"How did you find out that I was the one who killed her?"
Gian, seeing that Ethan had exposed the matter, showed no panic at all. Instead, he looked at Ethan with calm eyes.
That expression was like that of a serial killer, holding a weapon with a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth, looking at Ethan as if he were prey, "But it doesn't matter anyway. Since I called you here today, I never planned to let you leave."
"Let me answer your first question first," Ethan glanced around. There was only a broken broom head on the ground. He picked it up and held it in his hand, "As a high school student, it's really strange that you've never watched Naruto."
"And the fact that you don't even know about that elementary school kid who's a death magnet makes it even stranger."
"That's not all either!"
"You're just a student, and your dad isn't a detective, so how would you know what happened to Anna last night, or even how she died?"
"Even if we assume you saw it while watching after school yesterday, you shouldn't know the details that clearly."
"Plus, you mentioned that you asked me to deliver a letter to Anna for you before, and I refused."
"Then there's only one truth."
"You killed Anna, and you called me here today just to get revenge on me for looking down on you."
"Hahaha..."
Gian threw his head back and laughed, "You're absolutely right. But what use is all your intelligence?"
"Today, I'm sending you, you bastard, straight to hell!"
Hoo!
Ethan sighed helplessly, "Just because I refused to deliver your letter and said some things, you want to kill me? Is that really worth it?"
"Do you know what Anna said to me after school yesterday when I called her here?", Gian stared at Ethan, his eyes wide with rage.
"That she likes me?"
Ethan casually guessed some melodramatic plot twist.
To his surprise, he actually hit the mark.
"Exactly!", Gian raged, "She said she already has someone she likes. My brother, you! Ethan! She told me to stop bothering her, that she'd never like me because I'm an idiot!"
"Uh... you really are kind of an idiot," Ethan was a bit exasperated, "Have you ever considered that Anna only said she likes me just to get a rise out of you? Come on, we've barely met a few times, we've never even talked, why would she like me?"
"How should I know? Can't she have fallen for you at first sight!"
Gian was furious.
But Ethan found it both funny and frustrating, "And have you ever considered that she just picked someone you know at random to lie to you, just to provoke you?"
"..."
Gian's face turned pale and then green at Ethan's counter-question.
In the end, his anger overwhelmed him. He charged straight at Ethan, electrician's knife in hand, "I don't know! And I don't want to know! All I know is that you're going to die today!"
"AHHH!"
Gian lunged at Ethan.
But Ethan didn't even raise the broken broom handle to defend himself. Instead, he tucked the broom, now only sixty centimeters long, into his waistband, mimicking the way one would wear a short sword.
"You bastard, die!"
Gian was already right in front of Ethan, but he had no real combat experience. The electrician's knife in his hand was just flailing around, with no technique whatsoever.
Ethan watched his hands and shoulders, took a step back and sidestepped, dodging Gian's first attack.
At the same time... his mind rapidly recalled the hand movements of the Eight Forms of God-Slaying.
Though the sword techniques themselves probably couldn't be used in this world, the sword moves could.
Because... these were movements he had done ten thousand times in a row. Whether this was a real world or a false one, that muscle memory was deeply etched into Ethan's mind.
So familiar that it was as natural as picking up a cup to drink water.
No need to doubt whether he could do it, just do it.
"Draw Sword Form!"
"I'll draw your mother!"
Gian was still shouting, swinging his electrician's knife, ready to strike again.
Whoosh!
But then, Ethan's hand on the broom handle moved in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, the broom handle shot out like a sword, striking Gian's knife-wielding arm with precision.
"AHHHH!"
Gian let out a scream.
The electrician's knife clattered to the ground in that same instant.
Gian stared at the half-broom in Ethan's hand, which had already been slipped back into his waistband after that single strike, in utter disbelief, "What... what did you just do to me?"
"I killed you," Ethan's words drifted lightly into Gian's ears.
And the moment Gian heard those words, he suddenly noticed a sticky sensation on his neck, as if sweat had suddenly broken out.
But his instincts told him, sweat couldn't possibly be this much.
"Ha... Hah! Ha..."
His windpipe had been cut.
Gian opened his mouth, wanting to speak, but no words came out.
Then he brought the hand that had touched his neck up to his eyes. It was covered in blood. He had killed before, he knew exactly what this was.
"Goodbye, Gian."
Like bidding farewell to an old friend, Ethan simply waved lightly.
Though he had already guessed that the Gian before him was no longer his classmate.
But... Mom said that when a classmate leaves, you have to say goodbye.
However, just then...
Wee! Woo! Wee! Woo!
Ethan heard the sound of police sirens coming from outside the equipment shed.
The police were here.
But he had to figure out what was really going on in this world first. He couldn't get caught yet, otherwise...
Even if it was ruled as excessive self-defense, he'd probably waste a lot of time at the police station.
Given how bizarre this world was, Ethan felt he couldn't hold out for too long. He had to find the cause quickly and get out of this world!
"Whoever you are! You're surrounded!"
The police shouted through a loudspeaker from outside, "I advise you to put down your weapon immediately and come out to surrender! Don't put up any pointless resistance, cooperate and you may get leniency!"
[🎉 Shoutout to Pablo and Ferocious_Beast for joining p@treon. Consider joining to keep the stories going. Thank you very much.🤗]