When I rescued Kiyoka, I dropped off a threat letter once to demand better treatment, so I'd only visited the dorm where some of my classmates were being held two times total. I never went near it otherwise.
There were a few reasons, but the main one was that I felt guilty.
I'd holed up nice and safe inside my Item Box, watching everything from way up high.
Honestly, I'd never once been in a situation where I felt scared, and aside from not being able to go back to Japan, I barely had any problems.
I had clothes, I was stealing food, and as long as I lived inside the Item Box, I was safe.
From the point of view of my classmates who were being violated by soldiers over and over, I had it way too good.
I don't know what happened to the guys who got dragged into the Evil Dragon Subjugation, but they've gotta be in a rougher spot than me, no question.
Well, Saizo and that yankee Tokuda were probably demanding fair treatment and winning it.
Anyway, I had it easy, and honestly I figured the captured guys weren't my problem. But lately, this feeling that I wanted to save them was getting stronger.
At the same time, I started thinking maybe I shouldn't kill soldiers and threaten them-maybe I should look for a more peaceful way to solve things.
That's obviously weird and not like me, so when I thought about why, I landed on Kiyoka's Purification magic.
Maybe even my rotten core was getting purified bit by bit.
Maybe it wasn't complete because my core was rotten all the way through, but eventually it'd get purified anyway.
At this rate, I might turn into some creepy goody-two-shoes of a person.
I know it's weird to say about myself, but I'm a piece of trash who doesn't deserve the name Yoshito.
My motto was that this world runs on self-responsibility, nobody helps you, and you don't owe anyone help either.
And yet, wanting to save my classmates and thinking about peaceful solutions felt disgusting in a way I couldn't stand, so I'm going to go check.
I'll go check, and if my classmates' treatment still hasn't improved, I'm gonna kill a bunch of soldiers all at once.
I might completely wreck my sense of ethics as a human, but that's gotta be better than this sick feeling like I'm not myself.
"Alright, Kiyoka, wait here for me," I said as I prepared to step back out.
"Yoshito, try not to push yourself too hard, okay?"
"Don't worry. As long as I'm inside the Item Box, there's no chance of getting found."
I left Kiyoka in the lit-up Garden and moved using my split Item Box.
Over the past few days, my capacity had grown again, and I could move around smoothly without walking.
I still hadn't leveled up enough to get back to Japan, but considering how fast I'd improved in such a short time, there was hope.
Besides the stiletto I'd stolen from the Armory before, I had a kitchen knife I'd taken from the cooking area.
Sorry to the cook who kept it so nicely, but it had an amazing edge, so I was gonna use it.
When I got close to the Soldiers' Barracks, I heard screaming.
My classmates were still getting treated like animals, it seemed.
I phased through the wall into a room where soldiers in nothing but their underwear were waiting their turn, and there was Sakaguchi-the smallest girl in our class-being violated by three guys at once.
"Stooop...... it doesn't feel good...... it hurts......"
A fat soldier with thick body hair was pinning tiny Sakaguchi down on the bed, shaking his nasty ass.
Come to think of it, I think Sakaguchi was also the one the soldier I killed last time-when I left the threat letter-was assaulting.
I walked up to the soldier who was totally into his sick act, stuck just the kitchen knife out of my Item Box, and stabbed him right through the throat, right to left.
"Hyyaa-......" The man gurgled weakly.
I got a little blood spray on me, but by the time the soldier clamped his hands over his whistling throat and stopped moving, the Item Box entrance was already closed.
"Yaaaaaah...... nooooo!" Sakaguchi shrieked in terror.
Sakaguchi, covered in blood spray, screamed like she'd lost her mind. Finally the soldier nearby who'd been grinning like a pig noticed something was wrong, but he had no clue what happened and just panicked.
Then I stepped out into the hallway, and the soldiers waiting their turn hadn't noticed a thing.
Even with Sakaguchi screaming like that, they must've figured it was just normal.
I sliced the throat of the closest soldier the same way as before.
"Aghh...... gahh......" The man choked on his own blood.
The soldier whose throat I'd stabbed grabbed at the wound right away, but he couldn't stop the blood spraying out or the air leaking through.
"Hey, what's wrong?" another soldier called out.
"Kahh...... guhh......" came the dying rasp in response.
The soldier next to him, who got hit with the blood spray, shouted in surprise, but the one with the stabbed throat couldn't even talk properly.
While everyone's attention was on the blood-soaked soldier sitting on the floor, I stabbed another soldier's throat.
Quick stab, quick pull, and then a third one, fourth one, fifth one...... I went around the barracks, and whenever I spotted a soldier with a dumb look on his face, I stabbed his throat one after another.
By the time the kitchen knife I'd brought from the cooking area got dull from all the blood and fat, I left the barracks.
It had turned into way more than just poking a hornet's nest, but I went straight back to Kiyoka.
"Sorry, purify me right now," I said, stepping back into the light.
"Okay, Clean!"
Probably the strongest Purification magic yet activated, and the kitchen knife clouded with blood and fat got its sharp, dangerous shine back.
The blood spray and smell stuck to my body were gone too, completely clean.
"I'm beat...... let's just rest tonight," I muttered, slumping to the ground.
"Hey, are you doing alright?"
"Yeah, I just squashed some pests......" I replied, staring blankly ahead.
Despite my words, I felt like my heart was getting even more unstable.
Trivia:
1. Yoshito's internal conflict between his cynical worldview and growing desire to help his classmates foreshadows a potential shift in his character arc.
2. The repeated violation of Sakaguchi highlights the ongoing brutality faced by the captured classmates, emphasizing the urgency of Yoshito's actions.
3. Kiyoka's Purification magic serves as a symbolic counterpoint to Yoshito's self-proclaimed "rotten core," suggesting a thematic exploration of redemption and change.
Notes:
• Kiyoka - Dark‑skinned gyaru classmate, blunt, casual, uses feminine pronouns. Survivor of soldier assault, vengeful, threatens captors. Wields Cleaning Magic to purify objects/people, seeks to level up. Freeloader in Kuroi’s Item Box, virgin yet bold, constantly teases, presses against him, enjoys fun in other world, panics under stress, sleeps cramped together.
• Tokuda - Central figure of the yankee group. Close to 180 centimeters tall with heavily trained muscles. Reportedly practiced full-contact martial arts. Demonstrates physical strength through his grip when shaking hands. Listens seriously to Souza's advice after witnessing his power. Pragmatic and eager to enjoy the new world without restraint.
• Saizo - Classmate who was given fire magic. Normally a quiet otaku in class but seizes the spotlight during the summoning. Uses dramatic chunibyo poses and shows off his power to gain leverage in negotiations. Takes charge of questioning the queen.
• Yoshito - Male protagonist summoned to another world who hides inside an Item Box while preparing to return to Japan. Pragmatic and calculating, he worries about the growing power of his companion's magic. Harbors violent urges toward the Soldiers who mistreated his classmates.
• Sakaguchi - The smallest girl in Yoshito's class, repeatedly violated by soldiers.