She shook the locked door in frustration, then pressed her face close to the glass to peer inside the store.
The owner was nowhere to be seen.
It was supposed to be open—where the hell did that damn owner go?
“Arghhh!”
Before she knew it, she had slammed her hand against the glass with a loud bang and screamed.
“Oh dear, miss, the shop owner’s on vacation. Why are you acting like such a villain?”
“Oh—he’s on vacation? Sorry for the scene.”
Iris snapped back to her senses at the scolding from the owner of the neighboring store.
She had gotten too into her hero manga persona and acted far too dramatically for someone who usually tried not to stand out.
But it wasn’t easy to stay calm in a situation like this—she was stuck wearing a haunted chastity belt, after all.
“Do you happen to know when the owner will be back?”
“He left with a giant trunk, humming that he’d be gone at least a week to rest.”
“Haah… I see.”
Iris removed her glasses and wiped the lenses, then walked off dejectedly, leaving the puzzled shopkeeper behind.
To think the guy sold her such a horrifying item and then just waltzed off on vacation—she ground her teeth in frustration.
For a moment, she considered pouring her heart out to the neighboring shopkeeper, but she held back.
Instead, she clutched her trench coat tighter.
She couldn’t just go telling anyone that she was stuck wearing a bizarre chastity belt.
If she said the wrong thing, people might start calling her the neighborhood pervert—or worse, they’d find out she was the underwear thief and haul her off to the police.
[Interest]
“Bunshinsaba, Bunshinsaba, Odyssey Grassei… You have to chant it with me!”
“Okay… Bunshinsaba, Bunshinsaba, Odyssey Grassei… sigh.”
Right now, Iris was in the middle of a spirit summoning ritual with an exorcist.
So much had happened over the past week that dark circles had formed under her eyes.
While the antique store owner was on vacation, Iris had no choice but to live with the chastity belt still on.
Her part-time job and daily life came to a complete stop.
She endured a nightmare of a week, stuck with the cursed chastity belt she never asked for.
Even though she tore off the clothes underneath it, the belt clung directly to her skin, so she had to shower with it on.
To prevent the ghost in the belt from taking over her body and stealing underwear again, she tied her hands to her bed and table with a long rope while she slept.
Thankfully, the spirit seemed to have some awareness—or maybe it just couldn’t act when tied down—because it didn’t cause any more incidents after that first night.
Over the course of that week, Iris realized something: the spirit inside the chastity belt frequently tried to control her body against her will.
But at the same time, she sensed that it wasn’t trying to hurt her—it felt like it wanted to coexist with her.
Even if the spirit didn’t cause direct trouble, wearing the chastity belt constantly and having her body move without her permission was extremely stressful.
That’s why, the moment the antique store owner returned from vacation, Iris stormed into the shop and hounded him until he agreed to help exorcise the spirit.
After many dead ends, they finally found a powerful exorcist.
Supposedly, he was a former hero turned exorcist—though who knows if that was true.
Still, the rumor was good enough.
“So this thing… it’s completely possessed!”
“Aha!”
The old exorcist nodded as he listened to Iris’s explanation and said,
“Alright. I’ll have you recite the ultimate spell that can summon any spirit—Bunshinsaba!”
“Bunshin… what?”
“Bunshinsaba. What, got a problem with it?”
Iris’s eyes were full of doubt.
Bunshinsaba? Wasn’t that just some silly game kids played in school?
But she had no other options.
If it was called the “ultimate spell,” she had to believe in it.
So now, Iris was deep into a Bunshinsaba session with the exorcist.
How many times had she chanted it?
Suddenly, her body began to glow brightly, and a transparent screen appeared before her eyes.
You have met the conditions for awakening.
Hero status window activated.
Entering the comic storyline.
“No way—what a jackpot! I’m not possessed by a ghost—I’m awakening as a hero? Amazing!”
Iris stopped her hand mid-Bunshinsaba chant and let go of the pencil.
She heard the exorcist scolding her for slacking off, but she focused all her attention on the window floating before her.
She had always wanted to awaken her abilities—so much so that she timidly tried provoking animals and even bought a bunch of antiques.
But nothing had ever happened, so she’d nearly given up.
Who would’ve thought her awakening would happen like this?
And not just that—she didn’t even need to think about it.
Hero route, straight away!
She’d always promised herself she’d use her powers for good if she awakened, and now here it was: a hero status window, not a villain one.
It was exactly what she had hoped for.
Her heart raced as the window faded, only to reappear with a flourish of trumpets.
A brilliant smile spread across Iris’s face—
Ta-da! Chastity Belt Girl Awakened!
—only for it to vanish instantly.
Her face withered like a lettuce leaf left out too long.
“What the heck? Chastity Belt Girl? What kind of trashy hero name is that!?”
As Iris stood staring into space, stunned, the exorcist scolded her loudly.
“Hey! What are you doing? At this rate, we’ll be here all night!”
“Ah, no—it’s just… give me a moment.”
Iris stood up from her crouched position.
Drawn by an unexplainable force, she walked toward the full-length mirror behind the exorcist.
The exorcist and antique shop owner shouted at her, but their voices felt distant, like echoes from far away.
‘What is this…?’
Inside the mirror, a storm raged.
Lightning struck, and black clouds gathered, obscuring her reflection.
When she waved her hand, the clouds parted, and a figure appeared.
She was dressed in white, wearing a white mask—completely different from Iris’s real appearance, with her loose clothes and glasses.
Iris lifted her hand to check her tied-up hair.
The Iris in the mirror had long hair flowing down to her waist, no glasses, and looked nothing like the real-world Iris.
The wind blew only inside the mirror, causing her mirrored hair to flutter wildly.
‘Parts of my body are glowing? What does that mean?’
Her green eyes narrowed.
Several spots on her body glowed faintly white, as if hinting at something.
Was it just meaningless sparkle? She couldn’t tell for now, so she decided to ignore it.
Since she met the awakening conditions, this must be the form of her awakened hero self.
She lowered her gaze.
In reality, she still wore her usual clothes and glasses.
So how could she become the person in the mirror?
Then, she uttered a word that came to mind without thinking.
“Transform…! Huh?”
In that instant, her hearing cleared and her sense of reality snapped back.
A radiant light enveloped her body.
The exorcist and antique shop owner, who had been fussing about her being possessed and telling her to get a grip, now looked on in shock at Iris’s transformation.
“Wha—?!”
“Good heavens!”
When the white light faded, Iris stood there in white clothes.
Exactly like the figure she’d seen in the mirror.
Draped in a white veil and a white skirt that reached her knees, she looked like a saint—pure and noble.
The upper part of the chastity belt functioned like a belt, while the chain crossing between her legs was hidden beneath the skirt, completely out of view.
From the outside, she looked entirely normal—elegant, even.
The exorcist stared at her in disbelief and shouted,
“Don’t tell me… you awakened your powers through the chastity belt!?”
“Awakened… powers? What are you talking about? We were just doing Bunshinsaba, and then—what even is this?”
The antique shop owner tilted his head, not understanding what the exorcist meant.
Iris was startled.
The exorcist had figured out that she had awakened her powers at a glance.
Since she’d already told them that she woke up wearing a chastity belt and ended up stealing panties, there was no point hiding it now.
Besides, they didn’t seem like bad people.
Having lived a second life and over fifty combined years, Iris had an eye for people that an ordinary twenty-something wouldn’t.
She decided to clear up the exorcist’s question.
“I think so. It’s probably because of the chastity belt.”
“I see… So now that you’ve awakened, will you become a hero—or a villain?”
The old exorcist’s gaze turned sharp.
It felt like one of those moments where the answer really mattered.
Iris swallowed hard, then responded.
The hero status window was already active, so there was only one answer.
“Uh… I plan to become a hero.”
“Thank goodness. If you had said villain, I would’ve dealt with you right here on the spot.”