Chapter 22

“Ugh… my head hurts so bad.”

Sitting across from me with the table between us, Hosotani-san muttered while pressing a hand against her head.

Having gotten drunk and passed out the previous night without ever waking up, Hosotani-san had ended up staying over at my place after all.

“Instead of complaining about that, hurry up and eat your breakfast. You’re going to be late for work.”

Ignoring Hosotani-san, I popped a piece of toast into my mouth.

Who knows what the managing director would say if I were late.

“Breakfast, you say? It’s just toast and milk. Don’t you have any salad or a smoothie?”

“Please be grateful that you’re even getting fed. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to force yourself.”

“I have a hangover, you’re so cold… Ah~h, I liked the gentle Onitsuka-kun from before more than the current one.”

“The feeling’s mutual. I preferred the sweet-acting Hosotani-san from before she tried to kill me, too.”

Back then, I had still been holding romantic feelings for her, after all.

“Hey, lend me your hair dryer later, okay?”

Hosotani-san took a sip of milk while sweeping back her bed-headed hair.

“I don’t mind, but… Oh right, I wanted to ask you yesterday, Hosotani-san—what other spells can you use?”

Now that we had formed an alliance, I wanted to grasp my partner’s abilities.

At that, Hosotani-san made a face like a pigeon that had been shot with a bean pellet (completely baffled and caught off guard).

“Eh, what do you mean by ‘other’?”

“I mean spells other than detecting killers. At Level 6, you should have memorized a decent number.”

Even I, at Level 4, had mastered three spells.

“I only remember that single one, you know.”

“Eh, just that one?”

“Wait, isn’t it different for Onitsuka-kun?”

“Well, yeah. I’ve memorized quite a few.”

“Eeeh, no fair~.”

I had thought that at Level 6, she’d have memorized one or two useful spells, but to think she only had the killer-detection spell…

Was that the only benefit of teaming up with this person?

Hosotani-san lethargically dipped her toast into her milk and ate it.

“Hosotani-san, how on earth have you managed to stay alive until now? How have you been killing people?”

“That’s easy. I used the exact same poison I put in the chocolate I gave you, mixed into homemade cookies. When I acted like I had a crush on them, everyone happily ate it without a single doubt.”

She spoke with a hint of pride.

Judging from her story, were all her targets men?

“How did you choose your targets?”

“Just at random through a matching app.”

“At random… You killed people who did nothing wrong?”

“It can’t be helped, right? It’s like emergency evacuation.”

By coincidence, Hosotani-san uttered something very similar to what I had been thinking.

“Then how did you get your hands on poison?”

Could an ordinary office worker obtain poison all that easily?

Then, the next moment, an unexpected name popped out of Hosotani-san’s mouth.

“A girl named Akira gave it to me.”

!?

“Eh?! Akira—do you mean Akira Ishigami?”

“Yeah. Wait, have you met them too, Onitsuka-kun?”

“Yes.”

They were a child who was sort of like a benefactor for teaching me about killers.

“The day after I killed someone for the first time, Akira-chan came over to my place and taught me all sorts of things. The reason I’m still alive and kicking like this is thanks to Akira-chan.”

Hosotani-san spoke with a distant look in her eyes.

That bastard Akira—had they been doing similar things with killers other than me?

As expected, they were someone whose thoughts were impossible to read.

“Do you know Akira-chan’s cell phone number? I want to thank them, but I completely forgot to ask. So…”

Dropping the hungover vibe from a moment ago, Hosotani-san sprang back to life like a fish returning to water.

While I was surprised that Akira’s name had come up, from what I heard, it didn’t seem like she knew any more about Akira than I did.

If so, there was no point in asking any further.

“Putting that aside, let’s get back to the topic. Don’t you think it’s wrong to kill people who haven’t done anything wrong? Doesn’t your conscience hurt?”

“Wha—what do you mean by ‘putting that aside’?! Besides, if I don’t kill them, I die myself, so it can’t be helped!”

Whether it was because I brushed off the topic of Akira so casually, or because I blamed her for killing innocent people, Hosotani-san raised her voice.

“Then, hypothetically, what if you could know who the bad guys are?”

“—What do you mean?”

I confessed to Hosotani-san that there was a spell to detect evil people and that I had learned it myself.

Since I didn’t plan on spilling all my secrets, I explained it while omitting the healing and antidote spells, and halfway through, Hosotani-san began listening with rapt, eager attention.

“—I see. If you have that spell, you can target and kill only bad people, huh.”

“Yes. The burden on our conscience is minimal, and it leads to the purification of society.”

“Not bad at all. In that case, I’ll provide information on killers, and Onitsuka-kun can provide information on bad people. If I’m going to kill someone anyway, going after bad people puts my mind much more at ease.”

“Understood. Then let’s team up for real.”

I reached out and extended my right hand forward.

In response, Hosotani-san extended her right hand as well.

As I squeezed Hosotani-san’s hand—which was a size smaller than mine—

“Well then—”

Ding-dong.

Just as I was about to utter a clever line or two, the front door’s chime rang out.

“Hm? Who could it be at this ungodly hour?”

“Ah, Hosotani-san…”

Hosotani-san pulled her hand away, stood up smoothly, approached the front door, and opened it without a moment’s hesitation as if it were her own house.

“Good morn… Eh, ehhh!?”

“What? Who are you?”

“Hold on, Hosotani-san, don’t just go opening the door on your own… Ah, Misa-chan!”

Pushing Hosotani-san aside, standing right out there was Misa-chan in her school uniform, holding a pot with both hands and blinking her big eyes in surprise.