After pausing for a moment, Chris blurted out.
“Then would this be more believable?”
Looking into Yuri’s purple eyes with the gaze he’d been casting obliquely aside, he said clearly.
“I want to find my past.”
Even if it was different from what he imagined, even if it was something running in a completely opposite direction from his current life.
Because he had no memories of the past, Chris was being manipulated by Yuri. But flipping that from Yuri’s perspective, having no memories made him a traitor working for Northern Light.
“Quite persuasive.”
Yuri laughed.
“I almost want to be fooled.”
Yuri picked up the tray and stood up.
Chris was a bit discouraged but had no intention of giving up right away. He hadn’t thought he’d be satisfied with the first spoonful anyway.
When Yuri was about to open the door and leave, Chris grabbed the handle for him, and Yuri jerked his chin. He meant to open not just the door from the bathroom to the room, but the door from the room to the outside.
Somewhat dazed, he strode over and turned the handle. Light entered. Since it was rather dim inside, the light pouring on his face for the first time in a while hurt his eyes.
“Why are you standing there so dazed? Follow me.”
Chris looked at Yuri with slightly surprised eyes, then when he turned sharply and walked away, followed behind him. He didn’t even care that he was barefoot.
This situation was surprising because he hadn’t thought Yuri would readily take him outside.
“Is it okay to go out this easily?”
“Do you want to go back in?”
“Of course not.”
“Your abilities should be returning soon, so I was planning to take you around anyway.”
He couldn’t gauge how to respond to the words that there was no particular ulterior motive and that he’d planned it that way from the start.
“Where are you planning to start looking for Anastasia?”
“…She’s a drug dealer, so I’ll have to find her through drug addicts. Either customers will find the seller, or the seller will come looking for customers.”
Chris’s words were plausible. However, what he wanted to connect to through drug addicts wasn’t only Anastasia.
He’d caught signs that addicts admitted to rehabilitation centers, especially Espers addicted to Guiding drugs, were being moved to the abandoned factory district.
For now, under the pretext of finding addicts, he planned to find people who’d entered this organization through rehabilitation centers. If he could contact the rehabilitation center where Andrea was through that person, that would be even better.
Chris intended to catch both rabbits even if it was difficult. Since he hadn’t regained his past yet, his sense of identity as a Northern Light agent was stronger.
So Chris was doing this to learn more about Yuri.
“Where do the Espers from the rehabilitation centers who enter here go?”
At the straightforward words, Yuri’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Why do you ask that?”
“There are people coming in but no one going out, so I was curious.”
People who disappeared from the addict ward of the rehabilitation center had never returned to the hospital, poorhouse, or labor office.
“If you want to see.”
Only after Yuri, who’d been walking ahead, passed several corridors did a human shadow appear. Black hair and a sturdy body…
He saw him from a distance, but he was definitely the man who’d come out of the drug dealer’s building. Chris, who had mistaken him for Yuri Sobolev because of his black hair, felt strange seeing him bow his head to Yuri with an extremely respectful attitude.
At that time, he’d desperately hoped that someone other than Yuri was the mafioso, and he was embarrassed by the delusion he’d turned into conviction on his own. Even though he wasn’t born with a dull mind, he’d failed to use it properly and hadn’t recognized the enemy, so he’d ultimately brought today’s fate upon himself.
“Boss, Mr. Campbell is waiting.”
“Tell him to wait a bit more, I’ll be there soon.”
“Yes.”
The other man took the tray from Yuri’s hands, bowed his head, and moved away.
It was strange to see him not glancing at Chris or showing curiosity in the midst of that. Was that man particularly loyal?
Curious, as he watched the retreating man’s back, Yuri opened his mouth.
“…Since you’re an Esper, you notice like a ghost that he’s a Guide.”
“Pardon?”
Yuri clicked his tongue.
“That’s Logan. You’ll be seeing his face often from now on, so remember him.”
“Understood.”
Though he seemed like a man without gaps, it was better than being placed entirely under Yuri’s supervision.
“This way.”
“…Didn’t you say someone was waiting?”
“Ah, Campbell?”
Yuri’s eyes were cold.
“Don’t worry about it. Even if I make him wait all week, he’ll come back to meet me again.”
It seemed the desperate one was on that side.
Chris moved his steps following Yuri’s guidance. When they entered a corridor that was completely white, he opened the door to a nearby room.
“This is…”
The moment he looked inside, Chris stopped thinking. Addicts in a state similar to Mr. Walter he’d glimpsed, or perhaps even worse, were lying down occupying the beds. Glass barriers were installed on both sides of each bed where a patient lay. People who appeared to be medical staff were busily going from bed to bed caring for them.
“This is a ward that gathers people whose condition has improved to some degree. If you look around, there should be some you can have a conversation with.”
Chris had thought the disappeared Espers were confined somewhere and being brainwashed. Otherwise, it was hard to explain why Yuri Sobolev would spend money on charitable work.
From Northern Light’s standpoint, the mafia was absolute evil. Every action he took had to be infused with evil intent.
“Are they all receiving treatment?”
“Once they have the strength to stand up, they go around to receive counseling too.”
It felt like hearing a bad joke.
If he planned to keep selling Guiding drugs, there was no reason to treat them. Depending on the case, drug dealers might control supply, but why would he pull them out of the quagmire of addiction? That was losing customers.
“Really… you weren’t the one distributing Guiding drugs.”
Chris had thought Yuri Sobolev’s actions were strange and had shared this opinion with Yont and Andrea. Yont had firmly said it was the machinations of a black-hearted mafioso, and Andrea also leaned toward agreeing with that opinion.
Wasn’t he not a ruthless mafioso who would eliminate business partners for exclusive distribution?
“I don’t like drugs, especially Guiding drugs.”
Perhaps displeased with Chris’s misunderstanding, it was the coldest tone among all of Yuri’s voices he’d heard so far. He even felt deep anger.
Yuri’s words didn’t seem like lies. While investigating drug dealers, Chris had never seen a drug dealer who got their goods from Yuri Sobolev or anyone doing business with the mafia as backing. Rather, he’d witnessed scenes where those who appeared to be his subordinates were surrounding drug dealers’ buildings.
Though he was pursued by an Esper who caught his tail, at least on the surface it looked like he opposed drugs.
To dismiss all of that as a simple show, Yuri’s gaze looking at the addicts was too cold.
Suddenly he remembered something he’d experienced before.
“In the early days after arriving in Aurum City, I saw you on the street. And not long after, a dead drug dealer was found in that area… Did you handle it, Yuri?”
“Yes.”
“If it’s okay to ask the reason, please tell me.”
Yuri answered without any sign of hiding it.
“After Anastasia died, or at least went missing, there was an idiot who tried to supply drugs through the distribution network she’d used. Because it was a route White Night was already watching closely, we could catch them right away.”
They’d thrown away their life trying to save the money to develop a new sales channel.
“I went to make an example. I thought I vaguely saw platinum blonde hair nearby, but it was you.”
The calm voice mentioning making an example reeked of blood and gunpowder mixed together. Chris remembered the explosion that occurred in the building he’d barely escaped from.
If he stepped forward personally to handle drug dealers, he could tell how much Yuri detested drugs.
“I understand that you weren’t the one who addicted those people. But why are you treating them?”
He wondered why Yuri, who didn’t particularly like Espers, was doing this.
“If there’s trash in your front yard, won’t you clean it up just because someone else threw it there?”
“That’s… not true.”
“Besides, every month a garbage truck comes to collect the trash, so I have no choice but to clean it up beforehand.”
