Chapter 359: You Want to Be My Blanket!?
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24
It gradually started getting late into the night.
Mika and Nozomi went back to their own residence.
Shika showered first, and then Seiji showered after.
When he was finished with his shower, his adopted younger sister pulled on him and led him to her room.
"Brother Seiji… for you." She handed him a white gift box.
Seiji thanked her and received it. When he opened it, he saw that the present was a black jacket.
He put it on immediately and felt that it was a perfect size.
"This fits me perfectly, and looks rather nice." Seiji smiled as he told this to Shika. She then suddenly walked up close to him, reached out, and straightened his collar.
He felt something warm within him as he looked at his adopted sister's beautiful face from such a close distance, observing her gentle expression.
He couldn't help but recall that wish of hers that he saw on her [Gift-Giving Card]…
He suddenly had an urge to hug her, but he restrained himself.
"Brother…"
Shika didn't back away after straightening his collar. She continued looking at his face, with something flashing in her eyes, as if she wanted to say something.
Seiji felt his heartbeat growing louder.
"I want to be together with you…" she said as her face began to flush red. Suddenly, she averted her gaze. "Together… just like this."
"Eh?"
"Living together like this… forever."
Seiji didn't know what to say at this.
He kept moving his hands, clenching his fists tightly in order to suppress the emotions within himself.
"Yep, of course." He smiled. "We'll always be together."
After leaving Shika's room, Seiji felt like he wanted to beat himself up. However, even he himself didn't understand why this was.
When he went back to the living room, he saw Chiaki playing a video game together with Reo.
Seiji told Reo to go take a shower, and she obediently put down the game controller and headed to take a shower.
Chiaki handed Reo's game controller to Seiji.
He happily accepted the controller and joined the battle.
Chiaki used a red-headed man with a white shirt, while Seiji used a blonde man with a red shirt. They vigorously fought each other on the television screen, shouting out various technique names.
Chiaki used an ultimate attack, but she was blocked. Seiji countered with a combination of moves that beautifully KO'd and even overkilled her character.
They played several rounds, with every round ending in Seiji's victory with an overkill.
"You don't go easy on me at all. Such a vicious man you are."
"It's a fighter's way of showing respect by going all-out every time!"
"I don't want this type of respect, go easier on me!"
"Hahaha, impossible!"
Seiji posed proudly and haughtily.
Chiaki requested a change of games after seeing that it wouldn't be possible for her to win at this one.
Seiji immediately accepted.
And then, he was viciously defeated!
"Haha, only having those few points, how pitiful~"
"Wah… Damn it! How low of you!"
"Calling the victor low is nothing more than the wailing of a loser dog, just bark like that! Hahaha-"
Chiaki pretended to be some evil female antagonist, and imitated the classical three repeated cackles from so many animes as she looked condescendingly down upon loser dog Seiji.
Seiji did his best recoup his losses.
When Reo finished her shower, this battle changed from a 1-on-1 duel to a three-way free-for-all. They had fun playing against each other until it was bedtime.
Seiji told Reo to get in bed and go to sleep first, while he brought over an extra blanket and pillow over to Chiaki in the living room.
"With this equipment, I'll be able to survive winter safely! Thank you so much for your support, First Lieutenant Haruta." Chiaki smiled and bowed as she accepted these items.
"No need for thanks, Second Lieutenant Wakaba." Seiji looked at her. "If you still feel cold, you can call for me."
"And then you'll warm me up with your body?"
"Body, the hell! I'll give you an extra blanket."
"You want to be my blanket!?
Seiji was rendered speechless.
Chiaki giggled at her own joke.
The two of them exchanged glances for a while.
"Good night, Seiji."
"Good night, Chiaki."
After saying good night to each other, Seiji turned off the light in the living room and returned to his bedroom.
"Harano onii-chan, a present for you!"
When he returned to his room, he saw Reo hopping out and handing him a small gift box.
"Thank you." Seiji happily accepted and opened it up.
The present was a small Milk Cream Bunny mascot from Honey Candy Girl . It was attached to a string, and was a suitable size for being hung on his cell phone or his desk as a decoration.
"I really like this, it's quite cute," he told her sincerely.
The little girl smiled cutely.
After carefully putting away the small rabbit doll, Seiji turned off the lights and went to sleep.
He then entered Reo's soul realm.
He opened up his system and checked his [Gifts] option and saw that he had received many rewards from Shika's, Mika's, and Reo's gifts.
After carefully inspecting all his reward items, he felt that the most special one among them was –
[Free ability usage card], received from Shika's gift.
With this one-time-use card, he could use any ability of his at no cost to him, without using any of his energy or Mana, and ignoring any usage limitations like number of times he could use it in a day. For example, [Light from the Brink], which was only usable one time per day, even if he used it once already, he could use it again on the same day by using this card!
He received an [Invisible attack card] from Mika's present.
This one-time-use card would allow him to become completely invisible until he touched some living creature or person. This condition could be maintained for a maximum of 2 minutes, and it was possible for those with a very high level of [Astral Vision] to be able to see him. If he attacked anything living while under this invisibility effect, his attack's power would be doubled, and he would be revealed afterwards.
This was basically a classical combination of some assassin techniques like "stealth" and "backstab!"
He received a [Damage-canceling defense card] from Reo's gift.
Using this one-time-card would allow him to block any one attack coming at him and receive zero damage from it.
He had only three words to describe it: life-saving card! He could definitely act pretentiously by using this to block some enemy's ultimate ability.
Apart from these three cards, the rest were some stat-raising cards as well as items that had less than spectacular effects.
Seiji gratefully accepted all of their feelings.
He immediately used all the stat-raising cards he had received, which increased his [Art], [Charisma], and [Spiritual Power] stats respectively.
After that, he closed his system and began to practice cultivation.
After he fulfilled the progress requirements and paid the required points, Seiji learned [Beginner-level Healing].
Seiji rested for a while, then he used the same old method of jumping off the ladder to leave Reo's soul realm.
When he woke up, he got up lightly in order to not wake up Reo, got out of bed, put on his jacket, and walked out of his room.
He walked over to the living room, and discovered that Chiaki wasn't there!
The front door was open.
Seiji walked outside to see the silver-haired beauty standing outside, quietly observing the night sky with her borrowed cloth blanket covering her shoulders.
The snow had stopped falling now, and the moon had appeared. It was illuminating everything with a gentle silver glow.
Under this silver moon, a silver-haired girl was looking up at the sky… this scene seemed beautiful and poetic to Seiji.
He walked over to her side, and quietly looked at the night sky together with her.
After a moment of silence.
"You found me," Chiaki said softly. "I didn't sleep together with Mika, because I felt that I would likely be unable to sleep tonight. I should have returned home, but I really didn't want to go back… so I could only bother you tonight. Well, I did want to experience what it felt like to sleep on tatami mats by a kotatsu 's side as well… at any rate, I was just being willful. I apologize for any bother I may have caused you."
Seiji looked towards her.
"I didn't notice anything in particular, and was just allowing you to do as you pleased. I came out in the middle of the night to check on you because I was worried if you would be cold. I know that you can be a bit willful at times, and it's fine. If I thought that you were saying something unreasonable, I'd comment on it. If I thought that you were doing something unreasonable, I'd stop you with my iron fists of justice. And on the other hand, as long as I don't think it's something unreasonable, I'll cooperate with you, or help you out, or accompany you."
Seiji smiled gently. "So, that's why you shouldn't apologize, nor lose yourself too much in loneliness… The expression of a female lead from a tragedy story doesn't suit you at all, Chiaki."