/
“This is coercion through violence! I’m going to call the police.” Chiaki acted as if she were resisting him.
“Heh heh, resistance is futile.” Seiji pretended to be some evil antagonist. Although he wanted to make a pose as well, he couldn’t because his hands were carrying the shopping bag filled with what he had just purchased. “In this demon king’s domain, nobody can save you! So give up on your useless resistance and obey your king!”
Chiaki giggled at this. “It seems mismatched for you to say something like that while carrying a shopping bag in your hands.”
“I think so as well. How about you help me carry this for a moment, while I make a pose and say it again?”
“You actually want a soft and weak flowery girl like me to carry something heavy? You’re so terrible!”
“Terrible? Please .” Seiji looked directly at her face. “Alright, I’ll stop joking around now. Let’s be serious here: just what exactly happened?”
“Can’t you be more considerate, and let me act the part of a melancholy girl some more?” Chiaki transformed into a sad pose.
“Alright then, melancholy girl. Hello and goodbye.” Seiji decisively began walking off.
“Wait! Don’t leave me here.” He heard a voice from behind him. Chiaki was running after him.
“Honestly,” she said with a snort. “Just leaving like that
”
“I don’t know this melancholy girl and have nothing to say.”
“Don’t treat me like a stranger!”
Chiaki reached out her hand. “Give me that shopping bag in your left hand. I’ll help you carry it.”
“I don’t know and soft and weak flowery girls.”
“Stop joking around and give it to me.” The soft and weak flowery girl forcefully took a paper sack from him.
‘Weren’t you the one joking around first?’ Seiji had such a look in his eyes.
Chiaki pretended not to notice.
The two of them walked on the street together side by side in silence.
“Weren’t you having a date with Natsuya Yoruhana today?” Chiaki asked suddenly.
“It wasn’t a date. I was accompanying her to a party.”
“A party?”
“Yes, a Yin-Yang Master party. She asked me to accompany her as her temporary Spirit-branded Retainer.”
“Retainer
 you fought for her, right?” Chiaki recalled how he had mentioned using violence today.
Seiji nodded. “Yes, I participated in a few duels.”
“Apart from that?”
“Apart from that
 nothing else happened.”
Chiaki looked at him, and her mouth arced upwards ambiguously. “Joining such a party together with a mega beauty, but nothing intimate happened! What a pity~”
Seiji was rendered speechless. He felt that there was something subtle about her tone of voice.
“By the way,” Chiaki said as an afterthought, “weren’t you supposed to accompany her for the entire day?”
“At first, that was what we agreed on. However, Juumonji-sensei reminded me that I shouldn’t just leave my family alone while during a festival, which was why I talked to Natsuya and modified our agreement.”
Chiaki blinked at this. “You’re calling the president by name now.”
“Yeah.”
“Isn’t this an intimate event? And you said there wasn’t anything at all. Liar.”
“Not at all. She asked me to call her by name before the party.”
“What happened before the party then?”
“Nothing much
 no, some things indeed happened. Didn’t Mika tell you?”
Chiaki had a confused expression.
It seemed that she didn’t know what had happened. Seiji pondered for a moment, before deciding to tell her.
Chiaki learned about the mysterious board game which pulled them into fantastical illusions, and the subsequent investigation regarding its history, the collection items in the Uehara family’s storage, and the mystery regarding the deceased Mr. Uehara

Chiaki’s eyes widened at this.
“
Now, we’re just waiting for the results of the investigation. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find out the truth.”
“Mika
”
“She’s feeling a little anxious regarding this matter and is currently processing it. She probably didn’t tell you for the time being because she didn’t want you to worry,” Seiji explained.
Chiaki fell silent for a moment before smiling.
“If Mika’s father is actually just like you, the young master of some illustrious family with mystical power who was out in society by himself, then Mika is a commoner girl who actually has the bloodline of an illustrious family
 Having such an unknown extraordinary past, it sounds just like the female lead of a television drama.”
“The Uehara family isn’t that kind of family.”
“Perhaps her father wasn’t from the Uehara family to begin with, and was adopted?”
Seiji fell silent.
“It’s possible, isn’t it? Until the investigation is over, there’s plenty of room for imagination.” Chiaki rubbed her chin.
“I suppose so
 but no matter what the truth is, Mika is Mika. That’s what I believe,” Seiji said calmly.
Chiaki looked towards him.
“I just recalled back at that time
 the time when we were shopping for clothes together, you said something similar to me and Mika,” she said in a soft voice as she recalled the scene at the time, which seemed to match his current charming smile under the street lights. “When Mika was being anxious, you probably said something similar to reassure her, right?”
Seiji nodded. “I did indeed mention that time as well. I told her that no matter what, our relationship wouldn’t change.”
Chiaki felt as if she could imagine that scene.
The anxious pigtailed girl, and the boy before her who smiled gently and consoled her
 It was as clear as if it happened right before her.
A moment of silence fell between them.
“All these things that you purchased
 apart from the food, are they all Winter Snow Festival presents?” Chiaki changed the topic of conversation.
“That’s right.”
“They’re probably for Kagura-san and Tachibana-chan, as well as Mika. What presents are they?”
“I’m giving Shika-chan a photo album, a new video game system for Reo-chan, and two showering items sets for Mika and her mother.”
“Showering items sets
 it sounds a little perverted.”
“How can that be? It’s clearly just an ordinary present.”
“Normally speaking, yes, but you’re a boy. For a boy to give a beautiful mother and daughter something like this
 Looking at it objectively, it seems like you’re harboring secret intentions!” Chiaki acted as if she had seen through everything.
“Secret intentions, the hell!” Seiji retorted.
“I mean, although the landlord’s daughter is already a teenager, she’s still quite beautiful, and she’s maintained her excellent figure. She’s a beautiful widow landlord
 This description gives you a certain type of feeling, don’t you agree?”
“Indeed
 No, no! What are you trying to get me to agree to!?”
“‘The daily life of a beautiful widow landlord,’ what will you think of first when you hear this?”
“I’ll think of a porn video
 whoops, I wouldn’t think of anything at all!”
“What about ‘ Living Together with a Beautiful Widow Landlord ?'”
“Ma’am, I really like you
 Stop! Don’t say any more!!”
“‘ The Beautiful Widow Landlord’s Secret Affair 
'”
“Stop it already!”
The two of them messed around.
By the time that they almost reached the Uehara apartment, Seiji looked at Chiaki, and was about to ask her again, but he swallowed down his words, and retracted his gaze.
Something flashed in Chiaki’s eyes as she looked at him.
“Actually, I’m really fine, it’s just
 my bastard of a dad broke his promise to me,” she said in a light voice. “He promised to eat dinner together with me for the Winter Snow Festival, but then he suddenly sent a message saying that he won’t be coming back today
”
“Although I expected that this was highly probable, I
 still received an impact from this.”
“To receive such an impact from something I expected already, I think it’s so unseemly
 which was why I didn’t want to tell you.”
Chiaki did her best to sound relaxed in her tone, but there was still a hint of softness and weakness in it.
She disliked herself for receiving an impact from such a matter and becoming downcast, but she was unable to control her own emotions, just like a young child who was throwing a temper tantrum.
Seiji looked towards her.
He realized that right now, she didn’t need consoling, but rather

“Come over to my place for the holiday,” he said calmly.
“
Is that alright?”
“Don’t ask something as foolish as that.”
Something flashed in Chiaki’s eyes.
“I’d like to drink alcohol, is that alright?”
“Nope. There’s only tea and fruit juice.”
“I’d like to stay over at your place, is that alright?”
“Go over to Mika’s place for that.”
“I’ve already gotten bored of sleeping on her bed, I want to sleep on your bed.”
“There’s no more beds available at my place. There are only tatami mats.”
“Tatamis are fine as well~” Chiaki said joyously with an alluring expression on her face.