I'm in a Messed Up Situation that I Couldn't Care More.

Chapter 1: The Beginning

“What the hell is this! Am I being kidnapped?”

Someone suddenly grabbed me from behind and blindfolded me.

“Uwah? What? Eh? Where are you taking me?”

————————

It all started when I received a strange email out of the blue.

I rarely checked my university webmail, but when I did, I found a suspicious email in my inbox.

“We are recruiting for a part-time job. The reward is 1 million yen. If you are interested, come to the basement of Building A at 3:00 p.m. on October 2nd.”

The sender’s email address wasn’t from the university.

I had no idea who it could be from.

I had been short on money for a while now.

And it’s on the level of desperation on my side.

“Huh?! What’s this email about? It’s so shady–”

It was too shady.

It was probably someone’s prank.

“Whoever did this is taking advantage of my financial situation. What a prank to pull!”

I wanted to see the prankster’s face right now.

I had that kind of feeling.

————————

When I arrived at the basement of Building A, someone suddenly grabbed me from behind and blindfolded me.

Building A was connected to an underground parking lot.

I was led to a car and made to get in.

Is it a car with a sliding door?

Considering the sound of how it closed, I guess.

“Seriously? Isn’t this considered a crime or something?”

No one answered my question.

————————

The car drove for a while and eventually stopped as it reached its destination.

————————

I was led out of the car and made to walk, with the blindfold still on me.

It seems that someone was leading me by the arm.

From the sounds around me, I guessed that we were inside a building, but it was completely silent.

“There’s a chair. Sit down.”

Suddenly, a man’s voice whispered in my ear, and I felt a force pushing my shoulder down.

I cautiously lowered myself and felt the seat of a chair against my buttocks.

I then sat down.

Then, my blindfold was suddenly removed.

The room was dimly lit,.

With concrete walls and floor.

Is this a warehouse of some

In front of me was a man wearing a Hannya mask.

“Kashitani Koichi.”

Is that a voice changer?

The voice I heard from him was a bit high pitched.

“This is taking the prank too far, isn’t it? Who are you?”

I addressed the man in the Hannya mask.

“You will date a certain girl.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Within a year, you will date a girl and become intimate with her. That is your job. And this is your reward, 1 million yen. I can give you the money right now.”

The man showed me the contents of a paper bag that was near his feet.

I could see the money inside.

“……”

————————

“The girl is a first-year student at the same university as you. The specific details are in the bag.”

Ah, so this is a prank.

They were offering a large sum of money to lure in a naive freshman as a part of a part-time job and surprise them, some kind of tradition.

Hmm, it sounds really plausible.

There was probably a hidden camera somewhere, and the footage would be shared.

I imagined myself becoming famous as the naive freshman who fell for the prank.

Such thoughts ran through my mind.

————————

“If you don’t succeed in dating the girl and becoming intimate with her within a year, you will have to return the money.

Even if you no longer have the money by then, you will have to repay it with your body.”

“Wait a minute. I can’t keep up with what you’re saying.”

I’m a good-looking guy, but I’m not very smart.

My high school teacher told me that my acceptance into university was the miracle of the century.

“If this is for real…

Why are you going to such lengths and spending a lot of money just to make me do this?”

“I can’t tell you that. Will you take the job or not?”

“Hmm. The job was… What was it again?”

The man in the Hannya mask sighed.

“Don’t make me explain it again and again. You have to date a girl and sleep with her. That’s all.”

“Eh? And you’ll give me 1 million yen?”

“Yes. Within a year, you have to become intimate with the girl.”

“Why are you asking me to do this?”

“I can’t tell you that either.”

“How will you know if I sleep with the girl or not?”

“Whenever you interact with the girl, we will be monitoring you.”

“Haha, that’s a bit creepy.”

“Well? Will you take the job or not?”

I was popular with girls.

It wasn’t like they were asking me to seduce an actress or a model.

It was just a normal girl from the same university.

I thought it would be easy to succeed.

At that time, I desperately needed money.

A million yen would be a huge help!

“…… I guess I’ll give it a try.”

My blindfold was put back on.

Holding the paper bag with the money, I was led to walk for a while, still blindfolded.

I could feel the bright sunlight through the blindfold and realized that we were outside.

“Count to 20. Don’t remove the blindfold until you’re done counting.”

I heard a voice say.

To be safe, I counted to 40 instead of 20, then removed the blindfold.

I looked down at the paper bag in my hand and noticed that it was the same kind of bag with the university’s name on it that I had received during the school information session.

I reached into the bag and pulled out a stack of bills, flipping through them with my fingers.

They were all real.

“Oh. It seems like this isn’t some kind of prank for new students.”

T/N: For old readers/New readers. Official name is actually Kashitani Koichi, not Hikaru. 樫谷光一 would be his full name, without the — then it would just be Kashitani Hikaru, but with it added it can be read as Koichi.