Chapter 47: A Communicative Evil Spirit

The second period for Class 2-F was Hiratsuka Shizuka's class. And due to her "pleasant conversation" with Hikigaya Hachiman earlier, she only began preparing her lesson materials after letting him go at the end of the last class. As a result, she was unusually late. The sound of her high heels echoed through the empty hallway. Seeing that teachers in the classrooms she passed by had already begun their lessons, Hiratsuka Shizuka quickened her pace slightly. But just as she passed by Class E's door, she suddenly felt something leap onto her. However, this strange sensation lasted less than half a second before it vanished. She turned her head to glance at the empty corridor behind her, shook her head, and stepped into Class F in her heels. After she entered, the arm-spirit slowly emerged from the wall beside the hallway. It stared at Hiratsuka Shizuka, who had entered Class F and begun teaching, its eyes filled with fear and confusion. Just now, when it tried to possess Hiratsuka Shizuka and enjoy the tactile pleasures of her voluptuous mature body, a sudden burst of white light from her repelled it violently. Not only that, the light had even burned it! This was something the arm-spirit had never encountered before in its memory. Even knowing that something on her body could harm it, it still chose to enter Class F to continue observing her. But unfortunately for the spirit, the spot where it chose to phase through the wall was directly in front of Hikigaya Hachiman's desk. Because it was Hiratsuka Shizuka's class, Hachiman was sitting up straight and attentively listening out of respect. Yet as he focused on her explanation, in the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed a spirit's head poking out of the wall. 'Detected a mid-tier evil spirit nearby...' The system's timely notification echoed in Hachiman's mind. Hikigaya Hachiman: ...... Hearing the rare, straightforward system prompt, Hachiman could only sigh inwardly. He had just resolved to concentrate on class—so why did a mid-tier evil spirit have to appear right in front of him like this? And with such a lecherous expression, no less... Hachiman quietly watched the grotesque spirit covered in arms float through the wall and drift right past him. Because it was class time, he had no intention of acting immediately. Instead, he simply had the system mark it, planning to deal with it at noon or after school. However, something gradually felt off to him. He noticed the hideous spirit was floating directly toward Hiratsuka Shizuka with a creepy grin! Hachiman's eye twitched. From the expression on the spirit's face, he could already guess the consequences of letting it go unchecked. Of course, because it was daytime, the spirit couldn't actually harm her. And since no one else in class could see it, Hiratsuka wouldn't even know anything had happened—unless he said something. But Hachiman clearly wasn't going to just sit there and watch this reckless spirit try to possess Hiratsuka Shizuka. So the moment he realized the spirit's intent, he stood up decisively and told her he had a stomachache and needed to go to the bathroom. Naturally, asking to leave for the bathroom right at the beginning of class triggered a burst of laughter from the entire class. But Hachiman didn't care at all about the laughter filled with amusement, ridicule, or schadenfreude around him. At that moment, all he could focus on was the spirit getting closer and closer to Hiratsuka. "Don't take too long..." Hearing Hachiman's excuse, Hiratsuka Shizuka could only sigh in exasperation. Still, she nodded and gave him permission. With that, Hachiman immediately stood up and dashed toward the front door, acting like he couldn't hold it in any longer. In his rush, he even "accidentally" tripped as he passed by a classmate, falling right onto them. "Sorry..." Looking at the "girl" he had fallen onto because of his "slip," Hachiman wore an apologetic expression. He didn't have a choice. The spirit was about to leave the range where he could engage without raising suspicion, so he had to fake a fall to close the gap naturally... "It-It's fine..." Meeting Hachiman's eyes, the "girl" blushed and softly lowered her head. Hachiman stared in shock. Though the voice had been quiet, it had definitely sounded like a male voice?! "Ahem, Hikigaya, weren't you going to the bathroom?" Just as Hachiman stood frozen, mentally reeling from the realization that this cute "girl" was actually a guy, Hiratsuka Shizuka cleared her throat from the podium and snapped him back to reality. "Sorry!" Awakened by her reminder, Hachiman remembered that his top priority now was to take care of the mid-tier spirit struggling around him. After apologizing once more to the boy who looked cuter than most girls, Hachiman bolted from the classroom. The moment he stepped out, the entire Class F erupted into laughter. Everyone was mocking Hachiman for the ridiculous scene he had just caused. But as the laughter echoed behind him, Hachiman ran through the hallway without a single ripple in his heart. He quickly entered the most secluded bathroom on that floor and slammed the spirit, which had been clinging to him and trying to tear him apart, onto the ground. Though the hard floor did no damage, the arm-spirit took the chance to sink into the ground in an attempt to escape. But just as its body began to merge into the floor, a sharp blade pierced through it, pinning it in place. Instantly, the spirit found it couldn't move at all! "S-Spare me..." Realizing Hachiman's strength far surpassed its own, the arm-spirit immediately begged for mercy. As a mid-tier evil spirit that had regained some degree of sentience, it still had the potential to rise to a general-class spirit in the future—it didn't want to die here at the hands of a human! "A spirit that can talk?" This was the first time Hachiman had ever heard an evil spirit actually beg for its life. His expression shifted to one of surprise. Over the past three months, he had eliminated countless evil spirits. Even the strongest of the Special-grade ones had only possessed human-like emotions. So why could a mid-tier evil spirit communicate with him?