Chapter 57
Chapter 57
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Veterans and Newbies
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Hehe, heeheehee."
I was rolling around on the top-grade sofa made of some unknown leather, barely holding back the laughter bubbling up inside me.
"Seriously, that creepy laugh of yours is giving off such a sleazy vibe. It's gross, so shut it already."
Unicorn was glaring at me from the side like I disgusted him, but I couldn't care less.
The image of Violet's flushed face as she shyly nodded in my arms last night just wouldn't leave my head. All those times I'd agonized over how to handle her felt like nothing more than happy anticipation now.
"Hahaha! Hahahaha!"
Thud thud thud thud!
"You're embarrassing yourself, so sit still! Even I am about to lose all affection for you!"
Unable to contain my emotions, I started pounding the sofa instead, and Unicorn, sitting next to me, scolded me while smacking my back repeatedly.
"Ow! Ow! Stop it! Hahaha!"
"...Hah, why am I stuck with a guy like this..."
"Huh? What'd you say?"
"Get up already! Aren't your comrades about to arrive soon? If you're my contractor, at least act with some dignity!"
I rubbed my reddened back and clumsily sat up straight. As if he ever acted with any dignity himself.
"Hey, why have you been so grumpy since last night, Unicorn? Is it because I left without you?"
"Forget it. Don't pretend to care when you're not even curious."
"Sorry. Want some carrot chocolate as a peace offering?"
"I don't need it! Who do you think I am, some pet?!"
Whoa, Unicorn turning down carrot chocolate? He must be seriously pissed.
"Alright, then how about we grab some carrot cake later?"
"...Carrot cake?"
"Not a slice—a whole one."
"...A whole one?"
But I knew exactly what he liked. Calming Unicorn down was as easy as playing a dating sim with a walkthrough.
"...Don't think a mere snack will improve my mood. You need to show me more respect."
Even as he said that, I could see Unicorn's body, which had been turned completely away from me, slowly inching back toward me. Like I said, he's totally in the palm of my hand.
"So, why were you mad? Because I left without you yesterday? Or because I went to confess to Violet?"
"I told you, I'm not mad! I was just annoyed by your thoughtlessness!"
When I asked what had set him off, Unicorn puffed up his cheeks again and started nagging me.
Sure enough, it had to be about yesterday. Just then, the clubroom door burst open.
"Greetings, Big Brother! Good morning-da today too! Hello to you too, Unicorn-da!"
Shaomei bounded in through the door, greeted me and Unicorn happily, then hopped over to the spot where I was sitting and plopped down right next to me, sticking close.
"Hm hm, seeing that smile on your face, looks like it went well-da?"
"...That obvious? Haha."
Shaomei flashed me a mischievous grin and began gently stroking my thigh as I laughed awkwardly.
"Since busy Violet sis hasn't shown up yet... you two must've gotten up to some naughty stuff all night-da?"
"...N-No! We haven't! We parted early last night—Unicorn knows!"
I waved my hands frantically at her teasing question, delivered with a giggle.
It wasn't a lie—we really hadn't. Violet had struggled, saying she couldn't do anything that embarrassing right away.
Instead, when she squeezed her eyes shut and lightly pressed her lips to mine, she was so adorable that I ended up pulling her into a tight hug.
"Eek, that creepy smile is gross. It's already so shady and pervy-da."
"I told you! He's been grinning like that since last night—it's driving even me insane!"
Come on, such exaggeration. I'd just grinned myself to sleep and kept grinning after waking up.
"Hmmm, if you're jealous, how about a date with me next time-da...?"
"O-Of course. No way I'd neglect Shaomei, right?"
There was no way I could resist Shaomei's full-on body press as she rubbed against my chest. I nodded hurriedly, and she contentedly leaned her head on my shoulder.
The sad part was that I was still shorter than Shaomei, so it wasn't the romantic lean from movies or comics. She was about 166 cm, so I was probably around 164 cm now.
'Even if it's frustrating, I need to grow this body fast. All my girlfriends are taller than me.'
Agnes was the tallest at 171-172 cm, Violet at 165 cm—so yeah, I was the shortest. Even Unicorn was at least 170 cm, so I felt subtly self-conscious.
Luckily, I was an alchemy master. I might not have a baldness cure, but I could whip up a growth potion.
My current build didn't suit a longsword anyway, and if I started now, I could hit over 180 cm by third year.
"Shaomei, do you like me tall or like this?"
"Huh? Can you even choose that-da? I figured you couldn't pick since your size changes every time..."
"I can't make baldness pills, but I can handle that much."
Shaomei narrowed her eyes thoughtfully at my words, then stared at me intently for a moment.
"If I had to say... small Big Brother is cute, and big Big Brother is cool. As long as your head doesn't go bald, either's fine-da."
That last bit stabbed my heart like a dagger. Life really is...
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Soon enough, the clubroom started filling up with people.
Agnes, Shaomei, Jorba, Kaiyen, Unicorn, and me—six in total. Including Violet, who was too embarrassed to show up today, that made seven members already.
"So, when you think about it, this many people know about memory regression."
"...Did we really have to add Jorba to this group? He doesn't even have his memories, partner."
Kaiyen, who was acting prickly like Unicorn for some reason, asked me in a sharp tone.
"Don't reject him so harshly, Kaiyen. Jorba and I are like blood brothers—super close, you know."
"...Even without that. Jorba's pretty useful to us. Quick thinker, good at politics, and he'll help track down the villains."
"Hear that? I earned my spot fair and square—not some parachute drop-in."
Jorba grinned slyly, while Kaiyen sat in the corner with his arms crossed, looking annoyed at everything, including Jorba. They were close in the original story, but Kaiyen was extra grumpy today.
'He's not even a girl—why's this guy on his period around Jorba?'
I was seriously annoyed by it, but since I needed Kaiyen to kill the Demon King or face the legion commanders, I decided to let it slide with a big heart.
"Alright, roll call's soon, so enough chit-chat. First off, our club's goal."
"That's subjugating the Demon King, right? This is all for that, partner?"
...Kaiyen was even more irritating because he spoke to me so casually. It almost made me wonder if he was gay and thus extra wary of fellow guys like Jorba.
"That's the endgame. Right now, we need to set this month's activity goals."
"Oh, like finding villains or clues on memory regression-da?"
I patted the head of clever Shaomei for her spot-on answer. As she grinned cutely and snuggled into me, Kaiyen's gaze sharpened, but I deliberately ignored him.
"Exactly. If we fail this regression, we'll aim for the next one. And even if not, it'd be easier if Jorba or other key people recovered their memories."
"...I hate assuming failure, but you're right. If we can control memory inheritance like Arthin says, it'll expand our options."
Agnes nodded, and everyone silently agreed. Things were going so smoothly precisely because most of us had benefited from memory regression.
"But with no clues, where do we even start looking-da?"
"Dig through books, talk to people—gotta hustle. The more people who regain memories, the easier it'll be to find common threads."
I pulled a sheet of paper from my pocket and unfolded it large for everyone to see.
"I heard the King of the Plains remembers me because he's a transcendent. Might be worth checking Dragon Lord or Thunder Bird too, just in case. And..."
I glanced at Shaomei and Agnes. Their expressions soured, but I cleared my throat and pressed on.
"Saint Olga Virtus, Lucy Valentine from Undercity. Princess Marianne de Lectour seems promising too."
"...The princess has been oddly favorable toward you, Arthin. She might have some memories back."
Agnes partially agreed but sighed heavily when her eyes landed on Olga and Lucy.
"I heard about Lucy and the saint from Shaomei. Sounded like you two had a... good vibe."
"Well... we got along fine. Yeah."
"Don't lie-da. I saw the saint acting all foxy around Big Brother Arthin when she was friendly with Violet sis. And the whore—you were basically dating her!"
No, dating? That's unfair. The mood was great, sure, but we never even said we were together, and we didn't properly kiss once.
"And 'whore'? Lucy's one of Undercity's bosses—she protected working girls, didn't do it herself. Unicorn even confirmed she was a virgin in the 2nd regression."
"Same difference-da! Maybe 2nd-regression Unicorn got tricked with some evil tool!"
"What?! Are you saying I can't tell a virgin?! No woman can hide her purity from me!"
Unicorn, stuck to my other side, grumbled indignantly, and I felt a headache coming on. For some reason, Shaomei was super negative about Lucy and Olga—she'd been calling them whores for a while.
"I just listed the possibles. Everyone with memories so far is a girl, except Kaiyen."
"Now I see—Arthin, you're the real playboy! I hereby recognize you as the academy's top casanova."
"What nonsense! Even if so, I'm better than Jorba! Right!?"
"....."
The room went eerily quiet as I protested.
"Guys? Why the silence? Unicorn?"
"Don't look at me, playboy Arthin. I think the saying about bald guys having strong libidos holds true."
"...Agnes? Shaomei?"
"...Sorry, Arthin."
"...I think you're about even-da."
"Kaiyen? You'll deny it, right?"
"....Playboy suits you, partner."
Damn it, everyone except me thinks I'm on Jorba's level? I was a virgin until recently!
"No, guys, you don't remember, but Jorba's the one who—"
"Alright, let's commit to investigating memory regression. Now, about the villains—shall we discuss?"
Agnes cut off my indignant shout and pushed the meeting forward. Everyone nodded in agreement.
"I wasn't done yet??"
"You said no chit-chat, Arthin. Ten minutes left—better hurry."
I couldn't argue with Agnes's logical, no-nonsense tone, so I pouted and leaned back on the sofa. No one here was on my side.
Violet would've backed me up for sure.
'...Maybe not.'
On second thought, even with Violet here, she'd probably dodge like Agnes or Shaomei.
Where were my real allies, anyway?
"Stop sulking and focus on the meeting, Arthin!"
Thwack!
"Ow! What was that for?!"
"You know the most about villains, so quit zoning out!"
Unicorn, waiting for an opening, flicked my forehead hard—payback for all my past knuckle flicks. It was so unfair I nearly teared up. But he was right, so I had nothing to say.
"You mentioned most villains have omens last time, right? Tell us, and we'll investigate separately, Arthin."
"Got it... But warning: some show up without omens, so everyone pull your weight there."
Ahem. Clearing my throat, I began reciting the omens for villains I remembered.
"Dorm supervisor changes without notice? Weird bugs in the cafeteria meat dishes? Rumors of unidentified shadows around Bronze Dorm? Fish from the harbor district starting to smell extra fishy or showing mutations? Whispers that ghosts appear in mirrors at 3 a.m.? Sudden complaints about uniforms among students? Unpopular Bronze guy suddenly getting popular with girls? Male student vanishing from history class? And..."
"Wait, wait! Slow down! What's with all these?!"
Huh? What do you mean? This is a lot?
"Including ones tied to you guys, that's over a hundred candidates."
"...A hundred? I thought like five or six."
I snorted at Jorba's words. They were underestimating this screwed-up world.
"One lost a duel to Kaiyen and contracted with the Demon King's army for human sacrifice. Miss even one, and it's disaster—so write 'em all down."
Everyone looked baffled but pulled out the writing tools I'd told them to prep. Only Unicorn was still clueless, like he had no idea what was going on.
Whatever—I'd handle Unicorn personally. Once they were ready, I cleared my throat and continued.
"Next: Over ten girls, including Claire, have their underwear go missing..."