When I Started Capturing the Academy Princesses, Things Turned into a Battlefield - V1 Chapter 27: The Queen Arrives

Chapter 27: The Queen Arrives

…How did it come to this?

Right in front of me stood a stunning beauty, radiating pure menace.

This woman was none other than Arisa Hikawa—Himegasaki Academy’s strongest Princess and the student council president.

Current location: behind the school building.

There was no one else around.

And I was cornered—back against the wall.

“You know why you were brought here, don’t you?”

She asked, her eyes sharp enough to freeze me on the spot.

Here’s something I learned today—

Even if someone’s insanely beautiful, getting glared at by them is terrifying.

Actually, it’s worse because she’s so beautiful. That perfectly composed face only makes the intensity ten times scarier.

“I-I have no idea what you’re—”

Don!

Her hand slammed into the wall right behind me.

Yup, full-on kabedon.

I flinched.

“Watch your words. You’re not here to make excuses. You’re here to answer my questions. If you don’t… well, ruin would be putting it lightly.”

Her voice was cold—like a blizzard in midwinter.

“Tell me everything, and I might let you walk away alive. Although depending on what you say, I can’t guarantee you’ll be in one piece. In fact… it’s probably safe to assume you won’t be.”

Every word she spoke sent a chill down my spine.

How…

How did I end up in such a hopeless situation?

◇　

Let’s rewind a bit.

This happened on the first day of October.

That day, our class held its once-a-month seat shuffle.

A major event, and naturally, the classroom was buzzing with excitement.

Every guy had one goal—sit next to the class’s very own Princess, the Wind Fairy.

Yukina Kazama.

Everyone was practically foaming at the mouth trying to land that golden seat beside her.

Looks like it was finally time to say goodbye to Kazama.

Up to this point, we’d kept a pretty standard “just friends” kind of relationship.

What surprised me, though, was how little she’d teased me lately.

Fairy-sama was known for flirting with the guy seated next to her, turning it into a game.

But lately, she’d clearly dialed it down with me.

Maybe she got bored?

No idea what caused the change.

But one thing was certain—this seat shuffle would be the end of our time as neighbors.

Honestly, I had hoped to make some progress while we were still seated together.

But that didn’t happen.

Guess I just wasn’t ready for it. Not good enough yet.

As I quietly beat myself up over that…

The result of the seat shuffle came in, and it was something I hadn’t expected.

“Looks like we’re seatmates again. Let’s make the most of it, Kanbara-kun.”

Yup.

Kazama ended up right next to me again.

I could hear grumbling from guys all around the room, voices full of envy and frustration.

But hey—

Not my problem.

“Looking forward to it.”

“Two times in a row? This has to be fate, right?”

“…It’s just luck.”

Seat changes in our class were decided by lottery.

So yeah, it was totally possible to end up next to the same person twice in a row.

In fact, there were a few other people besides me and Kazama who got seated next to the same partner again.

“It wasn’t luck, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“I actually swapped seats.”

Kazama casually showed me the paper with her original seat number.

Wait…

If she swapped, then it’s definitely not fate.

“Seat swapping’s not allowed, though.”

“I just said the blackboard was hard to see. They gave me the okay. I originally drew the very back row.”

Technically, yeah—seat swaps were forbidden.

The only exception was if you had trouble seeing the board.

I didn’t know what Kazama’s eyesight was like, but if her seat was in the far back, that explanation checked out.

“But still, you’re really not that popular, Kanbara-kun. When I asked the girl who got this seat, she agreed to switch with me right away.”

“…Shut up.”

“Well, she probably felt lucky. I mean, now she gets to sit next to Yamada-kun.”

Yamada.

The good-looking guy every girl knew.

He’d once confessed to Kazama—and got rejected.

Since she’d already “cleared” that guy, there was no need to chase after him again.

So now she was back next to me—the still “uncleared” one.

Or maybe…

She’d been planning to sit next to me again from the start.

“I’ve already decided. With Kanbara-kun, it’s going to be a long game.”

“Tch…”

She acts like she’s not interested, yet always says stuff that makes you think otherwise.

Seriously, what a tease.

So yeah, Kazama and I ended up seatmates again.

Other than that, the day passed peacefully.

Classes came and went without incident, and I had lunch in the usual empty classroom.

But then—

Disaster struck out of nowhere.

It was after school.

I was just reaching for my bag to head home when it happened.

“Excuse me.”

A clear, commanding voice echoed through the room.

Standing at the entrance was none other than Arisa Hikawa—the Ice Queen herself.

Her sudden appearance sent a ripple of whispers through the classroom.

“Wait… the Queen?”

“What’s she doing here?”

“You’ve gotta be kidding…”

The room buzzed with confusion—

Until the Queen’s piercing gaze swept across everyone.

In an instant, the murmurs died down.

Her overwhelming presence and pressure hadn’t changed one bit.

Arisa Hikawa slowly scanned the classroom—

Then, having found her target, she began walking forward.

Classmates instinctively stepped aside.

No one dared to block the Queen’s path.

She moved down the center aisle like royalty, the space parting before her as if by divine right.

Meanwhile, I was starting to sweat.

Because she was walking straight toward me.

And then—

She stopped right in front of my desk.

“You’re Yuma Kanbara, correct?”

“Y-Yeah… that’s me.”

After confirming, Hikawa stared at me—really stared.

Her eyes ran up and down, as if sizing me up.

Then she let out a deep sigh.

…Okay, what the hell was that sigh for?

“I have business with you. Come with me to the back of the school.”

Her voice was as cold as a winter chill.

“Fweh!?”

A weird sound escaped me as I instantly realized—

This was definitely a bad kind of invitation.

“Quit making strange noises and get up already. Let’s go.”

“W-Wait a second!”

“I won’t wait. Or are you planning to refuse a summons from me?”

…So yeah, saying no clearly wasn’t an option.

Like a prisoner being marched to his fate, I followed behind Her Majesty.

For a brief moment, I seriously considered running for it—

But knowing her, that would just make the next day a living nightmare, so I gave up on that idea.

I glanced at Kazama, hoping for a lifeline—

But she just gave me an awkward smile and quickly looked away.

Even my classmates, who were all giving me jealous looks earlier,

Now turned their heads like none of this was their business.

I dragged my feet through the hallway, practically shuffling.

“Ah, Kanbara-kun—”

On the way out, Shiranui called out to me.

But the moment she realized I was being hauled off by the Queen herself,

She didn’t say another word and quietly stepped back.

Come on, help this guy out, will you?

Beside her, Tsuchiya just kept smiling—

Though, for some reason, that smile looked more wicked than usual.

Almost like she was saying, Serves you right.

…Probably just my imagination. Hopefully.

And so, I was taken behind the school building.

Which brings us back to where this whole thing started.

“W-Wait! I seriously have no idea why you called me out here!”

I really didn’t.

I hadn’t done anything to Hikawa.

I never fought with her or said anything bad behind her back.

Hikawa let out a long, deep sigh.

“So you’re going to play dumb.”

“No, that’s not it! I genuinely don’t know why I was dragged—”

“Don’t try to weasel out of it!”

Hikawa snapped.

The fury on her face was terrifying, and another pitiful “hiee” slipped out of my mouth.

“Yesterday. I saw you. Chatting happily with my adorable angel. I witnessed it with my own two eyes.”

“…Angel?”

“Obviously, I mean Kanon-chan.”

The moment she said Kanon’s name, everything clicked.

So that’s what this was about.

This was because of what happened yesterday after school—when I bumped into Kanon.

But… wait. That’s it?

That’s the reason I’m here?

“You still don’t get it, do you? Fine. Let me spell it out in a way even a brainless monkey like you can understand. I don’t allow any guy to get close to my angel.“

And just like that, a theory I had tucked away in the back of my mind turned into absolute certainty.

Turns out—

The Ice Queen is a full-blown siscon.