Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

  The school festival… Seiji had almost forgotten about it.

  "The school festival is next week, four days from now, right?" he asked after a pause.

  "Yep… Genhana High School’s festival has always been rather successful, so I hope that it’ll only improve rather than decrease in quality under my student council. That’s why we need to eliminate any obstacles or annoyances before it begins," Natsuya said in a serious tone.

  Seiji chuckled. "Similar to a grand end-of-year cleaning?"

  Natsuya nodded. "That’s right."

  "On what day will the duel be held?"

  "Starting from tomorrow until the day before the school festival begins, he has three nights in which he can choose to launch an attack. If he can break through my spell formation’s defense, it’ll be his victory. If he fails, however, or if he attacks during a time that wasn’t formally specified, it will count as my victory."

  "Ah…" Seiji had a basic grasp of the situation. "When do you think he’ll come?"

  "I think he’ll wait until the last day, because he requires time to prepare." Natsuya smiled faintly. "But even if he waits until the last minute, he won’t be able to finish the preparations that he wants."

  "You’ve forced him to work on a deadline."

  "Apart from time, I’ve also managed to limit one of his main preparation methods. That mysterious medicine he’s been using to gather spiritual energy has been forbidden."

  "Nice." While Seiji wasn’t sure about what exactly this entailed for Okubo, he was certain that it had dealt a serious blow to his morale.

  The president was really reliable in getting what she wanted on the negotiation table!

  "This will give me a great advantage, but we can’t relax our guard. We must be cautious until everything is over."

  Natsuya wasn’t overconfident simply because she gained an advantage during the negotiations. She was the type that believed everything would only be over when it was over.

  Seiji approved of her cautious personality.

  "Do you need my help with anything?"

  "Not particularly. But…" Natsuya looked directly at Seiji. "Did you… want to join in some way?"

  "Hmm?"

  "I already heard from Houjou-san about you and Shika… your determination, your actions, and… your transformation."

  Natsuya narrowed her eyes slightly. Suddenly both her eye pupils turned blood-red and diamond-shaped!

  What the hell—was this Sharingan!?

  Seiji was completely stunned.

  "Right now I’m currently confirming your status," Natsuya explained as she stared at him with her Sharingan-like eyes.

  Seiji blinked in discomfort. "Er… what exactly are you checking?"

  "I’m checking your Spiritual Power level and your Mana energy waves," Natsuya answered calmly. "It’s… quite astonishing, Haruta-kun. Before, your Spiritual Power and Mana were both incredibly low, but after a single day…" She sighed as her eye pupils morphed back into their normal shape. "In such a short time, your Spiritual Power and Mana have increased greatly. Even though it’s still at a very low level, the amount you've improved by—or I should say the pace of your improvement—is rather shocking."

  A brief period of silence fell between the duo.

  "If you improve by this much every day, it’ll only take you a few days to reach the level of someone qualified to become a Spirit-branded Retainer," Natsuya informed him in a serious tone.

  "A Spirit-branded Retainer’s level…" Seiji rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That's the most basic level, right?"

  "It’s indeed the lowest level, but even so, you need a certain amount of Spiritual Power and Mana to become a retainer." Natsuya sighed before continuing, "Haruta-kun, your transformation is incredibly astonishing… You don’t know about the realm of Yin Yang Masters, but I still need to let you know just how shocking your increase in Spiritual Power really is.

  "To the best of my knowledge, amongst modern-day Yin Yang Masters… no, even amongst all modern-day Spiritual Ability users, your feat is unprecedented! To be able to improve such low Spiritual Power and Mana levels by a vast amount in a single night through only Visualization—there’s never been an instance like yours!

  "This type of feat is recorded only in ancient texts and legends! Another way to put it is this: if people found out about your situation, you’d become a modern-day living legend!"

  Seiji scratched his face awkwardly. "A legend… I can’t really feel it right now, but I’ll keep it in mind."

  "That’s good then." Natsuya nodded in affirmation. "Honestly speaking, when I heard Houjou-san tell me about your situation, I almost thought that I misheard… But no matter how unbelievable the situation, she would never lie to me, so I accepted it. And just now, I personally confirmed it."

  The president revealed a complex expression as she considered the situation. "Houjou-san told me that you wanted to become a Yin Yang Master, so I thought that perhaps you’d like to participate even further. If you witness the duel, you can understand more… about my world."

  Seiji remained silent for a few moments.

  "If I want to witness the duel, I’m going to have to increase my Spiritual Power level to at least that of a retainer’s, right?"

  "That's not necessary." Natsuya shook her head. "However, if you do reach that level, I can form a contract with you as my temporary Spirit-branded Retainer, so that you can witness the battle at the closest distance possible. But if you don’t want to personally take part in the battle or if you can’t achieve that level, you can simply watch as a spectator."

  "Oh…"

  "I have a large advantage in this duel, so it should be fairly safe, but there’s still a risk… What would you like to do?"

  Seiji pondered on her words. "If I become your temporary retainer and enter the battle itself, will it inconvenience you in any way?"

  "That will depend on your performance. I believe that you won’t… you could even be a great help."

  "How so?"

  "I feel that he’s highly likely to use soul layer magic attacks against me, and you seem to be quite talented in this area. You could definitely become an unexpected factor in this duel," Natsuya said seriously.

  Seiji's eyes lit up upon hearing this. "Does that mean… there’s a possibility for the battle to be similar to the one where I dispelled the amnesia spell on Shika?"

  "Yes, there’s a possibility that there will be a battle in our soul layers, just like the battle you went through in Shika’s soul," Natsuya confirmed.

  'You should've said that earlier, Milady!'

  Seiji couldn't help but feel excited when he heard this. Battles that relied on the power of imagination were fun to him!

  A 2-D battle… There were so many ways he could win! If it was a battle in the soul layer, he could use any method he could possibly imagine to beat that bastard viciously!

  This was so much better than beating him up in real life!

  Just imagining the possibilities caused Seiji to swell with excitement, and that was taking into account it was only a possibility.

  But it was worth it for him to believe in this outcome! Such an exciting all-out battle where he could let loose his inner bloodthirsty berserker!!

  "I’d like to participate in the battle!" His mouth arced upwards, and his eyes began sparkling.

  "I’ll do my best to cultivate myself in the next few days in order to reach the level of a Spirit-branded Retainer! Please take good care of me and help me to learn as much knowledge as possible, President Yoruhana!"

  "Oh… okay." Natsuya was slightly stunned and could only reply dazedly at Seiji’s sudden explosion of passion.

  "It’s best to start as soon as possible, so I’ll begin immediately! I'll have to find Houjou-senpai if I want to borrow your Spirit Image again, right?" Seiji flashed a brilliant smile. "Or would it be better if you personally taught me something first? For example, showing me some secret technique manuals, or teaching me how to use spells?"

  "Er… just go ahead and do some Visualization first," Natsuya replied.

  "Got it! I shall take my leave then," Seiji answered spiritedly before turning around and leaving.

  Natsuya tilted her head in confusion as she watched his figure disappear dazedly.

  "What’s with him?" she murmured.