After Reaching the Happy Ending, I Was Locked up by the Extremely Possessive Heroines I Had Conquered

Chapter 31: Satori Runs Amok

Three days had passed since then.

Nevertheless, Satori had not returned home even once.

On top of that, even when I went to see her, she did not show her face even a single time.

The outcome was always getting turned away by Uncle at the front door, and no matter how many times I visited, the result never changed. It did not work even when I said I wanted to apologize.

So for the time being, I made an effort to talk with Uncle. I thought that if we conversed, there might be some hint.

“Uncle, what is going on? What is the cause?”

“It must be because you messed up somehow.”

“W-Well…”

“Expect the price to be high for that. You have been taking the women of the Jindaiji family too lightly.”

“Huh?”

“The women of the Jindaiji family are strong-willed and will not rest until they obtain what they desire. That is the nature of that household.”

Uncle murmured while gazing off into the distance somewhere. He wore an unusually grave expression, probably based on his past experiences.

“You are certainly one who managed to obtain her, Uncle.”

“…Shut up. You are the same type.”

I had no words to respond.

After all, I was in the midst of obtaining one right now.

“Sigh… Is it starting again?”

“Starting?”

“What the head of the Jindaiji family has done in the past. You should go to the community center and look it up. Sigh… My stomach hurts.”

Just as his words suggested, Uncle clutched his stomach and returned inside the house.

The door closed with a thud, and once again, I could not meet Satori.

That said…

“What the head of the Jindaiji family has done.”

The original story had not touched on it even a millimeter, so I did not quite understand. Since the head of the Jindaiji family had been Uncle, I had not paid it much mind.

Well, but it was Satori.

I could not even imagine the one who was supposed to be the most level-headed among the three pulling off something so outrageous.

Surely she would show her face as usual in a few days.

With that optimistic thought, I headed back home.

However, I had no idea at that time that it would turn out like that.

※

That was three days after Satori had stopped coming home.

“Senpai, a circular came around…”

While I was drawing in the living room, Toa Watarase returned from checking the mailbox, tilting her head with a circular in her hand.

News on the island was basically shared either through circulars or the island broadcast.

They divided it up with the island broadcast for emergencies and circulars for everything else.

So I usually did not pay much attention, but this time, it probably mentioned that Satori had become the head of the Jindaiji family. I needed to read through it once.

However, Toa Watarase’s expression was strange for that. She furrowed her brows and stared intently at the circular with somewhat serious eyes.

Was there some surprising news?

With that question in mind, I peered over, and there was shocking content written—

I could not believe my eyes.

“—The Four-Person Group System?”

It seemed a new policy from the three great families was being implemented.

That in itself was not unusual on this island. But the content was utterly abnormal.

—

The Four-Person Group System.

1. Organize the islanders into groups of four.

2. Those four must always act together, in sickness and in health.

3. The four-person group bears collective responsibility and must monitor each other.

4. If even one of the four attempts to flee the island, impose severe punishment regardless of success or failure.

“…What is this?”

The content was so shocking that a dry laugh escaped me.

—

It had been created to prevent my escape.

That was the only way to interpret the policy. After all, the list on the back stated it plainly.

Satori, Toa, Mahiru, and me.

We four formed one group. Even if they had randomly assigned neighbors, or done it at random, the odds of this combination were zero.

Probably—no, almost certainly.

It had been selected with the intention of the three great families—of Satori.

In short, it was simple.

The first thing Satori did as head of the three great families.

That was this Four-Person Group System.

—

It was a system to confine me to this island.

“…Is something like this even allowed?”

“It does feel a bit excessive. But what the three great families say is absolute. And the reason for implementation makes sense.”

I looked where Toa Watarase pointed. There was a plausible passage written there.

This year’s slogan is “Born on the island, live on the island, return to the island. That is life.”

The background for this slogan includes the population decline on Black Tide Island and the outflow of young talent.

In recent years, with the wave of digitalization, there have been no small number of people leaving the island.

However, precisely because of this era, it is necessary to look back at the island anew and foster love for it.

To realize that philosophy, we implement the Four-Person Group System to strengthen bonds among islanders.

Through this system, by supporting, monitoring, and helping each other, we want people to rediscover the meaning and pride of living on the island.

“Well, it does sound plausible.”

As far as the reasoning went, it was not incomprehensible. I thought the policy itself to curb population decline was necessary.

However, beneath it seeped a pressure on those trying to leave the island, so I could not nod in agreement straightforwardly.

“More like…”

I had thought this ever since first seeing the policy…

“Isn’t this the five-person group from the Edo period?”

“The five-person group…?”

I explained to Toa Watarase, who tilted her head.

“Yeah. It was a system where, for tax collection and maintaining public order, they had groups of five monitor each other. If one committed a crime, the other four shared the punishment.”

You could not commit a crime with the neighboring gaze. You could not commit a crime because of collective responsibility.

By creating that state, they could effectively dominate and control. That was the five-person group of the Edo period.

And this four-person group was so similar that it could only be seen as modeled after it. It was no exaggeration to say it was the same.

It had just a bit more possessive element, but otherwise, it was largely identical.

That said, I never imagined they would drag out an Edo-period system. There were limits to anachronism.

I felt anew how insular this island was.

“…This is the worst.”

“Eh, but doesn’t this suit us pretty well?”

While I clutched my head, Toa Watarase, surprisingly calm, murmured something strange.

“Suits us?”

“Because we are already like a four-person group, right? We monitor with cameras around the clock, and if Senpai tried to leave the island, we would chase you to the ends of the earth, wouldn’t we?”

“True… Whenever I head to the ferry terminal, someone is always there.”

“That’s right. We have been a four-person group for a long time.”

“That makes sense.”

Then it was fine. Whether the system existed or not, daily life would hardly change.

“…Daily life won’t change?”

Was that really okay?

“………………………………………”

Well, thinking about it was pointless.

More importantly, what mattered was that this was Satori’s first act as head.

“Huh?”

That was strange. In the original story’s Satori route, she struggled to change the insular island, but this was completely the opposite.

—