"I've... I've never seen Shizume-senpai like this..." Chiyoko murmured as she and Shun stepped out of the classroom.
"Almost like it's... not even him anymore!" She shivered, her voice trembling. "Shun-senpai, let's go see Hyiocchi!"
"Huh...? And do what?" Shun tilted his head.
"Isn't it obvious!? We tell her to come back!" Chiyoko nearly shouted. "If she doesn't, Shizume-senpai will—he might get even worse..." Her voice faltered, and she looked away.
"Huh... I'm not sure if that's the best idea, Chiyoko-chan. That'd be pushing it—"
"AND SHIZUME-SENPAI ISN'T PUSHING IT ALREADY!? I..." she muttered. "It hurts me... seeing him like that." She swallowed her tears.
"...I guess we should at least ask why she left." Shun scratched his head.
"Y-YES! Let's do that, then!" Chiyoko brightened. "She must be in her clubroom, right?"
"...Oh." Shun gulped. That meant stepping into that room—the Disciplinary Committee's den, filled with unfamiliar faces... and Shiyon.
"Uh... Couldn't we just call her?" he tried.
"NO!" Chiyoko snapped. "IT WON'T BE EFFECTIVE LIKE THAT!"
"Effective...? Are you serious right now..." Shun sighed. "...Fine. Just to talk to her, then."
=======================
"Who is this?" Riko muttered, eyeing the unknown number as she answered. "And I swear, if the first thing I hear is 'Would you be interested in—' I'm hanging up." She sighed, leaning against the wall outside.
"Riko Takashima, right?" came a muffled voice.
"...How do you know my name?" Her eyes narrowed. She subtly gulped.
"You're good at hiding fear. Good. Listen closely."
The voice dropped an octave. "From what I gathered, a Disciplinary Committee member called you out behind the school, right? Use those acting skills and find a way to turn him down."
"...You're stalking me." Her voice trembled. "S-stalking won't help you, you hear?! My boyfriend knows boxing!"
A quiet chuckle crackled through the speaker.
"I'm sure he's formidable. But threatening you isn't why I called. Listen—there's reason to believe a new kind of drug is circulating in the school. A new branch."
"...What?"
"Those new members Shiyon Michaels brought into INK Public School... they're the testers. The drug alters your perception of intimacy—toward other men... or anyone, really."
She wiped sweat from her brow.
"This... This is just a prank! You think you're being clever, huh? Shiyon-san cares about everyone here. I vouch for him. If he picked those people, I trust them—even if they do have... an uncomfortable air about them."
The voice paused, then softened.
"You sound confident. Level-headed. Good. Then go—go to that Disciplinary Committee member who barely knows you, who called you out here. Alone."
"You've been watching me, haven't you? Then you know I'm council president. It's normal for the committee to talk to me! You're just full of shit!" she growled.
"...Then why haven't you hung up yet?" the voice asked.
Riko clenched her teeth.
"...Fuck you. This isn't that kind of school anymore. Don't underestimate us... And if you call me again..." She seethed.
And with that, she ended the call.
Yet the voice's warning echoed in her mind as she turned the corner, approaching the Disciplinary Committee member who had summoned her. He stood at least three heads taller, looming casually with one hand still stuffed in his pocket.
She gulped.
"Sorry. Had a call," she said, keeping a reluctant distance between them.
'...She's wary,' he noted, clicking his tongue. His fingers twitched inside his pocket.
'Tsk. Sharp one, huh.'
"What?" he chuckled, stepping forward. "Scared I'll bite?"
"Well... with all due respect, I don't really know you." She cleared her throat, steadying her voice.
"Anyway, what did you want to discuss—"
"Man, no wonder Aniki called us in," he cut her off with a sigh. "You students really forgot your place, huh? Undermining the Disciplinary Committee. Disrespecting your senpai. That's the kind of thing I wanted to talk to you about, President."
He took another step forward.
"I'm Yuji. Graduate of Gray Stamp Public. Transferred here by Aniki's request. You're the student council president, right? Spokesperson for all these nervous little kids. You've probably noticed how uneasy they are around us." He gave a lazy shrug. "Even though we literally get paid to tour and protect them..."
"...."
Riko tightened her grip on her sleeve. "...You are unfamiliar faces, after all."
She flicked a glance at his pocket — his hand hadn't moved.
She stepped back.
'Tsk… This bitch is sharper than she looks,' Yuji thought, his smile tightening as he moved in again.
"I guess you're right. Not much we can do about that," he said with a casual laugh, closing the distance even more.
"I see..." she muttered, her voice forced and thin. "In that case, I'll be on my way. I just remembered—my boyfriend's waiting for me."
She turned, trying to walk away.
But from the corner, another figure stepped out — a tall girl wearing the same Disciplinary Committee armband.
Riko barely registered her before—
BAM.
She was grabbed and yanked backward, arms pinned behind her.
"...!!!"
Riko froze, her breath caught in her throat as Yuji stepped closer.
"HEY—LET GO OF ME—!" she thrashed, but the girl behind her hissed in her ear, cold and quiet:
"If you shout, we kill your boyfriend."
Her body went stiff. Eyes wide.
Yuji loomed, his shadow stretching toward her.
"Y... You're a girl..!" Riko gasped. "Why... Why are you doing this?!"
"Don't take it personally. A job's a job." The girl's voice was clinical—emotionless.
'She's strong…'
Riko winced, struggling against the grip, but the girl behind her didn't budge.
She was tall. Toned. Built. 'Shun…! S-save me…!'
Her arms were pinned tighter, wrists bending uncomfortably.
Yuji approached with a lazy gait, pulling a small bag from his pocket.
A faint dust shimmered within.
"Calling for your boyfriend, huh?" he chuckled.
"I know that guy. Looked like a bitch. Say… even if he showed up right now, think he'd actually stop us?"
He crouched, cracking the bag open slightly.
"Soon enough," he said with a grin, "you won't care about him anyway."
Riko's eyes locked on the bag. Her stomach churned.
'That's it.'
'That's the drug the voice warned me about.'
"Hey, Yuji—make sure I don't breathe in that shit," the girl muttered, still holding Riko in place, utterly disinterested.
"Wouldn't touch you with a stick anyway," he smirked.
"Dick." They bantered casually.
Like it was just another Tuesday.
Right before drugging her.
Yuji raised the bag—just a few inches from her face.
'NO…!! SHUN…!!'
"Riko-CHYAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN~ You here…?"
A voice rang out—exaggerated, loud, and unmistakably familiar.
Her eyes lit up.
'That voice…!'
'Sakurai…!'
The two aggressors immediately let her go and stepped back.
"Fuck," Yuji muttered. "It's a bust..." He sighed.
"No matter," the girl said, leaning in close one last time.
"Remember," she whispered coldly, "any word of this—and your boyfriend, along with your family, gets the brunt."
With that, the two turned and walked off.
They emerged from the corner, heading toward the voice with casual frustration written on their faces.
As they passed him—
"H-huh? What are you two esteemed senpais doing out he—" Yuuto began, only to be bumped hard by Yuji without a word.
The girl glanced back at him briefly.
'…He's kinda cute.'
'Never seen him before.' She shrugged and moved on.
'Hmph,' Yuuto exhaled, rounding the corner to find Riko standing there with her back turned to him.
"Ah, Cuckold-Maker," he called out, approaching her. "Cuck wanted me to look for you—"
She bumped into him without warning, burying her face into his shirt.
"..." Yuuto looked down at her, unmoving, as her sobs shook through his clothes.
"Not sure what happened," he muttered, "but you should be careful. A shoulder to cry on becomes a dick to ride on. Nothing you're unfamiliar with, but still—"
"Shut up... God... Just shut the fuck up..." she sobbed, gripping his shirt.
"Just... shut the fuck up for a minute... please..."
She trembled. Sniffling. Clutching tighter.
'...'
Yuuto stood still.
Letting her cry, unchallenged, into his shirt.
A few minutes passed.
Yuuto said nothing.
He simply stood there, letting his gaze wander while her cries filled the silence — soaking into his shirt.
Eventually, Riko stepped back with a sniffle, eyes lowered.
"You're... Sniffle... not used to this, huh?" she mumbled, her voice trembling.
"..." Yuuto glanced at her.
"Do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it?"
"Reassuring someone," she clarified softly.
"Usually there's... a pat on the back or something."
Her lips tightened.
"I need... like, a thousand of those."
"...."
She gave a weak, shivering chuckle.
"Might've even... orgasmed from it, or something."
She looked away, embarrassed.
Yuuto narrowed his eyes, confused.
'...What the fuck is wrong with—'
'...Oh.'
A memory surfaced:
======= CHAPTER 1 ============
"...Ah… I…. A-... A pat on the b-back c-c-can be considered sexual assault, s-so you're s-saying you would rather g-g-get rap-ed…" Yuuto mumbled.
"Haha, what the hell was that pathetic attempt? You know what, I allow you to write it as a script for your doujin artist friend, I'm actually really interested in seeing a girl moaning from getting a pat on the back." Riko added while laughing menacingly.
=============================
"Pfft." Yuuto let out a short chuckle.
She looked up at him.
It wasn't the usual mocking glare.
"I'll admit," he said, glancing away with a half-smirk, "that was a good one, cuckold-maker."
He exhaled through his nose, eyes drifting skyward as a second laugh escaped him.
For some reason — just for a moment — Yuuto didn't feel like the weirdo from her classroom.
He looked like a normal person.
"...Just..." Riko muttered, lowering her head.
"Thanks for coming when you did, Sakurai."
Her lips tightened. She was trying not to cry again.
"Thanks... really."
She cleared her throat.
"You were the one who called and warned me, right?"
Yuuto raised an eyebrow.
"...Ah? You take me for your admirer or something?"
"...Oh... No. Never mind." She shook her head, flustered.
"Alright." Yuuto nodded, the blank expression settling back over his face like armor.
"Anyway. Cuck's looking for you." He turned around, starting to walk away.
"Huh..." she let out with a weak sniffle.
"Didn't take you for his — or really, anyone's — errand boy."
"Well," Yuuto shrugged as he walked away, "he's kinda scary. Those new boxing techniques terrify me."
Riko chuckled at that.
"Dumbass," she muttered, covering her mouth as she laughed.
Yuuto kept walking. But just before disappearing around the corner—
"Aren't..." Riko called out, stopping him, "...aren't you gonna ask?"
He turned slightly.
"Ask what?"
"...Why I was crying like that."
"...You didn't tell me," he replied simply. "Figured there's no reason to pry."
She frowned. Bit her lip.
"...Why? Maybe you actually do know what happened and don't need an explanation after all?"
"No." Yuuto gave a casual stretch.
"Spoiler alert, I'm not that interested in what's going on with your life. Thought I made that clear this year. And..."
His tone then softened, "I just think you're smart enough to decide whether to tell anyone or not."
He half-faced her — that same unreadable expression, as always.
She exhaled, barely above a whisper.
"Ah... I..."
"I see."
"...Don't let it get to your head," Yuuto added. "This is the only piece of praise from me you're ever gonna get."
And with that, he vanished around the corner.
"YOU STILL GAVE ME PRAISE, SAKURAI!" Riko shouted after him. "I'LL TELL EVERYONE YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON ME!"
"I'LL KILL YOU AND THEN MYSELF IF YOU DO THAT, CUCKOLD-MAKER!" came his voice from around the bend.
Riko laughed again.
'Now then...' Yuuto thought, slipping his hand into his pocket.
From it, he pulled the small, clear bag—the one he'd swiped from Yuji when they brushed past.
The white powder shimmered faintly in the light.
'Organ Harvester…' Yuuto narrowed his eyes as he stepped into the school.
'You've got some explaining to do.'