It was after he’d killed his father. He’d never been free to do what he wanted until then. For the first time in his life, he’d gone to a festival that was regularly held at the local shrine. His sister had given him permission to go, which was unusual for her. The sun had been setting. It was dark. Sousei’s eyes glittered seeing the rows of food stalls. He had a single five-thousand-yen note in his wallet. He could eat anything with that. He could even buy toys. Corn dogs. Grilled chicken yakitori skewers. Oden stew. Battered takoyaki balls. Candy apples. Chocolate-covered bananas. Cotton candy. And…french fries.
All of the food he saw around him stimulated his appetite. He wanted to try his luck at the lottery game where he could win prizes, and he was confident he could do the target shooting games. All of the toys—none of which he understood how to use—looked like treasures to him, and he wanted them so badly he could taste it. Yet when he returned home, the five-thousand-yen note was still in his wallet.
“Did you have fun, Sousei?” he remembered his sister asking.
Sousei remembered lying to her.
“Yeah, Sis. It was lots of fun.”
Looking back on it, it had just been so painful. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the children who’d died in that darkness, and Ukihiko, who he’d killed with his own hands. He didn’t really think about the people his sister ordered him to kill—the kind of people who became his targets for work deserved to die, so they didn’t matter to him. Where in the world was suitable for Sousei Takarai, who could kill people without batting an eyelid?
“We should eat some,” he said to Kuchina.
It wasn’t that Sousei had mustered up his courage, but that he’d been backed into a corner with no other choice. In that state of mind, Sousei stepped forward and grabbed Kuchina’s left wrist.
Her whole body stiffened. He wasn’t touching her bare skin, just her arm above the cuff of her sleeve. However, even if she’d been wearing a short-sleeved shirt, he probably would have done the same thing, even if it meant he’d lose a life.
“Let’s go eat some french fries right now.”
Kuchina didn’t answer. Her pupils went so wide that her eyes looked like two holes. Was she just surprised? Or maybe she was frightened. In any case, she didn’t try to shake free from his grasp.
“We could go to a hamburger joint, or a family restaurant or something. There should be one around here…”
Sousei looked around. About a hundred feet down the street on the other side of the road was a sign for a famous family restaurant chain.
Directly in front of it was a bus stop. People were lining up there, presumably waiting for a bus. There probably weren’t even ten people, but around seven or eight. Sousei couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Ngh…” Kuchina let out a quiet sound.
Sousei had been extremely startled and squeezed her wrist.
“Ah, sorry…!” he immediately apologized and loosened his grip, but he didn’t let go.
Kuchina glared at him. Sousei felt intimidated, but he managed to withstand it. Something about the bus stop was weighing on him, and he glanced toward it.
They were gone.
They’d been there just a second ago.
In the line of people waiting for the bus had been a person with a mushroom haircut. They’d been looking at Sousei. He wasn’t sure if their eyes had met, but the person had definitely been facing his way.
Riamu Kinoshita.
There was no way.
Kinoshita should be dead. Sousei had killed him. There was absolutely no way he had been mistaken about the feeling he got when he stole a life.
Perhaps it had just been someone who looked like Kinoshita. It was a very distinctive hairstyle, but it wasn’t so rare that Sousei hardly ever saw it. The same went for his build and clothes.
One thing was strange, though.
Not a single person lining up at the bus stop at that moment resembled Kinoshita.
But…they were there before…
In which case, had they left? Or had he just been seeing things?
Where had the person resembling Kinoshita been standing in the line? They hadn’t been at the front, nor at the back. Maybe around second or third in line?
“Let go,” said a low voice that seemed to be rising up from the depths of the earth.
Looking at her, Sousei saw a clear readiness to kill in Kuchina’s gaze. It seemed like she was threatening to kill him. She would hunt down her prey and make sure they were dead. She would finish the job. It was the deadly character of a professional assassin.
…She’s serious. Hitsujimoto…
Sousei made a decision.
“Chi-chiii-chiiips…!”
If she was going to kill him, she should just go ahead and do it. Despite being filled with determination, he still ended up stammering.
Kuchina’s eyes were still filled with killing intent as she tried to somehow get her left arm free from Sousei’s right hand. Sousei stubbornly resisted, as if saying there was no way he’d let her.
In a contest of pure strength, Sousei naturally had the advantage. The bruise on his chest still ached, but it didn’t bother him at all.
“Chiii…ps! Chiiiiips…!
“Hngh…!” Kuchina’s face had turned red.
Was she in pain? Sousei was tugging her arm a lot. There was no way it wouldn’t hurt.
…You might as well just kill me. Please…?!
Sousei was also determined. At this point, he wouldn’t be able to let go.
“Chiii…ps… Chiiiiips…”
But was it really so important that he couldn’t give in? Kuchina’s entire face was bright red and all scrunched up, and her lips were tightly pursed. She was trying her best to resist.
Any more than this, and…
Sousei would fold just before he got his way.
“Not today,” Kuchina forced out.
…Not “today”?
Stunned, Sousei removed his hand as he thought back over Kuchina’s words.
So does that mean…?
Kuchina turned her back to him and lowered her gaze. Her shoulders were shaking.
“Uh…”
Was she crying? Sousei wondered for a second if he’d made her cry.
No… I don’t…think so…?
Kuchina made intermittent sounds that were too soft for him to make out. And her shoulders—or actually, her back, moved up and down along with the noises.
It looked like she was crying, but it could also be interpreted as a completely different emotion.
…Is she laughing?
However, it didn’t last long—probably about five seconds at the most. She let out a sigh, nodded as if to say “I’m all right now,” then half turned her face toward him.
“See you tomorrow.”
“…Oh,” Sousei blurted out. “Yeah, see you tomorrow.”
“I never knew you were a chicken,” Kuchina said before walking away.
She didn’t go down to the subway station, though. Where could she be going?
“A chicken…?”
Why had she said that just as she was leaving?
“Ohh. Chiiips…”
It finally clicked.
I kept saying “chiii, chiiiiips.” I guess that does kind of sound like a chicken…
So she hadn’t been crying after all.
She’d been laughing.