Chapter 4: The Casually Named Instance

"Whew..." Seeing the toes of the shoes in his view finally stop moving, Hachiman Hikigaya let out a breath of relief. At that moment, he and Miko Yotsuya were hiding behind the sliding door inside the classroom. If Iroha Isshiki were to poke her head in, she'd immediately see the two of them pressed together. "Whatever, I'll just leave..." As soon as Isshiki said that, Hachiman saw the shoes withdraw from his field of vision. "That scared the hell out of me." Click... But before Hachiman could let his guard down, the classroom door behind him suddenly shut. Hearing the lock click into place, Hachiman's expression froze. No way... How could someone lock the door from the outside? Did she seriously have a master key or something? With that thought, Hachiman quickly got up and rushed to the door, trying to pull it open using the handle. He tried several times, but the door didn't budge an inch. It was really locked. "Why do these kinds of things keep happening to me...?" Kneeling in front of the door, Hachiman began questioning his life. "Here, take this." Just then, Miko Yotsuya, who had been quietly sitting on the floor, suddenly stood up, pulled something from her pocket, and handed it to Hachiman. "What's this?" Taking the key from her, Hachiman looked it over while glancing up to ask her. "A master key..." Yotsuya said this and lowered her head in embarrassment. Hachiman: ... Am I seriously the only one in this entire school without a master key? Looking at the key in his hand, Hachiman suddenly felt existential dread. "Because I can see spirits, they often cling to me. I carry this for when I need to escape at night... I made a copy just in case." Before Hachiman could say anything, Yotsuya explained. "Alright then..." Putting aside the question of why she'd be running from ghosts in school at night, Hachiman inserted the key, easily unlocked the door, and stepped out. Familiar hallway, familiar sunset... Though he'd seen both countless times before, this time Hachiman swore he was nearly moved to tears. Then came the next thought: Who locked the damn door?! Once calm again, Hachiman guessed someone must have realized he and Yotsuya had hidden in the classroom. After all, the footprints on the dusty floor in front of the door were way too obvious. You'd have to be blind not to notice. So someone knew there were people in the classroom, and still locked the door? That was just plain cruel! "Ugh..." As Hachiman scanned around, trying to find the prankster, Miko Yotsuya suddenly clutched her chest in pain from inside the classroom. "Hey, are you okay?" Hearing her pained groan, Hachiman rushed back in. "I'm fine..." Lying on the floor, Yotsuya weakly opened her eyes and gave him a bitter smile. "It's just... it's coming." "It?" "Mhm. I ran into it last week on the street. Once it realized I could see it, it's been following me ever since... and it left a mark on me." As she spoke, she rolled up her sleeve to show Hachiman the mark the spirit had left on her arm. "But it's still daytime!" Seeing how much pain she was in, Hachiman spoke in a serious tone. The sun was the deadliest enemy of spirits. No matter how powerful, no spirit could harm someone while the sun was still up. That was a rule his system had clearly told him! "But the sun's just about to set..." Yotsuya gave a miserable smile. At her words, Hachiman looked out the window—and sure enough, the sun had already dipped halfway below the horizon. Was it already that late? He quickly pulled out his phone to check the time, and when he saw the digits on the screen, his pupils constricted. Something was wrong with the passage of time. From the moment he'd been caught by Shizuka Hiratsuka and dragged to the clubroom, then met Yotsuya—at most 30 minutes had passed. But his phone said it was already past 6 PM. More than ninety minutes since school ended! "There's something off..." Hachiman's heart tensed. Glancing at the pale Yotsuya on the floor, he bent down, scooped her up, and bolted for the schoolyard. The moment he stepped out the classroom door, the air around him turned deathly still. The long corridor ahead of him seemed to stretch infinitely and then began to distort. Eerie laughter echoed throughout the entire school. Holding Yotsuya, Hachiman ran to a window and looked out toward the field. As expected, the once-crowded field full of club members was now completely empty. Just then, the last sliver of sunlight vanished beneath the horizon. Dark clouds began to gather above the school. Further out, the buildings beyond the campus walls started to twist and warp, slowly being swallowed by a gray fog. Ding! High-level spirit detected. Automatically generating high-level instance(special area)—Soubu High. "What a convenient name for an instance..." Hachiman couldn't help but mock the system for lazily naming the dungeon after the school, while also examining the now-transformed school grounds. The once bright and orderly buildings had become sinister and terrifying. The only light left was a crimson moon in the sky. "This is clearly not a dungeon I, a low-level exorcist, can handle..." After assessing the situation, Hachiman reached his conclusion. Based on what he saw, that high-level spirit could easily kill him. "Sorry for dragging you into this..." Hearing Hachiman's words, Yotsuya—resting in his arms—looked up at him with an apologetic expression. After witnessing him easily slay that low-level spirit, she had thought he was strong enough to handle the terrifying one stalking her. She hadn't expected him to be this weak... "Sorry I'm so weak, okay?" Seeing her expression, Hachiman bluntly voiced the words she was thinking. "I'm sorry..." Having her thoughts exposed like that, Yotsuya bowed her head and apologized over and over. She had only wanted to survive. "It's fine. This isn't your fault." Hachiman shook his head at the girl in his arms. It wasn't something she could've controlled. He was likely targeted by that high-level spirit the moment he got involved with Yotsuya. After all, to powerful spirits, people with spiritual energy were far more appetizing than ordinary humans...