Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

Seiji could only tell Yui a limited amount of information without revealing his ability to travel back in time.

If it was truly necessary, Seiji was resolved to tell Yui about his ability. However, he wanted to avoid doing so if possible. He had a premonition that telling her about his ability might result in something completely unimaginable.

Even without his premonition, he found it difficult to trust Soul Society as much as he had before he personally witnessed the destruction wrought in the city.

Although he’d never trusted Soul Society that much to begin with, the fact that Soul Society hadn’t been able to stop that catastrophe made him trust Soul Society even less.

The scene of destruction upon the city had been incredibly beautiful with all the cherry blossoms falling down. Hundreds of thousands of people had died as an indirect result of the cherry blossoms as they had perished in accidents caused by the Sakura Catastrophe Goddess’s power freezing everyone with no spiritual abilities in place. That had been an incredibly cruel scene… Even now, Seiji felt a chill just remembering the scene.

He didn’t want to remember the scene at all. However, it was etched deeply into his mind. Just even thinking about related topics would cause the scene to replay itself in his mind with great clarity.

Not a single other person in this timeline knew what he had seen. He was back at the conversation with his older sister. Nothing had happened yet. That beautiful yet cruel scene was something only he knew.

Did this count as only him being saved, or that he was the only one who hadn’t been saved?

He didn’t know.

Seiji didn’t want to ponder such a philosophical question.

He had to continue onward.

It seemed like his sister Yui had thought of some possibility. She would probably do something that might change Voidfire’s action.

If this was successful, that might be enough to change the future… but would it really be that successful?

No.

Seiji was unable to convince himself that just by having Yui and Soul Society be on guard against Voidfire would be enough to prevent that cruel incident from occurring again.

He had to do even more.

“By the way, even if my premonition is wrong, and Soul Society’s plan won’t be interfered with, will there be any potential problems with the plan itself?” Seiji continued asking questions. “I know that this is a different situation from the Bloodwine Ritual tournament incident. But, will such an incident truly not happen again?”

Yui remained silent and didn’t reply.

Seiji felt that perhaps she was thinking, or perhaps she simply didn’t want to reply.

“Let’s say again that the plan won’t have any problems, and Soul Society will successfully sacrifice several thousand lives in order to lock the Realm of Cherry Blossoms’ location,” Seiji continued. “But, is that really fine? The choice between several thousand lives and the Yasakani no Magatama seems quite simple. But, those are actual human lives. They’ll all be dead once sacrificed.

“This time, Soul Society is willing to sacrifice a few thousand. What about the next time? Several tens of thousands? The next time after that? Several hundred thousand?

“I know that it’s rather extreme for me to extrapolate along this path. But, as long as there are benefits to be had, large amounts of ordinary civilians can be sacrificed. Is Soul Society really fine as an organization like this?

“Although the Yasakani no Magatama is precious, although it’s a powerful artifact, it’s still a dead object. It’s just a tool.

“Tools should be used for the sake of humanity. Human lives shouldn’t be sacrificed in order to protect a tool. That’s what I believe.

“Maybe my way of thinking is too naïve. But what’s wrong with being naïve? Soul Society is a new faction. They should separate themselves from the old. If Soul Society is willing to sacrifice several thousand ordinary civilians’ lives in order to preserve a powerful artifact, what difference does that have from the old and rotten factions from before?”

Yui’s expression noticeably flickered after Seiji said all this. However, she still remained silent.

“Do you agree with what I say, Yui nee-san?” Seiji asked her with utmost directness.

“Whether I agree or not is meaningless,” Yui said in a soft voice.

Soul Society had already made its decision. She was powerless to stop it.

“It is meaningful.” Something flashed in Seiji’s eyes. “If you agree with me, then tell me the information on the Yasakani no Magatama. Maybe I can change—”

Yui’s gaze instantly hardened when she heard this. She immediately interrupted him, “You want me to betray Soul Society?”

“Whether it counts as betrayal or not depends on you.” Seiji directly looked into her sharp gaze.

The atmosphere suddenly became very heavy.

“You can’t change anything. Don’t be too arrogant,” Yui told him.

“Perhaps, but you never know unless you try.”

“You won’t be able to bear the price for trying something like this.”

“Whether I can bear the price or not is something for me to decide.”

“Don’t think that you’re so strong just because of your past excellent achievements.” Yui’s tone became severe.

After a short moment of silence, Seiji responded with a smile.

“Thank you for worrying about me, Yui nee-san. But, please don’t treat me like a little child. I know what I’m doing,” he said in a serious tone.

“No, you don’t,” Yui instantly denied. “You have no understanding of how powerful Soul Society is.”

“Indeed, I barely have any understanding of Soul Society’s power. But even if I did, that wouldn’t change what I must do.” Seiji remained adamant.

“Why? Will this benefit you in any way?”

This wasn’t a matter of personal benefit for Seiji. It was that if things were allowed to develop as they were, the entire city would meet with a devastating future.

“I’ve already told you the reason. I have an ominous premonition about all this.” Seiji sighed. “This cruel plan, Kamitani’s actions, the Messengers and Soul Society… With everything currently as is, I feel that the worst possible outcome might occur. This plan is just like a large ship. Everyone thinks that it will come up against a strong thunderstorm at most. But, nobody realizes that there’s an unavoidable glacier lying ahead.”

“You’re just being overly anxious,” Yui told him. “Or, you’re just being too arrogant. You keep thinking that you have to do something to prevent things from becoming worse. You think you can save the world? Indeed, you created a miracle before. But, you shouldn’t become allured by that sensation. Miracles are miracles because they don’t occur repeatedly. There’s not that many things in the world that require you to do. You’re not the savior of the world. Stop worrying so much about everything.”

‘Don’t be too arrogant.’ Yui was expressing this to him.

Seiji could only smile bitterly in his mind.

If at all possible, he didn’t want to behave so ‘arrogantly’!

He knew better than anyone that he wasn’t a hero who could save the world.

It was just that he saw a terrible ending for the city. He had to do something about it.

“Then just think of all of this as me being arrogant. No matter the reason, I really do have an ominous premonition about everything. That’s why I absolutely can’t allow myself to sit back and do nothing.” Seiji remained adamant. “Please say something to your arrogant, anxious, foolish, and ignorant younger brother. At the very least, you should say something to console me. Is that no good, Yui Nee-san?”

Yui was rendered speechless.

He was basically being incredibly shameless in asking her for information here.

For a moment, she really did want to tell him something. But, she restrained herself.

She hardened her heart and spoke in a cold tone, “No.”

“Is it no good even if I hug your leg and beg you?” Seiji looked directly at his sister’s beautifully proportioned legs.

Yui’s face reddened slightly and she averted her gaze as she imagined such a thing happening.

“That’s even more of a no. I’d kick you off my car if you did that.”

“I’ll hug you really tightly so that it doesn’t happen.”

“It’s not an issue of how tightly you hug my leg!”

“Then can I switch it to licking your leg?”

“Get the hell out!”

“I was just joking…” Seiji chuckled. “Yui Nee-san, could you please give me an emergency way of contacting you? I need a method to immediately contact you under any circumstances.”

Yui remained silent.

“Er… if you’re still angry because of my joke just now, I apologize.” Seiji awkwardly scratched his face.

Yui looked at him again and asked him seriously, “Seiji… just what exactly do you know?”

Seiji blinked.

As expected, his older sister was quite sensitive… no, sharp.

“I don’t know very much. It really is nothing more than a terrible premonition. I just want to prevent the worst from happening,” he told her.

Yui looked directly at his face.

Seiji calmly looked back at her.

“The black cell phone I previously gave you as a gift has a hidden function for contacting others. I originally wanted you to discover it for yourself.” Yui then explained how to activate it to him. “Even if your cell phone doesn’t have any charge left, or even if you’re in an Inner World with no cell phone service, you’ll still be able to use this function to contact me.”