Chapter 8: Bond (2)

*

GenTek, 51st Floor. It was a small containment room, metal walls pressing in from every side, yet today it seemed almost as if sunlight shone within it. The air in GenTek's containment room felt a little less cold than usual today.

The reason was... very simple.

There were always three people here: a mother with the appearance of a young girl, a scientist who was also a father, and the special child who had grown up between them.

They certainly were not an ordinary family, but they possessed a warmth greater than any ordinary family's.

Adolescence───

The world often calls this period puberty, confusion, the turbulent years of youth. But in this tiny world surrounded by metal walls, adolescence was a little more special, a little stranger, and a little more... grown-up for Minazuki Kiria.

He had long since outgrown a child's frame, but—

he still looked like a boy, with sparkling eyes and a youthful face.

*

Greene sat on the bed with her legs tucked together, looking at Kiria. Her eyes brimmed with maternal affection; they were childlike in some way, yet shadowed by an ancient soul.

"My baby... You've grown so much."

Her voice was sweet as sugar water, trembling faintly at the end. Like someone who had lost time, only to regain it.

Kiria folded his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Grown? Looks like I'm going to be stuck at this height for the rest of my life."

Mother snickered, and her laugh was like a tiny candle blooming in the darkness.

A small dissatisfaction had been building inside Kiria.

──His growth had stopped.

He had not grown any taller past around 160 centimeters.

And he knew why.

DX-1118. The Blacklight and Redlight viruses. The virus had opened up his 'biological potential' infinitely, while at the same time halting the trajectory of normal human growth.

Greene was the same. For over thirty-five years, her appearance had remained close to that of a girl, and time was no more than dust sliding off her body.

"Hehe... What am I going to do with someone this cute?"

"...That reaction is the problem."

Greene quietly reached out and lightly pressed Kiria's cheek with her thumb.

"But you really are adorable. What am I supposed to do?"

"...My dignity is already gone, isn't it?"

"Weren't you born to be cute in the first place?"

Kiria let out a long sigh. Even so, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. He would never admit it himself, but he did not dislike being doted on by Greene.

"Kiria, is anything hurting?"

As always, Greene's question was soft, quiet, and endlessly warm. Kiria propped his chin in his hand and answered bluntly.

"Nothing hurts, but it hurts my feelings that I'm not getting any taller."

"That's because the virus has stabilized your growth plates. Your body is simply too special, my baby."

"Being special is nice and all... but what if I end up being the shortest person here?"

Greene let out another laugh.

"Then I'll raise you."

"Raise what? My height?"

"Yes. I'll feed you and raise you, hold you and raise you, raise you with love..."

Kiria immediately grimaced. He looked as though he had heard a word he never should have heard.

"Ah, that word! The scariest word is out!"

"Love?"

"Yes! That one! Whenever I hear it, I know you're going to hug me tight and shake me around!"

As if the only thought that came to Greene was that he was truly adorable, her lips slowly curled up in a sweet smile. Her eyes bent into crescents, and just as he expected, she made precisely her next move.

"Come here. Let me hold you."

And then──

Her arms gently, yet far too powerfully, wrapped around his body.

"Aaaah—!!! I knew it was coming, but I still couldn't get away!"

Like a captured kitten, Kiria was shaken in Greene's embrace.

"Hehe, my baby is so light."

"No, it's not that I'm light! You're just way too strong, Mother!"

Rather than a hug, it was closer to being captured by a life force powerful enough to crush the earth.

Greene's arms lay beyond human limits, and Kiria swayed from side to side in her embrace exactly like a little kitten.

"Is that so?"

Greene smiled innocently, and Kiria seized the chance to flee, dropping onto the bed.

Gasping for breath, he said,

"...It feels like I just fought some tremendous life-form."

"Me? I only held my baby."

Kiria covered his face with his hands and cried out.

"Exactly! That's what makes it worse!"

At that moment, the containment room door opened with a click.

"Our son is right. Greene, at this rate our son will pass out from lack of oxygen."

The one entering was Minazuki Kir. A man with white hair and bright eyes.

Too human to be called a scientist, yet too distorted in the way he expressed love to simply be called human. Even as he said that, his face was full of laughter. Greene tilted her head and replied.

"Kir. If you saw this little creature, you'd want to hug him too."

"Yes... I'm that little creature. Me. Me..."

Kiria looked nearly resigned.

There was no way he could defeat these two. Both of them smothered him with an affection more tenacious than any infected.

In the end, he accepted the fact that his growth had stopped. The expression on his small face was forty percent grievance, thirty percent surrender, and thirty percent giving up.

With his arms crossed, Kiria shot his father a look with an exquisitely twisted expression.

The moment he entered, Kir spread his arms wide.

"Our family is all together. Good, let's make today another energetic—"

Kiria quickly raised a hand.

"Wait. Energetically what? Don't tell me it's another test?"

Kir immediately waved his hands.

"No, no! The test isn't today."

"...It's tomorrow, then."

Kir smiled, playfully lifting the corners of his lips.

"...How did you know?"

"A feeling. It's always obvious when you're hiding something, Father."

Kir let out a muffled laugh.

"That's right. Your dad has no talent for hiding things."

Kir scratched his head and laughed. It was clearly a situation in which he ought to have been embarrassed, yet his bright smile was as lively as ever.

Resting his chin on his hand, Kiria muttered,

"Father, it's really nice how honest you are."

"That's right, I'm that kind of person!"

"Would that kind of person run his son ragged with tests?"

Kir flinched.

"That's... you're just so incredible, so if we study you a little more...!"

"Ah. Research, of course."

Kiria immediately narrowed his eyes.

"Research was your first love after all, wasn't it, Father?"

"Wait! No, no! Your mother and you come first!"

"Ah, your 'first research,' you mean?"

"That's not it...! Ah... Fine, let's say that's true..."

Greene laughed softly and ran her fingers through his hair.

White hair───silver strands reaching down his back drifted lightly between her fingers.

"Yes. Everyone in our family is so adorable."

Kiria flinched and swiftly cried out.

"Leave me out! Exclude me from the cute list!!!"

Greene and Kir spoke at the same time.

"No!"

Kiria threw both hands into the air and screamed.

"Aaaaaah—!!! I have no idea who the parents are and who the son is around here anymore!!!"

"But you're happy, aren't you?"

The words were warm, but a faint unease seeped through them as well. It was the voice of someone who instinctively knew how precious this quiet moment was,

and how fleetingly it could scatter away.

After a long while, Kiria

spoke in a very small voice.

"...Yes."

That voice

was the answer of a child more human than anyone.

Kir looked at his family with a quiet, somewhat sorrowful smile. For the first time in decades, the containment room held something called 'family time.'

*

- GenTek Internal Classified Report

[GENTEK CLASSIFIED - EYES ONLY]

Submitted by - Raymond McMullen

Submitted to - Peter Randall

Report on the growth trend and controllability assessment of M-01, host of DX-1118 M.

1. Introduction

This report consolidates and submits recent research findings, growth indicators, and control-risk analyses regarding the host individual of DX-1118 M (hereafter Subject M-01, codename: Kiria).

Numerous stimulus-based experiments conducted since the initial testing began with the purpose of measuring the host's viral responsiveness, but they have now functionally shifted into a testing ground for virus-based weapon deployment.

The fear response among personnel toward the host, present during the early stages of research, has now been significantly desensitized, and stimulus testing has been incorporated into routine protocol within the GenTek building.

However, as detailed below, the host's growth indicators and mutation characteristics have reached a level that fundamentally invalidates existing evaluation criteria.

2. Analysis of Host Growth Data

Data accumulated over eighteen years clearly indicates the following facts.

2-1. Nonlinear Growth Acceleration

Increase rate of host cell density: 410% increase

Mutation rate of virus within the host: at least 7 to 12 times greater than existing DX-1118 strains

Physical growth has ceased at 160 cm, and the phenomenon of delayed or halted aging is judged to have become fixed.

2-2. Manifestation of Energy-Based Mutation Patterns

An Energy-Origin Mutation, not observed in existing A/C strains, has been confirmed.

This mutation has the following characteristics.

Autonomous manifestation in forms of heat and flame

Autonomous generation of electricity and high-voltage patterns

Potential expansion into wave-based mutations such as poison, cold, and vibration

Mutations manifest based on 'Self-Fuel' even without external stimuli

This signifies that DX-1118 M possesses internal energy-generation capabilities rather than relying on external absorption,

and requires major revision of the viral classification system.

2-3. Danger of Rampage Patterns

Even in response to minor stimuli recently,

Pre-Rage Response signs have been detected.

This means the host's 'activation threshold' is rapidly decreasing.

3. GenTek Internal Assessment: Threat Level

3-1. Possibility of Control Failure

Current control equipment and suppression protocols are highly likely to be rendered ineffective within two to three years when measured against the host's mutation responses.

If the host escapes or exhibits resistance,

a situation may arise in which suppression is impossible using only the control measures held by GenTek and Blackwatch.

3-2. Potential Threat Assessment

Potential for a city-scale biological disaster.

Infection-spread rate impossible to predict.

Severe degradation anticipated in military and facility-based response capacity.

Under certain unforeseen circumstances, there exists a risk of escalation into a 'Sector-Wide Biohazard.'

3-3. Organizational Unease

GenTek's upper management judges the host's growth and mutation rate

to be a "danger point exceeding the expected range."

In particular, the possibility has been raised that the history of DX-1118 M may recreate the Hope, Idaho incident.

4. Proposed Suppression and Management Strategies

The GenTek Research Steering Committee has concluded that the following two measures must be pursued simultaneously in response to the host.

(A) Development of a Parasitic Control Organism for Internal Host Suppression

A suppression device designed to parasitize the host's internal biomass structure.

Designed to permit immediate neutralization before host mutation enters the rampage stage, if necessary.

Primary specifications:

A virus-type parasite optimized for the host's internal environment

Built-in self-replication suppression mechanism (to prevent reverse spread)

Capable of implementing a host 'termination protocol' in the event of loss of control

(B) Reorganization of External Surveillance and Control

Additional deployment of continuous-monitoring drones.

Reorganization of a dedicated surveillance unit centered on Captain Cross.

Host access authorization level raised to M-Red.

All testing to be conducted in Level 5 containment zones.

Strengthen infection-spread prevention systems within the host's living area.

5. Final Conclusion

The DX-1118 M host (M-01)

has already grown beyond the category of a "research subject" into an entity capable of threatening the control system itself.

The stimulus tests currently being conducted

are effective for gathering research data in the short term,

but in the medium and long term, they are acting as factors that accelerate the host's mutation abilities.

GenTek must seriously consider the possibility that, beginning with this host,

the entire existing framework of virus research may be reorganized,

and I strongly recommend the following.

> Begin development of a host suppression device immediately.

At the same time, a complete overhaul of host-response protocols is necessary.

This is not a simple preventive measure,

but a critical matter that will determine the future survival of GenTek and Blackwatch.

— Raymond McMullen

GenTek Chief Research Officer

Director of the DX-1118 Project

M-01 Report Officer

*

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