Chapter 521: I refuse to become your harem manager!
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
"Mmm~~~"
Chiaki lazily stretched and murmured comfortably.
She then took out her cell phone and started poking at it while grinning foolishly.
Seiji knew that she was playing the cell phone game named "Anna" again upon seeing how she was.
Natsuya already sent someone to investigate this cell phone game. She hadn't received a report yet, but she said one should be coming soon.
Seiji hadn't heard of anyone coming to any harm yet due to playing this game… he hoped that he was just overthinking things.
"Chiaki, about how many people in our class are playing this 'Anna' game?" Seiji inquired.
The tomboy thought it over for a few seconds before replying, "I think roughly half. There's also several of our classmates that downloaded the game but failed to obtain an account."
The game could only be downloaded with a recommendation code, and applying for an account seemingly relied on luck. This type of atypical game signup method still caused more than half of his classmates to want to play. That was just how charismatic "Anna" was.
Seiji wanted to download the game to see for himself just what was so appealing about it. However, he changed his mind and decided to wait for the investigation results instead.
He really hoped that he was just overthinking things. However, he kept having a premonition that something mystical was behind this game.
The night gradually darkened.
Seiji went to his study after Chiaki and the others left.
The moment he turned on his computer and logged on to his chatting application, Hana sent him a message.
"Your story barely counts as passable, I suppose. I guess I could give it my approval."
"Thank you for purchasing it and supporting me," Seiji responded, adding a widely grinning emoticon.
Hana responded with an emoticon that had a look of condescension.
Seiji automatically interpreted it as a tsundere expression instead. He smiled and told Hana that he would like to have a video chat with her.
She immediately accepted.
"I would like to talk again about you becoming my vice-commander—"
"I refuse to become your harem manager," the cat-eared hat girl stated coldly.
Seiji was rendered speechless.
"Huh?" He was only able to utter a sound of foolishness.
Vice-commander equaled harem manager in her mind?
Hey hey, something seemed wrong here!
"I'm not trying to create a harem here!" Seiji didn't know whether he should laugh or cry after he finally regained his senses.
"That's exactly what you're trying to do. Stop denying it."
"I have to deny it! It's not what you think…"
"This is exactly what I think. At any rate, I refuse to become your harem manager. Hmph!" Hana turned her head away.
Seiji truly didn't know what to say. He was left speechless for quite a while.
"Then, how about changing the phrasing… er, giving you a different position? How about becoming my consultant?" Seiji spoke rather helplessly. "Will that be alright?"
"I won't be anything. I'll help you out, but I won't become anyone for you…" Hana then realized that her words could apparently be misinterpreted. "Anyways, stop giving me any sort of title at all! I may be your ally, but that's all, nothing more."
"…Alright then, as you wish." Seiji instantly decided to skip this topic. "I would like to hear your advice on what I should specifically do in creating a Spirit-branded Retainer team, my great and wonderful ally."
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The next morning.
Seiji mentioned that he wanted to created a Spirit-branded Retainer team to Mika and the others as they headed to school together.
"A Spirit-branded Retainer team?"
"Yes. My goal is to duel against my older sister, Yui Haruta, and her own Spirit-branded Retainer team," Seiji explained. "This will be quite difficult to do. Not only that, there's also a certain degree of risk involved. After my team is established, everyone, including myself, will probably have to spend a long time training and growing together in order to reach a level at which I can challenge her."
"Mika, Juumonji-sensei, I would like to invite the two of you to join me. Later tonight, I'll formally discuss the details with you and explain everything involved. I hope that you'll consider—"
"I agree to join," Kaede interrupted before he even finished. "There's no need to consider anything. Please allow me to become your Spirit-branded Retainer, Seiji Haruta-sama."
Mika and Chiaki were both rendered speechless.
"Please, there's no need to call me -sama… I'm quite happy that Sensei is willing to join me, but I still hope that you'll listen to my full explanation before making a decision." Seiji could only smile wryly.
"I think that there's zero need for consideration. But, if that's what you wish, I'll listen to what you have to say," Kaede spoke gently while looking directly at him.
"…I feel like this isn't a Spirit-branded Retainer team at all; it's a harem instead." The light of realization flashed in Chiaki's eyes. "This Spirit-branded Retainer team's true identity is actually your harem!"
"I already expected that you would say this! It really isn't like that. This is a serious matter, Chiaki." Seiji strictly corrected Chiaki's words.
"Yep, you're seriously establishing your own harem."
"Hey!"
The tomboy chuckled.
"Honestly, when will I be able to Awaken to some Spiritual Ability as well…? It sounds quite interesting to be able to join a Spirit-branded Retainer team." Chiaki had an expression of "I really want to join in."
"This isn't something that can be decided based on interest."
"Don't deny it, Seiji, you're actually excited as well, aren't you?" Chiaki looked straight at him. "Establishing your own team to challenge your powerful older sister? Are you really treating this as some simple task? Don't you also think it's interesting as well?"
Seiji was rendered speechless.
"To be honest, I do think it's interesting as well. It's not just a simple task," he admitted the truth in his mind. "Although I'm not doing this for my own sake… I am indeed rather excited to challenge my older sister Yui."
"I'm going to show my true strength to the older sister who exiled me from the family!" Chiaki spoke as if she was a hot-blooded male.
"That's not my real motive… although I suppose it sure sounds like a good one."
"The name of your next story shall be 'NEET of the Rebellion'!"
"That doesn't sound like a very appealing name." It wasn't like he was Lelouch.
"How about 'Counterattack of the NEET' then?"
"That's pretty much the same as the last one." It wasn't like he was a Gundam pilot.
"'NEET of Blood and Iron!'"
"No matter what cool adjectives you use, they'll instantly become uncool once you add the word 'NEET'." Seiji indicated that he was getting bored of this joke.
If it was him, he would never use a word such as 'NEET' in the story's title. He felt that too many readers would comment about such a word choice.
"At any rate, defeating Yui Haruta will be a challenging goal. I'll work my hardest to achieve this, and gathering companions that are willing to become my Spirit-branded Retainers is the first step in my plan."
Yukari was currently feeling complex emotions.
She just received a phone call from Seigo. They agreed to meet for lunch.
It was a good thing that they would get to meet each other. However, what Chiaki Wakaba told her last week… Yukari still hadn't come to a decision.
What had he been doing over the past few days? Did he really go to kill others? And if that was true, how should she treat him?
She knew that she could simply not ask, in order to give herself more time to think.
Still, she would have to face things sooner or later.
Seigo Harano… no, Seiji Haruta was a Spiritual Ability user. He was in a different world from ordinary people.
Yukari tried imagining what she would feel if he killed someone in front of her… but was unable to imagine it.
Nor was she capable of imagining how she would react if she personally witnessed such a scene. After all, real human lives dying was different from people dying in an anime or movie!
Either acceptance or rejection… She had considered both possibilities and was currently still unable to come to a decision.
Yukari didn't have the confidence to maintain her typical poise if she met with him today. Still, he said that there was something important he wanted to discuss with her, so she agreed to meet up.
What could this important topic be?
It would be fine if it was about the dating sim game they were creating or about his light novel.
As she was an artist herself, there was plenty she could discuss with him about the insert art for "Brother Monogatari".
But if it was about the "mystical"…
The purple-haired girl turned to look outside the window. She sighed upon seeing the somewhat dark sky.