『Surpassing the Leader 』

You and Souichi wait for the Surpassing the Leader referee to appear. The referee chooses the game to be drop the handkerchief. The rules of this game are that one player sits on a chair and the other stands behind him. Let’s call the person on the chair A and the one behind him B. One round is for 1 minute. B drops the handkerchief and A can turn around anytime between the round, once he spots it, the round is over. The time between dropping the handkerchief and spotting it is noted, and the poison is accumulated respectively. If the handkerchief is not dropped and B turns, there is a penalty. B can choose how much poison he wants to be injected in him. The person who loses will be killed and then be brought to life for the amount of the poison that has been filled on the basis of the time difference between dropping the handkerchief and seeing it. A person can survive by taking only a limited amount of poison.

[KIRUMA SOUICHI — Surpassing the Leader]

(You are playing against him. Game has started.)

The chair is cold beneath you. Your palms slick. The ticking of the match clock echoes like a heartbeat.

Souichi stands behind you.

Not “standing.” Perfectly balanced — like a blade suspended in air. His posture is flawless, breathing soundless, heartbeat impossibly calm. He is in Perfection Mode, whether he activated it or not… you can’t tell the difference. No one can.

Your spine tightens.

He already mapped the entire room with echolocation the moment you entered. The way your breath bounced off the metal floor. The vibration in the clock housing. Yakou shifting his weight.

He “sees” everything… even behind your eyelids.

Then his voice — soft, near your ear, though he hasn’t moved.

Souichi:

“Before we begin… your pulse is 122. Fear.” “Good. It means you will be honest.”

You swallow.

He shouldn’t know that. But of course he does.

This is the man who, while amnesiac, learned baseball tricks in minutes… deduced missile terrorism from market behavior… manipulated the formation of ACIA… solved two Rubik’s Cubes mentally while near death… predicted Baku’s checks… and built multi-layered political traps by rearranging people’s emotions like puzzle pieces.

And now you’re sitting in front of him.

Yakou raises a hand. Round 1 begins.

The air pressure changes.

Souichi hasn’t moved, but you hear it — the faintest displacement. Your survival instinct screams that he dropped something—

—but he didn’t. Not yet. He’s manipulating your anticipation, using your own reflexes against you.

He leans in just slightly, his breath steady, controlled.

Souichi:

“Do you know why Baku hesitated in this moment?” “Because he understood I had already calculated the path of his fear.”

Your throat tightens.

He is reading the tension in your shoulders, the micro-twitch in your jaw, the heat shifting in your carotid artery. He is mapping your psychology in real time.

Your fingers clench.

Suddenly—

A soft flutter.

You didn’t hear anything. You didn’t feel anything.

But he dropped it.

Yakou’s eyes widen — even he didn’t catch the motion.

You freeze.

One second passes. Two. Three.

Souichi’s voice cuts through the silence like a scalpel.

Souichi:

“Four-point-eight seconds.” “That’s how long it takes your courage to decay.”

Your blood chills.

He’s already processing: • your fear profile • your likely turn timing • how much poison you can tolerate • your recovery window • and how this affects future rounds, including potential leap-second deviation

All while standing behind you with a calm smile.

You turn.

Yakou injects your first poison dose.

Your vision pulses. Souichi remains tranquil — not mocking, not gloating. Studying.

Analyzing.

Adapting.

Souichi:

“The next time you hesitate, you will die.” “…but I will bring you back. We still have many rounds to play.”

He gently lifts the handkerchief again.