LRAB Chapter 42 Quanxin's Campus Life
Chapter 42 Quanxin's Campus Life
The afternoon sun shone through the windows of West High School and fell on the old wooden desks.
The math teacher's hypnotic voice echoed in the classroom, sounding to Shinichi Izumi like background noise from a distant place.
He rested his chin on his hand, his eyes fixed blankly on a corner of the blackboard, but his thoughts had already drifted far away.
Or perhaps, it floated to its right hand.
Just a few days ago, he was just an ordinary high school student who would be easily lost in a crowd.
My daily worries are nothing more than exam results, pocket money, and how to strike up a conversation with the girl I like.
But now, everything has changed.
Who could believe that in this science-loving 21st century, his right hand was "eaten" by an unknown, snake-like creature that fell from the sky?
Moreover, this thing has developed its own consciousness, learned Japanese, and is even currently disguised as part of his hand, quietly lurking in his flesh and blood.
"If word gets out about something like this, I'll probably get sent to a mental hospital, right?"
Shinichi smiled bitterly to himself, instinctively wanting to clench his right hand, but felt a creepy, creeping sensation.
Just as Shinichi was lost in this existential crisis, a faint but clear voice traveled directly through the nerve endings in his right hand and into his cerebral cortex.
"Shinichi, because your heart rate remains steady and your gaze is vacant, the male human on the podium has noticed that you're daydreaming."
"Oh, I see..."
Shinichi subconsciously responded in his brain that his body hadn't had time to make the fake reaction of "sitting up straight and listening to the lesson."
The next second, a whooshing sound suddenly rang out.
"Whoosh—!"
The math teacher on the podium was clearly a skilled fighter; a piece of white chalk, like a precision-guided missile, carried his anger and headed straight for Shinichi's forehead.
Given the reaction speed of a normal human being, Shinichi definitely wouldn't have been able to dodge that blow.
But his right hand had its own ideas.
"Smack."
Just as the chalk was about to hit his forehead, his right hand, which had been hanging under the desk, suddenly sprang up at an angle and speed that completely defied the structure of human joints.
His index finger and thumb flew through the air in a blur, catching the high-speed chalk tip with perfect precision.
The kinetic energy was dissipated instantly, and the chalk didn't even break at the fingertip.
The entire classroom fell into a deathly silence.
Shinichi remained in that grabbing position, cold sweat trickling down his forehead.
He belatedly looked up and met the face of his math teacher on the podium, a face that shifted from "stern" to "astonished" and then back to "furious".
"Izumi...Izumi Shinichi!" The teacher pushed up his glasses, clearly bewildered by this "catching a blade bare-handed" move, but his teacher's dignity made him raise his voice immediately.
"Daydreaming in class is one thing, but doing acrobatics?!"
Just when things were at their most awkward, the life-saving school bell finally rang.
"Ring ring—"
The teacher took a deep breath, calmed herself, and pulled back from her interrupted train of thought, coldly uttering:
"Shinichi Izumi, come to my office after class. Everyone else, get out of class dismissed."
After saying that, the teacher strode out of the classroom with her lesson plan, leaving Shinichi scratching his head and wishing he could disappear into the ground.
The students around him cast all sorts of complicated glances at him.
There was surprise, laughter, and even those who seemed to enjoy the spectacle. Even his deskmate secretly leaned over and gave him a thumbs-up.
"Wow, Shinichi's impressive! You've been hiding your true abilities. Have you ever practiced martial arts?"
"Practice my foot..."
Shinichi slumped helplessly onto the table, pressing down hard on his right hand, which had "taken it upon itself" to do so.
He knew that what had happened just now was a defensive reaction from "Mickey," which resided in his right hand, out of its instinct to protect its host.
"Mickey, can you please ignore attacks that aren't life-threatening next time?" Shinichi said through gritted teeth in a low voice.
An eye and a mouth appeared on the back of his right hand, speaking in a completely indifferent tone:
"That was an aggressive projectile. If it wasn't intercepted, calculations show that your prefrontal cortex would suffer a minor impact. As a symbiote, I have an obligation to protect the integrity of the host."
"That's just chalk! Chalk!" Shinichi cried out in his heart, and finally could only hang his head and, under the gaze of the whole class, grit his teeth and walk towards the execution ground called "the office".
An hour later.
After Shinichi gave a profound sixty-minute self-criticism and repeatedly vowed that he would "definitely become a pillar of the nation" and "never practice martial arts in class again," the math teacher finally waved his hand and let him go.
"call……"
The moment Shinichi closed the office door, he felt like he had run a marathon.
At this moment, the sky outside the window was already dyed orange-red by the setting sun. The campus seemed exceptionally empty and quiet, with only the sound of his footsteps echoing in the corridor.
"Is it already this late? I'm probably going to get a scolding from my mom when I get home..."
Shinichi sighed, but there was nothing he could do. He dragged his tired body back to the classroom, ready to grab his bag and hurry home.
However, the moment he opened the classroom door, his movements froze.
The classroom, which should have been empty, now had a figure sitting on the desk next to his seat.
It's Satomi Murano.
She seemed to be lost in thought, her fingers unconsciously twirling the ends of her hair.
"Ah, Izumi... Izumi-kun, you're back."
Rimi stammered a little, her hands awkwardly clasped behind her back. "Um... I saw your bag was still there, so I thought you probably hadn't left yet..."
Shinichi was stunned for a moment, then a warm feeling welled up in his heart, and his bad mood from being scolded dissipated in an instant.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Teacher is really too talkative." Shinichi scratched his head and gave a somewhat silly smile.
"No... I didn't wait long." Rimi lowered her head and kicked her toes. "Now that you're ready, shall we go together?"
"Okay, let's go together."
On their way home, the two walked side by side. The setting sun cast long shadows of the two, which occasionally overlapped.
"Um, Izumi-kun." Rimi broke the silence, turning her head to look at Shinichi.
"I have a feeling... you seem to have changed lately."
"Changed? How changed?" Shinichi's heart tightened, and he subconsciously put his right hand into his pocket.
"I can't really explain it. Like when I caught that piece of chalk just now, the old Izumi would probably have been hit and cried out in pain," Rimi smiled.
"You've become...more perceptive, but also more distant."
"Haha... really? Maybe I haven't been sleeping well lately." Shinichi chuckled, cold sweat breaking out again. A woman's intuition is truly a terrifying thing.
Fortunately, Rimi didn't delve into it, and the two chatted about some trivial things at school. At an intersection, Rimi stopped.
"Then I'll head this way. See you tomorrow, Izumi-kun."
"Okay, see you tomorrow, Rimi."
As Shinichi watched Rimi's figure disappear around the street corner, the gentle smile that had been on his face gradually vanished, replaced by a deep weariness.
He embarked on his journey home alone once again.
The streetlights began to come on, and in this seemingly peaceful corner of the city, who knows how many monsters, like his right hand, or those that had been completely devoured, were lurking.
"Shinichi."
Suddenly, that emotionless voice rang out again. Shinichi's pocket twitched, and a small hand wearing glasses emerged, staring in the direction Rimi had disappeared.
"Based on my analysis of your facial micro-expressions and hormone secretion, that human female just now seems to have a great biological affinity for you."
"...Huh?" Shinichi almost choked on his own saliva.
Mickey ignored his host's embarrassment and continued in that serious tone, as if discussing academic matters:
"Based on the instinct for the continuation of the species, when do you engage in reproductive behavior? That is, the so-called 'mating'."
"I've done some research, but I'd really like to witness this complex human reproductive process up close, as it would greatly help me understand your species."
"Shut up! That's not true!" Shinichi roared at his right hand, his face flushed.
"Satomi is just my friend... Wait! Why are you suddenly talking again?!"
Shinichi then realized that they were on the street. He nervously looked around, afraid that passersby would see him talking to his right hand.
"Didn't I tell you not to show your face in public so easily? What if someone sees you? You'll be arrested and dissected!"
"The population density here is per square kilometer..." Mickey seemed to want to refute the safety of the place, but halfway through his sentence, his tone suddenly changed.
The previously calm and rational voice suddenly took on an unprecedented air of vigilance.
"Shhh."
Mickey's outstretched tentacles instantly retracted, and his eyes and mouth disappeared at an extremely fast speed, returning to the shape of ordinary palms.
"What's wrong?" Shinichi was startled by this sudden change, and his heart jumped into his throat.
Mickey's voice resounded directly in the depths of his mind, urgent and cold:
"Don't speak, just stay calm. Something's coming."
"Is it one of our kind? A parasite?" Shinichi asked in a low voice.
"No...it's not that kind of simple signal."
Mickey's answer sent a chill down Shinichi's spine. "It was a more threatening signal, one with a strong sense of impending doom."
"Shinichi, listen, I will completely sever the connection to your consciousness and enter a deep hibernation state in the coming period. No matter what happens, never reveal my existence."
"Feed? Mickey? Mickey!"
No matter how Shinichi called out, his right hand no longer responded, as if it had turned back into an ordinary right hand.