At this moment, Shiro, nestled in his arms, reached up and removed the cloth wrapped around her head, which had been covering her eyes.
A pair of striking crimson pupils were revealed. Shiro curiously studied the young man holding her.
"Brother… so handsome!"
Haruto couldn't help but chuckle at her words.
This kid… the first thought after removing her eye restriction was that he was handsome?
Well, he was indeed handsome.
Then, Shiro shifted her gaze toward the Shy Guy. Though she maintained a composed expression, her grip on Haruto's hand trembled slightly.
Clearly, even a genius could feel fear.
"It's alright. Containment is complete. As long as nothing unexpected happens, it will never appear in this world again."
Haruto reassured her.
As long as the containment facility didn't explode or fail, this kind of dangerous entity would never be released.
"Brother, are we heading to the military base?"
Shiro withdrew her gaze and asked.
Haruto nodded.
"This entity's face; even in images or artwork, can still trigger its attack. We need to purge all recorded images from this location. Otherwise, taking the entity back is pointless; containment would fail."
(T/N: Remembered a fic where some dude used 096's face as a weapon. Literally uploaded his face to the internet causing all those who have seen his face be relentlessly hunted and killed.)
The military base in Kisemori Town had been destroyed. Its stationed personnel had been completely wiped out.
There was only one possible reason.
Someone on patrol had encountered the Shy Guy.
Their tactical helmets were equipped with recording functions, meaning they likely captured footage of the entity's face. This footage was transmitted back to the military base.
And then…
The consequences were obvious.
The Shy Guy was an indestructible entity with a minimum speed of subsonic levels.
It would have completely ignored all obstacles and charged directly toward anyone who had seen its face.
The ruins scattered throughout Kisemori Town were the result of Shy Guy's movement.
Nothing could obstruct its destruction.
Fortunately, the military base had not transmitted the footage externally. Otherwise, the entire world would be doomed.
Before long, the Foundation personnel arrived.
Haruto set Shiro down, intending to leave her with the others while he handled the deletion process himself. However, Shiro clung tightly to Haruto's arm.
"Brother, I…"
Shiro looked uneasy.
Clearly, she wasn't comfortable dealing with strangers.
Haruto thought for a moment and ultimately decided to bring Shiro along. However, he needed to put the tactical visor back on her. For safety, he planned to use Time Stop while deleting the images to ensure the Shy Guy's trigger conditions weren't accidentally met.
He couldn't entrust this task to anyone else.
Even the slightest accidental glimpse of a pixelated fraction of its face…
And the Shy Guy would instantly breach containment.
Fortunately, after a week of Foundation investigation, the military base's location had already been pinpointed.
"Secure it in a pitch-black containment chamber. No surveillance devices allowed. Absolute isolation."
Haruto ordered.
The Foundation's armed personnel nodded, keeping their heads lowered as they escorted the Shy One into a completely enclosed cell, sealing it away.
[Anomaly Successfully Contained: The Shy Guy.]
[Anomaly Level 4: Destruction. Containment Rating: Excellent.]
[Reward: One Level 4 Lottery Draw.]
As the system notification popped up, Haruto carried Shiro and confidently headed toward the military base.
The Kisemori Town military base was built underground, not a particularly large facility. It didn't seem to contain any classified information either.
Which made sense; if it were an important base or housed critical secrets, the Foundation's external authorities wouldn't have been able to negotiate for an entire week to secure containment.
The interior of the base was in an even worse state than Kisemori Town.
The underground complex was constructed from alloy materials.
Yet now, massive holes riddled the alloy walls, clear evidence of the Shy Guy's rampage.
Haruto found the main computer room.
He casually smeared some dried blood on the ground. The dried blood seeped into his fingers, consumed by the Blacklight Virus.
Memories of the blood's owner flooded his mind.
Then, Haruto skillfully powered on the military base's main computer.
"Za Warudo!"
To ensure no mishaps, Haruto activated Time Stop. Then, he accessed all uploaded video files on the computer and selected Delete.
Time resumed.
The Shy Guy's image data was completely erased.
"Good thing the base's signal was isolated, none of the footage was uploaded to a cloud server."
Haruto sighed in relief and removed Shiro's visor.
With her vision restored, Shiro's surveyed the surroundings before finally focusing on the mainframe. Her small hands swiftly tapped the keyboard, pulling up various data logs.
Haruto watched and couldn't help but marvel.
"Shiro's really is a genius."
Shiro, still navigating the system, murmured,
"The orphanage director had a computer in his office. I sometimes got to use it."
Haruto raised an eyebrow. This level of proficiency didn't seem like something gained from occasional use.
Before long, Shiro completed her search.
"Brother, there's another image folder here. Should I open it?"
She asked.
Haruto took control of the system, covered her eyes, and activated Time Stop again.
He opened the folder.
But it only contained records of Kisemori's Town residents—nothing recent.
A thorough check revealed no concerning images.
Time resumed.
"Shiro, you can look now. It's just some resident photos and records."
She removed his tactical goggles and looked at the screen.
Displayed on the screen were images of the residents of Kisemori Town.
Haruto had already shifted his attention away.
The images from within the base had been cleaned up.
Next, they had to quickly sweep through Kisemori Town to check if any residents had captured images of the mysterious entity before their demise. Once the cleanup was complete, the Foundation had to withdraw from Kisemori Town as soon as possible.
The authorities of Japan were still pressuring the Foundation's external leadership.
They needed to take control of one of the Four Great Financial Conglomerates as soon as possible. Right now, taking control of a conglomerate was much easier; just using blood to assimilate the upper management would suffice.
As Haruto was contemplating the future of the Foundation…
An image flashed across the main screen.
That photo immediately caught his attention.
"Shiro, rewind it," Haruto said.
Hearing his words, Shiro rewound the footage.
A portrait of a young girl appeared on the screen.
She was an ordinary yet beautiful girl, with silky black hair, a small round face, large inquisitive eyes, lips that carried a hint of a smile, a slender neck, and prominent collarbones.
She wore a clean white blouse, her long hair tied back into a ponytail with a vibrant orange-red ribbon.
At the bottom of the image, the girl's name was noted:
Miyamizu Mitsuha.
Haruto frowned as he looked at the image.
Why did he feel an inexplicable sense of familiarity with this girl?
He had been modified by the Blacklight Virus into a perfect organism. At the same time, his mental power had been developed through the Mangekyō Sharingan. To him, past memories were like a film stored in his mind, playing vividly and clearly.
Even childhood memories that he had once forgotten had long since resurfaced.
But Haruto was certain that there was no record of a girl named Miyamizu Mitsuha in his memory.
So, where was this familiarity coming from?
"Shiro, do you know this girl named Miyamizu Mitsuha?"
Haruto asked.
His first instinct was that this image might be anomalous, capable of distorting perception. However, the system didn't react, and Shiro didn't show any unusual response either.
So… could it be that this Miyamizu Mitsuha possessed some kind of anomaly?
Shiro pondered for a moment and then nodded.
"She used to come to the orphanage to help out often. I saw her a few times, but then she stopped showing up for a while. The director mentioned something about a rebellious phase or running away from home. I don't know much beyond that."
Hearing this, Haruto fell into deep thought. There was too little information available.
Moreover, it was still uncertain whether Miyamizu Mitsuha had perished in the anomaly outbreak at Kisemori Town.
Haruto connected his phone to the main computer and copied Mitsuha's information.
Then, he left the military base with Shiro.
The Foundation carried out its routine cleanup of Kisemori Town without any incidents, and afterward, they withdrew entirely.
On the way back, Haruto contemplated his next move and ultimately decided not to return to the Foundation. Instead, he headed straight to his apartment.
After a long time away, he finally returned home.