"I should be able to… if I use a spell," s.h.i.+ka answered. "But this creature… seems to feel enmity towards me."

Seiji understood what s.h.i.+ka meant. In this situation, if s.h.i.+ka tried to dispel the charm on Mika, Mas.h.i.+ro might do something.

Even though he didn’t know what this Spiritual Creature was capable of, it was obvious that she was no longer just a ball of light which knew how to fly. Perhaps she had considerable power of her own.

What should he do? Seiji mulled it over.

He walked up to them and smiled. "Mika, could you let me hug Mas.h.i.+ro-chan for a little while?"

"Of course," Mika replied with a smile. "Mas.h.i.+ro-chan, let daddy hug you for a while~"

"Chirp?" The silver-winged loli looked towards Mika, before blinking at Seiji.

Seiji extended his arms to Mas.h.i.+ro. With Mika’s encouragement, Mas.h.i.+ro flew into Seiji’s arms.

Seiji hugged the silver-winged loli and gently patted her head. He then furtively turned around, using his body to block off her vision of Mika and s.h.i.+ka.

This was the perfect chance!

s.h.i.+ka took this opportunity to immediately create a seal and cast a spell on Mika. Mika’s body shook; her expression turned blank before she snapped back to her senses.

"What was I just…" Her memories were a little hazy. She felt as if she were dreaming… a wonderful and happy dream.

"You were under a charm, Uehara-san," s.h.i.+ka said.

"I… was charmed?" Mika was astonished.

"I’ll give you a detailed explanation in a bit. Please unsummon your Spiritual Creature first."

Mika took the silver-winged loli back from Seiji, coaxed her, and unsummoned her. After that, the three of them sat down at the table for a discussion.

Mas.h.i.+ro had already developed her own Spiritual Powers.

Mas.h.i.+ro was able to charm Mika and make Mika feel bliss and joy, much like the experience of an incredible dream.

This seemed to have no effect on Seiji.

"When I was hugging her, I was thinking that I would immediately let go if I felt like something was off, but I didn’t notice anything," Seiji said.

"This is probably because Brother Seiji has a strong will. You were on guard to begin with," s.h.i.+ka explained. "From what I can tell… that Spiritual Creature Mas.h.i.+ro-chan’s charm spell isn’t that strong. If Uehara-san pays attention, she probably won’t be charmed by it again, either. But I don’t know how strong Mas.h.i.+ro-chan truly is… Mas.h.i.+ro-chan didn’t even intentionally use her powers. All she wanted was to make Uehara-san happy, so she used her natural powers instinctively."

"So what you mean is, if Mas.h.i.+ro-chan uses this power consciously of her own volition, its strength will be greatly magnified?"

"Yes." s.h.i.+ka nodded.

A moment of silence fell between them.

"I feel like we should test Mas.h.i.+ro-chan’s Spiritual Powers. We should understand what powers she has, and how strong they are." Seiji furrowed his brows. "We need to understand the situation clearly, otherwise… something bad may happen."

"Mas.h.i.+ro isn’t a bad child!" Mika glared at him. "She just wanted to make me happy, and she didn’t cause harm to anyone; you shouldn’t talk about her like that…"

"No, Mika, you misunderstood what I meant." Seiji glanced at her, privately thinking that she was just like an overprotective mother who couldn’t bear hearing anything bad about her precious child. "What I mean is that even the best-behaved children will sometimes throw tantrums on occasion. And when naughty children throw tantrums… sometimes their destructiveness can be rather frightening."

Mika couldn’t find any words to respond to this.

"Innocent doesn’t mean harmless, and this already applies to normal children—Mas.h.i.+ro’s a child with Spiritual Powers." Seiji sighed. "I don’t want to speak badly of Mas.h.i.+ro-chan, and I believe that she’s a good girl. But still, we need to have a better understanding of her powers, so that we can prevent any accidents from occurring."

"Yeah…" Mika nodded in agreement.

She felt that what Seiji said was quite reasonable. But she was even happier at how Seiji was treating Mas.h.i.+ro as a "child" and even saying that she was a "good girl."

‘Seiji will definitely become a good father,’ Mika thought happily.

When she imagined the scene of the three of them together with Mas.h.i.+ro having learned how to say ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy,’ she felt her face burning up.

"As for how to test her powers… I’ll have to bother President Yoruhana once again." Seiji took out his cell phone and dialed that familiar number.

She answered his call.

"Hey, good evening, President."

"Good evening, Haruta-kun."

"Sorry to bother you again. How are you doing? Are you feeling better after resting for one week?"

"Thanks for your concern. I’ve already left the hospital, and I’m currently outside drinking tea with someone."

In a luxurious traditional Sakura Island themed room, Natsuya turned on speakerphone so that the girl sitting across from her could also hear the conversation.

"Congratulations for being able to leave the hospital," Seiji said sincerely. "My apologies for bothering you when you’re busy. I had a small request to make of you, but it’s nothing urgent, so I’ll call back again tomorrow."

"You can ask me right now; it’s fine."

"Eh? But weren’t you with someone…"

"It’s okay; she won’t mind." Natsuya smiled faintly at the girl sitting across from her.

"Oh… I’ll explain then, actually…" Seiji summarized Mas.h.i.+ro's situation and made his request.

"Testing her powers… of course, that’s fine." Natsuya readily agreed. "Tomorrow after school—could you and Uehara-san come to my residence?"

"No problem—and thank you." Seiji agreed to the time and politely said goodnight before hanging up the call.

"Mika Uehara… that apartment landlord’s daughter.... Wasn’t she just an ordinary human?" the black-haired beauty sitting across from Natsuya asked up in a light, clear voice.

"She used to be, but she encountered a miracle… I was astonished to learn about it as well at the time." Natsuya smiled. "Would you like to hear this story?"

"…I still have some time, so I might as well."

"After all, it’s about something that happened around him, right?" Natsuya asked with a smile.

"Please don’t say anything unnecessary."

"Hee hee… alright. This actually happened during the school festival…" Natsuya began a summary.

The black-haired girl listened quietly as she sipped her tea.

"…And that’s how it is." After a while, Natsuya finished her explanation. "Now, apart from s.h.i.+ka Kagura, he also has a Spirit Controller by his side. If he succeeds in becoming a Yin-Yang Master, I presume that these two girls will be more than happy to become his Spirit-branded Retainers."

"One is the ‘Reaper’s Curse,’ and one is just a normal girl that coincidentally managed to receive a strange Spiritual Creature…"

"Even so, for a boy who’s been exiled from his family, and has no resources or help from his family at all, this is quite excellent in my opinion," Natsuya replied. "If it were me, in the same conditions, I don’t have the self-confidence to say that I could have done as well as him."

"…Are you making fun of me?" the girl asked.

"Of course not. I just mean that he’s already done a great job. And, he’ll definitely do even better in the future."

The black-haired girl didn’t respond to this.

"You actually believe this as well, right? Otherwise, you wouldn’t have specially invited me to a meeting to ask so many details about him."

"Natsuya Yoruhana, my meeting you is primarily for business. Anything else I ask is just making conversation."

"Primarily for business? We talked business for less than five minutes and spent much longer on chatting." Natsuya smiled faintly. "This isn’t like you at all, Yui Haruta."