Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

  Mai entered Shouhei Hirai's residence.

  Regardless of whether it was her normal eyesight or Astral Vision, she couldn't detect anything unusual in his residence.

  Even after a detailed investigation, she couldn't find anything related to Spiritual Ability users.

  Shouhei Hirai seemed just like an ordinary white-collar worker. But it was also possible that he owned another residence.

  There was an elementary school girl named Reo Tachibana who also lived together with him. Based on the information she already received from her temporary employer, she knew that this girl was his niece.

  Mai easily discovered Reo's bookbag and school uniform. It seemed that this girl hadn't gone to school today.

  Although Reo was just a little girl, she was still someone that lived together with Shouhei Hirai. Perhaps something could be learned if Mai found her and asked some questions. Besides, this elementary school girl was neither at school nor home; where else could she even go? Mai was somewhat curious about the answer to this question, so she decided to search for Reo.

  She collected some of Reo's hair from her room, drew a spell formation in the living room, and cast a spell, using Reo's hair as the catalyst.

  The spell was successful. A cyan-colored ball formed in midair. Within it were a few black strands, and they pointed in a direction like a compass. However, they were unsteady and kept trembling.

  Mai roughly followed the direction that her spell indicated.

  …


  While on the monorail back to the city, Seiji took the opportunity to make a phone call at another seat. Mayuzumi and Saki were resting against each other for a small nap.

  The call connected.

  "President, I'm sorry to bother you yet again, but this is important. I learned some new information about the person at the center of the incident this morning…"

  Seiji recounted the story Saki had told him to Natsuya.

  Natsuya was silent for a moment as she mulled it over.

  "The Story of One Hundred Demons game… this actually originates from an ancient ritual. It's a horrifying ritual which demands the sacrifice of one hundred young children and uses the power of their deaths to open the gates of hell. No records that explain the specifics of the ritual and its origins remain. It's said that it was intentionally stopped by someone. And this specific someone was that famous ancestor of yours."

  'I'm hearing about you again, my ancestor.' Seiji raised his brows.

  "The basic legend goes like this: there was an organization by the name of 'Eternity' that performed this ritual and caused great havoc. Seimei Kamijou led his numerous retainers in a fierce battle against them and finally succeeded in closing the gates of hell.

  "Since Seimei Kamijou judged this ritual to be incredibly evil and harmful, he decided to eliminate all those who intended to use this ritual, as well as obstruct the knowledge about this ritual from passing down through the ages.

  "As it stands today, at least on the surface, the knowledge about this ritual has been lost to time. But the Story of One Hundred Demons game, which imitated this ritual, has been passed down.

  "There's a very low probability of this game causing any actual harm. Playing this game a thousand times might not result in even a single incident.

  "However, no matter how low the probability, there's still some danger involved, since it's still fundamentally an imitation of the original ritual. And the ritual it imitates is something frightening—frightening enough to give pause to the strongest Yin-Yang Master in history.

  "Unfortunately, your two friends involved in this incident met with that improbable occurrence and must have summoned something very real.

  "But to find fortune among misfortune, they didn't die from it. As for the person in question to suffer from the same nightmares as before, it's quite likely that some sort of lingering aftereffect was triggered again.

  "As for what the aftereffect is, what the trigger could be, and how to cure it… these issues can only be dealt with after a specialized examination."

  "So," Seiji asked, "we need to take her to that hospital, right?"

  "Yes," Natsuya replied.

  "I'll tell her about it in a bit."

  After thanking Natsuya again, Seiji hung up the call and returned to his seat.

  As he looked at the two ladies opposite him sleeping peacefully, he decided to tell them about going to the hospital after they woke up.

  At this moment, he noticed Mayuzumi had begun to furrow her brows.

  "Nooo…" she mumbled in a tiny voice. Her body began to tremble, and her face was twisted in pain.

  'Is she having another nightmare?'

  Seiji hurriedly checked her condition with [Astral Vision], but he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

  It was just like his previous inspection. Everything seemed normal; one the surface, nothing about her differed from any other ordinary person.

  Suddenly Mayuzumi's trembling began to intensify, and beads of cold sweat dripped down from her brow. "Ah…" she moaned. "Hah… Uhh… No…"

  Saki opened her eyes and looked at her good friend beside her.

  "Mayuzumi!" the editor shouted, her face filled with concern.

  "Is she having another nightmare?" Seiji asked for confirmation.

  "That's right… those are her symptoms." Saki hugged Mayuzumi tightly and whispered into her ear: "Mayuzumi, hurry and wake up! I'm right here, right by your side. You're in a dream; don't get lost in it! Open your eyes and wake up!"

  After calling out to her like this for a while, the manga author slowly opened her eyes.

  There was a confused look in her eyes that gradually cleared as her body also slowly stopped shaking.

  "Saki…" Mayuzumi murmured softly.

  "You're alright, you're alright…" the editor cooed gently, hugging her.

  Mayuzumi blinked before melting into Saki's embrace, the look on her face changing to a peaceful one.

  Seiji quietly watched this scene.

  Even during the nightmare, he couldn't see anything unusual with [Astral Vision]… which meant that the cause was deeply rooted within her.

  He recalled Shika's condition when she had amnesia. Natsuya had told him that any spells which couldn't be detected on the surface were most likely hidden in the soul!

  No matter what Sensei was currently experiencing, if it couldn't be detected on the surface, it meant it was highly likely that it was embedded in her soul layers. This made it rather difficult to deal with.

  Would he have to do the same thing as he did with Shika, and search Mayuzumi's soul and battle within it?

  After the two ladies calmed down, Seiji spoke up: "About nightmares, I have to explain something…"

  After hearing his explanation, the manga author agreed to get a checkup at the hospital.

  "What's the probability of them being able to cure Mayuzumi?" Saki asked.

  "I don't know, but… personally speaking, it might be rather difficult," Seiji answered.

  The editor became downcast after she understood.

  "Don't need to worry so much, Saki. Even if I'm not cured, I'll probably be fine after some time passes." Mayuzumi turned around and was now consoling her friend instead. "They're just dreams. I'm fine, really…"

  "You're not fine at all!" Saki suddenly burst out with this, before hugging Mayuzumi tightly again. "It's not fine… I know… about your pain…"

  "Saki…" Mayuzumi protested weakly.

  "I'm sorry, Mayuzumi… it's all because of me…"

  Mayuzumi hugged her friend tightly as well. "It's not your fault… I said this before as well—stop thinking like that."

  "Mayuzumi…"

  "Although we met with something scary, I actually had lots of fun being together with you at that time," the manga author told her gently. "Don't blame yourself anymore. That truly wasn't your fault, Saki."

  The editor was unable to respond.

  Seiji was rather moved as he watched them.

  "Without a detailed checkup to find out the situation, I can't promise anything. But as long as there's a chance, I'll do whatever I can to help cure Sensei," he told them.

  After all, it might be another chance at a soul battle for him!

  The last curse on Shika had been relatively easy for him to dispel. Just dealing with a mere nightmare seemed even easier to him.

  'No matter what strange things come at me, I shall destroy them all with my own copied Imagination Breaker!'