"Eh?" Seiji blinked in surprise. "No… this isn't a present. It's just a drawing of mine that turned out pretty nice, so I thought I'd to show you. Of course, if you want this, you can keep it. But I think that this drawing is still insufficient to qualify as a present. If you want me to create a drawing of you for your Winter Snow Festival present, I'll do my very best to draw an even better one. How does that sound?"

"I think that this drawing is already good enough," s.h.i.+ka said in a gentle voice as her eyes flashed with a hard-to-read light. "But… I also want an even better drawing as well."

"Understood." Seiji nodded. "I shall draw something even better and give it to you at the Winter Snow Festival!"

And so, the present to give his cute adopted sister for the Winter Snow Festival was decided upon.

'So cute.' Kaede truly believed that the child currently holding her hand was worthy of these words.

Reo Tachibana… The first time that Kaede had met her, she joked that she wanted to "kidnap" this child, but now she really did want to do so, just a little.

Reo was cute and innocent, yet also sensible. Kaede and Reo got along very well.

Kaede could other people looking at her, their expressions making it obvious that they thought she was a young mother walking around with her daughter.

Kaede didn't dislike their mistaken impression, and this surprised even herself.

'Is this supposed to be a motherly nature?'

Kaede recalled her own mother, who was both strict yet gentle. Her mother raised her children strictly, while also imparting her deep love.

Kaede and her two older brothers, Zankita and Hisas.h.i.+, all respected their mother as well as loved her.

All three siblings received quite a large impact when their mother pa.s.sed away.

Her oldest brother Zankita's personality became violent and impulsive, and her second brother Hisas.h.i.+ became a NEET who never left the house. Kaede herself became rebellious and depraved, running away from home several times.

If it wasn't for her father sending underlings and even personally coming out to find and protect her in time, something terrible could have happened to her.

Her father's care as well as time succeeded in easing her pain. Although the three siblings had walked out of the shadows, their scars would forever remain…

"Juumonji onee-chan, what's the matter?" the little girl asked.

Kaede suddenly returned to her senses and discovered that she had been lost in the nostalgia of reminiscing about her mother.

She smiled at Reo. "Nothing… I was just thinking of something." 

Reo looked at her face. "Onee-chan, were you thinking about your mother?"

Kaede was surprised to hear this. "Yes, how did you know?"

"Because I think that onee-chan is similar to me… I also think about mother like you."

Kaede looked at her. "Tachibanchan, your mother… where is she?"

 Reo lowered her head and said in a tiny voice, "My mother has already pa.s.sed away."

"I'm sorry…"

"Juumonji onee-chan, where's your mother?"

"My mother's the same. She's already pa.s.sed away."

A moment of silence fell between them.

"I really miss Mommy… every time I think about her, I want to cry," Reo said. "But this is no good… if I always cry, Mommy will worry about me. I don't want Mommy to worry, which is why I shouldn't cry; I need to be brave…"

Kaede's heart was moved by these words. She really wanted to hug her and spoil the little girl. But she restrained herself from acting impulsively. Her grip on Reo's tiny hand tightened a little.

"Tachibanchan… can I call you Reo from now on?"

The little girl nodded. "Sure."

The blonde teacher smiled and said, "You can call me Kaede onee-chan as well." 

'I can't take your mother's place, but in the time that I get to spend with you, I'll do my best to be a good big sister.'

Later that night, Seiji called Natsuya and explained the situation of many possible mysterious objects being at the Uehara family's storage room. He recommended that she come over and take a look at Mr. Uehara's complete collection.

Natsuya agreed to come over.

Before long, a luxurious car parked in front of the Uehara apartment-complex. The student council president got off from the car; she was wearing a black windbreaker.

Seiji, who had been waiting, greeted her and brought her to the Uehara residence.

The door opened after they knocked.

"Good evening, President."

"Good evening, Ueharsan."

Mika invited Seiji and Natsuya inside.

Natsuya gave Nozomi Uehara, who she was meeting for the first time, a box of desserts as a greeting gift.

"Thank you, but you're being too polite. After all, Mika was the one who invited you over." Nozomi smiled as she accepted the confectioneries. "Yoruhansan, thank you so much for helping Mika before." She bowed deeply to Natsuya.

"I just did what I should have as the student council president," Natsuya said humbly. "No need for thanks."

"You're really such a beautiful and gentle lady, just like Mika said." Nozomi paused for a moment before continuing, "We're just an ordinary family; although I want to show our grat.i.tude, there's not much we can pay you with. This time, we even troubled you to personally look through my late husband's collection. I'm so sorry about this. As the least I can do, if there's anything among the collection that you like, please feel free to take it."

"No… they're all your late husband's precious items; I'm just coming over to take a look…"

"Giving something to the person that helped out his daughter would be something my husband would have been happy about. There's no need to be so polite," Nozomi said in a serious tone, looking directly at Natsuya.

The president fell silent for a moment before she smiled. "Alright, thank you for your gracious offer."

After a few pleasantries, it was time for the main event.

Nozomi, Mika, and Seiji, who volunteered to help out of his own volition, worked together to move everything from the storage room to the living room, where the collection items could be easily categorized.

Natsuya carefully inspected each item, her eyes constantly flas.h.i.+ng with the light of [Astral Vision]. She put everything that she had finished inspecting to the table's side.

When she finally finished, most of the objects were placed on the left of the table. She only put three objects on the right side.

The first object was that board game. The second was the kendama set, and the third was a wooden sword.

"These three objects are highly valuable. Please take special care when storing them in the future," Natsuya said. "If you don't wish to keep them anymore, you can also contact me. I'll purchase them at a reasonable price."

"You can take them with you," Nozomi said.

"No, I would like to have this." Natsuya picked up an object from that was with the other objects to the left of the table. It was a circular plate with various strange runes and drawings etched on its surface. "This will be more than enough for me. Thank you for your kind offer."

 Nozomi blinked and said, "Is that really fine?"

"Yes, it's quite excellent already." Natsuya smiled.

"Alright… if that's sufficient for you."

Nozomi then inspected the three objects Natsuya had placed to the right of the table.

"Yoruhansan, you said that these objects are highly valuable. Then, could I ask, just how much these are worth?"

Natsuya didn't answer immediately. Instead, she gave Seiji a questioning look. In turn, Seiji turned to Mika. After some hesitation, Mika nodded.

Nozomi was rather confused by this exchange of looks.

But what the scion from a rich and ill.u.s.trious family said next made her mind go blank.

"These three objects will have very different values depending on the social circles you sell them in. If you auction them in certain circles, the price may be even higher. I'm not a professional appraiser, so I can't accurately a.s.sess their values. But at my most conservative estimate, each one of these three objects can be individually sold for a minimum of fifty million sakuras."