Chapter 23: An Unpleasant Story
“It was definitely Sakashita-san.”
“I know Sakashita-san died. The god made an announcement about it.”
That was true.
That was how we knew the corpse was Sakashita-san—the girl who had disappeared three years ago and hadn’t left much of an impression on us.
“She hadn’t been dead for that long. But her body had suffered severe injuries, and it didn’t look like an accident. Those wounds weren’t from monsters or animals either. I realized she had been killed by a human.”
I could tell that much.
Death had always been close in the other world.
“I see… Was it a bandit or something?”
“We thought so too. We were stronger than ordinary people because we had jobs and skills, but even so, we already understood that when your time came, you could still die.”
Although, we only truly understood that in the real sense two years later…
“So what about Sakashita-san?”
“After that, we headed to a nearby town. There, we saw a classmate with an incredible amount of magic power. His eyes were empty, and there was something unsettling about him.”
“That person was…”
Ayaka seemed to understand.
“We don’t know if it was actually true, but that was our judgment, so we escaped from the area.”
“Who was it?”
“Yamane.”
His first name was… what was it again?
“Yamane-kun… I never really talked to him.”
“Me neither. It was only for about a month, but I never saw him talking with anyone.”
We had been in different classes during our first year too, so I didn’t know much about him.
Well, there were several people like that.
We had become second-years in April, and we were transported to the other world less than a month later, so we hadn’t really had time to get used to our new classes.
Even I had still mostly hung out with Minato, Riku, and Shota—the people who had been in my class during the first year—and we naturally formed the same party after being transported.
“What happened with Yamane-kun?”
“He might have been in that red-light district earlier.”
“What? He was there?”
“When we were about to leave the street, I put my arm around your shoulder, remember? That was when. I felt a bad presence coming from the shop on the right. It was the same feeling I had back then.”
I hadn’t sensed any magic power.
However, just like we could do, magic power could be concealed.
“…Do you know what weapon he had?”
“Not a chance. I only saw him that one time, and I don’t know anything about his weapon.”
I had only seen him in town.
“Hmm… Let’s trust Yuu-kun’s instincts and assume that the person there earlier was Yamane-kun. Then there’s certainly a possibility that Spear Guy is Yamane-kun.”
I thought so too.
“There’s no proof that Yamane killed Sakashita-san. There’s no proof that he’s Spear Guy either. There’s even a possibility that the bad feeling I had earlier was just my imagination. But we should still retreat. We can’t take any more risks.”
“That’s true… I think that’s the right choice.”
Ayaka nodded.
“I agree too. From what I’ve heard, there’s a high chance that Spear Guy is that person. More importantly, when something like this happens, you act while assuming the worst.”
Elvis was right.
“I’ll say this assuming the worst-case scenario. When I heard that someone could steal mana and become stronger, that person was the first one who came to mind. And there’s one thing he absolutely must know.”
That by killing someone, you could take their mana…
And that if you wanted to take mana efficiently, you shouldn’t target monsters or ordinary people—you should target someone specific…
“Yeah… We lost him, right?”
Ayaka stood up and quietly looked outside through the curtain.
“Probably. He didn’t seem like he was following us, and I don’t think he noticed us.”
“Let’s leave early tomorrow. Um… let me check the first train…”
Ayaka returned to the bed and started searching on her phone.
“Yuu, there’s one more thing you need to mention. What exactly was the condition of that Sakashita girl’s body?”
When Elvis asked that, Ayaka raised her head and looked at me.
“Her clothes were disturbed… or maybe torn apart…”
It was like everything had been scattered around…
“You assumed Yamane was the culprit, and that’s also why you covered Ayaka so she couldn’t be seen earlier, right?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded, and Ayaka lowered her eyes back to her phone.
“I see… We need to share this with Mayumi and Hina too. Actually, I guess this confirms it. We can’t trust the other classmates.”
I felt the same way.
“Yeah. What time are we leaving tomorrow?”
“6 o’clock. Is waking up at 5 okay?”
“The earlier, the better. Let’s do that.”
“Alright, then let’s sleep early. I’m going to take a bath.”
Ayaka headed toward the bathroom.
“Elvis, sorry about making you sleep on the floor.”
“It’s fine. Actually, we should sleep in the same room. The most dangerous time is when we’re asleep.”
That was true.
The thing we had to be careful about was a surprise attack.
Especially a nighttime attack.
That was the first thing I learned while traveling through the other world.
After waiting for a while, Ayaka came out after changing into her pajamas. Then I went in next, and finally Elvis took his turn.
After that, we decided to go to sleep early and lay down—me and Ayaka on the beds, and Elvis on the floor.
“Elvis, are you really okay with this? If you want, you can use my room instead…”
Ah, having him sleep in her room was also an option.
“I’m fine. Right now, we don’t know what could happen. If you two get attacked and have to escape somewhere, I’d be left stranded right in the middle of enemy territory. For now, I should stay with you guys.”
That made sense.
“Elvis, thank you.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
Things had been going smoothly because of Elvis.
“Don’t worry about it. This is way more enjoyable than when I was farming in the mountains. The cup ramen was delicious too.”
It really was good.
“Elvis, how about you come with us to Tokyo? I’ll give you mana along the way.”
“That doesn’t sound bad. I want to see Mount Fuji.”
“You’ll be able to see it on the way.”
If it was Mount Fuji, we could normally see it if we got close enough to the area. We could even make a stop there if we wanted.
“Well, for now, we should return to Beppu and head to Kokura. I’ll at least stick with you until then.”
“Thanks.”
“Yeah. Go to sleep.”
We closed our eyes and soon fell asleep.