It was a bright, sunny afternoon.
An old taxi was slowly driving along the main road of Fuyuki City.
[Regarding the bizarre serial murders that have been happening continuously this month, there has been a new development today.]
From the car radio came an opening line that had become all too familiar lately.
[Early this morning, a sanitation worker discovered a woman's body in Shinto Park. The victim had multiple wounds, and the state of the corpse was extremely gruesome. Time of death is estimated between midnight last night and 4 a.m. this morning. The police are still investigating the details. At present, there is no conclusive evidence linking the crime to the previous bizarre serial murders. Residents living nearby are advised to stay safe and avoid going alone to sparsely populated areas at night...]
"Why is it always this same news everywhere? I'm already sick of hearing it..."
Lowering the radio volume slightly, the young taxi driver muttered irritably.
"It's either a gas leak somewhere or another murder case. Isn't there any other kind of interesting news in this city lately? And this serial murder case's been out for days already, but not a single clue about the culprit. The police these days are really useless..."
As long as the serial killer remained uncaught, the frightened public would naturally go out less, which directly affected the taxi business. Perhaps that was why the driver sounded so annoyed.
"Hahaha, you can't blame the cops entirely. Maybe the killer this time's just a cut above~"
But despite hearing such terrifying news, the young passenger sitting in the back seat, who looked every bit like a bright and cheerful boy, seemed to be in quite the good mood.
Ryuunosuke Uryuu really had been in great spirits lately.
Though he still didn't really understand what the Holy Grail War was, one thing Ryuunosuke was sure of: the man he had summoned earlier, who called himself Caster, was without doubt a genius.
A genius of murder.
[To first grant someone hope and then plunge them into deep despair... I never thought of killing like that before. That man's a true genius at murder!]
By nature, Ryuunosuke was a performance artist obsessed with death. To confess the truth, the serial murder cases causing such a stir in the city lately were his handiwork.
Although the cause and process of him triggering the summoning ritual for this Holy Grail War were full of coincidence and drama, he and the Servant he had happened to summon this time were absolutely a match made in heaven.
So when Caster asked Ryuunosuke today to collect more children as sacrifices for some ritual he was preparing, of course Ryuunosuke readily agreed.
[No idea what Caster's trying to do this time, but it's bound to be super cool and super fun!]
For Ryuunosuke, the thrill of the unknown was the most delicious spice of all.
But as he sat there brimming with excitement, glancing out the window by chance, he suddenly felt a strange sense of wrongness.
Though a murderer, Ryuunosuke was still just an ordinary human. He needed taxis to get around.
And while he wasn't too familiar with Fuyuki's geography as an outsider, he at least knew that Sougenhara Elementary School, where he was headed to collect more sacrifices for Caster, was located in the central district of the city.
Yet judging from the scenery flashing past, the car was obviously heading toward the riverside. He could already see the iconic Fuyuki Bridge in the corner of his view.
That direction was clearly wrong...
"Driver, aren't you going the wrong way?"
"Don't worry, don't worry. I think this route suits my passenger better."
"You think?"
That line made Ryuunosuke raise an eyebrow.
He had heard rumors lately about unscrupulous taxi drivers deliberately taking longer routes to scam money off out-of-towners—could it be he had just run into one today?
"Hahaha, hilarious."
Instead of anger, Ryuunosuke actually burst out laughing at the thought.
"Imagine, me, a serial killer, getting swindled by a crooked cabbie? How amusing! Too amusing!"
Sure, a crooked driver was a bad guy, but compared to Ryuunosuke, who took joy in murder, he was no more threatening than someone sneaking leftovers from McDonald's.
Gripping the knife hidden at his belt, a glint of danger flickered through Ryuunosuke's smiling eyes.
You weren't part of my target list, but sorry, brother.
Blame yourself for messing with the wrong person (laugh).
"Put that thing down, or you'll stain the car."
Abruptly, then, before Ryuunosuke could act, a calm voice suddenly came from the driver's seat.
"?!"
That instantly seized up Ryuunosuke mid-motion, startling him.
As a killer, he prided himself on his professionalism. With his recent experience piling up, his techniques were getting more and more refined. In theory, there was no way such a concealed preparation could be noticed.
Unless...
"No need to be so surprised. If I couldn't pick up on something that obvious, I might as well hang it up for good."
The calm voice from the driver's seat spoke again, making Ryuunosuke's expression darken.
Well, now, he had thought this was just an ordinary crooked cabbie. Turns out it was something else entirely?
"Who are you?" Abandoning the idea of an immediate strike, Ryuunosuke kept one hand tightly on his knife and asked in a low voice. "Why did you deliberately take me off course?"
"Passenger, I really didn't take you off course. You have to believe me on that."
The driver's tone was utterly sincere, yet for some reason, it only made Ryuunosuke more irritated.
"Believe you my ass! I clearly told you to head downtown, and you're driving straight for the river! You think I'm an idiot? Careful, I'll report you!"
"No, no, no, passenger, how could I ever think you're an idiot..."
With that, the young driver turned slightly toward him.
Only then did Ryuunosuke really notice his appearance.
From his voice alone, Ryuunosuke had already sensed the driver was young, but he hadn't expected him to be this young. Beneath short golden hair was a handsome face, now smiling at him with an expression even sunnier and more cheerful than his own.
"Besides, dead men don't file complaints."
And yet, for some reason, though the man's smile looked healthy and radiant, almost exaggeratedly expressive, it sent a chill straight to the bones of Ryuunosuke, the self-proclaimed murder artist.
...
Fuyuki City was divided into two main areas.
One side was the older district, Miyama Town. The other was the newer district that had developed rapidly in recent years, Shinto.
Separating the two was a river called the Mion River. Though nowhere near as famous as Tokyo Bay, Auram thought that, for dumping bodies, it didn't really make much difference.
And today, the Mion River had gained yet another fresh corpse.
...
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