Chapter 27: SIDE Vigilante Fragmenta: Prologue (1)

On the way from the dorm to the school, a strong whoosh of wind blew.

It was already mid-May — too late for the first spring storm and too early for a typhoon — yet a fierce gale was howling. I held down my wind-blown hair and let out a small sigh.

"Peaceful, huh—"

After overcoming Alter’s attack event, there had been no major battles — only the occasional scattered Monster Villains to defeat.

That might have been inevitable. Alter had originally planned to conquer the Sacred in the previous battle and thereby create the foundation to receive support from the queen and other Diabolics.

But because of the irregular that was me, he had been defeated by the Sacred. As a result, even if he wanted to attack again, he would probably struggle to gather pieces.

"..."

It wasn’t as if I had nothing to think about regarding that.

Alter Native was a villain, but he was also the protagonist of the game series. Naturally, players would empathize with him and develop attachment.

——A man who had fought his way up from being a combatant, accumulated power, and evolved his very existence into a Diabolic. A being who had risen from a disposable small fry, fighting while coughing up blood until he became a Diabolic.

Someone who proudly declared that he himself was greater than anyone else, who harbored the ambition of eventually seizing the other world of Lemora in his hands — and a man who was weak against pure goodwill.

In fact, there were scenes where he seemed to be bound by Moldiana, who adored him — and that was why, when she died protecting him, he was greatly shaken, and afterward he created a homunculus of her and kept it by his side.

An evil, self-centered character, but not entirely lacking in humanity.

That was Alter Native.

As a story character, honestly I didn’t dislike him — but—

"...When he exists in reality, it’s a different story."

——A being who kills men and violates women without the slightest hesitation is terrifying long before you start thinking about whether you like him or not. Frankly, I never wanted to meet him again.

Just thinking that I would have to fight him from now on made me scared and depressed.

While I was thinking about that, another strong wind blew.

A gale that raced down the school road as if it were building wind made me almost close my eyes — but the moment I saw female students ahead of me, I endured the urge to blink with sheer willpower.

There was no time to close my eyes. My gaze was fixed straight ahead, directed only at the skirts of the three female students chatting as they walked.

The howling strong wind caressed me, and then the female students beyond.

——I split my thoughts. Just like when handling multiple tentacles, I perceived the scene before my eyes.

The wind caught the hems of their skirts. Mere cloth apparently could not withstand this strong wind, and the skirts spread open like flower petals.

First the thighs were fully exposed. Immediately afterward, white fabric peeked out for an instant — and with a flap, everything was laid bare under the light of day!

The plain girl with a somewhat long skirt was wearing a plain, large-area navy blue pair — they thoroughly protected all of her butt flesh while still firmly showing off the roundness of her rear. What the hell, that’s erotic...!

The cute girl who seemed to care about fashion was wearing a stylish pink pair with elaborate frills and stitching — while slightly showing off her butt flesh toward me, the way she elegantly decorated her lower body made me feel as if I had found a treasure hidden deep in a dungeon. What the hell, that’s erotic...!

The girl with a gyaru-like appearance was wearing a small-area white low-rise pair — an area that insisted the main character was the butt rather than the underwear. But this was good in its own way. The healthy butt flesh and the pure white color scheme directly slammed a contradictory eros reminiscent of a pure-type AV actress straight into my crotch. What the hell, that’s erotic...!

There were various types, various underwear, and various girls wearing them.

But do you know this famous saying? Everyone is different, and everyone is good.

I see, I see... I see! That’s exactly right.

"Kyaaah!?"

The girls screamed and pressed down the hems of their flipped-up skirts.

But yeah, that gesture was also good. Because the skirts had been flipped up a full 360 degrees, even if they pressed the front or the back, the panties were still continuously visible.

I wanted to see them desperately pressing down their skirts and looking embarrassed, but at the same time I wanted to keep looking at the panties. They had truly understood and executed the complicated psychology of men this well.

——Some woman somewhere had said that panties were just cloth.

But when someone wears that mere cloth, and with just one gesture of the wearer, it transforms into something far more erotic than being completely naked.

In other words, a woman’s panties can be called the crystallization of human wisdom without exaggeration——!

As expected, the early bird gets the worm. I’ve heard that three mon is about sixty yen in today’s money and that it would be better to just sleep, but if you think of it as getting to see three girls’ panties for sixty yen, isn’t that the greatest bargain?

"Hell yeah! Not three mon of profit, but three panties of profit——!"

As the wind gradually weakened, I couldn’t help raising my voice.

It was a cry of joy, and loud enough to echo along the school road — at the very least, loud enough to reach the girls’ ears.

Three gazes turned toward me.

The plain girl’s accusing gaze while blushing, the fashionable girl’s furious gaze, and the gyaru’s contemptuous "At least shut up" gaze — three different kinds of looks.

But since I hadn’t actually flipped their skirts or anything, the girls hurried away while talking like "That guy is seriously the worst."

The gazes of the other students walking the school road were mostly similar. Both girls and boys. Looks that said "I understand the feeling, but are you for real?"

"...It’s good that I’m enduring the impulses, but still."

I couldn’t help looking up at the sky.

I was aware that I was messing up — no matter how I struggled, I ended up doing things like what just happened.

——Really, after becoming a Monster Villain, this kind of thing had become more frequent.

The lewd things I thought inside had started coming out more easily in my words and actions.

I’ve been a pervert from long ago; I won’t deny that. But even so, I hadn’t done something like loudly rejoicing like this.

Lately, however, topics related to eroticism had started coming out of my mouth like a spinal reflex.

Compared to the impulses right after this body changed, it was cute, but this was still causing problems in daily life. 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

"Considering the beginning, this is a luxurious complaint, though."

Still, if I continued this behavior, I could only see a future where I was thoroughly disliked by girls, which was depressing.

While thinking that, I continued walking and arrived in front of the school gate.

I was about to head straight to the classroom——

"...Hm? What, did something happen?"

——or so I thought, but a crowd had formed in front of the school gate.

Feeling suspicious, I checked from behind what was ahead of the crowd — and understood.

A man in a tracksuit was standing imposingly in front of the school gate. Black crew-cut hair and a solidly trained body — the kendo club advisor and student guidance teacher, Harukaze.

Despite having a surname like "Spring Wind," he wasn’t refreshing at all — if anything, a big man like him was more like a hot wind. He was checking students’ uniforms and bags with a strict face.

"Good, next! ...What the hell are you bringing a game console for! Confiscated! Next! You, properly button it and tighten your necktie! Next!"

Probably because he was used to this kind of inspection, he found and pointed out students’ violations in a flowing manner, so it didn’t take much time.

The problem was on the students’ side. The ones who were adjusting their appearance or desperately hiding prohibited items inside pencil cases or between textbooks before reaching Harukaze had gathered and become a wall.

Of course, doing something like that was bound to touch Harukaze’s reverse scale.

"If you have time for such pointless tricks, line up! Come forward in order from the right side!"

On a May morning, under the blue sky, thunder fell.

I lined up behind the students who were reluctantly forming a line after being scolded.

I myself wasn’t particularly well-behaved, but that didn’t mean I was flashy enough to become a regular at student guidance.

"Hm—— Senjumaru, good morning."

"Eh? Ah, it’s true. Senpai Shusawa, chiissu!"

But just as I was thinking that I might get nitpicked about small details, two familiar voices came.

When I turned around, the slender silver-haired beauty Leas and Reiko, who looked like "energy is my only redeeming feature," had lined up behind me.

"Ah, morning..."

The moment I said that, a strong wind caressed my body.

I couldn’t help turning my gaze toward Leas’s lower body with expectation — but her long skirt, which greatly exceeded the average for high school girls, only swayed its hem largely and did not go so far as to expose the deepest treasure.