Chapter 12

‘By killing Kisaki Takafumi, Onitsuka Yamato’s level has increased by 1.’

‘Max HP increased by 4, Max MP increased by 4, Strength increased by 3, Defense increased by 2, and Agility increased by 1.’

‘Onitsuka Yamato has learned the spell Chinkannikua.’

As the machine voice announced the level up,

“Yamato-kun.”

“O-Onitsuka-san.”

Shimizu-san and Misa-chan gazed at me while embracing each other.

“I’m sorry, I just—”

To me, trying to apologize for laying hands on a blood relative even though it was a pinch,

“No, thank you, Yamato-kun, for saving Misa. Don’t worry about it, Yamato-kun; I’m the one who killed this man.”

Standing up, Shimizu-san spoke with unshakeable resolve.

“Mom, no…”

“It’s fine, Misa. It’s wrong for Yamato-kun to get arrested for our sake.”

“But then Mom will be…”

“It’s my fault for choosing a man like this in the first place.”

“—Mom.”

Taking a handkerchief out of her pants pocket, Shimizu-san reached toward the kitchen knife sticking out of the corpse’s back.

“Ah, please wait, Shimizu-san.”

“It’s fine, Yamato-kun, go back to your room. I’ll wipe Yamato-kun’s fingerprints off the knife and then call 110.”

She showed me a face filled with determination.

Shimizu-san intended to turn herself in to the police in my place.

“No, about that… this corpse will probably disappear soon—”

Right as I said that,

The man’s corpse turned translucent, and vanished right before our eyes.

“Eh!?”

“—!?”

Shimizu-san dropped the handkerchief she was holding onto the floor, and Misa-chan stared with her mouth hanging wide open in utter bewilderment, completely at a loss for what had happened.

“Wh-What is going on…?”

“—!?”

Now that the corpse had vanished right before their eyes, I had to steel my resolve.

“Um… I’ll explain. What just happened.”

“Eh, Yamato-kun…”

“O-Onitsuka-san…?”

“The story goes back a week. I… killed a person for the first time back then.”

I recounted the strange events that had occurred around me over the past week to the two of them.

At first, they wore skeptical expressions, but seeing how serious I was, they soon listened earnestly as if it were their own affair.

Inwardly, I had feared what kind of looks I would receive if I told them I had killed someone and had to keep killing, but contrary to my expectations, their reactions were surprisingly different.

Right after I finished my secret confession, Shimizu-san gently pulled me into a warm embrace.

“—Eh?”

“Yamato-kun, you didn’t do anything wrong. It couldn’t be helped.”

Saying that, she patted my back gently.

“—Aren’t you scared of me?”

“Why would I be scared? Yamato-kun is Misa’s savior.”

And Misa-chan, too, chimed in,

“That’s right, Onitsuka-san is a good person!”

Far from being scared of me, they accepted me with kindness.

“Shimizu-san, Misa-chan… T-Thank you very much.”

I was a little taken aback.

The two of them, having listened to the secret, were far calmer than I, the one who told it.

“—U-Um, well then, I’ll be heading back to my room now.”

The sensation of being embraced by Shimizu-san wasn’t unpleasant by any means, but with Misa-chan watching, I gently pulled my body back.

“Even if the police come, please play dumb and act like you know nothing. As long as the corpse doesn’t exist, nothing can be done.”

“Are you worried about us more than yourself, Yamato-kun?”

“Eh?”

“That’s right. Onitsuka-san, you’ll die if you don’t kill someone within a week, right?”

“Ah… Yeah, well, I suppose so.”

They believed my story without a single doubt.

The fact that the father’s corpse had vanished right before their eyes must have played a huge part.

Hearing that, Shimizu-san and Misa-chan exchanged glances, nodding at each other in unison as if they had planned it beforehand.

Then, looking straight into my eyes,

“Yamato-kun, we are bound by fate now.”

Shimizu-san said, followed by Misa-chan:

“Onitsuka-san trusted us and told us everything. So we’re basically family now.”

“H-Haa…”

Just what were they trying to say, exactly?

“If there’s anything we can do, just tell us. We’ll do anything for Yamato-kun’s sake.”

“I’ll cooperate if there’s anything I can do, too.”

“—Eh?”

“I won’t let Yamato-kun die just like that.”

“We just have to find a bad guy, right?”

Regardless of the circumstances, seeing me—someone who had killed a family member—they offered to cooperate out of whatever thoughts crossed their minds.

“N-No, please wait a second. I can’t drag you two into this any further.”

“What are you saying? We’re the ones who dragged you into this.”

“That’s right! Onitsuka-san is my savior.”

I don’t know if it was because the three of us had pulled through a desperate pinch together, or because I had confessed my secret, but both Shimizu-san and Misa-chan were treating me with far more than mere goodwill.

However, there was no way I could let such kind-hearted mother and daughter become accomplices to murder.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but really, it’s fine. Excuse me, I’ll be heading out.”

“Ah, hold on…”

“Onitsuka-san!”

Brushing off the mother-daughter duo trying to hold me back, I briskly left the apartment and rushed straight into my own room.

Then, locking the front door and ignoring Shimizu-san and Misa-chan’s calls, I put in earplugs and drifted off to sleep early that night.