Ch.13Changed Events for the First Week of March

Rewinding time a bit, right after Shota was dragged away by Taiga.

“W-what’s going on? Does Arigiri know Taiga?”

“No… I don’t think that’s it.”

“Then he got targeted by a delinquent?”

The students whispered about the major incident just before the morning assembly.

Not only had Taiga come to school, but she immediately took a boy away.

“Boy…friend? It could be something like that.”

At one person’s speculation, Umi and Eri immediately reacted.

“Th-there’s no way she’s his girlfriend. What charm does that guy even have?”

Umi tried to speak nonchalantly.

“Hey, Umi. Your voice is trembling.”

Eri teased Umi as she observed her.

“No, it’s not!”

Umi struggled to maintain her haughty attitude.

“Anyway, if she’s not his girlfriend but still dragged him away, that’s even worse.”

Eri continued the conversation.

“What do you mean…?”

“If he just got targeted, that would be fortunate… but she might have targeted him in a worse way.”

Eri said.

“What are you saying? Speak so I can understand.”

Umi’s voice became urgent.

“Delinquents take what they want by force when they’re interested in someone. It’s completely like the animal kingdom over there.”

Eri explained. She didn’t actually know much about delinquent behavior. She was just repeating things she’d heard.

“B-by force?”

Umi’s face turned bright red.

“Since she came to school, maybe she took a liking to Shota. She might have dragged him to the roof to… devour him.”

Eri said.

“Wh-what shameless talk…!”

Umi exclaimed.

“Shota… said he has no dating experience… so he might lose his first time here.”

Eri said.

“How do you know Shota has no dating experience?”

Umi nitpicked on a minor detail.

“Oh, I texted with him a bit yesterday. He’s fun.”

Eri said.

‘I… I haven’t even texted him.’

Without Eri knowing, Umi’s heart was burning with jealousy.

In truth, she had wanted to text him. However, Umi’s pride had held her back. She felt like sending the first message would be admitting defeat.

But no messages came yesterday. Eventually, Umi tried to send a text. After writing and deleting hundreds of times, she finally gave up.

Anyway, that wasn’t the important thing.

“Honestly… some relationships do start physically, right? Shota might end up liking Taiga this way. A couple is born.”

Eri said. Though she talked about “relationships starting physically,” Eri had no experience with men. But she wanted to show off to her female friend.

“Ph-ph-physical…”

Umi’s language center was completely shattered by that.

“Shota’s going to get devoured. He’ll be thoroughly ravaged by a delinquent. What should we do?”

Eri said calmly. Though the source of her information was highly questionable, Umi couldn’t even think to challenge Eri’s words.

“No!!!”

Umi shouted.

She wasn’t interested in Shota or anything!!! But somehow, thinking about Shota’s first time being with another woman made her chest feel strangely tight.

‘Th-this is a kind of service!!!’

Umi seemed to have lost track of her own thoughts.

‘I-I’ll be the one to take care of Sh-Shota’s first experience, such an insignificant man!!! Then won’t Shota, such an unremarkable man, consider it a life achievement? Ah… how pitiful!!’

Too flustered to even grasp what she was thinking, that was Umi.

Clank-!

Umi immediately went to the cleaning closet and grabbed a broom. She chose something that could be used as a weapon and wouldn’t break easily.

Having learned kendo, Umi could surely rescue someone like Shota from the clutches of a delinquent.

“I’m going to the roof.”

Umi said.

“…Hmph. Umi, you’re really not honest with yourself.”

Eri smiled and picked up a broom as well.

“I’m also after Shota’s virginity, you know? Let’s go.”

Eri said with a smile.

“Eri…..”

Umi stared at Eri.

“I won’t lose, you know.”

Eri said with a smile.

Without Shota knowing, the friendship between the two girls deepened.

And so, they both rushed to the roof.

———

Back to Shota’s perspective.

Clank-!

As the door opened noisily, the black gyaru and white gyaru both entered.

It was Umi and Eri.

“Shota!! Are you okay?!!”

“Your clothes… aren’t stripped off.”

They seemed worried about me. Surprisingly loyal, these two. I was honestly impressed.

“Tch.”

Taiga clicked her tongue, annoyed that our conversation was interrupted.

“Let go of him right now!!! W-with your faces so close… were you trying to kiss?!!”

Umi shouted with a bright red face.

No. She was clearly just grabbing my collar. This is why high school girls are like this. They relate everything to romance.

“What kiss?!!! You perverted woman!!!”

Taiga shouted loudly with a reddened face.

“K-kiss…”

Taiga’s face turned as red as a radish. Hearing those words seemed to make her conscious of it, and she kept glancing at me.

Delinquent character trait) No resistance to these kinds of things.

It was a cliché of otaku media. It was predictable, but that’s what made it good.

“P-perverted woman?! Who are you calling that?!!”

Umi came on strong. It was a battle between two awkward arguers. It made my chest feel petty.

“Hmph. Such trivial things… I’ve lost interest.”

Taiga brushed back her hair and handed me her phone. It was a smartphone with a cracked screen. Somehow… it might sound prejudiced, but it was really delinquent-like.

“Put in your number. I’ll contact you later. If you don’t answer, I’ll come to your house.”

Taiga said.

In the end, I entered my number as if signing a physical surrender form.

Beep beep-!

She immediately called to check if my phone rang, showing her thoroughness. Tough girl…

“I’m leaving.”

As if that concluded her business, Taiga immediately left the roof.

——-

Anyway, since it was almost time for morning assembly, Umi, Eri, and I also started to leave the roof.

“How did you end up connected with that Natsukawa Taiga?!!”

Umi shouted.

“Uh… yeah? While taking a night walk… should I say a connection formed?”

Since I couldn’t talk about monsters yet, I answered vaguely.

“When you took your top off?”

Eri said.

“Why do you keep bringing up me taking my shirt off?”

I immediately objected.

“Pfft…!”

Umi burst out laughing again at the mention of shirtlessness. At this point, it was like a laugh trigger.

However, Umi regained her composure.

“You… is that your type? You could have just ignored her, but you seemed to be having quite a friendly conversation.”

Umi asked an unexpected question.

“Yeah. She’s super pretty, isn’t she? Objectively a beauty.”

I said.

Thwack-!

Umi and Eri immediately kicked my shins. Umi kicked my left shin, Eri my right.

“Shota-ching. What about us? Are we beautiful?”

Eri immediately went fishing for compliments.

“You’re both nothing short of goddesses.”

I said seriously. Well, it wasn’t a lie. They were objectively beautiful. If my inner self wasn’t a 25-year-old guy, my heart would have been racing all day. Honestly, it was still beating a little faster.

“Really. Goddesses, my ass.”

Despite saying that, the corners of Umi’s mouth were stretched to her ears. This girl… really weak to compliments.

“Here. A goddess’s blessing.”

Eri smiled and patted my head.

“Ooooh… I feel purified all over…”

I accepted Eri’s touch.

“Bullshit. Really. Hehehe.”

Eri laughed as she messed up my hair.

——-

Anyway, that’s how the day began.

‘Taiga… she’s just quietly attending class.’

That was surprising. She was quite well-behaved.

The classes weren’t particularly difficult. Korean, math, and English were a piece of cake. I had raised my college entrance exam scores to the upper ranks before the possession. Let these Japanese people taste the spiciness of Korean advanced learning.

I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of ranking high in the midterm exams.

However, I would need to put in some effort for subjects like social studies. Especially history. I had never properly studied Japanese history, so I would probably need to memorize some things. Same with science.

“Now, for this problem… Aiueo. You solve it.”

The teacher said.

“Yes.”

Aiueo went up and coolly solved the problem.

‘The teachers in this game… only ask questions to the protagonist.’

It was a game setting.

When you answer correctly in class, your academic ability or charm increases. The protagonist raises his human stats in daily life. And growing relationships to strengthen oneself is the core of the game.

‘Yeah… dominate the classes, relationships, everything.’

I secretly cheered for the protagonist.

After all, if the protagonist doesn’t grow, it’s impossible to clear the game.

Surviving on the strength of companions was nearly impossible in this game.

For example, Umi had a lightning attribute and was weak to wind. In Taiga’s case, she had a fire attribute and was weak to ice. Those attributes never changed. If their weaknesses were exploited, battles became difficult.

But the protagonist was different. The protagonist could change the attributes of his Psychorobo during battle. He was an all-rounder who could handle various Psychorobos. The game became easier when the protagonist did his thing.

‘I… haven’t awakened to Psychorobo abilities.’

Honestly, I was outside the combat force. A complete weakling.

In the end, the protagonist had to do everything.

Yeah!! That’s it!! Aiueo Sashisuseso!! Shortened to Sasisu!!!

Anyway, that’s how the first day after school reopened concluded.

——-

However, things didn’t end entirely peacefully.

“Hey. I’ll contact you later?”

Eri said with a smile.

“Shota!! Come to the dojo later!!”

Umi interjected, butting into the scene.

While casually walking home with the two of them, I encountered a shocking sight.

A human corpse was lying right in the middle of the path home. There were no wounds, but the expression was severely contorted.

In the first week of March, an incident occurred. Only, I wasn’t the target. Someone else had been killed by monsters.

“Kyaaaaa!!!!”

As one student screamed, police officers came running.

The first of Emoshita City’s mysterious death incidents had begun.