【Future Sight】Saving Tragic Beautiful Girls and Making Them Obsessively Fall for Me 〜I Selfishly “Helped” the Witches Who Were Gonna Destroy the World Just to Train My Martial Arts, and Now They’re All Dripping with Obsession and Worshipping Me〜

Chapter 10

And then, the next day.

I showed up at the brothel way before anyone else was working, right in the early morning. I stood in front of the first-floor reception desk, throwing punches while I waited for the right moment.

“This time of day no one’s around, so it’s perfect for focusing…”

I kept my form in mind and punched again.

My fist closed naturally, following the path where a human can put the most power. It drew strength from all sorts of muscles, and then—

Whoosh… The sound of splitting air lingered as my fist stopped dead.

This was how I drilled the correct punching motion into my body every single day. Little improvements would show up, so I’d fix them, hammer it back in, find the next thing that needed fixing… and repeat.

There was a sharp, blade-like focus to it, and I could feel myself getting a tiny bit stronger each day. It felt good.

So today, like always, I was stacking up the basics when—

Footsteps came down from the upper floor.

“—She’s here.”

I looked over, and…

“…She’s here, huh. Were you waiting to ambush me? Picking a time this early when no one else is around—”

Sakurako—the most popular courtesan, an absolutely stunning girl wrapped in a somehow decadent aura—had an unhappy look on her face.

She was dressed differently today, with a plain cloak pulled up over her head to hide herself, but her pure white skin that seemed to float in the dim light and that usual tired, murky air around her were exactly the same.

Knowing she was going to become one of the “witches,” humanity’s natural enemy pretty soon, she really did look the part.

…Alright. I managed to make contact with her just like I planned. From here on, it’s time to negotiate.

“I didn’t actually want to do something sneaky like ambushing you. It’s just that I could never catch you at all. Whether you were with a client or not, you never showed up in front of me.”

“Of course I wouldn’t. A shady guy like you suddenly barged into our world without any manners. Anyone would be careful not to let someone like that see them too easily.”

“Hmm. I thought the girls here had accepted me pretty well, though.”

“Some of them might have. But starting with me, there are plenty who haven’t. After seeing Fuka’s weird attitude toward you, it’s only natural to think there’s something about you we should watch out for.”

Her gaze was ice-cold. Just like her words, she didn’t trust me at all.

And once again, she brought up Fuka. It was the same when Makina was around… though honestly, I really hadn’t done anything strange.

Well, I already learned from the Makina thing that talking isn’t going to make her believe me. So there was no point worrying about it. I ignored the thorns she was throwing my way and jumped straight to the main topic.

“Anyway, let me tell you why I was waiting here.”

“…”

She stayed quiet and looked me over like she was sizing me up. Basically, “hurry up and spit it out.” Fine, no holding back—

“Today’s one of your rare days off, right, Sakurako? I heard from Fuka that every time you have a day off, you wander around town with an escort. —This time, let me be your escort.”

The moment I said that, Sakurako’s expression didn’t change, but she went silent like she was thinking it over.

And then—

“What happened to the usual escort… Yae?”

“Oh, I asked him myself and he agreed to let me take over for today.”

He was the only guy who’d been working at this brothel before I became the bodyguard. These days he mostly handled the night shift when I wasn’t around, and during the day he did odd jobs and heavy lifting.

“You really came prepared, didn’t you. That just makes your intentions even more suspicious… but whatever, fine.”

Oh. She accepted way easier than I expected. I thought it might be a tougher fight.

Sakurako let out a tired sigh, looked away from me, and started walking again. As she headed for the entrance, she muttered,

“…Actually, this might be convenient. Someone new with no feelings involved would be better.”

She probably didn’t mean for me to hear that… but what did she mean? That having an escort she wasn’t close to was more convenient?

I thought about it for a second, but the sound of the front door opening pulled my mind back.

Well, whatever. She said I could tag along, so my goal was still on track.

All I wanted to know was whether the girl who was going to become a “witch” could help sharpen my fists. As long as I could find that out, nothing else mattered…!

And so, we headed straight into the slums.

“…Hey, where are we going? It’s still early, so none of the shops are even open yet.”

“…”

She gave me this really annoyed look.

“Didn’t you hear me? Then I’ll say it again—”

“I heard you. I was just thinking how much of a pain this is. Yae never talks to me every single step like you do.”

“Hmm. Then I’ll stay quiet.”

“…”

I could practically feel her eyes saying, “What the hell is wrong with this guy?”

It wasn’t like I really needed to know the destination that badly. I just figured that if I saw what Sakurako was thinking and how she acted, it might give me some clues about how close she was to awakening as a witch.

If she didn’t want to talk, that was fine. I could just watch what she did.

So we started walking down the street in silence again.

—Then, a shadowy figure wrapped in a creepy presence suddenly jumped out from a side alley.

Here it comes…!

“WOMAAAAN!!”

A ragged-looking man covered in miasma charged straight at Sakurako.

Perfect, one of the witch’s vanguard!

“What the…!?”

Even Sakurako looked shocked. She was probably the reason he’d turned into a vanguard, but it didn’t seem like she was doing it on purpose.

Good. That’s enough info for now. The man was rushing at her with speed way beyond human limits. I quickly got into stance.

Now then—come on, become food for my training!

—And stuff like that happened three whole times before we even reached this hill at the edge of the slums.

Sakurako, who always carried that cloudy, quiet air like she hated the world a little, had run the whole way here. Her cheeks were flushed pink, her breathing was rough, and she said,

“—Wh-why!? Why are we getting attacked so much!? It has to be because of you…! No, wait, you did beat every single one of them back, but still…!”

Hmm. From her point of view, the only difference from usual was that I was the escort instead of Yae.

Still, I really had nothing to do with it.

Maybe I should just tell her the truth—that the cause was her?