There are numerous methods to collect fingerprints.

If this were Detective C●nan, you could whip it out with just a bottle of glue.

You take something with a fingerprint on it (preferably aluminum foil), add a few drops of volatile model glue into a plastic bottle cap, seal them together in a container, close the lid, and wait 12 hours.

The vaporized glue reacts to the moisture in the fingerprint and solidifies into the fingerprint pattern.

If you use this method, you can even break through smartphone fingerprint authentication… but I’m not gonna do that.

This method is too difficult, so pass. There’s a pretty disappointing probability it won’t solidify properly.

I’m not CSI, and I’m not C●nan either.

Failure is not an option.

What I’m doing is much simpler.

It’s the old-fashioned fingerprint collection method.

Apply fine powder like pencil lead to the fingerprint, stick tape on it, and collect it.

Since you have to grind pencil lead quite persistently, I’ll substitute potato starch this time.

All that’s left is to obtain the fingerprint.

『So how are you going to collect the fingerprint? You couldn’t even talk to her.』

The Angel made a valid point.

Because—! I was embarrassed!

An impossible demand for a middle school boy: having a conversation with a beautiful girl.

Of course I couldn’t do it… (Virgin Power increased by 1)

At this rate, I’ll have to sneak into the girls’ changing room… Gehehe.

I-if that’s decided, then I-I’ll have to cross-dress!

Ahhh… it feels like I’m about to open some new door… Will I become beautiful… Me♪

『God! The idiot is saying idiotic things!』

Stop tattling on me!

I’m joking!

With my small build, I’d probably look good cross-dressed, but I have no intention of doing it right now.

I change into my judo uniform in the boys’ changing room attached to the gymnasium.

During after-school club activities.

You might wonder why not an aikido uniform, but many aikido practitioners wear judo or karate uniforms.

The reason is simple.

Price.

If you buy judo or karate uniforms from online shops, they start at 4,000 yen.

In contrast, official aikido uniforms start at 10,500 yen.

The hakama for those aged 15 and above with at least first dan is the same price.

Pretty expensive.

These expensive uniforms used to be shared, apparently.

The club would buy them and all members would use them.

Currently, they’re individually owned due to concerns about infectious diseases.

Naturally, since nobody wants to catch ringworm.

I change into my uniform.

Apparently wearing underwear used to be forbidden, but I don’t care.

Even if such a rule exists, I have no intention of following it.

How can I practice with it flopping around!

『…The worst line ever.』

Shut uuup!

What I hate, I hate!

Boys are delicate!

I quickly finish changing.

After changing, I take out the assembled resin sports shock-absorbing mats.

We practice on these.

The spring-loaded martial arts hall is a space exclusively for competitive martial artists.

We, who don’t have matches, just quietly borrow a corner of the gymnasium for activities twice a week.

Who decided that competitive sports are superior…

I feel a bit resentful as I assemble the mats.

『Why does Kou-chan always assemble them? You should make the others help.』

There’s a deep reason for this.

The other club members don’t do that.

『That?』

Disinfection.

『Ah… Kou-chan is pretty particular, aren’t you…』

Shut up.

I hate uncleanliness!

I take out the hypochlorous acid spray.

Shwing!

It’s from the 100-yen shop.

I spray the assembled mats.

It smells like chlorine.

Mmm, mild.

It’s a lie that girls are clean.

I’m far cleaner.

I won’t allow filth!

I won’t allow germs!

Filth must be disinfected!

As I was disinfecting with bloodshot eyes going “Hyahhha!,” I heard a female voice.

“Yo, Koutarou. You’re early.”

The girl who came to visit me at the hospital—Haruka Yoshimura.

She’s in the same club.

“Yo, Yoshimura-san!”

While greeting her, I continue scrubbing obsessively.

Filth must be cleansed!

“You… really are a clean freak.”

Scrub scrub!

“I don’t want to catch athlete’s foot.”

Scrub scrub scrub scrub!

“Ah… the club president is absent today.”

What… the…

Our club only has three people.

After all, the organization I belong to doesn’t do competitions.

Competitive martial arts are more advantageous for school admissions, after all.

Plus, you can’t get a black belt if you’re under 15.

Black belts are so cool… I want a hakama…

In other words, this club’s unpopularity is also a systemic issue.

But a club without competitions and few members is more fun than you’d think.

There’s no always-irritated victory-obsessed advisor, and no seniors yelling at you.

We just practice for about an hour and a half twice a week.

In a way, it’s stoic.

Incidentally, with my current stats, I could dominate any sport.

But I won’t.

It’s not because it would be unfair.

It’s simply because I can’t endure the hierarchical relationships typical of athletic clubs.

『That ruins it.』

I’m more delicate than I look…

I can’t stand people yelling loudly!

『Apparently they’ll lend you dirty magazines.』

What… the… hell…

As my face turned pale, Yoshimura, who had finished changing, came over.

“So, done disinfecting? Let’s practice then.”

“Sure thing.”

“…Ah, I forgot. A prospective member is coming later.”

“A prospective member? To this club whose existence is in danger next year?”

“What a terrible thing to say. …Apparently a transfer student is coming.”

A transfer student.

There’s only one of those.

Hojo Misao.

I tensed up.

I might have smirked a bit.

Viewing beautiful girls makes fatigue disappear, right?

I smiled cheerfully.

“…What’s with that perverted face?”

Crack crack.

Yoshimura cracks her knuckles.

Why art thou so furious, milady?

『That’s right. Pervert!』

That’s your mission!

You guys are the ones at fault!

“You perv!”

『Pervert-man!』

So I’m the bad one?!

Gyaaah! That’s punishment time!

When Hojo Misao arrived, I was in a headlock.

Yoshimura hasn’t noticed, but my head is touching Yoshimura’s chest—though calling them “breasts” would be too generous for something so flat, thin, modest, and firm.

I’m not… happy… there’s no way that’s true!

This is Lucky Pervy Gandhara!

Right now, I’ve reached Nirvana—the frontier beyond big breasts called flat chests.

Yes… I’ve understood and achieved enlightenment that flat chests are equally breasts.

Breasts are the universe. Flat chests, the final frontier…

『Kou-chan… has a god-like expression…』

They’re not just touching. She’s pressing them on me.

I received the headlock with an enlightened expression.

At that moment, I truly became one with the universe.

In that state, I made eye contact with Ebina Mei, aka Hojo Misao.

“Um…”

Looking at the slightly surprised Hojo-slash-Ebina, I thought:

Isn’t this a chance?