It was an early Monday morning. I let out a small sigh inside the crowded train I take to school. The time of day was smack dab in the middle of rush hour for workers and students. By the time the train reaches my station, the cars get so crowded that you’re not able to sit down or even grab onto a ceiling handle. Now, for those living in the metropolitan area, not being able to even get a handle might not seem like a big deal, but for someone from a northern provincial city like myself, a train is something that you sit down in.
Normally, I board two trains earlier than this one, sit in a seat and enjoy a nice, relaxing morning commute. On Mondays I buy a copy of Jump from the convenience store in front of the station, read it on the train, and, after arriving early to my classroom, I leisurely reread the comments section and previews for next week; it is my Ultimate Routine. However, thanks to the terribly simple reason of me oversleeping, this tradition was tragically smashed to pieces.
I knew I shouldn’t have stayed up reading manga and should have just gone straight to bed. Why is it that so many manga apps lately update at around midnight? Though I know in my head that it would be best to read them when I wake up in the morning, I just can’t help myself and end up staying up all night. Staying up all night reading manga apps, oversleeping, and getting depressed because I missed my chance to read Shonen Jump: this is daily life in May for me, high school first-year Momota Kaoru.
In the midst of having my stamina and liveliness erased by my lack of Jump and the crowded surroundings, the train came to a stop at the next station. The doors opened and even more passengers huddled into the train, forcing me farther into the back. I somehow managed to secure my own space near the door on the train’s opposite side.
In that moment, I saw her. In that moment, I was entranced by that lone high school girl.
“......”
My heart was suddenly overwhelmed by how cute and pretty she was as I watched her gaze out the train window dressed in her blue blazer. Her skin was pure white, and her features were beautifully proportioned. Her face had a lingering youthfulness to it, while her long eyelashes and lightly painted lips emphasized how womanly she was. Her long, glossy black hair gave off an air of tidiness, but it was still styled on the ends like you’d expect from a typical high school girl. Awash in that stifling heat peculiar to crowded trains, she appeared to me like a mirage, glowing with a faint, cool light.
I snapped back to my senses and, slightly flustered, I cast my gaze outside the train.
Oh no, I’m totally staring at her too much...
But she was so pretty I couldn’t help staring. She was so cute. And... so BIG. There they sat, underneath her blazer, pushing up her thinly knit sweater: two rolling hills with the ability to drive a man insane with one look. So abundant... hanging so heavy... the kind of terrifyingly beautiful breasts whose very existence feels like a crime, breasts that make you want to sue someone. And then there were her legs, covered by her black stockings underneath her pleated skirt, perfectly sized, neither too thin nor too fat—wait, hold up. Why was I focusing so much on her sexy parts? It’s way too early for me to be this horny.
In any case... something was strange. Her blazer was from Tourin Girls’ High School. Around here, that’s a pretty famous school for rich girls. However, this train was heading in the opposite direction of Tourin. In fact, she was the only person on the train wearing that school’s uniform. If she got on by accident, she should be getting off somewhere soon... Maybe she forgot something? Feeling like something was off, I looked at her again. Yeah, something definitely felt off. It’s not that I was staring at her again because I was horny. And I definitely was not thinking I wanted to get lucky and see her heavy melons bouncing in rhythm with the train.
Without moving my head, I took a look at her with my peripheral vision, and it was then that I realized that her face was completely pale. Also, I could tell it wasn’t because she was sick. The reality was that her well-proportioned face was stiff from fear. Her tightened lip shivered slightly, and her hand was clutching her pleat skirt so hard it made an unsightly wrinkle.
It wasn’t long before I saw the reason for this. It was a train molester.
I was witnessing the sight of a train molestation happening in real time. The high school girl’s rear was being groped by a hand that had blended into the crowd, the hand of the man who was standing behind her. He was wearing glasses and looked like a white-collar businessman. From a glance, he had an earnest appearance and didn’t look like the kind of person who would do this kind of thing. That said, his hand moved freely, and his face was completely calm. His other hand was handling his smartphone so as to distract from the former. He looked like he was totally used to doing this.
Are you serious? Just what are you trying to pull this early in the morning? Wait, haven’t I heard before that train molestations happen surprisingly often in the morning?
In the face of the defenseless girl being encroached upon by his despicable hand, I felt something like righteous indignation well up from the pit of my stomach. However, having never been in a situation like this before, my mind went blank.
Wh-What should I do...?
I couldn’t just ignore the situation unfolding before my eyes. More than anything, I couldn’t just leave her. I wanted to save her.
But what should I do...? If I just cause a ruckus without thinking, it won’t do her any good.