The liar is the end of humanity.
✦ ✦ ✦
And so it transpired that I betrayed Aikawa and Hime-chan─but what was actually going on? I mean, obviously, for my part, it was a stratagem to get myself out of that situation without the need for violence, but “now”─by which I mean now that I was traipsing through a totally unfamiliar school building with Shiogi, nominally guiding her to Aikawa’s hiding place─things had reached a truly half-cocked state.
By which I mean that at the present moment, I could go either way. I could continue leading Shiogi on a wild goose chase, or I could lead her to the Director’s office, where Hime-chan was heading, and where abideth Aikawa. If I wanted to betray them, I could betray them, and if I wanted to stand by them, I could stand by them. I was faced with the ultimate binary choice.
Though that said─
“Will it turn out the same, no matter which I choose?”
“Did you say something?”
“No, I didn’t say anything.”
“More importantly, are you sure they’re in this building? It seemed like Yukariki ran off in a completely different direction.”
“That was a ruse. Hime-chan knew I was about to screw her over.”
“Hmm…I see.”
The fact that I was waffling so much even though it was all too clear what lay ahead─had to do with Shiogi. I’d succeeded at rounding off her sharper edges and inveigling her to join me, but since then her attitude had been oddly formal. We were strangers, so maybe that was only natural, but nevertheless, something about it felt unnatural.
Then there was the question of Tamamo. Tamamo, killed so ruthlessly then used as a tool. And at present I was walking along beside the person who had so used her. It wasn’t like I’d been about to fall for Tamamo or anything, but still.
And the murder of the Director─could I assume Shiogi was indeed the culprit? At the moment, at least, I had my doubts. Noa Origami who, like Tamamo─no, far more horribly than Tamamo, had been dismembered, her head suspended from the ceiling. If that had been the tactician’s mutiny, then was Shiogi Hagihara, walking here beside me, playing me for a fool? Did she, as a tactician, in fact know everything only to keep silent about it?
I just couldn’t be sure.
Phew. I was tired of thinking. It was too much of a pain in the ass, maybe I should actually go ahead and become a traitor? Shiogi and I seemed on track to becoming friends, and battling Aikawa seemed like it could be interesting. Ally or enemy, with Aikawa it seemed more or less the same either way. And Shiogi’s hair was really pretty. I wonder if she’d be mad if I touched it.
“What are you staring at? It’s impolite.”
Shiogi had stopped walking and was looking back at me dubiously. She seemed to have picked up on my bloodlust (if that’s what it was). I didn’t want to ruin her impression of me at this point. Beginnings are the crux of any relationship.
“Nothing, sorry. Nothing at all.”
“Really?”
“Really. That is, Shiogi…”
I almost said, Your hair is really pretty, but stopped myself just in time. This was Shiogi we were talking about, she probably got that kind of compliment so often that she was sick to death of hearing it by now. In which case there was a good chance she would ignore me, plus there was the danger that she’d decide I was a total waste of space. In which case I needed to come at it from a different angle.
“Yes?”
“Your breasts are really big.”
All of a sudden Shiogi was flat on her back with her legs up in the air, like in a cartoon.
It was the first time I’d ever seen someone do that in real life.
When she got back up, her entire face was bright red and she was staring daggers at me. She kept opening and closing her mouth but couldn’t get anything out, and in the end she gave up and strode off quickly down the hall, her pretty hair streaming behind her. Hm, I’d blown it (but at least I’d tried).
Oh well. Giving up is the crux of any relationship.
“That reminds me,” Shiogi said after she’d proceeded in silence for a while, “I still don’t know your name. It’s inconvenient not to have something to call you, so if you wouldn’t mind, I’d appreciate it if you’d tell it to me.”
“Ah. The thing is, until now I’ve only told my real name to─”
I.
Began to answer, glancing casually out the hallway window as I did so. At present we were on the second floor, so we weren’t all that high up─which is exactly why. Exactly why I was able to catch sight of Ichihime Yukariki walking unsteadily through the garden between the buildings.
“…”
What was she doing there? Even if the faculty building wasn’t close by and took a while to reach…why should she be skulking around here, way off target? I only caught a glimpse of her before she slipped into the shadow of the trees and was out of sight─but there was no mistaking who it was.
“Are you all right?”
“Oh, um…um.”
She couldn’t have come back out of concern for me again, could she? Only to find that we were no longer in the courtyard─was she trying to find out where Shiogi and I had gone?
What─a pain in the ass. What a fucking busybody. Even if Shiogi was right that I was a magnet for weirdoes, freaks, and crazies, no one could be that worried about someone who was basically a stranger. I specifically told her to leave this to me. How similar did she have to be to “her” before she’d be satisfied, fer chrissakes… I started to get kind of pissed off.
“I, uh, just wanted to know your name.”
“Right. My name…my name, my name…”
Shiogi hadn’t noticed Hime-chan yet. When she did, she’d be liable to leap right out the window. She had no real reason to face Jun Aikawa. Hime-chan hadn’t noticed us, either. If she had, she wouldn’t be dilly-dallying down there.
In which case…in which case it was time to carry on with the charlatanry.