Chapter 22: The cloudy bud let out its first cry.

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Translator: Soafp

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“Kai, how are you feel—”

The door flew open, and my sister appeared.

Was this supposed to be punishment for getting carried away after obtaining the hypnosis app? Don't underestimate me.

I wasn't giving up yet. I wasn't dead yet!

“To hell with it!”

I instantly grabbed my phone and switched the target in the hypnosis app.

Whenever I used it on someone else, I had to release the current targets first. What happened next was, in a sense, a gamble for me too.

To hypnotize my sister, I first removed the hypnosis affecting Mari and the others. As expected, confused voices immediately slipped out.

“…Huh?”

“What…?”

“Senpai…”

Then, without delay, I selected all four of them as targets and placed them under hypnosis again.

The danger had lasted only an instant. Now, all four of them had become inhabitants of a world under my control.

I couldn't help letting out a sigh. Even someone as scummy as me didn't want his blood-related sister to see him in a situation like that.

“Onee-chan, go back to your room.”

“Okay.”

Just as I ordered, my sister left the room.

“…She came because she was worried about my health, too. This is really making my conscience hurt.”

She was kind like that—that was why I genuinely loved my sister.

Of course, this was the like kind of love, not the love kind. Still, I truly thought she was an amazing older sister.

“Hot…”

Then I noticed something else.

My phone was burning hot. I had already been using it on three people for a decent amount of time before expanding it to four, so it seemed to be consuming a lot of power.

Sure enough, the battery was down to around fifteen percent. It was about time I returned the three girls to normal.

“You three, let's go outside.”

Man, I wanted to enjoy their touch a little longer, but it couldn't be helped.

Once we were outside the front door, I removed the hypnosis. The three girls looked confused about why they were outside, but after taking one look at me, they seemed to stop worrying about it.

“Thanks, Mari, Honma, and Agatsuma.”

“No, not at all.”

“I'm glad we got to come.”

“Yes. I've remembered where your house is now, Senpai.”

Ah—that wording was a little scary, but not necessarily in a bad way.

After the hypnosis was lifted, my sister would probably sense that something was off and leave her room. So, before things became more troublesome, I said goodbye to the three of them.

“…I never expected those three to actually come visit me.”

What's more, I had welcomed them into my room and had them serve me.

All three at once—I had managed to do something I'd wanted to try at least once.

“That was seriously the best. I get why guys fantasize about harems, even if it's just through imagination. Well, I'm speaking from actual experience!”

Making a pointless boast like that, I went back into the house so my sister wouldn't worry.

Just as expected, my sister was peeking into my room. The moment she saw me return, she rushed over.

“Are you okay? Were you in the bathroom?”

Apparently, I had been in the bathroom.

What a convenient alteration of memory. Thanking the app for its power, I went along with the story just enough not to make my sister suspicious.

“Yeah, I went to take a dump. I'm home, Onee-chan.”

“Welcome back, Kai… Hmm?”

My sister came closer, stretching up on tiptoe as far as she could. She reached out and touched my forehead, then nodded with satisfaction.

“Just like I thought—you got better quickly. Still, don't let your guard down.”

“I know.”

She really was such a kind big sister.

Later, Mom and Dad came home too. Like my sister, they worried about me at first, but relaxed as soon as they saw how well I was doing.

Maybe it was because I rarely caught colds that they worried so much. Well, they say idiots don't catch colds… Man, saying it myself just made me sad.

“Still, today was a good day.”

The fact that the girls had come to visit me made me incredibly happy, even setting the hypnosis aside.

Akira and Shougo would probably bombard me with questions at school tomorrow, but even enduring that would be worth the happiness I'd had.

“Maybe it's because they understand, at least in fragments, that I saved them. Either way, I'm grateful.”

I owed it all to the hypnosis app. Lying on my bed, I gave my phone screen an enthusiastic kiss to express my gratitude.

But as I did, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

“Come to think of it, I was so excited about getting this hypnosis app that I never considered it… Am I really the only one who has one?”

Yes, I had finally begun thinking about it.

A hypnosis app—something that should only exist in fictional worlds like manga and anime. I wondered whether anyone else in this world possessed one, or had ever used one.

If such an outrageous power were commonly known, it would be on the news. More than that, it would surely be trending on social media, so there was no way I wouldn't have heard about it.

“Maybe I should look into it.”

No time like the present. I searched for the term “hypnosis app.”

“…Nothing promising.”

As expected, every result that came up was related to manga or anime.

The only things I found were message-board posts where people wrote out wishes like wanting such an app to exist, or wanting to use one to play pranks on girls.

“That's what's normal, though.”

Conclusion: hypnosis apps weren't something widespread in this world—obviously.

After that, I wandered around online, looking into various things, but time passed without me finding anything useful.

“…?”

Then I found one thing that caught my attention.

It was an incident from quite a while ago—though only about a year and a half earlier—where a man had been arrested for sexually assaulting multiple women.

“The man claims the acts were consensual and repeatedly makes incomprehensible statements about a ‘hypnosis app'…”

“Huh?”

Of course, my eyes were immediately drawn to those words: hypnosis app.

Still, the report only said he had mentioned a hypnosis app. It didn't say that one truly existed or had been used. Apparently, the man's claims had simply been dismissed as delusions.

“…Normally, I'd think, ‘What kind of fantasy is this guy having?' But for me right now, this is way too relevant.”

There was no point in believing it too readily, but I couldn't get the incident out of my head for the rest of the night.

The following day, now fully recovered, I went to school.

Not only Akira and Shougo, but other classmates spoke to me as well. Naturally, though, Mari and Agatsuma came over to me right away.

“You look okay now.”

“I'm really glad.”

I thanked them as they smiled at me right in front of my face.

And Agatsuma had even come all the way from the neighboring class. Was there anything that could make me happier than that?

“Masaki? You've got a visitor.”

“A visitor?”

A classmate said that to me, so I headed into the hallway. Honma was waiting there.

She had apparently been worried as well. Seeing that I was at school, she let out a relieved breath.

“Thanks for coming all the way over.”

“No, I'm just glad you seem well, Senpai.”

That was all Honma said before heading back to her classroom.

Sure, being worried over by the girls brought plenty of irritating stares my way, but the time when I would have cared about that had long since passed.

My S-Sexy B-Banzai Field was invincible.

“So then, Kai, how about you tell us everything?”

“Come on, what did you do?”

…What a pain.

One thing led to another, and before long it was already lunch break.

“…I'm not really in the mood today. I'll skip it.”

The previous day's incident kept resurfacing in my mind. It was probably needless worry, but it seemed to have made me a little nervous.

I had planned for Mari to keep me company today, but I decided to cancel.

“Oh, there you are.”

As usual, Mari arrived at the empty classroom in her pre-scheduled hypnotized state.

Even though she was hypnotized, she came toward me with quick, pattering footsteps the moment she saw me.

I gave her a brief instruction.

“Sorry, Mari. Not today. Go back to the classroom.”

I said it while casually waving my hand.

I was sure this concern would disappear soon enough. Before long, there would be another day when I could get excited by their bodies and relieve myself.

But today, I truly wasn't in the mood. That was why I said it.

“…W-why?”

“…Huh?”

But apparently, I had chosen the wrong words.

“Why… why, why, why, why, why?”

Like a broken clock, Mari repeated the same word.

Tears streamed from her eyes as she reached out toward me. When I took her hand without thinking, she squeezed it much harder than I expected.

The force in her grip told me one thing clearly: she had no intention of ever letting go.

“…Mari?”

“No… I don't want that… Don't say something like that…”

For now…

What the hell was happening?