Rikuto Suzuki is a second-year high school student with a secret hobby. He secretly listens to audio recordings of a mother punishing her daughter for breaking curfew—the sound of spanking and crying makes his heart race. He thinks he's weird but can't stop.
One day on his way home, Rikuto finds an old button in an alley. When he presses it, his childhood friend Hinata Minazuki suddenly appears and starts spanking their classmate Aoi Kiryu. Smack! Aoi screams, and Rikuto's mind goes blank. The
Bad Girls Get Punished - Tsukigakudo's Underground Archive —The Principle of Compensation, The Covenant of Seven—
Sunday morning, the sounds of the city were just a little softer.
Suzuki Rikuto pedaled his bicycle, checking the hard sensation in his pocket over and over. A brass button. An old button, coated in green patina. Last night, against his own will, he had struck that girl—Hiiragi Runa—on the rear. The feeling of it still seemed to linger on his fingertips. No, that wasn't right. The button had done it. But the one who pulled the trigger—that had definitely been something inside him.
(I have to apologize.)
As he turned onto Konoyado Inn Street, the cobblestones made his bicycle tires bounce slightly. The old district, retaining the traces of an Edo-period post town. The Japanese confectionery Mikagedou still had its noren curtains down, and the smell of dashi drifted from the soba shop Sarashina. No tourists yet. The old district on a Sunday morning was quiet, as if it were still asleep.
He parked his bicycle in front of Gekkyokudou.
The signboard of the antiquarian bookshop swayed faintly in the morning light. Out front, old scrolls and thread-bound books for airing out were laid out just as they had been yesterday. Rikuto stood still for three seconds in front of the sliding door at the entrance.
(What if Runa isn't here. No—if she is, what do I even say.)
"...Excuse me."
When he opened the sliding door, the scent of old paper and something faintly sweet, like incense, tickled his nose.
Behind the counter, Hiiragi Runa raised her head.
Her black hair, which reached her waist, wasn't tied up today. It flowed straight down her back. Only the tips were dyed a deep purple, and when they caught the morning light, just that part seemed translucent. Her narrow, purple eyes fixed directly on Rikuto. A small tear mole beneath her left eye. Pale skin. Holding an old leather paperback cover in one hand, she didn't move.
A moment's pause.
Runa's gaze slowly dropped from Rikuto's face to the area of his pocket.
"...What did you come here for?"
A low, flat voice.
Rikuto realized his throat was dry.
"Um, about yesterday... I'm sorry. Really, I didn't do it on purpose. The button just—on its own. I didn't know what to do."
His words trailed off. When he got nervous, he couldn't finish his sentences. Rikuto felt pathetic about his own voice and struggled to keep himself from looking down.
Runa was silent for a while.
Inside the bookshop, only the sound of a clock echoed. The bookshelves covering the walls were packed with old volumes, and only where the light angled in did dust drift slowly.
"You're slow to realize."
Runa said. But her voice didn't have the sharpness it had yesterday.
"As long as you hold that button, things like that will happen. You should have known. And yet, you didn't let it go. Isn't that right?"
"...You're right."
Rikuto gripped the button inside his pocket. Cold. Right now, it was cold.
"...But you came to apologize."
Runa set the paperback cover down on the counter. A small sound was swallowed into the shop.
"Yesterday, you were really panicked. You had the face of someone who genuinely believed it was his own fault. ...That wasn't a lie, was it."
Rikuto raised his head.
Runa was looking straight at him. Purple eyes so clear they seemed to pull you in. As if observing him—but with just a little warmth.
"Ah, yeah... I'm really sorry."
Runa let out a small breath.
"...Come in. This isn't something to talk about in front of the counter."
As he went deeper into the shop, there was another door behind the bookshelves. Runa removed a small key from the thin chain around her neck. A silver, old key.
"Follow me. Absolutely do not touch anything on your own."
When the door opened, cool air flowed out.
Stairs leading underground. With each step down, the smell of paper, earth, and old wood grew stronger. Dim. When Runa pulled the cord on the wall, a bare lightbulb lit with orange light.
It was a much larger space than he had expected.
In the low-ceilinged room, rows of wooden shelves stood. On the shelves, old scrolls, thread-bound books with broken bindings, soot-stained boxes, and stacked ancient documents were crammed in every available space. The floor was bare earth, and cold air crept up from underfoot.
"This is Gekkyokudou's underground archive. The storage vault for records passed down through our family for generations."
Runa crouched in front of the farthest shelf.
"My grandmother's belongings are here. There are things written about what you're holding that you should know."
She took a single journal from an old wooden box. A washi paper cover. A book bound with thread, a little larger than a palm.
They sat facing each other on the tatami. A single old tatami mat was laid out in the center of the underground archive.
Runa placed the journal on her knees and slowly opened it.
"This is the journal of my grandmother, Hiiragi Chizuru. Part of the records passed down through our family. ...Do you want to read it?"
Rikuto swallowed.
"...I'll read it."
Runa's fingers turned the yellowed pages. Characters written in ink. A skilled hand, blurred in places.
"Keiou 3. 1867. Seven influential figures of Konoyado Inn Town formed a certain covenant. The 'Konoyado Covenant.' Its articles are transcribed here."
Rikuto peered closely at the journal.
"One: Those who disturb the order shall atone with equivalent pain."
"One: Those who bear this principle shall, through their own pain, protect the balance of the town."
"One: As the covenant's execution device, a brass button was cast from the iron of Mikage Mountain, the sand of the Atonement Stone, and the blood of seven."
(A brass button.)
Rikuto felt the button in his pocket suddenly grow heavy.
"The Punishment Execution Button. The one you hold was made in the early Meiji era as the execution device of this covenant. But originally, it was different. ...Originally, it was supposed to be a tool for the owner to punish himself."
"Punish... himself?"
"The Principle of Compensation holds that both the one who gives punishment and the one who receives it are purified by the act. That's why the seven who formed the covenant first sought to protect the town's order by punishing themselves. The button was the device for that."
Rikuto read the words in the journal over and over.
(A tool for punishing yourself. And yet, now, it's punishing others.)
"Why does the button punish people? I didn't even press it."
Runa turned the page.
"...The button is bound to its owner's soul. Each time it's pressed, the owner's soul is shaved away. That's why the Compensation Group tried to seal the button. To prevent anyone else's soul from being shaved away any further."
"The Compensation Group... you mean the people who formed that covenant?"
"Yes. A secret mutual-aid organization formed by the merchants and temple-shrine leaders of Konoyado Inn Town at the end of the Edo period. Their creed was to apply quiet sanctions to disordered order. Even now, there are people among the city's notables and educators who carry on that lineage—that's what my grandmother said."
Runa opened the last page of the journal.
"And the Hiiragi family has served as the covenant's record-keeper since the Edo period. We've been writing down this town's underside all along."
Silence fell over the underground archive.
The bare lightbulb swayed faintly. Rikuto's shadow wavered on the tatami.
"Then, I... my soul is being shaved away too?"
His voice trembled.
Runa closed the journal.
"...Yes. At least, that's what my grandmother said. Every time you use the button, your soul is shaved away, little by little. That is the compensation of the Principle of Compensation."
Rikuto looked at his own hands.
The same ordinary hands as always. But those hands were losing something invisible, bit by bit.
(If I keep using this button, what's going to happen to me?)
"But, you know."
Runa's voice softened just a little.
"It might not have been a coincidence that you picked up the button. ...This is a passage from my grandmother's will. Even I still don't understand what it means. But my grandmother left behind these words: if there is someone who finds the button, do not take it from them—protect them."
Rikuto raised his head.
"What do you mean, not a coincidence..."
Runa shook her head.
"I don't know. ...I'm sorry. This is as far as I can answer."
Silence fell between them.
But it wasn't the tense silence of yesterday. It was the quiet silence of two people who had shared just a little of a secret.
Rikuto looked at Runa's profile.
(She was trying to retrieve me. And now, she's talking to me.)
"...Thank you. For telling me."
Runa lowered her eyes just slightly.
"...It's nothing. You just looked like you were genuinely troubled."
Then Runa stood up and returned the journal to the wooden box.
"Don't tell anyone about today. Not what you saw here, not what you heard. ...Can you promise?"
"Yeah. I promise."
Runa stared into Rikuto's eyes for a few seconds.
"...I'll believe you."
Those words resonated strangely in his chest.
When they left the underground archive, the shop was a little brighter than it had been in the morning.
"Be careful going home. You shouldn't touch the button too much."
"...Yeah. Thank you. Can I come again?"
Runa made a slightly troubled face for just a moment.
"...Do as you like."
She said it bluntly and retreated behind the counter.
Rikuto left Gekkyokudou behind.
Pushing his bicycle, he walked along Konoyado Inn Street.
(Runa is a good person.)
He thought so from the heart. Having someone he could share a secret with. Just that made the depths of his chest feel a little lighter.
(I want to believe. I want to believe what Runa says.)
That was the moment.
Inside his pocket, the button grew slightly warm.
A faint vibration.
Rikuto stopped walking.
(What...)
He took out the button. The brass rim was faintly warm. That sensation transmitted to his fingertips. The precursor before a punishment occurred.
(Why. Right now, there's no one, nothing.)
Rikuto looked around. The Sunday old district had few people. In front of the Japanese confectionery across the street, a small girl was walking hand in hand with her mother.
(No way.)
Rikuto placed a hand on his chest.
(Just now, I thought I wanted to believe Runa. I felt goodwill. ...Does that become the button's power?)
It wasn't just anger or the urge to punish. Trust, goodwill. Even emotions like those, the button turned into power.
(Just getting close to someone is dangerous.)
Rikuto gripped the button. Warm. That warmth was frightening.
The next morning.
Gekkyokudou was closed on Mondays.
Runa was in the back of the shop, rereading yesterday's journal. Her grandmother's writing. The Principle of Compensation. The Konoyado Covenant. And the button.
(How much should I tell Suzuki-kun?)
She picked up the paperback cover and stroked its surface.
That was when a voice came from outside the shop.
"Excuse me. Is Hiiragi-san in?"
A dignified, carrying voice.
Runa raised her head.
Beyond the sliding door, she could see silver-tinged platinum blonde hair. Shoulder-length hair, loosely curled inward. Ice-like pale water-colored eyes. A small silver earring on her left ear. A black notebook in her right hand.
Shirakawa Mafuyu. The disciplinary committee chairman of the prefectural Konoyogaoka High School.
Runa opened the sliding door.
"...It's our closed day. What do you want?"
Mafuyu, keeping her back straight, looked at Runa.
"I know. That's why I'm not here on shop business—I came to talk about something personal."
"Something personal? With me?"
"Yes. Hiiragi-san, you're well-versed in this town's old customs. ...You know of something called the Principle of Compensation, don't you?"
Runa's fingers gripped the edge of the paperback cover tightly.
"...What about it?"
Mafuyu stepped one pace into the shop.
"Recently, inexplicable corporal punishments have been increasing in this town. Even within the s
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