The Angel of the Newspaper
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· original author:
alphadragon
"Oh, thank god that's over." You groaned, collapsing face-first onto your desk after the bell finally rang.

Due to your tardy entry after your (un)fortunate and literal run-in with Mio and her vice president, Matsuno-Sensei had been quite peeved with your interruption. Whilst she didn't make you stand outside for disrupting her class, she proved to be the brutal taskmaster when it came to her teaching style. You had no time to appreciate the eye-candy that was your busty teacher as she started the lesson the moment you sat down, and all your attention was focused on just keeping up.

It really drove home just how different the education system was between your previous school and this one as you scribbled away, counting the seconds before this horrible lesson comes to an end.

"Don't tell me it's going to be like this every day?" You mumbled to no one in particular.

(((Hate to tell you this bud, but it'll be even worse from here on.)))

"Huh?"

(((Shujin, think about it. This school is a government-sanctioned institute for educating young superpowered teens to enter modern society. Do you really think a standard curriculum would be to handle all the usual high-school drama with some potentially dangerous abilities thrown into the mix? Nuh-uh. That's just a trainwreck waiting to happen, so obviously the course work here is going to be far more stringent than anything you'll find in a normie school.)))

You groaned, "Let me guess, I'm going to be doing combat training later?”

(((Damn straight Skippy.)))

Yay.

(((Hey, don’t be like that. How about this. You just let your inner child and pretend you’re at Xavier’s School of Gifted Youngsters and they’re training you to be an X-man. I bet the ladies will love having a superpowered boyfriend.)))

“Ain't I the only schmuck in school that doesn’t have a power.”

(((Well, that would have been true a couple days ago, but not anymore…unless you’re thinking about being one of those ‘Eminence in the Shadow’ types. The overpowered mob hiding in the background, only to swoop in at the last moment to save the damsel in distress.)))

You glared in the direction that you thought the Narrator’s voice was coming from.

That’s…no. Just no.

For as nice as that sounded in your head, reality wasn't such a nice place. If anyone found out about your new powers, you'd probably end up strapped to a table in some underground lab or forcefully recruited into some shadow organization that'll make your life hell.

So, no.

You had perfectly valid reasons for not showing off your powers.

You weren't some Chuunibyou!

You were Shujin Kou, the Harem Protagonist, not some delusion eighth grader living out their power fantasy.



“Crap.”

(((Done yet?”)))

You answered with an annoyed grunt before dragging yourself out of your seat. Squeezing through the bustling crowd of students, you nabbed your textbook out of your locker and quickly walked to your next class. After Matsuno-Sensei's spartan lesson, you weren't going to risk being tardy yet again.

"Um, excuse me." A feminine voice called out behind you. "Shujin Kou?"

Skidding to a halt, you winced when you turned around, temporarily blinded by the glare of the morning sunlight. Squinting till your eyes adjusted, the silhouette in front of you came into focus with the beaming rays radiated off the girl's auburn hair forming a halo around her head. And despite this being your first meeting with her, you knew exactly who this girl was.

"K-Kiyoko." You muttered dumbly, staring.

Damn, you should’ve known since coming to this world but the Live 2D from the game really didn’t do any of these girls’ justice.

“Oh? You already know who I am.” She smiled happily.

Of course, you did!

There wasn’t a single student here that hasn’t at least heard of her. She like the school’s Darling, the Angel of the Newspaper club, and the Virgin of the Camera. She rivaled Izumi in terms of popularity amongst the boys and for good reason too. There were even legends that spoke of your upperclassmen’s quests to acquire nudes of her. But so far those remained only mythos, as none have yet to succeed, but that wasn’t from any lack of trying.

“You’re in the grade below mine, aren’t you?” You asked, recalling this scene from the game, but now with a few of the original Shujin’s memories mixed in. “Weren’t you the one that interviewed Hotaru after she accidently blew up the school’s old storage shed last year?”

“Yep, that was me.” she nodded, her face lighting up at your observation and the large bulges hidden underneath her uniform shook with the motion. “I’m surprised you know that. Not many people bother reading the newspaper anymore and back then I wasn't as well-known compared to some of my senpais, though now that I have a look at you...hmm."

Kiyoko scanned you up and down.

You got a rather uncomfortable feeling as she did so.

“Aha!” She snapped her fingers. “I thought I recognized the name. You’re Hotaru’s childhood friend, aren’t you?"

"Uh-huh, that's me." You nodded, "Hotaru's one and only childhood friend/assistant."

"That's great!" Kiyoko beamed, "What is it like working with her? Do you do any other wild experiments? Oh, what were some of the crazier things you two done? Is it true that she built a flying car? Or was that when she tried to make her own plane? Did she really invent a shrink ray? Tell me! Tell me!" She chittered excitedly, unconsciously moving closer with each question till she was almost nose to nose with you.

"Whoa, there." You held up your hands, careful not to bump the twin bulges nearly pressing against your chest and to physically stop the tide of questions. "Which one do you want me to answer?"

"All of them!"

"Sorry," You shook your head, a wry smile on your lips. "Those are classified, unfortunately. If you want any details, you're gonna have to ask Hotaru herself."

"Boo." Kiyoko pouted playfully. "Well can you at least answer this one? Were you with Hotaru when she blew up the storage shed?"

“Well...maybe.” You answered vaguely.

It wasn’t an evening that you’d forget, especially the part with you fleeing for your life with an excited Hotaru in tow under your arm as said storage shed exploded into a billowing mushroom cloud of burning wood and concrete. That particular experiment had failed spectacularly and from what you heard on the news; they’re still finding pieces of it over in the town of Koho, nearly 5 miles away. You still wonder why Hotaru thought experimenting with nitroglycerine of all things was safe.

And let’s just say that the fire marshal had not been happy with them that evening.

“Hmph, I sure you weren’t then.” Kiyoko gave you a knowing smile, but it faltered as she started to shuffle nervously in place, “Anyways Shujin, its been nice talking to you, but um...I didn't stop just for that but well, if it’s not too much trouble for you, would you please consider signing this?” She brandished a piece of paper right under your nose.

Blinking, you skimmed over the contents of the document.

“Was this for?”

“It’s a petition that I’m collecting signatures for.”

“Oh. What are you petition against this time?”

“The destruction of childhood dreams and memories.” She answered with a hollow-eyed look.

“Eh?”

“Wait! Wait! Wait!” She quickly shook her head, as well as her arms when you started to back away. “Th-That came out wrong, I mean the city is planning to tear down the old neighborhood playground. I’m petitioning to put a stop to it.”

“Ah.” You nodded, recalling how her introductory scene went.

'That's right.' you internally mused, 'If I remember the scene correctly, I'm supposed to say "Well you're looking at the King of the Monkey Bars" then she'll say that I'll lose my title if they tear it down and turn it into a dog park.' You mentally shook your head at how dumb Shujin in the story had acted. 'Honestly, if it wasn't for our mutual interest in harem manga, I don't think I would have a chance with her.'

Kiyoko's eyebrows twitched but you didn't notice.

"So, Shujin." Kiyoko gave you a disarming sweet smile, "Will you consider signing it?"
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March 23