Hnggh...!
Hnggh...!
Lichten Academy.
The Newspaper Club room.
Once one of Lichten's ten core clubs, the place now felt desolate, as if its glory days were nothing but a distant memory.
The Kirtos Network was to blame.
After the message boards went live, the number of students seeking out the campus newspaper had plummeted.
... And so.
[ Newspaper Club President // Brody ]
At the head seat of the club.
Sunk into a leather chair—a luxurious relic of the past—Brody stared out the window and let out a faint sigh.
"Haaah... Isn't anything newsworthy going to happen?"
She needed an event that would cause a stir across the academy.
Something like a rank assessment ceremony or a disciplinary committee hearing.
Covering major events like those was how the Newspaper Club scraped by, barely keeping itself afloat on what it earned.
Rustle, rustle.
For a moment, Brody's deep brown hair swayed with boredom as she gazed out the window.
"...Huh?"
A small sound of puzzlement escaped her lips.
Someone was sprinting toward the Third Club Hall.
Plenty of clubs were housed in the Third Club Hall, of course.
"But ours is the only one anyone would come running to like that."
She could smell it.
The scent of a big story.
And sure enough.
— Bang!
The door slammed open and a girl burst in.
She was in a different year, but she was Brody's childhood friend—Janet, a first-year in the Mezai Class.
"Brody!"
She seized Brody's hand and yanked her to her feet.
"Wha—what is it?!"
"Just run!"
Brody grabbed her camera and reporter's notebook on pure instinct.
'A true journalist must be ready to handle any situation at any moment!'
And so Brody found herself dragged all the way to the academy's central garden.
"What on earth is going on?"
"You'll see when we get there."
Normally, the garden would have been quiet around lunchtime. But today, oddly, it was packed. More precisely, people were gathering from every direction.
Was there some kind of event?
Brody had never seen Janet this worked up before.
She kept her camera raised at her chest, ready to shoot at any moment, and followed wherever Janet led.
"Ah, over there!"
Janet cried out brightly.
Brody turned her head to follow Janet's pointing finger. Her eyes landed on a wooden signboard with casually scrawled lettering.
[ Dessert Research Society ]
A small stall stood there.
In front of it, a line of about twenty people.
'A club showcase event?'
She had never heard of this club before.
Brody followed Janet to the very back of the line.
Then she whispered in a hushed voice.
"... You made that much of a fuss just to come to a club showcase? And why is the line this long?"
— Thwack!
A sudden flash across her forehead.
Her vision returned to reveal Janet holding a post-flick pose.
"Wh-what was that for?!"
"Brody."
"...Yeah?"
"Just eat it and you'll understand. Would I drag you somewhere weird?"
"I-I mean, no, but..."
To Brody's eyes, Janet seemed wrapped in a quiet frenzy.
And she wasn't the only one.
Everyone standing in this line was the same.
'...What the hell is this?'
She caught a dangerous whiff of something.
It was a journalist's instinct.
Brody carefully pulled out her reporter's notebook.
Even if her gut feeling turned out to be wrong, the fact that twenty people had flocked to a club showcase was at least worth a small paragraph tucked into a corner of the paper.
People kept pouring in.
"...F-finally. I've been saving my allowance for today."
"That white powder... I'll never forget it."
The crowd was swarming in like a horde of zombies.
'Wh-what is going on?!'
It looked like they would easily surpass a hundred.
Was this really a club showcase?
Absolutely not.
For the time being, Brody snapped a photo of the growing line.
Before she knew it, her turn came.
On the other side of the stall, a red-haired girl greeted her.
"Janet! You came! And is that Brody with you? Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you from Janet."
"Ah... yeah."
"Hehe. Sorry. This is our first time meeting, right? Did I come on too strong? My name's Rina! Nice to meet you."
Wow.
Brody already knew she was famous, but talking to her in person, the girl's friendliness was magnetic.
Rina smiled brightly at Brody, who was already mentally adding her to her friend list.
"Alright. So, what would you like? My recommendation is the mandarin. It's tangy and really delicious."
Truthfully, Brody had no intention of buying this mystery fruit.
But faced with Rina's easygoing suggestion, she answered before she knew it.
"Th-then I'll take that one."
"Hehe! You won't be disappointed! And you, Janet? What do you want?"
"I like the grape."
"Okay!"
Still smiling, Rina held out both hands.
"That'll be 1 Silver each."
"1 Silver...?!"
1 Silver was 100,000 Krone.
For nothing more than a few pieces of fruit on a skewer.
Some kind of white powder sprinkled on top.
Th-that cost 1 Silver?
"Ah...ah."
Panic seized Brody. The words wouldn't come out.
Watching this, Janet let out a small sigh.
"You're broke again from buying camera gear, aren't you? I'll spot you, just for today. Here, Rina. Hers and mine."
Jingle.
Rina accepted the silver coins with a smile.
"Oh my. You really are a good friend, Janet. So..."
Rina glanced around furtively.
Then.
"Ta-da."
She pulled fruit from the icebox and added an extra piece to each skewer.
"I snuck one more on for you behind the boss's back! This one's Janet's. This one's Brody's!"
"Thanks. I always knew there's no one like you, Rina."
Janet accepted it with a beaming smile.
Unlike her, Brody narrowed her eyes.
Her rationality had returned. She hurriedly pulled out her notebook.
"Boss...? This is a club, though. You having a boss means there's someone with major capital behind this club? I've definitely heard there are forces using clubs to run businesses. Can you tell me more?"
This was a marketable story.
Lately, several clubs had been making suspicious moves anyway.
As Brody flipped open her notebook, Janet scolded her.
"Brody, are you a T?"
"T?"
"You're going to respond to this situation with cold logic? After Rina risked getting caught just to give us extra of this precious Snow Blossom Fruit for free?"
Janet's stern gaze bore into her.
Brody hastily shook her head.
"Ah. No, sorry. Of course! Thanks, Rina. I'll enjoy it."
"Hehe, the pleasure's all mine. Hope we get along, Brody."
Watching Rina's smile, Brody felt a surge of admiration.
She's so pretty.
This girl is like a blessing.
'...Maybe this is a proper club after all.'
As Brody's sentimental side recharged, Rina pressed her hands together apologetically.
"I'd love to chat more, but I'm sorry—I'm swamped with customers. Let's catch up another time, okay?"
"Ah. Sure!"
"Oh, and if you toss the wooden skewers in that bin over there, you earn an extra stamp on your coupon, so make sure you do that!"
— Suspicious club
— Rina is pretty and kind.
Brody closed her notepad after jotting down one more line and accepted the Snow Blossom Fruit.
◆
Janet and Brody settled onto a bench near the garden.
"You've got to eat it fast for the best taste."
After saying that, Janet immediately took a bite.
Right away, she let out a sweet, breathy moan.
"Haaahh... This is it..."
"Janet! Wh-what are you moaning about all of a sudden?!"
Brody whipped her head around to check her surroundings.
Fortunately, no one else was there.
"What on earth... Huh?"
Brody turned back to Janet and froze.
The girl's pupils had gone unfocused.
"Wh-what the. Janet, are you okay?"
Shiver.
Janet's trembling lips were the only reply.
'...Wh-why is she like that? I knew this thing was weird.'
Her breathing had turned a little ragged and hot.
And her face was flushed pink.
She looked exactly like a girl lost in profound bliss in the middle of making love.
'D-don't tell me this white powder is...'
This was a story worth chasing!
And a journalist stays cold even toward a friend!
Brody swiftly snapped a picture of her friend.
Then she took a photo of the 'Snow Blossom Mandarin' in her own hand.
A dangerous scent hung in the air.
Five large mandarin segments dusted with white powder for 1 Silver... meaning 100,000 Krone?
That made no sense, rationally speaking.
'There's only one explanation.'
The fruit wasn't the expensive part.
It was that pristine white powder, like snow blossom dust, coating the fruit.
"Sho... sho good..."
Janet mumbled.
She looked impossibly happy.
Brody swallowed and stared at her own portion.
The pristine white beauty of the fruit.
"Gulp."
She swallowed reflexively.
She wanted to eat it.
The moment the thought surfaced, Brody flinched and shook her head.
"Th-this is that thing!"
A true journalist must experience things firsthand, after all!
The excuse spilled out even though no one was listening.
Brody activated her camera's auto-capture enchantment.
She angled the camera to frame herself.
Then she bit into the Snow Blossom Mandarin.
Chew.
The first sensation was coolness wrapping around her mouth.
Immediately, the powder coating the surface melted sweetly on her tongue and spread through her mouth.
Chew.
The moment the tangy juice burst, it coiled around her tongue.
This was... Yes!
Brody had never been kissed before.
But even so, she could tell.
It was exactly like the act of lovers entwining their tongues.
Sometimes cradling her tongue,
Sometimes teasing it.
The sweet-tartness and coldness swirling through her mouth made Brody's breath run hot all on its own.
"...Hngh."
Brody's saliva and the fruit juice mingled thick and sticky inside her mouth.
Without realizing it, Brody gulped down the contents of her mouth.
"Hnngh—not yet!"
B-but she hadn't finished chewing yet...!
The slick, sticky pulp, saturated with spit, slid down her throat.
A strange sensation in her esophagus.
Brody had a narrow throat.
Even pills had to be split or have their coating peeled off because she couldn't swallow them whole.
And now she had just swallowed chunks twice that size.
In her excitement, she had produced too much thick saliva.
The excessive slickness made everything glide right down her throat.
"Urgh...!"
A hair-trigger crisis.
'...But at this thickness.'
If she pushed through, she might manage to swallow.
She didn't want to spit it out.
Brody accepted the chunks sliding down her throat.
— Gulp. Gulp.
"Nngh...!"
The pieces forcibly widened her narrow esophagus.
Her breath caught slightly.
Brody instinctively tightened her throat to push the pulp down.
Tensing so hard her toes curled up.
Her mind went white.
Tremble, tremble.
Her body quivered for a moment.
"Gulp—"
At last, the fruit cleared her esophagus. Sweetness and tartness rushed down the inside of her throat and spread with a shiver.
"Haaahh... Hahh..."
Her breath returned.
Sparks glittered inside her head.
She uncurled her spasming, clenched toes.
Before she knew it, tears had gathered at the corners of her eyes.
She wiped them away and looked down at her hand.
Four segments still remained.
'...That was from just one swallow.'
If she ate all of it...
"I'm de-definitely going to lose my mind..."
But.
But this was for the story.
Brody brought her mouth to the thick fruit segments.
— Roll, roll, clink.
Her pen rolled off the bench and hit the ground.
◆
That day, there were an unusually high number of students walking around the academy looking blissfully happy.
Ian was one of them.
Though for a slightly different reason than the rest.
• Units sold: 1312
• Average purchase per person: 1.9 units
• Total sales: 13,120 Silver, i.e., 13 Gold and 120 Silver. (131,200,000 Krone)
• Net profit: 10 Gold.
It was a perfect debut.