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Crisis of the Goddess
My childhood friend Kaho and her friend Yuki are coming to my home for a visit.
However, a classmate of mine, Rei Mikoto, a girl known as a “goddess,” is also staying at my residence.
If Kaho and Yuki come to my apartment, there is a possibility that they will find out that Rei Mikoto is staying with me.
I thought about explaining the situation to them, but they might not like it.
Besides, I myself don’t really understand how Mikoto-san came to live in my home, and I don’t think they would understand.
So, unfortunately, the only thing I can do is to prevent them from coming to my apartment.
I was about to reply to them by saying that I had some business to attend to, when Yuki gave me a curious look.
Yuki gave me a strange look and murmured.
“That… is a girl from our school, right?”
Saying this, Yuki pointed to a small path on the side of the road.
Quite far away from Yuki’s fingertip, there is a place where narrow alleys intersect in a T-shape.
That area was a collection of old apartments and miscellaneous buildings, some of which had been abandoned, with the owners unable to find anyone to dispose of them.
There was a schoolgirl in a school uniform standing there.
The uniform was indeed from our school.
“That girl is Mikoto-san …, right?”
As Yuki had murmured, the girl was Rei Mikoto.
Even from a distance, Mikoto’s long, silver, flowing hair stands out.
“She’s in the same class as Aki-kun, isn’t she?”
“You know her very well.”
“Because … is famous. She is the Ice Goddess, right?”
She is the most beautiful girl in the school, and it seems that her reputation is well known throughout the school, including Yuki, who is in the neighboring class.
For a moment, I thought that Mikoto-san would come over here and we would run into each other, but there seemed to be no need to worry about that.
Because Mikoto-san was moving further into the alleyway.
As I wondered why she was going that way, I noticed a few guys around Mikoto-san.
They were boys from another school.
They were all dressed in navy blue uniforms, and all of them were quite large and looked intimidating.
Mikoto-san was being cornered by the men and was stepping backward step by step.
From a distance, she looked frightened, as if she was arguing with the men.
One of them grabbed her arm, and she shook her body, trying to shake him off.
“That’s something Mikoto-san doesn’t like, right?”
Kaho said worriedly.
Indeed, Kaho was right.
I don’t know what’s going on, but Mikoto-san is in trouble with those boys and is about to be taken into the alleyway.
It might be better to help her.
“I’m going to go check on her.”
I said, and Kaho and Yuki looked at each other, then at me anxiously.
I think they were worried because they knew what I was like in middle school.
I smiled at them.
“Don’t worry. I won’t do anything too dangerous.”
“Haruto, you know you’re not supposed to fight.”
Kaho said with a serious expression.
I shrugged.
“I know. I won’t use violence. You two go home first. It’s dangerous.”
“Huh? Wait! Haruto!”
With Kaho’s voice at my back, I start running down the narrow alley.
At the same time, Mikoto-san’s figure disappears into the alley at the back, out of sight.
That alley should have been a dead end, just the ruins of a battered, rundown apartment building.
In other words, there was a good chance that Mikoto-san had been taken there as well.
“This is not good.”
I muttered to myself.
After running for a while, I finally entered the building I was looking for.
I kept my presence hidden and proceeded through the building.
Eventually, I came to a hall-like area on the ground floor of the building.
The interior had been almost completely destroyed, and it was as if nothing remained.
Fortunately, however, there was what looked like the wreckage of a metal locker, and I hid behind it to get a better look.
Mikoto-san was standing in the center of the room.
Three boys were surrounding her.
“What are you going to do?”
As usual, Mikoto-san’s tone of voice was strong, but her legs were trembling.
Being taken away by guys much taller than you, locked in an abandoned building, and then surrounded by them, anyone would be scared.
The brown-haired man standing in the center of the three boys kicked a nearby oil drum with a thud, which made a loud noise.
Mikoto-san shuddered at the sound.
“Don’t take it personally, daughter of the Tomi family. We’ve been asked to give you a bit of a beating.”
“By whom?”
“I’ll leave it to your imagination. But still, you’re a hell of a beauty. I’ll leave it up to you to decide how you want it to hurt…”
The brown-haired guy said and looked at Mikoto-san’s body from top to bottom, like licking it all over.
Then he smirked.
Mikoto-san backed away and clasped her shoulders with both hands.
Her face was pale and she looked like she was about to cry.
At that moment, my eyes, which had been concealed, met Mikoto-san’s.
Mikoto-san’s blue eyes widened.
I don’t mean to pretend to be a hero, but in a situation like this, not helping Mikoto-san was not an option.
However, I told Kaho that I would not get into a fight, and I would be breaking my promise.
The moment the guy reached out to grab Mikoto-san, I jumped out.