Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist Editor: Weasalopes
【Episode 1: Mansion and the Murder Case, Part 2】
「I see now. Ladies and gentlemen, siscon in the building confirmed.」
I heard such an outrageous voice behind me, and my body instinctively reacted to it, rapidly turning on my heel. And sure enough, just as I expected, there was a short girl with eyes obscured by her bangs standing right behind me, radiating her usual aura of indifference. Height roughly around 153 cm, weight unknown. Her body was slender and delicate, almost as if it could be snapped in half by the slightest touch, and her grey-blonde hair were tied into low ponytails with laced ribbons. The eyes hidden from view by her bangs were blue and golden respectively. All of the characteristics above made her look like a mysterious, pet.i.te beauty. That"s how Yatono Shiki could be summarized. Even though she was apparently a rich lady whose family had enough money to afford a villa such as this one, she was a student at Okayama Prefectural High School, same as Fujisato, Kuhoh, Shiinamachi-senpai and yours truly. Even when she was not wearing her uniform and the trademark lab coat, she was still as mysterious as ever.
「If by siscon you mean a protective older brother who wants to keep his precious little sister safe from all the filth of this world, then by all means, go ahead and call me a siscon, I don"t mind.」
「Are you sure about that? Don"t you know that in recent years the meaning got changed? Now it is used to describe someone who loves his sister….」
「If that"s the case, than how is it different from your previous definition?」
「…… in a s.e.xual, perverted kind of way that guarantees him a nice long vacation behind bars.」
「……….. Oh.」
*STAAAAAAAAAAAARE* Shiki"s blue eye was looking at me so intently as if she wanted drill through me with it, but she remained quiet.
I love my sister, and I"m sure that she loves me too. That kind of thing should be perfectly normal between siblings, right? There was nothing wrong or perverted about me wanting to protect her, and just now she even said to me over the phone that she"d want to monopolize me a bit more, but there were clearly no s.e.xual connotations hidden in her words, I"m sure of it.
「Shiki-san, am I correct in thinking that you"re disappointed that I am not l.u.s.ting after my own sister?」
「The opposite, actually. I am glad that you won"t be going to jail anytime soon, but also a little sad, because I wanted to test my newest aphrodisiac on you.」
「There"ll be no need for it! Seriously, you need to stop messing with people using such shady methods!」
「But Shiki-tan only does that to you, Onii-chan~~」
「My point still stands!」
「Tch, what"s the big deal, it only amplifies s.e.xual desire.」
「ALL THE MORE REASON FOR YOU NOT TO DO IT!」
「Acknowledged. Shiki-tan will do as her Onii-chan says.」
She said that reluctantly with a sullen face.
「While we"re at it, could you also stop concealing your presence and suddenly appear behind my back? It gave me quite a scare.」
「That"s quite surprising, Monjiro. An a.s.sa.s.sin like yourself, scare of an innocent prank like that? Or could it be that you"re bad at sensing the presence of others?」
「Rather than me being bad at it it"s the issue of me not being in my 「Professional Killer Mode」 all the time anymore. That"s why I"m wearing those gla.s.ses, you know? Not because I have a bad eyesight, but to suppress the influence of my former personality on my current life. I"ve got to admit though, it was hard getting used to wearing them at first, but now it developed into a sort of habit.」
「I take it you had to develop that habit due to the sudden change in your life when you stopped being a hitman and became just another ordinary high schooler?」
「Due to the after effects of my mother"s h.e.l.lish training, to be more precise. I"ve spent most of my current life training to become an a.s.sa.s.sin that would one day surpa.s.s her, all the while traveling from place to place, not staying anywhere for more than a month, so as you can probably guess, I didn"t have many friends and my interpersonal skills are… more than lacking in many areas. And to top it all off, even something as mundane as a walk around town became something difficult to do, seeing as wherever I went, I was always on the lookout for potential signs of the enemy attack Compared to that, I guess you could say that I am pretty satisfied with my current life.」
「Sounds like you had it pretty rough, huh?」
「Tell me about it. What I went through with her was completely different from what you see in manga"s and anime. It was literal h.e.l.l, there is no exaggerate in that statement.」
「Sounds like your mother was quite an unpleasant person to be around.」
The words she spoke were pretty harsh, but as she was speaking, a faint smile rose on her lips.
「If possible, I"d like you to introduce me to her someday.」
「If an opportunity presents itself, then I"ll gladly do it.」
But that may be a little bit problematic to do right now, because my mother suddenly disappeared one day, and we have not seen her ever since. I also wanted to meet her again and talk about a lot of things with her. I was always wondering if she"d approve my change if she saw me right now? Or would she get mad at me, just like she did when I had a chance to talk with her in that mysterious s.p.a.ce I found myself after using 『Code Calvariae』 and losing my soul. Judging by her image I saw there, she looked like she was my age, maybe slightly older, which got me thinking: could she really be my mother, and if what I felt towards her was really a child"s love towards its parent, or something else entirely? I had so many questions, so many things that I wanted to ask her about, but am I ever going to get some answers?
「I can"t wait to introduce myself to her as your fiancé.」
「No no no no, not in a million years.」
「Your mistress then.」
「That"s even worse. If you really want to meet my mother someday, then I advise you to act with more modesty and self-restraint, lest you want to be labeled a pervert from the get-go.」
「That would certainly be bad. I"ll take that under advis.e.m.e.nt.」
She said she got it, but she was still pouting, which made me feel slightly worried, but I guess there is no need to worry myself with the far future right now.
「Oh, here you are, Lady Shiki, Sakuradamon-san. We"ll be serving dessert soon, so please come back to the dining hall. Then you can continue your spicy talk while enjoying the taste of ultimate sweetness!」
「Um…. We, we"re sorry for…. Interrupting you.」
And then we heard two voices: one hyperenergetic, and one super timid, calling out to us. We turned around, and sure enough, they belonged to the twin maids working in this villa. They were both about as tall as Shiki, wore uniforms that looked like a combination of j.a.panese kimonos with western ap.r.o.ns, and had their chestnut-colored hair tied into a ponytail and pigtails respectively. As for their age, the twins looked to be in their senior year of middle school, same as my little sister.
If I remembered correctly, the energetic one with the ponytail, curious eyes and a dazzling smile was the older sister, Yahata Asagao, and the quiet, reserved one with twintails was the younger one, Yahata Yugao. Physically they were practically identical, but the atmosphere around each of them was like a polar opposite of the other one. From what Shiki told us beforehand, the two of them were her cousins, but if that was really the case, then I wondered why were they working here as maids?
「If I may voice my honest opinion, Monjiro-san: I know Shiki-sama is a world cla.s.s beauty unrivaled by anyone and it"s understandable that you are smitten with her, but to leave other three beautiful ladies all alone while you and Shiki-sama proceed to have a lovely randez vous… I guess you really are as big of a player as Shiki-sama described you to be.」
「No, wait a minute, Asagao-san, you"re clearly getting the wrong idea here!」
「Oh, there"s no need to be so formal, Monjiro-san. Feel free to call me by my name, or some cute nickname if it strikes your fancy.」
「All right then, Asagao. Now, If it"s all right with you, could you…」
「Keep your lovely randez vous with Shiki-sama a secret from everybody else, right? No worries, you can count on me. These lips are sealed~~」
I clapped my hands in front of my face and bowed to her respectfully.
「How gallant of you, Monjiro-san. Even though you"re courting Shiki-sama, you don"t want that to disturb the other guest"s stay here by keeping that fact a secret from them. I think that is admirable. Twisted, yes, but admirable still!」
She still might have the wrong idea, but she was certainly right about the fundamental part. It is true that I cherish my friends deeply and want them to have a peaceful trip where they could just kick back and relax while having fun.
「That"s why! Please make sure that you"ll use this vacation to the fullest to further develop your bonds of friendship with everyone, all right?」
「W-Well, I won"t lie, it would be nice if something like that really happened…」
She was right. Since we were all here, I wanted to use the chance that this trip presented and get to know as much as I could about not only Shiinamachi-senpai, but also about Kuhoh and Fujisato. Nothing would bring me more happiness than the shortening of the distance between us.
「Hehe, you"re so kind, Monjiro-san, truly a picture perfect example of gentlemanliness. No wander my sister fell for you at the first sight.」
「HUEEEEEEEEE?!!!! O-O-O-Onee-chan, w-w-w-w-what are you saying?! And now of all times?!」
「Eh? But it"s true, isn"t it? I mean, when everyone arrived earlier, you were staring at Monjiro-san with those dreamy eyes of yours, and your face was red all the way to the nape of your neck! If those ain"t symptoms of love, then I don"t know what is!」
「HAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWA!!!!!!!! E-Even if they were, you"re not supposed to blurt it out so openly in front of the person in question! Onee-chan, you dummy!」
Yugao-san…. Or rather Yugao-chan, if the rule of dropping the formalities applied to her as well, frantically waved her hands in front of her sister"s face. She was as red as an apple and was fuming at the ears.
「Ahahahahahahaha! And here"s where you"re wrong, my cute little sister! When it comes to feelings, it"s better to be upfront instead of bottling them up in your heart, and since you"re so quiet and timid, Onee-chan just gave you a gentle little push.」
And with that, she gave Asagao gave Yugao-chan a smile as bright as the rising sun.