Academy’s Drunk Fighter

The convenience store door opened.
Inside, I bought two things.
Some disgustingly expensive chocolate—and a syringe.

No idea why a convenience store sells syringes, but…
“That’ll be 12,000 won.”
“…Yeah.”

Even though I’d only bought two items, the price was enough to make my hands shake as I handed over my card and stepped back outside.
Rustle.
I peeled back the wrapper through the crinkling plastic bag.
What emerged were little black, spherical chocolates.

To deal with the academy’s no-alcohol policy, I’d come up with something simple… but truly groundbreaking.
It’s something often used in anime and manga to show heroines acting drunk—
Alcohol chocolates.

Not just chocolates flavored with alcohol—these were hollow chocolates filled with real liquor of a decent proof.
These hollow chocolates are often called bonbons, so if I had to give it a name—
“Alcohol Bonbon?”

…Yeah, let’s not name it. Doesn’t matter anyway.
Back in my previous life’s country, making homemade alcohol chocolates was banned, so I wouldn’t have been able to do this.
But this is another world.

No law from my past life can bind me here.
Plus, in this world, you can even buy alcohol chocolates at big supermarkets.
“Nghh…”
Even so, the reason I was squatting on the ground and injecting liquor into chocolates by hand was simple.

I’m broke.
Once again, stuck in the same cycle.
Even doing it manually—injecting liquor into chocolate by hand—still cost me a whopping 12,000 won, not even counting labor.

There’s no way a perfectly processed factory-made product would be cheaper than this.
Instead of paying more for a ready-made item, I had to move my body and find a cheaper way—if I wanted to survive until next month.
Yeah. This wasn’t about taste. It was a desperate, pitiful grab at survival.

Squeeeeeze.
Squatting there, I injected liquor into every chocolate. By the time I was done, the morning sun had risen to light up the sky.
“Whew… done!”

They looked pretty damn good, if I say so myself. I wrapped them back in their packaging and stuffed them into a paper tube.
Time for a taste test.
I took one chocolate from the bunch and popped it into my mouth.

Crunch.
“Mmh…!”
Sweetness spread across my tongue, followed by a faint bitterness—but the chocolate was so sweet it masked most of it.

Honestly, the sugar mellowed the taste of alcohol enough that you wouldn’t even notice it unless you were looking for it.
Put simply—it was delicious.
I hadn’t expected it to work this well. A little impressed with myself, I gently packed the rest of the chocolates and slung the container over my shoulder.

“The smell…”
I was worried the alcohol scent might seep through the wrapping, but the strong sugary smell came out first, making it hard to notice anything else.
Now it all depended on who was in charge of student item inspections.

If it was just someone with a physical- or sense-type ability, I could probably slip through.
The physical-types were usually more about brute-forcing bad behavior, and the sense-types wouldn’t necessarily catch the smell unless they were focused on it.
The real problem was if it was someone who could see or sense beyond that level.

In that case, I might get caught…
“Well… guess I’ll find out.”
I couldn’t just give up without trying anything.

Crunch.
I popped one more chocolate into my mouth and started walking toward the academy.
 

****
The front gate of Central Academy.
Dozens—maybe hundreds—of students passed beneath the gigantic structure.

There, Noah and the senior student council member were inspecting incoming students’ uniforms and prohibited weapons.
‘I wonder what happened to that girl…’
“No—!”

‘She’s not actually going to skip school completely, right?’
“Noah—!!”
‘The gate’s about to close…’

“Noah!”
“Ah, yes!!”
“What are you daydreaming about? I’ve been calling your name.”

“Ah, I’m sorry.”
“The gate closes soon. Get ready.”
“Right…”

She had arrived early today and had been tasked with gate duty—she felt she was doing a decent job.
But even after checking students for what felt like forever, she couldn’t get that girl out of her head.
There was only one official entrance, so she figured she’d see her again eventually—but it was already almost time for the gate to close, and still no sign of the girl.

“You handled it well for your first day. We rotate gate duty weekly, so it’ll be just you and me this time around.”
“…Okay.”
“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”
Just as she thought, Maybe she’s not coming after all, a white-haired girl came running from afar, panting heavily.
“H-Haaahk…!”

“She’s here.”
“Oh, you were waiting for her?”
That stark white hair was visible even from a distance.

Seeing the clear relief on Noah’s face, the senior next to her seemed to catch on and asked casually.
“…Just, something in the morning with her had me a bit concerned.”
“Yeah? Wait, isn’t she that girl who caused a scene at the entrance ceremony?”

“Uh…”
[8:30]
And then the girl, slipping on the pavement, slid right past the gate.

“Safe!”
“Yup, you made it on time.”
“Huh? Noah-ssi, you were on gate duty today?”

“Apparently… Wait, did I tell you my name?”
“I saw your student ID hanging from your neck.”
“Ah.”

Right—she’d been wearing it since she left home earlier. It’d be weirder not to know her name.
“Well, I see you two are friendly and all, but I still need to check your items.”
“Here you go.”

“W-We’re not exactly friends…”
The girl’s face looked vaguely nervous as she handed over her belongings—but all she had were a few boxes of chocolate.
“Chocolate? Getting ready for White Day?”

“Y-Yeah, something like that?”
“……………”
‘Huh?’

At that moment, Noah caught a scent she recognized.
It was clearly the sweet smell of chocolate from inside the packaging—but mixed within that sweetness was something strange… and familiar.
It smelled suspiciously like the bottle the girl had been holding earlier…

“…Huh?”
“What is it? Something wrong?”
“Um… it’s just…”

Her upperclassman didn’t seem to have noticed the faint scent, but Noah definitely had.
And she began to think.
That anxious look on the girl’s face.

She was keeping a perfect poker face, but Noah could still sense something strange behind it.
So that must mean…
Noah’s brain kicked into overdrive.

The girl who had caused a drunken scene at the entrance ceremony. The liquor bottle she had earlier. The moment Noah told her that alcohol and cigarettes were banned on campus. Her being late. Her current behavior.
Everything started connecting.
“……”

And then—her conclusion:
“Don’t tell me she hid alcohol inside the chocolates…”
No—this possibility seemed all too obvious now.

“Um… is it okay if I go now?”
As the second-year student council president, Noah had the authority. She should speak up.
She should say she smelled something strange. That they’d have to open the chocolates and check, and she’d even compensate if necessary.

That was her duty.
But why couldn’t she say it?
“Is it really just that she ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ likes drinking?”

No—that one sentence from earlier, “If I don’t drink, I’ll die,” kept echoing in her head.
Even though the girl had brushed it off herself, for some reason, Noah couldn’t let it go.
“You got something to say?”

“………….”
And Noah made her choice.
“No, nothing…”

“Okay then, let’s close up. You go on in too.”
“…Thank you.”
She knew it was probably something she’d regret later. She knew it was something she shouldn’t have done.

But for some reason, she had the feeling—this wasn’t something to stop.
So Noah chose instinct over logic.
“I’ll ask her later.”

Just holding onto that decision.
And just like that, the girl's alcohol chocolate smuggling operation ended in complete success.
No bribes. Nothing but pure protective instinct.

 
****
“Whew… That seriously scared the hell out of me.”

I really thought I was caught for a second there.
No, actually—under normal circumstances, I should have been caught.
Because the Noah on gate duty today had a talent that made her especially good at this sort of thing.

[Trait – Sense of Discrepancy]
That was her trait.
Noah’s ability becomes heightened in situations where something feels off or deviates from her experience.

With it, she can detect bombs hidden in places no one could find, or perceive sensations completely beyond the range of normal people.
It’s not just about having heightened senses—if she hones it further, it’s said to be powerful enough to even avoid death.
That was Noah’s Sense of Discrepancy.

In the game, it was well-known on community boards as a trait that gave huge returns despite its risks.
“Then why didn’t she catch me?”
Given all that, I absolutely should have been caught.

But Noah let it slide without saying a word.
“Did she… let me off on purpose…?”
No, that didn’t make sense.

The Noah I remembered was an ultra-by-the-book character who always acted according to her sense of right and wrong.
That’s why she stuck to her duties to the very end—until a certain incident led to her death before a month had even passed.
So the idea that she noticed and still let it go?

Honestly, it was hard to imagine.
Though… I did get the feeling she was being a little nicer to me than how she usually treated the player in-game.
“Hmm…”

I didn’t really get it, but hey—if I got away with it, it’s fine, right?
I popped another chocolate in my mouth and decided to just roll with it.
If it worked, it worked.

Maybe my packaging job was just too perfect. Yeah.
With that thought, I unwrapped one more chocolate, popped it in my mouth, and walked off toward my assigned location.