Chapter 248: Ended The Story With A Cliffhanger!

Kento Nara had been thinking that Manatsu would surely go mad in later chapters according to the plot's development.

He deduced this logically. As Miss Gentera did not arrange for a psychiatrist to provide counseling for Manatsu, it would be very illogical if he did not go insane in later chapters. The whole book would be ruined if that was the case.

Even if the storyline had later incongruences, the novel was still considered to be of good quality. However, Kento could hardly recommend a book that had lost its good public reputation to others.

Nonetheless... judging from the words '50 years later', Kento Nara knew that this was Miss Gentera's trump card.

Time could change a lot of things, and the easiest things to be changed were thoughts and personality traits.

Maturity of thought corresponded to the progression in the human lifespan - children would think immaturely, while adults would be more reasonable.

One would have different perspectives on life at different stages of life.

What kind of changes would the main character, Manatsu, experience? His distorted personality should have been corrected.

Kento Nara continued reading while he pondered over it.

After 50 years, both Flame and Manatsu had become friends.

In those 50 years, Manatsu had been taken good care of. He had a balanced and well-rounded lifestyle despite the limited range of daily activities available to him. He was no longer always on guard. He felt relieved that there were no policemen in hot pursuit of him. His anxious, stress-ridden life, where he was constantly on tenterhooks, afraid of dying every time he woke up, was over. His disturbed personality and anti-human thoughts had resolved over time.

It was all Flame's credit. He had employed many psychiatrists to have counseling sessions with Manatsu.

After that, Chiba Shiori used more than 1,000 words to describe the 50 years of the old age of life of Manatsu.

Despite being under supervision all the time, Manatsu was finally at peace, and Kento wept with joy upon learning this truth. Finally, there was no need for Manutso to escape anymore.

As for the reason why Flame kept Manutso under supervision for 50 years - it was because Flame knew intuitively that Manatsu was hiding a big secret about himself.

At that moment, Kento Nara knew why Miss Gentera had set Flame as a great detective who solved the case with his instincts.

After all, who would be willing to look after a prisoner for 50 years simply because of his intuition? Flame was the type of person who believed in his instincts, and he was stubborn as well.

Flame and Manatsu became friends because Flame had investigated all the information regarding the escape of Manatsu after he brought him to the United States. He discovered that all the people that were murdered by Manatsu during his escape were grievously dangerous criminals, and he was surprised by this information.

Despite being a hunted prisoner, Manutso was still able to carry out justice during his escape. Flame felt that Manatsu might have his own personal difficulties and problems, which was why he felt comfortable forming a friendship with Manatsu.

However, Flame still felt helpless as Manatsu had never told him his secret.

Besides, Flame couldn't be with Manatsu all the time as he had to solve cases, being a detective who was well-known for being good at his job.

Meanwhile, Manatsu had been living in an isolated manner for the past 50 years... Though he could still watch television and play computer games, the isolation still rankled.

At first, Manatsu thought of committing suicide, but he gave up the thought in the end. If not for his experience of being homeless and consequently living a miserable life while on the run, he would not have been able to appreciate the preciousness of this current life and give up his suicidal ideations.

Deep in his core, Manatsu desperately wanted to find the true culprit who had framed him from the start. He obsessed over the idea of it. In his fifty years of confinement, he obtained some clues from the newspapers and television. He was on the way to the hospital to visit the doctor when the anti-terrorist police caught him. After that, he was tortured in the police station before being brutally shot to death in a wasteland... Now that he looks back upon his ordeal - nothing made any sense.

30 years ago, the first Ajin appeared in Japan.

What was an Ajin? An Ajin was different from ordinary people in that they were immediately resurrected after death. However, the number of times an Ajin could be resurrected varied, and was entirely dependant on the strength of the Ajin. The weakest Ajin would die three times. But the strongest Ajin, the first Ajin in history, a Japanese Ajin, had died more than thirty times and yet had not truly died. His name was Kazuma Nakahara.

This Ajin... He died for the first time 20 years ago, at the roadside of Kawachi Square.

Kawachi Square was nearby both his house and the hospital that he went to treat his migraines often. Back then, Manatsu had been accused of releasing toxic gas at Kawachi Square.

Therefore, he had to load files... He wanted to look into the secret that was hidden at Kawachi Square.

However, he had to commit suicide so that he could load the files. To be honest, Manatsu became more afraid as he grew older. He worried that he would not be able to load the files if he died a natural death. Hence, he needed to commit suicide, but he could not do so as he was being supervised all the time. Therefore, the only chance he could get at finding out the truth was to commit suicide after Flame died.

Kento Nara got very excited as he read up to this point, curious to unravel the mystery surrounding Manatsu and find the truth out. Kento Nara could tell from the past that the Ajin was probably a humanoid, the result of a research experiment...

There was an accident when this research was carried out fifty years ago, resulting in a massive death toll at Kawachi Square. To reassure the public and make it seem like they were taking affirmative action, the policemen had arrested a scapegoat instead of the real killer - the scapegoat being Manatsu. He was the best option as he was alone, with both his parents having passed away.

However, when Kento read that the main character could only commit suicide after Flame was dead, he thought Manatsu was going to kill Flame.

The following header allowed him to let out a sigh of relief. It turned out that Manatsu planned to commit suicide after Flame had died a natural death.

A good detective, Flame, was either the hunted or the hunter throughout his entire life. He had many enemies who had hurt him in many ways, with various indiscernible injuries upon his body. Time had not been kind to him. He was almost seventy years old now, and his body had become weaker as time passed. On the other hand, although Manatsu was trapped in the manor, Flame had taken very good care of him to preserve Manatsu's death. Therefore, Manatsu was still healthy and chubby.

If nothing else, it was expected that Flame would pass away before Manatsu.

The following plot flowed naturally.

As time went by, Flame began to feel like his time was up. He finally stopped chasing after fugitives. He accompanied Manatsu into the manor every day, boasting about his past achievements. He did not look into Manatsu's secret as he knew Manatsu would not tell him about it.

Kento burst into tears when he read about their last moment.

Flame gripped Manatsu's hand tightly as he was lying on the sickbed. It was hard for him to open his eyes. With great difficulty, he said, "I have hunted many fugitives throughout my entire life. You are the first one, and also the one that I took great pains to arrest. I've always wanted to know about your secret, can you tell me about it at this last moment?" Flame stared at Manatsu with dreadful anticipation in his eyes.

After a long silence, Manatsu leaned over reluctantly. He lowered his head and muttered something softly into Flame's ear.

Flame's eyes went wide when he heard what Manatsu said, a look of complete disbelief on his face. He held Manatsu's hand and said with a smile, "So that's... that's what it is..."

It was not that he was not good enough, but because Manatsu had been exhausting him with his ability to load files. Otherwise, how could Manatsu have messed with him for such a long time?

Keeping that fact in mind, Flame finally closed his eyes with a smile of satisfaction.

Manatsu had a smile on his face as well as he looked at the calendar on the wall.

It was on the 24th of August in the year 2072.

He lowered his head and muttered softly while looking at Flame, "See you in the year 2019." Manatsu took a scalpel and stabbed himself in the heart directly once he finished his words.

Kento Nara flipped the page after he finished reading, but there was nothing more.

His eyes went wide...

Damn it! Miss Gentera ended the story with a cliffhanger!