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High School Hack and Slash Chapter 153 Part 1

Fellows

―― Peripheral World『Seven Wonders of the Academy』, Episode『The Drifting Classroom in the Sky』 ――

―― The『Second』 floor, the『Hallway』 domain  ――

「Hm. As I thought.」

It may look like an inescapable trap, but it’s not that much of a big deal.

How should I put it, the structure is fragile.

What’s serving as the base is ultimately the school building of the old club building.

The space itself hasn’t turned into an other world (raid) like the high-level raid domain.

In other words, you can break-out by simply smashing through the walls, floors, and ceilings.

Taking out Bhaudhara from the Item Box, I tap the floor with a thud.

If I destroy the classroom or make holes in the floor or ceiling, I think I’m going to get scolded.

For now, let’s make the hallway windows have better ventilation.

I get the feeling that I can just smash them as it is, but let’s not cut corners and try to mow them down with all our might.

The double-edged, oddly shaped halberd is cloaked in white crackling lightning.

「… Oh?」

Just when I’ve built up almost enough power to shoot out a beam, I notice the group of guys making a little noise at my feet.

A blackboard eraser with legs, a phonograph, a plaster statue, and a grand piano are gathering around.

I’m a bit startled by the last one.

Well, at any rate, they’re desperately trying to stop me.

I thought their presence had a familiar feel to it, but I guess these guys are the same kind of Konnyaku-man and the others that spring up in Asagi-sou, huh.

Well, very well, I’m not disinclined to listen to what they have to say.

Sitting down in the middle of the hallway, we’re holding a small round-table discussion.

「Hmm… You’re saying it’s not your fault that the situation has turned out like this?」

Blackboard eraser-man nods dexterously.

「So, you want me to refrain from engaging in the act of vandalism?」

Grand piano-man makes a *plunk* sound.

They do some harmless pranks, but they don’t do things that cause harm to others.

No, they didn’t, apparently.

Konnyaku-man and the others are basically harmless, so I’ll take their word for it.

There are some guys in the mix who cause noise damage, but there’s no problem since they’re subjugated each time.

「I see… So you’re saying that some stranger is locking up the elder, who acts as the manager, and doing bad things here, right?」

Everyone nods indignantly.

I understand that there are a lot of circumstances.

As I thought, wouldn’t it be better to mow it all down and make things clearer?

However, Blackboard eraser-man puts his hand on his hip, or wherever it is located, and shakes his head.

True enough, it would be a problem if that Stranger-man ran away and started misbehaving again somewhere else, huh.

「Very well. Let me give you a hand.」

I shake Blackboard eraser-man’s tiny toothpick-like hand.

From their point of view, it seems that they don’t mind if the students come back to this old club building again.

However, if the academy were to try to demolish the building, I think some strange curses would come about.

「Now then, I’ll leave the guiding to you.」

In short, I guess all we’ve got to do is beat the hell out of that stranger.

It seems that Blackboard eraser-man, riding on my shoulder, will act as the guide.

Please don’t drop the chalk dust on me.

◇ ◇ ◇

―― Peripheral World『Seven Wonders of the Academy』, Episode『The Drifting Classroom in the Sky』 ――

―― The『Basement』 floor, the『Hallway』 domain  ――

「This one is, yet another classroom, huh.」

Kazuto let out a sigh as he closed the door.

He couldn’t help but to let one out.

That was because a thorn-like gaze was directed at him from behind.

He felt as if he was being cursed for being useless, and truthfully speaking, he indeed was.

「… So useless.」

Making it doubly sure, it was even expressed in words.

Kazuto’s face also stiffened and twitched under the insistent verbal abuse.

He was not a patient person by nature.

「D, did I do something that offended you? If so, I apologize, but I have no recollections of ever doing any….」

「I have no recollections of it either. If I have to say, though, I do not like your face.」

Kazuto’s shoulders slumped at the blunt dissing.

For Kazuto, who had had well-featured looks since he was a child, the line, 「I don’t like your face」, was a sales pitch for a fight told to him by those of the same sex.

At the very least, he had always had good wills directed his way, and had never been told this by the opposite sex.

He had no shortage of playmates, and association was proposed to him by the opposite side.

He accepted those who came his way, as opposed to refusing them, and treated them equally.

He might be called the enemy of men by men, but his reputation was by no means bad.

This was because he always shared his leftovers with those he’d call comrades, underlings.

He never harbored doubts about that stance of his in human relations.

He was athletic, boasting strong physical strength, and not bad in the head.

Therefore, all those he had dealt with thus far were either underlings who were buttering him up from the beginning, or lower-ranked people who were picking a fight with him.

He didn’t know how to deal with people of the same or even higher rank.

「…..」

Kazuto, unable to continue the conversation, turned his back on her and resumed the investigation.

However, it was not that Shizuka had some mental leeway.

It was true that she didn’t like his face, but to put it bluntly, she just didn’t like any of the boys except for Touma.

She had no intention of even trying to get along with them.

The her from before she enrolled in the academy – where she compromised in life, being oppressed and exploited as she let herself be swept away by those around her – was no more.

Of all the classmates, she was probably the one who had undergone the most transformation.

「This one is not good either, huh… What a pickle.」

The classrooms, which appeared to be lined up in a row, looped after three of them.

They couldn’t see anything that looked like a connection between the spaces.

And given the fact that this was the basement floor, escaping through the windows was also impossible.

It was something akin to a confinement state.

As a sensible person he was, the thoughts of smashing through the ceiling or floor didn’t cross his mind.

「It seems we’ve ended up being trapped.」

「That seems to be the case.」

The reason why Shizuka was able to remain relatively calm was because she could feel Touma’s presence.

She was not disconnected with him as she had been in the past other world domains.

That was because she knew that if danger were to draw close to her, Touma would destroy all of the obstacles and come.

「… You sure have a lot of nerve, don’t you? Even though you don’t look like that type.」

Kazuto, having given up on the investigation, stopped in his tracks.

「As for you, you seem quite frightened, do you not? … Are you that scared?」

「O, of what?」

「I understand how you feel, but Touma-san does not even register someone like you, you know? If you think he sees you as a target to be eliminated, that is you being overly self-conscious.」

Shizuka, who had stopped at a distance, advised him.

It would be troubling if he went on some strange rampage and got Touma caught in it.

As far as Shizuka was concerned, that was the extent of her concern.

「As long as you ignore us as you have been, there will be no problem whatsoever.」

「Am I… being looked down upon that much?」

Kazuto’s face distorted as he muttered.

A fire of rebellion ignited in his broken heart.

The pride that had been seen through creaked.

「That is not the case. It is just that, between you and Touma-san, the standing is simply too different.」

「I’m not worth dealing with, that’s what you want to say, isn’t it?」

It was unforgivably humiliating.

To be treated like the trash that he once trampled on.

If he didn’t want to deal with him, then all he had to do was set it up so that he saw him as an enemy first.

With his mouth remaining twisted, he took a step closer to Shizuka.

「In that case, I’ll test it to see if he can ignore me even after he has his own partner snatched away from him.」

「Sigh, truly irredeemable.」

「Forget such a monster (Temperance), and become mine (Slaver).」

The hand that was stretched out toward her shoulder, was repelled.

「… Sigh. You do not even know how to use your authority (skill), huh. If you want to enforce it with the cardinal virtues as the axis, I recommend converting it to Latin. Of course, there is no meaning to it if you are lacking in your understandings of the language, though.」

「What… the…」

Stepping back up from the force of being repelled, he looked up at Shizuka with frightened eyes.

「What is the matter? Are you afraid of someone against whom your authority (might) is ineffective?」

「W, what in the world are you…?」

「I very much understand how you feel about relying on your『power』, but… That alone will never allow you to escape from the shadow of Touma-san, I guess. After all, Touma-san’s standing is now within such categories.」

If one were to challenge him to a power game, most likely, Touma stood as the academy’s strongest.

He had already deviated from the『frame (category)』 of human beings.

Even so, somehow or another he had continued to exist as a『human』, that in itself was Shizuka’s answer.

For argument’s sake, if she were to gain such『authority (might)』, she had the confidence to say that she would self-destruct.

The value of what she could do and what she wanted to do would be reversed.

That would be very, very scary, and she didn’t think she would be able to bear it.

If she were to be frank, even Shizuka herself didn’t understand why Touma would continue to pretend to be human.

Ever since he enrolled in the academy, most likely he was like that from the very beginning.

Otherwise, it would be strange.

「I accept everything that I love about that person and stand next to him. You too, don’t depend on others, do decide your own standing.」

「I, I’m….」

She was sure that Touma would remain the same, regardless of whether he had『power』 or not.

He was very free-spirited and surely insane as a human being from the beginning.

It was only natural to fear what you didn’t understand.

That was why she didn’t blame him.

Trying to understand that was tantamount to peering into the abyss of insanity.

Therefore, Shizuka’s advice meant no ill will.

If he pretended he didn’t see it and rejected its existence, he should be able to walk a proper path as a human being.

「First of all, if you try to lay your hands on me, I will rip your you-know-what off.」

「… ha, hahaha. You, no, Shizuka, you sure are amazing. It’s gotten numb.」

「I see. I could not care less about it. After all, I do not have the faintest intention of getting along with you.」

Shizuka, who had decided her own standing, looked dazzlingly dignified.

In comparison, he could clearly see that he hadn’t settled his own footing.

In a sense, Kazuto had also lived his life while surrendering himself to the flow of his surroundings.

He had accepted the favors or perhaps crushed the hostilities of those around him, but all of it had been a passive choice.

He hadn’t even a single thing that he wished for on his own.

It was of no bother even if he didn’t have one, but『resolve』 would never dwell in his empty heart.

It wasn’t that his heart was broken, but that there was nothing to break from the beginning.

There was no way it could even rise.