Chapter 443
Only Kuroki Yuka, for some undisclosed reason, did not show complete frustration about the matter.
Despite the somber atmosphere, she managed a weak smile.
"Well, everyone, there's no use being discouraged now. Let's discuss how to defeat the enemy and rescue Teacher Haihara and the others."
"Look, even Senpai Kazama has come this time, we're sure we can..."
She was halfway through her sentence when she noticed that Kazama Kiriori seemed to have no reaction at all, like a block of wood, unable to hear or see, and her somber and wooden expression remained unchanged.
Kuroki Yuka blinked.
"Senior?"
She called again, but Kazama Kiriori still didn't respond.
Beside her, Kirishima Ai looked at the silent Kazama Kiriori and said:
"President, shouldn't we pull ourselves together a bit? The sooner we act, the better."
Considering the president's feelings, she felt it was better to seize the precious time and take action than to offer meaningless words of comfort.
But the president did seem a bit off.
While it's understandable that they were upset after what happened, based on their understanding of the student council president, they should have been more anxious than anyone else to save their teacher.
Did something else happen that they don't know about?
"... Um."
After a while, Kazama Kiriori looked up as if waking from a dream, and said with a seemingly calm expression:
"I... I don't have much confidence."
What does it mean to lack confidence?
Kirishima Ai looked puzzled. Why would the student council president get discouraged in a place like this?
It's really strange that the president would say something like that.
"What exactly happened? It can't be just that the Demon King took the teacher away, can it?"
Kirishima Ai tried to calmly ask Kazama.
She didn't ask the wrong question, nor did she misunderstand anything.
"..."
Kazama Kiriori did not object to this question.
She recounted what she had learned from the Flower Demon King ---
The current Haihara Lily Chou appeared because Haihara was attached to the past and wanted to forget the painful memories, and her wish was granted.
As a high school student, Haihara has never experienced the pain of losing a loved one, nor the worries of being an adult.
Therefore, when Teacher Haihara reappeared in front of them, she not only became very young, but also had no memory of what happened after the first year of high school.
It was a period of time that was very difficult for Teacher Haihara to let go of.
She also mentioned that the Flower Demon King had tried to seduce Haihara by resurrecting the dead.
After hearing all this, Kirishima Ai didn't say anything immediately.
"So that's how it is."
Although she didn't want to admit it, Kirishima Ai's connection and understanding with her teacher was indeed pitifully small.
If President Kazama hadn't brought it up at that moment, she would never have imagined that Teacher Haihara would be in such pain.
As the teacher's adopted daughter, it's understandable that President Kazama would feel conflicted about this situation...
The president isn't quite right in the moment, so let's not delve into this topic for now, lest we upset him.
Then she looked at Kuroki Yuka.
Kuroki Yuka nodded:
"However, Senpai Kazama, you're still coming with us to rescue our teacher, right?"
"... Yes, of course."
Kazama Kiriori was very decisive.
Seeing her like this, everyone breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Fortunately, although the president seemed a bit off, he wasn't really discouraged.
Regardless, time is not on their side. Before things escalate further, they should consider what to do next.
The current situation is that when the crisis occurred, Takanashi rushed to the Doctor's research institute immediately, but according to the records of the Doctor's AI assistant, the Doctor seemed to be behaving strangely like an ordinary citizen and left the laboratory alone.
After that, even the devices the Doctor himself had set up to track his whereabouts failed to locate Doctor.
What actually happened remains shrouded in mystery.
The device that the Doctor had originally wanted to help create to prevent the absorption of Snake-Type Magic was never completed.
Right now, all they have are semi-finished products.
On the other hand, their opponents—
The Flower Demon King, as her leader, commands the Black Death Cult, as well as the ever-growing hordes of Monster and Witch.
Among them, the most powerful opponents are undoubtedly the Flower Demon King himself, and the Serpent System Black Death Cult who wields Time Magic.
Currently, the only ones who are confident they can face them one-on-one are Thousand Sins and Star Flower.
That's how it was supposed to be.
But now, according to the student council president, even Teacher Haihara might become a rival that needs to be considered...
The Takanashi over there lifted my spirits a little:
"I do have an idea about this."
Just now, while searching for things left behind by Doctor Hong Shang, she made an unexpected discovery.
It was a half-finished Magic design that the Doctor and the principal had worked on together.
The original intention was to solve Teacher Haihara's amnesia problem.
As for why it's a semi-finished product, the reason is quite simple.
On the one hand, it doesn't solve the problem of the teacher's physical condition being that of a high school student; on the other hand, simply restoring the teacher's memory might cause further distress for the adult teacher.
On the other hand, it is estimated that it can only evoke partial memories, and not necessarily good or bad ones.
However, at this moment, this Magic might discover unexpected and miraculous effects.
If some of the memories can be recalled, perhaps... it can restore the teacher's altered cognition to normal, or at least affect them.
That's all we can hope for.
But then, the Takanashi discovered another problem.
"... This Magic seems to be based on the Oblivion Charm. I remember that Magic Spell had to be inscribed on Crystal before it could be used."
After she finished speaking, she glanced at her other companions.
Although engraving this Magic Spell on the Crystal was not difficult for her, whose academic performance was quite good.
But the Flower Demon King is cunning.
Ordinary Crystal might be easily crushed by that guy.
Ideally, it should be a Sacred Domain Crystal.
Ideally, it would even be used for transformation; otherwise, the Crystal of a Perfect Form Monster is filled with unpurified desires and is not suitable for inscribing Magic Spell.
In that case, the only ones with extra Sacred Domain Crystal are... the Guild Master and Kuroki Yuka.
At this moment, she noticed that Kazama Kiriori, who had seemed cold and unfamiliar since they met, had a slightly wavering gaze.
Then, she looked at Kuroki Yuka:
"Kuroki, can you take apart your Nightmare Dragon or Dark Feather Crystal and use it separately?"
Kuroki Yuka seemed slightly troubled at this moment:
"Serpent System Crystal are impossible to use for inscribing Magic Spell, and I can't transform using only the Nightmare Dragon."
She's not like Takanashi who can easily transform into a pure Serpent System.
"That's true..."
In other words, it's impossible.
That leaves only the student council president...
She looked at the president, seeking his consent.
"Can."
"Use this."
Then, Takanashi saw that Kazama Kiriori had thrown a Crystal that she had never expected.
It was a Crystal that resembled the blue sky.
Takanashi looked puzzled.
"Wait a minute, President, if you give this to me, what will you use later?"
In her understanding, the guild leader should have a lot of purified and usable Sacred Domain Crystal, and could even combine them with Phantom Wind's two Crystal to form different forms.
But why this particular area?
"I have others I can use, but this one is safer. Besides, if you look closely, this one is easier to set up the Magic you mentioned than the other Crystal."
Kazama Kiriori's tone was calm and low.
It was only then that Takanashi noticed that the Crystal seemed to have been engraved with Magic Spell...
The Magic Spell on this is very similar to the Magic Spell the Doctor created; it only needs a slight modification.
But why... is this engraved on the president's Crystal?
It seems there's no room for her to ask questions now.
Next, in addition to setting up Magic Spell to evoke memories, we also need to organize the semi-finished Crystal used to prevent the Snake-Type Magic from being absorbed by the magic tree, so that they can be put into actual combat.
During this time, Takanashi suggested that the others prepare themselves mentally or take a break.
Meanwhile, Kazama Kiriori appeared to be about to leave.
"President, what are you going to do?"
Kazama Kiriori looked at Takanashi:
"I want to go see the principal."
She said.
"You want to ask her... for help?" Takanashi seemed to have guessed Kazama Kiriori's intention:
"President, you should know about R'lyeh's rules, right...?"
Kazama Kiriori nodded.
"I just wanted to give it a try."
"If it succeeds, this incident can be resolved with peace of mind... right? So I want to go and ask."
She said it very casually.
However, judging from the fact that the chairman had to resolve the previous Monster incidents alone, the outlook is probably not optimistic.
On the other side, Sakaki Chika watched the departing student council president, her eyes filled with worry as she looked up and down at the bloodstains on Kazama Kiriori's body.
"President, let's treat him first..."
"It won't be that easy, and these injuries will heal once my Magic Power recovers."
Kazama Kiriori casually declined.
Then he turned around and walked out of the research institute.