Thanks to the novelty of the new environment, the three afternoon classes flew by.

Right now we were on our way to the hidden passage house. Originally, the two busiest people in our group—Meow-Meow and Sis Xi—had planned to head straight home, but since Haitang said to meet there, they ended up coming along too.

The atmosphere at the girls’ campus was actually pretty great. Even the laziest students, if surrounded by hardworking classmates, would push themselves just to keep up. No one wants to fall too far behind the pack, and even the worst student ends up improving.

Humans are like that—until you switch environments, you never realize how much you’re actually capable of.

“Ugh, Commander! I can’t take it anymore!” Xiao Lei groaned, clutching her head. “The classes here are way too fast! I can’t keep up at all!”

…Okay, maybe not everyone benefits from that principle. I ruffled her hair and comforted her. “You’ve been working hard. Let’s start some study sessions later, alright?”

“I’ll help too,” Rinka added.

Then I turned to the blonde idol. “I know Rinka’s a straight-A student, but how about you, Meow Meow, and Sis Xi? How do you two do in class?”

“Us?” Meow Meow wasn’t shy about it. “We’re both a bit below average. We’ve got too many things going on outside of school. But if I went all out, I could make it into the top tier.”

Confident, huh? Well… I’ve had that mysterious confidence too—thinking, If I just try, I can totally do it. But when crunch time comes, you realize you’re not as smart as you thought, and steady effort still wins out in the end.

Speaking of grades, I couldn’t help thinking about senior Li Jianlian—working part-time while keeping excellent marks—and turned to Qiuluo, who’d been silently following behind us.

“Since senior Li’s grades are so good, I bet yours weren’t bad either when you were in school, right, Sis Qiuluo?”

“No, no, no!” She shook her head so fast her big, fluffy ponytail swished around like a squirrel’s tail. “If you think a smart little brother means the big sister’s the same, you couldn’t be more wrong! Even in the same family, the difference can be huge!”

So… Qiuluo isn’t the scholarly type? Figures. If she were, she probably wouldn’t have ended up in security—a job that’s mostly about physical work.

“By the way, isn’t it about time for you to clock out? Won’t your part time job be affected?”

“Oh… I guess it is about time to head to work…”

She glanced hesitantly at Rinka. After all, she’d been assigned as my guard, so she couldn’t just leave.

“Go ahead, it’s fine. It’s just a short walk—I’ll be safe.”

Rinka gave a small nod, approving my decision, but Qiuluo actually looked disappointed.

“Wait… so I’m off guard duty? Am I fired?”

“It means you can come back tomorrow!”

…

When we got back to the small house, Haitang was already there waiting for us. From upstairs, a voice called out, “O-nii-cha~n!” and down bounded Tangerine. In the corner, Fei was making tea, the whole room filled with the soothing fragrance of green tea.

But there was also someone unexpected.

When we walked in, the girl beside Haitang pulled off her baseball cap—decorated with a skull badge—revealing her wide forehead. Beaming, she came running over.

“Long time no see, Sister Lingmeng! Sister Xiao Lei! Oh—and Sister Meow Meow and Sister Xi too!”

It was Fei’s “little sister,” Huangfu Jing. She was wearing the Biyang Girls’ uniform, and the next moment she flung herself straight into Meow Meow’s arms.

“You transferred too? Rinka didn’t tell us anything!”

“It was only decided over the weekend~ I just finished the paperwork today.”

“She’s in middle school, right? Guess Tangerine won’t be alone there anymore.”

“Your worry is wasted, Onii–chan. I’ve got plenty of friends there!”

“By ‘friends,’ you don’t just mean a cat, right?”

Sure enough, that beautiful white shorthair was pacing by her feet.

“Cats are friends,” Tangerine huffed, “but I’m talking about classmates. Humans!”

“I was joking. You’re cute, Tangerine—of course you’d have plenty of friends.”

“Obviously!” she said proudly, puffing out her chest. “Still, I wanna hang out with Onii–chan… ah, wait, now I should call you Onee–chan?”

“No need to change it. I’ll stop transforming soon enough anyway.”

It hit me then—ever since I got this notebook, almost three months had passed. Haitang and Huangfu Jing aside, everyone else in this room is a girl transformed. What a strange scene.

Surrounded by flowers, yet not a single one for me to pick.

Once everyone gathered and the greetings done, Rinka asked, “So, Haitang, what did you call us here for?”

“Glad you asked!”

Haitang slapped the tea table, sprang to her feet, and with dramatic flair declared, “I hereby announce—the founding of the God of Bishoujo Support Association!”

“Hold up!” Meow Meow, who’d been chatting with Jing a second earlier, blinked. “The what?”

“The God of Bishoujo Support Association,” Haitang repeated, word by word. “Exactly what it sounds like. I want everyone to support Commander. With great power comes great responsibility. Since he’s been given this power, he should use it to help more people— and not just be satisfied with the one-person-a-month quota.”

Ugh.

That already sounded like way too much trouble.
Great power, great responsibility? Please.
I’m not here to be Spider-Man.
I just want to hit my quota and go home to play my games.

Meow Meow pressed on. “And why exactly are you assuming we’re all in?”

“Because you were the first ones to benefit from this power. The Commander changed your unlucky fates. Don’t you want to help others who are just as unfortunate? Well it doesn’t involve fighting—but this is just what allies of justice should do.”

And this—this—was why I didn’t want to tell Haitang in the first place. She’s already treating me like a tool. Her ideals are fine, but she’s bossy as hell.

“Actually,” I said, “there’s one thing about the divine assessment I haven’t told you. For everyone whose name is written in the notebook, I’m responsible for their safety. And… this is unlucky to say, but if even one of them dies due to an accident within the year, I fail the assessment.”

I sighed. “Look, I appreciate your passion, but the safest way to pass is to keep the numbers down. The more people there are, the bigger the risk for me.”

“What happens if you fail?” Haitang asked, eyebrows raised.

“The notebook grants blessings of happiness. But if I fail… I get cursed with the worst luck imaginable. Could even die from it.”

“Then we just need to be careful choosing targets. Making it through a year shouldn’t be too hard, right? So—anyone joining?”

She wasn’t letting go of the idea. Thanks to her dad, she had this starry-eyed admiration for heroic justice.

“I’m in,” Rinka said first. “If we all work together, we can at least help Lingmeng-chan hit the quota. Besides, three months are already gone—just nine left. It’ll go by fast.”

Then Fei, Xiao Lei, Tangerine, and Sis Xi raised their hands. Meow Meow sighed but joined in too. Even little Jing—who didn’t know what was going on—followed suit.

Aside from me, it was unanimous. Not that it mattered; Haitang would ignore my veto anyway…

“Perfect! The student council will join too!” Haitang clapped, looking very pleased. Seeing my helpless expression, she added, “Don’t worry, Commander. For anyone who needs saving, we’ll run a full investigation before you get involved.”

Righteous as ever.

It’s not that I’m scared—it’s that they’re talking big without realizing I’m the one who’ll suffer if we fail.

So I played my trump card.

“If I pass this assessment, my master—the current God of Bishoujo—promised to tell me where my mom is. I have every reason not to fail.”

“…Sorry, Commander.”

That one hit home. Even Haitang, stubborn as she was, bowed her head after a moment’s hesitation.

“I just don’t want you dumping a bunch of trouble on me. But if we really find someone deeply unlucky, I’ll help.”

“You don’t have to say it. I know.”

“After all,” Rinka added, “you went out of your way to help Senior Li even when he couldn’t meet your quota.”

In the end, we reached a sort of compromise.

For now, Haitang’s group would only gather information on the unlucky around the school. If they found enough to go on, I would decide whether to take action. Even if that meant their work went to waste, I had final say.

And so, the strangely named God of Bishoujo Support Association was born. Our mission: help the unfortunate while keeping risks to an absolute minimum.

And this little hideout? From now on, it would be our base of operations—the place where legend and revolution would begin… probably.