"By the way... Mukuro, something just occurred to me."
"Hm? What is it?"
"Who's stronger? You... or Harukawa?"
"..."
Ikusaba stared at me blankly for a moment, then answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Me, obviously!!"
"...And why?"
"Uh... because... I'm stronger?"
"Quit messing around. If something goes wrong later, I need to think in advance about how to deal with it."
"...Sorry. I'm forbidden from telling you things you don't already know."
"Hmm..."
I mulled that over for a moment, then turned to Tojo, who had been quietly following beside me.
"Tojo, you seem to know Ikusaba to some extent, so let me ask you. What do you think would happen if those two fought?"
"I do not know much about Harukawa-san, but if she specializes in 'assassination,' then Ikusaba-san's odds of victory would be slightly higher."
"...That's not exactly 'slightly.'"
"Harukawa-san is an 'assassin' who kills designated targets. Assassins like that are often specialized in many fields besides direct combat—poisoning, sniping, and so on. Of course... judging from the way Harukawa-san moved last time, she seems quite formidable in a head-on fight as well, but..."
Tojo glanced at Ikusaba, who was muttering to herself with a sulky expression, then continued.
"If she were to engage in direct combat against Ikusaba-san, a weapon of war specialized in slaughtering an unspecified number of people... then yes, I believe she would be overpowered."
The moment Tojo finished, Ikusaba brightened and jumped in.
"That's what I've been saying! In the first place, I already beat th— hnngh...!"
"Beat who... ?"
"Ah, it's nothing!"
".....?"
While we were talking, we had somehow arrived in front of my research lab.
"Hmm... so this is my research lab?"
The entrance had an old-fashioned elegance to it, and for some reason it gave off an atmosphere that calmed both mind and body.
'...It'd be nice if there were some clue about my past in here.'
With that thought, I opened the door.
There were people inside.
"...Momota? Harukawa?"
"Oh, K! You're here?"
"........"
Momota greeted me with that usual bright, guileless grin, but Harukawa was just staring blankly at something in her hand.
"Man... about yesterday... don't take it too hard, okay? I totally get you— uh... well, anyway! I won't fall for Oma's scheme!"
"...So you don't understand me at all, then?"
"That's not what's important right now! What's important is—"
"...I'm leaving."
"Huh? Harukawa? You're leaving already?"
Startled, Momota called after her. Harukawa stopped for a moment, then suddenly turned and glared at me.
"...Don't you have something to say to me?"
"What?"
"Ha. So now you're going to pretend you don't know?"
"...???"
"You know everything, and you're still shameless enough to act like this..."
"Um... what exactly are you—"
"...You're seriously disgusting."
The instant she said that, Harukawa began radiating a murderous aura so vicious it made the air itself feel contaminated. Ikusaba and Tojo immediately stepped in front of me.
"You wanna keep glaring? Last ti— no, whatever... wanna get smashed to pieces?"
"Even you cannot defeat both of us, Harukawa."
Harukawa silently stared them down, then spoke again.
"Maybe you forgot, but my talent is the [Ultimate Assassin]."
""...""
"...Though there's no way you forgot. So you'd better be prepared from now on."
Leaving behind that blood-curdling threat, Harukawa vanished with the speed of a gust of wind.
"W-what the hell... was that...?"
"I don't know, but she was genuinely bloodthirsty just now. At this point, maybe we should strike first—"
"It seems I will have to stand guard even while you sleep for the time being. And from now on, when you eat, I will taste your food first. There is the risk of poisoning..."
I was the one whose life had just been threatened out of nowhere, yet all I could do was stand there wearing a dumbfounded expression while Ikusaba and Tojo started listing countermeasures with terrifying seriousness.
"Uh... sorry. I had no idea this would happen..."
"What exactly did you do?"
"Did you slander K, perhaps...?"
Meanwhile, Momota—who still looked completely lost—tried to apologize to me, only to panic when the two girls turned those severe expressions on him.
"N-no, I just found something interesting over there..."
At that, I turned and saw a fairly large photograph hanging on the wall.
"What's this... a group photo from the ○○ Orphanage...?"
"...Yeah. It's a group photo from the orphanage you used to live in, and the one you've been supporting until recently..."
"Wait, what are you talking about? I... lived in an orphanage?"
"Huh? You didn't know? I only found out because of the interview materials in here..."
The second I heard that, I snatched up the documents on the desk Momota was pointing at and began reading frantically.
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'So I was an orphan... wow. Seriously.'
The information I found in my research lab was... startling, to say the least.
I had originally been an orphan. My name had apparently been taken from a pendant I carried as a child. I became the [Ultimate Counselor] after counseling children at the orphanage, and after that, I continued supporting the place...
But the most shocking thing of all was this:
In the group photo of the orphanage children hanging in my research lab, Harukawa Maki was there.
According to Momota, she'd once mentioned during introductions that she came from an orphanage... but he said he never imagined it would be the same orphanage as mine, so he got excited and told her about it.
Then, the moment Harukawa saw the photo, she froze solid—before suddenly tearing through my research lab like a madwoman.
'And after she found some kind of document, she just stood there staring at it in a daze until I arrived.'
What on earth had she seen?
The curiosity was driving me insane.
To begin with, there wasn't much information about me in my research lab, so I was desperate for even the smallest scrap. I wanted to go straight to Harukawa and ask her what document she'd found—and why she'd suddenly turned hostile toward me—but Ikusaba and Tojo stopped me so forcefully I had no choice but to give up.
According to them, she had been giving off enough killing intent to genuinely murder someone.
In the end, I had no choice but to ask Momota—who at least had some kind of connection with Harukawa—about her.
"Hmm... last night, after everyone rejected her and she stormed off, I followed her with Saihara and did push-ups with her, so I did hear a few things..."
"You really are either fearless... or just hopelessly simple-minded..."
"Anyway, apparently she really did belong to an assassination group. What was the name...? The Crime Victim Rescue Committee, I think?"
"The Crime Victim Rescue Committee?"
"Yeah. She said it was an assassination group disguised as a cult... hard to believe, sure, but if she's saying it herself, what am I supposed to do? I gotta believe it."
"Do you know anything more specific?"
At my question, Momota dug through his memory for a moment, then his face lit up.
"Oh, right. She said clients would go to the cult leader for 'counseling,' and then pay 'donations' as compensation... ? Other than that... I don't really know anything special..."
Even after hearing all that, even after learning a little more about her from Momota, nothing really changed.
"I guess there's no helping it... For now, I'll just keep my head down, and if I get the chance later, I'll ask her directly—"
"I really wouldn't recommend that."
"Please refrain. You have a tendency to treat your own life far too carelessly."
"...Sigh."
Seriously... was I ever going to make it out of this place alive?
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"Assistant, ah... no, K! I have something to say!"
"Hm? Yumeno?"
I was leaving my research lab with a gloomy expression when Yumeno called out and stopped us.
"About the magic show that got muddled and ruined because of your blunder yesterday..."
"Ah, sorry!! I really am sorry about that, Yumeno!!"
Come to think of it, yesterday we'd made the excuse that the broken magic props were an accident caused while Ikusaba and I were running away from Gonta.
'Well... now that I think about it, that's not entirely wrong.'
If we hadn't been fleeing from Gonta and heading toward the gym at that exact moment, there would've been a Class Trial to find Hoshi's killer.
Just imagining that made a cold shiver crawl down my spine.
"It is fine! I shall forgive you!"
"Uh... thanks."
While I was lost in that thought, Yumeno suddenly declared my pardon in a bright, energetic voice. She'd been absolutely furious when she first found out, so had she finally calmed down?
"So then... come to the gym this evening! I shall hold the magic show again then!"
"Huh? I thought you said you wouldn't be able to perform for a while because your magic— no, your props were broken?"
Yumeno beamed.
"No need to worry about that! The Monokubs have agreed to help with my magic show!"
"T-the Monokubs?"
"And after my magic show, they said they'll make a surprise announcement, so look forward to that as well!"
"Uh... if the Monokubs are making a surprise announcement... isn't that dangerous?"
When I asked cautiously, Yumeno puffed up in anger and shouted at me.
"You fool! How dare you insult my magical companions!"
"N-no, it's just... the Monokubs are... running this killing game..."
"While they are helping with my magic show, they are unquestionably my comrades! So do not make such thoughtless remarks!"
In the end, I had to spend quite a while soothing the fuming Yumeno before she finally calmed down.
"Anyway, make sure you come watch!"
"...Okay."
"If you do not come, K, then the familiars standing on either side of you will not come either, so you absolutely must—"
"I-I said I'll go!!"
Apparently, that magic show—the one that felt like it was practically destined to trigger some kind of disaster—really was unavoidable.
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Around the time K was scratching his head and watching Yumeno's retreating back, Harukawa Maki was in her room, silently staring at the document she had found in K's research lab.
'...I never thought I'd see you here again.'
Inside the document were two photographs: one of herself, and one of the friend she had been closer to than anyone else at the orphanage.
'...The last time I saw you was when that man who came to scout us took a strong interest in you, wasn't it?'
Back then, I knew exactly what would happen if that scout took my friend away.
So I went with him in her place.
After that came brutal training, torture, and an education where death was always one step away. Through all of it, I kept telling myself I'd done the right thing by going instead of her.
She was unusual—she didn't even have a name. She trusted people too easily, she was kind, she cried a lot, she got lonely so easily, and despite all that, she still tried to act strong...
If she'd gone in my place, she never would've endured it.
"Harukawa... where are you going?"
"It's fine. I'll be back soon."
"Okay! Got it... then let's put off 'that promise' until next time!"
"...What promise?"
"The promise that you'd give me a name!"
Of course, even until recently, I'd carried the guilt of never keeping that promise.
But when I got dragged into this killing game, I thought once again that I'd made the right choice back then.
Because if it had been her—someone even more talented than me—then even if she'd somehow survived that hellish training, she would've ended up trapped in this killing game instead of me.
'Well, I'd convinced myself none of that mattered anymore... but the second I saw this, that delusion vanished.'
The document, badly wrinkled from how hard she'd gripped it when she first found it, contained the following:
- As a result of offering scouting proposals to the two children you mentioned last time, 'Harukawa Maki' has accepted the offer. However, the 'nameless girl' is also highly desirable material, so as you instructed, if 'Harukawa Maki' fails training or dies, we will use the 'nameless girl' as a replacement.
'Why... why did I choose the path of an assassin...'
- Furthermore, even if 'Harukawa Maki' successfully completes her training... we will have the 'nameless girl' participate in training as the next candidate.
'Why... why did you break your promise... and make her go through that horrible training too...?'
Just in case, I checked the back of the third drawer—the place members and executives of the Crime Victim Rescue Committee often used to hide and exchange confidential documents.
And there it was.
A document with our photographs attached, and those horrifying words written across it.
According to that document, my sacrifice for my friend had meant nothing.
Whether I lived or died, the girl with no name had been destined to be raised as an assassin in the end.
And if I, not her, had ended up participating in this killing game as the [Ultimate Assassin] despite her greater talent...
'...Then in the end, you couldn't survive the training.'
The moment that thought took shape, it felt as if the entire life I'd lived until now had been denied.
I stood there in shock for a long time, numb and hollow—until I reached the final part of the document and was struck all over again.
- Then have a pleasant day, Cult Leader K.
'Come to think of it... a few days before we were separated, I heard about a boy who had counseled her.'
The document clearly stated that the cult leader had taken an interest in both of us.
If that was true, then it was entirely possible that, in order to assess her talent, the cult leader had concealed his identity and approached her as a counselor.
And besides... I don't know why this document was here, but the material and format are identical to the documents the executives of the Crime Victim Rescue Committee used.
'So... this information is real.'
The truth behind that perpetually vacant, harmless-looking face was that he was the cult leader of the Crime Victim Rescue Committee—someone who, like her, had hidden his talent while secretly controlling assassins like her from the shadows.
'No wonder... there were so many people around him who followed him blindly...'
Harukawa carefully peeled the photograph of the "nameless girl" off the document, crumpled the rest into a ball, hurled it into the corner of the room, then ground her teeth and muttered:
"[Ultimate Counselor]... no, [Ultimate Cult Leader] K. I'll make sure you pay for your sins."
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And at that same time...
"So this is what it feels like... to be this happy..."
Hoshi Ryoma, too, was in his room, staring down at his E-Handbook as he murmured to himself.
"...A life with a purpose."
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