Chapter 15 – Sudou Karma’s True Feelings

“That was fun, wasn’t it? The date.”

After casually eating ramen, we watched the street musician at the station, then Sudou Karma brought me to a shrine. That said, it was less a shrine that worshipped gods and more one abandoned by them. The priest was probably long gone too. It was a completely desolate shrine. It was questionable whether anyone even came here anymore. It stood quietly hidden among the trees. Sudou Karma said she wanted to come here, I agreed, and now we were standing here. I already knew what she was going to say, so I had split up with Eri at the station. I couldn’t let her see this scene.

“Did you enjoy it too, senpai?”

“Yeah, the ramen was delicious.”

“Did you come to like me even a little?”

“Well. From my side, I can say I feel favorably toward you.”

“What’s that? Such a loaded way of saying it…”

“Don’t worry about it. At least I’m not worried.”

“Aaah. The girl who gets to date senpai must be so lucky.”

“Who knows? It depends on the person.”

“Are you embarrassed?”

“I do understand that you’re trying to force a decisive line out of me.”

“Of course if senpai confessed to me, it’d be super for me personally too~”

“So you’re going to record that confession and play it for Akira?”

I casually pointed at the smartphone in her pocket.

“You… knew?”

“My intuition is pretty good, but even without it it’s obvious.”

I didn’t even need to use my side-eye rejection vibe.

“Sudou Karma loves Tokoyami Akira. So you seduced the guy who started dating Akira during lunch break and made them break up. Then for some reason I appeared as an irregularity, so now you’re taking the same leading-on attitude with me to try and break me and Akira up. You’ll make me say something decisive, record it, and let Akira hear it. Then you’ll comfort her and get closer to her. Correct me if I’m wrong.”

“Not at all. Spot on. That’s exactly right.”

Of course it was. Coming to this abandoned shrine where no one goes was pretty much for that reason too.

“To me, Akira-senpai is my oshi. I’m a hardcore fan, you know. I can’t allow her to date anyone other than me.”

Well, I had sensed at least that much.

“By the way, just so we’re clear. We’re not dating, okay?”

“Even after all those ‘I like you’ moves?”

“It’s a matter of compatibility.”

“Tell me about that. How did you get close to Akira-senpai?”

“Thanks to you. Because you caused her breakup, as a bonus she fell for me.”

“Hmm. So senpai is just getting the leftovers?”

“That’s not an incorrect interpretation.”

Because Sudou Karma caused the breakup, Akira attempted suicide by jumping, and I saved her. In a way, I received her love as compensation.

“By the way, it’d be wise not to pull out that knife you’re hiding in your chest.”

“…………Senpai really does have amazing intuition~”

“Even if people don’t come here, some students saw me on a date with you today. If I go missing, the police will obviously get involved. If you can’t completely dispose of the body here, they’ll suspect you. Escaping as a high school girl would be pretty much impossible, wouldn’t it?”

“You knew all that and still came with me?”

“I won’t deny it.”

“You think you can turn the tables on someone like me…?”

“No. I’m a non-violence, non-submission kind of guy. I won’t attack, but I also won’t yield to threats.”

“Even if I threaten you with a knife, you won’t fight back or give in… is that it?”

“Give in, huh. In the first place, I don’t have any feelings for Akira.”

“Then just give her to me.”

“Isn’t that up to your own efforts? I don’t intend to get in your way.”

“Your very existence is in the way.”

Of course. To Sudou Karma, who is seriously in love with Akira, I am nothing but an obstacle. That being said. Getting stabbed with a knife here would be…

“Are you thinking something naive like ‘she won’t actually stab me’…?”

“No, I think you’re pretty serious.”

“How would you know?”

“You’ve already decided to stab me. You’ve prepared yourself for it. You also understand that threatening me won’t accomplish anything. You just know that after killing me, hiding the evidence will be a pain, and if you get caught you won’t be able to date Akira… right?”

“…………What kind of intuition is that?”

“To be honest, I can dodge your knife even if I just woke up from an all-nighter.”

“So it’s meaningless?”

Well, the nuance is a bit different, but the conclusion is correct.

“Actually… I’ve already killed someone before.”

“Heh…”

“You don’t believe me?”

“Meaning this wouldn’t be your first time, so you have no reason to hesitate?”

“You really do understand.”

“If you really think that, then hurry up. If you’re just going to drag this out I’m going home. If you kill me in the middle of the city with people around, hiding it becomes way harder than here, you know?”

“Somehow… when I listen to senpai, it sounds like even if I kill you here it wouldn’t cause you any trouble.”

“Well, it wouldn’t.”

It’s not like I’d lose anything in particular.

“…………”

What she pulled out from her chest was a butterfly knife. So there are people besides yankees who carry these.

“Just to ask… you’re not like some master of ancient martial arts or anything, right?”

“My body moves better than yours, but I have no intention of resisting.”

“I can really stab you…? For real?”

“If you think you can get what you want by doing it, then sure? It’ll probably be pointless though.”

“I really have killed someone before. At this point, going from one to two doesn’t mean anything to me.”

“You’re taking too long. Just kill me already.”

I tapped my neck twice, pointing at my carotid artery. If you stab here, a normal person dies.

“Scared? You said you’ve killed before, right?”

“I have… yes. But I’m scared of that confidence of yours. Are you seriously not afraid of dying?”

“Rather, are there any people who haven’t been given a terminal diagnosis that are actually afraid of death? Do you think there are Japanese people living in fear that they might die tomorrow?”

“Is that carefree attitude… your reason?”

“No? My reason is something else.”

Not being afraid of death… is actually a different matter.

“A… ah…”

Sudou Karma’s hand holding the knife was shaking. Even if you’ve killed someone before, the resolve needed for the first time and the second time isn’t the same. Only a broken person would think that killing once makes the second and third times easy. Whether it’s the first or second time, every single murder chips away massively at your resolve. Not that the one being killed wants to hear that.

“Then… please die.”

“No thanks.”

I smiled brightly. No way in hell I’m dying here on purpose. To me, death is defeat. So I have zero intention of dying here. Sudou Karma’s knife plunged deep into my neck.