Kobayashi had never imagined that one day he would find himself in the sights of a sniper.
He was just about to repeat his old trick—using his "stacked armor" technique to neutralize the incoming round—when it struck him that the sniper was simply too far away. He had no effective means of counterattacking.
And if he didn't deal with that sniper, anything he tried to do next would be constantly disrupted.
So, Kobayashi changed his approach.
Enduring a tremendous strain that felt as though it might tear his body apart, he entered his "bullet time" state. Using his psychic ability, he forcibly shifted his body, deviating from the bullet's trajectory by the smallest possible margin.
Next, he seized a tomato from the paper bag tucked against his chest. The tomato, already bursting apart from the extreme acceleration, turned into a splatter of pulp and juice, which he guided with psychic force directly into the bullet's unavoidable path.
Finally, he pushed over his wheelchair with telekinesis, sending himself flipping backward.
Seen under normal time flow, a burst of red liquid exploded where Kobayashi had been a moment earlier, and then the entire wheelchair was overturned by a tremendous force.
Because the wheelchair had been moving at high speed before it suddenly toppled, the inertia flung Kobayashi clear. He rolled a long distance across the ground, looking utterly disheveled.
But from the sniper's vantage point atop the distant building, one would notice that Kobayashi eventually rolled beneath a flowerbed, perfectly blocking both the sniper's line of sight and firing angle.
Kobayashi still couldn't pinpoint the sniper's exact position within that building. But he was certain of one thing: no matter where the sniper was, there was no way he could see someone hidden beneath the flowerbed.
For the moment, he was safe.
The proof was that his "bullet time" state disengaged, and the flow of time around him returned to normal.
Kobayashi took out his phone and checked it. Still no signal.
With no other choice, he lay there and surveyed his surroundings.
Seeing the overturned wheelchair and the groceries scattered all over the ground not far away, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret. His very first shopping trip had ended like this. What a waste of all that food and seasoning.
"What should I do next?" Pressed tightly against the corner beneath the flowerbed wall, Kobayashi began to consider his next move.
Perhaps it was because he had tested the reliability of "bullet time" again and again. Or perhaps it was because he had already been attacked multiple times today and grown numb to it. Either way, at this moment, he felt none of the fear or lingering dread one might expect.
—If even a sniper couldn't take him out, what was there to be afraid of?
As long as that guy dared to get a little closer…
Just then, hurried footsteps sounded nearby.
Kobayashi instantly went on high alert.
A man in a blue work uniform came running toward him. Judging by the insignia on his clothes, he looked like a cable maintenance worker.
Of course, that identity was a disguise.
The man in blue arrived at the scene without showing the slightest surprise at the chaos on the ground. His gaze immediately locked onto Kobayashi, who was slumped in the corner.
At the same time, Kobayashi turned his head. Their eyes met in midair.
"Still alive…" Without hesitation, the man drew a taser, aimed at his target, and pulled the trigger.
The capture-grade electric dart struck an invisible barrier mid-flight and ricocheted straight back, embedding itself into the back of the man's own hand.
He didn't even have time to scream. Convulsing violently, he collapsed to the ground.
Bang!
A faint vibration rippled through the flowerbed behind Kobayashi.
The distant sniper had also realized that Kobayashi was still alive and resumed his attack.
Kobayashi glanced at the bullet hole some distance away from him. The sniper clearly didn't know his exact location—this shot was far off, so much so that it didn't even trigger "bullet time."
Yet precisely because of that, Kobayashi felt the terror of being shot at all the more vividly.
Even with "bullet time" as a safety net, to be honest, he still didn't fully trust this strange, inexplicable passive ability. After all, it wasn't under his control. It was like a jack-in-the-box—you never knew when it would suddenly spring.
That said, if "bullet time" were to become an active ability he could control at will, Kobayashi would probably be the first to oppose it.
After all, he didn't have precognition. Who could know when danger would strike?
So, there was no point dwelling on it. Caught between two unsatisfying choices, there would never be a perfect answer.
"No… rather than getting hung up on all that," Kobayashi muttered to himself, "if I didn't keep running into this kind of mess in the first place, I wouldn't even need to care whether 'bullet time' is passive or active, right?"
If he had a choice, Kobayashi would rather this powerful ability never be used at all.
Instead of being triggered twice in a single day—
How long had it even been since he'd arrived in this world? He had already faced four life-and-death crises!
"Damn it, all I wanted was to lie low and take it easy," Kobayashi clicked his tongue in frustration.
Noticing that the man who had been stunned by the taser was beginning to show signs of waking up, Kobayashi dragged him over and slapped him awake a few times.
"Don't turn around," Kobayashi said, restraining the man and forcing him to sit on the ground with his back facing him. "How many of you are there? And who ordered you to kill me?"
The man remained silent.
Kobayashi sighed inwardly, a flash of cold resolve passing through his eyes.
Crack!
"AAAH—!" The man finally screamed in agony.
His left hand had been broken. The rest of his body, however, was held firmly in place by psychic force, leaving him unable to move—he could only twitch slightly as the pain wracked him.
"You have four chances left," Kobayashi said, his expression taut. "Say something."
"I… we didn't intend to kill you!" the man finally blurted out. "Our mission was to capture you—alive."
"That sniper was one of yours?" Kobayashi asked. Judging from the bullet trajectories earlier, they had clearly been aiming to kill him.
"He…" The man hurried to explain. "Because the threat you posed was too great, he compromised a little. The employer should be able to understand…"
"Who's the employer?" Kobayashi pressed.
"You… you don't know?" The man sounded genuinely surprised. "It's the research institute you used to belong to."
—How would I know? Even the security forces haven't figured it out yet.
Kobayashi's heart stirred. This might be the most important piece of information so far.
"Wait," Kobayashi said, using psychic force to drag the man under the flowerbed as well. "Tell me—what exactly is your mission?"
"You… wait, the intel said you lost your memory?" As if only now realizing it, the man became aware of the mistake he had made.
He had just exposed a crucial fact: he possessed detailed information about the employer's research institute.
And for Kobayashi—who had already lost his memories—that information was invaluable.
(End of Chapter)
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