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A moment later.
Koshi Torako knelt down.
She bowed her head to Kisaragi Rin and said humiliatingly, "That's how it is. Please don't reveal that I used to be a delinquent gang leader."
At the same time, she was roaring in her heart, she had clearly chosen a high school where she wouldn't know any classmates, so why did she run into Kisaragi Rin on the way to school!
"So, you've now given up your identity as a delinquent gang leader and become a perfect honor student at high school."
Kisaragi Rin asked Koshi Torako, and she nodded in response.
"And no one around you knows about your past, and now you're asking me not to tell?"
Kisaragi Rin asked again, her slightly changed tone making Koshi Torako's expression freeze. She thought of some threatening scenarios, and tears began to well up in her purple eyes.
"I understand. As long as, as long as you don't tell..."
Hesitation, struggle, pain, and finally resignation, Koshi Torako clenched her fists tightly, tears on the verge of falling as she spoke.
...
Kisaragi Rin was counting money, a whole 20,000 yen in hush money. At least he didn't have to worry about lunch money today, and he could even buy a gift to apologize to Shiina Mahiru.
Koshi Torako stood beside him, wanting to speak but holding back, feeling as if her charm had been insulted.
Seeing Koshi Torako's expression, Kisaragi Rin thought she was uneasy, and understandingly patted his chest in promise.
"Don't worry, since I've taken your money, I'll keep your secret for life."
Koshi Torako instantly became furious, her antenna-like hair standing even straighter. She jumped up and grabbed Kisaragi Rin by the neck.
"Shouldn't it be that since you've taken my money, you'll keep my secret?!"
"You're too weak, Koshi Torako."
Aside from being a little ticklish, Koshi Torako posed no threat to him at all.
Watching the vultures gather more and more in the sky, making unpleasant noises, Kisaragi Rin finally remembered what he was initially here for.
"Why are there vultures in the sky?"
Koshi Torako also blurted out a complaint.
Walking towards the center while bickering, Kisaragi Rin and Koshi Torako saw the vultures' target: a utility pole.
And on the utility pole...
"Someone's hanged themselves!"
Seeing the girl hanging from the power line, Koshi Torako screamed in panic.
"What should we do now? Police? Doctor?"
Meanwhile, Kisaragi Rin had fallen into deep thought when he saw the hyena pack next to the utility pole.
Vultures could be explained by flying over, but hyenas? This shouldn't be the African savanna, right?
At this moment, a snot droplet blew down with the wind and stuck to Koshi Torako's forehead.
"Huh, still alive?"
Koshi Torako calmed down, then fell into deeper panic, various thoughts constantly emerging.
If it wasn't suicide, why would she be hanging in such a place?
Huh, she actually has horns!
If it were a headpiece, it would surely fall off, so, those are real horns!
And these are probably deer horns.
Only male deer grow horns, right? But she clearly looks like a girl!
Could it be some new species, or a strange person from a mystery organization!
"Quickly, look, Kisaragi-san!"
In her panic, Koshi Torako's thoughts raced, and she finally called out to Kisaragi Rin.
Kisaragi Rin, who had been deep in thought because of the vultures and hyenas, quickly came back to his senses and looked up at the utility pole, but he didn't see the person Koshi Torako said had committed suicide; instead, there was an ordinary deer hanging there.
"Koshi, are you messing with me?"
Before he could finish his questioning words, the Workshop sent a message.
(Affected by cognitive rewriting, the Workshop has automatically shielded you from the influence.)
Kisaragi Rin looked at the utility pole again in astonishment; the deer in his eyes had actually turned into a girl with deer horns on her head.
Cognitive rewriting?
Yokai?
An evil spirit that can affect reality?
Or a Player?
At this moment, the girl hanging on the utility pole spoke. She waved her arms at the vultures in the sky and the hyenas on the ground, and her legs kicked restlessly, actually making all of them flee.
"Want to fight? Want to fight? Come on!"
"Doesn't look too smart, does she!"
Kisaragi Rin complained. This thing didn't seem like it could be related to something as high-level sounding as cognitive rewriting.
Koshi Torako stroked her chin and asked Kisaragi Rin, "Shouldn't we help her?"
Before Kisaragi Rin could respond, upon hearing what Koshi Torako said, the deer-horned girl turned her head and began staring intently at Koshi Torako.
Such strong visual pressure!
Koshi Torako's heart trembled.
"Are you going to save her?"
Kisaragi Rin looked at her with a subtle expression.
"No, such a strange and troublesome thing, it's impossible to think it's a good idea, and if I delay any longer, I'll be late."
Koshi Torako picked up her bag, thinking to herself: I'll pretend I didn't see anything here and quickly go to school.
The deer-horned girl's voice came again.
"You're going to stand by and watch me die, me, who's in such a situation."
"No, no, no, I'm not going to stand by and watch you die."
Koshi Torako turned around and replied to the deer-horned girl with a guilty conscience.
Then, blushing, she continued, "Besides, you're the one who decided to hang up there. I'm very busy right now, I don't have time to play with you."
With that, Koshi Torako turned around again, intending to leave quickly.
The deer-horned girl's faint voice appeared in Koshi Torako's ear simultaneously.
"In tomorrow's news, there might be a report of a female high school student in Chiba Prefecture found dead, hanging from a power line."
"From now on, every morning when you pass this road, you'll remember my face."
"Thinking, 'If only I had saved her then,' you'll be tormented by regret for the rest of your life."
Koshi Torako seemed to imagine herself suffering from pangs of conscience in her old age, and reluctantly turned around.
"Oh, fine, I get it!"
"You're completely trapped, Koshi."
Kisaragi Rin watched this scene, feeling a little pity for Koshi Torako, but he couldn't pity her for long.
"What? Me go save her?"
Kisaragi Rin pointed to himself and asked Koshi Torako.
"That's right, because I'm too weak, I can't climb the utility pole to save her."
Koshi Torako said with a smile.
The boomerang she threw ultimately came back to Kisaragi Rin, and the deer-horned girl's gaze also fixed on him eerily.
Kisaragi Rin reluctantly climbed up, grabbed her clothes, and lifted her down. Although he didn't know what kind of creature this was, he indeed didn't encounter any danger.
"Survived!"
The deer-horned girl landed and shouted energetically.
"So who are you! And why were you there!"
Koshi Torako fully served as Kisaragi Rin's mouthpiece.
"My name is Shikanoko Noko, and when I woke up this morning, I was already there."
"Anyway, thank you for saving me, Delinquent Girl Gang Leader and Gecko Man."
"It's nothing, just a small matter."
Koshi Torako, who had been polite, instantly broke character and roared in sync with Kisaragi Rin.
"Delinquent Girl Gang Leader? Who are you calling a delinquent girl gang leader!"
"Who's the Gecko Man!"
"That would be you two."
Shikanoko Noko made a circle in the air with her hands, pointing at Koshi Torako and Kisaragi Rin.
"You, you, you, what are you saying! I've been praised as standing like a peony, sitting like a tree peony."
"There's no way I could be some delinquent gang leader!"
Koshi Torako was still arguing with a guilty conscience, while Kisaragi Rin was already considering whether he could defeat this deer-horned girl.
Why did she call him Gecko Man? His Player qualification was obtained by killing that Lizard. Did she discover something? Was his Player identity exposed?
"Is that so? But you have the smell of a delinquent on you, and my horns are reacting too."
Shikanoko Noko lowered her head and showed Koshi Torako her deer horns, which were glowing red.
"So the reason you called me Gecko Man is also because of the smell and your deer horns?"
Kisaragi Rin looked at the strange glowing deer horns, suppressing his urge to complain, and asked.
"Yes, that's right. But if you grind my horns into powder and drink it with water, you can eliminate that smell."
Shikanoko Noko said, then pulled off one of her horns and handed it to Kisaragi Rin.
Kisaragi Rin took the deer horn, his brain short-circuiting a bit. You just pull off body parts like that? And give them to me so easily?
Koshi Torako was already sweating profusely from this bizarre Shikanoko Noko, and she grabbed Kisaragi Rin's hand, ready to leave. As she ran, she politely said her goodbyes.
"I'm leaving. Next time, don't get caught hanging on the power lines again."
"See you next time."
Shikanoko Noko stood still, waving goodbye to them.
After running a long way, Koshi Torako stopped and realized she was still holding Kisaragi Rin's hand. She blushed and let go.
She complained to Kisaragi Rin, "Who would want to meet that kind of strange existence again?"
Taking advantage of Koshi Torako's departure, Kisaragi Rin glanced at the deer horn in his hand.
Absentmindedly, he reminded Koshi Torako, "Didn't you notice she's wearing the same school uniform as you?"
"And she also knows about your delinquent past."
Koshi Torako felt as if she had been struck by lightning, and she squatted on the ground, looking dejected. Today was her worst day.
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