Chapter 13

The next morning, because I had slept with earplugs on, I slept right through my smartphone alarm and overslept by an hour.

I called the office with a casual excuse saying I was feeling unwell and would visit the hospital before coming in for the afternoon shift, and after hanging up, I popped a slice of white bread into the toaster.

Turning on the television, I watched a news broadcast while recalling yesterday’s events.

“I wonder if Shimizu-san and the others managed to get some sleep yesterday…”

Right in front of my eyes, I had ended up killing the abusive husband who had chased after Shimizu-san—who had fled taking her daughter with her—all the way to this apartment yesterday, but since both Shimizu-san and Misa-chan were surprisingly calm about it, I figured it would be fine, but…

“Status Open.”

Piko-n!

Responding to my words, the status board floated up right before my eyes.

“Level 4, huh…”

Level 4. Meaning I had killed three people.

The first person was the guy who picked a fight on the street.

The second person was his girlfriend.

The third person was Misa-chan’s father.

Strangely enough, I felt no guilt.

Perhaps it was because every single case happened under circumstances where it was either kill or be killed.

But I couldn’t keep saying that from now on.

Since I had to keep killing people, I also needed to consider taking the initiative actively from my end.

I wasn’t particularly tall myself, nor did I have any martial arts experience, so if there was a massive physical height gap like with yesterday’s man, there was always the risk of getting beaten in a counterattack.

To reduce that possibility even a little, maybe I needed some kind of weapon.

Or else… spells.

I checked the spell column.

Kufuika was a healing spell.

Then what kind of spells were Kudoge and Chinkannikua?

“I’d know if I just used them, though…”

I’d be in trouble if they turned out to be dangerous spells.

Kufuika was a healing spell.

Kufuika… Kufuika…

“—Hmm?”

Huh?

Looking over the status board, I noticed something.

“If I read it backward, it’s heal…ing?”

Does that mean perhaps—

Kudoge is… gedoku, so an antidote spell?

And Chinkannikua is, um… akuninkanchi. In other words, could it be an evil detection spell?

To test whether my guess was correct,

“Should I… try it?”

An antidote spell was useless to use right now, so if I were to use one, it’d be the evil detection spell.

Thinking that, I swallowed hard and voiced aloud,

“Chinkannikua.”

……

……

I braced myself for whatever was going to happen, but absolutely nothing happened at all.

Maybe it took some time, so I waited about five minutes just in case, but no apparent spell effect showed up after all.

“What’s going on…?”

Right at that moment,

Ding-dong!

The doorbell rang.

Flinching for a second, I approached the entryway and checked the peephole.

Standing out there was Misa-chan in her school uniform.

I closed the status board before opening the door.

“Good morning, Onitsuka-san.”

The moment Misa-chan saw me, she flashed a bright smile that made it hard to believe her father had died right in front of her eyes just yesterday.

“Ah, morning.”

“This is a share, if you’d like, please take it.”

“Hm? Ah, thanks.”

I accepted the tupperware container, which seemed to contain stir-fried vegetables.

“After that yesterday, I talked it over with Mom.”

Misa-chan brought up the topic.

“We decided to respect Onitsuka-san’s wishes after all.”

“Yeah.”

“So for now, Mom and I decided to forget about what happened yesterday. Both Mom and I are going to treat Onitsuka-san just like we always have.”

“Thanks. That really helps.”

Yesterday she was practically ready to help me cover up a murder, so I was wondering how things would turn out.

“—But please let us know if you’re ever truly in trouble. I’ll help you with anything.”

“Ah, got it.”

I had no intention of getting her help at all, but for now, I just replied with that.

“Well then, I’m off to school.”

“Ah, take care.”

I waved and watched Misa-chan off as she cheerfully headed out to school until she was completely out of sight, and then closed the door—

And right at that moment,

Suddenly, a chill ran down my spine.

“What is…?”

I felt an eerie coldness like nothing I had ever felt before.

Did I actually catch a cold?

Thinking that, I closed the door.

The chill grew even stronger.

“What is this sensation…?”

I couldn’t explain it well with words, but it felt as unpleasant as scratching a chalkboard with your fingernails.

Right then, I remembered that I had used the Chin-kan-ni-ku-a spell.

“Could this… perhaps mean it detected an evil person?”

Asking myself that question, I opened the door once more and stepped outside.

I scanned my surroundings to look for a likely suspect.

All I could see from the apartment was a college-student-looking woman and a man in his thirties wearing a suit walking behind her.

Neither of them looked like a bad person at all, but the moment I laid eyes on the man, for some reason I felt goosebumps prickle all over my body.

“That man… is it him?”

I had no concrete proof, but if I were to trust this sensation, there might be something off about that suit-wearing man.

“Should I go check?”

Conveniently, I had time to spare during the morning.

Stuffing a half-eaten piece of toast into my mouth, I left my room and set off to follow that man.