Chapter 166

"Thanks."

The invisible Reishi energy surrounding the chalk rapidly spread along the point of contact between Haruto and his body.

"I am..."

Haruto ignored Sōken Ishida's probing; such a level of probing wouldn't reveal anything: the Soul King's Hakusui completely concealed its Reiatsu within its body, and even Second-Class Spiritual Pressure wouldn't be able to detect anything while it could hide itself.

"I am Kotetsu Haruto, nice to meet you."

Haruto thought for a moment, then finally gave a fake name.

After all three of them had introduced themselves.

"That..."

The homeroom teacher stood on tiptoe, forcefully adjusted his glasses, and looked towards the back of the classroom.

The back of the classroom is fairly spacious.

"If none of the three of you have vision problems, why don't you move three sets of tables and chairs and add another row at the back?"

Haruto and Sōken Ishida are both quite tall, and their presence in the front would definitely obstruct the view; even the blonde, blue-eyed Lily, though slightly shorter, is still quite tall for a girl.

"Good!"

Before Haruto and Sōken Ishida could even answer, Lily had already rushed to the back of the classroom and, like a circus performer, lifted three stacked desks with one hand—if even a few more boys had turned around by now, the class would have been practically over.

"..."

Haruto and Sōken Ishida exchanged a glance.

"Please."

Sōken Ishida smiled and tugged at the frame of his glasses by his ear. The mirror, reflecting a bright white light, made it impossible to tell whether the smile on his lips was genuine or not.

"No, no, no, you go first."

"..."

The two remained politely (in a stalemate) for about ten seconds—

Thump!

Lily placed the desks and chairs in their proper places and dashed back to the front of the classroom at lightning speed.

"Since they're both transfer students!"

The London girl, while being enthusiastic, grabbed their hands and forcefully dragged them towards their seats.

Let's get along well!

――――

Volume 1: 101, Back row near the door and window, The King's Ideal Land

Haruto sat down by the window.

It seems the textbooks at the Seitō Academy aren't the expensive kind; Haruto received his own set as soon as he entered the school.

There's no need for two people to sit at the same table.

Certainly.

There's no need for detailed study; after all, with devices that can modify memories, getting a perfect score isn't difficult.

Interestingly, the girls in this third-grade classroom were exceptionally talented: from the student list handed over by the teacher, Haruto quickly discovered strangely familiar surnames such as Kasumigaoka, Yukinoshita, and Shinomiya.

However, due to the filming schedule, Haruto didn't have time to investigate these details.

He had just sat down by the window...

"Aww!!"

Not far from the academy's main gate, Giant Hollow on all fours had already come into view.

"Wow, that was fast."

Haruto turned his gaze away.

However, he didn't look towards where the Giant Hollow was, but instead focused on the students practicing baseball in physical education class on the playground— Sōken Ishida had also spotted the Giant Hollow, but Haruto couldn't make it too obvious.

"As expected of Karakura Town, even in broad daylight, Hollows are already taking action."

When Haruto was leading Konsō training team in Naruki City, it was because the Quincy's Hollow Bait had attracted a large number of Giant Hollows.

Normally, the Giant Hollow rarely goes out during the day.

"Giant Hollow of this level..."

"Seventh-Class Reii Seated Officer is the bare minimum that can be resolved."

Karakura Town, as a premier Jūreichi, boasts a far superior quantity and quality of Hollows, both native and attracted from other regions—even with the Thirteenth Division working overtime, the frequency of gas explosions still frequently alarms people... Working for the gas company here is truly difficult.

"Should..."

The canine Giant Hollow was already very close.

If we continue forward, the safety of the teachers and students on the playground will soon be threatened... if Haruto weren't here.

"You shouldn't need me to do anything, right?"

But this is not his stage.

Inuju's target was quite clear; he couldn't possibly care less about those normally rare snacks. His drooling, gaping maw and the red light emanating from his eyes were all fixed on Haruto's location.

To be precise...

It was the position behind Haruto.

"Report!"

The extremely loud noise interrupted the homeroom teacher's lesson—because the lesson was in English, the teacher instinctively thought she was about to be criticized.

This is a transfer student from the old London Union Jack!

Given the generally poor quality of Japanese-accented English, it would be strange if it weren't criticized—its perplexing nature is comparable to that of Chinese teachers at Confucius Institutes abroad, who speak with a strong Tianjin accent or a strong Northeastern Chinese accent.

"W-What is it!?"

I need to use the restroom!

Lily spoke clearly and distinctly.

Compared to the demureness of Japanese ladies who would even pick flowers to go to the restroom, Lily's statement was practically like Natsume Sōseki shouting "I love you" in public.

"Large!"

After saying that, Lily quickly added something else.

"..."

Lily's blonde beauty persona hadn't even been established before she shattered it with two loud bangs of her own hammer.

"Hurry, hurry up and go!"

The homeroom teacher immediately agreed to Lily's request. Judging from the embarrassed expression on her face, it was probably no less awkward than someone performing acrobatics and doing a dogeza in front of her.

"Tap tap tap."

Lily bowed to her homeroom teacher, then flew out of the classroom, her two thin ponytails swaying like kite strings.

"That guy."

Haruto and Sōken Ishida could not possibly ignore such an eye-catching act.

"Her enthusiasm is commendable, but her Reiatsu..."

Can you win?

Lily and the Giant Hollow have similar Reiatsu levels, and she is even slightly stronger.

But this is a school area, and exorcists and demon hunters, these traditional exorcism professions, must avoid moving around with ordinary people.

Haruto didn't think Lily could easily defeat this Giant Hollow; it wasn't impossible for her to be bitten back.

"..."

Haruto glanced discreetly at Sōken Ishida beside him.

The guy simply adjusted his glasses and then turned his attention back to the blackboard across the classroom, no longer paying attention to Lily's behavior.

"Report!"

Haruto raised his right hand high.

"Ah!?"

The same move won't work twice against a Saint Seiya, but it will be even more effective against ordinary people who don't have a good memory and are timid.

Accompanied by the homeroom teacher's mournful cry, like that of a small animal—

"I'm sorry, teacher."

Simply raising his hand was enough; with Haruto's arm length, this height even exceeded the height of most of his classmates.

I need to use the restroom too.

"..."

The students present all bear responsibility for how this English lesson has come to this.

Where is Ishida -kun?

Unexpectedly, the homeroom teacher not only did not answer Haruto, but instead asked the only one who remained calm and collected, Sōken Ishida.

"Ah?"

Sōken Ishida, who was inexplicably called out, almost couldn't maintain his cool, expressionless demeanor.

"You..."

"Don't we need to come together?"

The homeroom teacher asked somewhat timidly.

She knew this wasn't a good question, but she didn't want to be frightened again—

"... Teacher, I'm different from them."

Whether it was an illusion or not, Haruto noticed that the white light reflected from the front of Sōken Ishida's glasses seemed to be shining even brighter.

"Oh, I see!"

Sōken Ishida's cool aura somewhat intimidated the homeroom teacher.

"Kotetsu- kun, you should go quickly!"

"I'm sorry."

"Tap tap tap."

Haruto strode out of the classroom with firm steps—it had been a long time since he had walked so fast, and Haruto almost used Shunpo to dash out.

"... call."

However, just as the homeroom teacher breathed a sigh of relief...

"Oh, right."

A smiling head suddenly popped out from the side of the doorway.

"Teacher, your pronunciation was incorrect just now."

Haruto pointed to the letters on the blackboard and read:

That's Cross, not Klose.

――――

Women's restroom.

... A staircase leading to the rooftop from the side.

"Squeak!"

The wooden door, secured with a heavy lock, was violently dismantled.