I, Who Acquired the Ability to Read Memories, Am Being Swallowed by Darkness - While I Should Be Protecting Beautiful Girls, I Am Being Drawn into Darkness Each Time I Use My Power, Yet for Some Reason, My Harem of Beautiful Girls Keeps Growing - Chapter 26: Data Recovery

Chapter 26: Data Recovery

The next day, during lunch break.

I was reading a book behind the library when Onizuka suddenly burst in.

“Oi, Sato!”

“What’s up? You seem so flustered.”

Onizuka, who had been avoiding me since we fought in 6th grade, was surprisingly talking to me today.

“Is it true that you beat up the guys from Seiran yesterday?”

“Yeah, it’s true.”

I answered calmly.

“No way… It’s causing a big stir among the nearby schools.”

“Really?”

“Apparently, you’ve been nicknamed ‘Psycho Sato’. Beating up Sagara’s gang 3-on-1 without a scratch on yourself…”

Onizuka continued excitedly.

“And you said, ‘If you break your promise, consider your lives over,’ while crushing a tree branch, right?”

“Well… yeah.”

“That’s amazing. Everyone’s saying, ‘Don’t mess with that guy.'”

Onizuka’s eyes sparkled.

Since fighting with me in elementary school, he apparently stopped fighting with anyone.

Now he’s the leader of a delinquent group, but he avoids trouble as much as possible.

“You always surprise people, don’t you…”

“Well…”

“And you’re strong, despite being fat.”

“That’s rude.”

I joked, but inside, I felt a little relieved.

If the nearby delinquents are wary of me, it’s a good deterrent.

“By the way, Sato…”

“What?”

“Why did you go after the Seiran guys…”

“Don’t ask.”

“…I see. Understood.”

Onizuka nodded deeply.

Maybe he understood something.

“See ya.”

As I watched Onizuka leave, I thought about the appointment for the afternoon.

The rumor of being a psychopath would surely have a good effect on Sagara’s rehabilitation.

4:00 PM.

At the appointed place, Sagara and the others stood with trembling hands, holding their bags.

“H-hey… Sato…”

Kizaki’s voice was shaky.

His usual honor student mask had completely fallen off.

“I heard the rumor… Psycho Sato.”

Kawauchi whispered.

The pride of the judo club captain was nowhere to be seen.

“We… brought everything.”

Sagara held out the bag.

Inside were USB drives, external hard drives, and SD cards.

“Is this really everything?”

As I took a step forward, the three of them took a step back simultaneously.

“Y-yes! Absolutely!”

“We’re not lying!”

“It’s all there!”

They reacted like frightened animals.

Yesterday’s performance of crushing a tree branch seemed to have had the desired effect.

“What about the cloud backups?”

“We deleted them all!”

Kizaki desperately showed me the screen.

“Good.”

I took the bag.

Their bodies tensed even more.

“Is this… really the end?”

“No, it’s just the beginning.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t forget about the monthly meetings.”

They nodded, trembling.

They had no will to resist anymore.

The rumor of being a psychopath would surely be an effective weight for their rehabilitation.

Thinking that, I gripped the bag filled with evidence tightly.

I checked the contents of the bag one by one.

USB drives, external hard drives, SD cards.

With each touch, past memories flowed in.

The data had indeed been completely deleted.

The download history from the cloud was also completely erased.

Kizaki’s PC skills were reliable.

And when I touched Kawauchi’s smartphone case—

I saw their conversation from this morning.

“This is serious… he’s for real.”

“Did you hear the rumor? Psycho Sato…”

“I never want to do something like that again…”

From Kizaki’s bag, I saw him working late into the night to delete the data.

From Sagara’s uniform, I saw him crying and consulting with his parents.

They were all genuinely frightened.

No, more than that, they were genuinely trying to rehabilitate.

Finally, I touched Sagara’s bag.

There were memories from this morning.

The three of them were secretly holding meetings.

“We’ll never do something like that again.”

“Shouldn’t we apologize to the victims?”

“But let’s wait until Sato gives us permission.”

While Kizaki was desperately deleting data, Kawauchi was considering quitting the judo club, and Sagara was even thinking about an apology tour.

“They’re really… reflecting.”

I muttered softly.

The change was beyond my expectations.

“Um, Sato…”

Sagara spoke to me in a trembling voice.

“What?”

“We… really want to change.”

“I know.”

My ability told me.

Their fear was real, and that fear was leading to genuine reflection.

“Then, as promised.”

I adjusted the bag in my arms.

“Monthly meetings. Every third Thursday at 4 PM.”

The three of them nodded deeply.

Maybe this could really be the end.

A new morning for Hayami and all the victims was finally about to begin.