Chapter 53: Congratulations on Mastering It

Blades of light from the sword surged toward Hikigaya Hachiman. Watching Yuuki effortlessly swing her longsword and once again knock the Demon-slaying Blade out of his hands with the Mother's Rosario, Hachiman's face showed a helpless expression. "You're just way too fast..." Originally, Hachiman thought that with the spiritual power boost, his speed had already reached the human limit. But Yuuki's appearance taught him that there's always someone stronger. Whether it was reaction time or the force behind her sword swings, Hachiman was utterly outclassed! Staring at Yuuki's petite figure, Hachiman couldn't understand how such tremendous strength could reside in such a small body. "It's not that I'm too fast—it's that you're too slow~" Winking playfully at him, Yuuki picked up the Demon-slaying Blade from the ground and handed it back to Hachiman. Then she returned to her original position. "Again!" . . . His sword was knocked away over and over again. Gradually, Hachiman started to grasp a hint of the technique. He stopped relying solely on his eyes to track Yuuki's movements and instead began to anticipate her next moves and prepared his guard in advance. Finally, after who knows how long, Hachiman successfully defended against Yuuki's Mother's Rosario in full for the first time. Clap, clap, clap... Looking at the clearly exhausted Hachiman, who had finally managed to block her intentionally weakened combo, Yuuki clapped her hands in approval. "Congratulations, you've successfully grasped the basics of the Mother's Rosario!" "Huh?" Startled by Yuuki's words, Hachiman looked up. He had been getting his ass handed to him this whole time—how did he end up mastering it? But what appeared before him wasn't Yuuki's lively, adorable face—it was himself, holding the Demon-slaying Blade! "Was it always just me alone?" Staring at the suddenly vanishing doppelgänger before him, Hachiman fell into thought. No, that wasn't right—Yuuki definitely existed! He shook his head, reaffirming his conviction. Slowly raising his Demon-slaying Blade, he took a deep breath and looked toward a large tree in front of him. A sense of familiarity surged from every part of his body. Just like Yuuki had said—he had learned the Mother's Rosario. The blade slashed through the air like lightning: five rapid thrusts from upper right to lower left, followed by five from upper left to lower right, and finally a powerful finishing thrust at the center. Hachiman could clearly feel that the Demon-slaying Blade wasn't the best weapon to use with Mother's Rosario, but that didn't diminish its power. Looking at the tree ahead, he could almost see an evil spirit being forced back by his relentless strikes, finally falling under his ultimate blow. "I did it!" Reaching out to examine the damage on the tree trunk, Hachiman suddenly heard Yukinoshita Yukino's cold voice echo out of nowhere. "Pervert-kun, what do you think you're doing?" Eh? When did I go from Peeping Tom-kun to Pervert-kun? Confused, Hachiman looked in the direction the voice came from. The scene before him began to twist. When it returned to normal, Yukinoshita Yukino was standing in front of him, face frosted over. His hand was mid-air—just a hair's breadth away from touching somewhere... taboo. "Sorry... I must've dozed off just now..." Awkwardly pulling his hand back, Hachiman looked embarrassed. He never expected that his actions in the mindscape would transfer into the real world. "Oh? Then I'd love to know, Pervert-kun, just what were you dreaming about to make you reach your hand out like that when I walked over?" Yukinoshita's face held a cold sneer. Clearly, she didn't buy Hachiman's excuse and took his earlier movement as intentional. "Uh..." Hachiman was at a total loss for words. "Forget it, I don't want to talk about this anymore. The second batch of cookies is ready—come over and taste them." Seeing that he had no explanation, Yukinoshita flashed a trace of disappointment before coldly tossing out her words and walking back to Yuigahama Yui. "Yukinoshita-san, what happened?" Because Yukinoshita's body had blocked the view, Yuigahama hadn't seen what just occurred. Seeing her return with a clearly worse mood, she looked puzzled. Cough cough... Hachiman happened to walk over and overheard the question. He let out an awkward cough and walked to the table where two trays of cookies were laid out. It was easy to tell: the evenly-colored ones were made by Yukinoshita Yukino, and the slightly charred ones must be Yuigahama's handiwork. By logic, he only needed to try Yuigahama's cookies—his role here was to test whether hers were edible. But maybe to smooth things over with Yukinoshita—or for some other reason—Hachiman picked up one of her cookies first and took a bite. "Mmm, it's really good!" He nodded while chewing. "Of course it is." Hearing his praise, Yukinoshita's expression softened noticeably. Very soon, one cookie was gone. Looking at the darker cookies beside them, Hachiman took a deep breath. "If the last one didn't kill me, this one should be safe too..." Reassuring himself, he carefully picked up a cookie and quickly popped it into his mouth. Just as he was about to chew and swallow it quickly— The flavor on his tongue made him pause. "Still awful?" Seeing Hachiman freeze, Yuigahama's heart tightened. "No—on the contrary, aside from being a little burnt, it's actually pretty good!" As he spoke, Hachiman picked up another of her cookies to prove his sincerity. "Really?" Seeing Hachiman eating a second one without any discomfort, Yuigahama hesitantly picked up one of her own cookies and took a bite. "Mmm—it is a little burnt, but it's actually edible!" Realizing Hachiman was telling the truth, Yuigahama excitedly hugged Yukinoshita, wanting to share her joy of finally baking something decent. "That's really great..." Looking at the pile of wasted ingredients in the trash can, then at the tiny plate of successful cookies on the table, Yukinoshita found herself momentarily at a loss for words.