The End of the Crackdown Period
In an unexpected way.
Simpler than I thought.
The crisis of the intensive crackdown period had passed.
“Today’s the last day of the crackdown period…”
“Yeah. I really didn’t expect it to stay this peaceful until Friday. We owe it all to you, Ellie.”
“Mm…”
It was Friday morning on the way to school.
Ellie blushed and lowered her head at my thanks. Still, I could see the faint smile on her profile, so my gratitude clearly made her happy.
‘She really did save us.’
Of course, Lana had helped me recover those twenty points, but if Ellie hadn’t gotten angry with the other girls in our class…
Those twenty points Lana saved might have vanished in an instant under the flood of attacks from the female students.
After all, just breaking the rule against improper opposite-sex relationships costs ten points.
Thanks to Ellie, I made it through today without losing any more points.
Points remaining: 23.
Plenty of breathing room.
Incidentally, standing right next to Ellie wasn’t a problem either. I’d been restoring my sage state every night with extreme measures before heading to school, so my sage power was at its peak during the morning commute. Right now, I could enjoy a peaceful time with Ellie.
“Anyway, thanks a lot, Ellie. I’ll definitely repay you for this someday.”
“Huh…? Ah, no…! It’s fine…. You helped me with the midterm practice questions too, Ares.”
“Yeah? Oh, right, I did.”
I’d given her those questions to keep her from failing. Thanks to that, her grades had turned out pretty good.
“Come to think of it, you said you’d repay me back then, didn’t you? Haha, I didn’t expect to get it like this.”
That was what Ellie had said when I handed her the practice questions.
She’d promised to repay me properly.
‘I was hoping for something lewd, but… things never go that smoothly in reality.’
In a way, saving my life was a far greater repayment than anything lewd.
That should be enough.
But—
“Ah, that, um…”
Ellie glanced at me and hurriedly denied it.
“That repayment… I-I’ll do it properly next time…”
“Properly…?”
“Yeah…”
Ellie answered while blushing, then gently clasped her hands together. The motion made her chest shift softly, changing shape beneath her uniform shirt. Those large, alluring curves were impossible to ignore.
‘Wait… does that mean the repayment really is… lewd…?’
Drawn by that suggestive movement, I found myself staring at Ellie’s chest.
Ares, -5 points for visual harassment.
Ms. Bell had appeared before me at some point and casually deducted the points.
I wasn’t even surprised anymore. It felt like a natural phenomenon.
“Damn… I was planning to go the whole last day without losing a single point…!”
“……”
I never expected my resolve to crumble because of Ellie’s ultimate hard counter.
Still, it couldn’t be helped. Any guy would look when a girl with a body like that talks about “repaying” him while her large chest moves.
But then—
“A-Ares…”
“Huh…?”
“Just now… visual harassment… she said…”
“Ah.”
After Ms. Bell leisurely headed toward the school gate, Ellie looked up at me with a flushed, nervous face.
She’d realized I had been staring at her chest.
“N-No…! Sorry! I’m really sorry! I didn’t mean it like that at all! It was just an accident, I swear! So please forgive me!”
“……”
I apologized in a rush. No matter the reason, looking at a girl’s body that way was still rude.
We’d seen each other naked in the science prep room before, but the situation was different now.
Of course, I knew Ellie wouldn’t hate me over something like this. Still, apologizing versus not apologizing made all the difference.
Then—
“It’s okay… Actually… you can look more if you want!”
“Huh…?”
“Aaaah…! No, wait, the crackdown period is still on…!”
“……”
Ellie seemed to grant permission at first, then suddenly panicked and corrected herself. She looked straight at me, glanced toward the gate where Ms. Bell had gone, then leaned in close and whispered in my ear.
“If you want… I’ll let you touch them later.”
“……”
Touch them…?
What exactly…?
No, it had to be that. She was saying she’d let me touch… that…?
“Not today, though… next week…”
“……”
Her whispered voice tickled my ear. She even specified the day.
“……”
Once again, I couldn’t help but look down at Ellie’s large, soft chest.
-5 points
“Aaaaaah!! N-No!! I wasn’t looking!!”
“……”
I spun around in a panic at the sound of Ms. Bell’s footsteps returning.
That was close. I almost lost another ten points just on the way to school.
‘Being next to Ellie really is dangerous…’
Lana was dangerous too, but Ellie was dangerously straightforward. Just a casual glance was enough to trigger a visual harassment penalty.
Friday morning classes.
‘Chest… chest… Ellie’s chest…’
I spent the time recalling Ellie’s completely naked body from the science prep room last night. Thanks to her temptation this morning, that image refused to leave my head.
Fortunately, imagination was free. Even this awful Wonder Academy didn’t penalize simply picturing Ellie’s naked body.
‘I got to touch plenty during the doppelganger incident, but…!’
Even so, there was a huge difference between a fake that copied her appearance and the real thing.
Why did a man want to squeeze a woman’s chest?
Just to feel the softness?
No, absolutely not. If that were true, kneading a lump of silicone would be enough.
It wasn’t about squeezing a chest. It was about whose chest you were squeezing.
And I…
Next week, I could squeeze Ellie’s chest.
But…
NightRat was right.
‘Can I really just touch and stop?’
Honestly, I wasn’t confident. Even the doppelganger had been hard to resist, and this was the real Ellie. She liked me. She’d even given permission.
If she got excited and tried to kiss me…? If she started taking her clothes off…? If she touched my body…?
Would I be able to hold back…?
‘Ugh…’
The possibility that Ellie was a monster was still high. So I couldn’t touch her carelessly. If I did, I probably wouldn’t be able to stay calm.
I should only touch her once the chance she was human became higher.
But…!
‘I want to touch them…!’
Human instinct was impossible to deny. Call me a pathetic human if you want.
‘If I really just touch them once… that should be fine, right…?’
Humans always overestimate their self-control. Right now, I could understand people who failed diets 58,000% of the time.
‘Yeah, just once… just one time…’
Completely unaware that that single time would be the first step toward failure.
“Hey, Ares…”
“Huh…?”
But during lunch, while eating with Lana—
She suddenly spoke up.
“Ares, you like big breasts, don’t you.”
“……”
Lana was looking at me with an unusually blank expression, no smile in sight. The usual playfulness in her eyes was gone. For some reason, it felt chilling.
Why did it feel like I’d been caught doing something I shouldn’t?
“N-No, not really…”
“Really? That’s strange. I’m pretty sure I heard you say that yourself last time.”
“M-Maybe you misheard…?”
“No, you definitely said you liked girls with pretty faces and big breasts.”
“……”
This girl… She was bringing up the conversation we had in front of my dorm room right after I transferred.
Wasn’t her whole thing hiding that she was a monster? Or was she planning to brush it off as just some random paranormal event?
Either way, Lana was repeating what had been said back then.
“You know, Ares.”
“……”
“Do you think my chest is big enough?”
“W-Well…”
“Huh? You don’t even have to look. Just answer.”
Today, Lana was being unusually direct with her questions. She’d never been like this before.
Why? What made her mood drop so suddenly? Her excited vibe from moments ago had vanished completely. I felt a sense of danger.
Yeah, times like this called for the gallery’s opinions. Posting while talking was already second nature.
I opened the gallery, set the transparency to maximum just in case…
“Hey Ares, are you listening?”
“Y-Yeah?”
Swish.
Lana, who had been sitting beside me, leaned in and placed her hand over mine.
“W-Wait…! Lana, this violates the rules…!”
“Holding hands doesn’t count as a violation, does it?”
“Still…!”
“You don’t like it? Too bad, not happening.”
“Ugh…!”
With a frightening look in her eyes, Lana slipped her fingers between mine and interlaced them. She leaned closer, studying my face.
It felt strange seeing her without her usual smile.
“I’ve told you a lot of things I like about you, right?”
“……”
“So I’ll tell you something I don’t like.”
“……”
“I hate people who cheat.”
“……”
“You understand what I’m saying?”
“……”
Cheating…?
Why was she talking to me about cheating? That was the kind of conversation lovers had… but I couldn’t say that.
“Your answer…?”
“……Yes.”
Faced with her forceful words, I could only manage a single syllable. For some reason, I couldn’t say anything else.
Maybe it was instinct. My survival instinct as a male telling me that saying anything else would be dangerous.
“Hehe.”
At my short reply, Lana smiled cutely. It was stupid, but that smile eased the anxiety in my chest.
“Good boy.”
Swish, swish.
She let go of my hand and gently patted my head.
It was strange. I actually missed Ms. Bell right now. Why wasn’t she appearing?
The thought made me even more annoyed. She’d been tormenting me all week, but the one time I needed her, she was nowhere to be found!
“Ares.”
“Y-Yeah…?”
“If there’s something you want to do… tell me.”
Then, while patting my head with her usual smile, Lana suddenly said that.
Almost like she was repeating the conversation I’d had with Ellie.
“I can do anything you want.”
“……”
“Anything…”
Anything.
At that word, I remembered the moment in the café when we’d almost kissed, and the beautiful naked body of the fake Lana I’d seen in the duty room. That slim waist and those surprisingly large, soft breasts.
Gulp.
But…
You’re a monster…
‘I’ll touch Lana’s chest!’
What if I touched Lana’s chest next week instead of Ellie’s?
The thought occurred to me.
Ellie might actually be human, so I could cross the line. If the mood got steamy, she might start taking her clothes off while thinking “maybe…?”
But Lana?
Lana was 100% a monster. So even if I touched her chest as much as I wanted, my survival instinct would stop me from crossing the line, right?
I was a genius.
After all, even when we were trapped in that cabinet together, I’d managed to keep hold of my rationality somehow.
Suddenly, I remembered what Lana had said during lunch.
‘━━I can do anything you want… Anything.’
Recalling those words made my heart race.
It had been scary, but thinking back, that forceful side of her had been pretty attractive too.
Anyway—
Sorry, Ellie, but I’d have to gently turn down her offer. I could make up some excuse.
Touching Ellie’s chest right now was too dangerous. If I squeezed those large breasts, there was a high chance I’d cross the line.
And with a 50% chance she was a monster, I’d probably die.
Yeah, I’d touch Lana’s chest.
Once this damn crackdown period ended, that would be my reward for surviving.
Without something like that, I wouldn’t be able to endure this horror academy.
‘Alright…!’
With that excited thought, I waited for afternoon classes to end.
Then, during homeroom—
“Ah, right. Ares. Come with me to the staff room for a moment.”
“……Yes?”
At the homeroom teacher’s call, I followed her to the staff room without knowing why.
“Starting next week, you’ll be doing volunteer work at the cathedral. Pack your things over the weekend and head there on Monday.”
“………Yes?”
“Haah… You really…”
The teacher sighed as she stood me in front of her and explained the situation.
“How does the top student in the entire school also have the most point deductions in the entire school? We’ve never had anyone like you in the academy’s history.”
“……”
“Anyway, the rule is that the student with the most deductions during the crackdown period gets sent on volunteer duty. Keep that in mind.”
“……”
Next week.
Pack my things and go to the cathedral.
In other words… I wouldn’t be coming to school next week.
‘Then… what about the chest?’
My once-excited heart crashed straight to the floor.