Part 67: Doomsayer

Part 67 - Doomsayer






"I can't keep up with her anymore. I leave the rest to you.... haa."

He sighed, sounding like he was through with it all, and he made as if to leave the hospital room--





"I won't let you escape."
"Haa? What, you gonna pay attention to me now?"
"Yes. I will."




Misumi-kun seemed immensely bothered by having her unilaterally append that kind of description to him. His was the common-sense reaction.

It wouldn't have been entertaining, even as a joke.

Yet Ayase was serious.



As she called my name, Ayase tossed over a fruit knife that must have been concealed under her sheets.

Startled and panicking, I caught it. Thank goodness the blade had a cover on it, or otherwise I'd have been in danger of getting my hand cut.





What was going on with this crazy development.... Discombobulated, knife in hand, I went into a dither.

OST: Silence

"Hey, hey...."
"Now you're saying to kill me, huh. Circumstances aside, isn't that pretty mean?"
"Meh, I knew you didn't like me. But man, I didn't think you'd say something like that to my face."
"And so, um, what was it again? Graviton? Grabbit?"
"Not that I have any clue what you mean."
"Taku, just put the knife down for now. Don't play along with Kishimoto's delusions."




Expression strained, Misumi-kun took a step back from Ayase.




"........."



"Takumi...."
"Th, the things you're saying.... they're beyond ridiculous...."



She looked up at me with sorrowful eyes. I can't kill Misumi-kun just because you're looking at me like that, you know?

It had nothing to do with Gladioul or whatever.

If I murdered someone, I'd be a criminal. No, thanks. That was all it boiled down to.



Misumi-kun patted me on the shoulder.

OST End




"Bye now, you freaky bitch."

With flowing movements, he took the cover off the blade and made it flash.





Ayase's eyes, wide with shock, were watching me.

Her body slowly fell back upon the bed. The sheets, once pure white, began to soak themselves scarlet.

OST: Gradually panic



I couldn't even raise a scream.

"Which means Kishimoto was in the right."




Even then, her body didn't so much as twitch.

Misumi-kun, turning back to look at me, smiled viciously and murmured:

OST End





A delusion....?

I let out a deep, deep breath. I'd had a pretty awful vision....

Experiencing some guilt over it, I internally apologized to Ayase.

As always, she went on talking about her crazy fantasies without noticing how I felt.



"They have already gathered in Shibuya. The seven black knights."
"All that remains is for every one of them to awaken."







"You know, Taku, up until now, my policy was to let anything slide as long as the girl's cute."
"But I was wrong. I can't face up to such a severe head case...."
"I'm just gonna stay true to myself and go after Kozue-chan, dude."
"........."

I thought that in itself was kind of questionable. Since Misumi-kun did have a proper girlfriend and all.

"You're amazing. For real."



"I didn't hold out for three minutes.... Me! Ya know what that means!?"



Half-heartedly letting his words flow by, I walked along, wary of our surroundings.

Then I caught sight of Rimi standing dazedly in front of the outpatient lobby.

A cool wind made her hair stir against the side of her face, which lacked its usual good cheer. She seemed to be brooding, somehow, as she gazed up at the dusky sky.






Well, I couldn't very well hold her close or anything next, so all I really did was run to her.




"I didn't know where her hospital room was. I wandered all over the place."
"You guys are awful, ditching me like that."

Rimi made a show of pretending to cry.

"You're the one who told us to go on ahead."
"Aha. So I did."
"So, did you get to see Kishimoto-san?"



"Kishimoto bitch-slapped you, didn't she?"
"Eh....?"
"I, I wooonder what you're talking about--?"

Apparently Rimi wanted to hide the fact that Ayase had hit her.

Even though I'd thought we were gonna avoid bringing it up. Misumi-kun, learn to read between the lines.

"No point in tryin' to hide it. I saw the whole thing from start to finish. Like a nosy housekeeper."
"....Ehhh. What, so you found out."

Sighing uncomfortably, crestfallen, she looked tentatively up at my face from below.

"Did you see it too, Taku?"
"Er.... um...."
"Yup. Taku and I got a good hard look at the decisive moment."

D, don't say it....



"When I went to the roof, Kishimoto-san happened to be up there. So I ended up asking her about something bothering me."
"Seems like I ruffled her feathers."

Something bothering her....?

"Whaddaya mean, something bothering you."





Positive, Negative or Neutral?