Chapter 505: Dark Feelings

Hiyori returned home after the meeting, but even after getting back to her room, she still couldn’t stop thinking about everything that had happened earlier.

Honestly, there had been so much to take in that she was still struggling to wrap her head around the fact that she now possessed the power of the Saint. Even after spending some time alone, she couldn’t quite convince herself that it was real. The power that had suddenly awakened inside her was something that Haruna had been desperately seeking for such a long time, yet somehow, Hiyori had ended up being the one to receive it.

She couldn’t help wondering how things had turned out this way.

“I don’t really need this power, and I don’t particularly care about it either,” she muttered while sitting in her room, staring absently at the floor. “But it’s not like I can do anything about it now, can I?”

As much as she wanted to get rid of the responsibility that came with such an ability, it wasn’t as though she could simply throw it away or hand it over to someone else. The power had awakened within her, and that was pretty much the end of the matter. She couldn’t exactly return it to whoever had given it to her, assuming there was even someone she could ask about that in the first place.

Unfortunately, supernatural abilities didn’t come with a convenient return policy.

For the time being, all she could do was make sure that nothing went wrong and try to avoid getting herself into unnecessary trouble because of this unexpected development. She wasn’t particularly interested in becoming involved in anything complicated, especially when she had never asked for this power to begin with.

Still, being recognized as the Saint wasn’t exactly the kind of thing she could ignore and hope would eventually disappear on its own.

If anything, it was probably going to make her life considerably more troublesome.

Now that she had awakened the power of the Saint, there was a good chance that people from opposing factions would eventually come after her. Demons were an obvious threat, considering the nature of her abilities, but they weren’t the only ones she needed to worry about. There were also other humans who might consider her existence a problem, including members of the Church.

That was probably the part that bothered her the most.

She could understand why demons might target someone who possessed the power of a Saint, but the idea that fellow humans might come after her for the same reason was considerably harder to accept.

Although the Church and the Demon Hunter Association shared the same general objective of eradicating demons from the world, that didn’t mean the two organizations necessarily got along. They operated under different rules, followed different beliefs, and had their own ideas about how their common goal should be achieved.

Sharing an enemy didn’t automatically make two organizations allies, especially when their principles and interests were so different.

The Church, in particular, placed considerable importance on Saints, partly because one of the individuals responsible for establishing the organization had been a Saint himself. Naturally, someone who possessed that kind of power would usually be regarded as an important figure worthy of protection and respect.

However, Hiyori wasn’t sure whether the Church would extend the same courtesy to someone who had awakened the power of a Saint without belonging to their organization.

In fact, she suspected that they might do the exact opposite.

As far as the Church was concerned, a Saint who didn’t belong to them could easily become a threat to their authority. They might see her as someone who needed to be brought under their control, or worse, as an enemy who had to be eliminated before she could become a problem.

Considering how people tended to behave whenever power and authority were involved, neither possibility seemed particularly far-fetched.

“I don’t think they’ll act immediately, though,” she muttered, trying to reassure herself as she considered the situation. “At least, I hope they’re sensible enough to think things through before doing anything stupid.”

She let out a quiet sigh, hoping that she wouldn’t have to deal with any of those problems anytime soon.

After all, she had only just received this power, and she already had enough things to worry about without adding an entire organization to the list.

While thinking about her uncertain future, Hiyori eventually lifted her head and looked around her room, allowing her gaze to wander over the numerous pictures of Kouhei displayed across the walls.

Her room was practically covered from one end to the other with photographs of him, leaving barely any empty space for anything else. Some pictures showed him smiling, while others captured him in ordinary situations that most people probably wouldn’t have considered worth photographing in the first place.

There were pictures of him looking serious, pictures of him laughing, and even some that seemed to have been taken when he wasn’t paying attention to the camera.

Yet, for Hiyori, every single one of them was precious.

She was also hugging a plushie modeled after Kouhei himself, holding it tightly against her chest as she sat comfortably in her room. The resemblance was surprisingly good, and she seemed perfectly content with having a miniature version of the boy she loved within arm’s reach whenever she wanted one.

Honestly, her behavior was beginning to cross the line between being an ordinary admirer and something considerably more concerning.

Anyone who walked into her room without knowing her well would probably have a few questions about the sheer number of photographs covering the walls. Someone might even wonder whether they had accidentally wandered into the private collection of a particularly dedicated stalker.

Unfortunately, Hiyori didn’t seem to recognize that there was anything unusual about her collection at all.

As far as she was concerned, she was simply expressing her affection for the person she loved, and she didn’t see any reason to feel embarrassed about it. Having pictures of Kouhei around her room made her happy, and hugging the plushie helped her feel closer to him even when he wasn’t around.

Besides, it wasn’t as though she were doing anything wrong by keeping things that reminded her of him.

At least, that was how she justified it to herself.

However, as she continued hugging the plushie, another memory suddenly surfaced in her mind, causing her expression to change almost immediately.

She remembered seeing Kouhei and Amemiya-sensei leaving a love hotel together.

The moment that memory returned, the warmth in her eyes gradually disappeared, and her expression darkened as she tightened her grip on the plushie.

“…What exactly did you do with Amemiya-sensei, Kouhei-kun?” she muttered, staring at the plushie’s face as though it might somehow provide her with an answer.

Unfortunately, the poor thing remained completely silent.

Hiyori continued looking at it for a few seconds, her thoughts wandering toward all the possibilities she would rather not imagine. She had no concrete explanation for what she had witnessed, but that didn’t mean her mind wouldn’t come up with several theories of its own.

She would have to ask Kouhei about it eventually.

Whether he would be prepared for that conversation was another matter entirely.

***

Meanwhile, Kouhei suddenly felt a strange chill run down his spine, making him instinctively straighten his back as though someone had just mentioned his name somewhere.

For a brief moment, he glanced around, wondering whether something had happened without his noticing it. The sensation was unusual enough to catch his attention, although he couldn’t identify any particular reason for it.

“What is it?” Sano Yuka asked, looking at him with a confused expression after noticing his sudden reaction. “You look like something’s bothering you. Did something happen?”

“Nothing in particular,” Kouhei replied, shaking his head as he tried to dismiss the strange sensation. “More importantly, Sano-san, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.”

“Hmm? What is it?” Yuka asked, tilting her head slightly as she waited for him to explain.

“I’m really sorry about putting Tatsugami-san in this situation,” Kouhei said, his expression becoming more serious as he looked ahead at the person he had been thinking about.

His gaze settled on Rui, who remained frozen in time alongside Kozue.

Because Rui’s ability worked by stopping time around her, she had effectively frozen herself as well. As a result, neither she nor Kozue could move forward with the passage of time while the ability remained active.

Kouhei couldn’t help feeling guilty, especially since he had asked Rui to freeze Kozue in the first place. He had wanted to buy them enough time to search for a cure, but knowing that Rui was now trapped in that state because of his request made it difficult for him to feel at ease.

Even though he believed he had made the right decision under the circumstances, he couldn’t simply ignore the responsibility he felt toward her.