"I'm still alive?"
The middle-aged man looked over his intact body again and again, stunned.
He already knew his daughter's friend was powerful—but to think this boy could actually pull him back from the brink of vanishing? That was sothing he hadn't expected.
On the other side, Hikigaya Hachiman was also scrutinizing the man in front of him.
Honestly, after encountering so many evil spirits, this was the first ti he'd t a benevolent one without a single trace of malicious energy.
"So, mister... why did you co find ?" Because he had been in a rush to help, Hachiman hadn't really listened earlier. He'd only vaguely heard that the man wanted him to save soone.
"Ah! Right, right! Miko is in danger! Please, you have to go save her!"
Snapping out of his thoughts, the man's expression beca urgent as he pleaded with Hachiman to head out right away and rescue his daughter.
"Miko again? She ran into evil spirits?" Strangely, Hachiman didn't feel the least bit surprised upon hearing that Miko was in trouble again.
"Yes, but this ti it's two extrely dangerous ones. They're much stronger than any she's encountered before. And the worst part—they're fighting inside her room!"
"Two powerful evil spirits… and they're fighting each other?"
A strange look crossed Hachiman's face.
Without another word, he stood up and headed for Miko's house.
But after just a few steps, he paused and turned toward Komachi.
"Wanna go out for a ride with ?"
.
.
.
On the pitch-black streets, a bicycle sped by.
"Where are we going, Onii-chan?" Sitting on the back seat, Komachi wrapped her arms around Hachiman's waist and raised her voice over the wind.
"Miko Yotsuya's house." Hachiman gave a short reply, then turned right at an intersection, following the directions given by the middle-aged man.
"Yotsuya-san again? She's being haunted by evil spirits?"
Komachi imdiately guessed the situation the mont she heard the destination.
"That's right," Hachiman nodded, silently mourning for Miko for a few seconds in his mind.
With her natural ability to attract spirits, Miko really had the worst kind of luck.
He stopped briefly along the way to reinforce the weakening spirit of the middle-aged man with more spiritual energy.
After another ten minutes of riding, they finally arrived at their destination.
The mont he parked the bike in front of Miko's house—
Thud! Sothing round rolled out of her bedroom window and landed at Hachiman's feet.
Looking down, he saw it was a spirit's head.
"So it's already gotten this bad?"
Concentrating all his spiritual energy into his right foot, Hachiman raised it and stomped down hard.
With a wet crack like a waterlon splitting open, the head disintegrated into black mist and vanished into the night.
The middle-aged man floated down from the sky just in ti to witness this brutal act. His whole ghostly body trembled.
Had he been too reckless to entrust his daughter to this boy?
What if they got into a fight soday and Hachiman used him as a stress relief tool?! He was just a powerless benevolent spirit after all!
Of course, Hachiman had no idea the middle-aged man was now worried about his own afterlife safety should Miko and Hachiman get too close.
After reminding Komachi to imdiately activate her bracelet if anything went wrong, Hachiman activated his stealth skill and leapt straight up to Miko's window.
Tap tap...
He rapped on the glass with his knuckles.
As he waited for Miko to open it, Hachiman found himself growing increasingly annoyed by how natural climbing into windows had beco for him.
This really wasn't sothing to be proud of.
.
.
.
Inside Miko Yotsuya's bedroom...
The battle between the two spirits had reached its climax.
The eye-covered spirit had already lost most of its eyes, gouged out by the other. anwhile, the head-covered spirit had also lost over half of its skulls, ripped off by the first.
Yet despite being so badly mutilated, neither spirit gave up. They continued to brawl, determined to settle things once and for all.
Under the covers, Miko lay completely still, her bed soaked beneath her. At this point, she felt like she wouldn't mind getting eaten by the spirits.
Her life, she believed, had already ended ten minutes ago.
"I kinda want to die…"
Feeling the wet warmth beneath her clothing, Miko sighed softly, her mind drifting through everything that had happened these past few days.
So this is that "life-flashing-before-your-eyes" thing, huh?
Closing her eyes, Miko resigned herself to fate—
When suddenly...
Tap tap!
The sound of knocking shattered the stillness of her room.
Miko's eyes snapped open.
Soone was tapping her window? In the middle of the night?
A burglar?
That seed likely.
After all, the entire Chiba district was in a blackout tonight, which probably ant higher cri rates.
And she was alone at ho—pri target.
But right now, Miko didn't care anymore.
Finally—a reason to get out of bed!
Suppressing the relief blooming in her heart, she held back a grin and pulled open the curtains.
She was just about to greet the kind burglar and thank him for showing up— Only to see Hachiman Hikigaya squatting outside her window.
"...Hikigaya-san?"
Blinking, Miko couldn't believe her eyes.
Why was Hachiman at her house? Squatting outside her bedroom window, no less?
And with the power outage, there was no way he could've contacted her!
"Open the window first," Hachiman said through the glass, quickly glancing at the two spirits still fighting behind her.
"Oh—right, coming…"
Miko sat up and reached for the latch.
But the soaked feeling all over her body made her freeze in place.
Right... with how she looked right now... wouldn't it be better to just let the spirits finish her off?
"What's wrong?"
Seeing her freeze up, Hachiman imdiately assud there was a third spirit in the room that he hadn't noticed, and his body tensed, fully alert.
"N-Nothing…"
Miko felt like crying. But in the end, she steeled herself, gritted her teeth, and opened the window to let Hachiman climb inside.
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