The room instantly turned dark.

All the doors and windows disappeared, nothing but static appeared on the television, and an icy chill filled the dimension.

Many tiny hands reached out from the sofa and grasped every part of Seiji’s body.

Two snake-like chains also slid out and slowly began to wrap around his ankles. It was evident that their purpose was to restrain him.

‘This suddenly turned into a horror film!’ Seiji mentally sighed to himself.

s.h.i.+ka-chan was still crying in front of him. She paid no attention to the changes in the environment and acted like this was natural.

His instincts warned him that if those two chains which were slowly inching around his legs managed to tie him up completely, he would be in grave danger. Despite this, Seiji remained calm!

"s.h.i.+ka-chan..."

He used his left hand, the only moveable part of his body remaining, to pat her head once more. Seiji's mind went into overdrive as he attempted to think of a method to extricate himself from this precarious situation.

He had made a mistake.

He didn’t want s.h.i.+ka-chan to take any risks, but he ignored her feelings.

After her "brother" left, she waited here by herself for such a long time... Loneliness, worry, and fear—all dark emotions—laid dormant deep within her heart.

He wanted to leave her alone and go out by himself. This stimulated her deepest fears and caused such a situation.

In that case, how should he fix things?

The answer was obvious.

"Sorry... I was wrong," Seiji apologized sincerely. "I shouldn’t have tried to leave you alone again and go outside by myself."

He spoke in the gentlest tone he could manage.

Her crying... died down.

The dark s.p.a.ce seemed to brighten ever so slightly.

"I didn’t consider s.h.i.+ka-chan’s feelings. It was my mistake. Please forgive me," he requested sincerely while patting her head gently.

s.h.i.+ka-chan’s crying stopped.

She wiped her nose and raised her head, looking up at Seiji.

Her pale face was tear-streaked, and her mouth was still pouting. She looked pitiable.

Seiji inwardly smiled. ‘She really is too cute... even her crying face seems so soft and cute!’ 

The numerous hands which had been reaching out beneath the sofa retracted themselves and disappeared.

The chains wrapped around Seiji’s ankles also stopped moving and disappeared into the floor.

The room lit up again.

Seiji took s.h.i.+ka-chan into his arms and hugged her.

"Do you forgive me, s.h.i.+ka-chan?"

She nodded as the expression on her face became less tense.

"Thank you. s.h.i.+ka-chan really is such a good girl," Seiji said truthfully.

s.h.i.+ka-chan slowly began smiling again.

"Brother..." She was feeling warmth and comfort from being hugged by her favorite relative.

"I won’t leave s.h.i.+ka-chan behind anymore, but I really have something important I need to take care of outside. That’s why... s.h.i.+ka-chan, come together with me."

His gentle voice was also resolute.

If it was risky... then all he had to do was protect her!

Leaving her by herself wasn’t truly protecting her.

Taking her together with him and, if there was danger, using all his effort to ensure her safety was the correct way to protect her!

"Okay... I want to be together with Brother," s.h.i.+ka-chan answered delightedly.

As long as she could be together with her brother, she was willing to go anywhere.

Seiji took s.h.i.+ka-chan outside with him.

It was lighter than Seiji expected outside. It wasn’t dark to the extent of being unable to see more than one meter. 

This was due to taking s.h.i.+ka-chan together with him.

Although the sky turned much lighter, the environment was still treacherous.

Snow.

Piles and piles of snow were falling from the sky.

Seiji was now wearing a thick winter jacket. He also made s.h.i.+ka-chan wear the thickest clothes they could find, including gloves and a hat.

He still felt cold, however.

"s.h.i.+ka-chan, are you cold?"

"A little... I’m fine."

Seiji felt a twinge of pain in his heart upon seeing the girl trying to endure the chill.

"President, what should I do in this situation?" He briefed Natsuya on the situation and requested her a.s.sistance.

"Wait a moment, I’ll help you out."

After a minute.

"Alright, I’ve cast a spell on your body. If you... try your best to imagine what you want, you should be able to create it."

Imagination... Seiji thought in detail about what he wanted.

‘I want a car! One that will run even in heavy snow, with excellent heating. I want a high-cla.s.s SUV that’s as comfortable to sit in as my own home..."

Something suddenly flashed into existence before him with a golden glow.

This golden glow seemed just like the flow of water. It swiftly formed into the shape of a car and began materializing. After its color changed, it finally solidified into existence!

A silver-white SUV magically appeared in front of him.

"Amazing!" Seiji couldn’t help but praise it.

The car didn’t have any brand markings... he forgot to imagine one, as all he did was think about the outer appearance and inner functions of the car he wanted, and this was what he got.

It seemed fine on the surface, but what about the inside?

Seiji opened the car door.

He saw that inside... didn’t seem bad at all.

Although there were some details which were obviously missing, everything necessary was present.

s.h.i.+ka-chan merely blinked upon seeing a car materialize in front of her. She didn’t seem to think it was strange, nor did she ask any questions.

Seiji helped s.h.i.+ka-chan sit down on the pa.s.senger seat and put on her seat belt. He sat down on the driver’s side, put on his own seat belt, turned on the car, its heating system, and the radio.

The opening theme song of "Honey Candy Girl" started playing, while the warm air which blasted from the heating system instantly dispelled all coldness.

Excellent!

Seiji smiled. ‘This was just what I wanted.’ 

"President, this is really nice!"

"It’s fine as long as it’s helpful... by the way, what did you make!?"

"An SUV for traipsing in the snow!" Seiji replied.

Natsuya, who was still in the real world, was astonished upon hearing this.

He created a car?

In such a short amount of time!?

According to her knowledge, the "power" of this creation spell depended on both the caster’s spell power as well as the user’s spiritual power and imagination.

She had some confidence in her own spell, but this was the first time she’d actually used it, so its power should only be at a normal level.

"Creating" a car wasn’t impossible.

But it wasn’t easy to imagine such a large and complex object! Creating something so complex should have taken a relatively long amount of time.

But Seiji Haruta did it in the span of a mere thirty... no, ten seconds!

Natsuya was quite clear that her own spell’s power wasn’t at the level where it could support an ordinary person’s spiritual power to this extent. In that case, Seiji himself must possess an incredibly high spiritual power level or imagination!

And it wasn't merely above average.

Natsuya didn’t know how she should calculate it, but she knew Seiji’s spiritual power was definitely many times higher than average! It was multiplication, not addition!

Having high spiritual power could be due to the Haruta family’s bloodline, or some other reasons.

As for high imagination... was it because he was an otaku? No, it might have some influence, but saying it was all because of his otaku hobbies seemed ridiculous.

The reasons as to why Seiji Haruta possessed such abnormally high spiritual power were unclear. And this type of spiritual power meant...

Various thoughts flashed through Natsuya’s mind.

But she quickly regained her senses.

First, she needed to do what they intended to in the first place.

"President."

The boy who was seated in front of her in real life mentally spoke to her again.

"I’m currently driving the car to a ‘snow mountain...’ I feel like there’s definitely something there."

That’s because it was too obvious.

The snow flying everywhere was pure white. There was only one place where it was pitch-black instead.

That location was the top of the "snow mountain" that s.h.i.+ka-chan had talked about before.