Watching the chaos unfold, Mafuyu shook her head and quietly left the disaster zone.
Since there weren't many people in the store, and the manager was temporarily out of commission, Mafuyu—being a senior—was left in charge.
The rest of the staff had only been curiously observing from the sidelines, and without knowing the backstory, they couldn't understand why the three suddenly went into a frenzy.
"What happened, Mafuyu-senpai? Is that handsome guy your friend?"
Kaho-chan asked curiously, unable to stop herself from sneaking glances at Shindai Haku.
So hot, even tied up… ♡
"Are you sure they're okay like that?" Even Maiika-chan couldn't help but take a second look. She had definitely seen a scene like this in foreign movies!
Of course, as a foreign-culture enthusiast, Maiika wasn't attracted to Kamashiro Shiro—she was just very curious. After all, she'd never witnessed a kidnapping in real life.
"Sigh…"
Seeing the girls' expressions, Mafuyu sighed helplessly. She knew this would happen.
Then—
"Ah! Ouch~"
"Mafuyu-senpai!（＞д＜）"
Mafuyu gave both girls a karate chop to the head.
"Don't be so nosy! That scumbag is dangerous! If he tries to talk to you, call the police immediately."
"As for now…"
Mafuyu glanced over.
"They're probably just engaging in idiot-level communication."
Maiika nodded obediently at Mafuyu's words. But she couldn't shake the feeling that the tied-up guy looked familiar.
Those squinty eyes…
She pulled out her phone and logged into her high school's forum account~
Meanwhile, Kaho-chan was far less obedient. The chop had only sparked a flame of gossip in her heart!
Scumbag?
If Mafuyu-senpai called him that, there had to be tons of stories behind it!
"Ehehehe~ Mafuyu-senpai~"
(?ˉ??ˉ??)
Kaho moved in like a gossip-hungry freak.
"Is that squinty-eyed guy your ex? How did you two get together? Did he cheat on you? Back then, did you…"
Like a curious little puppy, she kept asking. After all, teenage girls love this kind of juicy drama.
But in her obsession, she failed to notice Mafuyu's face growing darker and darker.
Until—
SMACK!
"Mafuyu-senpai~!!"
Watching the jiggling of her backside from the blow, Mafuyu let out a very disdainful tsk. She regretted not hitting harder.
Kaho finally came to her senses, blushing furiously and holding her rear. Mafuyu decided not to hit her again and just glared menacingly.
"Stay out of adult business. Just focus on studying. Did you finish your homework?"
"Ugh… a-almost…"
With Mafuyu's big-sister aura in full effect, Kaho instantly went quiet, hanging her head like an ostrich.
"Hmph! Don't go home after work today!"
"Okay…"
Even Maikika was stunned by their interaction.
Mafuyu-senpai is terrifying!
This was the first time she had seen Mafuyu-senpai with her full aura unleashed—it was truly scary.
Wait, no!
Now wasn't the time to be thinking about that.
Remembering what she had just found, Ichika held out her phone to Mafuyu.
"Mafuyu-senpai, look at this!"
Mafuyu took the phone with a confused expression. The moment she saw the familiar forum on the screen, her expression turned subtly strange.
She glanced at Kamishirou not far away, puzzled—how could this guy still be out and about like nothing's happened?
Meanwhile, with Kamishirou—
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! How could money from my pocket leave just like that? And don't forget, you still owe me 400,000 yen!"
Σ(っ °Д °;)っ
Hearing the number "400,000," Iori jumped in shock. After thinking it through carefully, he realized it was more like 300,000 at most—even if things got really ridiculous.
(?°?д°?)
"How the hell did you calculate 400,000?!"
"Huh? Don't you guys have interest where you're from? Come on, Kitahara—I believe in you. You're still young, you've got plenty of time to rack up a million in debt!"
Kamishirou gave Iori a thumbs-up full of encouragement. Truthfully, even he had forgotten the exact amount Iori owed him. These things needed proper IOUs, after all.
But that wasn't the point—aiming high was the strategy! The excess could be chalked up as interest!
"You bastard!"
Iori grabbed Kamishirou by the collar, face twisted in fury, while silently raising the price for blackmail in his head.
Kamishirou looked on in surprise as Iori's expression suddenly turned from furious to... kindly.
Even the normally unfazed Kamishirou thought he was looking at a monk from a temple.
Then Iori, breaking from his usual tone, patted Kamishirou on the shoulder and said gently:
"Kamashiro , I heard some interesting things about your love life back in high school... from someone at my part-time job."
"And by chance, I stumbled upon a certain forum..."
"A forum that just so happens to have a post putting a bounty on your head..."
"So tell me, what do you think would happen if someone were to post your current school, class, and home address there?"
???????‵?
Seeing the growing horror on Kamishirou's face, Iori's own grin turned downright sinister.
"You absolute bastard! Do you realize what you're doing?! You'll get Izu University blown up!"
Cold sweat rolled down Kamishirou's forehead. He was genuinely panicking now.
If this got out, he could already picture Tokyo's news outlets airing "Wanted: Outlaws" featuring him and a few others.
"…You've got a pretty accurate idea of yourself, huh."
So this guy does know how much of a degenerate he was in the past.
"Alright, just agree to our terms and none of this will happen."
Iori waved it off nonchalantly. He didn't really believe Izu University would get bombed—never underestimate the virgin delinquents of a high-tier university!
Those were intellectually elite delinquents!
Kamishirou's expression soured—this time, he might really be out of options.
Maybe he should just write off the debt…
But still—
The thought of handing over cash to Kitahara filled him with pain. (?????)
Wait!
There might still be a chance. These two had probably just discovered the forum—they might not be familiar with all the details of his "adventures." That meant there was room to maneuver!
Kamishirou's lips curled into a smirk full of contempt.
"Go ahead, post it if you want. You probably didn't know—but I've used that tactic so many times. The folks on the forum will just think it's fake info anyway…"
"Cool, then we'll post it right now."
"Oh yeah, should we throw in a pic of you with your Izu University class too?"
Bang!
Kamishirou's head slammed onto the table. His voice trembled with sincerity.
"I was wrong! I was completely wrong! Just tell me how much you want!"
He was crushed. Who the hell taught these two maniacs how to take pictures?!
Seeing Kamishirou so cooperative, Iori smugly put away his phone.
"Well, it's not that much really—50,000 yen plus the original IOU."
"Huh? Just 50,000?"
Kohei blinked in surprise. He thought they'd be extorting a lot more.
Even Kamishirou looked shocked. He'd been bracing himself for a massive payout—and it was just that?
Wait, what did I even do to get blackmailed?!
Completely lost, Kamishirou fell into a daze…
Seeing their reactions, Iori just shrugged.
"It's not like I'm a thug or anything. I just couldn't stand how full of girls this guy was."
Seeing that Kamishirou hadn't actually done anything horrible, Iori felt satisfied. As for the money?
Well, Kamishirou's family was rich anyway.
Fifty thousand yen just about covered Iori's Tokyo trip, and maybe a few souvenirs.
Why not really go after Kamishirou?
He glanced at his own post that had reached #2 on the forum's rankings and smiled.
That was already revenge enough—he'd just wait until he got the money, then leak Kamishirou's info anyway.
"You should've said that earlier! Just 50,000? Easy!"
Unbound, Kamishirou quickly handed Iori five Fukuzawa bills—a quick and efficient adult-level transaction.
As for the IOU...
"Not on me. I'll give it to you when I get back!"
"Cool, bro~"
Having received the money, Iori's social status instantly swapped with Kamishirou's. He could finally spend!
Kohei looked at them in disbelief.
Was a 400,000 yen IOU really settled this casually?
"Aren't you afraid Kamishirou might go back on it?"
(′｀;)?
"Why would I? I never planned on paying it anyway."
"…Then why'd you bother settling it with this deal?"
"Just felt like not settling it would bring bad luck. But thinking it over, whatever—I'm broke. Not like I could pay it even if I wanted to."
As for Kamishirou—he didn't really care either.
A 400,000 yen IOU?
Eh, rip it up and earn it back later. There's still plenty of time left in college.
What?
400,000 is a lot?
Yeah, it is—but you still need actual cash to make it count.
Kamishirou estimated that uncle Kitahara's might tolerate up to a 300,000 yen IOU.
Anything beyond that and he'd probably just toss Kitahara into Kamishiro family's tea farm as unpaid labor.
That way, both the IOU and the "employment problem" would be resolved—a win-win.
Too bad poor Iori had no idea his future job had already been decided.
Kohei: (???)
Watching his two friends grin at each other, he felt left out again.
Unforgivable!
When would he finally get to be included?
Wait no—
Why would I want to join in on this crap?!
As a normal person, he couldn't possibly mix with these two morons.
Besides—they were in a maid café, and it was one with "little sister" maids at that!
Why was he even thinking about this nonsense?
He should be enjoying himself!
???????‵?
After the "misunderstanding" was resolved, all three of them had big smiles on their faces—perfect time to take a little break at the café.
"So, why did you guys come to Tokyo, anyway?"
Kamishiro asked the question that had been bugging him most. He still didn't understand why he had been extorted out of the blue.
If it was a huge amount, coming all the way to Tokyo might make sense—but just 50,000 yen?
They could've waited for him to go home and done it then.
Faced with their financial backer's question, Iori answered with a straight face and complete nonsense:
"It's kinda embarrassing to say, but… we came to protect you from evil women who might harm you!"
"That's right!"
(???)
"…Do I look like a total idiot to you?"
The biggest threats were clearly the two of you! You kidnapped me the second we met—I seriously thought my life was over.
He was worried they'd found out he used their identities to register for the Big Bird Spin Club and was ready to get busted. Nearly had a heart attack.
Of course, Kamishiro had zero interest in that club. He just worked as a middleman selling information for a profit.
Use his own identity? No way. If that ever got exposed, it'd be the ultimate public shaming.
Still… having friends really did feel nice. He could finally develop his info-broker side business without worry.
From what Iori said, Kamishiro had pretty much figured out their real reason for coming to Tokyo.
Poor, innocent virgin dreams~
Kamishiro didn't have the heart to crush them. Since Iori hadn't tried to extort him for a ridiculous sum, he let it go and changed the subject.
"So it's just you two here?"
"Not quite. Chisa and the Cakey went off somewhere else. Wanna go find them?"
Iori said now that he had money, he could finally join their shopping trip!
But Kamishiro didn't feel like moving. He thought the café was perfect—especially for hiding from Hanabi-chan's wrath.
"I—"
"What are you talking about! You two, remember—we're in a maid café!"
Kamishiro didn't even get to finish his sentence before Kyohei cut him off, full of exasperation and righteous indignation.
He couldn't take it anymore. He turned toward Mafuyu-chan and called out sweetly:
"Mafuyu-chan~ We're ready over here, let's continue~"
(′-ι_-｀)
Kamishirou and Iori stood with black lines forming over their heads, staring at the pervert in front of them. As expected, once the combination of maid and little sister traits appeared, Kohei completely lost his mind.
But...
They weren't really busy anyway, so trying it out occasionally wasn't too bad.
Kamishirou was even thinking about how to rekindle things with Mafuyu-chan again~
However, Mafuyu-chan didn't immediately switch into work mode this time. Instead, she looked at Kamishirou with an extremely strange expression.
(′｀;)?
"Is there something on my face?"
Mafuyu-chan's gaze made Kamishirou's scalp tingle. He pulled a mirror out from behind his rear and checked himself carefully.
"Nope. Still devastatingly handsome."
"..."
That single line successfully derailed Mafuyu-chan's thoughts. She pressed her forehead in frustration.
"When are you going to fix that narcissism of yours?"
(??? ? ???)
Kamishirou tilted his lips in protest. "I'm just stating a fact. Why are you looking at me like I'm some kind of idiot?"
Mafuyu-chan rolled her eyes and said mockingly, "No, I just didn't expect you to be so bold now. Haven't seen you in a while, and your guts have grown~"
???
"What do you mean? I've always been pretty bold."
Kamishirou was confused. Did someone find out about his secret identity as an Ultraman saving the world?
!!!
Iori, who was originally just browsing the menu, suddenly tensed. He had a strong urge to run.
The "bold" that Mafuyu-chan was talking about couldn't possibly be related to that post he made, right?
That's a kid, isn't it?!
That height, that build—how could she possibly be a high schooler?!
And just so happened to attend that exact high school!
Wait a minute.
Mafuyu-chan knows Shirou…
Iori facepalmed. He should've thought of this earlier. Since they knew each other, odds were high they went to the same high school.
Damn it! He'd heard Kamishirou was super unpopular at school, with everyone wanting to punish him on sight.
Then why the hell do these two seem to be getting along just fine?! (Though it was mostly bickering and sarcasm.)
All Iori could do now was hope Kamishirou didn't recognize his new online alias.
He probably wouldn't… right? Iori did change everything about his identity!
…
"Looks like you still don't know… Poor thing~"
Mafuyu-chan grinned mischievously as she took out her phone and brought up the post that Iori had written, holding it right in front of Kamishirou's eyes.
"Scumbag Kamishirou spotted in... Tokyo?!"
Kamishirou, who moments ago was fearless, turned pale as a ghost after reading the post.
Especially the comments—Kamishirou was no longer a student at A Certain high school. The school wouldn't protect him anymore.
Not to mention, he used to have a couple of close teacher friends...
"Mafuyu-chan, I know I was wrong before, but you can't do this to me. This is basically a death sentence!"
Kamishirou looked at Mafuyu-chan with grief, unable to believe his former bed partner could be so heartless.
((?｀ェ′?)つ
Mafuyu-chan didn't waste time. She slammed a karate chop on the still-swollen bump on his head.
"Ow! You hit me again?! (*?????)"
Kamishirou gave a full performance of the male version of innocent youth—so delicate and pitiful that even Kaho-chan felt like comforting him.
"Mafuyu-neesan…"
GLARE!
Kaho-chan took a step forward, only to be scared back by Mafuyu-chan's icy glare. No matter how handsome he was, Mafuyu-chan was scarier. After all, she wasn't some flirty bimbo—just a harmless otaku with a thing for dying her hair blonde~
"Enough. Don't act like such a pain in the ass. I'm not taking the blame for this. Look carefully at the poster's username. That's not even my account. I've never seen it before—probably some freshman."
Mafuyu-chan had become immune to Shirou's antics. She shoved the phone back in his face so he could see it clearly.
The cold touch of the phone helped snap Kamishirou back to reality. Brain rebooted, he realized he had wrongly accused Mafuyu-chan.
If she really wanted to harm him, those internet vultures would've already caught him.
"Ahem, sorry, Mafuyu-chan. It was just too sudden, I didn't react properly. I thought I had taken every precaution when I arrived."
He gave her an awkward grin—he might still need a favor from her soon.
Faced with a scumbag's apology, Mafuyu-chan simply scoffed. "Fine. But you should really take a look. You've made a lot of enemies, huh? It's been months, and people still hate your guts."
"Sigh…"
Kamishirou sighed. It was absurd—he just stole their 'goddess,' and they're acting like he committed a war crime.
These guys were all interested in dating and wasting time. He was actually helping them by preventing it and letting them focus on their studies. Instead of being grateful, they want to lynch him?
High schoolers really were too energetic. In the adult world, no one would care about this stuff.
He wished he could write Scum's Wish himself and make these hormone-driven animals read it.
Too bad...
If he really did that, Hanabi-chan would absolutely kill him—in a very cruel, very painful way.
Anyway, now's not the time to think about that. He needed to find out which bastard exposed him.
A group he couldn't fight, but one-on-one, he was unbeatable!
Time to find this snitch and show them what it means to be a well-educated delinquent.
Now for the big reveal. Let's see which lovely idiot it was…
And then he saw the ID that made him want to draw his sword:
"Super Handsome Mister Universe Yamamoto"
With Yamamoto's half-naked selfie as the profile picture.
(′-ι_-｀)
Staring at the ID and avatar, Kamishirou froze like a crashed system.
In one second, his mind went from the birth of the universe to the end of Earth, then finally rebooted.
He realized: Yamamoto probably wouldn't join this forum. Even if he did, he wouldn't know Kamishirou was in Tokyo.
Next, factor in that Kitahara (Iori) was here—and he knew Kamishirou was in Tokyo.
So, the truth was clear…
Kamishirou turned a murderous gaze toward the sneaky Iori, who was trying to slip away!
メ
"You bastard! Do you realize what you've done?!"
He grabbed Iori by the collar and shook him wildly. He couldn't believe this guy actually acted on it!
(;?＿?)
Iori clutched the five Fukuzawa bills he'd just gotten tightly to his chest. "It wasn't me! Look! The name's obviously Yamamoto!"
"You think I'm stupid?! Do you know how much trouble this is? You think I look like this just to be fashionable?!"
So scummy—pushing all the blame onto Yamamoto!
Kamishirou was in despair. It was really turning into a survival game now. Damn it, he didn't even play PUBG.
"Calm down, Shirou. It might just be a misunderstanding!"
Kohei stepped in just in time and sat Kamishirou down to cool off.
"Yeah, who'd go out of their way just to find you? Maybe they're all bluffing."
Iori chimed in guiltily. He didn't expect them to find the scumbag this fast. If he'd known, he would've waited until after the blackmail to make the post.
"No way! Those guys are totally serious!"
Kamishirou slammed the table. He had already seen the search photos in the comments.
"You two have to take responsibility!"
Faced with their friend's plea, Iori and Kohei shrugged.
"Take responsibility how? I've barely even been to Tokyo, okay?"
"Isn't Tokyo your turf? Just hide somewhere!"
Then they could "accidentally" leak the hiding spot~
The two shared evil grins. It was rare to see Kamishirou eat dirt like this.
"Easy for you to say! Hiding where… Mafuyu-chan!"
In his panic, Kamishirou suddenly turned to Mafuyu-chan with eyes lighting up.
He still had her! If she hadn't turned him in yet, maybe she'd let him hide at her place!
"Dame! Don't even think about it, you scumbag."
Before he could finish his plea, Mafuyu-chan flatly rejected him. "Why would I take you in? You're lucky I haven't turned you in myself."
"Don't be like that, Mafuyu-chan! Think of the times we spent together. You're my only hope!"
He gave her a pitiful look, like a stray puppy.
"Dame!"
But Mafuyu-chan wasn't buying it. Besides, her house wasn't an option. If she brought him home, her mom would ask a million questions.
Better to let this scumbag fend for himself.
"This can't be…"
Kamishirou clutched his chest. Was he going to start another runaway arc? He regretted not quietly publishing his Tokyo rental info when he left…
At the side, Kaho-chan couldn't help but pity his pale face. She hesitantly spoke up:
"Well… if you stay in the back of the shop…"
!!!
Her words revived Kamishirou like a defibrillator. That's right! If he stayed in the kitchen, he could avoid detection!
"Thank you so much, twin-tailed angel!"
He clasped Kaho-chan's hands sincerely. "Would you be willing…"
STAB!
"Ah! My butt!"
Before he could finish, his rear was assaulted again—third time today.
Mafuyu-chan stood protectively in front of Kaho like a knight.
"Don't you dare make a move on Kaho!"
(?????)
"I… I just wanted to ask where your manager is."
Kamishirou looked wronged. He could read the room—he wouldn't make a move until this crisis passed, obviously.
Kaho, flustered from the sudden contact with a handsome guy, stammered, "The manager... hasn't woken up yet, I think…"