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〜

Please Rate this Novel 5★ on NovelUpdates!

Chapter 28

Side: Ririko

“Ririko-sama…? Ririko-sama…?”

I suddenly snapped my head up.

The blurry world before my eyes slowly came back into focus, and I realized Hirota-kun was peering down at me with a worried expression.

They were apparently called the Aketo Conglomerate faction, and all of them were standing lined up in front of the school gate, surrounding me.

“Are you alright, Ririko-sama?”

“…Yeah. I’m fine.”

That was what I said out loud, but mentally, I was already at my limit.

Lately, I hadn’t even been able to eat properly.

Sasaki-kun, Akimoto-kun, Marui-kun—

All of them who had stayed by my side… had ended up being taken to the hospital.

All of them… just to protect me.

“I’m sorry… everyone…”

Before I realized it, the apology slipped out.

“…I’m really sorry this happened because of me.”

I didn’t know what the attacker’s real goal was.

But I didn’t want anyone else getting hurt because of me anymore.

This kind of thing had happened before too.

I had always liked sports, but because I was a conglomerate’s daughter, people would say it’d be bad if I got injured.

Back in elementary school… in middle school too… everyone would deliberately lose when facing me.

And before I knew it, I realized I had been causing trouble for others without even noticing.

It felt just like that time.

My very existence… was becoming a burden to someone else.

“Ririko-sama, this is our duty. Please don’t worry about it.”

Hirota-kun said that to me.

The other boys all nodded firmly as well, like they truly meant it.

“…Everyone…”

Feeling like my guilt was about to crush me, I headed toward the shoe lockers.

Was this really okay?

But they kept saying they would protect me.

So I thought… maybe I should just let things carry me along.

If I did that, then—

“Ah…”

My heart felt like it was being squeezed tight.

My body stepped back on its own, and my hands and legs began trembling.

—There was another letter inside the shoe locker.

“Ririko-sama? Don’t tell me…”

He must have noticed something was wrong from my reaction.

Hirota-kun reached out toward the locker.

But… for some reason, I stopped him without thinking.

“Wait… I’ll read it.”

There was no doubt it was another threat letter.

Even though anxiety and fear felt like they were about to overwhelm me, I picked it up and read it myself.

I think the reason I did was because… I couldn’t keep holding it in anymore.

Just who was doing something like this—!?

That surge of anger pushed me forward and made me read the letter.

Carefully, I opened the envelope.

As expected—

The contents were disgusting.

It was written in that creepy way, like a declaration of a crime, with letters cut out from newspapers and pasted together.

『DIE. DIE. DIE. I’LL KILL YOU. I’LL KILL YOU. Man-obsessed slut. Bitch. Easy lay. Fucking woman. A know-it-all delusional woman who thinks she’s smart.』

I couldn’t remember ever doing anything that deserved this much hatred.

And yet, some faceless stranger was hurling raw malice straight at me.

Just reading the threat letter made my head spin again.

“Ririko-sama… you shouldn’t read any more of this…”

“…Y-Yeah.”

Hirota-kun tried to stop me, but I clenched my teeth and looked at it one more time anyway.

If only I could find some kind of clue about the culprit… anything… there had to be something…

…………………………………………………………

……Ah! What is this?

Why… why is this written here…?

No way… no way…

The moment the dots connected in my head, a chill ran straight down my spine.

This was something I couldn’t handle alone.

I needed someone’s help.

But… who?

—That’s it. That person.

If it was someone who moved like that during the SP tournament… then maybe…

〇

Side: Yuuji

“—So that’s why you came to talk to me?”

After organizing my memories so far and listening once more to everything Ririko Aketo had explained, I asked her again.

Ririko gave a small nod.

“I want you to… help me.”

She said it while trembling.

The wind on the rooftop gently swayed her black hair.

I didn’t have any reason to refuse.

“What did the new threat letter say?”

When I asked, Ririko pulled the letter out of her pocket.

Then she pointed at it.

“It’s this part…”

It really looked like something straight out of a drama.

The contents were disgusting from start to finish—but one line stood out, written like this.

“‘Ki’, ‘bi’, ‘tsu’, ‘no’, ‘ka’, ‘ma’, ‘mi’, ‘ta’, ‘i’, ‘ni’, ‘ta’, ‘ta’, ‘ru’…? ‘Curse’…? It looks like a threat, but what does this mean?”

“…Takahashi-kun, have you ever read Ugetsu Monogatari?”

“No. I’m terrible with novels. I’m not good at reading text in the first place. I feel like I’ve heard the name before, but I don’t know what kind of story it is. Why?”

“…That line at the start refers to Kibitsu no Kama.”

“Kibitsu no Kama?”

“If I explain it simply—it’s a story from Ugetsu Monogatari about a wife who gets betrayed and cheated on by her husband… and then ends up cursing him to death.”

“Eh…?”

I had a really bad feeling about this.

I’d only just learned that Ugetsu Monogatari was a collection of short stories, but honestly—how many people in Japan even knew that?

And beyond that, just how well-known was a story called Kibitsu no Kama, anyway?

I didn’t know anything about criminal psychology, but one thing was obvious.

A threat letter was meant to threaten its target.

In other words, taken to the extreme—you wouldn’t write a threat to a Japanese person in English.

If the message didn’t get across, there was no point.

So that brought me back to the original question.

Just how many people in Japan actually knew Ugetsu Monogatari—and on top of that, Kibitsu no Kama?

Probably fewer than the number of people who knew whatever movie was trending right now.

The person who quoted Kibitsu no Kama and wrote a threat about “cursing someone to death” clearly knew that Ririko was reading Ugetsu Monogatari.

They chose that reference because it would work as a threat.

Which meant—

“…The only people who knew I bought Ugetsu Monogatari were the Aketo Conglomerate faction. I bought it as a really personal interest, so I didn’t tell my friends… or my parents either.”

“Then don’t tell me…”

Her face had gone pale, but after taking a breath to steady herself, Ririko said it anyway.

“There’s someone inside the Aketo Conglomerate faction who wrote those threat letters… And probably… they’re the one attacking our own people too.”

♦♦♦

Thank you very much for reading all the way up to this point!

I’ve received a ton of comments from readers, and honestly, I really wanted to reply right away—but it looks like things have gotten pretty lively around the question of “Who’s the culprit?”

Since the mood is so good right now, I figured it’d be a shame if the author jumped in and spoiled the fun with unnecessary comments, so I’ll respond to everything properly once the answer is revealed!

(Also, thank you so much for pointing out typos and mistakes! I’ll fix them right away!)

Now then—until all the truth comes to light…

Just a little bit more!

※ By the way, we ranked 3rd in the Modern Drama Weekly category…!
※ Even the daily ranking somehow made it into the Top 3!
※ And the overall ranking—the latest one is somehow 59th…!?

Seeing ★1000 actually within reach has honestly made my heart tremble.

I mean, seriously… how do I even put this…

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

(I’m way too happy—my vocabulary has completely died.)

Chapter 29

That… was a pretty shocking truth.

Talking about something like this must have been terrifying for her.

But maybe that just meant she really had no one else she could rely on.

“There’s one thing I want to ask. Why did you come to me?”

I had lost in the very first round of the SP tournament.

I’d been knocked clean out of bounds by Hirota in a single move—an embarrassingly pathetic defeat.

So I couldn’t help but wonder about that.

“…Ah—yeah. It’s just that… the way Takahashi-kun lost caught my attention.”

“The way I lost?”

“…This might sound weird, but it kind of looked like you were holding back.”

“Eh…?”

That was ridiculous.

I had definitely pretended to lose—but did she really see through it at a glance?

“…Um, well… I’ve always had people go easy on me in sports since I was little, so I sort of got used to noticing it just from small movements. That’s why I thought maybe you were doing the same. —And, sorry. To be honest, among the ‘Academy SP’ students, the only face I really knew was yours. If we hadn’t met at the arcade, I probably wouldn’t even remember your name. …And, well, the guy with glasses too.”

Honestly, Wakita aside, I was surprised she’d even remembered the face and name of a total mob like me.

Well, there wasn’t much solid reasoning behind it—but it felt like she just wanted anyone who wasn’t part of the Aketo Conglomerate faction.

That thought made me panic for a second.

I almost wondered if she thought I had some hidden backstory, like being a secret martial arts master or something.

—But man, this was bad.

Not the request itself—what bothered me were my memories.

Something like this definitely wasn’t in the original story.

I’d played through the Ririko Aketo route too, and I was pretty sure the bad ending involved a traffic accident.

At the very least, there was no event where the Aketo Conglomerate faction got attacked one after another…

And yet… my memories kept itching, like something was stuck there.

“…Sorry. Even if I say all this, I’m just causing you trouble. Takahashi-kun, you’re supposed to protect Hagoromo-san. That’s your mission.”

Damn it.

I’d gone quiet while thinking, and it seemed Ririko took that silence as a rejection.

“N-No, that’s not what I meant—”

That was when it happened.

“—I apologize.”

A voice came from the rooftop door, and Ririko flinched as she turned around.

Standing there was Manabu Hirota—looking genuinely apologetic.

“I was worried when I saw Ririko-sama come up here alone. Because of my escort duty, I ended up following you… and I overheard something troubling. Someone within the ‘Aketo Conglomerate faction’ is behind this disturbance, is that what you were saying…?”

After saying that—

He dropped straight down into a full bow of apology.

“As the leader… and as the representative… I sincerely apologize for causing you so much trouble, Ririko-sama!”

“W-Wait, please… lift your head, Hirota-kun.”

Ririko was completely flustered by his attitude.

“For now, raise your head, Hirota.”

When I said that, he slowly straightened his large body and stood back up.

Well… I could understand why he’d be this shaken.

“Alright. First things first—what do we do?”

I rested my hand against my chin and thought.

Given the situation, it was safe to assume the culprit was inside the Aketo Conglomerate faction.

…Which meant there was only one course of action.

“We tell the Aketo faction about this and narrow down the culprit ourselves. Of course, we’ll also inform the police.”

It was hard for me to say outright, but Hirota caught on immediately.

“And… can I leave Ririko-sama to you, Takahashi?”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

Then Hirota gave a bitter, self-mocking smile.

“Unfortunately, I’m the leader of the Aketo Conglomerate faction. That alone makes me a suspect. I don’t have the right to be the one protecting Ririko-sama.”

Ririko looked like she wanted to say something, but she swallowed her words.

After all, she had come to me first with this—

Not to Hirota.

Deep down, she probably couldn’t fully trust him either.

And honestly… that was the right call.

“Ririko-sama, relying on that man—Yuuji Takahashi—is the right choice.”

With that, Hirota smiled at me.

“Did you think I hadn’t noticed?”

“Hirota…”

“Next time, don’t hold back when we fight.”

Back during the SP tournament—

It looked like he’d clearly seen through the fact that I’d deliberately gone flying.

I scratched my head, trying to play it off.

“For Ririko-sama’s sake, let’s treat this as being in the same boat. Takahashi, can I ask you to take over her protection starting today?”

“Yeah. I got it.”

“I’ll see if I can narrow down the suspects within the Aketo Conglomerate faction—alibis, motives, all of that. Once I find anything, I’ll report back after school today.”

“Roger. Let’s meet up on the rooftop.”

After confirming the plan, I turned toward Ririko.

“…I’ll be counting on you.”

She bowed her head slightly as she said that, her quiet Kansai accent gentle.

I answered without hesitation.

“Leave it to me.”

〇

“Okay, got it. I think I understand the situation now. So basically, starting today, our protection targets aren’t just Sara-san anymore—Ririko Aketo-san has been added too. …Mufufu.”

I explained everything up to this point to Wakita, but for some reason, this glasses-wearing idiot put on a seriously creepy grin.

“You’re disgusting.”

“That’s way too harsh!”

“More importantly, why are you looking so damn happy?”

“Well, I mean… who would’ve thought you’d manage to rope in not just Sara-san, but even the refined Osaka-accent Ririko-san too… Yuuji Takahashi—just like I suspected, you’re one hell of a man!”

“Stop spouting nonsense. I’ll snap that thumbs-up right off your hand. —As for Ririko Aketo, this is just a temporary arrangement. Once we figure out who the culprit is, we’ll hand her back to Hirota and his faction.”

“Ehh—what a waste! Since you’ve got the chance, you should totally put your mark on Ririko-san too!”

“Are you stupid? One eastern conglomerate’s daughter is already more than enough trouble—how do you expect me to handle a western one too!?”

…Seriously.

Even Amagaya, the gal game protagonist himself, only went after one heroine per timeline.

Don’t say scary stuff like that so casually.

“Boo—Yuuji, you coward.”

“Shut up.”

“Well, anyway, I’ll let Sara-san know. I’ll tell her that, for certain reasons, you’ll be heading home with Ririko-san today…”

Since we’d already exchanged contact info beforehand, Wakita started typing at lightning speed and sent the message.

Then—Ping.

…The sound came from my phone.

—Sara: “What do you mean?”