To kill yourself.
To remove all traces of one's own past, to permanently lose that memory, so that the time that once existed, the real experience of the time no longer leave a trace, in fact, not really extermination, but only to be merciless enough to completely discard part of the memory.
What really kills you is: "The ring."
"To have a lover you can trust is to kill yourself, isn't it?"
Ichijō Mirai said, "It's like putting your life in someone else's hands."
Once you're betrayed, it's all over.
Criminals who commit crimes and run around the world know what it means to trust others, and a few don't even trust themselves 100%.
Ichijō Mirai is certainly not that extreme.
He distrusts everyone equally.
The bracelet vibrated, popping up message after message, but the screen was only faintly lit, and no text was displayed.
Probably because the system didn't know about the 'even the system forgets' bit, and now that he just found out, in a state of bewildered shock, Ichijō Mirai glanced at the little fool, and then looked at his cell phone.
The video continued to play, and the researcher said, "But it's a necessary price."
"There are things that I cannot do."
"Just as most people can't personally cut out their own rotting wounds with a dagger without anesthesia,"
"The dilemma I face is not the rotting wound, which is quite manageable, but..."
He paused for a moment, as if contemplating something, and then quickly gave up, "You have no memories, and most of the things I care about are foreign to you, things not worth caring about."
"The dilemma I face is 'immortality'."
Immortality?
Searching Ichijō Mirai's mind with this keyword, only a few fragments could be found. He was not a person who cared much about longevity, and even less interested in pursuing immortality, he was a person who lived in the present, and only worked for what was right in front of him.
There was only one thing that could be connected to this keyword and that concerned 'Ichijō Mirai': the organization's pursuit of immortality.
And 'Ichijō Mirai' was now wearing the clothes of a researcher.
Ichijō Mirai looked at the screen as his mind raced.
On the screen, the researcher said, "I'm not sure if you have been given a code name, but if you have been given a code name, then you will understand what I'm saying, and remember the ideal of the 'pursuit of immortality', and the drug that you were injected with."
Ichijō Mirai reached for the back of his neck.
The puncture wound from the game pod had never healed, it was like a small red mole that often warmed up when he logged in and out of the game, each time it got hotter and hotter for longer and longer periods of time, and he had gotten so used to the sensation of the heat that he would reach out and touch the area where the wound was from time to time.
But this time, when he exited the game, the wound stayed hot.
...Is it the effect of the drug?
Wasn't the so-called 'immortality' that the organization was pursuing a ridiculous delusion?
"As well as, even if you know it's stupid, you'll still come up with the speculation of 'has the Organization succeeded in pursuing immortality' and in the next instant, you'll tick off the denial," the researcher said lightly, his brow furrowing again, "the ridiculous absurdity of this pursuit,"
"But sadly, in a way, it was accomplished."
His face was expressionless, "The flow of the game pod and the flow of reality are adjustable, you can spend two days in the game and only one day in reality if you want to, or you can spend a week in the game and only one day in reality,"
"Don't you think it's strange."
"I actually have the magic power to adjust the flood of time."
It was truly expressionless, and the researcher's tone of voice didn't fluctuate at all, looking almost as if he was dead.
Ichijō Mirai: "..."
Without a ring to spin, he spun his bracelet with his ear to his nose and his nose to his heart, and commented, "The state of mind is worrisome."
"'Year' is just a unit of time," The researcher said, 'is 'half a year' just six months, 180 days, 4,000 hours?"
"No."
"It can also be twenty years, countless days, countless hours, countless minutes, countless seconds," he said very calmly, "and when a man's twenty-seventh year lasts for two years, five years, ten years, twenty years, he has lived forever."
Sounds...
It sounds like he's spouting something.
But Ichijō Mirai thought, and thought, and thought, "I suggest you recite 'The Price' over and over again."
It was as if he were listening to Latin translated into Russian, Russian into French, French into English, English into Spanish, and Spanish eventually into Japanese, and could understand each pronunciation, but together they were unintelligible.
"What's even more desperate is that the waste is the same," The researcher said, "For more than 20 years, more than 20 years, we have to face a group of waste every day for more than 20 years."
"Almost all of them were wastes, wastes who hadn't improved a bit, wastes who were dumber than a straw worm."
He clarified, "I'm not targeting members of the organization."
"I'm discriminating equally against the members of the organization, the detectives, the police, the murderers, even every passerby."
Adding, "Name Rum."
"I've never seen such a lousy police, such a lousy FBI, such a lousy organization, such a lousy member of the organization," 'Ichijō Mirai' was still expressionless, "much less such a lousy second-in-command of the organization."
He smiled very politely, "Can it go to hell?"
And nodded even more politely, raising his hand to his wristwatch, "Nine o'clock tonight,"
"Tonight at nine o'clock, when I become the Boss, it's the time for this blind waste who 'can't forget what he's seen with his left eye once' to die!"
Ichijō Mirai: "..."
"Don't go to extremes," He rationalized to amnesia-less self, "Why do you have to be a Boss to kill him?"
And: "Second-in-command?"
"Don't tell me, Rum," he said slowly, and slowly, "is second in command of the organization."
How can something like that be second-in-command?
...Oh, shit, the killing intent, the killing intent seems to be coming out uncontrollably.
Not only for Rum, but also for the organization that Rum is the second-in-command of.
On the screen, the researcher closed his eyes for a few seconds, regulated his emotions, reopened his eyes, and calmly advised his unmemorized self, "You don't have to kill Rum, he's useful, he can be used as a substitute sandbag."
And then he asked Ichijō Mirai, "...You didn't kill too many people, did you?"
That's a good question.
Ichijō Mirai didn't answer, and 'Ichijō Mirai' didn't wait for an answer.
He continued down the line, "I hope that after the boss is killed,"
"You can take a group of people and discard this glove."