Tokyo 24-ku (Tokyo 24th Ward)

Nice to meet you, Shuta Aoi.

I am 0th, and I have returned to set the 24th Ward right.

So you're 0th, Ran's mentor?

OCTOBER 19, 2021

Are you Carneades?

No, I am not. Though, I am an acquaintance.

That makes things easy. Let me meet Carneades.

I don't think you would be granted an audience.

It may have nothing to do with you, but for the past six months,

Carneades has totally been toying with me.

Besides,

it has something to do with my childhood friend who's supposed to be dead.

A strange tale.

Fair enough.

Carneades is currently at the highest floor of the Cornucopia.

Why in such a...

Is he going to make us choose another future?

A storm is approaching.

What's your relationship with Carneades?

You should head over quickly, or you may miss your chance.

Damn it.

Whoa, whoa.

That's right, can you tell me your contact information?

You can ask Ran later.

And Ran isn't answering the phone right now because the SARG is after him.

Oh, fine. It's only contact info.

It's pouring.

Where did Shuta go?

Who knows?

Sheesh, he bailed on cleanup. What the heck is he doing?

- Shu! - Shuta!

Mari, take this.

Whoa!

You're too fast.

Just like Tsuzuragawa said,

the smart city concept created by Mother was the basic theory for the KANAE System.

Additionally, this theory was scrapped by Mother herself.

Asumi.

Shu, you don't want to answer your phone?

ASUMI

From Asumi?

This means that...

Yeah.

Asumi. Carneades.

My head is getting all jumbled up.

At the top of the Cornucopia...

control will be lost from cranes after a lightning strike and will collapse.

The fall of tower cranes will create many casualties.

The only person who can stop this is the one person atop the tower.

However, right after connecting the cables,

that person will be struck by lightning and die.

If you warn that person of the lightning strike with a direct call from the command room,

that person's life will be spared.

Will you let the cranes fall and sacrifice many people,

or will you sacrifice the one person on top of the tower?

Guide the future.

Sh-Shu?

Wasn't it Carneades who was giving out the trolley dilemmas?

Shu? What's wrong? Was the phone call really from Asumi?

Why am I seeing a future where he becomes the victim?

I don't get it.

- Like I would get any of this! - Shu!

I'll just ask him in person. That should solve everything.

Sheesh. Now of all times...

But now, I can...

Instructor.

OCTOBER 17, 2021

So it really was you who instigated the Graffiti War.

You've become good at drawing art that sends messages.

Why'd you do that to Mr. Kaba's art?

Those really were some of my masterpieces.

Because it was a masterpiece with so much emotion packed in, it was worth overwriting.

Its value rises because it's now gone, and the agitative effect increases.

But that piece—

Do you have the right to get angry?

Indeed, I used the fame of Carneades to overwrite graffiti and stirred people's anger.

I hired internet media to instigate conflict with the "Graffiti War" article.

And they have no idea that trouble is created by the one who resolves it.

DoRed has more enemies now, but gained many more followers.

Donations coming in now are beyond comparison to before.

You used Carneades for your own activities as well. Am I mistaken?

And when the artist Carneades fades out,

we can head into the referendum while the topic is really hot.

Listen up. The KANAE System is a double-edged sword.

It's highly convenient, but also filled with danger.

The KANAE System is something that can destroy the humanity that makes humans human.

There will no longer be a place for the weak? The story is on a completely different level.

That system is technology that steps into a realm that should not be trespassed as humans.

What are the laurels they rest upon?

Ran, you said that "your powers are enhanced" when Asumi calls you.

That technology is an adaptation of military tech at the foundation of the KANAE System.

It's called "cipher."

Cipher?

It shares its technological roots with Kunai's Di-VA and Drug D.

We don't have time left before the referendum. Art simply won't be enough.

We need to caress the physical body of the 24th Ward simultaneously with its heart.

I have one favor to ask. It's something only you can do.

What are you going to make me do?

I want you to hack into the KANAE System database.

OCTOBER 19, 2021

You say that like it's really easy.

I'm nothing more than an ally of the weak.

That should be what Asumin wished for, too.

Tsuzuragawa, get away from there immediately.

Listen up. We'll lose control of tower cranes from a lightning strike and they'll fall down.

I see.

H-Hey.

Tsuzuragawa!

I'm back.

Welcome back.

Oh, our poster girl has come home.

There's been rumors that you married the guy next door.

That's right. I haven't seen you at all so this old man has been sad.

Huh? What's with that?

Small communities are so scary.

So how is it between you and Shu, anyway?

No ifs, ands, or buts.

Shu is such...

an idiot.

Postpone it! We're postponing any further work.

Are there any direct phone lines to the top?

Lightning warning?

Ran?

You were here.

Look at this.

Carneades.

Probably the real one.

I have no idea what kind of contraption this is,

but if he'll stop the crane from getting out of control, I have no complaints.

Stop it.

You might be thinking that heroes save everyone,

but you really need to start choosing, Shu.

I'll choose the future where the crane doesn't topple over.

Of course, I'm going to evacuate people too.

I won't choose a future that's already decided.

I'll save Carneades as well.

And I'll ask why he's doing this, even if I have to punch him.

I wouldn't be satisfied otherwise.

Answer. Come on, pick up the phone. Hurry up.

Why?

Why!

The Vision showed us that a direct phone call would switch the rails of the trolley.

But why isn't he answering the phone?

No, I'll worry about that later.

I have my own job to fulfill.

Koki. You too?

You want to say choose the future, and save more people, right?

No way. I'm going to be a hero who'll never give up on anything.

I promised that with Asumi.