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~ - The Last Public Phone — Showa Style and Vermilion Bonds
The sunset painted the stone paving of Kagurazaka a deep red.
Five figures stood motionless before the ruined phone booth. Hariu and Kenmotsu had vanished at some point. Whether it was the network shutdown or something else, every smartphone screen was still pitch black.
"...Hey, is this thing really gonna connect?"
Denwa clutched the telephone-line blueprints his father had left behind and looked up at the rusted booth. Fine cracks spiderwebbed the glass, glowing orange in the evening light.
"According to the blueprints, this booth alone should still be running on an independent line."
Ritsu spoke in a calm voice. In her hand was a small terminal. On its screen, wavy lines showed the surrounding communication status.
"But we tried everything a minute ago and nothing worked!"
Genki shouted, arms crossed.
"Until a moment ago, Hardbank was jamming the lines artificially. But this booth's line is outside their control network. That is—if my father's blueprints are correct."
At Ritsu's words, Denwa swallowed hard.
"Guess we've got no choice but to try."
Denwa shoved the blueprints into his tracksuit pocket and walked toward the booth.
"Wait."
Hikari's voice stopped him in his tracks.
"I've got... a bad feeling about this. Be careful."
Hikari held the vermilion card against her chest, gazing at Denwa. With the sunset behind her, her hair looked almost like it was burning.
"Relax. I'm the Telephone Man's son."
Denwa mustered his bravest smile.
"...Yeah."
Hikari gave a small nod.
Denwa opened the rusted door. The hinge let out a grating screech. Inside, musty air hung stagnant. He picked up the receiver. It was heavy in his hand.
"...Here goes nothing."
He pulled a green telephone card from the wristband on his left arm. Its corners were worn, the printing on its surface faded. His father's keepsake.
He slid the card into the slot.
"—Telephone Change!"
He shouted.
...Nothing happened.
Only the hollow dial tone from the receiver. Beeep, beeep, beeep.
"Damn it! Why?!"
Denwa rattled the receiver.
"The line is still blocked."
Ritsu's voice came from behind him.
"Hardbank's jamming signal. This booth's line is being hit with especially powerful interference."
Ritsu turned her terminal screen toward Denwa. A red warning indicator flashed across the entire display.
"So what the hell do we do?!"
Denwa's voice trembled with panic.
"Calm down. If I analyze the line's frequency, I can find a way to slip past the interference—"
Ritsu began operating her terminal.
That was when it happened.
"—Unfortunately, that won't be necessary."
A low, heavy voice echoed through the twilight alley.
Everyone turned toward the sound.
At the alley's entrance stood a man.
He was tall, with silver hair. He wore a black suit like a suit of armor. Late fifties, perhaps. Deep wrinkles carved his face, and his eyes glinted with an unnatural sharpness in the sunset.
"Who the hell are you?"
Denwa set down the receiver and stepped out of the booth.
"Hardbank's president. Amagidani Soichiro."
The man introduced himself quietly.
"The president...!"
A cold chill ran down Denwa's spine.
"Nice to meet you, Kagurazaka Denwa. Your father did me a great many favors."
Amagidani smiled thinly. The smile never reached his eyes.
"You... knew my old man?"
"Yes, quite well. We were childhood friends. And also—"
Amagidani took a step forward. The sound of his leather shoes echoed coldly on the stone.
"—the man I hated most in this world."
The word "hated" dissolved into the twilight air and vanished.
"Hated...?"
Denwa's voice was bewildered.
"That's right. For over forty years. Even now, at this very moment."
Amagidani's voice was quiet. But that quietness was, conversely, terrifying.
"Your father took everything from me. The woman I loved, the fame I dreamed of, the era I wanted to protect. That man took it all."
Amagidani's eyes narrowed as if gazing into the distance.
"I built this company into what it is to beat that man. I spread mobile phones, drove public phones to extinction, erased the Telephone Man's existence from history. All to wipe that man's legacy completely from this world."
"...You're insane."
The words slipped from Denwa's mouth.
"Insane? Perhaps I am."
Amagidani laughed self-mockingly.
"I have a warm family. A loving wife, adorable children, a fine house. A life with nothing wanting. And yet—even so. When I wake in the middle of the night, I see that man's face. That moment when he stood before me, laughing with her. And then I realize. I still haven't won anything."
Amagidani's voice trembled with emotion for the first time.
"...Are you serious right now?"
Denwa clenched his fist.
"Dead serious. That's precisely why I came here today. That card you hold. That man's final relic—I'll crush it with my own hands."
Amagidani fixed his sharp gaze on Denwa's left wrist.
"Like hell you will."
Denwa hid his left hand behind his back, shielding the card.
"Your father ruined my life. And now his son is trying to walk the same path. I cannot allow that."
Amagidani raised his right hand.
At that signal, men in black suits appeared from every corner of the alley. Hariu, Kenmotsu, Zenitani. Three assassins stood blocking the five's escape routes.
"You bastards..."
Denwa looked at his companions.
"Looks like there's no way out."
Ritsu analyzed the situation coolly.
"Fine by me! I'll blast all of 'em at once!"
Genki cracked her knuckles.
"...What a pain. I really don't want to die yet."
Shizuku put a hand to her mouth and tilted her head theatrically.
"Kagurazaka-kun."
Hikari stood beside Denwa.
"I'll handle this."
Denwa headed back toward the phone booth.
"Futile. My subordinates have completely sealed the line."
Amagidani's voice stabbed into his back.
"Won't know unless I try!"
Denwa dove into the booth. He slammed the card into the slot.
"—Telephone Change!"
He shouted.
Beeep, beeep, beeep.
"Damn it! Connect! Just connect!"
Denwa gripped the receiver and cried out as if in prayer.
"I told you it was futile. This line is completely sealed by a jamming device—the pinnacle of my technological prowess. The technology of your father's era could never break through it."
Amagidani's voice was quiet with triumph.
"...That's not true."
Hikari's voice rang out softly.
"Huh?"
Denwa turned around.
Hikari held her vermilion telephone card up to the sunset. The card's surface caught the light, blazing red like fire.
"Kagurazaka-kun. Try using my card."
Hikari held out the card.
"Your card...?"
"My card still has my grandmother's history in it. And in that history, there are parts that overlap with your father's history. If the two histories overlap, then maybe—"
Hikari's eyes were serious.
"—the line might connect."
Denwa took the vermilion card from Hikari's hand. It was surprisingly warm.
"But how...?"
"Stack my card on top of yours. Both at once, into the slot."
Denwa did as he was told. He placed the vermilion card over the green one. The two cards glowed green and red in the sunset.
"—Telephone Change!"
Denwa thrust both cards into the slot.
The instant he did—
With a crackle, something burst from the receiver.
"What—"
Amagidani's face twisted for the first time.
The cards began to glow. Green light and vermilion light spiraled together, wrapping around Denwa's body.
"The line... it connected...!"
Ritsu shouted, staring at her terminal screen.
"Whooooo!"
Genki let out a battle cry.
"This is... incredible."
Shizuku's eyes went wide.
The light burst apart.
Denwa's body was wrapped in a green suit. On his chest, the same telephone mark as his father. And from his back, vermilion light spread outward like wings.
"...Transformation, complete."
The transformed Denwa set down the receiver and slowly turned around.
"Impossible... you broke through that jamming...?!"
Amagidani's voice shook with agitation.
"Your tech might be amazing, sure. But you know what—"
Denwa clenched his fist.
"—we've got something you could never get your hands on. It's the connection my old man and his friends left in this card over forty years ago!"
Denwa's voice echoed across the twilight sky.
"Hariu! Kenmotsu! Zenitani! Get them!"
Amagidani shouted.
"Understood, President."
Hariu pulled out his smartphone. But the screen was still pitch black.
"Ngh... the device won't work...?!"
Hariu's face twisted with panic.
"It seems the powerful electromagnetic waves generated during the transformation have interfered with the surrounding electronic devices. Our terminals are no exception."
Kenmotsu said bitterly.
"Electronic money won't work either...! At this rate, I can't do anything...!"
Zenitani shouted, slapping his own phone.
"All three of you rely too much on your phones. Your weapons are all inside radio waves and screens. But me—"
Denwa raised his fists.
"—my weapons are this body and these fists! Telephone Punch!"
Denwa kicked off the ground.
With the sunset at his back, the man wrapped in green and vermilion light charged at the three assassins.
"Gwah!"
Hariu took Denwa's fist to the gut and went flying. He tumbled across the ground, his back slamming into the stone paving.
"I-Impossible... me...?!"
Hariu tried to get up. But his body wouldn't move.
"Your sales smile won't help you now."
Denwa turned to Kenmotsu next.
"My facial recognition system is tracking your movements. However—"
Kenmotsu tried to analyze calmly. But before his eyes, Denwa's form swayed left and right, leaving afterimages of green and vermilion light.
"—too fast...!"
Kenmotsu's face filled with shock.
"Telephone Kick!"
Denwa's kick struck Kenmotsu square in the chest. Kenmotsu's body folded and slammed into the wall behind him.
"Gah...!"
Kenmotsu crumpled to the ground against the wall.
"You're last."
Denwa stood before Zenitani.
"M-my electronic money...! My numbers...! With such brute force...!"
Zenitani backed away, voice trembling.
"Your numbers might be impressive, sure. But there are things you can't measure with numbers."
Denwa grabbed Zenitani by the collar.
"Eek...!"
Zenitani's face contorted with fear.
"Telephone—"
Denwa raised his fist.
"—Dial Rotation Kick!"
Denwa's body spun in midair, and with that momentum he sent Zenitani flying. Zenitani screamed as he crashed down on top of Hariu.
"...Too strong."
Amagidani stood frozen, stunned.
"This is the Telephone Man's power... That man's power...!"
For the first time, fear appeared in Amagidani's eyes.
"Amagidani. Your plan ends here."
Denwa stood before Amagidani.
"Ends here...? Not yet. I'm not finished yet. I've spent over forty years to beat that man. You think I'd let it end like this...!"
Amagidani raised his voice.
"Your obsession is impressive, I'll give you that. But the one you really hated wasn't my old man. It was yourself—for never being able to beat him."
At Denwa's words, Amagidani froze.
"...What did you say?"
Amagidani's voice dropped low.
"You were jealous of my old man. You wanted to take everything he had. But really, you just wanted to be like him, didn't you?"
Denwa looked straight into Amagidani's eyes.
"...Shut up. Shut up! I, want to be like that man?! Don't make me laugh! I built all of this to surpass him!"
Amagidani raged.
"Then why, when you have a warm family, are you still hating my old man? Why do you wake in the middle of the night and see his face? It's because even now, you still admire him."
Denwa's words pierced deep into Amagidani's chest.
Amagidani was speechless.
The sun sank lower.
Long shadows fell across the alley.
"...I..."
Amagidani hung his head.
"...Maybe I just wanted that man to acknowledge me."
Amagidani's voice was thin, barely audible.
"...Maybe so. But it's too late now. Your plan is over."
Denwa turned his back on Amagidani.
"Wait."
Amagidani called out to stop him.
"Your fath
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