Chapter 43: Chapter 4

"Well, you look like you’ve gotten a good night sleep."

Seijirou said sarcasticly as he raised an eyebrow as he looked at Suzune, who appeared like she hadn’t gotten even a minute of sleep, her hair slightly disheveled, eyes shadowed with exhaustion.

Her expression betraying a mixture of irritation and lingering frustration that made him wonder what exactly had happened the night before.

"Are you okay?" Seijirou asked worriedly.

Suzune sighed, waving her hand lazily as she explained, "Fine. My mother just scolded me for coming home so late, and to make matters worse, she had somehow found out that I had been getting into fights again, resulting in a long and uncomfortable lecture that had left me too drained to rest properly."

"Oh," Seijirou said simply, nodding without prying further, his usual detached tone making it clear he wasn’t planning to offer sympathy or judgment either way.

He turned to close the gate behind him, adjusting his bag as he started walking toward the school.

But before he could even take a single step, Suzune quickly stopped him, clicking her tongue in annoyance at the sight of his crooked tie, "You’re so hopeless. Don’t you know how to tie a tie?"

She tugged him by the collar and started straightening it with practiced precision, "Come one Seiji, even if you’re handsome, you should at least try to look presentable in public."

As she smoothed the fabric and fixed the knot, she couldn’t help but say, "Oh, did I mention that I gave Rei a ride home last night?"

She smiled faintly with a hint of pride, as if expecting Seijirou to praise her for her good deed, while also nodding at herself for fixing Seijirou’s uniform.

"Thanks," Seijirou muttered, his tone neutral, before asking, "And why had gone out of your way to do that? And more importantly, how did the two of you even met in the first place?"

At that, Suzune’s expression shifted, her light smile fading into a serious look, as she crossed her arms and said, "Get this—Rei told me she’s being stalked. So, naturally, me, being the bleeding heart of kindness and generosity that I am, decided to accompany her and make sure she got home safely."

Seijirou’s eyebrow twitched slightly, his interest piqued not by her sarcasm but by the word stalker, which instantly triggered a quiet alarm in his mind.

"Oh?" he replied, his voice calm but eyes sharp as his thoughts drifted back to the game’s storyline—The Stalker Incident involving Rei wasn’t something he could easily forget.

If his memory served him correctly, that particular event wasn’t just about some random pervert following her home; it was far darker than that.

The so-called "stalker" turned out to be part of a small, secretive group within the school—a degenerate cult of male students who believed that the bodies of young men were vessels of sin and that those sins had to be "purified" through ritual acts involving a chosen miko, always an unsuspecting female student.

It was a sick and twisted scenario that spiraled into one of the game’s more disturbing side arcs, and if Seijirou remembered correctly, the cult wasn’t just some fringe club.

It was founded, protected, and quietly maintained by none other than the school’s Vice Principal himself.

The thought made his jaw tighten slightly as he glanced at Suzune, realizing that if this was truly beginning to unfold, then Rei’s situation was about to become far more dangerous than either of them suspected.

"So, hear this, my mom—"

The two walked side by side toward the school, Suzune’s voice filling the air as she continued to rant about her mother’s scolding, complaining about curfews, expectations, and how she was being treated like a child despite being perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

She gestured animatedly as she spoke, but Seijirou only nodded occasionally, his expression unreadable, his mind drifting elsewhere entirely.

He wasn’t in the mood to listen.

His thoughts were consumed by something far darker—the stalker incident Suzune had mentioned, or rather, the event he knew all too well from the game: The Sakura In White(Bad End).

Even thinking about it made his stomach twist.

That ending wasn’t just bad, it was one of the most horrifying routes in the entire game, the kind that stuck with you long after the screen went black.

Rei, the sweet, cheerful girl who always smiled and encouraged others, ended up as a hollow, broken version of herself.

She had been violated, impregnated, and forced into seven consecutive abortions, each one taking more of her sanity until she finally gave up and ended her life by biting through her own tongue in front of the protagonist.

What made it even more sickening was that throughout the game, there were no signs of her suffering.

Outside of her so-called "miko duties," Rei acted the same—smiling, laughing, helping others.

The player was kept in the dark, unknowingly walking past her pain until the truth came crashing down in one devastating scene.

Seijirou remembered that night vividly—the helplessness, the rage, the disgust.

He had been so affected that he quit the game for a week, unable to look at the screen without feeling sick.

In his anger, he even sent furious messages and threats to the game developers, demanding to know who had thought that such a storyline was necessary.

But that’s besides the point. For now, he was worried about one thing...

In the game, those responsible were simply twisted humans—depraved, delusional, and irredeemable.

But this wasn’t a game anymore. This world had supernatural forces, powers like Karyoku that could grant the user superhuman powers beyond.

That thought unsettled him more than he wanted to admit.

In the game, the vice principal was a delusional and depraved man who keep saying how he heard the voice of a god and even built a secret small temple to perform the ’ritual’.

But what if in this world, it wasn’t a delusion?

What if he actually possessed some form of power?

Seijirou clenched his jaw slightly, imagining the possibility that this "god" might be real, and worse, active.

If he decided to interfere, if he used his own power to crush the Vice Principal before things escalated, would that so-called god retaliate?

Would it descend and strike him down for defying its chosen?

He let out a long sigh, feeling the weight of the thought pressing on him. He doesn’t know what to do. Should he risk it and try to help Rei? Or should he pretend not to see anything?

He was so absorbed in his own head that he didn’t even notice they had reached the school until Suzune tugged at his sleeve.

"Seiji, see you later!" She said, before heading off toward her classroom with a small wave.

Seijirou blinked, watching her go before sighing again, his hand brushing through his hair as he remembered what awaited him next.

Today was his group presentation with Rei and Haruka.

Perfect timing, he thought grimly as he stepped inside the building.

*

*

*

Seijirou stood in front of the classroom, the noisy students immediately filling his ears.

He grabbed the handle of the door and opened it.

When he stepped into the classroom, like always, the noise instantly died.

Conversations halted, laughter faded, and every student’s gaze subtly shifted toward him before quickly looking away.

The air grew heavy for a moment, thick with unspoken tension.

It was always like this, his presence alone seemed enough to silence the room. But he neither acknowledged it nor cared.

Without breaking stride, he walked to his seat, pulled out his chair, and sat down with the familiar intent of putting his head on the desk and catching a few minutes of sleep before class began.

But before he could rest, a pair of polished shoes stopped in front of his desk.

He looked up lazily and met the cold, lifeless red eyes of Himejima Haruka. Her long, snow-white hair fell neatly over her shoulders, framing her porcelain face, expression unreadable as ever.

Her tone was flat and detached as she spoke. "Did you bring the laptop for our presentation?"

He blinked once, about to answer, when sudden movement to the side caught his eye.

"Himejima-san!"

Tadano Taro—the supposed protagonist—had stepped forward, reaching out toward Haruka as if to grab her by the wrist.

She reacted instantly, her body shifting with the precision of someone trained to avoid unnecessary contact.

She sidestepped his reach, her white hair brushing past him as her cold eyes narrowed in faint irritation.

Her tone dropped from neutral to frosty. "What do you think you’re doing?"

Taro froze mid-motion, his face twisting into that familiar nervous, apologetic expression.

He stammered slightly before blurting out, "S-sorry, it wasn’t on purpose! I just—please, stay away from him."

He turned his gaze toward Seijirou, who watched silently, unmoving, then back to Haruka. "I’m just... worried about you."

For a brief second, the classroom stirred, the tension shifting from fear of Seijirou to confusion about what he was doing.

Haruka, however, remained unimpressed. Her crimson eyes flicked over Taro once before she replied with biting precision.

"We’re not close enough for you to worry about me, Tadano Taro."

The words hit harder than a slap.

Taro froze, his confidence crumbling, his face turned red as he averted his gaze, mumbling a weak apology before retreating to his seat.

Seijirou watched the entire exchange quietly, resting his chin on his hand. His expression didn’t change, but his mind churned.

This was new, he mused. The Tadano Taro he knew, the protagonist of that game, was never this assertive nor was he ever this confrontational.

Normally, he’d freeze up, back off, or stutter out an excuse to avoid conflict altogether.

Yet here he was, trying to "protect" someone from him, of all people.

He leaned back slightly. If Taro had been like this in the game, half of the tragedies, the breakdowns, and the bad endings wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Maybe even Rei’s ending could’ve been avoided.

"And you." Haruka turned towards him, "Did you bring a laptop?"

"Nope. But I brought a flash drive. I’ll just borrow Hana-sensei’s laptop."

Haruka nodded and said no more. She returned to her seat as quietly as she went to his.

Seijirou let out a sigh as he leaned towards his table and rested his head on his folded arms, closing his eyes to take a short nap.