Chapter 10: Oh Dear~, Could It Be My Fault~?
Momoko was going berserk.
Unaware that she was losing her mind, Kazuma spoke to her.
“Shinonome-san. For now, let’s move from here.”
“…”
There was no reply, but when Kazuma stood up, Momoko stood up with him.
It seemed she was conscious, at least. Whether she was sane, however, was unclear.
“(She’s not saying anything. Is she nearing her limit?)”
“(When this class is over, I’LL KILL HIM.)”
“(What a dangerous vibe. Feels like I could get stabbed from behind.)”
“(I’LL TEAR HIM LIMB FROM LIMB.)”
“(Beautiful women are pretty imposing when they’re angry, huh~)”
“(There will be no mercy. I will make him regret ever being born.)”
Momoko had broken. Due to Kazuma’s repeated mental remarks, her emotions were dyed completely in rage. It was likely impossible to calm her down anymore. Not unless Kazuma, the cause, was eliminated.
The two walked through the urban area, Kazuma in the lead and Momoko following behind. There was no conversation between them whatsoever. The air was incredibly awkward, but Kazuma had sensed that Momoko was angry. Probably because of his mental sexual harassment, he figured.
Well, even if he knew, there was nothing he could do about it. Since he was the one who had angered her, Kazuma decided to remain silent.
After that, the two wandered around the urban area for a while, but they encountered neither enemies nor allies. Finding this problematic, Kazuma stopped to think.
“(We’ve pretty much covered the urban area, so maybe we should try the forest area next. I should probably give Shinonome-san a heads-up, just in case.)”
Thinking that having this much read wouldn’t be an issue, Kazuma hadn’t taken any countermeasures against Mind Reading. Perhaps because of that, Momoko said nothing, simply following Kazuma’s lead as if he had spoken his intentions, trailing behind him.
“(She hasn’t spoken for about ten minutes now~. Did I do something to make her angry~?)”
His mental tone was completely provocative. It was as if designed to agitate people. Like someone who drives in a way that incites road rage rather than driving aggressively themselves, Kazuma grated on Momoko’s nerves.
“(I think I might understand now how someone could kill another person… Surely, their anger surpasses its peak and turns into emptiness. ‘I’ll just kill them,’ they must think…)”
Meanwhile, Momoko, for her part, was on the verge of a dark enlightenment.
She was beginning to understand the feelings of a murderer. If this continued, she might actually kill Kazuma in the near future.
“(I’m getting a bad chill~)”
Sensing the killing intent directed at him, Kazuma muttered about his back feeling itchy as he entered the forest area.
◇◇◇◇
Just as Kazuma and Momoko entered the forest area, a battle there had just concluded.
“Ugh…”
“Whew~, as expected of Hayami! That was a close call for me too~”
“Awawawa…”
“Well then, uhm… Support Course kid… don’t know your name, but sorry ’bout this.”
Hayami fell, and the Support Course student he was supposed to protect also vanished in vain. The one left standing was a girl with short hair. Her skirt fluttered in the wind, revealing the spats she wore underneath.
“Alright! Guess I’ll go look for my next prey!”
The girl slapped her own rear with a “smack” to fire herself up and left the scene.
Unaware that the girl who had defeated Hayami was in the forest area, Kazuma pressed on deeper into the woods. He occasionally glanced at Momoko, who stuck close behind him, as he advanced further in.
Just then, Kazuma sensed someone’s presence and briefly paused, but thinking that Momoko, an intelligence operative for the National Defense Force, must not realize it, he deliberately feigned ignorance and continued forward.
If they continued on this path, they would undoubtedly encounter an enemy. Convinced of this, Kazuma proceeded through the forest without hesitation.
His intuition, honed in another world, proved correct. The Combat Course girl who had defeated Hayami appeared before them.
“Oh? Lucky me. To think prey would walk right up to me. My luck’s not half bad, eh?”
“Please! Spare us!”
“Huh?”
It wasn’t a kill-on-sight situation; rather, she licked her lips like a ferocious carnivore. Seeing this, Kazuma didn’t so much declare surrender as he blurted out a pathetic plea.
“Uh~, why?”
The unexpected words left the girl bewildered.
“Well, you see, our escort got taken out…”
“Eh, ah~, so that’s it. That’s why it was just a Support Course student.”
“Exactly, exactly. Oh, and don’t worry, there’s no one hiding or anything.”
“Ahahaha! I can tell that just by looking. Besides, abandoning your escort is a no-go, right?”
“True that~”
Kazuma and the girl laughed together, but then she suddenly stopped.
“But, well, sorry, but my team’s the Terrorist one, so, my bad, okay?”
Kazuma’s request was mercilessly rejected.
“Well, figures~”
“So, sorry about this, but could you make your exit?”
Saying that, the girl took a deep breath. Kazuma’s face twitched with a bad premonition, but she wouldn’t wait and wouldn’t stop.
“Waaah—”
“Ghk!”
With an ear-splitting sound, Kazuma was sent flying, crashed into a tree, received a “killed in action” judgment, and was eliminated. Momoko, who had been watching, widened her eyes at how easily Kazuma was defeated, but then she understood that he was, after all, just an ordinary person, and turned to face the girl.
“Alright, you’re next.”
“Thank you very much! I feel a little refreshed, even if it was just for a moment!”
“Eh? Huh? What do you mean?”
“No, please don’t mind me! Come on, hurry up and take me out too!”
“Eh, ehhhh~. This is kinda awkward…”
For some reason, the girl, being thanked, looked extremely perplexed and scratched the back of her head.
She couldn’t possibly know. That Momoko had been harboring murderous intent towards Kazuma. Since she had defeated Kazuma at such a perfect moment, it was no wonder Momoko was grateful.
“Um, may I ask one thing?”
“What is it? Oh, but asking me not to kill you is off the table, okay?”
“That’s fine. Could you please tell me your name?”
“My name? I guess that’s okay, but…”
Feeling that something was suspicious, the girl nevertheless decided to give her name.
“My name’s Otonashi Hibiki. Nice to meetcha.”
“Otonashi Hibiki-san, I understand. My name is Shinonome Momoko! I’d really like to thank you properly, so may I visit you after school?”
Momoko’s expression was radiant, like that of a corporate slave freed from a black company.
It was easy to see just how agonizing Kazuma’s surveillance had been for her. However, to want to thank the person who had just defeated her classmate right before her eyes was, needless to say, abnormal.
“Ah, ahahaha… I think I’ll pass.”
“Wh-!? Why is that? Was there perhaps something lacking on my part?”
“No, you’re just plain scary. Thanking someone after your classmate was defeated right in front of you is creepy.”
“Ah…”
Pointed out like that, Momoko realized her own abnormality.
Indeed, from an outsider’s perspective, she would seem like some kind of psychopath. Momoko had completely messed up.
“S-Sorry. A lot has happened, so I was a bit flustered.”
“W-Well, it’s fine, I guess. But thanking someone when your classmate gets taken out is a bit much… Wait. Could it be that guy from earlier was actually a pretty despicable dude?”
“Yes!!! That’s it! That’s exactly it!!! He is the most despicable, vile, and utterly loathsome existence in all of history!”
“O-Oh, I see…”
Hibiki recoiled at Momoko’s sheer intensity. From what she’d seen of Kazuma earlier, he hadn’t seemed like that bad of a guy, so Hibiki asked Momoko just how despicable he was.
“How despicable was he? Did he use his Gift to sexually harass you, or look at you with lewd eyes?”
“Eh, w-well, that’s…”
Momoko couldn’t answer this question well. It was only natural. On the surface, Kazuma hadn’t done anything perverted at all. If anything, as a person, he had behaved quite normally.
He even had a gentlemanly side, showing consideration for Momoko as a woman. That said, it was true that inwardly, he was thinking despicable things.
Mind you, those thoughts were indeed harassment and sexual harassment directed at Momoko, but Momoko herself was unaware of this specific intent. She was just arbitrarily peeking into his mind, feeling sexually harassed by what she perceived as his general nature, and then getting unreasonably angry about it.
“Hmm? Don’t tell me you can’t think of anything?”
“N-No, it’s just…”
Momoko, who couldn’t possibly admit she was actually reading his mind even if her mouth were torn open, broke out in a cold sweat.
“(I blurted out a lot of things without thinking, but isn’t this really bad?)”
Noticing that Momoko was acting strangely, Hibiki furrowed her brows suspiciously.
“Hey, don’t tell me you were trying to trick me or something?”
“No, I would never do such a thing!”
“Then why can’t you answer a simple question?”
“Well, that’s because…”
“Hah. Enough. I can’t trust you. I’ll ask some other kids about that guy from earlier. See ya.”
“Ah—”
Hibiki ejected Momoko from the Virtual Space. As an added bonus, Momoko’s credibility with Hibiki plummeted to rock bottom.