After discussing the exams with Nora, we agreed that we were going to have to rework them.

We spent two hours cutting questions and making new ones before parting ways for the night, since we had school tomorrow.

However, I had one more thing to take care of this evening.

I took the train to Megiddo Blue and waited outside the dormitories for a certain person.

I was sitting on a bench, playing on my phone, when I heard her voice.

"Huh... you're the Masterpiece?"

I looked up, meeting eye to eye with the person I called out here— Oshita Saori.

"Look at how the mighty have fallen."

I ignored her rude comment and put away my phone.

"Sorry for calling you out here so late tonight."

"I didn't want to miss my chance to laugh at your face. Ha."

Oshita dryly fake laughed at me.

"Very funny..."

"I'm a comedian, I know. So, what stupid reason did you call me out here for then?"

She was certainly a hostile person. This was the first time we met, yet she acted as if she hated my guts.

"I wanted to talk to you about something private in person."

If I called or messaged her about it, a trace of our conversation would be left behind, risking someone finding out about it.

"I wonder what that could be."

Oshita rolled her eyes and sat down next to me with discontent.

"I'd like to go sleep soon, so please get on with it."

As if to show how tired she was, Oshita rudely yawned in my face.

"It's about the knife attacks. I heard from Rinbayashi-san that you also experienced one like I did."

"Oh? And here I thought you wanted to talk about my crooked family or something."

Oshita seemed to become a bit less hostile when the topic I wanted to talk about steered away from what she thought it was going to be.

"Yeah, I did. A guy in some chuuni mask tried attacking me on my way home at night."

"Sounds about right... what happened in your scuffle then?"

"He jumped out at me from a bush and started swinging like a spastic. I considered fighting back, but I figured that was probably what he wanted, so instead I kept running away from him until I entered a public space with a lot of people. At that point, he gave up for obvious reasons and fled."

Unlike me, Oshita opted for a more evasive approach to Nakajima.

"Smart thinking. I would've done the same thing if my circumstances were different."

"What was your attack like?"

"It happened while I was with someone else, so I had no choice but to fight back so he wouldn't go and target them. I got as far as restraining him and getting him to drop the knife, but he managed to escape before the police could arrive."

"God, that is pathetic. You really aren't all that you're made out to be. I can't believe I used to look up to you..."

"...what's that supposed to mean?"

Oshita was getting on my nerves a little now. Honesty is a virtue, but too much of it is a sin.

"First of all, you fought him? Rookie mistake. The reason he probably attacked us in the first place is to get a read on our movements for the next time he tries to kill us. Revealing what you're capable of is just going to make you the prime target, since he already knows what it's like to fight against you."

At the same time though, by showing my strength, it could've deterred him from attacking me again, since he knows he wouldn't stand a chance against me.

"Second of all, you let him get away. In any context, you should've won because he was in your grasp. I remember how ruthless you were in the ring. You even got him to drop the knife, so why didn't you just punch him half to death?"

"Did you forget the part where I mentioned the police and that I was with someone else? I couldn't do such a thing in front of another person. And besides, I'd probably get arrested too for committing violent assault."

"No you wouldn't, just say you did it in self-defence. He had a knife and you have a witness to back up your testimony. What's he gonna say to defend himself? He "accidentally" tried to kill you? Like that's gonna fly."

"The situation isn't as simple as that, unfortunately..."

While all of what Oshita said was true (to an extent) thus far, I held important information that she did not have that would shift her entire perception of the situation.

"What are you hiding from me? Spit it out."

Realising she didn't have the full picture, Oshita bluntly asked me for the missing pieces of information.

"During our fight, I broke his mask."

"You what?!"

Oshita grabbed me by the collar and pulled me closer to her.

"Who?! Who is it?!"

"Huh...?"

"Tell me who did it, Takanori! Who's the bastard that tried to kill me?!"

Moments earlier, Oshita didn't seem all that enthusiastic to talk about this subject. However, now that I was dangling the identity of the killer in front of her, she was begging me to tell her more.

"Tell me!"

"...if I tell you this, you have to keep it a secret."

I slapped away her hands and straightened my collar. What a scary woman...

"That's a given! Don't treat me like some kind of idiot. When dealing with stuff this macabre, you have to keep it under wraps."

Oshita folded her arms, crossed her legs, and scoffed. I really hate the attitude on her.

"It's Nakajima Rokurou from D Class."

Oshita slammed her fist on the bench out of anger, making it vibrate.

"That little delinquent...? No way! He's dumb as rocks! There's no way he could pull off something so elaborate!"

"I was just as shocked as you are. And that's not even the main issue."

"There's something even worse?"

"Yeah. He's also from the Underworld."

"...I already hate this guy. No wonder he could keep up with my movements. I don't remember him being part of the programme though."

"That's because he wasn't. He's most likely a Keeper based on his abilities."

"For a Keeper, he was surprisingly well versed in combat. Guess we can rule him out of being part of the Underground. Know of any ties he got?"

"He name dropped Ikumashi, but that's about it."

"Ha! He really chose to mention the one family that's gone clean? What a dumbass."

Oshita merely laughed at this connection, suggesting she didn't see any value of it.

"You're too cavalier about this..."

"I'm confident I could kill that fly if I wanted to. Aren't you?"

"I'd rather not have blood on my hands."

"That's a bit late to say now, isn't it?"

I ignored Oshita.

"In any case, the real threat of Nakajima-san isn't his knife skills. It's his bank account."

"That's cap, he's only in D Class. How bad could it be?"

"He has four million."

"Oh. Oh..."

Oshita went extremely quiet when I told her about this.

"...have you verified it?"

"He showed it to me himself while explaining why arresting him was useless."

"Makes sense... with that many points, he could easily pay his way out."

"Yep. Since that's the case, there's no point in getting the authorities involved. He'll escape either way."

"So this delinquent might actually have a few tricks up his sleeve, huh? Wonder what's the best way to go about dealing with him..."

The solution to that problem was obvious to both me and Oshita, but we both recognised that <method> was problematic in itself.

"Right now, I don't know. But we need to get rid of him if we want to live. You can agree with that much, right?"

"Well, yeah. I didn't fight my way through that hell just to die to a serial killer in the making."

"Same here. We're not even his only targets."

"There's more?"

"Apparently. From what I've gathered, he's attacked one other person aside from us."

"Seriously? Who's the poor bastard?"

"That, I actually don't know..."

"Isn't that helpful... you really are useless."

Oshita clicked her tongue, clearly annoyed at me.

"You didn't let me finish. While I don't know, I do have a pretty good hunch on who it is."

"Then spit it out. I hate being left in the dark."

"Based on the people Nakajima have targeted so far... I think it's most likely Shimada Kuroshi from A Class."

"Shimada, eh? I wouldn't mind if he died, actually."

I secretly shared the same sentiment.

"That dude was a major pain in the ass, even now. We should let Nakajima kill him first before we get rid of him."

"Who's to say that he'll go after Shimada-san first? He might come after me, or you, or even Rinbayashi-san beforehand."

"True. There's no guarantee who that whack job will go after now. I wonder, has Rinbayashi been attacked?"

"Not yet. She's probably next."

"Hmm. We could probably use her as bait to draw him out."

"Let me guess, to catch him in a trap?"

"Mhm. We just have to capture his little stunt on camera as evidence of attempted murder. Once we have that, it's over for him. The school will have no choice but to expel him."

"This plan seems a little too simple... I don't think Nakajima-san is that stupid."

"Sometimes it's the simple plans that are most effective. Basically, we'll get Rinbayashi to lure him out to a predetermined spot where we're hiding in. Then, as I start recording the whole ordeal, you pop out of hiding to restrain Nakajima and unmask him. Then, we'll call the police and get him arrested to get him to waste his private points to get out. That way, he'll have less points to use later to overturn his expulsion. Later, we submit the footage I recorded to the school as evidence, forcing them to expel Nakajima for attempted murder."

I can't help but feel like there's some leeway for Nakajima to escape in Oshita's plan, but right now, it's probably our best bet at getting rid of him.

"Yeah, I can go along with this plan."

"Perfect! I'll tell Rinbayashi about it. How are things going on between you and her these days, anyways?"

"...fine, I guess? We don't really talk much."

I generally try and avoid people who share similar pasts with me.

"You better be treating her well. I won't forgive you if you make such a cute girl cry."

"That's a bit extreme, isn't it...?"

"I refrained from saying I'll kill you."

"That's even worse."

"Which is why I held back. Not so extreme now, huh?"

Just like Mitsuba, Oshita somehow managed to twist her own logic backwards to make it work out in her favour.

"...right, I'm going home now."

I got up and started walking away. Oshita began laughing at me.

"You're scared of me, aren't you? How insecure are you! Ha ha ha!"

It's less that I'm scared of Oshita, and it's more that I'm tired of her haughty personality.

"You aren't no Masterpiece... you're just a fraud."

I stopped momentarily.

"I feel sick knowing I used to admire a weakling like you."

I continued to walk, picking up the pace.

"You're a reject of society, just like the rest of us! You can try and run from it, but the past always catches up to you in the end!"

She didn't need to taunt me about that either.