Saikyou Series Volume 2 S1chapter 5

Jinrui Saikyou on Jun'ai – Nisioisin
p. 28-30

I did know Doctor Kitsuregawa. He’s something of a celebrity, but at the same time, he’s remained anonymous and unacknowledged. That’s because, as a researcher, he could be described as a world-weary hermit who prefers to avoid people, and also as a mad scientist whom people prefer to avoid—when both sides are avoiding each other, there’s no way for them to communicate. If you remember dear old Doctor Kyouichirou Shadou,(1) he probably makes a similar impression; however, compared to that Mad Demon, Doctor Kitsuregawa’s research is a bit on the shadier side. I mean, his research is utterly mystifying, and in that sense, he’s seriously deviated from normal society—at the very least, his accomplishments could never win him a n.o.bel Prize. To give some examples, he’s done stuff like cramming multiple people’s consciousnesses into a single body, or conversely, making one consciousness control multiple bodies; trying to give a person three hearts, swapping people’s minds, and making gla.s.ses that turn the world upside down; his research isn’t so much useless as it is liable to cause trouble. If there’s an ideology he’s consistently followed, it’s like he’s constantly questioning, “How can I best agitate the world?” It pains me to say so, but compared to Doctor Kitsuregawa’s ideas, both the ER3 System and the M that my fathers made would be categorized as decent. Naturally, a guy like that is an outcast in the scientific world, but in extremely rare cases, his inventions match up with a demand from society. Just like planets sometimes align, cases like that do happen—Izumu Niounomiya, the Man-Eater, is a good example. The Niounomiya siblings; one as two, two as one. He’d probably be known as the strongest if it weren’t for me; that’s the quality of personnel Doctor Kitsuregawa is able to create, if he feels so inclined. Even I’ve shared in the fruits of his research—I could probably say I was harmed by it, but after all, I landed and walked on the moon in his “Closet” s.p.a.cesuit. The s.p.a.cesuit was durable and easy to move in, and it was promptly adopted for use by s.p.a.ce agencies around the world, but its original purpose was to be able to fight aliens, which was pretty crazy. A researcher who devotes his life to bring useless and pointless fantasies into reality—that’s Doctor Kitsuregawa.

“To tell you the truth, I’m one of Doctor Kitsuregawa’s products—though you might say I’m more like an experiment.”

Shimegiwa didn’t have to tell me; that’s what I a.s.sumed. Whether his arm could turn into a fire or a psycho-gun,(2) as soon as he said it was the result of that doctor’s research, I understood perfectly. As mysterious as the trick up Shimegiwa’s sleeve had been, all sense of mystery immediately disappeared. It’d be more mysterious if that wasn’t the case. Doctor Kitsuregawa’s latest work, Matsuri Shimegiwa—“Campfires”, huh. Dear me. The client is Doctor Kitsuregawa… what’s more, he’s not acting through any agency, but commissioning me directly.

“I’ve been instructed to guide you. Of course, I’ll wait for you to be done with your next job or whatever…”

Oh, no need to wait.

“……”

I didn’t really mean “no need to wait” as in “I’m turning you down”. Don’t give me that look. I meant that you don’t have to wait for me to be done with my next job because I’ll be canceling it, just like you predicted; so, let’s get going right now.

“W-what? Is that alright? Being so irresponsible with your work…”

I don’t need a spiky-haired youngster teaching me how to do my job. It’s fine; that’s my style. Didn’t you know? My job completion rate is super low.

“…This is the first time I’ve met someone who got excited hearing Doctor Kitsuregawa’s name.”

I’m not excited, I’m feeling reluctant. It’s just, I would like to meet and talk with at least once. How to put it; in this flow of events, it wouldn’t be right to not meet him. But only if we dispense with any nasty stuff right away—though I can’t deny I’m looking forward to it, since everything I know about him is from rumors.

“……”

Well, if the job is to serve as his guinea pig, then I’ll have to beg off. Something on the level of testing a s.p.a.cesuit might be alright, but I’d rather not have my arm turned into gas or anything like that.

“That’s not what this is about. Please, hear the rest from the doctor… I can’t explain it very well. I’m not sure what Doctor Kitsuregawa’s intentions are.”

I doubt anyone is sure of that.

Footnotes:
(1) Kyouichirou Shadou, also known as the Mad Demon, was the leader of the research facility that served as the setting of Psychological, the third Zaregoto book.
(2) The “psycho-gun” is a cybernetic arm-laser gun that appears in the manga Cobra.