"I detected a… mysterious power in her soul that I couldn't identify. It's not a completely negative power, and it doesn't seem to be demonic in nature, but nor is it a curse.

"I tried to dispel it, but just as you witnessed, it put a burden on Amami-san's body, and I failed to dispel it. Whenever I dispelled part of it, it would immediately regenerate. When I tried to venture deeper into her soul to try and locate a core or the spell's main body, I failed as well. Trying to forcefully dispel it or going deeper into her soul layer would cause too much of an undue burden upon Amami-san. Also, this power… feels incredibly strong. If it was activated at full force, perhaps Amami-san would…" Natsuya broke off.

"Die?" Saki asked.

"…It's possible." Natsuya furrowed her brows. "It isn't a wholly negative power, so it feels rather strange, and I can't tell what would happen if it's activated." Her face suddenly lit up. "Right," she exclaimed excitedly, "it's rather similar to that mysterious Spiritual Creature that Uehara-san has!"

Seiji's eyes widened in surprise. 'What? Similar to Mika's… Mas.h.i.+ro-chan!? Isn't this too much of a jump in connectedness?'

"President, you're saying that the curse Sensei's been suffering under for ten years is… the same as Mika's Spiritual Creature!?"

"No," Natsuya said, shaking her head, "that's not what I meant. I just mean they feel similar. Uehara-san's Spiritual Creature is living, while whatever is in Amami-san's soul is some type of power. They're fundamentally different. However, I feel that both of them have similar properties as they're both chaotic and mysterious. Both of them don't seem to be negative on the surface, yet I can vaguely sense something frightening hidden deep within…"

Seiji fell silent as he contemplated this.

"At any rate, if this power is activated completely, Amami-san might undergo great pain, and, in the worst-case scenario, death is possible," Natsuya told them in a serious tone. "Even her soul and body… might transform into something else. Compared to the other possible results, suffering from nightmares is relatively light as it is… not that I'm saying suffering from nightmares is something to celebrate about. But... Amami-san is incredibly fortunate to live peacefully until now with such a mysterious power hidden deep within her soul."

There was a brief silence.

Saki started tearing up. "It's all because of me…"

"Editor Yos.h.i.+zawa, no matter how much you blame yourself, you won't help anyone," Seiji told her. "Nor would Sensei wish for you to act like this." 

The editor bit her lip as she looked at her sleeping friend. It seemed that Saki was on the verge of crying.

"Currently," Natsuya continued, "I have two possible solutions for dealing with Amami-san's nightmare problem.

"The first is to find a Spiritual Ability user who's more skilled than me and ask for that person's a.s.sistance. The second is to investigate this power's nature and find out the link between it and Mayuzumi's nightmare before attempting to deal with it.

"I personally recommend against the first method. That's because even if we find a Spiritual Ability user stronger than I am in the area of soul curses and succeed in getting that person to help us, there's still no guarantee of being able to cure Amami-san.

"And most importantly, there's still no way to avoid the huge risk of dealing with this power head-on. The second method is probably safer. Having a better understanding of this ability will help in establis.h.i.+ng the foundation for curing Amami-san."

Seiji understood after hearing all this. "So you're saying to not be too rash in trying to cure this immediately, and to take it slow, right?"

 Natsuya nodded in affirmation. "Indeed. Acting without caution could activate this power and cause everything to go kaboom."

This was just like a bomb. Although they wanted to get rid of it somehow, they didn't know the correct method to do so.

If they tried to dismantle it, they might accidentally activate it, and that would spell the end of everything.

First, they needed to understand this "explosive" and the conditions under which it would activate before attempting to stop it slowly but surely—this was the safest method.

But, in the end, this was just a cycle. One question still remained unanswered: just what triggered the nightmares in the first place?

Sensei started having nightmares on the second night of the school festival. The only part worth mentioning was that she met Shouhei Hirai just prior, but they really didn't have much contact at that time.

So, this was a dead end.

Seiji sank into silence once more.

Mai was currently investigating.

After she heard Seiji's new information and his inferences, she started investigating Reo Tachibana and Shouhei Hirai's family background.

She discovered that Reo Tachibana's parents were called Kazuya Tachibana and Hinako Tachibana, and Hinako Tachibana was Shouhei Hirai's older sister. But, despite this, her maiden name was Hinako Haza!

Why did this brother and sister have different family names?

The most likely possibility that Mai could think of was that the siblings' parents had divorced, and each parent had taken custody of one child. After that, the children took the family name of the parent they'd gone with.

Mai didn't intend to investigate this, as it wasn't important.

The important part was that Reo Tachibana's mother was Hinako Haza—the literature club president who was the host of the Story of a Hundred Demons game from ten years ago!

Just as her junior had guessed, there was a connection between the two incidents.

Mai instantly called Seiji and told him about her findings. When Seiji heard this, he instantly felt like he had just received a critical piece of the puzzle!

"Where is Hinako Haza currently?" Seiji asked.

"She's already pa.s.sed away," Mai answered.

Apparently, one year ago, the Tachibana family had been out on a vacation when a traffic accident occurred.

Both parents died at the scene, and only Reo survived. Afterwards, she was taken in by her uncle Shouhei Hirai.

They were dead already, and the one-year anniversary of their death was yesterday!

Seiji's brain raced at top speed. Reo's mother was Hinako Haza, the literature club president from ten years ago who had been cursed just like Mayuzumi Amami and had pa.s.sed away already.

As Reo was Hinako's daughter, could it be that she "inherited" something from her mother?

a.s.suming that Hinako Haza also had some sort of mysterious power affecting her just like Peach-sensei did, could this power be pa.s.sed down and also affect her daughter?

And if it was inherited?

Taking this inference one step further, what if this power had been activated within Reo Tachibana!?

The catalyst might very well have been the anniversary of her parents' deaths!

Perhaps Shouhei Hirai took Reo Tachibana to visit her parents' graves and something might have occurred, causing a change within her.

When he came to this realization, Seiji felt that this must have been the case.

He also thought about how Shouhei Hirai had never touched Sensei during the school festival.

But as for Reo Tachibana…

Seiji quickly turned to the manga author that already had woken up. "Sensei, I have a question for you! During the school festival, did Reo Tachibana, that is to say, Shouhei Hirai's niece, touch you?"

"Er… yes." Mayuzumi was surprised by this question, and she pondered for a moment before replying. "At that time when she was lost… it was because she ran into me that I noticed her."

The story of the Hundred Demons game from ten years ago. The coincidental meeting at the school festival ten years later.

Was it truly just a coincidence?

Seiji didn't know.

But what he had now confirmed was that Reo Tachibana had indeed come into physical contact with Mayuzumi Amami.

Mayuzumi's nightmares began from the second night after the festival, and she was even ambushed by Shouhei Hirai, who was possessed by an undead spirit. Meanwhile, Reo Tachibana had gone missing, and it was likely that she was taken away by a Spiritual Ability user…

Regardless of who or what beat up Hirai, was Reo's disappearance really caused by someone forcefully taking her away? Or was it that she herself…

Seiji's eyes flashed with light. "Perhaps there's n.o.body behind all this at all. The perpetrator of all this was…"