It was a rough sketch.
In the center was a tall boy whose facial features weren’t drawn accurately. However, it was still possible to see that he was smiling gently.
To his right was a pet.i.te girl. She was clutching his hand with a delighted smile on her face.
This was obviously a depiction of Seiji and s.h.i.+ka.
This didn’t surprise Seiji.
What surprised him was that there were also other people in the sketch.
The girl with silky, long black hair had a calm expression.
The red-haired girl seemed slightly angry.
The silver-haired ‘boy’s’ eyes were widened in surprise
The girl with two pigtails stood out from the others.
The girl wearing black-and-white maid attire had a gentle smile on her face.
Everyone… everyone that s.h.i.+ka Kagura met after receiving amnesia was in this picture!
A large house could be seen in the background, and an orangey-red sun hung low in the sky.
This gave a wonderful atmosphere to the rough sketch of these people standing together in a row.
"Hehe, how is it, Brother?" s.h.i.+ka laughed in a manner which seemed like she was begging for praise. "I did a good job, right?"
Seiji returned to his senses and smiled gently at her.
"Yep… you did a great job!"
He gave her his honest praise.
s.h.i.+ka’s smile seemed to increase in magnitude, and her eyes curved into twin crescent moons.
She turned around and sat down on his thigh while nuzzling him affectionately.
Seiji’s expression froze over.
The soft warm feeling of a middle school girl on his lap, the nice faint smell of her body scent…
But seeing the drawing, which was still in her hand, instantly helped to repress any uncertain feelings he had in his heart.
"Brother, since I’ve done such a good job, you should give me a reward~"
"A reward… what would you like?"
Seiji believed that she would likely ask for a snack or something similar.
"I want to sleep together with my brother!"
*Boom!*
Seiji received a mega-impact direct hit!!
It actually appeared! The legendary "I want to sleep together with my brother" request! Countless gentlemanly older brothers with sister-complexes dreamed about being able to hear this sentence!!
Seiji personally believed that this sentence could rank fourth among all sentences that sis-con brothers wanted to hear!
Although Seiji believed that he himself wasn’t a sis-con, any boy would find it difficult to restrain themselves after hearing such a sentence coming out from the mouth of a beauty on s.h.i.+ka Kagura’s level!
The feelings he managed to repress earlier returned in full force! More accurately speaking, they were focused on his bottom half!! He was about to lose control, ahh!!
Seiji poured all his effort into not allowing his expression to become distorted.
How should he deal with this situation? Right, recite an incantation!
‘3.141592653589793… Hey, wait! This isn’t an incantation; this is pi!’
Inwardly, his mind was as chaotic as a battlefield.
"How about it, Brother?" s.h.i.+ka nudged her pale face against his and acted spoiled again. "I’d really like for brother to hug me as we sleep~"
Soft words with a warm feeling behind them.
Something was standing up.
‘Don’t get up! Don’t be like this, little brother!!’
Seiji attempted to persuade his lower half desperately.
But he quickly figured out how foolish this was, so he hurriedly tried to distract himself.
"Er… s.h.i.+ka-chan, a girl as old as you are now shouldn’t be sleeping together with boys anymore."
"I’m not sleeping together with boys; I just want to sleep together with my brother."
"Your brother is a boy as well!"
"I don’t care! I still want to sleep together with my brother! I want you to hug me; that’s the most comfortable~"
‘But I won’t be comfortable! No, no… I should say that I’ll be really comfortable as well… But I won’t be able to be comfortable, so I won’t be comfortable! Get it!?’ Seiji sighed inwardly. ‘Just what exactly am I thinking anymore?’
Seiji forcefully rubbed his face in an effort to calm himself down.
"s.h.i.+ka-chan, you can’t act too spoiled, you know! I can’t sleep together with you. At most… I can stay by your bedside until you fall asleep."
s.h.i.+ka puffed out her cheeks at hearing this. "That’s no good…"
"Don’t be selfish, s.h.i.+ka-chan." Seiji tried his best to put on a stern expression. "You’re not going to listen to your brother?"
"Wah…" s.h.i.+ka’s face instantly darkened.
‘I’m sorry! Just seeing such an expression makes me want to apologize! I feel so guilty!! But I really can’t; sleeping together is forbidden…’
"How… how about this: I’ll go ask the maid-san to give s.h.i.+ka-chan some delicious sweets like strawberry milk pudding to make it up to you. How does that sound?"
"…I’d prefer chocolate."
"Got it! I’ll go ask her for some!"
Seeing her expression relax slightly, Seiji inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, his gaze fell upon that sketch again.
"s.h.i.+ka-chan, could you tell me how… why was it that you wanted to draw it like this?" he asked gently.
And so, the night pa.s.sed.
s.h.i.+ka didn’t go to sleep until really late last night, but it wasn’t a problem for Seiji.
After getting out of bed, was.h.i.+ng up, and eating breakfast, he accompanied Natsuya to a certain room at the end of the second floor.
When he went inside, he saw that there was a huge Yin Yang diagram inscribed on the floor, with a gigantic pentagram inscribed on the ceiling.
This room was windowless. White lanterns hung from all four walls, candlelight flickering inside them. Despite this, the room seemed neither stifling nor hot.
Besides the Yin Yang diagram and pentagram, various runes in a language that Seiji couldn’t read were also scribbled all over the walls, ceiling, and floor… There were also two reclining chairs in the center of the Yin Yang diagram on the floor.
They seemed like rather ordinary wooden chairs which could be found in just about any home.
"s.h.i.+ka and I will be using these two chairs?"
Natsuya nodded. "Yes, and I’ll be casting the spell upon the two of you.
"As for the specific procedure, it’s just like I told you last night. First I’ll have you two undergo a special hypnosis. After that I’ll cast a spell upon you, so that your ‘spirit’ can enter her soul and aid in the investigation."
Spirit… according to Natsuya’s explanation last night, it was the self-awareness of the soul. It was something quite similar to your consciousness but still different.
According to Seiji’s understanding, to use a computer as an a.n.a.logy, consciousness was similar to the Windows operating system for everything on the surface, while spirit was like the DOS system that controlled the disks. Both systems were separate yet worked together. In conclusion, consciousness worked on the surface, while spirit functioned on a deeper level.
Natsuya’s a.s.sessment of his understanding was that it seemed rather subtle. It was correct in some parts, but incorrect in others.
Well, since Natsuya didn’t deny it straight out, Seiji just took it as him being correct. It didn’t matter to him whether or not he understood how it worked, as long as he understood the big picture.
What would it feel like for his spirit to enter someone else’s soul?
Hearing Natsuya’s description made Seiji recall a popular science fiction film in his previous life about entering other people’s dreams and planting memories in an effort to change them.
He believed that to be an excellent movie with fantastic writing. At the time, he even watched it twice in the movie theater, which left him with a deep impression.
What he was now about to do was rather similar to the main character of that film. That protagonist needed to plant memories in other peoples’ dreams, and he needed to enter a girl’s soul to locate a spell.
That protagonist had to deal with peoples’ unconscious defense systems, while Seiji would face the natural defense of s.h.i.+ka Kagura’s soul.
This was why Natsuya said that only someone s.h.i.+ka Kagura was close to would be able to act as an intermediary.
If it was a stranger, doubtlessly s.h.i.+ka’s soul’s defenses would be increased to the maximum. For someone she felt close to, the defenses should be much easier to deal with.
But there was still an element of risk involved.
Seiji had already mentally prepared himself.