324 Could the Already Deceased Uehara-San Have Been… (1/2)

A lake… it was a beautiful lake.

The clean waters of the lake glittered a beautiful blue under the sun. Fish of all kinds swam in lazy circles beneath the clear blue water.

Seiji realized that he was sitting at the edge of the lake, with a fishing pole in his hands. The fishing pole currently had its line cast out far into the waters, and bait was connected to it.

”This is…” Seiji was astonished for mere moments before he was overcome by a sudden urge.

'I'm currently fishing. I absolutely have to succeed in catching a fish. I'll fail if I don't catch anything.'

'Wait, why am I thinking like this?' Seiji was suspicious of his unnatural state of mind.

He felt that this was very strange, and he wanted to stand up and check out the situation, but… he couldn't move!

He was unable to stand, he couldn't let go of the fishing pole, and he couldn't even turn his head. Some invisible force was preventing him from doing so.

Suddenly, the fishing line jerked, and a force pulled upon the pole.

'I've hooked a fish! I have to catch it,' the voice in his head urged.

Seiji reflexively tightened his grip on the fishing pole and attempted to pull the fish in.

However, this fish struggled mightily with much power. It tugged the fishing pole around and around as it swam back and forth speedily.

'Damn it! What the hell type of fish is this!? It's way too strong!'

Seiji gritted his teeth, and his knuckles paled as he clenched the fishing pole. If it were not for his efforts, the fishing pole would have long since fallen into the lake.

The stalemate with the fish continued for a while. Seiji was vividly aware of his sore, throbbing arms.

Suddenly, the force tugging on the fishing line weakened.

Seiji instinctively realized that this was a chance, so he used all his remaining energy to viciously pull up the fishing pole!

*Splash!!*

A large, strange fish that resembled some type of carp was tugged out of the lake, spraying water everywhere.

He had successfully caught the fish. The scenery around Seiji began to change once again.

The moment that Seiji put down his player piece on the board, Shika immediately cast Astral Vision as she noticed something had happened.

She saw an extremely complex spell formation floating above the game board, glowing gold-red. It tangled itself around Seiji's player piece and engulfed his entire body with its glow!

”Brother!” Shika shouted in surprise and fear.

Before she even finished speaking, the gold-red glow tangled itself around everyone else's player pieces as well and flashed blindingly.

After she was hit by the light, Shika saw a different scene from the living room she was just in.

She saw Seiji wearing a fisherman's hat and rain cape. He was sitting by the lake with a fishing pole in his hands!

She witnessed the entire process of Seiji catching his fish.

After he succeeded in catching that large, strange fish, the scene in front of her changed again. She returned to her own living room.

Seiji also discovered that he had returned to his living room, still sitting by the kotatsu's side.

'What just happened?' Just as he was thinking this, he noticed how everyone else was looking at him with strange expressions.

”Brother… were you fishing just now?” Shika asked.

Seiji blinked in realization. ”Yes… I was just fishing by the lake and caught a large, strange fish… how did you know?”

”I saw you,” Shika said.

”Me too,” Kaede added.

”Same for me,” Mika said.

”I saw it as well,” Reo chimed in. ”Brother Harano caught a really large fish.”

Seiji was astonished to hear all this. ”All of you saw this… it wasn't just a hallucination?”

”It's because of this board game,” Shika explained.

Seiji cast [Astral Vision] and also saw the spell formation glowing brightly.

”This board game… just what exactly could it be?” he wondered aloud.

At this moment, Mika raised her hand and was about to toss the dice.

”Stop! Don't toss the dice!!” Seiji hurriedly moved to stop her.

Mika suddenly regained her senses, but her hands shook, and she accidentally dropped her die, which rolled and revealed a three.