Sunshine City, also known as the Sunshine Building, located in the bustling Ikebukuro district of Tokyo, was a super-large complex integrating shopping, entertainment, sightseeing, and culture. It had been one of the landmarks of Ikebukuro since its completion in 1978. It was worth mentioning that it was a skyscraper with a full sixty stories.
If it were normal times, Watanabe would be very happy to come and visit here. But if this skyscraper became the crime scene of a crazy bomb culprit, then it was not so wonderful.
To ensure that the crowds in both areas were evacuated correctly, the police spent about half an hour. Although it was not considered slow, under the threat of the so-called "one-hour time limit," the crisis remained imminent. Fortunately, the Explosive Ordinance Disposal squad set out early, entered the Sunshine Building ahead of time during the evacuation, and quickly arranged personnel to unfold a search, striving to complete the task at the fastest speed.
Pityingly, such efforts did not receive a return.
Inside a small shopping mall on the 14th floor, Watanabe, wearing protective equipment and carrying a portable detector along with the building plan, finished checking an empty luggage locker. He pulled open the collar of his protective suit with irritation, and sweat slid down his neck.
"Group Six detection completed, no bomb found on the 28th floor."
"Report, no bomb found on the 31st floor."
"Report, 35th floor..."
Hearing the news of his colleagues coming from the walkie-talkie one after another, Watanabe already began to suspect that the guy who sent the threatening video to the police station was talking nonsense, and there was no bomb existing in the whole building at all. Each team of the EOD squad was responsible for searching five levels. The workload was not big, but the involved scope was too wide, so if someone among them accidentally overlooked a place, it was also quite normal.
Watanabe looked at the black-haired, red-eyed boy behind him, "Kuno, have you discovered anything?"
"Not yet for now."
"Oh..."
Speaking of which, the relationship between Watanabe and Kuno was not considered good. Perhaps it was because he had refuted the opponent's speech at the opening ceremony but was countered until his face turned red. Since then, he had never had much good feeling toward this genius boy, and the two had never had close contact either, until they entered the EOD squad together and became colleagues.
"There are only sixteen minutes left before eight thirty-five... But no member has found the trace of the bomb yet." Watanabe furrowed his brows tightly, "The commander said that if it's still not found by eight thirty, we must evacuate the scene immediately, taking protecting our own safety as the priority."
True, in this current situation, let alone dismantling the bomb, they couldn't even find it. If they failed to complete the task, resulting in the third bomb being detonated... who knew how many casualties would be caused. Watanabe only felt that his hair was about to fall out completely from anxiety.
Which floor is it hidden on after all? A one-in-sixty probability is simply like winning a lottery...
"Hey, Watanabe." Kuno Nozomu suddenly spoke as if thinking of something, "Have you watched the video sent by that bomb culprit?"
"I rushed out of the door as soon as I received the notice, where would I have that free time." Watanabe let out a sigh, "Let's go to the next floor to search."
"Are you sure he didn't say any keywords?"
"What keywords... isn't it just some threatening words." Watanabe recalled the few words he heard from his colleagues earlier, "Asking the police to play a game with him, if we can find and dismantle the bomb we win, otherwise he will let everyone see the most brilliant fireworks, this kind of lines that only villains would say—"
"Exactly, that's it."
"Huh?"
"The highest place of the building is the sixtieth floor, right?"
Watanabe froze, then widened his eyes, "Could it be..."
Before he could say it out loud, Kuno Nozomu pulled him into the elevator and pressed the button for the 60th floor.
"If you were that bomb culprit and wanted to hide a bomb in a skyscraper, where would be the most suitable place to watch fireworks?"
Watanabe looked in the direction of the sixtieth floor, realizing suddenly, "Of course it's... the highest floor!"
Due to the habitual thinking generated under urgency, everyone almost chose to search from low to high instead of the other way around.
"Right, the real stage is at the highest point." Kuno Nozomu's eyes flashed, "For a criminal obsessed with games, what is more 'interesting' than letting the police look up at the explosion in despair?"
"Huh? You say it like you are the criminal himself..."
"Ding—"
The rising speed of the elevator was very fast, taking less than twenty seconds to reach the highest floor. Watanabe quickly took out the detector, searching around like a hound. What made him overjoyed was that he soon heard the sharp buzzing sound emitted by the detector and locked the signal source.
"This direction is... the observation deck!"
Kuno was right, the bomb was indeed hidden in the position most suitable for viewing fireworks.
The observation deck was located in the westernmost corner of the top floor, which was the most ornamental area of the whole building. It was composed almost entirely of floor-to-ceiling glass, making people feel as if they were standing on the skyline of the city, with the field of vision not blocked in the slightest bit. Looking out from here, the beautiful night view could be fully seen.
The two went straight to the vicinity of the observation deck, seeing several pumpkin lanterns filled with a Halloween atmosphere decorating the surroundings, swaying gently in the night wind and making slight creaking sounds. One of the pumpkin heads was deliberately placed in the corner, its eyes glowing with red light and its wide grin seeming to mock something.
"Wait, those are not eyes... what's hidden inside is the bomb!"
Watanabe walked over quickly, approaching the pumpkin head carefully, and sure enough, he saw the fuse inside. He first let out a sigh of relief, then his heart raised again.
"Dismantling this thing within fifteen minutes..." If the bomb structure was simple it was fine, but if it was too complex, it really might not be dismantled on time.
Just when he wanted to use the walkie-talkie to notify others, Kuno Nozomu's ear tilted slightly to one side, as if capturing some slight sound.
"Tick, tick, tick—"
An extremely light but unusually regular sound of mechanical operation came from inside the pumpkin head, and Watanabe's pupils shrank suddenly, "This is... a countdown?!"
Damn it, he should have thought long ago that with the madness of that bomb culprit, he wouldn't let them off so easily. But he hadn't touched the bomb at all, when was the countdown triggered?
"Not triggered by touch, but by detector signal induction." Kuno Nozomu knelt on one knee, his fingers gently pushing away the padding inside the pumpkin head, revealing the cold metal device inside, as well as the bright red numbers jumping constantly on the screen.
00:04:50, 00:04:49, 00:04:48...
His fingertips hovered above the bomb, his gaze sweeping quickly through the intricate circuit structure. His voice was calm to the point of being almost sharp, "Once it detects the detector signal of the bomb-dismantling group at a close distance, it will automatically start the countdown."
"Doesn't that mean... when we just found it, it already—" Looking at the countdown with less than five minutes left, Watanabe's mind was in a mess. Originally dismantling the bomb in a quarter of an hour was already uncertain, and now it shrunk by this much...
What should be done now? Forcefully dismantle it?
"Watanabe." Kuno Nozomu suddenly spoke, "You go down."
"What?"
"The countdown is too short, you staying here can only drag me back." Kuno Nozomu pulled out the bomb-dismantling equipment from his tool bag. While checking the bomb structure, he said in an imperative tone that didn't sound like a team member at all, "Let other members go to the lowest floors, just in case something happens, to avoid accidental injuries."
"Then you..."
"Of course I will dismantle it." Kuno Nozomu curled his lips, showing an almost provocative smile, "Believe me, four minutes is enough."
Watanabe's fist clenched tightly. He knew very well that although Kuno Nozomu was young, he had an expert level of bomb-dismantling standards. When they went out on missions together before, it was not that there hadn't been situations where everyone arrived late and Kuno dismantled the bomb alone. And every single time, he completed it excellently.
Then, this time... can he be trusted too?
The ticking sound of the countdown and the violent thumping sound of Watanabe's heart gradually reached the same frequency. There was no time to hesitate further.
"You better do what you say... if you can't dismantle it, at least leave enough time to enter the elevator to escape!"
Hearing the movement of Watanabe leaving, Kuno Nozomu didn't raise his head, the movements of his hands not stopping for a single moment. He settled his mind, his brain spinning rapidly like the most precise instrument, almost completely forgetting the time.
"Tick, tick..."
Not until the wire cutters hovered over the last red line did Kuno Nozomu narrow his eyes slightly, his fingertips steady as a rock. 00:00:30. There were thirty seconds left, not a bit different from his estimation. Although he encountered many small obstacles during the dismantling process that made him spend more thought, still... it was time to end.
At the same time, Shinjuku Kabukicho.
This prosperous area famous in Tokyo for its red-light district was even more difficult to evacuate smoothly compared to Ikebukuro. Therefore, the time left for the members of the EOD squad to search for the bomb was also less. Just at the moment when the high-level officials almost decided to give up the search, Hagiwara finally discovered clues in a certain bar.
"The detector has a reaction... the bomb is here!" Hagiwara's spirit was shaken, and he immediately called his colleagues over to check.
"Huh? Hidden here unexpectedly?" Matsuda looked at the plain-looking pumpkin head in front of him, wondering, "Didn't someone check this bar before? How did they not find the problem?"
"Don't know, maybe the instrument happened to malfunction a bit."
"Forget it, now is not the time to think about this." Matsuda and an expert surnamed Ito approached the bomb, intending to attempt dismantling it immediately. As support personnel, Hagiwara and several team members stood not far away, ready to alert and cover at any time.
But just at this critical juncture, his walkie-talkie suddenly rang. Hagiwara hesitated for several seconds, walked to a slightly distant corner, and answered in a low voice, "Hello?"
"Did the Shinjuku group find the bomb?!" It was Kuno Nozomu's voice. Hearing his urgent tone, Hagiwara felt a bit strange.
"Just found it, Matsuda and Mr. Ito are just about to dismantle the bomb. How about your side?"
As soon as the voice fell, he heard an exclamation coming from nearby, "Terrible, it's a countdown!"
"There's less than five minutes of time left... damn it!"
"Shameless bomb culprit, simply doing it on purpose to mess with our minds..."
Matsuda gave a tsk, with no fear on his face at all, "Who cares if it's ten minutes or five minutes, try it first before talking!" If they didn't try, how would they know if it could be dismantled. If it really didn't work, they would evacuate the scene quickly, no big deal.
"A five-minute countdown?" Seeing the state of affairs change, Hagiwara's tone also became urgent, "Little Kuno, let's not talk for now, we have to quickly..."
"Can't dismantle it."
Hagiwara froze, "What do you mean?"
Kuno Nozomu lowered his eyes, looking at the bomb in front of him with only the last red line left, and the micro-sensor buried at the bottom that couldn't be noticed at all without careful looking. At the moment right before cutting the red line, he discovered this small device. ...So that's how it is. His pupils constricted slightly.
This was not some ordinary time bomb, but an extremely terrifying trap. If he dismantled the bomb now, the sensor would immediately send an "automatic detonation" signal to the other bomb. If he forcefully destroyed the sensor, the probability was extremely high that it would be the same result. This kind of device called a "serial bomb" was not without precedent in the past few decades, and without exception caused huge casualties.
Thinking about it carefully, the bomb culprit specifically hid bombs in the two areas of Ikebukuro and Shinjuku respectively, probably just to make their bunch of police act separately, and even kill the companions who were dismantling the bomb on the other side while being completely unaware. To verify this guess, Kuno Nozomu opened his mouth to ask about the progress of the Shinjuku group over there, confirming whether they were right near the bomb.
Is it also a five-minute countdown... Why happens to be at this kind of time, you two are so close to the bomb? If it were changed to someone else...
His gaze landed on the bright red numbers in front of him—00:00:05. So... it already passed for this long. Within five seconds, to get to the elevator from the westernmost observation deck, perhaps only the ability users in rumors could do it.
If he cut the red line, Matsuda, Hagiwara, and the others would very likely be killed by the suddenly detonated bomb. If he didn't do it, the bomb in Ikebukuro would explode naturally, while the bomb in Shinjuku wouldn't be detonated for the time being. In this way, Matsuda, Hagiwara, and the others still had time to dismantle the bomb, and wouldn't face the explosion without any preparation.
But the price was—he himself would face certain death.
What should he do? Is it waiting for death to come alone... or killing his own friends with his own hands?
00:00:04.
"...I can't dismantle it."
Without much intense psychological struggle, Kuno Nozomu made the choice calmly. The insulated pliers ultimately didn't cut toward that red line, but loosened lightly, falling on the ground and making an insignificant crisp sound.
The black-haired youth looked out of the window, his crimson eyes reflecting the lights of the whole city, like a grand fireworks display that was about to end. This kind of beautiful night might never be seen again. But compared to this, he had one more regretful thing.
"No way to celebrate the birthday together with everyone... sorry." His voice was light as a sigh, as if knowing the arrival of this day long ago.
00:00:03.
"Hey, what exactly are you talking about, I don't understand at all...!" Hagiwara's voice came from the walkie-talkie, carrying obvious panic and unease.
00:00:02. Kuno Nozomu closed his eyes. It was merely a short two seconds, but it was exceptionally long like a revolving lantern.
"Since you think staying with us is very interesting... then staying a bit longer is completely fine, right?"
"I am willing to be your friend and accompany you."
"Although normally always making a racket that makes people headachy, at the critical moment... everyone will protect the stamen without prior agreement."
"This is the bond of the Onizuka class!"
"The six people of our class are indispensable, this point will never change."
Those shining memories had never appeared so clearly in his mind, making him miss them.
00:00:01.
"Goodbye, little Hagiwara."
00:00:00.
Hagiwara gripped the walkie-talkie deadly, his knuckles turning white, "Don't play this kind of joke! Little Kuno! Little Kuno!!"
"Answer me quickly—" He almost roared out, his voice hoarse beyond recognition. "Answer me quickly! Kuno Nozomu!"
"Boom!!!"
In an instant, a huge explosion shattered the glass of the observation deck, and fire rolled up into the sky. The sharp sound of glass shattering and the piercing noise of metal twisting came along with the roar.
Then came silence. A deathly silence.
Hagiwara's hand trembled, and the walkie-talkie slid from between his fingers, crashing heavily onto the ground.