During cla.s.s, Seiji spent about half an hour writing the character settings for "There’s Definitely Something Wrong with My Holy Knight Career Path!"After using his newfound writing skill several times in a row, he noticed that his concentration level was rapidly decreasing. He realized that this was an aftereffect of draining his mental spirit.
"Concentration" was also connected to "mental spirit," so using it up would affect his mental acuteness. Seiji could feel a tangible difference now that his mental spirit was depleted.
Energy and mental spirit... perhaps they were the equivalents of HP and MP, but it was rather inconvenient that Seiji was unable to view a physical stat for these two values.
‘System, could you help me out with this matter?’
Naturally, the system didn’t respond.
‘Fine, it’s a dating sim system, not an RPG game system. I’ll give it some allowance.’
After making those comments to himself, Seiji lazily stretched before standing up.
An ordinary and peaceful school life awaited him.
Everything that occurred yesterday happened in the course of a single day, but it seemed to take a lot longer than that.
"Heh heh, Seigo..." The tomboy grinned evilly as she approached him.
"If you dare to bring up what happened this morning one more time, be careful ‘cause I’ll hit you again!"
"Eek! So violent~"
"Stop pretending like you’re a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t!"
"Seigo..." Mika started.
"Mm? Mika, what’s the matter?"
"Um, I’m actually a little curious..." The pigtailed beauty was acting bashful. "That person... was he beautiful after wearing female clothing and a wig? Did you take a picture of him?"
Seiji was rendered speechless for a full three seconds by the unexpected attack before he was able to come up with a forceful retort. "Who would take a picture of that!!?"
A peaceful and joyous daily life was indeed the best... right?
...
After cla.s.ses had ended in the afternoon.
Seiji received a text message during lunch break, so he headed for the student council office at this time.
After he arrived.
"These... I’ll leave them to you, Haruta-kun."
Natsuya Yoruhana’s expression was serious as she placed a leather briefcase in front of Seiji.
"The talismans are inside?" Seiji took the briefcase and tested its weight.
Natsuya sighed. "Yeah. I made them as quickly as I could. Please take great care with them as you make your delivery."
Seiji nodded. "I will."
From what Seiji could see, the student council president seemed rather haggard compared to her normal appearance. Her pale complexion added a different touch to her beauty; she now seemed weak and lovely.
She was probably fatigued from creating such a large amount of talismans.
"I’ll take these immediately over to them... As for how to use the talismans, it’s fine to just have people walking about while carrying a talisman on their bodies, correct?"
"Yes, that’s the case."
"Understood. I’ll be leaving then." Seiji stopped before he turned around and said, "Take a good rest, Prez; your complexion doesn’t seem so good."
A hint of surprise showed on Natsuya’s face, before she displayed a soft and gentle smile. "I don’t really have the time to rest... But thanks for your concern, Haruta-kun."
The beautiful missus’ smile in her slightly weakened state was a sight to behold.
‘This smile was definitely worth the trip!’ Seiji praised it in his heart.
Seiji finally left the student council room.
The leather briefcase filled with talismans wasn’t heavy at all.
But as he thought about what they signified, Seiji felt the briefcase’s weight increase.
After he delivered the briefcase, the strengthening of the detection spell would begin. After that, the attempt to stop the enemy’s Spirit-branded Retainer would begin, and Hitaka Shuho would do battle with the Snow Girl.
A battle between Spirit-branded Retainers... how would that look like? And what would the result be?
Seiji didn’t have a strong impression of Hitaka Shuho. After all, he’d only met her twice, and the red-haired girl had always acted cold towards him. They’d barely exchanged any words, but still... she was someone he knew; someone he’d shared tea together with.
What was she like as a Spirit-branded Retainer? Would she be injured, or even... die in battle against the enemy?
Seiji didn’t know.
This upcoming Yin Yang Master duel could have possible repercussions for the entire school. The duel would begin soon, and he knew what would happen, but he couldn’t predict the result.
‘Forget it; I should stop thinking about it. It would be better to believe that Hitaka will be able to defeat her opponent, and Natsuya will end up victorious in this duel.’
At least for the time being...
Seiji left school carrying the leather briefcase.
He didn’t notice that a pair of eyes were watching him from afar.
"Seigo Harano..." a voice softly spoke his name, and the sound quickly dissipated into the wind.
The leather briefcase was successfully delivered to the Juumonji group.
Michirou Juumonji’s expression was grave as he received the briefcase and promised that he would handle the talismans carefully.
Just like last time, Seiji politely rejected the invitation to eat dinner with the Juumonji family.
Also, just like last time, Michirou didn’t insist. His eyes flashed with an enigmatic light as he politely said goodbye.
What was going on?
One time didn’t mean much, but for this to happen twice... Seiji felt something was slightly abnormal. Not because of Michirou not insisting on dinner, but because of Michirou’s strange att.i.tude!
It didn’t seem like malice or a plot of some sort, and it was difficult to describe.
He didn’t understand it at all.
Seiji was too lazy to think more deeply into Michirou’s motives.
He didn’t expect that he wouldn’t need to think about it anymore, since he would learn about it soon!
Seiji returned to his apartment.
He had only rested inside for a minute when he heard a knock on his door.
‘Is it Mika?’ Seiji stood up and opened the door.
And the result was...
"h.e.l.lo, I’m living next door starting from today, so please take good care of me."
He was greeted by the sight of a beautiful girl with curly blonde hair, sky-blue eyes, and a delicate appearance smiling at him brightly. The girl wore a light blue one-piece dress and exuded a seemingly gentle aura.
Please take good care... what the h.e.l.l!?
Seiji stared at the beauty in front of him in astonishment. "You... you’re living next door?"
"Yep, this is a moving-in present for you. My dear neighbor, please don’t mind this insignificant present and receive it." The blonde girl held out an exquisitely packaged cake towards Seiji.
"Oh, thanks... what the h.e.l.l!" Seiji almost reflexively accepted the present, but he instantly recovered his senses. "You’re living next door starting from today!? What’s going on, Kaede Juumonji-san!!?"
That’s right; this gentle blonde beauty happened to be the daughter of Michirou Juumonji, who he had just talked to. She was a mafia boss’s daughter!
Kaede flashed a pretty smile. "I want to temporarily leave home and live by myself, and my father agreed, that’s all!"
It sounded quite normal, but that wasn’t the problem!
"I want to ask why you’re living here!? You’re... a missus from a respectable family! And this is a simple low-cla.s.s apartment!"
"My apologies for this being a low-cla.s.s apartment." Nozomi Uehara suddenly appeared out of nowhere and let out a sigh.
"Ah... Mrs. Landlord!?" Seiji was surprised by her arrival. "No... that’s not what I meant! I meant..."
"Harano-kun, you don’t need to try and explain; this isn’t a high-cla.s.s apartment anyways." Nozomi didn’t seem to mind too much as she looked at the blonde-haired girl and continued, "That’s why I was curious as well: why would a beauty like Juumonji-san who is accustomed to a comfortable life want to live here? I asked her this question already.
"She told me that she was an acquaintance of yours, Harano-kun, and that she knew you lived here... She didn’t bring too much money from her home, so living here next to you would help her save money as well as giving her a feeling of safety."
Nozomi fixed her eyes on the handsome boy. "This apartment’s greatest benefit is the cheap rent. As for a feeling of safety... Harano-kun, did something happen between you and Juumonji-san in the past? Exactly what type of relations.h.i.+p do the two of you have?"
The landlord’s amber eyes, which bore a strong resemblance to Mika’s, blinked repeatedly and shone with a curious light.