"Isn't this our Mr. Scumbag?"
As soon as Hikaru stepped into the third-year classroom, he heard Utaha's cynical voice.
"Our great playboy, it turns out he's extended his hand to the new first-year female student. You're really not afraid of hurting your current girlfriend's feelings."
What caught the eye first was Utaha's beautiful legs wrapped in black stockings, slender and straight. Her soft and beautiful facial features were filled with dissatisfaction, and a mocking smile curled at the corner of her lips. It seemed Utaha had seen the scene when Hikaru entered the school with Kotonoha.
The other people in the class looked at Hikaru with mockery on their faces. Although envy, hatred, and resentment in their hearts reached their peak, beyond that, they had no other choice. After all, they lacked the ability to pursue the goddesses on the Eternal Beauty List, let alone make them ex-girlfriends.
Seeing Hikaru, the 'great scumbag who starts and abandons relationships,' being ridiculed and harassed by his ex-girlfriend, an inexplicable sense of balance arose in their hearts. See, a scumbag is still a scumbag; sooner or later, he'll be exposed by the goddesses.
They now wanted Utaha to scold Hikaru even more harshly, until finally making him cry in pain and suffer severe wounds. That would be satisfying.
Of course, this was just fantasy, and clearly unrealistic.
Hikaru ignored Utaha. He walked straight to his seat in the back. He saw a beautiful woman with long black hair beside him whose head was continuously bowed on the desk, asleep. He placed a box of pure milk on her desk and tapped it, saying, "Don't forget to drink!"
"...Mm!"
A lazy, still-sleepy snore sounded.
"Hey, are you listening to me or not!"
This scene immediately made Utaha's ignored dissatisfaction surge sharply. Hikaru dared to flirt with another girl right in front of her! Although she knew their relationship, being unhappy was still being unhappy. Who knows if this 'night cat' has the same intentions as that defeated golden dog.
"I heard. No need to remind me specifically."
Hikaru sat down, looked at Utaha whose face was full of dissatisfaction, and said boredly, "In short, you're jealous. I shouldn't flirt with others, but should flirt with you, right?"
"..."
The other people in the class were shocked by Hikaru's astonishing statement.
Goodness! There's such a strong explanation, and he dares to say it.
Is this the difference?!!!
"...No!?"
Utaha denied loudly and shyly.
"No, huh."
Hikaru propped his chin and teased, "That's strange. I didn't flirt with you, why are you reacting so strongly? Tell me, ex-girlfriend number whatever, right?"
Hikaru deliberately emphasized the words 'ex-girlfriend,' as if afraid Utaha wouldn't hear.
*KRAK!*
The pen in Utaha's hand immediately snapped in two. Veins bulged on her forehead, and the nerve called rationality gradually collapsed bit by bit.
This sentence truly poured oil on the fire; the wound wasn't small, and the insult was even stronger.
Hikaru saw Utaha was almost reaching the explosion threshold, so he had no intention of teasing her further. He immediately closed his eyes and ignored her, waiting for class to start.
"Don't be angry, don't be angry... I must not get angry. If I get angry, I'll fall into this person's trap."
Utaha continuously took deep breaths, calming the emotions that kept surging in her heart. At the same time, she stared at Hikaru with 'hatred,' wanting to tear him into thousands of pieces to satisfy her grudge.
This man was like her sworn enemy. Just like the defeated golden dog facing her, 'a few light words' were enough to make her angry. She was also like that when facing this man. With just words, he could easily manipulate her emotions.
Until the teacher arrived in the class, Utaha finally swallowed the suppressed anger in her mouth.
Class time was always boring and monotonous. As soon as class started, many students' minds had already drifted to other things.
"Paper wad!"
A paper wad suddenly flew onto Hikaru's desk. It was thrown by Touma Kazusa beside him, who had woken up at some point, secretly drinking the milk he had given her.
Hikaru opened the paper wad. In delicate handwriting, it was written:
[Do you know about onmyōji? Real onmyōji, not the made-up ones in fictional stories.]
Hikaru nodded towards Kazusa.
He was a bit puzzled; why was his childhood friend, who had always aspired to become a world-class pianist like her mother since childhood, suddenly asking about 'onmyōji'? Although she was currently in her 'rebellious phase'...
He had never had deep interactions with onmyōji, but he had dealt with them superficially.
Seeing that Hikaru knew, Kazusa wrote again on a piece of white paper, then crumpled it into a ball and threw it at Hikaru.
While opening the paper wad, Hikaru thought somewhat helplessly.
Their distance was so close; handing over the white paper directly would suffice, why crumple it into a ball and throw it? Or, is this a 'class tradition'?
[Onmyō Agency, Exorcists Group, Onmyō Academy, which do you think is better?]
"It seems these factions have already started acting."
Seeing this, Hikaru understood.
The emergence of the Dimensional List, as well as the newcomers on the Eternal Beauty List, had clearly become targets of tug-of-war for all powers. After all, with the granting of rank rewards, they also had talent worth recruiting.
Take Kazusa as an example. If Hikaru remembered correctly, her rank on the Eternal Beauty List was seventy-two, and she received Intermediate Physical Modification. This not only allowed her to obtain physique comparable to ghouls but also 100% enabled her to activate the Ghost-Seeing Ability.
Talent like this was more than enough to step into Onmyōdō. More importantly, the Eternal Beauty List was updated once a month. This time's newcomers were very likely to be on the next list. If her rank rose a few more levels, the rank rewards obtained would also rise one level higher.
Situations like this would naturally tempt those factions.
Factions under the god and demon races like Onmyōdō also had self-awareness. They knew that the newcomers in the top fifty ranks of the Eternal Beauty List not only had non-weak power or extremely surprising identities, which they absolutely dared not touch.
So, they all directed their targets to the bottom fifty ranks of the Eternal Beauty List. Of course, among the bottom fifty ranks, there were also those from chaebol families like Shinomiya Kaguya, Shirayuki Hime... Even if they didn't join these powers, they could obtain training paths through the power of their chaebol families.
It was estimated that Utaha's side had also been approached by powers for recruitment.
Back to the topic.
Hikaru wrote down everything he knew, and also added suggestions.
[Onmyō Agency, Exorcists Group, and Onmyō Academy are all official Japanese onmyōji organizations. However, the duties and responsibilities of the three parties differ.]
[Onmyō Agency is responsible for eliminating spiritual disasters and exterminating yōkai. They are affiliated with traditional Onmyōdō, have the Twelve Divine Generals, and are the strongest faction.]
[Exorcists Group is responsible for eliminating impurities, also exterminating yōkai. They are proficient in the Spell Installation method, have the Twelve Guardians, and their power is second only to the Onmyō Agency. It should be mentioned that the Commander of the Exorcists Group is Tsuchimikado Arima. Tsuchimikado's control over it is very deep.]
[Onmyō Academy, founded by Tsuchimikado Yakōu, is a place to train apprentice onmyōji. It has the weakest power.]
[If you want to join, it's best to choose the Exorcists Group, followed by Onmyō Academy. As for the Onmyō Agency, it's a place of trouble; don't go there.]
"..."
Then, Hikaru handed the white paper to Kazusa.
While secretly drinking the pure milk, Kazusa seriously looked at the contents of the white paper, continuously making her own judgments in her heart.
The teacher at the podium: "😐"
Seeing the small movements of Hikaru and Kazusa, but could only let it be. The problematic students in this class were not his business.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
*🔔🔔🔔!*
The bell rang.
The teacher tidied up the items on the podium and immediately announced that class was over.
Instantly, all students were like wild horses set free, noisy sounds rising and falling.
However. Kazusa ignored them. She stood up, threw the empty pure milk box in her hand into the trash, turned towards Hikaru, and said, "No need for milk for the next few days. I plan to take a few days off."
"Already decided."
"Yes!"
Kazusa nodded and said, "This is the only way I know to get closer to you faster right now."
"I don't like that ambiguous distance."
Hearing Kazusa say that, Hikaru nodded. At that moment, he also realized that Utaha had left at some point and didn't come to 'argue' with him as usual.
"If there's a problem you can't solve, come to me. Just mere Onmyōdō."
Hikaru's words did not only refer to the Onmyō Agency, Onmyō Academy... individually, but the entire onmyōji community.
Just mere Onmyōdō. To others, this might sound arrogant. Even the god and demon races dared not deny this great human heritage so lightly. However, to Hikaru, it was not boasting at all, but reality.
If he wanted, uprooting Onmyōdō would be far easier than massacring the entire Egyptian Mythology.
"If there really is a problem I can't solve, I'll come."
Kazusa smiled meaningfully.
Hikaru's words made her feel very sweet in her heart. Even if the other party only said it, she didn't care at all.
Then, Kazusa walked out of the classroom.