Multi-Anime, Kira Yoshikage Yearns for a Peaceful Life

And Kira Yoshikage remembered—her name was Gotou Hitori.

"Goto-san, is something the matter?"

"I, I, um..."

Gotou Hitori was so nervous she didn't know what to do, stammering without forming a single complete word.

Kira Yoshikage didn't rush her. He simply watched quietly, waiting for her to finish.

But that only made Gotou Hitori more anxious. It took a long time before she finally mustered the courage:

"...Tainaka-buchou... told... to go... one... Light Music..."

Her voice was so faint—barely even a sound—that even Kira Yoshikage could only catch scattered, incoherent fragments.

Kira Yoshikage sorted through his thoughts:

"You mean you joined the Light Music Club, and Tainaka Ritsu knows you're in the same class as me, so she asked you to come tell me to head over to the Light Music Club?"

Gotou Hitori had been despairing over her own performance, but at Kira Yoshikage's words, light returned to her eyes. She nodded eagerly:

"Mm-hmm!"

Kira Yoshikage didn't look at the pleasantly surprised pink-haired little cutie. Instead, he mused:

"Because they scraped together six people, so the club wasn't abolished?"

He'd thought they wouldn't make the quota.

Maybe it was because of Gotou Hitori's joining that they barely managed it.

But given her personality, it was unlikely she'd join voluntarily—

More likely, Tainaka Ritsu spotted her walking down the street with a guitar on her back and forcibly recruited her into the Light Music Club.

"Um, Kira-kun."

Perhaps encouraged by Kira Yoshikage's gentle demeanor, Gotou Hitori gathered her courage and asked softly:

"Do you remember my name?"

"Is it strange to know a classmate's name?"

"It's very strange..."

Gotou Hitori muttered under her breath, because no one else remembered—they didn't even recall she existed.

And yet, on their very first conversation, Kira Yoshikage could accurately call her by name. It gave the girl an illusion of being valued—yes, an illusion.

In truth, the reason Kira Yoshikage was willing to talk to her was precisely because she was reclusive enough.

Because she was reclusive enough, two reclusive people coming together wouldn't become the focus of others' chatter.

They wouldn't even draw attention.

But if it were someone else—say, Nakano Mayu or Miura Yumiko—he'd instantly become the center of attention.

From the seat behind, Nakano Mayu asked quietly:

"Um, Kira-kun, who are those people?"

Kira Yoshikage looked toward the hallway. A crowd was packed into one corner, peering through the glass at the students inside the classroom.

There was a construction worker in a yellow hard hat, a middle-aged housewife in an apron who looked perfectly ordinary, and even some flashily dressed non-conformists...

They seemed unremarkable, like passersby you'd see anywhere—nothing worth noticing.

But the problem was, this was Shuchiin Academy. How did they get in?

And more than looking at the classroom, they seemed to be staring at the girl surrounded like stars around the moon—

A girl in a bunny girl outfit.

She was gazing enviously at the students laughing and chatting inside the classroom, her eyes filled with fear as she desperately avoided turning her head to look at the 'people' crowding around her.

Kira Yoshikage withdrew his gaze and met his front-desk classmate's somewhat tense stare:

"There's nothing there."

"Huh? Nothing? But..."

Nakano Mayu instinctively looked through the open door at the hallway, where over a dozen 'people' had packed around the classroom entrance, blocking it completely.

How could there be nothing?

Just as that thought crossed her mind, she saw Hiratsuka Shizuka walk into the classroom—

She passed straight through the construction worker in the yellow hard hat and strode right in.

"..."

Nakano Mayu clamped her mouth shut, covering it tightly with her hands, as if struck mute. She seemed to finally realize something, her body going rigid.

But seriously, it was so hard to hold it together!

She'd been haunted by weird things outside—why did she have to deal with this stuff at school too?!

And unlike that Slender Ghost that was obviously off, these evil spirits looked no different from ordinary people on the surface! If she failed to recognize them as evil spirits and accidentally greeted one, she'd definitely get eaten!

Chapter 49: You Call That a Deity?

On the podium, Hiratsuka Shizuka was lecturing earnestly.

At the classroom door, a dense crowd of 'auditing' evil spirits packed the entrance.

However, most people couldn't 'see' them. And precisely because they couldn't see them, there was no danger.

But in this classroom, at least three people could see them.

And these Psionic Users with 'Spiritual Sight' were the evil spirits' favorite prey.

Finally.

Perhaps because too many evil spirits were surrounding Sakurajima Mai, those unable to squeeze into the inner circle turned their attention to the classroom.

The Construction Ghost, wearing a yellow hard hat and closest to the door, was the first to step inside.

Its gaze fell on the student nearest the entrance, and its voice was hoarse:

"Can you see me?"

The student couldn't see it, gave no response, and stared fixedly at the podium.

The evil spirit quickly gave up and moved to the second student.

All of this fell within Kira Yoshikage's sight, but he made no attempt to stop it.

No other reason—he couldn't reach them.

Killer Queen's range was only D, not even as good as Star Platinum.

But if the other party willingly stepped into Killer Queen's range—

boom!

"Yare yare~"

Kira Yoshikage's gaze dropped slightly, not looking at the Construction Evil Spirit that had already exploded.

Spent his whole life pouring concrete, couldn't find peace even after death, blown to ash.

That must be the fate of a Construction Worker, right!

Still, an evil spirit like this appearing at a construction site or abandoned building wouldn't be surprising at all.

But now it had shown up at Shuchiin Academy—that was clearly abnormal.

In fact, up until today, Kira Yoshikage had never seen a second evil spirit at Shuchiin Academy—

The only evil spirit was at the bottom of the swamp within the school, and due to years of offerings, it had become a 'Deity'.

And perhaps it was precisely because of that 'Deity's' existence that Shuchiin Academy had become a forbidden zone for evil spirits.

Just like wild beasts, evil spirits also had a strong sense of territory.

When a weak evil spirit entered a strong evil spirit's territory, there was only one outcome—being devoured by the stronger one.

As for the 'Deity' enshrined at Shuchiin Academy, its strength was definitely among the top tier of evil spirits.

After all, judging by the intensity of the golden light radiating from it and the number of victims who had died unjustly at the bottom of the lake, it had received offerings for over three hundred years. And considering that many shrines in Japan hadn't even existed for three hundred years, its power was evident.

The only flaw was that this evil spirit didn't have its own dedicated shrine—it wasn't orthodox, just a back-alley path.

That's why its offering ritual was the most barbaric and least efficient form: blood sacrifice.

Of course, overall, its existence still had positive significance.

At the very least, because of it, wandering evil spirits dared not set foot in Shuchiin Academy easily—and those that did had all become tribute to the 'Deity' beneath the swamp.

But that was all in the past.

When the tiger's away, the monkey reigns supreme.

With the death of the 'Deity' at the bottom of the lake, these evil spirits that had once roamed outside could now swagger into the school.

boom!

Another evil spirit entered range and was blown to ash by Killer Queen.

Kira Yoshikage's gaze was calm. Though these evil spirits couldn't threaten him, their numbers still felt troublesome.

Especially if someone died at their hands—the school would surely suspend classes temporarily, and Kira Yoshikage's unchanging, peaceful life would be disturbed. That was something he absolutely could not accept!

He didn't regret killing the evil spirit at the bottom of the lake, because a Pure Academy student's death would have been worse than the current situation. But this present state wasn't what he wanted either.

The reason these evil spirits had appeared at Shuchiin Academy, besides being attracted by Sakurajima Mai, was that Psionic energies naturally drew each other.

Psionic Users could see evil spirits, and evil spirits could vaguely sense the presence of Psionic Users.

Even mindless evil spirits would instinctively gather around Psionic Users.

And as luck would have it, the proportion of Psionic Users at Shuchiin Academy was absurdly high!

If this couldn't be stopped, the number of evil spirits at Shuchiin Academy would only increase.

And there were only two ways to prevent these evil spirits from entering Shuchiin Academy:

Either kill all the Psionic Users—without any Psionic Users, evil spirits wouldn't enter the school.

Either that, or return Shuchiin Academy to the state it was in a month ago—

As long as a single powerful Evil Spirit lurked within Shuchiin Academy, it could intimidate other Evil Spirits and keep them from entering the school.

Without a doubt, neither option was particularly difficult for Kira Yoshikage.

But the former would cause too much commotion—the sudden disappearance of a large number of students would inevitably alert the school authorities.

As for the latter...

Kira Yoshikage turned his head to look out the window. It was already May, and the cherry blossoms had long since withered.

The trees were covered in lush green leaves—not unpleasant to look at, but hardly comparable to the beauty of cherry blossoms in full bloom.

"Before my dream arrives, I can only wait, trembling, through yesterday.

Tomorrow, too, I will climb the cliff, Go to the feet of the great dragon, And shout, 'Let's set off,'

Riding on the silver dragon's back, Flying toward the desert of life..."

On the branch of one of those trees, a girl with purple-black hair and a hime cut softly hummed an old classic song. Her long, slender legs, wrapped in black stockings, swayed gently in the air.

boom!

The branch in front of the girl silently exploded, without making a single sound.

But the puff of gray smoke that rose still startled her. She nervously looked toward the classroom where Kira Yoshikage was.

After hesitating for a long while, the girl wavered and drifted toward that classroom.

Though walls and windows stood in her way, she passed through them with ease.