She was crouching furtively in the shadow beside the shelves, her gaze darting nervously toward the liquor display on the upper shelf before quickly scanning the area to see if anyone was watching.
Her fingers crept toward a neatly packaged bottle of whiskey, moving with extreme slowness. The moment her fingertips touched the cold glass bottle—
With lightning speed, she snatched it up and stuffed it into the pocket of her oversized school uniform jacket!
Her movements were a little stiff with nerves, but the whole routine was remarkably "practiced." Afterward, she even patted her pocket unconsciously, as if making sure her "loot" was safe.
Lin Mu: "...?"
His brow twitched almost imperceptibly, and a flood of questions rose in his mind.
Seriously, man... no, wait, classmate. Hadn't the school just given everyone a hundred thousand points?
There were plenty of free daily necessities in the supermarket. Surely things weren't so bad that she had to resort to stealing?
Besides, the law explicitly prohibited stores from selling alcohol to minors. This convenience store had liquor on the shelves—possibly for the faculty, since convenience stores didn't usually stock alcohol—but customers would definitely need to verify their age at checkout.
Students couldn't buy it at all.
The girl seemed perfectly well-adjusted. Her eyes were darting around, but she didn't look like someone who drank or even liked drinking.
So why steal alcohol? Was she simply looking for a thrill? Wanting to experience something "forbidden"? Or did she have some other unusual preference?
(Doesn't make sense, but I respect it.)
Lin Mu couldn't make heads or tails of how people like this thought. He grumbled to himself.
By the supreme principle of a Slacker—"Don't meddle, don't invite trouble"—he should pick up his bags, turn around, and leave as if he hadn't seen a thing.
But... the upright sense of right and wrong he'd been taught since childhood, which hadn't faded even after his rebirth—
Wouldn't let him stand by and watch someone his own age, especially a girl, make a mistake right in front of him. And this one could very well cause serious trouble later.
If she got caught stealing at this school, with its strict rules, who knew how many Private Points she'd lose? It could even affect her class evaluation, and she might end up with a disciplinary record.
What a hassle.
Lin Mu sighed to himself. He weighed it quickly: one warning, just one. Whether she listened was up to her.
You couldn't talk sense into someone determined to ruin themselves. If she refused to listen or even turned on him, he could drop his "need to help" at once and respect her fate.
After all, his time was precious. He had a stall to set up and a grand "fortune-telling for easy money" scheme to launch. He couldn't waste time here.
Having made up his mind, Lin Mu picked up his several large bags, looking a little awkward, and walked slowly toward the purple-haired girl.
She was still crouched beside the shelves, apparently psyching herself up or eyeing her next "target."
Lin Mu stopped behind her. To avoid startling her—or making her panic and smash the bottle, a classic move in anime—he gently tapped her shoulder first and spoke in a low, even voice:
"Classmate, stealing is wrong, you know."
"Yikes!"
Kamuro Masumi jolted like a startled cat, nearly springing straight up from the floor.
The other bottle she'd just reached for—a bottle of sake—clattered back onto the shelf. Fortunately, it didn't break.
She whirled around in a panic, instinctively shielding the pocket that held the whiskey. The color drained from her face, and her eyes filled with alarm and wariness.
When she saw who was behind her, a fleeting, unmistakable look of admiration flashed through her alarm.
White hair, a handsome, sharply defined face, a tall build—his looks were striking enough to hit like a punch.
But his expression... It was lazy and detached, as if nothing interested him much, and he even had a lollipop in his mouth.
The contrast made him all the more captivating.
But that spark of admiration lasted less than a moment before being replaced by the stronger feelings of embarrassment at being caught and the urge to defend herself.
She quickly hid her fluster, forced her aching back straight after crouching for so long, and raised her chin slightly, trying to look composed.
But her eyes kept darting away, and her voice took on its usual haughty, stubborn edge:
"P-please! Who are you? What nonsense are you talking about? I-I didn't steal anything!
I was just... just picking it up to look at! Are customers not allowed to pick things up and look at them in a convenience store?"
The louder she spoke, the more it sounded as if volume alone could make her right. But she clearly lacked conviction.
Lin Mu looked at her trying to act indignant despite being obviously guilty. He found it a little funny, though his own expression remained as lazy and indifferent as ever.
He didn't directly call out the whiskey in her pocket. Instead, he laid out his case clearly:
"First, the law and school rules clearly prohibit underage students from drinking.
"Second, you should know that the school convenience store's checkout system for students won't let alcohol scan.
"So I doubt your interest in that bottle is just 'looking at it,' is it?"
He paused, watching Kamuro Masumi's eyes widen slightly and her cheeks begin to redden as his words hit home, then continued:
"Maybe I'm mistaken, and you really were just 'looking.'
"But if you actually take it outside, whatever your reason, getting caught would leave you with a real vulnerability. Believe me, the odds of getting caught at this school are probably higher than you think.
"And who knows what people might use it to force you to do?"
He shifted the bags in his hands. His voice remained even, but there was a seriousness to it that couldn't be ignored. "I've said what I needed to say.
"Just think of me as a well-meaning passerby who talks a little too much.
"Next time... you might not be so lucky as to run into someone like me who only uses his words."
His words weren't harsh, but they were like cold needles, precisely pricking at Kamuro Masumi's most sensitive nerves.
The composure she'd forced onto her face crumpled at once, replaced by a mixture of humiliation, fear, and the mortification of being seen through.
She really had acted on impulse, driven by a rebellious urge and a desire for excitement. She hadn't thought through the consequences at all.
(Prison Sister really did like chasing thrills, but in the original story, someone caught her and threatened her the moment she got her hands on it.)
Now, with this strange boy—far too handsome, and infuriatingly smug—pointing it out, she finally realized how foolish and potentially dangerous her actions were.
She was angry with herself for getting caught so easily and being lectured.
She was afraid that, if someone really did get leverage over her as he'd said, her position in Class A...
She clenched the hem of her jacket, her nails nearly digging into her palms. Her cheeks flushed red, and frustration churned inside her with nowhere to go.
Yet she couldn't refute a single word he'd said. All she could do was endure the "warning," which infuriated her.
Her thoughts were in a mess. She wondered to herself whether she really ought to break this bad habit of chasing thrills whenever the urge struck. But no matter what, she refused to back down aloud.
Before you continue