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Classmate wa Isekai de Yuusha ni Natta kedo, Ore dake Gendai Nihon ni Okizari ni Narimashita - Chapter 61

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Chapter 61 – I Had to Play the Villain Part 1

"Good morning! Did I keep you waiting long?"

"N-No, not at all..."

The plaza in front of the station was bustling with young couples flirting in the summer heat—it was summer vacation, after all.

Until recently, I’d always been one of those people who looked at them and thought, "Ugh, just go explode already."
Who could’ve possibly predicted that I’d end up in their shoes?

"...Straighten up, would you? If you fidget around in that outfit, we won’t catch anything."

"...Y-Yeah, I know."

This was a mission to bait a target—or rather, a play.
And since we were already on stage, panicking wasn’t an option anymore.

Taking a deep breath to steel myself, I turned to the beautiful brown-haired girl standing beside me.

"Alright, let’s get going, Arisa..."

"Mmhm. Let’s go, Shuuji...-kun."

Disguised with her usual expert technique, Alicia had transformed into a completely different person.
Meanwhile, I had cast a Recognition Inhibition Spell on myself so that anyone other than Alicia would perceive me as just some flirtatious playboy.

Together, we headed for an amusement complex near the station.

But how did Alicia and I end up going on this fake date in disguise?

To understand that, we need to go back to the day we stormed that flying fortress.

"We'll be transporting them to the designated hospital. Enemy interference is possible, so remain alert."

"Understood. Sorry for calling you out this late at night."

"Just following the leader's orders. With your leave."

Saluting Alicia, the subordinate dressed as a paramedic climbed into an ambulance—one owned by the organization she worked for—and drove off, sirens wailing, from this apartment complex known as Safehouse #6.

"It’s hot. Let’s go back to the room."

"Y-Yeah... sounds good."

I had been zoning out as I watched them leave, until Alicia called me back to reality.
Still half-dazed, I replied and followed her inside.

The interrogation of the teens who had worn the Hero Suits ended quickly.

Apparently, the suits themselves had undergone special modification and enchantments, but the wearers were merely brainwashed—under the influence of a Recognition Inhibition Spell and a delusion that “We are absolutely right.”

Once we figured out how to remove the suits, we used Alicia’s specialty—guided interrogation—along with the inhibition spell to try extracting more info from them.

But—

"...It’s never that easy, huh."

I muttered while staring at the Hero Suit spread wide across the living room floor.

In the end, almost all the information we got was either something we already knew or had suspected.

Everyone who wore a Hero Suit had once been rescued by a “Hero.”
Afterward, they were invited to that airborne fortress and given a custom-made suit.

Apparently, the suits were tailored based on each individual’s personality and aptitude by someone referred to as either the “Hero-sama” or “Commander.”

This Hero-sama rarely appeared, secluding himself in the deepest part of the flying fortress.
He was only seen once a week, and only by whoever had made the greatest contributions that week.

Up to that point, everything aligned perfectly with what we’d already learned through the water magic puppet we’d infiltrated the fortress with.

Now, here’s the new intel:

The “Heroes” were given a kind of quota—specifically, to recruit new Heroes.

Each night, the monitor installed in their suit's shared holder would display news of a villain causing trouble and the villain’s location.
They were then instructed to go deal with the threat.

After defeating the villain using the Hero Suit’s overwhelming power, they’d deliver a letter to the victim—usually a boy or girl—inviting them to join.
If the person accepted and showed up, the recruiter would receive something called Hero Points.

These points could be used to upgrade their suit—or to earn an audience with Hero-sama.

Only one Hero was allowed to confront each villain, so if you wanted to earn more points, speed and Suit enhancement became crucial.

In short, despite calling themselves a Hero Squad, they were actually rivals, competing for points.

(Ugh... I feel sick again...)

The memory of those same Heroes screaming at each other in petty arguments was still fresh.

All that raw, ugly emotion spilling out from behind their “Hero” masks... it was disgusting—so much so that I almost threw up watching it.

If not for Alicia’s masterful manipulation, the whole thing might’ve spiraled out of control.

(Yeah... Skills like Appraisal are best used only on strangers you have zero emotional investment in...)

But I digress.

There was only one notable piece of new information—though it deepened the mystery more than anything:

"To think... not a single one of them remembers what Hero-sama’s face looks like."

Letting out a heavy sigh, Alicia sat down on the couch and began tapping away on her tablet.

"Yeah," I replied weakly, and with her permission, sank into the sofa beside her.

The girl in the rose-pink Hero Suit—Rose Pink Baroness—claimed to have met Hero-sama once.
Others wearing suits said the same.

And yet, bizarrely, none of them remembered anything about the encounter.

Still, they all spoke of meeting him with overwhelming pride, and were desperate to earn more points just to meet him again.

At this point, it was hard not to think that this “Hero-sama” was some kind of brainwashing monster.

That was all the information we got from interrogating the suit-wearers.

(The fortress hasn’t made any moves either... So what the hell do we do next?)

We didn’t know how the villains—i.e., the prey used for Hero Point farming—were chosen.
We had no idea what our next step should be.

"...Actually, this might just work."

While I was lost in thought, Alicia suddenly stood up with a spark of inspiration, eyes glued to her tablet.

Then, turning to face me, she flashed a bright smile and said:

"Hey, want to go on a date with me sometime?"

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