CH 80

Chapter 80: The Sacrificial King Investigation

TL: Akabane

***

When lunch was almost over, Bunny girl smiled ferociously and said to me and Milan,

"You've come all this way. How about it? How about a game with us?"

"A game? Unfortunately, I only brought Fukuzawa-sensei."

"That's all right then. We want to know how good you are. We want to know if you are the right man to be in charge of Izumi!"

"Huh? You're leaving me in charge? Hm?"

The Four Heavenly Kings, who had been joking around earlier, were now staring at me with very serious eyes. Milan was puzzled by the sudden change in atmosphere.

"We were fellow students at the same prep school as Misaki. We hit it off and still hang out together. We encouraged each other and supported each other."

"Yes, we are all comrades who challenged this Imperial University with our dreams. And here we are."

"But I'm so bitter that that Hagiri, who looks like a decent person but is a scum of the earth, has taken notice of Izumi. If things continue as they are, our comrades will be used up. But we aren't strong enough. We can't beat Hagiri no matter how hard we try. That's why I want to ask you. Can you beat him? Huh?"

The girls were staring at me, but I was happy. Milan has friends who care about her dream. At the same time, I felt proud. Am I a man worthy of entrusting their precious friends to? That's what I'm being asked right now.

"Yes. I will beat him. I'm sure of it."

I still don't know what to do with Igarashi. But I'm not going to allow Hagiri to exist. I will defeat him. Not to crush him or make him disappear. I will defeat him. He's dreaming. A sweet dream for him, I'm sure. But for others, it's nothing but a nightmare. I'm going to bring that nightmare to it's knees. I'm going to give in to that nightmare, to protect the joyous days of my youth.

"I see. Well, I can say anything with my mouth. So let's play. Let the heavens decide! Whether or not you really are the man who can protect the woman called Izumi!"

So saying, the four heavenly kings took up a table at the end of the room. On top of it are a handful of mahjong tiles. I take an empty seat. Me, Bunny girl, Sarashi girl, and Sailor girl surrounded the mahjong tiles.

"Kanata! No, you can't! Fighting those kids is absurd!"

"Don't worry, Milan. I'm sure I'll win!"

I smile at Milan. Milan nodded at me gently with a beautiful, yet somewhat tearful smile. I'm never going to lose this game!

***Nowadays, there's no such thing as hand stacking!***

Me and the four heavenly kings mixed the jarrah tiles and made a pile. We rolled the dice and decided the order. Then the first East game began. The tiles were pretty good. From the start, there was a tsutsuko red dora and two omote dora. I could see a hand that would be quite fun to raise. So I discarded the white tile, which was an obstacle. A move in accordance with the theory. And yet...

"""Ron!"""

"Huh? Ron? That's a triple too? Huh?! Eh?!"

The four heavenly kings knocked down their tiles and showed their rising hands.

"Kokushimusou."

"Daisangen."

"Four concealed triplets."

Impossible! There's no such thing as a tenpatsu in the first round. What do you mean, "Yakuman"? And what's more...!

"That's crazy! Why is there so much white in the field!"

There's one white in waiting in Kokushimusou, two white in waiting in daisangen, and two white in waiting in shikkoku, and one white I discarded. I have six white cards...?

"That's sweet. You look like an antagonist, but you're candy! Who decided that you're limited to four white cards! Anything is fine as long as it goes up! Baka!"

Bunny girl flaunts her go up with a smug look on her face. Ugh!

"What are you talking about! Don't overrule the premise rules of mahjong!"

"Oh, I knew I was beaten..."

What's going on, Milan?

Well, the mahjong tiles in our dormitory have been used by various people over the years, and over the years, tiles have been lost and added, so the number and type of tiles don't match up, haha...

"Hey, say that first! You have to say it first!"

The four heavenly kings are looking at me with a smirk. I'm not kidding. I can't play mahjong with a crazy premise! And it looks like these guys did the usual cheating when they were stacking their hands. But I had come to the table with a good look on my face. I have to admit that I'm a bit of a jerk.

"Damn...you can take whatever you want in your wallet!"

"Huh? I don't need any money! Yes! Nuge! Nuge!"

Bunny girl begins to raise her hands in the air in a musical manner.

""""Yes! Nuge! Nuge!""""

Then, Sarashi girl and Sailor girl. And even the female students who had gathered at some point clapped their hands and started to agitate.

"Undressing? ! Damn! I guess I don't have a choice..."

Being the loser that I am, I tried to take off my jacket. But Milan stopped me.

"No, Kanata! I don't want to see you humiliated! All of you!"

Milan began her speech to the assembled girls.

"I entrusted my life to Kanata! That's why I'm prepared to devote myself to his victory or defeat! I'm ready!"

Saying this, Milan puts her hand on her jean hot pants and begins to slowly pull them down. Of all people, she takes them off from the bottom? Don't you take them off from the top? No?

"Hooo! Oh, yeah! Strip down for the current idol! Whoo-hoo-hoo! Nuge!"

"No! Misaki! She's trying to look innocent, but her pants are so sexy! Nasty!"

"Men cut their stomachs. Women expose themselves. That's the reason for losers...Nuge!"

Everyone looks at Milan's black, erotic, sexy pants. I instinctively had to look at them too. Perhaps noticing my gaze, the Four Heavenly Kings give me a thumbs up.

"Ughhhh...no matter how many girls I'm dealing with.... This number of stares... it's too embarrassing... Kanata... but I'll definitely endure it and show you...!"

Milan's face is bright red, and her mouth is tied shut as she endures her humiliation. But I can see it. I can see that her mouth is twisted into a smile...! Then Milan took off her hot pants. The lower half of her body is knee highs and black pants. On top is just a tank top shirt. What is this loose-looking eroticism.... Ah, yes. This is it. Isn't the best part of a girls' dormitory, having half-dressed girls like this!

"Wait! It's a feast for the eyes, though! Don't think you've won with this! I won't let Milan take off any more clothes! One more time! Finish up and fight me!"

"Kukuku, all right! Come and get me! Come on!"

It's a shame for a man to make a woman pay for losing. Even if Milan is a pervert and happy, this is a matter of my pride. Once again, we lay out our tiles in a jalousie. At first glance, it looks like a friendly game, but in fact it's not. Everyone had been planting cheats on each other's piles of tiles since a while ago. This is the game. How many cheats can you accumulate? In other words, it's not luck, but skill that counts! The dice are rolled again. These dice also had a trick up their sleeve. Apparently, their goal is to make sure I draw first. They were ready to play even before the game started. They are too vulgar, these goblins. I rolled the dice, and I was the first, as I should be. Then, I drew a tile from the pile. It was a white tile. It must be a trap again. If I discarded it, I would be beaten by their triple long. In fact, the Four Heavenly Kings were smiling with a weird """Nice!""" smile on their faces. So what should we do?

"Kan!"

"Huh?"

I konged four white cards. Then I turn over the dora and draw a tile. The tile I drew was the Hatsu tile. The smiles on the faces of the four heavenly kings haven't disappeared yet. I'm sure that Hatsu also has more than four tiles. So let me take advantage of that!

"KAN again!"

""""Huh?"""

I kong a shot, flip over a dora, and draw a single tile. And I'm still going strong!

"""Kan! And then another kan!""""

And two more kan in a row.

"You can't be serious! You're reading all our moves?

"Yes. Your cheating tricks were brilliant. The irregular number of tiles, the three to one situation, and the super disadvantageous situation to begin with. But you made one mistake. You were too obsessed with getting a Ron from me! Then don't get Ron from me in the first place! Take that!"

I then pulled a tile out of the pile and slammed it down on the table.

"Four kan! Flowering on the top of the mountain!! Flower! Bloom proudly! Yee-hi! Hyahahah!"

And I went up yakuza. If I'm going to get Ron'd, I don't have to turn in my turn. Think simple. That's the key to victory! Then I stood up and clapped my hands.

"Yes! You! Nuge! Take it off!"

The girls in the dormitory start calling for me to take off my clothes as I do so.

"""""Nugee! Nugee!""""

"Yes! Nuge! Nuge!!"

""""Nuge! Kyahahahaha!!!""""

The girls are getting a good ride too.

"Phew, a complete defeat. You were the right man to entrust Izumi to."

The defeated Four Heavenly Kings are smiling radiantly. And they begin to put their hands on the clothes they are wearing. But I stop them.

"No, you guys don't have to take off your clothes. There is someone here who really needs to take it off! Milaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"

"Eh? Huh? What? What about me, Kanata?

"Yes! Nuge! Milan, nuge!"

""""Nuge! Nuge! Milan! Nuge!"""

The girls also followed my lead and encouraged Milan.

"Wait, why am I taking off my clothes?

"You didn't tell me the rules of Mahjong here first, did you? You wanted to give me an excuse to take off my clothes in shame, didn't you! You wanted someone else to give you a reason to take off your clothes, you virgin b*tch! I'm going to give you a real humiliation! Hyahaha!"

I'm sure I look like a demon king right now. If Milan hadn't cut corners, I could have won coolly and comfortably from the start! I ain't gonna let that happen!

""""Nuge!""""

"No, no, no! No, not the top! Don't do the top! Please! Please forgive me! Not up there! Not the top!"

"Shut up. You exposed, you crazy, cock-sucking, obscene b*tch! Take it off. Show me. Show me your skin."

"Fufu. If you stare at me like you're looking down at me with such an anti-corpoeate look...I don't think I can say no...u----n!"

Then, Milan took off the top of her tank top. And the bra encasing her ample breasts was exposed.

"Heh. You're really stylish and beautiful, Milan. You look cute."

"Ohhh...nn...thank you...Kanata."

Milan was delighted. Her cheeks were already embarrassingly red and she was writhing around. But the real humiliation starts here.

"But isn't it a little uncool that your bra and pants are different colors? Pssst!"

I snicker as I look at Milan's pink bra. The girls around me giggle as well.

"Yes. There are days when the top and bottom don't match."

"Yeah, but not in front of guys."

"I always carry elastic with me, but I can't believe my bra and pants aren't the same color."

"No, no! It just happened today! I overslept a little! I was in such a hurry that I just got the wrong color! Believe me!"

Milan is making excuses as if in a panic. This scene of humiliation is emo! It's one thing to embarrass her by exposing her skin, but there's something nice about playing with her like this! And Milan sat there with a shudder and flopped down.

"...So...this is...Kanata's real anti-corporate power...ugh...!"

"No, I ain't anti-corporate."

This is how I won the bitter battle in the girls' dormitory. What in the world is my second adolescence in a girl's dormitory, where no emo events like "cackling" and "laughing" don't happen? But it was fun, so that was all right. That's what I thought.

***A romantic comedy in which a slightly erotic event doesn't occur in the girls' dormitory event must be buggy, right?***

The weekend is the Five College Baseball Tournament. Today was the game against the University of Pilgrimage. We won 2-0 without any particular event. The score was one point by my home run and one point by Hagiri's home run. It seems that Imayuri of Hayao University has the highest number of home runs in the tournament so far, with four home runs. It was frustrating, but it would be difficult to beat a team with a better record against a team with superior power. After the game, I headed to a certain place. A certain restaurant in Akasaka. As a petty-bourgeois citizen, I can't help but believe that there, politicians, bureaucrats, and businessmen are engaged in conspiracies. But that's not important right now. There is something more important. I saw a black luxury car parked in the parking lot of a restaurant. I sneakily approached the car so as not to be seen by the surveillance cameras. I unlocked the trunk of the car by picking the lock. I then entered the car and closed the trunk. I was inside for a while, holding my breath, and soon I heard footsteps and the sound of the car's engine starting. Then the car started to drive off. And after a while the car stopped somewhere. And after a while, when the surroundings became quiet, I opened the trunk and got out of the car. It was in a large garage.

"I manage to go inside the house well. People don't check the trunks of their own cars, you know."

Once we inside the security system, the rest is ours. I open the window facing the garage yard and step out into the yard. I walk leisurely through the yard to the mansion. As an architectural specialist, I know the specifications of the security system here. There are no sensors in the yard. There are cameras and sensors on the fence and the front door, but the residents of this mansion don't like to have such privacy-threatening devices inside the house. Hence, my intrusion has not been detected.

"Well, excuse me for interrupting."

The place to choose as a route of entry in a situation like this is a place where human error is likely to occur. It's almost the season when it gets hotter, so it's time to open the windows of the bedrooms above the second floor and sleep with the screen door open. The owner here is an old-fashioned person and is blind to air conditioning, so he opened the bedroom window. I climbed through the wall to the upstairs window and entered the house through that bedroom. In the room he entered, there was a large bed in which an old man was sleeping soundly. The old man who had shaken hands with Hagiri in Shinjuku, a former politician, was there. I crossed the room with dignity and went out into the hallway. I crossed the room and went to the study of the house. In my previous world, I was an architect. I knew where the rooms were. I entered the study and began to rummage through the desks.

"It's easy to keep the desk of a good worker organized, isn't it? I got it!"

I got the documents I wanted. A document about the venture development policy of the Imperial Capital University written by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. This is what I wanted. The business Hagiri is trying to do is probably subsidized by the government. In order to track it down, I needed a document that was confidential in any way. I take pictures of the contents with my camera. There are a lot of blacked-out parts, but it should give us a clue as to what Hagiri is trying to do.

"Is there anything else?"

I wander around the study. There are no documents of interest on the desk. A little tired, I sit down in a chair. Then I looked at the bookshelf. Then the word "Hagiri" jumped into my eyes. Surprised, I stood up and approached the bookshelf. There was a file with a spine. On the spine was written "The Hagiri Papers."

"The Hagiri Papers?"

The cover read,

===

[Thesis on the Sacrificial King.]

Imperial University Graduate School

Intercultural Intelligence Center

Professor Shoto Hagiri

===

The name on the cover is not the Hagiri I know.

"What is this...? A relative of Hagiri? The Sacrificial King?"

I flip through one of the papers. I see an outline.

===

The outline　

There has been no space in which there has been no "prayer" since mankind first appeared on the earth.

If time is merely an event that can depend on human subjectivity, then it is therefore a matter of ■■■ in the Inter-Prayer Universe.

(several lines blacked out below)

Hence, Rex Sacrorum's conception of man's collective unconscious as a universal Idea. ■■■

(several lines in blacked out below)

In this paper, I discuss the Inter-Prayer Universe, and propose a framework for the salvation of human civilization.

===

"I don't understand... there's a lot of blacking out..."

This is a paper that makes no sense. It's full of blacked-out words and terms that I don't understand. But it was written by someone with the same surname as Hagiri. At any rate, I take a picture of it with my camera.

"This is kind of creepy. Let's get out of here."

I put the paper back and left the study. Then I went out into the yard and found the blind spot for the camera and sensor inside the fence. I went through there, over the fence, and left the place in the darkness of the night.