Chapter 180: A Nonexistent Person? Summer Vacation Begins!

"I originally heard that you came back, so I specially came over. But now it seems like I've ruined your fun, huh?"

Mai angrily pinched the soft flesh on Haruto's waist.

Haruto felt puzzled.

Why did he feel guilty?

He hadn't even made a move on Mai yet, had he?

Well… whatever. Just go with the flow and see how things unfold.

After venting her small frustration, Mai didn't continue making things difficult for Haruto and instead brought up the main topic.

"Go recruit some new members for the Meme Division! Megumi and I can barely handle everything!"

Mai complained.

To this day, the Meme Division still only had two members, Sakurajima Mai and Kato Megumi.

And because of their unique traits, the anomalies they dealt with were exclusively meme-related or anti-meme in nature.

As a result, the Meme Division was almost completely forgotten by the Foundation.

Even the other two current O5 council members, who had the most advanced cognitive protection protocols in the Foundation, would sometimes overlook the existence of the Meme Division.

Poor treatment, slow equipment approvals—

If not for Haruto, Mai would have quit long ago.

Haruto quickly nodded in agreement.

"I'll make sure to recruit new personnel for the Meme Division as soon as possible. As for your division's benefits and equipment requests… I'll just grant you both special Level 4 clearance."

Hearing this, some of the resentment in Mai's expression finally faded. Meanwhile, Megumi chuckled from the sidelines.

Haruto gave her a look of mock resentment and poked her cheek.

"Megumi, you've changed! You weren't like this before!"

Hearing this, Megumi blushed slightly but quickly turned her head away, acting as if she didn't care.

Haruto clutched his chest, feeling waves of heartache.

Betrayal! Betrayal! The once-loyal Megumi-chan has turned against me!

Watching Haruto's exaggerated performance, Megumi couldn't help but cover her face and laugh. Mai also smiled but quickly remembered something and looked at Haruto suspiciously.

"By the way, over at Umbrella, four girls suddenly showed up forming a band. Every day, they look terrified while wandering around the company. Is this your doing?"

Hearing this, Haruto averted his gaze.

"Huh? Is that so? I don't know about that. Maybe Miyako scouted some promising newcomers? Mai, you should take care of them."

Mai squinted at him in suspicion.

Those four girls at the company seemed to have been tricked into coming. Before arriving, they had no idea they would be performing alongside Hoshino Ai.

And…

To this day, no one had told them that their final stage would be at the legendary Tokyo Dome.

So far, they had only done a few small- and mid-sized performances.

It seemed like they were being eased into it to overcome their fear of large stages.

It had worked somewhat, but…

Mai just couldn't imagine those four confidently performing on the Tokyo Dome stage. This kind of scheming didn't seem like something their manager, Miyako, would do.

That woman was at least a responsible and ethical professional.

Both her conscience and professionalism wouldn't allow her to pull four girls from an underground band straight onto the Tokyo Dome stage.

Shooting a glare at Haruto, Mai didn't press the issue further.

It was obviously one of his little amusements.

On the other side, Megumi raised her hand.

"Megumi, are you a grade-schooler? Just say what's on your mind."

Haruto chuckled.

Megumi nodded, organized her thoughts, and then said,

"During our last containment mission, I think I encountered a… nonexistent person."

Hearing this, Haruto furrowed his brows.

A nonexistent person?

Megumi continued,

"After identifying the meme anomaly, Mai and I rushed over. The containment process itself went smoothly. But just as it was about to end, I suddenly heard the sound of high heels clicking and faint breathing."

"I looked around carefully, but I couldn't find anyone who matched the sounds, nor did I find their source. Later, I reviewed all the surveillance footage from the mission, but there was no sign of any unusual figures."

"Even more strangely, in the recorded audio, I couldn't hear the high heels at all. But at the time, they were very clear."

"It was as if someone who doesn't exist was present at the containment site."

After Megumi finished speaking, Haruto frowned slightly.

Because of her anti-meme traits, Megumi naturally had resistance to cognitive interference.

Moreover, she had been consistently taking W-Class memory enhancers, further strengthening her resistance.

Within the entire Foundation, even the O5 council members equipped with the highest-level cognitive protection protocols, couldn't match Megumi's level of perceptual accuracy.

So, Haruto didn't believe this was simply a mistake in perception.

At that moment, Mai also seemed deep in thought before nodding.

"Now that Megumi mentions it, I think I also heard the sound of high heels clicking at the scene. But later tests on the meme anomaly showed that it had no such traits and wouldn't produce sounds like that."

Haruto nodded.

"Do you remember the mission's containment record number?"

Megumi promptly recited a long string of numbers.

Haruto pulled out his Foundation-issued phone, entered the number, and quickly retrieved the containment report.

After reviewing the records, Haruto raised an eyebrow.

"There's nothing there. Looks like this is an anomaly that can't be observed or recorded by cameras. I'll visit the containment site myself later. If I don't find anything, we'll just draft a preliminary file for now."

"If the phenomenon appears again, I'll check it out in person."

Haruto laid out his plan.

Both Megumi and Sakurajima Mai nodded in agreement.

Just then, the school bell rang.

As a third-year senior, Mai had to leave for her own classroom. Meanwhile, Hiratsuka Shizuka entered the classroom but didn't start teaching.

With final exams over, today was just for assigning summer homework and distributing announcements. After handing out the vacation notices, Hiratsuka Shizuka cleared her throat, suppressing the restless atmosphere in the class.

"The first semester is officially over. Stay safe during summer break, and don't go near restricted river areas. If you're going on trips, be mindful of your safety and don't fall for sweet talk so easily."

(T/N: Yeah don't do that. One second its calm as fuck, then next moment it'll be raging current.

Dont be stupid if you don't know how to swim.) 

She didn't just read from the notice but added her own warnings.

Haruto twitched the corner of his mouth.

He had the feeling Hiratsuka Shizuka was glancing in his direction. Speaking of which, his desk compartment was stuffed full again.

Confession letters, invitations to go out over summer vacation—

No wonder Hiratsuka Shizuka was glaring at him.

If he accepted every invitation, even with daily outings, the whole summer wouldn't be enough.

And since they were all from girls, yeah… safety precautions were indeed necessary…

Cough.

Anyway, the restless summer vacation of high school life had begun.

After class, Haruto sorted through the confession and invitation letters, planning to respond to each one.

He likely wouldn't accept any of them, but…

The trauma from Megumi still lingered.

Just the thought that, among the mountain of letters he had previously discarded, there might have been one from Megumi…

It made his heart ache.

So, even though it's a bit troublesome, I'll reply one by one.

"I didn't expect you to be such a soft-hearted person."

His seatmate sent over a sarcastic remark.

Haruto glanced at Yukino but naturally didn't bother explaining his thought process.

"Speaking of which, now that you've transferred to Shuchiin, don't you feel like you have too much free time? Have you thought about starting a club?"

Now that he thought about it, Yukino's Service Club still hadn't been established.

When Sobu High first started the semester, there was the whole Hanged King tragedy, followed by the school festival.

After that, due to Haruto's influence, Yukino applied for the transfer program and went to Shuchiin Academy.

The Service Club had essentially sunk into oblivion.

Yukino was momentarily stunned by the question, then asked with some surprise,

"How do you know I wanted to start a club?"

Haruto merely shrugged nonchalantly, offering no response.

Yukino stared at him for a moment before suddenly asking,

"I want to establish the Service Club, using my own strength to help those in need. Will you join?"

From her perspective, the Foundation also utilized its power to protect the weak. Moreover, the boy in front of her had brought up the topic of forming a club on his own.

So… he should definitely agree, right?

However…

"No thanks, I'm not that free."

Haruto rejected her outright.

Yukino almost lost her composure and had the urge to throw him over her shoulder with an Aikido move.

Damn it, if you weren't going to join, then why did you even bring it up?!

Just as she was silently fuming, someone unexpectedly leaned in.

"Eh? Yukino, you're starting a club? What kind of club is it? Can I join?"

Haruto and Yukino both looked up at the newcomer.

As expected, it was Yui.

"Yui, Yukino is forming the Service Club. From the name alone, you should be able to tell what kind of club it is, right?"

Haruto casually stabbed Yukino in the back.