Chapter 11: Volume 3 6

A liar is the end of a human.

1

Now then, the course of events had caused me to betray Hime-chan, but -- now then now then, what to do. Well, of course, that strategy called for me to get through that instance using violence, but now -- a now in which I was walking around a completely unfamiliar school building in the name of guiding Shiogi-chan to Aikawa-san's place -- was a very half-assed situation.

In other words, right now, I could go either way. I could lead Shiogi-chan to a completely irrelevant place, and I could also head toward the dean's room with Aikawa-san, where Hime-chan had headed. If I wanted to betray I could betray, and if I wanted to penetrate I could penetrate. This was a beautifully set up case of two options on the extremes.

That said--

"No matter what I choose, the conclusion is the same."

"Did you say something?"

"No, not really."

"More importantly, are they really in this building? Yukariki ran in a completely different direction, I think."

"That was a fake. Hime-chan probably thought I would get beat up quickly."

"Hmm... is that so."

Despite the future being set, the reason I was wavering in my decision -- would be this Shiogi-chan. I was able to settle her down somewhat, but she had been acting somewhat distant for a while. Of course, we are strangers, so acting distant is quite ordinary, but something about it was unnatural.

And there was the matter of Tamamo-chan. Tamamo-chan, who was brutally killed and then used as a tool. I was now walking beside that person who used her as a tool. I do not think I would have ever been able to like Tamamo-chan, but still.

And then the matter of the dean -- was it right to say that Shiogi-chan was behind it? At the very least, I currently suspected her. Like Tamamo-chan -- no, Origami Noa had been even more brutally dismembered, and then had her head hung. If that was a rebellion by the strategist, then was this Hagihara Shiogi, walking next to me, simply playing me the fool? Or perhaps as a strategist she knew everything and remained silent nonetheless.

I had nothing to back up either thought.

Phew. Thinking began to exhaust me. It was a pain, and I wondered about just continuing to betray. At this rate, I felt like I could become good friends with Shiogi-chan, and taking on Aikawa-san sounded like fun. And Aikawa-san was basically the same whether she was an enemy or friend, anyways. Shiogi-chan's hair is so beautiful, too. I wonder if she would be angry if I touched it.

"What are you staring at me for? How impolite."

Shiogi-chan stopped walking, and turned to me with a suspecting look. She seemed to have sensed my killing (?) intent. Nevertheless, human relations valued first impressions heavily.

"No, not really. It is nothing."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really. But Shiogi-chan."

Your hair is beautiful, I was about to say, but I caught myself at the last moment. This was Shiogi-chan, she must have heard such praise many times in her life. In that case, the probability of her just ignoring me was high, and there was the danger of her looking at me like a below-average, pathetic boy. In that case, I would require an opinion from a different perspective.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Shiogi-chan, you have big breasts."

Shiogi-chan tripped.

... It was the first time I had seen a human trip on flat ground.

Shiogi-chan stood up with her face completely red to her ears, and she glared forcefully, but her mouth simply opened and closed over and over again and she ended up not saying anything, instead whirling her pretty hair around and strutting straight down the hallway. Hmm, it appears I had failed (I was meaning to, anyways).

Oh well. Human relations are all about giving up.

"Ah, yes," after some walking, Shiogi-chan said, as if she had just remembered. "I had not asked for your name, yet. Not having something to call you with is inconvenient, so if you would please tell me."

"Ahh. I have given my real name--"

Then.

As I was about to answer absent-mindedly, I looked out the window toward the campus grounds. We were currently on the second floor so we were not that high -- not that high, and that was the reason. Not that high, and that was reason that I saw Yukariki Ichihime meandering about in the bushes between the two buildings.

"....."

Why was she there? Enough time had passed for her to have reached the faculty building... I could not think of the reason for her to be wandering about in such an odd place. Hime-chan soon disappeared amid the trees -- but I was not seeing things.

"... Is there something wrong?"

"No, umm... umm."

Could it be that she was worried about me again, and that was why? She had become worried, but when she returned I was no longer in the courtyard, so she was looking for Shiogi-chan and I?

What a -- what a bothersome fool. This was beyond just being a busybody. Even if I have a latent ability to gather the strange, the weird, and the insane to me, I am not valuable enough to fret over to this extent. I even said to leave it to me. How much does she need to be like that? Shit... I had finally become irritated.

"Um, I want to know your name."

"..... Yeah. Name... name, name..."

Shiogi-chan had not noticed Hime-chan yet. If she did, she would certainly jump out this window. But I would need Shiogi-chan to deal with Aikawa Jun. Hime-chan, too, had not noticed us. If she had, she would not be wandering around there.

Then..... then I shall continue to be a scammer.

"Then let me make this a quiz." I turned my body to avoid letting her see outside. "I will give you a hint, so Shiogi-chan can try to guess my name."

"Oh. That's a good idea. I love that stuff."

I hate them, but of course I do not say that.

"How many hints?"

"Three. Three times, you can ask me questions. As long as it is not directly asking for my name or anything like that, you can ask anything."

"Mmhmm. Alright, I shall accept that challenge."

And then Shiogi-chan thought for a moment.

She forgot about Hime-chan and thought.

"Then, question one. Tell me all of your nicknames."

"Nicknames?"

"Yukariki calls you Master, Overkilled Red calls you Ii-tan, right? Those."

"Ahh. The aliases I am called currently are Master and Ii-tan, and otherwise Ikkun The letter I Ii-nii Ino Inosuke, User of Nonsense and Scammer, I think."

"Most of that isn't very appealing... is "I" the keyword?"

"Is that question?"

"No, just a confirmation. In that case, why does Yukariki call you Master?"

"Who knows... I would like to know that myself. Maybe because she is the apprentice of the user of nonsense?"

"Huh... well then, next question. If you romanize your name, how many vowels and consonants do you have?"

Woah. This was just play to keep Shiogi-chan's attention, but I had to stop an admire her. As you would expected of a Strategist - she asked good questions. That she did not ask for the number of letters was cunning.

"Eight vowels, seven consonants."

"Hmm, I see. Then the last question. If you are to use 1 for あ, 2 for い, 3 for う... and then 46 for ん, what would be the sum for your name?"

I felt like she just checkmated me. She thinks fast.

"134."

"What a strange name."

Shiogi-chan laughed in amusement.

"Who knows. Perhaps it could be a fake name. I actually am proud of the fact that I have only told my real name once."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. And, although you are probably thinking correctly, you should not call me by that name. There are three who have called me by my real name to date, and not one is still living."

"..... Just three?"

"One was Ii Harukana. That would be my little sister. She died when two airplanes ran into each other. One was Kunagisa Tomo. She was my friend. She is living but not living, dead but not dead. One was Omokage Magokoro. That was... well, what shall we say. After having her body fiddled with in human experiments, she burned to death in crimson fire."

"Because they called you by your name?"

"I think so."

"... Then what shall I call you?"

"Whatever you please..."

I said, and I glanced out the window. Alright, Hime-chan was gone. It did not seem like she was hiding anywhere, either. It seemed we had successfully avoided her sight.

... What was I doing? I was still in limbo, not having decided whether to keep betraying or not, yet I spontaneously decided to let Hime-chan go, so what was I doing? Very strange. I even spoke unnecessarily.

I even had to remember three bad things. I had forgotten about them, too.

..... No.

I had never forgotten.

I did not need to remember, because, I always thought of them.

"Ah, speaking of which, excuse me for a moment."

Shiogi-chan took that thing that looked like a cell phone from her pocket, the same type that Tamamo-chan had carried.

"Yes -- yes. I am currently executing my next strategy -- I gained an accomplice. Yes, leave it to me -- I am currently at --"

Checking in. The exchange of information is important to both parties, so this was necessary. If soldiers went left and right and did whatever they wanted on the battlefield, there would be no war. However, with the dean now dead, who was on the receiving end of the communication? Someone from the faculty, or perhaps that Zig Zag--

"Then excuse me, dean."

Said Shiogi-chan as she cut her phone.

I, of course, hid my surprise from my face. However, inside I felt like a whirlwind of confusion. Why do things keep giving me new things to ponder? What'd she just say? Who was she just calling?

For instance, there is someone else who goes by "dean" -- no, the possibility exists that Shiogi-chan was acting just now -- but what necessity for acting is there?

Then Shiogi-chan is not the suspect -- if she does not know of the dean's death. Come to think of it, my suspicion of her had neither reason nor evidence. I had simply thought so because the dean had been dismembered like Tamamo-chan. But, if I think about it some more--

"Shiogi-chan. This time I will ask the question... did you kill Saijou Tamamo?"

"Huh?" said Shiogi-chan with an utterly shocked look. "Why would I, this Hagihara Shiogi, need to kill an ally?"

"... Well, because. You put just her head out in the courtyard..."

"Oh please, don't say such weird things. I do not have the technique to do such a thing. Only Zig Zag could do that."

Ahh, come to think of it, the dean's neck and Tamamo-chan's neck had been cut differently. The dean had been abrasively cut -- but Tamamo-chan's neck had a very clean, smooth cut. Hime-chan had said -- the stringmaster Zig Zag. The eccentric that could use rope that was only meaningful to us as a rappelling tool for killing--

"Killing allies is nonsense. I simply used a head that was rolling about when I had run over for my next strategy."

"....."

I thought that was odd, too. But perhaps there was no helping it given that she is a Strategist. It seemed Shiogi-chan was missing some human-like attributes. You could even say that it is the fault of the Hanging High School, but I felt like there was also something fundamentally off about her, too.

However, it is because of this Shiogi-chan the strategist -- that indeed, to meaninglessly kill an ally -- to reduce the number of pieces is unthinkable. Just the way there is no professional who refuses to use knights just because they are useless.

In other words, Zig Zag is the extreme opposite of the strategist, more like Tamamo-chan than Shiogi-chan -- a berserker.

Then what happens? The problem about the sealed room. The problem about the dismembered body. Given the cuts, the dean's murder was not the doing of Zig Zag. There is a different suspect. Shiogi-chan -- the reason to suspect her, the killing of Tamamo-chan was not her, so she is improbable. And there is no reason to suspect Tamamo-chan given that she is already dead.

The suspect must be a faculty, after all? Speaking of which, it is rather suspicious that not a single one has appeared so far. If one of them had eliminated the dean and was controlling Shiogi-chan -- if the strategist Shiogi-chan was being controlled like a puppet whose neck was hanging from a string.

The school was in the midst of a power struggle.

Is -- anticlimactic. Not a hope of pieces. For something like that, Shiogi-chan and I, and Hime-chan and Tamamo-chan, and Aikawa Jun had been dragged into this mess - and then. And then they would get away with it, was that what they thought?

Their false hopes -- needed to be corrected.

"Is something wrong? You've suddenly gone quiet."

"No, not really. Suddenly going quiet is a hobby of mine. By the way, Shiogi-chan. Let us continue the quiz. Shiogi-chan, do you read mystery novels?"

"For what purpose?"

Shiogi-chan tilted her head to the side.

"Uh, ... like, killing time. Or for studying, or something..."

"To study from books... "Inspiration is greater when drawn from a living person than writing," said Tayama Katai."

"The subtitle being Throw away writing was quite cool, but you read Tayama Katai?"

"Yes, as is normal for a high school student, no?"

She said it as if it were normal.

"... Then, a quiz. For instance..."

I hid the fact that it was the truth from Shiogi-chan (of course, I would not tell her that Hime-chan was the person I spoke of), I told her about the dean's dismemberment sealed room mystery. The steel door that could not be opened, the corpse inside, dismemberment, the neck hanging from the ceiling. The double-locked windows, the top-most floor. The one-way ventilation.

"... How simple," Shiogi-chan said. "What about that is a quiz?"

"Is it simple?"

Of course, this question was to hear Shiogi-chan's opinion, but it was also to try to see some sort of reaction if Shiogi-chan were indeed the suspect. However, there was no visible sense of anxiety in Shiogi-chan. She just looked disappointed, having expected a difficult question.

"Then, the answer?"

"The door was simply not locked to begin with," Shiogi-chan matter-of-factly said. "What you just told me, you simply thought it was locked to begin with, but no one ever tried, right? Then, you simply thought of a sealed room as a sealed room."

Someone once said, When I determine whether this is a sealed room or not, there are two possibilities. That it is a sealed room, or that it is not. I see, just because it looked like a sealed room did not necessitate that it actually was. That was a common deception.

If you try to hide a lie with a lie, the lie ends up becoming apparent. Then if you make a big lie from the start, then you no longer need to falsify afterwards -- or something? If the door was just closed from the start, and had not been locked, then anyonecould kill the dean. Then it being a sealed room was simply our mistake, and--

"No, that is wrong."

If the first person to the scene had been Hime-chan or I, then Shiogi-chan's answer could be correct. But there was another, Aikawa Jun. It was impossible for Aikawa Jun be there and make such a rookie mistake.

"Is that so? Then -- yes. The crime may not have taken place there. Dismembered, and then from a nook somewhere -- for example the ventilation shaft, it could be thrown in from the adjacent room. The ventilation shaft means that you do not need to enter the room, and you can easily tie the hair to the fan."

"But the fan only opens from inside."

"That is why that is an example. Even if it is different, a dismembered body can find plenty of nooks and crannies to find its way inside, right? Like a dust chute, or the water works."

"Hmmm..."

"Or perhaps just a copy key."

That, too, had no dreams or hopes, nor even any courage to solve the problem. Although you could say that seeking such things in a story about a person's death is the oddity.

In the end, I felt I was at a dead end. I even wanted to borrow the paw of a cat. How would Hime-chan mistake that saying?

... Hm?

Just now. I felt like I was about to think of something.

"Oh well, forget that quiz then. I apologize for asking something so boring. Regardless, this school is quite odd..."

"Really? I quite like it."

"... Have you never thought that you may have lived a normal life?"

"What other life could have satisfied my skills as a strategist?" Shiogi-chan laughed. "Just as your Aimless Equation has no role anywhere -- oh, speaking of which. You went to a normal high school?"

"No, I even dropped out of obligatory education. And then..." she would know about ER3, but I decided it would be better to not bring it up. "... well, I took an exam, and now I'm a student at a university."

"Is that the truth?"

"I am not lying. I simply did not say the truth."

"If you are trying to fool the other, then are they not the same?"

Time and place and thing and following, a conversation between a strategist and a scammer that had nothing to do with any of those. Lying, fooling, deceiving, defrauding, exaggerating, covering, and hiding. Is there allowed to be a conversation so disjointed?

"Shiogi-chan, do you have a dream for your future?"

"The future simply has reality. Indeed, if I can manage to graduate, I will probably work for Rule."

"Rule... hearing that makes me feel exhausted. And then in the end you become Zhuge Liang or Hannibal? I feel like a girl's happiness can be found elsewhere."

"Oh. What an archaic opinion. Are you telling me to become a housewife?"

"I am not saying something like that. I am simply saying that going to a place like that is obviously a path to misfortune. But as you wish... being blessed is in the eye of the beholder -- more importantly."

A pointless buying of time, as we climbed the stairs to the next floor, and then walked down the hall of that floor, I asked Shiogi-chan. But this time, it was something I really wanted to know.

"If I were to keep bringing you to Aikawa-san, what do you intend to do? I do not think that a strategist like yourself intends to challenge mankind's strongest without any plan, but I also cannot imagine any strategy for dealing with the one-man astro army."

Any physical means would not work against Aikawa-san. And underhandedness and trickery would never reach her either. To hurt Aikawa-san, even this scammer could not think of a means. As Shiogi-chan said, perhaps if she found out that I was atraitor, she may be shocked just a little, but that would soon be transferred to a forward-thinking energy. That was how enormous Aikawa-san was.

"A strategy -- I have a tactic, at least."

Shiogi-chan said with confidence.

"Overkilled Red may be mankind's strongest contractor but she is not a contractor that is mankind's strongest -- that would be my target."

"... Mmhmm."

"Even if my opponent is mankind's strongest, my name is Hagihara Shiogi. Even devils all flee before me. I shall put on full display, fair and square, without minding the means, unexpected strikes from straight ahead."

Did that mean that she intended to go behind Aikawa-san's back? I felt like she has no rear side, no weakness, no hypocrisy, so that would be very difficult--

But then I realized. Indeed. That sealed room. My thoughts returned to that. Indeed, no matter how meticulous a suspect had created that sealed room, they were going against Aikawa Jun. Aikawa Jun has no weakness nor hypocrisy -- no impossibility or strangeness. She was simply illogical. Solving sealed room mysteries a generation old before they are created was Aikawa Jun. Whether that sealed room was the door just being open or something else did not matter. It would never work on Aikawa-san.

Yet Aikawa-san had not figured it out yet.

"Why...?"

Why could that be. That was most illogical. For mankind's strongest to not be able to figure that out is the most unfair of rule-breaking. A detective that did not solve a mystery, a serial killer that does not kill people, a user of nonsense that works for others, it was filled with paradox.

Then -- no, because. That dismembered body held a simple meaning in its shape? Origami Noa's body was minced with a chainsaw -- or rather, zig zag'd.

Reconstructing... close... similar... and then compilation.

And then simultaneously, I thought of something more important. The falseness that would blow away the sealed room. I arrived at a fundamental place when I reversed from the truth.

The content of Shiogi-chan's response when I asked about Tamamo-chan's death.

'Oh please, don't say such weird things. I do not have the technique to do such a thing. Only 'Zig Zag' could do that.' -- 'Oh please, don't say such weird things.'

As if I had mistaken something that I should obviously know. Come to think of it, Tamamo-chan had also said such a thing. That feeling of misplacement, the meaning that is born from the misunderstanding -- that if the third-year student Shisei Yuma did not exist--

Already.

If I already know Zig Zag -- but not a reason that I did not notice, but rather a reason that I could not notice, then -- a lie.

That I was deceived.

"-- No way."

That voice was not mine, but that of Shiogi-chan. She had stopped walking behind me, and -- her face was ashen. Her eyes were faded. She had an expression of shock -- of despair. I could not understand why she made such an expression, and my thoughts temporarily ceased.

"... What is it, Shiogi-chan?"

"That quiz -- the dean?"

"--!"

Extreme regret. Shoot -- she figured it out.

Indeed, the truth that someone of my level could arrive at, there was no reason that the strategist of this school, Hagihara Shiogi could not. She had backtracked from my words, and from my attitude as I nonchalantly posed the quiz to her -- and recognized that an incident had occurred, and recognized what the incident was. Reverse engineering is the expertise of strategists. Despite having realized time and again that this girl is a strategist -- I still underestimated it. With just that little shred of information, she was able to grasp the entirety.

Such intellect.

Such sad, unfortunate intellect.

"Wa- no. But -- the dean, the wireless."

Shiogi-chan had a half-laughing expression, like a ghost. There was not a trace of her prior elegance, as she wobbled to me - closer. As if she was looking for saving. As if she wanted a hug.

I felt conflicted. Should I lie? Could I cover this up by lying? Even if I could manipulate where Shiogi-chan went, would I be able to manipulate the truth that Shiogi-chan had arrived at? No, this was not a matter of could or could not -- it was a matter of do, or do not.

Do I layer more lies to her?

Even though it is not nonsense?

"Hey, ... my--" her voice trailed after each word as she asked. "Is my mother, --"

"Yeah. For a while now, she has been killed."

The scammer did not lie.

2

But the impact on Shiogi-chan was probably greater the next moment.

Fwip fwip fwip -- it sounded.

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I heard a moaning sound as if the air were being sliced -- and then, the right wrist that was flailing to grab my chest

rip

it seemed, as if just a part had fallen off, to be pulled from the arm -- and then the the wrist having lost its root spun around and around in the air like it was just sliding on a surface it spun around around and around, and then it thudded onto the dark, unlighted hallway floor.

"-- what."

Shiogi-chan looked at her wrist with dazed eyes. And then she saw her right arm, which was missing the end. She did not scream. She even repressed making a hurt sound. She simply kept her eyes moving -- and turned around.

It was too dark to see. Deep and unpleasant darkness. And a girl wearing black stepped out from that darkness--

"I guess I was found out--"

Along with that line.

"The more you plan, the more you succumb to your plan -- just as Jun-san said. Really, really, I am a failure; this was a miscalculation; there were too many unexpected happenings -- Hagihara-san and Saijou-chan of course, but Master, you know, was too much of a miscalculation. I figured Jun-san might use an assistant but... I never thought it would be someone like this."

With a melancholic smile, --Yukariki Ichihime appeared.

"Ah... gh--"

Even though her wrist had been ripped off, Shiogi-chan never wavered -- and charged at Hime-chan. Their distance was nothing like nine steps, it was further. And that long range -- for Hime-chan.

For Zig Zag, it was futile.

Hime-chan shook her head slowly, as if thinking there's no helping it, then. And then she showed her hand that was covered by a black glove to Shiogi-chan and I.

"The more you plan, the more you succumb to your plan -- that's why."

And then like the conductor of an orchestra.

She flicked her fingers -- and dropped the finale.

"Your line of thought, snaps here."

Fwip -- at the same time I thought I heard that sound Shiogi-chan's body went twang and stopped in mid-air, but even that was but an instant, as by the time one finished blinking -- her body became pieces and zig zags -- minced apart. Like a pile of blocks had crumbled, the head and chest and torso and shoulders and arms and hand and fingers and pelvis and butt and legs and feet, one by one in proper order splattered about the ground in a circle, and finally, blood began splurting.

It was the second time, so I was barely able to track it with my sight. The extremely thin lines crawling about the air like living beings. Blood sparkled and glittered. Darkness glowed and glittered. And then again, fwip fwip -- it sounded.

It was the sound of Hime-chan recovering the string.

"-- in the end, strategy cannot suppress a berserker, senpai. If you wanted to live through this, then you needed to seal my arms and legs with a surprise attack like the first time -- or decide this outside, where I have to land my string on you directly. You had that chance twice, yet let me go both times -- so you lost, Hagihara-san."

And then Hime-chan said, "However."

"I don't get it... for a strategist of your level, to wander into the enemy zone this stupidly. You were like a high school girl in a RomCom, it was pathetic. ... Not that it matters to me."

She finished speaking to Shiogi-chan's rolling head, and then Hime-chan turned to me. A smile, filled with melancholy.

"I want to thank you... but it seems like you did not come to help me."

"Nope nope," Hime-chan nodded. "Hagihara-san, ended up realizing. Hime-chan, wanted to avoid killing students as much as possible--"

"You already killed one. Tamamo-chan."

"Ahh. Yeah, true."

As if she had completely forgotten.

"Right. Witnesses, are a bother."

Yes -- Zig Zag. That time, when we had rappelled from the school, she had acted like she was recovering her string, but she was probably actually pulling the wire she had wrapped around Tamamo-chan's neck.

"Well, by the time she'd already communicated to Hagihara-san it was too late, but oh well."

"... I am still surprised that you can cut peoples' necks with your level of strength?"

"Yup. You know, Master -- Hime-chan doesn't need strength. Friction. Pressure, Gravity, Magneticism. Tension, Pull, Resistance, Repulsion, Centrifugal Force, Centripetal Force. Action and Reaction. Pulley Laws and Franck-Condon Principles. Coefficient of Restitution and Coulomb's Friction Law -- this world is, filled with strength. Hime-chan doesn't need to bother to have any strength--"

And then Hime-chan moved her fingers slightly. It was hard to tell in the darkness, but her gloves had layers and tens of layers and even more layers of wires wrapped around, like a puppeteer, or rather like an illusionist--

And the glass panes behind me shattered without a sound.

"Killing people is simple."

Yes. These were strings and a string user.

"-- what a failure. Zig Zag is the name of the skill... and that was where a misunderstanding... or rather a slip occurred. Of course, Hime-chan took advantage of my misunderstanding and completely fooled me."

"I didn't deceive you. Though I did lie."

But -- that made two of us.

"... when you told me about Zig Zag, I thought it was odd that you could explain it so well. Even though you were passing yourself off as not knowing anything else."

Like Zig Zag using more serious string... was just a bluff by Hime-chan. That string was sufficient. Regardless of how strong the string is, in the hands of a string-user it would be used to its fullest.

The gloves and such was also just a half-truth. When you think about it, there is no need to wear a glove twenty-four-seven. Just using string would be fine with bare hands -- only when you are going all-out to kill someone, yes, like the current situation.

Running away... cannot be done. Already, this hallway was probably filled with string, like a spider's nest. I could not see most of those (she was probably deliberately mixing visible string and invisible string), but I could deduce that much. After Hime-chan confirmed via wireless that we were still in the building, she went ahead of us and set up this trap.

This was literally Zig Zag. It is hard to explain, but confirming the position and strength of each and every strung string, then adjusting the force of each string, and then confirming that something has touched the string, and then confirming that nothing is touching the string, and then controlling all of that with just the fingers. Outside is one thing, but inside, where there are plenty of bumps and nooks to hang string and divide up the force on each one -- Zig Zag was obviously invincible, and more importantly, was limitless in versatility. That time, when the four students did not so much as glance at me, made perfect sense. Why Tamamo-chan that time lost focus on me just by hearing Hime-chan's voice -- this was the answer. If a berserker on a different tier appeared, then even that Tamamo-chan could not remain calm. Shiogi-chan waiting in ambush in the courtyard was also obvious. Spacious places are Hime-chan's biggest threat.

"Hah, I see..."

When we had stepped onto this floor, Shiogi-chan and I were already caught in the spider's nest.

"And the one who killed the dean was you, too."

"Yes," she nodded, as if that was nothing. And she continued, as if that was nothing. "Zig Zag aside, as you've realized that much, I have to kill Master, too."

"As I've realized it -- eh. Did you think that would stay unsolved?"

"I did. I sought it. I wished it. I prayed it."

"....."

"Because Jun-san is soft on friends. She would never suspect Hime-chan."

Aikawa Jun's one blind spot.

That was not betrayal but deception. That person -- trusts allies and never suspects them.

"But that is simply a blind spot and not a weakness," Hime-chan sadly continued. "Can you... understand that? What kind of life Jun-san has lived to date, you must know a little, right? Jun-san has lived through a world in which everyone and everyone deceives each other, a world in which people first kill the person next to them to figure out what sort of person they were, she lived in such a world -- and even though she's only seen the dirtiness of people -- she still believes in others. Without -- even suspecting Hime-chan."

It sounded like those words were said with some teariness. But Hime-chan refused to cry. She glared at me, constantly.

"To people like Hime-chan, it's a pretty nasty concept. For Aikawa Jun, with that much existence, to try so hard to be on equal footing with others. No, but that's why she's strong, I'm sure. Hime-chan can't copy that at all. I was suspecting Master all along, too. Leave it to me, you said, but I figured you would sell Hime-chan out anyways."

She tracked me not out of worry. Not just that, but the first time, when I left the dean's room, the reason why she followed, was simply to avoid risk. Everything was a lie, and everything was fake.

That she cried for me.

That she tried to stop me.

That she followed me.

That she helped me.

-- by doing that, and smiling, that, too.

She was just acting out the type of girl I like.

"Because, you know, you can't trust others!"

She said, strongly, and laughed. With strength and calm, as if forcibly retracing that innocent smile, but all she could muster, was a horribly twisted and warped one.

"They immediately betray, trick, make excuses. Look down others so easily. Even though they know it hurts when you're hit, because they know it hurts when you're hit, they hit others so easily. In other words, everyone, --everyone is fake."

"..... is being alone lonely?"

"It's lonely," she immediately answered. "It's lonely -- but I'll live alone. I'll betray, trick, make excuses, and live alone."

"I see... I see."

"If I talk to you any longer I might develop feelings for you, so let's just end this."

And then Hime-chan flicked her fingers up -- and then my body got goosebumps, from a disgusting feeling. Ahh, this, is because my body is wrapped with the strings. I see, in other words, all the way at the beginning, that felling when I first met Hime-chan at Grade 2 Class A -- what is there to be said? I had already almost been killed by Hime-chan the first time we met. When I thought I saw the locker shake, that was not seeing things, and feeling clumsy on my feet, too. That classroom was probably filled with string I coulg not see, too.

I had been killed.

That time, just from suspicion from having met the first time.

And this time, because I knew too much.

"I'll tell Jun-san that Master went home already. So, bye bye. Farewell, Master."

"----- develop feelings, it is too late for me."

The fingers that were drawing down -- stopped.

"... did you, say, something?"

"I wonder if this is the first time I have said it aloud. You were... viciously similar. To a girl that I broke when we were kids. That girl was very friendly, and never suspected people or grew angry at people, and always smiled, and was a really good person, and no matter what I did would forgive me, and more than anything, came to like me."

"... that's, not similar at all," Hime-chan mumbled, and looked at the floor. Looked at the floor, and mumbled, "Hime-chan, isn't a good person like that. Hime-chan's was just the outside. Always suspecting people, always irritated at people, and, liking someone, never. Everything was an act. Acting, is a lie. I was just acting along for you. And you know, ... there's no such thing as a person like that."

Not similar, just acting similar.

Because, such a person does not exist.

"Yeah, I thought so, too. A person like this cannot exist. That was why I -- broke that thing. The fraud that is like, the powder that is trust, I completely stomped on it."

"....."

"It was satisfying. It was the greatest feeling. It cheers me up just thinking about it. Happiness probably feels like t hat. -- and then..., that was why it became my greatest regret. I destroyed the irreplaceable real one. And then that girl became strong, like Aikawa-san. When she was demolished by the person she liked, there was no choice but to end there. Even though I understood that--"

Why am I doing such a thing.

To, speak about my own sin?

Confession? Don't kid me. Atoning for sins? Wrong.

Right -- I was just redoing things.

Hime-chan's action of chasing after me may have been a lie, but the conversation that followed was not a lie. Even if those words were not directed toward me, but rather toward Hime-chan herself.

Hime-chan said everything was a lie.

I agree, that must be the truth.

But -- really. Really, Really, you know.

If this world were like what Hime-chan said, if this world were like what I think.

We would not be suffering like this.

Do you get it?

If that trembling act of covering me from Shiogi-chan was an act -- if that, too was a lie, then this world would only be left with lies. If everything is a lie and there is not one ounce of truth -- if there is nothing of comparison, then, everything ends up being the truth, too.

"Why did you kill the dean?"

"Is it not enough that that person was the dean of this garden? Would you be satisfied if that person did something cruel to Hime-chan? If a friend was killed? If I was raped? If something precious was taken from me? If you become satisfied with the explanation congratulations? Don't mess with me. Killing someone isn't like that, Master."

I was receiving a lecture about murder from a younger girl. What is sin, what is punishment, a seventeen-year-old girl eloquently spoke. It was an abnormal situation. Even within the zone of this Hanging High School, this was an unacceptable situation.

"Then let me change my question. Did you kill the dean because you wanted to leave this school? Or did you decide to leave the school as part of your plan for killing the dean?"

"Both. Neither." Hime-chan said, coldly. "I wanted to destroy this Hanging High School. Everything without leaving a trace, without leaving a blade of grass, without leaving a shadow or shape or anything, I wanted to uproot it completely."

"... at the beginning, when we were seen by those two girls, because you said nothing to me, was on purpose."

"Yes. If we were able to escape, then I would not be able to go to the dean's room. I figured Jun-san would make the decision she made."

"And when we were running, and I was carrying you, you grabbed the map from my pocket."

"If you have a map we wouldn't get lost."

"You did not use Zig Zag to dismember the dean because if you did, even Aikawa-san would figure it out."

"Yes. I may be able to fool her intuition but I can't fool her sight."

"So instead, by using a chainsaw as the means of dismemberment, you were able to fool her sight."

"It's almost like you were watching."

"And then you acted like the dean to drawn in Shiogi-chan and others, and manipulated them."

"Exactly. I wouldn't say it went perfectly, though."

"Other than that -- well, mysteries that needed to be solved are probably covered by that, so that is a good start. Now then, Hime-chan, now we get serious. Let us think about the future."

"... what?"

Hime-chan looked at me with suspicion. Her eyes were filled to the brim with negativity, and impossibility. ... I did not care either way about being killed, but even if it is a useless, pointless thing.

I will fulfill my duty.

That is -- my job.

Everything around me goes insane. Strategies and calculations, everything never goes well, as expected.

Hime-chan.

I will destroy your goal. Your line of thought, I will slice it apart. Thoughts and wishes and wants and prayers, I shall shatter everything at once.

"Future...?"

"Yes. I feel bad when the future is vague. I feel bad when there are unknown factors. ... Indeed, while we are at it, might as well hope for a bright future."

"Y-- you,"

"You know, Hime-chan, when you leave this academy, you have nowhere to go, right? Then you should come to my place. It is a pretty run-down apartment, but there is an opening on the first floor right now. The rent is, surprise, just a hundred. There is no bath but a public bath is nearby. I cannot call it a splendid apartment, but it is a fun place. The people who live there make it go. Houses are affected so much by the people who live in it, after all. I can guarantee that much. The first person I would introduce would be Asano Miiko-san, a swordsman. She is a cool big sister who takes care of you. She will take care of Hime-chan, for sure."

"... what, are,"

On the floor above that is grandpa Bateren. I do not know his real name, but he is quite funky, a rapper. He exudes fun just by looking at him. But he is pretty dangerous, so take care not to get too close... and then Ishinagi Moeta and Yamaguchi Houko, siblings. I cannot leave them out. The big brother is a dangerous type, but the little sister is an innocent and pure type. When they are sidling up to you, it is the best."

"What are you saying--"

"A high school girl that just moved into the area lives on the first floor. She would be Hime-chan's next-door neighbor. She is a junior at Roushisha University, and her name was Nanananami Nanami. This girl is the worst. I would like Hime-chan to beat her down with your carefreeness."

"What, are you saying--"

"And then I live on the second floor, so come play any time you want. School, probably is boring, though you should go anyways. Young people should not be living a life where every day is Sunday. You would not be able to find a job with your personality as it is, anyways, so we would have to transfer you somewhere. After having attended this dumb school, you might have trouble keeping up at first, but we will take care of you. Home tutors. Then that alias would really end up not being wrong."

"-- I sa...."

And then with everyone -- lets have a good time."

"What are you, saying!" Hime-chan finally exploded. "You're going to become zig zag! What're you talking about -- I don't want to, hear about the future? Hime-chan -- Hime-chan! Doesn't have, a future!"

Being able to think about the future is proof of composure. If you are living the now to its fullest, you have no time to think about such things.

Right now -- I am living it.

Because no matter what I do, I will definitely, die.

"So is that why you want to do a double-suicide with this school? Then that is but a child's selfishness. To be dragged into a girl's rotten emotion like that, sucks to be me."

"Girl's, rotten -- you said?"

"Am I wrong? Your methods are underhanded and rotten -- and more than anything else, you are a cute girl. You are so much better off than this rotten boy, yet you are cutting away the future... that was why -- you did not want to be despised by the same gender, Aikawa-san, right? You did not want Aikawa-san to think of you as a murderer. You did not care about anyone other than Aikawa-san, after all... and you know, if this is the end, you wanted to be with Aikawa-san at the end, or something? Sentimentalism or romanticism, or maybe just heroism... regardless, it is quite different from the stoicism I like. Truth be told, I am a bit disappointed. In you."

"What -- what do you know!" Hime-chan, this time, for real, was crying. Not a lie, but real tears. Without hiding her tears, she yelled at me. With a voice so loud I wondered if her throat would break, as if accusing me. "Don't talk about others like you know! What do you know about someone who thinks killing is normal!"

"At the very least, I know you are just a little girl who is crying up a storm. In the end, you are just afraid, are you not? You are afraid, because you do not know if Aikawa-san will accept you. You are suspicious of Aikawa-san's trust in you. That is why, you are doing such a, testing thing."

I could understand her feelings as if they were my own.

Because I know my own.

Even though I know my own.

"What if Aikawa Jun dislikes me -- and then, even if she does not dislike me, if I am such a small existence that she does not dislike me even if I do such a deed --"

"--... ahahah."

Hime-chan suddenly, abruptly eliminated her emotions -- positive and negative, life and death, eliminated everything -- and then like spinning in the darkness, she turned everything over -- into emotionlessness.

"Thank you, Master."

She said, with the clearness of emptiness.

"I was able to see a good dream, in the end."

And then, like the conductor of an orchestra.

"..... Cool. That is good."

Did not work.

Well of course, for a person like myself who cannot take care of even myself, for a person like me, to take care of the soul of someone else. It meant I failed. So it was truly useless.

Even if I showed her a good dream--

If it is a shameless, pitiful reality, then it has no meaning.

An aimless equation for no use.

"Ah, by the way... I never asked for your name."

"....."

At the end, I once again wavered. Despite having tried to save this girl, ... this time I thought of destroying her. I hesitated, wondering if I should shove this girl off the cliff she was straddling. If I can break her, can anyone fault me for breaking her?

It must feel great.

To break a fantastic girl.

"As things have come to this, I can't call you Master anymore... so I'll call you by your name. Please tell me."

Please tell me your name. Tell her my name without leaving out a single letter. And then cut this Zig Zag apart and leave no trace.

".......... Well."

But, I did not do such a thing.

It did not seem like doing such a thing would be needed.

"... I guess I was able to buy you enough time to change?"

"...? What? Is that, your name?"

Said Hime-chan, carelessly.

Ahh, gosh -- such a good person.

Everyone and everyone, such good people.

Now it looks like I am the villain.

"I am just talking to myself... not to you. And, you're the one who said it."

"..... huh?" she seemed not to understand, closing one eye. "You know, Hime-chan, was asking for your name--"

"I said it and Shiogi-chan said it -- but the first person to say it was you. Aikawa-san is soft on friends."

".....?"

"Indeed, I left the dean's room on my own accord..... but, for the person who brought me to the Hanging High School in the first place to not come to help me -- is a lonely story, don't you think?"

"......!"

And Hime-chan spun around as fast as she could.

And in front of her --

Red as the flames and crimson as the ruby. Scarlet as hell itself and red while streaming blood.

The contractor smiled a cynical smile.

And simply existed.

Interestingly enough, Nishio uses the kanji 喰 here, which is read "ku(u)," while flick is written くい (kui). It's a pun but also a means of depicting the action of the strings. Can't really translate this directly into English, but there you go. Pun! 意図 (ito, which means will/ambition) in the style of 糸 (ito, meaning string). Strategy is written 策 (saku), and while writing "berserker" Nishio makes it read as "Zig Zag" (this is a reference to earlier mentions by Ii-chan about Zig Zag being a berserker-type fighter), so it ends up being a pun about how a "Saku" can't beat "Zigu Zagu"... this probably makes more sense if you understand the Japanese alphabet.

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