Confinement King

「Senpai, can you give me a ride back to the dorm?」

「Shut up and just go home. Shoo!」

As soon as we left the hotel, Rin started to make sweet demands.

Shima-san scratched her cheek with her fingertip and smiled.

「You're really hard on Rin-chan」

「This girl is okay」

But Rin, who usually puffs up her cheeks, opens her mouth with an unusual grin today.

「Well, it looks like this kind of thing will last until Senpai graduated, so I'll put up with it for now」

「After graduation, we won't have any relationship anymore」

「Yes, yes, I understand」

As I bit down on my bitterness at being rebuffed, Rin turned towards Shima-san.

**a

「So, Natsumi-oneechan. Senpai is a seriously lecherous monster and Okuri-okami^[1], so be careful with him!」

「What kind of Okuri-okami who escort people back from the hotel...!?」

After watching Rin walk away with a fluttered hand, I pull Shima-san's hand and go into the alleyway.

Then, after summoning "the door", we stepped into "the Confinement King's Bedroom".

Of course, we didn't intend to go straight to bed again, but instead sent Shima-san straight home by the <Back Door>.

After all, I held Rin and Shima-san alternately all night long.

Besides, Shima-san is so exhausted that she has dark circles under her eyes, and more than that, I can't keep a student, who is taking an exam, in custody forever.

After all, she must pass the exam otherwise I'm in trouble.

However, conditioned reflexes are truly frightening. Because as soon as the two of us stepped into "the Confinement King's Bedroom", the atmosphere became like, "Are we going to do it?". Really, I felt that it's quite bad that the atmosphere turned into something like that.

And looking at the time display on my phone, it is just after twelve o'clock.

It is also rare that I am alone in this bedroom.

So, taking this rare opportunity, I decided to lie down on the bed and get some rest.

Perhaps it's because I've been consuming energy drinks from the demon world on a daily basis, but recently I've hardly needed any sleep, but that doesn't mean I can't sleep. If I close my eyes, my consciousness will fall into darkness instantly.

◇　◇　◇

How long have I slept?

「Nn... Nnn... I'm hungry...」

After a few hours of dozing, I got out of bed and went to the dining room, feeling hungry.

「I wish someone is here...」

To be honest, I don't really like to eat alone.

After all, I'm enjoying a lively lunch at school with my three favorite princesses, but before this summer, I've been eating lunch at school all by myself.

If possible, I would like to have someone to enjoy lunch with.

As I stepped into the dining room, two women chatting at a table at the far end turned their heads toward me.

「Tsk...」

However, as soon as Kyoko saw me, her cheeks twisted in displeasure and she clicked her tongue.

「Ufufu, although you're happy until now, but when you hide your embarrassment, it's so cute」

And as if to make fun of her, Chihiro poked her cheek.

The president of the entertainment agency KKO -- Chihiro Kaneko （self-proclaimed Kijima）.

「A-Are you kidding me!? I'm not hiding my embarrassment! I-I'm just saying I don't like him!」

「Yes, yes!」

Kyoko kicks the chair and stands up while shouting. But Chihiro chuckles and shushes her.

「Chihiro, huh? I see, you came」

「Yes」

When I called out to Chihiro, leaving Kyoko, who is gnashing her teeth in disgust, she smiled at me.

Currently, Kyoko is wearing a mini-skirt maid's uniform that makes me chuckle, while Chihiro is wearing a gray pantsuit that gives off the vibe of a professional.

The two of them are so mismatched, but I remember that Chihiro and Kyoko used to talk to each other a lot when Chihiro was staying here before and after the Death Game.

And judging from their current exchange, it seems that they are still on good terms.

「Since you're here, have dinner with me, Chihiro. Kyoko, can you give me some food?」

When I asked, Kyoko's cheeks twisted in annoyance.

「Tsk, I'm going to serve you something really bad! Prepare yourself!」

「Haha... I'll take as much as I can eat」

Well, despite her words, I'm not worried about it.

Moreover, Kyoko is still in a state of [Subjugated].

And so, I sat down on the seat across from Chihiro.

「Are you off today?」

「No, I had a photo shoot for Aoi-san in the morning, but it ended earlier than I expected...」

「Aoi-san... ah, Kayama-san's mother」

Regarding Aoi Umidori-san, I heard that her natural character has become very popular and she has recently been featured in many variety shows.

I thought Fujiwara's Papa would be very happy to hear that, but he is not.

According to what I heard from Fujiwara-san, he had a tough time with a major comedian who made a rude comment to her, and tried to expel him from the entertainment industry.

**b

「I came here to ask Kyoko-san about her trip to the hot springs a while ago, and she said she had a great time. Kyoko-san also looked so excited when she was talking to you」

As soon as Chihiro said that, the sound of something being thrown out echoed from the kitchen.

「N-No, it's not! I'm not excited! D-Don't say random things like that! You idiot! Stupid!」

Kyoko leans forward from the counter and starts screaming.

She's trying to hide her embarrassment, but can't she do anything about the fact that her vocabulary of swear words is on par with elementary school boys?

As she rants and raves, Chihiro, who smiles mischievously, suddenly looks into my eyes, clears her throat, and turns serious.

「By the way... it’s about that person called Kitou, the President of the event company you asked about the other day...」

I had asked Chihiro to investigate a man named Kitou, who seemed to be the mastermind that Ryoko had heard about from the man named Nishida who had hit Saori-chan, because he was said to be the President of an event company in Tokyo.

「Did you find out anything?」

「Yes, about Takeru Kitou. He's the president of Frontier Pro, a small event company. They have four employees, and they had some business dealings with KKO's former company, First Beauty Office, when President Kurashima was in charge... 「

「That's great Chihiro, you're so quick」

「To tell you the truth, I didn't need to look it up, after all he had been asking me for an appointment since the other day...」

「Is that so?」

That's quite a coincidence, but quite convenient.

「Yes, the purpose of the meeting was to propose an event plan, so I thought I might be able to find out something... Therefore, I took the liberty of setting up a meeting for Tuesday night, the day after tomorrow」

「Well, then, I'll join too. As a President's secretary, Fumijima Pheasant Man」

I guess she thought I'd say that. But, Chihiro gave a small nod. And around the same time, Kyoko brought two platters.

「Here you go! Sorry for the wait!」

On the plate is a large omelet with rice.

I thought it looked unusually common for a dish served at this dining room, but on top of the rice omelet in front of me, there is a word "Die" written in ketchup.

As Kyoko's mouth twisted in triumph, I told her with a sigh.

「Kyoko... I'm not looking for any more tsundere member, okay?」

「I'm not a tsundere!!」

**c

◇　◇　◇

On Sunday evening.

I, Kizuna Tateoka, visited an internet cafe two stations away from home for the first time in a long time.

Shiratori-senpai found out what I've been doing, and though I couldn't undo what I've done, I was hoping that I could somehow cover my tracks before the police found out.

But as soon as I entered the place...

「Aaah!! Wait, w-what did you really do? Is everything okay? If it's okay with you, I'll help you」

A pig-nosed clerk came running out from the counter and suddenly said that.

「Eh? What? What are you doing? All of a sudden!」

I retreated involuntarily, but the clerk grabbed my hand with his sweaty hand and confronted me with his face.

「T-The other day, the police came and asked me a l-lot of questions. D-Did you do something wrong? I-If it's okay with you, I-I'll help you!」

「The police?」

「Y-Yes! T-They told me to call them if y-you come」

「I-I don't k-know... I don't know what you're talking about!」

I shake off the clerk's disgusting hand and run out of the place.

「Oh! You, w-wait a minute! I-I'm going to c-call the police!」

I hear the sound of a smartphone shutter behind me. But that's okay. He only took a picture of my back. He doesn't have my face.

Most likely, the clerk wanted me to do something indecent if I didn't want him to tell the police. No kidding.

Desperately, I ran through the station gates and onto the platform, jumping onto a train that just happened to be running into the station.

「Fuh...」

I let out a big breath, and the window in front of me fogged up a little.

（...The police have reached this far. The clerk will probably call the cops... and even if it's just my back, he had taken a picture of me... I'll have to get rid of my clothes...）

Right now, I feel as if I'm being slowly strangled with cotton. And I feel as if my fingertips are getting cold.

（Really... I guess I'm done hesitating... Shiratori-senpai said Kijima-san is already set the groundwork...）

• Yui Kayama's illustration has been released. You can see it on here.
• There's a new project in the works. It's kind of Boku no Hero, but with an adult twist. The table of contents can be found in here.