Chapter 8: I see, this one’s seriously ill!

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Translator: Soafp

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“This hypnosis app is primarily intended to target one individual at a time. You cannot hypnotize another person while someone else is already under hypnosis; if you do, the person who was hypnotized first will return to normal. However, hypnosis is effective when multiple people are present before you at the same time.”

“…There he is.”

I quietly stepped outside Honma's house, but the man I suspected was stalking her was still hiding behind the utility pole.

He had been there since before I started doing whatever I wanted with Honma, which meant he had probably been standing there for around an hour.

“He's just blatantly suspicious.”

It was strange no one had reported him.

I had asked Honma about him in a little more detail. She said she didn't recognize the man and had no idea where she might have met him.

Apparently, he didn't show up every day. But whenever he did appear, he sometimes stayed there until around six in the evening.

“Well, even someone with perverted thoughts has to draw the line at a stalker.”

I gave a wry laugh at that obvious realization.

All right, then. Just as promised, it was time to meet the stalker.

“Hey.”

“!?”

I called out to the man hiding behind the utility pole.

He jerked, his shoulders trembling, and turned toward me.

“Y-You!!”

His gaze immediately sharpened as he stared at me.

He looked at me with the intensity of someone staring at the murderer of his parents. I had no reason to have bad blood with him, so it was probably because of Honma.

He appeared a little older than I was, with messy hair and glasses… basically, he looked exactly like the stereotypical stalker from manga.

“You! What is your relationship with my Emu-chan!?”

“…”

The line was so painfully cliché that I just stared blankly at him.

Seeing my dumbfounded expression, he apparently thought he had the upper hand and pressed on even more forcefully.

“That girl reached out to me! I was being mocked in my university club and walking around crying, and she asked me if I was okay!”

“…Come on, don't tell me that was all it took—”

“Don't call it ‘all it took'! She was worried about me because she has feelings for me! Stay away from my Emu-chan, you b*****d!!”

I see. This guy was seriously gone.

Sure, if you saw a university student crying while walking around town, you might speak to him. But Honma's act of kindness had apparently been a bad move.

In manga or anime, perhaps that could have been the beginning of romance. In reality, though, the person she spoke to was the worst kind of delusional idiot.

“Do you realize you're a stalker?”

“A stalker!? Don't compare me to trash like them!!”

Okay. This guy was beyond help.

There was no point continuing to talk; he clearly would not listen. More importantly, now that he knew I existed, he might seriously consider doing something to Honma.

“Let's put you under hypnosis for now.”

“What are you—”

I took out my phone.

Looking at the screen, I realized Honma was still the one under hypnosis. I canceled it, then activated the app on the man instead.

He immediately fell silent and looked at me with vacant eyes.

“I don't have a hobby of staring at men. For now… hmm.”

Still, what should I do with him?

If I provoked a stalker carelessly, he might do something even more extreme. Maybe I should make him do something like what I had made Aisaka do before, so he would not even have time to think about Honma… Hmm.

“I should confirm something first. Everything you said earlier was true, right?”

“Yeah.”

“You're stalking Honma because of your own assumptions. That's correct, isn't it?”

“It's not an assumption. I'm serious.”

I gave a wry smile. What dedication.

For the moment, I pulled up the app screen and looked through what it could do.

It was the same as before: it could basically make people follow orders, but it didn't seem capable of changing someone's entire personality through brute force.

“Thinking about this is tiring. Do you have photos of Honma?”

“Of course. I have them displayed in my room. I also stole underwear that was hanging out to dry.”

“…”

This guy had really done everything.

Thinking there might be more, I looked inside the bag he was carrying. Inside were countless photographs of Honma, along with a bra.

“I'll leave aside how you stole it. For now, go to the police station.”

“Understood.”

Once he was forced to confront the reality that he had committed crimes, maybe his feelings would change.

His university life might be over, but a scumbag like me had no reason to care about that.

Driving away a stalker who was hanging around a girl—that was undoubtedly an act of justice.

But I wasn't some hero of justice.

“I'm doing worse things than you are.”

Muttering that, I followed behind the man as he walked away.

“…?”

At that moment, I suddenly felt eyes on my back and turned around, but no one was there.

I tilted my head, deciding it must have been my imagination, and watched until the man properly entered the police station.

I had ordered him to confess everything: what he had done, and what he had been doing up until moments ago. The police would handle the rest.

“…Oh, my battery died.”

My phone turned off at exactly that moment.

I had used the hypnosis app many times now, but I had learned that it heated up and drained the battery about as badly as a high-resolution mobile game.

“The thought of the battery dying while I'm using this thing is terrifying…”

“What is?”

“No, it's just that my phone's battery—?”

Wait. Who was I talking to?

The voice sounded familiar, in a way. It was the voice that had been making sweet sounds just a little while ago.

“…Why are you here?”

Honma was standing behind me.

Before leaving her house, I had made her fix her clothes. She had only wiped herself down quickly, but I should have removed any obvious signs.

From her perspective, she had been hypnotized, so she should not have remembered anything about me—or so I thought.

“Um… I think I must have fallen asleep. But when I woke up and looked outside, I saw you and that man together, Senpai.”

“…”

I see. She must have woken up at exactly the time I switched the hypnosis target.

Maybe she thought I was working together with that man. That would have been unpleasant, but apparently that was not what she thought.

“After you said something to him, he went straight to the police station… Did you know that I was being stalked?”

“No. I happened to be nearby because I had some business there, and that guy stepped on a stone or something and fell over. A whole bunch of photos he had taken of you spilled out of his bag.”

“…I see.”

I lied as naturally as breathing. I was impressed with how thick-skinned I had become.

“Some underwear came out too. Looks like he must have stolen it without you realizing.”

“Ah… I did think one item was missing. I thought maybe I had put it away somewhere without noticing, or that it had gotten hidden.”

Good, good. Honma didn't seem to suspect me at all.

I had actually considered hypnotizing her on the spot and getting away, but unfortunately my phone had run out of power, so I could not use the app.

If she had suspected me in this state, I didn't know whether I could have talked my way out of it. My heart was still pounding as if to show that anxiety.

“Looks like a couple of coincidences happened to line up. Good thing it worked out.”

I laughed and turned my back to Honma.

“Ah, wait, Senpai! Um, I want to thank you—”

“You don't need to. I've already received plenty.”

“??”

I was scum. I wasn't the kind of person who deserved thanks.

Walking away coolly—that was the kind of person I was now.

“It's getting dark, so be careful going home, okay? Don't let another stalker set his sights on you.”

“…I understand. Thank you very much, Senpai.”

I waved my hand casually and parted ways with Honma.

That's right—I did not need her gratitude. After all, I intended to keep doing whatever I wanted with Honma from now on.

“…Still, she makes some incredible sounds even while hypnotized. It would be dangerous unless her parents are away.”

Imagining what I had done to Honma, I kept chuckling to myself all the way home.

“Still, my body is real. I actually have a limit, you know…”

The hypnosis app's effects were powerful, but my body was not like those hypnosis p*rverts in manga who could keep going again and again without stopping.

Would the day ever come when I could graduate beyond being a mere sage…?