Seen Through the Eyes of Goodwill

Chapter- 20 (Hunter vs Hunted)

Chapter- 20

Hunter vs Hunted

Ryuuen's POV

"Ackk!"

The satisfying sound resonated in my ears. As much as I wanted to meet 'X', I didn't want to spoil Hirata.

But now, the situation demands me to crush Hirata so I can find 'X'.

My lips curled with joy. At last I am going to find someone like me. I was so close to finding 'X' during the sports festival, but even Chabashira herself concealed the identity. It feels like the whole world wants to stop me from meeting 'X'.

Thud

A faint sound came from behind me. What? There wasn't supposed to be anyone but us here. I turned behind swiftly, expecting Komiya, who was guarding the outpost in that direction.

Huh?

"What brings you here on such a fine night, Ayanokouji?" I asked the guy standing in front of me. His eyes reflected the moonlight yet they were devoid of any fear.

I will change that soon.

"Hirata brought me here to be a witness to this event."

For a moment I looked at Albert who was supposed to scan the whole area for witnesses. Under my gaze Albert shrugged slightly. Apparently he was oblivious of any such existence present in the forest.

"I see, but now you've foolishly showed up in front of me. It's news to me that you're that dumb."

"Ayanokouji! Why did you show up?! Didn't you run away?!"

"No, in case you failed, I had planned to end this myself," he replied calmly.

An utterly foolish declaration, yet, I couldn't shake off this lingering cautiousness.

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is one of the prime suspects of being 'X'. So, either he is 'X' or someone working directly under 'X'.

Whichever is the case, it's my win, since he walked into the gallows himself.

"End this? This all won't end until I find and crush 'X'." I warned him.

"There's no need to fret, I am the one you're looking for."

"That's the most foolish line one can say in this situation, he's clearly bluffing Ryuuen-shi," Kaneda said, pushing his glasses up slightly. But, I ignored him.

"Today, what happened in the cafeteria was quite unexpected. That bitch Ichinose is getting hard to control eh?"

Ichinose had made a foolish move earlier today. There's no way 'X' would ever approve of such reckless actions.

"You took advantage of her good nature. By revealing Karuizawa's situation to her you exploited her impulsive decision to confront you. On top of that, you displayed swift adaptation to her response by discrediting the leaders under my control."

Huh?

"You outdid yourself Ryuuen, I will give you that." He added praise.

"What? I revealed Karuizawa's situation to Ichinose? Nothing of that sort happened, Karuizawa herself contacted Ichinose for help." I corrected the imbecile.

"....." He stood silent for a while, face inscrutable, eyes staring.

"So there's another traitor in your party. There's someone else who has disclosed information about your side to Ichinose. And that someone has also lied to you about Karuizawa making contact with Ichinose." His words took another abrupt turn, but despite the abruptness, I felt a seed of doubt germinating within me.