Chapter 29

[A plump male clerk at the bookstore in front of the station]

[A couple in room 332 of Maison Mercades]

[A thick-makeup, glasses-wearing employee at the mobile phone shop right next to the office]

[An auntie who walks a large dog past my apartment complex every morning at five]

…And so on.

I kept feeding information about the evildoers I detected to Hosotani-san via LINE.

It seemed Hosotani-san used her days off to commit murders, and every single evildoer I told her about vanished completely once the week rolled over.

I didn’t know what method she used to kill them, but since Hosotani-san was still sitting right across from me at the office doing her job normally, no particular problems seemed to have arisen.

Of course, I wasn’t just on the receiving end of information.

I received killer intelligence from Hosotani-san to make sure I avoided the areas where killers frequented as much as possible, and just like Hosotani-san, I designated my days off as evildoer-hunting days, deliberately traveling far out to execute the evildoers I detected there.

And around a month after forming an alliance with Hosotani-san, my level had reached 10.

Around lunchtime on one such day, I was called up to the rooftop by Saeki.

When I arrived at the rooftop, Saeki was already standing there with his back turned to me.

“What’s this? Calling me out to a place like this.”

When I called out to him, Saeki turned around with a more serious expression than usual.

“Well… There’s something important I need to talk to you about.”

“What is it? You’re making it sound pretty ominous.”

Thinking he might hit me up for money, I was just about to ask when—

“I’ve been thinking I need to tell you, I really have. But whenever I try to say it, the words just won’t come out…”

Saeki started monologuing.

“Yamato… Even though I knew how Yamato felt, I…”

Just what was he trying to get at? I wanted to laugh and ask him, but the mood didn’t seem right for cracking jokes.

Reading the room, I decided to keep quiet and listen.

Saeki darted his eyes back and forth as if checking my expression, and then—

“Actually, there’s something I’ve been hiding from you…”

He moved his mouth as if it were agonizingly difficult to say.

Then, as if making up his mind, he locked his gaze firmly onto mine and,

“—The truth is… I’m going out with Hosotani senpai!”

He shouted.

Huh?

“Yamato, I’m sorry for betraying you!”

“—Um, no, it’s totally fine, really.”

“Eh… It’s fine…? You’re not mad?”

“Mad? Me? Not at all.”

Unless I was Hosotani-san’s father, I wasn’t in any position to meddle in her romantic relationships.

“B-But you told me before that you liked Hosotani senpai, didn’t you?”

“Ah~… That? Nah, I don’t have feelings for Hosotani-san anymore, not at all.”

I certainly used to be interested in her back then, but after almost getting murdered for real, those feelings had completely vanished.

“What is that… And here I was, mentally prepared to get punched over it.”

Losing all his tension, Saeki slumped right down onto the concrete ground.

“My bad. Did I forget to tell you?”

“You didn’t tell me at all… Man, what a waste of being scared shitless!”

Remaining slumped on the ground, Saeki then sprawled out flat on his back.

Looking down at Saeki, I felt a twinge of guilt for putting him through that, but on the other hand, I couldn’t help thinking that what we were doing was the pot calling the kettle black.

Man, to think the guy Hosotani-san was dating turned out to be Saeki, though.

My intuition really was getting rusty.