Everyday Life with a Murderer

Chapter 34: Confessions

Seiji returned to his room with Hideaki and motioned for him to sit on the bed. Seiji took a seat at his desk, leaning back with a heavy sigh, his eyes steady on the killer.

Hideaki sat fidgeting nervously, his eyes darting around the room, avoiding Seiji's gaze. The tension between them was palpable, the thick silence broken only by the sound of Seiji's deep sigh.

"I should've known leaving you alone was a mistake," Seiji began, his voice cold. "Every time I try to trust you to control yourself, you prove me wrong. How many more lives will you take before you stop to think?" His voice remained calm, but the disappointment was unmistakable. "Do you even realize what you just did out there? Do you understand how close we are to getting caught because of your madness?"

Hideaki's expression twisted in frustration. "What was I supposed to do instead? They saw everything! I had to deal with them!"

Seiji's tone remained flat. "There were other ways. You didn't have to kill them. But it's easier for you to kill, isn't it? You don't stop to think of consequences. If someone connects those bodies to us, it's over. Do you even care what happens next?"

"Tch!" Hideaki hissed, he felt how he couldn't express the in fact a chaos that began to form in his mind.

"You've completely lost control. You're not in your right mind, and you know it. This isn't just some passing anger or stress - you're broken, Hideaki. Crazy."

Hideaki clenched his fists. "So what if I'm crazy? Maybe I like myself this way."

Seiji didn't flinch. "So, you enjoy losing control and acting like a complete maniac? If that's the case, then you've got a serious problem. You're so consumed by this obsession that you can't see how it's destroying you - and everything around you." He leaned forward, his tone sharpened with disappointment. "And you know what else you can't see? Someone who you really are. Who's better than this."

"Shut up! I'm not good, Seiji. I never was," Hideaki shot back, his voice raw with anger and self-loathing.

Seiji's brow furrowed slightly as he pressed on, "That's not true. For weeks, I've seen glimpses of you - someone who can be good, who can care. But then this... this is what you keep falling back into."  his voice quieter but no less intense. "Tell me why. Why do you think that you're so bad that can't be reformed? What made you this way?"

"I told you already!" Hideaki snapped, his voice cracking under the strain. "I suffered... so why shouldn't they?"

"But that doesn't mean you can just kill people on left and right." Seiji retored.

"Tch! W-what if this the only thing that gives me freedom, huh?" Hideaki's voice trembled, carcking at one point even.

"Freedom?" Seiji was caught in his thoughts, analyzing  'Freedom from what? From himself? His past?'

"Tch! Yeah Freedom!" Hideaki spated out loud "I just... I like doing it. I really like the image of blood! That crimson... bloody-red hue... hehe... hehehe... Dropping from people's wounds like a stream... This color is so beautiful... A-and their faces, their screams... hehehe! It's fun! I love seeing them fear me! I just love seeing them in pain! Hehehe!" His chuckle turned into a manic giggle, his mind drifting deeper into twisted fantasies.

"Stop," Seiji's tone was icy, cutting through the madness. "You're pathetic if murder is the only way you feel free."

"H-huh...?" Hideaki blinked, snapping back to reality, a nervous laugh escaping his lips. His smile faltered, but he quickly attempted to regain his composure, softening his voice to a fragile whisper, laced with manipulation. "You know... maybe you need me like this. B-because if I wasn't broken... who else would rely on you, huh?" His eyes glinted with a mix of fear and intent. "Y-you love being in control, Seiji. If I didn't need you, what would you do? You'd... p-probably be gone by now, huh? Maybe you would've... k-killed yourself already..."