Confinement King

Two updates + one additional chapter....

「Good work...」

　Earthworm(Mimizu) came back with gal-like make-up on, and fell into bed.

「I'm tired... I'm so sleepy...」

「You look like you've been through a lot」

　I said, and Earthworm turned her head toward me, slumped over.

「...It's a big mess. Customers are crying, asking for Taka-chi's contact information. It was a riot. The new cast member also started crying, and said she was quitting too...」

「Why don't you just beat her up and make her calm down?」

「Shut up, you barbarian」

　Centipede(Mukade) restrains Tapeworm from interrupting the conversation.

「I mean... is the bar still open? Isn't there a need for it after we let Takata-sama go?」

　I ask, and Earthworm lets out a long sigh.

「It will continue. The Head Maid says it's useful for gathering information and as a cover... and it seems to be selling well」

「My condolences」

　I say with a wry smile, and Earthworm snaps at me.

「Don't say that. I have to be at the store at least three times a week, but... I'm sure all of you will be told to work at the bar soon, too」

「Seriously...」

　Tapeworm scowled, and Centipede cowered in exasperation.

「I don't know about me or Cockroach(Gokiburi), but Tapeworm(Sanadamushi) don't get orders. It could turn the bar into a wasteland in one hit」

「Huh?」

　Immediately, Centipede and Tapeworm grabbed each other's chest without saying a word. While they were at it, Earthworm asked me.

「Aren't you lonely, Cockroach? Taka-chi's gone」

「Are you stupid? Now I have to take care of the female dog, so I don't have time for that」

「Ah... Ifs I remember correctly, you were told not to treat her like a human being」

「Yes yes, like livestock. Lili-sama had modified her body so that she could have a huge breast, so every morning when I woke up, I went to the barn to milk her and cleaned the barn. It's a lot of hard work」

「I thought she said she was going to be kept as a bodyguard」

「Yes, Confinement King-sama's personal drink tank and bodyguard. So far the milk is used for Claudia-sama's meals...」

　And Centipede interrupted excitedly.

「But that means the milk we serve will be drunk by the Confinement King-sama, right?」

　At that moment, everyone stopped moving.

　Amidst the delicate atmosphere, we glanced at each of their faces.

「...It's kind of erotic, isn't it? It's messed up」

「Yeah, it's kind of... messed up」

　◇　◇　◇

　The morning sun is filtering through the frosted glass, creating shadows in the room.

　But when I opened my eyelids, I thought with a hazy mind.

（Why did this happen?）

　No... it's not that I don't remember the process.

　Tattakata had dragged me into the room.

　I was scared to death to talk to her, but unlike what I thought, Tattakata was very kind to me.

　She told me to call her “Onee-chan” and glued herself to me, and I wondered why she was so close to me.

　But I must have fallen asleep while we were talking.

　When I woke up, I found Tattakata in her underwear next to me with her thighs between my legs, breathing heavily in her sleep.

　I hurriedly checked, but I was still wearing my underwear, and there was no sign of anything indecent having been done to me.

　It was just that Tattakata was sleeping in her underwear.

　It seems once settled, the warmth of human skin is comforting.

　And since Senpai had left after the trip, I had been so lonely that I could not stand it.

　I was so lonely at dinner that I even put an A3 size printout of Senpai's photo across the table and prepared a meal in front of it. But it was a complete shadow for anyone to see, so I pulled myself away.

「...Ei~」

　As there was no one to mock the joke I had made on the spur of the moment, I was reminded of a phrase I had learned in Japanese class from Hiroya Ozaki that said.

「Even if you cough, you're still alone」

　As soon as I said that, my loneliness broke through the critical point, and I ate my dinner while crying.

　Therefore, I was really happy to have someone right beside me.

　While I was thinking about this, Tattakata woke up, rubbing her eyes.

「Nnn... Ah, you're awake, Fukuda-chi」

（Fukuda-chi?）

　Isn't it a little too close to call me that? I thought so, but if I offended her by complaining, I wouldn't be able to see her. So, I just replied, "Good morning".

　Apparently, she had low blood pressure.

　Her eyes were sleepy, and she was scratching her head in a fluffy, half-asleep manner.

「*Yawn*... Do you have time today, Fukuda-chi?」

「I-I don't have any plans...」

「I want to go shopping for clothes... will you accompany me?」

「Yes?」

「Hmm... It's unavoidable for me to wear uniforms, but it's too strict for me to wear lame clothes everyday. Yesterday, I checked my closet and found it atrocious. I mean, seriously, I only have white cotton pants... Though, I knew that...」

　No, I'm happy to be shopping with someone, but there was something else that bothered me more.

「Takata-senpai, were you with any gals at the prep school camp?」

　The moment she stopped moving, she makes an awkward face, and then...

「...Yeah」

　She nodded.

　◇　◇　◇

「How could someone work so hard, so early in the morning...」

「We're the Police! Let us through!」

　Pushing aside the crowd of onlookers, Inomoto-senpai and I stepped through the yellow line to the scene.

　The scene is a house in a residential area. It is in the garden of a fine, relatively new building.

　While peering through the gate post at the hurried forensic work, Inomoto-senpai and I stand outside the gate and listen to the report of the policeman who was ahead of us.

　It is often portrayed incorrectly in criminal dramas, but detectives do not enter the crime scene until after forensics, or at least not before they have finished examining the footprints.

　In the first place, the chain of command is different, and if the detective orders the forensic investigator, "Hey, get his fingerprints" as in the drama, he may be scolded totally.

「Regarding victim's identity... Officer Motoi, who works at the Iguchi(井口)-cho(町) 3(三)-chome(丁目) police(交番) station(勤務), has been unreachable since he went out on patrol last night」

　This is the house I'm in charge of now, where the dead cat was thrown in. And now, it's a dead human body had been thrown into the garden, not a cat.

　Moreover, it was the corpse of a policeman in charge of this area.

「I know it's short-sighted, but... maybe when the victim saw the culprit trying to throw the cat's body, he was killed spontaneous」

　A bad prank is no longer just a prank.

「The cause of death, according to the current forensics, is suffocation due to a fracture of the cervical vertebrae. It looks as if his neck was broken by some kind of tremendous force」

　In the next moment, Inomoto-senpai raised his eyebrows.

「What the hell... Is this the work of a pro-wrestler or something?」

　Even a pro-wrestler can't do that. Regardless of the neck, throwing a dead body over a fence of at least two meters is hardly the work of a human being.

「Who found the body?」

「Yes, the owner of this house, Zenkichi Kobayashi, thirty-five years old, a high school teacher. He found the body this morning when he went out to the garden to water his plants. He is currently being questioned indoors」

「What about Kobayashi-san's wife?」

「She have been quite a shock. She wasn't feeling well, so we sent her to her parents' house nearby」

　The wife of the house had been mentally exhausted by having dead cats thrown at her house every day. So, she used to talk to me in a very hysterical and vengeful manner.

　Under such circumstances, it would not be surprising if she lost her mental balance.

　As I was thinking about this, the policeman said to Senpai, as if he remembered.

「Also, late last night, a young woman with a hood pulled tightly on her head was seen running away」