Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

  She never expected to receive such a high evaluation.

  Mika originally expected that Chiaki would be astonished, perhaps even angered, but never expected that Chiaki would think of her like this. Mika was lost on how to respond.

  "I truly applaud and express my gratitude to you, Mika."

  "Eh?"

  "You obtained your position through your own efforts, and created an opportunity for me as well." Chiaki was smiling as something flashed in her eyes. "Truly, thank you… Let's leave it at that for tonight. Have a good night."

  She ended the phone call there.

  Mika paused in surprise for a moment.

  Although she was still rather confused, but… this type of development counted as good, right?

  Chiaki mentally prepared herself after ending the conversation with Mika. Chiaki then called Seiji.

  As she expected, Seiji picked up rather quickly.

  "Chiaki…"

  "Seiji, I know that you know already." Chiaki repressed her own feelings of nervousness and tried to sound as casual and relaxed that she could. "You must be so busy dealing with your frustrations that you can't sleep, am I correct?"

  "…Indeed." Seiji sighed. "It's all thanks to you."

  "Ahaha, sorry. I never expected that Mika would tell you. She performed completely outside of my expectations. I feel as if I'm just getting to know her all over again." Chiaki chuckled lightly.

  Seiji didn't know what to say.

  "I'd like to go over to your place and talk to you face to face… or, how about you come over to me, is that alright?" Chiaki sent him an invitation. Simultaneously, the nervousness within her was raised to the highest limit she could handle.

  *Pound pound pound…* She could clearly hear the sounds of her own heartbeats. It felt as if time itself was slowing.

  "Inviting a boy into your room in the middle of the night could possibly be dangerous."

  Finally, she heard him saying that after an indeterminable period of time passed. It might have been several seconds, or it might have been several minutes.

  Chiaki reflexively pressed her hand against her own chest. That was because she felt that if she didn't do so, her heart would burst out of her chest!

  "Having a certain boy make me drunk and then carrying me to my bed are all dangerous experiences I've had already."

  "Hey!"

  "What else do I need to say? Since it's you, it'll be fine no matter what, Seiji~" Chiaki spoke in a cute voice.

  Seiji fell silent for a moment.

  "Honestly…" Seiji sighed. "I'll be right over."

  He then hung up the call and looked at the person sitting across from him.

  Shika who was sitting across from him also looked back at him with a calm expression.

  "I'm going out, right next door to Chiaki's apartment to have a discussion with her," Seiji explained.

  Something flashed in Shika's eyes.

  She then stood up, walked over to her adopted older brother, hugged him, and bit him right on the neck!

  "Er…" Seiji felt a slightly painful and itchy sensation. "Shika-chan…"

  "Awoo…" Shika bit down slightly harder, and sucked on his neck as if she was trying to draw out his blood.

  Seiji didn't dare to move. It was as if he was a human who was captured by a vampire.

  Shika finally let go of him. When she saw that there was an obvious mark left behind on his neck, Shika felt immensely satisfied.

  She then let go of him and sat back down across from him without saying anything.

  Seiji was unable to see his own neck… but even though he couldn't see his neck, he knew that there must be an obvious bite mark left behind.

  "Even if you don't do such a thing, nothing will happen regardless. I'm simply going over to have a discussion with her." Seiji smiled wryly.

  Shika turned her head away.

  This action of hers caused Seiji to recall that his blood-related sister Hana liked to do such an action as well… He felt like Hana and Shika were rather similar but also quite different.

  "I'll be back right away… you should go to sleep first."

  Shika didn't respond.

  Seiji smiled wryly once more before he stood up, put on his jacket, and exited his apartment.

  When he walked outside in the chilly night over to the apartment that Chiaki rented from Nozomi, he saw that Chiaki's door was already open.

  He entered without knocking and saw that the silver-haired beautiful girl was currently pouring some tea while wearing a jacket over her pajamas.

  This scene was mysteriously quite moving.

  Seeing that he had arrived, Chiaki brought over a cup of tea that she had poured already and smiled as she handed it to him.

  "Thank you." Seiji accepted the teacup.

  "Have a seat." Chiaki indicated towards her bed.

  "I'll have a seat here instead." Seiji sat down on a chair.

  Chiaki showed an expression of dissatisfaction.

  "When entering a girl's room late at night, it's common sense to sit together on her bed."

  "Where is that common sense even from!"

  "It's common sense in the Wakaba domain."

  "Don't think that it will make sense just because you used the word 'domain.'"

  "It's a rule in the Wakaba dimension."

  "Even if you exchange it for some amazing-sounding word, the result is still the same!"

  As always, they exchanged joking comments.

  "Sigh… why does it always turn out like this when I talk to Seiji?"

  "Don't make it sound like it's my fault!"

  "That's why I like you." Chiaki suddenly changed her tone as she looked directly at him with a seductive expression in her eyes.

  Seiji suddenly received a direct hit from this ambush, causing his heart to pound.

  "I like talking with you, I like to see your face, I like sitting next to you, I like holding your hand, I like being hugged by you, I like being patted on the head by you, I like it when you care about me… I like being together with you." Chiaki kept looking directly at him as she spoke animatedly with a blush appearing on her face. "I never imagined that I would like a boy so completely, to the extent of even imagining what it would be like if we lived together and even had a baby."

  "Chiaki…" Seiji was quite moved by all this.

  "I feel as if I'm just like a girl in love from a shoujo manga. Even though I feel like this is rather strange, it doesn't feel bad at all." Chiaki began smiling. "Still, I'm not actually a girl in love from a shoujo manga, nor am I a 'normal' girl. The future that I imagine isn't one where you and I become a typical couple or even husband and wife, but rather something similar to how we are now, a relaxing, casual, yet intimate relationship.

  "I want to obtain your love, but I don't wish to be the only one for you. I don't want the heavy responsibility of being your other half. This isn't because of you; this is my own personal problem… And, I have no intentions of changing myself, because I think this is fine as well. That's why I went to talk to Natsuya Yoruhana and offered to make a deal with her. Then, I told Mika about the deal I made, and that's the current state of affairs." Chiaki shrugged. "This wasn't something that you should have learned about so soon, but you did, so I can only tell you the truth.

  "Seiji… what do you think of a girl who's as shameless as I am?" Chiaki did her very best to pretend to be calm, pushing her acting abilities to the very utmost.

  Seiji looked directly at her while he slowly opened his mouth.

  "Stupid."

  "Idiot."

  "Are you a fool?"

  He clearly called her three synonyms that all meant that same thing.

  "You're not shameless, you're just such an idiot!" He reached out his hand and flicked her forehead.

  "That hurt…"

  "You don't want to take responsibility, so you just want to be a mistress? Just how foolish can you be!" Seiji glared at her. "Even though you clearly know that you have a problem, you still don't intend to change and think that it's fine? That makes you even stupider!!"

  "Teehee~" Chiaki clutched her forehead while she closed one eye and spat out her tongue.

  "Teehee, the hell!!!"

  Even though this action was very cute, he still had to retort!

  Seiji sighed upon seeing how she was trying to gloss over everything by acting cute.

  "You know what your own problem is. In that case, all you need to do is talk to me about it, and I'll help you."

  "I know, but that's not what I want."

  "Why?"

  "Not all problems need to be solved. And even if this problem can be solved, I don't want to change," Chiaki stated in a soft voice.

  "You… is that really alright?" Seiji asked with a serious expression.

  "Yep, I'm certain." Chiaki nodded with a carefree expression.

  Seiji looked deeply into her eyes and was certain that she was indeed telling the truth here!

  "Honestly… What should I even say about you…"

  "You don't need to say anything. You only need to let me rely on you." Chiaki suddenly smiled in a beautiful manner that naturally seemed seductive. "Please accept this unsalvageable idiot of a girl, Seiji."