She actually increased in size!?

This transformation… was a type of synchronization with her cat spirit, right? Was such a high degree of synchronization really alright!?

Seiji knew that having too high a level of synchronization would be dangerous and had the potential to cause harm to one's soul. Seiji had personally experienced this when synchronizing with Minamoto no Raiko.

However… Rana seemed to be just fine.

The devilishly seductive cat woman's b.r.e.a.s.t.s… whoops, charisma was astonis.h.i.+ng. There was a huge contrast with the cute little cat girl from earlier!

Seiji felt like the change in appearance was as ma.s.sive as a cat girl from Nekopara suddenly changing into Catwoman from the Batman franchise.

Rana lithely stepped closer to him like a cat would with that seductive smile on her face as she approached.

"Wait a moment…" Seiji sensed that perhaps he was in a certain type of danger.

Natsuya headed for the underground practice field.

Mai's words caused her to think about various wildly imaginative things for a while, so it took quite a while for her to calm herself down and for the red blush to recede from her face.

"An opportunity to develop my relations.h.i.+p with him…?"

Although she understood what Mai meant, she wanted to reconcile with Seiji first.

She arrived at the practice field with such a mindset.

That's when she discovered...

"Don't hug me, don't lick me! Although it feels really nice, it's a bit bad because it feels too nice!!"

"Meow meow~~"

The handsome boy was currently engaging in intimate behavior with a beautiful cat woman while hugging her!

Natsuya was rendered speechless.

"I know that you're already a great beauty now, an incredibly charismatic, mature beauty! That's why you can stop now, no need to do any more, otherwise… eh?"

Seiji felt a chill run down his spine, causing him to reflexively look behind him only to see the student council president quietly standing there with an icy expression and a distant look in her eyes.

'Scary!'

Seiji felt himself breaking out into a cold sweat.

"Kirin-san, please stop already…"

"Meow~"

Rana still hugged him without letting go, squeezing her chest against his, sticking her face right on top of his while gently licking his face and ears.

This felt amazing!

'It feels too amazing, which is why I truly want her to stop! Especially all the more so because her master is standing right beside us!!'

After the cat girl transformed herself into a cat woman, not only did her figure become much fuller, her personality seemed to have gotten more interested in s.e.xy things… No, wait! Perhaps she just lost her sense of reason.

Seiji could sense that Natsuya's gaze upon him was growing icier by the second, so he steeled his resolve and forcefully pushed Rana off of him.

"Take a look, Natsuya… er, your lady that you serve is here."

"Meow?"

Rana turned around to see Natsuya and revealed another seductive smile upon seeing her master. She dashed over and instantly hugged Natsuya!

Lick~ Lick Lick~~

"Rana, don't do that, it really tickles," Natsuya told her helplessly while being licked. She could only accept the hug and pat Rana on the back.

"Meow~~" The cat woman made a joyous sound as she wagged her b.u.t.t and furry tail in unison.

Seiji was rendered speechless.

He did his best to avert his gaze while reciting pi in his mind in order to reach a mental state of blankness!

"Hmph… Rana, we're leaving."

Natsuya glanced at Seiji one more time before she took her Spirit-branded Retainer and left.

Seiji watched them leave. Only after they left did he suddenly recall that they forgot something.

"The taiyaki…"

He smiled wryly at the bag of taiyaki that he was still holding.

"I'll bring it upstairs for them later."

Natsuya no longer felt like impulsively going to Seiji for a discussion.

That was due to what she just saw… although she knew that it really wasn't his fault, she was still displeased!

'Besides, why is it that I have to be the one to go to him to discuss things?

'While I might have been the one who said something a little unpleasant to hear, he was the one who insisted on doing something foolish first. Shouldn't he be the one coming to look for me!?'

Her displeasure created such thoughts in her mind, so she was no longer motivated to go and speak to him.

After remaining angry for a while in her study, the student council president went and took a shower, then finished some more work before finally going to her bedroom and sleeping.

The next morning.

When Natsuya got out of bread and began eating breakfast, she was astonished to hear from Mai that Seiji was still at the underground practice field!

"Harutsan pulled an all-nighter practicing his cultivation. He's been working truly hard," Mai informed Natsuya. "I went and called for him to come eat breakfast, but he refused, saying that he only had a little more to go."

Natsuya remained silent.

"While working hard is a good thing, I feel like he's almost forcing himself… I think that this is no good." Mai sighed.

Something flashed in Natsuya's eyes.

"Indeed, I have experience in knowing that too much cultivation can actually be harmful to one's body. I'll go speak to Harutkun in a bit," Hitaka indicated.

"No… Hitaka, I'll go." Natsuya stopped Hitaka from going.

"Alright. It should be fine if Milady handles things." The red-haired girl nodded.

At the practice field, Seiji cast [Summoning].

This time, a green mist appeared before him and quickly materialized into a Spiritual Creature that seemed to be physical!

He summoned a dog demon that had a pale body and cyan-colored claws. There was a green glow in its eyes that gave it a rather demonic aura.

"Excellent."

He finally mastered [Summoning].

Seiji observed his dog demon for quite a while before canceling the spell and letting it disappear. He then opened up his system.

He had reached 100% progress in finis.h.i.+ng his mastery of [Beginner-level Summoning].

Seiji immediately paid the points required and officially learned this spell through his system.

He immediately heard the sound of a system notification as words appeared before him.

[Character reward card [s.h.i.+ka Kagura]'s additional ability 1 has been activated due to the prerequisites being fulfilled. It shall now take effect.]

His s.h.i.+ka card's first ability!? Seiji immediately checked it out.

[Additional ability 1: White Calamity (Beginner-level Summoning required as a prerequisite.]

[Special summoning technique. You may summon a powerful humanoid Spiritual Creature containing the power of the Reaper's Curse. This Spiritual Creature can move by itself, or you can attach it to a Spiritual Ability user. Lasts for two minutes. Can only be used one time per day – A pure white soul containing the incarnation of calamity.]

Seiji was astonished at this ability.

He recalled that icy-cold rainy night… and sunk into nostalgia for a while.

Footsteps approached him.

Seiji instantly returned to his senses, turned off his system, and looked to see who it was.

"Good morning, Seiji."

"Good morning, Natsuya."

The two of them greeted each other.

"I heard that you pulled an all-night cultivating here." Natsuya looked at him.

"Yes, I put in some effort." Seiji smiled.

"It's nice that you're working hard, but don't force yourself… there's no need to force yourself."

"I haven't been forcing myself… I think I can do even more if I force myself."

Several seconds of silence fell between them.

"I want a relaxing and fun life, Natsuya. However, life isn't always so relaxing and fun. There's always going to be uncomfortable things, displeasing things, sad things, and even impossible things… they'll always exist." Seiji averted his gaze, and seemed to be looking at somewhere far off in the distance. "The former me used to avoid, escape from, and ignore such things…"

"Seiji…"

"Now that I've changed my life entirely, I wish to treat such things differently from how I used to," Seiji stated calmly. "Perhaps this is arrogant of me, not knowing where I stand. Perhaps it's even foolish. However, as long as I'm taking different actions from before, I feel that there's more value to my life than in the past."

"…It's not at the level of merely 'more value,'" Natsuya said softly as she glanced at him. "You're already living excellently compared to the you in the past."

Seiji smiled faintly in response to her sentence with something deep contained within his smile.

"I would like to discuss the matter of Akatsuki Mitarai with you one more time," Seiji mentioned.

"Are you still intending to duel with him?" Something flashed in Natsuya's eyes.

"That's right. However…"