Chapter 156

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 brimming 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 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: Shibata Michiru

Age: 21

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, Shibata 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, Shibata 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 Shibata 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 . Shibata 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 . Shibata’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 flustering . Since this is the first time he met someone who doesn’t obey his orders, Shibata 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 .

“Damn 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 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 glasses glaring at me with sharp eyes . At first, I thought he was an ordinary person who saw Shibata 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 Shibata 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 spacing 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 . ”