Chapter 42: Assassin from the Seatmate Killer
It was the next morning.
When Yuuki got to school a little earlier than usual, he passed through the school gates and saw a female and male student arguing with each other.
“Good morning, Rin-san! I’ll take your bag!”
“No, I already told you to stop.”
A boy with a crew cut approached her with a rather cheery voice, bowing his head.
The students around walked past without looking, so I wondered if he’s some big shot.
The girl was undoubtedly the Seatmate Breaker… Rin. I couldn’t help but run away.
“Hey! Wait a minute!”
For some reason, Rin was chasing after him with all her might. She was rather fast.
Yuuki struggled to escape, but was finally cornered by the wall around the school building.
Rin, who was slowly approaching, folded her arms and stood in front of him.
“It’s Narito-kun, right?”
“This month has been tough, give me a break.”
“…What?”
She doesn’t seem to have been chasing him for money.
He didn’t want to be made to run and jump in the morning.
“It’s fine. I have to talk to you.”
Her tone was calm, but it didn’t feel like that at all.
Rin took out her cellphone and showed off the screen.
“What’s the meaning of this? You look like you’re pretty close.”
“Is this… the one you took during the afterimage fist?”
“…What’s that? Are you making me fun of me? This is you and Yui.”
“Hmm~…?”
The picture on the screen showed…. a boy and girl in uniform facing each other on the street in front of a convenience store.
It was honestly difficult to tell who the people in the picture was since it was blurry and looked as if it was taken with a wobbly arm.
“This is me and Yui…? Why do you have that picture?”
“T-this… was a tip. From my source.”
“What source?”
“It doesn’t matter. More importantly, c-could it… be that… Narito-kun and Yui are d-dating?”
“There’s no way.”
There was no need to say that she was a fake girlfriend anymore.
When I replied, Rin’s cheeks relaxed slightly from her… fearful expression and she looked relieved.
“I see. So you’re not in a relationship. Then how do you explain this situation?”
“I think we just happened to go home together, but I’m not sure.”
“Just happened to? You were forced to invite Yui since you were seated next to her, right?”
Apparently, she’s misunderstanding the situation in various ways.
From the way she was talking, it looked like Rin didn’t know about the Seatmate Killer, but… I should check one more thing.
“Did you confess to Yui?”
“W-wha? What confession?!”
As expected, the Seatmate Killer didn’t seem good enough to get the same sex to confess.
However, it’s not 100% certain that it wouldn’t happen in the future, so I have to make sure to nail it down.
“You shouldn’t confess, you’ll definitely get rejected if you do.”
“I-Isn’t that obvious?! What kind of nonsense are you saying…”
Rin almost scowled, but then made a face as if she suddenly realized something.
“I see… so that means, Narito-kun wants to confess, but is afraid of getting rejected. Ahhh, I’ve found out that you like Yui… that’s so embarrassing!”
She pointed at my face and tried to tease me like an elementary schooler.
“No, that’s not really the case…”
“Fu~un. Now what should I do now? Should I tell Yui?”
“Well, it’s not like I’m embarrassed about it or anything, since I’m pretty sure she would reject me if she found out.”
However, I don’t want to lose to the Seatmate Killer either.
So it’s not good to make Yui get into a worse state.
(Is she an assassin sent by the Seatmate Killer, after all…?)
“Hmm~? You have a lot more sense than I thought. From the outside, it looks like you have a better chance than I thought.”
“Ehh, really?”
“I lied. That was a lie just now. Just a word of warning, Yui is popular, okay? She doesn’t care about you as much as you care about her.”
“I know that.”
“But since Yui is kind… that means you’re misunderstanding Yui’s good will.”
“Good will…?”
“So, if you don’t want to get embarrassed, tell Yui, ‘I have a lot of other friends. It’s more fun to be stupid with guys than women.”
“Why?”
“It’s a burden on Yui. I have to deal with every person that misunderstands.”
“Misunderstanders…”
“…Why did you look at my face while saying that? Anyway, do as I say. I’ll give you a quo card.” 1
“Yay.”
Rin rummaged through her bag and took out a card, holding it in front of me.
I got a card worth five hundred yen, I’m unexpectedly lucky today.
_______________________________________________________________
After receiving the card, Yuuki left Rin and returned to the school building and entered the classroom.
As soon as he took his seat, Yui, who was already sitting down, spoke to him.
“Good morning~. How’s your studying going?”
When I glanced at her, I saw that Yui was smiling like usual.
However, as I received five hundred yen, I’ll have to ignore her.
Yuuki did not answer the question, and looked out the window instead.
“Are– You’re ignoring me–?”
Ignored further.
“Is that a bug~?”
A winged insect was perched on the window frame.
When Yuuki took out his cell phone and started messing with it,
“Don’t ignore me.”
Yui threw an eraser at him.
However, she noticed that that was a waste of time, so she stopped and started fiddling with her cell phone instead.
Yuuki’s cell phone immediately vibrated. It was a message from Yui.
[Don’t ignore me]
She was very persistent.
I was told to ignore her when spoken to, but communication through text wasn’t prohibited.
[You’re so obedient, Yui.]
[Huh?]
I got a strange stamp that said ‘Shibakuzo’.
[I’m teasing you.]
[I don’t care.]
[Oh, okay. Since pushing doesn’t work, what if I pull?”
[I’m not pushing to begin with.]
[Well, that’s right.]
Yui comes over to me but I ignored her.
[It’s kind of like we’re a couple, secretly communicating with each other (grin)]
[My fingers are wasted on you]
[That’s how people break up]
[I just wish I could study for the test]
[It’s really a boomerang. If you try hard enough, you might be able to get your way with Yui-chan]
[Hand]
[Can you not get ahead of yourself?]
[Is it stockings?]
[I thought about it last night. You’re gonna put it on your head.]
Yui finally ran out of patience as she stared at me with her phone in hand.
“Why won’t you talk to me?”
“I have lots of other friends. Right now I’m having more fun fooling around with them than with girls.”
“You’re lying.”
She denied it.
But I got five hundred yen to do this.
“What’s with that. It’s just… a punishment game from Hayami-kun or something.”
“No, no, no, that guy… I forgot his name but his hair is long…”
I looked out to the window.
“Ah.”
Suddenly the window opened with a rattle, and the person who had been there for a while appeared.
“Hey.”
She beckoned me from the other side.
What should I do? I asked with my eyes, but Yui was stunned and frozen.
When I had no choice but to go out on the balcony, Rin came up to me angrily.
“You were about to name names, weren’t you? And she’s already forgotten his name.”
“No, you didn’t ask me not to name names…”
“What? That’s the way it’s supposed to work right? Are you some kind of robot that won’t work without every command?”
“People who can’t use robots well are also incompetent…”
“Hah? What did you say?! You haven’t been doing what I’ve said to do for the most part!”
“You’re out of credits. Please insert your quo card.”
“The cost efficiency is too bad!”
I was being driven against the wall and her face was really close.
At the same time, the wind was blowing her long hair and it smelled good… when I was about to get distracted by it, I heard a strange sound.
“Jiii~~”
Yui was looking at me with suspicion.
Rin, who also noticed Yui, suddenly let go.
“Why are you staring?”
“No reason…. you two seem to get along.”
“What?! In the first place, this man is….!”
“Rin-chan is suprisingly… hmmm.”
“W-wait, you’re…!”
Blushing, Rin stumbled for words as she tried to say something back.
“Ah, she’s gone.”
She suddenly turned around and ran.
A teacher would definitely be pissed off if they saw her.
“…Haha. Rin-chan has a bit of a strange thing going on too, you know.”
“It’s a little more than that, isn’t it?”
“That’s pretty impressive coming from you, Yuuki-kun.”
After all, it’s reasonable to think Yui was the one who made her crazy.
To turn a well-behaved honor student into a madman… the Seatmate Killer is scary.
“Isn’t because of Yui?”
“…What does that mean?”
And the person who’s the cause of it is trying to get rid of her.
The Seatmate Breaker fell into t he palm of the Seatmate Killer.
It was something like a nuisance. The victim’s salvation… or purification.
Let’s finish the small problems… before the big ones.
“But that Rin-chan~…. hmmmm…”
“What?”
“You have no idea how hard I’ve worked.
“Huh?”
“Yuuki-kun, you’re surprisingly communicative…”
“Praise won’t get you anywhere.”
“I know.”
“Oh, I’ll treat you on the way home. I got some extra money.”
“Okay.”
Well, there’s no need to be impatient.
That’s what Yuuki thought.
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Notes:
1 A quo card is pretty much a prepaid gift card used as a thank you
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