Chapter 17: Going to school is not easy
When he walked out of the park, it had been at least half an hour since Seth had left.
Hikigaya, with a gloomy face, followed the same path back.
When he arrived at his house, no one was home again. This time, he didn't ring the doorbell. With a few agile jumps, he reached the window of his bedroom, opened it, and climbed straight in.
The bedroom was very clean, obviously cleaned frequently. When he opened the wardrobe, the clothes and everything else were just as they had been.
He grabbed a change of clothes and went downstairs to the bathroom.
After taking a shower and changing into clean clothes, he went back to his bedroom to find his long-lost backpack, untouched for half a year. He picked it up and left the house.
His destination was, of course, the school.
He wasn't sure what might have changed after being away for half a year. Maybe his student registration had already been revoked or something.
Even though he hadn't been back in six months, he still remembered the nearby roads quite clearly. Not long after, the school gate came into clear view.
Looking at the time, it seemed to be the second period in the afternoon.
He walked up to the school gate and showed his student ID to the security guard. The guard looked stunned as Hikigaya entered the school. He could vaguely hear the guard making a phone call.
Looks like he was recognized. Going missing for six months really makes people remember you — what an easy way to make your presence felt.
When he reached the entrance of the classroom building, a familiar figure was already there.
"Hikigaya."
From a distance, that person already called out.
Hiratsuka Shizuka — wasn't she a literature teacher? Look at his memory now — he couldn't even remember that clearly.
"You little punk…" The beautiful teacher walked over in quick strides and looked him up and down. "What on earth happened over these six months? Your case caused quite a stir, you know."
A big stir? How big?
Thinking about that twisted pervert of a martial arts freak who arranged that so-called "graduation ceremony" for him, Hikigaya found it hard to care about the so-called "stir."
"You seem more mature now… no, more like even more problematic." Hiratsuka scratched her head. "Really can't deal with you. Walking in like nothing happened — do you think you were just in class yesterday?"
"No, there were just… things." Hikigaya did realize that maybe he shouldn't have come here.
It wasn't because of how others reacted — it was that he didn't know how to talk to the people here anymore.
If it were the old him, he might've thrown out a snarky comment or tried to interact in some awkward way. But now, he just didn't have the energy for it.
Maybe it was because he had just learned how insane the world really is.
Clearly, the past six months had affected him more deeply than he thought. Could he really return to his old life?
That thought lingered in his mind, and Hikigaya's expression grew darker.
"He's completely reverted… no, actually, he's become even more impressive." Hiratsuka silently sighed as she observed the change in Hikigaya.
She always had high hopes for Hikigaya Hachiman — a clever student who, due to his strange ideals about youth, was always out of sync with those around him. His isolation made it impossible for her to ignore him.
Through her involvement, she discovered even more outstanding qualities in him.
But over a year ago, Hikigaya suddenly changed. It was hard to say whether it was for better or worse. Not just his personality — even his studies shifted. He has already excellent literature grades, but his history grades also soared.
Then came the sudden disappearance six months ago. His family caused quite a commotion over it, but for some unknown reason, it all suddenly quieted down.
Ironically, this drew attention from the other students to the usually unnoticed Hikigaya Hachiman.
Of course, that attention didn't last long. In fact, by now, hardly anyone mentioned him.
And yet, at this moment, the boy had returned.
When she first saw him, Hiratsuka almost thought she was mistaken.
But compared to last time, Hikigaya had changed even more. Rather than just maturing, it was more like he had become an entirely different person.
Hiratsuka's intuition told her this definitely wasn't a good change — just like no one really knew where Hikigaya had been for the past six months.
Surely, his return would stir up student gossip again. That's youth for you — it's hard to get teenagers curious or interested, but sometimes, it's surprisingly easy.
When Hikigaya pushed open the classroom door, the once noisy classroom instantly fell silent.
His gaze swept over his classmates, all looking at him with various expressions, and landed on the seat that was supposed to be his.
Someone was sitting there.
That wasn't the issue. The issue was — he knew that person. They had crossed paths in a Yomi underground base.
To say they had met would be an overstatement — they had only caught a glimpse of each other.
Boris Ivanov.
Don't recognize the name? No problem — let's explain more clearly. This person has a master named Alexander Gaidar.
Nickname: The Annihilation Fist Master.
His hobbies include carving rocks and riding submarines.
At this point, anyone familiar with the underground would know who that is…
As Hikigaya's gaze fell upon him, Boris Ivanov returned a cold, sharp look.
Their eyes met and then quickly avoided each other.
Though no names were spoken, Hikigaya was already swearing in his mind.
Why was this little Russian, with the same military obsession as his master, here?
In Yomi, the bond between master and disciple was the strongest — just like top-tier masters formed teams such as "One Shadow Nine Fists," their disciples also had similar groupings.
Boris Ivanov was one of them — after all, he was Alexander Gaidar's only disciple.
In fact, most of the "One Shadow Nine Fists" only had one student. It was rare to see someone like the "Demon Fist God" who took in several disciples at once and treated them like disposable goods.
So even though their masters were all part of the Nine Fists, Hikigaya wasn't even on the same level as Boris. Even Hikigaya's flashy, wealthy senior disciple would have trouble competing.
There's just no helping it — the master's view of a disciple determines everything.
To the Demon Fist God, his disciples were just test subjects — once labeled a failure, it was game over.
Even though the Yomi World was a martial arts organization, people were still people — just as ordinary folks value wealth and appearance, martial artists in the Yomi world value martial skills and master recognition. Both were equally important.
A disciple's status heavily depended on the master's status — and even more so, how much the master valued them.
Unless Hikigaya was overwhelmingly strong in martial arts, he could never hope to compare with Boris Ivanov.
But that was clearly impossible. Boris had been following Alexander Gaidar around since he was a child. His combat experience and martial skills could easily outmatch Hikigaya's by half of Japan.
Seriously, even going back to school couldn't be peaceful. What the hell did this school have to attract a beast like him?