The weekend—those days when high school students, having endured a full week of classes, could finally rest and relax both body and mind.
At the Advanced Nurturing High School, a special institution where students were forbidden from contacting the outside world and required to remain on campus for a full three years, the weekend served as an especially precious mont for students to truly unwind.
A heavy rainstorm had swept through the night before. The sky had yet to fully clear. A gentle breeze skimd low across the ground, carrying with it that distinctive post-rain coolness, mingled with the scents of fresh grass and damp earth. It stirred the droplets of water resting on the new leaves of the roadside trees and dissipated the sticky film on one's skin, delivering a brief, refreshing comfort.
Inside Keyaki Mall, the girls, having shed the school's prescribed uniform and changed into their personal casual wear, walked arm in arm. Hems and cuffs swayed lightly with each buoyant step as they breezed past the storefronts with lively, lilting strides, leaving trails of silvery, bell-like laughter in their wake.
As for the boys, they cast off the deathly lethargy of class ti in an instant, as if they had suddenly shed ten years of age. Their legs strode forward with vigorous energy, their gazes ceaselessly lingering upon the dazzling array of products lining the shelves.
And among the crowds, there would inevitably always be a handful of couples, suddenly appearing within the student tide that ought to have been composed of male-male or female-female pairings. Oblivious to all around them, they walked hand in hand, engaging in all manner of intimate gestures, causing the jealous flas within the nearby students to flare and surge violently.
This signified that, over the next three years, they would spend their youth in this school—funded by the state, and providing them with a certain amount of personal points each month based on their class points. An enviable three years, capable of leaving behind beautiful mories.
Among all these couples, faces brimming with radiant smiles as they celebrated their youth together in Keyaki Mall, there was one pair—couple?—that drew particularly conspicuous attention.
A purple-haired girl with fine, attractive features, dressed in hot pants that revealed her long, fair legs, had her gaze fixed squarely upon an expensive graphics card sitting on the shelf of an electronics departnt store. From the look of it, she intended to acquire it for her boyfriend.
anwhile, the black-haired boy was desperately clinging to the girl's hand, continuously muttering sothing under his breath. It was as if he were saying, "No, really, if you buy sothing this expensive, you'll have no points left for this month."
The purple-haired girl seed utterly unconcerned. Stubbornly stiffening her neck, she still tried to make her way toward the electronics departnt, looking for all the world as though she would never give up until she had bought this item for the boy.
The two of them kept pulling and tugging at each other incessantly right outside the storefronts in Keyaki Mall, provoking the flas of envy in the eyes of every passing male student to shoot straight into the heavens. They could barely restrain themselves from imdiately kindling torches and burning alive this boy who so utterly failed to appreciate the blessings he had received.
However, in actuality, the back-and-forth between these two was, in fact:
"Bro! Hold it in!"
Fuyuji Mikage grabbed hold of Kamuro Masumi's restless, itching little hand and desperately held it in place.
"No! I can't hold it in anymore!"
Kamuro flung her arm, leaning her body forward and striving with all her might to walk outward, trying to use the force of inertia to yank her hand free of Fuyuji's grasp.
"You've already held it in for over a month! Just push through a little longer and you'll succeed!" Fuyuji tilted his head back and stretched his neck, seizing the opportunity to grab Kamuro's other hand as well.
"This is all because of you! All day long, it's either telling to feed pigeons or grinding those damned dungeons! I can feel my life force gradually slipping away!" Kamuro ground her teeth, the purple tips of her hair shaking violently with her movents.
"But didn't a new event just co out a few days ago?"
"A new event ca out and my life force is now slipping away at double speed!"
Kamuro stared with burning intensity at one of the slightly smaller items in the electronics departnt. Lowering her voice, she said, "It's fine. Trust in my skills. Sothing small and compact like this—I only need a single instant to tuck it safely away into my bag!"
The more she spoke, the more exhilarated she beca. She actually started turning the natural order upside down, issuing commands to Fuyuji. "In a bit, you keep watch for . If soone cos, we pull out."
"That skill of yours—even Morishita Ai would laugh if she saw it. Why don't you think about how many tis I've caught you myself? Last ti, I caught you red-handed in the convenience store. And the week before that, Shiraishi-san and I, two whole people, were standing right beside you watching, and you actually didn't notice us at all!"
The soft glow of the chandelier lights on the ceiling of Keyaki Mall reflected in his eyes. Fuyuji tilted his head back and leaned his body backward, pulling Kamuro in the direction of the escalator.
His pal's strength was considerable. Although it hadn't yet reached the level of that senpai, pulling her was already starting to take so effort.
"Let's stick to the original plan and head to the amusent park upstairs. They've got bumper cars there. Morishita really loves them. Let's go play that together."
"I refuse. Only little kids play stuff like that!" At these words, Kamuro exploded like a startled cat, struggling even more fiercely.
"Just hold on a bit longer! Fix this and you'll be Perfect Masumi!"
"N—O—!"
The two began a silent contest of strength right in front of the electronics departnt, their center of gravity shifting back and forth between them.
"Hm?"
Fuyuji, who had been pulling hard on Kamuro, suddenly froze mid-motion. He furrowed his brow and turned his head, gazing toward the exit of the electronics departnt. Slowly, he released her.
"Why'd you stop?"
Kamuro turned around, her face full of puzzlent. Truth be told, she had actually been rather enjoying the thrill of this back-and-forth tugging in full public view.
"There's sothing... off. A sense of dissonance."
"Dissonance?"
Following Fuyuji's line of sight, they saw a girl with glasses, dressed sowhat frumpily, her back hunched, fleeing in a panic from the exit of the electronics departnt. Even as she ran, she kept casting frantic, terrified glances behind her.
"Is she hiding from soone?" Kamuro furrowed her brow.
Having frequently engaged in intelligence gathering—or perhaps because her own light-fingered tendencies made her especially sharp when it ca to reading people's eyes—she could tell at a single glance that this girl was deathly afraid.
"Most likely."
A flicker of light flashed through Fuyuji's eyes. He swiftly locked his gaze onto another person.
A store clerk wearing the uniform of the electronics departnt repair shop ca dashing out right after her. Beads of sweat dotted his greasy forehead. Even as he ran, panting heavily, his gaze remained tightly locked onto the girl who had just fled.
"Tch!"
At this mont, the look in Kamuro's eyes was one of pure, unadulterated disgust. Not the tsundere kind she usually directed at Fuyuji, but a disgust that ca from the very depths of her heart toward this greasy clerk.
"That look in his eyes... he's definitely so degenerate scumbag stalker from who-knows-where. He's planning to follow that girl, isn't he?"
The self-proclaid Master Stalker Kamuro Masumi rendered her judgnt.
"Highly likely."
Looking at that clerk's abnormal, predatorily aggressive gaze, Fuyuji let out a helpless, exasperated laugh.
"Does this school specialize in producing all kinds of outstanding humanoid creatures? Out of a student body of just over a thousand people, it can still churn out this much entertainnt."
He pulled out his phone, preparing to contact Horikita Manabu. "If I report him to the school, will they give an award—"
Lifting his head, he saw that Kamuro already had a look of eager excitent on her face. Her calves instantly exploded with power, and she swung out her long legs and followed.
"Bro, where are you going?"
"To rid the people of a nace, obviously! How could I allow scum like that to disrupt the peace of our school?"
Kamuro proudly puffed out her chest. Her voice carried a quivering note of righteous indignation, practically exuding the air of an ancient chivalrous heroine.
"...Isn't it because tailing soone like this is thrilling?"
"If you already know, why ask..." Kamuro glared at Fuyuji, who had called her out. The thrill-seeking impulse in her heart had thoroughly overwheld her tsundere personality. "Hurry up, hurry up!"
"What about the amusent park?"
"How could the amusent park possibly be as fun as this?"
Having swiftly aligned their opinions, the two of them set out, one after the other. Maintaining a tracking distance neither too close nor too far from the electronics store clerk, they turned a corner at the exit and headed straight in a particular direction.
"This direction is... the dormitory. Is she planning to just run straight back to her dorm and hide? That girl was scared out of her wits. What exactly could have scared her that badly?"
"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" Kamuro shot Fuyuji an exasperated glare. Her brain couldn't spin nearly as fast as his.
"Mm..."
Hanging far back behind that repair shop clerk, Fuyuji rubbed his chin and rendered his analysis.
"Although I don't know why that clerk is so obsessed with that rather plain-looking girl just now..." For reasons unknown, Fuyuji, whose face-blindness had been growing progressively worse lately, squinted into the distance at that girl's face and delivered this assessnt.
"But since he's already escalated to the point of stalking her step by step, things like secretly taking photos are probably unavoidable behaviors at this point. After all, the entrances and exits of the Advanced Nurturing High dormitories are all covered by surveillance. He can't possibly go upstairs and peek at her directly."
"In other words..." Kamuro abruptly seized Fuyuji's hand. The threads of thought instantly connected. Her entire body began to tremble, itching with eagerness. "There's an eight or nine out of ten chance that this guy's phone has evidence of his cris on it, right?"
"..."
Oi, oi. Why are you so sharp all of a sudden at a ti like this? I hadn't even said it out loud and you already figured it out yourself?
"Bro, calm down a little. That's a full-grown adult we're talking about. Even if your physical abilities are good, if he goes crazy, you might not necessarily beat him. Let's play it safe and notify the school."
"Of course I know that." Kamuro looked at him with the expression of soone looking at an idiot.
Fuyuji had just barely let out a breath of relief.
"Isn't there still you? If we get discovered, you just go and take him out!"
Kamuro tossed her purple half-ponytail, the strands of hair tracing an arc through the air. She continued her pursuit forward, leaving behind Fuyuji, his hand frozen mid-air, his smile frozen right there on his face.
Snapping back to his senses, Fuyuji hurriedly caught up to Kamuro's steps, trying to dissuade her.
"Bro, pal, I think you're overestimating a little too much. Forgive , but I really don't want to lay a hand on that greasy middle-aged man. How about I call Kito over? He can put on a show—three kicks to kill a pig. He can even super-evolve and beco the peak combat power of the Advanced Nurturing High, Zombie Kito Hayato!"
"No! Calling Kito over won't be thrilling enough."
"Still not thrilling enough?"
"Right."
"How about you reconsider?" Fuyuji made one final, desperate struggle.
"N—"
Fuyuji's eyes sharpened. His pupils instantly constricted.
Like a bolt of lightning, he shot out his hand and precisely grabbed hold of Kamuro's wrist. Exerting force explosively, he pulled her toward him in one smooth motion.
The sudden force caught Kamuro completely off guard. Her body instantly lost its balance. The expression of displeasure on her face morphed into shock in the span of a heartbeat. Under the few rays of sunlight piercing through the overcast sky, Fuyuji's figure rapidly magnified within her eyes. A pink flush crept up her earlobes. Her heartbeat accelerated precipitously within those few steps.
Propelled by inertia, the stunned Kamuro stumbled forward several steps. Carrying with her a distinctive fragrance unique to a young woman, she plunged headfirst into Fuyuji's arms.
The girl's soft, warm body pressed against his chest without the slightest gap. The undulating curves beneath her casual clothes transmitted an astonishing elasticity and heat through the thin fabric, instantly making his spine go rigid. The violet strands of hair at the crown of her head brushed past his jaw, wafting the sweet scent of citrus shampoo, inexplicably scratching at his throat and making it feel tight.
The pavent of the school path was still wet. At the edge of the shadows cast by the tall, towering trees, the shallow puddles reflected the figures of a boy and a girl. The girl had frozen stiff within the boy's arms, utterly at a loss, completely devoid of the lively, prickly little kitten-like spirit she usually possessed.
"Bastard! Let go!"
Kamuro within his arms instantly snapped back to her senses. Her face flushed bright red, she struggled fiercely, trying to break free.
"Shh—!"
A current of warm air flowed softly beside Kamuro's ear. Like a feather brushing across the auricle, it made the base of her ear instantly flush scorching hot. Her struggling body, in that very instant, beca rigid and stiff.
"That pervert is looking this way right now..."
Fuyuji lowered his head, his lips practically pressed against her reddened ear. Breathing at Kamuro's ear, he spoke in a hushed, lowered voice.
"You were talking way too loudly just now. We can't alert him at this mont. If he deletes the records on his phone, this whole thing will probably spawn even more complications."
"..."
Off in the distance, the electronics repair clerk caught sight of the two embracing figures and turned his head away in disgust. "Yet another disgustingly sappy couple."
Then, without looking back, wearing a sick, infatuated grin, he took out his phone. In an extrely covert posture, he snapped a photo in the direction of that pink-haired girl from just now, and continued onward in the direction the girl had fled.
Sensing that the repair clerk had already moved on ahead, Fuyuji slowly loosened the arm wrapped around Kamuro's waist.
And yet, Kamuro remained motionless within his arms, showing absolutely no sign of reacting whatsoever.
"?"
"Bro?"
Fuyuji shifted his body backward and grabbed Kamuro by both shoulders. He saw her eyes, the light within them completely gone.
"Co back to Earth. Do you still want to carry out your master thief grand plan or not?" Fuyuji gave Kamuro a forceful shake.
"Oh..."
Kamuro's long eyelashes quivered faintly. Her gaze finally focused. Then, as if scalded, she abruptly stumbled two steps backward, widening the distance between them. The flush on her cheeks still had not faded.
Seeing that the stalker had gone far ahead, and just to be safe, Fuyuji still pulled Kamuro's sowhat stiff wrist and ducked behind the thick trunk of a roadside zelkova tree. They began formulating their plan.
"Bro, how do you intend to proceed?"
"That... I'm not going anymore." Kamuro averted her head, her voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
"?"
What a drastic turnaround. She wasn't going anymore, just like that?
"No!" Fuyuji voiced the exact opposite opinion of what he'd held just monts before. Straightening his expression, he declared, "We've co this far. If we don't go take him down, wouldn't that an I've wasted my entire day?"
"Ha? Weren't you the one saying the situation was too dangerous and that we should just call soone over in the end?"
In the span of just a few short minutes, the stances of the two had completely reversed.
"For a character like that to get into the Advanced Nurturing High School—there might be so string-pulling or connections involved behind the scenes. Before the school can send soone to inspect his phone, he could delete all the evidence. To avoid giving him any ti and letting complications arise, we need to secure the evidence directly, expose it to the school, and checkmate him in one decisive move."
Fuyuji's voice was firm and resolute, brimming with righteous, noble fervor, as if he were about to bring all evil to justice and safeguard the peace of this pristine ivory tower. The sunlight shining upon him seed to coat his entire being in a layer of Buddhist radiance.
"State your real reason." Kamuro folded her arms across her chest, her eyes half-narrowed as she regarded this unreliable, erratic guy before her.
"Fine." Fuyuji broke character in one second flat. He puffed out his chest and raised his head, speaking at an extrely rapid clip. "I just suddenly realized that once we take him down, I can flaunt this in front of Morishita and prove that I, Fuyuji Mikage, am the true existence that upholds justice. Kan Rider doesn't exist at all. Then I can use this to force her to watch one episode of Ultraman every day."
"..."
Kamuro lowered her head with a headache. She pressed her palm heavily against her temple and spoke with resignation. "I finally understand why the two of you get along so well. Let's go."
"What's the plan?"
"I'll take action. You support."
...
Beside the school path of the Advanced Nurturing High School, behind an advertisent board the size of a full-grown adult, two heads poked out simultaneously, just like gophers erging from their holes, silently spying into the distance.
"How are you going to execute this master thief plan of yours?" Fuyuji crouched down and sought the opinion of the more experienced Kamuro.
"Mm..."
Kamuro thought for a mont and snapped her fingers. "Just now, our appearances probably weren't seen by him..."
As she spoke, Kamuro's face started flushing red again. She forcibly kept her cheeks taut and spoke with solemn seriousness. "You go and draw his attention away. I'll steal his phone."
"Bro, can you really pull this off?" Fuyuji expressed his doubts regarding Kamuro's amateurish, half-baked skills.
"I can do it!" Kamuro's volu abruptly spiked by eight octaves.
A few students passing by watched the two figures huddled in the corner, heads pressed close together, strange sounds issuing forth from them from ti to ti. They silently quickened their pace.
"Fine, I'll trust you this once. But rember—when a person is in a state of stalking soone else, they beco extrely vigilant. Don't make your move until I've drawn his emotions out. Wait for my signal."
"Okay." Kamuro nodded, her eyes gleaming.
"His phone is probably in that left pocket. Don't search the wrong one."
"I got it."
Another minute passed.
Fully geared up and ready, the two stepped forward simultaneously onto the school path.
Fuyuji, with the utmost solemnity and gravitas, pushed up a pair of nonexistent sunglasses. "Master Thief Number Two—let's move out!"
"Why am I Number Two and you're Number One?"
"Aiya, don't mind these little details. Never mind that for now. Anyway—move out!"
-----------------------------------------------------------
If you want to Support , you can Read 95 Advanced Chapters on : [email protected]/Yuni_TL
50 [Power Stones] = Bonus Chapter!
User Comments
0 comments from readers