"How's it look? Cool, right?"
The next morning, Anji Seiji strutted up to Satoru, showing off his new hairstyle like a prized trophy.
The blond was gone, dyed black, but his once-smooth locks were now gelled into a ridiculous pompadour, screaming airplane head.
Still a delinquent through and through.
Satoru glanced up from A General History of Kagoku, offering a gentle smile and a single-word review: "Ugly."
"Hey!"
"Like a gag character."
"C'mon, this is main character material!" Seiji protested.
Main character? With that pompadour? Unless he had a Stand or dunked like Sakuragi, Seiji's scrawny arms and legs weren't fooling anyone into thinking he was a tough guy.
"Go practice for two and a half years," Satoru said.
His eyes shifted to the real main character—or rather, the default one: Matsubara Ayumu.
Ayumu's popularity was… average. Not great, not terrible.
He was chatting with classmates about new game releases and which class had the hottest girls. Typical stuff.
In a shounen anime, an ordinary high schooler like him could save the world. But this? This was a hentai world.
A protagonist like Ayumu looked like prime bait—one misstep, and his beloved would be snatched by some NTR creep.
"Matsubara? What's up with him?" Seiji asked, then paled dramatically. "Bro! You're not ditching me to live the good life with Matsubara, are you?! Traitor—!"
"Shut up," Satoru said.
But Seiji's mouth kept running. "Where'd you and Yotsumoto sneak off to yesterday? How many bases you hit? Listen, women only need you to be big to win 'em over. Yotsumoto might look all prim and proper—"
He was about to drop another hot take but froze, recalling yesterday's painful lesson.
Seiji clammed up, sneaking a cautious glance at Satoru.
Good thing Satoru was smiling like a flower…
Just as Seiji exhaled, a fist slammed into his gut.
"Gah!" Seiji doubled over, howling.
What an NTR-tier comment. Satoru glared coldly.
Seiji scrambled to apologize. "S-Sumimasen! Honto ni sumimasen! W-Wait, Kobayashi, where you going? Class is starting!"
Satoru ignored him, striding out of the classroom.
The moment he stepped out, the bell rang.
Tanaka Hajime.
Satoru had that name locked in his head. He'd asked Ayumu and Seiji about him—neither knew the guy.
Unlike Ryoka or Sakura, Tanaka wasn't a standout. Before his hypnosis powers kicked in, he was a nobody, a background NPC. That's why his personality twisted so hard once he got the ability.
Ayumu and Seiji weren't exactly school insiders—they didn't know everyone.
So Satoru decided to investigate himself.
If he remembered right, in the doujin, Tanaka called Sakura "senpai."
So, a second- or first-year.
He'd start with the second-year classes.
Satoru was in Class 2-F. Tanaka wasn't there, at least.
Next, Class 2-A…
Shirao High was a decently big school, with eight second-year classes, A to H.
Checking them all wasn't a small task. Doing it during break would be a mess—students scattered, forcing him to ask around. So, he'd skip class and scope things out while everyone was stuck in lessons.
Satoru crept down the hallway, cautious.
Getting spotted by another class would be a pain…
Luckily, Class 2-A was deep in math, the teacher bellowing in Kansai dialect, "Let this be X!"—too distracted to notice Satoru peering through the window.
Some students did, though, staring at the truant like he'd grown a second head.
Satoru, thick-skinned as ever, didn't care.
"Not here…" he muttered, moving on.
"Class 2-B's Yotsumoto's class," he said to himself. "I could just ask her…"
He was about to skip 2-B for 2-C when he noticed something odd.
Class 2-B was empty. Not a soul.
"Huh…" Satoru glanced at the blackboard's schedule.
P.E. class.
"Of course the P.E. teacher isn't sick…" he grumbled, then spotted a "weekly duty roster" next to the schedule.
He slipped inside, scanning the names.
Yotsumoto Ryoka was near the top.
No Tanaka Hajime as he scrolled down.
Not in this class either.
Shame… If Tanaka was here, Satoru could've used P.E. time to lure him out on the field and test his Illusion Breaker with a right hook to the face.
Illusion Breaker could erase unnatural powers—superabilities, magic, whatever. Hypnosis, being mental manipulation, should be fair game.
Satoru wandered to the window, idly watching the soccer field.
Class 2-B had a packed P.E. schedule—yesterday, too…
Today, Ryoka didn't spot him. She was laughing with another girl.
The girl was striking, with neat, ear-length short hair. Her gym uniform showed off a figure that might outshine even Ryoka's.
The cool, ice-queen vibe didn't stop her from being chatty. She and Ryoka giggled together after a few words.
But the laughter cut off when the short-haired girl glanced elsewhere.
A buff guy—probably the P.E. teacher—stood at the equipment shed, waving her over.
He seemed to be asking her to grab something from the shed.
She stopped smiling, gave Ryoka a quick wave, and headed over.
Satoru scratched his head. Weird… Fetching equipment was a guy's job. Why call a girl?
And she looked… familiar…
As he pondered, the teacher shouted, loud enough for Satoru to hear from the classroom.
"Hurry up, Nanao!!"
Nanao?!
Satoru bolted back to the duty roster, scanning it again. He'd been so focused on Tanaka Hajime he'd missed…
Nanao Akane.
The heroine of Tainted Club Manager, another NTR doujin.
What the hell kind of twisted world is this?!
…
…