In Academy City, the Paradise Project begins.

Page 41

Runzi.

"exist!"

Junko Hokaze immediately responded.

Misaki Shokuhou said, word by word:

"Go to my usual dessert shop and buy one of each of the limited edition desserts... and bring them back in packing. Right now!"

"Your Majesty!"

Junko Hokkaido and the other members' expressions changed. What's wrong with Her Majesty?

"Your sugar intake... is seriously excessive! And your weight today..."

Given Her Majesty's constitution, she would definitely gain weight if she ate it.

"Shut up!"

Misaki Shokuhou interrupted sharply, her puffed-up expression making it clear to everyone that Her Majesty the Queen was very unhappy.

"Today! I'm in charge! Are you going to disobey my orders?!"

She's not usually very assertive, but right now she just wanted to vent her frustrations with her favorite desserts.

Seeing the Queen's sudden change in mood, the faction members fell into a helpless silence.

A matter of vital importance to the future of Academy City—the Queen's physical and mental health and her figure management—seems to be facing an unprecedented and severe challenge, triggered by a certain piece of news!

Everyone in the faction now just wants to pick up their phones and see what kind of information they've seen that could have caused such a drastic change in the Queen.

Chapter 56 The Belated Celebration

After sending Misaki Shokuhou back to Tokiwadai, Higashino arrived at Item's usual gathering place. He pushed open the door, and the colorful ribbons that rushed towards him almost overwhelmed him.

Colorful pieces of paper fluttered in the air, with a pink ribbon hanging from the tip of his nose, swaying gently with his breath.

It was so itchy that even Higashino couldn't help but sneeze.

"Higashino is finally here!"

Frenda rushed over excitedly, holding a bottle of champagne that was shaking violently, with bubbles gushing out of the bottle.

"Ta-da! A special surprise champagne baptism! Surprise!"

"Wow! Frenda, well done!"

The silk flag loved to clap and cheer from the sidelines.

Before Higashino could react, the cold champagne was poured all over his head and face.

"Hey, hey! Frenda! Isn't this 'surprise' a bit too enthusiastic? My clothes are all soaked!"

Higashino wiped his face, looking at his soaked clothes and the smug blonde girl with a wry smile.

"So verbose!"

Kinuhata Saiai had somehow gotten behind him and suddenly shoved him.

"You're a full two hours late!" Mugino said angrily. "She just smashed a wine glass in a really scary way!"

She tried to imitate Mugino's gloomy expression, but her cute little expression wasn't quite right; Higashino actually thought it was quite adorable.

Higashino stumbled forward after being pushed, and bumped right in front of Mugino Shizuri.

She crossed her arms, narrowed her eyes dangerously, and let out a cold snort: "Hmph, where's the explanation, newbie?"

"S-Sorry!"

Under Mugino Shizuri's sharp glare that seemed to say, "Get away from me right now," Higashino quickly took a step back.

"On the way... we encountered a slight delay due to unforeseen circumstances..."

Even though it was only for a moment, there was a soft spot even in the fierce Mugino.

"The patient is somewhat weak..."

He tried to explain it more reasonably.

This isn't exactly a lie; the patient's physical strength is indeed worrying, and Misaki Shokuhou is undoubtedly the kind of person who's physically inept.

Well, she could have simply used her ability to fly back or teleport directly, but Shokuhou insisted that Higashino carry her all the way to the apartment building in Tokiwadai before she would get off, which naturally took longer than expected.

But he seemed to enjoy it nonetheless. After all, carrying such a lovely queen on his back was an opportunity many people could only dream of.

Moreover, Misaki Shokuhou's weight was nothing to him; on the contrary, she felt quite good in his hands.

"A 'weak' patient? And it took two hours?"

Mugino poked Higashino's chest with her finger, her tone full of sarcasm. She didn't believe a word of Higashino's nonsense, thinking he was just making excuses.

"Do you take me for a three-year-old, Higashino Yu?"

She snorted and grabbed a whole bottle of whiskey from the coffee table, slamming the bottom of the bottle down on the table.

"Stop talking nonsense! I don't care what happened between you and that 'weak' patient! Item's rule is, one minute late means one drink. Drink it!"

"Wait! Mugino! One cup a minute? Does that mean I have to drink 120 cups? That'll kill me!"

Higashino nervously retreated, but Kinuhata Saiai firmly grabbed his arms from behind; her strength was astonishing.

"That's right~ This is the price you pay for wasting the precious time of four beautiful young women!"

Frenda grinned mischievously as she pulled out her phone to record a video, pointing the camera at Higashino.

"A video of a newly promoted Level 5 getting completely wrecked, tsk tsk, it'd definitely fetch a good price if sold to a gossip magazine. Takitsubo, don't you think?"

Takitsubo Riko's weak voice came from the corner of the sofa: "Mugino...maybe we should just forget about it? Higashino-kun probably didn't mean it..."

Her voice trailed off under Mugino's sharp gaze. Mugino's authority was unquestionable, and she didn't want to be treated unfairly.

I'm sorry, Mr. Higashino, you'd better pray for yourself.

"Takitsubo, you're too soft-hearted!"

Frenda interrupted while recording the video.

"We must strike hard against these guys who stand people up! The fact that they haven't locked him up is already the greatest mercy!"

I totally agree!

Kinuhata nodded vigorously, pressing Higashino, who was trying to struggle, down even tighter.

"A man should pay the price for breaking his promise!"

"Did you hear that? The voice of the people."

Mugino smiled, poured a large glass of whiskey, and handed it to Higashino.

"Drink!"

With the "assistance" of the three girls and the silent observation of Takitsubo, Higashino almost reluctantly drank an entire bottle of strong liquor.

After all, he was indeed in the wrong, so it was only right that he was punished.

However, this alcohol has a pretty high alcohol content. You're all minors, right? Doesn't Academy City prohibit selling alcohol to you?

He wiped his burning throat as he thought this, only then noticing that Item's base had completely changed. The walls were covered with hand-painted banners in various styles that read "Congratulations on your promotion to Level 5" (one of which was clearly an abstract portrait of Higashino drawn by Frenda). There were more than a dozen empty wine bottles piled up in the corner, and a huge three-tiered cake was placed in the center of the coffee table. The top tier had "Higashino-kun is the best" written crookedly in whipped cream, and next to it was a cartoon image of Higashino.

"This cake..."

Higashino was somewhat moved, yet also speechless as he looked at the wild look.

"Super expensive!"

Kinuhata had already cut off a large piece and stuffed it into her mouth, her lips covered in cream.

"It used up our entire week's budget! It was Frenda who chose it; she said only the most expensive one could match the new Level 5!"

Mugino pulled a crumpled receipt from her pocket and shook it: "But..."

She gave a somewhat satisfied look.

"Thanks to a newly promoted Level 5, the funding has increased by 80% since then."

She nodded in satisfaction. Although she was a genuine heiress and didn't lack money, the money she received as a salary felt completely different from the money her family provided.

Frenda skipped over and whispered mysteriously, "Hey, newbie~"

She shook her phone screen, and there it was a photo of Higashino holding hands with Misaki Shokuhou at an amusement park.

"Tell me the truth, did you go on a date with that 'Mind Control' young lady? Does therapy require riding a Ferris wheel at an amusement park? Hmm?"

Looking at the photo, Higashino shook his head without batting an eye, and said righteously, "Frenda, you're slandering me! It's treatment, very serious treatment. Look, I even have the appointment record from the Tokiwadai Health Center here."

He made a gesture as if to take out his phone.

"Hmph! Liar!"

Frenda made an exaggerated, outstretched gesture, mimicking Shokuhou's tone.

"'Higashino-kun~ I can't walk anymore~ Carry me!' Does the treatment require holding hands and feeding me marshmallows? I've taken pictures of all of that!"

She proudly showed off another photo.

"Hey! Frenda, your paparazzi skills are too professional! Did you switch careers from being a paparazzi? Besides, Shokuhou never said anything like that, so stop making up stories that didn't exist!"

Higashino tried to snatch the phone, but Kinuhata stopped him.

"The rookie who's a master liar!"

Kinuhata suddenly slapped the remaining half of the cake in her hand onto Higashino's face, and cream splattered all over his face with a "smack," slid comically down his nose.

"Does treatment really require laughing so happily on a carousel? Do you think we're stupid?!"

She pointed to a photo on Frenda's phone of Higashino and Shokuhou laughing on a rocking horse.

"Kinuhata loves this! You should try this cake too!"

Higashino instantly wiped the cream off his face with his ability and was about to retaliate against the attacker when he suddenly felt a chill down his back and a powerful sense of oppression came over him.

Mugino had silently appeared behind him without him noticing, her long brown hair falling over his shoulder, her breath carrying the scent of alcohol as she breathed into his ear, her voice low and dangerous: "The photographic evidence is irrefutable, Higashino Yu... what else do you have to say in your defense?"

"Misunderstanding! A huge misunderstanding!"

Higashino's hair stood on end, and he abruptly took two steps back, his back slamming against the wall with a thud, leaving him nowhere to retreat.

"That's just... uh... necessary emotional reassurance during the treatment process! Yes! Emotional reassurance! Look, isn't Shokuhou-kun smiling happily? That shows the treatment is very effective!"

He forced an explanation.

Takitsubo Riko's soft, sweet voice rang out, pointing at Higashino: "Actually... Mugino asked us... to use my ability to locate it... We... secretly went to the vicinity of the amusement park... and saw it..."

Her voice trailed off, her face flushed slightly, as if she were a little embarrassed about participating in the "tailing".

"Takitsubo?!"

Higashino looked at her in shock, then suddenly realized.

"I was wondering what was going on! Turns out you were the one who tracked my location! You used AIM to pinpoint my location?"

At the time, there was indeed a strange feeling, but since he didn't sense any malice, Higashino didn't pay much attention to it. It turned out that there were several tails following him all the way.

Takitsubo guiltily turned his head away, not daring to look at Higashino.

Takitsubo, your ability... it's really too overpowered to find people! If I have a chance to be alone with you, I definitely have to win Takitsubo over first. In Higashino's opinion, her ability is much more troublesome than Mugino's Level 5 ability.

Mugino's lips curled into an even more dangerous smile. She slowly raised her right hand, this time not to retrieve whiskey, but to pick up an unopened bottle of beer from the coffee table. With a "click," she deftly pried open the cap with a bottle opener.

"You don't actually think the punishment is over, do you?"

She asked slowly and deliberately, pointing the bottle at Higashino.

“That bottle was just an appetizer. The information fee for Takitsubo, the copyright fee for Frenda's photos, and the compensation for my emotional distress... all have to be paid with alcohol.”

"Wait! Mugino! Even the god of wine needs a break, right?"

Higashino felt his stomach protesting.

"How about we grab something to eat first? This cake looks pretty good..."

"Extremely weak!"

Kinuhata Saiai also grabbed a bottle, flicked her finger, and the bottle cap flew off.