The morning after the altercation with Araki and his gang.
When Takeru opened the classroom door, the class was unusually noisy.
"What’s going on?" Takeru thought as he followed his classmates' gazes.
"...Huh?"
There stood Araki. However, his hair was neatly parted in a 7:3 style, he wore glasses, had his uniform perfectly in place, and was holding a tablet and a pen while studying with excellent posture. His transformation was so shocking that Takeru, like the other classmates, couldn’t help but gape in surprise.
Araki’s strange appearance was apparently so amusing that two of his delinquent friends were laughing mockingly.
“Araki-kun, what’s with that look?”
“P-Parted hair! And that outfit, what happened to make you like this?”
“...”
“*Ugh!*”
Araki silently punched the two delinquents, adjusted his glasses, and tried to resume studying when he suddenly made eye contact with Takeru.
“...!”
His eyes widened in what seemed like fear, but then he quickly looked back at his tablet and resumed studying quietly, as if trying not to bother anyone.
That look was identical to how Takeru had once been bullied himself. The message was clear: "Please don’t get involved with me."
“Ah…”
—Did I threaten him too much yesterday?
The classmates’ gazes turned toward Takeru, as if Araki’s unusual behavior raised suspicions.
—Did Kusanagi do something to him?
—He was chasing after Araki and his friends yesterday...
—But that guy used to be bullied not long ago, right?
Whispers and suspicious glances filled the air.
Araki had always been a bully who did whatever he wanted by force. He even drove someone he didn’t like to attempt suicide.
The classmates had seen Takeru being asked where he went after Sawamura was dragged away yesterday. With Araki having changed so drastically in just one day, it was natural to assume there had been a reason behind it.
—I messed up…
Takeru had always been bad at lying. Sweat poured down his face, making it clear to anyone that he was hiding something. Just as the tense atmosphere seemed unbearable—
“Good morning, Kusanagi-kun!”
Sawamura, covered in bruises, greeted Takeru from the doorway. Despite being beaten so badly the day before, he seemed surprisingly energetic. Perhaps getting everything off his chest had given him some relief.
Takeru returned the greeting, thinking it was probably for the best.
“Good morning, Sawamura.”
“...”
But Sawamura didn’t respond, frozen like Takeru, staring at Araki.
“Well...that’s understandable.”
Then, the chime rang, and class began.
—Even after that, Araki continued to take the lesson seriously.
When the two delinquents tried to approach Takeru during the break, Araki quickly punched them to stop them. He dragged them away, and when they returned, they were in tatters, and they never came near Takeru again.
As time passed, people began to get used to Araki’s strange behavior, and by lunchtime, it had become the new normal.
On the grounds of Kazami High School, magic classes were being held in place of physical education, and students could be seen through the windows of the school building. A girl stood in front of the school gates—Takamine Sakura, looking up at the ordinary school.
“This is the place.”
It was a ‘normal school’ unlike Ouran Academy, which is one of Japan's leading hunter training schools. For her, who had been fighting since she was a child, this was a place far removed from her life.
“The role of a hunter is to protect this 'normalcy'...”
Sakura muttered her original intention in a small voice.
Thirty years ago, monsters suddenly appeared on Earth, and in response, magicians appeared to counter them. From these magicians, humanity gained power and knowledge, and the existence of 'hunters,' who hunt even monsters, was born.
In this era, hunters are managed by an association. However, it is difficult for humans, having acquired great power, to restrain themselves from using it. There are even those in this world who act recklessly, wielding their power for selfish reasons and harming others.
“That’s why I need to find out who solved the Bloody Ogre and yesterday's incident—”
“Hey, hey, why is the Valkyrie hanging around in a place like this?”
When Sakura turned toward the voice, a tall man stood there. His long brown hair, unusual for a man, reached his shoulders, and his flashy shirt and glasses gave off an 'intellectual gangster' vibe that suited him well.
“Orochi... Why are you here?”
“Oh, I just had something I was curious about.”
The word “curious” made Sakura narrow her eyes.
“Kuku, don’t glare at me like that.”
“...Uroboros is a guild that operates in the Tokai region, right? Does a guild master like you really have time to come all the way to Tokyo?”
“My guild is full of talented people. They’ll be fine without me.”
—Says the man who laughs, his words intentionally provocative.
Sakura felt irritation rising as she stared at Hebikawa Jin, the guild master of S-Class Guild Uroboros and one of Japan’s top hunters. He was known for being cunning and ruthless. To expand his guild, he would recruit members from other guilds by force, and sometimes even bring the entire guild under his control.
If such a man had come all the way to Tokyo, it meant only one thing—he, too, was after the ‘irregular’ presence that didn’t belong to the Hunter Association, just like her.
Sakura glanced toward Kazami High School.
'If there really is such a strong presence, I can’t let him meet this man.'
“I heard a rumor recently that Uroboros was clashing with a guild from the Koshinetsu region.”
“Heh...”
Jin sneered at her suggestive statement.
“You’re just a brat who doesn’t hang out with anyone, but you’ve got some decent info.”
“Are you afraid of the God of War?”
“That justice-obsessed fool who only sees what's in front of them? That guy’s easy to deal with. That guy doesn’t even care about guild conflicts.” (TLN : Gender neutral here.)
“...”
Sakura thought of Japan’s strongest hunter, based in Niigata, and agreed with his assessment.
“Still, those country samurai need to be taught proper hierarchy.”
“Hunters should use their power to protect people.”
“To protect, we must unite under strong leadership, not under that bunch of weaklings in the Hunter Association.”
Hunters were both protectors of humanity from ferocious monsters and destroyers at the same time. The idea that great power came with responsibility was only valid for those who were inherently good people. While few were as extreme as Hebikawa, many powerful hunters considered themselves ‘special’ and ‘chosen.’
“So, since you’re here, I guess it’s true that the person we’re looking for is at this school.”
“What are you planning?”
“Kukuku.”
Sakura sensed danger as Hebikawa suddenly began to gather magical power.
—Is he planning to cause a commotion and force them out into the open!?
“Stop it!”
“Don’t order me around.”
Sakura glared at him as Hebikawa sneered. The overwhelming magical power emitted by both of them began to fill the area, but at that moment—
“...!”
Suddenly, a massive magical power surged within the school and vanished in an instant. A scream echoed from the school building, followed by chaos.
“That guy...”
“Could it be... a gate break inside the school!?”
Students ran toward the school gates in fear, their faces painted with terror.
“Tch.”
Hebikawa clicked his tongue, annoyed by the sight of the fleeing students.
“What are you doing!? We have to go!”
“I refuse. I don’t have time to waste.”
As he turned his back and walked away, Sakura gritted her teeth in frustration.
“You call yourself a hunter!?”
“Yeah. The greatest S-Class hunter in Japan.”
Sakura had no time to argue with Hebikawa. No matter how much magic the students learned, they were still ordinary students, not hunters, and they wouldn’t be able to stop a gate break.
“Lightning Boost.”
Forgetting her frustration toward Hebikawa, Sakura enveloped herself in blue-white lightning. It was a magic that greatly enhanced her physical abilities, far beyond normal physical boost magic. People called her the Valkyrie because, to those she saved, the lightning she wielded looked divine.
“...”
With lightning speed, Sakura ran toward the school, cutting through the flow of fleeing students like a bolt of lightning.
"...That magical power I felt for a moment."
Hebikawa, now far from Kazami High School, glared intensely at the distant school building.
It was a swirl of magical power far beyond what he had imagined. And the ability to completely suppress it and blend into the ordinary world—such mastery over magic.
Everything about it made him feel that this was a power worthy of being called a "monster."
"It seems like I'll need to make a lot of preparations for this one."
With a meaningful smile, Hebikawa quietly slipped away, making sure the students didn’t notice him.
Skeletons, ghouls, and Will-o'-Wisps.
These monsters were weaker than orcs and were generally considered low-tier monsters.
However, to ordinary people, monsters that suddenly attacked were nothing but terrifying enemies.
When Sakura entered the school building, undead monsters were attacking the students.
In the crowded school corridors, unleashing attack magic could hit the students. Judging this to be too dangerous, Sakura closed the distance in an instant, cutting down the monsters with her lightning sword created by lightning magic.
“Th-Thank you!”
“You don’t need to thank me. Just run!”
“Y-Yes!”
Leaving the rescued student behind, Sakura immediately dashed down the corridor.
—There are more monsters than I expected.
“Aaah!”
“Help me!”
Looking in the direction of the screams, she saw a group of students being chased by the monsters.
“Ah!”
A female student at the back of the group tripped, but none of the other students turned to help her. They only focused on running, desperate not to be caught.
Well, it couldn’t be helped. While weak from a hunter’s perspective, these monsters’ dull swords and weapons were terrifying blades to ordinary people.
“N-No! Why isn’t anyone helping me? Someone, please—”
The girl sobbed and reached out, but no one looked back. As she lay there, the skeleton caught up and raised its dull sword.
From behind, other monsters like zombies and floating, fireball-like creatures called Will-o'-Wisps were closing in.
—!
The girl squeezed her eyes shut, thinking she was about to die.
Meanwhile, Sakura, dodging around the fleeing students by running on the walls and ceiling, slashed the skeleton that was about to strike and shot down the approaching monsters with small bursts of electricity.
‘Crash!’
Suddenly, a massive skeleton fell through the ceiling. But Sakura, unshaken, sliced through the ceiling and dodged the falling blade. In a single stroke, she cut down the giant skeleton, splitting it in two as it crumbled to the ground.
“...Huh?”
When the girl opened her eyes, expecting to be dead, she saw a pile of defeated monsters. In the midst of the small crackling light of electricity stood a beautiful girl, seemingly untouched by the chaos around her.
It was like seeing an ancient Valkyrie.
“I’m S-Class Hunter, Takamine Sakura!”
The students, who had been in a panic, were awestruck by the sight.
“I’ll take care of the monsters! Calm down and work together to escape the school!”
Sakura’s commanding voice helped the panicking students regain some composure, and they began to head for the exit.
“You too,” Sakura said to the girl who had fallen.
“Uh... um.”
“It’s okay. Leave this to me.”
With that, Sakura leaped through a hole in the ceiling to the second floor. She continued to defeat the monsters while rescuing students, then made her way to the staircase.
—Nice work, Araki-kun!
—Even though he looks weird, he’s still as strong as ever!
On the upper floors, thanks to a few students with combat experience, the bodies of defeated monsters lay everywhere.
—Skeletons and ghouls are weaker than goblins, so even students can defeat them.
Although Will-o'-Wisps, which use magic, were slightly more dangerous, there weren’t too many of them. If the students kept their cool, they could handle it.
“Well, it’s unreasonable to expect ordinary students to stay calm in such a chaotic situation...”
—That’s why we hunters must protect them from the threat of monsters.
Convinced that this floor was safe, Sakura headed for the rooftop, where the gate had appeared.
She opened the door to the rooftop—
—Sacred Circle!
“Huh—?”
The rooftop was filled with a massive number of undead monsters.
In the middle of the rooftop, with his back to the entrance, a student was pressing his hand against the ground. In front of him stood a blue gate guarded by a massive undead monster, a wraith dressed in tattered robes and holding a bone staff.
At that moment, a white flash of light erupted from the ground, and all the monsters on the rooftop were instantly wiped out.
“...”
The wraith itself was only a D-Class monster, no stronger than an ogre. Gate breaks, where monsters poured out in large numbers, were also not uncommon.
What astonished Sakura was that a single student had unleashed a magical attack so powerful that it annihilated the entire group of monsters, including the wraith, in one blow.
—He must be the irregular.
Sakura was certain of it, but she couldn’t move. The magic that had just been cast was so strong, and so beautiful, that it left her in awe.
