Natsuya fell silent.

Aoran didn't say anything else, either.

Time seemed to freeze over as neither of them said anything for a full minute.

"Thank you for telling me all this, Brother Aoran."

"No need for thanks… What do you intend to do, Natsuya?"

"…I need to think things over first."

"Then think things over well."

They ended their conversation there.

Natsuya slowly put down her cell phone.

Even though she had just finished a warm bath with such earlier sensations, she now felt like there was a chilly feeling enveloping her entire body…

The next morning, the weather was beautiful with clear skies and bright sunlight.

Seiji had an excellent and restful sleep. After getting out of bed and was.h.i.+ng up, he went to get breakfast.

When he arrived at the dining hall, he instantly noticed that something was wrong with the atmosphere.

The reason was obvious. The student council president who was already sitting at the dining table was emanating a gigantic aura of displeasure.

Natsuya's face was grim and her arms were folded as she glared at the salted fish crackers in front of her as if these pitiful fish crackers had done something bad to her.

Hitaka and Mai who were trapped in her aura noticed Seiji's arrival and both stared at him as he arrived.

Seiji's cheek twitched involuntarily.

Under the watchful gazes of Natsuya's Spirit-branded Retainer and her maid, he walked up to the president and sat down beside her.

"Cough… Good morning, Natsuya. About last night…"

There was no reaction from her.

"Natsuya?" Seiji slightly increased his volume.

"Hmm?"

Natsuya blinked and turned to look at him.

"Good morning… Seiji," she greeted him calmly.

"Good morning… What are you thinking about? Is it about what happened last night?" Seiji felt that something was wrong, so he tried asking.

Natsuya's expression remained calm. However, her face gradually began turning red.

"No! I wasn't thinking about what you thought I was just now." She averted her gaze.

Seiji was mystified as to what was going on.

He didn't understand why she was in such a foul mood, but figured that he should apologize.

"I wanted to say that I'm so sorry about what happened last night," he said sincerely. "Although I didn't cause it on purpose, I still… um… I'm truly apologetic about it. My bad."

Several seconds of silence fell between them.

"I want to say that you don't need to apologize, but last night indeed made me… feel some unusual things," Natsuya said as her face reddened. "So, I'll accept your apology… and forgive you."

Seiji smiled upon hearing this.

Hitaka blinked as she observed, and Mai smiled as well. The atmosphere eased up with this.

At this moment, Rana walked into the dining hall while drowsily rubbing her eyes. Immediately after sitting down, she reached and grabbed a handful of salted fish crackers which she stuffed into her mouth as she chewed with a soft and cute expression.

Everyone began eating breakfast together.

Although Seiji's apology seemed to dissolve the awkwardness from last night, he felt that something was still on Natsuya's mind.

Seiji tried asking about it, so Natsuya told him, "I'll talk about myself later. For now, what's important is you." Natsuya looked at him. "Do you think you can take on the additional burden of more Spirit-branded Retainer contracts?"

"It shouldn't be a problem."

"That's good, then… in that case, as we previously discussed, try making Rana into your Spirit-branded Retainer."

Seiji nodded as he looked at the cat girl who was sitting across from him.

Rana noticed his gaze and looked at him as well as her large cat ears quivered.

When he thought about how he was about to now have this cute cat girl as his own Spirit-branded Retainer as well, Seiji…

"You aren't thinking about something strange, are you?" an icy voice spoke up beside him.

"Not at all!" he hurriedly denied.

"Hmph…" Natsuya gave him a sidelong glance.

"By the way, what spirit was summoned for you?" Seiji changed the topic as he asked a question that he really wanted to know the answer to.

Although he sensed a spirit descending upon Natsuya during the ritual, he wasn't sure as to its ident.i.ty.

"It was Phoenix Fire," Natsuya replied.

Phoenix Fire, also known as Hououga!

Seiji thought about the game from his previous life once again. In that game, "Phoenix Fire" had been a beautiful mature woman that appeared rather mighty. It was a pity that although she was an SR, not many players seemed to value her, because she wasn't as easy to make use of compared to Snow Girl who all players would receive for free…

According to legends, Phoenix Fire was a demon formed by the remnants of a phoenix's flames during the phoenix's rebirth. That was a bit of a subtle origin story, giving her quite an awkward status.

"It's quite good to have summoned a Phoenix Fire spirit on the first try. Not only that, this spirit is particularly suitable for me, and is less of a burden for me to maintain than I expected." Natsuya's words helped Seiji to return to his senses.

"Suitable… just like how some weapons may be more suitable for certain people?"

"Indeed. This has helped to improve my condition. At any rate, it's an excellent spirit for me."

"That's good, then."

Seiji had some porridge, when he suddenly recalled something as he looked at Rana.

"That's right, there's a question that must be answered about one's name during the Spirit-branded Retainer ritual. Kirin-san, she…"

"Rana simply chooses to not speak. She can speak if she wants to, and she'll speak when it's necessary."

She knew how to speak?

Seiji paused in surprise for a moment.

"This means that I'll finally be able to hear Kirin-san talking for the first time!?" Something flashed in his eyes.

"Yeah… actually, I'm looking forward to it as well. After all, even I haven't heard Rana speaking for a long time." Something flashed in Natsuya's eyes as well.

Both of them looked at the cat girl with glittering expressions in their eyes as if they were parents greatly looking forward to their cute child's upcoming performance on stage.

"Meow?" Rana blinked as she stuffed another salted fish cracker into her mouth.

After breakfast, everyone went to the spellcasting room once more after making the appropriate preparations.

Rana knew what she was here for. She walked to the center of the Yin-Yang diagram on the floor and closed her eyes.

Before Seiji could officially create a Spirit-branded Retainer contract with her, Natsuya needed to first give formal permission as the original Yin-Yang Master that Rana was contracted with.

Similar to the contract content changing ritual from yesterday, Natsuya gave Rana permission to sign with a second Yin-Yang Master.

Then, it was Seiji's turn.

"Please answer me, what is your name?"

"Rana Kirin." A soft and childish-sounding voice came out of the cat girl's mouth.

She really spoke!

This was the first time Seiji had ever heard Rana speaking English rather than cat speak. Although he had mentally prepared himself, he was still quite moved.

"Are you willing to accept, with the Spirits of Heaven, the Souls of the Earth, the Azure Dragon of the East, the White Tiger of the West, the Vermillion Bird of the South, the Black Turtle of the North, and the Yellow Dragon of the Center as your witnesses, and sign a contract with me?"

"I am," her soft voice spoke up again.

'So cute!'

Seiji did his very best to maintain a serious expression and remain calm.

"With my blood as the contract, and my seal as the catalyst, I shall summon a spirit from the heavens and earth upon your body, to become your strength and fight for our cause…"

Seiji uttered the same incantation from before as he began casting the summoning spell.

He then sensed a powerful evil existence approaching Rana and beginning to descend upon her.

"Spirit, descend! I summon thee as a Spirit-branded Retainer!! I decree it so!!!"

The spirit entered Rana's body and the contract was completed!

At this moment, just like last time, Seiji felt like he faintly heard some voices, but he was still unable to hear them clearly.

He was rather befuddled. Were these just hallucinations that were part of the ritual's aftereffects?

"Meow~"

A seductive-sounding voice interrupted his thoughts.

He saw that Rana had shrunk herself into a ball, with her face reddening and tiny mouth puckering… Seiji's expression instantly froze.

'Hey, hey, it can't be! This is happening again!?'

"Meow~ Ah…"

Just as the cat girl started moaning for the second time, a black-and-white figure carried Rana in her arms and covered Rana's mouth at lightning speed, das.h.i.+ng away like the wind!

That was Mai taking action.

Seiji was rendered speechless.

After he finished watching the maid take the cat girl away from this room at an amazing speed, he turned to look at Natsuya.

"Even your Spirit-branded Retainer contracts have become like that… Seiji, your Mana is honestly…" The student council president had a complex tone.