A few days had passed since the fight lessons and study sessions began, and it was now after school.

“See ya, Chiaki. Touka.”

The moment homeroom ended, Kohinata Karin bolted out of the classroom of Class 2-6, her back watched by two girls.

One of them was a girl who hardly looked like a high schooler, with an appearance so childlike she could pass for a little girl.

Her wolf-bob hairstyle was dyed a vivid gold, a color so striking it couldn’t even be compared to the dirty blonde of someone like Kawato.

Her face was as adorable as a child star’s, and combined with her petite stature that could easily be mistaken for an elementary schooler’s, she exuded a charm akin to a small animal.

Her uniform skirt was long enough to reach her ankles, but it had slits on both sides starting midway up her thighs, revealing slender legs wrapped in tights through the gaps.

The name of this tiny girl was Tsukiike Chiaki.

She was one of only three members of the Kohinata Faction, known as the strongest faction at St. Lukimantz Academy, which included the “Empress,” Kohinata Karin herself.

The other girl had an appearance that was, in many ways, the complete opposite of Chiaki’s.

Her height rivaled that of the average boy, and she wore her uniform even more loosely than Karin, unabashedly showing off a chest that could only be described as voluptuous.

Her skirt, even shorter than Karin’s, was at constant risk of revealing her underwear with the slightest movement.

Her hair was long enough to reach her back, with a slightly wavy texture and a flaxen hue.

Her eyes were so narrow they made you wonder if they were even open, yet her cheeks carried a gentle smile that evoked the image of a saint, in stark contrast to her seductive figure.

At a glance, she appeared to be wearing no makeup, but closer inspection revealed she had carefully applied natural makeup, with her thin lips being the most noticeable feature.

The name of this girl, who was larger than Chiaki in every sense, was Hiyama Touka.

She, too, was a member of the Kohinata Faction, and the story of how she and Chiaki had protected Karin’s back even before she was called the “Empress” was legendary within the academy.

That said, Touka was also legendary for having countless boyfriends and girlfriends both inside and outside the school, not to mention her unrivaled reputation for disrupting the academy’s discipline.

Touka, sitting on a desk with her legs crossed, heedless of her underwear being visible, spoke to Chiaki, who was slouched lazily in a chair.

“Hey, Chi-chan. Karin’s totally gotten hooked on hanging out with that boy, hasn’t she?”

In contrast to Touka’s sultry voice that matched her appearance, Chiaki responded in a high-pitched, loli voice that suited her own look.

“Stop saying she’s ‘hanging out with a boy.’ That idiot Karin will definitely get cocky if you do.”

“But Karin loves that kind of thing, doesn’t she? Looking like she’s super experienced, or like she’s some kind of bad girl.”

“Yeah, but… uh… what was his name again? Orifushi or something? Anyway, don’t you think it’s kinda shady that she hasn’t introduced him to us?”

“Exactly! Maybe she’s just woken up to the thrill of keeping a boy all to herself?”

“She ain’t you, okay? Besides, Haruno’s with them too.”

“Oh? Haruno’s there too? Well, that makes it even shadier, doesn’t it?”

“Right? And it’s like they’re meeting up in some place only the teachers would know about. I know they’re going to the gym, but…”

“Ara, ara? Did you actually tail Karin?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Got caught real quick and lost her just as fast, though.”

“Well then, how about we use that?”

Chiaki tilted her tiny head to the side.

“What’s ‘that’?”

“You know, ever since that mess with Arai-senpai and the others last year, we set up our phones to share location data so we could always find each other in a pinch.”

“Ohhh, got it. If we use that, we can at least get a rough idea of where she is.”

Satisfied with the idea, Chiaki slipped her hand into the slit of her long skirt and pulled out her smartphone from inside.

For now, let’s set aside the fact that she keeps her phone in her skirt.

Chiaki quickly opened the GPS app to check Karin’s location… and her eyes widened.

“Oi. Karin’s outside the school!”

“Oh my~?”

Touka raised an eyebrow and peered at the phone. Sure enough, just as Chiaki said, the pin marking Karin’s location was just outside the school’s back gate.

“Could this mean she’s off to have fun with that Orifushi guy?”

“If that’s the case, that’s pretty shady, right?”

“Super shady~.”

With that, the two exchanged glances and grinned mischievously.

As it stood, Karin’s fight lessons consisted of repetitive sparring games and sandbag training.

According to Karin, this was to help learn body movements while building stamina through sparring and muscle strength for punches and kicks through sandbag training. It might be boring, she said, but they’d stick with this routine for a while.

As for weight training, it was optional, but she emphasized doing proper stretching after a bath to ensure flexibility for high kicks that make use of leg strength.

That said, the fight lessons alone were enough to leave every part of the body sore with muscle pain, so there wasn’t much energy left for additional training.

Just like now.

“Whoa, you’re totally moving like an old man.”

Just as Karin, walking ahead, had said, Shiki could only offer a wry smile as he shuffled along with the gait of an elderly person.

The muscle soreness in his arms and legs, combined with the accompanying exhaustion, made his entire body feel as heavy as lead.

“Well, I figured it was about time your body would start feeling wrecked. So, here’s the deal.”

As she spoke, Karin came to a stop.

In front of a multi-entertainment complex called Round Ten.

“Today, we’re gonna have fun!”

“Heck yeah!”

Haruno chimed in enthusiastically, while Shiki’s wry smile deepened.

That’s right. Since Shiki was too sore from muscle pain to handle fight lessons today, the three of them skipped the equipment room after school and headed to Round Ten in the downtown area.

According to Karin, moderate exercise was effective for recovering from muscle soreness and fatigue, so the plan was to have fun at Sporcha^[2], the sports amusement section of Round Ten, while aiding recovery.

But with his current condition making even walking feel like a chore, Shiki couldn’t help but think:

“Is that really true?”

“You’ve got that ‘Is that really true?’ look on your face,” Karin said, reading his thoughts perfectly, causing Shiki to flinch.

“It’s true that moderate exercise helps with muscle soreness and fatigue recovery. There’s even terms like ‘active recovery’ or ‘active rest’ for it,” Haruno said, suddenly sounding intellectual, which caught Shiki off guard.

Perhaps because she was the daughter of a doctor, Haruno was knowledgeable about medical matters, and Karin’s expression had a subtle hint of smugness. Considering she tackled St. Lukimantz Academy’s problem sets (with a deviation score in the 30s) by rolling a pencil, the IQ gap felt almost too extreme.

“But, like, I don’t know the specifics about how much exercise is ‘moderate’ or what kind is best…” Haruno added apologetically.

Karin waved her hand dismissively.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. We’ll let Shiki figure out what’s moderate. This isn’t just about fighting, but there’s nothing better than knowing your own condition accurately. Like me.”

Pointing at herself with a confident thumb, she continued with a serious expression.

“Truth be told, if I had to study one more day, my brain would’ve exploded. So today, give my head a break!”

“Oh, I was at my limit too!”

Haruno joined in, and Shiki’s wry smile returned.

Since they’d come all the way to the downtown area, he’d already figured the study session was off for the day, so he replied with a quick “Got it.”

After checking in and changing into free rental shoes, the three stepped into the Sporcha area. As they walked around to check out the attractions, Haruno’s eyes sparkled like a child’s as she pointed excitedly.

“Senpai! That! I wanna try that!”

What she was pointing at was a court where people were playing soccer inside giant transparent spheres—bubble balls.

“Bubble soccer, huh? That does seem like something even Haruno could handle, and it feels like a good kind of ‘moderate exercise,’ right, Shiki?”

Karin glanced at him, asking for confirmation.

The bubble balls were filled with air, acting as cushions, so as long as you were careful about how you fell, injuries were unlikely.

More than anything, it looked plain fun, so Shiki nodded without hesitation.

As soon as the group already playing bubble soccer finished, the three took their place on the court.

The bubble balls had a hollow tube running through them, allowing a person to step inside.

The process involved strapping on shoulder harnesses to wear the bubble ball like a backpack, gripping handles inside the tube, and standing up on your knees—a process Shiki and Karin didn’t trust Haruno to handle alone. So, the two of them helped Haruno get into her bubble ball and stand up before getting into their own.

With only three people, dividing into teams was tricky, but since Shiki’s body was too sore to move properly and Haruno was, well, Haruno, it naturally settled into a two-on-one match: Shiki and Haruno’s team versus Karin alone.

“Alright, let’s get started!”

Being the solo team, Karin took the lead and began the game. As she dribbled toward them, Shiki and Haruno used the size of their bubble balls to form a wall, but—

“Here I come!”

Without hesitation, Karin charged right between Shiki and Haruno, slamming into them with full force.

The combination of her kamikaze-like momentum and the bubble ball’s mass was formidable, sending Shiki and Haruno tumbling across the court in a series of rolls.

Karin, who had initiated the tackle, wasn’t unscathed either, rolling across the court just like them. But, as expected, she was the first to get back up, quickly retrieving the loose soccer ball and resuming her dribble toward the goal.

Shiki, getting up a bit later, chased after her, but just as he was about to catch up, Karin sensed his approach and took a shot… only to have it bounce off the goalpost.

“Argh! Damn it!”

Taking advantage of Karin’s frustrated outburst, Shiki grabbed the loose ball and shouted,

“Momozono-san!”

He kicked the ball toward Haruno, who had finally gotten up, aiming further ahead of her.

“Shoot!” “Leave it to me!”

Karin and Haruno’s voices overlapped as the ball, powered by Shiki’s strong kick despite his fatigue and muscle soreness, rolled deep into Karin’s side of the court.

Haruno ran toward the ball, while Karin, losing a bit of time turning around with her bubble ball, chased after her.

With her natural athletic ability, Karin closed the distance quickly, but Haruno reached the ball just a fraction sooner—

“Ah!?”

Just as she was about to secure the ball, Haruno spectacularly tripped.

Rolling across the court, she crashed right into the goal net with the same momentum.

The sight was so disastrous that both Karin and Shiki were left speechless, but then Shiki noticed Haruno’s skirt in a completely compromising state and quickly averted his gaze.

It was too late, though. The image of Haruno’s sheer black lingerie, utterly out of character for her, was firmly etched into his mind.

This only reinforced the idea that Haruno’s claim of being “good at health and phys ed” meant something entirely different, but Shiki tried his best not to dwell on it.

“…Shiki.”

Karin turned to him, her cheek twitching slightly as she spoke.

“This ain’t exactly something you do in a skirt.”

Realizing this far too late, the three unanimously decided to abandon bubble soccer for the day and left the court to find another attraction.

At that moment, a suspicious gaze watched them from the shadows, but Shiki didn’t notice in the slightest.

After that, Shiki and the others thoroughly enjoyed various attractions. Or rather, they enjoyed them too much.

(This might be going a bit beyond ‘moderate exercise’…)

While visiting the men’s restroom alone to take care of business, Shiki washed his hands and reflected.

They had come to Sporcha under the pretext of recovering from fatigue and muscle soreness, but it had been so fun that they ended up going overboard.

(Well, I mean… it’s my first time hanging out with girls…)

Making that excuse to himself, he wiped his wet hands with a handkerchief and left the restroom, only to realize—

(Wait, now that I think about it, this is my first time hanging out with girls, isn’t it!? Me!?)

Struck by this ridiculously belated realization, Shiki started panicking pointlessly.

But the real panic was yet to come.

“You’re Shiki-kun, right~?”

Before he could process the sultry female voice coming from behind him—

“Hyowah!?”

A breath on his neck made him let out a bizarre yelp.

In that moment of distraction, the girl hugged him from behind… and the sensation of two unmistakable, elastic objects pressing against his back short-circuited his brain.

Or rather, if he let his thoughts linger even slightly, the blood flow to his lower body would become dangerously active, so his brain had no choice but to shut down.

Instead, the blood seemed to rush to his face, turning his ears bright red. The girl, noticing this, giggled playfully.

“Ufufu, is this your first time with something like this? You’re so cute~.”

Still pressing her chest against his back, she rested her chin on his right shoulder.

Frozen like a statue, Shiki glanced sideways at the girl’s face, so close he could feel her breath.

Flaxen hair, narrow eyes, and the St. Lukimantz Academy uniform.

With those features alone, her identity was obvious to Shiki—or rather, to any student at St. Lukimantz Academy.

(Hiyama Touka-san!? Could she know that Kohinata-san is here—!?)

His thoughts short-circuited again.

She had licked his neck. Like she was tasting him.

“Mmm, not bad~. This makes me think the rest of you might be promising too~.”

As her fingers, which had been tracing his body like a living snake, started to slide toward his groin—

“Cut it out already.”

A cute, childlike voice rang out, followed by a sharp zap as Touka let out a sultry “Ahn♥” and collapsed.

“Sorry about that. Our resident pervert caused you some trouble.”

The apology, delivered in a mature tone, came from a girl who matched her childish voice—a girl in a St. Lukimantz Academy uniform with a distinctly juvenile appearance.

With her blonde wolf-bob hair, long skirt with slits, and the stun baton—resembling a police baton—that had knocked Touka out, her identity was just as obvious to any St. Lukimantz Academy student.

(It really is Tsukiike Chiaki-san! Wait, a stun gun doesn’t conduct electricity from person to person even when they’re touching!?)

Thinking about it, a self-defense tool that couldn’t be used in close quarters would be useless, so it made sense that it wouldn’t conduct between people. But honestly, it wasn’t a fact Shiki particularly wanted to know.

“That’s harsh, Chi-chan. Electric play in public?”

Touka, sitting up and striking a dramatic pose, protested.

With her uniform even more disheveled than Karin’s, her chest and underwear kept peeking out, leaving Shiki, a total herbivore, at a loss for where to look.

“You’re the one acting shameless in public. And what’s with this ‘play’ nonsense?”

“The literal kind, of course~.”

“Want me to crank the voltage to max next time, huh?”

Despite Chiaki’s sharp tongue, her voice—meltingly sweet like a little girl’s loli voice—lacked any real menace, to the point of being almost amusing.

In fact, Touka, who was talking with Chiaki, had a grin plastered across her face, absolutely beaming.

“Tch, figures it’d be you two.”

All of a sudden, Karin’s exasperated voice reached their ears.

Turning toward the sound, they saw not only Karin, as expected, but Haruno as well.

“Chiaki-senpai! Touka-senpai!”

Haruno waved cheerfully, and both Chiaki and Touka, the latter finally standing up, waved back in unison before turning to Karin to start complaining in sync.

“So, Karin. What’s the deal with leaving us out while you’re off having fun?”

“Yeah, Karin~! That’s pretty shady, isn’t it~?”

Karin let out a sigh, pulling an iron fan from her pocket and fanning herself as she glanced at Shiki.

“That’s the kind of people they are, but you okay with this, Shiki?”

Shiki knew that Karin, aware of his discomfort around delinquents, had planned to introduce him to Chiaki and Touka only after he’d gotten more used to her own delinquent vibe.

Understanding the intent behind her question, he decided to answer honestly.

“Uh, yeah. They’re just… a bit more intense than you made them sound.”

Apparently, he was a bit too honest, as Karin let out a “Pfft!” and burst into laughter.

As for the two in question:

“Oh my, oh my. He’s talking about you, Chi-chan.”

“Nah, like eighty percent of that’s on you, okay?”

They started pushing the “intense” label onto each other, as if claiming they were the less outrageous one.

Shiki, realizing he’d messed up, could only clam up, thinking (Well, that was a mistake).

“I think so too, Shiki-senpai!”

Haruno’s enthusiastic agreement only made things worse.

“Alright, enough of this dumb talk… Chiaki. Touka. What do you think about that?”

Karin snapped her iron fan shut and subtly pointed it behind her. At the end of her gesture, two boys in school uniforms were loitering by a vending machine, sneaking glances their way.

“Those uniforms are from Imakita Commercial High, right?”

At Chiaki’s words, Karin furrowed her brow. “Imakita?”

“You know, the guys who messed with our school’s normie students right after the new school year started, and you beat the crap out of them single-handedly? That’s their school.”

“Ohh… the delinquent idiots who dragged unrelated people into their mess, thinking they could make a name for themselves by taking me down?”

“Which means~ their target’s gotta be Karin, right~?”

“Gotta be. And no way it’s just those two. Bet they’ve got buddies waiting by the exit or something.”

“Yep.” “Totally~.”

Chiaki and Touka agreed without hesitation, and Karin’s shoulders slumped in disappointment.

The conversation suddenly turning delinquent-like left Shiki, and naturally Haruno, completely out of their depth.

“Beating them up would be easy, but I don’t wanna cause a scene here at Round Ten. Thanks to the idiot delinquents from our school, there are already fewer places we can hang out in our uniforms.”

At Karin’s words, Chiaki nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, getting banned as individuals would be the absolute worst.”

“But they probably wouldn’t come here to pick a fight after paying the entry fee, right? I bet finding Karin here was just a coincidence.”

Touka’s comment prompted another round of nodding from Chiaki.

“If they’d been tailing us from the start, Karin would’ve noticed them right away, like she did with me the other day.”

The “other day” referred to when Chiaki had tried tailing Karin on her way to the equipment room.

Karin snorted, “Obviously,” before asking Chiaki and Touka:

“So, what do we do? They might not come into Sporcha, but the second we leave the floor, their buddies are definitely waiting for us.”

She pointed her iron fan at the two uniformed boys again.

The three of them—Karin, Chiaki, and Touka—made thoughtful “Hmm” faces in unison.

Haruno, unable to follow the conversation, mimicked them with her own “Hmm” and a serious expression.

Meanwhile, Shiki, who could follow the conversation, hesitantly raised his hand and asked timidly:

“So, basically, if we could get the delinquents waiting outside the floor to move somewhere else, that’d solve it, right?”

“If we could do that, we wouldn’t be stressing about it,” Chiaki said with a sigh.

Karin raised a hand to quiet her and asked Shiki with utmost seriousness:

“You got an idea? Something good?”

“It’s not exactly a good idea, more like something that might work…”

Karin glanced at Chiaki and Touka, who both nodded in agreement, before saying:

“Let’s hear it.”

◇ ◇ ◇

Yoshimura, a third-year delinquent from Imakita Commercial High School, was barely containing his excitement as he kept an eye on the “Empress of Lukimantz” and her entourage.

“When their group got bigger, I thought we’d been made, but it seems those two just happened to be at Sporcha like us.”

Nodding at the words of his friend, Kosaka, a fellow third-year from Imakita Commercial, Yoshimura agreed.

For the record, “those two” referred to Tsukiike Chiaki and Hiyama Touka. In reality, this meant the entire Kohinata Faction was present, but neither Yoshimura nor Kosaka knew much about Lukimantz’ factions, so they only registered it as “two more people joined them.”

“By the way, Kosaka, how many guys have we got waiting at the exit?”

“Hold on a sec…”

Kosaka pulled out his smartphone, opened LINE, and sent a message to their crew.

A reply came back shortly, and he showed the screen to Yoshimura as-is.

“‘Sixteen so far, but we’ll probably go over twenty in the end.’ With this many, even the ‘Empress’…”

“Yeah, we’ve got this—” Kosaka started, then cut off, calling out, “Oi, Yoshimura!”

Catching his meaning, Yoshimura immediately shifted his gaze to the “Empress” and widened his eyes in shock.

The “Empress” and her group had started moving—toward a hallway marked with a “No Entry Except for Authorized Personnel” sign.

“No way, did they figure out we’re gathering people!?”

“What do we do, Yoshimura!?”

“We chase them! If they escape through the staff exit, there’s no point in rounding up our guys!”

Yoshimura hurriedly followed the “Empress” and her group.

Which is exactly why he didn’t immediately notice.

One of the “Empress’s” companions was missing.

They slipped past the “No Entry” sign and entered the hallway. As they turned a corner—

“Yo. Got some business with me?”

The “Empress” and her crew were waiting for them. Startled but quickly stopping, Yoshimura was caught off guard.

“Didn’t think we’d been made.”

“You seriously saying that? Staring so obviously like that, no way we wouldn’t notice.”

Yoshimura had thought he was being discreet, but the fact that they’d been completely obvious made him grit his teeth.

“…What’re you gonna do with us?”

“We’re not yakuza or anything. We’re not gonna do anything.”

The “Empress” shrugged, then flashed a wicked grin before continuing.

“I mean, me, personally.”

Right then, a heavy thud came from beside him. Glancing nervously toward the sound, Yoshimura saw Kosaka collapsed on the floor, unconscious.

We’ve been played—panic seared through Yoshimura’s mind. But suddenly, from behind, two soft sensations pressed against him through his uniform, unmistakable even through the fabric, short-circuiting his thoughts so thoroughly that even his panic was burned away.

Taking advantage of the moment, an arm snaked around his neck from behind. The arm met the other hand, locking together in a firm grip like a handshake, and then squeezed his neck with all its strength.

Completely caught in the hold, Yoshimura couldn’t make a sound. Instead, a vague thought floated through his mind:

(This is… like a headlock… or a chokehold… something like that…)

A few seconds later, his consciousness cut off like a TV being unplugged, and he collapsed to the floor alongside his friend Kosaka.

The culprit who’d silently taken down both boys—Touka—brushed her hands together and asked Shiki:

“Something like this work for you?”

Faced with her flawless execution, Shiki’s nod was a bit stiff.

Truth be told, when Shiki and the others were still first-years, the one person besides Karin who’d been the talk of the new students was Touka.

Touka had been part of the judo club in middle school but quit after just three months.

She joined the judo club at St. Lukimantz Academy as well, but at this school, clubs were essentially just hangouts for delinquents to claim clubrooms as their turf.

As such, the concept of “quitting” a club was practically nonexistent.

Yet Touka not only quit but was also suspended.

The reason? Improper relationships with both guys and girls.

Her ground techniques were exceptional in more ways than one, leading to her quitting the judo club—and getting suspended—after just a month, thanks to whatever she’d done in the dojo.

Rumor had it her reason for quitting in middle school was similar, though Shiki figured—or rather, hoped—a girl who’d been an elementary schooler just three months prior wouldn’t have been involved in anything that improper.

Be that as it may, even if she’d quit, the skills Touka had honed in judo were the real deal.

Watching her prowess up close, as one of the two who’d guarded the “Empress’s” back, Shiki could only be utterly overwhelmed.

“Oi, Shiki. Found ‘em.”

Karin’s voice snapped him back to reality.

“Here.”

She handed him the smartphones of the two unconscious delinquents.

“Gotta say, Orifushi, you came up with a pretty damn interesting plan.”

Chiaki, keeping watch at the corner leading to the main floor, glanced over with a sidelong look of approval.

The “good idea” Shiki had proposed to Karin and the others was to knock out the two delinquents watching them, use their phones to send a false message that the “Empress” and her group had escaped through the staff hallway to another exit, and thereby clear out the delinquents waiting at Sporcha’s entrance.

Since there was no avoiding the risk of knocking out the two delinquents, they had Chiaki stand watch at the main floor’s corner and Haruno at the deeper corner where staff might be, just in case.

The reason for assigning them as lookouts was so that if a staff member came by, Chiaki, who looked like nothing but a little girl, and Haruno, who didn’t look like a delinquent, could claim they’d been “harassed by delinquents, fled to the restricted staff hallway, got caught, and were rescued by fellow students who happened to be at Sporcha.”

That way, they’d at least avoid getting banned—or so Shiki figured.

That said, it’d be best if no one saw the situation with two unconscious delinquents, so to wrap things up quickly, Shiki immediately activated the smartphone he’d received from Karin.

Choosing the one with fingerprint authentication, he thought:

(What we’re doing feels less like delinquents and more like yakuza…)

Feeling a pang of guilt, he used the unconscious owner’s finger to unlock the screen.

Opening LINE, he confirmed, as expected, that the delinquents had been messaging their crew.

All that was left was to send the message and clear out the delinquents’ buddies from Sporcha’s entrance, but—

“…Kohinata-san. Are you seriously going through with this?”

“Hell yeah. Those Imakita delinquent idiots are the type to mess with normie students too. If we don’t put them in their place here and now, they might pull the same crap again to get at me.”

“But, judging from their LINE messages, there could be over twenty of them!”

“Nah, that’s not a problem at all.”

At Karin’s words, Shiki couldn’t help but let out an “Eh?”

“Even if it was just me, I’d have more than enough to spare. Plus, Chiaki’s coming along, and she’s a pro at handling groups.”

“Eh? Groups?”

“Oh, guess you wouldn’t know. You know how one-on-one is called a ‘one-on-one,’ right? This is the multi-on-multi version. Anyway, Imakita doesn’t have anyone that strong, so with Chiaki, we can handle five times their numbers, no sweat.”

“That’s how it is.”

As Chiaki chimed in with agreement, her casual claim that they could handle up to a hundred opponents left Shiki speechless.

“So, go ahead and send those idiots a proper ‘invitation.’”

Realizing this was way beyond his pay grade, Shiki used LINE to send a message to the delinquents’ crew: “The ‘Empress’ and her group escaped through the staff hallway to the underground parking lot.”

◇ ◇ ◇

The Imakita Commercial delinquents loitering near Sporcha’s entrance received Shiki’s fake message and hurriedly rushed to the underground parking lot en masse.

Meanwhile, Shiki and the others stuffed the two unconscious delinquents into a men’s restroom stall, checked the entrance to confirm the others were gone, and promptly left Sporcha’s floor.

Leaving Shiki and Haruno in Touka’s care, Karin and Chiaki headed to the underground parking lot via the emergency stairs.

“So, how we doing this? Straight-on? Or a sneak attack?”

As they descended the stairs, Chiaki asked, and Karin answered immediately.

“Straight-on, obviously. We need to make the power gap crystal clear. So, no smoke bombs, got it? There’s only two of us, and we need even those delinquent idiots to understand that.”

“Gotcha, gotcha.”

“And let’s wrap this up in three minutes flat. Even if the underground parking lot doesn’t get much traffic at this hour, we don’t wanna drag it out. Plus, Touka and the others are waiting.”

“Makes sense for showing the power gap too.”

As they talked, they reached the first basement level and stepped into the underground parking lot through the emergency door.

Immediately—

“There they are!”

“It’s the ‘Empress’!”

“Get over here, now!”

The Imakita crew had apparently posted lookouts near the emergency door, and in an instant, twenty-four delinquents surrounded Karin and Chiaki in a semicircle.

“Looks like you’ve only got one buddy with you, but whatever.”

A brown-haired delinquent, seemingly the leader, stepped slightly forward, speaking with smug confidence.

“All we need to make our name is you, ‘Empress of Lukimantz.’”

“I told you to stop calling me that lame-ass nickname.”

Karin’s face twisted in genuine disgust, and Chiaki took over the conversation.

“Unlike you lot, we’re busy. Quit yapping and let’s get this started.”

The sight of a childlike high school girl taking charge of the situation drew nothing but mocking laughter from the delinquents. But the moment Chiaki slipped both hands into the slits of her long skirt and pulled out two handguns, their smiles froze in an instant.

Enjoying their reaction, Karin flashed a malicious grin.

“No need to freak out that much. They’re just airsoft guns. But—”

As Karin paused, Chiaki pulled the triggers. Steel bearing pellets shot from the muzzles, striking the delinquents’ shins, causing them to cry out in agony and collapse.

“—they’re a bit modified.”

Deepening her grin, Karin pulled out her iron fan from nowhere and beckoned the delinquents with a “come at me” gesture.

That was the signal.

Excluding the few taken down by the airsoft pellets, the delinquents charged at Karin and Chiaki all at once.

Almost simultaneously, Chiaki stashed her modified airsoft guns back into her skirt, pulling out a can of tear gas spray instead and unleashing it at the oncoming delinquents. Karin fanned the spray with her iron fan, efficiently spreading the tear gas across the delinquents’ faces.

“Ow, damn it!?”

“My eyes… my eyes!?”

“Shit, I can’t see a thing!?”

The delinquents, their eyes stung by the tear gas, shouted in anger or screamed in pain as they stumbled around.

From there, it was completely one-sided.

The delinquents, barely able to move, were pummeled by Karin with her iron fan and zapped by Chiaki, who swapped out her tear gas for a stun baton, knocking them out one after another.

All except for the brown-haired delinquent, presumably the leader, who was deliberately spared.

Unscathed by the modified airsoft guns or the tear gas, the brown-haired delinquent was left standing alone. With a trembling hand, he pointed at Karin and the others, his shaky voice accusing them.

“Tch, that’s dirty! Using weapons like that!”

“We’re frail little girls, as you can see. Cut us some slack.”

“More like, that’s not something you get to say when you brought ten times our numbers.”

At Karin’s retort, the brown-haired delinquent faltered.

The ten-to-one numbers advantage wasn’t something weapons alone could overcome.

Yet the fact that they were being so thoroughly trounced made it painfully clear that there was an undeniable gap in skill between Karin’s group and the brown-haired delinquent’s crew.

“Well, if you’re still not convinced, I’ll take you on barehanded. So, what’s it gonna be?”

“Stegoro” referred to a fistfight with no weapons.

Seeing Karin put away her iron fan as she spoke, the brown-haired delinquent, perhaps misjudging that he had a chance, grinned triumphantly.

“Alright… I’m in!”

With a smug look as if he’d seized the opportunity, he swung at her the moment he replied.

Despite accusing her of being dirty, his own tactics were cheap, but Karin easily dodged his fist by twisting her body.

“Gah!?”

She countered with a palm strike, slamming it into his solar plexus.

The sharp blow, piercing through his core, made the brown-haired delinquent clutch his stomach with both hands, drop to his knees, and collapse face-first onto the floor, practically bowing to Karin.

A small puddle formed on the ground, likely from stomach acid dribbling out of his mouth.

“If you’re still itching to come for my head, fine. Anytime… well, that’d be a pain in the ass, so let’s say if you pick the time and place, I’ll take you on as many times as you want. But…”

Karin crouched down—striking the classic yankee squat—and leaned in close to the brown-haired delinquent, still sprawled on the floor, her voice dripping with menace.

“I don’t know if it was you guys or not, but some of Imakita’s delinquent idiots messed with our school’s normie students, right? If that happens again, this won’t be the end of it. You better be ready next time.”

Confirming his strained “Y… yes…” in response, Karin stood up.

“Alright, let’s go, Chiaki.”

“No complaints about leaving, but, Karin… you keep forgetting you’re wearing a miniskirt, don’t you?”

Karin furrowed her brow, not immediately grasping what Chiaki meant. But as she mulled over the words in her head, her face turned bright red in an instant.

“I-I keep telling you, these are show panties!”

“Then why’s your face all red?”

“It’s just ‘cause I got a bit heated from the exercise, that’s all! Anyway, let’s get moving!”

Stomping off with heavy steps, Karin was followed by Chiaki, who gave a lazy “Sure, sure” and trailed after her with a wry smile.

While Karin and Chiaki were dealing with the fight, Shiki, Haruno, and Touka were chilling at a table in the food court attached to Round Ten, sipping drinks.

“Is this really okay… just relaxing like this?”

Even though the two had assured them it’d be fine, Shiki couldn’t help feeling guilty about lounging so carefree in this situation.

“It’s fiiine, Shi-kun. Those Imakita Commercial kids don’t stand a chance against Rin-rin and Chi-chan.”

“Sh-Shi-kun…”

Touka’s casual use of a nickname threw Shiki off for no reason, and Haruno chimed in with her usual enthusiasm to explain.

“By the way, ‘Haru-non’ is me, ‘Rin-rin’ is Karin-senpai, and ‘Chi-chan’ is Chiaki-senpai! Shiki-senpai!”

Her overly energetic tone drew a few curious glances from nearby, leaving Shiki with no choice but to give a wry smile.

(Still… to say so confidently that they “don’t stand a chance” is kind of wild, isn’t it?)

Karin was a given, but even Chiaki, despite her appearance, was said to be one of the top fighters at St. Lukimantz Academy.

It went without saying, but Chiaki made up for her small stature with an array of tools—not just the stun baton and modified airsoft guns but countless other gadgets she pulled from the slits of her long skirt, reminiscent of a certain cat-shaped robot. This earned her the nickname “four-dimensional skirt” around the school.

As Shiki was thinking about this, an idea hit him.

“Right. Just like Kohinata-san’s teaching me how to fight, maybe Momozono-san could learn how to use self-defense weapons from Tsukiike-san—”

“No way, Shi-kun!”

Touka’s unusually urgent tone cut him off.

“If you do that, Haru-non will end up dead for real this time!”

The shocking word made Shiki’s jaw drop, but—

“Oh, that’s about the time I had a tiny heart stop, right?”

Haruno’s cheerful mention of such a horrifying fact made Shiki’s cheek twitch violently.

“When she was teaching me how to use the stun baton, it was just a little…”

“That was an unfortunate accident… don’t you think, Karin?”

“Yeah. Haruno didn’t do anything wrong. It’s probably, you know, God or something’s fault.”

Noticing that Karin and Chiaki had somehow appeared behind them and joined the conversation like it was nothing, Shiki felt like his heart might leap out of his mouth.

“Y-You’re back already!? Isn’t that way too fast!?”

“Told you it was no big deal,” Karin said, sitting down with a cola in hand while Chiaki took a seat with a cream soda.

Shiki was even more floored that they’d not only taken down over twenty delinquents but also casually ordered drinks on top of it.

“Now that we’re finally settled, spill it, Karin. What’ve you been up to behind our backs?”

At Chiaki’s words, Touka raised an eyebrow.

“Oh? Shi-kun let it slip earlier, but it sounds like Rin-rin’s been teaching him how to fight, hasn’t she?”

“That so?”

Chiaki asked, and Karin held up a hand with a “Hold on” before turning to Shiki.

“Shiki, is it cool if I tell them?”

She was likely asking out of consideration for Shiki being bullied by Kawato.

Her kindness warmed his heart, and precisely because they were her friends, Shiki felt there was no reason not to share the full story. Without hesitation, he nodded.

And so—

“So, Karin’s teaching you to fight, and you’re teaching her to study, huh?”

Having heard the whole story, Chiaki let out a satisfied hum.

“But you’re all playing around here today, which means~ you’re letting Shi-kun rest his overworked body while cooling off Rin-rin’s brain, which is about to overheat from too much studying, right~?”

Touka’s scarily accurate guess made Shiki plaster on an ambiguous smile to dodge, while Karin muttered a weak “Sh-Shut up.”

In the midst of this, Haruno suddenly clapped her hands together.

“Oh, I know! Why don’t Chiaki-senpai and Touka-senpai join us? It’ll definitely be fun if we all do it together!”

It wasn’t clear if she meant the fight lessons or the study sessions, but Haruno proposed it with such glee.

Chiaki and Touka exchanged a glance, then—

“That’s…”

“Sounds pretty fun~.”

Both grinned wickedly.

Seeing their smiles, Shiki and Karin were instantly certain: (Oh, they’re definitely joining both.)