"Ha! You want me to do grunt work? Baka na (Impossible)!"
Alistair strode out, hands shoved in his pockets, humming a tune.
He was here to enjoy privileges, not to be an office worker. He didn't want them to rope him into handling documents. However, since he wouldn't have a good reason to refuse if he were caught—he wasn't entirely heartless—he decided to slip away early to avoid a guilty conscience.
Alistair was contemplating what to eat for lunch. He decided to head out. He wasn't planning on attending his afternoon classes; he had already learned everything they taught in middle school before transmigrating. Since it wouldn't matter if he skipped, he might as well go out to eat, so he quickened his pace.
BUMP!
"Itai (Ow)! Whoa! Can't you look where you're going?"
Just as he turned a corner, a figure crashed into Alistair. The person's forehead hit Alistair right about where his nose was, instantly making Alistair clutch his face in pain.
"Tch! What the hell! Who is it? Are you in such a hurry to skip class?" Alistair complained, sucking in a gasp of cool air while holding his nose.
"Uh, hey? Alistair-kun?"
The person looked up at Alistair's injured face and tentatively called his name.
"Hmm? You know me? You're... ah, Matsuda-senpai? It's you."
Alistair's nose quickly recovered thanks to the Horse Talisman's healing power. Hearing the question, he looked at the person and recognized her as Hikari Matsuda, the senpai with one-third or two-thirds cat demi-human blood who had previously given him information about Yotsuya-chō.
"Matsuda-senpai, why are you in such a rush? Is something urgent?"
Since it was someone he knew and had a decent relationship with, Alistair dropped the matter and asked with curiosity about the cause of her haste.
"Uh, well, I have to go out and buy something. I just realized I ran out today when I needed it. Look, I'm in a hurry, I'm leaving now, Alistair-kun!"
Hikari Matsuda's expression clearly panicked upon hearing Alistair's question. She quickly brushed him off, rushed past him, and took off.
Uh, what was that about? Did her period start and she ran out of 'diapers'?
Alistair watched Hikari Matsuda's frantic exit, guessing her situation. He stood there thinking for a bit, but couldn't come up with anything plausible, so he gave up. It had nothing to do with him anyway. He still wanted to go out and wander around. It was only about ten or eleven in the morning, too early for lunch, so he might as well go play first.
Meanwhile, Hikari Matsuda, rushing toward the school's back hill, pulled a circular object the size of a hundred-yen coin from her pocket as she ran. Upon closer inspection, the "coin" was dark purple, bearing a geometric pattern of three equilateral triangles forming one large equilateral triangle. If Natsuha Shinomiy were to see it, she would recognize the pattern as identical to the one on the business card in her hand.
Running, Hikari Matsuda popped the dark purple "coin" into her mouth and began chewing. A flush spread across her face, and her lips curled up unconsciously, displaying a look of profound pleasure.
Mmm... it feels so good~ Ugh... Damn it! It's all that wretched woman's fault!
Quickening her pace, Hikari Matsuda arrived at the school's back hill, the "path" most students used to skip class—a route over the rock garden, climbing the wall, and jumping down.
Hikari Matsuda nimbly climbed the rock garden and then, with the graceful agility of a cat, scaled the school wall, quickly dropping down on the other side.
She slowed her breathing and checked her pocket. The pocket from which she had taken the "coin" was now empty. Hikari Matsuda, as if unwilling to give up, turned the pocket inside out. Only a few crumbs fell out; none of the desired product remained.
"Tch."
Hikari Matsuda pressed her lips together, looking displeased. However, the residual flush on her face made her appear sexually frustrated. Fortunately, most people were either at work or school, and the truants had mostly left earlier, so if anyone saw Hikari Matsuda now, they would surely be mentally composing a scandalous narrative.
In the past, some small-time delinquents had tried to verbally harass her, saying suggestive things, but Hikari Matsuda had used her speed and agility to teach them a lesson, forcing them to back off.
In fact, most students who skipped out of this school were low-tier thugs. Some had risen to the level of gang leaders, but they were still thugs, and it wasn't a respectable life. They often operated far from the school. Those near the school were usually brainless fools who clumped together for safety.
These lower-level thugs were few and mainly just annoying, but the good thing was that if you had decent fighting skills, you could use them to vent your frustration. As long as you didn't inflict serious harm, no one cared. They were basically social outcasts, even ostracized by their peers.
Any thug with a brain wouldn't be too interested in students who were still in school. Most students didn't carry much money, and those who did were often members of sports clubs. And sports club members? A single punch from them might make the thugs they were extorting beg not to die, or, if the students were cruel enough, they might just bury them. No one would care if a street thug disappeared. While there were rich and easy targets, they were relatively rare, and if they extorted someone with a powerful background...
Cement column VIP seating for one.
Therefore, most thugs would scout for information before extorting students. The ones Alistair encountered at the start of the semester merely used the excuse of being senpai (upperclassmen) to extort them indirectly, rather than using direct threats.
Of course, the life of a thug wasn't as glamorous as one might think. They were often starving and only ate regularly if they were a small-time boss or had fixed "clients." Furthermore, these thugs would protect their "clients" to prevent others from taking their money, ironically making them a sort of "bodyguard."
(The above is all fictionalized for the purpose of this story. Please do not take it as fact. If reality happens to be the same, then I'm an amazing writer. Manual dog emoji.)
Shaking off her tangled thoughts, Hikari Matsuda ran towards the train station. She quickly reached the platform, and a train arrived just in time for her to board.
It was close to eleven now, and the train was quite empty, allowing Hikari Matsuda to sit wherever she liked.
She wandered for a moment after entering and then sat directly on the seat near the door, her eyelids half-closed, as if trying to sleep.
She wasn't sleepy; she was just agitated, trying to rely on this method to maintain her calm. She had been this way since she believed that wicked woman's words half a year ago.
Half a year ago, she and her club senior, Madoka, went out to play and stumbled upon a strange place. It wasn't exactly strange, just a building with unusual architecture.
On the surface, the building was just a large office building, similar to the abandoned ones at school—or rather, most office buildings looked the same. In reality, half of the interior resembled a Shinto shrine. The miko (shrine maiden) there—if she could be called that—possessed an allure and seductiveness that Hikari Matsuda had never seen before.
Her fox-like eyes didn't look cunning but gave the impression that she was constantly trying to seduce you. Her voluptuous body was far beyond the average, possessing a standard hourglass figure. Her slender waist made one wonder how such abundant "fruit" could grow above it, and her two melon-sized assets were incredibly firm, showing no hint of sagging.
The full, exquisite shape of her butt was enviable—the kind of peach-shaped posterior that would ripple with white, fleshy waves if slapped, enough to drive any man wild. What was even more astonishing was that the woman claimed to be thirty, yet her skin was better than theirs.
Although the woman's choice of clothing—wearing work attire instead of a miko outfit—was puzzling, the entire shrine was already bizarre enough. Consequently, the two weren't overly curious about the "miko's" clothing. They were more interested in how the "miko" maintained such an alluring figure.
The "miko" told them that if they worshipped her "Supreme Deity," she would reveal the secret to achieving such a figure and give them some extra gifts.
So, she and Madoka-senpai paid their respects and later asked for a few gifts. Before they left, the "miko" gave them each a box, telling them the contents were body-improving pills she had concocted, and they only needed to take one a week. They believed her and followed her instructions, taking one pill a week.
She told them that it would gradually improve their bodies, not only strengthening them but also increasing their physical potential. Coupled with some exercises she recommended, they could achieve a figure as alluring and skin as smooth as hers.
She claimed she wouldn't give this to just anyone because those who found their way to her shrine were destined. The two did believe this somewhat because no normal person would know this place was a shrine, especially located inside a large office building. On the other side, it truly looked like a regular office building with rooms like offices and conference rooms. If the two had only viewed the "miko" from the other side, with the luxurious office setting and her secretary-like attire, they would never have guessed her true identity was a shrine "miko."
Later, Hikari Matsuda and Madoka-senpai learned that the religion represented by that shrine was the Kihime Cult!