Chapter: 8. Unexpected Events
Time rewinds to not long ago.
“…Club activities?” Kanade murmurs hesitantly to himself.
The homeroom teacher had reminded him in the faculty office that every student at Starlight Academy must participate in club activities after school.
As a transfer student, Kanade had about a week to decide which club to join.
However, as someone who is used to solitude, Kanade planned to use these days of visiting clubs for new students to make a decision as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, once this wave of excitement passed, he would have to visit each club on his own—just imagining that scene made his stomach ache.
Fortunately, the homeroom teacher was considerate and handed him the club flyers usually given only to new students.
“Well… let’s take this opportunity today to blend in with the new students and check out the clubs!”
Kanade encouraged himself in his heart, attempting to emulate those cheerful students, boosting his motivation.
However, he quickly realized that this only made him more conspicuous.
After all, among a crowd of new students, he was the only one wearing the red tie that symbolized a second-year student.
Worse still, his extraordinary ability, which was far from ordinary, made him acutely aware of the emotional fluctuations of those around him whenever they cast curious glances at him.
Even though Kanade could barely control this ability, he still found it difficult to adapt.
…
…
Suppressing his discomfort, Kanade nearly roamed around the entire campus, avoiding the popular and crowded sports clubs, and ultimately arrived at the quieter west wing of the academic building.
His final target was the one club he had been particularly keen on from the start—Supernatural Research Club.
“Excuse me… is anyone there?”
Kanade gently knocked on the old wooden door in front of him, only to notice that it wasn’t locked. The door was slightly ajar, and a faint light filtered through the gap between the door frame and the door, as if silently inviting him in.
He couldn’t help but remember the rumors mentioned by students from other clubs—
The Supernatural Research Club at Starlight Academy had indeed experienced many phenomena that science could not explain. Although the teachers dismissed such claims, many students had their own firsthand experiences.
“Supernatural phenomena, huh…”
Kanade whispered. But such rumors didn’t deter him; in fact, they made him even more excited.
After all, he himself possessed abilities that science could not explain.
—If it’s here, perhaps he could find answers about himself…
With this thought in mind, Kanade unconsciously reached out and gently pushed open the door of the Supernatural Research Club.
What greeted his eyes was a row of old bookshelves filled with timeworn books and various trinkets, all covered in a thick layer of dust, clearly neglected for a long time.
“Um… is anyone there?” Kanade inquired again.
There was still no response from inside.
“…Is no one here?”
He curiously stepped into the clubroom.
One door away.
Earlier, while standing in the hallway, Kanade could hear the loud voices of students in the campus, but the moment he crossed the threshold of the Supernatural Research Club, he sensed that this sound had seemingly disappeared.
In its place was a silence completely opposite to the ruckus—no, it was strange, accompanied by subtle sounds of rubbing, dripping water, and breath…
Within barely a second, Kanade understood where these sounds were emanating from—not because his mind worked quickly, but because upon entering the Supernatural Research Club, his line of sight happened to align with a gap between piled books, allowing him to catch a glimpse of what was behind the shelves.
In the dim and cramped clubroom, there lingered a faint yet enchanting fragrance in the air.
Before him stood a beautiful girl with black hair, leaning against a worn, long table, her legs splayed in a not-so-elegant manner while her upright upper body leaned back lazily.
The girl had an incredibly beautiful face that could captivate anyone, and right now, it was flushed with a hue of red, strands of her dark hair cascading down her shoulders, highlighting her fair and translucent skin.
Kanade instantly recognized her; it was the girl he had bumped into this morning, and she was also his classmate, “Hoshimiya Nagisa.” He was surprised that such a pure and adorable beauty appeared in the Supernatural Research Club, but this surprise was quickly overshadowed by a bigger shock—
Compared to this morning, the girl’s uniform was a bit disheveled, to the point where her chest almost spilled over from the collar, gently rising and falling with her breath. Having had the fortune to feel its weight firsthand earlier today, Kanade couldn’t help but recall that top-tier sensation just by looking at it.
His rational mind told him to turn away immediately, but unfortunately, that was the best moment lost.
Taking advantage of his distraction, the Supernatural Research Club’s door slowly closed behind him.
A crisp locking sound followed.
This meant he could not quietly leave without disturbing the girl.
The slender waist of the girl was gently swaying back and forth, her long legs wrapped tightly in black stockings shimmered under the light, and her cherry-pink lips slightly parted, emitting tiny gasps.
Even if Kanade pretended to be oblivious to what was happening in front of him, the wet sounds coming from between the girl’s legs, caused by her movements, had already made everything clear.
—He never expected that the seemingly innocent girl was actually…
Kanade felt his throat go dry, his eyes uncontrollably fixated below the girl’s slim waist.
As the girl’s movements became more pronounced and her breaths grew heavier, she appeared unable to endure some itchiness, biting her lower lip, while her small feet, wrapped in black, involuntarily stiffened; the short skirt was hiked up, revealing a body contour, along with the white fabric beneath that matched her pure appearance.
Unfortunately, this moment of purity had now turned into a companion of guilt.
Kanade felt his body heating up uncontrollably, as if his rationality was draining away at an alarming rate; his gaze was fixated on the girl rubbing against the rough corner of the table, the skin beneath the black stockings had turned a faint shade of pink.
Just then, a slight noise shattered this enchanting scene.
It turned out, in his engrossed state, Kanade accidentally bumped into the shelf.
And at the instant he heard the sound, the girl’s body jolted, and after a brief but lingering moment, she suddenly toppled backward, as if dazed—
Seeing this, Kanade didn’t spare a thought for the circumstances, hurriedly dashed out from behind the bookshelf, catching the girl just in time.
“Are you… okay?”
Though Kanade felt some pain in a certain place, he immediately reflexively checked on the girl in his arms.
…
In his embrace, Nagisa was breathing rapidly; the crimson on her face had yet to fade away, and now through the mist in her eyes, her gaze seemed to cast a sticky thread toward Kanade.
She couldn’t quite grasp the reason for that moment just now, nor did she have enough time to reflect on it.
Because at this very moment, from the boy holding her, she heard the words—
“Eh~ so it turns out this little kitty likes to be watched, huh?”
“!?”
Upon hearing this, Nagisa trembled, almost losing herself again.
—W-what’s going on!? I-I can’t believe Tsukimi Kanade is this type of person! Could it be that his kindness and honesty are just an act!?
—But shouldn’t he be the protagonist of a galgame? Is he really the kind of scummy protagonist from a ntr galgame?!
“Let go… of me…..”
Nagisa instinctively tried to break free from Kanade’s embrace, but for some reason, she felt her limbs go weak, her waist ached, and she couldn’t summon any strength at all.
Thus, her struggles appeared to Kanade more like a charming pout.
Moreover, her earlier words transformed in Kanade’s ears into—
“Y-yes~ I’m sorry~ I’m just a big pervert who likes to pretend to be pure in front of others~ Please punish this bad girl properly~”
“!?”
—So, Hoshimiya is actually this kind of person!?
—Clearly, she looks so pure and cute, but deep down, she’s a total perverted masochist… how indecent!
Realizing this made Kanade feel that his rationality was rapidly evaporating.
He clearly didn’t want to take advantage of her—after all, in his perception, only people who love each other can do that.
But for some reason, at this moment, his body seemed to be beyond his control.
He initially intended to release the girl in his arms, but his free hand instead found its way to caress her flushed cheek.
Still not fully recovered from the lingering sensation, Nagisa’s whole body was far more sensitive than usual, and such a touch made her involuntarily emit sweet sounds.
“W-wait,
wait, I…..” Nagisa weakly attempted to resist, but her gaze was fixated on Kanade’s chest.
“I’m still a virgin, so… please be gentle~” The girl’s explicit words echoed in Kanade’s ears.
He felt his brain nearing emptiness, his senses enveloped by the sweetness exuding from the girl.
Uncontrollably, his hand reached to the girl’s chest and started unbuttoning—
Above their heads.
A small, exquisite hourglass was silently counting down.
The pink star sands inside were gradually running low.
And the breathing beneath the table grew more hurried, heavy, and sweet.
Nagisa, as a monster tamer controlling magical beasts, did not possess significantly stronger physical abilities than an ordinary person.
Plus, having just undergone a grand release.
She had been suppressed the entire time until the hourglass completed its final countdown—
…
…
【Rewind！！！！！！】
Tick-tock—tick-tock—
Clad in disheveled attire, Nagisa appeared in the depths of the universe surrounded by stars.
This was her own Kaurora’s Box.
“I can’t believe… I would…”
Nagisa struggled to get up, but the previous activity left her senses tinged with pain in her waist, and her legs felt hard-pressed to close.
“Is this the power of a galgame protagonist… I just went in… but it was more than what I experienced myself…”
Thinking back to the scenes lingering in her memory, Nagisa wished she could find a hole to hide in.
How could a full-grown man end up wriggling and fawning to a boy much younger than him—damn it, it’s all the hourglass’s fault! I forgot that the hourglass would also affect the protagonist…
Moreover, the more magically enriched a person is, the more susceptible they are to the influence of extraordinary powers.
So during the later part of their interaction, Nagisa lost her rationality much faster than Kanade.
In the end, if she hadn’t run out of strength, she might have flipped and ridden him—ugh! Kill me, kill me!!!
Nagisa crazily headbutted the stars beneath her.
“Want to do it again?”
The resplendent starry halo trembled before the trembling Nagisa.
“Of course, I want to load the game!!! What about my purity and dignity!!!”
Nagisa blushed, raising her head to shout.
“Load to the morning of the same day! This dumb plan PASS!!! Let Garuda rain instead!”
“Now that I think about it, self-soothing in front of a boy I just met can’t be considered just wicked; it’s more like sheep entering the tiger’s den!!!”
Volume Four
Prologue. A New Stage
—The World Line of the Original Work—
【Dusk Street · In Front of a High-End Apartment Complex】
The school bell had long faded into the air, and the sky was tinted a deep orange.
I walked alone on the way home, my shadow stretching long behind me in the sunset.
An ordinary day.
Unlike other elementary school students who were picked up by their parents, I had gotten used to going home alone since I was little, and I enjoyed wandering aimlessly on detours, after all, the place I was going back to wasn’t my “home.”
Perhaps because I often took long routes, when the patrolling police saw an elementary school student alone on the street, they could recognize it as a strange kid named “Tsukimi Kanade.”
Just as I was distracted, someone suddenly bumped my shoulder.
“Ah, sorry, kid.”
The one who bumped into me was a man dressed like a mover.
Only then did I notice I had unintentionally come to the city center.
On my left was the most upscale apartment in Kawanokuchi City.
A move-in truck from a moving company was to my right, and several men dressed as laborers were busy moving furniture—heavy wooden cabinets and securely sealed boxes, one of which appeared to have the family name “Hoshimiya” written on it.
The man who apologized to me glanced back, noting I was fine, casually handed me a candy, then hurried to lift another box without further words.
I rubbed my shoulder and was about to leave quickly when I unintentionally overheard their chatter.
“…This family is unfortunate.”
“Yeah, the Hoshimiya family… I heard many years ago there was a daughter who passed away, and recently the eldest daughter…”
“I heard it was an accident… the only one left now is a son who’s still in elementary school.”
“No wonder they want to move away from this city…”
A family in misfortune.
But I didn’t feel very moved inside.
The only intersection I had with this family was probably that I had received a piece of candy because of it.
As I pondered these trivial matters, I cast the moving truck far behind me.
Continuing my life in Kawanokuchi City.
…
…
—————–
—▍▍▍▍’s World Line—
The night was as thick as ink, shrouding this decaying city.
This is a third-world world plagued by constant warfare.
The streets were filled with the remnants of gunpowder, and the sound of sporadic gunfire could be heard from afar, like whispers in the wind.
Broken neon lights flickered, casting fragmented shadows on the ground; dust danced in the night breeze, blowing into a chaotic bar.
At the bar’s entrance, a weathered metal sign hung askew, vaguely legible as the name of a former establishment.
Upon pushing the door open, the mixed scent of smoke and sweat enveloped me.
Under the dim light, patrons sat in small groups, either whispering to each other or loudly shouting; the air was thick with the scent of cheap alcohol, and the floor was littered with cigarette butts and shattered glass.
The owner, sporting a wild hairstyle, was polishing glasses behind the bar, a rugged semi-automatic rifle resting beside him.
Yet, one figure stood out amidst the chaos of the loud bar—a black-haired girl sitting at the center of the bar.
Her long hair, as deep as the night sky, hung down like silk, contrasting with her fair and translucent skin. She cast her head down, her gaze somber, her fingertips lightly tracing the rough surface of the table as if she were waiting for something or someone.
The dim light painted her figure, outlining her alluring curves in this bar filled with male hormones, exuding a deadly charm.
Surrounding gazes stirred restlessly.
A few men whispered to one another, their eyes lingering on her, revealing raw desires and temptations.
Finally, one bald man, unable to hold himself back any longer, staggered to his feet, a flippant smile plastered on his face.
He slowly approached her, swaying his unfinished drink in his hand, mumbling indistinct words.
“Drinking alone is so boring, huh?”
He propped his elbow on the bar, leaning in with a taunting gaze.
The girl did not respond, nor did she even glance his way.
“What’s wrong, Remy! You look even more bored than drinking alone!” The other men around laughed loudly.
The bald man, provoked by the ridicule from his peers, suddenly pulled out a black pistol from his jacket and slammed it heavily on the bar.
Click—
The sound of the gun hitting the wooden surface rang out clearly amidst the noise of the bar.
“Don’t act so aloof, gorgeous.” The bald man licked his lips, his gaze provocative: “You have two options, either serve this gun well, or serve—”
But before he could finish, a strong arm suddenly shot out from the side, gripping his gun-wielding wrist with such force that the bald man winced in pain.
“I’m giving you a choice, put away your gun and get out of here.”
The sudden interloper was a man in a tattered suit; his face was sharp, with defined features, and a strong jawline that outlined a tenacious silhouette. His gray hair was slightly unkempt, marked by years of dust and smoke, casually falling over his forehead but not hiding his deep azure eyes.
The bald man paused for a moment and then burst into laughter: “Oh, you’re planning to play the hero, huh?”
He quickly signaled to the brutish men behind him.
A row of muscular men stood up.
However, the gray-haired man seemed unfazed; his deep eyes remained fixed on the bald man, a playful smirk curling at the corner of his mouth.
“Actually…” His tone was calm yet laced with mockery, “I’m here to save you.”
At those words, radiant azure light erupted from his eyes.
The surrounding air froze in an instant.
“Don’t provoke things you can’t afford to…” The gray-haired man stated, his gaze flicking to the black-haired girl next to him, who still hadn’t lifted her head.
“Buddy, if you want to keep your life to enjoy another drink, I suggest you take my advice now.”
The azure light illuminated the bald man’s face.
“…Is she one of them?” The bald man’s drunkenness seemed to vanish in an instant as he trembled, his voice strained.
This was the biological warning color, similar to vividly patterned skins of toxic animals.
In this war-torn world of lawlessness, those who possessed glowing eyes were known as “angels,” and without exception, they were entities of ominous nature.
Keeping away from these “angels” was a tacit understanding among anyone who aimed to survive.
“…” The gray-haired man didn’t respond to this inquiry.
However, his expression seemed to silently say: If only she were just an angel.
The bald man relaxed his grip on the gun.
“Glad you understand.” The gray-haired man released his hold.
Now the bald man hurriedly fled alongside his brutish friends, leaving behind the bar owner, who continued to wipe glasses.
“Do me a favor, I’ve rented the whole place.” The gray-haired man tossed a wad of cash to the owner.
With that, the owner’s gaze lost its magical luster as he retreated.
The noisy bar was left with just the two of them.
“Sorry, it’s hard to find better formal wear in a place like this.” The gray-haired man adjusted the collar of his suit, which had collected layers of dust, creating a cloud of yellowish particles.
This stood in stark contrast to the black-haired girl before him, dressed in an exquisite evening gown.
“I wonder what a beauty like you…” The gray-haired man surveyed the girl before him discreetly, swallowing the term “monster.”
“Kayne Aldrich, 35 years old, Cuban, employed by the global security company ‘Oblivion Shield,’ former A-level psychic at Starlight Academy…”
The girl finally spoke for the first time tonight, and her melodious voice didn’t bring Kayne any joy but rather a sense of unease and chill spreading within him.
“…What do you want?”
“Don’t be nervous; I’m here to hire you and your team.” The black-haired girl slowly turned her head, revealing a breathtaking face that had been partially concealed by her side hair.
“I need a valid false identity to infiltrate Starlight Academy, and I believe you can help me, Mr. Kayne.”
“…What if I refuse?”
“You won’t, because—”
Suddenly, multiple magical reactions surged around Kayne, each powerful enough to cause ordinary psychics to faint. The small bar was suddenly inhabited by a multitude of fantasy monsters: a massive bird made of lightning curled up like an octopus in a booth, shadowy figures stood beside the bar…
They were no ordinary fellows; based on his past battle experience, Kayne estimated they were all rank 8 threats or above, wielding a certain power of authority.
These fantasy monsters seemed to emerge from the shadows of the black-haired girl.
—Fantasy monsters wanting to infiltrate Starlight Academy?
—What are they planning?
Just as Kayne thought they would use his life to threaten him, the black-haired girl uttered more words that shocked him even further—
“Because—this is a request from the ‘Elemental Sovereign.’”
As she spoke, the black-haired girl reached up to her eyes and removed the colored contact lenses she had been wearing.
Her eyes were as black as the night sky, yet the irises were filled with cracks, resembling a shattered starry sky, with twinkling starlight peeking through—
“Speaking of which, I still haven’t introduced myself.”
“My name is Tsukimi Nagisa. I look forward to working with you.”
