Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

  Seiji was the only one who needed to hang up his fortune. Chiaki, Kaede, and Reo all drew "Good Fortune," while Mika and Nozomi both drew "Great Fortune."

  It would seem that the Uehara Family would be quite lucky this year.

  Next up was obtaining protective talismans and writing "emas". Emas were small wooden signs to inscribe one's wishes for the New Year's on, placed as an offering to pray for the gods' protection.

  After doing all these things, that was the end of their greeting the New Year.

  After finishing his lunch, Seiji went to his study and began drawing.

  He wanted to finish all the insert art as soon as possible so that "Brother Monogatari" could have an early publication date.

  'Oh hey, will the matter of demons harming people in town affect the sales of my book?' Seiji was somewhat concerned about this.

  Although he didn't lack money now, he still hoped that his and Shika's story could attract as many readers as possible. If this incident affected the sales potential, that would be unfortunate.

  However, there was no use being concerned about such a matter. He got rid of his idle thoughts and concentrated once more on drawing.

  Later that afternoon, he received a phone call from Natsuya.

  "Are you currently home?"

  "Yeah."

  "Can I go over there to your place in a bit?"

  "Of course. What's the matter?"

  "I have something to give to you."

  Not long after ending their short conversation, the student council president arrived.

  When she entered, Natsuya was somewhat astonished to see Kaede playing a game together with Reo.

  "Juumonji-sensei… why are you here?"

  "She lives upstairs as my neighbor," Seiji explained.

  "Good afternoon, President Yoruhana." The blonde teacher politely greeted Natsuya.

  "Good afternoon…"

  The president had a subtle expression in her eyes as she looked at Kaede.

  "Cough, I should explain, Juumonji-sensei is actually…" Seiji wanted to explain.

  "I know who she is. I just didn't expect that she was living here," Natsuya told him as she looked towards Kaede again. "Juumonji-sensei, thanks so much for your group's (the Juumonji mafia group) assistance that time."

  "No need to be so polite, President Yoruhana," Kaede responded with a smile. "It was our honor to be able to assist you."

  The two of them seemed to nonverbally communicate something in the air with their eyes.

  "Seiji, let's not bother Sensei and Tachibana-chan while they're playing a game and move to another room to talk."

  Hearing Natsuya say this, Seiji led her to his study.

  Something flashed in Kaede's eyes as Seiji led Natsuya to the study.

  "How long has she been living here?" Natsuya immediately asked this question the moment she entered the study.

  "Slightly over one month, I think… The second day that she arrived here was the first day that she started working at school." Seiji thought about it. "Oh, right, the day that she moved in was the same day that I brought your talismans over to the Juumonji Group."

  Natsuya didn't respond to this.

  "It was quite a surprise for me as well when she moved here… but we're just neighbors." Seiji awkwardly scratched his face.

  "She's staying quite naturally in your living room, and playing a game together with the little sister that you took in. She doesn't appear like any ordinary neighbor."

  "Er…"

  "Did you ask her to take care of Reo Tachibana for you?"

  "No… she just gets along really well with Reo…"

  Something flashed slightly in Natsuya's eyes.

  Seiji mysteriously felt somewhat insecure.

  "I came over this time in order to give you this." After a momentary silence, the student council president changed the topic of the conversation.

  She gave him a long-shaped box that she was holding and handed it to him.

  Seiji accepted this box.

  "What's this?"

  "It's the spiritual weapon that I promised to get for you during the Winter Snow Festival."

  Seiji's eyes lit up at hearing this as he placed the box on the table and opened it.

  He saw a bronze yellow-colored wooden sword inside.

  The sword seemed to be flashing slightly, and tiny, elegant runes were carved into it. It definitely appeared rather beautiful.

  "This sword was created using Kapok tree bark that was specially cultivated with spiritual powers. In its normal condition, it has hardness equaling that of steel. Once you inject Mana into it, you can increase either its sharpness or hardness, and use it as either a blunt weapon or a sword. It's capable of attacking both the physical and the spiritual," Natsuya explained. "If you master its usage, you can even send out sword waves with it as a form of ranged attack to slice your target."

  "Oh…" Seiji picked up the wooden sword and felt that it was rather heavy. Still, it was slightly lighter than a metal club would be.

  He gripped the sword hilt and felt that it was quite comfortable to hold.

  He attempted to swing it twice in midair, making a whishing sound in the air.

  "Awesome, I really like it!" He thanked Natsuya sincerely.

  "That's good, then. There's also an instruction book on how to use it in the box. Read over it carefully."

  A wooden sword even had its own instruction booklet… Well, he figured that it was probably beginner-level spiritual weapon sword techniques.

  He picked up with white little booklet in the box and read it over.

  The contents were easy enough to understand as they were indeed beginner-level.

  "Apart from the wooden sword, I'm also giving this to you." Natsuya handed him a black flash drive.

  "What's in this?"

  "Information regarding the Challenger's Blood Wine. The password to the document is 44657. One hour after you open the document, it'll automatically delete itself, so you need to finish reading it as soon as possible. Also, don't attempt to copy or move the document, as that will cause it to immediately delete itself."

  "Got it." Seiji took the flash drive. "Thank you."

  "No need to be polite."

  Seiji pocketed the flash drive and put the wooden sword back in ints box.

  "As for the Midnight Spell… er, that's what I'm calling the grand-scale magic spell from last night. Did you find anything out about it?"

  "I haven't received any detailed information yet, but I've heard that it's already been confirmed to be the work of a secret faction calling themselves 'Soul World.'" Natsuya blinked. "You're calling that spell the Midnight Spell?"

  "Yes, I'm calling it that for the time being."

  "I think that's quite an appropriate name for it." Natsuya agreed with his naming sense.

  "You can try letting more people call it by that, then." Seiji chuckled. "By the way, a secret faction… are they a so-called 'mysterious organization?'"

  "I suppose you could say that… no, they really are one of those so-called mysterious organizations." Natsuya sighed. "All of their members that have ever appeared before have currently gone completely off the radar. Nor has it been possible to find out their members' true identities. Their faction's home base is unknown, and their members' true names and identities are also unknown. They're basically like a thick fog of mysteries. I've heard that their members sometimes sell strange but incredibly useful objects to certain people, and strictly require the buyers to keep them a secret… Do you still remember the mysterious medicine that Okubo Yoshiaki possessed? It's highly likely that he obtained that from a member of the Soul World organization."

  Seiji recalled the time when they were dueling against Okubo Yoshiaki, causing him to furrow his eyebrows.

  "Then, about the night of one hundred demons… this incident with demons harming humans, what's this about?" Seiji continued asking. "Just how was this situation created? Will it still continue?"

  "About this, right now it's already confirmed that many demons have materialized and are injuring humans. As for how it specifically came about, that's still unknown." Natsuya paused for a moment. "Perhaps it was one of that spell's… the Midnight Spell's effects. Or it could be another spell's effect from the Soul World faction, or it might have been caused by some other faction. As for whether or not it will continue, I don't know. However, all the Spiritual Ability user factions are already on guard now. If this repeats again tonight, there will be even more people investigating the situation, finding out what's going on as well as figuring out how to stop it."

  "That's good, then."

  "Compared to an electronic and communications systems breakdown, demons appearing and harming humans… the night of one hundred demons is far more likely to cause great tremors in society and expose the existence of the mystical, which is why all the Spiritual Ability user factions will stop it as quickly as possible."

  'Ah, that's the same as what I expected,' Seiji thought to himself.

  "By the way, about this faction called 'Soul World', is there any particular meaning behind their name?" Seiji asked out of curiosity.