Chapter 310: Examining the Bite Mark
Entering the tent, the first thing that met his eyes was Yuigahama Yui, who had changed into short pants revealing her fair thighs, currently sitting on her bedding and staring blankly.
"Ah, Hikki..."
Hearing the movement at the entrance, Yuigahama Yui propped herself up with her hands, intending to stand.
"Alright, just sit there and don't move. Let me see the place where you were bitten just now..."
Hikigaya Hachiman pressed his hands onto Yuigahama Yui's shoulders, making her sit back down.
"Eh?"
Before Yuigahama Yui could even react to his words, she found that Hikigaya Hachiman had already lifted her bitten right leg.
"!!!"
Almost instinctively, Yuigahama Yui reached out and pushed away Hikigaya Hachiman, who was squatting in front of her, then quickly pulled the nearby blanket over to cover her lower body.
"W-W-What are you doing, Hikki! Suddenly reaching out like that..."
"Sorry, I forgot to explain."
Hikigaya Hachiman, who hadn't expected to be pushed away, felt dazed for a few seconds before remembering that Yuigahama Yui was one of the few people around him who knew absolutely nothing about his hidden identity.
Awkwardly scratching the back of his head, Hikigaya Hachiman looked at the wary and blushing Yuigahama Yui and explained his reason for doing so.
"After you guys left, I found a strange snake in the stream, so I wanted to re-examine the bite mark on your calf."
"A-A snake?!"
Hearing Hachiman say that the mysterious creature that bit her was a snake, Yuigahama Yui's body shuddered instantly. After a moment, having barely composed herself, she proactively extended her bitten leg.
"Well, if that's the case, I guess checking it can't be helped..."
"....."
Looking at Yuigahama Yui, who looked shy yet believed his words without a hint of doubt, a sense of guilt suddenly welled up in Hikigaya Hachiman's heart.
'Is it really okay to lie to her like this?' Hachiman asked himself inwardly.
"Hikki, hurry up! What exactly are you looking at!"
Just as Hikigaya Hachiman was struggling with whether he should continue keeping her in the dark, Yuigahama Yui—mistakenly thinking he was staring at her leg—shamefully hid her face in the blanket.
"Sorry..."
Coming to his senses at Yuigahama's reminder, Hachiman realized his current state was indeed prone to misunderstanding. He apologized briefly, then grasped Yuigahama Yui's somewhat cold calf to observe it carefully.
The slender and elastic calf was held in his hand; the excellent sensation made Hachiman instinctively squeeze it a few times.
"Wuu-ee!"
A soft whimper from inside the blanket reminded Hikigaya Hachiman of the business at hand. He pinched his own thigh hard to clear his head and began examining the condition of her calf.
After all this time, the bite mark—which hadn't punctured the skin—had faded to the point where only a blurry outline remained. However, this was only from the perspective of an ordinary person.
In Hikigaya Hachiman's eyes, two tiny holes on Yuigahama Yui's fair skin were currently emitting wisps of black smoke. The black smoke floated slowly in the air, but instead of dissipating like normal smoke, it condensed into a strand that reached out of the tent and extended into the distance.
"As I thought, it's a mark?"
Confirming his suspicion, Hikigaya Hachiman's expression turned grim. Previously, he had felt it was strange that the evil spirit only gave Yuigahama Yui a simple bite without even breaking the skin. Recalling how Yotsuya Miko had also been marked when they first met, Hachiman had already formed a hypothesis. He hadn't expected to actually guess correctly.
"That guy deserves to die!"
After confirming that Yuigahama Yui had been marked by an evil spirit, a surge of anger rose in Hachiman's heart. This anger was without warning, coming entirely from the heart—so much so that even Hachiman found it a bit strange once he realized it.
Suppressing the fire in his heart, Hikigaya Hachiman gently set Yuigahama Yui's leg down.
"Is the examination finished?"
Feeling Hachiman's hand move away from her leg, Yuigahama Yui finally poked her face out from under the blanket.
"Yeah, no problems."
He nodded solemnly, and after chatting with Yuigahama Yui for a bit longer, he withdrew on the grounds of letting her rest.
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Time flew by, and deep night arrived.
Sensing that the other three in the tent had fallen asleep, Hikigaya Hachiman snapped his eyes open. He walked out of the tent and checked his phone for the time. It was already past 11:00 PM.
"It should be about time for it to come, right?"
Looking up at the black smoke floating in the air, Hikigaya Hachiman muttered to himself and walked toward the woods near the camp.
In the camp, there were people he knew like Yukinoshita Yukino and Yuigahama Yui, along with a large number of children. Naturally, the battlefield for a fight with an evil spirit could not be chosen near the camp. Therefore, Hikigaya Hachiman intended to intercept it halfway.
Following the black smoke into the woods, Hachiman was about to head deeper when he suddenly spotted Miura Yumiko running out of the girls' tent covering her face.
Shortly after she left, Yukinoshita Yukino's figure also appeared in front of the tent.
Yukino sighed as she watched the direction Miura had run, then walked toward the woods where Hikigaya Hachiman was standing with a look of loneliness.
"Good evening."
Because the evil spirit hadn't arrived yet and he was curious about what had just happened, Hachiman chose to stay put.
"Good evening... Hikigaya, why are you here?"
Yukinoshita Yukino, who had originally wanted to be alone in the woods, unexpectedly encountered Hachiman, who should have been fast asleep. After a brief daze, she greeted him as if nothing had happened.
"Can't sleep."
Hachiman chose to lie, not wanting Yukinoshita to worry, and then shifted the topic to what had just occurred. "That was Miura running out just now, right?"
"Yes. She argued with me, and then I talked her into tears."
Yukinoshita Yukino didn't feel there was any need to hide what had happened in the tent. Thus, she admitted her actions without hesitation.
"Miura was talked into tears?"
Hearing Yukinoshita's explanation, Hachiman's expression turned strange. Who was Miura Yumiko? She was the Queen of Sobu High!
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that given her pride, she wouldn't necessarily cry even if you beat her up.
Yet her proud self was actually reduced to tears by Yukinoshita's words?!
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