Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

  Naturally, Seiji agreed to let Mika and Chiaki meet his sister.

  The three of them then headed over to his apartment.

  Nobody was in the living room as Reo had gone out together with Kaede. Shika was staying in her bedroom.

  Mika and Chiaki took a seat while Seiji made some tea for everyone. He also brought out some confectioneries and waited together with the girls.

  His cell phone rang again.

  "I'm here. Come outside."

  That was all Seiji heard before Yui hung up again.

  He told this to Mika and Chiaki as he went over to open the door. He instantly saw that Yui Haruta was standing in front of the apartment.

  Today, she was wearing a black jacket. This beautiful girl with black hair and a black jacket seemed magnificently charming under the sunlight's illumination.

  "Sister Yui…" Seiji went over to greet her.

  "Follow me." Yui turned around and started walking.

  Seiji reflexively followed after her.

  Yui walked up to a black luxury car that was stopped near the apartment, opened its back door, and got on the car.

  Seiji also got on the car after her and closed the door.

  "I'm quite busy today, so I can only speak to you for a few minutes here."

  "Why didn't you come inside my apartment?"

  "For safety." Yui looked directly at him. "Seiji… Did you enter an Inner World last night?"

  Seiji's gaze sharpened upon hearing this.

  "I did. Sister Yui, how did you know?"

  Yui didn't respond. Instead, something flashed in her eyes.

  'Those two strange individuals must have told her.' This was the most logical conclusion that Seiji could come to.

  Those two people were connected to Yui… Were all three of them members of the Soul World faction…?

  Did the minotaur boy intentionally look to start trouble with him also because of Yui?

  "Sister Yui…"

  "It's fine as long as you're alright. Don't tell a single person about what happened there." Yui immediately ended this topic of conversation without giving Seiji a chance to say anything else. "The main reason why I'm here today is this." She took out a red card that resembled a bank card. Mysterious white runes were etched upon it.

  "What's this?"

  "A participation card for the Bloodwine Ritual."

  "Participation card…" Seiji widened his eyes in surprise.

  "Are you familiar with the Bloodwine Ritual?"

  "I am."

  "Then I won't need to explain." Yui handed him the red card. "Inject your Mana into this card and sign on it together with your Spirit-branded Retainers. That will allow you entry into this tournament."

  "Why are you having me join this tournament?"

  "Because I have something to gain."

  "What something could you gain from this?" Seiji looked at her.

  "That's nothing you need to know," Yui stated calmly. "You only need to know that you stand to gain a lot from this as well… As long as you win, you can greatly improve your own power level."

  Something flashed in Seiji's eyes as he reached out and took the card.

  "Do you have Spirit-branded Retainers now?"

  "Yes… Just one."

  "One is enough. Just treat this as a trial that you and your Spirit-branded Retainer can work at overcoming together."

  After saying that, Yui indicated that the conversation was over.

  Seiji got off the car, which left immediately at a high speed.

  Seiji watched the car leave before he looked at the card in his hand.

  "What did she give you?" Multiple footsteps approached and Chiaki spoke up.

  "A participation card… I'll tell you about it back inside." Seiji pocketed the card and walked back to his apartment together with Chiaki and Mika.

  "Your sister didn't even come inside your own apartment. Did she consider this place as too low-class for her?" Chiaki inquired.

  "I apologize for this place being low-class!" As the landlord's daughter, Mika was rather aggrieved to hear this.

  "That wasn't it. She said that it was simply safer to talk on her car."

  "You guys discussed something top-secret? No… forget I asked." Chiaki showed some self-restraint.

  The three of them went inside Seiji's apartment.

  Seiji took out the red card and placed it on the table.

  "This is a participation card for the Bloodwine Ritual. Sister Yui told me to use this and join the tournament."

  "Why is she having you participate?"

  "She didn't tell me the specifics. She only said that she has something to gain."

  "What could she possibly gain from having her exiled younger brother enter a fighting tournament?"

  Everyone fell silent for a moment.

  "Logically speaking, the two of you are currently opposing each other. Seiji, the better your performance, the more your sister will lose face." Chiaki adjusted some imaginary eyeglasses. "However, she told you to join a fighting tournament and said that she has something to gain. This is rather strange."

  "Could she be lying? That actually she has nothing to gain, but she intentionally said she did… so that Seiji wouldn't feel like he owes her a favor," Mika spoke up.

  "Now then, Mister person at the center of it all, what's the possibility of Mika's inference being true?" Chiaki looked at Seiji.

  "I think fifty percent," Seiji answered.

  Yui indeed had tsundere tendencies.

  "It's half likely that Mika's inference is on the mark, while the other half is that she indeed has something to gain…" Chiaki pretended like she was a famous detective. "Something she can gain even though she stands to lose face… My daring inference is that she wants to secretly use you to deal with someone else in the tournament for her!"

  "Secretly use me to deal with someone else?"

  "Yep. If someone loses face, her opponents, or perhaps I should say enemies, will be the happiest about it." A sharp glint appeared in Chiaki's eyes. "Yui Haruta's enemies will be happy to see her losing face, and will perhaps take certain actions. This is exactly what she hopes for. That is to say, she intends to use such a method to incite her own enemies to take action so that they'll fall into a trap that she set up!"

  That sounded logical as well… a classic example of pretending to be weak when actually strong.

  Seiji and Mika both gave Chiaki a round of applause at her astonishing insight.

  Famous detective Chiaki smiled and bowed.

  "Let's say that my theory is correct. In that case, Seiji, if you win the fighting tournament… this Bloodwine Ritual, perhaps you'll really be a big help to your sister," the tomboy continued. "That's because one possibility is that her enemies will contact you and want to use you to deal with her instead. If that happens, you could totally pretend to cooperate with them while secretly contacting your sister to deal with her enemies together!"

  That… seemed like quite an excellent scenario to Seiji.

  He couldn't help but imagine himself helping Yui to deal with her enemies and obtaining her sincere thanks.

  Wonderful!

  Just imagining it seemed quite good already. If he could really accomplish such a thing, it would be a giant step in fixing his relationship with his family and having his exile be rescinded.

  For the sake of this theoretical possibility, he absolutely had to win the Bloodwine Ritual tournament!

  On one side was Natsuya, while on another side was Yui. He had plenty of motivation because both girls wanted him to win. It could even be said that he had an overflowing amount of motivation.

  For the sake of his best female friend, as well as his older sister, he would defeat all his opponents, become the final victor, and obtain the glory of a king!

  "I've said it before, don't just randomly add narration for me."

  "I'm not being random at all. Your eyes told me all of the above."

  "My eyes… Fine then, I suppose that this time you're right." Seiji admitted to it.

  Chiaki chuckled proudly before she looked off in a direction where nobody was there.

  "In the future, please call me the 'extra narrator!'"

  "Who are you even talking to?"

  "The readers of this novel."

  "Don't just randomly add titles to yourself."

  "You're actually not commenting how I called this world a novel?"

  "I'm tired."

  "Don't get lazy at such a critical moment!"

  Mika calmly watched the two of them joking around as she poured herself some tea. She took a sip before looking at the red card on the table.

  "This… participation card. How do you use it?" she asked.

  "I was told that I simply had to inject my Mana into it and sign the card together with my Spirit-branded Retainers." Seiji picked up the card.

  The moment he finished speaking, he heard familiar footsteps.

  Shika arrived in the living room and looked at Mika and Chiaki.

  Mika and Chiaki also glanced back at her.

  Everyone fell silent as they exchanged glances.