Shadow Plastic Surgery
"What are you talking about? 'Shadow Plastic Surgery'...? What's that?"
Emma forced a calm expression, pretending ignorance. But her gaze wavered不安定하게.
"That's strange."
I smiled softly as I looked at her. "'Shadow Plastic Surgery' is supposedly all the rage among academy students these days. Never hearing of it at all just seems unnatural, doesn't it?"
At my words, Emma's face took on a vague expression, as if she'd only just remembered. She spoke awkwardly. "Ah, right. Come to think of it, I think I've heard of it. But I wasn't interested, so it slipped my mind. Sorry, but I don't know much about this 'Shadow Plastic Surgery' either."
She's trying to wriggle out. Emma at this point in time was definitely different from the pre-regression Emma. Back then, she'd approached us first. The pre-regression Emma had been desperate over the accident that befell her roommate, so she hadn't hesitated to ask for our help. But right now, Melissa hadn't been cursed yet, and naturally, we hadn't met. It was just that small difference, yet Emma's attitude was worlds apart.
Changes like this in people's behavior—I'd need to keep them in mind for future regressions.
In the meantime, Elaine stepped forward and pressed Emma harder. "We heard about you from Melissa. She said you were the one who told her about 'Shadow Plastic Surgery.'"
"Eek...!"
At Elaine's words, Emma flinched, realizing she had no escape. She slumped her shoulders and hung her head, as if she could hide no longer. "You're right. I told her about 'Shadow Plastic Surgery.'"
Emma let out a deep sigh of resignation and began spilling everything she knew about it. But her story didn't differ much from what we'd heard from Melissa—the ghost story's content, the method, the rumored side effects. It was all information we already knew.
"...That's everything I know."
"You're lying."
I dropped my usual kindness and stared at her fiercely. Emma flinched at my words. "Wh-what makes you say that...?"
"If you'd told Melissa about it with pure intentions, why did you try to avoid us when we showed up? There must be some hidden motive beyond the 'pure intentions' you showed on the surface. That's why you ran. Unlike clueless Melissa, we investigate ghost stories as a club activity, so we might uncover your secret."
Emma's reaction when she left the classroom had clearly shown she recognized us. And she'd tried to avoid us because she knew about the Paranormal Investigation Club.
"You. There's a secret about 'Shadow Plastic Surgery' you didn't tell Melissa, isn't there?"
"Th-that's... "
"Think carefully before you answer. Confessing yourself versus us digging it up—which do you think will be better for you?"
As I glared at her, she began trembling in fear. Her face went completely pale, her eyes darting wildly. In the end, no matter how bold she acted, she was just a sheltered young lady from a good family. I thought to myself.
Of course she couldn't stand up to someone like me, who'd staked my life fighting to keep my trading company from real nobles.
The Paranormal Investigation Club students around me seemed slightly startled by my intimidating aura, murmuring softly. "Teacher, aren't you being a bit too scary?" Elaine whispered cautiously. "We haven't even decided Emma did anything wrong yet, so this feels a little..."
Rozalia shrugged. "It really wasn't a lie that she runs a huge trading company."
Aurora frowned slightly and muttered. "..."
...Whew. What was I doing to a student? With Rone gone, my nerves must have been on edge. I took a deep breath to calm myself.
"Relax. It might look like I scared Emma a bit, but we're not here to punish her. We just came because Melissa said Emma knew the most about this ghost story. Gathering and analyzing info on trending academy ghost stories is the Paranormal Investigation Club's job, after all."
As I spoke more gently to Emma, the students whispered among themselves. "It wasn't 'like' scaring her—you actually did."
"Yeah, that glare was terrifying."
"Even I was a little scared, milord."
Quiet down. I grumbled inwardly. Still, scaring her seemed effective.
"O-okay. B-but... please keep what I say a secret."
That much was fine. "Good. We won't tell Melissa."
"N-no, not just her. Promise not to tell anyone."
"...Understood. I promise."
At that, Emma's face flushed red for some reason as she confessed the secret she hadn't even told Melissa. "Actually, before I told Melissa about 'Shadow Plastic Surgery', I tried it myself first. But I have no talent for crafts, so I failed miserably."
Failed at plastic surgery...? I was puzzled. Emma didn't look like someone who'd failed Shadow Plastic Surgery. She wasn't a stunning beauty, but she wasn't ugly enough to call it a disaster either.
As I eyed her suspiciously, she bowed her head and clarified in a shrinking voice. "Th-the part I did Shadow Plastic Surgery on wasn't my... face..."
Not her face...? I slowly let my gaze drift downward. Her figure was, charitably speaking, slender. Less charitably... had her secondary sexual characteristics stalled midway? Ah. So that's why she wanted it kept secret from everyone.
Emma covered herself with her arms in embarrassment and shouted. "D-don't stare like that!"
I panicked. "I-I wasn't staring that hard..."
For some reason, the Paranormal Investigation Club students were giving me cold looks. I'm innocent.
As the mood settled a bit, I asked again. "But what's the connection between your Shadow Plastic Surgery failure and telling Melissa?"
"It's because of the final warning for Shadow Plastic Surgery."
"...Final warning?"
Emma swallowed hard and continued cautiously. "The effects of Shadow Plastic Surgery only work for the very last person who tries it. If someone new attempts it, the effects vanish for whoever did it before."
"...What?"
I was stunned. The club members were too. Elaine and Rozalia's eyes widened in shock, while Aurora's smirk vanished, replaced by a mix of horror and anger.
Seemingly oblivious to our reaction, Emma continued sheepishly. "I was flat... er, I mean, to get rid of the side effects, I thought about it and remembered that final warning. Originally, it's a caution not to let anyone else try it since the effects disappear—but if I used it in reverse, I could lift my own Shadow Plastic Surgery side effects..."
Aurora glared at her furiously. "Isn't that totally irresponsible!? You passed your damage onto Melissa for your own gain! Is that what friends do!?"
Emma flinched at Aurora's intensity but stammered a defense. "I-it's fine! Melissa's way better at crafts than me, so she won't fail! I even told her in detail how to do Shadow Plastic Surgery easily so she wouldn't mess up!"
"What did you say...!?"
Aurora started to snap back, but I quickly raised a hand to stop her. "Enough, Aurora!"
I grabbed her shoulder. She glared at Emma with fiery eyes but relented at my touch. I turned back to Emma. "Sorry, Emma. Aurora got heated, but there was no malice. She just knows ghost story dangers better than anyone, so her emotions got the best of her."
"I-it's okay."
"Anyway, thanks for being honest. As promised, I won't tell a soul."
"...Thank you."
Emma replied softly, still blushing. As she calmed from Aurora's outburst, I warned her in a cold voice. "That said, we'll keep your secret... but you should confess to Melissa yourself. You insist she'll succeed and it's helpful for her, but that's only if her Shadow Plastic Surgery works. What if she fails? How were you going to take responsibility? Didn't you consider she might suffer worse than you?"
Emma's shoulders twitched at my sudden words.
"And as I said earlier, if you'd truly meant well for Melissa, you wouldn't have hidden the final warning or run from us. You acted guilty because you knew it wasn't right. If you really see her as a friend... why not make it right?"
Emma looked shocked, speechless. After a long silence, she hung her head, sniffling, and nodded. "...Okay. I'll tell Melissa myself and apologize. And convince her to stop Shadow Plastic Surgery. For some reason, my chest has felt... back to normal since earlier..."
Well, Melissa had already quit anyway.
"Good."
I spoke warmly again, then silently mouthed to Aurora: Happy now?
"Hmph. Teacher's too soft."
Aurora seemed unsatisfied but turned away with a huff, saying nothing more.
I didn't think she'd deliberately dumped the ghost story on Melissa without caring. She probably saw Shadow Plastic Surgery as just a fun beauty trick, clueless to its true terror. She might've vaguely worried about failure, but not to the horrific pre-regression extent. If she'd known the real danger, she would've come crying to the Paranormal Investigation Club sooner.
Ghost stories defy common sense from the start. Expecting ordinary people to foresee and prepare for them is nearly impossible.
Aurora didn't like my leniency, but I couldn't pin more blame on her. Ultimately, the real villain was the ghost story.
I asked Emma if there were any other warnings or secrets about Shadow Plastic Surgery. But that had been her last hidden info—nothing more came out.
We let her go, saying she'd apologize to Melissa, and headed straight to the club room.
"Let's recap."
As I started, the students nodded attentively. "'Shadow Plastic Surgery' begins when Emma learns of it, tries it, and fails."
"To erase her failure, she passes it to the next in line—her roommate, Melissa," Elaine continued.
"But Melissa fled from a teacher on night patrol, ending up far worse than Emma's failure," Rozalia added.
Aurora summed up coldly. "Feeling guilt and fear too late, Emma came to the Paranormal Investigation Club. That's the truth. She shouldn't have dragged her friend in from the start."
Aurora clearly disliked Emma's carelessness, even if unintentional.
Emma's actions were reckless, but something more than mere stupidity lingered. Maybe she'd been through something similar before.
Snapping back, I raised the key point. "Most importantly, Shadow Plastic Surgery's effects persist only for the last person to try it. That solves one big mystery: why Rone vanished but Melissa recovered. The curse on Melissa lifted when Rone disappeared."
But Elaine pointed out: "That doesn't solve the core mystery. Why didn't Rone return after the regression?"
"...Maybe Shadow Plastic Surgery itself resists regression," Rozalia said cautiously.
"No ghost story like that's appeared before. And why would a shadow-shaping one resist regression? No clue," Aurora countered.
Silence fell again. We'd uncovered one hidden secret from Emma, but the biggest puzzle remained. One mountain after another.
Time had flown—school was ending. We'd spent too much on Melissa and Emma. The students' faces showed fatigue and deep disappointment at failing to crack the main secret.
No helping it. "Let's meet again tonight."
"Teacher, do you have a plan?" Elaine's eyes flickered with hope, but I had to shake my head regretfully.
"I don't know how to resolve the ghost story. But bringing Rone back... that much, I can do."