The Sigma Man Never Falls into a Woman's Trap

Karuizawa Kei gradually calmed down.

She turned around and lay on the bed, looking at Hoshino En.

"Hoshino-kun, I didn't mean any harm just now..."

"I don't believe you."

Now that they'd fallen out, Hoshino En no longer cared about keeping up appearances. He bluntly told Karuizawa Kei what he really thought of her.

"You're making me out to be much worse than I am."

"I've always seen people this way. They act one way to your face and another behind your back. Humans are hypocritical creatures. What they say and what they think are completely different."

"Does that mean Hoshino-kun is like that too?"

"Of course. I'm not shameless enough to claim that I'm the same inside and out."

He had always been true to his desires. He helped those he liked and destroyed those he hated.

Because he hated trouble, he maintained the bare minimum of social relationships, but that was all. He took a negative view of everything around him.

"And aren't you the same? You don't believe people are as kind as they seem, so you want to attach yourself to the strong and become a parasite."

"I don't think of it that way."

First Semester of First Year:

Chapter 25: The Sigma Man Never Falls into a Woman's Trap

"To me, Hoshino-kun, you're different."

As she spoke, Karuizawa Kei sat up and put her hands on her clothes.

Click, click... She unbuttoned her shirt, then took it off along with the jacket that was already open, revealing her underwear.

"What are you doing?!"

Her actions immediately put Hoshino En on alert. He knew how dangerous women could be, and he didn't think this was some kind of blessing.

He sprang up from the bed and kept his distance as Karuizawa Kei began to slowly unfasten her skirt.

"Of course, I'm going to show you that I mean it when I say I like you and love you."

Wearing only her underwear and a pair of thigh-high black stockings, Karuizawa Kei slowly walked toward Hoshino En.

"You may not know how much it meant to me when you reached out to help me back then, without even thinking about it."

She took one step toward Hoshino En after another, and he kept backing away until he reached the door.

Hoshino En couldn't open the door and escape. This was the girls' floor, and knowing the Empress Group, they might still be listening outside and enjoying the show. If he went out carelessly, he'd be the one at a disadvantage.

He had nowhere left to go.

"You..."

Before Hoshino En could say anything else, a soft sensation pressed against him.

The girl buried her face in his chest and breathed in his scent. Her voice rang out clearly in the quiet room.

"Phew... I know you won't believe me just because I say so... Phew... Actually, you probably don't trust anyone at all... Phew... So I'll give you 'proof' that you can trust me."

She took his phone from his pocket and opened the camera app. Most phones let you use the camera without unlocking them, and the phones Kodo Ikusei provided to students worked the same way.

She switched the phone to video mode and propped it on the shoe rack by the entrance, with the camera pointed at the door—in other words, at them.

"Film me in this embarrassing state, use it to threaten me, and add what you know about my secret past. That should be enough to make you feel 'secure' with me, right?"

"If you have my 'dark past' in your hands, then I'll never be able to escape your grasp or betray you. Treat me like your most useful tool!"

As she spoke, she began unbuttoning Hoshino En's shirt.

Hoshino En: "..."

He had never dated anyone or had his first experience, but he had still studied the relationships between men and women.

As the saying went: when someone of the opposite sex came along who met all your preferences and loved you deeply, would you believe it was true love—or suspect they had an ulterior motive?

Hoshino En didn't know what other people would think, but he firmly believed it was the latter.

So... he'd misjudged her after all.

He watched Karuizawa Kei fawn over him, his expression grave.

He'd thought she was just a timid coward, an unremarkable gyaru. He hadn't expected her to use her own body as a bargaining chip.

There were probably recording or filming devices running in this room right now, weren't there?

If he gave in and showed weakness, that would become powerful evidence she could use to threaten him.

So he had to take back control.

With that thought, he let his rigid left hand drop, as though he'd given in.

Seeing that he seemed to have accepted, Karuizawa Kei smiled and reached for his hand.

While all her attention was fixed on his left hand, Hoshino En swung his right fist hard into her solar plexus.

Thud—

A wave of intense pain swept through the girl's body, and her limbs curled inward against her will.

She fell to the floor. She hadn't lost consciousness, but she was temporarily unable to move.

She looked up at Hoshino En, her gaze full of confusion and disbelief.

"How much value as blackmail do you think a 'dark past' the person herself has admitted to has?"

Hoshino En looked down at her, his gaze cold and his voice heavy.

After speaking, he took off his jacket and used it to tie her hands behind her back. Then he pulled off her stockings and stuffed them into her mouth.

Once he'd made sure she couldn't move or call for help, Hoshino En searched her room for anything that could be considered a surveillance camera or listening device.

However, after turning the room upside down for about thirty minutes, he found nothing. It seemed Karuizawa Kei hadn't set that kind of trap for him.

If there was nothing in the room, perhaps she had something on her.

Hoshino En looked toward the girl lying in the corner, wearing only her underwear.

She was leaning against the wall and looking at him, making no attempt to struggle.

Her eyes were slightly red, and they seemed to shimmer with tears.

But even after removing all her defenses, Hoshino En still couldn't find any electronic devices.

In other words... Hoshino En turned his gaze to her lower body.

Was it hidden inside her body?

Noticing his suspicious gaze, Karuizawa Kei finally began to struggle.

Judging by her flushed face and tearful eyes, she was genuinely resisting this. But that didn't stop Hoshino En from checking.

However, the girl was still a virgin, and there were no signs that she had been sexually violated. Hoshino En couldn't find any reason to think she was hiding a recording device on her.

Could it be... that she really was doing this for emotional reasons, just as she'd said?

Hoshino En didn't believe it, but he couldn't explain the reality before him, which had gone beyond anything he'd expected.

He picked Karuizawa Kei up, laid her on the bed, and removed the gag from her mouth.

"What exactly are you after? Tell me the truth!"

"Are you willing to believe me now?!"

Karuizawa Kei shot back. Her face was bright red, and she wore an unusually excited expression.

Hoshino En: "..."

"I'm not naive enough to believe you that easily."

"I suppose not..."

The girl looked a little dejected.

She'd thought this might happen when he questioned her earlier, but now that it had actually happened, she still felt a little sad.

"I don't mean you any harm, Hoshino-kun."

"A year ago, you saved me. You gave me a new life. This life I have now belongs to you."

"So I won't mind whatever you do to me. Even if you want to take my life, I'll gladly accept it."

"As long as I can help you, even if it's only by giving you a moment's pleasure, I'm willing to offer you everything I have."

"But this... only this..."

She blushed and lowered her head, revealing the girl's innocence.

"This, I want you to take from me yourself. Apart from this, I have nothing left to repay you with."

"There aren't any devices recording or filming us in this room. You checked yourself, didn't you? Matsushita and the others already know we're alone together. No one will come to bother us."

"Now's the perfect time, Hoshino-kun. Accept my feelings."

Hoshino En: "..."

Even after all her pleas, Hoshino En didn't take what Karuizawa Kei had wanted to give him. DNA from their bodily fluids would be even more damning evidence than a video or audio recording. He wouldn't act irrationally just because of a physical urge.

But in the end, he did take videos and photos of Karuizawa Kei acting coyly toward him, just as she'd hoped from the start.

His deduction had been flawed, but in practical terms, he'd learned that she wasn't so unaffected that she'd be willing to spread compromising images of herself.

So the material could still be used as leverage.

After covering her with a blanket, Hoshino En straightened his clothes and opened the door.

Just as he'd thought, the Empress Group was hiding outside the door, listening in.

If he'd gone out earlier, they would have caught him in the act.

What a relief.

"Ah! Hoshino-kun... aren't you going to stay and play with Karuizawa a little longer?"

Matsushita Chiaki, standing at the front, asked him with an excited expression.

"Yeah! We won't disturb you."

Sato Maya, standing to her right, chimed in. Her eagerness to watch the drama was written all over her face.

Mori Nene, standing behind them, seemed to have thought of something. Her face was bright red, but she still looked like she was enjoying the show.

Hoshino En: "..."

Then stop eavesdropping!!

"Nothing happened between Karuizawa and me. Something unexpected just came up. Don't get the wrong idea."

"Besides, neither Karuizawa nor I would just casually do something like that. Don't gossip about us behind our backs."

After fobbing them off, Hoshino En took the elevator downstairs and went back to his room.

He still had a meeting with Kushida Kikyo later.

After Hoshino En left, the Empress Group swarmed into Karuizawa Kei's room.

As soon as they saw Karuizawa Kei wrapped in a blanket, with her clothes folded beside the bed, they eagerly started asking questions.

"Karuizawa, how was he? Was he good?"

"Karuizawa, I heard a girl's first time really hurts. How are you feeling?"

"Karuizawa, should I get you some brown sugar water?"

Hoshino-kun had said that before, but looking at Karuizawa now, there was clearly more to his story.

Didn't it look like they'd done everything?!!!

Karuizawa Kei: "..."

"Actually, we didn't do anything. We just talked about middle school."

"Really?" ×3

They didn't believe her at all.

Did she need to take her clothes off just to reminisce?