When Seiji regained his senses, he discovered that s.h.i.+ka was in his embrace.

‘I actually did such a thing!?’

He was shocked at his own actions.

He discovered that he was more worried about her than he had previously believed.

Once again, he thought back to those… innocent dying words of hers.

As she lay there dying, she never complained about any of the difficulties that she faced.

She had plenty of right to complain or to hate this unreasonably cruel world.

But she didn’t.

She only smiled.

At him… saying farewell to her only friend in the world.

Like this… for such a girl… such a death… How could he possibly accept it!?

Seiji was unable to accept it.

That was why he was unable to… control himself when he saw her alive and well in front of him again.

He went up to her, kneeled, and hugged her.

She must be confused at this situation.

Perhaps… he would be pushed away by her.

Seiji laughed wryly at himself in his heart.

However, he didn’t let go.

‘This is wonderful.’

He had wanted to say that she was fine… but he changed it in the end to "you came."

You came, you’re safe, and you’re here. How wonderful…

Seiji was attempting to transmit his emotions.

At the same time, he also mentally prepared himself for him to be shoved aside.

Instead…

No fist, foot, or any type of beating awaited him.

s.h.i.+ka Kagura didn’t resist at all.

Rather, she also reached out and hugged him!

"Older brother…"

Older brother?

Seiji paused in surprise at hearing her call him this.

"My older brother’s… coming for me…" Those were the words she spoke last as she died during the last iteration.

Her "older brother…" Seiji a.s.sumed this older brother was once a truly important figure in her life, but he’d already pa.s.sed away.

Was she mistaking me for her older brother?

‘Are her injuries that serious?’ Seiji’s heart skipped a beat as he imagined it.

No, that wasn’t it! When she came down from the sky, she could still stand… and now she was still kneeling on one knee! It meant that she still had some energy!

It was just… perhaps she received some type of impact, and she temporarily… wasn’t in full possession of her faculties… something like this.

‘Yes, that must be it. That was why she didn’t push me away. I’ve become someone else in her eyes.’

Seiji was certain of this.

"Older brother… Older brother…" A soft and gentle voice was calling to him.

Seiji blinked.

"Yep… your older brother… is right here."

He decided to pretend to be her older brother.

Even if this was only a temporary fantasy, he decided to allow this girl to feel a sense of familial warmth, however brief.

She… must have not felt it for such a long time already.

"It’s okay. Everything will be fine. Your older brother… has always been by your side and will always accompany you. You… are not alone."

Seiji hugged her while speaking in the gentlest deep voice he possibly could.

He wished that his words would console her lonely heart at least a little.

"Older brother… Wahh…. Older brother… Wahh…"

She began to sob lightly.

"Wahh… Ahh…. Ahhhh!"

Her crying began to increase in intensity.

After a while, s.h.i.+ka Kagura was weeping in her loudest possible voice as she clung on to the warm, strong body in front of her.

This was crying that came from her soul.

Her older brother was here.

Her older brother had found her.

Her older brother would always accompany her.

She… was no longer by herself…

A huge warm feeling seemed to envelop her entire world and fill her heart.

It squeezed out the iciness, loneliness, and her original distant att.i.tude.

It turned into unstoppable crying.

It turned into a never-ending flow of tears.

‘Just what type of crying is this?’

Seiji trembled as he listened to her crying.

It seemed like her crying was venting all her cold, dark feelings… Just how deep did they run…

Was she always shouldering such a burden?

By herself.

On her own.

In calmness.

She suppressed her feelings… and treated it as normal.

Seiji felt terrible just thinking about it.

The only thing he could do for her right now was hug her tightly and accept her crying.

Even if… he was only temporarily her fake brother.

Rain continued to pour down from the sky.

Tears continued to pour down the girl’s cheeks.

Coldness.

Warmth.

Everything dissolved together.

The crying continued for a long period of time, before it finally came to a slow halt.

s.h.i.+ka’s hands also slowly fell downward from where she had been holding on to Seiji.

Seiji became nervous at this situation.

He hurriedly let go of her and inspected her face.

s.h.i.+ka’s eyes were closed, and she was silent. Despite her pallid complexion, it was clear that she was still alive.

"Relax… she merely fell unconscious."

Someone spoke up behind him.

Seiji turned around to see who it was.

He saw the red-haired girl standing there.

"Shuho-san…"

Hitaka Shuho had basically the same appearance as last time.

The difference was that veins weren’t bulging from her face, and her eyes were golden and calm. Nor was she wielding a weapon at the moment.

She hadn’t gone crazy or lost control of herself.

"I learned from Milady… everything is thanks to your help, Harano… Haruta-kun." She walked towards Seiji as she spoke. "It was your inference that avoided… something disastrous from occurring."

The red-haired girl’s voice contained a sliver of fear.

Thanks to Seiji’s warning to the president, she had held back when fighting. President Yoruhana also acted swiftly and went through the procedure to remove the ‘Reaper’s Curse’ student from her status as a student, temporarily expelling her so that she was no longer a "Genhana student." This way Hitaka wouldn’t feel any repercussions from the spell formation for having raised her hand against a student that she was supposed to have been protecting, which would inflict the ‘Reaper’s Curse’ upon the entire school’s population and spell formation.

That’s why, even though she… even though Hitaka Shuho would probably still have some calamity befall her due to having fought with and injuring the ‘Reaper’s Curse,’ it was a much better situation than falling for the enemy’s trap and having things turn into the worst-case scenario.

"s.h.i.+ka Kagura… just as you believed, she was the enemy’s Spirit-branded Retainer, and the spirit she fused with was also Snow Girl. But she wasn’t the Snow Girl who carried out all the dirty work for the enemy. Milady confirmed that already; s.h.i.+ka was definitely still at school when the enemy Snow Girl was active."

"That’s why… we had a blind spot.

"We already eliminated s.h.i.+ka Kagura from our list of suspects, so we never expected her to be a Spirit-branded Retainer, not to mention a second Snow Girl!"

Hitaka sighed.

"Milady… and I, we both fell for the enemy’s trap… If it weren’t for you, I’m afraid that…"

Hitaka lowered her head.

She lifted it back up quickly again.

Then she lowered her head again… this time in a bow.

"Thank you so much, Haruta-kun."

‘I owe you my life,’ she whispered to herself in her mind.

Seiji smiled at Hitaka.

"No need to be so polite, Shuho-san. I’m so happy… that you’re safe."

A strange light flashed in Hitaka’s eyes as she slowly lifted her head and straightened her stance once more as she listened to Seiji’s sincere words.

She walked up to him and made a mysterious gesture with her hand. After forming some type of "seal," she uttered an incantation.

Seiji instantly felt a warm feeling wash over him as the chill from the rainwater disappeared.

His wet clothes quickly became dry… s.h.i.+ka’s clothes were the same as well.

"Thank you."

"There’s no need for thanks."

He exchanged glances with Hitaka, and both of them remained silent for a while.

Hitaka s.h.i.+fted her gaze to s.h.i.+ka.

"You… seem to place a great deal of importance on her."

"Yeah… I’m surprised at it myself," Seiji answered honestly.

"You and her… you don’t know each other very well, right?"

"That’s right. This is just my third time meeting her. We’ve barely even talked."

"Then… just why?" The red-haired girl seemed slightly perplexed.

"I don’t know either!" Seiji forced himself to inject spirit into his voice. "But that’s just how it is… I feel it’s rather strange as well, but that’s just how things are, as you can see for yourself!"

Hitaka found no words to respond to this.

"If I had to come up with some forceful reason, it would be… I think that s.h.i.+ka is a nice girl. She shouldn’t… be like the way she is…" Seeing the vacant expression on Hitaka’s face, Seiji tried his best to justify himself.

"Oh…" Hitaka still couldn’t comprehend Seiji’s actions.

But there was a strange feeling inside her chest.

How to describe this feeling? Hmm…

She tilted her head slightly as she considered it, and she had a sudden flash of inspiration as she found the word she believed she was looking for.

This word perfectly described a boy who had underhanded motives for showing an abnormal level of affection towards a beautiful girl that he hadn’t known for all that long—

"Pervert."

Seiji was rendered speechless by this.