Kaito stumbled and staggered through the bedroom window, leaning against the wall, panting heavily with his heart still beating madly.
It was terrifying... After the three of them inhaled the strange potion, their eyes looked as if they wanted to devour him whole, skin and bones.
He was glad he had run fast; otherwise, his fate tonight would definitely be a hundred times more tragic than the time Gold City ambushed him at night.
"Phew... First, I'll take a shower to cool off"
He stood up, still shaken, and just as he was about to walk toward the bathroom, another anomaly occurred.
"Click"
The bedroom lights suddenly went out.
Immediately after, with a few "clack, clack" sounds, his room door and the window he had just broken were automatically sealed and closed with a thick metal barrier.
"Hum—"
Red laser grids crisscrossing appeared out of nowhere in the room, cutting through the entire space like a high-security system in a movie.
Kaito's hair stood on end instantly.
A cold, emotionless voice, like an AI, came from a miniature broadcast hidden in the corner of the ceiling:
"The game of hide-and-seek is over, my dear Assistant-kun"
Before the voice finished, the air in front of Kaito suddenly distorted like water ripples, and a pitch-black spatial crack appeared out of nowhere.
Agnes Tachyon, dressed in her iconic white lab coat and holding a tablet that constantly updated data streams, stepped elegantly out of the crack.
"How are you here?!" Kaito backed away in terror.
"It's simple; I implanted nanometer trackers in the fibers of your clothes"
Agnes Tachyon pushed up her glasses, her tone as monotonous as if stating a fact.
"Since you became my assistant, all your physiological data has been under my surveillance"
She looked at the data panel in her hand, and a playful smile played at the corner of her lips.
"For example, right now, your heart rate is 125 beats per minute, your body temperature has increased by 0.8 degrees Celsius from normal, your adrenaline levels are elevated, and the concentration of your unique body scent pheromones is 12.7% higher than your resting state"
She looked up, her mad eyes piercing through her lenses and heading straight for Kaito's heart.
"All data clearly indicates... that you, in fact, are also very excited, aren't you?"
With the purest and coldest scientific analysis, she mercilessly stripped away all of Kaito's disguises and excuses.
Kaito was speechless, choked by her words.
He did... feel a bit of excitement.
Damn it!
Agnes Tachyon walked slowly in front of him, the distance between them so close they could almost hear each other's breathing.
Then, she made a move Kaito didn't expect.
She took off her glasses.
Without the obstruction of the lenses, those eyes that always shone with madness and curiosity now looked exceptionally clear.
There was no longer curiosity for a guinea pig; instead, there was the purest obsession and reverence, like exploring an unknown universe or contemplating a brilliant galaxy.
"I understand"
She said in a low voice.
"Before... I was wrong"
"I shouldn't have treated you just as a sample with a special physique to study; I shouldn't have analyzed your hands, your body odor, your pheromones..."
Her voice, for the first time, had a tremor akin to intoxication.
"What I should really study is yourself, Kaito. Your existence is the greatest scientific miracle of this world, one that cannot be defined by any formula"
"And the best way to verify a 'miracle'..."
She reached out, her fingertips cold, gently stroking Kaito's cheek as if touching the most precious and unique work of art.
"Is to experience it firsthand"
In that moment, she was no longer the imposing researcher holding a scalpel.
She was a devout believer who, faced with the truth, had completely set aside all theories and tools, deciding to feel and embrace with her soul.
Identities, in this moment, completely inverted.
The hunter, voluntarily, became a believer of the prey.
[Congratulations, Host!] [The target Agnes Tachyon has completed cognitive sublimation and her trust level has reached 100%!]
"Target... cough, the target has actively entered an 'experimental' state!"
Agnes Tachyon stood on her tiptoes and, under Kaito's surprised gaze, kissed him.
The moment their lips met, she announced the final research topic of that night with a dreamy whisper, audible only to the two of them and full of academic exploratory spirit:
"Experiment topic... confirmed: 'On the possibility of fusion between a miracle and a mortal'"
"Experiment subject A, Hoshi Kaito"
"Experiment subject B, Agnes Tachyon"
"The final fusion experiment... now, officially begins"