“It looks like a Mid-Level Reincarnator team. Every one of them is Mid-Level. Good, I’m coming over now.” Hino Kaoru was very satisfied with Fukuyama Shoichi’s analysis.
“I’ll wait for you, Commander,” Fukuyama Shoichi replied with a laugh.
Their Flame Bird Group’s Commander was already a Senior Reincarnator. Dealing with a few Mid-Level Reincarnators would be child’s play.
‘Finally, I won’t have to pretend to be a mental patient anymore. I never want to touch that filth again!’
Fukuyama Shoichi thought to himself, once again deeply moved by his own sacrifice.
Receiving Mizuhashi Yuzuki’s message, Izumi Shirayuki immediately brought Tsukiyomi Ruri and Inoue Keiko over to Yuzuki’s side.
There were many rooms around Mizuhashi Tetsukotsu’s office. Yuzuki was lying on a bed in the adjacent room.
“Where did you fall?” Izumi Shirayuki asked anxiously upon arrival.
“On my lower back. Hurry, help me apply some ointment.” Yuzuki’s face was scrunched up in pain.
Izumi Shirayuki walked over and lifted Yuzuki’s clothes to take a look.
She saw a slight swelling on Mizuhashi Yuzuki’s lower back. Upon seeing this injury, both Tsukiyomi Ruri and Izumi Shirayuki’s gazes sharpened.
Unlike the less experienced Inoue Keiko, they could tell at a glance that this wasn’t an injury from a fall. So why wasn’t Yuzuki telling the truth?
‘Did she encounter a Reincarnator?’
Tsukiyomi Ruri pondered silently and quickly guessed the truth. After all, the only thing that could normally injure a Reincarnator was another Reincarnator.
This also made Ruri think of the Flame Bird Group. Had they really come to cause trouble at this mental hospital and run into Yuzuki?
“Where exactly did you fall?” Izumi Shirayuki asked again at that moment.
She still didn’t know Yuzuki was a Reincarnator. Although she was puzzled by Yuzuki’s lack of honesty, she didn’t dwell on it.
As she spoke, Izumi pulled out the anti-swelling ointment Yuzuki had prepared and handed it to Tsukiyomi Ruri.
Tsukiyomi Ruri: “???”
“Ruri, you apply the ointment for Yuzuki,” Shirayuki said with a mischievous grin.
Hearing this, Yuzuki offhandedly mentioned the location where she got hurt. To her, there wasn’t anything particularly noteworthy there. Besides, in her eyes, apart from Inoue Keiko being a Low-Level Reincarnator, the rest were ordinary people.
After learning the location, Izumi Shirayuki waved and said, “I suddenly need the restroom. I’ll be gone for a moment.”
Mizuhashi Yuzuki, afraid Izumi might run into the enemy, quickly called out, “Be quick about it.”
The sudden movement made her twist her sore lower back again, and she grimaced in pain.
Seeing this, Tsukiyomi Ruri looked at the ointment bottle in her hand and reluctantly moved behind Yuzuki, her gaze falling on the fair skin of Yuzuki’s back.
“Ruri, sorry to trouble you with the ointment. Keiko, can you get me a glass of water?” Yuzuki said, still lying prone.
Inoue Keiko went to get water.
Tsukiyomi Ruri poured the ointment into her hands, then placed them on Yuzuki’s lower back.
“Nn…” Yuzuki let out a soft moan.
“Don’t make weird sounds,” Ruri said flatly.
“It’s just the ointment. It’s so cold. The sudden touch caught me off guard,” Yuzuki explained.
Ruri didn’t respond further, her hands gently massaging the swollen area on Yuzuki’s lower back.
Yuzuki’s skin was truly smooth, like silk to the touch. As Ruri continued the motion, the temperature of that area slowly rose.
‘She must have run into a Reincarnator, most likely from the Flame Bird Group. But Izumi Shirayuki has gone to check the situation. She should be able to handle it, right?’
Tsukiyomi Ruri knew perfectly well that Izumi hadn’t actually gone to the restroom. She had gone to investigate the scene of Yuzuki’s injury to see if she could find any clues.
Of course, even if Shirayuki found nothing, Ruri could always go back and inspect the scene herself later.
“Ah…” Yuzuki let out another sound.
“What are you doing?” Ruri was snapped back from her wandering thoughts by the noise.
“Ruri, can you press a bit lighter? I’m an injured person here. You suddenly put so much more force into it,” Yuzuki said pitifully.
“Got it. I was just daydreaming,” Ruri said, lightening her touch.
Meanwhile, Izumi Shirayuki arrived at the spot where Yuzuki had been hurt.
She stood by the flowerbed and looked around. Her gaze quickly fell inside it. She walked over and picked up a piece of wood from within.
To an ordinary person, this piece of wood might not seem worth paying attention to. But Izumi Shirayuki, looking at it—its shape somewhat twisted, vaguely humanoid—appeared thoughtful.
‘In a past Reincarnation World, I saw a Reincarnator use the 【Puppet Man】 ability. It could turn nearby wood into controllable puppet men. Afterwards, the puppets would turn back into wood, but their form would be distorted in a certain way. It looked just like this.’
Shirayuki found two such pieces of wood, and her expression turned complex.
A Reincarnator had been here, not long ago.
Mizuhashi Yuzuki was injured here.
So, was Yuzuki a Reincarnator?
This realization truly took Izumi by surprise. She never imagined that within her Urban Legend Club, besides herself and Inoue Keiko, there was another Reincarnator.
‘If Yuzuki is a Reincarnator, then does that mean people from the Flame Bird Group came for revenge and ran into her?’
Izumi quickly arrived at this conjecture.
She couldn’t help but tilt her head back and let out a long sigh, doing her best to accept this possibility in her heart.
Tossing the two pieces of wood back into the flowerbed, Izumi Shirayuki turned and headed back.
On the way back, she began to ponder how she should face Yuzuki. And if both Yuzuki and Inoue Keiko were Reincarnators, what about Tsukiyomi Ruri?
Izumi Shirayuki felt she might find an opportunity to test things out.
If everyone was a Reincarnator, there might be no need to hide their identities from each other anymore. They could just be open and honest, making it much easier to get along in the future.
Tsukiyomi Ruri had just finished applying the ointment for Yuzuki when Izumi Shirayuki returned.
Looking at her companions in the room, Izumi’s gaze was slightly complicated.
Yuzuki and Keiko didn’t notice the change in Izumi’s look, but Tsukiyomi Ruri did, her mind already churning with thought.
‘She went out, came back, and her attitude seems different. Especially the way she looks at Yuzuki is a little off. Did something happen?’
Tsukiyomi Ruri pondered silently, forming a few guesses.
