Murder Princess and the Summer Death Camp Page 2

  “I sure hope so…” Eiri gave a clipped answer and fell silent. The song of the madly singing cicadas poured down on them from the green canopy above. After running in silence for a moment, Eiri added, “By the way, Kyousuke…”

  Feeling her gaze weigh heavy on him, he turned to face her. “…What is it?”

  Eiri’s half-lidded eyes were turned toward him, and her voice was bitter. “You know, I saw you. At the departure ceremony, you were gawking over that girl, weren’t you?”

  “Huh? Gawking? You… What are you saying?” Kyousuke asked back, surprised by the cross-examination. Eiri pursed her lips.

  “…Nothing. Only, I was just thinking…as long as your companion is a beautiful girl, you can get it up even if she’s killed twenty-one people.”

  “Wait, hang on. I didn’t know that at first, did I? I didn’t know that she’d murdered twenty-one people and all that. Once I learned that, of course I—”

  “Of course. In other words, you were swooning over her at first, right? …Okay, I understand completely.” Eiri’s rust-red eyes narrowed.

  An unpleasant sweat appeared on Kyousuke’s forehead. “That was a leading question!! Now, the thing is…see, on seeing such a beautiful, and moreover incredibly gentle-looking upperclassman, any man would be touched emotionally. Or rather, his heart would be set aflutter—”

  “……What?” Eiri’s eyes narrowed further, taking on a turbulent light.

  The sweat streamed out of Kyousuke’s forehead, heavy drops rolling down his face. “……Wh-what is it?”

  “Nothing.” With that nonchalant reply, the girl turned away and quickened her pace. Overtaking her companion, she swiftly moved ahead.

  As Eiri left him behind, she muttered to herself, “Hmph…so Kyousuke goes for that type…hm!” but it was largely inaudible.

  “She’s probably saying ‘just die’ or something like that…”

  Confused, Kyousuke stared after Eiri’s form as it grew distant. “What is she even mad about?”

  “Hahh…hah…heh…heh…I’m done for…no moooooore!”

  There was a new girl beside him now, gasping for breath as she chased after the leaders. A female student with short, lightly bouncing chestnut hair—it was Maina Igarashi.

  Flailing her small arms and legs, Maina was obviously pushing herself to the limit. “Ha-ha, heee…ha-ha, heeeeee…gasp…pant…” She could barely breathe, let alone talk.

  Kyousuke smiled wryly and slowed his pace. “Looks like you’re having a hard time, Maina. I’ll run with you, so let’s do our best!”

  “Eeh?! Oh, y-yeah…thank you! Heh…hah…”

  Her pained expression softened as she smiled, but before long she looked troubled again. Maina huffed and puffed, earnestly pumping her arms and legs. Breathing too quickly, she soon began to gasp for oxygen.

  “Uh…it’s not good if you inhale too often! You know about the Lamaze technique, right? The one pregnant women use when they’re giving birth? Like that, you need a rhythm—”

  “Ha, ha, huuu…ha, ha, huuu…”

  “Whoa, you’re good! Just like that! Ha, ha, huuu!”

  “Ha, ha, huuu…ha, ha, huuu…”

  “That’s it, that’s it! Do your best, Maina! Ha, ha, huuu!”

  “Ha, ha, huuu—It-it’s coming out!”

  “What is?!”

  “Hey, you theeeeeere! What are you chitchattering on about?! If you’ve got time to move your mouths, move your legs fasteeer! Do you want to have this shoved up your pudendaaa?! I’ll make you pregnant with fear! With feeeeeeaaaaaar!” Kurumiya’s angry roar echoed off the trees.

  Somehow, it seemed that their pace had slowed quite a bit, and just behind them, Kurumiya was in hot pursuit, hoisting the iron pipe overhead in a fit of rage.

  Maina jumped up with a shriek and cried, “Nyoooooooooooooooooo!! My chastity! At least leave me my chastityyyyyy!! H-hellllllllllllp!!” She sped up to escape from Kurumiya, shrieking all the while.

  Kicking around the fallen foliage and rocks on the forest path, Maina passed Eiri—who turned her head in surprise—and was just about to overtake the upperclassmen members of the Public Morals Committee who were leading the way when—

  “Whooooooaaaaaa!!”

  —She fell with great force.

  A committee member in a long skirt jumped out of the way at the last moment, narrowly avoiding a nasty crash. “Whoa…wh-what the hell?!”

  On the other hand, Maina’s classmates—wearing stunned expressions that read “…not again!”—watched Maina, prostrate on the ground, as they passed her by.

  “Oh my gosh…are you all right?!”

  “H-hey…you okay?!”

  Rushing over in a panic were Eiri and Kyousuke. Maina groggily pushed herself from the dirt.

  “Y-yeah. No problem…hack, cough,” she offered, brushing the grit from her face.

  But as she was about to start running again, Maina abruptly paused. “Huh? It hurts… I skinned my knees. Ouch, ow.”

  Holding her right knee—which she had been about to step out on—she came to a halt, eyes filling with tears. It was evident now that she also had small cuts and scrapes on her face.

  Seeing her like this, Kyousuke sprang into action. “…Okay, up you go.”

  “Whaa?! Kyou-Kyousuke?! Wh-wwwwha-what are you…”

  “Hm? Ah, well…I just thought it would be easier like this. Do you mind?” Kyousuke scooped her up in his arms. Carrying Maina with both hands, he broke into a run. In her surprise, Maina curled her body up into a tight little ball.

  “Uh, no…I don’t exactly, well…I don’t mind, but…isn’t this hard on you, Kyousuke? Uh, um…I must be heavy… Oh dear…” Maina’s flustered face was flushed bright red from ear to ear.

  Kyousuke chuckled; it seemed Maina couldn’t help but be embarrassed. “You’re not heavy at all, so I’m fine! I have confidence in my abilities. It’s no big thing to run while holding one little girl. As long as you don’t object, Maina?”

  “……?!”

  Maina opened her eyes wide, then hung her head. After twisting around in his arms like she was flustered, she bashfully said, “N-no, I don’t object…”

  Smiling wryly, Kyousuke adjusted his grip. Trying to soften the jostling as much as he could, he dashed down the rugged forest trail. Timidly, Maina looked at Kyousuke with upturned eyes.

  “Um, well…thank you vewy much!”

  “I said it was fine. I’m our squad leader after all. It’s natural that I would help a member of the team.”

  “……”

  Behind Kyousuke, still carrying Maina, Eiri sullenly kept silent.

  Eiri and Maina and one more—the male student who had been picking fights with their teacher since the early morning, and had been beaten nearly to death so many times since the start of things—these three were Kyousuke’s “Class A Squad Four.”

  “Anyway, Eiri, what have you been mad about this whole time?”

  “…Huh? I’m not mad about anything, not really. Just die already.”

  “Y-you are mad, aren’t you…? What is it, you want me to carry you, too?

  “Ugh…of course not, perv!”

  Opening her sleepy eyes wide, Eiri surged ahead of Kyousuke and Maina with a shout: “What are you, stupid?!”

  A sullen aura of irritation trailed behind her rapidly departing figure.

  “It-it was a joke! …Wow, she looked at me like she was looking at a bug.”

  “Ohh, I’m sorry, Eiri…”

  “Why are you apologizing, Maina?”

  “Eeh?! Ah…! I-it’s nothing! No reason!”

  Maina shook her head in a panic. Kyousuke was all the more puzzled.

  Three months had passed since they entered Purgatorium Remedial Academy. Kyousuke felt that he had grown quite close to Maina, while sometimes it seemed like Eiri snapped at him even more sharply than before. With no memory of what he might have done to upset her, Kyousuke was left bewildered by her behavior.

&nb
sp; Maybe I…offended her somehow? Watching Eiri continue her silent, solitary run down the forest path, he scratched the back of his head. It was the first week of July. The temperature had gradually begun to climb, but Eiri’s cold attitude toward Kyousuke showed no sign of warming.

  It had been an hour and a half since they’d departed from the academy, and the class was taking a break in a shaded clearing. According to the schedule written in the guidebook, it looked like they had to keep running for almost two more hours. The interminable distance was almost enough to make one consider trying a shortcut.

  Shucking off his rucksack, Kyousuke took a seat on the rough ground.

  Maina, who had begun running on her own two legs halfway through, collapsed on the spot, dabbing at her sweat with a pale pink hand towel. “Hahh, hah…I’m exhausted. Plus the path kept getting steeper and steeper.”

  “…It’s a bigger island than we thought, isn’t it?” Eiri responded academically. “Probably because there are other facilities here besides the academy.” She seemed to be absorbed in surveying their surroundings, which were thick with dense vegetation.

  Having been born into a family of professional killers, Eiri had undergone rigorous training from a very early age. A run in the forest, even under these conditions, seemed trivial for her. Not a single drop of sweat moistened her handsome face.

  Why was an assassin like Eiri here, rubbing shoulders with common murderers?

  The truth about the Purgatorium Remedial Academy was that it was a vocational school for killers that trained them to become professional hitmen. Even after graduation, they were not released back into decent society, but forced into the criminal underworld.

  —But most of the students didn’t know the truth.

  This was likely so that these killers, with their twisted natures, could first be thoroughly molded to the academy’s purposes. And Kyousuke, who had learned the truth from Eiri three months ago, had been absolutely forbidden by Kurumiya to speak to anyone else about it.

  For that reason, Eiri had informed Maina only of the fact that she was “an assassin who can’t kill people,” and had not gone so far as to reveal the true nature of the academy. In other words, among the first-year students, there were only three who knew the truth at this juncture. Kyousuke, Eiri, and—

  “Guess whoo-oo?!”

  Suddenly, someone embraced Kyousuke from behind with a gentle squish. The bulges that pressed against him were luxuriously soft and overwhelmingly voluminous. The sound of strange breathing—“kksshh”—whispered in his ear.

  Kyousuke answered, feigning astonishment. “Who could it be…? You…must be Renko.”

  “Final answer?”

  “Yes, yes, final answer.”

  “……”

  “……”

  “…Correct! You’re right on the money, Kyousuke. Incredible, you got it right away, didn’t you?! As your reward, I will give you my melons. As might be expected, given the gas mask, they’re not muskmelons; they’re ‘maskmelons’! They’re of the highest grade! Moreover, there are two of them! Go ahead and enjoy your fill. They’re so sweet, they’ll melt away all your inhibitions.”

  As she spoke, this girl who had flown at him—Renko Hikawa—began rubbing her abundant breasts against him. Squeezing him tightly…her arms wrapped around him…squish squish…

  “Die.”

  Eiri swung her rucksack in a wide arc.

  “Wahg?!”

  Renko quickly separated from Kyousuke as one of the rucksack’s metal fixtures struck Kyousuke’s eyeball.

  “My eye! My eeeyyyeeeeee!!”

  “…Tch. You dodged it. You’re so annoying. Piss off, Big Boobs.” Ignoring Kyousuke, who had fallen clutching his eye, Eiri glared resentfully at the giantess.

  In response, Renko—the girl wearing the jet-black gas mask—let a sigh escape from her exhaust port (“Kksshh…”) and shrugged her shoulders in an exaggerated gesture. “Ever since we met, you say ‘die’ or ‘piss off’ with no warning… It’s so cruel! It makes me wonder if small-chested girls also have a small capacity for love. It’s because of that, that you will always and forever be small-breasted!”

  Renko thrust out her huge, protruding bust, obvious even under her loose-fitting jersey, and looked triumphantly at Eiri—or rather, at her totally flat chest.

  A vein on Eiri’s forehead began to bulge.

  “Well, then, a girl with inflated boobs must have an inflated attitude as well. Wouldn’t you like me to lop off those troublesome lumps for you so that you can become nice and slender? Let’s slice ’em off, fatty!”

  “Oh, too bad! Turns out I’m not fat at all. I’ve got so much more to offer than just these babies, you know. I have a tiny, nipped-in waist and beautiful, supple legs—I dare say even more so than you, Eiri!”

  “…You crazy? Aside from your bust, do you think you’re any match for me? You’re so naive, you simpleton. Too much nourishment has been going to your boobs; it must not be making it up to your brain.”

  “Please calm down, you two!” Maina wailed, looking back and forth between the two girls, flustered.

  “Yeah, cut it out…and, somebody, please show a little concern for me,” Kyousuke complained, brushing himself off as he stood.

  Renko raised her voice hysterically as she shouted his name, just as he’d asked. She ran up to him, swinging her chest back and forth conspicuously. “Are you all right?! You jumped in front of that blow for me just now, didn’t you…?”

  “No way! You dodged it, so I had to eat rucksack.”

  “…Yeah, thanks. You’re so nice, Kyousuke. I love you!”

  “Listen when other people taaaaaalk!” She’s probably listening to music, as usual. He could hear the faint noise leaking from her chunky black headphones.

  “…Anyway, what brought you over here? Is it okay that you’re not eating with your squad mates?” Kyousuke asked while tearing the fawning Renko off of him.

  Renko nodded yes, pointing to an opening between the trees. “I found a nice hidden spot nearby. Since I went to the trouble, I thought the two of us could eat breakfast together. If you like, you can eat my melons! In place of dessert, that is. Kksshh.”

  “Shut up! Who would be alone with you?!” he shouted. Kyousuke breathed a deep sigh from the bottom of his gut.

  This gas mask girl, Renko, was a creature artificially engineered to be the perfect murderer. When she removed the gas mask that acted as her “limiter,” she became a killing machine whose every single thought and feeling culminated in the act of killing. Kyousuke was perhaps the only person who she absolutely could not kill.

  —So long as he did not love her in return.

  That was why, for the past three months, Renko had been trying to get Kyousuke to fall in love with her of his own free will, and mostly by overwhelming him physically. She had been taking a proactive approach.

  If he ever acceded to Renko’s romantic overtures—after his chastity was snatched away and his heart stolen by her body—right then and there she would be able to pluck away his life.

  She had the gas mask equipped twenty-four hours a day, but underneath she was an unbelievably beautiful girl.

  —That was why…

  “Yeah, don’t say stupid things! If you’re going, I’m coming with you. I don’t know what you’re planning, but I can’t let you make a move on Kyousuke… I can’t let you kill him, absolutely not.”

  —That was why he was grateful when the others intervened.

  Renko’s shoulders drooped with a “kksshh” under Eiri’s harsh glare. “Ohh…are you cock-blocking me again, Eiri? Prattling on about this and that, you must be taking aim at Kyousuke, too… I mean, I don’t mind either way; I’ll have plenty of other chances. So this morning, let’s have a friendly breakfast party! It’s fine with me if we all go together!” As if a switch had been flipped, Renko clapped her hands together, did an about-face, and began walking away.

  Glaring at her back, Eiri grumbled, “…H
uh? I’m not taking aim, though.”

  “Sure,” Kyousuke agreed with a sarcastic smile. “Though it’s not like you could go through with killing me, even if you did.”

  For some reason, Eiri turned her scornful glare upon him. “…She wasn’t talking about trying to take your life, moron.”

  Yet more abuse heaped upon him. Looking indignant, Eiri started walking, following behind Renko.

  “‘M-moron’…? I don’t follow your meaning. You must really hate me, is that it?”

  “Oh, no… Don’t worry about it, Eiri…” Maina consoled.

  “Wait, I’m the one you should be saying that to, aren’t I? Why are you telling Eiri not to worry?”

  “Eeh?! Ah, well…it’s, it’s nothing! Nothing at all! Uh, um… Let’s get going, too!! We’ll lose sight of them!” Maina waved her hands in a fluster, then took off after the other two in a frantic escape.

  “Uh…h-hey! What the hell was that, you guys?! Geez…”

  Kyousuke, who was quickly being left behind, frowned, scratched his head, and adjusted his rucksack.

  With Renko leading the way, the group soon arrived at a small stream running through the middle of the forest. Large stones were scattered about the bank, and the slowly flowing water was as clear as crystal.

  “Whoa…! What a lucky find.”

  “Kksshh. I know, right? It’s at the head of an animal trail, so I think it will be hard for anyone else to realize it’s here.”

  It was just as Renko had said: While it was no more than a five-minutes walk from where they had begun, there was now no sign of any other people. It was an ideal location to leisurely let your hair down and relax.

  “Okay, then, let’s get straight to the food! We haven’t eaten anything since this morning.”

  “That’s right. I’m starving! …Where should we eat?”

  “…How about that big rock over there? It looks like the view’s not bad, either.”

  The three of them—Kyousuke, Maina, and Eiri—were so engrossed in choosing a spot that they almost didn’t notice Renko behind them.