Chapter 16: The Elementary School Teacher with the Demon Hand
While Ushiro was indulging in his fantasies over Hikigaya's spiritual paper, he was unaware that the creator of this miraculous item was standing right in front of him.
This creator was using the Divine Eye, usurped from the great Egyptian God Horus, to see through Ushiro's entire life history.
The ancient Egyptians called Horus's right eye the "Eye of Ra." Throughout history, several—though not many—gods have held this title.
In fact, tracing back the origin, the worship of Horus is even older than that of Ra, who is regarded as the creator god. His eye is both an eye of magic and a window to the soul. For Hikigaya Hachiman, who possesses this divine eye, there is no one in this world, save for a few God Slayers of equal standing, who can hide from him.
In just a few seconds, Hikigaya understood Ushiro better than Ushiro understood himself.
However, the result was quite surprising to Hikigaya, because this fellow, who looked completely unlike a good person... could actually be considered a good person.
What surprised Hikigaya even more was that he saw his own childhood idol in Ushiro's memory.
Nueno Meisuke—that was the name of Hikigaya's childhood idol, the protagonist of the manga Jigoku Sensei Nube. This elementary school was the main setting of that manga.
However, in this world, that was already more than a decade ago. This elementary school teacher with the Demon Hand was actually quite famous in the magic world—possessing formidable strength without formal training, and with excellent character.
He single-mindedly served as an elementary school teacher, enthusiastically educating and nurturing others. Even when poor, he wouldn't misuse his abilities. He was full of positive energy, making people with even a slight sense of integrity in the circle embarrassed to cause him trouble.
And just recently, Nueno Meisuke had returned to this school to teach. One of Ushiro's tasks was to monitor this "Hell Teacher."
Teacher Ushiro, whose superficial identity was the head of the sixth grade at Tōmori Elementary, was a member of a so-called mysterious villainous organization, typically found in novels.
However, this member was not very dutiful. Had his wife not been captured, he would not have intended to serve them at all. Although he would occasionally carry out wicked deeds according to the organization's commands, he would either stall for time or find various reasons to control the situation and ensure no one was fatally harmed.
This was a guy who took a villain's salary but was unwilling to be a villain.
If that was the case, he could just be left to research the paper slowly on his own.
Hikigaya had originally planned to check the usage status of the other papers, but through Ushiro's memory, he learned that those papers had already been used up by Handa Kiyoshi.
That student, who liked to practice calligraphy by writing poetry, hadn't caused any significant harm, merely enriching the content of his "legends." Ushiro discovered Handa Kiyoshi's secret while running an errand at that school, and the sheet he possessed was the very last one.
This led Hikigaya to decide that in the future, he needed to be more careful when selecting customers for his items. If a customer cannot fully utilize the item's effectiveness, selling it to them is meaningless.
But Hikigaya believed he could find new customers here.
Turning to leave, Hikigaya walked toward the fifth-grade faculty office. According to Ushiro's memory, Nueno Meisuke was there, serving as the homeroom teacher for class 5-3, with his former student, Inaba Kyōko, as the assistant teacher.
To Hikigaya, both were definite childhood memories. He was eager to see what the characters from Jigoku Sensei Nube looked like after more than ten years.
With this unique feeling, Hikigaya arrived at the fifth-grade faculty office and repeated his previous trick, dissolving into the wind and slipping inside.
Compared to the sixth-grade faculty office, the fifth-grade one was much livelier.
Hikigaya's gaze first fell upon a very young-looking man.
Even in the real-life version, those thick eyebrows were still so prominent.
Nueno Meisuke, nicknamed Nube. Ten years seemed to have had little effect on him. Hikigaya speculated this might be due to his long-term contact with mythological spirits.
Mythology transforms spirits into eternal entities, but divine positions are limited. This world has both yokai, who are spirits that failed to become gods, and also lucky individuals who, while not gods, can enter mythology and gain eternal life.
They enter mythology in the form of subsidiary entities, becoming existences such as divine beasts or oni (demons/ogres).
The so-called demons of Hell are definitively mythological spirits.
However, what puzzled Hikigaya was that Nueno Meisuke, despite possessing the Demon Hand, only looked in his direction with confusion. His reaction was even less intense than Ushiro's earlier, and Hikigaya only sensed an extremely minute amount of mythological power on him.
This made no sense. Nueno Meisuke's Demon Hand was fundamentally a mythological spirit, and the power should absolutely not be this faint.
After observing Nueno Meisuke, Hikigaya looked to the other side, where a young woman with long hair was sitting.
Inaba Kyōko, one of the most active elementary school students in Jigoku Sensei Nube. Her subplot about puppy love was a major driving force in the story.
However, Hikigaya could tell at a glance that she was still a virgin, demonstrating that her puppy love had been utterly useless.
But she had matured after all. Her long legs, slender waist, and alluringly perky backside all attested to her excellent development. Unfortunately... she was a washboard!
Hikigaya figured this was the truth behind why her puppy love was useless.
It seems this girl didn't understand the principle of "Focus on both sides; both sides must be firm!" Although being skinny hides a hundred flaws, having no bust is absolutely unforgivable. Men are creatures who can't get excited if there's nothing to grab onto.
At this moment, Kyōko was absorbed in reading a magazine.
"Kyōko, what are you reading?" Nueno Meisuke asked casually as he walked up to her, carrying a cup of instant noodles.
He was still wondering about the feeling that had suddenly surged in his heart, similar to when he first encountered the Demon King. However, when he tried to focus on it, the sensation was gone.
"I'm reading a special feature on female presidents in economics magazines," Kyōko replied, casually flipping a page. "They are all so cool. Maybe I should start a business too."
"Starting a business isn't that simple," Nueno Meisuke said with a smile, sitting down at his desk to slurp his noodles.
Right then, he heard Kyōko suddenly shout.
Hikigaya was standing behind Nueno Meisuke and leaned in to take a look.
On the magazine page Kyōko had flipped to, there was a beautiful blue-haired woman. Dressed in a women's suit, she looked very capable. Next to her, her name was written in large letters: Nueno Yukime.
Holy Moly, Nueno Yukime! This must be the Snow Woman, Yukime, Nueno Meisuke's wife, right? Speaking of which... the real-life Snow Woman is really beautiful, and her cleavage is quite profound.
Hmm, the decision is pleasantly made: let's develop Nueno Meisuke into a customer!