The sound of water flowing from the sink echoed.

“…Um, is this right?”

Watching Amelia carefully washing her hands, I quietly asked the Author.

“Excuse me, Author.”

[Yes?]

“Do girls normally go to the bathroom with their friends like this?”

I had seen groups of girls going to the bathroom together occasionally.

I also heard online that women follow each other to the bathroom.

…But do they really?

I guess you’d have to live as a woman for a long time to know.

I have no idea.

[I don’t know either.]

“You’re a woman, but you don’t know something like that?”

[…I didn’t have friends.]

Oh.

Suddenly, the atmosphere became somber.

It seems I brought up something I shouldn’t have.

I shouldn’t have asked.

Fortunately, the awkward atmosphere didn’t last long.

Amelia finished her business and came over to me.

“Sorry, did I take too long?”

“Don’t worry, I was also solving my own problems.”

“…?”

I didn’t bother explaining further to Amelia’s questioning look.

She wouldn’t understand even if I told her.

“Well, shall we head back? The teacher will be waiting.”

“Yeah, let’s go back.”

It had been a while since I played so much, I was getting hungry.

I should eat something delicious.

The academy has good food, which is nice.

I wonder what I’ll eat today. I’m starting to look forward to it.

“…Something feels off, though.”

“Huh? What is it?”

“No, it’s just that my clothes are unusually wrinkled.”

Even though I had neatly arranged them before?

They were crumpled slightly, as if someone had touched and messed them up.

“Well, maybe someone mistook it for their clothes? People mistake their lockers quite often, no?”

“…I suppose so?”

“Yeah. There’s just a name on it and no real locking mechanism. Maybe a careless person touched it by mistake.”

Hmm.

Yeah, what Amelia said made sense.

It felt a bit unpleasant, but well.

Someone else could have mistakenly touched it and put it back.

Just as I was about to dismiss it with that thought, I noticed a hair stuck to the leotard.

It was an unusually short length, and the hair was black.

“…There seems to be a short hair here.”

“Oh, that must be your hair… You have black hair, don’t you.”

“But my hair isn’t this short…”

“You didn’t know that? …Oww!”

I was greatly flustered to see Amelia suddenly pulling out strands of her hair.

She ended up pulling out far more than she intended, clutching about five or six strands in her hand as her eyes welled up with tears.

“L-Look at this. Shorter than my hair, right?”

“…I suppose so?”

I wondered why she had abruptly pulled out her hair until I realized she was showing it to me.

True to her word, while she had much longer hair overall than me, the strands she pulled out were similar and short compared to mine.

“Sorry, I may have overreacted a bit.”

“Y-Yeah… Let’s head back quickly.”

Still, something felt off.

…Ah, I had a good idea.

I should mention it to the Author later.

***

“Hey, how did it go?”

After school, Siwoo saw Amelia hurriedly approach him.

…He didn’t know what to say.

“Sorry.”

“I see. So it failed after all. I thought that was possible.”

“…Huh?”

She knew it might fail?

‘And you still put me in that situation?’

He glared at Amelia with that implication, but she calmly responded without a care.

“Well, they could be a telepath, you know.”

“Then why did we do the infiltration thing…?”

“If it’s not a long-range telepathic ability, we could have captured them in the act. But it failed in the end.”

“You put me in that dangerous situation without being sure?”

No matter how he thought about it, this wasn’t right.

Couldn’t there have been a slightly more moderate approach?

He knew her way of thinking was extreme, but this was too much.

If he had gotten caught, it wouldn’t have ended with just expulsion.

Siwoo was about to unleash my fury, but Amelia’s voice stopped him.

“But in the end, you didn’t get caught, right?”

“That’s not the point of whether we got caught or not…!”

“Can you at least think about how I had to take Arte outside while you were hiding in that locker?”

“…So you noticed.”

“Isn’t that obvious? You didn’t come back. It was clear you were somewhere in the changing room, and where else could you have hidden besides a locker?”

“Kuh…”
Siwoo had some counterarguments, but he couldn’t refute her any further.

It wasn’t that her logic beat him.

It felt like an unwanted sensation was arising.

Hearing her mention the locker made him recall the feel and smell of that leotard.

‘Ah, no. I shouldn’t think about it.’

He forced his reddened face to cool down.

“Here, take this.”

“…What is this?”

“Open it, and you’ll see.”

Amelia handed him a black bag while he was calming his flushed face.

With a questioning look, he opened the bag.

…Inside was content you’d only see in movies.

The bag was filled to the brim with cash.

“?!”

“I’m not just going to leave it at that and wash my hands of it. Here, isn’t this enough for hazard pay? Don’t worry, it’s all real.”

Did she think he’d fall for just this money?

No matter what, he almost ruined his life.

He wanted to rebuke her, but in the end, Siwoo’s mouth didn’t open.

It was too much money to refuse.

“Use it to get some good equipment. You never know when something dangerous might happen.”

“…Understood.”

“And I’m sorry.”

Blushing slightly, Amelia opened her mouth rapidly like a machine gun, unable to look at the bewildered Siwoo properly.

“From now on, I’ll be more careful. I’ve realized it was more dangerous than I thought.”

He wished she had realized that much earlier.

A sigh escaped from his mouth.

“…Yesterday, someone broke into the school.”

And then the next morning.

Claire’s words echoed through the classroom.

…An intruder?

“The reason is unknown. But judging by how they rummaged through a female student’s underwear, it was likely some super-powered pervert…Geez, honestly. To use one’s ability for something like that.”

Siwoo’s mind went completely blank.

A pervert who rummaged through a female student’s underwear?

His gaze turned towards Arte Iris.

She was smiling brightly, seeming in a good mood.

She turned her head and waved at me with a smile.

Did she notice?

No way. No, it couldn’t be…?

“Everyone be careful, and female students especially watch your behavior. If you see anyone suspicious, be sure to report them. Understand?”

“Yes!”

“Geez, what are the police even doing…”

The police, huh?

Siwoo looked over at Amelia this time.

Maybe she would know something…!

But his hopes were quickly dashed.

She also seemed confused, like she had no idea what was happening.

Siu’s face was filled with despair.

***

[As expected of you, Dear Reader. Using even small incidents as material…! I have great respect for you!]

“I’m more amazed that you forgot the setting.”

[Ugh, ughhh…]

Yeah. I came up with a new scenario based on yesterday’s incident.

I thought the Author would be pleased, too, so I talked about it for quite a while, but their response was quite disappointing.

“The Secret Room? How could you forget that?”

[Ugh, ugh… I, I’m sorry! I can forget things, too!]

“There are some things you shouldn’t forget though?”

Didn’t you say we’d use it as the main scenario for the academy before?

I could only sigh at the fact that she had already forgotten that in the span of just a few incidents.

…No, well. I should understand the Author.

From Siwoo’s shocking escape to the USB loss incident.

Plenty of events could have taken a toll on the Author’s mind.

It’s not strange for her to forget things…

Definitely…

“Ah, come to think of it, how was the reaction to that spy storyline development?”

[Well, it was decent. There were some reactions like ‘the protagonist’s actions seem too bland’ though.]

“Phew, that’s a relief…”

The Author was writing a novel based on this world.

However, since the Author couldn’t perfectly control every tiny action of the characters, they had to fill in occasional variables with their imagination.

However, in the last incident, it wasn’t just one or two problems that cropped up.

The Author couldn’t see the 1-on-1 fight scene between Lyla and the protagonist.

The fight scene between the protagonist and the Minotaur was also lost due to the USB damage.

And you’re asking if they could see Siwoo’s and Lyla’s initial bout?

Are you crazy?

Write a novel about the protagonist abandoning the girl and running away.

Instead of the protagonist, all the readers would run away.

In the end, the Author had to imagine most of the developments, with the only information being that Lyla had died.

Even that was false information because she’s alive.

Despite the complete mess, the Author somehow managed to salvage the situation, and thankfully, it seemed successful.

… Author, are you actually good at writing?

I had that thought briefly, but I quickly dismissed it.

Considering her usual behavior, she probably isn’t.

[We missed the last time, but we can finally watch the main story!]

“…The main story the Author forgot?”

[Eek! I told you not to say anything!]

The fan service scene was over, and I was pondering how to continue the main story.

Then suddenly, a classmate who touched my clothes inspired me.

“How will Siwoo deal with the Übermensch’s infiltration? Hehe, I’ll have to watch it closely this time.”

[A villain dispatched by the Übermensch to find the Secret Room! And the heroine and protagonist unite to solve it! Kyaa, this is a hit!]

The thought I had when I saw the disheveled clothes was simple.

To find the Secret Room, inevitably, someone would need to search the school.

…Then wouldn’t the villain organization dispatch someone to search the school?

That simple thought gave birth to the appearance of the villain.

Facing this new threat, how will Siwoo overcome this adversity?

He moved in the dungeon in a direction we didn’t expect.

How will he move this time?

I started to feel excited.