Murder Princess and the Summer Death Camp

by Mizuki Mizushiro

  Pursing her lips tight, Maina choked up. Sniffling and swallowing, she forced herself to continue talking. It was a painful expression, as if she were spitting up blood.

  “…After eating my food, he suddenly grabbed his chest and started groaning. At first, I thought maybe the egg had blocked up his throat. However, even an idiot like me soon realized that something about the way he looked was off. A heavy sweat broke out all over his face, and he started to shake all over, and his breathing changed…

  “—My mind went blank. I don’t remember much after that. Only, it seems that in a panic, I triggered the same clumsiness as always, and fired off a rapid succession of incomparable blunders… When I came to my senses, it was all over. The desks and chairs around me were scattered around like a storm had blown through… Several of my classmates who had been eating nearby had collapsed, crushed by the debris. That boy…he died. He had been killed by food that I made. I-I had—”

  Her tears flooded over, and Maina let out a scream.

  “I killed him! And not only him…my classmates, and teachers, and Miss Shamaya…I killed them, and I hurt them… That’s reality, that’s a fact! I can’t deny it! But I didn’t want to kill…I didn’t want to hurt anybody! That boy, or my classmates, or my teachers, or Miss Shamaya, or anyone—I’m not a person who enjoys violence, or death! The truth about me is…the truth is, I just wanted to get along with everyone!”

  “”

  Shamaya’s face was blank. She gazed up at Maina, beneath the girl’s shower of tears.

  “……Is that all you wanted to say?”

  Her voice was emotionless and dry. Even as she said those words, Shamaya’s arm moved. Pushing Maina’s fingers aside, she took hold of the hatchet’s handle.

  Her body trembling, Maina tried her best to wipe away her tears. “…Hic.” She nodded wearily.

  A light crossed through Shamaya’s eyes. “……Is that so?”

  Putting her strength into the fingers that grasped the hatchet, she pushed herself up.

  “Well, that’s enough of that.”

  She gently embraced Maina’s body. Leaving the hatchet stuck in the ground, Shamaya wrapped both of her empty hands around Maina’s back.

  “Eh?”

  Maina let out an anticlimactic sound. She allowed it to happen with a flabbergasted expression, no less.

  Softly stroking the back of Maina’s head, Shamaya whispered, “Committing murder despite the best intentions…that must be even more painful than being unable to bring yourself to kill despite how much you want to. That’s enough, Miss Igarashi. I’ve completely lost my appetite, so…that’s enough. Quite…enough already. It would be much more painful for you to go on living, wouldn’t it?”

  “……?!”

  Once again, a torrent of tears poured from Maina’s eyes. She buried her crumpled face in Shamaya’s shoulder. “Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!” She cried with all her heart.

  Shamaya’s bearing abruptly softened. Her whole body seemed to lose strength, and she smiled bitterly. “My goodness…you really are a hopeless girl, aren’t you?” Holding Maina tight, Shamaya buried her nose in her chestnut-colored hair.

  Watching the two embracing each other, Kyousuke and Eiri also relaxed. I thought it was over when Maina charged at Shamaya, but… Somehow, it seemed that Maina had gotten her to give up the blade. For the moment, the threat of the Murder Princess had passed…

  “Ah, thank goodness…I’m finally healed!”

  Just as everyone was starting to relax, a clear soprano voice, like a glacier at absolute zero, filled the air like a freezing nightmare that makes the evening tremble.

  “……?!”

  In disbelief, everyone slowly turned to look.

  Pale moonlight. Trees rustled, sunk in darkness. In their midst…

  “The opening act is over, right? Well, then, let’s get tonight’s main event started!!”

  Her gas mask and headphones tossed away with her school jacket, this killing machine—

  Renko’s ice-blue eyes were ablaze with murderous desire as she smiled, revealing two perfect canines.

  “Renko, you’re…alive—” Looking at her standing there as if nothing had happened, Kyousuke’s eyes grew wide.

  Smoothing her hair dyed with fresh blood, Renko agreed. “Yep. I’m alive! It seems like I got a concussion and lost consciousness, though, right? The damage was greater than anticipated, so it took some time to reboot. I probably entered sleep mode to accelerate the healing process… Well, whatever! I’m good as new! I was in imminent danger, so my unlimiter kicked in and released the lock. It has to, because the limiter suppresses not only my murderous desires but also my physical abilities, you know?”

  The limiter: her black gas mask. Renko picked up a palm-sized stone that was lying near the mask, and casually closed her fist around it.

  Crunch. The stone crumbled into sand, spilling through the cracks between her fingers.

  Shamaya let slip her surprise. “…Huh? Wha…wh-what are you? How… Wh-why are you not dead?! Twice I smashed your head to pieces, but you’re still alive—”

  “Smashed to pieces? Heh-heh. Don’t say such stupid things, Shamaya dear.” Renko laughed at the tremble in Shamaya’s voice, at her shoulders shaking. Renko pressed an index finger, which could have been considered a small weapon in its own right, against her own temple.

  “A few cracks at worst. If you want to break through my bones, you’ll have to blast me with a shotgun or something from point-blank range. That would scatter even my gray matter, just like the vocalist from that grunge band… I suppose I would die, wouldn’t I? But it takes a lot more than one person’s strength to smash my bones. Especially in only two or three blows. That’s how I was made, you see.” Renko made a gesture like she was pulling a trigger—bang—and staggered about.

  Shamaya looked more and more confused. “…Shotgun? Made that way…? Wh-wha…? I really just do not understand what you’re saying… Wh-what are you…? What the hell are you?!” Shamaya shouted, squeezing Maina even tighter. Her countenance was gradually shifting from surprise to fear.

  Renko took one step toward the frightened blonde, opening her arms wide. Her jacket had been tossed aside, and on her bare, white arms, close together on her skin, were tribal tattoos that resembled inky chains.

  Floating in her ice-blue eyes, her dark pupils were as sharp as knives. “…Me? I’m a killing machine, Miss Murder Princess. You and I may seem similar, but we are completely different creatures. See, I was built solely for the purpose of killing people. Why, I was a born, made-to-order Murder Maid! To me, killing is not just a hobby, or a preference, or a life goal—it’s my total raison d’être. It’s not that I couldn’t live without murder…it’s not even that I enjoy murder… It’s simply that murder itself is life, and so I enjoy it. It would be a waste not to enjoy my one-time-only human life, right? Hee-hee-hee!

  “—Oh, by the way, my true identity is a secret, so if you try to expose me to anyone else I’ll disassemble your body! Even if you don’t, I’m going to kill you, though… Heh-heh! But you’re not concerned, are you Shamaya dear…? You’ve murdered twenty-one people, after all, so… You must have long ago resigned yourself to being killed, right?”

  The moment she had finished speaking, Renko launched into motion. Her explosive leg strength, far surpassing any ordinary human’s abilities, rendered the several-yard distance separating them meaningless.

  “Ah……eee?!”

  Renko was upon her in an instant. Shamaya’s eyes went wide as Renko’s fingers dug into her throat, lifting her into the air as she tried to scream. “Aak—!!”

  “Oh dear!! Mi-mith Chamaya?!” Freed from Shamaya’s grasp, Maina flew to Renko’s feet. “Sto…stop, please Renko! It’s already over! I understand your feelings of anger, but… Mith Chamaya awweady said that she won’t kill us or anything! So pwease…I’m begging you, pwease sto—”

  “Maina,” Renko called, still gripping Shamaya’s nec
k with her right hand.

  “…Eh?” Maina looked up, her eyes wet with tears.

  Renko grinned at her.

  “—Be quiet!”

  She growled it lowly, looking at Maina like one would look at stone laying by the side of the road. Withering under Renko’s murderous gaze, Maina shrieked, and fell down. Renko immediately seemed to lose interest. She turned her eyes back to Shamaya, tightening her strangling grip.

  “Kkah—!”

  Shamaya’s breath was being crushed out of her.

  Gazing at her with boredom, Renko shook her head. “This tone color is so tedious…” she whispered. “It’s a familiar melody, yeah…violent distortion and an irregular breakdown. It’s common deathcore, weaving together irritation and anger. At least give us some nice death agony vocals. I have high expectations for you after all, Murder Princess!”

  Renko released Shamaya’s throat.

  She crumpled to the ground gasping for oxygen, and Renko casually kicked her in the stomach. “Gahh!!”

  Eyes wide with the impact, Shamaya doubled over. “Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh, owowowoooooooooooowww!! Dy-dying… I’m dying…!!”

  She rolled around under the assault, holding her stomach. Renko frowned.

  “Huh? What’s with all the commotion? Everything you say is always so fussy. Now, please do allow me to expose you to such exquisite pain that you can no longer maintain that elegant composure—awww, now I’m doing iiiiiiiiiiiiit!!”

  Ruffling her own hair with both hands, Renko shouted in irritation. “That’s enough…enough! Of course I hate you! You can experience killing many times over, but you can experience dying only once. It would be physiologically impossible! As a reward of sorts for killing so many already, I was gonna let you request your favorite way to die, but…yeah, I gave up on that idea. I’ve made a choice on my own…I’m going to strangle you! I don’t wanna have to listen to your grating voice anymore, is why. I think I’ll crush your vocal cords, and tear your neck to shreds for you! If I do that, I should be able to kill you quietly…no, wait… In any case, if I kill you instantly, even if I’m not specifically aiming for the throat, you won’t have a chance to let out your death wail—”

  “Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!”

  “Geez! What a grating, shrill voice…I’ve got it. I’ll completely obliterate your head with a full swing. You also injured my head, so this will make it even, seeeeee?” Renko held up one of the fresh blood highlights in her hair, and fiercely bared her canine teeth.

  Shamaya quickly sat up, and looked around in panic.

  “……Ah.”

  When she noticed that the hatchet was stuck in the ground in between her and Renko, her expression changed. Regaining her fighting spirit, Shamaya’s mouth twisted into a grin as she kicked off the ground.

  “Dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!”

  With hatchet in hand once again, she slashed at Renko with all her strength.

  However, Renko—

  “I told you, it’s impossible with a toy like that.” She boldly stopped the downward-swinging blade with her bare hands, her arms rippling with power. Instantly, the light-colored steel blade cracked, and then shattered.

  Still tightly gripping the weapon which had been reduced to nothing but a handle, Shamaya sounded like Maina. “…Eh?” Her expression blank, she looked confused as Renko drew back her right arm.

  That arm, colored with tattoos, was tense with power—enough power to smash Shamaya’s head to smithereens. “Welcome to death, Murder Princess—make good friends with your victims in the next world!”

  Ice-blue eyes narrowed, while emerald-green eyes shut tight. Cutting through the air, Renko swung her right arm, which, slender as it was, was set to pulverize Shamaya’s skull.

  “Don’t you kill her!”

  —In that instant, a figure had thrust itself in between Renko and Shamaya.

  “……?!”

  The two of them simultaneously gasped, wide-eyed. But Renko’s arm did not stop. Try as she might to steer it away, it was too late, and Renko’s fist collided with the figure that had suddenly appeared—it collided with Kyousuke.

  “Guaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!” Kyousuke was sent flying by the impact of a fist that could crush metal and stone. Rolling, he sprawled out on the ground. He could hear Eiri’s and Maina’s screams.

  “…Eh? Kyo-Kyousuke…what are you—”

  “Don’t kill him, Renko! Kill Miss Shamaya…not him…”

  Lifting his face, covered in greasy sweat, Kyousuke groaned. His left arm, which had taken the direct blow, was bright red and swollen. The bones weren’t broken, but the muscles in both of his arms hurt terribly, as if they had been torn apart.

  Even so, he grit his teeth and sat up, trying to appeal to Renko. “I’m begging you…please stop, Renko… Even if you don’t kill her, Miss Shamaya is sure to not kill us anymore…so please stop! Please don’t kill Miss Shamaya!”

  “—No way!”

  Renko answered Kyousuke’s pleas like a spoiled child. Puffing up her cheeks, she pointed a finger at the dumbfounded Shamaya, “I had my head struck with a hatchet by that girl! She totally meant to kill me! When it gets dangerous, the safety device on my Limiter kicks in—though I wonder if it’s supposed to happen when I’m only slightly threatened—and it’s like, suddenly…bam!

  “Plus, it wasn’t just me…Eiri and Maina too—this girl tried to kill you guys, the people important to me! And you know I absolutely cannot allow you to be killed by anyone else, Kyousuke…Absolutely, unconditionally, completely, no way in hell will I ever allow that, so—I have to destroy her, no matter what.” Emitting a threatening, guttural sound, Renko glared at Shamaya with blazing eyes

  “…Eeek!!” Shamaya curled up into a ball. Her teeth chattered audibly, and her eyes quickly filled with tears.

  Renko was quick to ridicule her: “My oh my…is this the first time you’ve almost died? Hee-hee-hee! Isn’t that great, Murder Princess? In your final moments, you can experience what it’s like to be one of your victims. You’re sure to have a lot to talk about on the other side, hm? Heh-heh! You said it just before you killed me, didn’t you…? That this was a ‘shortcut to purgatory’? Well this time I’m sending you to hell by super express—”

  “Renko!” Kyousuke shouted as Renko again extended an arm toward Shamaya.

  “…Whaaat?” She glared at him with her beautiful face screwed up in a threatening frown.

  “Don’t kill…don’t kill her! If you kill Shamaya—or anyone—in front of me…I’m not sure that I can continue to be close with you like I have been so far… I think I might even start to hate you.”

  “”

  The expression faded from Renko’s face.

  “Mr. Kamiya…?” Shamaya mumbled in confusion.

  Opening her ice-blue eyes wider than ever before, Renko held her tongue, and slowly…slowly looked down.

  “……Heh-heh.”

  She twisted her mouth into a warped smile. Ferocious canine teeth peeked from the edges of her lips. “So you think that if you say that, I’m going to stop, huh, Kyousuke? You’ve underestimated me. Certainly, I like you! I love you! However, I’m not such a pushover that I would set my feelings for you aside and just do as you say. In fact, that way of talking, like ‘if you do such and such I’ll start to hate you’ is something I don’t like too much, see. Conversely, I myself—might start to hate you, Kyousuke!”

  “…No, that’s not what I meant when I said that.” In reaction to Renko’s dazzling, angry eyes, Kyousuke clenched his fist.

  It’s all right. Renko is a straightforward person.

  Telling himself that if he managed to reach her with sincerity, his feelings should make it through to her, Kyousuke continued. “I also like you, Renko. Not LOVE, but LIKE, okay? We have fun when we’re together, and I think you’re a really great person. Even knowing that you’re a murderer, that’s how I feel.

  “However…if you actually kill someone, and I have to really see you
as a murderer, I think I’ll probably be disgusted by you. It’s selfish, I’m sorry. It’s just that I…I want to become even better friends with you! I want to go on laughing with you! That’s why I’m begging… I’m begging you, Renko! Please don’t make me hate you. If it’s about what Miss Shamaya did to us, enough already. Because you’re still very much alive! This is enough, without going too far… Won’t you please end it here?”

  * * *

  “Okay, I understand!”

  “Huh?” Her reply had been quick. Too quick for him to follow.

  Renko ran toward the oblivious Kyousuke with a charming smile on her beautiful face. “Come oooooon, Kyousuke! You bastaaaaaard! You don’t want to start hating me…? You want to confirm your love with me as time goes on…? What is thaaaaaat garbage?!

  “And even worse, you’re happy I’m still very much alive? I’m so happy to hear thaaat! Mmm, what is this melody…it feels really good! It’s too divine, so heavyyyyyy! Man, I really love you, Kyousuke! I love both the honest and sincere you, and the tune you play! I love yooou, Kyousukeeeeee! I want to blast you away right now!”

  “…Huh? No, please, at least spare my life… Wait, oooooowww!”

  Kyousuke looked extremely confused as Renko giggled and fawned over him, rubbing his cheeks as she tightly embraced him. He was glad that she was conveying her feelings, but also felt that she might be conveying them too strangely.

  “Oh, sorry, sorry! You know the injury I gave you when I hit you? To apologize, I thought I’d take off my bra, and with the boobs that you like so much—” Renko started in on the same old song and dance, and Kyousuke desperately struggled to suppress his interest.