Yuki Asahi wasn’t very scheming, so he agreed to Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu’s request: if anything troublesome happened, he’d go help.
For now, this was as much as Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu could hope for.
Though the official reason was “the unreasonable whims of a noble’s child,” actually imprisoning Yuki Asahi for research was something even they didn’t have the confidence to do.
They knew nothing about the Mindworm Ability System, so even with Yuki Asahi’s cooperation, it would still be like blind men feeling an elephant.
Yuki Asahi returned to school.
By then, class was already in session, and the hallway was empty.
He reached the classroom door, about to pull it open, when he suddenly sensed something was off.
It was too quiet.
Pressing his face against the small window on the door, he saw the classroom was completely empty.
What’s going on?
This period was math class; there was no need to change classrooms.
He opened the door.
His vision blurred for a moment, and then the teacher’s voice crashed into his ears.
“Yuki-kun? Be more careful next time. Come in.”
The math teacher looked like the stereotypical Showa-era educator, but was actually quite kind and didn’t make things difficult for Yuki Asahi.
What’s going on?
This confusion lingered until after school.
As a member of the go-home club, Yuki Asahi unusually stayed in the classroom a bit longer.
He opened LINE on his phone and hovered for a long time over Jiang Jian Yue’s chat, but in the end, he didn’t send a message.
The next day, Yuki Asahi encountered a similar situation during PE.
After pretending to be exhausted from the long run, he turned his head—only to find the entire field empty.
[Is this a horror movie?]
[This is actually kind of creepy]
The strangeness lasted about five or six seconds.
In the blink of an eye, everyone else reappeared.
“Everyone! Where did you go?”
Yuki Asahi heard a girl’s voice from that direction.
Turning, he saw Kaori Onishi scrambling up from the ground in panic, oblivious to the classmate standing right in front of her.
Other girls also noticed Kaori Onishi’s oddness.
The nearest girl with a ponytail grabbed her hand, her face full of confusion.
“Kaori, what’s wrong?”
Kaori Onishi froze, then seemed to snap out of it, staring blankly at the ponytail girl beside her.
“Uwah~ Ami, I thought I’d never make it back!”
With tears in her eyes, Kaori Onishi hugged the ponytail girl tightly.
[So cute]
[Traitor, emi-chan, let’s not talk anymore]
“Looks like it’s not just me.”
Outside the screen, the audience and Jiang Jian Yue knew this was likely due to someone’s Heart Worm awakening and entering a Parasitic State.
But as the one with the least information, Yuki Asahi still lacked understanding of the Heart Worm Parasitic State.
After PE ended and lunchtime arrived, Yuki Asahi went to Class 1 of the second year.
Standing at the classroom door, he looked around but didn’t find the person he was searching for.
“Who are you looking for?”
A girl with long black hair and glasses, holding a stack of books as she was about to leave, tilted her head and asked.
“Uh… um… I’m looking for Jiang Jian-senpai.”
Facing an unfamiliar girl, Yuki Asahi was a bit timid, averting his eyes as he spoke quietly.
[She’s really cute too]
[Traitor! Kaori-chan, let’s not talk anymore]
[Yuanming, you fickle bastard]
“Jiang Jian? She hasn’t been to school these past few days.”
The black-haired glasses girl asked in return.
“Are you her friend? Do you need something from her?”
“Uh, no, sorry for bothering you.”
Yuki Asahi quickly walked away, clutching his phone.
He opened LINE and asked Jiang Jian Yue why she hadn’t come to school.
Jiang Jian Yue covered her cheeks.
She remembered what she had sent…
“I’m saving the world.”
“Eh?”
“A group of bad guys are trying to blow up a building with C4. I’m fighting them to the death (*￣^￣).”
Obviously, Yuki Asahi didn’t understand.
[?]
[What the hell]
[The emoji is cute]
[Where did your cool demeanor go?]
[Is this Die Hard?]
[666 and CS]
[Go-senpai, this move is too strong]
Aaaaahhhh!
I can’t believe my stupid message got recorded in the anime!
Jiang Jian Yue curled up in her chair, clawing at her hair in a dark and twisted agony.
At this point, should she just pick a building and blow it up with C4?
They even said it was the second half, changing sides.
“Well, whatever.”
Not wanting to ask more, Yuki Asahi put his phone back in his pocket.
Two more days passed.
Other people on campus began to notice the increasing frequency of these strange events.
Since the Ikebukuro Monster Incident had happened less than a week ago, talk of “supernatural events” was still circulating.
Some suspected new supernatural phenomena were occurring around them.
During class breaks and lunch, both boys and girls discussed these topics.
Yuki Asahi also felt uneasy.
He hadn’t even started enjoying youth yet—why did all these things keep happening to him?
In the end, he contacted Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu and reported the matter.
However, as everyone knows, Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu is useless.
Their top priority was to make the government think they were doing something.
So their solution was to deploy a newly recruited Operation Adjustment Room Assault Group to the school.
Thus, “armed security”—once only seen across the ocean—appeared in Japanese schools.
At the same time, Saturday classes were temporarily canceled, and the entire school was scheduled for a simple health check on campus.
“Abstract Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu, what can a health check even find?”
Jiang Jian Yue muttered quietly.
This country is doomed, leaving such important matters to them.
In truth, Jiang Jian Yue also understood.
After the Destruction of GPRI, Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu’s complete ignorance of supernatural phenomena couldn’t last.
The person who should have been their information source, Kuninori Tsuruoka, had been assassinated by Jiang Jian Yue.
Now, they were operating completely in the dark.
As the world’s “first” national superpower organization, all Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu could do was make the Japanese public believe they were being protected.
Compared to national organizations in other stories, Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu’s incompetence stood out as unique…with a kind of darkly humorous realism.
Yuki Asahi came to school on Saturday as well.
But he wasn’t there for the health check—he came to assist Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu.
To deal with possible abnormal attacks.
He wasn’t wearing his school uniform, making him stand out among the students.
Since he might need to fight, and to avoid damaging his last remaining school uniform, Yuki Asahi wore athletic clothes.
[Why does this feel oddly satisfying]
[Being unique in front of classmates is part of showing off—otherwise, why do so many people buy designer sneakers]
[It’s like being a freshman and skipping military training—doesn’t it feel good?]
[Showing off in front of classmates? Yuki Asahi, you’ve become less innocent!]
[Or rather, isn’t it too perverse to require school uniforms even for a health check?]
[The real reason is that it’s easier to draw everyone in the same clothes]
Considering possible dangers, Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu spread out the health check stations to prevent major casualties.
But this also greatly increased the personnel needed.
Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu focused all their resources on Tokiwagi High School, even bringing in some SAT-EX members.
Which meant…
Tokuyōmoto Base was left defenseless.