Pervert

"Hah... heh, big bro got even more handsome."

In the early morning, Qiuyue was washing up in his room. After finishing, he admired himself in the mirror, showing off.

Following last night's discussion in Ayanokoji's room, today he was going to approach Sakura.

Qiuyue had only one thing to do—because of the butterfly effect, he needed to confirm whether Sakura's incident would still happen.

"Sakura-san."

Kushida greeted Sakura naturally. Qiuyue, the Idiot Trio, Ayanokoji, and Horikita were all nearby, watching the two of them from the corner of their eyes.

"Wh... what is it..."

"There's something I'd like to ask you, Sakura-san, is that okay? It's about Sudo-kun."

"S... sorry... uh... I... I have something to do later."

Sakura was visibly nervous, her hands clenched tightly. Stuttering, she finished speaking and prepared to leave.

Seeing this, Kushida quickly grabbed Sakura's hand to stop her from leaving. "It won't take long, okay?"

Sakura closed her eyes and turned around, unable to face Kushida. Her voice, which had been weak and powerless just a moment ago, grew a bit sharper.

"I don't know! I don't know anything!"

With that, Sakura tried to forcefully break free from Kushida's grip, but her physical strength wasn't as good as expected—she couldn't pull away.

Kushida lost her grip, and Sakura stumbled forward, her camera flying several meters away.

"Sorry, Sakura-san, are you okay?"

Sakura didn't respond to Kushida. Instead, she scrambled up to grab her camera, frantically pressing buttons on it, but the screen remained black.

"No way... it won't turn on..."

"Sorry, it's my fault..."

"No, I just didn't hold it steady."

Sakura said this, then stood up and quickly ran off.

Kushida tried to stop her. "W... wait, Sakura-san!"

Sakura didn't stop. Clutching her camera, she ran farther and farther away.

Qiuyue: (...Same as before. The camera's broken. She'll still go there to get it fixed. No, the main thing is to see if that repair shop still has that creep.)

(Sakura's scared. She's someone who's afraid to talk to people. How to put it? Socially anxious, I guess.)

(It's a hassle to approach her directly. Anyway, my goal this time is just to confirm whether that creep still exists.)

During the break between classes, Qiuyue arrived at the faculty office door and knocked.

"Come in."

Qiuyue: (That voice... a male teacher. Is he from Class A or Class C?)

"Mashima-sensei, this is my student."

Just as Qiuyue pushed the door open and before he could scan the entire office, he heard this voice. Following it, he saw a woman in a suit with a high ponytail.

Qiuyue walked up to her and said, "Chabashira-sensei, can I take leave for the next class? I have a stomachache and need to go to the health room."

"...I understand. Go ahead. Don't let it be fake, though. Ike and Yamauchi have already pulled that stunt."

Qiuyue: (...Of course it's those two.)

"...Thank you. I'll be going then, Chabashira-sensei."

"Mm."

Chabashira gave a soft hum, ignored Qiuyue, and picked up her pen to write lesson plans on the desk.

Qiuyue arrived at the health room and found that besides the health teacher in a white coat, there were also two female students inside.

But Qiuyue didn't pay them any mind, dismissing them as likely passersby.

"What's wrong, student?"

"...Um, sensei, my symptoms are a bit hard to talk about. Is there a private consultation room?"

"Alright, follow me."

The health teacher led Qiuyue to another spot—or rather, it was still the same health room, just with a partitioned area. Qiuyue had no idea how good the soundproofing was.

"I'm not sick."

Qiuyue's sudden statement left the health teacher puzzled. He continued to explain:

"Let me put it this way, sensei. I don't want to go to class. Just write me a diagnosis slip saying I'm sick, so I can rest and skip class, but still move around freely."

"...Student, are you joking? That's not funny at all."

"How many points?"

"Huh?"

"I'm asking, how many points will it take for you to do it?"

"..."

Qiuyue walked out of a large pharmacy, holding the medicine he had just bought—digestive tablets—and muttered to himself.

"What a rip-off. A fake prescription like that cost me 20,000 points... Ah, forget it. If you don't pay a price for doing something, you can't feel at ease either."

Qiuyue arrived at the repair shop. Strange as it was, the school had everything imaginable, yet there was only this one repair shop.

Qiuyue glanced around the repair shop.

Qiuyue: (Troublesome... Two surveillance cameras in a tiny repair shop? If this is too much of a coincidence, my risk of exposure is getting higher and higher.)

"Hey, classmate, what do you need repaired?"

Qiuyue looked at the repairman who had addressed him. Without hesitation, he said directly, "Shizuku."

"What?"

Qiuyue: (Not him...)

Qiuyue switched to another repairman, walked up to him, and performed the same operation, successfully identifying a man with a flustered expression.

Qiuyue: (He really is here... Not sure yet. Let me test him a bit more.)

"Can you fix this?"

Qiuyue handed his phone to the repairman, the screen facing him.

Just as the repairman reached out to take the phone, Qiuyue unlocked it with his fingerprint. On the screen was Sakura's online persona, "Shizuku."

The repairman froze for a moment, then a lecherous look crept onto his face. He quickly recovered and put on a professional smile. "Classmate, your phone doesn't seem to be broken?"

Qiuyue: (Keep pretending, just keep pretending. Tch, troublesome. Should I help Sakura or not? If I don't, what was the point of this whole operation?)

(Forget it. Overthinking won't help. I'll observe more in the afternoon.)

"My mistake. Sorry."

Sakura had actually sensed something was off, so when she came to the repair shop, she had Kushida bring along a male classmate.

Kushida chose—Ayanokoji.

From a distance, Qiuyue watched as Sakura handed the camera to that pervert.

The pervert waved the camera and warranty card in front of him, blocking the view of the three people in front.

From Qiuyue's side angle, he could see the pervert barely containing his lecherous expression.

The pervert smacked his lips, his eyes predatory as he stared at Sakura.

Sakura's face showed obvious fear. Ayanokoji took everything in, then shifted his eyes slightly to the side, as if glancing at something with his peripheral vision.

Qiuyue: (Evidence is about to appear. That camera beside him is probably filming secretly. My butterfly effect doesn't seem to have affected Sakura's incident.)

The pervert pulled out a form for Sakura to fill out. The pen in Sakura's hand trembled against the table, but Ayanokoji made no move.

Qiuyue was puzzled. Yet Sakura's trembling hand still began to write.

Qiuyue: (Could it be that Ayanokoji noticed me? The butterfly effect has happened after all. That pervert now has Sakura's contact info. Things have gotten worse.)

(Now that it's come to this, am I still going to stand by and do nothing?)