Dway pointed at the small, worm-like creature wriggling in Rea's head.
The health teacher muttered in disbelief.
"A demon, how can that be... We're inside the barrier, so demons shouldn't appear here..."
Dway responded to the question.
"...Judging by the amount of detected demonic aura, it seems to be a very weakened demon. It probably came from outside the barrier. If it's willing to be so weakened, it can enter the barrier. The problem is..."
"It's in someone's head, so we can't just mess with it, no matter how weak it is..."
Eve, who was standing beside him, said with a grimace.
The brain is the most sensitive and important organ in the human body. Even a slight damage could be disastrous, and with a demon settled there, it was bound to be difficult to handle, even if it was weakened.
Eve looked at the wriggling demon in Rea's head and said with a serious face.
"...Anyway, it's clear now that there's only one being who can control demons. She must have used this demon to manipulate Rea. Given that the demon is inside her head, there's no other explanation."
Hearing this, I said to Eve.
"That means the people the witch can control have demons in their heads. The scratch marks on the necks of those who were controlled might be because of the demons inside their heads."
"Even if they're weakened, the fact that they're in someone's head means we can't just mess with them... If we find people with scratch marks on their necks, we'll have to remove the demons from their heads somehow. What do we do? Even if we kill the demon with magic, the corpse might still release demonic aura."
At that moment, Leonoir, who had been listening to Eve, exclaimed in shock.
"...Wait, wait a moment. Are you saying that anyone with scratch marks on their necks can be controlled?"
"Senior, is something wrong?"
When I asked Leonoir, whose face had suddenly turned pale, she replied in a trembling voice.
"...I saw someone in our class this morning with a similar scratch."
Just as she said this, the dining hall outside became noisy.
"Be careful not to let the wound open!"
"Quickly move them to the dining hall!"
A group of students rushed into the dining hall, carrying one student who was bleeding profusely from multiple wounds all over his body.
Seeing his horrific state, I knew immediately that the witch had tried to manipulate someone else to kill this student.
"Teacher! Please save this kid! He was stabbed by someone!"
"First, carefully lay him down on the floor! Kid! Snap out of it!"
The health teacher ran to the student, who was still breathing but groaning, and at the same time, made eye contact with Eve.
I could tell what she was about to say.
We needed to find and stop the people being controlled before more victims appeared.
Eve looked at Leonoir and asked.
"Which student is it? The one with the scratch on their neck."
Leonoir replied.
"...It's not a student."
She stood up with a serious expression.
"...It's a group of students."
*
While checking around the school, I found a group of male students talking near the stairs. I noticed one of them and checked my reflection in the window.
My face was stiff.
I couldn't let this go, so I took a deep breath and muttered to myself.
Manage your expression. Manage your expression.
I slightly lifted the corners of my mouth, creating a somewhat convincing smile.
Feeling that this would do, I maintained the smile and slowly approached the male students.
One of them, who was staring at me as I approached, spoke up.
"Hey, you look like a junior. Do you have something to ask us?"
It turned out to be the person I had targeted. He was looking at me with a bit of suspicion.
To ease his suspicion, I kept my smile and replied.
"Yes, are you Senior Richard from 2-B? I'm Scarlett Evande from 1-A. I wanted to talk to you specifically."
"Talk to me?"
Richard seemed surprised to be called by name but seemed less suspicious because I was smiling.
Seizing the moment, I walked up to Richard and grabbed his arm.
I felt a bit uncomfortable due to the height difference, but I had to prevent him from running away.
I looked up at Richard, who was now close to me, and asked.
"I have something I want to talk about privately. Can you spare some time?"
"Wh-What? Of course."
Richard answered quickly, fidgeting.
I was relieved that he didn't refuse.
As I led him away, holding his arm, I heard the other male students muttering behind us.
"Unbelievable... How could Richard end up with such a cute girl..."
"Damn, I thought I'd escape before him."
Richard's steps became more confident for some reason.
I led Richard to a deserted landing.
Once we arrived, he seemed to tense up and asked in a trembling voice.
"...You said you wanted to talk. Why did you bring me to such a place..."
"...Just for a moment, can you lower your head a bit?"
I said, grabbing his collar and pulling it down.
I started unbuttoning his shirt from the top, which was buttoned up to the neck.
Richard, startled, trembled and said.
"H-Hold on, it's not after school yet, and there might be other students around..."
But as I silently unbuttoned his shirt and examined his neck, he blushed and closed his eyes.
After confirming the scratch on his neck, I raised my right hand and set a flame.
A prearranged signal.
The flame indicated that the scratch had been confirmed.
Then, a light flashed from above the landing.
"Kaboom!"
Struck by the light sphere from above, Richard let out a strange scream and rolled his eyes.
I caught him as he fell and slung him over my shoulder to check his condition.
Is his head okay?
I called out to the top of the landing.
"...Silvia, did you control your power properly?"
"I'm not used to making people unconscious, but I think it's fine. I made sure he was unconscious enough to avoid any danger to Miss Scarlett. From the outside, he looks fine."
Silvia, who had walked down the stairs, muttered as she looked at the unconscious Richard.
Her words were a bit unsettling, but since she wasn't the type to easily hurt people, I was relieved.
Leonoir had mentioned that there were three students in her class with neck scratches.
We had subdued one of them, and Silvia had come along to help.
I was worried that they might suddenly attack, but fortunately, we managed to subdue them without incident.
Concerned about the others, I quickly returned to the dining hall and let out a sigh of relief.
Yoon Siwoo and Leonoir, who had gone to subdue two other students, had also returned safely, and the two students they brought were lying in a glowing magic circle.
It was probably a restraining magic circle drawn by Dway, who had been waiting in the dining hall.
With this, even if they woke up, nothing serious would happen.
I laid Richard in the magic circle and asked Leonoir.
"Senior, did you have any trouble when you went to get them?"
"No, I just called them out from the group and brought them back unconscious."
I then asked Yoon Siwoo the same question.
He gave a similar answer.
So, I muttered in exasperation.
"...Damn, that means there are more people besides these."
The newly found victim student was covered in wounds.
Naturally, he must have bled a lot.
But the three people we had just subdued had no blood on them, and they were clean.
Moreover, if they had been with other students, it was highly unlikely that they were responsible for the attack.
We had only caught students from Leonoir's class, 2-B.
I had thought there might be people with neck scratches in other classes and among the teachers, and it seemed my suspicion was correct.
At that moment, Eve, who had gone to find more people, returned to the dining hall.
Her expression was much stiffer than when she left.
"I didn't expect there to be so many..."
Eve muttered and snapped her fingers, causing people to appear on the dining hall floor.
We gasped.
Over ten students.
All had neck scratches, and one of them had blood on their uniform, likely from the attack.
Including the ones we had just brought, there were now fifteen people in total.
Seventeen, if we included James and Rea.
Seeing so many people being controlled, I couldn't help but feel uneasy.
Suddenly, I felt a chill.
The signal was cut off.
Cut off.
And I realized the source of my unease.
I asked Eve in a trembling voice.
"...Teacher, if you suddenly can't do something you could before, you would know, right? For example, if you can't make phone calls now."
Eve tilted her head at my question, then looked in the direction I was staring and her face turned pale.
I was looking at the people being purified of demons.
If the witch suddenly couldn't control the people she was manipulating, she would know.
And if she realized she had been exposed, what would she do?
I didn't want to imagine it, but I had a feeling I knew.
Looking at the phone screen, I saw the signal was not being received.
It couldn't be just because of the heavy rain.
There must be a problem with the cell tower.
Eve ran to the window and opened it wide.
The rain was pouring heavily, and the city's landscape was faintly visible beyond it.
Seventeen people in the school.
How many more in the city?
The sound of the rain filled the air.
Rain.
Rain.
Screams.
*
Hmm, I thought I was being quite careful not to get caught.
I went through so much trouble to get new toys, and now they might be useless soon.
I did tell that kid not to get too excited, though.
It's not my fault.
I really hate it when others ruin my fun.
I just want to play to my heart's content.
Come on, kids.
[Go wild.]
Author's Note
The faint screams from the city beyond the rain.
I saw my mother spraying Febreze on the lettuce she was growing instead of a mister, saying, "Hmm, the scent is really nice when you grow it yourself."
Then, realizing what she had done, she washed it with water and pleaded for it to survive.
It was a more terrifying scene than a city full of people being controlled...