Episode 18: Kazumi Hosoya
I couldn't sleep at all
last night.
Like, how can I? I was
almost killed when I thought I had gotten a real chocolate from the person I
love.
This is what I call a
hell on earth.
I put on my suit and
left the house an hour earlier than usual.
☆ ☆ ☆
I opened the door to my
office and the only employee inside looked up and said,
“Good mor......!!!?”
She froze stiffly with
her eyes and mouth open.
“Good morning. You're
early, Hosoya-san.”
“... W-W-What, why ...!”
That employee was
Hosoya-san.
“Why am I alive?”
“Y-You, had eaten my
chocolate.. then.....”
Her voice trembled as
her face turned pale.
If I looked closely, I
could see that her hands were shaking as well, but it wasn't because of the
cold.
And then,
“Hey, guys. You two are
early this morning, what's up?”
A senior employee
walked in.
“Good morning. Both
Hosoya-san and I came to work early to make up for the time we missed the day
before yesterday.”
“Oh, right. Thanks for
your hard work.”
Senior employees sit at
the desk in the back.
I looked away from the
senior staff and crouched down to whisper softly in Hosoya-san's ear.
“Hosoya-san, let's move
to a different location.”
”.....A-Alright.”
With a clearly
frightened Hosoya-san in tow, I headed for the roof.
☆ ☆ ☆
We went to a different
place, the roof of the company.
There are no employees
who would come to such a place in the middle of winter, so we can talk without
disturbance.
“Y-You didn't eat the
chocolate I gave you ...?”
“Don't be so alarmed.
If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it by now.”
“Come on...... answer
me. Did you eat it or not?!”
Hosoya-san shouted as
if to shake off her fear.
The exhaled breath
immediately turned white.
“I ate it. And I almost
died.”
“Then why are you still
alive?”
I can't just say that I
can use antidote and recovery spells.
Akira had warned me
about that.
“Well, It doesn't
matter. It's your turn now. How did you know I was a murderer?”
“......”
No answer.
“I answered one
question, so please now it’s your turn to answer Hosoya-san ... or I will kill
you.”
I don't have any
intention of killing her, for now, but the threat seemed to be effective
enough.
“...... my spell, the
spell to sense murderers, told me you were a murderer.”
Hosoya-san spoke
obediently.
“A spell to detect murderers.......”
I remember Akira saying
something about there being such a spell.
“Is that why you tried
to kill me?”
“When I found out that
you were a murderer, I was afraid that you would find out who I really was. My
level is only six, so I had to kill you before you could kill me.”
“Level 6?”
“Yes. Is it bad?”
Does that mean
Hosoya-san has already killed five people?
I wonder how she would
react if she knew that my level was 4, which is lower than hers.
But I don't want to
expose my hand. I'll keep my mouth shut for now.
I looked Hosoya-san
straight in the eye and said
“Please answer me one
last thing.”
I spoke plainly.
“......what?”
“Are you still planning
to kill me, Hosoya-san?”
“I don't know about
that. What about you, are you going to kill me?”
After a beat, I
answered.
“...... No, I'm not
going to kill you, Hosoya-san.”
“I don't believe you. I
tried to kill you!”
“You tried to kill me because
you thought I was going to kill you.”
She thought I was going
to kill her, so she tried to kill me before I could kill her.
That's not very
different from my reasons for the last three murders.
This woman is just like
me.
“Hahh. It's cold here.
Shall we go back now?”
“Eh ... can…you forgive
me?”
“Yes, so please give me
a delicious chocolate next year.”
That's all I said, and
I left the rooftop, leaving Hosoya-san standing there completely speechless.
