CH 22

“So, you…”

“Yes!”

The girl on her knees looked up quickly at Kanata’s call.

She looked like a dog that missed its owner, and if she had a tail, it would be wagging by now.

Still, the girl in front of him was a complete stranger, and moreover, she was the first person to know his secret… Kanata wondered what on earth he should do.

“… Who are you anyway?”

“Yes! My name is Mira! I have another name, um, do you know… Raven?”

“A bird? … Oh, you mean Raven… yeah?”

Not the bird, but Raven. Kanata tilted his head.

“…”

Kanata stared at the woman in front of him, thinking and organizing the information briefly for the time being.

The blue-coloured semi-long hair and slightly slanted eyes suit the young face well, which gave her a slight sense of innocence that made it hard to believe she snuck into his room.

She was dressed in black from top to bottom with a robe so you couldn’t see below her neck… Kanata widened his eyes as he thought about a ‘black robe’ and ‘Raven’ without believing she could be that person.

“You don’t mean to tell me that Raven… the assassin?”

“Yes! It’s that Raven!”

“…”

Raven, that’s the name of the legendary assassin.

Their true identity is said to be unknown, and no one has ever seen what lies beneath their mask, but it’s hard to believe that the assassin’s true identity is that of a girl.

Rather, no matter what face emerged from within, there was nothing to prove that this girl who called herself Mira was Raven in the first place.

“I don’t believe it… Why would such a legendary assassin sneak into my room and stalk me?”

“That’s because I’m your fan!”

“… This doesn’t make any sense.”

In both his previous and current life, it was Kanata’s first time dealing with this sort of thing.

He really didn’t know how to treat her or what to do from now on.

“… Haishin-sama, is there any problem?”

“Yeah, there is a problem.”

“And, am I the one who’s causing it?”

“Right.”

“You understand very well what I’m talking about, don’t you?” Kanata gave her that look, but to his surprise, she simply replied, “Understood,” and pulled out a short sword from her pocket.

“?”

The shining silver blade of the sword was artistically beautiful, but if a sword were to get drawn before you, it’s only natural you’d take a step back. That’s what Kanata did, and he took a fighting stance… but instead of pointing the sword at Kanata, she placed it on her neck.

“It’s time for me to end this life then. Farewell, Haishin-sama.”

Her voice was serious.

Kanata involuntarily shouted for her to stop and held her hand firmly while shaking.

She was about to cut her own throat and got a slight cut on her neck, from which the blood started to flow.

“What the h**l are you doing?”

Kanata rushed over as quickly as he could and put a handkerchief to her neck.

It was not deep, just a cut on the skin, but Kanata’s heart was racing at the quintessential, undeterred suicide attempt.

“Just… put that sword down.”

“Yes.”

Kanata even felt fear at how obedient she was.

It’s as if she saw Kanata as an absolute being, and he even felt a kind of servility in her eyes.

“… Were you serious about that?”

“Yes. I meant it.”

“Why?”

“It’s because I caused you trouble, Haishin-sama. Since I’m a nuisance to you, I don’t deserve to live.”

“… I’m so sick of this girl.”

His honest words leaked out.

She was probably the type who would gladly die if Kanata told her to… and she was really the first Kanata has ever known to act like that.

‘I would die for you…’ She reminded him of the yandere and ‘menhera’ type women, and Kanata was seriously about to cry at the appearance of such a girl far beyond those levels.

[EDN: ‘Menhera’ is a Japanese slang term referring to people with some mental illness or someone in need of mental health care.]

“In any case, don’t die. I mean. You sure caused me trouble, but… Oh my god, I can’t even think straight.”

“A-are you all right?”

“I’m not okay. And who’s fault is it?” retorted Kanata, holding his head.

He slurped down the drink on the table and took a deep breath to calm himself down for once.

“… I’m going to tell you one more time, don’t die. If you cut your neck, there will be a lot of blood.”

“Ah, then, out of Haishin-sama’s sight—”

“That’s not the point…! What the h**l is wrong with you?”

He reminded her not to die again.

He didn’t really care where this stalker woman, a complete stranger, died, but now that he talked to her, it didn’t feel right for her to tell him that she was going to die in a place he didn’t see.

“Let me think…”

Once again, Kanata sat down in front of her.

“Mira… right?”

“Yes. I’m also called Raven, but only you know my name at this point.”

“Is that so… am I going to get killed because I know your secret or something?”

“If someone ever tries to harm you, I’ll make them disappear first!”

Kanata returned a dry smile when he couldn’t get through to her.

It’s impossible to recognize such a person as a legendary assassin, but he wanted… something easy to prove it.

Anything? When he asked her about it, she put her hand on her chin and came up with a suggestion.

“I’m so good at erasing my presence… like this—”

“… Wha?”

The moment Mira muttered that, she disappeared into thin air.

There was no sign of invoking magic, and he couldn’t sense any flow of magic power, so Mira didn’t cast any spells.

Sure she was there, but yet her presence disappeared.

“Ah, I’m right in front of Haishin-sama.”

“Seriously?”

He did hear a voice out of nowhere.

Perhaps she had not disappeared… or maybe she indeed had, but she was still sitting there as ever.

The scary thing was that he thought he heard a voice, but he had no idea where it was coming from, so he reached out to his front— then touched something soft and fluffy.

“What is it?”

“It’s my breast.”

“!?”

Quickly, Kanata withdrew his hand.

He hadn’t noticed the black robe, but she seemed to have great things like Maria and Alphana.

Kanata apologized, and Mira appeared in front of him as before.

“I’m happy just to be touched by Haishin-sama’s, so it’s totally fine!”

“…”

Beyond the embarrassment and awkwardness, he was exhausted.

Kanata then calmed down to some extent and asked why she came here and how she knew that Haishin was Kanata in the first place.

“It’s unforgivable now, but I, as a Raven, was asked to get rid of Kanata-sama.”

“… Really? That’s Haishin… No, it doesn’t sound like you didn’t know I’m Haishin, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. My employer is a noble of no importance from the Xandard Empire, and he said Kanata-sama made him look ugly in this city.”

A noble of the Xandard Empire. 

Kanata got the pinprick after hearing that.

What came to his mind was the nobleman he had dealt with when he saved Kanna, and he thought that perhaps the noble was the one who had arranged the assassination against Kanata.

“… You can’t just kill someone for that thing.”

“Well, he seemed proud. So, I came to this royal city and tracked down this place using your name. I never dreamed that I would meet Master Haisin… I am so happy!”

“Okay… That’s great.”

No exactly… Kanata was terrified and shuddered at the prospect of being killed by her if he had made a mistake.

However, he felt like he recognized this world again, although he didn’t want to admit that this is also something unique to other worlds.

“You’re not going to kill me now?”

“Not at all! I’d rather protect you!”

“… Sure, as a bodyguard… no, but I don’t want any perverts.”

He would feel safer if Raven, the legendary assassin, protected him, but he could feel a lot of perversity in her attitude. He could see something outlandish about her, which made her too scary to be around.

“…?”

Just then, Kanata’s terminal glowed.

It was a message he got from his stream, so Kanata read it because she wanted to calm down a little more.

“… Eh.”

“Haishin-sama?”

The contents of the letters were as follows…

“Haishin, you sure are a mass murderer.

I didn’t think you’d go so far out of your way to be popular.

I will not allow that.

Since it takes a large amount of magic power to reach a wide area, a single person would quickly wither away no matter how much magic power they possess.

That means you’re using humans as your magic source for the streaming… Hey Haishin, how many humans have you killed by now?

How much sacrifice and suffering did you make them endure to establish that position?

I will not allow it. I’m coming to bring you down to justice.”

Kanata widened his eyes, wondering what in the world he was talking about, but wherever it originated, the word seemed to have spread in a certain way.

The existence of infinite magical power wasn’t known, and the only one who knew about it was Kanata himself.

“… It’s going to be a pain.”

“Haishin-sam, what’s wrong?”

Kanata looked at the trespasser, who was staring at him with concern and let out a sigh, wondering what to do.

Even in his previous life, small rumours spreading on the internet led to speculation, and it was not uncommon for celebrities to get labelled in strange ways… It seems that this has come down to Kanata as a Haishin.