“Big brother?!”
“…Are you guys okay?”
Ayaka and Eiri stared down at the two of them in a heap, looking concerned. Maina had her face buried in Kyousuke’s chest, as if he were holding her in his arms.
“Uhh…yeah, I think so.” Despite aching from his hip to his shoulder on his left side, Kyousuke didn’t seem to be injured. He pushed himself up off the floor. “Hey, are you all right, Maina? Did you get hurt in the fall…?”
“Ah…I’m, I’m fine! Thanks to you, Kyousuke—”
“Then why are you clinging to hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?!”
“Eeek?!”
As Maina raised her face to look, Ayaka shoved her away. She tumbled over, falling hard on the hallway floor.
Ayaka stared down at her. “What were you doing clinging to him, using the confusion as cover, Crafty Cat… That fall just now, that was on purpose, wasn’t it?! Seriously, stop doing things like that!”
“Ehh?! S-sorry…but, umm, it wasn’t on purpose…”
“It was too on purpose! Nobody is stupid enough to trip and fall over nothing at all!”
“Hey, Ayaka—!” Kyousuke rushed over to the two of them.
“What is it?” Ayaka demanded. She glared at Maina, who was still flailing around in a panic.
Though still wary of her threatening tone, Kyousuke tried to calm his sister. “Give it a rest! It really was not on purpose.”
“No way! She absolutely meant to fall down!” Pointing at Maina, Ayaka puffed out her cheeks. “I saw it myself. Crafty Cat tripped herself on her own two feet. That had to have been intentional!”
“Ayaka, you…haven’t heard Maina’s story yet, have you?”
“…Her story?”
“About the murder Maina committed…”
“I don’t know anything about it, and I don’t care! Though I did hear that Crafty Cat has killed three people, and Miss Akabonehead has killed six… I don’t know how you killed them or anything. Anyway you probably slashed them with a blade, or strangled them or something, right? I haven’t heard all the details—”
“Clumsiness and cooking.”
“…Eh?”
“Maina killed people with clumsiness and cooking.”
“Uh, umm…”
“Let me tell you about it, Ayaka,” Maina said.
She stood and explained her story as Ayaka listened with a dumbfounded expression. She described how she was predisposed to kill people with her own clumsiness, and how people had died from food that she had made, and how neither was on purpose, and how Maina herself had no malicious intent, and how until now she had kept it to herself, imagining that anyone she tried to tell would be sure to keep their distance…
Finally Maina finished with “I’m sorry,” and hung her head.
“Ah, so that’s how it is, huh…?” Ayaka asked with a smile.
“In that case, never go near my big brother, ever again.”
“”
Maina was speechless.
“I mean, it’s far too dangerous, isn’t it?!” Ayaka continued, her smile fading. “If you’re with him, who knows when he might be killed by that clumsiness… It’s easy enough to avoid your cooking, but what if he’s in another accident, like the one you just caused? What then? If you can’t control it, doesn’t that make you even more dangerous? From now on, I want you to stay at least six feet away from my big brother at all times! You understand me, right, Crafty Cat?”
“I refuse.”
Maina brushed aside Ayaka’s demand.
“……Eh?” Ayaka looked flabbergasted. No doubt she hadn’t been expecting an argument.
Maina stared at Ayaka with purposeful eyes. Her frail bearing had completely changed. “I’m sorry, Ayaka. I just can’t agree to your request. Maybe if you didn’t want me to come close to you…it would be sad, but I would try to stay away. But Kyousuke told me that it would be all right! No matter how clumsy I am, or how awkward, no matter how much trouble I cause, it’s all right, he said… He would be with me, he said! So, I’m sorry. I have no intention of leaving Kyousuke’s side.”
“Wha……” Ayaka’s eyes were wide. Her mouth noiselessly opened and closed, and her body shook with silent rage. “Th-this…what…making a self-centered, reckless remark—”
“Sorry, Ayaka. It’s like Maina says.”
“…Big…brother?” Ayaka, her angry words interrupted, stared at Kyousuke in blank amazement.
Kyousuke looked down, as if to escape Ayaka’s gaze, and continued. “I know about Maina’s clumsiness. And I believe that I know very well the harm that Maina’s clumsiness can cause. She’s incredibly earnest, and tries with all her might, and battles on in the face of difficulty, so…even if it is a little bit dangerous, I still want to be with her.”
“Kyousuke…”
“”
Ayaka’s eyes turned dark.
Kyousuke did not seem to notice the change in his little sister, and continued to try to persuade her. “Besides, it’s not like Maina will cause a disaster whenever or wherever. If we’re very careful, she can lead a normal life. And besides, I only almost died the very first time that Maina even had an accident, so…she’s not as dangerous as you say!”
He looked up, searching for his sister’s reaction.
“”
This time it was Ayaka who was looking down, her expression hidden beneath the shadow cast by her loosely hanging bangs.
“And you don’t need to worry about the times when she is dangerous. No matter how clumsy Maina gets, I’ll be here to protect you, Ayaka! Won’t you trust me? And try to get along with her? You and Maina are almost the same age, and I really think you could become good friends.”
“”
“Uh, Sis?” Kyosuke moved to stretch out a hand toward the absolutely motionless girl.
“……that……to you…?” Ayaka muttered quietly.
“Huh? Sorry, you’re too quiet and I can’t hear—”
“Is this girl really that important to you?!”
Ayaka howled hysterically, her voice echoing in the still hallway. Glaring at Kyousuke, she pointed at Maina and shut her lips tight, as if there was nothing more to say.
Kyousuke took a deep breath, trying to recover his composure.
“Yes, she is important. Maina is my dear friend.”
“……?!”
The moment Kyousuke answered, Ayaka’s eyes, which recalled the surface of still, black water, wavered. As if that vibration was rippling outward, her shoulders, then her fists, then her whole body—began to tremble. “I-is that how it is? You put your friends before your own sister… Yes, I understand. I understand perfectly…”
She unclenched her fists, and the strength seemed to drain immediately from her body. Her stiff expression slackened, and a broad smile spread across Ayaka’s face.
“If that’s how it is, I guess you can just do whatever you like!”
She turned and walked away briskly.
“……Eh?” Kyousuke couldn’t do anything but stare at Ayaka’s back as she moved farther and farther away. Her steps were quiet, but it was clear that she was raging.
A hand clapped the dumbfounded Kyousuke on the back. “…Don’t worry about it.” Leaving him with that single phrase, Eiri followed after Ayaka.
Kyousuke continued to stand, unresponsive.
Maina shyly pulled at his hand. “Kyousuke, let’s go, too. We’ll be late to class.”
“Hmm…? O-oh…” Kyousuke finally came to his senses, and started walking as he had been told. His limbs felt like they were not his own. They had no power. The inside of his head was vacant except for the echo of Ayaka’s words. He couldn’t think of anything else as he shuffled aimlessly forward. And yet—
“I’m sorry, but…thank you.”
Maina’s voice, halting but full of joy, brought warmth to Kyousuke’s chest.
“Uh, um…Sis?”
“”
Ayaka completely ignored K
yousuke’s timid words, keeping her gaze fixed on the handle of her knife as she continued smoothly chopping. Her cheeks were puffed up so large that they looked like they might pop.
The chives on her cutting board were being very finely minced indeed.
“Uh, ummm…”
“Ayaka,” called another member of their group, “I finished peeling the potatoes!”
The moment he did, Ayaka burst into a wide smile. “Oh, okay! Thank you very much,” she replied courteously. “Would you please dip them in water?”
“Yes, ma’am!” The male student bowed and quickly moved to follow her instructions.
Ayaka, who had finished chopping the chives, started on an onion, still smiling brightly.
“Hey, Ayaka!” Kyousuke cheerfully inquired, sensing an opportunity. “Don’t you have anything that I could help with?”
“”
The smile instantly vanished from Ayaka’s face as she continued to cut vegetables, completely ignoring him.
Undaunted, Kyousuke tried again to get through to her. “Hey, hey! I’ll do anything, okay? If it’s something I can do, I’ll do anything!”
“……so……you…?”
Ayaka’s hand suddenly stopped.
“Ah, yes?!” Happy to have finally gotten a response, Kyousuke sounded more and more lively. “What’d you say? If it’s a request from you, with all my strength—”
“You’re just in the way, so get out of here, would you?!”
“……Okay.”
Ayaka waved her knife at Kyousuke as he left the kitchen counter in tears.
He came to stand beside the window, where he looked around the classroom, feeling like a shriveled green vegetable.
The students, in their bandannas and aprons, worked together in groups of four, harmoniously practicing cooking.
Kurumiya, wearing a matronly apron, patrolled the space between the kitchen counters, watching the students carefully. On her shoulder she carried an enormous wooden spoon in place of the usual iron pipe.
“Keep it up, worms! Do your best, heh-heh-heh! This is your one chance to eat a decent meal!”
Kurumiya laughed and struck a male student, who had been trying to steal her kitchen knife, on the head with the wooden spoon.
Many ingredients had been arranged on a silver table at the front of the classroom. Onions, carrots, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, bok choy, spinach, tomatoes, bell peppers, pumpkins, shiitake mushrooms, pork, chicken, beef, bacon, eggs…et cetera. Most of it was in poor condition, and some of the food even looked mostly rotten. The students were to select their ingredients, refer to the recipe in their textbooks, and practice cooking together in groups—that was “cooking class,” Purgatorium Remedial Academy–style.
Ayaka had taken command in Kyousuke’s group, and was working diligently at her meal.
It had been thirty minutes since the start of second period. Every group had made different amounts of progress, and there were even some groups that still hadn’t started cooking. For example—
“Please! I’m really begging you, Miss Eiri. We’ll do anything to try your home cooking. Look, like this! Like this, no seriously!”
“Hee-hee-hee…peeping at panties…peeping at panties while prostrating plainly…Hee-hee—gyah?!”
Two male students groveled on their hands and knees, heads bowed. One wore dreadlocks, and the other had a hunchback.
“…Huh? Are you seriously making a pass at me now? Don’t you have any shame? You’re garbage, like vegetable scraps.” Looking down at Oonogi and stepping on Usami’s head, Eiri snorted. “…Hmph.”
“Oh dear… E-Eiri…let’s leave it there…oh no…” Maina held on to Eiri’s hem in a panic.
“Ah?! You bastard, that’s clever! I want to be stepped on by Miss Eiri—gah!!”
Eiri blushed, and stomped on Oonogi’s face. “Y-you pervert…shut up!”
Oonogi twisted beneath her foot, mouth hanging open. “Gyaaah?! St-sto—ah, don’t stop…sto-stop iiiiiit!!”
“Hee-hee…panties, panties, before my eyes…hee-hee-hee…!”
“Oh goodness! Give it up already, Eiri! These guys are hard-core perverts! Let’s just make them something to eat…”
“Fine, whatever! Let’s just do it already!”
“Yahoooooo!” Oonogi and Usami cheered and high-fived.
“…Just die.”
Eiri glared at them as she tied her apron.
“Looks like they’re having fun…not that I’m jealous, though,” Kyousuke muttered.
Maina had been relegated to observing. She was barred from doing any actual cooking.
With mixed feelings, Kyousuke watched Oonogi and Usami skipping around the kitchen counter. Ha! The two of them probably had no idea how bad Eiri’s cooking really was—
“Well, then… Now we just simmer it like this, right?” From nearby wafted the rich aroma of soy sauce and mirin. Ayaka stood catching her breath in front of a simmering pot, having somehow already finished her first dish. She was incredibly industrious.
Ayaka handed her ladle to another student, who stood peering into the pot. “Kitou, while you watch it boil, would you please skim the top of the liquid? And Kousaka, please skin these with the vegetable peeler. This is a special occasion, so let’s give it our best and make all kinds of things!” She pumped her fist in the air as she gave the two boys their instructions.
“Oh, oh, oh!” Their eyes sparkled as they leaped to their duties.
If he could have, Kyousuke would have changed places with the two in a heartbeat, but before he could speak up, he was met with a cold voice and scornful eyes.
“…I told you to get out of here, didn’t I?”
Her kitchen knife landed with a heavy blow, cleanly bisecting the head of a mackerel.
“……I suppose.”
Kyousuke slunk away from the kitchen counter, dejected. Ayaka seemed extremely angry that he had taken Maina’s side. This was the first time she’d ever lashed out at him so harshly, and he didn’t know how to respond. Instead he just gave up, and sat cross-legged in a corner of the classroom.
“Kyousuke, um…a-are you okay?”
When Kyousuke lifted his head, he saw Maina staring down at him, looking concerned. She crouched down beside him. “It’s because of me…isn’t it? I’m so sorry… Ayaka is really angry—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Kyousuke interrupted, placing a hand on Maina’s head. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Maina. This is all Ayaka’s fault…I think. No…is it mine? Yeah, this is all my fault. I phrased things badly, and that’s why Ayaka is so—”
“Kyousuke, you’ve done nothing wrong!” Maina insisted firmly, before immediately returning to her usual, frail voice. “Kyousuke, you’re not bad…though I don’t mean to say that Ayaka is bad, either. I think anyone would get upset when someone important to them was in some kind of danger, so…of course we weren’t going to get along right away. I think it will take some time. My accidents can be pretty dangerous, after all. It’s not easy for me to accept it myself… I think I understand her feelings.”
With her large, flax-colored eyes, Maina gazed intently into Kyousuke’s, her voice filled with conviction. “But that’s even more reason not to give up! I’ll try my hardest to make Ayaka trust me! It was probably too soon before. She needed to accept my clumsiness before I could get her to trust me… I think so, anyway. That’s why I’ll become good friends with Ayaka first! I will get her to trust me…she’ll feel the same way about me that you do, Kyousuke!”
“Maina…” When she put it like that, Kyousuke had to believe her. You can’t just tell someone to trust a person; they have to learn to trust them on their own. It was sure to be difficult, especially for someone like Maina. “Yeah…yeah, I think you’re right. We were probably a little impatient…”
“Yes. I’m also going to apologize later. Let’s make peace!”
“…Yeah. Thanks, Maina. I’m feeling a lot better, thanks to you.”
&nbs
p; Kyousuke smiled warmly and stroked Maina’s hair.
The girl smiled bashfully and let it happen.
“”
Ayaka stared at the two of them from the kitchen counter. Her knife stopped in the middle of gutting a mackerel, and her eyes clouded over like the fish’s.
Kyousuke and Maina did not seem to notice.
Oblivious, they stood close and continued their friendly conversation.
“……That girl.”
Ayaka’s molars ground audibly. The point of her knife severed the mackerel’s spine.
“Ohhh…you made all of this, Ayaka?” Kyousuke asked, astonished.
Meat and potato stew, mackerel cooked in miso, fried chicken, rolled omelets, boiled spinach, miso soup…so many dishes crowded for space on the table top, garnished with chives and ginger and shredded daikon piled up beside every plate. And he knew perfectly well that Ayaka’s food tasted just as good as it looked.
He swallowed in anticipation, then paused. “Umm… Sis?” Kyousuke asked timidly. “There’s no plate for me…”
There was nothing in front of Kyousuke but a cup of tap water. Meanwhile, in front of Ayaka (seated next to him) and the other students (seated across from him), individual plates had been laid out next to bowls of white rice and miso soup.
Kyousuke hadn’t even been given a pair of chopsticks.
Ayaka smiled and answered flatly,
“There’s no reason there would be.”
“……Seriously?”
“Yep. I mean, you didn’t help at all, big brother. Those who don’t work don’t eat.”
“B-but when I tried, you said ‘get out of here’—”
“Did I?”
“Yeah…”
“I don’t remember that.”
“……”
Kyousuke glared at her with scornful eyes, but Ayaka was completely unfazed. “In the first place, you’re only reaping what you’ve sown! It wouldn’t be so bad if you had just skipped out on work, but then you had to go and get all flirty-flirty with a classmate! I will not share a meal with such a bad person. I sentence you to going without dinner. Please reflect on your mistakes veeeeeery carefully.”
Murder Maiden and the Fatal Final Page 10