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 meet, 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 time to time. Her expression was impatient yet expectant, as though she had already been waiting for quite a while.
I quickly checked the time and our chat history, confirmed that there was still some time before our agreed meeting time, 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 me, 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 me.
Then I would have mistaken it for a bug with the credit card system, assumed that Serika actually hated me, 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 moment, then her tone softened. "Y-Ya know that's good enough."
"Then, as atonement."
Imitating what I had seen on television, I placed my right hand over my chest, my left behind my back, bowed slightly, and performed a butler's salute toward the girl.
"Please allow me to stay by your side properly today, my princess."
As for the evening, I would have to go meet Yuuka and the Game Development Department.
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 shame than the average person, which made teasing her especially fun.
As for me?
After going through hellish trials such as openly acting intimate with two students at a festival venue with dozens of times more foot traffic, despite being an adult, I had already come to a realization.
From the moment 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 something 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 me with ulterior motives think that I had flaws too, causing them to lower their guard.
Perhaps there would even be delinquent students who misunderstood me as a lust-crazed fiend who could not move when he saw pretty girls, and voluntarily threw themselves at me. 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-defilement.
"Say, you do know on why I called you out today, right?"
Serika asked me, exasperated.
I answered confidently. "Of course. This is our memorable 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-time job, okay?"
I looked at the flustered girl in confusion. "Yeah, a part-time 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 messing with me, 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 me at the same time."
Last week, when I happened to run into Serika online while she was working as customer support, she had mentioned that she was so busy with part-time work that she could not even see the person she liked.
Clearly, Serika remembered that quite vividly as well.
In the next instant, she realized what I meant. 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 me?"
"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 time 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 meter tall and had already caught my attention long ago, then handed them to me.
"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 moment," 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-time job, right? Ugh, just thinking that I unknowingly became an accomplice to those Kaiser guys' crimes makes me 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 time was just an unpleasant coincidence. It should not happen a second time that I get used by a criminal organization."
…I feel like, given how Serika treats part-time 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 something that exhausting. Sensei, you just need to assist me here."
She paused and explained in detail. "Please wait for me here. When I come back after handing out the flyers, you pass me 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 me half the pay?
Though to me, 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 environments, without the responsibility of revival.
So I did not raise any objections and accepted Serika's plan.
"Great! Then let us start! Give me five hundred sheets first!"
Serika, once she entered work mode, seemed even more decisive than usual.
Just as I lowered my head and began roughly counting the flyers, a shy, hesitant voice suddenly came from nearby.
"About the first date… since it is something worth commemorating, I hope it can be at a more relaxed time, in a place with a better atmosphere… so…"
Knowing how much embarrassment Serika had gathered to deliberately say this at this moment, 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 me.
"This time... please don't count it, okay?"
What a fresh, sweet, and sour maiden's sentiment.
"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 me.
Only the reddened tips of her ears betrayed her feelings.
"Thank you, then I'm going!"
In a fluster, Serika hurriedly ran off.
It seemed she had set her sights on another district. Judging by the quota, it would take quite some time before she came 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 came 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 method 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 mean people would seriously read the advertisement.
Come to think of it, if one wanted to quickly get rid of a large number of flyers, one could simply throw some away directly. Surely there were people who did that in flyer distribution jobs.
However, such underhanded methods 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 came 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 time, stuffing flyers into mailboxes door to door, only slowing down when encountering pedestrians. That was how her efficiency could be so many times 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 time.
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-time job expert Serika.
Estimating that Serika would be back soon, I returned to the sack of flyers and began organizing them.
At that moment, light footsteps sounded behind me. 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 me."
"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 me to scare me. Or rather, did this mean 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 member 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 me a lap pillow in private. Yet for some 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 me yet, she was surely close.
"Hm? You are asking why I am here?"
Nonomi looked around, then leaned in closer and whispered to me 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 bloomed on Nonomi's face once more.
"No, what I mean 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…"