Chapter 29 – Dangerous Power
Ten minutes later.
In the student council room, Shinomiya Kaguya picked up a shoujo manga.
It was taken from Ishigami Yuu's bag. Sakurai Saki didn't have the habit of bringing otaku stuff to school.
Bringing these kinds of things to school and getting caught in an inspection would be a hassle—especially since he was already being watched by a few members of the Disciplinary Committee.
If Fujiwara Chika was like a clingy puppy, then Iino Miko resembled more of a kitten.
૮⍝• ᴥ •⍝ა VS ≽^•⩊•^≼
Both of them were pretty cute, and teasing them was quite entertaining.
Hayasaka Ai probably thought the same, otherwise she wouldn't have confronted Miko there this morning. Honestly, Hayasaka Ai's personality was quite nasty—she was a textbook wicked woman, the kind who laughed out loud while killing people in a game.
And not just any laugh—an outright maniacal one, generally just very unpleasant to hear.
ꉂ (´∀｀)ʱªʱªʱª
It was clear she usually operated under a lot of pressure.
"Shinomiya-senpai, how is it?" Ishigami Yuu closed his laptop.
This manga was one of his favorites.
"Huh?" Shinomiya Kaguya was so absorbed in reading that she hadn't noticed.
"The characters in this one are amazing. A tsundere ojou-sama and a sharp-tongued butler—it's a classic combo in shoujo manga, but the way they interact is really interesting, not cliché at all," Ishigami Yuu commented.
The more she read, the more serious Shinomiya Kaguya's expression became: "Why hasn't this butler guy been executed by the ojou-sama already? He insults his master every single day, and yet he's still running around alive—this is so weird!"
( ｡ •̀ ᴖ •́ ｡ )
Is this supposed to be love? Getting mocked like that and still smiling? Is this person mentally unstable or something?
At that, everyone fell silent.
"Ehm… Kaguya-san, shoujo manga is about love… if the male lead dies, the story can't go on," Fujiwara Chika explained.
Ishigami Yuu sighed.
Yeah, it figures—there's no way Shinomiya-senpai could understand the charm of shoujo manga. Clearly, he was overthinking it.
The plot later on gets super emotional.
Especially the part where the male lead charges into an army of a thousand to protect the female lead, while she clutches the ring and looks off into the distance—that part really hits hard.
Just thinking about it made the corners of Ishigami Yuu's eyes a little moist.
He said sadly, "Shinomiya-senpai, you don't have a heart!"
(ಡ᎔ಡ)
"Oh, I've read this one too," Sakurai Saki casually spoiled: "Later on, the male lead dies pretty…"
Fujiwara Chika immediately covered his mouth. "Sakurai-kun! No spoil!"
(˶˃⤙˂˶)
"Mm? Mmm~" Sakurai Saki looked completely confused.
Even Shinomiya Kaguya didn't want to read anymore. Why was he not allowed to be spoiled?
Fujiwara Chika let go.
Sakurai stammered, "If we don't tell her what happens, then she'll just…"
And his mouth got covered again.
Fujiwara Chika pouted and said angrily, "Sakurai-kun, if you spoil it, Kaguya-san will be even less likely to finish reading it!"
(¬`‸´¬)
"No, I actually think it's pretty interesting." Shinomiya Kaguya objected. "This supporting male character is quite fascinating—really matches my taste: fierce gaze, decisive actions."
Supporting male character? Huh? Wasn't this manga supposed to have only one male lead?
"Kaguya-san, which supporting character are you talking about?"
"That guy named Ander. The tricks he uses to mess with the male lead are seriously impressive. He'll probably steal the female lead later, right?"
? That plotline exists?
(｡· v ·｡) ?
Ishigami Yuu paused, trying to recall the manga's content.
Wasn't that guy the villainous young master? He dies a tragic death later, only appears to taunt the male lead, and then gets utterly crushed to highlight the male lead's brilliance.
How was he supposed to tell Shinomiya-senpai that she liked a villain? And not just any villain—a doomed one at that.
Fujiwara Chika didn't say anything either.
She felt like she and Kaguya were reading two different manga entirely.
That butler guy was clearly amazing! Why didn't Kaguya-san like him?
It was totally baffling!
"(ノ _ <,, )
...
Half an hour later, Shinomiya Kaguya tossed the shoujo manga aside and went with Fujiwara Chika to watch the afternoon club performance for the freshmen welcome event.
Ishigami Yuu had finished his work as well. Seeing Sakurai Saki playing cards in front of him, he asked curiously, "Sakurai-senpai, what's that?"
"Cards. Western playing cards. There are 54 in total, including two jokers," Sakurai explained.
"This deck was brought by Secretary Fujiwara."
He was thinking about today's supernatural ability.
Every morning at 6 o'clock, his supernatural power would activate—but that didn't mean Sakurai could immediately grasp all the details about it.
He could roughly guess its effects, but there were some powers he had never encountered before, so of course the side effects remained unknown and needed to be tested.
And today's power was precisely one that Sakurai had never awakened before, so he had to figure it out himself.
Sakurai gave it a simple name, as follows:
Supernatural Ability: Erasure of Existence
Effect: Can erase the existence of an object, meaning it becomes unobservable by others. Duration of the ability is unclear, and currently, there is no known way to control it. Side effects are also undetermined.
This ability is extremely dangerous—even more terrifying than Death Note.
Death Note came with many prerequisites, including knowing the person's name and writing it in the notebook.
But "Erasure of Existence" could silently eliminate someone from the world. And since he didn't even fully understand how to control it, the duration was also uncertain.
Could be a few days? Could be a few years?
A power like this, which could be activated with just a glance, should logically have severe side effects.
Sakurai Saki glanced at Ishigami Yuu. "Ishigami, I'm going to do a magic trick in a bit. Can you help me observe? I want to check if I make any mistakes."
"Huh? Of course! Sakurai-senpai!" Ishigami Yuu nodded.
ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧
As long as there was something he could help with, Ishigami would never refuse.
"Alright then, let's begin."
As Sakurai Saki spoke, he held up a red joker card and placed it in front of himself and Ishigami Yuu.
"Whoosh~"
After a wave of energy that normal people couldn't see…
"Sakurai-senpai, what kind of magic trick are you doing with your empty hands?" Ishigami Yuu asked curiously.
( ╹ -╹)?
Sakurai Saki looked at his hands. In his field of vision, they were completely empty.
He looked slightly confused and let go of his hands.
Did I really not hold a card just now?
As he moved to let go, a red joker card—which no one had seen until now—fell onto the table.
"Ishigami, isn't this deck missing a card?" Sakurai Saki flipped through the pile.
Ishigami Yuu helped him look for a bit. "Yeah, it does seem like it's missing one—only 53 cards here."
"Forget it, I'll just use another card for the trick." Sakurai Saki picked up a black joker card and held it between his fingers.
Ishigami Yuu stared intently at the small joker.
(≖_≖)
A few seconds later—
"Sakurai-senpai, why are your hands empty again?" Ishigami Yuu asked suspiciously. "Or… did you already finish the trick?"
Sakurai Saki looked at the cards on the table.
A performance deck with no joker cards at all.
This is bad—the supernatural ability today is really bad!
Normally, a standard deck of cards has 54 cards. Without the two jokers, many games can't be played.
'...' Sakurai Saki thought for a few seconds.
Erasure of existence… so that means he just erased both cards, and that's why they couldn't be seen?
Or were they already removed earlier? Maybe Fujiwara-san took them out beforehand?
Did he actually activate the supernatural power?
"Sakurai-senpai, this deck is missing both jokers—what kind of trick was Fujiwara-senpai planning to play earlier!? Don't tell me she was gonna cheat again?" Ishigami Yuu suddenly said.
Sakurai Saki fell silent, deep in thought.
This side effect… is a bit too much.
The effective range of this ability included the user himself—he wasn't immune to it either.
But what if the target was an animal? Could the subject still interact with reality?
After all, objects don't move on their own, but living beings are different.
Although he was curious, Sakurai no longer intended to keep using it.