Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Time for a cute and funny story. There’s just not enough fics of this game.

Prologue Part 1

“Hm…”

I tried to look at the thing floating above me. It moves when I move my head, but there’s a delay whenever I do it, making me see it for a short moment.

“Am I dead?” I ask myself, looking at the floating halo-like thing.

I must be. I mean, I woke up in the middle of nowhere, completely naked, without the slightest memories of myself. That’s definitely strange, isn’t it? Well, I could’ve been kidnapped or something, but the halo on my head kinda gives away what happened already.

Plus, there’s also the fact that I’m in the middle of what looks like a post-apocalyptic world. Hot, broiling desert? Check. Destroyed buildings and roads? Check. Me being the only living thing around? Check.

Huh, I must have missed Nuclear Armageddon. Or maybe it’s the Rapture. Again, with the halo on my head, the end of the world kinda leaned to that sort of scenario… 

But wait, if that was the case then why am I still here!? Does that mean everyone is in heaven and I got left behind!? That’s kinda messed up, isn’t it!? I don’t remember doing anything wrong to warrant this…!

…

…Although I don’t remember much of anything in the first place, teehee.

With that said - I looked at the vast, desolate landscape with a blank face.

“Oh well. At least I’m not in hell.” I commented, feeling oddly chill about it all. How should I say this… it kinda feels freeing, in a way. Especially with my dick out in the wind like this. “Now, what to do, what to do…”

What do you do in the end of the world…? I scrunched my face and rubbed my chin inquisitively, while letting out an appropriate hum as I thought about what to do next. 

Ahh, right right. I think I know the perfect thing to do.

“Let’s go sightseeing.” I decided with a nod. “Maybe I can find something cool.” 

And so, with my only clothes being my birthday suit, and my only sack being the one carrying me balls, I went ahead and started walking, heading to nowhere in particular. I marched in the hot sand and asphalt, uncaring of the pain due to the intense heat of the sun, nor the coarse sand buffeting to my skin.

I mean, I’m feeling oddly strong. Well, I’m dead, so I guess things like that don't matter anymore? The heat doesn’t even bother me. Heck, I don’t even feel thirsty despite the heat! Man, it’s so great being dead.

In any case, I kept walking. I passed by a lot of wrecked buildings and roads that were now covered in sand. There’s some cars around and stuff, but as expected it was all wrecked as well. Shame. Would’ve liked to at least have a joyride in the middle of nowhere.

Still, just as I anticipated, wandering aimlessly made me see some cool things.

Like those humanoid robots roaming around…

Or maybe those square robots waddling around…

And finally that huge-ass robot snake slithering around…

…

Hm? Could it be instead of a Rapture, humanity was overturned by AI? There’s just way too many robots that I’m seeing. Things just get more and more mysterious… Too bad I can’t make heads or tails on what’s happening because I’m dumb.

—The next cool thing I encountered made me reconsider my thoughts though.

As I wandered into a particular wrecked building for shelter after one annoying sandstorm, I managed to find something else besides robots for the first time ever since I woke up.

What I found was a girl. She also had a halo on her head like myself. Although, I don’t think this person got left out by the rapture like I did - I mean, she still has her clothes and all… Who is she, then?

It was then that my humble brain cells connected the dots. Of course - what else could she be besides an angel? She’s certainly beautiful enough to be called one, after all. 

“H-Hoshino-chan… where are you…?” The angel didn’t look too good, looking really haggard and weak. I don’t think she noticed me when I went near, even as she kept muttering with a glazed look on her eyes. “Please… h-help…”

Hm? Is this angel in trouble? Good thing I’m around.

“Rejoice! Help has arrived!” I shouted, revealing myself.

“—Kyaaah!”

My voice seemingly knocked the angel out of her reverie as she yelped, turning to me in surprise. Then, after seeing my naked form in full glory, her eyes went incredibly wide, and she screamed again for some reason.

“W-Waaaaah?!? Who are you!? Where did you come from!?” she shouted, a bit of vitality returning on her. “A-A-And why are you naked!?!?”

“The name’s Bobo. I was just passing by in search of cool stuff. And I’m naked because I have shed my mortal form.” I answered, or at least told her what I thought was the answer. “But that’s not what’s important right now!” I shouted, putting my hands on my hips.

She yelped again and covered her eyes with her hands. “I-I think it is though!? And please c-c-cover yourself!”

“I don’t really have any clothes, so I can’t even if I want to.”

“W-Well, then maybe you should at least…!” the angel coughed a bit, before her eyes glazed over again. Ah, looks like she was getting tired again. Her legs just lost their strength. “A-Ahh… I mean…”

I caught the angel before she could fall to the ground. She was tall and had a big chest with a plump figure, but I was taller and felt like I could carry her with no problem. Adjusting our position, I went and carried her on a piggyback ride. I carried the oddly solid and heavy bag with her too.

“Need to… need to go to Abydos…” I heard the angel mutter deliriously to herself. “To the… bank…”

Abydos? Bank? Huh, was I actually wrong with how the world ended? If there was a bank somewhere, then there should be civilization. Well, I should at least try to help this angel to get to where she wants to go.

“Don’t worry, Miss Angel. Bobo’s gotchu.” I said, giving her a thumbs up that she probably didn’t notice.

—And so began my adventure to find this ‘Abydos’.

I wandered for quite a while to look for said place. As expected, everywhere I looked just gave me the desert and some wrecked buildings. The place seems to be just filled with it. It got really boring easily.

In the meantime I was getting a bit concerned considering the state of Miss Angel as I carried her behind my back. She looked really thirsty and even began to lick my neck when she saw my sweat on her barely conscious state… Well, you do you, Miss Angel. I won’t judge.

Still, after four days of constant walking through day and night - I think I found it.

It was early dawn and the desert was freezing cold. Miss Angel was huddling closely to me for warmth, even if I was unbothered by the cold. She was barely awake for the last two days or so, but she was thankfully still breathing. 

I thought that it would be another day wasted but as I crossed a particularly large sand dune… it was there that I managed to see a great sight from the horizon.

Light. Light that definitely came from electricity. I was seeing the outskirts of some town.

“Civilizatioooon!!!” I shouted, sliding down the sand dune and running as fast as I could.

Man, what will I see in there I wonder? Ah, but first I need to help Miss Angel first, don’t I? Maybe I need to find someone who can take me to the bank she was talking about… or maybe a hospital first? She doesn’t look too good.

Actually, is Miss Angel really an Angel in the first place? With everything now, it doesn’t look like she’s the angel that I thought she was, does she?

Ah, well. I can probably ask her later anyway.

In great timing, as I ran to the outskirts of the town I spotted a small girl walking towards the place as well with slumped shoulders, looking like she just lost big money from a bet or something. She had vibrant pink hair and… was she carrying a shotgun? What the heck?

Man, that’s no good. What messed up person gives small children weapons? Ah, and she has a halo on her head, now that I noticed. Is she an angel too…? Well, whatever.

“Hey, kid!” I called out from a distance.

The girl stiffened, before slowly looking at my direction. I saw her empty-looking eyes with different colored pupils (which looked really cool, by the way) gaze at me as I gained her attention. I also saw her raise her shotgun for a bit, probably about to aim it at me.

“Wait! We come in peace!” I quickly said, raising a hand to stop her. I adjusted Miss Angel’s position behind me so she wouldn’t fall because of the single arm supporting her. “Time out! I just want to ask something!” 

Thankfully, she stopped, and the girl’s colorful eyes widened. 

“S-Senpai…?” I heard her mutter.

“Huh? Uh, sure.” Is that a greeting? Dunno what that word means, but okay. “Anyway, you mind if I ask you for directions? We’re a bit lost. See, Miss Angel here is looking for a place called Abydos—”

“Senpai!” she said, immediately running to me.

“Yeah, ‘senpai’ to you too.” I said with a frown. “But if you’d let me finish? I was asking that—”

“Let go of Yume-senpai, you pervert!”

Fiery pink hair flew through the air then delivered a flying kick - right into my super vulnerable balls. Form? Picture-perfect. Power? Super strong. Gonads? Definitely broken.

“—Uuuuuuwoooogh!!”

The next thing I knew, I fell on the ground clutching my balls while letting out the most miserable cry in existence. Darkness edged in my vision, but I still managed to witness the brat who did it catch Miss Angel before she could fall to the sand.

She was also crying for some reason, clutching Miss Angel in a tight hug.

The hell is she crying for!? I’m the one whose balls got crushed! If anything, I should be the one crying! Actually, no - I’m already crying right now, snot and all. But I think I might even add some puke as well if things go worse!

“Buweeeh—☆”

Oops, I think I just did. Sparkles just came out of my mouth.

“W-Wha—!? Did you just puke!?” Pinky suddenly shouted in surprise, angling Miss Angel away so that she wouldn't get hit. “S-Stop, get away!”

You’re the one who caused this, you know? Don’t blame me if I suddenly do it. Actually, wait, you deserve all of this. Now your shoes are ruined with my juices. I’ve marked them. They’re mine now. Ptooey.

Pinky was shouting again, but I didn’t get to see the rest of her reaction since the darkness crept further from the edge of my vision. I could feel my consciousness slipping from the pain as well, and I’d probably be fainting after this. 

It was then that I realized something. Something that I should’ve probably realized much sooner, but hadn’t really noticed until now that I’m going to faint.

Ah… I’m still alive, aren’t I?

It seems that I wasn’t as dead as I thought. 

Chapter Text

Short chapter stories are the best. Anyway, Bobo, meet Horus.

Prologue Part 2

From the darkness, I rise.

“—Hah! The river!” the very moment I opened my eyes, I immediately let out a gasp and sat up. “I shouldn’t cross it…! Oh wait, I’m alive. That’s cool.”

…Man, that was a strange dream. There was this weird ass river with a girl with fox ears and tails around and… I don’t remember the rest. Actually, wait, is that really what I really dreamt? I’m starting to forget the details now that I’m awake.

I took a moment to consider that, before shrugging. Oh well, it’s just a dream anyway.

With that said, I took a look around at my new surroundings. I appear to be in some sort of hospital room. It wasn’t anything fancy, and I could even see some sand here and there, but it looked decent enough to stay in. There are other beds around the place for patients to stay in but it looks like I’m currently the only one here.

Oh, and I was now wearing a hospital gown too. Nice. Now my balls won’t get cold.

Speaking of balls… right, I must have passed out after Pinky attacked me. I don't really feel hurt anymore, so the hospital must have helped me at least. Although, who brought me here? Was it Pinky or someone else?

As I wondered that - in great timing, the door opened.

“…You’re awake.”

Pinky greeted me from the doorway, holding her shotgun and a bag behind her. I turned to the small girl, who was staring at me with an unreadable gaze with her colorful eyes. They looked really red and sore though, kind of like she just finished crying… actually, she was crying last time I was awake, wasn’t she? Was she still crying this whole time?

Also - she has no shoes. She’s walking around barefooted. They’re probably ruined right now. 

Buehehehe, serves her right.

“W-What?” Pinky suddenly muttered, looking a bit annoyed at my expression. “What’s with that smug look on your face? Do you have a problem or something…?”

“Nothing at all, Pinky.”

“Please don’t call me that.” Pinky said, cementing her name in my head, before she sighed. 

The small girl then entered the room and approached me, then took a seat on the chair right beside my bed. The bag she was carrying with her was deposited on the table beside my bed as well, while she placed her shotgun on her lap.

Then she just sat quietly there. I looked at her strangely and she gained an unsure expression. 

“I…” she started, and then she shut up.

…

What’s with her? Does she want to talk or something? If so, I’m not gonna talk to someone who kicked my balls on our first meeting! Shoo!

…Or so I’d like to say, but I do have plenty of questions in my head right now.

“Hey, what happened to Miss Angel?” I suddenly asked Pinky, making her stiffen. “Is she in this hospital too? She wasn’t looking too good these past couple days.”

“Miss Angel…? You mean Yume-senpai?” Oh, was that her name? I guess I should remember that. “She’s here. The doctors said that she’s severely dehydrated, but she’s recovering. Senpai will probably wake up after a day or two.”

Then, she paused.

“…Were you the one who found her?” she asked carefully.

“Yep.”

“…Where?”

I shrugged. “Dunno. I was roaming around and I stumbled to her. Then I carried her with me and we arrived here.” I nodded. “I gotta say. This place is oddly lively after the world ended… Can you tell me what happened, by the way? Was it nuclear war? The Rapture? Or was it an AI rebellion?”

Pinky gave me a strange look.

“What? What are you talking about?”

I mirrored her, looking at her weirdly as well.

“Huh? I think it’s pretty obvious though? I mean, everywhere’s a desert and we have haloes on our heads.” 

…There was a slight silence that followed. I watched as Pinky’s face transitioned from different expressions, all of which indicated that she couldn’t comprehend the simple thing that I was saying. 

“Do you… do you even know where you are? You’re in Abydos, of course everything around is a desert.” she eventually spoke, focusing more on the desert part of what I said and choosing to ignore everything else. “This is the place with the hottest climate in Kivotos.”

I perked up at that. Huh, does that mean the rest of the world isn’t looking like a Mad Max setting? Cool. “Huh, okay. So this is Abydos? That Yume-senpai did say something about that.” I muttered, before looking at Pinky again. “…What’s Kivotos, though? Never heard of that before.”

“Hah?”

…There was another silence that followed. Pinky was looking at me with a strangely pinched face now. 

“What’s wrong? You constipated or something?” I asked after a while of her not speaking. “You can use the bathroom if you want.”

That seemed to have stunned her out of her reverie. “Wha—!? W-Who’s constipated!?” she suddenly cried out. Then, she grit her teeth and shook her head. “I— no, there’s just too many questions about this! In the first place, who are you!? Why does a boy like you have a halo!? And why were you roaming around naked!?” 

Oh, are we taking turns with questions? I nodded. Very well, equivalent exchange. Squid go pro. 

“The name is Bobo.” I said, making her pause. “And to answer the rest… I dunno. Just woke up naked in the desert without any memories. Then I walked around because I had nothing to do. That’s it.” I shrugged.

Pinky paused at that, before narrowing her eyes at me. “…You don’t have any memories?” she asked with a suspicious tone.

“Hey, it’s my turn to ask the question.” I reminded her. “But yeah, I don’t. Anyway - what’s with the halo on your heads? I got one too, but it’s because I thought I died or something. It’s not because of that, is it?”

She looked like she was about to say some more. But then she seemingly thought better of it, and let out a sigh instead. Then, she gave me a resigned look as she answered.

“...A halo is a halo. It’s just something that all students have. All people with halos are usually girls but… you’re not. I think you’re the first male to ever have one, as far as I know.”

“Wow. That told me nothing at all.” I commented.

“W-Well what do you want me to say? People don’t know much about it either… but you’re not dead, if that’s what you were so concerned about.” Pinky said, before muttering beneath her breath. “Why would you think you’re dead, anyway? Are you dumb?”

“Huh? Did you just call me dumb?” I crossed my arms. “You’re quite rude, you know? You’re the one who put me here in this hospital because you kicked me on the balls for absolutely no reason. Even though I was just asking for directions to help that Yume-senpai girl!”

Pinky twitched, suddenly blushing at that. She then looked down on her legs with a strange expression on her face. “I-I… um…”

“Huh? What was that? Are you going to say something?” I asked with a smarmy tone, before I cupped a hand on my ear and leaned to Pinky, who grit her teeth. “Where’s my apology, huh? Now that I think about it, you haven’t even said sorry! Is this how spoiled small kids are to their elders nowadays, huh!?”

Pinky stood up from her seat. “W-Who are you calling a small kid!?” she exploded, completely red in the face. “And ‘elder’!? You’re not that older than me! Heck, you’re probably a first year student like I am!”

I blinked at that. “Huh? You’re a first year? No way, you’re like elementary at best.” I took one look at her short, tiny body. “If that’s true, then you’re one of the most malnourished and stunted high school students I’ve ever met.”

“What the hell did you just say to me!? And I thought you lost your memories!?”

“Oh. Guess I did.” I paused. “Still true though. Teehee~☆!”

“Don’t ‘teehee’ me, you damn…!”

Pinky shook in place, her face red and filled with veins about to burst. Wow, you mad bro? She doesn’t look all that threatening though, so it just makes her look cute. And funny too.

“...Tch.” 

But instead of exploding, she just clicked her tongue and looked away. Then she reached out for her sling bag she brought with her and—She just tossed me a paper bag.

“What’s this?” I asked. Opening it up, I saw that it was… a bunch of fruits. Apples, bananas, all that stuff. “Huh.”

“Take it.” Pinky said. “I was planning to give it to Yume-senpai but she still isn’t awake. It probably still isn’t enough as an apology for me hitting you but…”

I looked up to her while munching on the apple. “Hrm? Shorry, washn’t lishening.”

She sweatdropped. “And you’re already eating it…”

Well, duh. What else am I supposed to do with it?

Pinky sighed, before standing up from her seat and taking her bag. Oh, she’s about to leave already? That’s a shame.

“Hey.” I called out to her, making her stop. “Thanks for the food, Pinky. I’ll let go of what you did if you give me more delicious snacks next time.”

There was a pause.

“...It’s not ‘Pinky’ - It’s Hoshino. Takanashi Hoshino.” Wow, that name is a mouthful. Then, as she reached the door, she spoke again. Softly this time. “...Thank you for rescuing my senpai. I’ll never forget this.”

With her piece said, the girl then completely left the room, leaving me to munch on my fruits in my lonesome.

…

Hmm… Schools, huh…? And she said something about students having halos too…

Wow, I guess education is really important.

…Maybe I can join them next time? It sounds fun.

Chapter Text

And now, Bobo meets The Dream.

Prologue Part 3

“—Yume-senpai! Where are you going!? You shouldn’t be out of your bed yet!”

“It’s okay, Hoshino-chan! I’m already all-good, see?”

“Like hell you are! You’ve been out in the desert for more than a couple weeks, senpai! You should stay in bed and recover some more!”

“But… can’t I at least meet him…?”

It was when I was wandering around again in the hospital that I stumbled into familiar voices. I turned a corner and saw that yes, it was Pinky and Miss Angel - or rather, Yume-senpai - in the flesh. Yume-senpai looked livelier the last time I saw her but she looked a bit pale. Still, she’s definitely in a better state than the time I found her a few days ago.

Well, I have nothing better to do. So, curious about what they were doing, I went ahead and approached them while raising a hand in greeting.

“Heyya guys. Watcha doing?” I asked.

Both of them stiffened in surprise before turning to me. Yume-senpai’s eyes widened while Hoshino just gave me an incredulous look. “W-Wha—!? Where did you come from!? And why are you out of your bed too!?” she shouted while pointing a finger at me.

“I was bored so I walked out. Then I roamed around.” I explained simply, putting my hands on my hips as I did so. “How else can I look for cool stuff?”

“What the hell does that even mean!?” Pinky cried out. Ah, it seems like she doesn’t understand the greatness of looking for cool stuff to see. That’s so sad. “A-And what’s with that pitying look on your face!? Stop that!”

It was then that Yume-senpai snapped out of her wide-eyed daze, and she pouted at Pinky. 

“Hoshino-chan, you shouldn’t shout like that to others. Especially to him! That’s very rude!” she scolded her, hands on her hips as well. Then she glanced at me and bowed. “I’m sorry for our rude Hoshino-chan. She just doesn’t know how to express herself.”

Pinky looked at her in shock. “Senpai!?”

Meanwhile, I nodded and gave her a thumbs up. “It’s fine. She gave me lots of food the last couple of days, so we’re cool.”

Yume-senpai’s eyes sparkled. “She did?”

“I didn’t! I just gave it to him because you were still asleep! It’s supposed to be meant for you!” Hoshino shouted, red in the face again like she always is.

“I especially liked the time she brought me rice ball things. They’re pretty yummy.” I continued with a nod, before turning to look at Pinky. “By the way, what did you bring me this time? I’m already kinda getting hungry.”

“I’m not bringing you anything! Go starve!”   

Wow. That’s kinda mean. But I’ve come to learn that her words and actions are usually the complete opposite, so I guess it’s fine.

As Pinky breathed harshly from all her raging, Yume-senpai giggled. “Well, it’s good that Hoshino-chan was this lively when I was asleep.” then, she turned to me once more. “Still… you must be Bobo-kun, i-is that right…?”

I nodded at that. And the girl seemingly gained a nervous expression, for some reason.

“I-I, um…”

I watched, confused, as the girl stuttered at her words. Thankfully she seemed to get a hold of herself after a moment, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath - before opening her eyes again to reveal a determined look on her face.

Then she boldly grabbed my hand with both of hers and bowed again - but more deeply this time. I blinked in surprise, and beside Yume-senpai, Pinky did the same.

“T-Thank you so much for saving me!” she cried out. “I seriously thought I was going to die! And if you didn’t find me at that time, then I definitely would’ve! So thank you so much! It’s because of you that I can be with my treasured junior again!”

“Senpai…” Hoshino muttered.

I felt a bit embarrassed at how grateful she was. “You’re welcome, I guess…? It’s nothing though.”

“It’s not for me! I owe you my life, Bobo-kun!” she shouted, glancing up at me with really intense eyes. “I’ll definitely repay this favor! Definitely!”

“I, I guess so…?”

She closed her eyes and grit her teeth. “Kuh…! Really, if it weren’t for Bobo-kun, who was passing around at that time…” she paused. “Actually, wait. Why was Bobo-kun there at that time…? And now that I recall, w-w-weren’t you naked too…!?”

“Ah, that?” I nodded. “I was roaming around looking around for cool stuff. Then I stumbled to you.”

“—That’s not an answer, is it!?” Yume-senpai shouted with a slightly teary and manic expression.

Pinky sighed. “Apparently, he woke up in the middle of nowhere only remembering his name and without clothes.” she cutted in, explaining my situation. “Then for some reason, this idiot started roaming around because he thought that the world ended, and that he died or something… I don’t quite get it myself.”

“That’s pretty much the gist of it, yeah. Good job, Pinky.” I said, giving her a thumbs up.

“—Don’t call me that!” she raged. Oh, whoops.

Strangely though, Yume-senpai seemed to pale at what she heard. “W-What…? Amnesia…? And you were also lost in the desert too…?” I yelped in surprise as the girl suddenly tightened her hold in my hand as tears started to fall from her eyes. “Y-You mean that I got some help from someone who needed it more than me!? J-Just how useless of a senior am I, to do this!? I’m so sorry…!”

What… What should I do here? She suddenly started crying! I turned to Pinky for help, but she looked just as shocked at what was happening. Great.

“H-Hey, uhh… it’s fine?” I put a hand on her shoulder on the sniffling girl and started patting it, trying to console her. “No, really. There’s no need to cry or anything.”

“B-But I remember you, h-hic, carrying me through day and night, j-just to save me…! T-T-There’s no way it was nothing for you!” she cried out, tears falling from her eyes. “It, it must have been so hard…!”

Should it? It really wasn’t anything hard though.

“I… think you’re having the wrong idea, senpai.” Pinky said, coming to my rescue with a slightly unsure tone.

Yume-senpai turned to her, her look incredulous. “What do you mean, ‘wrong idea’!? But Bobo-kun has nothing with him too, right!? Then he must be just as thirsty as I am, and he walked all over those hot sand without shoes too!”

“That’s true, but this guy looked just fine when I found the two of you.” Pinky explained, making Yume-senpai pause. “In fact - he doesn’t look bothered at all, despite the fact that he was completely naked in the freezing cold during the desert night. And that’s probably…” she then looked up above me. “…because of that. He feels strong. Probably stronger than I am.”

Both Yume-senpai and I blinked, before the both of us looked up as well. I caught a glimpse of the halo floating above before it disappeared from my vision, following my head movement to stay behind my head.

“Oh… right. You have a halo.” Yume-senpai muttered. “Can boys have one? I don’t think I’ve seen something like this before…”

“That’s because they don't exist, senpai. There has never been a case like this ever before. As far as I know in the history of Kivotos, there have never been any male students.”

That again? Seriously, I still don’t understand what a halo or a Kivotos is. But from what they were saying, I must be an incredibly unique existence…?

“Oh really? That’s cool.” I commented. That made Pinky look at me strangely, before sighing. What?

But at least, Yume-senpai stopped crying. She wiped away some of the tears in her eyes. “W-Well, if you were fine, then that’s good… great, even…” she then tilted her head. “Huh…? B-But if that was the case, then why are you staying here in this hospital, Bobo-kun? You must have been at least hurt, right?”

I opened my mouth to answer—

“It was nothing. He slipped and fell.” Pinky said immediately.

Yume-senpai tilted her head. “Really?”

“Yes.” she replied, staring at me intensely. I stared back. “…By the way, I know I said I’m not giving you anything, but I should have some yakisoba bread nearing their expiring date that I’m planning to throw away later.”

I gave Yume-senpai a thumbs up. “Yep! Just slipped and fell! Silly me~☆!”

—Don’t know what yakisoba is, but it should be tasty! And food definitely tastes better when nearing its expiring date! Something about saved prices, or whatever!

“Hoshino-chan! You shouldn’t give away expired food!” Yume-senpai scolded. Then she let out a sigh. Looks like she’s completely calm now. “I guess it’s nothing serious then… but still, I’m a bit concerned about your situation. You did say you have no memories right, Bobo-kun? Where do you plan to stay?”

“Hm? I guess I’ll roam around again. And maybe look for cool stuff.” I answered.

“What is with your desire to look for cool stuff…?” Pinky muttered.

 “—That’s no good! That means you’re homeless!” Yume-senpai meanwhile shouted in an upset tone. “I’m not going to let my savior just wander around… Ah! I know! Why don’t you stay with us in our school in the meantime?”

Hm? In your school?

“Y-Yume-senpai!?” Pinky looked shocked. “But he’s a stranger! Are we really inviting this man we don’t know in our school!?”

“Come on, Hoshino-chan. I think he deserves more than our trust since he saved me, right?” Yume-senpai said with a smile.

Hearing that, Pinky hesitated. “I mean… I guess that’s true, but…”

“Hey, uhh… What do you mean, ‘stay there’? Is that even allowed?” I suddenly asked, gaining their attention. “I mean, it’s a school right? I don’t think they’ll let me stay there when that’s where your classes are held.” 

I’m pretty sure they’d kick me out, or at least, I think that’s how they’d react when there’s a homeless person staying in there. And I’m pretty sure that’s what I am right now.

Yume-senpai blinked. “A-Ah, well, you don’t have to worry about that. There’s… not much classes happening anymore.” she said sadly. “Me and Hoshino-chan are the last two students remaining. Everyone else left for someplace else, even the faculty.” 

Then, she paused, and she began waving her hands in a panic.

“I, I wasn’t asking you to join us or anything, by the way! I was really just offering it as a place to stay… b-but if you don’t want to, then you don’t have to. I’m sure there must be some other schools who would help you more—”

“Nah, it’s good. Can I join your school too?” 

Yume-senpai blinked. For a long while, she said nothing. Then she let out a wide smile.

“Really!?” she asked, eyes sparkling.

“Yeah.” I was thinking of joining them anyway, ever since I met Pinky that one time.

“I-Isn’t that great, Hoshino-chan!? We finally have one more student joining us!” Yume-senpai said excitedly to Pinky. “It’s not just the two of us anymore!”

“Yeah…” said girl seems to carry a complicated look on her face, though. “That’s… great…”

Yume-senpai looked really fired up, clenching a fist right in front of her. “We should get to our school immediately, Bobo-kun! I can’t wait to show you around our place!” she shouted.

With her piece said, hands suddenly wrapped around my neck and I found myself supporting a familiar weight behind me. I blinked in surprise, and Pinky did the same in front of me.

“—Alright!” Yume-senpai declared, clinging behind me in a piggy back and pointing a finger forwards. “Let’s go, Bobo-kun!”

“Senpai!? What are you doing!?” Hoshino shrieked, face red.

“Hm? What? Ah.” Yume-senpai belatedly realized her position. “E-Eh…? Why did I…?” she started turning red. “A-Ahh, I just thought that… it felt right, for some reason…? W-why would I even…?” she stuttered out.

“G-Get down from there!”

“Eeek! I’m sorry!”

Oh, I think I get what she wants.

I grabbed hold of Yume-senpai’s arms that wrapped around me with one arm before she could remove it. I adjusted my position to support her legs with one hand instead as well. Yume stopped in shock at my actions.

“B-Bobo-kun…?” she asked.

“…I think I get it. I really do. You want to do this, right? Piggyback rides are fun.” I said to her with a sagely nod. “I mean, you were giggling that one time when I carried you through the desert. You must really like it that much. Although you kept grabbing my chest that time as well, for some reason.”

She was probably missing it or something. I kinda get the feeling. We’ve been doing that constantly for a couple days and not doing it just seems wrong. Well, now that can be fixed!

Yume-senpai stiffened at that. “…Eh?”

Pinky slowly digested that, before turning to her. “…Senpai?”

“N-No, Hoshino-chan! I don’t remember what he’s saying!? I mean, admittedly, I don’t remember much of that time… b-b-but I’m sure that didn’t happen at all!” the girl panicked, turning red in the face. “That, that’s a great joke, Bobo-kun! Hahaha… now, why don’t you bring me down…”

I frowned. “You really don’t remember that? It happened after you started licking my sweat off my neck, I think.”

“Senpai!?”

“—I thought it was water! I was really thirsty!”

“You’re not even denying it!?”

“I’m—no wait, I didn’t do it! Yeah, that never happened! I—” I then started running . “—Kyaaaah!”

“H-Hey, where are you going!?” Pinky shouted as I left her with my dust as I ran as fast as I could. I heard footsteps chasing me from behind. Hoh, are you challenging me? “G-Get back here!”

“B-Bobo-kun, please put me down!” I heard Yume-senpai shout against the din of the rushing wind.

Too late! We’re going to go to your school this way now! It’s a match between me and Pinky!

First person to get wins! Bwahahaha!

“Don’t decide that on your own, you moron!”

“Noooo—!”

Chapter Text

A little detour, courtesy of the Helmet Gang.

Prologue Part 4

I managed to easily outrun Pinky. Clearly, she was no match for me - someone who has become one with the wind, which I achieved through intense meditation where I immersed myself fully in nature (being naked for countless days straight).

Also, she stopped when a hospital staff called out to her. Something about the bills or something, or at least that’s what I heard vaguely from our rapidly widening distance from each other. I also saw Pinky make a really pained face once I heard that.

The race was definitely decided. I have a great lead, and I definitely would’ve won… except, I said that the goal was to get to the school first.

That was a problem. Because I have no idea where it was. 

“Hmm…” I hummed in thought, looking at the deserted, sandy street I was now in. “I don’t think this is a school.”

“I-I’ve been telling you that this isn’t the direction! You wouldn’t listen to me at all, Bobo-kun!” Yume-senpai suddenly said behind me. Oh, did she say something? I was too focused outrunning Pinky. “A-And please put me down already! Being carried like this is kind of embarrassing…”

“Really? But didn’t you ride me because you missed this?”

“I’m not missing anything! It’s just a mistake! Really!” she shouted, panicked really.

I shrugged at that. “Okay.”

I let go of her and she stepped off, then the girl patted her clothes to smoothen it out. She also looked red in the face for some reason, discreetly glancing at my back as she did so. Oh, was she still not feeling well? I did remember hearing Pinky ask her to stay in bed. Maybe I shouldn’t have run that fast…

“Are you okay?” I suddenly asked, making her yelp a bit in surprise. “You look a bit red.”

“I-I’m fine, Bobo-kun! I was just, you know, a-a bit surprised…” she fretted for a bit. “I mean, uhh, you were quite fast! I think you overtook a car there when you started running at some point. I guess you must be really as strong as Hoshino says!”

I guess so? She did say something about that.

“Thanks.” I said with a nod. Then I turned to look around. “By the way, where are we? This place looks kinda cool, but it seems really deserted. We’re not on the outskirts of the city, are we?”

While I ran fast, I’m pretty sure we hadn’t gone that far from the hospital. This city wasn’t that small, was it? Because I expected it to be bigger. I mean, I think I’m still seeing buildings in the distance.

In response to my question, Yume-senpai frowned. “No, we’re still in Abydos. It’s just that… this place isn’t that populated. Do you remember when I said that everyone left our school?” I nodded my head. “It wasn’t just happening in our school - it’s happening all over Abydos. People want to leave. Which is why you now find deserted places like this, even in the middle of the city.”

I tilted my head at that. “Why?”

Yume-senpai smiled sadly. “A massive desertification. Sandstorms kept appearing, covering Abydos in sand… and it didn’t stop. The damages just accumulated, and at some point, it just became too much. So people left.” she explained. “And as that continued, the district’s economy worsened which in turn affected a whole other stuff and… well, it became like this. Now barely anyone is around.”

“…Sounds complicated.” 

I feel like I’m familiar with natural disasters like typhoons causing things like that from my nonexistent memories, but desert places also have that problem, huh? But instead of water, it’s sand. I guess they also have it hard too.

But still, there was something I was curious about. 

“So why didn’t you and Hoshino leave? You said you were the only two in your school, right?” I asked.

“That’s because I want to help Abydos! It’s my home, you know? I’m just not going to leave this place to let it dry up!” Yume-senpai said proudly. “Did you know that Abydos used to be the greatest district in Kivotos, Bobo-kun? Even better than Trinity or Gehenna!”

“Really? That’s cool.” I still don’t know what a Kivotos is, or whatever else she said, but it’s definitely interesting to hear. Yume-senpai gave me a bright smile from what I said.

“Yep yep! So I’m going to revive the district. That’s my promise as the Abydos Student Council President! Granted, we’ve been having a hard time getting to that… b-but still, we might encounter a miracle that would do it!”

My attention was piqued. “Miracle? What miracle?”

Yume-senpai blinked, before muttering to herself. “Well…? I don’t know? I still haven’t encountered one but… hmm, Hoshino-chan should be considered as one, shouldn’t she? You don’t know how lucky I am to have her… wait, hold on.” she suddenly stopped. “Bobo-kun… could it be…!?”

“What? What is it?” I asked, before suddenly pausing in surprise as the girl grabbed my arms.

“Bobo-kun! You could be the miracle I was looking for! You’re a boy with a halo, something that’s unheard of before!” she shouted, giving me an intense look. “This is definitely a sign, a sign that the heavens acknowledge all our hard work! And it took me almost dying to get it!” 

“With you now, imagine all the possibilities for our school…!”

…Should I be concerned? I feel strangely exposed. Oh, wait, that’s because I have no underwear beneath this hospital gown. Carry on.

“Guehehehe…” the girl let out a weird laugh while drooling a bit. She quickly wiped it away before grabbing my hand. “W-We should get back to our school quickly! Then, we need to have a meeting with Hoshino-chan about what to do next, now that you’ve joined us…!”

Alright, I guess we’re doing this now. Just as Yume-senpai was about to lead us out of here however - a sudden voice that called out to us made us stop.

“—Hey! Who do you think you two are, trespassing on our turf!?”

As it turns out, the deserted street wasn’t really that deserted. A group of girls with bike helmets carrying guns suddenly appeared. One of them, the one who called out to us, had a red helmet and a gas mask on her face. They looked really cool.

“U-Um, trespassing?” Yume-senpai asked in confusion, looking a bit tense.

“Yeah! Trespassing!” the red helmet girl said. “Do you think you can just waltz in here all willy-nilly? This is Kata-Kata Helmet Gang territory! If you’re gonna pass through here, then you gotta have an invitation or pay a toll!”

“And you guys don’t look like you’re invited at all, so cough up all the money that you got!” one of the black helmet girls added.

Hm… that’s a problem. I didn’t think that we’d need to do something like that. I don’t have any money with me, and I don’t think Yume-senpai has one on her as well. Or at least, with how nervous she looked, that’s what I’m thinking.

“We’re so sorry! We just got lost, we didn’t mean to trespass or anything!” Yume-senpai apologized, bowing her head sheepishly. “I-In any case, we were just about to leave. So maybe you can let this one go…?”

“Hah? That doesn’t matter. If you’re here, then you gotta pay. No excuses. It’s the law.” 

“Yeah! You’re in our territory, so you gotta follow our rules! And our rules are absolute!”

“B-But… we don’t have any money…”

I frowned, hearing what they had to say. Then I stepped up towards them.

“B-Bobo-kun?” Yume-senpai said in shock.

“What? What’s with this ugly, gorilla-looking girl?” the red helmeted girl suddenly said, before pointing her gun at me. Although I couldn’t see her face, I had a feeling she’s a bit intimidated with how much I towered over her. “Y-You got a problem, huh!? You wanna fight!?”

I stopped. “Not really. But it’s my fault that we got lost here in the first place, so if you’re going to be angry at someone, then do it at me and not Yume-senpai over there.” I replied.

“Huh…?” she brought her gun down slightly. “The hell are you sayin’? So you’re going to pay us or something?”

“Ah, I don’t have any money, so no.”

The gun was brought up again. “—Then it doesn’t matter at all, does it!?” she shouted incredulously. “You making fun of me, huh!? Well whatever! If you’re not gonna pay us, then we’ll beat you up and take everything else after!”

So that’s their approach, huh? I guess they must be pretty angry about us trespassing. Maybe they’ll calm down after letting out their steam a bit?

I raised my arms wide and presented my body to them. “Alright! Do it, then. I’ll accept it all!”

“Eh!? Bobo-kun!? What are you doing!?” Yume-senpai shouted in panic behind me, frantically removing the heavy and solid bag she had with her.

“What’s with this crazy person? Well if you’re going to make yourself our target practice, then be our guest!” she aimed with her rifle and gestured for the others to do the same, which they did. A lot of guns were trained on me. “Alright, girls! Shoot ‘em!”

Yume-senpai immediately ran towards me, her bag suddenly transforming into what looked like a shield. Oh, cool, it does that? Anyway, she tried to cover me with it. “Bobo-kun—!”

But she was a bit too slow. Before she could reach me - the guns started firing.

Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

“Ora, ora, ora! Take that! You think you can underestimate us, you big lug!?” the red helmeted girl shouted amidst the din of gunfire. “This is the might of the Helmet Gang!”

Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

“We’re gonna take your money and then finally get out of this stupid, hot place! I’m sick of it! I can’t even rob any people in here! Barely anyone is in it! You better be happy, since me and the girls are going to secure a better future in another district cuz’ of you! Yahahaha!”

“Yeah, yeah!”

Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! 

“Hoo… that ought to be enough.” the red helmeted girl said, bringing down her gun after a while of firing. “Alright, you all. That’s enough. Don’t waste any more of your ammo.”

The other girls obediently did so. What was left in front of them was a cloud of dust kicked up by sheer amount of the bullets fired. The red helmeted girl then let out a dark chuckle.

“Heh. That should put down anyone with a halo. Now, to take our spoils of victory…” the girl then approached the cloud, before spotting a silhouette within it. She stopped. “W-Wait… what the heck!?”

“Boss? What’s wrong?” one of the black helmet girls asked in concern.

It was at that moment that the wind suddenly picked up, blowing away the cloud of dust along with the sand in the street—

“Oh, it’s done?”

—Revealing the still-standing me, whose hands were still outstretched wide, remaining unchanged in my earlier position. I was unharmed, even as the hospital gown I was wearing had holes in it from all the bullets fired at me.

“W-What!?” the red helmet girl said in shock, stepping back a bit away from me. “T-They’re still standing!? Even from all that!? That’s impossible!” she shouted.

I brought down my hands. “Are you guys calm now?”

Man, I can’t believe these guys really shot me. I’m pretty sure those things are real guns too, with how they penetrated even concrete and all. Good thing that I was feeling oddly strong, otherwise I don’t think I could survive that.

“Bobo-kun…?” Yume-senpai muttered in a daze beside me. Man, she’s been repeating my name like a broken recorder for a while now. “How…?”

“B-Boss! Let’s shoot again!”

“Uh…! Y-You’re right!” red helmet girl broke out of her trance from the shout, before aiming her gun again. “I-It’s probably just a fluke! Shoot ‘em again, but aim for the head or chest this time!”

“Oh, you’re still not done?” the shooting continued again, and I felt a bit of tickle on my skin as the bullets hit me. It’s kind of like… getting pelted by little stones. Completely manageable pain. “Man, guys are really angry about the trespassing, huh?” I commented.

“S-Shut up! How are you still standing!? Are you a monster!?” red helmet girl shouted.

Dunno. I just woke up like this. Still, this doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere. Maybe we should talk this out like civilized people instead? I started to approach them, even as the bullets keep hitting me—

“Hiiii! Don’t come close!” red helmet girl squealed out as I came closer, spraying more and more of her bullets in a panic. Then her gun clicked empty and she tried to reload with shaking hands. “Ahhhh!”

But it was inevitable. I reached her, and I put a hand on her shoulder. She stiffened, looking up at me as I towered over her. I gave her a friendly smile.

“A-Ahh…” she stuttered out, trembling as she did so. The other girls stopped shooting, looking at us with what felt like horror, even if their expressions were behind helmets. What’s with them? I just want to talk.

But that didn’t apply to all of them. One of them, in a panic, still kept shooting.

“N-No! Let go of our boss!” a black helmet girl shouted. “Waaaah!”

It was already established that bullets were kinda useless to me - but this time though, it had a bit of an effect. Though not in a way one would expect.

My hospital gown was in tatters at this point, because while I’m strong, my clothes aren’t. Those last set of bullets seem to be the very last straw as it ripped through the remaining cloth that made it cling to me. And as another gust of wind swept past - the gown flew off in tatters.

And I returned to my intense meditation form (being naked).

Time seemed to stop as everyone tried to comprehend what just happened.

“Eh…? You don’t have any underwear! A-A-Are you a pervert?!” red helmet girl cried out at seeing my bare form, her incredulity overriding her fear for a moment. “And what’s with those grotesque muscles…!? Those pecs and abs bulge out so much they look ungirly at all and…” 

She then looked down. She stiffened.

“…Eh?”

Another pause. But this time, all of the people around were staring below me for some reason, even Yume-senpai. Why were they…? Oh, right, I’m naked. 

I looked down and saw my dick there, flopping around for everyone to see. 

Whoops.

“—Kyaaaaah!” one of the black helmet girls suddenly squealed the most high-pitched, girlish scream imaginable, pointing at me as she did so. “I-It’s a penis!” Yes, it is.

“You mean this person is a man this whole time!?” another shouted. Yes, I am.

“How!?” cried another too. “And how does he have a halo!? That shouldn’t be possible, right!?” I don’t know about that.

“W-Wow…” red helmet girl meanwhile muttered, looking down at my freely displayed dick. I don’t know what sort of face she’s making right now, but thanks for the compliment, I guess?

Yume-senpai seems to have broken free from her daze suddenly, and I suddenly found myself being grabbed from behind when she wrapped her arm around me. Then, she planted her shield in front of me as a way to cover myself.

“N-No, keep your sights away from Bobo-kun!” she shouted, tone indignant, with a red face. Though she was occasionally glancing at my dick still when she shouted that. “That… t-this should only be shown to his treasured person!”

But I already showed it to you when we first met though?

Red helmet girl also broke out of her daze when the Yume-senpai broke her line of sight with her shield. But before she could speak - something suddenly shot her in the head, making her fall to the ground instantly.

“B-Boss!” one of the black helmets shouted, checking their fallen leader. She didn’t answer, and her halo winked out. Huh, was she knocked out then?

“—I was wondering where the two of you went. I should’ve expected that you'd be lost the moment I took my eyes off you two.”

A sudden familiar voice made me turn to see Pinky, who was looking at us with a glowering expression with a smoking shotgun in her hand. Oh, looks like she finally caught up. I guess she finished whatever business she had with the hospital staff.

“H-Hoshino-chan! You’re here! Please help us!” Yume-senpai pleaded.

Pinky gave a deadpan glance to the girl, who let out a sheepish laugh. Then, she turned to me - and then stiffened. For a moment there was an uncomprehending look on her face as she beheld my bare form… and she sighed.

“I’m not even going to ask what happened.” Pinky muttered. Then, she glared at the helmet gangsters. “Now… all of you - I’m giving you one chance to scram. Or else I’ll beat you all up. You know the drill.”

They all seemed familiar of her - afraid of her even, judging by how they trembled at the sight of Pinky. There was a bit of a tense moment as they considered her words… then, after taking their red helmet leader, they began to run away.

“Y-You’ll pay for this you hear!”

“Yeah! We’ll be paying you back tenfold!”

“You haven’t seen the last of us!”

Saying all that stuff, the helmeted girls then all left. Then, the street went back into being deserted once more. Pinky sighed as quietness settled, before turning back towards us.

“Follow me. We’re all going back to school this time.” she glared at me. “If I catch you veering somewhere else, then I’ll shoot you, got it?”

I stared at her for a moment… and then gave her a thumbs up. 

“Yep. Thanks, Pinky!”

She suddenly looked a bit pissed off at that for some reason, but she didn’t say anything and turned around, stomping as she did so. Yume-senpai followed behind her while letting out a nervous laugh. I followed closely behind too.

Man… the way she scared off those guys… that was so cool.

You’re a pretty cool guy, Pinky. Maybe I could learn how to do that in their school too?

Chapter Text

It’s the end of the prologue. After this, Bobo is finally a proper student.

Btw, this is what Bobo looks like. Some of you can recognize his faceclaim.

Yeah, he looks like a typical NTR guy. Except he's not. He's just a nice dude that's a kinda dumb.

Prologue Part 5

After following Pinky, we finally arrived in Abydos.

It took a long while since apparently, they took a winding path to get there because they were concerned that people would see me naked. I didn’t really see the problem considering I was fine walking around the desert like that for a while, but I’m dumb so maybe I missed something.

Or maybe they’re just embarrassed about it? I guess they are. Both Yume-senpai and Pinky do look pretty red in the face when they occasionally glanced at me, after all.

In any case, the moment we arrived at the school - I was quickly given some fresh clothes and tossed into a room courtesy of a grumpy Hoshino. It was PE clothing, being a simple T-shirt and a pair of jogging pants. It was a bit tight because of their size but it still fit.

And then after I got dressed, with Pinky in tow, we went to a small room. The whole school was filled with sand and looked just as deserted as the streets earlier, but the one we went in looked clean and was filled with stuff. I guess this was the only room they used?

“Oh! Are those my clothes?” Yume-senpai said as we entered, waiting for us in the room. “Totally rocking that PE uniform, Bobo-kun!” she complimented.

“Thanks.” I said, giving her a thumbs up.

“There wasn't anything else I could find around. I hope you don’t mind him using it, senpai.” Pinky said, making Yume-senpai shake her head. “…We really should buy some clothes for this guy, by the way. I think these are the only clothes you have extra.” she added.

Yume-senpai nodded. “Definitely. Especially since he’s going to be what we need to revive Abydos!”

I tilted my head at that. Meanwhile, Pinky just looked at her with a confused look. “Revive Abydos? What do you mean, senpai?” she asked.

“Hehe, Hoshino-chan… surely you understand what I’m getting at, right?” Yume-senpai said with a proud look on her face. “He’s the only male in Kivotos that has a halo! Something that no one has ever seen! He could be the miracle we were waiting for, and we could use this as an opportunity to bring back Abydos’ old glory!”

Am I really that special? 

“I… I guess so?” Pinky asked, similarly doubtful as I am. “But how exactly would he do it?”

“Well if he’s the first male student with a halo, then we just need to spread the word about him! And then, since people are curious about him, they’ll all flock to Abydos!” Yume-senpai explained, puffing out her chest as she did so. “So? How about it? Not a bad plan, right?”

Pinky stared at her. “So your plan… is to make him like a zoo animal?” she asked slowly.

Yume-senpai blinked. “What? No! Well, maybe… a bit… b-but not that way, you know? We could make him like a mascot in our school or something. Or maybe… hmm…” the girl let out a thoughtful hum as she rubbed her chin. “…Maybe he could be an idol or something? That ought to work. And maybe me and Hoshino-chan could join too… What do you think, Bobo-kun?”

“Idol?” I asked. Does she want me to sing and dance in a crowd? That sounds fun. “Eh, sure.”

“Alright! It’s decided!”

“—Like hell it is! An idol!? Are you serious, senpai!?” Pinky shouted, red in the face. “A-And why do I get to be included!?” 

“But it will work! I saw it happen in an anime!”

“That’s no reason to do anything! What are you, a kid!?” Pinky shouted. “We don’t have any idea how to do that sort of work. I don’t even know where to start! And you’re telling me that will revive Abydos!?”

Yume-senpai pouted. “Well, I’m just spitballing ideas Hoshino-chan! Do you have any ideas?” her eyes narrowed at her. “Bobo-kun here literally brings plenty of opportunities with him! It’s a shame to not use that!”

Pinky hesitated. “W-Well, I can’t deny that he’s unique but…” the girl trailed off.

She then looked at me. Then, after letting out a sigh, for some reason her face turned solemn. Yume-senpai looked a bit surprised at the girl’s sudden change, straightening from her seat and looking at her in concern. 

Pinky spoke again. “…I think we should keep quiet about him for now, senpai. He might be the only male student around, but you don’t know what sort of attention he’ll get.” she stated cautiously. “And… there's also the fact that I don’t think he knows what he’s getting into, joining Abydos like this. Did we even explain the situation to him?”

“What situation? You mean how the sandstorms are ruining your place? Yume-senpai explained it to me already.” I said, and Pinky glanced at me sharply.

“No. I meant the fact that our school is 900 million yen in debt. And how joining us means that you’ll be helping us deal with that.”

I looked at her in surprise. 900 million? That’s… a lot of zeroes. 

I turned to Yume-senpai, who had an understanding look on her face at what Pinky said. She noticed my gaze and gave me a kinda sad smile. Looks like it’s true, then.

“How did you get that amount of debt?” I asked, wondering how they got that much.

“It’s the desertification, Bobo-kun.” Yume-senpai answered. “Abydos takes care of the district, but the sandstorms just keep coming so they resorted to taking debts. It turned for the worse though, and now we’re left with that much amount. Me and Hoshino-chan are working together to solve that.”

“That’s right. I know you already agreed to join us, but that’s what you should expect. Just letting you know that before you try to tie yourself down to us or anything…” Hoshino trailed off, suddenly noticing the smile on Yume-senpai’s face aimed at her. “W-What? What’s with that look?”

“Nothing! I’m just happy that Hoshino-chan is being considerate.” Yume-senpai said with a grin, making the girl sputter. “But my junior is right. Of course, that doesn’t mean that we won’t let you stay here if you don’t want to join, Bobo-kun! You can stay here as long as you want. Things are getting lonely with just the two of us here, after all!”

Were they really worrying about that? I scratched my head.

“I mean, the debt is pretty big, but that still doesn’t matter though.” I said to them. “I still wanna try joining this school. I don’t mind helping you guys pay for it… who knows, maybe with my help things will be better.” 

I considered that for a moment, before nodding. 

“Yep. Definitely better. Three is better than two, after all.” I said sagely.

“Bobo-kun…!”

Yume let out a bright smile, touched by what I said for some reason. Pinky, however, just gave an unreadable look.

“Do… do you even understand how big a debt 900 million is?” she asked me slowly. “You’re joining us in an impossible task. It’s not even going to be possible to be paid in our lifetimes.”

“Hm? It isn’t?” I tilted my head, before shrugging. “Well that doesn’t really matter. Maybe something cool will happen and we could pay it off. You just need to look for it!” I reassured her.

“What are you even saying…?”

A gasp. I turned to see Yume-senpai giving me a proud look. “You’re right, Bobo-kun! Maybe something cool will happen! Something like, like… a miracle! Yes, that’s right! If that happens, maybe things will be okay!” she said, pumping her fist.

I nodded my head. “Miracles do sound cool.”

“Indeed!”

As we agreed with one another, Pinky had this strange look on her face. “M-My god… there’s two of them…” I heard her whisper to herself. “Is this school really going to be okay…?”

Two of what? Man, this girl is really strange.

“—Alright! Now that we’re sure Bobo-kun is joining us, let’s go ahead and make it official! Today is the day that Abydos High School will gain another member!” Yume-senpai suddenly said. Then, she started to rummage through the cabinets. “Let’s see… where’s the school transfer papers again…? Aha! Here you go!”

Yume-senpai gave me some papers and a pen. As I took it, a little question popped in my head about their situation. Seeing no harm asking it, I spoke.

“By the way, why was the school in debt? Shouldn’t the government or something be the one paying for the sandstorms here?” Or at least, that’s how it should work, right?

Both girls looked confused at that. It was Yume-senpai who answered. “What do you mean? The school is the one governing the district, Bobo-kun.”

“Huh?” I asked.

“Huh?” she mirrored.

There was a bit of silence. I was a bit confused, and no one was elaborating, so I looked down on the paper in the meanwhile. Then I narrowed my eyes at the weird squiggly stuff there.

“…What language is this? I can’t read it.”

“Huh?” Yume-senpai tilted head.

“Huh?” I mirrored her.

Another bit of silence. Pinky was looking at me with something like horror on her face.

“You… you can’t read.” she said with a pale face. “A-Are you being serious right now!? You seriously can’t read!?”

Yume-senpai tried to calm her down, her face a bit sweaty as she did so. “C-Calm down, Hoshino-chan! Bobo-kun was probably joking, right?” she asked.

I nodded my head, crossing my arms and feeling a bit offended.“Yeah. I can read fine, you know? Just not whatever these funny looking things are.” I stared at it again for a bit, then paused. “Wait, I think I know one of these… is that a smiley face?” 

There’s some other things too. I think that’s a square, then a weird number three, and… yeah, I don’t get what any of these are.

Anyway Pinky didn’t seem to like my answer. Instead, she got this despaired look on her face.

“Senpai, this guy doesn’t seem like any help at all! Rather than join us here, he should go back to middle school or something!” she shouted. “A-Actually, considering this guy doesn’t have any memories, I don’t think he could even keep up with our studies at all! I remember him saying that he doesn’t even know what Kivotos is!”

“You know, I’ve been wondering about that for a while now. Can anyone tell me?”

“—See!?” Hey, that’s not an answer.

“I-It’s okay, Hoshino-chan! We can teach him ourselves so it’s all good! P-Probably… Hopefully…” Yume-senpai reassured her, although she’s oddly a bit nervous as well. Then she paused. “Ah! But Bobo-kun is pretty strong, you know? Maybe his PE grades could make a difference! That and shooting drills! You know how big it is in our curriculum.”

“Yeah, I’m feeling oddly strong.” I agreed.

Pinky still looked doubtful. “Can he even shoot a gun properly?”

“Of course he can! Shooting a gun is common sense in Kivotos. Here, let me lend you my pistol.” Yume-senpai gave me her gun, and I took the weapon gingerly from her hands. Woah. “Okay, now try shooting outside the window, Bobo-kun.”

Heh, that’s easy! I pointed it, pulled the trigger and… nothing happened.

“Hm? It doesn’t shoot.” Is it not loaded?

Pinky sighed and put a hand on her face. “You didn’t pull down the safety. Of course it’s not gonna shoot—” I brought it up to my eye and looked inside the hole. “—h-hey, don’t do that! Put that down, you—!”

Bang!  

I blinked as the bullet whizzed past my head and hit the wall behind me. “…Oh, whoops.” I muttered, before I lightly hit my head with a fist. “That was close. Teehee~☆!”

“—Senpai. This guy definitely isn’t ready.” Pinky said coldly.

“Ahaha…” Yume-senpai chuckled nervously. “W-Well, it can’t be helped. He’s an amnesiac after all…”

“There’s a limit to that excuse! With how this guy is acting, he’s just a big toddler! Do you seriously want to take care of him while also trying to save our school!? I don’t know about you, but—” Pew pew pew. “—Grrgh! Y-You! Stop playing with the gun! Give me that!”

She tried to swipe it away while I was trying to mime shooting it like I was in an action movie that I couldn’t remember, but I brought it up high to where she wouldn’t reach. “Nuh uh, it’s mine now.”

“That’s Yume-senpai’s, you idiot!”

I let out a proud smirk. “Then why are you trying to take it, huh? You’re not Yume-senpai. Checkmate, shorty.”

“W-What did you just call me…!?”

“I called you short, shorty. You’re seriously rude, you know? Telling me to go to middle school. How about you do it and go back to your classmates instead?” I said with a smarmy smile, before I paused. “…It’s cuz you’re short, by the way. If you don’t get it.”

“I know what you’re implying, dumbass! And I at least know enough to be a high schooler, unlike you!”

“Oh? You know enough, but you don’t look like one. Now consider me, who doesn’t know enough, but looks like one. This is clearly ambiguous, so that means we’re both high schoolers.”

“What the hell does that even mean!? And it’s ‘analogous’, damn it!”

“Huh? I’m not talking about clocks though?”

“…”

“Ah, H-Hoshino-chan…? Why don’t we calm down for a moment… W-Wait, please put down your shotgun! Hoshino-chaaan!?!?”

…

…

My enrollment to Abydos High School was a lively one.

Pinky and I argued even as Yume-senpai tried to calm us down in the sidelines. It was only later that we managed to move on with things, and they helped me fill out the form I was given.

As it turns out, I can only read in this language called “Global”, instead of others like “JP”, “KR” or “CN”. That sounds really weird and both girls look really surprised at the discovery as well, but hey, at least I can still read. I also still have plenty of holes in my knowledge though, like what the hell is Kivotos and all that stuff is. As it turns out, it was the world. Or the city. Which was basically as big as the world. That was a surprise.

Oh, and I also found out Yume-senpai’s name. Apparently, her full name was Kuchinashi Yume. And here I thought ‘senpai’ was actually part of her name this whole time… whoops. But that’s one of the JP things, so it can’t be helped!

And, well, I’ll still be calling her ‘senpai’ anyway since she’s my senior, considering I joined up as a first year student. That means I’m in the same year as Pinky! Speaking off, she’s going to be helping me learn a bunch of stuff to catch up. Kind of like how to handle a gun, and all those things.

She’s a bit grumpy, but Pinky’s grumpy all the time from what I’ve seen. So it’s fine, I guess!

Then, because I was a new student, Yume-senpai started to give me a tour of the place and showed me all the cool stuff in the school. And then, we went outside to show the cool stuff out of the school this time. And also to buy me some clothes.

And then we ate noodles for dinner together. Something called ramen.

It was very delicious. 

Man… all of these things are making me feel excited. As expected, joining a school sounds fun. And you’re saying we get to spend everyday like this? This is a hundred times cooler than any of the sights I saw in the desert.

I was so excited that when everything was over, I had a hard time going to sleep. Or maybe it’s because I’m not that tired? I didn’t really need to sleep when I was out in the desert, after all.

Hm… I feel like a kid. After a while though, I conked out and slept pretty nicely. I guess a couch in a nice room is a better sleeping place than a freezing desert at night.

…

…And that’s how I spent my first day as a student in Abydos.

Chapter Text

And now, the consequence of letting Yume live. What would happen, I wonder?

Trains are Cool Part 1

A couple days had gone by and I settled myself on a routine.

I spent my days helping Yume-senpai and Hoshino on their tasks in trying to revive the school. They told me they usually do it by chasing whatever opportunities that came by and taking up part-time jobs to pay off the debt, but Pinky wouldn’t allow Yume-senpai to do it since she was concerned with her health, just being recently discharged from the hospital and all.

So in the end it boiled down to us hanging out in the Student Council room and brainstorming on what to do to help the school. Don’t really know how to help with that since I don’t have any idea on how to do things, having lost my memories and all, but I try to participate as much as I can. 

Additionally, one of those discussions involved me being bestowed the position of school mascot by Yume-senpai. So that’s cool.

Still, I got plenty of free time despite all that. I don’t need to commute home like both girls considering I live in the school which meant I was free during early and late hours of the day. And since I’m perfectly fine unlike Yume-senpai, I decided to go and find some part-time jobs like the others said they were doing.

Which leads me to my present situation.

—I brought down the stack of boxes carefully on the floor. It was a bit heavy considering it was filled with machine parts or something, but I was feeling oddly strong so it only took a bit of effort putting it all here. After checking I put it in the right place, which was outside some warehouse, I then nodded.

“Hey, boss! I think it’s done!” I called out.

“Oh? So you did! That’s pretty fast, Bobo-kun!”

A fat-looking robot dressed in a suit approached me and observed my work. Hm? How can robots get fat, you ask? Dunno. But then there’s also dogs and cats standing on two legs too. Apparently all of them are the adults here, and I haven’t seen a single normal guy around.

Again, weird stuff. But they’re all pretty nice so it’s fine, I guess?

“Hahaha! This is incredible! A whole team of movers would’ve taken a whole day to do this, and I thought you’d do the same, but you managed to finish it just as the sun went up!” the robot said in a jovial tone. “Impressive! Truly impressive, Bobo-kun! This deserves a good reward!”

I perked up at that. The robot reached into his pockets and gave me a small paper envelope. I opened it and saw all the cash inside. Woah.

“Thanks boss. This looks like a lot!” I said.

The robot looked really happy. “Is that so? Then, why don’t I offer you something more as well?” he then leaned in. “Say, are you interested in a more permanent job? If you could do this for me everyday, it would be great! Of course, the pay would be just as much as well.”

“Huh, really?”

“Of course!” he nodded emphatically. “So, how about it? Are you interested?”

I was about to open my mouth - but then I suddenly noticed someone approaching. The familiar shade of pink hair immediately clued me on their identity. It was Pinky. Huh, since when was she here?

“Hey, Hoshino! Good morning!” I greeted her, making the robot stiffen. 

“Hey.” she greeted me back. “…So you’ve been working on a part-time job? And this early in the morning?” she asked.

“Yep. I had nothing to do staying in the school, so I decided to make myself useful.” I said with a sagely nod. Really, I must be a genius or something. “I asked around if there’s anyone that needs help and the boss right here apparently needs some. And I just got paid, actually.”

“Is that so?” her eyes narrowed at the envelope on my hand. “Then do you mind if I take a look at it?”

The boss stiffened for some reason. “Now, young lady, don’t you think it’s a bit rude to—!”

I shrugged and tossed it to her. “Eh, sure.” 

The girl caught it easily and then began leafing through the money. Then she clicked her tongue. “…Guess I wasn’t just seeing things.” she muttered.

Hm? Seeing what?

Pinky unleashed her scary glare at the robot, who looked a bit nervous for some reason. “Hey, why are you just giving him 15,000 yen? Even the cheapest movers don’t get paid this low.” she growled. “And I definitely heard you try to make him work for you too. You want to explain that, huh?”

She punctuated her statement by bringing up her shotgun. The robot quivered in place.

“A-Ahaha, you must be mistaken! I, uhh, must have put in the wrong amount by accident!” the robot rummaged through his suit again, before producing a bigger wad of cash. “O-Oh! It must have been in my pockets, hahaha!”

I took it and Pinky clicked her tongue again. “Tch.”

“A-Apologies, I think I must attend to something. You two take care now! Hahaha!” saying that, the robot retreated into the warehouse and closed the door behind him. Then I heard a heavy clunk… that was probably a lock or something.

There was a bit of silence after that. I considered what just happened with a thoughtful hum.

“Hm… did he just try to stiff me out of my pay?” That’s kinda a dick move.

Pinky exhaled. “He did. You should be careful when trying to look for a part-time job. Most of the people here don’t try to pay you fair and square even if you did your job right.” she glanced at me. “I know you’re trying to help, but next time, don’t do it on your own. I’ll introduce you to some fair employers who won’t try to cheat you.”

“Right. Thanks.” I said, before tilting my head. “By the way, what are you doing here? How did you find me?” I never did tell her or Yume-senpai that I’d be doing part-time work this morning. I was trying to make it a surprise.

Pinky paused. “…It’s already time for school, so I came to fetch you.”

That doesn’t really answer my question though? But still, now that she said that—

“Oh really?” I muttered, looking up and realizing that the sun was already up pretty high. “Huh, I guess it is. Man, time flew by really fast… Should we go then?”

She nodded and started walking. I followed beside her.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

With that, the both of us went together to Abydos. 

The warehouse I worked on wasn’t that far away and it took about half an hour of walking, and the next thing we knew, the both of us were back to the student council room. But we couldn’t really have our student council meeting without our president around, so we did the routine we both settled on while waiting for Yume-senpai whenever she wasn’t around.

That is, me studying with Pinky.

“Today, you’re going to be putting back together your gun.” she told me.

“Cool.” I answered.

Pinky’s task for me today is about gun maintenance. They gave me a small pistol that was apparently confiscated from some thugs. It’s not really a permanent gun as both girls told me, but rather a loan while I decided on what permanent style I’d like to settle on. Like how students decide during their early years, apparently.

I asked why I needed to carry one if I’m still deciding, but Pinky and Yume-senpai just looked at me strangely. And now I know that having no gun is weird in Kivotos, and leaving your house without a gun is like walking without clothes.

What a weird place Kivotos is. Or maybe I really am the weird one? I'm the one that doesn’t have any memories after all. And apparently someone who shouldn’t exist, being a boy with a halo and all.

In any case, I need to put this gun back together after she gave me a manual. Seems easy enough.

“Okay, I think I’m finished.”

“—Like hell you are!” Pinky suddenly shouted, slamming her hands down on the table. “What the hell is this, I gave you a pistol didn’t I!? Where did the scope come from!?”

“Oh, that? I just found it lying around and thought it would be a nice addition. What do you think? Pretty cool, isn’t it?” I said proudly.

“It’s not, disassemble it right now!” Pinky said, angrily pointing at me as she did so. I did so with a pout on my face. Boo. “…Tch, and the insides are completely messed up too. Did you even follow the manual properly?”

“The squiggly lines failed to give me the knowledge I seek. Therefore, I looked within myself.” I said sagely.

“There’s pictures! I know you can’t read that language, but there’s pictures damn it!” she cried out. I turned the pages and there it was. Oh, whoops. The girl then exhaled sharply. “Haargh… Fine! Scooch over and I’ll teach you how to do it. I swear, if you still don’t get this…”

“Yep. I’ll pay attention. Definitely.”

“You better.” she warned, glaring at me as she did so. Then, she turned back to the gun. “…Alright, so the basic parts of the gun and how they fit together should be—”

We tried again. Pinky demonstrated how to disassemble and reassemble the pistol to me once, teaching me the parts as she did so as well. It was very informative. Man, is this girl a genius or something? She did it all pretty easily. And super fast too.

Then it was my turn. Of course, being completely new to this sort of thing, she guided me every once in a while. Pinky might act pretty grumpy but she’s pretty observant and helps me whenever I’m stumped. What a considerate person!

“—Okay, I think I’m done.” I finally said after a while.

Pinky looked it over. “It… it looks fine?” she said, a bit surprised and doubting of what she’s seeing. “Nothing seems wrong. As far as I can tell…” she muttered.

“Heh, this is easy stuff.” I said.

“I guess there’s still some hope for you after all…” Pinky said consideringly. “But it still took you about an hour. So I guess not…?”

“Hm? What’s that supposed to mean?” I then paused as I spotted something rolling on the floor beneath the table. “Oh wait, I think something’s on the floor. What’s this?” 

I picked it up and saw that it was a small spring. I pinched it between my fingers and let go, watching it bounce back to its original shape. It looks kinda cool in some strange way. I can’t explain it.

“Heh, nice find.” I said, before showing it to Pinky. “Look at this, Hoshino. Bwoi-i-i-ing.”

—Pinky slammed her head on the table for some reason. Hey, you okay? That looked painful. “How!?” she cried out in frustration. “How did you miss that!? Now we have to disassemble and reassemble the whole thing again, damn it!” 

Oh, was that part of the gun? Whoops. It must have fallen way earlier then.

Just as I was about to try again though - the door of the student council room suddenly slid open with a loud bang, gaining both of our attention. A familiar figure then entered the room.

“The perfectly healthy and alive Student Council President is here!” Yume-senpai shouted with a smile on her face. “Good morning, everyone!”

“Good morning, president!” I shouted, standing up from my seat. Then I brought out the paper envelope containing the money I earned for today and extended it to her. “Please, take my offerings!”

“Hm? What’s this, Bobo-kun?” she took it from me and opened it. Then her eyes widened as she saw what’s inside. “M-M-Money!? Bobo-kun, where did you get this!?”

“…He went on a part-time job. Apparently, he found some place to work early this morning.” Pinky answered, lifting her head back up from the table. “And good morning to you too, senpai.”

“Really?” Yume-senpai gasped, turning to me in surprise.

I gave her a thumbs up. “Yep. You guys are doing the same thing, so why wouldn’t I do it as well?”

“Bobo-kun…!” Yume-senpai muttered, looking touched. Then, she gained a determined look on her face. “Alright! I’ll take it. Bobo-kun’s first paycheck… and with the three of us doing part-time jobs…” the girl then let out a dark chuckle. ”Hehehe… Yes, it’s all coming together. First we’ll fund the Abydos Student Council and amass our fortune… and then we’ll use it to take over Kivotos itself…!”

“Wasn’t it to pay off Abydos’ debt?” Hoshino sweatdropped.

“That too!” 

Taking over the world? That definitely sounds cool. “Genius plan, senpai!” 

“No, no, it isn’t. How would three part-timers take over the world? That sounds stupid.” Pinky said, being the grump that she was, before sighing. “…Anyhow, what’s with you being so late, senpai? Did you do something on your way here?”

Yume-senpai blinked at that. “Oh, right. I’ve got a surprise for you two!” she grinned. “Here, take a look!”

Saying that, our student council president then walked to the table and deposited a file there. Both me and Pinky blinked, staring at it, before looking at the girl looking at us smugly with her hands on her hands on hips. Hoshino took the file then opened it, looking at the paper inside.

Then her eyes widened. 

“‘W-With this contract, The Saint Nephthys Foundation agrees to sell the railway rights to the Abydos Student Council for the price of 1 million yen, with a downpayment of 10,000 yen and the rest paid in two years time…’” Hoshino said, her voice steadily turning more hesitant as she spoke. “T-This is…!”

She then slammed the file down.

“Senpai, you bought the Trans-Desert Railway Project!?” she shouted incredulously.

“Yup!” Yume-senpai then made a peace sign with a smug face. “And I got it for 1 million yen! Compared to our debt of 900 million, that seems like a steal, doesn’t it?”

“It is, because they’re stealing from us ! Where the hell are we going to get a million yen!?”

“E-Eh!? You’re angry!?”

“Of course I am! What are you doing, putting us into another debt when we still haven’t paid the other!?” Hoshino slammed the table hard . “Are you trying to kill us, huh!?”

“L-Let’s worry about that after two years or something! That’s a really long time!” Yume-senpai said, a sheen of sweat visible on her face. “F-For now, let’s use this opportunity that we have Hoshino-chan!”

“That’s exactly what the previous student council did and how we got into this mess, you—!”

I watched blankly as Pinky started to shout and as Yume-senpai uselessly tried to argue. I have no idea what they’re talking about, but that’s as usual whenever there’s a student council discussion.

All I know is that we now have trains, or something.

Hm… trains…

Yeah, trains are cool. Definitely looking forward to that.

Chapter Text

I like trains. *Gets run over*

Trains are Cool Part 2

Today, the Abydos Student Council will be going to a train station.

“Hoshino-chaaan… I’m sorry, okay? I’m really sorry, so don’t be angry at me anymore…”

“…”

Now, that was supposed to be exciting because train stations sound cool, but the mood wasn’t as filled with excitement as one would imagine. It appears that Pinky was genuinely angry this time instead of just being grumpy like usual, and she was snubbing Yume-senpai who hovered worriedly around her as she tried to beg for her forgiveness.

She’s been like this the entire time ever since Yume-senpai revealed her surprise to us. Apparently, the reason why she was late is because she went ahead and arranged another attempt to pay the down payment. Because the last time she tried it, she got lost in the desert - leading her to meet me.

I did wonder how she got into that situation but I never had the opportunity to ask (I was too preoccupied with asking other questions) so I was a bit surprised at that. Hoshino wasn’t though, and the girl gained a terrible look on her face. 

I think they talked about it or something when I wasn’t around. Maybe in the hospital? In any case, Yume-senpai looked really sheepish. And then Hoshino started to ignore her and…

“Hoshino-chaaan…!”

“Hmph.”

…Yeah, it’s a bit of a sorry sight. I watched from the side, feeling a bit clueless as to how to act on this situation.

Yume-senpai looked really sad when Pinky glanced away and tried to ignore her as we walked, but just like earlier, she didn’t stop trying to beg for forgiveness. Touching her fingertips in a hesitant manner, the girl spoke once more.

“Hoshino-chan, I-I know it sounds bad, but… the Trans-Desert Railway project, it’s the proof of Abydos and St. Nephthys trying to revive Abydos.” Yume-senpai tried to explain to the girl. “People abandoned it after thinking it was doomed, but I thought that something like that should be at least protected and honored. So when I heard they were selling the rights to it for a really low cost, I…” 

She then hunched to herself, looking really guilty. 

“I— I’m sorry if I put us further in debt, Hoshino-chan, but I thought doing that would be the right thing to do… and maybe so that it can be used as an opportunity, rather than just being left as a failed attempt…”

There was no reply for several moments. 

Then, Hoshino sighed and stopped walking.

Yume-senpai and I blinked. Oh? that’s the first time she responded after a long while. Yume-senpai suddenly looked hopeful, staring at Pinky with bright, expectant eyes.

“Hoshino-chan…?” she said hesitantly. 

Pinky’s shoulders shook. 

“…Arrgh! Fine, fine! Just do whatever you want!” Hoshino cried, finally starting to speak to her again. “But we better make this work, alright!? If you’re going to go through this stupid deal, something that almost killed you by the way, then it better be successful!”

“I-It definitely will! I swear it will, Hoshino-chan! We’re not going to let this opportunity go to waste!” Yume-senpai shouted. “Thank you for forgiving me, Hoshino-chan!”

“You don’t have it yet.” Pinky grumbled. “That reminds me, I probably need to monitor you at all times now. Just so you don’t make the mistake of taking a similar deal and getting lost on a desert again because of it.”

“Y-You don’t have to go that far! I really learned my lesson, you know!? I-Isn’t that right, Bobo-kun?”

She turned to me and I gave her a thumbs up, holding the backpack which held a large jug inside filled to the brim with water along with snacks. And I think Yume-senpai stuffed a compass and a map of Abydos too, along with a few other things we might need in an emergency. All that stuff made it heavy, but I easily carried it with me.

Don’t know why we needed all of these things though, but I guess it’s better safe than sorry?

“Definitely, senpai.” I said, agreeing with her. “We’ll never run out of supplies with this much!”

“Of course! I’m not going to forget all the essentials ever again. Yes… never again.” Yume-senpai’s gaze suddenly looked hollow for some reason, looking at somewhere far away. “I can still remember how dry my throat was… kind of like sandpaper, scrubbing my insides… hahaha… ”

“Is that so…? W-Well, so long as you won’t make that mistake again…” Pinky trailed off, her gaze a bit concerned as she stared at Yume-senpai. “A-Anyway! You said that we need to go to the old Abydos Central Station, right? I think I see it.”

Yume-senpai suddenly bounced back from the fugue she was in. And I perked up too. “Oh, we are?”

“Yeah, it’s that building right there.” Pinky said, pointing a hand in a certain direction.

I looked, and there I saw this large station with some rail tracks heading in and out of it. It looks really cool, but like everything else in Abydos, the place was a bit debilitated and deserted. Although I did see some people around here and there going in and out the building, so it must still be active.  

“We’re going to meet up with St. Nephthys here, right?” Pinky asked.

“Yep, we are!” Yume-senpai said, quickly heading to the building. “Come on, you two - let’s get inside!”

With that - we went ahead and entered the place. I was suddenly blasted with cool air from an air conditioner as soon as we did. Okay, now this is cool. Literally.

Yume-senpai and Pinky looked like they appreciated the sudden cool temperature as well, the both of them letting out a sigh of satisfaction once the cold air hit them. Or, well, Yume-senpai did. Pinky let out something like a relieved exhale.

“I guess despite being the old central station, it’s still being used, huh?” Pinky muttered, looking around the place inquisitively.

“Heehee, you’d be surprised at how trains are still being used in Abydos, Hoshino-chan! Even if the Trans-Desert Railway project failed to bring back the economy - its usefulness in transportation is undeniable!” Yume-senpai said proudly. “Now, let’s meet up with the St. Nephthys representative. They said that they’ve arranged a place to meet here…”

She then approached the receptionist, who then called the representative who was apparently already waiting for us. A few moments later, a robot dressed in a suit came to approach us. Kind of like my boss in my part time job earlier, except he was thinner.

The robot glanced at all of us, but his gaze lingered longest on mine. I kind of get these sorts of stares when I go outside but that’s probably because I’m a guy with a halo… Or at least I hope. Because if that wasn’t the case, then there’s probably something stuck in my face that I didn’t notice.

Anyway, the guy didn’t comment on it though, quickly turning to Yume-senpai and giving her a nod.

“Oh, good morning! Are you Kuchinashi Yume, the Student Council President of Abydos?” he asked politely.

“Yes, that’s me. Good morning to you too, sir!” Yume-senpai greeted, before letting out an apologetic smile. “We’re very sorry for the delay in the down payment. A lot of things happened and…” 

“No, no. We understand. I’ve heard about what you experienced - getting stranded in the desert? We’re glad that nothing serious happened and you recovered fully. Losing your way around the desert without any water…” 

The robot shivered. Something that’s weird, because they’re not human. Do they even feel cold? Or drink water, even? 

“…That’s the worst case scenario for anyone living in Abydos.” he finished. “Perhaps it was our fault for making you deposit the payment on a bank outside the district. As you heard, St. Nephthys moved out of Abydos and that bank was nearest to us. We didn’t consider how accessible it was for you… so we might owe you an apology for that.”

“N-No, it’s fine sir. It’s all over anyway, and we’re now here to make a payment.” Yume-senpai said, waving her hands. “All in all, things are back to normal!”

“Is that so? That’s good to hear.” he then gestured behind him. “Then, shall we discuss the finalization of the contract privately? We have a room arranged upstairs.”

“Please, lead the way.”

The robot went ahead and guided us to where the room is. Yume-senpai and the robot talked about something or another as they did so, but I wasn’t really listening at that point. I still tried to follow them though - before I blinked in surprise as I felt a tug on my clothes. 

I turned to see that it was Pinky, looking up at me. She had this intense look on her eyes as she gazed at me. I gave her a confused look.

“What is it?”

“…You’re bored, aren’t you?”

My eyes widened. How did she know!? Are you mind reader, Takanashi Hoshino!?

She gave a deadpan look at my shocked expression. “I knew it. What are you, a kid…?” Pinky muttered, before sighing and looking away. Then, she spoke again. “…If you’re that bored, then you can stay here and hang around for a bit. I’ll be with Yume-senpai.”

I blinked.

“Huh? You sure about that, Pinky?”

“Don’t call me Pinky.” she said reflexively. “…And yes, I’m sure. Those talks about contracts and stuff will be filled with tedious stuff anyway, and I doubt you’ll be any help. You’re better off just staying here and looking for ‘cool stuff’ or whatever instead of just getting antsy in there.”

“Hm. You’re right. Looking for cool stuff does sound more productive.” I agreed with a nod. Then I tilted my head. “But why does it sound like you’re worrying I might do something in there?”

“—You’re imagining things.” Pinky said. She was too quick to say it. I’m hurt by this lack of trust, Pinky. I’m hurt! “Anyway, as I was saying, you’re free to go. Go and look at the trains or whatever. Just don’t do anything troublesome while you wait for us.”

I gave her a thumbs up. “Yep. Definitely.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m serious. No funny business, you hear?” she repeated.

I let out a confident smile. “Right. No tomfoolery or being silly. Got it.”

“…I’m already regretting this.”

“Hm? Bobo-kun? Hoshino-chan?” Yume-senpai called out to us, already a bit far away. She had a questioning look on her face as she spotted us just standing there.

Hoshino jogged to catch up, but not before a final warning glance at me. I still gave her my now patented confident smile which indicated my complete and utter trustworthiness in response. Yume-senpai looked a bit confused as I stayed there, but I heard Pinky mutter something to her once she went near. Probably an explanation.

Anyway, Yume-senpai’s eyes lightened up in understanding. Then she gave me a thumbs up.

I returned it. Such a great senpai. 

I waited for a bit as they disappeared into a corner on some corridor headed to their destination. And then after that, seeing as I was now free with the permission of the others, I went ahead and looked around in search of cool things.

And train stations are indeed full of cool stuff. I got to watch some trains pass by. It’s pretty huge and fast, and it reminded me of that snake I saw in the desert that one time.

Now that reminds me - I still don’t actually know what that was. There’s robots here but the ones I saw in the desert look like they’re different. Well, whatever. I’ll ask that to Pinky when she teaches me again.

In any case, while trains are indeed cool, only looking at them feels boring. And it takes a long time before another one arrives after a train leaves. So, I went ahead and looked for some other cool things to see.

I couldn’t really get out of the building because Pinky and Yume-senpai are in here and that’s just rude. So, I explored the insides of the building. I got to see a lounge and even some stores to buy snacks from. And then, since no one prevented me from doing so, I went up the building instead of just staying on the ground floor where the station was.

As it turns out, it’s a workplace or something. I got a few strange looks here and there as I roamed around but no one really paid attention. And it wasn’t that populated either. Most rooms I saw weren’t that filled with people. Probably since not that many people worked here.

But then I saw something.

As I turned a corner, I saw a girl in the corridor who looked like she’s discreetly peeking on a door. Said girl had a halo and was dressed in a uniform. Was she a student? But Yume-senpai said she and Hoshino were the only students left in Abydos though?

Also what was she peeking on?

I approached discreetly, looking at the small glass pane installed on the doors which allowed me to see inside the room, positioning myself above where the girl was peeking. Then I blinked.

I thought it was something cool but it’s Yume-senpai and Hoshino, talking to the robot. I mean, they’re both cool, but right now they have stacks of paper around them. Holy hell, that looked so boring. And terrible too, considering the looks on their faces.

I glanced at the girl who still didn’t notice me. Is that seriously what she’s interested in?

“Hey, whatchu lookin’ at?”

“Hyah!?”

The girl suddenly let out a yelp before turning to me in surprise. It was then that I finally got a good look on her face considering she was facing away from me the entire time she was trying to peek inside the room.

I stared at her, or more accurately, her uniform. She also stared at me for some reason.

“A male student…?”

“A middle schooler…?”

…

…It appears that I stumbled upon something interesting.

Chapter Text

And now, Bobo meets Sugar Mommy.

Trains are Cool Part 3

After spotting the girl peeking on Yume-senpai and Pinky, the both of us went to the little lounge area that the station had. 

It was at the request of the girl, who nervously asked to talk to me. She apologized for peeking and said that she’s going to explain. Seeing there’s no harm in it I just accepted her request, and also because it would be rude to talk right outside the door where my classmates were working. 

Also she bought me some food. I haven't had any food since yesterday when I ate together with Yume-senpai and Pinky after our usual student council discussion, so it’s nice.

Which led to this situation.

“Nom nom nom.”

—I stared at the girl seated right across the table as I munched on a hotdog sandwich. Said girl also fidgeted and was unable to meet my gaze. She also has her own food - a hamburger - although it was left untouched and still wrapped.

“U-Um…” she started awkwardly, making me pause. I waited for her to speak, but she just went quiet for some reason and went back to avoiding my gaze again. “A-Ah…”

What’s with her? I didn’t do anything to make her scared, did I? 

Well, if she isn’t going to speak, then maybe I should do it. And I have plenty of things I want to say right now.

 “…So.” I began after finishing my hotdog sandwich. The girl looked at me. “Are you going to eat that?” I asked, pointing at her burger.

“E-Eh?” she blinked, before realizing what I’m asking and quickly shaking her head in reply. “Oh! Y-You can have it if you’re hungry. Here…”

She pushed the burger to me and I nodded gratefully. “Thanks, you’re pretty cool. What’s your name by the way?” I asked, before munching on my new food.

Mmm. Borgar.

“I-Izayoi Nonomi…” she answered. Again, those names are a real mouthful. “U-Um! If I’m correct, you’re a student at Abydos High School, right…? Or at least, that mark on your PE uniform says you are…”

“Hm? Yeah, I’m from Abydos. The name’s Bobo.” I answered. “What about you? What school are you from?” I mean, I could see the mark on her uniform but I’m not really familiar with it.

“I-I’m from the Abydos branch of Saint Nephthys Private School.”

Saint Nephthys? That sounds familiar… wait, isn’t that the train company Yume-senpai and Pinky are talking with right now? I thought they’re a company and not a school?

“Saint Nephthys also has a school. As a corporation, they’re affiliated with many things. Especially considering they were a top company in Kivotos… o-or at least, they used to be.” Nonomi explained, noticing the confusion on my face. “The private school is one of them. I’m a middle schooler there, and I’ll probably be one of its last students. I’ve heard that once we graduate, the school will finally close…”

Huh, is that so? I guess they must be a real big deal, huh. Also a middle schooler… seriously, I already knew it with the label on her uniform and all, but this girl looks like a high schooler more than Pinky. But then again, anyone could probably look like a high schooler more than her. 

Because she’s short. That’s what I’m implying, by the way.

“W-What about you, senpai?” I glanced back at the girl, who had also had an inquisitive look on her face. “I heard that Abydos High School only has two students? And I’ve never even heard of a male student before… i-in fact, I don’t think they’ve ever existed at all in Kivotos, actually…”

Then, she stiffened as if realizing something - and she let out a gasp.

“O-Oh no, what am I saying!? There’s no way you are a male student!” she suddenly bowed her head deeply. Huh? What? “I apologize for being rude, senpai! I, I didn’t mean to make such a mean comment about your appearance!”

I literally have no idea what she’s on about. But in a flash of brilliance, it appears that my humble brain cells have managed to divine her meaning. I munched on my bourgeoisie for a bit before opening my mouth.

“No no, you’re right. I’m actually a dude.” I corrected her.

“H-Huh!? You are!?”

“Yeah, I am. So no need to do that.” Why is she bowing anyway? This isn’t a theater.

The girl looked really doubtful at that for some reason. I guess she still probably doesn’t believe me. Is being a male student with a halo really that unbelievable? I’m just a guy… Oh well, whatever.

“Anyways, what were you doing up there earlier? Were you trying to peek?” Nonomi stiffened at that, her doubtful expression turning nervous from the change in subject.

“O-Oh, um, that…? That is…” she fidgeted on her seat. I looked at her confused, and after a while of saying nothing, she seemed to have gathered her courage and spoke once more. “I… I’m sorry for doing it, but I just wanted to know!” 

“Is it true that Abydos will be buying the rights to the Trans-Desert Railway Project, senpai!?”

The girl suddenly looked lively for some reason. I blinked. “Uh, yeah? I guess.”

“But why? Isn’t that the reason why Abydos turned into this in the first place?” she asked, leaning forward and giving me an intense look. “That railway project drained the district's entire economy! If it weren’t for Saint Nephthys, then Abydos wouldn’t have gotten this bad! S-So why are you trying to gain the rights to it…!?”

“Dunno. Trains sound cool, so I thought it’s nice.”

“Eh?”

I then let out a hum and leaned back, continuing to munch on my bugatti. “Ah, but if you’re asking why Yume-senpai wanted it… Hm, what did she say again?” I thought back, trying to remember the words she said earlier when she and Pinky made up. “Oh, yeah. That project was an attempt of the student council and Saint Nephthys trying to help Abydos, so she wanted it to be honored at the very least. What a cool thing to say, am I right?”

“She… wanted to honor it? But it’s just useless right now though?” Nonomi looked really confused. “The project may have tried to connect all of Abydos, but in the end no one tried to use the trains. Everyone had already left at this point. Not to mention it hasn’t been maintained for so long…”

I waved a hand at that. “Nah, no one cares about that.”

“B-But wasn’t Abydos in debt? I think you should at least worry about it…”

“Eh, what’s an additional 1 million to our 900 million? It’s practically nothing!” I nodded my head sagely. “And since it practically is, it therefore is nothing. So there’s literally nothing to worry about.”

“Is that really the right attitude for it!? A-Also 900 million!? Is that debt even possible to be paid off!?” she cried out.

“Dunno, but we’re gonna do it.” I shrugged, making her pause. “I’m just a new student in Abydos, but I know that Yume-senpai and Pinky would do their best to pay it off. That’s just how much they love the place, I guess. And I’ll be helping them too.”

“T-That’s…”

As the girl turned quiet at that, a question suddenly popped in my head. I gave the girl a curious look. “By the way, why is a middle schooler like you wanting to know about us buying the railway project and stuff? Shouldn’t you be more concerned about your own things to do? Like homework or something?”

Nonomi stiffened, her eyes going wide.

“I-I… um…” the girl looked down and shook slightly, pursing her lips. “I am…” 

I gave her a confused look again. I didn’t really say anything bad in particular, did I? I tried to make out her expression and… Hm? Hold on, that face looks familiar to me. It’s kinda similar to Pinky's expression whenever he looks at me or Yume-senpai at times whenever she thinks I wasn’t looking.

What is that? Is that guilt? I can’t make it out. Why does she look like that?

“…I’m sorry, I heard it through some rumors.” she eventually answered. “I was just concerned because my family has been… affected by the project. So I came here when I heard about the deal. T-That’s all.”

Somehow, I doubt that was true. Not like I commented on it though. I watched as the girl stood up from her seat before giving me a bow again for some reason.

“I apologize again for peeking. I just didn’t know how to approach the others and verify what’s happening… and I’m sorry for thinking ill of your appearance too. I acted very rude. I hope you can forgive me, senpai.” she then grabbed her really big bag, slinging it to her shoulders. “T-Thank you for your time. I won’t bother you anymore—”

My eyes narrowed. “Wait a minute.” 

She paused. “Y-Yes…?”

After finishing my bruguagadoo, I stared at her in considering manner, my humble brain cells working overtime to construct the situation. I have no idea but… I think I get it.

“You don’t have to apologize, you know? I’m really a guy.”

“…?” 

Don’t tell me the reason why she’s guilty… is because she thought she was insulting me!? What a polite and considerate middle schooler - that’s actually very good and all, but I’m not going to let her leave and stew regretfully on a mistake that she didn’t actually make!

“U-Uhh? Yes…?” Again, she looked confused but clearly didn’t believe what I said. Probably because she really thinks it’s impossible or something. 

“No, no. I’m serious. I’m really a guy.”

“S-Senpai?”

I let out a sigh at her clearly unbelieving and perplexed reaction. “You really don’t believe it, huh? Fine. You leave me no choice. I didn’t want things to come to this but…”

I stood up, and the girl watched me curiously. Then, with her complete attention on me, I did the one thing that I knew would convince her out of her guilt.

And in one swift motion—

“Feast your eyes to the truth!”

—I became one with the world (became naked).

“E-Eh…?”

Nonomi’s eyes widened and her jaw became slack as my jogging pants left my legs. Her eyes were locked to my undeniable proof of existence, pupils shrinking into pinpricks in sheer shock as her understanding of the world had shattered.

Heh, as expected. Can you still feel guilty for your mistake now? Checkmate.

I smiled proudly, putting my hands on my hips. “So, what do you think? It’s clear that I’m a dude, yeah?”

“Eh? Eh!? Eeeeeeeehhhh!?!?”

The girl was freaking out now, her face getting red and her eyes turning into swirls and all that. Man, she must be really shocked, huh? Now that I think about it those helmeted girls also had the same reaction… Well, at least it wasn’t as painful as Pinky’s was, the first time she saw me.

Oh, speaking of Pinky - I wonder how long they’ll be in there? It’s already past lunch. Ah, whatever. I’ll probably check them out after I make sure that this girl doesn’t feel bad anymore.

“Awawawawa—!”

In any case, Nonomi seemed like she’s really convinced, or at least I think so, judging by her sudden nonsensical stammering and her trying to desperately cover her eyes (which isn’t really that covering much come to think of it, considering the gaps on her fingers). Bit of a weird response, but I nodded my head seeing it. Yes, she must have seen the error of her ways.

I was about to pull up my jogging pants back on - but then, I heard another voice.

“B-Bobo-kun…!?”

A glance to the side of the lounge area we were in. And there, right in the entrance… I saw Pinky and Yume-senpai standing there, looking at us in shock. Huh? Oh, they’re back? Since when were they there?

I raised my hand in greeting. “Oh, hey. You guys done—?”

I wasn’t even able to finish my sentence. In a flash, Pinky suddenly broke in a run that must have broken the sound barrier, unslinging her shotgun off her shoulder and holding it barrel-end like the most suicidal baseball player.

Then, in one smooth movement - she slammed her shotgun right into my dick.

“—What the hell are you doing, you idiot!!!” Pinky shouted.

Form? Picture-perfect. Power? Super strong. Gonads? Definitely broken.

Huh? Didn’t this happen already?

“—Uuuuuuwoooogh!”

And so, as I clutched my dick and dropped down on the floor with tears falling from my eyes, the usually quiet and desolate station was haunted by the pained wails of the oppressed, as their proof of existence was denied by an oppressive tyrant known as Pinky.

Truly, a tragedy.

And definitely not cool. Not cool at all!

Curse you, Takanashi Hoshino! This grave injustice will be corrected! Do you hear me!? Corrected!

Chapter Text

Oh yeah, this tracks.

Trains are Cool Part 4

“—I told you! I told you to not do anything! But the moment we get here, we see you flashing someone!? It’s a good thing no one is around here! Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you, you pervert!?”

Hoshino kept shouting at me with a red face while I clutched my dick and writhed on the floor in pain. I could’ve given her an explanation about how it’s all a misunderstanding - but alas, I’m a bit too preoccupied with the pain right now.

“…!? Oh no! Bobo-kun, are you okay!?” Yume-senpai, who had been standing in shock, seemingly broke out of her daze and quickly made her way to me. “Y-You look like you’re in a lot of pain!”

Then she gave Pinky a scolding expression that appeared more like a pout. “Hoshino-chan! You shouldn’t have hit him there! You know how painful it is for men when hit at that spot!”

“W-Well he shouldn’t have it out in the first place!” Pinky stuttered out defensively.

“That doesn’t matter - you still shouldn’t have hit him there! Look at Bobo-kun’s face! He looks like he’s hurting so much!” Yume-senpai continued to admonish. “And you might damage our precious asset! What happens if it falls off, Hoshino-chan? At that point, Bobo-kun will just be like any haloed girl out there!”

“ That’s what you’re mostly concerned about…?”

“This is important, Hoshino-chan! Of course I am!” Yume-senpai declared, before she went back to look at me. “Now, let’s try to help… Did you get injured, Bobo-kun? Is it bleeding, or…” she looked down on my crotch and gulped. Then, her hand hesitantly reached forward. “I-It’s not broken is it…? Maybe I’ll hold it just to make sure…”

Hoshino’s eyes went wide. “Senpai!?”

“Hyah!?” her hand retracted. “I-I’m not going to do anything! I swear, I’m just examining him, Hoshino-chan!”

“You clearly weren’t! What were you just about to do!?”

“Nothing!”

I don’t know what she and Pinky were shouting about now, but I managed to at least give Yume-senpai a shaking thumbs up to reassure her. “I-I’m fine, Yume-senpai. Things are definitely fine.” I whimpered out.

“R-Really…?” she asked with a doubtful tone as I pitifully pulled up my pants back on.

“He’s overreacting. I didn’t even hit that hard.” Pinky said so while crossing her arms, her face still completely red. “And didn’t you see this guy eat so many bullets a couple of days ago without a scratch? He shouldn’t be hurt by something like this after all that.”

“…Huh, I guess it isn’t as painful as what you did to me when we first met.” I commented, standing up with a wince. “But it still hurts, you know! It’s one thing getting shot in the face, but getting hit in the dick is another!” I said to her in an upset tone.

Pinky blinked. “Wait, so it really did hurt?’

“Uh, yeah?” Why wouldn’t I be? Well, I guess it’s strange that I’m oddly strong in other parts and not on my dick… but still, hitting below the belt is unfair!

In any case, Pinky looked surprised at my answer. Yume-senpai meanwhile tilted her head as she considered something else. “Eh? ‘When you first met’?” she repeated, turning to Pinky in confusion. “Hoshino-chan, did something happen when you met Bobo-kun?” 

Pinky immediately snapped out of her surprise and coughed. “A-Ah, that’s - nevermind that. Don’t listen to him.” she said, before turning to Nonomi, who was looking at us in shock at us the whole time.  “Anyway… are you okay? Did this idiot do something to you before we arrived?”

Nonomi quickly waved her hands. “O-Oh, no, I’m fine!” she stuttered out. “I-In fact, I don’t think senpai did anything wrong! I thought he was a girl at first, and he just wanted to convince me, so…”

“Yeah, she’s right. I did nothing wrong! If anything, you’re the one who’s wrong for being so violent.” I crossed my arms and shook my head. “Tsk tsk tsk. So childish. Are you even a high school student with that behavior? You should go join Nonomi here in middle school if you’re going to act that way.”

“W-Wha—!? You’re the one who flashed someone! You don’t get to say that!”

“Flashed? I was giving a logical argument. It’s you who decided it’s a perverted act.”

“What the hell are you even talking about!?”

As Pinky started to become angry again because she’s dumb and couldn’t understand proper rhetoric, Yume-senpai went ahead and approached Nonomi who was watching us again in a daze, giving her a bright smile as she did so.

“Hello! So I guess you’re Nonomi-chan, right?” she greeted. “I’m Kuchinashi Yume, a third year student at Abydos High School and its student council president! The lively girl with me is my kouhai, Takanashi Hoshino. And, well, I suppose you’ve already met Bobo-kun.”

“A-Ah, yes! My name is Izayoi Nonomi. I’m a middle schooler in the Abydos branch of Saint Nephthys Private School.” she bowed politely. “I-It’s nice to meet you, senpai.”

Yume-senpai and Hoshino paused at that. “Saint Nephthys?” Yume-senpai repeated, her tone confused. “Is there a reason why you’re here, Nonomi-chan…? Did you get sent by your school?”

“Oh, no! It’s not like that! I was—”

“She’s peeking on you guys.”

“—Ah!”

Nonomi’s eyes widened from my statement, looking at me in shock. It only went wider when Pinky nodded her head in agreement from what I said.

“Yeah. He’s right, senpai. I saw her spying at us earlier.” she said.

“Y-You did…?”

Pinky gave a look that she usually aimed at me, meaning that she thought of Nonomi as an absolute genius. “Of course I did. You’re not exactly subtle. Especially when this idiot appeared behind you and you suddenly shouted in surprise.”

Oh, so she noticed us at that time? I didn’t even see her looking. She must have really sharp eyes.

“She was there earlier?” Yume-senpai tilted her head. “I didn’t notice… wait, why would you do that in the first place, Nonomi-chan?”

“I…” Nonomi frowned, before repeating what she said to me earlier. “I’ve heard of Abydos making a deal with Saint Nephthys in my school, about getting the Trans-Desert Railway project. My family is one of those affected by it, so I wanted to know if it’s true…”

Yume-senpai blinked. “Oh, really? I see… I’m sorry to hear that, Nonomi-chan.” she said in a sympathetic tone. Then, she gave her a determined look. “But don’t worry! We just finished the deal, so the project’s rights are ours now! We’ll definitely make use of this opportunity and turn things better than ever before!”

Yume-senpai declared that with a pump of her fist, clearly trying to cheer up Nonomi. I saw Pinky just giving an unreadable look at Nonomi though, just keeping quiet for some reason.

“U-Um, thank you…” Nonomi doesn’t seem to know how to react with Yume-senpai’s statement.

Said senpai then hummed in thought. “Hmm, but still… people already heard of it? I didn’t expect news to get around that fast.” she said, before gaining an optimistic expression. “I guess that means people are looking forward to it! This might turn out to be the right decision, after all!”

Nonomi sweated at that. “Ahaha… I guess?”

“Don’t get your hopes up. We might have gained the rights to the project now, but we still don’t know the full picture.” Pinky interrupted grumpily. “I’m still suspicious why they wanted so little for it. The project should have been really big, so why would they only want 1 million yen in return?”

“Now, now, Hoshino-chan! That’s not the right attitude towards things!” Yume-senpai said, suddenly hugging Pinky much to her surprise. “Sometimes you just have to believe, you know? Especially when we’ve endured hardships until now. The moment you lose hope is when everything is over, Hoshino-chan!”

Man, that’s such a cool thing to say. I nodded sagely at her words. “So true. For real, for real.”

“Hnngh!” Pinky also agreed, though she looked panicked while she was trapped in Yume-senpai’s embrace. “Yeah, yeah, I get it! So please let me go already, senpai!” she shouted.

Yume-senpai did so and raised her hands up in a lively manner. “Alright, Abydos Student Council!” she suddenly announced. “Now that we have the rights, I propose that our next move is to see our new property! Let’s check out the stations! Who’s with me!?”

“Yeah!” I shouted energetically, raising my hands as well. “Wooo!”

“Yeah, whatever…” Hoshino muttered.

“Um.” Nonomi paused, before hesitantly raising her hands slightly as well. “Y-Yeah…?”

“Good enough!” Yume-senpai declared, before she pointed forward. 

“Then, Abydos Council and plus one… Let us go! To our land filled with new opportunities!”

…We arrived quickly at one of the project’s stations.

“—So, where exactly is the opportunity here?” 

“You don’t have to rub it in, Hoshino-chan…”

The place was quite far away, reaching even the outskirts of Abydos. Or, more specifically, the outskirts of the current district. Apparently the place was huge before desertification hit, and the project aimed to connect all of the district. Which meant there’s stations and railways around even when everything around the place is just ruined buildings or a wasteland.

I think I even remember encountering these stations once or twice when I first woke up. Of course, I assumed it was just another ruined place since I thought it was the apocalypse or something, but apparently it’s relatively recent. Finding it has been hard though - but surprisingly, it was Nonomi who helped us get here.

I guess that comes with being a student at Saint Nephthys’ school, or something? They’re the ones who did build it.

“T-This is the nearest one from the outskirts. Or at least, that’s what I was told…” Nonomi muttered, looking at the station with a sad gaze. “It’s… it’s completely filled with sand. I doubt this station is still usable…”

“Yeah, well, that’s to be expected. No one maintained this place after Saint Nephthys bailed after all.” Hoshino said, making Nonomi stiffen for some reason, but she ignored it and walked around and examined the place. “And if the station nearest to the outskirts is this bad, then the others would definitely be the same. If not far worse than this state, considering the desertification is more intense there.”

Yume-senpai looked dejected. “T-Then that means…” 

“Yes, senpai. If we’re going to make use of this, then we’re going to have to fix this. I think that’s why they’re offering this place for so cheap in the first place. You basically paid them to give you garbage.” Hoshino sighed. “The cost for renovating is going to be astronomical. Even if we saved money by buying it for 1 million, the cost for fixing all this is probably a lot more than that. And that adds into our debt too.”

“M-Maybe we could do it ourselves? Surely it should be fine, right…?”

“You think you can fix all this, senpai? Look at that.” Pinky began to point out some things. “Aside from all the sand, there’s probably some thugs who fought here. There’s bullet holes everywhere and right there… Look, a grenade blew a chunk of that pillar. And it landed on the track too. You'll need construction equipment to move that.”

Yume-senpai’s eyes widened. “Ah! You’re right, I didn’t notice! That’s definitely not good!”

“Hm… Trains probably can’t use the rails unless it's removed. Although, the rails themselves still look like it’s fine, so if we managed to remove that…” 

I stared at it, hearing Pinky’s muttering. “So we only need to remove the stuff blocking the way?”

“…No. There’s no accounting for similar obstructions beyond this, so we don’t know for sure. And also the state of the railroads too, now that I think about it.” Pinky answered with a sigh. “In the end, we’re going to need to bring in heavy machinery. Again, the costs are unavoidable.”

“I-I’m sorry, Hoshino-chan!” Yume-senpai cried out. “I thought for sure this time that…!”

As Yume-senpai began to apologize and act upset for some reason, I just tilted my head. I don’t really get it, but I guess it’s good if it’s removed, right?

Nonomi gave me a confused look as I jumped down on the railroads and approached the rubble. “B-Bobo-senpai? What are you doing?”

I already know the gist of what to do with my part time job earlier this morning. So, after reaching it, I squatted and put my hands below the large rubble blocking the railway. I took a moment to make the way I hold it stable.

Then, with a little effort, I lifted it off the ground.

“—Bobo-senpai!?” I heard Nonomi shout in shock behind me.

“What? Did something happen to Bobo-kun… Huh!?” Yume-senpai also shouted. “W-W-What!? He’s, he’s lifting it!?!? How!?!?”

“H-Hey, that’s dangerous!” I also heard Pinky shout in panic. “You’re going to get crushed!”

“Uh, not really.” I replied to her. “I’m carrying it, see?”

I easily brought the rubble above my head and adjusted the way I held it again to make it easier to carry. Then I walked to the end of the railway and out to the side, depositing the rubble out of the way with a big thump . I dusted off my palms.

“…Okay, it’s out of the way.” I said, before turning back to the girls and giving them a thumbs up. “This is good, right? Anything else needs moving?”

There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at me.

And then the shouting started.

“—How did you even do that!?!?” Pinky suddenly shouted, pointing at me with a freaked out expression. “Are you a monster!? No ordinary human could ever lift something like that easily!”

I smiled proudly. “That’s because I’m cooler than most people.” And also I’m feeling oddly strong.

“What are you even on about again!? That’s not an answer!” she cried out in frustration. “This just doesn’t make any sense! You’re super strong and durable, but then you’re so stupid and you get hurt when hit on the crotch! And then you do this! Nothing about you makes any sense, damn it!”

Now that’s just mean, Pinky. I just moved something heavy, you know? You’re the one who wants to get equipment when it’s easily done… tsk tsk tsk, I’m probably the most sensible guy here, but you know what they say about fools thinking they know better.

“Incredible, to think that he could lift all that…” Nonomi muttered. “And he did it so easily too…”

She looked really amazed at what I just did, in contrast to Pinky’s incredulity. Well, at least she appreciates what I just did and didn’t shout at me. Although, while what she said was nice and all, what caught my attention was the one beside her.

Yume-senpai stared at me. She had an intense expression. One that was different from her usual looks.

Hoshino even noticed it, looking at her in concern. “Senpai…?”

Hearing what she said, Yume-senpai then spoke.

“Hoshino,” she began, “I know I might be dumb…” 

The girl then smiled, staring at me as she did so. 

“…But I think I have a great idea.”

Chapter Text

I've been busy the past few days. Also, I changed the titles to make each posted chapter as “parts” to make grouping things much easier. 

Now, back to our regularly scheduled Himbo.

Those helmets look Cool Part 1

It was a peaceful day.

—Bring the hammer up, slam it down.  Bring it up, slam it down.

The hot broiling sun shone from up high, cooking the metal in the railroad tracks to a boiling hot temperature. Didn’t bother me though, so I just went ahead and continued to readjust and fasten the railroad spikes which must have loosened after years of not being maintained. And when I see something particularly rusted, I just replace it with a new spike I have with me.

It was all busy work. It was fun slamming the hammer though.

—Bring the hammer up, slam it down. Bring it up, slam it down.

“Hm hm, hm hm hmmm~♪”

I hummed out some random tune as I did so, making it follow my hammering with some sort of beat. The rhythm kind of made it easier to work, with me timing the tune when I slammed the spikes down and repositioning some old spike or putting a new one on the next hole - before slamming it with my hammer again and repeating it all again.

—Bring the hammer up, slam it down. Bring it up, slam it down.

It’s kind of therapeutic. It’s like I’m meditating. There’s something serene with doing something over and over again then let your mind just focus on a single task… like I’m doing something productive, or something.

Also, slamming hammers like this is really cool. So there’s that too.

—Bring the hammer up, slam it down. Bring it up, slam it down.

“Hm…? Ah! Bobo-kun!”

I paused for a moment when I heard a familiar voice, before turning to see Yume-senpai waving at me from a bit farther away. Oh, looks like I finally got to the station. I guess time went by fast while I was slamming the hammers down.

“Hey, Yume-senpai!” I greeted her back, before quickly working on driving the spikes with my hammer faster. In just a few minutes, I managed to get to the station itself, driving the spikes on its railways.

As Yume-senpai approached me, I stopped hammering for a moment, turning to face her. “Bobo-kun, you’re so fast!” she said, amazed. “I thought you’d need the whole day, but you got to the station in just a couple of hours! That’s incredible!”

I gave her a thumbs up. “I guess I just work quickly.”

You see, after realizing that I’m oddly strong I was made to do tasks that usually required heavy machinery or plenty of people to do. I was asked to carry things and even break some stuff yesterday after I lifted rubble out of the way, and today it’s my job to fix the railway and remove whatever stuff blocking it.

Of course, I started from the district where the railroad starts connected to the still-used railways. Then from there, I followed the rails until I got here - the nearest station on the outskirts. The distance was kinda far, now that I think about it.

Yume-senpai took a moment to look over at me in concern. “Is everything fine, Bobo-kun? You’re not feeling hot or thirsty are you? I know your halo makes you tougher and all, but…”

“Nah, I’m fine. I still feel energetic actually.” I punctuated my statement by raising my hammer and slamming it down on the spikes again. I nodded. “Yep. It’s gonna take a lot more than this to make me tired.”

“Really? Well, I suppose you did carry me for many days without food and water… It’s still really unbelievable, even when I remember bits of it firsthand.” Yume-senpai muttered to herself, following next to me as I kept hammering and moving on the next spot. “You really are something else, Bobo-kun. I wonder where you came from?”

“Dunno. I just remember waking up in the middle of nowhere.” Although I was wondering about that too actually. But then again, no memories. So I guess we’ll never know?

“Hmm… maybe we should try to search for something? Then again, a male student with a halo is unheard of.” Yume-senpai then frowned. “Maybe I should try to check the school records just in case. Sometimes I just stumble on some mysterious things when checking it…”

Huh, really? That happens? Sounds cool.

As I thought that, I then noticed another girl appear from inside the small station building. “Yume-senpai? I finished giving the supplies to Hoshino-senpai and cleaned inside…” Nonomi called out, before blinking in surprise when she spotted me. “E-Eh? Bobo-senpai!? You’re already here!?”

“Heya, Nonomi.” I greeted her with a wave and a smile, before going back to hammering.  

“H-Hasn’t it only been a couple of hours? How did you get here so fast?” she asked, confused.

“That’s what I said too, you know? But Bobo-kun works pretty quick. I don’t think groups of people that use equipment and machines could even rival his speed.” Yume-senpai said with a self-satisfied look on her face. “As expected of my underclassman! Now, our plan to repair the stations on our own is going splendidly!”

I nodded proudly. “Thanks. That must mean I’m good at railing things.”

“Definitely, Bobo-kun! You might just be the best one in Kivotos!” Yume-senpai agreed.

Do you really think so? Aww, shucks. “Heh, that pumped me right up.” I then increased my working speed. “Alright! I’ll go and rail things much harder then!”

“Yeah! That’s great! You’re so great, Bobo-kun!”

“T-That might not be the best way to phrase it, senpai…” Nonomi muttered, her face turning for some reason. Did she feel hot from the sun, maybe? “S-Still, that’s incredible! I think this station really will become operational after a few more things to repair!”

“Your help was also invaluable Nonomi-chan! Thank you so much for helping us, even when you’re not a student of Abydos yourself. Even an extra couple of hands help a lot.” Yume-senpai said gratefully. 

“No, it’s fine senpai. I wanted to help. And even if I go to a different school, Abydos is still important to me. It’s home, after all.” Nonomi replied. “If I could help make things better by helping you fix this place, especially with this project that pushed the district to the brink… then I don’t regret it one bit.”

“Nonomi-chan…” Yume-senpai muttered after hearing that, gaining a tearfully happy look on her face. “T-To think that even as a middle schooler, you’re so mature…! I’m so proud and happy that I have such good juniors!”

“A-Ahaha… thank you.”

As Nonomi acted awkwardly at Yume-senpai’s praise, another familiar face appeared out of the small station building, calling out to our president. It was Pinky, covered in dirt and grease as if she just dumpster dived or something.

“Senpai, I…” 

The girl glanced at my direction, and her eyes widened in surprise similar to Nonomi’s reaction. I waved at her in greeting and she stared at me. Then after a short moment, she then sighed, turning to Yume-senpai again and ignoring me completely. How rude! 

“…I just finished checking out the electricity here. Things aren’t looking good, but it’s still salvageable.” Pinky informed her. “Rats definitely chewed out some of the wires and the rust had gotten so bad that some things had to be thrown away. Thankfully, the generator worked after I fixed it up. That should give some backup power before we connect it to the electrical grid.”

“Oh, really? That’s great news! Do you have a solid idea of what we need?” Yume-senpai replied.

“Some are already in the ones Nonomi brought. Those I replaced. There’s others though.” Pinky frowned. “And aside from the electricity, I also checked out the piping system. Many pipes really need to be replaced.”

“That’s fine, Hoshino-chan. As long as it’s nothing big, it’s going to be well within the student council’s budget! We’ve already set aside enough money for this month’s deposit after all.” Yume-senpai reassured her. “Go on. Tell me what you need, Hoshino-chan.”

“No, there’s no need to buy anything. I think I saw some PVC pipes that fit on the unused wing in our school…”

As Hoshino discussed what to do on fixing the station building, my mind felt a bit blank because I had no idea what she’s saying. I guess she’s really a genius student, as Yume-senpai had attested. I mean, fixing a generator and the piping system? I’m pretty sure that the things she was talking about is something actual professionals do.

Hm… or maybe it’s normal and I’m just dumb? Yume-senpai and even Nonomi seem to know what she’s talking about, considering they’re listening keenly and even suggesting other options. I guess they just teach those normally at school, huh. That sounds cool. Education is really cool.

Welp, I have no idea what they’re saying, so I guess I should just stick to my job.

And so I kept hammering the spikes on the railway. This was the last part, and after this Yume-senpai, Pinky, and Nonomi will probably head to the next station and I work on the next sections of the rails. But for now, this is where I’ll probably stop.

As I continued slamming the hammer, though - it seems like one of the spikes must have been incredibly damaged since shattered after I hammered into it, sending bits and pieces everywhere. 

“Ah. Whoops.”

I looked down in reflex to see that it hit me, or more specifically, my white PE shirt. It was only seeing the dirt streak from the bits hitting me that I realized a dire problem.

I’m a dumb guy, but even I know that wearing a white shirt while doing something that might stain you is a big no-no. Except, that’s what I’m doing right now because I forgot to consider that.

And now, the white PE shirt I was wearing was stained with my sweat, sand, dirt, and various other stains from all the things that I did on my way here. Yeah, this is bad. Especially since I only have a few clothes bought for me by Yume-senpai and Pinky.

I considered what to do for a moment… and then removed my shirt and put the dirty cloth around my shoulders. I nodded my head, feeling satisfied. 

Yep, this should do! A bit late, but it’s better than never and making the stains worse.

“Hm hm, hm hm hmmm~♪”

Hammering on, I continued until I finally reached the end of the station. The hammer slammed one last time as the final spike was readjusted, leaving the rails pretty secure. I rested the hammer on my shoulder and wiped the bit of sweat on my head, looking back at my work as I did so.

Yep. Looks nice I think. I nodded my head, feeling satisfied about it. And with that, I finished fixing rails in the entire section starting from the district up to here. Productive stuff!

I turned back to where the girls were to let them know that I’m done and… they’re already looking at me. Huh, is there something wrong?

Nonomi must still be feeling hot from the weather because her face was still red. Although, she looked a bit shy for some reason, looking away from me slightly while giving the occasional glance. In contrast, Pinky who was right next to her was wide-eyed as she stared at me. This time she had a strange expression on her face, one that I couldn’t quite make out… is she embarrassed? I could never really tell what that girl is thinking most of the time.

But the strangest of all was Yume-senpai. She had her phone out, holding it up while she stared at me with a neutral expression. I guess she must be texting something or checking on things.

Snap!

I blinked at the sudden noise. I tried to place where it came from for a moment, before realizing that it was from Yume-senpai’s phone. Did she just take a picture?

In any case, the noise broke the strange daze these girls were under. Nonomi and Pinky stiffened, and while the former turned really embarrassed for some reason, the latter… Hoshino slowly turned to Yume-senpai with an unreadable look.

“E-Eh? I thought I muted it?” Yume-senpai panicked as she fumbled with her phone “T-That’s strange, hahaha…”

“…Senpai?”

“Nooo! You have the wrong idea, Hoshino-chan! I was just, you know… documenting! Yeah, that’s right! Documenting!” Yume-senpai explained to her. “We need necessary records especially when undertaking a project of this scale! T-That’s the reason why I took the picture, and nothing else!”

“That’s clearly not it! Go delete that picture right now!” Pinky cried out, before turning to me and pointing an accusing finger as I moved to approach them. “A-And you! Put back your shirt on! What’s with you, suddenly going topless!? Don’t you have any shame!?”

I gave her a confused look. “What? I removed it because it’s getting dirty. And it’s all wet because I’m really sweaty too.”

“Y-Yeah, you really are sweaty, huh…?” I heard Yume-senpai mutter, giving a strangely intense look at my neck for some reason while saying that. She gulped. “T-That seems like a problem—Eeek! Owie!”

She squeaked in surprise as Pinky suddenly smacked her head. “Why are you still looking at him, senpai!?” she shouted again before turning to me. “And wear your clothes already, damn it! Before I make you!”

Seriously, why is she so worked up…? It’s not like she didn’t see me already naked. I gave her a strange look, before glancing around to look at the others. Yume-senpai looked a bit ashamed while cradling the spot where Pinky smacked her, while Nonomi—

“Awawawa—!” Yeah, she was muttering some gibberish from the side. Huh, I think I remember her doing that just yesterday. That’s a familiar sight.

“Are you even listening!? I told you to cover yourself!” Oh whoops. I think she’s getting angry.

“Okayyy.” 

Pinky and the others were acting strange, but I went ahead and did what she asked. Ah, well. I have no idea what’s happening, but Pinky shouting is pretty normal anyway, so I guess everything is just like the usual for us!

As I put back my shirt on, Yume-senpai took the opportunity to change the subject with a cough. 

“A-Ahem! Anyway! It looks like Bobo-kun is done with his task!” she said, hiding her phone away behind her. I don’t think she did what Pinky demanded her to do. Are you sure about that, senpai? Not like I’ll tell on you, though. “Nonomi-chan and I also finished clearing the sand in the station, and the rest of the problems Hoshino-chan found would need us getting more materials. I think we’re done for today!”

Pinky thankfully didn’t notice though. “…Fine. I guess we did plenty enough.” she settled.

“It’s still the middle of the day, so why don’t we go back to our school?” Yume-senpai suggested, before turning to Nonomi. “Nonomi-chan, you want to go with us? Ah, but it’s fine if you have something else to do though.”

Said girl looked like she finally recovered from her fluster, although her face still looked red and she’s looking away from my direction, for some reason. “I-I’d like to join if that’s okay, senpai!”

“Really? That’s great! Let’s go back to Abydos then. I’ll show you around, Nonomi-chan!”

With that, we all decided to go back, leaving the soon-to-be-fixed train station behind. It’s pretty cool that we managed to accomplish this much in just a couple of days worth of work, but I guess we’re just good like that.

All in a day’s work in Abydos’ student council~☆!

…

…

The others look like they’re avoiding looking at me, and I could feel that there was this strange atmosphere as we went back to Abydos. 

Seriously, I don’t get why they’re acting like this. Maybe it’s because I look really dirty…? Yeah, it’s probably that. And I probably stink too, considering the sweat.

…I should probably shower when I get back.

Chapter Text

And now, we’re reunited with a certain group of characters. Just as the title foretold.

Those helmets look Cool Part 2

“—Good work, everyone! You’re all pretty amazing today, we really made good progress!”

After finishing today’s tasks, we all went home pretty tired and satisfied. Or, well, the others were tired but I wasn’t because I was feeling oddly strong - but you get the gist. Anyhow, we went back to the student council room after that and we settled comfortably on our seats. 

“Here. Help yourselves, everyone.” Yume-senpai said, putting the tray of stuff in the middle of the table. It was tea and snacks. Ooh. Don’t mind if I do.

I took a cup and a couple of snacks. Then I took a sip of the refreshing tea and started eating. Just like always, the snacks Yume-senpai brings out are the best. Yum.

Though unlike always, we have an additional member in the student council room. Yume-senpai added an extra cup and snacks. “Here, Nonomi-chan, you get some too! I’m sorry if we only have some biscuits though. We don’t have anything better to offer for a guest, hahaha…”

“Oh, no. This is all fine for me, Yume-senpai! Thank you very much.” Nonomi said, taking her tea and grabbing a bite of the biscuit. “Mhm~! These are pretty tasty!”

“Heehee, glad you like it.” Yume-senpai happily said as she sat down. “It’s the least I could do with my juniors working so hard, after all. I know I decided to take on the railway project on a whim, but thanks to all your help, we might possibly use it to make things for the school better!”

I nodded my head while munching on the biscuits. “Yeah, we’re gonna make the coolest station in Abydos and earn good money. Nom nom nom.”

“Yeah, that’s totally right, Bobo-kun. And couldn’t have done it without you, you know?” Yume-senpai said, giving me a grateful smile. “So thank you for that.”

I ate the whole biscuit and gave her a double thumbs up. “Nurgh phrghblum.”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Pinky sighed out as she also took her own cup and snacks. The girl took a sip on her tea for a moment, before speaking once more. “…Senpai. I’d like to ask you something.” she began, gaining our president’s attention. 

“What is it, Hoshino-chan?”

“Now that we have a good chance of actually fixing the stations, I’d like to know how we would actually go about using it.” Yume-senpai tilted her head at that, making Pinky elaborate. “I’m talking about how, as you say, it’ll be used as an opportunity to save the district. Say that we did get to fix the station - what do we do next? What exactly do we do with it?”

“Ahh… that’s what you mean.” Yume-senpai hummed in understanding. “Well, for starters, I guess we’ll have to make people go to the outskirts first? There’s not much reason for them to use it if it weren’t the case.”

Pinky looked like she agreed. “That’s what I was thinking too. But how exactly should we go about it?”

Ooh, are we having our routine discussions in the student council room? These are always fun.

I nodded my head and steepled my fingers together. “If I may suggest something.” I began, speaking in a solemn tone. “Maybe… we can put something cool there to make them go. That ought to do it.”

Pinky gave me a deadpan gaze, staring at me with this strange ‘are you serious right now?’ expression - probably because she could comprehend my genius. Yume-senpai completely understood though, and she gave me an inquisitive look. 

“Oh, do you have something in mind, Bobo-kun?” she asked.

I nodded. Then, crossing my arms proudly, I gave them my most ingenious answer.

“We should put trains in it.” Trains are cool after all.

“—Of course that’s a given, dumbass!” Pinky suddenly shouted out for some reason, slamming the table hard in the process. “The place is a damn train station! What else is there besides trains!?”

Yume-senpai stared blankly at me for a moment - before her eyes widened, clearly realizing something. “Wait, Hoshino-chan! Bobo-kun has a point!” she cried out in shock, making Pinky turn to her in confusion and outrage. “We own the rights to the railway project, but so far all we have right now is the stations! We don’t actually have any trains to use!”

Pinky looked shocked at that. “Wha—! Are you serious!?”

“U-Unfortunately, I think that might be correct.” Nonomi interjected, looking quite abashed. “After Saint Nephthys declared the project a failure and moved out of Abydos, they took quite a lot of their trains with them to other districts for different ventures. Not to say they brought everything , but the ones that did remain here…”

“…Then it’s probably wrecked by now.” Pinky finished. Then, she sighed. “I get it. I remember encountering something that looked like a train once when patrolling around Abydos. I can’t believe I failed to acknowledge such a simple fact…!”

“Buehehe. Who’s the dumbass now?”

Pinky’s face immediately turned red as she glared at me. “S-Shut up! I forgot about it, so what!?” Owo, what’s this? Are you embarrassed, Takanashi Hoshino? So cute. “W-What’s with that look? Stop that!”

“W-Well, it’s not all that bad!” Yume-senpai remarked, cutting in before Pinky could get any angrier. “While we might not be able to own the trains ourselves, we could make the trains that go to Abydos connect to the stations. Of course, that means we’d have to negotiate the portion of money they’d take as opposed to us using it entirely for ourselves. Then there’s also the matter of whether they agree to it in the first place…”

Pinky forced herself to calm down as Yume-senpai returned to the discussion, gaining a thoughtful look on her face. ”In the end, it goes back to whether or not people want to go to our stations.” she concluded. “…Can we incentivize people to go to the outskirts? As the student council, we should have at least the power to do that.”

Yume-senpai’s face scrunched in thought. “Hmmm, I think there’s still some interest in using it as a faster way to travel around Abydos since some pass by near the outskirts of other populated areas in the district. But I think you’re right, Hoshino-chan! We should probably do something like that.”

“Can you think of anything, senpai?”

“I don’t really have any…? I think I’d have to check the previous student council records. Maybe I can see what they did before while facing a similar problem.” Yume-senpai remarked. “Tax benefits, maybe?”

“Tax benefits? We could do that?” Pinky looked confused. “That’s the first time I’ve heard of this. I know Abydos governs the district but I don’t think anyone pays Abydos taxes, nor do we have the power to affect it.”

“Oh, that? Well you see, Hoshino-chan, how it works is that—”

As Yume-senpai began to explain something about tax in Abydos or another, I found my brain turning off for a moment. The words do not make any sense. Hm? Are tax laws and systems even something that high school students are so knowledgeable about? I mean, I lost my memories, but I just have this feeling that’s not quite right…

Oh well. It’s not like this isn't usual. At some point in a discussion, I start to not understand what the hell they were talking about. So I just nodded my head as she spoke, pretending to understand it all.

“—and that’s all, Hoshino-chan.” Yume-senpai finished.

“Hm. Mmyes. That is a good point.” I remarked coolly with crossed arms. “Very interesting.”

Someone seemed to disagree with me though.

“What are you even acting interested about? I doubt you even understood a single thing of what Yume-senpai said. Quit acting like you do, idiot.” Pinky deadpanned.

I gave her a patient look, before responding. “The wise learn more from a fool, than a fool can from the wise.” I sagely said.

There was a pause from her as she tried to understand my wise words. 

“Wha—? What are you even on about? D-Did you just try to quote me something?” Pinky had this indescribable look on her face as she stared at me. “How does that even apply there? That response doesn’t make sense!”

“See? If you couldn’t understand, then why judge others for being the same? In the end we’re similar, you and I.” I responded, making the girl’s face scrunch up in sheer incomprehension. “The both of us - we’re birds of the same weather. Two in a pod. Peas of a kind.”

Pinky stood up from her seat. “—Are you trying to say I’m an idiot!? Me!? And all of the phrases you’ve uttered were used wrong, damn it!” she shouted.

I gave her a disappointed look at that. “Wrong? I don’t think so. Your assumption is simply arrhenius.” she twitched, getting more pissed off for some reason. “Isn’t that right, Nonomi?”

Nonomi, who was watching us argue with a strangely fascinated expression, looked surprised at suddenly being addressed. “A-Ah, yes?” she said, before turning unsure when Hoshino leveled an intense look at her. “O-Or no? I’m not really sure…?”

Oh, so she doesn’t get it as well? Well, she is a middle schooler, so I guess it’s understandable. I gave Nonomi a sympathasizing look. “It’s okay, Nonomi-chan. I get it. We’re in this together.” I reassured her, giving her a thumbs up. “All three of us.”

“Quit lumping us together with you!” Pinky shouted again.

“Ahahaha… I guess hearing all that was confusing, Bobo-kun? It’s okay. Even I didn’t understand Abydos’ processes until I finally turned third year and became student council president. It took me quite a while to wrap my head around it.” Yume-senpai said sheepishly.

Is that so? And here I thought I was just dumb.

“But keeping ourselves on topic,” Yume-senpai continued with a pondering frown on her face. “We might be able to do something with the authority of Abydos, but to what end, exactly? What should we do, and who should we aim for first?” she scrunched her face in thought. “Hrmmm…! This is hard. Thinking about this is hard.”

Looks like it’s my time to shine again. I crossed my arms and donned a smug look. “If I may suggest something?” I prompted.

Pinky interrupted me quickly. “No, you shut up. You’re probably going to say something stupid like targeting cool people or something, aren’t you? I swear, I’ll smack you if you do. I’m not kidding.”

I blinked in shock. How did she know what I was going to say? That’s the second instance where she read my mind so far. As I thought, was Takanashi Hoshino a mind reader all this time…!? 

But before I could comment on what she said though - a sudden noise made me pause. The others also did the same, turning stiff in their seats. All of us turned to the direction of the window from where we heard the noise come from.

It was gunshots. Pretty near us, from the looks of it.

After a short moment of us looking at one another, we all stood up from our seats and walked towards the window. Yume-senpai opened it, letting the wind breeze in the room and giving us a clear view of the school’s entire courtyard to see what was happening.

“These bastards again…” Pinky muttered irritatedly.

And there we saw plenty of people gathered right in front of the school gate. Said people were a familiar sight, with them being the helmeted girls that I encountered when I got lost on my first day in Abydos. But then there’s also unfamiliar things - like those robots that also wore helmets on their faces.

Oh, and there’s a tank aiming at us right behind them too.

Huh? Where did all these people come from? There’s, like, only ten of them last time. Now they’re a lot bigger than that.

Also, why are they here? I thought we settled our differences last time.

“—Hey, Abydos student council! You’re there aren’t you!?” a red-helmeted girl in front of the group shouted loudly. “Come out and face us! You think you can mess with our gang and just walk away, huh!?”

She punctuated her words by shooting her gun again to the sky.

“Guess what? We’re the helmet gang! And those that insult us are gonna be taught a lesson!” she declared. “We’re going to pay back the humiliation you gave us! We’ll wreck you and your stupid school until nothing’s left anymore!” 

“Prepare yourself, Abydos student council! Suffer the wrath of the Abydos Helmet Gang!”

…

…

…I guess they’re still angry about the trespassing.

Chapter Text

Wow, big fight. It's twice the normal chapter length.

Those helmets look Cool Part 3

Me, Yume-senpai, Nonomi and Pinky were right at the window overlooking Abydos' front schoolyard. We stared at the large group of gun-toting students and robots, along with an actual tank, and listened as the one that looked like their leader declared their desire to fight us.

There was a moment of silence as everyone tried to comprehend the situation.

Then, Nonomi spoke up. 

“Those helmets… it’s the Abydos Helmet Gang!” she said with a raised voice, looking a bit worried. “I’ve heard that they’re a bunch of troublemakers causing chaos in the district. They’re a large group that’s gaining notoriety even in other districts around like Gehenna or Trinity! W-What should we do, senpai?”

I tilted my head at that.

Hm? Helmet gang? So that’s the name of their group, huh. Makes sense. And they seem to be a pretty famous group too, even if it wasn’t in a good way… Who knew I interacted with a group like that in my first days here? 

In any case, Pinky brought up her shotgun in answer to Nonomi’s question. “I’ll get rid of them.” she said simply, her expression turning cold. “Just wait for a bit. This’ll be over in a few minutes.”

She was about to turn around and leave, but then Yume-senpai stopped her. “Wait a minute, Hoshino-chan. Maybe we can talk to them for a moment? I don’t think that things need to turn violent…”

Pinky gave Yume-senpai a confused look. “Why? They came here and announced to us what they wanted to do. I don’t think talking to them would stop this.”

“W-Well, you never know! What if this was just a misunderstanding? Surely that must be worth checking, right?”

“It’s pretty clear what they want if you ask me.” Pinky deadpanned.

“Let’s just make sure before things escalate into a fight, Hoshino-chan.” Yume-senpai insisted, before looking right back out the window. “Excuse me! Do you mind telling us why you’re doing this? I don’t think we did anything particularly wrong!”

“Hah? The hell are you trying to act clueless for? That pink-haired brat with you has been a thorn in the helmet groups here in Abydos!” the red helmeted student shouted back angrily. “You student council bastards mess up the district, and now you’re messing up our way of life too! We’re sick of it! And now that stunt of you a couple of days ago is the last straw!”

“O-Oh, is that so? Sorry…” Yume-senpai sheepishly said with a wince, retreating back from the window. “They look pretty mad.” 

“See? I know you don’t like fighting senpai, but sometimes it’s just unavoidable. This is Kivotos, after all.” Pinky said, making Yume-senpai sigh.

“I guess there really is no choice…” she muttered. “But still, did you fight with these people at some point, Hoshino-chan? I don’t remember us encountering them much. And they all seem to recognize you.”

Pinky frowned. “I usually take care of these guys whenever I patrol the district after school. I guess they just held a grudge.” she explained. “Gathering all the others isn’t usual though. They’re mostly split into their own groups, so this is surprising.”

Yume-senpai nodded. “And they have a tank too.” she tilted her head. “Where did they even get that? Did they buy it themselves? People willing to sell that in Abydos are hard to come by these days.”

“Maybe. Or maybe they pilfered it from somewhere else.” Hoshino sighed. “Anyway, just sit tight, senpai. I’ll go deal with them quickly, and then we’ll return to talk about how we can use the railway project to—”

“—What the hell are you two chatting about there, huh!? You think you can just ignore us!?”

The red helmeted girl didn’t look like she appreciated Pinky and Yume-senpai started to ignore her and converse with themselves. While I couldn’t see her face, it felt like she was fuming angrily, and the girl grabbed something from her waist.

“Then let’s see you try to ignore this !” she then tossed said thing. “Hyah!”

I blinked as it flew through the air in a graceful arc - one that led its trajectory straight through the window we were looking from and into the student council room. Pinky’s eyes immediately widened as it landed on the floor.

“Damn it!” she cursed, before diving right behind the table. The others seemed to mirror her, Nonomi taking cover right behind the sofa and lying low, while Yume-senpai immediately deployed her shield to cover herself in a hunched position. All of them looked pretty protected.

Except for me, because I have no idea what the thing was.

“Huh? What’s this?” I kneeled down and picked it up, holding the thing in my hand. What is this? A spray paint? From the corner of my vision I also saw the others looking at me in what looked like panic though, and I gave them a confused look. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Bobo-kun!”

“Senpai!”

“Idiot, get away from that—!”

Yume-senpai and Nonomi didn’t really answer my question but Hoshino looked like she was about to - the only problem being that she wasn’t able to finish speaking. Heat and light suddenly filled my entire vision, and the sound that accompanied it was the deafening bang that came out from the thing that I picked up. A sudden force also seemed to blast me away, and due to my position where I had my back to the window - I appear to have been thrown out of the window itself.

I landed hard as I suddenly fell much further down and hit a sandy ground which kicked up a cloud of dust. Oof, that knocked the breath out of my lungs. And I think that it jingled some of my brain cells in my head too, considering I finally realized what that thing was.

I think that was a grenade. Whoops.

“Wahaha! One down, only three more to go!” I heard the red helmeted girl shouted excitedly. I couldn’t really see her, because of the dust cloud. “Everyone, in positions! We’ll storm the school and wipe them out quickly!”

“B-Boss! You need to be careful! That person that just fell…!” Oh, a new voice. Hold on, it sounds sort of familiar…

“Hah? You’re still going on about that tough male student? Look, you’re probably tired at the time. There’s no way something like that exists!” the red helmet girl argued. “Anyway, get going! Takanashi Hoshino is an enemy we shouldn’t underestimate at all costs. We’re going to get rid of her once and for all!”

“B-But…!”

“Hey. She’s right, you know? I’m a guy.” I defended the girl as I calmly stood up from the ground, the dust cloud I kicked up starting to dissipate. The group of students and robots moving paused when I spoke up, especially the two red helmeted girls right in front of me, who slowly turned in my direction. 

They’re all surprised for some reason. Maybe they didn’t really think I was a guy? Anyway, I didn’t really pay attention to that, with my focus more on the other girl with the red helmet that claimed I was a dude in the first place. It was then that I realized why she felt familiar.

“Oh, you’re the one that I met last time!” While I didn’t really see her face with it being covered and all, I remember her hairstyle and clothing. “What’s up? How have you been doing?” I greeted.

“Ah?” The red helmet girl stiffened, her head suddenly glancing down to my waist for some reason, before seemingly taking a hold of herself and looking away. “U-Um… fine, I guess?”

I nodded. “That’s good. I’ve been doing good too, if you ask me.”

“—Nobody’s asking you! What the hell, how are you still conscious even after that!? You got blasted by my grenade!” the other red helmet girl, the leader of this group, meanwhile shouted. “Tch! Oi, all of you! Blast this guy!”

That seemed to have broken the spell that everyone was under. At her command, every gun was suddenly aimed at me and they started shooting. I felt the bullets hit my skin, but it didn’t really feel all that painful. So I just stood there, taking it all.

Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! 

As I stood there, it was getting clear that the bullets were having no effect. The red helmet leader had her face covered, but it felt to me like she was looking more and more disbelieving the longer I stood there, looking undamaged by the bullets. 

Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! Click!

And then every magazine was spent. The red helmet leader brought her gun, a rifle whose name I don’t know, down slightly.  “What the…? How is he not harmed at all?” she said, her 

“I already told you that bullets won’t work…” the other red helmet girl muttered.

The red helmet leader turned flustered. “H-How would I know you’re telling the truth!? Do you know how unbelievable it is when you suddenly come to us shouting about some male student or another? There’s no way we’d—”

“—Bobo! What are you doing just standing there!?”

A sudden shout made me look up to the school building to see Hoshino with a foot on the window. With wide eyes, I watched her as she jumped off from the third floor, before landing on the ground right beside me in a graceful roll. She then stood up and raised her shotgun, pointing it towards the helmet gangsters - who all stiffened in surprise once more.

My jaw dropped. Holy shit, that was so cool.

“Senpai! Get down here quickly!” Hoshino shouted to Yume-senpai and Nonomi who were still in the room. They quickly disappeared from view, probably to take the stairs. The girl glared at me next. “And you! Draw your gun! We’re fighting them now!”

Oh, right. I guess I should do that. I grabbed the pistol on my waist and held it in my hand.

The red helmet leader finally recovered and clicked her tongue. “Damn it! Plan B!” she shouted, before grabbing another grenade on her waist and tossing it to us. “And get the tank in position!” she shouted, running away.

I was pushed to the side. “Get to cover quickly!” Hoshino shouted.

“Right!”

The pace was quite frantic but I managed to follow Hoshino’s instructions. Us moving quickly made us avoid the grenade as it went off somewhere behind. Bullet whizzed past us as we quickly moved as well, and I ran beside Hoshino to protect her from being hit. We then managed to the trees in the courtyard right in front of the building and hid behind them for cover.

“Hoshino-chan! Bobo-kun!” Yume-senpai also appeared at that exact moment, already being on the first floor with her shield deployed. She jumped out of the window right beside us. “Is everything alright? I heard another grenade go off!”

“It’s fine.” Hoshino answered quickly as she returned fire behind the tree, before quickly moving the subject. “Senpai, I’m going to need you to take point. We need to quickly stop that tank before it does anything.”

Yume-senpai nodded, holding her shield. “Okay. Then you go stop them, Hoshino-chan!”

“I-I’ll support you from the back, senpai!” Nonomi said, her tone a bit nervous but still filled with resolve. She was still in the building since she didn’t jump out the window. The girl then unzipped the large bag she kept bringing with her and… is that a minigun? Cool. “I’ll help all of you as much as I can!”

“That’s more than fine. Thank you.” Hoshino nodded her head to Nonomi, before turning to me. “And you, you remember all the basic combat tech notes I’ve made you study, right? Please say that you do.”

Oh, yeah. We did study something like that this morning. “Of course I do. Should I do what it says?”

“Follow it exactly to the letter.” she said, her eyes narrowing. “Got it?”

I gave her a thumbs up along with my patented and trademarked confident smile. “Definitely.”

For some reason that seemed to give the opposite effect as she gave me this extremely skeptical look, but she wasn’t able to comment on it as a grenade was tossed in our direction. Hoshino immediately moved - but this time, instead of moving away, the girl just grabbed the grenade off the ground and tossed it back in the direction it came from.

“Wah!?”

“Crap, get away!”

The group of helmeted students and robots near the grenade panicked, quickly jumping out of the way as it exploded. At that instant of everyone being caught off guard - Hoshino used it as an opportunity.

“Now, senpai!” she shouted.

“—Alright!” Yume-senpai ran, putting herself right in front of everyone in the courtyard and gaining their attention. “I’m sorry for this, but I’m not going to let you hurt my juniors! Hiyah!”

Yume-senpai charged with her shield and bashed it to one of the black helmeted students, making them crumple into a heap, before shooting the rest around her while taking cover behind her shield. The others returned fire, but it seems like Yume-senpai was quite durable like me so it hadn’t had much effect. She did wince whenever she got hit though, and before she was overwhelmed Nonomi fired from behind, forcing the enemy into cover again and giving Yume-senpai opportunities to get closer and deliver more blows.

Anyway, as she did that, I was left wondering what to do. What did the tech notes say about this again…? Right, it was something about making the point man go first, or something. And then if you aren’t the point man, you go support her along with your teammates.

Pinky said that Yume-senpai was the one taking point so I guess I should support her. I turned to Pinky  who, instead of charging on the front, went to the left side to probably attack from there. Nonomi was also aiming from the back, revving up her minigun and about to shoot.

And I guess that leaves the right side. Alright, that means I go there.

As I moved with them, the students who weren’t occupied by Yume-senpai or Pinky clearly noticed, moving to shoot at me. It was ineffective like always though and the few grenades thrown were easily avoided by me. I also brought up the pistol in my hand as I advanced and I shot my gun quite a few times in return. It missed, and they immediately went behind cover. 

Whoops.

Hmm, maybe I should come closer? The tech notes say rifles have the advantage compared to handguns when it comes to long range… then doesn’t it mean that, flipping the logic around, handguns have the advantage in small ranges? Man, I must be a genius.

With that, I walked forward to the covers as one of the helmeted robots kept unloading their gun at me. They also kept screaming, for some reason.

“G-Get away from meeee!”

“That goes against the manuals.” I pointed out as I finally arrived right in front of them. They stopped shooting for some reason, simply looking up at me with an expression I couldn’t see because of the helmet. I then pointed the handgun on their forehead. “Anyway, bye bye.”

I pulled the trigger, and the robot’s head lurched backwards. They fell on the ground, unconscious. I mentally commended myself for that. One enemy down.

“No way…”

“That’s the male student those guys were talking about…?”

“H-How is he so strong…!?”

Huh? Oh, right. There’s still others around. 

I looked around to see that the other helmeted troops were all just standing there, seemingly petrified. They weren’t even trying to shoot me since they probably know how useless it is. And I doubt they have any grenades left either. I don’t think these guys have anything else that they can do.

“Hmmm…”

Does that mean it’s checkmate? I stared at them, wondering if they’re going to surrender or something, but they all just trembled. Then at some point, one of the black helmeted girls looked like she gathered courage. The girl suddenly ran at me screaming while holding her rifle on the barrel-end like a bat.

“W-Waaaah!” the girl let out a cry as she ran towards me, much to the others’ shock.

“Wha—!? Hey, what are you doing!?” one of the other helmeted girls shouted. “Get back, you’re going to get shot—!”

I was also shocked as well. This is… I know what this is, she’s going to do CQC! I thought I had the advantage here up close because of my handgun, but this changes things. From earlier logic, the handgun has the advantage up close, but isn’t a melee weapon more advantageous than a handgun!?

Impressive. I thought they had nothing else they could do at this point, but they proved me wrong. Truly they are tough enemies… However!

“I will have the greatest advantage!” I shouted, throwing away my handgun. “After all, what else has a shorter range than my fist!”

“—He threw away his gun!? Why!?”

As the girl came closer, I prepared myself. What was the thing said in the manual about CQC again? Something about disarming the opponent of their weapon so you won’t be attacked… Yes, I understand it now.

“Take this, monster!” as the girl reached in front of me to deliver her blow, I watched with a keen eye. I waited for the very moment that she brought the gun down and—now!

“Gotcha!” “Hyah!?”

I ducked underneath the blow, before moving behind her - before encircling her arms around her form to prevent her from moving. The girl squeaked in surprise as she was caught in my trap. Hehehe, now she has no way of moving!

“L-Let me go! What are you doing!?” the helmeted girl tried to struggle, but it was futile since I had a good grip of her. I inclined my head down to speak with her.

“I got you now. You’re not going anywhere.” I declared as I spoke right next to her ear, making her turn stiff for some reason. “I’m not going to let you go…. Ever.”

“E-Eh?” the girl’s tone suddenly turned high-pitched. “What…?”

Oh, she didn’t understand it? I guess the helmet is blocking her hearing. “Didn’t you hear me? I said I’m never going to let you go. We’ll always be together like this.” I said it more intensely, embracing her tightly for emphasis. “It’s no use trying to resist.”

Her breath hitched. “U-Um… okay…”

…Hm? That’s a strange reaction. She stopped struggling almost immediately despite her initial reaction of charging at me. And for some reason, I feel that her body’s turning warmer too… Or maybe it’s just my imagination? 

Well whatever, at least I won. With that, I think that all the enemies here are done for. A look around shows that the people around me are all staring at me. It seemed a bit different from how they looked at me earlier, though.

“H-He’s hugging her! That male student is hugging her!” one of them suddenly shouted, pointing at me in an accusing manner. “W-What, what are you planning to do with our friend!?”

That seemed to echo through the battle and make the entirety of it pause - including to where Yume-senpai and Pinky were busy fighting at. The two of them and the helmet gang all turned to look at me as one when they heard the shout.

“Eh!? Bobo-kun!?” Yume-senpai cried out in shock. She was surrounded by unconscious helmet troops. There were still quite a lot, but there’s a significant number of them that got defeated. As expected of senpai! “Why are you…?”

“—What the hell are you even doing, pervert!?” Pinky also shouted, her face gaining a blush. She was right on top of the tank now, facing what looked like the red helmet leader earlier, with a trail of destruction leading up to that point. “I told you to follow the tech notes! How did that turn into you hugging someone!?”

Man, my classmates all work fast. But still - hug? I disarmed her. I’m pretty sure what I’m doing is CQC. Not hugging her at all.

But before I could say that - a growl from the red helmet leader beside Hoshino interrupted me.

“Y-You…” she started shaking atop the tank, before jabbing her hand in my direction. “Let go of her! Or else we’ll blow you up to kingdom come with our tank! Tank team, aim at him!”

I tilted my head. “But wouldn’t that mean blowing up this girl too?” I asked.

“S-Shut up! Just do it! Or else we’ll—!” she wasn’t able to finish as Pinky suddenly smacked her with her shotgun. “Hey, no fair! I haven't finished speaking yet!”

“Like hell I care! Get the hell out of our school!”

The two started a brawl atop the tank, their weapons entangling as they tried to push off the other to stop shooting again. Or at least, that’s until Hoshino changed her approach and started beating the red helmet leader instead. 

“Ow! H-hey, seriously quit it!” the red helmet leader shouted. “It’s cramped in here, and this tank is scrap-built! One wrong move and you might hit something inside and we both explode!”

“As long as I get rid of this tank, it’s fine.”

“Grragh!” The red helm leader suddenly burst out of the tank's hatch. Judging by the sudden cries from inside the tank that’s audible even to where I was, she must have forced herself through the tank crew to do that.“Are you insane, you damn—!”

There was a clunk . Both of them stopped.

“Eh?” the red helm leader suddenly muttered in surprise. “That was… the firing mechanism…”

Oh, is it gonna fire? I looked at the tank which was aiming… right at me, from the red helmet leader’s earlier command. Oh.

Hoshino quickly looked at me in panic. “Bobo—!”

Time slowed down. Maybe it was due to the realization that the tank was about to fire at me, but that wasn’t really what my thoughts are focused on at the moment.

What should I do exactly in this situation? Let’s see… Pinky told me to follow the tech notes to the letter, but I don’t think it included anything about being shot by a tank? As far as I remember, there wasn’t anything like that. Or could it be that type of situation where you’d have to draw parallels from a similar situation the tech notes gave you? 

Yeah, that’s probably it. Those types of things appear in exams, or at least I think so. But if that was the case, in what situation is this most similar though…?

Hm… a tank, huh? Tank shoots shells, and shells… they explode. Ah, yes. It must be about explosives! Right, let’s imagine this as an explosive being thrown at us. And what does the manual say about it?

Throw yourself out of the way as far as possible, and lay low on the ground. But if you have the time - you can also throw it back to the enemy, using their explosive against them.

And I think I have plenty of time in this case.

…Yes, I think I know what to do. 

And so in less than 0.0005 seconds (estimated) I was able to decide on a course of action because of my beeg brain. I swiftly but gently put down the helmeted girl that I have in my arms, before moving in front of her, facing the tank head on. Then, feeling that it was appropriate, I also settled in a stance.

—Then the tank finally fired.

It was fast. I couldn’t see it at all the moment it launched the shell, but it was fine. I emptied my mind for this moment, letting my body act on its own. I simply decided to trust my instincts instead of anything else, becoming one with my entire surroundings.

And so, as the fast moving shell approached… My hands moved.

The shell had great force behind it and wouldn’t be knocked out of the way - it can, however, be guided. And that is what I did. My hands simply curved the tank shell’s trajectory instead of deflecting it outright, and I guided it to make it turn around.

Yes… this is a technique that I have learned from intense mediation. To guide the flow gracefully, instead of raging against a strong current… I have achieved inner peace.

Or something like that. Anyway, I caught the shell and twisted around, before tossing it up in the sky.

“—Wacha!” I shouted.

The shell flew up high for a few moments… before it eventually went down and landed on the next block, a small explosion audible even from here.

Okay, that’s gone now. I nodded satisfactorily before turning back to the rest.

They were staring at me again. Seriously, everyone has been staring at me a lot, huh. That’s like the third time already.

“So…” I began. “Are we gonna continue fighting, or…?”

There was a moment of silence from my question. I somehow felt this weird atmosphere that appeared between the helmet gang members even as no one spoke and all of them only looked at one another, before they all turned to their red helmeted leader.

“…”

Said leader was on top of the tank, still staring. She’s not even worried about Hoshino right next to her anymore (then again, Pinky has a similar reaction) and was looking in my direction with some unknown expression behind her helmet.

Then, she dropped her gun.

“—I give up. Screw this.” she said simply.

With that single statement, the other members instantly followed. They all dropped their guns and kneeled on the ground with their hands behind their backs, volunteering to do it all on their own.

It was, in essence, a complete and utter surrender.

…

…

Cool. I guess that’s that.

Chapter Text

Been busy again because of the exams. Anyway, here you go.

Those helmets look Cool Part 4

With the red helmeted leader’s surrender, the fight was over. Now no one is shooting their guns at us anymore, and the helmeted students and robots made no move aside from helping those who were unconscious. 

They also helped out the one I CQC’d with. She looked really out of it, staring up at me with a shocked expression after I stopped the both of us from being exploded from the tank.

Anyway, as soon as the lack of fighting became clear - Nonomi, who was in the building supporting us from the backlines earlier with her minigun, ran towards us. Or rather, it seems like she was approaching me in particular. The middle schooler had a concerned expression on her face as she stopped right in front of me.

“B-Bobo-senpai, are you okay? You just got shot by a tank!” the girl cried out worriedly.

“Nah, I’m fine. Don’t worry.” I reassured, giving her a thumbs up. “Just followed what the tech notes said on how to deal with it. Definitely worked really well.”

As expected, that manual has everything in it. Pinky really was right in telling me to follow it to the letter. I guess a genius like her must know what she’s talking about.

Nonomi seemed confused at what I said though. “I don’t think tech notes have anything about being shot by a tank… much less diverting the shell to deal with it…” she muttered, looking unsure. She quickly lost it in favor of looking at me in awe though. “B-But still, that was very incredible, Bobo-senpai! I’ve never seen someone do something like that before!”

Oh, I guess I must have thought wrong about it being in the manual then. Her compliments are also making me a bit embarrassed. “Huh, really?”

“Yes, you were very cool!”

I am? I scratched the back of my head. “Hehehe, thanks.”

As I felt happy about what Nonomi said, my attention was suddenly taken away when Hoshino and Yume-senpai approached the red helmeted leader of the gang. Urging Nonomi by patting her shoulder, we both did the same as well.

Those that we passed by tensed, but none more so than their leader. Despite that though, she squared her shoulders to look at the glaring Hoshino straight in the eye. “W-What? You looking for a fight?” she growled out.

“I thought you already surrendered?” I asked, making the girl stiffen.

“Erk, well— That doesn’t matter! We’ll be back for more! Mark my words!” she shouted. “I just didn’t expect that there would be a male student that could deflect tank shells here, of all things…!”

“We did warn you though…” the other, more familiar red helmet girl muttered beside her.

“S-Shut up!”

“ You shut up. Do you really think you’re in a position to act like that right now?” Pinky cut in, making the two helmet gangsters quiet instantly. The girl then pointed her shotgun on the leader threateningly. “You’re saying that you’ll be back for us, right? What’s stopping me from getting rid of you once and for all?”

“Eek!”

Wow, that’s kinda scary Pinky. I have a feeling that she’s just playing it up like the rest of her threats on me, but for the others I guess they don’t see that. I think I’m seeing those around us taking up their weapons again after seeing her point her gun at their leader.

Yume-senpai quickly stopped things from escalating again though. “N-Now, let’s calm down, Hoshino-chan. I don’t think they don’t want to fight anymore, right?” 

She said that while gently guiding the girl’s gun down. Thankfully, Pinky acquiesced, clicking her tongue as she did so. Yume-senpai laughed sheepishly before turning to the red helmet leader once more.

“A-Anyway! I know you said earlier that you’re angry at Hoshino-chan, but do you mind telling me why you tried to fight us…? I mean, it’s not like we did anything wrong, right?” she asked.

The red helmet leader glanced slightly at Pinky, before hesitantly answering. “…What’s that supposed to mean? Do we need a different reason aside from you pissing us off?” she muttered, before crossing her arms. “Especially when you’re the student council who made a mess of the district.”

“H-Hey, now. That’s the fault of the previous student council! Not that they didn’t do what they could to fight the desertification… b-but still, we’re trying to do our best here!” Yume-senpai argued.

“Hah? That doesn’t matter at all. You’re the student council, so you’re responsible for everything. So you better do your job!” the girl suddenly shouted. A bit emotionally, if I may add.

Yume-senpai blinked in surprise at that, just like me and Nonomi did. Hoshino, however, just turned angry. The girl glared again at the gang’s red helmeted leader, looking like she’s barely restraining throwing herself at her. 

“Then you’re not giving us an opportunity to! You delinquents are the ones making things difficult!” she shouted back. “Don’t you know how hard it is for us? How hard we work to save this school and district? We spend all our days trying to find a way and make things better, but all you do is just cause chaos around the district!” 

Hoshino snarled, her differently colored eyes gleaming intensely.

“You don’t get to speak that way when you do whatever you want and cause so many problems that we have to fix! All you do is just live life however you want without thinking of the consequences…” she clenched her fists. “…Idiots like you who live life easily could never understand how difficult things have been for us!”

There was a moment of silence as she said those words.

“Difficult, you say…?” Then, the red helmeted leader suddenly muttered those words. “You think we have it easy?”

Much to our surprise, what followed was the leader grabbing Hoshino’s collar and pulling the girl towards her. Hoshino immediately retaliated and did a smooth move that turned them around, pushing the helmeted leader on the ground with Hoshino holding her hands behind her back. 

The other helmet gangsters around reacted in surprise and brought up their firearms once more. “B-Boss!”

“—You think that we have it easy, huh!? How dare you! You’re the ones still with a school! You’re the ones with roofs in your heads, and you’re the ones who don’t have to worry about money running out for tomorrow’s food! And you say that you’re the ones who have it hard!?”

All of us, even Hoshino, stopped at her angered shout. The red helmeted leader tried trashed under Hoshino’s hold, but it looked like she wasn’t even trying to escape. She just wanted to hit Hoshino, who was right on top of her.

“You’re the ones who’ll never understand how hard things are for us! Do you think we wanted this!?” she kept shouting angrily, losing all the earlier fear she displayed for Hoshino. “All we want to do is to live a better life, but we can’t because we’re dropouts!” 

“What are you on about? If you want money then get a part-time job or something!” Hoshino argued.

“You think anyone will give us a job with us being our criminal records? No one would take us! Once you fall, you’re stuck in there! We’re stuck in this dump of a district and life sucks! All that we have is crime! That’s all there is for us!”

Hoshino was stunned. “That’s…”

I frowned at her words. Then I turned to the other red helmeted girl to the side, the one that we met last time, who was watching the scene quietly. “Hey, was all that she said true?” 

“Eh?” she stiffened, looking at me in surprise at my sudden question. Then as she registered what I asked, the girl then slowly looked away to the side before answering. “…Well, she’s not wrong.” she muttered. “It’s been hard living here. All of us want to leave Abydos in hopes of starting a new life, but… it’s not really going all that well.”

Oh. I guess they must have had it hard. Now that I think about it, didn’t she say something about that when we first met each other?

It really looks like I was pretty lucky meeting Yume-senpai and Pinky. If it weren’t for them then I might have been in the same situation as these guys, lacking a school and all. Not that I need to worry about food and drink that much but… well, things would still definitely be hard once I saw civilization and discovered that the world didn’t end after all.

In any case, as we all considered the leader’s words - Nonomi had a sad look on her face, while Hoshino was quiet. But the one with the strangest reaction of us all was Yume-senpai, who looked oddly determined about something.

“Hoshino-chan. Can you let go of her, please?” she asked.

The girl hesitated. “What? But…”

“It’s fine, Hoshino-chan.” Yume-senpai said, giving her a reassuring smile. “I just want to talk to her properly. Can you do that for me?”

Hoshino acquiesced. She let go of her hold and got off the leader, who quickly stood up and backed away from Hoshino. The red helmeted girl then turned to Yume-senpai and gave her what felt like a confused look.

“What? What else do you want?”

“…Recently, we were dealing with a new project. The first big one that’s been done by the student council for a long while after the old members left.” she began. “A couple of days ago, Abydos just bought the Trans-Desert Railway project. But, we were concerned about who would want to use it, because no one really lives that far away.”

As the helmet gangsters listened to Yume-senpai’s words, Hoshino’s eyes widened right beside her. “Senpai, you can’t possibly be saying…!” she muttered.

“You’ve said that as the student council, we’re responsible for everything that happens in the district. And I agree with that.” Yume-senpai continued. “All of you are our responsibilities, and even if it may feel just like empty words to all of you, I want to help. That’s why… I want you to listen to what I have to say.”

The girl then let out a smile.

“I have a proposal to offer. Would all of you mind hearing it out?”

As it turns out, Yume-senpai’s offer was to make the helmet gangsters live on the abandoned property around the stations.

Abydos was big before the desertification hit. It’s apparent when going to the ‘outskirts’ of the district that you’ll see buildings and homes extend even much further than that. Which is why there’s plenty of unused buildings to go around to be used, with some of them still having electricity or water if you’re lucky.

The homes around the station had neither but it’s easily fixed by making a generator along with rainwater dishes and fog collectors… or something like that. It was Pinky who said it so I have no idea. And while it was all very complicated, it seems like the helmet gangsters understood what she was saying, so I guess it’s fine.

Oh, and they also have to join Abydos too. So that’s cool.

“—So you’re saying that you’ll give us these properties for free and let us join Abydos, essentially not making us dropouts anymore, in exchange for making us promise to go clean and work on the station once you open it?” the red helmeted leader summarized Yume-senpai’s proposal. “Is that what you’re saying?”

Yume-senpai shook her head. “Well, not for free exactly. You still have to pay for a bunch of other stuff like taxes and other things to legally make it your own home… but it won’t be after a long while. Maybe once it’s clear that this part of the district is recovered?” 

“Essentially for free then. What are the chances of that ever happening?”

“H-Hey, we’re really doing our best you know…! Not that I don’t understand the sentiment, but still.”

We were all at the nearest station which we fixed just earlier today. The helmet gangsters inspected the place, looking over at the abandoned residential buildings around. Aside from all the sand, it looked pretty decent and livable.

“…I guess the rumors are true about the Student Council doing something big this time. I didn’t think that you’d be buying the railroads around the district, of all things.” the leader muttered.

Yume-senpai tilted her head curiously. “Oh, there’s rumors? I guess that must be what Nonomi-chan heard, then.”

“Ah?” Nonomi blinked. “Y-Yes, that must be it! We must have heard it from the same source…” 

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” the leader dismissed her words immediately. “So what makes you think that we’ll agree with this proposal? Living in abandoned buildings is already something that we do as delinquents. How does this benefit us all, when what we gain is just getting ourselves tied down to a dying school and making things harder for us?”

“Eh? If you’re asking me that…”

Hoshino, who was quietly listening all this time, interrupted from the side to answer that question. 

“You’re the one who said  that you wanted a better life. Do you think that will come to you if you continue your lifestyle? That leaving the district wouldn’t make you a dropout or delinquent?” she asked, making the leader pause. “No, the first step to that is going clean. Then you can go and transfer to some other school for all we care. Senpai is giving you people an opportunity here, so don’t go and waste it.”

“…So that’s what your plan is, huh. I guess we have no choice but to join Abydos.”

“I think you’re having the wrong idea!? W-We’re not forcing anyone, you can refuse if you want to!” Yume-senpai denied, before turning to Pinky. “H-Hoshino-chan, you need to phrase things better so people don’t take it as a threat!”

“I’m just laying down their choices, senpai. You have to put things bluntly, or else they’ll never understand.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, huh?” the leader looked ticked off at Pinky’s comment. “Sure, I guess we’re agreeing with your proposal - but know this! We’re going to take revenge for what you did to us, you hear!?”

Pinky immediately pointed her shotgun at the leader’s face again, making the girl shriek in surprise.

“—Eek!”

“You know, you’re really pissing me off. Just how ungrateful could you be? You came to us wanting to fight, but despite all that senpai went ahead and literally gave you the opportunity of a lifetime. And yet, you still act this way?” Pinky said, growling. Uh oh, she looks pissed. “Someone like you needs to be put in their place.”

“H-Hoshino-chan!? You need to calm down—!”

I grabbed Yume-senpai’s shoulder and she paused, turning to me as I passed by her. I gave her a nod. It’s fine, senpai. You can leave this to me.

I stepped right in front of Pinky, blocking the way of her gun and hiding the leader behind me. Both of them stopped, looking at me in surprise.

“…Bobo, what the hell are you doing?” Pinky asked.

“Stopping you from making a mistake.” I answered, making her confused. “These guys are going to be our classmates, you know? We’re supposed to be buddies now. So don’t fight each other.”

I put my arm around the leader’s shoulders in what felt like a friendly gesture. The girl then stiffened. And Hoshino too, for some reason. That’s a bit strange, but I still continued.

“—Isn’t that right? We’re cool.” I nodded, before giving the girl a smile. “Say, why don’t we hang out together after this? There’s this great ramen place near our school. Want to eat together to clear the air?”

…

…

“E-Eh? Ah, yes…?” the girl said, seemingly in a daze, before she started to look around in what I think was panic. “U-Um…!”

“Boss…”

“What, what!? What am I supposed to say!?”

Huh? Why is she acting like that? I looked around to see that the others around were staring at us, notably the other red helmeted girl as well as the black helmeted girl I CQC’d earlier with, giving their leader beside me with what felt like an intense gaze. Oh, and there’s also Yume-senpai and Nonomi, looking at me in shock.

“Senpai? What are you…?” Nonomi said that, confused.

Meanwhile, Yume-senpai looked like she was experiencing something mind-blowing. “Bobo-kun, what is this…?” she muttered. “C-Could this be his natural charm? There’s no way he doesn’t know what he’s saying, right…?”

I tilted my head. Did I do something wrong…?

And then there was Pinky. Once I spotted the expression on her face, I stiffened.

“You…” she growled, red-faced. “You pervert!”

Then, she shakingly brought up her shotgun and shot me in the face. What the heck!? That doesn’t hurt at all, but ouch!

“Idiot! Dumbass! Deviant!” she kept shouting manically as she shot me. “Exhibitionist meathead! Sexual harasser! No shame! Death penalty!!!”

What is this girl even saying? I seriously have no idea. But if she’s going to be that way, then…!

“Elementary schooler! Primary schooler!”

“What did you just call me…!? And that’s the same thing!”

Oh, it was? “Preschooler, then!”

“Why the hell did it get younger!?” I quickly took the leader and ran off. “Wha—!? Where the hell are you going!? Get back here!”

“P-Put me down! Waaaaah!” the leader also cried.

Too late. We’re accomplices now.

And so, as I took the leader with me as Pinky chased me around the station, Yume-senpai and Nonomi tried to stop us with some from the helmet gang, though the rest looked on at us looking stunned. Oh well, at least the atmosphere isn’t tense anymore. Now, if it only didn’t mean earning the wrath of Pinky…

—In any case, that’s how we got new students in Abydos.

Chapter Text

The dreaded tests chase me even in the edges of wakefulness, leaving me no time to appreciate the world as I pass by. Or maybe I just suck at time management, idk. But here you go. New chapter.

Social Media is Cool Part 1

It was another day in the Abydos student council.

“Hmm hmm hmmm~♪ And… It's done! Ta-da! Look at this Hoshino-chan - I finished the progress and financial report for the trans-desert railway! Isn’t your senpai incredible?”

“You finished it without me? Are you sure you did the calculations right?”

“One hundred percent positive! For sure!”

As Yume-senpai and Hoshino attended to some paperwork about the train project, I was busy with my own task. The pencil in my hand traced out the dotted lines on the paper, and focused my entire being into not making the stroke go out of line. The squiggly lines were a bit awkward at first, but I think I’m getting a hang of it.

“…Senpai, you forgot to take into account the value right here.”

“Eh? I did?” there was a pause. “Y-You’re right… And worst of all, that’s at the beginning of the calculation! Doesn’t that mean…!?”

“Yes, that means everything that comes after that is wrong.”

“No way…!”

Pinky sighed. “This is why we should’ve done it together and proofread. We can watch out for mistakes like these, at the very least.”

“Uu… my hard work…” Yume-senpai said, sinking on her seat with a gloomy expression. “I think I just lost all my motivation, Hoshino-chan. As expected, math is no good…”

I looked up from my work. “Hm? Math? Do you need help with math, senpai?”

Pinky gave me a deadpan look. “And what can you even help with? I doubt you can even up to a hundred with that empty brain of yours.”

“Heh, now that’s just wrong, Hoshino.” I corrected her smugly. “I can definitely do that since I counted up to ten thousand when I roamed the desert.”

That made her look more speechless for some reason. “...Why would you even count that high? That’s not impressive at all, it’s just weird.”

“I was bored.” There wasn’t much cool stuff to look at that time, after all.

“...Of course you were.” Pinky said blankly, before letting out a sigh. “Anyway, quit dawdling around and continue practicing your JP writing.” I pouted at that as I went back to writing the squiggly lines. Then, Pinky turned to Yume-senpai, who had her face down on the table. “And senpai. Stop whining and do your job already. Your workload isn’t going to decrease even if you do that.”

“But there’s just so much…! Can’t we do this later, Hoshino-chan? Let’s focus on something else first… Oh, I know!” Yume-senpai straightened in her seat. “Hoshino-chan, how are our new classmates taking their new homes? You kept contact with their leader, right?”

Pinky’s eyes narrowed at Yume-senpai’s poor attempt to set aside her task, but she seemingly decided that it was important enough of a topic since she still answered.

“...I did. They said they’re fine for the most part. There’s some problems on repairs because of some blockage or wrecked sections that require heavy equipment to clear out, though.”

I perked up at that, and Yume-senpai nodded her head. “I see, I see. Then we’ll be heading there with Bobo-kun! He can clear them out easily.” she declared, before continuing. “Was there anything else?”

“They’re also asking when they’d be able to take the train home. Their place is at the outskirts, after all. It’s a bit hard to commute to the district.”

Yume-senpai blinked. “Ah. That’s something we can’t answer… that really depends on the train company showing interest in our offer, doesn’t it?”

Offer? Ah, I guess they already talked with those companies with the trains. They did say they’re going to be doing that since the student council doesn’t actually own any.

“I know. I said as much. They didn’t like the answer considering I told them to just be patient though.” Pinky sighed out. “Still, they’re playing along with your proposal for now, senpai. They can see the benefits of it, but I have a feeling that if we take too long in delivering our promises then they’re just going to go back to how they always were.”

“That’s a bit mean to say, Pinky. We’re all supposed to be buddies now right?”

“I told you to quit calling me that name. And go back to your studies already!”

I pouted again as I was forced by the Tyrant Hoshino to scribble things on paper. Yume-senpai then chuckled sheepishly, scratching her cheek as she did so.

“Ahahaha, let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that…” Yume-senpai said, before letting out a soft smile. “But you know, Hoshino-chan? Those helmet gangsters are going to be our classmates now. They might have only joined out of convenience, but we’re still going to do our best to help them, okay?”

Pinky was frowning, but she quickly lost it as she let out another sigh as she turned away.

“…I still think that helping those delinquents is a huge waste of time, but you’re the student council president so I have no choice but to follow, I guess.” she muttered. Yume-senpai let out a bright smile.

“Thank you for having faith in me, Hoshino-chan!” Yume-senpai said happily, making Pinky splutter. “But moving on from that boring stuff - things have really changed, haven't they? Just a couple of weeks ago it’s just been you and me, Hoshino-chan, but now we’ve got a whole new batch of Abydos students along with Bobo-kun and Nonomi-chan joining us in our student council! Things are definitely looking up for us!”

Hoshino recovered from her surprise at that and gave Yume-senpai a side eye. “And it’s all thanks to your little desert trip that almost led you dying out of thirst.” 

Yume-senpai looked like she was suddenly stabbed in the heart. “Erk! You don’t have to remind me of that again, Hoshino-chan…”

“If it stops you from making another stupid mistake like that again, then I’m going to do it as many times as I want.” Pinky said simply, crossing her arms as she did so. “Also, why is Nonomi joining us in the student council? That girl is probably going to some other different academy when she graduates from middle school.”

“R-Really? She looks like she’s having fun with us though…”

“Yeah, yeah! Nonomi is one of us! It’s unfair to count her out.” I agreed, before giving her the accusatory pointy finger. “You’re just salty because a middle schooler is bigger than you.”

“Wha—!? What the hell did you just say!?” she suddenly cried out angrily. Whoops.

“Ahaha… You’re really good at riling up Hoshino-chan huh, Bobo-kun?” Yume-senpai commented as she looked at the both of us, before suddenly she looked thoughtful. “…Hmm, it’s like you know how to push her buttons. And speaking off, I remember you doing all those things to the helmet gangsters yesterday without even meaning to as well… Is this instinct, perhaps? Could Bobo-kun be a natural casanova…?”

Huh? Casanova? Like the cake? I tilted my head at that, while Pinky turned to Yume-senpai with a shocked expression. “Senpai!? What are you even saying!?” she shouted incredulously.

Yume-senpai, however, looked strangely determined. “This is important, Hoshino-chan! Especially with more students coming to our school, it’s clear that Bobo-kun would have girls coming after him if he keeps acting like this! That’s unaccept—I mean, that would be bad when he’s so gullible!” she held. “We need to protect Bobo-kun from girls who’ll take advantage of him!”

“No, no, what’s that got to do anything with us!?” Hoshino cried out again, before turning to me. Then, her face turned red for some reason and she looked away. “A-A-And who’s going to even like this idiot!?”

“Ah! Your face just reddened, Hoshino-chan! That was totally a tsundere move just now!”

“S-Shut up! It’s not!” Pinky shouted again, before forcing herself to calm down. “Anyway - you! Quit inserting yourself in the conversation and just focus on your studies, dammit!”

I gave her a smug look at that, before sliding the paper to her. “Heh. I’m already done.”

“What?” Pinky snatched the paper from the table while Yume-senpai leaned in to have a look. 

“Oh, these are good, Bobo-kun. You’re learning pretty well for someone essentially learning a language from scratch.” Yume-senpai said, before giving me a thumbs up. “Keep up the good work!”

I returned it. “Thanks, senpai!”

“It is pretty good, but this is just basic writing. Actually learning what each word means is the hard part.” Pinky pointed out. “Still, at least you can pronounce and write basic hiragana and katakana characters now. But as for the words themselves…”

“I can do that too, you know? I’ve practiced reading some words when you started teaching me how to read the characters. Come on, ask me a question.”

“You did?” Pinky seemed surprised. Heh, didn’t expect my genius, did you? “Well, if you did, let’s start with the basics then… tell me the JP for ‘I’.”

“Manko.”

“—What the hell did you practice with!?” Hoshino cried out as she slammed the table. “That’s definitely not the word for it! Where did you even hear that from!?”

“Eh, it’s not? I saw it on the restroom stalls when we were fixing the station last time. It’s full of writings there, you know? And that word appears a lot.”

“T-That’s, you should refrain from saying that, Bobo-kun. That’s a vulgar word.” Yume-senpai said, laughing nervously. I gave a shocked look at that. Really!? “I guess there’s still a long way to go before you master other languages besides Global… Hm?”

Yume-senpai’s attention was suddenly taken away as she looked down at her pocket and brought out her phone. Pinky and I turned to her curiously as she fiddled with it, before blinking when Yume-senpai let out a gasp of surprise.

“Ah! Hoshino-chan! It’s the train company we just sent to offer to! They’re saying they’re interested!” Yume-senpai shouted, making Pinky straighten in her seat. “And they also want… a meeting this noon!? That’s so soon!” 

Pinky’s eyes narrowed. “We need to gather everything and go to their place quickly. Their main building is in D.U. so it might take a while to get there. We also have to cancel all our other plans to prioritize this one.”

“Ah! That means we won’t be able to help our new classmates! And a whole other things we need to do as well. Unless, of course…” Yume-senpai turned to me. “Bobo-kun, is it alright if you and Nonomi-chan help them without us?”

Oh, I don’t get to join them? That’s a shame, but helping our new friends is just as good too. 

“Sure!” I said, giving Yume-senpai a thumbs up.

“Is it fine leaving them alone? Somehow, I think it’s a bad idea.” Pinky said with a doubtful tone. How rude! “…But then again, the alternative is taking him with us to the company’s building. And I’m pretty sure he’s going to cause some incident one way or another, like him turning exhibitionist last time.”

“Exhibitionist? I didn’t go to any art galleries though.”

Pinky gained this incomprehensible look on her face for some reason.

“I-I think it’s going to be fine, Hoshino-chan! Just have faith in Bobo-kun. Plus, Nonomi-chan is with him - she’s very mature for a middle schooler, isn’t she?” Yume-senpai reassured her.

“I guess, but…” Pinky looked like she was about to argue some more, but in the end she relented. She then gave me a look. “Alright, fine. But you better make sure that you do all the things we need to do! And don’t cause anything while we’re gone, got it?”

“Okayyy.”

“I’m serious. If we stumble into something like last time…” she trailed off.

The phantom pain in my balls flared up at the reminder, and I gave her a shaky thumbs up. “Y-Yeah, I’m serious too. Message received.” I repeated. 

“…Hmph.” 

“—Okay, Bobo-kun! I’m giving you a list of your chores today! And some other stuff we need to do as well.” After gathering her stuff up, Yume-senpai gave me a piece of paper from which she quickly scribbled something. “Nonomi-chan is still in her class, but once she arrives then you two could go to the station and help our new classmates after that!”

I took the paper and read through it. Ooh, this is quite a lot. Looks interesting though.

After finishing her piece, both Yume-senpai and Pinky headed to the door. Pinky gave me one last warning glare while Yume-senpai waved a hand at me. “Alright, we’re going now. See you later, Bobo-kun!” 

I waved goodbye as well. “Okay, see ya!”

Yume-senpai gave me a final grin, before turning around leaving the room and closing the door behind her. I could faintly see their silhouettes behind the glass on the sliding door as they walked away. 

With that, I was finally left alone in the student council room.

There was a moment of silence. Then I looked down again at the list they gave me, before turning to the clock on the room showing the time. 

Hm, Nonomi usually comes around to hang out with us about an hour after this… maybe I should go and pick her up at her school directly? That should speed things up as opposed to just waiting around doing nothing.

I nodded my head. Yes, this seems like a good idea. Let’s go to her school. 

I stood up from my seat, waiting for a bit until I saw Yume-senpai and Pinky walking out of the school together out in the window, before leaving the room as well.

Time to go to meet Nonomi.

…

…

…Hold on, where was her school again?

Chapter Text

Peak Bobo hours. Have a new chapter.

Social Media is Cool Part 2

“Hmm… is this the right direction, I wonder?”

After Yume-senpai and Pinky left to meet up with a company or something about our train station, I was left with doing some tasks with Nonomi. Thinking that it might be faster to meet her, I then left the school to pick her up.

However there was one small issue: getting to Nonomi’s school was a bit hard, considering that I have no idea where the place even was. Fortunately I am incredibly experienced in this - and thus with the skills I have gained from forty days and forty nights (I think) of roaming around - I used my instincts to determine where her school might possibly be.

And now I’m led into this relatively populated area in the Abydos district. 

There’s quite a lot of people here, and I could even see some students walking around. Were they from some other school here in Abydos? Maybe they’re from the same school Nonomi is from… Actually, let’s try asking them for directions.

I approached one of the students hanging around a place that I assumed was a tea shop. Right there was a girl alone on a table, drinking boba tea while reading her phone. I don’t recognize her uniform since Nonomi had a different one, but considering she’s here then she’s probably from another school in Abydos. Maybe.

But the most interesting thing about her was… were those horns on her head? Yeah, she has red horns on her head. Huh. I guess people in Kivotos can have those. I mean I already talked to robots and animals, so I guess it’s not really that strange.

Oh, and she was also looking around kinda strangely around the place. I guess she was looking for something or maybe even waiting for someone. Let’s try not to take much of her time.

I raised my hand in greeting as I went near. “Hello! Can I ask you a question?” 

“—!? Wah!”

Unfortunately, it looked like she was surprised by my presence, jolting up from her seat when she heard my voice. That movement also unfortunately made her arm push the boba tea when she turned to look at my direction - pushing the drink off the table.

Oh, crap. I quickly moved and grabbed it before it could hit the ground. 

“—Hup!” Thankfully I caught it upright, and the plastic cap prevented the drink from spilling largely even when punctured by the straw. “…Oof, that was close. Sorry, here you go.”

“T-Thanks…” the girl took it in her hands, looking a bit embarrassed. Then, after putting the drink back on her table, she finally turned to look at me and her eyes widened. “…Eh?”

The girl was staring at me in shock again for some reason, and this time it wasn’t because I surprised her. Hm? What’s with her strange reaction?

I gave her a confused look. “Yes? Is there something wrong?” she didn’t hurt anything when she got surprised, right? I don’t think she hit anything.

“Oh! No, no…” the girl waved off, momentarily glancing at her phone as she did so, before quickly putting it away like it was on fire or something. “I, um, is there something that you need, or…?”

Oops, right. I was asking a question. “Oh, yeah. Can I have some directions on the train middle school?” I asked politely.

The girl looked confused. “Train middle school…?”

Right, that wasn’t the name. What was it again? “Um, no that wasn’t the name… Ah, right! It’s Saint Nephthys!” I snapped a finger and nodded my head. “Yeah, Saint Nephthys middle school. Do you know where that is?”

I think I saw the girl’s eyes narrow at that for some reason but it was gone almost immediately. I spotted it though, since I had practice with finding out what Pinky thought of my answers during our study sessions and I want to avoid her getting mad as much as possible. Wonder why she did that though? Did something get in her eye?

“Saint Nephthys…?” she muttered with a curious tone, before pointing to some direction. “Ah, I think it should be that way. It’s quite near the station, so you just need to follow the railways I think.” she answered.

Oh, so I am near it? I feel a bit proud of that. As expected my roaming skills are top notch. 

“Huh, really? I see. Thanks a lot for that.” I said gratefully.

“No problem.” she replied, before pausing. Then, almost hesitantly, the girl spoke once more. “…I-Is there something that you need to do there?”

“Hm?” I tilted my head at her question, before shrugging. “Oh, I’m picking up a girl.” I answered.

The girl froze for some reason. And for the third time upon meeting her - the girl was seemingly in shock again, looking at me with wide eyes.

Seriously, this girl was acting really strange. Is this a normal interaction…? Well, not like I’d judge her for that though - at least she’s not as strange as Pinky kicking someone on their balls the first time they meet someone. 

Anyway it doesn’t look like she’s going to speak anymore, so I just left her there and went to the direction she pointed at. Follow the railroads, she said? Say no more! I shall get to my destination in no time.

And that I did. After a few more minutes of walking - I managed to get to the school. And just in time too, considering there were students walking out of the place like classes just finished. And all of them wore the same uniform Nonomi had which meant that I had the right place. 

Alright, I should probably wait right here in front of the school and wait for her to come out. Let’s hope that Nonomi didn’t leave before I got here and that we missed each other…. that’d be a bummer if that happened. 

Anway, I just waited at the exit of the school, and the middle schoolers glanced at me curiously as they passed by. They must be wondering about what a high schooler like me is doing here. Maybe. I think.

“Who’s the person waiting in front of our school?”

“That mark on their PE uniform… that’s Abydos High School, isn’t it?”

“A student from that Abydos? And what’s more, that person… he’s a boy with a halo, isn’t he?”

“Huh? There’s no way those exist. Maybe that high school student just looks really manly.”

“No, I’m sure of it! That must be a boy! I’ve consumed enough media to tell the difference!”

“What are you even talking about…?”

“What is he even doing here? Is he… waiting for someone?”

…And so a bit of time passed as I waited for Nonomi to come out and, the next thing I knew, quite a lot of students had gone outside. Lots of them gathered a crowd around the front entrance for some reason. Maybe there was an event happening? There’s nothing really happening though, except with them staring in my direction while whispering something I couldn’t quite hear…

I looked around. Yeah, there’s nothing special here. Man, these students are strange. Are the people of Kivotos just full of weirdos? Even the girl I met earlier reacted strangely as well.

Before I could pursue that train of thought though - it was interrupted when I saw the familiar sight of pale blonde hair holding a really big bag from the crowd. It was Nonomi, who had this confused look on her face as she asked someone from the crowd. Huh, does she also not know what’s happening here?

Anyway, Nonomi was told the answer by one of her schoolmates and she suddenly stiffened, before slowly turning to my direction. At the very moment our eyes had met - I then called out to her.

“Heya, Nonomi!” I greeted with a smile, raising my hand. “What’s up?”

Suddenly everything went quiet and all eyes of the crowd turned to Nonomi for some reason, making said girl panic. She clutched her large bag’s sling tight and looked around with a nervous expression. “Ah! I, umm…” she shook in place. “H-Hello…”

One of the students with her looked at her in confusion. “N-Nonomi…? You know this person?”

“I-I… uhh, h-he’s…”

“Say, is this your school? It’s a pretty big place - almost as big as Abydos, really. This must be what private schools are like, huh? It’s pretty cool.” I commented as I approached her, the other students making way for me as they did so. Oh, thanks. “Anyway, I came here to pick you up. Yume-senpai and Pinky are gone for some other stuff, so it’s just us. Let’s go out together, Nonomi!”

There were gasps all around at that, the students’ eyes turning wide at that for some reason. Nonomi, for her part, just reddened and turned to me with manic eyes. “B-Bobo-senpai!?” she cried out.

I tilted my head at their reactions. “…Hm? What? What’s wrong?”

And with that, the dam broke.

“Nonomi’s going out with this person!? That Nonomi!?”

“S-So they’re really a male student with a halo!? How is that possible!?”

“A high school student is going out with a middle schooler!?”

“How could someone of her stature…!?”

“…How envious.”

I don’t really know what’s going on. I gave a confused look at the mess of reactions that was happening right now, but before I could ask what was happening, it looked like Nonomi had enough of whatever this was.

“—I’m sorry! P-Please excuse ussssss!!!”

With her face and neck completely turning crimson now, Nonomi cried out those words as she ran, grabbing my hand and pulling me with her as she did so. We left the shouts and cries of her classmates behind us as the girl sprinted surprisingly fast. I was keeping up quite easily right next to her though.

Eventually we stopped once we were far away enough from her school. Nonomi let go of my hand, taking deep breaths and looking slightly tired from her run. This girl is incredibly athletic, running so fast with such a heavy gun and only looking that fatigued.

Anyway, I waited a few moments to let her recover, then when she finally did, the girl turned around to give me a pout. What? Why was she looking at me like that? I gave her a look of concern.

“Hey, uhh, you okay Nonomi?” I asked, before pausing for a moment.

Now I may be a bit dumb, but I’d like to think that I recognize myself doing something wrong. And considering everything that happened until now… could it be rather than a case of others around me being weird, it was me who was the strange one? Yeah, that was probably it.

I scratched my head. “…I probably messed up, didn’t I? Sorry.” I apologized.

Nonomi blinked, her pouting immediately lost in exchange for an expression of surprise. “Senpai?”

“I noticed that the others were reacting really strangely, but I guess it didn’t occur to me that I was the reason.” Hmm, I should probably keep that in mind next time. It’s not cool to be a laughingstock after all. Nonomi was probably embarrassed because of me. “Although, I don’t really understand why they reacted that way… I was just waiting for a friend after school though.” I muttered.

Nonomi stared at me for a few moments, before slowly speaking. “U-Um, senpai… when a man fetches a girl after school, it’s usually implied that they have a relationship, or at least that’s what shoujo manga usually show…” Shoujo? What’s that? A-Also a relationship? Really!? “A-And it didn’t help that you said we were going out too, by the way!”

I tilted my head. “But we are going out, though? Out of the school and into the outskirts.” I brought up the list given to me by Yume-senpai. “See? We’ve been given some tasks to do.”

She looked speechless at my answer. Did I say something wrong again?

“This must be what Yume-senpai meant…” Huh? Yume-senpai said something about me? Anyway, Nonomi muttered that, before looking up at me and pouting again. “B-But still, senpai! If you wanted to meet up with me then you could have just messaged me through Momotalk!”

That’s another word that I don’t know. “Momotalk? What’s that?”

“Eh? You don’t know what Momotalk is…?” she muttered, before pausing again, seemingly realizing something. “W-Wait a minute Bobo-senpai, do you even have a phone in the first place?”

“Nope.” They look pretty cool though. But they’re probably very expensive, so I can’t have that.

“No wonder you don’t know… and it might be bad if you don’t have one too…” Nonomi muttered. Then, after a short moment of her turning quiet, the girl suddenly gained a determined expression. “Senpai. Are those tasks urgent?” she asked.

“Hm? Probably not.” I answered. “I guess it’s fine so long as we do it before Yume-senpai and Hoshino get back from their trip. Why?”

“Then… Do you mind going on a detour? Just to go shopping, that is.”

A detour…?

Eh, sure. Sounds fun.

Chapter Text

Time. I need time. I want a hyperbolic time chamber. 

Social Media is Cool Part 3

The place we were detouring in wasn’t that far. It was just a couple of blocks away from Nonomi’s school, which is understandable considering we were in what I think was the most populated part of the district.

“Woah… That’s a lot of shops.”

And the place she led me to was a shopping area. All around us were different stores selling so different things. And it was pretty filled with people too. I think this is the first time that I’ve seen so many people gathered ever since I set foot in Abydos actually.

It’s pretty cool, looking at everything here. I mean, stuff like weapons, ammunition, gun parts, and all other explosives were being sold right next to clothing and food stores. Then there’s all the other things that I don’t recognize. I’ve never seen a shopping place like this before.

Or at least I don’t think I did. I did forget a lot.

Anyway, Nonomi giggled at me as we walked beside each other. “Is this your first time in this place, senpai?” she asked with a smile. “You look excited.”

“Hm? Oh, yeah. I’ve never been here before.” I replied. “I didn’t think that there was a place like this in Abydos. I thought that it’s all deserted and all that.” Or at least, that was the general impression that I had from what Yume-senpai and Pinky told me.

“Ah, well… that’s still sadly true, senpai. It’s only populated because we’re at the center of what remains of the Abydos district. And shopping districts are usually the place with the most people.” Nonomi explained. “In fact, if you compare it to other places, having only this many people around… it’s not that much.”

My eyes widened at that. “Wait, you mean this isn’t a lot!?” I asked in shock. 

But there’s so many people here! You mean that there are places that’s filled with more people than this? That would be, like, super many people!

Nonomi giggled again at my reaction. “Mm-hmm! You should see the shopping district in DU, senpai! That place has so many people in it that you can get lost if you’re not careful!”

DU…? Oh, that place Yume-senpai and Pinky went to. Man, I might have just missed something cool just by staying here instead of going with them. But, oh well. It’s not like being here with Nonomi isn’t cool too.

“Maybe we could all check that out together. That seems fun.” I said, making her smile. Then, a question that I had wondered earlier, which I forgot after seeing this place for the first time, came back to my mind. “…Oh, by the way. Why are we here? Are you planning on buying something?”

“We’re here to buy you a phone, senpai. You said you don’t have one, right?”

I blinked at that. “Buy a phone? But I don’t have the money for it.” I mean, I did do some part-time work a couple of days ago, but that’s probably not enough to buy one.

“You don’t have to worry about that, senpai! I’ll take care of it.”

What’s that supposed to mean?

Before I could ask that though, the girl took my arm and pulled me to some shop that I realized was one that sold phones and other gadgets. As we entered the shop and felt the cool air-conditioning inside, a robot clerk dressed in a suit went to meet with us, the screen on his head showing a happy face. There weren’t any people in the place so I guess he’d notice us.

“Oh? Welcome, miss, sir.” he greeted politely. “How may I help the both of you?”

“I’m looking for a phone. Do you have the latest models?” Nonomi replied as I took a look around the place. Oh, look. That TV uses a touch screen. And it’s displaying a video of fishes too. Cool.

“As a matter of fact, we do have it miss! Oh, but the price is a bit high. Importing it to Abydos has been very costly. But it still is very much the real deal!” the clerk said. “That said, we also have older models if you’re looking for a more affordable price. Ah, here, this phone is a popular choice with—”

“The price doesn’t matter. The latest model is fine.”

“—Eh?”

I turned away from the TV to look back to Nonomi, who was simply giving the clerk a nice smile. The robot blinked, not expecting what she said, and for a moment he looked hesitant before speaking once more with a doubtful tone. 

“A-Are you sure, miss? The prices are quite high…” he trailed off.

“I said the price doesn’t matter, sir.” Nonomi repeated, her smile not leaving her face. “Here, I’ll pay with this.”

Then, the very next moment she said those words, Nonomi reached into her bag to retrieve her purse. Curious at what she was doing, I looked at it closely when she opened it—

“Uwooooogh! My eyes!”

—Golden light filled my entire everything. It was all that I could see, even as I tried to look away. What the heck was this? It’s so bright! It’s searing my eyes with how bright it was! This is probably brighter than the time I looked straight at the sun when I was bored back in the desert!

What exactly was Nonomi holding!?

“T-This brightness…” amidst the light and the imaginary choir singing with it, I heard the robot clerk mutter those words. “I can’t believe it… That’s a gold credit card! To think I’d see one with my very own eyes…!”

A gold credit card!? A credit card can do these things!? I thought they’re made of plastic!

Anyway, after showing the card, the robot immediately bowed down and showed deference to Nonomi. “Please forgive my implication of you not being able to afford my products, miss!” he cried out. “Y-You wished to get the latest model, correct? Then let me give it to you at once!”

The robot clerk ran back to a room behind the store, presumably to get those latest models. He came back quite fast. And then after a bit of talking, Nonomi swiped the credit card and I visibly saw the robot clerk’s eyes turn into those yen symbols.

—Then the next thing I knew, I was holding a phone in my hands as we walked out of the store, with the robot clerk waving happily behind us.

“Thank you! Please come by again anytime!” he shouted happily.

He seems nice. Maybe I’ll go there if I need a gadget or something. Although, I couldn’t really comment on that, since there’s something that I feel like is wrong about this situation… I turned to Nonomi with a concerned expression.

“Hey, uhh, Nonomi? Why did you buy me a phone? Isn’t it pretty expensive?” I asked, holding my new phone in my hand.

“Don’t worry about it, senpai. I have a lot of money.” she said, giving me a wink as she did so. “I’m far away from my spending limit~☆!” 

“Huh, so you’re really rich?” I asked curiously.

She paused at my question. “S-Something like that.” Nonomi answered, a bit nervously for some reason. “My parents have this successful family business, so…”

Oh, okay. Still, even if she thinks it’s not a big deal - I still feel happy that she bought me this phone. “I see. Thanks a lot, Nonomi.” I said gratefully, giving the girl a smile. “I’ll definitely treasure this gift that you gave me.”

She lost her nervousness at that, giving me a smile of her own. “…You’re welcome, Bobo-senpai.”

Hmm… she seems happy, but maybe I should buy her a gift as well? I feel bad making her buy me something this expensive. Yeah, let’s get her something next time.

“Anyway, let’s check out your new phone, senpai!” Nonomi said, suddenly sticking closer to me to peer at the phone on my hand. “You said that you don’t know Momotalk, right? I think it should be installed on your phone right now as one of the default apps.”

Oh, right. The thing she asked me about earlier. I turned on the phone and… yeah, there it was. Displayed proudly on the phone’s screen was an app right there with a symbol of a peach, with the words ‘Momotalk’ underneath it. I tapped it.

“So what is this app supposed to be?” I asked.

“It’s mainly a messaging app, senpai. You can contact a lot of people this way. You should create your own account and add us as friends!” she answered. “Here, let me help you. Hoshino-senpai said you can only read in Global, right? Here’s an option for it…”

And so, with Nonomi’s help, I set up my new Momotalk account. The girl also taught me a couple of things about the app as well as she did so, giving me interesting trivias on what I could do with the thing. Oh, and we also exchanged contacts, so that’s pretty cool.

“—There’s lots that you can do with this aside from messaging or calling, senpai. The app recommends things you can look at, like things that your friends say, or maybe the people they follow. You can check out different things as well like news or blogs.” she explained.

“Huh, okay.” 

That kind of sounds familiar for some reason… Did I know an app like this before? I’m remembering something like that being called a ‘book’ for some reason. The thought is a bit hard to pin down though.

Still, something caught my interest in her explanation. “So I can be friends with people here?”

“Yep! If you give a friend request to someone, and they accept, then you can be friends. You can chat, call them, and even share videos and pictures. I think you can even play games with them.” she answered. 

I see… I scrolled down on the homepage of the app, and was immediately greeted with things that Nonomi posted in the past. Oh, and there’s also some other things like what strangers posted too, some of which have pictures of cool sights. Things like a huge volcano, a giant tree, and an old victorian-looking street that looked really classy. 

Oh, and there’s also news about some girl being one of the smartest students in a school called Millennium, having perfect scores and all that. Apparently she’s being touted as the future student council president like Yume-senpai. I gave that girl a friend request too. 

Well, I don’t really know these people, but it’s good to have many friends, right? I sent friend requests to all of them as I scrolled down. Then, after a short moment, I stumbled onto someone I recognized. 

It was Yume-senpai, who posted a picture of her and Pinky in a big city with very big buildings. Was it a coincidence, or did the app know that we knew each other…? Oh, wait, it says there that I might know here since we’re from the same school from our profile. That’s convenient.

Anyway, that must be DU. Wow, that place looks really cool. And crowded too. There’s plenty of people walking by the sidewalks - so much more than even the people around in this shopping district. I guess I can believe what Nonomi said earlier about the Abydos shopping area having not much people in it.

In any case, I gave it the post a like and commented on it, saying the place looked really cool. Then I gave Yume-senpai and Pinky, who was tagged in it, a friend request.

Alright. I guess that’s that. Just as I was about to put the phone down though - a sudden ping made me pause. It was then that I realized that someone just messaged me to the app. I blinked, then checked it out.

It was the girl that was really smart. The one from that Millennium school.

‘…Who is this?’ the message said.

She didn’t really accept my friend request yet, but she messaged me already. Oh, man. Is this person going to be a new friend in the app? I’m feeling really excited.

‘Hello, I’m Bobo.’ I messaged back.

‘Do we know each other?’

I paused at that. Do we? ‘No? Or at least, I don’t think so…’

‘Then why did you send me a friend request?’

‘I saw you on the news. I thought you were cool so I sent you one. Anyway, want to be friends?’

After I sent that, there was a long moment when she didn’t reply. For a moment I wondered if there was something wrong. And as I did that, Nonomi looked at me curiously, hearing the ping and seeing me type on the phone like that.

“Bobo-senpai? Were you just chatting with someone just now?” she asked.

“Yeah, I sent a friend request to someone. They messaged me back.” I answered.

Nonomi tilted her head. “Really? With who?”

“I don’t know. I just saw them on a post.”

The girl’s eyes widened at that. “Y-You mean you sent a stranger a friend request!?” she cried in shock. Oh, wait, should I not have done that? “W-What did they say? They didn’t offer you deals or anything strange like that, right!?” she said, sticking close to me to peer at my phone again.

“Hm? Oh, they just wondered why I sent them a friend request.”

“Oh, that’s a relief…” Nonomi sighed. Then, for some reason, she gave me a scolding look. “Bobo-senpai! You shouldn’t send friend requests to anyone! You don’t know what sort of people will try to message you. You could end up being scammed, you know?” the girl said, putting her hands on her hips as she did.

“Oh, sorry.” I guess I have to be careful about that as well, huh?

Nonomi glanced at the phone’s screen. “It’s a good thing that the one who messaged you didn’t seem to be like that… but also sending friend requests to people you don’t know seems rude, senpai. These people are strangers. You’re not going to approach someone and ask if they could be your friend, are you?”

“Ahh, I think I get it.” I guess that feels a little pushy. I looked back at my phone as well. “…I should probably say sorry, huh.”

‘Oh, I must have been rude. Sorry…’

There. I sent it. Nonomi, who was still peering on the phone beside me, looked at it and frowned.

“…They’ve seen the message. They must be ignoring you.” Nonomi told me. “Still, I think that’s better than them getting angry…”

I slumped a bit at that. “I messed up…”

“I-It’s fine, senpai! You were just excited to make friends. There’s nothing wrong with that! You just need to be careful on how you go about it, that’s all.” Nonomi consoled me.

“I guess… I still feel bad though.” I muttered. Then another ping, one that sounded a bit different from those earlier, alerted me and pulled my attention back to the app. “Hm?”

Nonomi and I turned to look at my phone again. “Another message? Did they reply back…?” I said, feeling a bit hopeful.

“I don’t think so. I think it’s a little different.” Nonomi said. 

Really? Well, I guess there’s no other choice but to check… Oh, it’s actually Yume-senpai? And she just accepted my friend request earlier. That was fast.

Then the phone buzzed. Oh, and she’s calling me now too. I picked up the call.

“Hello.” I greeted.

“Bobo-kun!” I immediately heard Yume-senpai’s voice on the other side of the line. “You have a Momotalk!? Since when did you—? Ah! Hoshino-chan!”

There was some rustling noise and muffled voices. Then I heard another voice instead of Yume-senpai’s. “—How did you even know how to make a Momotalk account!?” I heard Pinky shout loudly. Did she just take Yume-senpai’s phone from her? “And where did you even get a phone!? We definitely didn’t give you one! Don’t tell me you’re using Nonomi’s…”

“Oh, Nonomi bought me a phone earlier.”

“—What!?”

What followed after was a dressing-down from Pinky, who seemingly misunderstood that I must have done something stupid which forced Nonomi into buying a phone for me. Such slander! What made her even think I’ll do something like that?

And it didn’t help that Nonomi was a bit dodgy after being questioned about her expenses. She didn’t mention anything about showing her gold credit card earlier, only saying that they found a really good phone we got for cheap.

“Senpai… let’s keep this whole thing a secret between us, okay?” she whispered to me, after explaining what ‘happened’ on our time together in this shopping area.

A secret just between the two of us? I gave her a thumbs up. “Sounds cool.”

“—What the heck are you whispering about? Speak up!”  

Oops. I guess Pinky heard that. 

Anyway, after explaining a bit, Pinky let us go with her questioning. Yume-senpai was also grateful for Nonomi, saying that she’ll pay her back, but the middle schooler wouldn’t have it and only said that she doesn’t mind it not being paid back.

And now, I’m a proud owner of a phone. 

Finally… technology!

Chapter Text

I have free time, but I can’t write because I’m staying with my relatives for vacation. It’s like I’m playing Five Nights at Freddy’s just to write. Ahh, the wonders of being a fanfic writer…

Coolest Gang of Abydos Part 1

After receiving a call from Yume-senpai and then explaining to her and Pinky how I managed to get a phone, our next destination was to the restored train station where the Abydos helmet gangsters were currently in to do what we were supposed to be doing.

Me and Nonomi took a train to get to the outskirts of Abydos and then walked the rest of the way. After a while, we finally spotted the place in the distance, and the first thing we saw once we got there were black helmet girls standing around with their guns out like they were guarding something.

“Heeeey~!” I greeted from afar.

The both of them must have spotted us before I said that since they turned to look at one another. I didn’t really know what they were saying, but one of them turned to leave quickly. I looked on curiously as we approached, but the reason for why turned apparent when the same girl returned with a red helmet girl with her.

Oh, and a familiar one too.

“Oh, hey! It’s you!” I greeted the red helmet I met when I set foot out of the hospital. “Nice to see you again. What’s up?”

“…Uh, fine?” Red helmet seemed a bit confused. “We just saw each other yesterday though…”

“Huh. I guess we did.” Seemed like a long time, for some reason. Like for more than a week or so. 

The girl became more confused at that. I get it, I am too. “Right… Anyway, it’s just the two of you? Where’s Takanashi Hoshino and that Student Council president of yours?” she asked.

“Both of them are currently in DU. They’re hashing out a deal on getting trains to run on the railway. Only Bobo-senpai and I are here to help you for today.” Nonomi explained. 

The red helmet girl paused, turning to look at Nonomi when she answered, before turning to me as well. I couldn’t really see what her face was behind the helmet but… was she confused at Nonomi? I wasn’t really sure. Anyway, after a moment, the red helmet girl spoke again.

“…Is that so? Well, I guess that’s fine. The earlier we get to use a train here, the better. It’s a pain to keep travelling from here to the district after all.” she muttered. “Anyway, both of you follow me. I’ll lead you to the boss.”

“Thank you…” Nonomi asked as we both followed her, leaving those black helmet students behind us. “By the way, may I ask how things are going?”

The red helmet girl’s attention turned to her again momentarily, but instead of answering her question, she turned to me this time.

 “…Hey, I know she fought with you guys, but what’s a middle schooler doing here?” the tone which she said those words with wasn’t harsh, but rather, indicated that she was genuinely curious. “She doesn’t even look like she’s a part of your school.”

“Hm?” I turned to Nonomi, who stiffened. “Oh, Nonomi is a part of this as much as us. She helped us fix the station and stuff. Also she has a reserved seat in the Abydos student council room, so she may as well be a member.” I nodded my head at that. “Isn’t that right, Nonomi?”

I looked at Nonomi again and… Oh, wait, I just realized that maybe Nonomi was about to say something earlier. Did I interrupt her? I must have, especially when she suddenly looked taken aback on what I said. Whoops.

“U-Um, yes…?” the girl muttered.

“Really?” Anyway, the red helmet girl gave a considering look at Nonomi from that. Then she shook her head. “…Well, whatever. Don’t know what you Abydos guys are planning, but you do whatever you want. Not like we can stop you.”

I tilted my head at that. “Why couldn’t you? We’re all classmates. You’re part of Abydos just as I am.”

“T-That’s just in name only! We’re still the Abydos Helmet Gang.”

“So? You can be both right?” I asked, before pausing as a thought entered my mind. “Oh… I think I get it. It’s because you’re shy, aren’t you?”

“S-S-Shy!? What the hell are you on about!?”

Yeah, that stuttering is definitely a sign of her being shy, even if I couldn’t see her expression behind her helmet. “See, this is why people should hang out. Pinky was all upset at me when I suggested it yesterday, but clearly she’s wrong.” I nodded my head. “Let’s go out together. Say, why don’t we go to a ramen place I know? It’ll be fun.”

“Go out—!?” the girl suddenly choked on her words.

A bit weird for her to act like that, but a particular detail crossing my mind made me take my attention from it. “…Oh wait, but your leader did agree to come with, didn’t she?” I suddenly remembered with a frown. Then I shrugged. “Ah, well. The more the merrier, they say. I’ll make it so we’re gonna have us all three some fun. What do you think?”

“Threesome—!?” she choked again. Huh?

“—U-Um, senpai, I think you should stop speaking for a moment.” And now Nonomi hastily said those words too. Did I do something wrong? “Just to clarify, you’re just inviting her to a friendly ramen lunch, right? Nothing but that…?”

I gave her a confused look. “Uh, yeah? What else would I mean?”

Nonomi suddenly had this painful look on her face that reminded me of Hoshino a lot when I answered, and she turned to the red helmet gangster, who was suddenly keeping distance from me for some reason. And she was looking down on my pants too, or at least I think so.

“…I’m sorry for Bobo-senpai, but I assure you that his intentions are pure. He’s just… clueless, to what he’s saying sometimes.” Nonomi explained.

“T-There’s no way he doesn’t know what he’s saying though!? What the hell is he, some dense love interest in a shoujo manga!?”

I perked up at that.

“Ah, yes. I recognize that word.” I said, pointing at the red helmet girl as I did so. Still didn’t really know what the word meant, but I think I can guess what that means. “That’s a popular show about mangoes isn’t it? And one that’s about relationships too. And let me guess - the main character’s name is Joe, right?”

“...”

“...”

Both of them turned quiet at that, clearly impressed at my inference as I gave them a satisfied and smug look. Then, for some reason the red helmet girl slowly looked at Nonomi, who scratched her cheek while laughing sheepishly. It was a strange interaction, and then the red helmet girl then sighed.

“…Okay, fine, he’s clearly weird. Especially considering when I first met the guy…” she glanced at what I think was my pants again. Seriously, was something there? I don’t think there is. “N-No, wait, what am I saying—Anyway, you guys, uhh, want to know about how things are going, right? The boss is right over there.”

That was a bit of a sudden change in topic, but I turned to look at the direction she was pointing and yeah, there she was, talking to some black helmet students and robots with her.

“Ahahaha… yes, we should talk to her…” Nonomi muttered.

The red helmet girl raised a hand to gain her attention. “H-Hey boss! The student council is here!” she called out.

The leader turned away from his other hanger-ons to look at us. “Oh, you’re here.” she said, before she stopped for a bit. “…Where’s the other two?” she suddenly asked.

“Apparently they’re meeting up with a train company so trains could finally use these railways.”

The leader relaxed at that, “About damn time. If they didn’t do that early then I might have gotten angry.” she muttered. “Seriously, what are they expecting, wanting us to live here so far out? Even we didn’t go this far away when making a base.”

“Are things okay? Hoshino-senpai said that you were having some problems.” Nonomi asked.

The leader glanced at her and I realized that she was probably wondering the same thing that the red helmet girl said earlier on Nonomi being a middle schooler. Instead of speaking her question out loud though, the leader just shrugged, before answering Nonomi’s question.

“Everything is fine for the most part. We already cleaned the place and set up a generator and a water collector. You know, the usual stuff.” she explained. “The houses here also aren’t salvaged out of their things yet and we found some places with their ACs and other furniture lying around, so that’s good too.”

Then, she let out a sigh.

“The only real problem is the renovation. I told Takanashi Hoshino that unless you guys bring the equipment, we’re not going to move the collapsed debris out of the way or carry heavy things to where they need to be.” the leader muttered, before tilting her head. “You guys do have some, right? You guys wouldn’t have been able to fix the station if you didn’t. We’ve been improvising by pulling it with our tank, but it’s not enough.”

“We do… in a way.” Nonomi answered, turning to me. “Bobo-senpai helped in that sort of work.”

“Huh?” The leader looked confused, and so did the rest of the helmet gang around who were listening to us talk. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, that’s my job. I lifted them.” I explained.

“Lifted… them?”

“Yep. Do you guys need anything out of the way? I’ll help.” 

The leader and the helmet gangsters turned to each other. Then, one of the robots raised a hand, putting attention to themselves. “There’s, uhh, a collapsed utility wall to the side. The others with me are kinda getting troubled working around it…” they explained, pointing to one direction. Oh, yeah, I see it.

“‘Kay. Let me deal with that.” I walked to the fallen utility pole and… “Hup!”

I lifted the pole so it would point straight up. Then, I walked for a bit, then put it back down horizontally on the side of the street so that it wouldn’t be a nuisance to people walking on it. I nodded satisfactorily.

I turned back to the others. “Is this okay? Or should I put it somewhere else?”

They didn’t answer, simply staring at me with expressions I couldn’t really see behind their helmets. Nonomi was the exception, and she had this smile on her face while scratching her cheek.

“…Is there something wrong?”

Then, the moment I broke the silence and asked that question, they all suddenly started shouting.

“What the heck was that!?”

“Wha—? He just lifted the whole thing easily!?”

“How did he do it? That strength is inhuman…!”

I couldn’t really understand much of what they’re saying because it all overlapped, but I guess they’re all surprised? Oh, right, being this strong is weird in Kivotos’ standards. I guess it’s understandable.

“First redirecting tank shells and now this? Where did Abydos even find this monster…?” the leader muttered those words, before shaking her head. “No, wait, but this is good for us. It might even be better than using those hard-to-use equipment…!”

The leader then turned around and began to gesture to the rest of the still-shocked helmet gangsters. “Oi, you guys! Get this guy wherever he needs to be! Let him carry the heavy stuff and move things out of the way!” she suddenly shouted excitedly, making them recover from the daze they were in. “We might be able to finish fixing this entire place before the day is over!”

“R-Right! On it!”

—And so, with seemingly renewed motivation, the helmet gangsters continued fixing the place with my assistance. I was led to different places and given different tasks, like carrying stacks of wood or sacks of probably cement into a house, along with removing collapsed debris from the old buildings much like the utility pole earlier.

It kind of reminded me of how we fixed the station. Except, things were much easier since there’s so many people helping fix the place. Nonomi was helping out too much like I am, but the majority of her time was spent right beside the leader as they talked about something or another. From what I could tell, they were discussing the things that need to be relayed to Yume-senpai and Pinky once they return. 

Anyway, the renovations went smoothly and quickly. And while I was getting pulled on all sides as they got me to do all sorts of things, it wasn’t all that difficult. It also took a few hours of work, but…

…Well, the place is getting better. Much better than the abandoned area that’s around the station last time. It looks totally livable now. Still pretty sandy, but totally livable.

“—Are these all the things?” And right now, my task was to apparently carry some… car parts, I think? It was disassembled from the abandoned ones on the road, after I carried them into some place for the helmet gangsters to do so easily. “Where should I bring them?”

“U-Um, they said to bring it to where the tank was parked. Apparently it’s being used as spare parts so…” the black helmet girl with me answered.

“Huh, neat.” These guys are really capable, huh. Then, I blinked as I realized one particular fact. “Wait a minute, you’re the one that fought me yesterday, right? The one I CQC’d with?”

The black helmet girl stiffened. “Uhh…” she hesitated for a moment, before answering. “Y-Yes…?”

I gave her a grin. “How have you been? You know, that thing you did was really cool. Who knew that hitting with your gun at close range to counter a pistol was something you can do? It’s genius really.”

“Is it…?” she muttered, looking a bit lost for some reason. I nodded.

“Yep! But, heh, not that it worked though.” I followed, feeling a bit proud of myself. “I was able to devise a counter strategy to completely defeat you. But then again, it’s inspired by your tactic. I wouldn’t have thought of doing an unarmed takedown if it wasn’t for you.”

“U-Unarmed takedown? That was an unarmed takedown?”

“Hm? Yeah, it was.” I then paused as I remembered what happened when I did it. Or, more accurately, the general reaction of Pinky and the others. “Oh, did you think I was hugging you? I’m pretty sure that I did a CQC move that time… My bad.” I said, feeling a bit guilty.

“I-It’s fine! No need to apologize or anything… And I guess I can believe you saying that it’s a disarming move…”

“Really?” I said, looking at her hopefully.

“…! A-Ah, yeah…” she paused, looking at me with what I feel is like a strange expression, before acting all shifty. It was a bit odd, but after a long while of being quiet, she then spoke once more. “S-Say… you mind if you showed me how you did it again? I was wondering how—”

“Hey, what the hell are you two just standing there for?”

“—B-Boss! Good to see you!” whatever the black helmet girl was about to say was interrupted as she immediately turned to the leader, who was headed towards us with Nonomi beside her. “I-I was just, you know, asking to let him carry the parts we got from the abandoned cars to our tank!”

“That so? Well, let him do that later. I need to talk to that guy for a minute. In the meantime, go do something else.” the leader replied.

“R-Right…” the black helmet girl glanced at me for a moment, before turning around to leave. It’s a bit of a shame to see her leave just like that though, so I called out to her.

“Hey!” I said, before saying the first thing that came to mind. “Want to get some ramen later?”

“…Eh?” both the black helmet girl and the leader said. They looked completely shocked, much like how the red helmet girl reacted earlier.

“…Bobo-senpai.” Nonomi meanwhile muttered. She has this weird emotionless look on her face for some reason. Huh? Did I say something wrong again? I just invited her to eat, didn’t I? “Why do you keep inviting others to go eat ramen? Are you hungry? That must be it, right…?”

Oh, she has a point. “Hm, I guess I’m craving for some ramen? I haven’t eaten it for a while, and the place Yume-senpai, Hoshino and I went to was really good…” I considered, before shrugging. “But I don’t feel hungry though. I was fine even without food or water when I walked around the desert for a long time, so I’m good without eating for a while.”

“…Eh?” And now Nonomi is included in saying that too. 

Oh, now that I think about it, it’s only Yume-senpai and Pinky who knows about me doing that, isn’t it? I thought they told Nonomi about it, but I guess they didn’t. It’s pretty unbelievable in Kivotos’ standards, after all. I think.

Anyway, before they could react to what I said though, another person ran up to us. It was another girl with a black helmet - one that I recognized was the one guarding the place earlier along with her plus one. What was she doing here?

My question was immediately answered.

“—Boss! Emergency! Emergencyyyy!”

We all turned to her. And so did the rest of the helmet gang, who were working around us.

“…Huh? What? What!?” the leader broke out of her daze and immediately turned to the new arrival. She was breathing quite hard, clearly due to her rushing to get to us. “E-Emergency!? What is it!?”

The girl tried to answer. “I-It’s… There’s people, heading to our place…!”

“People…? Who are you talking about—?”

Her question was interrupted with the sounds of gunshots. The leader quieted down.

Immediately all the helmet gangsters tensed up, Nonomi and me included when we heard those sounds. Then, it turned into all people grabbing their weapons as shouts came after, which was then followed by explosions.

The helmet gang leader didn’t waste any time. “Oi, all of you! Get to battle positions!” she shouted, not that it was needed, because all the others already dropped whatever they were doing to get to cover. “And someone get our tank ready!”

“O-On it!”

“We’ll help as well!” Nonomi quickly brought her minigun out of her bag.

I nodded, bringing out my pistol as well. “Yeah!”

“That’ll be appreciated.” the leader quickly bit out, before turning to the newly arrived black helmet girl. “But who the hell are these guys!? We didn’t do anything to warrant this, did we!?”

“I-I don’t know, but from what we saw, it’s definitely—!”

At that particular moment, it was as if in perfect timing that an explosion suddenly appeared right near us. One that made a couple of helmet gangsters fly through the air before falling to the ground, unconscious.

And walking right through the dust cloud kicked up from the explosion was our enemies - who all revealed themselves. I blinked.

“—It’s the Abydos sukeban!” the black helmet girl finished.

…

…What is with delinquents wearing masks and helmets? Don't they feel hot in this weather?

Chapter Text

  Just saw the recent PV. Highlander twins are now playable UWOOOOOGH 😭

Coolest Gang of Abydos Part 2

Our little trip to the station near the outskirts seems to have taken an unexpected turn.

What was supposed to be just a simple fixing of the neighborhood around the place was interrupted by a sudden attack that came out of nowhere. And now, standing right in front of us, were the people responsible for it. They all came crawling out of the woodwork, emerging out of the smoke of what used to be explosions from the streets right in front of us - a trail of defeated helmet gangsters left behind them.

It was a group of female students. There’s quite a lot of them, their numbers similar to the Abydos helmet gang, and their demeanor is the same. Except they were dressed with what I can only describe as ‘thug-like’ where instead of having helmets, they have these masks on their face along with what were probably self-modified student uniforms.

And it looks admittedly cool. I like the designs, and there’s something that I recognized as JP characters embroidered on them. Can’t really read it though, but it looks really cool in a way that screams ‘thug’. Heck, some of them have their clothes open out of sheer thugness! 

That’s pretty bold. If I tried to do that then Pinky would probably get angry at me. Just like last time when I removed my shirt when I got too sweaty.

Oh, and I can see some of them driving buggy cars and motorcycles further behind them too. It’s nothing compared to the tank the helmet gang has with them, but those are still some nice-looking rides nonetheless.

In any case, they’re all here right in front of us. And as we have this tense standoff with each other - One of the ‘sukeban’, who was positioned right in front of the whole group, suddenly spoke.

“—So this is what you helmet losers have been up to, huh?” the thug girl loudly commented, making a show of looking around. “What is this, even? Fixing up the place? You guys doing a community service or something?”

I spotted that the helmet gangsters around us bristled. Then the helmet leader replied in kind.

“…Huh? What’s that?” the helmet leader jeered beside us right behind her cover. “If you wanna say something then put away that mask covering your ugly mug. I can’t hear you properly.”

“Did all the sand piling in your stupid helmet end up blocking your ears? You deaf?” the thug retorted.

“Not really. It’s just hard to listen to idiots who think they’re hot stuff.”

“You’re in the desert, there’s hot stuff everywhere you dumb idiot. You most of all, with that stupid helmet you keep insisting on wearing.” the thug girl sneered. “Seriously, what are you, a kid? Do you think it makes you look cool?”

“Still better than trying to wear a mask just to hide her lower face. It doesn’t magically make you cute, idiot. It just makes for an unpleasant surprise when it’s pulled down.” the helmet leader shot back.

“You’re the one trying to cover their entire face. That makes you worse, dumbass.”

A tense silence suddenly appeared between the representatives of the two groups as they stared at each other. Then, the helmet leader spoke once more.

“Alright, I’ll bite. What the hell is this supposed to accomplish?” she asked. “All of you suddenly attacking us…  you guys don’t have any shame, don’t you? We didn’t even do anything wrong to you guys!”

“…The hell did you say?”

For some reason, the moment the helmet leader said that, the thug girl suddenly turned really angry. Like, having veins on her forehead level of angry. She snarled in response at what the helmet leader said, stomping a single foot forward aggressively.

“‘Didn’t do anything’…? That’s our line!” she barked. “Who the hell do you think you are, suddenly going into somebody else’s turf!? You trying to start a fight against us, huh!?”

There was a pause as everyone registered what she just shouted.

Their turf? Do they mean that this place was theirs? I looked at Nonomi and the rest of the helmet gangsters and… they all looked confused. Oh, so I’m not the only one who didn’t know that, then.

“…What are you on about? You’re saying this place is your turf?” the helmet leader asked in a bewildered tone.

“Of course that’s what I’m saying, dimwit! We got to this place first! ” the thug girl fumed, before pointing around the place. “This is our training area! Didn’t you see all the recent damages here? It should be obvious that people are using the place! This is where we test our weapons and practice driving around!”

I blinked at that. Is it obvious?

Beside me, I noticed Nonomi bit her lip. “…Hoshino-senpai did say something about the damages in the station being caused by something like a fight. They probably were the ones who did it.” the girl surmised, answering my question before I could even voice it. “That also explains the large amounts of debris around. The damage was far too many to be caused just by simple neglect or lack of maintenance.”

Oh, that makes sense. Now that I recall, I guess Hoshino did mention a grenade blowing part of the station columns or something that one time. I nodded my head at Nonomi’s very smart deduction, feeling very impressed. Although in contrast the helmet leader, who also heard what Nonomi said, felt the opposite.

“The hell? They’re the reason why there’s so much damage around?” she groused. “Idiots, don’t you know how much we had to clean up because of you?”

That made the thug girl angry again as veins appeared on her forehead. That looks unhealthy. “Nobody asked you to clean up in the first place!” she shouted while pointing accusingly at her. “This area is ours! And you’re doing stuff on it without our permission!”

“Why the hell would we need your permission? It’s not like you really own the place… Plus, if you’re looking for someone to blame, then don’t pin it at us. If anything you should be angry with these guys instead.” she muttered, suddenly gesturing at me and Nonomi much to our surprise.

“Eh?” / “Hm?”

“Hah?” The thug girl looked at us. “…Who’re they supposed to be?”

Nonomi was suddenly taken aback when the entire sukeban group focused their attention on the two of us. “Ah, u-um…” the girl muttered, looking a bit nervous as she looked around. “W-We’re…”

Hm… Nonomi looked like she was having a bit of trouble, so I guess I should help out? I stepped up from the cover we were in, making the group’s entire attention move away from Nonomi and focus on me. Then I raised a hand in greeting and gave them a friendly smile.

“Hey! I’m Bobo, and this is Nonomi. We’re both from the Abydos Student Council.” I greeted, before pausing. “Or, well, at least I am anyway. Nonomi is still a middle schooler. But she’s still helping us.” I corrected.

“Abydos Student Council? You mean those hacks that messed up the whole district?” the thug girl asked in confusion. A bit of a mean thing to say, but that is the best way to describe the previous student council from what I understand. “…What do you have to do with the helmet gang?”

“Oh, they’re part of Abydos now. Our president bought a project recently and they joined up, you see. And now they live here.” I answered.

“…Hah?” the thug girl looked at me in deadpan, before turning to the helmet leader. “You’re saying that those helmet losers joined you guys?”

“Yep!” I said with a nod, before tilting my head as I realized something. “Oh, hey, why don’t you join us too? Yume-senpai has plans that can help you guys, just like the helmet gang…” I smiled at them. “What do you say?”

“…”

In response to my question, the thug girl glanced at the others with her. For a moment, I wondered what they were doing… Then, I suddenly heard a choking noise. I was concerned for a moment, but then I realized it was something else as the noise turned into snickering, and then eventually evolving into full-blown laughter.

“Bwahahaha!”

I blinked as I watched the sukeban laugh for some reason. Aren’t they pretty angry earlier? What’s with the sudden change in mood? I glanced behind me to see if there was anything I missed, but I only noticed the helmet gangsters clutching their guns tightly. Even Nonomi was the same.

They don’t look that happy.

Eventually, the laughter slowly died down. Then, as the thug girl leading them straightened up after doubling over due to laughing hard… she then looked at me straight in the eye with a hard gaze. I was disconcerted by the mood whiplash, and was about to ask if there was something wrong—

“Light ‘em up.” she commanded.

—But then all the girls around her pointed their guns at me and started shooting. All of them - from those small pistols to the bigger miniguns. The combination of the sheer volume of bullets slamming on me and me being unprepared for it caused me to slam hard on the ground.

“H-Hey!”

“Bobo-senpai!”

I heard cries of surprise and worry as that happened. Was that the helmet leader and Nonomi? I think it’s them but it’s hard to hear considering the roar of gunshots echoing around the place. Looks like the fighting finally began in earnest when they shot me.

Anyhow, I think it was them who shouted though. I was about to open my mouth to reassure them that I was fine, but I was interrupted when a foot was suddenly put on my chest. I looked up to see who it was.

It was the thug girl. She had a mocking expression on her face that was clear despite the face mask as she looked at the rest of the helmet gang. The girl was probably using me as a footstand because, you know, putting your feet on a downed enemy kinda looks cool. A bit mean, but cool. And there’s also the fact that she was uncaring of being out in the open despite the fight. Watching bullets whizz past her while posing like that is pretty badass.

Although, seeing it from this perspective was a bit strange.

“Listen up, you pansies! If you think you can mess with us sukeban, think again! Fat chance of it though, considering you joined that stupid Abydos school! Bwahahaha!” the thug girl mocked with a laugh. “Seriously, who joins up a school with only two students left? You helmet losers must have really lost your minds!”

“You’re going to regret this! You think we won’t mess you up!?” I heard the helmet leader shout back.

“Go ahead and try it! But don’t blame me if you’ll end up like this gorilla-looking girl over here though! Bwahahaha!” the girl laughed out again.

What she said made me interrupt her reflexively. “I’m not a girl though? I’m a guy.”

She blinked, then glanced down to see me looking at her. “…Huh?”

Oh, she doesn't get it? “I have dick and balls. Unlike you.” I explained, pointing up at her panties that were clearly visible from my position. Then I paused and narrowed my eyes. “Actually, wait. I’m not sure. Do you mind spreading your legs a little bit…? It’s a bit hard to see.”

“K-Kyaaaah!”

I wasn’t able to do that though, since the thug girl let out a surprisingly girlish scream as she quickly backed away while covering her skirt. A bit weird, but that did give me the opportunity to finally stand up, so I did. Her scream also gained the attention of the sukeban around her.

“W-What the—!? They’re still conscious!?”

“How is that possible!?”

“B-Big sis!? What’s wrong?”

Behind me, there were also similar shouts from the helmet gang and Nonomi as they noticed that I stood up unharmed from what happened.

“Oh, hey, he’s up again!”

“Told you that wouldn’t be enough. We shot him more last time and he was fine.”

“T-Thank goodness…” 

“Bobo-senpai! Get to cover, quickly!”

Oh, whoops. Nonomi has a point. I should probably do that.

“S-Shoot down that pervert!”

I heard the thug girl shout that for some reason as I jogged back towards the nearest cover. There’s a pervert in the area? Scary. Although I still felt the sukeban shoot bullets at my back even when their leader said that. It stopped, however, when I jumped behind an abandoned car on the side of the road. 

The bullets hit the car instead of me. I nodded my head. Yep. This should do.

Now, how do I do this…? Should I consult the tech notes on what to do like when we fought the helmet gang? I mean, it worked, so there’s no reason that it wouldn’t work again right?

Yeah, let’s do that. Let’s consult the manual. Let’s see… What did they say about shooting enemies again? I think it was about shooting them while not getting hit yourself. Such a wise adage. It blew my mind while reading it.

Anyway that’s probably the idea. I’m already behind cover anyway. So I peeked up to the hood of the car and aimed my pistol—!

“Now! Fire!”

Oh, that’s a lot of them aiming at me. 

So many bullets went my way. Most hit the car, but some hit my head and arm that was peeking out to shoot. And since there were a lot of bullets, that ‘some’ was still quite a lot. Not that it hurt me though, so I kept shooting, thinking it was fine even if I didn’t follow the manual too strictly.

…But then, the unthinkable happened.

I don’t know how or why, but it seems like while I was shooting back - either from a miracle or maybe just due to the sheer amount of bullets shot at me - one of the bullets must have been just in the right trajectory to enter the gun barrel of my pistol. 

And, unfortunately, I was already squeezing the trigger at that moment.

—It was then that I witnessed in complete shock as my pistol exploded because of a really strange case of bore obstruction. With helpless eyes, I watched as the gun parts fell apart like a failed build of toy bricks in my hands. I immediately went back to cover when that happened, sweeping the gun parts and checking them out.

“…Oh crap.” 

Some of them are clearly broken. I don’t think I can fix this at all. What should I do? I just borrowed this from Yume-senpai and Pinky, didn’t I? Would they be upset that I’ve broken it?

Damn it…! I should have followed the manual to the letter, if I knew this would happen! Curse your foolishness, Bobo! You were too conceited! How dare you doubt the manual!

…

Hoshino is going to kill me. I’m so screwed.

Chapter Text

This probably counts as two chapters, right…?

Coolest Gang of Abydos Part 3

“—Oraoraoraora! Take that you helmet losers!”

“—Shoot ‘em! Shoot those wannabe gangsters down!”

The battlefield all around me was in chaos as the helmet gangsters and sukeban shot at one another. I took part in a firefight before when we fought the helmet gang last time, but this was the first time I saw these many people were around shooting one another. It was super noisy and I found it hard to even hear my own voice when I speak.

Things were looking pretty evenly matched though. With my incredible math skills, I can tell that the reason why the sukeban defeated the earlier helmet gangsters was because they outnumbered them. But now that they encountered the bulk of the force, things were going much differently. The helmet gang couldn’t be overwhelmed by their numbers so now the situation just devolved into shooting the other as much as they could.

And as for myself, I couldn’t help the others to fight back. Because my gun broke.

I wondered what exactly I should do now. Thinking that, I looked around the place in search of the others (while also ignoring the sukeban shooting at me) and spotted Nonomi who was shooting her minigun at a shotgunner running towards them. As the thug dropped on the ground, she met my gaze and her eyes widened when she saw me standing there.

“Senpai! You’re being shot—!” Didn’t really hear what she said from all the noisy gunshots, but she suddenly blinked when I waved at her. “O-Oh.” 

The girl then looked to the side, and I realized that right beside Nonomi was the helmet leader. She was probably saying something to Nonomi, who then looked at me and gestured for me to come. Oh, I guess they need me for something? Alright then. I guess I’ll just go walk there…

I was about to move, but I paused for a moment when a thought entered my brain.

—Wait a minute. Leaving cover is not-ideal in the middle of the firefight, isn’t it? And while I could go there normally since bullets don’t really hurt me, ignoring the manual and not following it to the letter made me break my gun. So let’s not take any chances.

But does that mean I should stay here? Nonomi and the others are asking me to come, so that’s also bad… Ooh, wait, I think I have an idea. Okay, let’s see if this works.

I positioned myself to the side of the car, in such a way that the vehicle was right in between me and where Nonomi and the others were. Then, channeling the best football player I could think of (which was none, I don’t know any) I then kicked the car hard.

And then I ran after it, using it as a mobile cover.

“—Wah!”

“—Eeek!”

Crash!

My aim was impeccable and the car crashed on a nearby concrete wall from where Nonomi and the others were. It almost hit the other sukeban trying to charge the others too, making them yelp and fall on the ground in surprise as the vehicle whipped past them. Oops. I might have hit it too hard.

But in any case, I got to where Nonomi and the others were. I looked at them and greeted them with a bright smile. 

“Hey, what’s up? You guys need something?” I asked.

My question wasn’t answered since Nonomi, the helmet leader, and the other nearby helmet gangsters just stared at me. I gave them a confused look. What?

It was the helmet leader who recovered first and broke the silence. “What the hell!? Did you just kick that car!?” she suddenly shouted in disbelief. “Why would you even do that!? Why not just run normally here!?”

I tilted my head. “But leaving cover is bad, right? So I took it with me.”

There’s this feeling that the helmet leader was looking at me with a really strange expression right now, but I couldn’t really see it with her helmet covering her face. Anyway, her sudden outburst snapped the others out of their daze and they returned back to shooting. Nonomi, meanwhile, gave me a concerned look.

“Senpai, are you okay? I saw you earlier just standing there getting shot…” the girl asked, scanning my body up and down, before pausing when she realized something. “Wait a second, Bobo-senpai. Where’s your gun?”

I sagged at the reminder. “It broke.” I said sadly.

Nonomi gasped. “Oh, no! How are you going to shoot now?”

“—He doesn’t need that dinky pistol!” the helmet leader shouted again. She was back shooting at our enemies who were suddenly keeping their distance away, for some reason. That’s strange. They’re pretty enthusiastic at charging Nonomi and the others earlier. “If anything, it limits him! Just make him toss cars at those thugs or something!”

One of the sukeban nearby seemingly protested to that. “What the hell, are you trying to kill us!? Don’t do that!” she shouted.

“What makes you think you can say anything? We’re fighting!” the helmet leader retorted.

“Yeah, but we’re just shooting you with guns. That’s no biggie!”

Hm? Is that really how it is? I have a feeling that statement is supposed to be wrong but… Oh, well.

Nonomi interrupted with a bit of sweat on her face. “Let’s shelve the throwing cars ideas for now. But for now, I think Bobo-senpai can help protect others and, um… throw rocks? As long as you don’t hit them too hard…” Woah, that’s genius! I gave Nonomi a thumbs up as she said her suggestion. Definitely doing that. “B-But still, how exactly do we beat these sukeban? It doesn’t look like things are changing at all.”

“Hah? You think we won’t be enough to beat them? You saying that the helmet gang can’t handle this or something?” the helmet leader asked Nonomi.

“N-Not at all!” Nonomi denied as she shot at the general direction of the enemies, keeping them pinned down while some of the helmet gangsters tried to capitalize. “I was just wondering if we should have some sort of strategy…?”

“Shoot them until no one is standing. What else do you need?” the helmet leader said dismissively.

Nonomi frowned. “Does that usually work…?”

“…It’s a hit or miss.” the helmet leader admitted. “But if you want something like that, then you’re not getting any from us. This is how we usually do things. I mean, we’re dropout students - what the hell do we know about that strategy stuff?” she glanced at Nonomi. “If anything, you’re the one who should say something. I mean you’re from some rich private school, aren’t you? That emblem on your uniform says so.”

“…Ah. Umm, I’ve never really fought in a fight like this before aside from when you attacked Abydos. It’s usually just drills and exercises…” Nonomi said, her tone slightly embarrassed. But the girl forged on with a determined expression. “S-Still, I believe we should be cautious about this! Bobo-senpai might be able to beat them for us with his strength and durability, but getting hit by that amount of bullets could still be dangerous! He might still get hurt!”

Really? Well, it might hurt a bit if there’s a lot, but I don’t think it’s that serious…? 

I shared a confused glance with the helmet leader (or at least I think we did, given her helmet) before looking back to Nonomi. Then the helmet leader spoke.

“Are you sure? He caught a tank shell last time. And carried all those heavy things easily. Then there’s the thing he said about not needing to eat or drink.” the helmet leader paused, before turning to me. “…Actually, are you even human? I know you’re a male student and all, but I don’t think any human could do that, male or not.”

Uh, I guess? Or maybe not? I mean, there’s a halo on our heads. I don’t think any normal humans have that sort of thing either.

“M-Maybe I’m just overthinking it…” Nonomi said with a sheepish laugh. “Sorry.”

I crossed my arms at that, before letting out the appropriate hum.

…Hmm, actually wait, she might be right in her worry there. 

“Nah, Nonomi. I think you’re actually right with the strategy thing.” I said. The tech notes did say that having a strategy while fighting is the most important. “We should probably think of something like that. It’ll definitely help a lot.”

“No, really, can’t you just go run over there and beat them down or something…? They really can’t do anything about it. Seriously.”

I ignored the helmet leader’s words, for it is in direct opposition to the holy book of battle. “Anyway, suggestion! While we may spend effort thinking and scrambling around with what to do, doing that is inefficient.” I nodded my head. “That’s right. We’re no longer cavemen… we have technology.”

The two gave me a confused look - one that quickly turned into understanding when I showed them the phone recently bought and given to me by Nonomi herself. Then, I quickly dialled Yume-senpai who answered in less than 0.00005 seconds (estimated).

“—Hello? Bobo-kun?” Woah that was fast.

“Hey, senpai.” I greeted.

“Bobo-kun! Hey, hey, listen to this! We have some great news!” Yume-senpai quickly said, beaming in excitement. “We just finished our meeting with the train company here in DU! And guess what - they agreed! We now have a train we can use in our stations! And the other ones too, once we finally fix it!”

My eyes widened. “Huh, really? That’s great!”

“Yep! Now we’re actually going to ride the train on the way there. The plan is to make it operational as fast as possible!” Yume-senpai said happily. “I’m so glad that things are finally working out… I was so nervous during that meeting too. I mean, the president of the company was also there! It’s great that everything went well!”

So we’re finally going to have trains, huh? The helmet gang will be happy about this. Also, they met the president of the company? “Woah, you got to meet the president and convince them with your deal…? That’s so cool, Yume-senpai. You’re really cool.”

“Hehe, of course! I’m the Abydos Student Council President after all!” she said proudly, before continuing. “Anyway, enough about us - we can tell you all about what happened later! Is there a reason why you called, Bobo-kun?”

“Oh, we’re being attacked.” 

There was a pause on the other side. “...Eh?” Yume-senpai muttered. “Can you repeat that, Bobo-kun? I think I just heard that you were being attacked or something…”

“We’re being attacked?” I repeated, a bit unsure.

Another pause, which was then followed by a rustling sound that lasted for just a few seconds. And then after that; a new, cold, and familiar voice spoke once more on the other side of the line. 

“Elaborate.” Pinky said.

She must have taken the phone from Yume-senpai again. “Ah, well, there’s these sukeban students who suddenly attacked the station when we helped the helmet gang renovate the area. Apparently it’s their turf or something? Anyway, I called because we need to have a plan on how to deal with them. We’re a bit short on ideas.” I explained.

“…Protect the place and the others. We’ll get there as soon as possible.” Then, there was a click.

She hung up. I looked down at the phone with a confused look. That’s it? That’s the plan? I thought it would be more detailed or something… not like I’ll probably remember it, but still.

As I stared at the phone screen, I then noticed an alert or something. Hm? Was it Yume-senpai…? No, it’s not. Oh, hey, it’s from the girl I saw on the news and gave a friend invite earlier. I thought she was angry by my rude message, but it seems like she accepted the friend request in the end. I guess she must have changed her mind?

Although, it’s a bit weird for her to take hours to accept my request. She must have forgotten to do it earlier or something.

“What did they say, senpai?” Nonomi asked.

“Hoshino said to protect the place and the others, and that they’re gonna go here as fast as they can.” I explained. “Oh, and they said that they got the train company to agree to the deal too! There’s going to be trains using the station now, so that’s cool.”

“…The last one is good news, but in the end there’s no plan, huh? And then saying that they’ll go here as fast as possible…” the helmet leader clicked her tongue. “Tch. Nobody really trusts us to hold on our own.”

I was about to answer - but then an unexpected voice that cut through the din of the gunshots interrupted me.

“—Oi, what the hell have you idiots been babbling about over there, huh? We’re having a fight here! What’re you doing, having a call right in the middle of it?” I heard the thug girl shout. “You looking down on us!?”

“Piss off!” the helmet leader shouted back, before turning to Nonomi and me. “Screw having a plan! We’re doing this our way. The both of you - join in, don’t, do whatever you want.”

She then cocked her rifle.

“But we’re going to settle this thing once and for all. They picked a fight with the helmet gang, and we’re not gonna let that slide!” she pointed a hand forward. “Prepare yourselves! We’re gonna rush ‘em!”

“Alright!”

“Let’s do this!”

“Get them!”

Uhh, I guess we’re really doing this? Oh, well. Less is more, as they say. Having a simple strategy doesn’t look like a bad idea. With that in mind, I joined them while doing what Nonomi suggested for me to do earlier.

Now, with the declaration of the helmet leader, the helmet gangsters started to become more aggressive and started to close in on the sukeban. That made the sukeban react just as aggressively as well. I put myself right in the middle of it, gaining the attention of the sukeban (they all seem to shoot me while screaming for some reason when I approach them) and back by tossing some rocks I picked up on the ground.

I tried to defeat as many as I could to help. Then I move on to the next group who are near me - if they weren’t defeated by some helmet gangsters already. It was all pretty simple.

And of course, I protect the others around me too.

“—Hup!” I quickly saved a girl from being blown off by a grenade by quickly grabbing entire body and covering her from the explosion. I then put her back down when I tanked the damage. “…You okay?”

“…! Y-Yes!” Oh, hey, it’s the black helmet girl I CQC’d with. She looks happy. “Thank you!”

“No problemo. Just be careful next time!” I said while giving her a thumbs up, before going on my merry way.

So I continued to do all that. It was pretty easy, but I did notice that as I went on to help, the others from the helmet gang got really enthusiastic whenever I’m near them for some reason, even recklessly charging at the enemy when they noticed my presence.

“Bobo’s here! He’ll protect us!”

“Go, go! Now’s our chance!”

“Get the tank right behind him!”

I guess that must mean I’m doing a good job of helping. The others gathered around me while they attacked with the helmet leader providing orders. And while it took quite a few minutes or so, it seems like the helmet leader’s plan to just rush them was having an effect. The sukeban were being hammered back by the assault and quite many were being defeated.

“Damn it…! Just what the hell is that guy? Nothing works!”

“That tank is in the way! We’re pinned down!”

“Ow! What the—! That middle schooler with the minigun is annoying!”

Our enemies were getting frustrated, the majority of which were probably aimed at me judging by the amount of bullets shot in my direction. Again, it really doesn’t hurt, just kind of like small stones hurled at me or something. Something did surprise me while I was getting shot though.

From the corner of my eye, I saw one of the buggy cars that was driving around with its riders shooting everyone suddenly approaching our direction. I turned to look and saw that it was headed towards me.

“TAKE THIS!!!” the driver shouted. 

What should I do here…? It’s heading towards me real fast. Should I dodge? Ah, but there’s people behind me. That won’t do then.

I guess I should stop it.

And so, bracing myself - I then started to run as fast as I could towards the buggy car. I saw the driver’s eyes widen in disbelief along with the others inside when I did that, although they didn’t stop. It took less than a second, but when I was finally near and on the verge of getting hit by the car, I inclined myself to the side.

Then I shoulder-decked it. The buggy broke.

“Huwaaah!”

The sukeban girls riding the car then soared through the air and fell on the ground hard, then they rolled around for a bit before finally stopping. They didn’t get back up, their haloes disappearing in a flash. That’s quite a harsh crash… 

I walked towards them, feeling a bit concerned. “Hey, you okay?” I asked, before hearing a groan from the driver. “Oh, looks like you’re all fine—” my head turned a bit to the side as something hit it. “—Hm?”

What was that? Did someone shoot at me? It’s a bit bigger than the other bullets… was that from a sniper? 

I looked around and saw something shiny in the distance, making my eyes widen in shock and excitement. So it is a sniper! I can see them hiding behind a window in one of the abandoned houses far away from there. That looks really cool.

I gave her a wave and she looked surprised. Then, I bent down to pick up a rock and then tossed it at her. The window broke as the rock hit her head, making her fall unconscious. Sorry sniper thug girl. You look really cool, but the tech notes that snipers should be dealt with when there is a chance.

Alright, that’s everything attacking me taken care of. I nodded my head satisfactorily and turned back to where the main battle was happening - only to see that people were staring at me again.

Huh? Did I miss something? They all stopped shooting.

“What the hell…? What sort of creature are you!?” It was the thug girl who said that, looking at me with disbelief and fear in her eyes. Just like the rest of the sukeban around her. “Where did Abydos even get this guy!? They’re just a failing school with two students left, aren’t they!?”

“Don’t know about that.” the helmet leader drawled as she approached and stood beside me. “But unless you want to keep fighting us, then you’re gonna have to deal with this guy just like we did. We’re part of Abydos now. What’s more, with Takanashi Hoshino on her way - you’re gonna have a hard time.”

“What? That midget is gonna go here…? Damn it, this just keeps getting worse!” the thug girl cursed.

“Yep, definitely. So just give it up, why don’t you?” the helmet leader mocked. “We still have things to fix in this place, you know. And probably some more because of this fight. Don’t make us waste any more of our precious time because of you bozos.”

Then, she pointed her gun at the girl. It was mirrored by the rest of the gang (and tank) pointing at the other sukeban around.

“Unless, you want to continue fighting~?” the helmet leader taunted.

The thug girl clearly got angry at that as a vein appeared on her forehead. “The hell did you say!?”

I felt another presence stand at my other side, before turning to realize that it was Nonomi. She had a frown on her face that looked more like a pout. “Please give up! You can’t win anymore!”

“Tch… you don’t know that!” the thug girl denied.

Her subordinates weren’t quite as spirited however, as I could see some of their expressions turn hesitant. “W-What should we do, big sis…?” one of the sukebans muttered.

The thug girl turned hesitant at that. A lot of the members in her group got defeated, with some sukeban carrying their unconscious bodies back to their buggy cars and motorcycles. It’s clear that they’re on the losing side if they continue to fight.

“Damn it, these guys, why the hell do they even want this place? This place is ours! We already spent so much time here, even made some precious memories…!” the thug girl growled in frustration.

But then, suddenly, she paused.

“Wait a minute.”

I looked at her in confusion. That was sudden. She just went from frustrated to looking thoughtful. 

“…There’s rumors of Abydos doing something big. I thought it was all bullcrap, but with what’s happening here, then this must be it.” the thug girl began. “But fixing up a neighborhood in the middle of nowhere doesn’t seem like a good idea, so the reason why you’re here must be something else. And the only thing notable near here…” her eyes sharpened. “…You guys are here for the station, aren’t you?”

I blinked at the deduction. Holy crap, is she a genius? I looked to the side to see that even Nonomi and the others looked surprised.

“…Yeah, these guys are planning to fix the station or whatever.” the helmet leader admitted. “But so what? It’s not like knowing that matters, does it?”

There was a gleam in the thug girl’s eyes. “Heh, you’d think so. But the thing is: we’re not here to defeat you!” she started, before standing up from her cover. “The true goal here is to make you stop taking our turf. And that’s not done by beating you guys, but rather…”

She then started to run away to their vehicles, much to our shock. Some tried to shoot her as she ran, but either out of sheer luck, skill or both - not a single one had hit.

“…It’s done by messing with whatever you’re cooking up!” she shouted. “We’ll go to that station and destroy that place, so you can no longer use it!” 

My eyes widened. What?

“D-Destroy the station!?” Nonomi shouted in shock.

“…!” the helmet leader reacted quickly. “Stop them!” she shouted, and she started to chase them while shooting as much as she could. 

Broken from their daze at her shout - the rest of the helmet gang, as well as Nonomi, mirrored her as they began to chase the fleeing sukeban and went on shooting their backs.

“Tch…! Damn it!”

Unfortunately, while some sukeban got hit making them fall down on the ground unconscious, a majority still got to their vehicles. One of them was the thug girl, who then jumped on a motorcycle and started the engines.

“Let’s go, girls! Let’s teach these idiots some good ‘ol desert justice! Bwahahaha!”

The thug girl then rode her motorcycle away with the other sukebans following closely behind. And so with shock and horror in our eyes - we watched as the sukeban escape from certain defeat and leave, leaving only a cloud of dust behind.

And now, they’re planning to destroy the station. The one that Yume-senpai and Pinky need intact because they’re gonna have trains use it as soon as possible.

That’s… really bad.

…

…

I ran as fast as I could to chase them.

“Bobo-senpai!?” I heard Nonomi shout behind me. “Wait!”

Sorry, Nonomi! There’s no time!

Those sukeban need to be stopped! I’ll be back shortly!

Chapter Text

And now, we see the effects of Bobo-kun’s one true weakness. It’s a miracle this hasn’t happened already.

  Coolest Gang of Abydos Part 4

Having been a few hours already since we arrived on the outskirts to help the helmet gang, the sun started to set, leaving this orange glow in the sky. It was a really cool sight, especially with none of the tall buildings in the way, but I couldn’t really appreciate it right now.

And that’s because I’m trying to run as fast as I can to catch up to the escaping sukeban.

“—Uwooooooogh!”

Exerting some quite plenty of effort, I ran with long and fast strides. The destroyed and abandoned roads, houses and buildings went past me like blur, but even then I was only gaining a slight distance on the sukeban. It would take a while to finally reach them, which was a pain.

The sukeban themselves seem to have a different opinion though.

“What the—!? I-It’s him!”

“H-How is he catching up…!? We’re going 60 kilometers per hour!”

They were clearly surprised. Probably because they think I was doing something ridiculous, or something. But clearly that’s because they haven’t met someone who had done intense meditation (being naked) for quite a long time and became one with the wind in the process.

I heard the thug girl shout from the front of the group. “Shoot him!”

Hearing that, those who weren’t driving on the buggy cars and motorcycles all pointed their guns at me and started shooting. And some of those driving as well too. And while normally I would’ve taken some cover, doing that would be impossible when I’m trying to catch up and stop them from going to the station. So I went ahead and did the next best thing told by the tech notes - I dodged.

“—Hup!” I skipped to the side to dodge a stream of bullets while continuing to run. Then I did the same to the rest heading my way. “Hah!”

“He dodged the bullets!?” one of the sukebans shouted in shock again.

“Just keep doing it!” the thug girl shouted as she shot me as well. I dodged her bullets though. “Look, he’s losing speed!”

My eyes widened. What!? I looked at the distance between us and, lo and behold, it is getting a bit larger. I’m getting slower like she said from dodging bullets. So that was the thug girl’s plan… With her logical deduction earlier and this trick - she must be some sort of tactical genius!

That girl might give me quite a lot of trouble… However, just as I had proven to Hoshino so many times, I’m also something of a smart guy myself.

I need to go faster. However, just exerting myself won’t do. As they always say: it’s always better to work smarter than harder. Which is why with my intimate understanding of physics and aerodynamics due to immersing myself in nature - I was able to quickly concoct a plan.

How do I make myself faster without much effort? Simple, I just need to lower myself and point my body forward. Doing that breaks the wind, thus making me faster. Oh, and also I need to put my hand behind my back to counter my weight. Also, my lowered profile makes me harder to hit by bullets too! Man, am I a genius or what?

“What the hell? He suddenly started running like a ninja!” one of the sukeban shouted.

Hm? Oh, yeah, it does kinda look like that doesn’t it? So that’s why they’re running like this.

Let’s do some other ninja things, then. “Ninjaaaa!” I shouted, before taking out one of the rocks I brought with me. “Take this - my ninja shuriken! Wachaa!”

“That’s not what ninja’s say—Ow! Uuu…”

I hit the sukeban who was seated behind a buggy right in the head, making her collapse and fall back to the seat of the car. There was a shocked pause as those shooting turned to her in surprise - but then they immediately recovered and started shooting at me again, and much more intensely this time.

Because of my incredible ninja running, however, all the bullets were avoided. I was also throwing rocks at them in retaliation, and I was slowly starting to close our distance between each other too. I’m catching up to them!

“Damn it! Just stay down already!” one of the sukeban riding on a motorcycle cried out while shooting at me with her one-hand submachine gun. Hey, shouldn’t you look in front of you while driving? That’s dangerous—!

“—Oh, crap!”

Just as I worried, the sukeban lost balance in her motorcycle when she hit a pothole on the road while she wasn’t looking. The motorcycle wobbled, and while she desperately tried to regain control, she was swerving uncontrollably.

“Uwaaah!”

And she must have hit something, maybe a particularly large rubble or so, because the motorcycle suddenly flipped. The girl screamed as she was sent flying, her hands flailing as soared through the air. She was about to fall on the ground at high speeds - which would probably hurt a lot even with how tough these students are - but fortunately, I was near her.

I dodged the motorcycle that was now skidding on its side and stopped doing the ninja run for a moment. Then, in one smooth move of outstretching my hands and positioning myself right under the girl, I quickly caught her in my arms.

“Hup!” the girl stopped flailing when she realized she didn’t hit the road, but rather got caught by yours truly. She looked up at me in shock. “You okay?” I asked.

“Uh…?” she muttered unintelligibly for a moment. “A-Ah, umm, yeah…”

That’s great. I’m getting a bit slower because of my new weight but that’s better than letting her hit the pavement. I looked back up to the sukeban, a bit worried that they’ll take advantage of shooting me to make me even slower… Oh, wait, they’re not shooting anymore. In fact, they looked surprised and unsure for some reason.

A bit weird, but my thoughts about it were interrupted when I saw what was in the distance. It was the station. Damn, the plan on stopping them before they even arrive at the station failed. Looks like I’ll just have to stop them from destroying the station while we’re actually in the place.

Anyway, the sukeban slowed down their buggy cars and motorcycles when they neared the station, before settling on a stop not on the station itself, but rather a bit on the side. They stopped right near the railways that I personally fixed a few days ago.

I also slowed down from my run before coming to a stop. The sukeban dropped down from their vehicles before gathering around to face me. They didn’t say anything at first, only waiting as the thug girl moved to position herself right in the front of the group. Then there was a moment of this somewhat unsure silence, and the girl in my arms fidgeted nervously.

The thug girl glanced at her. Then, it looked like she was about to speak—

“Wait, timeout!” I interrupted, making the thug girl blink. I then put the sukeban in my arms back down on the ground, before gesturing for her to go back to her group. She looked a bit confused but did so. Then, I turned back to the thug girl. “…Okay, you can go now.”

She stared at me for a moment. 

Then, she spoke. “…You not taking us seriously or something?”

I tilted my head at her sudden question. “Huh?”

“Do you think that this is a joke? You’re not taking us seriously at all, aren’t you?” the thug girl continued. “Even earlier you were probably just messing around.”

“Uh, no?” I was being 100% serious while fighting though, but I don’t think that’s what she’s saying… Oh, wait, a thought entered my mind. “Is this about helping her? I don’t think I did anything wrong though. I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

Her eyes furrowed. “We’re fighting. Why the hell would you even think that?”

“I mean, it’s not like we’re trying to hurt each other seriously. We’re just shooting one another.” I repeated the statement I heard one of the sukeban say. It’s a bit weird to say it outloud myself, but it’s no less true. “Also, why are we even fighting? Can’t we all just be friends?”

The thug girl gave me a really confused look. “…You’re asking us to be friends with you?” she asked, tone indignant. “You, the Abydos Student Council, who took over our turf. The same people who messed up this district in the first place, and the one taking the one spot that we like in this godforsaken district that we’d like to leave so much. You want us to be friends with you?”

A bit of a mean way to put it, but something else in what she said caught my attention. “You want to leave the district?” That sounds familiar.

“Obviously we do! This place is a dump! If we had the money then we’d have left the place long ago and transferred to some other school!” she suddenly cried out. 

Uh, aren’t they in a similar situation with the helmet gang? We could probably help them.

“Hey, we don’t really have to fight you know?” I tried telling her. “We could help you. See, there’s this train project that we’re doing, and we’re helping the helmet gang go clean because of it.”

“Hah? Train project and helping the helmet gang? What does that have to do with anything—You know what, I don’t care." This is bad, I didn’t explain it properly enough for her to gain interest. The thug girl then let out a frustrated exhale. “Argh, why am I telling you that in the first place? It doesn’t matter. Look, I don’t care if you helped one of my girls but I ain’t gonna let you take our place. So unless you want us to destroy this station, then leave our turf alone.”

I frowned at that, before stepping forward. 

“Sorry, but I’m not going to let you do that.” I answered. Hoshino would kill me. Atop from already destroying my gun, at least.

“Then suit yourself.” the thug girl declared, before turning to the rest of the sukeban. “You, and you! Go plant the bombs around the station! The rest - with me! We’ll delay him until the bombs are ready!”

The girls she pointed went ahead as fast as they could to the station. The rest, meanwhile, stayed behind with the thug girl. They had this really unsure look on this face as I approached. “B-Big sis… is this really alright? I don’t think we can stop him at all…”

“We only need to delay him. Even if we’re beaten, as long as the station gets destroyed, then they’ll leave and we win.” the thug girl said firmly. “Now shoot!”

I heard all that she said. It’s a pretty smart plan, really.  I should probably just get going and stop those who were installing the bombs. I’d need to quickly get past them.

Listening to the thug girl’s commands - they all started shooting. Just like always though the bullets didn’t work as I just ignored it to get to those who ran to the station. One of them even threw a grenade at me which I just dealt with by covering myself with my arms. 

“Woah!”

I went out of balance for a bit. It also knocked the wind out of me, but it didn’t hurt that much. It also teared up my shirt slightly which was… surprising, because I remember my hospital gown getting destroyed by just a few bullets. And this PE uniform survived quite a lot of them plus an explosion. Huh, I guess student uniforms must be tougher than normal clothes? Questions for later.

“Damn it, even a grenade at point-blank didn’t work…!?” I heard one sukeban say in frustration.

“We can’t delay him at all!” another one cried out.

“J-Just keep shooting!” the thug girl shouted, sweating slightly. “We’ll think of something!”

Anyway, I continued on. I should be able to go past them with no issue. They couldn’t really do anything else but shoot at me, and I think they already ran out of grenades to throw aside from the one earlier, so I guess I’ll just go…

…Or so I thought.

You see, ever since the very first time I was in a gunfight, even going back to the helmet gang when I first met that red helmet girl outside of the hospital - I was getting shot in areas like the head or the chest. And from my incredible intellect, I think the first is because getting knocked in the head gives pretty good damage, while the other is because it’s a pretty big target. Even now, with large amounts of bullets being shot at me - that was generally the places I’m being shot at.

“Ah!”

However, it seems that in an unlucky twist of fate, one of the sukeban tripped while she was walking backwards as I approached. And that made her aim her gun, a submachine gun it looks like, a little bit downwards than the rest.

Blam!

—And I was directly shot at my dick.

“Guhghkk…!”

Thud!

I immediately dropped face-first on the ground, writhing in pain.

“…”

“…”

“…”

There was a sudden silence. From the edges of my pained consciousness, I realized that the sukeban all stopped shooting and was staring at my incapacitated self with confusion in their eyes. Notably the thug girl, who looked like she couldn’t believe what just happened.

“What the…? The hell happened to you?” the thug girl asked.

I wasn’t able to answer her though, too preoccupied with pain and all. 

“Aaauugh…! Pain! True pain!” I groaned. Getting shot in the dick is ten times worse than getting kicked by Hoshino! Ah, well, it’s not as painful as when we first met and I vomited all over her shoes, but this takes the cake as well. “My dick has been shot…!”

“H-His what!?” one of the sukebans shouted.

“Is he okay…?” another muttered.

However, amidst those statements of shock was one that made my stomach drop. It was spoken by none other than the thug girl.

“…Hey, all of you. Let’s restrain him.” I vaguely heard her say those words. Huh? “Q-Quickly, this is our chance! Try to hold him down or something! And spread his legs!”

I managed to muster the strength to squeak out a protest at that. “S-Spread my what? Hey, hold on, what’re you doing—” the sukeban moved to do just that. I might’ve been able to shake them off, if it wasn’t for the fact that, after spreading my legs, the thug girl suddenly put her foot on my dick. “—Uwooooogh! ”

“Take that! So this is your weakness, huh?” the girl shouted in victory. “We got you now!”

My dick! Why is she stepping on my dick!? It’s making me weak for some reason! And I can’t break out of their hold, so I can only scream helplessly while making weird faces! This is a new kind of torture!

One of the sukebans winced as I shouted my heart out. “U-Um, is this really fine, big sis…? He looks like he’s really in pain…” she muttered.

“I-It’s fine, isn’t it? We’re fighting! A-And I did warn him that we won’t go easy, so it should be fine…” the thug girl answered, before she swallowed as I felt her feet press more on my genitals. “B-But he really is a boy like he said, huh…? I-It’s really there… and sorta big too…”

“My balls! It’s gonna exploooode!” I screamed.

One sukeban gave her a wide-eyed look. “Big sis…?”

“Huh?” the thug girl blinked, before turning to the sukeban with her neck (and presumably, her face underneath the mask) turning red. “W-What? I was just stating a fact, alright!?” she stuttered for a bit. “Now, what is it?”

“Uh, yeah…” one sukeban muttered unsurely as she gave the girl a strange look, before turning to me. Who was still screaming. In pain. “What… what should we do now?”

The thug girl paused at that. “W-Well, if you ask me, then I guess we can take this guy as hostage…? He’s already beat. And then maybe we can negotiate with the student council to leave us alone to take him back, or get some money in the process. They shouldn’t be in the position to argue, considering they only have a few students in their school.”

She suddenly paused.

“Though, the helmet gang is a problem. I still don’t know why they decided to join up with the Abydos Student Council. Or the reason why they’re fixing up the place here in the outskirts.” the thug girl suddenly muttered in thought. “This guy said something about some project they’re cooking up being related to the helmet gang, but…”

“It’s… because we’re helping them…”

The thug girl blinked, then looked down to stare at me. I barely managed to muster the strength to fight through the pain just to answer the thing she was wondering about. I stared at the thug girl, looking straight in her eyes.

“What…?” she muttered in confusion.

“Our president has a plan… I-It’s to revive the railway project from Saint Nephthys…” I managed to elaborate. “The helmet gang, they also want to leave the district and have a better life… so she made a deal with them to join the school, so that they won’t be dropouts… A-And she made them settle here, so that it would help the project, along with some other benefits that make it easier to live… and give them somewhere to start.”

My words seem to have gotten the sukeban’s attention as they suddenly turned silent. They glanced at one another, hesitation and more emotions that I couldn’t quite place visible on their faces as they finished listening to what I said. 

“Big sis… those guys…” one of them muttered.

Said girl was quiet, looking at me with furrowed brows. Her foot stopped pressing hard on my dick now, giving me a bit of a breathing room from the pain. Thank goodness!

“…So you’re trying to revive that old train project, huh? And that deal with the helmet gang…” she muttered, looking away for a moment, before turning to me again. “Hey… is that really true?”

“Uh, yeah?” I answered. “That's why I said that we don’t need to fight earlier. You guys seem to be in a similar situation with the helmet gang, so we can just be friends.”

There was a strange pause that followed that as the sukeban all went quiet. They had these strange expressions on their faces which I saw earlier, but displayed much more fully. Was that regret? I couldn’t quite place it. 

I was just about to open my mouth, wondering what suddenly happened to them—

Rumble!

—But then, the ground suddenly shook faintly. I stiffened.

“What was that?” the thug girl suddenly said. She turned to the direction of the station, which was where the sound was coming from. “Wait…”

“T-That might have been an explosion! Our girls must have installed the bombs already!” one of the sukeban cried out, turning to the thug girl in panic. “B-Big sis, if what this guy’s saying is right…!”

I felt my stomach drop further at that. Was it already too late? The thug girl, in response to what the sukeban said, just had this dark look as she stared on the ground.

“…We’re too far away. And they probably already set the bombs off. We can’t stop them.” she muttered, gripping her gun tight. “I-It’s probably for the best, anyway. Even if it sounds good, t-there’s no way this gig would work out for everyone involved… That’s right, we should probably just cut out losses and—”

Rumble rumble rumble!

She was able to finish, as the ground shook more and more. It was then I, and probably the others as well, realized that whatever making that noise was - it wasn’t because of a bomb. But rather, because of something big heading right towards the station.

And it came to view not a moment later.

“—What the…!? Is that a train!?” the thug girl suddenly cried out.

I watched with wide eyes as a train suddenly appeared right in the distance. It was huge, it was new, it was…!

…It was so cool!

Anyway, we heard the echoes of metal screeching, as the train’s brakes ground into the railway and produced sparks while it slowed into a crawl. Then, after it completely stopped, the train then let out a hissing sound as if compressed air went out of it, blowing away what looked like a cloud of steam in the process.

The door must have opened at that moment, allowing those inside the train to step out. Then, what quickly followed was gunshots. Quite a lot of it, along with some faint panicked shouting - which then immediately turned into an eerie silence.

And then we saw bodies thrown right off the edge of the station. I recognized them - it was the two sukeban instructed by the thug girl to plant the bombs. Their haloes were turned off as they turned completely unconscious.

Then, somebody walked right into the edge of the station, and we saw who was responsible for doing that.

“You all…” she muttered with a ticked off expression. “You’re going to regret trying to—”

Pinky suddenly stiffened once her gaze settled onto us. Huh? Is there something wrong? I looked at the sukeban who were all holding me down by my limbs. Oh, and the thug girl too, who still had her foot still on top of my dick.

Ahh, I get it. She must have been shocked that I was caught in this situation. Well, that’s understandable. I was actually shocked things went like this as well, really.

Still, I’m glad that she’s here to help me now. “Hey, Hoshino! What’s up?” I greeted. “You mind helping me out here? I’m in a bit of a pickle.”

Contrary to my expectation though, she didn’t do that.

“You…” Pinky looked down as she said that. Almost simultaneously, I then felt this deadly premonition come to me. I recognize that tone of voice. Oh no. “You…!”

The girl then looked up, her face completely red.

“You perverts! Dieeee!”

—What followed was the sounds of her shotgun being blasted, along with the panicked screams of the sukeban around me as they were finally being dealt with by Hoshino, who descended on us like an ancient god on a warpath.

Oh, and my screams too, because I’m somehow included in it.

…Why, even!? I didn’t even do anything wrong, did I!?

Chapter Text

Sorry for not posting for a while. I got exams. As an apology though, I’ll post this chapter along with an interlude! Hope you enjoy reading it!

Coolest Gang of Abydos Part 5

“…So, this is what you’re all doing while we’re gone, huh? You better have a good explanation for all of this. Because if you don’t, then I’m going to beat you up.”

Hoshino’s cold voice said this after dealing with the now tied-up sukeban, who shook under her frightening glare. Her blue-orange eyes pinned them in place, making them unable to move more than whatever restriction the bindings could afford. 

There was no trace of the enemy that I fought. Under the mercy of Pinky, they just turned into scared girls. Except for the unconscious ones, that is, but I have a feeling that they’d be doing the same with their comrades if they were awake. Pretty much all the people here were scared of Pinky.

—Her gaze swivelled to me and I stiffened.

And that included me as well. Because she tied me up and glared at me too. I sat on my knees right in front of her with my hands tied up from some rope she got from somewhere.

…Wait a minute.

“…Hey, why am I a part of this?” I said, blinking as I suddenly realized what was wrong in this situation. I then gave Pinky an indignant look. “I didn’t do anything wrong!” 

“Shameless perverts should be arrested and brought into prison.” Hoshino said coldly.

“Pervert?” Wait, I think I heard one of the sukebans say that sometime before. I looked around. “There’s a pervert here? Where?”

Hoshino pointed her shotgun right in front of my face. “It’s you, you dumbass!” she shrieked. I blinked. It was me!? “Don’t act clueless when you were doing… that , with those girls! I-I saw what she was doing with her foot!”

Huh? Weren’t we fighting though? Also what, ‘ that ’? I gave Pinky a confused look, but before I could ask what she meant, a voice interjected on what Hoshino said.

“H-Hey, where did you even get that idea!? We didn’t do anything of that sort!” the thug girl shouted, looking a bit indignant and flustered for some reason. “Get your head out of the gutter - we were doing that to disable him and take him out of action!”

“How is that ‘taking out of action’? You have your foot on his… h-his thing! There’s no conceivable way you can end up in that position in a fight!” Hoshino retorted at the girl, before pointing an accusatory finger at me. “And this guy is strong enough to carry tons of weight! There’s no way he can get pinned down like that unless it’s voluntary!”

But I really was pinned down though…? Though she did have a point. I’m usually pretty strong, but the moment the thug girl started stepping on my dick I suddenly lost strength, which was weird.

“Look, I don’t know how it got to that, but things just turned out that way!” the thug girl insisted. “We were fighting! Fighting! Definitely not whatever you’re thinking of!”

“I don’t know, you did say something pretty out of pocket about his size that time, big sis…” one of the sukeban suddenly muttered.

The thug girl blushed and glared at her. “S-Shut up! I didn’t say anything!”

Before things could devolve into more shouting however - a new arrival put a momentary stop to things. A familiar voice called out to us and I saw the familiar figure of Yume-senpai, running to us with her shield deployed.

“Hoshino-chaaan! I’m here to assist—! Oh wait, it’s over already.” she blinked as she saw Hoshino just standing there. Yume-senpai then brought her shield down. “That was fast, Hoshino-chan! So these are the thugs trying to destroy the station, huh…?” she looked over at the tied-up sukeban, before pausing when she saw me with them. ”Eh? Bobo-kun?”

“Hey, Yume-senpai.” I greeted. “Cool train. It’s pretty big.”

“Thanks! You too, Bobo-kun!” Hm? “…Say, Hoshino-chan, why is Bobo-kun tied up? You’re the one who did that, right?” Yume-senpai suddenly asked, tilting her head.

“Shameless perverts should be executed and their bodies thrown in the desert.” Hoshino said coldly.

My punishment somehow got worse!? Not that I did anything wrong, but still.

“Ahaha… I don’t think it needs to get to that point…” Yume-senpai sweatdropped, laughing nervously. “Umm, did Bobo-kun do something lewd again? You know how he is, Hoshino-chan. He probably doesn’t mean it and it just looks that way by chance. Isn’t that right, Bobo-kun?”

“Yeah! If anything, I’m a victim here!” I agreed. As expected of senpai, she really gets me. “My dick and balls were stepped on, you know? It hurt a lot. It’s nothing lewd or whatever you’re thinking.”

I then gave Hoshino a considering look. 

“Plus, if you think that’s lewd, then you’re the lewdest one because you keep kicking my balls… Actually, now that I think about it, you’re also the one that keeps assuming I’m doing something perverted when I’m not.” I paused. “Doesn’t that make you the most dirty-minded here?”

That made the shotgun pressed harder on my face, showing Pinky’s tendency to commit violence in the face of irrefutable logic. I should probably stop or else she’ll explode. “The hell did you say!?” she shouted.

“Takadirty Pervino.”

“—Quit giving me those weird names!” Oops. Couldn’t stop my mouth. Sorry~☆!

“Oh no, Bobo-kun! Your… t-thing, got hurt!?” Yume-senpai, meanwhile, focused on what I said. Her eyes were down on my crotch, looking at it with a strange gaze. “I-It’s not injured, is it? Hold on, let me check—”

“Ahh, no need to worry. I think I’m fine now actually!” It took a couple of minutes, but the pain was gone and I finally recovered my strength. I stood up and then ripped the rope binding me. “Hup…! Yeah, there we go.”

Freedom, at last! The ropes couldn’t bind me now that I feel oddly strong again. Although for some reason, Yume-senpai briefly seemed to look disappointed. It was gone the next moment before I could ask why.

“Ahem! Alright, Bobo-kun.” she started, gaining this determined and serious face that usually had whenever we had a meeting. “Now that everything is over… Do you mind telling us what happened? We tried to hurry here as fast as we could when you called, but we never did know what caused this. And is Nonomi-chan and the helmet gang alright?”

I nodded my head at that. “Yeah, they are.” I answered, before continuing. “Alright, so what happened was…”

—And with that, I started to tell them what happened. About how we helped fix up the nearby homes around the area that the helmet gang was staying in like they told us to do, and how we suddenly encountered the sukeban who apparently had been using the place as a frequent hangout. And how it turned into a fight.

The sukeban were oddly silent as I told the story. Though that’s probably because they were scared of Hoshino, who glared at them the whole time as I narrated what happened (minus the thug girl who tried to defiantly meet her gaze). In contrast, Yume-senpai simply had a calm expression, even letting out understanding hums and nodding her head on some parts as I spoke. She didn’t also show the slightest bit of anger towards sukeban, unlike Pinky here.

“—And then, I followed them to the station to stop them from blowing it up. But then I got shot in the dick which was really painful. The next thing I knew I was defeated, and I was afraid that the station was really going to get blown up… but then you guys arrived.” 

I nodded my head, looking impressed. 

“That was really cool, by the way. Hoshino’s entrance would’ve been a solid 10/10, if it weren’t for her shooting me and tying me up with the others.” I continued. “So I’ll give it a 9.77/10 which is, in all fairness, still pretty cool overall.”

“Nobody asked for your weird ratings.” Pinky grumbled.

“Well, Hoshino-chan is pretty cool.” Yume-senpai agreed with my words, putting her hands on her hips. “Sometimes she gets all prickly though, but that’s just part of her charm! So even if it’s just 9.77, it still turns 10 because of how cute she gets when she does this!”

“Senpai, what are you even on about?”

I nodded my head at that. “Humuu… your logic is sound. Alright, I guess the remaining 1.33 points gets added on my previous score to give it a 10/10! I retract my earlier judgement.”

“Ooh, it turned into a perfect score! Don’t you think that’s great, Hoshino-chan?” Yume-senpai with a bright smile as she turned to Pinky. 

Said pink-haired girl just gave us a flat look. “I think you should all go back and study basic mathematics.” she replied. Then, she sighed and turned to me. “...Anyway, is that all that happened? Nothing of note got really damaged or no one was seriously injured?”

“As far as I know.” I can’t speak for the helmet gang though, since they got left behind.

But, you know as they say, speak of the devil and it shall appear… Or in this case, maybe angel? We all got haloes. Anyway, it was great timing since the moment I thought that, we heard the sound of people running towards our direction.

We all turned to see that it was the helmet gang, with Nonomi and their leader right on the forefront. They all look pretty sweaty. Did they run all the way from their place to get here like I did?

“Bobo-senpai!” Nonomi called out to me. Then, her eyes widened as she saw the others with me. “Y-Yume-senpai and Hoshino-senpai too! You’re here!”

“Heyya, Nonomi-chan!” Yume-senpai greeted her with a bright smile.

“…Looks like we arrived late to the party.” the helmet leader said as she looked around the plac, most notably at the captured sukeban, before looking at the parked train in the station. “So that’s the new train, huh?”

“Ohhh, we can finally commute easily! No more walking in the outskirts until we get here!”

“That train is so clunky-looking… It’s a bit different from the ones in other districts.”

“You have to admit that it kinda looks cool, though. Kinda like in an anachronistic sort of way.”

I empathetically nodded at the helmet gang member’s side commentary. I couldn’t have said it any better myself - that particular helmet girl who said that has good taste. Yume-senpai, hearing it as well, proudly stuck out her chest with a smug smile.

“Hehe, yep! This is the new train we can use for the railway project!” she said, preening with satisfaction. “And there are more coming too, especially if this project turns out to be a big success!”

Nonomi was also taking a look at the train. The girl approached the side of the carriage, looking at the various markings and words in it. From what I can see it said something about load capacity and stuff like that, but she was looking at one particular thing there.

“This mark…” Nonomi muttered as she gazed at what appeared to be a logo of a train. “This train is from Highlander, isn’t it?”

“Hm? ‘Highlander’?” Yume-senpai asked with a curious tone, before seemingly recognizing the name. “Oh, yeah! The company that we talked to said something about that. Apparently they’re the ones sourcing the trains we’ll be using, so they’re part of the deal too. Do you know them, Nonomi-chan?”

“Yes, they’re an academy that’s managing the railroads in other districts throughout Kivotos. The Highlander Railroad Academy… it’s pretty much under the control of Saint Nephthys.” the middle-schooler explained. “The academy is one of their successful ventures when they left Abydos after they failed to stop the desertification.” 

“Oh. I didn’t know they’re related to Saint Nephthys.” Yume-senpai said, surprised. “I guess you would know something like that since you study in their school huh, Nonomi-chan?”

Nonomi chuckled nervously for some reason. “U-Um, yes…”

I also noticed Hoshino side-eyeing Nonomi as well, but it went unnoticed by the others except for me because I was cool like that. Her expression quickly disappeared though, and she turned her attention to the quiet sukeban who were awaiting their judgement.

“Enough about the trains. We can talk about that later.” she started. “…So, what should we do with these guys, senpai? Should I beat them up and string them up out in the district? Just so we can make an example of others that’ll try the same.” 

“Eeek!” 

The remaining conscious sukeban let out a whimper, while the thug girl just gave Hoshino a glare. That’s pretty brave, although she did have a bit of sweat on her face. I was also concerned about what Hoshino said, but Yume-senpai interjected before I could.

“Y-You don’t have to do that, Hoshino-chan. There’s no need for violence.” Yume-senpai said, trying to calm Pinky down. “Anyhow, from what Bobo-kun said, they’re pretty much in the same situation as the helmet gang, right? Maybe they can join us in Abydos and help with the railway project too!”

Everyone looked at her. Except me, because I nodded my head in agreement.

“This again, senpai?” Hoshino asked, looking exasperated.

“…You’re seriously letting us join?” the thug girl also asked with a strange tone. “Even after all that happened?”

“Sure! You’re all trying to make your lives better right? Even if you’re dropouts and not a part of our school, it’s still my job as the Student council president of Abydos to improve the lives of the people in the district.” Yume-senpai said with a soft smile. “As long as you’re trying to turn into a new leaf and don’t cause any problems, we’ll help you. No one should have a problem with that, right?”

“Actually, I do have a problem with that.” the helmet leader interrupted. “Are you forgetting the fact that these guys just attacked us earlier? Some of my girls have their asses kicked.”

“You did the same to us.” the thug girl shot back.

She went ignored by the helmet leader. “Plus there’s the damage they did too. We’ve done a lot from the couple of days we spent fixing the place, but now it’s full of bullet holes and potholes from the grenades. Not to mention some other stuff too” she added. “Are we supposed to just gloss that over and pretend we’re friends?”

“…This is Kivotos. Are you seriously that upset about getting into a fight?” Pinky retorted. “But if you’re angry about the damages, then that’s easy. You can let them fix the place while you guys take a break for a few days.” she pointed at the train behind her. “It’s easy to get back to the main district with the train here, after all.”

The helmet girl considered that. Then, she nodded. “Make that a week and we have a deal.”

Pinky waved a dismissive hand at that. “Sure, sure. You guys would have to still learn about how to operate the train, though. Don’t forget about the part of our deal about helping with the station.”

“As long as we’re being paid for working part-time then do whatever you want.”

“—Hey, why are we being ignored!?” the thug girl suddenly cried out indignantly. “Don’t go making deals on our behalf! And we haven’t even accepted your deal yet!” 

Pinky raised a brow, turning to her. “You’re not going to accept? I mean, suit yourself, but you’re just going to be fixing some stuff because of what you caused. Then you’ll get a good place to stay in, a stable part-time job, along with losing your delinquent status.” she stated simply. “If your situation is similar to the helmet gang, then this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is literally your ticket to not living a life of crime anymore.”

The remaining sukeban tied up looked at each other at that, before turning to the thug girl. From what I could see they have this pretty hopeful look on their face but ultimately, the decision seems to lay on their ‘big sis’.

“Kuuugh…!” said big sis’ face was scrunched up though, looking as if she ate something sour. Then, after a moment, the girl sagged and let out a sigh. “Arghhh… Fine, fine! We accept your stupid deal. But you’re going to pay for this humiliation, alright!?”

Wow, that’s pretty much the same thing the helmet leader said last time. These two are pretty similar to one another, huh. Hoshino also had a similar reaction just as before, looking pissed off at what she said, but unlike last time she seemed to hold it in.

“That’s great! Now we have more people joining our school!” Meanwhile, Yume-senpai ignored the thug girl’s comment entirely to celebrate the occasion. Then, she suddenly gained a thoughtful look on her face for some reason. “…Hmm, but that makes me think - maybe we should be proactive about this?”

I tilted my head at that. “What do you mean, Yume-senpai?”

“Oh, I was just wondering if there are other delinquents in the same situation. Maybe we could reach out to them and offer to help. If we did that earlier then maybe this whole fight would’ve been avoided!” she explained, before looking around. “So? What do you think?”

“I-I think it’s a good idea senpai!” Nonomi said, offering her support.

“…The idea has its merits.” Hoshino settled as well. “But how exactly do you plan to let people know? We’re not going to distribute posters like last time, are we?”

Yume-senpai suddenly gained a smug face. “Hoshino-chan - what exactly do you think we are? We’re not cavemen anymore. We have the technology.” 

Oh, hey, I think I remember saying that too. Great minds must think alike. As I thought of that, Yume-senpai then took something out of her pocket - revealing it to be her phone, which she displayed for us all to see.

“Ta-da~! I’ve only been reminded of it recently because of Bobo-kun - but we can use our Momotalk! It’s been ages since we made an official post using the Abydos Student Council account. That should gain enough attention to reach our intended audience!”

Hoshino blinked. “…I guess that works?”

“Yes, that should at least gain some traction. Plenty of people have phones after all.” Nonomi agreed.

Meanwhile, my eyes widened, completely shocked at the revelation.

“That’s really clever senpai!” I said, clapping my hands while feeling completely impressed. That’s genius! It’s definitely better than my initial suggestion of roaming around to find these people we can help. 

As expected, social media is really cool.

“Hehe, looks like I stumbled on a good idea again! Sometimes, your senpai’s genius… it’s almost frightening.” she said with a proud face, before going on to fiddle with her phone. “Alright! I’ll go make an announcement now! We’ll be swarming with people asking to join us next time! You’ll see!”

I nodded, totally believing that. 

After all, the Abydos Student Council can’t just stop winning! We already beat two gangs and made them join us! And now, we’re going to do the same to the rest!

…

…

For some reason, that sounds really gangster-like, somehow.

Chapter Text

Interlude: A Brewing Storm

And so, as the day ended fruitfully for the Abydos Student Council, with them gaining additional members in Abydos who will help them in their plan to revive the old Saint Nephthys railway project - a single, monumental act was made by Yume who simply thought of being proactive in helping other troubled students within the district.

A single announcement was made to the official Abydos Momotalk account. And having gone inactive for so long only to revive itself now - it took the attention of many.

Announcement: Abydos now has the rights to the old Saint Nephthys Railway Project☆! Revitalization of the areas around the stations are underway - we’re a bit short on hands, so any student willing to help can join, even if you’re a dropout! 

 

Benefits include housing assistance, priority in public service placements, and school enrollment in our very own Abydos High School! And many more! If you’re interested in helping us, then contact us on this account!

 

Oh, and special thanks to @helmet_gang and @sukeban for the help! Say hello to our new classmates!

It was supposed to be something innocuous. A simple extension of one’s hand, offering help to those in need in a district that was slowly deteriorating into ruin.

However, it wasn’t treated as such.

“What is this…? The helmet gang and the sukeban?”

“Aren’t they rival groups? Why do they look like they’re working together in that picture?”

“What’s more, these guys they’re working under… it’s the Abydos Student Council, isn’t it!?”

Abydos is a complicated place. Most of those who could afford to leave had already left after realizing that there was no more hope in the place. Sure, there must be some that remained out of some other reason, like sentimentality or duty - but the fact is that the majority who are in Abydos are those who couldn’t afford to leave, or perhaps found its lawlessness suitable for their needs.

And so, what they saw was that the announcement was…

“This is definitely a challenge, isn’t it? Are they trying to form a gang of their own?”

“…Yeah. They must have forcibly inducted these guys in their school. There’s no way these two groups would’ve worked together voluntarily if that was the case.”

“So they’re implying that they’ll be onto us as well.”

It was a statement. A powerful statement. The helmet gang and the sukeban are one of the two known groups throughout Abydos, but that is mostly because they belong to a larger group all over Kivotos. However, their strengths were still nothing to laugh on at any point.

And of course, there’s the other things to ask about. From all over the Abydos district, all sorts of different rumors went wild as people wondered the different things they got from such a simple announcement.

—Things such as hearing about a familiar project and what they want to do with it.

“Abydos gained the right to that old railway project? What are they planning?”

“…Do you think they want to extend their reach? Like, you know, gain more territory or something?”

“They definitely have ulterior motives. It already failed in the past, so why now?”

—Or the possible cause of such an announcement to be made.

“Maybe they’re trying to gather a force? Are they planning to fight everyone?”

“I think it’s in response to what the black market was doing. You’ve heard it. Apparently, they’re trying to extend their influence to Abydos since they’re so close…”

“No, it’s definitely Kaiser. They’re up to something, I feel it.”

—Or the news of something sinister hiding in their ranks.

“I’ve heard that there’s a new member that joined them. Aside from the helmet gangsters and the sukeban, that is.”

“What do you mean? You mean they’re no longer just two members anymore?”

“Yeah, and from what I heard… It's a monster that’s worse than Takanashi Hoshino. Way worse.”

“How could something be way worse than her…?”

—Or even something more unbelievable.

“I’ve heard that Abydos has a male student!”

“What? There’s no way. Don’t make stuff up.”

“That’s definitely fake news. Where did you even hear that?”

Things have gone totally out of control unbeknownst to Yume, who simply wanted to help others.

That single announcement gathered so much discussion and speculated about so many things that were so far off the mark. Of course, there were those who were genuinely interested and actually believed what the announcement had said. They were a minority.

The majority, knowing where the winds were blowing, prepared themselves for what was to come.

Because, they knew that with this new gang entering the scene… 

Things are never going to be the same.

But those in Abydos weren’t the only ones concerned about what was happening. Even now in the present, when the district was long past its peak - there were still those who were interested in monitoring the place.

Especially those with their district right next to them.

“…I’ve sent all the information that I’ve managed to gather. That recent announcement from the Abydos Student Council really made all the people here restless. There’s a lot of rumors… none of them point to anything good. But most shocking of all was… well, you can already see it there.”  

Inside a nondescript room with its natural light covered by a curtain, in a place far away from the Abydos desert - one such party was receiving information from someone currently within the district itself. A person sat on a simple table, looking over a tablet as they listened to the voice talking on an antique, yet ornate-looking phone.

“...Not to doubt your skill, but is this information truly accurate?” the person asked after a moment.

“Yes. I can’t believe it myself, but… I stumbled on the person of interest when I was on a stakeout. Of course, I wasn’t able to really confirm for sure since…” the voice on the other end of the line seemed to stumble on her words for a moment. “W-Well, I never really checked. But based on their appearance and how they acted during the fight with the local delinquents after I tailed them - it seems that the rumors are actually true.”

There was a pause as the person considered that. 

“I see.” she eventually said. “To think that a male student would exist… and for them to be in Abydos of all places.” 

“…What should we do? Should I send the data to our superiors?” the voice asked, unsure.

“…No, not yet. This sort of information requires double - no, triple checking. We need to exhaust all possibilities first, or else making a claim like this without ironclad evidence could damage both our reputation.” she answered. “Not to mention the damage to the entire intelligence department as a whole, if the Pandemonium Society ever caught wind of this.”

The girl on the other end swallowed nervously. “Y-Yeah, that would be bad, wouldn’t it? Should I go back to my post and gather more information?”

“…No need. You can return back here to our district. This situation is turning turbulent for you to handle it alone anyway - It might turn dangerous.”

“ Yes, I’ll be back as soon as possible!” the girl quickly replied, almost sounding relieved. But then, her voice turned hesitant. “B-But who will be the one to replace me? Will we be sending a group instead?”

“That won’t be necessary.”

Purple draconic eyes shined through the darkness of the room, eerily glowing in such a way that would strike fear into the hearts of many evildoers and belied the terrifying strength within her surprisingly tiny frame.

“…I’ll be conducting the investigation myself.”

And so, it was then that another momentous event was made, on top of everything else.

—Sorasaki Hina has decided to come to Abydos.

Chapter Text

“Densetsu ga… Hajimaru.” - Natsu.

The Coolest Student Council President Part 1

It had been a couple of days since the sukeban debacle and Yume-senpai announcing on Momotalk. 

Things were nice. Nothing much happened and things pretty much went back to normal, with the only thing being different is the addition of the sukeban joining the school and living in the same neighborhood with the helmet gangsters.

I was worried that there might be some tension left after the fight but, surprisingly, things were quite civil between the two groups as they became neighbors. Everyone was pretty much chill now that the sukeban were fixing the stuff they broke and from what I’ve seen during our time in helping them fix things, they’re starting to warm up to each other.

Well, from what I’ve been told, these sorts of fights are pretty normal in Kivotos so I guess there’s not much reason for people to dwell on it. Still find it pretty weird though.

Anyway, we’re back at the school, doing our usual routine in the student council room (minus Nonomi, because she still has school at this time of day) and all of us were doing our own assigned work.

“…It’s done.”

Yume-senpai said those words as she put the final sheet of paper in what used to be a big stack of documents on the ‘finished’ column. It took our student council president the better part of the day (and including yesterday as well) to finish it, but it seems like she finally got it all done.

“The housing documents… I-It's all finished.” Yume-senpai then stood up and brought her arms up high victoriously. “No more forms, no more certifications! No more dealing with paperwork! I’m finally free! Wahahaha!”

That’s a bit of a weird laugh coming out from her. But then again, she did start to act odd when she started crying while she was going through the pile yesterday… Should we be concerned?

“—Congratulations, senpai.” As I thought that though, Pinky suddenly said that while putting another stack on Yume-senpai’s table, which made the girl stiffen. “Now, do these next.”

Yume-senpai looked at the new pile with an empty stare. “Hoshino-chan, what is this…?”

“It’s for the enrollment of the new students in our school.” Pinky explained, before sitting down to her seat where she worked on an even bigger pile of paperwork. “We need these by the end of the day, by the way. So if you could please work on it quickly…” she trailed off.

Pinky was simply answered by Yume-senpai slamming her hands on the table. I looked at her in surprise, but Hoshino didn’t even show the slightest bit of reaction.

“—No! No way! This is too cruel! My mind is going to be fried at this rate!” Yume-senpai suddenly cried with a manic look in her eye. “This is strange, isn’t it!? We didn’t have this much before! So why is there so much stuff to work on now!?”

“The school having more than two students, for one.” Pinky answered, not even looking up from her paperwork. “Then there’s also the plenty of things we need on the railway project. There’s rules and regulations in place, you know. And since you’re the one who wanted all of this, then you’re just going to have to suck it up, senpai.”

“Uuu…! You don’t have to hit me with that reality punch, Hoshino-chan…”

I went ahead and raised my hand. Pinky glanced at me while Yume-senpai just looked at me with a curious eye. “Yes, Bobo-kun?”

“Can I help?” I asked. Both of them blinked.

“Accepted.” Oh, that was fast.

“Wha—?” Pinky gave Yume-senpai a disbelieving look. “What do you mean ‘accepted’!? Do you want the forms trashed, senpai? He can’t even read JP characters properly yet!” Then, she turned her blue-orange eyes to me. “And you! Focus on what you’re studying! I’m not going to give you a new gun unless you memorize those notes twice over!”

Said notes she was talking about was a field strip manual I’m currently poring over. Apparently, my pistol that broke when we fought the sukeban could be fixed even with the damaged parts or something, so I was given this as a refresher. I mean, I must have forgotten some parts of it, which is why I failed to fix the pistol. But still…

“Memorize? What sort of person do you think I am, Hoshino?” I gave her a disappointed look. “Have you ever heard of the phrase ‘memorization is the lowest form of learning’? That’s the last thing you should do when trying to learn.”

Her face suddenly turned into this mix of indignation, disbelief, and confusion. Wow, that’s a complicated face. “What…? What the hell have you been doing these past few hours then?”

“I am imprinting the pages on my subconscious.” That made her look more confused. I nodded, understanding how deep it sounds. “Here, let me demonstrate.”

With that, my inner mind shall consume this knowledge through emptiness. Starting by staring at the pages of the manual, I then emptied my mind as my face muscles slacked— 

“—You mean you’ve been spacing out this entire time!?”

Hm? Spacing out? “No, I’m learning with my subconscious.” I corrected, before pausing. “But, ah, I suppose the common lame man wouldn’t understand the difference. So I guess it’s understandable.”

That must have been the wrong answer since Pinky looked pretty pissed. Before I could get hit by her though, arms surrounded me from my neck and I felt something soft on my back. Hm? This feels familiar somehow…

“No, bad Hoshino-chan! No violence in the student council room!” Oh, it’s Yume-senpai. “Bobo-kun must have been tired of studying so much lately. Isn’t that right, Bobo-kun? The work has been way too much for us, hasn’t it?”

Was it? Although, I had been studying longer than the previous study sessions because Yume-senpai and Pinky were stuck here doing paperwork… So I guess it’s true? 

“Yep. Definitely.” I said, nodded my head.

“See? We need a break, Hoshino-chan!” Yume-senpai immediately followed up. “And don’t you feel even a bit tired? You’ve been working on this as hard as I am!”

Pinky stared at her with narrowed eyes.. “I know what you’re doing, senpai. You’re not escaping the paperwork.” she said. Then she paused for a moment, before glancing at the large stack of paper beside her. A hesitant expression appeared on her face for a moment… and then she sighed.  “But fine. I guess we can take a small break.”

Yume-senpai brightened as she clutched me harder. “Yes! We’re finally free, Bobo-kun!” 

“Yey.”

“—Only for a bit though! We really need these things done by the end of the day.” Pinky then reminded warningly. Then she glanced at my neck, which Yume-senpai’s arms were embracing, and gained this slightly ticked off expression. “A-And stop that already, senpai! It’s improper!” she cried out.

“Do I really have to?”

“Eh?”

Both Yume-senpai and Hoshino blinked. I stared at them in confusion. There was this short pause.

And then it was broken as Yume-senpai spoke once more. “Ah—umm, I mean, whoops! Sorry, Bobo-kun!” Yume-senpai quickly said, letting go of her embrace and stepping back. “Didn’t know what got to me there. Hehe…”

Why is she saying sorry? If anything, it felt surprisingly nice. Kind of reminded me of the time I met Yume-senpai and gave her a piggyback ride honestly. Although more interestingly - Pinky was staring at Yume-senpai with a strange expression. It’s kind of like she wants to say something… but in the end, she didn’t speak.

Strangely, Yume-senpai was also blushing. What’s up with that?

“Ahem!” Yume-senpai cleared her throat. “A-Anyway! Should we spend our break out of the student council room? I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starting to not like looking at these papers! Let’s go out and get some fresh air, shall we?”

Pinky’s strange stare continued for a few seconds, but in the end she nodded. “…Yeah, let’s do that.” she settled, before looking at the direction of the door. “I’ve been meaning to check how they were doing anyway.”

Yume-senpai perked up. “Oh, now that you’ve mentioned it - we can go and use this as an opportunity, huh? Let’s go and meet the others, then!”

I stood up from my seat to follow Yume-senpai and Pinky who headed to the door. I admit, I was feeling the same as them.

—And by that, I mean I was curious how our new classmates were taking Abydos.

As soon as we went outside the student council room, we were immediately met with the sight of helmet gangsters and sukeban members hanging around the nearby classrooms. I blinked, feeling a bit odd considering I’m used to the hallways and classrooms being empty… and then there’s also their attire, which is pretty different to what they were wearing until now.

Oh, hey. That’s the girl I CQC’d with. I raised a hand in greeting - Ah, she ran away. 

Anyway, our new schoolmates are here for the first time. There’s not much things to do yet from what I’ve heard from Yume-senpai and Pinky, but attendance is apparently important, so here they are in Abydos. 

“…I still can’t believe we’re seeing this many people in the school. This feels way too uncanny.” Pinky muttered, feeling the same thing as I do, if not more. She and Yume-senpai had been alone in this school way longer before I came here, after all.

“It does feel weird, doesn’t it?” Yume-senpai agreed, also looking at the sight with a soft smile. “Granted, there’s still pretty few of us compared to what Abydos used to be… but this means that we’re heading in the right direction, aren’t we?”

“…I suppose it does.” Hoshino settled. 

Then, her gaze turned to the side. I turned to follow where she was looking only to see that there were some familiar people approaching us - the helmet leader and the thug girl, that is. Huh, were they hanging out together before this? That’s a surprise.

Oh, and they’re wearing the uniforms too.

“Hey. You guys done with whatever you’re doing in there?” the helmet leader greeted.

“We’re taking a break! We’ve been working for a while. And we’ve been meaning to check out what’s been happening too.” Yume-senpai answered cheerily. “So, is everyone taking it alright? No problems, I hope?”

“None. Everyone’s on their best behavior. I made sure of that.” the helmet leader answered promptly, before making this sort of strange expression. “Although… it’s a bit weird becoming a proper student for once. And I’m sure the others are feeling the same too.”

“Life is different as a delinquent student so we don’t know how to act. It might take some time to adjust.” the thug girl followed, shrugging as she did so. “That said - we aren’t doing anything yet, right? You told us that the school won’t hold actual classes.”

Yume-senpai nodded her head. “Yup! There’s still some things to arrange. Plenty of things, actually. So that should give you the time to familiarize yourselves with the school.”

“That said, I think you should at least start studying the tech notes and blu-rays to prepare. And maybe to keep yourselves busy.” Pinky interjected. “Arranging a proper class might take a while, especially with possibly more students along the way besides you guys.”

“Right, those things… It’s been so long since I actually studied properly that I forgot about it. Will there be enough to share for all of us?” the helmet leader asked.

“There should be. But even if there wasn’t, you could probably get the ones stored in the gymnasium.” Hoshino answered before pausing. “Which reminds me - we should probably clean and ready the other closed down parts of the school, senpai. People are going to start using them after all.”

“Oh. That’s a good point, Hoshino-chan!”

I quickly volunteered. “I’ll do it.” I said, nodding my head. “You know, I’m something of a good cleaner myself. My technique in sweeping away sand is unparalleled.”

“You’ll do it, Bobo-kun? That’s a relief!”

Heh, don’t you know how many sand dunes I toppled when I was out roaming in the desert? I’m basically an expert at this!

Anyway, we continued to chat with the delinquent leaders as we went on our break. They continued to fill Yume-senpai and Pinky with stuff that was happening. All sorts of things, from the things related to the school and to the railway project.

Like apparently, some of the helmet leader’s robot guys are interested in settling into a proper job in the school. That made Yume-senpai happy because she said she was worried about finding people who are interested in being school staff. Then, there’s also some people from out of the delinquent’s neighborhood going to the station and acting interested in staying in the place after hearing rumors and talks about the revitalization project, with one person even wanting to set up a business there.

That was good news, because that’s basically what Yume-senpai was hoping for.

“I’m so glad! It looks like the benefits are working, Hoshino-chan!” she said excitedly.

“Still don’t understand why anyone would want to live there. I mean, I guess it must be cheaper compared to other places, but living in a place with us in it would definitely make people second guess.” the helmet leader commented with a confused tone. “Especially the one who wanted to set up a business. If we haven’t chosen to go clean, that place is definitely getting robbed. But they don’t know that, do they?”

“That’s exactly the answer, isn’t it? They don’t know.” the thug girl pointed out. “It was never advertised that the people living in our neighborhood would be filled with delinquents. As far as they know, it’s just a cheaper place to live in with additional benefits. It’s deceitful, but it’s a smart plan that wouldn’t actually hurt anyone.” 

The thug girl then sent a respectful look at Yume-senpai, as if she did something impressive.

“You really had it handled, huh? But I guess that’s already expected, considering you’re the Student Council President of this place.” she then shook her head. “To be honest I thought you were a bit of an idiot at first, but you got everyone in the palm of your hands. Seriously, where were you when the district started falling? Were you just hanging around?”

Yume-senpai blinked, looking confused. Even Hoshino, who initially reacted slightly when our senpai was called an idiot, also had a similar expression as the thug girl finished what she was saying. I also have no idea what they were talking about.

“U-Uhh, I was just recently elected…?” Yume-senpai muttered, seemingly answering automatically in her confusion. “But what do you…?”

“—For real? They should’ve put you there earlier then.” the thug girl continued on without missing a beat, not noticing Yume-senpai’s strange expression. “But seriously, you’ve gotta tell us of your plans if you’re going to include us in it. I know you planned for us to join before making a statement like that to the rest of the gangs in Abydos, but you got to warn us, ya’ know?”

“Speak for yourself. It was a fun surprise. And I’m kinda looking forward to it too.” the helmet leader said. “I thought that we’re gonna have to leave behind all the fighting now that we’re going clean, but I guess Abydos isn’t in the state to do that, huh? Really though, to think you sent that challenge to the other gangs so fearlessly…” she grinned. “You’ve got guts, prez. I’ll give you that.”

“What are you even talking about?” Hoshino asked, speaking out the question that’s on our mind.

“Huh? I mean your Momotalk announcement of course. Ever since you announced that, there's been rumors all around the district of you guys planning to start a fight with other gangs. People are getting tense, especially with us joining you.” the helmet leader explained. 

“But you must have planned for that, right? It’s a clever plan, I admit. Especially if you want to get rid of the troublemakers around.” the thug girl commented. “And I guess it takes care of the other problems too. I’ve heard rumors of the black market making moves on the district, so this should at least make them cautious.”

Yume-senpai stared blankly.

“…Eh?”

Before anyone could speak some more though - a person suddenly came running towards. Heads around the hallway turned curiously at the new arrival, and there we saw that it was a familiar face. It was Nonomi, who must have just arrived from her school.

What’s got her troubled, though?

“—Senpai! Senpai!” she shouted urgently, before stopping right in front of us. “T-There’s something… there’s something you have to see!”

“What is it, Nonomi?” Pinky asked, immediately tensing up.

“There’s people gathering at the gate of the school!” Nonomi then turned to Yume-senpai, who was just standing there with a stunned expression. “T-There’s quite a lot of them, and they were apparently looking for you, Yume-senpai!”

“…Eh???”

Hoshino’s eyes narrowed. “What for? Did they say what they wanted?”

Nonomi then stared at us with wide shaky eyes, looking more panicked than I had ever seen her before. It looked like she had heard something disturbing - to which she revealed to us by speaking her next words.

“T-They said that they would fight alongside Abydos, who they thought was gathering some kind of force!” she cried out, before stuttering out her next words fearfully. “A-And they said they want to join our side in some… some kind of upcoming gang war !”

There was a brief pause as everyone considered that.

“—EHH!?!?!?!”

And then, suddenly, Yume-senpai’s completely flabbergasted voice echoed throughout the halls. With the girl herself looking like she was about to cry.

…

…

Uhh… I guess this wasn’t planned by Yume-senpai at all, was it? It doesn’t seem like it…

Chapter Text

Consider a hypothetical: between Makoto, Yume, and Mika - who would you vote for president?

The Coolest Student Council President Part 2

After Nonomi told us the news, and after giving Yume-senpai a moment to recover from her shock - our president quickly rushed outside to meet with the visitors. The rest of us followed behind, with a few tagalongs from the helmet gang and sukeban.

“…There’s a sandstorm coming.”

Hoshino muttered that as we went out to the courtyard. I gave her a confused look for a moment, but then noticed that the sky was getting a bit darker than usual. And it’s kinda getting windy too. Usually those are signs of rain, but the time I spent roaming on the desert made me familiar that what comes next isn’t me turning wet, but rather the uncomfortable feeling of being buffeted by large amounts of sand carried by the wind.

It’s been a while since that happened though. The last time I encountered a sandstorm was before meeting Yume-senpai. 

Which means that this will be the first time I’ll see a sandstorm while in Abydos. Cool.

—But in any case, that wasn’t important right now. What took more of my attention was the ones hanging around the school gates. There were quite a lot of them, and they were just standing there waiting around.

It was a colorful mix of individuals, consisting of delinquent-like students who were hanging out in their respective groups while also eyeing the others around them warily. Some wore helmets like the helmet gang except with a different marking and there were those who were similar with the sukeban’s fashion. There were even some normal-looking students here and there, looking out of place. 

One of them was even glancing around looking totally nervous while clutching her phone and gun! She seems pretty tense. And alone too, judging how she wasn’t with other students like the rest. I hope she isn’t getting scared or anything.

Anyway, it’s a bit weird seeing them around. They all perked up when we arrived though, looking at Yume-senpai as she arrived and stopped in front of them.

“H-Hey there, everyone!” Yume-senpai greeted them, letting out a bright cheery smile as she did so. It looked kinda forced though “So I heard that all of you guys were looking for me?”

“Yeah, we were.” one of the students from the nearest group, the ones who wore helmets like the helmet gang, spoke up. “You’re the Abydos’ student council president, right? The one who made that bold announcement in Momotalk?” 

“Yep, that’s me! Ahaha…” Yume-senpai answered with a strained laugh. “So, is there something I can help you with…?”

“Isn’t it obvious why we’re here? We’re here to tag along with your thing!” the girl answered. “You guys are with the boss, right? You said they’re with you.”

“Boss?” Yume-senpai asked.

“She means me.” 

The helmet leader said that, suddenly stepping up right next to Yume-senpai’s side. She then glanced at the group of students. Her expression was hidden behind her helmet, but I could tell she was scrutinizing them. And then she spoke once more.

“All of you… you’re with the Loco-Loco Helmet gang, right? The splinter group that broke away after fighting the Scorpion Squad?” she asked.

Yume-senpai, Pinky, Nonomi and I blinked at that. Huh, so they know each other?

A helmet officer that accompanied us, which I recognized was the red helmet girl that I met right out the hospital, suddenly interjected. “Nah, boss. You’re thinking of a different thing. It’s when we fought over territory with the Dune Goons and they split ‘cuz they have personal vendetta against them or something.” she corrected.

“Ah, you’re right. So how have you guys been doing?”

“We’re doing good, boss! We’re beating those Gooners so much that they ran out of the district and escaped into the black market!” the helmet girl answered proudly. “We heard about you working with Abydos for some reason. We got plenty of questions, but we won’t miss this sort of action. So we decided to join up too!”

What the heck, they have a splinter group? And personal vendetta with another gang? This all sounds super cool. 

“What’s with those horrible gang names…?”

My opinion isn’t shared though. Pinky said that with a strange expression, while Yume-senpai just looked confused. However, the comment went unheard as most of the people’s attention turned to another girl who stepped up to us.

“—We’re here for the same. We wanna join you, big sis.”

The girl who spoke up from another nearby group of students. The one wearing a similar fashion to the sukebans, except like the helmet gang, the markings are kinda different. The thug girl, who was also with us, narrowed her eyes.

“You… You’re the ones from the Rabuya Incident in the Black market. Way back before.” she muttered. “I thought you didn’t want anything to do with us anymore?”

She was answered with a shrug. “That’s true, we did have our differences. We originally left because we thought you were getting cowardly… but considering what you’re planning to do now, we’re pretty sure that’s not the case anymore. So we’re going back to help you guys.”

Rabuya incident? Seriously, just what sort of backstories do our new classmates have!? That sounds so cool. Maybe I can ask them later.

Anyhow there are other students too and, emboldened from the two groups speaking up, they also went and stated their reasons for being here.

“We’re here for the same! This feels like a fun time so we’re gonna join!”

“We came for the paycheck. You implied that you’ll pay us for work, right?”

“A-Are we going to fight? I thought the job was to fix up the stations…?”

“Hah? Of course we’ll be fighting. Did you even read their announcement?”

“Did you ? Nowhere in it said there will be fights at all!”

Yume-senpai looked panicked at all the people speaking. It kinda felt to me like she was having trouble trying to wrap her head around what was happening while also looking for a way to control the situation. I was concerned for a moment, but the girl suddenly took a deep breath to center herself, before gaining a determined expression.

And then she shouted, cutting through the din of the gathered students. 

“Quiet, please!”

They all stopped, and there was a few seconds of silence as Yume-senpai’s gaze swept through all of them. Our president’s expression was a bit different than usual as she did that - she’s usually cheery no matter the situation, but this time, she had a firm atmosphere surrounding her as she let out a frown. The contrast was so sharp that it made me a bit nervous.

I found myself unconsciously straightening my posture from her sudden change in demeanor, and judging from how Hoshino, Nonomi and our new classmates familiar with Yume-senpai all stiffened, it seems like I wasn’t the only one feeling it.

“Yume-senpai…?” Nonomi muttered, a bit concerned.

In any case Yume-senpai spoke once more, this time with the complete attention of everyone.

“—I don’t want any fights.” she began firmly. “I don’t know where the rumor came from, but we’re not looking to challenge other gangs or whatever. In fact, I don’t want that happening at all. I don’t like violence or using it to solve our problems…. And I definitely wouldn’t try to invite others to do something like that.”

There was a slight confusion in reaction to what she said, especially to those that wanted to join so they could fight. However, she didn’t let them interrupt and continued to speak.

“My goal as the Student Council President is not to conquer Abydos by some gang war, or whatever you’re thinking. It’s to improve the district and make things better for everyone. Our new classmates joined because we want to help them, and also since they promised to keep things clean.” she explained. “So if you think we did this because we’re doing this for our gain or something, then you’re wrong! We just want to help.”

There was a short pause as everyone considered that.

“…So the rumor of you guys wanting to take back the district under control - it isn’t actually true?” one of the students in the gathered crowd eventually asked in confusion.

Yume-senpai blinked. “Of course it’s not—!” she started for a moment, before stopping her reflexive answer as she considered the question. “…Err, w-well, that one I guess is true? It’s one of our goals… our school pretty much has little influence on the district despite being the government body, so it would be nice if we do that.”

“And you guys are going to ‘help’ delinquent students by letting them join your school.” another muttered in thought. “And coincidentally, those same students will be assisting you in reaching that same goal, won't they?”

“I guess…? Huh…?” Yume-senpai stiffened as realization hit her. “N-Now hold on! You guys are misinterpreting what I’m saying here! I told you we’re trying to help the district!”

“And by ‘help’, you mean by eventually controlling all the gangs and conquering the district.”

“Uuu, I told you it’s not like that already…!” Yume-senpai cried out, losing all traces of her previous firmness and then turning to Pinky with a pleading expression. “Hoshino-chan, help me out here please! They’re not listening at all!” she begged.

Her efforts were dashed though, since Pinky also had this considering look on her face. “…No, senpai. I think they have a point: Conquering the district is part of our goals.” she said. “It’s our main goal, actually. And this setup you thought of is perfect for doing just that.”

“Hoshino-chan!?” Yume-senpai shouted, betrayed.

Nonomi scratched her cheek. “I-It does kind of look that way, doesn’t it…?”

“You too, Nonomi-chan!?” Yume-senpai cried out.

As Yume-senpai looked as if she was experiencing some sort of crisis though, the Loco-Loco helmet girl turned to the helmet leader. “—Hey boss, is what she said true? You’re trying to keep things clean?” she asked curiously.

The helmet leader shrugged. “Yeah, pretty much. We’re proper students now.”

“B-But why? And actually, why were you guys even with Abydos in the first place? We’ve been wondering about it since we saw the announcement.” the girl asked, completely confused. “This isn’t like you at all.”

“Well, for one, we got completely crushed when we fought them.”

“What? But there’s only the president and Takanashi Hoshino in the student council, right?” the Loco-Loco helmet girl asked, turning to said persons with a cautious look. “There’s no way the two of them could do that!”

“Yeah, but they’ve got new members. Now there’s three. Four if you count the middle schooler." The helmet leader pointed at me with her thumb. “Anyway, what matters is that this big guy was there and he’s just ridiculous. If it weren’t for him being able to throw back the tank shells, we could’ve won.”

Hoshino raised a brow. “Is that a challenge? I’m pretty sure I would have defeated all of you regardless.” 

“Oh, buzz off! That doesn’t count - the fight was over before you’ve done anything!”

“That’s because you surrendered so fast. And I’m pretty sure I was beating you shortly before that happened, actually.”

The surprisingly civil banter between Pinky and the helmet leader aside, the Loco-Loco helmet girl looked surprised. “Huh, so the talks of Abydos having new members is true? And the thing about them being stronger than Takanashi Hoshino…?” Then, she seemingly realized something as her eyes widened in shock. “W-Wait, boss, did you say ‘he’? You mean those rumors too…!?”

Hm? What rumors? I’m a bit curious and kinda want to ask… but I set that aside for now since it’s rude to not introduce yourself when meeting someone new. 

I nodded my head. “Yeah, I’m a dude. The name’s Bobo by the way. Hi.” 

That seemed to cause a wave of surprise in the gathered students as people started muttering. A lot were looking at me in surprise, but I could see the doubt in all their eyes. I guess I have to prove my masculinity again, huh? Let me just reach down on my pants and—Oh, wait, Pinky’s glaring at me. Guess I can’t do that.

The sukeban spoke up again. Unlike the others she only looked curiously at me, because it seems that something else got her attention. “…But wait, this doesn’t answer the question. I might understand if you lost to Abydos, but why join them? You guys aren’t being forced are you, big sis?”

The thug girl blinked after she was suddenly addressed, but she smoothly answered.

“Hm? Nah, this is all voluntary. The prez here offered to give us the houses on the property near the railway stations on the outskirts if we fix ‘em, and also stable part-time by managing the stations. Not to mention we lose our dropout status by enrolling here in Abydos.” the thug girl shrugged. “We literally have zero reason to refuse. So we didn’t.”

“…!”

Another round of shocked reactions by the others, with the delinquent students reacting the most at what they heard. Those that didn’t look like delinquents were also surprised though, especially when the part-time thing was mentioned.

“…You really give all that? For real?” the Loco-Loco helmet leader asked, turning to look at Yume-senpai in disbelief.

“Uh, yeah…?” Yume-senpai answered that, a bit unsure with everyone’s attention suddenly focusing on her. “We did say we’re to help after all. And it benefits the railway project. So as long as you try to not cause any more trouble, then we could at least arrange something…”

There was a moment of silence.

—Then it was immediately broken as, almost as one, the gathered students all bowed deeply to Yume-senpai.

“““PLEASE LET US JOIN YOUR SCHOOL!!!”””

Then they all shouted those words. Or at least, they mostly said something similar to it that it all garbled into that single statement. It was a surreal sight to see these people suddenly showing deferrence out of nowhere.

Understandably, Yume-senpai’s eyes were wide and panicked as she stared at the people bowing right in front of her.  She waved her hands in front of her frantically.

“W-Wait, there’s no need to do that!” she quickly said. “S-So you guys want to join, yes? I’ll let you all join, so please straighten yourselves! We want to help students like you, so there’s no need to do that for my sake!”

They looked up slightly as she said that. “R-Really? We’re accepted? Just like that?” the Loco-Loco helmet girl asked, tone hopeful. 

“Well, we’d have to enroll you to our school first, but that’s just paperwork. And then there’s settling on where you’ll live.” This time, it was Pinky who answered. “…Well, it’s about time that we work on restoring the other stations anyway. There should be at least more abandoned residences near those stations.”

“Yep, what my very cute kouhai said!” Yume-senpai confirmed, nodding her head. “So long as you stop causing trouble, you get to have all that! And for those students who don’t cause trouble in the first place, then even better!” she said cheerily. “Isn’t that great, everyone?”

The reaction of the gathered students couldn’t be any more joyful.

“Y-Yes…! We finally get to have a solid roof on our heads!”

“U-Uuu… No more constantly searching around for low-paying part-time jobs… To think I can finally get a stable source of income…!”

“This… it isn’t a scam, is it? This seems too good to be true… but if it is, then should we cancel…?”

“I solemnly swear to do no bad ever again! I’ll become a good girl! Long live Abydos!”

Hm…? Hold on, one of the things I heard seems a bit different. The rest were just pretty happy though. So I guess it’s a really small minority since it’s just one person who said that one thing.

Also, more interestingly - it looks like the chant made by the last delinquent seems to be picked up by everyone else somewhere along the way, and they all started to chant it as everyone got carried away by the excited atmosphere.

“Long live Abydos! Long live Abydos! LONG LIVE THE ABYDOS!!!”

They must be really enthusiastic about joining Abydos. As expected of Yume-senpai! Things wouldn’t be like this if it weren’t for her.

…Strangely though, the girl herself was looking a bit strange at what was happening. Yume-senpai had an awkward smile on her face as she scratched the back of her head, while also laughing sheepishly as she did so.

“Ahaha… Um, I guess it’s great that they’re all happy?” she said, her tone slightly embarrassed. “There’s no need to shout all that though…”

“I guess they must really have it hard, if this is how they react.” Nonomi commented, laughing sheepishly.

“Hm…”

In contrast to everyone else, Hoshino didn’t seem to care as she was busy scrutinizing the celebrating students with a frown on her face. It didn’t go unnoticed, and Yume-senpai turned to her in concern. 

“Hoshino-chan? What’s wrong?” she asked.

“…I don’t know. I just have a bad feeling.” Pinky answered, slightly unsure herself. “I think I just heard someone say something suspicious earlier and…” 

Pinky trailed off for a moment before her eyes narrowed. I glanced at the direction she was looking at and… was she staring at one particular student? I think I recognize that one. It’s the one looking nervous earlier and didn’t quite belong with the other groups.

She was also not celebrating like the others, but rather, talking discreetly on her phone as she tried to hide amongst the gathered students. That’s weird.

Pinky clutched her shotgun and began to approach the student. “—Hey! You, the one with the phone!” she called out, making the girl stiffen and turn to her in surprise. “Yeah, you. Can you tell me who you’re talking to? Sorry for acting rude, but you’ve been acting suspicious.”

“Eh?” the girl looked like a cornered animal, especially with the others stopping their cheering and also turning their attention to her. “I, um… I-I was just talking to my friends…”

Hoshino didn’t let up and still approached. “Is that so? Then you wouldn’t mind me checking your phone, right? For security’s sake.” 

The girl strangely panicked more at that. It stayed that way as Hoshino slowly went near her. And then, instead of complying with Hoshino once she reached close enough - the girl instead tried to run away and started shouting to her phone, much to our shock.

“Help! HELP!” she cried out.

Hoshino quickly brought up her shotgun. “Damn it—!”

But before she could shoot her down, a sudden loud noise made all of us pause. It was the sound of a roaring car engine. I turned to the direction of the noise to see that it was a dirty-looking pickup truck  - one that was quickly approaching our direction.

“What the—!? Enemies!? Where the hell did they come from!?” the helmet leader cried out. “Were they waiting near the school!?”

The red helmet officer stood straight and started to move to the school. “I-I’ll go get the others—”

One of the students riding at the back of the pickup truck suddenly picked up a rocket launcher of all things and aimed it at us - or more specifically, in Yume-senpai’s direction. My eyes widened, but before I could do something, the red helmet officer was able to react faster as she immediately changed her course.

“—Get down Miss President!”

“Kyaa!”

Yume-senpai let out a cry of surprise when she was suddenly pushed by the helmet officer down to the ground. That made the rocket pass over them harmlessly, before eventually hitting the courtyard and exploding there. No one was hurt thankfully, but there’s now a big hole in front of the school.

“—Tch!”

Meanwhile, Hoshino didn’t waste any time. In one smooth move the pink-haired girl jumped at the pickup truck as it sped by and hung on the side. The students inside reacted with surprise, making the truck swerve for a bit, but Hoshino held on firmly and began unloading her shotgun inside and quickly dealing with the student riding on the back as well.

And then she let go of the truck’s side and landed on a graceful roll. With the students riding it unconscious, the truck then crashed on some nearby utility pole. 

Hoshino stood back up again. Then, slowly, she turned to the student who attempted to run. The girl stiffened in fear as Hoshino’s glowing blue-orange eyes pinned her in place.

“…You’re not planning to do anything else, are you?” she asked in a low tone.

“—Eeek!” the girl squeaked pitifully and immediately assumed a surrendering position. Her hands were raised up and knees to the ground. “No! I give up, please!”

As Hoshino started to tie up the girl who surrendered, Nonomi stared at the crashed pickup truck. “…Did they just try to launch a surprise attack? And for Yume-senpai as well?” she asked, seemingly in a daze.

I literally have no idea, Nonomi. It was all too sudden for me. But that was probably the point of the whole attack in the first place, I suppose.

…Could this count as some sort of assassination attempt? Because it would be cool to say that Yume-senpai survived an assassination attempt. It sounds really badass, honestly.

“—! Wait, I'm getting a call from my girls currently working in the station!” from our side the thug girl suddenly shouted those words, taking all of our attention. “The stations headed to ours on the outskirts are getting attacked by some delinquents! They’re dealing with it - but there’s news that some gangs around the district are causing all sorts of trouble!”

“What!?” Yume-senpai cried out. “You mean there’s more attacks!?”

“It’s starting…” the helmet leader muttered. “I guess it was only a matter of time something set off the chaos. Things were pretty tense after your Momotalk announcement after all.”

“Are you serious!? It’s just a normal announcement! Why is everyone treating it like it’s a death sentence or something!? I literally wrote it without thinking in like 30 seconds tops!”

As Yume-senpai started to panic at the situation again, I was meanwhile left with this kinda bad feeling in my chest as I finally understood the situation. And quite a lot of confusion too as I was left scratching my head.

So… we’re going to fight more people, huh. Because they misunderstand Yume-senpai’s intentions and don’t believe that we’re just trying to help. I may be stupid at times, but I think acting like that is pretty dumb of them if you ask me. Seriously, why can’t we just be friends? It’s not like we’re doing anything bad, aren’t we? 

…

…Oh well, guess we just have to convince them the Kivotos way.

Let’s go bust up some gangs!

Chapter Text

I missed the first few days of the Daily missions for Curtain Call. And also Shiroko’s birthday too. All because of these accursed exams. Fuck.

The Coolest Student Council President Part 3

After the surprise attack and being told of the news about gangs causing trouble in the district, instead of rushing over without thinking about what to do - it was decided that there should be at least a discussion on our next course of action first.

And one of those is to apparently question our recently captured enemy to know more about the situation. With that, the girl was brought into the school itself, along with our new enrollees who looked around in wonder after going inside the place for the first time. There wasn’t much time to sightsee though - our classmates inside the school were on high alert when they heard the explosion outside, and once everyone heard the news, pretty much everyone was readying themselves to fight. 

That apparently included our new classmates. Majority wanted to join as well… but that was mostly the delinquents. The more reserved and normal students opted to sit this one out.

Anyway, we brought the captured girl into the classroom and talked to her about what’s happening. But for some reason, the moment we had her sit there—

“Noooooo! I don’t want thiiiis! Please, I’ll tell you everything you want to know, just don’t torture and kill meeee! Waaaaaah!”

—Well, the girl started to cry as she trashed, trying to escape the ropes binding her to the chair. And she shouted something about torture and killing her too - which was strange, since we weren’t planning to do any of that.

“Huuuuh? Is that so? Then you better stop crying and get talking!”

“Why did you come here!? What’s your aim!? Tell us who you work for!”

“—Waaaaah!”

…I think.

“H-Hey! You two, stop that!” Yume-senpai suddenly cried, stopping the two gang leaders from scaring the girl any more than she already was. “She already said that she’d tell us what we need right? There’s no need to be violent, so let’s all calm down, shall we?”

“Tch. You got lucky that our president is forgiving.”

“You better be thankful!”

The girl trembled as the gang leaders walked away after saying those parting shots. “Uuu…! Thank you… I’ll tell you everything, seriously…!” she sobbed out, looking at Yume-senpai with relieved eyes.

“Uh, yeah… you’re welcome.” Yume-senpai said awkwardly.

Nonomi looked on with a strange gaze at the scene as we watched from the sidelines. “Um, we’re only going to ask her some questions, right?” she muttered in an unsure tone. “Why does it feel like we’re bad guys doing some kind of violent interrogation…?”

I have no idea as well, but it was someone else who answered the question. 

“It’s just the song and dance, really. Of course no one’s going to hurt her… seriously, at least.” 

I turned to the side to see that it was the Helmet leader and the thug girl, who were going back to our side while Yume-senpai attended to the captured girl that was currently sobbing. We gave a confused look at the thug girl who answered Nonomi’s question, and the sukeban elaborated.

“We don’t know if the information she’d give is actually real, so we’d have to scare her first so that she’d actually say the real thing. That said, that’s only the first part of the routine. Usually there’s someone with you who’d treat the person in a good manner, then they’ll volunteer that information to them.” the thug girl then turned to look at Yume-senpai. “And it looks like the prez is pretty good at it. Man, she’s really got her eating out of her hands… As expected of the president.”

“Huh, really? I usually scare our captured victims without the good person part.” the helmet leader commented. “That’s kinda clever, actually.”

“Heh, I learned about it in some secret Valkyrie police blu-ray I found in the black market. It talks about that technique and how they use it for interrogation. Want me to lend it to you?”

“Hell yeah. Sounds awesome.”

Ooh, I wanna see that too! Dunno how I can use it, but it does sound pretty cool.

Nonomi seems to have a different opinion though. “Do you mean the good cop and bad cop routine…? Isn’t that just widespread at this point?” she muttered underneath her breath, right beside me, although it went unheard with the others.

Anyway, it looks like the girl was already telling what they’re planning to Yume-senpai while the rest of us - that being me, Nonomi, and the two gang leaders - listened. Currently, Pinky was nowhere to be found since she separated from us earlier stating that she ‘needed to take something out of the storage’, which left us alone here.

It took a few minutes or so, but after a while the girl finally finished telling us what she knew.

“—A-And that’s pretty much all I know…”

Yume-senpai gave a grateful smile at the girl. “Thank you for telling us all this.”

“U-Umm!” the captured girl suddenly straightened up on her seat, making Yume-senpai give her a curious look. “What you said earlier, about you helping us… c-can we still…?”

“Of course! So long as you reflect on your actions and don’t cause any trouble again, then it’s all fine. We’re happy to let you join us as new classmates here in Abydos if that’s the case.” Yume-senpai answered.

“Really…? Even when we tried to shoot you with a rocket launcher?”

“W-Well, that’s bad, but others also did the same, you know? And it’s… arguably kinda worse.” Yume-senpai said, glancing at the two gang leaders who suddenly seemed to be interested in looking at the walls. “That said, you all should fix what you broke! There’s a new hole in the courtyard because of your stunt.”

“T-Thank you! We’ll fix the hole and do other stuff you need too!” the captured girl said in a tone filled with gratefulness and relief. “I— I’ll go talk with the others and convince them to join you guys! Thank you for your mercy! Long live Abydos!”

“Y-You don’t have to add in that last part…”

With that said, the girl had already told us everything she knew. And seeing as she was complying with us and was interested in joining, she was removed from her bindings and was allowed to visit her friends who are currently in the school’s infirmary. One of our helmeted classmates accompanied her though.

“…So, it looks like a case of a ticking time bomb exploding, after all.” the helmet leader said as the captured girl finally left the room. “She was only part of one gang causing trouble, but that’s enough to embolden the others when they caught wind of it. And that led to the other attacks.”

“Well at least it’s good to confirm they aren’t working together against us or anything. The situation might be different if that was the case.” the thug girl commented. “But still, that doesn’t change the fact we’ll be dealing with a district’s worth of delinquents.”

“Shouldn’t we hurry and deal with them? The district must be in chaos right now. And the more time we waste, the more people might get hurt…” Nonomi said worriedly.

Yume-senpai seemed to hold the same opinion. She opened her mouth to probably agree, or to maybe order the others to go outside to help out the district - but before she could do so, the door to the classroom opened and a familiar voice replied to Nonomi’s statement.

“—That’s right, we should.” Pinky said, entering the classroom. Oh, she’s back. And she also brought something with her. “Time is critical here, so we’d need to split up. The majority of us will go to the main district and deal with those pests. The others would need to go ride their vehicles to the outskirts though, since there’s also quite a lot of troublemakers there.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea. We do have enough manpower for doing that now. We should do that.” Yume-senpai said, before giving Pinky a curious look at what she brought. “Still - you’re finally back from the gym, Hoshino-chan! What did you get?”

“This. Catch.”

I blinked as the girl suddenly tossed me what she brought and I caught it. The thing was wrapped neatly in cloth, which I unwrapped. The thing was something rugged, long and hard… Oh, it’s a gun!

“You’re giving this to me?” I asked in surprise, staring at the gun with wide eyes. “I thought my gun was a pistol or something.”

Pinky shook her head. “I already told you that the pistol was a temporary gun. Now that we know that your style is pretty much taking all the hits and attacking the enemy head on, that shotgun is the right tool for you.” she explained.

I looked at it in awe. “So it’s a shotgun…!”

“Yeah, it’s similar to mine.” Pinky then gave me a look. “Except that one is mechanically simple, because you can’t seem to understand how to fix up even a simple pistol. This should at least be easier for you to handle and repair. The tradeoff is that it doesn’t carry as much ammo, but it should be really powerful if put in your hands.”

I looked at it again in further awe. “So it’s a super shotgun…!”

Pinky gave me her trademarked and patented flat gaze, before turning to the others. “…Going back to our plan of action - I’m going to join the group protecting the main district. That should be where most of the enemies are at, and where we need the most firepower. Nonomi. You two.” she glanced at the middle schooler and the two gang leaders. “You’re going with us.”

“Y-Yes! I’ll do my best!” Nonomi replied while the other two just nodded.

“Oh, I can get to the outskirts really fast if we’re in a hurry. I just need to run there.” I commented, looking away from my new gun for a moment.

“…Yeah, you can, can’t you? Then that means you can go there and help the others.” Pinky said, before giving me a strange look. “Just… just make sure that you don’t repeat what happened before and let yourself get captured, or stuff like that.”

I blinked, and so did the others. “Huh?”

Pinky looked a bit flustered for some reason, although she still glared at me. “Y-You know what I’m talking about! You get hurt when you’re hit on… on your thing , right?” she said, pointing down to my—Ohh, I think I get it. “It happened when we fought the sukeban, so you should at least be careful. You’re not invincible.”

The others in the room all looked down at my dick at that. They have weird expressions on their faces though; Nonomi looked a bit red for some reason, and the two gang leaders sported similar looks even if it’s not as intense as Nonomi was. I guess it’s getting a bit hot for them or something.

As for Yume-senpai, she just looked at it intensely.

“That’s right…! Bobo-kun did get hurt when you kicked him there, Hoshino-chan.” Yume-senpai said in shock and concern, making Pinky splutter at the reminder. Yume-senpai didn’t notice though and continued. “That means he should be really careful, or else he could get really hurt…”

Yume-senpai then gained a determined expression.

“I-I’ll go with Bobo-kun to the outskirts! I’m the most durable next to him anyway, so I’ll go with him and protect him from harm!” she declared, before turning to me. “I’ll protect you, Bobo-kun!”

I nodded my head, feeling reassured from that. I don’t wanna get hit in the dick again, after all. “Yeah, I’ll leave my dick to you, senpai!” 

“…! Yeah, leave it to me! I’ll treasure it!”

“Phrasing! Don’t phrase it that way!” Pinky suddenly cried out.

—With that, our plan of action was decided.

After finishing our discussion, we went ahead with our plan.

The gang leaders started rallying their members along with the new students who wanted to join us. Yume-senpai quickly explained the plan, and the participating student body was split into two groups with one fighting in the district and the other going to the outskirts.

We didn’t waste any time. As Hoshino said, time is critical. However, I do wonder if this is taking a bit too long… I mean, the others are still trying to start their vehicles, and things could get worse the longer we stay here.

Humuuu, this is a problem… Oh! I think I have an idea.

“Yume-senpai!” I called out.

“Hm? What is it?” Yume-senpai turned to me, before approaching. “Bobo-kun, Is there something you need—” I bent down and brought her up on my back. ”—Hyah!? Bobo-kun!?”

“Let’s go to the outskirts like this. I’ll take you there as I run.” I said with a nod.

And so here’s the idea: as the others were still preparing their vehicles - I’m going ahead and carrying Yume-senpai on a piggy back ride. That should give us a head start so that we’ll get to the outskirts early. I’m a pretty fast guy, if I say so myself, so that shouldn’t be a problem.

Anyway, there was an initially surprised reaction from Yume-senpai when I did that, but after a short moment and a bit of readjustment, she settled and made herself comfortable on my back.

“Oh, this is surprisingly familiar.” I heard her mutter, before continuing. “So we’re going to go ahead like this? It’s a bit embarrassing, but I approve. Yoshh, let’s get going, Bobo-kun!”

“Wha—? What the hell are you two doing!?”

I turned to the source of that voice. A lot of students also turned to us in surprise and looked at us with wide eyes, but the one who said that was Pinky, who was a bit far away from us because she dealt with something in her group. She looked flabbergasted for some reason.

“—We’re going to go ahead before all of you, Hoshino-chan! The sooner we get there, the better!” Yume-senpai shouted as an explanation, before pointing forward. “Alright, Bobo-kun! Advance!”

I have no objections! 

And so, listening to my student council president, I became one with the wind and accelerated up to 100 meters per hour (mph) while feeling the speed flow through my veins as I ran out of the school gates, leaving clouds of dust behind my trail.

“H-Hey! Wait for the others, damn it!”

I also felt like Pinky was calling out to as, but alas, I am beyond the speed of sound and thus cannot hear her.

“Nyoooooooom—!”

Or maybe because that was because of the noises I was making. Whoops~☆!

In any case I was travelling quite fast. I zoomed as I passed through the streets that were thankfully mostly empty, so I didn’t have to stop or anything in fear of hitting someone. I spotted plenty of pedestrians looking at me in surprise though, but that’s probably because someone running really fast isn’t normal in Kivotos.

Yume-senpai had to embrace me tighter so that she wouldn’t fall off, making me feel kind of weird when I felt her soft chest press harder on my back. Huh, that’s strange… I wonder what’s that about?

I didn’t have much time to wonder though. Since I was going kinda fast with no obstacles, we managed to get near the outskirts after a few minutes or so. And there, we encountered our first group of troublemakers who targeted the stores that were a bit far away from the main district.

“—There, Bobo-kun!” Yume-senpai shouted, pointing in a particular direction.

I looked, seeing what looked like a convenience store surrounded by delinquent students.

“Hya-haaaa! Give us all your money unless you wanna get shot!”

Even from far away, I heard a delinquent student shout that at some store accompanied with warning gunshots. She wore a helmet but with a really weird mohawk on top of it. The others around her had similar designs, as well as imagery like blood or skulls or something.

It looked pretty cool. Kinda metal, actually.

“Those Abydos bastards wouldn’t get here with all the chaos in the district! I don’t care about that gang war or whatever, but this is a golden opportunity! With everyone busy we can loot whatever place we want! Wahaha!”

As they said that, I slowed down near right in front of the store, my shoes grinding on the road before I fully went into a stop. Yume-senpai didn’t waste any time and jumped down from my back, deploying her shield and running towards them. 

“Hey, stop that!” she shouted, making the girl turn to her.

“—Nyaanniii!? It’s Abydos!?!?”

The delinquents started shooting at Yume-senpai, and she swiftly dealt with them. Our student council president, while not quite as good as Hoshino, was still quite strong in her own right and it showed. She quickly dealt with the nearest shooting girl by bashing her with her shield Iron Horus, striking the girl with enough force to lift her off the ground while also knocking off her helmet up to my feet.

“Ohh…”

I examined the helmet. It had a good design, and the visor kind of made it look futuristic. I was about to move on from it though to help Yume-senpai… but then suddenly, a thought appeared in my head.

Up until now, I’ve been taking my strength for granted, running towards gunfire without a thought since I felt oddly strong. Recent events have shown me that it could be bad though, and I have to at least exert some effort to protect myself from being hurt.

And what better way to do that with a piece of armor? I mean it doesn’t protect my weak spot, that being my dick, but the mindset is what counts right?

I nodded my head. Yes, this is flawless logic. With that I put on the helmet that the delinquent student dropped, before moving to help out Yume-senpai.

“Raaaah! Take this, you cow!” 

With everyone’s attention on Yume-senpai, I was left unnoticed. I used that opportunity to approach one of the students who was shooting her minigun on Yume-senpai to keep her pinned. I aimed my shotgun, and she turned to me in surprise when she felt the barrel press on her back. 

“What the—!?”

Then I pulled the trigger. A single shotgun blast roared, and the girl flew quite a distance, before crashing onto a nearby wall and cracking it slightly. The girl then slid down the wall and onto the floor, completely conked out.

I blinked. Oh, that was stronger than I thought.

In any case, everyone suddenly stopped and turned to me in surprise. Even Yume-senpai, who peeked from behind her shield to look at me. 

What? Is there something wrong?

They all looked kind of spooked for some reason.

“…We give up.” the leader suddenly said, dropping her gun and surrendering for some reason. There was no trace of her earlier rowdiness at all, replaced with this nervous reservedness. “P-Please don’t hurt us. Um, seriously.”

Huh? That’s it? I thought there’d be more fighting. I turned to look at Yume-senpai, but she also looked at me with wide eyes like the rest of the delinquent students.

“B-Bobo-kun, why are you wearing that!? You look really intimidating!” she shouted.

I am? But it’s for protection! And I thought it would be cool on me or something… Oh well, if that’s what Yume-senpai thinks, I guess I have to stop wearing it. It’s a bit of a shame though. I thought it went well with my shotgun…

But alas, as the student council mascot - I have the duty to be approachable and not be scary! It’s important to cultivate a positive image for the school after all.

Still, we did manage to deal with this one gang pretty quickly so… Good job, I guess? 

…Alright, let's move on to the next ones.

Chapter Text

Damn exams. Good thing finals are over. Anyway - you guys know where this is gonna go once you’ve read the chapter.

The Coolest Student Council President Part 4

True to our plan, me and Yume-senpai went around the outskirts of the district and kicked some delinquent butt. We were going to the station right to the edge of the district right, and after some delays from dealing with troublemakers along the way, we managed to arrive at our destination.

“—It’s Abydos! They’re here!”

“They brought a lot with them! Crap!”

When we got there, there was a pretty big gathering of thugs fighting the ones defending the station that leads to the ones we restored. They aren’t as big of a group as the helmet gang but there’s still enough of them to overwhelm our classmates protecting the station - but that changed when we arrived.

You see, the rest of our group managed to catch up with their vehicles after we were a bit delayed with the troublemakers we encountered along the way to our destination. Now, the motorcycles and buggy cars that the sukeban had when we fought last time are now being used to assist us. We arrived fast like lightning - and struck just as hard. 

“Get ‘em, get ‘em! Nyahahaha!”

“I’m gonna run you over!”

In any case, the battlefield right in front of the station turned into a frenzy as the vehicles tore through the delinquent force. Oh, and me and Yume-senpai were right in the middle of it all, since I jumped right literally in the center.

It was chaotic, to say the least.

“Did someone say something scary just now!? Please don’t run people over!” Yume-senpai shouted amidst all the people shooting at her,while she protected herself with her shield. “Somebody could seriously get hurt and… Ahh, mouu, nobody’s listening! This is a mess!” she cried out.

I watched as someone launched a student flying after getting hit with the back end of their motorcycle while drifting. The student who got hurt hit a utility pole, and she fell on the ground with her halo winking out. Oh, that was some impressive driving skills.

“Maybe I should try to learn how to ride a motorcycle as well… that looks really cool.” I muttered in thought, before my attention shifted when bullets hit my body ineffectively. “Oh, whoops. Better get back to fighting.”

I turned to where a group of delinquents were looking at me in shock, probably questioning their minds on why I’m not on the ground unconscious after being hit by that many bullets. It quickly turned into panic when I trained my shotgun at them and began to shoot.

“—Ahh!”

“—Guu!”

They fell on the ground, defeated. After that… How do you reload this gun again? Let’s see, open the thing here, insert the bullets and—Oh, there we go. This is a bit different than using a magazine on a pistol to reload. Kinda slower too. Still, this is definitely simpler to use compared to my first gun. But it’s oddly strong too… I guess it’s all about firepower?

I turned to the other delinquents who were shooting Yume-senpai. There was quite a lot targeting her, so I decided to help her so she doesn’t get overwhelmed. I started running right out of cover and right into the fray.

Now, leaving cover is not recommended by the manuals - but Pinky did say that this was apparently my style and she gave me a shotgun to complement that. So that must mean doing this is the correct thing to do! I think.

“What the—!? There’s a big guy headed towards us!”

Anyway, the delinquents I was headed to turned to me in surprise. And of course, they started shooting me. It didn’t really hurt, but my incredibly adaptable brain made me think of my past mistakes that could probably make them hurt me if they aimed lower.

So I dodged some of the bullets that got to that scary zone below my waist. I was pretty fast after all. And for some reason that made the delinquents shocked too.

“W-What is this speed… Huh!? They’re gone!” one of the delinquents shouted, before her eyes widened when I quickly positioned myself right behind them. “What!? Since when—!?”

Oh man, I think I just did something cool! Let’s say something appropriate. 

“Heh. Nothing personnel, kid.” I said with a smirk.

She looked confused. “‘Personnel’? Don’t you mean ‘personal’—?” I shot her. “Guweh!”

I then swiftly reloaded and shot the other delinquents with her before they were able to react. My attack on the other delinquents also had the benefit of taking the attention of those around us - which Yume-senpai quickly took advantage of.

She ran to the other group of delinquents shooting at her and shot her pistol at them, taking them out nicely after planting a bullet square on their foreheads. With that, we completely eliminated the ones around us, and she turned at my direction to give me a thumbs up.

“Nice assist, Bobo-kun!” she praised. “You defeated those delinquents really swiftly! That would’ve been a perfect score if it was a Firing Drill!”

Really? I feel happy hearing that, but… “Thanks, but I don’t think it’s me. I think it’s because of my new gun.” I inspected the shotgun that Hoshino gave me. “It’s kinda weird. I shoot someone a single time and they turn unconscious. I guess this weapon must be really strong…”

I mean, Pinky also uses a shotgun, but from what I’ve seen she needs like a couple of shots before defeating someone. But this gun just needs a single one so it must be stronger than her gun… Hold on, could it be that!? That Pinky brought a secret weapon hidden inside the school storage and gave it to me!?

As expected, it truly deserves to be called the Super Shotgun…!

While I was thinking that, Yume-senpai just tilted her head. “Hm? Strong…? I think it’s just a regular gun though?” she said, a bit confused. “In fact, I think it’s a gun used to teach students about the history of guns, or something like that. There’s plenty of abandoned teaching materials like that sitting in our storage. That gun is probably really old.”

My eyes widened. “So it’s a relic of the past!” 

This gun is getting more and more cool, am I truly deserving to have such a gun given to me…!?

“Um… I guess it could be called that, in a way.” Yume-senpai agreed with my very fair assessment. “But seriously, Bobo-kun. I think your strength just rubbed off the gun. You’re pretty strong after all, so don’t put yourself down!”

Hm? Is that how guns work?

Before I could ponder some more though, a bunch of bullets whizzed past us, reminding us that we were in the middle of a fight right now. Yume-senpai and I exchanged a glance and nodded. We should probably chat later.

—Anyway, it’s not like there’s many delinquents left. It’s just a few stragglers here and there that were quickly getting overwhelmed by the rest. We quickly assisted our classmates in dealing with those stragglers. In just a couple of minutes, the last delinquents surrendered after realizing that they had no chance of winning the fight anymore.

 With that, the battle in this place is pretty much over.

“…Whew, that’s the station protected.” Yume-senpai muttered as the heat finally died down. She looked relieved. “I doubt that these delinquents knew where to find the restored stations, and it’s not like people reported that they’re being attacked there so… Good job, everyone!”

She was answered with a few cheers, mostly from our more lively classmates who still had the energy. Those that didn’t were the ones who were defending the station earlier were pretty much resting after the big fight. The others who were able to move meanwhile, including me, were assisting with the clean-up after the battle.

One of these tasks was capturing the surrendered delinquents. 

“Grr…! You’ll pay for this, Abydos!” one of them declared loudly as they were being dragged by our classmates to the vehicles, completely tied up. “We’re coming back for you!”

“You really still wanna fight? Even when you get a part-time job, somewhere to live and get to enroll in a school?” the student apprehending her asked with a curious tone.

“Of course we will! We’re not going to let anyone—!” she paused. “…Run that by me again?”

“Yeah, we’re gonna get all that apparently. It’s why we all joined.”

“...”

I watched as the delinquent was put in the same vehicle as the one where the other troublemakers were put in. This one looks more like a buggy van than a buggy car, actually. And unlike the rest of the vehicles it undamaged, since it had been sitting out during the battle earlier.

And as the delinquents were put inside they were greeted by the others inside. I recognized that it was the helmet girl with a mohawk design, the one that suddenly surrendered when I wore one of their helmets for some reason.

“Hey. So you heard their pitch too, huh?” she said. “You’re gonna join Abydos? Because we are.”

The recently captured delinquent looked a bit surprised at suddenly being talked to, but what the mohawk helmet girl said seemingly made her more shocked. “…What? You really can join? Even though we fought?”

“Yeah, the president is cool like that.”

The delinquent girl immediately bowed to the girl apprehending her. “Please let me join. I didn’t really mean what I said earlier. Please forgive me.”

Our classmate didn’t answer, but she did turn to Yume-senpai, who was watching what was happening right next to me. Seeing what she did, the delinquent did the same. And being subjected to both of their gazes, our student council president’s only reply to that was to simply give a thumbs up.

“It’s fine! So long as you stop being bad, that is!” she said with a cheerful smile.

The delinquent bowed lower. Or kowtowed, really. “Thank you so much!”

She was quickly taken away after that and rounded up on the vehicle. I guess we have new classmates now as well? That’s good. We’re getting more and more people to join our school, which is pretty nice.

“Those benefits are really changing people’s minds, huh… Maybe we should’ve done something like this earlier.” Yume-senpai said in thought. Then, she winced. “Ah, but if this continues, then we might get more and more expenses just to give stable pay to those trying to do the part-time jobs in the stations. And of course, there’s the expenses in operating the school too, now that we have more students… Then there’s Kaiser’s debt too…”

Yume-senpai looked really troubled for a moment. I was a bit concerned about her and what she said… but then, after a few seconds of her thinking, her face turned cheery again.

“Oh well, let’s just cross that bridge when we get to it! There’s more things to worry about right now, anyway!” she declared.

Is that really the right way to deal with that…? 

Although, she does have a point. “I wonder how the rest are doing in the main part of the district?” I asked.

“I was wondering about that too, actually. Let’s call them and see what’s up!” Yume-senpai brought out her phone and did so. “I hope Hoshino-chan and Nonomi-chan are okay. They must have encountered more delinquents than we did…”

The phone rang for a few moments, and then it was picked up. Yume-senpai must have put it on speakers since I could hear Hoshino speaking on the other side.

“Senpai?” Pinky answered. The sounds of gunfire can also be heard in the background. “Why did you call? Is something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, Hoshino-chan. In fact, we just finished dealing with the delinquents here on the outskirts! How are things going in your end?”

Hoshino hummed in thought. 

“…There’s a lot here. It’s strange, really. I know most people left, but there’s surprisingly many delinquents here. Some of which I don’t recognize from my patrols.” there was a pause, and then the sound of her shotgun going off. Pinky must’ve shot someone just now. “I think some of these students aren’t local. They must’ve come from another district.”

I tilted my head. “They’re not from Abydos? Where are they from, then?”

“It’s just a suspicion. Maybe they’re really from here and just keeping their heads down most of the time. But if it wasn’t…” she sighed. “Well, we’d have to investigate. But if I recall, those gang leaders did mention something about the Black Market trying something…”

“Hmm… We’d have to find out about that then! But that’s for later. As for now, how are you guys doing, Hoshino-chan? No one is hurt, I hope?” Yume-senpai asked.

“No one. We pretty much have no problem defeating everyone here. There might be many of them, but they’re not coordinated at all. It might take us long before we manage to clean up the main district, though. I’ll call once we finish up.”

“Okay, Hoshino-chan! See you later!” 

With that, she hung up. Yume-senpai pocketed her phone again, and I gave her a curious look.

“So, what should we do now?” I asked her.

Yume-senpai gained a thoughtful look. “Well, maybe we should make sure that the outskirts really are safe from troublemakers. We didn’t check the entirety of it, so we might have missed something.” She turned to one of our classmates. “Can some of you guys search around? And the rest would stay in the station to protect it, in case others try anything.”

The girl snapped into a salute, for some reason. “Yes, President! We’ll go do that!”

She seemed really enthusiastic, huh. That must have been one of our new classmates that only recently joined. Yume-senpai let out a sheepish laugh and scratched her cheek as the girl left, presumably to tell others what she said.

“…Well, I guess we should search the outskirts as well. And maybe a bit outside the main district as well. It’s not fair if we don't do anything while our classmates are working hard.” she turned around and gave me a smile. “Shall we, Bobo-kun?”

I nodded my head, completely agreeing with her words. You can never be too careful about things after all. 

“Yeah, let’s go out senpai!” I said passionately.

She blinked at that, before letting out a wide smile. 

“Yep! Let’s go out, Bobo-kun!” With that, she quickly jumped on my back again and made herself comfortable in the long-familiar piggyback position. “Now, let’s go onward! We’ll make this a really good outing for the both of us! I’ll show you the good spots in the outskirts!”

Hm? But I thought we’re searching for trouble? Why an outing?

Oh well, she must have meant something else. “Looking forward to it!”

With that, we went ahead looking for more delinquents.

—We didn’t find any delinquents.

Both Yume-senpai and I pretty much just wandered around the outskirts not finding any sort of trouble. True to her word, Yume-senpai began to show me the spots that she found really neat in the outskirts. And I have to admit, it was pretty cool.

Stuff like an abandoned park that had long since been filled with sand, but showed its brilliance underneath. Or maybe an abandoned commercial part of the district that showcased Abydos’ former glory. Or maybe even just a beautiful natural sight of desert rock formations.

I admit, I’ve seen plenty of similar things during my time wandering around the desert before I joined Abydos, but it’s still really cool. The last one especially, since Yume-senpai led us pretty much right outside the main district itself and into the desert, where those physics-defying rock formations formed near canyons.

“So? How about that, Bobo-kun?” Yume-senpai asked beside me, having decided to just walk right next to me a couple of hours ago from our search. “What does our resident coolness expert have to say? Pretty cool, right?”

I nodded my head. “I do solemnly declare them as pretty cool.”

They do make for a nice sight. But seriously, how did those arches even form naturally? Truly, Kivotos is a mysterious place…

In any case, Yume-senpai looked really happy at that. “Glad you think so! I found this place when me and Hoshino-chan were looking for treasure, you know?”

I blinked at that. “Treasure?”

“Yep! We found some clues of some sort of treasure when I was searching in the Student Council archives. In the end, we didn’t really find anything but…” Yume-senpai let out a soft smile. “Well, in return, I got to have a good memory with Hoshino-chan when we found this place! She didn’t seem to appreciate it that much at that time though, but I know she likes it all the same.”

Heh, I could imagine her grumpy reaction even without being there. Still, listening to Yume-senpai speak about her time together with Pinky… “Everyday must have been exciting with you two together! It sounds like you’ve done a lot of stuff.”

“W-Well, ‘exciting’ isn’t really the right word for it… but we did do a lot of stuff just to keep the school afloat. So I guess you aren’t wrong.” Yume-senpai said with a sheepish laugh. Then her eyes widened. “Although that reminds me! Speaking of Hoshino-chan, I wonder why she still didn’t call? It’s been a few hours already.”

She had a point. We had been searching around for quite a while already. Enough so that the sun started to set right on the horizon. Any more longer and it’s going to be night.

Yume-senpai brought out her phone and began to look at her contacts. 

“I hope nothing wrong happened…” Yume-senpai muttered in a worried tone. Then, she suddenly paused for some reason. “…Ah.”

I gave her a worried look. “What’s wrong, senpai?”

She suddenly turned to me with manic eyes. “This is bad, Bobo-kun! I just realized that we're pretty deep in the outskirts! That means there’s no signal!” she shouted. “H-Hoshino-chan might have called us a lot of times already and it didn’t go through!”

“Oh.” I said eloquently. “That’s bad.”

Yume-senpai looked like she was on the verge of crying. “Bad! That’s definitely bad! We should hurry and go back to them, Bobo-kun! Who knows how long we’ve kept them waiting!”

I undoubtedly agree with that. However, just as we were about to rush and go back to the district - it was then that a sudden misfortune revealed itself in the very worst moment possible.

The dim sky had rapidly turned dark for some reason. And it wasn’t because of the clouds or anything - there wasn’t any of that in the sky - but a quick look on the horizon made the reason for what happened quite clear.

It was a large cloud of dust that was slowly covering the setting sun. The wind was getting stronger and stronger, and judging from the direction that it was heading into, that large dust cloud was headed right towards us.

It was then that I recalled what Pinky commented earlier this morning.

“A sandstorm!?” Yume-senpai cried out in shock. “Now, of all times!?”

I’m no stranger to sandstorms, and while I’m not really affected by it, Yume-senpai is different. And so I decided to do what I usually did when I encountered a sandstorm during that time when I found her in the desert.

I took her on a piggyback ride again, making her yelp a bit. “Let’s go look for shelter, senpai!”

And so I ran as fast as I could, trying to find somewhere we could stay.

Thankfully, we fortunately did manage to find an abandoned train that toppled over in the sand dunes. I don’t know how it got here, but it’s a good place for us to rest while waiting out for the sandstorm.

—But now, we’re in this strange situation where me and Yume-senpai are stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no way to get help.

“…”

“…”

…What exactly are we going to do now…?

Chapter Text

Did you think we’ll rush to the lewds? Fools! You gotta touch hearts before you touch privates! That’s how romance works! …It’s a two part though, so no need for cliffhangers.

The Coolest Student Council President Part 5

“…”

“…” 

“It looks like we’re in quite a pickle, Bobo-kun… haha…”

Yume-senpai said those words a few moments after we got inside the abandoned train in the middle of the desert. The insides were wrecked like everything building or vehicle that was abandoned in the desert, but at least the train’s walls and windows look fine enough for the sand not to come inside.

“Yeah, this sandstorm looks kinda strong.” I said, agreeing with Yume-senpai’s words. The winds might be harsh enough to make the sand it carries hit you like bullets. “We might have to stay here for a while, senpai.”

Yume-senpai went to sit down on the seats of the train. She had a sad and regretful expression on her face, and I looked at her in concern. Is there something wrong?

“Ugh… this is my fault. I’m sorry, Bobo-kun. I should’ve paid more attention to everything.” she sighed. “If I did that then we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

I tilted my head at that. “Why are you apologizing? It’s not like you could’ve predicted this.” I pointed out with a confused tone. “The sandstorm could’ve arrived earlier or later as far as we know.”

She blinked. “W-Well, that might be true… but still! If we didn’t venture this far, then we wouldn’t have been stuck here in the middle of nowhere.”

That made me more confused. “But wouldn’t we still be separated from the others and take shelter still? How is that any different from this?” I asked.

I mean, I guess we could call Pinky and the others if that was the case since we’re closer to the district, but they’d probably take shelter from the sandstorm too. In the end it’s a similar situation, except we could talk with the others, I guess. It’s not like they could brave the weather to be with us.

“Um… I guess that’s true…?” Yume-senpai looks like she doesn’t quite know how to feel about what I said. “I still feel responsible for this though…”

Now that’s understandable. I crossed my arms and nodded my head. “Well, you are a pretty responsible person after all.”

Yume-senpai stared at me for a moment before, for some reason, she giggled. “…I guess I shouldn’t probably bring down the mood, huh? Sorry, Bobo-kun.”

She was apologizing for no reason again, but alright. At least her sad expression was gone now… Although, Yume-senpai still did have this uncomfortable look on her face as she gazed outside the (likely reinforced) glass window, where the sand was buffeting against it quite hard.

“Nngh, this situation is reminding me of too many bad memories. I seriously don’t want to relive that sort of trauma right now.” Yume-senpai suddenly said, bringing up her knees to her chest. “This is making me kind of anxious…”

Oh. I guess it’s understandable she feels that way. She almost died from getting stuck in the desert last time…

Before I could cheer her up though, Yume-senpai slapped her cheeks and suddenly gained a determined expression. “No, there’s no need to worry about that! That’s a mistake I’m never going to repeat again.” she shook her head, and then turned to me. “No need to relive bad memories! Isn’t that right, Bobo-kun!?”

I gave her a thumbs up. “Yep! And even if it did happen, I’ll help you like last time!”

That seemed to make her relax. She then gave me a smile.

“Heehee. I know you will.” Yume-senpai said. “…Why don’t you sit down beside me, Bobo-kun? You must have been tired after all the running that you did today.”

I don’t really feel tired, but I guess I have no reason not to. And so I sat down beside Yume-senpai, who then put her feet back down to the floor to sit down properly.

“Looks like we’d have to wait out the sandstorm, huh? Let’s hope that Hoshino-chan and the others don’t get too worried for us.” she said, before putting a hand on her chin. “But for now, I wonder what we could do in the meantime…? Ah! I know!”

I watched curiously as Yume-senpai began to rummage into her shield. From what I saw when she used it, she stuffed things inside it like ammunition for her gun and other things, so it kinda doubled as some sort of bag. I wonder what she needed?

I didn’t wonder that long. “Aha! Here it is!”

“A notebook?” I asked curiously.

Yume-senpai puffed up her chest with a smug look. “Hehe, it’s not just any notebook, Bobo-kun. This is the notebook. It contains the records of everything that happened ever since I became the Student Council President!”

My eyes widened at that. A record of everything she did? That must be a super important document!

“Woah…” I said, completely impressed. “So are you going to write what we did today there?”

“Yep! Today was a pretty lively day, after all! Lots of stuff happened.” She then brought out her pen and began writing on it. “Let’s see… It all began when I wanted a break from all the paperwork, and then it turned into dealing with a gang war in Abydos, with more people wanting to join our school. All because of my announcement…”

Yume-senpai made a puzzled face.

“This all sounds very unbelievable to be honest.” then she paused. “But of course, we shouldn’t forget the highlight of the day! I get to have an outing with Bobo-kun! We visited all sorts of places, but we unfortunately got stuck after a sandstorm. And… to be continued! The day isn’t done after all. Let’s just hope it ends on a good note…”

She really thought that roaming around with me was a highlight? I feel happy about that. As Yume-senpai finished writing though, there was also something else I was feeling as I stared at her writing in that notebook of hers.

“…Yume-senpai, you said that your notebook contains everything that you did when you became president, right?” I asked.

“Yep!” Yume-senpai then made a knowing look on her face. “Are you curious about the contents, Bobo-kun?”

I swallowed and nodded my head. Yeah, I’m definitely curious!

She smiled. “Alright! Let me regale you with everything that happened!” she began leafing through the pages. “Now, let’s start from the very beginning…”

—And so, Yume-senpai began to tell me her story.

She told me about how she was elected as president - that being by a raise of hands instead of an election - and how things were pretty much difficult when she went into position. She recounted how she usually tried to revive the school by chasing rumors of treasure, along with her doing work on the side to pay off the school debts. It was all pretty hopeless, but she had persevered.

Then at some point, Hoshino joined her. At that time she told me that they were the only students left in the school. Then, they would do it together… but Yume-senpai would sometimes mess up, stumbling into troublesome situations or getting tricked by adults. Pinky would then rescue her during those times, and then she would end up being scolded by her despite being her junior.

That was how it usually went for them back then. It was full of ups and downs, though I could tell from Yume-senpai’s smile that it had been a precious memory for her all the same. And so, those days continued.

…Until one day, Hoshino must have been fed up after failing so much, and they had a fight. She ignored her contact for a few days and Yume-senpai, thinking that she could surprise her and get her forgiveness, managed to get a good deal with the Saint Nephthys Railway Project.

But then…

“…That’s when the worst happened. I was unprepared for the journey when I was going to put down the deposit for the contract. I forgot to bring my compass and had only this little water canteen, because I thought it would be a short trip. Turns out it’s not.” Yume-senpai recounted. “It made me realize, you know? Just how much I depended on Hoshino-chan despite being her senior. And now because of my mistakes, I ended up getting lost across the desert. I thought that might’ve been it…”

Yum-senpai paused, before turning her eyes at me. I found myself staring at her gaze as well. She had long closed her notebook, no longer looking at it as she recounted her story.

“…Except, I met someone.” she said with a soft smile. “I met a precious person who saved me, and made me reunite with my junior. An unbelievable person, probably the first of his kind in Kivotos, that broke all common sense. And then after he joined, all sorts of things happened. Our projects showing promise, people joining our school… It’s incredible, really.”

Yume-senpai then slowly reached for my hands and grasped it with her own. 

“That’s why… Thank you, Bobo-kun. Truly, from the bottom of my heart.” her eyes shined with unshed tears as she whispered those words. “If it weren’t for you… then none of these things might have happened.”

I stared at Yume-senpai with my complete undivided attention. There was no sandstorm right now to worry about, or anything else. 

There was only this girl in front of me who was baring her heart for me to see.

“ I… I will forever be grateful to you, my miracle…” she said with a bright smile.

Yume-senpai was thankful to me. Incredibly thankful. So much so that she wants to cry.

And hearing that, there’s only one thing that I can say.

“You're welcome.” I replied with a wide grin. “I’m grateful that I could meet you guys too.”

After all, while those days of roaming around the desert were undoubtedly cool, I also couldn’t deny the fact that it was… lonely. I did think the world ended, after all. So while I didn’t think much of it, there was a distinct moment of happiness when I found Yume-senpai, even if she was in pretty dire condition at that time.

You could say she wasn’t the only way saved at that time. Who knows what I might’ve turned into if I hadn’t met anyone! I might’ve gone insane!

In any case, Yume-senpai looked really happy at what I said. She rubbed her eyes with her sleeve and gave me another bright smile. 

“I-I’m happy to hear that, Bobo-kun! Although…” her smile dimmed slightly, turning a touch sheepish. “T-To be honest, for all the help you gave, I don’t think I can ever repay you for that. I don’t think our place has anything to offer unlike other districts, and I know that you said you didn’t care when you joined us in Abydos, but I still think that I’m taking advantage of you when you chose to stay with us…”

This again? “But I’m not really interested in that though. I’m happy with you guys. Everyday has been a lot of fun. Especially today with you, Yume-senpai.” I said, saying the complete truth. Then I paused for a moment, really thinking about the subject. “…I mean, I don’t really know the other districts, but I have the feeling that I won’t enjoy it as much as it is here.” 

Yume-senpai looked curious. “Really? Why do you think that?”

I shrugged. “Just a feeling.” And my instincts had never steered me wrong. “But more importantly…”

It was me who looked Yume-senpai straight in the eye this time. I gave her a grin.

“I like it here. I like Abydos. I like the student council. And I like our cool adventures.” I told her. “And lastly, of course… I like you, Yume-senpai.”

I meant those words in the sincerest way possible. It was her that made everything happen, after all.

—Although strangely, that made Yume-senpai suddenly blush and look at me with wide eyes.

“B-B-Bobo-kun!? That’s a bit sudden now, is it!?” she cried out with a stutter. “W-Why would you like me!?”

I gave her a confused look. “What do you mean? You’re here. I’m not going to leave Abydos because of that.” I said, making her blink. Then I frowned, thinking of what she might’ve meant. “Unless you’re wondering what other reasons to like you…?”

That must have been it. Why would Yume-senpai wonder about that though? There’s plenty of things to like about her.

“Well, first off, you’re pretty. Like, really pretty. Did you know I mistook you for an angel when I first saw you in the desert? That’s how pretty you are.” Yume-senpai’s blush returned full-force. Probably even redder than before, for some reason. “Then there’s your kind and sincere personality. You want to help others, even at the expense of your own. I really like that about you.”

Yume-senpai’s hands grasping mine tightened. Enough that it might hurt someone if it wasn’t me. I continued though, because there’s still plenty of things to say.

“There’s also the fact you’re very hardworking. You constantly try to do your best, even if you don’t quite know how to do it and need someone’s help.” And that’s usually Pinky. “And while you may not be smart at times, I’m the same, and I really like that you get me when Hoshino scolds me for doing something dumb. You’re a senpai who understands me, and someone who I really look up to.”

Yume-senpai suddenly started shaking. Hm? Is she feeling cold…? Well, the sun did set and it was already night time. I guess the evening chill is getting to her. This abandoned train has no heater, after  all.

So I put an arm around her so that she wouldn’t feel cold. I usually feel pretty warm even when it’s supposed to be freezing, so I guess this should help her. She squeaked.

“Anyway, that’s only a few things I like about you, senpai. There’s still plenty to say, since I like you a lot, but it would take too long to say it all.” I finally finished. “Which is why I wouldn’t really worry about me leaving or something—!”

It happened in a flash.

In a surprisingly fast and smooth movement, Yume-senpai transitioned from my arm being put around her, into her suddenly straddling my legs. I blinked as I was suddenly pinned down on my seat, with Yume-senpai’s hands clutching the front of my PE shirt as we were left face to face with one another.

I looked at Yume-senpai, who had her head down, in confusion. But before I could ask anything, she suddenly spoke.

“I know… I know that Bobo-kun must have meant it in a different way.” she said, saying those words with a tight tone. Like there was something stuck in her chest. What was wrong with her? “I-It was always like this, after all… you sometimes say stuff so easily misunderstood. Sometimes I wonder if you must do this on purpose…”

“Senpai?” I asked, concerned.

“I-I don’t want to show this shameful side of me, but…” she continued, looking as if she hadn’t heard me. “B-But you’re at fault here, okay? Y-You’re the one who said that you liked me, so…!”

And then she looked up. And there, I realized that she had a very strange expression.

“I’m sorry, Bobo-kun! I can’t hold it in anymore!” Yume-senpai cried out manically as her hands bunched up my shirt. “Please forgive me for doing this…!”

—And with that, she suddenly leaned forward and kissed my lips. I blinked.

Huh? What? 

…What???

Chapter Text

Here ya go, perverts. Huehehehe.

The Coolest Student Council President Part 6 (Lewd)

“Mmph…?”