“Oh, my name is Minoru Kuroe, and I live right next door to you.
I just moved in today, and I came out to check when I heard the commotion.”
Minoru looked at the shaken, silver-haired beauty, slowing his tone down to sound as amiable as possible.
Hearing that he was the new neighbor living next door, Ms.
Izumi’s tense nerves finally relaxed completely.
She opened the security door all the way, leading a small figure out from behind her.
“Thank you so much, Mr.
Kuroe.”
“I am Izumi, and this is my…
daughter, Sagiri.”
Ms.
Izumi bowed slightly, her tone brimming with the relief of surviving a disaster.
When that man had been blocking the doorway earlier, worst-case scenarios had already flashed through Ms.
Izumi’s mind.
If the intruder had truly broken through the door, she would have held him back even if it meant her death, creating an opportunity for Sagiri to escape.
Recalling that utter despair, and then looking at the clean-cut youth before her whose build wasn’t particularly massive.
A powerful surge of gratitude naturally welled up in her heart.
Sagiri, hiding behind Ms.
Izumi, peeked out with half of her fluffy, silver-haired little head, looking at Minoru timidly.
“Th-thank you, big brother…” the little girl thanked him in a soft, sweet voice.
“You’re welcome, it’s only right,” Minoru waved his hand, advising them.
“Make sure to lock your doors and windows tightly tonight.
If there’s any unusual noise, or if that guy comes back, yell for me immediately.
I’m right next door.”
“Understood!
Thank you truly, Mr.
Kuroe.”
[Ding!
Detected a substantial increase in Ms.
Izumi’s and Sagiri’s favorability toward you!]
[Interpersonal Relationship Recorded: Ms.
Izumi (Deeply Grateful/Trusting), Sagiri (Grateful/Admiring).]
Minoru ignored the system prompts.
After watching the mother and daughter safely retreat inside and lock the security door, he turned back to his own home.
The moment he walked back inside and sat down at the dining table.
The long-lost system electronic voice finally chimed in late.
[Ding!
Congratulations to the Host for successfully repelling a malicious event (Attempted Forced Entry/Assault)!]
[Successfully protected the innocent girls: Ms.
Izumi, Sagiri!]
[Event Rating: Grade A+.]
[Reward settlement in progress…]
[Obtained Justice Points: 500 points.]
[Current Total Justice Points: 500 points.]
Hearing the prompt in his head, Minoru didn’t feel happy about gaining 500 Justice Points; instead, his brows knitted tightly together.
He picked up a piece of beef that had gone somewhat cold, chewed it a couple of times, and suddenly asked out loud:
“System, is there something wrong with your radar?”
[Ding?
Why does the Host say so?]
Minoru set his chopsticks down, his expression becoming solemn.
“When I ran into scumbags at school and on the train before, you didn’t just give an advance warning—you provided the exact locations clear as day.”
“Yet just now, someone was literally about to break in and commit a crime, and you had absolutely zero reaction.
You only popped up after I chased the guy away?”
The system went quiet for a full second before emitting its emotionless electronic voice:
[Replying to Host, because the perpetrator of this event was a non-human lifeform, an Orphnoch, which falls outside the default scanning range of the system’s basic radar, the advance warning failed to trigger.]
“Huh?” You are reading on g.com, the official source.
Minoru laughed out of pure irritation.
“What kind of bullshit excuse is that?!”
“Is your brain only wired to scan for perverts?
When a non-human harms a normal human, does that somehow not count as an evil event?!”
“Were you waiting for them to fall victim to him before popping up a settlement prompt?
Or were you going to issue me a revenge quest after the fact?”
Minoru’s eyes shone exceptionally bright with anger.
“Belated justice isn’t justice at all!”
“A justice system?”
“You’re a joke.”
Faced with Minoru’s rapid-fire interrogation, the system fell into a prolonged silence.
The only sound in the living room was Minoru’s slightly hurried breathing.
After a full minute passed.
The system’s electronic voice rang out once more, though this time, a subtle hint of human-like inflection seemed to ripple through the originally cold, mechanical tone.
[…System is re-evaluating the Host’s philosophy.]
[Evaluation complete.]
[The Host’s argument is logically airtight.]
[The system acknowledges the prior logical flaw.
Belated justice indeed cannot be considered justice.]
Seeing the system back down, Minoru’s expression finally softened a bit.
[Ding!
Downloading and installing for the Host: [Non-Human & Supernatural Evil Real-Time Alert Plug-in].]
[Note: Because the installation and integration of this plug-in require a certain amount of time.]
[Prior to completion, the Host must maintain vigilance and exercise patience for the time being.]
[The Host will be notified immediately once the plug-in installation is complete.]
“Requires time?
Roughly how long?” Minoru frowned.
[Based on the complexity of the current world’s worldview, it is estimated to take 12 to 24 hours.]
“Fine, a single day is acceptable.”
…
The next morning, sunlight spilled into the bedroom through the gaps in the curtains.
Minoru’s biological clock woke him up right on time.
He first glanced at the system’s progress bar; the plug-in installation had already reached 45%, estimating completion by the afternoon.
After washing up, he made a simple sandwich for breakfast and pushed open his front door.
The door to the Izumi household next door was tightly shut.
It seemed Ms.
Izumi and Sagiri were still resting, or perhaps Sagiri was already inside drawing.
After confirming there were no signs of any attack outside the door, Minoru walked toward the train station with peace of mind.
Before long, Minoru arrived at school.
When he walked into the classroom, the originally boisterous room quieted down briefly.
Quite a few classmates’ gazes quietly landed on him, their eyes carrying hints of curiosity and awe.
Although the events of yesterday hadn’t been made fully public under Hiratsuka-sensei’s intervention.
The news that Toru Sakata had been taken away by the police and expelled overnight still spread through the class.
Everyone knew it was Minoru, who usually had zero presence, who had displayed incredible prowess yesterday to root out that scumbag.
Minoru ignored the surrounding looks and walked straight to his seat.
The moment he sat down, a breath of sweet fragrance wafted over his face.
“Um…
Kuroe-kun, good morning.”
Yumiko, her blonde hair cascading in wavy curls, had arrived at his desk to greet him.
Although she was still dressed in her usual gyaru style, her gaze flickered away a bit today, and a flush of red surfaced on her pale cheeks.
“Uh…
good morning.
Did you sleep well last night?”
Although Minoru didn’t quite understand why she was greeting him out of the blue.
He still replied politely.
After all, in his view, yesterday’s matter was over, and there was no reason for her to treat him so warmly.
That was always how it worked in his past life. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
“Mm…
thanks to you, I slept very well.”
Yumiko responded in a voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz.
Then, as if reaching a firm resolution, she placed a beautifully wrapped pink bento box onto Minoru’s desk.
“This…
I made it myself last night.”
“It might not compare to restaurant food, but…
to thank you for saving me yesterday, pl-please accept it!”
Finishing her sentence, Yumiko gave Minoru absolutely no chance to decline, turning around with a crimson face to run back to her seat, burying her head into her arms to play the ostrich.
Looking at the bento box on his desk, Minoru felt a bit conflicted internally.
Should he open it right here to see what the dishes were?!
Would it contain the tamagoyaki he had been craving for a long time?
He heard that Japanese bentos always included that dish.
But would opening the bento immediately look a bit impolite?
Like he was being too transactional?
Right then, another voice suddenly rang out by his ear.
“Yahallo!
Kuroe-kun!”
Minoru raised his head, met this time by a face full of energy and a sweet smile.
It was Yui.
She possessed a head of orange-pink short hair identical to Mrs.
Yuigahama’s, with a bun tied on the side—which was the origin of her nickname, “Gahama-chan.”
Yui’s school uniform shirt was slightly unbuttoned, revealing elegant collarbones, and though the snowy curves below couldn’t match Mrs.
Yuigahama’s yet, they were absolutely among the best among her peers.
*Ahem…
look away…*
Minoru forced himself to shift his gaze.
“Good morning, Yuigahama-san.”
“Hey, hey!”
Fortunately, Yui didn’t notice Minoru’s unnatural reaction.
She braced both hands on his desk, leaning her body slightly forward, her eyes sparkling with undisguised admiration and excitement.
“I heard from my mom last night!
The hero who saved her on the train and caught that awful groper was also you, Kuroe-kun, right!”
When Yui spoke the word “hero,” her eyes were exceptionally bright.
Last night, after her mother returned home, she had praised Minoru to high heaven.
Not only was he incredibly polite, but his sense of justice was off the charts, and his combat skills were beyond reproach.
She had basically exhausted every compliment available.
Though she had very tactfully omitted any mention of his looks…
Sometimes, facing one’s own shortcomings directly is a required course for adults…
Last night, when Mrs.
Yuigahama revealed Minoru’s name, Yui had been utterly stunned.
During the day at school, Minoru had saved Yumiko like a god descending from the sky.
In the evening on the train, Minoru had stepped forward once more to protect her mother!
Within a single day, he had consecutively saved two of the most important people to her!
In the eyes of a girl like Yui, whose heart was filled with sentimentality and romance at this age.
This made him look exactly like Action Kamen stepping out of a tokusatsu show!
He was incredibly cool, okay!
“It was just a small effort, no need to be so polite,” Minoru smiled, not denying it.
“It wasn’t just a small effort!”
Yui shook her head vigorously, a hint of moisture surfacing in her eyes.
“If it weren’t for you…
Yumiko and my mom would definitely have encountered terrible things.
Thank you, thank you so much!”
As she spoke, Yui bowed deeply to Minoru with absolute solemnity.
“Alright, alright, stand up quickly, everyone is watching.”
Looking at the gossiping gazes of the surrounding classmates, Minoru let out a slightly embarrassed, soft cough.