Episode 26: Stalker
“Can I help you?”
“Uhhhh!?”
When I approached him
from behind and softly called out to him, the man who had been hiding behind
the telegraph pole let out a bizarre noise and jumped up.
And then.
“Wh-Wh-Wh-Why ...!?”
His voice trembled, and
he was so shaken that it made it difficult for me to hear him.
“What are you doing
here?”
I asked the man, trying
to keep my cool.
The man was dressed all
in black, probably to blend in with the dark night.
“I-I-It's none of
...... your business.”
“But you were peeking
in my room earlier, weren't you?”
“N-No, that's not
true.......”
“No no, you made eye
contact with me earlier.”
Maybe it's because I've
been through so many death matches in the past few weeks that I'm losing my
sense of fear.
I questioned the
suspicious man without taking a step back.
“…….”
“I'm asking what do you
want?”
If someone is more than
ten centimeters shorter than you, you can be confident.
The man's eyes swam for
a moment, then the next.
“......!”
He suddenly started
running.
“Oh, hey!”
I didn't hesitate for a
moment to follow the man, wondering if it was human nature to want to chase
after someone who runs away.
After about a minute of
chasing each other on the dark sidewalk with only the light of the street lamp
to guide us, the man suddenly stalled.
Then he gave up.
“I-I'm sorry ......hah..hah..hah..hah
.......”
He bowed his head to me
as I caught up with him.
Despite the fact that I
was running as fast as I could for the first time since my school days, my
breathing was hardly unsteady.
I stared into the man's
eyes, wondering if maybe this was a benefit of my higher level.
“Huh~...... why were
you looking at my room?”
“T-That.... hah..hah…
It wasn't you who I was watching... hah..hah.. It was Misa Shimizu.”
I was a little puzzled
by the unexpected words that came out of the man's mouth.
“Eh, What do you mean?”
“Excuse me, hah.. wait
a minute ......I can't breathe .......”
The man puts his hands
out in front of him and shows a pained face.
He has a somewhat bulky
belly, perhaps due to lack of exercise.
There was no reason to
listen to this man, but since he wouldn't run away again, I decided to wait a
little longer.
After one minute –
“I'm currently a
university student, and I'm having a hard time every day. ...... But then I saw
her at the library, and it gave me hope for life, and I felt like I could do my
best.......”
“Yeah. So?”
“I fell in love with
her .......”
“Oh, yeah?”
From what I've heard, I
wonder if this guy is what they call a stalker.
“How do you know
Misa-chan's name?”
“I saw her name written
in a book she borrowed, so...”
“How do you know where
she lives?”
“Well, I followed her a
few times, so...”
I'm sure of it. He's a
stalker.
Oh man...... another
one of those borderline bad guys.
“Listen, I want you to
answer this honestly, but do you intend to harm Misa-chan?”
I asked a question that
got to the point.
If yes, then of course
I will not let you off the hook.
But...
“N-No, no, not at all.
I get courage just by looking at her from a distance ...”
The man's teary-eyed,
desperate excuse made me feel pity for him.
“Huh, even if you say
so, what you're doing is stalking. Well, I will let it go this time, but
promise me that you won't hang around Misa-chan again?”
“Y-Yes, of course.”
“Then you can go now.”
I felt awful forgiving him
based on my decisions and not Misa-chan’s decision, but as long as no actual
harm was done, it is fine.
“Yes, thank you very
much. Excuse me!”
The man who replied in
a voice so loud that I thought he was using the wrong volume, then he turned
around and looked back at me.
Just then, something
fell to the ground with a thud.
“Ah......”
“Something fell.”
“Oh, no problem, I'll
pick it up myself.”
Before he could say anything
else, I had picked it up.
“A key. This...”
“Oh, yes, it's my house
key. Can I have it back, please?”
“Oh.”
Just as I was about to
return it, I realized something.
The key that I picked
up had a familiar shape for some reason.
I felt strange and turned
it over to find the number 202 written on it.
This ...... is the key
to Shimizu-san's house that Misa-chan said she lost!
“Hey, this—”
“Huahh!”
The moment I looked up,
the man shouted and jumped at me as if he had become a different man.
“Ku, Koi ...”
“Huahh! give it back,
you bastard!”
I'm taken by surprise
and I'm forced to become a horseback.
The man let his
momentum get the better of him and came at me.
He didn't give me a
chance to counterattack, but instead lashed out with his fists.
“Huaah!”
Got.
“Huaah!”
Got.
Fists would
occasionally shoot into my face through the gaps in my guard.
Not good....... I was
completely caught off guard.
Every time I heard a
dull thud, my consciousness would fade away.
The man, who probably
had never hit anyone before and knew no limits, showed no signs of stopping his
attack.
“Huaah!”
Got.
“Huaah!”
Got.
...... It was around
this time that the strength drained from my whole body and I lost the will to
think.
“Huaah—aargh!?”
The man's screaming
stopped.
Then the man collapsed
off my stomach.
“Haa..haa.. ...... Are
you okay, Onizuka-san?”
“......Mi-Misa-chan......?”
I manage to open up
half my eyes and saw Misa-chan.
Misa-chan was holding a
familiar metal bat tightly in both hands, which she must have taken from my
room.
Karan Karan~
Misa-chan threw down
that metal bat and ran over to me.
“Onizuka-san, open your
eyes! Hurry up and cast your
recovery spell!”
I think I'm keeping my
eyes open, but does it look like they're closed to Misa?
While thinking about
such unimportant things...
“... Ku-Kufuika ...”
I cast my recovery
spell.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment