Chapter 29: Tiny Yukinoshita
"Huh? Where is this??"
Hikigaya Hachiman looked at the surrounding dreamy, hazy scene. He remembered that he had originally planned to stay up late to finish writing the Battle of Calth between the Word Bearers and the Ultramarines.
However, feeling a bit sleepy, Hikigaya Hachiman ate the crystallized remnants of the Spider Curse he had eliminated earlier to perk up.
He definitely felt a surge of energy, but after Hikigaya Hachiman ate it, some other unexpected effects seemed to have occurred.
When he opened his eyes again, he was here. As time passed, the originally silent, misty surroundings now seemed to be getting clearer and clearer.
Moreover, the silence had given way to an increasingly loud noise, filled with clamoring sounds.
Hikigaya Hachiman looked at the shoe cabinets lined up for student shoes and a large group of mischievous boys wearing school uniforms, laughing and roughhousing in the hallways.
"Elementary school students?"
The children were quite small, their faces still immature, untouched by the weariness of academic rigor.
Hikigaya Hachiman recognized this as the area near the school entrance where students change into indoor shoes.
Hikigaya Hachiman felt completely out of place with them. He reached out to touch a student, but his hand passed directly through.
The students didn't seem to see him either.
He was more like an observer.
Hikigaya Hachiman was about to try something else, but a sudden change in the scene pulled his attention back.
The surrounding noisy environment seemed to quiet down slightly, and following the students' gazes, Hikigaya Hachiman saw someone who surprised him greatly.
Hikigaya Hachiman saw a very cute child walking over from a distance.
The girl had cute twin tails, was small in stature, and the bag she was holding appeared to contain a rectangular box.
"Yukinoshita."
Hikigaya Hachiman recognized her, or more accurately, Yukinoshita Yukino during her elementary school period. She was still very small and hadn't yet gone abroad to study independently.
The current Yukinoshita Yukino was not the distant, fiercely composed 'high-class flower' she would later become.
The Yukinoshita Yukino before Hikigaya Hachiman now was still very cute, small in stature, and looked like someone you'd want to bully.
This appearance of Yukinoshita even made a terrible thought arise in Hikigaya Hachiman: if he punched her, she would cry for a long time, wouldn't she?
But that was just a thought; he wasn't that malicious.
Hikigaya Hachiman stroked his chin. Yukinoshita appeared here, and such a young Yukinoshita at that, combined with Hikigaya Hachiman's own circumstances.
Was it the power of that Spider Curse?
Hikigaya Hachiman suddenly realized something.
The Spider Curse seemed to feed on the painful negative energy generated when people were forced to confront their most unwanted memories.
Hikigaya Hachiman could boldly guess that after he devoured the crystal formed by the Curse, seizing its power, he unexpectedly entered Yukinoshita Yukino's "dark history" memories that she didn't want to face.
Accidentally harming a friendly target was not Hikigaya Hachiman's intention; this had never happened before when he ate Curse crystals.
In that case, it was easy to understand: he had grown stronger again.
The previous version was outdated; this was a newer, more powerful version of himself!
Hikigaya Hachiman, by consuming high-grade Curse crystals, could gain the Innate Cursed Techniques that the Curses had awakened.
Realizing that it was his own doing and that he had "accidentally" entered Yukinoshita Yukino's dream rather than being seduced by some unknown demon, Hikigaya Hachiman relaxed significantly.
He continued to observe what was happening.
Tiny Yukinoshita, holding her bag, approached the locker where she kept her indoor shoes.
Hikigaya Hachiman noticed a few rascals watching Yukinoshita from a distance, giggling to themselves.
Hikigaya Hachiman stepped closer because Yukinoshita opened her shoe locker and then just stood there without doing anything else.
Peering past the girl's side, Hikigaya Hachiman saw only one shoe inside; the other shoe was missing.
Worse still, the remaining indoor shoe contained a dead caterpillar.
When Yukinoshita Yukino finally discovered the surprise they had left for her, the group nearby couldn't wait and burst into loud laughter, as if afraid others wouldn't know it was their doing.
"Yukinoshita! Look, this is your shoe!"
One of the brats shook the indoor shoe in his hand, displaying it to Yukinoshita Yukino like a trophy.
"Please give it back," Yukinoshita Yukino's small face turned very ugly, and her grip on the bag tightened, but her tone was still polite.
Because Yukinoshita Yukino was very cute, her indoor shoes were hidden sixty times during her elementary school years.
For this reason, she had to take both her indoor shoes and her recorder home every day.
The box in her hand contained the recorder.
Yukinoshita Yukino had forgotten to take her indoor shoes home yesterday due to an engagement, and this happened the next day.
"No way!"
The ill-mannered brats made a face at the distressed Yukinoshita.
"If you give us your recorder, maybe we'll consider giving you back your shoe."
Yukinoshita Yukino definitely wouldn't agree. The small girl frowned and quickly stepped forward as if to grab her shoe back directly.
However, the brats exchanged glances and started playing a throwing game with Yukinoshita Yukino.
That is, when the girl got close, the person holding the shoe would throw it to another, making it impossible for Yukinoshita Yukino to retrieve her shoe.
They were simply teasing Yukinoshita.
Hikigaya Hachiman noticed that none of the surrounding children offered help; they were all just watching her for amusement.
Gradually, Yukinoshita Yukino started to lose strength, panting heavily.
Hikigaya Hachiman thought that since he had entered Yukinoshita's unwanted memory, perhaps he could intervene slightly.
It's just a dream, anyway.
Sure enough, Hikigaya Hachiman only had to think this for a moment, and he felt a very high degree of congruence with the world before him, as if he had stepped directly from the illusory into the real world.
Hikigaya Hachiman smiled, looking at his body, which was about the same size as theirs. If this was the case, there was only one thing he could do.
He only felt that his shoe was uncomfortable, so he lifted his foot. The boy who was running over accidentally tripped over it and fell flat on his face.
Is that my fault?
Hikigaya Hachiman steadily caught Yukinoshita's shoe, which the boy failed to hold onto before falling, and handed it to the panting girl.
"Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.
To avoid this situation, why don't you try to kill your weak self.
And become stronger."
As soon as he finished speaking, Hikigaya Hachiman felt the surrounding environment shatter, and he was back at his desk.
It seemed the girl's dream was over.
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