It was a good thing that he won an award, but the circ.u.mstances around his victory made Seiji feel like he had fallen into a pit trap.

Seiji called Editor Yos.h.i.+zawa to ask her about this situation.

"Specially chosen awards that can enter the nomination process later on have always existed within our system. It was just that the standards were incredibly strict, so there's basically no precedents," Saki explained to him. "'Brother Monogatari' being chosen was something that all the judges unanimously agreed on. The judges also unanimously agreed on giving your story the award, so there's no internal problems at all."

"However, it caused so much controversy on the internet." Seiji could only smile wryly.

"We shall make an announcement detailing the specifics of how your story got chosen."

"Even so, there's probably still people that won't accept it… I'm happy to receive an award, but I think that creating such a controversy as the price for it isn't so good." Seiji paused for a moment. "Or is it that the editing department's goal in the first place was to create a controversy to make my story into a hot topic?"

Saki fell silent for a moment.

"Our head editor personally saw to Brother Monogatari's inclusion in the awards as well as ensuring that you won an award." Saki didn't answer him directly. Instead, she drastically lowered her voice to a whisper.

"…Could it be that it's not convenient for you to discuss this due to your position?" Seiji perceptively noticed that she was being roundabout.

"I'm currently at work."

"So you mean that it'll be fine to discuss this when you get off from work?"

"Yeah."

"Alright… I'll wait for you to get off from work then." Seiji thought for a moment. "By the way, do you think I could speak directly to the head editor?"

"The head editor is currently very busy."

That meant no, or perhaps it meant that speaking to him would be meaningless.

"Understood. Talk to you later then."

They ended the conversation there.

The head editor personally manipulated things so that Seiji won an award… perhaps the head editor intended to stir things up in order to increase Brother Monogatari's sales.

Seiji didn't wish to see his and s.h.i.+ka's story meet with any negative controversy. Still, he understood that perhaps the head editor wanted to draw attention to his story.

After all, how low or high quality a story was wouldn't be the most important thing. For Thunderbolt Literature or any similar company, sales would likely be the most important part of all. Stirring up some controversy and having everyone's attention on his story would help to influence sales. Seiji was quite clear on this.

It was understandable that the editing department would take certain actions to help increase a novel's sales. Considering that he was just a newcomer author, it was quite something already that the head editor would personally take notice of his novel and act to increase its sales.

"Although I can understand… I still wish that I could have been informed first." Seiji sighed.

If only he wasn't a newcomer author. If he had been a veteran author with plenty of accomplishments racked up already, the situation would likely have been different.

He would change things in the future!

Seiji then called s.h.i.+ka in order to tell her about the story's publication date and the situation regarding the award their story received.

Seigo Harano took a leave of absence from school again.

His cla.s.smates had gotten used to how often he took leaves of absence. However, some people were still curious just what this "Magic-devouring Dragon" was doing. One student even cracked a joke that was surprisingly close to the truth...

"Perhaps Harano-san is actually a Spiritual Ability user who asked for a leave of absence in order to fight against demons."

Of course, the reason why such a joke would appear was because of the discussions on the internet and in the media.

The night of one hundred demons continued as always since the New Year's. Normal people kept meeting with more and more strange situations. Even though the mystical society kept continuously suppressing the information the best they could, it was impossible to suppress everything and people were starting to hear more and more about this topic.

Mystical phenomena, demons and spirits, Spiritual Ability users…

Most ordinary people simply treated it as a currently popular fad. However, there were also some ordinary people that would really come into contact with such things, learning the truth.

Some people chose to avoid the truth, even treating it as nothing having ever happened. Some people would choose to try telling others about it. And there were incredibly few that would do their very best to try and search for the truth.

Although things appeared calm on the surface, there was an undercurrent beneath all that. As for whether the waves would finally calm down or eventually surge and turn into a torrential flood, n.o.body knew.

"Is Seigo really fighting against demons during his leave of absence?"

During lunch break, Yukari came to Mika and Chiaki's cla.s.sroom to ask them this question.

"Pretty much. You can treat it like that."

"I want to know the truth."

"Knowing too much is bad for you, Special Agent Asamiya." Chiaki pretended to be some serious middle-aged man.

"I know what I'm doing, Special Agent Wakaba," Yukari responded in turn. "Tell me. What is he busy with?"

"Killing people."

The purple-haired girl's gaze sharpened upon hearing this.

"He's fighting against evil Spiritual Ability users?"

"There's no separation between good and evil in our line of work. Don't be so naïve, Special Agent Asamiya." The tomboy continued pretending to be some serious special agent as she droned on in a low voice.

"Stop acting, please talk normally."

"It's the same even if I talk normally. He's out killing people." Chiaki stopped using her serious expression and low tone of voice as she folded her arms. "You aren't really naïve enough to believe that he's simply Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes and an absolute hero of justice, are you?"

Yukari fell silent.

"Seigo will really kill people. He's the type who will definitely do what needs to be done if it's absolutely necessary… that's what I believe." Chiaki looked at Yukari. "If you have such an unrealistic impression of him, then I would advise you to give up on him now."

"Chiaki…" Mika looked at her good friend.

"Mika, the same goes for you too." Chiaki turned to look at her. "Earlier this morning, you were quite worried about Seigo when he explained the situation. That's very natural, but you seem to have ignored another aspect about his situation. Let me ask you, have you ever thought about Seigo killing another person? What will you feel if he kills someone right in front of you? And what will you think?"

Mika's expression froze.

She thought back to what President Yoruhana had told her before about the mystical side of society. Although she made her decision back then, she never thought too deeply about it again. After all, something like killing people… she didn't want to think about it, and she unconsciously felt like it was something that wouldn't happen around her.

Only now did she finally realize quite clearly that it... wasn't far away from her at all.

Seigo was going to a duel… another way of describing it was that he was going to kill someone!

He would have to risk his own life to kill someone else. That was the meaning of a duel, kill or be killed.

Chiaki had recognized that from the very start and said "I'd really like to see that" on top of it.

Juumonji-sensei hadn't said anything, but with her maturity, she probably saw the duel for what it was and accepted it as well.

'However… I still haven't thought over things that deeply.'

Mika fell silent upon realizing this.

Everyone remained silent for a while.

"Seigo… Seiji Haruta is a real, living person, not a fictional hero of justice from a shonen manga," the tomboy stated calmly. "All of you have been saved by him before, so there's nothing wrong with viewing him as a hero. I also believe him to be a hero as well, a real-life hero. However, real-life heroes might not all stand for good and justice, and even if they're on the side of good, not all people will think they're good… I choose to give him my recognition. Even if he kills someone right in front of me, I'll believe in him. What about the two of you? What do you think a hero should be like? Or, what do you think Seiji Haruta should be like? Do you truly realize what the real him is like? You don't need to answer me, but you need to think about it well for yourselves."

With that long speech finished, Chiaki began eating her lunch again.

Mika and Yukari silently exchanged glances.

"What do you think? Ueharsan," the purple-haired girl asked Mika.

"I… need to think about it," Mika said. 'I also want to personally talk to Seiji about it.' She left her inner thoughts unsaid.

"How about you? Asamiysan," Mika asked Yukari the same question.

"To be honest, this has given me quite an impact, and I need to think it over as well." Yukari sighed while glancing over at Chiaki. "But no matter what, I won't give up so easily on him."

Then, she said goodbye as she turned around and left.

"Tsk, I thought that at the very least she would be obviously shaken, but she wasn't… the Princess is truly difficult to deal with."

Chiaki pretended to have a grim expression as she watched Yukari leave and made such a statement.

Mika was rendered speechless.