"Toyogasaki?"
This name was naturally very familiar to Ye Xing, and the teachers and students of Sobu High School were no strangers to it either.
Among Kyoto's high schools, if one excludes Advanced Nurturing High School, which has a completely different educational philosophy and feels more like an arena than a school, then Toyogasaki High School might rank second only to Shuchi'in Academy.
Just then, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside the music room door.
Shizuka Hiratsuka didn't even bother knocking before barging straight in.
"Ye Xing..."
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Ye Xing on the phone, Shizuka paused briefly in surprise, but seemed too rushed to care about formalities as she quickly approached and handed him her mobile.
"This - Toyogasaki High School appears to have an unidentified armed intruder!"
Ye Xing glanced down to see a live news report from outside Toyogasaki High School playing on the phone screen.
He couldn't help but complain.
"Why does this keep happening? Am I living in Kyoto or Gotham?"
After saying this, Ye Xing looked up at Shizuka and shook his head with a light laugh.
"I'm an exorcist, not some superhero. What good would telling me do?"
"You..."
Shizuka took a deep breath, pulled out a slender silver nail from her pocket, looked directly into Ye Xing's eyes, and spoke slowly.
"Is that really all you do?"
Without waiting for Ye Xing's response, Shizuka placed the silver nail she had confiscated on the first day of school aside and continued.
"Whether you're that person or not... with your abilities, even if the Metropolitan Police Department is helpless right now, you could handle this situation, couldn't you?"
At this point, Shizuka pressed her lips together and clasped her hands in a pleading gesture.
"Toyogasaki High School has a good relationship with our school. The other high school I mentioned, inviting us for an exchange at lunch today, was Toyogasaki High School. Please."
Rio Futaba, who had been listening on the phone, added calmly.
"If it were just kidnapping a single student, that would be one thing. But openly attacking a school? Only someone with completely lost sanity would do that. Most likely, it's one of the remnants that escaped our last cleanup of Kyoto, possessing a human body."
"I see..."
Ye Xing nodded noncommittally.
"Alright, I understand."
After hanging up, Ye Xing looked at Shizuka and smiled.
"Since it's cute little Shizuka's request, I'll reluctantly agree. Let's go."
"Go?"
Shizuka looked at Ye Xing uncertainly.
"You... plan to go like that?"
"What else? Should I buy two pounds of oranges first so I can chat and eat with the kidnappers? Use love to reform them?"
"Er..."
Shizuka Hiratsuka had originally wanted to say, Shouldn't you change your clothes first?
But upon second thought, there simply wasn't time for that now.
Though she didn't know the specifics of the situation at the scene, every second of delay meant greater danger for the teachers and students trapped inside Toyogasaki High School.
"Alright, let's hurry then!"
In her anxiety, Shizuka disregarded any concerns about reputation, grabbing Ye Xing's hand and pulling him as they ran all the way to the school building.
Fortunately, during the first semester, the school administration had already made concessions.
The parking spot closest to the school building, in the best location that originally belonged to the principal, now belonged to Shizuka Hiratsuka.
She pressed her key, opened the door of the red sports car, took the driver's seat, and started the engine.
Once Ye Xing was seated in the passenger seat, Shizuka placed her hands on the steering wheel, lightly biting her teeth as she said.
"Hold on tight, there's no time to waste!"
Vroom!
Accompanied by the roar of the engine, the red sports car shot forward like an arrow from a bow, practically flying just above the ground.
The passing students in the distance, who had just witnessed what had happened, wore expressions of disbelief.
"Is that... first-year teacher Hiratsuka... and Ye Xing?"
"They both got in the car together. Am I seeing things?"
"I always thought there was something off about their relationship..."
"Oh my god, could Hiratsuka-sensei and Ye Xing be... that kind of relationship?"
"Shh, don't gossip behind their backs. If it's a misunderstanding... it would be troublesome."
"Even if it's not a misunderstanding, the school wouldn't dare say anything, right? How nice to be able to date your teacher."
"If you could make a teacher fall for you while being the top student in the unified exams, you could openly have a teacher-student relationship too."
The sight of teacher Shizuka Hiratsuka driving off in her red sports car with her student Ye Xing was indeed shocking.
But that was all it was.
For ordinary students, teacher-student relationships were absolutely forbidden - if discovered, both parties would certainly be expelled by the school.
But when it came to Ye Xing...
Among all the things he had done, a teacher-student relationship... seemed like the least noteworthy matter.
Because Ye Xing's behaviour was so outrageous, something merely somewhat inappropriate, like a teacher-student relationship, actually appeared quite normal by comparison.
...
Meanwhile, Shizuka Hiratsuka drove the red sports car at breakneck speed, running through over a dozen red lights and arriving outside Toyogasaki High School in less than ten minutes.
What appeared before them was a school that looked beautifully maintained, full of scholarly atmosphere.
However, the bright yellow police tape stretched across the main gate, and the police officers standing ready made the surrounding atmosphere quite tense.
"Stop the car!"
Hearing this familiar voice, Ye Xing rolled down the window and looked out to see Soichiro Yagami, a firearm in hand and wearing a bulletproof vest, waving with a smile.
"Hello there, Chief Yagami."
"Why is it you? How did you..."
Soichiro Yagami instinctively wanted to ask, Why did you come wearing that Sobu High School uniform?
Shouldn't you have changed into that Mask outfit?
Considering the presence of other officers, television reporters, and cameramen nearby, Soichiro Yagami couldn't explicitly voice his thoughts aloud.
"What's the current situation inside?"
Seeing Ye Xing begin questioning the scene's status immediately after getting out of the car, much like a Metropolitan Police Department executive would, the other officers showed strange expressions, wondering which high school student this was - still wearing his school uniform - coming here to cause trouble?
One officer walked over with a furrowed brow, looking thoroughly impatient.
"Hey, you kid..."
"Stop."
Soichiro Yagami directly interrupted the officer's words, his expression turning serious as he said.
"I'll handle this here. You step back."
"This... I understand, Chief Yagami."
These frontline officers held genuine respect for Soichiro Yagami as their leader, which clearly demonstrated both his capabilities and the charisma that earned his subordinates' trust.
This was precisely why Ye Xing had chosen him as his collaborator within the Metropolitan Police Department.
If it were someone like that Seishu Akoya, never mind whether his twisted sense of justice could be corrected - even if he rose to a high-ranking position, his subordinates would likely only show surface compliance without genuine acceptance.
Soichiro Yagami glanced at Shizuka Hiratsuka sitting in the driver's seat, thinking he hadn't seen this young woman before.
Thinking carefully...
Weren't there rather too many women appearing around Ye Xing?
This kid, was he actually serious about building a harem rather than joking with me?
Soichiro Yagami shook his head, reminding himself this wasn't the time to worry about such matters, and simply lowered his voice to say.
"The current situation is this."
"After school ended today, several unidentified individuals armed with firearms entered Toyogasaki High School."
"They killed all the security personnel at the entrance and those patrolling the campus."
"The one silver lining is that since about half an hour had passed since school ended, there aren't many students remaining in the teaching building - only twenty-three. But..."
Soichiro Yagami frowned deeply as he produced a list, pointing at one particular name.
"This student's identity is quite special, and the armed assailants seem to know this, too. They haven't acted yet, probably planning to use her as leverage."
Ye Xing looked over and saw a name on the list that stood completely different from the others, so lengthy it barely fit within its box.
Eriri Spencer Sawamura.
"Oh, it's her."
Seeing Ye Xing's completely unsurprised expression, Soichiro Yagami asked with some astonishment.
"You know her?"
Ye Xing shook his head and smiled.
"I know her, but she doesn't know me."
Soichiro Yagami didn't understand what this meant, but continued with a deep frown.
"This Eriri's father is a diplomat stationed in Japan. If anything happens to his daughter, especially with certain parties potentially manipulating the situation... not just our Kyoto Metropolitan Police Department, but the entire Japan Metropolitan Police Department's credibility would suffer greatly. The trust we've worked so hard to build with the public recently would plummet dramatically."
Ye Xing nodded, thinking this assessment was quite accurate.
It wasn't that ordinary students' deaths would be unimportant.
A high school invaded by armed rioters resulting in casualties would certainly become headline news.
But given Eriri's status, if anything were to happen to her, the media attention would be far greater, potentially even causing diplomatic complications.
If such news were to break, not only Kyoto citizens but even Tokyo residents would likely develop negative sentiments, causing corresponding changes in the Reverse World.
Light, as a psychic, had to busy himself punishing criminals while evading investigations from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and L, eliminating overly powerful evil spirits, all while maintaining his image as a perfect student throughout.
That he could withstand all this truly lived up to the name Kira.
But if another such violent incident occurred, giving rise to powerful evil spirits in Tokyo's Reverse World, even Light might reach his limit.
"So now..."
Soichiro Yagami tentatively inquired.
"What should we do?"
"You're asking me?"
Ye Xing appeared completely unconcerned.
"You're the field commander, I'm just an ordinary high school student. Why would I know if you're asking me?"
"This..."
Soichiro Yagami furrowed his brow deeply, bringing his hand to his mouth as he lowered his voice.
"You... shouldn't you change clothes first?"
"Change clothes?"
Ye Xing looked puzzled.
"Chief Yagami, what are you talking about? I don't understand."
"You brat, at a time like this, you still..."
"But."
Before Soichiro could finish, Ye Xing spoke calmly.
"Have you considered what those unidentified armed individuals would do if they saw Mask appearing here?"
"This..."
"Let me tell you, Chief Yagami."
Ye Xing expressionlessly stated.
"Faced with this hero who always manages to turn the tide, to prevent him from doing so, they would definitely choose to execute the hostages immediately. You said it yourself - the security personnel at the school gate and those patrolling inside have been killed, proving they won't hesitate to kill at all."
Soichiro Yagami frowned slightly, hesitating.
"But... last time at Kyoto Tower..."
"That was then, this is now."
Ye Xing looked toward the distant teaching building, speaking softly.
"If Mask could resolve this incident with a perfect outcome, he would have appeared here already."
Ye Xing's Domain, Demon-Slaying Divine Purification, if fully deployed, could cover the entire Toyogasaki High School.
However, there were two unavoidable issues.
First, the energy consumption would be tremendous.
If this was a planned attack specifically designed to weaken him as the strongest exorcist, then expending most of his power to save a few ordinary students would clearly be unwise.
Second...
Ye Xing couldn't sense any presence of evil spirits within Toyogasaki High School.
The perpetrators of this incident...
Were completely ordinary humans without any spiritual power.
And the kidnapped students, like Eriri, were also ordinary humans.
Demon-Slaying Divine Purification was a Domain that separated spiritual entities from the real world.
For this current situation, it would be completely ineffective.
After saying this, Ye Xing paused for a moment and spoke softly.
"But criminals who dare to directly attack schools in broad daylight like this, though they no longer care about their own lives, ultimately still have one weakness."
Soichiro Yagami asked curiously, "What weakness?"
"Vicious criminals who don't even care about their own lives are, in a certain sense, gamblers."
Ye Xing looked towards the teaching building and slowly began to speak.
"Just like gamblers who want to turn their luck after losing and win more after winning, these mentally unstable criminals operate on the same principle."
"Either they want their crimes to create a greater social impact, or more practically, they aim to kill people more important than these ordinary students."
"Those criminals probably don't know Eriri's identity yet, so in their eyes..."
Ye Xing turned to Soichiro Yagami with a slight smile.
"Killing over twenty ordinary high school students would pale in comparison to killing a highly respected, Kyoto-citizen-adored senior official who effectively controls the Metropolitan Police Department."
Soichiro Yagami froze for a moment, having understood the implication in Ye Xing's words.
The next second, Chief Yagami - who had become the actual authority of Kyoto's Metropolitan Police Department and could truly be called senior leadership - didn't hesitate. He immediately called over an officer and spoke in a grave tone.
"Use the police car's loudspeaker to announce toward the school building that I, Soichiro Yagami, am willing to remove all my weapons and enter the teaching building with only one unarmed high school student to speak with them face-to-face."
The officer's face showed disbelief upon hearing this.
"Chief Yagami... this..."
"Wait a moment, Chief Yagami."
Just as Soichiro Yagami finished speaking, Ye Xing suddenly spotted a familiar figure nearby and smiled.
"Rather than having some random high school student accompany you, I have a better idea."
...
Five minutes later, in a third-floor classroom of the teaching building.
A beautiful, petite girl with golden twin-tails and porcelain-white skin was curled up in a corner.
Her blue eyes filled with terror as she watched several large men in black suits holding firearms and wearing variously colored Hannya masks. Her body trembled slightly.
Just then, amplified shouting came through the window from outside.
"Gentlemen inside! Our Metropolitan Police Department's field commander, Chief Yagami, wants to enter the teaching building with a reporter and cameraman to speak with you directly!"
Hearing a voice from outside, one of the men in masks slowly walked over, pulled open the curtain, and looked out.
His eyes showed no fear of potential snipers taking the opportunity to shoot him - his mental state was clearly abnormal.
"Soichiro Yagami..."
He watched as Soichiro Yagami stood at the school gate, hands raised, having removed his suit jacket to reveal only a white shirt and black suit trousers, without even a bulletproof vest. Behind him stood a fashionably dressed young woman who appeared nervous, and a man shouldering a camera whose face wasn't visible. Slowly, the masked man raised his handgun and aimed at Soichiro Yagami.
Just as he was about to pull the trigger, someone beside him stopped him.
"Wait."
"Why wait?"
"From dozens of meters away, you plan to use a handgun to try hitting someone that far? Are you stupid?"
"Let them come in. Killing the Criminal Affairs Director of the Metropolitan Police Department during a live television broadcast - that would better achieve our objectives."
...
After receiving the response, Soichiro Yagami took a deep breath and led the reporter and cameraman behind him toward the school building.
Meanwhile, Natsumi Suga's legs had already begun to tremble, her expression one of tearful despair.
No way...
She'd finally managed to ride her little motorcycle all the way to the scene, hoping to snap a few photos to write a new case report tonight...
How had she suddenly become an actual participant in the incident?
Natsumi Suga glanced at Ye Xing beside her, who was carrying the camera, and whispered in a low voice.
"Ye... Ye Xing... later... we..."
"Shh."
Ye Xing didn't even turn his head, merely chuckling softly.
"Don't speak, this is a live broadcast."
Natsumi Suga was speechless.
What live broadcast?
That camera was temporarily borrowed from the television station and wasn't even connected to any signal!