CH 217

Chapter 217 – Midnight Visit

TL: Sponsored chapter (1/1).

“…No, er, it’s that, you know… where they put a catheter in through your mouth to your stomach so you can directly ingest things.” (Torimoto)

“Ah, I see.” (Shakuhara)

“Hm? But at that time, I don’t remember there being a catheter…” (Saniwa)

Hey, come on. You don’t have to try so hard to remember that part…

“S-Saniwa-san, you were just coming back to your senses at the time, so you probably don’t remember it clearly.” (Torimoto)

Cold sweat dripped nervously down my back as I tried my best to calmly explain my way out of the situation.

Look, Shakuhara is clearly looking at me with suspicious eyes.

Well then again, what I did had been a really public act. The girls might have already heard about what happened, but… if that was going to happen, I hoped that someone would tell them that Saniwa was in no state to refuse.

Besides, I had no idea that she would become my caretaker. If she found out that I fed the medicine to her mouth-to-mouth, she would definitely try to keep her distance from me, or I might even be hunted down… by Shakuhara, of course.

It might be good to get out of here before she finds out.

“They told you to gargle? Brush your teeth? They were worried about you…! Y-Yooooou…! No way, don’t tell me you really…?!” (Shakuhara)

Crap, she’s onto me?!

“W-What’s wrong, Kei-chan?” (Saniwa)

“Eh? Ah, nevermind! I-It’s nothing!” (Shakuhara)

Shakuhara waved both of her hands in front of her. Good. Sometimes, the truth only hurts people. Keep it up.

“Really? But you suddenly panicked…” (Saniwa)

“It’s really nothing! I was just put off because he suddenly started stinking really badly!” (Shakuhara)

Hey, come on. Even as a lie, that hurts.

“Is that so…? If I had to say, Torimoto-sama smells good… N-No, he doesn’t stink!” (Saniwa)

“Riwa… Just now, you said he smells good…” (Shakuhara)

“I didn’t say anything! It’s just your imagination, Kei-chan!” (Saniwa)

“….” (Shakuhara)

For some reason, Shakuhara was giving me an awfully intimidating look.

This… Maybe she’s already figured out how I made Saniwa drink the medicine. After this, she’ll probably go confirm it with the people who were there at the time.

…Maybe I really should run away…?

Deep down, I knew for a fact that the chances of Shakuhara trying to assassinate me had increased explosively after this.

—

It was late at night, around 2 in the morning.

Shortly after everyone else had already gone to bed, I felt a presence on the other side of the door.

“…Milord.” (Shiki)

“Yeah, she’s here, huh?” (Torimoto)

I had been laying down on my bed, but I quietly got up and prepared to meet her.

At that moment, I heard a knock at the door.

I gave my permission for her to enter, and the door slowly opened. I didn’t feel any hostile intent, so it didn’t seem like she was going to attack me out of the blue. Still, I kept my guard up for the time being.

Sure enough, it was Aoyama Kanade who appeared after the door opened.

I showed her in and offered her a seat on the sofa, but she refused, and we started to talk while standing. Perhaps that meant that she was also wary of me.

“Could you please quickly tell me what your purpose is for coming here for today?” (Torimoto)

I was curious, to say the least, what reasons she would have for wanting to be in this situation.

Aoyama had an expression as stiff as a noh mask, and her lips were quietly trembling.

“……I’ve come to ask a favor of you today.” (Aoyama)

“A favor, is it…? I assume that means it’s an important matter that others mustn’t know about then?” (Torimoto)

Aoyama nodded in response. It seemed that it was a secret request that she couldn’t even tell Sayuri, whom she held in such high regard. What in the world could it be…?

At that moment, much to my surprise, Aoyama suddenly bowed deeply to me.

“I’m begging you. Could you please leave this place?” (Aoyama)

“…Is that because you can’t stand being in an environment where I, a man, am present?” (Torimoto)

“No.” (Aoyama)

“…Then why?” (Torimoto)

“Because your presence may be what brings the order to ruin.” (Aoyama)

“Ruin? …May I ask what you mean by that?” (Torimoto)

“Currently, there are three factions regarding your existence in the order. The first group is the acceptance faction, which wants to bring you in and make you a member of the Maiden’s Rebirth Order. As you may know, this is also the will of Founder-sama.” (Aoyama)

I was aware of this. The rules of the order had changed since my arrival. Sayuri was trying to take me in as a beneficial existence to the order.

“The second faction is the exclusionary faction. As the name implies, they’re the ones who are planning to drive you out or come up with a plot to kill you.” (Aoyama)

Well, I knew that there would be people like that among them. That was probably why Sayuri had assigned Shakuhara and Saniwa to me as caretakers.

“And the third is the reformist faction, who believe you are truly God’s Messenger and worship you as the new founder.” (Aoyama)

“…..What? The first two I get, but the last one… new founder? Me?” (Torimoto)

“You have performed miracle after miracle in front of the followers. You saved those who were fatally wounded, and Founder-sama has placed her complete trust in you. You were the driving force that brought hope to many of us, who believed we had no choice but to perish in the war against the yakuza. There are people who were moved by your actions.” (Aoyama)

Wow, seriously? There were followers like that? I had no idea.

I mean, all of my actions so far were in the interest of making money, so I had complicated feelings about being admired for something like that.