75 - Yumeko About to Be Ruined?!
"Hey, hey, hey, I'm telling you, Yumiko~ you've thought it over enough by now, right?"
"It's about time you joined our Beautification Committee. If it's you, I could even hand over the position of the next Beautification Committee Chair~"
"C'mon, c'mon, Yumiko-chan, just say yes already~"
"Get away from me! Who the hell wants to join your Beautification Committee?!"
"Ah~ Are you some kind of pervert? Help!"
When Hikigaya arrived, he saw Miura Yumiko—the one once praised as the Flame Queen in the middle school division—pinned up against a tree trunk, cornered with nowhere to escape.
She had both arms stretched out, trying her hardest to push away the woman in front of her wearing an eyepatch.
The eyepatch woman had her tongue stretched out, saliva gathering on its tip and dripping down in steady drops. Her restless hands were clearly reaching to attack Miura Yumiko's private areas from both above and below.
'That's... Ikishima Midari!'
That signature eyepatch immediately triggered Hikigaya Hachiman's memory—she was in the intel files passed to him by Juraku Sachiko.
Ikishima Midari: Vice Chair of the Beautification Committee at Hyakkaou Private Academy.
Essentially the successor to Miharutaki Sakura.
As for what the Beautification Committee actually did—it was supposedly responsible for maintaining school order and discipline. But judging from their outfits… ultra-short skirts, open-chest tops showing half of their breasts, vivid lipstick and eye shadow…
Hikigaya honestly wasn't sure what exactly they were "beautifying."
In Juraku Sachiko's personal evaluation, she had written:
"Ikishima Midari, second-year student. Comes from a wealthy family, but she's a gambling-crazed lunatic. What she seeks are permanent bodily injuries and death—she has no interest in anything else."
'This woman… could be useful.'
"Midari-senpai, this isn't really okay, is it?" Hikigaya quietly pulled out his phone and started recording Ikishima Midari's behavior.
Looking at the revolver in her hand, though, a chill ran down Hikigaya's spine.
"Huh? You're Hikigaya?"
"Uh? And who are you?"
Ikishima Midari and Miura Yumiko blurted out nearly at the same time.
Midari quickly realized who he was—this guy had become rather well-known recently. And with Jabami Yumeko here too—these two were prey she had long had her eye on!
She licked the corner of her light-purple lips, and released the hand that had been pressing on Miura Yumiko's throat.
"Hey, hey, hey—I know you! You're Hikigaya Hachiman!"
"And you—you're Jabami Yumeko, right!"
"What fortune~! What a wonderful coincidence to run into you two here!"
Ikishima Midari laughed maniacally, causing Hikigaya to furrow his brows again and again. Sure enough, Juraku-Senpai's assessment had been accurate—this woman was certifiably insane.
"Scary, scary~ I must've given you a fright," Ikishima said as she lifted her own skirt and tucked the revolver back into her shorts. "Don't worry. I don't fire this gun on just anyone."
"But—"
Her eyes suddenly turned wildly greedy. "Hikigaya-kun, were you just now trying to play the hero saving the damsel in distress?"
"I just couldn't stand seeing Midari-senpai forcing another girl into doing something so uncivilized," Jabami Yumeko stepped forward, snapping back in defense.
"Hehehe."
Ikishima Midari rummaged through the small pouch she carried and suddenly her eyes lit up—she pulled out a pair of shiny metal handcuffs.
"Yumeko, I believe you still haven't repaid your debt of 310 million yen, right? As a member of the Beautification Committee, I can't just turn a blind eye to that~"
Under Hikigaya's shocked gaze, Ikishima Midari unhesitatingly clamped the handcuffs onto Jabami Yumeko's wrists.
"What?! Midari, what are you doing all of a sudden?" Hikigaya Hachiman was stunned—this woman's behavior had gone completely beyond what he had anticipated.
Was the Beautification Committee really allowed to use its power like this?
"Cleaning up the trash on campus, restoring beauty to its proper form—that's my duty as Chair of the Beautification Committee!"
Hikigaya's face darkened. Things were spiraling in a direction beyond his control.
At the very least, he couldn't let Yumeko fall into the hands of this madwoman.
He took a deep breath and made a decision that went against everything Hikigaya Hachiman usually stood for: "Three hundred and ten million, right? I'll pay the debt for Yumeko right now. Let her go."
Hikigaya quickly pulled out the 310 million yen check that Saotome had given him—it hadn't been cashed yet.
Originally, Hikigaya intended to split that money evenly with Yumeko, since they'd earned it together. Then from his own share, he planned to give Saotome seven million yen as compensation.
But now, plans couldn't keep up with changes—rescuing Yumeko came first.
There was a scale in Hikigaya's heart, one side weighed down by personal desire, the other by emotion. And now, under unseen pressure, that scale began to tip.
"Huh?"
The two other Beautification Committee members who had stepped forward to take Yumeko away suddenly froze. On one hand was Midari's direct order, on the other were the school's regulations—they were caught in a dilemma.
Indeed, if the debt had been paid off, then even as members of the Beautification Committee, they had no right to detain her.
Midari, being sharp, also recognized the check immediately. One glance at its style and she knew—it was personally issued by the President.
If she acted too forcefully now, the President might literally kill her...
Not that she minded death, but she'd prefer to die during a thrilling gamble.
"Hey hey hey, you're really gonna pay Yumeko's debt? You sure about this? We're talking about 310 million yen~" Ikishima Midari shouted exaggeratedly. "Don't tell me it's because of some ridiculous boyfriend-girlfriend nonsense~"
"That kind of silly thing isn't worth that much money~" Midari shoved one of the hot-bodied committee girls beside her. "She works outside the school too, doing those special services—if I'm not mistaken, the price is 30,000 yen per session. Picking her would be way more worthwhile than paying off Yumeko's debt."
"After all, it's just about releasing your desires, right, Hikigaya-kun? You get it, don't you?"
"Ahahahaha~"
As she got excited, Midari once again couldn't help but reach her hand toward her "happy beans."
"I said—let her go."
Hikigaya Hachiman didn't even glance at the Beautification Committee girl. His eyes were locked onto Midari's as he spoke coldly.
"Hmph—" Midari got pissed. One after another, they were all rejecting her.
Didn't they care at all about her dignity as the Chair of the Beautification Committee?
"Please, we're the Beautification Committee, not the Public Morals Committee or the Accounting Department! If you wanna pay off a debt, go find them!"
"Anyway, Yumeko's a housepet, right? Since she's a pet, I'm taking her!"
"We're one of the few departments with arrest authority, you know~ Even if you take this to the President, it's useless!"
"Take her away!"
Midari waved her hand, and the two Beautification Committee members sprang into action. At the same time, she pulled her revolver out again and aimed it directly at Hikigaya Hachiman—the threat was more than clear.
After walking a few steps, Midari suddenly stopped and, feigning kindness, said:
"You can head to the Student Council office and pay the debt now~ But by the time you come back…"
"Yumeko might already be broken by me~"
"Or—maybe you'd like to come join the fun~"