Volume 2 Chapter 5.2
Dusk, Hounds, and Doubts Brought on by
Scars Part 2
Translator : PolterGlast
─Just to what extent does that man's strategy reach?
As she peeled off her
black coat and mask, she regulated her ragged breathing.
Normally, she had no
intention of taking such a forceful action. It was clearly too risky a gamble.
But the situation surrounding her was getting worse by the minute, and she had
reached a point where she could no longer afford to make any mistakes.
The mastermind behind
everything was probably Jin Kirihara.
Before she knew it, an
elaborate mechanism had been activated, and a seemingly endless chain of
events, seemingly unrelated to each other, was hunting her down like a
nightmare.
It was impossible to
put it away as overthinking.
If she didn't assume the
worst, it wouldn't make sense.
It was nothing short
of hilarious that she had to retreat as soon as possible.
In the first place,
there was no need to make the decision to retreat because of a mere gathering
of onlookers.
She was completely
hiding her face and body shape, so there should be no problem with killing
them.
Aside from the
formidable Nina Stingray, it would have been easy to finish off an ordinary
person who pretended to be a schemer. It didn't matter to her even if he were
able to nullify her psychic abilities.
─Don't tell me that I hesitated because of my emotional
ties?
She carefully
considered this possibility.
It certainly is true
that she is friends with those two at school. Of the countless friends she has,
these two are the most closely connected.
But that is when she
is Emma Licorice.
Armed with a hooded
black coat, a mask, and a knife clutched in both hands, she is clearly a
different person than the [Emma] in the classroom with a carefree smile on her
face.
They share the same
body, but are completely different personalities.
She is the other half.
Unlike [Emma], whose
role is to blend in with society and expand her circle of friends, she does not
need a specific name as she simply performs her work in the darkness. In fact,
[Emma] does not even aware of her existence.
Recently, a doctor in
some countries has given her an official name for her disorder, but the upper
echelons of the organization find this characteristic of hers invaluable.
[Emma] is a
personality that knows nothing of her own true nature and makes those around
her feel no sense of caution.
On the other hand,
[Emma]'s other personality, who understands her mission perfectly, is willing
to do dirty work for her country.
She is able to switch
between these two personalities at will, and no one is better suited for
espionage than her.
"......I will not
hesitate any longer."
She reaffirmed her
decision by saying it out loud.
Don't forget
why you are here. Dedicate everything you have to your country.
With such a wretched resolve
in her heart, she put on her mask once again.
◇
Nina, who had not
slept a wink for fear of being attacked, came to class with makeup covering the
circles under her eyes.
Over the course of the
night, Nina realized what it really means to fight with the empire.
The fear that
everything in the world would seem like an enemy and that she would not even be
able to sleep peacefully. She had been prepared for this when she had formed an
accomplice relationship with Jin, but she had never expected it to be this bad.
In the first
place, who exactly is the identity of the assailant?
It was in
dimly lit woods, so it was hard to be precise, but I think he was about the
same height as Jin.
However, both
Karen and Casper were of similar height as well. I couldn't even discern his
gender because his body shape was hidden by his coat.
"Good morning,
Nina-chan. What's with the serious look on your face?"
She was so deep in her
thoughts that she was unaware of Emma's presence until she called out to her.
She would not be able
to hold herself together if she kept worrying about it all the time.
Nina shifted her mind
to everyday life and made a gentle smile.
"Well, I've been
having a little trouble sleeping lately......"
"Exercise is the
best thing to do at times like that. I also run around the school grounds after
school, you know?"
"I was wondering
why you weren't in the dorms sometimes, so that's what you were doing."
"Would you like
to join me for a run sometime, Nina-chan?"
"...... Will do.
Please give me a call the next time you run."
As she talked with
Emma, she felt her heart gradually lighten.
Nina had never had a
friend in her life with whom she could have a casual conversation like this.
She felt a little guilty for putting on a thick act, but she still wanted to
cherish this relationship.
"Eh, Emma-san,
what happened to your right hand?"
Nina could see a
bandage plastered on the part of Emma's hand that was peeking out from the hem
of her uniform.
This is not unusual
for Emma, who has an energetic personality and a bit of a wild side in her
personality.
"Oh, this? I fell
when I was running......"
"Eh, be careful,
will you?"
"Yeah, well, I
can handle this much!"
It is hard to imagine
Emma, who has excellent physical ability, falling down, let alone Jin, who is
extremely unathletic. Was she very tired or did she trip over something?
Thinking to that
point, Nina noticed something strange that she couldn't ignore.
The bandage was placed
a little below the back of her hand. She wondered if she could get a wound in
such a position, no matter how badly she had fallen. Normally, one would injure the palm that was extended
to the ground to protect one's body─.
A sense of déjà vu.
Nina remembered the
person with a wound in that spot.
The answer was so
obvious that she could have easily traced it if she had wanted to.
But Nina did not want
to acknowledge it. She wanted to keep the question as a question and wait
patiently for the day when it would fade away. She wanted to turn away from the
painful reality.
Still, the memories
were vivid in her mind.
Hadn't the person in
the black coat who attacked Nina and Jin yesterday evening been wounded in the
same spot?
Hadn't a stone aimed
at the assailant as he escaped from the pit grazed his right hand slightly?
─Don't tell me, the identity of the <Shepherd's
Dog> is .......
「 」
In front of Nina, Emma
was talking to herself about something.
「 」
She wanted to reply
quickly, but she couldn't gather up even the slightest bit of the words her
lips were weaving.
「 」
The scenery of the
classroom flickered like the surface of the water, and even all sense of
perspective vanished.
Who is this
girl laughing in front of me? What reason did this girl have for being close to
me? Why am I sitting next to her without a second thought?
The floor beneath her
feet fell away, and Nina felt as if she were falling into a bottomless pit.
The only relief was
that before the conversation could continue any further, the first chime of the
school day sounded and an instructor in military uniform entered the classroom.
On her way to the
gymnasium, wary of being followed, Nina repeatedly asked herself the same
question.
─What am I thinking!? There is no way that Emma is
deceiving us! ......
That's right.
Emma couldn't possibly be a <Shepherd's Dog>.
Emma is the
first friend I've ever had in my life who lives outside of the intense survival
struggles of the academy, and who I can count on to lend me a hand when I need
it.
Besides, there
is no evidence that the wound location is a perfect match.
Even if it did
match, it could be dismissed as a mere coincidence. For in the art of deceiving
oneself, there is no one better than myself.
─But, it's futile.
No matter how many
excuses Nina tried to come up with, she just couldn't get the doubts out of her
head.
It's because of the
fraudster's mindset that she has acquired during her days with Jin.
Nina, who doubts
everything around her, was certainly wary of the girl smiling in front of her.
Nina intensely hates herself for imagining cruel and irredeemable things.
─I see, Jin has been living with this kind of pain all
his life, huh .......
Nina now realized the
cruelty of being suspicious of everyone who comes near her.
Should I
really tell Jin about Emma?
Or is he
already aware of it?
Do I still
have to deceive the world with such agony?
Is there
really a solid reason within me to still keep moving forward?
The gymnasium on the
outskirts is getting closer. Nina finally regains her senses and notices a
young man in a military uniform coming out from inside.
He is a business
associate of Jin's disguised as an instructor, who says he is a detective
specializing in the underworld. As Nina recalls, his name was Heath or
something like that.
After hiding in the
shadows and getting past him, Nina hurried into the warehouse.
Upon arriving at the
hidden room in the attic after fulfilling certain steps, Jin was contemplating
something while looking at the schematic paper on the wall. There were more
black-and-white photos and sticky notes than she had seen before, but Nina was
not sure what Jin was after.
Jin stopped filling in
the sticky notes and turned around with his usual languid expression.
─It's now or never if I'm going to tell him about that
matter.
"Jin,
umm......."
Nina almost said that
Emma might be the <Shepherd's Dog>, but then she held her tongue in a
panic.
The frighteningly
cautious Jin would surely not ignore it and decide to take measures.
Without a doubt, Nina
would be assigned to find out more information about Emma, and the friendship
that had existed so far would collapse.
Nina realized the true
nature of what she feared.
It was about her own
sins.
Karen, Casper, and
Emma. If one of them were the <Shepherd's Dog>, it meant that the other
two had approached Nina with pure intentions.
─And now, I am inevitably betraying someone else's good
intentions.
This is what it means
to deceive people.
This is the karma that
a fraudster equally has to bear.
Once she became aware
of such a fact, she could no longer do anything but switch to another topic of
conversation.
"....... I just
passed that detective guy. What were you commissioning him to do?"
"Aa~, I asked him
to run a few errands for me."
"Another one of
those [I-can't-tell-you-about] kind of things?"
Nina breathed a sigh
of relief when Jin gave her an affirmation with a wry smile.
She felt relieved that
her agitation was not noticed. If he were to find out that she was tormented by
guilt and couldn't even find a simple reason for being here, it would make her
accomplice uneasy.
"As you're
probably aware, Nina, the other party is now taking a full-blown [punish anyone
suspected of being guilty] stance. It's impossible to leisurely gain their
trust and extract information from them now."
"So what do we
do?"
"Drag the
<Shepherd's Dog> into the chaos."
Tapping his schematic
paper covered with photos and sticky notes, Jin went on.
"First, we're
going to ask Karen and Casper to fight a three-way duel, and tell them both
that we'll cooperate with them when the game begins."
"Karen sees
Casper as an enemy, which is good, ...... but can we convince Casper to
cooperate?"
If anything, he seemed
to want to avoid a fight against Karen.
No matter how much
Nina assured him that she would help, it was unlikely that he would sign the
pledge.
"It's okay,"
Jin answered immediately. "Actually, he's challenged me to a <duel>,
and I've been on the run for a while now. I think if I accept it under the
condition of us working together to take Karen down, he'll most likely get on
board."
"...... What is
your purpose of having them fight each other?"
"I'll let you
know after the <duel> is concluded. There's one piece of the puzzle
that's yet to come together."
Nina couldn't read his
true intentions, but this accomplice of hers had a look of confidence in his
eyes.
This expression.
Whenever Nina saw this
expression, which did not doubt his victory and even welcomed the looming
danger, she felt as if she could bet everything on him.
Perhaps that is the
proof of his talent as a fraudster.
It is too dazzling for
her, who is just trapped in a cage of guilt.
"I'll be in
charge of convincing Casper. Nina, you go talk to Karen."
"......Yeah, I'll
try my best."
The message on the
blackboard, the scar on Emma's right hand - no matter how much she thought
about these uncertainties, it was no use.
All she has to do now
is visit Karen and persuade her as instructed. It's a simple job that anyone
can do.
It's gonna be
okay, she found herself appeasing herself more than necessary.
Nevertheless, the
reality that she had no choice but to move forward made Nina feel as if her
chest were about to tighten.
＊
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