Romantic Troubles of Duanmu-kun

Episode 19: Other People’s Business

Miyagi Aki sat quietly checking her phone. Every few minutes, she would refresh the web browser, waiting for a message.

“Goodness… why is it taking so long? I can’t wait to see what happens next.”

Still, she understood the hesitation.

After all, when faced with life-changing decisions, people tend to be cautious.

Usually, the truly significant moments that alter one’s future and character come without warning.

Sometimes through someone’s kindness.
Sometimes through someone’s malice.
Sometimes through sheer accident.

Most people live lives shaped by the will of others.

She wished everyone could choose their own path, but that was impossible. Only those who followed her guidance would find their way here.

The train whistle sounded again, like clockwork. That’s when she noticed something unusual in her surroundings.

“What’s that over there…?”

Behind a light yellow guardrail, a concrete slope descended to where irregular bricks and stones lay hidden among overgrown weeds.

Hovering above was what looked like a small dark cloud—a massive swarm of buzzing insects. From a distance, the area just appeared darker, but up close, the air was thick with flies.

Hot weather often bred insects in damp corners, usually just tiny black specks dancing in the air, easy to miss until they landed on your face or head.

But this many was unusual. More striking was how they concentrated over one specific spot.

Aki approached carefully.

Her high heels made each step precarious on the stone-littered ground—one wrong move could send her tumbling. With a soft “heya,” she picked her way across the grass to the slope’s bottom.

The girl moved back and forth, examining the area. Some concrete blocks seemed out of place, likely moved recently. Dark brown stains marked the natural cracks in their surface.

“Ugh… that smell is unmistakable.”

Leaning closer to a crack, she wrinkled her nose at the expected odor.

“Oh no, oh no… Don’t tell me I have to look inside? I really don’t want to…”

Despite her complaints, Aki methodically moved the loose stones away.

THUD!

As the stones hit the grass, a cloud of dust rose, and the black tornado of insects erupted from the widened crack with a whoosh.

Having anticipated this, Aki had already jumped clear.

As she’d suspected, a decomposing corpse lay within the concrete wall cavity.

“The second one…”

Though the killer left no trace, another victim had been found. It had been twenty-five days since the last body appeared near Amazu Manor.

Aki narrowed her eyes, studying the scene.

…The wounds were fresh, the blood still wet. The decay smell came early because the body had been stuffed into the stifling wall cavity.

“Killed today, weren’t they? How sloppy.”

She smiled casually, about to search for more evidence when—

A cold wind struck the back of her head.

Every hair on her body stood on end.

Something was hurtling toward her at terrifying speed. The force behind it pulled the air into whistling streams as it carved a straight path through space—

No time to dodge.

“Ah…?”

The smile froze on Miyagi-san’s face.

*

Afternoon, February 11th.

He lay cocooned in blankets like a caterpillar.

The air conditioner hummed steadily, turning the room into an ice cave.

“Ah…”

Surfacing from a murky dream, he opened his eyes to find the room swimming in a hazy veil.

His throat felt like sandpaper, the realization hitting as soon as he tried to speak.

Need water…

But the glass on his desk might as well have been miles away.

Better stay put.

He clutched the blanket tighter. His eyelids weighed tons, already pulling him back toward sleep.

His head throbbed.

His limbs felt like lead.

Only two days of spring break remained. Would he recover before school started?

But that didn’t matter anymore.

Everything that needed doing was done, sitting quietly in his computer.

Life would go back to its peaceful routine, just as before.

He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. But someone like him was lucky, wasn’t he?

Even after witnessing impossible things, nearly getting tangled in eight-year-old serial killings, he could return to a normal world.

Stories would stay stories.

In the novelist’s life, there would be no killers stepping out of memories, no demons controlling minds, no college girls obsessed with brutal crimes.

He remembered the first corpse he’d seen.

Dirt-covered, face ashen gray, but those bulging eyes stayed with him—staring into nothing, stark white against the grime.

It reminded him, oddly, of tropical fish in tanks. Maybe because both were trapped, yet completely unaware of their captivity.

What had those dead eyes seen in their final moments?

Someone, curious about that very question, had stepped across the line between human and inhuman.

The novelist just watched quietly from his side of that line, observing those who crossed.

Standing beside train tracks where trains could pass at any moment, watching their backs disappear.

The young man squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them.

The vision shattered like soap bubbles.

In those fading fragments, someone whispered:

“I’m just like you. Living in this world, feeling the same things.”

No, that’s wrong.

Not that the words were false, but they weren’t meant for this moment—

“I didn’t kill anyone.”

…

…

Yes.

That’s right.

I know.

Better than anyone.

This person didn’t kill anyone.

Perhaps countless horrors still lurked in the shadows, unknown to him, but this much was certain. No misfortune beyond this should exist.

Gulp gulp

Somehow he’d made it to the water, cold liquid flooding his throat.