Encounter with the Defeated-Dog Girl

Imaizumi Keita was a transmigrator.

He had lived in this world for nearly seventeen years, and only recently did the mottled memories of another world surge into his mind, finally letting him understand the source of his long-felt sense of “discomfort” with this world.

Those memories brought with them a completely different understanding of “love.”

In his eyes, so-called love often required compromising with physical desire.

Rather than chasing the illusion of eternity, one might as well accept its true nature.

In the cold, human world, you meet another soul seeking warmth, embrace each other for a night, and part ways when dawn comes.

Passing through a sea of flowers without a single petal clinging.

That was the path he had planned for his life.

As if responding to this “enlightenment,” his transmigrator cheat finally arrived, albeit late.

Three days ago, that power awakened within him.

After school that day, he walked past a bakery.

When he passed by the queue outside, the housewife at the front suddenly clung to her husband, cheeks flushed, body soft as she whined, “Honey, let’s hurry home…”

At the same time, Imaizumi felt a needle-like pain stab his temples, as if something invisible was leaking uncontrollably out of his body.

He instinctively quickened his pace, distancing himself from the couple.

But similar things happened one after another:
On the train, a salaryman sneaking glances at a pretty girl suddenly had his eyes filled with predatory intent.

In the library, a girl reading manga abruptly squeezed her legs together and practically ran toward the restroom.

Each time, he could feel that uncontrollable leakage of energy — and the sharp, unavoidable pain.

It didn’t take long for Imaizumi Keita to naturally understand the role of this cheat.

“Sucubus Aura” — a prerequisite skill for unlocking succubus abilities, capable of subtly influencing the subconscious desires of nearby people.

This power was currently in an unstable “awakening phase.”

Only once fully awakened would the cheat’s true energy open to him.

But until he found a way to complete the awakening, he would not only keep encountering troublesome incidents like before, but also suffer periodic headaches.

Therefore, Imaizumi needed a quiet place — somewhere he could isolate himself from outside interference and carefully study his own changes and their effects on others.

The family restaurant tucked in a secluded corner of the station — the one he often visited after school — became his top choice.

There weren’t many customers here, and emotions stayed calm.

He could play the role of a quiet diner, enjoying solitude while cautiously suppressing and experimenting with his unstable “charm aura.”

He ordered his usual hamburger steak set and glanced at the couple sitting nearby.

The boy talked endlessly, the girl smiled and nodded — plain as warm water.

Good.
Emotional fluctuations here were minimal.
Very safe.

Imaizumi quietly played the role of a diner, enjoying his alone time while studying his new ability.

Given that his ability was related to succubi, he suspected that “complete awakening” would inevitably require contact with the opposite s*x.

Although he believed in momentary warmth between strangers, going to a brothel didn’t align with his principles.

He needed a more stable, more genuine… solution.

Just as he boredly poked his hamburger steak with a fork, he suddenly noticed two core members of the popular clique in his class — Yanaimi Anna and her childhood friend Hakumada Sosuke.

To him, Yanaimi Anna was like a girl sculpted from sunlight — always cheerful, vibrant, and openly radiant.

Meanwhile, Imaizumi usually avoided trouble on purpose, successfully crafting himself into an ordinary classmate nobody paid special attention to.

The two of them weren’t supposed to interact with him at all…

“Don’t waste time here! If you don’t go now, Karen will be leaving for England!”

Yanaimi Anna urged anxiously.

In Imaizumi’s senses, a strong wave of negative emotion rippled outward, making him instinctively furrow his brow.

“But… she already said goodbye to me earlier…”

Hakumada still hesitated.

“A girl saying goodbye obviously wants you to chase after her! Idiot!”

“How do you know that?”

“Of course I know — because I’ve always… always…”

Anna cut herself off, turning her head away as she placed her bicycle key on the table.

Seeing her worried and sorrowful eyes, Hakumada finally grabbed the key and made up his mind.

“Then… sorry, Anna.”

He left that one sentence behind and ran out of the restaurant without looking back.

The whole thing lasted under three minutes.

Imaizumi hadn’t even formed a conclusion yet.

He had just exhaled in relief when Yanaimi Anna suddenly seemed to notice him — the boy in the same school uniform.

With the scraping of a chair, her lost, hollow expression drifted toward him, and she plopped down in the seat across from him.

A refreshing scent of shampoo washed over him.

At such close distance, the stabbing pain in his temples instantly peaked.

Imaizumi lifted his head and met Anna’s tear-stained, reddened eyes.

“Imaizumi… kun?”

She finally recognized him, her voice tinted with surprise and uncertainty.

Expressionless, Imaizumi set down his fork.

Sigh.

His peace.

His safe zone.

All vanished in an instant…

Sitting across from him, Anna had no idea what a troublesome presence she was to him.

She was completely absorbed in her own world.

Those eyes, reddened from watching her childhood friend leave, brimmed with grievance and unwillingness.

“It’s too much… it’s too much, right? Imaizumi-kun!”

She spoke as if talking to herself, her voice trembling with tears.

Before, Imaizumi might have listened out of curiosity for a beautiful girl’s stories.

But now, every extra second she stayed meant an extra second of torment for him.

Expressionless, he poked at his half-cooled hamburger steak.

He didn’t respond, not even with a token “mm.”

Unfortunately, Anna clearly didn’t need a response to continue.

“I was the one — the one who knew Sosuke first! It’s been twelve years! How long has that transfer girl even been here? Why?!”

She clenched her fists and lightly pounded the table.

“That Himiya Karen — she’s just a little prettier, her chest… a little bigger, and she came back from England! That idiot Sosuke even said he’d marry me when we were kids! And now he ditched me for that cow-boobed girl!”

Cow-boobed girl…

A classic defeated-dog line.

Imaizumi’s eyebrow twitched slightly.

He’d seen countless stories like this in his previous life — but never had he felt the emotions of a loser so directly, so aggressively.

Anna didn’t notice his near-cold expression at all.

While complaining, she raised her hand and shouted toward a nearby waiter, “Excuse me! One vegetable salad and a large fries over here!”

Imaizumi’s hand, still holding his fork, froze midair.

His eyes drifted from Anna’s tear-streaked face to the approaching waiter.

He couldn’t imagine how this girl so effortlessly switched between “crying and venting” and “calmly ordering food,” doing both right in front of the guy she was burdening.

This made one thing clear:
She knew exactly what she was doing — and she had the emotional capacity to switch states.

But she chose not to.

She chose to dump her negative emotions onto him just to make herself feel better.

And as for his feelings?

She didn’t care at all.

Absolutely outrageous.