The scarlet four-cornered shuriken spun within his pupils.
Blood-red pinwheels swept across the eyes of the armed bandits.
Genjutsu-techniques like Kanashibari no Jutsu-had already been released.
All that remained was time itself, flowing to the point of effect.
The World's time stop had not yet ended.
Hiro turned his gaze to the purple-haired girl several meters away, slumped on the ground, her eyes brimming with tears.
His memory surfaced the name.
Yuri Nakamura.
Born into a well-off middle-class family.
One afternoon, while her parents were out, four robbers broke into their home. They forced her, the eldest sister, to search for valuables.
If she failed, they would kill one sibling every ten minutes.
In the end, out of four children-
Only Yuri Nakamura survived.
Her eventual death was said to be caused by a runaway bus while she tried to save a classmate.
At least, that was how it was remembered.
A line echoed faintly in his mind.
So-called humans are people who cannot even wait ten short minutes.
"By coincidence, I saved her younger siblings," Hiro thought calmly. "Should I just call it fate?"
"Since she's here, maybe I can look for that person-Kanade Tachibana. With inner worlds and alien technology involved, a heart condition shouldn't be a problem."
As his thought ended, time began to move again.
Pat.
Pat.
Pat.
Large drops of tears hit the floor, echoing sharply in his ears.
The four armed bandits in black suits emerged from the frozen world and immediately noticed the unfamiliar man standing among the children.
Ferocity flashed in their eyes.
They tried to raise their guns.
Then-
They froze.
They couldn't move.
What?
Why can't I move?
Is the urban legend about espers real?
A ghost? In broad daylight?
The only parts of their bodies that could still move were their eyes.
Terror consumed them.
Their gazes shifted rapidly-rage, panic, fear, pleading.
Hiro ignored all of it.
Their emotions meant nothing.
Whether mercy had meaning or not was irrelevant.
Trash required a different method of disposal.
On the other side, Yuri Nakamura had already lost the ability to think.
She had just watched her youngest brother get shot in front of her.
Even faced with a complete stranger, she instinctively regarded him as a savior.
"You... you..."
Her voice broke.
"Please! I'm begging you! Save Yuya! I don't care if you take my life in exchange-please!"
The purple-haired girl collapsed forward, crying as she pleaded with Hiro.
She didn't question why the gunman and his accomplices had suddenly stopped moving.
Their immobility alone was enough comfort.
"Don't worry," Hiro said calmly.
"Since I'm here, your brother won't die like this."
Under the frightened gazes of the two little girls beside him, Hiro squatted down.
He placed his right hand over the boy's chest.
Right over the blood-soaked, through-and-through wound.
The healing power of White Steel of Undine activated silently.
The blood splattered across the sisters' faces, the wall, the floor, and their clothes vanished.
At the same time, the wound closed.
The torn clothes returned to their original state.
"The... the blood is gone..."
Yuri Nakamura stared in disbelief.
Tears still streamed down her face as she watched the miracle unfold.
If not for the destroyed living room-
If not for the four unmoving men in black-
She might have believed it was all a dream.
"You took advantage of the robbers' negligence and escaped with your siblings," Hiro said.
The Mangekyō Sharingan swept across the three children.
Memories were altered.
He told them to run outside and call the police.
Then Hiro stood.
He looked down at Yuri Nakamura, whose eyes were still dazed, yet filled with gratitude, awe, and something deeper.
"I checked outside already. There are no accomplices," he said gently.
"The police will arrive soon."
He stepped closer.
With a casual motion, he drew a pistol from one of the bandits and placed it in front of her.
"Before the police arrive," Hiro continued, "you have time to think."
"These men killed your brother."
"If you hand them over to the law, they may return in a few years."
"They may retaliate."
"Or you can end it here."
"I... I..."
Yuri Nakamura stared at the gun-the same one that had just shot her brother.
Her hands shook.
Hesitation filled her eyes.
After a long moment, she reached out.
She picked up the weapon.
Her steps were unsteady as she moved forward.
Click.
She aimed at the forehead of the nearest man.
Their eyes met.
Fear.
Desperation.
A silent plea.
Her hands trembled violently.
In the end, she couldn't pull the trigger.
As expected, Hiro thought.
She doesn't have the courage yet.
If she had fired, he would have taken over everything that followed.
Aim didn't matter.
Recoil didn't matter.
But since she chose not to-
That was fine too.
"These bandits killed each other during an internal conflict," Hiro said.
"You escaped while being held hostage."
"Now go. Find your brothers and sisters."
The blood-red eyes spun again.
Yuri Nakamura's memory was rewritten.
She left.
After she was gone, Hiro picked up the pistol.
He wiped away both her fingerprints and his.
He placed it back into the bandit's hand.
Then, coldly, he issued a command.
"Kill the other three."
"Then kill yourself."
The world stopped once more.
Hiro left quietly.
I remember what Yuri Nakamura looked like as a child, he thought.
But no matter how hard I search, I can't find a picture.
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