Chapter 588: Sister, don’t be afraid
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
The students wanted to know the truth. Unfortunately, they were destined to never find out.
Seigo and Natsuya's relationship was still a mystery. And now, an additional mysterious connection appeared between Seigo and Kazufuru. This made everything about Seigo seem even more inexplicable.
The most excited students were a group of female students with certain interests! They secretly created a new scholar character to compete with a certain trap character in a series of doujins with the Magic-Devouring Dragon as the main character…
And, rumors slowly started spreading on this day that Seigo Harano, the Magic-Devouring Dragon, was actually bisexual.
Seiji felt a rather strange chill inside the classroom. Was it because of the weather?
This type of weather made it easy to catch colds. Apart from Seiji, several others in the classroom were sneezing, such as Kaho.
Kaho was rather lacking in spirit. It wasn't because she was sick, but rather she was worried about her older sister Karen.
Karen's fever went away later on the same day. However, she still seemed rather strange afterwards, which made Kaho worry.
During lunch break, Yui returned Seiji's previous call.
"Why did you contact me?"
"Do you have time to meet up? I would like to ask you some things."
"…I can give you ten minutes of my time."
"Ten minutes will be enough."
After school ended, Seiji and Mika returned to the Uehara apartments.
Not long after, Yui's car arrived. Just like last time, he got on her car to talk to her.
Seiji asked if all Awakened would become "tainted" if they went to Spirit Worlds or Inner Worlds and fought with the spiritual creatures inside. Yui's reply was...
"It's different for everyone. Some will become tainted, and some won't. And, each Awakened has different resistance levels towards becoming tainted."
Seiji couldn't help but think of Mika when he heard this.
When Mika was fighting in the Inner World, her Mashiro's Clothes absorbed the spiritual creatures and became stronger. This didn't seem to affect Mika herself one bit. Later, when Mashiro woke up again, Seiji still didn't notice anything wrong with Mashiro, either.
This meant that Mika was probably the type who wasn't at risk of becoming tainted at all! Her risk was only related to controlling her own power. Using too much of her power would harm her body.
"Does becoming tainted have to do with the type of power a person has?" Seiji tried asking this question next.
"Yes."
"Becoming tainted past the limit will transform a person into a monster?"
"That's right. Even if one doesn't go past the limit, receiving a large amount of 'pollution' all at once is also quite dangerous," Yui told him. "And, it's still possible for people to have high resistance levels against being tainted yet end up becoming Fallen."
"'Fallen?'"
"That's the term which means they become monsters."
Seiji fell silent for a moment.
Even those that were highly resistant against becoming tainted weren't absolutely safe, so there was still an element of risk. Still, it was apparent that it was still much better than having a low resistance against becoming tainted.
"How can one cleanse the taint?"
"Right now, it's still impossible. The Awakened can only try their best to deal with it by themselves. That's why it's important to pay attention to their condition," Yui informed him seriously.
Seiji nodded. "Thank you for telling me all of this, Sister Yui."
"Do you have any more questions?"
"About the disappearance of the Spirit Worlds…"
The moment he spoke, Seiji knew that he wouldn't receive an answer based on Yui's expression. And so, he stopped himself. "…I don't have any more questions."
"Let's end things here then." Yui indicated that the conversation was over.
Seiji watched her car leave after he got off.
What exactly would happen in the future if the Soul World faction revealed itself to the world?
As he was thinking about this, he suddenly felt something cold on his head. He then noticed that rain was beginning to fall with a pitter patter.
It finally started to rain today.
"Sister, what exactly is wrong with you?"
Back in her sister's room, Kaho was questioning Karen with a rather forceful tone.
"Nothing…" Karen averted her gaze.
"Liar! Anyone can see that something is off about you." Kaho glared at her older sister. "Mom and dad are both really worried about you. You shouldn't hide your problems from us."
"I'm really fine…"
"Stop lying to my face! Go to the hospital if you have a problem with your body, or say it out loud if you have a problem in your heart. It's so unseemly to see you being roundabout like this!"
"…Do you have the right to lecture me on this?"
Kaho's face instantly went bright red when she heard this.
Karen realized that she was a bit too harsh with her words, so she lowered her head. "I'm sorry…"
Kaho only felt even more angered to see her older sister lowering her head and apologizing.
"If you think that I don't have any right to lecture you, then stop acting stupid like this!!" Kaho spoke in a vicious tone.
Although she impulsively wanted to leave right now, she was unable to move her body when she saw how pitiful Karen seemed.
Both sisters fell silent for a while.
Kaho felt quite complex inside as she thought about how Karen was always so gentle and considerate to her. She forced herself to tolerate the feeling of frustration she had and did her best to calm down before she spoke again.
"Sister… It's quite obvious that something's off about you right now. Even your smiles contain the traces of shadows. It's evident that you're hiding something. Even an idiot like me can tell. So, of course, mom, dad, and all your friends can see all this as well. They're all quite worried about you… as long as you tell us, no matter what it is, we'll help you with it. But if you don't talk about it, and make them keep worrying, this… won't this be exactly like me in the past!?"
Just shutting herself in and only caring about her own feelings, without caring about other people's concern, covering her ears and resisting against everyone's good intentions… this was truly unseemly!
Kaho knew that she was once such an unseemly girl. If it wasn't for meeting that person, perhaps she would probably still be like that.
No… even now, some remnants of her past unseemliness still remained within her.
That was why she didn't want to see her older sister become like her!
"I'm begging you, Sister… Indeed, I don't have the right to lecture you. But, I truly don't wish to see you become like me." Kaho's eyes moistened as she looked directly at Karen. "Tell us if there's anything bothering you! Don't shoulder the burden all by yourself! So many people want to help you because you're Karen Miyamoto!"
'You're a beautiful, kind, and gentle girl that all our family and friends love.
'You're someone who can ask for help! So many people will offer assistance the moment that you speak up. That's why you shouldn't shut yourself in and handle everything by yourself.'
"I want to help you as well, even if I don't have the right to, even if I might not be of any help at all. I still want to help you, because you've always… always…"
'Because you've never given up on an idiot sister like me.'
"Kaho…"
Tears started streaking down Karen's face when she received her younger sister's heartfelt feelings and saw that Kaho was already beginning to cry.
"I'm sorry…" Karen went over to and hugged her younger sister.