Chapter 52 - Now, Look at This- (4)

Student Council President. If you think of an ordinary high school, it's nothing more than a resume-padding position, but...

In Japanese school stories or fantasy academy settings, the Student Council President is a remarkable figure wielding near-absolute power.

They're so strong and hold so much authority that it makes you wonder, 'What even is a student council?'

Especially in fantasy settings, they're usually royalty or from high-ranking noble families, so even professors can't touch them.

One of those classic academy tropes in novels and manga where rank supposedly doesn't matter in a place of learning.

Never once seen a commoner serve as Student Council President, though.

...Well, anyway, even a terrifying Student Council President like that, if she's a beautiful girl character, she's a heroine candidate, just like a Demon King or a Heavenly Demon.

'Right, she's a capturable heroine.'

I looked at Gremory, the brown-haired beauty of a Student Council President, who tilted her head slightly and flashed a smile in my direction.

Since I was in front of the Student Council President, I played the rude older brother role I'd been assigned and spoke.

"Si-on, character info."

Si-on quickly gathered her emotions and immediately opened her notebook to find the information I'd asked for.

"Yes, her name is Gremory, Student Council President of the academy. And..."

She was furious at the way they toyed with people's lives.

But she seemed to have quickly judged that confronting the Student Council President, who was suspected to be the core aberration of this incident, would be unwise when they were short on information.

She didn't waste words on anything unnecessary. She didn't waste time.

I quietly glanced sideways down at Si-on's profile.

She was always suspicious of me, sure... but working together, her sharp instincts made things easy.

However, Si-on's eyes hardened as she looked at the notebook.

"...There's no information."

"What?"

"This is something you should see for yourself, dear brother. Please look at Gremory and say 'info window.'"

Since the other student, Gremory, was right in front of us, there was no helping it.

...But that "dear brother" thing never stopped being weird to hear.

Anyway, I did as Si-on said and quietly muttered while looking at Gremory.

"Info window."

A hologram window popped up, displaying a data sheet with Gremory's information.

My eyes narrowed.

'This is...'

The only things properly written were the name Gremory and the title Student Council President.

All the rest of the information was corrupted text.

[■※★$$#■☐☆♡■=/■♥...]

Filled with meaningless symbols.

As if mocking me and Si-on, Gremory's soft laughter rang out.

"Haha~ It wouldn't be any fun if you knew everything from the start."

She approached without a hint of caution, clasped her hands behind her back, leaned her upper body forward at an angle, and looked up at my face.

"If you want to know about me, come closer and capture my heart yourself."

It was the classic beautiful-girl angle you see all the time in romantic comedies.

"Of course, you'll have to capture the other girls first."

Up close, the brown hair had streaks of sunset mixed in, making it look almost red.

For just a brief moment, there was a staring contest between me and Gremory.

"............"

"I'll be looking forward to it."

Gremory straightened up and passed by us without lingering.

"Oh, and lately some delinquents have been showing up near the old school building behind the main building, so you might want to be careful."

She left behind a pretty little smirk with eyes that were soft yet condescending.

Clack, clack.

She walked away with the sound of her shoes, just like when she'd first appeared.

It was so absurd that a laugh bubbled up inside me.

'Looking forward to it, my ass...'

Obviously, that "looking forward to it" wasn't her genuinely hoping to be captured.

On the board she'd laid out herself,

she was simply pleased at the thought of watching her new toys suffer.

...Anyway, that aside.

"...Delinquents at the old school building. It felt like she deliberately fed us that information, right?"

Si-on nodded in agreement at my words.

"Yes, it was as if she was saying 'go check it out if you're interested.' Do you think she's leading us somewhere?"

"Could just be messing with us. Either way, we need information right now, so we have no choice but to go... Ah."

I realized mid-sentence that I'd been speaking casually and corrected myself.

"Sorry. I've been watching my words around the other students and casual speech just comes more naturally."

"No, it's fine. I'm playing the role of a polite younger sister, so my speech stays consistent, but it's different for you, Yo-han-ssi."

I'd been wondering why she was specifically calling me "dear brother" instead of just "oppa". So that was the role she'd been given.

"Why don't we just keep your speech consistently casual, Yo-han-ssi?"

Si-on suggested, seemingly genuinely unbothered.

"You're not my subordinate, Yo-han-ssi, and you're not affiliated with the Special Operations Division either. You're a civilian collaborator. Please feel free to speak however's comfortable."

...She had a point. Even if I tried to be careful, I might slip up now and then.

Keeping my speech consistent was the better choice. It was practical.

I accepted Si-on's suggestion.

"Thanks. I'll do that, then."

We discussed our plans going forward and the current situation.

There was no point in hiding anything; this was about sharing information.

"Maybe because we're inside the game, <The Lesser Key of Solomon> won't summon. The other magical items I had are gone too."

"I see. Given that my firearms and equipment have also vanished, it seems the structure pulls in only our bodies."

Si-on nodded and continued.

"As you said earlier, Yo-han-ssi, we're severely short on information right now. Let's head to the old school building for now."

...And then Si-on narrowed her eyes and brought a hand to her lips.

That look in her eyes was the same one she sometimes had when looking at me.

"It might just be speculation, but... the delinquents at the academy. They might be the missing Special Operations Division agents."

"Beings that get in the way of academy life, labeled as delinquents. How blatant."

To gather information, Si-on and I moved to the old school building.

What we found at the old school building was, indeed, the missing Special Ops Team 6.

They were protecting civilian victims. Or more accurately, they'd been hiding from the psycho heroines themselves.

Gremory's smile as she mocked me and Si-on came to mind.

...And from what I could gather about Student Council President Gremory's demeanor in our brief encounter,

telling us about the Special Operations Division hadn't been an act of goodwill.

It was her roundabout way of saying that even if we all grouped up, we posed no threat whatsoever.

Still, thanks to that, I gained one more piece of information.

My eyes narrowed.

'She's completely underestimating me right now.'

That was actually quite useful information.

***

While Si-on talked with the Special Ops Team 6 agents and gathered information,

I watched the prologue opening.

I checked the newly unlocked features in the menu.

"Hmm..."

The situation was obviously bad, but... with this, it seemed like I could make something work.

The problem was that it was hard enough just keeping myself in one piece.

I looked at the other people slumped around the old school building classrooms, completely out of it.

They'd been assigned houses matching their roles,

but the fact that they weren't going there meant they were probably too scared to be alone.

Or they simply didn't have the energy or the mental capacity for it.

...Well, I understood.

But staying too long in a dusty place like this meant they couldn't get proper rest, so I planned to check out the house listed at my address.

In any case, I didn't have the capacity or the reason to look after these people right now.

Clatter.

The classroom door slid open and Si-on walked in.

Si-on, keeping an eye on the civilians caught up in the incident, spoke to me.

"Yo-han-ssi, could we talk in the hallway?"

When I organized the game information the Special Operations Division had gathered so far, it went like this:

<Harem Academy> was a loop game.

The condition for starting the next loop was failing to capture all the heroines within two in-game weeks.

I'd already suspected it wasn't a proper game, but...

Even accounting for it being a loop game, having to capture all of them within two weeks felt downright malicious.

On top of that, you only had one life. A true Trash Game.

Anyway, based on Si-on's calculations comparing the time the Special Operations Division had spent inside the game versus real-world time,

roughly one hour in the real world equaled one week in this game world.

Two real-world hours was two weeks here. One loop. So one day meant twelve loops.

The loops kept cycling, and they suffered through every one.

...No wonder these people's minds were shattered.

"The agents who arrived here first attempted to capture the heroines and gathered information, but... they say protecting the civilians is currently their limit."

After finishing her explanation, Si-on looked at me and said,

"I'm a helper character, so I can't attempt captures myself. To resolve this incident, I need your help, Yo-han-ssi."

"'Help' is a cute way to put it... What you're really saying is 'risk your life and solve the problem'."

I switched back to formal speech to maintain distance from Si-on.

"You do realize that, right?"

"That's...!"

Si-on's eyes wavered. I knew, of course, that she hadn't meant it that way.

But the fact remained that lives would be on the line.

And naturally, my own life was the most important thing to me.

Other people dying was unfortunate, but I couldn't put my own life in danger for the sake of strangers.

I didn't want to lie in a situation like this.

"I agreed to cooperate, but I never agreed to risk my life. And the compensation the Special Operations Division offered doesn't match the danger level of this aberration."

On top of that, the amount the Special Operations Division had offered for this job was ten million won.

The risk-to-reward ratio simply didn't add up.

Sure, you could say it all comes down to money, but... this was dangerous work even when you were being careful.

If the pay was low, it was a non-starter.

"............"

And just as Si-on's lips parted, about to say something,

CRASH!!

A massive sound rang out as the old school building's door was destroyed.

And there stood a blue-haired, ponytailed beautiful girl character holding a katana.

"You wicked delinquents! Occupying the old school building to plot something sinister! I, Sado Satsuki, will not forgive you!"

I knew what she was the moment I saw her. One of the Crazy Psycho Heroine aberrations.

A random delinquent-busting event out of nowhere.

The problem was that "will not forgive" didn't mean she'd just rough them up a little,

and that the opponent was an aberration wearing a human face.

She sprinted down the hallway at an impossible speed and swung her sword.

"...!"

And the moment Si-on saw the door get destroyed,

CLANG!

She snatched up a mop that had fallen on the floor and thrust it like a spear, deflecting the katana mid-swing.

She was protecting me.

"What?!"

"Hah."

The blue-haired beauty Satsuki was startled and swung her sword even faster, trying to cut through the mop handle entirely, but

Whoosh! Thwack!

Each time, Si-on rotated the tip of the mop handle in a semicircle, striking the flat of the blade and pushing it aside.

A completely unexpected exchange of blows.

Si-on didn't miss the opening as Satsuki stumbled.

You could steal tools or weapons.

But the Breathing Technique. Skills built up by human effort. Martial arts couldn't be taken away.

She stepped forward,

BANG!!

and the handle shot out, splitting the air.

"Guh...?!"

Struck dead center in the chest by the end of the mop handle, Satsuki coughed up blood and literally flew through the air before crashing to the ground.

...But Si-on looked at the fallen Satsuki and,

tossed aside the mop that had broken from that single strike, and said to me,

"Let's run."

I followed Si-on's words immediately.

The walking weapon that had just demolished an aberration in one blow was saying to run? That was something to obey without a word of protest.

Crack, crack, crackle...!

From behind came grotesque sounds as something got back up again.

Si-on rounded a corner in the old school building hallway and grabbed my hand.

"Huh."

Then, out of nowhere, she shoved me into a large locker in the hallway and climbed in herself.

An awkward silence filled the space inside the locker.

"............"

"............"

It was a space that could fit two people, but it wasn't exactly roomy, so our bodies were pressed together.

Then, from outside the locker,

Screeeeech....

The sound of a blade dragging across the floor came. Probably the psycho beauty heroine Satsuki.

She passed right by the locker.

Si-on whispered in a quiet voice, explaining.

"According to information from the Special Operations Division, since this is structured as a game, hiding in lockers like this when being chased means they can't find you.

They said they installed a large number of lockers in the old school building so the civilians could hide."

...Well, in Dating Sims and horror games, lockers were safe zones.

Because of the height difference, Si-on was looking up at me from below my chest level,

and I was looking down at her with my head bowed.

Personally, this was a heart-pounding situation. Not because our bodies were pressed together, of course.

In this situation where I couldn't escape, if Si-on were to say,

'Hey, asshole. I've been calling you "dear brother" this whole time and you think you can walk all over me? You were pretty eloquent earlier, weren't you? Repeat exactly what you just said, word for word.'

I would have had nothing to say.

And then Si-on opened her mouth.

"...Yo-han-ssi, I'm sorry for speaking without first considering your circumstances.

So let me make this request not as the Special Operations Division, but as me, personally."

What followed was completely unexpected.

"I will risk my life to protect you, Yo-han-ssi. The fee will be ten million won per person rescued.

The total number of agents and civilians currently here is twenty-five. I will pay you two hundred and fifty million won."

She quickly added,

"Oh, I don't think a person's worth is ten million won. ...It's simply the limit of what I can pay from my own funds."

I looked down at Si-on's calm face as she gazed up at me without wavering.

Si-on's offer was, surprisingly, quite good.

Worried about risking my life? She'd risk hers to protect me.

Not enough money? She'd dig into her personal savings and pay more.

...In a different sense, I was at a loss for words.

It was so absurd that a smile formed at the corner of my mouth.

I switched back to casual speech and whispered to Si-on.

"This is random, but could you cry 'gyaa~ gyaa~' for me?"

"What?"

Si-on was bewildered by the truly random request, but

since I wouldn't ask her to do something pointless in a situation like this,

Si-on looked up at me and spoke, suppressing her embarrassment.

Her face stayed composed, but her ears turned red.

"Gya, gyaa... gyaaa... I-is this enough?"

I now had a budget-model Grizzly too.

Yeah, this much was good enough to work with. Gyaa~