Kuchiba Hiro opened his mouth, wanting to ask more about the meaning behind Transcendents' corpses being valuable, when the door to the Service Club was pulled open with a "click."
Hachiman Hikigaya, Yukinoshita Yukino, and Yui Yuigahama appeared at the door. When they saw Kuchiba Hiro in the classroom, they were clearly startled, their footsteps freezing at the entrance as looks of wariness and tension flashed across their faces. It wasn't until they saw Hiratsuka Shizuka smoking by the window that they breathed a slight sigh of relief, though the atmosphere remained somewhat stagnant.
Kuchiba Hiro swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue. He stood up sensibly and gave a slight nod to Hiratsuka Shizuka: "If there's nothing else, I'll be going." He didn't want to stay and make everyone uncomfortable.
Hiratsuka Shizuka nodded and said no more.
The three at the door subconsciously moved aside to make a path. Kuchiba Hiro walked past them without any extra eye contact, no malice, and no forced friendliness; he simply gave an extremely plain nod, as if treating the most ordinary schoolmate whose name he couldn't even recall.
Just as he was about to step out the door, Yukinoshita Yukino suddenly spoke, her voice cold and carrying an imperceptible tremor: "Kuchiba-kun."
Kuchiba Hiro stopped in his tracks, but he didn't turn around, only slightly tilting his head to show he was listening.
Yukino took a deep breath as if making a certain resolution, staring directly at his back as she asked: "If... if what happened on the light screen is all real... how would you take revenge on our family?"
The question was direct and sharp, causing Hachiman and Yui beside her to hold their breath, watching Kuchiba Hiro tensely.
Kuchiba Hiro was silent for a moment, appearing to seriously consider the question. Then, he gave an ambiguous yet spine-chilling answer:
"Who knows... after all, my dad is still alive and well right now."
He paused, his voice still calm but carrying an icy chill: "However, if those things really happened... I definitely wouldn't let him off easy. Absolutely not."
This "him" naturally referred to Yota Yukinoshita.
Yukino closed her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling slightly. She gritted her teeth and voiced the words circling in her heart, even though they sounded somewhat pale and weak to her own ears: "Though it may be shameful to say, even... hypocritical. I still believe that blind hatred and killing cannot solve any fundamental problems."
Kuchiba Hiro did not respond or argue; he simply set off and left the Service Club directly, walking down the hallway toward his own classroom. He left Yukino standing there, her face slightly pale, alongside the complex gazes of the other two... At ten in the morning, classes were halfway through.
Suddenly, the sky outside the classroom darkened again without warning, and that incredibly massive light screen, just like yesterday, punctually and domineeringly covered the heavens!
"Ah! It's back!"
"The light screen! The light screen has appeared again!"
The students instantly became excited, flocking to the windows and pointing at the sky with cries of surprise. The teacher on the podium sighed helplessly and shook their head, knowing that the lesson could no longer continue.
Kuchiba Hiro sat in his seat, not as excited as the others, simply watching the familiar light screen outside the window. In his mind, however, Yukinoshita Yukino's words from that morning echoed: "blind hatred and killing cannot solve any fundamental problems."
Where would the self in the light screen, driven by hatred and with hands stained with blood, eventually end up? Was his revenge truly meaningful? If he were in that situation, what choice would he make?
Just as his thoughts were in disarray, the images on the light screen slowly lit up, precisely picking up from the scene where it ended yesterday—
(Kuchiba Hiro stood frozen in place, gasping for air as cold sweat broke out on his forehead. The information brought by Hika Kuroko crashed through his mind like ice water: "red line rule," "kill order," "Transcendents' corpses are very valuable"... these terms collided frantically in his head, impacting his previously singular belief in revenge.
This meant that his path forward would no longer just be seeking out the Yukinoshita Family for revenge, but would also be filled with the covetousness and pursuit of countless unknown Transcendents! He had turned from a hunter into "prey" in the eyes of even stronger hunters!
In the distance, the sound of sirens drew closer and clearer, reminding him that he should not stay in this place for long.
He snapped back to his senses and moved to leave this mess.
However, just as he took a step, he suddenly stopped.
He slowly turned his head, his gaze falling upon Hiratsuka Shizuka's gradually cooling corpse on the ground.
Hika Kuroko's words, filled with temptation and danger, echoed in his ears again: "Transcendents' corpses... are very valuable materials..."
A cold and realistic thought emerged uncontrollably: Valuable... perhaps they could be traded for intelligence? For weapons? For... revenge requires power, and power seems to require resources.
With only a moment's hesitation, Kuchiba Hiro's eyes showed the warmth and reluctance he felt for the deceased. He no longer delayed, quickly walking to Hiratsuka Shizuka's corpse, bending down, and forcefully hoisting it onto his shoulder.
The corpse still held the warmth of life, and this weight was insignificant to him now.
He carried his former teacher as if carrying an item that others might covet, and without looking back, he quickly disappeared into the shadows of the school buildings, leaving behind only the sound of sirens getting closer and the pool of Hachiman Hikigaya's blood on the ground that had yet to dry.)
In the real world, everyone who saw this scene felt a chill rush from the soles of their feet to the crown of their heads!
"WTF?! He... he carried the teacher's body away?!"
"What is he planning to do? Is he really..."
"That's too ruthless! Even if they were enemies, this is still..."
"He's not human! He's truly no longer human! He won't even let the remains go!"
People gossiped fervently; most were shocked by this scene that broke all boundaries, feeling that Kuchiba Hiro had begun to slide into a non-human abyss.
Of course, a small portion of people held different opinions: "I don't see a problem! The person is already killed, what's wrong with making the best use of everything? Isn't leaving it there just letting someone else benefit?"
"Exactly! In that environment, resources are the most important! He did the right thing!"
"The person above is insane! That's his teacher!"
Meanwhile, the real Kuchiba Hiro in the classroom, looking at "himself" carrying the corpse on the light screen, furrowed his brows tightly, forming a deep crease.
A strong sense of dissonance and rejection welled up in his heart.
This... didn't seem like him.
True, he was calm, and at times could even be cold-blooded. For the sake of revenge, he could clear obstacles without hesitation.
However, to utilize the remains of someone he had just regarded as a mentor and even held a sliver of respect for in his heart, so devoid of psychological burden and almost instinctively... it was truly sinister. This was no longer just being calm or cold-blooded, but a kind of near-mechanical, inhuman calculation and indifference.
"This light screen... is a bit fake," Kuchiba Hiro thought silently, for the first time developing strong doubts about the "authenticity" of the light screen's content.
The choices made by the "self" in the images did not entirely align with his internal logic and... bottom line.
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