Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

Seiji started walking home after he left the café and took Karen back to her home.

‘Perhaps I shouldn’t have told her that idea,’ Seiji thought to himself.

Having Karen become Kaho’s enemy and intentionally angering the latter so that they would fight each other… This was unmistakably a terrible idea!

If Karen managed to suppress Kaho, perhaps Kaho would be successfully forced into abandoning the demon energy. However, there were too many unpredictable elements with this plan. And even if it succeeded, it might completely ruin the sisters’ relationship, which seemed so pitiful to Seiji.

Karen had fallen silent after hearing this idea. It seemed really difficult for her to accept.

This was far too difficult of a choice. Even now, Seiji felt that maybe he shouldn’t have said it out loud.

But if he didn’t say it, Karen wouldn’t even have a single choice…

Seiji suddenly stopped in his footsteps.

There was a vending machine before him. A silver-haired boy who wore a black yukata was currently inserting some coins into the vending machine and apparently deciding on a beverage.

This seemed like quite an ordinary scene. However, what Seiji saw was that this boy had suddenly appeared!

The silver-haired boy hadn’t walked over from front or behind. He had suddenly appeared with magic… Basically, when Seiji noticed, this boy was already standing in front of the vending machine.

Had Seiji been too lost in his thoughts to notice the boy’s presence?

That wasn’t it!

Seiji was absolutely certain that this boy had suddenly appeared, as if he walked out of the darkness.

“I originally wanted some green tea, but there’s a new brand of juice that just came out. I’m thinking that perhaps I want to try that instead,” the silver-haired boy spoke up and looked at Seiji. “Which do you think is better, Haruta nii-san?”

He had a handsome appearance and purple eyes with rather pale skin. The silver-haired boy also had a happy smile and seemed to be the open and casual type.

Something flashed in Seiji’s eyes as he walked over.

“May I ask who you are?”

“I asked you first, we should go by order.” The boy pointed at the vending machine. “Which do you think is better between green tea and fruit juice?”

Seiji glanced at the options.

“I would choose green tea.”

“Why’s that?”

“We should answer the questions in order.”

The silver-haired boy blinked to hear his earlier statement being used against him.

“My name is Itsuki Kamitani. This is our first meeting. Pleased to meet you.” He smiled and then pressed the button for fruit juice.

The vending machine instantly spat out a can of fruit juice.

Kamitani took the fruit juice, opened it up, and started gulping it down. He instantly revealed an expression that the juice was rather sour.

“This doesn’t taste good… Eh, Haruta nii-san?”

He was rather surprised to see that Seiji was simply walking off.

“Pleased to meet you, Kamitani-san. Have a good night.” Seiji waved his hand goodbye.

“Wait a moment, don’t leave!” Kamitani chased after Seiji. “I came here just for you! Aren’t you curious why I came to meet you?”

“Although I’m curious, I doubt it’s anything good. That’s why, goodbye.”

“Don’t be like that! Normally, wouldn’t a person at least talk for a little more?”

“I’m already tired and want to go home. I don’t want to deal with a suspicious person who suddenly appeared.”

“You should call me a mysterious person instead! A normal person should be quite curious about a mysterious handsome boy who suddenly appeared before him and even knows his name!”

“I’m sorry; although you do have a nice appearance, I don’t think you’re at the standard of a handsome boy. Besides, I might be interested in a beautiful girl, but I don’t care about boys.”

“That’s terrible! So you’re someone who’s ruled by the lower half of your body!”

“It’s perfectly normal for boys to be interested in beautiful girls.”

“I suppose you’re right… no, wait! This isn’t a reason to abandon a handsome boy like myself!”

“I said that you don’t count as a handsome boy.”

“Even if I don’t count, you shouldn’t just leave me like that!”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I simply want to ignore you.”

“Don’t ignore me!”

“You’re really annoying… Just who are you, and why have you come to meet with me?” Seiji looked directly at Kamitani.

“I’m a member of the Messengers.” Kamitani took another sip of his fruit juice and made another sour expression. “I’m here to ask you to join our cause.”

He spoke quite normally, as if it was just a perfectly ordinary matter.

This actually seemed even more abnormal because of it.

Seiji narrowed his eyes slightly.

From the very start, although he appeared calm, he had been highly on guard against this silver-haired boy.

This person who called himself Itsuki Kamitani had suddenly appeared within ten meters of him without his noticing at all.

Kamitani appeared just like an ordinary Spiritual Ability user who didn’t exude any signs of danger, as if he was harmless… was he really harmless, or was it all just an excellent act?

Seiji felt that it was more likely that Kamitani was pretending to be harmless. That was because Kamitani was a member of the Messengers faction!

“I’m not interested in joining the Messengers. Thank you for your interest in me.”

“Don’t be so quick to decide. The Messengers are a wonderful organization. You can obtain benefits from simply doing what you like, and even if you don’t do anything at all, you can still get paid. There’s no downsides to joining.”

Who would believe that…? Nobody would believe that!

Seiji expressed this in his eyes.

Kamitani chuckled upon seeing this.

“Well, I admit that sounds just like an advertisement. Although that isn’t real, I had to say it,” Kamitani stated casually. “Still, it’s not like it’s all false. There really are a lot of benefits to joining, especially if it’s you.”

“More like there will be benefits only for your faction,” Seiji spoke coldly.

“Of course not… you can become even stronger, and live more freely and have more fun than you are having right now!”

“Haha, such a funny joke.”

“I’m being serious. Haruta nii-san, are you happy right now?”

“It’s none of your business whether I’m happy or not.”

“That type of answer is basically a no. You’re not happy, isn’t that right?” Kamitani looked at Seiji.

Seiji remained silent.

Just earlier, he had been worried about the Miyamoto Sisters. It was impossible for him to say that he was happy right now.

“You won the Bloodwine Ritual tournament, obtaining wealth and reputation that would allow you to lead a much better life than before. Yet, you’re still not happy,” Kamitani continued. “Why’s that? Because you’re uneasy about the future. The more you obtain, the more worried you are about losing what you have. You’re being restrained by what you now have. You’ve lost your freedom.

“Actually, you simply have to abandon some completely unnecessary things and you’ll discover true freedom, and truly enjoy your life…”

Kamitani’s words contained a certain type of power to move people.

Seiji was somewhat affected. He was unable to completely deny Kamitani’s words.

“…You’re right, I am indeed uneasy about the future,” he admitted. “The more I obtain, the more I’m worried about losing what I have. Perhaps I really am being restrained.

“But, whether my things are necessary or not, whether I want to give up on them or not, is something I decide for myself!” Seiji suddenly changed his tone.

“So what if I don’t have freedom or if I’m not happy? This is exactly the path that I want to take.” Seiji looked directly at Kamitani. “I’m going to seek after the happiness that I want, rather than what other people think happiness should be!”

The silver-haired boy widened his eyes and then chuckled again.

Not only had his hidden subconscious persuasion spell failed, there was also the fact that…

“You’re actually even more serious than I am… I lose.” He shrugged. “You’re an interesting person, Seiji Haruta. I didn’t waste my time coming to meet you. Although I don’t have any orders to kill you, you still interfered with Kanzaki, so I can’t simply let you go. So, what I’m going to ask next is…”

Suddenly, everything around Seiji turned pitch-black!

No, this was just a mistaken impression.

Seiji felt an almost physical amount of imposing pressure. He instantly received the mistaken impression as if he was now facing an incomparably big and frightening monster!

The real situation was that a gigantic dark shadow had suddenly appeared behind Itsuki Kamitani. This shadow gave off an aura as if it was connected to either Hell or the netherworld.

“Do you want to fight me, or play a game with me?”