A figure kept leaping across the rooftops of tall buildings, moving so fast that it was invisible to the naked eye.
"Got it."
After circling the area around the school, Hayashizaki's cursed energy detection finally picked up a faint curse.
He landed on the rooftop of an apartment building. "It's in this building. Judging by the cursed energy, it's a level four, maybe just reaching level three. Very weak."
"Can I win?"
Yukinoshita Yukino asked worriedly.
Last time, Hayashizaki said a level three curse was weak, but it almost destroyed an entire building. She couldn't trust his evaluation of curses.
Maybe he would call any curse weak.
"Don't worry, you can do it."
This time, Hayashizaki didn't say anything discouraging.
"If you can't beat it, I'm here."
He formed a hand sign.
"Born in darkness, darker than dark, cleanse all filth."
As soon as he finished speaking, a shadow appeared out of nowhere above the building, forming a barrier that enveloped the entire building, dimming the light.
After lowering the [curtain], Hayashizaki handed control of the body back to Yukinoshita Yukino:
"This time I didn't forget, don't worry about attracting attention, let's go."
The girl steadied herself and opened the rooftop door.
She thought curses only appeared in old, rundown places, but the apartment building Hayashizaki brought her to didn't look old at all.
On the contrary, it seemed to be a newly built apartment building, with few residents. The voice-activated lights in the hallway were high-tech, and the place was very clean. The white tiles reflected the hallway's fluorescent lights, making Yukinoshita Yukino doubt if there were really any curses here.
"The curse isn't inside one of the apartments, is it?"
Yukinoshita Yukino muttered softly.
"Idiot, don't just use your eyes, learn to sense the presence of cursed energy."
Hayashizaki didn't stay silent like last time; he planned to give a lesson this time.
"Oh..."
Yukinoshita Yukino obediently responded, not arguing even though she was called an idiot.
As the second daughter of the Yukinoshita family, Yukinoshita Yukino had received a good education and admired her nearly perfect sister. With her intelligence and hard work, she had few gaps in her knowledge.
However, in the world of curses she had only recently entered, she was undoubtedly a child learning to speak, someone everyone could point fingers at.
Although she felt a bit annoyed at being lectured by Hayashizaki, she also felt incredibly reassured by his guidance.
After all, Hayashizaki's strength was undeniable; he was an absolute powerhouse.
Hayashizaki had at least demonstrated how to sense cursed energy using her body, so she should be able to do it too.
Yukinoshita Yukino stopped, then slowly closed her eyes. She recalled the feeling when Hayashizaki controlled her body and calmed herself to seek that feeling.
Before long, she sensed a faint cursed energy. Even with her eyes closed, she could "see" where the cursed energy was.
"Found it!"
Yukinoshita Yukino opened her eyes with a joyful expression.
For her, the moment of mastering new knowledge or skills was incredibly satisfying.
The girl moved again, this time without hesitation or confusion. She went from walking quickly to jogging, then to running fast. When going downstairs, she even started jumping over the railings, her movements becoming more bold and swift.
She ran to the fourth floor of the apartment building and stopped in front of apartment 406.
"It's in here,"
Yukinoshita Yukino said confidently.
She took a deep breath, then stepped back two steps. With a beautiful, decisive spin kick, she kicked the apartment door open, sending it flying.
The door crashed into the living room's TV cabinet, sending the furniture and TV flying. After a series of crashes, the apartment fell silent again.
Yukinoshita Yukino cautiously stepped over the entrance and into the living room. But when she saw the scene in the living room, she froze.
Her pupils shrank, and her mind became incredibly chaotic. Even the cursed energy rising from her body couldn't be maintained due to her emotional turmoil.
In the living room, the most striking thing was the large splatter of crimson blood on the wall, like a pair of blood-red wings.
The blood flowed down the wall, dripping onto the brown sofa against the wall. The coffee table in front of the sofa was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a headless corpse.
In front of the corpse squatted a slender, dark green figure, inserting a sharp, mosquito-like proboscis into the corpse, seemingly feeding.
The cursed energy came from this curse.
"Ha, Hayashizaki..."
Yukinoshita Yukino took two steps back, instinctively calling out the name of the person she could rely on.
In the corner of her eye, she saw something like a basketball. Turning her head, she realized it was the missing head of the headless corpse.
The rotten flesh was in spiral shape, seemed to be strangled by a hard rope, was slowly dripping blood down; purplish-red face, a look of horror, bloodshot eyes wide open, as if the eyeballs were going to explode out of the eye sockets.
The rich smell of blood permeated the entire space, running into the nasal cavity, along the respiratory tract all the way down, like a hook is hooked to the stomach pouch and then a burst of churning.
"Blerghhhh ..."
Yukinoshita Yukino subconsciously reached out and covered her mouth.
At the same time, the spell spirit that was eating also raised its head and turned its head to look this way.
...
...
Wow!
Hikigaya Hachiman pulled open the classroom door of the service department, "Good afternoon."
After casually exchanging greetings as usual, I suddenly realized that Yuigahama Yui was the only one in the Service Club, and not only was Yukinoshita Yukino's seat empty, but her book bag was also only Yuigahama's alone.
"Huh, where's Yukinoshita?"
He asked in confusion.
Normally, Yukinoshita Yukino is always the first to arrive at the Service Club. If Yukinoshita doesn't attend club activities, she usually informs the two of them in advance not to report to the club.
But today was different. Not only did she not come to the club, but she also left the task of unlocking the door to Yuigahama?
"Yukinon said she has things to deal with after school recently, so she won't be coming to the club for now... Ah, she said she'll contact us if there's a request."
Yuigahama Yui explained, then recounted her conversation with Yukinoshita Yukino at noon.
"I see."
Hikigaya Hachiman nodded in understanding.
She was probably ordered around by Hayashizaki.
He didn't mind. Whether Yukinoshita was there or not didn't affect him doing his own thing in the Service Club. In fact, with Yukinoshita not there, he didn't have to face the risk of being tormented by Hayashizaki.
It was great.
The dead fish-eyed boy took out a novel from his bag and quietly started reading.
The orange haired girl sitting next to him was playing on her phone, her fingers flying across the screen, seemingly chatting with someone. But her eyes occasionally glanced secretly in Hikigaya Hachiman's direction.
In the Service Club, the only sounds were the ticking of the clock, the flipping of book pages, and fingers tapping on screens. The peaceful and quiet time passed by second by second.
Until Hikigaya Hachiman heard an unusual and strange sound.
He looked up, his gaze leaving the novel, and glanced around, but saw nothing. However, the uneasy feeling in his heart grew stronger.
"Hikki, what's wrong?" Yuigahama noticed his actions and asked curiously.
"Nothing..." He scratched his head and said, "I'm going to the bathroom," then left the Service Club.
The hallway of the special building was empty. Most of the club activity rooms at Sobu High were in this building, and the not-so-official Service Club was in a rather remote location.
Hikigaya Hachiman walked towards the bathroom and finally stopped at the door.
He turned to look at the outer wall, and the wall suddenly rippled strangely.
...
...