Chapter 4

“What the fuck!?” I yelled, In disbelief. And as my mind tried to process what I had just heard, I noticed that a few of the other customers were now looking at us. I wanted to get Arakawa to give me the full story, but that was hardly the best place to do it. “Keep it down, you’re causing a scene!” She replied. I was already pretty agitated, so that just made me want to make an even bigger scene, but in the end I decided to be rational. “Let’s go to my house, there we can talk.”

I turned back and immediately started walking towards the exit. The delinquent looking girl paid her tab and left the joint too. We didn’t say another word in the walk to my house, I don’t know what was in her mind, but mine was very concerned about a specific part of what she had told me earlier. “We might have to kill him” I remembered her saying. What the hell did she mean by that!? It had to be a joke or some kind of prank, and I was already steeling myself to give her the biggest dressing down of her life, damned be the consequences, after all, I had to give up my date with Asuka for this.

We eventually entered my house. And without wasting any time, I started talking. “Ok, explain.” I was expecting Arakawa to burst out laughing at any time soon, but her expression at least, was dead serious. “You know Mr. Aragaki, right?” Se asked. “Unfortunately, yeah. But what does he have to do with this?” I replied, confused.

“Well, he seems to have noticed that we’ve gotten closer.” The girl took a deep breath before continuing. “And so, he asked me about an old book written in french and english.” My eyes widened after hearing that. “He’s onto us, he has to be.”

I gasped, the fact that someone else knew about the book was a very scary prospect. Feeling stupid for never considering that fact since the damn book was found me in trash can at school. I was speechless for a little while, trying to process all of that information. Could be some kind of warlock? Why the hell would he want the book if not for it’s magic? “We should get rid of him.” Arakawa suggested again, looking sideways, clearly uncomfortable with the idea herself. “If he decides to use magic on us, we’ll be in serious trouble.” She grabbed my arm, looking very distressed, I had never seen her like this before. “We have to off him.”

Killing a person was not something to be taken lightly, and I knew that well even though I was just a high school student. Up to know I’d done some pretty questionable things, but this? This wasn’t a line I ever wanted to cross in my life. I wasn’t gonna kill a person! That would make a murderer, a killer like those we see getting arrested on television. “No, there has to be another way.” I replied, falling to my couch, desperately trying to think of something.

“Kageyama, if the bastard decides to strike first, we’re both screwed. We gotta act, and fast.” She was very alarmed, but I wasn’t gonna let her rope me into becoming a murderer just like that, it’s true that I’m pretty weak willed, but I had to plant my feet at some point. “Ok, so calm the fuck down for a second!” I raised my voice. “For starters, you’re making a lot of assumptions here. We don’t even know for sure if he means us any harm!” I got up on my feet and walk towards my window. “And even if we did decide to whack him, how would we even pull that off and get away with it? We’re not the damn yakuza! We’d make a mistake for sure and the cops would be all over us!”

Arakawa looked down when I heard that, apparently trying to work up the courage to say something. “Actually, I...” She started talking, I immediately raised an eyebrow. “See, a few days ago...” The girl was clearly hesitant, that was not like her, and I thought it all very uncanny.

“Spit it out already.” I demanded, growing ever more impatient.

“A few days ago, while we were translating the book...” She looked at me in the eyes. “I found a killing spell.”

My eyes widened again, and my heartbeat skyrocketed. A damn killing spell, and she didn’t tell me. My confusion was starting to turn into fear and hesitation, and then, anger. “Are you serious?” I asked, trying to remain as composed as I could. “Yes.” She answered.

I clenched my fists. “Why didn’t you tell me!?” I yelled, loudly. “A fucking killing spell!?” I walked right up to her, furious. What was her goal in not telling me? Did she want to use it in someone? Did she want to use it in me perhaps? I thought.

“Alright, I’ll come clean.” The girl looked a bit regretful. “I wanted to use it on someone without you knowing, since, well, I knew that you’d never approve. And it might even scare you out of studying the book.” The girl explained, and I was in awe, in shock, in complete disbelief over what I’d just heard. We’d already been over her using magic behind my back, not only was she breaking our agreement about that but she wanted to kill people? And if she was hiding spells, who’s to say that this was the only one? All this time, she’d been playing me for a fool, and apparently, if she wanted, she could get rid of me at any time using that killing spell! My life was in her hands and I didn’t know, I could’ve dropped down at any second and die without knowing what hit me! And if she was already considering using that spell, why hadn’t she used it on the teacher already and kept me in the dark? I had way too many questions.

“You gotta trust me in this one, Kageyama.” She was getting more agitated, noticing my reaction. “This was the only spell I hid, and I only wanted to use it once on someone very specific. I never considered causing you any harm. We’re partners remember?”

“Yeah, like I can trust anything that comes out of your mouth at this point!” I was pissed off, so much that I wasn’t even able to think straight, I felt like I’d been stabbed in the back. I was starting to think that Arakawa maybe wasn’t all that bad a few days back, now I was sure that she was just a lying monster. “Partners my ass, if you don’t trust me then why should I trust you!?” I could see that her too was starting to get a bit angry. “I already told you my reasons! This is not the time for you to be such a giant baby! Our lives are in danger here!” She replied. Now she was insulting me? That was too much.

“Oh yeah? And you are a lying, backstabbing bitch!” I shot back, she was speechless for a few instants, I could tell she was shake by what I’d just said. “I’m gonna go straighten things out with Aragaki, and then, we’re done. We go our separate ways.” I sat back at the couch, she was still quiet. She also looked furious at me, but wasn’t saying anything, and despite everything, there was a hint of guilt on her expression, maybe she knew that was she did wasn’t right, but at that point I didn’t care anymore.

The girl just up and left, and as I spent a few more minutes on my couch reflecting upon the situation, I wondered if I hadn’t been too harsh on her. Despite everything, I’ve grown a bit of a fondness for Arakawa in this last month, so knowing that I said those things to her wasn’t being easy, even if I knew that she definitely had it coming. Nevertheless, it had been done, and I had to steel myself for what was coming. She said that she never considered causing me any harm, now I had to hope that she was telling the truth there.

The sun was already setting when I finally got around to approaching Mr. Aragaki at school to address the book situation. I told him I had it and we moved to his empty office, and he seemed quite satisfied that I’d sought him down.

“So, what’s the deal?” I asked, feeling nervous. “Is the book yours?”

“It belonged to me, yes.” He answered, bluntly, taking a sip of coffee. “When I became a man of God, seeking to save my soul, I discarded the book on that trash can. I’m assuming that’s where you found it?”

Now that explained a lot. The book was his, he became religious at some point and decided to get rid of it. “Yes, that’s where I found it.” I answered, still feeling a bit anxious about all of this.

“And I take it you used the love spell on Arakawa, right?” He asked, with a scoff. “I swear, children these days...”

Well, he sure did get that wrong. The whole school knew that I was dating Asuka, why would he assume that I used the love spell on Arakawa? Can that spell be used on multiple people and that’s why he assumed that Arakawa has been my victim?

“So, Kageyama.” He started talking. “I’ll get straight to the point: I want the book back so that I can destroy it for good, since merely discarding it didn’t seem to have done much good.” He took another sip. “The book is evil, it’s unholy, and it destroys people’s lives. That’s why it shouldn’t be allowed to exist.”

I waited a bit before saying anything else. “And what happens if I give you the book?” I asked. “I’ll undo all the love spells you used, since that was the only ones I know you were able to read. Then I’ll erase yours and the girls’ memories of this incident and incinerate the book.”

I was taken aback. My heart sank when I heard that. If I agreed, not only would I lose the book and all the money I got, but I would also lose all the memories.

And I’d lose Asuka, forever.

“I know that this probably isn’t an easy decision to make, so I’ll give you the chance to repent and do the right thing.” The teacher stood up and opened the door for me. “You have two days, Kageyama. If you don’t return the book in two days, I’ll have you give it to me by other methods, and then erase your memory.”

And with that ominous warning, I left his office, and went back home, completely unsure of what to do. I thought, and tried best to find a way out of that mess, I didn’t want to keep working with that book, but I definitely didn’t want to lose my girlfriend and everything I accomplished, not having to work for money and all. And so, completely out of options, I opted to go find Arakawa.

I wasn’t expecting her to allow me into her house after everything I’d said to her before, but it seems that she was over it, which was good, but there still seemed to exist a lot of distance and tension between us after all that happened. I then explain to her the situation, making the girl take a deep sigh. Arakawa was wearing her normal casual outfit, with the black top.

“I guess I was right after all.” She said, in a mildly sarcastic tone, which quite annoyed me. “You’re really dumb as hell, but there’s no way that you can’t understand something this simple.” The girl crossed her arms. “I know it’s a tough pill to swallow, but we gotta kill him.”

I was already starting to get angry again. “How can you take that so lightly!?” I ask, once again raising my tone. “It’s a human life!”

“I’m not taking it lightly, you braindead moron!” She shot back, going back to her normal self. Apparently she accepted my insulting her quietly the other day as fair because she did screw me over, but this time she wasn’t pulling any punches. “He’s clearly an experienced warlock, or at least more experienced than us! We gotta capitalize on him not thinking of you as a threat and get him before he gets us!”

“Getting him means having a person murdered, Arakawa! Can’t we zero in on that part just for a bit!?” I was getting more and more agitated by the minute. “How can you be so goddamn cold!?”

The girl was losing her patience.

“If you’re still not willing to go through with this then why are you even here?” She asked, just as agitated.

“Look, I don’t know, alright!?” I answered truthfully, unsure of my actual reasons for going there. I wanted for us to find a solution for that problem, but I still absolutely didn’t want to have anyone killed. “God, you’re such a coward!” She called me out, frustrated.