Chapter 148: Ambient Lust Saturation…

The Cultural Festival morning started with a beautiful sunrise. Kawakami High’s gates were wide open, colorful flags waved in the wind, and the smell of yakisoba and takoyaki was already coming from the food stalls in the courtyard.

Students arrived in groups, chattering excitedly about the day’s events. Parents wandered through with cameras. Alumni returned to see what had changed. The energy was infectious and celebratory.

But to Akira Kanzaki, the world looked sick.

He stood by the shoe lockers, adjusting his butler vest, which was a part of the cosplay café costume that Mei had finished just yesterday, and watched the air shimmer.

It wasn’t heat haze; it was a fine, pink mist, like pollen, drifting lazily through the hallways.

Most people couldn’t see it. But he could. And the way it clung to people, seeping into their skin through every breath, made his stomach turn.

[WARNING: AMBIENT LUST SATURATION AT 45%]

[SOURCE: THE HOLLOW WOODS GATE (MAIN ENTRANCE)]

[EFFECT: INHIBITION DAMPENING ACTIVE]

[PROJECTION: SATURATION WILL REACH CRITICAL (75%) BY 2:00 PM]

[RECOMMENDATION: CLOSE GATE IMMEDIATELY OR EVACUATE CIVILIANS]

“It’s bad, isn’t it?”

Akira didn’t jump. He’d sensed the signature before he heard the voice. Ayaka leaned against the lockers next to him, dressed in a surprisingly modest festival committee armband over a simple blouse and skirt.

“It’s leaking,” Akira murmured, keeping his voice low so the students passing by wouldn’t hear. “The painting is breathing.”

“It’s not just breathing, darling. It’s sweating.” Ayaka’s crimson eyes tracked a couple walking by.

The boy and girl were holding hands, their fingers locked together tightly. The girl was laughing for no reason, leaning her whole body against the boy.

“Look at them. Dopamine levels are spiking. Serotonin is flooding their systems. Another hour of this, and the teachers won’t be able to stop students from finding empty classrooms to ’study’ in.”

Akira watched the couple disappear around a corner.

Through the pink haze, he could see more of the same: students standing closer than usual, touches lingering longer than necessary, eyes glazed with something that wasn’t quite normal teenage hormones.

“Where’s Ayame?” he asked.

“Prowling. She senses it too, but she’s confused. She thinks it’s a specific person casting a charm spell.” Ayaka’s lips curved into a dark smile. “She thinks it’s Rina.”

“Fuck.” Akira ran a hand through his hair. “We need to keep them apart.”

“I’ll try. But you need to keep your eyes on the faculty. The students are just horny teenagers… that’s baseline normal for a high school festival. But the adults? They’re the canary in the coal mine. If the teachers start acting strange, we know the contamination is spreading faster than we thought.”

“Got it. What about the gate itself?”

“You can’t close it during the festival. There are too many witnesses, plus Ayame. Your best bet is to contain the spread, keep casualties to zero, and deal with it tonight after everyone leaves.”

Ayaka pushed off from the lockers. “I’m going to set up wards around the perimeter. Try to bottle the worst of the miasma in the main building. You focus on damage control.”

She disappeared into the crowd before Akira could respond.

He pulled out his phone, checking his schedule. The cosplay café didn’t open until noon, which gave him a few hours to assess the situation and maybe figure out a way to slow the gate’s influence.

A group of first-years rushed past, one of them bumping into him hard enough to make him stumble.

“Sorry, senpai!” the boy called back, but he was already moving on, chasing after a girl who was laughing and running toward the courtyard.

Akira watched them go, noticing the pink mist was thicker where they’d been standing. It seemed to congregate around groups of people, feeding on their energy and emotions.

“Ai, is there any way to disperse this stuff?”

“Not without drawing attention. The mist is a byproduct of the gate’s existence. As long as it’s open, it’ll keep producing this contamination. Your best option is exactly what Ayaka said: contain it, minimize exposure, and close the gate when you can do so without witnesses.”

“And if someone gets pulled in during the festival?”

“Then you’ll have to choose between saving them and maintaining your cover. Fun times ahead, darling.”

Akira headed toward the main entrance, where the painting was displayed.

As he got closer, the pink mist grew denser, almost visible to normal sight now… just a faint shimmer in the air that most people probably dismissed as dust motes or tired eyes.

As he got closer, the pink mist became thicker. It was almost visible now… just a slight sparkle in the air that most people would likely mistake for dust, tired eyes or part of the festival.

The painting stood on its display stand, surrounded by admiring students and parents.

Aoi was there too, standing beside her creation with obvious pride, accepting compliments from teachers and strangers.

But Akira could see what they couldn’t.

The painting was breathing; the canvas expanded and contracted slightly, like lungs filling with air. The trees in the forest swayed with a rhythm that didn’t match any actual breeze. And deep in the shadows between the painted trunks, things moved.

He activated his supernatural sight fully, overlaying his normal vision with essence detection.

The painting glowed with a corrupt energy. Purple and gold light flashed out from it, spreading over everyone nearby. When this light touched people, their own auras changed, becoming brighter with pink and red colors. These colors showed they were becoming aroused, feeling desire, and losing their usual inhibitions.

A middle-aged father standing near the painting adjusted his tie, his eyes following a young female teacher who walked past.

His wife was right beside him, but he didn’t seem to notice or care. The teacher felt the attention and turned, meeting his gaze for a moment too long before blushing and looking away.

A group of students giggled, whispering among themselves, their hands brushing together as they passed notes that Akira suspected weren’t about festival activities.

Even Aoi looked different.

Her usual nervous energy had transformed into something more confident, almost sultry. When a male student complimented her painting, she smiled and touched his arm, leaning in close to explain her artistic process in a way that was definitely flirtatious.

“The contamination is affecting everyone,” Akira thought. “Even people who wouldn’t normally act this way.”

“Correct. The gate is lowering inhibitions across the board. People are acting on impulses they’d normally suppress. And it’s only going to get worse as the day goes on.”

Akira’s phone buzzed. A text from Mia.

“Where are you? The café needs help setting up!”

“On my way. Just checking the main entrance.”

“Well hurry! We’re already behind schedule and Rina keeps disappearing to ’feed’ or whatever she calls it.”

Akira grimaced. Rina’s passive feeding in an environment this saturated with lust energy was probably making her drunk on essence. He needed to check on her too.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep