"If the situation continues…"

Natsuya looked directly at Seiji.

"The best result will be that we repel the enemy's attack successfully and defeat them or force them to retreat. The worst result will be… that all three of us will die."

Death.

Even though Natsuya said the word in a calm tone, Seiji was still able to detect a sliver of fear deep within her.

"A duel between Yin Yang Masters… Must it always end in one of their deaths?"

"No, but as a 'duel,' both sides will use everything in their power to achieve victory, so injuries or deaths are quite common."

Natsuya slowly sipped her tea.

"As for the school, it probably won't be affected; duels between Yin Yang Masters typically don't involve normal people."

Seiji sharply a.n.a.lyzed Natsuya's diction.

"You say 'probably' and 'typically'—you don't sound very sure."

"…I can't say with certainty that innocents won't get harmed." Natsuya sighed before continuing: "Yin Yang Masters live by the rule of not attracting the general public's attention… but the flip side is, as long as it's not to the degree of attracting a huge amount of attention, a few deaths are permitted."

"So it's a natural thing to them like how two lions dueling might accidentally crush a few insects to death?" Seiji frowned.

He had already felt a bit uncomfortable when he viewed the pictures taken by the Juumonji group, which depicted the drug dealers who had frozen to death.

Although they were human sc.u.m that n.o.body cared about, were willing to be taken advantage of, and their deaths were brought about by their own greed, the fact that human lives were ruthlessly taken still had a profound effect on him.

And now, hearing that there was a possibility that his fellow students were at risk from suffering the same fate of being frozen to death, the uncomfortable feeling lingering within his heart magnified.

Seiji's frown deepened as Mika and Chiaki's faces surfaced tin his mind.

"I can now somewhat understand the reason that Milady doesn't want to make friends with ordinary students."

Natsuya smiled wryly in response.

Hitaka glared at Seiji before exclaiming, "What do you know? Milady is…"

"Hitaka!" Natsuya interrupted.

The red-haired girl could only bite her lips.

'There's something they're hiding…' Seiji could tell as it was obvious.

But if they decided not to inform him, he would remain ignorant.

"My apologies; my words may have been hurtful."

"No, what you said was a fact."

Seiji and Natsuya exchanged glances.

"In order to prevent the worst outcome, the first thing we need to do is stop the enemy's Spirit-branded Retainer." Seiji rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

Actually, he already had an idea.

The solution was quite simple; all he had to do was find out when and where the next incident involving this Spiritual Retainer would be, then load, turn back time, and notify Natsuya and Hitaka about it.

The only problem he faced with this was how to tell them!

'Should I tell them about his save and load ability?' Seiji firmly rejected this course of action in his mind; he knew that his system and the save/load power were his trump cards. He absolutely must keep it as his personal secret for his own safety.

So, should he deceive them by pretending that he had some type of power to predict the future, or that he possessed a special sense or instinct?

This seemed possible… But for an amateur like Seiji to deceive people with mystical powers like them required him to make sure his story was airtight.

So what exactly should he do?

Seiji continued to contemplate.

"You mentioned that you use a spell to locate the enemy's Spiritual Retainer—how exactly do you do it?" He inquired.

"I've set up a detection spell formation—as long as the Spirit-branded Retainer uses mystical powers within the detection area, the detection spell will automatically notify me."

"And then you'll inform Hitaka-san and order her to catch the culprit, but you're still too late on every instance… There's n.o.body else that can help you?"

Natsuya sighed.

"Of course I can ask my family for help, but unless I absolutely have to, I don't wish to do that."

"There seems to be a deep reason behind that..."

"Yes, I don't want to talk about it, so please don't inquire any further." Natsuya wore an uncomfortable expression as she averted her gaze.

"I'm not the type who lacks that much common sense." Seiji scratched his face. "Then, how about viewing it from a different angle—why don't you request the a.s.sistance of an ordinary person?"

"I just mentioned that ordinary people shouldn't be getting involved, right?" Natsuya looked confused as she furrowed her eyebrows: "Haruta-kun, was your att.i.tude earlier simply faked?"

"Of course, I'm not talking about having a normal person fight a Spirit-branded Retainer or anything like that." Seiji waved his hand.

"I just want to say this: is it possible that they can support your detection formation, without catching the attention of the enemy's Spirit-branded Retainer, thus increasing the overall power of your detection spell… Is something like that possible?"

"Support…" Natsuya showed surprise at Seiji's idea before she mulled it over seriously.

Seiji wanted to drink some more tea but found that his cup was empty. He gestured to Hitaka, indicating his cup was empty and that he wanted her to pour him a refill, but she coldly ignored him.

'Ah, she doesn't like me all that much…' Seiji could only smile wryly inside his mind as he was forced to rise in order to hold the teapot. He then poured some additional tea for all three of them.

It took a minute for Natsuya to finish considering Seiji's idea.

"What you just said… is possible," she stated slowly. "I can create a talisman that will enable an ordinary person to increase the power of the detection spell, as long as it's placed on their body and they move around within the detection spell's range. However, its effectiveness is quite low, and many people are required in order to strengthen the detection spell significantly. I don't have that many people I can command… And even if I somehow managed to do so, making them walk around everywhere within the detection spell's range would be quite apparent, and the enemy's Spirit-branded Retainer might notice them."

Seiji smiled slightly as he listened attentively.

"A large amount of people that won't be noticed easily even if they're walking around on the street, right? What a coincidence! I just met a group of people yesterday that fits these criteria."

Natsuya Yoruhana blinked.

"Are you talking about the local mafia?"

"Of course I am. They're the leader of the local underground community; asking the local hoodlums that go about their business on the streets every day to do something insignificant like wearing a talisman should be quite simple for them to achieve."

"Will they be willing to help us? Normally speaking…"

"Normally speaking, they'd avoid a situation where even the police are remaining quiet about, right? But the Juumonji group is an exception! If it wasn't for the fact that they have more backbone than even the police, they wouldn't have even bothered inviting me over, nor would I have appeared in front of you like this."

Seiji extended his palms.

"They want to protect their own territory; even if they've realize that the enemy is something incomprehensible to them, they still want to know. As for their backbone and their so-called pride… Honestly, I don't understand it all that well, and perhaps looking at it from a different angle it's merely stubborn foolishness, but mafia like them really do exist! Their boss even kneeled to me and kowtowed when asking for information!

"So that's why I came to find you, and now that I know what's going on, I think that he won't refuse to help us when I give him the information that he's been seeking. Of course, he's a mafia boss, so perhaps he'll add in some extra conditions. If that's the case, you can just go ahead and have a discussion with him; I believe that you can come to an accordance with him."

Silence fell in the room as Natsuya began considering Seiji's proposal once again.

This time, she thought it over for a much shorter time.

"The mafia…" She sighed.

"Using the mafia's power… Honestly speaking, it's quite a shameful thing, but right now's not the time to be worrying about honor. The fact that my power is insufficient is indisputable. In order to compensate for my lack of power, I should set aside some of my pride as a Yin Yang Master."

"Milady…" Hitaka Shuho furrowed her brows before she viciously glared at Seiji, evidently blaming him for Natsuya's ign.o.ble decision.

Natsuya turned and faced Seiji directly with a serious expression on her face.

"Your idea is excellent. You have my heart-felt thanks, Haruta-kun. I'm going to need to trouble you to talk to the leader of that Juumonji group once more, and request their a.s.sistance. If it's necessary, feel free to contact me if I'm needed to talk directly to their leader. I'll leave it up to you, then!"

Natsuya lowered her head towards Seiji.

"No need to be so polite with me, President Yoruhana." Seiji smiled before continuing: "It's nothing, really."