15 Days
“These fucking bastards…”
I wanted to slaughter every last one of the villagers right then and there as they stood surrounding the lodge, watching the flames roar higher. But in a crisis like this, you had to stay cold and clear-headed. We were on the second floor, so jumping out a window wouldn’t be a problem. Facing more than thirty armed villagers alone, though—that was damn near impossible.
“…What the hell is this?”
Hagawa Ryoko stepped up behind me, frowning. Her hands never stopped moving as she pulled on her underwear.
“Looks like they came prepared. They must be pretty pissed.”
Nakagami Risa’s voice from behind me was perfectly calm. Only her voice. Her body was moving fast—getting dressed, packing her bag. The floor was already scorching. The fire was climbing. I couldn’t keep staring outside forever either, so I got dressed too.
I looked out the window.
This was the women’s lodge. The three other girls staying on the first floor had scrambled to grab their things and rush outside. The villagers aimed their weapons at the college girls with dark, leering smiles.
I checked the men’s lodge. Same situation. The three guys had come out rather than burn to death and were now facing off against the villagers with kitchen knives, iron pipes, and baseball bats.
The villagers were just watching. They felt like soldiers waiting for someone’s orders.
“Nakagami-senpai. What do we do? Head down to the first floor?”
“We can’t go down there. We jump from the second-floor window.”
Nakagami Risa shoved me in the back. Jump first, she meant. I threw the window open. Black smoke poured out. The blaze that had started on the first floor was already licking its way up to the second.
Thud.
I jumped from the second floor and landed without much trouble. Hagawa Ryoko and Nakagami Risa followed right after me.
“Heh. Heheheh.”
“Such pretty young things…”
“The shrine maiden will give us a chance to taste the girls. She always has before.”
Young and old alike stared at Hagawa Ryoko and Nakagami Risa with eyes full of lust. Even in a fucked-up village like this, the way they looked at beautiful women was the same.
I wanted to kill every one of those bastards eyeing my women right now, but I had no weapon in my hands. And they weren’t letting their guard down.
“The shrine maiden warned us to be careful of that Chosenjin.”
“That bastard killed my friend and my cousin.”
“My friend died by his hand too—hung up on the ginkgo tree.”
“We can’t kill him easy.”
“Rip the fucker apart.”
“The mountain god will drag him down to hell.”
“Hell’s not enough. That bastard needs to suffer for eons.”
The villagers’ killing intent focused on me.
I didn’t so much as twitch an eyebrow. Thirty people’s murderous auras? Laughable. They weren’t even soldiers—just ordinary civilians.
When I just stood there unfazed, the villagers started glancing at someone behind them.
A short old man at the rear of the group. White hair, white eyebrows. Mouth clamped shut.
He’d been hidden behind the others until now. Shortest of the lot, body the size of an elementary schooler. But the presence rolling off him was overwhelming.
Looks like he’s killed at least ten people.
The old man kept his hands clasped behind his back and spoke to the villagers.
“Wait. Don’t move without orders.”
“Sasaki-san. What if they run?”
“Idiot. We’ve got them surrounded in front and the house is burning behind them—where the hell are they going to run? Just shut up and listen to me.”
“…Yes, sir.”
Sasaki strode forward. Power radiated from those short, thin legs.
“Hey, Chosenjin.”
Sasaki addressed me.
“What, Jap?”
“Back getting hot? Surrender. You’ve heard it before—burning to death is the most painful way to go.”
“Looking at you lot, a clean death by fire might actually be better.”
“Then burn. Turn around and walk back into that building.”
“……”
I had zero intention of walking into a fire to die. When I stayed silent, the standoff dragged on. Crack, crack-crack! Sparks flew behind us. Sweat soaked my back from the heat.
This is bad.
The heat at my back was eating into my stamina. I might even get burned. More than that, the psychological pressure was huge. That was exactly what Sasaki was after.
I was still figuring out a way through when someone from our side walked straight toward the villagers without hesitation.
It was Minewaki Jurie—the one who’d clashed with Mori Masahiro earlier.
The villagers leveled their weapons at her.
“Put those away!”
Minewaki Jurie snapped, sharp and fierce.
Since when did that girl have guts like that?
No way.
I shook my head immediately. Just this afternoon she’d been throwing a full hysterics fit at Mori Masahiro. There was no way she’d step up this boldly now. Thinking differently made more sense.
She’s got a reason she can act this confident with them.
When can a person stand tall? Simple answer: when they’ve successfully finished their job.
“Sasaki-san. I did everything you told me to.”
“You did well. Set the fire perfectly. Done this before?”
“I’m not here to joke around with you. You keep your promise.”
“I promise. No one will harm you. Thanks to you we even got a full read on those bastards’ identities.”
Sasaki waved a hand. The weapons pointed at Minewaki Jurie lowered and a path opened. She let out a breath of relief and walked around behind the villagers.
Betrayal.
And from the look of it, this wasn’t something that happened overnight.
“Minewaki! You can’t be serious!”
Aizawa Nachiko, same year as Minewaki Jurie, stared in horror.
Minewaki Jurie looked back at her coldly.
“I didn’t have a choice. I wanted to live. I never even wanted to come to a village like this, and now I’m supposed to go through something out of a horror movie… That’s too much. I want to live.”
Boom.
A huge crash came from the men’s lodge. The burning roof had collapsed. The college students flinched. In a situation like this, that alone was enough to flood them with fear and break their will. The image of standing here until the collapsing lodge crushed them to death was already taking root.
The other students started eyeing one another. Sasaki caught it instantly and spoke.
“I’ll guarantee survival to the first one among you who surrenders.”
Words no one could trust.
If they really meant to spare anyone, they wouldn’t have gone this far.
“Except for that Chosenjin.”
Sasaki’s hand pointed straight at me.
“That Chosenjin has to die. He’s committed far too many sins.”
“I’ll kill you too.”
I flipped him off. He stayed completely unmoved by the provocation.
A little more time passed. Nebata Noriko and Aizawa Nachiko shifted restlessly, reading the room. The male students weren’t much better.
“Senpai, Hagawa. You two thinking of surrendering?”
“They already know what you and I did. Better to die than surrender.”
Nakagami Risa picked up a hand axe and tossed one to me.
“Hagawa?”
“…I’d rather be raped by you than get caught and raped by them.”
“I’m honored.”
“Don’t get the wrong idea. It’s only better compared to those bastards.”
Hagawa Ryoko drew a dagger. She was ready to fight to the end too.
But I had no intention of dying here. I was going to break the encirclement and run.
“I’ll open a path.”
I had Full Recovery. If I used my body as a shield and went wild… it was more than doable.
“I—I’ll surrender!!”
Aizawa Nachiko shouted and walked toward the villagers. The corner of Sasaki’s mouth lifted.
“Welcome. I promise you survival. Go stand in the back. As for the rest… we’ll probably have to cut off an arm or so.”
Aizawa Nachiko’s face brightened. She walked over to where Minewaki Jurie stood. Minewaki Jurie’s expression was complicated.
Sasaki gestured to the villagers. The circle tightened. Weapons closed in.
The ground shook.
A fairly strong earthquake. Strong enough that the earth cracked open with a sharp snap.
“Hwah?!”
“Earthquake!”
“D-damn it! Aaagh! Who the hell are you stabbing?!”
The villagers lost their balance and staggered. Accidents followed. Thud, thud-thud! The burning lodge buildings started collapsing.
“Now!”
I shouted and charged the villagers with the hand axe. The quake hit me too, but I could handle shaking this mild.
I split the skull of the man in front of me, snatched up a spear that had fallen to the ground, and drove it into the chest of another man who’d gone down.
“Ahaha, ahahahahaha!”
Nakagami Risa burst into wild laughter and swung her hand axe at the villagers. Their stances were unstable from the quake.
“……”
What worried me was Hagawa Ryoko. As someone from a ninja family she had the skill, but skill and actually killing people were two different things.
…I was fretting over nothing.
Hagawa Ryoko was cutting down villagers without a shred of mercy. Her dagger found vital points; two were already dead. Her face was calm. No agitation at all.
Has she killed people before?
If not, she was just born for it.
Either way, the two of them were doing fine.
I closed in on Sasaki. I didn’t like this bastard. Even if I was running, I was killing him first.
“Kill that Chosenjin!!”
Sasaki roared.
The villagers failed to live up to his expectations. They couldn’t even keep their footing on the shaking ground. If they’d been professionally trained fighters it might have been different. They were just ordinary farmers.
“Aaaagh!”
Screams rang out everywhere.
Even Sasaki’s previously calm face started showing anxiety. He pulled a red pill from his clothes, swallowed it, and spun around to flee.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
I lunged at him. Midway, Sasaki toppled sideways. No—he only pretended to fall while drawing a weapon from his pocket.
A silver revolver.
Sasaki aimed the muzzle at me with a twisted grin. The second I saw the gun I rolled sideways. Bang bang bang—gunshots cracked. Luckily none of the bullets hit me. Forcing myself to roll across the ground left my head and back aching, but I couldn’t stay still. He kept the gun trained on me the whole time.
Bang bang bang!
A bullet grazed my right shoulder. That was all six rounds, though. I charged him head-on. He pulled another weapon from his pocket with tears of blood in his eyes. An ice pick.
Sloppy.
From the way he fired the gun to the way he swung the pick.
I chopped the wrist holding the ice pick with my hand axe. Half the wrist was severed and flopped uselessly. I closed on the horrified Sasaki and buried the hand axe in his skull.
“That’s it! Run!!”
I shouted. The college students started sprinting toward me. I kept killing villagers as I covered them.
“Seong!”
Mori Masahiro, Wada Kyoshiro, and Fudo Jun joined up.
Mori Masahiro looked at the two girls who still hadn’t come over.
“Minewaki! Aizawa! Get over here!”
Mori Masahiro yelled.
“Don’t be ridiculous! I’m not going! The villagers promised to spare me!!”
“I—I’m not going either. There’s no way we can escape this village!!”
“You really think those bastards will let you live?! Stop spouting nonsense and get over here!”
“No!”
They shouted back.
“Mori-senpai. Let’s just go. We’re out of time.”
I couldn’t care less whether those ugly bitches lived or died. I started running toward the mountain, Nakagami Risa and Hagawa Ryoko right behind me. The others followed. The earthquake stopped soon after.