Chapter 161

Haruhi Suzumiya's declaration of independence on the first day of school not only set her apart from ordinary people, but also successfully made her a prominent figure at County North High School.

After all, such a unique, rarely seen beautiful high school girl is very easily made a topic of conversation among classmates.

Yet barely two days had passed since her fame resounded through the whole school, when a certain newly arrived teacher parachuted in and took the number one spot, directly squeezing her off the prominence rankings…… and then she seemed to instantly lose her luster, rapidly causing people to lose interest in Haruhi Suzumiya.

——This is of course not some shady deal or dark box operation.

——It is purely the will of the people, proving the masses' eyes are sharp.

One can only say that while Haruhi Suzumiya knows how to stir things up, she hasn't stirred up anything major yet; after all, the new semester has only just begun a few days ago, and besides the very funny self-introduction she did in class right at the start of school, she hasn't had any more substantive actions for the time being.

In contrast, however, is that newly arrived teacher——

No matter how you look at it, he is simply too eye-catching, as if possessing a mysterious charm that makes it hard to look away.

Especially that temperament, like a fresh mountain mist, refreshing wherever it passes…… but at the same time giving people a puzzling sense of mystery, like standing in hazy, indistinct fog, fundamentally unable to see clearly; this contradictory yet harmonious feeling makes the unworldly boys and girls unable to extricate themselves when they come into contact with him.

Even the boys couldn't help but start imitating this new teacher's words and deeds.

As for the girls, it goes without saying; from first year to third year he sweeps them all, almost no one able to resist his bewi—— cough cough, his charm.

It's just fortunate that a certain someone made certain fine adjustments to the power and intensity of his "make friends ability," plus the girls of this age group are still somewhat reserved, so they can barely restrain themselves, and no excessively bad influence has been caused——

Otherwise, even if he went through the back door via information manipulation, reasonably applying to become a teacher……

He would probably also be reasonably fired before long……

Xia Zhi himself is quite calm about this; he plays the role he set for himself well, and hasn't taken any active action, merely locking onto several different targets in the midst of this daily life.

——His affinity halo isn't activated for nothing, after all.

——In a certain sense, this is essentially a special ability belonging to psionic information warfare.

——Precisely because of this, those ordinary people who are unaffected by his affinity halo, or only mildly affected, or who can quickly break free from the influence, are naturally well worth suspecting.

So this is actually, for him, not only a convenience in daily life, but also an invisible screening process.

And it is precisely in this screening process that Xia Zhi, besides Haruhi Suzumiya, Asakura Ryouko, and the others, also discovered an additional suspicious target on campus.

That is a girl in Class 2-2.

Although she looks perfectly ordinary, she actually seems able to exempt herself from his low-level beguilement, not too affected.

——Is she the Time Traveler's side?

——Or the Esper's side?

But there is only one side; does that mean the other side is lying dormant, hasn't truly entered the campus yet, and doesn't plan to reveal themselves?

Xia Zhi pondered quite seriously for a while, but couldn't reach a conclusion for the time being, because he hasn't made contact with either side yet, and also lacks sufficient intelligence to perform deduction…… who knows what kind of experts they are, he absolutely cannot be careless.

Anyway, he puts himself in their shoes; starting from his own perspective, and considering the strong sample of Nagato Yuki, he reasonably believes the representatives of the other two sides must also be no ordinary characters, perhaps also powerful figures pretending to be weak to eat the strong.

——This is a perfectly normal deduction and logic.

"Otherworlder"——that is himself, this goes without saying; as an avatar ability it is actually completely on par with the main body, it's just that mana quantity temporarily can't keep up, so he only has a long, long blue bar upper limit, but the blue isn't full…… however, under normal circumstances, it is still enough to shatter civilization and command all creatures on this planet.

And "Alien"——not to mention the Information Integration Thought Entity that encompasses the entire Milky Way, just take Nagato Yuki; her abilities are clearly quite remarkable, that specialized allocation in information manipulation and information linkage, merely revealing the tip of the iceberg, makes even him slightly wary.

Basically that's how it is.

Alien, Time Traveler, Otherworlder, Esper……

Since the representatives of two sides among them are already existences of this weight class, then the representatives of the other two sides are also definitely heavyweights, not easy opponents……

——Normal logic should all think this way, right?

Xia Zhi didn't go against the grain either; under the premise of lacking necessary intelligence, he naturally also tends to believe the other two sides are equally not simple.

……………………

……………………

"So, Teacher Xia Zhi, you actually think like this?"

In the teacher's office, Asakura Ryouko asked with a gentle smile, her whole person emitting just the right amount of a Yamato Nadeshiko-like air.

"Asakura-san, it's not that I think this way, it's normal logical deduction……"

Xia Zhi sat in the seat behind the desk, calmly answering:

"Since they are four people who were simultaneously chosen, then theoretically all four should be equal existences, right? Then each should have extraordinary qualities, each should have unique ultimate moves, fighting spirit and endurance even more astonishing, secret weapons giving unexpected surprises…… isn't this only natural?"

"Mm……"

Asakura Ryouko couldn't help furrowing her pretty eyebrows: "Although logically it seems correct, I still feel…… Teacher, your description is a bit weird."

Intuitively it feels like some kind of very terrible information.

But according to her information link, there's nothing that matches in the search items…… emmmmm, perhaps it's unfamiliar information from another universe?

"It's an illusion, an illusion, just a very normal way of putting it……"

Xia Zhi waved his hand casually.

"……If Teacher needs it, we can also provide relevant intelligence." Asakura Ryouko smiled, very friendly in offering support.

"That won't be necessary, I'll verify the basic intelligence myself……" The young man shook his head; since it's a cooperative relationship, a certain degree of independence must be maintained, can't rely entirely on allies, that would lower his standing in the alliance. Moreover, verifying this basic intelligence isn't difficult at all.

Just——

He also gave a casual scan to the girl standing beside the desk, looking Asakura Ryouko up and down, and asked: "Speaking of which, Asakura-san, you came to find me…… is there something?"

Although her pretext is helping collect homework and delivering it to his office, it's very obvious she definitely didn't come just for that; clearly she has other ideas.

Xia Zhi can tell, but of course not because of bio-waves or anything; Asakura Ryouko and Nagato Yuki are the same, strictly speaking their positioning is "device," not true "creature," so this move has no meaning against them. But Asakura Ryouko differs from Nagato Yuki; she more easily reveals some thoughts from her outward appearance.

Asakura's emotions are exceptionally rich, presenting an image of a gentle, kind, and considerate honor student, and without any mechanical sense of discord or incongruity.

She is very popular among both same and opposite sex, having virtually become the central figure of the class, feeling like she will naturally be elected class representative next.

This is very miraculous——

Because if it were Nagato Yuki, Xia Zhi simply cannot imagine that scene.

Although up to now his contact with Nagato Yuki has only been twice, she is obviously a classic "three-no girl" persona, silent and reticent, not given to speech, lacking facial expressions, completely cold and unmoved by the outside world……

"There are some things…… Teacher, can you teach me how to chat with Suzumiya-san?"

At this moment, Asakura Ryouko thought for a bit, then asked seriously: "I've tried talking to her several times before, but there were no results."

Her expression was that kind of completely natural smiling face, as if she truly were an optimistic and cheerful girl who had encountered some unsolvable problems and was troubled by them.

"..."

"..."

"Why would you come ask me this question?" Xia Zhi raised an eyebrow, looked at her, "I haven't even struck up a conversation with Suzumiya-san yet, right?"

He was employing a fishing tactic, not an active offense strategy.

The concrete thinking was to provoke Haruhi Suzumiya's curiosity, let her take the initiative to come over, lower her guard to the maximum extent... so even though he had entered County North High School this school for several days already, he still had not been able to make direct contact with the observation target.

"Because the Information Integration Thought Entity feels you might have some good suggestions."

Asakura Ryouko smiled faintly, her expression very gentle, just like her voice was equally gentle.

"We are merely devices used for contacting and connecting with organic lifeforms, but we also cannot truly understand organic lifeforms, even after learning..."

"But you are different. Perhaps your positioning is also a contact device, but judging from the information flowing from you, the cosmic lifeform that manufactured you obviously has profound insights into organic lifeforms — especially humans. As the same kind of contact and connection device, you should be the type specialized for humans..."

Xia Zhi blinked, feeling a bit subtle.

One can only say the Information Integration Thought Entity still has some substance, able to read a lot of information from myself, just because the understanding methods and thinking methods differ, there are slight misunderstandings.

Though perhaps it doesn't count as a misunderstanding either...

"Alright, I indeed frequently come into contact with humans, just as I told you from the start, the universe I'm in is very similar to this world, also has the Milky Way, also has the Solar System and Earth, so naturally also has humans and similar history..."

He pondered slightly, then said with a straight face:

"But I usually don't observe targets like Haruhi Suzumiya, so I don't have any experience dealing with little girls."

"Is that so... I can understand that too." Asakura Ryouko nodded thoughtfully, "Haruhi Suzumiya is indeed a very special case."

If not for that information explosion, it wouldn't have attracted the attention of the entire Galaxy, even the entire Universe, to this tiny planet, and even less would it specially observe such a little girl.

So the other party before this was probably in the same situation too.

Even when conducting human observation, they would often not select such a target as the main subject.

"Right, too special..." Xia Zhi agreed: "Perhaps we can maintain observation for now, no need to rush into making a decision."

"..."

"..."

Asakura Ryouko's expression instantly became a bit subtle, her gaze also sharpened at once: "Teacher, you also lean towards maintaining observation?"

"Hm?"

The youth keenly perceived something, frowned and looked at the surroundings, then turned his eyes to look at her: "Asakura-san, you mean..."

"I think..."

Asakura Ryouko opened her mouth with a somewhat serious expression, but just as she started, she heard a sound coming from outside the office door.

"Th-that..."

A petite girl with a baby face poked her head in cautiously from outside the door, her tone very uneasy and trembling, as if she had forced herself and made some determination to dare come to the office entrance: "Ex-excuse me — is Xia Zhi teacher... h-here?"

————

(PS: I can't take it anymore... the bugs just can't be killed off, the room floor is covered in dead flying ants... come night they just appear out of nowhere, crawling all over your arms, body, face... (ˉ﹃ˉ))

(Chapter End)