399 "Abnormal scene" (2/2)
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.