Chapter 155 – Overflowing Vitality
Following behind Yurikawa Hana, Hikigaya Hachiman stepped into a villa that looked like a small Western-style house. As soon as he entered, his sight was filled with a crowd of little old men.
Densely packed—at a glance, there were at least a dozen of them in the living room!
"..." In a certain sense, Yurikawa Hana's house looked even more like a haunted house than Yotsuya's.
"Hikigaya-kun, what are you looking at?" Just as Hikigaya Hachiman was staring at those little old men, Hana tilted her head into his field of view.
Suddenly, as if something occurred to her, her expression instantly turned grim.
"Don't tell me... my house has evil spirits too?" Not just some—there were plenty.
Hikigaya Hachiman grumbled inwardly, but outwardly he shook his head.
"No, actually, Yurikawa-san's house is surprisingly safe."
"Really? Just now, seeing you space out like that, I thought there were evil spirits here..." Hearing his words, Hana didn't doubt him.
She patted her tall chest and let out a long sigh of relief.
At that moment, a few of the little old men in the living room, upon seeing Hana's chest sway, crawled up along her thighs.
"Ah..." Hikigaya Hachiman had just raised his hand, ready to quietly use his spiritual power to eliminate them.
But then, he noticed that the little old men climbing onto Hana's body suddenly showed painful expressions. At the same time, faint yellow flames burst from their bodies.
Within only a few seconds, they turned into black smoke and vanished into the air.
Watching the fading black smoke before him, Hikigaya Hachiman's face twitched.
What did he just witness? A normal human like Yurikawa Hana had actually destroyed evil spirits with nothing more than her sheer vitality?
"Mm, suddenly I feel hungry. I guess eating only three fried cakes for breakfast wasn't enough?" Just then, Hana's stomach growled.
She covered it with her hands, showing an embarrassed expression.
"Then just eat a little more. Anyway, didn't you prepare a lot of food for us, Hana?" Upon hearing her words, Yotsuya Miko immediately suggested that they eat some of the food that had been prepared for her and Hikigaya Hachiman.
"Mm! Then let's hurry upstairs!" Saying that, Hana grabbed the two of them by the hands and dragged them toward the stairs.
"Hana! Didn't I tell you not to run in the house!" Suddenly, from the kitchen emerged a woman who looked strikingly similar to Hana, but with long hair and a motherly aura all over her.
"Ah, sorry, Mom..." Being scolded by her mother in front of friends, Hana stuck out her tongue to ease her embarrassment, then continued pulling Hikigaya Hachiman and Miko upstairs.
"This child..." Seeing the awkward expressions on their faces, Mrs. Yurikawa shook her head helplessly.
A breeze blew past her.
She suddenly felt her body lighten... Hikigaya Hachiman had casually exorcised the evil spirit clinging to her, before being dragged into a very girlish bedroom.
Glancing around the room's layout—and casually killing off the little old men lingering inside—Hikigaya Hachiman then heard a crunching sound, like a hamster eating.
Without turning around, he already knew that the hungry Hana was replenishing her energy.
Tug... tug... While dealing with the room's spirits, Hikigaya Hachiman suddenly felt his sleeve being pulled.
Turning his head, he saw Yotsuya Miko standing there with a frightened expression.
"What is it?" This was the first time he had seen her looking so disturbed even with him by her side. Hikigaya couldn't help but feel curious.
"Under the bed..." She had only thought the little old men were rather cute, so she looked at them a few more times. But then she accidentally saw something she really hadn't wanted to.
Forcing herself not to cry in fear, Yotsuya Miko went over to him and reported it.
"Under the bed?" Hearing this, Hikigaya Hachiman pretended as if he'd dropped something, crouched to pick it up, and looked beneath the bed.
There, a grinning face full of malice stared back.
Caught off guard, anyone would have jumped in fright.
Expressionless, Hikigaya Hachiman stood up and walked to the bed. He tossed a few talismans underneath, and easily sent that mid-level evil spirit to the afterlife.
Once the spirits in Hana's room had been dealt with, Hikigaya Hachiman and Yotsuya Miko sat at the small table on the carpet.
"Hikigaya-kun, where's your textbook?" Having replenished her energy, Hana blinked curiously at the empty space in front of him.
This was supposed to be a study meeting—coming without textbooks was out of the question.
"I've already studied." While going over everything again would've been a good way to reinforce the material, Hikigaya Hachiman clearly didn't want the hassle. After all, all he needed was to pass each subject and avoid being dragged to supplementary lessons by Hiratsuka-sensei.
"Wow, amazing. I still have a pile of points I haven't reviewed yet." Hearing his confident words, Hana's face showed admiration.
Unlike Yotsuya Miko and Hikigaya Hachiman, her grades were only average. For something as important as midterms, she needed to study diligently.
"That's why, don't bother him. Come over here and review with me already!" Yotsuya Miko had already spread open her textbook long ago.
But after waiting so long, she saw Hana chatting endlessly with Hikigaya Hachiman.
Finally, unable to take it, she dragged Hana over to study.
"If you fail the midterms, you'll be forced into supplementary lessons!"
.
.
.
The study session at Yurikawa Hana's house officially began.
Hikigaya Hachiman sat in one corner of the table, continuing to tinker with the spiritual tool he hadn't finished modifying. Meanwhile, Yotsuya Miko and Hana studied their lessons across from him.
But Hana clearly wasn't the type who could sit still. More than once, while focusing on the prayer beads in his hands, Hikigaya Hachiman sensed her sneaking glances at him.
To that, Hikigaya Hachiman thought, she could look all she wanted. Once he finished making Miko's tool, he planned to prepare one for Hana as well.
After all, with that overflowing vitality of hers—like a beacon in the dark—she only attracted slightly fewer spirits than Yotsuya Miko.
Right now, only weak spirits were being drawn in. But if a high-level spirit were to notice her...
A few grim scenarios flashed in his mind. Pausing briefly, Hikigaya Hachiman then continued channeling his spiritual energy into the prayer beads.
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