“Heh, heh. Maybe I can finally rest easy?”
With that thought, I stepped into Gehenna Elementary School. The entrance was bigger than I expected, which surprised me, but beyond the main building there were a few smaller buildings too. Still, that didn’t matter much.
“The dorms... where are they?”
Haruta was so bad with directions that without a map, finding his way was basically impossible. So he asked a passing student.
“Um... hey. Do you know where the dorms are?”
“A boy??? Uh... if you turn left here and go straight, you’ll see it right in front of you.”
“Oh, thanks. By the way, what’s your name?”
“Iroha... Natsume Iroha.”
For a moment, a certain idiot flashed through his mind, and he snorted.
“Oh... yeah. Have a good day. And this is my contact info, so take it. Call me if you need anything.”
“Th-thank you.”
‘Was Iroha always like this? I feel like she used to be a little bolder.’
As he thought that, he looked at the shadows under Iroha’s eyes.
‘Haa... what kind of elementary school kid has dark circles that bad?’
---------------------------------------------
He entered the dorm and went up to the third floor.
“Let’s see... room 305?”
It was the last room down the hall. He’d been assigned a dorm key, so he opened the door.
“Wait, is this a shared dorm?”
He slipped the key back in for a moment and knocked lightly.
A few footsteps sounded from inside, and then the door opened.
“Hello? I’m the new transfer student.”
The girl who opened the door was short. At first he couldn’t see her properly, so he lowered his gaze a little.
Then familiar horns came into view.
“Huh?”
Wasn’t that Sorasaki Hina, the one he’d run into this morning when he came out of the department store?
“Who are you? A boy? And that key card?”
Honestly, he hadn’t expected this at all. Even if he’d approached her to build some kind of connection, it made no sense for things to go this smoothly.
“Uh... hi? I’m the transfer student who just got assigned here. You’re Sorasaki Hina, right?”
“Yeah, and?”
“How many people are in this room?”
“Two.”
Sure, building rapport might be good, but if he messed up, wouldn’t this turn into a trip to Valkyrie immediately?
“So... I’d have one roommate?”
“Do you hate that?”
“No, I think that’s good.”
He gave Hina a mischievous smile and let out a small laugh.
“Come on in, then.”
“Excuse me.”
After Haruta and Hina introduced themselves briefly inside, an awkward atmosphere settled between them.
“So... you want me to help you study because you need to adjust to classes here?”
“Yeah.”
“Haa... fine. I’ll help you.”
And so, two hours passed while he studied with Hina.
Of course, everything was easy since he’d learned it all in his previous life.
Those two hours became a kind of study session in name only, really just a chance to get closer.
“Hina, what’s your hobby?”
“Not really anything... if I had to say, resting?”
What kind of life did you have to live for rest to become a hobby? Thinking that, he felt sorry for Hina.
‘Well, compared to the life I’ve lived, maybe it’s not so bad.’
When they finished studying, he checked the clock. It was 8:28.
Then he went into the bathroom to wash up.
“Hey, Hina! I’m going to wash first, okay? Got it?”
Hina answered in a slightly shaky voice.
“O-okay. Go ahead.”
‘What is this? The water feels way too hot.’
Because this was Gehenna, the water temperature was around 80 to 90 degrees.
“Wait, what, is this made to boil people? Well, I’m not really bothered by hot water, though.”
He reached out and looked for the body wash and shampoo.
“Whoa, this shampoo smells kind of like Hina’s hair.”
“What are you talking about!”
He heard something like a scream from outside, but that only made it more enjoyable.
‘I should do this again later.’
With that thought, he washed up and came out with only a towel covering him because he had no clothes.
“Hey, wait, look somewhere else!”
“What are you talking about!”
“No, I’m covered with a towel right now! If you look, I’ll scream!”
“I’m not looking!”
Teasing Hina was more fun than he’d expected. He could kind of understand how the original Sensei must have felt.
Then he put on the pajamas Gehenna had given him.
“Wow, so this is what it’s like being from one of the top academies? Even the pajamas are ridiculously high quality.”
Hina took a long time drying her hair, so he hoped maybe he could help dry it for her instead.
‘If this goes well, her affection should go up pretty fast.’
Then Hina finished washing too and went to look for a hair dryer.
“Hina, do you want me to dry your hair for you?”
“Uh... s-sure...”
“What was that? I can’t hear you.”
“I said... okay...”
Yeah, looks really did matter.
“Okay, got it. Wait right there. I’m coming.”
“N-not yet! Don’t come in yet!”
It was too late. Hina was standing there with only a towel wrapped around her, her face bright red as she stared at Haruta.
“P-pervert!”
Hina shouted, and something hard slammed into his head.
“Kuhk!”
Still unsatisfied, Hina struck Haruta’s head several more times.
----------------------------------
A little later.
“I said I’m sorry.”
Hina was still glaring at him, her face flushed red.
“I’m really sorry.”
“P-pervert.”
Things had gone completely wrong.
He’d definitely meant to build some affection by drying her hair, but something had gone terribly off the rails.
“Hina, I really am sorry. I won’t do it again, okay?”
“D-don’t do it again, seriously.”
Hina’s already red face only grew redder before she let out a long sigh.
“Haa...”
Seeing water dripping from her hair, he carefully asked her again.
“So... can I still dry your hair?”
“I-it’s fine. Just do it.”
“As you wish.”
He said that and slowly dried her hair. Drying a girl’s hair was no easy task.
Maybe because Hina’s hair was long, it took about an hour to finish.
When he checked the clock again, it was 11:31.
“Uh... it’s late now, so let’s go to sleep.”
“Yeah. But how many beds are there? I’m just asking just in case.”
“Obviously one.”
For a second, he imagined himself being dragged off to Valkyrie for real, and immediately chose the floor as a compromise.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next day.
“Wow, I slept really well.”
Up until a week ago, he’d been left in a house in the desert and pushed to the brink of freezing to death, so a heated home felt like a completely different world. And with a blanket and pillow, he could sleep just fine.
“Mm...”
Hina stretched and sat up.
“Sleep well, Hina?”
After greeting her, he looked at her expression and saw that her face was bright red.
“T-thanks. Y-you slept well too?”
For a second, seeing Hina’s ridiculously cute expression nearly made his heart stop, but it still felt good.
Gehenna’s classes were simple. There were familiar subjects like math, science, English, and Korean from his previous life, but everything was both the same and somehow different.
For example, English included the language he knew, but there were also letters he’d never seen before.
“I’m sure I’ve seen these characters somewhere...”
Still, thinking about it wouldn’t change anything, so he just studied quietly.
Like in his previous life, there were exams here too, so he tried to get by using the knowledge he already had. But there were also things like shooting tests, so overall it was manageable.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Not long after entering Gehenna Elementary School, he moved straight on to middle school.
“It feels weird to enter middle school twice, but whatever. At least here I can use my phone except during class.”
“Haruta!”
He saw Hina waving as she came toward him from a distance.
“Hey, Hina.”
“You’ve only been at Gehenna Elementary School for how long, and you’re already graduating?”
“Yeah, time really flies. Seems like it’s already been almost five months since I met you.”
“It really does. Haruta, if you’re free, want to go to the new café that opened?”
“Oh... a da—”
The moment he started to say it, Hina struck him in the head with the butt of her gun.
“Kuhk!”
“W-what are you saying!”
Hina shouted, but even that was cute.
“Heh, cute.”
“W-what are you talking about! I-I’m not cute at all...”
“That depends on perspective, idiot.”
With that, he walked up to Hina and patted her head.
Hina tried to pull away, but before long she seemed to relax and just accepted it.
“Oh, finally, my lo—”
Hina lifted the butt of her gun and showed it to him.
“Sorry. I won’t act up.”
He left with Hina and headed for the café she’d mentioned.
-----------------------------------------------------
“Wow, this place is nice.”
“Right?”
“I had no idea you knew a place like this, Hina.”
At that, Hina lowered her head, her face turning red.
“Cute.”
When he poked her cheek, Hina flinched.
“D-don’t do that.”
“Does it bother you?”
“N-no, it doesn’t.”
“So, what are you ordering?”
“Ah, I’ll buy this one.”
“Hmm... Hina, when it’s like this, the adult should pay.”
Hina tilted her head and looked at Haruta.
“Adult? Who?”
“Obviously me.”
“Aren’t you and I the same age?”
“Come on, I’m just saying I’ll pay.”
“Let’s just pay for our own.”
“No, no. When an adult offers, you say thank you and accept it.”
“Hina, what do you want to eat?”
“Mm... taking it all would feel kind of bad.”
“No arguing.”
“Th-then... an iced Americano, please...”
“As for me, hmm. I’ll have that one again after a while.”
While ordering, he chatted with Hina for a bit.
“Hina, you start taking proper exams in middle school, right?”
“Yeah. I think there are midterms and finals.”
At that, he briefly considered going back to the Black Market, but if he did, Hina would probably really kill him, so he had no choice but to study for the exams again.
The bell rang, and the drinks he’d ordered came out.
“Your drinks are ready!”
He took the drinks from the tray and returned to the table.
“Haruta, what’s that?”
“This? A mint chocolate latte.”
Hina’s expression stiffened a little, but he didn’t really care.
“I-is it good?”
“Yeah, of course. It’s my favorite drink, actually. I can’t live without it.”
Someone approached from behind, and he tensed up.
“Are the two of you perhaps a couple?”
At that, Hina blushed and looked at him.
He should have said no, but for some reason he wanted to tease her.
“Yes. She’s my girlfriend.”
The café’s service robot brought over a strawberry cake as a freebie.
When he answered like that and looked at Hina’s face, it was redder than ever before.
After finishing the drinks and cake, they left.
“Ah, that was good.”
He didn’t need to eat, strictly speaking, but the atmosphere mattered, so he made sure to act like he’d enjoyed it properly.
“Haruta, did you like it?”
“Hmm... I think it tastes even better when I’m eating with Hina.”
On the way back to the dorm with Hina, he muttered, “I’m kind of tired. I feel like I’ll just collapse as soon as I get back.”
“It’d be nice if we were still in the same dorm after we move up to middle school, Hina.”
Hearing that, Hina blushed again and lowered her head.
“Seriously, cute.”
When he said that, her face only turned even redder.
“Hina? Let’s hurry back to the dorm.”
Then a message came in on his phone.
The sender was an informant from the Black Market. He used to work for information sometimes, but they weren’t close enough to meet anymore.
[What’s up? You’re the one calling me?]
[Hey, you want a job?]
[Let me hear it first.]
[It’s about Kaiser PMC.]
At that, he sent Hina back to the dorm and took a quick call.
[I only knew Kaiser PMC as some private mercenary group that once tried to hire me.]
[Looks like those Kaiser bastards are running some kind of experiment this time. Bring me the data from it. How about 5 million yen as payment?]
[I’ve been short on money lately, so yeah. One job is fine by me.]
[Good. Then go to this coordinate. Just steal a few documents from there. If there’s anything marked confidential, take that too.]
[Then I’m hanging up.]
With that, the call ended.
“Phew... one job should be fine, right...”
Then he grabbed his two beloved gold Desert Eagles and headed out.
“Shall I go break everything?”
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