小嫂子的味道

"Tch. You haven\'t really done anything to me, that\'s true. You are but a petty side character after all. But you being alive is what causes me problems," Akumi grumbled as he pushed me further against the wall. 

"That\'s why, I\'m going to kill you," he declared, anger flashing in his eyes. 

"Umm…I still don\'t understand what you\'re talking about but…if you are going to kill me then is it really okay for you to tell me that? I mean, won\'t I have time to prepare if I know you\'re targeting me?" I asked. 

Here I was not acting, I genuinely didn\'t know why he was stating that he wanted to kill me if he wanted to. 

"Hah, that\'s not a problem. I can tell you because no matter how strong you may be, you will never be a match for me. I can kill you whenever I want, even at this moment I can end your life if I want to. Whether you get the time to prepare or not, it will have no zero effect on the outcome," he stated. 

"But you know, I can report what you said to me to the academy staff too. A few students who were passing by have seen you hold my collar and push me against the wall so that will serve as evidence. Also if after this I directly go and report then even the traces of your mana could be found on my shirt," I explained all that to him in a very polite manner. 

"Once it\'s confirmed that you were really going to kill me, the academy will most likely expel you. People who aren\'t a student at the Silver Garden Academy aren\'t allowed inside the campus, thus you won\'t get any future chance of killing me

"That is why," I stared directly into his eyes. "If you were going to kill me, you should have kept it a secret rather than spilling it out to me."

"Y-You!" frustration was clear on his face. "For a side character, you do talk a lot!" he said, although while fuming he let go of my collar and took a step back. Perhaps what I had said hit him in the heart. 

"Hm? Don\'t tell me…you didn\'t think about all of this and just came here to threaten me without thinking about the consequences?" I asked innocently. 

"W-What?!" his voice cracked and he took a few seconds to think before responding. 

"Of course not!! Do you really think I\'d come here without thinking anything through? I already knew everything you said, it\'s just that I\'m not afraid of the academy staff! If I want, I can wipe them out along with you! After all, they too are nothing but NPCs!" 

"What about you though? You told me that I shouldn\'t tell you my plans, however, you just did the same by telling me all that. Doesn\'t that make you an idiot and a hypocrite?" he laughed as he said that, trying to console himself by blaming me. 

"Oh? That\'s not the case though. Perhaps there has been a misunderstanding. If you defined everything I said as a \'plan\' then I believe you should really sit and think about your life choices," I replied. 

"Also, if it is as you said, then you already knew everything I said, didn\'t you? Then I didn\'t reveal any information to you since you were already aware of everything I was going to say," I mentioned. 

"Y-You…that\'s true. Agggghhhhh!! Fuck it, whatever. I\'ll see when it comes to it!!" he exclaimed. "But I\'m going to kill you! Remember that!" 

With that he left, stomping the ground in frustration with loud and noisy steps as he went away. 

"Well, that wasn\'t much trouble," I mumbled to myself as I adjusted my collar. 

What he said did indicate that this guy was X—the person who sent those letters to Anya and arranged for Winston and his friends to corner her—however, after this exchange with him I was having a hard time believing that. 

After all, I\'d thought that X would be at least a little intelligent and not an insecure, uncertain, and delusional idiot. 

Though now that I think about it, his actions did hint at him being that way. 

Despite that I\'d gained a lot of useful information by interacting with him and a lot of my suspicions were confirmed too, there was a lot to think about. However, at the moment I decided to put that on hold and do what I was originally going to. 

Which was to meet and have a talk with Ryfin. 

Therefore I turned around and went back on my way toward the infirmary. 

***

After I went to the infirmary I asked the people present there about the directions to the staff room. But it turned out that at this time—evening—Ryfin was usually in his own office hence I was given the directions to there. 

I\'d followed the way they\'d told me and was now standing before the door to his office. I tried opening the door and directly going inside but it was locked, so I knocked. 

"I\'m Zero, I heard that you\'d something to talk with me," I said. 

A few seconds later the door opened automatically. It went sliding inside the wall like a futuristic door and revealed the way to the room. 

I stepped inside and entered the room, the door closed on its own afterward. My eyes wandered around the office as it was quite spacious and well-decorated, or perhaps that was not the right word. 

The office wasn\'t really decorated, in fact, there was minimal furniture and accessories there. However, they were placed with precision and the entire room was so organized that it looked like it was decorated for an occasion. 

Near one of the walls was a big wooden table with a lot of files scattered over it. Behind it was a chair with Ryfin sitting on it.