Confinement King

[Mangi Nagashi POV]

　At midnight, Eri(Eri Hotta) came to pick me up and brought me to the room where I was again.

　In the room there are three chairs. The seat where the short-cut lady sat on the first day is not there, and I can't find Inui(Masako Inui), who was standing behind her last time.

　By the way, as before, behind me is Eri, who insists to be called Tapeworm, behind Sakon is Kishijo, and behind Kayama is Saito.

（As I thought, it doesn't feel real...）

　Kijima-senpai is a saint, and the three of us have been chosen to seduce and corrupt him.

　To begin with, I wonder if I should believe in this too extreme death game in which the winners can get whatever they want and the losers will be killed and processed into meat.

　And, today... was the first time for me to talk to Kijima-senpai, and he is a nice guy.

　Though he is rather ugly in appearance, he has an atmosphere that is strangely hard to hate.

　In fact, I feel that I may be able to get along with him because he is not handsome.

　Shiratori-senpai has told me to make more and more contacts with him, using today's conversation as a stepping stone.

　She said that no matter how perverted I am, no matter how forceful I am, the more aggressive I am, the more Kijima-senpai will think that Shiratori-senpai is forcing me to do it, and will take it as a sign that I am being kind to him.

　I don't know the relationship between Kijima-senpai and Shiratori-senpai, but if she created such a situation by calculation, I think I might have asked for help from the worst person.

　But I can't back down now.

　Anyway, I don't think people will like me because of my appearance. My teeth are not aligned, and my freckles are unsightly.

　So, I have no choice but to put my trust in Shiratori-senpai.

　As I was thinking of these things, suddenly I heard a white noise on the monitor attached to the wall.

　As usual, I expected to see a pack of Sasami, but what appeared on the monitor is a cooked pork chop.

『Sasaki is here.』

（Isn't that kakuni?） (Note: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakuni)

　It's not even chicken anymore.

　It's so surreal that I can't help but be puzzled.

　Is it okay to keep the name as it is? Shouldn't it be “Kakuda” or something?

　If this is done to disturb us, the plan will be a great success.

　Because it doesn't make any sense at all.

『Let's get on with the business. After one day today, I will measure the level of intimacy between Saint Fumio Kijima and each of you. I will display your own graph in front of you, so please take a look at it first』

（Wait, wait, first of all, please explain something about the Kakuni!?）

　Really. This problem has been left behind.

　However, a pie chart painted in red and blue is displayed in front of my eyes, without caring about my heart.

（41% intimacy ratio? It seems to have increased a lot...）

　It was 20 percent last time, so it has almost doubled.

　I glance next to me and see Sakon's mouth is twisted into a wry smile. She seemed to be convinced of her victory.

『The tentative rankings for today will be announced now.』

　The rankings are displayed on the monitor.

『First place: Mangi, Second place: Kayama, Third place: Sakon.』

　Immediately, Sakon raised her voice.

「What's going on!?」

　She must have been confident in her own way.

　However, I don't know if it was the advantage of the previous round or my numbers were higher than hers, but I somehow managed to keep the first place.

　And Sakon was staring at me as I was patting my chest in relief.

* * *

[Protagonist POV]

「So, Fumi Fumi prefers Monkey (Mangi), Devi?」

　Lili twists her head in the air as she says this.

　As usual, she and I are in a separate room, watching the intimacy measurement on a monitor.

　Here, we can see all the figures of the three of them.

　Mangi: 41%.

　Kayama: 82%.

　Sakon: 36%.

　As before, Kayama-san was fixed at the second place from the beginning because there was no way for the other two to win, so it is a game of Monkey and Sankon alone.

「It's not that I prefer her... But my feeling is that she's probably the best choice.」

「Really, Devi? But didn't you have lunch with Sankon, Devi?」

「Yes... Of course. However, I don't know what's going on, but Masaki-chan seems to have a strong interest in her, and she was pushing her to me very hard.」

「That's true, then what, Devi?」

「I don't know, it's just that it makes me feel uncomfortable... On the other hand, Monkey seems to be very clumsy, but when I think that Shiratori-san is probably making her do something reckless, I want to cheer her up... well, maybe it's called "Favoritism of a Judge".」

「I don't get it, Devi.」

　Maybe so. I've heard that it's a rather peculiar Japanese tendency to root for the weak.

　Standing up to the weak, it is not called recklessness.

　The word “Hanko-biki (判官びいき)” itself is derived from the Japanese word for Minamoto no Yoshitsune, and Kobayashi Issa's phrase "A thin frog! Don't lose this wrestling game. Here I am, Issa" is a typical example of this.

　For Lili, who is not even a human being, it may seem ridiculous.

「By the way, aren't both of them getting pretty good numbers?」

　I change the subject, and Lili nods broadly.

「Fumi Fumi's favorability has gone up, Devi. I think you've gained a lot of favorability from them too, Devi.」

「Really?」

「Especially Sankon, she seems to be more in love with Fumi Fumi because things aren't going well, Devi. Sankon's growing fondness for Fumi Fumi alone is much greater than Monkey's, Devi.」

「I see... Then, at this pace, Sankon may surpass Monkey next time...」

「It's quite possible, Devi.」

　I see. After nodding my head, I decided to ask Lili about something that had been bothering me.

「Sankon and Monkey, after talking to the two of them, I was thinking that we are doing this... to catch the people who framed Hanabusa-san, right?」

「Yes, Devi... Well, rather than trying to identify one or the other, it's more easy to do both since we don't know which one it is, Devi.」

「Yeah... but I've talked to both of them, and I don't see anything black-hearted in either of them, like they're trying to trick people.」

　Like everyone know, I'm a bullied kid.

　I've always lived my life based on the way people look at me.

　I think I have a good eye for people, even if I say so myself.

　And the person who hides Hanabusa-san's practice shirt and tries to cause a quarrel between her and the second-year students.

　Neither Sankon nor Monkey looked like that at all.

　Almost as soon as Lili made a move to open her mouth, there was movement on the other side of the monitor.

「So... Why is it Kakuni?」

　When Kayama-san said so, the Kakuni on the monitor trembled as if they were full of collagen.

　The maids immediately cheered.

「Nice collagen!」

「Nice collagen!」

「Nice collagen!」

　But that was all.

「This concludes the session.」

　Sasaki-san concluded, and Sankon is taken away by Kishijo-san and Kayama-san by Saito-san, each of them carrying them in their arms to the other room.

　Behind them are Hotta-san and Monkey, who look stunned. Only the mystery of the Kakuni remained.

• I hope you can read it! A story about adventuring in dungeon! You can see it on here => here
• And a story with the same author as Confinement King! You can see it on here => here
• Illustration from Volume 3 => here