Job Selection Test (1) - 38

The girl, a lot like manga heroines, had dyed her hair a blonde color, at least, that was what I thought at first, until I realized that both her parents had blond hair too.

'They're... not Japanese?'

Looking away from her and refusing her hand, I turned my attention to the adults.

"Yo Mahi, long time no see man."

'Wow' was all I thought when I heard this. My dad, the strict businessman, said "Yo"?

"You too Syouma, how's the family?"

"Well, as you can see, I have these two beautiful girls here and my son." He said, whilst wrapping his arms around my older sister and then gesturing at me and my little sister who was holding my mom's hand.

When Shido-san's eyes looked at me, I couldn't help but stare back at the ground, my long bangs covering my eyes again.

Seeing this, instead of greeting me or extending his hand out, he reeled his fist back and punched at me.

Scared out of my mind, I stumbled back, falling butt first onto the floor.

When I saw that his fist was still coming towards my face, I just closed my eyes, gritting my teeth.

But, nothing happened.

"Oh, how did Syouma's child grow up to be such a wimp?"

Opening my eyes again, I saw the fist a centimeter from my nose.

I watched as he pulled the fist away from my face, before offering a hand to help me up.

Scared to even touch the man, I helped myself up.

"So he's the child with extreme social anxiety disorder, I mean, not to question your credibility Syouma, but when I first heard about this kid, I thought you were just exaggerating, but now that I see it with my own eyes, it looks like he's a rabbit trapped in a cage full of tigers. The condition is quite serious."

He then proceeded to examine me from all angles. I flinched every time a part of his skin neared, and almost died of a heart attack when he touched me suddenly.

After he finished the diagnostics, all he did was sigh, catching me by surprise.

"It really seems like he'll need face-to-face therapy with a therapist."

"Alright, thanks for your opinion Mahi, now please, come in, we can't have you all standing in the foyer for the whole visit."

My dad ushered them in, whilst I was still standing there like a statue, stuck in the past minute.

That was, until a light hand touched my shoulder.

"Yo, you know you can stop the act, right?"

My expression immediately turned into an alarmed one, before becoming that of a killer's.

My hand immediately swung back, grabbing the throat of the person behind me whilst driving them into the wall.

But, something unexpected happened. As I started choking the life out of her, she only smiled wider and wider, even after seeing the unsightly expression hidden under my bangs.

Then she started laughing.

This surprised me so much that I actually released her.

Falling to the floor, she clutched her belly as she laughed her insides out.

"Hahahahah, that change in you was priceless! Ah, that really was the best!" She said, whilst wiping away the tears and moaning, almost erotically.

I couldn't help but just stand back and observe, whilst this weird girl did whatever she needed to do.

Finally, after a few minutes, she regained her composure and stood up.

"So let's do our introductions again. My name is Shido Yua, and it's nice to meet you, Fukui-kun!"

...

Instead of eating dinner with the rest of them, we notified our parents that we would be "playing" together upstairs.

Obviously, they let us, as they were excited that I somehow "connected" with someone, else that was my age.

My little sister looked at us jealously as we walked up the stairs, and seeing this, all I could do was shrug, trying to send her the message that Shido-chan was making me do this.

Entering my room, Shido-chan locked the door before turning around and facing me, who was already on the bed.

I motioned to her, telling her to sit in the chair at me desk, so that we could "talk".

"So, how did you figure me out?"

"It was pretty obvious, I mean, well, it's really only obvious to me."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, I don't know how it happened really, but somehow, I can just see the actual state of a person, like what they're truly feeling and such. So, when I met you, instead of "seeing" a scared little boy, all I saw was a dark, overwhelming predator that felt disgusted."

'Wow, she really described me perfectly.'

"But somehow, there's this really warm spot on your character that's directed towards your sisters... you're a sis-con aren't you?" She asked, whilst grinning widely.

Hearing this, I almost coughed out blood.

"T-there's nothing like that cough, cough." I said, sheepishly.

Quickly returning back to my cold expressions, I continued the "talk".

"So, what do you want?"

"You're smart too, not bad."

"It's pretty obvious from the way this conversation is going, so let me ask you again, what do you want in exchange for not telling other people about my personal nature?"

"It's simple... let's become friends!"

Again, I was shocked.

'This girl really doesn't fail to surprise.'

"Alright, alright."

I got up, thinking that the conversation was over, and then walked towards the door.

Hearing her following behind me, I couldn't help but smile.

'You really are gullible, having fallen right into my trap.'

Sliding something out of my sleeve, I swiped back, hard.

The feeling of my knife ripping through flesh was just so, so exhilarating!

"Come on, I already told you about my observation skills, did you really think that you could get me with that?"

My eyes widened as I turned around slowly, looking back to see that she was holding the arm of somebody. I realized that my knife had slashed though that.

'How the heck did she pull an arm out of nowhere?!'

Still relishing in her victory, she explained her plan like a third-rate villain in a movie.

"It was pretty obvious that you were going to betray me. I mean, that look on your face as you got off the bed was literally telling me what you were thinking."

"And what was that?"

"Something along the lines of, "Who would believe someone like her over me, who's been keeping up this act for my whole life. And, because of that, no one would ever suspect that I killed her." Am I right?"

'Fuck, she really saw through everything.'

"Now sit back down, we're going to have a civil conversation this time."

I could only slowly, begrudgingly walk back to my bed, as I finally noticed her predatory gaze, one far stronger than mine, and that smile, the smile of a psychopath.

...

'Ah, it's refreshing to see my young naive self, but does that girl really think that that is his true character? I mean, knowing myself best, this is probably just an act within an act.' <Spectator Shinobu>

And my hypothesis was instantly supported, as the corner of my younger self's lips twitched up, almost imperceptibly, as he walked back towards the bed.

'Ah, me and my plans, but how come I don't remember this?'

That question burned in the back of my mind as I continued to watch my younger self's interactions with this strange girl.