kscans

Chapter 233 - Romance Killer

Ura-Shinjuku. It was one of the communities built in a shifted phase space. A man walked through it, a memo in hand. His name was Kensaki Akira. He was twenty-four years old. After graduating from university, he had failed to find a job and, until recently, had been a deadbeat part-timer. But by chance, he came into contact with the extraordinary, his powers awakened, and he stepped into the Supernatural World…

‘My real life has begun.’

One big break. His gloomy everyday life had been blown away, and he had no doubt that a life full of glory was about to begin. Akira burned with ambition. It was a decidedly dangerous trend. To put it bluntly, he reeked of bad omens, but he himself was oblivious. In fact, a rather serious flag had already been raised. Satou. The man who had taken Akira in had shown him a picture of Satou and had drilled one thing into his head.

‘Listen up. If you plan on making it here, you must never… absolutely never, get on Satou Hideo’s bad side. You’ll suffer a fate worse than death.’

They called him the strongest. They called him the vilest Boogeyman. They called him the worst kind of prankster. The man had been trembling, but Akira hadn't taken the warning seriously. What could this shabby, airheaded-looking middle-aged man possibly do, he thought. However, he was just loyal enough to feel it would be wrong to completely ignore the words of his benefactor. So he decided to do a little research on Satou, and during his investigation, he was told about a certain bar.

"This is it."

Warning, a bar nestled quietly in a corner of Ura-Shinjuku. He had been told that if he wanted to know a fraction of Satou's terror, he should visit the master of this establishment. It must have been before opening hours. A CLOSED sign hung on the door, but Akira entered the bar regardless.

"...We’re not open yet. Get out."

The owner, a man with a large scar on his cheek who was polishing a glass at the counter, looked anything but a civilian. He didn't bother to hide his annoyance as he tried to shoo Akira away, but…

"I want to hear about Satou Hideo."

The owner’s face contorted into a massive scowl upon hearing Akira's words.

"...Ah, you’re one of those."

He then let out a deep sigh.

"You’re a rookie, aren’t you?"

"Can you tell?"

"Your stance is full of openings. I don't sense much power from you. And on top of that, you have no connection to Satou Hideo."

And yet, to so carelessly mention that name, you were a total greenhorn, the owner scoffed, not even a chick but more like a crack in the egg. Akira was irritated by his attitude but swallowed his frustration, judging it unwise to start a fight here.

"...So? Are you going to tell me?"

"I’ll tell you. In a way, it's pretty much my main business."

"?"

Akira tilted his head, but the owner gestured for him to sit, and he took a seat at the counter. As Akira took a sip of the water placed before him, the owner began to speak slowly.

"I was once an executive in an organization called the True World. We were enemies of Satou and the Mutual Aid Society."

"I see."

"He wasn't as strong back then as he is now, but even so, our organization never once managed to beat him."

He had been put through hell, the owner spat.

"The number of his damn harassments… There’s no end to them, so I’ll just tell you one."

As he said this, beads of sweat appeared on the owner’s forehead, and the hand polishing the glass trembled. Akira felt an unpleasant sensation at the sight but put on a brave face and prompted him to continue with his eyes.

"Satou Hideo has many nicknames, and one of them is the ‘Romance Killer’."

"R, Romance Killer?"

Don’t say something so anticlimactic out of nowhere, Akira protested with his eyes, but the owner ignored him and continued.

"The incident that earned him that nickname was what broke my spirit and made me leave the organization."

"..."

"The True World, my organization, and our rival, the Chaos Army. Back then, we were the two major powers of the Supernatural World."

Both were hostile to Satou, and both were constantly getting their asses kicked by him.

"We realized neither of us could achieve our goals at this rate, so we joined forces. Well, in the end, we both got crushed anyway."

This happened about a month before the decisive battle that destroyed the two major powers.

"That day, we were conducting a joint exercise with the Chaos Army in preparation for the upcoming battle."

The leaders of both organizations were absent, and two executives, including the owner, were in command. That was when Satou casually appeared, a frivolous smirk on his face, and announced.

‘I don't want to be bothered by a bunch of nobodies, so I came to thin the herd a bit.’

Naturally, they immediately assumed a combat stance, but…

"It was useless."

In an instant, they were all trapped in an illusionary space created by Satou.

"...It was a gentle… sweet dream."

The owner had seen a simple, yet happy page from an ordinary life.

"I’d fought with my lover the day before, and we both woke up feeling awkward. But both she and I wanted to make up. I’m just clumsy and couldn't find a way to start. She understood that about me, so whenever we fought, she was always the one to extend an olive branch. She'd silently make coffee and put it in front of me. And as we drank, one of us would just say sorry."

Indeed. That was certainly a small but happy page from an ordinary life. But with that face? With a face that looked like it belonged to a mobster, you were doing something as sweet as chocolate? Akira thought this but managed to hold it in. He was a sensible man.

"So he was going to kill you in the midst of a happy memory… is that it?"

How is that harassment? If anything, it seems merciful, Akira tilted his head, but the owner shook his head no.

"It wasn't a memory. I never had a lover."

"Wait, then what was that illusion…?"

"A desire. He exposed the secret romantic desires that people hide deep in their hearts, the ones they can't tell anyone."

"Ugh."

Now that was a cruel thing to do. It was like having the secret notebook you wrote in middle school read aloud to everyone. But with that face? With a face that looked like it could only belong to someone in the yakuza, you had a desire as sweet as honey? Akira thought this but managed to hold it in. He was a sensible man.

"Ha. You don't get it. The fact you think it ends with just having an embarrassing secret exposed means you don't understand Satou Hideo at all."

"Huh?"

"In real time, it was just an instant, but the people thrown into the illusion were made to soak in that sweet dream for a long, long time."

The owner’s breathing became a little heavier. The sweat on his brow increased.

"After you’ve had your fill of happiness, that's when it comes to kill you. Your sweet, sweet dream."

The lover he was chatting with across the table, her gentle expression suddenly twisted into one of pure malice as she threw scalding coffee at him. The plain flower decorating the stylish bay window transformed into a gaudy, ominous thing and began to scatter poisonous pollen. The large white dog they kept in the yard, its face contorted as if it had rabies, crashed through the window and bit into him, paralyzed by the poison. The countless photos of their sweet memories together on the chest of drawers came to life, and the ugly, flat lovers within began to rampage.

"Every single sweet fantasy you'd ever imagined bared its fangs and came to kill you, loaded with extra malice."

Hence, the ‘Romance Killer’. Your sweet dreams are shattered. Your sweet dreams come to kill you. It was a double meaning.

"..."

"The survivors were me and a few others. But we didn't survive on our own strength. We were allowed to live."

For what purpose?

"As messengers. We were kept alive just to spread the terror… ugh, uuugh."

The glass slipped from his hand, fell to the floor, and shattered. He probably didn't even have the leeway to care. The owner clutched his chest, trembling.

"He looked down on us as we lay collapsed, and with the same smug grin he'd had when he appeared, he said…"

With an expression painted in despair, the owner said.

"‘Hilarious.’"

If this had been revenge for something they had done to Satou, it might have been better. Poetic justice. They could have accepted it as such. But it wasn't.

"It wasn’t even concentrated malice. It didn't have that much passion."

To put it in perspective, it was like a prank you'd play on a friend with a novelty item, a gum pack that snaps your finger with a trap. Or maybe like hiding someone’s shoes because you were a little mad at them. Or perhaps you were frustrated and pulled a chair out from under someone you disliked as they were about to sit down, just to blow off steam. It was on that level. Satou had a good excuse to do it, so he did something like this with the casualness of a little prank. That was why the words he spoke were those of a frivolous young man.

"...Hah, hah. He's calmed down now, but his core hasn't changed."

In fact, now that he's calmed down, the explosive power he unleashes when he finds a good excuse to act is even worse. The quality of the delinquent acts delivered with his now even more peerless power is horrifying to even imagine.

"Why do you think I'm still in the Supernatural World? It’s to ensure that no one else ever becomes a victim like me."

Hence, ‘Warning’.

"..."

"Do you understand his terror now? If you do, then don't think about doing anything stupid, just live a quiet life. That's the secret to lasting long in this world."

Akira left the bar without a word. After walking for a while, he looked up at the sky and muttered.

"...I guess a grown man shouldn't be thinking about such dreamlike things. I'll save up enough money to live comfortably in my old age. I’ll make that my goal."

Akira was a sensible man.