The Hidden Client (4)

"I have things to do next, so I won't see you off."

"No... it's my fault for troubling you so much. Thank you for today... Shinjo."

"It was just a small favor, don't worry about it."

Shinjo waved his hand and walked away. As Sakura watched his retreating figure disappear, suddenly! She remembered something very important.

Just as she was about to take out her phone to send a text, a powerful hand suddenly covered her mouth, leaving her only able to make muffled "woo woo" sounds.

Next, she could only feel herself being dragged in a certain direction. There was no one to be seen in the surroundings, and she couldn't make a sound.

She wanted to struggle and resist, but with her thin arms and legs, how could she break free from this shackle-like grip?

"Don't struggle, my Shizuku! You belong to me... you belong to me!!"

Hearing the voice, Sakura immediately understood. She was being kidnapped by that perverted fan!

Already timid by nature, she was now so terrified that she burst into tears.

The man pressed Sakura firmly against the ground and took out a towel he had prepared in advance to plug her mouth, preventing her from making any noise.

"Hehehehe... do you know? How much I love you?! You are my everything, and I am willing to sacrifice everything for you, including my life! But... suddenly one day, you started playing a hateful game of hide-and-seek with me!"

"From that day on, I fell into deep despair. Do you know... do you know how I have spent such a long time?!!"

The man's expression gradually became ferocious.

"But, I finally saw you... this must be fate, right?! Little Shizuku! You are destined to be mine! Everything about you is mine!! Come now... let me take a good look at you... these clothes and such are really in the way!"

Just as he was about to tear open Sakura's uniform, a figure instantly appeared behind him, and a powerful whip kick sent him flying.

"I'm sorry, but your good days might be over."

The man, who had rolled twice on the ground, rubbed his eyes and discovered that the one who had kicked him was none other than the meddlesome brat from before. He hurriedly got up, gasping for air:

"It's you!!!!"

"Shi... Shinjo!"

Sakura sat up, crying. She wanted to stand, but found her legs had no strength at all; it seemed what just happened was far too stimulating for her.

Shinjo, however, looked at the man before him without joy or sorrow. People like him were actually not rare; although base and despicable, this type of person kept emerging one after another.

"Are you planning to go to prison obediently... or..."

[Or should I just send you to be reincarnated? But to be honest, I really don't want someone like you to be reincarnated.]

The man was so angry he laughed:

"Hahahahahaha! Do you think you're some kind of hero? Do you know what you just did? You used violence against a school employee! Do you know what price a student will pay for using violence?!"

"Hahaha! Playing that card, are we? Although it's a trick I've used to death, I have to admit, it's quite effective sometimes. However, I feel that if I were to be punished by the school for using violence to protect a female student from being molested by a guy like you, then I would really have to wonder if the school's leadership has contracted some kind of antisocial disease."

Seeing his threat had no effect, the man changed his tone:

"Brat. Do you think I'm joking with you? You say I molested the female student beside you, heh, what proof do you have?"

"Well... actually, I have plenty of evidence, but the simplest one... should be an eyewitness, right?"

"What?! I thought you were going to say something. An eyewitness? You aren't talking about this person beside you, are you? She's your classmate, of course she'll testify for you..."

Before he could finish, a voice filled with anger came from behind him:

"What about me?!"

Hearing this, the man wanted to turn his head to look, but he was met with a heavy, iron fist.

"Go to hell! You scum!!"

Having suffered a severe blow to the face, he was knocked flat onto the ground. The owner of that voice was none other than the Sales Champion who had just disappeared inside the store.

Shinjo took out his phone, walked forward, and opened the camera mode:

"Give me a hand."

The Sales Champion understood, grabbed the man's hair with one hand, and lifted his head up.

"Stop moving... look here, cheese..."

Shinjo took a photo and sent it to Manabu Horikita:

"Molesting a female student, caught in the act. Eyewitness includes one employee from the digital store."

"Received."

Manabu Horikita only replied with two words, then swiftly led the Disciplinary Committee toward this location. Unlike the police in movies and TV shows, the Student Council's response was quite fast.

After understanding the sequence of events, the man was handcuffed by the teachers and security guards who had followed along.

"Remember to come to the Student Council tomorrow to give a statement."

With that, Manabu Horikita led his team away.

Handling matters without any hesitation or delay, he was truly worthy of being hailed as one of the most outstanding students in the school, Senior Horikita.

As for Sakura, after resting for a while, she had returned to normal.

"Hey, I'll ask just in case. You should be the person who wrote the request letter, right?"

Sales Champion smiled upon hearing this; not denying it was as good as confirming it.

"Then, you must also know about her... about Shizuku, right?"

Sakura was startled when she heard this; she hadn't expected anyone else in this school to know her true identity. Although the person before her had just saved her, she was currently suffering from a bit of fan-induced trauma.

"Yes, I was the one who wrote the request. You must be that person from the Odd Jobs Agency, right?"

"Ah."

"Haha, and here I thought I had hidden myself quite well. In fact, I've been a fan of little Shizuku for a long time—or perhaps it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say I was among her very first fans. My father passed away in a car accident when I was young, and my paternal grandparents didn't like us, feeling that we were the ones who had cursed my father to death."

"My maternal grandparents passed away early as well, so you could say my mother was my only family. But, just as I started university, the terrible news came that my mother had suffered a sudden cerebral hemorrhage... To be honest, I thought about ending my own life during that time; after all, living no longer held any meaning for me."

"It was right then that I discovered little Shizuku. Perhaps out of a lingering attachment to the world, I poured my thoughts and story out onto a social forum. But... to my surprise, little Shizuku and her fans all came to urge me to live on well in place of my parents."

"For some reason, I suddenly felt that if a person were forgotten by everyone in the world, would they truly be dead? So, with everyone's encouragement and persuasion, I finally stepped out of the shadows."

[Is this the power of an idol?]

At this moment, Sakura also walked over. She actually had a deep impression of this person, but she hadn't realized at the time that things were so serious. She had simply acted out of politeness and habit, feeling that no one should be so pessimistic, and had encouraged him by putting herself in his shoes.

"So, after that, I started living my life properly. I came to work at this school precisely because I had no family left to look after. In fact, I recognized Sakura-san the very first time she came to buy a camera."

The rest of the story was very simple: he had wanted to properly protect the idol he supported, but he hadn't expected her to be targeted by a guy he worked with.

To protect Sakura's privacy, and because there was no concrete evidence to sanction that guy, he had anonymously commissioned the Odd Jobs Agency.