My youth story cannot be a knight war

Fujiwara Chika's words immediately made Shirogane Miyuki unable to hold back. Seeing that she seemed to really want to say it, he quickly interrupted the topic with a red face, clenched his fist in front of his mouth, coughed a few times, and then complained.

"Alas~ What a pity."

"Hey, Secretary Fujiwara..."

Fujiwara Chika pursed her lips, and after Shirogane Miyuki took a deep breath, he spoke to her with a pair of eyes with dark circles under them, carrying extreme seriousness.

"Do you know what time it is now?"

"Hmm? Why do you ask such a strange question, President? The clock is right on the wall to your left."

This inexplicable question left Fujiwara Chika very confused, but Shirogane Miyuki just continued speaking in a calm voice.

"You don't have to think too much. Just check the time on your phone and answer me."

"Hey~ Let me take a look... Hey?"

Fujiwara Chika looked at Shirogane Miyuki with a strange look, and then took out her mobile phone from her pocket. But when she turned on the screen, the time displayed on it made her stunned.

"Five o'clock...? My phone says it's five o'clock? Or is it five in the afternoon?"

"Strange, didn't we just finish morning class? How come it's already five in the afternoon so soon?"

She blinked, but the glaring number "05:25 PM" was still imprinted on her retina and the phone screen.

"…The time on my phone is nine in the morning."

After receiving the reply from Fujiwara Chika, Shirogane Miyuki's face instantly darkened. He took out his cell phone, turned it on and handed it to her. The time displayed on the screen was "09:45 AM".

"Strange! How could this happen? Are both the president's and my phones broken?"

Fujiwara Chika reached out and took the two mobile phones, compared the time on them and said in surprise, then remembered the other person present and turned around and shouted.

"Kaguya-san! Kaguya-san, what's the time on your phone—"

"No need to call Shinomiya... Her phone time is probably messed up, just like ours."

He interrupted Fujiwara Chika's attempt to wake up the unconscious Shinomiya Kaguya by speaking out, and withdrew his gaze from the Roman-style wall clock that showed two o'clock. Shirogane Miyuki's expression at this moment was as suppressed as an old towel that was almost condensed with water.

"President, do you know what's going on?"

Fujiwara Chika was full of questions at the moment, and seeing Shirogane Miyuki's expression, she hurriedly asked.

“…No, I don’t know.”

Baiyin Yuxing was silent for a while, then shook his head, and the shadow in his eyes deepened at this moment.

"I really don't know when this phenomenon started."

……

"It seems he's been defeated. Is this his new power?"

After passing through the tunnel exit, the bright and somewhat glaring daylight shone through the car window. Leaning against the window, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka watched the battle that had settled in the light curtain, rubbing his chin with his fingers.

It has to be said that the Ayanokouji family is very capable of taking action. After getting the guarantee from their son, a luxury car appeared at the gate of Koukouei Academy in just half an hour. The school rules that originally prohibited leaving gave Ayanokouji a green light at this moment.

Ayanokouji calmly walked towards the car whose door was opened by the driver under the stunned gaze of his classmates. He was still wearing the uniform of Koukou Ikusei Academy. It was obvious how hurried he left. He didn't even want to change his clothes. He just took back his mobile phone and other personal belongings that he had deposited after enrolling in school and left.

Ayanokouji looked at the two people who were walking away supporting each other with an inquiring look, his pupils swaying thoughtfully.

"Zaimokuza Yoshiteru has become even stronger... Rather than saying it's the power of that belt, it's more about his own potential."

"And Kousaka Kyosuke is no simple matter either. Although G1 has extremely terrifying side effects, not everyone is qualified to experience them... Regardless of other things, the fact that these two guys became the protagonists of this mysterious video and light screen certainly has certain personal factors involved."

“But what is the common denominator?”

"So, you're going to Chiba Prefecture now just to get to know these two people firsthand, Ayanokouji-kun?"

A deep voice came from the driver's seat of the car. Ayanokouji glanced at the rearview mirror and happened to meet a pair of squinting eyes. The wrinkles around the eyes showed that its owner was no longer young.

"Are you trying to win these two people over to your side?"

The person who spoke was a middle-aged man who looked to be around forty or fifty years old. He looked amiable, but Ayanokouji knew that this was just a disguise. Every time he looked into those narrowed eyes, he felt as if the person in front of him was not a human being, but a venomous snake spitting out its tongue.

This person is definitely a good disguised person who is ruthless and cruel, which is consistent with his perception of his father's employment habits.

Apart from that, Ayanokouji only knew that the other party's name was Tsukishiro, who was not only his father's driver but also his right-hand man. Based on his feeling about this person, he was probably a black glove who did some shady things for his father.

In that case, there was no need to hide some things from the other party, so Ayanokouji simply told the truth.

"Ah... I did have that thought before, but I've given up on it now."

"Huh? Can you let me hear your reasons? This is what your father wants to know."

Yuecheng raised his eyebrows after hearing this answer. At this time, the car entered the entrance of a tunnel again. The lowering shadow made the smiling old face look particularly gloomy.

"Because I know that with these two people's personalities, even if I can win them over now, they will definitely betray me in the future. We are simply not from the same world."

Ayanokouji turned his head to look at the white car passing by and said with a calm look in his eyes.

"And given the strong sense of self they display, brainwashing tactics likely won't have any effect. Perhaps it's precisely because of this extraordinary tenacity that they're able to become the people they are in the future."

"Really? Hearing your answer, I think your father can rest assured. It's okay to contact them now, but it would be very dangerous if you have other thoughts."

After receiving this answer from Ayanokouji, Tsukishiro let out a long breath and said with a smile, but the latter heard a different meaning from his words.

"What happened?"

"It's just that a few people in the agency, after observing these two people's future performance, saw their current potential and suggested that Ayanokouji-sensei find a way to bring them to the 'Shirafu' for training. Then someone went straight to that school. But apart from the driver who knew about it but was only doing his job, everyone else who had this idea..."

"Hmm~ Ayanokouji-kun, have you seen the videos or pictures of the internationally famous suicide bombers in the Middle East? I have to say that war is a truly cruel thing~ It turns good people into such a miserable state."

"...Indeed, it's disgusting."

After receiving the cryptic answer, Ayanokouji stopped asking questions and replied calmly. This extremely bloody topic, both on and off the stage, was thus revealed in the tacit understanding of the two, and their words were full of indifference and cruelty to life.

"Exactly. It's truly cruel. Just like someone who comes up with this method of killing first and asking for permission later just to win credit, they're definitely idiots whose brains haven't fully developed."

The car drove out of the tunnel again. The sunlight faded the shadows and darkness on Yuecheng's face, and he spoke again with a meaningful tone.

"And Mr. Ayanokouji has another question he's very interested in. Based on his understanding of you, he believes there must be a particularly important reason for you to return to him this time, even more important than the three years of freedom you finally secured."

"It'll take some time to get from here to Chiba Prefecture. Would you be interested in explaining the reason to me?"

"Of course...but before that, I hope you can answer a question for me."

Facing the threats embedded in Tsukishiro's words, Ayanokouji replied in a natural tone.

"Excuse me~"

"How many tunnels have we passed through since now?"

The sunlight shining through the tunnel illuminated Ayanokouji's calm face and also the slight surprise on Tsukishiro's face.

"Hmm? About three already. I have to say the tunnels here are quite dense."

"Three? But I remember that every time we entered a tunnel, the sign above it had the same number on it. Can the tunnel numbers on this route be repeated?"

The black car's trajectory was disrupted for a moment, and then it turned and stopped in the emergency parking lane on the side of the road when it was still a short distance away from the tunnel entrance.

The car door then opened, and Tsukishiro and Ayanokouji got out one after the other. The former looked up at the number above the tunnel entrance, then lowered his head to compare it with the map displayed on his mobile phone. The pretended kindness on his face disappeared without a trace.

"This tunnel's number... According to the map, we should have passed through it ten minutes ago."

“…Is there something wrong with your phone?”

"I'm afraid not."

A calm voice accompanied a figure walking past Tsukishiro. Ayanokouji walked in front of him, looked at the tunnel entrance in front of him, and silently raised his right hand.

"!?"

The reflection of the black spray paint illuminated Tsukishiro's wide eyes. Looking at the pistol in Ayanokouji's hand, he suddenly turned back to look at his car. When!?

"Stop! If you shoot here, you'll—"

boom!

The smoke and loud noise that burst out from the muzzle of the gun as the trigger was pulled interrupted Tsukishiro's words and made his expression suddenly stiffen, but it was not because Ayanokouji was so bold as to shoot in public without disguise.

His neck turned mechanically towards the ground on his left side, and then he lowered his head...On the asphalt road at Yuecheng's left foot, a round bullet hole with curling white smoke was reflected in his frozen pupils after they were fully opened.

It was a bullet, fired by Ayanokouji after he pulled the trigger of his pistol - but the problem was, Ayanokouji was standing right in front of Tsukishiro, facing the tunnel entrance when he fired the shot, while Tsukishiro was standing behind him.

However, the bullet that should have been shot into the tunnel entrance in front flew out directly from the tunnel exit at the rear and hit the ground next to Yuecheng.

“What, what is this…!?”

"...even faster than I expected."

This scene, which completely violated the laws of real physics, completely shattered Tsukishiro's disguise. The face that had been smiling was now filled with horror and disbelief, while Ayanokouji's expression did not change at all. He slowly lowered the pistol in his hand with smoking muzzle and said.

"I can't believe the changes have already begun, even here, some distance from Chiba Prefecture and Tokyo... The scope is truly astonishing."

"...Ayanokouji-kun, do you know what's going on?"

Hearing Ayanokouji's mumbling, Tsukishiro suddenly woke up and no longer cared about disguising himself, and asked in a gloomy tone.

"I know, but we don't have any more time to waste."

Ayanokouji slowly turned his head to look at Tsukishiro beside him, and did not return the gun to him. The muzzle of the gun passed in front of him as Tsukishiro's eyes changed slightly, and it was unclear whether it was intentional or unintentional.

"If you want to survive, you'd better hurry up and come with me—hmm?"

At this moment, a golden light bloomed from the light that the two had ignored due to a series of situations, interrupting Ayanokouji's words and attracting his and Tsukishiro's attention.

"This is……"

【"Um?"】

Zaimokuza, who was supporting Kousaka Kyousuke as they walked towards the sound of a distant alarm, suddenly froze in his tracks. He stopped mid-step, breaking the coordination between him and Kousaka.

"What's wrong? Zaimokuza—!?"

The question Kousaka was about to ask suddenly stopped. He closed his mouth and stared at Zaimokuza from a close distance. They saw the same wariness and surprise in each other's eyes.

"Mr. Kosaka, this feeling..."

[“Ah… This aura is so strong!”]

Zaimokuza muttered, and Kousaka nodded in agreement, his eyes heavy.

[“And this feeling of déjà vu… can’t be wrong! This aura comes from the Zeroth—”]

The rapid chirping of birds interrupted Kousaka's words. He and Zaimokuza both looked up in the direction of the sound, and what they saw made them both open their eyes wide.

【"This is--"】

Birds, black birds, birds covering the sky.

Countless black birds fluttered their wings, their feathers flapping as they flew across the night sky. Their numbers were truly astonishing, their combined figures like a black curtain moving across the sky. Their black feathers scattered as they cried in terror, like a heavy black snowfall.

[During the daytime, the flocks of birds are so dense that they can block out the sunlight, a sight rarely seen in Tokyo since its construction.]

Flocks of black birds flapped their wings, covering the sky... Just looking at this scene gave rise to an extremely ominous foreboding in one's heart, especially the fear overflowing from their cries, which Zaimokuza and Kousaka could not ignore.

This is definitely not a natural phenomenon. Animals typically exhibit such unusual behavior just before a natural disaster like an earthquake. Tokyo is located in an earthquake-prone zone, and the animals living there have become accustomed to the environment. A normal earthquake would be completely incapable of causing such a massive disturbance.

Something terrible is about to happen. The rioting flock of black birds before me is a sign of it. They sense something terrifying is about to happen here, surpassing human sixth sense.

[And the next second, the reason for the birds' behavior also emerged.]

A startling golden light rose from the earth, spiraling up into the night sky. The brilliant light overwhelmed Tokyo's gradually restored lights, illuminating the entire city as if it were daylight.

[“The direction of that light——”]

The two of them were also bathed in this light. Kousaka, supported by Zaimokuza, looked at the direction where the golden light was rising, and his eyes suddenly widened.

“It rose from Shibuya!”

……

Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo.

It's been almost a year since the unidentified lifeform incident began. It's safe to say that anyone still living in Tokyo after such a long time must be incredibly brave, or perhaps have a reason to stay put.

To prevent themselves from being caught up in an incident involving an unidentified life form and potentially losing their lives, Tokyo has been flooded with courses on wilderness survival and self-help for the past year. To protect their lives, residents are learning all sorts of survival skills, stocking their homes with explosion-proof equipment, and even obtaining firearms on the black market.

The Metropolitan Police Department also observed this situation, but they had no good way to prevent it. To reduce the possibility of riots, they could only turn a blind eye and acquiesce.

This also led to a growing sense of toughness among the people of Tokyo. Various survival drills were performed dozens of times across the city, and people had developed experience with all sorts of emergencies, whether they involved flying in the air or running on the ground.

[——But among these drills, the only situation that hasn't occurred is one where the entire area's buildings and the ground are blown up into the sky.]

The bustling Shibuya district was now engulfed in chaos. Beneath the golden light, people roared and cried in panic. Even as the light slowly faded, the sounds persisted.

Near the central Shibuya street, a massive pothole with a radius of at least two hundred meters appeared on the road. The buildings above it, and even the people inside, had been reduced to ash by the immense energy. This was the area where the beam of light had risen.