Chapter 12: The Beautification Committee Chair's Hunt
The break before the first period of the afternoon.
I was walking down the hallway toward the restroom, contemplating which flavor of rice ball to buy from the convenience store as tomorrow's breakfast.
Suddenly, my path was blocked.
Three students wearing eerie animal masks appeared soundlessly before me, wearing "Beautification Committee" armbands.
"Kiyotaka Ayanokoji. You're coming with us."
The voices were processed through voice changers, sounding distorted and artificial.
I glanced back. Two more people had blocked the way behind me.
A public abduction in the school corridor? Was this the daily routine of Hyakkaou Academy?
"If this is about failing to sort my trash properly, I can apologize," I said tentatively.
The other party was clearly in no mood for jokes. They grabbed me by the arms from both sides.
Considering that a brawl in the hallway would cause an unnecessary commotion and blow my cover as an "ordinary student," I chose the most logical course of action—surrendering and letting myself be taken.
We passed through the school building and headed down a dusty spiral staircase. The air grew increasingly damp and cold.
Finally, I was pushed into a secret room located in the basement.
Rather than a classroom, it resembled an interrogation chamber—or a slaughterhouse.
Dim lights flickered, casting shadows on walls covered in various... tools. Spiked collars, rusted handcuffs, and even items that looked like stun guns. The air was thick with the smell of rust and a sickly-sweet perfume that was nauseating.
"Push him into the chair."
A woman wearing an eyepatch stepped out from the shadows.
Midari Ikishima. The Beautification Committee Chair and a member of the Student Council.
However, I sensed no aura of "beautification" from her; I only saw the personification of chaos and destruction.
Her masked subordinates roughly forced me into an iron chair. They didn't tie me up, seemingly assuming I was too terrified to move.
"Hehe... hehehe..."
Midari walked over to me, her one good eye bloodshot and swollen, her pupil dilated to its limit. She leaned down, her face nearly touching my nose.
"I've finally caught you, Mr. Reaper."
Her breath was rapid and hot against my face.
"I saw it clearly in the cafeteria yesterday. That look in your eyes as you broke someone while remaining completely unmoved... Ah, just thinking about it makes me wet..."
I looked at her expressionlessly. This person's mental state had clearly deviated from the scope of normal humanity.
"What do you want?"
"What do I want? To do something even more stimulating, of course!"
Midari suddenly pulled a dark object from behind her and slammed it onto the iron table in front of me.
Bang!
It was a revolver.
Heavy metal, the scent of gunpowder emanating from the barrel. This wasn't a toy, nor was it even a model.
It was the real thing.
In a country like Japan with extremely strict gun control, a high school student possessed a real firearm. It seemed the power behind this school was even more unfathomable than I had imagined.
"There is one bullet in this gun."
Midari grabbed the revolver, her fingers skillfully spinning the cylinder with a crisp clatter-clatter sound before snapping it shut with a sharp flick.
Then, she performed an action that made everyone present gasp.
She pressed the dark muzzle of the gun directly between my legs.
The cold sensation of the metal pressed against me through the fabric of my trousers.
"Hey, transfer student. Why don't we play a game?"
Midari's face wore a sickly flush, her grin stretching from ear to ear as saliva dripped from her chin onto the table.
"Rock-paper-scissors? Poker? Those are all too boring! Let's gamble with our lives!"
"If you win, I'll let you shoot me once. If I win, I'll blow this thing of yours to pieces right here!"
She was insane.
A total lunatic. She wasn't doing this for money or power, but purely for the pleasure of pain and the thrill of death.
The masked subordinates behind her instinctively took a few steps back. Clearly, they were afraid of this chairwoman who would kill even herself if she felt like it.
Any ordinary person would likely have lost control of their bladder or knelt to beg for mercy by now.
After all, it was a real gun pointed at a man's most vulnerable spot.
But I just watched her quietly.
In an instant, my brain completed the calculations.
The hammer wasn't cocked. Her finger was on the trigger, but the muscle tension hadn't reached the threshold for firing.
A revolver has a long trigger pull. If she truly intended to fire, I could break her wrist and shove the barrel into her mouth 0.1 seconds before the hammer dropped.
Threat level: 0.
Having confirmed this, I slowly raised my left hand.
Midari's eyes widened with excitement. "Oh? Going to resist? Or are we starting..."
I lifted my wrist and glanced at my watch.
"Um, Ikishima-senpai."
I interrupted her, my tone as flat as if I were asking for directions.
"Class starts in three minutes. The next period is Mathematics, and the teacher is very strict about punishing tardiness."
I looked up, my stagnant eyes meeting her frantic ones—no fear, only a hint of irritation at being disturbed.
"Can we end this boring game quickly? I don't want to be marked absent."
The air froze.
Midari's smile stiffened on her face.
She had imagined I would scream, beg, or even fight back in a rage.
But the one thing she never expected was that at this life-and-death moment with a gun pointed at his vitals, this man's only concern was—
Missing math class?