After realizing she had spoken and Hikari hadn't responded, she grew even more nervous.
Afraid that Hikari had been injured when he fought against Hirai Hanako just now.
She hurriedly called out, "Hikari-kun? Hikari-kun? Are you okay? Hikari-kun?"
Hikari, who had just finished thinking, snapped back to reality when he heard Kurashiki Reina's shout. He glanced at her.
"I'm fine. What about you? Are you okay?"
Hearing Hikari's calm response, Kurashiki Reina, who no longer disliked him and was even quite grateful to him for saving her, breathed a sigh of relief and quickly replied, "I... I'm fine too."
As Kurashiki Reina answered, Hikari also noticed that her small hands were still tightly wrapped around his waist.
What puzzled Hikari was that the front of his clothes was actually a little wet.
"Why does it feel a little wet?", Hikari frowned slightly. He was pretty sure he hadn't gone to the bathroom just now, and it hadn't rained either.
Looking at the faint blush rising on Kurashiki Reina's face in his arms, Hikari seemed to realize something.
He placed Kurashiki Reina on the ground and then slightly raised his hand.
Sure enough, he found that the hand he had used to support her thigh while holding her earlier was also a little damp.
Oh boy, and it even had a bit of a smell.
Hikari quickly figured it out. Kurashiki Reina must have been so terrified by the vengeful spirit Hanako before he arrived that she peed herself.
Well, it made sense. Even though she had always acted high and mighty, like a queen, at the end of the day, Kurashiki Reina was just an ordinary girl.
She had never seen anything like the vengeful spirit Hanako, a legendary non-human entity, so it was only natural for her to be scared.
And seeing that Hikari seemed to have realized this, Kurashiki Reina's delicate face turned crimson with embarrassment. She lowered her head in shame, looking at Hikari with a bit of awkwardness.
"S-Sorry... I-I got you dirty, Hik... Hikari-kun...", Kurashiki Reina lowered her head, softly apologizing to Hikari.
If it were the old her, back when she still had a bad impression of Hikari, she definitely wouldn't have apologized.
But now, she was truly grateful to Hikari for saving her.
After all, just moments ago, she had been utterly hopeless, with no way to escape.
Hikari had suddenly appeared and rescued her, it was an absolute miracle.
So at this moment, Kurashiki Reina cared about Hikari's opinion quite a bit.
However, Hikari didn't say much about it.
He just waved his hand, "It's fine. I understand."
"Alright, just pretend today never happened and go home quickly."
"I still have things to deal with up there, and I need to stop that thing so it doesn't keep causing trouble. You should hurry home."
After casually comforting the still-frightened Kurashiki Reina, Hikari was ready to head to the restroom and fight Hirai Hanako to complete the system's task.
Hearing Hikari's words, Kurashiki Reina quickly said, "Eh?! Hikari-kun, you're going back to face that thing?"
"S-She's a legendary vengeful spirit, you know?"
Of course, Hikari wouldn't tell Kurashiki Reina about the system's task, so he casually made up an excuse, "If I just leave, she probably won't let things go. I'm not afraid, but do you want to get caught by her again?"
"Look up. She's still staring at you. Hurry and leave. I'll deal with her."
Hearing Hikari's words, Kurashiki Reina raised her head and indeed saw a vague red figure standing at the window on the second floor of the old school building.
She was so scared that she instinctively clung to Hikari again. She didn't care about the difference between men and women. Her whole body latched onto him like a koala, even pressing her prominent chest against him without a second thought.
Hikari, however, pried her hands off and told her, "Alright, get going. I need to stop her. I don't have time to babysit you."
Watching Hikari turn around and walk back into the old school building, Kurashiki Reina stood there in a daze.
"H-He went back to stop Hanako... for my sake? Hikari-kun... You... You have to be okay... Wuwuwu...", As she watched Hikari's figure gradually disappear into the darkness, the usually proud and arrogant Kurashiki Reina felt deeply moved. [T/N: 🤦🏻]
Even though Hikari never said he was doing this for her, In Kurashiki Reina's eyes, it was clear that the vengeful spirit Hirai Hanako had set her sights on her.
And in her imagination, Hikari was risking himself to go back solely to save her.
Such a self-sacrificing act—how could it not be moving?
Tears welled up in Kurashiki Reina's big eyes, her heart overflowing with emotion.
"Hikari-kun... He's truly a great person..."
"I used to misunderstand him, thinking he was just a pretty boy with no real abilities... Wuwuwu... I'm such a terrible person!"
"I'm really sorry, Hikari-kun..."
"Hikari-kun... Please come back safely..."
"Hikari-kun...", Kurashiki Reina hugged her chest with both hands, her heart filled with gratitude and guilt, standing frozen in place.
At this moment, Hikari had already reached the second floor, completely unaware and uninterested in Kurashiki Reina's thoughts.
The reason he had come back to slay demons and suppress spirits, planning to take down Hanako, was purely for the Pure Love Points reward. It had nothing to do with Kurashiki Reina.
He had already given up on going home early today and specifically rushed to the old school building to earn a reward—one wasn't enough. He planned to take down the vengeful spirit Hanako for another one.
With this in mind, Hikari quickly rushed into the restroom on the second floor of the old school building.
As soon as he entered, he saw the door of the last restroom stall slowly closing. A faint red figure in a suspender dress was visible inside.
It seemed that Hirai Hanako was preparing to return.
After Hikari rescued Kurashiki Reina, Hanako, though frustrated, had indeed planned to retreat and recover, waiting for another opportunity.
But to her surprise, Hikari appeared at the restroom door again.
Seeing Hikari step inside, Hirai Hanako immediately shoved the stall door open, stepping out quickly and cursing, "You bastard, you actually dare to come back?"
Hikari declared righteously, "Of course! Today, I will uphold justice and suppress you, a vengeful spirit that harms innocent girls. I won't let you continue your evil deeds."
Hearing this, Hirai Hanako was furious, "Arrogant human! You think you can suppress me? Die!"
As soon as she finished speaking, four or five purple ghostly hands shot out from behind her, launching a fierce attack at Hikari.
Hikari swiftly raised his arms to block, deflecting all of Hanako's attacks.
However, he was still pushed back a few steps.
Looking at the red marks on his arms, Hikari was a bit surprised.
His physique was far beyond that of an ordinary person, and he had already activated his partial reinforcement ability.
But he didn't expect that the power of Hirai Hanako's Wraith Hand would be this strong, to the point that he actually felt a faint trace of pain.
One had to know that after activating partial enhancement, his body could withstand a chainsaw without feeling a thing.
Yet Hirai Hanako's attack could make him feel about one-tenth of the pain of an ant bite.
'As expected, these non-human powers are not to be underestimated.'
Hikari, who had deliberately taken Hirai Hanako's attack to test her strength, had roughly figured out some of her limits.
However, he wasn't flustered at all.
Because although Hirai Hanako's wraith power was formidable, Hikari also had the Vajra Demon Subduing Power.
Through the act of saving Kurashiki Reina just now, Hikari had realized that after enchanting himself, his every move could go head-to-head with Hirai Hanako.
He could even inflict damage on her, so Hikari was not afraid.
Enchanted with the Vajra Demon Subduing Power on his limbs, Hikari swung his golden-glowing fists and charged toward Hirai Hanako.
Hirai Hanako, who had previously had one of her Wraith Hands forcibly torn off by Hikari, also noticed the unusual nature of the golden glow around him. Feeling a considerable sense of dread, she remained constantly on guard, avoiding a direct hit from Hikari.
She tried her best to use her wraith power to manipulate the stones, water, and door panels in the restroom to obstruct Hikari.
But with Hikari's strength, he easily broke through these obstacles. He didn't even need to bother with such indirect attacks—he only had to focus on dodging the direct attacks from Hirai Hanako's Wraith Hand.
Seeing that Hikari was closing in quickly, swinging his fists at her, Hirai Hanako had no choice but to meet his attack head-on with her Wraith Hand.
Although every time she touched that golden glow, she felt an unbearable burning pain, she had no other option.
And under the augmentation of wraith power, Hirai Hanako's strength was considerable as well. For a moment, she and Hikari were evenly matched.
However, the more they fought, the calmer Hikari's expression became.
In his heart, he grew increasingly confident.
Because from the very start, Hikari had actually been holding back a lot of his strength.
The current stalemate was simply the result of him going easy.
It wasn't because Hikari thought Hirai Hanako looked cute and decided to show mercy.
Rather, it was just his cautious nature—so at the start, he held back a significant amount of power, planning to flee immediately if anything unexpected happened or if he found himself at a disadvantage.
After all, while the system's Pure Love Points rewards were great, his life was more important.
However, after truly engaging in battle with Hirai Hanako, Hikari realized that this so-called wraith wasn't as powerful as he had imagined.
With the augmentation of the Vajra Demon Subduing Power, this so-called wraith was nothing special. She couldn't even harm him.
As long as he preemptively layered the Vajra Demon Subduing Power on the areas where Hirai Hanako was about to attack, her strikes would be completely ineffective.
And with his agility, which far surpassed that of ordinary humans, Hikari could easily react to Hirai Hanako's attacks.
So while Hirai Hanako struggled to harm him, Hikari, empowered by the Vajra Demon Subduing Power, could easily deal damage to her with every move.
After all, the Vajra Demon Subduing Power was an extreme counter to Hirai Hanako's wraith power.
Once Hikari figured out her depth and abilities, he stopped holding back and began exerting more strength, using eighty to ninety percent of his power.
His attacks became wide and aggressive, abandoning defense altogether as he launched a frenzied assault on Hirai Hanako, forcing her to retreat step by step.
After all, Hirai Hanako's proudest offensive ability, the Wraith Hand, was practically ineffective against Hikari.
Meanwhile, Hikari's attacks, coated with the Vajra Demon Subduing Power, inflicted significant damage on Hirai Hanako.
Finally, as she kept retreating, Hirai Hanako failed to guard against one of his attacks and took a heavy punch to the abdomen.
Hirai Hanako, who appeared to be a petite girl, revealed a pained expression as Hikari's fist struck her stomach, spitting out a liquid resembling blood.
However, Hikari felt no pity whatsoever. Instead, he increased his strength, delivering several consecutive punches.
Under the force of the Vajra Demon Subduing Power, Hirai Hanako's body gradually shattered.
But there was no sight of blood.
After all, Hirai Hanako wasn't human—she was a wraith, lacking a physical body.
After being dispersed, the purple mist reassembled within seconds, reforming into the red-dressed girl's figure once more.
As soon as she recovered, Hikari closed in again, delivering another barrage of heavy punches, dispersing her body once more.
But each time Hikari shattered Hirai Hanako's body, she was able to reform using her wraith power.
As if she hadn't taken any real damage at all.
After a few cycles of this, Hirai Hanako couldn't help but sneer, "Heh heh, you foolish human."
"Did you really think it would be that easy to defeat me, a wraith?"
"I'll tell you now, as a wraith, I am invincible."
"You, a mere weakling, think you can beat me? Laughable!"
"You're nothing more than a brute who relies on brute force! Heh heh heh!"
Hearing Hirai Hanako's bratty taunts, Hikari ignored her.
But in his mind, he was deep in thought.
Just as Hirai Hanako had said, if she could restore herself every time he struck her down, then this approach wasn't going to work.
Although his physique far exceeded that of ordinary people and he could keep fighting for hours, simply repeating this process wasn't a viable strategy. Eventually, he would get exhausted.
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