“……Seriously?” Kyousuke was stunned.
Students who had heard the rumors about Kyousuke were gathered in the hallway, peering into the classroom through the open door and gaps in the iron lattice. The narrow hallway looked like a packed train, with bustling people clamoring for space.
The whole of their collective gaze was fixated on Kyousuke alone, like a great weight bearing down on him.
“…Isn’t that great, Kyousuke? You’re famous,” Eiri nonchalantly remarked. There was little call for congratulations.
At her desk behind Eiri, holding her head with her eyes shut tight, Maina repeated a handful of words in her infantile voice, fumbling over the syllables again and again. “I pray that the world would become a peaceful place, I pray that the world wud becomba beashful blaesh, I bway dat—” It was because of the earlier incident with her in the hallway that so many other students were now gathered.
Kyousuke wanted to clear up the misunderstanding with her as quickly as possible, but he couldn’t afford to make a clumsy move. Oh, man, what should I do? …This is a no-win situation, isn’t it?
The students in the hallway remained outside, watching. Not even one of them had made a move to enter the classroom or start up a conversation. Were they afraid of Kyousuke? Or were they holding one another back…?
He wanted to make a break for it, but with the hallway so crowded, he wouldn’t make it ten feet. Kyousuke had stiffened, his skin clammy with nerves.
“Ummmm, is Kyousuke in here? Kyousuke, Kyousuke, oh, there you are.”
From out of the crowd, a black gas mask suddenly appeared. Pushing the other students aside with a polite “excuse me, please” or a “could I just get by,” Renko made her way into the classroom. Paying no mind to the stares that surrounded her, she strode boldly up to Kyousuke.
“Well, I haven’t seen you since lunchtime! Say, did you manage to make it to class on time? Kksshh.”
“Um, uh…I just barely made it…but…” In response to Renko’s cheerful greeting, Kyousuke lowered his voice in a hush.
The loudly clamoring students all shut up at once and strained their ears to hear Kyousuke and Renko’s conversation. The sudden silence was intensely uncomfortable.
However, Renko didn’t seem to think so and continued the conversation unbothered by the audience.
“Hmm. That’s nice isn’t it, you made it. ‘…But’? What did you mean by ‘but’?”
“Ah, nothing…just that in your case, you…”
“Oh, right… Unfortunately, I was about ten seconds late, so—” Renko sighed with a “kksshh.” Kyousuke gasped and swallowed hard. In his head, the girl’s voice that he had heard during class was endlessly repeating. “The teacher showed up about twenty seconds late. So I was saved!”
“Oh, that’s really too bad. …Wait, what? You were safe?”
Strange—that screaming voice…was I hearing things?
“Yeah. But there was a girl who showed up about a minute late. Poor thing…she fell victim to that. You know that girl, the one who’s almost as wide as she is tall.”
“What…did you say?”
An auditory hallucination would have been a hundred times better. While he had imagined Renko(’s breasts) taking the punishment for being late, it turned out that what had been going on on the other side of the wall was anything but arousing.
I wish I could just disappear; I wish someone would bury me.
“It looked like she was caught up in searching for someone. Seems like she was late because of that. She must be in the infirmary now, but…the person she was searching for, wasn’t that you?”
“…It was completely unwanted, but you’re probably right. I really had no idea.” Kyousuke groaned, head in hands. “This is the worst, shit…Bob hasn’t given up on me yet.”
“…Isn’t is great, Kyousuke? You’re so popular,” Eiri nonchalantly added.
Before Kyousuke could turn to meet her scornful gaze, Renko tilted her head with a “hmm?” and looked at Eiri who had again begun fiddling with her nails.
“A friend of Kyousuke’s? How do you do? I’m Renko Hikawa from the first-year Class B. I’m actually sixteen, though…”
“…What does that mean, ‘actually,’ when we can’t even see your face?” Eiri replied, refusing to play the straight man to Renko’s comedian and ignoring the hand extended in friendship. “…Anyway, I’m Eiri.” Painting on a topcoat to put the finishing touches on her nails, she returned a short introduction.
After staring for a second, Renko nodded and meekly retracted her hand. “Ah, sorry, sorry. I wasn’t paying attention. What was I thinking, going for a handshake with you when you’re working on those things…kksshh. My field of vision is a bit narrow because of the mask.”
“…‘Those things’? What do you mean by that?” Lifting her face, Eiri looked at Renko’s gas mask with suspicious eyes.
“Hmm? No, it’s just that I think your nails are really cool. They’re hard not to notice, though.”
“……Oh, right. Being effortlessly fashionable is the foundation of womanhood and all that.” Eiri shrugged her shoulders at Renko’s carefree words and returned to her nail art. Her nails were beautiful, with rhinestone and Swarovski crystal ornamentation on top of a base of red manicure, and the pointed tips were bordered in black. Looking at them, it was obvious that they’d been done with some skill.
“Kksshh. Right, right, fashion is girls’ specialty, isn’t it! By the way, Kyousuke—”
“Hmm? What are you saying? For your information, your gas mask is not even close to fashionable,” Eiri tried to respond.
“Right. About lunch tomorrow,” Renko continued. She just let the fashion thing go so smoothly. “Why don’t we eat together? I’d like to have a chance to actually talk with you. I wanted to talk to you after school, but…this commotion in the hallway started, you know. What do you say?”
“Lunch tomorrow? Ah…sorry, Renko. I eat by mysel—”
“If you want, I’ll let you touch as much as you please,” Renko interrupted.
“As much as I please?! When you say ‘as much as you please,’ do you really mean that?!”
“Sure. You can satisfy yourself to your heart’s content touching the smooth material of the mask.”
“…Oh, is that what you meant?! It’s pretty confusing, you know, the way you said it…” Having stood up with a clatter, Kyousuke sorrowfully returned to his seat.
Eiri turned her tepid gaze toward him. “…Huh? What did you think she meant, pervert? Gross.”
Looking at Eiri as she glared at him and called him names, Kyousuke realized—I see. Her chest is completely flat—compared to Renko’s huge, protruding breasts, Eiri was utterly, perfectly flat.
“…Where are you looking? Do you want me to lop it off for you?”
“What about you, where are you looking?! And don’t say scary things like ‘lop it off’!”
“…Whatever. Anyway, it’s just a little cocktail wiener, so who cares?”
“No way! Maybe you couldn’t call it a bratwurst, but at least a sausage—”
Their voices got louder and louder, but then Kyousuke quickly bit his tongue.
He could hear the voices of the students in the hallway and classroom whispering, “…Sausage?” “He said sausage!” Kyousuke had the sudden urge to repeatedly smash his head into the wall.
Renko took a long breath with a kksshh.
“What made you two start such a delicious talk all of a sudden? I think it’s great, though…looks like you’re getting along! I’d like to be part of it, too—oh, I know!”
Clapping both hands together, Renko made her voice and her huge breasts bounce.
“How about if Eiri joins us for lunch tomorrow, too? Meeting like this was an opportunity of some sort! …Right? Don’t you think that’s a good idea? Kksshh.”
Eiri faltered, faced with Renko’s massive swaying breasts in addition to her innocent demeanor, which did not at all match her
outward appearance. She turned away as if looking for some escape and, not finding any, said with resigned acceptance: “W-well…why not? I don’t really mind, not really…”
“Hey, Kyousuke. Isn’t that great?!” Renko cheered. “Wooow, I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s lunch so much!”
“Yeah, it’s great…,” Kyousuke began to reply before catching himself. “Ah, hold on a minute there! I don’t remember saying that I was gonna go yet?”
“What? You’re not going to come? …Why not? Boohoo.”
“Who actually says the word boohoo? And as for why not, well—” Put on the spot for an acceptable excuse, Kyousuke found himself at a loss. Of course, his actual reason was that he was not a murderer, but an ordinary teenager, and though it might have been the truth, there was no way he could tell them that.
On the other hand, it’s not like I can expect to be left alone to leisurely eat my lunch… Looking at the students swarming at the front of the room, Kyousuke found himself in a difficult position.
The gleaming gazes of high school murderers. It would have been better if they were only looks of fear and admiration, but mixed in among those were expressions of jealousy and hostility and, even more upsetting, faces beaming with homicidal intent.
By all means, he had to avoid being drawn into any kind of situation with those freaks. Surely, his life was in danger. If he was alone, he could end up being killed carelessly. And given that, then it would be better to—
“…Fine. I’ll go. I’ll go, too.” Kyousuke nodded, his heart and mind set on self-preservation.
The real top killer of Class A, who had cut the throats of six people, and Gas Mask Girl, who was maybe the strangest person he ever could have imagined. It was hard to envision a more troublesome lot than these two; though if he could somehow manage to befriend them, it could be beneficial…or so Kyousuke thought.
“Ah, really?! Yaaay! I’m so happy. Tomorrow’s gonna be a party! Kksshh.”
“…So after all that, you end up coming after all. Indecisive asshole.”
Renko bubbled with joy at Kyousuke’s response, while Eiri’s expression remained relaxed and cold.
They weren’t friends. They were just allies—a means to survive.
Kyousuke decided he’d throw his lot in with these two girls.
The Purgatorium Remedial Academy was a boarding school. It had to be, to prevent escape and keep the students isolated from the outside world. Established for the purpose of “rehabilitating underage murderers,” Purgatorium Remedial, unsurprisingly, differed from other institutions of its kind in several key regards.
For example, near the concrete wall and fence that fully encircled the grounds, guards maintained a twenty-four-hour watch, and nobody questioned their authority to use deadly force if necessary. Such measures almost seemed unnecessary, however, as the entire campus was situated on a solitary island surrounded by miles of ocean, making escape a practical impossibility.
Purgatorium Remedial could hardly be compared to a normal prison. And yet even so, the students’ freedom was recognized to a surprising degree within the grounds. At times it was hard to tell whether the place was particularly strict or particularly lenient.
In the first place, it was beyond puzzling that a detention center built exclusively for underage murderers even existed. Facilities for housing underage criminals made sense, but why on earth would there be one only for murderers? The orientation had been notably unclear on that detail.
“Well, I can think about it until my brain turns to mush…but I’m tired.”
Kyousuke was completely exhausted, both body and soul, after finishing the rigorous manual labor; for a full four hours, he had weeded the farm fields, repaired the school buildings, carried raw materials, and so on, and so on, all the while being selectively harassed by Kurumiya.
He tossed away the handouts that had been distributed during orientation and threw himself down on the simple frame bed that was provided for him. The mattress was thin and patchy, promising an uncomfortable night’s sleep.
Over the window, through which he could see the deep blue night sky, were thick iron bars as wide as the ones in the school building. One wall of his room was made of the same bars and locked shut from the outside. There was not much other furniture in the narrow, bare concrete apartment, just a desk and chair and a small shelf and, in the corner, a western-style toilet. It looked like it belonged in a prison rather than a student dormitory.
“I’m supposed to spend three years in a place like this? They’ve got to be kidding me…” Kyousuke wore a jersey with a black border on a white background. It really is a prisoner-chic design. It suits murderers so well. However—
“I’ve never killed. I’ve never killed anyone…I think.” As soon as the words left his mouth, an anger that he couldn’t control began to boil to the surface. Though it had only been a moment, Kyousuke was angry at his own weakness in doubting his innocence, even in the face of this absurd situation.
“Aagh, shit! I didn’t deserve this…so why…” Molten rage smoldered in the bottom of his gut. Enduring it with gritted teeth, Kyousuke tossed and turned. He had asked himself this same question a thousand times between his arrest and placement here.
Why. Why. Why. Why— No answer comes.
The promise of more manual labor waited him again early the next morning. When he closed his eyelids, intending to get some sleep, what came floating up behind them was his most important family member’s face.
…Ayaka.
Whenever he thought of the little sister from whom he had been separated, a deep crack worked its way through his heart.
I wonder how Ayaka’s doing right now?
The expression on Ayaka’s face the last time he had seen her was seared into his mind.
Since being dragged away by the detectives on that day, Kyousuke had hardly been allowed to see his sister at all. Like a surge of progressive waves, he had been moved from jail to detention center, and his trial was conducted, all while he had no idea what was going on— By the time he had come to his senses, he had already been moved into this school.
But still, what was his sister doing…? If he thought about it, he could easily imagine.
Kyousuke had been through so much, but Ayaka was the one who was really hurt. Ayaka’s feelings are hurt, and she’s probably crying. Kyousuke could easily imagine his little sister in her dimly lit room, wearing a bath towel over her head, holding her knees, body shaking, stifling her sobs.
Long ago, Kyousuke had found her like that almost every night, a result of the terrible bullying she received in elementary school.
“…I’m sorry.”
Seeing his normally cheerful little sister like that, Kyousuke had decided that he would become stronger than anyone else. He sought out the strength to protect her so that Ayaka would never again be hurt, never again be sad.
Since then, there had been times when he caused Ayaka to worry, but she had never been hurt by bullies and never been sad.
Or at least she wasn’t supposed to be. In spite of that, Kyousuke had…
It’s just as Ayaka said. I was always doing idiotic things, and so I got wrapped up in something I couldn’t come back from, didn’t I? I’m so sorry I’m such a stupid older brother. But…
He clenched his fists on top of the bed, illuminated by the pale light coming in through the window.
…Not yet. It’s not all over yet.
If he could manage to “graduate” safely, he should be able to go back outside.
If he did that, he would be able to see Ayaka. He could protect Ayaka.
He could apologize to Ayaka.
That’s why—
No matter what happens, I’m going to endure it… Everyone around me may be a murderer, but whether I have to stare down that demon of a teacher or be thrown in lockdown, no matter what…I’m going to survive.
Destructive Hurricane
CALAMITIES CAUSED BY THE CLUMSIEST GIRL
THIRD PERIOD
“I’m gonna d-die… If it keep ups like this, I’ll die.” First period had just ended, and as soon as Kurumiya left the classroom, Kyousuke had fallen flat on his desk.
With her head propped up on one arm and her legs crossed, Eiri let out a carefree sigh. Kyousuke turned his head and, with his cheek on the desktop, stared intently at her profile. “Hey, Eiri… How come you get away with that attitude all the time? Even in front of that demon of a teacher.”
“…No reason. She just doesn’t pay attention to me is all. Not like you and Mohawk.” Eiri’s tone was blunt as she turned her gaze toward Kyousuke—and the desk to his right.
Fresh blood was still dripping from the desk, which had been broken clean in half.
Their classmate with the Mohawk hair, who had been sitting there before the start of class, was gone. He’d picked a fight with Kurumiya first thing in the morning, when he said, “You’re looking tiny and cute today as well, aren’chu! Gya-ha-ha!” It had taken all of two seconds for Kurumiya to wipe the floor with him again, but thanks to his provocation, the teacher’s mood had turned foul. On the receiving end of that temper were Mohawk’s other classmates (mainly Kyousuke).
“It doesn’t make sense… Why would she pick on me alone during the morality lesson?” Kyousuke lamented. “It was totally unreasonable of her to say stuff like ‘Hey, Kamiya. Put me back in a good mood. Make me laugh.’ I don’t know what she meant by that. Plus, she got violent if I started to bore her…and morality lessons are bullshit anyway.”
“…Well, whatever. At least you made her laugh a little bit.”
“It was a scornful laugh, though, wasn’t it? That atmosphere was so traumatic, I mean really…” As soon as the words left his mouth, he was reminded of the chilly atmosphere in the classroom earlier, and he grew more and more dejected.
Earlier, Kyousuke had done a spur-of-the-moment impression of a worker at a Much Burger restaurant in a desperate bid to lift Kurumiya’s mood.
Murderer in the Flower of Death Page 7