35 Fujiharu's Offensive - Part 5

I slowly clapped.

"Are we done with this show now?" I asked.

They all appeared very surprised by my statement.

"You know, you really should hire some better actors."

The two assailants behind me took a step back.

I walked over to Fujiharu; the man holding her down tried to stop me, but I grabbed his wrist. As he tried to resist, I tightened my grip a little harder until there was a snapping sound. The man yelled and held his wrist in pain.

I leaned down and ripped the tape off of Fujiharu's face.

"You know, you certainly made me feel like a hero."

She looked up at me with a very shocked expression.

"You should probably increase your budget and get some more skilled actors though."

"...b-but how did you..."

I stood back up and leaned against the wall.

It was all obvious from the beginning.

First of all, she invited me out of the blue to an aquarium which was an odd choice considering the distance from our home but it was all relatively normal.

Secondly, she seemed to be following a tight schedule, as if she needed to be at a certain place at a certain time. It was odd how she seemed to be rushing through the sections despite showing so much interest in them.

Thirdly, the moment she was first grabbed, she reacted incredibly quickly, faster than how a normal person would react and especially faster than how you'd expect her to react.

Fourthly, there couldn't have possibly escaped so quickly if the attacker had to drag a Fujiharu who was resisting them. Considering that they were gone by the time I turned the corner, there was no way they could've moved so swiftly.

Fifthly, both of the attackers were putting in way less effort than you'd expect from a normal person. In that situation, they were putting in so little effort that I hardly even had to move to stop them.

Sixthly, they were way too open with their information. Even a normal person being threatened would at least think before revealing the information. However, they revealed it incredibly swiftly, as if they were planning to do so in the first place.

Seventhly, the two assailants were acting stupidly at the end. It was obvious they were trying to subtly feed me information in order to guide me to the right room.

It was all too obvious.

I wondered, was this a plan she used on all of her seatmates? I assumed the reason for doing so was to make them feel special, make them feel as if they're a hero—saving a damsel in distress. She was playing to their masculinity, playing to their heart. I guess it was another of her plans to make her seatmate fall in love with her.

"So, what are you going to do now?" I asked her.

She looked speechless. Not a word could come out of her mouth.

I must admit, she must have had guts to come up with such a plan. There were so many risks involved, from the police being called to being seen by a member of the public. There were many ways where this plan could've gone wrong. But more impressively, she had the guts to pretend to be kidnapped, all in order to make a boy fall for her.

Everyone in the room stood silently.

Fujiharu slowly got up from the ground.

"So tell me, Sara, how much of our relationship is a lie?"

She was still staying silent. However, tears were forming in her eyes.

I took a step back.

Suddenly, she started to mumble something.

"I-I didn't... I..."

I guess this was the first time she was called out for one of her plots.

After a few moments, the only two people left were Fujiharu and me. They closed the door behind them, leaving a quiet chamber for the two of us.

I looked over at Fujiharu, who was still trying to form words.

"A-ayato... I didn't mean for this to happen..."

Of course you didn't mean for this to happen—by that, of course, you didn't mean to get caught.

[Illustration]

"You still haven't answered my question. How much of us is a lie?"

She still seemed to refuse to answer the question.

I guess I wasn't going to be getting any answers from her.

"Oh well."

I turned around and left, closing the door behind me.

***

[Volume 1 END]