NOVEL NEXT Chapter 52
The bus doors open.
“Yo, finally time to start the shopping, huh?”
Ishihara, in a Hawaiian shirt, mutters in a weird punk tone.
“Yeah.”
I step off the bus, slightly grimacing.
The shopping mall building boasts an impressive sign that says “Tokyo Plaza” in English.
In front, there’s a giant statue of a famous anime robot, made at a one-to-one scale.
This robot sculpture was famous back in my world too, a renowned attraction in Odaiba.
They say it lights up at night and even transforms, but it’s still daytime, so it’s not moving at all.
“Whoa, this is the famous robot statue…!”
“It looks so cool.”
Yuji and Ishihara rush over to take pictures in front of the robot statue.
I seriously don’t get what’s so great about it.
“Hey, if you’re not coming, I’m leaving you behind.”
“I’m coming, bro!”
“I’ll follow!”
From the start, this doesn’t feel like it’s going to end well.
Olivia, Nishizawa, and Rin, the three girls, are already walking ahead.
It seems like girls loving shopping is universal.
“Mr. Kim Deok-Sung, I brought you a strawberry smoothie.”
Han Seo-Jin, in a black suit, politely hands me a strawberry smoothie.
I take the smoothie from her and sip through the straw.
It’s surprisingly tasty.
The gloomy feeling of being dragged out on the weekend lifts a bit.
“Let’s go in.”
“Understood.”
Zing!
The shopping mall’s automatic doors open.
“Let’s go together, bro!”
“Wait up, Kim!”
Ignoring the pitiful calls of the two guys from behind, I step into the air-conditioned shopping mall.
*
Olivia, Nishizawa Eri, and Shinozaki Rin.
A strangely chilly silence envelops the three as they walk through the marbled, extravagantly decorated mall hallway.
“Hey, Shinozaki.”
The silence is broken by Nishizawa Eri.
She glares at Rin with her sharp orange eyes.
Rin’s dark blue eyes meet Eri’s gaze.
“Why do you call me, washboard?”
A cold smile appears on Rin’s lips.
No matter how much Nishizawa flails about, she can’t make up for the natural physical gap.
She proudly pushes out her large chest.
Nishizawa Eri’s forehead wrinkles in frustration.
“Washboard? You don’t mean me, right? Just because you have a big chest doesn’t mean much, cow.”
“That useless insecurity of yours is still clinging on, isn’t it, washboard? Jealousy over someone else’s curves is ugly.”
“I’m not a washboard! That’s offensive! The stereotype that girls with big chests are dumb is real after all. Dumb cow. I wish you’d get slaughtered.”
As Rin and Eri snarl at each other,
Olivia sighs.
A cold voice slips from her lips.
“Honestly, you two. Even after coming all this way, you’re behaving childish. How pathetic. Just don’t forget the original purpose of our trip here, okay?”
Olivia pouts.
“Seriously, whether it was at the cherry blossom festival or now, I can’t find a single thing I like about either of you!”
“I don’t have any either!”
She puffs her cheeks while crossing her arms.
Nishizawa Eri and Shinozaki Rin.
Neither of them sat well with her.
“As his personal maid, both of them are failing grades. Hmph. I absolutely won’t allow it!”
Not to mention Shinozaki Rin, who started the trouble and still hasn’t properly apologized.
Nishizawa Eri, who suddenly flipped 180 degrees after getting called out to the disciplinary committee for disobeying orders without a sense of responsibility, also does not sit well with her.
“I can’t remember the last time I had a proper outing.”
Olivia mutters in a small voice.
She wasn’t feeling too good.
Things were manageable during Ground Zero.
But during the cherry blossom festival, it was just too much, no matter how she thought about it.
Originally, it was supposed to be just the two of them.
“Fool, idiot, sea cucumber, sea squirt, anemone…!”
Olivia’s gaze lands on Shinozaki Rin.
“It’s all that thieving cat’s fault…!”
During the cherry blossom festival, things went haywire because Shinozaki Rin intruded halfway.
Olivia hasn’t forgotten that grudge.
“Why should I be interested in you? Bonaparte?”
Rin’s eyes turn to Olivia.
“Well, that’s because I’m his personal maid, Shinozaki. And isn’t it time to buy supplies for Imgan School?”
“Her Highness is right. Cow. We don’t have time to waste on useless bickering.”
Nishizawa Eri agrees with Olivia’s remark.
“Hmph.”
Rin bites her lip at the rebuttal of the two.
It’s a solid argument, so she can’t think of a counter.
Somehow feeling defeated, Rin’s hands tremble.
She closes and opens her eyes before saying, “Fine. Then let’s stop by the lingerie store first.”
“What does Imgan School have to do with a lingerie store?”
Nishizawa Eri scoffs, raising her eyebrows in rebuttal.
“Well… Obviously, it’s to buy victory lingerie. Nishizawa. Ah, perhaps you, lacking in feminine charm, wouldn’t know that? My bad.”
Shinozaki Rin laughs triumphantly.
The internet dating tips she read yesterday come to mind.
When going in for the assault, victory lingerie is most effective.
It claimed there’s no man who could resist when you seduce him in lingerie.
The schedule for Imgan School is a week of camping.
Naturally, she was planning to seize the opportunity to seduce him.
“After all, it’s just a last resort… in case of emergencies!”
Her face turns red.
Nishizawa Eri grimaces.
“You’re planning to seduce our Master with that disgusting blob of lard at Imgan School? Gross.”
“I don’t want to hear complaints from the weak.”
Rin chuckles coldly and steps into the lingerie store.
“Wait! Cow! I’m going too, I’m going too!”
Nishizawa Eri chases after her.
“Uuuuuuu…”
Alone, Olivia’s face flushes red.
A groan escapes her lips.
“W-W-Whoa, victory lingerie? How could you even think of such a ridiculous thing…!!”
She couldn’t understand.
Showing your underwear to an unrelated man, how could anyone say such absurd things without hesitation?
“Filthy, vulgar…!”
Olivia bites her lips.
Her eyes catch sight of Rin and Nishizawa Eri entering the lingerie store.
The idea of victory lingerie did not sit well with her.
But she couldn’t fall behind like this.
Conflicted thoughts clash in Olivia’s mind.
“But since the two of them have already gone in, um, I have no choice. This is, um, purely for the sake of observation! If they do something stupid, it would be a problem for me!”
With her face flushed, she stomps her way into the lingerie store.
Meanwhile, Shinozaki Rin is already speaking seriously to the staff at the counter in a husky voice.
“…I’ve come to buy victory lingerie.”
“I came to buy competition lingerie.”
Tap.
Her hand rises above the counter.
“Oh my, are you talking about competition lingerie? Is it for showing to your boyfriend?”
The staff asks skillfully.
Shinozaki Rin’s face turns red.
‘Boyfriend…!’
If the plan succeeds, he might become her boyfriend, but not yet.
Her heart races at hearing such a blatant word for the first time.
Placing her hand on her chest, Rin speaks with a trembling voice.
“O-of course! I’d appreciate it if you could pick out something that he would like.”
“Hey, Cow. Who are you calling ‘him’? Master is only your Master, Eri’s Master.”
Nishizawa Eri, who has approached, glares at Rin.
She pouts her lips.
“I want competition lingerie too. The most daring one.”
“Please wait a moment! To both of you, customers!”
Just as the staff disappears, Olivia appears behind them, her face flushed with excitement.
“W-what a terrible… The store…”
Olivia’s blue eyes tremble.
She’s only ever worn the lingerie Bella bought for her.
This is her first time in a store like this.
With the lingerie hanging everywhere, she feels dizzy.
“So, this lingerie is said to turn men on…?”
Just as Olivia lightly touches a hanger with black lingerie.
“Customer, your taste is quite excellent. This is the most sought-after brand among women with boyfriends these days. Would you like to try it on?”
The staff’s voice whispers in her ear.
Olivia’s face turns scarlet.
Her heart goes thump-thump.
“N-no! I’m fine! I-it’s fine! Hmph.”
“Understood. If you need anything, feel free to let me know.”
Olivia fans her face after the staff leaves.
“Ugh! That thief cat, Shinozaki… How dare she seduce him so lewdly…!”
She grinds her lips together.
“If you can win someone’s heart, using any means necessary, that’s the teaching of Shinozaki-style seduction. What’s wrong with that, Bonaparte?”
Hearing Olivia’s words, Shinozaki Rin replies confidently.
“Well, that’s…”
Olivia stutters, speechless.
Rin’s words are on point.
There’s no room to argue.
“But still, showing your body to an unrelated man who isn’t even your husband… You lewd woman!”
“After all, he’s going to be Shinozaki’s son-in-law, he will be my future husband; wouldn’t it be okay to show him my body?”
“Shut up! Lewd woman! I will never allow someone like you near him, even if I have to be buried with dirt!”
“A coward who isn’t even prepared to show her body to the man she likes has no room to talk.”
“Whaaaa!! Who would fall for that universe’s biggest idiot, no who is the coward here! You lewd woman! Thief cat!”
The moment Olivia’s face turns red from Rin’s blunt remarks and she makes a distressed sound.
“Ms. Bonaparte. Mr. Shinozaki. Ms. Nishizawa.”
A cold voice whispers in the ears of the three women.
All three women turn their gaze to the source of the voice.
There stands Han Seo-Jin, a beauty with gray hair dressed in a black suit.
“Mr. Kim Deok-Sung’s message. He said to stop messing around in a lingerie store that has nothing to do with Imgan School and come out quickly.”
With an expressionless face and calm voice, Han Seo-Jin speaks nonchalantly.
Hearing her words, the faces of the three women turn crimson.
“Well, if that’s the case, there’s no helping it.”
“Eri is a good slave, so she’ll follow Master’s order.”
“D-don’t get the wrong idea! I was dragged here by these two! Hmph.”
Han Seo-Jin bows slightly, hearing the various replies from the three.
Han Seo-Jin bent down after hearing the diverse answers from Ram.
“Understood. I’ll take my leave then.”
*
The ominous premonition was not wrong.
Shopping time had indeed stretched on unnecessarily long.
I should have realized it when we spent over thirty minutes at the underwear store.
Before I knew it, it was night.
The flashy lights of the Tokyo Plaza building lit up the surroundings.
“Damn it… for a golden Saturday to go like this.”
After wandering around the shopping mall like clothes in a washing machine, I felt as exhausted as a fish out of water.
A different kind of realistic fatigue, unlike anything from a light novel, washed over me.
I slurped on the chocolate shake in my hand.
I don’t even know how many times I’ve bought drinks at this point, but if I hadn’t had this, I might have collapsed from fatigue long ago.
“Shopping’s over!”
“Good job, everyone.”
“Hmph. If those two hadn’t been such a nuisance, we could’ve been done much earlier!”
The three women, holding bags to their chests, began to bicker amongst themselves.
Seeing that reminded me of how three women were competing to buy ingredients at the food store earlier, as if in some cooking competition.
“Wow, transformation time!”
“Right? It’s amazing. I have to take a picture!”
The two men were taking photos in front of a robot statue that had started transforming now that night had fallen and the lights were on.
“Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung.”
Han Seo-Jin, who had approached beside me without me noticing, bowed her head.
“Hard work? No way. You did way more than I did.”
From leading the group on the bus to tidying up after shopping, Han Seo-Jin handled it all.
She is undoubtedly the MVP of today.
Upon hearing my words, her gray eyes wavered.
She shook her head vigorously.
“No! As your dedicated aide, it’s only natural for me to do this.”
“Still, hard work is hard work.”
“…Understood. Thank you for the excessive praise. It’s an honor to assist you today as well, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung.”
Han Seo-Jin saluted sharply like a soldier.
It seemed pointless to say more.
What am I going to do about the Imgan School?
‘Whatever will be, will be.’
I tossed the disposable plastic cup into the trash can.
Regardless, preparations were complete.
Now, all that was left was to take this troublesome bunch to the Imgan School.
Cooking competition
Hokkaido.
The northernmost of the four major islands of Japan: Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Hokkaido.
It has well-preserved natural environments and is ranked as the number one preferred tourist destination by the Japanese.
Here, there exists the largest wilderness area in Japan known as the Tree Sea.
As its name suggests, the Tree Sea is a region of dense coniferous trees stretching endlessly beyond the horizon like a sea.
The swaying green primordial forest is an impressive scenic view.
Unlike Ground Zero near Tokyo, the Tree Sea allows some areas to be open for public tourism and is famous enough to be featured in Hokkaido tourist guides.
The key stage of volume 2 of the original work.
And I am now here.
“Did everyone have a good flight and arrive safely?”
In the middle of the Tree Sea.
At the assembly ground in front of the exclusive teacher’s building of Imgan School.
In front of the gathered first-year cadets, Mayuzumi Mayu stood holding a microphone, fist clenched and talking.
“Now, let me explain the precautions for Imgan School!”
The scenery was exactly the same as at the start of the animated episode of Imgan School.
Cadets in gym uniforms were lined up in order.
‘The female cadet gym uniforms really are spats!’
The problem is that the female gym uniforms are indeed depicted in the animation as spats.
A white top that showcases their figure with navy blue spats that reveal their lower body lines is embarrassingly suggestive.
It’s like something straight out of a fishnet dream.