Academy SP 〜An Ex-Mercenary Reincarnated as a Mob in a Gal Game. I Ditched My Bodyguard Job to Enjoy High School Life, but When the Ultra-Rich Heroines Were About to Get Killed, I Stepped In… and Somehow Built a Harem Powerful Enough to Control Japan〜 - Chapter 24 & 25

Chapter 24

Side: Yuuji

“Did you hear, Yuuji?”
“Hm? About what, Wakita?”
“About those threat letters aimed at Aketo-san—apparently this time, someone stuffed a dead rat into her shoe locker.”
“…Seriously?”

Now that he mentioned it, the class had felt noisy since morning.
So that was the reason.

“From what I heard, it was probably one of those cheap lab mice you can buy for experiments. Looks like they killed it and dumped it in there.”
“That’s messed up. Whoever did that is sick.”
“Yeah. And using a rat makes it even nastier.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“The Aketo family crest is based on the kanji for ‘rat,’ stylized into a symbol. Rats are the first of the zodiac, and they represent prosperity, abundant descendants, and business success. The Aketo family has treasured them as a lucky animal for generations.”
“…And stuffing the corpse of that symbol into the shoe locker of the Aketo Conglomerate’s daughter is…”
“Yeah. Feels way too deliberate to be random.”
“So the culprit really hates the Aketo Conglomerate, huh… Either way, that’s not just a prank anymore. It’s a really shitty one.”

With things going this far, I started worrying about Ririko Aketo’s mental state.

If I remembered the original story right, she looked calm and unshakable at first glance—but in truth, she was actually pretty easily scared.

Ah, yeah.
That haunted-house event.

She had been freaking out like crazy back then. Definitely.

…But even though all those date scenes kept floating up in my head—only half-remembered at that—I couldn’t recall anything like this dead-rat incident being in the original story.

Which made me wonder.

Did this even exist in the first place?

Man… ever since the protagonist, Amagaya, retired from the spotlight, things had felt like they were drifting further and further into territory I couldn’t predict at all.

Bang!

Just as I was scratching my head, trying to untangle my thoughts, the door was yanked open violently.

When I looked over, the Aketo Conglomerate faction was standing there, clearly irritated.

Yeah… they were probably still on edge over what happened this morning.

Just as that thought crossed my mind, Isoyama raised his voice.

“Hey! You guys! Line up—now! We’re checking everyone’s alibi from yesterday!”
“Huh? W-What do you mean, alibi?”

When one of the students asked, Isoyama clicked his tongue and grabbed him by the collar.

“Isn’t it obvious!? We’re flushing out the bastard who put that thing in Ririko-sama’s shoe locker!”
“W-Wait, what!? The culprit… I heard it was probably a jealous girl from the school—”
“Hah!? Like hell a girl would do something that disgusting! The culprit is definitely one of the guys inside Academy SP!”

With some pretty forced logic, Isoyama was dead set on suspecting all of us.

“D-Don’t screw with us!”
“Why the hell would we do something like that to the Aketo Conglomerate!?”
“This is way too overbearing!”

Of course, voices of protest started flying—but Isoyama shut everyone up by kicking Wakita’s desk hard.

“Shut the hell up!! You don’t think there might be someone here who hates the Aketo Conglomerate!?”

He spat it out like he’d already decided everything.

“The Four Great Conglomerates have been fierce rivals since before the war. Power struggles, backstabbing—the works. You really think it’s impossible that someone did this under orders from another conglomerate?”
“““WHAT!?”””

Angry shouts erupted at Isoyama’s wild assumption.

Even so, the Aketo Conglomerate faction was basically a group of fighters—guys who’d made a big name for themselves in the SP tournament.

“Huh? You got a problem with that?”

When Isoyama glared at them with that threatening look, most of the students couldn’t talk back anymore.

Satisfied that he’d made the power difference clear, he snorted smugly—and then…

“Well, whatever. I already have a pretty good idea who the culprit is.”

Those murky eyes slowly turned toward… me and Wakita.

“Eh…? U-Us…? No, no, no—there’s no way we’d do something like that—”

Trying to smooth things over, Wakita flashed an awkward grin.

Apparently, that annoyed Isoyama even more—he clicked his tongue and grabbed Wakita by the collar.

“You guys from the Hagoromo Conglomerate faction are the most suspicious, got it? You lost to me and Hirota-kun in the first round of the SP tournament. That was humiliating, wasn’t it?”
“N-No, I mean… just because of that, pulling something this nasty—”
“Shut up!!”

Isoyama roared and shoved Wakita away.

“Wha—!?”

Wakita let out a pathetic scream as his body flew back, knocking over desks and chairs one after another.

“…Hey. That was way too far.”

When I said that in a low voice, Isoyama clicked his tongue.

“Huh?”

Then he shifted his glare straight to me.

“Hah! Don’t tell me—you did it on Hagoromo-san’s orders?”

That sneering grin scraped right against my nerves.

“What did you say? You’re claiming Sara did something like that?”
“The Aketo family and the Hagoromo family are rivals, aren’t they? And lately, I’ve heard the Aketo side’s real estate business in Kansai has been doing especially well. Bigger profits and all that.”

He shrugged, talking like it was obvious.

“So Sara Hagoromo panicked after getting beaten to the punch, ordered you guys to shove a dead rat into the shoe locker—story-wise, that’s the cleanest explanation, don’t you think?”
“……………………”

…Idiot.

Calm down.

Causing trouble here wouldn’t be good. It would just create more problems.

This was supposed to be the start of my long-awaited youth, after all.

And yet—why was it?

The way this guy casually assumed Sara did something like that…

It made me want to punch him in the face.

That kind Sara.
That caring Sara.
The Sara who’d been troubled just by being born as a conglomerate’s daughter.

There was no way she’d give an order like that over stupid family profits or some rivalry between the Hagoromo and Aketo houses.

Just the fact that someone thought that of her made my blood boil.

“Come on! Why don’t you just confess already!?”

Shouting that, Isoyama raised his fist at me.

Looks like he was planning to make me talk with violence.

Fine by me—

That was what I thought as I was about to respond in kind—

“ISOYAMA!!”

At that familiar roar, Isoyama froze mid-swing.

“Wh—H-Hirota-kun…?”

Chapter 25

Hirota, who had been standing by the classroom door, slowly walked up to Isoyama—and then slapped him straight across the face.

The blow was heavy, like a sumo-style open-hand strike, and Isoyama went flying.

“You’re deciding the culprit based on your own bias—and then trying to force a confession out of someone with violence. That’s exactly how the police used to operate before the war!”

Hirota’s voice thundered through the room.

“As someone aiming to become a police officer, what you’re doing makes me sick!”

After shouting that, he walked over to Wakita and helped him back up.

“You okay?”
“Y-Yeah… thanks, Hirota-kun.”
“I’m really sorry about Isoyama.”

Then Hirota apologized to me as well, before bowing deeply in front of everyone.

“This was my failure to keep him in check. Please accept my apology.”

After that, he raised his head—and spoke from the heart.

“But… I want you to understand how we feel, even just a little.”

His expression tightened as he continued.

“The person we’re sworn to protect, Ririko Aketo-sama, has been worn down—both mentally and physically—by repeated harassment. We’re desperate to find the culprit. If anyone knows anything at all, please tell us. We may belong to different factions, but we’re all classmates in Academy SP. So… can’t we work together, where we can?”

There was something about the words of Manabu Hirota—the class representative and the winner of the SP tournament—that made people want to listen.

A kind of quiet charisma.

Almost immediately, voices rose around the classroom.

“Alright.”
“I’ll help however I can.”
“I’ll cooperate too.”

One after another, the class responded, clearly moved.

After that, Hirota naturally began asking everyone about their alibis.

What he was doing was technically an interrogation—but when Hirota did it, it somehow felt like casual conversation.

That alone showed how skilled he was.

He had strength, sure—but this side of him was impressive too.

“Takahashi. Wakita. Can I ask you about yesterday as well?”

When Hirota asked, we answered without hesitation.

From what they’d gathered, the dead rat had been placed in Ririko Aketo’s shoe locker sometime between after school yesterday and this morning.

Since we’d been at the arcade, we should’ve been cleared as suspects… or so I thought.

“—The school stays open until night. There’s still a chance you came back later.”

Isoyama clearly hadn’t dropped his suspicion toward us.

“I’ll expose who you really are. Just you wait.”

Isoyama kept glaring at us with that creepy level of obsession, so all Wakita and I could do was shrug.

In the end, no one in Academy SP was able to prove a solid alibi.

This wasn’t the police, after all.

Even if Hirota was the son of the National Police Agency director, this was still amateur investigation work. There was no way they could neatly smoke out the culprit.

Well… it was still a thousand times better than deciding the culprit based purely on personal bias like Isoyama did.

Either way—

This whole thing was turning into a real headache.

If only this were one of those moments where I could rely on my knowledge of the original story.

〇

Side: Ririko

“Ugetsu Monogatari should be… ah.”

Right now, I was at a bookstore near the school.

Today, it was just me.

I hadn’t brought any friends along.

The ones around me were… the guys from Academy SP.

“Hey, isn’t that girl kinda cute?”
“More like—why is she surrounded by a bunch of scary-looking guys?”
“Are those all her boyfriends or something? That’s wild.”

…This was bad.

I was definitely getting weird looks.

Well, of course I was.

There were eight guys constantly surrounding me—it was far too strange a sight.

Still… the only reason I could even come to a bookstore like this was because they were here with me.

After that incident, I couldn’t bring myself to go out casually anymore…

For a while, I’d have to avoid going out with my girl friends too.

I couldn’t drag them into trouble.

Having Academy SP protect me also made me feel a bit awkward…

We were classmates, after all.

“Ah—u-um, isn’t Ugetsu Monogatari this one?”

At that voice, I looked up in surprise.

One of the Academy SP boys was pointing at the top shelf.

“…Ah, yes. That’s it.”
“I-I’ll get it for you.”

Saying that, he quickly pulled the book out and handed it to me.

If I remembered right… his name was Sasaki-kun.

“S-So… you like novels?”

Sasaki-kun asked, looking a little nervous.

…Honestly, boys always got like this when they talked to me.

And when they did, I ended up getting nervous too.

“…Yeah. Ugetsu Monogatari is supposed to be a horror novel that was popular back in the Edo period, right? That got me a little curious… Even though I’m terrible with scary stuff, I still get interested in things like this. I guess I’ve got a troublesome personality.”

“N-No, that’s not weird at all! People say ‘wanting to see something scary’ for a reason! M-Maybe I’ll buy it too! Ahahaha!”

“…Really? Then tell me what you think after you read it.”

“Eh!? Y-Yes! Of course!”

His excited voice echoed through the quiet bookstore, and all the other customers turned to look at us at once.

“Sasaki. Keep it down. Idiot.”
“H-Hirota-kun, sorry…”

Just like I thought—Hirota-kun scolded him right away.

He really was serious to the core.

Still, since I was the one being protected, I needed to behave myself too.

That said… Sasaki-kun seemed like a nicer guy than I’d expected.

…Talking about our impressions after reading might actually be kind of fun.

After that, Hirota-kun and the others escorted me all the way to the Aketo family’s waiting hired car.

When the attendant opened the door, inside was—

“…Mom?”