Chapter 85: The Kind of Girl Who Says, “Hah… Like I’d Ever Marry You.”
“So then… what exactly was wrong with our work?”
That was the very first thing the teenage girl said after the caretaker couple had gone home.
She looked every bit like a fashionable modern teenager, with brightly dyed hair, and spoke with the easygoing attitude of someone who had only the vaguest idea why she’d been summoned.
She made absolutely no attempt to put on a “professional at work” persona.
Or perhaps…
This carefree attitude was her professional persona.
The stern-looking man beside her—presumably her father—immediately smacked her lightly on the head.
“The first thing out of your mouth should be an apology!”
“’Kay.”
“And ‘Yes, sir!’”
“Yeees.”
…What exactly were we watching?
That was the only thought that came to mind.
At the very least, Kuwajima, who had been greeted by this little comedy routine the moment the pair stepped through the entrance, could only stand there blinking in bewilderment.
I quietly studied the pair.
Both wore long-sleeved work clothes and heavy work trousers.
In the middle of summer, they looked unbearably hot.
And yet…
Compared to how they looked, neither of them seemed to be sweating very much.
“The comedy act is entertaining enough. But do you at least understand why you’ve been called here?”
“Y-Yes! We’re terribly sorry! We were informed there was some issue with our work! Please tell us exactly what the problem is!”
I deliberately let a hint of irritation creep into my voice.
The father immediately lowered himself into a respectful bow, speaking with complete humility.
His apology didn’t feel rehearsed.
There wasn’t even a trace of insincerity.
At the same time, he forcibly pushed his daughter’s head down as well, and she reluctantly followed his lead with obvious unwillingness.
Looking at them like this…
They simply appeared to be an ordinary family.
A father from a long line of gardeners, proud of the family trade.
A somewhat rebellious daughter who helped out now and then but looked like she wanted absolutely nothing to do with inheriting the business.
Perhaps it was a slightly exaggerated image…
But it was still an ordinary one.
However—
──────
Kikkōryū Hōtoku
Age: 45
Daughter: Kikkōryū Junna (looks down on him)
Occupation: Ninja 1: Gardener 9
Ratio based on salary.
Secret:
Secretly monitors his daughter’s friendships to keep tabs on her.
──────
──────
Kikkōryū Junna
Age: 17
Father: Kikkōryū Hōtoku (looks down on him)
Occupation: Ninja 2: Student 8
Ratio based on how much time she spends on each in daily life.
Secret:
She and her mother both know exactly where her father’s porn magazines are hidden.
She thinks he’s disgusting.
──────
For once…
The hallucinations were behaving like proper hallucinations.
No matter how convincingly they played their roles…
The names shown before my eyes belonged to the Kikkōryū Clan.
Wait a second.
Wasn’t the ninja percentage for these two awfully low?
Weren’t they more like ordinary civilians with a faint ninja flavor mixed in?
Then again…
The very fact that “ninja” even appeared under their occupation probably meant they were still considered fairly authentic.
Still…
If you rounded those numbers off…
The ninja part practically disappeared altogether.
I glanced sideways at Meiko.
──────
Nekoyanagi Meiko
Occupation: Ninja 5: Student 1: “Childhood Friend” 4
Ratio based on the stress she experiences in daily life.
Secret:
Her head is constantly full of thoughts about Kirishiro Gouto.
(In both good and bad ways.)
──────
“Meiko… if things ever get too hard, you can always tell me.”
“…Why are you suddenly being so nice to me in the middle of all this?”
Meiko’s ninja gradient was absurdly dense.
Round those numbers, and instead of becoming an ordinary person…
She simply became even more of a ninja.
At the very least…
I resolved to keep living an ordinary life so that someday she’d achieve a healthier balance.
Something like…
Ninja 3: Student 2: Childhood Friend 5.
Now then.
Regardless of how “lightweight” these ninjas were…
It was now beyond doubt that they belonged to the Kikkōryū Clan—the very people who had sent Meiko that challenge.
Which also meant…
They were enemies.
Enemies who had dared set their sights on my Meiko.
Perhaps…
There was no reason to treat them gently.
“All right. I’ll get straight to the point. The reason I called you here today… is because there was a serious flaw in your ‘work.’”
“…Y-Yes.”
As I let even more displeasure seep into my voice…
The father bowed even lower.
Meanwhile, the daughter merely puffed out her cheeks in annoyance.
That expression lasted…
Until I spoke my next sentence.
“Meiko belongs to me. What gave the Kikkōryū Clan the idea they could move ahead with their own plans without consulting me?”
The moment the words left my mouth…
The humble craftsman’s expression vanished.
The father’s eyes widened in alarm.
Beside him…
The daughter’s sulky lips slowly curled into a grin.
“H-Huh!? Um… s-sorry! We’re talking about work… right?”
“Don’t insult the Kirishiro family. Kikkōryū Hōtoku. Kikkōryū Junna.”
“—!”
Truthfully…
I had no idea how much the Kirishiro family officially knew.
Father might not care.
Mother, on the other hand…
She was probably well aware of families like the Kikkōryū Clan and likely had an entire list compiled somewhere.
Even so…
Under ordinary circumstances, this was a perfectly ordinary event.
Which meant it was a perfectly ordinary problem for me to solve myself.
Let’s call it another time-saving measure.
“See!? I knew you called us here because you figured it out, Dad!”
“…Pointless conflict…”
“Talking things out isn’t really our style!”
“Wha—!?”
Even after I revealed their names…
The father remained frozen.
The daughter, however…
The moment she realized the disguise was pointless, she moved.
Instantly.
She pulled what looked like a collapsible baton from beneath her work clothes and lunged straight toward me, aiming to seize me before anyone could react.
I see.
So they understood.
They knew I was Meiko’s weak point.
Her speed was impressive.
Very impressive.
But not so fast that I couldn’t follow it with my eyes.
Still…
There was no need for me to move.
Neither Kuwajima nor Taketsuru, who stood nearby, reacted.
Probably because they knew someone else would.
Only one person moved.
“What exactly do you think you’re doing?”
I had been able to follow the girl’s charge.
Her baton.
Her footsteps.
Everything.
But after that—
I completely lost sight of Meiko.
The last thing I saw was the baton hurtling toward me.
The next instant…
The baton was spinning high through the air.
And the girl herself had already been slammed violently onto the entrance floor.
“Ghah…”
“Don’t move.”
The baton finally clattered back to the ground.
Meiko casually stepped on it.
Or rather…
She stepped on the baton, pinning it against Junna’s neck.
One tiny shift of her weight…
And she could snap the girl’s neck whenever she pleased.
Throughout the entire exchange…
Meiko never even looked at Junna.
She’d dealt with the attack using only her peripheral vision.
Her gaze had remained fixed on the father the whole time.
Had he moved in coordination with his daughter…
She would have disposed of Junna with the same detached efficiency before immediately turning her attention to him.
Her command—
“Don’t move.”
—had clearly been directed at both of them.
“…Please. Wait. We have no intention of fighting.”
“If you had no intention of fighting, then how exactly do you plan to explain what your daughter just did? Is there any outcome that would satisfy us? If Gouto-kun had so much as a scratch on him, I’d have already crushed her throat.”
“Th-That… I…”
Completely overwhelmed by Meiko’s pressure…
The father’s confidence crumbled.
His voice grew weaker by the second.
Sweat that hadn’t existed moments earlier now poured down his face.
He looked troubled.
Panicked.
And judging from his expression…
His daughter’s attack genuinely hadn’t been part of the plan.
“Meiko. It seems he truly does want to talk.”
“…But…”
She looked like she still had plenty to say.
Instead…
I simply reached over and lightly patted her on the head.
“I’m glad you’re so eager to protect me. But you’re my childhood friend, remember? You don’t have to go quite that far. Let her stand up for now.”
“…Yes, sir.”
Obediently, Meiko kicked the baton aside before hauling Junna back onto her feet.
She didn’t untie her, though.
After looking once more at the deeply troubled father…
And the still openly defiant daughter…
I decided to address the girl first.
“So. Why’d you lose control?”
“Hmph!”
“So you don’t intend to talk.”
Junna deliberately turned her head away without answering.
I could almost feel Meiko’s mood darken another notch.
But my eyes…
were no longer looking directly at Junna.
They were fixed slightly above her head.
──────
Kikkōryū Junna
Motive:
Kikkōryū Terumi, the young heir of the Kikkōryū Clan, and Junna are childhood friends of the same age.
Junna has long harbored feelings for Terumi, and throughout the clan there had always been an unspoken assumption that the two of them would eventually marry.
Then news arrived concerning Nekoyanagi Meiko and Inugashi Kaito.
If Meiko was truly unattached now…
Then from the elders’ perspective, bringing outside blood into the clan—and acquiring Meiko’s abilities—made her an extremely attractive marriage candidate.
Furthermore…
There may, or may not, be another hidden objective behind this marriage arrangement.
As a result…
The clan unanimously approved the operation to win Meiko as a bride through a formal duel.
Junna, however, absolutely refused to accept it.
So…
She intentionally leaked information to the caretaker.
Her goal was to ensure she would reach Meiko before anyone else in the clan.
Then, upon meeting her…
She planned to defeat Meiko personally and prove she herself was the superior bride.
At the very least…
She believed she could prove Meiko lacked the ability to become Terumi’s wife.
Unfortunately…
Junna’s abilities weren’t even remotely close to Meiko’s.
Hence the current situation.
Additional Notes:
Incidentally… Her father has no idea she’s in love.
In fact… No one in the clan realizes she’s hopelessly infatuated with Terumi.
If anything… Some members are pushing this marriage arrangement because they genuinely believe it’ll be better for Junna’s future.
The reason being… She’s the type who bullies the person she likes.
The kind of girl who’d say,
“Hah… Like I’d ever marry you.”
──────
I understood the situation now.
The hallucinations were, once again, being annoyingly vague to avoid spoiling too much.
But when you boiled everything down…
It was simply a love triangle gone wrong.
So Junna was likely the key figure in this entire ninja incident.
Still…
That little supplemental note made me suspect things wouldn’t proceed quite so smoothly.
First…
I’d have to get Junna to stop being stubborn.
Girls like her…
The more directly someone pointed out their feelings…
The more fiercely they’d deny them.
That much was true.
Not only according to textbook light novels…
But according to my own experience as well.
So what should I do?
“Meiko. Hang Kikkōryū Junna from the clothesline outside until she decides to be honest. Put some clear tape over her eyes while you’re at it. She’ll crack before the day’s over.”
“Roger.”
“…Huh…? W-What?”
Things escalated from interrogation…
To torture…
So smoothly that even Junna herself seemed completely bewildered.
Had she really thought she could attack me…
And simply walk away afterward?
As an ordinary protagonist, I naturally believed violence was wrong.
However…
Using methods other than violence to make someone talk still fell comfortably within the bounds of normality.
Or so I believed.
“All right. Before your daughter dries out like jerky, I suppose I’ll extract the information from her father instead.”
“…Please… I’ll tell you everything. Could you spare my daughter?”
“The moment she’s willing to answer honestly, I fully intend to let her go.”
And so…
After leaving the bound kunoichi outside in the garden, suspended like a whole roasted pig until she became more cooperative…
We sat down with her father to hear the full story, while Junna’s muffled cries of “Mmph! Mmph!” echoed in the background like oddly appropriate background music.
Though…
The explanation hardly differed from what the hallucinations had already shown me.
Twenty minutes hanging from a pole…
Hmm.
She still looked stubborn enough to hold out a while longer.