Chapter 53: The Inevitable Arrives, and a Glitch in Reality
"Where is the Sanguine Orchid extract?"
"Director, the Sanguine Orchid is a potent neuro-stimulant! If we apply that to a living subject, they'll lose their mind!"
"Who's running this lab? Me, or you?"
"What's the status of Test Subject Three?"
"Director, Number Three's entire nervous system is fried. The other subjects are showing varying degrees of neural collapse."
"Director, we've found that a compound in this flower might theoretically boost auditory nerve regeneration."
"This flower... is promising. Look, this specific alkaloid... this could be our breakthrough."
"But Director, this substance is highly hallucinogenic and incredibly rare. Extraction is dangerous, and our current equipment isn't precise enough. We only have one high-end centrifuge; the efficiency is too low."
Inside the research institute.
Wearing a white lab coat and gold-rimmed glasses, Haruka stared intensely at a bizarre, blood-red flower sitting inside a petri dish.
"Then tell the Lady to sign a check."
Haruka pushed up his glasses, his voice flat.
"But... we've already requested additional funding four times this month..." The researcher's voice shrank to a whisper.
"Just file the application."
"Yes, sir."
The researcher breathed a sigh of relief.
There was no helping it, the young man standing before him was a living legend in their field. Precisely because these researchers were elites themselves, they understood just how terrifyingly difficult Haruka's work was.
If someone is only slightly better than you, it breeds jealousy. But when the gap is impossible to bridge, only awe remains.
Take this strange flower from South America, for instance. None of them thought it was viable—the side effects were too catastrophic. But this legend clearly thought otherwise.
And given his track record of turning the impossible into the possible, they believed he would succeed.
They didn't dare question him.
Despite his youth, his authority was absolute.
***
Staring at the flower, Haruka's gaze was calm.
It had been over two months since the assassination attempt.
Not much had happened in that time.
Essentially, he had been living in seclusion.
Shoko and his family, however, remained unaffected.
The reason, of course, was Kaguya Shinomiya.
Kaguya had come to him personally to deliver the news.
She had resolved part of the problem. He didn't need to worry about his family; they could live normal lives.
That was the rule.
But he couldn't. At least, not until the power struggle was over.
That was also the rule.
Moreover, these assurances came from her father—the Shinomiya patriarch, a man as ruthless as he was powerful.
So, Haruka could rest easy for now.
In this country, the word of the Shinomiya patriarch carried weight.
Of course, the premise was that Haruka didn't go and invent something world-breaking, like a cure for cancer. If he did that, the entire Shinomiya family might find themselves "committing suicide" with three shots to the back of the head.
But while those things were important...
None of it mattered to Haruka. Shoko was the priority, and her hearing was slipping away by the day. One ear had already fallen silent. The other was following.
The other ear was showing signs of failure. He estimated that in about four months, Shoko would be plunged into total silence, just like in that tragic memory.
But his research still needed time.
He couldn't even guarantee when it would be finished.
Although outsiders saw his progress as miraculous speed, to him, it was slow.
Too slow.
'Don't panic. Stabilize your mind.'
Thinking this, Haruka walked into a sterile white room. He pressed a button. A blast of freezing air hit him instantly.
"Huff!"
Haruka shuddered, his mind instantly sharp and clear. His patented physical wake-up call. Highly effective. The only downside was the physical toll—not recommended for amateurs.
After staying in the freezer for a while, he walked out.
His enhanced body ensured he never caught a cold.
Returning to his living quarters within the institute, Haruka collapsed onto the bed. Feeling the dull throb in his head, his eyes were filled with deep exhaustion.
Sometimes, he felt he was a bit of a joke.
He possessed extraordinary talent in medicine.
And the result?
He suffered from headaches all day and a mysterious mental illness he couldn't diagnose.
Heh.
Physician, heal thyself?
Slowly, Haruka drifted into a deep sleep.
In his dream, Haruka seemed to enter another world.
The "him" in that world was still immature, clinging to the realistic mindset he had awakened in high school along with his past life memories. But his methods were flawed, and in the end, he literally studied himself to death. It was practically a dark comedy.
Then...
?
Wait.
Weren't these the memories that gave him headaches?!
What exactly was going on?
Was he dreaming?
Before he could figure it out, his vision blurred.
He returned to that specific point in time again.
This time, he seemed to have changed a lot.
At least he knew to exercise, and he cared for Shoko much more, no longer isolating himself...
But...
Watching Shoko jump to her death right in front of "him."
Then, seeing "himself" die of a high fever in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
Haruka's expression darkened in the dream.
He had a bad feeling.
Next came the familiar third blur...
Just then, the dream world collapsed.
Haruka woke up with a violent start amidst the shaking of his own body. "Who?!!"
He sat up abruptly, gasping for air.
Beside him stood a relieved-looking old doctor, Shoko hugging his arm tightly, and Ai Hayasaka watching him from a short distance away.
"Haruka... you're finally awake."
Hearing Shoko's tearful voice, Haruka pinched himself hard, forcing his mind to calm down.
Subsequently, he pieced together what had happened.
It turned out he had been unconscious for half a day.
If Shoko hadn't come to visit him every night, he probably wouldn't have been discovered at all.
Even then, he only woke up because Shoko had been frantically shaking him in a panic.
According to the old doctor's examination, he was just exhausted and needed rest.
After comforting Shoko and sending the others out, Haruka remained alone in the room to think.
Dreams?
One dream... two dreams... and the obvious third dream that was about to start...
Those memories... the sequence...
Reincarnation...?
Haruka's expression darkened.
...
[The 'Past and Present Lives' talent is showing slight abnormalities.]
***
[Time flashed by.]
[You continued to maintain your high-intensity research.]
[Although Ai Hayasaka reported your coma to the top, clearly, for them, your physical health is secondary to results. Kaguya Shinomiya did not tell you to stop, nor did she slow you down.]
[After waking up, you became somewhat more silent.]
[Shoko secretly began folding paper cranes again, praying for your safety.]
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