A week before the incident.
After opening the Heungsinso, Aru had to settle for a tent in the ruins of a remote area in the Gehenna Autonomous District, sucking her fingers in boredom. It was then that she received a phone call. Since she couldn’t even spare a moment to set up an office phone, the number she used to promote the Heungsinso was, of course, her own.
So far, she had received a total of eight calls. Six of them were trivial errands, not even remotely resembling a proper request, one was a prank, and the last call was from a jerk who, upon confirming Aru was a female student, demanded she do something unspeakable. Therefore, Aru didn’t hold out much hope for this call either.
Little did she know what kind of trouble that phone call would bring upon her.
“Yes, this is Rikuhachima from Heungsinso 68.”
[Kikikikik! I heard a Gehenna student established a Heungsinso; is that rumor true?]
“…Yes, it’s true. So, what can I help you with?”
Since her name was indeed on the Gehenna student registry, that meant the words weren’t a lie. After rescuing Haruka, who had been bullied by Gehenna students, she had been disillusioned with Gehenna Academy and refused to go to school with them; still, she felt no guilt about it.
[Well, it’s nothing serious. I want to request something. Didn’t you say you’d handle any request without fail? You seem pretty confident in your skills… Kik!]
“Hehe, requests are our specialty at Heungsinso! You’ve come to the right place, dear customer! What kind of request can we take on—”
[Ah, yes. I need you to kidnap someone. Kishish!]
“Huh? That’s a rather trivial request… y-yeah…?”
[Yes, it’s nothing serious. From your reaction, I think I can trust you! Truly, my discernment is exceptional! Kikik!]
Nodding absentmindedly, Aru suddenly grasped the gravity of the situation and her eyes widened in shock.
‘Wait… Kidnap? Isn’t this a bit too heavy for our first request?! Of course, if you’re a true outlaw, you should be able to casually kidnap someone! But I’m not quite ready for this mentally…!’
[Kishish! The target to kidnap is the T-party host of Trinity, Misono Mika. You can take your time for preparation. But the deadline is… um, what was it? Oh, right! It’s ten days from now! It’s perfectly doable for a club that has succeeded with just a single project; professionals like you from Heungsinso should handle it easily!]
Aru heard what sounded like someone talking to the caller on the other end but instead focused on the difficulty of the request itself. Clearly, this was beyond the capabilities of Heungsinso 68.
‘…And the target is the pinnacle of the Trinity Academy, the T-party host?! That’s a ridiculous heavyweight! If that club succeeded in kidnapping such a person, what on earth is their identity? Ugh, this request seems a bit too much for our team…’
Amid her internal conflict, the caller offered a cold yet sweet proposition.
[The payment is a front of ten million yen. If you succeed, I’ll add five times that amount. Will you accept?]
Of course, what the caller extended was a poisoned chalice.
“Sure, just leave it to me! But I won’t take the advance—”
[Great! Send it right away!]
Before she knew it, Aru had downed the poisoned chalice in one shot, only to realize what an insane decision she had made. It was the end for a common citizen blinded by riches.
Half in a daze, as Aru provided her account details, she received a text that sealed her blunder.
[Deposit] Heungsinso 68 Public Funds – ¥10,000,000
Depositor Name: The Great Ma
“Wait, I said I didn’t need the advance—”
[Kikikikik—!!! Expect good news soon!]
“…”
Ding ding.
As Aru stared blankly at the hung-up phone, she swung the tent open and shouted outside.
“Mitsuki Manager! Kayoko Chief! Haruka Staff! We got our first request!”
Having inadvertently accepted the advance, leaving her with no way to back out, Aru had no choice but to call upon the Heungsinso members, tears welling in her eyes.
Manager, Asagi Mitsuki.
Chief, Onikata Kayoko.
Staff, Igusa Haruka.
Naturally, Heungsinso 68 was not a real company. They were merely a delinquent club claiming to be one. Thus, while their titles weren’t official, having officially taken a request, Aru decided to stick to them especially diligently.
She wanted to avoid looking like a child playing make-believe, but little did she know that overusing those titles would have the opposite effect.
“D-did you call for me, Aru-sama?”
“What’s this? Did Aru-chan finally get a request? This sounds fun!”
“It’s not Aru-chan, it’s President Aru, Mitsuki Manager!”
“Right, right, Aru-chan!”
Starting with Haruka, who was carefully folding laundry, followed by Mitsuki, who lounged on the ruins, and lastly, Kayoko, arriving slightly late due to her music, they all gathered around Aru.
“…President, just to check, this is a legitimate request, right?”
“I hope it’s not too boring! After all, it’s Aru-chan’s historic first request~♪”
“I think even cleaning tasks would be fine with Aru-sama by my side…!”
“Ufu, don’t worry about such trivial worries. I’ve got a solid request on hand!”
Aru brushed aside Kayoko’s blatant concern and Mitsuki’s curious gaze. After all, this was one of the highest tier requests one could ask for!
The reason for receiving such a request was attributed more to someone’s foolishness than her own abilities, but trivialities like that mattered little to Aru. Since she had taken on a request, she was sure that Heungsinso was something exceptional.
…By the way, this self-brainwashing effort was a miserable failure for Aru.
“This request’s goal is to kidnap a particular target. As a true outlaw, you should be able to handle something like this with ease!”
Aru began discussing kidnapping for their first request. Kayoko and Mitsuki were shocked, while Haruka simply nodded, seemingly not concerned.
“Wow~! A kidnapping request, this sounds more serious than I expected! I knew Aru-chan would eventually become a true villain! Kuhuhu♡”
“…So, President, who exactly is our target? What’s the deadline?”
“The deadline is ten days from today. We just have to complete the request by then. As for the target…”
Aru’s smile, which had been confident until now, faltered for a moment before reigniting.
‘Right, it’s our first request?! Just because it’s a bit… Actually, seriously challenging, I can’t let down the three people who trust and follow me! Pull yourself together, Rikuhachima Aru!’
As her villainous grin flickered back with determination, Mitsuki celebrated with a laugh, while Kayoko sensed a foreboding.
“It’s the T-party host from Trinity.”
“…The president is wildly insane.”
“Huh…? Aru-chan, don’t make jokes about the request~!”
Mhm?
Kayoko clutched her head in immediate headache, even Mitsuki, who usually could brush off anything, struggled to accept reality, while Haruka, who didn’t fully understand what the T-party did, stared at them in confusion.
“I’d suggest canceling the request…”
“Impossible. They sent the advance without a second thought. Ten million yen, no less.”
The jaw-dropping amount left everyone speechless. If this was just the advance…
“And if we succeed, the reward is five times that. If we cancel a request from someone who can afford that, potential clients for our Heungsinso will hear the rumors and think twice about approaching us!”
Clearly, the request was beyond what Heungsinso 68 could handle, but having received such a hefty advance made it a chain tying them to the request.
One fortunate thing for the Heungsinso was that they were not malicious enough to consider using the target’s surroundings for their plans.
*
The Heungsinso officially embarked on the mission, infiltrating Trinity.
Mitsuki and Haruka scouted the area while Aru and Kayoko kept an eye from the rooftops with scopes and binoculars, tracking the movements of their target, Mika.
And as a result…
“Surprisingly, the routes are quite exposed while there’s virtually no escort. Additionally, the people accompanying her change frequently.”
“For the optimal timing, late evening might work best~♪ Oh, I almost got spotted while watching from quite a distance! My instincts are sharper than I thought?”
“I’ve noted frequently traversed alleys… using explosives for a surprise attack… Sorry! Sorry for proposing something so ridiculous…!”
Surprisingly, preparations for executing the request were proceeding quite well. This was largely thanks to Mika instructing Seiya or Nagisa to allocate personnel for her protection. Without that, the Heungsinso’s plan would have been discovered by Mika long ago.
“…Yeah, some club has successfully kidnapped a T-party host before! Of course, it’s only natural that our Heungsinso will also come out on top, right?”
Patting Haruka’s head, a truly villainous grin formed on Aru’s face.
While they laid out their plan, as she secretly trailed Mika, who was visiting D.U.’s amusement park with her companions, Aru thought, ‘Is this a chance sent from the heavens?’
Even if they succeeded in kidnapping Mika, escaping Trinity would be another matter entirely.
However, executing the operation at D.U. would alleviate some of that pressure. Initially, both Trinity and D.U. maintained pretty good order; thus, thinking ahead to after the operation’s success, it would be advantageous to complete the request here and return to Gehenna.
Thus began the voting on whether to complete the request at this amusement park.
Aru, of course, was in favor as the motion’s proponent.
Kayoko grumbled about needing to abandon their prior preparations but ultimately voted yes.
Mitsuki found it amusing and voted yes.
Haruka, in support of Aru-sama’s opinion, voted yes without hesitation.
With unanimous support, the decision was made to execute the operation within the amusement park.
“Ahaha, great! Now, let’s act professionally!”
As Aru exclaimed while dramatically swaying her coat, the Heungsinso members responded accordingly.
“Hold on, what are you all doing here?! Don’t tell me you’re delinquents—!”
“Ah, no! I’m so sorryyy!!!”
…Apparently, the area in which they had their operation meeting was off-limits to anyone except staff.
*
After Nagisa and I shared a menu item, and Azusa and Hifumi inhaled their own choices like vacuums, we resumed wandering through the amusement park, enjoying the rides like it was nothing.
Having wandered over to the children’s area, we started with the classic bumper cars. The difference from what I knew was that here they called them bumper tanks, resembling shrunken-down tanks—and they were orders of magnitude faster.
Just looking, it was at least three times faster than what I remembered, making it so that students around our age appeared more frequently.
Hifumi particularly ruled this area, showcasing overwhelming driving skills and a manic aha ha! as she crashed into everyone. The moment she got off the ride, she returned to her pure self like nothing ever happened.
It was indeed a moment that fueled speculation about Hifumi being the leader of the swimsuit-wearing Masked Society and the betrayer of humanity, Azitani Faust’s dual personality.
Despite the general height of the hurdles in the rides around Kivotos, I had high hopes for the flume ride.
Taking seats in the front were Nagisa and Hifumi side by side, followed by Azusa and me. Moments later, our log boat started advancing down the quick-flowing track.
While enjoying a somewhat peaceful moment despite the rapid flow of water, we reached the end of the water section, where the rail section began. In other words, the steep drop awaited.
“Hey, Azusa-chan! If you raise your hands while going down, it’ll be twice as fun☆”
“Raise my hands…? Sure, I’ll do that.”
After imparting the secret technique of the flume ride to Azusa, I waited for the drop to begin… How much longer must I wait?
In fact, the essence of the ride was being ‘soaked,’ so I was in a decent spot on the second seat. I could get a nice splash and enjoy some thrill. Originally, the front seat with its divider got the least wet, so I had decided to give that to Nagisa, who was in clothing that might become see-through when soaked, and even bought her a poncho to wear…
“AAAAAAAHHHHHH——!!!”
Due to the nature of the log boat ride, the sudden drop packed a surprise thrill, and the height combined with its severity was something else.
Ultimately, I later found out that we dropped nearly 40 meters to the sound of Nagisa’s scream. And at the end of the slope, I received a thorough soaking.
The proof was that who sat beside me didn’t matter at all. Nobody could escape Nagisa’s screams.
Still, I was grateful for the moment I saw Azusa extending her hands and getting drenched, only to smile faintly as she would gather herself back together.
The joy of enjoying the world is too plentiful to share with the Squad kids, making me resolve to cultivate such laughter from now on.
