"Where is this..."
Zerozaki Hajime surveyed the European classical furnishings around her, her delicate dark brows knitting together.
"Who are you?"
A warm yet hoarse voice came from behind her, though the tone was laced with wariness.
Zerozaki Hajime turned to see a fresh-faced youth standing before a desk. He wore springtime loungewear and held an art book in his hands. His iris-purple hair had a slight wave to it, and his whole demeanor appeared refined and gentle.
When Yukimura Seiichi got a clear look at Zerozaki Hajime, he froze as well.
She was entirely white—white long hair, a white tight-fitting uniform, a white cap, and skin as white as snow, save for a pair of inscrutable wine-red eyes.
She was an extraordinarily beautiful... striking woman?
Seeing that he could perceive her, Zerozaki Hajime's brows furrowed even deeper.
Without answering the boy, she walked straight toward him, passing right through his body, and then through the wall, leaving the room.
Zerozaki Hajime acutely sensed that upon approaching the boy and touching his hand, her energy seemed to have recovered slightly.
Yukimura Seiichi's eyes widened. He turned around, staring blankly at the spot where Zerozaki Hajime had vanished.
Zerozaki Hajime was currently in an incorporeal state. Not long after leaving the boy, she snapped right back into the room, standing before him.
"You..."
Now even Yukimura Seiichi was startled by Zerozaki Hajime. He fixed his gaze on her and picked up his phone, preparing to call the police.
Yet Zerozaki Hajime merely glanced at him, walked right through him again to exit the room, only to snap back in front of the boy the moment she walked two hundred meters away.
Realizing now that she was bound to this boy, Zerozaki Hajime said with a helpless sigh, "Hello, my name is Zerozaki Hajime. What is your name?"
Seeing that she truly showed no signs of doing anything harmful, Yukimura Seiichi deleted the emergency number he had just typed. "Yukimura Seiichi."
Yukimura Seiichi waited for Zerozaki Hajime to explain, but after stating her name, she had no intention of continuing.
She merely began operating a virtual system right in front of Yukimura Seiichi, though he could not understand a thing; the interface was filled entirely with code.
In reality, Zerozaki Hajime was communicating with her own virtual system.
She had received a mission from the Spacetime System stating that a certain world had energy related to tennis that was so overwhelmingly powerful it had attracted the attention of monsters from other realms, and those beasts had already slipped into this world in search of energy to devour.
To maintain the normal functioning of all worlds, Zerozaki Hajime was required to travel to this realm and exterminate the monsters. Upon accepting the mission, Zerozaki Hajime had chosen the location where the monsters had most recently appeared.
As soon as she crossed over, however, she had arrived directly in Yukimura Seiichi's room. Zerozaki Hajime quickly deduced that that outrageous tennis energy was likely the culprit.
"What is this situation? Did I bind to someone?" Zerozaki Hajime typed a line of code onto the operating interface.
She knew that the pairing of every spacetime system and world varied, each operating under its own specific rules.
The system replied on the screen, "It's still not very clear yet. It might be because your energy was weakened when you crossed over, Order Officer."
Not particularly satisfied with the system's reply, Zerozaki Hajime continued typing code: "Then how do I unbind? Staying by a particular human all the time won't work; we won't find any spirits that way."
"Then why don't you try materializing, Order Officer, to see if you can unbind? However, Order Officer, the physical form requires continuous energy, so you might not be able to stray too far from them," the system suggested.
"Them? Who are they?"
Zerozaki Hajime felt the system's suggestion made sense, but she didn't quite understand who "they" referred to.
"This world revolves almost entirely around tennis, so naturally you cannot stay too far away from people who play tennis. Those targeted by the monsters are bound to be the ones with strong energy. Order Officer, just pay attention to the monsters' movements and keep your own identity plausible."
Once the system finished speaking, Zerozaki Hajime felt there was nothing left to ask. She shut down the system and looked at Yukimura Seiichi, who was standing beside her with a bewildered expression.
Having gained some understanding of this world's rules, Zerozaki Hajime smiled at Yukimura Seiichi. "Sorry for the late-night disturbance. I'm not from around here, but I bear no ill will toward you. As for the reason I've come, I'll explain if we have the chance in the future. Until we meet again."
Zerozaki Hajime walked over to the window, materialized herself, opened it, and leaped down.
Yukimura Seiichi's breath caught in his throat. He rushed to the window to check on Zerozaki Hajime, only to see her standing unharmed on the lawn of his courtyard, looking around.
Zerozaki Hajime closed her eyes for a brief moment, then raised her head to look back up at the spot she had just jumped from. Seeing Yukimura Seiichi standing by the window, her wine-red pupils flickered before she slipped away into the night.
As expected, materializing allowed her to break the bond.
After all, Zerozaki Hajime was not from this world and possessed no identity here. She opened the system to check where people acquired identities in this realm, and within a few short days, she had sorted out her identity and living arrangements.
Once Zerozaki Hajime materialized, the system suggested she change her avatar from an adult woman to a teenage girl to conserve energy consumption. Zerozaki Hajime accepted.
Since the system interface indicated that monster activity was concentrated at a place called Rikkai Junior High School, Zerozaki Hajime verified that it was a school and promptly completed the enrollment procedures.
A week later, Zerozaki Hajime entered the first year of Rikkai Junior High School under the identity of Zerozaki Hajime.
"Zerozaki-san! What club did you sign up for?"
After school, Ayanokouji Yumi, the girl sitting in front of her, looked at Zerozaki Hajime with great anticipation.
Zerozaki Hajime looked down at the club signup sheet in her hands and pondered for a moment. Then, glancing at Ayanokouji Yumi, she broke into a smile and asked, "What club did Ayanokouji-san sign up for?"
Seeing Zerozaki smile gently at her, Ayanokouji Yumi froze completely.
Even in her youthful teenage guise, Zerozaki Hajime was a first-class beauty.
Ayanokouji Yumi could guarantee that Zerozaki Hajime was absolutely the most stunning person she had ever seen!
"I signed up for the Archery Club! Could it be that Zerozaki-san is joining too? I feel like someone as beautiful as Zerozaki-san would be better suited for artsy clubs like the Art Club or Flower Arrangement Club..." Ayanokouji Yumi pouted as she rambled on to herself.
Zerozaki Hajime smiled and said nothing. She picked up the pen from her desk and wrote down the Archery Club.
Training her aim sounded good too.
Before club activities began, the two of them went to the Archery Club together. Zerozaki Hajime and Ayanokouji Yumi changed into their archery attire and helped each other tie up their long hair.
Just as they were about to leave the locker room, Zerozaki Hajime caught sight of a white, faceless, round monster flying past the window in the locker room corridor.
Ayanokouji Yumi, who had looked out the same window, showed no reaction whatsoever, making Zerozaki Hajime realize that Ayanokouji Yumi could not see these entities. There was no time to explain much.
"Ayanokouji-san, please cover for me at club activities. Just say I had an emergency and I'll be back later."
Without waiting for Ayanokouji to reply, Zerozaki Hajime left the archery club building.
Left with no choice, Ayanokouji Yumi watched Zerozaki Hajime's retreating figure and racked her brain to come up with an excuse to cover for her.
As she ran, Zerozaki Hajime opened the system interface. The map showed five or six monsters gathering in the same direction.
She recognized that location—it was the Rikkai Junior High School tennis courts.
Arriving at the tennis grounds, Zerozaki Hajime saw that the monsters on the court were already attacking the tennis club regulars.
"What on earth are the regular players doing? Have they lost their minds? Why are they hitting balls at each other???"
The regular players on the court were in complete disarray.
These monsters all looked similar, their mouths agape and filled with sharp fangs.
"Crap! What are these things?!" Marui Bunta was so startled he blew a bubble that burst instantly, desperately swatting at them with his tennis racket.
"Aaaaaah! Don't bite me!! It hurts like hell!!" Kirihara Akaya failed to beat the spirits away, and ended up getting his arm bitten by one, howling in excruciating pain.
"Puri! There's another one behind you." Niou Masaharu and Yagyuu Hiroshi each hit balls toward the monster biting Kirihara Akaya.
Although the monster was hit and sent flying back a short distance, it remained unharmed, and the creatures continued trying to approach the regular players.
Zerozaki Hajime made a new discovery: these spirits only attacked specific individuals, and being able to play tennis did not necessarily mean one could see them.
Zerozaki Hajime originally intended to freeze spacetime, but finding herself lacking the energy, she had no choice but to sprint toward the tennis players who were under attack.
Seeing a beautiful white-haired girl leap directly into the tennis court, the rest of the club members looked at her in disbelief.
Recognizing Yukimura Seiichi, Zerozaki Hajime grabbed his arm directly and froze spacetime.
Except for the tennis club regulars, everything else came to a standstill.
The frozen regular players watched as Zerozaki Hajime pulled Yukimura Seiichi along and conjured five or six beams of light out of thin air, her movements clean and decisive.
She completely eradicated the monsters that had just been harassing them.
Before disappearing, one of the monsters that had bitten Kirihara Akaya transformed into a wisp of vapor, drifted onto Kirihara Akaya's head, and vanished. Zerozaki Hajime guessed that must have been the energy they had consumed earlier.
Once all the monsters had dissipated, Zerozaki Hajime released Yukimura Seiichi, stepping away from him as spacetime returned to normal.
The other club members saw that the regulars had recovered and were no longer launching tennis balls at each other, yet they still looked on with lingering confusion at the sight of Zerozaki Hajime standing inside the tennis court in her archery uniform.
Knowing these matters would be difficult to explain clearly in a short time, Sanada Genichirou barked at them, "Too slack! Get back to training!"
The other members immediately scattered to the other tennis courts to resume their own training, no longer daring to pry into the affairs of the regulars.
"Excuse me," Zerozaki Hajime said to Yukimura Seiichi.
Yukimura Seiichi instantly recalled the woman who had appeared in his room that night, yet he knew this was no time to ask questions.
Contemplating this magical turn of events, he shook his head and offered a faint smile. "It's fine. If not for your help, we wouldn't have been able to resolve this mess."
Zerozaki Hajime nodded without another word and was about to walk out of the tennis court when Kirihara Akaya grabbed her by the arm.
"Whoa! You shot beams of light out of thin air—are you a wizard?" he asked in disbelief.
Playing video games every day, Kirihara Akaya was intensely fascinated by such things.
Naturally, the others were curious as well, but Zerozaki Hajime clearly wasn't a talkative person.
Not wishing to press her too much, they simply let Kirihara Akaya question Zerozaki Hajime for information.
...
Zerozaki Hajime looked at Kirihara Akaya, nodded, and let out a soft laugh.
"Yes, I'm a wizard."
Everyone knew this was clearly an answer meant to humor a child and didn't believe it for a second, but Kirihara Akaya bought it completely.
He insisted that Zerozaki Hajime shoot another beam of light. Yanagi Renji stepped up to Kirihara Akaya's side and said, "Akaya, you're being too rude. Let go of her."
After a moment of hesitation, Kirihara Akaya obediently released her grip, though he still muttered under his breath, asking Zerozaki Hajime to show them a light beam.
Yanagi Renji nodded toward Zerozaki Hajime.
Zerozaki Hajime smiled silently, then turned and walked away, just as she heard someone behind her ask, "Classmate, if possible, would you have time to explain to us what is going on here?"