Chapter 5

“Woah, what is this…?”

“I think it’s showing up right in front of oniisan’s eyes, but that’s called a status board.”

“—It kind of looks like a game.”

“Right? It feels like Gaia Quest, makes you super excited, doesn’t it?”

“My bad, I’ve never played that game.”

“No way, you’re missing out on life, oniisan. You should definitely play it.”

Akira’s round eyes sparkled as their voice pitched up, showing a distinctly childlike side.

“Can I ask? What’s that number behind the spell?”

The mysterious numbers where Kufuika had a 2 and Kudoge had a 1.

“Ah~, that’s the spell’s MP consumption… You know what Magic Points are, right?”

“I know at least that much. Meaning my MP is currently 0, so even if I chant a spell, I can’t use it.”

“…Look, though I’m the one saying this, you shouldn’t flash your weaknesses like having two spells or 0 MP too openly. If I were a killer trying to kill oniisan, that statement would be fatal.”

“I know, but Akira can read my mind anyway. And Akira wouldn’t kill me, right?”

There was no way someone who taught me all these things so kindly would try to kill me.

Hearing that, Akira muttered what sounded like, “This throws my mood off…”

And then,

“Well, whatever. Here’s the important part: if killers don’t kill someone within a week, they die.”

“…Eh, what?!”

This kid had just casually dropped an outrageous statement.

“Then what? I’ll die if I don’t kill someone a week from now?!”

“That’s right. To be precise, until half past ten a week from now.”

Akira said, looking up at the clock inside the park.

Before I knew it, the rain had turned into a light drizzle.

…Die if you don’t kill someone.

“Are you kidding me… Is that true? Has anyone tested it?”

“Who knows, I only heard it through the grapevine, so I’m not sure. But I don’t want to die… If you want, do you want oniisan to test it out? I’ll be your witness a week from now.”

Akira looked up at me with a teasing expression.

“N-No, I’ll pass.”

I didn’t want to walk to my death voluntarily, either.

“Right? That’s why we have to keep killing people.”

“I-I see…”

You die if you don’t kill people.

Wouldn’t self-defense or necessity be recognized for this?

“Oniisan, did you feel any guilt when you killed that woman earlier?”

“—N-No, I don’t think I did.”

Even to myself, it was strange, but that was how it was.

Even though it was to protect myself, I hadn’t felt an ounce of guilt despite killing a person.

“I’ve seen tons of killers so far, but oniisan is definitely the hero type.”

“The hero type…?”

“Like you’re usually mild-tempered, but show no mercy to bad guys.”

“I-Is that how it is…?”

I didn’t want to get dragged into troublesome matters and hadn’t actually acted on it, but a hardened sense of justice of some sort definitely existed deep inside my heart.

“So oniisan just needs to kill bad people. It cleans up the town’s safety and kills two birds with one stone, right?”

Akira said it so simply, but this was talk about murder.

Whether it could be divided that neatly or not…

“By the way, I guess I’m the hedonist type.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I kill anyone depending on my mood, you see.”

“Akira does? You’ve gotta be joking.”

There was no way such an adorable, pure, and innocent-looking child was murdering people for pleasure.

“Fufu. Oniisan would be shocked if you knew my level.”

“Ha-ha, is that so?”

“Anyway, oniisan, what’s your name? You can tell me by now, right?”

Akira closed the umbrella they had been holding.

The rain seemed to have stopped before I even noticed.

“I’m Onitsuka Yamato. Nice to meet you.”

I held out my hand to Akira, putting a sense of gratitude into it.

“Yup, nice to meet you too. Oh, and since it looks like you’re misunderstanding something, I’ll let you know—I’m a girl, you know.”

“Huh?”

“Well then, Yamato-san, take care.”

Saying that, Akira waved at me and sprinted away through the puddles without making a single sound of footsteps.

“They were a girl…? Ah, I forgot to ask how to turn this off.”

The status board remained stuck right out in front of my eyes.