Chương 495: [495] Hachiman's Limited Edition Amulet
Chapter 495: Hachiman's Limited Edition Amulet
Looking at the room full of girls, a smile appeared on Hachiman's face.
Judging from the arrangement of the room, it seemed that Erina and the others had gotten someone to help out. The sofa and TV had been moved to one side, creating a large enough space in the living room.
It was fortunate that his living room was originally spacious enough; otherwise, it wouldn't have accommodated so many people.
The dining table was covered with a variety of exquisite dishes, most likely prepared by Erina.
"Don't be so formal. Treat this place like your own home. Today, we're just here to have fun," Hachiman said with a smile.
Hearing this, Yumiko immediately responded, "Hmph, who would be formal with a guy like you?"
The other girls all laughed at her words.
"Alright, have it your way," Hachiman shrugged, then seemed to remember something. "You all go ahead and play. I'll be back in a bit."
With that, he headed upstairs.
Watching his back as he left, the girls exchanged puzzled glances, unsure of what he was up to.
Hachiman quickly returned to the living room, but this time he was carrying a large box.
Yui asked curiously, "Hikki, what's that?"
"Why don't you take a guess?" Hachiman replied with a mysterious smile.
"Hmm... is it something tasty?" Yui guessed.
Hachiman sighed, "You silly dumpling, all you think about is food. Be careful, or you'll end up with a tummy."
"Hmph, stupid Hikki, I'm not silly!" Yui quickly retorted, though she subconsciously touched her stomach when she heard the latter part.
"And besides, I don't have a tummy... at all."
Although she said this, her expression showed a hint of insecurity.
Seeing Hachiman being so secretive, Yukino wouldn't let it slide and directly asked, "Alright, stop teasing us. What's inside?"
"Well, since you asked, I'll tell you," Hachiman shrugged.
"These are the Christmas presents I prepared for you."
"Christmas presents?!"
The girls were all surprised to hear this.
"What did you get us?" Yumiko asked curiously.
"Don't rush, I'll show you right now," Hachiman smiled, opening the large box he was holding.
Inside were a number of smaller boxes, each labeled with the name of a different girl.
[Yui], [Yukino], [Yumiko], [Saeko], [Kotonoha]...
Hachiman handed out the gift boxes to each of the girls, even including Iroha Isshiki and the Kawasaki sisters, Saki and Keika.
This surprised the two of them—how did Hachiman know they would be coming?
After all, their visit today was purely coincidental. How could Hachiman have prepared gifts for them in advance?
A certain little devil seemed to have an idea and, crossing her arms in front of her chest, eyed him warily. "Could it be that Senpai planned this all along to make a move on me? Sorry, even though I'm happy to receive a gift, I can't accept your confession."
Annoyed by her self-absorbed assumption, Hachiman waved her off dismissively. "Get out of here. Who's making a move on you? You're thinking too much."
Seeing his dismissive attitude, Iroha pouted, clearly displeased.
"Then why did Senpai prepare gifts for us in advance?"
"These are just extras from when I was getting gifts ready earlier. And you're just an uninvited little tagalong. Why would I go out of my way to buy a gift just for you?" Hachiman shrugged.
That was true. Since he wasn't sure how many people would come, Hachiman had prepared a few extra gifts. It turned out they came in handy.
Hearing this, Iroha felt a bit disappointed. It made her feel like she was somehow less important.
"Geez, Senpai, you're so mean. It feels like you're being so dismissive."
Hachiman rolled his eyes and extended his hand. "Tch, if you don't want it, give it back. I can save some money."
"Why wouldn't I want it? Now that Senpai's given it to me, it's mine," Iroha said, stepping back and clutching the gift box protectively.
Seeing this, Hachiman shrugged again. He had no intention of taking it back anyway.
However, the other girls weren't too happy watching the two of them banter like that.
Who was this girl? They'd never seen her before, and now she was suddenly appearing and trying to steal their guy? This was hard to tolerate.
To avoid any awkward situations, Yui quickly changed the subject.
"Hikki, can we open the presents?"
"Of course," Hachiman said with a smile. "They're yours, after all, so go ahead and open them."
With that reassurance, Yui didn't hesitate any longer and began unwrapping her gift.
She untied the decorative ribbon, peeled off the wrapping paper, and opened the box. Inside was a jade pendant carved in the shape of a small dog.
"Wow, it's a dog! And it looks like Sable!" Yui said, her face lighting up with joy.
Hachiman nodded, "That's right. I had it specially carved to look like Sable."
Though Sable might be a bit of a silly dog, it was thanks to this silly dog that he and Yui had connected. So, having a pendant carved in its likeness was the perfect gift for her.
Seeing the dog-shaped pendant, a bright smile appeared on Yui's face. "Thank you, Hikki. I really like this gift."
Yes, that smile—this is what I want to protect, Hachiman thought.
"I'm glad you like it, Yui," Hachiman responded with a gentle smile.
The other girls couldn't help but feel a bit envious as they watched this exchange, and they too began unwrapping their own gifts.
As expected, each of their gifts was also a jade pendant, though the shapes were different.
For instance, Yukino's pendant was shaped like a cat, Shizuka's was a wine bottle, and Saeko's was a wooden sword...
The shapes of each pendant were carefully chosen to represent something that each girl loved the most.
Noticing this, the girls looked at Hachiman with newfound appreciation, their gazes softening.
However, when Raphiel received her pendant, she let out a small "Huh?" as if she had noticed something unusual. Sitting next to her, Vigne couldn't help but ask, "What is it?"
"Raphiel, is something wrong?" Vigne asked, noticing her friend's unusual reaction.
"Ah, it's nothing," Raphiel quickly shook her head.
Vigne didn't press further, simply nodding. "Alright then."
Though she said it was nothing, Raphiel's eyes still flickered with curiosity. When she had touched the pendant, she sensed an immense amount of holy light energy embedded within the angel-shaped gemstone.
An ordinary person might not notice anything unusual and simply find the jade pendants pleasantly warm to the touch. But Raphiel was an angel, intimately familiar with holy light.
The sheer magnitude of the holy light within the pendant far exceeded her current abilities. And as for who this holy light belonged to, the answer was clear. This made Raphiel curious—had Hachiman somehow gained such vast amounts of holy light?
She glanced over at Gabriel, and as expected, the former "Top Student of the Academy" also had a look of surprise, having clearly sensed the holy light within her own pendant.
However, the two angels kept their observations to themselves. After all, both Hachiman's identity as a hero and their identities as angels were secrets to ordinary people.
Little did they know that Hachiman had already revealed his true identity more than once.
...
Watching the girls' delighted smiles, Hachiman felt relieved. It seemed he had chosen the right gifts.
His goal had been to create something like protective charms for the girls, but rather than relying on the ones sold at shrines, he trusted those he made himself.
The holy light within these jade pendants had been infused by him, and each pendant contained nearly all the energy he currently possessed.
Thanks to his maxed-out [Constitution] module, Hachiman's energy regenerated quickly, allowing him to fully replenish his holy light within twelve hours, even if it was entirely depleted.
This meant he could produce two pendants every day—one in the morning and one at night.
Of course, the pendants given to Vigne and Satania didn't contain any holy light, since they were demons. Even without the holy light, these pendants were still extremely valuable.
Hachiman had tested it—the purer the jade, the more holy light it could store. To maximize the storage capacity, he had selected high-purity jade and hired a skilled artisan to carve the pendants. As a result, each pendant cost no less than a million yen.
"These pendants must be quite expensive, right?" Erina suddenly asked.
As the heiress of the Nakiri family, she could easily gauge the value of the jade pendants.
"The purity of the jade is quite high, and the carvings are incredibly detailed. I'd estimate each one costs at least two to three million yen."
Her tone turned a bit odd as she finished speaking. She hadn't expected Hachiman to be so generous. With so many jade pendants, the total cost must be around 40 to 50 million yen. While this amount might be insignificant to the Nakiri family, it was still no small sum.
When Hachiman confirmed the price, the other girls from more modest backgrounds were shocked.
"Wow… they're really that expensive!"
Hearing Hachiman admit it, Yui, visibly startled, quickly placed her pendant back in the box. "Hikki, this is too expensive. I can't accept it."
Saki Kawasaki chimed in, "That's right, Hachiman-kun, this is too much."
Two to three million yen was nearly a year's salary for an average working-class family.
Although her pendant wasn't in a particularly special shape, it was made of the same type of jade. And given her relationship with Hachiman, which wasn't as close as the other girls', she felt uncomfortable accepting such an expensive gift.
Seeing their reactions, Hachiman felt a bit helpless.
"But these are Christmas gifts. There's no way I can take them back."
"Besides, these pendants were custom-made, so they can't be returned. So, please just accept them."
"To me, you all are much more important than these pendants," Hachiman added sincerely.
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