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“Brother Seiji, if you would like to be alone together with Uehara-san, you should’ve just said it directly,” Shika said with a calm expression. “I’ll go back to my room.”
It was even more awkward now that his adopted sister had seen through his small trick!
Seiji wanted to cover his face.
He peeked at Mika and saw that she was blushing furiously with her head hanging down. She was acting like a shy little girl.
This atmosphere was really…
He didn’t care anymore! Just let it be.
“Shika-chan, please allow me to be alone with Mika for a little while,” he said directly.
“Okay, Brother.” Shika stood up, walked back to her room, and closed the door.
Seiji looked back towards Mika again. Mika was still looking at the ground.
He felt it was really difficult to speak… but he had to say something.
“Mika… I… said before that I currently don’t have any intentions of getting a girlfriend. This intention of mine… still hasn’t changed yet, so… to your feelings…”
Seiji felt his words weighing heavily upon him as he spoke.
Was this type of answer really okay?
He wasn’t facing just anyone. This was Mika Uehara—the first friend he made after reincarnating in this world. Was using such words to answer her feelings really alright?
Her face was still lowered.
Seiji could tell that she was nervous and disappointed.
This was no good!
He stopped himself from saying anything else and took a deep breath.
“Mika!” he shouted her name loudly and clearly.
Mika was so stunned that she trembled and reflexively raised her head.
Suddenly, she discovered that Seiji was enveloping her in a bear hug!
Hugging…
She could feel the warmth from his body, as well as the comfort of his chest and arms.
Mika was unable to react to this. Her brain felt as if it had frozen just like how a computer would. But her body could feel things clearly.
This was the first time she had been hugged by him.
Warmth, touch, smell… all of these sensations etched themselves into her heart and gave her a lasting memory.
“You’re really important to me,” Seiji told her in a serious voice. “I’m really happy about how you feel about me. Whoever gets to be together with you will surely be fortunate.”
“But I don’t want to lie to you… Currently, I don’t have any romantic feelings towards you. You’re my important friend, my very important friend, but I don’t have any feelings on top of that…”
“That’s why I’m sorry!”
He didn’t give any excuses, and he didn’t leave anything unclear as he told her his sincere feelings.
He hugged her tightly and told her his true feelings.
Mika received all of this from him. Her brain still wasn’t working quite yet, but her body and heart received the feelings from him.
Her chest felt uncomfortable. Tears were dripping out of the corners of her eyes. However, it wasn’t very painful. Because he tried so hard to transmit his feelings…
“Seiji…” Mika slowly lifted her hands and hugged him as well. “I knew… I knew that this would be the result.”
She had hesitated about this and considered whether or not to force herself to hide her true feelings and continue with the status quo.
But… Kaede Juumonji and Yukari Asamiya… such outstanding girls were able to honestly express their feelings.
Then why was she still beating around the bush?
Even though she was clearly beside him, even though she clearly liked him so much, she wasn’t expressing her feelings clearly… she felt that she was so foolish.
That was why she decided to say it.
She did her best to pretend to be calm and made an effort to say it.
Even if she knew what the result would be.
“I resolved myself… for pain…” They hugged each other tightly. “But right now… it’s so strange; I feel like…”
The feeling of warmth and bliss was actually stronger than pain?
“It feels like… just this is enough…”
This was fine.
She didn’t know how else to express it.
She could only hug him, cry, and take in the situation.
Being rejected wasn’t the end.
Instead, it was a beginning. A chance for her to work hard and get closer to him…
…
A long time later.
The two of them separated from each other.
Seiji handed Mika a tissure.
Mika took it and wiped her face before she smiled at him again.
Seiji also smiled. Many things were transmitted through their smiles, and everything was settled.
“About that… spirit of yours. I’ll call President Yoruhana and have her help you and confirm its real identity. If it’s dangerous, we’ll have to get rid of it, and if it really turns out not to be dangerous…”
“I will ‘hatch’ it,” Mika said in a firm tone of voice.
Seiji didn’t know what to say to such a Mika.
This time, it was Mika’s turn to ask Seiji questions. She wanted to know all about everything that Seiji had been hiding from her about the mystical side of things.
Apart from his system and the secret of his reincarnation, Seiji told everything else to Mika.
“Kagura-san… Shika-san’s body… Is the ‘Reaper’s Curse’ truly impossible to deal with?”
After Mika learned the truth, she sympathized with the black-haired Shika.
“Right now there’s no method to contain it, but in the future… I’ll definitely think of something!” Seiji’s eyes flashed with a determined light as he spoke with resolution in his voice.
Mika felt a warm feeling in her heart as she watched him.
‘Juumonji-sensei, you were right; he’s a true hero,’ Mika inwardly thought to herself.
After their discussion, Mika left.
Seiji went to go knock on Shika’s door.
“Shika-chan, what’s your opinion about that object Mika showed us? Is that really a ‘spirit?’”
That Sakura girl who was the legend of the Genhana school festival was a mysterious existence that nobody knew the true identity of. Was that object really what Sakura said it was? A… Spirit Egg?”
Seiji suddenly recalled an anime in his previous life called “Beautiful Bones: Sakurako’s Investigation.” Although Sakura and Sakurako obviously weren’t the same person, that anime had a rather disturbing title and Seiji felt an ominous feeling.
Shika remained silent for a moment. “I don’t know too much about the spirits that Yin-Yang Masters deal with… from what I can tell, that ball of light… doesn’t seem like it’s something dangerous.”
“Oh… at least it doesn’t feel dangerous, right?”
“Yes.”
Seiji was able to relax slightly after hearing his adopted sister’s opinion.
But still, he wanted to have Natsuya take a look at it.
He immediately gave her a call.
“President, sorry to bother you again like this, here’s the situation…”
Seiji had just gone to the hospital yesterday and inconvenienced her. He felt really bad about having to call her again today.
He explained the situation to her, and Natsuya fell silent for a few moments as she mulled it over.
“So such a thing happened…” Natsuya sighed.
“President, do you know Sakura-san?”
“I do. She’s an incredibly strong demon that has Genhana High School as her territory. Not long after I came to this school, she came to find me of her own volition for a discussion. At any rate, she’s a good demon. While I was placing my spell formation to defend the school, she assisted me, and she also helped me out in my duel against Okubo Yoshiaki.”
“The duel…” Seiji thought back to the duel.
At that time, he definitely didn’t recall seeing any pink-clothed spirit girl.
“During the end part of the duel, when I was transferring the remaining power from the spell formation to you, she was the one who assisted me. If she didn’t help me… I… might still be unconscious even now.”
“I see.” Now Seiji understood.
After thinking about it, Natsuya at that time seemed like she was very serious about it to the point of betting her life, but she was able to get out of bed not long after the battle in a pretty good condition… so a powerful demon was helping her behind the scenes.
“I’m really grateful to her, and I was going to go and thank her personally after my body recovered somewhat, but I didn’t expect that she would…”
“She told Mika about us, and she even gave Mika a rather strange present.”
“Yes… She’s mostly on the side of good, but her nature is… rather carefree, and she does as she likes.” The president sighed.
A brief silence fell between them.
“President…”
“I know what you want to say, Haruta-kun. Go ahead and take Uehara-san to see me tonight, and I’ll check the object that Sakura-san gave her.”
“Thank you, President.”
“No need. I’m also rather curious what Sakura-san gave her… I’m very familiar with ‘spirits,’ but I’ve never heard of a ‘Spirit Egg,’ or the concept of ‘hatching’ a spirit.”
“You don’t know about Spirit Eggs?” Seiji raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“Indeed. At the very least, I’ve never heard of them.” Natsuya confirmed this for him.