Chapter 454: Suspicion and Worry

Kouhei was now preparing the cake, carefully working through the ingredients and equipment in front of him while keeping track of everything that still needed to be done.

Aria and Hina were there to help him, although their roles were deliberately limited. They were not supposed to contribute directly to the preparation itself, and instead, they were only there to assist Kouhei whenever he needed something. If he asked for an ingredient, they would hand it to him, and if he needed a particular utensil or some other item, they would make sure it reached him as quickly as possible. Beyond that, however, they were not allowed to interfere with the actual process, meaning that Kouhei was responsible for putting the cake together himself while the two of them basically served as his extra hands.

It was a somewhat unusual arrangement, especially considering how much easier things probably would have been if Aria and Hina had simply been allowed to help with the preparation directly, but those were the conditions they had been given. Kouhei was not about to ignore them, particularly when they were already dealing with enough uncertainties surrounding Chiemi’s involvement.

"Do you think Chiemi is actually telling the truth, though, Kouhei?" Hina asked as she continued helping him.

For some reason, Hina found it difficult to believe that Chiemi had genuinely been kind enough to help them like this without having some other reason behind it. Hina was not particularly close with Chiemi, so she could not exactly claim to know her well enough to understand her intentions, but there was something about Chiemi that had always struck her as strange.

It was not necessarily that Chiemi had done something obviously suspicious, either, because Hina could not point to one specific action and say that it proved Chiemi was untrustworthy. Instead, it was the general way Chiemi behaved that bothered her. Almost everything she did seemed slightly off, as though she had already considered the action several times in her head before actually carrying it out.

Well, thinking before acting was certainly a normal part of human behavior. People naturally thought about what they were doing before making important decisions, and there was nothing particularly unusual about taking a moment to consider the possible consequences of an action. However, people generally did not consciously think through every single thing they did, especially when it came to actions that had already become ingrained in them and were performed almost entirely through instinct.

Someone did not normally stop and think about how to walk before taking a step, for example, because the body already knew what it was supposed to do. Breathing was another obvious example, since people generally did not have to remind themselves to inhale and exhale throughout the day. They simply did it without thinking because those actions were already deeply ingrained in their bodies.

For some reason, Chiemi seemed to be different.

It was almost as though she consciously planned her next move before making it, regardless of how small or insignificant that movement happened to be. Even the simplest actions sometimes gave Hina the impression that Chiemi had already thought about them beforehand and decided exactly how she wanted to carry them out.

Even her speech gave Hina that same impression.

Chiemi did not talk particularly much, but whenever she did say something, it often sounded as though she had considered the words carefully before allowing them to leave her mouth. It was almost like watching someone constantly deliberate over their choices, except Chiemi managed to do it so naturally that it was difficult to tell whether she was even aware that she was doing it.

That was what made her so difficult for Hina to understand.

Hina could normally get a general sense of what other people were feeling because of her ability to sense emotions, but Chiemi remained surprisingly difficult to read even for her. It was not that Hina could not sense anything from Chiemi at all, but rather that there always seemed to be something else beneath whatever emotion she happened to be displaying.

Trying to understand Chiemi sometimes felt like trying to read a book while someone kept turning the pages before Hina could finish the previous one.

"I don’t feel like she’s doing this out of malice, so I guess it’s fine to trust her," Kouhei said as he continued preparing the cake. "However, I think you’re right about the fact that she seems to be plotting something."

Kouhei could feel it too.

There was definitely something unusual about Chiemi’s behavior, and Kouhei was not oblivious enough to completely dismiss Hina’s concerns. At the same time, he did not think their suspicions were enough of a reason to refuse the opportunity Chiemi had given them.

They were already running short on time, and that mattered far more at the moment.

Whatever Chiemi might have been planning, Kouhei felt that it was better to accept her assistance for now and deal with the consequences later if something actually happened. They could spend hours trying to figure out what was going through Chiemi’s head, but doing that would not help them finish what they needed to accomplish.

Besides, they did not even have proof that Chiemi was planning anything particularly harmful.

"I suppose that makes sense," Hina eventually said.

***

Meanwhile, at the medbay inside the Yuka Mansion, the atmosphere had become considerably more tense.

Yumi was still beside Kozue, desperately applying her healing magic in an attempt to keep her alive. She was trying everything she could think of, pouring her strength into the healing process while carefully watching Kozue’s condition and attempting to prevent things from getting any worse.

The problem was that this was not an ordinary injury that could simply be repaired through healing magic.

The mana inside Kozue had been mixed with holy power, and that holy energy was slowly eating away at her from the inside. Because Yumi had no practical idea how to properly deal with something like that, she could not simply heal Kozue in the usual manner and expect the problem to disappear.

Instead, all she could do was keep applying her healing magic and prevent Kozue’s condition from deteriorating further.

It was far from an ideal solution, but it was the only option Yumi had available.

She had to keep Kozue alive.

The members of the Kouhei Faction were gathered nearby just outside the medbay area, and although everyone was doing their best to remain calm, the anxiety hanging over them was impossible to miss. They were all quietly praying and hoping that Kozue would somehow make it through the situation.

It was admittedly a strange sight in its own way, considering that they were demons and were currently praying for someone’s recovery, but nobody in the room seemed particularly interested in pointing that out. Given the circumstances, they had more important things to worry about.

Besides, it was not as though they were expecting some distant God in the heavens to suddenly hear them and solve everything.

They were praying to Ayin, the creator of demons.

Their prayers were directed toward her, with everyone hoping that Kozue would somehow recover from what was happening to her. It was less about expecting an immediate miracle and more about holding onto whatever hope they still had left.

"Yumi... she doesn’t normally use her ability for this long," Misuzu said quietly.

Misuzu was extremely worried about Kozue, but she was becoming increasingly concerned about Yumi as well. She knew that Yumi was capable of healing injuries relatively quickly, usually requiring only around ten seconds to a minute depending on the severity of the damage.

Because of that, Yumi normally had little reason to maintain her ability continuously for such an extended period.

This situation was completely different.

Yumi had been using her healing magic for far longer than she normally would, and it was becoming increasingly obvious that the strain was beginning to take its toll on her.

"Hopefully, Kouhei managed to convince Ruri so that they could freeze Kozue in time," Nagisa said.

She was clearly trying to remain composed, although the worry in her expression made it obvious that she was struggling to do so.

Misuzu was worried.

Nagisa was worried.

Everyone else was worried as well.

Naturally, Kouhei would have been just as concerned if he were there to see the situation for himself. Kozue’s condition was already bad enough, and now Yumi was pushing herself far beyond what she normally did in order to keep her alive.

The longer the situation continued, the more difficult it became to tell how much longer Yumi could maintain her healing.

Then, while everyone was still anxiously waiting and worrying about what would happen next, they suddenly heard a sound coming from inside the medbay.

The sound immediately caught their attention.

Everyone noticed it almost at the same time, and they quickly rushed toward the source without wasting time wondering what had happened. The sudden noise had been enough to make their already serious concerns even worse, and when they entered the area, they immediately saw Yumi lying unconscious on the floor.

"Yumi!" Misuzu shouted as she rushed toward her.

Yumi did not respond.

She was still breathing, thankfully, but she remained completely unconscious, and there was blood coming from her nose. It was immediately obvious that she had pushed herself too far, especially considering how long she had been continuously using her healing magic.

Misuzu quickly checked on her, relieved to find that she was still alive, although that relief was mixed with even more worry because Yumi’s collapse meant that they had just lost the person who had been keeping Kozue alive.

"Sakurako! Call Kou-kun immediately!" Nagisa shouted as she moved toward Kozue, who had begun spasming. "Now!"

Sakurako immediately rushed out of the medbay without questioning the order.

Fortunately, she was a werewolf, so locating Kouhei was considerably easier for her than it would have been for an ordinary person. Her sense of smell was strong enough that she could track him from a considerable distance, meaning that she could identify his scent and determine where he was without needing to waste time searching through the mansion blindly.

That was probably the only bit of good luck they had at the moment.