CH 424

“If you truly believe that you’re able to defeat me, then go ahead and try.”

That was Yui’s answer.

It was just as Seiji expected.

He asked Hana for Yui’s cell phone number as a type of test.

Based on Hana’s reaction, the worst possible result would be that he would have to load.

Although she was obviously unhappy about it, she still gave him Yui’s cell phone number.

This actually made Seiji feel more reassured. Although he still didn’t know what was going on, it meant that even if his sisters had some type of conflict with each other, it wasn’t to an incredibly serious extent.

And calling Yui and seeing how she would react to what he told her was more proof for his inference.

“You used such a method to avoid antagonizing our older sister, how sly… As expected of a harem story protagonist.”

“I shall treat that as you praising me.”

“I’m definitely not praising you!” The cat-eared hat girl twisted her head.

Her action seemed just like that of a real cat’s, quite tsundere.

Seiji smiled gently and quietly looked at her.

“…Your expression is so disgusting. I don’t want to continue talking to a pervert like you, hmph!”

After glaring at him one more time, Hana closed the video chat.

Seiji’s computer screen returned to normal.

“Such a troublesome younger sister…” Seiji leaned back against his chair and heaved a sigh of relief.

Although she was troublesome, she was cute, so it was fine!

Nighttime.

Seiji completed all the insert artwork for “Brother Monogatari.”

He gathered all the artwork together and emailed it as attachments to Editor Yoshizawa.

After she looked over his artwork, she praised it for being of excellent quality! She reassured him that it would definitely pass Thunderbolt Literature’s standards.

With that, his job as an artist was complete. All he had to do now was wait for his story to be published… he hoped that it would sell well.

Seiji stretched lazily and checked to see what time it was.

At this time, he figured that the three Amami siblings probably learned about the mystical from their grandfather already.

When Seiji met again with Hoshi after Hoshi finished work, Seiji only hinted about the existence of the mystical and told Hoshi about how he could try calling for help from Seiji if he met with any danger during his strange dream. He left the specifics about the mystical society up to Shouzou Amami to explain.

Would Hoshi enter such a dream again tonight? What he would meet with if he did? Would Hoshi really be able to summon Seiji just like Yukari did if he met with danger? Seiji had many questions that he didn’t know the answers to.

At this moment, his cell phone rang.

He checked the caller ID to see that the call was from Hoshi.

“Good evening… Senpai.”

“Good evening, junior.”

“Earlier… I just heard some things from my grandfather. Senpai, you…”

“It’s all real.”

“Eh?”

“Everything your grandfather told you was real,” Seiji told him honestly.

Hoshi fell silent for a moment before speaking up again.

“You’re so amazing…” Hoshi exclaimed sincerely. “Senpai, you really weren’t anyone ordinary after all…”

“Don’t say that. Even if I have some powers that ordinary people don’t have, I’m still just an ordinary person,” Seiji stated. “There’re things that I can’t accomplish, things I don’t understand, and there are limits to what I can do.”

“Haha… Senpai, you’ve always been like this.”

“That’s right, so don’t overestimate me.”

“That’s not what I meant… Forget it, what Senpai says then.”

Seiji was rather mystified.

‘What did Hoshi mean by that?’

“Senpai, about that strange dream, is it…” Hoshi changed the topic.

“Stop! This isn’t a topic we should be talking about over the phone.” Seiji stopped Hoshi from continuing any further. “There’s not much else to say about it, because there’s many mysteries… just remember what I told you earlier today.”

“Oh… alright, then.”

“Be careful, Hoshi.”

“Yep, thank you, Senpai.”

After ending the phone call, the beautiful boy put down his cell phone and looked outside his window.

‘Senpai is a Spiritual Ability user, and I have the possibility of Awakening to some sort of power and becoming like him…

‘No, that’s impossible.

‘Even if I become a Spiritual Ability user, it’s impossible for me to become like Senpai. He’s a hero, someone who’s truly strong, while I’m just an ordinary person.

‘But even if I’m an ordinary person, as long as I try my hardest, I can at least approach him!’

He wanted to get closer to Senpai, to have the right to stand by Senpai’s side, and be of assistance to Senpai… even if it was only a slight amount of assistance.

When he imagined that tall figure, then imagined himself by Senpai’s side, possibly even fighting together or going places together, Hoshi’s eyes began sparkling.

“I… definitely want to Awaken to some Spiritual Ability!”

The maple forest was like fire, the maple leaves were like blood, and a beautiful song reverberated throughout the forest.

Just as Hoshi hoped for, he returned to this dream.

Last night, he had simply been allured by the song and wanted to find the singer. Tonight, he had more of a purpose for being here.

The moment he started walking, Hoshi discovered something that he hadn’t noticed yesterday night.

Something similarly bright-red like the maple leaves, but with an obviously different shape…

“Cluster amaryllis flowers?”

Hoshi was able to recognize these flowers.

After all, these flowers were pretty common in anime and manga. Many anime about the mystical would have these flowers appear.

‘This must be a clue!’

With this thought, Hoshi began intentionally searching for more.

He gradually found more and more cluster amaryllis flowers.

The environment around him became darker and darker, while the sound of song became clearer and clearer.

He felt like he was getting closer.

With it becoming so dark, Hoshi began getting somewhat scared.

His desire to Awaken to an ability supported him in moving forward.

If he met with danger, he could try calling for help from his senpai… this gave him courage to move on as well.

The darkness became pervasive, the cluster amaryllis flowers began glowing, and even the maple leaves began glowing lightly as well.

Finally, Hoshi was unable to see any more maple trees. He only saw large amounts of red flowers on the ground, along with endlessly falling red leaves.

Finally, Hoshi reached a wide swath of cluster amaryllis flowers… it was just like a sea of flowers!

He couldn’t see anything other than bright red flowers, along with the bright red leaves that kept falling from the sky… this scene seemed indescribably demonic to him.

Hoshi even felt as if he was in the middle of a bloodbath, being covered in fresh blood as he watched this scene.

He was unable to walk forward any more, because he didn’t know what direction to take.

He felt like he would get lost in the sea of flowers if he forced himself to go on.

After standing here for a while, Hoshi decided to turn around.

He figured he would tell Senpai about this situation tomorrow and ask for advice… Hoshi turned around with this thought in mind.

However, behind him was another endless sea of flowers!

“What’s going on…” Hoshi paused in astonishment.

When he looked all around him, everything he saw was the same.

He was unable to leave!

Hoshi felt as if he had fallen into a trap, which caused fear to well up in his heart.

‘No! I can’t get scared just like this.’

Hoshi forced down his fear and began walking forward as he felt that no matter what, he had to at least try walking onwards first.

At this moment, he suddenly noticed that the singing had stopped.

When had it stopped?

Just as he was wondering about this, he heard a voice from behind him.

“Hoshi.”

The person speaking was a familiar male voice.

Hoshi hurriedly turned around to see a familiar tall figure.

“Senpai… why are you here?”

The handsome boy who was wearing a black jacket and long pants, Seigo Harano… Seiji Haruta stood there while smiling faintly.

“Of course I’m here to find you,” Seiji stated as he walked closer.

“…Did you come here because you were worried about me?”

Seiji didn’t respond. Instead, he walked up to Hoshi and looked around him.

“This place is so beautiful,” he exclaimed with sincerity.

“Er… It is rather beautiful, but…”

“It’s so appropriate for the beautiful you.”

“Eh?” Hoshi was astonished to hear this. “Senpai… what did you say?”

Seiji chuckled.

His smile contained a hint of something devilish.