To Psykos, the person once known as President Fubuki no longer existed. The calm, collected girl she had once admired was gone, replaced by a venomous woman she now hated with every fiber of her being.
And now that Shinji had returned, she was genuinely worried he might be tricked or used by her all over again. That fear gnawed at her, and she couldn't help but warn him again and again.
"Yeah, I'll be careful," Shinji replied, giving her a slight nod.
"If she ever shows up again, let me handle her," Psykos said, voice low and resolute.
There was no hesitation in her eyes. She wanted to face Fubuki directly, unmask her in front of Shinji, so he would see for himself what kind of manipulative woman she truly was.
"Wait, aren't you supposed to be stuck down here?" Shinji raised an eyebrow.
"No one besides you knows I'm the real body behind [Great Eyeball], so it's fine," Psykos answered without missing a beat. "Just teleport me with your ability. That way, the other monsters won't suspect a thing."
She offered a small smile, then added with quiet warmth, "Even if it's dangerous, it's worth it if it means keeping you safe from filth."
There was no trace of doubt in her voice. She trusted Shinji completely. Even though he didn't remember their past, she believed in his heart, in the person he had once been. That belief was absolute.
"Alright then," Shinji said casually. "If [Blizzard of Hell] shows up again, I'll just bring you over to my place."
"Mm, right…"
As if reminded of something, Psykos rose from the sofa and walked toward the back of the room.
The so-called secret hideout was more like a personal study. Narrow and compact, its walls were lined with towering bookshelves, filled top to bottom with thick volumes. Between the aged tomes and yellowing papers, it looked more like a scholar's retreat than a villain's den.
She reached her desk, unlocked a drawer using a small silver key, and pulled out a weathered notebook.
Then, walking back over, she didn't hesitate. With practiced ease, she settled down beside Shinji again, her legs once more draped comfortably across his lap, like it was a ritual only the two of them knew.
Her voice softened as she handed over the notebook.
"This has your handwriting in it. Maybe it'll help you remember something."
Shinji took it carefully, flipping it open.
The cover was worn and the pages slightly curled, stained faintly by time. But despite how old it was, not a single layer of dust marred its surface. It was obvious she'd preserved it with care, cleaning it regularly all these years.
Shinji opened the cover. Inside lay a series of diary entries.
The earliest pages were penned by Psykos herself, tracking her steady progress in awakening the legendary Third Eye and recording every thought that crossed her mind during those lessons.
"This is the Third Eye that peers into tomorrow. I am finally on the verge of mastering it. Soon I will predict events just like the great prophet Shibabawa. With this skill, our Esper Research Society will soar in influence, and we will even have enough strength to face President Fubuki's rival, the supposed strongest esper, Tatsumaki."
Yet the moment he flipped to the date she fully unlocked the Third Eye, the voice on the page transformed completely.
"My skull feels like it is splitting in half. So this is the future? If that is true, ruling the world is meaningless. Homo sapiens do nothing but eat, defecate, indulge, and mate. They are vermin, no, something fouler than vermin."
"Better to erase everything. Perching on top of this sewage pit of a species is revolting. This is the duty of our Esper Research Society. We are the chosen few. We must begin humanity's purge. Fubuki senpai, you agree with me, do you not?"
"AAAHHHHHHHHHH. WHY. FUBUKI SENPAI. WHY CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"
That passage marked the decisive split between Psykos and Fubuki.
Why had her writing turned so violently? Shinji guessed it was because the instant she awakened the Third Eye, she also drew the attention of that being she called God.
He believed the entity had tampered with the vision she should have seen, feeding her a doctored panorama that twisted her reason.
At least that was his theory. He already knew there was some link between Psykos and the divine figure. When the Monster Association collapsed, the presence appeared, yet unlike what happened with Homeless Emperor, it neither reclaimed Psykos's gifts nor erased her on the spot. That detail hinted that her Third Eye and psychic talent were not granted by God at all.
Therefore, if God did not bestow those powers, it most likely warped her perception, using the very future she thought she observed as a weapon to steer her into ruin.
Such thinking formed the basis of Shinji's speculation. Each inference felt plausible, yet every possibility left him uneasy and strangely short of breath this night.
Following that dark entry, the journal described her harsh training after the break with Fubuki, how her sealed energy soon returned, and her sorrow at being rejected by every peer around her. Page after page echoed with loneliness, pain, and abandonment.
Then a shift appeared. The name Shinji entered her script, and from that moment the mood brightened.
"Today I met an unusual Homo sapien. His eyes were red with an intricate pattern, and now and then they shifted into a grayish violet. He said he studied monsters and already knew about my plan to scour humanity. Perhaps he genuinely understands me."
Shinji's pupils tightened hard.
Grayish violet? When had he ever owned that eye color? Gray-purple was the tone of the Rinnegan. No, impossible. His thoughts churned in chaos.
He stared at the page, utterly rattled, mind spinning without end.
He didn't have the Rinnegan, or at least, not yet. So, how had Psykos seen something like that?
Sure, gray-purple eyes with rings didn't automatically confirm the Rinnegan, but there weren't many powers or mutations that fit that description either. The more he thought about it, the more it bothered him.
Unable to brush it aside, Shinji finally turned toward Psykos and asked, "Back then, those gray-purple eyes you mentioned, can you describe them more clearly? What exactly did they look like?"
Psykos tilted her head, thinking carefully. "Hmm... they were strange. Like your usual red ones, but sometimes they changed. The pattern faded, and these rings appeared, perfect circles, layered one inside another, all within the same iris. They glowed faintly too, like there was light behind them."
Then she looked puzzled. "But why are you asking me this? Shouldn't you already know? I mean, they're your eyes. Why do you need me to describe them to you?"
Shinji quickly waved it off with a forced chuckle. "Ah, nothing important. Just... making sure my memory lines up with yours."
But inside, he wasn't laughing at all. His nerves were on edge.
Those were unmistakably the Rinnegan. Or at least something very close to it. Psykos had described them almost perfectly, even the luminescence. But he had no memory of ever awakening such a power. In all the battles and situations he'd faced since coming to this world, he'd never once felt anything like that stirring in his eyes.
So, how could Psykos have seen something he himself had never experienced?
Could it have happened in another timeline? Another life?
Or was there something sealed away inside him, something dormant, waiting for the right trigger to emerge?
No matter what the truth was, one thing had become clear. There was far more to his past, and maybe his very identity, than even he had known. And now that he'd seen this diary... he couldn't ignore it. He had to find out the truth.