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Bonus(1/2)
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Chapter 61: I Ask You—What is 1,000 Minus 7?
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The requirements for evolving his new blade were steep.
It wasn't a cumulative process where he could inject 10 points of Divine Power today and another 10 tomorrow until he reached 100. To ascend the weapon to "God" tier, he had to perform a single, massive injection of 100 Divine Power points at once.
I need to keep a sharp eye out for Divine Power sources, Seito mused. And I need to level up fast! Higher levels are the only guaranteed way to expand my Divine Power pool.
With his mood soaring, Seito stowed the Spatial Dragon Blade, logged out, and disconnected from the game.
.....
The Apartment Hallway.
Back in reality, Seito scanned his room and realized the Blank siblings were gone. He stepped out into the living room, but the house was silent.
"Did everyone migrate next door?"
Seito muttered to himself as he walked out into the hallway. The moment he stepped through the door, he was greeted by an explosive scene.
Kanade Tachibana, Haruno Yukinoshita, and the other girls were standing to one side, their expressions a mix of bewilderment and faint secondhand embarrassment. In the center of the hallway, Sora was locked in a fierce, ungraceful wrestling match with a certain high schooler.
To the side, Tadakuni and Yoshitake—the two best friends of Hidenori Tabata—stood by like disinterested spectators, watching their buddy roll around on the floor with a stranger. They were two-thirds of the legendary "Idiot Trio" from the Daily Lives of High School Boys.
"You bastard! It's your fault!" Sora roared, his face contorted in a mask of fury as he throttled Hidenori. "Because of you, I got hauled off to the station! If you hadn't opened your mouth, I wouldn't have spent my morning in handcuffs!"
Sora had recognized him instantly. Hidenori was the "heroic" student from the alleyway this morning who had reported him as a kidnapper.
Hidenori was equally confused. He had just rounded up his two best friends to visit Seito's new place, only to be ambushed by the "shady creep" from this morning.
"Let go of me, you pervert!" Hidenori shouted, grabbing Sora's throat in a reciprocal chokehold.
The two were at a total stalemate, and not a single soul among the onlookers moved to break them up. That's when Seito stepped in. He walked over and slowly crouched down beside the duo.
"Sora, you're doing it all wrong," Seito said with a terrifyingly serious expression.
"Then... hack... what should I do?" Sora gasped, his grip tightening on Hidenori.
"You should do it like this!"
Seito's hand flashed out, delivering a crisp, thunderous slap right across Hidenori's face.
SLAP!
The force sent Hidenori's glasses flying. He froze, staring at Seito in utter disbelief. What the hell? Seito is taking advantage of the chaos to hit me?! Hidenori felt like coughing up blood. The wind today... was not windy at all.
"I ask you!" Seito cracked his knuckles, the sound echoing in the quiet hallway. "What is 1,000 minus 7?!"
Sora: "???"
Hidenori: "???"
1,000 minus 7? What kind of math test is this?
The two combatants were stunned, as were the girls watching from the sidelines. Seito, however, let out a dark, joyful chuckle. He had wanted to try the "Jason/Yakumo" torture method from Tokyo Ghoul for a long time. It felt surprisingly therapeutic.
"Seito-ni... what does 1,000 minus 7 mean?" Shiro asked, voicing the confusion of everyone present.
Seito smiled brightly. "One thousand minus seven is a mental torture method used by a certain 'Great Teacher' during an interrogation. Because there are no repeating patterns in the subtraction chain, the victim has to focus entirely on the calculation while being physically punished. It ensures they feel every bit of the mental and physical agony!"
"You...!!" Hidenori's eyes filled with a murderous fire. He looked at Seito as if he were a traitor. I thought we were bros! Why are you helping the enemy torture me?!
Meeting Hidenori's glare, Seito grinned and pinned Hidenori's arms down. He looked up at Tadakuni and Yoshitake.
"Tadakuni, Yoshitake! Get over here! We're making Hidenori do his math today!"
The two friends blinked, their eyes widening. Wait... Hidenori is our brother. Our bond is ironclad. You want us to turn on him?
...Of course we will!
What are best friends for, if not to sell each other out for a laugh?
The two dived in, pinning Hidenori to the floor. Yoshitake even "accidentally" landed a few kicks where the girls couldn't see.
"You guys...!" Hidenori gasped. I can't believe my own squad betrayed me!
"Hidenori, start counting. We're waiting," Seito laughed.
"I'm not gonna—"
"Hmm?" Seito raised his hand again.
"9... 993..." Hidenori sobbed. The memory of the previous slap was still stinging. Too painful! It's just too painful! As he continued the countdown, he wept tears of pure regret, vowing that the next time they were at school, he would find a way to lead Seito into a trap of epic proportions.
...
A long while later, after a tearful Hidenori had reached a significantly lower number, Seito turned to Tadakuni and Yoshitake. "So, what are you guys actually doing here?"
"We're just tagging along," Tadakuni said, pointing at the sniveling Hidenori. "Hidenori is the one who wanted to talk to you."
Seito looked down at Hidenori. The boy wiped his face, adjusted his glasses, and suddenly his gaze became sharp and intense. He stood up and straightened his school uniform as if the previous three minutes hadn't happened.
"Seito, I heard the positions for the Harbinger Executives in the guild aren't full yet. I was thinking..."
Hidenori struck a dramatic pose. He had joined Seito's guild, The Harbingers, earlier that week. His main goal for the visit was to secure an Executive seat. After all, "The Eleven Harbingers" sounded incredibly cool.
"You?" Seito's lip twitched. "The Executives need to have either extreme combat strength or a specialized talent. You're just..."
Seito didn't finish the sentence, but the "Silence of Judgment" from the room said it all. Hidenori was a pure-blooded idiot. If he were made a Harbinger, the guild's reputation would veer off a cliff into the realm of permanent absurdity.
....
Thank you for reading.