Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

  Aoran mentally sighed as he understood what Natsuya meant.

  He felt annoyed and helpless at Natsuya's naivety and stubbornness. Sometimes, he would think to himself that it would have been better if his younger sister had been slightly dumber, or slightly less independent, and more of an obedient daughter.

  "The hunt's something that's already been decided upon. Even I can't change it."

  "But, you can pretend not to see anything."

  "Yes, but why should I?" Aoran increased the volume of his voice. "Should I be na?ve together with you!?"

  Natsuya fell silent.

  "Sister, I wasn't lying when I said I was on your side," Aoran continued. "But, the prerequisite is that you don't do anything too foolish! If you occasionally vent your anger or act willfully, I won't say anything, and you can do whatever you please. But, some things are still impossible. There's still boundaries. It's time for you to face reality."

  A moment of silence fell between them.

  "Reality… whether or not I recognize it as such, I don't know," Natsuya said in a light voice. "But, perhaps the reality that I see is different from the reality that you guys see."

  Her tone of voice was quite nonchalant as if she didn't have any emotions. However, Aoran felt as if he was being stabbed painfully, and the annoyance in his heart increased even further.

  He forcefully told himself many times over to calm down, and somehow managed to suppress his feeling of annoyance. What remained was a deep feeling of helplessness.

  "Since you object so much to having people over there, then I won't arrange for anyone else. I'll just have Ritsujirou Rokuhou assist you by himself… Stop venting your anger and finish the task as quickly as possible."

  He hung up the call there.

  Natsuya slowly put down her cell phone. Then, she came to a sudden realization that lit up her eyes.

  'Thank you, Brother Aoran,' she said in her heart.

  Ritsujirou located Shinkou Sentani in a public restroom close by to Genhana High School.

  Shinkou was injured all over, lying on the toilet like a dying dog. He looked rather pitiful.

  Although Ritsujirou didn't sympathize with Shinkou, he wasn't delighted to see his condition, either.

  Ritsujirou contacted a hospital and dragged Shinkou out of the restroom and brought him to the ambulance that the hospital sent. He watched the ambulance take Shinkou away.

  And just as he was about to return to Genhana High School to finish his task, a tall boy wearing the Genhana High School uniform appeared in front of him.

  "My name is Seiji Haruta. I would like to have a discussion with you, Rokuhou-san."

  Haruta… Ritsujirou immediately tensed up upon hearing this name.

  He had heard some rumors before about the relationship between this famous exiled scumbag piece of trash from the Haruta Family and Lady Yoruhana…


  "What would you like to talk about? Haruta-san."

  "Let's go somewhere more convenient to chat," Seiji indicated to Ritsujirou as he turned around and walked off.

  Something flashed in Ritsujirou's eyes as he followed Seiji.

  They entered a coffee café.

  At this time of day, there were very few customers. The two of them sat down in a corner, each ordered a coffee, and then they both fell silent.

  Only after the server brought both their coffees and left did Seiji finally speak up.

  "Judging by your reaction, you know who I am, so I won't waste any unnecessary time on introducing myself. What I want to talk about is regarding your task to search for Awakened… Please stop your search for Awakened after you discover two Awakened, and then report to your boss that 'these are all the Awakened here at Genhana.'"

  Ritsujirou squinted his eyes.

  "Why?"

  "Of course, to reduce the number of possible victims." Seiji looked at Ritsujirou. "You should know what will happen to the Awakened that you find, don't you?"

  Ritsujirou fell silent for a moment.

  "What's in it for you to do all this?" he asked.

  "Nothing."

  "Then why are you doing this?"

  "Because I want to, just like Natsuya."

  Ritsujirou tensed up even further upon hearing this.

  "This was indeed Lady Yoruhana's intention after all…"

  "No, it's my intention," Seiji stated calmly. "I learned about the situation from her, and made my decision on my own."

  Ritsujirou furrowed his eyebrows.

  "If you agree to my request, you will receive benefits—more so than what you'll be paid from completing your task," Seiji promised.

  "…And if I don't agree?"

  "I was the one who beat Shinkou Sentani up."

  Seiji's answer didn't directly answer his question, but it was the most direct type of answer of all.

  "I seriously considered whether or not I should kill him, because there's no way I can have a proper discussion with that type of person." A cold look appeared in Seiji's eyes. "In the end, I didn't get to kill him, which was rather regrettable, but forget it… You're different from that type of bastard, Rokuhou-san. You're someone I can have a discussion with… I hope that you'll make the correct decision."

  Ritsujirou could feel an imposing manner coming from Seiji Haruta.

  The famous useless piece of trash from the Haruta Family… that was all in the past. This person sitting across from him right now was someone strong enough to single-handedly defeat and even kill Shinkou Sentani without having received a single injury!

  Ritsujirou broke out into a cold sweat in front of this tangible sensation of pressure.

  "For me, the most correct decision would be to serve the Yoruhana Family's wishes…"

  "Lady Yoruhana will be quite happy if you agree to my request. And if you don't, she'll be quite disappointed."

  "I respect Lady Yoruhana, but…"

  "My request isn't for you to abandon your task, but to let some go free," Seiji spoke softly. "I'm not asking for you to risk everything and betray the Yoruhana Family. It's just pretending not to see anything and committing an act of kindness."

  Ritsujirou fell silent yet again.

  "There's many wicked things that happen in the world. Even if one more or one less wicked deed is done, it won't affect anything in the grand scheme of things. For most such cases, we're powerless. But if something like this is right in front of you, and if it's possible for you to reach out and stop it just like that and prevent some harm from being done, that would be adding more beauty and kindness into this world…" Seiji had a deep look in his eyes as he sipped on his coffee. "At the very least, that's what I believe."

  A long, long silence fell between them after that.

  Various customers came and went, the servers walked around, the bell on the door kept ringing whenever it was opened. Ritsujirou's coffee started to become cold…


  Finally, Ritsujirou gave a long sigh, picked up his coffee that had already gone completely cold, and drank it all down in one gulp.

  He looked towards Seiji after putting down his coffee mug.

  Seiji understood Ritsujirou's answer from the look in his eyes.

  With Natsuya's cooperation, Ritsujirou was immediately able to discover two Awakened in a single day.

  Shouhei Matsujima from Year 2, Class 3, and Takaya Nakamura from Year 3, Class 5.

  They were both boys that Seiji was unacquainted with.

  Ritsujirou reported this information to his superiors, and said that "these are the only two Awakened at Genhana Middle and High School," ending his task there.

  Since there were only two people… would the Yoruhana Family be suspicious? Natsuya told him not to worry about it and that this would be fine.

  Yukari, Hoshi, and any other potential Awakened at school were safe now… for the time being.

  If the fact that Seiji and Natsuya covered for Awakened here was exposed, the Yoruhana Family would undertake another search.

  And even at schools other than Genhana, the Awakened would be in a similar situation. Other Spiritual Ability user factions were doing similar searches.

  In fact, it would be the same even if the Awakened left this city and escaped somewhere else.

  Although some factions offered protection to the Awakened, who knew if that was only on the surface? Nor was it known just how long the protection could continue for. Seiji didn't feel that it would be a good idea for Yukari and Hoshi to join any Spiritual Ability user faction. Shouzou Amami agreed with Seiji's viewpoint.

  The mystical society didn't treat it as a basic fundamental right that the Awakened should be treated well. Nor was there a simultaneously trustworthy enough and powerful enough faction that definitely stood up and said that they would protect the Awakened—that was the foundational problem!

  'If only there was a bald professor in a wheelchair who created a school for the Awakened…' Seiji couldn't help but think that to himself.

  In the end, he still didn't have enough power.

  'As long as I have enough power, I shall become that bald professor myself!'

  No, no, he wasn't talking about becoming bald, Seiji was referring to creating a faction of his own like that professor from a story in his previous world.

  But right now, just protecting his own friends was difficult for him.

  Seiji could only helplessly sigh. At this moment, he received a message from Hana.

  "I obtained some information about the Spirit Worlds."