"She leaves, but promises to meet the male lead again."

"Hmm… It's a cla.s.sic scenario, and it's fine to write it like this, but it doesn't feel sufficient, because it's too similar to the female lead's ending." Seiji rubbed his chin in contemplation.

"I think that we can write more details, since the boy and girl were enemies at first, so there should be many interesting scenarios that can arise from that," Yukari said. "We can write about the way their feelings for each other slowly changed; the process from hating to each other to becoming friends, which then transforms to love. The unspoken love continues until it cannot be suppressed any longer and explodes into the air! Them at the airport, not caring about others looking…"

Cough cough, she suddenly stepped on the brakes.

"While the overall scenario may be a cla.s.sic one, as long as we do a good job on the fine details, I think that it'll still be interesting."

"I concur. But as for how to write the details... that's a bit more difficult. Do you have anything in mind already?"

Yukari enjoyed discussing the details with Seiji.

s.h.i.+ka simply observed them silently. Apart from sipping on tea and nibbling on some confectioneries, as well as pouring more tea for both of them, she didn't do anything else at all.

Although it seemed like Yukari had been ignoring s.h.i.+ka, she was always paying attention to her. Yukari saw that she was only observing; s.h.i.+ka had no intention to interrupt or even to say a single word.

This seemed rather odd to her.

It wasn't that she wanted s.h.i.+ka to interrupt, but s.h.i.+ka was being too quiet. She just watched them with a distant look, almost as if she were…

An unlucky black cat?

Yukari didn't know how to describe the subtle impression she had.

As for Seigo, he didn't do anything apart from smile in grat.i.tude whenever his adopted younger sister refilled his cup for him. This didn't seem like his style at all.

Logically speaking, he should've involved s.h.i.+ka in their conversation, but he didn't… this was probably just how they interacted with each other.

At any rate, she found it rather strange.

Yukari was genuinely enjoying her conversation with Seiji and wanted to continue it a while longer, but she checked her watch and saw that it was about time to leave.

"I have a present I'd like to give you." She picked up her bag and took out an elegantly wrapped gift box. "An early Happy Winter Snow Festival, Seigo," she said, giving the present to him.

"Thank you." Seiji accepted the present. "I apologize that I haven't prepared a present for you. I shall give you one in return later."

"No problem." The purple-haired girl smiled. "Open it up and take a look. I hope that you'll like it."

"I won't be reserved, then." Seiji opened the gift box; inside it was a beautiful notebook along with a silver pen.

"I hope that you'll be able to write even more, even better novels," Yukari said with a smile.

"Thank you for your blessings; this is an excellent present. I really like it." Seiji said sincerely as he picked up the notebook and pen.

Yukari glanced over towards s.h.i.+ka.

"I also have a present I'd like to give to Kagursan." She took out another cute-looking wrapped gift box.

"An early Happy Winter Snow Festival to you." She handed the box to s.h.i.+ka.

"…Thank you." The black-haired girl accepted it.

Yukari didn't know what to think because s.h.i.+ka's expression didn't change one bit.

After hearing Chiaki's information, she hesitated for a long time before finally deciding on giving a small present out of politeness: a cute cat plus.h.i.+e. This seemed like a safe gift to give a girl who she didn't know very well.

s.h.i.+ka had a cold personality, but wasn't a bad child. That was Chiaki Wakaba's a.s.sessment.

Since s.h.i.+ka was able to become Seigo Harano's adopted younger sister, someone viewed as important by him, she definitely wouldn't be a bad girl. She should be able to understand others' kind intentions. That was what Yukari believed.

Giving her a present shouldn't have the opposite effect intended… but it was difficult to tell on the surface.

Well, since she had given the present already, she decided to not dwell on it for now. Yukari realized that she found it difficult to deal with a girl like s.h.i.+ka. She wanted to establish a good relations.h.i.+p with s.h.i.+ka, but didn't know how to go about doing it at all.

Just how did Seigo become adopted siblings with a girl like this? What could have happened? Why couldn't he talk about it?

Yukari was exceedingly curious, but she knew that it wasn't an appropriate time to pry, otherwise she would end up making the brother-sister duo unhappy. She believed that she would be able to find out naturally if she got closer to Seigo in the future.

After a little while, Yukari said goodbye and left. Seigo walked her to the door.

s.h.i.+ka took her present back to her room.

Seiji also returned to his room with his presents. He then opened up his system and inspected his [Gifts] option.

The desserts that Yukari had given him rewarded him with ten points, and as for the notebook and pen...

[Writing stat increase card—Sincere Expectation. This card contains Yukari's hope that you can write even better novels in the future. After using this card, your [Writing] stat will permanently increase. The lower the stat, the greater the increase.]

[Drawing stat increase card—Loving Heart. This card contains Yukari's love for you. After using this card, your [Art] stat will permanently increase. The lower the stat, the greater the increase.]

[Locator card—Lonely Heart. This card contains Yukari's loneliness at not being able to spend the Winter Snow Festival with you. You can use this card on any person that has 65 or more favorability rating for you and immediately find out his or her current location.]

Seiji didn't know what to say at all this.

The [Loving Heart] and [Lonely Heart] cards made him feel a little guilty inside.

Well, there was no point in feeling guilty, so he decided to be grateful and use these cards as they were intended.

He could immediately use these cards to increase his [Writing] and [Art] stats.

The Locator card seemed to have a rather subtle effect, but its effect was quite useful. If he needed to, he could immediately find someone that he was looking for, if they were one of his friends.

Seiji lay down on his bed after looking through all this. He used the [Sincere Expectation] card.

The card transformed into a flash of light that entered his head. He felt a warm, comfortable sensation and slowly sunk into a daze...

Moments later, he recovered his senses and used the [Loving Heart] card.

The same thing happened again.

Later, he checked his system, and discovered that both [Writing] and [Art] had increased by a ma.s.sive fifteen points each!

Seiji got off his bed and went to the study to begin experimenting with his new stat increases.

His writing ability had obviously improved. He was now able to flesh out the fine details even better than before.

As for his art ability…

He hadn't worked much on grinding his [Art] stat, but thanks to the stat-increasing cards he received before from Peach-sensei and Yui Haruta, his [Art] stat was over forty.

Now that he had received a fifteen-point increase, the result was… his drawing had improved by leaps and bounds!

Seiji's eyes lit up as he looked at the drawing he had just finished: a black-haired beauty wielding a Demon Blade.

He had just drawn s.h.i.+ka.

s.h.i.+ka, clothed in black, was looking straight ahead. One pale hand gripped her scabbard, and her other hand was unsheathing her sword. The Demon Blade sword was half-unsheathed, with its blade glistening. Her body was tilted forward slightly, making it seem like she was just about to pounce.

While the drawing wasn't as beautiful as the person herself, Seiji felt that it was a pretty nice drawing. At the very least, it was far better than his previous drawing attempts.

He decided to show her.

Seiji acted immediately and went to go knock on s.h.i.+ka's door.

s.h.i.+ka opened her door.

"s.h.i.+kchan, I tried drawing something, and I feel like it wasn't bad, so I'm showing it to you."

When the black-haired girl saw the drawing, her eyes instantly widened in shock.

"This is… me?"

"Yep! What do you think?"

s.h.i.+ka took the drawing and looked over it more closely.

"Awesome…" she murmured.

This drawing wasn't top-notch quality, but it had its own moving beauty, and the artist's heartfelt intention could be felt from it.

s.h.i.+ka blushed crimson and asked, "Brother… is this my present for the Winter Snow Festival?"