Chapter 445: Goodbye! Evil Eye of the Wicked Lord!

They agreed to meet at the school gate.

At exactly eight in the morning, everyone got together and waited for Hiratsuka-sensei.

It wasn’t that the female teacher was late, but she unexpectedly drove a sports car there…

It only had two seats.

Naturally, Himekoji, with a look of helplessness, and Yukinoshita reprimanded her together.

“Sensei, can’t you change the car?”

“Are you showing off your money?”

“Try to keep a low profile! And there are five of us!”

They waited until Hiratsuka Shizuka returned with a seven-seat SUV. Then, Himekoji and Yukinoshita nodded in approval.

“Get in.”

As a teacher, it was really embarrassing to be scolded by her students, but Hiratsuka Shizuka didn’t mind.

How to put it… she accidentally showed off her garage a bit?

The female teacher waved at them to get in.

Himekoji and Yukinoshita were the last to leave.

…

This scene happened to be seen by Miura Yumiko, who came to school for club activities that weekend.

“Himekoji and Yukinoshita?”

Miura Yumiko only spotted those two.

“Could it be… that rumor is true?”

So, it made sense to misunderstand.

As she tried to sneak closer to peek at what was going on, Miura had just moved. But Himekoji and Yukinoshita had already gotten in the car. The car started up fast and sped away.

“Yumiko!”

Ebina, who had just reached the school gate, raised her hand to wave at Miura.

“What are you looking at?”

“Huh? Oh, nothing.”

She quickly turned her head away. But Miura’s calm act seemed a bit forced, and Ebina noticed it right away.

“Is that so? Then don’t stand at the gate anymore. Let’s go in.”

“Mhm, okay.”

Miura nodded and answered, then started walking.

Ebina hung back a little on purpose. She gazed in the direction Miura had been watching.

But there was nothing there.

Then, Ebina looked back at Miura walking ahead.

Miura’s usually strong figure seemed distracted. Was it just in her head?

Ebina lowered her head slightly, as if deep in thought.

…

After an hour and a half drive, they got to their destination.

They got lost a few times on the way because they had no map guide.

The place they were heading to didn’t show up on any map at all.

“You’re saying Rikka’s old home is here?”

Looking at the empty wild land, the female teacher’s mouth twitched without thinking. She turned to look at Himekoji, her face full of doubt.

“Yes, that sounds right.”

Himekoji took out a map. He compared it for a short while. Then, he said in a low voice.

“Should we get off and take a look first?”

He had expected something like this, so he didn’t seem too let down.

“Did we go the wrong way? Akito? This kind of place couldn’t possibly have people living in it, right?”

“Yuigahama, better listen to Pervert-kun. Let’s get off and see.”

But Yukinoshita spoke up for Himekoji again. She took Yuigahama’s hand and got off the car.

“How about we split up and look around?”

That would be the quickest way to find things, so Himekoji suggested it.

“Hmm.”

No one raised any issue with it.

Hanjo Ayame even took the lead right away. She acted on it first.

…

Himekoji took out his phone. He checked the time.

Since they left the car and split up, twenty minutes had passed.

For now, he hadn’t found any good clues.

Could it be… that his guess was wrong all along?

He couldn’t help thinking that.

Because this place didn’t look like anyone lived in it.

Thoughts tangled up in Himekoji’s mind. Holding his phone, he kept thinking. But he didn’t stop walking.

“Huh?”

All of a sudden, he found something odd.

In just a few steps, his phone signal dropped by two bars.

Not believing it, he walked a few more steps. The signal kept getting weaker. It got weaker and weaker until it vanished completely.

Himekoji looked back. He guessed the distance—it was only five or six meters.

Unreasonable!

He tried stepping back the same way. The signal came back bit by bit.

Something was wrong!

Good—that meant this was it!

Right away, Himekoji didn’t hesitate. He walked on with big steps.

Next, not only did Himekoji’s phone lose the signal, but also, slowly, the things he saw started to repeat.

The same scenes played over and over. All were ones he was tired of seeing.

Messy grass. Hot, blinding sun. Tall trees that blocked out the sky…

Ahead and behind. Left and right. All looked the same.

At a certain moment, Himekoji completely lost his sense of direction.

He somewhat impatiently quickened his pace.

But it was as if he was turning in a circle; Himekoji couldn’t even find the way back.

This also meant he had lost contact with Yukinoshita and the others.

…

[It’s useless, give up—front, back, left, and right are all the same.]

The System, unable to bear it, finally spoke up at that moment, giving helpless advice to Himekoji.

“Front, back, left, and right are all the same?”

The System’s words seemed to trigger a thought in Himekoji.

He shuddered and suddenly raised his head.

What he saw was—

scorching, blinding light, and trees that blocked the sky…

Wait, if the trees blocked the sky, then where did this scorching, blinding light come from?

It wasn’t shining through the gaps in the leaves; instead, it seemed like…

existing for no reason?

Because it was daytime, the light was bright!

Like a stiff, old-fashioned rule.

“If front, back, left, and right are all the same, then what about… up?!”

Himekoji, as if waking from a dream, forcefully tilted his head up and looked toward the distant sky covered by giant trees.

“I know! Thank you! System!”

In a rush of excitement, he actually thanked the System. As soon as he said it, Himekoji regretted it.

Why should he thank this System? That thing was the true source of all evil!

[Thank me? But I didn’t say a thing.]

The System proudly wouldn’t admit it.

“I didn’t say anything either!”

…

Himekoji rolled up his sleeves and trouser legs and started climbing the big tree.

Midway, he rested and paused on branches as thick as a person; after half an hour in total, he finally climbed to the top.

What he saw was a whole new view.

From high up, everything was more clear and wide.

A small town had all kinds of stuff; most houses were wooden single buildings. The roads weren’t wide or straight, but with cars parked here and there thinly, it somehow didn’t feel packed.

Here…

sure enough, there was a town!

It must be Rikka’s hometown!

Himekoji was almost one hundred percent sure!

Rikka was right here!

Go find her!

Find her!

Himekoji mindlessly moved his leg to dash over.

“Huh?!”

Only after lifting one foot, standing on the other one alone, his body swaying twice on top of the tree, did he suddenly remember he was standing on top of the tree!

Scared, he quickly crouched and hugged the tree trunk.

Then, the problem came…

How could he get down?

Climb back down after climbing up?

But, what if after climbing down, he ended up back in that awful forest maze?

It wasn’t impossible.

No, more like it was very likely to turn out that way!

So, he couldn’t climb down!

If he climbed down, all the hard work he just did to get up would be wasted!

But if he didn’t climb, should he jump?

Himekoji glanced down, and with just one look, he instantly felt dizzy.

Oh no, jumping from this height would surely kill him, right?

Fear of heights was about to kick in…

Plus, this height—how did he actually manage to climb up earlier?

If he had slipped in the middle, thinking back was a bit scary.

Of course, now wasn’t the time for fear, Himekoji knew.

…