Chapter Thirty: First Blood

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Long, silvery-white hair, petite figure, expressionless face.

The “Angel”—Kanade Tachibana.

Otonashi’s hand trembled as he raised his gun, aiming at her. His emotions seemed highly unstable, and judging by his hand clutching his chest, was he recalling the moment Kanade had pierced his heart before?

“Otonashi, leave this to me. Go call for backup.” To prevent Otonashi from shooting Kanade, Hao Ren patted him on the shoulder, trying to shoo him away.

Bang!

Unstable as he was, Otonashi’s finger tightened on the trigger under Hao Ren’s interference, and the bullet sped straight toward Kanade.

A strange black shadow shot up from the water beneath the connecting bridge, intercepting the bullet with a speed rivaling that of the projectile itself, then vanished without a trace.

“Whew—Nemesis Gj!” Hao Ren wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. If the mission’s penalty for failure was erasure, Hao Ren would’ve dragged Otonashi down with him before dying, making sure he got a taste of death, even if Otonashi couldn’t die.

Kanade remained utterly calm, ignoring the shadow entirely.

“Guard Skill: Hand Sonic.” As if activating a program, her cool voice sounded, and a short blade appeared on her right arm.

“Damn it.” Otonashi, unwilling to give up, fired again, but Kanade deflected the bullet effortlessly with her blade.

“W-what is that!” Otonashi was thoroughly shaken this time, backing away while firing his gun at Kanade, trying to slow her advance.

Meanwhile, Hao Ren had been completely forgotten.

“Master, let me test her strength.” Seeing Otonashi retreating, Maya, ignoring Hao Ren’s attempt to stop her, rushed forward in excitement.

“Hand Sonic.” Kanade’s left hand also manifested a short blade, dual-wielding to block Maya’s braid, which had transformed into a sharp claw.

“Haha~” It was as if some strange switch had been flipped in Maya—she slipped into a state of dark exhilaration, her hands morphing into curved blades.

“Oh god!” Watching the fierce duel between the two girls, Hao Ren’s heart almost leapt out of his chest. If this mission failed, there’d be nowhere to cry.

“Xiao An, please stop Maya.” Hao Ren knew that, compared to Maya and the others, he was just a weakling with stats but a combat power no higher than five.

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“Understood.” Xiao An darted forward, her hair transforming into two large hands that grabbed the still-fighting Maya.

Maya’s clawed hair reflexively struck backward, but Xiao An dodged nimbly.

Thud! The one who’d just arrived, Hao Ren, was stabbed clean through by Maya’s claws. Blood spurted freely, as if it cost nothing.

Xiao An’s pupils dilated.

“Damn! How many cc’s is this!” Even as he collapsed to his knees, Hao Ren couldn’t help but crack a joke.

“Crap!” The sight of blood finally snapped Maya out of it. Seeing Hao Ren, whom she’d just impaled, still giving her a thumbs-up, she panicked.

“I—I won’t die. Just hurry and hide me somewhere.” Although he couldn’t die, it still hurt like hell.

According to statistics, the pain humans can bear has a limit—about 10 dol (unit) as the baseline, with the average human tolerating about 50 dol. Childbirth pain for women is around 58–75 dol. But the pain of a man getting hit in the family jewels? That’s 90–105 dol, varying by individual. (Actually, I don’t understand Chinese; I just made all that up. There’s no scientific basis, so don’t take it seriously.)

By that measure, the pain from Hao Ren’s circumcision back in middle school was about 100 dol. With that in mind, his current wound didn’t seem so bad.

…The ultimate in self-consolation.

“Don’t dawdle, let’s go.” Nemesis emerged from the water, scooped up Hao Ren, and pulled the still-stunned Xiao An and Maya into the darkness.

Left suddenly without an opponent, Kanade was silent for a while, then decided to head toward the main cafeteria.

At the grove.

“Oh, amazing.” Hao Ren watched the five wounds across his chest heal rapidly before his eyes.

“I’m sorry.” Realizing her mistake, Maya sat obediently under Nemesis’s watchful gaze.

“It’s fine, really. Nothing serious,” Hao Ren quickly reassured her, unable to bear seeing a cute girl upset.

“I’m sorry. If I hadn’t dodged, I could’ve blocked it…” Xiao An was a little guilty.

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“It’s all right, it was my own misstep, not your fault.” Hao Ren patted Xiao An’s head. At first, Xiao An flinched, reflexively wanting to bat his hand away, but stopped herself just in time and ended up looking rather pleased.

“Shouldn’t Master give me some reward too?” Drenched from her recent swim, Nemesis’s figure was faintly visible under the moonlight streaming through the leaves. Her chest was visibly outlined, and her skirt remained suspiciously clean below. Wondering where her underwear had gone? Most likely, the concept of underwear hadn’t fully formed in Nemesis’s mind yet.

“Nemesis, you need to materialize some underwear later—especially panties—they’re a necessity for girls.” Hao Ren took off his jacket and draped it over her head. “At least dry your hair first, or you’ll catch a cold.”

“Help me.” Nemesis’s eyes gleamed with some unreadable light as she tugged at Hao Ren’s sleeve, uncharacteristically coquettish.

“All right.” Hao Ren didn’t protest, carefully drying her hair as though afraid to damage the strands that could easily lift two tons of steel.

“Maya, get up. We need to head to the cafeteria and meet up with Yuri and the others.” Patting Maya’s head, Hao Ren led the way out of the grove.

“Hehe~” Maya stuck out her tongue and hurried after him.

Hao Ren arrived at the main cafeteria just as it began to rain meal tickets from the sky, snatching four in a row—all for omelet rice.

“Oh, Koji, are these enough? Then let’s go.” The axe-wielding Noda slapped Hao Ren on the back, and he followed the main group with the three girls in tow.

Honestly, he’d always wanted to complain—were the pockets of those students with meal tickets all full of holes? Or was the entry requirement holding a meal ticket, and as soon as the fan blew, you had to let go? None of this made any sense!

Main cafeteria, dining area.

“Omelet rice, four servings,” called the cafeteria lady.

Golden egg wrapped the rice completely, garnished with bright ketchup and fresh broccoli. Coach, I want to learn how to cook.

The SSS members gathered together, eating leisurely as if the earlier gunfight had never happened.

Suddenly, Hao Ren felt a poke in his right arm—a hand, not a weapon. Seated to his right was Shiina, who held up nine fingers. Was she asking to meet at nine o’clock?