Villain: Your Heroines Were Delicious - Chapter 232 - 20

Chapter 232: Chapter 20

Touka trembled, tears pouring out of her eyes in a frantic, hot stream that contrasted sharply with the unnatural chill invading the hallway.

She desperately wanted to run, her mind was screaming for her legs to move, to bolt toward the exit and never look back, but her body simply refused to listen.

It was as if her muscles had been turned to lead, pinned under the weight of the atmospheric pressure that the entity radiated.

Not to mention, whatever this thing was, it was standing so close behind her that she could practically feel her cold, disgusting breaths against the sensitive skin of her neck, smelling of stagnant water and the iron scent of ancient blood.

Every instinct in Touka’s body was haywire. She knew these creatures existed, Rindou-senpai would constantly talk about her encounters with them.

But at that time, those things feels so far away, as if it wouldn’t even happen to someone as ordinary as her.

But now…

She regretted it. She regretted her diligence, her obsession with perfect grades, and her fear of disappointing her parents if she ever got a lower than A’s.

If she had known that this was going to happen, then she should’ve just gone directly to Miss Hakari and never stepped foot in this place ever again.

The silence of the hallway was now filled with a wet, rhythmic clicking sound—the sound of the girl’s unhinged jaw twitching in anticipation.

“Fujiwara-san…”

“Fujiwara-san…”

“Fujiwara-san…”

The whispers were overlapping now, a chorus of voices that sounded like they were being dragged through gravel

Touka bit her lips, “P-Please… I… I need to go… ”

“Fujiwara-san, we can leave toge—

“Disappear!”

A sharp, authoritative voice cut through the stagnant air like a whip, then, a string of deep red beads, glowing with a fierce and vibrant blue energy, appeared out of nowhere.

They flew through the air with preternatural speed, coiling like a snake around the girl’s distended neck and spindly torso, binding her in a restrictive, spiritual grip.

The moment the beads touched her skin, the girl started burning.

It wasn’t a normal fire; it was a conceptual blaze, the blue energy sizzling as it made contact with the oily darkness of the entity’s form.

“AAAAAAHHH!” she screamed—a sound that wasn’t human, but a shrill, multi-tonal shriek that vibrated the glass in the trophy cases until they cracked.

Although Touka didn’t know exactly what had happened or who had intervened, she saw her opening.

The paralyzing fear was momentarily broken by the shock of the attack, but seeing the situation, she immediately forced her legs to move, stumbling forward and running away to get as much distance as possible from the burning monster.

Her vision was blurred by tears, and in her panicked flight, she turned a corner and bumped into someone with enough force to nearly knock them both over.

Thankfully, strong but gentle hands caught her by the shoulders, steadying her.

“Touka-chan, are you okay?”

Touka raised her head, her breath hitching in her throat, and saw Maki standing there.

The usually carefree “gal” looked entirely different; her expression was grim, her eyes sharp and focused, and in her hand, she held the other end of the glowing red beads that were currently binding and burning the girl down the hall.

“M-Maki-san?” Touka gasped, her heart hammering against her ribs.

Maki nodded, her gaze shifting past Touka toward the struggling spirit. “Hold on. This will be over in a bit. Stay behind me.”

Maki then began to chant. Her voice took on a rhythmic, guttural quality, vibrating with a power that Touka couldn’t fathom.

“€¢°|÷§^{¥}\¥`¢=¥×…”

Touka doesn’t understand what she was saying—the language sounded like ancient thunder and grinding stone—but the effect was immediate.

The girl in the hallway screamed some more, her form flickering like a dying television screen as the blue fire intensified, consuming the black ichor, and the entity began to shrink, folding in on itself.

Eventually, she vanished entirely, turning into a pile of grey, lifeless ashes that scattered into the wind as the hallway’s ventilation kicked in.

Maki watched the ashes disappear for a long moment before she retracted the beads, the blue glow fading until they were just ordinary-looking prayer beads again.

She looked down at Touka, who was still trembling and staring at the empty space where the thing had been, and Maki couldn’t help but let out a heavy, weary sigh.

“Touka-chan, are you okay? Really?”

Touka was breathing heavily, her chest heaving as the adrenaline slowly began to recede.

Hearing her question, Touka nodded her head, though her movements were jerky. “Y-Yeah. Thank you… thank you so much, Maki-san. You… you saved me.”

She turned her gaze back towards the place where the monster had been, her mind struggling to process the impossible. “W-What was that? A-And just who are you? Are you also a Ki user or a Karyoku user? Like… like Seijirou-kun?”

“Hm? How’d you know about—” Maki started to ask, her eyes narrowing, but she paused, deciding not to ask. There were more pressing matters than Touka’s connections to the supernatural world. “That thing was a Youkai born from desire. Specifically, the desire to escape responsibility. Through some unknown means, it gained sentience and began to do what the people here subconsciously believe it to be… a proxy. Someone who can sub for them while they’re off to slack off or pursue their own greed.”

However, what Maki failed to mention to the terrified girl was a darker fact of spiritual ecology.

Ghosts like these normally only form when they are near something—or someone—that is incredibly abundant in spiritual energy.

They need a battery to manifest. But this learning center isn’t even a spiritual hotspot; it’s a sterile, modern building of concrete and glass.

Under normal circumstances, it is impossible for ghosts or Youkai of this magnitude to form here.

Meaning, there must be something—or someone—in this place that allowed that creature to be born.

A source of “leakage” or a deliberate anchor.

And unless Maki found out what that was, then these creatures would most likely just keep appearing, feeding on the students’ exhaustion and ambition.

“Maki-san, what about those people who disappeared?” asked Touka, her voice trembling as she thought of the empty desks and the professor who didn’t remember them. “The three from last week… and the ones from today…would…would they come back?”

Maki shook her head, her expression softening into one of grim pity. “They are gone, Touka. There is nothing I can do about it. In fact, I’ve checked.”

“Gone? Checked?” Touka’s breath hitched, her mind coming into a terrifying conclusion.

“The reason I was absent earlier today,” Maki explained, “is because I decided to search for any information about those who didn’t attend the class last week. I checked the city registries, their social media, even the local police reports for missing persons. None came up. Their records are blank. Their photos have faded. It’s as if they were never born. Meaning, their entire existence has been erased. Not even their own families recognize them anymore. When the Youkai took their place on the logbook, it took their place in reality.”

Touka’s eyes widened. The horror of it was worse than death; it was an absolute erasure of their entire existence!

“But! But I still remember them!”

Maki shook her head, “That might be because you are spiritually aware. You must’ve been in contact with a lot of people related in the supernatural world aside from me.”

Touka paused, thinking of Seijirou and the others.

“Let’s go. I’ll walk you home,” said Maki, grabbing Touka’s cold hands in her own warm, tan ones as she began leading her toward the exit, her pace brisk. “No need to think about those people anymore. If you think about it, wasn’t the reason they disappeared because, deep down, they also wished for that? They wanted to be anywhere but here. They invited that thing in because they wanted a shortcut. That’s why you don’t have to feel bad for them. They made a deal, and the Youkai collected.”

“That’s… That doesn’t even make sense… And that’s too cruel.”

Maki shook her head, “Whatever, as long as it helps us get over the fact that they’re gone.”

Touka stared at her and whispered, “Maki-san, you’re actually quite cold hearted, huh.”

Maki heard it, but didn’t answer.

As they walked out into the sunlight of the 24th District, the world looked deceptively normal, but Touka clutched Maki’s hand tightly.

She realized then that the “Normal World” she had thought was something that is perfectly safe from the influence of supernatural was nothing but her fantasies.

It seems that, just like what Retsu-sensei had warned then before, being involved with people in the supernatural world would also throw them into it.

“I, I can take it from here, Maki-san.” Said Touka.

Maki frowned, “Don’t you want me to walk you home? I can guarantee your safety.”

Touka shook her head, “N-No need, I have someone who will pick me up. He should be arriving soon, thank you for the help, Maki-san.”

“He? You boyfriend?” Maki raised an eyebrow.

“I wish,” She whispered softly, but shook her head, looking embarrassed. “J-Just, a friend.”

Maki nodded, “Very well. I still have something to do anyway, so I’ll be taking my leave.”

Touka nodded, “See you soon, Maki-san. And thank you.”

As Maki turned to leave, she pulled out her phone. The screen flickered, showing a map of the 24th District with several pulsing black dots—hotspots of spiritual instability.

“One more down,” she muttered to herself, her thumb tracing the red beads around her wrist. “Seriously, why have these things became more active in the past week or so? I can barely even sleep dealing with them.”

*

*

*

Meanwhile, inside the estate, Kageyama Hakari sat in her study, a cup of tea cooling on the desk as she looked at the clock.

It was nearly noon.

“She’s late,” Hakari noted, her voice neutral. “I hope for her sake that the Learning Center was worth the delay. Seijirou should be arriving with her soon.”

She didn’t know that the girl her son was picking up had just barely escaped being erased from history.