Murderer in the Flower of Death (14 page)

Since she had first met up with him at the start of the lunch period, Renko had fawned over him beyond excessively.
It’s like she’s showing off for the people around us.

“…Say, Renko. I don’t think any other girls are going to come near me with you hanging on me like this, but… Isn’t there anything else we could try? Like this, it looks like we’re dating.”

“Right, that’s the point. That’s the strategy here. It’s operation ‘hang on each other in public and make everyone think we’re dating’! It’s not like we’re really going out, so it should be fine, right?”

“Well, I guess so, yeah. But how do I say this…”
Going out with a mysterious girl in a gas mask—
He didn’t want to be misunderstood, but there was really no way to talk about it without making things awkward.

“…You don’t want to be thought of as someone who’s dating a mysterious pervert in a gas mask, is that it?” Eiri interjected from across the table, casually speaking his inner thoughts aloud. “If I were you, Kyousuke, I would think it was disagreeable, too. It would make me question my tastes.”

Renko seemed shocked at her complete lack of tact. “What?! I am not a pervert! You’re misunderstanding! Can’t you see the purity in my eyes?!”

“…No, I can’t. I can’t see them. Anyway, you are a pervert. Aren’t you embarrassed to be rubbing and rubbing and rubbing all over him like that? …Look at Maina.”

“……Uggh.” Curling her small body into a ball and looking downward, Maina looked extremely embarrassed. As if to avert her attention from Kyousuke and the others, she was staring at her meal as hard as she could.

“…In the first place, you’re way too worried about this!” Eiri continued. “The confessions of fangirls are going to slow down before too long anyway, so isn’t it best just to leave well enough alone? I think provoking them in such a clumsy way will only backfire.” Finishing up with a snort, “…Hmph,” Eiri returned to her “daily special garbage pasta.”

Perhaps agreeing with her assessment, Renko pulled away from Kyousuke, nodding enthusiastically. “Is that so? Well, I understand completely! In other words, what Eiri here is trying to say is: ‘You’re
asking for it by cuddling up to him right in front of my eyes! You’re doing it even though you know I want to make out with Kyousuke, too!’”

“Wha—?!” Eiri choked on her pasta.

“Huh?! Eiri, are you okaaayyy? Waaahhh!” Maina stopped eating and began to frantically rub Eiri’s back.

Tears welled up in the corners of Eiri’s narrow eyes as she glared at Renko. “Why the hell would you say that?! Are you an idiot? Are you gonna die? Do you want to die?!”

“Huh…but didn’t you say it yourself, Eiri?” Renko answered. “You said, ‘Don’t provoke me.’”

“I never said that! And besides, don’t go imitating me. It’s annoying.”

“…‘I wasn’t, but whatever.’”

“Huh?! Did I not just tell you not to imitate me?! That doesn’t even sound like me!”

“‘Tiny boobs are a status symbol. They have scarcity value. Not that I care about that. Piss off and die.’” Renko was trying hard to push all of Eiri’s buttons.

“You…you’re so annoying! Shut uuuuuup! I’ll obliterate you!!” Her voice had reached a falsetto pitch. Standing and leaning forward, Eiri was practically shouting. Her eyes, usually distant and calm, were now open wide, and her cheeks flushed a deep vermillion.

“Waaaaaahh, Eiri’s mad!!” Renko cried. “Help me, Kyousuke! I’ll be killed!” She flew at him energetically, the front of her gas mask impacting the bridge of his nose with a
konk
. Her boobs squished up against him in two soft bulges.

“Oww!! Hey, don’t cling to me, Renko! Don’t drag me into this! ”

Eiri’s wide eyes seized on Kyousuke, who was doing his best to tear Renko off of him. Her eyebrows, raised high in anger, twitched and spasmed. “…You say that, but at the same time you’re excited, aren’t you, you sex fiend?! Pervert.”

“Wha—? What are you saying?”

“Your nose is bleeding,” Maina offered. “Blood is gushing out of your nose, Kyousuke.”

“……Huh?” He raised a hand to his face and came away with bright red blood coating his fingers. “Wh-what the hell is thiiiss?! Wait, this is because Renko’s mask hit me—”

“It’s because her boobs hit you!” Eiri accused. “How dare you get so excited just from some boobs… I don’t understand. They’re just lumps of fat. They’re chub rolls. …Hmph.”

“Eiri, you don’t have any boobs, do you?” Maina asked.

“—”

“Aaaaaahhh!! S-sss-ssorry! I’ve always really liked you, Eiri, so… Waaahh!”

Perhaps because there was no way she could believe that Maina had said such a thing, Eiri placed both hands on the table and hung her head, chewing her lower lip hard. Her slim shoulders trembled with a slight, rapid motion.

Renko laughed in satisfaction with a “
kksshh
” and finally let go of Kyousuke. “Well, then, it looks like I win this round, hmm? I think there are also boys who prefer them small, so there’s no need for you to take it too seriously! It looks like Kyousuke likes them big, though. It looks like Kyousuke likes them big, though! …Are you crying over my boobs, Eiri?”

Repeating herself for some reason, Renko petted Eiri’s head comfortingly.

Eiri’s trembling suddenly stopped. She slowly lifted her bloodthirsty eyes.

“I won’t ever…I’ll never give in to you, stupiiiiiidd!” She swung her right fist at Renko in an aimless arc.

Renko quickly pulled her arm back in surprise and bent backward. “Wh-wwwh-what are you doing, Eiri? That’s dangerous, you know!!”

That was close. Her hand almost struck home.

Even as she appeared to falter from Renko’s overreaction, Eiri immediately furrowed her brow in displeasure. “Sh-shut up! You’re just getting what you deserve!! Whenever you open your mouth, it’s ‘boobies, boobies’… It’s so annoying! And what’s up with that mask, anyway? Is it from Slip
ot? A Screa
ng Mad George creation? Either way…it’s so bad that it makes me doubt your sanity, to say nothing of your fashion sense.”

“What did you say?!” Renko slapped the table and leaned forward. “Don’t you make fun of them…I can’t forgive those comments! I’ll show you how a headbanger throws down in the mosh pit!!”

The air between them crackled with electric tension.

“…Hmph. If you think you can kill me, go ahead and try! I’ll beat you at your own game.”

“Ha! Would that be your revenge for earlier?” Renko taunted. “When it comes to breasts, there’s no doubt I reign supreme!
Kksshh.
”

“You…!” Eiri was almost too angry for words. “Well, I win in every other category, then! Do you even have any appeal aside from your chest?”

“Of course I do! I have big, beautiful double-lidded eyes and full, sexy lips and—”

“Huh? I told you, we can’t see any of that for your mask. Don’t repeat the same lame gag,” Eiri scoffed. “And anyway…” Just then, the corners of her mouth turned down as she faced Kyousuke.

“Huh…?” Kyousuke answered around the napkin that Maina had helpfully used to plug his bleeding nose.

“…What are you two flirting for?” Eiri demanded, glaring at Kyousuke and Maina. “Are you trying to pick a fight?”

“Right, right, isn’t it just too cruel! While Eiri and I were competing for your attention…th-this…this man stealer! This is
cheating
!” Renko’s wailing reverberated through the cafeteria as she beat her hands against the table again and again.

Eiri’s expression grew even more sullen. “…Huh? I am
not
competing,” she grumbled.

The alleged man stealer, Maina, looked back and forth between Renko and Eiri in astonishment. “Waahh…I’m, I’m sorry! I h-had n-nnn-no intention of…waahh!”

“Hey, all of you! Calm down, okay?!” Kyousuke interrupted. “At least, dial down the volume a little—” It took a moment for Kyousuke to notice the many pairs of staring eyes fixed intently on the four of them. The girls in particular eyed them with dangerous glares. The emotions in their eyes were dark.

Envy. And hatred was there, too. The longing and desire that had been directed at Kyousuke so far had been
completely flipped on its head
.

Of course, Renko and the others were the cause. From a third-party perspective, this spectacle of three girls quarreling, with Kyousuke
at the center of it all, must have been an absolute scene of carnage. It could not have felt very good to watch.

A great number of ominous voices came flying into Kyousuke’s ears, as an unpleasant sweat began to flow.

“Eeee! Those bitches are trying to snatch away darling Kyousuke(’s life) without me!”

“Four people, huh? I wonder if I can finish such a big meal? I’ll rooaast ’em, and steeaam ’em, annnd fryyy ’em, and booiil ’em…”

“I’m disappointed in you, Kyousuke. Fine, then. I will destroy you. If I can’t have you, I will see to it you are completely destroyed.”

“Say whaaaaaat?! Calm down! Calm down, Azrael! It would be terrible to unleash your heaven-scorching hellfire power now! You’ll involve everyone around us!”

“……”

The atmosphere in the cafeteria had noticeably darkened. Every student could feel the tension, and it would not have seemed out of place had the entire crowd rushed him then and there.

Renko’s “strategic” attempt to make everyone think the two of them were dating had been a spectacular failure. In fact, it had had exactly the opposite of her intended effect.

At the heart of it, the man himself was certainly…

“Stupid, stupid, stupiiiiiid! Kyousuke, you idioooooot!” Renko continued to wail, oblivious to the crowd. “But I still love you!” She raised her voice and clung to him even more tightly.

The hostility raining down on them like machine-gun fire morphed into genuine intent to kill.

“You’re the idiot, Renko!” Kyousuke protested. “Aren’t you the one provoking them further?!”
Shkshkshkshk.
“Hey! Don’t listen to your music, listen to what I’m saying! Turn down the volume!”

Come to think of it, Renko did say that she’s always listening to music… So she probably can’t really hear the voices all around us.

“This isn’t just somebody else’s problem, so…” Kyousuke made a bitter face. The jealousy and hatred of the female students was directed more at Renko than at Kyousuke.

Eiri was the only person who seemed to notice this, and after glancing at the dejected Maina, who was muttering, “I’m not a
home-wrecker…,” to herself, she glared at their surroundings with narrowed eyes. “It’s fine, Kyousuke… Maina has me by her side. We won’t interfere.”

Just as one would expect from a cutthroat who had killed six people. Not a single sign of fear. And Maina herself had her deadly clumsiness; the two of them could hold their own.

The one he was worried about was Renko, but—

“…Couldn’t you just leave her here?” Eiri offered. “You’re in different classes, and she’d be getting what she deserved, anyway. She’s always teasing you, and she has huge breasts… Or what if I were to rough her up myself? She’s better off dead, anyway.” Despite the cruelty of her suggestions, Eiri’s tone was casual, almost relaxed.
Isn’t the huge breasts thing a personal grudge…?

Rubbing her gas mask against Kyousuke’s chest, Renko looked at Eiri with a start. “Eh?! Better off dead, what are you…?! How mean! I’m gonna die from shock!! In body and mind, I am just a weak, little girl, so I will! In fact, when it comes to my present fragility, I am just like a baby.
Kkssh.
”

Kyousuke and Eiri both let out sighs at Renko’s theatrical speech.

They had no idea what kind of homicidal maniac she was, but Renko didn’t seem the least bit worried, even in this situation.

Just once, I’d like her to at least display some genuine fear or pain
, Kyousuke thought.
If she could do that, then maybe the mask that she insists on wearing might also come unstuck from her head—