And on top of that, the two girls in front of them were police officers? Not only were they not wearing police uniforms, they were also so young, looking not much older than them.
Momioka Risa was still suspicious, but seeing the lineup they brought, Kitamura Kaori was already guessing whether these two girls might be people connected to Hachiman. Then, hearing the other party directly call out her name, she immediately believed them and hurriedly said, "I'm Kitamura Kaori. I came to Saeki-san's house because of club matters. I didn't expect Saeki-san to..."
"Ms. Kitamura, did they know you were coming to find them? Were the two of them waiting for you together at home?"
Seeing that Kitamura Kaori was about to describe the entire process of the incident in detail, Inoue Takina calmly interrupted her and asked directly.
"This… I don't know. They only found out I was coming after we arrived. She just told me to come in alone."
Kitamura Kaori froze for a moment and explained in a low voice.
"Not a spur-of-the-moment act. Premeditated crime. Deliberately luring the victim to their home."
Inoue Takina nodded, writing by hand as she continued to question her, "Did they carry out any coercive actions against you?"
"Huh? Uh… when I realized something was wrong and wanted to leave, Saeki-san and her boyfriend blocked me together…"
Seeing Inoue Takina's notes, Kitamura Kaori felt something was off and hesitated as she spoke softly.
"Gang crime. Using violence against the victim and unlawfully detaining them."
Inoue Takina nodded again and continued recording on the report in her hand.
"...", Kitamura Kaori.
The three beside her who barely dared to breathe had all figured it out as well.
No matter how Kitamura Kaori answered, the girl was going to directly convict Saeki Ai and her boyfriend inside.
'This… isn't this a bit too outrageous?'
Although it was true that Kitamura Kaori had almost been assaulted, and if Hachiman hadn't suddenly appeared, there was nothing they could have done outside but panic, and Kitamura Kaori would definitely have been forced by the two inside.
But if Kitamura Kaori weren't the victim, and the two inside were the victims instead, could they also be convicted like this?
'That is way too terrifying…'
"Gulp!"
Momioka Risa carefully swallowed, afraid that Inoue Takina and Nishikigi Chisato might look over.
They seemed to have touched the other side of this world.
"Report. We found a highly stimulating animal-grade aphr0disiac with severe side effects in the target's backpack."
At this moment, a person wearing a tightly sealed protective suit walked out, holding a transparent bag.
"They used dr*gs too. Understood. Once cleanup is finished, withdraw."
Inoue Takina glanced at the animal aphr0disiac inside the transparent bag, casually recorded it in the report, then told the cleanup personnel to pack up and leave.
After that, she looked again at Kitamura Kaori, Sairenji Haruna, and Miura Yumiko.
"Thank you for your cooperation. The record is complete. You may leave now."
"Just forget about what happened here. We'll take care of the rest~"
Only after Inoue Takina finished questioning did Nishikigi Chisato, who was beside her, cheerfully greet Sairenji Haruna and Momioka Risa with a smile.
"Of course, if you're really concerned about the follow-up, you can ask Mr. Hachiman's maid, Miss Shion. Takina will coordinate the follow-up handling with Miss Shion."
As a pacifist, Nishikigi Chisato still hadn't gotten used to killing. Back when she was in the cult organization, she didn't know why she followed Hachiman's words and killed, but after returning to normal life, she went back to how she was.
That said, hearing Hachiman say that the two criminals in this incident were only beaten crippled and left unable to care for themselves, she felt she could accept it. Even coming along now didn't make her uncomfortable.
She just didn't want anyone to die. She wouldn't stop criminals from being punished.
Even though, for Lycoris, killing was an extremely ordinary thing, as commonplace as eating and drinking.
"Bye-bye~ See you next time~"
Nishikigi Chisato cheerfully waved at Kitamura Kaori, Sairenji Haruna, Miura Yumiko, and Momioka Risa, then quickened her pace to catch up with Inoue Takina. Together, they got into the vehicle and left.
Only Sairenji Haruna, Kitamura Kaori, and the others were left staring at each other.
They had thought they were just going to bring Saeki-san back to the club to continue training. Who would have thought so many shocking things would happen all at once?
Majima Yuuri suddenly disappearing on the spot, Kitamura Kaori encountering danger, two mysterious girls bringing people to clean everything up.
And the common thread behind all these things… was Hachiman.
"Miura, you don't know those two girls either? The Service Club you and Majima Yuuri are in has a lot to do with Hachiman-kun, right? Hachiman is that amazing and you didn't know?", Momioka Risa once again turned her gaze toward Miura Yumiko.
This time, Sairenji Haruna didn't stop Momioka Risa, because she also really wanted to know what was going on.
"...", Miura Yumiko, who was being stared at by all three, remained silent.
Of course she knew Hachiman was amazing, but what she knew wasn't like this at all.
'The Service Club…'
Not only Nijika and Marin, but even the deeply hidden Majima Yuuri had joined the Service Club. And now, even these two girls who looked mysterious and powerful were very likely members of the Service Club too.
It seemed that no matter what, she had to go take a look at the Service Club tonight.
She needed to see what Nijika had actually experienced in the Service Club, why she suddenly became so close to Hachiman, and even only told her after being completely eaten by him.
———
The SUV that had departed had already split up from the truck and was driving alone on the road.
Nishikigi Chisato was in the driver's seat, while Inoue Takina continued transcribing reports in the passenger seat.
"Takina, why are you writing another report? Didn't you already write one just now?"
Nishikigi Chisato glanced at Inoue Takina, whose jet-black long hair fell over her shoulders, covering half her face, her eyes still fixed tightly on the report.
"Headquarters needs to know about our contact with Mr. Hachiman, as well as the reason and process for working for him. We can't use the same report as the incident handling."
Inoue Takina replied coldly without lifting her head.
In fact, two reports was already very few. One was mainly to report the handling results to Mr. Hachiman and headquarters.
They didn't need to care about the police side. Whether to directly assign criminal charges or forward the cleaners' on-site report was fine.
"Ah… headquarters needs one too… that's rough on you, Takina…"
Hearing that, Nishikigi Chisato was a bit speechless.
.
.
.
Afraid that if she kept talking, Inoue Takina would ask her to help write reports, Nishikigi Chisato stayed quiet for a while. She quickly drove the car near STARRY, then went inside together with Inoue Takina, who had just finished sending the report to the maid Shion and Hachiman.
At this time, STARRY had only just opened for business. The lights and sound being tested on stage stood out sharply in the dim, stuffy atmosphere.
However, Inoue Takina and Nishikigi Chisato weren't there to watch a small live performance.
After greeting the shop manager Ijichi Seika behind the bar, they went to the recording room, opened the door, and walked in.
Inside the recording room, four girls had just finished practicing a song.
"You're back after finishing your business? We seem to have improved a bit just now. After we take a short break, we'll play it for you."
Ijichi Nijika wiped the sweat from her forehead, looked at Nishikigi Chisato and Inoue Takina who had come back to listen to them play, and cheerfully raised her drumsticks as she spoke.
"Mm…"
Inoue Takina nodded slightly and didn't refuse Ijichi Nijika's performance.
Because Hachiman had previously said he would occasionally come to STARRY, they had been stopping by whenever they had time these past few days to see whether Hachiman was there and if he had come to hang out.
After several days, not only had the cheerful Nishikigi Chisato become good friends with the equally lively Kita Ikuyo, even the taciturn Inoue Takina had grown somewhat familiar with the members of Kessoku Band.
However, the long-awaited call from Hachiman was just to have them go do some work. There was no mention of any special training.
And the thing was, when Hachiman asked them to work, there was absolutely no problem with that. Even without pay, they would still help.
After DA headquarters learned that they were connected to Hachiman, they assigned tasks to Inoue Takina and Nishikigi Chisato, having them stay here to maintain contact with Hachiman and fully satisfy his needs whenever he required it.
They even arranged applications for Sobu High for both Inoue Takina and Nishikigi Chisato.
Once approved by Sobu High's student council, Inoue Takina and Nishikigi Chisato would join Sobu High as representatives of Lycoris and truly become female high school students.
'School… high school girls…'
Inoue Takina quietly looked at Ijichi Nijika behind the drum set, her small face flushed and sweat pouring down, at Yamada Ryou expressionlessly plucking her bass, at Kita Ikuyo acting as vocalist while still not fully proficient on guitar, and at Gotou Hitori hiding inside a cardboard box.
She knew that she and Nishikigi Chisato were going there with a mission, not purely to study or have fun.
But there was still a subtle feeling in her heart.
Lycoris also had schools internally, but aside from dormitories, the buildings were all related to agent training. Physical testing medical blocks, indoor shooting ranges, killing rooms.
Just sitting honestly in a classroom, studying and fooling around like an ordinary high school student… was really hard to imagine.
"What's wrong, Takina? Want to try the drum set?", Ijichi Nijika noticed Inoue Takina staring at her and looked at the drumsticks in her hands with some confusion, then tentatively asked.
Normally, calling someone directly by their given name wasn't appropriate. Takina rarely spoke, and their relationship wasn't that close.
But when Chisato told her to call Takina by name, she did it quite naturally.
Because… for girls she didn't interact with much, she could only learn their names from the way Hachiman addressed them. Lately, she'd gotten somewhat used to calling not-yet-close friends by name.
Aside from a few girls who liked calling Hachiman "Master," not many people would still use honorifics or keep distant forms of address in those situations.
"No need. I'm not interested in that—"
"Takina! It got approved!"
Just as Inoue Takina shook her head to refuse Ijichi Nijika's kind offer, she suddenly heard Nishikigi Chisato cry out in surprise beside her.
"What got approved?"
Kita Ikuyo put down her newly bought guitar and looked curiously at Nishikigi Chisato.
"The Sobu High enrollment application."
Nishikigi Chisato excitedly showed Kita Ikuyo the admission notice message she had received.
"Tomorrow we're going to Sobu High to handle enrollment and housing procedures. Next week, we officially start school."
"But we probably won't live in the school dorms. At most, we'll keep a room there, just in case we ever need to stay overnight."
She had wanted to tell everyone earlier, but it hadn't been confirmed yet, and she didn't want to get happy over nothing. Now that it was confirmed, she could finally—
"Really? Then in the future, we can come to STARRY together after school," Kita Ikuyo froze for a moment, then broke into a happy smile.
She had always been puzzled as to why Nishikigi Chisato and Inoue Takina didn't need to attend school. They didn't look like they were short on money and forced to work to survive, but she hadn't asked out of fear of touching on some taboo topic.
Now she understood. It turned out Nishikigi Chisato and Inoue Takina were planning to enroll at Sobu High.
She had heard that the standards for transfer students had become much stricter. For the two of them to transfer in at this time, they must be extremely outstanding.
"Huh… Service Club? What kind of reward is this that Mr. Hachiman gave…"
"Service Club? Takina, are you guys going to Hachiman's place tonight too?"
Ijichi Nijika, just like Kita Ikuyo, was happy about being able to go to and from school together with Nishikigi Chisato and Inoue Takina in the future.
But before she could ask in detail about their enrollment, like which class they'd be assigned to, she suddenly heard Inoue Takina muttering to herself. Her whole body jolted as she looked at Inoue Takina and Nishikigi Chisato in shock.
What was going on? How did they know about the Service Club too?
"Mr. Hachiman's Service Club? I feel like I can enter a special place at any time. Is that place the Service Club?", Inoue Takina looked somewhat puzzled at the shocked Ijichi Nijika.
"From what you're saying, you're all going to the Service Club tonight? Then Chisato and I will go with you."
"No, Kita doesn't need to go."
Seeing Inoue Takina misunderstand, Yamada Ryou spoke up to clarify for Kita Ikuyo.
"Why? Aren't you all in the same band?", Hearing that, Inoue Takina looked even more confused.
"Yeah, Kita, why aren't you going together?"
Nishikigi Chisato also looked at Kita Ikuyo in confusion.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.