Two Sides Of The Same Coin

*Kiyoko Sasaki's POV*

//June 14, 2040//Thursday//

Night came, and I was inside my room for the whole day. I went inside the cafeteria earlier to get food, and Megumin wasn't in the kitchen cooking. After that, I have not seen anyone else after the incident.

"Sigh…"

Kei Machida, Japan's Greatest Detective. Who knows when we will meet him again?

But in my opinion, I still do not know if I can consider him as a friend or an ally.

After all, he will only use the people he thinks are useful for him. I can't trust him yet, besides, he looks like the kind of person who doesn't need our help at all.

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

A person at this hour? It's already 9:30 pm, and the lights will go out soon. Who could that be? I stood in front of the door and asked the person knocking who it was.

"Who is it?"

"Can you open the door for me, Kiyoko Sasaki? I have something to talk about with you."

Machida? Why is he outside my door at this hour?

I am thinking about whether I should open the door for him, or not. I still can't trust this guy, but from what I observed about him, he doesn't look like the guy who will be hostile to others for no reason.

I opened the door and saw Machida standing in front of me.

"You know you shouldn't trust someone easily to open their door at this hour, right?"

"Shut up. You are not the kind of person who will kill someone for no reason. What do you want?"

"I accept your plan."

"What? What plan are you talking about?"

"I thought about it a while ago. With your brains, and mine as well, there is a chance that we can solve the mysteries in this school, and how to get out of this place without killing anyone. Of course, that requires everyone's participation as well. What do you think, Kiyoko Sasaki?"

I don't know what he is planning but looking at him closely, it looks like his offer was not suspicious, and he was sincere about the things he was telling me.

Does he really want to help me at all?

"How can you prove to me that I can trust you?"

"I'm a man of my word, Kiyoko Sasaki. As a detective, I will do anything to solve a case that I am handling."

"That's not enough to convince me, you just said earlier that you trusted us even if you didn't just to save yourself from Ichi."

"Then how about this? I will help you fix the broken bonds you had with one another since those were destroyed after what happened this morning. In addition to that, I'll make sure I will have a get along well with each one of them. I will also help you find a way to convince Hyakuzawa to help us in this kind of matter. Are those things enough to convince you, Kiyoko Sasaki? With your ability to read how people feel, and what they think because of your intellect, I am sure that you will know right away if I am plotting something bad against all of you."

It looks like he isn't lying. But…

"Why the change of heart? I thought you liked working alone."

"As I said, I will do everything just to solve any case that I am handling. I thought that you are the kind of person who will go down with just one terrifying experience with death. But you still stood up while believing in them until the end."

"I'm not the kind of person who goes down easily, and that doesn't mean that using others is a better way to solve problems."

"This is what I believe in, and you can't do anything about it. But I believe that both of us can benefit from my proposal."

It's true, even if Machida's intention was just using us in this plan, it still benefits the two of us.

"Sigh... Fine, I accept your deal, Machida."

"Since you are one of the people I can respect, you can just call me Kei. Can I just call you Kiyoko as well?"

"It doesn't matter what we call each other. Okay, Kei. We have a deal."

Both of us agreed with his proposal, and we shook our hands.

Kei and I looked like two sides of the same coin. I wanted everyone's help, and for their sake as well, but Kei wants the help of others for his own benefit.

But both of us have the same goal, and that is to defeat Ichi and solve the mysteries in this place.

How can we convince the students here to help one another once more? Where are we in Japan? and who or what really is Ichi?

"Since we both had an agreement, Kiyoko, I have one final request for you."

Another request after our agreement? What would Kei want from me?

"And that is?"

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

"Y-You... WHAAAAT?!"

******** TO BE CONTINUED ********