CH 182.2

Chapter 182.2: The Knife’s Ownership

However, Shimokawa now realized that perhaps because there was no presence of a woman, and there were only four men that the dull survival life like this became interesting.

「Hey, about Momokawa… No matter how much I think about it, could it be that he planned to kill Reina-chan from the very beginning?」

Shimokawa ended up muttering such a question as he gazed at the bonfire.

No one answered his question. But the same grim look on Ueda and Nakai’s faces told them the answer.

「Oi, that topic is a bit…」

「Let’s stop talking about that.」

「No, Yamada has already fallen asleep, I think I’ll use this chance to have a conversation with you two. That’s why please hear me out just this time.」

Right from the moment Kotaro joined their party, there were a series of mentally exhausting events such as goma fortress’ raid, separation by illusion in a maze of white clouds, and then the rescue operation to save the deranged Reina.

But then, without Kotaro to lead their party, and the death of Reina during the turbulence, Shimokawa could finally look back at the situation at that time when those tension-filled moments had finally left them.

「That one, I mean Reina-chan, now that I think about it, that girl was truly a shitty, charmless brat.」

「Ah, I see. I agree with ya. Now that I think properly about it, I can understand why Momokawa treated Reina-chan like that.」

「Well, Momokawa seems to be going out with that Butaba. Reina-chan is simply just not his type.」

Both Ueda and Nakai were nodding along as they recalled how Kotaro didn’t even give preferential treatment to Reina. But their nods suddenly came to a stop.

「Oi, wait a minute. Futaba at the time, ain’t she like, waaaay too slim?」

「Seriously, so the big-brea$ted beauty who went with Momokawa is THAT FUTABA!」

Reina got stabbed to death and Souma Yuuto party suddenly intruded— though they couldn’t follow the situation due to the rapidly changing development of the situation back then, now that they had the leeway to recall the situation properly, they finally noticed that the figure of the girl who Kotaro called as 「Mei-chan」 was way too different from the one in their memories.

The difference was a lot, to the point that it was enough to make them think 「Who the hell is that girl?」 when they saw her for the first time.

The air around that big-brea$ted beauty had somehow reminded them of Futaba Meiko, but now that they had calmed down, it was strange no matter how they thought about it.

「Ain’t that a bit too much for a level of successful diet!?」

「Futaba is actually so beautiful.」

「Dammit, so the reason Momokawa dates her is that he discovered that fact.」

For the first time since they had arrived in this world, the trio felt the effect of an underhanded play of the shaman.

They came to realize that even before they received a vocation, the existence called Futaba Meiko had always been an unpolished gem. Their imagination was running wild as they imagined Kotaro doing this and that to those miracle proportions that could make even the best gravure model run away barefoot. It was a terrifying diet plan.

「Momokawa can’t be underestimated.」

「But if it’s Momokawa, he’ll do that for sure.」

「Yeah, I think Momokawa doesn’t mind even if Futaba is still as fat as before. I mean, I heard from Yamajun before that everything else is a trivial matter for Momokawa as long as their br*asts are huge.」

「Seriously, he only needs their br*ast to be huge!?」

「Too big will make them look disgusting instead. I think the beautifully-shaped big br*asts with pointy tip is the best.」

「I’m not gonna aim too high. But black n!pple is no good for me.」

And just like that, their discussion about b00bs kept going on for a while after that. This was a normal topic during a men’s gathering.

「So, what’s the story?」

「Ah, well, this is actually related to the matter of Momokawa murdering Reina-chan.」

「Woops, it seems we ended up getting derailed by b00bs. I broke the ice nicely with that topic though.」

Finally, the trio went back to their original topic.

「But if Momokawa really intended to kill Reina-chan from the very beginning… Is it because he resented her?」

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「I heard from Yamada that he was really pissed off about Momokawa’s decision though.」

「When I noticed that Momokawa had tricked us and killed Reina-chan, I felt that he was really detestable but… Now that I have calmed down and thought about the matter more carefully, I think it’s only natural for him to want to kill Reina-chan so much.」

Shimokawa spoke with a complex look on his face as if he had no idea about what to say or which one was right.

In the first place, without the existence called Reina, they finally realized just how stupid they were at those times, for them to be cajoled like that by Reina. If they really cared about Reina, they should be wailing right now for their failure in protecting her, and yet―― They strangely felt almost nothing about her death.

It felt like the toy that they treasured so much during their childhood turned into a mere piece of junk after they grew up.

「Momokawa might have realized from the very beginning that Reina-chan is nothing more than a piece of baggage. And yet, that useless baggage is actually being protected by those dangerous sacred beasts that can’t be trifled with. If Reina-chan was as ugly as Airi, we might have felt the same way as Momokawa.」

「Yuup.」

「That’s, correct.」

Kotaro’s action at that time was far more rational than any other member. If not for Kotaro’s timely arrival before the assault on goma’s fortress, they might have already been annihilated by goma’s assault party in the jungle tower back then.

And the only one who could survive such a situation was Reina with the power of her sacred beast.

「But killing her was a bit… You know.」

「Momokawa at that time was really terrifying. I mean, he killed a real person, not a monster.」

Killing Reina, making an enemy of Souma Yuuto who was enraged by her death, using Reina’s corpse as his shield to get away from Yuuto, and calmly retreating from the scene along with Meiko… those series of events were too absurd, and even though the trio had already grown accustomed to the act of killing monsters, they who had never killed a human felt that Kotaro’s composure at that time was akin to madness.

「Well, he managed to get away from Souma by doing so but… Momokawa who could think of such a method in that kind of situation is really amazing, in a dangerous way.」

「Hey, speaking about Momokawa, could it be that he has killed someone before he killed Reina-chan?」

「Yeah, if he has killed someone, that can explain why he’s so composed at that time, right?」

Hearing Ueda and Nakai’s opinion, Shimokawa pondered for a while.

His eyebrows furrowed as if he was worried about something… But as he opened his mouth, his expression was that of certainty.

「Hey, have you really not noticed it?」

「Haah?」

「Eh, what?」

「The knife used by Momokawa to kill Reina-chan… It’s Higuchi’s butterfly knife.」

He knew about that since he had seen the knife a few times already back when it was still in its original owner’s hand.

Back when Shimokawa was strolling around the city with Higuchi, they had ended up being surrounded by the students from Kuromine High, and Higuchi took out this knife at that time.

Naturally, he didn’t use that to attack those students, the spectacle of Higuchi sending more than three students of Kuromine High back to their den by himself while bluffing with a knife in his hand had been imprinted deep into Shimokawa’s memories.

Honestly speaking, at first, he mocked Higuchi who always brought his knife with him like a child his toy, but when he saw him driving out the delinquents by bluffing with his knife changed his impression of Higuchi.

Higuchi wasn’t bringing the knife just because it looked cool. He had the courage, and proper skill to use the knife to his advantage.

Thus, Shimokawa could never forget Higuchi’s butterfly knife. Even without any additional ornaments, he could tell it was Higuchi’s knife at a glance.

Thus, he had noticed it immediately when Kotaro was holding that blood-stained knife in his hand.

「Momokawa… Might have killed Higuchi.」