Tentatively, she repeated his name. “…Yanagi-san?”
He sucked in a breath, as if returning to himself. His smile softened just as quickly as it had prickled.
“Yes, Amane-san? Did you say my name?”
“N-no. Um, I’m glad we defeated them.”
“So am I. Everything went well, thanks to you.”
He didn’t elaborate.
Did I imagine that? Hana wondered.
They walked together after that. Yanagi smiled the whole time, but something was off about him. She clenched her hands by her sides.
Without warning, Yanagi spun toward her.
“…Are you two okay?!” echoed a voice in the distance. He was still a ways away, but Hana recognized it as Katagiri. Yanagi looked away from Hana and spotted him. She watched his profile, and saw that for a split second, his smile fell.
That unsettled feeling buzzed inside her again.
“You’re back, Katagiri-san,” Yanagi said. “How’s everyone else?”
“They’re on standby above ground, but I did a head count and realized I was one short. You managed to protect her. Thank goodness for that.” He saw the destruction behind them. “I imagine you defeated them, given the treant corpses? I’m surprised. My magic hardly did any damage!”
“Amane-san’s power managed to save the day.”
“What? She’s a newbie who doesn’t have her qualifications, but she helped in battle? I have a hard time believing that.”
“She did. She possesses a promising unique skill.”
…What?
Yanagi spilled her secret like it was the most natural thing in the world! While she panicked internally, they continued their conversation.
“A unique skill?!” Katagiri exclaimed. “I didn’t notice that when I checked her stats. I confirmed them myself!”
“She seems to have hidden it on purpose.”
“What?” he replied with shock. Hana was yelling the same thing in her own mind. She never expected Yanagi to expose her secret so casually.
“Y-Yanagi-san! You just…” she trailed off.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he replied. “I should’ve asked your permission before I told Katagiri-san. I figured it would be fine.”
“You ‘figured’, huh?!” she asked incredulously.
Yanagi scratched the back of his head as if he was embarrassed. “Yes, I did. I mean, come on.” He smiled innocently, as if he was the kind of person who wouldn’t hurt a fly and spoke casually, like they were discussing the weather. “It’s not like Katagiri-san will leave here alive anyway.”
He flipped his dagger and drove it directly into Katagiri’s chest.
“…Huh?” Katagiri said.
“…What?” Hana gasped. What was she seeing?
Katagiri gaped down at the sword plunged into his chest. “Y-Yanagi, what are you—”
“Oops, I almost forgot! You possess the strongest magic skill there is, don’t you, Katagiri-san? As distasteful as stealing is, I’ll be taking it.”
“You…what…?” he choked out. “What are you…thinking? Picking me…to plunder from…”
Katagiri never finished his sentence. The light left his eyes, and he slumped to the ground. A human being had died—right in front of her.
No way, no way, no way… This can’t be real!
Her mind scrambled as she tried to process the sight. It had to be a trick. Meanwhile, the man responsible for everything sighed as if he was bored.
“He should’ve stayed above ground,” Yanagi said. “Idiot. He could have lived. Oh, well. I’ll say a monster killed him and leave him for them to eat—Oops! Almost forgot my primary objective.”
Yanagi turned his icy gaze to Hana. She froze as if the temperature had dropped far below zero.
“On that note,” he said, “I need you to die too, Amane Hana.”
As Yanagi declared his intention to kill her, Hana’s thoughts screeched to a stop as if they’d driven into a brick wall—then flailed as they tried to claw out of the wreckage. She fumbled to speak.
“Y-you’re going to murder me…that’s really what you’re saying?” she asked.
“Yes, I am. Sorry, but the matter is settled. There’s no point to resisting”
He stepped closer. Hana could barely budge.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked. “Do you hate me?”
Apparently unhurried, he stopped and considered her question. “Hate you? I could never. No, I’m quite grateful to you. Not many people would have a unique skill like Stock that’s such a perfect fit for me.”
“…Perfect fit for you?”
“Exactly. I’d feel bad if you died with unanswered questions, so allow me to explain,” he said. “I have a unique skill myself. It’s called Plunderer, and it allows me to steal one skill from anyone I kill. So, I’m going to kill you and steal Stock.”
A unique skill. Plunderer—a skill of pure iniquity. The fact he wanted to use it on her made Hana shudder with fear.
That wasn’t all—his earlier words rang out in her memory.
“Does that mean you planned this, even the monsters?” she asked.
“That’s right. I used powerful monsters to isolate you, and now, I’ll take this opportunity to kill you and blame it on the dungeon.”
“But how?! You make it sound like you summoned the monsters—”
“Oh, I did! Heck, I can show you how.”
“Huh?!”
Yanagi brightly waved his hand in the dungeon gloom. A monster—a treant—stepped out from a portal that manifested from nothing. It was just like one of the monsters they’d defeated. Hana, petrified, stayed silent. Yanagi nodded in satisfaction.
“Manipulating monsters requires a unique skill called Tamer. Truth be told, it wasn’t mine originally. I killed the person who had it first!”
“Tamer?! You didn’t!” The skill name reminded her of a news story that had been circulating. Someone with the unique skill to manipulate monsters had gone missing inside a dungeon. “The story all over the news. You…!” she cried.
“You heard of my exploits? I’m honored! Yes, I was the killer and I claimed that skill.”
He’d killed Katagiri right in front of her, and he admitted to another murder. After all of this evidence, she couldn’t deny the truth.