Chaoskouji

Arc 2 Chapter 7 - Setup

Sakura was indeed meeting with someone as I had suspected. It wasn't clear why she was, but from the look on her face, and the way her body wouldn't stop shaking slightly, it was obvious she didn't want to be there.

"Wait, is that... I heard about him, he's the creepy pervert shop owner, isn't he!" It seemed Ichinose had heard the rumours that had been spreading around campus about him.

"Yeah, he is. When I saw him the other day, he couldn't take his eyes off Sakura. I wonder why she'd meet him."

"I don't know, but we gotta- hey Ayanokouji-kun let go. We have to go help Sakura-san."

I had grabbed Ichinose tightly and pulled her back as she moved to go around the corner.

"First of all, be quiet, you're going to get us noticed. Second, nothing has happened yet, so we really don't have the right to interfere."

It was true, and Ichinose knew it, but I could tell she didn't like it. She relaxed her attempts to escape my grip and contented herself with simply watching for now.

Both of them were quite a way down the alley. It wasn't feasible for the two of us to sneak closer, so we couldn't hear what was being said, but it was obvious something was wrong when the store owner grabbed Sakura and pushed her against the wall.

"!" Ichinose tried to yell out loud at this, and force her way down the alley to stop him, but this time covering her mouth, I once again pulled her back.

"Ichinose. Don't be an idiot and use your brain. We can't stop him, all we can do is watch."

"But Sakura-san, she's in danger!"

"Yes, so do the one thing you can do. Go get campus security, bring them back. I'll stay here and record it, so there's enough evidence to lock him up."

"But—"

It seemed Ichinose couldn't rationalize well in such a situation. It was understandable. As we looked on, Sakura's blouse was torn off, curled up on the ground against the wall, a nightmare scenario to all women in the world. Ichinose must be incredibly sympathetic to Sakura's plight right now, impacting her cognitive functions. It was left to me to handle the situation.

"Go, as fast as you can. If it gets worse, I'll try and stop him."

"But... Ok, Ayanokouji-kun, I trust you."

With that, Ichinose turned and ran off towards the security station in the mall. In event of an emergency, there was a number that every phone had pre-programmed in for students to call, but it seemed Ichinose had forgotten that, and I wasn't going to remind her.

No, Sakura was going to suffer for as long as possible.

I estimated it would take Ichinose about thirty seconds at her current speed to get to the security stall, another 30 for any guards or policemen to be mobilized and return here to catch him. That gave me a good 40 seconds to wait and allow the situation to escalate as far as possible. To pass the time, I took out my phone and started filming, like I told Ichinose I would.

As I waited, I watched the situation unfurl from around the corner. The store owner had pulled Sakura up, groping her breasts as his licked his lips. His pants had reached his ankles, a noticeable bulge growing in his underpants. and it was at this point I decided the situation had gone on long enough.

"Now what depraved act could possibly be occurring here?"

I made my way down the alley, sneaking up behind them both before introducing myself into the situation.

The store clerk turned, shocked at hearing another person, and upon seeing me standing behind him, dropped Sakura, shock and fear rippling over his face.