A party venue where men and women in formal attire gather. They all wore masks as they sat in a row on one side of a long table and enjoyed their meal gracefully. Across the table, there is still a stage with a hanging banner.
The lights eventually went out, and a spotlight shone in front of the banner. The masked guests clapped in unison.
Under the spotlight was a restrained man of medium build who appeared to be in his early twenties.
On either side of that, two men in black with strong physique stood side by side, facing the audience, and both of them bowed their heads deeply.
"The name of the man being detained is Masahiko Mamiya." Despite being restrained, his eyes were tinged with a strong light of determination, and his mouth was tight. He doesn't seem to be afraid of his position.
Mamiya's restraint was released, and he looked around. In front of the table where the food was served, there were a dozen men and women in formal attire, their mouths peeking through their masks in the form of distorted smiles.
and myself on stage. He has been told in advance what this bizarre situation means.
"The banner goes up." A huge, transparent cauldron was placed on the exposed stage. The bottom of the kettle is heated by a burner, and the oil inside is boiling.
Furthermore, on top of the cauldron, a naked girl was hung with a gag in her mouth, shedding tears while looking at the man with her sad eyes.
"Junko Yukioka's new assassin was fired at our formalin-soaked president! In order to save her lover who fell into our hands, he became Junko Yukioka's test subject and gained strength and came here! "The cauldron is filled with boiling oil." Will he be able to save her lover before she gets tempura fried?! 』
A woman in a tuxedo with a microphone on the stage announced with a cheerful smile.
Mamiya walked towards the kettle. I've been told in advance that the string that hangs his lover hangs from a pulley in the ceiling and can be manipulated from behind the scenes to move it to a safe position and lower it.
"But I also know that it won't be easy." This is the show. A show that sees Mamiya struggling with his lover being held hostage. Depending on the result, the lover will be brutally killed, and the guests will be happy to see it, a brutal feast.
"Today's guest is the elusive assassin, Kishibe Rin! 』
A roar of anticipation and amazement arose from the audience. Mamiya, who doesn't live in the back alley, didn't know the person's name, but judging from the reaction of the devils in the audience, he guessed that he was a well-known killer.
However, Mamiya was undaunted. If you don't kill him, you and his lover will die. Mamiya now has enough strength to fight. He's confident he can beat even a professional killer.
What suddenly appeared in front of Mamiya was a beautiful woman with long hair who was dressed entirely in black and had a snake-wrapped cross pendant hanging from her neck.
It's not an exaggeration to say that she suddenly appeared walking into an empty space. Mamiya couldn't believe her eyes for a moment, but she forced herself to conclude that she must be some kind of magic.
"Lady, fire! 』
Almost at the same time as the shout, Mamiya's body underwent a transformation.
His clothes pop off and his whole body grows more than twice as large. Abnormal muscle bulges far beyond those of humans. All her hair falls out and his head is completely bald. With a bald head and a face distorted with anger, many blood vessels are protruding, giving it the appearance of a demon god.
Seeing Mamiya's transformation, the girl above the cauldron opened her eyes wide and was shocked. A roar arose from the audience.
Kishibe Rin was not at all surprised when she saw the situation. She pulls out her gun, but with the muzzle lowered without a stance, she confronts Mamiya.
Raising her beast-like roar, Mamiya attacks Rin.
She doesn't want to move. She didn't move until her opponent was right in front of her and her thick, log-like arms were swung down.
Rin's figure disappeared, and Mamiya's arm slashed through the air.
A third roar from the audience. Mamiya involuntarily looks around without knowing what happened. Rin's figure disappeared completely.
Right after that-just like when she first appeared, Rin appeared walking in an empty space.
In front of Mamiya, but a few meters away from where Rin had been, she was walking slowly with her muzzle aimed at Mamiya's head.
Mamiya stiffens in shock and fear.
"He understood." he says he's dead I think it's over here.
A gunshot resounds. Blood and brain fluid splatter. A roar of cheers and applause. A sad scream of a girl leaking through the gag. The sound of a pulley slipping. splashes of oil. and another death. Devils who enjoy another death. Prolonged applause and cheers.
(Why do you do such a dangerous imitation? You should evacuate to subspace a little earlier. What is the point of attracting you to the last minute? Think about the worst.)
A voice echoed. Only Rin--a voice of consciousness that can only be heard in Rin's head.
"If it's a small fry opponent, it's good training if you put a handicap on yourself and fight. I'm assuming you're going to fight someone stronger."
As she puts away her gun, Rin whispers in her mouth to the owner of the voice in her head.
"Since it's Junko Yukioka's mouse, I had high hopes for it, but it looks like it's going to be a hit."
(It just feels like she's just been physically strengthened. Maybe she had some kind of trump card, but she killed her before she could see it.)
After a conversation that no one else could hear, Rin disappeared from the stage as if she had teleported from the stage. Seeing this, the audience applauded even louder.
Right after she disappears from the stage, Rin appears walking in the wings of the stage. As she walked backstage, her client caught her eye.
"It was an instant kill.
A well-built middle-aged man in his mid-fifties appeared in front of Rin and smiled at him. Masato Okumura is the head of the 7th branch of the organization "Formalin Pickled President" that hired Rin as a bodyguard.
"Just out of curiosity, why did the two of you have to be killed?"
I knew that she was an extremely lowly organization that profited from a murder show that was bought by human trafficking, but Rin instinctively suspected that the two people who were killed this time might be a different case. rice field. I wonder if this is Okumura's personal grudge.
"The woman is just a prostitute. She's from a weak retail spring organization, so even if you kill her, you can't go against a big organization like ours. She's the type I like, so I made her my favorite, but I'll make you my exclusive mistress. When I said that, she refused saying that she already had a girlfriend.Moreover, she told me that she had been prostitution because she wanted the medical expenses for a man's intractable disease. I kidnapped my boyfriend and urged him to go to Yukioka Research Institute."If you want to help me, become a test subject and remodel it."And now, with your hands, we are on good terms and go to heaven. Hahahaha."
With a disgusting smile spread across his face, Okumura spoke happily without feeling embarrassed. Rin's hunch was right.
"Are you usually killing the residents of the main street for that reason? Don't you think it will be important if you find out?"
"I'm doing it so that it won't be found out, so I'm fine. Besides, it must have been you who killed him. At least the man. Ah, maybe your conscience hurt after hearing this story? Or maybe you're angry at me? Is it boiling?"
"separately"
Rin responded briefly to Okumura's sneering tone, and then slipped past Okumura and left the backstage without further conversation.
"Rin's words just now aren't lies." There is no remorse on her conscience, and she doesn't feel her anger towards Okumura. It just gave me a little bit of discomfort, like seeing dirty trash on the road.
(It's a good place for the lowly. It's a good way to die, that one.)
But the other one in Rin was showing her anger.
"It can't be helped that a person without power should die. No matter how lowly a person is, a person with power has the right to trample a person without power. I couldn't even see it.
As they talk, Rin remembers the boy she saw at the shooting range before coming here.
"That kid had a nice black glow. I wish he had the power he deserved. I hope he doesn't die so easily."
She muttered in words that only she and the other person inside her could understand, and Rin let her smile.
＊＊＊
The formalin-soaked president distributes the contents of the commercial show on the Internet, and those who have registered as members can watch the cruel murder show by paying a high viewing fee.
There are unexpectedly many people with bad taste who want to see snuff videos even if they have to pay a lot of money, and there are members all over the world. It is said that the formalin-soaked president's main source of income is the money that falls on the net rather than the audience that directly visits the entertainment industry.
"It's still disgusting. I want to kill everyone in the organization and all the customers."
Rin killed Mamiya, and Makoto, who had watched the live broadcast of Mamiya's lover being killed, throws up.
"If I kill you, it will be a mercy, so why don't you use me as a test subject?"
Junko, who sat next to Makoto on the same couch and watched the show on the same display, teased.
Makoto glances at Junko with a look that seems to accuse her of having no heart and stands up from her seat.
"Ah, wait a minute, Shin-kun. I just got an email asking me to apply for a test bench at just the right time. I think that child will come soon, so please don't disturb me. It seems that there is something quite serious going on. hey"
He was stopped when he was about to leave her room, and Makoto turned to Junko.
"If he's in a serious situation and wants power, I won't even bother him. You're going to subject him to terrible human experiments that might even kill him, aren't you? Isn't it weird to say that?"
"Ahahaha, that's true. One was taken."
Junko laughed innocently at the truth.
"Also, this may not be a big deal, but he looks like the middle school student you used to go to.
"So you're in middle school?"
"It looks like two people are coming.
"It doesn't matter if you show your face later, right?"
"Ok"
Hearing the two of them, Makoto was a little intrigued. Usually there is only one test bench applicant who comes here. In addition, it was a rare case that one of them was an attendant instead of a volunteer for the experiment, so I was curious.