53. Even If You Say No, I Intend to Do It!
53. Even If You Say No, I Intend to Do It!
They called it Youth: blue-green spring days.
Youth. The blue-green spring days. When all things sprout, and the new shoots that endured winter stand tall and proud before the sun of reality.
Burning your life, nurturing your life, and finally hurling a stone at the world.
That was Youth.
Therefore──the apostle of Hebe, the goddess of youth, spoke.
"Youth is burning your life to seize life! There is no high or low in this!"
Clench your fists
Kick off the ground
If the world oppresses you
You too, shout at the world
"[Youth─Straight Punch]"
Though it was a life insignificant before the world
If, nevertheless, it could leave a tiny flaw like a new sprout
Then running forward looking only at that goal was what 'Youth' was
─Kwa-deuk....
The small sprout pierced through the ground
─Kwa-jik, ji-jik...
The tiny droplet bored through rock
─Ku-gu-gu, kwa-deu-deu-deuk!!
The ripple thrown at the world would soon spread throughout the entire world
"This is precisely 'Youth'"
The apostle of youth, Eve, said.
"And this is the 'Youth' you will learn from now on"
".............."
How did it come to this?
Chrono wanted to run away.
...
..
.
How long had it been since he started training with Eve?
It seemed like at least two months had passed, and this was the third month, was it?
"Now, now! One and Youth! Two and Youth! All slogans shall be unified with Aak!"
"Aaaaaaak!!!"
Eve's relentless drilling grew more innovative by the day, and his body underwent strengthening upon strengthening daily.
His body getting stronger was a good thing.
A truly good thing, but....
'Ha... at least a bracelet...!'
There was no reason to chain both his wrists and ankles with iron shackles and make him exercise.
If things went wrong, his joints could give out, you know? He pleaded desperately, advertising his frailness, but to Eve, such things were meaningless.
"It's fine! I've applied a blessing of my own, so you absolutely! Absolutely! Won't get hurt or anything!"
"Aaaaaaak!!!!"
Rather, because his muscles tore right up to the brink of death, it helped with muscle growth or something.
Thanks to that, while his muscles were faithfully tearing day after day,
"Chrono, you wanna become my disciple?"
".....Coach?"
A sudden disciple offer.
Naturally, he couldn't help but be surprised.
"Um... it's only been about 3 months so far that I've been with you, Coach?"
"Three months is far too long to get to know a person!"
"No, that's not the issue here."
It's only 3 months at best, right?
With just 3 months, how deeply could you know someone to suddenly bring up wanting them as your disciple or whatever──that was what he could have said.
'Come to think of it, this is an eroge.'
In an eroge, if it takes over 3 months to capture a heroine, then in its own way, that's a trash game.
Especially if it's a harem game, there's even less excuse.
You spend time trying to see the sex scenes, and even after 3 months, you haven't done it?
Probably at that point, you'd be completely fed up, close the game, and delete it.
On top of that, he just remembered now, but...
'This was an Affinity Rank reward.'
Affinity Rank reward.
Among those, upon achieving the 6th Affinity Rank, Eve would suggest discipleship to that cadet.
If he accepted the discipleship offer at this time, a new stat called Tp would unlock, and he could learn new skills.
No matter how you looked at it, it was an offer that only left gains.
However, if there was one trap....
"Oh dear, now that I think of it, the massage isn't over yet, is it? Think it over slowly while getting the massage."
"Ah... eu, aaaa...!"
...Eve's route theme was grooming.
Right now, the touch that was on his calf and buttock area was quite lewd.
It was a similar feeling to when Ur touched his hand that time. Mars was... still innocent, so rather than touching lewdly, she was innocent now just as she had been before.
Mars, I hope you'll stay innocent forever.
"Euuuung....."
Anyway, to be honest, grooming was fine because if he said no, that was the end of it.
Even if that wasn't the case, the Protagonist didn't seem interested in Eve, so even if he got closer to her, there wouldn't be a problem.
But what still weighed on his mind was the NTR event....
'Assistant Instructor for Close Combat Training'
Initially, words go back and forth about entering some competition, and then, in exchange for giving a competition entry ticket, with the words that it's for the cadet's youth, she ends up giving herself once.
After that, it was the continuation of the well-known NTR story.
'I have to block this.'
Knowing the development process all too well, he couldn't help but speak to Eve.
"I do want to be your disciple."
"Really? As expected of my disciple! From the moment I first saw you, I thought to myself, this guy's got what it takes!"
"But I have a condition."
"Condition? What condition?"
He said to Eve.
"Please don't do things like sacrificing your body for me."
"....Sacrificing?"
"Coach, you're the kind of person whose connections at the academy are half frayed."
".............."
A face that said she never expected those words to come out.
He continued speaking to her.
"Don't go fighting over competitions or whatever, entry tickets or whatever, and then really fall into the abyss or something."
"............."
"....Coach?"
"Huh?! Oh! Uh, ummm.... I never imagined I'd suddenly be worried about by my disciple."
Did I seem that disconnected?
Eve grinned awkwardly and scratched her cheek.
'To put it bluntly...'
Rather than disconnected, it was excessive enthusiasm.
Moreover, it wasn't just a day or two but a constant demand, so the cadets who came out to run in the morning right now were few enough to count on one hand, excluding himself.
And those extreme masochists who even consistently did club activities—right now, it seemed like he was the only one.
'Actually, if this were reality, it'd be absurd.'
If it were reality, there would probably be several cadets who'd follow her around, thinking a teacher like that was good.
Outwardly, she was cute, the content she taught was substantial, and on top of that, she was a workout-fiend teacher, so kids who wanted to build some muscle would all have come, right?
But whether you should say that was just the setting, or an inevitable limitation of the world...
"...If my one and only disciple says that much, I'll have to think about it."
"That's a relie──Wait a moment?"
His hand, he felt like it was going somewhere a bit strange?
"Stay still. This is all for your sake, too."
"No... wait a moment. It's, a bit different from, um, th, uehh?!"
Let's say he somehow understood massaging his chest.
But did she really have to persistently target the nipple area like that──mgh, ah, f-fuh...?!
"...Here too, shall I massage it?"
"............"
Eve placed her hand atop the greatly swollen hill.
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, there was no one else around.
'...This is...'
Not quite a poisoned apple,
But instead, a shackle that, once taken, there was no turning back from.
Would he accept? Or would he turn back just like that?
The conclusion to that was surprisingly quick.
"Of course, I'm planning to do it even if you say no!"
"Coach?"
"After raising you up this much, saying no and backing out isn't Youth!"
"No, now, a, eu, eeeek?!!"
There was never a choice to begin with.
Come to think of it, most of Eve's CGs were aggressively-led CGs.
From the moment the talk of grooming came out, it was foreseen in a sense....
....And so, in exchange for a fleeting joy,
"Now, your voice is too low! One and!"
"Cheong!"
"Two and!"
"Chun!"
"Put Youth into both fists!"
"Aaaaaaak!!!!"
A new skill was unlocked.
For now, he figured he should be happy about it.
****************
Finals approached.
Unlike midterms, during finals, you could undertake requests together with all members of classes A, B, and C.
Seizing this gap, typically in the 1st playthrough, you'd form parties with heroines in the upper classes to tackle dungeon strategies and grind affection...
"Did you just say you're going to the dungeon alone right now?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna do some requests, and get some training in on the side."
At your current rank, can you even sleep?
Before, he had taken everyone along because he had no foundation at all, but now that he had gained skills to some degree, even if he ran dungeons alone, things would be fine to a certain extent.
He immediately headed towards the quest board to tear off a request form.
"Have you lost your mind, Chrono?"
"...What's with that look on your face. Making a guy nervous."
"Are you asking because you truly don't know?"
".........."
I...
When playing the game, he'd often do solo play, too...
In the first place, with this, when you go in a party, proficiency is divided by party unit, so when grinding proficiency, going alone was standard...
On top of that, actually....
"I already tore it off."
"...Even now, you can reverse──"
"─I'll do this."
"When a person is speaking, please listen!"
Aah, whatever, whatever.
How can I sleep when my stats are garbage right now?
In the first place, he took it easy during midterms, didn't he?
Then wouldn't it be logical to run it hard during finals?
"Don't worry. I haven't forgotten about forming a party with you guys."
As he finished gathering the request forms and was about to go outside, Minerva grabbed his sleeve and said.
"It's okay even if we can't party up. Just... don't get hurt."
"You don't get hurt either."
Soon, he headed towards the bus stop outside, and right before praying, he was caught by Yuno.
"You're going alone?"
"Yeah."
"Good luck!"
"...Aren't you gonna say things like 'don't get hurt'?"
"Eung?"
At his question, Yuno tilted her head.
"Chrono, are you going to get hurt?"
"No... I mean, I'll look out for myself to some extent, but...."
"Then there's no problem. Because Chrono is a man who gets it done if he says he will!"
"If you shorten that, does that make me a han-nam?"
"Yeah! Chrono is a han-nam!"
"........Whoa."
She said something dangerous without a second thought.
After finishing his farewell with Yuno, he headed to the bus stop.
"Hey."
"...Is today some kind of special day or something?"
Right before going to the stop, at the academy main gate.
Mars, leaning her back against the gate, was glaring at him.
"You going?"
"I gotta go?"
He had already torn off all the request forms and packed all his luggage.
If he suddenly turned back here saying he was too scared to go alone, that would truly be a waste.
He passed Mars by and continued walking towards the stop.
"Hey."
"What."
"Take this with you."
"....What is this?"
A somewhat long sword.
Since he normally used daggers and guns, it was practically an item he had no use for.
"A talisman."
".............."
These days, did they give talismans in the form of swords?
At this talisman that was very Mars-like in a sense, laughter leaked out of him.
"Just don't die. And don't become a eunuch either."
"No, I'm telling you, I'm not going to die?"
"I know, ya little punk."
Mars said no more and just turned around and entered the academy.
...The kids were looking at him with eyes like mothers sending someone off to war.
"So much worrying, really...."
Lots of words and lots of worry.
And that, again, while bothersome, didn't feel entirely bad either.
He leaned his head against the bus window for a moment and waited to arrive at his destination....
"....Ur?"
"Hello♬"
When he opened his eyes, Ur was sitting right next to him.
...Why?