My Girlfriend is a Death Row Inmate

Chapter 38 – 『Two-Person』Limit

“Hey, Ryuma. We’re going to karaoke after school. Wanna come?”

“Eh?”

I had plans with Maria after school, and while I didn’t think she would stand me up, I was more surprised by the fact that I had been invited at all. The tension with my classmates had been “resolved,” but their casual attitude, as if nothing had ever happened, made it hard for me to find the right words. I never thought something like this could happen. No, that’s ridiculous.

“What’s with this sudden change of heart?”

“Well, we’re short on people. Don’t you want to come? Are you tone-deaf or something?”

“To be honest, I think I am, but that’s not the point. I have plans.”

“Oh, is that so? I was hoping to hear your terrible singing.”

“Mind your own business!”

Was it just a coincidence that they suddenly invited me when I was about to go with Maria, or was it the influence of the broadcast? If it was the latter, Maria’s behavior seemed unnatural. According to Miharu-senpai, no one else could hear the sound except her (and it seemed to be limited to daytime, as I heard it at night), so it was odd that someone could resist it.

　……Hmm, it’s hard to judge.

If all kinds of people had been inviting me, I might have been able to figure out the cause, but the frequency was just average, so it would be hasty, or rather foolish, to conclude that it was definitely due to the broadcast. Without any direct causal relationship, blindly believing that it was definitely the broadcast’s doing would literally cloud my judgment.

“Ah, Ryuma.”

“Hmm… Ah, what?”

As I tilted my head, wondering where to find the causal relationship, a girl from my class approached me. I didn’t remember her name, nor did I care to. But to avoid backlash or making her cry, I pretended to know her and responded with a forced answer.

Some might consider my response rude, but she didn’t seem to mind. She suddenly bowed her head and grabbed my arm.

“I-I’m sorry. For ignoring your… um… situation.”

“Hey, I told you not to bring it up again. Didn’t I say I’d be angry?”

“I know, but… I feel like it’s too convenient to just be forgiven after apologizing… As an apology, would you like to have some cake at my house?”

It was unusual, yet understandable that some people felt a dogeza wasn’t enough. Guilt was a matter of personal interpretation, and it could be absolved in various ways. Some people wouldn’t feel forgiven even with a dogeza, while others would think that they must have been forgiven if the other person went that far. I decided to ‘forgive’ her in this case.

If this same situation happened three more times, I could definitely conclude that it was due to the broadcast, but there was no one left in the classroom. Maria… Maria wasn’t there either. Where was this nearby vacant lot?

“Sorry, but I have something else I can’t get out of. It’s about helping Kusune with her investigation… Sorry.”

“Oh, okay. Then I’ll invite you again sometime, so come next time, okay?”

“Sure.”

Her name’s influence was too convenient, and I might end up relying on it too much. It was like borrowing the tiger’s authority, but mentioning her name was usually enough to be excused from any situation. After all, she was a high school girl working with the police. Even pesky religious solicitors, unexpected debt collectors, and pushy salespeople could be deterred by just mentioning Rinbara Kusune’s name!

Hmm, maybe not.

After joking around for a bit, we left the classroom and headed into the hallway, where Maria was waiting for me, fiddling with the necklace hanging around her neck.

“Why are you waiting in the hallway?”

Maria quickly hid the necklace inside her clothes and responded with a smile that seemed forced.

“Well, if I waited in the classroom, you’d be teased, right?”

“Ah, that’s true. Thanks for the strange concern. By the way, is there a vacant lot nearby?”

“Yes. It’s in the opposite direction from your house, so you might not have noticed it. This way.”

I could have run into Kusune on my way out of the school building, which would have been troublesome, but thankfully, I didn’t see or hear her before we left. She wasn’t absent; she was in class during the day. She had disappeared as soon as the last bell rang.

　―――Is she really that busy?

It was more of a stroke of luck than a lie. It was hard to imagine her being so busy that she wouldn’t bother with me, but perhaps she had found out something about Shizuku’s whereabouts. It was probably false information, though. After all, Shizuku was in my room, so if she had found anything, it would only make sense to ask me about it.

“Hey, Maria. What do you mean when you say that Kusune isn’t on my side?”

“It means exactly that. Kusune doesn’t care about you at all. As long as she can catch Nanagi Shizuku, even if it means your death, that’s fine with her.”

“That’s a pretty rough way of putting it, especially for the ‘Madonna.’ Do you have any evidence for that?”

Maria gave a soft smile and, while gently pushing me forward, quietly began to speak.

“Ryuma-kun. Didn’t you say that you were going to be killed soon?”

What was Maria thinking behind that smile? This was a conversation that no one in the class should know about—a covert war between me, Kusune, and Shizuku. Shizuku was on my side, Kusune was on my side and against Shizuku, and I was neither on her side nor against her.

Did Maria, the ninety-star student, know about this muddled war?

“…… How do you know that?”

“God is always watching us. But that’s not important. Ryuma-kun, even though you know you’re going to be killed soon, why isn’t Kusune by your side? If she’s so busy that she’s ignoring a life-threatening situation, is that really okay as a human being?”

“Well, that’s because… I found out where Nanagi Shizuku, who’s trying to kill me, is hiding. Even if I’m going to be killed, if we catch the culprit, nothing will happen.”

“Hmm.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? It’s just a possibility, you know. I’m not responsible for this statement.”

I was a man whose only virtue was irresponsibility. What was she thinking behind that merciful smile? Could she see through the fact that I was harboring a death row convict?

Probably not.

We arrived at the vacant lot and moved to a secluded spot to avoid prying eyes. We sat down on some old, worn-out chairs, which weren’t very comfortable, but it was good enough to relax for a bit.

“Let’s do a ‘Limit.’ It’s convenient because of the situation, so let’s make it a ‘Two-Person Limit.'”

“A ‘Two-Person Limit’?”

“A ‘Limit’ is a condition set between the caster and the target. You know the saying, ‘When you curse someone, dig two graves’? First, we share our actions like this… I didn’t do it properly since I’m just demonstrating for you, but it’s better to use a letter or something if you’re going to do it seriously.”

“A letter… Why is that?”

“You know about the power of words, right? Speech is spirit. When you finish writing, you review the whole text, right? And when you give the letter to someone, they read it, right? We’re sharing our actions, aren’t we?”

I see. It didn’t matter what the text said. Or rather, by limiting it to a specific text, it was probably embellished to make it sound like an urban legend. Like the ‘unhappy letter,’ the key was to ‘pass it on without changing the text.’ The important thing was to make people take the same action.

Hmm?

“Wait a minute. If it’s about making people take the same action, there are much simpler actions we could take.”

“Didn’t I say it should be done properly? Letters are convenient. You can put your soul into each character. But it’s a specialized technique to put a curse on letters, so you need to know how to do it.”

…………Eh？

It was a technique that I didn’t know how to do, but the method that had spread as ‘Karakiri-san’ was undoubtedly it. Urban legends spread because they were easy to replicate. For example, if there was an urban legend in this world that said, ‘If you run a hundred meters in ten seconds, drink three liters of carbonated beverage, and then breakdance your way home,’ it probably wouldn’t spread. People aren’t drawn to actions that are hard to replicate.

Actions like ‘passing by a certain road,’ ‘turning back,’ ‘looking in the mirror at 4:44,’ or ‘saying a specific chant’ are more likely to spread as urban legends because they can be performed by anyone, regardless of age or gender.

When I thought about it that way, there was something odd about ‘Karakiri-san’ spreading. I might be able to find something out if I investigated its origins.

“Then, let’s write down the conditions for the ‘Limit.’ It can be anything, but… let’s write it in a notebook.”

“…… According to the information I know, you’re supposed to call out Karakiri-san’s real name, and that’s it.”

“A curse isn’t that easy to break. To break the ‘Limit,’ you have to recreate the conditions you wrote down and then say, ‘I’ve cut it.’ Since it’s a ‘Two-Person Limit’ this time, you just have to say it when you’re alone with someone.”

“I have a question. Why is it necessary to write down the conditions in the first place? Wouldn’t it be more likely to succeed if you kept it a secret?”

“You have to write down the conditions to create a ‘Limit.’ By the way, if you keep the conditions after you succeed, it will come back to you, and there’s no way to break it then. It’s like when you’re playing kokkuri-san and you take your hands off the 10-yen coin. It’s the same as that.”

It was like taking your hands off the coin during a kokkuri-san session—something you shouldn’t do, a taboo.

“By the way, if I keep the conditions but hide them, is that okay?”

“That’s the normal thing to do. Everyone wants to avoid failure.”

“I see…………”

Let’s organize the information about ‘Karakiri-san’ as an urban legend and ‘Limit’ as a curse.

1. The caster and the target take the same action (in the case of Karakiri-san, reading the letter).

1. Write down the conditions somewhere (in the case of Karakiri-san, finding Karakiri-san’s real name).

1. To break the curse, recreate the conditions and say, “I’ve cut it.”

“By the way, the effect is to make someone disappear, right?”

“Yes. To be precise, it separates the spirit from the body and feeds it to an evil spirit.”

“…… Huh? But won’t that just put them in a vegetative state? That’s still a serious injury.”

“The spirit that is eaten by the evil spirit takes over the body, so in most cases, the body is taken somewhere else. That’s the ‘Limit.'”

The demonstration and explanation were over. I should have two ‘Limits’ on me now, one from the letter I received and one from Maria, but I didn’t feel anything at all. I didn’t hear any strange broadcasts, nor did I feel any creepiness. Was I really cursed?

As I grew skeptical, even towards the expert, Maria calmly added, as if responding to my unease.

“I didn’t do it seriously, so it won’t take your life. You’ll just feel a little unwell in about a week.”

“Oh, so it varies from person to person?”

“I’m not going to kill you, Ryuma-kun. Well, maybe I would if there was a reason, but… ufufu.”

Even though it was just a slight discomfort, I couldn’t welcome it with open arms. I said, “I’ve cut it” with a bit of embarrassment, and the sinister atmosphere around me seemed to dissipate.

Sorry, that was a lie. I didn’t feel anything at all. I couldn’t even tell if I had been cursed or not, let alone whether or not I had been un-cursed.

“You shouldn’t teach this to others, okay? If you’re going to kill someone, you need the knowledge, but even if you just do it casually, it still has a little effect.”

“I won’t teach this useless curse to anyone. Who would believe it anyway? But thanks. One last question. If you hear a school broadcast in the middle of the night, is that a curse?”

Maria scratched her cheek, looking in a completely different direction, as if she was struggling to answer the unexpected question. She forcibly raised the corners of her mouth and smiled.

“That’s… just a neighborhood nuisance……”