“I have nothing to do,” Tsukiyomi Ruri answered.
“Just because you have nothing to do? Really?” Mizuhashi Yuzuki leaned in suspiciously, her face drawing close to Ruri’s.
Their faces were very close now. Ruri could even clearly hear Yuzuki’s breathing, and it made her fingers slow down on the smartphone screen.
“I have nothing to do either. Let me watch you play.” Yuzuki said, naturally wrapping an arm around Ruri’s waist and looking curiously at the phone screen.
At the same time, Inoue Keiko was also asking Izumi Shirayuki for advice.
“Senpai, I want to be a confident person. How should I go about it?” Keiko asked, full of expectation.
In her eyes, as the president of the Urban Legend Club, Shirayuki had always been a very confident and charismatic person, the exact kind of role model she admired.
Shirayuki looked at Keiko, feeling a bit speechless.
This was a Reincarnator. Although she was a Low-Level Reincarnator, she was still a Reincarnator, right? How could a Reincarnator have no confidence in herself whatsoever?
And Keiko didn’t even know she was talking to a more powerful Reincarnator; as far as she knew, she was just talking to ordinary people. Even then, she lacked confidence?
Shirayuki patted Keiko on the shoulder. “Why don’t you just give up?”
Keiko’s eyes instantly became moist.
“Ahem, I’m joking. I’ll find some books for you online, all about building confidence.” Shirayuki quickly took out her phone and started talking.
Inside the still-unreopened Aragaki Girls’ High School, everything felt empty and deserted.
Hino Kaoru sat on a chair in an office, looking at a list with a serious expression.
‘The people in this Urban Legend Club… they all have a very high number of absences. Is this a coincidence?’
Kaoru was truly suspicious. Combined with all the other bits of information she had gathered so far, an unbelievable guess surfaced in her mind.
She took a deep breath and murmured, “Could this so-called Urban Legend Club actually be a group of Reincarnators? Are they all part of the same Reincarnator team?”
The possibility was quite high, considering the sheer number of coincidences.
Thinking it over, Kaoru sent a message to Fukuyama Shoichi’s phone: “I’m sending you the information on a few people I suspect are Reincarnators. Go investigate them. They’re currently in that mental hospital. One of them is even the daughter of the hospital director, so be careful during your investigation and don’t expose yourself.”
Fukuyama Shoichi didn’t reply.
Kaoru wasn’t surprised by this. After all, how could Shoichi, who was disguised as a mental patient, be carrying a phone on him? But she knew he could definitely receive her message.
Fukuyama Shoichi had been forcibly scrubbed clean, leaving him without a trace of stench. However, the other orderlies still kept their distance, afraid to get close.
Alone in his room, Shoichi’s eyes darted around. A card appeared in his hand.
Immediately after, Shoichi used his ability. A branch outside his window snapped off and fell to the ground, transforming into a small puppet.
“Go fetch my phone,” Shoichi commanded the puppet.
The puppet moved swiftly into the distance. Before long, it returned with a smartphone, passing it to Shoichi through the window.
Shoichi took the phone and immediately saw the message from Hino Kaoru.
‘These people might belong to the same Reincarnator team? Could the destruction of the Demon Spirit Group and the deaths of Adachi Tsukasa and Matsui Yuki also be related to them?’
Reading this, Shoichi’s expression turned grim.
After thinking for a moment, he replied to Kaoru: “I will investigate carefully. But there are many of them. If they are all Reincarnators, I will have to be doubly cautious. It will take more time.”
Kaoru’s reply came quickly: “No problem.”
Shoichi didn’t respond again. He turned off the phone and gave it back to the puppet, which hid it in a flower bed outside. The puppet then reverted to a branch and fell to the ground.
However, although it had returned to being a branch, its shape was slightly different from before, now bearing a vaguely humanoid quality.
Two days passed slowly.
Under the orderlies’ strict supervision, Shoichi couldn’t easily come into contact with filth anymore, much to the relief of everyone in the mental hospital.
Ruri and the others also left their rooms again, strolling around the hospital grounds.
“Ah, this is sunshine and fresh air,” Yuzuki said, spreading her arms joyfully.
“Great Sage, I like fresh air and sunshine too,” a voice sounded from nearby.
Yuzuki’s movements instantly froze. She turned her head towards the source of the voice.
The one who spoke was, of course, Gounon, wearing his patient’s gown. He walked out from behind a tree with a smile.
“When did you get back?” Shirayuki asked, surprised to see him.
“Get back? I am originally a person of this realm,” Gounon said, looking as if he didn’t understand the question.
Right now, the mental patient Gounon was being watched by several orderlies. This time, it was one of the nearby orderlies who answered, explaining that Gounon had been sent back early in the morning.
After all, he was a mental patient who couldn’t communicate normally. What else could they do but send him back?
“Great Sage, I am very happy to see you. Please help me,” Gounon said with a solemn expression, then turned to Ruri and the others. “Please, you three Envoys must help me too.”
Hearing the term “Envoys,” the three of them didn’t know what to say.
“Help you with what? Didn’t you already take care of the Devil Lord? You’re a very successful Hero,” Yuzuki said, puzzled.
“I sense the aura of a Devil God,” Gounon declared gravely. “A Devil God is an existence even stronger than a Devil Lord.”
The group exchanged glances.
Naturally, none of them believed in Devil Lords or Devil Gods. Hearing Gounon’s words, they knew his illness was acting up again, that he had upgraded his imaginary former enemy, the Devil Lord, into a Devil God.
The orderlies started watching Gounon even more closely. Before, Gounon had identified someone as a Devil Lord and killed them outright. Could he do the same thing again, identifying someone as a Devil God?
One orderly even started secretly calling Mizuhashi Tetsukotsu.
“I am no match for the Devil God, I know this clearly. Please, Great Sage, you must help me,” Gounon said, his gaze burning intensely as he stared at Yuzuki.
As a Great Sage, Yuzuki could only nod in a divinely mystical manner. “Of course, there is no problem. As the Great Sage, I will certainly face the fearsome Devil God alongside you.”
Gounon revealed a gratified smile.
His feelings weren’t groundless. When he returned early this morning, he had faintly sensed someone watching him from the shadows. That gaze gave him an intense sense of familiarity, causing a sliver of fear to well up from deep inside him.
Gounon knew that the evil Great Devil God must have set its sights on him. Against such a terrifying existence, not even a Hero like himself would be a match. He absolutely had to get the Great Sage’s help.
“Great Sage, how do you plan to help me?” Gounon asked Yuzuki.
Yuzuki: “…”
Did she also have to come up with a plan? This was truly difficult for her.
“I’m hungry. I’m going to eat first. Great Sage and Hero, you two can continue your discussion,” Ruri said. Not wanting to participate in such an embarrassment-inducing topic, she decisively left.
“I’m hungry too,” Shirayuki immediately chimed in, waving with a giggle. “I’ll be off too.”
“M-Me too,” Keiko hastily added.
This situation made Yuzuki even more helpless, and her gaze towards the three of them became particularly full of resentment.
Shirayuki consoled her, “You have experience dealing with mental… uh, Heroes. So you handle this yourself. Bye-bye.”
Shirayuki didn’t have a shred of curiosity about this so-called Great Devil God. After all, it was just a delusion cooked up by a mental patient. It would be strange if she were curious.
Half an hour later, Gounon, having received guidance from the Great Sage, contentedly returned to his ward.
“The Great Sage told me to train often to improve myself. So, I’m going to rest now. Don’t come and disturb me. Report to me when I awake,” Gounon said to the orderlies, treating them completely like his subordinates.
The orderlies were, of course, very dissatisfied with this assigned role. But seeing that Gounon was about to take a nap, they were happy about it. It meant they could rest a bit too—the orderlies had learned from experience: Gounon’s so-called “training” was just sleeping.
“You have a good sleep… uh, train hard.”
The orderlies all filed out of the room and locked the door.
As for the iron bars over the window, they had all been fully repaired. Normally, an ordinary person would have no way to escape outside through the window again.
Gounon lay on his bed and closed his eyes.
“Silence Domain!”
Just then, a voice came from outside the window.
Gounon looked up in confusion. Outside the window, at some unknown time, a person had appeared. He was decked out in trendy clothes with long hair and was wearing headphones, looking directly at him.
The moment he saw this person, Gounon’s body instinctively twitched. An inexplicable panic rose in his heart, and he felt an urge to turn tail and run immediately.
He didn’t know why these emotions were surfacing, but his breathing quickened.
“You don’t remember me? As I thought, your mind truly bears some trauma.” Alkaid looked at Gounon and smiled.
“Great Devil God? Are you the Great Devil God?” Gounon clutched his head, as if remembering something, and shrieked, “Great Sage! Great Sage, where are you? Come save me!”
Alkaid smiled gently. “Don’t panic. I am not the Great Devil God. Nor will I harm you. I’ve come to you with good intentions.”
He didn’t mind Gounon’s shouting. He had already used his ability, [Silence Domain], to mute all sound within the area. Even if someone outside had their ear pressed against the door, they wouldn’t hear a single sound from the ward.
“You won’t harm me? And you’re not the Great Devil God?” Gounon stared at Alkaid.
“That’s right. I’ve come to cooperate with you. Shall we face the Great Devil God together? I know where the Great Devil God is,” Alkaid said, his eyes flickering. “The Great Devil God, you see, also goes by another name: Dubhe.”
“The Great Devil God is called Dubhe?” Gounon looked at him.
“Yes, Dubhe,” Alkaid nodded.
Although Gounon appeared to have significant mental issues and was a genuine psychiatric patient, it didn’t matter. As long as Gounon still possessed his fighting strength, he could be used, becoming a massive bargaining chip for Alkaid’s betrayal of his team.
Of course, just adding Gounon to the equation wasn’t enough. Many more preparations needed to follow. But being able to take this step was a happy occasion.
“Are you really not the Great Devil God? Why do I feel like you’re very evil when I look at you?” Gounon asked suspiciously.
“It’s because I was once a subordinate of the Great Devil God. Perhaps I’m tainted by some evil aura. But I have since repented. From now on, I will follow you, Hero, on a campaign against the Great Devil Lord,” Alkaid said with a smile.
Before coming, he had secretly investigated Gounon’s condition. Therefore, inserting himself into Gounon’s train of thought to communicate wasn’t impossible.
“Ah, so that’s it. No wonder you feel a bit scary to me,” Gounon believed him and showed a smile.
Mainly, relying on his intuition, he truly hadn’t felt any malice from Alkaid. He trusted his gut feeling.
Alkaid continued, “Hero, to deal with the Great Devil God, we need to make some preparations in secret. You mustn’t reveal my existence before then. After all, the Great Devil God doesn’t know of my betrayal yet.”
Gounon nodded quickly. “I understand. I won’t expose you. Once you’ve made a contribution in dealing with the Great Devil God, I will reward you handsomely.”
“Then I thank you in advance, Hero,” Alkaid said, smiling.
Just then, his phone started to ring.
Alkaid picked it up and looked at the screen. It was a message from the one codenamed Dubhe, asking if he had found Gounon.
Alkaid tapped his fingers on the screen and replied, “Locking onto Gounon’s position still needs some time. And even if I find him, it won’t be easy to make a move against him. I need more time.”
“Make it quick,” Dubhe messaged.
“Understood, Commander,” Alkaid sent back a smiling emoji.
A modest-sized mental hospital was now a place of treacherous undercurrents.
Elsewhere, Fukuyama Shoichi was feeling rather troubled. He was finding it difficult to get close to Mizuhashi Yuzuki and the others. Under these circumstances, what should he do?
Unable to get close, he couldn’t assess many things. Perhaps he needed to think of a way.
“Perhaps… it’ll have to be like this?” Shoichi muttered to himself, an idea already forming.
