The night of New Year's Eve.

Seiji and s.h.i.+ka and Reo sat together by the kotatsu, watching television.

On the television program was a middle-aged man wearing bright red with strangely shaped golden accessories and ridiculous makeup. He was even dancing in a style more suitable for young women while singing a joyous tune… Although he was comical all over, he wasn't disgusting at all, and was quite amusing.

After this rather unique male singer finished his performance, the hosts gave a useless speech. Next up was a middle-aged woman wearing plain Sakura Island clothing… whoops, it would be politer to refer to her as a female singer. There was a group of handsome men wearing similar clothing accompanying her as dancers.

She was an excellent singer, but there was a mysterious awkwardness to the handsome men dancing behind her, which made people focus too much on that rather than her singing.

After that, there was a duo of two handsome idols singing. At first they sang in quite a reserved manner, but when they both took off and threw away their jackets in the middle, revealing their vests inside, they suddenly changed to a pa.s.sionate style…

Various types of singers and groups performed as the sound of singing continuously echoed in Seiji's living room.

In between watching TV, Seiji also browsed the internet with his cell phone and chatted with his friends.

He made arrangements with Mika and Chiaki to celebrate the New Year tomorrow morning.

The night gradually got darker.

s.h.i.+ka made some soba noodles and the three of them ate them together by the kotatsu, slurping them up.

A while after they ate, it was almost twelve o'clock—midnight.

The television showed various locations as it indicated the countdown to New Year, showing many groups of people excitedly waiting for its arrival.

Everyone was smiling in preparation to say farewell to this year, hoping that the next year would be even better.

At this moment, Seiji noticed something. He turned around, only to see that his adopted sister was looking in his direction.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing…" s.h.i.+ka lowered her head slightly. "I just feel like… as if I'm dreaming."

"Eh?"

"Meeting Brother Seiji… and being able to stay here like this… It's just like a dream," she muttered lightly.

After the clock tower rang to indicate the coming of the New Year, would she wake up from this dream?

Would she suddenly open her eyes to discover that she was still in her former apartment by herself?

Could all of this just be her fantasy…?

A large hand appeared in her field of vision.

When she lifted her head and looked, she saw her adopted brother smiling gently at her, reaching out with his hand.

s.h.i.+ka blinked at this.

She lifted her hand and gently placed her palm within his larger hand.

Seiji closed his hand and enveloped hers.

"With an adopted sister like you, I feel like I'm dreaming as well." Seiji smiled. "But, this isn't a dream… here's the proof."

He squeezed her hand with a slight amount of force.

It felt soft, warm, and real.

s.h.i.+ka also held onto his hand.

It felt solid, warm, and real to her as well.

The feeling was so real to her.

The anxiety in her heart disappeared just like that as she smiled.

The two of them smiled at each other… which caused the atmosphere to become somewhat romantic.

*Thud!*

A sudden sound interrupted this atmosphere.

The sound came from Reo-chan.

As she was falling asleep, her head landed on the table, causing a small thud.

"Mew…" She even yawned cutely.

Seiji and s.h.i.+ka both froze up.

The two of them let go of each other and took back their hands.

Seiji awkwardly coughed.

s.h.i.+ka's face was slightly red.

"Reo-chan, how about going to sleep now?" Seiji asked.

"Eh…" The little girl regained her senses when she heard this question.

She slowly lifted her head and rubbed her eyes.

"No… I want to watch it together…"

"Then do your best to stay awake for a little longer."

"Okay, meow…"

Reo patted herself on the cheeks and forced herself to be spirited.

After a while longer, time finally arrived for the countdown.

"Ten, nine, eight…" The television program kept switching scenes and showing everyone in Sakura Island chanting the countdown in unison.

"Six, five, four…" Seiji, s.h.i.+ka, and Reo began counting down together with the television.

"Three! Two! One!!!" The countdown was at its end.

*Boom…* They heard something faint and heavy in the distance.

At the same time, they also felt like something invisible just pa.s.sed them by.

Everything suddenly became dark around them!

Was this… a power outage!?

"Brother…"

"So cold…"

"What's the matter?" Seiji immediately cast [Astral Vision] to help him see in the darkness.

He saw that something seemed to be wrong with Reo.

She was clutching herself and s.h.i.+vering.

"Reo!?"

Seiji hurriedly rushed to her side to check her situation.

He found out that she had a fever!

Why were things suddenly like this?

Seiji thought of the noise just now and the strange sensation of something invisible having pa.s.sed them by.

What just happened? Some sort of magical attack? Was it Akatsuki Mitarai?

No… If it really was Akatsuki, it probably wouldn't have been like that…

"I'm so cold… Harano onii-chan…" Reo was muttering.

No matter what, he had to do something.

Seiji immediately cast [Beginning-level healing] on Reo.

However, it didn't have any effect.

She had a fever, but it was no ordinary fever.

Could it have been because of Reo's mysterious power? Seiji thought of Mayuzumi Amami's high fever from previously.

Could this strange phenomenon that just occurred have some relations.h.i.+p with the mysterious power? Seiji furrowed his eyebrows.

"We have to take her to the hospital immediately." He made an instant decision before looking towards s.h.i.+ka. "How about you come along as well?"

s.h.i.+ka nodded as she looked towards Reo with a look of concern on her face.

The two of them immediately put on their winter jackets and helped Reo to put one on as well.

In the meantime, Seiji also asked s.h.i.+ka if she felt anything strange, and s.h.i.+ka mentioned that she had. She also heard the same m.u.f.fled sound as well as something invisible pa.s.sing her by.

If two Spiritual Ability users had the same feeling, that meant it was no mistake.

"Something must have happened just now, which likely caused the power outage as well as Reo-chan's fever," Seiji inferred.

s.h.i.+ka nodded in agreement.

Was it some type of spell? Who cast it? What was their goal?

Or was it another coincidentally successful story of a hundred demons ritual activating? Or something similar? And, how large was the area of effect?

There were many questions…

Seiji carried Reo in his arms after putting a winter jacket on her and left his apartment together with s.h.i.+ka.

It was quite cold outside. The moon couldn't be seen and everything was dark.

Seiji looked over at the Uehara Family's residence next door. He was worried about Mika, so he went to knock on the door.

The door soon opened.

"Seiji…"

"Mika… it's good that you're alright."

"What's the matter with Reo-chan?" Mika noticed that something was off about her condition.

"She suddenly started having a fever, I suspect that it has to do with her mysterious power… Did you feel anything just now?" Seiji asked in a low voice.

"I felt as if something invisible pa.s.sed by me and I heard a low, m.u.f.fled sound." Mika furrowed her eyebrows slightly. "However, mom didn't feel anything…"

"That's no mistaken impression that you have there. s.h.i.+kchan and I heard and felt something as well, so something definitely happened. It might have been a spell or ritual of some sort. The power outage as well as Reo-chan's fever were both likely caused by it," Seiji said in a serious tone. "I don't know who or what did this… Right now, I'm going to take Reo-chan to the hospital together with s.h.i.+kchan. Be careful at home, I don't know what else may happen still. If something happens, call my cell phone immediately."

"I can't call you," Mika said with a frown as she held up her cell phone. "There's no more signal."

"What!?"