Telephone Man Junior ~The Man Searching for a Public Phone~
Kagurazaka Denwa, 24. Unemployed. NEET. Professional freeloader. His life changes when he finds a single telephone card among his late father's belongings—a deep green card belonging to the legendary hero who once protected the Kanto region during the Showa era: the Green Telephone Man.
There's just one problem. To transform, he needs a public phone. In the Reiwa era. When smartphones rule the world and phone booths are vanishing faster than heroes' reputations.
Armed with his father's card, a
Telephone Man Junior ~The Man Searching for a Public Phone~ - Line Suspension — Collision of Four Colors and the Last Telephone Line
The receiver was still pressed to his ear when his fingers froze.
Tuu, tuu, tuu.
Kagurazaka Denwa pulled out the card and inserted it again. A green telephone card. The corners were worn ragged, the printing on its surface smeared with the oil from his fingers. His father's keepsake.
Tuu.
"Come on. It was working just a minute ago."
He slammed the receiver down. The glass of the phone booth rattled. A back alley in Kagurazaka. The evening wind pooled in the seams between the paving stones. The knees of his rumpled tracksuit were worn through, pulling white threads.
(I can't transform.)
Something grated inside his chest. Just last night, he'd listened to his father's recording and made up his mind. The feel of that resolve was still in his palms.
His smartphone buzzed.
'This is bad. Every public phone has stopped working.' — Akane Hikari.
"Every single one...?"
His fingertips were cold. He pressed the receiver to his ear once more.
Tuu, tuu, tuu.
"Oh, come on. You've gotta be kidding me."
He burst out of the booth. A thinly overcast sky. The shadows of old wooden houses stretched long across the paving stones. Cold wind slipped in through the gaps in his tracksuit.
"Kagurazaka-kun!"
Hikari came running. Her shoulder-length black hair swayed in the wind and stuck to her cheeks. White blouse, deep-red long skirt. Out of breath, she clutched a vermilion telephone card. Her knuckles were white.
"You too, Hikari-san?"
"Yes. I tried three booths nearby. All dead."
"It's Hardbank. They've shut down the lines on every public phone in the city."
"They can't just do that on their own..."
"They can. That company's involved in maintaining the public phone network too."
Hikari's voice was quiet. Only her eyes burned with anger.
"We can't transform. The cards are just scraps of paper. We've been completely neutralized."
"Neutralized..."
His throat went bone dry.
"—I'm glad to see you're both unharmed."
A low voice. He turned. At the mouth of the alley stood a man in a plain suit. Mid-forties. At a glance, an ordinary office worker. But his eyes were cold. The eyes of a man measuring the distance to his prey.
"Kenmotsu...!"
Cold sweat ran down his back. The man who had exposed Telephone's true identity to the whole city with the facial recognition system.
"You remembered me. I'm honored."
He smiled thinly.
"What do you want?"
"To protect you. Right now, you're just an unemployed man and a student. You can't transform. You have no power to run. Resist, and I'll simply call the police."
He took a step forward.
"Won't you hand over the cards quietly?"
"Like hell I will."
"I see. A shame."
He pulled out his smartphone and worked the screen.
"Then let's have you practice running. Just a little."
His finger tapped the screen.
All around the alley, the red lights of the security cameras lit up at once. The blinking raced across the paving stones.
"I've restarted the facial recognition system. Your location data is all being sent to Hardbank."
"What the—"
"Run, if you like. Wherever you go, the cameras will follow you."
Still smiling, he came closer, one step, then another. The sound of his leather shoes rang hard against the stones.
"Kagurazaka-kun, run!"
She pulled him by the hand. Two sets of footsteps kicked across the paving stones.
"You're running? It's pointless."
The voice chased them from behind. They turned the corner, ran down the slope, into the back streets of the shopping district. Shadows raced past shuttered storefronts.
"Hah, hah, hah..."
His lungs burned. A sudden all-out sprint was brutal on his out-of-shape body. The inside of his thighs were about to cramp.
"There, a phone booth!"
Hikari pointed. An old booth.
"Worth a shot!"
He dove in and grabbed the receiver. Inserted the card.
Tuu, tuu, tuu.
"Damn it! Still dead!"
He slammed the receiver down. The glass rattled.
"Kagurazaka-kun, this way! Hurry!"
They ran again.
(I can't transform. The cards don't work. My face is exposed.)
(I'm back to being just an unemployed guy.)
Self-loathing welled up from the pit of his stomach. It was almost funny.
"Hah... hah... damn it, why is this happening..."
He squeezed Hikari's hand back. Her fingers were cold.
"Kagurazaka-kun...?"
"I won't let go. I will never let go."
His voice came out lower than he expected, low enough to surprise even himself.
Hikari's eyes went wide for just a moment.
"...Yes. Don't let go."
She smiled, just a little. The two of them ran through the alley.
An old café in Kagurazaka. In a booth at the back, five people sat face to face. On the table, five cards were laid out. Green, vermilion, yellow, white. Only Aoi Ritsu kept her card tucked away in her pocket.
"—So, in other words, all of you can't transform anymore."
Ritsu spoke in a calm voice. Twenty-one. Cropped black hair. Sharp eyes. Not a wasted movement.
"That's right. The lines on every public phone have been shut down."
"So we can't do a damn thing anymore?!"
Genki slammed the table. The coffee in her cup jumped and spilled onto the saucer. Seventeen. Short blond hair. Sun-tanned skin. A muscular build.
"Calm down, Genki. Making a fuss won't change anything."
"How am I supposed to calm down?! We're completely surrounded!"
"Precisely because we're surrounded, we need to stay calm. Losing our heads is exactly what they want."
Ritsu's voice was cool.
"Ritsu's right. Genki-kun, quiet down a little."
"Ugh..."
Genki fell sulkily silent. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.
"So what do we do? We can't transform. The cards don't work. Our faces are exposed. Aren't we checkmated?"
Shizuku spoke while stirring her iced coffee with a straw. Twenty. Long black hair tied in a side tail, a white dress. She looked pure and proper; inside, she was pitch black.
"Checkmated... yes. Honestly, it's pretty bad."
Hikari sighed.
"It's none of my concern, though."
Shizuku smiled brightly. A smile like a flower blooming.
"Huh?"
"I don't particularly want to fight Hardbank. I only carry the card because it's my mother's keepsake. I have no obligation to go along with you."
"Hey, Shizuku. What are you saying at a time like—"
"What am I saying? My honest opinion. I'll use you as decoys and run. That gives me a higher chance of survival."
She said it as if it were nothing.
"You bitch...!"
Genki shot to her feet. Her chair toppled with a clatter.
"Are you serious?! You'd seriously use your friends as decoys?!"
She grabbed Shizuku by the collar.
"Hey now, Genki-kun. Would you mind not being so rough?"
Even with her collar grabbed, she kept smiling.
"Genki, stop!"
Ritsu grabbed Genki's arm and pulled her away.
"Ritsu-senpai! But she—!"
"I told you not to get emotional."
Ritsu's voice sharpened, just slightly.
"You're the one getting emotional, aren't you?"
Shizuku giggled.
"What?"
"Ritsu-kun, you've been saying 'stay calm' and 'don't get emotional' this whole time. Isn't that all about yourself?"
Shizuku's eyes narrowed.
"When I proposed the decoy plan, the first one to object was you, Ritsu-kun. Isn't that not a rational judgment, but the emotion of not wanting to abandon your friends?"
"...No. I'm simply saying your plan is inefficient."
Ritsu's voice wavered, just a hair. Her fingertips traced the edge of the table.
"Oh, is that so? Three decoys and I escape. That's the most efficient, isn't it? It keeps the sacrifices to a minimum."
"Your 'minimum sacrifices' means everyone but you becomes a sacrifice."
"Yes. So it's minimal, isn't it? As long as I'm the one who survives, that's enough."
She declared it, still smiling.
"You really are asking for a beating!"
Genki rose to her feet again.
"I said stop!"
Denwa cut in between the two of them.
"Hey, Denwa. You've been listening to her too—what do you think?!"
Genki pressed in on him. Her hot breath hit his face.
"What do I think... well, Shizuku's way of putting it is harsh, but this isn't the time to be fighting—"
"So you're saying it's fine for Shizuku to use us as decoys?!"
"N-no! That's not what I mean!"
"Denwa. You haven't been able to decide a single thing this whole time."
Ritsu spoke in a cold voice.
"Huh?"
"What are you to this team? You're not the leader. You're not the strategist. You're just an unemployed man holding a card. You have no right to hold us together."
Ritsu's words stabbed into his chest. The pain spread slowly.
"Ritsu... that's going too far."
"It's the truth. You're always leaning on someone. Helped by Hikari, pushed along by Genki, asking me for instructions. Have you ever made a decision on your own? Even once?"
Ritsu's eyes looked straight through him.
"...That's—"
The words caught in his throat.
(She's right. I've always leaned on someone else.)
(Even with Dad's card, I haven't changed at all.)
"See? You can't say anything."
Ritsu sighed.
"Ritsu-kun, that's too much."
Hikari admonished her.
"Hikari. You're too soft on him too. He never notices your feelings, and he just keeps moving on ulterior motives forever."
"Wha—Ritsu, what are you—"
His face went hot in a rush. All the way to the tips of his ears.
"Hit a nerve?"
"N-no! Hikari-san is, um, an important comrade to me, and—"
"Comrade, huh. Then what can you do to protect that comrade?"
Ritsu's question pressed down on him, heavy.
"I..."
"Nothing. You can't transform. You can't use the cards. You're just an unemployed man."
Ritsu laid out the facts, one by one. Each word struck precisely at the vitals.
"Ritsu, that's enough!"
Hikari raised her voice.
"Hikari, you be quiet."
"Why?! Kagurazaka-kun must be hurting the most right now! So why are you cornering him?!"
Tears welled in Hikari's eyes. Her lashes were wet and heavy.
"Precisely because he's hurting, he needs to see reality. Being coddled won't improve the situation."
"That's your logic, Ritsu-kun! Kagurazaka-kun isn't as strong as you!"
"Then all the more reason to face reality. If he isn't strong, he has no choice but to become strong."
"Enough, both of you, stop!"
Denwa shouted.
The café went silent for a moment. The other customers were glancing their way. The sound of a cup being set down seemed terribly loud.
"...I know I'm weak. I know that without transforming, I can't do anything. But even so, comrades tearing each other apart is wrong."
He spoke in a trembling voice.
"Then what do we do? In this situation, what can you possibly do?"
Shizuku said it with a cold smile.
"I refuse to get caught along with the rest of you. I'll survive my own way."
She stood. Her chair slid back quietly.
"Hey, Shizuku!"
"See you, everyone. Take care."
Without looking back, she headed for the exit. The sound of her heels rang out rhythmically against the floor.
"—Wait."
Denwa's voice carried through the café.
Shizuku's feet stopped.
"...What?"
She glanced back over her shoulder.
"It's a lie that not a single public phone is left."
Denwa looked straight at Shizuku.
"Huh?"
"You said every line was shut down. But is it really every one? Do you honestly think Hardbank has a grasp on every corner of this city?"
Strength filled his voice.
"Kagurazaka-kun, what do you mean?"
Hikari's eyes went wide.
"My old man worked maintenance and inspection on public phones. The old telephone line diagrams he used back then should still be in my aunt's storehouse."
"Telephone line diagrams...?"
Ritsu furrowed her brow.
"Yeah. There should be backup lines listed that were excluded from removal. Even Hardbank's people can't possibly have a handle on that."
The air in the room changed.
"I want to see that."
Hikari's eyes lit up.
"It has value as data. If it's real, there's a chance we can get around the line shutdown."
Ritsu put a hand to her chin and sank into thought.
"Let's go, senpai!"
Genki slapped Denwa on the back. Hard enough to hurt.
"...Fine. If you're going to
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