"Ychan?"

Seiji recognized the voice in the darkness.

This was the ghost that called itself Ychan and appeared in Genhana High School's infirmary, giving Kaede a surprise!

"Hehehe~~" A ghostlike laugh echoed in the dark room. It definitely felt like a poltergeist's laugh.

"Let's play together, Harano onii-san~"

"What would you like to play?" Seiji asked.

"Hide and seek~~"

Well, it really fit the atmosphere to play hide and seek with a ghost in such a room.

"Can't we play something else?" Seiji tried asking.

"No~ You have to find me~"

"What if I can't find you?"

Another "hehehe" was the response.

"If Harano onii-san can find me, I'll tell you where the cute kitty is~"

'The cute kitty?'

"Are you talking about Miyabi Is.h.i.+hara?"

Ychan still only responded with the ghostly laughter.

"Let's begin playing, Harano onii-san~~"

Ychan stopped making any sounds after that.

Seiji looked towards Matsutani.

The pudgy middle-aged man had an expression of "do as you like here."

Seiji stopped looking at him and walked into the dark room. Matsutani followed after him.

When they entered the room, the door automatically closed behind them and a light turned on.

The light wasn't very bright. It was a dim yellow, befitting the atmosphere of such an old residence. It was a rather nostalgic feeling… although the source of the nostalgia was unknown.

Seiji and Matsutani walked to the living room of this residence.

All the various appliances in here were obviously quite ancient, especially the television. It was an ancient antenntype television which couldn't be seen almost anywhere anymore. It could basically be called an artifact.

Seiji and Matsutani carefully checked the living room but noticed nothing out of the ordinary.

Suddenly, the television turned on by itself and made deafening staticky noises!

Seiji reflexively turned around to look at the television. He saw that there was nothing but "snowflakes" as static on the screen.

"Such a cliché attempt at scaring someone," Seiji casually stated out loud.

He then noticed that something was wrong as he speedily looked around his surroundings again.

Tsuyos.h.i.+ Matsutani had disappeared!

"Matsutani-senpai!" Seiji shouted out loudly.

There was no response.

Seiji continued shouting for Matsutani and left the living room to search in other rooms as well.

There was still no response. Seiji was unable to find Matsutani anywhere.

This was a very cliché scare tactic as well. However, Seiji couldn't deny that it was a much more effective one.

Seiji checked multiple rooms at a fast pace. However, when he entered a certain room, he discovered that it was identical to the living room that should have been behind him!

He immediately turned around and checked the room behind him. However, he discovered that he was in the living room again as if he had never left in the first place.

"A haunted house…" Something flashed in Seiji's eyes.

The television turned on by itself once again with the same deafening sound of static.

He looked at the television.

Seiji saw that the "snowflakes" on the television screen began moving erratically, then slowly began to pour out and form human shapes…

*Boom!*

Seiji cast [Body-strengthening technique] on himself and viciously kicked the demon before it was able to completely form itself.

Then, he jumped up into the air and performed a whirlwind kick against the television!

*Shatter!!*

The television exploded from this heavy kick attack.

"You can't do that, that's breaking the rules! Harano onii-san," Ychan spoke up again.

"I never promised to play with you, so I don't need to follow the rules," Seiji stated.

"That's terrible! I'm not going to play with you anymore…"

"That's fine if you don't want to play, but you have to release Matsutani-senpai as well as Is.h.i.+ha.r.s.enpai."

"I definitely won't tell you where they are! Ptui~~" The ghost laughed condescendingly at him.

"In that case, I won't be polite or hold back anymore, Ychan." Something flashed in Seiji's eyes.

He cast [Evolved Body-strengthening technique] on himself!

After transforming into his golden form, he broke straight through the wall and proceeded in a straight line, simply breaking through all walls in the way.

The light instantly went out and a gigantic dark figure ambushed him from the shadows.

Seiji battled with it and easily defeated it in just a few blows. Then, he continued to break through the walls.

A white demon that was stronger than the earlier dark figure appeared… Seiji defeated it anyways!

Several dark figures and white demons appeared… Seiji defeated them all!

Countless dark hands appeared on the ceiling and floor to attempt at entangling Seiji… He cast [Evolved Mana Barrier] to block them all!

He kept seeing identical rooms after breaking through the rooms… Seiji didn't allow himself to be confused by the illusions and proceeded forward in a straight line!

No matter what this haunted house tried to do to him, Seiji dealt with the obstacles head-on. He kept stubbornly heading in the same direction.

His solution for breaking free from the haunted house had no beauty or elegance to it whatsoever.

However, Seiji was evidently correct in his decision—after breaking through several tens of walls, Seiji finally discovered the missing Tsuyos.h.i.+ Matsutani in yet another room identical to the living room!

The pudgy middle-aged man was crouching on the ground similar to how frogs usually posed.

Seiji was just about to go up and check on him when he heard the sound of snoring.

'He's actually asleep!?

'It's fine as long as he's alright… but his current position... could it be that this is actually his sleeping posture rather than something as a result of an ambush?'

Seiji thought about something unrelated to the situation at hand as he silently tapped the toad's… er, the light novel author's shoulder.

Matsutani muttered something as he slowly turned around and now revealed his stomach as he spread out all his limbs lazily with his mouth opening slightly as well.

Seiji was now certain that this was simply how Matsutani slept!

Seiji felt rather awkward because this was far more information than he wanted to know.

He forcefully patted Matsutani on the shoulder.

Matsutani finally woke up and was surprised for a while to see Seiji before he regained his senses.

"I was ambushed," he said as he wiped away the drool at the corner of his mouth. "Harano-kun, you suddenly disappeared, so I waited right where I was, but this ended up happening to me… I was definitely ambushed!"

Seiji was rendered speechless.

"Harano-kun, how are you currently doing?" Matsutani got up from the floor.

"I'm fine."

"Yeah, it looked like you were fine to me as well. As expected of a Spirit-branded Retainer, you're really strong."

'Even though this is obviously praising me, why do I feel so strange?' Seiji's cheek twitched slightly.

Forget it, he decided not to worry about it.

Matsutani seemed to be uninjured… in that case, Seiji figured he could give negotiation a try.

Seiji canceled his transformation after coming to that decision.

"Ychan, I'd like to discuss something with you face-to-face," he shouted.

There was no response.

"I apologize for breaking the rules. But, you were the one who first made my companion disappear, so I started taking action because I thought that he came to some harm," Seiji continued. "Both of us are in the wrong."

"Hmph…" He heard a faint voice in the distance.

"I would like to apologize directly to you, and you need to apologize to me as well. Both of us apologizing for our wrongs is the correct thing to do," Seiji stated calmly.

A period of silence followed after that.

Seiji was just about to say something else when he saw a mix of black and white mist forming before him that gradually took physical form.

Black curly hair, white eyes, a band-aid on the face, and wearing a striped t-s.h.i.+rt and shorts… although Ychan had a different appearance from the time in the infirmary, this was doubtlessly the same Ychan. Seiji still couldn't tell Ychan's gender.

"Harano onii-san… I'll forgive you just this one time. There's no next time," the ghost child told him.

"Thank you." Seiji smiled at Ychan. "I forgive you as well… I hope that there won't be a next time."

The two of them exchanged glances for a while.

Matsutani chose to remain silent and observe.

This seemingly peaceful scene wasn't so peaceful at all. There were still sparks flying between both sides' eyes.

"Where is Miyabi Is.h.i.+hara?" Seiji asked once again.

"Play with me. Only by defeating me in a game will I tell you." Ychan stated while folding its arms.

"I can play with you, but only in a game that I actually have a chance to win at." Something flashed in Seiji's eyes. "Not a game like hide and seek in a haunted house that's under your control. That would be an endless game, impossible for me to win."