“Of course it wouldn’t!”
As Renko, who was coming at him as though she was going to embrace him tightly, charged past again, Kyousuke broke into a cold sweat. Renko had completely mellowed out lately, so he had let his guard down, but this was her true nature. Brutal like a beast, merciless like a storm, innocent like a baby—the Murder Maid was created, raised, and now lived for the sole purpose of merciless slaughter. Killing was all she knew. It was all she knew how to do. And yet—
“Why?!” Kyousuke demanded, furiously evading Renko’s relentless onslaught. “When you stopped Ayaka’s rampage for us, you told us something, didn’t you? You said that you didn’t want me to be sad! You promised that you would fight even the strongest urge to kill! Were those words lies?!”
—Bwam!
“They weren’t lies!” Renko roared, slicing through the air with her left arm. Her whole body spinning, she lashed out with one limb after another. “They weren’t lies, but there’s no avoiding it, is there?! The more time I spend with you, the stronger my feelings become, and the stronger my feelings become, the more intense my desire to kill you becomes!
“Whenever I take off my gas mask, every night, every night, every night, every night, I’m tormented by my desire to kill you and the fact that I can’t do it! I’m in agony from wanting you to fall in love with me and not being able to get you to do it!
“I get so irritated thinking of you being close with Eiri and Maina and Shamaya, then I get more irritated with my own selfishness, but even so, in the end, I love you, so… Ohhh, come on! I’m not some well-behaved lady! For once, I want to act on my appetites and kill you and make you mine just as I please, Kyousukeeeeee!”
“—Guuh?!”
Unable to dodge her next attack, Kyousuke blocked Renko’s right arm with his left. His bones groaned under the incredible force of the blow.
This sudden outpouring of frantic bloodlust was a sure sign that Renko was growing desperate, thinking, I don’t even care if it’s unrequited love, and I don’t care anything at all about how he feels, and so on. The maddening, irresistible love melody was making Renko reckless.
“I’m writing a song for that tune: ‘Kill him, kill him, if you kill him, everything will be great!’ Whether it’s one-sided or mutual love, if he dies, that’s that, so hurry up and kill him! Beat him to death without grumbling about trivial things, strangle him to death without allowing him a moment to protest, flay him until no untorn skin remains, destroy his blood and flesh and organs, ransack and rape, tease and torment until satisfied! I don’t have to kill myself—I think I’ll kill-kill-kill-kill-kill-kill-kill-kill-kill you, my beloved, and find jooooooy!!”
“—Gaah?!”
Renko’s right foot sank into Kyousuke’s stomach. He was thrown off his feet, and he tumbled across the ground. Renko stomped her shoe down on the right side of his chest as he gasped for air—pressing down on his lungs.
Looking down at Kyousuke, Renko’s beautiful pale face twisted up as if she was about to burst into tears. “……And you? I feel this strongly about you, but how do you feel about me, Kyousuke? I’m not saying I want you to tell me plainly. Just, if you should lose this battle, I would probably have to do as Mama said and give you up…”
Renko surveyed her surroundings.
The sports grounds were now entirely transformed into a battle ground. Angry roars and screams flew about in every direction as students from both classes collided with one another.
“Gyah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, yer too weak! Compared to Sweetiri, attacks from you small fries are nothin’! I’ll knock ya down one after the other—uaagh?!”
“What was that? I couldn’t hear you.”
Interrupting his high-pitched cackling, Bob sent Mohawk flying with a mighty punch.
“Thank you—for the—meeeaaal!”
“Eat this!”
As Chihiro leaped at her with bloodshot eyes sparkling, Ayaka threw sand in her face.
“Guh?! O-of all the times… Calm down, Azrael! I know that your blood is seething from your return to the battlefield after such a long time! The surge of murderous impulse is—guh, gaaaaaaaaahhh!!”
“This is a battle, you idiot! What are you holding back for?!” Shinji thrust the war fan at Michirou, who was holding his left arm and ranting.
“How about you stop playing around and kill him for real, Shinji! He took out Arata and Kagerou, right?!” Tomomi snatched the fan from Shinji’s hands and struck him over the head with it.
And Renji, who was shaking off attacks from—
“…………?!”
“Tch. Is this blade dull, or is this guy solid… The knife won’t quite go through him, huh? In this case I should have prepared for foul play and readied my Suzaku blades.”
“Oh dear, oh my, ee! Ee, ee, e—aiii?! Auau…aah, that was close—whoooaaa?!”
It was a hard fight for Eiri, who deftly attacked with her shortsword while nimbly avoiding Renji’s fists, and Maina, who banged on Renji’s shins with an octagonal sledge hammer, then allowed her superhuman clumsiness to keep her out of danger even as she continued to attack.
Eiri’s skillful assault was not surprising, but Maina was putting forth an enormous effort. Perhaps she had gained confidence from her victory in the relay. Even as she looked as if she were about to blow a fuse, she challenged her opponent with dauntless courage.
Each and every person fought for victory, wearing desperate expressions.
Renko turned her gaze from the others back to Kyousuke. “……Hey, Kyousuke. Do you wanna defeat me?” she asked. “Or do you want to lose? Answer me. Answer me, Kyousuke!!” Renko lifted her foot from Kyousuke’s chest and brought it back down with bone-crushing force.
Kyousuke quickly rolled across the ground, narrowly avoiding the attack. “I don’t know!” he shouted as he leaped to his feet and shoulder-tackled her.
Renko was taken by surprise. Kyousuke had attacked her for the first time. “Whuck?!”
Kyousuke pushed Renko down and straddled her, then struck back at what she had said. “Do I want to win or don’t I? Do I want to separate or do I want to stay together, do I want to like you or not—honestly, I don’t know! Only that—”
He raised his right fist overhead, staring directly at her bare, unmasked face. “I don’t want to lose! I don’t feel for certain that I definitely want to win, but…I don’t want to let it end like this, and I also don’t want to be separated! That’s how I feel, that you are important to me, Renkoooooo!”
He swung his fist as he yelled.
“……?!”
Renko’s eyes opened wide as Kyousuke’s fist smashed into the ground beside her head. “…Kyou…suke…?”
“You’re important, so—” Clenching his buried fist, Kyousuke continued, “I don’t want to hurt you. I say things like ‘I’ll knock you out’ and ‘I won’t lose,’ and then wonder why I said them. I don’t want to hit you… I can’t hit you.”
“”
Renko was silent. For a moment, she just stared, blinking several times.
“……Ha…ha-ha……” Then she laughed. Bringing a hand to her cheek, where Kyousuke should have struck her, she giggled derisively. “Ah-ha-ha! Seriously, what the heck was that egocentric speech? You don’t want to lose, but you don’t want to knock me out…even selfishness has its limits, ha-ha…ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
—But Renko quickly stopped her raucous laughter and instead looked pleased, perhaps even a little tickled. “Don’t be upset, okay? It’s a really good melody. Despite that when I confessed my feelings, you struck me in the face… Hey, Kyousuke, could this be…what I think it is? Between then and now, can we say that your heart has changed a little bit?”
“…Ahh, I suppose it has.”
“Can we say that you’re beginning to fall in love with me?!”
“…A-ahh? Well, I don’t know if that’s the case, but—”
“Is that so? Well, in that case, I can lose now…”
“Wha—?”
Renko closed her eyes, and all the strength went out of her limp limbs. Her prior ferocity vanished, and she suddenly became docile, as though the tempo of her murderous melody had suddenly slowed. “It’s what they call the weakness of lovestruck girls. When I heard about your feelings, my desire to kill you completely disappeared… If I killed you despite you finally starting to fall for me, that would be a waste. As I am now, I don’t want to kill you… I can’t kill you. And so I lose.”
“Renko—”
“But the match isn’t over yet.” Still lying on the ground, Renko muttered as if she was talking in her sleep. “You have to win the brawl. Even if you can’t hit me, the others will do the job, surely? In that case, there’s no problem. Your words, ‘I don’t want to lose,’ and…your feelings, ‘I don’t want to let it end like this, and I also don’t want to be separated,’ show me that they’re not lies by winning the match.”
Kyousuke shut his eyes tightly, though Renko impishly kept one eye open.
“—Okay, I’ll leave it to them!” he answered forcefully.
“………Hmm? O-oooooohhh?! I couldn’t see well, because others were in the way, but it looks like Class A’s Kyousuke Kamiya has knocked down Class B’s Renko Hikawa?! Seriously? That’s amazing! That’s our Warehouse Butcher! I mean, did he have a deceptive appearance or what? Leaving Renko Hikawa fallen on the ground, he’s started getting violeeeeeennnnnnt!”
“And it looks like Miss Arisugawa has also seen her chance to get violent.”
As soon as she knew that Renko had been done in, Kurisu’s crazed energy returned. As her high-spirited broadcast continued, Kyousuke ran around the grounds and knocked down the students of the opposing class, one after another.
“Fwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! So you’ve finally come, the worthy rival of my destiny! Azrael has also longed for your arrival!! Let us sate our lust for blood on this field of battle!…is what I should like to say, but it is still early to take you as our opponent. First is Renji Hikawa over there—guah?!”
Kyousuke sent Michirou flying with one punch, finally putting an end to his ranting.
“Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh, gotcha… What morsel should I start with first? Cheek? Arm? Shoulder? Chest? Leg? Butt? Slurp, slurp…all look so delicious—hyaan?!”
He tore away Chihiro, who had fallen upon Ayaka, and threw her aside.
“Ay, ay, ay! Seriously, geez, you’re stubborn! How long is it going to take for you to fall? It would be better to pin you down and hold you—kyah?!”
He yanked the flour sack off Bob, who was holding Mohawk by the collar in her left hand and punching him in the face with her right. Bob covered her face with both hands and crouched down. “Nooo?!”
It had been about ten minutes since the All-Out Knock-Down Brawl had started. And so, after more or less crushing the enemy troops—Kyousuke finally challenged the greatest opponent, Renji Hikawa.
“Pull him doooooooooooown!”
Rushing over to Renji, who was still being harassed by Eiri and Maina, Kyousuke gathered all his strength and hit him in the stomach with a right-handed straight punch.
“…………?!”
Renji’s large body swayed after taking the punch, which had had the full force of Kyousuke’s sprint behind it.
Eiri, who had gone around to Renji’s backside, and Maina, who had fallen down on the ground, opened their eyes wide. “Kyousuke?!” “Kyousukeee?!”
“Go down, go down, go down, go down, go doooooooooooown!”
Kyousuke frantically pursued the staggering Renji, punching again and again at his boulder-like torso. Once, twice, three times, four, five, six, seven…
“—Kksshh?!”
Finally, on the eighth punch, Renji went sprawling. The spectators got excited at the sight of him being overpowered, the monster who boasted strength that until now had been unequaled.
“Kyaaa—! Kyousuke is so cooooool!” “Wha…What kind of first-years are these—I can’t believe it?!” “…Yeah, I know.” “Ridiculous! He’s beating down the same guy who destroyed me in a heartbeat?” “Ah…ah…!” “I give up. There’s no way just the three of us brothers could ever face him.” “He’s the real deal, huh?” “He’s gonna kill him.” “But justice will not yield!” “Good, Kamiya, push him down like that! If you knock him over, you’ve won!”
“Oooooooooooohhh!”
With the enthusiasm of the cheering section pressing down on his back, Kyousuke pushed after Renji. Straddling the fallen giant, he feverishly smashed at his face, alternating left and right punches, entirely ignoring the gas mask.
—And that wasn’t all.
“Hyah-haaa! Now, now, kill ’immm! Smash him to death!”
“Heh-heh-heh. With everyone beating on him, gas mask isn’t so scary! I’ll crush your balls, take that!”
“Kya-ha-ha-ha, Shinji, you’re totally savage! Beat the hell out of him!”
“Tee-hee. I stole a saw from the enemy! Use this—”
“Ay! Ay, ay, this is his weak point! Ay, aaay!”
“Oh gosh, oh dear! Forgive us, GMKaaaaaayyy!”
“…You’re better off dead!”
The students from Class A who were still alive swarmed around him and started to join in a group beating. Renji’s body was swallowed up in an instant as they sent up a raging dust cloud.
The students of Class B desperately tried to stop it, but they were unable to halt the momentum of Class A, who were riding on a wave of violence. On the contrary, they got caught up in the beating and were toppled one by one.
“………………”
Eventually, the cloud of dust cleared away, and what remained was the gas mask and a massive body covered in fresh wounds. Renji was stretched out on the ground, his limbs limp.
“Haah…ha-ha…ha-ha-ha-ha, haah… D-did we…do it?” Finally letting his fists come to a stop, Kyousuke stared down at the ivory gas mask.
There was—no response. Even when Kyousuke timidly got off of his body, Renji showed absolutely no sign of getting up.
“Ha…ha-ha…ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…” Welling up along with laughter came a sense of accomplishment and a sense of relief. Kyousuke raised a fist in the air, feeling the tingling pain left by his furious punches.
“““We…We did iiiiiiiiiiiittt!”””
Kyousuke and the others shouted with joy, until—
“Renji—kill .”
The moment that cold voice rang out over the speakers, Renji sprang to his feet and growled. Behind the cheering Kyousuke, he drew back his tattoo-covered right arm.
“Kyousuke, watch ouuuuuut!”
“Eh?”
Kyousuke didn’t have time to respond, as Maina pushed him out of the way. There was a thunderous roar and—BOOOM!—a shock like an earthquake.
The nearby students screamed—“Aaaaaah?!”—and scrambled away in a panic.
Kyousuke toppled to the ground, with Maina on top of him, but his eyes were glued to the spot where he had been standing just a moment earlier.
“…………Huh?”
He could barely understand what had happened. Renji’s punch had blown away the ground like a shot from a cannonball, leaving an enormous crater. Whether enemy or ally, everyone stopped moving, staring at the unbelievable spectacle.
“Ah-ah-ah-ah, you’ve gone and done it, haven’t you?! Heh-heh-heh…” Reiko, who had grabbed hold of the mic at the broadcasting booth, cackled gleefully. “Wake not a sleeping lion. And if you had just kept running away for twenty minutes, instead of messing around, you might have won, too. Going out of your way to trigger the unlimiter with your own two hands, how foolish…heh-heh! Truly foolish…”
“…………Kkssshhh.”
In time with Reiko’s laugh, Renji let out a long breath through his exhaust port. Lifting his fist up from the crater, he moved both hands around to the back of his gas mask.
—Click. There was the sound of the lock breaking.
The limiter holding
the monster back came undone.
Palpable bloodlust immediately washed over the crowd in a wave.
“All right, Renji, no need to hold back. Kill—”
“Mamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?!”
A high-pitched scream cut through the air.
“……Renko.”
Swallowing her words, Reiko turned her gaze from Kyousuke to Renko, who had sprung to her feet, glaring menacingly at the broadcast booth, as if she was ready to leap at it.
Standing between her mother and Kyousuke, Renko’s voice trembled as she shouted wildly.
“Wh-what…what do you think you’re doing, Mamaaa?! This isn’t what you said before! You promised not to kill him, didn’t you?! So why are you—”
“I changed my mind.”
“—Huh?”
Reiko looked at her indifferently. “After all…,” she began, puffing out her cheeks, “you aren’t really trying. I told you before the Knock-Down Brawl, right? I said, ‘Let’s go smash Kyousuke until there’s nothing left.’ And you nodded in agreement, Renko. So why aren’t you smashing him? Are you intentionally giving up? So you see, dear, the conversation has changed.”
“Uhh……” Renko’s fury wilted, and in a panic she stammered for an excuse. “Th-that’s certainly true, b-but…what am I supposed to do, Mama? After hearing Kyousuke’s confession, my murderous melody subsided! I lost the desire to kill. In other words, um…if it gets to that point, I mean, it’s Kyousuke’s win…isn’t it?”
“”
“Uh, ummm……Mama?”
“For argument’s sake…,” Reiko muttered, devoid of her usual vivacious nonchalance. Her serious eyes pierced Renko, demanding an answer.
“…if I were to order you to kill him, would you do it for me, as you should?”
“”
Silence. Without answering, Renko turned her head. She looked at Renji, frozen in the middle of removing his gas mask, and at the other students, staring in astonishment, and at Kyousuke. There was no emotion in her ice-blue eyes and no expression written on her pale features.
“Renko…”
Murder Machine and the Catastrophic Athletic Festival Page 18