'No, this isn't desire, he's simply expressing concern for me.

'But why is he concerned about me?

'Because he's simply such a person who thinks it's natural to help others…

'But isn't that way of thinking also a type of "desire"?'

Miyabi became confused.

Yet, she also felt as if she'd realized something.

Miyabi felt faintly as if she understood what her junior meant by the story of what the other girl had "learned" through her trial.

Now, Miyabi was facing her own trial.

Either she would learn to "control" her other self, or she would be "controlled" by her other self.

Fear, rejection, and avoidance… Those were all useless. She could only face "herself" head on…

"Senpai?"

Seiji noticed that Miyabi seemed to be thinking something. He called out to her, but received no response.

He decided not to interrupt her thoughts. He simply sat there silently while waiting for her to finish thinking.

A while later, her eyes cleared up as she regained focus.

"Thank you, Junior." Miyabi smiled like a quietly blooming flower.

Seiji was momentarily mesmerized by her beautiful smile. "…No need to be polite. Did you think of something?"

Miyabi nodded.

"Could you tell me about it?"

Miyabi shook her head.

"I can't, because it's far too embarra.s.sing." Her face flushed red as she said this.

Embarra.s.sing? Seiji blinked in surprise. He was rather mystified about this.

"Thank you for worrying about me. I'm fine, really… Please let me face this by myself for now," Miyabi told him. "If I really can't do a good job, then I'll tell you everything at that time."

She had a resolute expression despite the fact that her face was slightly red.

Seiji nodded after seeing such an expression.

"I believe in Senpai."

He had originally wanted to tell Miyabi about the upcoming danger in two weeks, but he now felt that there was no need to tell her so soon. It was probably better to let her concentrate on her personal trial… So, he simply said goodbye and left.

After Miyabi watched Seigo Harano leave, she looked back at the bookshelves and quietly waited.

After an unknown period of time pa.s.sed, she heard the voice that she was waiting for...

"Heeheehee~"

After hearing this ambiguous laughter, Miyabi reached out and picked up a tea kettle that mysteriously appeared. She started pouring some tea.

After she finished pouring the tea, she then looked across from her and saw that girl who was identical to herself.

No… she should call that girl "the other version of herself".

"Are you prepared to become me?"

"No, I definitely won't become you."

"Heehee… You know that it's useless."

"I know… but you're not actually me!"

The battle of wills between the two literary girls now began.

Later that night, countless cherry blossoms once again let off a mystical and ethereal light.

Although there was a giant unexpected rainstorm last night, many people still went cherry blossom viewing at night. All the famous cherry blossom viewing spots were still bustling.

People drank, chatted, and gossiped, while children played and the elderly enjoyed the scenery… Everyone enjoyed an ordinary and precious peaceful beauty.

Ordinary people were unable to see the cherry blossoms' mystical light. They had no idea what was going on. Neither did they have any clue about the danger coming in two weeks' time.

The darkness was always present.

Seiji didn't know what Yui meant by that sentence of hers on the message forum. But if he seriously considered it, even an ordinary peaceful life would have its hidden darkness behind it, such as all sorts of crimes and other dark deeds behind the scenes…

Perhaps different people would make different choices if they came upon the darkness.

Those who knew about the extraordinary upcoming danger were now facing an important decision.

As Seiji observed the glowing cherry blossoms, he brought out his cell phone, and contacted all the members of his knight order…

The next morning.

This was a bright and sunny day. All the members of Seiji's knight order gathered at Natsuya's residence.

This was the first real-life meeting of all the members of the knight order, and the second full-member conference they had so far.

Compared to the first full-member conference, there were now four additional partic.i.p.ants.

The scion Yin Yang Master, Natsuya Yoruhana.

The master of her Domain, Kazuko Ooike.

The silver-haired puppet girl, s.h.i.+n.o.bu Miaki.

The insect demon's host, Kaho Miyamoto.

'…It suddenly feels really cool to give all of them t.i.tles like that. Why don't I give t.i.tles to all the knight order members?' Seiji suddenly had such a chuunibyou idea.

But since there were more partic.i.p.ants than before, first was introducing everyone to each other.

As expected, the puppet girl s.h.i.+n.o.bu's astonis.h.i.+ng beauty shocked Yukari and the others.

Yukari, Mayuzumi, and Kazuko all wanted to touch this extraordinarily beautiful puppet girl!

s.h.i.+n.o.bu hid behind s.h.i.+ka Kagura when faced with all these overly pa.s.sionate strangers.

This caused the others to really want to take a picture of s.h.i.+n.o.bu. Just about everyone took out their cell phones, including Seiji! They all took some wonderful pictures of s.h.i.+n.o.bu.

Apart from this, Hisas.h.i.+ sang his praises for Natsuya's beauty and Kaho's chest. He then received a whack from Kaede's paper fan.

Kaho had previously learned from Seiji already that Kazuko's true ident.i.ty was her and Seiji's cla.s.smate, Kazufuru Ooike. So, when Kaho met Kazuko directly, Kaho had a rather complex and awkward expression, just like Mika's first meeting with Kazuko.

A male cla.s.smate had become a beautiful girl, and a freely moving human puppet girl… Compared to these two, the health teacher/infirmary nurse and Honey Candy Girl author being here didn't seem all that shocking anymore.

Still, Kaho was rather surprised. She wanted Mayuzumi Amami's autograph… 'Would it be possible to ask for one later?' Kaho wondered.

After everyone was introduced to each other, Seiji announced that Kazuko, s.h.i.+n.o.bu, and Kaho would be officially joining the knight order.

It was already confirmed that s.h.i.+n.o.bu and Kaho were going to join.

As for Kazuko, Seiji had originally invited her to this meeting, but he didn't expect that she'd volunteer to join his knight order.

"If it weren't for you last night… I don't know what could have happened to me. This incident helped me to recognize that I need your a.s.sistance more than I thought I did. And even if I don't join, I know that you'll help me with all you have, but… I'd still feel anxious. At any rate, I feel like I really need you. I want to become yours."

That was what Kazuko had told him.

Seiji told her to take some more time to consider it. However, she adamantly insisted. When Seiji mentioned Kazufuru, Kazuko said that she would definitely convince him.

Since that was the case, Seiji had no more reason to refuse. He accepted Kazuko joining his knight order.

…It definitely wasn't because he was moved by her sentence of "I want to become yours"! It definitely wasn't!

The knight order members applauded as they welcomed their new companions.

Seiji had the new members choose their own code numbers for the knight order as the names they would go by when wis.h.i.+ng to remain anonymous. They were free to choose any number that wasn't in use already.

Kazuko directly chose 11, becoming the "11th Knight".

Kaho chose 10 and became the "10th Knight".

s.h.i.+n.o.bu didn't know what to choose, so Seiji chose for her. s.h.i.+n.o.bu became the "12th Knight".

And then, the meeting formally began.

"The important information I summoned everyone here for today is related to the cherry blossom glowing phenomenon…"

Seiji had a serious expression as he explained everything about the Realm of Cherry Blossoms.

After his explanation, everyone remained quiet for a while.

Seiji gave everyone some time to digest the information before he spoke up again.

"It should be safe if we leave this city before the Realm of Cherry Blossoms Spirit World manifests itself. We don't have any need to stay behind and fight. There's no shame in leaving here and avoiding this danger. Although there might be benefits to staying behind, you'll have to risk your life. Without mentioning whether it's worth it or not, first you must have the resolution to risk your life… Even if you protect the citizens and this city, n.o.body will thank you, because they won't even know. And if we leave, even if there are people that die, and if the city is destroyed, the people that leave won't be blamed. You don't need to feel any guilt. That's how the situation is. Now, we must make a choice—should we leave here in safety, or risk everything and fight?"