Chapter 355: Awakening
Returning to his own room, Hikigaya Hachiman sat quietly on his bed. Suddenly, he looked at the floor and let out a sigh.
"I really didn't want to wake up."
Looking at the bracelet in his hand, Hachiman gave a bitter smile. Then, with determination, he slipped the bracelet onto his left wrist. The moment the bracelet touched Hachiman's skin, it transformed into a cluster of particles, traveled up his arm, and finally merged into his mind.
[System loaded successfully. Detected that the host has fallen into an illusion. Do you choose to escape?]
"Yes."
Although he was extremely satisfied with life in the illusion, what is fake is ultimately fake. Without the slightest hesitation, Hachiman chose to wake up immediately.
As his words fell, a cylindrical object weighing several tons instantly appeared in Hachiman's room.
"What is this?"
Looking at the screen on the cylinder displaying a continuous countdown, Hachiman voiced his confusion.
[A prop to help the host wake up.]
The system's answer was as simple and clear as ever. Left without a complete explanation, Hachiman had no choice but to seek the answer himself before the countdown finished. After a careful inspection for dozens of seconds, he finally discovered a radiation symbol at the bottom of the cylinder.
"I see..."
Combining the cylindrical shape with the symbol, Hachiman, who now understood exactly what this thing was, nodded in realization. In the next second, the "light of peace" enveloped the entire world.
.
.
.
"!"
In the plaza, Hachiman snapped his eyes open. What met his sight were the small heads of several foxes.
"You are finally awake, Lord Hikigaya."
Just as Hachiman was propping himself up to stand, the Head Priestess arrived upon hearing the news. Seeing that Hachiman had truly awakened, she didn't waste words and pulled him directly toward the other side of the plaza.
"What happened here?"
Looking around the plaza, it had completely turned into a field of ruins. Countless Inari divine foxes were darting through the debris, searching for humans who might have survived beneath the wreckage.
"As you can see, after you were plunged into a hallucination at a great cost by that evil creature, Lady Inari fought a great battle with it. The scene before you was caused by that battle."
The Head Priestess was already accustomed to such tragic scenes. She walked forward without taking her eyes off the path, recounting the various events that had occurred after Hachiman lost consciousness. Soon, the man and the fox arrived outside the tent where the Inari God was temporarily resting. After making a gesture of invitation to Hachiman, the Head Priestess left him alone to attend to her own business.
"Hikigaya-kun, you're awake."
Stepping into the tent, the first thing Hachiman saw was the Inari God lying on a soft bed, looking exceptionally exhausted.
"Your condition..."
"I'm fine, I just traded injuries with that fellow."
"Is the Nine-Tailed Fox also heavily injured?"
"Well, though I hate to admit it, that creature is indeed a bit more powerful than me right now. So the final result is that its injuries are slightly lighter than mine."
Admitting personally that she was inferior to the Nine-Tailed Fox made the Inari God quite depressed. Especially since a situation that should have been a win turned into this because someone accidentally fell into a trap, her heart was filled with resentment.
"Sorry, it's all my fault this time."
Sensing the resentful gaze the Inari God was giving him, Hachiman's heart was filled with guilt. He had completely failed to anticipate that the Nine-Tailed Fox would use illusions, and never imagined the effect of the illusion would be so strong that it could even block the system...
"Well, actually, I have something I want to apologize to you for too..."
The Inari God wasn't truly angry about Hachiman falling into the illusion. After all, as a master of illusions herself, she knew better than anyone how powerful the Nine-Tailed Fox's illusions were. Let alone Hachiman, even an ordinary low-level Ghost God would fall for that move if
caught off guard. And the time it took to wake up might have been even longer than Hachiman's...
Her thoughts drifted back from the trivial matters. The Inari God looked at Hachiman, her face suddenly turning serious.
"One child was snatched away."
"What?!"
"I'm sorry, but in my injured state, being able to snatch back two was already my limit."
The Inari God's face was full of guilt and helplessness.
"Who was taken away?"
When Hachiman asked this question, he could clearly feel his voice trembling.
"Hmm, it was that girl with the orange hair."
"It was her."
Hearing that the one captured was Yurikawa Hana, Hachiman let out a shameful sigh of relief. Although he felt very embarrassed, the heavy stone in his heart truly settled down upon hearing that the person taken wasn't Yotsuya Miko or Yukinoshita Yukino.
"The remaining two children are in the tent next door. Judging by the time, they should be waking up soon. Go find them yourself."
Looking at Hachiman's reaction, the Inari God rolled her eyes at him but said nothing. After all, compared to the other two girls, Yurikawa Hana was indeed not as important to Hachiman.
"It's just that by comparison, that child who was captured is even more pitiful..."
Thinking of this, the Inari God couldn't help but sigh. Feeling a bit drowsy, she waved her hand and shooed Hachiman out of the tent.
.
.
.
According to the information provided by the Inari God, after leaving the tent, Hachiman easily found the location of Yotsuya Miko and Yukinoshita Yukino. He lifted the curtain and entered the interior of the tent.
Two girls, still in a state of unconsciousness, lay side by side. Looking at the two on the ground, the scenes that happened in the illusion flashed through Hachiman's mind. He sat down silently beside them and began to wait...
The first to wake up was Yukinoshita Yukino. Because she was closest to the Nine-Tailed Fox, she was knocked unconscious before she could even react. Because of this, the force the Nine-Tailed Fox used was the lightest.
Her closed eyelids flickered a few times before snapping open. Yukinoshita looked at the top of the tent in a daze, then shifted her attention to the figure beside her.
"You're awake?"
A familiar voice came from the figure. After identifying the person beside her as Hikigaya Hachiman, Yukinoshita instantly felt relieved.
"Where am I?"
Propping herself up from the ground while holding her forehead, Yukinoshita, who always preferred quiet, couldn't help but frown at the noise outside.
"In a certain plaza in Chiba."
Hachiman answered matter-of-factly.
"So, did you save me?"
Suddenly, the shrill cries of a rescued person came from outside the tent. After being startled by the sound, Yukinoshita's gaze toward Hachiman gradually softened.
'Saved by him again...'
Read ahead and finish this fanfiction by supporting me on buymeacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting