A Saturday afternoon at the end of September. School had come to an end for the day already.
A forest surrounded the path connecting the middle school building to the high school building, and one person stood somewhere within that forest about five or so minutes away from the path—me. Shovel in hand, mud caked on my clothing, I was digging a pitfall.
The hole in question stretched far deeper than a person’s height. My digging went smoothly and efficiently for the most part, this being the third one that I’d dug. If you included the ones that I’d filled back in, this was my fifth time shoveling through dirt. I was more or less used to the process by now.
This should be deep enough. Satisfied, I thrust one of the spears that I’d prepared beforehand into the bottom of the pit. The spear itself wasn’t anything special; it was just a piece of bamboo cut at an angle with a tapered point. However, I had made plenty. Over and over, I thrust the spears into the ground. Obstinately. Incessantly. My actions were on loop.
Once I was finished setting those up, I grabbed the rope that I’d tied to a nearby tree and climbed out of the pitfall. Next, I carefully covered the pitfall using fallen leaves and camouflaged the trap. There was not a moment to waste; time was of the essence. He was sure to be making his way here any moment now.
I wiped the sweat dripping from my forehead with my hand. Right now, it was about 2:30 p.m.
I had left behind a trail for him to follow—an invitation to come visit this spot. He wouldn’t see it as one, though. He probably thought I’d made some sort of mistake, thinking, He has to be hiding something important there. That’s gotta be why he’s been going over there every single day. He’s been disappearing as soon as school ends because he’s coming out here!
In a sense, he wasn’t wrong. I had been out here digging pitfalls this entire time, after all. The first pit that I’d dug was lacking, so I’d filled it back in. The next one wasn’t too bad, but everything needed to be perfect for the plan, so once more I shoveled the earth back in. My next actions were something I could not afford to make a misstep in.
I was going to kill him. He would drop down into the pitfall, and I would put him six feet under.
However, simply falling onto the spears waiting below might not have been enough to kill him, so I’d prepped a few plastic canisters filled with gasoline in the shade of the nearby foliage. The moment he fell into the pit, I would pour the gasoline down on him from above and toss in a spark for the finisher.
He was rather tenacious, though. Perhaps even that would not be enough to end his life. With that in mind, I had prepared a bamboo spear over fifteen feet long. The spear’s tip had been cut obliquely, sharpened even more than the ones in the pit. After sparking the gas, I would pierce him with the spear from above over and over until he fell still.
Just like that, my revenge would be complete. What would happen afterward? Hell if I cared. If things were left as is, someday he’d kill me first. The constant bullying and harassment would be the end of me. He’d erase my presence—and by extension, me—from society.
This person was not only powerful physically, but socially, too. His parents were influential individuals and were lining the school’s pocketbooks. Sounds like some crap from a manga, doesn’t it? Regrettably, this was the reality of the situation. There really was a student walking around our school who not even the teachers could touch, and the human scum in question had his eyes set on me.
Our school had adopted the boarding system, and to top it off, it was located deep in the mountain. A society closed off from the rest of the world, much like a village-bound society. And the chief of the village was dead set on making my life hell.
He had found his raison d’être in harassing and bullying me. The day where I wouldn’t be able to take it anymore would eventually come… and that meant getting rid of him before the reverse happened.
I held my breath and lied in wait. This may have been my imagination, but the noisy cries of the birds and insects that normally rang out through the forest were unusually silent today. A dead silence had descended in their stead.
It’s about time. He’ll be here any minute. The sound of leaves being crushed underfoot was growing louder. He was close.
A sense of tension overtook me, and I quietly took hold of my trembling hand. Droplets of sweat ran down my cheeks. While it was the end of September, this part of the mountain shouldn’t have been very hot, yet my entire body was drenched in sweat and showed no signs of stopping. A consequence of having just completed a strenuous task, perhaps?
No… This has to be due to nervousness. Yeah, that’s it. I’m just nervous. Who wouldn’t be when they’re about to kill someone? It’s only natural for my limbs to be shaky when I think about that.
As I reasoned with myself, I felt my lips curl into a… sneer. I was going to kill that man; the very thought made my entire body shiver with joy. After all, this man was… Ngh?!
A violent tremor seized my body, and I placed my hand atop the fallen leaves in a panic to stop myself from falling over. I was dumbfounded. Had he heard the sound that I’d just made? Actually, wait a sec. What even caused that…?
The tree that I was leaning against was shaking. Branches were bending and leaves were swaying. An earthquake—a fairly large one to boot. The shaking reverberated through my body. The tremors were severe, but they didn’t cause any real damage.
The shaking soon came to an end. The trees were unlikely to topple over, nor did a landslide seem likely to occur. I breathed a sigh of relief. The pitfall isn’t damaged either. That’s good and all, but now there’s another problem…
“An earthquake!” I heard him cry out, accompanied a second later by the sound of his tongue clicking. Shit, that’s not good. If he changed his mind and turned back now, then all of my hard work and preparations would be for nothing. Sure enough, his footsteps began to grow distant. Now I was the one who wanted to click his tongue. I bit down hard on my lip and clenched both of my fists tightly.
No, I can’t just give up yet. He may have just been worried about the possibility of a landslide and the like. He might return in a bit. I prayed to myself and continued to lie in wait.
How many minutes had passed? It felt as though I’d been waiting there for forever, though I imagined the actual time was closer to ten minutes.
The footsteps crunching the leaves reached my ears once more. Hell yeah! I clenched my hands tight, wishing I could pump a fist into the air. He was back… and this time, he was going to come this way.
The footsteps were growing louder. For some reason, they sounded heavier than before.
Well, whatever. I shrugged it off as my imagination and sharpened my senses. His breathing seems a bit… off? It was kind of rough, almost like a pig’s snorting. Again my mind nagged me. But why? Is he exhausted? How pitiful. He was always so sure of himself, but in the end, he was a weakling.
I grinned deeply at the thought. This is the perfect chance. His exhaustion would ensure he’d be careless and neglect to check underfoot. Like… so. Something whooshed—the sound of him falling.
There was a sharp cry, followed by groans. I quickly rushed out from under the shade and ran up to the pitfall, plastic container in hand. Without even sparing so much as a glance as to what was within, I began pouring the gasoline inside. Time practically slowed down as the liquid poured out, making the amount seem endless. All that was left was the spark. I pulled out a lighter and lit a scrap of paper on fire, tossing it inside the hole. Screams echoed out—his agonized death throes. Man, this feels good.
Now, for the coup de grâce. I picked up the spear lying nearby and thrust it into the pit. With it still in my hands, I could feel it pierce his flesh as I pushed downward. His stomach was much softer than I expected. I kept my eyes closed as I stabbed him over and over and over, losing myself in the thrill of the moment.
Eventually, the resistance against my spear at the bottom of the pit ceased. I timidly opened my eyes and peered down into the hole, expecting to find his pierced corpse… but there was something far more disturbing in its stead.
A fat, bipedal creature similar to a pig was laying at the bottom of the pit, blood oozing from the numerous wounds across its entire body. The thing was clearly dead. Its skin was reddish-brown, and its body stout. To top it off, the creature’s blood… was blue. Blue blood was pouring out from its entire body.
“Huh?” I sputtered like an idiot in complete shock. My bamboo spear fell to the ground. A gasp came from the pig-human thing right then. Its body began to… blur.
No, that wasn’t quite right. The creature’s body began to dissipate like mist. My eyes blinked in surprise. As I gaped at the pig-human below, its body vanished entirely…
You have leveled up!
A trumpet fanfare echoed inside my head as did an androgynous voice. Then everything became blindingly white.