Chapter 178 (Patreon)

Saeko’s body was trembling, yet the excitement in her eyes was unmistakable. While the others could barely endure Mihawk’s gaze, she continued looking directly into his icy-blue eyes.

For the first time since entering the academy, surprise appeared on Mihawk’s otherwise expressionless face.

So that was why this place felt familiar.

This world, just like the ninja world, had once existed as a work of fiction in his previous life.

Highschool of the Dead.

The series had been brief, but it was memorable. Of all its characters, the purple-haired girl standing before him had undoubtedly left the strongest impression.

Saeko Busujima.

Mihawk finally remembered her.

The feeling he had sensed from her was not an illusion. The violence she had witnessed did not merely frighten her. It awakened something she normally kept buried.

They were not exactly alike. The restlessness Mihawk currently felt had been caused by spending an entire day surrounded by death. Saeko’s darkness, however, had always been a part of her. It was deeper and far more intense than anything she allowed her companions to see.

More importantly, she possessed the instincts of a genuine swordsman.

Mihawk pulled back his sleeve and channelled chakra into the sealing tag around his right wrist.

A puff of white smoke appeared, and a sheathed katana dropped into his hand.

“Catch.”

Mihawk tossed the sword toward Saeko.

She caught it instinctively before looking back at him in confusion.

“Swing it at me,” Mihawk said.

He did not raise his voice, but his tone left no room for refusal.

Takashi and the others felt a chill on Saeko’s behalf. The oppressive presence surrounding Mihawk, combined with those eyes that seemed to see through everything, made it impossible for them to guess what he intended.

Saeko suddenly felt as though she had returned to her childhood, standing before her father as he tested her swordsmanship.

She took a slow breath and placed her bokken on the ground. After drawing the katana from its sheath, she held it with both hands and kept her eyes fixed upon Mihawk.

His icy-blue gaze was cold enough to make her limbs stiffen, but she refused to allow fear to control her body.

Saeko entered the opening stance of her family’s sword style.

After gathering herself for several seconds, she stepped forward and swung.

“Hah!”

A silver-white gleam flashed through the air as the polished blade reflected the fading evening light.

The corner of Mihawk’s mouth lifted almost imperceptibly.

His suspicion had been correct.

“You have talent,” he said.

Mihawk then raised the small cross-shaped blade in his right hand.

Takashi and the others immediately tensed. Rei drew a sharp breath and was about to shout a warning, but before anyone could speak, Mihawk brought the blade down toward the empty ground on his right.

A thin white line flashed from top to bottom.

A heartbeat later, a deafening roar shattered the evening silence.

The sound echoed throughout the academy and reached all the way to the road outside. The entire school shook as a dazzling dark-red Ranged Slash tore through the ground, surging forward like massive roots erupting from beneath the earth.

It raced across the square and struck the school building on the right.

The resulting wind swept over Takashi and the others with enough force to sting their skin. They threw their arms over their faces, unable to keep their eyes open.

When the dark-red light finally disappeared, a ravine stretched across the school grounds.

It was three to four metres wide and just as deep.

At the end of that ravine stood the school building—or what remained of it.

The entire structure had been divided cleanly in two.

Takashi, Rei, Saya, and Kohta stared at it in stunned silence.

For a moment, they even forgot their fear.

Until now, attacks like that had belonged only in manga, anime, and light novels. Yet the ravine carved through the square and the divided school building before them proved that what they had witnessed was real.

A slash had crossed that entire distance and cut through a building.

Kohta swallowed hard.

Before this, watching Mihawk slaughter the zombies had already convinced them that his abilities surpassed anything a human should possess.

Now that fear had become something far more real.

Saeko reacted differently.

Her blue eyes widened, and the excitement within them grew stronger with every passing second. Her lips parted, but no words emerged. There was no language capable of expressing everything surging through her at that moment.

The swordsmanship Mihawk had shown her opened the door to a world she had never imagined possible.

Before her stood a young man who appeared no older than she was, yet the path he offered was overwhelmingly alluring. She felt herself being drawn toward it with an intensity she could not resist.

Mihawk looked directly at her.

“Become my student,” he said. “I will teach you what true swordsmanship is.”

Saeko did not hesitate.

Her knees struck the blood-soaked ground as she knelt before him. She paid no attention to the foul-smelling liquid staining her legs and the hem of her skirt.

The girl admired throughout Fujimi Academy lowered her head deeply.

“Sensei.”

The word came from the bottom of her heart.

She did not know whether Mihawk truly intended to teach her or whether his offer concealed another purpose.

She did not care.

Only a short time had passed since Saeko joined Takashi and the others in the staff room. They had formed a temporary group because the outbreak had come without warning and they were among the few survivors remaining in the school.

In this ruined world, everyone needed capable companions if they wanted to survive.

However, what Saeko saw in Mihawk went far beyond simple protection.

She had finally encountered someone who understood the side of herself that she had always kept hidden. The trust she placed in him was not based on reason. It came from the instinctive recognition of one swordsman toward another.

Mihawk could see all of that in her eyes.

He jumped down from the mountain of corpses and landed in front of her.

“Pick up your bokken and that sword,” he said. “You’re coming with me.”

“Yes, Sensei.”

Saeko rose immediately. She sheathed the sword, retrieved her bokken, and followed Mihawk toward the school gate.

She did not say goodbye to Takashi or the others.

She did not even look back.

Takashi opened his mouth, wanting to call after her, but no sound came out.

The ravine splitting the school grounds and the building divided in two remained directly before him. Every instinct in his body warned him not to interfere.

If he tried to stop Saeko, Mihawk might turn those icy-blue eyes toward him again.

Rei and Kohta remained silent as well. None of them possessed the courage to challenge the decision Saeko had made.

They could only watch as Mihawk and Saeko disappeared through the school gate.

After the two figures were completely gone, Saya finally released the breath she had been holding.

Her throat felt dry, and her voice trembled as she stared at the destruction left behind.

“What is happening to this world…?”