Day 15
So they came to kill me.
I pushed myself up. The figure moving through the dark hesitated the moment it realized I'd spotted it—then, as if steeling its nerve, charged straight at me. As the distance closed, its shape came into focus.
A mask. And that weapon in its hand… a hatchet? Masked and armed. Yeah—this one came here meaning to put me down.
If I'd still been drunk, I might have died right there. But the alcohol had burned clean out of my system.
The gap shrank. Those eyes, swimming with murderous intent, looked like a brain packed full of nothing but the desire to kill me.
The hatchet came down dead-center for the crown of my skull.
I slipped it with the footwork of the Yeongcheon Style. I couldn't use mana—this was a half-baked version of the technique at best. But it was still a form distilled from the pure essence of martial arts. In this world, nothing would come close to matching it.
"Hngh—?!"
I slid past the hatchet and drove in close, slamming an uppercut into the bastard's jaw with my open palm. I felt teeth shatter. The impact rattled his skull hard enough that collapsing unconscious wouldn't have been strange at all.
He didn't go down. Blood-red tears streamed from his bloodshot eyes as he swung the hatchet again.
Whoosh. Whoosh-whoosh.
Pretty fast.
I used the recoil of my upper body to weave clear. The blade grazed my shoulder—honed sharp enough to shear straight through cloth and open a cut in the skin beneath.
"Die! Die! Just die already!!"
This bastard's not right in the head.
Even pure rage doesn't make someone cry tears of blood. Whatever he'd done to himself, it was something.
I smashed a fist into the arm swinging the axe. It flew wide. Then I drove my knuckles straight into his solar plexus. He toppled backward. I stomped down on the hand still clutching the hatchet.
"Aaaargh!"
He screamed. I hammered his head a few more times with my fist. He still thrashed, thrashing arms and legs, trying to throw me off.
"You're pissing me off."
I wrenched the hatchet free and buried it in his left elbow.
"AAAAAARGH!"
His scream tore through the night.
Unfortunately for him, there were no houses nearby—only fields. No one was coming to help. That was exactly why he'd chosen this spot to jump me.
"Shut your mouth before I take the other arm too, you piece of shit."
"……!"
He clamped his jaw shut. Those blood-weeping eyes were full of raw fear.
"Let's have a look at that face of yours."
My hand stopped halfway to the mask.
A presence behind me.
Shit. Close.
I'd been so locked into the fight that I only noticed now. Assuming there was only one enemy had been a careless call.
No mana means my senses are late. Already within three meters.
I spun. I'd been ready to throw the hatchet—and found someone I hadn't expected at all.
A beauty in hot pants and a T-shirt, yellow-dyed hair catching what little light there was.
Nakagami Risa.
The oldest of the girls in the circle stood there watching me, eyes glittering.
"…Nakagami-senpai? Ah—this is… he attacked me first, so… self-defense…"
"I know. You don't have to explain. I've been watching from the start."
"…From the start? Since the convenience store, maybe?"
"Before that."
"……."
I weighed my options.
I couldn't kill Nakagami Risa. That face was far too good to waste. The alternative that surfaced was confinement—lock her in a warehouse or a nearby house and use her until the quest was done. Decision made, I rose to my feet.
"Planning to kill me?"
"No. Not at all."
"Then you're thinking of raping me, like you did Hagawa."
"…Senpai. How much do you actually know?"
I froze.
Nakagami Risa stood right in front of me without a shred of fear.
…Showing up in front of me like this is weird enough on its own. What is she counting on to be this bold?
I swept my eyes around, checking for anyone else hidden nearby. No matter how carefully I looked, I couldn't sense another presence.
"Relax. There's no one else. Just me."
"…Senpai, what are you thinking? You don't think I might kill you?"
"You don't want to kill me. You want to rape me. You think I didn't notice the way you stare at my chest and ass?"
"…How did you catch that? I'm usually pretty good at looking without getting caught."
"I'm a little sensitive to other people's eyes."
I lowered the raised hatchet. Talking this through first made sense.
Then I cracked the masked bastard across the head as his free hand snuck toward his pants pocket. His body jerked. At this point, dying of shock from blood loss wouldn't have been surprising—and he was still moving. Impressive, in a twisted way.
"You remember when we first came to this village?"
"Huh?"
"In the car. When that wasp got in."
"Ah. Right. That was a bit of a scene."
"You swatted it with your fingers and crushed it under your foot. That was when I knew. You and I are the same kind."
"Hmm. So you've been watching me since then?"
Nakagami Risa nodded and stepped closer. The scent of her cosmetics drifted over—something strangely compelling. The kind of smell that lowers a man's guard, or stirs something baser. I liked it.
"I haven't been watching you constantly. I know you raped Hagawa… and that you beat up that old man a few hours ago. And… Jiro. The old man in the potato field. You killed him, didn't you?"
"You saw that too?"
"No. Just a guess."
"……When you say we're the same kind… does that mean you're a murderer too, senpai?"
"Murder is a crime. I've never killed anyone. I'm a woman who wants to kill someone."
Nakagami Risa's eyes shone. Look closer and her breathing was rough, her body trembling. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead and throat. She was wound tight with excitement.
I was starting to get a read on her.
"And?"
"…I overheard the conversation you had with Hagawa in the warehouse."
"Hmm."
"You told her that if she killed someone… you'd take the blame for her."
"I did. I'm planning to leave Japan in about two weeks anyway. Running from Japan doesn't erase the crime, sure—but even if I get caught, I don't particularly care."
"Do the same for me. Every crime I commit… you take it all. But don't get the wrong idea. This is just for the worst-case scenario."
"Worst case? What's the best case?"
She raised a hand and pointed toward the village houses.
"Pin it all on this village. There's already plenty of shady stuff going on here."
She looked down at the masked man. She'd felt it too. Something about this place was wrong.
"You have a way to do that?"
"Do you know what I do?"
"University student… no—in this case, a model?"
"Right. I don't like saying it myself, but I'm a fairly successful model. Over two hundred thousand followers."
"Ah. You're going to use social media."
She held up her phone and showed me her account. Her posts filled the screen.
She'd already laid down plenty of bait to whip people up. Add hard evidence on top of that, and this village would become the worst kind of criminal collective in the public eye.
And if things went wrong, every crime would land on me.
Japan has no shortage of people who still believe Koreans poisoned the wells.
A Korean who committed murder in an isolated village. Exactly the kind of story the right-wing would eat up. And Japanese right-wingers had enough political pull to matter…
For a witch hunt, there was no better sacrifice than me.
"I understand what you want, senpai. But what can you give me in return?"
"What do you want?"
"Don't play coy…. You already know."
"Fine."
She stepped in close, took my hand, and pressed it to her chest. The springy give of her breast filled my palm. C-cup—smaller than Hagayo Ryoko's, but the shape was sexy. Just the right size to fit one hand, with a solid, satisfying weight.
"Your tits are nice and firm, senpai. Fun to grab."
"You're the first man who's ever touched them."
"Even hotter. But this alone isn't enough for me to trust you. You could still stab me in the back later."
"……Then?"
"Lick my asshole. Then I'll trust you. What woman who rimmed me would turn around and betray me?"
"……."
Nakagami Risa's gaze went cold.
If she refused here, it didn't matter. I held the initiative, not her. Even if she said no, I could just take her.
"That's all it takes?"
The answer was yes, despite the icy look.
"Right here, right now. Can you do it?"
"You think I can't manage that much?"
"Heh. Go on, then."
I turned, undid my pants, and dropped my underwear. Cool air hit my ass. I heard Nakagami Risa swallow. Then she crouched, took hold of my cheeks with both hands, and spread them. Her face pressed in. Her tongue dragged slowly over my hole.
No hesitation at all. Once she decides on something, she just goes for it?
I twitched and shuddered, savoring the work of her tongue. My cock was already rock-hard to its limit.
Nakagami Risa…. Definitely not an ordinary woman.
I'd have to stay careful.
"Senpai. Enough. That's plenty."
"…Hah. Yeah?"
"How was my asshole?"
"……."
Nakagami Risa didn't answer. From the pinched look on her face, it hadn't exactly been a pleasant experience. I chuckled and pulled my pants back up.
"I'm going to fuck your pussy a little later. That okay?"
"Do whatever you want. But in exchange…"
Her eyes dropped to the masked man sprawled on the ground. I frowned. A small tent had pitched itself between his legs.
"Let me kill this one."
"You can do that?"
"I can. It's not hard."
Nakagami Risa brought her foot down hard on his crotch.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
A scream far worse than when his arm was chopped off tore out of him. It sounded like the shaft had shattered and the balls had burst. I took an involuntary step back and checked my own groin. The erection that had been standing proud was quietly shrinking.
"Give me the axe."
Her voice was thick with pleasure. I studied her face. Her lips trembled; the corners of her eyes were curved up. No doubt about it—she was getting off on crushing a man's most precious parts.
A sadist.
The world is full of freaks. For every person who likes getting hit, there's one who likes doing the hitting. Nakagami Risa looked like a fairly serious case.
As long as she's not hitting me, I don't care.
When I said nothing, she reached out again.
"Give me the axe. Still don't trust me? I licked your asshole."
"No, it's not that. Killing him now would be a problem."
"A problem? How? No cameras out here, no witnesses."
"We need information out of him."
"Ah. I see. …Are you going to torture him too?"
"If we need to."
"Heh… heheheh. Of course."
"What?"
Heat rolled off the way she looked at me—almost too much to take.
"You and I are the same kind."
"No, we're not."