When playing games or during focused studying, time usually passes by very quickly.
In a blink of an eye, it was the end of another school day. As the teacher ended the class, the entire school block started to come to life as footsteps began to thunder through the corridors. It was like an earthquake.
Students walked together in groups as they headed to designated locations to participate in their after-school club activities. Some members were part of the going-home club, disappearing as soon as the class had ended.
Some high schools made it compulsory for their students to take part in club activities. It was a good thing that Sakura Kyu Academy did not enforce such a rule. Certainly, Sakura Kyu's learning atmosphere was relatively relaxing, after all, it was not considered a particularly prestigious school.
At this time, Kazuki did not move from his classroom. He was flipping through the notebook given to him by Komori Tera this morning. Even if he already knew all the knowledge by heart, there was still the need to revise.
Of course, he was also waiting for a certain someone.
After just five minutes, Kubo Sabae arrived at Class One of the sophomore year. He had already dyed his blonde hair back to black and was wearing the freshmen's uniform, which removed most traces of his aura of mischief. His eyes were uneasy as he stepped into the classroom.
As soon as he entered the classroom, his eyes fell on Kazuki. It could not be helped, as the students of Class One of the sophomore year had already left, whether to their own club activities or back to their homes. Even if they had wanted to stay in class, it was unlikely that they would dare to remain in the same classroom with Kazuki for too long.
Right now, Kazuki was the only person in the classroom.
Kubo Sabae took a deep breath and walked towards Kazuki. "Senior Kimura, I'm here," he said in a low voice.
Kazuki did not reply. His brows were furrowed as he glanced at the pair of suspicious figures at the classroom entrance. Before he could speak, Kubo Sabae's subordinates, who were both standing at the door, exclaimed in a hurry, "Boss, we'll be going ahead first. See you at the gates!"
They did not wait for Kubo Sabae's response as they quickly disappeared from sight, their footsteps fading away in the distance.
Seeing this, Kubo Sabae became even weaker. Respectfully, he asked, "Senior… can I leave now?" He thought that Kazuki had called him over to check if he behaved himself.
Now that he had dyed his hair black, was wearing the school uniform and had not broken any school rules, he should be able to leave.
"There's no rush, sit. I want to ask you something." Kazuki closed the notebook as he stared straight at Kubo Sabae. His nose twitched subtly.
There was definitely a weird smell!
It was extremely faint. If Kazuki's senses weren't still tense after that fight in the middle of the night, he would probably have overlooked this faint smell in the morning.
Kazuki used to think that in a time where reiki had not recuperated yet, searching for ghosts would be a challenging process for him. However, he came to the sudden realization that searching for ghosts might not be as difficult as he thought, after all.
After the recuperation of reiki, demons were hunted down, young demons would not be able to exist for long if they did not go into hiding. In the reiki recuperation era, djinns that were able to evolve into the highest tier were basically harmless spirits at their initial stages.
Of course, harmless spirits might not actually be kind-hearted. The formation of spirits was due to the presence of an obsession that took root in their hearts, and this obsession bears no evil. However, after they evolve into djinns, they may sway either way due to the fine line between good and evil.
In usual circumstances, all spirits possess clean and pure apparitions, with no odor.
Demons, on the other hand, possess a distinctive characteristic, which is their odor. Just like that multi-armed demon from the night before, which had exuded a concentrated burnt odor. The sports warehouse where it stayed had an even thicker smell.
This kind of odor was a significant source of pollution. Ordinary humans who inhaled it would get very sick, just like Chiba Shiori.
Because of this, during the reiki recuperation era, humans who had become demons after death would first conceal the odor on their bodies. This prevented their territories from becoming polluted, which made it easier for them to hide from the Spiritual Academy's inspections.
It was due to this reason that Kazuki had always thought that demons were instinctively skilled at hiding themselves. Only then did he realize that before the reiki recuperation era, demons would have no idea how to control the odor on their bodies. They wouldn't consciously hide the smell.
Not to mention that polluting one's territory was considered a type of self-defense as well as offense strategy to repel their enemies. Because of this, Kazuki would know whether or not an area was haunted by a demon just by approaching it and taking a whiff.
When he thought about this, Kazuki started to feel happy. Although spirits were still rare to come by, demons were also a form of reiki. Although the reiki would be heterogeneous due to self-pollution, he should not discriminate against them.
He couldn't use what he learned after the reiki recuperation era to apply to these spirits. Based on the previous experience, ghosts before the reiki recuperation era were feeble.
However, that multi-armed demon yesterday… was probably the opposite of weak. Of course, that multi-armed demon could be a particular case? Nevertheless, before he could encounter a sizable sample of them to make comparisons, he still had to be careful and alert.
While thinking, Kazuki looked towards Kubo Saeba who was sitting uneasily in the chair. Without beating around the bush, he asked, "Have you been to any foreign places within these two days?"
The odor surrounding Kubo Saeba was very faint, which indicated that he could have just recently come in contact, whether accidentally or intentionally, with something. Anyhow, it could not have been too long since it happened.
Ah? Kubo Saeba was taken aback by this question. Even so, he did not dare to hesitate. It was apparent that he still had lingering fear from this morning's incident. With those two kicks, his body always felt slightly sore even now. Because of that, Kubo Saeba answered honestly, "No. I've been playing games on my computer ever since school started. Sometimes I'd head over to Gaming City to play too."
While speaking, he carefully analyzed Kazuki. He sighed in relief when he saw that he did not seem angered.
"Besides that? Did you come into contact with anything, or anyone?"
Upon hearing this, Kubo Saeba tried to think with all his might. Although he did not know why Kazuki was showing such interest in this matter, he still dared not ask. "I went swimming at the beach during the summer holidays… As for contact with people, I would often come into contact with students and coaches at my family's karate dojo… As for whether or not I've touched anything…"
When he spoke until the end, Kubo Saeba was wholly lost. The number of things he had touched was uncountable, there was no way he could tell him one by one. Besides, he could not recall all of them clearly.
However, he quickly recalled something, and said hesitantly, "I stole my dad's wooden carving three days ago. I originally wanted to sell it for some cash but was discovered by my dad, so he beat me up."
At first, he did not want to bring up this matter, but both Kitano and Oki knew about it. If Kazuki were to ask them, they would surely reveal this matter, so he decided just to tell him.
"Wasn't your dad dead?"
Kubo Saeba was shocked. When he saw that Kazuki had furrowed his brows, he quickly replied, "He came back to life, he came back to life!"
Kazuki was speechless.