Oomi
“Aochi-san, can you see that?”
That was the first thing I asked.I wanted to make sure what I was seeing was really happening.
Everyone had come up to the deck to check what had caused the violent shake just now—even Mamoru-kun and Kaori-san, who were both dead.The wind was strong.
“I see it—A blood-soaked woman, and three blood-soaked corpses.”
A ship had collided with ours and was now running parallel beside us.
So that was the noise we heard earlier—our ship being rammed.
But the real problem was what was happening on their deck.Just as Aochi-san had said.
A woman in pale clothing was sitting curled up, arms wrapped around her knees. Her clothes were drenched in blood—and so was her face.She had her face buried in her hands, which were resting on her knees, so I could only see her eyes.They were wide and sharp, gazing at the waves—not at the corpses on the deck, not at us, just the waves.
And the thing she was gripping in her hands was just as disturbing.
A blade, about thirty centimeters long.But it was different from anything I knew—it had no hilt.I couldn’t tell the full shape from here, but that much was clear.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.She was gripping it tightly, but her hands didn’t look torn or in pain. Was she numb?
I forced myself to glance at the corpses around her. I didn’t want to stare.Squinting hard, I managed to confirm that there were three bodies within a meter of her.
Two had their backs turned, but from their build and hair, I could tell they were male and female.The third was a man lying face-up. I couldn’t make out his face—I was too scared to look directly.The blood spreading across the damp deck didn’t bother me, but even catching a glimpse of that face made cold sweat pour down my back.
I quickly looked away and back toward the people on our ship.
At the far end was Oze-san’s profile. He was staring straight at the woman with the blade.His serious face looked like he was trying to remember something.Did he… know her? This killer?
Mamoru-kun was clinging to Oze-san’s leg, burying his face.Oze-san gently stroked Mamoru’s glossy childlike hair, trying to calm him.
Then I looked at Kaori-san standing next to them—and was startled for a second.Not because she looked angry, or was grinning out of place.
She was just… expressionless.The only thing she did was let out a faint sigh.Is it because the dead aren’t afraid of anything?
Where was the Harvester?He’s the one operating this ship, right? And after getting rammed, he says nothing?No way he’d be scared of just a murderer.
“…Hey, this is getting bad,” Aochi-san muttered in a low voice, leaning forward.
“You mean the bridge on their ship?I can’t see clearly—too much reflection—wait, what??”
The Harvester was inside their bridge.When did he…?
That was surprising enough, but more than that—what was he doing?
He was grappling with someone.
I squinted hard and finally saw it:He had his arms wrapped around another man’s neck, roughly the same height, choking him from behind.
“Stop it! He’s going to die!”
“There’s no way he can hear you from here.Isn’t there any way we can get over there?”
Aochi-san started running, looking for a spot where he could jump across to the other ship.
Oze-san also noticed the commotion, handed Mamoru-kun over to Kaori-san, and began moving.
“Ah!”
At that moment, the man the Harvester had been choking lost all strength and quietly collapsed to the floor.