Tokyo: I can enlighten all obsessions

"Huh?!"

The middle-aged man, who had been enjoying himself, suddenly stiffened, like a screaming chicken being choked.

A chill ran down his tailbone and straight to the top of his head, instantly turning his oily face deathly pale.

Before he could turn around to see which "fellow traveler" was behind him, Kamiki Tetsu leaned close to his ear and sighed softly in a low voice:

"Not bad, uncle."

"Alas!!"

The man let out a strange, off-key scream and was jolted forward as if electrocuted, crashing right into the open car door.

"Shinjuku—we've arrived in Shinjuku—"

The broadcast both saved him and didn't save him.

Because the girl who had been harassed finally mustered up the courage to point at him and scream, "Grab him! He's a pervert!"

Amid the chaos, the middle-aged man, whose hands were tied behind his back and who was being dragged away by the arriving station staff, was still desperately turning his head, staring intently at Kamiki Tetsu with a complex expression.

It's as if it's a silent accusation: Aren't you a pervert too?!

Kamiki Tetsu ignored the gaze, calmly straightened his wrinkled collar, and followed the flow of people onto the platform.

Behind him, the still-shaken girl, her eyes red, bowed deeply to the departing figure of the boy.

"thank you……"

The sound was quickly drowned out by the noise of the morning rush hour. Kamiki Tetsu didn't turn around, but just waved casually with his back to her.

Emerging from the suffocating subway, Toru Kamiki walked up the slope leading to the private Shujin High School.

When he stepped into the classroom of Class 2B, the air was filled with a mixture of antiperspirant spray and the lazy scent of the morning.

Good morning, Shenmu.

"morning."

He casually dealt with a few classmates he wasn't very close to, then walked straight through the crowd of people who were diligently copying homework and went to the back of the classroom.

He pulled out a chair, took off his backpack, and sat down in the last row of the window seats, which were known as the "special seats reserved for light novel protagonists."

He turned his head to the side, and the gray sky outside the window reflected his profile on the glass, making him look somewhat listless.

With his fingers resting on his chin, Tetsu Kamiki unconsciously tapped his cheek. His gaze passed through his listless reflection in the glass and landed on the distant, hazy skyscrapers of Shinjuku.

"That compound... with the current facilities, it's very difficult to go in and come out alive."

Kamiki Tetsu calmly reviewed the situation in his mind.

The current equipment includes the [Tax-Inclusive Execution Blade] for attack, the [Japanese Treasure] for control, and the [Capitalist's Jaw] for support.

While seemingly comprehensive, this combination has a fatal flaw—

They are all aimed at "living things" or "entities".

If you encounter a pure spirit without a physical form, or a rule-based trap like "ghost wall," your physical damage output gear will probably be useless.

"The arsenal must be expanded."

Kamiki Tetsu narrowed his eyes, his gaze drifting over the city skyline outside the window.

His ability is to [enlighten obsessions].

In other words, the strength of equipment does not depend on the price of the item itself, but on the "emotional concentration" attached to it.

"Where can you find that kind of obsession that's both cheap and so thick it's practically dripping?"

museum?

No, although the items inside carry a heavy historical weight, they are all under strict security, and even if they are stolen, it may not be considered "possession".

Hospital?

It's filled with despair and a yearning for life, which might conjure powerful healing or curse items, but that aura might also create some evil things.

"So...a casino or a pachinko parlor?"

Kamiki Tetsu's eyes lit up.

Those gamblers who have lost everything, their yearning to "turn the tables" on those little steel balls, that mixture of greed, regret, and madness, is absolutely top-notch material.

or……

His gaze returned to the front row of the classroom.

There, a boy wearing thick glasses was staring intently at the goddess's back, clutching a pink letter tightly in his hand, his knuckles white from the force.

"Unrequited love, the hatred born from rejection, or the humiliation of being a 'simp'..."

Kamiki Tetsu stroked his chin, seemingly lost in thought.

This kind of adolescent obsession, brimming with the sour smell of hormones, might just conjure up some strange new equipment.

"It seems I should visit the school's lost and found or one of those places with strange rumors after school."

"In this Tokyo, driven mad by high pressure, the one thing that's never lacking... is madness and obsession."

"Ring ring—"

The sharp electronic sound of the preparatory bell ruthlessly shattered Kamiki Tetsu's obsession with "where to source the goods," and instantly silenced the clamor of the entire Class 2-B.

The girls who had been chatting and gossiping quickly dispersed, and the boys who were still frantically doing their homework could only desperately stuff their unfinished notes back into their desks.

"Splash!"

The front door of the classroom was opened.

It wasn't their math teacher, whose hairline was receding, who walked in; it was their homeroom teacher.

Tanaka, a middle-aged man who always wears ill-fitting suits.

He was carrying a roll call list, and there seemed to be a thin resume tucked under his arm.

Mr. Tanaka walked up to the podium, his gaze sweeping over the group of monkeys in the midst of their restless adolescence, and waved his hand dismissively to signal them to be quiet.

"Um... before the morning meeting begins, let me announce a short notice."

He pushed up his glasses, which always seemed to slip down his nose, and spoke in a completely indifferent tone:

"Although the timing is a bit strange, a new student transferred to our class today."

These words immediately caused an uproar in the previously somewhat subdued classroom.

"Huh? Transferring schools at a time like this?"

"Is it a boy or a girl?!"

"I wish it were a cute girl..."

"Don't even think about it. People who transfer in halfway through their studies are usually those who couldn't make it in their original schools, right?"

Kamiki Tetsu continued to gaze out the window with his chin resting on his hand, showing absolutely no interest in this pointless topic.

"Okay, quiet down."

Mr. Tanaka patted the blackboard eraser, raising a cloud of chalk dust.

"Come in."

With a soft slid of the sliding door, a small foot wearing indoor shoes stepped into the classroom.

Immediately afterwards, the second-year B group, which had been whispering amongst themselves, fell silent as if a collective mute button had been pressed.

The girl who walked in was like a doll made of the most expensive ceramic.

She had long, smooth, ebony hair, with neat bangs that just covered her eyebrows, highlighting her unusually large eyes.

Her features were so exquisite that it was as if a two-dimensional character drawn by a top artist had broken through the dimensional barrier, and her fair skin seemed to have a soft-focus filter against the backdrop of the gray sky outside the window.

cute.

She's the kind of cute that can instantly trigger a protective instinct in all the boys in the class with just one glance.

However, in stark contrast to her breathtaking beauty was the expression on her face.

There was no shyness that a transfer student should have, no polite smiles upon first meeting, and not even a flicker of emotion in his eyes.

She was like a finely crafted figurine, mechanically walking up to the podium, turning around, and facing the whole class.

That icy aura that said "keep away" combined with that ridiculously cute face instantly caused a nuclear explosion in the classroom.

"So cute..."

"Is it an iceberg type? It's actually an iceberg type!"

"That cute, expressionless face... it just makes me want to trample her underfoot and call her an idiot..."

The breathing of the boys in the front row became noticeably heavier.

Even Kamiki Tetsu couldn't help but take a second look, raising his eyebrows slightly.

"This expressionless demeanor... if it could be nurtured, it might even become a talisman for absolute calmness or something similar?"

Just as Kamiki Tetsu was habitually assessing the "value of the dropped items," the girl had already picked up the chalk.

She wrote three elegant yet sharp Chinese characters on the blackboard.

Then he turned around and spoke in a cool voice:

"Saori Megumi".

She bowed slightly, her face remaining expressionless.

Please give me your guidance.

"Well then, Saori-san, please have a seat..."

Before Mr. Tanaka could finish speaking, his finger, which was pointing at the empty seats in the front row, froze in mid-air.

Because Saori completely ignored the teacher's instructions.

She strode forward, walking straight down the corridor under the watchful eyes of dozens of students, her goal clear.

Finally, she stopped at the back row of the classroom.

To be precise, it stopped in front of the seat next to Toru Kamiki.

There sat a boy who was swooning over a girl.

Saori Megumi did not speak.

She lowered her head slightly, her eyes fixed intently on the boy's face.

Although there was no fierce expression on his face, the oppressive silence he exuded was more terrifying than any words.

The meaning couldn't be clearer:

Move aside.

Being stared at so closely by such a beautiful girl, even if her eyes were as cold as ice, the boy's brain CPU still overloaded and burned out instantly.

"Um...I, I am...Yamamoto! Kenta Yamamoto!"

His face turned as red as a ripe tomato at a visible speed, not from anger at being offended, but from a kind of dizzying mix of ecstasy at being "chosen" and extreme shyness.

"If... if Saori-san wants this position... please, please do so! Please do so!"

As if afraid that he would ruin this "honor" if he was too slow, the boy named Yamamoto hurriedly swept his schoolbag and textbooks into his arms and scrambled to make room for the seat next to the "VIP seat".

Then, amidst the envious and jealous gazes of all the boys in the class, he grabbed his schoolbag and rushed to an empty seat in the corner of the classroom.

Saori didn't say thank you, or even nod.

She looked away, hung her schoolbag on the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down next to Toru Kamiki.

Her movements were fluid and graceful, as if this place had always been hers.

"..."

Kamiki Toru turned his head and looked at his new deskmate, who remained ramrod straight even when seated, exuding an aura of "keep away." His eye twitched involuntarily.

This guy is so self-centered.

The school bell rang.

The bald math teacher once again stepped onto the podium and began writing those seemingly hypnotic trigonometric function formulas on the blackboard.

However, Kamiki Tetsu was unable to enter a meditative state.

Because the gazes around me were just too intense.

It wasn't the shy, furtive glances of a teenage girl, nor was it filled with the pink bubbles of infatuation.

The feeling was more like being locked onto by a cold, high-precision surveillance camera.

One minute. Five minutes. Ten minutes.

Saori didn't even open her textbook.

She turned to the side, resting her chin on her hand, her exquisitely doll-like face directly facing Kamiki Toru, conducting a close-up "observation" without any restraint.

The feeling of being stared at like a bacterium in a petri dish is more terrifying than facing a demon.

"..."

Finally, Kamiki Tetsu's composure, which was known for its "thick skin," broke down.

He turned his head sharply, ignoring the teacher who was still lecturing, and glared back fiercely.

Eyes facing each other.

Up close, those eyes are indeed stunningly beautiful.

Pitch black and deep, with a faint gray ring around the edge of the pupil, much like some kind of inorganic glass bead.

But he lost.

Because the other person didn't even blink.

Saori remained expressionless. Despite Kamiki Tetsu's fierce gaze, she showed no panic at being caught. Instead, she nodded slightly as if she had confirmed some data.

Then, she parted her lips slightly and, in a voice only the two of them could hear, uttered a sentence that instantly caused Kamiki Toru's brain to shut down:

"Che-kun, don't you remember me?"