By being kind to people, I became the boss of a criminal organization. - Chapter 2: Well
Having decided on an inn room to stay in, the three of them went outside and paraded around the city streets.
Restaurants and kiosks were lined up everywhere in the city, and people were overflowing with energy.
“It sure is lively.”
“That’s right. It’s only two o’clock in the afternoon.”
It was two o’clock in the afternoon and a weekday. It wasn’t the busiest time of day, but the city was bustling like a holiday season.
“I wonder what will happen if I pull the trigger here.”
Satsuki puts her hand on the revolver she’s carrying on her hip.
“Satsuki, please don’t say such dangerous things.”
“I’m kidding.”
Saying that, Satsuki pulled her hand back.
Sakata watched her and breathed a sigh of relief.
“We’re going to contact the target tomorrow. It’s like we’re off today. It’s best not to make a fuss.”
The two nodded at Kuzuryu’s words.
“Still, it’s a little chilly.”
“Indeed. We won’t be able to enter the sea at this rate.”
“Were you planning on going in?”
Satsuki sounded slightly disappointed as she spoke, and Kuzuryu looked exasperated at Satsuki’s words.
“We came to Hokkaido, you know? We don’t usually get to go to the beach, so shouldn’t we go at a time like this?”
Satsuki speaks as if asking a question.
“Maybe, but it doesn’t have to be this time.”
“Mmm, Kuzuryu’s stingy.”
Satsuki’s mouth pouts as she talks.
“Now, let’s rest our tired bodies from the flight today. If the operation is complete and it’s a hot day outside, let’s go to the beach then.”
Sakata tried to calm Satsuki down.
“You said that, but didn’t the boss look forward to it the most?”
“… That’s not true, you know?”
Sakata tilted his head slightly, denying her words.
“Really? You’re saying that, but aren’t you looking forward to seeing me in a swimsuit?”
Satsuki kept her eyes open as she spoke.
“I’m looking forward to that.”
“Boss, please deny that.”
Without thinking, Kuzuryu retorted to Sakata, who was speaking his true feelings.
That’s when I got a message on Sakata’s phone.
Sakata couldn’t help but smile when she opened the message.
“Boss? Who’s watching the message from behind us? Hirata-chan? Or Meido-chan?”
Satsuki asked Sakata, unamused.
“No, this message is from a friend.”
“Huh!? From a friend!?”
Satsuki was so surprised that she couldn’t help but shout.
“How rude. I have a friend or two, too.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t hear much from the boss.”
Satsuki smiled a little as she spoke.
Sakata glared lightly at Satsuki.
Of course, to her, it looks like she’s just being blunt…
“I feel like the boss is glaring at me.”
“She’s glaring at me.”
“Oh, I wasn’t mistaken.”
Kuzuryu racked her brain after hearing Sakata and Satsuki’s exchange.
“I wish they’d feel a little more nervous during the operation…”
She murmured.
◇◇◇
The proprietress looked forward to the city for a little while, then faced the three of them as they returned to the inn.
“Good work. I’m preparing dinner now, so I hope you’ll enjoy the hot springs.”
I’m a little happy to hear the proprietress say that.
“Sounds good. We’re off today, so let’s take it easy.”
“Yeah. I’m looking forward to a hot spring.”
“I’m looking forward to the hot springs too.”
The proprietress led the three of them to the bath.
Suddenly, I noticed something was off at the entrance.
“There’s only one entrance… What’s this?”
I ask the proprietress a question.
“This inn is a mixed bath. I would like you to enjoy it as a group.”
With that, the proprietress left.
“Boss, let’s go in!”
For some reason, the excited Satsuki tugs on my arm.
I spoke to her to hold her back.
“You can go in first, Satsuki. Kuzuryu and I will go in later.”
“Huh? Why?”
Satsuki asks with a blank expression.
“Well, you don’t like mixed bathing either, right?”
“I don’t mind, you know? I’m your bodyguard, after all.”
Don’t you think you’ll get anything out of it if you say that?
I turn to look at Kuzuryu for help.
She shook her head as if she had given up.
(Huh…? This is kind of déjà vu…)
Satsuki pulls me into the changing room.
I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.
◇◇◇
After we got out of the hot spring, we gathered in an empty room in the center.
After a little while, the sliding door opened simultaneously as the knock and the proprietress appeared.
“I’ve brought your food.”
And so, all the food that came out looked delicious.
Since it was Hokkaido, seafood was abundantly used.
Sashimi platters. Shelled tsuboyaki, Thai stew…
There’s an amount of food that I can’t possibly eat.
“It looks delicious.”
“This is the first time I’ve shared a meal with a boss.”
“Oh, me too.”
Kuzuryu and Satsuki spoke happily.
That’s right. I’ve hardly ever eaten with the top brass.
I only remember eating with Hirata a few times and having Arisu cook for me.
Sometimes, I didn’t want to show my face, but the top brass rarely invited me to eat.
I wonder if everyone’s being considerate or if they’re refusing to go out to eat.
It’s probably the latter…
She touches my shoulders as I’m thinking about that.
I looked at Satsuki, sitting next to me, and she scooped up a shrimp Doria with a spoon.
“Boss. Ahhh.”
She said that.
She sticks her spoon out at my mouth.
“Hm… Yes?”
I freeze at Satsuki’s sudden action.
Kuzuryu watched her from the front and continued eating without incident.
“Boss. What are you doing? Hurry up and open your mouth.”
Saying that Satsuki brings the spoon closer.
She doesn’t seem like the type to do this, but…
It was brought out of the inn, so nothing should be suspicious.
Feeling embarrassed, I put the spoon she was sticking into my mouth.
Yeah… It’s good. The flavor of shrimp and cheese fills my mouth. It’s my favorite flavor.
I glance in Satsuki’s direction, and she looks at me with a big smile.
However, it wasn’t a smile of joy or happiness.
A smile filled with madness.
Hirata and Arisu’s faces from time to time.
Huh? Wait. Did you put something in there?
…Now that I think about it, even if it was from the inn, I could have prepared it while looking away.
I hesitantly ask Satsuki.
“Satsuki. Did you put something in it?”
“Yeah. I put it in, of course.”
As she spoke without a hint of guilt, she said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Oh, did I die?
Arisu. This charm didn’t work…
I collapsed with a smile as if I had given up
“I put my love into it, so of course, it was delicious, wasn’t it?”
Hm? What did you say?
As I was about to fall, her words supported me.
“Love…?”
“Yes. It’s a dish filled with my love, so there’s no way it would be bad.”
She whispers into my ear.
“I see… That’s a relief.”
I answer with a small sigh.
“What do you mean by reassured? …Did you think I was poisoned or something?”
Satsuki speaks mockingly.
“Yes. Honestly, I thought so. I thought you were dead.”
“There’s no way I’d make you the boss. Could you not underestimate Onee-san so much?”
“I-I’m sorry.”
I thought about it this morning, too… but lately, I feel like my relationship with Satsuki has been strange.
I couldn’t help but feel like she was my superior.
I asked her a question.
“But why did you stick your spoon out at me?”
The biggest question was Satsuki’s actions.
Why did we suddenly say ‘ahhh’ when we weren’t lovers…?
I’m happy, but I don’t understand the principles behind her actions.
“Hmm… Are you feeling well?”
“Are you feeling well…?”
Please don’t make me feel like I will die from the mood.
With that thought in mind, I resumed eating.
Yeah. It’s good.
But what was the madness I felt from Satsuki for a moment?
Am I… misunderstanding something?
◇◇◇
The beach at night.
There was no sign of anyone around, only the sound of the waves.
There stood a girl with black-and-white, two-colored hair swaying in the waves.
“This is the cave we were told about.”
In front of “the black-and-white girl,” aka Kuroda, was the entrance to a large cave.
Relying on her cell phone’s light, she entered the cave.
As I had imagined from the large entrance, the inside of the cave was also a wide structure.
But there was nothing inside, only the sound of her footsteps.
The cave was like a winding maze, with chilly air flowing through it, and my body trembled slightly.
“It’s cold. I wonder if the ‘usual place’ really exists here.”
I push my trembling body forward.
Just then…
“!?”
Suddenly, I was assaulted by a fierce stench.
A pungent stench I can’t put into words. It’s enough to make me hesitate to breathe.
“It stinks. There’s something there.”
Kuroda kept her nose in check as her advanced through the cave.
Every time she walked, the stench assaulting her nose grew stronger, making she want to vomit.
“It’s disgusting…”
Then, we reached a dead end.
The dead end was wide, and the ceiling was high.
Since it was so tall, the cave felt a little cold, but perhaps because it was too wide, it felt a little suffocating.
Overcoming the disgust she couldn’t wipe away, a “lonely well” appeared in her eyes.
She stared at the well and murmured.
“I felt that was the case, but that’s awful.”
With that murmur, she approached the well.
And then I find the source of this foul odor.
“I knew it. Just as I expected.”
A large number of rotting corpses had been thrown into the well.
The stench of rotting corpses gave the cave a foul odor.
She described it as “water pooling inside a well.”
The water is murky and black.
“I don’t like it, but… I guess I have no choice.”
She wore rubber gloves and put her index finger into the black water.
When I do, I can feel my fingers sinking a little.
From the water’s surface to the ceiling, like a bottomless swamp, piled upon pile upon corpses.
The space between the corpses had become quite narrow, so if they moved even a little, they would scrape against each other, and chunks of flesh would fall apart.
“Some are new, some are old.”
It’s the newest one, a week ago. It’s old, and it’s probably been several years since then. The corpses are all different.
She lets go of the well and mutters.
“This cave. There must be a culprit nearby.”
Kuroda recalled her memories from a few hours ago—-
◇◇◇
It was just as I was taking pictures of the sea at dusk and sending pictures to my friends.
The communication device she’d slipped into Cardigan’s right pocket rang out.
“Hello.”
“Hello? Second?”
The voice came from Her Highness.
“Yeah. What’s wrong?”
“The story I want you to hear fits—-”
Her Highness began to speak.
“―――Murderer in town?”
“That’s right. The police haven’t announced it to the public yet, but a killer has committed mass murder in Hokkaido XX-cho.”
I asked the princess a question.
“That killer. Should I catch him?”
“That’s true, but the truth is, the Empress might be after that killer.”
Her answer made me question it.
“They. They’re after us. Why?”
“While you were on the move and communications were cut off, we received direct contact from the spy who infiltrated our headquarters.”
“What’s the contents?”
I asked her a question.
And then she answered.
The shocking truth and truth.
“It seems Empress is looking for a new comrade.”
“A new comrade.”
At my indifferent reply, Her Highness continued.
“And it seems a potential comrade lurks in XX-cho, Hokkaido.”
“Does that mean—”
It was probably the town in front of me right now.
Her Highness continued.
“We’ll also gather information and hurry to identify the killer. So—-
…I want you to catch the killer before they do.”
◇◇◇
Kuroda left the cave for now.
The air on the beach felt dozens of times tastier than usual, perhaps because I had smelled the rotten stench for about thirty minutes.
I take a deep breath and take in fresh oxygen.
In front of me is a brightly lit town.
If Her Highness’s report is correct, this town has a killer.
“Murderer. Is he here?”
She stretched out her body and headed for the hotel where she was staying.
“……”
—-Without noticing the gaze behind me.