The Exorcism Tale of Hachiman

Hachiman Hikigaya soon received news from Saki Kawasaki confirming the mission.

Tonight's target is an ordinary residential house in Chiba.

According to the person who posted the task, starting yesterday, he felt a strange, unseen shadow above his head.

That very evening, Saki Kawasaki began posting online about accepting exorcism requests.

That person came to ask for help with a "let's give it a try" attitude.

However, the other party's reward was quite generous.

After Hachiman Hikigaya confirmed that he would accept the commission, the other party immediately paid 100,000 yen as a deposit.

In response, Hachiman Hikigaya could only lament how lucrative the exorcism business is these days.

It's no wonder that monks in Japanese temples are so wealthy.

.........

After a whole morning of rest plus a lunch break, Hachiman Hikigaya finally regained his energy.

He listened very attentively to the three afternoon classes.

After all, apart from the first period being his favorite literature class, the remaining two consecutive periods were taught by Hiratsuka Shizuka.

When the school bell rang, Hachiman Hikigaya hurriedly stuffed his certificates and textbooks into his schoolbag, and then obediently walked towards the Service Club in front of Shizuka Hiratsuka.

Pushing open the door to the Service Club, as expected, Yukino Yukinoshita was already sitting by the window, quietly flipping through a book.

Oh dear, I thought you weren't coming.

Upon hearing Hachiman Hikigaya open the door, Yukino Yukinoshita immediately showed a surprised expression.

"I just had something come up yesterday that prevented me from coming..."

Knowing he was in the wrong, Hachiman Hikigaya ignored the provocation in Yukino Yukinoshita's tone and simply explained why he hadn't come yesterday.

"Whether you really had something to do yesterday or not, it doesn't really matter to me. After all, our competition actually ended on the first day, didn't it?"

Closing the book in her hands, Yukino Yukinoshita said with a smile.

"Hmm, what an arrogant statement!"

Upon hearing Yukino Yukinoshita's statement, Hachiman Hikigaya couldn't help but mock her arrogance.

"This isn't arrogance; I'm just stating the facts. And the fact is, I, a beautiful girl of the entire school, will undoubtedly win against Hikigaya-kun, who broke her promise."

As she spoke, Yukino Yukinoshita tossed her long, flowing hair, radiating confidence.

"It was indeed my fault for not coming yesterday, but if you think that will make you win, you're overthinking it!"

Seeing that Yukino Yukinoshita said she didn't care, but her words were all about blaming him for not coming yesterday.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Hachiman Hikigaya could only stubbornly insist that he would never admit defeat.

"Whatever. Since Hachiman wants to put up a fight before I mercilessly crush him, then I'll naturally grant your wish..."

After venting her pent-up frustrations from the day, Yukino Yukinoshita's mood instantly improved.

She resumed reading the book in her hands, answering Hachiman Hikigaya's question without even looking up.

Seeing that Yukino Yukinoshita had lost interest in continuing the conversation, Hachiman Hikigaya reluctantly sat down in his seat. He then opened his bag, intending to take out a book to kill time during this boring activity.

However, along with the books came the certificate of merit that Hiratsuka Shizuka handed him at noon.

Coincidentally, the certificate, which came out along with the book, drifted to Yukino Yukinoshita's feet.

"Second place in the national essay competition, Hachiman Hikigaya?!"

Yukino Yukinoshita quickly noticed the certificate that had floated to her feet. She bent down, picked it up, and then read it aloud, word by word.

Finally, Yukino Yukinoshita put down the certificate in her hand and looked up at Hachiman Hikigaya in astonishment.

Chapter 34 Overturned

"Is there anything strange about it? It's just an award certificate..."

Faced with Yukino Yukinoshita's gaze, Hachiman Hikigaya, who always thought he had a thick skin, surprisingly felt embarrassed.

"It's nothing, I'm just surprised. I thought Hachiman was hopeless, but he's actually quite good at literature..."

Upon hearing Hachiman Hikigaya's words, Yukino Yukinoshita withdrew her gaze and refocused on the certificate in her hand.

This time, however, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly, as if she had encountered something interesting.

"Is it just 'quite good'? I wonder where Yukinoshita, who calls herself a genius, ranks? With your talent, you should have participated in this essay contest too, right?"

Although he scoffed at the second-place result, Hachiman Hikigaya still felt inexplicably annoyed after hearing Yukino Yukinoshita's words.

After all, this is second place nationwide!

Aside from one person who writes better essays than him, he is the strongest person!

"Ugh..."

Faced with Hachiman Hikigaya's provocation, Yukino Yukinoshita put down the certificate in her hand and cast a pitying look at him.

Then, under Hachiman Hikigaya's puzzled gaze, Yukino Yukinoshita bent down, opened the schoolbag at her feet, and took out a certificate that was exactly the same as his.

"Isn't it?"

Looking at the certificate in Yukino's hand, Hachiman Hikigaya felt a sense of foreboding.

However, as Yukino Yukinoshita presented him with the certificate of merit, Hachiman Hikigaya's ominous premonition came true.

"First prize in the essay contest, Yukino Yukinoshita..."

With a livid face, Hachiman Hikigaya read aloud the contents of the certificate.

"I'm sure Hachiman put a lot of thought into the essay contest, right? It's really embarrassing that you won first place so easily~"

Seeing Hachiman Hikigaya's ashen face, Yukino Yukinoshita felt a surge of smugness.

She originally had no particular feeling about winning the award.

After all, it's just another first place.

However, after seeing that Hachiman Hikigaya came in second place, she actually had the thought that it was great that she had come in first.

"Let's assume you win this time..."

Despite not caring about the rankings at all, Hachiman Hikigaya suddenly regretted not writing a proper essay and submitting it.

The result was already decided, and Hachiman Hikigaya could only admit that he had lost this match...

Hearing the commotion in the classroom, Hiratsuka Shizuka, who was eavesdropping outside the door, revealed a triumphant expression.

........

While the two were bickering, dusk arrived in the blink of an eye.

Gazing at the sunset outside the window, Hachiman Hikigaya got up and began packing his things to leave.

However, seeing Yukino Yukinoshita still sitting in her seat reading and showing no intention of moving, he couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you going back?"

"Go back? Go back where?"

Her hands, which were turning the pages of the book, stopped. Yukino Yukinoshita looked up at the boy in front of her, tilted her head, and asked in confusion.

"Of course, I'd go home."

Upon hearing Yukino Yukinoshita's question, Hachiman Hikigaya frowned as he answered.

"Go home?"

Yukino Yukinoshita had a thoughtful expression on her face.

But then her face darkened, and even her tone towards Hachiman Hikigaya turned cold: "When the time comes, I will naturally go back!"

"Never mind, I'll go now..."

Upon hearing Yukino Yukinoshita's cold reply, Hachiman Hikigaya naturally wouldn't linger any longer.

He pushed open the door and walked straight out, leaving Yukino Yukinoshita alone sitting by the window in the sunset.

Yukino Yukinoshita didn't care about Hachiman Hikigaya's departure; she continued to look down at the book in her hands.

Only after the second bell rang, urging students to leave school, did she calmly pack her bag and prepare to return to her apartment.

But while packing her schoolbag, she suddenly realized that she had forgotten to return the certificate to Hachiman Hikigaya.

"Never mind, I'll give it to him when he comes tomorrow afternoon..."

Looking at the first and second certificates spread out in her hand, Yukino Yukinoshita shook her head, then carefully placed the two certificates together into her schoolbag.

On the other side, Hachiman Hikigaya, who had left early, rode his bicycle home.

After a quick ride, he finally arrived home before Komachi did.

After quickly tidying up the living room, Hachiman Hikigaya collapsed onto the sofa and started watching TV.

When Komachi hopped home, she saw her brother lying on the sofa like a salted fish, just like always.

Komachi knew perfectly well that Hachiman Hikigaya's actions were meant to reassure her.

However, this did not diminish her emotion at Hachiman Hikigaya's actions.

"Onii-chan!"

With a shout, Komachi leaped and pounced on Hachiman Hikigaya on the sofa.

Upon hearing Komachi's voice, Hachiman Hikigaya was about to get up to greet her when Komachi unexpectedly jumped over.

In an instant, his body reacted swiftly, opening his arms to catch Komachi as she flew towards him. He then spun half a circle to dissipate the impact, and finally used himself as a cushion to firmly catch Komachi and prevent her from getting hurt.

"That's very dangerous..."

After completing the series of actions, Hachiman Hikigaya lay back on the sofa and gently scolded Komachi in front of him.

"hey-hey..."

But Komachi just showed her signature little tiger teeth, smiled playfully, and then stood up from the sofa and skipped upstairs to the second floor.

A short while later, Komachi, who had taken off her junior high school uniform and changed into casual clothes, ran downstairs again.

Looking at Komachi's attire, Hachiman Hikigaya's eyelids twitched, but he ultimately said nothing.