kaedeee!”

Kaede’s reaction had been 200% expected and easily imaginable, but Kotetsu still felt irritated. Stifling the smile, Muramasa addressed Kotetsu.

“You never change.”

“Seriously. I thought he’d be more down in the dumps.”

That was Anju.

“You just surprised me, guys. I mean, you just called me out of the blue and announced you’re coming.”

“Huh? You saying we’re bothering you?”

Kaede’s attitude gained a slight edge of nastiness.

“No way!”

Exaggeratedly tearful, Kotetsu made a second attempt to bear hug Kaede. Needless to say, she casually dodged him once more.


Kotetsu piled his three family members in the taxi and the group headed for the grounds where the Justice Festival was held, the road lined with the statues of bulls, horses, crabs and other elements of the Goddess myth. Kaede watched the passing scenery from the car window, her eyes sparkling in mirth.
The festival area was packed with tourists when they arrived and they began touring the shopping stalls.

Perhaps it was the excitement over seeing his family after such a long time, but Kotetsu procured himself a crab-shaped hat and started playing the fool.
His family’s reactions were diverse. Anju seemed to find it charming, while Muramasa’s smile was a stiff grimace — no doubt chagrined by the immaturity of the display. Kaede was thoroughly mortified.

The four then departed for the game corner, where, feeling compelled to show-off his Hero skill and strength, Kotetsu challenged the wrestling machine.
As the matter of course, he chose to set the machine’s settings on the “superhuman”. It was described as a very high difficulty level that only a handful of people had managed to beat so far. The challenge attracted the attention of some passerbys and Kotetsu was all set to go, his enthusiasm bright.
So what if he was not employed anymore? He was a Hero; there was no way he could ever lose to some machine. Burning with ardor, he grabbed the mechanical arm and tried to force it down.

The arm did not even budge. Kotetsu huffed and puffed, put all his reserves into it, but it did nothing at all. The defeat was absolute. Agitated and embarrassed, Kotetsu put on his usual silly act to face his family and the surrounding people.
The onlookers rewarded him with a round of applause; he may have lasted but a few seconds, but it was still a superhuman difficulty.

Kaede, however, just stared at him, her expression sad and disheartened.
She had not seen him in a while. The Kotetsu she knew had always made promises to take her here or there and then had slipped out of them, citing the unexpected Hero work. There had been times when she had wanted him to be near and he never had been.

Now, they were together. She should have felt so happy, but she was not.

She could not shake the feeling that all this cheer was just an act — an act very typical of him. He was only playing his happy self.

Was this really the father she had wanted for so long, wondered Kaede.


The group departed for the main event.
Anju and Muramasa slipped away and into the toilets — better to finish your business before the parade begins — and Kotetsu and Kaede were left alone together, waiting in the passage near the main location.

They had made too many stops on the way and now, Kotetsu was fretting. The tickets for the ordinary public were limited and distributed on the first-come, first-served basis. They should have arrived sooner; at this rate, they might miss out on the tickets altogether.

“Geez, what’s taking them so long?”

The female announcer's voice rang across the area.

“Attention visitors. The parade will be starting soon. Those who wish to attend—”

“Oh, come on! We gotta hurry or there won’t be any places left!”

“It’s okay. Stop freaking out.”

“But—”

Kaede searched her bag and fished out four viewing tickets.

“Ta-dah!”

Kotetsu’s face was blank as he stared at the tickets. Those were for the reserved seats, the words “Special Seating” emblazoned on the front.

“Special Seating?”

“Blue Rose got them for me.”

“Huh?”

“...Actually, it was kinda her idea that I should come to see you like this.”

Kotetsu suddenly remembered how during their talk in Nathan’s hospital room she had mentioned going to the Justice Festival organizational office at some point. It had seemed sort of weird to him then, but it had never occurred to him that she could have been doing something for Kaede.

“Huh... So that’s why she went there.”

Kotetsu looked over at the festivities and noticed the figure of Origami Cyclone, barely visible on the nearby roof. Origami Cyclone seemed to carefully scan his surroundings, gesturing an “OK” with both hands a few moments later to someone unseen.

Kotetsu was suspicious. Why would he be here? The Hero presence could indicate problems.
He felt restless, but he could not just dump Kaede and rush away somewhere. To distract himself, he decided to strike a conversation with her.

“By the way, how’s your homework? You know, the sun poem.”

“Ah, that… I think I just suck. I can copy it until the cows come home, but the one the teacher gave us is just too hard and finicky for me.

“...Then don’t copy anything?”

“When you emulate something, you get the feel of what’s good and what’s not.”

“...It’s better to just write what you really want to write. Right?”

“...”

“Just do what you can. That’s always been your Daddy’s rule.”

The moment Kaede heard his words, a huge signal reading “LIE” flashed in her head.
True, until recently Kotetsu had always been doing whatever he wanted and the way he wanted. Always ignoring his family, too preoccupied with his quest to protect the peace in the city. As a Hero, that is.

Now, though...

“...Really?”

Kaede stared straight at him, her gaze unblinking.

“What?”

“You’re doing what you want now?”

“!”

“You’re doing everything you can? Fess up, you’ve been thinking of nothing but your Hero stuff the whole time we’ve been together.”

Bull’s-eye. Kotetsu looked startled.

“You pretend all’s fine and dandy, but it’s obviously just an act.”

“...”

“I dunno what really happened, but if you want to be a hero, then be one. It’s more like you, I think.”

Kotetsu was silent. Kaede was so young, but she guessed his thoughts correctly.

Daddy wanted to be a Hero.

“Don’t mind me, okay? I’m a NEXT for chrissakes, I’ll be fine. Just go already.”

It was a deeply emotive moment for Kotetsu. Until a moment ago he had always thought his daughter willful and rather selfish, but now she was the one lecturing him. And she was entirely correct, seeing right through him.

“...You’re kinda like your Mom.”

“Huh?”

“Tomoe also rooted for me like this.”

“Hehe!”

Hearing about her late mother made Kaede grin. She would never see her again or hear her voice. But there was one thing — her mother’s blood in her veins.
Honestly, it was a trivial and totally natural thing, but it still made Kaede happy to hear it.

Kotetsu thought just how extraordinarily fortunate he really was. He had been one of the city’s protectors, but it was he himself who had always been protected. His family, Kaede — they had always given him so much warmth and kindness.

“Thanks…”

His gratitude was heartfelt and — quiet and subdued — he began walking away. But suddenly he stumbled and finished the whole exchange on a decidedly lame note.

“If anything happens, make sure you call me!”

“Just go already!”

“Right!”

Kotetsu left in a flustered hurry. Kaede was exasperated, but she was smiling as she watched him disappear in the distance.



(...)


Barnaby and Ryan combed the surroundings as instructed, but there was no sign of the suspects.

“Hey, producer lady! There’s nobody here!”

A moment later there was a shout. It was Kaede, who had at last climbed out of the rubble.

“Barnaby!”

“Kaede! What are you doing here?”

Barnaby drew nearer to her, Ryan at his heels.

“Young lady, have ya seen any suspicious fellas around here?”

“Uh, yeah. Very suspicious, even. Went that way,” Kaede pointed roughly in the direction where the trio had gone.
Without any further ado, Ryan ran off at full speed.

“Missed ya.”

“You should get somewhere safe. Fast.”

After the spare warning the vernier thrusters on Barnaby’s back blazed to life and he set out to pursue the runaway suspects.

It had been a while since Kaede had seen him in the flesh and she could not take her eyes off him.
For the last few months he had been with Kotetsu in the Second League, so she was unable to watch him even on TV. She did not know what he had been up to, day-to-day.

Now he was back in the First League, shining as bright as ever. And as far as Kaede was concerned, he was the true hero. Kotetsu might cry about it a little, but this just wasn't negotiable.

“He’s just so amazing—”

Her murmur was thick with heartfelt and entirely honest emotion.


Ryan and Barnaby sprinted in silence for a while, tracking the fresh trail. Suddenly, Ryan turned to Barnaby and spoke up.

“Um, look... You suspect I’m involved, don’t ya?”

“What?”

“You think I might open those holes or whatever.”

“No. I do not.”

“Huh. Watch yourself, then. Your face sometimes shows more than you’d think.”

“...”

Barnaby had not expected the remark.

True, he did harbor some suspicions in his mind regarding the possibility of Ryan being a criminal himself, but he had never thought that Ryan would sense it. The man was always so lackadaisical and aloof from the world that his perceptive acumen came as a surprise.

At any rate, his willingness to confront Barnaby directly might indicate that he really was not an accomplice.
Presently, however, there was still no evidence to either confirm or disprove the assumption.


(...)




Inside the hospital room, Karina struggled to pay attention to the HeroTV broadcast and contain Nathan’s fire at the same time.

“Come on, everyone…”

Nathan let out a pained groan and the flames flashed and gained newfound intensity.

“You’re kidding?! Nonono, wait! Calm down, I’m begging you!”

Karina was using all the power she had in her, but her earnest effort was no match for the intensity of Nathan’s fire. The tongues of flame seemed ready to consume the entire room.
Suddenly there was a hiss of a fire extinguisher and the flames abated, dying under the spray.

It was Kotetsu.

“You!” Karina’s face was all surprise.

She had not thought he would come here again. In fact, she had imagined than now that he was no longer a Hero, she would probably never see him again in her life.
But he was here, right before her eyes. She had plenty of things she would have wanted to talk to him about, but she also knew there was no time for a chat.

“Leave him to me and go after those creeps.”

“But you don’t have enough to—”

“No worries, this stuff should last me a while.”

Karina followed his glance and saw a flat cart loaded with a small mountain of fire extinguishers.

“Where did you—”

“And thanks, you know.”

“Huh?”

“Thanks to you, I think I woke up.”

Kotetsu looked at her then and Karina, feeling flustered under his gaze, blushed furiously.

“Now get going, quickly.”

Karina’s feelings were mixed. She was worried about Nathan, true, and she also wanted to see Kotetsu as Wild Tiger, fighting in the first line. She wanted him to catch the villains threatening Sternbild.
But Apollon Media had decided to dismiss him and no amount of her wanting could do anything about it. Still, if nothing else she wanted him to help her, here and now. For her, he was hardly unneeded.
To hide her confusion she lashed out at him.

“Just who do you think you are? ...And anyway, I think you’re getting fat.”

Then she left Nathan to him and fled the hospital room.

“Oh, shaddap.”

Kotetsu gazed worriedly at Nathan and armed himself with a fire extinguisher.


(...)



Chapter 6: In every country the sun rises in the morning.


The battle was far from over.

Kasha, Max and Johnny had been safely secured, but one source of danger still remained. The bizarre mecha oddity that was after Schneider.
As self-sufficient and confident as Schneider normally presented himself, with his life in direct danger even he could not help but scream in terror.

“Aaahhhh!”

Worse yet, if was still unclear what was the source of the thing. The bizarre mecha still had Schneider in its firm grip and continued its flight across the city.
Determined to face it, Wild Tiger was still desperately holding on, attached to it through his wires and dangling in midair, smashing into the traffic signs and billboards on the way.

“Gah! Gah! Gah!”

Finally the repeated hits had proved to be too much and the wire dislodged.

“Eh?”

Wild Tiger was hurled into the air. He smashed through the tall safety wall lining the highway and plunged into the empty space below.

“Aaaahhhh!”

Panicked, he barely managed to grab onto the broken safety fence. His fingers closed around the metal and he muttered, “That was close...” in relief, but then the fence bent under his weight and threatened to drop him into the chasm.

“Gah!”

It was then.

At the brink of the fall someone’s hand grasped his. A red-armored arm.

Their reunion could have taken so many forms, and yet it had to look like this. Kotetsu’s feelings were mixed. But on second thought, this was just so them. Kotetsu and he.
Even their very first meeting had been the same; with Kotetsu caught in circumstances pushed well past disaster, he had lifted him up and saved him.
It was always he who came running whenever Kotetsu was in trouble, as if drawn to him by the magnetic force called fate.

"Bunny?"

Barnaby roughly yanked Wild Tiger's hand up and tossed him onto the highway.

"Uwaah—!"

He dropped on the road like a sack of potatoes.

"Guah! ...Owww..."

"What was that, seriously? Let me guess: you misjudged your power usage again."

Barnaby spoke with his usual cynical bite as he strode over to where Kotetsu was slumped in a heap.

"I haven't used it all. Because you told me not to."

"Huh?"

"Thanks to you, my arm feels like it's gonna fall off."

Wild Tiger cradled his numb right arm and twisted over to face Barnaby. He opened his visor and looked at him directly, his expression both awkwardly silly and tender.
Barnaby's features involuntarily softened at the sight of him. He had told him to study and Kotetsu had.

"Oh for chrissakes, just leave that guy!"

It was Ryan who shouted that. Still slouched in the sidecar of the Double Chaser parked nearby, he hurried Barnaby up.

"The prey's gonna escape!"

A split-second look of hesitation passed over Barnaby's face. Inside he was anxious over Kotetsu, but right now his partner was Ryan. He had no time to fuss over Kotetsu.

"...Yes."

He started walking in Ryan's direction, feeling like turning back with every step.

Kotetsu, Barnaby and Ryan looked at the dark sky and saw the bizarre mecha swallowed in blue fire. The flames told Kotetsu and Barnaby that an uninvited guest had arrived.
The mecha, however, seemed to shrug off the inferno and regained the balance, Schneider still in its arm.
The HeroTV chopper swooped in and trained its camera on the mecha.

"There he is!"

The camera captured a human figure standing on the roof of one of the nearby buildings and zoomed in. The mantled silhouette looked like the Grim Reaper himself and in its hands it held a bowgun.

"Hm?"

Agnes leaned forward in excitement. The figure on the monitor inside the production room was hardly unfamiliar.

"Why is he here...?"

"It's... Lunatic! We've finally caught up with Barnaby and others and now we see Lunatic as well! What could it mean? Lunatic is known to go after murderers exclusively, so why is he here?"

The people watching the TV broadcast on the large city-screens held their breath. On the highway, Ryan saw Lunatic for the first time.

"I can already tell he's one nasty dude."

Wild Tiger urged Barnaby and Ryan, "You two go after the mecha creep."

"Wha?"

Ryan looked baffled, but Wild Tiger did not wait for their answer and readied his wires. His target was a building near Lunatic.
The wire shot out and attached itself, then sprung back and launched him at the building.

At Wild Tiger's sudden act a scream clawed out of Barnaby's throat.

"Kotetsu!"

Wild Tiger landed on the roof and confronted Lunatic.

"I'll keep this guy at bay!"

On the highway, Barnaby's worried eyes were fixed on Kotetsu.

"Come on, we gotta hurry!"

Ryan tried to press him on, but Barnaby was completely still, his gaze fixed at one spot above.

"Hey!"

Barnaby showed no signs of hearing him and Ryan was stunned to the point of shock.

Just a short while ago, when they had beaten the infuriating Kasha, he felt like he and Barnaby breathed as one.
But it had not meant anything. The second his old partner appeared Barnaby's entire presence shifted and the man standing near him now was a stranger.

"Suit yourself!"

Ryan tampered with the control panel and the sidecar morphed into a drivable bike with its own handles. The engine roared and the Double Chaser set out after the flying mecha oddity.

Noticing Ryan's departure Lunatic raised his bowgun once again and trained his sights at the oddity. Wild Tiger did not let him to finish his shot, however. The wire wrapped itself around his arm and threw off his aim. Using the miniscule moment of respite he screamed at the motionless Barnaby below.

"Go! No point in forming a team if you don't work together!"

"But..."

Barnaby had every reason to fear for him.
Wild Tiger's powers were on the decline and his five minutes of Hundred Power had shrunk to just one. Lunatic was a strong NEXT. He had been a big obstacle for Heroes and despite a number of vicious fights he was still free.

Letting Wild Tiger face something like this now was just too dangerous.

The man himself, however, seemed completely unaware of the risk and kept urging Barnaby on. He screamed.

"Bunny!"

Barnaby grasped his thoughts.
In this situation, their priorities must ultimately lie with the civilian — Schneider's — safety. He could not afford to hesitate.

Steeling himself, Barnaby activated his powers and blitzed after Ryan.



Lunatic gave up trying to line up a shot and shrugged off the wire.

“Stand aside. I have no business with the likes of you.”

“Our most esteemed owner guy is stuck in that mecha. Can’t have ya meddle here.”

“Fool. So steeped in ignorance you fail to see the true evil.”

“Wha?”

“...The Voice of Thanatos always speaks the truth.”

Kotetsu could not make heads or tails of Lunatic’s speech.
Why make himself a nuisance now of all times? His usual conduct was that of an executioner, killing the bad guys who had taken human lives themselves. His trying to judge the trio of suspects behind the string of incidents would have made some sense at least, but here he was getting in the way of Heroes trying to protect the ordinary citizens. Was he not violating his own creed or whatever?
What in the world was Lunatic thinking?

“Can Wild Tiger take Lunatic on by himself?”

The city-screens displayed the Wild Tiger - Lunatic stand-off to the people watching the broadcast from the streets. Kaede was among them, looking at it worriedly together with Muramasa and Anju.

“...Dad.”

Then one of the kids standing nearby noticed something and pointed.

“Um, what’s that?”

It was the mecha oddity with Schneider still in its grasp. It was weaving through the buildings on the Silver Stage, changing the course toward the bay. Its destination was a mystery to Schneider, however, and his voice noticeably trembled.

“What’s going on?! What is this thing doing?!”

The oddity reached the coast, dropped the altitude until it was level with the Bronze Stage and then went still over the bay waters.

The arm holding Schneider began to move and he could not hold back a shriek.The arm smashed him against the pillar rising over the bay, the impact strong enough to give Schneider a concussion. Then the arm wriggled as if it were a living thing and covered him.

“Sternbild must know the truth!”

Somebody inside the mecha oddity began to speak, his voice tinny and distorted like he were a machine himself.

“The Legend of the Goddess speaks of justice, and it that justice that I will demonstrate tonight. Burn this man’s death into your memory!”

The oddity’s rear parts shifted into a something resembling a massive drill and began revolving with high speed. Knowing he was in mortal danger Schneider desperately tried to free himself, but the arm held firm and immobile.
The drill’s rotation was thunderously loud and it was getting closer, aimed straight at him.

“Ayaaah!”

Then the sky lit up and there was a blazing streak of red light — Barnaby.

“Ha!”
His vernier thrusters set at the very limit, he swooped down at the massive drill with a immense jump-kick. There was an explosion and then a split-second later another one, this time much larger.
The sheer explosive force caused the oddity to lose its balance and it began to sink, trying to reach the ground. The shock even tilted the pillar with Schneider, who was helplessly stuck on its dented surface.

“Uwaah!”

To safeguard him Barnaby blitzed over to the pillar’s base and held it up.

“Ryan!” he shouted.

Ryan’s bike did a wheelie and he burst into the bay.

“Stop ordering me around already!”

He abandoned the bike in mid-air and dropped to the ground. With both palms flat against the surface, he activated his special NEXT power. A gravity dome rose up and swallowed up the listing mecha oddity, preventing it from escaping.

“It’s over..."

Ryan’s subdued voice had a noticeable theatricality to it, but then he raised his visor and made a silly grin into the camera on the nearby chopper.

“I guess?”

“Astonishing! Ryan & Barnaby have done it again!”

There was a deafening cheer on the streets and inside the Hero Bar.
Ryan walked over to the mecha oddity pinned to the ground.

“So, what the hell is it? The ‘goddess’ of the story or what?”

Barnaby opened his visor and inquisitively studied the scattered pieces. Curious about its nature, he reached for one broken fragment.

“Don’t touch it!”

It was that voice from inside the machine. Barnaby’s eyes followed the direction of the voice and for a moment, he doubted what he saw.

“...What is your angle in all this?”

Ryan walked closer to the voice’s owner.

“So you were the one pulling the strings, huh? Virgil.”

Barnaby’s and Ryan’s gazes were focused on the human figure half-shrouded by the metal armor falling apart. His upper body sticking out was completely naked.

“It’s Andrew.”

Barnaby and Ryan stood wary and watchful as Virgil suddenly began to speak.

“Andrew Scott... My real name.”

The name seemed to shock Schneider.

“Scott?”

It was a name he remembered.

“Have you heard about the company called Scott Systems?”

Andrew raised his left arm and showed a broken wrist-watch. The clock hands were still.

“Wha?”

It was Ryan.

“I don’t think you have. My father’s firm was a very small business… He was a good father, too. Had to raise me by himself; never said a word of complaint, no matter how busy he was... I was a kid, but I knew it was his endless hard work that barely kept the firm afloat. When a man who actually liked my father’s work appeared, I was deliriously happy... It was Schneider.”


Andrew was still a child then.
His father was the director of Scott Systems, a company specializing in R&D.
The company had just five employees.
Andrew’s father wished to preserve his employees’ income and worked desperately to raise the company’s earnings. His days were spent chasing the project plans and he rarely had the time to even look at the watch he wore on his wrist.

Being young as he was, Andrew was proud of his hard-working father. Whenever he had some free time he liked to show up at his father’s office and make him some coffee. It was his daily routine.
Now matter how stressed or busy his father was, he was always gentle and attentive toward his son and dutifully drank his coffee.
Andrew liked to see his father smile.

One day, a turning point visited the company in the form of young Mark Schneider inside his father’s office. He had recently established his Gargoyle Technica and its explosive development was said to be second to none within the IT business.
The young entrepreneur liked Scott’s venture and proposed a huge investment. For Andrew’s father it seemed like a blessing; he would be able to save his employees and put the company on the right track.
The offered sum was larger than he could have ever hoped for and his hands shook when he signed the contract and then returned Schneider's strong handshake.

“The company’s growth was immediate. Schneider was a messiah. I thought I’d never think anything bad about him... And then my father killed himself.”


Andrew stood in the deserted office and nothing in the world made any sense.
His father had left his life without any explanation.
He walked over to his father’s desk and there was his wristwatch. It was probably broken, for the hands were motionless. Andrew gripped the watch and something inside him had twisted. Everybody said it was a suicide, but he doubted.

“I swear... My father was not the type who’d kill himself. It was driving me insane and I searched for the truth behind his death. Eventually, I was successful.”

Through the cameras Andrew's confession was being broadcasted all over Sternbild. It was a scream from the depth of one heart and the audience held their breath.

“My father had been swindled, his company taken from him... And then, to hush up the sheer illegality of the whole ‘investment’, they used him!”

The claim took both Barnaby and Ryan aback.

“I decided to make it public and nail Schneider down that way. I spent several years as Schneider’s private secretary; gathering info and earning his trust… And now’s the time to finish it.”

Andrew activated his NEXT power and the mecha wreckage and pieces scattered around began to move.

“The security is overworked and spread thin during the festival. Just keep you Heroes at bay and—”

“Would make sense to use the myth, then,” Barnaby said.

“It’s not just that. I wanted to show to everyone that the monsters who know no justice can be defeated and punished.”

The Justice Festival was one of the largest events in Sternbild. Whatever happened there would undoubtedly reach a very large amount of people. It would be all over the news and the mass media would just spread it further. If he were to convict him in front of all these cameras, many people would know what his business dealings were like. This was Andrew’s aim and purpose.

“And that’s why you hired those NEXTs, huh?”

Ryan’s wrong guess elicited a bitter smile from Andrew.

“...Hired? No. We’re comrades who wanted our vengeance. We’re all his victims.”


Andrew’s accomplices Max, Kasha and Johnny were all people whose normal, ordinary lives had been taken away from them by Schneider.


In his day, Max used to be a promising professional boxer. Schneider saw advertising potential in him and offered to fund his activities as his sponsor. Having plentiful funding was invaluable in the world of professional sports and Schneider's support allowed Max to shoot to the top and score one victory after another.

Then, one day, Schneider withdrew his sponsorship. The reason was simple: boxing no longer interested him. There was nothing more to it.
Max desperately tried to change his mind, but Schneider's decision was irrevocable.
The gym Max was affiliated with was a part of the enterprise, so upon Schneider's decision it was forcibly liquidated and Max’s trusted longtime coach lost his job. The stress and worries took their toll on the man and he passed away not too long afterwards.
For Schneider it was just a harmless whimsy, but that whimsy had wrecked Max’s entire life.


Kasha used to be a dancer in a high-class club, working a steady and honest job. A respected guide to her fellow colleagues, her days were full of sweet dance she so loved.
Eventually all the hard work had begun to pay off and they were on the road to fame. That was when they caught Schneider's attention.
One day, Schneider let the money do the talking and bought out the club. What nobody knew, however, was that he would lose interest in it in less than a month.
The management was subsequently compelled to resign, the dancer outfits and adornments that meant for Kasha almost as much as her life itself were plundered and the club was closed down for good.
In one fell swoop, Kasha and her fellow dancers lost their jobs, stability and their bright prospects.


Johnny used to be a monk in a Buddhist temple, serving both the divine and the local people. He felt his purpose in life was to serve the world and the people in it.
Then, one day, they were forcibly evicted and the excavators tore down the building. Schneider had purchased the land in order to build a vacation resort and related facilities.
Johnny and his fellow monks banded together and took Gargoyle Technica to court, yet once again, money meant everything. Schneider hired a competent lawyer and the monks lost their case.
After that, there was nowhere for them to go—



Having heard the tale, Schneider could say nothing in return. It had never occurred to him that all the suspects behind the incidents would be people wishing to retaliate against him personally.
And Barnaby could not consider Andrew's confession as something that had nothing to do with him. After all, few people could understand Andrew’s loss better.

“Mr. Brooks. You too started your Hero career as a means of revenge, didn't you?”

Andrew’s pointed remark startled him slightly.

“Just a little bit more... Just a little and everything would be over... And yet you still want to stop me?”

Andrew’s eyes were earnest and vivid and Barnaby looked back at him in silence, his gaze stolid.


Kotetsu heard Andrew’s confession over the internal communication line and he finally got the answer to his question.
Why would Lunatic participate in Andrew’s crime?

“So you’re here to help out with his revenge quest, huh?”

“To cover evil is a grave sin that must be corrected.”
“Call it revenge or whatever... Killing people is never okay.”

“You say you abhor murder, yet you apply double standards when it comes to your own partner. When he laid down his life's burden and avenged his family’s death, did he not gain his rest?”


Barnaby’s steady gaze pinned Andrew down.

“I admit, there was a time where I wished for revenge. It seemed to me that my father and mother... That I would regain the future I had lost.”

“Then why’re you trying to save him?!”

Andrew could not comprehend it. Barnaby should have understood his pain better than anybody else. And yet, despite knowing the crimes Schneider had perpetrated, he stood as his shield and showed no inclination to step back.
He had done what he himself had wanted, but he would deny the same to others. Did he really think that nobody would notice his sheer hypocrisy?

Andrew’s eyes turned cold and he waited for Barnaby’s answer. If he really decided to protect only the most immediate victim — Schneider — then there would be no mercy for him.

Barnaby’s thinking, however, occupied a considerably different dimension.
Schneider was being assaulted before his very eyes. To save him — literally speaking — was merely a part of his job description and he held no other feelings about it.
Then there was another task he ought to carry out, and it was a crucial task indeed.

There was something he knew now. When one loses somebody he cares about, revenge does little to soothe the sorrow. Hatred just fuels one’s inner hunger. If one is not liberated from it in the true sense of the word, the tragedy will simply go on.

Barnaby’s severe, unblinking gaze did not leave Andrew’s eyes as he calmly spoke up.

“What I want to save... is you.”


Lunatic’s accusation outraged Wild Tiger.

“He’s... he’s suffered for so long. He still does. You've got no bloody idea what it cost him to accept all his past and still live on!”

He rushed at Lunatic and tried to punch him with all his might and strength. Lunatic lightly swayed away and took to the sky.



“I live with what is here and now.”

Barnaby spoke and there was firm conviction in his voice and words

“A certain person taught me that.... or rather, gave me an anchor. This is why I am as I am now.”

“I will not falter.”

“In that case, I will have to stop you.”

Barnaby’s visor went down and he was the very image of steely resolve. Andrew’s tone was callous when he answered.

“What a pity.”

(...)

“Even you know how things really are! Admit it!”

In a split-second yet another leg shot up and the drill bore down on Barnaby. This time the strike connected and he was sent flying, followed by the hammering blows from another leg. Barnaby swiftly bolted to the side and narrowly avoided the crushing strike, but the fused plasma arm nearly shredded him with its several attack waves.

“You know this won’t resolve a thing for you!”

“Silence!”

The pincer arm bore down on him and Barnaby caught and blocked it, using his entire body to absorb the shock. The power was so overwhelming his legs actually sank into the surface.

“You might even get your revenge, but your father still won’t come back. This is reality!”


Andrew did know.

He knew, but he did not want to see it. He pretended it was not there.
He had loved his father and he had been taken away, and then his soul had withered into nothing.
Alone, he had never found out why to live at all. Hatred toward the one who had robbed him so was the only thing he had to sate his inner thirst. Hatred could stir a fire in him, rush through his body like the hottest blood.

It was the only time he felt truly alive.

If there really was something that could sate this hunger...
If it really existed...

He wished he knew what it was.



(...)

Epilogue: The sun shines upon all alike.


(...)

Mario and his cameraman rushed in for their Hero interview.

“Wow, that was electrifying! What you showed us today was really something else. Good job, Hero people. Tiger & Barnaby in particular shone today; their teamwork was really missed!”

As he talked, he turned the microphone before the two.

“Teamwork’s… it’s not really, you know...?”

Flustered and lost, Kotetsu’s eyes seeked Barnaby.

“Well, yes…”

Mario’s reporter spirit was burning and he was nearly jabbing them with the mic by now.

“No need for false modesty! You were in perfect synch! So, how about it? Thinking of forming a trio since it’s worked so well?”

“What?!”

Kotetsu and Barnaby’s voices indeed came out in perfect synch.

“Ryan & Barnaby with Tiger! Or ‘featuring Tiger’, maybe!”

“But…”

There was a note of something ambiguous in Barnaby’s interjection.

“Nah. You two should just come back as a team.”

All of a sudden Ryan barged into the conversation.

“...Huh?”

Ryan wasted no time and brusquely ordered the cameraman to him.

“Hey, camera guy. Over here!”

The camera focused on him and Ryan, his business smile fixed firmly in place, began his talk.

“Hahahah, yeah! I mean, I knew it all along! They’re perfect for each other!”

“Huh?”

That was Kotetsu.

“So, in order for you two to keep doing good work without any drama—”

Before Ryan could say anything more he realized the camera had turned away from him.
“Camera!” he ordered, jabbing a finger in his own direction. The cameraman gave up and angled the machine at Ryan again. Satisfied, Ryan put his business smile back on and turned to Kotetsu and Barnaby.

“My most esteemed self is letting you take all the credit. Make sure you thank me, dude.”

Ryan’s sudden change of attitude stunned Kotetsu to the point of incoherence.

“Whaaa?!”

“Now clean out your ears and listen, because the great and amazing Ryan is gonna give ya a word of advice. This guy’s companion,” Ryan pointed at Barnaby, “Can be nobody but you.”

Ryan finished his speech with a jab in Tiger’s direction and a smug grin.

“Well, what does our merry pair think?”

Mario once again stuck his microphone before Kotetsu and Barnaby and the latter, looking a bit lost, took it upon himself to answer.

“Well, it is not entirely up to us to decide...”

After all, the origin in the duo’s break-up laid in the corporate machinations. Even if they wanted to come back together, the company would have to allow it first.

“I approve of you!”

Agnes burst into the HeroTV broadcast through her channel in the production studio.

“Bonjour, everyone! As it happens, I've been recently entrusted with the full extent of Mr. Schneider's authority!”

Lloyds, Ben and Saitou, who had been watching the broadcast from inside the Apollon Media building, stared in dumbfounded amazement.

“Wha???”

They had a very good reason for it, for Agnes was but one of the many employees under the OBC network umbrella. There was no real reason why anyone would let her handle the human resources within the parent company.
That said, neither of them had any wish to dispute her proclamation. The three of them had been practically praying for the Tiger & Barnaby duo to get back together.

“Well, our owner’s in a rather dicey position now… So as his representative, I approve of your return!”

There was a loud cheer from the people watching the city screens. Kotetsu, however, seemed panicked by the sudden decision and began to make a fuss.

“W-Wait! Wait a sec!”

“Getting cold feet?” Mario turned the mic to him.

“L-Look, I mean… I’m not the same I used to be, and uh, my power’s just a single minute…”

For the man himself it was undoubtedly a joyful thing. But at the same time Kotetsu now knew that it was a matter too heavy to be decided with a simple yes or no.

Blue Rose guessed his mental state and looked at him with sadness.

“Tiger…”

Kaede too felt uneasy at her father’s weak-kneed attitude.

“So what?”

The boy’s voice made everyone turn around. The large screen equipped on an airship floating nearby was showing a parent with child, who had been among the many watching the broadcast on the streets. It was the boy Tiger had given the red balloon during his altercation with Lunatic.

“I was in trouble and he helped me. That makes Wild Tiger a hero.”

Kotetsu looked at the screen in silence. A few other people on the screen decided to speak out as well.

“Yeah, I guess. Looking at you kinda lifts my mood, you know?”

“One minute’s fine too, no?”

“Your craziness is fun to watch.”

The crowd cheered then.

“Yeah!”

The Second Leaguers nearby showed up on the screen and Bomberman piped up.

“We admire you, boss.”

The excitement over Tiger’s return turned contagious among the human masses and before long the crowd began to chant.

“Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!”

The Heroes watching the spectacle called the inner “hurrah” under their breath.

“You’re great, Tiger, You've helped so many people along the way.”

Kotetsu still looked somber and glum. Blue Rose grew impatient with his despondency and stomped over to stand before him, gesturing wildly.

“See?! Everybody says so!”

Kotetsu, however, felt lost.

To return as a Hero was his dearest wish, of course. But whether to reform the duo or not was not for him to decide. The partner was Barnaby and obviously he could not ignore Barnaby’s wishes.

He searched Barnaby’s face by his side, trying to confirm the truth behind it.

“...You really okay with it?”

Barnaby’s steady, unreadable gaze met Kotetsu’s and some thought seemed to pass behind his eyes. He looked at the airship screen with the masses of people, high on their Tiger-call.

“...Can’t say no with this crowd.”

It was Barnaby’s “yes”, oblique to hide his embarrassment.
Inside, there had not been a single moment when he had not wanted him back. He would have gladly kept chasing after him, even.
But the two of them had been together for too long and they were too close. At this point, saying the truth and nothing but truth had become a tad embarrassing.

“Why not, I suppose. You tend to make me look better.”

Barnaby’s words were tinged with his typical biting cynicism and Kotetsu’s face broke into a smile.

They were men. Was there anything else to discuss? After all, they both knew the answer.

They would resolve themselves and would give the people what they hoped to see.
Kotetsu turned to the screen and raised his right hand in a thumb-up gesture, with Barnaby doing the same with his left hand. Their hands then rested on each other.

It signalized that the two had reformed their duo.
The cheer was deafening and Mario nearly spit his lungs out in excitement extolling the memorable ending of the HeroTV episode of the day.

“Tiger & Barnaby are back!”

(...)

Ryan was in the office of the Apollon Media Hero Department director, dealing with Ben, Lloyds and Saitou.

“A fatcat from overseas has made me an offer. Take a look.”

Ryan looked smug as he placed the contact paper in front of them. The sum printed on it well exceeded his Apollon Media pay.
Saitou was stunned, but his mournful cry went unheard by all.

“They pay this much?!”

“There you have it. This place is a dump, anyway. Bye.”

Ryan brandished his contract like a flag and strolled out of the office, leaving the three middle-aged men to stare after him. Lloyds waited until his figure disappeared from view and spat out.

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

He then stared at Ben and Saitou, obviously demanding their agreement.

“Am I right?”

Ben and Saitou nodded sagely.


And so Ryan had to get ready to leave Sternbild not too long after his arrival there.
Despite his short stay, though, he had gained quite a lot.
If somebody had asked him what it was exactly, he wouldn't be able to answer just yet. What he could say, however, that he sort of felt even more proud of himself and his Hero career than before.

Perhaps it was his meeting with one rare man that had made him into this. Until recently, Ryan felt no interest in any Hero he had ever seen except himself. He had been confident that nobody could ever beat him and had come to think that he had no equal. During his short stay in Sternbild, however, he had found a buddy and a Hero who was unquestionably the same type of person and of the same heavy caliber as he himself. For the first time in his life, he had found an equal.

And then there was one more person. He hated to admit it, but he had met a man that made little sense to him. He was obviously hopeless, but he also had been brought back because many Heroes, staff and citizens wanted it. That has-been even had the unconditional trust of Ryan’s indomitable partner of all people.

Ryan had always been good at using his overwhelming power to control people and make them kneel before him if he wished. He was the only architect of his life.
That man, however, was pretty much his direct opposite. There was no strength in him, but there was something else that captivated people.

Ryan felt in his bones there were still interesting fellows to meet in the world.

Inside him now burned a quiet hope that he would chance upon something extraordinary at his next destination again, and his steps as he was leaving Sternbild got just a bit lighter.



Kotetsu sat quietly in his sidecar as the Double Chaser glided down the road.
He was in his Hero suit and his visor was open. Barnaby’s was up as well and he was seated in the driver seat, Double Chaser purring in his hands. The sun was high in the sky and the Chaser’s run was smooth and almost airy.

The road was empty and the time flowed by peacefully and quietly.
Kotetsu and Barnaby were silent.
Suddenly, Kotetsu glanced at Barnaby and gently spoke up.

“Look...maybe sometimes you’d let me—”

“No.”

Barnaby's interception was instant.

Kotetsu said nothing else and comfortably turned to look ahead. Barnaby pressed the machine on and the Double Chaser picked up speed.

The two exchanged no more words. Though perhaps it would be more accurate to say that no more words were needed. Not for them.





All people live through today with different feelings in their breast. Some envision the future yet unseen, some put away the past that has been lost. Some celebrate the day’s success, others mourn their failures.
But for every saint and every villain there would be a tomorrow. The sun cares not and shines upon them all.



Fin.


















































































*TL: Oddly enough, the word for "partner" seems to have changed. In the Beginning novel it was "相棒", but here it's "パートナー", like the Brooks couple in ep15.