Often, nothing that happens in Concord goes without consequences.

Once you’re tainted, you can never wash it off. They’ll always find it.

Maybe it’ll happen when you get too cocky and go too far.

Maybe when you cross paths with someone important.

Or maybe it’ll happen because someone’s eyes finally turned their attention to your filth.

The only question is when it will happen... And how many layers of filth will be on you at that moment.

A dark room in one of the mansions in Norwich.

*Click-click* An old-fashioned-looking lighter emitted a steady stream of blue flame.

In an instant, it lit the thick cigar clenched in the man’s mouth.

He looked barely over forty, yet his stubble and hair were almost entirely gray. His leg trembled almost imperceptibly.

A woman in her thirties lay against him, wrapped in a woolen blanket. There were red streaks under her closed eyes, evidence that she had only been able to fall asleep after a long stream of tears.

"..." The man adjusted his glasses and turned the volume down slightly.

A recording of an interview was playing, given by the members of the band Bengou after yesterday’s massive concert.

A promotional banner flashed at the bottom of the screen, announcing that they were holding another performance today for their devoted fans.

Although tickets were already sold out, it was mentioned that those interested could purchase a pass for an autograph session. And the most devoted fans could even buy a VIP pass for an exclusive meet-and-greet for just...

"...Sons of bitches," the man muttered through clenched teeth and turned off the screen.

After laying his sleeping wife on the couch, he got up and, limping, walked over to the table.

Opening a small jar, he took two pills from it and washed them down with a shot of hard liquor.

A burning sensation ran down his throat and settled in his stomach, bringing tears to his eyes.

The mansion was quiet. Terribly quiet. Deadly quiet.

It was hard to believe that a cheerful atmosphere had once reigned here, and that children’s laughter and singing had echoed throughout the house.

"..." Walking along the walls, the man, with despair in his eyes, stared at the photographs, now shrouded in the darkness of night.

A boy and a girl, looking just like twins, smile happily at each other.

The two of them are performing in a school show, and their proud parents are watching them from the front rows.

Their faces are overflowing with happiness as, in one of the photos, they stand on either side and embrace the two standing in the center...

The heads of the two people in the center of the holographic photo were crossed out with an X.

*Creak...* The door to the room creaked open.

"...Kids," the man said in a broken voice.

"..." There was no reply, even though they were there.

The boy and girl, so much alike they might have been twins... Now they were both in wheelchairs, connected to IV lines and monitors.

There were no visible physical injuries... But their eyes were empty.

They could look, perhaps even see, but they were unlikely to be aware of anything.

Their minds were gone... perhaps forever.

"K-kids..." The man couldn’t hold back and began to cry again. He never let himself cry in front of his wife. Only now, and only in these moments, when he was certain... no one could see him.

His limping legs gave way. On his knees, he crawled toward his children and pressed his tear-soaked face into their legs.

"..." The boy and girl watched his suffering, but not a single emotion flashed across their faces.

As he held the children close, the man could smell the foul stench rising from them—a grim reminder that their diapers needed changing.

However, that wasn’t the only terrifying thing about this children’s room.

All the walls and shelves were covered with various souvenirs and holographic posters featuring the two lead singers of the band Bengou.

Sexy Bomb and Super Marty. Their smug faces peered out from literally everywhere.

The most terrifying thing about this situation was that whenever he tried to get rid of these things... the children would break down crying. It was the only possible situation in which they were the only moments they ever reacted at all.

They could be quiet, calm, and wet themselves only when the monsters who had done this to them were nearby.

"..." The man clenched his teeth and forced himself to stop crying.

He leaned on the windowsill and stood up.

Clenching his fists until they bled, he made a call.

A couple of seconds passed as he stared out the window, and then...

"Sir Schrodinger? Please forgive me for calling so late, but... To be honest, I’m worried." The man wiped the tears from his face with his fist. "After a year of treatments that brought no results, we have nothing left, you understand? We’ve gathered every last resource we had, yet still couldn’t secure a mercenary with superpowers. You see, I doubt that your..."

"..." The man began to reply, but his voice was inaudible.

"... L-listen, how can I not worry? These are my children, and this is... It’s impossible for an ordinary human to defeat..."

"..."

"W-what did you say...?"

"..."

"I understand... I’m sorry again. Goodbye."

The call came to an end.

The man turned to his children, who were staring at him with blank expressions.

The phrase left by that mysterious caller at the end involuntarily formed on the man’s lips.

"..." The word impossible does not apply to Nobody.

...

Bright neon colors dazzle the eyes. Hundreds of people move energetically to the dance music and sing along to the melody.

Their faces radiate joy and happiness, and their admiration is directed at the main characters in the center of the stage.

No one pays attention to what is behind them.

A shower of bright lights fell on the stage, and the two lead singers stepped forward.

It was a man with light hair and narrowed eyes, and a girl with long red hair and a plunging neckline.

They began singing into a single microphone, and then... staged a bold, wet kiss.

"WOOOOOOO!!!" The audience howled with delight.

The man and woman basked in the adoring gazes and revelled in them.

Super Marty hadn’t lied, and now he was making eye contact with every fan.

’Love me more...’ you could read that thought in his eyes.

That was the case until, among the adoring gazes, he found one that stood out from the rest.

This person was standing in the shadows, behind everyone else. He was looking, staring into the eyes of the star of the show and... smiling. Not like the others.

The wider he smiled, the faster Marty’s own smile faded from his face.

He didn’t know why, but that smile made him feel... He felt as if his very soul was being ripped inside out.

That smile seemed foreign. As if it weren’t a living person smiling at him, but something else.

Something found only in the most terrifying nightmares.

The man in the shadows raised his wrist and pointed there with his finger, as if indicating the time.

"Tick-tock... tick-tock... tick-tock..." Marty read it only from the lips of the man in the shadows, smiling in a way that wasn’t human.