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 - The Price Slope's Resolve — A Runaway City, the Future Four Choose —
Saturday night.
The rain had stopped. The sky was still under thick clouds.
Suzuki Rikuto lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Light from a streetlamp slipped through a gap in the curtains, drawing a thin line across the floor.
Even with his eyes closed, yesterday's scene floated up. Hinata's face, bursting into tears after being suddenly spanked during detention cleaning. Her trembling voice: "Riku-kun, did I do something wrong…?" And then his own back, running away.
He reached for the button on his pillow. The moment his fingertip touched its brass rim, it grew warm.
Friday night, the chain of punishments that erupted across town. That was caused by his own emotions. Screams and sharp cracks echoed in his head like distant memories.
Clutching the button, he tossed and turned. The sheets were damp with sweat.
*Bzzt.* His phone vibrated briefly.
He sat up and picked it up. The screen's light was blinding in the dark room.
It was from Minazuki Hinata.
"Tomorrow morning, I'll be waiting at Daishou Slope. There's something I want to talk about."
His heart clenched tight.
His fingers trembled; he couldn't type a reply. He entered and deleted characters over and over.
"Got it."
It took him five minutes just to send that.
The moment he sent it, the button vibrated faintly by his pillow. The brass surface emitted a pale blue-white light for just an instant.
The button, as if responding to Rikuto's anxiety, continued to radiate a faint heat intermittently.
Rikuto, clutching the button, didn't sleep a wink until morning.
Sunday morning.
The sky hung heavy, as if dragging last night's clouds along with it.
He left his home at Aobagaoka Danchi and boarded the bus toward the old town. It was a holiday morning, so the bus was empty. He sat in the very back seat and gazed out the window.
The orderly streets of the new residential area gradually gave way to the old town's rows of wooden houses. He could see the stone paving of Tokoyo-juku Street from the bus window.
He got off at Mikage Shrine.
A narrow alley continued behind the shrine—Daishou Slope.
The air was cold and damp. The stone paving was wet and black from last night's rain, with puddles here and there. The Showa-era wooden houses on both sides all had their shutters closed.
He stood at the entrance of the slope, gazing into its depths.
At the end of the narrow alley, there was a small figure.
Light brown, fluffy, semi-long hair. Small buns tied at the sides. Large amber eyes looking his way.
Minazuki Hinata.
She held a light blue umbrella in her hand. It wasn't even raining yet, but she had it open.
One step, then another, he descended the slope. With each step closer to Hinata, the depths of his chest ached.
At about five meters away, his feet stopped.
When Hinata saw Rikuto's face, she smiled with a slight furrow of her brows.
"Morning, Riku-kun."
"…Morning."
His voice was hoarse.
Hinata stared intently at Rikuto's face. Her amber eyes were bright as always, but somewhere in them was a color that looked about to burst into tears.
"Thanks for coming."
"…Yeah. Because you said you'd be waiting, Hinata."
He touched the button in his pocket with his fingers. It was faintly warm.
Hinata took a deep breath and closed her umbrella.
"Hey, Riku-kun."
Her voice dropped slightly. Not her usual buoyant tone—a serious voice.
"I've noticed for a long time that you're carrying something, Riku-kun."
Rikuto's shoulders jumped.
"You've always been like that, Riku-kun. When you're hiding something, you always touch the mole behind your right ear."
He hurriedly lowered the hand that had unconsciously started reaching for behind his right ear.
"It's not that I know everything about you. But I can tell when you're suffering. So, even just what you can share—I want you to tell me."
Hinata said, looking straight into Rikuto's eyes.
Rain began to fall, drop by drop. Small droplets wet her bangs.
"…Hinata, I—"
His voice trembled.
He clenched his fists.
"I'm afraid of someone getting hurt. And yet, somewhere in me, there's a self that watches it happen. I can't help it, even myself. I know I'm the worst."
His voice was wet with tears.
"Yesterday, when I saw you crying, I couldn't say anything. I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry."
He bowed his head deeply.
The rain grew stronger.
Hinata silently opened her umbrella and held it over Rikuto's head.
"Riku-kun, lift your head."
When he slowly raised his face, Hinata was smiling through her tears.
"You tried to help me, didn't you? That time, in the park. I know. You were trying to help that girl."
His chest tightened.
"You're kind, Riku-kun. I know that better than anyone."
Hinata's tears traced down her cheeks, glistening inside the umbrella.
In that instant, the button in his pocket vibrated faintly.
Rikuto thrust his hand into his pocket and gripped the button tightly. The vibration was still going.
The depths of his chest grew cold.
But at the same time, having confided his weakness to someone for the first time, the heavy lump deep in his heart felt just a little lighter.
"…Hinata, thank you."
When he said that, Hinata wiped her tears and smiled.
"You're welcome. Riku-kun, get under the umbrella. You'll get soaked."
She tilted the umbrella toward Rikuto. Their shoulders touched inside it.
Hinata's warmth traveled through his wet uniform.
Rikuto felt his heart calm, just a little.
"Suzuki-kun."
A frigid voice cut through the sound of rain.
Rikuto and Hinata looked toward the voice simultaneously.
At the entrance of Daishou Slope stood Shirakawa Mafuyu.
Her silvery platinum blonde hair was soaked by the rain, clinging to her forehead and cheeks. Her ice-like pale blue eyes pierced through the rain, fixed clearly on Rikuto.
She had no umbrella. Her uniform and hair were drenched.
"I'm already certain that you have the button."
One step, then another, she approached, treading firmly on the stone paving.
"…Mafuyu-san."
"Shirakawa-san…!?"
Hinata raised a startled voice.
Mafuyu stopped in front of Rikuto. Rain ran down her silver hair and fell to the ground.
"I was born into a family of inheritors of the Logic of Compensation, passed down from the first disciplinary committee chairman. Since childhood, I was expected to punish those who disturbed order. I was taught that this is what it means to live in this town."
Her voice was clearly audible even through the rain.
"But I was wrong. There's an impulse within me too—a desire to inflict punishment. There's a self that wants to hurt someone and believe it's justice. That's why I couldn't treat you as someone else's problem."
Her pale blue eyes wavered for the first time. Not her usual composed expression—a face enduring something.
"…I'm the same as you. Suzuki-kun."
Mafuyu's voice trembled faintly.
Rikuto was at a loss for words.
He wasn't the only one who was abnormal. The moment he thought that, the lump of loneliness in his chest melted, just a little.
But at the same time, another emotion welled up.
This town's customs had sacrificed people like Mafuyu.
The Logic of Compensation. The Covenant of Tokoyo-juku. A system where someone bears the pain to preserve order.
It had been binding the people of this town for over a hundred years.
Rikuto felt something cold crawl up his spine.
"…You two, this isn't the place for a standing chat."
A quiet voice came from deeper in the alley.
He turned around. Hiiragi Runa stood there.
Straight black hair reaching her waist. Only the tips dyed deep purple. Her narrow purple eyes gazed at the rain-soaked stone paving. The small tear mole beneath her left eye was clearly visible in the pale light.
"Runa…"
"Suzuki-kun, and Shirakawa-san. You've both noticed what's happening in this town right now, haven't you?"
Runa's gaze dropped to Rikuto's pocket.
"The button is going out of control. Since last night, small punishments have been occurring intermittently all over town. In response to your emotions."
Rikuto gripped the button in his pocket.
"…Runa, what should I do?"
Runa paused briefly before speaking.
"I'll tell you the rest of my grandmother's dying words."
The rain grew stronger. Runa's black hair was soaked, her purple tips swaying on the stone paving.
"The button's true purpose isn't to inflict punishment. It's to bear compensation in order to protect someone. In other words, the button only unleashes its true power when its owner strongly wishes to protect someone. The power to take another's pain upon yourself."
Runa's words seeped slowly into his mind.
"It wasn't a coincidence that you picked it up. This town chose you."
Runa said quietly, looking straight into Rikuto's eyes.
Rikuto couldn't breathe under the weight of Runa's words.
It was right after that.
Inside his pocket, the button emitted an intense heat and vibration unlike anything before.
"Ugh…!"
He instinctively pulled his hand from his pocket.
The button was radiating a pale blue light through the fabric.
As if responding to that light, a thick pillar of light rose from the direction of Mikage Shrine's main hall.
The pale blue light pierced through the rain clouds and stretched into the sky.
"What is that…!?"
Hinata raised a voice trembling with fear.
Simultaneously, the stone paving in the shrine grounds began to light up one after another. As if the veins of light sleeping in the ground had all awakened at once.
And from all over town, screams and sharp cracks began to echo in chains.
*Crack. Crack. Crack.*
From the distant residential area, from the shopping district, from the direction of the school.
Countless sounds of "punishment" mixed with the rain, enveloping the entire town.
"This is… on a scale larger than any case my family has ever recorded."
Mafuyu's face was pale. Her rain-soaked silver hair reflected the pale light eerily.
"Rikuto-kun, if you don't face it, it won't stop."
Runa said in a tense voice.
"Riku-kun…!"
Hinata, trembling with fear, grabbed Rikuto's sleeve.
"Riku-kun, let's go. I'll go with you."
Hinata's fingers gripped Rikuto's uniform sleeve tightly. Her hand was cold from the rain.
Rikuto looked at the three faces in turn.
Hinata. Mafuyu. Runa.
Each of them stood here carrying their own feelings.
Rikuto took the button out of his pocket.
The brass button radiating pale blue light. In his palm, it was hot, vibrating violently.
"…I'll control this button."
His voice cut through the rain.
"So that no one gets hurt. I'll bear the compensation."
It wasn't a role assigned by someone else. It was a decision he had chosen for the first time by his own will.
"…That might be the true meaning of the Logic of Compensation."
Runa murmured quietly.
"If the surveillance target acts on his own, I'll accompany him."
Mafuyu said firmly, brushing up her wet bangs.
"I'm coming with Riku-kun too!"
Hinata smiled through her tear-streaked face.
Rikuto looked at the three faces once more and took a deep breath.
"Let's go."
The four of them set off running along the path of pale blue light, toward Mikage Shrine's main hall.
The rain poured down mercilessly. The joints of the stone paving pulsed with pale blue light.
The light was intensifying. The town's distortion was reaching its peak.
Rikuto clutched the button as he ran.
The pillar of pale blue light guided the four deeper into the shrine.
The sound of rain, screams, and sharp cracks echoed throughout the town.
Mikage Shrine's torii gate cast a giant shadow within the pale blue light.
The four passed beneath that shadow and ran into the shrine grounds.
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