Chapter 9.2: A Man Drenched in Blood II


    Please<em>i</em>show up in front of me and say something if you had something on your mind.


    Feel<em>i</em>free<em>i</em>tough at me. Say You understood my feelings, right? or even curse at<em>i</em>me.


    You<em>i</em>were such a pure person and I


    Hey, senior.3e


    A<em>i</em>voice abruptly reverberated from behind<em>i</em>me.


    WhyTrantor: MadHatter


    The voice of familiarity startled me, and I turned<em>i</em>around.


    With<em>i</em>long ck hair, a knee-length skirt, and a sailor uniform, she was wearing a pair of red-framed sses.


    An<em>i</em>expression of somewhat uneasiness lingered on her childlike face.


    Hyuga<em>i</em>was<em>i</em>standing there.


    Why didnt you trust me back then?


    Hyuga2ewd


    Even<em>i</em>though I figured you would believe me


    She<em>i</em>was still looking at me in the same way she did back then.


    Hyuga Were you Hyuga?


    I was<em>i</em>sad.


    From<em>i</em>the forehead of Hinata who said so, red blood spilled out. Lines and lines of blood streaked from Hyugas forehead as she stood still


    With<em>i</em>a gulp of breath, I backed away in abject horror at the sight of my junior, who appeared in front of me without warning.


    However


    In<em>i</em>merely one blink of an eye, in that single moment


    She<em>i</em>disappeared out of my sight.


    Hyuga!!Not shared on aggregator sites


    Even<em>i</em>though I called out to her, she was nowhere to be found. Regardless of my efforts of searching around, I couldnt spot her anymore. The<em>i</em>empty cemetery was filled with the sound of my voice. A cool breeze swept across the ce, drying the perspiration from my forehead.


    What<em>i</em>was that earlier?


    Was<em>i</em>that Hyuga?


    Really, Hyuga<em>i</em>was


    Did<em>i</em>she respond to<em>i</em>my call


    [I was<em>i</em>sad.]


    No, if it wasnt Hyuga, then what was it?


    I<em>i</em>clenched my fists in front of the grave.


    That<em>i</em>person was still in the same state as back then and still retained lingering regrets for this world.


    [Even<em>i</em>though I figured you would believe me]


    After<em>i</em>all, that guy about me


    Damn3erc


    What<em>i</em>was I supposed to do? What should I do to be forgiven, Hyuga?


    Tell me.32dec


    Please<em>i</em>tell me.


    Despite<em>i</em>all the calls in my heart, she never emerged in front of me any further.


    It<em>i</em>was only several seconds, yet the vivid and distinct appearance of Hyuga was more than enough to shock me.


    What<em>i</em>Hyuga uttered to me and the expression on her visage that I could not shake off seemed to have left a gaping hole in my heart.<hr>


    Hakamada? Are<em>i</em>you under the weather?


    The<em>i</em>manager, who had substituted for Hirai, who was absent from the store for the Comiket, tried to gauge my state of mind from myplexion, but I just made it up as I went along.


    This<em>i</em>person was equally surprisingly perceptive, which posed aplication. Despite being a barcode guy, damn.


    My<em>i</em>appetite has been a little lowtely due to the summer fatigue, and my staple food has recently consisted of somen noodles.


    Is<em>i</em>that so? Oh no, a young person has to eat properly.


    Didnt I say I was suffering from summer fatigue


    Whew3254y67


    You<em>i</em>must be getting awfully tired, are you okay?


    No<em>i</em>problem. Ive got the energy, so Ill work as long as I can without copsing.


    Though that being said, I didnt do much, except for standing around in a store with no customers, cleaning, ordering, inspecting, and so on.


    Right, right. Since the cat incident, the delinquents had turned up no more. Even the underlings were extremely spooked by that incident. They were probably horrified to know that the shady history of this ce was true. I was very happy about this but


    These days, all the noise had faded away and thete-night hours were quieter than they had been in a long time.


    Hopefully, nothing will take ce today.


    Speaking of which, you can see them too, right?


    Only very faintly.dw


    Is that so?2435


    Hakamada, have you ever seen that? The womens toilet.


    Huh? No, I havent?


    Sometimeste at night during cleaning, a girl hangs upside down from the top of the door, so be careful.


    What!?3eda


    Shes probably in<em>i</em>junior high school she pops out every once in a while.


    H-Hah.


    She<em>i</em>just wants to frighten people, so neither Hirai nor Takenaka did anything to her.


    I<em>i</em>see


    And sometimes


    The<em>i</em>manager pointed to an ATM near the entrance of the store.


    That ATM there asionally starts chattering on its own, but you dont have to worry about it too much, though it might be scary. It rarely speaks when it is not alone.


    Ugh


    I<em>i</em>took a small step back to gain some distance from the ATM that I could see over the counter.


    Apart from that4


    Ah, thats enough!3


    If I let<em>i</em>him go on, he was going to start spouting off a hundred ghost stories about this convenience store, so I covered my ears and pleaded with the manager to stop.


    Its hot, so I figured it might chill you out.


    I dont want<em>i</em>that kind of chill!


    Good<em>i</em>grief.


    Even<em>i</em>without listening to that, I watched something terrible every day, you know.


    A legless man. Headless children. A woman with only the lower half of her body. None of them could be called customers but were wandering beings who stayed in this ce.


    Ah. Please, I beg you, dont let anything strange befall today. Peace was the utmost, for everything. Oh, for heavens sake. Since I was all alone with the manager today, to say I was twice as anxiety-ridden as usual would not be an overstatement.


    In the midst of praying this, the automatic door opened and the chime rang. It was a customer. By the looks of it, it was a young man in his 20s.


    That guy walked into the store, didnt even bother to look around, but rather strode forward, stopped in front of the cash register and said, Give me a steamed azuki bun


    This guy What was wrong with him?


    That was my initial impression.


    Indeed, Nico Nico Mart operated year-round selling Chinese steamed buns, but on this midsummer, with the weather brutally hot, I had not seen a single person who went out of their way to buy one of these buns since the beginning of this summer. Furthermore, it was not a standard meat bun, pizza bun, curry bun or this summers new product, Tropical Fruit Bun.


    He chose a bun with anko filling, which was an irregrity.


    As a staff member, I would typically be internally researching this subject. However, digging deeply into this matter was not the point. The fact that he came all the way to such a ce in this hot weather and wanted to buy a hot bun with anko filling was not the only aspect to be poked at.


    At around 1:00 a.m.


    A customer, presumably a young man of about 20 years of age.


    His eyes were as searingly piercing as the delinquent who had his way with me in front of the convenience store the other day. He had long, ck hair that reached his shoulders and long bangs that hung inconveniently about his eyes. A red sleeveless hoodie, a ck tank top, and loose-fitting damaged pants.


    A<em>i</em>slender yet muscr physique.


    At first nce, he appeared to be the type of young man you woulde across anywhere.


    And<em>i</em>yet


    For<em>i</em>what reason? He was carrying something so heavy in one hand that I wanted to ask him where in the world he had obtained it.


    On a bright red wooden bat, numerous nails had been driven into it.


    That<em>i</em>was the so-called spiked bat.


    With<em>i</em>that alone, my spine tingled as I wondered what kind of n he belonged to, but this was only the beginning.


    The<em>i</em>greatest part of the situation, which made both me and the manager freeze, lingered with the customer.


    After<em>i</em>all, that customer


    His<em>i</em>head was dripping blood. Inrge volumes, so much so that the sound effect was a whoosh.


    It<em>i</em>appeared as though he had been severely struck in the back of the head by someone or that he had engaged inbat with a person who intended to murder him.


    He<em>i</em>was<em>i</em>truly drenched in blood. That was the only word I could use to describe it.


    Though<em>i</em>this was my impression objectively, I was now standing in front of a bloodied man who hade in as a customer.


    Not<em>i</em>a meter across the counter, not even a meter away.


    Hey, imagine<em>i</em>that.


    How<em>i</em>could this not be terrifying?


    Right<em>i</em>in front of you.


    Frankly<em>i</em>speaking, I could pee my pants.