On a weekday morning, on a street that was neither remote nor bustling, there were not few pedestrians, yet it could not be called crowded either.
As such, I spotted at a glance the girl I had arranged to et, standing by the roadside.
Just like always, she wore her neatly pressed school uniform without a single flaw. Her long black hair was tied into twin tails with teal-blue ribbons.
Her rose-colored beast eyes were staring listlessly at the empty ground beneath her feet. The cat ears atop her head twitched from ti to ti. Her expression was impatient yet expectant, as though she had already been waiting for quite a while.
I quickly checked the ti and our chat history, confird that there was still so ti before our agreed eting ti, secretly let out a sigh of relief, then walked over with a smile.
"Serika, good mor—"
"Ah! You are way too late! I have been waiting for you like forever!"
Before I could finish greeting her, Serika lifted her head, glared at , and spoke rudely without any courtesy.
If I did not know Serika's tsundere personality well, and if I had not caught the fleeting flash of delight on her face before she spoke, I might have thought she was actually angry with .
Then I would have mistaken it for a bug with the credit card system, assud that Serika actually hated , and consciously distanced myself from her, leaving the tsundere black cat to regret it for the rest of her life…
While my inner thoughts spiraled off in a mischievous direction, my outward smile did not change.
"I'm sorry, I made you wait."
Serika froze for a mont, then her tone softened. "Y-Ya know that's good enough."
"Then, as atonent."
Imitating what I had seen on television, I placed my right hand over my chest, my left behind my back, bowed slightly, and perford a butler's salute toward the girl.
"Please allow to stay by your side properly today, my princess."
As for the evening, I would have to go et Yuuka and the Ga Developnt Departnt.
Serika's fair, pretty face instantly flushed red. She panicked and looked left and right, flustered by the accidental glances of passersby, then reached out and forcibly straightened my posture.
"A-Are you an idiot! What princess, and don't just blurt out weird things out in public!"
From this, it was clear that Serika possessed a stronger sense of sha than the average person, which made teasing her especially fun.
As for ?
After going through hellish trials such as openly acting intimate with two students at a festival venue with dozens of tis more foot traffic, despite being an adult, I had already co to a realization.
From the mont I resolved to walk the path of stepping on countless boats at once, my reputation and my public image had already ceased to exist.
If sothing does not exist in the first place, what is there to care about?
Besides, if I cultivated an image of being lecherous and improper, it would surely make those who kept an eye on with ulterior motives think that I had flaws too, causing them to lower their guard.
Perhaps there would even be delinquent students who misunderstood as a lust-crazed fiend who could not move when he saw pretty girls, and voluntarily threw themselves at . At that point, I would eat the sugar coating and throw back the shell, or they would discover my true nature as an upright gentleman and then be moved by my noble character…
This is called self-defilent.
"Say, you do know on why I called you out today, right?"
Serika asked , exasperated.
I answered confidently. "Of course. This is our morable first date, Serika."
"It is not!"
Serika finally exploded. "Why would you think it is a date? I called you out to help with my part-ti job, okay?"
I looked at the flustered girl in confusion. "Yeah, a part-ti job date, two birds with one stone. There is no conflict."
"Eh? T-There is such a thing?"
"Nope, I made it up."
Hearing that, Serika fell silent. Her face darkened, her eyes narrowed, and her expression turned a little scary.
"Hey, you aren't ssing with , are you?"
"Of course not." I was naturally not intimidated and denied it with a smile. "I just thought you had found a best-of-both-worlds solution. And it really suits your style, Serika."
"What best-of-both-worlds solution?"
"You get to work, and see at the sa ti."
Last week, when I happened to run into Serika online while she was working as custor support, she had ntioned that she was so busy with part-ti work that she could not even see the person she liked.
Clearly, Serika rembered that quite vividly as well.
In the next instant, she realized what I ant. Her face flushed red again as she hurriedly denied it.
"T-That is not it at all!"
"Eh…"
I put on a disappointed expression. "Serika does not want to see ?"
"Hah? Of course it's not like that… aahh! Seriously, if you keep saying things like that, I will stop talking to you!"
Serika complained coquettishly, just like a puffed-up kitten.
Using the excuse that there was still work to be done, I soothed her without much effort.
"Haaiyah… anyway, no ti to waste."
Serika bent down and pulled out a stack of papers from the pile of bags at her feet, which I estimated to be over a ter tall and had already caught my attention long ago, then handed them to .
"Here, take this."
Looking at the colorful patterns printed on the paper, I raised an eyebrow.
"Is today's job handing out advertising flyers?"
"That's right. Just put them into nearby mailboxes or hand them to pedestrians. One sheet, one yen. So this is a job that…"
"Wait a mont," I interrupted in shock. "One sheet, one yen?"
Serika nodded. "Yeah. Of course, there is also a minimum hourly wage on top of that. Though the total is indeed not much, it is way safer than the last part-ti job, right? Ugh, just thinking that I unknowingly beca an accomplice to those Kaiser guys' cris makes so mad!"
She looked like she was still brooding over it.
I comforted her. "Didn't you say it yourself? You didn't know. The main culprit has already been caught, and compensation for the victims is in progress, so stop thinking about it."
Serika let out a deep breath and smiled. "That is true. Last ti was just an unpleasant coincidence. It should not happen a second ti that I get used by a criminal organization."
…I feel like, given how Serika treats part-ti work as a daily routine, and her easily deceived, straightforward nature, that is hard to say.
"Alright, no more idle talk." Serika brought the topic back on track. "There is an especially large amount today, which is why I needed help. If we don't hurry, we will not finish."
"Mm, we just need to hand these out, right?"
Looking at the number of flyers, I felt a bit uncertain. Even with the two of us, it would take quite a while.
However, Serika said in surprise, "What are you saying… I was the one who called you out, how could I possibly make you do sothing that exhausting. Sensei, you just need to assist here."
She paused and explained in detail. "Please wait for here. When I co back after handing out the flyers, you pass another stack, then I go again. We repeat that. How about it, simple, right?"
"It is indeed simple."
So simple that it felt like even without my help, it would not take that much longer.
"Yeah! I will give you half of the daily pay! Do your best!"
And yet, Serika, who was doing the vast majority of the work, was still going to give half the pay?
Though to , it was not much anyway.
I could only say that in this regard as well, Serika was very earnest.
In my view, the students of Abydos shared one common trait: stubbornness.
Or rather, students who were not stubborn would have transferred long ago to other schools without debt pressure, without harsh environnts, without the responsibility of revival.
So I did not raise any objections and accepted Serika's plan.
"Great! Then let us start! Give five hundred sheets first!"
Serika, once she entered work mode, seed even more decisive than usual.
Just as I lowered my head and began roughly counting the flyers, a shy, hesitant voice suddenly ca from nearby.
"About the first date… since it is sothing worth commorating, I hope it can be at a more relaxed ti, in a place with a better atmosphere… so…"
Knowing how much embarrassnt Serika had gathered to deliberately say this at this mont, I tactfully did not lift my gaze. Even so, I could easily imagine how endearing her expression must be right now.
The tsundere girl, as if pleading, slightly revealed her feelings to .
"This ti... please don't count it, okay?"
What a fresh, sweet, and sour maiden's sentint.
"Okay."
I simply responded softly and handed her the neatly sorted flyers.
Only then did I lift my head, only to find that Serika had already turned her back to .
Only the reddened tips of her ears betrayed her feelings.
"Thank you, then I'm going!"
In a fluster, Serika hurriedly ran off.
It seed she had set her sights on another district. Judging by the quota, it would take quite so ti before she ca back.
So I counted out two more stacks of flyers from the sack.
One was naturally prepared to give to Serika later, and the other…
Well, before Serika ca back, I would just be idle anyway.
If I truly stayed in place and watched my cherished student run around working alone, I would feel guilty.
At the very least, before heading to Millennium, I should help Serika finish the job, right?
Thus, I also began handing out flyers.
Since I could not go too far, I mainly handed them to passing pedestrians. Without the stable thod of mailboxes, efficiency was relatively lower.
Even so, if I could reduce Serika's burden even a little and do my small part, that would be enough.
"Hello, please take a look at this."
I handed a flyer to a passerby. The other party took it, glanced at it briefly, walked a few steps, then crumpled it into a ball and tossed it into the nearby trash can.
Perhaps because my face naturally inspired goodwill, my success rate was much higher than I had expected, with few outright rejections. Even so, success did not an people would seriously read the advertisent.
Co to think of it, if one wanted to quickly get rid of a large number of flyers, one could simply throw so away directly. Surely there were people who did that in flyer distribution jobs.
However, such underhanded thods were a deception toward the employer, and even more so a disrespect toward Serika's efforts. I disdained doing such things.
Just when I had handed out only around a hundred flyers, Serika ca running back at a speed that exceeded my expectations.
I guessed that she relied on the physical abilities of a Kivotos student, running the entire ti, stuffing flyers into mailboxes door to door, only slowing down when encountering pedestrians. That was how her efficiency could be so many tis higher than mine, and why she returned so early.
Fortunately, I caught sight of Serika out of the corner of my eye in advance and returned to my original spot in ti.
Otherwise, with Serika's stubborn personality, she would definitely have firmly demanded that I stop, and might even have felt guilty because of it.
"Alright, I am back! Next stack!"
"Serika, are you not pushing yourself too hard? Should you slow down a bit?"
I asked with concern as I handed her the flyers.
"It's fine. If I don't keep this pace, I will not finish today. Alright, I'll be right back!"
Watching Serika's back disappear around the corner of the street once more, I glanced at the sun hanging high in the sky and silently resolved to work even harder.
"Hello, please take a look at this flyer, thank you."
I raised my voice, put on a professional smile, and expanded the range of distribution in the opposite direction from Serika.
Even though my efficiency was still far inferior to that of the part-ti job expert Serika.
Estimating that Serika would be back soon, I returned to the sack of flyers and began organizing them.
At that mont, light footsteps sounded behind . I picked up a neatly stacked bundle of flyers, stood up, and turned around.
"Here you—"
"Ah!"
I was startled so badly that my hand trembled, and I almost dropped the flyers.
"Ahahaha∼☆ Ta-da—did I scare you?"
Isn't that obvious! You suddenly made a sound!
I forced a stiff smile. "Hehe, you really startled ."
"Sorry, sorry∼" The girl clasped her hands together and offered a sincere apology, unable to hide the joy in her voice. "I spotted Sensei while taking a walk, so I happily ran over. I got a little mischievous."
It was obvious that she was genuinely happy.
Such a gentle person normally, and yet she thought of sneaking up behind to scare . Or rather, did this an our relationship had taken another step forward?
As I pondered this internally, I asked aloud.
"Nonomi, what are you doing here?"
Yes, the one who had arrived was Nonomi, the only mber of the Abydos Foreclosure Task Force whom I had not yet captured.
Our relationship was already quite good. She was even willing to secretly give a lap pillow in private. Yet for so reason, the card had not judged her as captured.
Perhaps I was still missing the final push?
In any case, even if Nonomi had not completely fallen for yet, she was surely close.
"Hm? You are asking why I am here?"
Nonomi looked around, then leaned in closer and whispered to mysteriously.
"Actually, I am secretly following Serika."
"Huh?"
"I followed too far behind and lost her," Nonomi sighed. "I do not know where she ran off to. But I ran into Sensei instead∼ Today might be my lucky day∼"
As she spoke, a sincere smile blood on Nonomi's face once more.
"No, what I an is, why are you following Serika?"
"Um, well… it is fine to tell Sensei, I suppose."
Nonomi's expression turned slightly troubled. She moved even closer, her lips almost brushing against my ear.
"Actually…"
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