Chapter 5: The Cat Mistook Her For A Dragon
TL: Akabane
***
A quiet classroom. The 38 students, excluding Nekomaru and the mysterious girl who suddenly came forward, Tatsuki Akane, were speechless at what had happened before.
At the same time, a thought came to the minds of all 38 of them.
-- It's started again. ......
It's embarrassing to watch.
A feeling of welling up, sympathetic embarrassment overtook their entire bodies, filling them with a sense of being unable to bear being there.
"Hahaha! You are as energetic as ever, Tatsuki."
The homeroom teacher, mouth fully open, is laughing out loud.
What is she laughing about? Don't you think anything of it when you see this situation? Does this person have no sense of shame? The students who were looking at the teacher had their own questions floating around in their heads.
-- What is she talking about? This woman .......
Nekomaru was questioning something else.
A mysterious girl who called his name as soon as we met, shouting incomprehensible things.
This forced distancing causes Nekomaru to immediately become uncomfortable with the classmate in front of him.
"Mm? What's the matter, you look like you've just witnessed such a mysterious creature."
Akane tilted her head at Nekomaru, who remained frozen for a long time without saying anything after turning around.
Immediately after that, she clapped her hands abruptly and nodded her head repeatedly, as if in self-completion.
"Ah, I see, you were overwhelmed by my full spirited self-introduction. Fufu, as expected of me......."
At that moment, an infuriating feeling began to simmer in Nekomaru's heart.
He didn't know why, but he felt as if this girl was looking down on him.
I want to punch this smirk off her face right now.
I felt such a thought welling up inside me.
"You've been blabbing incomprehensible things ...... since a while ago. Are you playing a joke on me?"
Naturally, a voice emanated from Nekomaru's mouth.
I don't know why, but I have to rebuff this woman to make me feel ...... better. It's strangely frustrating to have her mouth opened unilaterally while we remain silent.
This was the first time I had ever felt this way, except for that selfish father.
When Nekomaru finally responded, Akane's face lit up.
"I'm not teasing you. I'm just reflecting on my inability to kill my own power."
"That's what I'm saying, you're poking fun at me."
"Fufu, I'm not ready for that either. ...... I've only just met you, and you've just shown me one of the depths of my being."
"If you continue to flaunt your power, you'd better stop now, or I'll shut that annoying mouth of yours with all my might."
The atmosphere was somewhat less than pleasant, what the conversation? In the narrow space at the edge of the classroom, Nekomaru and Akane, the only two people in the world, were building a world of their own.
Meanwhile, their classmates, watching from the sidelines, look at each other and are puzzled.
--- "Hey, something's got Akane in her own zone again ......."
--- "But that new student over there seems kind of decent. He's a little quarrelsome, but he's also upset by Tatsuki's unintelligible words and actions in a normal way."
--- "Maybe he's actually a pretty sensible type ......."
In a complete change from their first impression, Nekomaru's reputation gradually rises in their minds.
Nekomaru, not knowing that this was the case, gave a blue streak to the girl in front of him and revealed a hint of a murderous intent.
"Don't be so angry. I am just happy. I am happy to have met someone like me, someone from a world that never sees the light of day and is covered in darkness. ......"
"You're talking nonsense again ....... I'm from the same world as you?"
The girl's words made Nekomaru ask.
He was surprised to see her nodding her head and saying,
"Yes, I am the same as you. --Black Cat."
She told him with her sharp twin eyes.
"Black Cat ......?"
"You didn't just abbreviate the name, did you? It's simple. You see, the new student's name was Kuroki Nekomaru."
One of the students in the classroom quickly understood the meaning of Akane's statement and passed it on to the people around them.
In fact, that person was right.
What Akane said was just an abbreviation of Nekomaru's name.
Nothing more, nothing less. It was just a reduced, nickname.
But .........
-- What did you just say ......? Did you say "Black Cat"......?
As his classmates, strangers on the outside of their world, gradually become aware........
-- This woman ....... Why, why ......?!
Only this man, the one who was told the abbreviation......
-- How did she know my alias on the underworld?!!
The only one person who was unaware.
Nekomaru receives a shock as if an electric current has been sent through his body, and everything from the tips of his toes to the ends of his hair becomes rigid and immobile.
His eyes widened, his expression hardened, and the cold sweat on his back stopped like a waterfall.
The only people who called Nekomaru by his nickname were a limited number of close friends, including his father.
He had only one nickname, "Neko," and had never been called by any other nickname in his life.
His other nickname, "Black Cat", is an alias or nickname created by those in the underworld who saw the battles that took place in Nekomaru's work.
Therefore, it's impossible for anyone to call him by that name except those who live in that world.
Yes, it was impossible. ......
-- I never thought that the thing I had feared the most would be exposed so soon.
Nekomaru is unable to hide his impatience at this sudden turn of events.
Upset, frustrated, confused, bewildered. All kinds of mental attacks hit Nekomaru at once, blunting his thinking and judgment.
"You ...... why that name? --Who the hell are you?"
Nekomaru, who naturally put his hand on the pen-shaped knife in his pocket and seemed ready to kill at any time, instinctively asked the girl who knew who he really was.
With only one person in a different tension, the surrounding classmates begin to doodle again.
--- "Oh, hey ...... He asked her, "who are you?"......"
--- "You're lying, right ...... I thought the decent guys had arrived ......"
The classmates are disappointed. But on the other hand, here again is the only one who reacts differently from the others.
"Who am I ......? Hmph, okay, I told you..."
Affected by Nekomaru's shock, who was completely different from before, Akane gradually became more excited.
She had always wanted to be told, "Who the hell are you?" It touched her heartstrings to a deep level and had a profound effect on her, and Akane's momentum only increased.
"--I'm the same as you ........"
At first, he didn't understand the meaning, and just threw it away.
But now, Nekomaru couldn't help but think of such a sentence.
-- What does "same" mean?
When she introduced herself, she said this along with her name.
--- "My name is Tatsuki Akane! I have been waiting for you, the one like me, a resident of the darkness!"
The same as me ....... The world of darkness ....... The same ...... as me ......--
-- No way!
At that moment, the unintended coincidence that had occurred in Nekomaru's mind began to fit together.
--I'm sure ...... this woman ......--!
It was a thread that seemed to break at any moment, overlapping in layers, tangled, spun, and spun. They are intertwined, spun, strong, and never unraveled.
-- She is from the same world as me!!
It was the moment when a new cord was formed.
-- I understand now. This woman is definitely a member of the underworld, just like me! Otherwise, I would never have come up with the term "black cat" in front of my eyes.
This is a very misguided consideration.
A mere coincidence combined with a delusion, a misguided guess that has no validity whatsoever.
But Nekomaru doesn't notice any of this.
On the contrary, in his mind, that nasty misunderstanding was accelerating.
-- And even then, I can't figure it out ....... Why did this girl reveal it here as soon as she found out who I am?
What is her purpose? What is her goal? Before that, why did this woman have a seat at this school?
Did she come here as soon as she found out that Nekomaru himself was going to start attending this school?
I don't know. ...... I don't understand, but it's a very bad idea to leave her unattended!
-- I'll kill her right now .......
Forgetting the presence of other people's eyes, all Nekomaru could think about was what he was going to do with the girl in front of him.
As far as he could see, her physique was no different from those of other people around her.
Even if they got into a fight, there was no way he could lose.
I could slice her carotid artery with a knife or break her neck with a crushing blow.
Either way, if I wanted to, it would take less than two seconds.
I can kill ...... her, for sure!
Nekomaru put all his concentration into his legs and arms and tried to charge at Akane's thin neck. At that time,......--
"Hey, you two! I'm sorry to interrupt your friendly banter, but I have to finish homeroom soon. Can you guys cut it off around there?"
"...... Ha!"
Nekomaru regained his composure for a moment at his homeroom teacher's call.
Gradually, he felt his body relax.
"Fufu, I guess we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"
"............"
After showing a look of satisfaction and thanking the girl next to her, who had somehow restored the chair that had been swept away, Akane slowly sat down.
Nekomaru sat down there as well, pulling out his own chair.
After confirming that the place had finally settled down, the homeroom teacher began to talk to the students lined up in front of him, 40 in total.
"Well, things got interesting right away, but Kuroki-kun has just arrived here, and I'm sure there are a lot of things he doesn't understand. At that time, I hope everyone will kindly call out to him and help him--!"
The homeroom teacher continues to talk until the chime rings, signaling the end of the class while he has a complicated feeling.
-- What am I going to do about it ......? Either way, I can't just leave this woman there. Should I kill her when the time is right? No, as long as I don't know exactly what this woman's purpose is or where she stands, I can't be too careless......
Nekomaru was still worrying about how to handle Akane, who was sitting next to him.
-- I think I'll spend the day investigating this woman.
Thus began a chain of misunderstandings by a high school student and assassin named Nekomaru, toward a girl.
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