187: The Decisive Battle is Tonight
Rintaro’s room was filled with a sweet aroma. Standing in the built-in kitchen was none other than Rintaro himself.
「Funfuun, Fufuun」
fluffy hotcakes were cooking to perfection on the frying pan. However, in contrast to the fairy-tale-like atmosphere, Rintaro’s eyes were shining brightly and bloodshot.
In contrast to Samecchi, who was eagerly awaiting the hotcakes, Kirika had her arms and legs crossed and her eyes glaring.
「Hotcake～、A hot～、Cake, ssuu～」
「……This is weird」
Her suspicious gaze fell on the strangely gentle Rintaro as soon as he returned from Tagaraak’s room.
As far as Kirika knows, Kuriyama Rintaro is not a man who would act out of pure kindness.
「Here, Sorry to keep you waiting. Eat up.」
「Yaaaay, ssu! Hamuh! Hamuhamu! Hamuu!」
「Hey Samecchi, you forgot to say ‘itadakimasu’.」
「Hihahahihafuu, ffu!」
While Samecchi was rushing to throw the hotcake into her mouth, Kirika stared at Rintaro with her fork in her hand.
「What’s wrong, Mayuzumi? Eat it quickly or it’ll get cold. Wow, it’s really tasty if I do say so myself, Hafuhafu.」
「Senpai, are you hiding something very important from me?」
「Nguh! There is no way I’d do that right？」
Choking on his hotcake, Rintaro replied in a hushed tone.
Clearly, he was hiding something. Convinced of this, Kirika asked a question that went one step further.
「……It’s woman isn’t it.」
「A- As if!? On what basis!?」
「Mixed in with the sweet scent of vanilla is a faint scent of cologne. And your hair is a little wet… You stopped by the bathroom before returning to your room, didn’t you? Even though there was a bath in your room, you took a bath outside, didn’t you? Did you not want us to find out?」
「Ugh!? ……That’s, it’s that…… Uhh」
When she pointed it out as if she had seen it, Rintaro’s nasty, clumsy smile twitched. Rintaro tried to find an excuse, but Kirika was not the type to allow excuses.
Kirika pressed the fork she was holding up to Rintaro’s nose and continued.
「The only person the wary Senpai trusted other than us. We’ll rule out General Tagaraak, since we just met her. That means the only person left is Minato. Am I wrong?」
「Guwaaaaah!! How did you know!?」
「We’ve been together for two years now! What’s with you saying “Guwaaaah” at this point?! Did you really think you could get away hiding it with bait like this in the first place?!」
Kirika turned her fork over and stabbed it at the hotcake on Rintaro’s plate as if to say checkmate. Rintaro, on the other hand, had his hands up in the air, in a gesture of complete surrender.
「……I apologize for hiding it. Even this, I baked as a little apology. Don’t think of it as bait……」
「If you want to apologize, then let’s do it in another way at a later date. Of course, this is this.」
With that said, Kirika poured a generous amount of maple syrup on Rintaro’s hotcake and brought it to her own mouth.
「It’s certainly delicious. Senpai, you’ve really improved your skills. So, where would you meet?」
「Do I really have to answer that?」
「Of course. In order to protect Minato-san’s chastity and to avoid upsetting the morals of the corps, we have a duty to stop senpai’s carnal desires!」
From whose mouth was that coming from? However, without mentioning the matter, Rintaro quietly frowned.
「……Did you say? We?」
A chill ran down her spine and Kirika turned around almost instinctively.
In front of her eyes was Samechi, munching on a hotcake with relish.
「……ssuya……」
――Or she was supposed to be there. Until just now, that was certainly the case.
But right now, as if it were just a daydream, she was sleeping peacefully, breathing softly. Sweet-smelling maple syrup was dribbling from the corner of her mouth.
「Did you think it would be safe to take it from my plate? You’re still not very thorough, Mayuzumi. You’re sweeter(naïve) than maple syrup.」
「Could it be, in the……syrup……？」
The hotcake that Kirika mentioned was definitely taken from Rintaro’s plate. It was a cautionary act based on the many times she had been served one during her time at the Hero School.
Of course, she had also confirmed that Rintaro was eating it with relish.
Rintaro, however, did not put maple syrup on it.
「To think I didn’t realize…… Something so simple……」
The next moment, it was as if the floor had warped and shook her sense of balance, Kirika was overcome by an intense wave of sleepiness. A feeling of fatigue so strong that she could no longer lift her limbs rose up from the depths of her body.
When she looked up, she saw Rintaro smiling a lowly smile in her dark and narrowing field of vision.
「Oh my oh my, my dear subordinates had taken the sleeping pills of their own volition. What a troublesome bunch……」
「Kuh, Sen……pai……! It was a plot, huh……!」
「Kuhahaha! We’ve been together for two years now, and Senpai knows all too well that you secretly have sweet tooth!」
「Even going that far……! Kuuh…… I misjudged senpai’s carnal desires…… Gaku」
Rintaro looked down at Kirika, who had collapsed on the table, and chuckled. In his hand was a bottle of sleeping pills.
“The super-powerful sleeping pill “Goodnight President Royal” that has been so misused that it’s banned in the US!!”
This will keep them asleep for at least half a day.
Rintaro carried the two, who were breathing peacefully, to bed and pulled the covers over them. He then flicks his tongue across his upper lip in anticipation of tonight’s dazzling “decisive battle”.
「Hehehe… Now there’s no one in the way…. The only one left is you, Minato…」
What drove the man was an uncontrollable carnal desire. His glazed eyes were reminiscent of a snake devouring its prey.
………………
…………
……
In a room surrounded by titanium furniture, Minato was crying and packing her bags. Her carry-on bag was bulging with her favorite shampoo, an alarm clock she had won at bingo tournament, and spare underwears, looking as if it were about to burst.
「Sniff…… Sniff…… Don’t need this…… need this…… need this……」
Even though she had been crying all day since then, her tears never dried up. It was a little after dusk, and it was probably already dark outside.
If she is going to escape, it is now or never.
It was now an indisputable fact that her fellow members of the heinous legion were trying to get rid of her now that she know his secret. If this is the case, Minato had no choice but to leave Ark Dominion before they can carry out their plan.
「Also need this……. ……This……」
The last thing Minato picked up was a picture.
It is a group photo taken at a ceremony to commemorate the launching of the Heinous Legion.
Rintaro was holding onto Samecchi’s shoulders, with Kirika flanking him, and Minato was standing diagonally behind him with a bashful look on her face. Even though it was a commemorative photo of the heinous legion, the other executives and mysterious beings were filling the screen all around them.
Ark Dominion, an organization for mysterious beings by mysterious beings. They had accepted her directly, even though she had a troublesome constitution that hurt those around her, and even though she was servile and cowardly.
Although it was only a few months, the time spent here was an irreplaceable treasure for Minato. In her life of just a little over 20 years, it was filled with countless of the most brilliant moments.
Standing in front of the door, dragging her heavy luggage, Minato looked back at her room.
She would never come back to this comfortable place again. When she thought that, the tears just kept coming down one after the other.
But all of this was not someone else’s fault. It was the result of having opened the Pandora’s Box, Death Green, with her own hands.
「……………………Sniff」
Then she must open the next door with her own hands.
Just as Minato was about to put her hand on the doorknob――
「Minato, are you there?」
「Hieaaaaaaaaah!?!?!?」
A voice came from behind the door.
There was no way she could have mistaken it; it was the voice of the man who had brought her here.
But what a timing! Minato was so shocked that she let out a pathetic cry and stepped back from the door.
Then, startled, she grabbed a chuiloba (a battle axe used by the Ngoni people of Africa) and pulled it out of the wall, holding it above her head with trembling hands.
It was understandable that she was horrified. On the other side of the door stood Death Green, Rintaro himself, who was trying to get rid of Minato.
Rintaro, not knowing that her heart was racing, calls out to her in a concerned tone.
「I heard something terrible. You okay？」
「I- I- I- I- I-! I’m fine!」
「Why the polite language?」
Rintaro tilted his head in confusion but briefly explained his business.
「I’d like you to hang out with me for a bit… Um, how about we have dinner together just the two of us?」
「Wha- wha- wha-, What- what- what- whatis it!?」
Minato’s expression went beyond panic to one of despair. The invitation was nothing less than an invitation to a final supper, an ultimatum before death.
「Now-! Not now!! No means no!」
「Wait, Minato! I know this is sudden, but today is the only possible day!」
Rintaro, for his part, was not about to back down just yet.
Aside from Samecchi, there was no guarantee that the sleeping pill would work on Kirika tomorrow. Tonight is the only chance for the two of them to spend a sweet, hot, and intense night alone together.
However, Minato would also fight if it meant her own life was at stake.
「Just having dinner together! I know it’s embarrassing!」
「Waaaaaaan!! You say that and then plans to do(kill) me when I let my guard down!!」
「I wouldn’t act like a wolf in sheep’s clothing! Despite appearances I’m a gentleman!」
「So you are going to do(kill) me like a gentleman!!!!!」
The two desperate people face each other across a thick door, neither giving an inch.
The situation seemed to have reached a stalemate.
But, however――.
「「We’ve come to pick you up, Death Green-sama.」」
Two perfectly overlapping voices broke the balance.
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