Chapter 194 - 30-Person Slash
Rio and I stared blankly at the retreating back, blonde hair fluttering in the wind.
"...No good, I don't get it."
I was completely stuck.
Now that the most suspicious person had turned out to be innocent, all the hypotheses I'd constructed were wrong.
...Who is it?
Who the hell is it? If Emily is clean, does that also eliminate the theory that she and Rebecca were in cahoots?
Then is it Chloe? ...But doesn't Chloe also seem unfamiliar with Japanese circumstances?
In the first place, just by suspecting someone close to the innocent Emily, I feel like I'm moving further away from the right answer.
Just because she's a white girl doesn't necessarily mean she's from another world.
Maybe, like with the goblins, they're disguising demi-humans as Japanese people.
If that's the case, that groper who made contact with me twice emerges as the next suspect.
"...That bastard, huh."
It's possible.
It's unnatural for a salaryman with a social standing to use a blade for revenge.
If the person inside is a demi-human who hasn't been in Japan that long...
"Shit, I shouldn't have let him get away."
Regretting it now is too late.
...Should I go look for that man as soon as work is over?
As I was scratching my head and thinking about that, Rio spoke to me with a sharp glare.
"Mind explaining what that was all about?"
"..."
If it were Angelica, I could just babble nonsense and manage somehow, but how can I convince this one concisely?
Should I speak in tough-guy talk?
What even is tough-guy talk?
Using gestures and body language, I attempted a full-bodied excuse.
"Ah, well, you see. There was a possibility Emily was from another world. So I tried to feel her out, but it seems she was an Earthling after all."
"...You can't deduce anything unless you personally touch the suspect? What a great detective you are."
"I-It can't be helped. I can't use Status Appraisal right now."
"...Hmm."
"I'm telling you, besides touching them with my hand to check their durability, there's no other way to tell if someone's from another world."
"...Does it have to be you touching them, Nakamoto-san? If you absolutely have to touch a girl's body, why not just let me do it instead?"
"What if the person you touch is the bingo? It could turn into a fight right then and there. Then you might get attacked."
"Hm, I see. It's like searching for a violent criminal with insane physical abilities, so the one investigating has to be strong too... Got it. So, I'll accept that Nakamoto-san was groping girls all over as something that couldn't be helped."
Rio places the index finger of her right hand on her lips, a thoughtful expression on her face.
"You had some reason, right? That's why you suspected that girl?"
"Yeah. Every time I came into contact with Emily, the time display on my smartphone went haywire more intensely. That's why I suspected her, but..."
"But she was just a normal person, right."
"That's right. This being the case, maybe something was rigged on her body without her knowing. And that's been removed now."
"...That feels kinda nasty. They're using an ordinary person, right? It's underhanded, I guess."
"It's not manly, that's for sure."
A vulgar, degenerate groper bastard would indeed be likely to use such methods.
"Fine. If there were proper circumstances, it can't be helped. Let's just go ahead and investigate suspicious people one after another!"
"...You understand!"
"Well, yeah. I don't want to get dragged into this either. And I guess I have a kind of territorial instinct, like I'm pissed off that my hometown is being messed with."
"Whoa, that part of you is like a delinquent in a good way."
If it's come to this, shouldn't we thoroughly narrow down the culprit? Rio says, running her fingers through her hair.
"I'd love to do that, but how would we even go about it?"
"Just touch them."
"Huh?"
"Just touch everyone around you and check them all."
...She's telling me, the guy who caught a groper with a heart of justice, to do the same thing?
At such an outrageous suggestion, I freeze like a stone.
"Luckily, Nakamoto-san can turn invisible, so you can pinch or squeeze them without being noticed, right? Go for it, go for it."
"Wh-What..."
"I mean, well, for the girls in the dressing room, you don't even need to turn invisible, do you? They're the type who'd proactively offer pillow business anyway."
"Do you even understand what you're saying right now?"
"Of course."
As if it were nothing at all, Rio declares.
"—Go to the dressing room right now, and touch the girls you're co-starring with."
Don't be ridiculous, I protest.
There's no way that would be allowed.
Because the youngest is fifteen, the oldest is nineteen, they're all still in school, they're beautiful girls, they're celebrities, they smell nice...
"No way... If I do that, I'm finished as a human being. I'll fall to a level where the local gropers won't even compare."
"But isn't there no other way? Nakamoto-san, you have no choice but to touch everyone one by one and find the culprit, right? And just so you know, after you're done fondling the girls? You'll have to touch the old men and the elderly too, okay?"
"...That's penance..."
"Right? After the fun, suffering awaits, so that'll be your atonement."
"So you admit it's a crime too!? Are you trying to turn me into a criminal?"
"I'd be totally happy if Nakamoto-san became more of a bad guy than he is now."
Licking her lips, Rio shows a dubious expression.
...This girl... does she also have the goal of raising me into the kind of heartless brute she likes...?
But, however, if we're going to find the otherworlder right now—
And if there's a high possibility they're lurking near me—
Then the girls I'm co-starring with are incredibly suspicious entities—
"Tch..."
"...I'm not saying you have to injure each one like with Emily. Just give them a slightly firm rub or pinch to check the hardness of their skin, that's all. Come on, come on, let's go to the dressing room."
I...
I... am...
With this right hand that created the Holy Sword, subdued monsters bare-handed, and conquered countless demon castles, I...
Am I going to thoroughly grope the soft skin of teenage girls...?
But, it's necessary to protect this world.
Even if my body is defiled, as long as my soul can remain a Hero, then—
"...You're right."
I clenched my right hand and nodded, looking into Rio's eyes.
To defeat evil, becoming a different kind of evil is the most efficient.
From this point on, my fingertips transform into a dark hero.
As if driven by something, I headed to the dressing room.
There, nearly thirty girls in total were waiting, turning it into a pink-hued space just like an all-girls school.
"Listen up, everyone."
The girls' chatter ceases.
Their gazes gather on me all at once.
...What intense pressure.
But, I can't afford to lose.
I steeled my resolve and let out the words.
"You want work, right? Then, let me touch your bodies right now."
And so.
I sold my soul to the devil, and fell into a JCJKJD groping-and-pinching hell.