The bullet train sliced through the landscape with surgical precision, gliding at a speed Naoya found... insufficient.
He rested his chin on his hand, staring out the window as the reflection of his face distorted through the glass. For a few seconds, he remained silent, watching the world go by.
Naoya (thinking):
"Mission accomplished. Spirit eliminated. No casualties. Total victory. But... why don't I feel satisfied? Why do I feel like I'm still... someone else?"
On the other side of the car, Ayame checked her phone. Riku listened to music with headphones, trying to ignore the presence that bothered him the most. And Hozuki—the most tense—just stared at Naoya with one eye half-open. Everyone was uncomfortable. Not because of the ride. Because of him.
"Are you always going to stare as if the rest doesn't matter?" Ayame said, not looking directly at him.
Naoya slowly turned his face, his smile as fake as his patience.
"Have they ever mattered?" he replied with cruel gentleness. "Let's not pretend we're comrades. I was assigned with you. Nothing more."
"You didn't have to be a jerk all the time," Riku muttered, taking off his headphones. "We all did our part. If we hadn't worked together, that damned spirit would have—"
"Would have what?" Naoya interrupted, not raising his voice, but with venom dripping from every word. "Would it have beaten you? Yeah, probably. You were the first to tremble. Literally. I saw you."
Riku flinched. He wanted to reply, but didn't.
"Stop it," Hozuki intervened, looking at Naoya a little more firmly. "We're not friends, but we're not enemies either. We finished the mission. Can't you just... keep quiet?"
Naoya looked at him. And for a moment, his smile disappeared.
"Hozuki... I feel something between pity and boredom for you. Do you know why you don't speak up? Because you know that if you do, I'll break your jaw. And I wouldn't do it out of anger. I'd do it out of... medical curiosity."
The silence that followed was brutal.
Naoya (thinking):
"Was I always like this? Or did I just become this? Where does the original Naoya end... and me begin? Or maybe... I was always this, and only now do I realize it?"
He closed his eyes. He saw himself in the mirror. First as a young Japanese man with blond hair and a haughty face... then, for a moment, he saw another face. A face he no longer quite remembered. His old face.
Naoya (thinking):
"What was his name...? I'm not even sure anymore. Months ago, I thought it was a mistake. That I could change things. That I could be different. Now... I just want to be stronger. It doesn't matter if it's him... or me."
"Are you okay?" Ayame asked, her tone disconcerting. Not out of kindness, but out of mistrust. It was more fear than compassion.
Naoya opened his eyes. He smiled. With that soulless smile that was becoming his signature.
"Better than ever."
Kyoto Station
Utahime was waiting for them on the platform. Rigorous, serious, with her arms crossed. When she saw Naoya get off first, her expression hardened.
"Zen'in, how convenient that you arrive first," she said bluntly.
"I like leading entrances," he replied without looking at her.
"Leading and crushing aren't the same thing. What you did on that mission was effective, yes... but inhumane."
Naoya watched her calmly. Behind him, his companions disembarked silently.
"Since when is being human a requirement for effectiveness, Master Utahime?"
The woman frowned. But she said nothing. She assessed him with her eyes, as if trying to read something in him that she was missing.
"Something's changed in you," she said finally. "And it's not just power. It's something else. Dark. As if... you don't know who you are."
Naoya looked at her for a long time. There was a second of true silence. Then he nodded... but not his head. With a barely audible laugh.
"Maybe because I don't know. Or because I don't care anymore."
And he walked away, leaving everyone behind.
Final Scene – Internal Monologue
In his room at the Kyoto headquarters, Naoya took off his jacket, looked in the mirror... and touched it with his fingertips.
Naoya (thinking):
"Am I the boy who died in another world... or the monster who was meant to be born in this one? Am I Naoya Zen'in... or am I someone who only carries his face? Maybe, with enough power... it won't matter anymore."
And he smiled. Inside, something was laughing. Something that sounded like him… but not quite.