Chapter 399: "Abnormal scene"
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
This scene caused Seiji to recall when he was fighting Reo who had lost control of herself.
At that time, it was as if she was possessed, with a green-winged beautiful woman's ethereal shadow behind her. She had been able to shoot her feathers as a method of attacking.
Was the mysterious power activated again due to the influence of that strange spell?
It seemed likely to him.
The situation seemed better than that time since there was no black mist… but he couldn't know if there would be any black mist later.
Should he wake Reo up now?
Just as Seiji was thinking about it, she made a sound from the hospital bed.
"Mmm…" Reo was moving.
All of the falling feathers instantly disappeared.
Reo slowly opened her eyes.
"Harano onii-san…"
"How do you feel?" Seiji asked in concern.
"I had a dream… I dreamed that I went to the amusement park together with onii-san." The little girl rubbed her eyes.
An amusement park… Seiji recalled that they had visited an amusement park together before in her soul realm.
"Just a dream? You didn't feel anything else?"
"…I also feel a little uncomfortable." Reo looked towards the IV drip in her hand, then glanced over at the IV bottle.
Since her fever hadn't receded yet, it was only natural for her to feel uncomfortable.
"The doctor's medicine seems to be quite effective. At this rate, your fever should be gone by morning."
"Oh…"
Reo began looking around the hospital room.
Although Seiji wanted to have her continue to sleep, would those feathers reappear if she fell asleep again? Should he let things be? Seiji mulled things over.
"Reo, there's some manga available here. How about reading one?"
"Sure." The little girl nodded.
Seiji brought over a manga for her from the bookshelf in the room.
Reo sat upright and began reading the manga. Seiji indicated to Shika that he was leaving for a bit, then headed to Mayuzumi's hospital room to check on her.
He saw that there was an abnormal scene in her room as well!
Some blue lanterns were floating around the mangaka's hospital bed, white flames quietly burning within them.
Seiji had seen identical lanterns in the soul realm before, when Mayuzumi had combined with Hinako Haza and transformed into "Blue Lantern Ghost."
He walked up closer and observed.
"Harano, what's the matter?"
Saki, who just walked out of the restroom, saw that there was something off about his behavior.
"Editor Yoshizawa, please don't approach here for the moment." Seiji held up his hand.
Saki paused in her footsteps.
"What exactly happened?"
"Sensei's mysterious power has been activated. There's some things around us right now."
He didn't know if these lanterns would be dangerous, so he asked the editor to stay at a distance just in case.
If they were touched, would they disappear just like Reo's feathers, or would there be some other reaction?
Seiji wanted to confirm it; even if there was the possibility that they would explode on touch… although he felt that was highly unlikely.
What exactly were these, anyways? Astral projections? Materializations of Mana? Personal barriers?
Should he contact Natsuya and discuss things with her again?
Her current situation was one where she was forced to report any relevant information to her family, and Seiji didn't want Reo and Sensei to get involved…
He mulled it over for a while.
He decided not to tell Natsuya about these abnormal scenes for the time being. Nor would he attempt to investigate. He would simply observe.
Seiji looked towards the quietly sleeping Mayuzumi.
"Sensei, wake up." He attempted to wake her.
"Mmm…" The mangaka reacted to his calling her.
In just an instant, all the blue lanterns disappeared in exactly the same fashion as Reo's feathers.
When she opened her eyes, Mayuzumi began smiling foolishly upon seeing Seiji by her bedside.
"Seiji~" she called out intimately to him.
Seiji was surprised and astonished.
Seeing his surprise, the mangaka's expression froze over as well. She finally woke up fully due to this.
"No… not Seiji… Saki brought me to the hospital, where I met Haruta-kun…"
Her face instantly turned bright red as she had an embarrassed expression.
"Sensei… were you dreaming just now?" Seiji tried asking.
"Wah!!!"
Mayuzumi let out a sound of embarrassment and averted her gaze.
Seiji was rendered speechless.
He really wanted to know what dream she was having, but also faintly perceived that it would be best not to ask.
There was an awkward atmosphere.
"Cough… Sensei, you seem pretty spirited, that's great… I'll come back again later." He could only retreat for the time being.
"Harano…" Saki called out to him.
"It's okay to approach now, Editor Yoshizawa." Seiji walked out of the room as he said this.
She walked over to the bed and asked out of concern, "Mayuzumi, what's the matter?"
"Saki… I'm so embarrassed…" the mangaka said in a low tone.
After having such a dream and believing herself to still be dreaming after waking up, then calling the real Seiji's name in such a tone of voice… She wanted to go hide in a hole somewhere!
Why did she have such a dream? Honestly, she was…
Seiji reentered Mayuzumi's hospital room after checking up on Reo one more time and waiting a sufficient length of time that he figured she could calm down in.
"Sensei, there's something I have to discuss with you."
"Haruta-kun… That now was…" Mayuzumi's face was still slightly red.
"It's not about the dream, it's about the abnormal scenes."
"'Abnormal scenes?'" Saki blinked at this.
Seiji nodded.
He explained how he had just witnessed many lanterns around Mayuzumi using [Astral Vision], as well as the feathers that appeared around Reo.
"For now, I've been calling them abnormal scenes. Judging from the current situation, they appear when Sensei and Reo are dreaming. If this is just a temporary phenomenon, then it's fine, but if it continues going on, then we need to take steps to understand it, whether it's dangerous and how it can be controlled…
"Not only that…" Seiji paused for a moment. "The magic spell cast at midnight—I'm calling it the 'Midnight Spell' for now—that spell caused all the communications and electronic systems in the city to collapse and caused major damage. Currently, many Spiritual Ability users are investigating. They'll be searching for any relevant information. My guess is that the Midnight Spell used something similar to the mysterious power, which affected Sensei and Reo. And as long as Sensei and Reo get exposed, they'll become targets of other Spiritual Ability users' investigations. Who knows how they'll be treated then. Natsuya is currently under pressure from her own family, so she had to report information about Sensei and Reo to them. However, she cleverly hid the critical information, so her report wasn't viewed as important. But, with these abnormal scenes appearing… If she reports this information, it'll be quite difficult to still pull the wool over her family's eyes. That's why I don't want to tell Natsuya about this situation. However, if we don't tell her, she won't be able to help us, and it'll be difficult to understand what this phenomenon is. In the end, I'm still just a newcomer to Spiritual Abilities, and Shika lacks relevant knowledge as well…" Seiji sighed.
A moment of silence fell between them.
"At any rate, I hope that these abnormal scenes won't keep appearing. That way, we won't have to think too much about it." He smiled wryly as he glanced towards the mangaka. "Rest up well for now, Sensei. We can see how things are after the fever recedes."
Mayuzumi nodded.
'Hopefully, it's only a temporary influence and everything will go back to normal after tonight." Seiji truly hoped for this.
However, he had a faint premonition that this hope of his wouldn't come to fruition.
The Midnight Spell… this mysterious and powerful spell cast by an unknown entity. Was the only purpose to have the entire city's population experience what it was like to have no electricity and internet and communications?
Although having none of the above was quite a serious situation already, Seiji felt like things wouldn't be so simple.
Sensei and Reo were affected and showed "abnormal scenes…" In this city that had a population of well over one million, how many people would there be that were experiencing similar things?
Was this the real purpose of the midnight spell? Was this its intended effect?
Something flashed in Seiji's eyes as he slowly turned to look outside the window.
Everything was pitch-black outside.