When I Told the Most Beautiful Girl in the School That My Confession Had Failed, She Suddenly Started Coming at Me With Unbearably Heavy Feelings - Chapter 24: Darkness and Light

Chapter 24: Darkness and Light

<<Hoshiumi side>>

Nonoka Hoshiumi could not forgive it.

The misfortunes that surrounded her.

The loneliness and emptiness that assaulted her.

The fact that she had made the wrong choices.

It felt as though all the world’s misfortunes were directed at her, and even the words of concern from her family and friends became burdensome.

Nonoka Hoshiumi had already fallen into self-destruction.

She acutely felt, to the point of nausea, that she had survived only thanks to her innate good luck and the help of those around her, and her eyes held no vitality.

Nonoka Hoshiumi sensed that she would only bring about her own ruin. That was precisely why she could not end things like this.

It could not be that only she met with misfortune. The selfish thinking rooted in Nonoka Hoshiumi raged fiercely even at this late stage.

She lurked in a back alley in the rain. In her line of sight were two people laughing happily together under the same umbrella.

(…Unforgivable)

Her swelling desire for revenge had finally brought Nonoka Hoshiumi this far. In her hand, inside her bag, she gripped a sharp weapon.

The cause of the destruction of their relationship was all that woman’s fault. If only that woman had not existed.

“Huh? What are you doing in a place like this?”

From the dimly lit back alley, behind the two. What held back Nonoka Hoshiumi as she tried to take a step forward was a girl with a youthful face.

“…Eh?”

Nonoka Hoshiumi widened her eyes.

She had confirmed that no people were in this alley since she arrived. She had deliberately chosen a place where no one would enter.

And yet, she had not sensed even a presence. No approaching footsteps, no scent, no presence.

She was not the only one hiding in the rain. Nonoka Hoshiumi’s heart began to tremble at this eerie girl whose origin she could not fathom.

“Hmm? I’m asking what you’re doing with one hand shoved into your bag? Did you maybe forget your umbrella? …No, that can’t be it if you’ve come all the way here.”

“Wh-who are you!? What do you want with me!?”

Nonoka Hoshiumi panicked upon seeing the Amanogawa Academy uniform. As if seeing through that state of mind, Amane Shinomiya licked her lips.

“There’s nothing in particular, is there? I just happened to spot you.”

“Th-then get lost already…”

“You’re the one who has business with my senior, aren’t you?”

Nonoka Hoshiumi was suddenly assailed by a sense of constriction, as if her throat were being squeezed.

Everything was seen through. Not just what was in her bag. Her heart, her purpose, even this despair.

Nonoka Hoshiumi’s feet began to tremble in fear as she instinctively realized this. Amane Shinomiya saw it and laughed in delight.

“Hehe, what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Ah… uh…”

“What is this, I wonder?”

To further stoke Nonoka Hoshiumi’s fear, a blade that gleamed like magic appeared in Amane Shinomiya’s hand.

A small knife with more than enough lethality to kill a person. Its tip pointed at Nonoka Hoshiumi, and she collapsed to the ground.

Amane Shinomiya approached with the click of her loafers. Then she pressed the blade tip against Nonoka Hoshiumi’s abdomen.

Her breathing grew ragged.

Her vision began to blur.

An unpleasant chill ran up her spine.

Nonoka Hoshiumi could tell for herself how the blood was draining from her face.

“Do you know? Street attackers often stab the chest area. Because important organs like the heart and lungs are gathered there, and it’s easy to stab. So what about the abdomen here?”

“Eek… n-no… I don’t want this…!”

“Around the navel has important organs, but it’s defenseless, they say. The chest has ribs, but the abdomen has nothing. If anything, just fat and muscle, right? …Honestly, does it matter which one? If you’re stabbed, you’ll probably die either way.”

With an eerie smile, Amane Shinomiya traced around Nonoka Hoshiumi’s navel. As if to say she would stab right here now.

She had to escape. She knew that in her head, but her body would not move. With the weakness of Nonoka Hoshiumi’s will, it was impossible to break free from this situation.

Nonoka Hoshiumi’s mouth trembled in terror. The moment the fear within her reached its limit, words spilled out like a dam breaking.

“Ah, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I haven’t done anything! I won’t get involved with Renji-kun from now on, and I won’t get involved with Rinne Kisaragi either! I won’t do anything, so please forgive me!”

“It’s okay. Your consciousness will soon go all fuzzy, and you won’t feel any pain.”

Amane Shinomiya’s expression was astonishingly calm. As if she had not even heard Nonoka Hoshiumi’s desperate cry.

“Ha… ue…”

Amane Shinomiya gently covered Nonoka Hoshiumi’s vision with one hand. To heighten the terror through her remaining sense of hearing, a countdown began.

“Okay, 3… 2… 1…”

Silence and the sound of rain fueled Nonoka Hoshiumi’s terror. There was no escape anymore. The blade of terror pierced her abdomen ________________

“Stab—!!!”

Nothing of the sort happened.

Seeing Nonoka Hoshiumi’s complex expression—whether she was crying, surprised, despairing, or unable to comprehend the situation—Amane Shinomiya could not suppress the laughter welling up inside her.

“Ahaha! What is that face! It’s a toy, a toy! The kind that retracts! See, it doesn’t cut to begin with, and it doesn’t even pierce.”

“Eh… ah… uh…?”

“Ahah! Hahaha! Fuhihi, ha—haha… haa. Do you get it? Getting stabbed is pretty scary. That’s the kind of weapon you use to torment someone by building up that terror before killing them? If you’re the one getting swept away by fear…”

Amane Shinomiya admonished her and then taunted Nonoka Hoshiumi with mockery.

To Nonoka Hoshiumi, who still seemed not to understand what was going on, Amane Shinomiya spoke as if instructing her.

“Light and darkness are things that cannot coexist. Even if you try to attack by giving in to your emotions, you won’t succeed.”

“…Wh-why…”

“Why? …Because I like my senior, obviously. Don’t ask questions even a monkey would understand.”

Seeing Amane Shinomiya state it as a matter of course, Nonoka Hoshiumi felt an anxiety and terror unlike any she had experienced before.

It was surely ________________

“Love is madness. Romance is a contest of whose madness surpasses the other woman’s… You have neither the tolerance for that madness nor the weapon to resist it. …Don’t ever approach those two again. If you do next time, it really will be, stab. Got it?”

“Uh… waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

Nonoka Hoshiumi ran off without looking back. She had to escape from that monster as quickly as possible. She desperately moved her feet in accordance with that instinct.

Seeing her back as she fled like a startled rabbit, Amane Shinomiya let out a sigh of relief. It was probably from the sense of accomplishment of having stopped her after days of surveillance.

(I was worried about what I’d do if she pulled a knife at that close range… but she didn’t have that level of madness)

Amane Shinomiya confirmed that Renji Hinate and Rinne Kisaragi were no longer at the station entrance and stretched vigorously.

“Haa~h, I’m tired… I told you not to cause trouble.”

Amane Shinomiya dug up old memories.

Amane Shinomiya had once pointed a kitchen knife, a so-called weapon, at her father.

Amane Shinomiya’s real father was the picture-perfect scum, with a personality that disregarded the family.

On days off, he wandered outside immersed in gambling, and when he returned home, he vented his stress on Mom. After taking it all out on Mom, he turned it on Amane Shinomiya.

That personality had emerged after things went south with his business at the company.

One day, fed up with it, Amane Shinomiya took up a weapon.

She would stab him to death and flee. Even if she got caught, she wanted at least Mom to escape. She was prepared to kill even Dad for that.

However, Amane Shinomiya did not kill her father. She could not.

The strike she unleashed with trembling hands merely grazed his cheek and did not go as far as killing him. Fear had warped her resolve, and all that remained in her heart was regret.

What dominated Amane Shinomiya was fear. Fear of murder.

It was not something one could overcome with a momentary emotion. Without an abnormal obsession with murder and a resolve that defied all reason, it was not something one could handle.

Even now, the cold, hard feel of the handle lingered in her hand. Amane Shinomiya knew that a weapon would wound its wielder as well.

And so, the hand gripping the toy knife trembled faintly with terror. What supported her was nothing but her love for Renji.

Amane Shinomiya knew how to handle weapons. That was precisely why she had been able to stop Nonoka Hoshiumi.

“Well then, shall I make a report? …It’s best to leave things like this to the police, after all~”

Love is madness, a weapon that shakes the heart.

Amane Shinomiya would do anything for Renji. Her resolve was already in place.