Mai was the only one who came together with Natsuya. Neither Hitaka nor Rana came to visit Seiji"s apartment.Natsuya"s two Spirit-branded Retainers had already given Seiji their encouragement.
Hitaka gave him a custom-made chess piece, while Rana gave him a physical copy of a new and popular video game… these two vastly different presents both contained the same heartfelt encouragement. Seiji could tell by the gifts he received through his system.
The chess piece brought along three reward cards named "Encouragement", "Expectations", and "Trust", while the video game awarded him with three cards that had identical names but different effects.
Hitaka"s cards awarded him with cards that were a one-time temporary buff for his sword techniques" attack power, a one-time buff for his defensive spells or techniques, and a card that could restore his physical energy and heal physical wounds. Rana"s cards awarded him with temporary stealth, a short duration buff for his speed and dexterity, and one chance to cast any spell without using mana… they were all quite practical cards.
Seiji was truly grateful for their feelings.
At this moment, Reo was happily playing the video game that Rana had given to Seiji. The television screen showed a bulky man who wore tight-fitting clothes. This man speedily built a house and used that house as his base to shoot at his enemies with a bubble gun. His enemies were all sent flying and exploded in brilliant flashes of light.
At this moment, there was a knock on the door. Seiji opened the door to see that Kaede Juumonji and Nozomi Uehara had come to visit him.
When the blonde-haired teacher entered, she greeted Mai and asked Reo about what type of game she was playing. Kaede joined the conversation in a natural manner.
This was the first time that the landlord had met Mai. Seiji introduced the two of them to each other.
Nozomi was rather curious about the fact that Mai worked as a maid. Nozomi asked questions about this that Mai politely responded to. They entered conversation naturally as well.
s.h.i.+ka came out of her room and sat down quietly next to Seiji.
This was the highest-level density of beautiful females" population that Seiji"s apartment had ever experienced! As he was the only male in his apartment right now, Seiji felt like simply staying here was a type of enjoyment in and of itself.
Was it really alright to be so blissful right before the major tournament battle?
Seiji suddenly felt a mysterious ominous premonition while being in the middle of such a wonderful environment. Still, he soon forced this ominous premonition into the corner of his mind.
The girls soon finished preparing everyone"s dinner.
Mika, Chiaki, and Natsuya"s combined cooking efforts produced an abundant amount of food that looked delicious. Upon eating the food… it was indeed delicious.
This was already an excellent effort by the three of them for their current cooking skills. Seiji sincerely gave them his praise.
Yet, the landlord and the professional maid acted as food critics and pointed out the problems and where the food could still be improved.
As a result, everyone talked about the topic of cooking for the entire dinner… which seemed pretty nice to Seiji.
After he finished eating this meal which contained his girlfriends" heartfelt feelings, Seiji was satisfied to the point where he felt that he could face any challenge. It would be fine even if he transformed into Ultraman and saved the world!
It was just a mere Bloodwine Ritual tournament! He would win it for everyone to see!
The day of the Bloodwine Ritual tournament.
Seiji and s.h.i.+ka finished their preparations. After saying goodbye to Mika and the others, they got on Natsuya"s car and headed towards the meeting location for the tournament.
Upon reaching the tournament grounds, Natsuya nudged up to Seiji and kissed him pa.s.sionately.
"You absolutely have to be careful."
After separating their lips, she glanced directly into his eyes and gently gave him a reminder.
Seiji smiled and nodded.
"The same to you, Kagursan." Natsuya also looked at s.h.i.+ka. "Please be careful."
s.h.i.+ka also nodded slightly.
Seiji and s.h.i.+ka then both put on some sungla.s.ses, activated disguise magic, and got off the car.
The student council president sighed after she watched them leave.
She had been unable to obtain a spectator slot from her family. She was unable to accompany them.
Her boyfriend was fighting for her sake, yet she would be unable to even spectate the tournament… Natsuya felt truly apologetic.
All she could do was bring them here, then wait.
Seiji and s.h.i.+ka got on the pa.s.senger s.h.i.+p that Natsuya brought them to.
Right, the meeting location was a pa.s.senger s.h.i.+p!
The tournament would be held on an island by the name of Momozu Island.
Momozu Island was a formerly inhabited island which was abandoned due to various reasons. There was n.o.body living on this island now.
Having a large-scale battle on this island would be fine since no matter how large the commotion, it wouldn"t attract any attention. Nor would there be any need for a large-scale coverup of the aftermath. This could be called a perfect place to hold a Spiritual Ability user tournament. The only small problem was that it was a bit difficult to get there.
The tournament hosts obtained some pa.s.senger s.h.i.+ps to help ferry the partic.i.p.ants onto Momozu Island.
Of course, it was fine if partic.i.p.ants wanted to get onto the island by themselves. They would simply need to arrive at the port on Momozu Island by the designated time.
Natsuya had offered to rent a s.h.i.+p to ferry them there. However, Seiji felt that there was no need when they could just take advantage of the host"s free s.h.i.+ps.
There would be a certain degree of risk involved with meeting other tournament partic.i.p.ants on the s.h.i.+p. Yet, it would also be a chance to communicate with the other partic.i.p.ants.
In the worst-case scenario, perhaps there would be a major fight on the s.h.i.+p itself… But Seiji figured that the tournament hosts would prevent such an incident from occurring. Otherwise, what would be the point of the tournament?
But once Seiji boarded the s.h.i.+p, he discovered that all his previous thoughts were unnecessary. That was because there wasn"t even a single other pa.s.senger!
Seiji and s.h.i.+ka were led to the dining room of the pa.s.senger s.h.i.+p. When they saw that only the s.h.i.+p"s crew was present, Seiji asked and learned that the two of them were the only Spiritual Ability users to have boarded the s.h.i.+p!
It was already almost the scheduled time for the s.h.i.+p to leave.
Were all the other partic.i.p.ants going to the island on their own personal s.h.i.+ps?
If that was really the case, Seiji would feel really awkward.
Still, he could bear with this amount of awkwardness. He and s.h.i.+ka would be able to ride on such a large s.h.i.+p all by themselves. Plus, the food and drinks were free here. That was pretty sweet.
Seiji and s.h.i.+ka ordered some food and ate slowly. The servers even turned on the television for them to watch.
Seiji took out his cell phone and took a picture of the completely empty large dining hall. He sent this photo to Natsuya and the others and explained the situation.
"Riding on a large s.h.i.+p all by yourself? I want to experience that as well!" Chiaki was the quickest to respond.
"There"s n.o.body else at all…?" Natsuya was also surprised by this.
"It seems like such a waste," Mika commented.
Seiji responded to all their comments.
At this moment, footsteps approached. Seiji reflexively turned around and saw two jacketed men that wore sungla.s.ses entering the dining hall.
These two men were partic.i.p.ants!
The two men had identical height. Their faces, figures, and clothing were quite similar. They had identical sungla.s.ses, hairstyles, and hair color. They appeared to be twins.
But they actually weren"t… Seiji recognized them thanks to Hana"s information on the tournament partic.i.p.ants. These two men were an a.s.sa.s.sin duo known as the "Is.h.i.+hana husband and wife" duo!
The reason that they were called "husband and wife" was actually quite simple. These two men were h.o.m.os.e.xual and had excellent tacit cooperation with each other. It was said that they rarely failed any a.s.signment that they accepted in the Spiritual Ability user society. Meanwhile, "Is.h.i.+hana" was simply the combination of the first kanji of their last names.
This a.s.sa.s.sin "husband and wife" duo was in the third category of tournament partic.i.p.ants. There was plenty of information available about them. Still, Seiji was instantly able to recognize them mostly because they hadn"t disguised their appearance.
And as Seiji looked at them, they also noticed Seiji and s.h.i.+ka.
The Is.h.i.+hana duo saw… a teenage boy and girl who both wore black jackets, hats, and sungla.s.ses.
Feeling that something was off, both of them immediately used Astral Vision to inspect the teenagers. The a.s.sa.s.sin duo immediately found out that the teenagers had used disguising magic as expected. They then tried to pierce through the disguise magic, but to their surprise, they failed. This sent an instant chill through their hearts.
As a.s.sa.s.sins, Kenji Hanai and Tadayuki Is.h.i.+has.h.i.+ were rather confident in their own a.s.sessment capabilities.
This was especially all the more so for Is.h.i.+has.h.i.+. His Astral Vision was a lot higher level than Hanai"s, yet he was only able to partially see through to the teenage pair"s real appearance.
"These two should be rather young, especially the girl. Her actual age should be much younger than the disguise magic she"s put on… that"s all that I can tell." Is.h.i.+has.h.i.+ mentally communicated this to Hanai by using a spell.
"That"s all that even someone like you can see? A young male and female pair that"s able to use such high-level disguise magic… they"re probably ninjas," Hanai guessed.