Killer Queen and Deep End:Killer Device and Never End

Killer Device and Never End

He was being chased.

While it was necessary to attend his cram school, walking these streets so late at night had worried him for a while now. But this went far beyond being harassed by a drunk. If that was all it was, he would not be fleeing so desperately.

Yes, something much more horrific was closing in on him from behind.

Tachinami Wakeyoshi, a third year high school boy, was running down a dark street late at night. There were no proper signs on the buildings lining the street, rusty shutters covered all of the small shops, and it was all so nondescript he had to wonder if anyone really lived in the area.

This unlit and rundown corner of the city was entirely abandoned.

There were no cars on the road either.

(Ha ha. I can’t believe this. I’m being chased down. There’s really no one here. I need to find a way out of here. I need to find someone to save me. Dammit. Why? Why do I go to cram school so late? And things were already bad enough after the entrance exams. And that love letter. I can’t believe it. And then this had to happen!)

Being forced to run in unfamiliar shoes while under such extreme tension left Tachinami short on breath. Still, the exit to a major road came into view. The rumbling of the cars usually annoyed him to no end, but now it rang so sweetly in his ears. He started the last spurt toward the goal before his eyes.

But with a roar, a wall of flames rose in front of him to block the way.

“…!?”

The orange wall suddenly rose up past his head and blinded him. The brightness was a shock to eyes adjusted to the dark and he literally felt it scorching his skin. His brain was directly hit by pain so intense he thought all his skin was peeling away.

“Gbh, gh, gh, agggghh!?”

The pain and confusion were so great he could not remain standing and collapsed to the ground. He thought he smelled yakiniku and just about laughed out loud when he realized it was coming from his own body. He wanted to laugh so hard it tore apart his mouth and lungs.

Just then, he heard a footstep.

Before he could look over, more flames roared. Like a beam cannon, the flames shot in a straight line from the darkness and right into his gut. He was blown from the ground and right into the wall of flames blocking his escape. The unrealistic scene combined with the extremely realistic pain was enough to completely fry the circuits of his brain.

The footsteps approached.

“Such nice weather.”

He heard a clear voice in the darkness.

“I love dry nights like this. It’s perfect for fires.”

Still collapsed in the flames, Tachinami Wakeyoshi looked into the darkness. Even with the light of the flames using his body for kindling, he could not see past that inky blackness. Whoever was there slowly walked just beyond that curtain of darkness as if to tease him.

(It’s no use. I’m a goner.)

He breathed a soft sigh. And the instant he opened his mouth, the burning pain spread to the inside of his body. Even so, he managed to ask his assailant’s name.

“Who are you? Goddammit.”

The darkness responded with no real emotion in its voice.

“I am Honoyama Kaen of Incineration. But perhaps you would know me better as one of the seven: the Killer Device.”

That meant nothing at all to him, but the darkness wielded its flames before he could ask anything more.

Four hours after that incident, a police officer in a police box tilted his head with the morning paper in hand. An article said an incinerated corpse had been found in the city late the previous night, but he did not recall receiving a report about it.

Puzzled, he asked his chief about it.

“Oh, that case was given a Forbidden Killer Demon designation, so of course it wasn’t sent to us.”

“Huh?”

The police officer asked about that unfamiliar term.

“That’s about the most dangerous designation there is. It falls under a different department’s jurisdiction from the get-go. You know how the US military stationed here can’t do Division 1 work, right? It’s the same as that. I think it means the PSIA works on it. From what I’ve heard, those things are too dangerous for police to work on their cases. Basically, it’s not our job and I wouldn’t want to do it even if it was.”

“How can you be so nonchalant about this?” asked the officer without thinking, but for some reason the chief only commented on how young he was.

Narishima Iruka’s morning began with watching a gloomy news program.

He moved his freshly-shaved mouth.

“Could this morning get any worse?”

He munched on a breakfast of hot milk, toast, and salad (which might or might not have been healthy on an empty stomach), but he did not change the channel. The morning news gave information on the forecast, a deadly incineration, and traffic congestion on the highway.

A glance at the clock showed it was 9 AM.

Your average 27-year-old officer worker could not be sitting around at that time, but that did not apply to Iruka. He worked as an in-school counselor. Simply put, he was a psychologist who was invited as a guest to deal with the students’ psychological issues caused by all the unpleasant incidents occurring in schools these days.

And with the schools on summer break, there was no counseling work for him to do. Unlike a school doctor, there were no regulations insisting he had to continue working for the students who continued club activities during the break.

So despite being gainfully employed, he could enjoy the summer break 24/7. Viva.

A lazy breakfast with no time pressure was a luxury that office workers were only allowed on the weekends.

Since the forecast said today would be sunny with a chance of showers in the evening, he would have to make a courageous decision on whether or not to hang the bedding out to dry, but then he heard light footsteps moving down the hallway.

He glanced over and saw a girl of about 14 enter the living room.

Her brownish-black hair was worn up in two dumplings on the sides of her head and her cute eyes were still drowsy and half closed. Her sleepy-looking head wobbled and she wore a large men’s T-shirt. How large was it? The neck hole had slipped down over her right shoulder to reveal the white skin there.

Her name was Karuhane Tokime.

Due to certain circumstances, an acquaintance had temporarily left this child with Iruka.

“Hmm?”

Tokime looked around the small living room with silent and slow movements reminiscent of a traditional Japanese dance and came to a stop when she saw Iruka.

“Good morning, Karuhane-san. How about making some breakfast to wake yourself up?”

Iruka did not take his eyes off the TV as he spoke.

Their tastes in food were so drastically incompatible that, if either of them made two servings’ worth of what they liked, it would turn into a very awkward meal, so they had picked up a habit of making their own food. (Although it pained Iruka that the awkwardness would not develop into an outright argument either.)

While Iruka grimaced at the feel of the skin on the hot milk and wondered if some kind of cutting-edge super technology could prevent that from forming, Tokime walked barefoot across the floor to reach him.

Only then did he turn from the TV to look at her.

“Hm? Are we out of coffee? Although I still have to question how you can possibly ingest that mixture of white rice and black coff- gyah!?”

He was cut off mid-sentence because sleepy Tokime wrapped her arms around him and hugged him while rubbing her cheek against him.

Her cheek felt oddly soft.

No matter how many times she did this, Iruka could not get used to it. As always, his pulse beat at an unhealthily accelerated rate.

But Tokime did not seem to care and she spoke just one word as if explaining further would be too much effort.

“Tired.”

Then she leaned her full body weight against Iruka and shut her eyes on top of the chair. A warm sensation reached him through the T-shirt. Once he realized it was the girl’s beating heart, his skin grew so sensitive it felt like having electricity coursing through it.

“Wait, um, Karuhane-san? Karuhane-saaan? Wait, are you still not wearing any underwear with that!? You mustn’t go back to sleep and you don’t need to cling to me like this. There should still be plenty of my scent in the bed. C’mon, c’mon. Let go, let go.”

“Tired. Be quiet. Yawn.”

Tokime tugged on his ear to silence him and then muttered below her breath while she started falling asleep.

While sweating an unhealthy amount, Iruka moved his trembling hand to set the cup of hot milk onto the table.

This was Karuhane Tokime’s unique condition.

And it was why she had been left with Narishima Iruka.

Simply put, she suffered from a form of sleep disorder, so she could not sleep without Iruka’s scent. While it was called a “scent”, it was a subconscious thing that could not normally be detected and all she needed was the scent and not the man himself, so she did not really need to cling to him like this. Nevertheless, she claimed this was best. She was always in a bad mood when he slipped out of bed at night like he had today.

That condition might sound silly, but it was a very serious issue for her. Without Iruka, Tokime would be stuck going a week or even two weeks without sleep.

When her parents had been forced to choose between having her habitually use sleeping pills or go live with Iruka, they had ultimately chosen the latter. And she had obeyed. (Although avoiding him was not really a choice if she wanted sleep.)

Iruka’s heart raced at the feel of her skin, but he also felt a chilly uneasiness deep in his heart.

They had not actually told him as much, but he was certain her parents had ultimately chosen to leave their daughter with him because he was a psychologist and not a psychiatrist.

Sleep disorders were a proper(?) mental illness and they should normally be treated by a doctor who specialized in that field. Mental hospitals were equipped with everything necessary, but Tokime’s parents had apparently not liked the idea of using such a facility.

They seemed to think it sounded nicer to tell the neighbors their daughter was studying with a scholar than being treated by a doctor.

“…”

The idea that mental illness was the root of all evils was of course an inaccurate prejudice.

For example, someone afflicted with trypanophobia or insomnia was not causing any immediate harm to other people or society. Tastes in food were also a mental thing if you excluded allergies and dysgeusia, so even if it did not reach the level of an “illness” in most people, Iruka felt that everyone had their own “issues” to some extent. He liked squid and disliked octopus, but it would seem silly to say that would lead him to commit abnormal crimes.

Most food preferences could be overcome with work and mental illness was the same. That was why mental hospitals existed with specialized knowledge and equipment, but Tokime’s parents did not seem to see it that way.

And Iruka had another thought as well.

The trigger for Tokime’s mental illness was somewhat unique, so he did somewhat understand why her parents were a little sensitive about it.

Forbidden Killer Demon Case 81.

She was the sole survivor of the case caused by Satsuma Michishio of Drowning in which a certain aquarium had been transformed into hell.

“Karuhane-san. Karuhane-san? C’mon, stop sniffing and go make yourself some breakfast. I can’t eat my breakfast like this either. Why do I have to sit and wait when my food is right here in front of me?”

“Not to worry. I’m not hungry when I’m asleep.”

A girl who had once seen hell on earth spoke in a lazy, drawn-out way.

She sounded healthy and without nightmares.

Killer Demon.

The National Public Safety Commission had officially adopted that term 18 years and 3 months before. Instead of something from a talk show or tabloid headline, it now officially referred to the culprit of any brutal murder that met certain conditions.

However, their unique murder methods had an odd charm, so those cases were never announced to the public to prevent copycat criminals. The term Killer Demon could only officially be used in very limited areas and it was not found anywhere in the Six Codes.

In other words, the cases officially designated as caused by a Killer Demon could not be judged using the normal laws.

When a Killer Demon was captured, they were not taken to a police station, a courthouse, or a prison. They were taken somewhere else entirely.

“…”

Narishima Iruka breathed a soft sigh.

He looked down at Karuhane Tokime’s face as she hugged him and breathed the shallow breaths of sleep.

Forbidden Killer Demon Case 81, aka the Drowning Case. The case that had assaulted this girl had been generally reported as a random attacker suddenly breaking the glass of a giant aquarium tank.

The officially designated Killer Demons were apparently broadly divided into 72 different categories.

And each of them was associated with a single cause of death.

There were apparently some with multiple causes of death, but in the end, they would always choose just the one.

It could be guns, flames, or electricity. Every one of them was different, but they would see their chosen cause of death through to the very end. For example, the one associated with drowning had known how to drown anyone with a single cup of water and he had transformed the entire aquarium building into a watery hell by breaking open the one giant tank.

And among the 72 varieties of Killer Demon, there were 7 who were most powerful: the Killer Device, the Killer Machine, the Killer Princess, the Killer Taboo, the Formation Killer, the Killer Queen, and the God Killer.

Some preferred to remain independent, some belonged to an organization, some acted for themselves, some acted for someone else, some fought each other, and some joined forces, but they all killed people.

The process by which Killer Demons came about was a mystery.

According to a theory released by Foreknowledge, it was a way of protecting culture. Techniques of killing were a part of manmade culture and everyone’s abhorrence of killers would lead to that knowledge being lost. The theory said a “culture bank” was being subconsciously created to prevent that loss. And the end result was each cause of death being concentrated down into a Killer Demon.

Since everyone else had cast aside those methods of killing, they had gathered in one place and given those people combat abilities far surpassing the average person.

No.

Some in Foreknowledge had apparently concluded that the Killer Demons were no longer human because they possessed something that everyone else had already lost.

“When you throw in the word ‘subconsciously’, you can claim just about anything you want,” complained Iruka.

He gently peeled away Karuhane Tokime, who was already fast asleep, and he got to work.

His non-counselor work was piling up.

Even though it was summer break.

Karuhane Tokime did not understand Narishima Iruka’s work.

That was her first thought after waking up in the afternoon. Then she realized she had been placed on the sofa at some point, which did not make her happy. According to Iruka, that was a part of her treatment. By gradually reducing the amount of his scent, he hoped she would eventually be able to sleep without it.

He was currently working on something at the table even though it was summer break.

At 14, Tokime could not imagine what kind of work a scholar did and she was not really sure what a “PhD” really was. And it was all the more confusing with psychology since she was not sure if it was part of the humanities or the sciences.

So she obediently asked what he was doing.

“Some part-time work. I’m designing the coloring for a train station sign.”

He always gave a simple answer, but he would never show her the report.

He said it used a field known as traffic psychology to make signs that maximized visibility while minimizing mental strain. He seemed to think he was dumbing it down sufficiently, but Tokime was pretty sure she only understood around 20% of it.

And she could eat her meals just fine without understanding psychology.

She yawned and looked around the living room. Since this was a scholar’s home, there were a lot of books with difficult-sounding titles. They were probably mostly related to psychology, but there were some that felt more like literature or math puzzles: The Seven Ends, The Number 72 and the Associated Deaths, and things like that.

The word psychology apparently covered more than 20 categories. (Iruka had said it was like how the Nobel Prize had prizes in peace, literature, etc.) He had apparently studied in several of those categories and he said he used that knowledge to work a variety of short-term contracts. She agreed that knowledge of train station signs probably was not enough to work as a school counselor.

And while Tokime was worrying over all of that, something occurred to her.

She sniffed her cute nose.

“Iruka-san, you’re wearing perfume.”

He gulped, stopped his work on the table, and turned to look at her.

“You’rrrre wearrrrrring perrrrrfuuuuuume! It stiiiiinks!!”

“What do you mean it stinks!? And what does it matter what I wear!?”

“Get it off, get it off! I can’t sleep with that weird smell!!”

“That’s why I’m wearing it. Were you planning to go back to sleep a second time!? Wait, where are you going? …That deodorant is meant for the bottom of your shoes!”

Iruka avoided the approaching spray attack by grabbing the report from the table and running away. Tokime laughed and chased after him for a while, but she eventually came to a stop with a troubled look.

“This deodorant stinks too. Now you’re a mess of several different smells.”

“Then why did you have to do this to me?”

Iruka trembled in anger like a cold puppy that had been splashed with water, but Tokime refused to listen and collapsed back onto the sofa. The sofa had more of his scent than he himself did at this point. Her white legs stuck out dangerously far from the bottom of the baggy T-shirt, but she did not mind. She was focused on the sofa’s scent now.

Karuhane Tokime was not afraid of falling asleep.

She had been caught in an incident shocking enough to make waves in the newspapers and TV news, but she did not let it affect her much (or so she thought). She had happened across the murder case which had transformed a certain aquarium into hell (the existence of the Killer Demon known as Satsuma Michishio of Drowning had not been revealed to the public), but she had never had a nightmare about it and she had no trouble visiting the aquarium again. She personally doubted the conclusion that her insomnia was caused by that incident.

But she did have a guess what the real cause was.

When that incident had occurred, she had been visiting the aquarium with a few of her friends, but she had felt sick and gone to lie down in the infirmary.

And by the time she woke up, it had all been over.

She had closed her eyes on a peaceful scene and reopened them to find hell itself.

She thought that horrific gap was the cause of her illness. Because to her, the time between falling asleep and waking up was no more than an instant. Everything had collapsed in that instant, like a switch had been thrown, so (while she was embarrassed to admit it) it was not too surprising that it had been a shock to her young mind.

None of it felt real to her, though.

She might want to be healed, but she did not know what exactly needed to be healed.

Honoyama Kaen walked through an evening ghost town.

This was the site of a failed redevelopment of an industrial district, so countless half-built factories had been abandoned. These streets had been left to rot without being used even once, so they were still and silent with fading colors.

Honoyama Kaen’s outfit did not suit the rusty background at all. She wore a pink tank top, white shorts, and long gloves. Her short hair gave her a sporty look.

She gave bright color to the faded colors around her.

And the orange flames bursting from her hand blew away all of those colors.

She was one of the seven: the Killer Device of Incineration.

She was also known as the Clear Sky Killer Demon.

That name came from her habit of choosing days with nice weather to kill people like it was part of a daytrip.

“…”

She lightly waved her hand.

Flames roared out. Explosions surrounded the vortex of red fire as it tore apart the thick door of a nearby factory like it was made of paper and knocked the door inside the building.

She heard a man scream.

A middle-aged man struggled to crawl out from under the steel door pinning him to the floor. Kaen waved her hand again and the blowing flames blasted the man and the door into the air.

The way he flew like a dust ball blown by a fan looked far too unrealistic.

And after flying up with the door, the man came crashing back down to the floor. He did not seem to have braced for impact. The heat had melted his synthetic suit like cheese and it had fused with his arms and legs, preventing him from moving properly.

The air was oddly dry with all the moisture blown away.

Honoyama Kaen casually walked into the factory.

“Hiyama Shouzou.” The incineration girl spoke in a quiet voice. “You lost the will to live after losing your only daughter Hiyama Kotori and your wife Hiyama Harudori in the Drowning Case, also known as Forbidden Killer Demon Case 81. And you hoped to lose your life in a Killer Demon case so you could share the same fate as your family. Is that correct?”

The man’s chattering teeth reached Kaen’s ears.

His face was practically ripped apart by a smile. And with that stiff expression, he spoke from the floor.

“I had my thoughts about what happened and researched Killer Demons. But when I learned of your name, I felt my heart trembling.”

He seemed to be looking at Kaen, but he also seemed to be speaking with someone else entirely.

“You are the Killer Device who approaches those who wish for death somewhere in their heart. You’re the perfect Killer Demon for someone as pathetic as me. For someone who doesn’t have the guts to cross that final line. Your euthanasia is exactly what-…”

Honoyama Kaen did not bother listening to the end.

When she swung her arm yet again, a straight line of fire shot from her hand and pierced the collapsed man’s face. It was a lot like a guillotine made of flames. The explosive blast of fire easily split the man’s head from his body.

“Oh, this is nowhere near gentle enough to call euthanasia.”

She licked her fingers and extinguished the flames.

And she gave a melted smile that seemed to revel in the joy of the act.

“An ugly word like incineration is enough for me.”

After bowing toward the corpse, she left the factory.

There was apparently one survivor of Forbidden Killer Demon Case 81 in this city. A survivor of that nightmarish case where an entire aquarium had been flooded. Her research said that survivor was being treated for a sleep disorder.

“She must be suffering,” said Honoyama Kaen with a pitying smile.

Suffering so much that death would be a relief.

The night was growing late.

Only after taking a third bath could Narishima Iruka relax and grab a coffee milk from the fridge. He badly wanted the liquid. Karuhane Tokime had kept saying he still smelled of perfume and had continued insisting he stank and pushing him back toward the bath.

When he entered the living room, he found Tokime wearing the baggy T-shirt she slept in. She looked displeased when she saw the coffee milk carton in his hand. She was sensitive to even the tiniest smells before she went to sleep.

The TV was shifting from primetime to the late night variety shows. She sat on the sofa and, when she looked back at the screen, she kicked her feet around and doubled over in laughter. This provided a glimpse of her white thighs higher than a miniskirt but lower than a swimsuit. She apparently did not mind being around a man while wearing only a T-shirt.

“Brush your teeth after you finish drinking that.”

“Do you think I’m in elementary school?”

Iruka complained as he received the benefits of the coffee milk. He could practically feel the cold beverage soaking into his overheated and sleep-deprived body.

“Eh? But coffee is known for its strong smell. And I think that’s the very first step toward trying to get some peaceful sleep, Iruka-san.”

“That’s the thing. Normally, a teenage girl would be more reluctant to cling to a grown man like you do. What do you have to say about that?”

“How many times have you asked that now?”

“I will keep asking as many times as it takes. Counselors are not all-powerful. The patient will never improve if they do not want to.”

“Oh, I remember now. This is the 20th time. Wait, or was it the 21st time?”

“I will ask it 30 or 40 times if I have to. Besides, you can’t continue this irregular lifestyle forever, can you? I do not mind if you have a problem with me. Then we just have to use that as a starting point to gradually ween you off of using my scent to sleep. And yet you seem to have fully accepted the current situation. Why is that, Karuhane-san? You need to let it bother you a little. Where is your embarrassment and shyness?”

Iruka sounded exasperated, but Tokime blushed and started glancing over at him.

“Um, uh, Iruka-san? The…the thing is, it’s um, been bothering me this whole time.”

She held her own shoulders as she said it.

And because she shrank down while wearing that baggy T-shirt, one of her white shoulders could be seen through the neck hole.

“………………………………………………………………………………………………”

Iruka fell silent and a geyser of coffee milk erupted from the carton he held.

“See, when I say things like that, you completely freeze up. Ha ha ha ha ha! You have some weird delusions about women.”

When he realized she was teasing him, he snapped back at her while wiping up the floor with a rag he grabbed from the kitchen.

“About children, you mean. Ahh, ahh. Kids these days just aren’t cute at all.”

“Wha-!?”

That must have angered her because she sprang up from the sofa.

“I mean, I kind of already knew. I kind of figured I didn’t stand a chance when you didn’t try anything no matter how much I clung to you on a daily basis, but you didn’t have to say it so bluntly right to my- gblagh!!”

She angrily ran over to him, but she tripped midway and rolled across the floor.

“Nope, not cute at all,” said Iruka while covering his eyes with a hand.

“Ow… Wait, what’s this, Iruka-san?” asked Tokime when she saw what she had tripped over.

Something like a sandbag sat in the living room. It had a diameter of 50cm and measured more than 2m long. It was so hard that she figured it had to contain metal pipes or something. Her memories told her no such thing had been there at dinner time and she could not figure out what it would be used for.

“Oh, I might use that for a job soon, so I thought I should have it ready.”

“A job? This is a tent frame, isn’t it?” She looked down at the mystery bag again. “Iruka-san, you weren’t plotting revenge by putting this here so I would trip over it, were you?”

“N-no! Wh-wh-why are you trembling like that!?”

“Sniff, sob.”

She pulled up the neck of the baggy T-shirt to cover her face like a handkerchief. And that also pulled up the hem, revealing her bare legs. Iruka’s face paled.

“Eh? Eh? Wait, is this really worth crying over? Oh, no. Eh? Oh, no! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! Okay, my apology doesn’t seem to be sitting well with you, but please just stop crying! And you’re pulling that T-shirt way too far up!”

“I was only pretending to cry.”

“You were pretending!? God, you are the least cute kid I’ve ever met!”

“Ehh? Iruka-san, are you into girls who are too much for you to handle? Ha ha. We both know you love being manipulated by younger girls.”

“That’s it. I’m putting that perfume back on.”

When Iruka started toward his room, Tokime ran after him while crying for real this time.

Honoyama Kaen of Incineration, the Killer Device, arrived in a residential district late at night.

Not a single window was lit up in that tranquil area of two-story wooden homes. This residential district had only recently been developed, so most of the homes were vacant model homes. Only the fluorescent streetlights illuminated the area while occasionally flickering.

“Narishima. Narishima. Oh, here it is.”

Kaen stopped in front of an especially small house. Both the building and yard were small and the concrete wall was short. And when Kaen looked up at the unlit building and pondered how she should get inside, she noticed something.

There was a small porch next to the small yard.

And someone sat there as if enjoying the chilly evening.

“Good evening,” he said.

That line felt so out of place that Honoyama Kaen found herself smiling.

Not because he was entirely ignorant of the situation.

Because he fully understood but still spoke those words.

Kaen asked him what he was doing and he said he had a job to do.

“I don’t recall sending a warning.” The Incinerator smiled bitterly. “And do you know what people like me are? They don’t let the press report on us.”

“I happen to know someone,” he slowly replied. “Are you familiar with the Drowner?”

That told Kaen what she needed to know.

“Oh, so it’s about him. I heard that one was pretty awful. He has no real principles, so he’s indiscriminate in his victims.”

“I was the one that dealt with that incident.”

“Did you? Makes sense. Forbidden Killer Demon cases aren’t reported to the general public, so if you know about it, you must not be part of the general public.”

Yes.

It was never reported that Killer Demons were behind the killings they caused. The perpetrator could not be judged under normal law. Instead of going to the police station or courthouse, the suspect was taken somewhere else entirely. And to keep up appearances, the official story would be that the criminal resisted arrest and was shot to death by police. The list of police officers included some nonexistent names to create police who only existed on paper, so when one of those incidents occurred, those fictional police would be fired as the ones who had shot the criminal.

Why did he know that?

Why did he know it directly and not just from Tokime?

And.

When Karuhane Tokime developed a sleep disorder afterwards, why was his scent the only thing that would let her sleep?

“Did you save that girl?”

“I did.”

“That would explain why she’s so attached to you.”

“But that attachment is not healthy. If the proper care had been taken back then, she may not have developed her sleep disorder.”

“If that bothers you, then you must be a good person. A normal person would be delighted with the perks of your position.”

“That’s the thing. I can’t help but feel like I’m taking advantage of what happened.”

“No matter what you do, I don’t think it makes you a bad person if you have good intentions.”

“And you have good intentions for killing her?”

“Yup.”

“And that is why you claim to be a good person?”

“I relieve people of their suffering. That is my good intention.”

“Then I must defeat you.”

“If that’s what you’ve decided, then I’ll have to kill you too.”

“Oh, I am not the same as you. I will not kill you.”

“Well, no, you won’t. Because I’ll be killing you.”

They both slowly breathed in and out.

Narishima Iruka grabbed something like a long sandbag that sat next to him on the porch. It contained more than 10 metal pipes with a length of about 2 meters.

“Is that your weapon? It looks like a tent frame to me.”

“I’m ashamed to admit I don’t have much in the way of weapons lying around the house.”

“Not too surprising. All Killer Demons are like that. You might laugh if you heard what my weapon is.”

“No, I am not a Killer Demon.”

Iruka slowly stood up from the porch with the giant bag of metal pipes over his shoulder.

“I am the opposite of you Killer Demons.”

Kaen’s face loosened in a smile.

“You claim to be the opposite of me? Of Honoyama Kaen of Incineration, the Killer Device?”

Iruka’s face tensed.

“Yes. While you kill people wherever you go, I save people wherever I go.”

There was no need to move elsewhere to fight.

That new residential district was almost entirely empty homes. And more importantly, Killer Demon incidents were not made public. It did not matter how many witnesses there were.

“…”

“…”

Narishima Iruka and Honoyama Kaen.

They stood about 7 meters apart. The yard only contained grass and a short tree, but the low concrete block wall stood between them.

And.

Without warning.

Kaen’s explosive flames blew away that concrete wall. Iruka responded by digging his fingers into the long bag of metal pipes. He used it to knock away the many stone shards that flew his way.

Kaen swung her hands in intersecting arcs.

This produced two flame spears that shot toward Iruka.

“!?”

He immediately leaped to the side, but he was not exactly nimble while carrying a bag weighing several kilograms. The two flames spears tore into the spot he had just vacated and they exploded. The shockwave eliminated all sound as it flew toward him.

He immediately held up the long bag, but that was all he could manage.

He and his shield were knocked from the ground. He flew over the wall at horrifying speed and rolled along the yard of the empty house next door.

“Pretty clever.”

Kaen of Incineration once more blew up the wall with her flames and slowly walked over. The shards of the wall hit the yard’s dirt and the water faucet.

“Those metal pipes, I mean. The trick is using a bundle of them instead of just one, isn’t it? It is true a sandbag absorbs the force of a punch more than a solid rock. If you chose that weapon with defense in mind, then I like your style.”

Iruka unsteadily stood back up and Kaen smiled at him.

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?” he asked.

“Oh, absolutely. That doesn’t mean you’ll like the result, though.”

Just then, Iruka saw light fill a window on the second floor of his house.

Panic appeared in his eyes.

(Oh, no.)

All the noise had woken the sleeping girl.

What would Karuhane Tokime do once she realized he was not by her side?

(Could I make a run for it to draw this Killer Demon away from her?)

If he ran from this yard before Tokime noticed the commotion and came outside, would Kaen chase after him? And would that get her away from Tokime?

He considered it but finally shook his head. It would not work. Karuhane Tokime was the Killer Demon’s top priority and Narishima Iruka was merely an obstacle. If he ran off, the Killer Demon would let him go and happily continue on to finish off her true target.

(Then I need to end this quickly!!)

Iruka clenched his teeth and ran forward.

The only option was to subdue this Killer Demon before Tokime arrived. They were only 7 meters apart, so he only needed two or three steps before the long bag could reach her. He forced himself to focus on that fact as he started forward.

But then an explosion erupted behind him.

“Gah!?”

He could not react to the sudden blast from an entirely unexpected direction, so he lost his balance and nearly fell forward. He knew it was all over if he did fall, so he desperately slammed on the brakes to pull back his overbalanced body.

Kaen swung her arm.

She was preparing to send a flame spear straight toward Iruka as he rapidly braked.

“Not…good!!”

Narishima Iruka tried to hold the long bag in front of him to defend himself.

This time, the second flame spear appeared at his feet and shot straight up like an uppercut.

The long bag in his hands was knocked straight up like a rocket.

And while surprise colored his face, the first flame spear stabbed mercilessly into his side.

“!!!???”

It exploded.

Iruka was thrown backwards. His limbs flailed wildly in the air. After he was slammed onto the ground, he rolled violently for a while. It took well over 3 seconds for him to come to a complete stop.

With an unpleasant sound, the long bag split open in midair. The many metal pipes poured down like rain. They fell on the grass, on the brick path, on the water faucet, and on Iruka’s collapsed body. But he could not dodge them anymore. He did not have the strength left.

Kaen looked a little surprised.

“You jumped back just before it hit, didn’t you?”

“Did that even…accomplish anything? I feel like…all my organs have been shuffled around inside me.”

He suppressed the rising urge to vomit and forced out the words.

Once she knew he could no longer fight, Kaen would lose interest in him. And he knew exactly where her interest would turn next.

“It definitely accomplished something. That attack should have shredded your organs. If you did it on purpose, then I need to adjust my evaluation of you.”

(…?)

Kaen sounded annoyed, but she soon smiled again.

It was the soft, gentle smile of someone welcoming a friend back from work.

“Now, how much longer will this last?”

“?”

When Iruka gave Kaen a puzzled look, he saw a new light on at his house. This one was not from his bedroom. It was probably the hallway light.

“Gh…don’t tell me.”

“That girl must have heard all the noise out here. It doesn’t look like she’s confident the noise is connected to you, but what will happen once she notices you’re not in the house?”

“…!!”

More and more lights came on in the second floor of his house. It looked like Tokime was checking each room in turn.

“She should finish with the second floor soon. Oh, is she going to check the entire first floor too? Surely she’ll notice the state of the yard when she checks the living room, but then what will she do?”

“Kh.”

Iruka desperately tried to move while collapsed on the ground.

His mouth trembled unnaturally and he spat out a rough breath. His right hand was touching one of the scattered metal pipes. But even while clenching his teeth with effort, moving a single fingertip was the most he could manage. He could not gather enough strength to even grab the pipe he was already touching.

Kaen smiled.

Honoyama Kaen gave a friendly smile.

“You seem to think I want this to happen, but I really don’t.”

“What?”

“You might find it surprising since I use fire, but I think pain should be kept to a minimum. People are made so they shut off their senses when they’re surprised. So if you kill them with a single surprise attack, the flames will gently embrace them and carry them from this life without any pain.”

“I’ve never heard…anything like that.”

“Really? Even though you’re a psychologist? Maybe your specialty is different. Then again, it is a hard thing to get samples for. The loss of your senses to surprise only lasts an instant, so you can’t expect it to accomplish much with non-lethal forms of surprise.”

A light came on in the first floor entranceway.

Kaen watched it with joy in her eyes.

A question occurred to Iruka.

He knew he could not expect a proper answer from a Killer Demon, but he asked anyway.

“Why?”

“Hm?”

“Why are you trying to kill her?”

“Because she looks like she’s suffering,” answered Kaen. “Did you think I had some special way of thinking since I’m known as the Killer Device? Personally, I think this is normal. It hurts. It pains me to see people suffering or in pain. So I want to do something about it. I want to use every bit of my power to help out. And by freeing them from their suffering, I can free myself from mine. Simple, right?”

“That’s why…?”

“It’s my rule. But unfortunately, my power is fairly limited in its uses. I do wish I had more variation.”

She said it all plainly without trying to hide anything.

When you got down to it, it was simple kindness.

That was her motive.

It was not some bizarre and ugly idea that normal people could never imagine, like only loving people who whose eye you had gouged out or tearing out someone’s tongue because they would not shut up.

“You’re insane.”

“Am I?” Honoyama Kaen did not give his accusation much thought. “This is the only method available to me, but I still want to do something to help. So how many friends did that girl lose in Forbidden Killer Demon Case 81, aka the Drowning Case? How many more decades does she have to continue suffering from those nightmares? Hasn’t she suffered enough? Shouldn’t we free her from all that?”

Flames flickered in Kaen’s hand.

And the light cast a deep contrast on her smiling face.

“So it’s time we killed her. That is how we save that girl.”

That one word caused time to stop for Narishima Iruka.

Save. Honoyama Kaen said that would save the girl. She said it pained her to see people suffering, so she wanted to smile along with everyone by freeing them from that suffering.

“Tired. Be quiet. Yawn.”

That was the exact same thing Iruka had been thinking. There was little difference in Kaen and Iruka’s motivations. But that starting point was the only similarity. Their end points could not have been more different.

“Not to worry. I’m not hungry when I’m asleep.”

Iruka agreed that Karuhane Tokime’s current circumstances could not be described as happy. What had she lost in that incident and what did she want from him? She could not sleep. On the surface, that was all it appeared to be, but how deep were the scars and darkness hidden below the surface?

Because he was a psychologist, he knew.

And because she trusted him and opened up to him, he knew.

“It’s my rule. But unfortunately, my power is fairly limited in its uses. I do wish I had more variation.”

Yes, he was willing to admit it. He could not save Tokime. His specialized knowledge told him that all too clearly. He did not want to know it, but the fact was impossible to deny.

“Hasn’t she suffered enough? Shouldn’t we free her from all that?”

But.

“So it’s time we killed her.”

However.

“That is how we save that girl.”

Did that mean he could accept that other conclusion?

It was true Narishima Iruka could not save Karuhane Tokime. Most likely, even the very best psychiatrist would have a hard time saving her. Even if someone spent a lifetime working to fully rid her of that darkness, the odds would only be 50/50 if not worse.

But.

Was killing her really the solution just because he could not save her?

Could someone else make that decision for her and bring an end to her life?

It would free her from her suffering.

But could this really be justified with those words?

“To hell…with that.”

Iruka did not even need to consider it, so he clenched his teeth and spoke.

“What?” asked the Killer Demon.

“I’m saying you don’t get to decide what it means to save her.”

He clenched his teeth.

He still had the strength left to do that. Strength gathered in his supposedly unmoving fingers. He grabbed the metal pipe that was his only weapon.

He squeezed it so very tight.

“Did she ask for that? Did she even once say she wants to die? Like hell she did. If I’ve never heard anything like that, what would someone who’s never even met her know?”

He moved his trembling legs.

He gathered his strength as if tearing into the yard’s dirt.

Narishima Iruka desperately tried to stand up.

“Don’t talk about people based on your imagination. Don’t make decisions about them based on your delusions. You say it pains you to see people suffering? So when you get down to it, you’re just trying to make yourself feel better. What, do you not have the strength to watch over those suffering people? Do you not have the kindness to watch them without interfering as they suffer and suffer and suffer until they can stand on their own two feet once more?”

His body trembled.

He looked like a light breeze would knock him back down.

But Iruka did not fall down.

He slowly, slowly stood up like he was lifting a heavy barbell.

“You say you save people through death, but who is it you’re really saving there? Karuhane Tokime, or yourself!?”

Honoyama Kaen smiled at the words of a man driven to the precipice of death.

It was an amused but bitter smile.

“You say that, but isn’t the idea that they’re trying to ‘stand on their own two feet’ nothing but your own imagination and speculation?”

“I’ll admit it,” readily answered Iruka. “I’m the same as you.”

“…”

“I want to have things my way too. If she truly wanted to die, I doubt I could accept it. I would find it unbearable to see her wish for death.”

He readily threw out his own justification.

He was saying there was no justice here. It was a confrontation between two self-righteous people.

And he was saying there was no need to hide that fact.

He was practically shouting that he did not need to whitewash his ugly desire.

“I want her to live. And I understand how selfish that is.”

Honoyama Kaen stared at his face.

She listened to Narishima Iruka’s words, learned what feelings fueled them, and thought about the path that would have led him there.

“It hurts,” she said. “It pains me to see the way you live.”

The soft smile on her face did not suit the situation in the slightest.

For the first time, Honoyama Kaen of Incineration wielded flames with concern for Narishima Iruka in her heart.

“What a coincidence.”

Narishima Iruka grinned in response.

He moved his injured face to form a truly fierce smile.

“It pisses me off to see the way you live.”

“Do we need a signal?”

“No.”

They were 10 meters apart.

Narishima Iruka’s weapon, the long bag, had already broken open. He only had the one metal pipe left. While that weapon could kill a human if you hit them hard enough, it was far too flimsy against Honoyama Kaen who could freely wield flames and explosions.

As soon as he stopped breathing, she swung her arm and flames roared out. Orange light and heat appeared out of thin air and flew toward Iruka’s face like a spear.

“!!”

He immediately rolled to the side. The flames suddenly exploded in the space he had just left. Instead of fighting the blast, he continued rolling to the side, but a second and third scorching weapon shot his way.

He swung his metal pipe.

The reckless action looked like he was trying to swat down the fire, but the pipe swished through empty air.

And instead of Kaen’s attack, the swing destroyed the water faucet installed at one end of the yard.

(!?)

One of Kaen’s cheeks stiffened.

Clear water erupted out like a fountain and fell back down as if from a sprinkler. The sparkling drops of water were eliminated by evaporation as the flames attempted to pierce Iruka’s defenseless body.

But then the flames stopped.

As soon as they reached the field of water created by the fountain, the flames seemed to hit a dead end before wavering and vanishing into the darkness of the night.

Kaen narrowed just one of her eyes.

“So you noticed.”

“Seems so. If that had failed, I would have been killed instantly, so I wasn’t exactly delighted to have to test it on the fly.”

Kaen swung out another flame, but it too was blocked by the fountain area and snuffed out like a candle.

Iruka swung his metal pipe horizontally as if to shake off the water.

“You use dust explosions, don’t you?”

“Mostly, but I also use some tricks with solid fuels. Dust explosions alone wouldn’t let me create pillars of fire.”

Kaen gave a very, very thin smile.

Iruka ignored the water continuing to pour down on him.

“Some tricks? I doubt that is enough for you to pull off all of that.”

“Heh hehn. I was given such an interesting name because I can pull that off. First, I decide on Explosion Point A. Then I scatter some powder there to make a dust explosion easier. Then I scatter some powder along a line connecting me to Explosion Point A to create Fuse B. After that, I use the sparks in my hand to light Fuse B and that carries the fire straight to Explosion Point A.”

Dust explosions were a phenomenon that occurred when a certain density of powder was floating in the air. They could be prevented by washing the dust from the air like Iruka had done with the water.

That seemed like an unnecessarily complicated method, but her rule may have played a role there. Kaen liked to minimize the pain by using surprise. So she would seek out trickier methods of killing.

“So when did you notice? When I directly attacked your stomach?”

“Yes. Normally, simply jumping back would not have negated the blow. But it wasn’t that I negated the blow. I had escaped the effective range of the localized dust explosion.”

“That’s right, but was that really all it took?”

Kaen sounded amused.

But Iruka did not overlook the slight trembling of her lips.

Her mental state may have been similar to that of a stage magician. She had no problem putting on her incineration show, but she did not want the backstage tricks to be revealed.

“No. I’ll admit it wasn’t fair, but I researched you ahead of time. You are a Killer Demon who chooses to kill on days with nice weather, aren’t you?”

This time, Kaen clicked her tongue with a bitter expression.

“None of my killings were reported to the general public, so how do you have an accurate count of which days they occurred on?”

“Oh, don’t worry. I am not part of that archived tetralogy known as Foreknowledge.”

“Damn you.”

Displeasure covered Kaen’s face when she heard that organization’s name.

And Iruka smiled a bit as if to say that was the reaction he had wanted.

The tension between them grew.

He measured the distance between them.

It was about 8 meters. Meanwhile, the fountain only reached about 3 meters around the faucet. That simply was not enough. He would have to enter the dust explosion’s range if he was to reach Kaen.

He kicked a stone at his feet.

A small explosion near her face deflected it to the side.

“Hm. Well, glaring at each other isn’t going to accomplish anything. If you aren’t interested in fighting, then I’ll go deal with that girl first.”

Kaen grinned.

She smiled and let flames dance in her hand.

“That will not be necessary,” stated Narishima Iruka. “Turn your attention in that direction just once and you will immediately be knocked to the ground.”

He took a step forward.

He prepared to leave the temporary safe zone created by the fountain.

“Are you serious?”

“Very.”

He took another step.

If he took just one step outside the field of water, Kaen’s flames could reach him. She would have complete control. He had defended against her flames once by figuring out what caused them, but he still could not stop them without water.

5 meters.

They were so close together, but Kaen’s flames made it entirely impassable. Based on the previous fighting, there was nothing Iruka could do to escape her grasp. Before he could hope of reaching her, she would easily burn his bones to ashes and scatter those ashes with an explosion.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“No.”

“Do you think you can defeat me with nothing more than that pipe?”

“Oh, so you do understand.”

“?”

“Do you know what pipes were originally designed to do?”

The next action Iruka took was a very simple one.

He forcefully stabbed the pipe diagonally into the broken faucet.

“Ah…”

Kaen’s mind went blank.

The fountain disappeared. The water instead traveled down the pipe like it was a hose. Iruka pressed his thumb against the other end of the pipe to partially cover it. And just like he was squeezing the end of a rubber hose, a torrent of water shot from the narrowed gap.

It shot toward Kaen.

It was like he had forcibly altered the direction of the fountain.

It was like he had built a bridge between himself and Honoyama Kaen.

Her dust explosions were useless when the powder was washed from the air.

So that was what he did.

“!?”

Kaen immediately tried to back out of the water’s range.

But Iruka ran toward her. He let go of the pipe, clenched his fist, and ran down that straight path protected by the veil of water.

Kaen moved her fingers, but the small sparks produced no flames.

With a dull sound, the force of Narishima Iruka’s blow traveled through Kaen’s entire body.

Honoyama Kaen lay face up on the lawn.

The ground was soaked and the mud felt gross in her hair and on her skin. She could no longer use her dust explosions. But not because of any water still in the air. The powder she had hidden in her clothes had soaked up the water and clumped together, so she could no longer send it out into the air. She also had some solid fuel, but that was only used to support her dust explosions and could not be used as a standalone weapon.

Narishima Iruka sat a short distance away.

Based on the way he was slumped down on the soaked ground, she doubted he could move much anymore. But it should have been child’s play for him to defeat Kaen now that she had lost her decisive weapon.

Yet he did not kill her.

He was not a Killer Demon, so he did not kill her.

Even if Honoyama Kaen herself wished for death.

No matter what.

“Was I wrong?” Kaen moved her trembling lips. “There were these parents who took out a life insurance policy to pay for their daughter’s surgery. And there was a sick girl who wished for death to stop her parents from wishing for death to heal her. Was their resolve a twisted thing? And was I wrong in what I did?”

That question carried her very reason for living.

Iruka remained silent for a bit before answering.

“It was twisted and you were wrong. You knew that already, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.” Kaen smiled. “If what they needed was money, I could have given them money. If what she wanted was to stop them, I could have persuaded them with words. It was definitely twisted and I was definitely wrong.”

It was a smile full of self-deprecation.

“So why couldn’t I choose to do any of those things?”

Even as she shed her tears, the smile remained to the end.

The weather was excellent the next morning.

But that only emphasized the damage done to the Narishima house’s yard (and the yard of the empty house next door). There were rumors of a gas explosion because people had heard several loud booms in the night, but the truth would never get out. Forbidden Killer Demon Cases were never reported on.

Karuhane Tokime appeared to still be angry. Although her anger may have had more to do with him leaving her side during the night than the state of the yard.

“Iruka-san, I’m heading out for a bit.”

“Oh, sure, sure. I see you’re actually wearing something reasonable today. Now, I guess I should ask: where are you going?”

“It’s been a while, so I’m heading back home for a visit. Oh, and I might stop by Kyouichirou Onii-chan’s place to play.”

“Sigh. Will you be back by tonight?”

“I’d be up all night if I wasn’t.”

After putting on her outdoor shoes in the entranceway, Tokime tapped her heel against the ground to see how they fit.

Iruka watched her in silence.

He wondered if she had seen the battle last night. She probably had. The battle had taken too long to end after the first light came on in the house.

But she had not carelessly left the house.

Both Iruka and Kaen had underestimated her. She was the one survivor of the Drowning Case, so she was even more cautious of Killer Demons than your average person. And she knew Iruka had the ability to oppose Killer Demons. Because she had seen him do it once before from close up.

(So did she hear all of that?)

Iruka frowned when he remembered what had happened last night. He was embarrassed by the childish things he had said.

And Tokime smiled, as if to say she had read what his expression meant.

She smiled and asked a question.

She gave no tedious lead-up or kind cushioning. She cut right to the core of it all.

“Do you regret it?”

He did not know what it meant to save people.

He had to laugh at himself for saying he saved people wherever he went.

In the end, he was nothing more than the opposite of a Killer Demon.

He was simply someone who persistently did not take lives.

But that did not necessarily mean he could save someone.

“No, not at all.”

Nevertheless, that was his answer.

He believed the ability to say that with a smile was what made him the Never End who never gave up on life.

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