Seiji opened his eyes to discover that he was once again in his own bed.

"I've returned…"

He slowly sat up and looked at his pillow's side.

His cell phone and wooden sword were still quietly sitting there.

Was everything just earlier a dream? No… that was impossible.

He quietly got out of bed, checked the time on his cell phone, and called Yukari's number. While waiting for the call to connect, he picked up his wooden sword and walked towards his study.

Yukari picked up the call.

"Yukari, how are you doing?"

"…I'm alright." Her voice was filled with fatigue.

"Do you remember what happened just now?" Seiji tried asking.

"I remember… it was no dream." Yukari paused for a moment. "Seigo… I want to see you."

"Eh? Right now?"

"Yeah…"

"…Alright, I'll go pick you up from your home." Seiji made a decision instantly.

"Thank you… I'll wait for you."

They ended their conversation there.

Seiji knocked on s.h.i.+ka's room's door and told her a short version of what happened and why he needed to go out. Then, he speedily put on some winter clothes and left while taking his wooden sword with him.

It was extremely cold. The sky wasn't even bright outside yet. 

Seiji called for a taxi and had the driver head for the address that Yukari texted him.

Yukari was feeling very fatigued right now.

She really wanted to sleep, but was unable to do so due to her inner anxiety.

She really wanted to see Seigo… at this moment, only he would be able to make her feel safe.

She got out of her pajamas and put on some winter clothes. Then, she quietly waited for him in her room.

Some minutes later, her cell phone rang once more.

"I'm in front of your home."

When she heard this, Yukari immediately walked out of her room and secretly exited from her home.

She saw him when she walked outside.

"Seigo…"

She sped up her pace and jumped into his arms.

Seiji hugged the girl that seemed rather weakened and used [Astral Vision] to inspect her condition.

"Let's get on the taxi."

He took Yukari onto the taxi, and saw that the taxi driver was gazing at them with a curious expression.

"This… there's some circ.u.mstances…" He didn't know how to explain.

The middle-aged male taxi driver smiled meaningfully without saying anything as he glanced at how Seiji was carrying the purple-haired beauty.

'He's definitely misunderstanding what's going on here!'

Seiji felt rather helpless about the taxi driver's misunderstanding but now wasn't the time to mind such things, so Seiji decided to just let the taxi driver believe whatever he liked.

Yukari hugged him tightly and closed her eyes while laying in his arms. She felt quite safe, and gave up on resisting her fatigue…

Seiji didn't find anything wrong with Yukari upon inspecting her with [Astral Vision]. However, out of an abundance of caution, Seiji still intended to take her to the hospital for a checkup.

When Seiji told the taxi driver where he wanted to go next, something flashed in the driver's eyes as he drove towards the hospital.

When they arrived at the hospital and Seiji was paying the taxi fare, he saw something flas.h.i.+ng in the middle-aged taxi driver's eyes. The taxi driver changed to a severe expression.

"Take proper responsibility, young man," he warned Seiji in a serious tone.

Seiji was rendered speechless.

The misunderstanding had gotten worse!

"I don't have that type of relations.h.i.+p with her…" He didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he tried explaining.

"Men that avoid responsibility are the worst! No matter how unseemly you are, admitting it is still one hundred times better than avoiding responsibility." The middle-aged driver glared at Seiji.

"…I'm just taking her here for a checkup."

"Go, and remember what I told you." The taxi driver turned around to leave. "You don't need to pay me my fare."

'Things really aren't what you think they are, Mister!'

Seiji's cheeks twitched continuously. He truly felt helpless right now as he wanted to explain, but it would be difficult to do so.

Forget it, he decided against saying anything else.

He carried the sleeping Yukari off the taxi and entered the hospital to look for a doctor to give her a checkup.

According to the doctor, the result was that she was perfectly healthy. She was only sleeping due to a normal level of fatigue.

Seiji felt relieved to find out that Yukari was alright.

He then took Yukari out of the hospital and back to the Uehara apartments.

"After a beautiful blonde teacher, now you've added a female schoolmate to your harem collection." Chiaki greeted him with a smile. However, her eyes weren't smiling at all. "You're quite skilled, you beast."

"I'm just having her rest here for a little while."

"Taking an unconscious girl into your room, then taking off her clothes, and putting her on your bed…"

"I just normally took off her jacket to help her sleep more comfortably." Seiji sighed. "Could you stop joking around like this?"

"Hmph…" Chiaki retracted her smile. "I haven't even gotten to sleep on your bed yet. She actually got there before me. As expected, one can't underestimate the Princess."

Seiji was rendered speechless. He had no idea how to respond to this.

"Hah… Seiji is just this type of person." Mika sighed.

"Don't you have anything to say to him?"

"I have nothing to say to a handsome boy (beast) like him."

"I agree completely."

The two girls reached mutual accord and sipped tea together.

"By the way, what exactly happened?" Chiaki finally asked why Seiji brought Yukari here after sipping on some tea.

"While I was asleep, I entered Yukari's soul realm," Seiji explained. "I don't know the specific reason, either. As for what happened… let's wait until after she wakes up to tell you about it."

"It's something difficult to talk about?"

"Hmm… somewhat."

The spider, mystical connections, Yukari's ancestor's ident.i.ty, and the trial… Seiji was uncertain whether or not Yukari would be willing to tell others about it.

Especially the fact that a spider demon had transformed into a human who was her ancestor, that would make Yukari part spider. For a girl, that would be a rather sensitive subject, wouldn't it?

Since he didn't know what Yukari herself would think of it, he didn't want to tell others before hearing her opinion first.

"The soul realm… similar to what happened with Tachibanchan?" Mika blinked.

"Very similar, but there were also some things that were different. It also felt more realistic than what happened with Reo-chan." Seiji tried recalling.

"You entered someone else's soul while you were asleep… that sounds like something an incubus would do. Could it be that you did something perverted together?" Chiaki looked directly at Seiji.

"Not at all!" Seiji instantly denied this.

However, he immediately recalled the way Yukari looked while completely naked… Cough, that was just an accident!

"I can detect the scent of a lie." Chiaki squinted at him. "Did you truly not do anything perverted? Harutsan."

"I didn't!" 'I indeed didn't 'do' anything. I just 'saw' something, that's all.'

"Then, did you receive some unexpected benefits?"

Seiji fell wordless as he averted his gaze.

"It would seem that I'm on the mark. It must have been something quite wondrous." Famous detective Chiaki adjusted some imaginary eyegla.s.ses as her mouth arced upwards ambiguously. "Share… whoops, tell us honestly! Haru-fantasy-san."

"Don't just change my name as you please!"

"I've already seen through the truth, you can't defend yourself! Haru-pervert-san."

"I'm not a criminal! Besides, that's not my name, either!"

"Only by confessing will you be able to lighten your punishment. Resistance is futile, Pervert-san!"

"That's still not my name! Besides, what happened was only an accident!"

"Heh heh… now you've personally admitted to having received some wondrous benefits." Chiaki's mouth arced upwards even higher.

"Urk…" Seiji was unable to counter this statement.

At this moment, they all heard footsteps.

When Seiji, Mika, and Chiaki turned to look, they saw the purple-haired girl arriving.

Yukari had woken up.

Seiji met her gaze and greeted her, "You're awake… good morning." 

"Good morning, Seigo." Yukari smiled in greeting.

"How are you feeling now?"

"Pretty good."

"That's good, then… have some breakfast. We made some for you as well." Seiji stood up and headed for his kitchen.

Yukari watched him for quite a while before she turned to look at Chiaki and Mika.

"Good morning to the two of you," she greeted them.

"Good morning, Asamiysan," Chiaki and Mika greeted her as well, looking directly at her.

The scene fell silent for a moment.

"I heard Seigo say that you met with some incident last night… Could you tell us exactly what happened?" Chiaki asked Yukari directly.

Something flashed in Yukari's eyes as she looked at Chiaki and Mika.

"I would like to discuss something with Seigo first… as for whether to tell you or not, please allow me to consider things first."