Chapter 400: Chapter 400: The High School Monster Series

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“Um, excuse me, could you move?” a voice that belonged to none of the people present suddenly spoke up.

The unexpected voice immediately grabbed everyone’s attention.

Faced with their shocked, confused, and puzzled stares, the newcomer remained completely calm as he patted Beo on the back again.

“Huh?” Beo turned around and looked at the young man who had suddenly appeared behind it. He was an ordinary-looking guy with short black hair, wearing a white waiter’s shirt, his expression completely blank.

“The transfer student? What are you doing here?” Aoko asked, staring in amazement at Soujuurou Shizuki, who had somehow appeared behind Beo.

“Huh, President Aozaki? What are you doing here?” Soujuurou asked, looking just as confused, as if he couldn’t quite figure out what was happening.

“Who is he?” Alice, who had never seen him before, looked questioningly at Aoko—the only person present who knew him.

“He’s a new transfer student at the school. Mr. Yamashiro asked me to show him around. He’s just a regular person,” Aoko explained briefly.

Touko, who had been keeping a close watch on Aoko, raised an eyebrow, her expression shifting slightly. “A regular person can’t just waltz into my heavily warded old school building.”

“Beo!!!” Touko’s voice was ice-cold with command.

Getting her order, Beo grinned and said casually, “I know, Miss Touko. I’ll handle the intruder.”

After traveling with Touko for a year, Beo was already used to dealing with these unfortunate souls who stumbled into her barriers, only to meet their deaths at its hands. It often got bonus meals from these unlucky wanderers.

“Um, President Aozaki, are you being chased by this big dog?” Soujuurou tilted his head and looked at Aoko with that same blank expression, completely ignoring the menacing Beo in front of him.

“Ah, something like that, I guess?”

Aoko replied, a weird look on her face. She really wanted to know what was going on in this weirdo’s head. A normal person, seeing Beo’s terrifying appearance, would have run away screaming, right? At the very least, they should have been terrified. What kind of freak was this, casually asking questions?

“Then I’ll help you get away,” Soujuurou said, raising his hand and beckoning to Aoko like an old man telling stories.

“What?” Aoko stared at Soujuurou in disbelief. Had she heard him right? A regular person was going to help her escape from a Phantasmal Species?

“Is this some kind of illusion?” Alice narrowed her eyes slightly, studying Soujuurou with suspicion. The calm young man in front of her gave her an incredibly strange sense of familiarity.

“Think of it as a thank you for helping me get used to the school, President Aozaki,” Soujuurou said with a smile, though his calm eyes held a serious glint.

“I seem to be getting ignored here. And underestimated,” Beo said, lowering its head, its wolf-like face darkening as it stared at Soujuurou.

The next second, its claws sliced through the air, carrying massive kinetic energy as they lunged at Soujuurou’s body.

Beo’s lips curved into a faint smile, as if it could already hear the young man’s screams after being torn to pieces.

Soujuurou casually stepped to the left, barely dodging Beo’s full-force attack.

He stepped back with his right foot, his left hand loosely forming a fist, and threw a punch.

BOOM—!

The sound of a hammer striking a bronze bell suddenly exploded through the air.

Both Aoko and Alice covered their ears, pain flashing across their faces, as if the roar had actually hurt them.

Beo looked down at the small fist pressed against its chest, its eyes filling with a dense network of blood vessels, as if they were about to burst.

Thud—!

The massive wolf body crashed to the ground with a heavy thump. In its final moment, Beo saw Soujuurou’s emotionless eyes.

No joy, no sorrow. Just a pair of empty, void-like eyes.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. He killed a Phantasmal Species with his bare hands? Are all Japanese high school students monsters?” Touko stared at Soujuurou in shock, the cigarette falling from her mouth.

“No way! Japanese high school students are totally normal. It’s just that guy who’s a monster. How can a human beat a Phantasmal Species?”

Aoko’s eye twitched as she protested. In her experience with the two thousand-plus students in her grade, only Soujuurou was this… clueless… freak.

“Aoko, you beat a Phantasmal Species once before,” Alice said, turning to look at Aoko’s profile with a meaningful expression.

Aoko fell silent. She’d just realized she had basically insulted herself.

Suddenly, with a carefree smile on his face, Soujuurou said to the air with a laugh, “Well, that’s all I wanted to do. I’ll leave the rest to you, old man.”

“…”

A sudden silence fell. Now that Soujuurou had just one-punched a Phantasmal Species, nobody could treat him like some idiot, even if he was talking to thin air.

The next second, a strange aura began radiating from Soujuurou’s body.

Alice and Touko’s expressions changed drastically. In their perception, Soujuurou’s magical power had instantly exploded, and in just a moment, it had surpassed their combined magical power and was still climbing to unknown heights.

“What the hell?” Aoko looked at the two of them—whose faces had gone pale—with a bewildered expression. They were fine just a second ago. Why were they freaking out now?

“Having the little one from the Kuonji family teach you… it seems there was a bit of a miscalculation,” Soujuurou said, his tone flat. The voice was still the young man’s calm voice, but it was inexplicably tinged with a sense of weariness and ancient age.

Hearing that somewhat familiar tone, Touko’s face changed slightly, and she looked at Soujuurou with suspicion.

“You old bastard, it’s you!!! You actually escaped!!!!”

“Old bastard??” Aoko’s eyes went wide. In her memory, the only person Touko would call that was her own monster of a grandfather.

“Aren’t you supposed to be ’dead’?!!!” Aoko said in disbelief.

’Soujuurou Shizuki’ had a strange expression on his face. “I recall writing you three letters last month, didn’t I?”

“You’re a ghost. What’s the difference between that and being dead? And what’s with the letters? The Aozaki family is doing just fine under my management. Just hurry up and go to hell already,” Aoko shot back, her attitude matter-of-fact.

“—Aoko, that’s so typical of you,” Alice said, her eye twitching.

’Soujuurou Shizuki’ narrowed his eyes slightly and said with deeper meaning, “Don’t worry, girl. Grandpa’s going to outlive you.”

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