The Stand User Of The Daily World

Chapter 98: Stellar Hunter

It might just be fate. After transferring to Sobu High, Rui Tachibana became friends with Momo Kashiwabara. Naturally, since Momo was also friends with Sato Matsuzaka, Rui quickly formed a small group with the two of them.

When Shunsuke first heard about this, it hit him like a bolt from the blue.

He was terrified that one day Rui might meet an untimely end.

But looking at it now, both Rui and Sato still had a chance to be saved.

Seeing the glimmer that hadn't yet faded from Sato's eyes, Shunsuke made a firm decision: his priority was to find Shio Kobe and prevent these two from meeting again.

At the same time, he needed to assign someone to keep an eye on this potential danger.

While he personally didn't fear her, Rui certainly did.

Rui, however, was quite stubborn.

If he didn't give her a solid reason to distance herself from her friends, she wouldn't listen.

But considering that Sato hadn't actually killed the painter yet, who would believe that such an adorable girl could turn into a murderous maniac after losing that spark in her eyes?

She was just too cute to suspect!

...

"Missing?"

"Yes, she disappeared a year ago. The police still haven't found her. Her brother is still searching, but it seems hopeless."

Shunsuke nodded. It seemed that, unlike Sato Matsuzaka, who had somehow managed to survive under some inexplicable stroke of luck, Shio Kobe was likely gone for good.

Abandoned on a rainy day by her mentally ill mother, an eight-year-old girl like Shio couldn't have survived in this world if Sato hadn't taken her in.

"Alright, I'll transfer the money to your account for this matter."

"Thank you. I look forward to your next visit."

Shunsuke hung up the phone.

Just as he was about to step back into the room from the balcony, he noticed a rope suddenly dangling down from above.

Masaka!

A sense of foreboding washed over him.

The next second, his premonition became reality.

A pair of small feet, wrapped tightly in black stockings, suddenly dropped into view.

Then came the calves, the thighs, and finally a frilly, ruffled Lolita skirt.

Shunsuke poked his head out to look up...

Yep, not too far. Just from the fourth floor... The fourth floor is still pretty high though, isn't it!?

Watching the descending beauty wobble unsteadily as she reached the first floor down, her legs flailing as she tried to find a foothold, Shunsuke couldn't help but worry.

Was she going to end up like Rikka-chan someday?

"Huh, falling from the fourth floor wouldn't kill you? Well, guess it's fine then."

Though Shunsuke muttered a complaint, his hands instinctively reached out, carefully supporting her small feet. Yohou, saikou!

Feeling the soft, delicate sensation in his hands, Shunsuke couldn't resist giving a gentle squeeze before placing her feet on the balcony railing.

"You saw it?"

As she steadied herself, Rikka Takanashi looked at him and suddenly spoke, her voice ethereal and pleasant.

"I didn't see anything," Shunsuke denied firmly.

Please don't think I'm some kind of pervert!

Sure, I think white doesn't really match with your all-black outfit, but I didn't mean to look—it was an accident, really! Just a fleeting glance!

"Do you want to see?"

"Yes." He answered immediately.

Rikka said nothing, staring at him for a moment.

Slowly, she raised her hand and pulled down the eyepatch covering her right eye, revealing a golden eye completely unlike her blue left one.

"The Eye of the Tyrant King," Rikka introduced.

Perhaps because of the quiet, moonlit setting, she wasn't her usual lively self.

Instead, she seemed unexpectedly calm, almost ladylike—though still very much in her chunibyo way.

Shunsuke wanted to respond with some over-the-top chunibyo lines, but… it had been years since he graduated from that phase, and now just thinking about those cringeworthy phrases made him want to roll around on his bed in embarrassment.

Seriously, the memory of showing off in front of Nozomi Tojo still made his stomach churn!

Completely at a loss for how to respond, Shunsuke defaulted to what he knew best: striking a dramatic JoJo pose. "Come forth, Star Platinum!"

A towering, muscular figure clad in a loincloth appeared beside him.

Naturally, as just a chunibyo, Rikka Takanashi's "Eye of the Tyrant King," which supposedly could pierce reality, didn't register the Stand Shunsuke had summoned.

Rikka's eyes lit up, her right hand hovering dramatically over her golden eye. "This… This is… the Apostle summoned by the Stellar Hunter, isn't it? Such incredible power!"

— She came up with a chunibyo title for me already? Thanks for the effort, I guess.

As Rikka, overcome with excitement, accidentally let go of the rope with both hands, a sudden gust of spring wind blew into her eyes.

Blinded and wobbling dangerously, she was on the verge of falling.

Shunsuke, acting quickly, caught her mid-stumble and pulled her safely onto his balcony.

"You can't do this kind of thing again," Shunsuke began nagging like an overprotective parent. "If you fall, you'll be stuck in a hospital for at least a month!"

Rikka sat on the ground with her head lowered, hands covering her eyes. Suddenly, she looked up at Shunsuke, her golden eye brimming with tears, and said in a trembling voice, "I can't open my eye… there's sand in it."

Shunsuke felt as if an arrow had pierced his heart.

"Let me see," he said, gently prying her hands away and leaning in close to her golden eye. "Is it this one?"

"Mm-hmm," Rikka nodded softly, her voice shaky, obediently staying still.

Shunsuke took a deep breath and pulled her into his arms.

He began gently blowing on her eye, warm breaths brushing against her cheek.

Rikka's delicate eyelashes quivered slightly from the sensation.

"Does that feel better now?" he asked.

"It's… still uncomfortable," she murmured.

"Then I'll take out your contact lens for now," Shunsuke suggested.

"No! You can't! The Eye of the Tyrant King is—"

Before she could finish her protest, Shunsuke calmly used Star Platinum to remove her contact lens and simultaneously wipe away the sand from her eye.

"Huh?" Rikka had been about to struggle but quickly realized the discomfort was gone.

"The Eye of the Tyrant King—its affliction has been cured through Star Platinum's power," Shunsuke declared in a dramatic tone.

"Ah… Th-thank you," Rikka stammered, still a bit disoriented.

"I'll give you your contact lens back, but as for the eyepatch… that's out of my hands."

When Shunsuke had carried her earlier, she had casually tossed aside her eyepatch, and he hadn't thought much of it at the time.

"The Eye of the Tyrant King… temporarily sealed," Rikka announced softly, acknowledging the situation.

Rikka made a series of gestures only she could understand, then turned to Shunsuke and declared, "Oh, Hunter of the Distant Stars, your bravery has been acknowledged. A blood pact has been forged, and from this moment on, we are allies in our battle against the 'Invisible Boundary Line' Bureau and their Holy Regulators."

— Wait, wasn't I just called Stellar Hunter earlier?

— By 'blood pact,' do you mean the fact that I saved your life?

— And now you're asking me to help you take on your older sister? What are you even planning?

Shunsuke struggled to decipher her chunibyo ramblings, word by word, before ultimately deciding to give up.

He grabbed her hand and gently pulled her into the room, speaking in a normal tone, "I'm Shunsuke Fujii. Come inside first, just in case. I'll put some eye drops in your eye later."

"No!" she protested.

"Huh?"

"The Eye of the Tyrant King is a sacred power that commands the forces of darkness. As such, it cannot come into contact with anything tainted by darkness—or even purified holy water, for that matter. It's far too dangerous."

"Didn't we just seal the Eye of the Tyrant King temporarily? So it should be fine now."

"…Oh, that's true." Rikka looked genuinely surprised, as though the thought had never occurred to her.

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