No, I Don't Have a Hate Boner

The mom Hoshino talked to bowed and walked away.

Another sorry. Another dud.

Hoshino’s polite smile wavered. He had already gone through eight establishments. As for the people he talked to… he stopped counting after the fourteenth. The number had no significance whatsoever; he just needed something to dull the sting of rejection piling up.

At least the town was comforting. Last time he was here… what? Six months ago? Still, he never knew it could look so different. Though, to be fair, this was his first time being here in the afternoon. This part of Kanzakichō’s business district was known for its food shops and stalls run by local residents. Hoshino remembered it as a place where he could take people and do his job properly.

But this was nice. Maybe even a bit nicer than he originally thought. Shops were opening up, filling the air with the tantalizing smell of food. Some were already grilling skewers and were pretty mean about it. They were blowing smoke his way just to tease him. There was also a girl pulling a cart of rice balls along the side of the street, bowing as she offered them to strangers with both hands. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn’t.

If only these people were cooperative.

There was no need to sugarcoat it. Given Nagamori Arisa’s line of work, the best places to start would’ve been net cafés, karaoke boxes, massage parlors, and the like—anything that could offer a bit of privacy for “couples.”

The problem was that his strategy wasn’t working. Hoshino wasn’t sure why. He approached people politely. He didn’t flash his badge. He looked fine, too. He even adopted a persona—one he played quite well.

He’s Yoshiya. Hoshino crossed his arms. A delusional young man searching for a poor girl named Nagamori Arisa. Yoshiya was a virgin. Emphasis on WAS. Arisa-chan fixed that. Yoshiya was a former NEET who did the dirties while smelling his sister’s panties and staring at photos others might—or might not—find distasteful. He made sure every single person he talked to knew this. He also made sure to express that all he wanted to do was to request her again. Unfortunately, she went missing.

This deep, extremely personal story should have worked. But he gained too much attention. Several locals and passerbys had started eyeing him, some were even actively following him.

The weirdest part was that, although his story was met with utter disgust—which he truly didn’t expect—he had spoken to some of these people before. Some stared at him with pure revulsion. Some snorted. Some laughed. Then they would ask where and how they met, among other things. But in the end, they all told him the same thing: they didn’t know anything.

There were probably a few factors at play. First, no one would openly sell themselves this early. It was possible Hoshino got here too soon, dragged by the momentum from his talk with the oiran at the bridge. Second—something he learned during training—several laws had already been passed that forced people in this line of work to be more discreet. At this point, going around snooping like a cop might’ve been a bad idea.

Then, he had a lucky encounter.

He was about to enter the Kanzaki Inn—a local shop that boasts a 3.2-star rating, with a good, delectable selection of sweets and pastries sourced from nearby shops that would rather sell their food dirt cheap than throw it away for the homeless to eat.

He’d rather not do it, but he might as well. Hazama’s weekend was on the line. He could fight for that at least. And so he braced himself for another episode of rejection, but before he could do so, someone grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him into the nearest alleyway.

“What are you doing, step bro?”

Hoshino was pushed against the wall by a shorter woman with long, silver hair tied into a neat ponytail. The color was the same as his. She reeked of the best-smelling and cheapest perfume, which masked a faint smell of sweat and beer. For a moment, she looked so deadbeat that Hoshino believed that her being his sister could be a possibility… but he remembered that he was quite sure that all his family was dead.

But if she had to approach him like this… someone was watching. Nevertheless, a person going all out in their roleplay should be met in kind.

“I…” Hoshino raised his voice. It was loud enough for almost everyone interested to hear, but soft enough to suggest that Yoshiya—the man who was speaking—wanted to keep the matter private. “Sis? Wha… what are you d-doing here?”

She nodded, somewhat impressed. Then, she forced out a tear and tried to hug him. Of course, Yoshiya wouldn’t let her. It was something that Yoshiya would never do. Yoshiya doesn’t like his sister romantically. Not unless…

“Yoshiya-nii… you…” The girl gritted her teeth, stifling a sob. She lowered her head and pressed it against his chest. “I’ve been looking for you. I didn’t… I didn’t believe it at first, but I guess everyone was right. Am I really not enough for you? Why are you still looking for her? She’s gone, Yoshiya-nii.”

She knew his name already. Damn, she was good. Hoshino met her earnest look, his hands trembling on her shoulders. A part of him celebrated the fact that some people cringed out and some were listening to the gossip, either with pure ill intent or for the love of the game.

Then a thought came to mind. And entertaining that terrible, terrible thought… how could he not?

“Because I…” Hoshino closed his eyes and shook his head. “It’s not the same. It’s just not the same. What we’re doing is wrong… but—”

“I know you liked it!” the girl raised her voice, pressing her head against his chest. She trembled. “That’s unfair. That’s unfair, Yoshiya-nii. You said so yourself…”

“I know… I know I kept saying ‘incest is wincest’ while I was savagely clapping your cheeks… but when I met her—” He paused, gritting his teeth. Someone passed by and glared at him like he was some kind of subhuman filth. It almost broke him. “But when I met her… everything became different. So different. Me. YOSHIYA. Your brother. I changed. My first time with you didn’t count because we were siblings. My first time with Arisa-chan was… life-changing. Arisa-chan helped me discover who I truly was… and that I liked armpits the same way I liked my morning coffee… warm, with a bit of sour yet strong aroma… and a little bit salty to the taste—”

She slapped him. Hard. But honestly, maybe Hoshino deserved that. But fuck Yoshiya. Fuck him. Lemon ass. Lemmy. So, Hoshino would’ve understood if the girl had run away out of pure hatred or disgust—but she grabbed his wrist and dragged him to the nearest karaoke place, particularly the one he had visited before.

The clerk remembered who he was, but he asked no questions when the girl booked a room for them. He actually gave them the farthest room at the back, too.

Hoshino had no complaints. Not a lot, at least. The room was breathable. It was well-lit. The walls looked soundproofed, too. There were no CCTVs—there should be a hidden camera somewhere, but they couldn’t record audio, so… The floor was just unnaturally sticky. That one made him question if the room was properly cleaned at all… but when the girl that took him here got comfortable and found herself a place in the room, he naturally sat beside her.

Then silence. Unnerving, too. This would usually be the part where Hoshino would get dragged in and they would start kissing. Then, one thing would lead to another. But that wasn’t his work anymore. It seemed like she was thinking things through. Or the girl took him here to get him cornered. But well… if that was the case, Hoshino could take care of them all.

“So—”

“What the fuck was that?” the girl breathed. After lighting a cigarette and taking a long drag, only then did she find the courage to look at him. A second. Then she looked away, groaning. “Gah… fuck. Fuck. Fuck it all. Now everyone’s going to think I’m a bro-con and that my brother has some kind of armpit fetish—”

“I’m sorry.”

“You better be,” the girl continued, puffing out smoke. “Mama Kanzaki sent me because you wouldn’t stop asking around. What were you—”

Hoshino was still unsure of what to say. Mama Kanzaki. The name rang a bell. It was possible that she had taken very good care of one of her girls before… but other than that, he didn’t really know the person. No one probably did.

The girl pulled herself back and massaged her eyebrows. She nodded to herself. She swallowed. The fire in her eyes—the eyes that met him earlier—had weakened to an ember. Then, she lowered her head, drawing a long breath as she kept her eyes glued to the floor.

“Arisa-chan…” the girl started, her voice cold yet worried. “Arisa-chan is really dead, isn’t she?”

Hoshino clapped her shoulder.

She took a deep breath through her nose. Her eyes were closed, welling with tears. She placed her phone on the table, which showed a photo of her with the victim—Nagamori Arisa. So. This was her.

Hoshino grimaced. There was a feeling. It wasn’t exactly pain, but there was a sense of uncomfortable warmth that gripped his heart like a ball and twisted it, forcing it to ache.

Nagamori Arisa. She… she wasn’t exactly ugly. She wasn’t pretty, either. Painfully mediocre would be the right word. She didn’t look different from her ID photo. But in this picture—in the way she looked at the camera and the way she smiled—it seemed like she was looking at the whole world. Her whole world. That alone… made her inherently, infinitely beautiful.

“The photo was taken a week before she disappeared.”

“Wait—who took the photo?”

“I asked a stranger to take it,” the girl replied, a bit confused. “Why?”

“Nothing.”

Hoshino widened his smile. This time, he leaned toward her, urging her to talk. Another thought bothered him, but that might be too long of a shot. For now, though, based on the way Nagamori Arisa smiled at the camera… She lost her front tooth somewhere between when the photo was taken and when her body was discovered after jumping off the bridge. The girl at his side didn’t have to know that.

“I was jealous of her… Can you believe that?”

Hoshino nodded. He had a lot to say—a lot of it wasn’t good. But… he could believe her. The girl was pretty. Way prettier than Nagamori Arisa. But her air was different. If not for her line of work, Hoshino could assume that she would be the type to have a fulfilling relationship with her friends and family.

“We used to be friends,” the girl continued. “I never really thought I’d have one since… You know? It’s hard. The other girls are basically competition. But she was different. She seemed so happy. Like, she was always looking ahead. I asked her once how she could be so happy. She never answered my question. She just told me that she’s a princess and… princesses should be happy.”

Hoshino’s grip on her shoulder trembled ever so faintly.

“Everyone thinks she’s a dumbass. Me included,” the girl forced a laugh, and Hoshino smiled along with her. “It’s just the way she looks at you. You know? It’s not like she’s thinking bad about you. She doesn’t even think about you—but in a good way. I believed that we could be friends, but I’m human… When she started getting more and more clients than me—especially when I heard that she got a big-shot from Hino Industries asking for her again and again… we kinda fell apart.”

Hoshino rubbed her shoulder, giving her comfort. He said nothing more as the girl continued to process her thoughts. He thought that the girl would be giving him answers… but this was good too—maybe for the both of them. She needed to sort out her feelings. He needed information.

“But…”

“Yeah,” the girl continued. “I was jealous. I’m prettier. More refined. I’m good at acting. I could do all sorts of things. I’m open to all sorts of things. Maybe I was wrong because… everyone told me that it felt different—in a bad way.”

“Oh god… did you get involved with Sakuramine students, too?”

“What the fuck?” The girl shook Hoshino’s hand off her shoulder. “How did you—but more importantly… I won’t, okay? That was a special case. Mama Kanzaki couldn’t deny the offer because the request came through a high-paying line. It was weird because one of the boys hid in a closet and recorded everything while—”

“Did you get a name?”

“No… No questions. That was our number one policy. This goes both ways.”

“I understand. This…” Hoshino felt like asking the girl’s name, but that might not be good for the both of them. “This is plenty. Thank you very much. I’ll leave quietly, so please give Mama Kanzaki my regards, and—”

“You’re not Yoshiya, right?"

“Don’t worry. I’m not into armpits.” Eugh. Hoshino almost broke his smile. Still, he placed a couple of bills into the girl’s hand and closed it slowly. “Please, take my money. Thank you for the trouble as well… and don’t worry. If Mama Kanzaki sent you, then she must know me. Maybe I’ll have the pleasure of learning your name the next time we meet, but if there’s anything I want to say after you’ve poured your feelings out… I want you to be more true to yourself, especially about what you like. You looked the cutest when you grabbed me earlier and called me step bro.”

Ah. His words may have short-circuited the girl’s brain. He gently laid her against the wall. Treating that as his cue to leave, Hoshino kissed her on the forehead and dashed out of the karaoke place. Some people’s eyes were on him, but that didn’t matter at all. He learned something. He felt useful. He felt even more revitalized. Now, they had a few more leads to work with.

With that in mind, he pulled out his phone and dialed Hazama. This was another long shot. They had already checked Oogami Subaru’s house. Ishigami took care of Kamishiro Yuki’s home. Hazama had investigated Amamiya Takenju’s household. Sakuramine had a long list of students… but if Nagamori Arisa herself was involved in the murder of these three victims, then—

“Hallo, hallo. Hazama here.” Hazama yawned. “Ishigami-san told me you were resting, Hoshino-san. Is something the matter?”

“Hazama-san!” Hoshino said as he ran. “Was there any chance you exorcised a camera back at the Amamiya household?”

Hazama chuckled. “A part of me wants to believe this is the start of a clever joke, since this is a pretty specific question to ask that it’s weird. But yes… it housed a malevolent spirit too—one that liked trapping me in closets. It wasn’t hard to kill, but… we had to take custody of the camera along with a number of memory cards. Why?”

Hoshino grinned. “Hazama-san, wanna grab some coffee?”