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Hirota somehow s.n.a.t.c.hed the kitchen knife from Takeshi"s hand. He threw it into a corner of the room and kicked Takeshi"s abdomen.

He once again kicked up the pit of Takeshi’s stomach, who was about to cower, to scoop him up. He straddled him at the place where he had rolled to on the floor and put his hands on the dangerous weapons on his belt. He removed the weapons from the belt and slid them into the direction of a corner of the room.

The moment he removed one weapon he felt a sticky sensation. It seemed like Takeshi also got hurt by the weapon he carried along.

"Are you alright?"

Hirota stared at Naru. He was already returning to the front of the mirror. Kazumi had collapsed under the counter and didn"t move at all. She looked like she had completely fainted.

"-- There"s another person. Hirota-san, be careful."

Naru said and headed towards Hirota. He held a hand over Takeshi, who was pinned down by Hirota and said, "Let me go." His hand seized Takeshi"s shoulder where he had half-risen to his feet like a mounted horse. There was a sound of something solid snapping, and a tiny spark-like light became visible in the darkness.

That"s when Takeshi stopped moving and groaning.

"Another person -- Where is Masaru?"

"He"s somewhere lying in the wait."

Naru said and once again returned in front of the mirror.

"Stop moving closer to the mirror every single time."

"It"s essential so that I can charge."

Naru softly said and moved his gaze to the living room.

Masaru is in the living room? Or is he hiding somewhere? It didn"t make him happy that he was lying in the wait.

"Remove Takeshi"s belt," Naru said to Hirota.

Hirota took a weapon from the rolled over Kazumi. After he threw it across the counter in the direction of the kitchen, he removed Kazumi"s thin belt and tied Kazumi"s hands on her back with it at once.

"I"ll leave the manual labor to you."

"Hey."

Hirota clicked his tongue and approached Takeshi. He also removed Takeshi"s belt and was about to bind his arms with that, but the belt was thick and difficult to fasten. He tied him up for the time being, but he couldn"t do it tightly. Perhaps it might come untied quickly.

Hirota strained his ears while he was doing that. There were no sounds of footsteps. Any indication of presence inside the house had died out.

"What do we do?"

When Hirota said that, Naru pointed at the door leading to the corridor with his gaze. Then he pointed with his finger at the living room and left the mirror.

Guessing that it meant that they would separate, Hirota went towards the door. He leaned in close to the shade of the wall and checked the situation in the corridor.

The door which was slammed open when Takeshi had come in, remained open as it was then.

The moment Hirota quietly took a peek, a woman"s shout sounded in the back.

"Masaru, be careful!"

Kazumi had regained her consciousness.

"Come here! Kill all of them for sure! Because if you don"t, it will be all over for us--!"

A heavy thing struck Hirota, who had unintentionally turned to look at Kazumi, near his ear. He stepped back at once and saw with his own eyes how a hatchet had dug into the edge of the door.

He took a step backward and put himself on guard. At the same time Naru went towards the living room.

"Masaru, the living room! One person went into the living room!"

Footsteps running towards the living room in the corridor were audible.

Hirota glanced at Kazumi who was twisting on the floor of the dining room and then went out to the corridor.