After school, I went to the crime scene to investigate the murderer.
“It’s turning into quite the uproar here.”
I uttered to myself while watching the crime scene from a far place. I couldn’t approach it too much because it was cramped with police officers and press corps. It wasn’t a place where a normal high school student should enter in front of the public. Well, luckily, I wasn’t a normal high school student.
“Well then, with what should I start…”
I gazed at the crime scene while leaning against the wall near me. I ended up coming all the way here without coming up with any plan beforehand. The old man had his job to formally investigate the case, so we can’t be together now. Well, the result won’t change if he were with me anyway.
“I don’t think I will find out anything by randomly searching around like this…”
I activated my【Presence Detection】skill just in case, but I didn’t detect any unusual presence. The skill is normally used to get a rough grasp of the user’s surroundings and not to find out the exact location of a person. The place is br.i.m.m.i.n.g with people right now, so it won’t be very useful to find the criminal. The chance of the criminal still loitering around here is very low in the first place.
“I guess I have no choice but to create a new skill…”
That was the only option I had left, however, I was still against it. Creating a new skill consumes too much magic and I can only use it once. I honestly don’t want to waste my magic on something that lasts for only one use.
But this is the only option, it can’t be helped. Let’s do it…
Making my resolve, I started preparing to create a new skill when suddenly…
“Kyaaaaa!!!”
I heard a shriek coming from a nearby street. I promptly turned to the direction of the shriek and noticed a member of the press lifting a stepladder and looking down at someone falling on the ground. The stepladder was stained with a small amount of blood and everyone around the person holding it was taking a distance and directing
at him their astonished gazes. Judging from the current situation, it looks like the reporter hit the other person with the stepladder.
But why out of the blue?
I wondered for a second before reaching an answer right away. The reporter is probably controlled by the murderer with skills.
“Hey! What on the Earth are you doing!?”
A police officer who noticed what happened approached the reporter who was lifting a stepladder and suddenly made his next move.
“Uwaaaa!!”
The reporter swung the stepladder on the police officer while screaming like a madman. The police officer who wasn’t expecting him to act violently got hit by the stepladder resulting in a dull sound coming from his head. The officer moved his hand on top of his head and stepped back while his surroundings got noisier.
Once he hit the officer, the reporter stopped moving again like a robot who halted functioning. He definitely doesn’t look normal. I mean, someone who hit people with a stepladder isn’t normal in the first place; but this reporter’s behavior was clearly strange. It felt like he was a marionette. I quickly observed the area to look for the criminal behind this and soon noticed someone acting suspiciously.
That guy, he’s grinning.
In the middle of a situation that should make people lose their composure, there was a single man who watched over the reporter with a broad grin as if he were enjoying a show. My intuition immediately informed that he was different from everyone else in this area. At the same time, the reporter got finally seized by the cops.
“U-Uwaaa!!”
“Stop moving!!”
“Come help me here!”
The reporter started struggling to escape while the officers desperately restrained him. The man who was watching over them with a grin turned around and left the place.
This guy… He’s way too suspicious.
With that belief in mind, I followed him. He kept walking straight for a while until he suddenly turned to the right. The place walked inside was an empty street. I followed him by turning right too and found him taking a daunting pose while waiting for me.
“What’s your problem? You’ve been following me for a while now.”
Apparently, he noticed that I
I was following him at some point and asked me while revealing a displeased face. He was a man with ruffled hair and slightly dirty clothes. He didn’t seem to be the clean type. I kept quiet for a few seconds before replying to him.
“Um, I wasn’t intending to follow anyone. Maybe it’s just your imagination?”
Hearing my reply, the man gazed at me with doubting eyes.
So this is the skill holder murderer…
I casted my【Appraisal】skill on him to check his stats.
—– START OF STATS —–
« General Information »
Name: s.h.i.+bata Michiru
Age: 21
s.e.x: Male
Race: Human
Level: 5
« Points »
Health Points: 480/480
Magic Points: 380/380
« Skills »
Hypnosis
—– END OF STATS —–
My doubts got confirmed the moment I appraised this man, s.h.i.+bata Michiru. He was hiding the unique skill,【Hypnosis】. I couldn’t believe my eyes at first when I realized that the so called metahumans do actually exist. Wasn’t the chance for someone appearing higher the one out of hundreds of millions?
Not only his skill surprised me, but even his level. The level of an individual doesn’t increase unless experience points are acquired. As for the way to acquire them, one needs to kill monsters and living creatures. The fact that his level is 5, means that he killed a considerable number of people. Most of humans on Earth are level 1, so a large number of them must be killed in order for him to reach level 5.
Now that I made sure that this man is the murderer, I tried feigning ignorance with him.
“By the way, I saw you yesterday loitering near the crime scene of those two men. Could it perhaps be you who killed them?”
The moment he heard my question, s.h.i.+bata flinched then frowned. He fixed his stare at me without speaking a word until he eventually scoffed.
“Ah, so you saw me, huh. That’s why you followed me all the way up here. Welp, I messed up.”
It looks like he wasn’t intending to feign innocence as he readily admitted his crime while laughing. My first goal which is to find the criminal is thus reached. I sorted my goals and thoughts while gazing at s.h.i.+bata
at s.h.i.+bata who then started muttering in a low voice.
“Come to think of it. I never saw someone getting run over while riding a bike.”
He glanced at my eyes and continued with the same low tone.
“Can you show it for me?”
He then ordered me to ride on the bike with a smirk on his face. Surely, there was no way I’d listen to him. I just ignored his order and remained standing in my place. s.h.i.+bata looked stunned to see me still standing and let out a confused voice.
“Huh? D-Didn’t you hear me? Hurry up and get run over by a truck or something.”
He attempted to order me a second time, but of course, no matter how many times he repeat sthe order, nothing will change. s.h.i.+bata’s face started revealing his impatience as he repeatedly wondered to himself.
“Huh? Why? How…?”
“By the way, I forgot to tell you that your ability won’t work against me.”
“How come!?”
My next line made him realize that his skill got found out and drove him to lose all his composure and start trembling. I already read the details of his【Hypnosis】skill in his stats. It won’t work against anyone who has higher stats than him. It only works on those who are either lower than him or have equivalent stats. Therefore, it will never work on me.
“Move! Move! Move!”
He repeated his order countless times, though I didn’t move from my place and kept watching him fl.u.s.tering. Since this is the first time he met someone who doesn’t obey his orders, s.h.i.+bata couldn’t stop the feelings of fright and panic from controlling him as he made a few steps behind.
Guess it’s time to catch him…
I made one step forth.
“d.a.m.n it!”
The moment he saw me moving, he turned around and ran away with his utmost speed.
“Alright, stop right over there.”
“Ghaa!!”
The instant he turned his back to me, I teleported near him and gave him a neck blow. He let out a short groan and fell down. This was a bit disappointing. I was expecting a skill holder to be at least stronger than this guy. Well, not that I’m complaining.
“Now, what am I going to do going to do with him…?”
I didn’t prepare any plan for what to do next. He is indeed the murderer since he admitted it by himself, but there is no real proof. Even if the old man takes him to the police station, they won’t apprehend him unless he confesses. There’s no way they’d believe that he has a hypnosis skill and moreover, there isn’t any law that judges this type of people.
I can’t leave him here alone…
I worked my mind trying to come up with a good idea when all of a sudden…
“Hey.”
I heard a voice from behind. Turning around, I saw a man wearing gla.s.ses glaring at me with sharp eyes. At first, I thought he was an ordinary person who saw s.h.i.+bata laying flat on the ground and hastily tried to make an excuse.
“U-Um, wait! He’s just not unconscious…”
“You’re an ability holder too?”
“!?”
His next line indicated that I was wrong. That man wasn’t an ordinary person.
“Who are you?”
“I’m an acquaintance of that guy. I’m gonna have you hand him to me.”
The moment he finished his words, the man disappeared. The next instant, I sensed his presence behind me. I promptly turned around and saw him touching s.h.i.+bata who was lying on the ground.
“I will make you pay for what you did next time.”
Leaving those words behind, the man disappeared for good this time. I was left alone in the empty street, feeling a bit dejected. I wasn’t expecting that there are two of them. I mean, come on, how can I except two existences that have a chance of one out hundreds of millions to appear? I made an excuse to myself while reflecting on my miss.
For now, at least I know the face of the criminal…
Cheering up myself, I went to look for the old man to report to him what happened.
——————————————————————–
Bonus
Skills.
“Skills…”
“What’s wrong, Saya? You have been s.p.a.cing out too much today.”
“I was just wondering what skill I would have if my ability were to bloom.”
“What skill do you want to have?”
“Hmm, a skill that makes me even better at doing housework!”
“You already maxed that one.”
