"As I said, I"ll take good care of her," Seiji promised. "Leave her to me, Hirai-san."
The three of them left the hospital after saying goodbye to Hirai and took a taxi back to the Uehara apartment complex.
Seiji brought Reo inside. "This is our home. Unfortunately it"s not as s.p.a.cious as your uncle"s residence."
The little girl didn"t seem to be dissatisfied with the apartment. She merely looked around curiously.
"We can clean up the study a little bit and it can become your room. Or," Seiji added as an afterthought, "you can live together with me in my room; it"s pretty big,"
Reo"s eyes flashed with a strange light when she heard this.
Seiji then showed her the study.
"There"s not much furniture here, and I need to go buy another bed... or perhaps we could move the one in your uncle"s residence here."
"What about Brother Harano"s room?" the little girl asked after seeing the study.
Seiji blinked at this. "It"s over here... do you really want to live in my room?"
He really did say the second half of that sentence casually without thinking about it.
"I"d like to see it first."
"Alright," Seiji said, taking her to see his room.
Seiji didn"t have many things in his room, which helped in making it seem s.p.a.cious. There was also a large window, so the room was quite bright. It seemed far more comfortable than the study that was just a tiny room.
"I want to live here!" Reo said decisively. "I don"t want to live in that small room. I want to live here in this big room together with Brother."
"Really!?" Seiji thought. "Are... you sure?"
"Yep!" Reo nodded before she looked towards the large bed in Seiji"s room. "If I sleep together with Brother, I won"t even need a new bed."
"She even wants to sleep together with me!?" Seiji was rather stunned by this. "For an elementary school girl of her age... shouldn"t she object to sleeping together with a high school boy?"
"Although that bed"s large enough for two, do you really want to do this, Reo-chan?"
"Yep, I think it"s fine like this. Don"t you want to, Brother Harano?" asked the little girl, her eyes sparkling and her face flushed with a tinge of red.
Seiji felt like he had been struck by a heavy cannon shot from the loli. "So cute!"
"I... Of course I wouldn"t be unwilling. I just mean that you don"t need to force yourself; you can sleep by yourself..."
He felt it would be awkward if he confessed that he had just mentioned it casually. It seemed to him like he had fallen into a pit trap dug by himself.
"I don"t think I"m forcing myself at all. It…" Reo looked down at her feet bashfully, "seems pretty nice to be able to sleep together with Brother."
Seiji was struck by yet another heavy cannonball! Where was the medic!?
"Oh... I see." Seiji scratched his face awkwardly. "Then... let"s just sleep together."
She was just a child. Sleeping together with her wasn"t a big deal. She would likely want to sleep by herself after a while.
*s.h.i.+ng!*
Seiji suddenly heard a sound that resembled the unsheathing of a sword! His expression froze as he turned around and saw s.h.i.+ka Kagura standing behind him with an expressionless face.
"When did she get there!?"
The black-haired girl"s hands were behind her back; Demon Blade Muramasa was there as well... and Seiji was unable to see if it had been unsheathed or not.
"s.h.i.+kchan..." Seiji"s expression remained frozen solid.
s.h.i.+ka glanced at Reo, then she focused on her adopted older brother"s face for a good while, giving him a deep look.
Then, she turned around and left.
"What did that mean?" Seiji broke into cold sweat.
Did she or didn"t she unsheathe her sword just now? Was it just his mistaken impression? He was rather scared...
Afterwards, he helped carry in and organize all of Reo"s luggage, making her move-in official. Then, Seiji called Peach-sensei to tell her about the results.
"You"re going to take care of Reo... won"t that be inconvenient for you?" Mayuzumi asked after hearing about the situation. "How about... I take care of her instead?"
"That"s not good, Sensei. We don"t know what might happen if you and Reo live together," Seiji explained. "It"s better that I take care of her. If... if Reo loses control of her power again, s.h.i.+kchan and I should be able to suppress her."
Mayuzumi fell silent for a moment.
"You"re right," she said, sighing deeply.
The root cause of the incident—the mysterious power—was still there, and there was no known way to dispel it.
Solely based on this, the incident wasn"t entirely over, because they didn"t know what would happen in the future.
It was also unknown just who had defeated Shouhei Hirai and injured him so badly. It would be best if it was done by a pa.s.ser-by with a sense of justice, but there was no way to confirm this either, so it was also a cause for concern.
They could only leave things as they were. No matter what, life had to go on.
"Sensei... how"s your phobia?" Seiji tried asking.
Last night, Natsuya helped to seal Mayuzumi"s memories. Afterwards, Mayuzumi stopped having nightmares, which was evidence that this tactic had been effective.
"It"s already improved greatly," Mayuzumi told him. "When I went home, I intentionally took a bus, and... although I"m still a little nervous, it feels much, much better than before."
"That"s great, then." Seiji was delighted to hear this news. "In that case, it"s probably only a matter of time before your phobia is completely cured."
"Yes... it would seem so." Mayuzumi smiled and said, "Harutkun, there are no words that can express my grat.i.tude. I might have to trouble you in the future as well. I... don"t even know what to say. Thank you... if there"s ever any time when you think I can help you out, please let me know... even though I might not be able to do anything."
Seiji fell silent for a moment before he smiled as well. "Sensei, I"ll remember what you said just now! A megpopular beautiful manga author is quite a useful friend to have! When I need your help, I"ll ask without hesitating, so prepare yourself!"
"Oh..." Mayuzumi responded dazedly upon hearing him suddenly speak in such a tone.
"Don"t regret saying this in the future! As an icy-cold man, I won"t accept regret or objections! Wahaha—"
Seiji laughed maniacally like the epitome of a villain. Then, he hung up the call just like that.
Mayuzumi"s expression remained confused for a good while as she looked at her cell phone, before she finally chuckled. "Honestly..."
After school, Mika and Chiaki both visited Seiji"s apartment. They were here to listen to his story.
Seiji told them about everything that happened yesterday.
He recounted the battle at Amami-sensei"s house and the undead spirits possessing Shouhei Hirai. He then explained how they hired Mai Houjou and solved the mystery of the Story of a Hundred Demons game from ten years ago and linked it to the nightmares, the mysterious power, and the inheritance pa.s.sed down from mother to daughter. Then he retold the battle at school and his experience in the soul realm...
Mika and Chiaki wallowed in a state of constant astonishment as they attentively listened to his tale.
The two of them received the greatest shock when they heard how Seiji had entered the soul realm and searched for Amami-sensei everywhere in the strange, fictional city where time pa.s.sed at a different rate compared to reality. They were especially amazed when they learned that Mayuzumi had spent almost half a year inside there by herself!
To act as someone else"s dead mother in that fictional, dreamlike place for almost half a year... they found it difficult to imagine would that would be like. Then, Seiji told them about how his connection to President Yoruhana was cut off, leaving him trapped within the soul realm as well.
Their eyes widened to saucers at this part.
He told them about summoning the Honey Candy Girl army and attempting to convince Reo to let go, as well as the long, intense battle that he fought in. After that, he recounted how he had successfully convinced Reo to come out, allowing them to return to reality...
Seiji intentionally skipped over the part about Hinako Tachibana"s appearance. He felt that it would be best if as few people as possible knew about the dead being resurrected.
He also told them about his meeting with Shouhei Hirai and their discussion. He mentioned how they weren"t able to solve the mystery of who had subdued and thrashed Hirai and that he had promised to take care of Reo Tachibana, concluding the story.
Mika and Chiaki were speechless for a long while. This basically seemed like a huge movie!
A battle involving a mystical element, as well as suspense, other various exciting elements, and even horror. There was a beginning, story development, a plot twist, and a climax... the setup was clear and complete.
If it were to be worked upon, it didn"t even require any touching up. It was basically a movie plot! The story seemed that majestic to them.
They looked at Seiji with complex expressions on their faces.
They wanted to say so much, but didn"t know what to say, because they didn"t know where to begin.
Everyone remained silent for a while.
"So," Chiaki said, finally breaking the silence, "the result in the end is… you now have another younger sister, right?"