Tokyo Soft Rice King.

"Just call me Ms. Motoko now, since there's no one else around anyway."

"Okay... Um, you also need to talk to me?"

Motoko Kobayakawa nodded and said.

"Junko just talked to you, right? Did she invite you to play a game together?"

"So, you knew about this too, Motoko-sensei?"

"Of course I know that Junko's dream has always been to make games. She has tried many times before, but she always encountered unexpected problems and suffered repeated setbacks. Her game demos were never realized... But this is not her fault. It is her physical condition that prevents her from realizing her dream."

"Huh? It's a physical issue? Does she have 3D motion sickness, or photosensitivity or something similar?"

"No, I'm not talking about ordinary physical problems, but... something like a curse."

"curse?"

Why is this even involving metaphysics...?

"Well, because Junko has the characteristics of 'unfortunate' and 'isolated'. Unfortunate means that she can't do the things she wants to do, and failure is always a part of her life. Insulated means that she doesn't have many friends, colleagues, or of course, men... So she always complains that she can't meet a good man. In fact, it's because she doesn't have any luck with men."

Kuroba Akira rolled his eyes. This was a complete tragedy!

"This is too tragic! Did Ohno-sensei offend some god to be cursed?"

"No, that's not the case. She herself doesn't know she has this characteristic. She just thinks she's just unlucky... She's really strong, Junko."

Motoko Kobayakawa greatly admired her best friend's tenacious spirit of never giving up despite repeated defeats. If most people were as unlucky as her, they would probably have started their lives anew long ago.

So what exactly happened?

"Actually, that's her own characteristic, and Junko unintentionally chose me to be her agent."

"what?!"

This sudden, explosive news completely shut down Kuroba Akira's mind.

Ohno-sensei chose Kobayakawa-sensei as his representative... doesn't that mean...?

"Isn't Ohno-sensei... also human?"

Is Junko Ohno the same kind of person as herself and her sister?

Chapter 436 The Butterfly Effect

"Eh? Kuroba-kun, have you met any other people with similar situations?"

Motoko Kobayakawa noticed Akira Kuroba's choice of words, and more importantly, he grasped them too quickly.

Kuroba Akira really wanted to say: I am one of them.

But explaining his situation now would interrupt the conversation, so he just nodded vaguely.

"However, one thing needs to be corrected: Junko is still 100% human, not a true god. I think you, as her agent, should know this best."

"Ah, that's true."

If it were truly a deity, one should be able to see the points of light, but it was confirmed during the New Year's worship that there were no points of light on Teacher Luo's body.

Xiao Guang already had light spots on his body, probably because the transformation was basically complete.

Although Kuroba Akira was somewhat bothered by what his sister had said about her younger sister's return... his sister had also said that he didn't need to do anything, he just needed to wait for the results.

As for whether there were any light spots on his body, Kuroba Akira couldn't see them, but since even Kuroo hadn't noticed them before, then there probably weren't any.

However, not long ago, Kuroo said that he smelled an unpleasant scent on Kuroba Akira, so it is possible that he already has the scent of a god, although Kuroba Akira has no idea what that scent is.

"Then, Ms. Motoko, what's the story behind Ohno-sensei choosing you as his agent?"

"That's probably a self-preservation mechanism similar to emergency evacuation, except that it chose me, who is closest to Junko, as the 'guardian'."

"Guardians...guarding what?"

"Kuroba-kun, have you ever heard of Ara-Mitama?"

"Oh, I only heard about this recently. It must be a divided soul of a god."

It was her older sister who mentioned it to Kuroba Akira, saying that she was actually the part of Ara-Mitama.

"I didn't expect you to know about this, Kuroba-kun. Did you see some related books in the school library? After all, you spent the whole summer vacation in the library, but you didn't come here even once during the winter vacation."

Motoko Kobayakawa had been keeping an eye on Akira Kuroba's situation, since Akira was a problem student in the class. Fortunately, after dating Hitomi Anri (or so she thought), Akira became less withdrawn, which made her very happy.

Meanwhile, Akira Kuroba was thinking, "So the teacher is still paying attention to me. Could it be that she has also noticed my relationship with the girls?"

Interactions between students are barely acceptable, but students forming harems is against common sense, especially since this is a country governed by the rule of law where bigamy is a crime.

"Ah, that's because I've almost finished reading all the books I was interested in, and I've been busy with other things lately..."

"Yes, I heard about that too. Aiyuan's comic submission won an award, and you're even preparing for the comic's serialization. That's really amazing. I'm so proud of your achievements. It's a pity that as your advisor, I haven't been able to help you much. I feel so ashamed."

"After all, Motoko-sensei also has her own work to do. Writing novels is fine, but drawing manga is actually beyond the scope of the Literature Club's activities."

Besides, the advisors in the arts department are probably the most useless advisors; they're really just figureheads.

"Because I think the most important thing about club activities is to have fun, I try to interfere with students' activities as little as possible. But I didn't expect that your level has completely exceeded the level of hobbies. You actually went professional while you were still students... Now I can understand the complicated feelings of the Go club's advisor. It's certainly happy that the students have become professional Go players, but it's also very worrying."

"Go club? Students becoming professional Go players... Ms. Motoko, are you referring to Senior Ishimitsu?"

The upperclassman who gave Akira Kuroba a hint on a Go puzzle during the cultural festival had an extremely rare S-rank talent, so Akira remembered his name.

"Oh? Kuroba-kun, you know Ishimitsu-kun too?"

"I only met him once by chance before. Has he become a professional Go player? Is he a professional Go player?"

"No, I'm a professional shogi player. Isn't that strange? But the reason I didn't join the shogi club seems to be because if I became an insei, I wouldn't be able to represent the club in the national tournament. So it was better not to join in the first place and instead joined the Go club, which I was also interested in. That way, I could also represent the club in team competitions."

"I see."

Professionals cannot participate in amateur competitions, even in-game students. This is also recorded in Hikaru no Go. The main reason is that these reserve professional players would just dominate in amateur competitions.

So in the end, the senior who seemed to love Go very much still went on to pursue Shogi.

This must be the karma that Kuroo mentioned. She once said that it is a force that drives people to do something.

S-level talents all contain powerful karma, which will ultimately lead people to achieve great things.

"As a teacher, I worry about whether it's a good thing to let you enter society too early..."

Ms. Motoko held her cheek, looking troubled.

"I think you're overthinking it. After all, being a cartoonist is like being a craftsman. Most of the time you're drawing comics, and the only people you need to interact with are editors. In fact, compared to a normal job, you'll have very few contacts."

"That's what I'm worried about. Your teacher hopes you can make more friends instead of losing your innocence too early... But I think you guys should be fine, Kuroba-kun. A lot of people came on this trip, and everyone seems to get along very well, or rather, a little too closely..."

Ms. Motoko remains as concerned as ever about her students' social lives, but the girls in the Beginner's Club seem a little too close to each other, which makes her feel a bit strange...

"Uh, teacher, let's talk about this later, it feels like we've already gone off-topic."

During class, Ms. Suko would often tell stories related to the text and answer students' questions, which would inadvertently lead her astray.

However, this improved the classroom atmosphere considerably; at least people weren't as averse to being called on to read aloud.

After being reminded by Akira Kuroba, Motoko-sensei got back to the main topic.

"Ah, right, we were just talking about Aramitama, weren't we? Actually, the cursed characteristics on Junko's body are caused by Aramitama."

"Do you know which god's Aramitama it is?"

"Yes, it's basically confirmed that the Ara-Mitama residing in Junko's body is Sei-ori-hime, also known as the Goddess of Calamity."

"Oh, the God of Calamity... no wonder he has become unfortunate."

The God of Calamity is a deity in Japanese mythology who brings disaster and misfortune; he is also known as the God of Plague. It is said that if a person is sad or unhappy, unpredictable calamities will befall them.

Then Akira Kuroba suddenly realized a very crucial problem.

"Wait a minute, isn't Seiori-hime's name... the Ara-Mitama of Amaterasu?!"

Therefore, many shrines that enshrine Amaterasu Omikami also enshrine Masatsuhi-no-Kami.

"That's right. Actually, I deduced it based on when Junko started to become unhappy, because when Junko and I were young, a major event happened in this country."

"The Emperor was overthrown, and Amaterasu was left to wander among the earth..."

At this moment, Akira Kuroba truly felt what the butterfly effect meant.

Everything can truly be traced back to one source.

Both Tsukimi Ryoui and Ohno Junko were affected by that major incident.

"Then Amaterasu's soul split into two parts, one of which, Ara-mitama, which is Sei-ori-hime's part, resided in Ōno-sensei's body. That's roughly how it happened, right?"

Without Motoko-sensei needing to explain further, Akira Kuroba had already guessed what would happen next.

Motoko Kobayakawa was once again surprised by how much Akira Kuroba knew.

"Absolutely right! As expected of you, Kuroba-kun, you are indeed a legitimate agent. You know, it took me a long time to figure out the whole story."

"Well, I guess I'm considered an insider..."

"If there's anything else to add, it's that the reason the God of Calamity chose Junko is because Junko had a strong spiritual ability when she was young. She could see things that others couldn't, and she even accidentally entered 'another world,' which I think must have been caused by the spirit disappearing."

He's the same type as Uncle Faquan, a natural-born psychic, who is also an extraordinary person who can freely enter and exit other worlds.

"Junko disappeared for three days and three nights that time, and then she came back on her own. But she didn't remember the experience of those three days. After that, her body stopped growing. Although she thought it was stunted growth, and the doctor said so too, it should actually be that her spirit affected her body."

"This is too tragic..."

Even the body is affected, so it remains a superflat wasteland to this day.

"But there are advantages too. Junko is very healthy and will probably live a long time. She probably won't age and will always look young."

Kuroba Akira complained, sounding a bit strained.

"Um, are you sure that living a long life is a good thing, given that life is constantly filled with misfortune...?"

"Hmm...it certainly prolonged the pain..."

The saying "If you live long, good things will happen" doesn't apply to Junko Ono at all.

Her life was nothing but a series of dramatic falls, a truly tragic one.

Now Akira Kuroba was even more eager to help Junko-sensei.

"Sigh... If it were a true calamity god, it wouldn't just gather misfortune upon itself, but also possess the ability to remove calamities. After all, the calamity god is worshipped as a water god and a god of exorcism... But Junko is just an ordinary person. The result of possessing a divine soul is that misfortune gathers upon her, but she doesn't have the ability to remove calamities..."

"She doesn't have the power of a god, but she's still affected by the characteristics of a god... Um, can't the god within her do something?"