Chapter 23

“—Ah, um, this is some oden, my mom told me to drop it off… Ah, um, s-sorry, excuse me!”

“Ah, wait a second…”

Misa-chan placed the pot she was holding in the entryway and bolted away toward the school like she was fleeing.

Young adults of opposite sexes together in the same room early in the morning.

Having witnessed a scene like that…

“That girl just now definitely misunderstood the relationship between you and me, Onitsuka-kun.”

“You think…? Sigh, seriously. It’s because Hosotani-san went and opened the door on her own.”

“What, are you mad? Were you aiming for that high school girl?”

“As if.”

She was a second-year high schooler; if I messed up, I’d end up in handcuffs.

Besides, Misa-chan probably didn’t have even a millimeter of interest in a lackluster twenty-four-year-old guy.

“Ah, I should probably get going soon. I need to head home and change.”

“Right, you should probably contact your boyfriend, too. He called your phone multiple times yesterday.”

Since she had stood him up on a date, it was only natural, one could say.

“Did you look through my phone by any chance?”

“I didn’t. I just figured it was probably your boyfriend.”

Did she really trust me that little? Hosotani-san narrowed her eyes with suspicion and glared at me.

“Well, whatever.”

“Do you have any best friends, Hosotani-san?”

“W-What’s with that all of a sudden?”

“No, just wondering.”

With her constant sweet-act facade, she probably didn’t have anyone she could truly call a best friend. That thought had crossed my mind.

“Whether I do or not is none of Onitsuka-kun’s business.”

Judging by her reaction, my guess was probably hitting pretty close to home.

“What about you, Onitsuka-kun? Do you have a best friend?”

“I do. It’s Saeki.”

“Hmph, Saeki-kun is your best friend~.”

Seeing Hosotani-san smiling in that knowing way, I felt my body temperature rise just a bit at having said something embarrassing.

“Well anyway, like I said earlier, if we spot any killers or bad guys, we’ll let each other know.”

“Right. From today onwards, I’ll keep the detection spell active all the time. Whenever I find one, I’ll notify you via LINE.”

“Understood. I’ll do the same.”

Hosotani-san put on her coat and left the room.

Right outside the front door, she muttered,

“Chinkayashinjitsusa.”¹

And then,

“Brrr, it’s so cold!”

Hosotani-san shivered while looking at me.

Perhaps she was feeling a chill toward me because of the killer detection spell.

“Oh yeah. I only have three days left, so feed me information on bad guys soon. Otherwise, I’ll just find some random guy and kill him. See ya.”

With that, Hosotani-san hunched her shoulders and jogged off toward where she had parked her car.

I watched her figure disappear completely before saying,

“—Man, it’s cold.”

And headed back inside to get ready for the day.

[Just now, I saw a serious-looking guy around 170 centimeters tall, with short black hair slicked straight back, wearing glasses and a suit, near the B Mart close to work. Probably a killer.]

During the lunch break, while eating lunch with Saeki in the company break room, a LINE message from Hosotani-san arrived.

I chased the written words with my eyes, making sure Saeki couldn’t see.

“B Mart…”

B Mart was a local supermarket limited to the area where I lived.

“Hm? Did you say something?”

“Ah, no, nothing. Just talking to myself.”

“Oh, I see.”

It pained me to keep secrets from Saeki, but it couldn’t be helped.

I tucked my phone away and acted as if nothing had happened.

Still, to think there was actually a killer right under my nose.

I’d better refrain from going to that B Mart mentioned here for the foreseeable future.

I wanted to feed Hosotani-san information on bad guys she could kill in place of killer intel, but since I’d been in a rush not to be late this morning and hadn’t had any field work in the morning, I didn’t have anyone suspect in mind.

Tomorrow was my day off from work, so I could dedicate myself entirely to hunting down bad guys.

I’d just have to make Hosotani-san wait until then.

New Names and Terms Introduced in This Part:

• Chinkayashinjitsusa (チンカヤシンジツサ):