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Convincing Kamitani was easier than Seiji had expected.
Kamitani had a “misunderstanding” about Seiji being special. Seiji intended to use this to convince him to help out, even though there was no guarantee that Kamitani would agree.
Seiji had already mentally prepared himself to save and load this conversation many times if necessary. Luckily, he succeeded on the first try. So, what Seiji said next was…
“I want to personally meet the person who’s leading the attack against Soul Society.”
Kamitani fell silent for a moment.
“That will be rather difficult… must you meet him in person? It will be much easier for me to put you in contact with him if it’s only by phone.”
“I must meet him in person.”
“Why?” Kamitani asked.
‘Because Voidfire will only believe me if he meets me in person,’ Seiji thought to himself.
Of course, he wasn’t going to say that to Kamitani.
“It will be easier to talk face to face. You don’t need to worry about anything else. Just help me arrange a meeting with him.”
“You’ve truly given me a nice task, my bro Haruta.” Kamitani chuckled. “This exactly happens to be something that I can help you with that barely won’t cross the line… Heh heh, I really want to know just how much of everything is within your calculations.”
“I’d also love to know how much of everything is within your calculations,” Seiji responded in a copycat manner. “I’m willing to tell you everything I’m planning right now. In exchange, you tell me everything that you’re planning. How about it?”
“An interesting suggestion, but it will actually become boring if we do this.”
“If you think it’s boring, then shut up and go to work!”
“Don’t be so violent. I’ll do it properly for you. I just need some time to put you in contact with him.”
“Do it for me within three hours.”
“That will be a little tough…”
“Let’s go with one hour then.”
“That’s even harder! My bro Haruta, you’re truly a demon.”
“I can’t compare to you,” Seiji stated icily. “Stop wasting time and go to work already. No tricks allowed, Kamitani-kun!”
Seiji then immediately hung up on him.
If at all possible, Seiji would instantly kill Kamitani for the sake of world peace. But, it was difficult for him to accomplish that right now, so he might as well make use of Kamitani instead.
As long as Seiji could achieve his objective, he was even willing to make use of enemies.
Although Seiji had offered Kamitani his friendship, there were many types of friendship. His “friendship” with Kamitani would obviously be different from his friendship with all his companions.
Both Seiji and Kamitani naturally knew this without needing to say it.
Seiji then slowly put down his cell phone and heaved a sigh as he looked at the ceiling.
………
Shika Kagura felt like something about her adopted older brother had suddenly changed.
This was a rather subtle sensation. She was unable to discern just what exactly about him had changed. Yet, it didn’t feel like just a mistaken impression.
So, she directly asked him about it.
Seiji paused in surprise when he heard her asking about this. He laughed and said that he was fine.
Shika didn’t pry when she saw his smile. However, she learned from him that he would be going to meet an important person later tonight rather than going to sleep. Shika insisted on accompanying him.
“No need for that. It won’t be dangerous.” Seiji tried to convince her to go to sleep instead.
“Then why won’t you tell me whom you’re meeting?” Shika countered with this question.
Seiji fell silent for a moment.
“Alright, I admit it. It might be slightly dangerous. Still, it will probably be alright. There’s no need to worry.” Seiji sighed.
Shika silently looked at him.
Seiji wanted to try and convince her some more. However, he was unable to say anything when faced with her expression.
After he loaded back into the past, all other experiences for other people were basically erased, including when he “acted spoiled” to Shika.
That was a very important memory for him, but Shika no longer “remembered” it. This was unavoidable and gave Seiji a feeling of loneliness.
Seiji didn’t intend on reenacting that scene, because for him, his “acting spoiled” memory had happened already. It would be impossible for him to behave and feel the exact same way again… if he really did the same thing in this timeline, it would mean that he hadn’t matured at all.
This was the loneliness of a time traveler that he knew he had to accept.
However, even though he accepted it, that didn’t mean he could hide it completely. He knew that he must have unknowingly revealed his loneliness in his expression, which must have caught Shika’s attention.
Both adopted siblings remained silent for a while before Seiji finally spoke up again. “There’s an eighty percent chance that nothing will happen during my meeting with that person. But, things will be different if I take someone else with me. It will become more dangerous.”
“Then I’ll at least see you out the door.” Shika remained adamant on this.
“I would prefer that you properly rest.”
“I want to accompany you to the door.”
Both adopted siblings fell silent once again.
Seiji could only give up on trying to convince her to go to sleep. But at the same time, he found that he actually felt rather relieved inside. Only then did he notice that he actually wanted Shika to accompany him.
‘I suppose there’s still a part of me that wants to ‘act spoiled’ to her,’ Seiji smiled wryly in his mind.
“Thank you, Shika-chan.” Not only for accompanying him late at night, but also for what she said in the previous timeline.
“No need for thanks, Brother.” Shika smiled faintly.
Loneliness didn’t equal isolation.
Seiji suddenly realized this as he looked at Shika’s smile. He felt like he had just discovered a ray of sunlight amongst dark clouds.
Even though he was lonely, he wasn’t alone.
Later, Chiaki learned about him going out later tonight and also insisted on staying over for the night.
Although her incident had already been resolved, she still kept staying in Seiji’s apartment and refused to move out. Her bed was still in Seiji’s apartment. Since Seiji didn’t want to kick his girlfriend out, he could only let her do this.
“I don’t know how much longer I need to wait for my meeting. Are you certain that you won’t go to sleep?”
“Of course. How could something as interesting as an all-nighter together not involve me~”
And so, two girls were staying up late into the night with Seiji.
Chiaki then told Mika about staying up late, so Mika came over as well. Three girls were now staying up late into the night with Seiji.
That was enough for a card game.
Originally, Seiji was waiting for his meeting with Voidfire, the high-ranking member of the Messengers. However, this now became something of a sleepover. Seiji didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Seiji and the three girls sat around a table and remained silent for a while.
“Let’s play a game.” Chiaki raised her hands.
Mika silently took out a deck of poker cards.
“Let’s not play this yet. Let’s play something more interesting.” Chiaki pushed the cards away.
“What do you want to play?” Seiji rested his head on one hand while looking at her.
“Let’s pick a person to become the demon. The demon can move freely, while the others aren’t allowed to move or make a sound. If the demon makes any single person make a sound, the demon wins. The person who makes a sound first will lose and undergo a punishment game!” Chiaki explained the rules of the game.
Seiji felt like there was a problem with this game. The demon’s actions had no restrictions whatsoever?
However, both Shika and Mika’s eyes instantly lit up. They instantly understood what was so good about this game.
“Those who agree to play this game, please raise your hand!” Before Seiji could even voice his doubts, Chiaki immediately started a vote and raised her hand.
Shika and Mika both silently raised their hands.
Three votes were in favor already. The vote’s results were quite obvious.
Seiji was rendered speechless.
‘I suppose this is an example of how democracy can be unjust?’ Seiji commented in his mind.
“Alright, let’s choose the demon now. Rock, paper, scissors!” Chiaki made a pose with her fist.
Shika and Mika also made the same pose.
The three girls’ gazes seemed to clash fiercely in midair.
Seiji’s cheeks twitched as he sensed something in the atmosphere.
“Rock~ Paper~ Scissors!”
Chiaki shouted as the girls simultaneously attacked with their chosen hand signs. The atmosphere felt as if they were fighting with actual swords rather than rock paper scissors!
Chiaki lost the first round.
She made a pitiful sound as if she was a character in a fighting game who had just been defeated.
Seiji lost the second round.
Shika and Mika remained for the final round. Shika had an icy expression as always, while Mika had a resolute expression.
Both of them had powerful auras as if they weren’t fighting over the right to be the demon in this game. They were fighting over the right to control the most important person to them!
After three seconds of their gazes clashing in the air, the two of them simultaneously chose their hand signs…