He would be asked some questions, before receiving a beating. Or, in Irohaās words, āasking what he was thinking and checking his current strength.ā
Their meeting was scheduled for tonight at eight oāclock, 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 beatingā¦ to clarify, it meant that Iroha was going to fight him.
Light-chan had already left, so Seiji felt that the current him probably wouldnāt 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 levelā¦ 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 behindĀ and greeted them with a smile.
ā¦
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 boyās middle school uniform).
āSenpai, youāve finally arrived!ā The handsome younger boy flashed a brilliant and warm smile.
āWhatās with the āfinally?ā I contacted you by cell phone less than ten minutes ago, you know.ā
āI really wanted to see you, Senpai. Even though I didnāt wait for all that long, it felt really long to me.ā
Seiji didnāt even know what to say to this.
Forget itāHoshi wasnāt currently in female clothing, so it was still within his abilities to withstand.
āYou should greet your elders first,ā Seiji said. āSensei is yourā¦ what exactly is the relation again?ā
āSheās my fatherās cousin. Aunt Mayuzumi, hello, long time no see.ā Hoshi greeted Mayuzumi politely.
āHello, Hoshi, long time no see.ā Mayuzumi smiled gently at him.
Quite a natural sceneā¦ wait a moment.
āSensei, youāre not afraidā¦ of Hoshi?ā Seiji noticed this part.
āYeah, becauseā¦ Hoshiās really like a girl,ā Mayuzumi replied in a low voice.
āIām the only male that doesnāt trigger Aunt Mayuzumiās androphobia, which gave me quite an impact in the past.ā Hoshi smiled and added, āI donāt really mind anymore, all because of you, Senpaiā¦ā
āStop, stop!ā Seiji felt that this was heading in a bad direction and hurriedly lifted his hand and gestured for Hoshi to stop. āIt didnāt have anything to do with meāitās all because of yourself you found your self-confidence and worked up your courage to face everything, right?ā
āYeahā¦ but Iāve changed now thanks to Senpaiā¦ā
āI did a few things, yes, but you became stronger thanks to your own willpower!ā Seiji lectured in a serious tone of voice. āSo donāt say stuff like itās because of me; your strengthāāāas a trap,ā Seiji added in his headāāstems wholly from yourself, not from anyone else.ā
āSenpaiā¦ā Hoshi was visibly moved by Seijiās speech.
To Seijiās relief, Hoshi didnāt say anything else.
While Seiji pretended to be serious on the surface, he actually heaved a secret sigh of relief that heād made it past this without the ladies hearing about anything too awkward.
From a bystanderās 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 studentsā 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 tentativeā¦ all this seemed rather cute.
Seiji was all eyes for the tender and juicyā¦ 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 wasnāt 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 wasnāt 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 Chiakiās.
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 tomboyās typical impressionā¦ okay, totally different!
This contrast was akin to a man singing in a high-pitched voice falsettoā¦ 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 Vitasāsā¦ whoops, Chiakiās 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 audienceās attention!
Her first appearance was definitely amazing.
Seiji didnāt 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 herā¦ of this red-haired girlās 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 āWakamei Touhou.ā
Seiji was rendered speechless by this.
So their playacting yesterday wasnāt entirely playacting after all?
Well, it didnāt 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 Kingdomās prince, she met one of the Ice Kingdomās young knightsĀ and fell deeply in love with him.
However, due to a fight over a mysterious artifact, the Fire and Ice Kingdomsā 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 youngā¦ so the red-haired girl resolutely decided to go to battle herself!
āIsnāt this just this worldās version of Mulan?ā
Noā¦ this story had her directly join as a female soldier, which was different from his previous worldās 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 wasnāt 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.