My youth story cannot be a knight war

Looking at this scene, the previous emptiness and darkness resurfaced in the depths of his eyes, covering up and swallowing up all of Hikigaya Hachiman's emotions.

A shrill hissing sound suddenly rang out in this dilapidated classroom. The distortion of the sound was indescribable and exceeded the limit of the human auditory system. Each sound was like a sharp blade rotating and scraping in the cochlea, causing insane pain and tearing.

Amidst the eardrum-piercing noise, strange sounds were heard from the remaining windows of the classroom and the broken glass scattered on the ground. The sound was different from the hateful howls of evil spirits in the mirror. It was as if hundreds of wild beasts were howling in different ways at the same time.

Countless terrifying shadows flashed and twisted on these reflective mirrors, circular ripples appeared, twisted and strange black shadows stacked up layer by layer in the mirrors, and pairs of eyes that were different from those of humans emitted evil light.

It was as if this place had fallen from the human world into hell in an instant. Countless terrifying life-seeking demons were spying on the unconscious and ignorant people in a world that humans could not understand. Deep in their eyes were irrational greed and appetite, eager to taste the delicious bones and flesh of everyone here.

The open palm suddenly clenched, and the particles and strange phenomena floating on the surface of the skin quickly calmed down with this action. Hikigaya Hachiman still stared at Hikigaya Komachi's face without raising his head, and his calm gaze did not change at all because of the abnormalities around him.

“…Go back, the people here are not your food.”

Hikigaya Hachiman said softly with a blank expression.

“His ...

A hissing sound, characteristic of snakes, drowned out all other sounds around. In the only intact window glass remaining in the classroom, a pair of narrow, pure yellow eyes drove out all other eyes.

Just a pair of eyes appeared, and the size alone took up more than half of the window glass area. It was difficult to estimate the size of the main body. The fossil of the most powerful snake on earth discovered by humans so far, the Titanoboa, was not as big as this.

As soon as these eyes appeared, they stared at a figure in the classroom. It was the student who had been taken care of by Hikigaya Komachi after he fell unconscious at the beginning. He was trapped under a piece of broken brick.

At the same time, his figure happened to be the most "full" among everyone in the classroom, and carnivorous beasts always like to hunt large prey.

The ripples on the entire window glass had completely obscured the original scene, almost turning it into a small vortex. In the center of the "vortex", the eyes became clearer and clearer, and a triangular head with a sharp and ferocious arc slowly emerged.

The dark golden afterglow illuminated the gloomy classroom for a moment, and purple blood splattered on the ground in a fan shape. At the same time, the sound of tongue-stirring and hissing suddenly became fierce and mournful.

“His ...

The ripples on the entire glass immediately subsided, and the narrow eyes disappeared. At the same time, the howling of animals around became fiercer, and all eyes were fixed on the young man who stood up.

"I said that……"

Holding the golden feather-shaped blade in his right hand, Hikigaya Hachiman shook off the purple blood on the blade with a standard blood-vibration motion. His voice was as cold and ruthless as his eyes, as cold as the bottom of the Arctic permafrost.

"Get back here, you beasts."

"唳——!!!"

The majestic bird cry, like the falling sun, rang out along with his words. In this bird cry filled with endless majesty and ferocity, all other beast roars instantly disappeared, and there was no other sound except this cry.

When the king of beasts at the top of the food chain speaks, no matter how ferocious the beast is, it has to submit and dare not overstep the line or disobey.

A huge golden shadow flashed through all the reflective glass fragments in the classroom. Each mirror could only reflect a part of the figure. Only when the overall picture was taken together could the entire shadow be roughly seen, which was a giant bird with its wings spread.

The entire classroom seemed to have turned into a suspended three-dimensional building, and the giant bird was dancing around the invisible three-dimensional space of the classroom, driving away all the beasts that wanted to find food.

"The three dimensions are gradually merging locally... It seems he's almost unable to suppress it."

The golden blade pierced the floor tiles. Hikigaya Hachiman, holding the hilt, looked up at the dark sky from the empty space in the classroom, squinting his eyes and muttering to himself.

"This has never happened before... Those who fool time will eventually be fooled by time. Is this what you want to tell me?"

"Kamiyama Touma."

boom--

When Hikigaya Hachiman finished speaking, a violent roar shook the earth and the world, and the still ring of fire on the other side of the sky also underwent a change.

Under the gaze of everyone in the world, the dormant flames on the ring of fire began to burn again, and the bright white light of day cut through the dark universe, but in contrast to this light, boundless darkness was born in the light.

A powerful gravitational force descended from the sky, and everything on the planet weighing less than 10 kilograms was slowly suspended under this gravitational force. Gravel, fallen leaves, and river water all rose into the sky. The concept of weight was suppressed by the powerful force, and even the gravity system of the entire planet had problems.

Walking to the edge of the classroom, Hikigaya Hachiman silently watched the countless gravel and dust rising in front of him. Even his own hair floated as if it was in water.

"…Has it finally begun? The final battle."

His eyes were as dark as an ancient well, even darker than the black fog surging in the sky. The evil purple glow illuminated Hikigaya Hachiman's indifferent expression.

He immediately understood the truth behind the incident, and just as Hikigaya Hachiman had predicted, the hazy city scene against the pitch-black sky was replaced by a completely new scene.

It was white snow covering the entire world, and pitch-black towers stood tall in the snowfield, so majestic that it seemed to support the sky and earth of the entire world.

In this magnificent scene, two figures stood on the snowy field, looking up at the giant tower.

The pitch-black pupils reflected one of the figures, and the golden blade immediately disintegrated into light particles and disappeared from the palm. Hikigaya Hachiman silently reached into his pocket and took out something.

It was an orange-gold cardholder. On the front, a golden three-dimensional emblem shaped like a winged bird spread its wings, emitting a faint glow in the darkness and strong wind.

"..."

But as a trace of emotion flickered in the depths of his eyes, he didn't know what he was thinking about, but he put the half-taken card holder back into his pocket.

Hikigaya Hachiman looked up at the sky quietly, and finally chose to watch as a spectator the final battle that was about to unfold and would determine the fate of the world.

Let me see the end of this "story" you created...

Can we change the predetermined outcome of fate?

"Zaimokuza."

……

"Hmm~ After all, Miss Saki's coffee is the best!"

Zaimokuza took off his down jacket and held a cup of steaming coffee in his hands. After taking a sip, his expression became as soft as a cat that had eaten mint.

"Stop interrupting me. Where have you been these past few days? If Officer Kosaka and Mio hadn't kept telling me you were okay, I would have gone to the Metropolitan Police Department and filed you in the missing person file."

Holding the coffee pot, Saki Kawasaki looked at Zaimokuza with a dark face and said unhappily.

"It's a good thing you remembered to come back. If you hadn't come back, I would have sold the store."

"Yeah~ I just—huh? Saki, are you selling the store?"

Zaimokuza was just about to laugh it off when the message in her words caught his attention and he spoke in a daze.

"why?"

"And why... wouldn't you know about this kind of thing if you just went outside and took a look?"

Saki Kawasaki lowered her head and brewed herself a cup of coffee. Her eyes were no longer as strong as before, and she looked particularly lonely and gloomy in the steaming coffee.

"Now that all of Tokyo is in this state, what else can I do but sell the shop and go back to Chiba? Anyway, the money I've earned over the years is enough to buy a house in my hometown and last a lifetime, so I might as well go back and enjoy a peaceful life."

"……Yeah?"

Zaimokuza looked at Akiyama Mio beside him, and she nodded silently. It was obvious that the female manager had told her about this before.

"That's a shame. I really like this shop because the coffee you make, Saki, is delicious~"

"...Can I understand that you're saying that I can't do anything else well except making delicious coffee?"

"Well!?"

Saki Kawasaki raised her head and looked at Zaimokuza with a forced smile. The smile on his face froze suddenly because of these words, and then dense cold sweat oozed from his forehead.

"No, no, no! You misunderstood! I absolutely do not have such thoughts. My respect for you, Miss Saki, is as high as the mountains. You are the guiding star that saved me from the dire situation. Your beauty is known to everyone on this street, just like-"

"That's enough! It seems I taught you too well back then. You won't starve to death even if you go out now. At least being a gigolo will definitely guarantee you a living."

Silently interrupting Zaimokuza's respectful compliment, Kawasaki Saki sighed and reached out to open the drawer of the counter.

"There's something I want to give you."

pat.

She placed a bulging envelope on the table and pushed it along the table towards the woodblock.

"what is this?"

Zaimokuza stretched out his hand to block the envelope that was sliding over, picked it up curiously and weighed it, feeling the not-so-light weight of the envelope and said.

"Salary. Your entire salary for working in this store over the past year, plus commissions from customers and various holiday quotas, totals five million yen. It's all here."

"Ugh?"

Zaimokuza was stunned. He looked down at the envelope in his hand in disbelief and said in a tone of broad daylight:

"So... I still have a salary?"

"—Of course I do! Do you really think I'm some North American farmer? Even they'd pay the black cotton pickers watermelons and fried chicken!"

The corners of her eyes twitched as Kawasaki Saki spoke viciously, while Zaimokuza shook his head awkwardly and muttered.

"How could that be? How could Miss Saki be a farmer? I always thought of you as Grandet..."

"You kid, you're really..."

"Pfft~"

She was so angry that she laughed, and the gloom that had been lingering in her heart strangely dissipated a lot. Akiyama Mio, who was standing next to her, pursed her lips, raised the back of her right hand to cover the lower half of her face, and smiled very reservedly.

"I didn't give you my salary before because I was afraid you'd spend it recklessly. With your forgetful nature, I was worried you'd squander it all in just three days and end up in debt."

"Perhaps, you will even end up selling yourself to your creditors to pay off your debts."

"Uh……"

Upon hearing this, Zaimokuza remembered that he still hadn't paid back the six million to someone, and he suddenly laughed dryly, with cold sweat sliding down his forehead.

Saki Kawasaki drank her coffee in one gulp, then put the empty mug on the table and spoke softly.

"I was actually planning on giving it to you when you left to continue your journey, but since this store is closing down anyway, I'll just give it to you first... Besides, I have something else for you."

"It's almost tomorrow, so you can really pick a good time to come back."

She turned and walked towards the kitchen, while Zaimokuza tilted his head in confusion, with question marks all over his head.

"Tomorrow? Is tomorrow a holiday? Or a festival? Mio, do you know what day tomorrow is?"

"This... I don't know either. It seems that neither is the case."

In response to Zaimokuza's question, Akiyama Mio agreed and shook her head with a confused expression. She didn't know what day tomorrow was.

Warm light suddenly illuminated their faces. Zaimokuza and Akiyama Mio turned their heads together, and what came into their eyes was the lit candles.

"—"

Looking at the object placed before him and the twenty-five candles placed on it, Zaimokuza, his face illuminated by the candlelight, was stunned.

"I originally thought you might never come back, so I planned to cook it myself. After all, I've already bought the ingredients, so it would be a waste to keep them... But since you're back, I'll give it to you."

Saki Kawasaki scratched her temple with her fingers, her cheeks slightly flushed as she looked around.

"Anyway... happy birthday in advance, Zaimokuza."

21. Guidance of Destiny (4k)

Beautiful pictures.jpg

Under the pitch-black sky, white snowflakes fell. The snow had been falling continuously for four days, covering the entire world.

The global climate has been extremely abnormal since four days ago. The "ultimate darkness" that descended from the higher dimension is as huge as an elephant's foot stepping on a flat piece of thin paper relative to this world, and its impact is 360 degrees in all directions without blind spots.

Even Hawaii, located in the tropics and subject to high temperatures all year round, has now become an island covered in pure white snow. The weather in Japan's west coast of the Pacific Ocean and its surrounding waters is even more magical. The accuracy of weather forecasts in these areas is even more distorted than the annual total tax revenue announced by the Japanese government in previous years.

In some places, tornadoes rolled up and reached the sky, carrying tens of millions of kilograms of seawater. However, just one meter beyond this area was a scorching high-temperature zone that spread over nearly one kilometer. The temperature of the sea surface was raised to nearly 30 degrees, forming an extreme contrast with the frozen sea surface next door that had already reached below zero degrees. The two seawaters with huge temperature differences came into contact with each other, evaporating a huge amount of water vapor, which intensified the degree of weather changes after rising into the air.

This is just a small area as one example. The abnormalities in other areas are even more serious. The entire ecosystem has been tampered with beyond recognition, and the number of natural creatures that depend on this system has dropped sharply in the past few days.

Originally, about eight species became extinct every day around the world, but now this figure has increased from single digits to nearly 5,000, a terrifying increase of nearly 625 times. The total number of species that become extinct in one day is comparable to the total number in the past year or even two years.

If this continues for less than a month, the lack of species diversity alone will pose a huge threat to the human living environment, not to mention the climate change that is beyond description. The food reserves of various countries have been severely damaged. In some countries, more than half of the land area has even been swallowed by sea water or snow. At the same time, the operating system of the entire human society has also suffered a devastating impact.

People all over the world have been trapped in their respective regions by this terrifying climate change. The continents that used to be continents are now isolated by the sea connected by strange phenomena and become huge "islands". The exchanges in the human world have suddenly been thrown back to the period before Columbus discovered the New World.

What's even more terrifying is that the development of the human world today is inseparable from the existence of energy, especially electricity. This energy has been used in various aspects for hundreds of years and has deeply penetrated into every aspect of human life. However, the operating system of this energy has also encountered problems in climate change.

Due to the power shortage, people cannot turn on the lights, boil water, cook, or even know the information from the outside world. Even many means of transportation that mainly rely on electricity are on the verge of being scrapped. The most typical example is the Shinkansen electric train, which has become the standard for travel for Japanese citizens.

"...So, this is the only way we can reach our destination now."

Snow fluttered against the closed car windows like fallen leaves. Glancing at the covered side window, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka turned his head to look at the road ahead that was filled with snow to a height of half a meter. The sound was as clear and cold as the windshield wipers repeatedly sweeping the front glass.

"The Shinkansen is nearly obsolete, and taking a helicopter in this weather is suicidal, not to mention the river boat. The only viable option is land travel."

"Although new energy vehicles were already showing signs of international popularity back in our time, and this era is the peak of rapid development, people in this country have always been 'nostalgic' when it comes to using things. As a result, the majority of vehicles in the country today are old-fashioned gasoline-powered. As long as there's enough fuel, there's no risk of power outages mid-journey. They can be said to be the safest mode of transportation overall."

"I understand the reason, but this car..."