Chapter 17

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Series: A Love That Lurks at the Dining Table

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“Apparently it’s really convenient. You can find your soulmate there or if you go with a lover, you’ll be tied together forever.”

“Really?”

I grabbed Mizuka by the hand and dragged her away from her school trip group, taking her to the matchmaking shrine. I didn’t believe in gods. I didn’t care about fortunes or superstitions. That hasn’t changed, but there wasn’t a thing I wasn’t willing to try to get her.

But lately she’s begun to act strangely. During cooking class, she gave her food away to the man that broke her pencil case, and even though she didn’t have any plans, she said she had errands and avoided me…

It was almost like Mizuka liked someone other than me. She looked anxious about going to the shrine.

When I asked, “Did you not want to go?” She responded with a weak smile and, “I did. I think it would be fine to find my soulmate.”

“Hm, does that mean you don’t have anyone you like?”

“Of course. My happiness is cooking and eating delicious food.” She said and faked a smile.

I’ve been watching her for forever now so I was able to immediately tell the difference between her fake smiles and her honest ones. Mizuka lied. She lied to me.

“What about Kawauchi?”

I asked, hoping she would deny it, but after a moment of surprise, she smiled to deceive me. As soon as I saw her smile, my heart froze over. I wanted to be kind. I didn’t want her to hate me. I wanted her to like me.

But I might have no choice but to kill her or steal her away.

I was going to have her stay over at my house once more and bring up the hassle of transportation and the cost and have her move in with me. If I told her I was in danger, kind, gentle Mizuka would be fooled. I would trick her into moving in with me.

Then as soon as I turned eighteen, I would trick Mizuka into temporarily adding me to her family registry by saying that a malicious fan was trying to add me to their’s. Then after that…

I would get Mizuka to drink alcohol or something else and seal the deal. She would never choose to kill our child. So when she can’t run away, I would say that I gradually came to love her and propose.

Then we’ll create a bond. And I can live. She will be by my side forever. Then one day, maybe, just maybe, she would come to like me. Because Mizuka was foolishly kind.

But now I understood that that scenario was impossible. Because Mizuka liked someone other than me.

One more thought I had was to swallow Mizuka whole. That way I could hide her in my stomach and no one could see her. I didn’t care if it would hurt. I would just take it one bite at a time. That way even if she liked someone else, we would be together forever.

I would rather do that than take her by force. There would be no more need for forgiveness or blame. I didn’t know if stealing her or killing her would be better. I liked Mizuka. I wanted her. So why doesn’t she like me?

“You’re not denying it?”

“A-anyways, let’s go! To the matchmaking shrine!”

When I asked Mizuka for a glimpse of hope, it was shattered immediately. I almost burst out laughing. But I couldn’t start laughing out of the blue so I gripped her hand harder to distract her. I didn’t care anymore. I should just steal her and devour her already. Everything was already over. It didn’t matter anymore. I’ll just take everything. It doesn’t matter if she cries and screams and tries to get away from me.

But I’ll never let her get away. Tonight, she will be mine.

Even while I thought that, I still couldn’t get rid of my hope that I would somehow get her heart. I didn’t want her to hate me so I just gripped Mizuka’s hand tightly. I wanted her to kill me. I wanted Mizuka to kill me.

“Hino-kun?”

“Let’s go tie some threads and cut away the ones we don’t need.”

“Y-yeah?”

Apparently if a couple who didn’t feel the same way for each other went to this matchmaking shrine, they would fall into hell. The shrine was originally built to mourn the deaths of two people who were torn apart by their love for each other.

I loved Mizuka, but who would die from Mizuka entering the shrine?

I took an oblivious Mizuka along the path to hell.

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