Chapter 48

"Free time is for the next three hours, okay? When the time comes, gather at the parking lot by the East Gate."

"“Yes!”"

The bus carrying everyone arrived at the parking lot by the East Gate of Asahiyama Zoo, and the zoo tour began with a call from Mr. Otani, the homeroom teacher.

"There’s a restaurant at the entrance. Let’s go eat right away!"

"What are you saying!? We should see the animals first!"

"Y-Yes!"

Overwhelmed by the committee president's intensity, Takigawa obediently followed.

"Let’s go to the owl house first to avoid the crowds, then to the Ezo Deer Forest and the Wolf Forest, okay?"

"“Okay.”"

After being subjected to that intensity, no one dared to voice any objections.

"The committee president really loves animals, huh."

"The animals in zoos and pet shops used to be pitiful, so I didn’t like them that much, but after realizing there was nothing I could do about it, I started to enjoy them more."

"O-Oh, I see."

When I asked Hina, I got a rather deep answer. There must have been a conflict due to her love for animals.

"Wow! Ezo Deer!"

Yeah, let’s let the committee president do as she likes in the zoo.

While watching the committee president, who was showing a different side from usual, we also looked at the animals in the park. And we glanced at the group following us from behind.

Several groups were following us.

"Yuki, I feel like other groups have been following us. Do you know why?"

"Their gazes are a bit scary."

"Ah, don’t worry about it. They won’t do anything harmful."

The ones following us are probably members of the dark organization. There are a few people who always glare at me at school.

And there are a few unfamiliar faces. From their gazes, they seem to be fans of Hina and Owl. Sometimes they send me death glares. Scary, scary. I’ll just ignore them.

"Hina, let’s take a break soon."

After we had seen the southern part of the park, Sano voiced our unspoken desire.

"Sorry everyone. We’re near a rest area, so let’s have lunch there?"

"Sure, Hina! Let’s have lunch!"

Sano, as always! She must have called out at the perfect moment to give the committee president a break from her animal enthusiasm. What a great timing. She’s a good friend to the committee president.

"Rest area! Ezo Deer meat cutlet, Ezo Deer frankfurter, and deer burger, please!"

"Oh...”

"Amazing..."

As soon as we arrived at the rest area, Takigawa immediately ordered the special menu.

I was planning to try one of them, but ordering all of them is impressive. The girls are slightly taken aback.

"I’ll have the Ezo Deer meat cutlet and curry."

"Then, I’ll have soy sauce ramen and fried rice cake."

Following Takigawa, I and Ishida also placed our orders, and the girls followed one by one.

"Yuki!"

At that moment, a voice called out from the rest area’s dining area.

"Sohji."

Looking in the direction of the voice, I saw Sohji, Shizukana, and Akari and their group. It seems their group was also at the rest area.

"Yuki, hey! Everyone, come over here!"

"There are empty seats here, so let’s eat together!"

Akari and Sohji invited us, so our group headed to their table.

"To be able to sit with the Mizukami sisters, Sano, and Owl, as well as Akari and Shizukana, is... too much happiness, it’s a bit scary. But I’m happy!"

Takigawa is emotionally unstable, but I’ll ignore it.

For now, I sat next to Shizukana, where there was an empty seat.

"Shizukana, you ordered a deer burger?"

"Yeah. Yuki, you ordered the Ezo Deer meat cutlet, right? Is it good?"

"Yeah, it’s pretty good. Hinna Hinna."

"Hehe, the deer burger is also good. Hinna Hinna."

Wow! I thought Shizukana would understand this reference. Fellow otaku are great.

"Hina? What are you saying? It’s deer, right?"

"It’s not Hina, it’s Hinna. I think it’s a word to express gratitude in Ainu. I don’t know why you’re saying it now, though."

Takigawa and Ishida are tilting their heads. Well, this feeling is beyond non-otaku.

"You’re Hina’s sister? You’re so cute! The girl next to you is also super cute! Are you half?"

"Nice to meet you, I’m Mizukami Hina. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, I’m Owl. I’m half Japanese and British."

"Kufu, you two are too cute!"

"Calm down, Akari. This is Tsukino Tou, nice to meet you. And I’m Kurose Sohji, Yuki’s junior."

"I’m Tsukino Shizukana. Nice to meet you."

After starting to eat, Sohji and his group were deep in conversation with Hina and Owl.

Following that, we also exchanged greetings with the two delinquents and two middle school girls from Sohji’s group.

One of the delinquents is the shaved-head delinquent who always comes to call me. The other one I recognize from the back of the gym, so he’s probably one of Sohji’s followers. The two middle school girls have a gal-like appearance. Both of them look at Sohji with admiration.

And, believing Sohji’s comment about me being his junior, they send me admiring glances.

"Ah, Sohji’s comment was a joke. Don’t worry about it."

I have no memory of making Sohji my junior, so I firmly denied it.

"By the way, which part of the zoo did Yuki’s group see?"

"The southern part. We’re planning to go to the northern part next."

"If that’s the case, we’re the same! Let’s go together!"

"What are you calmly lying about? We just finished the northern part. Sorry, Yuki, we’re going to see the southern part, see you later!"

Akari and her group had already finished their lunch and dragged Sohji out of the rest area. Waving to them, we also resumed our tour.

By the way, Crow said that Shizukana, Akari, and Sohji are psychics. Since Sohji knows my true identity, I’ll try to see his ‘psychic power’ if I get the chance.

"Then, let’s go see the polar bears next!"

With the energetic committee president leading the way, we headed to the polar bear area... huh?

"Master, is something wrong?"

"No, it’s nothing. I just thought I felt something."

Nia was worried, but I told her it was nothing.

For a moment, just a moment, I felt a different kind of killing intent.

It was hard to tell amidst the killing intent from the committee president’s fans, but it felt like the real thing, the same as when I fought against yin-yang practitioners and psychics.

While thinking about this, we had already arrived at the polar bear exhibit.

"Polar bears!"

Turning to the committee president’s voice, I saw a polar bear glaring at me with naked hostility.

◇

"Damn it!"

The jet-black crow, having transformed each of its feathers into jet-black swords, had its attacks easily deflected by the jet-black swords released by Crow.

"Why can you use the same ability as me!?"

The jet-black crow, having used even its flight feathers as swords, fell into the forest.

"Impossible, impossible, impossible! I can’t handle it!"

The girl controlling the crow’s corpse was facing off against countless clay figures created by Crow, who was controlling the corpses of foxes and bears. However, overwhelmed by the sheer number, she was easily captured.

"...Hmph, I surrender. We can’t handle this."

The giant with one eye had fought valiantly, being blown away multiple times by Crow’s spiritual energy waves, but after seeing his fallen comrades, he realized there was no chance of winning and surrendered.

"Crow is so strong."

"Caw."

Rin’s eyes sparkled at Crow’s heroic figure, and Shiro tightened her resolve at the sight of his strength.