Chapter 26

“Do you need something?”

“Gwaaah!?”

Approaching from behind and speaking up softly, the man lurking in the shadow of the utility pole let out a bizarre shriek and leaped into the air.

And then,

“W-W-W-Why…!”

He was so shaken up and his voice shook so much that it made me want to back away instead.

“What are you doing in a place like this?”

I asked the man, trying my best to stay calm.

Perhaps to blend into the dark night, the man was dressed entirely in black.

“W-W-What do you mean, nothing… It’s none of your business, pal!”

“But you were just peeking into my room earlier, weren’t you?”

“N-No way, I wasn’t…”

“Come on, our eyes met just now, didn’t they?”

Perhaps because I had crossed paths with death several times over the past few weeks, my sense of fear seemed to have dulled quite a bit.

Without backing down a single step, I pressed the suspicious man for answers.

“…”

“I’m asking what you want.”

When dealing with someone more than ten centimeters shorter than me, it was all the easier to take a strong stance.

The man darted his eyes around for a while, but the next moment—

“……っ!”

He suddenly bolted into a run.

“Ah, hey!”

It’s a funny thing—the moment someone runs away, human instinct makes you want to chase after them. Without a single moment of hesitation, I took off after the man.

After about a minute of chasing each other down a dark sidewalk, relying solely on the dim light of a streetlamp, the man suddenly lost speed.

Then, perhaps realizing the game was up,

“I-I’m sorry… Haa, haa…”

He bowed his head toward me as I caught up to him.

Despite this being my first full sprint since my school days, my breathing wasn’t all that ragged.

Wondering if this too was a blessing of my increased level, I fixed my gaze steadily on the man.

“Phew… Why were you looking at my room?”

“W-Well… Haa, haa. I wasn’t looking at you, haa, haa… I was looking at Shimizu Misa-chan!”

Words I hadn’t expected tumbled out of the man’s mouth, leaving me slightly taken aback.

“Huh, what do you mean by that?”

“Sorry, haa, just a second… I’m out of breath…”

The man held out a hand, wearing a painful expression.

With a somewhat protruding belly, he might have lacked basic exercise.

I had no obligation to humor this guy’s excuses, but since he wasn’t going to run away anymore, I decided to wait just a little bit.

One minute later—

“I’m a student taking a gap year to retake my college entrance exams right now… and everyday is just so agonizing and painful… But back then, when I saw her at the library, it was like a glimmer of hope sparked in my life, and I felt like I could try my best…”

“Right. And?”

“I… fell in love with her!”

“Ah, is that so.”

From the sound of it, this guy was what you’d call a stalker.

“How do you even know Misa-chan’s name?”

“I checked the books she checked out and saw her name written inside, so that’s how.”

“And how do you know where she lives?”

“I-I tailed her a few times.”

No doubt about it. This guy’s a stalker.

Man, what a pain… Another morally gray evildoer.

“Look, I want you to answer honestly. Do you intend to harm Misa-chan?”

I hit him with a question that cut straight to the core.

If the answer was yes, naturally I wouldn’t let him off easy.

However,

“N-No, I don’t, I really don’t, it’s the truth! I just get courage from watching her from afar…”

The sight of the man desperately pleading with tear-filled eyes stirred up a sense of sympathy in me.

“Haa, even if you say that, what you’re doing is still stalking. Well, I can let it slide this time, but can you promise me you’ll never prowl around Misa-chan’s neighborhood again?”

“Y-Yes, of course!”

“Then you can go now.”

I felt a little guilty toward Misa-chan for letting him off based on my own judgment, but since no actual harm had been done, it would have to do.

“Yes, thank you very much! Excuse me!”

Answering with a voice so loud I wondered if he had misjudged his volume setting, the man did an about-face.

And right at that moment, something clinked and dropped to the ground.

“Ah…”

“Something dropped.”

“A-Ah, it’s fine, it’s fine! I’ll pick it up myself!”

Before he could finish shouting, I had already picked it up.

“Is this a key?”

“Ah, yes, that’s my house key! Sorry, could you give it back?”

“Sure.”

Just as I was about to hand it back, I noticed something.

The key I had picked up had a strangely familiar shape.

Feeling a strange sense of unease, I flipped it over to find the room number 202 written on it.

This… could it be Shimizu-san’s house key that Misa-chan said she lost?!

“Hey, this is—”

“Gwaaaah!”

The instant I lifted my head, the man let out a howl like a wild beast and lunged at me.

“Whoa, hang on—”

“Gwaaaah, give it back, you bastard!”

Caught off guard, I found myself pinned underneath him.

Riding that momentum, the man started raining blows down on me.

Acting out the proverb of a cornered rat biting the cat, the man gave me no chance to counterattack and frantically hammered his fists down.

“Gwaaaah!”

Thud.

“Gwaaaaaah!”

Thud.

Fists occasionally broke through my guard, smashing straight into my face.

This is bad… I completely let my guard down.

Every time that dull thud echoed, my consciousness drifted further away.

He probably had never punched a person before, but with zero concept of restraint, the man showed no sign of stopping his assault.

“Gwaaaaaah!”

Thud.

“Gwaaaaaaah!”

Thud.

…Just as the strength drained from my entire body and I lost even the mental energy to think,

“Gwaaaaaagah…!?”

The man’s screams suddenly cut off.

And then, the man collapsed forward off my stomach.

“Haa, haa… Onitsuka-san, are you okay?!”

“……M-Misa-chan……?”

I somehow forced my half-closed eyes open and confirmed Misa-chan’s figure.

Misa-chan was gripping a familiar metal bat tightly in both hands—she must have brought it out from my room.

Clatter, clatter.

Discarding the metal bat with a clatter, Misa-chan rushed over to my side.

“Onitsuka-san, open your eyes! Use the healing spell, quickly!”

I thought my eyes were open, but did they look closed to Misa-chan?

Thinking about such trivial things, I nevertheless muttered,

“……Ku, Kufuika……”

And chanted the healing spell.