Chapter 86 No Answer Surfaces
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”Aaaaaagh! My hand! My god, my hand!” Akuzawa screamed.
His brain had finally caught up with reality. He wallowed on the floor, clawing at the concrete in a frantic scramble to reclaim his severed limb. The ground was a lake of crimson, fed by the staggering volume of blood pouring out of him. Normally, a jagged amputation might crush the muscle and constrict the vessels, slowing the flow, but this was different. The artery had been opened with surgical precision – a clean, flat cut.
He had minutes. Maybe less.
Akuzawa wasn’t capable of the math. He was struggling like a rabid animal, trying to press the dead meat of his hand back onto the stump as if he could make it stick. I let out a dry snort of derision. I stowed Lady Bug¹ back into my Interdimensional warehouse², then shoved my own fingers into my gut.
”Gaaaaaaaah!” I let out a low, guttural growl.
I pried the wound open, digging deep into the meat to fish out the lead. It was a small-caliber round; it hadn’t punched through the organs. Gritting my teeth, I gouged the bullet out and let it clatter to the floor.
”Deep breaths,” I said, spitting the words at him. “You’re destined to be a headless corpse by the end of this anyway. You won’t be needing that hand where you’re going.”
I stood up, but he didn’t hear me. He was in a state of total, shrieking frenzy. He didn’t even try to run from the man who had ruined him; he just kept groping for his fingers. I stepped forward, kicked him onto his back, and mounted his fat chest.
But why? Why did I remember that scene now?
I shouldn’t care how this pig dies. So why did I feel the need to remember it?
I pulled a healing potion from the warehouse and splashed it over the raw end of Akuzawa’s stump. I wasn’t trying to save him, nor was I looking to drag out his torture. I hated him – there was no doubt about that – but the sudden doubt blooming in my mind was the only thing keeping him alive for the next few minutes.
The memories of Ayano, Ayaka, Yukari, and Kyouka…
Those scenes were the fixed points of an unavoidable fate. I was redoing this entire life specifically to twist those tragic endings into something else. But the memory itself wasn’t the point. Seeing the tattoo again had reminded me of my connection to Sato Ayaka, but the tattoo was just the spark. The memory was a riddle – a starting point for a future I had to rewrite.
There had to be a link between Akuzawa’s death and Amazawa Kyouka. If there wasn’t a connection, then “changing the future” was just a fool’s errand.
”P-please… call… call an ambulance…” Akuzawa wheezed.
”An ambulance?” I asked. “You still haven’t realized who cut you, have you?”
He had spent his life as the one holding the knife. Now, he was reduced to this – pathetic, clinging, and begging. The potion was already sealing the surface of the wound, but the sheer volume of blood he’d lost was taking its toll. He was drifting, his eyes glazed, unable to even try and buck me off.
”Hah… hah… I’ll do anything. J-just… call them…” Akuzawa begged.
”If you want to live, answer me,” I said. “Did Kusunoki Seiichiro hire you to go after Amazawa Kyouka?”
”R-request? Y-yes… hah…” Akuzawa replied. “That Diet member… he said a couple was in the way. Told me to shut them up. I was just following orders! I didn’t do anything wrong!”
”A couple? I’m not talking about Sato Hanae, the woman you turned into a junkie,” I growled. “I’m talking about Kyouka! Amazawa Katsuji’s daughter!”
”Hah… Kyouka…? Who… who is that…” Akuzawa muttered.
Akuzawa’s face was the color of ash. He was slipping away. He couldn’t even register Kyouka’s name through the fog of shock. He was stable enough to survive if I took him to a hospital right now.
Not that I had any intention of doing that.
”Damn it. His brain is starving for oxygen. Fine. Let’s try the hard stuff,” I muttered.
I pulled a small vial from the warehouse. Berserker’s Draught³. In the other world, it was a high-risk buff used to kickstart the heart and skyrocket physical ability. But it forced the blood through the veins with such violence that the strain was suicidal. Even a seasoned adventurer would collapse after the rush wore off. In Akuzawa’s state, his heart would never stand the pressure.
He had ten minutes. Maybe five.
I popped the cork and brought the vial to his lips. He sensed the danger, weakly shaking his head, but it was futile. I clamped his jaw, forced his mouth open, and poured the liquid down his throat. Then I pinched his nose shut until he was forced to swallow.
Akuzawa’s entire upper body bucked off the ground with a sickening thud.
His heart began to hammer like a frantic bell against his ribs. Color flooded back into his cheeks. I pinned him down and leaned in close.
”Akuzawa. What was Kusunoki’s real aim? Tell me the truth, and I’ll save you,” I promised.
”Hah… hah… it hurts. My chest… I don’t want to die…” Akuzawa cried.
”You’re fine. That was medicine. It’s working,” I said. “Just breathe. It doesn’t hurt anymore, does it?”
He followed my lead, taking deep, desperate gulps of air. It was a lie, of course, but the placebo effect – or perhaps the sheer adrenaline of the drug – seemed to steady him.
”The ambulance is on its way. But I need the answer first,” I said. “If you don’t talk now, they won’t make it in time.”
”I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything! Just help me!” Akuzawa yelled.
”Then tell me. What was the job?” I asked.
”Kusunoki… he wanted the Sato couple silenced,” Akuzawa gasped. “Was that woman yours? I’m sorry! I didn’t know! But she ran away! I didn’t do anything to her! I swear! It was all Kusunoki! He’s the one! It’s his fault!”
”Is that really all?” I asked.
”I swear to God! I’m not lying! Please… help me…” Akuzawa pleaded.
”What about Kyouka? Did Kusunoki order the hit on her too?” I asked.
Akuzawa hesitated. I could see the wheels turning in his head, trying to find the “right” answer.
”Y-yes! Her too!” Akuzawa shouted. “He made me do it! You’re a professional, you know how it is! When a job comes down from the top, you do it, whether you like it or not!”
The moment he spoke her name, his aura turned a putrid, oily black.
He was lying.
The drug had cleared his head just enough for him to start calculating his survival. He figured that if he blamed everything on Kusunoki, I might let him live.
”Don’t lie to me. I’ll ask you one last time,” I said quietly. “Did Kusunoki Seiichiro order you to attack Amazawa Kyouka?”
”Ugh… that…” Akuzawa stammered.
”Kusunoki wasn’t involved, was he?” I asked.
”I never touched her! I did exactly what you said!” Akuzawa cried.
I checked again and again, but the result was the same. Kusunoki hadn’t been involved in Kyouka’s case in this timeline. Not that I had really expected him to be.
What I really wanted to know was the truth of my other life. Whether Kusunoki had been pulling the strings in the memory I couldn’t fully grasp. But Akuzawa couldn’t tell me that. No matter how much I hungered for it, this was an answer that would never come back from the grave.
”I see,” I whispered.
”I told you everything! You’re going to save me, right?” Akuzawa asked.
”Yeah. I’ll put you out of your misery right now,” I replied.
I drew Lady Bug once more.
That’s right. I still remembered the weight of taking a life. I still had the sight of those despair-filled eyes burned into the back of my skull. I hadn’t forgotten the soaring, addictive high of killing someone who truly deserved it.
This was who I was.
I lined the blade up with Akuzawa’s heart and drove it home with everything I had.
”Wh… why…?” Akuzawa gasped.
”You said it yourself when we met – fate is a funny thing,” I said. “But it looks like you and I were just a curse meant to happen.”
”Ah… ah…”
”You defiled what was mine. Did you really think I’d let you live?” I asked.
”GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! It hurts! Stop! I don’t want to die! Help me! Somebody help me!” Akuzawa shrieked.
He bucked me off, thrashing like a landed fish. He screamed, his stump flailing in the air as he rolled across the bloody concrete. But the struggle was short-lived. Lady Bug was thirsty, and it drank what little remained of his life’s blood. The light in his eyes began to flicker and fade.
”Ah… ah… h-help… Mommy…” Akuzawa whispered.
The color drained from his pupils. He was gone.
I felt no regret. But curiously, the elation I expected didn’t come either. Akuzawa’s final, hateful glare didn’t stick to me; it just passed through me like wind. I felt… empty. Nothingness. I had simply finished a chore.
But chores have cleanup. Normally, I’d use an Acid Slime to dissolve the evidence, but I couldn’t do that this time. I didn’t know if it would change anything, but I had to reproduce the scene from my memory as closely as possible.
I needed Yukari. I couldn’t handle the heavy lifting and the staging alone, and she was the only one who wouldn’t blink at the sight of a butchered corpse.
I pulled out my phone to call her.
And that’s when I heard it. A heavy clatter from the shadows.
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Summary:
The protagonist brutally interrogates Akuzawa after cutting off his hand. He uses a combination of healing potions and a dangerous ‘Berserker’s Draught’ to keep him conscious and talking. Ultimately, Akuzawa is executed after revealing that while Kusunoki hired him for one job, he acted alone regarding Kyouka.
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Trivia:
- The protagonist dug a bullet out of his own abdomen without anesthesia.
- The protagonist is using the ‘Interdimensional Warehouse’ to hide weapons and items instantly.
- Akuzawa’s final plea was for his ‘Mommy’.
- The protagonist is intentionally staging the crime scene to match a future memory.
- The protagonist felt ‘nothing’ rather than elation after the kill
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Character Insight:
The protagonist explicitly accepts his identity as a killer, noting that he hasn’t forgotten the high of ending a life. However, his current emotional state is one of ‘nothingness’, suggesting a shift in his psyche or the weight of his mission.
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Behind the Scenes:
The ‘Berserker’s Draught’ (Kyōjin-yaku) is a common trope in fantasy settings, often used to bridge the gap between realism and game-like mechanics in modern-setting ‘Returner’ stories.
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TL Notes:
Notes:
• Kyouka – She is Kaburagi’s girlfriend, balancing exams and club activities, with a changing relationship dynamic.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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