Everyone fell silent for a moment.
“How’s Butterfly-san doing?” Ryuuma inquired.
“She’s alright. The issue has been taken care of,” Seiji replied. “In her place, I give her thanks for your assistance to her.”
“There’s no need for thanks. I simply judged that it would be beneficial for me if I helped her.”
“Even so, you were still a great help to her.”
“…In that case, since I helped her, could you answer a question of mine?” Something flashed in Ryuuma’s eyes.
“What is it?”
“Just what exactly will happen to Sakura Island?”
Seiji fell silent for a while after hearing this question.
“Ever since the Midnight Incident on New Year’s, things have gradually become strange in society,” Ryuuma continued. “Lots of supernatural events are being talked about on the internet. There’re also countless rumors in my school. Although maybe most of the content is fake, there should be at least a few true stories in there, and even if almost none of the stories are real, the few that are real already reflect how dangerous things have become. It’s the same for this so-called strange dream. This dream might even develop into a large-scale incident with many deaths… This type of incident might even be happening simultaneously with other such incidents. Will such a situation continue? Will things get worse in the future, or will they calm down?”
Only after hearing Ryuuma ask this did Isamu realize that this was the most important question he should have asked.
Ordinary people wouldn’t have any idea what would happen to Sakura Island. But, right now, there was a real Spiritual Ability user before them!
“I don’t know, either,” Seiji answered after he sipped on some more tea. “I’m the same as you guys. I don’t have the power to see in the future, so I have no idea how Sakura Island will change. I can only state my personal opinion, which is that mystical incidents will only become more common in the future. The forces that deal with such incidents are also improving their powers, but it’s quite difficult to say if they can completely control the situation and keep the peace.”
“It’s not that it’s difficult to say, it seems more like you don’t want to say it.” Ryuuma looked directly at Seiji. “You actually feel that it’s impossible to control the situation, don’t you?”
Seiji fell silent once again.
“If people like you were able to control the situation, then we wouldn’t have gotten involved in this strange dream in the first place. Nor would we be sitting here, talking to you,” Ryuuma spoke in an icy tone. “A large number of ordinary people was put in danger. This means the situation is already out of control! You mentioned that there will be more and more incidents in the future, which basically means that things will only become worse from now on.”
“It… couldn’t be?” Isamu couldn’t help but speak up.
Ryuuma looked at Isamu with an expression of “You’re an idiot who doesn’t understand anything.”
“Harano-kun… and other Spiritual Ability users of Justice like Harano-kun are currently working hard. They’ll definitely win over evil and maintain the peace.” Isamu reflexively said this out loud, but right after he said it, even he himself felt that it sounded really immature.
But even though he felt it was immature, wasn’t that how things worked logically?
If there were evil parties out there creating chaos, there would definitely be heroes of justice working to stop them!
Just like Seigo Harano before him.
Seigo had his companion, the Knight of Zero. Not only that, he probably had even more companions that Isamu didn’t know about. And apart from Seigo’s group, there were probably even more heroes fighting for the sake of justice out there while secretly protecting everyone!
“How childish… are you still in elementary school?” Ryuuma snickered.
“So what if it’s childish! Isn’t it the truth? We might have died already if it wasn’t for a Spiritual Ability user of justice like Harano-kun!” Isamu glared at Ryuuma.
“You don’t even know why you’re childish; such an unsalvageable idiot.”
“So what if I’m an idiot!? I admit that I’m not as smart as you, but I know that justice is the strongest, and heroes of justice are the strongest! Even if justice is sometimes temporarily disadvantaged, justice will definitely win in the end!!”
Ryuuma revealed an obviously condescending expression. He opened his mouth, but was unable to say anything else when faced with Isamu’s adamant expression of belief.
“Hmph… I can’t be bothered with debating an idiot like you.”
Seeing Ryuuma retract his gaze and calmly drink tea, Isamu felt that perhaps his own reaction had been a bit overboard.
Indeed, he wasn’t as smart as Ryuuma, but he was no real idiot.
Justice existed, although it might not be in the form that he wished for.
Justice was strong, but it also might not be as strong as he wanted.
Isamu knew that his own way of thinking was “childish”.
Yet, he didn’t want to abandon this childish way of thinking.
There was nothing wrong with the concept of justice defeating evil.
If there was something wrong with that concept, then something was wrong with the entire world!
Isamu was adamant in believing this.
This seemingly naïve way of thinking of his, if one analyzed it and thought of it as its own concept, had its own name as well—belief.
Seiji looked directly at Isamu.
Rather than the cool-looking Ryuuma, Isamu definitely looked just like an ordinary high school boy. Isamu had ordinary clothing, an ordinary hairstyle, and an only slightly above average appearance. There appeared to be no notable traits about him whatsoever. Basically, Isamu looked just like a random bystander.
However, Seiji felt that Isamu had potential, even more potential than Ryuuma.
“Justice is a heavy word, Seima-kun.” Seiji spoke what he truly believed. “Supporting justice is a good thing. But, sometimes, the situation will turn out to be different from what you imagine. What if the real situation is different from what you believed? Will you still be able to support justice? Just what exactly does justice mean to you? How much can you believe in it? How much can you persist in your beliefs? Only you can come up with the answers to these questions. I personally believe that justice rests within the individual. Not others, not an organization, but oneself. I’m quite happy that you believe what I’m doing to be justice. But, please, you must understand that I am not your justice. Your justice is within yourself.”
Seiji’s speech really moved Isamu.
“Boring…” Ryuuma spoke in a low voice.
Isamu glared at him once again.
Seiji chuckled, and then brought out his cell phone.
“Let’s stop here on this subject. We can play that game some more together.”
—–
Ordinary people believed that the Midnight Incident was the beginning of all the mystical incidents.
At first, Seiji believed this as well. But now, even though he still didn’t know what was behind the Midnight Incident, he felt that it likely wasn’t the true beginning at all.
The Soul World faction had been able to escape all responsibility for causing the Midnight Incident. Apart from the Spirit Worlds as a bargaining chip and the faction being sufficiently strong enough, Seiji felt that their being able to avoid responsibility also had to do with the secret behind the Midnight Incident.
The truth of the matter was still unknown.
Just like Ryuuma, he also wanted to know what Sakura Island would become like.
After he split from the two of them and started returning home, Seiji suddenly received a text message from Yui.
“I’ve finished reading your report. Contact me immediately if you see Itsuki Kamitani again.”
Seiji looked at the message for quite a while. He had to suppress his urge to immediately contact her and ask about the Midnight Incident as well as the future situation.
He probably wouldn’t receive an answer… and even if he did, he would still need to do the same things.
Seiji put away his cell phone, and saw a light pink flower petal gently falling before his eyes.
Although the flower was blossoming beautifully, it was already beginning to wilt.
The cherry blossoms merely bloomed for only a short while before falling down at the speed of five centimeters per second. Was it because they were so beautiful that people felt sadness, or was it because people felt sadness that they felt the blossoms were beautiful?
Seiji was somewhat able to understand the so-called concept of beauty in sadness regarding cherry blossoms. However, he still didn’t like this concept.
“People can actually feel reassured when they witness a beautiful banquet’s end.” This was a sentence that Seiji had heard in his previous life from an unknown source. Yet, it had left him a deep impression because of how contradictory the sentence sounded. Now, Seiji mulled it over once again, but was still unable to agree.
While beauty would indeed eventually fade, and it was normal to be sad over the fading beauty, liking this type of sadness and giving it praise seemed rather strange to Seiji.
The cherry blossoms were beautiful. In that case, it seemed fine to him to simply admire and enjoy this beauty.
Tomorrow would be the day that everyone went out for a picnic together to do cherry blossom viewing.