About an hour later, she woke up. The tomato stir-fried noodles were ready too. Since I wasn't sure whether they were poisonous or not, I gave the whole thing to JJ and only drank a cup of coffee while watching her eat.
Just as I expected, this girl had an enormous appetite. In only a few minutes, the four packs of noodles in my room had completely vanished into JJ's bottomless stomach. She even asked for another plate to finish off, but unfortunately that was everything I had in the room at the moment.
"Thanks for the meal." Her face looked full of happiness.
This one seems easier to raise than I thought.
"How was the food?"
"Wonderful. The taste was a little strange, but as long as something gets into my stomach, it's fine."
So the poison still hadn't kicked in right away. Well, then waiting a little longer should be fine. Hopefully that spoiled tomato won't give her a stomachache or anything.
"How long were you starved for? Your appetite is terrifying."
I said that, then started clearing the table to make the room feel cleaner for resting.
"Four or five days, maybe. If I hadn't met you, I probably would've starved to death on the street by now."
Well then. If I hadn't known martial arts and had been someone else, they might've ended up under her blade by now. It was hard to describe the personality of this strange human being.
If her face didn't have those scars around her eye and cheek, then she would very likely be a great beauty. Last night in the dark, I hadn't been able to see her clearly, but now in the daytime, when the light reflected across everything, the beauty of that dangerous girl finally revealed itself.
Under the sunlight, her smooth shoulder-length black hair shone like polished black jade. Her blood-red eyes, when relaxed and half-closed, didn't look that frightening—her curved lashes suited the high bridge of her Western-looking nose very well. Her skin was somewhat pale, yet it gave off a mysterious kind of charm. The black one-piece dress showed a great deal of skin, and I couldn't take my eyes off it.
But her aura was extremely dangerous. She absolutely couldn't be underestimated. It was completely different from the kinds of danger I'd faced before, as if it didn't belong to the human world at all. And last night's fight had partially proven that. What kind of normal person could punch through a metal dumpster with bare hands?
After finishing the cleaning, I carefully looked around, then pulled the curtain over the window closed, walked over to her, and sat cross-legged on the floor beside her.
"I guess it's time for us to be honest with each other now, right?"
I said that, then looked at her with questioning eyes, and what I got in return was an indifferent attitude irritating enough to make me sigh.
"Uh… is there something you want to say to me?"
She, still stretched long across the rug, answered in a flat voice like the hum of an electric fan.
I sighed and started with the most basic questions.
"What is your real name?"
"JJ. Pronounced Jay Jay, okay? Not Jo Jo or Ji Ji."
At first, I thought it was just a nickname, but if that was what she wanted me to call her, then it wasn't really a problem.
"Next question: why did you attack me?"
"How do I say it…?" She spoke while swaying her head from side to side.
"Mm… a random choice, I guess? There wasn't really anyone on that empty road except you. And you were alone, so you looked easier to deal with…"
"Good thing I still managed to keep my life, then. You're not planning to kill me again, are you?"
Though if she had really wanted to kill me, I would've died back then already. Why was that…?
JJ suddenly bounced upright into a sitting position. She kept rocking her body left and right, as if she couldn't stay still in one place for long.
"For now, no…? But I think I'll kill you soon enough. It's rare for me to find a boy as interesting as you. Ah, and sorry, by the way, for stabbing you with that cheap box cutter. You deserved to die under the sharpness of Morgan instead."
She said that while wearing a perfectly friendly smile.
"Morgan?"
I repeated.
"Who's that?"
"The name of a friend of mine. He stayed with me for a few weeks, but got taken away. I think."
"Wait a second. A friend? You have a friend named Morgan?"
She pretended to ignore my question, turning her face away and rubbing her eyes with one hand.
"Poor Morgan. If he isn't taken care of properly, he'll rust. Ah… I'm almost about to cry."
Looking at that expression, she really did seem like she might cry, but that tone of voice wasn't creating any sadness in me at all. More accurately—it had the opposite effect. I was on the verge of laughing hearing her say it.
But… hold on a second. I had to piece together what I was hearing…
Morgan…
Sharpness…
Taken away…
Would rust if not cleaned properly…
Ah. So this guy named Morgan is made of metal…? And not only that, he's very sharp. The image of "him" slowly formed in my head… And the first thing I associated it with…
Was a weapon.
I suddenly felt a chill, and the first thing I thought of right now was all those warning messages that had been popping up on my phone these past few days. Almost immediately, I ran to my laptop and opened the news site to read.
"A computer?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"I used one a few times before. Let me borrow it sometime later, okay?"
I nodded, but didn't pay much attention to what she said. It took a few seconds to log in, but eventually I got into the site.
Polokis—that was a social network commonly used in Srimnet. A platform founded by a group of people in this city. The information it updated could rival the most reputable newspapers in terms of speed and accuracy. One article immediately jumped out at me with a headline that could not have been more sensational:
Jack the Ripper is in Srimnet, fifth massacre still unsolved.