Seiji had agreed to a date with someone from his grade. When he hung up, he discovered that his heart was beating rather quickly.

He was actually nervous... well, he supposed it was only natural.

She had confessed to him before and had clearly expressed romantic interest in him. For such a beauty to ask him out on a date, and him promising to meet her meant that...

'No, I shouldn't think too much of it.' Seiji stopped himself from dwelling on the matter for too long.

Currently, Yukari was simply a friend he enjoyed chatting with about common interests.

Tomorrow, he was just going to meet a friend and chat a little.

...But was it really like that?

He imagined hearing that question in his mind.

‘Of course! I don’t have any other intentions; we're only talking!’ Seiji attempted to persuade himself.

Then, he thought of s.h.i.+ka-chan. He was going on a date tomorrow... no, just chatting with a friend. He felt like he should tell her.

‘It’s alright to tell her tomorrow as well, isn’t it?’ Seiji suddenly had that thought, and he discovered that he was actually feeling like he didn’t believe himself.

‘Why do I feel like I don’t even believe myself?’ He didn’t understand, so he decided to immediately tell s.h.i.+ka about it.

Right at this time, there was a knock on his door.

"Brother Seiji, I’ve finished showering... it’s your turn."

Seiji opened his door to see the black-haired beauty in pajamas.

He had begun to build up a resistance against seeing his adopted sister straight from the shower. Now he was able to simply appreciate it in silence.

"s.h.i.+ka-chan, I... I’m going out for a bit tomorrow."

s.h.i.+ka blinked at this. "Are you going to see Yukari Asamiya?"

"...How did you know?"

"Tomorrow is Sat.u.r.day, and I figured that it was about time that she would contact Brother," s.h.i.+ka said lightly.

Seiji felt a subtle chill.

"What time are you going, and where did she arrange to meet you?" s.h.i.+ka asked.

"Tomorrow morning at 9:30, at..." Seiji answered honestly.

"Got it." s.h.i.+ka nodded. "Good night, Brother Seiji."

She turned around and left.

As Seiji watched her leave, he faintly felt as if he had made some sort of mistake.

Upon considering it over more carefully, he felt that he didn’t do anything wrong... all he did was tell his adopted sister about going out to chat with a friend about common interests.

He decided to not dwell on the matter and to go take his shower.

Meanwhile, after s.h.i.+ka entered her room, she immediately whipped out her cell phone and called someone who instantly picked up.

"Good evening, Uehara-san..." she said.

Mika was surprised when she saw that the caller was s.h.i.+ka Kagura. Since tomorrow was Sat.u.r.day and she was free, she was just thinking about what to do when she received a call from s.h.i.+ka.

"Good evening. What’s up, Kagura-san?"

"Uehara-san, do you know the person named Yukari Asamiya?" s.h.i.+ka asked her in a calm voice.

"Yukari Asamiya... I know her."

"Brother Seiji is going to have a date with her tomorrow."

Mika froze solid in shock for a good two seconds.

"D-date!?" she spluttered.

"Yes, using the excuse of a meeting between friends to chat about common interests..."

s.h.i.+ka gave Mika a summary of what happened when Seiji and her coincidentally ran into Yukari at the bookstore.

"Just now, she contacted Brother, and arranged a time and place to meet tomorrow..."

Mika hurriedly wrote down the information.

"Kagura-san, why did you tell this to me?" Mika asked.

"Do you not wish to know, Uehara-san?"

"N-no, I do want to know. But why would you..."

s.h.i.+ka remained silent for a moment as she contemplated this. "Because I feel like you should know."

Mika didn’t know what to say to this. "Kagura-san... are you on my side?" she ventured.

s.h.i.+ka remained silent for a long moment. "For the time being."

"Time being..." Mika echoed.

"I’ve already given you the information; the rest is up to you, Uehara-san," s.h.i.+ka said in her typical light tone before hanging up.

Mika slowly put down her cell phone with a dazed expression on her face.

She didn’t know what Kagura-san... just what Seiji’s adopted younger sister was thinking. Did she dislike Yukari Asamiya? Was she supporting her to be with Seiji?

It didn’t feel like either was the case... Perhaps s.h.i.+ka herself wanted to... Mika’s feelings were rather complex as she thought about it.

No matter what, Seiji’s date tomorrow with Yukari... she couldn’t just let it be! Yukari Asamiya was an amazing girl. Mika was very clear on this after watching her confess to Seiji.

If Mika simply allowed such a beautiful and amazing girl do as she pleased on a date with Seiji, perhaps...

She needed to do something, but what should she do? Mika's brain raced for inspiration but couldn’t come up with any ideas.

Mika decisively decided to ask for help. She picked up her cell phone again, dialed a number, and made a call.

"Hey, Chiaki..."

The next morning.

Seiji had a rather strange sensation.

Was he was just feeling uncomfortable today, or was it due to a poor sleep last night? He didn’t feel like everything was quite right today, and the atmosphere was stifling. It was as if a tremendous thunderstorm was about to occur.

But the weather outside was wonderful. The leaves swayed languidly in the gentle breeze, and the skies were clear with nary a cloud in sight. Even dark clouds seemed impossible, much less a thunderstorm.

He didn’t understand why he had this type of feeling... he decided to forget about it, figuring that it would disappear after a while.

After he finished eating the breakfast that s.h.i.+ka prepared for him, he practiced some [Astral Vision], then prepared to go out.

"s.h.i.+ka-chan, do you have anything you’d like me to buy for you while I’m out?"

s.h.i.+ka shook her head.

‘Let’s buy something delicious for her before I return,’ Seiji thought to himself.

"I’m leaving," he said.

"Be careful while outside," s.h.i.+ka said to his back.

He left his apartment and walked to the agreed-upon place: the Bamboo Dragonfly coffee cafe in the business district.

When Seiji found this store and walked inside, he instantly noticed an entire array of bookshelves stocked with manga on the right wall.

This was a manga coffee cafe.

The store was decorated in a 2-D fas.h.i.+on. Apart from the bookshelves filled with manga, there were also anime posters, anime figurines, character sketches, cute dolls, and so on.

A server welcomed him. Seiji was guided to a seat, and he ordered a coffee as well as a few manga he was interested in. He began drinking his coffee while reading manga.

There weren’t too many customers in here at this time of day. Some were reading manga quietly, while others pa.s.sed the time by chatting with each other. The atmosphere seemed quite nice to Seiji.

Since Yukari had asked him to meet at such a place, he figured that this meant she was also really into manga.

This was only natural, since someone who liked light novels was also highly likely to enjoy anime and manga. It could even be said that many people got into and learned more about light novels through watching anime in the first place.

Seiji had already thought about this when he learned that Yukari Asamiya really liked light novels. Now, it seemed that she was indeed...

While he was thinking about Yukari, she walked through the door.

Today, the purple-haired beauty was wearing a dress. She was wearing a one-piece light purple dress with a light blue jacket on top. Her beautiful, creamy-white legs sported half-translucent white stockings.

This outfit accentuated her beauty in a wonderful way. The distance between her skirt and her stockings creating a mesmerizing absolute territory, lending her an astounding charisma!

Not only was Seiji rather dazed by the sight, even the other customers were dazed upon noticing her arrival. A male waiter who was holding a coffee tray even accidentally tripped over a chair as he walked while watching her... *Cras.h.!.+*

There was a commotion at this. Yukari paid no attention to the chaos she created; she smiled and walked up to Seiji when she saw him.

"Sorry that I’m late; did you wait long?" 

"You weren’t late; you’re right on time." Seiji smiled as he put down the manga in his hands. "I didn’t wait long."

Yukari sat down across from him. "How is this store? Not bad, right?"

"Yep, it’s pretty nice."

"I enjoy the atmosphere here. It’s easy to get lost in reading manga here without paying attention to the time."

They chatted casually until a waiter came over to take their order.

Yukari ordered a cup of coffee, then began chatting with Seiji about the three light novels, continuing last night’s conversation.

It was as if she really only did want to talk about and exchange their opinions on the light novels after reading.

Seiji was in his element here, as he expressed his opinions on these stories and commented on various scenes in these light novels.

Just as their discussion reached a pa.s.sionate crescendo, some customers arrived.

Seiji didn’t pay them any attention until he heard their footsteps approach his table. He reflexively glanced over at them, and his expression froze over.

"Hey, Seigo! What a coincidence."

It was Chiaki. And Mika as well!

Seiji was unable to react to suddenly seeing these two here.

'Why are they here?'