NEET Receives a Dating Sim Game

by Little Merger

A 30-year-old NEET is reincarnated into the body of an otaku that choked to death on instant noodles. As he comes to grips with his new life, he realizes that this world is subtly different from Earth. The denizens of this world are far better looking, and this new world also possesses futuristic technology as well as mysterious Yin Yang masters! After reincarnating, he realized th

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NEET Receives a Dating Sim Game Leveling System #Chapter 193 - Going Outside - Read NEET Receives a Dating Sim Game Leveling System Chapter 193 - Going Outside Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT

Chapter 193: Going Outside

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

Mayuzumi Amami finally received the phone call she had been waiting for.

She had been looking forward to the agreed upon date, but now that it was here, she was so nervous that she was trembling and unsure of herself.

Should she contact him of her own volition or wait for him to contact her?

Just this question gave her over an entire hour's worth of frustration. She called her cousin Rika Amami, but the only response she received from her cousin was "Just do whatever you like!"

"Are you a middle school girl that's going out to have fun with a boy for the first time to get frustrated over such a small matter!?" scolded her older cousin when she heard of her 'dilemma.' "By the way, even among middle school girls nowadays, it's really rare to find one as shy as you."

"Seiji Haruta is a good kid—just relax and be casual with him."

Rika told Mayuzumi and went on saying similar stuff before she hung up.

Mayuzumi could only collapse listlessly on her bed.

She honestly didn't have to courage to voluntarily call him first, so she chose to wait.

At noon, she received a call from his number.

"H-Haruta-kun…" she answered the call by speaking in a weak voice.

"Peach-sensei, it's me. Long time no see." A hearty male voice spoke up from the other end of the call. "Sorry that I took so long to contact you. I had to help out my class with their store earlier this morning, which is why I didn't have any free time until now."

"So how about you, Sensei? Do you have time to come over and have some fun?"

His words were so open and direct.

Just like the way he remained in her memories… this was only natural though, as only a few weeks had passed by.

Mayuzumi no longer felt as nervous when she recalled her previous meeting with him.

Just like Rika said, he was a trustworthy boy.

'I should just relax and be casual with him.'

"I-I'm free."

"That's great. Shall I wait for you at school or come by to pick you up?"

"Er…" Mayuzumi was unable to respond immediately.

'When was the last time I went outside by myself?'

Going outside by herself to an unfamiliar place? Just imagining it seemed really scary.

Let him come and pick her up? This also seemed a little…

A period of silence fell between them.

"I got it." The voice on her cell phone spoke up again. "I'll come over and pick you up, Sensei. What's your address?"

"Er… this… troublesome…"

"It's not troublesome at all—just tell me your address," he said in a steady tone.

In Mayuzumi's mind, Seiji's image instantly felt more reliable.

Mayuzumi blinked.

"Then… Sorry to trouble you." She told him her address.

"Okay, got it. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Just like that, he hung up the phone call.

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Mayuzumi stared at her cell phone for a long time as she rubbed her chest and released her breath that she had been holding.

It was great that their conversation proceeded smoothly.

She didn't leave him with a bad impression of her… probably.

Mayuzumi put down her cell phone and curled up on her bed while hugging her pillow.

There was no logic to her androphobia. Even if she didn't want to, she would still feel insecure and nervous when dealing with anyone male.

'Can I do a good job? Can I face Haruta-kun? What if he hates me… No, no! I can't think such thoughts.'

All she could do now was continue to wait.

…

Seiji rang the doorbell to Mayuzumi Amami's apartment.

He recalled the way she appeared from their last meeting.

She was probably dressed like that again… That seemed probable, or else she'd probably be wearing something like a full outfit of sportswear.

She was a manga author, after all; she didn't need to care about her personal appearance.

Honestly speaking, Seiji felt that it was a bit of a waste. With Peach-sensei's innate beauty, if she took better care of herself, she'd definitely be a great beauty.

But Seiji also believed that people were free to dress however they liked. Besides, Sensei had androphobia, so looking more beautiful would probably increase the risk for her.

Thoughts like these ran through Seiji's mind as he waited for the door to open.

A few moments later, the door opened.

"Haruta-kun…"

"Sensei…"

Seiji was on the verge of greeting her, but he paused in surprise when he saw her appearance.

Mayuzumi Amami's brownish-grey hair was tied up in a ponytail, and her bangs were tied back neatly with a barrette to reveal her white and beautiful face. She was wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses together with a woolen shirt and a small jacket on top, and a flower-patterned long skirt below. Although the overall style was plain, it was elegant in nature, and her protruding breasts gave her a womanly charismatic appeal.

While she wasn't astonishingly beautiful, she still seemed like a nice classical beauty!

At least that was what Seiji believed.

This plain and normal style that displayed her mature, womanly appeal was right in the middle of Seiji's strike zone and caused him to be stunned for several seconds.

"…Hello."

"Hello…"

A period of silence fell between them.

"Er… Sensei, I feel that your current appearance… is quite nice." Seiji gave her his honest praise.

It was definitely much better than last time!

"Thank you…" Mayuzumi lowered her head and clenched her hands.

Seiji didn't know if she was being shy or anxious.

'She's probably nervous and anxious, since she has androphobia and I'm a male,' Seiji thought to himself. 'I need to be as considerate as I can.'

"If you're ready, let's go."

"Okay…"

Seiji walked in front of Mayuzumi.

When he reached the elevator, Seiji turned around and instantly felt rather helpless.

She was literally walking four meters behind him!

This distance made it seem like they were perfect strangers.

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"Sensei, could you walk a little closer? At this distance… we wouldn't even be able to get on the same elevator."

"S-Sorry…" Mayuzumi slowly walked closer.

She stopped at a distance of approximately one meter from him.

Was this the limit for her? Okay, this seemed fine.

The elevator arrived quickly.

When the elevator arrived, there was a jacket-wearing middle-aged man already inside.

Even one meter apart from her, Seiji noticed that Mayuzumi stiffened.

"Sensei… is it alright?"

'Should we wait for the next elevator?' He asked that question using his eyes.

"I-It's fine." Mayuzumi forced herself to say that even though her muscles were stiff and tensed.

'Is everything really fine?' Seiji was rather worried.

But since she herself said it was fine, they at least had to try.

He walked into the elevator.

Mayuzumi also slowly entered.

The jacket-wearing middle-aged man felt that something was a little strange and shot an inquisitive look towards her.

Mayuzumi instantly froze over completely!

'So scary, so scary, so scary!'

She was about to tremble when she saw a tall figure block the middle-aged man's line of sight.

It was Haruta-kun.

"Sensei, it's fine—just relax."

Seiji figured out that this wasn't good for her and instantly moved to block the middle-aged man's line of sight as he talked as gently to her as possible.

"Mmm… Mmm."

Mayuzumi nodded as she retreated into the elevator's corner and did her best to loosen her tension.

The tall Haruta-kun not only blocked the other man's line of sight, he even completely blocked out the other man's body from her own line of vision.

This indeed helped her to relax.

Even though Haruta-kun was a boy as well… he was special!

Mayuzumi believed in this and made an effort to increase her belief in this point.

Otherwise, she would be unable to accept even his help.

The elevator stopped.

The jacket-wearing man exited rather quickly. Perhaps he was in a hurry to begin with, or maybe he felt that the boy and woman riding together in the same elevator were rather strange.

"Sensei, are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine."

"That's good, then." Seiji flashed a gentle smile. "Sensei, you're working hard. There's no need to rush—we can take things slowly."

There was no helping it; after all, it was a legitimate phobia.

It was good that she wanted to conquer her fear, but there was no need to challenge herself too much either. Slow steps were fine.

As long as she made steady progress, it was certain that she would eventually overcome her phobia.

Seiji smiled in an attempt to transmit such a message.

Mayuzumi seemed to feel something from his smile as she also smiled back at him.

"Okay…"

The two of them exited the elevator and walked out of her apartment. It was a nice and sunny day.

Their date had begun.

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Chapter 194: Bus

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

They met their first obstacle immediately.

"So the bus will be the first level…" Seiji rubbed his chin.

On their way to the bus stop, he had noticed Mayuzumi's obvious trepidation.

There weren't too many people waiting for the bus at this time of day, but of course there were still some people which obviously included males.

He felt sorry for how she was acting like a scared rabbit.

Should he call for a taxi?

His wallet would take a huge hit!

For a part-time worker like him, the taxi fee from here to Genhana High School would cost quite a lot.

But seeing how she currently was… Sigh.

"Sensei, let's take a taxi instead," Seiji said while mentally apologizing to his wallet.

"There's n-no need," Mayuzumi refused. "People… men… there aren't very many; I can do it…"

She was very afraid.

Her body wanted to escape, but that was no good.

She needed to build up her courage and try her best to face all difficulties!

The bus eventually arrived.

Everyone lined up in an orderly fashion and began getting on the bus.

"Sensei…"

"Yeah…"

Seiji walked in front and got on the bus.

Mayuzumi followed him and also got on the bus, albeit a little slower than him.

There was still an empty seat.

Seiji let Mayuzumi sit down and stood an appropriate distance away from her.

Mayuzumi felt a sense of relief as she sat down and saw how considerate he was. He stayed neither too close nor too far away from her.

Her body wasn't as tense as before now.

She looked out the window as the bus began driving.

She hadn't taken the bus for quite a long time.

She didn't need to go out very often for her work, and the few times she did, she would usually take a taxi.

To be honest, she really wanted to take a taxi this time as well and was on the verge of bringing it up herself.

But she actually rejected Haruta-kun when he brought it up.

She didn't know what exactly she was thinking either, but… it was great that she wasn't running away!

That was what Mayuzumi honestly believed.

The first two stops passed by without incident, but many people suddenly got on the bus at the third bus stop!

They were all young people wearing business attire… were they going to an interview together or some type of group activity?

No matter what, this was a bad situation for her.

Seiji shot a glance at Mayuzumi and noticed that her face had become ashen pale; she seemed like she was about to begin trembling.

He could only get closer to her so that he could use his own body to block all those men and women that just got on the bus… well, mainly to block the men that were all strangers.

A large crowd squeezed onto the bus.

Seiji was pushed by the crowd right next to Mayuzumi.

"Sensei, how are you?"

Mayuzumi didn't respond; instead, she curled up and attempted to make her body appear smaller.

'Just what should I do in this situation?

'Should we get off the bus at the next stop? No! When the bus is this crowded, it's certain that she'll have to have physical contact with other men in order to get off, which will be terrible for her.

'Sensei will just have to bear with it for a while… I hope that all these people get off before the bus stop close to Genhana High School.'

"Sensei, just hold on for a little while. Everything will be alright." He tried to speak in his gentlest possible tone.

Mayuzumi slowly looked towards him and nodded with an expression that seemed like she was about to cry.

The bus continued on its path.

It was a long period of discomfort for her.

Seiji, who was observing Mayuzumi all this time, could tell that her mental condition was deteriorating.

This large group of men and women didn't get off the bus anywhere.

And finally, just as Seiji was feared, the large group was still on the bus by the time they arrived at the bus stop closest to Genhana High School.

He didn't really want to do this, but… should they give it a try?

"Sensei, it's our stop. Shall we… try getting off?" Seiji asked her cautiously.

'Get off the bus… and squeeze my way through this crowd of people?'

Just thinking about it caused Mayuzumi to begin shivering.

'No, impossible—I can't do it!'

She didn't verbally respond and continued retreating into herself on her bus seat.

Seiji could tell the answer just by looking at her.

"Okay, there's no need to worry," he said in a gentle voice. "We don't need to get off now. We can wait and get off the bus after this large group of people leaves."

The bus drove on past Genhana High School.

The tortuous time continued for Mayuzumi.

The large group of men and women that had got on the bus together finally exited the bus three stops later.

By this time, Mayuzumi was completely curled up into a ball. She was shivering with both hands covering her face and crying softly.

Seiji was overcome by guilt upon seeing this sight.

Some passengers noticed the situation and were looking questioningly in their direction.

Seiji didn't care about what others thought. He just hoped that nobody would do something like call the police, as that would be awkward…

'We should have taken a taxi after all!'

He sighed to himself, but there was no use in crying over spilled milk.

"Sensei, they've gotten off the bus already. Let's get off the bus as well at the next stop."

Mayuzumi sniffled and somehow managed to stop her crying as she nodded.

The two of them got off at the next stop.

After leaving the bus stop, they went to a nearby coffee café.

There were very few customers in this store at this time.

Seiji had Mayuzumi sit in a seat by the corner while he asked the male waiter for a kettle of black tea before he sat down across from her.

He wanted to say something, but stopped himself because he felt that perhaps temporary silence would be better for her.

Moments later, the waiter brought their black tea. Seiji stood up to receive it from him and placed it on their table himself.

When he finished pouring the tea and placed a cup in front of Mayuzumi, the manga author finally spoke again.

"Thank you…"

"Sensei, are you alright?"

"I think… I'm a little better."

Mayuzumi reached out and cupped her hands around the warm teacup as she revealed a weak smile.

Her eyes were red, her face was still pale, and it was easy to see that she wasn't feeling too good.

"You can slowly relax in here. There are very few people, and it's pretty quiet," Seiji said gently as he took a sip of his own tea.

'Hmm… this tea doesn't seem all that good. I must have had too much good tea at the president's residence, making me pickier than before.'

Thinking about the tea's quality and the techniques for making tea… Houjou-senpai's figure appeared in his mind.

Seiji's mouth gradually arced upwards.

"I just recalled someone who's quite excellent at making tea…" He started a conversation.

This person was a maid to the current student council president, and an ex-student council president herself, plus she had the rather ridiculous nickname of "Smiling Executioner."

Black-and-white maid attire looked perfectly beautiful on her, and she was supremely skilled at making tea as well as cooking and could even bake desserts such as red bean cakes.

'There's actually a girl like this in real life?'

Mayuzumi was interested in the conversation topic that Seiji chose.

As a female manga author as well as otaku lady, she was quite interested in the concept of maids. Hearing about such a person in reality would naturally catch her attention.

Seiji used Houjou-senpai as a topic to catch her interest, and after she responded, he chatted about what he knew about the maid before moving on to another topic of conversation.

And so, the atmosphere finally became less tense.

The two of them had so much fun chatting that it seemed like they were unable to stop!

After all, this was a conversation between an otaku and a female otaku manga artist.

They had common interests, so after they broke the ice, they chatted on endlessly about a multitude of different topics.

Without realizing it, they even finished their kettle of black tea, and, as both of them were still in the right mood, they ordered a new kettle of green tea.

They also ordered various confectioneries to complement their tea.

They had forgotten about their original objective of touring the school festival and lost themselves in conversation.

"Eh? It's going to develop in that direction!?" Seiji exclaimed in surprise after learning about the newest scenario in the "Honey Candy Girl" anime.

"What a wondrous development. However, after considering it closely, there has indeed been foreshadowing for this."

He praised Mayuzumi's amazing story writing abilities as an author for several seconds before he realized something.

"Wait a moment—this new development hasn't been revealed yet, right? Is it really alright to… give me such a spoiler?"

The female manga author's smile froze solid.

"This… I just happened to casually say it, so it shouldn't be a problem… right?" She awkwardly averted her gaze.

Seiji was at a loss for how to respond.

'Hey, this is obviously a problem!'

"Sensei's creation is hugely popular, and spoiling something that hasn't been publicized yet could be rather troublesome… You should be more cautious."

"Wah… will Haruta-kun tell other people?" Mayuzumi lowered her head slightly as she realized she had made a mistake.

"Of course not—I'll guard the secret to my death!" An indescribable light flashed through Seiji's eyes. "But still, it's bad to give spoilers, so let's not do that again, Sensei."

"Wahh… Haruta-kun, you sound rather like Saki."

Saki, that was Saki Yoshizawa, the editor.

Of course, Mayuzumi knew that Seiji was acquainted with Editor Yoshizawa and that they were collaborating on a story together.

"Oh, since you mentioned Editor Yoshizawa… Sensei, what type of person do you think she is?"

Seiji took a sip of tea and asked a casual question.

Mayuzumi didn't have a chance to respond because her cell phone rang at this time.

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Chapter 195: Concern

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

Mayuzumi answered her ringing cell phone.

"Hello, Saki?"

Speak of the devil! They were just talking about her when she called!

Well, these types of coincidences weren't all that uncommon.

"I'm with him right now… I'm fine, it's… it's going well. Wah… Sorry, it's actually not going that well."

"No, no, I'm fine! You don't have to come over—don't you still have work you're busy with?"

Judging from the half of the conversation he could hear, Editor Yoshizawa sounded extremely concerned for Mayuzumi.

Seiji recalled the figure of that icy female editor.

He felt that with her personality, she would definitely rush over if she knew what had happened.

Seiji was about to take another sip of his tea when his cell phone rang as well.

The caller ID showed that it was from Mika.

"Seiji, are you back at school?"

"No, I'm still outside. Some things happened while I was on my way over with Sensei," Seiji explained. "I'm currently at a coffee cafe together with her."

"Oh… How's Peach-sensei doing?" Mika's voice contained obvious concern for him.

"Her condition wasn't too good earlier," Seiji replied in a low voice, "but she's doing much better now. We're currently having tea and chatting."

"Are you guys coming back to school?"

"It depends on the situation. If Sensei wants, then we'll go. If she doesn't, then I won't force her."

"Oh…"

"Don't mind us—go ahead and have fun with Chiaki."

"Okay…" Mika's voice sounded a little lonely.

Their call ended there.

When Seiji looked across from him, he saw that Mayuzumi just happened to finish her call as well.

"Saki's really worried about our situation and wanted to rush over immediately. I stopped her from doing so." Mayuzumi smiled wryly at her friend's concern.

"Editor Yoshizawa's really concerned about Sensei."

"Yes, and I'm truly grateful to her… it's just that sometimes, I think she can be too much of a worrywart." Mayuzumi sighed. "This one time when I was having a phone call with her, my cell phone ran out of battery, causing the phone call to be cut."

"As a result, she took only five minutes to rush from the editing department to my home and check on my situation."

Five minutes!?

Seiji was astonished at this.

While he didn't know just how far away Thunderbolt Literature's editing department was from Sensei's home, five minutes… sounded too incredible!

Did Editor Yoshizawa fly? Did she actually have the ability to secretly transform in phone booths!?

There must be some mistake… or was it that Editor Yoshizawa was a mystical ability user?

'No, no, it isn't possible to meet someone with powers so easily! I should stop randomly guessing.'

"I was so shocked at that time. She was still panting with sweat pouring down her face, but after she confirmed that I was fine, she acted like her normal self."

"I'm truly grateful for the way she's taken such good care of me and her concern," Mayuzumi muttered. "But I also hope that she wouldn't worry so much."

"So, she's like an overly protective big sister?"

"Yeah… you could say that." The female manga author tilted her head slightly. "I think that sometimes she treats me like a little child, or as if I can't do anything by myself without someone else around."

'…Honestly,' Seiji remarked silently, 'I do get a little bit of that impression from you as well, Sensei.'

Although he hadn't known Mayuzumi Amami for very long, he had now fully realized why Editor Yoshizawa had told him that Peach-sensei was a woman who really needed someone to take care of her.

Even though Mayuzumi was a popular manga author and professional who was already mature on the outside, she would break out into tears at simply a bus ride…

'No, no, stop thinking like that—it would be too rude to Sensei, who's working so hard to confront her fears.'

At any rate, Seiji had such an impression already from just the short time he spent with her. In that case, it was perfectly understandable why Sensei's close friend, Editor Yoshizawa, would be so concerned about her.

Seiji concluded that if Editor Yoshizawa knew about what just happened to Sensei on the bus, she would have rushed over here at top speed without listening to Sensei telling her not to come!

Would it be a repeat of the astonishing five-minute record?

He actually wanted to see it a little…

Mayuzumi continued talking about some past events that had occurred while she was together with Saki Yoshizawa.

Seiji now had a better understanding of the deep friendship between Mayuzumi and Saki and had learned more about both of them.

After a while, he glanced at the time.

"Sensei, do you still want to go to the school festival?"

"If we go now… is there still time to look around?"

"There is, although there's not much time remaining." Seiji smiled lightly. "It's up to what Sensei wants—even if we don't go today, we can always go tomorrow. The school festival lasts more than one day."

Mayuzumi lowered her head and remained silent for a considerable amount of time.

"Let's go see it." She lifted her head again. "Just as Haruta-kun says, while the school festival lasts more than one day, just returning like this feels…"

"Like you're admitting defeat?"

"Yeah…"

Seiji's faint smile arced upwards upon hearing this.

"Okay, let's get going then." He indicated to the server that he wanted to pay the bill.

This time a female waitress brought them their check, and, when Seiji brought out his wallet, he saw Mayuzumi placing some cash on the check first.

"Sensei…"

"Let me pay the bill—I'm the adult here!" Mayuzumi smiled. "Haruta-kun is really gentlemanly, but you don't need to concern yourself with money."

Seiji was rendered speechless.

This was the most adult-like he had ever seen this female manga author act.

…

The two of them hailed a taxi to Genhana High School.

Mayuzumi started tensing up again at the scene of so many people teeming around.

"Sensei, let's go in."

"Yeah… yeah."

Mayuzumi did her best to walk forward under Seiji's watchful eye.

She tried walking as normally as possible in order to avoid attracting attention.

Although she was a bit scared and instinctively wanted to walk slower, walking slower caused people to look at her inquisitively which made her even more scared.

Walking and acting normally was the right way to do things.

'I… can do it!'

Mayuzumi kept inwardly encouraging herself.

A boy passed by her side.

She was almost scared to the point of stopping dead in her tracks, but forced herself to continue only with her willpower.

"Just like this, Sensei," someone praised from behind her. "Excellent job."

Mayuzumi turned around to see Seiji Haruta looking gently in her direction.

His expression bore resemblance to that of an adult encouraging a child.

Mayuzumi felt both warm and embarrassed inside.

"Haruta-kun, don't look at me like that."

"Oh… sorry, I got lost in my thoughts." Seiji retracted his gaze and fixed his sight forwards.

"Sensei, you're… really beautiful."

"Er?"

Mayuzumi felt like she received a sudden impact from this unexpected praise as something tightened in her chest.

"Although you have a phobia and felt such discomfort on the bus earlier, you still resolved to come here and resolutely walk towards the crowd," Seiji said with a voice full of admiration. "Sensei, I feel that you're truly beautiful when you act like this."

This was his honest and sincere praise.

For someone to face his or her greatest fear and try their best to overcome it without escaping or stopping and resolutely pushing forwards… this type of spirit and willpower was doubtlessly admirable.

Peach-sensei, who had such resolve, could only be described as beautiful by him.

That's what Seiji believed, and he told her this directly.

Mayuzumi's heartbeat quickened, and her cheeks began to heat up upon hearing Seiji's praise.

'This… this… Haruta-kun…'

She looked at the side profile of his face while inwardly feeling like she wanted to scream.

'How… how on earth are you able to say something so embarrassing so naturally!?'

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Chapter 196: Lost

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

Mayuzumi was now experiencing just how scary boys could be in a different way.

No, more accurately speaking, she felt how scary the boy named Seiji Haruta could be.

He had suddenly praised a woman next to him with utmost sincerity.

It was clearly natural to him, and it obviously wasn't intentional flattery with hidden purposes; his words truly originated from his heart!

Mayuzumi, who'd received such an unexpected attack, felt like she had been pierced by a sharp arrow as her heart was moved.

She had never fallen in love before.

But she had imagined being in love many times before and could recognize that this was the beginning of love—romantic interest in a boy!

The female manga author's face turned red as her emotions became chaotic.

This child… Haruta-kun…

"Sensei."

"Eh? W-what!?"

"Would you like to play this?" Seiji pointed to a stall as he smiled.

His faint smile seemed so gentle on his handsome face.

'Is this… an added effect due to my fast heartbeat?'

Mayuzumi was dazed for a moment as she watched him.

He never gave her such an impression earlier…

Even though she felt that he was handsome and bright to the point of glowing, it was mere appreciation. It was much akin to watching a handsome idol on television: although she would recognise that the idol was good-looking, there were no romantic feelings involved.

She never expected that after her heartbeat quickened, looking at him again… felt so different from earlier!

Mayuzumi was experiencing this for the first time in her life.

Her heart was fluttering, and her face was flaming hot… how was she supposed to suppress this?

'I need to distract myself!'

The manga author hurriedly looked at the stall he was pointing at.

It was a shooting game commonly found at any amusement attraction. There were various dolls placed on a shelf, and customers used a very simple toy air gun from the front to shoot the dolls. If they successfully knocked over any dolls, they could take them.

"Those dolls are all custom-made and aren't purchasable anywhere else; they're all unique."

Seiji introduced the stall's specialty to her.

Mayuzumi also saw the same words being advertised on the stall's sign.

Unique dolls crafted by the students… the quality seemed pretty good as well, which would definitely attract customers as evidenced by the continuous stream of customers lining up.

'I want one…' whispered a tiny voice in Mayuzumi's heart.

"Okay, let's go—we'll give it one try." Seiji decisively walked up to the stall.

'He didn't wait for my reply… no, he must have figured out from my expression that I wanted one.' Once again, Mayuzumi felt just how considerate he was.

Such an amazing successive attack from him.

Not to mention he seemed to have zero awareness of it all… Honestly…

Seiji paid the money required for a try with the toy air gun.

"Sensei, come over here."

"Oh… oh." Mayuzumi obediently walked closer.

Only when she took the toy air gun from his hand did she come to the shocking realization that she was able to get so close to a boy!

Even though she was still nervous, it was completely different from nervous fear. Her body wasn't tense, nor did she feel uncomfortable in any way.

This… seemed pretty nice.

With Seiji's instructions, Mayuzumi took her pose as she lifted the toy air gun and aimed.

Three shots later…

She had failed to hit any dolls.

This was an obvious result. She felt rather helpless.

"Sensei, good job."

"Eh?" 'Why is he praising me?'

Seiji smiled lightly at her.

"Thanks to Sensei, I now know how to hit the targets. Just watch me."

His handsome face exuded self-confidence.

For the second time, Mayuzumi was left dazed.

Seiji paid again for another chance with the toy air gun.

"Sensei, the one you want the most is the rabbit doll second from the right, correct?"

Mayuzumi nodded.

"Okay."

Seiji took aim and fired!

The first and second bullets both accurately hit the target doll.

The doll wasn't knocked over by either shot, but its position was shifted backwards. At last, the third and final blow knocked it over with a headshot!

The most important part was the location that was hit. Mayuzumi was able to notice this.

"Congratulations to this customer for winning a prize!"

The student running the stall gave Seiji the rabbit doll.

Seiji took the doll and smiled as he handed it to Mayuzumi.

"Thank you…"

Mayuzumi accepted the fluffy cute rabbit doll and felt its softness as she hugged it.

Softness… Seiji couldn't help but take a peek at Mayuzumi's breasts that were squeezed slightly out of shape as she hugged the rabbit doll.

Mayuzumi felt shy when she detected his gaze… but she didn't feel disgusted, repulsed, tense, or any other negative emotions.

It wasn't that her androphobia had been cured.

Her body and mind had managed to accept that Seiji Haruta was a special existence.

Scary… truly scary.

'Haruta-kun is too good at this,' she thought to herself. 'It's to the point of being overboard.'

She snuck a look at the boy by her side, her face still flushed red.

After that, the two of them explored the school festival for a bit.

Seiji was considering whether or not he should contact Mika and Chiaki, or simply take Sensei to visit his class's confectionery store with just the two of them.

He felt that he should contact them and ask if they wanted to meet up and go together. If two extra girls came, Sensei would likely relax a bit more.

'I should ask Sensei's opinion first.'

"Sensei…" He turned around but couldn't see the manga author's figure anywhere.

"Eh? Lost!?" He hurriedly looked around behind him when he heard her voice.

Mayuzumi was standing several meters behind him and speaking to a little girl.

"Sensei, what's the matter?" Seiji walked over.

"This child got separated from her guardian," Mayuzumi replied.

Seiji looked at the young girl.

The girl appeared to be an elementary school student. She had braided light green hair and was wearing a floral-patterned one-piece dress with a thick jacket. She wore long socks and tiny leather shoes on her legs and feet

The young girl had a pretty face and large blue eyes. Her long eyelashes which were tilted upwards gave her a cute, innocent appearance.

She was staring at the rabbit doll that the manga author was clutching on to; it seemed like she really wanted it.

'So she got separated from her family's adults, and was attracted to this doll, which caused Sensei to notice her…' Seiji felt that was the likely course of events.

"What's your name?" Mayuzumi asked gently.

"My name… I can't tell it so easily to strangers." The little girl's gaze moved from the rabbit doll to Mayuzumi.

It seemed that she had decent knowledge on how to protect herself.

Mayuzumi and Seiji exchanged glances.

"It's fine if you don't want to tell us. Do you have a cell phone?" Seiji asked.

"Yes, but I don't have it with me right now." The elementary school girl glanced at his face. "If I did, I would have called already." Her voice seemed a little depressed.

"Then do you remember your parents' phone numbers?"

"No…"

"Then we can only go to the lost child booth."

The young girl pouted slightly and kicked the ground.

"I'm definitely not a lost child."

It seemed that she was prideful as well.

Seiji's lips arced upwards.

"I'm sorry, but you definitely are a lost child. Just obediently come with us."

"Hmph… I won't." The little girl averted her gaze. "As long as I wait here, my uncle will find me."

It seemed that she was a stubborn one.

Seiji chuckled.

He walked in front of her and crouched down so that they were at the same eye level and looked into her face.

"You… you're really cute."

The young girl was stunned for a moment before her face reddened and she twisted away in embarrassment.

"For such a cute girl like you to stand here by herself, there's a chance that you may meet someone strange." Seiji's tone changed to a low and heavy one. "If you meet such a person, you may get off lightly with something bad happening to you, or at worst you may be kidnapped… and that's no joking matter."

The little girl couldn't find any words to reply with to this.

"Perhaps you feel that admitting that you're lost is rather shameful, but compared to the possibility of meeting something bad, who cares about a little shame?

"If you're a smart girl, you should have the self-awareness that you're really cute, and place more importance on self-protection."

Seiji stood up.

"If you don't believe us or don't want to follow us, you can go find the Morals and Discipline Committee members. They're wearing emblems on their sleeves and are easy to identify, or you can find the big brothers and sisters that are running all these stalls here. They're all students at this school and won't harm you."

He immediately turned towards the manga author as he finished speaking.

"Let's go, Sensei."

"Eh? But…"

Mayuzumi seemed hesitant until she saw the look in Seiji's eyes and realized what he was up to.

Seiji began walking off, and Mayuzumi took another look at the young girl before she followed him.

After approximately six or seven steps…

"Wait… Wait!"

The little girl called out to them.

Seiji's smile widened as he revealed an expression of "all according to plan."

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Chapter 197: Old Acquaintance

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

"Please take me… to that place," the young girl requested shyly with a flushed face.

'Now that's really cute.'

Seiji inwardly praised her at this scene, while remaining calm on the surface.

"Okay, follow us."

He didn't say anything else to the girl as he led the way.

…

Seiji and Mayuzumi followed the signs and took the little girl to the booth which was set up to deal with lost children.

Coincidentally they saw a young green-haired man talking anxiously with the Morals and Discipline Committee members in charge here.

He was tall and slender with a handsome face. He was wearing a dark-colored jacket and long pants, and his smallish eyes were set in a anxious, sweat-covered face.

"Uncle!" the little girl shouted and ran towards him when she caught sight of his figure.

The green-haired man turned around upon hearing her and showed an expression of shocked delight.

"Reo!"

He kneeled as he hugged the little girl.

"You fool! Where did you run off to!? I was looking for you everywhere!!" His voice was filled with worry and complaint.

"Uncle…" "My attention was diverted for a second and you disappeared! I couldn't find you anywhere in the middle school section!! I had to come look for you in the high school section, and here you are!"

The man let go of her as he frowned and began to scold her in a severe tone. "Just how did you get over here!? If you got separated from me, then you should've waited where you were, or asked for help from nearby. Why did you come all the way to the high school section!?"

"I-I don't know…" The little girl averted her gaze and lowered her head when faced with such strict questions.

"It's dangerous to go so far away! I won't be able to find you!!" The green-haired man's voice was getting louder.

It was obvious to tell that he was extremely worried, which was the source of his anger.

"Excuse me, sir, let's calm down a little. It's easy to understand your feelings, but please don't get angry at such a place." Seiji walked over and gently tried to alleviate the situation.

"You're…" "I'm a student from this school, and I just happened to see your niece standing there by herself, so I took her to the lost child booth here," Seiji answered calmly. "Your niece is really smart and knows how to be on guard against strangers. Perhaps she was trying to avoid some strange people which was why she walked all the way over to the high school section from the middle school section."

"Is… that so?" The young man frowned as he looked towards the little girl again.

She slowly nodded.

"If that's the case, then you were in the right… No, wait, why did you follow him then?"

The man's gaze moved from the little girl to the boy that he didn't know.

'Because my charisma stat is outstanding…' Of course, he couldn't say that out loud.

"Because I'm wearing a school uniform." Seiji shrugged as he extended his palms. "Wearing this school uniform means that I'm a student from this school, plus I have a female companion, which makes me more trustworthy."

"Oh…" The green-haired man glanced at the woman standing beside Seiji.

His expression froze over when his eyes landed on Seiji's female companion.

"You… you're… Mayuzumi Amami?"

He spoke the manga author's real name out loud!

'Hm? You two know each other?'

Seiji looked towards Mayuzumi for confirmation.

He saw that her entire body was tensed up and her face was ashen-white with obvious fear in her eyes! Her hands that were clutching on to the rabbit doll were even trembling.

"Amami… it's you, right?" The young man stood up again as he stared at her face. "I'm Shouhei Hirai; it's been several years since our last meeting… do you still remember me?"

Mayuzumi silently lowered her head without replying.

Seiji furrowed his brows slightly upon seeing this.

"Er… I guess you don't really remember, haha…" The man let out a somewhat forced chuckle.

Awkward silence fell between everyone.

Seiji was just about to say something when the green-haired man turned around to speak to him again.

"You're Amami-san's boyfriend?"

"…No, just a normal friend." Seiji decided to answer this way.

"I'm a college classmate of hers." The green-haired man smiled. "It's been several years since I last met her, and I never expected to see her again here…" He sighed before lowering his head and bowing.

"My gratitude to the two of you for helping out my niece." He formally gave them his thanks. "Reo, thank them as well."

"Thank you…" The little girl politely bowed as well.

"We just did what we should have; there's no need to be so polite." Seiji also gave an appropriate response before he turned to Mayuzumi.

"Let's go, Sensei."

The manga author nodded slightly and slowly turned around to leave.

An indescribable light flashed in Shouhei Hirai's eyes as he watched them leave together.

After walking a bit of a distance.

"Sensei, who was that man just now?"

Seiji tried asking her about it.

Mayuzumi didn't answer and merely kept her head lowered as she continued walking in silence.

"Sensei?" Seiji felt that something was wrong.

The manga author stopped in her tracks.

Then her body swayed as she fell forward!

Seiji was able to catch her in time.

She felt so soft, and he could faintly smell a whiff of her shampoo's scent…

'Cough, disappear, idle thoughts!'

Seiji placed his hand on an appropriate location and carried the now-unconscious Mayuzumi in a princess carry.

This was something which caught many people's attention as the bystanders looked on in curiosity.

"A princess carry! Amazing!"

"What happened to her?"

"That boy is so handsome! I want to be in his embrace like that as well~~"

"It's Harano-san… Who's that woman?"

It wasn't a good thing to attract so much attention.

Seiji increased his pace as he went to the only place he felt he should go to at this time.

The infirmary.

The blonde-haired nurse was sipping tea as she watched the festival from her window.

'It's so rowdy outside but so quiet in here… which is a good thing. After all, it would be rather bad if the infirmary was crowded.'

Just as Kaede was thinking that to herself, she heard the sound of hurried footsteps.

When she saw who it was, her eyes lit up.

"Harano-kun…"

"Juumonji-sensei, please take a look at this person."

Seiji gently placed Mayuzumi on an infirmary bed.

Kaede put down her teacup and immediately began inspecting Mayuzumi. "What's the matter with her?"

"She… has androphobia…"

Seiji gave her a basic explanation.

After a basic checkup.

"She's fine," Kaede concluded after examining the unconscious girl. "There aren't any serious problems with her physical condition. She'll naturally wake up after a bit of a rest."

Seiji nodded. "That's good then."

"So you're telling me that she saw… a male classmate from college and walked a little bit before fainting." Kaede looked at him for confirmation. "In that case, my best guess is that this college classmate of hers must have left her with a dark memory in her heart."

"That's my guess as well." Seiji folded his arms. "It's quite obvious that her condition became suddenly worse after meeting him. There must be some special reason."

On the bus just earlier, Sensei was feeling so uncomfortable that she even cried, but she didn't faint. Just meeting that man made her faint so quickly!

That man must have given her a negative stimulation that was far beyond the feeling of being crowded by other men on the bus… or, it could also be taken as Sensei could have possibly received an additional shock after the overly stimulating bus ride, overloading her mental capabilities and causing her to faint.

No matter which it was, that man… her college classmate named Shouhei Hirai was definitely someone that Sensei was especially afraid of.

Seiji furrowed his brows as he contemplated the matter.

Shouhei Hirai… he didn't seem like such a bad person on the surface.

'Just what did he do to Sensei in the past?'

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Chapter 198: Friend's Younger Sister

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

Seiji recalled Rika Amami previously mentioning that Peach-sensei had only developed androphobia after meeting with an incident during college.

Shouhei Hirai was Peach-sensei's college classmate.

In that case, was this guy the culprit behind Sensei's androphobia?

It seemed possible…

But the question was just exactly what could have happened?

Seiji thought of two methods for obtaining the answer.

The first would be to wait for Peach-sensei to wake up and ask her directly about it.

The second would be to call Rika Amami, the confectionery store owner, right now.

But if he asked for the answer, that would mean he was getting involved in this matter.

He respected Sensei, got along quite well with her, and was willing to assist her. But still, they had known each other for a short time. For him to interfere just like this… was it really appropriate?

After consideration, Seiji felt that it wasn't.

He decided to ask Sensei about it in an indirect manner after she woke up. If she wanted his assistance, then he would help out to the best of his ability. If she didn't want to talk about it, then he wouldn't pry any further… that was what he ended up deciding.

At that moment someone spoke up. "Are you thinking about how you can help her?"

It was Kaede.

The blonde-haired beauty was smiling widely as she looked at the boy.

"No… I don't even know what the situation is." Seiji shook his head. "If she tells me what's going on after she wakes up, and asks for my help, of course I'll help her. But… she hasn't known me for all that long, so it's quite possible that she won't do that."

"Oh…" Kaede blinked. "You're so gentlemanly."

"Does this count as being gentlemanly?"

"Yep, from my perspective it sure does. You're willing to help women, but you're not overly interfering in their lives and respect their privacy." Kaede looked searchingly at his face. "That's what makes a really great man."

Seiji suddenly received heavy cannon fire!

His face reddened as he coughed awkwardly.

"You're being exaggerated with your praise, Juumonji-sensei. I was merely doing what a normal person would."

Kaede smiled at him in response.

After a momentary silence.

"Have a cup of tea, Haruta-kun."

The blonde-haired beauty brought out a new teacup from the cabinet and poured some tea for him.

"Thank you." Seiji accepted the teacup from her.

Kaede also refilled her own cup and slowly began sipping tea again.

Seiji also took a sip of the tea, inwardly noting that it was the perfect temperature, before looking back at her.

Kaede Juumonji, the mafia family missus… Honestly, he was clueless on how he should deal with or act around her.

The two of them had a rather subtle relationship. They weren't exactly friends, but if they became friends, it seemed…

He suddenly recalled Yukari Asamiya.

Seiji had rejected Yukari's confession but told her that they could begin by being friends. While this seemed like a polite rejection, Yukari seemed to accept starting as friends… or at least Seiji felt she did.

Kaede had expressed her feelings towards him just like Yukari, and he had also politely rejected her. But the difference was that he hadn't said that they should start by being friends, nor did Kaede request to be friends.

Then came the question: what exactly was the current relationship between him and Kaede?

A love interest and a rejected confessor? Neighbors in the same apartment? An otaku and his friend's younger sister? A student and his infirmary nurse?"

Seiji sighed inwardly. It seemed rather complex.

Seiji mulled it over and felt that the most important part to him was definitely "an otaku and his friend's younger sister!"

It was a definite thing that he and Hisashi Juumonji were excellent otaku buddies.

Kaede was Hisashi's younger sister, and Hisashi had told him to treat her well.

'Yes, I'll treat her as "a friend's younger sister," and use that as the foundation! Excellent, I've come to a decision.'

An enigmatic light flashed through Seiji's eyes flashed as he determined his next course of action.

"Juumonji-sensei…"

"Hmm?"

"How's your job as the health teacher and infirmary nurse?"

Kaede tilted her head slightly. "I think it's alright."

"Alright, I see… What I meant was this: do you feel frustrated from your job? Or bored or anything like that?"

"Hmm… a little. There's some really annoying idiotic boys… and when I have nothing to do and sit here by myself, it can also get a little boring."

The blonde-haired teacher/nurse fixed her gaze on the boy.

"Harano-kun, are you trying to show concern for me?"

"Yes, you're Hisashi's younger sister, after all," Seiji replied calmly. "It's only natural to be concerned for my friend's younger sister."

He intentionally placed more emphasis on the words "friend's younger sister."

Kaede revealed a dazed expression before she chuckled.

"Ha ha… yeah, you're Elder Brother Hisashi's friend," she muttered with a chuckle. "Even though you're obviously several years younger than me, you're talking like someone from Hisashi's generation! It's so funny~"

'I definitely won't ever tell you that my true mental age is actually much older than yours,' Seiji quietly thought to himself.

"Thanks for your concern—this job is actually one I'm quite fond of, as I've done it for some time now."

Kaede took a sip of her tea and considered her next words before speaking again.

"At first, there were many idiotic boys creating a lot of trouble for me, but they soon decreased in number. There's not actually that much to do, and while it may be boring sometimes, whenever I'm busy I can realize the importance of my job and feel that what I'm doing is quite meaningful."

"A health teacher… while her presence is easily forgotten at school, this is still an absolutely necessary character to have."

"I remember that I said on my first day at work that I was delighted to have this job. I still feel the same way, and I believe I will continue to feel this in the future as well."

She smiled sincerely as she spoke those words.

It was rather difficult to imagine that the health teacher who could smile so gently was actually a mafia princess.

"It's great that you enjoy it then." Seiji was somewhat dazzled by her smile.

"What would happen if I didn't enjoy it, then?" Kaede changed the subject. "Harano-kun, would you feel bad about it inside?"

"Eh?"

"Would you feel responsible because I came all the way here for you and was only tolerating this job for your sake?" Kaede asked softly, taking a step closer to him.

"Er… I wouldn't," Seiji answered as he watched her close the distance between them.

Kaede looked straight into his eyes, her face mere centimeters from Seiji's.

"I think you're lying," she stated in a gentle voice. "You'd actually feel bad inside… and feel responsible, right? After all, I'm your 'friend's younger sister.'"

Seiji was rendered speechless by this.

He was being checkmated by his own move!?

"No, that's not right—even if you are my 'friend's younger sister,' I don't need to be concerned for you to such a degree!"

Yep, that was it.

She was the one who chose this job of her own volition, so why was he supposed to be responsible for it?

"Oh, you're so cold." A strange look surfaced in Kaede's eyes.

"Er… that's right—I'm an ice-cold man."

Seiji felt rather panicked when he saw that mysterious expression appear in Kaede's eyes and hurriedly averted his gaze. "I'm only slightly concerned for you due to my friendship with your older brother; I definitely wouldn't feel responsible for you or anything like that!"

"Is that so?" Kaede murmured in a downcast voice. "How regrettable…"

'Eh, did I go overboard?'

Seiji was worried that he hurt her feelings and turned around to look at her again.

That's when Kaede took yet another step closer and hugged him!

"Eh?"

Seiji made a stupefied exclamation.

He saw that Kaede's face was flushed crimson. Her lips curled upwards alluringly when she noticed his gaze, and her watery eyes seemed to be flashing.

"You don't feel responsibility… how terrible of you." Kaede clicked her tongue softly. "But," she whispered, "there are advantages to this as well."

What… advantages?

"You don't need to feel responsible, so I only hope for you to console your 'friend's younger sister' that feels so lonely… alright?"

The seductive words spoken wistfully by the stunning blonde-haired nurse seemed to contain her fragrant scent.

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Chapter 199: Non-acceptance

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

This was the infirmary.

Seiji was currently being hugged by the beautiful nurse in charge of the infirmary.

She was requesting for him to "console" her, and that he "didn't need to take responsibility."

Seiji felt that his head was on the verge of exploding! He had definitely seen plenty of scenes like this with nurses in both animes and with real actors and imagined various scenes involving hospitals, nurses, doctors… and other such gentlemanly content.

His sense of logic and reason almost collapsed from this.

But he managed to steady himself in the next moment.

He forcefully blocked off all the gentlemanly content from his brain and maintained his sense of reason!

Just as he was about to say something to Kaede, she giggled and released him.

"Just kidding," said the blonde-haired nurse in a casual tone. She took a step backwards and continued: "I heard that boys like this type of… lonely teacher or something similar, which was why I played a small joke on you." Her voice sounded rather flirtatious.

"How do you feel? Was your heart moved, Harano-kun?"

Seiji was rendered speechless by this.

Finally, after a few dozen seconds had elapsed, he sighed helplessly. "What an incredible joke, Juumonji-sensei."

"Oh my, are you angry? Are you disappointed that it's only a joke?"

"Of course not! It's just… if I really did believe you just now, and wanted to forcefully do something, how would you have reacted?" Seiji glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

Kaede's smile remained unchanged.

"Harano-kun isn't that type of person at all, which was why I dared to make that type of joke." Her words were normal, but her tone seemed rather warm in a subtle way.

Seiji's lips twitched.

'Forget it—it was my own mistake to think of so many forbidden topics earlier.'

If he thought about it more carefully, her joke wasn't such a big deal.

He decided not to worry about it any longer. But now, he was less motivated than earlier to keep up the conversation with Kaede.

"Although I was joking, I was being truthful about the 'lonely' part," Kaede said, breaking the brief silence. "Whenever I'm bored, I hope that someone will come see me and chat with me… not an idiotic boy with strange underlying intentions, but a gentlemanly, excellent boy who truly cares about me."

She looked searchingly at Seiji's face while saying this.

Seiji was once again rendered speechless.

After that, only silence remained between them.

Kaede retracted her gaze and slowly sipped her tea.

Seiji also slowly sipped on his tea.

Both of them downed several cups of tea without saying a single word.

The blonde-haired nurse's expression seemed to grow increasingly melancholy during this silence.

Just as she was truly about to become disconsolate, Seiji spoke up.

"There are various stalls at the school festival, with interesting things being sold in each one."

His tone of voice and words were all calm and normal.

But anything he said at this moment would sound moving to Kaede right now as her eyes lit up!

"Oh? What kind of stuff is being sold?" She naturally continued this conversation topic.

Seiji calmly told her about what he saw.

And so, the two of them passed the time by chatting in an ordinary fashion.

…

Mayuzumi woke up.

She was confused and dazed when she opened her eyes. The first thing she did was to examine her surroundings

"Sensei, you're awake."

She heard a boy's voice before she saw his handsome face.

Mayuzumi recovered her senses upon seeing his face.

"Haruta-kun…"

"It's me. How are you feeling right now?" Seiji asked her concernedly.

"My… head is a little dizzy."

"Rest on the bed for a little longer then."

"Okay…"

Mayuzumi closed her eyes but opened them up quickly again.

"Where… where am I?"

"We're in the school building—Genhana High School's infirmary office, to be exact," Seiji explained. "I took you here after you fainted. The infirmary nurse says that there are no major problems, so we didn't go to the hospital and allowed you to rest here."

"Oh…" Mayuzumi remembered back to what happened.

She had been touring the school festival together with Haruta-kun when she met a lost girl that had gotten separated from her guardian, and then… Shouhei Hirai!

Mayuzumi's body began trembling as she recalled that man.

No… she shouldn't be so scared of him.

Hirai-san wasn't a bad person, and that incident in the past… occurred long ago and was over with already; she shouldn't keep remembering it. There was no need for her to be scared…

Mayuzumi kept telling herself that.

But, despite this, her body remained in a tense, nerve-wracked state.

Seiji watched her tremble. "Go ahead: have a good rest and relax, Sensei."

"Okay…" Mayuzumi closed her eyes once more.

She retracted into the blanket and felt its warmth as she made herself believe she was safe in an effort to calm down.

By the way, just how much time had passed?

Haruta-kun had been accompanying her all this time… that must have been troublesome for him.

Even though they were supposed to have fun at the school festival, she never expected that…

Mayuzumi laid there for several moments as she dealt with complex emotions within herself.

Then, she opened her eyes again and slowly sat up.

"Sensei?"

"Haruta-kun, I feel fine now." Mayuzumi smiled faintly towards him before turning her head and looking out the window. "What time is it now?"

"It's about four in the afternoon."

"The school festival…"

"Is over now."

"Ah… sorry. I…"

"No need for apologies, Sensei." Seiji smiled gently. "It's only for today. The school festival will continue tomorrow."

"Haruta-kun…"

"I've been watching Sensei's hard efforts, and I think you're doing a wonderful job." Seiji looked into her eyes. "I really had fun together with Sensei," he said in a sincere tone. "Although we didn't have all that long together, there's still tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, isn't there?"

Mayuzumi was temporarily lost for words.

"I heard that there will be some special activities tomorrow that will make this place even livelier! I'd like to continue enjoying them together with Sensei." Seiji smiled brightly.

Mayuzumi felt a warm feeling inside her.

But she still felt apologetic towards him.

She didn't even dare get off at the correct bus stop, felt uncomfortable with crowds of any kind, and fainted upon meeting a college classmate. Was it really alright for someone like her to ask Haruta-kun to accompany her and continue using up his valuable time?

Even if he himself didn't mind, she minded.

This was a once-a-year school festival, and there would definitely be many girls that wanted to go see the school festival together with such an excellent boy like Haruta-kun.

The more she thought about it, the more she thought that… she was no good!

"Haruta-kun, I-I feel very tired." The manga author decided to voice what was on her mind. "Let's… just stop here. Tomorrow… I'd like to stay at home, and you can just go have fun at the school festival together with the girl you really want to be with." She averted her gaze and forced herself to say that.

She suddenly visualized the handsome boy together with an unknown imaginary beautiful girl having fun together and chatting while visiting every attraction at the school festival.

Yep, that was how it seemed like it should be to her.

This was how he should pass his time. For someone like him in the prime of youth, he should be having fun dating a sparkling youthful girl and enjoying the fun things in life!

He shouldn't have to accompany a troublesome woman like her with androphobia. It was unfair that he had to think carefully before speaking and was required to take care of her like a babysitter.

At least that was what Mayuzumi believed.

'Yep, let's just reject him. If we don't continue this tomorrow, I can stay at home, and he can enjoy whatever he likes. That's for the best.'

But… why was it that there was a pain in her chest?

Seiji looked at the manga author doubtfully.

"If that's what Peach-sensei truly believes, then I'll accept it. But, Sensei, you're really bad at lying." His next words were spoken in the gentlest tone he could manage: "There's far too much evidence; even an elementary school student wouldn't be fooled by you. Sensei, if you're only rejecting me because you don't want to trouble me, I won't accept this kind of reason at all.

"And even if I accept, I doubt the confectionery store owner would accept. What I agreed on with her was that she would assist with my class's project and that I would have a date together with Sensei during the school festival.

"If Sensei can't stand me, or if you're honestly too tired, then that's fine. But if you simply feel apologetic because you think you're troubling me, I highly doubt the owner would accept such a reason. She'd definitely get angry."

Mayuzumi was rendered speechless upon hearing this.

"Of course, she won't have the chance to get angry, because I'm going to refuse right here and now about your refusal, so she won't ever hear about this," Seiji informed her with a big grin on his face.

"In conclusion, your request to stop coming to the school festival has been rejected! Sensei, just take a good rest tonight, and recover your spirit, so that we can continue having fun together at the school festival tomorrow to make up for the lost time today."

His voice sounded forcefully resolute to the point where she was unable to refuse.

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Chapter 200: Harems are a Man's Dream (Fantasy!)

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

Mayuzumi was unable to resist against Seiji's "forcefulness" and could only comply.

That painful feeling in her chest disappeared, and she suddenly discovered that she was looking forward to tomorrow.

This caused her to feel embarrassed at her true feelings and her words just now in various ways.

'I'm really not acting like an adult at all,' Mayuzumi commented to herself.

Kaede was secretly a little jealous as she watched this scene unfold.

She wanted to tour the school festival together with Seiji as well, but since she was working as the infirmary nurse, that was impossible.

Just earlier during her conversation with Seiji, she requested that he help buy a few things for her and bring them over, which would make him come to the infirmary office again. Currently, having this much contact was sufficient for her.

Deep inside, Kaede was rather anxious. But she knew that anxiety was no good and that patience was necessary. Even slow, steady steps still meant progress to her.

Maybe the joke she'd made earlier was a little overboard, but it probably left him with a deep impression, so it was okay.

Kaede smiled in a friendly manner as appropriate of an infirmary nurse but hid her emotions from Seiji and Mayuzumi as they left the infirmary.

"That doctor… er, nurse was quite beautiful." Mayuzumi sighed as she turned to the boy beside her. "Haruta-kun, you're acquainted with her, right?"

"Yes, we know each other from before." Seiji nodded.

"Do you like beautiful women like her?"

"Er… I think she's alright. Why the sudden question?"

"I was just asking casually." Mayuzumi blinked innocently before posing her next question: "What type of girl do you like then, Haruta-kun?"

Three conversation options appeared before Seiji's eyes.

[A: I like the older, more mature type.]

[B: I like the younger, cute-looking type.]

[C: I like many different types and feel that each type of girl possesses her own unique charisma.]

Seiji couldn't find any words to express his current feelings at the moment!

If he wanted to improve Mayuzumi's favorability rating towards him, the correct answer was probably A.

As for his honest opinion, he was leaning towards C.

But C seemed a bit like a scumbag man's typical statement to him?

Hm, that was a mistaken impression. It had to be a mistaken impression.

"I… can't really say that there's only one type of girl that I like," Seiji responded. "I think that each type of girl has her own unique charisma, and none are better than the rest."

Mayuzumi scrutinised his face. "That sounds like something that the main male character of a harem manga would say."

"Urk!" Seiji received a direct impact and made a strange noise.

"Could it be… that Haruta-kun wants to create a marvelous harem?"

Mayuzumi chuckled slightly at his reaction and continued joking with him.

"Er… not at all!" Seiji denied hastily.

"Why not? Harems… aren't they what every boy dreams of?"

'Wah! This… it's impossible for me to deny!'

Seiji was unable to say something that went against his true feelings.

As a man… as a male, anyone would fantasize about it, right!? A harem of his own!!

Various types of beautiful girls pleasing to the eye that all loved only him and belonged only to him… What man hadn't imagined such a scenario before!?

Seiji personally believed that any ordinary man would have this type of fantasy! That's why saying that harems were a man's dream was absolutely correct!!

At least that was what he believed, which was why he found it impossible to deny what Mayuzumi had jokingly asked.

"Haruta-kun?" Mayuzumi noticed his frustration and panic, and her grin grew wider still; it appeared she found his plight amusing.

"Mmm… yes." Seiji changed his expression to one of resolution. "Harems are indeed a man's dream!"

"I've fantasized before about harems! I hope that reality can just be like the 2-D world, with many beautiful girls that love me and belong only to me!"

"I'm willing to work hard for their sake, and they will be willing to do the same! Everyone can be together and do whatever they enjoy while living a happy and blissful life!"

"Even if this is incredibly selfish and willful of me, that's what I truly want! This is the innermost desire that I wish for!!"

Seiji used a serious attitude to voice the sentiments of his innermost gentlemanly (perverted) heart.

The manga author was stunned upon hearing this.

She never expected to hear something like this! She expected that he would try his best to cover it up.

This confession was rather astonishing in its own way!

"That's all. If I offended Peach-sensei, I apologize." Seiji saw her dazed expression and retracted his expression of resolution as he sighed. "That's what I truly believe, and it's my fantasy as an otaku. There's no way that I can lie to someone I respect like Sensei."

"And of course, it's just what I believe, and a dream is just a dream.

"Reality won't have any harems like in 2-D stories. Or, even if harems did exist, I don't think that I'm capable of creating one." Seiji shrugged.

Yep, that's how it was.

Fantasies were one thing, while realities were another. Even if a perfect harem truly did exist, that definitely wasn't something an ordinary man… or a man with normal emotional intelligence could accomplish.

Seiji felt that his own emotional intelligence was at a normal level, or perhaps even slightly below average. Even with his dating sim system's existence, he didn't feel that he was all that smart in this area.

Never underestimate the world or overestimate yourself. That was something important that he learned before from his life experience.

Confidence was a good thing, but overconfidence was foolishness. He had witnessed this type of foolishness far too many times in his previous life.

"You don't feel that you're capable of doing it, which is why you don't intend to do it—is that right?" Mayuzumi regained her senses and asked another question.

"That's right."

"Ahh, you're a cup half-empty-type."

'Then am I supposed to be a cup half-full-type about it? Is this dream (fantasy) something that I'm supposed to work hard at to achieve!? I'm not the author of Love Hina!' Seiji energetically commented in his mind.

"Reality is like this, isn't it?" Seiji let out a deep sigh. "I've never met someone in real life who was brave enough to believe that he could create an ideal harem and was willing to truly work hard for this goal."

Well, he had met a few people in his past life before that had created harems in real life.

After all, in the modern society, it wasn't difficult for a man to have many women as long as he had money and power.

No, not only the modern society, it could be said to be from ancient times to the present.

But that was the only type of harem that could exist in reality. The women wouldn't be truly in love with that man, nor would the man truly love each and every one of the women in his harem. Both sides' physical needs outweighed any emotional relationships.

Although that type of harem was enough to make some people jealous, Seiji had no desire for such a harem.

Why? It was easy to tell—just go watch a few television dramas about an emperor's concubines fighting between themselves for power. While reality typically wasn't as exaggerated as a television drama, sometimes reality would have even worse events than a television drama, which would definitely be no laughing matter!

"Even if I have a gentlemanly soul, I'm still a normal person in the end. It's fine if a perfect harem exists only in 2-D."

"Mmm… you're right. But…" Mayuzumi's eyes lingered on Seiji's handsome face. "I think that perhaps you could do it, if it's you, Haruta-kun."

"Eh?"

"A majestic harem. Haruta-kun, if you work hard at it, you might really be able to create one. I have that feeling." The manga author's face reddened after she finished speaking.

Seiji was rendered speechless yet again!

"Stop joking, Sensei." His right cheek twitched violently.

"This isn't a joke—it's what I really believe." Mayuzumi averted her gaze. "I don't know why myself I have this opinion, but… I just have this type of feeling."

'If it's you—if a boy like Haruta-kun were to have a harem—I think that the girls might even be able to accept it.'

'At the very least, I… no, no, what am I thinking!?'

Mayuzumi felt like her face was on fire.

She buried the fleeting thought deep within her heart.

'She has a feeling that I can do it? Just what does she mean?' Seiji didn't quite understand.

He decided not to pursue it too deeply.

'Peach-sensei must still be in a daze because she just woke up, which is why she would say such strange things.' That was the "reasonable explanation" that Seiji came up with.

The two of them walked to the practice fields and saw that there were only a few students cleaning up after the school festival, with the visitors having all left already.

And so, the first day of the school festival came to a conclusion.

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Chapter 201: Taiyaki

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

Seiji contemplated whether or not he should ask Mayuzumi about Shouhei Hirai as he escorted her home.

It seemed like Sensei didn't want to bring it up by herself, so, in the end, he decided to forget about it and not pry too deeply.

Seiji said goodbye and left after he accompanied Peach-sensei to her apartment.

After leaving the apartment, he called and confirmed that it wouldn't be an inconvenience for him to visit Natsuya in the hospital. He then considered what he should purchase as a get-well present.

The most typical get-well presents were obviously fruits or flowers, but Seiji didn't want to buy such a common item. While he was in the middle of thinking, he passed by a small specialty store.

"Oh… let's go with this!"

…

Haruta-kun returned.

Well, he checked himself out of the hospital and was now visiting the patients' ward, which sort of counted as "returning," although maybe it technically didn't.

The important part was that he'd returned.

Natsuya was feeling happy about this.

Seiji walked in holding a bag with unknown contents and a big grin plastered on his face, causing her to become slightly curious.

"Has Milady ever tried this sort of snack before?"

Seiji placed the bag on the table and used a napkin to take out a fish-shaped object from it.

It was taiyaki!

This was the favorite snack of Golden Darkness, and characters from Kanon, K-ON, and Bleach also loved it. It was a traditional Japanese snack that often appeared in many of his previous world's animes.

Taiyaki was a simple snack made with common ingredients that everyone could enjoy.

Seiji felt that its high rate of appearance was mainly due to its cute shape.

It seemed classically cute to have a beautiful girl eating taiyaki!

Especially if you fed one to a cat-eared loli… heh heh~

With nothing but pure and gentlemanly intentions, Seiji had purchased some taiyaki as a get-well present.

"This is… taiyaki!" Natsuya's eyes lit up. "I've seen it before… and know about it, but I've never tasted it."

She's seen it before? Was it in an anime? Hmm, that seemed rather possible. After all, she enjoyed anime about the supernatural.

"Because it's a commoner's snack, you've never tried it before?" Seiji chuckled as he handed the taiyaki on the napkin to her. "Why don't you try one right now?"

Natsuya took the napkin from him and hesitated on where to begin eating from before she opened her mouth slightly and took a tiny bite from the fish-shaped snack's head.

'So cute!'

Seiji was moved at how cute this scene seemed to him.

"So sweet… it's delicious." Natsuya gave her assessment.

The beautiful scene of the scion in a hospital gown holding the taiyaki and carefully nibbling on it etched itself deeply in Seiji's memories.

This scene was added to his CG collection album!

"It'll taste even better if you pair it with tea." Seiji fetched the teapot and poured some tea.

He also took a taiyaki and sat next to Natsuya. They enjoyed the snacks together and chatted about various topics.

After they both finished eating one taiyaki, the two of them got up and left Natsuya's hospital room while taking the bag of remaining taiyaki with them.

They visited Hitaka Shuho's hospital room.

The red-haired girl was resting quietly on the hospital bed with a breathing apparatus attached to her face.

She turned around and opened her eyes when she heard the sound of the door opening and saw Seiji and Natsuya entering her room.

"Hitaka, Haruta-kun's here to see you," Natsuya explained.

The red-haired girl blinked and looked towards Seiji's face.

It was obvious that she was grateful for his visit.

"Shuho-san, rest well for your recovery," Seiji said gently. "After you're healed, we can talk about various topics together."

Natsuya clutched Hitaka's hand and also spoke some gentle words to her.

After their visit with the seriously injured Hitaka, Seiji and Natsuya went to the next hospital room.

When they opened the door and entered, they saw Rana Kirin sitting on a large couch with a game controller in her hands. She was wholly focused on playing a video game!

On the television screen was a white girl wearing a black one-piece dress with a short miniskirt, stockings, and boots that revealed a mesmerizing absolute territory. This game character was currently jumping between a bunch of mechanical monsters while wielding destruction in the form of a two-meter longsword.

'Oh, she's pretty good.' Seiji inwardly praised Rana for her video gaming skills.

"Rana…" Natsuya could only smile wryly at seeing this scene.

When she looked towards Seiji, he merely revealed an expression of 'I don't mind at all.'

Rana's cat ears twitched when she heard them entering her hospital room, and she quickly glanced at them in between slaying monsters before concentrating on her game again.

Seiji walked up to Rana and sat beside her as he took a taiyaki out of the bag and held it next to her mouth.

The cat-eared loli opened her tiny mouth, took a bite of the fish head, and chewed.

Her expression was currently one of delight.

'This scene is just so cute!' Seiji was moved once again.

He continued feeding Rana and enjoyed the process.

Natsuya was rendered speechless by this scene.

She could only silently pour a cup of tea for everyone as she sat beside Seiji, took out another taiyaki, and ate it in silence as she watched Rana.

Seiji felt that his life had become more meaningful after he successfully fed an entire taiyaki to the cat girl.

Then, he helped Rana to drink some tea by holding her cup for her, before he also drank some of his own tea.

After that, he picked up another game controller.

"Let me join in."

The cat girl nodded as she paused the game, exited, and restarted.

This time she chose the two-player mode.

Seiji was using a white boy wearing a black outfit, black shorts, and sneakers, while Rana was still using that girl in the lace one-piece dress. The two of them fought against the mechanical army together!

After defeating a boss, Seiji took the opportunity while the game was loading its next scene to stuff another taiyaki into Rana's mouth as he also took a taiyaki for himself and ate it slowly.

And so, the group of three teenagers sat together while eating the fish-shaped snacks, and two of them were even immersed in video games, such a scene was…

'This is the best!' Seiji was having a graet time.

He had excellent teamwork with Rana. One of them focused on offense, while the other focused on defense; one was melee and the other ranged; and they split the equipment and combined their techniques for a finishing move. Everything was performed extremely well as they understood each other's intentions and took the best course of action.

It felt as if they were old friends that had played together for many years already.

They were unstoppable!

They finished beating the level and reached the next level.

But instead of continuing on, Rana exited the story mode and selected the versus mode where two players could practice against each other!

'Oh? You want to fight against me? Perfect, I was just wanting to test myself as well!'

Seiji shot a hot-blooded look at Rana and saw that she had a gaze which was similarly burning with passion.

As they exchanged glances, they felt as if they understood each other perfectly once again.

'How nice that we're synchronized to such a degree.'

And so, their versus match was about to begin.

Three, two, one… Seiji's boy character in black shorts and Rana's girl character in the black miniskirt rushed towards each other as they both unsheathed their longswords!

Attacking, defending, dodging, reflecting, shooting, exploding, chaotically dancing, using items, and using ultimate abilities…

On the television screen, the game characters' amazingly fierce battle seemed to be on the scale of a clash between mortal enemies.

Even Natsuya, who had originally been somewhat bored, got immersed in the video game battle without her realizing it.

Slowly, both sides ran out of items.

Their energy bars were empty.

Their HP values were reaching the bottom.

Even their weapons' durabilities had reached zero and were destroyed, so the boy and girl were now using their hands and fists for the final portion of the battle while wearing clothes that were now tattered from the drawn-out fight.

"Meow!" Rana was so excited that she rose to her feet. Her cat ears pricked up, and her eyes flashed with a sharp gleam as the battle came to a climax.

"Ahhh!" Seiji learned forward with widened eyes as he shouted in a low voice while button mashing at top speed.

'I don't want to lose!'

'I have to win!'

Both players injected their wills into their fingers through the controllers to the characters on the screen.

The girl, who was almost naked now from sustaining so much damage to her clothes, grabbed a split-second chance and successfully kicked the boy and prepared to kick once more again to deplete the last remaining portion of the boy's HP bar.

However, at this instant, her plan was thwarted! Seiji had expected this attack and was gambling on this chance.

Seiji used a reflect-attack defense!

There was only a small timeframe available in which the game character would be able to successfully reflect the attack, which would result in an unavoidable high-damage attack reflected back at the enemy. But if the reflect-attack was not timed appropriately, additional damage would be taken.

Seiji's game character's HP was already so low that he wouldn't be able to take another hit.

If this reflect-attack failed, he would lose!

And the result was…

The boy character coolly managed to block the girl's second kick, as he flashed and used a high elbow attack that viciously struck against the female character's chest!

There was a clear sound of an impact.

And then, the girl character kneeled and collapsed listlessly on the ground.

KO!

"I won!" Seiji clenched his fist and struck a victory pose as he looked towards Rana with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

He was instantly smacked by a half-eaten taiyaki on his face!

"MEOW!"

He heard Rana meowing angrily and felt a sudden pain in his wrist.

When he looked down, he discovered that the cat-eared loli was actually biting his wrist!

Seiji was stunned at this.

'Hey, hey, don't do this to me!'

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Chapter 202: Payment

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

The angry Rana latched onto Seiji's wrist with her teeth.

Seiji felt more surprise than pain, as he didn't expect the cat girl to have such a side to her.

He tried to peel her off, but failed.

He tried using a taiyaki to distract her attention.

Rana's eyes flashed with light.

He used a head-pat in addition to the taiyaki.

"Meow~" the cat girl purred in satisfaction.

Her jaws loosened slightly.

Seiji tried peeling her off again—and this time he succeeded!

He instantly stuffed the taiyaki into her mouth as he continued patting her on the head.

Rana still had some unvented anger remaining, but she accepted his coaxing and rubbed against Seiji's leg.

There were teeth marks left on his wrist.

This was a precious memory!

Natsuya thought that this would develop into an incident when she saw Rana angrily biting Seiji, but now she didn't know what to say anymore when she witnessed this result.

This game… actually seemed pretty fun?

The lady president picked up a controller and tried pressing a few buttons.

Suddenly, she noticed two pairs of eyes upon her and turned around to see that the handsome boy and the cat-eared loli were both staring at her with bright looks of expectation.

Natsuya was rendered speechless by this.

'Come, let's play together!' She felt as if she could detect them saying that with simply their eyes.

It was impossible for her to go against their expectations.

"This game… I don't really know how to play it, so could you teach me?" Natsuya asked them, having decided to go along with the flow.

"I'd be delighted to!"

"Meow!"

And so, the game tutorial for the scion began.

…

One hour later.

Seiji had collapsed listlessly on the carpet, while Rana had collapsed listlessly onto his back.

Both of them gave off such a feeling of helplessness.

Once again, Natsuya was rendered wordless as she watched them.

On the television screen, her white-haired elder sister character was making a victory pose on the post-battle screen.

That's right—she had been the victor.

After the president learned how to play the game and figured out a few strategies, the president showed off an abnormal level of skill in reflecting attacks in a three-way free-for-all and defeated both her opponents!

Seiji and Rana found it difficult to accept this indisputable truth, which was why they had both collapsed onto the floor. From this it could be seen how ignominiously they had handled defeat.

Although this seemed rather silly to Natsuya, she couldn't help but admit that they looked a little cute.

"Milady, you're rather talented."

The idle fish on the carpet… whoops, Seiji spoke up.

"Meow~" Rana also meowed in agreement.

"We… already have nothing else we can teach you."

"Meow meow~"

"Just use our bodies… as the stepping stones to a higher realm."

"Meow meow meow~"

"Why do I need to use your bodies as the stepping stones? Where is this higher realm even supposed to be!?" the president couldn't help but forcefully comment.

It was just a game, after all.

"That realm is known as a utopia which people say is far removed from the world. They say that only the pure and battle-loving kings can reach it." Seiji lifted his head. "If you're going to that place which you belong in, our sacrifices will have been worthwhile!"

"Meow!" Rana also lifted her head.

"What the hell's with utopia!? Stop joking around—even I know about the legend of Avalon!" Natsuya didn't even know whether she should laugh or cry anymore. "Stop laying there on the carpet, you two! Get up!"

The boy and the cat girl obediently got up under the barrage of precise retorts.

"I had a lot of fun, but it's time for me to go back now." Seiji patted Rana's head yet again. "I think that you're mostly alright now, but since you're still injured, you should rest properly and remember not to go overboard with the playing."

Rana responded with a "Meow."

Natsuya smiled at this scene.

"Then, I'm gonna get going, President."

"Please wait a moment, Haruta-kun." Natsuya rose to her feet. "I'd still like to discuss something with you, so let's return to my hospital room first."

What else was there to discuss?

The two of them left Rana's room and returned to Natsuya's room.

"What I would like to discuss is the matter of your payment," the president said after they reached her room.

"Payment?" Seiji blinked in surprise.

"That's right—you didn't think that you should do all this for free, did you?" Natsuya smiled. "You helped me achieve victory in the duel. No, I should say that if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have been able to win at all."

"President…"

"Don't deny it, Haruta-kun. It's the truth." Natsuya walked towards the desk in her hospital room.

"You helped me to such an extent in this duel and even took huge risks that you didn't have to, so you deserve a generous payment. But, if I give you too much at once, that won't be good either, and I took many things into consideration…"

She took something out of the desk's drawer.

"Finally, I decided to give you this."

The item was… a bank card from Eastern Capital Bank.

Seiji was familiar with this bank because it was the same bank that he used.

"Five hundred thousand sakuras with no name attached to the account. The password is '123456.'"

"Five hundred thousand…" This wasn't a ridiculously large amount, but it wasn't small either. It was definitely more than enough to make many improvements to his life.

"Do you think that this amount is appropriate? If you would like more, I can have it increased." Natsuya shot him an inquiring gaze.

Seiji smiled. "It's fine—it's completely appropriate."

This amount of money was perfect for him, as it was neither too much nor too little.

"This is far from the amount that you deserve. If you ever need more money, please call me and let me know at any time," Natsuya said seriously. "And if I'm unreachable for some reason, then call the number on the card."

The number on the card? Seiji took a look at the bank card and realized that there was a phone number written there. This definitely wasn't the number for Eastern Capital Bank, which he knew already.

"What's this phone number?"

"You can treat it as a rather special service line," the president replied lightly.

Seiji rubbed his chin in contemplation. "Could I ask, if I really needed it, the upper limit of how much money I could ask for?"

"Are you sure that you want to know?" Natsuya grinned widely.

Seiji mysteriously felt that he shouldn't pry further upon seeing such an expression on her face.

"Er… nah, forget about it."

It was fine like this. It was just a casual question to begin with, and he didn't intend to ask for more money.

"Apart from the cash, I'm also giving you this."

Natsuya also handed him a golden key.

"This is the key to my residence at school. You can go there anytime you like and use all the underground facilities, including the Spirit Image, the training grounds, and so on."

Seiji's eyes widened in surprise.

This was exactly what he needed!

Cultivation items for his Spiritual Power and Mana, along with training facilities… It definitely wouldn't be easy for him to prepare all these in a short period of time by himself.

How to purchase them, the money required, how to keep them and maintain them… there were so many problems that even if they could all be taken care of, it was certain to be a huge bother.

And with this key… it was basically the president allowing him to permanently borrow all her items and facilities at her temporary school residence, which would make things much simpler. Just like when he was temporarily residing there, he could just go over there and use the facilities whenever he pleased!

Saving him all that trouble and money was definitely enormously worthwhile.

"Thank you so much, President!" Seiji paused for a moment before chuckling. "This is even more valuable to me than five hundred thousand sakuras in cash."

"No need to be polite—it's what you deserve," Natsuya said with a smile. "Apart from the underground facilities, if you want, you can even live in that residence whenever you like. I'll have the room you were staying in set aside exclusively for you."

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Chapter 203: Farewell, Light-chan

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

'Keep that room just for my use? That feels a little…'

In the end, Seiji just decided to treat it as having an extra personal room.

"That's what I'll reward you with for the time being. This isn't everything that I want to to give you, but it's the most appropriate gift I can think of for the time being."

"In the future," Natsuya said in a gentle tone, "if you ever need anything—not just money, anything at all—feel free to ask me. I'll help you to the utmost of my ability as long as it's reasonably within the range of the payment you deserve."

The president gaze was fixed on Seiji while she was speaking, and her voice seemed especially gentle.

Seiji faintly felt that he was being flirted with.

Saying that she would take care of his needs… did this count as her financially supporting him?

Hey, it felt like this was rather similar!

He suddenly came to this realization and immediately denied it.

No, no, the president was simply paying him for helping her with the Yin-Yang Master duel, and her tone of voice was gentle merely because she viewed him as a true companion, just like Hitaka and Rana.

'She's definitely not financially supporting me or anything! Yep, I'm definitely not a gold-digging man!!'

Seiji resolutely calmed himself down and smiled.

"I feel that you've paid me more than enough, so there's nothing else that I could request."

"If you don't request of your own volition, I'll save the favor I owe to you and give it to you when I feel it's appropriate," Natsuya said with a wide smile.

'That's truly something that fits the president's style,' Seiji inwardly thought to himself as he admired her character.

This concluded their discussion.

Seiji bade farewell to Natsuya and left with the bank card and key.

Natsuya-sama is such an amazing beauty! It was my honor to fight on her behalf!

A voice suddenly spoke up in Seiji's mind.

"Light-chan? You're awake?"

Indeed, Seiji-sama. I happened to wake up just earlier and heard that you were in the middle of a discussion with Natsuya-sama, so I decided not to distract you, came the heroic spirit's reply.

"How's your current condition?"

Great! I've already recovered my strength after all this resting.

"That's good then."

But there's also something that's not so good.

"What is it?"

My task is already complete, and it's time for me to leave now.

While the last sentence was still spoken in his mind, Seiji instantly detected a presence and turned around. He was greeted by the sight of a tall warrior's figure who was clad in light green military attire with a longbow on his back and a sword clipped to his waist.

"Light-chan…" He instantly realized that this must be Light-chan.

The handsome man was surrounded by an aura of heartiness. He had a mustache, fierce eyebrows, and eyes that were glowing green. The man smiled widely at Seiji when he saw him turn around.

"That's me, Seiji-sama," Minamoto no Raiko acknowledged. "In this final moment, please allow me to take this form to walk a few steps together with you."

"So you could materialize yourself in such a form…" Seiji looked at him. "Of course I allow it… or rather, I'm happy that I can see you like this."

The warrior spirit smiled faintly.

The two of them walked onwards together.

"Time's up already. It seems so fast. I still wanted to chat more with you. I'd really like to drink alcohol and feast together with Seiji-sama as well."

"You're able to drink alcohol in that form of yours?"

"Of course! It's a pity that there's no time remaining. If there was, I'd definitely have a drink together with Seiji-sama!"

"Sorry, but I'm still underage."

"Don't mind such a small matter! Seiji-sama is an outstanding man, so you should drink alcohol when you want, and have fun whenever you want, without paying attention to what people around you think!!" Minamoto no Raiko spiritedly waved his hand with a grand flourish.

Seiji didn't even know what to say to such a remark!

"You probably just want an excuse to drink alcohol, don't you, Light-chan?" He ended up chuckling. "Even if your personality is somewhat questionable at times, all in all you're an incredible person, and… an amazing heroic spirit."

Seiji looked deeply at him.

"I'm truly grateful to you. If it wasn't for you, we definitely wouldn't have won the duel. Even though our time together was short, it was my honor to become your host. It was such a great thing that the spirit that came to me was you."

"Seiji-sama…"

"I regret not having the chance to communicate with you more. I hope that I get the opportunity to meet you again in the future, Light-chan… no, the great heroic spirit, Minamoto no Raiko!"

A momentary silence fell between them.

Then, the heroic spirit began laughing heartily.

"It was my honor as well to become your bonded spirit and fight for you and Natsuya-sama."

After he finished laughing, his tone turned serious.

"You will become someone truly strong, Seiji-sama. Your personality, resolution, willpower, and strength… will aid you in walking the path of the extraordinary! Please continue walking down this path at your own pace. If it's fated to be… no, as long as you continue down this path, I will definitely meet you once again. Although the me at that time may not be the same me as from now."

"What does that mean?"

"Heroic spirits are formless, Seiji-sama," Minamoto no Raiko explained. "I was a human in the past, but the human me died long ago. The current me gained life through people spreading stories about my legend. You could say that I was born as a result of humanity's common knowledge. I am Minamoto no Raiko, yet I'm not the real Minamoto no Raiko. I'm not a unique existence like a real human; instead, I possess many different forms all created by the different ways in which humans view me. I don't really know how to explain it clearly either. Seiji-sama, you just have to understand like this: many different versions of me exist, and these versions may even be completely different from me."

Seiji was rendered speechless by this. 'No way! Isn't this just like…'

He felt as if he didn't dare to continue imagining it, but he still had to confirm it.

"For example, there will be a you that uses a different weapon?" Seiji tried testing the waters.

"Yes."

"There will be a younger or older version of you as well?" Seiji's eyes began to twitch.

"Yes."

"There will be an insane or maybe an even evil version of you all clad in black?" Seiji's cheeks were beginning to twitch as well.

"Mmm… it's possible for there to be such a me as well."

"Will there even be a female version of you with gigantic breasts?" Seiji covered his face with his hands.

Minamoto no Raiko was temporarily rendered speechless by this!

"Seiji-sama…" Thick black lines covered the heroic spirit's face as his expression became rather complex.

"No need to say more, Light-chan." Seiji averted his gaze while still covering his face. "I just… imagined some inappropriate things. I apologize."

An awkward silence fell between them.

Finally, Seiji ended up sighing.

"Alright, I understand now that I might meet a different version of you in the future. If that's really the case, will that version of you remember who I am?"

"I don't know. I might remember you, but I might also forget you." The heroic spirit shook his head.

"I see… I hope that the other version of you will remember me, otherwise… I'll be sad." Seiji smiled wistfully.

"I hope so as well."

"No matter what other forms you take, as long as you can remember me, we'll still be companions who fought together side-by-side in the past. Of course, what I hope for the most is that I can meet with the exact same you again, not any other version, in the future."

"I hope for that as well," Minamoto no Raiko stated in a voice filled with sincerity.

Both of them smiled at each other.

"It's time for me to leave now."

"Alright. Take care."

"Farewell… please take good care of yourself, Seiji-sama."

The heroic spirit stopped speaking.

As the figure of the warrior disappeared, Seiji felt an energy course through his body and travel through his head, before slowly disappearing into the air.

"Goodbye, Light-chan."

Seiji gave a sincere farewell to this great heroic spirit who had helped him so much.

Neither he nor Minamoto no Raiko had even considered having Natsuya Yoruhana extend the temporary contract for Seiji to remain as her Spirit-branded Retainer.

It was meaningless for her now, plus it would be a burden on her Spiritual Power as she would need to maintain their connection.

Now that the duel was over, the president needed time to recover more than anything, so there was no need for her to maintain a temporary Spirit-branded Retainer. Lengthening the contract would mean slowing down her recovery process, which was something neither Seiji nor Minamoto no Raiko would wish for.

Farewells should be done decisively right then and there. Just leaving a hope that they could meet again one day… that was the emotional bond between Seiji and the heroic spirit.

Seiji walked alone on his way back to his apartment.

Overhead, high up in the sky, a green-colored flash finally disappeared.

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Chapter 204: The Frustration of Mika Uehara

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

Seiji opened up his system to inspect his [gifts] menu on his way home.

The bank card also rewarded him with something rather simple: 50 points, which was quite a significant amount!

And as for the key…

[Spell learning card—Grateful Heart.]

This card contained the president's sincere gratitude towards him. After using it, he could choose any single learning requirement for an unlearned spell, and its progress would automatically be filled to 100%!

[Buff card—Trusting Heart.]

This card contained the president's unwavering trust in him. After using it, he could choose any spell categorized under [Spiritual Power, and the spell's power or effect would be doubled for the next 15 minutes!

[Spiritual Power increase card—Hopeful Expectations.]

This card contained the president's expectations for his future growth. After using it, his [Spiritual Power] stat would permanently increase, and the lower his stat was, the more it would increase.

Seiji's eyes widened in surprise.

This key had given him three cards as a reward, and all of the cards were so useful!

First, the Spiritual Power increase card could be used immediately to raise his [Spiritual Power] stat.

Second, the spell learning card's effect was amazing to the point where he wanted another dozen! This could help him to quickly learn any spell.

It was a pity that he only had one, and it would only fulfill one of the spell's requirements.

Seiji thought back to that mega technique called [Dragon Counterattack.]

It seemed nice that he could skip one of the requirements by using this card, but one still wasn't enough!

Immediately using this precious card seemed like a huge waste.

He might as well save it for later and use it in the future for a ridiculously difficult learning requirement. Seiji ended up making that decision.

As for the buff card, this card's effect had explosive power! It was an incredibly simple cheat.

It obviously seemed better to him to save this card and use it at an important time. It didn't matter whether it was for an ordinary spell or an ultimate technique.

Since the buff lasted fifteen minutes, it should be more than enough to finish any one battle. If used properly, it could even turn around a dire situation for him.

'You've rewarded me so handsomely, President.' Seiji inwardly thanked the president yet again.

It wasn't convenient for him to use a stat-raising card while outside. He quickened his pace as he headed back to his apartment.

…

He saw Mika standing in front of his apartment.

Seiji greeted her, but received no response.

The double pigtailed girl was walking around slowly with an absentminded expression.

"Mika?" Seiji walked closer to her and tried calling out to her again.

Mika's body shook as if she was a frightened rabbit. If this had been a manga scene, her two pigtails likely would have stood up on end.

"Er… S-Seiji?" Mika rubbed her chest. "W-what are you doing? Don't scare me like that!"

"I wasn't trying to scare you. I just greeted you earlier, but you didn't hear me." Seiji felt that something was strange. "What's the matter, Mika? What are you thinking about? You were lost in your thoughts."

"N-nothing…" Mika averted her gaze in an unnatural manner. "I definitely wasn't thinking about anything weird just now."

Seiji didn't even know how to respond to this.

It was so obvious that she was lying! She was definitely thinking about something "weird" just now!

Seiji was curious about the matter.

But more than that, he was concerned.

"If you're troubled by anything, you can tell me. If it's something that's not convenient to tell a boy, then go talk to Chiaki about it. It's best not to randomly come to conclusions on your own," Seiji told her in a gentle manner.

"I-I already said that I'm fine." Mika glanced at him while muttering, "Don't treat me like a little child…" to herself.

Her tone of voice seemed rather complex.

This didn't seem like a simple temper tantrum or anything like that.

Seiji quickly came to that conclusion, and his curiosity and concern both increased in magnitude.

Just exactly what could have happened?

Thinking back, he recalled that Mika still sounded normal when he called her at the coffee café.

So what could have happened in between that time and seeing her again now?

Seiji didn't know the answer.

Seeing how she currently was, he doubted that she would tell him.

So, he could only remain silent.

Mika walked back towards her own residence's door in the same awkward manner.

Seiji followed behind her.

"You… what are you doing?" Mika looked at him doubtfully, until she came to a sudden realization that caused her expression to change. "You must be here to discuss moving apartments with my mother."

"Yeah."

Seiji was getting even more concerned for Mika now.

He decided to call Chiaki later to ask if she had any inkling of what was going on with Mika.

The two of them entered the Uehara family's residence.

"Welcome back." Nozomi smiled as she came out to greet her daughter.

"I'm back," Mika responded flatly as she walked straight past her mother and into her own room.

The landlord instantly knew that something was wrong. She looked towards Seiji for an explanation as she watched Mika enter her bedroom.

Seiji could only smile wryly at this.

"Haruta-kun, what's she…"

"I don't know either. She was already like that when I returned and saw her."

Nozomi tilted her head in puzzlement. "It doesn't seem like she just had an argument or is throwing a temper tantrum…"

"I definitely didn't have any arguments with her. I… doubt that Chiaki did, either," Seiji explained.

If it were a normal temper tantrum, Mika's mood would be simpler to read. But Mika's condition definitely seemed different from normal.

"She might be thinking about some 'strange things,' but I don't know what specifically they could be."

"Thinking… well, she's probably stuck in her own way of thinking then." Nozomi blinked in realization. "This child… she's probably confused because she met with a problem that she doesn't know how to solve."

Both the young tenant who was Mika's good friend and her mother, the landlord, tried their best to figure out what frustration a teenaged high school girl would have.

Nope, they couldn't figure it out!

"I'm going to call Chiaki later and see if she knows anything. Let's just go ahead and discuss the new apartment, Miss Landlord." In the end, Seiji decided to give up on this topic.

…

The new and larger apartment that Nozomi helped clean out as per Seiji's request was on the first instead of the second floor… and right next door to the Uehara family's residence!

Seiji examined the interior.

There were three smaller rooms and a larger living room. While it couldn't be said to be spacious, it was plenty for two people to live in.

Both him and Shika could have their own bedrooms, and the other small room could be used as a study or a storage room, which seemed quite good to him.

There was no problem with the rent, either.

Even without having received five hundred thousand sakuras recently, Seiji felt that he would be able to afford it. Money was even less of a problem now that he had been rewarded so handsomely.

He decided to take this apartment!

He instantly decided to begin the moving-in process.

Nozomi offered to help, as did Kaede when she returned to her apartment, but Seiji politely rejected both their offers.

There weren't many things to move, which made it easy for him to do by himself. It didn't take very long at all.

After he finished moving everything, Seiji sat down by himself in the living room in idle silence.

He would begin living together with Shika Kagura after she arrived.

It seemed rather strange—after all, he hadn't even made up with his new body's real family, yet he already had a new family member of his own.

Seiji recalled the time when he accidentally saw Yui Haruta.

Not counting the memories he inherited from this body, that was the only time he ever personally saw his "family." Apart from his older sister, he also had a younger sister and an adopted mother.

Even up until now, none of them had ever contacted him, nor had he attempted to contact them.

Honestly, Seiji really wanted to mend fences with them, but he didn't know how to go about it.

That was because he believed it was only natural for them to not forgive him, with how much of a scumbag the original Seiji Haruta had been.

It would be best if he could make up with them, but he would be able to accept it even if it didn't happen and simply live the life of someone exiled from his family.

But no matter what, his new identity was that of "Seiji Haruta," which was something he couldn't change.

There were too many things recently, so he didn't have time to think about his family situation, but now…

'Let's think over carefully on what to do about my family after the school festival.' He came to this conclusion.

Right now, the most important thing to him was his adopted younger sister, Shika Kagura.

What was she doing right now… and when would she arrive?

Seiji turned around to look outside the window.

The evening sunset was quite beautiful.

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Chapter 205: Girl Walking By Herself

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

A beautiful middle school girl was walking by herself.

Shika Kagura, who was wearing plain-colored clothes together with a white scarf, attracted every passersby's attention as she dragged a large suitcase behind her.

Her normal walk seemed like a beautiful scene out of a movie.

Especially since there were many falling leaves on the road today.

If some melancholy background music and a heavy-toned narration were added to this scene, it would truly be at the level of a movie in a theater!

Every person that paid attention to her, regardless of their gender, couldn't help darting a few extra glances at her as they imagined who she was and where she was going.

Shika was also currently in the midst of imagining.

She couldn't help but imagine scenes of her life after she started living together with Seiji.

In a normal… or even a simpler home, the two of them… would chat, cook, eat, and watch TV together.

"Shika-chan, is the food ready? I'm a little hungry."

"Shika-chan, the hot water is ready, so go ahead and shower first."

"Shika-chan, would you like to watch this program together with me? It's really interesting."

"Shika-chan, I thought of a new plot for our novel—it's like this… what do you think?"

"Shika-chan, it's time to sleep, have a good night."

They were just normal words combined with an ordinary daily life, but as long as she was with him, everything seemed so beautiful and wonderful to her.

This already made her quite happy, but… since they were adopted brother and sister, perhaps they could… be a little more intimate?

Another group of scenes flashed through her mind.

"Shika-chan, the food's not ready yet? Let me come help you."

"Shika-chan, the hot water's ready—would you like to shower together?"

"Shika-chan, this program's a little scary—you should come over and sit right by my side."

"Shika-chan, I think that it would be good for the plot if the main character got together with his younger sister—what do you think?"

"Shika-chan, it's time to sleep, how about sleeping with me tonight?"

Her face reddened as she imagined the handsome boy's gentle smile.

No, no, she couldn't do that! This was too… um!

He definitely wouldn't say or do such things! Even though he was rather… um, he was still a gentle and polite person.

Shika suddenly felt a little disappointed when she came to that realization.

He was a polite and respectful person, which was a good thing. But… sometimes she also wished that he wasn't such a respectful person and could act more intimate… closer to her.

Being hugged, or being patted by him on the head was a nice feeling.

She wanted to have more fun acting spoiled to him.

She wanted to have more time inhaling his scent.

She wanted to keep looking at his face, hearing his voice and those gentle words of his.

As a younger sister… this was all natural, right?

Hrm, yep, that was it!

Shika managed to convince herself.

As brother and sister, they should be more intimate. If he wasn't the type to act, then she would do it for him.

What exactly should she do, then?

Shika's lips faintly arced upwards as she continued imagining.

She didn't notice that the expression on her face was moving so many passersby's souls.

Everyone was praising and exclaiming at her beauty, and, finally, someone was unable to suppress their desire.

"Um… Miss, please wait a moment!"

A person couldn't bear let this beauty go and came to flirt with her.

The speaker was a handsome boy who had a soft, shadowy appearance. His hair was soft and sleek, and his face was framed with twin bangs, with one side being longer than the other.

He was wearing a dark gray jacket while holding a single reflex lens camera in his hands, making him seem like a photography enthusiast.

Shika stopped walking as he blocked her path. She was displeased at having her thoughts interrupted.

"What is it?" she asked lightly while staring coldly at him.

The handsome boy's face was tinged with red.

Most passersby could tell that he was shy and nervous. It was clear he had either painstakingly worked up the courage or that it was just an impulsive action that caused him to flirt with the black-haired girl before him.

"I-I'd like to take a few pictures of you… because… you're really beautiful…" He looked around at everywhere but Shika while stuttering.

In some people's eyes, perhaps this could be considered cute on his part.

But Shika Kagura didn't think he was cute.

"Sorry, I don't wish to be photographed."

She politely rejected him before walking again and stepping around him.

"Er… wait a moment… please wait!" The boy followed after her.

His heart was truly moved by her beauty.

Just earlier, when he saw her smiling faintly on the street while lost in thought, his heart started beating frenziedly; it was almost as if he had been struck by lightning.

He was shaken to such an extent that he didn't even have the time to take her picture.

When he regained his senses, he was already in front of her trying to strike up a conversation.

This was his first time.

Many girls had tried flirting with him before on the street due to how handsome he was, but this was the first time that he had ever tried to flirt with a girl of his own volition!

Shika's beauty had propelled him into action.

Her cold attitude towards him gave him an impact, but he didn't want to give up just like this.

"Just… I just need a little bit of your time!" he said as he followed behind her. "Just a few pictures. I'm not some strange person or anything! I'm a first-year student at Koaki High School, and I'm in the photography club—here's my student ID!"

The brown-haired boy reached into his pocket for his student ID and opened it up to show her.

It was common for many people to be suspicious of his motives whenever he was looking around with his camera for things to take pictures of, which was why he had the habit of using his student ID to prove he wasn't a suspicious individual.

Koaki High School was well renowned, so anyone that knew about its reputation would stop suspecting him after seeing his student ID, and some would even become much friendlier to him.

However, this girl didn't even look at his student ID as she kept walking.

This made him feel rather awkward.

"Um… I… My name is Shunsuke Jinbe, I'm really not a bad person. I just want to take a few pictures…"

"You… you're really beautiful; the pictures would… definitely be beautiful…"

"You… you're not in a hurry, are you…? Just… a few minutes… please…"

"I already told you." His persistence annoyed Shika, so her eyes were cold as she turned around to face him again. "I don't wish to have photos taken of me. Please don't get close to me, please don't speak to me, and please don't follow me."

It was obvious that her calm words contained the tone of wanting to keep a great distance away from him.

The boy named Shunsuke Jinbe was stunned by this.

One reason was that he had been so absolutely rejected, and another was that… even though her attitude was so cold towards him, she still seemed so beautiful to the point where his heartbeat quickened!

By the time he recovered his senses again, he discovered that she had walked off again.

He wanted to chase after her again, but after she said all that to him, if he kept following her, wouldn't that make him seem no different from a hoodlum?

He wasn't a shameless person to such a degree.

He could only watch as she walked into the distance, and the most he could do was take a photograph of her beautiful back as she walked off…

…

Shika arrived at the address that Seiji had given to her.

'It should be close by…' Just as she thought this, she noticed that he was waiting at the roadside for her.

Seiji Haruta was his name.

In Shika's heart, this was the most beautiful name in the entire world.

He also noticed her arrival and flashed a gentle smile.

In this instant, Shika's heart was filled with a warmth that almost caused tears to run down her cheeks.

She quickly approached him while still dragging her suitcase behind her.

He also walked towards her, and as if he felt something, he slowly opened up his arms.

Shika let go of her luggage.

She dashed over and tossed herself into his arms as she hugged him tightly.

"Brother Seiji…"

"Shika-chan…"

She lifted her head and looked into her face.

Her vision was a little blurry.

'So I ended up crying after all… Honestly…'

"I'm back."

All the passionate feelings in her heart were poured into that one sentence.

Then, she received the response that she had wanted to hear.

"Welcome back." Seiji smiled in response.

'Welcome home, Shika-chan.'

Chapter 206: Home

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

A place with merely one person living in it could only be called a place to live.

Only a residence with two people living in it was a true home.

Shika had arrived at her new home.

The rooms were pretty much what she imagined, and it was only natural that there wasn't very much furniture. Even the few pieces of furniture were showing their age… but that wasn't important.

The wondrous part was that even though this was Shika's first time here, she felt more attached to this apartment than the place she had lived in for so long before by herself.

Was this a special feeling that only an older apartment possessed?

That seemed possible, but Shika preferred to believe that it was because of the boy in front of her.

"I don't have much, so if we need anything, we'll have to go out and purchase it." Seiji examined the empty living room. "Let's go out shopping later together, and you can buy whatever you want without worrying about money. President Yoruhana gave me a five hundred thousand sakura payment for aiding her in the duel! That's why we don't have to worry about the rent or living expenses, so anything you want—items for daily life, furniture, and so on—you can buy it all without worrying about the cost."

He turned his gaze to Shika with a gentle smile on his face. "How would you like to arrange this place?"

Shika blinked her eyes as she mulled it over.

She also took a look around the living room as she began imagining it.

She had zero experience with arranging rooms. In the past, she had never decorated the places she lived in with anything at all. Both her temporary and long-term residence looked exactly the same when she moved in and when she moved out.

But now, just one sentence from him gave her ideas that she had never even considered before.

Just how should she arrange things in here?

Shika's eyes gradually lit up as she considered it.

"Brother Seiji, I'd like to decorate this as a… tatami-style room."

"Tatami?" Seiji pictured it in his head.

What he imagined was a scene which he often saw in manga in anime: watching television, playing games, resting, or having fun in a tatami-filled room, and placing a small kotatsu under a blanketed table as they sat around it in winter and lazily peeled some oranges… scenes like that.

That seemed pretty neat to him!

"Let's go with that, then." He embraced her idea wholeheartedly.

And so, they decided to change the living room into a tatami-style room.

By the way, tatamis… although Seiji often saw them in animes and mangas, he wasn't actually sure what they were made out of.

From his impression of them, they seemed to be a type of grassy or wooden object made for placing on the floor and that was similar to a combination of carpet and flooring.

Was his understanding correct? Was it possible to simply place it on the floor after purchasing? Or was there some assembly required, or special things to watch out for in maintaining it? He didn't know any details whatsoever.

Shika didn't know anything either.

"I'll have to ask Miss Landlord, then, or seek out a professional in this area."

At any rate, he had money now, and this would easily be solved with money.

"It's time for dinner. I'm feeling like high-class takeout tonight, but what would you like, Shika-chan?"

For the first meal in their new home, the two of them ordered a luxurious sushi dinner to be delivered to this new address.

…

After dinner, they purchased various necessities at the store and put everything in its place.

And then, Seiji and Shika wordlessly sat together in the living room.

It wasn't an awkward silence where neither of them knew what to say. It was simply a silence where neither of them happened to be saying anything.

What should they do next?

If either of them was by him or herself, both Seiji and Shika knew what they would do at home, but they were living together now.

While it was fine for both of them to do things by themselves, neither of them wanted to do that; instead, they wanted to do something together.

'Why don't we work on our story together?'

That was the best option that Seiji could come up with.

But Seiji didn't want that to be the only choice, as he believed they should have other activities they could do together as well.

But he was unable to come up with anything else for the time being.

Nor did Shika offer him any suggestions.

And so, the silence continued. The two of them sat at the table and silently stared at each other.

The atmosphere became rather subtle.

A few moments later, Seiji suddenly came to the realization that he had become lost in thought while staring at her, which caused him to smile.

That's when he noticed that Shika's face was flushed red.

Seiji was mystified by this.

Shika shyly averted her gaze.

Seiji found this even stranger. Just what could she be thinking?

While he was a slightly curious, he didn't intend to pry.

"I think we definitely need to buy a TV, or else it'll be too quiet in here." Seiji finally broke the silence.

"Yeah…" Shika replied in a soft voice.

"Let's go buy one tomorrow. As for tonight…should we watch some videos on my computer together?"

Shika nodded upon hearing this proposal. "I'd like to watch them together with Brother… the type that Brother Seiji typically likes to watch."

"Eh, is that really alright?"

"Yep, I'd like to better understand Brother's… interests."

"Of course." Seiji blinked in understanding as he smiled. "But if you don't like them, or if you think they're boring, you don't have to force yourself to accompany me and watch the videos together. I'm quite happy that you want to understand my interests better, but, you know, interests should be about what you naturally like. If you like something, you like it, and if you don't like something, you don't like it.

"Don't force yourself to watch the videos together with me if you don't like them. That'll make me unhappy instead, which isn't good for either of us, understand?"

"Yes… I won't force myself." Shika nodded again.

She definitely wouldn't be forcing herself.

'As long as Brother likes them… anything that you like is meaningful to me, and I couldn't possibly hate it or feel that it's boring. As long as you're here… this world seems so beautiful.'

Shika smiled faintly as she looked at the boy before her.

And so, the two of them went to the study and sat down in front of the computer to watch some videos.

At first, Seiji snuck looks at Shika on several occasions to check if she was enjoying the videos or if she seemed annoyed or bored, but she seemed to be having lots of fun, so he got rid of his worries.

Both of them simply enjoyed watching animes on his computer, while laughing about the videos and discussing them together.

…

Mika could faintly hear sounds of discussion and laughter from Seiji's new next-door apartment.

Mika slowly opened her eyes and then shut them again as she laid on her bed.

'They sound quite happy. I wonder what they could be doing?'

She impulsively felt like rushing over to see.

But her body felt quite heavy and impossible to move.

The double pigtailed… no, she was no longer wearing double pigtails, as she had let down her hair.

The black-haired girl laid there on her bed with a somewhat distant and cold expression on her face.

If Seiji could see Mika at this moment, he would surely be shocked, as she was now revealing a type of beauty that he had never seen from her before.

It was different from her typical haughty beauty. This beauty was somewhat cold and different.

Frustration, anxiety, unwillingness, confusion, and shakiness… various emotions were tossing about tumultuously within her chest, making her body heavier and her expression more negative than she realized.

Her cell phone rang.

Her phone tone that she usually enjoyed hearing made Mika feel frustrated.

She looked at the caller ID, and, as expected, she saw that it was Chiaki.

She knew why Chiaki was calling and what Chiaki was going to ask her.

It was definitely because Seiji didn't know what was going on, so he must have called Chiaki to ask, but Chiaki didn't know either, so she must be calling her out of worry.

'Such an idiot.'

Not Seiji or Chiaki—she was talking about herself.

She didn't tell them anything about what happened and was stuck by herself with her confusion and frustration. She knew that she was being an idiot.

Mika truly felt that she was foolish.

But it was impossible for her to say anything.

That was because the words that "she" said to Mika were all indisputably true… at the very least, it was impossible for Mika to counter anything "she" said.

"That venerable person… Seiji Haruta is a special existence, an outstanding individual."

"And as for you, even though you're somewhat cute, in the end you're just an ordinary girl that can be found anywhere."

"For someone as 'ordinary' as you, just why do you think you deserve someone as 'special' as him?"

It was impossible.

"For someone as ordinary as you, with nothing special whatsoever and no cards up your sleeve, it's impossible for you to win his heart, nor will you even be able to make him pay more attention to you."

"She" smiled and expressed that to Mika with no malice whatsoever. It was a simple statement of a fact.

That was why it seemed all the crueler.

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Chapter 207: Special

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

'Of course I realize it. I, Mika Uehara, am just an ordinary girl.'

'My family isn't particularly rich, I'm not outstandingly beautiful, I can't always be honest with my feelings, my hobbies are ordinary, my grades are ordinary, my athletic ability is ordinary, and there are no specialties I can be proud of.'

'I don't have Chiaki's unique personality, Juumonji-sensei's maturity, Kagura-san's ethereal beauty, Asamiya-san's firm resolution, or President Yoruhana's illustrious family background…'

'I'm not "special."'

'Those "special" girls have their own brilliant lights around them, while I am doomed to be engulfed in their lights, as I'm "ordinary."'

Seiji Haruta was 'special.'

Even though he was, at first, a fat scumbag NEET, after changing himself and making an effort, he became just like a reborn phoenix who was spreading its wings and shining like the sun.

His experience, personality, appearance, and abilities had all far surpassed normal people, and he was unmistakably extraordinary.

That was why Chiaki, Juumonji-sensei, Kagura-san, Asamiya-san, and even President Yoruhana… Many girls were attracted to him.

'I'm also one of the girls attracted to him. Considering it more closely, I might be the first girl to have deeply fallen in love with him.'

'If I try to force myself to find my 'specialty,' it might be the only unique point about me compared to the other girls attracted to him.'

But this 'specialty' was meaningless.

If this was a television drama or a movie, the first female character that appeared would typically be the heroine.

But reality wasn't like this.

'Even if I personally witnessed the change in Seiji, and I was the first girl that fell in love with him, his heroine isn't me.'

'He views me as an important friend. As long as I'm in danger, he'll unhesitatingly come to save me and protect me, just like that time. But he doesn't love me… he doesn't have romantic feelings for me.'

This was only natural to Mika.

'How could he possibly fall in love with an ordinary girl with nothing special about her apart from a cute appearance? Especially since she used to insult and look down upon him and has a lacking personality.'

That seemed impossible.

'As long as I'm "ordinary," I don't even have the ability to attract his attention. I am not his heroine. I'm only a side character.'

'And I'm only a side character that's soon going to become nothing more than a bystander that lacks presence.'

…

"It's impossible for you to obtain him. If you use certain methods, you could indeed become his woman, and with his personality, he'd definitely take responsibility. But is that really what you want?"

"She" kept smiling lightly as "she" talked to Mika.

"Her" outer appearance was that of a mysterious beautiful girl, and she wore the regal traditional pink dress of Sakura Island.

"She" had silver-colored long, smooth bangs, a white face with exquisite features, and her peach-colored eyes seemed to be shining slightly. Her pink lips were arced ever so slightly upwards in an almost unnoticeable smile.

"She" wasn't human!

"She" was the legend of Genhana High School's festival: the girl in traditional pink clothing!

Mika never expected that she would actually meet her.

Was someone pretending to be the legend? No, it was impossible for anyone to think this if they personally witnessed her sight… or, more accurately speaking, it was impossible to doubt her after witnessing her float in midair.

This was the real deal!

"You're a good girl who wouldn't do such a thing to obtain him. That's why your best choice is to give up now."

"Give up on your romantic feelings towards him, and just be his good friend. Or, be more extreme, and cut off all relationship entirely with him… but it's probably impossible for the ordinary you."

"Just convince yourself to slowly give up. That's for the best."

"She" kept explaining to Mika with no malice whatsoever, with an attitude of merely stating the facts.

It was painful for Mika to listen to.

She really wanted to turn around and escape, but her feet seemed rooted to the ground as they wouldn't move.

The silver-haired girl watched her for a long time in silence.

"You're not willing to give up?"

Mika didn't reply.

She neither denied nor confirmed.

But her unmoving body did somewhat express her true intention.

The silver-haired girl wistfully sighed as she continued watching Mika.

"How… ugly. Ugly… yet such a beautiful dream. Humans are such strange and mysterious creatures."

"That's why I can't stop myself from observing humans or getting rid of my bad habit of interfering with human affairs."

"She" suddenly revealed a gentle expression. "Mika Uehara… if you absolutely can't bring yourself to give up, I can make you 'special.'"

Her calm words resounded clearly in the double pigtailed girl's ears.

Mika widened her eyes in surprise.

"But this is something risky, and harm may come to you. Your life will be completely different from before."

"I don't know what the result will be either, as I don't have the power to predict the future."

"Apart from the fact that you may be harmed, you may not even like the fact that your life will change. You may even greatly regret choosing to change yourself. By the way, have you heard the original story of the Little Mermaid before?"

"The beautiful mermaid transformed her tail into human feet and withstood the painful transformation all in order to go see her beloved prince, but the situation wasn't how she imagined. In the end, she turned into nothing but bubbles in the ocean."

"I'm just like the witch in that story, although I'm slightly better than she is, and I won't ask anything from you, but you may still have to pay a price."

"I can help you to change, but whether or not you can obtain what you desire after your transformation, or whether you'll end up the same way as that pitiful mermaid in the story, I don't know—and nor can I take responsibility."

The silvery girl looked deeply into the pigtailed girl's eyes.

"Consider it over carefully, Mika Uehara, whether or not you truly wish to change and risk your life and your future in order to become 'special.'"

"On the last day of the school festival, if you still wish to change yourself, then come find me here again at the same location."

After that last sentence, "she," turned around and disappeared in a cascade of pink petals.

…

This was the dilemma that Mika was currently facing.

She still had slightly over a day to make her decision.

Whether she should give up now, and settle for being "ordinary."

Or if she should risk changing her entire life and become "special" for a chance to get closer to him.

There were two options, just like a crossroad.

Should she turn left or right?

Mika's emotions were incredibly complex as she stood at this fork in the road.

She laid there on her bed for a long while without moving.

The night turned dark.

On the other side of the wall.

Since it was getting late, Seiji had Shika go ahead and take a shower first.

After his adopted sister left to change, Seiji opened an app for chatting with his friends and saw that "Cat-loving Flying Fish" was online, so he greeted her.

"So, you're still alive, you idle fish streamer."

She instantly sent him an unreserved message that even included a glaring emoticon.

"Thanks to your blessings, I managed to make it back alive."

Seiji texted back with an emoticon of fatigue.

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Chapter 208: Let me see…

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

"Hmph, as if you really went through a major battle. You were probably just pulling all-nighters gaming with your otaku friends, you addicted gamer."

"I really did go through a fierce battle. I joined a pay-to-win player's team for a PVP defend-the-base game. I originally intended just to leech some experience, but I didn't expect the enemy team's leader to transform and defeat all the experienced players on my team, so I, who was originally supposed to be a leecher, fought bitterly to the end and somehow managed to achieve victory."

'Yep, that's the truth. There's no problem,' Seiji thought to himself.

"You've begun bragging again! Just keep making up stories! I can't possibly believe that your experienced team members all lost, yet an idle fish like you were able to make it to the end! You definitely must have been casually defeated by the enemy at the very start." Her message followed by a condescending emoticon.

"I'm not making this up—this time it's real! I became the hero of the defending side, and the pay-to-win player even rewarded me with 500 thousand!" Seiji sent her a brilliantly smiling emoticon.

"Wow~ 500 thousand! Amazing! What a hero~~" This was followed by an emoticon with an icy gaze.

Seiji smiled upon seeing this message and changed the topic while casually chatting with his internet friend.

On the other side.

Cat-loving Flying Fish typed at a high speed that showed her familiarity with the keyboard while continuing to converse with her internet friend "Idle Fish that Never Gives Up."

Not only did that guy stop streaming lately, he rarely logged in to the chatting application for the last few days. He must have gotten too addicted to gaming!

Was he really just gaming?

He wouldn't even say what game he was playing specifically… Flying Fish felt that there must have been something going on in his life, and she was somewhat curious as to what he had been doing recently.

If it was something normal, it wouldn't matter if he told an internet friend like her, as there would be no need to hide it.

If there was something he wanted to hide… did he get a girlfriend?

Hm, that seemed likely.

Flying Fish thought this possibility seemed extremely plausible as she considered it.

Although she still hadn't seen his true appearance under the mask, it was certain that he must be rather handsome. He also had a good figure, and his communication ability… if it was the same as what he showed on the internet, he was fine.

No, not only fine—he was an excellent boy.

The problem was his hobbies. This guy was a true otaku, which wouldn't make it easy for him to find a girlfriend that matched his interests, which was why he probably didn't have a girlfriend.

But now, did he finally find one?

Flying Fish felt complex emotions within her heart.

The next message that appeared on her computer screen startled her.

"My apologies, beautiful Flying Fish, but I think I'm going to stop streaming. Thank you so much for supporting me."

"Why!?" Flying Fish hurriedly inquired once she regained her senses.

"Because," Seiji replied, "I'm no longer living by myself now, so it's a little inconvenient."

He felt that it would be really embarrassing if Shika saw him singing and dancing while streaming!

Even though he felt it was a bit of a pity to let go of the points he could earn from [singing] and [dancing, he had plenty of other point-grinding actions now, so it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Although I might still stream once in a while… just treat it as me retiring. Well, retiring might not be the correct word, since I was never much of a real streamer to begin with, nor did I stream for all that long, and you were my only ever spectator. I'm truly grateful for your support. We're still friends after all, just like right now."

Seiji felt that this was only a small matter.

He had simply decided to stop streaming, but he was still an internet friend with Flying Fish that shared many of the same hobbies.

Flying Fish didn't respond to his message for a long while.

Just as he was beginning to feel it was a little strange, she sent him a new message.

"You moved in together with your girlfriend!?"

Seiji was rendered speechless by this!

"That's so quick! Just what kind of person is your girlfriend!?" This was followed by a shocked emoticon. "Could it be that an idiotic idle fish like you is being fooled by her!? Just how long have you known her? Do you know exactly who she is!? Are you sure that she truly likes you!?" This was followed by a staring emoticon.

"Wake up, idle fish! I know that since you're an otaku, you're delighted to find a girlfriend! But you should know that there are many wicked girls in this world!! You need to be careful!!!" This was followed by a roaring emoticon.

The strong emotions seemed to jump at Seiji from across the computer screen.

Seiji didn't know whether he should laugh or cry at this.

His internet friend was obviously worried about him and had misunderstood. Somehow she construed "not living by himself anymore" as "having made a girlfriend and moving in together with her…" Wasn't that too much a leap of the imagination?

Just as he was thinking about how to clear up this misunderstanding, Flying Fish sent him another message. To Seiji's amazement, it was a link to a report about scams!

And after the first link, a second link immediately appeared, followed by a third, and a fourth… Before long, his conversation window was filled with webpage links that had some rather scary topic titles.

"Stop! That's enough!"

Seiji hurriedly typed out a message in an effort to stop his conversation window from appearing like a news webpage.

"You got it wrong. Sorry, it was me that didn't explain clearly, causing you to misunderstand. I didn't get a girlfriend, nor am I cohabiting with anyone—I'm just living together with them!"

Flying Fish was surprised when she saw this message.

Then, her face began burning up slightly in embarrassment.

"This… you should say this earlier!!" She maximized the font size of this message and sent several angry and roaring emoticons behind it.

She covered her face with one hand as she battled with her embarrassment and continued typing with her other hand.

"Stupid idle fish!"

"Stinky idle fish!"

"You can't even explain things clearly! Go die!!"

She sent a barrage of complaints at him.

Faced with such an attack, Seiji could only smile wryly and type gg… whoops, respond with wryly smiling and helpless emoticons.

He never said that he had gotten a girlfriend to begin with; it was Flying Fish who misunderstood in the first place.

But she was simply concerned about him. It was no big deal for him to shoulder the blame.

He kept consoling her until she finally stopped sending angry messages.

Moments later, Flying Fish had calmed down.

"Didn't you say that you started streaming in order to give joy to another person? What's with giving up like this?"

She felt that perhaps this message was too direct after typing it, so she hurriedly added another message. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said it like that. I just feel… it's a bit regrettable."

'I like your performance.' Flying Fish realized her own inner feelings.

No… it should be said that she wanted to see him.

His performance was honestly nothing special, but it was fun.

This was his charisma… as a streamer.

"I believe that you truly have potential," Flying Fish told him honestly. "If you treat it seriously and become a real streamer, you'd definitely be able to attract many viewers! I have confidence in my eyes, which is why I can say that. It'll be a real pity if you give up like this."

Seiji mulled over her words before sending a reply.

"I'm delighted to see that you appreciate my streaming," he wrote. "Perhaps if I continued working hard at this, I can get some results… but that's not what I wish for. There are many ways to give other people happiness. There are more appropriate things for me to do, and things that I want to do more. For example, I'm currently writing novels."

'Especially together with Shika-chan.'

"I do feel as well that it's slightly regrettable to give up on streaming. Even though you're my only spectator, you quickly became my friend due to it. That was a pretty nice feeling." Seiji added a sincerely smiling emoticon to the end. "That's why I said I may do it again sometime if I have the chance… just for you."

He had begun streaming just to grind points but got such a cute spectator as his friend, which was beyond his expectations.

'Sorry that I may have lied slightly to you, Flying Fish. But it's true that I wish to bring some joy to your life,' Seiji thought to himself as he looked at his computer screen.

Flying Fish didn't respond to him for a long time.

Just as Seiji was considering whether or not to end the conversation here, another message appeared.

"Stream again if you have the chance. I don't want to hear something so vague. Right now… I'd like for you to do one thing, and it's not to perform."

"Please take off your mask… and allow me to see your face."

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Chapter 209: Impossible

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

"Allow me to see your face."

Even Flying Fish herself didn't know what emotions she was feeling when she sent this request.

After he told her that he would still stream exclusively for her, she felt an inexplicable frustration in her chest, followed by the feeling that he was probably just being polite.

If she accepted it just like this, then it was quite possible that…

She didn't want that. She wanted to do something with this chance which was perhaps her final chance.

She had previously decided to not inquire about his real identity, and not pursue the matter any further, but that was in order to not change the status quo.

And now, the status quo was about to change.

If things continued like this, they would only be normal internet friends… although it wasn't impossible for things to develop further, Flying Fish instinctively felt that if she didn't do something right now, then… that was all they would be in the end.

She didn't want for them to only be internet friends.

That was why she decided to go against her previous decision and make such a request.

Her heart was now beating rapidly.

Would he accept?

If he really did accept and showed her his face… would she recognize who he was?

Flying Fish was very nervous.

To be honest, if he was just a stranger… that would be the best result.

If he was some boy plotting against her… she felt that there was almost zero possibility of this now. After all, if that was the case, he wouldn't voluntarily bring up the fact that he was going to stop streaming.

And if she actually knew him… who might he be?

There was no answer to her request for quite a while.

Flying Fish felt her nervousness continuing to increase.

Just as she wanted to send another message, she saw a reply in the conversation window.

"Do you really want to see?"

There were no added emoticons this time. The sentence seemed quite ordinary.

But Flying Fish was so nervous that she even swallowed her saliva.

She slowly moved her hand on the keyboard…

Meanwhile, on Seiji's side.

He currently was battling with complex emotions.

He didn't expect that she would request to see his face.

He treated her as an internet friend and believed that she saw him as the same. He previously believed she had no intention to deepen this friendship any further.

They would just stay on the internet, a certain distance apart from each other, and get along.

Seiji thought that this would continue.

Perhaps something would change in the future, but that would be much later, due to some type of unforeseen development.

However, he never expected that she would take this step of her own volition right here and now!

This was a step to dispel the fog.

Cat-loving Flying Fish suddenly stood before him and reached out her hand to take off his mask.

She must have realized… no, as smart as she was, she definitely should have thought of it.

The two of them most likely knew each other.

If she wanted to see him, that meant she wanted to confirm the truth.

Should he block her hand?

Push her away now that she had grown closer and keep the status quo by being casual internet friends who could relax with each other… that was what Seiji wanted.

But he felt that he was unable to refuse this request of hers. After all, he did lie to her in a certain fashion and wanted to make it up to her somehow.

Another way of putting it was that Seiji felt he owed her and was obliged to pay her back.

Of course, he, too, desired to confirm the truth.

Which was why he ended up agreeing.

He asked for a final confirmation before he did it.

Letting her see his real face—to see the truth—might end their casual and relaxing internet friend relationship.

She didn't reply for a long while.

And then, finally, he saw a "Yes."

It was just a one-word reply.

Seiji could sense her determination from this simplest of all responses.

'So be it.'

"Okay, I'll let you see me. Don't be scared of how handsome I am~" He followed that up with a brilliantly smiling emoticon.

Both of them made their decisions.

The only thing left was the result.

Seiji found his mask, made his preparations, and put it on before starting his stream.

"Cat-loving Flying Fish" began watching his stream.

Seiji smiled at this. "Hey, beautiful Flying Fish. I was really surprised that you made such a request."

"I believe you must have noticed it as well. We have a mysteriously high amount of similar interests, to the point where one would wonder if we actually know each other."

The boy turned his gaze towards the camera, as if he could peer through to the other side and see her appearance.

"I mentioned before that in my past… I wasn't a good person. I hurt so many people, to the point where I think it's unforgivable. That's why, if you see who I really am, you might recognize me as a certain terrible scumbag."

Seiji's smile became somewhat bitter. "I don't want that to happen. I don't want to lose you as a friend, so I actually really wanted to refuse. However, this was your request. You're my only spectator.

"I don't have much self-awareness as a streamer, but at the very least I do have the resolution to fulfill my only spectator's request."

Even if that might end up breaking this friendship apart.

Seiji slowly lifted his hand.

"Then, please go ahead and look."

This wasn't a farewell performance or anything like that, but perhaps it could be compared to when a clown on the stage finally revealed his true appearance, meaning that it was time for the show to end.

He took off his silver mask.

An incredibly handsome face appeared beneath it.

Seiji smiled faintly at the camera.

'This is me. Do you recognize me, beautiful Flying Fish?'

…

Cat-loving Flying Fish was absolutely stunned.

At first, she was confused upon seeing his face, and then her expression changed completely when she realized something.

'Impossible! Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible!! How could this be possible! Such a thing!!'

She felt as if she had encountered something utterly indescribable.

A humongous, mysterious, and intangible presence swept over her.

If she forcefully attributed a word to define it, she would call it "fate!"

Her mind was completely blank. She was unable to think.

Her chest was filled with emotions that she didn't even know how to describe. Broken scenes and quotes from him kept flashing through her mind.

"Oh… I'm going to start singing now, and then I'm going to dance. I hope that you can watch till the end."

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary. I only need you."

"This is because… I hurt many people in the past."

"I'm not lying—why won't you believe me?"

"I think I'm going to stop streaming…"

"Do you really want to see?"

"You're my only spectator."

All these scenes and words, and the handsome boy before her, as well as the fat figure in her memories, and everything in the past…

Flying Fish found it impossible to accept.

She reflexively turned off her monitor and powered down her computer as she curled up in her bed under the blanket.

Impossible.

All of this had to be a dream.

'I must have seen it wrong—no, what I'm thinking must be wrong! How could he possibly be… how could he be…'

The emotions welling up in her chest were beginning to surge forth.

Tears began pouring down her cheeks.

"Wah… Wahhhh…"

She began sobbing quietly.

Why was she getting all teary? Why was she crying?

Flying Fish didn't know.

She didn't know anything, nor did she want to understand anything.

She simply hid within her blanket, shutting out the entire world.

However, as if the world's will didn't accept that she wanted to reject it, someone knocked on her door at this time.

"Hana, I'm coming in."

Chapter 210: I feel like something's wrong

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

Seiji saw that Cat-loving Flying Fish had left his livestream.

She even logged out of the chatting application without sending him a single message.

Did she… recognize him?

Seiji wasn't one hundred percent certain, but judging from her reaction, he believed it was highly likely that she must have recognized and abhorred him.

Otherwise, she wouldn't leave without saying anything.

This was the worst possible result. Seiji could only smile wryly.

There would be no more joyful casual conversation with her.

Even though he had already mentally prepared himself for this outcome, he still felt sad about it.

He leaned back against his chair and stared at the ceiling.

Just who could Flying Fish be, anyway?

All those mysteriously similar childhood interests… Being able to recognize his face in such a short time despite the huge change in him… her hobbies, her way of talking…

'Could she be…' Seiji suddenly thought of someone.

If Flying Fish was that person, then this was the worst of all possible outcomes!

Even though there were also a few other possibilities, the more Seiji thought about it, the more he felt that this worst possible outcome seemed the most likely.

If that was the case, this was just too much of a coincidence! It truly made him feel the existence of the concept of fate, or perhaps it was just this world's idea of a prank.

If Flying Fish really was his younger blood-related sister, then what would her current feelings be? Seiji found it impossible to imagine.

And if… his older sister Yui Haruta found out about this, what would she think?

This coincidence was too much to the point that it was almost impossible to believe it was truly a coincidence. Would Yui believe that… he had planned this on purpose?

Hmm… that seemed quite possible!

Seiji started to become nervous.

Yui Haruta was probably—no, she was definitely not someone to be taken lightly!

At the very least, she was a Yin-Yang Master equal to or stronger than Natsuya Yoruhana. That day when he ran into her while shopping for clothes with Chiaki and Mika, the curly green-haired girl next to her seemed to be one of her Spirit-branded Retainers. She was basically someone who was the counterpart of Hitaka for Natsuya.

What would the Haruta family Yin-Yang Master and scion… be like if she got angry?

Seiji tried imagining it.

Using Natsuya as a comparison, if the president got angry and wanted to seriously deal with someone, then she would probably send out Hitaka to give that person a vicious lesson, or even make that person disappear forever.

In that case, for Yui Haruta… would she send that curly green-haired girl or another Spirit-branded Retainer to deal with him?

Was he supposed to start preparing for a possible battle?

Just as Seiji was thinking so, his cell phone suddenly rang!

He was startled by the sound and checked the caller ID on his cell phone.

The caller was Chiaki.

Seiji instantly breathed a sigh of relief that the call wasn't from his family.

He took the call. "Hey, Chiaki, what's up?"

"Seiji, I feel like something's wrong."

"What's the matter?"

"Mika didn't answer my phone call." Chiaki's tone of voice was rather serious. "After talking to you, I tried calling her many times, but she didn't answer a single time. This is something that's never happened before, which is why I think something's wrong."

Seiji furrowed his brows. "It could be that she didn't notice, or her cell phone may be broken…"

"Do you really believe that? I don't."

"…You're right."

"At any rate, I think that this must be no small matter. You need to pay extra attention to Mika." Chiaki sighed. "You also know that she's a girl that easily gets stuck on a single train of thought. If she meets an incredibly difficult situation that she can't find a solution to, she might… do something we don't expect or something we don't wish to see."

"Yeah…" Seiji rubbed his chin in contemplation.

"I really don't want to give a real-life example, but… when I was in middle school, I knew a female classmate who had a completely different personality from Mika but would also easily get stuck on a single train of thought. One day, just like Mika, she suddenly started acting strangely and refused to tell all her family members and friends what was going on. Several days later, she disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"Yep, she didn't tell any of her friends anything; she only left her family a letter before leaving home. One entire year later, I heard that her family finally found her, and she… was pregnant at that time."

Seiji didn't know what to say to this.

"That girl was someone who had always been rather obedient, so it was difficult to imagine that she would…" Chiaki tailed off. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" she asked after a pause.

"Of course," Seiji said with a sigh.

Chiaki meant that if he didn't pay extra attention to her, Mika might end up like that girl and do something that would make headlines and astonish society.

Was this supposed to be some type of dark transformation?

'The potential to transform into a dark evil side… Uehara-san, there's something dangerous in your character profile!'

"It's good that you understand, then…" Chiaki was about to end the conversation.

"Wait a moment, Chiaki." Seiji thought of what he was currently dealing with. "Actually, I just stepped on an incredibly large landmine… I think."

"What?"

"I'll skip over the specifics, but at any rate, my older sister—the person that you and Mika saw last time—she or someone working for her might be coming to find me." Seiji could only smile wryly. "At that time, I… might have something happen to me…

"If that really happens, then I can only leave Mika up to you."

Chiaki was rendered speechless by this!

"Just what exactly have you done!?" Shock permeated Chiaki's tone. "Why does it sound like someone's come looking for revenge on you and that you're leaving your last words to me!? This type of joke isn't funny, idiot!"

"I wish that this was a joke as well, but unfortunately, it isn't," Seiji said, sighing. "That person, Yui Haruta, is, at the very minimum, a person as incredible as President Yoruhana, and what I did most likely will anger her… if the situation is what I believe it to be."

"It wasn't what I intended, but I doubt she'll listen to me explain… so, even though it's only a possibility, I need to prepare myself."

"If something really happens… Chiaki, I can only leave it to you to take care of Mika."

On the other side of the call, Chiaki was clueless as to what her expression was like anymore.

What the hell!? His words sounded like they came right out of a television drama script!

His incredible older sister was seeking revenge on him!? Exactly what could have happened!? Such a ridiculous plot wouldn't even be used by an 8:00 pm soap opera anymore!

And it had to happen at such a time when Mika also had problems! Chiaki didn't even know what to say anymore as she kept up a torrential stream of mental comments.

A period of silence fell between them.

Seiji heard the sound of footsteps, which meant that Shika had finished her shower.

"That's it, then—I gotta go."

He hung up the call and left the study.

He saw Shika who had just exited the shower.

He was stunned by the sight.

Shika was wearing form-fitting pajamas with a jacket on top and she was still wiping her hair that was still wet with a towel.

The slightly tight animal-patterned pajamas accentuated her excellent curves, and her soft face, her watery eyes, and wet hair… she seemed so charismatic when performing the simple action of drying her hair.

Okay, fine, it was just all seductive!

Seiji impulsively wanted to rush up and hug Shika's soft body, pet her head, and inhale her fragrant body scent…

Seiji almost spluttered at his own thoughts. 'Stop!'

He somehow managed to restrain himself, although his resolve was shaken.

"Brother Seiji," Shika said softly, "I've finished taking a bath. You should hurry up and wash up as well while the bathwater's still warm."

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Chapter 211: Having a Joyous Bath

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

Did this count as soaking in his sister's "juices?" No, no, this didn't count!

Seiji kept thinking of various strange things and commented on his own thoughts while he washed his body.

While he was staying at Natsuya's temporary residence, since every bedroom had an individual bathroom, there was no opportunity for him to see a scene like a beautiful girl that had just finished bathing. The chance to use the same bathwater as another girl was also non-existent there.

When he thought how Shika-chan had just been using this same hot water, Seiji felt a subtle feeling—it almost felt as if this water seemed different from all other ordinary water.

Was this a mistaken impression? Yep, it had to be.

Even if Shika had also soaked in this water, it was still just normal hot water that wouldn't have a special scent or taste…

How about tasting it a little?

No, no, what was he thinking!?

'I am a gentlemanly sis-con! Not a perverted sis-con! I definitely won't taste it!! I definitely won't!!!'

Seiji used his mighty willpower to stop himself from falling into the abyss.

But… it would be fine to bathe longer than usual, right?

He temporarily put all the worrisome things out of his mind and enjoyed this bath to the utmost.

After he finished, Seiji headed for his room.

He discovered that Shika was sitting on his bed waiting for him.

Could she be… Would the "I want to sleep together with Brother" request appear here!? That was the first thing that popped into Seiji's mind.

Then she stood up, walked up to him, and said, "Good night, Brother Seiji," with a smile.

Seiji blinked in surprise. He returned her smile as he felt the warmth in her tone.

"Good night, Shika-chan."

Shika's smile seemed to grow even more blissful.

She didn't say anything else as she walked out of Seiji's room and to her own bedroom.

'I shouldn't think of all these random things…' Seiji silently reflected.

'It's too difficult for me to say "I want to sleep together with Brother" right now…' Shika's face was slightly red.

And so, the two of them were lost in their own thoughts as they spent their first night together under the same roof.

The next morning.

Seiji, who had been worried about various things all night, heaved a sigh of relief when dawn arrived uneventfully, although he was still left with some lingering concerns.

Even though he didn't want Shika to begin worrying right after moving in together with him, he still felt obliged to tell her.

He should have told her last night to begin with, but the atmosphere made it difficult for him to speak up. And besides, he felt that his worry was still only a "possibility."

It was a good thing that Yui Haruta didn't come looking for him last night.

Would she come today? It would be good if he was wrong about Flying Fish's identity, but he still had an ominous premonition.

He could only mentally prepare himself. As for actually preparing for combat… if Yui was serious, Seiji doubted that the current him could stand up to her, so he might as well not do anything.

If the situation truly became dire, then he would just need to load.

He got out of bed, exited his room, and heard the sound of a knife against the cutting board.

Going to the kitchen, he saw Shika wearing casual indoor clothing with an apron on top while preparing food in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Brother Seiji."

Shika turned around and smiled at him when she heard his footsteps.

Seiji's expression froze over.

For the black-haired beauty to be wearing an apron while cooking and smiling at him while saying good morning… this was such a classical sight to behold!

The scene before him seemed so beautiful that he could only freeze in his tracks.

He only responded after he had finally regained his senses.

"Good morning… you get up really early."

"It's not that early… I just wanted to make some breakfast."

'I want to make some breakfast for Brother.'

Seiji detected such an intention from her and was moved by it.

It was truly worth becoming a sis-con!

Wait a moment—that doesn't seem like the correct comment to be making!

However, there was nothing wrong with Shika's intention, and since he now had a cute sister who was willing to get up early to make food for her brother, how could he not become a sis-con!?

He looked forward to tasting Shika's cooking.

Well, before that, he should go brush his teeth and wash his face.

After cleaning up, Seiji changed into a new set of clothes before walking into the dining room.

He saw that Shika had already brought the plates of food to the table.

Miso soup, fried eggs, tofu, and dried salted fish—it was a very typical Japanese-style breakfast.

"Please go ahead and try, Brother."

"Okay, I'm going to start eating."

Seiji took his chopsticks and placed a piece of egg in his bowl.

He noticed that Shika currently seemed to be rather nervous.

The dishes were all common ones, so Seiji was curious to see how they would taste. He placed the fried egg in his mouth.

It was good!

It wasn't extraordinarily delicious or anything, but it definitely tasted good.

"It's delicious." He gave his honest assessment.

Shika smiled and her cheeks flushed red upon hearing his praise.

She had only ever cooked for herself in the past. At this moment, she was feeling a satisfaction that she had never experienced before.

"Don't just watch me—you should eat as well."

"Okay…"

The two of them ate together.

With cooking as the topic, Seiji had a nice and relaxing casual conversation with Shika.

They quickly finished their breakfast.

Seiji wanted to wash the dishes, but Shika insisted on doing it herself, so he could only let her do so.

As he watched her figure that was washing dishes, he honestly felt that it was great to have an adopted younger sister like her.

As for the topic of younger sisters… Seiji inwardly sighed as he recalled the younger sister that was blood-related to him.

"Shika-chan, I have something to tell you in a little bit."

After Seiji told her this, he went to the living room and waited for her quietly.

Shika came to the living room after she finished washing the dishes and sat across from him.

"Actually, something happened last night… and it might have to do with my blood-related younger sister." Seiji had already thought about how he should tell her as he began speaking.

While thinking, he noticed the real reason why he didn't want to explain things to Shika, and felt rather helpless about it.

But he had to tell her… and she had the right to know.

"This started from an incident about my past, where I…"

He didn't go into the details, but he let her know what had happened.

Especially about the incident that caused the original Seiji to be exiled from his family.

The original Seiji had been such a scumbag, and it was a truly outrageous incident… he had never told anyone about it before.

Nor did he want to tell Shika about it, because… he was afraid that she would be disgusted with him.

Yes, that was the true reason why Seiji didn't want to explain the situation to Shika.

He didn't want her to be disgusted, but since this was an undeniable incident caused by the original owner of his body, it would only make things worse for him if he attempted to conceal it.

And, most importantly, Shika was now his adopted sister, his family, so she had the right to know.

That was why Seiji steeled his resolve as he told her the story.

Shika listened to him quietly.

Her expression didn't change at all, and she remained calm all the way to the end of Seiji's story.

After a brief period of silence, she finally spoke up.

"So, this means that Brother Seiji might… be hurt by that Yui Haruta's Spirit-branded Retainer?"

Seiji noticed the worry in her tone of voice and was surprised by it.

He had expected that Shika would be somewhat disappointed in the past him, and, at the very least, require some time to digest his previous self's atrocious actions.

He didn't anticipate that her first sentence would be filled with worry about his current situation.

"It's just a possibility. If Cat-loving Flying Fish is who I suspect she is, it would probably cause an incident. However, it is still only my inference—it's the worst possibility I can think of. The truth might be something else entirely—and I hope that it isn't the case, but you know there's the saying to always be prepared for the worst. I need to mentally prepare myself." Seiji smiled wryly. "I'll probably be taught a vicious lesson, and although I don't know what I might face, I doubt that my life will be in danger."

Shika looked searchingly at his face, which Seiji believed to be her way of discerning whether he was telling a white lie to her or not.

"In the past, even though I did such a terrible thing, I was only exiled, nothing else. This time… I think that I'll be alright in the end. That's why you don't need to be nervous. I'll accept the lesson I deserve and apologize sincerely so that they can let go of their anger."

Seiji smiled faintly at Shika.

This smile gave Shika an indescribable feeling.

Her hand clenched on tightly to Seiji's hand.

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Chapter 212: I'm Strong Enough to Accept it!

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

"By the way, do you really not mind? About my past…" Seiji scratched his face awkwardly.

He believed that what he'd just told her about his past would be difficult for anyone to accept.

It was certain that her impression of him would take a blow. As for how much of an impact it was…

"If you think it's disgusting, then feel free to say it. I can accept it."

He didn't want Shika to force herself.

'If she's disgusted by the past me, she can just tell me—I'm strong enough to accept it!'

Shika blinked her eyes upon hearing this. "Yes, it's unpleasant."

Schtick!* Seiji felt as if a sharp arrow had pierced his chest.

"Yes, it's disgusting."

Stab!* Seiji felt as if a knife had pierced his brain.

"It's basically… perverted human scum."

Boom!* Seiji felt as if he had been blasted away by a bomb.

"But that's all Brother in the past," her soft voice stated calmly. "My current Brother isn't that type of person… nor will he ever change into that type of person again, isn't that right?"

Shika smiled gently at him.

Seiji who was (mentally) injured all over felt as if he was seeing his goddess!

He felt indescribably moved.

"Yep, of course!"

After all, he wasn't the same person as the original Seiji Haruta to begin with. It wasn't the same soul, either.

That guy was already dead. No matter how terrible of a person that bastard was, it was all over with since he was dead.

But Seiji had inherited his body and received a second chance at life. Inheriting this body meant inheriting the name, identity, and everything this body did in the past.

So even though those terrible deeds weren't his own, it was still his responsibility.

"Even if I die, I'll never… become that type of person again," Seiji stated with steely resolution.

Shika simply continued smiling gently at him. "That's fine, then."

'This is my Brother, my beloved adopted older brother, my most important and only family member. I definitely… won't allow him to be harmed!'

An emotion that the black-haired girl had never experienced before welled up within her.

…

As according to the promise, Seiji planned on visiting the school festival again together with Peach-sensei.

Even though he really wanted to take Shika with him, she was the "Reaper's Curse…" So he could only leave her at home to do whatever she liked.

"I'll purchase something for you as a souvenir."

After promising Shika this, he left his apartment.

He immediately went next door and knocked on the Uehara family's door.

The landlord opened the door for him.

"Mika said that she's not feeling well today, so she's holed up in her room and doesn't want to go to school." Nozomi Uehara could only smile wryly.

She exchanged glances with Seiji before both of them sighed.

"If she's going to stay at home, take good care of her, Miss Landlord." Seiji could only sigh again. "Both Chiaki and I have no idea why she became like this, so we need to find out something from her… no, let's not force her—it might be better to give her some time for her emotions to calm down before talking to her."

"Yeah… Sorry to make you worry, Haruta-kun."

Seiji smiled lightly. "There's no need for that—Mika is our good friend."

After that, he waved goodbye to the landlord. Just as he was about to leave, he saw the blonde-haired nurse descending the stairs from the second floor.

"Good morning, Juumonji-sensei."

Kaede flashed a brilliant smile at him. "Good morning, Harano-kun. The weather's nice today."

Then, she noticed something was wrong. "Where's Uehara-san?"

"She's… not feeling well today."

"Not feeling well?" The school nurse/health teacher blinked in surprise. "Then I should go visit her; perhaps I can help."

"Er, it's not about her body; it's probably…" Seiji mulled it over.

He doubted that Kaede would be able to accomplish anything if she went over, but if Mika wouldn't tell her best friends or her mother anything, would reverse psychology work and she might tell someone she wasn't very familiar with like Kaede?

That seemed possible.

There were many examples in real life of people that were unwilling to tell things to their close friends and family, but would easily say to random strangers or people on the internet.

"So it's not about her body. Is it a psychological problem then?"

"I'm not sure if it's serious enough to be called a 'problem.' At any rate, the situation's like this…"

Seiji explained Mika's recent odd behavior to Kaede.

Kaede revealed a serious expression befitting of her status as a teacher.

"Right now she won't tell her good friends and family anything about what happened, so I'm thinking that maybe she'll tell you as her teacher."

"Hmm… You may be right," Kaede said, nodding, "but although I'd like to go see her right now, I can't be late to work at school. I'll have to go and visit her after school finishes."

"I'll trouble you to do so, Juumonji-sensei."

"I'm the health teacher, you know. It's my job to worry about my students' health." Kaede smiled gently. "Uehara-san is a good girl; I'd really like to help her both as a teacher and a tenant."

Seiji felt the power of a mature lady's charisma from her gentle smile, and he couldn't help but feel slightly shaken in his heart!

"As her friend, I give you my gratitude." He averted his gaze as he steadied himself.

Kaede detected something from his action and felt delighted inside.

"No need to be so polite, Harano-kun."

After that, they didn't talk much, since Seiji split up from Kaede at the next intersection due to needing to go pick up Peach-sensei.

Already being familiar with the way, he walked to the front door of her apartment and pressed the doorbell.

The door opened before long. It wasn't Peach-sensei that opened the door… it was Editor Yoshizawa!

"Good morning, Harano."

Saki Yoshizawa was wearing a shirt, long pants, and a formal jacket with a collar. This outfit, coupled with her cold beauty and sharp atmosphere, almost made her seem like a female special agent.

Seiji felt like it would be really cool if she suddenly pulled out a gun and made an aiming pose with it.

"G-good morning, Editor Yoshizawa." Seiji was rather dazed by her appearance.

Why was Editor Yoshizawa here? No, more accurately speaking, why was Editor Yoshizawa here at this particular hour?

"Mayuzumi and I are currently eating breakfast… have you eaten already?"

"Yes, I have."

"Then come in and sit down for a little while. I'll pour some tea for you."

"Oh… sorry for the intrusion."

Seiji entered the apartment and removed his shoes at the entrance before following Editor Yoshizawa inside.

He saw that Peach-sensei was sitting at the dining table.

"Good morning, Sensei."

"Good morning, Haru… Harano-kun."

Mayuzumi smiled wryly as she greeted Seiji.

Seiji instantly understood what was transpiring when he saw her expression and no longer felt the need to inquire about it.

Editor Yoshizawa acted like this was her own home as she played the part of the host for Seiji. She had him sit in the living room, before pouring tea for him, bringing some desserts, and turning on the TV. After this, she headed back to the dining table to finish her breakfast with Mayuzumi.

Seiji sipped on his tea as he glanced around the living room.

The decorations were quite appropriate, being neither too plain nor too gaudy. There were various items from the "Honey Candy Girl" franchise, such as dolls and so on set in appropriate locations. They represented the apartment owner's identity, but it wasn't too otaku-ish in nature, so it all seemed natural.

It was quite a nice living room, and, honestly speaking, Seiji even felt that it seemed too normal, as he didn't expect that Sensei would be able to create such an atmosphere in her living room.

Cough, perhaps that was a bit rude of him to think.

Compared to the living room, Seiji was more curious about Sensei's work room and felt a sudden desire to see it.

However, it was a professional manga author's work room after all, so he doubted that he would be allowed to just casually enter it.

He suddenly thought about the work room of the two main characters of Bakuman and wondered if Peach-sensei's work room was similar to theirs…

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Chapter 213: Lively

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

Time passed by as Seiji waited and imagined various things.

Mayuzumi and Saki finished eating breakfast and cleaned up before they came to the living room.

"I heard from Mayuzumi that you guys agreed to continue touring the school festival today," Saki said as she entered the room. "I'd like to go together as well; is that alright?"

It was just as Seiji had expected.

He looked at Mayuzumi, and she simply smiled without saying anything.

"If Peach-sensei agrees, I have no objections."

There was no reason for him to object.

He felt that Sensei would be able to relax a little more if Editor Yoshizawa accompanied them. As for how Sensei herself felt about it… she probably felt helpless that Editor Yoshizawa was such a worrywart about her, but she didn't seem opposed to the idea.

"Okay then, let's get going." Saki wasted no time and cut to the chase.

And so, the three of them went out together.

While he was walking together with Editor Yoshizawa and Peach-sensei, Seiji suddenly felt as if Peach-sensei was a pampered young lady who was afraid of the world, while Editor Yoshizawa and himself were her bodyguards.

If only he was wearing an outfit like the editor's, together with a pair of dark sunglasses. If he made a cool pose… yep, it really would seem like he was a bodyguard!

Seiji coughed and shook his head. 'I'm getting sidetracked.'

It was mainly because Peach-sensei seemed so weak as she walked next to the editor, who was exuding an imposing aura, which really gave him the impression of a lady and her female bodyguard.

'In reality, their relationship is quite similar to that,' Seiji thought to himself.

After they left the apartment, Saki immediately called for a taxi; it didn't seem like she even considered taking the bus.

'Did she find out about Sensei taking the bus yesterday?'

Seiji cast a furtive glance at Mayuzumi, who noticed what he was asking with his eyes, and she shook her head slightly.

'So she didn't tell her…'

Seiji felt like he could understand how Sensei felt about Editor Yoshizawa, and he didn't intend to say anything about it.

The three of them successfully reached Genhana High School.

That was when Seiji discovered to his astonishment that today Genhana High School was at least twice as lively compared to yesterday!

It was a local holiday today. The students' family members had free time, and the families living close to the school brought their kids here so they could enjoy the festival. Some students from other schools came visiting to see what the festival was all about, and even some white-collar workers came together with their coworkers to relax. Various types of people could be seen wandering about; from this, it was clear that the festival had attracted a greater amount of visitors today.

Seiji, who was slightly stunned at the sight of the teeming crowd of people, finally realized what Natsuya meant by telling him that Genhana High School's festival had always been relatively successful.

'That's such an understatement, don't you think!? It's so popular!'

He had never seen such a school festival in anime or manga before… er, not quite.

There were some fictional schools that had ridiculous settings such as Academy City or that school from Mahou Sensei Negima which had rather exaggerated school festivals that made Genhana High School's seem like nothing…

'Wait a moment—I'm setting too high of a standard for comparison!'

With this realization, Seiji managed to regain his senses.

It was nice that it was so lively today, but wouldn't the overwhelming liveliness cause a mess?

A huge number of people meant trouble. He hoped that the Morals and Discipline Committee in charge of maintaining order as well as the other student leaders would be able to manage them.

By the way, both the student council president and vice president were still in the hospital… was this really going to be alright?

Seiji was somewhat concerned, but he figured now wasn't the time for him to be worrying about others.

Seiji looked towards the person beside him at the same time as Saki.

They saw that Mayuzumi, who was in between them, was taut with anxiety, and her complexion blanched when she was faced with this massive crowd.

Seiji and Saki didn't know what to say for a moment.

The editor ended up sighing. "This place is much livelier than I thought," she observed. "Mayuzumi… I feel that you shouldn't force yourself; how about giving up for today?"

The manga author was obviously considering this proposal.

But even though her expression flickered for a moment, her face hardened into a mask of steely resolve.

"No… I want to… try."

Even though she didn't sound particularly resolute, she was definitely working hard.

"Alright, I'll lead the way then." Seiji smiled to reassure her. "I'll walk in front, Sensei can follow me, and Editor Yoshizawa can take care of Sensei from behind. Is this arrangement okay?"

Mayuzumi nodded in response.

Saki saw her friend's resolution and decided to support her.

The three of them arranged themselves in formation and charged onwards!

After entering the school, they were greeted by the sight of a huge map stuck on a billboard. It depicted the various activities available.

Seiji felt that pausing to examine the map wasn't a wise idea. He took out his cell phone, snapped a picture of the map, and continued leading the way without stopping.

After they entered deeper into the school, the dense crowd began to thin out noticeably.

"Sensei, would you like to explore some of the stalls we didn't get to visit yesterday, or start with my classroom's store?" Seiji turned around and asked.

"Let's… go to your classroom's store." Mayuzumi's expression had eased up slightly. Still, passing by so many people made her rather uncomfortable.

"Understood—follow me."

Seiji took them to Year 1, Class 5's room.

He saw a huge line waiting at the door!

"Such a long line early in the morning… seems like my class has been pretty successful." Seiji rubbed his chin in contemplation.

"This is the popularity that a 'Honey Candy Girl'-themed store deserves," the editor lectured in a serious tone of voice. "Since you even received direct permission from the author, it should at least be on this level."

"Saki, don't say that." The manga author was getting embarrassed.

"Editor Yoshizawa is rather strict… but I can understand her feelings." Seiji smiled. "Anything related to a product that you worked hard on together with your friend… you'd wish that it would be the best, isn't that right?"

Saki glanced at him and nodded in confirmation.

"As a fan, I have the same hope. But this is still just a temporary store run by ordinary students, so there's no need to set your expectations too high. Honestly speaking, I think that being able to maintain this condition without any problems until the end of the school festival would be quite the achievement."

Just as he finished speaking, they all heard the sound of a dish breaking from within the classroom.

Seiji was rendered speechless by this unfortunate timing!

He could only smile wryly at Saki and Mayuzumi as he indicated to them with a hand gesture that they should go over and see what was going on.

The student that had broken the dish was hurriedly cleaning up the broken pieces, and the person who was apologizing on his behalf to the customer was… Chiaki!

She was wearing an exquisitely embroidered cosplay outfit, one that was much more exaggerated and extravagant than the one that Seiji wore yesterday.

Ordinary students wouldn't be able to do this outfit justice; it would only seem like a monkey in a circus outfit if the person didn't have an excellent appearance. But when Chiaki wore this outfit, not only did she do it justice, it even seemed completely natural on her with no sense of abnormality.

This was supposed to be a fantasy-themed cosplay outfit! Why did it seem so appropriate on her!?

Seiji was somewhat stunned at the sight.

And all the customers in the store—especially the female customers—were all looking at Chiaki with stars in their eyes, as if they were seeing an idol… or a prince!

That's right—Chiaki was a prince wearing a fantasy-themed prince outfit that made her seem even handsome than Seiji and his butler-style outfit from yesterday!

'No wonder there's such a long line so early in the morning.'

After he recovered his senses, Seiji realized the reason behind the store's unusual popularity.

That was when he saw Chiaki looking in his direction.

The resplendent prince—who was actually female—smiled at him and blew him a kiss.

This instantly caused a huge commotion.

Seiji, who was the recipient of the unexpected impact, was unable to stand the crowd's gaze and immediately escaped.

Mayuzumi and Saki were mystified by all this.

"Harano, what just happened?"

"N-nothing—a friend was just playing a joke on me." Seiji could only sigh. "It seems that… we won't be able to go to my classroom's store for a while, so let's find somewhere else to sit down for a little while."

"Then, please come visit our class!" said a candid-sounding female.

When Seiji reflexively turned around to see who it was, his vision was filled with nothing but purple.

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Chapter 214: Eyeglasses

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

It was Yukari Asamiya.

The purple-haired beauty was smiling widely while looking at Seiji.

She was waving a sign, so she was probably trying to attract customers, but the part the Seiji paid the most attention to was the fact that she was now wearing a pair of silver glasses.

There was a saying that eyeglasses were the simplest type of disguise. At least, it seemed to work for a certain costumed superhero.

The purple-haired girl wearing glasses definitely gave Seiji a different impression from before. She seemed to have a more bookish aura about her.

Originally she was someone who gave others the impression of a proper lady, and now it was easy to imagine her elegantly reading classical books in the library.

Wait a moment—glasses…

Seiji took a looked the sign that she was waving.

The sign read "Eyeglasses Milk Tea Shop."

'What the hell is that supposed to be?'

"Our Year One, Class Three's shop's main theme is 'eyeglasses.' We prepared many pairs of non-prescription glasses for the guests beforehand, and each customer can pick a style that he or she likes to wear.

"As for the customers that already wear glasses to begin with, there's a discount for them, and we even offer the special service of cleaning their glasses for free."

Yukari noticed Seiji's confusion and gave a well-practiced explanation.

"I see, eyeglasses… an ingenious topic."

He supposed that people who didn't wear glasses would have some curiosity about the matter. If they wanted to try it, they would visit the store. And as for the customers who already wore glasses, they could try out different styles.

No matter who the customer was, he or she would be able to try out a new style that was different from usual. That would appeal to many.

And the preparations necessary for this theme wouldn't be all that difficult as long as they had connections to any sort of eyeglasses store.

In summary, it was a clever topic.

"Thanks for your praise. But we can't compare to Harano-san's class store—the 'Honey Candy Girl' cosplay sweets café is just too perfect! No matter whether it's the cosplay quality or the excellent taste of the sweets, it's all on another level. None of the other classes in our Year 1 can compare."

Yukari smiled as she took a glance at the long line waiting in front of Year 1, Class 5's store.

"That's a bit of an exaggeration… but thanks for your praise as well." Seiji smiled in response.

"It's no exaggeration at all, in my opinion. At the very least, many of my classmates think so, and you can include me in their ranks as well. If there was a vote for the best store, I think that, objectively speaking, my entire class would vote for your class."

Her tone of voice was sincere without any trace of simply being polite or hypocrisy. Seiji could only accept her praise.

"I heard that your class's idea was singlehandedly brought up by Harano-san… how amazing." Yukari changed the topic and praised him again.

"I don't believe so—it was the result of everyone's hard work."

There was also the fact that Peach-sensei and the confectionery store owner Rika Amami had given him their full support.

"I knew that Harano-san would say that." Yukari smiled as she looked towards the two people beside him. "Are these two… your family members?"

"No, they're my friends."

"Oh… Hello, ladies. Would you like to join Harano-san and come visit our store? As for the lady in glasses, we even have a discount~" The purple-haired girl flashed a brilliant smile.

Saki glanced at Mayuzumi.

Mayuzumi looked back at Seiji wordlessly.

"Let's go in." Seiji made the decision.

"Welcome!" Yukari was delighted at this.

With her leading the way, the three of them entered Year 1, Class 3.

Seiji instantly felt as if he was the focus of attention of all the other students from Class 3.

After thinking about it, he felt that he understood why and could only feel helpless about it.

Oh well, he just needed to not pay it any attention.

He glanced around Class 3's store. While he felt that while the decorations were rather ordinary, the atmosphere was quite nice. It seemed interesting how all the customers were wearing different styles of glasses while drinking their tea.

"Please choose the style that you like, our dear customers."

Yukari didn't let any of her classmates take care of them and personally guided the three of them to a nearby table upon which a large selection of glasses were placed.

There were various colors, shapes, and styles of glasses laid there neatly in rows with their lens flashing. This made it seem just like the display case of an eyeglasses store.

'I'll just pick one randomly,' Seiji thought to himself.

"Harano-san, I recommend this pair for you."

Yukari seemed to see through his intentions and made a suggestion specifically to stop him from just picking one at random.

She picked up a pair of golden glasses that seemed rather gentlemanly.

"This pair is a classical style. Although golden-colored glasses aren't very common to see these days, and perhaps many young people believe that the gold color is for middle-aged or even elderly people, their belief that it's not fashionable is just a misunderstanding. Classical styles always have their unchanging charisma! It's just that ordinary people are unable to activate the charisma. If someone who isn't at a high enough level wears golden glasses, it'll seem just as inappropriate as a child trying to wear an adult's clothing."

"Harano-san, I promise that you definitely won't have this problem! Wearing this pair of glasses will definitely suit you and create a brand-new image!"

The purple-haired girl's eyes shone as she made her mini-speech.

Seiji felt that he was unable to refuse.

"Okay, let's go with this pair, then." He reached out his hand and was about to take the glasses from her.

However, Yukari retracted her hand at the last moment.

Seiji was mystified by this.

"Let me help you put these on." Yukari held on to the glasses and walked closer to Seiji with a big smile on her face.

Seiji felt that the other students' stares grown more intense!

Even Mayuzumi and Saki noticed something as they watched this situation unfold between Seiji and the purple-haired girl that they weren't acquainted with.

"There's no need," Seiji protested feebly. "I can do it by myself."

"Please allow me to help you put these on!" Yukari looked directly into his eyes and remained firm.

Her manner was resolute, reminding Seiji of her firm attitude when she made her confession.

Once again, Seiji found it difficult to resist her direct friendliness.

"Okay then…" It was just putting on a pair of glasses, after all.

Yukari smiled once again upon receiving his permission.

She stood up on her tiptoes as she placed the golden eyeglasses on his handsome face.

In order to help her out, Seiji bent his knees slightly as there was somewhat of a height difference between them.

All the students in Class 3 were watching this scene.

The guests had also noticed and turned to look at it.

Beside Seiji, Mayuzumi and Saki silently watched the proceedings as well.

A light breeze blew past in the classroom that was currently so silent that you could hear a pin drop.

In such a quiet atmosphere, under the watch of so many people, this perfectly ordinary action actually seemed rather ritualistic.

Yukari slowly placed the glasses on Seiji's face.

Seeing his handsome face at such a close distance and doing such an action… caused her heart to keep beating at a rapid pace.

He was so handsome!

Regardless of whether or not he wore glasses, he was unbelievably handsome! However, they were two different styles of handsome.

The person that she liked was right before her, and she was personally changing his style.

This fact made her heart pound rapidly and caused her face to heat up and become faintly red.

'This is amazing…' Yukari sincerely believed this.

Seiji only paid attention to the glasses and didn't notice her expression.

After the glasses were placed on him, he blinked and stood up straight again before he noticed that something was different.

The beautiful girl in front of him had a slightly flushed face, and her eyes shone with an enigmatic light. Her lips were arced upwards in a flirtatious half-smile.

Almost everyone in the classroom was watching them. Some female students had expressions as if they just saw "something good," while a portion of the male students had grudging expressions which said "popular handsome guys should just go explode and die." The adult customers had appreciative expressions like "it's nice to be young."

As for the manga author and editor…

Mayuzumi's face was slightly red, while Saki had a cold look in her eyes.

Seiji didn't know what to say anymore.

'What's going on? All I did was put on a pair of glasses, so why is everyone paying attention to me to such a degree?

'Asamiya-san, why is your face so red? Does your action have some deeper meaning? It doesn't, does it!? At least I don't think it does, right!?'

He was absolutely and utterly confused.

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Chapter 215: Magic-Devouring Dragon vs. Smiling Executioner

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

Just as Yukari said, the golden eyeglasses looked amazing on Seiji. It made him seem almost regal, which definitely lit up many girls' eyes.

Mayuzumi suddenly felt a flash of inspiration as she looked at him, and thought about a new character to write about.

She reflexively began thinking about this new character and was lost in her thoughts for a while.

When she finally regained her senses, she noticed that she was already sitting next to Saki and Seiji at a table.

"You were lost in your thoughts just now, so you must have been thinking about a new storyline." Saki adjusted her glasses, causing the lens to flash.

She was wearing a pair of rather classical black glasses that definitely went well with her appearance and aura. Even the action of adjusting her eyeglasses seemed as if she had practiced it for many years.

Mayuzumi felt that this was a fresh experience for her. She didn't expect that her good friend would look so good in eyeglasses; it was almost as if Saki had been wearing eyeglasses to begin with.

"Yeah, Harano-kun's appearance gave me an idea," the manga author answered. "As for you, Saki… you look great in those eyeglasses; I'm rather moved."

"You already used me as a character anyways; the only difference is that I'm wearing a pair of eyeglasses now."

"Eh, Sensei used Editor Yoshizawa as the template for a character in Honey Candy Girl? Which character?" Seiji instantly became curious.

Even though he was still confused about what just happened when he put on the eyeglasses, it was just a small matter to him. He instantly put it behind him.

"Ah, don't say yet, let me guess!"

Seeing that Mayuzumi was about to tell him, Seiji changed his mind and wanted to have fun guessing.

"The cold swordswoman Kulu who's bold and unconstrained?"

Mayuzumi shook her head.

"Then, the scar-faced female oracle Roleta?"

Mayuzumi shook her head again.

"Hmm… the cannon soldier girl Okalia of Three Nots?"

Yet another no.

"I can't figure it out… Just who is similar to Editor Yoshizawa?"

Saki was rendered speechless by all his guesses failing.

She currently had complex emotions because she felt that he must have a weird impression of her.

"She isn't an antagonist character, is she?"

Seiji didn't feel like Sensei would write her editor into an antagonist character, but there were exceptions to everything, so he wanted to confirm it.

Mayuzumi chuckled. "Nope, she's one of the main character's companions that was introduced quite early."

Having received this hint, Seiji quickly went over the possibilities.

"Could she be the gentle elder sister-type Ursia?"

"Yep, that's correct."

"Oh…" Seiji blinked in surprise. He turned his gaze to the female editor with a look of wonder in his eyes as he mentally compared her with the character Ursia from Honey Candy Girl…

"Feel free to say whatever you're thinking," Saki said calmly. "Most people say that I don't resemble that character at all."

"No, in Sensei's eyes, Editor Yoshizawa probably seems just like a gentle big sister that always takes care of others, just like Ursia." Seiji smiled in understanding.

"Yep," Mayuzumi agreed and smiled as well.

Saki, faced with both their gentle looks, averted her gaze, and her face flushed red with embarrassment.

The three of them had fun in Class 3's glasses store.

After they left, they went to check out Class 5 again, but found that the line had actually increased in length! It seemed like it would only get longer and longer.

Prince Chiaki's charisma was simply too high.

The three of them decided not to wait in such a long line and went exploring other places and participating in various special activities.

To sum it up simply, they toured the school festival.

There were various activities set up all around the school, and they could join some simple games. Winning would reward them with a red emblem, and losing would still reward them with a blue emblem. At the end of the day, they could exchange their colored emblems for some prizes at the exchange booth at the school's entrance.

Not only were there some small prizes, there was also an option to exchange for tomorrow's large-scale activity's participation rights and equipment that was also the final day of the school festival.

When Seiji saw the large-scale activity's topic, his first reaction was 'Wow.'

It was a "Field Battle Game!"

Field Battle Games were mock gunfights involving paintball guns or laser guns and typically took place outside, which was why they were called Field Battles. Seiji understood it as a real-life edition of Counterstrike.

The school's plan was to use laser guns, which were safer than paintball guns. But even so, was it really alright to play such a game in the school?

Games were definitely interesting.

Girls aside, the boys would definitely be interested! At least, Seiji really wanted to participate and play. Especially since this would take place at school, and this type of opportunity was rare.

When he asked his companions' opinions, the manga author felt that this large-scale activity was a fresh experience, while the editor was also somewhat interested.

After discussing it, they agreed to all join together and exchange their emblems for the right to enter as well as some related equipment for tomorrow.

That meant that they would need to participate in many activities today as they toured the school festival.

The three of them immersed themselves in the fun atmosphere of the school festival as they explored various stores and activities.

The haunted house wasn't too scary. Seiji and Saki went through it with no trouble at all, and even Mayuzumi wasn't all that afraid. At the very least, it was much easier for her than dealing with unfamiliar men.

When they had their fortunes told, Mayuzumi was told that she would be successful in her career, but that she had problems with social communication. Saki was told the exact same thing.

As for Seiji… he was told that he would have women problems! His upcoming future regarding women would be quite unlucky and the fortune teller warned him to be careful about everything.

Seiji felt that their forecasted fortunes were unexpectedly accurate. That girl telling their fortunes was quite a genius!

There was also an old bookstore, which none of them expected. Mayuzumi and Saki were both attracted to the excellent quality of the books within it.

While they were busy browsing through the books, Seiji used the excuse of going to the bathroom to temporarily leave. He used this chance to politely meet and reject a girl who had called him out at this time to confess to him.

Finally, both women ended up buying several old books.

They didn't realize what Seiji had been up to at all. He returned with time to spare and helped carry their books as he continued accompanying the two beauties.

He felt as if he was advancing on the path to becoming a scumbag man?

Er, that must be his mistaken impression…

The first activity that they came across was Rock-Paper-Scissors, one on one, best two out of three.

Mayuzumi was told to compete against Saki, and Seiji was arranged to compete against another girl… and, to Seiji's surprise, it was Mai Houjou!

Because she was wearing a school uniform instead of her typical maid attire, Seiji didn't even notice it was her. He was shocked when he noticed her identity.

This was the first time he had ever seen Mai wearing the school uniform… or anything at all other than her maid uniform. Even though she was quite beautiful in the school uniform as well, her perfect performance as a maid left too deep of an impression in Seiji's mind, which made him feel that her current appearance was slightly lacking in comparison to normal.

"Oh my, I ran into you at such a place, Junior."

Mai smiled when she saw that she was competing against Seiji.

Seiji felt that there was nothing lacking anymore when he saw her smile… Yep, that's right, this was Mai indeed.

"I was going to say the same thing, Senpai." He smiled in response as well.

"But," Mai said, "to come to the same stall at the same time, and to be arranged as competitors, it's such a coincidence."

"Yep, it's almost as if it was fated to be."

"Hahaha…" Both of them chuckled at this.

"My apologies, Senpai, but I won't go easy on you. The red emblem shall belong to me, the victor!"

Seiji lifted up his hand and made a pose that he copied from Yugioh. He looked like he was about to draw another card.

"You're so cute, Junior. The blue emblem's losing color is more suitable for someone as na?ve as you~"

Mai also raised her hand and unfurled her Duel Disk… whoops, she smiled in a mock condescending manner.

Their surroundings seemed to blend into the scenery.

The two of them focused only on each other.

Both of them had an intense aura of competitiveness as they made their initial moves.

The Magic-Devouring Dragon vs. the Smiling Executioner.

It's time to duel!

Chapter 216: Rock Paper Scissors!

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

Rock-Paper-Scissors… this game was said to have originated in the 19th century and carried its own history behind it.

The three hand gestures countered each other: once one was picked, the winner would be decided. The rules were simple and nothing was needed to play it, so it could be played anywhere and anytime. These qualities helped it to spread around the entire world.

Seiji and Mai began their duel that would be the first of many in the future…

Just kidding.

But they were both serious about wanting to win.

First round!

Seiji concentrated intensely on his opponent's actions and instantaneously made a judgment about what his opponent was going to go with, so he responded in turn.

Scissors!

Mai had used Paper.

Excellent, he'd received the first victory.

Seiji's mouth arced upwards, and he had a smug look of self-satisfaction.

Mai's expression didn't change, but there was a sharp glint in her eyes.

"Not bad," she said slowly, "but the next time will be different."

"Hmph… no matter what you want to use, nothing will escape my excellent dynamic visual acuity. I shall emerge victorious next time as well!"

"Dynamic vision… then how about this?"

Mai placed her hand behind her back.

"What!? This… this is…" Seiji acted as if he was truly shocked.

"This is the secret technique for Rock-Paper-Scissors: the 'Behind the Back' technique! Instead of showing my move from the front, I'll conceal it behind my back, and this will greatly decrease your ability to perceive my next move with your dynamic vision!"

"Oof… there was such a secret technique! The dynamic vision that I was so proud of was sealed so simply…"

"That's right—you've already lost your power, and victory shall be mine! Come, it's time for the second round!"

"Er…"

Scissors!

Rock!

This time Mai was victorious.

"Ahhhh… I actually lost!" Seiji acted as if he had received a heavy blow.

"Haha, so you've witnessed how incredible my secret technique is. This is an ultimate skill that you shall never comprehend. In the final round, I shall obliterate you completely." Mai acted utterly condescending.

"Secret technique… ultimate skill… It's indeed incredible, and I can't counter it, however—" Seiji changed his expression to one of resolution as he slowly closed his eyes and posed imposingly. "I'm willing to sacrifice the dynamic vision I'm so proud of and temporarily awaken my tribe's forbidden technique: 'Mind's Eye!'"

"'Mind's Eye?' Could it be the legendary…"

"Exactly right—it's a legendary undefeatable technique once it's awakened! Yet, it requires a huge sacrifice to awaken, which is why it's my tribe's forbidden technique." Seiji assumed a fake grave tone. "I shouldn't be using this forbidden technique, but in order to defeat a strong enemy like yourself, I'm willing to pay the price!"

"Hm!? You're actually willing to throw away the vision that you're so proud of! You're insane…"

"In order to defeat you, it's all worth it! Come, for the final showdown—"

Rock!

Paper!

Mai was victorious.

"Ah… I have been defeated."

"But of course—this is only a luck-based game to begin with. What's with your 'Mind's Eye'? You were having a little too much fun, Junior." Mai stopped acting immaturely.

"Didn't you have plenty of fun as well, Senpai?" Seiji also stopped acting like an immature middle school student. "Creating an atmosphere can help increase the tension and make things more interesting."

"We went a little overboard; everyone's looking at us strangely."

This was indeed the case.

"What exactly are those two people doing?"

"Are they working for this activity and doing a performance?"

"It's only Rock-Paper-Scissors; why are they treating it so seriously?"

The passersby were all staring at them and seemed to be muttering things like that.

Even the manga author and the editor wore looks of confusion.

It didn't matter… fine, Seiji was slightly embarrassed!

Seiji and Mai hurriedly reported their result and received their emblems from the student running the activity.

Then, Seiji grabbed Mayuzumi and Saki and left the activity together with Mai.

"Sensei, this is my Senpai that I told you about yesterday at the coffee café: the part-time maid, Mai Houjou."

Seiji introduced Mai to Mayuzumi.

When the manga author heard this, her eyes instantly lit up.

"Senpai, this is…" He was unsure of how to introduce Mayuzumi, since he didn't want to reveal that she was the massively popular Peach-sensei.

"H-hello, nice to meet you. My name is Mayuzumi Amami, and I'm a manga author." Mayuzumi ended up introducing herself. "I heard about you from Harano-kun, who told me you're an extraordinary maid, so… I was really curious, but I didn't think that I would get to meet you so soon…"

She seemed rather excited.

"Hello, nice to meet you, Amami-san." Mai smiled politely. "An extraordinary maid is a bit exaggerated… I'm merely being paid a salary and doing my job."

She then gave Seiji a sidelong glance.

'You actually just went ahead and told someone else about me, you—' Seiji could read this meaning from her eyes.

He did feel somewhat awkward about it.

It was just to spice up the conversation yesterday. He didn't expect that they would all meet up so soon; once again, it seemed like a subtly wondrous act of fate.

Mayuzumi's eyes were glimmering as she stared at Mai.

She imagined how Mai would look like in black-and-white maid attire and felt that it would definitely look great on her, just as Harano-kun had mentioned.

She really wanted to see Mai in actual maid attire. However, she felt that it would be impolite to make such a request when they weren't even familiar with each other yet.

Saki helped to curb Mayuzumi's fantasies.

"Harano, Houjou-san here seems to be by herself. How about inviting her to go along with us?"

"Eh?" Seiji looked in surprise at the editor.

Mai also looked over at her inquisitively.

"Junior, who might this be…"

"I'm an editor from Thunderbolt Literature. My name is Saki Yoshizawa." The female editor introduced herself. "Pleased to meet you, Mai Houjou-san."

"Nice to meet you too, Yoshizawa-san," Mai responded, before turning to look at Seiji again. "A manga author and an editor… what an uncommon pair for you to be with, Junior."

"Haha, there's a reason for all this." Seiji scratched his face awkwardly. "Senpai, you're exploring the school festival by yourself, right? How about going together with us? You want to participate in the special activities too, don't you? Then that's the same as us, and we can all have fun together."

Mai blinked as she contemplated the offer for a short moment.

"I am by myself, and I was intending to wander around the school festival like this, but since Junior has offered to treat me, then I won't have any reservations."

"Er… I didn't say that I would treat you." After a brief pause Seiji relented. "Okay, I'll treat you then."

Under the suppression of the Smiling Executioner's attack, the Magic-Devouring Dragon lost his treasure hoard.

He had just received five hundred thousand sakuras from the student council president, but now her maid was trying to take advantage of him! To Seiji, this seemed somewhat ironic.

Well, it was alright as long as she agreed to accompany them.

And now, he was accompanied by three beauties, each one with her own unique style. He was truly a winner in life!

His cell phone alarm vibrated in his pocket. He glanced at it and saw that it was a reminder: Winner in life, it's almost time for you to go to your next confession event.

Seiji was rendered speechless.

It was a good thing to be accompanied by beauties, and being confessed to was also good, but… this was making his stomach ache a little.

He was feeling some pressure from it all.

Now that he had another companion, his adventure… whoops, his joyous school festival experience was about to continue.

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Chapter 217: Grinding Monsters

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

After the team was assembled and complete, it was time to begin grinding monsters for experience.

'If this was a fantasy RPG, I would probably be the Warrior, Peach-sensei would be the Priest, Editor Yoshizawa would be the Ranger, and Houjou-senpai would be the Assassin… er, actually, she's probably more of a Mage.'

Seiji amused himself with his own imagination.

If everyone wore fantasy RPG-like clothing and stood together in a battle formation… that seemed like it really could happen!

Please forgive him for this mindless lapse of attention.

As for why Seiji had such thoughts to begin with, it was due to the appearance of hordes of monsters… whoops, admirers that tried flirting with the women.

After Mai joined them, Mayuzumi was very interested in learning more about her and stuck close to Mai to ask her many questions, while Mai politely answered each question.

Since there were too many people at the festival today, it was impossible for all four of them to walk together in a row. Naturally, Mai and Mayuzumi walked together, while Saki and Seiji also became a pair.

Mayuzumi looked like a classical frail beauty, while Mai's outer appearance made her look like a gentle beauty as well, so, unfortunately, it was only natural that the two of them were quickly set upon by flirtatious admirers.

These admirers were one of the most disliked groups at the school festival—men looking to score with the girls here.

These unreliable males that were aiming for this school festival and joined up in groups together in order to flirt with high school girls were the existence that the Morals and Discipline Committee, and even the high school boys, wanted to get rid of the most. In a certain way, they were indeed similar to the monsters in an RPG game.

"Hey, you two, you look familiar—how about hanging out with us?" Monster A began his attack with a flirtatious look in his eyes.

"How about I invite you two for some coffee? We can chat and be friends~" Monster B used a smiley-face technique.

"It's always more fun with more people, so come with us!" Monster C used a domineering attitude.

Priest Mayuzumi was afflicted with the 'fear' status at this close-quarters combat situation and was unable to move.

Mage Mai began smiling coldly and began to cast an ultimate spell.

"Sorry, they're together with us." Warrior Seiji went in to support and used his oppressive smile technique.

"You guys are in the way, and it's really annoying. Move." Ranger Saki shot out cold barbed arrows in order to give Priest Mayuzumi some cover fire.

"Oh… so you had companions." Monster A was suppressed successfully and retreated slightly.

"Another beauty? Perfect, join us as well! We'll treat you!" Monster B continued using the smiley-face technique.

"Hmph, you think I'll move just because you want me to move? I'd lose too much face if I just slunk away!" Monster C used a strong and arrogant counterattack.

"It's a free society where you can choose to flirt with who you please, but still, please forgive me for being direct…"

Mage Mai finished her incantation and began casting her ultimate spell.

"Just look at how ugly you guys are!"

"Eh!?" The three monsters received critical attacks simultaneously.

"Your hairstyles are so ridiculous, and there's too much of a hairspray scent! Your clothes are all low quality, and you don't even know how to match colors! Your shoes are dirty, there's dust on your pants, and stains on your shirts! And forget about the uneven makeup on your faces, there's even nostril hair showing! Not to mention the massive amount of gunk in the corners of your eyes!"

The strong AOE magic hit the all the enemies at once.

"Wah!!" The monsters A, B, and C all cried out in pain.

"Frivolous, vulgar, and dirty… you actually dare to talk to us with such a level. Heh heh, if you still have functional eyesight, please take a look at the person beside us." Mage Mai activated a teleportation spell and sent Seiji, who was the backline support Warrior, into the frontlines.

Warrior Seiji cooperated by flashing a brilliant handsome smile!

"Ahh!" The three monsters were blinded by the sight.

"You guys can't even match up to ten percent of him… no, there's no way to even compare."

Mage Mai used her finishing move—a condescending gaze. It was akin to an ordinary person looking down on some filthy insects, a move that pierced the monsters' hearts.

'Get the hell out! Garbage.'

They felt as if they could clearly hear her insulting them like this.

"I'm sorry!!" All three monsters were defeated and fled after leaving that message.

'What an excellent way to grind monsters for experience.' Seiji inwardly praised Mai's technique.

Cough cough, all of that was exaggerated by Seiji's mind, so please take it with a grain of salt.

Similar incidents occurred multiple times in succession after this.

Each time, Saki would protect Mayuzumi, while Seiji and Mai teamed up to get rid of the frivolous men.

No matter what type of men they faced, the handsome boy and the female maid defeated them effortlessly and looked cool while doing so.

At least, the manga author thought they did.

Mayuzumi had another flash of inspiration, as a torrent of ideas flowed through her mind. She thought of another new character as well as a plotline and couldn't stop herself from falling deep into thought.

…

They reached another activity stand.

This was a riddle-solving game. Seiji received an incredibly simple riddle and quickly solved it to receive a victorious emblem.

Saki also solved her riddle.

Mayuzumi and Mai were still thinking and discussing their riddles with each other.

The editor stood in an out-of-the-way location as she quietly watched her good friend having fun while chatting with the girl they just met.

"Here you go, Editor Yoshizawa," someone said from beside her.

Of course, it was Seiji.

He had gone to purchase a few drinks and handed one to the editor.

"Thank you."

Saki accepted it, opened the cap, and took a swig.

The cool and refreshing liquid tasted delicious as it slid down her throat.

"Sensei seems to really like Houjou-senpai." Seiji also observed the other two as he drank from his own drink.

"Yeah…"

"I always felt that Sensei was rather passive, but seeing this makes me realize that she has her proactive side as well. Is she always like this when she meets someone she's interested in?"

Saki blinked as she thought about it. "I suppose so. It's very rare to see her like this… at least, I haven't seen her like this for a long time now."

"Oh…"

Saki took another sip of her drink.

Seiji did the same.

"Editor Yoshizawa, how long have you known Sensei for? I heard that you became friends with her during high school."

"Yeah, I got to know Mayuzumi in high school. It's been… ten years since then."

"Ten years… being friends for ten years is really great." Seiji smiled. "Yesterday when I was chatting with Sensei at a coffee cafe, she told me that you're just like a worrywart big sister, who always takes good care of her, and she's really grateful to you for it. At the same time, she also hopes that you won't worry so much about her, as she doesn't wish for you to tire yourself out doing so."

"Oh…" Saki's expression became gentler.

"In Editor Yoshizawa's eyes, what type of person is Sensei then? Do you think that she's indeed a woman who really needs someone to take care of her?"

"…Not entirely," Saki said after a pause.

Saki looked deeply at her good friend. "For me, Mayuzumi… apart from being someone I need to take care of, more importantly, she's… someone I must protect."

She said the final few words in a very faint voice.

A normal person probably wouldn't have heard her, but Seiji managed to make out her words and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Someone she must protect… what did she mean?

It didn't seem like the type of "protect" that involved romantic feelings—Rika Amami had already told him that Editor Yoshizawa wasn't a lesbian that was in love with Peach-sensei. Seiji himself felt the same thing as well.

This "protect…" made it sound like it was her "duty" to do so.

Duty… if that was really the case, why did Editor Yoshizawa feel that it was her duty to protect Peach-sensei so strongly?

Seiji was curious about the whole situation.

However, this wasn't a question that he should pry too deeply into, as he felt it was rather personal. He decided not to continue down this line of questioning.

"How about you then, Harano?"

"Eh?"

"Didn't you want to take Mayuzumi as your wife? In your eyes, what type of person is Mayuzumi?" Saki revealed a serious expression as she waited for his answer.

Seiji didn't know what to say to this!

He had almost forgotten about this misunderstanding!

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Chapter 218: The Inevitable Shall Always Come

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

"Editor Yoshizawa, I apologize for the misunderstanding. That was actually…"

Seiji explained the mistake he had made with his words during their first meeting.

Saki's face flushed red as she listened to him explain.

"So it was like that… I made a mistake, I apologize." She awkwardly averted her gaze.

"No, it's my fault for not saying things clearly. There's no need for you to apologize, Editor Yoshizawa."

"For you to say something like that, it means that you do hold some sort of interest in Mayuzumi, right?" Saki suddenly brought this topic back up again.

"Er, this…"

"Mayuzumi is a beauty with an excellent appearance and figure. As long as she wears some proper clothing, she's an incredible beauty. She has a gentle and kind personality, and she has a high income as the author and artist of a popular manga that was made into an anime. Even if her future partner doesn't have a job, that will be no problem as well."

"She has similar interests to you, the two of you indeed get along pretty well, and I feel you'll able to take good care of her. From every aspect, the two of you seem quite well suited for each other… so have you ever thought about it?"

He felt as if Saki was trying to introduce a marriage prospect to him.

Seiji could only smile wryly as he recalled going to marriage interview meetings in his past life.

"Editor Yoshizawa, I get what you're saying. If you directly ask me whether I like Sensei or not, of course I'll say I like her."

"But it's not to such a degree yet… even though we're not new acquaintances anymore, we actually aren't all that familiar with each other yet."

"Right now, I'm merely treating Sensei as Sensei… yep, that's how it is."

Seiji looked directly at Saki.

"I like you as well, Editor Yoshizawa."

Saki was shocked and confused by this sudden unexpected revelation!

"Those words that you just used to describe Sensei could also be applied to yourself. You're an editor, and I'm a writer, so we'd make a good pairing as well."

"I respect you, just like I respect Sensei, and I also like you, but not to a deep romantic degree; after all, we haven't interacted all that much either."

"Editor Yoshizawa, it's the same for you as well, right? I think that you don't hate me, and like me as well, but have never considered romantic feelings, right? For me, I have the same feelings for both you and Sensei."

'Yep, that was a good explanation. This way, I think that Editor Yoshizawa will clearly understand what I mean,' Seiji thought to himself.

Saki was rendered speechless.

Her face flushed crimson.

Suddenly being told that she was "liked," caused her brain to temporarily stop working.

She only heard the gist of what Seiji said after that, although… she felt as if she understood what he meant.

By the time that she regained her senses, Mayuzumi and Mai had finished solving their riddles and received their emblems.

Seiji greeted them with a wave. "Let's get going."

"Okay…" Saki followed behind him, her cheeks still tinged red.

Mayuzumi and Mai each took a drink from Seiji and chatted as they drank without noticing the expression on the editor's face.

…

Lunchtime.

Seiji's group ate at a ramen store run by students.

Seiji hurriedly finished his noodles and told the three ladies that he needed to leave for a little bit as he rushed to make it to another confession.

He had already left like this several times already, so the three ladies had gotten used to it.

"Harano-kun is so popular," Mayuzumi said with a sigh.

"Yes, it's understandable how popular he is. After all, he's extremely handsome and has a good personality. But," Mai said with a complex expression in her eyes. "how should I say it… I think that he has a rather subtle problem."

"A subtle problem?"

"Sometimes, to girls… he'll do some things that are difficult for me to describe, while he himself doesn't even realize it."

"Oh…" Hearing this hint made Mayuzumi think of what happened to herself yesterday, causing her to begin blushing slightly. "I can understand… indeed, Harano-kun, he's…"

The two of them quietly came to an unspoken mutual understanding.

Saki was the only one who didn't understand.

"'Something difficult for you to describe…' what is it exactly?" The editor wondered what it was about.

The manga author and the maid both turned their gazes on her.

"Saki probably never experienced it before."

"Editor Yoshizawa seems to have excellent resistance, so there's no need to mind this."

Mayuzumi and Mai both smiled at her.

Neither of them realized that not long ago, the thing that they thought didn't happen or would never happen to the editor had already just occurred…

…

"Achoo!" Seiji suddenly sneezed.

It was good that this happened only after the confession. He felt that it would have been impolite if he sneezed while he was being confessed to.

After dealing with so many confessions, he felt that he was actually getting accustomed to it… this was something impossible for the previous him to imagine.

Although maybe it wasn't a kind thing to think, all of the girls that had confessed to him after Yukari Asamiya hadn't even made half of the impression that the "Princess", Yukari, had left him with.

Seiji wasn't even shaken by any of these confessions. Of course, he still thanked them for their feelings and politely rejected each of them. He felt that he hadn't been rude towards anyone.

After all these comparisons, he was now deeply appreciating how special the girl named Yukari Asamiya was.

He recalled the scene where she placed the glasses on him in the morning… and felt his heart beat slightly quicker.

He decided to stop thinking about it and hurried back to meet Sensei and the others.

Just as he was about to quicken his pace, he suddenly saw a girl in front of him.

He instantly froze in his tracks.

This devilish-seeming girl had curly dark green hair. A demon face mask was diagonally strapped over her head. She was wearing a tight one-piece dress with a red jacket on top, and black fishnet stockings covered her legs.

She was holding a chocolate-covered banana, and she smiled faintly, took a bite, and even licked her lips lasciviously when she noticed his gaze.

It was quite obvious that she was doing it on purpose.

If Seiji had been an ordinary person, perhaps he would have been dazed by her beauty, and overcome by a stream of fantasies, but currently, Seiji had no such train of thought at all.

That was because this green curly-haired girl who was obviously waiting for him was—

"Oh my, it seems that you remember me, even though we only met once at the Grand Spring department store."

The girl chuckled as she sauntered closer to Seiji.

"This is our first meeting, Seiji Haruta… Young Master."

Seiji noticed her abnormal tone of voice when she said this. "There's no need to call me by that title. Before I was exiled, I didn't even know that I was a 'Young Master.'"

"That's your own fault… well, anyway, I was just going through the motions. After all, Milady refuses to acknowledge that you're a Haruta anymore, so I'm going to call you Seigo Harano from now on." The girl with the curly green hair took another bite of her banana.

"Ah, I forgot to introduce myself: my name is Iroha Hasegawa, and I'll be in your care~" She waved her hand lazily before licking her lips again.

"I'll be in your care." Seiji eyed her calmly. "You—no, I know that Yui Haruta sent you to find me— but for what exactly?"

"You're so direct. I like that." Although the girl named Iroha chuckled, her eyes shone with an icy light. "Milady asked me to ascertain what you are thinking, as well as check on your current level of strength… another way to put it is that I'm going to ask you some questions and then beat you up."

"…That's all?" Seiji caught unprepared by her answer. What about the streaming… about Flying Fish?

"What else do you want? Would you like to die?" A smile remained on Iroha's face despite the chilling look in her eyes. "If Milady gave the order, I'd be more than happy to carry that order out, but she's such a softie~"

"Oh, right, don't directly call Milady by her name. You should address her as Haruta-sama."

Seiji was rendered speechless by this.

"At the very least you have some self-realization, and didn't call Milady 'sister.' Otherwise, I don't know if I'd still be able to stop myself from taking care of you right here and now."

"Seigo Harano," the girl said in a clear, cold voice, "honestly speaking, I have no idea what you're thinking at all. You were a piece of garbage to begin with, so you should have stuck to your role as garbage and just died off! But, instead, you're jumping around chaotically like a grasshopper and making even more trouble for Milady."

"From talking to you face to face, I have realized that this is more of a disgusting ordeal than I imagined. Damn it, I really don't want to have to even see you, but I still have to do what I must." She finished off her banana before casually tossing the peel accurately into a garbage can that was over ten meters away.

"Tonight at eight o'clock, come to the Nagawa amusement park in the west side of town," she said in a cold voice as she walked past Seiji. "Don't be late… otherwise I'm going to be quite angry."

Iroha walked off as she left that sentence behind.

Seiji stood there, rooted to the spot, as he watched her leave.

After all, this was inevitable.

Since it came for him, he just had to deal with it properly.

He walked onwards with steady steps as always.

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Chapter 219: Watching a Play

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

He would be asked some questions, before receiving a beating. Or, in Iroha's words, 'asking what he was thinking and checking his current strength.'

Their meeting was scheduled for tonight at eight o'clock, in Nagawa amusement park.

He felt bound to go. No matter what he encountered, it would finally set him on track.

It sounded like it was certain that he was about to receive a beating… to clarify, it meant that Iroha was going to fight him.

Light-chan had already left, so Seiji felt that the current him probably wouldn't match up to an experienced Spirit-branded Retainer, and Iroha probably thought the same as well.

If just getting beaten up once would help him to be forgiven, that would be a great deal for him, but Seiji doubted that would be the case.

Check his strength meant seeing his current level… but then what?

If his strength was sufficient, would he be permitted to return to the family?

If that was the case, it was quite pragmatic. But from another angle, it could be considered generous.

Seiji returned to the ramen stand as his head swum with thoughts.

When he saw the three women waiting for him, he temporarily left his own matters behind and greeted them with a smile.

…

After leaving the ramen stand, Mai said that she had other things to do, and left.

Seiji, Mayuzumi, and Saki continued exploring the school festival, this time in the middle school section.

They discovered a wild Hoshi Amami (in the boy's middle school uniform).

"Senpai, you've finally arrived!" The handsome younger boy flashed a brilliant and warm smile.

"What's with the 'finally?' I contacted you by cell phone less than ten minutes ago, you know."

"I really wanted to see you, Senpai. Even though I didn't wait for all that long, it felt really long to me."

Seiji didn't even know what to say to this.

Forget it—Hoshi wasn't currently in female clothing, so it was still within his abilities to withstand.

"You should greet your elders first," Seiji said. "Sensei is your… what exactly is the relation again?"

"She's my father's cousin. Aunt Mayuzumi, hello, long time no see." Hoshi greeted Mayuzumi politely.

"Hello, Hoshi, long time no see." Mayuzumi smiled gently at him.

Quite a natural scene… wait a moment.

"Sensei, you're not afraid… of Hoshi?" Seiji noticed this part.

"Yeah, because… Hoshi's really like a girl," Mayuzumi replied in a low voice.

"I'm the only male that doesn't trigger Aunt Mayuzumi's androphobia, which gave me quite an impact in the past." Hoshi smiled and added, "I don't really mind anymore, all because of you, Senpai…"

"Stop, stop!" Seiji felt that this was heading in a bad direction and hurriedly lifted his hand and gestured for Hoshi to stop. "It didn't have anything to do with me—it's all because of yourself you found your self-confidence and worked up your courage to face everything, right?"

"Yeah… but I've changed now thanks to Senpai…"

"I did a few things, yes, but you became stronger thanks to your own willpower!" Seiji lectured in a serious tone of voice. "So don't say stuff like it's because of me; your strength"—'as a trap,' Seiji added in his head—"stems wholly from yourself, not from anyone else."

"Senpai…" Hoshi was visibly moved by Seiji's speech.

To Seiji's relief, Hoshi didn't say anything else.

While Seiji pretended to be serious on the surface, he actually heaved a secret sigh of relief that he'd made it past this without the ladies hearing about anything too awkward.

From a bystander's viewpoint, this was just a normal and nice scene of a conversation between a junior and his senpai. Even the manga author and editor believed this.

Hoshi joined their group and took them on a tour of the middle school section.

The activities and programs were similar to the ones in the high school section, but the average quality was a bit lower than the high school section. The students' performances and behavior were also less professional and filled with a youthful aura.

But this aura of youth was the essence of middle school!

The students trying to attract customers were blushing, the servers were shy, the fortune tellers were stuttering, and the performers were tentative… all this seemed rather cute.

Seiji was all eyes for the tender and juicy… whoops, young and cute middle school girls, while Mayuzumi felt a lot more relaxed than earlier; it was as if a game had suddenly switched to easy mode.

It wasn't that she was completely unafraid of middle school boys, it was just that she was less afraid of them compared to high school boys or adult men.

Afterwards, it was time to watch a play.

The large performance was arranged by the drama club of which Chiaki was a part of!

Seiji and his friends arrived at the auditorium and purchased tickets to enter.

The performance began.

All the lights in the auditorium were dimmed, while the stage was brightly lit up, creating a suitable atmosphere for the opening scene.

The curtains slowly drew open.

The lights revealed that the scene on the stage was a fantasy-style city.

While the backdrop wasn't particularly extravagant, it was still of good quality; it was, after all, crafted exclusively by high school students.

The sound of slow, deep melody washed over the members of the audience.

The song rose in pitch as it reverberated throughout the auditorium.

Seiji recognized the voice singing the song as Chiaki's.

He was amazed because her singing voice sounded gentle and sweet. It was as if the singer was a girl deeply in love and missing her lover. It was rather different from the tomboy's typical impression… okay, totally different!

This contrast was akin to a man singing in a high-pitched voice falsetto… er, Seiji suddenly recalled a famous Russian singer from his past life who sung like this and was an excellent and popular singer.

At any rate, he was rather surprised to find out that Chiaki was singing in such a manner, but at the same time, he felt that it was fresh and something to look forward to.

Alongside Vitas's… whoops, Chiaki's singing, a girl with long flame-red hair walked onto the stage wearing a beautiful dress.

After her appearance, she lightly twirled around while singing. She continued to dance elegantly, with one dainty hand holding up the hem of her dress. Her performance attracted the entire audience's attention!

Her first appearance was definitely amazing.

Seiji didn't know what the other audience members felt, but his eyes lit up as he appreciated the performance. This had nothing to do with the fact that the main star was his good friend; it was purely because of her… of this red-haired girl's charisma.

This was Chiaki, but the current red-haired girl had nothing to do with the silver-haired Chiaki Wakaba. At this moment, she had completely transformed into the red-haired girl on the stage!

She finished singing her song.

An unseen student began a narration.

The clear male voice simply narrated the background and main characters and told the audience that the red-haired girl was a noble daughter of the Fire Kingdom named "Wakamei Touhou."

Seiji was rendered speechless by this.

So their playacting yesterday wasn't entirely playacting after all?

Well, it didn't matter. He would enjoy watching this anyways.

Wakamei Touhou was a gentle and extroverted girl, who excelled at singing and dancing. Many noble boys chased after her, but she never had any interest in any of them.

One day at a welcoming party for the Ice Kingdom's prince, she met one of the Ice Kingdom's young knights and fell deeply in love with him.

However, due to a fight over a mysterious artifact, the Fire and Ice Kingdoms' relationships worsened, and war finally broke out.

Wakamei lost all contact with the person she loved, and, even worse, her older brother that she had a good relationship with was summoned to the battlefield.

Her older brother had a weak constitution and would likely die on the battlefield, but fighting for the country was the duty of the nobility, and the family had to send someone.

Her father was already at an advanced age, and her younger brother was too young… so the red-haired girl resolutely decided to go to battle herself!

'Isn't this just this world's version of Mulan?'

No… this story had her directly join as a female soldier, which was different from his previous world's story about a woman who pretended to be a man.

By the way, Seiji was quite impressed how Mulan had managed to avoid discovery as a female in the army for so many years. He found it difficult to imagine how she did it. It was such a mystery to him.

Cough, he was getting sidetracked.

On the stage, Wakamei Touhou was forced to fight for her life on the battlefield.

After witnessing so much death and getting accustomed to slaughter, her personality began to imperceptibly morph into that of a cold and cruel female general.

Finally, the red-haired girl discovered that the person she fell in love with wasn't a knight after all. In actuality, he was the real prince of the Ice Kingdom masquerading as a knight!

The magical artifact that both countries were fighting over was possessed by the Ice Prince, so she would have to fight him if she wanted to obtain the artifact.

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Chapter 220: Deux Ex Machina

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

Chiaki's whole-hearted performance perfectly displayed the female general's inner conflict and tugged at the audience's heartstrings.

Seiji inwardly praised her performance.

This was the first time he had witnessed her formal performance. Surprisingly, she had blasted his expectations out of the window!

He wasn't particularly knowledgeable about what would be considered professional-level acting. But in his eyes, Chiaki's performance was on that level: it was just as good as the acting in a television show or movie performance.

After some inner struggle, Wakamei Touhou finally chose to attack.

She faced almost certain death resolutely as she led her squad in an ambush against the strong Ice Kingdom squad defending the prince.

After a fierce battle between both sides, only the red-haired female general and the Ice Prince remained standing.

The two lovers finally met again, but the times and people had changed.

Wakamei was pained as she recalled her na?ve and innocent past self, as well as the cruel battles she had been through, and cried as she requested the Ice Prince to destroy the artifact and thus end the war.

The Ice Prince refused.

He had the artifact after all, and as long as he could bring it back home, it would be the Ice Kingdom's victory.

The two of them dueled against each other in single combat. In the very end, the female general personally slew the Ice Prince.

She won and obtained the artifact.

But her heart and body were both laced with injuries.

The previously gentle girl, transformed into a cold general after years of bitter war, grit her teeth as she destroyed the artifact, the culprit of the war between the two countries, and the cause of many sacrifices.

This action of hers was doubtlessly a betrayal of her country! It was a cruel betrayal of all her comrades that had fallen in battle just for the sake of this artifact.

Standing amongst the crowd of corpses, the red-haired general reminisced about her past.

This was the most tearjerking part of all.

Chiaki's monologue as the female lead, who had received such an impact to her body and soul, was extraordinarily moving!

Seiji could hear Mayuzumi, who was beside him, crying softly, as well as Saki sniffling. Some other audience members seemed to be making similar sounds of sorrow.

The red-haired general let her hair down and sang a slow, final verse as she danced elegantly.

Compared to the beginning, her voice was slightly hoarse, and her dance steps were purposefully clumsy.

However, it gave the audience a sense of… indescribable beauty.

The sounds of crying and sniffling grew louder.

The female general suddenly tripped and fell on the ground.

Of course, the song and dance stopped because of this.

While lying prostrate on the ground, she slowly turned to look at the Ice Prince's corpse.

"If I can go to a better, more beautiful world after death, I hope that I'll be able to dance once more with you there…"

After speaking that last sentence, she smiled faintly, picked up the prince's sword, and stabbed it into her own chest.

The lights gradually dimmed

The curtains slowly closed.

The story was over.

At least that was what Seiji and the audience believed.

Nobody left their seats. Everyone was waiting for the curtains to open back up again so that they could give their vigorous applause to all the drama club actors and actresses.

However, when the curtains opened up again, they didn't see a row of high school students as they expected.

Instead, they saw the backdrop of the first scene again!

The red-haired girl walked out just like the first time, but with a confused expression on her face.

"I clearly already died… why…"

"Because you made a pure wish, young maiden."

A goddess appeared.

The actress was… Anya Saigenji!

Seiji was shocked by the drama club president's extravagant appearance and serious expression.

There was no helping it—it was just far too much of a contrast from the impression he had of her… honestly speaking, he almost spat out his drink!

Luckily he managed to restrain himself and not bother anyone else.

The audience watched in shock as they learned from the goddess just what the artifact's true identity was.

It was an artifact that belonged to the gods, and it had the marvelous ability to manipulate time and space.

The gods accidentally dropped this artifact in the mortal world, causing humanity to fight over it.

And Wakamei Touhou destroyed it and released all its power while also making a pure wish.

The artifact's power responded to this wish and created a huge time-space dimensional hole that even the gods noticed! Which was why this goddess interfered. She helped change the flow of time back to before the start of the battle and reclaimed the artifact.

It was truly a deus ex machina… a direct interference from the gods as the ending.

Seiji even suspected that the drama club president, who was currently wearing something that resembled chicken feathers on her head, might have edited the end of the story to fit her own taste.

Yeah… the ending was somewhat forced.

But he still enjoyed it!

Compared to tragedies, Seiji personally preferred stories with happy endings, even if the happy ending wasn't a particularly logical one.

The deus ex machina was a bit much at the end, but at least there was foreshadowing of the artifact's power, so the audience was able to accept it.

After this scene, the high school actors and actresses finally lined up in succession and danced to some joyous music before they all took each other's hands and bowed to the audience.

The auditorium's lights turned on again, signifying that this was truly the end of the story this time.

All the audience members stood up and gave them a huge round of applause!

…

"Heya, Seigo, what did you think of my club's performance?"

Chiaki had taken off her wig but was still wearing her acting outfit as she grinned and talked to Seiji.

Seiji simply smiled and gave her two big thumbs-ups.

"It was the best stage performance that I have ever seen!"

This was the complete truth.

"I bet you haven't seen all that many stage performances… but thanks for your praise anyways."

"You guys did a really good job. Especially you as the main character—you did amazingly well. I think that you'd even be fine if you went and acted in a movie. Your performance was quite moving, and many spectators were crying, including this person beside me." Seiji glanced at the manga author.

"Y-yeah." Mayuzumi's eyes were sparkling as she looked at the girl before her. "I-I was incredibly moved! Your acting was amazing… can I get your autograph?"

Chiaki blinked and smiled. "I should be the one requesting an autograph. You're the creator of 'Honey Candy Girl,' Peach-sensei… correct?"

"Yes, that's right." Seiji confirmed it.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Seigo Harano's classmate and good friend, Chiaki Wakaba from drama club." Chiaki raised the hem of her dress and curtsied elegantly.

"N-nice to meet you, I'm Mayuzumi Amami…" The manga author reflexively tried to greet Chiaki in the same fashion but was obviously awkward about it.

It was rather cute.

Seiji and Hoshi both smiled, and even Saki's mouth arced upwards.

Chiaki also got to know the female editor. Then, everyone chatted about the performance just earlier with great gusto.

"Wakaba-san is so incredible," Hoshi said as they left the auditorium. "After seeing her awesome performance, I really feel like I want to try it out too and join the drama club."

Join the drama club?

Seiji glanced at his junior, his eyes twitching as he attempted to imagine it.

But he had to admit, in a certain way, it seemed to fit…

"What about your literature club? Are you going to give up on that?"

"Er… It's just that in that club, I'm only reading books, and I feel like I'm not doing anything," Hoshi muttered. "Although sometimes we write a few things… I feel like writing isn't for me."

Those that enjoy reading might not necessarily enjoy writing. This was very normal.

"That's why I want to try to do something else… something more proactive. Wakaba-san's performance… and everyone else's performance moved me so much. I also want to become someone who can move everyone like that."

"I think that, compared to staying in literature club and only reading books, this type of action… is what counts as progress." Hoshi looked up at the sky before glancing at the tall figure beside him. "What do you think, Senpai?"

Seiji smiled in response. "I believe that you're correct. Proactively doing what you want to do is indeed progress. No matter what the path is, or what the obstacles are, just taking the step in the direction you want to take is correct."

This was how young people… how youths should be.

He reached out his hand and patted Hoshi on the back.

"Just do as you want, and make progress, Hoshi."

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Chapter 221: Amusement Park

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

Seiji accidentally encouraged his junior.

Even though he was somewhat worried about Hoshi joining the drama club… it wouldn't be a problem, right?

Seiji wanted to convince himself to not worry about it.

But it was that drama club!

There was the strange club president there, as well as Chiaki, who had already committed the previous crime of encouraging Hoshi to wear female clothing. It was also possible that there were even more strange members were lurking there. If Hoshi Amami entered that demon's lair, just what would end up happening to him!?

'Am… I doing something bad by encouraging him to join drama club?'

'But that's something Hoshi himself wanted to do. All I did was give him some encouragement. Even if I didn't say anything, he probably would have done the same thing himself.'

'Yep, that's right, it was his choice. I was merely admiring his proactiveness and responded to it.'

Should he forcefully prevent Hoshi from joining the drama club?

No—no matter what, Seiji wasn't that type of person.

Seiji decided to stop thinking about this matter.

After watching that performance, they explored the school festival for a while longer, before finishing up for the day.

After saying goodbye to Hoshi, Seiji and the ladies headed to the activity stand at the entrance and exchanged their emblems for the entry tickets to tomorrow's special large-scale laser tag activity as well as equipment for it.

"Alright, I'll take Mayuzumi home," Saki said. "Go on home, or do whatever you like, Harano."

Her tone sounded like she was giving orders to a subordinate, but Seiji already understood the editor's personality. He knew that this was her way of saying, "You worked hard today, thank you very much. There's no need to trouble you anymore today, so please go home and take a rest."

"Okay. I still have some things I want to buy, so I'll see the two of you tomorrow." Seiji smiled. "I had lots of fun today."

"I had fun as well… see you tomorrow, Harano-kun." Mayuzumi also smiled.

"See you tomorrow, Harano." Saki said goodbye as well.

And so, they went their separate ways.

After Seiji watched the manga author and editor leave, he turned around and re-entered the school.

He headed for the infirmary as he'd already purchased everything that the blonde-haired infirmary nurse had requested, and he'd remembered to buy a souvenir for Shika at the school festival.

At the infirmary, Seiji and Kaede simply chatted until Kaede's shift was over.

The two of them went back to the Uehara apartment complex together.

Kaede was secretly pleased at this, as this was the first time they had ever walked home together.

Even though she knew that Seiji was more concerned about Mika than her currently, she was still delighted.

Although it was small, it was still progress for her.

"After dinner, I'll go meet Uehara-san and try and see if I can help her by talking to her," said the blonde teacher when they reached the apartment.

"I'll leave it up to you, Juumonji-sensei." Seiji was worried about Mika's situation, but, unfortunately, he was currently facing quite a large problem.

Tonight at eight o'clock…

He felt some pressure from it, but when he walked in front of his apartment's door, he forced himself to calm down and smiled naturally.

Then, he opened the door.

"I'm home, Shika-chan."

He saw a clean house… it was incredibly clean everywhere!

The floors, the walls, the windows, the furniture, and even the ceiling… everything that was cleanable had been cleaned and every surface seemed to be sparkling.

'Shika-chan must have done a lot of cleaning today,' Seiji thought as he glanced around the room.

Seiji's adopted sister strode into the living room a few seconds after he entered the apartment, still carrying the souvenir he bought for her.

"Welcome home, Brother Seiji."

While she was at home, Shika Kagura had only done two things: clean and write her novel.

Earlier today, the landlord had also visited and greeted her. Shika greeted Nozomi Uehara politely in return, but she assumed her usual cold personality, distancing herself from Nozomi's friendliness.

Even though she had a family member now, her condition was unchanged. She still had the 'Reaper's Curse,' so she would still keep others at a distance.

She was happy that her adopted brother brought a gift back for her, but, to her, it didn't matter either way. She would be happy as long as he came back.

Afterwards, the two of them went to an electronics store.

They purchased an LCD television and a large refrigerator, arranging for them to be delivered back to their apartment and assembled for them by the evening.

They also went to the supermarket to buy for some ingredients for dinner.

Shika wanted to make dinner by herself, but Seiji insisted on helping.

Together, they made an abundant meal.

They felt even more like a family than yesterday.

Shika was enjoying this feeling of bliss.

However, after washing the dishes, Seiji told her that what he'd feared had come for him.

"That's how it is… I need to go, and I don't know when I'll be back. I might be late getting home." He tried explaining the situation in as light a tone of voice as possible. "It's just like what I said earlier this morning. I'll be fine, so don't worry."

"I've experienced a Yin-Yang Master duel already, and this time I'm only facing a Spirit-branded Retainer. I'll be alright; there's no need to worry."

Shika looked at him searchingly.

She was unable to keep calm.

How was it possible for her to not worry?

Before, when he was participating in the duel, she had waited in her room. That painful feeling of only waiting but being unable to do anything welled up within her again.

Seiji saw that his adopted sister remained silent and didn't know what to say.

He had a sudden impulse… if it was difficult to put in words, then he would just use his actions.

He stood up, gently pulled the black-haired girl to him, and enveloped her in his embrace while softly patting her head.

'Just like last time, I'll return safely. That's why you just need to wait for me.'

Seiji attempted to transmit such a message.

Shika felt such a message from him.

Her eyes flashed with an indescribable light, before she closed them and hugged him back, feeling his warmth.

Not long after, Seiji headed out.

He had already checked out Nagawa Amusement Park beforehand.

Nagawa Amusement Park was an abandoned amusement park that had gone out of business six years ago. For some unknown reason, nothing was ever done to the empty amusement park, and now it just stood there in ruins. The rides were now rusty hunks of metal, and an innumerable amount of wild weeds had sprung up on the grounds… or at least that was how it appeared on the surface.

When Seiji hailed a taxi and told the driver he wanted to go to Nagawa Amusement Park, it was only natural that the driver was somewhat confused.

"Are you thinking about going inside there, young man?" The middle-aged driver chatted with Seiji as he drove.

Seiji simply smiled without answering.

"It's best that you don't go inside, especially at this time of night. I heard that there are ghosts there. I've heard rumors," the kind-hearted driver explained, "that strange sounds can be heard from there, as well as strange lights such as floating fireballs. It went out of business six years ago; apparently, it was because of an accident where someone died, so people stopped visiting and the park became unprofitable. There's even a rumor that some bored youngsters went there on a dare, and they all vanished and haven't been found to this day."

Seiji didn't pay too much attention to these rumors.

But then he suddenly realized, what if that abandoned amusement park was a place specially set aside for Yin-Yang Master duels?

Hmm… this seemed quite possible.

That would be the explanation for it remaining abandoned for six years without anyone redeveloping the place, as well as the strange sounds and lights. As for people going missing… if this was true, they might have been killed to keep the Yin-Yang Masters hidden from society.

Time passed as he imagined various random possibilities.

The taxi reached Nagawa Amusement Park.

The abandoned amusement park was wreathed in darkness; no lights could be seen within the grounds.

Honestly speaking, it seemed a little scary.

After Seiji paid the driver his fare, the driver sped away.

Seiji stood there at the park's entrance, motionless for a while.

Should he wait here, or enter?

He figured that he should wait here.

It was so large inside, and he had no clue where to go exactly, as Iroha hadn't told him a specific location.

There was a breeze blowing tonight, which made him feel slightly cold.

"You came… Tsk." A figure appeared on top of the park's entrance.

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Chapter 222: Lightning Strike

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

Iroha Hasegawa.

The girl with curly green hair was still wearing the same outfit: the tight one-piece dress and red jacket. She was a strangely beautiful contrast to the abandoned amusement park's rusting entrance, which she was currently standing on.

"You really came all the way to this place, honestly…" Iroha clicked her tongue.

"You told me to come here," said Seiji coldly.

"Yeah, yeah, but wouldn't most people not want to come to such a haunted place? Plus, I was brutally honest with you. I even told you I would beat you up here! You actually came, and even arrived early—are you actually a masochist? Pervert."

Seiji was rendered speechless.

He felt that using logic and reason with this girl was impossible.

"If you didn't come, I could have reported that to Milady, and then she wouldn't have to care about you anymore. I could simply just kill you." Iroha's gaze was icy cold.

But she quickly smiled again.

"Nah, just kidding~ I would never kill you; that would get me into lots of trouble. I don't want to meet a terrible end just because of a bastard like you."

Seiji simply watched her quietly.

She grinned as she fixed her icy gaze on him.

The two of them quietly stood still for a moment.

"Come in… you're not incapable of jumping over this little entrance, are you?" Iroha turned around and jumped into the amusement park.

Seiji took a deep breath, silently cast [Body-Strengthening Technique] on himself, and leaped up into the air. He stepped on top of the entrance sign and entered the amusement park.

There was an empty field inside with various run-down stalls, all in states of disrepair.

Iroha walked through this field, going further inside the amusement park.

Seiji followed after her.

They stopped nearby the merry-go-round.

Or, more accurately speaking, the former merry-go-round.

There were many deep crevices in the ground, including some that passed through the merry-go-round. It was as if huge, unseen swords had sliced into the abandoned ride. The merry-go-round's horses all seemed as if they had been through a battle, and there was even a sliced-off wooden horse's head sitting on the ground and staring at the sky. The scene was rather frightening to behold.

Apart from this, when Seiji looked closer, he also saw many other abnormal things, but it was currently nighttime and weeds were growing everywhere, so it was difficult for him to see clearly.

This was indeed a place for duels. Seiji felt that his guess had been on the mark.

This place definitely had experienced many Yin-Yang Master duels before, although he didn't know the exact number.

If an ordinary person ignored the trespassing signs outside and broke inside here, would that person be killed to remove the evidence?

He doubted that was the case, but… if that person actively tried contacting the media or posting about this place on the internet, then perhaps…

However, since this place was rumored to be a haunted, scary, and dangerous abandoned amusement park, normal people wouldn't come inside. People who truly had a death wish were a rarity, after all.

"What spells do you know?"

Iroha, who had stopped walking, suddenly asked him a question.

"I only know the 'Body-Strengthening technique.'"

"Eh, you don't even know how to use Astral Vision? Then you can't even see the spirits. You are truly a piece of garbage," said Iroha condescendingly.

Seiji remained silent at this.

He indeed couldn't see anything. Since he didn't know how to use Astral Vision, not only was he unable to see demons and spirits, he had rather poor night vision as well; it was only at an ordinary human's level. He could barely make out his surroundings with the help of the moonlight.

"Just this alone has taken off half of your points. You're under 60 points, so you fail. Don't even think about returning to the Haruta family; just give up, go home, and go to sleep." Iroha shooed him away with disgust.

Seiji looked and remained motionless. "I didn't come here because I wanted to return to my family."

"Hm?"

"I wanted to speak with you… or, more accurately, speak to Yui Haruta through you."

'It doesn't matter what you think of me. The important one here is the person behind you.' Seiji expressed such a meaning to her.

Iroha began frowning as she looked at him.

"Didn't I tell you to address her as Haruta-sama?"

She was now exuding a dangerous aura.

"It doesn't matter what I call her. If she wants, I can even call her Goddess-sama." Seiji's expression remained calm. "But that's not the case, is it? She didn't request for me to address her like that; it's just your own childish preference."

"Heh heh…" Iroha's mouth rose in a vicious grin, and her icy gaze flickered. "You're looking down on me?"

"I wouldn't dare. But… you're just Yui Haruta's subordinate," Seiji said lightly. "Not to mention you're a subordinate that's been sent to do an unpleasant task, so perhaps you're not that valued by her…" He didn't get the chance to finish speaking.

Iroha suddenly disappeared.

Seiji was prepared for this and instantly began moving as well.

Stomp!*

Iroha's foot missed him, but she pursued Seiji with an icy smile on her face.

Seiji attempted to block and dodge her attacks to the best of his ability.

In the dark amusement park, their figures kept appearing and disappearing, and the loud sounds of objects crashing echoed throughout the otherwise silent night.

Moments later, the tall boy's figure was sent flying by a massive flurry of blows, and he crashed into the ground at a high speed, his momentum sending him rolling towards the remains of the merry-go-round.

He forcefully adjusted himself and managed to stand up before he crashed into the merry-go-round, mitigating the remaining force of his momentum.

There was the taste of blood in his mouth. He spat some of it out.

'It's alright… I'm not seriously injured.' Seiji wiped his mouth.

"For your remaining points, I suppose I can give you at least a 10 out of 100," said Iroha coldly. "That's all that you're worthy of, Seigo Harano. Now get the hell out of here. You're unworthy to return to the Haruta family. Just use that weedy alias of yours to keep living like a weed."

Iroha turned around to leave when she finished speaking.

Seiji spoke up as he watched her back. "Didn't you want to confirm what I was thinking?"

"That won't be necessary. I'm sure that you'll just say some disgusting words like 'I know I was wrong; I've changed myself now, so please allow me to return home. I'll work hard from now on.'" Iroha cackled in amusement at her own thoughts. "I don't want these words to dirty my ears, nor will I allow these words to sully Milady's ears."

Seiji furrowed his brows. "You're not willing to tell her even one sentence from me?"

"I don't want to~ Forget one sentence—I won't even tell her half a word from you." Iroha smiled coldly as she walked away. "I'm still someone who takes my work seriously, though. If you had shown me enough strength, even if I hate you, I'd listen to you. But you don't have such strength." She flashed a taunting thumbs-down gesture at him.

"Game over, you've already lost, garbage," she said mockingly.

Seiji clenched his fists. "Yui Haruta made a mistake when she sent you here."

Iroha, who had just retracted her gesture, stopped in her tracks at this.

"You're disrespectful, you contradict yourself, and you do as you please… if I were your master, I definitely wouldn't want to see such a subordinate."

"Shut up," Iroha snapped.

Seiji continued, undaunted. "You say you hate me, but what is it about me that you hate? How is your ugly, willful attitude any different from the garbage me in the past?" There was a short, cold chuckle; this time it came from Seiji.

"I said, shut up! Do you really want to die!?" Iroha's words were laced with icy malevolence.

"The only difference is that you're a beautiful girl, while I used to be fat. Willful beauties are always easily forgiven, how nice~ In the end, you just look beautiful on the outside, if it wasn't for that, Yui Haruta would probably treat you the same way as me, and…"

BOOM!!*

This loud sound was caused by Iroha's sudden footstep.

The angry girl was now filled with murderous intentions, and she instantly rushed back towards Seiji, unleashing a full-force attack!

'I was waiting for you to do that.'

[Bullet Time] activate!

[Light From the Brink] activate!

[Lightning Strike] activate continuously!!

He had three minutes.

Thanks to Hoshi Amami's reward card's first ability, [Light From the Brink, Seiji could use all his abilities at no cost for three minutes, and he had limitless stamina and Mana during this time, so he could maintain [Bullet Time] continuously while also using his fastest technique, [Lightning Strike]!

Iroha Hasegawa was one of Yui Haruta's Spirit-branded Retainers.

Would she be able to block this?

In just an instant.

Iroha who was just about to send Seiji flying with her punch witnessed the light.

Before she could even react to this, her instincts automatically compelled her to respond by casting a barrier spell.

The light was blocked by her barrier.

But the very next instant, even more lights appeared, shattering her barrier!

Her punch had only reached halfway to Seiji.

Her punch was quite fast.

But in comparison to the light rushing towards her, her speed seemed like the darkness that was fated to be conquered by the light.

Iroha was unable to retract her punch.

She didn't even have time to think about what was going on.

That was because all of this happened instantaneously.

The light broke through her defense, and one ray directly landed on her body.

That light was actually a fist.

Smack!*

The powerful fist hit her stomach with a resounding sound.

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Chapter 223: Stop!

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

One punch wasn't enough.

Seiji knew that Spirit-branded Retainers were humans who borrowed powers from the spirits, so their bodies were much tougher than ordinary humans' bodies. Just one punch from [Lightning Strike] wouldn't deal enough damage.

He needed more.

Seiji continued punching.

Smack smack smack smack smack smack smack smack smack*

He was like a machine gun… no, even faster than a machine gun!

He was currently under the effects of his [Body-Strengthening technique] spell, so his fists' power was greatly increased. When the effects of [Bullet Time] and [Lightning Strike] were taken into consideration, the result was unbelievable.

Iroha Hasegawa was stunned by the flurry of blows!

For her, the force from the impact of his punches wasn't that great.

But his punching speed… was inconceivable!

'How is this possible…'

Even in the short time that she was thinking this, she received a countless number of punches.

Every single punch was aimed at her stomach.

As long as Seiji aimed for the same location each time, he figured that he would eventually penetrate her defense.

He was correct.

After a barrage of punches, a punch that dealt her significant damage finally landed!

Iroha found it unbelievable.

Her, a Spirit-branded Retainer, was actually injured by an ordinary human with such low Spiritual Power!? He wasn't even a Yin-Yang Master or Spirit-branded Retainer!

Her original powerful blow was still on its way.

Too slow.

Seiji could easily dodge it… but he didn't even have to dodge it.

He only needed to keep punching her!

Just how many punches had he thrown, and how many would be necessary?

He didn't know, and he didn't need to know.

Punch punch punch punch punch punch punch punch punch*

He punched until her actions were no longer smooth.

Her body contorted from pain.

After Seiji confirmed that he had caused actual damage to her, he stopped punching and lifted his foot.

[Lightning Strike, continuous kicking!!

His [Lightning Strike] could be used in additional ways other than punching.

At this moment, he was basically the living version of a character from a fighting manga.

Iroha was sent flying by his volley of kicks.

Her entire body was revolving as she flew through the air.

She had a blank expression. Her mind was blank as well.

Actually, it would have been easy for her to adjust her body and land safely and steadily.

But since she couldn't regain her senses, she crashed into the ground heavily and rolled a considerable distance before she finally stood up.

She was bleeding from the mouth as well now, and her disheveled figure seemed rather pitiful.

Seiji's kicks had left many footprints on her clothing.

Iroha finally regained her senses and realized what just happened, causing her anger to rise to the boiling point!

"You…"

"Is this amount of strength sufficient?" Seiji asked, looking at her.

'You said that if I showed you sufficient strength, you would listen to me speak. Then, is this amount of strength enough for you?'

That was the message Seiji was transmitting.

Iroha understood what he meant.

She should have calmed down, but… that was impossible for her!

'I-I actually… this type of bastard did all this to me…' Her heart was filled with unquenchable anger.

She was unable to think about anything else.

"You… prepare to die!!!" she howled.

Her murderous intention exploded.

She began casting a spell that instantaneously cleared out all the weeds and pebbles near her. Mana began gathering around her, as she lifted her hand and pointed at Seiji.

'This is something serious!'

Seiji felt an enormous sense of danger. He was on the verge of making his move when—

"Stop!" someone shouted loudly.

A figure suddenly appeared beside Iroha.

Clang!*

This person blocked a sharp blade that had soundlessly appeared from the dark night.

Immediately after, this person waved their hand and changed the direction that Iroha was pointing at.

A strong spiritual attack erupted from Iroha's hand.

Seiji didn't move.

Although he couldn't see what happened, he felt a huge gust of wind pass by him several meters to the right.

BOOM!!*

The gust of wind smashed into the remains of the merry-go-round and sent the entire ride flying with an explosion.

To Seiji, this seemed just like a rocket explosion.

The broken wooden horses and all the other shards from the merry-go-round were sent flying high into the sky, before landing with sharp crashing sounds.

Seiji looked towards Iroha and the unknown person.

He was shocked to see another person there as well.

"Shika-chan…"

That's right—it was Shika Kagura.

Without him realizing it, she'd somehow appeared behind Iroha with a longsword in her hand. It seemed like she was about to slice off Iroha's neck.

The person who had blocked this blow was the person who suddenly appeared: a blonde boy wearing a black jacket.

He was holding a short dagger… no, a kunai, which was what he'd blocked Shika's sharp blade with.

At the same time, his other hand was pressing down on Iroha's shoulder, preventing her from willfully taking action.

After a standstill of several seconds.

"Seigo Harano… I apologize that I can only address you like this for the time being," said the blonde boy. "Could you please have Kagura-san here back down? I promise that Iroha won't be rash anymore… we're not supposed to be mortal enemies!"

Seiji blinked at this. "Shika-chan… come over here."

Hearing this, Shika slowly put down her longsword and retreated a few steps, fading into the darkness.

Moments later, she reappeared without a sound near Seiji and walked over to him.

This seemed pretty cool to him.

The beautiful black-haired girl, who could traverse through the darkness silently while holding a longsword, seemed just like an assassin to him.

Seiji was now seeing a new side to his adopted younger sister.

Why was Shika here? He understood it immediately; she must have been quite worried about him… so she decided to secretly follow him.

Shika looked at Seiji, and they exchanged glances.

She was actually really nervous about receiving a lecture from him, but when she saw that there was a gentle look in his eyes, she relaxed.

They could talk later.

Their immediate concern was the people facing them.

"Allow me to introduce myself—I'm Naoki Hasegawa, Iroha's older brother." The blonde boy patted Iroha's shoulder. "Because I was concerned about the situation here, I was secretly watching. Judging by what just happened, I was correct to do so. This is our first meeting, Seigo Harano-san."

Seiji scrutinized the blonde boy carefully.

Naoki had short light blonde hair and was wearing a black jacket and pants. His appearance… was rather ordinary. He felt like someone who would blend into the crowd.

Yep, another way to describe him was that he had the appearance of a side character who would easily be forgotten. There was nothing special about him at all, not to mention he was a bit short.

But not only did this 'ordinary' boy block Shika's ambush, he even changed the direction of Iroha's attack and wonderfully took control of the situation.

People shouldn't be judged by appearances… Seiji felt that this was an excellent proverb.

"Pleased to meet you, Hasegawa…san," Seiji responded.

Naoki smiled. "I apologize for what just happened; my younger sister has a bad temper. Please be magnanimous and forgive her since no significant harm was done in the end."

Iroha's expression changed, and she wanted to say something, but she felt a heavy pressure from Naoki's hand on her shoulder, so, in the end, she remained silent.

Seiji noticed this detail.

"You're being too polite. As for forgiveness… I apologize as well. My adopted younger sister… can be slightly rash."

'Slightly?'

'If almost cutting off someone's head can be considered "slightly rash," then what would "rash" look like? Would she become a psychotic killer?' Naoki coldly thought to himself.

Contrary to the friendliness he displayed on the surface, he was actually quite angry with the pair before him.

Even though he admitted that his younger sister had a bad temper, was willful, and unreasonable, she was still his family.

His younger sister had gotten thrashed in front of him, and she was almost killed, so it was impossible for him to not be angry!

But he forced himself to suppress his anger.

Otherwise, this situation would become impossible to deal with.

Seigo Harano… was an exiled member of the Haruta family, who was personally exiled by his master, Yui. But, no matter what, he was still Yui Haruta's younger brother!

Killing Seigo… would be quite easy for him, but if he really did that, he and his younger sister would definitely die, even if they had a hundred lives.

Naoki definitely didn't want to meet such a pitiful end.

That was why he could only smile: he had to smile, and he must smile.

"Now then, I hope that puts things behind us. Why don't I take the place of my younger sister and continue the discussion with you?"

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Chapter 224: Adopted Siblings? Who'd Believe That!?

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

'This guy definitely isn't as harmless as he appears.'

Seiji had this impression of Naoki and warned himself to be cautious of the blonde boy before him.

While having a discussion with this Naoki Hasegawa might not be the best option, it still seemed better than discussing with his younger sister, who was probably still fuming with anger.

At least it seemed like Naoki would be more reasonable.

"As long as you're someone sent by Yui Haruta," said Seiji, "it doesn't matter who I talk to—as long as we can discuss things properly."

"That's fine, then."

Naoki smiled as he looked at the black-haired girl across from him. "Before our discussion," he said, "I'd like to ask Kagura-san here to leave for the time being."

"Why's that?" asked Seiji coldly.

"Because this is an issue about the Haruta family."

"She's my adopted younger sister. I have nothing to hide from her."

"It's good that you're so honest with her. But this isn't about only you." Naoki continued smiling. "It's about you and Milady… so even if it's just for show, outsiders shouldn't be here." He faintly emphasized the word "outsiders."

Seiji furrowed his brows slightly.

A moment of silence fell between them.

"After the discussion, feel free to tell her whatever you like. It's simply asking her to leave for the time being during our discussion; this isn't something unacceptable, right?" Naoki said casually.

'It has begun,' Iroha thought as she glanced at her brother.

This was a familiar feeling for Iroha. This sinister sensation from her older brother was something she was incredibly familiar with.

Naoki Hasegawa was someone who always appeared harmless on the surface.

He had an ordinary appearance, and he always spoke politely. This impression that he gave others… made it quite easy for them to drop their guard.

But that was only on the surface.

Naoki was actually a hypocritical, vicious person.

Iroha had already witnessed her older brother use underhanded tactics on numerous occasions. He ruined other people's originally perfect lives or sowed conflict between the people in organizations both large and small with poisoned words, causing individuals—or even groups—to sink into the depths of despair.

Even though Iroha was his blood-related younger sister, she didn't particularly approve of the fact that he enjoyed doing such things just for the fun of it. It was definitely rather evil.

But still, he was her older brother.

Even if she didn't approve, Iroha wouldn't say anything about Naoki's "hobbies." She would simply watch in silence.

Seigo Harano… just how would he deal with her older brother's hidden venomous fangs? She was looking forward to it.

Asking Shika to leave during the discussion?

This was indeed a rather small matter, but Seiji still felt displeased about it.

He wasn't certain why he felt so displeased, but his instinct told him that he shouldn't let her leave.

No, it should be said that he didn't want her to leave!

"It's not unacceptable at all, and your request is quite reasonable." Seiji decided to go with the direct approach. "But I simply don't want her to leave my side."

Naoki's expression froze over slightly.

An indescribable light flashed through Shika's eyes.

"Just stay here, Shika-chan," Seiji said, turning to his adopted sister. "Don't mind what this person says; you only have to listen to me."

"Okay, Brother Seiji."

Both of them had resolute looks in their eyes.

"Heh heh… this is…" Naoki discovered that he didn't even know how to respond to this.

That "small matter" of a request sounded quite reasonable to him, and he acted friendly about it, so he thought that Seiji wouldn't refuse, but…

What was with this sudden "forcefulness!?"

'Didn't you want to have a discussion? Didn't you want to gain Milady's recognition and return to the family!? Be a little more polite with me, you bastard!' Naoki had an energetic stream of mental comments.

"It's just a show of formality, but you're not even willing to accept this. That's…" Naoki paused and looked at Seiji meaningfully.

"Didn't you say it was just a small show of formality?" Seiji asked coldly. "Then we just have to pay it no mind, don't we? Let's just start with the main discussion, and not mince words."

Naoki almost choked at hearing this. "Fine…"

He could only put it behind him.

"Milady… wants to know what you're thinking—what the motive behind your recent actions is."

"My recent actions? Could you be a little more specific?"

"It refers to transferring to Genhana High School, approaching Natsuya Yoruhana, and assisting her in her duel… these actions."

Seiji thought for a while.

"Let me confirm—Yui Haruta sent you guys to find me, only because I helped out President Yoruhana? There's no other reason?"

"Yes… Is there some other reason that I should know about?" Naoki countered with a question.

'So this has nothing to do with Cat-loving Flying Fish and the livestream? Was I wrong? Is Flying Fish not my younger sister? Or…'

Various thoughts flashed through Seiji's mind.

"I did various things after transferring to Genhana High School other than helping President Yoruhana… that was all I meant, but it would seem that Yui Haruta doesn't care." On the surface, he kept his calm as he spoke.

"Indeed, Milady doesn't care about anything else that you do, because it isn't necessary. Only the fact that you got involved in Natsuya Yoruhana's duel was worthy of her attention," Naoki said. "So, doing such a thing… just what was your motive for it? To show off your own strength and attract attention? Or solely because of Natsuya Yoruhana? Or in order to get yourself into the Yoruhana family's good graces as a way to help you return to the Haruta family? Or do you have some other intention? Milady wants to clearly hear your answer."

"What will she do when she hears it?" Seiji asked with a frown.

"Depending on what you say, and the ability you show, Milady will respond appropriately," replied Naoki.

"And if I say that I want to return to the Haruta family?"

"Milady will consider it… but I personally believe that this idea isn't realistic." A strange light flashed in Naoki's eyes as he tried to speak as politely as possible.

Another period of silence fell between them.

Shika looked at Seiji again. Seiji rubbed his chin in contemplation.

"I helped President Yoruhana because I was simply going along with the flow. I didn't put too much thought into it. If you really have to search for a reason, it wasn't particularly for the president, but instead for the person beside me… my adopted younger sister."

He looked at Shika. It was her death that caused him to truly get involved in that duel and viciously thrash that bastard named Okubo Yoshiaki.

This was the true reason why he got involved in the duel.

"Brother Seiji…" Shika said, overcome with emotion.

Shika saw the gentle look in her adopted older brother's eyes and felt a warm feeling in her chest.

The handsome boy and beautiful girl exchanged deep glances filled with emotion.

Naoki and Iroha were rendered speechless.

Both of them felt a tinge of jealousy.

That's right—both of them were still single, and they didn't have a particularly loving sibling relationship!

While their relationship with each other wasn't bad, both of them looked down on what they saw as the other's problematic personality.

And to be honest, since Naoki had an ordinary appearance and a twisted sadistic personality, while Iroha was beautiful but extraordinarily willful and acted only as she pleased, it was only natural that neither of them would be able to find a girlfriend or boyfriend!

Damn it! They felt that all couples should be burned to death!

Wait a moment—the two people before them weren't a couple… the hell!?

The way they looked at each other! The atmosphere! What else could they be!? Adopted siblings? Who'd believe that!?

"Cough cough!"

Naoki interrupted this beautiful (heart-wrenching for him) scene by coughing.

"So, in other words, your only goal was Kagura-san here… and you've already accomplished your goal, right?"

"Indeed." Seiji looked at him again. "I don't have any thoughts about returning to my family, but…after seeing Iroha Hasegawa-san here, I had some thoughts about it. I wanted to know why Yui Haruta would send someone to find me. But now, I already know."

"I just have a few words I'd like to say to her." Seiji slowly smiled a sincere, gentle smile that came from his heart. "As her intractable younger brother, I'd like to say a few things to my older sister that had to worry about so many things…"

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