Had she showed any fear toward the abnormal students?
—She had not.
Thinking back on it, Ayaka’s bouts of selfish violence had always centered on Renko and the other girls. This was no different.
It seemed like only Kyousuke, Renko, and the others were reflected in Ayaka’s eyes. Renko and the other girls were close to Kyousuke, so—
“……It can’t be.”
Ayaka wasn’t upset by the strange environment or abnormal people. It was only the fact that Kyousuke had gotten so close with members of the opposite sex that had left her feeling—
“You’re jealous.”
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Ayaka suddenly started shrieking hysterically and shaking her head, making a scene. “It’s no use… It’s unbearable, this kind of… Ayaka can’t stand to look at you like this, big brother! She’ll have to do it quickly, quickly…so please move. Move away, big brother!!”
“Wait, Ayaka! I’m begging you, let me explain. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but these girls are my friends—”
“Shut up! Shutupshutupshutup, shut uuuuuuuuuuuup! Not another word from my corrupted big brother! That’s enough! Move! If you won’t move…Ayaka will have to shoot you along with them!!”
“Okay. Go ahead.”
“……………………Eh?”
“If I’ve driven you to the point of killing people, then it’s better that I become the victim. But I’m begging you…I’m begging you, please calm down, Ayaka. I couldn’t stand it if you became a murderer. Because you’re important to me…the most important person in the world!”
“”
Ayaka limply lowered the shotgun. “Big brother…” she mumbled with half-closed lips.
Kyousuke smiled in relief. He’d finally gotten through to her.
“……I see.” Ayaka smiled again, too. It was not a smile of relief or happiness, but rather a smile of acquiescence. “That’s right…you’re already so corrupted…okay. You get your way, big brother. Ayaka won’t kill these people. Instead—”
Ayaka readied the gun again. The pitch-black muzzle and her pitch-black eyes seized on Kyousuke.
“Ayaka will kill her big brother!”
Ayaka leveled the gun at his forehead. Meeting his gaze, she spoke in a sweet, coaxing voice. “Ayaka will kill you, big brother, and then she’ll die, too… If the filthy sows can’t be exterminated, then Ayaka and Kyousuke will have to disappear! We can be alone together again. No one will get in the way, and no one will defile you. Tee-hee…it’s a great idea, isn’t it? Don’t you think it’s the best? Escape from this world, together with Ayaka! In the next world we’ll always be together.”
“……Aya…ka?”
Ayaka smiled happily at Kyousuke, who stood dumbfounded. “You don’t need to be afraid. Ayaka absolutely will not miss… She’ll blast your brain stem with one shot, and send you off comfortably. So don’t worry! Ayaka will be following right behind you! See you in heaven, big brother.”
She pulled the trigger without hesitation.
The gun roared. The shell discharged, without misfiring. The shot did not miss its target. Kyousuke’s skull erupted into a spray of fresh blood and brains—or rather, just before it did—
“Kyousuke!”
Eiri reacted immediately and shoved Kyousuke to the ground. Buckshot tore through the air where his head had been just a moment before.
He landed on his back in the corridor. At the same time, Maina, lying helplessly on the floor, shrieked, while Renko roared and leaped forward.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaahhh!”
She charged at Ayaka, rapidly closing the distance between them.
“Don’t get in the waaaaaayyy!”
However, before she had covered even half the distance, Ayaka had finished loading the next round. She aimed at Renko and pulled the trigger.
Again the gun roared.
“Hyah?!”
Renko evaded the shot, rolling forward at an angle. Without losing any momentum, she regained her footing and continued closing in on Ayaka.
The buckshot gouged the linoleum, decorating the hallway with bullet holes.
“…Gah!! Troublesome—aren’t you?!”
Though she was clearly surprised by Renko’s agility, Ayaka moved quickly. She had already re-aimed the muzzle to point toward Renko, who was still six feet away.
“Kksshh?!” Renko, who had been about to leap upon her, had the wind taken out of her sails. She froze in place.
Ayaka’s mouth twisted into a broad grin. She fired again, intending to blow off Renko’s head.
“……?!”
But the bullet did not fire.
It was jammed. Ayaka frantically tried to clear the shell casing jammed in the ejection port.
“Ffkksshh!”
“Guh?!”
Renko slammed into Ayaka. She lost her footing and fell.
“…Ah?!”
Ayaka dropped the shotgun.
It slid across the floor: Renko leaped after it immediately, but Ayaka intercepted her.
“As if Ayaka would let yoooooouuuuuu!”
She jumped at Renko from behind, dragging her to the floor.
“Uaaahhh?!”
The two of them rolled down the hall, entangled together. When they finally came to a stop, it was Ayaka who was sitting astride Renko.
“Stay out of Ayaka’s waaaaaay, you filthy coooooooooooowww!”
She slapped Renko hard in the face with her right hand.
“Guh… Forget that!” Renko shouted. “I’ll get in the way if I want!” She glared up at Ayaka, then, spitting, “Like hell I’m gonna let you kill Kyousuke just to satisfy your selfish persecution complex! No matter how much you want to, you’ll have to get through me first, little girl!! That is, if you think you can—so how ’bout it?!”
Before Renko had even finished talking, Ayaka hit her with a hard left. She followed up the blow with angry words. “That’s just fine, Miss Mask… Ayaka would be glad to butcher you! Since criminals like you all go to hell, you won’t end up in the same place as Ayaka and Kyousuke!!”
“What are you talking about? If you kill me, you’ll also go to hell! Kyousuke will probably go to heaven, though!! You’ll be separated after you die! Too bad, so sad, see you on the other siiiiiide!”
“Wha…sh-shut uuup! You’re annoooooooooyiiiiiiiiing, you filthy piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig!” Ayaka’s face was bright red, and she swung her right fist downward.
Renko pulled away, as if she had been waiting for Ayaka’s attack, and evaded the blow.
“Ah—”
Ayaka struck the floor just as Renko’s fist slammed into her cheek.
“…Bwuh?!”
Ayaka recoiled.
Renko was up in an instant.
“The only pig here is yooooooooouuuuuu!!”
Tossing Ayaka aside, she quickly reversed their positions. This time, Renko was on top.
Renko grabbed Ayaka by the collar with one hand and peered down into her face. “You don’t get to go around killing people just because things don’t go your way! How conceited can you be?! You should only be selfish when it comes to your body! That’s impossible for someone with a skinny body like you, though! If I’m a pig, you’re a chicken carcass, huuuh?!”
“Bwuu?!”
She slapped Ayaka on the left cheek.
Ayaka’s eyes welled up with tears, and she glared hatefully. “…You…you shut up! Don’t get such a swollen head! Not after defiling my brother! The only things on you that should be swollen are your boobs, milk cow! Holstein!”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re just jealous! They’re perfectly fiiiiiiiiirm! And anyway, it’s too bad for you, because Kyousuke loves big boobs! Looks like you don’t know anything about him, do yoooooouuu?!”
“You’re the one who doesn’t know anything! He doesn’t go for enormous breasts, he likes well-shaped ones, so theeeeeere!! Will you s
top talking like you know everything?! You can’t just go around acting like that, you knoooooow!”
Ayaka grabbed Renko’s boobs with both hands and hit her with a surprise head-butt.
“Kksshh?!”
Shoving the stunned young woman away, Ayaka took a mount position. She slapped the gas mask over and over again. “Ayaka understands him! Ayaka understands perfectly well! Better than anyone else, Ayaka knows her big brotheeeeeer! There’s no way she can lose to someone like you…to some newcomer who only just met him! She can’t lose, no waaayyy! Die! Diediediedie, diiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeee!”
Despite being jolted to the right and left by Ayaka’s blows, Renko turned back to her each time. Focusing on Ayaka’s face, she raised her voice. “You understand?! Do you really—buh!! Do you really understand?! I don’t think so! If Kyousuke—buh!! If you understood Kyousuke, this act—buh!! This whole charade, where you act like a killer in front of your brother—you wouldn’t be able to do it!—Buh!! I won’t lose! To a girl like you—buh!! As if I would let a self-righteous, blindly devoted, fanatic with terrible judgment like you take me ooooooouuut—buh!!”
Ayaka grew angrier and angrier, but Renko would not shut her mouth at all, no matter how many times she was hit. Ayaka struck her with the palms of her hands, alternating left and right, her pigtails fraying.
“Shut up! Shutupshutupshutupshutup, shut uuuuuuuuup!”
“Now who needs to shut up?! Nyeh-nyeh-nyeh! Your shrill voice is hurting my ears!”
“Quiet, witch!”
“You be quiet, bitch!”
“You’re one to talk!”
“So are you! I’m way better-looking!!”
“…Oh, please! You always have a comeback, you filthy sow—”
“That’s Ayaka’s liiiiiiiiiiiine!”
Renko threw herself at Ayaka, who was getting short of breath from all the slapping, trying to reverse their positions again. Ayaka resisted, undaunted, and the two of them rolled farther down the hall, still entangled.
Drawn by the commotion, curious students began to gather one by one to watch.
“Wha?! Whaddaya know, if it ain’t a catfight! Kill her, kill her!”
“Hee-hee-hee…flushed, entangled bodies…disheveled clothes and ragged breathing…hee-hee…”
“Renko?! And…Ayaka, isn’t it? What are you two doing?!”
“…I think it’s cannibalism. In this world it’s survival of the fittest, after all. The loser will be devoured by the winner.”
“Hee-hee-hee, you’re completely right, Chihiro… Strength is everything! Power is absolute! Only the true strongest person can reign as Absolute Emperor—waaaaaahhh?! A shotgun! There’s a shotgun lying over there!! No way!! Hey, is that gun real?!”
On the right and left sides of the hallway, and in the entrance hall, students surrounded them on three sides.
No one tried to force their way between the two girls.
They watched intently as Renko and Ayaka fought, ignoring their audience.
“”
Kyousuke and the others were no exception. They had not even moved. Eiri was still on top of Kyousuke, Kyousuke was still under Eiri, and Maina was still cowering, frozen in fear, as they all watched the two combatants struggle.
Renko and Ayaka smashed against each other with their bodies and words, each of them fighting furiously for the upper hand. No third party could have easily intervened.
Their argument filled the entryway, now overflowing with students.
“Kksshh! How about thinking of Kyousuke’s feelings for once, Ayaka?!”
“Ayaka is always thinking about them! More than someone like you—all the time!”
The two of them had gotten to their feet and were facing off, pulling each other’s hair.
“No, you don’t! You just selfishly force your ideals on him, don’t you?!”
“Ayaka doesn’t force anything! Her big brother accepts her!”
“You couldn’t get him to accept you, could you?! But escaping from reality is your specialty, right?!”
“Only because you all defiled hiiiiiiiiimmm!!”
“See, there’s that escapism! That’s enough, nutcase!”
“Yeah, enough from you, bitch!”
“What was that?!”
“What did you say?!”
They strained and butted heads, glaring at each other. They both looked like a mess, with disheveled hair and wrinkled clothing. Ayaka’s face was covered in fresh bruises and cuts, and Renko’s gas mask looked like it might come loose at any moment.
………Huh?
Her gas mask is about to come off?
Without the gas mask—her limiter—Renko was like a wild animal without a muzzle. As the Murder Maid, created only to kill, she was entirely capable of slaughtering anyone she laid eyes upon. She was usually locked into her mask by a fixed band, but…
In life-threatening situations, Renko’s unlimiter would kick in and release the lock. The fistfight with Ayaka could have caused that mechanism to go into operation, though it didn’t look to Kyousuke like she’d been driven to that point yet.
Still, he was sure that thing was about to dislodge, and it would be bad news time then.
“Hey, stop it!” Climbing to his feet, Kyousuke pushed Eiri out of the way and tried to rush over to the two of them. “Renko, Ayaka! Don’t fight any more!”
“This…is…annoyiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!”
Ayaka screamed as her flying knee kick struck Renko’s stomach.
“Kksshhggh?!” Renko staggered and released her hold on Ayaka’s hair.
“Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”
Ayaka landed a right straight punch on Renko’s face with all her might.
“Gyah?!”
Renko was sent sprawling by the blow. She staggered back a sizable distance. From her face, which had been turned away from Kyousuke by Ayaka’s punch, something fell.
“……?!”
The spectators looked on breathlessly.
Renko did not make the slightest movement.
At her feet lay the jet-black gas mask.
“”
The tumult of the crowd went still, their enthusiasm cooled in an instant. A strange air of tension enveloped the area.
“…………Ah.”
A confused voice.
Renko turned back to face Ayaka, who was still frozen in the follow-through to her punch.
“…Hee-hee-hee.”
The mask had fallen away, revealing her bare face.
Her peach-colored lips were twisted into a smile.
“That was a serious punch, huh…? Hee-hee-hee! It even knocked my mask right off! Aaah…what shall I do with you, Ayaka dear? It’s started playing…! A violent melody, the likes of which I’ve never heard before! Ooohhh!”
“……?!”
Renko’s transparent, ice-blue eyes were reminiscent of a glacier at absolute zero.
Staring at her terribly beautiful face, Ayaka was frozen solid. Her eyes were wide with shock, and she opened and closed her mouth as if trying to speak.
The students surrounding them looked the same. Overwhelmed by Renko’s bare face—by her beauty—they seemed to have lost their voices.
In the silence, a clear soprano rang out.
“Huh? Hey, hey, hee-hee-hee…everyone, you all look like you’ve been bewitched by my exceptional beauty. Oh noooooo, it really is a sin to be too beautiful! I haven’t even done anything yet, and I’ve already killed everyone’s hearts en masse! Tee-hee! Hee-hee…well, then. How about I destroy your bodies next? Body and soul, completely—”
“Ah…uu…uu, uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Ayaka screamed. Turning her back on Renko, she dashed toward the exit.
“Ah?! Wait a minute, little Ayaka! Don’t run away!”
—But Ayaka was not fleeing.
Quite the opposite. She was not headed fo
r the exit, but for something nearby. The shotgun, which had been forgotten during the scuffle, still lay where it had fallen behind a shoe rack. Ayaka snatched up the gun, pointed it at Renko, and squeezed the trigger.
Renko flinched. “Wah?!”
A thunderous roar rang out.
The crowd shrieked.
But the shot missed the mark. It carved a hole in the bulletin board behind Renko.
Renko stuck both hands out in front of her. “Stop! Ayaka, stoooooop!”
Of course, there was no way Ayaka could stop.
“Eeeeeek?! Look out, look out! Eeeaaahhh!!”
She rapid-fired one, two, three rounds. One thunderous roar after another, after another.
However, none of them hit.
Renko wasn’t dodging the shots. Ayaka’s aim was off. She seemed uncharacteristically shaken by Renko’s aura.
After the third shot, Ayaka bellowed as if giving way to despair.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggghhhhhhh!”
Readying the shotgun again, she thrust it straight forward.
The distance between the two girls closed in a flash.
“”
Renko stared Ayaka down with narrowed ice-blue eyes.
Ayaka pointed the barrel of the gun at Renko’s face and gritted her teeth.
Renko coiled into a low crouch.
And then—
A taut silence descended.
Everyone held their breath and stared at the spectacle before their eyes.
“……What’s wrong, Ayaka?” Renko asked, smiling. Sharp, white canine teeth peeked out from between her plump lips. “If you’re going to kill me, you’d better do it soon.”
She pressed the muzzle of the gun to her forehead.
The barrel trembled slightly. Her ragged breathing was audible.
“Fuu, fuu…fuuuuuu!”
Ayaka gritted her teeth and steadied the shotgun with both hands. Her bloodshot eyes were wide-open. With her index finger still on the trigger, she defiantly met Renko’s icy gaze.
But Renko appeared unconcerned. She shrugged indifferently. “Go on, squeeze the trigger! Just like the last eight shots. It’s easy! Even I would be helpless if you shot me from this range. There’s no way you can miss.”
Murder Maiden and the Fatal Final Page 16