"What are you doing here? It's dangerous!" Seeing Hikigaya Hachiman catching up from behind, the driver frowned after a brief moment of surprise at his speed.
"If it's dangerous, then let's hurry up and save the person and get out of here." With his spiritual powers, Hikigaya Hachiman had night vision.
From a distance, he could already see a faint figure unconscious inside one of the cars.
"But there are two cars… only one driver?" Seeing only one person, Hachiman speculated: "Was the other one thrown out during the crash?" He figured that after rescuing this person, he'd have to search around the highway.
While thinking, both he and the driver arrived at the crashed car. Grabbing the handle, Hachiman tore off the door with ease, much to the driver's shock.
"What are you staring at? Come help!" Hachiman tossed the door aside and urged the gaping driver into action.
With their combined efforts, they pulled the unconscious man from the driver's seat. "Only one person?" As the driver looked toward the second car, he found it empty.
"No one else—let's get out of here." Sensing the danger increasing, Hachiman silently enveloped the three of them in spiritual energy and pushed the driver away from the vehicle.
"Whoosh!" Suddenly, the flames on the car surged upward, trapping the trio in a narrow space.
"This..." As the driver opened his mouth in shock, Hachiman struck him unconscious with a palm.
"Just my luck—saving a person and I run into an evil spirit..." Hachiman shook his head as he looked at the two unconscious men, then raised his gaze toward the flames around him.
Despite the spirit's effect on the real world, the system hadn't even given a warning tone. It seemed this was just a high-level evil spirit.
"ROAR!" As he thought, the fire ring shifted again. With a low growl, the flames gathered and formed into a lizard-like creature.
"BOOM!" The monster stomped the road, leaving a deep crater.
"A high-level evil spirit with that kind of strength?" Hachiman was slightly surprised, but only slightly.
He began walking toward the creature while summoning his Demon-Slaying Blade from the system space.
Sensing the pressure from Hachiman, the spirit hesitated, tilting its head. But as Hachiman approached, it lost all rationality. Curling into a ball, it spun rapidly and launched itself at him.
Raising his blade, Hachiman swung lightly. A streak of blue light flew from the blade, sliced through the spirit, and dissipated into the air.
"High-level evil spirit eliminated. 500 spirit coins earned." The system's cold voice rang in his mind. As the spirit's form gradually vanished, Hachiman fell into thought.
"Onii-chan, are you okay?" Komachi had watched the entire battle from inside the car. Once she confirmed the spirit was destroyed, she ran to Hachiman's side.
"I told you to stay in the car!" Hachiman's gaze held a trace of reproach. Komachi was an ordinary human—what if she had been hurt?
"I'm not completely defenseless..." Understanding his concern, Komachi lowered her head and showed him the bracelet on her wrist.
Ever since Hachiman had given it to her, she had never once used it.
"I still hope you'll never have to." Hachiman's voice softened as the tension faded.
"Alright, I know I was wrong. So... what about those two?" Komachi pointed to the two unconscious men, mainly focusing on the driver. After all, they were stranded on the highway—getting home depended on him waking up.
"Don't worry about that..." Hachiman was confident in the strength of his strike. Sure enough, just a few minutes later, the driver slowly opened his eyes, dazed as he looked at the siblings.
"What happened to me?" He rubbed the back of his aching head and glanced toward the wreck.
The fire had gone out when the spirit was vanquished. The crash site was now calm. The rescued man had been bandaged by Hachiman enough to survive until an ambulance arrived.
By the time they were done at the police station and the driver took them home, it was past 11 PM.
After paying the fare and getting out of the taxi, both siblings let out a sigh of relief.
"Onii-chan, it was just a car crash—why did the Self-Defense Forces show up?" Back home, Komachi asked what had been puzzling her. When the driver called the police, the first to arrive hadn't been sirens, but a fully armed helicopter. It had scared her badly—she thought Hachiman's identity had been exposed.
"How should I know? But one thing's for sure—I'm not going to Tokyo again anytime soon." Though both were high-level evil spirits, the one on the highway in Tokyo was clearly stronger than the ones Hachiman had encountered in Chiba. And the appearance of the SDF only strengthened his resolve to stay put.
This world was too chaotic. Without enough power, he was better off quietly staying in Chiba.
"Will Tsuchimiya-san be alright then?" Hearing how dangerous Tokyo was, Komachi grew worried for Tsuchimiya Kagura, who lived there. She finally had a friend willing to invite her over—she didn't want her to disappear.
"She should be fine." Although weak, Tsuchimiya Kagura had spiritual power, something Hachiman could confirm. She might not be able to fight a high-level spirit, but she could protect herself.
Rather than worry about Kagura's safety, what concerned Hachiman more was—
Was she deliberately approaching Komachi?