You’re Right, They’ll Expel Me if I Run into the Store with a Weapon!! - Chapter 23: Shiori: "Haruna, there's something I want to order..." Haruna: "Hmm? What is it?" Shiori: "Well, you see..."

He can’t stay at home anymore…

Ding-dong…

“…”

Activating human enhancement… auditory enhancement.

(No footsteps… no noise… no sound of breathing…)

Shiori spread her own set of lock-picking tools in the hallway. The box contained thin iron rods, an electronic version, codes…

Click, click, click, beep, beep, beep…

Click…

“I’m coming in.”

It was a perfect illegal entry.

“Hirokiー, where are you?”

She knew he wasn’t there but continued to call out anyway. Why? Because if he didn’t reply, she could justify her entry as being out of concern.

Shiori walked through the hardwood-floored hallway into the sunlit living room.

“Hmm?”

Shiori’s eyes were drawn to a piece of paper on the table.

“I’m staying at a friend’s house. Please don’t look for me. I’ll visit the principal about once a week. From Hiroki.”

“Ha… hahaha… haha.”

A broken doll sank into the living room sofa. Long hair covered her face as she looked up at the ceiling.

“Who?… Who is this friend?”

She remembered Hiroki, who had just transferred to Combat School and had no friends yet.

Wait, there was one person she could think of.

“…Haruna?… Hahahaha!”

The broken doll shook as she vanished from the living room.

“Please leave now! I just got a really cold chill! It’s coming here!”

“No! I’m staying! You’re getting involved too!”

A man and a woman were arguing in the laboratory-turned-toy store. Naturally, it was Hiroki and Haruna.

Hiroki had taken the first monorail to the laboratory in the morning.

After contacting Haruna via smartphone, he somehow got inside and, while playing games, explained the reason for his visit, leading to this mess.

“I thought it was a joke at first! I couldn’t believe Shiori had changed her character like that! But then I got an order for lock-picking tools and understood!”

“You’re helping her too, aren’t you?!”

“I thought they were for a mission! I never imagined she’d use them for this!”

Knowing why Shiori had gotten into his room, Hiroki directed his hatred towards Haruna. Because of her, the security was rendered meaningless.

“I know Shiori well! She’s a client, after all! So I know! She will come! So please leave here!”

“I have nowhere to go! You’re partly responsible, so make amends!”

Haruna tried desperately to push Hiroki out, her face turning red, but he wouldn’t budge.

“Ah! If only I could use human enhancement!”

“Hmm? You don’t have combat capabilities?”

“I’m a mechanic! My role is not to undertake missions for Combat School but to create weapons and equipment. I’m a cute girl!”

Haruna explained while trying her hardest.

Hiroki realized that not only those with combat abilities live on the Combat School grounds, but also mechanics.

But did she just call herself cute?

“Why don’t you use your combat abilities to do something about it!?”

“My combat abilities are in hibernation and unusable!”

“What kind of ninth rank are you!? Stop joking and solve this by yourself, Hiroki!”

Beep.

“!?”

Reacting to the sound from a tablet on the desk, Haruna moved towards it. Hiroki followed, peering over her shoulder at the screen displaying a map.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s here…”

“What?”

“I attach tracking devices to the weapons I give to my favorite customers, no offense.”

“And?”

“Within 500 meters of here, there’s a reaction from Shiori’s weapon. And it’s getting closer…”

“…”

Silence filled the air.

Then, Hiroki, with all his might, hugged Haruna tightly.

“Help meee, Haruna!”

“I want help, too!”

Sexual harassment or whatever, it didn’t matter. With tears in his eyes, Hiroki clung to Haruna as his only hope.

“Don’t you have any handy tools in your pocket? You seem like the type who’d have something like that!”

“Don’t lump me in with someone else!”

“Distance 350 meters.”

The navigation voice from the tablet made Hiroki and Haruna’s shoulders tremble.

“This is bad, bad, bad! Hey! Seriously, bring out something! You must have a tool to break through this situation!”

“Alright! I get it! I’ll bring it out!”

Haruna then forcefully opened a large closet.

“Distance 200 meters.”

“Haruna! Hurry up!?”

“I know! I’m hurrying! Hiroki, hold the tablet!”

“Distance 50 meters.”

The tablet in hand started vibrating. It was really bad.

“Over here! Quick!”

Haruna, with a backpack, grabbed Hiroki’s arm strongly. Following Haruna’s words, a staircase was at the bottom of the closet, and Hiroki dived onto the floor.

Boom!

The locked door blew off. The combined strength and physical enhancement of the tenth rank’s full power punch left no trace of the door.

“Where?…”

Activating human enhancement… olfactory enhancement.

Shiori slowly approached the closet and opened it. Inside, there were lots of toys presumably made by Haruna.

“Hiroki’s scent from the floor?…”

Black spikes grew from the closet ceiling, piercing the floor with force.

As the spikes disappeared, the staircase became visible.

“Haruna… what are you planning to do with Hiroki…”

With a new target in mind, the doll vanished into the staircase.