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“Use the special method to contact me instead,” Yui told Seiji without even waiting for his answer to her question as she hung up immediately.
Seiji thus used the magical method to activate his cell phone with Mana instead to call Yui.
“I didn’t use my ability. All of this was just a coincidence…” Seiji summarized the situation of how he came to meet Shigure Tendo in the dream world.
Yui fell silent for a long while.
“Yui Nee-san?”
“I’m still here.” Yui did her best to restrain her emotions.
What Seiji told her was far beyond what she expected to hear. She needed some time to calm her emotions.
Basically, she was absolutely astonished.
First of all, it was definitely good news that Shigure Tendo was still alive.
No matter what had happened to Shigure’s physical body and where it was right now, there would still be hope as long as he was alive. This news would definitely reinvigorate Raizen’s spirits once she told him about it.
And the most importantly, Seiji and his companions had apparently somehow come into contact with the “Evil White Sakura Goddess”, which was their name for the Sakura Catastrophe Goddess. He and his companions had also somehow managed to resist and win against the Catastrophe Goddess’s power!
Chiaki Wakaba… Yui never expected that this priest’s descendant would be able to accomplish so much. Had the Messengers or Kamitani done something to activate her powers? Or was this purely because of Seiji’s influence? Or maybe both?
Yui didn’t know. Perhaps she would be able to find more if she performed a deeper investigation on Chiaki, but she didn’t have the time for this right now. Not to mention, she was certain that Seiji would almost certainly not agree to this.
The fact that he told her about such an important companion of his was because he trusted her… but Yui knew that perhaps he was also testing her.
Ever since the “first time” that she met her younger brother again after he mysteriously changed so much from his previous depraved ways, Yui had viewed her younger brother Seiji with great importance. Ever since his change, he had become quite obedient to her. However, Yui felt like maybe this was all just an act to curry her favor, that maybe he was completely faking everything.
Of course, she knew that it might also be possible that he had truly changed. But with her position and how terrible a person his past self had been, it was very difficult for her to completely trust Seiji.
There was a frightening type of balance between trust and distrust of Seiji in her heart.
This seemingly good brother-sister relationship was really one where both hid dark secrets from each other.
Yui got rid of all her idle thoughts and swiftly refocused on the main topic at hand.
“Yes, we are indeed currently investigating the Tendo Family,” Yui told Seiji. “What happened to Shigure Tendo was an accident that occurred during our investigation. It’s very good news that he’s still alive. Thank you for telling me this, Seiji.”
“Sure thing… Can I ask what you’re currently investigating?” Seiji inquired.
“The Tendo Family seems to be secretly connected to the Realm of Cherry Blossoms. This is something that we’ve already confirmed,” Yui replied. “This connection was likely achieved by using the Yasakani no Magatama artifact as a catalyst. It’s most likely that the Tendo Family tampered with the artifact somehow. As for the specifics, that’s what we of Soul Society will investigate next.”
Seiji fell silent for a moment as he considered things.
“The Tendo Family… are they the culprit behind everything?” Seiji spoke in a heavy tone.
Yui could sense that powerful emotions were contained within his words.
“You don’t need to mind this. Soul Society will investigate properly and then resolve the problem,” she told him.
“That’s good, then…” Seiji paused for a moment. “After resolving the issue with the Tendo Family, will the cruel plan from previously be canceled?”
Something flashed in Yui’s eyes. However, she didn’t respond.
“I see. This and that are two different things. Is that right?” Seiji continued speaking. “Even if the Tendo Family is dealt with, that doesn’t mean that the plan to sacrifice three thousand people will be canceled… unless it’s proven that this plan is also part of the Tendo Family’s scheme. But, this plan was created by Soul Society, not the Tendo Family… If the Tendo Family had created this plan, Soul Society should have noticed something wrong with it long ago.”
Yui still remained silent as a way of tacit confirmation.
Seiji fell silent yet again before finally speaking up.
“I won’t waste any more of your time, Yui Nee-san. Thank you for telling me about the Tendo Family being behind this.” Seiji was about to hang up the call.
“Just what exactly are you intending to do, Seiji?” Yui suddenly spoke up.
Seiji stopped himself from hanging up the call. “Why do you suddenly ask?”
“Are you planning something right now? For instance, are you intending on contacting the Messengers and acting together with them?” Yui asked directly.
“I don’t intend on working together with the Messengers,” Seiji told her.
“That’s good then that you can still be reasonable.” Yui paused for a moment. “But you’re still trying to think of a way to stop that plan, am I right?”
Seiji didn’t respond.
Yui continued to wait.
“I am,” Seiji responded calmly.
He could lie to her, but he chose not to. In fact, he really didn’t have a plan right now, but he was indeed intending on doing something about Soul Society’s plan.
Soul Society had determined that the scheme regarding the Yasakani no Magatama artifact had originated from the Tendo Family. Soul Society would also act to stop the scheme. This was good news. It seemed like that Destruction Timeline catastrophe would likely be averted.
However, Soul Society’s plan to sacrifice three thousand lives in order to fix the Realm of Cherry Blossoms’ location had yet to be cancelled… at least for the time being.
Perhaps, the end result of Soul Society’s investigation would determine that even this plan was part of the Tendo Family’s scheme, so this plan would be changed and nobody would die, leading to a happy ending.
However, Seiji felt that it would be too naĂŻve of him to think this way.
To start with, the Tendo Family would be their own powerful faction as they were one of the seven major Yin Yang Master families. Even if Soul Society knew that the Tendo Family was behind a nefarious scheme, there was still the issue of whether Soul Society could even punish the Tendo Family for it.
Basically, Seiji impulsively wanted to do something, but didn’t know what to do. In fact, it was maybe possible that he really would be forced to work together with the Messengers in the end.
“Previously, you told me that you weren’t someone who could save the world,” Yui suddenly spoke up again.
“I remember that.”
“But maybe I underestimated you back then… No, I wanted to underestimate you back then.” Yui sighed. “For me, it would be best if you did nothing at all. However, that’s obviously impossible for you. So if you really want to do something, why don’t you first complete a mission that I’m going to assign to you?”
“What mission?” Something flashed in Seiji’s eyes.
“Rescue Shigure Tendo,” Yui spoke in a low voice. “If you complete this mission, you’ll be rewarded magnificently.”
“And if I can’t complete this mission?”
“Then you’ll receive nothing. Not only that, it will prove that this is all you are. It would mean that you don’t have the power to save those who are intended to be sacrificed.”
‘If you can’t even save a single person from the Sakura Catastrophe Goddess, how could you possibly be so arrogant to want to save several thousand lives…?’ Yui’s words contained such a meaning.
Seiji fell silent once again.
But before he could say anything else, Yui hung up on him.
A mission to rescue Shigure Tendo.
This mission seemed unrelated to saving the three thousand lives that Soul Society wanted to sacrifice. However, this was a test, a test to determine if Seiji had the ability to rescue a single person from the threat of the Evil Goddess.
Only by passing this test would Yui acknowledge his right to try and intervene with Soul Society’s plan. And if he couldn’t pass this test, he would have to obediently sit back and watch.
Seiji didn’t expect that Yui would give him such a task.
She was the one who had murdered Shigure’s older brother in a violent fashion during a duel. Yet, she said that Shigure still being alive was a good thing, and she even wanted Seiji to go save Shigure… What exactly was going on here?
Although Seiji was rather curious about this, the actual situation probably wasn’t that important… no, it was actually really important, but Seiji missed the opportunity to ask about it.
Currently, more important was whether to undertake this mission or not.
Seiji could choose to take or not to take this mission.
Shigure Tendo didn’t really have any relation to him. Saving Shigure or not wasn’t likely to affect the overall situation. But, wasn’t it also the same that the three thousand people to be the sacrifice were also unrelated to him?
People were dying every day, every minute, and every second. All those people were completely unrelated to him. So why did he care so much about the three thousand people that Soul Society wanted to sacrifice?
Why couldn’t he just abandon his concern and just obediently sit back and watch everything from the sidelines?
Seiji asked himself this question and arrived at an answer.
It wasn’t for the sake of justice, or kindness, or achievements, or payment…
It wasn’t for the sake of anything. He simply wanted to do it because he wanted to.
As a certain baldie once put it, “I’m doing it because I want to!”