“Amelia, what in the world happened?”  

“I don’t know either! I was sure no one could have seen you!”

Right after Claire left.  

Amelia and Siwoo were trembling uncontrollably.  

They couldn’t help it.  

After all, they knew who had ransacked the girls’ underwear yesterday.  

No, they didn’t just know.  

They were the planners and the preparators.  

The two of them had done everything from planning to execution.

“Where did the leak come from? CCTV? No, I definitely checked the blind spots. Was it the security guard? Or a student?”

Amelia’s muttering reverberated in Siwoo’s ears.

…But the content was a bit strange.

She had already checked the CCTV blind spots.  

Just what was Amelia aiming for?

Siwoo’s expression gradually became gloomy.  

‘Maybe catching Arte is more beneficial for society, but catching Amelia is much simpler…’

“Okay…Siwoo, our trail hasn’t been stepped on yet.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t know by what route our actions were discovered, but the culprit hasn’t been determined yet. For now, let’s pretend we don’t know anything. Got it?”

As the doubts in Siwoo’s mind gradually turned to certainty.

Amelia showed him a resolute expression.  

“But we’ve already been caught…”

“No. They know an incident occurred, but they definitely can’t be sure who did it. We’d be in jail by now  if they did.”

Indeed.

It wasn’t ordinary for someone to have ransacked the girls’ underwear.  

 If they knew the culprit, it wouldn’t be strange to arrest them on the spot for suspicious intentions.

“So from now on, we’ll pretend we don’t know anything as much as possible…”

“You two, you look close?” 

“Kyahhh?!”

Grab.

Someone approaching without a sound suddenly grabbed Amelia’s shoulder from behind.

Amelia, whose legs went limp from the shock, saw behind her black hair.

…Arte.

“Hee, heeee!”

“Oh. …Did I scare you too much? Are you okay?”

Seeing Arte supporting Amelia caught Siwoo’s eye, but his mind went blank.

Why did she have to show up at this timing? 

The two had gathered to discuss their plan going forward, so how did she suddenly appear?

Siwoo knew she had been watching him.  

But recently, she hadn’t directly approached him.

‘She must know about my secret with Amelia!’

“…Arte, what brings you here?”

“Hm?” 

“What are you doing in a place not many people pass by…”

“…Ah. Did I interrupt a secret rendezvous? Sorry about that. Um, I was just on my way back from the restroom. I saw a familiar face, so I thought I’d play a little prank.”

A ridiculous lie.

The restrooms are in the opposite direction.

Outright lying means she has no intention of telling us, huh?

“Ahaha. Sorry. Seems I scared you too much.”

“No, it’s fine. Right, Amelia?”

“Uh, uhh. Ha, haha… I’m perfectly fine!”

The flustered Amelia started insisting she was fine.  

Arte, who had a skeptical look for a moment, soon smiled at us and started speaking.

“I’m glad. …Still, you should be careful. The teacher said a criminal has been wandering inside the academy lately, right?”

“A-a criminal…?”

“Yes. They mercilessly ransacked the girls’ underwear. How vile! They deserve divine punishment, for sure! … Don’t you agree?”

Arte’s lips curved into a smile. 

‘Is she asking for my agreement?’

Her penetrating gaze almost made Siwoo apologize reflexively, but he held it in and agreed with her words.

“…Y, Yeah.”

“Ah, it would be great  if some brave student caught the culprit, wouldn’t it? Don’t you think?”

Some brave student catching the culprit.

…What is she hinting at?

“It would be good  if they could catch them.”

“Oh, Siwoo, aren’t you interested? In the vile villain who ransacked women’s underwear? You’d definitely get a big reward for catching them.”  

“…What are you trying to say?”

“Ahaha. Well, I thought it might be fun to work with you to catch the culprit. Do you want to team up?”

‘She’s telling me to catch myself?’

That doesn’t make any sense.

Just as Siwoo was about to open his mouth to decline Arte’s offer, she took a step forward. 

Smirking, she naturally bent her waist slightly and asked him,

“How about it? Doesn’t it sound fun?”

Normally, it wouldn’t have been a problem. 

No, even  if he hadn’t relieved his urges for nearly a month, he wouldn’t have had any particular thoughts.

But suddenly, the sensation he felt just yesterday… 

That scent came flooding back.

…Arte Iris’ slightly visible leotard from her bent waist awakened Siwoo’s senses.

“Well? Doesn’t it sound fun?”  

“Uh, uhh…Yea–”

Oops.

Siwoo realized what words had slipped out of his mouth.  

As expected, Arte, not missing his slip-up, happily said with a smile,

“Great! Then I’ll let you know when I’ve made a plan to find the culprit!”

Unlike her sudden appearance, Arte turned and left with a bouncing gait. 

Watching her go, Siwoo thought,

I’m done for.  

Come to think of it, that’s the direction of the restrooms.  

She outright lied.  

 If she had been coming from the restrooms, she would have come from the opposite way.

“Phew…! I thought I was gonna die. My heart hurts…”

“Are you okay?”  

“Of course not? Wah, I was really startled.”

Only after Arte left did Amelia regain her senses, catching her breath and calming her pounding heart.

“I guess she really does suspect us?”

“Yeah. No doubt. While she can’t be sure we’re the culprits, she definitely suspects us.”

“Whew, we expected it, but…This will be a little tough.”  

As Amelia said, they had expected it.  

After all, the only one who could tell the teacher was Arte herself.  

She must have realized somehow that someone ransacked her locker. 

They don’t know how, but she suspects they were the culprits.  

“But why did you accept her proposal? Rejecting would have been better, no matter how I think about it.”

“Well, that’s…”

Siwoo couldn’t tell her that his mind was captivated by the leotard he glimpsed when she bent over, and he accepted without realizing it.

No amount of torture will get that out of him.

“Well, whatever. It’s already done. No point dwelling on it further. It’s better to think about what to do going forward.”

“What to do going forward…”  

“For starters, how about we wait to see what kind of plan Arte comes up with? There’s not much we can do right now anyway.”

Amelia’s words made sense, so he nodded.

No, he would have nodded even  if she had something odd.

Siwoo felt guilty about accepting Arte’s proposal.

“Okay. Let’s do that.” 

“Phew, yeah. Let’s start heading back. I wonder what kind of plan she’ll come up with… I’m already getting scared.”

***

“Huhu. A great success, Author. Don’t you agree?”

[Of course! The heroine and protagonist uncover the villain infiltrating the school and take them down. What an epic development!]

“I was really nervous that Siwoo might refuse. Fortunately, it seemed like he thought about it for a bit before accepting. The advice from anime was right after all.”

They say guys will accept any request from a cute girl  if she does a little waist bend, so I tried it, and it worked well.

[By the way, you mentioned having a plan. Did you have something in mind?]

“Well, yeah. The element that would be disappointing not to show up in this situation has already appeared.”

[…?]

What? 

Did you forget again?

I let out a small sigh.

“…The club, the club.”

[Club…? Ah, ah! I remember now! The Exploration Club! That’s right, that existed… Whew!]

“…”

[Heh, heheh…]

I wonder what would have happened to you, Author,  if I weren’t here. The readers would probably have trashed you.

They probably would have gotten all kinds of insults, starting with, ‘If you’re going to introduce that setting, why don’t you use it?’ and ending with, ‘Was it a MacGuffin or what?’

To be honest, I am a bit worried they are still getting insulted.

Fortunately, the novel seems to be sailing smoothly judging by the Author’s current state.

“You haven’t decided on the infiltrating villain’s ability yet, right?”

[No, I’ve only given the setting that they infiltrated so far.]

“How about making them a Chameleonic Adept since they’re a Wyverian?*”

[…!]

It’s not like being a chameleon makes them invisible, blending perfectly into the surroundings.  

Contrary to popular belief, they can’t freely camouflage themselves–they just change color based on their body temperature.

But novels don’t always have to strictly follow facts. 

As long as there’s a perception of chameleons being camouflage masters, a Chameleonic Adept will always be a master of concealment. 

It wouldn’t be strange for them to appear anywhere.

Just the one setting of the infiltrator actually being a Chameleonic Adept can create countless scenes.

[You’re…a god! Are you a god?! No, you must be a god!]

“You’re going overboard again.”

[I’ll add it to the setting right away! The infiltrating villain is a Chameleonic Adept…Ability is environmental camouflage! Done!]

“Okay. Then let’s wait calmly.”  

When that Chameleonic Adept starts causing trouble again, I can approach Siwoo, acting like I had a great idea and leading him straight to the villain.

Feeling like the development will unfold smoothly this time, I couldn’t help but smile.

Author’s Notes

Siwoo is a male.  

He apparently had an experience that was far too stimulating.  

It definitely won’t leave his mind for a while.