Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/822139838626691253/episodes/822139838627689544
Shiraishi was now treating me like a total creep.
From Shiraishi’s perspective, I probably looked like a seriously sketchy guy right now.
But if I kept dithering, both Shiraishi and the other passengers on this car would die.
I knew I had to do something,
but I had no idea what.
“Answer me, Shiraishi. It’s important. Which station are you getting off at?”
“Why do you need to know that?”
“I really need to know.”
“This is scary. Seriously, what’s going on?”
“Trust me.”
“Sorry… I can’t.”
Shiraishi started slowly backing away from me.
The other passengers were clearly giving me strange looks too.
Before I knew it, the train finally arrived at my stop.
The doors opened, and several passengers got off.
Sure enough, no grim reaper followed the passengers getting off at this station.
It seemed certain something would happen to the train beyond this point.
At this point, should I force Shiraishi off at this station to save her…?
Just as that thought crossed my mind, a man near me stood up.
The hooded man left his backpack on the seat and got off.
“Um… didn’t you forget something?”
A young woman nearby noticed and pointed at the backpack on the seat, but the man ignored her and walked away.
The woman tilted her head and sat back down.
I approached the backpack the man had left behind, intending to check inside.
“Hey, wait! What are you doing?”
Shiraishi tried to stop me.
“It’s someone else’s, right? Why are you touching it without permission?”
“Just checking.”
“Checking…?”
“It might be dangerous.”
“…?”
As Shiraishi eyed me suspiciously, I opened the backpack as slowly as possible and peered inside.
“…!”
Inside the backpack was an inorganic lump of iron.
Something resembling a timer was counting down.
Shiraishi, watching nearby, let out a small scream.
“Th-that…”
“Probably a bomb.”
“Huh? A bomb…?”
“What…?”
Passengers around us began noticing the commotion.
I calmly gave Shiraishi instructions.
“Shiraishi. Could you use the emergency button to alert the conductor?”
“R-right.”
Shiraishi nodded and ran towards the driver’s seat.
The timer on the explosive device showed about 20 minutes remaining.
If everyone evacuated at the next station, we might make it in time.
“I-I’m… back…!”
Shiraishi returned.
The conductor came from the driver’s seat to our side and checked inside the bag.
After confirming the metal device inside the bag that appeared to be a bomb, the conductor calmly urged everyone to evacuate.
“Everyone, please listen calmly. An explosive device has been found in this car. Please move to the next car immediately.”
Following the conductor’s instructions, all passengers moved to the next car.
Thanks to the conductor’s calm judgment, panic did not break out.
The train stopped immediately at the next station, and all passengers quickly evacuated the station.
Police car sirens could be heard from all around.
“Stay back!!”
“Evacuate!!”
“An explosive device has been found inside the station!! Evacuate immediately!!”
Police arriving on the scene set up cordon lines as onlookers gathered, curious about the commotion.
After exiting the ticket gates and managing to get away from the station, Shiraishi and I watched the steadily increasing number of patrol cars and onlookers from a distance.
“Phew… That was close…”
Shiraishi said, still out of breath.
Her expression was still tense.
The Grim Reaper behind Shiraishi had vanished without a trace.
It seemed we had managed to avert Shiraishi’s fate of death.
“Phew…”
I let out a sigh of relief.
“You… you noticed it, huh?”
“Huh…?”
“The bomb. If you hadn’t noticed it… it could’ve been bad…”
Shiraishi looked at me with a slightly surprised expression.
“I just thought something seemed off. It was just a coincidence.”
“…Sorry about earlier. Calling you dangerous and all.”
“Nah… it’s fine.”
“Thanks. Your calmness saved me.”
Shiraishi said this while staring intently at me.
“Honestly, I was scared too. My heart was pounding like crazy.”
“Really? You seemed really calm.”
“Nah, I was pretty tense. Honestly, I was ready to die.”
“…hmm.”
“…What?”
“You don’t put on airs, do you, Kurose?”
Shiraishi covered her mouth and giggled.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
She kept laughing, though I couldn’t tell what was so funny.
Maybe she was still a bit high from the adrenaline rush right after escaping that crisis.
After that, I exchanged a few more words with Shiraishi, then we parted ways and headed home.
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