N-A-A Page 131
Page 131
"Yuecun, what is this 'Newcomer Ranking'?" Mikasa Hatsuka asked, feigning curiosity, pointing to a newly posted piece of paper in the corner of the notice board.
No, how did this ridiculous list get all the way here?
“Oh, this,” said Koshimura Sawa without batting an eye, “It refers to the list of moral exemplars in our school, whose people are pure in thought and kind in character, like newborn babies.”
"I see. Well, you're really amazing, Koshimura-kun." Mikasa Hatsuka smiled and pointed to his name on the list. "Because you're ninth."
Thank you for the compliment. However, there are still eight people ahead of me who are as good as me. There are always people better than me, and heroes are as numerous as fish crossing a river.
Speaking of which... if Chu Hua's fans had a fan name, shouldn't it be called "Chu Sheng" (初生)?
[...I'm at a loss for words when it comes to your thought process.]
Koshimura led Mikasa Hatsuka forward.
"This is a vending machine; it's used to buy things."
"Uh-huh."
"This is Lao Ba, the ancient Greek god of sleep and numerical monsters," Yue Cunze introduced, gesturing with his hand. "...Wait, what the hell are you doing here?"
"...I ran too fast on my way back to the classroom and twisted my ankle on the stairs," Hachiman Hikigaya replied weakly.
"Haha."
You're a fan of the Bull Demon King!
"Are you alright?" Koshimura Sawa, disguised as Senju Hashirama, asked with concern. "Do you need me to take you to the infirmary?"
"...No need, we'll be there soon." Hachiman Hikigaya squinted his dead fish eyes, looking him up and down between Mikasa and Hatsuka. "By the way, what are you doing instead of going to class?"
"I'm here on official business to show the students from Hanasaki River around the school," said Koshimura Sawa with a smile. "By the way, the principal gave me special permission to skip class this morning and have a half-day off. Don't be envious."
"I see. Have fun." Hachiman Hikigaya gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with disdain for those who live a normal life and longing for his vacation.
Come on, you're just jealous that I can hang out with pretty idol girls while you have to go to class.
Watching Hachiman Hikigaya walk away with seemingly more unsteady steps, Misumi Hatsuka asked with some concern, "Is he... alright?"
"It should be fine." Koshimura waved his hand dismissively.
Hey Lao Ba, go download Genshin Impact now. After all, we Genshin Impact players have superhuman physiques. Even if we take a nuclear bomb to the face, we can fix it with super glue. A mere sprained ankle is probably no problem for us.
"This is the convenience store; you can buy food and drinks here." Koshimura continued his tour guide service, which was even worse than a poorly made map.
"Then what is this?" Sanjiao Chuhua suddenly stopped and pointed curiously at a dark shadow hanging upside down on the ceiling at the entrance of the convenience store.
When Koshimura looked up, his lips twitched.
"What are you doing here? Don't tell me you sprained your ankle too."
"The war for the fried noodles bread is getting fiercer. Intelligence shows that some students have actually bribed the shopkeeper to try to monopolize the supply of fried noodles bread during lunch break." Ren Amamiya's voice came from above, with a hint of solemnity. "In order to maintain fairness and justice in the fried noodles bread war, we must make her 'change her mind' and voluntarily give up those ill-gotten gains before lunch break."
Koshimura glanced down at his watch: "But... it's only the second period, the convenience store isn't even open yet, is it?"
"Before sending the 'announcement,' it's only natural to infiltrate its 'mental palace' beforehand to conduct a reconnaissance and vulnerability analysis," Ren Amamiya said matter-of-factly. "Setting aside a morning is perfectly reasonable."
"But she's just a lady working at a school canteen!!"
“This kind of thing can’t be taken lightly. I once encountered a top-notch assassin who infiltrated the school disguised as a school janitor,” Ren Amamiya said. “Fortunately, although she had been lurking here for a long time, she could never find her target, and I took care of her beforehand.”
"Um... whatever makes you happy." Yuecun Ze gave up trying to communicate, feeling utterly exhausted.
To put it bluntly, these guys just don't want to go to math class, right?
However, to be fair, this character is also portrayed as an excellent student... so there's not much to say about him.
Sigh, the thought of the high-scoring sections of Yuqiu being dominated by a few newbies suddenly makes me feel like the school's future is incredibly bright...
Standing beside him, Mikasa watched this scene and couldn't help but cover her mouth and chuckle, "It seems that the students at Haneoka... are all very interesting, and they all get along very well."
How can a woman find warmth in watching a chaotic scene of demons dancing? What a terrifying woman.
Looking at her smiling face so close to his, Yuecunze had to admit that Chuhua truly possessed a magnificent face.
[This girl, Chu Hua, is really good at singing and she's beautiful too!]
I don't believe it unless I look closely.
【? 】
“This is the training room and equipment room.” Yuecunze swiped his student ID, and the automatic doors slid open silently to both sides, with the sensor lights behind the doors lighting up one by one. “But I don’t come here often. It’s mainly the sports students who like to settle down and the magic outline masters from the senior club who come here often.”
"The facilities seem pretty complete." Mikasa Hatsuka walked around and looked around. "They seem to be a lot better than our training room in Hanasakigawa."
The metal walls were inlaid with movable targets for testing spell power, and the ground was divided into different training areas. Various physical training equipment and some basic spell practice props were placed in the corners, and a faint ozone-like smell permeated the air.
"You flatter me. The average physical fitness of our Haneoka students is definitely not as good as that of your Hanasakigawa students," Koshimura said modestly. "I heard that Hanasakigawa's KKR-senpai once jumped off the Tokyo Skytree without any external assistance and was unharmed. Is that true?"
"Although there's some exaggeration involved... it's definitely true." Mikasa Hatsuka smiled.
Koshimura walked slightly ahead and looked at the complex array of instruments beside him, including one that was exactly the same as the one in the RiNG simulation training room.
Wow, finally I met someone I know! Now I can finally fulfill my duties as a tour guide!
He was about to begin his introduction when a loud bang suddenly came from behind him. The heavy soundproof door seemed to have been slammed shut by some force.
Immediately afterwards, the previously stable overhead light flickered wildly a few times, emitting a crackling sound, and then went out completely with a "snap," plunging the entire training room into darkness.
"W-What's wrong?" came a slightly flustered voice from beside her.
"Don't panic, it's probably a power outage." Koshimura Sawa said, instinctively walking towards the direction where Mikasa Hatsuka had just spoken, preparing to summon his guitar sword. "Don't move, stay where you are, I'll go find it..."
His words stopped abruptly.
From the darkness, a new sound seemed to be heard.
It was sticky and wet, like the sound of some kind of mollusc rubbing against the floor as it crawled.
"Coo-choo...coo-choo..."
And the source of this unsettling sound... happened to be in the direction where Mikazuki had just been.
Chapter 45 The Paladin Girl with the Tallest Rice Noodles
Just as Koshimura was about to listen more closely, the sound suddenly disappeared as if it were a hallucination.
"Um, Koshimura-kun...where are you?" Misumi Hatsuka's voice rang out in the darkness, trembling slightly and sounding particularly helpless.
Can it be cut into a soft and chewy texture in seconds? That's interesting.
"Over here." Koshimura Sawa tried to make his voice clearer.
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Sankaku Hatsuka's hand reaching out towards him.
Wait, where are you touching?!
Koshimura quickly grabbed her wrist, preventing a crime from happening, and summoned the Star Blade in his right hand.
“2 令侕二亿傘球把（二）阅-yiGalas-var。”
hum-
The summer triangle engraved on the sword burst forth with a dazzling blue light, like starlight, spreading outwards and instantly dispelling most of the darkness in the training room, illuminating an area of forty feet around it.
The sudden light made Misaka Hatsuka instinctively squint.
After her eyes adjusted to the light, she visibly relaxed, and her tense shoulders also eased.
"Sorry... I'm a little afraid of the dark." She hurriedly let go of Yuecunze's hand, lowered her head, grabbed her arm with her hand, and her cheeks flushed slightly.
"It's nothing." Koshimura waved his hand. "I was afraid of mirrors when I was a child."
"Are you afraid of... mirrors?" Misaka Hatsuka looked up, blinked, and asked curiously.
"Yeah, don't you think mirrors are scary? The person inside looks exactly like you and even mimics your behavior. Ever since I lost a game of rock-paper-scissors with a mirror when I was little, I've been afraid to be alone with a mirror."
Misaka Hatsuka: "?"
Although she was a little confused, his interruption made her seem less afraid than before.
Was it intentional?
"It's alright. Although there might be a power outage, the electronic lock on the training room definitely has its own battery. Let's go out first." As Yuecun Ze spoke, he carefully made his way towards the door using the light from the Star Blade.
Sanjiao Chuhua hesitated for a moment. Because she was afraid of the dark, she could only follow closely behind him, and several times she almost stepped on his heels.
Koshimura stopped and fiddled with the electronic lock panel on the door for a few moments before suddenly stopping.
"Um, I have bad news and even worse news. Which do you want to hear first?"
"What's wrong?" Misaka Hatsuka asked hurriedly, her voice tinged with nervousness.
Koshimura turned to the side, revealing the glaring red light shining from the display screen.
"The message above indicates that the door has been forcibly locked due to the activation of alert mode."
In short, it cannot be opened from this side.
No, why does this plot seem so familiar?
"The reason is—the invasion of hollow creatures?" Koshimura read out the small print scrolling on the screen, then suddenly turned around, raised his sword, and pointed it into the depths of the training room.
Sankaku Hatsuka subconsciously took a step closer to him, clenched her hands, and followed his gaze.
Under the starlight, the training room was completely visible. The equipment was neatly arranged, the floor was spotless... and there was no sign of anything unusual.
Only the sound of their breathing echoed softly in the empty space.
"Um... are you looking for the infiltrated Void creatures? I might be able to help," Misaka Satsuki said, composing herself.
She made a grasping motion in the air, and soft golden light gathered from her hand, like flowing liquid gold, quickly solidifying into the shape of a guitar.
—That was a Schecter AR-07, with a black and gold color scheme, exuding a sense of understated elegance. Like Wakaba Mutsu's, it was a seven-string guitar.
"[Detecting good and evil]." The girl plucked the strings and sang softly.
An invisible, divine aura emanated from her, spreading outwards like ripples on water, gradually reaching every corner of the training room, carefully probing for any possible presence.
“Nothing unusual was found.” After a moment, Mitsuka Hatsuka put down her guitar, shook her head, and her golden hair swayed gently with her movement.
This is wrong.
Koshimura frowned.
Is that the same voice we heard before?
He turned his head, about to ask Sankaku Hatsuka if she had heard the same voice, when he saw her face suddenly blur.
Then, as if it were a television image with a poor signal, it began to distort and deform, turning into a strange vortex shape.
"Koshimura-kun, have you discovered something?"
Koshimura blinked sharply, and when he looked again, Mikasa Hatsuka's face had returned to normal, and she was looking at him with a hint of confusion.
"It's nothing," he said, taking a small step back without making a sound.
Misaka Hatsuka: "?"
“What I mean is, since we can’t find anything unusual for the time being, let’s just wait and see,” Yuecunze explained. “How could it be such a coincidence that the Void went out of control right after we came in? Maybe it’s just a program error. It’s almost time for get out of class to end. If someone comes, they’ll definitely find us locked inside.”
“Hmm…” Misaka Hatsuka nodded and fell silent.
A few seconds later, she glanced furtively at Koshimura, who was on guard, and quietly took a step closer to him.
Koshimura immediately took a step back as a reflex.
Sanjiao Chuhua paused for a moment, then took another step forward.
Koshimura Sawa took another step back.
Sanjiao Chuhua pursed her lips, then stepped forward.
Koshimura Sawa looked back... no, it seems he bumped into a wall.
"Um... Triangle, why do you keep leaning towards me?" He gave an awkward laugh, feeling his body stiffen slightly.
"Huh? I..." A faint blush rose to Misaki Hatsuka's face as she explained softly, "I'm sorry, the darkness always reminds me of some bad memories..."
Looking at her expression, which resembled that of an abandoned puppy, Yuecun Ze remained silent for a while, then sighed helplessly. He walked to a spot about a meter away from her, sat down against the wall, and placed Xingzhifeng horizontally on his lap.
"sit down."
"Huh? Okay, okay." Sanjiao Chuhua quickly sat down next to him, hugging her knees with both hands, and breathed a slight sigh of relief.