"You don't seem like you're lying… What danger could Chiaki possibly be in?"

Seiji and Chiaki exchanged glances and came to an unspoken agreement.

"Dad, when I've said earlier that Seigo was a high school detective, I was lying." Chiaki admitted the truth. "He's actually a spiritual ability user."

s.h.i.+ngo: "…"

The famous artist showed a strange and obviously disbelieving expression. Meanwhile, Seiji slowly raised his hand.

Suddenly, the teacup on the table began to float in midair!

s.h.i.+ngo's expression changed to one of surprise upon seeing this.

Seiji manipulated the teacup and had it spin circles in midair right in front of s.h.i.+ngo. Seiji next sent the teacup flying up and down, then around s.h.i.+ngo's head in a circle, and finally around the entire room before it landed on the table again.

"This is no magic trick. There are no props involved at all. Feel free to check all you want." Seiji opened his hands to show that he had nothing in his hands.

The famous artist had a stunned expression.

Chiaki felt an urge to laugh out loud upon seeing her father like this. However, she forced herself to hold her laughter in.

When s.h.i.+ngo returned to his senses, he adjusted his eyegla.s.ses and took the teacup, looking it over carefully. He then looked over at Seiji's hands.

Seiji extended his hands out, and even flipped them over and let s.h.i.+ngo look as he pleased. Seiji's expression said something like 'I'll admit defeat if you can find any trickery involved.'

s.h.i.+ngo looked at Seiji's hands for a while and found nothing whatsoever.

Although he'd received an impact from this, he still didn't believe in Seiji having mystical powers so readily.

"That was a nice performance. I can't find the trick to it at all." s.h.i.+ngo placed the teacup back on the table. "However, I won't believe that this is a so-called spiritual ability so easily. That's because I have no understanding of magic tricks. It's quite common for ordinary people to be unable to see through a magic trick."

Basically, he meant that "I simply haven't figured out your little magic trick."

"As I told you, this is no magic trick. It's a real spiritual ability," Seiji stated calmly. "I'm capable of using this power to move anything in this room, including your own body, Wakabsan."

"Seigo…"

"Relax, Chiaki. I'm not making a threat here. I'm simply stating the facts. If you don't believe in my powers, Wakabsan, why not experience it for yourself?"

The famous artist's refusal to believe in spiritual abilities was slightly shaken after he saw how confident Seigo was.

s.h.i.+ngo hid the fact that he was shaken, and spoke in a light tone, "Sure, I don't mind experiencing it if you can prove it." 

"Please excuse me." Seiji raised his hand once more and cast [Telekinesis].

s.h.i.+ngo instantly felt an invisible force lifting him upwards into the air!

He had an evidently shocked expression as he rose into the air. He hurriedly looked all around him, but was still unable to see any mechanisms that could cause this.

"Please don't move around too much. This is my first time using this spell to move a human," Seiji told him.

s.h.i.+ngo immediately stiffened after hearing this. Chiaki also looked towards Seiji for an explanation.

"I've only used this spell before to move nonliving objects or to deal with spiritual creatures," Seiji added.

His tone was calm as he was simply stating the facts.

s.h.i.+ngo was lightly spun around in midair. After having a personal taste of this invisible power, s.h.i.+ngo was forced to believe that this high schooler was truly a spiritual ability user.

A few seconds later, Seiji placed s.h.i.+ngo gently down on the tatami floor mat.

"How do you feel, Wakabsan? Would you like to try again?"

The famous artist was rendered speechless by this question.

After several long seconds of silence, s.h.i.+ngo finally spoke up. "For now, I'll admit that this is some sort of supernatural ability. So, I'll treat you as a spiritual ability user… but what then? What does that have to do with Chiaki?"

"There are spiritual ability users in the world, as well as all sorts of demons and monsters. Chiaki is currently being targeted by a mystical existence. As for why she's become a target, the main reason might be because of you or her mother…" Seiji then gave s.h.i.+ngo an explanation of the situation that Chiaki was in.

"Dad… The reason why neither of us can remember anything about mom is probably because of some mystical incident. It's likely that Seigo will be able to help us. Please, could you tell him about mom?" Chiaki tried convincing her dad again.

Something flashed in s.h.i.+ngo's eyes.

Right now, even he himself didn't know what emotions he was feeling.

Finally, he slowly opened his mouth and began talking about his wife…

s.h.i.+ngo's "memories" about his wife were hazy and ethereal, just as if they were nothing but a dream.

He was unable to remember her name or face. Not only that—every single acquaintance of his that he could possibly think of had no memories of ever meeting his wife.

It was the same even for the daughter that he had and raised together with her.

In his "memories", his wife had previously cradled their newborn daughter while smiling, and his wife had also taught Chiaki the alphabet and how to talk…

His wife had gone on walks together with him while holding Chiaki's tiny hand… His wife had cooked while laughing at him playing with the young Chiaki…

His wife had previously held her finger up to her lips, indicating that he should be quiet because their daughter had fallen asleep… His wife had previously taken pictures of him and Chiaki together on a vacation…

Those were all incredibly happy memories that gave him a feeling of warmth as he "recalled" those moments.

Yet, his wife seemed like she didn't even exist.

There was no evidence, either physical or in any other person's memory, of her having ever existed at all!

His wife had vanished into thin air. Even the few remaining happy memories seemed as if they were nothing but illusion. Not a single other person had any memories whatsoever regarding his wife, including even his own daughter.

The only reasonable sounding explanation that s.h.i.+ngo was able to come up with was that all of these "memories" were only his own hallucinations… or most of them were.

'She's nothing but your own imagination.'

That was what reality kept telling him.

'She's nothing but a dream.'

s.h.i.+ngo kept telling himself this.

Yet… somewhere deep inside him there was a small stubborn part of himself that was unwilling to accept this.

'Was she really just a hallucination? Was she really nothing more than a dream? Did I truly imagine her entire existence?'

He was unwilling and unable to accept it. Yet, the reality was right before him. And, what pained him the most was how his daughter was.

His daughter couldn't remember a single thing about her mother… even though his daughter should have known even more about her mother than he did.

s.h.i.+ngo's daughter was perfectly fine and healthy. She grew up to be a completely normal girl.

He was the one who was in the wrong for treating hallucinations as memories. He was the abnormal one.

Although s.h.i.+ngo came to this logical conclusion, he was still emotionally unable to accept it.

That was why… he didn't want to see his own daughter.

No, it should be said that he was afraid of seeing his daughter!

His "normal" daughter was just like a mirror that kept reminding himself of how "abnormal" he was.

s.h.i.+ngo knew that all of this was wrong.

Yet, he was unable to change himself.

He had even tried visiting psychologists before. He had tried, but was unable to escape from that dream.

That was why, even if he had a cold and distant relations.h.i.+p with his daughter, at least his daughter could still live a good life with all the money he gave her… Although this was a rather abnormal family relations.h.i.+p, it was still within acceptable boundaries.

s.h.i.+ngo just wanted to wait until this dream disappeared.

At that time, if his daughter was still willing, and if he was able to do so, perhaps they could become a normal father and daughter again.

s.h.i.+ngo had thought that was the only possibility, until now…

s.h.i.+ngo finished telling Seiji and Chiaki about his "memories".

Seiji had a serious expression.

Chiaki received a huge impact from hearing all of this.

All of these "memories" that her father had just talked about… although they might just be his hallucinations, she faintly felt that they were all true events that had happened in the past!

'Why didn't you tell me about these 'memories' before!' Chiaki wanted to complain to her father.

However, the reasonable part of herself told her that if her father had mentioned such things to her before, it was highly likely that she would think her father to be mentally unstable.

That was why her father had hidden the truth from her for so long.

He hadn't wanted to talk about it. He had only wanted to bear these memories by himself until they finally faded.

'Has my dad been keeping his distance all this time from me because of this?' Chiaki suddenly thought of this.

After seeing her father's current expression, she felt it was highly possible.

If she had been the one instead with such unclear "memories" about her mother, with her father remembering nothing at all, perhaps she would also choose to remain distant from her father.

After coming to this realization, Chiaki felt incredibly complex emotions inside. Even she didn't know what expression she had right now.

There was only one thing she wanted to say.

"Dad… I'm sorry…"