Yousei Bishoujo ga Nounai de Tasuke wo Motometekurundaga?

129. Sometimes movies have too many explosion scenes

A scream suddenly echoed.

If this was a horror story, most likely someone was killed, or a strange human invaded, or a ghost appeared, or something like that. In fact, the people who tried to attack them came in front of Atsushi and the others. So, it was no surprise if that kind of strange thing happened.

But,

“——time, bomb?”

As expected, the development was too unexpected.

“Y-yes… I-I just got a strange phone call… seems a time bomb has been set up in this inn. I was told to check it if I thought it was a prank, so I checked it…”

“You found this. Is it?”

An attache case was found in the room of the people who attacked Atsushi and his friends. Inside, it was a typical time bomb.

『“……Eh? W-w-wait a minute. What is this hyper-unexpected-development? If it’s a murder case, or a murderer has come, or a ghost has appeared, I can still understand. It’s a remote inn after all. There may be such developments. It’s a development you usually see in horror or mystery novels after all. But… Huh? a time bomb? Really, wait a minute. When did this world become the movie of Detective Con〇〇?”』

“I know your feeling, but calm down. Your words start to go in a strange direction. Also, what’s with that specific example…”

Atsushi criticized Yuri’s telepathy.

Certainly, there was an explosion scene in the Detective Con〇〇 the movie every time, but it wasn’t the time to think that.

Looking at the bomb in the attache case, Atsushi suddenly said,

“The possibility that this is a fake…”

“Unfortunately, no.”

Atsushi’s words were interrupted by Egawa, who came in a yukata.

“Egawa-san. How can you be so sure?”

“Well, I’m a mystery manga artist, so I’ve thought about how to kill people with bombs several times. I’ve learned everything about how to dispose of bombs.”

“No, why did you need to be so detailed for a manga……”

“Hm? Because the picture would look better, wouldn’t it?”

A way of saying it as if it were a matter of course. But, sure the reason was exactly what a manga artist would say.

“For the time being, could you bring the owner of this attache case here?”

“I understand”

Egawa told Atsushi to immediately bring one of the masked men.

And when he explained the current situation.

“T-time bomb!?”

The man looked surprised.

“Right, I mean look, what is this?”

“I-I don’t know, something like a time bomb can’t be…”

“Play dumb huh? How can you don’t know anything? I mean, this attache case is your luggage, right?”

“It’s true. That luggage can’t be ours. It must be that man’s.”

“That man?”

“The man who planned this. Like us, he seemed to be thinking of taking revenge on that woman, so he made various arrangements. I was instructed by him. I tried to get you involved together because of that person’s instructions.”

“The man who made the plan huh……”

Must be the same guy as the one who called last time.

“So, where is the man?”

“I-I don’t know. I didn’t actually meet him, we were always talking over the phone. Information exchanges and packages were all sent one-sidedly…”

Communication without meeting the person directly. The culprit sure had a cautious personality. If so, no way that kind of man would go all the way to a place like this. That meant, asking the culprit how to defuse the bomb would be out of the option.

Atsushi realized that, then said,

“Anyway, let’s get out of here quickly. I feel bad for the people at the inn, but we can’t deal with the bomb, and even if we try to ask them how to defuse it, they don’t know…”

“Ah, um, about that…”

Then, the owner awkwardly interrupted Atsushi’s words.

“Actually, during the phone call just now, the person said, “if even one person escapes from this inn, the bomb will explode immediately. It’s the same as getting the bomb out in some way. If you want to stop it, you can try to defuse it inside the inn.”……”

“Hah…?”

A quite unreasonable warning.

Certainly, even if you set a bomb in a place, if everyone evacuated from there, there would be no point in planting the bomb. Therefore, it wasn’t strange that the culprit gave such a warning.

The only question was whether it was true, or not.

“… Egawa-san. What do you think?”

“I want to say it’s just a bluff…  but I can’t say with certainty that he’s a liar because he did something so elaborate.”

“Right…”

Most likely, the culprit wasn’t here. But it wasn’t zero chance. There was still a possibility that the culprit kept an eye on this place in some way, and that if someone escaped, the bomb would explode immediately.

In this kind of situation, poor judgment could be fatal.

What to do…

When Atsushi was pondering what to do,

“All right. Then, the method we should take is to defuse the bomb. Then, let’s get started.”

Egawa said that and sat down in front of the bomb.

“Ah, hey, Egawa-san, what are you…”

“As you can see, I’m going to defuse the bomb. It doesn’t look that complicated. Tweezers, a thin plastic plate, and a piece of gum will do just fine. Excuse me, owner-san, can you prepare them immediately?”

“A, y-yes. If it’s tweezers and gum… but what kind of thin plastic plate…?”

“Well, I will prepare it myself. For now, please bring those two here.”

“Y-yes…”

Saying that, the owner went to get the tools she was told.

“You look so worried. Don’t worry. When I went to Hawaii, my father taught me how to disarm a bomb.”

“You know, that statement makes me want to question you even more…”

“Hahaha. Just kidding. Well, rest assured, I’m confident in my ability to dispose of bombs. Didn’t I tell you earlier? I said I knew a lot about bombs. I’ve even defused a bomb before, so leave it to me.”

Egawa spoke confidently.

It didn’t look like she was lying, but Atsushi couldn’t help but be stunned by her career which was too far from a normal manga artist.

“But, it’s a strange time bomb.”

“Strange?”

“Yep. Usually, bombs these days are equipped with things like mercury levers and vibration detectors. Give them even a little bit of vibration, and they’ll explode. Bang. That’s why, usually you would freeze it, move it to another place without any people nearby, and detonate it. But, this time bomb doesn’t have anything like that. It’s so simple, rather, it’s safe to say it’s old-fashioned. Outdated.”

Based on what Egawa said, it sure was strange.

Why the culprit, who did such an elaborate thing, used such an old-fashioned bomb? If the culprit intended to kill them, a more advanced bomb should be the best. But Atsushi knew well, it wasn’t the time to think about it.

“Now then. It’s time to defuse it with style.”

Saying so, Egawa started dismantling the bomb.