Mika returned to her residence.

Before calling the president… no, Natsuya, Seiji wanted to have a meal first. He was quite hungry after his ordeal, and he a.s.sumed that the scion was likely having a meal of her own, which he had no desire to interrupt.

"Sensei, would you like to eat lunch together with us?" Seiji asked.

"Is that alright?" Kaede said.

"Of course—as long as you don't mind that it's rather plain."

"How could I possibly mind? I won't hold back by staying over, then. Food is a lot more delicious when enjoyed with others rather than eating it on my own." The blonde teacher smiled. "Please allow me to help out in the kitchen to repay you a little."

"There's no need to be so polite, Sensei."

"I'm not the type who can simply sit around and wait to enjoy a meal. Please allow me to help out, Harano-kun."

Kaede firmly insisted on helping out in the kitchen, so Seiji could only accept.

In that case, he wanted s.h.i.+ka to have a chance to rest, but s.h.i.+ka also firmly insisted on helping out in the kitchen.

And so, it became a scene of him, Kaede, and s.h.i.+ka all working together in the kitchen.

Cooking together with a mature beauty and a younger beauty… Seiji had a sense of déjà vu. He recalled how he had done the same thing together with Mika and the landlord before in the past, on the day that Kaede had moved in.

That had been a very enjoyable dinner for him. Seiji secretly snuck a look at Kaede beside him.

The blonde teacher had a big smile on her face as she washed some vegetables; she seemed to be enjoying her time here.

Seiji felt conflicted when he saw this. He personally believed… no, he felt like he didn't owe Kaede anything, but even so…

He didn't know how to describe his feelings. At any rate, he hoped that she could be happy.

Kaede detected Seiji's gaze upon her. The fact that he was looking in her direction meant that he cared for her, which made her happy.

She was happy to be able to cook and eat together with him in the kitchen. Having him pay attention to her and being close to him were both sources of joy for her.

She believed that she would be even happier in the future.

Everyone's efforts in cooking lunch together was a great success. Reo even ate an extra half a bowl compared to usual.

Kaede also insisted on was.h.i.+ng the dishes, and s.h.i.+ka didn't back down as well. As for Seiji… he was kicked out of the kitchen by the two girls, who claimed that he wasn't needed and could go do whatever he wanted to.

Reo was currently sitting by the kotatsu, softly collapsed on the table. She seemed just like a lazy kitten, satisfied from eating its fill.

Seiji glanced at the time and decided to call Natsuya later, as he wanted to rest for a while. Like Reo, he collapsed onto the table and turned into a big, lazy cat.

His consciousness gradually became hazy…

Seiji slowly opened his eyes.

'I actually fell asleep? What time is it now?'

When Seiji woke up, he noticed something warm, soft, and faintly pleasant-smelling next to him.

When he turned around, he saw that s.h.i.+ka was sleeping beside him, snuggling closely into his back.

The black-haired girl's pure and beautiful face had a contented expression, as if she were having a wonderful dream.

Seiji was somewhat stunned by her appearance. 'What's going on?'

When he looked around, he discovered that he had fallen asleep by the kotatsu. s.h.i.+ka was sleeping next to him.

And judging by the fact that there were other feet under the kotatsu, the others were sleeping on the opposite side.

They had to be Kaede and Reo. For all four of them to have fallen asleep by the kotatsu… honestly.

Seiji looked towards s.h.i.+ka again.

She seemed to be fast asleep, and Seiji didn't want to wake her up. But… he had things to do, and he couldn't continue to sleep any longer.

Seiji attempted to move slightly without waking his adopted younger sister up.

'Very good; she didn't react.'

He moved his body away some more.

At this moment, the black-haired girl moved, got closer to him, and clutched him in her arms!

Seiji was rendered speechless.

"s.h.i.+kchan, are you awake?" he asked in a soft voice.

There was no response.

It seemed to be an action taken while she was still asleep. Seiji carefully lifted up his hand and was about to gently peel off s.h.i.+ka's hands from himself.

Right when he touched her hand, he suddenly heard her mutter, "I like…"

'Is she awake?' Seiji looked at her face.

He saw that s.h.i.+ka still had her eyes closed, and only her lips were moving slightly. He barely managed to hear her say, "…Brother the most."

Seiji's eyes widened in shock. This scene… he felt like words such as beautiful or cute were insufficient to describe it.

He couldn't describe what he was feeling right now.

He recalled what it was like being together with s.h.i.+ka during the period in which she had amnesia.

He felt something welling up within him. Seiji continued to hold her hand without letting go.

'Forget it; let's continue sleeping like this for a while longer!'

Seiji decided to close his eyes again while holding on to his adopted younger sister's hand. In the end, he slept until the middle of the afternoon.

s.h.i.+ka's face was rather red when she woke up and returned to her own room.

"I should have left earlier, but I didn't want to return to my lonely room by myself." Kaede hugged Reo and asked in a spoiled voice, "Can I stay here for dinner tonight as well? I'll chip in for groceries."

Seiji looked towards Reo. The little girl was snuggling against the blonde beauty; she was obviously enjoying the hug.

The answer was obvious. After acceding to Kaede's request, Seiji went to the study to make a phone call.

"Good afternoon… Natsuya."

"Good afternoon… Seiji."

He still felt rather awkward about addressing her by name.

"I met with something on my end; it's like this…" Seiji explained what happened earlier in the morning.

"The board game was able to draw multiple people into an illusion and restrict their actions, including even you and Kagursan… judging by this, the board game must be an incredibly high-level Spiritual Artifact," Natsuya explained in a serious tone. "This type of Spiritual Artifact is unlikely to have been crafted just for the fun of it… at least that's what I believe. I won't be able to know the specifics until I inspect it, but I'm currently busy today, so why don't you bring it over tomorrow night?"

"Alright," Seiji agreed.

"By the way, it's really surprising that Ueharsan had such a Spiritual Artifact lying around in her apartment."

"Yeah, I'm even beginning to wonder now if Sakursan greeting Mika wasn't a coincidence at all—perhaps there was some type of hidden connection."

"It's possible… I only saw Ueharsan as a normal person, but perhaps Sakursan saw something that I didn't…"

Both of them fell silent for a moment.

"I'm very curious just what exactly it's about," Natsuya said at last. "If you learn anything more, please contact me."

"Yep…"

Their conversation ended there.

Seiji idly stared at his cell phone for a moment.

'Should I contact Mika now and ask her about the situation? Or should I wait for a while longer?'

He didn't know if she would be able to find anything out from the landlord. In the end, he decided to wait for a while longer.

Seiji put away his cell phone and went to his computer to begin the task of writing.

After some time, there was a knock on the front door. Seiji opened the door and welcomed Mika inside.

At this time, Kaede and Reo were inside one of the other rooms, so n.o.body else was in the living room.

"I asked my mom, and she said that Dad was a little strange when they were younger," Mika said after sitting down by the kotatsu. "He liked to talk to himself in places where n.o.body else was around, make strange movements, read weird books, occasionally act abnormal, or draw unusual runes or drawings… and so on. Later on, these strange habits stopped.

"He explained it by saying that he was immature in his youth and was simply clowning around. But he still had the hobby of collecting strange things—such as this board game.

"Because he really valued his collection when he was still alive, Mom never threw anything of his away and kept them all.

"I went and looked around the storage room. It would be quite a ha.s.sle to clear them all out, so I took a picture with my cell phone."

She showed Seiji the picture she took on her cell phone.