"Weren't you feeling scared?"

"Although I'm scared, I can't have you sleeping in the living room."

"I don't have any problem with sleeping in the living room."

"Neither do I…"

"It's not the same."

Seiji didn't want Chiaki to sleep in the living room for multiple nights, but Chiaki also didn't want Seiji to have to sleep in the living room. That was why she preferred to return to her own apartment rather than having Seiji make such a sacrifice.

But, she said that she was scared, and Seiji was indeed worried about her and wanted her to stay here.

So, he decided to simply move her bed into his apartment! With his boosted physical strength as a spiritual ability user, this was quite an easy matter.

Seiji put Chiaki's bed in the study and tidied it up for her. That settled the matter.

"I'll be quite happy if you attack me in the middle of the night~" Chiaki made a seductive gesture as she sat down on her bed.

"Don't mess around… just go to sleep properly. Call for me if anything is wrong at all." To be honest, Seiji's heart skipped a beat.

Later that night, his l.u.s.t arose and he couldn't help but violate her… such a thing didn't happen at all.

All he did was get up in the night to check on her. He saw that Chiaki was fast asleep, with nothing out of the ordinary, so all he did was adjust her blanket for her.

Of course, he did feel something as he looked at his girlfriend's sleeping face. Still, it wasn't to the point of pouncing on her.

Nothing happened that entire night.

The next morning, Yui arrived at Seiji's apartment.

Seiji got on her car and told her about what he heard from Itsuki Kamitani, including the information on Chiaki.

"You can choose one of two options now," Yui spoke up after a period of silence.

"First is to hand that Chiaki Wakaba person over to me… basically, hand her to Soul Society. Second is to protect her using your own strength."

Seiji fell silent for a moment.

This caused him to recall the final choice he had to make during the Bloodwine Ritual tournament regarding what he would do with the Bloodwine reward.

As if his system was tacitly cooperating with his memory, it suddenly offered him some conversation options...

[A: I believe in you. I'll hand Chiaki over to you.]

[B: I believe in you, but I can't trust Soul Society the same way… I'll protect Chiaki using my own power.]

[C: I need to know more. What's going to happen to Chiaki? What will happen if I hand her over to Soul Society?]

Seiji chose option C, wanting to know more.

"I'm not sure what will happen. Maybe nothing will happen at all. Or, maybe things will be… highly dangerous." Something flashed in Yui's eyes. "If you hand her over to Soul Society, we will protect her life within certain limits. But if those limits are stretched, she will be dealt with."

Dealt with... this phrase caused Seiji's expression to turn icy.

Soul Society was no charity organization, nor was it an organization standing for justice. Just as Hana said, it would be more accurate to describe Soul Society as an organization for maintaining order in the mystical society.

"Order" was not the equivalent of "kindness." Sometimes, violence and cruel acts would be necessary to maintain order in any society. Seiji was quite clear on this.

He didn't blame Yui for this. Rather, he was thankful to her for telling him more clearly.

"How should I protect her?" Seiji asked this question, indicating what he wanted to do.

"Stay by her side and protect her," Yui answered with a serious expression.

"And so, that's why you brought her along as well."

The student council president looked over at Chiaki after Seiji arrived at Natsuya's residence together with Chiaki. Seiji had just finished explaining Chiaki's situation.

Chiaki put on a cute smile.

"That's how it is." Seiji nodded.

When he'd asked Chiaki to come together with him to Natsuya's residence, Chiaki didn't object at all. Rather, she was quite happy to do so.

s.h.i.+ka had come along as well. Kaede was off from work today, so she was babysitting Reo.

Hisas.h.i.+, Yukari, Hos.h.i.+, Kazuko, Kaho, and Mayuzumi all arrived at Natsuya's residence as well.

Chiaki greeted everyone. This was her first time meeting Hisas.h.i.+ in person, but they had previously chatted online and were familiar with each other. Chiaki had also already heard about Kazuko's ident.i.ty. When Chiaki met Kazuko for the first time, Chiaki's eyes lit up as she smiled in delight.

After everyone gathered here, Seiji explained to everyone regarding Chiaki's situation. After that, he began a strategy conference together with Natsuya and Hitaka as well.

At this moment, Chiaki discovered a wild cat girl Rana. Chiaki immediately chucked a Master Ball at Rana… whoops, pounced towards the cat girl! But, Rana was able to agilely dodge.

"Don't run from me~ Kirin-chan~~"

"Meow."

The tomboy chased the cat girl out of the room. Chiaki seemed to be having fun.

After the strategy conference, everyone changed into their combat equipment.

Hitaka was still wearing her typical red dress for combat. Hisas.h.i.+ and the others who saw this for the first time were all astonished by her striking appearance.

However, Natsuya didn't wear form-fitting attire this time. She copied Seiji and wore a similar jacket for her combat attire.

Natsuya's jacket was red and white. Since the scion had an excellent figure, the jacket made her seem handsome and cool yet also alluringly beautiful. She especially seemed like a perfect match when she stood next to Seiji who wore a dark gray jacket. They seemed like the male and female leads right out of an RPG video game!

'This type of attire is nice as well, but I still prefer what she wore previously…' Yukari thought that to herself.

Last time, when she returned home, Yukari immediately drew many ero sketches using Natsuya as the model. Natsuya's appearance in form-fitting attire had given her such an impact that the image etched itself deeply into Yukari's mind. Yukari was then able to complete a wonderful drawing after the sketches. It was so wonderful that she didn't even want to upload it to her internet gallery. She preferred to keep it to herself instead.

After Yukari had learned that Natsuya would join this next training session, she looked forward to seeing the student council president in form-fitting attire once more. However, this time her expectations came up empty.

Seiji had actually requested Natsuya to change her outfit. That was because Natsuya looked way too s.e.xy in her outfit, which he felt would be a bad influence…

Fine, he had to admit that it was because he didn't want any other males to see her with such an appearance! It was no good even if Natsuya was wearing a cape.

Natsuya was quite happy with the way Seiji felt. She speedily prepared a "couples jacket" in the same style as his to match him.

Hisas.h.i.+ and the others all sincerely praised Natsuya's beauty and her excellent pairing with Seiji.

Mika had an envious look in her eyes, which Seiji noticed.

"Do you all want to wear some combat equipment that looks even better?" he asked everyone.

"This humble one has no objections to his current combat clothing. But, if possible, of course I'd like to wear something cooler!" Hisas.h.i.+ stated.

"I agree," Yukari commented.

"Same for me…" Hos.h.i.+ also agreed.

"I think this current clothing is fine," Mayuzumi mentioned.

"I also think the current clothing is fine," Kaho agreed with Mayuzumi.

"I… also agree that the current clothing is alright," Mika stated in a low voice. But although she said this, her expression betrayed her.

It would be expensive to have combat equipment crafted for everyone. But if Seiji only went for looks rather than improved functionality, he could afford to outfit everyone with cooler-looking customized equipment with his current wealth.

He thus mentioned the idea of outfitting everyone with cooler-looking combat clothing. However, the knight order members asked what the price of outfitting everyone with basic equipment would be, and then everyone rejected the idea of having him do this.

It was too expensive! Even if the knight order members didn't need to pay this cost, it wasn't an ignorable price… Or perhaps it should be said that it was precisely because everyone wasn't paying themselves that they cared even more.

"No need to mind this amount of money. This isn't much compared to how much work everyone is putting in," Seiji told them.

Even though he said this, Yukari and the others still wouldn't agree to let him pay for them.

After seeing this, Seiji gave up on the idea of outfitting everyone with cooler-looking gear.

Still, it was important to level up everyone's equipment in the future. He would have to start thinking about it.

After this training session in the domain, Seiji decided to a.s.sign everyone some "homework", having them all write down their ideas and thoughts on how to upgrade and make some custom equipment for themselves. He would use this as a reference.

As for Mika… he had another idea just for her.

After everyone was finished preparing, they all entered Kazuko's Domain and started battling!

As Seiji had requested, Kazuko increased the difficulty of her Domain.