Chapter 340: Watch Out for Traffic When Crossing the Street |
The afternoon exams only covered mathematics and English. The other subjects were scheduled for tomorrow.
At exactly three-thirty in the afternoon, the bell signaling the end of the school day rang out. After handing in her test paper, Shimizu Yu was in an incredibly good mood. Unlike before, when her joy simply stemmed from school being over, this time she was genuinely elated because of the exam itself!
So solving complex math problems was actually this exhilarating! So seeing the same type of questions she had mastered during practice was actually this delightful! So being able to recognize most of the vocabulary words on an English test paper was actually this fulfilling!
She could not wait to see the shocked expressions on the faces of her parents and friends when the exam results were finally released!
'Let us see who dares to call me an idiot after this test!' she thought. 'My poor grades before were just because those teachers and tutors were utterly incompetent! Hmph, even though that guy Hoshino is a bit overly cautious, he is still pretty capable. I should cook up a grand feast at the shop later to reward him.'
"Smiling so foolishly, did you find some money on the ground?"
Beside the shoe lockers, Hoshino Gen finished changing his shoes and turned his head, immediately spotting Shimizu Yu standing there, clearly waiting for him while grinning like a fool.
The two of them heading to the antique shop together after school had become a daily routine established since the previous semester.
After all, as an elite high school pursuing the comprehensive development of morality, intelligence, physique, aesthetics, and labor, Segawa Private Academy had an incredibly rich club culture. The number of students in the entire school who simply went straight home was pitifully small. In fact, in Hoshino Gen's Class 1-A, he and Shimizu Yu were the only two who had not joined any clubs.
Hoshino Gen glanced at her, instantly knowing exactly what was on her mind. As he took the lead toward the exit of the school building, he casually replied, "What, do you think you did exceptionally well this time?"
"Not entirely," Shimizu Yu said, trying to maintain a modest tone. "I just feel like I made a bit of progress, that is all."
"Is that so?" Hoshino Gen responded without much care. "Asking me if it was hard or not is pointless. If you want to determine whether you have actually improved, you need to ask someone whose original grades were similar to yours."
Shimizu Yu blinked, unable to hold back her question. "Your previous exam scores always seemed to be just a tiny bit higher than mine. Were those your actual grades?"
"Of course they were," Hoshino Gen stated calmly. "Did you think I was intentionally controlling my score before?"
"..." Shimizu Yu wanted to say yes. After all, the impression this guy gave her was that he was practically omnipotent. Even though his grades were similar to hers, she just felt that he was incredibly capable and brilliant. However, while she thought that, she could not possibly admit it out loud. She curled her lips. "No, I was just asking."
Having said that, she quickly shifted the topic. "So, how many points do you think you will get on the math and English exams you just took? Even I, who received your tutoring, feel like I have made tremendous progress. What about you? Since you memorized the entire textbook, your improvement must be even greater, right?"
"Maybe." Hoshino Gen cared absolutely nothing about his own grades and had even less interest in this topic. He casually entertained the idiot, whose ego had clearly inflated just because she could solve a few more questions, with brief replies. Once they stepped out of the school gates, he smoothly guided the conversation toward other matters, such as what they should have for dinner.
Because Hoshino Rin had sent a message earlier saying she would be returning home late tonight, Hoshino Gen decided to settle his dinner at the antique shop.
Although the temporary stove in the shop had long been dismantled, a storage room had been specifically cleared out to replace it. He had contacted someone to renovate it into a semi-open kitchen. It possessed every appliance imaginable, fully equipped to allow any caliber of chef to properly showcase their culinary skills.
Shimizu Yu had coincidentally just toyed with the idea of cooking a lavish feast to reward Hoshino Gen that evening. Thus, the two hit it off immediately, deciding to raid the supermarket for ingredients before returning to the shop.
However—
"Hmm... This is really strange."
As the pair reached an intersection where the traffic light was broken, Shimizu Yu looked up and scanned their surroundings, speaking with a hint of hesitation. "Is it because of the broken traffic light, or because it is a workday? There are usually a lot of pedestrians here. Why is there absolutely no one around today?"
While speaking, she turned her head to look at Hoshino Gen, who had not uttered a single word for the past few minutes. "Could we have accidentally wandered into a cordoned-off street?"
Hoshino Gen still did not speak. With one hand resting in his pocket and the other gripping his briefcase, he kept his chin slightly lowered, staring straight ahead as he walked at a steady pace.
"Why are you not saying anything?" Shimizu Yu's face was brimming with confusion. "What is going on?"
Vroom—
A motorcade consisting of several black cars was speeding toward them from a distance. Catching sight of them, Shimizu Yu could not help but sigh in relief. "Phew, it seems this is not a blocked road after all."
Saying that, she glared at Hoshino Gen, putting on a fierce expression. "Why did you intentionally stay quiet to scare me..."
Before her voice could fade, a piercing car horn suddenly exploded right next to her ear. She whipped her head around and saw that the black Honda sedan, which was just a distance away moments ago, had somehow already closed the gap. The vehicle was barrelling straight toward the exact spot where she and Hoshino Gen stood, its target abundantly clear.
One might ask, what goes through a person's mind in that split second between life and death?
Some say their entire past flashes before their eyes in a rapid montage. Others claim they see the true love they missed out on, lamenting the regrets of their life...
While she could not know how others felt, at this very moment, Shimizu Yu's mind was utterly devoid of thought. Seeing the car careening toward her and realizing with absolute certainty that there was no way she could dodge it in time, her mind went completely blank. Her only subconscious reaction was to raise her hands, desperately trying to shove Hoshino Gen out of the collision zone...
Smack.
Her outstretched hands were suddenly clasped by a strong, powerful grip. A pulling force surged forward, yanking her entire body into the person's embrace. Then, using momentum, the two flawlessly swapped positions. The person directly facing the incoming car shifted from Shimizu Yu to Hoshino Gen.
Bang!!!
The instant the front of the car breached the one-meter radius around Hoshino Gen, he violently unleashed a whip kick, slamming it directly into the vehicle's headlight. The glass shattered, the hood caved in, and a completely unimaginable scene unfolded.
The car crashed toward the person, but with a single kick, the person sent the car spinning in a full circle across the ground. Amidst the ear-splitting screech of tires skidding against the asphalt, it slid sideways and violently crashed into the already broken traffic light.
The Honda sedan, its front end entirely crushed, instantly burst into flames. Yet, amid the blaring sirens, a full six identical black sedans screeched to a halt around them in quick succession.
Car doors flung open one after another, and burly men wearing black suits, dark sunglasses, and wielding pistols swarmed out. Finally, a somewhat hunched, disheveled young man stepped out of a car. He shoved aside a few of the suited men blocking his path and strutted to the very front. His expression was downright frantic, and a scarlet hue reflected in his pupils. This was unequivocally the appearance of a Transcendent on the very brink of losing control.
He stared fixedly at Hoshino Gen, splitting his mouth into a wide, deranged grin. "Hehehe... Hahaha! Look what I found here. A wild Transcendent... Hehehe..."