Chapter 45: ACT.14 "Trampling"

It was revealed that the stress was not due to the job, but to interpersonal relationships.

After being attacked by Sion and collapsing once more, a night passed. The atmosphere hanging over the city was becoming increasingly thick with a sense of unease and eeriness.

The neon-lit entertainment district was dark, its lights extinguished, and the people who worked in the office districts had already returned to their homes. As if planned, the presence of people had vanished from the city quickly. This was partly due to people being frightened by the disturbing rumors spread by TATARI, but—there was too little human presence. Yet, centered around the building named after that temple, a strangely bloody air and smell permeated the entire city.

That is why I immediately understood the moment Kuro-Len(Black Len) woke me up: TATARI had finally made its move.

I knew where TATARI was without having to search for it, and I understood where Shiki and the others had gone to fight. Therefore, I rushed out of the mansion, through the park, and hurried toward that building, but...

“...................” “...................”

An suspicious figure suddenly appeared before me, despite there being no prior sign of their presence. From the appearance and form, I could guess who it was, but—

“Hey, hey, isn't silence rude? We’re friends, aren't we? Where are you going with that scary face?”

“So, who are you? It’s customary, so let me ask for your name.”

I had already guessed from the voice, but I questioned him again.

“I am Shiki Nanaya, the trace of Shiki Tohno. I am the spider that spins its webs— Welcome to this marvelous space of massacre.”

He declared this with a smug look. I know the name of this young man in the dishevelled school uniform. He is the fake, Shiki Nanaya, the 'Nanaya' part that emerged from the back of Shiki Tohno, but...

“Ugh, ugh, ugh...”

I knew it, I knew it, but! To hear it, see it, and be told it in three dimensions... is seriously cringey! I definitely didn’t have the composure to laugh it off with "That's so chuunibyou, LOL!" If the person himself knew this was his subconscious, he’d be guaranteed to die of embarrassment!

The smug look couldn’t be more painful to watch, and the fact that Shiro-Len (White Len) likes this kind of thing... well, tastes differ, I suppose.

“Hahaha...! Don’t be so stiff! Satsuki and I are just going to happily exchange our honest feelings and love each other, aren't we?”

“It's 'love,' but the kind where we kill each other, isn't it?”

“You understand perfectly! The fact that the sleeping me acquired a fake cage of flesh and woke up means one thing: kill. Come on, let’s kill each other! Isn't it quite exciting for classmates to kill one another?”

“Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I knew that, though...”

When confronted head-on with the concept of "Killing Love" (殺し愛, Koroshi Ai), which has become a staple in the Type-Moon universe, I knew very well that my expression was showing an inexpressible, void feeling, like a Tibetan sand fox.

Putting that aside. It is certain that I cannot proceed until I defeat this Nanaya here.

If that is the case, there is only one thing to do. Rock, Paper, Scissors...

“Die—!”

I kicked up the park gravel towards Nanaya. The gravel, launched with the vampire's brute strength, scattered at high speed and over a wide area, like buckshot fired from a shotgun.

An ordinary person would be instantly riddled with holes. No, they would certainly become a mashed tomato or minced meat, a state that is "unfit for viewing!"

“I see, I see. So you’ve come to crush me with a surface area attack rather than a single point. Scary, scary.”

However, the opponent is that Nanaya. Avoiding something of this level is effortless for him.

“Quite a greeting, wouldn’t you say? Thanks to you, I’ve lost an arm.”

Even so, it seems he couldn't completely avoid everything. When he emerged from the dust cloud, his left arm, from the elbow down, was missing.

“...Even so, What is the meaning of only slicing through my clothes! You lecherous kappa! Insatiable four-eyes! Womanizer! Star of Sirius stand-in!”

I, too, thought I would lose an arm, but for some reason, only my clothes were ripped, leaving my upper body exposed in a bra… Is this indecent exposure!?

“I couldn’t help it, could I? Satsuki, you were aiming for a counter-attack the moment I cut off the arm, weren’t you?”

“...I can’t deny that.”

If I fought him head-on, I would surely lose. Therefore, the first move was area suppression; if he broke through that, I planned a counter, ready for a mutual strike. But such a shallow plan was ineffective against the battle-hardened Nanaya.

“Despite that—I’m getting aroused.”

Saying this, a pervert who was licking his knife stood before me.

“I’ll tell Akiha on you, you pervert!”

Since I was originally a man, I could clearly tell from Nanaya's gaze and gestures that he was serious. I wished I couldn't.

“Ah, that's no problem then. In fact, one could say that it provides us with the circumstance to kill each other.”

Regarding the matter of, "I said I'd tell his sister because my classmate had a lucky pervert incident, but he replied that it was a good excuse to kill his sister,"... ...Wait a minute, is this the world line of "Shir**ui" (an explicit game)?

“Akiha and I are siblings. Therefore, unless we kill each other, it’s not a true relationship. And Akiha will definitely come to kill me! She is the best sister, without any hesitation, reservation, or secrets!”

And there was a brother praising his sister who would "come to kill him with all her might." Or rather, it was Nanaya... His sense of ethics would shock even a Satsuma warrior...

Moreover, the fact that I can be certain that Akiha-san, one of the Nasuverse heroines who "loves the protagonist enough to kill him," will do it, makes it even worse... If I were only reading this in a manga or watching an anime as a fan, I would probably be thrilled by the characters' personalities.

But this is unfortunately a cruel, merciless, and brutal reality. As an involved party, my head is beyond just hurting; I just want to go home and sleep...

“Although, unlike Satsuki, Akiha's body wouldn't be interesting even if I stripped her clothes off.”

He said a word that shouldn't have been said. No, saying it and then dying is exactly the same as Shiki.

It's a slight relief to know that whether he is Tohno or Nanaya, at the root, he is still the same 'Shiki.' However, the curtain rising on the cruel, brutal, and gruesome spectacle that will occur next is something I can only dismiss as his own fault.

Because I realized that tonight was the decisive battle with TATARI, and I dashed out with the mistress of the mansion...

“G-gyaaaaaah, aaaaaaahhhhh!!!?”

Suddenly, Nanaya screamed. A foul odor of mixed blood and all sorts of bodily fluids erupted.

Even Nanaya seems to express pain when subjected to torment like the Bull of Phalaris, where "evaporated bodily fluids burst out as steam from every hole in his body."

Before leaving the mansion together, I had told her I would confront the fake employed by TATARI first, and she should intervene at the right moment... She truly is merciless.

And I know the person who can do this without hesitation. No, looking at her again, I really wonder how I survived... There is only one person who can forcibly steal a target's body temperature without any magical prelude.

“Ara, Ara, Ara, Ara, how pathetic to scream over just a medium degree of heat—Nii-san (Brother).”

No, she definitely went for 'Well Done' right from the start. I wanted to object, but being an average Japanese person and vampire who can read the room, I kept silent. The current Akiha-san is in much better form than when she confronted me before—or rather, she's frankly terrifying!?

“Yumizuka-san.”

“Y-Yes!?”

I immediately stood at rigid attention when Akiha-san called my name.

“Please leave Nanaya to me. Ah, there is no need for you to worry, Yumizuka-san. I know my brother is quick on his feet, so I meticulously crushed his legs and back first...”

There was a sister who claimed she "crushed her brother's legs and back so he couldn't escape." She's a demon. This is a demon. Seriously, there are too many Nasuverse heroines who treat the Heroine's Path not just as a thorny road but as a 'resolve completed, bring on the Asura’s Path.'

“Then, I’ll take you up on that offer!”

I gave a sharp salute and immediately retreated from the spot. My mind was solely focused on leaving this place as soon as possible. For a moment, I thought my eyes met Nanaya's, and he seemed to be saying, "Help me," but it was probably just my imagination. Just my imagination.

Maybe.