The system put on a beaming smile again and asked, "How did you figure out so quickly that the villagers and the village chief were off?"
"And that Medusa—you suspected her from the very first day? How did you know so fast? And all those weird things in the village hospital—how did you sort them out?"
"How did you know about the body-swapping surgeries the hospital was doing? And that director was super strange too. And who were those two people protecting them, and…"
[Enough, enough! Too many questions, way too many!]
Saiki gave the system a disdainful look and said irritably,
[Why are you asking so much?!]
"You… you clearly said I could ask." The system looked at Saiki with big, aggrieved eyes.
Saiki: …
[The reason I suspected her as Medusa, and suspected the people in the village, is because I couldn't hear their inner voices.]
[I realized that with all those bizarre ghosts and monsters in this world, I can't hear their thoughts—only humans'. So from day one, I already knew: the people in that village weren't human at all.]
"That's… that's it (=°Д°=)?"
[Yeah. So like I said, I was already way ahead from the start.]
[With suspicion in mind, I wanted to take that Medusa along and see if she'd slip up. Turns out she wasn't afraid of death at all—she kept testing me right in front of my face.]
[She deliberately brought me to those places and kept leaking all kinds of notes and information on purpose.]
[The first real clue was when she and that blue general were in the same spot. The moment she turned the blue general to stone, I figured she did it because he had discovered her true identity.]
The system: "I didn't expect that. The blue general—who seems like the least clever one—was actually the first to figure it out."
[Yeah. From that moment, I was already 80–90% sure it was her. Then when she took me to see that mural, I completely understood what had happened in the village.]
[Later when I disappeared, half the reason really was to check out the seventh floor. The other half was to secretly observe whether she was Medusa. And in the end, I confirmed it was her.]
The corner of Saiki's mouth curled up slightly. Realizing it, he quickly reached up and forced it back down.
[Actually, from that one instant, my part of the game was already over.]
"Then what about that hospital…"
[That one… there's really not much to say.]
"Just tell me a little!"
Saiki thought for a moment and said casually,
[After reading all the diaries, you can figure it out. Even before that hospital was invaded by the bizarre, it wasn't an ordinary hospital at all.]
[It was a hospital that constantly tested the legal bottom line—look at the sign for the psychiatric ward. On the surface it was a hospital, but secretly it was involved in organ harvesting and selling kidneys and internal organs stolen from other places.]
[That's also why the mortality rate in that journalist's diary was so insanely high.]
"Then why didn't any of the families ever come cause trouble?"
[No idea. The answer is still somewhere in the hospital. It hasn't been found yet. Even that journalist was killed by the director, who was afraid of being exposed during his search for the truth.]
"What kind of hospital is still afraid of that kind of thing?"
[At that time, the hospital might already have been partially invaded by the bizarre, but not completely. Back then, that "director" might still have been human.]
Saiki paused for a moment, then continued.
[But starting from that point, didn't the corpses in the hospital start disappearing? That was when the truly terrifying things began. From the diaries, you can see that later—especially at night when everything was shrouded in darkness—countless dead and vanished corpses gradually started reappearing from the morgue.]
"You said earlier that the director wasn't the boss, and wasn't one of the two little girls who saved them?"
[Yare yare, who knows.]
"Hey…"
[I only know there's still an "it" above everything. Something working hand-in-glove with that director—something that feeds on corpses and organs, can influence dead bodies, but fears the living. Heh.]
"What's with that?"
The system saw Saiki's sleazy grin and couldn't help but give him a nudge.
[Nothing. That director's mental state had already started deteriorating back then. As a living person, he got deeply involved with the best stuff to mess with, and to test it all, he ran all kinds of experiments and built that kind of lock to deal with that monster. But "it" seems to be very afraid of light.]
[That's also why the security guard had to keep all the lights on at night—but only the negative first floor was lit. Still, that was enough, since "it" came from there.]
"You've been talking in riddles since earlier. I don't get it. Anyway, that place was full of weird ghosts and monsters, right? Your little companions there—are they going to be okay?"
[They'll be fine. And it's not all ghosts and monsters. A lot of the doctors were living people, but all the patients were dead—or rather, dead people with living organs.]
[But those weren't from my floor of patients. They were from other floors. The hospital had two layers. Those patients were products of the director's experiments, but they had already become walking corpses.]
[The diary once mentioned that they could stay calm under light, and their sense of up and down was reversed. Their existence proved that the living parts could restrict the dead parts.]
"What do you mean two layers? You said the reversed up-down sense was from earlier?"
[Yeah. They pressed the seventh-floor button in the elevator, but it went down instead.]
"You said the director was still alive?"
[Yes… no.]
"What do you mean no?"
Saiki didn't answer. The system got anxious and was about to speak when Saiki said,
[Oh~ I remember now. That director really was alive back then. Now he probably isn't anymore. He's already been assimilated by them—half human, half ghost. His sense of up and down is the same as theirs now. He can no longer be called human.]
"What does that mean?"
[It doesn't mean anything. That's pretty much everything I figured out. Actually, that hospital doesn't even belong to my instance, so knowing half is enough. The rest is up to them. Of course… looking at their situation there, things probably aren't looking good for them…]
[Yare yare, anyway, are we there yet? I don't want to talk anymore. This has nothing to do with me. Really boring. You're so boring.]
"You…"
The system glared fiercely at Saiki. "Fine fine fine, we're here already. Look to your right."
Saiki looked right. A pitch-black space had already opened up. Saiki nodded in satisfaction. Just as he turned to say thanks, from the corner of his eye he saw two jade-white legs kicking toward his back.
"Stupid jerk, get lost back there!"
Those were the last words Saiki heard as he fell into that space.
"…"
…
Saiki suddenly jolted awake on the sofa in his room.
[That jerk. Next time I see her, I'm definitely spanking her butt. A hundred times, a hundred times.]
After calming down for a bit, Saiki stood up from the sofa and looked around. It was exactly the same as his own house.
[No implanted memories. Not a parallel timeline of mine. Good. Let's go outside and check.]
Saiki walked out of the room. He glanced at Shiina Mahiru's room next door—nobody inside—then went straight downstairs.
[Looks like this really is my world…]
As Saiki walked, he arrived at the familiar park. Looking at the familiar park and benches, he frowned tightly.
[This park—every time I come here, something bad happens. Never once has anything good come of it. This time, can't something good happen for once?!]
Saiki turned his head to look at the park again. Planning to go to the convenience store to buy a bottle of water to quench his thirst, he spotted a faint purple eyeshadow slowly approaching.
(Kubo-san.)
Saiki stayed rooted in place without moving.
He remembered Kubo Nagisa and Shiraishi from the parallel timeline he had encountered before. So Saiki kept his face calm and silently watched Kubo Nagisa approach.
When Kubo Nagisa saw Saiki, she bounced over happily. She didn't disappoint Saiki's expectations and struck the exact pose he remembered.
Kubo Nagisa gave her usual mysterious smile and leaned in close. "Saiki-kun, what a coincidence! I didn't expect to run into you even on holiday. Could this be a fated encounter?"
(This vibe is way too on point.)
[Kubo-san, hello.]
A flash of delight passed through Saiki's eyes. This time he felt even happier than the last time he met Kubo Nagisa.
[I'm finally back.]
Kubo Nagisa: "(((o(ﾟ▽ﾟ)o))) Back from what?"
[Never mind. I was just saying the barley tea at this convenience store is pretty good. I came back here to buy some.]
"Oh~ Really? Then I want to try it too!"
[Then I'll treat you.]
The joy of returning after so long put Saiki in a great mood. He felt like celebrating. Right now he had the urge to buy ten boxes of coffee jelly, but remembering he already had some at home, he decided to just treat his classmate to a drink instead.
"Really? That's great! Saiki-kun is so kind!"
[If possible, please don't use that word on me.]
Saiki headed toward the convenience store. Kubo Nagisa smiled and followed along, saying cheerfully, "Don't be shy~ By the way, I always feel like we haven't seen each other in forever. It feels like two whole months have passed."
(Yeah yeah, stop talking.)
"…"
…
Pop!
A crisp sound rang out—like the pop of a cupping glass being removed.
Kubo Nagisa took a big gulp of bottled barley tea, wiped the corner of her mouth, and said, "Yare yare, the taste really is nice, Saiki-kun."
(I get it, I get it. Just don't yare yare in front of me.)
At that moment, dark clouds gathered in the sky. It looked like a light rain was about to start.
Tap
Drip drip drip drip drip
"It's starting to rain, Saiki-kun."
[No helping it. Guess we have to head home.]
Saiki took a sip of barley tea and looked toward his apartment building, ready to run back.
Kubo Nagisa reached out and said, "My house is kind of far, Saiki-kun. Can I come with you?"
"Your house seems pretty big, though."
"Just until the rain stops."
Saiki's eyes narrowed slightly. This classic scenario and exact phrasing made him feel like he still wasn't fully back in his original mode.
"No good?" Kubo Nagisa looked at Saiki pitifully.
"If not, that's okay. I understand. I can wait here. The rain will stop soon. If it really doesn't, I can just run back in two or three hours."
Saiki finished the barley tea in one gulp.
(Good tea.)
[Fine. It should stop soon.]
Saiki agreed.
(If it doesn't stop in two hours, I'll personally go scatter the thunderstorm myself.)
"Hehe, great! Let's go, let's go!" Kubo Nagisa smiled brightly and jogged toward Saiki's house.
[Yare yare, don't run so fast.]
Saiki casually tossed the empty barley tea can into the trash, shoved his hands in his pockets, and followed. But after just a few steps, something dirty caught the corner of his eye. He glanced right.
Saiki froze. He saw a terrifying ghost covered in black aura with hollow eyes standing in front of a girl who was looking down at her phone under an umbrella.
(Hey hey hey, no way!)
"Saiki-kun, what are you waiting for? Come on!"
Saiki shook his head, blinked, and looked again. The ghost from earlier had already vanished.
(Sigh, must be because I just came back from that bizarre world. I saw wrong. Yeah, that's it.)
[Coming!]
Saiki turned and followed after Kubo Nagisa.
But after a few more steps, something occurred to him. He turned back toward the screen and—for once—opened his mouth and said,
"To be continued…"
Author's note: Yare yare, alright, that's it for this book for now. From the setup in chapter 161, you can probably tell.
Temporary conclusion, bros. Sorry. I bragged earlier about writing 400–500 chapters. I was wrong.
Although I really could have stretched it that far, lately I've had a lot going on in real life. You can probably tell from the inconsistent updates. So I'm going to take care of things in my life first. I'll open a continuation later.
For now, I need to take a step back and recharge…
First, a deep bow to all you noble readers. ▄█▀█● Please forgive me.
The next book will continue Saiki's story. It'll pick up right after—Yukinoshita Yukino, the Quintuplets, Kaguya-sama still haven't shown up yet.
So, see you later, bros. Until we meet again.
I will definitely be back!!! (super loud)
T/N: He never came back, the final chapter was posted on 2024-01-09 , its been 2 years, also are there any good saiki k, or Hayate the combat butler fanfic here on webnovel?