As Seiji expected, the man didn't reply.

'Well, I'll just have to find an opportunity to remove this fellow's mask and sungla.s.ses to find out what he looks like.'

Actually, Seiji had wanted to do that already, but his opponent was quite strong, and he couldn't find any opportunities.

He decided to use one of his abilities.

When the black-jacketed man rushed him once again, Seiji lifted his hand and opened it in midair.

[Telekinesis technique—Ice Prison]!

Seiji locked on to his target and cast a spell which stopped the black-jacketed man in his tracks.

'This is my chance!'

Seiji rushed forwards and slapped the man's face with his left hand, ripping off the mask and sungla.s.ses as well as knocking off the cap in the process. At the same time, he used his right hand to deliver a full-force blow to the man's stomach!

*Boom!!*

The black-jacketed man was sent cras.h.i.+ng into the wall.

"You're… Shouhei Hirai!"

Seiji recognized this person; he was Peach-sensei's college cla.s.smate, and they had run into him during the school festival!

The green-haired man named Shouhei Hirai lifted his head with a blank expression. His eyes seemed hollow.

His appearance was akin to a robot's or a puppet's… it was as if he was being controlled by someone else.

Seiji furrowed his brows when he realized this.

The gray-black mist around Shouhei suddenly expanded threefold. A few ethereal human-shadows popped out and started to dance strangely, flickering in and out of his sight as they did so.

Seiji was overcome by a sudden sense of danger.

At that moment, Shouhei dashed towards Seiji at an incredibly high speed. His right fist, wreathed in dense gray-black mist shot towards him like a cannonball!

[Bullet Time], activate!

Seiji rolled on the floor and dodged this attack.

*Boom!!*

Shouhei's fist caused the apartment wall to collapse and left behind a huge hole!

Even top-quality soundproofing couldn't m.u.f.fle the noise from the impact; Seiji heard yelps of astonishment from the next-door neighbors.

Shouhei retracted his fist and suddenly ran onto the veranda before jumping off the balcony.

'He's running away!?'

Seiji watched him leave and frowned. In the background, the neighbors continued to curse angrily.

After speedily thinking through the situation, he immediately turned around and ran out the front door to the elevator.

By the time that the neighbor went over to Peach-sensei's apartment to see what was going on, Seiji was already going down the elevator.

While in the elevator, Seiji took out his cell phone. He felt it was lucky that it hadn't broken during the fight.

He wanted to contact Editor Yos.h.i.+zawa and Peach-sensei, but he recalled that they hadn't taken their cell phones during their rush to escape.

He couldn't contact them and didn't know where they would go…

'Wait—would they go to the police station?'

Seiji felt that this was the most likely possibility.

As he walked out of the apartment, Seiji called Natsuya Yoruhana.

She picked up.

"Good morning, President."

"Good morning, Haruta-kun."

"I apologize that I have to bother you with yet another incident, it's like this…" Seiji quickly gave her a concise run-down of what had happened.

"That person… has most likely been possessed by an undead spirit," Natsuya concluded after listening to his story. "Although I can't say so with one hundred percent certainty without seeing him for myself, according to your description, that seems the most likely scenario."

"Possessed by an undead spirit… why would such a thing happen? Was he cursed by someone? Or did he cast some sort of curse on himself?"

"Both are possible, but it's also conceivable for him to have met with some incident and was simply unlucky to have this fate befall him. However, this last possibility is quite unlikely."

"Oh…"

"Haruta-kun, are you injured?" Natsuya asked in a concerned voice.

"I took a few blows, but I'm fine."

"You should get yourself checked out at the hospital, just in case."

"I'll go after this incident is resolved." Seiji paused for a moment. "President, I'd like to ask a question: if such an incident is reported to the police, what will happen?"

Natsuya remained silent for a moment before answering. "The police will perform their investigation and send people to investigate as usual. There's a secret department which deals with any reports about the 'mystical.'

"This secret department will suppress these types of reports and send their own members to re-investigate the situation… if the situation isn't one that's too bad, they'll give the Spiritual Ability user a warning and forcefully request a 'cleanup fee.' If the Spiritual Ability user obeys the warning and pays the cleanup fee, then that'll be the end of the incident."

Seiji frowned upon hearing this. "If some Spiritual Ability user has prior communication with this department, then if someone meets with some incident or reports it to the police, it'd just end up getting ignored, wouldn't it?"

"That's right?"

"The hoodlums that froze to death were probably dealt with in this way as well, weren't they?'

"That's right."

"Okubo Yos.h.i.+aki could accomplish all this already, which means that you could as well, President… no, any Spiritual Ability user with enough clout can utilize this secret department to hush up the police about anything 'mystical,' even if people died."

"That is indeed the case."

A moment of silence fell between them.

"Alright, I understand it now. Basically, if a Spiritual Ability user commits a crime, as long as it isn't anything overboard, all that person would have to do is pay some money." Seiji sighed. "This incident is the same… which means that reporting it to the police will be useless!"

"That's correct."

"So, in order to resolve this incident, I have to find the person behind all this by myself, then stop him, or even kill him; is that right?"

"Yes… or you can even hire other Spiritual Ability users to do it for you."

"…How much money would that cost?"

"In order to deal with someone who can possess others with undead spirits… I'm not sure about the specific price, but it shouldn't be more than ten million sakuras."

Seiji was rendered speechless.

"You can definitely pay the price, as long as you want to," Natsuya said, chuckling lightly.

She said before that he could request more money from her, but Seiji also said back then that he wouldn't ask for anymore. He felt as if he would lose out in some way if he requested for more money now.

'No, wait. This isn't an incident involving me to begin with! Why do I need to pay!?'

Seiji had a sudden realization. He had been wanting to help out but forgot that the person at the center of this incident wasn't him, but Peach-sensei!

Did Peach-sensei have this type of money?

Of course she did!

She was the original creator of one of the most popular animes of all time!

Although he didn't know how much money she actually had, she would definitely have well over a hundred million sakuras!!

Seiji felt as if it was all clear to him now.

Money could accomplish anything. This phrase was quite true, even in the mystical society.

Shouhei Hirai… he was filled with demonic energy, and his blank face seemed like the Terminator's, but was that supposed to be cool?

Peach-sensei will use the power of money to crush you!

"The payment will be no problem, but I won't be the one paying; it'll be the person at the center of the incident instead." Seiji smiled and continued to explain: "She's really rich, and 10 million sakuras definitely won't be a problem."

"Eh?"

"So, introduce an appropriate ability user to me, President!"

"Oh…" Natsuya paused for a moment. "An appropriate person… actually, Houjou-san would be quite suitable."

Seiji was astonished. 'Mai Houjou!?'

"She does this sort of thing?" Seiji asked.

"Yes, Houjou-san has always been in this line of work, and she possesses some fame in her field of work. I'm not sure about the specifics; even if I ask her, she wouldn't tell me anything about it. She just says that it's only a small matter not even worthy of being mentioned."

Seiji suddenly had a mental image of the beautiful maid senpai's "gentle smile" and was rendered speechless.

Hiring Mai Houjou… indeed sounded like a good choice.

In fact, she could even be said to be the best choice!

Seiji had personally witnessed her abilities, although he knew that what he saw only scratched the surface.

Although he didn't know how strong she actually was, he felt that she was probably quite strong!

Besides, Peach-sensei herself also was a fan of the beautiful maid. If Mai was the one being hired, Peach-sensei would surely agree.

"Okay, I choose her!" Seiji said in a voice like the main character of a Pokemon anime.