Chapter 20

When I opened the door, Hosotani-san stood in the entryway with a sour expression on her face.

“You’re late. I thought for sure you weren’t coming.”

The time was eight-thirty at night.

We were already thirty minutes past our agreed-upon time.

“To be honest, I debated it for a long time.”

Suspicious that this might be a trap, Hosotani-san gazed up at me intently.

“So, what’s this talk about?”

“Well, come on inside for now. We can talk after that.”

Gesturing toward the interior of the room, Hosotani-san reluctantly complied.

“Make yourself comfortable and sit wherever you like, I’ll go brew some tea.”

“As if I could feel comfortable, seriously.”

Muturing under her breath, Hosotani-san took off her coat and sat down on a cushion.

Her jeans and a tight pink fleece that emphasized her body lines created a gap from the usual Hosotani-san, almost making me lose focus.

Heading into the kitchen alone, I boiled some water while pulling out an unopened box of tea bags from the back of the shelf.

Three minutes later—

I placed the mug filled with tea on the table right in the middle of the room.

“Here you go.”

At that, Hosotani-san pointed a finger at the tea set before her and spoke up.

“—There’s no poison or anything in this, is there?”

“Of course not.”

She was clearly still keeping her guard up.

“Then take a sip and prove it.”

“Nah, I’m not really a big fan of tea.”

“Then why do you even have tea in the first place? That’s weird. You definitely put poison in it, didn’t you?!”

“I didn’t. Someone just gave me these tea bags as a gift.”

Thinking women preferred tea over coffee, I had chosen it out of good intentions, only to have my motives second-guessed this badly.

“Sorry, but I’ll pass. I don’t trust Onitsuka-kun nearly enough for that.”

“Well, if that gives you peace of mind, it’s fine by me.”

Saying that, I stared hard at Hosotani-san.

“—What?”

“No, I was just thinking how much your impression has changed since yesterday…”

“I don’t need to put on a sweet act around Onitsuka-kun anymore, so of course it has.”

“Haa…”

Did that mean everything I thought about her being a refined, graceful woman was just an act?

“Anyway, hurry up and get to the point. I’ve got a date right after this.”

“Eh, Hosotani-san, you have a boyfriend?”

My romantic feelings were supposed to be gone already, but for some reason, I felt a tiny pang of shock.

“Obviously. There’s no way a catch like me would be single.”

“A catch…”

Did she really just say that about herself?

Well, it didn’t matter anymore anyway.

Feeling slightly exasperated by my own poor eye for women, I brought up the main topic.

“Hosotani-san, you can use a spell that detects killers, right? When did you learn to use it?”

“A month ago. I learned it the first time I killed someone.”

I was curious about who she had killed, but I could ask about that later.

“How does that detection actually work, specifically?”

“Whenever there’s a killer within roughly a few hundred meters, I get this sort of chill running down my spine—like an awful, prickly feeling.”

Hosotani-san answered, wrapping her arms around herself as if hugging her own body.

It sounded pretty similar to my own evil detection spell.

“How many killers have you detected so far?”

“Aside from Onitsuka-kun, seven.”

“Seven?! That many?!”

Were there really seven other killers in this area besides Hosotani-san and me?

…This was unexpected.

That made this person all the more necessary for me to secure.

“Then let’s get down to business… Hosotani-san, why don’t we form an alliance?”