“Renko…”
“GMK…”
“”
Ayaka turned away without saying anything.
Renko sighed. “Kksshh…” Her voice was full of regret. “But in the end, I couldn’t eat Ayaka’s cooking, huh? I really wanted to try some, too…but I guess it can’t be helped. The food was made for Kyousuke after all. Maybe some other time—”
“Unn!”
Ayaka thrust a cup in front of Renko’s mask.
“…Unn?”
Renko tilted her head in confusion.
“Unn!”
Ayaka thrust out the cup once more.
“…Unn?”
“…‘Unn’ is not an answer!” Ayaka shouted impatiently. Pressing the cup into Renko’s hand, she forced her to take it. Then she filled the cup with tea from the kettle.
“Eh?” Renko looked bewildered. “Ayaka…? Ah, umm—”
“Here.” Ayaka finished pouring the tea and turned away again. “I won’t give you any of my cooking,” she said bluntly, “but I guess it’d be okay to give you some of the tea I brewed. You can drink with that mask on, right? I hope you appreciate it…”
“A-Ayaka…!” Renko sounded deeply moved, and quickly prepared her straw tube. She stuck the end opposite the one attached to the cheek of her gas mask into the cup, and sucked it up with a long sluuurp. “Delicious! This tea is incredibly delicious! Slurp… slurp…”
“Thanks, but…it’s just ordinary barley tea.”
“Seconds, pleeeeeease!”
“Absolutely not. You only get one cup.”
“Kksshh…”
“Tee-hee!”
Renko looked dejected as the empty cup was snatched away. Ayaka grinned and filled her own cup with tea. Kyousuke, too, felt a smile spread across his face, happy that the exchange had been so calm. Slowly, steadily, little by little, the distance between the two of them was beginning to close.
If this kept up, Ayaka was sure to become good friends with everyone.
“No way.”
Ayaka pursed her lips in flat denial. They had finished washing the dishes a short while ago. Now Kyousuke brought Maina over, hoping the two of them could reconcile before the other groups finished cooking, but Ayaka had obstinately refused.
“C’mon, don’t be like that… Please try to get along… Okay?”
“No way. Nowaynowaynowaynoway! Absolutely not!” Ayaka shook her head furiously “No means no!”
Maina’s eyes filled with tears. “Ohh…”
Eiri rubbed her forehead. “Eh.”
Renko looked highly perplexed. “Oh my.”
“Why do you hate the idea so much…?”
“I told you, Crafty Cat is too cunning.”
“Cunning… What about her is so cunning?”
“Her everything.”
Ayaka angrily puffed out her cheeks.
“…Everything?”
Kyousuke sounded crestfallen.
“Geez, why are you sticking up for her?! Are you a Crafty Cat fan?”
“…What do you mean by ‘fan’?”
“I mean, is she your favorite? Hey, actually, Bro…” Ayaka stood up and glared at Maina, Eiri, and Renko in turn. “Big brother, out of these three girls, who do you like the best?”
“……?!”
All three girls reacted decisively…and dramatically.
Maina shrieked, and leaped out of her seat: “Eeeeee?!”
Eiri blushed furiously: “Uh…”
Renko recoiled: “‘L-like the beeeeeest’?!”
Kyousuke’s mouth hung open, and he looked back into Ayaka’s eyes. “Just what are you talking about?”
“Tee-hee! I was just a little curious. Besides, you all want to know, too, right?” Ayaka shot the other girls a smile.
Maina’s eyes began filling with tears. “Oh my, oh dear. I’m, I’m…curious, but also scared…oh no…”
Eiri fiddled absently with her hair. “…Tch, like I care about something so stupid. Are you an idiot?”
Renko pressed in on Kyousuke. “I am! I am! I’m really curious! Of course it’s me, right, Kyousuke?!”
Sweat broke out on Kyousuke’s forehead. “U-uuummm…”
“Look, you have to answer honestly. Who is it? Who do you like the best, big brother?”
“Uh……th-that’s……well…”
Kyousuke gulped audibly. Each gaze was focused on him like a laser.
Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath to compose his thoughts.
“…All of you!”
“”
Time seemed to stop with his answer. The light went out of Maina’s and Eiri’s eyes. The face behind the gas mask was also silent.
“What? I answered you, didn’t I?” asked Kyousuke, baffled. “I said I like all of you…”
“…A three-way…” Renko growled. Her voice was low and difficult to hear.
“Huh?”
“A three-waaaaaaaaaaaayyy! All of us? …What the hell do you mean, ‘all of uuuuuusss?!’ Stupiiiiiiiiiiiid! Stupidstupidstupidstupid! Kyousuke, you idiooooooot!”
Renko continued shouting while beating him over and over.
“Ehh?!”
Kyousuke’s wide-eyed expression was met with a piercing, icy stare from Eiri. “…The worst. I was the idiot for expecting anything of this loser.”
“Kyo-Kyousuke…Japan is not a polygamous country!” Even Maina had turned an accusatory eye on him.
“Just a…wait, wait, you’ve got it wrong! When I said ‘all of you,’ I didn’t mean it like that! I mean, I like you, but in a different way… To me you three are all dear friends, and I can’t assign you ranks or anything! That’s why—”
“Well, what if your little sister enters the running?” Ayaka asked gently, peering up at Kyousuke’s face earnestly. “Crafty Cat, Miss Akabonehead, Miss Mask, and Ayaka. If it’s among these four people, who does my big brother like the best?”
“…Uhhh…” Kyousuke floundered for a reply. Ayaka was, without a doubt, the most important person in all the world. However, he was reluctant to place her in the same category as Renko and the others. They were all still his dear friends, and if possible, he wanted to avoid hurting anybody. He really had no idea how to answer. “A…all of you!”
“”
Time seemed to freeze again as Kyousuke repeated his answer.
Ayaka’s eyes grew dark.
“…Idiot,” Eiri groaned, holding her forehead.
“Ah, no, that is…” Kyousuke quickly followed up. “I like you, Ayaka, truly! I love you most in all the world! But I can’t compare you to these girls. I mean, there’s no comparison—I mean…it’s not like I can rank you or anything, right? Like an evaluation on an absolute scale, and not a comparative assessment. Something like that—”
“Okay. I understand very well, big brother.”
“Ohh, really?!”
“Yes. I understand veeeeeeeeeeeeery well that you want to make me angry! Why, I should have let you starve after all!” Hanging her head, Ayaka clenched her fists.
“……Eh?” Kyousuke tried to read his little sister’s expression.
“—Spit it out!”
Ayaka’s fist struck Kyousuke’s stomach, hard.
“Guh—?!”
He crumbled under the surprise assault while Maina and the others screamed.
“Kyousuke?!”
“Kyousuke!”
“Ayaka?!”
Kyousuke felt dreadful waves of nausea wash over his extremely full stomach. As he doubled over, trying to control his agonized innards, he heard a bone-chilling voice from above.
“Spit it out, big brother! If you haven’t learned your lesson, then all of the food you just ate…I’m confiscating it!”
“A…ya…ka…?” Her voice, and the shock of her striking him for the first time, hit Kyousuke much harder than her fist. —Why? How come?
Ayaka looked down at him with eyes so dark and gloomy that Kyousuke almost forgot the pain. “I lo
ve you the most, big brother, so why won’t you say that you love me the most? Aren’t I that important to you?”
“……”
“Hey, why won’t you answer me? You won’t answer because you can’t answer, isn’t that right? And the reason why you can’t answer is…in other words…I’m right? And if I’m right, then…yeah, spit it out! Here, I’ll make you confess—”
Ayaka prepared to kick Kyousuke in the stomach.
“Stop it!” Forcing herself between them, Renko pushed Ayaka.
The girl stared at Renko’s gas mask with hard eyes. “…What is it?”
“Don’t ask me ‘what is it?’ Do you even understand what you’ve done? Look at Kyousuke! He’s not in any condition to speak.”
“”
Moved by Renko’s heart-wrenching tone, Ayaka turned to look at Kyousuke, who was still sweating and holding his stomach, eyes vacant.
“……Ah.” As she gazed at her older brother, Ayaka’s eyes seemed to clear. She crouched down in a panic, suddenly afraid for his well-being. “Big brother!”
Her dry eyes quickly became wet with tears, and swam restlessly through space. “Ah, aaah…s-sorry…I’m sorry!! R-really sorry…the blood rushed to my head, and then suddenly…I’m sorry! Really, really sorry! Ohh…does it hurt? Of course it hurts…ah…wh-wwwwh-what do we do… What did I do to you… Sorry… I’m sorry, big brother! Oh, ohh…I’m sorry… I’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorry—”
“Ayaka.”
A hand came to rest on Ayaka’s head as she continued her frantic apologies. Surprised, she lifted her face to see Kyousuke forcing a pained smile.
“It’s all right. You don’t need to apologize…”
“Big brother…”
Gazing at her tear-streaked face, Kyousuke tousled her hair. “…I’m not worried about my body. Taking one punch to the stomach won’t kill me. So don’t worry so much.”
“Big brother, um…y-you’re not mad…?”
“I’m not mad. What do I have to be mad about? I should be sorry, instead of you… It was my fault for making you that angry. As your inadequate older brother, I’m truly sorry…”
“……?!”
Ayaka buried her face in Kyousuke’s chest as if to hide. “…You didn’t do anything wrong,” she mumbled, mournful.
Watching Kyousuke gently stroke Ayaka’s back, Renko sighed. “…Kksshh.”
Eiri and Maina also looked exhausted, but at least, for the moment, the situation showed some signs of resolution.
—It started the following day.
Ayaka seemed even more infatuated with Kyousuke than before.
Can You Fell My Heart?
THE WORLD WILL COME TO NOTHING
QUESTION FOUR
“…Huh? Big brother, where are you going?”
It was the second period break. At the sound of the chime, Kyousuke stood. “To the bathroom,” he announced.
“Is that so?” Ayaka remarked casually. “Then I’ll go, too!”
Kyousuke’s heart sank at her response. He had been afraid of this. Two days had passed since cooking class, and Ayaka’s fawning had grown more and more oppressive.
She held his hand whenever they walked together, constantly said “I love you,” smothered him in embraces, linked arms whenever they sat together, badgered him to feed her during meals, and refused to speak to anyone else.
It was exactly like when she had first arrived. She refused to be separated from his side even for a moment, and yesterday she had even started to accompany him to the boys’ toilets. It wouldn’t have been so bad if she’d just waited outside, but she insisted on even coming in with him. Her cheerful yammering made trying to do his business very uncomfortable. She’d even tried to excuse her behavior, saying, “I’m checking your health through your pee, big brother!” She could have at least considered how he might feel getting a urinalysis from his sister.
“Let me see…” Kyousuke muttered, sounding defeated. The past two days had been utterly exhausting. She’d clung to him the whole time. Kyousuke still loved the girl, but all the same he felt hopelessly depressed. It’ll be embarrassing if she comes inside with me again, so just to be sure—
“You’re also, um…using the bathroom?”
“Nope,” she answered indifferently. “I’m just coming with you!”
“O-oh…I see.”
Kyousuke didn’t want to be cruel, but he had to put an end to this here.
“Sorry, Ayaka, but if that’s the case, could I get you to wait in the classroom?”
“Why?”
“Why…? Well…it-it’s embarrassing.”
“…You hate it?”
“Honestly, I’m not happy about it.”
“……”
Ayaka’s expression grew severe, her eyes downcast in contemplation. Seeming to reach a quick conclusion, she then smiled and nodded. “I get it! If you don’t like it, I’ll stop. I’ll be a good girl and wait here, okay?”
“Ah, sorry… I’ll come right back.”
“Sure, off you go! Is it a number two?”
“……It’s a number one.”
Kyousuke left the classroom wishing she hadn’t made a point of asking. He cut across the hallway, dodging groups of loitering murderers, and entered the nearest boys’ toilets.
Though she had agreed to the separation, he was reluctant to leave Ayaka on her own. Eiri and Maina were in the classroom with her, but it could still be a problem if any troublesome classmates tried to give her a hard time.
Kyousuke quickly relieved himself, and when he had finished washing his hands—
“Wait right there.”
There was a girl standing in the hallway immediately outside the boys’ toilets, listlessly fiddling with the tip of her ponytail.
“……Eiri? Weren’t you in the classroom?”
“I followed you.”
“Eh?! Don’t tell me you’re also interested in my…?!”
“…What? No! It’s nothing like that. Are you trying to get me to cut you?”
Kyousuke felt her stare pierce his abdomen. He cringed, afraid for many reasons.
Eiri clicked her tongue, “…Tch,” and stepped away from the wall. She walked toward him boldly. “I want to talk to you a bit about your little shadow.”
“……Eh?”
Dragging Kyousuke into a corner of the hallway, she lowered her voice. “Tell me, you…what do you think about her?”
“What do you mean? What? Of course she’s important to me, but—”
“That’s not what I mean. I’m talking about her behavior.”
“Uh…”
Ayaka had been awfully aggressive and thorny since arriving at the Institution. And yet, she’d been overly sweet to Kyousuke…
However, Ayaka had never acted like that before.
She had always been courteous and good-mannered, and had a reputation as a “good girl” in their neighborhood. She was an honors student, the polar opposite of her infamous brother, and he was immensely proud of his almost-too-perfect little sister. Their sibling relationship had always been good, and she had never been inappropriately clingy or acted so absurdly selfish. But now Ayaka was—
“…It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
Eiri was shocked at Kyousuke’s lack of understanding for his sister’s change in behavior. “Have you forgotten what kind of place this is? It’s an academy for murderers. Anybody who could carry on normally after being thrown into a place like this would have to be pretty strange.”
“Uh……”
Eiri spoke the truth. Still, a sense of vague discomfort settled deep in Kyousuke’s chest, as though he had forgotten something terribly important, or mistaken it for something else—
“Maybe…” Eiri paused before continuing, “…it’s uneasiness. Feeling
like you can’t let your guard down around anyone, and that every last person could be an enemy… I was the same way myself, so I kind of understand it. And Ayaka isn’t even an experienced murderer… I get why she feels like she has to be pointlessly aggressive, to keep from getting picked on. But she doesn’t have to be that way with you, right?”
A critical light glimmered in Eiri’s piercing, rust-red eyes. “You’re the only one, a blood relative whom she can trust with all her heart. You’re her family, someone she wanted to see so badly that she was willing to attempt murder. You’ve got to forgive her for fawning over you a little too much…because you’re the only person here whom she can trust. That’s what I think whenever I see her in the dorms.”
“…Ayaka in the dorms?”
“Yeah. She’s quiet, like a completely different person! I think it’s because you’re not there, but she’s silent the whole time. Even when Maina and I talk to her, she’s curt. And it seems like she has no intention of reaching out on her own. On the first day, she asked us things like ‘Are you really his friends?’ and ‘How did you get close to him?’ and ‘What do you think of him?’…She only asked about things that had to do with you. And she always seems to be on her guard.”
“……Seriously?”
“Seriously. That’s why, Kyousuke…take better care of that girl! We’re fine for now, but—remember what she asked you during cooking class? ‘Who do you love the best?’ You were probably thinking of our feelings, but…don’t worry about that. For now, you think only about her. She has no one to rely on except for you, and if you don’t make her your number one priority, she’ll be too anxious.”
“Eiri…”
“I believe the two of us can become close friends as well, and I can open up to her. But you know, I think it’s still too soon. First, you need to be there for her, as her ‘big brother.’ That’s what I wanted to tell you.” As she finished speaking, Eiri swept her hair back, scratched her cheek, and looked away.
Kyousuke was pleasantly surprised. She was much more concerned about Ayaka than he had thought; he wouldn’t have to go out of his way to intervene. Eiri would sort things out with Ayaka on her own.
“…That’s right,” Kyousuke agreed. “Supporting my sister should be my first priority. Thanks, Eiri. Really, thank you for worrying about Ayaka.”
Murder Maiden and the Fatal Final Page 12