Though Inna did notice where my gaze was going and looked at me with suspicion, aside from that, nothing particularly special happened before lunchtime arrived.
Of course. There was no way she could figure out anything about the System just because she thought my gaze was a little strange from the start.
Even during lunch break, I had no time to rest.
I had asked the student council president I met on Saturday to roughly pass along how the request assigned to me by the vice president had ended, but it was only proper etiquette to report directly to the vice president who had given me the request. As the greatest model student born in the Eastern Nation of Courtesy, that was naturally something I had to do.
After finishing my meal, I had intended to go alone, relay the details to the vice president, and return, but perhaps there was a custom among friends to move around together. I could understand Inna, who had gone along on the request with me, but I hadn’t expected the other two to come as well.
Right, there was a custom like this. In my hazy memories, I recalled girls and boys roaming around in groups.
In my previous world, I had been so outstanding that everyone at school avoided me, so it was a custom I had never had any reason to experience.
I hadn’t expected the people I had only just befriended today to come along with me for a custom I could have refused as much as I wanted. Since we had finished eating, it was technically the next thing to do, but to be honest, I felt a little burdened when everyone moved together because of me.
That sense of burden was also why I entered with Inna without any objection when the vice president said that the place could only be entered by those entrusted with a mission.
“The people who came with you will be resting in the lounge next door, having some simple refreshments.”
Since I had been told there was a separate place to rest right beside us anyway, I didn’t feel too burdened about leaving Sora and Ga-in behind while only the two of us entered somewhere a little more comfortable.
A room with the somewhat unusual name of the [Request Office] to be located inside a school.
There was more than enough reason why ordinary students like Sora or Ga-in, who had come with us, could not enter that room.
An entire wall was covered with a detailed illustration of the city, and at each location, papers bearing students’ requests had been taped up.
Yes, this was the student council’s true request system.
And to go a little further, it was probably a place that would serve as the core of a school slice-of-life story.
Inna and I sat on the sofa the vice president guided us to. The vice president sat across from us.
[You have successfully cleared your first mission. Of course, it was not a perfect clear. Who were the ones who attacked you? And if they are caught, will the student from that household be able to return to an ordinary life? That remains unknown.]
“To get straight to the point, the police are currently searching for the student who submitted the request to us, but... we are searching as well, though it hasn’t been easy. Even the busy president took time out to personally step in, but she said it was as though the student had vanished from this world. In that case, what the two of you can tell us about the people you witnessed will likely be the only evidence we have.”
If it was the only evidence, that meant they were the only suspects. I didn’t think that arrogant psychic, who had looked as if he could take on the entire world alone, would brainwash other people and pull them onto his side, but the student council must have its own thoughts on the matter.
For example, perhaps they were deliberately spreading false information to other people. Considering the adaptability Inna had shown, as well as the ability one of those criminals seemed to possess—manipulating shadows—it was only natural not to reveal the real information they were speculating about to others.
Because they never knew when someone might be eavesdropping. They weren’t restricting information because they knew the criminals’ abilities, but because they didn’t know what kinds of abilities psychics might possess, so they were watching their words. No matter how close they were to the president, it wasn’t as though we had perfectly completed our first mission.
“There’s not much. I don’t know what ability one of them had, but each of his blows was heavy. The other one manipulated darkness? I just figured it was that kind of ability. I don’t think this will be of much help, but is this enough?”
Between the vice president, who kept waiting only for my answer no matter how long I waited, and Inna, who didn’t seem to have any intention of speaking with her own mouth, I simply told her exactly what I had thought.
“Ah, yes. Then we’ll consider the mission complete for now. If you have time, would you be willing to take on others as well? We do intend to process the matter related to that student as complete, but if possible, we plan to ask you to handle cases connected to her.”
[From now on, the probability of missions that allow you to meet heroines outside the school will increase. Among the heroines who can currently only be seen outside the school, there are a total of two heroines who have ties to you. The queen of your old school, and the mysterious heroine Kana. You may meet new heroines as well, but the probability of meeting those two will increase greatly, so please keep this in mind.]
I had to maintain the format of a mission, but the probability of meeting the school queen, whom I needed to find and subdue as quickly as possible, was going to increase.
It was true that I had secretly looked down on it because it was called an event. I didn’t know how much that probability would increase, but just the fact that the chances of finding the school queen—who would eventually be able to manipulate reality if left alone—would go up made this event precious.
‘The biggest problem is that I don’t have any strength right now.’
Even if I met the school queen through the increased probability, I had no strength to subdue her. So when I moved, I had to be with someone who could subdue the queen.
For example, someone who could fight with a psychic ability I had assumed would not be offensive at all, like when she moved the ground and blocked attacks when we encountered those criminals before, and who would move to some extent if I asked.
“Why are you suddenly looking at me?”
Perhaps puzzled that I had abruptly looked at her, the girl who had been drinking the tea the vice president served while twisting her dark green hair around her finger asked.
“If I take on missions and things like that, will you move with me?”
Since I didn’t know the geography well anyway, having someone by my side to help would be perfect. The student council president was busy, so asking her was difficult, and honestly, in a world with an abnormal power like psychic abilities, what happened last time had also made me think that the student council president’s strength was somewhat half-baked.
When I actually found the school queen, I could just call the student council president separately. In that sense, asking Yu Inna was more reliable than asking anyone else. And it was better to talk about it here than to bring it up separately.
“So you were planning to move without me? How mean~.”
After taking another sip of tea, the girl smiled somewhat slyly and massaged my shoulders.
Should I say her personality was changing little by little? Even though the goodwill in the gaze she directed at me didn’t change, I felt like her manner of speaking was shifting bit by bit.
I was sure I had heard that Influence was not something where she was dyed by her surroundings, but something that dyed the things around her in her own color.
That was why, honestly, I had thought she, as the owner of Influence, possessed a powerful mind.
If it was to the extent that she could influence her surroundings with her will, then surely she had to possess an enormous mental strength.
But if I felt like her personality itself was changing little by little, perhaps she too was being affected by her own psychic ability.
An erosion-type, where a psychic ability eroded its user.
I hadn’t asked, but perhaps her psychic ability was also erosion-type.
Should I ask my sister about the side effects and advantages of erosion-types as well? If I had known there were this many erosion-type ability users, I would have asked.
“Don’t worry. As long as you want me to, I’ll stay by your side and help you. As long as you pay the price.”
“The price?”
While I was briefly thinking about her, she whispered into my ear while the vice president watched.
A price. She had said something similar when we met the two who had attacked us. Back then, the situation had been urgent enough that I hadn’t been able to ask properly.
“It’s just something trivial, if you want to call it trivial? For now, should we talk about that later, when it’s just the two of us?”
What was trivial about saying we should talk separately later when it was just the two of us?
I felt a little dissatisfied, but it would be rude for only the two of us to keep talking when there was someone in front of us, so I shifted my gaze to the woman in the black suit, who had been waiting for our conversation to end.
“It seems you’ve more or less finished talking. For now, if you tell me, I will arrange it so that you can enter this place and receive missions at any time. If you don’t intend to take a mission, you may sit for a bit before leaving.”
[The mission that serves as the prologue to the event mission has ended. It cannot be said to have ended properly, but it is certainly true that you have passed the starting point. From now on, you can glimpse the capture scenarios of all characters whose affection cap you have unlocked by even one stage. Since it is from the protagonist’s perspective, there is a restriction that you cannot see parts the protagonist has not cleared either.]
[Sub-Heroine Yu Inna’s Capture Scenario]
[Stage 1: A woman whose heart has already been stolen by another woman. What must you do to obtain her heart? First, you may need to widen the gap in her relationship with that other woman and build up affection with Inna. (Complete)]
[Stage 2: The relationship you forcibly widened drove the girl Yu Inna loves to the point of attempting self-harm. If she dies, she cannot love that girl. Even Yu Inna, who is obsessed with that girl, does not want her death. Give her hope that they may be able to connect again and make sure Erika does not die. (Complete)]
[Stage 3: You have never properly approached Yu Inna, but you have continued fulfilling what Yu Inna wants. Due to the actions you have taken thus far, Yu Inna has developed a certain degree of affection for you. From now on, approach Yu Inna by saying that you want her help in getting together with the student council president. If you say you will cooperate with Yu Inna in making Erika fall in love, that approach will be easy. (Complete)]
[Stage 4: A cooperative relationship between you and Yu Inna that proceeds without even the student council president, who possesses Insight, knowing. It is smooth, but at the same time, it is also precarious. At this rate, Erika will simply fall for Yu Inna and it will end there. Yu Inna may show you goodwill as a form of reward, but that is not love, only compensation. Prevent Erika from falling in love with Yu Inna and make Yu Inna impatient. You may do so by making Erika fall in love with the student council president, or by making her fall in love with you, but all of it must be done without being discovered. (In Progress)]
‘What is this?’
This was clearly something I must not let slip to Inna even by mistake, so I bit my tongue lightly to keep myself from reacting.
This scenario was definitely the contents of the System that the protagonist, Kim Haneul, would be seeing.
He talked about respecting our love or whatever, and yet he had been capturing Inna?
At this point, I was so dumbfounded I was at a loss for words.
I had thought we had become somewhat close over the weekend, and in reality we had, but just by looking at this scenario, I could understand why the original owner of this body had hated the protagonist.
There was a reason it was at -100. Kim Haneul must have tried his best to hide this fact, but because Erika found out, he got hit with -100.
Until now, I had thought the reason his affection was as low as -100 was simply because he had stolen the student council president, but if it was because he had tried to steal the hearts of the two people around Erika while even toying with Erika’s own heart, then it made more than enough sense.
“So are you going to do a mission? Or are you leaving?”
Leaving aside Kim Haneul’s inner thoughts, I was conflicted.
—Should I continue doing missions with this woman and grow closer to her, or should I find another collaborator? If Yu Inna’s scenario was like this, then it seemed half-confirmed that she was dangerous.
After thinking a little longer, I opened my mouth.
“——————.”
And at those words, Yu Inna nodded as if in obedience.