Chapter 400: Night of one hundred demons...
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
A while later, Mayuzumi and Reo who were both still drowsy went back to sleep.
Seiji continued observing them, and in the end, the abnormal scenes didn't reappear.
He was quite happy that his ominous premonition hadn't come to pass.
"Perhaps I really was thinking too much into it," he muttered to himself.
With a large amount of people, especially those in relevant fields working overtime, communications and internet systems were gradually restored.
The police received many emergency reports, and all ambulances were sent out, as well as many fire trucks were arriving at scenes of fires…
At the same time, relevant reports about this matter had already appeared on the internet and were the hottest topic at the moment.
Right on the New Year's, Sakura Island's capital city's electrical and communication systems all went down… This wasn't just a headline event for Sakura Island, this was at the level of international news!
The government made an official announcement about this: they were treating it as a terrorist attack!
The person or persons responsible were unknown, the motive was unknown, the goal was unknown, and the technique used was unknown… there was an ongoing investigation.
The government didn't say much about it, while the citizens had many comments about the situation on the internet. On the largest and most famous message forum, "Channel 22", there were various internet users arguing and debating over who the criminal was as well as what their motive was and how they did it.
However, it was still the middle of the night. If it was morning, the forums would be even more of a hotbed for discussion.
Just as everyone was focusing on the criminal, someone posted in celebration about how they were finally able to get online, making a post saying that they saw something scary while the electricity had been stopped.
"I saw a demon! It was definitely a Shutendoji! That was no cosplay!! I swear on my virginity that I'm not lying, it was definitely a real demon! I was almost killed!!"
There was even a photo attached to the post. However, it only had a hazy red figure, and was incomplete. All that could be seen was that the picture was of a young man.
"The picture's not very clear, but that's the only one I have… All I cared about was running for my life. I was so scared… I immediately called the police after cell phone services were restored, but they ignored me. I know that it sounds like a lie, and I wouldn't have believed it myself if I didn't experience it. But I did, and I swear that everything I say is true! I was quite awake, and it was definitely no hallucination!!"
At first, the tone of the post sounded normal. But by the end, it sounded rather desperate, and the words sounded like they contained fierce emotions.
The internet users that had seen so many strange and unbelievable things online before wouldn't easily believe such a ridiculous story. Naturally, they treated this post as something made-up for attention.
"Demon? Shutendoji? Even if you're trying to fool others, you should use something more interesting. Using such an old trick in the book? It doesn't sound scary at all."
"I agree with the above poster. Well, if the topic creator wanted people to comment on him in such a fashion, then I admit he succeeded."
"Compared to Shutendoji, I'd prefer to see Tamamo-no-Mae. Topic creator, if you go out on the streets again, perhaps you'll even be able to meet her."
"I agree with wanting to see Tamamo-no-Mae."
Nobody believed this topic creator.
However, similar posts appeared on the internet. Another topic creator claimed to have met a dog demon which seriously injured his friend!
"That dog had such a scary appearance! It didn't look like it was living at all. It resembled a zombie dog that you would see in a video game, but it felt like a demon…"
"I'm his friend, and we saw the same thing. Neither of us have ever seen such a dog before in any manga or video game! It definitely wasn't a hallucination for either of us!!"
"It was so sudden, so we weren't able to take a picture… who would remember to take a picture in such a situation!? They'd only think about escaping!!!"
"My friend's left hand was broken… the bones in his hand were crushed by the dog's bite…"
There were no pictures attached to this post, but the fear in the topic creators' words felt quite realistic.
Similar posts kept increasing in number.
Meeting female demons, seeing strange birds, seeing the dead, hearing abnormal sounds, and crashing into invisible objects… Some only saw, some met these things, some were injured, and some saw others being injured…
After so many posts of this nature, some were finally convinced.
Could this be actually real?
Most internet users were still disbelieving, but some now began to view it as "questionable" rather than "laughable."
At this time, someone said that these "posts about demons" were specifically done by an organization to spread panic and rumors in order to achieve whatever their objective was! This might even be related to the terrorist attack.
Many internet users believed this, so they now looked down upon the "posts about demons" even more.
Some of the topic creators posting about demons fell silent, while others continued arguing with the internet, doing their best to clear their names.
With more and more "posts about demons" appearing, some topics appeared to counter such topics.
Not only that, there were now also topics about seeing a middle-aged man using spells and talismans to fight against such demons, a "Spiritual Ability user."
There was a topic about "aliens" with strange appearances catching humans.
There was a topic about "ninjas" regarding several masked individuals wearing different colored outfits working together to attack a huge monster.
There was a post about "magical girls" where a beautiful girl wearing a black dress and wielding a crystal rod was fighting by herself against a large group of female demons.
Various posts kept appearing, and the forums were buried in discussions about the mystical.
Which were lies, jokes, and truth… nobody would be able to know.
The best way to bury the truth, apart from destroying it completely, was to make it hazy and use a large amount of similar but false information to cover it. Another way of saying it was to distract people's attention from the truth…
Seiji went online and browsed the Channel 22 message forum after he noticed that he had cell phone signal again. He immediately saw all the "posts about demons."
"Night of one hundred demons…?"
Not only did demons appear, there were also various other strange figures and things… should he be saying that the city was turning into something out of Natsume Yuujinchou?
His ominous premonition had come to fruition. Something flashed in Seiji's eyes.
What was the death and injury rate in the city? These demons that appeared, would they vanish after harming someone or after the night was over? Or would they continue existing? Was this Midnight Spell different from what he surmised? Was it a spell to tell ordinary people about the existence of the mystical rather than a spell to make new Spiritual Ability users appear?
Compared to the night of one hundred demons that was currently occurring, the abnormal scenes surrounding Sensei and Reo didn't seem like something much anymore. Perhaps it would be okay to tell Natsuya?
After thinking about it some more, he decided to continue observing the situation.
He then logged on to the chat group for his game group.
Hisashi was the only one online.
"Seigo, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, but not entirely alright… How about you?"
"I'm fine, but some of the people in in our mafia group met with strange incidents and were injured to the point of having to go to the hospital."
The words across the screen couldn't contain the emotions that Hisashi must have been feeling, but Seiji was able to feel Hisashi's seriousness.
Currently, Seiji wasn't talking to the otaku Hisashi, but instead Hisashi the son of the Juumonji mafia group.
"Are any of them seriously injured?"
"One of them is quite severely injured, and is in life-threatening danger."
"…What did he meet with?"
"Tengu."