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 30 & 31

Chapter 30

—Yuuji: “I’ll explain the details after school, but there’ve been a lot of assault incidents happening around Ririko Aketo, right? Because of that, I decided to cooperate to make sure she stays safe.”

—Sara: “Hmmm ( 一一) Then shouldn’t you just protect Aketo-san instead of Sara? You can just leave Sara behind and go home with Aketo-san, right? (=^・^=)”

This was starting to feel… really troublesome.

And the scariest part was that smiley face at the end.

Why did it feel way more threatening than an angry message? Seriously…

—Yuuji: “Things are getting sketchy around us right now. I don’t know what kind of danger could come your way either, and there’s no way I’m leaving you alone.”

—Sara: “…Sara can go home by herself anyway. Aketo-san is the one in danger, right? I’d just be in the way (*´艸｀)”

Seriously! What’s with this girl!

Why were those emojis giving off this kind of vibe!?

At a time like this too… man, this was really starting to get on my nerves.

—Yuuji: “Just shut up and do what I say! I’ll drag you along even if I have to! Wait at the usual place!”

Ah—crap.

I replied with way too harsh a tone.

This was just going to make her even more angry—

—Sara: “Okay… I get it. You’re pretty forceful, Yuuji (‘ω’)♡”

…Why did that message feel oddly lively?

No—this had to be my imagination. Probably.

—Sara: “Oh, by the way, Aketo-san’s class has a long homeroom today for the school trip, so she’ll probably be about 30 minutes late.”

—Yuuji: “Got it. I’ll wait in front of the shoe lockers under the new school building. Ririko Aketo will be waiting there too.”

After sending that, I put my phone away and let out a long sigh.

I was genuinely worried about Sara’s future.

If she ever got hooked on an abusive guy, that’d be the point of no return.

“Then you just have to make her happy, Yuuji!”

“Stop reading my mind. And don’t pat my shoulder like that.”

〇

After that—once school was over.

Just as Wakita and I stood up to go pick up Sara and Ririko, Hirota stopped us on our way out.

“Got a minute?”

“Hm? What’s up?”

Then Hirota lowered his voice even more and continued.

“…This is just a precautionary update, but I’ve managed to narrow down a few suspicious people within the Aketo Conglomerate faction.”

“What?”

The unexpected words made me stop in my tracks.

Hirota kept speaking quietly.

“I casually asked around about their schedules and movements. And it turns out… there are two people who clearly don’t have alibis.”

“Who are they?”

“One is Otani. He made it to the top eight in the last SP tournament. The other is Saeki. He also reached the top eight.”

“I see. So both of them can fight.”

“Yeah. If we assume it was an ambush, they’d definitely be capable of pulling it off. Still… personally, I don’t want to believe they’d do something like this…”

He let out a small sigh, looking gloomy for a moment.

But even so, Hirota quickly pulled himself together.

“I’m going to explain the situation to the Aketo Conglomerate faction now. For today, I’ll tell them that Ririko-sama is in your care, Takahashi.”

“Yeah. Make sure you always move in groups of at least two. Honestly, you guys might be the ones in the most danger right now.”

“Agreed. Let’s stay in contact and coordinate again tomorrow. See you.”

After saying that, Hirota left, and we headed toward the new school building.

As always, it was clean and spacious.

Thinking that, we waited in front of the shoe lockers.

The after-school chime rang, and one class after another of female students started pouring out.

“Oh, look—it’s the Academy SP guys.”

In a place filled with girls, there was no way we wouldn’t draw attention.

While Wakita was busy waving at the girls with his creepy grin—like a total suspicious person—we waited for several minutes…

—But Sara didn’t show up at all.

“Did she go to the bathroom or something? She’s usually here by now.”

Just as I checked the time on my phone—

A message came from Sara.

But the contents were… clearly a sign that something was very wrong.

—Sara: “Hey, sorry. I’m with someone from ‘Academy SP’ right now because they said it’s an emergency. What’s going on?”

What the hell is this…?

—Sara: “They said they figured out who attacked Aketo-san’s Academy SP escorts… And that the culprit is… Yuuji Takahashi.”

What… are they talking about?

—Sara: “Yuuji isn’t the culprit, right? Sara doesn’t understand what’s going on anymore. But that guy keeps saying it’s dangerous for me to get close to you, and that they’ll ‘protect’ me instead… they won’t listen at all…”

Wakita seemed to sense something was wrong too and leaned over to check my phone.

The moment he read the messages, his whole body stiffened.

“What does this mean? Someone from ‘Academy SP’ is alone with Sara-san right now?”

“—Who is that guy?”

As soon as I sent that, a reply from Sara came almost immediately.

—Sara: “The name is… sorry, I don’t know. But he said he’s from the Aketo Conglomerate faction. He’s got a pretty scary face, and I think he was often around that Hirota-kun. Oh—he was top four in the SP tournament.”

At those words, Wakita’s eyes went wide.

Then, in a low, ominous voice, he said the name out loud.

“Isoyama… Isoyama is… with Sara-san…!”

Chapter 31

—Sara: “Hey… I’m scared. What should I do? I’m in the courtyard right now, but there’s no one here… Sara doesn’t know what to do…”

The moment that message came in—

Wakita and I started running.

Damn it… so it really was Isoyama!

Thinking back, he’d been desperately trying to frame us as the culprits this whole time.

I’d always felt something was off—but if Isoyama was the one behind it all, then everything suddenly made sense.

This was bad.

I never imagined he’d actually resort to violence inside the school—that blind spot completely caught us off guard.

The culprit’s obsession with Ririko Aketo and his willingness to use violence were far beyond normal.

Maybe we should’ve seen this coming.

Sara’s life… was in danger.

〇

Side: Ririko

“That… that’s really true?”

We hurried away from the academy at a light jog.

Around us were only the members of the Aketo Conglomerate faction, led by Hirota-kun.

Starting today, Takahashi-kun was supposed to be my temporary escort…

But an emergency had come up.

We’d just been told that the person behind everything—

The culprit in all those incidents—was Isoyama-kun.

“Is it really… Isoyama-kun…?”

At my words, Hirota-kun’s face twisted in pain.

“Yes… I’m truly sorry. But just now, we received word from the police. It seems the three members of the Aketo Conglomerate faction who were attacked all had traces of the same DNA left on them… And it was identified as Isoyama’s.”

“That can’t be…”

So there really was a culprit inside the Aketo Conglomerate faction…

Isoyama-kun…

I didn’t remember ever doing anything to make him hate me.

But maybe… it really was because of the Aketo Conglomerate itself…

I was so tired of this.

Ever since I was born, it had been nothing but things like this.

And yet…

This fate of mine…

I couldn’t run away from it.

“Yuuji Takahashi just contacted us. It seems Isoyama has lost his mind and made contact with Sara Hagoromo-san.”

“Eh… Hagoromo-san…?”

“First, we’ll escort you somewhere safe, Ririko-sama. After that, we’ll head out as reinforcements.”

“I see… yeah, okay…”

So many things had happened that my head felt completely scrambled.

But… it was fine.

If I just went with the flow, that would be enough…

“We don’t know what Isoyama is up to! Everyone, stay alert!”

With that, Hirota-kun rallied the remaining members.

More than anything, I just wanted Hagoromo-san to be safe.

Sure, we were daughters of rival conglomerates, but even so—

She dressed flashily, yet she seemed like a genuinely kind girl.

Somehow, I even felt like she might become my greatest ally.

Right now, Takahashi-kun and the glasses guy were probably protecting her.

Please…

Please keep Hagoromo-san safe too.

〇

Side: Yuuji

The courtyard was on the old school building’s side.

Just like they said, hardly any students passed through here—it felt unsettling.

It was as if this place alone had been cut off, turned into some isolated pocket of space.

I never thought this would be where it happened.

Please… let us make it in time.

We made it last time too. So this time—!

“Sara!!”

I shouted her name at the top of my lungs.

In this place where not even after-school club students passed by, two people stood in uniform.

One was Sara.

The other was… Isoyama.

There was no mistake.

“Yuuji…”

Sara called out to me, her voice trembling.

From what I could see, she wasn’t hurt—she looked fine, and that alone made me breathe easier.

Then—

The moment Isoyama noticed us, his eyes lit up with a sharp glare.

“Wakita… Takahashi!!”

He raised his voice and stepped in front of Sara, blocking her from us.

Well then…

Looks like things were about to get really troublesome.

At this rate, it was going to turn into a fight inside the school.

Normally, violence on campus meant instant expulsion—but… this was an emergency.

There was no way I could afford to care about that right now.

I cracked my knuckles one by one.

Realizing I’d taken a fighting stance, Isoyama shouted loudly.

“You piece of trash…! How dare you do that to everyone in the Aketo Conglomerate faction…!!”

His eyes were bloodshot, blazing red with rage.

What the hell was this guy doing—was he really going to keep up this act?

“What are you even saying…? You’re the culprit!”

The moment I shouted back, his glare sharpened even further.

“Hah!? Don’t screw with me!! I’ll kill you, you bastard!!”

I thought it was just blind rage—but then he suddenly turned toward Sara.

“Leave this to me and run, Hagoromo-san.”

“…Eh?”

“We may be from different factions, but I can’t just abandon someone when there’s a scumbag out to kill them.”

“E-Eh?”

Isoyama suddenly switched to a calm, almost reasonable tone and tried to get Sara to escape.

That… felt wrong.

—What was going on?

Didn’t he call Sara out here to hurt her?

The way he was acting now almost made it look like he was genuinely trying to protect her… from me.

“…Something about this doesn’t add up.”

As I said that, Wakita stepped in front of me.

“Wait a second, Isoyama-kun!”

“Hah!? What do you want, you damn glasses!?”

“‘Damn glasses’… wow, that’s a bit much.”

“Of course it is! You didn’t just harass Ririko-sama—you even attacked members of the Aketo Conglomerate faction! Our own teammates!! You coward!!”

“C-Calm down! Why are you so sure we did it? That’s way too subjective—you’re jumping to conclusions…”

But then, Isoyama let out a twisted, mocking laugh.

“Hah! Yeah, at first it was honestly just a hunch. But you know what? I got confirmation. Proof that my gut feeling was right.”

“Confirmation…? From who?”

I’d thought he was just spouting nonsense this whole time.

But the next words he threw out—

They completely changed the air in an instant.

“Hah! There’s only one person I trust in all of ‘Academy SP’—Hirota-kun.”