Final Boss Intrusion
She swallowed hard.
Then she carefully peeled away the kitten that kept trying to cling to her.
The little thing mewed and fretted, throwing a tiny tantrum. On any other day she would have scooped it into her arms and melted with happiness—but this was not the time.
She scanned the room slowly. A bag sat in the corner. The same backpack Ryuzaki always carried.
So this is definitely his place.
All right. From here on, this was the important part. Alice carefully lowered her gaze and checked her clothes. Everything was neat, orderly—not a single wrinkle out of place.
"…Whew."
Fortunately, the worst-case scenario she had dreaded did not appear to have happened.
Alice wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. As she did, a small table by the door caught her eye.
On it sat her hat and mask, a jacket folded with care, and a sports drink with a sticky note attached. Alice carefully rose from the bed and approached the table.
Drink.
A rough little note left on the sticky.
It looked like something Ryuzaki had prepared for her. For the briefest instant, suspicion wormed its way into her thoughts.
What if he put something in it…
—Gulp.
She drained the sports drink without a second thought.
If Ryuzaki had had any ulterior motives, he would have already achieved them while she was unconscious. There would have been no reason to bother with something as roundabout as drugging a drink.
And more than that—Alice was starting to understand, however vaguely. Ryuzaki was not like ordinary thugs or punks.
It must have been sitting out of the fridge for a while; the sports drink was lukewarm. Still, to Alice, whose throat had been parched dry, it might as well have been the water of life.
Ah… this is bliss…! She never imagined simply drinking something could feel this good.
"…Khhaah!"
Having drained about half the bottle, Alice frowned and let out a little gasp of satisfaction.
She caught her breath, then brought the drink to her lips again. With the urgent fire of thirst doused, her gaze slowly wandered the room.
For all his looks, Ryuzaki's room was more ordinary than she had expected.
Well—aside from the elaborate dragon mural painted across one wall. The photo of bare-chested, blood-spattered tattooed men with their arms slung around Ryuzaki's shoulders… The sashimi knife peeking from a half-open drawer…… The bloodstained knuckle dusters dumped in a corner of the desk………
…Wait.
None of that was ordinary.
Alice's eyes went wide as she finished the rest of the drink.
It's exactly like those yakuza houses you only ever see in movies.
A chill ran down her spine. Uh… she really shouldn't stay here any long—
—Creeeak!
Without any warning, the door to the room burst open.
Ryuzaki appeared in a tank top. The vicious dragon tattoo across his body filled Alice's vision.
Startled, Alice choked. And naturally—she sprayed the sports drink she had been drinking in a spectacular arc.
"Pffah!"
And so Ryuzaki was hit by a sudden water bomb. Or rather, a drink bomb.
I was studying in the living room when I felt a presence from inside the bedroom.
She awake?
I checked the clock. Nearly two hours since I had laid Alice down. About time she woke up.
I stood and headed for the room, keeping my footsteps quiet in case she was still asleep.
—Creeeak!
I opened the door.
"Pffah!"
Something lukewarm and wet soaked straight through my clothes. It did not take long to figure out what had happened.
"Khack…!"
Right in front of me, Alice was shuddering and coughing her lungs out. Her eyes were bloodshot, tears welling at the corners.
Even someone without a compassionate bone in their body would have felt a little pity.
"You okay?"
"Does this… khack! Look okay… kek!"
I patted her on the back. Not too hard.
Whether my help actually did anything or not, her coughing stopped before long.
"…You should knock before you come in, you idiot."
Alice wiped her tears on her sleeve as she said it.
Yeah. That one was definitely on me.
"Sorry. Living alone's become a habit."
"Where are you going?"
"To change. I'm soaked."
Alice's gaze dropped to my thoroughly drenched tank top—and stayed there, her face turning red.
What was she staring at… ah.
I looked down and saw the abs showing through the wet fabric. A little embarrassed, I covered myself and muttered,
"…Pervert. Get lost."
"P-pervert?! Isn't that usually my line?"
I shut the door on Alice as she flailed for words.
I pulled a towel from the closet, dried myself off, and peeled off the tank top. My reflection caught my eye in the mirror.
Not bad, honestly. Not overbuilt—just enough muscle to show.
But that was all it was.
"Is this really that impressive?"
Being a guy myself, I couldn't quite relate to Alice's reaction a moment ago.
I changed into something casual and headed back to the room.
"……"
When I returned, a bright-red tomato was perched tensely on the edge of the bed.
"What are you doing?"
"N-nothing! Just… sitting here."
"Right."
I mopped up the drink spilled across the floor with a towel, dumped the sopping thing on the desk, and sat down in the chair.
I looked at Alice without a word.
Alice met my eyes, too—
No. Halfway there, her eyes trembled and she looked away.
"……"
"……"
An uncomfortable silence stretched on. Then Alice, still avoiding my gaze, forced herself to look me straight in the eye.
"…I'm sorry."
She murmured it under her breath.
"For what."
"For lying and secretly following you around. You must have been upset… so… I'm sorry. It was my fault."
Alice bowed her head deeply toward me.
No excuses—an apology first…
I hate people who lie. I especially despise the ones who lie and then pile on excuses, or act like nothing happened.
No matter how hard I try not to expect anything from other people, those types still trigger an instinctive revulsion.
But people who honestly reflect on what they did? I hate them even more.
"From now on… I won't ever do something like this again."
Those are people who admit their mistakes and know how to feel shame.
Watching them reflect makes me start expecting things I usually refuse to hope for.
That they'll become better. That they won't hurt me again.
"And… thank you. If it hadn't been for you today, Ryuzaki, things could have gotten really bad."
Once that expectation takes root, it slowly draws the people I had been pushing away into my world. And once they've become part of my world, they end up hurting me all over again.
That's why I hate it. Still…
"As long as you get it. Don't do it again."
"Yeah. I'm sorry…"
The fact that I said I hated it and still couldn't push her away easily—that was the real headache.
How many more times would I have to get hurt before I finally learned? I really was a hopeless, pathetic idiot.
"……"
"……"
Alice had apologized, and I had accepted it. But all that had really happened was a surface-level reconciliation; the heavily strained atmosphere refused to ease.
I hated this kind of suffocating mood with a passion.
—Thwack!
I strode over and flicked her forehead.
"We're even. Deal?"
"Ow… that hurts."
"That was the point."
Alice clutched her forehead with an exaggerated reaction. Looks like she didn't want this awkward air to drag on either.
Good. We were on the same page.
"So, why were you following me? I thought you were some punk from another school, or a yakuza. Had me on edge."
"Because… because you lied first."
"Me?"
What on earth was she talking about. I tried not to lie if I could help it.
"What lie did I tell."
"You did. Yesterday. You said you study mainly from textbooks? Come on… if you're going to lie, at least put some effort into it."
"Ah. That thing I said before we split up yesterday?"
"Yes. So you do remember. You were being so stingy about not telling me anything that I followed you in secret. Hoping maybe I could figure out your secret."
One throwaway line, and she had chased me until she was dehydrated and heat-exhausted?
Just how obsessed with grades was this girl.
"Then why dress that thick?"
"I had to disguise myself."
"Are you an idiot?"
"H-h-how dare you—idiot?!"
The moment the word left my mouth, Alice's pretty face crumpled.
Judging by the reaction, she had never been called an idiot in her entire life.
Hmm.
That reaction was more fun than I expected.
Should I tease her a little more? Honestly, after everything I went through because of her—this much was fair game.
"You are an idiot. Walking around without even taking care of yourself."
"…Ha! Hilarious. If I'm an idiot, then what are you? Someone whose grades aren't even better than mine."
"An idiot who can take care of himself. You're just an idiot."
"Urgh…!"
Yeah—that was a proper first-year reaction. Chuckling like I was picking on a little sister, I enjoyed the moment for a bit.
When I got the sense that one more push would actually set her off, I reined in my laughter and spoke.
"It was true, by the way. Studying mainly from textbooks."
"If that actually worked, why would anyone go to cram school or get tutoring? That doesn't make any sense."
But it was true.
In my previous life, anything beyond the bare minimum of food, clothing, and shelter had been a luxury. Cram school had been out of the question, and I had solved problem books scavenged from what classmates threw away. So saying I studied mainly from textbooks was not a lie.
No choice, then. I would just have to show her.
I picked up the math textbook sitting on the desk and flipped to a page packed with problems I had not solved yet.
"Try these."
I held it out to Alice.
She glanced between me and the textbook, then fixed her eyes on the page.
A short while later—
"…Twenty-seven. Done. All solved."
"Took you about four minutes."
Alice had just rattled off the last answer.
Twenty problems in four minutes flat. Averaging twelve seconds each. And all of it mental math.
Every answer correct, of course. Calculation speed worthy of the title 5 Geniuses of Tsukuyomi Academy City.
All right. My turn?
"Open it wherever and hand it over. Somewhere with a lot of problems."
"You're saying you're going to beat me at calculation speed?"
"You lost to me at math already, didn't you?"
"…You're kind of annoying."
Grumbling, Alice still picked a suitable page and handed me the textbook.
All right. Time to show off a little.
No need for any superpower. Problems at this level—I saw the answer the moment I read them.
"Two."
"Negative one."
"Eight-fifths."
"W-wait a second."
"Root seven."
"Sixty degrees."
"Three."
"Hey, are you cheating at this—"
"X is four, y is one."
"Twenty-five."
"Root three over two."
…………
……
…
I spat the answers out as they came. Twenty of them in roughly forty seconds.
"Y-you just spat out random numbers, didn't you?"
"Check them yourself."
"…They're all correct?"
Alice's brow trembled. She of all people would know—no matter how good the cram school or the tutor, reaching this kind of speed was impossible.
How about that. This is the mental math speed of a Korean high school student.
"…You're just that smart?"
"Pretty much."
"Ah…"
The reality check must have hit hard; Alice stared blankly into space. Shave her head and she could walk straight into a temple.
"Y-y-you damn talent-monster!"
Then, as if a sudden heat rose in her, she huffed and kicked at my leg. It did not hurt in the slightest.
If she had the energy to mess around like that, her stamina had recovered enough. I could humor her a little longer and then send her home.
It was already getting late. I was not interested in giving up any more of my time. Not studying had left my hands itching so badly I could barely stand it.
Maybe I should hit the bookstore tomorrow.
I had finished the textbook now. I had allowance money—stocking up on a pile of problem books at the bookstore sounded perfect.
Ah, just imagining it made me happ—
—Beep-beep-beep-beep.
Suddenly, the door lock chimed.
"……"
"……"
Only two people knew the code to this apartment's door lock.
Me.
And my father—Ryuzaki Genma.
I was in the room, and the door lock was sounding from outside…?
"Wow."
Of all times—right now?