Anime Crossover: My Part-Time Job as a Giant of Light While Studying Abroad in Chiba

4:20 PM.

While his compatriots back home were probably still racking their brains over the math test in the third period of the afternoon, Duan Zilian had already finished her corridor duty with a bucket of water.

The time when Japanese high school students leave school feels particularly dreamlike to Duan Zilian. This unreal sense of ease makes him, an international student accustomed to "involution," feel like he is skipping school.

He strolled leisurely to room 403 on the fourth floor of the special building.

The door was ajar, letting in a thin ray of sunlight.

Although Duan Zilian prided herself on being thick-skinned, she still maintained basic politeness at this moment and knocked three times on the wooden door with her fingers.

"Please come in."

A clear, cold voice, like an icy spring, came from behind.

He pushed open the door and entered, only to find the sunlight turning the curtains golden in the empty classroom.

The girl sitting in the center of the classroom, holding a literature notebook, slowly looked up.

"Ah, Yukinoshita-kun, fate is such a strange thing, I can't believe I ran into you here."

Duan Zilian closed the door behind her, her tone calm and casual.

Yukino Yukinoshita calmly closed the book, her gaze sweeping over the face of Danji Rei, which was etched with the word "lazy".

"It's classmate Monkey."

"Hey, calling him 'Monkey Student' is going too far, isn't it?"

Duan Zilian pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down:

"We were classmates for a week, after all. Even apes should have evolved to the Homo sapiens stage by now."

"Evolution is something that is difficult to accomplish independently without the support of intelligence."

Snowdrops delivered a subtle, finishing blow.

"So, you've finally realized you can't integrate into human society, so you've come to seek charity from me, the minister?"

"No, I was kidnapped by a ruthless bandit in a white coat nicknamed 'Quiet and Cute'."

Duan Zilian pointed to her neck, as if it were bound by invisible shackles.

"She threatened me that if I didn't come to report, she would let me enjoy her loving iron fist."

After finishing speaking, Duan Zilian shook her body, pretending to be very scared, as if Hiratsuka Shizuka was some kind of unspeakable evil.

Just as Yukino was about to speak, heavy footsteps sounded from outside the corridor. With a click of the door opening, a boy with a shoulder bag and a lifeless look walked in through the back door.

When he saw Duan Zilian sitting inside, his rotting pupils shrank slightly, and then he let out a sigh full of disgust.

"Ah... how come there's another man?"

Hachiman Hikigaya scratched his messy hair, his tone revealing a despair for the world:

"Isn't this place a bit too yang? Is Hiratsuka-sensei planning to turn this place into a boys' dormitory so that she can manage it more easily?"

"Please don't compare this place to those places that reek of sweat, Hikigaya-kun."

Yukino Yukinoshita's perfect face showed disdain as she coldly explained to Hachiman:

"Furthermore, it is debatable whether this primate in front of us can be classified as a 'male human,' since he, like you, is a problem child who was brought here by Ms. Hiratsuka Shizuka."

"Oh?"

Hikigaya Hachiman looked at Danzi Rei, and a hint of revolutionary camaraderie in his eyes was revealed.

"You got caught by that Hiratsuka Shizuka? That's terrible. I'm Hikigaya Hachiman, so I'll just call me a member here for now."

"Duan Zilian was also a newly conscripted laborer."

Duan Zilian raised her hand in a friendly greeting, her face bearing that kind of smile that made it impossible to get angry. "Hachiman, your eyes are very insightful. You can tell at a glance that you've experienced a lot of harsh realities in society and seen through the illusions of the world."

"...Don't lump me in with you." Hachiman twitched his lips, sat down in a chair in the corner, and tried his best to be invisible.

The silence lasted for about ten seconds. Just as Duan Zilian was thinking about what to say to break the deadlock, he suddenly remembered the thing that Hiratsuka Shizuka had casually mentioned in the office.

"By the way, have you heard about the ghost stories in the East District lately?"

As soon as he spoke, Yukinoshita, who had been looking down at her book, raised her eyelids, and Hachiman, who was sitting in the damp corner, also stirred slightly.

"There was a strange man in a suit wandering the streets at midnight. Hiratsuka-sensei said that someone witnessed it."

"The weirdo in the suit?" Hachiman Hikigaya's voice drifted from the corner, like a piece of scrap paper pulled from the bottom of a trash can.

"What's so interesting about those urban legends about drunken middle-aged men? If you ask me, he's just a pathetic guy who got laid off from his company and is too ashamed to go home to face his wife."

"Ms. Hiratsuka also said that it was an urban legend made up after watching too many news reports about drunk people. If you ask me, there are quite a few urban legends in Japan."

Hachiman waved his hand: "These urban legends are none of my business. Anyway, I don't walk at night." After saying that, he leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes to rest, and looked like a lazy bum.

"Hmph." The girl, who had been silent all along, finally spoke.

Yukino Yukinoshita closed the book, her fingertips lightly pressing on the spine, her gaze calmly sweeping over the two of them.

"If such a thing really does roam the streets, you only need to think about one question: Why did it choose that place?"

Duan Zilian paused for a moment: 'What do you mean?'

“The East District is an old urban area with a dense population, sparse surveillance, and is far from the police station. It is the place where you are most likely to ‘disappear’.”

"Moreover, if it just wanders around there, it means that it has a purpose, which also means that it has intelligence."

The activity room was quiet for a moment, then Duanzi Lian said incredulously:

"Are you serious? You're actually seriously analyzing an urban legend?"

"Analysis is my habit, and it has nothing to do with the truth or falsehood of rumors."

Yukinoshita reopened the book. "Besides... your brains don't seem to be very sharp. If I didn't say anything, I'm afraid no one would think in this direction."

"Ha... Spare me." He closed his eyes and simply stopped talking.

Looking at this scene, Hachiman simply turned his head to look out the window as well.

This silent exchange, each lost in their own thoughts, continued for a while until the setting sun's rays slanted as low as they could go, at which point Duan Zilian stretched and stood up from her chair.

"It's about time we went."

Hachiman Hikigaya left early to take care of his younger sister, leaving only Rei Taniko and Yukinoshita in the Service Club.

"Well, be careful on the road."

As I walked out of the campus, the wind in Chiba blew in from the sea, carrying a damp, salty smell that made me feel sticky.

"I wanted to be a popular and handsome international student, but I ended up like this in the first week." Duan Zilian scratched her hair in anguish, then let out a long sigh, as if she had seen the coldness of the world.

To save on tram fare and avoid the evening rush hour crowds, he didn't take the tram but instead turned into a small road that passed through an old residential area.

There are very few streetlights here, and the two sides are lined with old detached houses. Occasionally, you can hear a few muffled barks from dogs, and there is a vending machine standing by the roadside.

As he inserted a coin, a can of MAX coffee was dispensed from the vending machine. This coffee was recommended to him by Hachiman, who said it could refresh and invigorate him.

The pull tab snapped open with a "click," releasing the aroma of roasted coffee mingled with the evening breeze.

Duanzi Lian took a big gulp, and the taste was surprisingly sweet, completely opposite to the bitter life of Hachiman Hikigaya.

Just as he raised his hand to rub his face, a soft "whoosh" sound suddenly came from the wooden fence yard diagonally in front of him. Immediately afterwards, a soft object "thumped" open the half-person-high wooden gate and fell headfirst at his feet.

Duan Zilian paused for a moment, then looked down.

A girl with pink bun hair and wearing a sailor uniform was seen lying on the asphalt road in a standard duck-sitting position, holding half a bag of crepes in her arms, with crumbs scattered all over her shoes.

"Ouch...it hurts so much..."

The girl rubbed her head and sat up, revealing a round face. She froze upon seeing who was standing in front of her, then quickly bowed ninety degrees.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Duan! I was chasing a kitten that accidentally ran away and bumped into you without looking where I was going! Are you hurt?"

Duan Zilian looked down at her shoes, which were covered in crumbs, then at the helpless and apologetic girl in front of her, and waved her hand:

"It's nothing, just some crumbs on my shoes. Yuihama-san, what are you doing here?"

"I...I live around here."

Yui straightened up, scratched the back of her head, and gave a fawning smile.

Just as Duan Zilian was about to speak, he saw Yui suddenly stand on tiptoe and peek into the fenced yard, then turn back to him with an apologetic smile:

"Um... I still need to look for my lost kitten. I'll treat you to crepes next time to make up for it, okay? I'll be going now!"

Before he could respond, Yui Yuigahama grabbed half a bag of crepes and hurriedly ran into the depths of the alley, her pink hair swaying in the dim light until she quickly disappeared from sight.

Duan Zilian watched the direction she ran in, and her lips twitched.

"She really is... a very energetic girl."

He smiled to himself, kicked a pebble by the roadside, and continued walking toward the apartment.

It took about ten minutes to walk.

Just then, the streetlights ahead flashed twice.

nourish - nourish -

The piercing sound of electricity shattered the deathly silence of the street.

The lights flickered on and off, casting distorted shadows on the ground that looked like they were having a seizure.

Duan Zilian stopped in her tracks.

Although he didn't believe in ghosts or gods, the eerie atmosphere still sent chills down his spine.

"Really... I'm not going to be so unlucky as to encounter some kind of paranormal event, am I?"

He instinctively gripped the coffee can tightly in his hand, shifting his center of gravity downwards—an instinct ingrained from practicing Sanda (Chinese kickboxing), but his heart was still pounding wildly.

This is a remote alley in a foreign land; if something really happens, there won't even be anyone to call for help.

Just as he rounded a corner, he suddenly spotted a person under a telephone pole about twenty meters ahead.

He was an office worker in a suit, carrying a briefcase, with his back to Duan Zilian.

The man's body was trembling violently.

"Hmm... a strange man in a suit, what a coincidence, right?" Duan Zilian's heart was pounding faster and faster. Unfortunately, this strange man in a suit was blocking his path. If he went around, he would have to go back the way he came.

"That...uncle?"

Duan Zilian tentatively called out and took a half step back.

Are you alright? Did you drink too much?

The other person didn't speak, but the trembling suddenly stopped.

Then, the man's head turned around at an angle that no human could possibly do, with a series of clicks.

Duan Zilian's pupils contracted, and her blood seemed to freeze.

The face had no features; where eyes and a nose should have been, there was only smooth skin. Only the mouth had a vertical slit, and something was constantly wriggling inside.

The urban legend that Hiratsuka Shizuka had told him flashed through his mind instantly.

This isn't some drunkard who lost his job, this is practically a..."

"Ugh...ga..." The man made a strange sound in his throat.

"monster."

The moment the word popped into her head, Duan Zilian broke out in a cold sweat.

"What a joke! How could I actually encounter a paranormal event?" he complained, as he suddenly lowered his center of gravity and raised his hands into a fighting stance.

The next second, the monster moved, incredibly fast.

Duan Zilian only saw a dark shadow flash by, and a foul stench wafted towards her.

He instinctively bent his arm to block—bang!

A tremendous force slammed into his forearm, making his entire arm go numb, and he was thrown back two meters.

"...So heavy!" He gritted his teeth and stood firm, a burning pain shooting through the inside of his arm.

"Ugh...ga—"

The faceless monster let out a low growl from its throat, and its fingernails quickly grew longer and turned black, transforming into two sharp claws.

Then it pounced again, its body darting left and right, so fast that it left afterimages under the dim streetlights, and Duan Zilian's naked eye couldn't keep up with its movements.