(Riku POV)
A few hours prior
***
"How is it? Did he reply?"
Tooro placed his hands on my shoulders and peered over my head from behind me.
".....Not yet. Maybe he hasn't seen it yet?" I replied.
It had been a full minute since I sent the introductory message, which I felt was written well enough to entice the poster out of his hiding hole.
But there was no movement from their side.
"Hmmm.....Maybe send another message?" Tooro suggested.
"Won't that make us look needy? We're on the front foot right now, so if we keep pestering them, we might lose our advantage."
"But what if they gave up after the assembly? If we don't keep pressing, they might drop the entire thing altogether."
"That's not a bad ending though...." I muttered.
Tooro rolled his eyes and sat down next to me, throwing his arm over my shoulder.
"Don't you want to find out who's behind this? And if you do, you'll get full credit. But if you do nothing, all of this will be swept under the rug, and no one will know about your efforts."
There seemed to be some sense to his words, though it felt somewhat like the devil whispering in my ear, as you see on TV.
'I do want the President to know how much I'm doing for her... Otherwise, what's the point?'
Besides, I might not get the quest rewards because, so far, I hadn't played any role in the ongoing scandal.
"Ugh! Fine, I'll message them again."
I tapped on my phone screen a few more times and clutched it tightly, praying for the fish to bite the bait.
***
[New DM]
thegreatgamergod: Hi.
thegreatgamergod: I have something that can be of help with your plans
thegreatgamergod: I obtained some evidence from the President's desk that you will LOVE
thegreatgamergod: When can we meet?
thegreatgamergod: this offer won't last long, and you know you need this.
thegreatgamergod: choose carefully, the clock is ticking
thegreatgamergod: don't tell me you're giving up like a pussy?
thegreatgamergod: why aren't you responding?
thegreatgamergod: our cooperation is something you desperately need!
***
I clenched my teeth, not even realizing that my leg was pumping up and down repeatedly with anxiety and expectation, hoping for any form of acknowledgement.
And yet, I got nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
I wasn't even sure if the poster had seen the messages at all, because the forum didn't have that function for privacy reasons.
"This fucking..."
"No reply? What a shame....Actually, maybe he'll reply at lunch time? It's only the first break now after all, and he might not have checked his phone," Tooro suddenly said.
Which might really be the case, since a lot of students would just hang out with friends in this 15-minute span instead of surfing the internet.
"Okay, we'll try again during lunch. If that doesn't work, we'll think of something else," I sighed, pocketing my phone despondently.
I could practically see the rewards being dangled in front of me, but it seemed it wouldn't be that easy to obtain.
***
*DING-A-LING-RIIIIING*
As soon as the bell rang, the moment I had been waiting for, I glanced at Tooro and dashed out of the class.
He followed behind with an exasperated look.
"Oi! There's no need to be in such a hurry!" he called, which I promptly ignored.
We made our way to the cafeteria and found a somewhat isolated bench in a corner, staking our claim immediately as I navigated to the forum as fast as I could.
"Motherfucker, reply already!" I hissed.
Tooro brought over food for both of us, setting down my tray in front of me.
"At this point, maybe there's no hope for him to respond?" he said while shaking his head.
But I held onto that small sliver of hope that remained.
Because I didn't have many ideas if this didn't work.
Just then, a notification popped up on my screen, and my eyes went wide as I read it instinctively.
When I read the first post yesterday, I had enabled updates for all public activities from the poster, but I still didn't expect them to make a second one this soon.
"He...He made a new post," I murmured.
"Huh?? Really? Open it up quick, lemme see!"
"Oka-....WHAT THE FUCK????"
"Don't shout, you asshole! What happened?"
When Tooro read the title as I did, he also let out a curse word.
"What's with the random 180?"
As we continued to read the post and watched the subsequent video that was attached, I dropped the phone on the table and ruffled my hair with irritation.
Tooro, on the other hand, seemed amused.
"That dumbass teacher was the one who did this? If he gets fired, does that mean we're free from his tyranny?"
"Is that what's important right now?" I snapped.
"To me, it is."
"Tch."
I looked around the cafeteria and saw that quite a few students were staring at their phones and were also signaling their friends to do the same.
The various reactions, the shocked gasps, the entertained squeals, and the guilty sighs.
I cared for none of them.
'.....Did I fail?'
My heart sank to the depths of my soul as I gritted my teeth, unwilling to accept this outcome.
I don't know why this Minato dude backed off all of a sudden, but if he had just read my messages, maybe he wouldn't have given up so randomly.
It was infuriating.
".....I need to use the washroom," I whispered, leaving behind Tooro, who was engrossed in reading the active comments under the post.
I entered the men's toilet nearby and turned on the tap to wash my face, smacking my cheeks with the cool water.
".....Fuck!"
Not only did I fail to get the rewards, but I missed out on a great chance to score some favorability points with the President.
'Spice, this isn't fair! I didn't get enough time!' I complained internally.
[DING]
[Quest: The Accused President]
[Status: Completed]
[Click to Claim Rewards]
"...Eh?"
I stared blankly at the floating screen in front of me, my mind short-circuiting with overwhelming confusion.
"Um.....Spice?"
[Yes, Host?]
"Why does it say the quest was completed?"
[The quest stipulated that the heroine's situation must be prevented or resolved]
"Oh.....So it didn't necessarily need me to do it?"
[No Comment]
But I couldn't care less about the vague response, to the point that I instantly threw all the remaining questions to the back of my mind and clicked to claim my reward.
The button lit up slightly and expanded, listing the rewards that were previously stated.
But with one difference.
The reward hidden behind question marks was now revealed.
[Reward 1: +2 Charm]
[Reward 2: +2 Physique]
[Reward 3: One piece of information about the heroines (random)]
I could barely hold back my excitement as the first two rewards suddenly surged towards me, entering my body through my chest.
For a few seconds, I didn't feel anything.
But then, a strange, but very comfortable sensation flowed through every cell of my body in a way that couldn't be described.
I bent over and knelt down on the floor, my face flushing red with satisfaction.
It felt so good that I involuntarily started to moan, partially writhing like a snake as it continued to bless me with a feeling that I would never forget in my life.
Ever.
However, a voice echoed through the restroom just then, coming from a stall behind me.
"Holy shit, is someone getting railed right now? Who's out there??"
I clamped my mouth shut and forced the groans of pleasure back, feeling completely embarrassed at the possibility of being caught.
Thankfully, the sensations subsided after a few more seconds, leaving me sweaty and panting for breath while lying on the bathroom floor.
After calming my racing heart, I slowly got to my feet and staggered to the mirror, wanting to see how big a change of +2 in those fields would be.
My reflection didn't seem too different, which made me frown for a moment.
But then I noticed that some of my blemishes were faded, and my nose seemed slightly smaller by an almost unnoticeable degree.
It wasn't the earth-shattering change I was expecting, but at least it was somewhat visible.
Even if most people wouldn't notice, it would slowly add up.
I knew that I still had a long way to go to get on the same level as that asshole, but seeing that I got this reward for almost no work, I really couldn't complain.
Even his height had increased by 2 cm according to his status panel, finally breaking the long-desired 170 mark, though he didn't feel that change on a physical level.
As for the third reward, he would claim it later, after he got out of this place.
"Finally! This is the second start of my comebac-"
[DING]
[Click to Claim Punishment]
"...The fuck?"
My smirk froze on my face as I once again stared blankly at the floating screen.
I was so bewildered that I didn't even notice the stall behind me open as a male student stepped out cautiously and left the restroom without washing his hands, giving me a strange look before the door closed.
I had no idea what was happening.
"S-Spice, explain!"
[Since you played no role in the resolution, it was also deemed to be a failure]
"But! You said it was fine!"
[Be grateful you were handed the rewards for free]
"Ugh...."
I wanted to throw a tantrum, complain, and refuse, but I knew it wouldn't help aside from maybe pissing Spice off enough to get electrocuted.
I took a deep breath and prepared myself, clicking to claim the punishment while closing my eyes out of fear.
[DING]
[Punishment: R9 Haircut]
"R9? What even is that?"
I had never heard of this, but a bad premonition came over me.
'A punishment wouldn't hand me a simple haircut, would it?'
I took my phone out of my pocket and searched it up after entering the images tab.
And then I wished I hadn't.
As my trembling eyes took in the images on the screen, I almost dropped my phone out of terror.
"SPIIIIIIIICE!!!!!"