The air in the Basement seemed to stagnate, dust floating slowly in the faint light coming from the doorway. Reika Kitami stood at the door, looking at the holy bible of light with its milky white cover held tightly in Minase Taki's arms, a complex and indistinguishable emotion flashing across her beautiful face—the urgency of recovery mixed with a trace of imperceptible worry.
"Classmate Minase," her voice remained as elegant as ever, but with an unquestionable tone, "that book is not something you should touch. Put it down and leave this place."
Minase Taki was like a startled rabbit, suddenly stepping back and hugging the holy bible of light even tighter. The warm power flowing from the pages seemed to give him courage, and he shook his head vigorously, his eyes a mix of fear and desperate stubbornness: "No... Teacher Kitami, this book... it chose me! I felt it! It gave me... a feeling I've never had before!"
He didn't know what this feeling meant, but that warm current filling his body, that tangible sense of "power" he could almost touch, was a fatal temptation for a student like him who had long been at the bottom of the school hierarchy and longed for change.
Reika Kitami looked at the familiar yet heartbreaking fanatical light in his eyes and sighed softly. That sigh carried the weight of too many years. She took a step forward, her slightly thin figure outlined by the dim light, her face appearing even paler than usual.
"Did you also... find this place after hearing the legend from eighteen years ago?" Her voice lowered, carrying a trace of weary mockery, "To seek power? Just like... he did back then."
Minase Taki was stunned, obviously not fully understanding what the "legend from eighteen years ago" specifically referred to, but he keenly caught the softening and... a certain sense of weakness in Reika Kitami's words. He looked closely at this teacher who was always shrouded in a mysterious aura and found that her breathing seemed somewhat disordered, with fine beads of sweat even seeping from her forehead, a completely different image from her usual effortless demeanor.
(She's not in a good state! She's very weak!) This thought flashed through Minase Taki's mind like lightning. An opportunity! This was his chance!
"S-sorry, Teacher Kitami!" he suddenly shouted. Taking advantage of the moment Reika Kitami was slightly distracted by her physical discomfort, he hugged the holy bible of light and, like a panicked deer, suddenly rushed out through the gap beside her, his footsteps echoing in the empty Basement as he quickly distanced himself.
Reika Kitami instinctively wanted to raise her hand to stop him, but her arm fell powerlessly halfway. A sudden wave of intense dizziness hit her, and she had to reach out and hold onto the dusty bookshelf beside her to barely steady herself. The backlash from forcibly suppressing her body's origin, combined with the magical disorder caused by her interrupted practice last night, was torturing her now.
She looked toward the hallway where Minase Taki had disappeared, her eyes full of helplessness and a deeper pity, like a mother watching a child go astray.
"Another... poor soul bewitched by power..." she whispered to herself.
The events of eighteen years ago flooded back like a tide. That rainy night, Kanjuro's resolute back, the ambition burning in his eyes when he signed the contract with the unknown entity, and the dark bible that suddenly appeared in his hand, emitting an ominous aura... and she herself, in despair and resentment, was also chosen by another power, obtaining this sacred scripture symbolizing "light." She had thought this was the hope to balance the darkness and redeem everything, but she hadn't expected that this power also required a price—every eighteen years, her soul must move to a new, vibrant young body, or it would completely dissipate along with the decay of the old one.
She loathed this act of plundering others' lives. Over the years, she had been using the secret techniques in the holy bible of light to do her best to delay her body's decay and barely maintain her existence, only hoping to find a way to have both, or... at least to watch over Kanjuro and keep him from completely sinking into darkness and eternal damnation.
But now, the holy bible of light was lost, falling into the hands of a boy whose character was undecided but who was tempted by power. This was no different from giving a holy sharp sword to an infant; the consequences would be unimaginable. What worried her even more was that the power of this bible was naturally opposed to Kanjuro's dark bible; once out of control, it was highly likely to trigger a conflict that even she couldn't predict.
Reika Kitami leaned against the bookshelf and slowly slid down to sit on the floor, closing her eyes wearily. Her long eyelashes cast shadows on her pale face. She raised her hand and gently pressed her aching chest, where there was not only the pain of the power's backlash but also a bone-deep sorrow that had lasted for eighteen years.
After a long silence, she uttered a whisper that was almost a murmur to the empty Basement, her voice so light it seemed it would break in the wind at any moment:
"Kanjuro... someone else took this book..."
"Even though you've wronged me... I... still worry that something will happen to you."
In the dark corners, past love and hatred intertwined with the current crisis. The holy bible of light taken by the boy was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, destined to stir up new waves in this seemingly ordinary school. And Kanjuro, who had just finished his wedding and returned to school, was still completely unaware of this. The gears of fate began to turn slowly once again.
In the classroom of Class 2-F, sunlight shone through the bright windows, casting mottled shadows on the desks. Hiratsuka Shizuka stood on the podium, explaining classical literature, her voice steady and powerful, occasionally pushing up non-existent glasses out of habit. Time seemed to treat her with special favor; that mature charm still carried a sense of righteous dignity, but no one knew that this respected national literature teacher was already a bond that a certain person would not let go of even when sinking into darkness.
Kanjuro sat by the window, resting his chin on one hand, his gaze seemingly on the blackboard but actually out of focus. He enjoyed this sense of detachment while being in the middle of an ordinary daily routine. On the podium was his familiar "Shizuka," and sitting not far from him were his daughters and lovers—Yui Yuigahama was whispering and passing notes with Miura Yumiko next to her, while Hina Ebina adjusted her glasses.,Taking notes attentively. All of this formed a warm yet distorted picture, a collection carefully arranged in his eternal life.
However, just as Hiratsuka Shizuka explained a certain passage and the classroom was quiet, Kanjuro's brow twitched almost imperceptibly.
An abnormal energy fluctuation, like a stone thrown into still water, gently rippled out. This feeling... was not the familiar, gentle magic of Reika Kitami that carried struggle and light; instead, it had a raw, restless quality, yet it faintly resonated in a subtle way with the power of the dark bible within him.
Was it the holy bible of light? But it felt wrong—more primitive, more... unrestrained.
He followed that faint but clear source of magic and looked past several rows of desks, his gaze landing on an unremarkable boy in the back of the classroom—Minase Taki. Right now, Minase Taki had his head down, hands hidden under the desk, his lips moving rapidly, and his eyes tightly locked onto the back of a girl in the front rows. That was Shiraki Rie, the recognized top student of the class, who had a cold temperament and was secretly admired by many boys.
Kanjuro's gaze instantly turned cold. He saw the faint golden glow appearing at Minase Taki's fingertips, a sign that the power of the holy bible of light was being channeled.
And the fragments of the incantation Minase Taki was silently chanting, though incomplete and full of errors, had an unmistakable direction—it was a low-level but malicious "mental interference" spell, intended to forcibly twist the target's will and make her do shameful things against her own wishes.
(He wants to make Shiraki Rie embarrass herself in public?) Kanjuro almost immediately saw through Minase Taki's dirty thoughts.
Using supernatural power to satisfy personal desires and bully the weak—this kind of behavior was the complete opposite of Reika Kitami, who, in his memory, always adhered to some ridiculous principles.
Kitami would never allow the holy bible of light to be abused like this.
Just as Minase Taki thought the spell was about to be completed, a distorted smile of excitement even appearing on his face, he suddenly felt a bone-chilling cold rise from his spine, as if he were being watched by something extremely terrifying.
His chanting stopped abruptly, and he instinctively looked up, meeting Kanjuro's bottomless black eyes.
No warning, no questioning.
Kanjuro just looked at him indifferently, his gaze calm and waveless, yet carrying a cold detachment as if looking down at an ant.
However, in Minase Taki's perception, it was as if an invisible iceberg had crashed down upon him!
The bit of light magic he had barely managed to channel instantly dissipated before this pure, massive, and cold dark aura like a candle in the wind. The backlash made his chest tighten, and he almost couldn't breathe, his face turning pale in an instant.
"Ugh..." He let out a painful groan, hurriedly lowering his head and gripping the edge of the desk tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force. His heart pounded wildly, and fear seized him.
(I've been discovered! It's Kanjuro! How... how could he...)
Minase Taki's mind was in a mess; he didn't understand how Kanjuro had noticed, nor did he understand where the terrifying pressure that had enveloped him in that instant had come from. He only knew that his plan had completely failed, and he seemed to have provoked someone he absolutely should not have messed with.
Hiratsuka Shizuka on the podium seemed to notice the slight commotion in the back and swept her gaze over: "Classmate Minase, are you feeling unwell?"
"N-no! Teacher!" Minase Taki shook his head in a hurry, his voice carrying an uncontrollable tremble.
Shiraki Rie in the front row seemed to sense something and turned her head slightly to look, her cold eyes carrying a trace of doubt before she turned back to continue listening to the lesson, completely unaware of the misfortune that had almost befallen her.
Kanjuro also withdrew his gaze, returning to his lazy posture of listening to the lecture, as if nothing had happened just now. But deep in his eyes, a flicker of cold mockery passed through.
(Kitami, it seems the "light" you protect has already fallen into the hands of an unbearable fool. Is this the fruit of the "path" you insisted on, even if it meant paying the price?)
He wasn't worried that Minase Taki could stir up any trouble; that level of magic control was like child's play in his eyes.
He was too lazy to even expose or punish him. He just felt it was a bit... boring. The game between light and dark seemed to have become somewhat low-level because of a foolish interloper.
However, this small interlude also reminded him.
The change in ownership of the holy bible of light might mean something had happened on Kitami's side.
It seemed necessary to spare some attention to this "old friend's" movements while "enjoying" his married life and school routine.
The air in the classroom returned to calm, with only Hiratsuka Shizuka's lecturing and the occasional birdsong from outside the window.
But in the shadows unnoticed by anyone, the seeds of light and dark had already been sown, waiting for the right moment to break through the soil and entwine once more.
Minase Taki clenched his fists tightly, cold sweat soaking his back, his heart filled with lingering fear, resentment, and an even stronger, twisted desire for possession of that holy bible of light. The bell rang through the hallway, and students poured out of the classroom like a tide. Kanjuro did not move with the crowd; he leaned against the window, watching Yui Yuigahama, Miura Yumiko, and Ebina Hina leave together chatting and laughing, his gaze calm and waveless. Only when their figures disappeared around the corner did he straighten up and walk toward the Nurses Office connected to the main school building.
The Nurses Office was filled with a faint smell of disinfectant and a certain soothing herbal fragrance. Reika Kitami was standing with her back to the door, tidying the medicine cabinet. Her silhouette was still elegant, but Kanjuro's Eye of Truth could clearly see the Light Magic Power flowing around her was like a candle in the wind, flickering and unstable, even more disordered and weak than what he had perceived yesterday.
"What are you looking for me for, after living so happily with your daughters?" Reika Kitami did not turn around, her voice cold, carrying a hint of imperceptible distance and fatigue.
Kanjuro casually closed the door, cutting off the noise from outside. He walked up behind Reika Kitami, so close he could almost feel the faint heat radiating from her body and the suppressed pain she was desperately holding back.
"Was your holy bible of light stolen?" He got straight to the point, his tone flat, yet like a precise scalpel, it cut into the secret Reika Kitami was trying to hide.
Reika Kitami's movement of tidying the medicine stopped abruptly, her shoulders stiffening almost imperceptibly. She slowly turned around, her beautiful face showing a hint of bewilderment, which then turned into a bitter smile: "You... already know?" She paused, a faint glimmer of hope flashing in her eyes, "Are you concerned about me?"
Kanjuro looked at the hope in her eyes and sighed softly. No much emotion could be heard in that sigh; it was more like stating a fact: "The eighteen years are almost up; you need to change bodies." He reached out, his fingertips almost touching Reika Kitami's pale cheek, but stopped at the last moment, "I'll help you. Consider it... a bit of guilt for using you back then and sacrificing you to that kind of existence."
"Guilt?" Reika Kitami seemed to have heard a huge joke. She suddenly swatted his hand away, took a step back, leaned against the cold medicine cabinet, and sneered, "Kanjuro, put away your hypocritical tricks! Using someone else's body to gain eternal life? Such a dirty thing, I won't do it! I'd rather dissipate completely than plunder an innocent person's life!"
Her voice was resolute, her eyes sharp as knives, as if trying to cut through Kanjuro's forever calm outer shell to see how much truth was left inside.
Kanjuro was not angered by her resistance; instead, he laughed lowly. The laughter was pleasant yet dangerous, carrying an unquestionable desire for control. "Reika, you're still so naive and stubborn." He pressed forward a step, his shadow completely enveloping Reika Kitami, "However, this matter is not up to you."
His tone shifted, his eyes instantly turning cold: "But before that, I have to teach that ignorant little thief—Minase Taki—a lesson. He actually dared to use the power of the holy bible of light to try and cast that kind of low-class curse on a classmate in class."
Reika Kitami's pupils shrank, and the color instantly drained from her face: "What... what are you going to do to him? Don't hurt him! He's just an ordinary student blinded by power!"
"An ordinary student?" Kanjuro raised an eyebrow, the mockery in his eyes even stronger, "The moment he picked up the holy bible of light and recited the incantation, he was no longer 'ordinary.' To abuse power is to pay the price. Those are the rules."
"Kanjuro! Wait!" Reika Kitami urgently tried to grab his arm to stop him, but Kanjuro just swayed slightly and avoided her touch.
He didn't look back again, heading straight for the door. When his hand gripped the handle, he turned his head slightly, leaving one last sentence, his voice deep and full of irresistible intent: "Stay put, Reika. Your 'eternal life,' I will personally arrange for you. As for that Minase... I will make him understand that some things are not for him to touch."
After speaking,He opened the door,The figure blended into the light and shadow of the corridor,vanished in an instant.
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