After finishing a well-balanced dinner, Aozawa set down his chopsticks. "I'm going for a night run."
"Don't come back too late," Morimoto Chiyoda warned. She stood up, opened the dishwasher at the nearby counter, and began placing the empty plates and utensils inside.
"Don't worry," Aozawa replied, striding out of the apartment, entering the building's elevator, and setting a one-hour timer on his phone.
He stared at his reflection in the elevator, activated his Hypnosis Ability, and declared, "I can run 12.6 kilometers in one hour."
DING—the elevator doors opened, and he started running.
He had slacked off for a week, not going on his night runs. Running again now, he didn't feel particularly tired.
He hadn't slacked off on his physical training the previous week. While he might not have improved, he hadn't regressed either.
An hour later, Aozawa was panting heavily. He inserted coins into a vending machine and bought a bottle of mineral water.
He took a large gulp, then leaned against the side of the vending machine. The lamppost-lit street was sparsely populated.
The hustle and vitality of Tokyo were concentrated in well-known areas like Shinjuku, Ginza, and Ikebukuro.
In Adachi District, that vibrant hub was Kita-Senju. Other areas, however, became deserted once night fell.
Secluded areas lacking surveillance became fertile ground for crime, like some ghostly realm.
Aozawa finished the mineral water in one go and casually tossed the empty bottle into a nearby recycling bin.
After replenishing the water his body had lost, he put his hands in his pockets and started looking for a target.
He was lucky today; he quickly spotted a lone thug by the roadside.
「…」
"Dammit!" Yoshinokawa kicked the wall in anger.
Why do I always lose at Pachinko? he fumed. It's infuriating!
He had stolen the money Keiko had hidden. Now that he'd lost it all, she would surely nag him when he returned, complaining that it was her hard-earned money and he couldn't just take it.
That woman thinks she can lord it over me just because she works part-time at a convenience store! She forgets I used to be the Tiger of Adachi!
He'd been imprisoned for two years for severely injuring elderly people and children. Upon his release, his former underlings had usurped his position, leaving him a leader without followers, stripped of his past glory.
But that glory has never left my mind! Every night, when he closed his eyes, he would recall his past life of debauchery—Tokugawa, that punk, had been nothing more than a dog at his side.
Weak women like Keiko wouldn't even have been qualified to be my playthings back then!
Yoshinokawa refused to resign himself to being with such trash; he was determined to start over.
It's impossible to accumulate funds through normal means. Only a big win at Pachinko can give me the chance to turn things around!
Keiko doesn't understand my ambition; her mind is full of petty gains. What's a mere three hundred thousand Yen?
If I could regain my former status, three hundred thousand Yen wouldn't even cover an hour's spending money!
The more Yoshinokawa stewed, the angrier he became. Noticing a kid staring at him, he snarled, "What are you looking at? Believe it or not, I'll slaughter you!"
"Don't yell. Follow me to the park over there."
The black-haired youth's words seemed to possess a magical power, soothing Yoshinokawa's rage and compelling him to nod. "Okay."
The usually hot-tempered man found himself enveloped in a long-lost calm, reminiscent of when he first joined the Ota Group, thinking of nothing but following his boss.
He followed the youth without a word, and they vanished from the street.
「…」
The night air in the park was cold.
Faulty streetlights flickered, casting an increasingly sinister atmosphere over the scene.
The quiet waters of a stream flowed beneath a small bridge.
Aozawa halted his steps, turned back, and said, "Strangle yourself."
Upon hearing this, Yoshinokawa's inner peace shattered. Rage flared as he retorted, "What nonsense are you spouting, brat?"
Aozawa's expression remained unchanged. The Hypnosis Ability has indeed weakened, and not just in its duration, he thought. Its power has diminished too. I can no longer command someone to die with a single sentence.
"Then please strip naked, do frog jumps, and repeatedly say, 'I am a fool.'"
A flicker of resistance crossed Yoshinokawa's face, but he still replied, "Okay."
He quickly stripped naked and, following Aozawa's command, began doing frog jumps while shouting, "I am a fool!"
Watching this, Aozawa experimented with several other humiliating hypnotic commands before reaching a conclusion.
As long as it doesn't threaten what Yoshinokawa holds most dear, the Hypnosis is still highly effective.
Commands that are too radical won't work with a single utterance, he mused. So, he repeated, "Strangle yourself."
"You're asking for death!"
"Strangle yourself."
Aozawa commanded Yoshinokawa again. This time, there was no angry retort, only a struggle on the man's face as if he wanted to curse. "You…"
"Strangle yourself."
The flickering streetlight cast Aozawa's face in alternating light and shadow. His voice was soft, yet it carried an irresistible power, as if Satan, the King of Hell, were issuing a decree to his legions.
"Okay," Yoshinokawa said woodenly. Instantly, his hands flew to his own throat, cutting off his breath.
Aozawa watched, noting the veins bulging on the backs of Yoshinokawa's hands—a testament to the force of his grip.
THUMP. Yoshinokawa's body collapsed onto the bridge, hands still locked around his throat, his eyes bulging like a frog's.
So, radical hypnotic commands can still be enforced if repeated enough times.
It's just become more troublesome than before, Aozawa grumbled internally.
He watched as Yoshinokawa's body convulsed violently a few times before going limp, a dark stain spreading on the ground beneath him.
Then, his head lolled to the side, and he stopped breathing completely.
Aozawa used Telekinesis to pry the man's arms from his neck and spread them out to his sides.
He turned and left the scene.
An invisible wave of Telekinesis erased his footprints as he walked away. Aozawa didn't want to leave any traces at the murder scene.
「…」
Through this test, Aozawa had gauged the current limits of his Hypnosis Ability.
He was quite satisfied.
The power and duration of the Hypnosis have diminished, but it's still potent enough to kill.
He didn't continue looking for more targets to test his abilities on.
Even killing these kinds of thugs would attract the attention of the Ayase Police Station if he did it too often.
Aozawa checked the time. It wasn't yet the curfew Morimoto Chiyoda had set. He soon found himself near Kita-Senju Station, on the Senju Honcho shopping street.
Dazzling neon signs flickered, and the bustling noise of the crowd filled the air, a stark contrast to the silence in other parts of the city, showcasing Tokyo's vibrant energy.
Aozawa activated his powerful X-ray Ability, first examining his own internal organs. They appeared to be a healthy color.
Then, he looked up at the crowd before him.
The bustling shopping street instantly transformed before his eyes into a grotesque gallery. Passersby became like anatomical models from a medical classroom, their internal organs and beating hearts visible within their chests.
Bright red blood pulsed through their vessels.
He noticed that many people had underlying health issues; the color of healthy organs differed distinctly from diseased ones.
For instance, a smoker's lungs were a markedly different color from a non-smoker's.
Ugh, this is nauseating. Aozawa felt his stomach churn and quickly deactivated his intense X-ray vision. Truly a hellish tableau.
He didn't linger, turning to head back to the Morimoto residence. He planned to give Chitose a free physical examination to check on her health.