How I Ended Up in a Parade of Shame
The guards were closing in with long, deliberate strides, and my mind went white as a blank page.
Wh... what do I do?
I knew it was an emergency, but my brain refused to turn over. All I could do was stamp my feet inside my head while my body stood rooted to the spot, incapable of a single move.
Thump-thump! Thump-thump!
My ears had gone muffled, and the only thing ringing through them was the frantic pounding of my own heart. Under that crushing tension, my vision had narrowed until nothing remained but the two guards, and for a moment I even had the illusion that time itself was crawling.
Tap! Tap!
How long did that stretch on? At some point, the rough footfalls that had been buried beneath the crowd's noise began to reach me with startling clarity. Time snapped back to its proper pace, my frozen mind lurched into gear at last, and the situation in front of me crashed in all at once.
Run!
It wasn't a decision born of deliberation. No rational calculation went into it — it was movement closer to pure instinct.
If they catch me, I'm fucked.
This wasn't something that happened in the original story, so I had no idea how it would play out. But knowing this world's setting, getting caught was never going to end prettily.
This is such bullshit, seriously!
I'd expected variables the moment this became reality, and I'd even drawn up a plan that accounted for the deviations — one designed to keep me as safe as possible. But the instant I stepped out from behind the curtain and took my first real step, it hit me with bone-deep clarity just how flimsy all that preparation had been.
In the game, a guard you spoke to would either ignore you with a contemptuous stare or toss out a warning about wanting to get hauled in — he never actually moved on you like this. But that had only ever been true inside the game. Mapped onto reality, of course a woman wandering around naked in broad daylight would be grabbed first and questioned later. It was the obvious response.
"Hey! Grab that woman!"
The moment I spun around and bolted, the guards shouted after me in alarm and gave chase. Whether it was the stats at work or not, my body felt far lighter than usual, strength flooding my legs — I was even moving at a speed I'd never known before.
"Ugh!"
But outwardly I was still my ordinary self, and the chronic problem I'd always carried tripped me up at once. No matter how hard I pressed my breasts down with both arms, they were simply too large; every stride sent them swinging without mercy, and each swing brought a searing pain, as if the skin were about to tear right off.
"Where do you think you're going, you bitch!"
Ah... I was fucked.
They'd started close to begin with, and every fresh wave of pain made me unconsciously slow my pace, so I didn't make it far at all before a guard's hand closed around me.
"Aaaahhh!"
The scream tore out of me by pure reflex, and then I thrashed with everything I had, desperate to wrench myself free of his grip.
"The crazy bitch is fighting like a wild animal!"
Thud!
"Ugh!"
A heavy blow drove straight into my lower belly. My breath caught in my throat, and my struggling body went rigid on the spot.
Ah. I'd been careless. If there was no real chance of escape, then meekly going along with it was the best option this world had to offer — and in a moment of carelessness I'd forgotten that rule and paid for the mistake.
"Hrk!... Ugh! Nnngh! Haaaah!!"
It was sheer torment. Every breath threatened to bring the vomit up with it, but forcing myself to hold it in made my chest tighten as if I would suffocate. The strength had drained from my whole body, and I felt ready to crumple forward at any second — yet something told me that if I went down, I might never get back up, so I held on with everything I had.
...
Fear had swallowed my mind whole, leaving room for nothing but the simplest of thoughts. I don't want to be hit. Am I going to die like this? I want to live. I... And so, little by little, the fear carved itself deeper into my flesh.
"Screaming her head off, the crazy bitch..."
The guard spat out the curse indifferently, paid no mind to how I couldn't even hold myself upright, and simply carried on with his task. With practiced hands he drew both my arms behind my back, wound the rope around them, and knotted it tight. Then he gave the rope one hard tug, as if to test the bonds.
"Ugh!"
My arms wrenched further back, and my spine bowed like a drawn bow. The pose parted my lower lips slightly, and my breasts, surrendering to gravity, spilled out to either side — announcing themselves to the whole street as if boasting to every passerby.
"Hrk! W-wait, just a moment! Hnngh! Like this I can't cover my— ugh!"
The shame cut deeper than the pain. Still gasping for breath that wouldn't settle, I begged him — pleaded, really — to at least let me cover myself.
"What are you even saying, you crazy bitch?"
The guard stared at me as if I were genuinely, utterly absurd. Honestly, I probably would have reacted the same way in his place. A shameless slut caught fleeing naked in broad daylight, and the first thing she does upon being caught is beg to cover up — of course it was ridiculous. She'd run, and she'd resisted on top of that. There was no chance of being treated gently now.
"Here, take over for me."
The guard who'd bound me handed the rope off to the officer who'd come along. The more composed-looking one accepted it in a daze and asked right away, "Where are you off to?"
"It's not that..." The man let the words trail off as his gaze traveled slowly, deliberately over my body. Meeting that lecherous stare — one that didn't even bother hiding itself — raised goosebumps across my skin, and a discomfort beyond words washed over me.
"Ha... do as you please. In any case, let's get this procession moving and be done with it."
Perhaps disgusted by the man's manner, the composed guard let out a quiet sigh. Then, letting the rope trail out in front, he took the lead. "Let's go quietly. The guard station isn't far from here; we'll arrive before long."
He said it while facing straight ahead, but something seemed to nag at him, and he turned back to add, "And just in case — don't even think about trying anything clever. We have the authority to subdue you. Run, and we break your legs. Try to undo the rope, and it's your fingers. Attempt to bewitch us with that mouth, and we'll sew it shut first. Do I make myself clear?"
"...Pardon?"
Caught off guard by the sudden threat, I blurted the question back without thinking. His demeanor turned ice-cold in an instant. Then, as if even entertaining objections was too much trouble, he simply repeated his final words and demanded an answer once more.
"Do you understand?"
I gave a quiet nod. This was no empty threat. Considering this game's world... no — hadn't he just swung his fists without a moment's hesitation? His speech and appearance made him seem refined, but up close there was something subtly chilling lurking in his eyes.
In any case, once everything was in order, we set off.
I'm seriously losing my mind. What is this bullshit, right from the very start!
Only then did it truly sink in, all over again, just how wretched my situation was. A woman with both arms bound, dragged naked through a village. On paper it was nothing more than the transport of a degenerate — in practice, it was a Parade of Shame in everything but name.
Don't look! Stop staring at me!
With countless eyes fixed on my body, I felt like I was going out of my mind. I couldn't cover myself, so I buried my head as low as it would go to escape their gazes — but there was no shutting out the mockery that wormed its way into my ears.
"Aren't those deformed at that size? It's not like we're at a freak show. What the hell is with those tits... wow."
"Which brothel is she from? Tits like that will sag before you know it — better to get a taste now while you can."
The men traded crude remarks, appraising my body like merchants inspecting wares.
"Have some professional decency, you shameless thing. Is that how you drum up customers? Walking around like that drags all our prices down, you know?"
"Filthy slut. Piercing after piercing dangling from her nipples — what a fucking mess."
The women glared at me with pure contempt and raked me over the coals without mercy. Unlike the men, who saw me as nothing more than an object of lust, their words carried genuine scorn — and somehow that cut far deeper.
Ughhh... what is even happening right now?
My head was such a jumble that I couldn't hold a single coherent thought. I was so ashamed I wanted to die. Every gaze raining down around me felt like a needle driven into my skin; my blood seemed to surge backward through my veins, and no strength would come to my legs.
"Move faster, you whore!"
Smack!
"Aghk!"
Apparently I'd been walking far too slowly, because the man behind me suddenly brought his palm down hard on my ass and grabbed a handful. It hurt so much that, forgetting my situation entirely for a moment, I snapped at him on the spot.
"Are you insane?! You just grabbed my ass out of nowhere!"
Smack!
"Aaagh!"
He slapped my ass again, even harder, and grinned. "Don't talk back — just keep your eyes forward and walk. What, you want another one?"
...
I glared back at him with fury in my eyes. I knew — I knew that reacting here would only cost me. But I couldn't hold it in, and I snapped anyway.
I refused to be toyed with in his grip a moment longer. In the end I swallowed the rage boiling inside me, whipped my head forward, and kept my eyes fixed on nothing but the road ahead.
The guard station really was as close as he'd said, and we arrived in no time. Inside, dozens of guards filled the hall, along with criminals locked away in the holding cells — and their reactions were no different from the crowd outside.
"Tch, what a racket. We're not a pack of monkeys in heat, but every last one of you is diseased in the head."
The man trailing behind me grumbled like that as he took his time walking. Then, passing by my side, he deliberately gave my ass one light tap and strolled on ahead as if nothing had happened. It was so abrupt that I didn't even have time to react.
Does this bastard have some kind of grudge against my ass?
He'd been pawing at it the entire way here, off and on, and my hatred for him had long since hit its peak. In any case, he walked over to his fellow guards and spoke.
"This one bolted the moment she laid eyes on us, so keep a close eye on her. Before the formal interrogation begins, we start with a physical search — everyone, give me a hand."