Due to Kazuki's esteemed reputation, Kubo Sabae dared not to hide the truth after all. That Sunday, he realized that his father was never going to teach Kazuki a lesson for him. So, he could only tell Kubo Yuki that Kazuki had invited him to the academy on Monday to discuss important matters.
But Kubo Yuki disregarded the name of Kazuki by himself and thought that it was Kubo Sabae's teacher who invited him to the academy. It could only be either good news or bad news when teachers request to meet the parents. Knowing his own son, Kubo Yuki was aware that it could only be something terrible.
Kubo Yuki did not have the teacher's phone number, so he went directly to Sakura Kyu Academy before recess to look for Kubo Sabae's teacher, Miss Inoue. He soon found out from Miss Inoue that she never asked Kubo Sabae to invite his parents.
Kubo Yuki was furious. Was his son trying to mess with him? Seeing that Kubo Yuki was already there, Miss Inoue then told him that Kubo Sabae only reported to the academy a week after they started class.
After all this news, Kubo Yuki was boiling with rage. He found Kubo Sabae, and really thought of beating him right there, but considering that he was in the academy, he held himself back.
Although he knew that what he did was wrong, Kubo Sabae was nonchalant and fought back against his father, "Didn't I tell you that it was Kazuki who wanted you to come to the academy? Why did you go searching for my teacher?"
Kubo Sabae was angry too. He felt embarrassed that his father came all the way to his academy and went to his teacher. Kubo Yuki frowned. Only then he realized it was really Kazuki who wanted to meet him.
At first, he thought of just leaving in a huff, but he was already in the academy, so he might as well meet Kazuki to find out what he really wants to do.
When he arrived at the student council office, he could not help thinking to himself, student councils nowadays have such high authorities now? Can they even meet the students' parents alone?
"Mr. Kubo, please have a seat." Kazuki smiled. It was only him and Kubo Yuki in the student council office, everyone else was sent away.
"Why did you want to see me?" Kubo Yuki relaxed a little. Although he was still feeling mad about the previous events, but as an educated person, he knew well not to take his anger out on others.
"Oh, you don't know?" Kazuki shuddered for a moment, and frowned. Just a while ago when he saw Kubo Yuki, he could already smell something weird on him, as if the smell of blood had long been surrounding him.
He knew that Kubo Yuki who was right in front of him was being disturbed by a demon. According to his understanding, the Kubo Family had opened a karate dojo in Jinwen District, so his household should be pretty wealthy. However, Kubo Yuki who was in his mid-thirties, looked very pale and vaguely greenish with deep, sunken eyes which were slightly lifeless. He had ghastly white lips, and appeared extremely drained.
"What should I know?" Kubo Yuki sounded rude, "You asked my son to get me here, but I haven't even questioned you."
"Didn't you ask your son about what is going on?" Kazuki was confused. Back then, he asked Kubo Sabae so many questions. Any average person would be bewildered, and that was why he let Kubo Sabae inform his father.
Under normal circumstances, Kubo Yuki for sure would have questioned first, and understood the entire situation from Kubo Sabae, then he would have noticed something. Instead, he went all the way there without knowing anything?
Kazuki was speechless… Of course he did not know that Kubo Sabae said nothing at all to his father, and even wanted to look for someone to teach him a lesson.
Nevertheless, since Kubo Yuki already came, he had achieved his intention. Besides, Kubo Yuki's condition had been confirmed, and he could feel a sense of despair and hopelessness in Kubo Yuki's eyes.
He had seen these expressions before in his past life. When he was in the Spiritual Academy, he had witnessed all kinds of people, including the ordinary people who were disturbed by demons. They looked more or less like Kubo Yuki, because they did not have enough power to resist these strange events. They would be tensed mentally all the time, and only after a few days they would look drained, exhausted and lifeless.
The Kubo Yuki now was precisely like that. It was worse for him since there was no Spiritual Academy of sorts that existed in that world, so he had to live his life with terror.
"What is actually going on?" Kubo Yuki was puzzled. Don't tell me that that rascal hid something from me again?
"I understood from your son that, a month ago, you kept a wooden carving." When Kazuki began talking, he noticed that Kubo Yuki remained calm, as if he knew nothing at all. Seeing that, he smiled, and not wanting to wait for a response, he continued, "That is the reason why I invited you over. There is no need for you to hide anything from me. I approached you about this, I am already aware of the supernatural incidents that have been happening lately. Now, I give you two choices."
"The first option is that after you are eventually killed by that monster or ghost, I will make my way to the Kubo Household to take revenge for you."
"The second option is that you can hire me to cleanse away the monster or ghost that's on you now. After the cleansing, you only need to pay me an amount of fee."
After he was done with his statements, Kazuki remained on his seat and waited for Kubo Yuki's response.
Kubo Yuki who was sitting on the chair looked as though he was peaceful, but his heart was already in turmoil, and nothing could possibly calm it down. It was really a torture that he was being tormented by the Buddha carving. He had been wanting to hire a shaman, monk or even a witch to help him.
But he dared not, because he was too scared. He was frightened that the Buddha carving was able to observe his thoughts or actions, and that was why he could not get himself to do anything all this while. Yet lately, he could feel that his body was not going to hold up much longer.
Another reason was that he was afraid that the shamans or monks that he could find were all conmen. If that were true, there would be no other way than death for himself.
Nevertheless, he felt like giving his everything for the past two days. Since he was going to die sooner or later, there was nothing else to lose after all. So, Kubo Yuki was finally going to seek out for some of the prestigious shamans or monks out there.
But in the end, he met Kazuki even before he started looking.
Kubo Yuki was silent for a long time, there was not a single word from him. Finally, he looked at Kazuki, as if he had made up his mind, and spoke hesitantly, "That Buddha carving is really weird, are you sure you can get rid of it?"
As soon as Kubo Yuki finished his sentence, he saw Kazuki shake his arm. A yellow talisman flared up and shot towards him. It instantaneously turned into a ray of golden beam before swirling and surrounding his entire body.
The next second, a rush of disgusting rotten blood smell filled his nostrils. Kubo Yuki felt very sick, and couldn't care less of courtesy anymore as he grabbed onto the trash can on the floor and vomited.
"You've been around the Buddha carving for a while, your body has long been contaminated by this weird smell. For the past month, I'm afraid you must have been experiencing constant nightmares, right? And by the look of your complexion, you must have been fairly ill this whole month too. This talisman here will not cure any of your sicknesses, nor can it recover your health, but it will be able to get rid of the strange smell in your body, so you can at least sleep better at night."
Slowly the stink faded away until there was no more. Only then did Kubo Yuki stand back up wearily, grab a piece of tissue and wiped himself clean. Unexpectedly, his body felt so much lighter and better. He glanced over at the seat for the President of the Student Council, where Kazuki was sitting on. This time, he could sense that Kazuki was unpredictable, and all he could feel towards this person was utmost respect.
At the next moment, he bent over his body, and was already on his knees.
"Master Kimura, please save me! I am willing to pay for the corresponding remuneration."