It could even be said that the ‘Reaper’s Curse’ had protected s.h.i.+ka.

s.h.i.+ka Kagura was extraordinarily beautiful even from a young age.

Since the ‘Reaper’s Curse’ indiscriminately harmed everyone who tried to approach her, it also helped eliminate any people with underlying bad intentions towards her and prevented anything terrible from happening to s.h.i.+ka herself.

Her cla.s.smates in Year 2 Cla.s.s 4 of Genhana Middle School were a perfect example of this.

It was the same for the Yin Yang Masters that wanted to employ her. They would be afraid to do anything overboard to her, which was why she could still lead a relatively peaceful life.

This was... a situation that was truly difficult to describe.

Seiji felt it was rather complex.

‘Let’s just... stop thinking about the relations.h.i.+p between s.h.i.+ka Kagura and the "Reaper’s Curse," and think about something more tangible instead.’

He changed his train of thought.

To Seiji, the treatment that s.h.i.+ka received seemed way overboard. However, to her and her contractor Okubo Yos.h.i.+aki, it might have seemed normal.

That b.a.s.t.a.r.d Okubo Yos.h.i.+aki merely ordered s.h.i.+ka Kagura to be a distraction, but he didn’t order her to fight to the death. The spell he cast on her was also a memory seal, not memory destruction.

Did that guy believe that she wouldn’t die while subst.i.tuting in for the real Snow Girl, or did he simply not care if she died?

Was s.h.i.+ka Kagura’s death in the previous timeline something unexpected for Okubo Yos.h.i.+aki?

Judging by the fact that there was a trap on the memory-sealing spell, Okubo likely believed that she wouldn’t die. He probably antic.i.p.ated that s.h.i.+ka would be defeated and taken captive, which was why he went to such elaborate lengths with his trap.

Or was it that he didn’t care one whit if s.h.i.+ka Kagura ended up dying? After all, it wouldn’t be him that personally ended her life. So just how far did his trap extend? Was it simply in case she got taken captive, or was he willing to sacrifice her completely?

Seiji really wanted to know.

But no matter what the answer was, s.h.i.+ka died once already due to it, and that wouldn’t change.

It still wouldn’t lessen his rage.

He simply wanted to know.

Well, it didn’t matter even if he didn’t find out, since he already decided what he would do to Okubo Yos.h.i.+aki.

Even if he ignored the fact that Okubo used s.h.i.+ka as a scapegoat to receive the blame for the freezing incidents, casting such vicious spells upon s.h.i.+ka was more than plenty to stoke Seiji’s rage.

Perhaps s.h.i.+ka herself felt that Okubo’s actions were fine.

However, Seiji couldn’t accept it.

Harming someone wasn’t fine just because the victim was used to it.

In Seiji’s eyes, all those Yin Yang Masters that took advantage of s.h.i.+ka’s powers while completely ignoring her feelings, the ones who put her in various dangerous situations for their own selfish needs, and only refrained from harming her out of fear for her ‘Reaper’s Curse’ power were all b.a.s.t.a.r.ds that deserved good beatings!

"Haruta-kun?"

Natsuya calling out to Seiji helped him to come to his senses.

"Did you say something, President? Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention, so I missed what you were saying."

"I was saying that perhaps we should use the ‘mitigation’ method as well... Since we—you, me, Hitaka, and perhaps even Houjou-san—have all had significant contact with s.h.i.+ka Kagura, we should ‘mitigate’ things for ourselves in order to prevent worse catastrophes from befalling us."

Natsuya’s face became grim as she recalled the events that befell her in the previous day during her investigation outside.

"What do you suggest that we do?" Seiji thought about the example of the drama club president and her... subtle punishment in the form of the vice president’s book throws.

"I don’t have any ideas yet; how about you, Seiji?" Natsuya tossed the question back to him.

Seiji rubbed his chin.

"The only methods I can think of right now... A normal beating, wax torture, whipping, water torture, freezing, electrocution, clothespins, hanging, bondage, and so on... I’ve heard that as long as you control it properly, the victim will receive varying amounts of pain, but no marks will be left on the body."

Natsuya was rendered speechless.

She was shocked to her core!

The handsome boy in front of her seemed so proper, yet he stated so many... methods in quick succession as if it were only natural. This scene gave her an unexpected shock and threw her heart into chaos.

Seeing Natsuya’s expression caused Seiji to suddenly realize the inappropriateness of his words.

"Don’t misunderstand, President! I learned all this from various anime and manga! It’s definitely not because I have some strange interests!!" He tried his best to clear his name.

Natsuya seemed to be frightened as she withdrew from Seiji and covered her chest with her hands.

This was basically the scene of a weak pure maiden trying her best to protect herself against a pervert.

Seiji couldn’t find anything to say.

An awkward atmosphere permeated the air.

After a period of silence, Natsuya finally calmed down, put down her hands, and coughed lightly.

"Haruta-kun... It’s not that... Well, I can understand you having such interests, but..."

"I said I don’t have that type of interest! Please believe me!! President, it doesn’t matter if you understand or not, so please stop talking about it!" Seiji pleaded with every fiber of his being.

"Er... Okay then." Natsuya appeared to accept his begging. "Your methods... er... might have some value, so... we can consider them." She tried to speak about them at face value, but she suddenly thought of something that caused her face to turn slightly red.

‘Don’t blush at this timing! It’s terribly embarra.s.sing to imagine what you must be thinking!!’ Seiji inwardly shouted.

He was also really curious just what she envisioned...

‘Cough cough, stop going off on a tangent!’

"As long as they were useful... By the way, we don’t really need to ‘mitigate’ things immediately, do we? It’s not like any catastrophes will instantly befall us, so we can take the time to consider our next course of action properly."

Natsuya nodded. "You’re right."

There was yet another period of silence.

"Also," the president continued, forcefully putting the awkwardness behind her, "now that I’ve confirmed my enemy’s ident.i.ty, I’m going to formally request a duel with him. I hope to change this duel to a direct one."

Seiji blinked. "Will that work?"

"It’s likely that it won’t," Natsuya stated calmly. "It’s quite probable that my challenge will be refused, since he’s already made so many preparations, and he wouldn’t allow the situation to develop into a duel, which would be in my favor."

"Then what will happen?"

"It depends on the results of our discussion... I expect that in the end, one side will be the attacker and the other side will be the defender."

"Then what’s the purpose behind you doing this?"

"Making a duel request and discussing terms... this in and of itself can help us to obtain information and make inferences from it.

"Even if it’s almost impossible to change the duel method, there are still details that can be discussed, and I’ll do my best to take any advantage I can get. Of course, it’s the same for him."

Seiji’s eyebrows rose slightly. "Can I understand this as a compet.i.tion between two families now?"

Natsuya blinked in surprise. "You’re free to interpret it this way... you have the ability to see through certain subtle matters, Haruta-kun."

"I believe I’ve heard something similar from you before," Seiji replied.

"Indeed."

Seiji and Natsuya smiled as they exchanged glances.

"I have full confidence that you won’t be at a disadvantage if it comes to a direct negotiation, President Yoruhana." Seiji smiled before continuing, "I’ll be waiting for your good news."

"I’ll put in my best effort to respond to your trust in me... For me to even reach this step has all been thanks to you, Haruta-kun." Natsuya smiled as well. "Once more, I express my grat.i.tude to you."

"Once more, it’s my honor." Seiji scratched his face and averted his gaze. "By the way, what should I do now?"

"You don’t need to do anything else; you can go back to cla.s.s... Or you can continue taking care of s.h.i.+ka Kagura." Natsuya fixed him with a searching gaze. "She really wants to know... what happened while she had amnesia," she said in a light tone.

Seiji froze for a moment.

Natsuya rescinded her gaze, stood up, and left without any further words.

Seiji remained in a daze for several moments in the hallway before he finally sighed.

‘Let’s go see how things are at school.’