"Arino mama de sore he kaze ni notte!" I sung as I started up the final set of stairs to my apartment's front door. "Arino mama de tobidashite miru no!" I pulled out my keys, inserted my house key into the lock and turned it. "Nidoto namida ha nagasanai wa!" I entered my flat, dumped my keys on the counter and felt a knife pressed to my throat.

A hand pulled the headphones from my ears.

"Scream and I'll kill you." A low voice whispered in my ears. "Now tell me why you are in this flat?"

"It's my home!" I whimpered in reply. I could feel my entire body shaking and could hear the song still playing through my headphones that were now dangling from my pocket to the floor. I could see nothing of the man holding me captive, but I glanced around the room for any other clues as to who he might be and why he was here. There was something by the window that was just out of my range of vision, but otherwise everything looked just like I'd left it earlier this morning.

"You are Taniyama Mai?"

"Yes." I whispered timidly. It was taking all my nerve just to force my legs into holding my body up.

"First year student at the local high school?" How could this man be so calm?

"Yes." I repeated, trying to prevent myself from hyperventilating.

"You should be on a school trip today and not returning for another few hours. So I will ask again, why are you in this flat?" How did he know that?

"The trip was cut short so I came home early." I attempted to slow my breathing down a bit. "Who are you?"

"Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to." The low voice said. "I am going to remove the knife from your throat. If you make any loud noises I will kill you." His voice was completely emotionless.

"Can I move around?" I asked tentatively as I felt the knife move away from my neck. I felt around where it had been pressed onto my throat, but there seemed to be no permanent damage.

"Not yet." The voice said and I did not move a muscle for fear of him hurting me. Then the strange man to whom the voice belonged to moved in front of me. He was wearing a balaclava over his face and was over a head taller than me, though no more distinctive as he was wearing entirely black clothing. He was holding one of my scarves.

"What are…?" But before I could finish my sentence he was blindfolding me with it. The last thing I saw was a pair of very cold brilliant blue eyes.

"I am going to guide you to your sofa. You are going to sit there quietly while I pack away my things and then I am going to leave. If you mention this to anyone I will kill you."

"How will you know?" I asked boldly.

"I have my ways." He replied. I felt him remove my phone from my pocket and heard him pause the music that was playing.

"Are you with the police?"

"Don't be stupid." The man said with the first hint of emotion, which for some reason relaxed me a little. At least he wasn't completely a robot. "Police don't normally threaten to kill people."

"So you're an assassin?"

"What did I tell you about questions you don't want to know the answer to?"

I felt large hands guide me surprisingly gently to the sofa. I sat and wondered if I dare ask another question.

I decided I did. If this guy was going to kill me, I may as well be well informed before I died.

"Why do you kill people?"

"Because there is a need for it."

"Has there been a target you have missed? One that got away?"

"Never." Wow, he's confident in himself, not that if filled me with much hope for escape.

"But don't you feel bad about it? Taking someone's life?"

"My target didn't seem to."

"Wouldn't you feel bad killing me? I haven't done anything wrong!"

"Curiosity killed the cat Taniyama-san. I'm sure it could also kill a high school student without too much trouble."

I fell silent. I could hear him fiddling with something that I guessed had to be a gun. Was he using my place as a lookout to snipe someone?

"Are you still going to kill them?"

"Not now, I'll finish the job later."

"Why?"

"You interrupted." The man said. "If by some chance, you managed to have me turned in for this, I could only be imprisoned now for breaking and entering, and threatening you. Leaving now and finding a new way to my target would make more sense, don't you think?"

"But what I told them you were going to kill someone?"

"I don't think they would believe you." The man said, sounding almost amused. "I'm only robbing you, why would I talk about killing people? You'll just sound like an over-reacting child."

"But you have a gun." I prompted. "And I'm not a child!"

"I am confident I can dispose of this before you are able to turn me in." He said. So he did have a gun. "And you are sixteen years old. Legally, you are a child." I was slightly concerned about how much he knew about me, it was kind of creepy.

"Well in that case, I will get you done for being a pervert too! Tying up a sixteen year old basically makes you a paedophile."

"I doubt that would stick. I am not an adult either." He replied coldly. "And you are hardly tied up."

"You're not an adult?!" I asked, genuinely surprised. "And you said you'd kill me if I moved from the sofa."

"I am seventeen years old. I am not even an adult in my own country." He replied. "And yes, I will kill you if you move but you are still not tied up."

"Your own country? Your accent is good for a foreigner." I replied, still shocked. "Why haven't you killed me already?"

I knew it was a stupid question, but I still wanted to know the answer. Assuming he was an assassin, surely he should have just killed me and gotten out of here? It made no sense to leave me living, did it? I was a witness, wasn't I?

There was a pause before he answered as if he was considering the question.

"There is no reason to kill you. Leaving your body here will make the police ask questions that might cause me trouble. Moving your body will be more effort than it's worth and if you are then missing, that's still unwanted attention."

His reasons did make sense. Yet I couldn't help but feel like something was off.

"Who are you trying to kill?" I asked and the man paused, I heard the click of a case.

"Would you feel at ease if I told you it was a bad person?"

"And who exactly does an assassin view as a bad person?"

"Anyone I am paid enough to view as such. But everyone must take responsibility for their own actions."

"How much do you charge?"

"You couldn't afford me." He said smugly. His voice had moved; it was no longer by the window.

"Are you leaving?" I asked.

"Unless you plan on inviting me for a cup of tea, then yes I am leaving."

"I'll make you one if you like." I offered. So he might have threatened to kill me several times, but that was no reason to forget my manners.

He made a sound that was almost like a laugh, but not quite.

Then I heard the door open and close again. I ripped the scarf from my head and rushed to the door. I yanked it open and stared around, but he was gone. I rushed to the stairs, but I could not see him walking down them either.

"Taniyama-san? Are you alright?" My elderly neighbour, Ogawa-san, asked from his own doorway.

"Yes!" I said hastily. "I just thought I had dropped something. It must be in my bag!"

I bowed and walked back to my flat. The area around my window was clean. There was no remaining evidence at all. I found my phone on the kitchen worktop but even that appeared to be smudge free, he had obviously wiped it just in case.

I hadn't even asked his name.