Amemura Ramuda is the charismatic designer behind 【Empty Candy】—a 1.5-billion-yen fashion brand run by a man who looks young enough to pass for an elementary schooler. To the youth of Shibuya Division, he's an idol. Bright smile, candy-sweet voice, not a care in the world.
It's all a lie.
Ramuda is a clone—a failed experiment from the Chuuou Ward's top-secret Project Mirror, one who committed the unforgivable sin of developing emotions. For twelve years he's stayed one step ahead of the Cleane
Sweet Lies and Bitter Truth - The Sound of Betrayal Echoing Through the City ~The Mask That Fades in the Rain~
Morning comes.
At Shibuya Crossroads, the heart of the Shibuya Division—the place known as the world's busiest scramble crossing—an unusual crowd had gathered.
Everyone had stopped in their tracks.
The suited man who looked to be on his way to work, the young girl carrying a shopping bag, the photographer with his arms crossed. Every one of them was staring up at the massive street screens mounted on the walls of the buildings surrounding the intersection.
On the screens, an audio waveform played alongside a man's voice.
"—Crush The Dirty Dawg. This too is for the sake of the Chuuou Ward."
A sweet, high voice.
The same bright voice that usually rang through the streets of Shibuya.
"The target's weakness is his affection for his comrades. Strike there."
A voice issuing instructions—flat, businesslike.
It was Amemura Ramuda's voice.
"...What the hell is this?"
"That Ramuda-kun... was betraying them?"
"The Dirty Dawg—that's the legendary team, right? And he did that to them...?"
The murmurs of the crowd spread like ripples.
In front of the screen, a young woman holding a CANDY★POP paper bag stood frozen, staring blankly. Her fingers slipped from the bag's handles. A pink ribbon tumbled out and splashed into a puddle.
"He always had such a wonderful smile... I can't believe it."
"He's a successful designer—why would he do something like that?"
"Toying with people's hearts—was that fun for you?"
The voices grew sharper by the moment.
The name that had been whispered with "cute" and "genius" just moments ago was now being spat out as "traitor" and "the worst."
A man stood at the edge of the crowd, watching the scene.
Amemura Ramuda.
His fluffy pink short hair, damp from the morning rain, had lost its usual lively bounce. His large, round amber eyes reflected the street screen, betraying no emotion at all.
The beauty mark beneath his left eye stood out darkly against his pale skin.
The candy necklace at his throat glinted dully beneath the overcast sky.
(Ah. It aired.)
Ramuda murmured it inside his chest.
(It's over.)
Last night, the Cleaner had told him. Tomorrow morning, it goes public.
And they'd really done it.
The Chuuou Ward's Purge Bureau—the Social Purification Enforcement Division, known as the "Cleaner."
They had scattered Ramuda's past across all of Shibuya.
Inside his pocket, his fingers clenched around an empty candy bottle.
Rattle.
Inside the glass, the empty bottle gave a small sound.
(Not a single one left.)
(My body can't hold out anymore.)
Ramuda exhaled quietly.
The crowd in front of the street screen was still buzzing.
"Where's Amemura Ramuda?"
"Come out and explain yourself!"
"The face of Shibuya—what a joke."
Ramuda listened to those voices at his back as he slowly drifted away from the crowd.
"Hey, look at that."
At the edge of the crowd, a boy pointed at the screen.
"Hey, Jirou. That voice—it's Amemura Ramuda, right?"
"...Yeah."
Yamada Saburou. Third-year middle school, fourteen years old. A natural genius who handled anything with ease, strong with IT and computers. The youngest of the Yamada brothers.
Beside him stood Yamada Jirou. Second-year high school, seventeen. A boy of action who worshipped his older brother, Ichirou.
The two had happened to come to Shibuya.
To help with a delivery from the Yorozuya Yamada main store in the Ikebukuro Division to the Shibuya branch.
"Why would Aniki have anything to do with a guy like that..."
Jirou's fist tightened with a creak.
Last night, his brother Ichirou had been away from home.
He'd left word that he was going to Shibuya.
Jirou had vaguely sensed it had something to do with Amemura Ramuda.
"Aniki's got some kind of bone to pick with that Amemura Ramuda guy."
"The authenticity of the data is unclear, but if Nii-chan's involved, we can't just ignore it."
Saburou spoke calmly while operating his smartphone.
"This audio could have been doctored. But the voiceprint is close to genuine. At the very least, there's no doubt Amemura Ramuda is involved in something."
"Never mind that—finding Aniki comes first!"
"That's what I'm doing. ...Ah, there he is."
Saburou lifted his face from the screen.
His gaze fixed ahead.
A man was pushing through the crowd, running toward them.
Short black hair with red streaks. Strong-willed red eyes. Moles beneath his left eye and at the lower-left of his lip.
Yamada Ichirou.
"Aniki!"
Jirou raised his voice.
"Aniki, that guy's dangerous! He betrayed The Dirty Dawg! You were in that team too, weren't you!?"
Ichirou stopped in his tracks.
"...Yeah. I know."
His voice was low.
"Then why are you going to a guy like that!?"
"Jirou, Saburou—out of my way for now."
Ichirou said it shortly.
"Out of your way—Aniki!"
"Nii-chan, where are you going?"
"I'm going after Ramuda."
That was all Ichirou said before breaking into a run again.
"Wait, Aniki!"
Jirou tried to chase after him.
"Jirou, stop."
Saburou grabbed Jirou's arm.
"Why are you stopping me!?"
"Nii-chan's eyes were serious. Stopping him now is pointless."
Saburou spoke quietly, staring in the direction Ichirou had vanished.
"...But we can't just leave it. Let's follow him too."
Ramuda slipped into a narrow alley as if fleeing the stares of the crowd.
A little ways off from Shibuya's central streets.
In the gaps between the redeveloped high-rises, old alleys remained like a maze.
It had begun to rain.
A fine, cold rain.
Ramuda leaned his back against the wet wall.
His body slid down, bit by bit.
He sat down on the ground as though collapsing.
"...See? I knew it."
His high voice.
But it was trembling.
"I'm a defective product."
Self-mockery.
(Everyone hates me now.)
(The city of Shibuya rejected me.)
(Now I've got nowhere left.)
Ramuda looked up at the sky.
From the gray sky, the rain poured down.
His pink hair soaked up the water, heavy, clinging to his face.
"...I wonder if Ichirou-kun heard too."
Ramuda murmured.
"That I destroyed The Dirty Dawg."
(Ichirou was a member of that team.)
(I destroyed the place that mattered to Ichirou—with my own hands.)
(Ichirou will never forgive me.)
Ramuda took the empty candy bottle from his pocket.
Rattle.
"...You're empty too."
Ramuda gripped the bottle tight.
The glass bit into his palm.
It hurt.
But that pain felt good right now.
(This is my reality.)
(Without candy, I die. And I've got no place left.)
(I destroyed it all.)
"Ramuda!"
A voice came from the alley entrance.
It was Ichirou.
Black hair with red streaks. Soaked by the rain, his bangs plastered to his forehead.
"...Why did you come?"
Ramuda spoke without lifting his face.
"I came chasing you."
Ichirou stood before Ramuda.
"Stop it. Don't carry this alone."
Ichirou grabbed Ramuda's shoulder.
His hand was warm.
But Ramuda shook it off.
"Don't come near me!"
A low voice.
His real voice.
Ramuda raised his face.
His amber eyes fixed straight on Ichirou.
"I might get controlled again. I might betray you all!"
His voice shook.
"Like those people whose families the Cleaner holds hostage—I don't know when I'll be controlled again. Rather than drag you into danger, it's better if I just disappear alone."
Ramuda's words mingled with the sound of rain, echoing through the alley.
"Even so, I can't leave you alone."
Ichirou stared straight back into Ramuda's eyes.
"I don't know what you did. But I can't just stand by while the you in front of me is trying to disappear alone."
Ichirou's words were direct.
Ramuda's chest tightened.
(Stop it.)
(Don't be kind to me like that.)
(I betrayed you.)
Ramuda took the last candy from his pocket.
With trembling hands, he tore the wrapper.
Inside appeared a transparent, ramune-colored candy.
(The last one.)
(Once I eat this, it's over.)
Ramuda tossed the candy into his mouth.
Bitter.
A bitter ramune-flavored candy.
"...Goodbye."
Ramuda stood up.
And ran out into the rain.
"Wait, Ramuda!"
Ichirou tried to chase after him.
"Aniki!"
"Nii-chan!"
Jirou and Saburou came running to the alley entrance.
"Aniki, don't go alone!"
Jirou grabbed Ichirou's arm.
"Nii-chan, that guy betrayed the city. You're still going after him?"
Saburou looked up at Ichirou's face.
Ichirou looked at his two younger brothers.
"Yeah. He's not a defective product. I'll prove it."
Ichirou's voice was powerful.
"...Aniki. You're serious about this."
Jirou let go of Ichirou's arm.
"Sorry, but I'm going to find him. You two head back to Ikebukuro first."
"Aniki!"
Jirou pressed on.
"That guy betrayed The Dirty Dawg! Your comrades!"
"Jirou."
Saburou checked him.
"Nii-chan has a plan, doesn't he?"
Saburou looked into Ichirou's eyes.
"...Yeah."
Ichirou nodded.
"Nii-chan, contact us if anything happens."
Saburou held out his smartphone to Ichirou.
"Your phone's probably broken, right? After last night's commotion."
"...That helps."
Ichirou took the smartphone from Saburou.
"Aniki, be careful."
Jirou said it, though his face looked dissatisfied.
"Yeah. You two get home safe."
Ichirou lightly tapped both their heads—pat, pat.
Then he ran off into the rain.
Ramuda was running along the riverside promenade of the Shibuya River.
The rain had grown stronger than before.
Large drops pelted the ground, filling the river's surface with countless ripples.
Ramuda's clothes were already soaked through.
Droplets dripped from his pink hair.
He was out of breath.
His lungs burned.
(The candy is working.)
(But it won't last.)
(My body is falling apart.)
Ramuda stopped in the middle of the promenade.
"Hah... hah..."
He breathed with his shoulders.
He braced his hands on his knees.
Then—
Buzz.
Inside his pocket, his smartphone vibrated.
Ramuda pulled it out with trembling hands.
On the screen, a message from an unknown sender.
"Tomorrow morning, we release the second wave. Your true identity—that you are a clone—will be broadcast throughout the city."
Ramuda's fingers stopped.
(...A clone.)
(My true identity.)
(They're going to spread it.)
Ramuda's vision swayed.
"...It's over now."
Ramuda dropped to his knees on the spot.
He braced his hands against the ground.
The cold feel of asphalt.
The rain beat mercilessly against Ramuda's back.
(The Dirty Dawg, and the clone thing—the whole city will know.)
(In Shibuya, I have no place.)
(Nowhere at all.)
Ramuda hung his head.
The sound of rain drowned out everything.
Meanwhile, Shibuya Underground.
The underground district spreading beneath Shibuya, where the Chuuou Ward's surveillance struggled to reach. On its second level, Fling Posse's hideout.
A secret base converted from what had once been an abandoned warehouse.
Yumeno Gentarou sat on an old sofa, staring intently at his smartphone screen.
His long black hair was loosely tied back, giving him the look of a scholar. His intelligent, calm deep-purple eyes reflected the light of the screen.
"...Ramuda's disappeared."
Gentarou said it quietly.
"Hah?"
From the back of the room, Arisugawa Dice lifted his head.
His brown hair, carelessly tousled, still had its usual bedhead. His bright brown eyes sparkled as he looked at Gentarou.
"Ramuda's nowhere to be found. Something must have happened with that street-screen business."
Gentarou showed his smartphone to Dice.
On the screen was news of Ramuda's voice broadcast on the street screens.
"...That idiot. Carrying it all alone again."
Dice pulled a die from his pocket.
"A bet. We find him first."
Dice shook the die in his palm.
Rattle.
The die rolled across the table.
The number that came up was six.
"Perfect. Let's move."
Dice laughed.
"You never change, do you."
Gentarou gave a small smile too.
"But I'm counting on that luck of yours right now."
Gentarou stood.
"I'll search the Shibuya River area. You take the underground entrance."
"Yeah. The die says so."
Dice tucked the die into his pocket.
The two da
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