Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist      Editor: Weasalopes

【Episode 2: Heart and Heart, Part 2】

「I think we should be safe if we manage to recover your heart by dawn, but as for anything after that… I'm afraid I can't make any promises.」

So it's best to adopt a mindset that senpai will die if we don't get my heart back by dawn of the next day. And also…

The story about senpai's today's 『Dangerous Day』 was set fully in motion. The exact meaning of it is still unknown to us, but I was certainly what triggered it. I am the cause of this mess.

「I'm so sorry, senpai. I promised that I would protect you, and here I am, causing another 『Dangerous Day』 for you.」

「Don't beat yourself up over it, Jiro-kun. None of this is your fault. I won't lie, this situation frightens me, but it's not your fault!」

Those words made me feel happy beyond belief. And if I was still able to feel something like happiness, then this must mean that my heart is still safe, wherever it is.

I know that our situation might seem dire, but precisely because of that I think we should not be impatient and try to rush things while keeping track of the remaining time limit.

Thankfully, I already knew who the culprit was this time. It was Yugao-chan, no questions about that. I know that she stabbed me to death, and apparently she also took my heart from my chest after I died, the only question that needs to be answered now is: why did she do that?

Whatever her reason might be, finding her shouldn't be all that difficult. Her physique was the same as her sister Asagao, and in this windy typhoon weather she was almost blown away by a strong gust of wind, so there's no way she would choose to hide outside of the mansion and risk like that.

「Senpai, I… I know who the culprit is this time.」

「Oh, is that so? That's great to hear! I thought that you didn't have the chance to get a good look at the perpetrator since you were stabbed from behind, but if that's not the case, then we can deal with our current predicament much faster.」

When I died for the first time, I was also stabbed from behind, but then it was different from now because I was unable to confirm the killer's, Kuhoh's ident.i.ty due to her Gift, but now I was absolutely certain. That appearance, that sweet bashful voice and that soft sensation I felt on my back all belonged to Yugao-chan. That is why…

「I know who the culprit is, but I cannot share that knowledge with you all.」

She killed me, that was a fact. But for some unknown reason, I was her target, not s.h.i.+namachi-senpai. As long as she was not openly hostile towards her, I felt like there was no reason for me to get her involve with the rest of the crew here. This is a matter entirely between me and her. But even so, senpai would probably want to know the ident.i.ty of the person who killed one of her Va.s.sals…

「It's ok, Jiro-kun, I understand.」

She… she accepted this surprisingly easy. I know that senpai probably trusts me because we went through a lot in a relatively short period of time, but still…

「Uhm… thank you… I guess?」

「If it's something you can't tell me, then you clearly have an important reason to do so, or at least that's what I want to believe. I know you're probably doing this to avoid putting me into any more danger, but I want you to know that right now finding your heart and returning it to you is my number one priority.」

So that's how senpai felt about me? Even without my heart, I still felt this hot, squeezing feeling in my chest and was overwhelmed by a surge of grat.i.tude towards her.

「Senpai, I will fix this mess up, I promise. I'll get my heart back, and we'll all be able to laugh and make beautiful memories together again, so please, can you believe in me and wait? I can a.s.sure you that everything will be settled by tomorrow.」

「All right, Jiro-kun, I promise I'll wait for you. Just… be careful and come back to me safe and sound, you hear me? That's an order from your master, fufu~~」

s.h.i.+namachi-senpai laughed and showed me one of her calming smiles. For the sake of that smile, I need to solve this murder case in such a way that won't put her in any more danger.

「You done talking or what?」

Without any prior warning, s.h.i.+ki barged into the room by smas.h.i.+ng the door open like she owned the place (technically she does, but you know where I'm coming from, right?), and I failed to raise myself up from senpai's lap pillow. Her reaction to seeing the two of us in such a position was…

「Oh.」

Exactly like I was expecting. And her next line will be:

「Sorry for interrupting. Want me to leave so you can finish whatever it was you were doing?」

「No, there's no need for that, as we were doing nothing dubious or suspicious. Nothing. At all. Oh, and by the way, thanks for finding my corpse so fast, s.h.i.+ki.」

「No need to thank me, really. It's my fault that you ended up dead to begin with. Honestly, I should've antic.i.p.ated something like that happening and prepare at least a few countermeasures against it, but I allowed myself to let my guard down since this villa is owned by my family. I was careless, and I'm sorry for it, Monjiro.」

Sure, it would be nice if we could have countermeasures against being killed, but this was supposed to be an ordinary vacation trip where nothing bad was supposed to be happening to any of us, so I can't blame s.h.i.+ki for not preparing anything. That's life for you, I guess. Brown stuff can hit the fan virtually any time without any coherent reason at all.

「Yahoo~~, we came to join in the fun~~.」

Shortly after s.h.i.+ki made her grand entrance, Fujisato and Kuhoh also made their appearance. Thankfully, this time around we had more than enough time to fix our positions, and I was now kneeling on the bed beside senpai.

「All right you two, take care of Kaguya for me while Monjiro and I will go to search for the killer. And don't worry Monjiro, I gave them a basic rundown of the current situation.」

「Thanks, that'll save us a lot of trouble.」

I stood from the bed and offered my hand to help senpai get up.

「Thank you, Jiro-kun. I'm feeling a little tired, so I think I'll go back to my room and get some sleep to avoid straining myself too much. Once I wake up, I expect you to put this case to a close and get back what was stolen from you.」

「Yes, just leave that to me.」

Senpai grabbed my outstretched hand and stood up from the bed with my help, after which I entrusted her to Fujisato and Kuhoh. We need to find Yugao-chan as soon as possible if we want to prevent senpai from dealing with an additional burdens.

「Fujisato, Kuhoh, I leave senpai in your hands.」

「Sure thing, Monjiro. Let us all work extra hard to pull her through this 『Dangerous Day』!」

「We will do anything within our power to help you, so you just focus on staying safe and getting your heart back, Monjiro-senpai.」

The two of them stood at either side od s.h.i.+namachi-senpai and offered me their warm words of encouragement.

「All right, let's move out!」

「Understood.」

And just like that, I left the study with s.h.i.+ki by my side.