Murderer in the Flower of Death (12 page)

He had absolutely no memory of that. Did she mean that he had nearly been killed without noticing?

—A shiver went up his spine.

Where on earth was she hiding a deadly weapon, this Gas Mask Girl?

“
Kksshh.
You haven’t figured it out yet? My deadly weapon, it’s…”

Kyousuke, Maina, and even Eiri held their breath in anticipation. With everyone’s gaze converging on her, Renko slowly folded her arms.

“—My boobs, duh. My opponent loses too much blood from a nosebleed and bleeds to death, or else I smother them and they suffocate… In other words, death by enchantment. It’s no wonder I’m the ‘Busty Killer’!”

Swinging her abundant breasts, Renko arched her back boastfully.

“…Liar.” “…You’re lying.”

Kyousuke’s and Eiri’s retorts were simultaneous and abrupt.

Just after, laughter rang out from beside Kyousuke. “…Tee-hee-hee.” When he looked, Kyousuke saw that Maina was giggling, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. When she noticed that she was being watched, she calmed a bit. “Umm, I mean… You’re all really fun!”

She touched her cherry blossom pink–tinted cheeks, seemingly embarrassed.

“Anyway, that’s what I think… It’s not just that bigger is better. Your shoulders get stiff, and it’s difficult to move, plus there’s not too much cute underwear… Tragically, they’re more inconvenient than you would think. I don’t think that people who haven’t got them understand that, you know? I’m jealous of you, Eiri…
kksshh
.”

“…Don’t laugh. If you’re that jealous, how about I cut them off for you, Renko?”

“Huh?! Don’t joke like that, I’m the huge-breasted character, after all! If I lose my boobs, my characterization won’t have anything to stand on, and Kyousuke won’t be able to ‘stand up,’ either!”

“Shut up!” Eiri scolded. “Your scant personality probably wouldn’t
disappear along with your breasts, and it’s not like we’d be missing much if it did.”

“Yeah, yeah. But I really don’t need to worry at all. Kyousuke’s been incompetent from the start, anyway.”

“Incompetent? What’s ‘incompetent’?” Maina asked. “Hhmmm…could it be an antonym for ‘omnipotent’?”

“The antonym of ‘omnipotent’ isn’t ‘incompetent,’ it’s ‘ineffectual,’ Maina,” answered Eiri. “That’s not an uncommon mistake, though.”

“Oh, I see! In other words, Kyousuke is both incompetent and ineffectual, right?!”

“…Yeah, that’s right. Incompetent, ineffectual, imbecile,” Eiri continued, “a real good-for-nothing whose only redeeming feature is his fleshy desires—”

“Knock it off! You’ve already cut me down to nothing, the three of you!!”

The four were just leaving the cafeteria, headed for their various classrooms. Kyousuke was on the receiving end of all of the jokes as they walked down the hallway. He breathed a sigh of relief and resignation in front of the three girls who had hit it off so well.
I didn’t mean for me to be the only one getting teased, but…at least the mood’s good. Even Maina’s nerves seem to have settled down for the most part. Things seem to be going along unexpectedly well like this.
Watching Maina engage in friendly chatter, Kyousuke was feeling secretly content.

“Hyeeeaaahhh! There you are! I fooound you! Gya-ha-ha!”

The hoarse voice echoing down the hallway of the old school building was instantly recognizable. Kyousuke and the others, approaching the front of an empty classroom, turned reluctantly to face the sound.

When they did, as expected, there was—

“…Mohawk. Did they manage to bring you back to life in the infirmary?”

The boy with the bright red Mohawk stood before them, his whole body wrapped up in bandages. “Gya-ha-ha! Of course! I’m the immortal man, you know. I’ll revive dozens of times, hundreds of times, thousands of times! Gya-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

Eiri muttered a terse answer. “…How annoying.”

Kyousuke felt the same way. Just when Maina had finally calmed down, this guy had to show up…
This asshole really doesn’t know how to read the room.
Kyousuke kept his voice low. “…And? What do you want, Mohawk? Do you have some business with us?”

“As a matter of fact I do, of course! But first, let me educate you! This whole time you’ve been calling me ‘Mohawk, Mohawk,’ but my real name is—”

“We don’t have any business with you, so no need to go on…right, Mr. Kamiya? Heh-heh-heh.” Interrupting Mohawk’s announcement, three bandage-wrapped students shuffled around a corner. Big, medium, and small—of the three bandaged figures lined up in a row behind Mohawk, the medium-sized one appeared to be Shinji. That meant the other two were probably…

“The only one we got business with is that tiny bitch over there! Making us suffer through this… In return, we’re gonna get plenty rough with you, so prepare yourself!! Fuck!”

“Hee-hee-hee…of course, we mean…s-s-sexually…we’ll punish you good… Hee-hee-hee…”

Big and small were definitely the dreadlocked Oonogi and the hunchback Usami. It appeared that the trio had returned, looking for revenge after all the pain that Maina’s clumsiness had caused them.

Confronted by their over malice, Maina shrieked and began trembling. “Back then, um, I…s-sorry! F-forgive me…pwease forgibe me!”

“If people were satisfied with apologies, we wouldn’t need the police!! Riiiiiight?!” Mohawk threatened with redoubled intensity.

Maina leaped up with another “eeek!!” and grabbed onto Renko, who was next to her.

Patting Maina’s trembling head, Renko coolly quipped back at him, “Aren’t all of your people indebted to police officers, though?”

Renko was poking fun at his Mohican quality.

“Anyway, why the hell are you here with them? This has nothing to do with you, Mohawk,” Shinji spat.

“Why? You wanna know?! Allow me to educate you! My real name is—”

“We met in the infirmary,” Shinji interrupted. “We are unfortunately already very well acquainted… You’re going to help our pathetic side
out.” He smiled a bit, his mouth peeking out from under his dressings. “Wow, you’re a really kind person, aren’t you? Hee-hee-hee.”

Any hint of human expression quickly faded from Shinji’s face, replaced by a cold, almost mechanical demeanor. “…Well, then, everyone, would you kindly step out of my way? As I said before, my business is with Miss Maina alone. And we don’t have much time, so…if I could just take Miss Maina, I’ll quietly be on my way. I have no intention of causing harm to anyone else. Got it?”

Maina jumped a bit at the gentle smile that crept across Shinji’s face as he finished speaking. Eyes wavering with anxiety and fear, she looked first at the bandage-wrapped thugs, then back to Kyousuke and the others. She hung her head, shutting her eyes tightly, but continued to grasp onto Renko and said in a thin, shaky voice, “I-I understand…if that’s how it is, then I’ll go quietl—”

“…Huh? What is that, a joke?” Eiri stepped brusquely in front of Maina, positioning herself between Shinji’s group and the smaller girl. She spoke bitterly, swinging her coppery-red ponytail. “Do you think she’s just going to obediently comply with what you small fries say? Why don’t you wait to spew that kind of bullshit until after you’re dead? I’m about to kill you now, see, so you won’t wait very long. …That is, if you lay a single finger on Maina.” Her voice was dispassionate and sounded more annoyed than anything else.

Maina’s eyes opened wide. “Eiri…wh-why…?”

“
Kksshh.
Isn’t it obvious?” Renko said. “Because she’s your friend. I’m not really sure what’s going on, but if it seems like you’re in danger, she can’t just stand by and watch silently… Yeah, Eiri’s so kind!” Renko let out a regretful sigh. “
Kksshh.
She’s really stealing the scene, though…”

Maina’s eyes were now filling with tears. “E-Eiri…!”

“…Don’t mention it.” Eiri waved a hand dismissively. “I just can’t stand these guys is all. Don’t get me wrong.”

Watching Eiri with interest, Shinji licked his lips. “Hmm… This is unexpected, Miss Eiri. However, if you foil our plans, the rest of you girls will have to get hurt as well. Hee-hee-hee… Of course, I won’t complain. After all, I’ve had my eyes on you for quite a while.”

“Yeah. I’ll give you a warm welcome, too!” Oonogi said. “I’m a
strong guy, so I can really hold you down! Plus, you’re an incredible beauty. Maybe a little…flat, but I don’t mind. Let’s do it!!”

“Heh…tiny boobs, otherwise known as flat as a board…,” Usami muttered. “…A sheer cliff…an A cup… Heh-heh-heh…”

“…All of you are better off dead,” Eiri retorted. “So I’ll kill you.” Her voice was low and venomous.

“Kill us? Well, I don’t mind, Miss Eiri… That is, if you think you can.” Shinji snickered.

“And you think I can’t?” Eiri’s voice had lost all hint of emotion.

Shinji’s bandage-plastered cheeks distorted in a crazed grin. “I meant just what I said. You may have killed six people, but after all, you’re just a weak girl. And we’re all unarmed at the moment. So I really do wonder if you could actually kill us? If you can manage it, then—”

“Hyeeeeaaaaahh!”

The door separating the vacant classroom from the hallway exploded open, Mohawk flying out in a crash. He’d apparently entered the classroom unnoticed and worked his way up through the inside to the door.

Hoisting a chair high overhead, Mohawk bore down on Maina, who stood trembling before him.

“…Wha—?! Shit—”

Neither Eiri, who had moved around to the back of the group, nor Renko who stood closest to Maina (perhaps because the gas mask created blind spots) was able to react to the surprise attack from the side.

“Eeeeeek!!” Maina closed her eyes and covered her head.

The heavy chair, covered in graffiti, came swinging down seconds from impact.

“Blast off.”

“What?!”

Kyousuke’s fist smashed into the side of Mohawk’s pierced and bandaged face, sending him flying through the air, spewing bloody vomit
and agonized screams. He sailed over Eiri, then Shinji, then Oonogi and Usami…

“Hurk!!” Mohawk crashed headlong to the floor and, still not totally out of momentum, rolled at great speed down the hall, stirring up clouds of dust and debris.

“Fwah!!” He slammed into a classroom door, smashing through it in a spectacular display. From inside the room echoed the sounds of a particularly destructive crash.

Enveloped in clouds of white dust, Mohawk showed no sign of getting back up.

“…”

In the silence that had fallen over his surroundings, Kyousuke slowly unclenched his tight fist and lowered it. “Phew…” Letting out a small breath, he rolled his shoulders around and cracked his neck. He spoke up in a threatening voice.

“What the hell are you doing, you pack of murderers?”

The words came out so deep and guttural that even he was surprised. “You willfully pick a fight, then just as easily get the tables turned on you…and what’s next, you assemble a group and come back for revenge? This must be a joke. Look at your opponents—they’re just girls.”

Shinji and his lackeys stared at Mohawk’s final resting place. Eventually, they turned to look at Kyousuke with stiff, mechanical movements, like wind-up dolls in need of oil.

“Ah-ah-ha-ha…not at all, Mr. Kamiya! You saw it yourself, didn’t you? Miss Maina is in no way a weak girl. Pretending that it’s all just clumsiness, she sets about to kill her opponent, what a cruel and cunning killer! If you had been among her opponents, you, too, would have been kill—”

Bam!!
Kyousuke smashed the fallen chair underfoot, quickly cutting off the aggravating laughter. Shinji’s smiling face twitched as he watched the steel chair get crushed nearly flat. “…I won’t let you kill her, absolutely not. She’s got nothing in common with low-life assholes like you guys. Even someone like me, who killed every one of those twelve guys, there’s no way I could kill even one girl, don’t you
see? What the hell are you saying that Maina is a ‘cruel and cunning killer’…? I mean really?! Don’t make me laugh…!”

That’s right. There’s no way that Maina is like that. She just a little dumber than most other people. I mean, pretending to be clumsy in order to hide her lethal intentions…could that be? No, don’t be stupid. Maina’s not that clever. She’s just an awkward but gentle girl.

“If you want a truly inhuman homicidal maniac…you’re talking about some crazy bastard like
me
! If you’re so eager, how about I give you a taste right here and now? Of a genuine, real-deal
murderer
?!” Kyousuke put one leg up on the trampled chair and leaned forward, his arm on his knee, hoping his bluff would stand.

He would keep Maina far away from the threat of these killers, and protect her.
In order to ensure that they don’t go near her again—
Kyousuke decided to at least try to get some use out of the false identity he’d been assigned.

Oonogi, Usami, and Shinji. He lorded over their three stiff faces with what he hoped were dangerous-looking eyes. “…If not, then beat it! Don’t ever come close to Maina…to my friend, again. If you do, then next time—” He tried to speak like he imagined someone called the Warehouse Butcher would speak.

“…I’ll butcher every single one of you.”

“…Wha—?!” “…Eeh?!” “…Huh?!” Oonogi looked daunted, Usami curled up on himself, and Shinji was silent, making a sour face.