Confinement King

「Finally, we arrived by bicycle...」

　Sakon's house is located in the mountainside.

　As Confinement King-sama had never been to this area before, it took about an hour by bicycle, which I borrowed from Confinement King-sama.

　Somehow or other, Centipede and I managed to get there.

　By the way, the two maids rode a two-seater bicycle together.

　Even though it was late at night and not many people were around, it seemed to stand out quite a bit.

「Hey, Cockroach! You know... if we asked Ryoko-sama to give us a ride, she could have given us a ride, couldn't she?」

「There's no way we could ask her to do that, in our position. I mean, did you miss the sulfuric acid bath?」

「You've got to be kidding me...」

「Yes, yes. Anyway, work, work, and work. Anyway... it's an amazing house」

　The house is a large Japanese-style house surrounded by hedges. There is even a large warehouse on the side of the main house.

　Although it is a big house, it was not so difficult to break in.

　But there was a rather ferocious-looking guard dog running free in the yard, however, a smart dog knows whether or not to disobey after see us.

　So, after fondling the guard dogs to our heart's content, we enter Ritsuko Sakon's room, which is our destination.

　Her room is a large Japanese-style room with a futon set on the floor.

　And we can hear the faint sound of her sleeping in the dark room.

　When we gently walk over to look into her face, we find that it is indeed Ritsuko Sakon.

　She has shiny black hair. Her bangs are neatly cropped, and her face itself is relatively plain, a Japanese-style beauty with drooping eyes.

　If she were coated with white powder and displayed on a hinamatsuri （Doll Festival）, she might be called a Japanese doll.

　To tell the truth, Sakon is not really a basketball player, but she is skilled in both school and sports. Not only basketball, but she is good at most things. That is my impression.

「It's better not to be too late... let's get her out of here...」

　As soon as Centipede whispered this, Sakon suddenly jumped off the futon and picked up a short sword (Kodachi) that was displayed in the alcove.

「Where did you come from?」

　Her eyes narrow as she draws a short sword and holds it ready.

　But then she looked a little surprised.

「The track and field club...? Could it be that you've turned into a ghost?」

「Don't say as if we're already dead...」

　Centipede is discouraged.

　Well, just because we're missing doesn't mean we're dead.

　Although it could be said that we've died two or three times, in fact, we're still alive.

「I mean, we are not a ghost, but it's not that much different in the sense that we're here to pick you up」

　When I say this, Centipede snickers, "It's got to be".

「I don't understand what's going on here...」

「Well, I'll explain later. Then, Centipede, please」

「Okay, here it is」

　As Centipede steps forward, Sakon readies her short sword in front of her and carefully lowers herself.

（I wonder if this nice young lady is trained in self-defense... still, it's useless...）

　After all, the next moment, Centipede's eyes light up with a mysterious light.

　Immediately, a crackling sound like bouncing oil begins to echo, and Sakon looks around puzzled.

　And then――

「Eek!? Wh-what!?」

　She choked out, realizing what was happening to herself.

「I can't feel my legs anymore」

　The crackling sound is the sound of petrification. And looking at Sakon, the petrification is already up to her waist.

「Oh, if you are scared, you can make a sound. Though, I've put a barrier around this room」

「Wh-what is it? It hurts? H-Help!」

　Sakon's ladylike manner is gone and she is screaming out for her life, which makes me smile, thinking that I used to be like that in the beginning.

　Well, at that time, I had a hard time when Centipede awakened her evil eye.

　It is a really troublesome ability, and I can't tell how many times I was petrified by accident, because it is always released when we are in the demon world.

　In the beginning, I didn't know how to release from petrification, and I was sometimes left in the state of a stone statue for about three days.

　Fortunately, in our world, Centipede's eyes seem not to be activated unless she stare at someone with a great deal of energy, perhaps because of the lack of magical elements in our world.

「Oh...noooo, help, help me...」

　As she petrified up to her chin, Sakon cries out for help, though she is not dying.

「Did you know? Centipede. When I recover from petrification, I'm strangely tired.

「Seriously?」

「For real, for real. My shoulders and stuff are really light」

「Heh~...I didn't know that. Maybe it's just relaxation after extreme rigidity」

　While I was thinking about this, Sakon's wailing voice ceased, and a statue with a Japanese-style face was born.

「Now...the question is how to bring her back」

「Why don't we just strap it to the back of the one riding in the back and carry it?」

「Well... but I don't know if it's safe...」

　Of course not. Still, the bicycle is a three-seater.

　However, the sighting of two mysterious maid riding a bicycle with a stone statue on the back, doing a full speed wheelie, has been all over social networking sites, and we have been summoned by the chief maid.

* * *

「Uh...uhh...」

　When I opened my eyelids, I was in a dimly lit place, a stone room that looked like a dungeon.

　Looking around, I see four chairs side by side, one of which is occupied by me, Nagashi Mangi.

　In each chair, there is a girl sitting.

　Two of them look familiar.

　One is Sakon and the other is Kayama.

（Aren't they the top two ladies (Ojou-sama) in our class?... Wait, Kayama is poor now）

　On the other side of the two, a woman with wavy short hair was slumped down.

　Behind each chair, my classmates, Saito, Kishijo, and Inui, who were dressed in maid uniforms, were standing without even a single movement of their bodies.

（Does this mean that...?）

　I stole a glance behind me and saw Hotta standing behind me without smiling.

（Hiiiiiiii!?）

　Cold sweat breaks out all over my body. I shudder. I'm scared, too scared. So, this is what happens when every bone in my body is shattered.

　But then I realize...

（Ah, huh...? My body is... fine? Does this mean I'm dreaming?）

　No, it can't be.

　Such real pain cannot be a dream.

　While I was too scared to even move my body, Sakon, Kayama, and the lady on the other side also woke up.

　Their reactions immediately after waking up were similar to each other.

　Afraid to speak out, Sakon and I looked at each other and somehow shared the feeling that we had no idea what was going on.

　And then, a heavy silence descended. Time is moving too slowly.

「Um...um...」

　Perhaps unable to bear it any longer, Sakon was about to speak to Kishijo behind her in a frightened manner, but at the very moment...

　Boom? The monitor in front of us was turned on with a "BOOM" sound.

　The screen brightened immediately after the sound of buzzing white noise.

　Immediately, everyone looked at what was projected on the screen and looked at each other strangely.

　In the screen, there was an object wrapped in a white pack, which is often seen in supermarkets.

　It was a piece of meat looking like a bamboo leaf with a faint whitish tinge, with a half-price sticker attached to it.

　And then, the air is filled with a sense of confusion and subtlety.

（Why... Sasami? ） (*Note: high-quality chicken breast meat)

　At about the same time I tilted my head involuntarily, the white meat in the pack trembled on the screen, and a heavy masculine voice echoed from the speaker.

「"I'm Sasaki"」

　Yeah, I don't know. I have no idea what that means.

　Not knowing what to do, I turned to Sakon as if to ask for help.

　Then she shook her head as if to say, "Don't ask me!" with her cheek twitching.

　Despite our confusion, Saito, who was standing behind Kayama, opened her mouth gravely.

「Let me introduce you. The main navigator of the game of love-dovery corruption this time, the mysterious piece of meat... "Sasaki-san"」

　It is not a mystery, but a white meat for all intents and purposes.

　If it is grilled or boiled improperly, it will become dry and flabby.

　There are plenty of other words that I'm interested in, such as "lovey-dovey corruption game", but it's such a really bad punchline that I don't care about them.

　Saito, however, has a straight face as she introduces it.

　She doesn't seem to be joking at all.

（Oh crap... what the heck is this?）

　The meaning was so confusing that it just doubled my fear.