< 700 million people watched the "historic record"... [The Bird in the Cage] achieves a 55.2% rating, setting the all-time record for private broadcasters >
< LADWIMPS’s [The Bird in the Cage] OST, "There Is Still Something Love Can Do." shoots to No. 1 on every music chart immediately after release >
< [Today’s Pick] Long takes, tears, and a kiss that sends shivers down your spine... opening a new horizon for Japanese dramas / critic Nakamura Soyuki >
< "Please let us love each other," netizens argue over the sudden controversy surrounding the "conditional legalization of polygamy" >
< "Busy sneaking a look at the drama..." A man in his 20s, wanted on charges of robbery and assault, arrested at a tavern in Osaka >
"...."
Kana turned off the screen and set her smartphone down.
Last night, after staying up all night and watching the drama for the nth time, Kana rubbed her stinging eyes through a haze of drowsiness.
She had been so absorbed that she forgot to blink, unable to look away from the TV for even a single second.
Last night, she had quite literally reached the point where the drama sucked her soul right out of her.
Exploding dopamine, and waves of electric thrills.
During the long-take kiss scene, Kana had unconsciously pressed her hands together and prayed to God that Hiroki and Honoka would somehow get back together, so immersed was she in it.
"Haa...."
Even though she was wearing pants, Kana frowned as she fiddled with her right knee.
She had gotten so worked up during the kiss scene that she sprang up from the sofa and overreacted, only to slam her knee hard into the corner of the living room table.
Thank goodness it hadn’t bruised, but the pain still hadn’t faded.
That was how much... how much Kana had been stunned by Kaoru and Ai, the senior actress’s insane acting in yesterday’s drama.
She turned her smartphone screen back on and looked at the LINE messages she had exchanged with Ai-senpai a little while ago.
—
Ai-senpai♥
- Kana-chan!
- How is it? I told you it was okay to look forward to it a lot, right? (๑˃́ꇴ˂̀๑)
.
.
.
- But you still need to sleep well! You have to keep growing~
- Of course... I also stayed up a little late like Kana-chan, though-? ⸜(´꒳`)⸝
—
Kana let out a soft, adorable laugh.
If pure, innocent cuteness could be made into a living being, wouldn’t it be senior Hoshino Ai?
When Kana said she had stayed up late rewatching the drama, Ai had worried that she should sleep more because she was still young—that alone made Kana feel so grateful and happy.
She had felt it when they acted together too—
After all, the feeling of being [admired] was...
happy.
If she could someday become a member of that warm and happy "Hoshino family"...
"Huh?"
"Member?"
Without realizing it, as her thoughts flowed on their own and linked one after another—
the word "member" that had suddenly lodged itself in her mind—
once again, that boy’s face rose up in her head like the first sunrise of the new year.
Kana’s startled red eyes flew wide open for an instant.
What did the word "member" have to do with that annoyingly mature-acting boy!?
"Hup- eh- cough! Cough!?"
"Hm? What is it?"
"Cough! N-no, it’s nothing—cough! I just, I just choked on something for a second-"
Takashi, Kana’s dedicated manager who was driving, looked at her with concern in the rearview mirror when Kana suddenly broke into violent coughing in the back seat.
"Oh, should I get you some water?"
"No! I-I’m fine. Really, I’m fine. Hehe-"
Embarrassed, Kana’s face turned red as she opened the bottle cap and drank some water.
Since she was on her way to a photo shoot and interview schedule for a famous pop-culture magazine after the drama aired, taking care of her voice was really important.
For Kana, whose hunger for [acting] was stronger than anyone’s, this was the best schedule she could ask for, so she had to put even more effort into it.
"Phew!"
Foolish behavior was the greatest taboo before an important job!
Once again, Kana calmly gathered herself, pressed her lips together, and nodded firmly.
-
The living room was steeped in deep, cold darkness.
Lying on the sofa, he opened his tightly shut eyelids.
Through the gap between his opened lids, the aura of his cold blue eyes shone fiercely.
Silently, but with astonishingly nimble movements, he pressed himself against the left wall near the front door.
His Adam’s apple bobbed, and the quiet beat of his heart seemed to echo around his neck.
Just as the ticking of the clock’s second hand repeated about ten times—
Bang— KWAANG—!
An enormous roar, an explosion, and a flash of light shook the entire house.
As if celebrating the success of the door breaching, the alloy steel front door was ripped away and sent flying, rolling across the middle of the living room.
It seemed even the electricity had been cut, because the sensor light above the front door didn’t turn on either.
Pressed against the left wall and holding his breath, he instantly identified the intruders rushing in through the front door in a two-man column.
And then—
With his right hand, he grabbed the long, sharp brass candlestick-shaped ornament his wife had bought years ago as an item to decorate the house with.
Even though they were wearing four-eyed night-vision goggles, the intruders approached without realizing he was there, hidden in the blind spot along the left wall.
Like a beast stalking prey, his blue eyes flashed with a cold-blooded light for an instant.
"Huh!?"
Crunch—
Even though the man wore a bulletproof plate, he had seen through the weakness left exposed at the side and drove the brass ornament in like a knife.
He knew better than anyone how to kill a human being "well" and "quickly."
The skills he possessed, and the mindset trained to use those skills in the "optimal" way—
"!"
Swish—
Szzzt—thud—thud!
With his left hand, he clamped over the mouth behind the mask so tightly the man couldn’t even make a sound.
Having struck the organs in the side—avoiding the ribs and hitting the lungs and blood vessels—he yanked the brass ornament back out.
Blood poured from the wound like water from a faucet, but before the thug could even blink, he drove the brass ornament into the carotid artery in the neck.
"Kek-"
Squelch—splash!
Blood sprayed wildly into the air.
The groan that had not been fully suppressed echoed together with the blood.
In a dark house, even the smallest sound rings out very loudly.
Moreover, the space was confined, and the intruding thugs were all wearing tactical headsets with noise canceling and sound amplification activated.
He had never intended to maintain complete stealth and wipe them out from the start.
During the seven seconds after the thugs broke into the house—
Click—
He quickly drew the pistol from the holster attached to the left side of his plate carrier, the weapon he had targeted from the beginning—
After checking that the pistol was loaded, he opened fire on the two thugs who had simultaneously turned their muzzles toward him.
Bang bang—!
"!"
One bullet each slammed precisely into the faces of the enemies.
The acrid smell of gunpowder drifted into his nose, and his ears rang from the pistol shots, but—
He tore his gaze away from the two targets collapsing with their faces pierced through and swung the muzzle toward one man in front of the bedroom where his wife was sleeping, and another man entering from the front door.
For an ordinary person, it would take a long time to adapt to night vision—
Bang bang!
But that did not apply to him.
"!"
"Kuhk!"
Unfortunately, he killed the thug in front of the bedroom, but failed to kill the one standing at the entrance.
Tatataang—!
Even though a suppressor was attached, the huge gunshots that could not be fully muffled filled the house.
Ignoring the enemy’s return fire, he skillfully removed the magazine from the pistol even in the dark and gauged the remaining rounds by feel, by night vision, and by weight.
Still enough.
He didn’t know how many thugs there were.
He didn’t even know their objective.
He couldn’t tell why this was happening.
But to protect the family he loved, he had to fight.
Bang bang tatang—!
The thug kept firing through the wall, trying to kill him while he was backed against it.
He couldn’t tell the exact caliber of the rifle, but at the very least he could already tell that it was enough to punch through the wall of a house.
The sound of moving footsteps and the direction of the gunfire.
Clenching his teeth, he extended only his right hand holding the pistol and pulled the trigger toward the direction he had predicted.
Tatang— bang! bang!
"Aaagh!"
On the third or fourth pull of the trigger—
Whether it had struck or merely grazed the leg by luck, a cry of pain came with the sound of someone falling.
He immediately positioned himself with the wall at his left shoulder to secure a safe zone, then was about to fire the pistol right away—
"!"
"Krrr-!"
The pistol, seized by a hand that suddenly shot out from the side, was yanked upward.
Bang!
While another thug grabbed his pistol and they struggled back and forth—
Immediately after, yet another thug wrapped both arms around his waist and tried with all his strength to hurl him to the floor.
His blue eyes calmly looked downward.
Those blue eyes caught, in a split second, the dagger strapped to the right thigh of the thug gripping the pistol.
He pressed the slide release and removed the magazine from the pistol.
Letting go of the pistol in his right hand, he quickly thrust out his left hand and grabbed the dagger’s hilt.
Whoosh—
Swish—!shhk!
With a piercing sound that cut through the air, the dagger’s sharp blade pierced the throat of the thug holding the pistol.
Having been struck precisely through the blood vessels in his neck, he unconsciously let go of the pistol and clutched at his own throat.
The thug’s eyes, now fully exposed after he lifted the four-eyed night-vision goggles—
shook violently, as if he couldn’t believe the reality he was facing.
In that instant, he looked into the thug’s eyes and remembered a memory from the distant past.
But there was no luxury, no time, to feel the overlap of similar memories.
Still gripping the dagger hilt, he swung his left elbow with all his strength and smashed the face of the thug holding his waist.
Thwack—!crack—
"Guhk!"
The man writhed in agony as his cheekbone and the helmet around it were shattered, and let go of the hand gripping his waist.
With the thug torn off his body, he quickly spun around.
Swish— thud!
The thug barely ducked his head in time, using a bit of quick thinking to avoid the thrusting dagger.
Apparently well trained, the thug also drew the dagger at his thigh and tried to fight at close range.
But—
"Hup!"
"!"
In the blink of an eye, he sliced through the enemy’s wrist holding the dagger and cut at vital points such as the elbow and armpit.
With no proper resistance at all, the ligaments, nerves, and blood vessels were cleanly severed, causing massive bleeding along with horrific pain.
But unfortunately, that was not the end.
"Aaaagh!"
The enemy struggled desperately to resist with his left hand, the one not holding the dagger—
but he kicked the enemy’s knee with his bare foot, shattering the kneecap and ligaments to neutralize him.
The enemy, now down on one knee, flailed in a panic to survive—
Crack— thud—!
He snatched the left hand that was flailing to resist in the blink of an eye, twisted it, and shattered the wrist joint—
"Kkeok-"
Thud— thud— thud—!
"Krrrgh-"
Drip-drip— thud-thud
The moment he pulled the dagger out of the neck he had stabbed, a thick, phlegmy sound came from the face that had been bent down, and liquid spilled out in torrents, scattering across the floor.
A smell carrying a familiar metallic tang drifted into his nose.
And then—
Whoosh—shhk—!
"Ghk-!"
He did not forget to throw the dagger at the enemy he had just disabled by shooting his leg and kill him.
Once he confirmed the enemy was no longer moving, he immediately bent his knees and crouched down.
"Hoo—"
He needed to see how many thugs were left, so he immediately picked up the firearms from the fallen ones.
His top priority was to evacuate the family.
After checking the rifle’s chamber and magazine to determine the number of rounds, his hands moved quickly to remove the plate carrier.
As if he were someone who felt no excitement or fear at all, he calmly removed the plate carrier and helmet without the slightest tremor in his fingers.
Then he lifted the heavy rifle, covered with all kinds of tactical gear, and felt the serial number on the lower receiver with his finger—
But as expected, the place where the engraving should have been had been given a separate metal finish, so the serial number could not be seen.
A thoroughly ghosted weapon.
He knew better than anyone what that meant, and he clenched his molars tightly, letting out a rough breath.
They had cut the electricity to the mansion and breached the front door to get in.
Regular military? Mercenaries hired by someone? CIA? Japan? America? North Korea? Russia? Or the Third World?
At the very least, there was no person or organization in Japan capable of preparing this level of advanced weapons, tactics, and trained professionals regardless of race.
On top of that, they had blacked out the entire mansion. That meant they had already secured the power room at minimum.
"Who the hell is it?"
As if answering the question that had flashed through his mind, the power came back on at the same time and the lights turned on.
"!"
Rough breaths, sweat running down brilliant blond hair, and blood soaking everything.
Those piercing blue eyes overflowing with killing intent.
Just as one can instinctively hold a pencil the moment it is placed in their hand, even if they haven’t held one for a long time—
Even with the house suddenly lit up, he was already raising the rifle and aiming steadily at the enemy three meters ahead of him.
"……."
"K-Kaoru-"
A pistol was pointed at the head of his wife, who was being held hostage.
The number of enemies aiming guns at him was even greater than the number he had taken down.
Even in the worst-case scenario he had imagined, Kaoru had to strain himself to keep from letting out a groan as he analyzed the situation with cold, calm judgment and reasoning.
He could not stop a route where they infiltrated the house by rappelling from the mansion rooftop.
However, Kaoru did not lower the rifle.
More precisely, he could not.
He still had not confirmed whether his children were alive.
"Ai, stay calm."
"Hh- hhhk- Kaoru! The, the babies-"
"It’s okay. They’ll be okay."
While Kaoru desperately tried to calm his tearful wife, his heart pounded as though it would burst because of one thing that bothered him terribly—why couldn’t he hear even a scream from the babies’ room?
Had the worst-case scenario he feared already come to pass?
The heart that had not even flinched at the gunfire and dagger thrusts aimed at him began to shake as if it might collapse.
But the unidentified intruder pointing a pistol at his wife nodded slightly, as if he understood Kaoru’s mind.
"Look at yourself."
"…!"
A familiar voice.
A small crack appeared in Kaoru’s sharply honed face.
There was a reason he couldn’t help it.
"Look at yourself. Over there."
Kaoru’s blue eyes turned toward the full-length mirror that had somehow appeared beside him.
Since when had a full-length mirror been placed there?
Setting that sudden question aside—
"……."
His blood-soaked figure was laid bare in the mirror.
Kaoru stared blankly at the reflection of himself in the full-length mirror.
It should have been his own face, surely.
"……."
Yet the figure in the full-length mirror had somehow changed into the appearance of his past-life self, David Webb—Jason Bourne.
Even though the hands holding the rifle, the clothes he was wearing, and his body size were all Kaoru Kamiki’s.
The Jason Bourne in the full-length mirror was copying his shocked and bewildered expression exactly, as if it were his own.
"Haha."
As if mocking Kaoru for not believing it, the man burst into laughter and slowly pulled down his black mask.
Kaoru’s gaze moved to the man.
The handsome face of his twin brother, who had died sixteen years ago, was nowhere to be seen—
Instead, there was the face of his twin younger brother, who had fallen into the river below a cliff, been found only much later, and grotesquely transformed into something hideously sunken and bloated like bread soaked in water.
Kaoru’s blue eyes shook violently in disbelief.
"You’re still a bloodthirsty monster. Nothing has changed."
"……."
"You ruthlessly took away other people’s precious lives... stained your hands with blood and never took any responsibility. In the end, you still couldn’t protect anyone."
The gun barrel that had been aimed at his twin younger brother gradually lowered toward the floor.
At the same time, Kaoru’s blue eyes also lowered toward the floor.
The thugs he had taken down had somehow transformed into the targets Jason Bourne had assassinated in his past life.
As if all the blood in his body had gone cold and were seeping out through his skin to evaporate—
Kaoru could do nothing but stand there blankly, breathing out.
"Jason."
"Kaoru."
His wife’s pitiful voice changed into a voice he had missed so deeply.
The tears in Ai’s starlit eyes, and Marie’s voice—Marie, who had always called his name.
In the past, the few memories from his previous life that had now begun to drift farther and farther away came surging into Kaoru’s ears like a tsunami, with sound and color all at once.
The horrific headache that had disappeared at some point also began to tear through the depths of his brain again.
He was confused. The scenery around him blurred and mixed together like paint bleeding across a canvas.
Before he knew it, the rifle in his hands had vanished, and the blood-soaked, chaotic living room swirled and swallowed his senses.
- Daddy!
A faint voice could be heard.
Kaoru clutched his head, and as his scream-filled cry rang in his ears—
.
.
.
"...pa. Daddy!"
"...Huh?"
Awakening to his youngest daughter Ame’s voice, Kaoru drew in a rough breath and met the eyes of his youngest daughter looking down at him.
Long, lush purple hair like his wife’s. Brilliant blue starry eyes that looked just like his own.
As with a vivid nightmare, for a moment the boundary between the dream he had just had and this reality felt blurry, and Kaoru could only stare blankly at his youngest daughter.
His youngest daughter, on the other hand, gently touched the sweat-soaked skin of her father’s forehead with worried eyes and said,
"Are you okay, Daddy? You were groaning like you were sick, so Ame woke you up. You were sweating a lot too...."
Ame, like her mother, used her pure white, pretty hand to feel her father’s forehead.
It was damp and hot. Ame, who had never once seen her father—who was always healthy and strong and never even caught the common cold—groaning like that, seemed a little shocked and frightened.
At his youngest daughter’s worried voice, Kaoru immediately sat up from the sofa.
With his big hand, he affectionately stroked Ame’s soft long purple hair and face, then forced a smile and said, trying to act as if nothing was wrong,
"Is that so? You were surprised, huh, my daughter? I don’t usually sleep on this sofa, so maybe Daddy felt a little unfamiliar to you. Daddy’s fine, so don’t worry, okay?"
"……Okay. I get it. Because you’re Daddy. Ame will relax too?"
"That’s right. Our Ame. Hahaha— you were really surprised, weren’t you? Oh dear— our Ame. Daddy will give you a big hug."
"Uhehe— yes! Hug me!"
Kaoru tightly embraced his youngest daughter, whose lovely laughter nestled right into his arms and pressed it deep into his heart.
My beloved little daughter. My family, whom I must protect even if I give everything I have.
'Hikaru....'
He had vowed that the world would never remember your absence.
He had made that vow, and Kaoru was carrying it out to the letter.
Since the funeral sixteen years ago, he had never once visited the columbarium.
That stood in contrast to how, if he had time on the anniversary of Amamiya Goro’s death, he would always make sure to visit Miyazaki Prefecture.
He had only heard that the chief secretary, who was now on the board of the welfare foundation he had established with his father’s inheritance, sometimes visited the columbarium to maintain it.
Kaoru’s blue eyes turned to the calendar on the table.
The anniversary of his twin younger brother’s death had been recent.
In other words, that incident on the mountain with the charcoal kiln as well...
'Sixteen years....'
A long time had passed.
The fifteen-year-old boy had become a 31-year-old man—now a father with 32 just around the corner.
Past memories do not easily dull. However, humans do not remain in the past alone.
If his twin younger brother had survived, if his twin younger brother had grown up well without becoming a criminal and become an adult together with him.
The endless chain of "what ifs"—what, exactly, was it asking him to do?
'You couldn’t protect a precious person...? No. You protected a precious person... and in the end, you were the one who got forgotten.'
Kaoru remembered the words his grotesque twin younger brother had spat at him in the dream.
The red [starlight] that bloomed in his blue eyes shone cold as frost.
It was nothing more than the futile cry of someone already forgotten. Just a bad nightmare, and he and his family were continuing to live peaceful, tranquil lives.
Nothing had changed. Nothing would change in the future either.
It was just a bad nightmare.
"……."
The grotesque image of his twin younger brother holding his beloved wife hostage kept circling in his mind.
His wife’s tears, and—
'...Marie.'
Again.
He thought he had forgotten it by now.
The voice of the woman his previous-life self, Jason Bourne, had loved most, the one who had saved him when he was covered in wounds.
And the voice of the lover he had ultimately failed to protect felt so vivid it was as if it were ringing right beside his ear.
The voice, projected through the voice of his beloved wife, pitifully calling out to his previous self—
made Kaoru unable to shake the feeling that the dream, nothing more than a "bad nightmare," was lingering in his mind.
"Daddy! So— huh? Are you listening? Daddy!"
"Ah, s-sorry-"
Ame, who had been chattering away in her father’s arms about what had happened at school, puffed out her cheeks like grilled mochi.
"You weren’t listening to Ame again!"
"Hm? No, I was listening. Hahaha-!"
"Hmph! Then tell me what Ame just said!"
"...Uh, th-that is..."
At the sight of her young father scratching his cheek with an awkward smile, looking cute, Ame pretended to frown in annoyance and puffed her cheeks even more.
But then—
"Puhhhehe! Ame will forgive you once! Teasing Daddy is fun~"
She burst into playful laughter and stretched her father’s cheeks with both hands.
"...Hahaha. I’m grateful you forgave me, but... you know teasing Daddy has a price, right?"
"Kyaaaah-! Help meee!"
Kaoru hugged Ame tightly and flopped back onto the sofa.
Ame wriggled and shouted cute little cries from inside his arms, but Kaoru only planted more and more kisses on his youngest daughter’s plump, springy cheeks and refused to let her go.
Because he didn’t want to lose, even in reality, the warmth of the family he had failed to protect in his nightmare.
"Daddy really, really loves you, my daughter."
"Yes! Ame really, really loves Daddy toooo!"
Inside Kaoru’s blue eyes, as he held his youngest daughter close, the red starlight blazed with a faint flame.
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