CH 288

Saki definitely wasn’t shivering because of the cold wind.

“I can’t recall what happened clearly, as my memories are hazy… I just remember that I seem to have witnessed something incredibly scary, and I was frightened to the point of screaming…

“Mayuzumi pushed me down on the ground and shielded me with her body. When I saw that thing approaching, I fainted, and I don’t know what happened after that… when I woke up, it was already the next morning.

“Everyone else collapsed as well. For a moment I thought that they had all died, but they soon woke up just like me… I tried to rouse Mayuzumi, but I couldn’t get her to wake up; I soon noticed that her face was hot to touch…

“Two others were just like Mayuzumi; they wouldn’t wake up and were gripped by a fever. One was the club president, and there was another girl as well. We called an ambulance and took them to the hospital.

“It took an entire day for Mayuzumi to wake up. Her fever lasted for an entire month… and she had nightmares every day…” The editor’s voice was filled with deep regret. “It’s all my fault… I caused… Mayuzumi to become like that.”

“No, that was just an accident,” Seiji told her in a serious tone. “You didn’t expect such a thing to occur. Nobody could, so that’s why it was only an accident.”

“But if it wasn’t for me…”

“Editor Yoshizawa, you may have pushed Sensei to join the activity, but you weren’t forcing her against her will. You didn’t have any bad intentions; you just wanted to spend some time together with your friend.”

“…Even so, I still make a mistake.” Saki lowered her head with a dark expression.

Seiji sighed inwardly when he saw Saki’s glum expression.

It explained why Editor Yoshizawa cared so much about Peach-sensei and strove to protect her—it was due to this incident in the past.

Because she believed that she’d made a huge mistake, she was filled with deep regret. She felt obliged to protect her good friend.

Her resolution was truly astounding; she even… sacrificed herself.

Before Seiji loaded, Editor Yoshizawa had done her best to stop Shouhei Hirai and was killed in the process.

Seiji could even imagine the scene that must have occurred.

Shouhei Hirai… Seiji had met him one time already, but didn’t feel like he was evil back then.

And judging from Sensei and Editor Yoshizawa’s description of Shouhei Hirai during college, he was, at most, just a rash and stupid college student in possession of a bad temper. Even Sensei herself, who was the one treated rudely by him, didn’t feel that he was actually evil or anything like that.

Seiji thought back to Shouhei’s blank expression during their fight.

He seemed akin to the Terminator… or a robot; it was like he was being controlled.

Natsuya Yoruhana had also mentioned the possibility of someone placing a curse upon him.

Was there truly a culprit behind this, or was Shouhei the main culprit? If there was another culprit, who could it be? What did the culprit want? Why did the culprit attack Sensei?

There were countless questions.

Seiji hoped that Mai would be able to discover the truth.

‘Oh yes, I almost forgot…’

“Editor Yoshizawa, you said that this incident from ten years ago may be related to Sensei’s current nightmares. Is it because Sensei’s current nightmares are similar to the nightmares from that time?”

Saki nodded. “When I saw how much discomfort Mayuzumi was in, I recalled the scenes from that time… do you think that it’s possible… that the aftereffects of that incident have remained dormant till now?”

Seiji brooded over her words in silence.

“The water’s so cold!” Mayuzumi suddenly shouted.

The ocean waves were now lapping at her feet, and she laughed as she rose from where she was sitting and walked back to them.

“Saki… what’s the matter?” She noticed that something seemed to be wrong with her friend.

“Nothing… I’m just a little cold.” The editor forced a smile.

“Eh… Sorry for making you accompany me here.” Mayuzumi took Saki’s hand into her own. “Your hand is so icy. Let’s go, we don’t have to stay here anymore.”

“I’m alright,” Saki said. “It’s rare for us to come to the ocean, so stay here and look around for a little longer.”

“I’ve seen enough already. We can go back now.”

“How could we? We’ve barely just arrived—”

Saki was cut off mid-sentence when a boy’s jacket was suddenly placed around her.

Of course, it was Seiji’s. He had taken off his own jacket and put it on Saki.

“Now you should be warmer,” he said, smiling. “It’s rare for you to come here, so we should at least walk around the shore and see a little more of the sights.”

Mayuzumi and Saki were rendered speechless.

‘Haruta-kun always makes looking cool seem so natural,’ the manga author inwardly sighed.

‘This jacket… has his smell and is really warm…’ was what the editor felt.

“Saki, are you still cold?” Seiji asked.

“Not anymore. Thank you, Harano.”

“No problem.”

And so, the three of them left a trail of footprints behind as they slowly walked down the shoreline.

“By the way, Harano, you said this morning that you had something important to discuss with me face to face. What was that about?” The editor suddenly remembered to ask about this.

“Er… that…”

‘I didn’t have anything at all; it was just an excuse to come see you because I knew you would die… but of course I can’t say that!’

Seiji thought about what to say.

“Actually… it’s nothing,” he said after a pause. “I originally wanted to discuss the conditions for publication, but now I feel like it’s not a big deal, so let’s just go with what we originally had.”

Saki blinked upon hearing this. “You’re not satisfied with your treatment as a newcomer and want better conditions?”.

“Er… that’s how it was, but when I thought about it again, I felt it would be too arrogant of me. I must have not gotten enough sleep or something. So forget it; there’s no need to even remember I mentioned it.” Seiji used this as his excuse.

Saki, however, had a serious expression.

“Harano, your Brother Monogatari is wonderfully written. The entire editing department, including the head editor, all believe that it’s highly likely to become a popular hit, or even a bestseller! So you indeed have the right to request better conditions even if you are a newcomer. If you would like, I could try negotiating with the head editor for better conditions for you.”

Seiji had only wanted to come up with some excuse but didn’t expect this type of development.

He wanted to tell her that it actually wasn’t necessary, but felt that would sound unnatural so he could only go along with it.

“Er… is that really alright?” he asked haltingly.

Saki nodded in confirmation.

“Then… I’m sorry for the extra trouble.” Seiji felt awkward about all this.

“No need to be polite.” Saki’s lips tugged upwards.

She was pleased to be able to help this boy out.

At this moment, Seiji’s cell phone rang. He checked to find out that it was a call from Mai Houjou!

He instantly picked up the call.

“Hey, Senpai, how’s the situation?” he asked.

“I found Shouhei Hirai,” Mai told him. “He’s currently in a hospital.”

“A hospital?”

“Yes, he’s seriously injured and currently unconscious.”

“How could that be? I’m pretty sure that I only lightly injured him…” Seiji was astonished.

“I also inspected him with Astral Vision,” Mai continued. “I’m certain that there’s no undead spirit possessing him.”

“This…” Seiji was surprised to the point of not knowing what to say anymore.

“It seems that after battling with you, he fought with someone else, and was injured to this extent. Even the undead spirit was cleansed from him,” Mai added. “Judging by his injuries, it’s obvious that the person who did this must be a powerful Spiritual Ability user.”

Seiji was rendered speechless.

Shouhei Hirai was defeated by someone else!?

He was rather stunned by this occurrence.

Hey now, this scenario seemed wrong again!

After they located their opponent, they discovered that he was defeated by someone else and that he’d even been cleansed!?

Who did it? An enemy of his, or a passing-by defender of justice!?

A moment of silence fell between them.

“Since the enemy has already been defeated, does this mean that my task is completed?” Mai asked him.

“This… probably… I suppose so.”

Seiji had a conflicted expression. Shouhei Hirai was currently unconscious, so it would be impossible to ask him anything.

Everything was so perplexing!

Would the incident really end like this? It didn’t seem like so, but…

“If we want to know what happened, I suppose we can only wait for Hirai to wake up,” Seiji said, sighing.

“There’s another method as well. I could investigate where he lives, and perhaps there will be some clues,” Mai informed him.

“Oh, right… if we trouble you to do so, will you charge us additional fees?”

“Just count it as my full service instead. I’d feel awkward about accepting payment if things ended just like this,” the maid said with a chuckle. “I’ll get started on investigating Shouhei Hirai’s residence right away, and leave it up to you to tell Milady Amami about things.”

“Alright.”

They ended the call there.

Seiji immediately explained the situation to Mayuzumi and Saki.

When they heard that Shouhei Hirai was defeated already by some other person, both ladies revealed subtle expressions.

“No matter what, at least that guy won’t be attacking us again anytime soon. As for whether this is all over or not… it’s hard to say.” Seiji rubbed his chin in contemplation. “If Shouhei Hirai was behind all this, then it’s over. But if someone else cursed him and was manipulating him, that means there’s another perpetrator and this isn’t over yet!”