A long period of silence fell between them.
"… Why aren't you retorting?"
Mika felt awkward and her face turned even redder when she saw the two of them staring at her in a daze.
"Do you want us to retort you?" Seiji finally realized what she meant.
"Of course, this … isn't it obvious!" Mika said with a red face. "I … I was just pretending to be stupid and joking."
'You're acting a little too much, Uehara -san!'
Seiji and Chiaki exchanged glances and could only smile wryly.
"You successfully shocked us, Mika." Chiaki sighed. "Your performance was so amazing that Seiji and I were both amazed."
"What are you talking about … Aren't you guys normally like this?" The double pigtailed girl was stunned. "I was just imitating you."
"Imitating … Fine, I guess that's fine," Seiji said helplessly.
It seemed that Mika had only wanted to turn the tables and joke around, but her acting was so good that no one could react.
Another period of silence fell between them.
"Let's stop fooling around. What did you guys want to tell me?"
Chiaki forcefully changed the topic and changed the topic back to the main topic.
"It's like this …"
...
Seiji told Chiaki the gist of what happened "over there."
Chiaki was astonished by what she heard, but she accepted it rather quickly.
"The hidden side of the world, Yin Yang Masters and Spirit-branded Retainers … I didn't expect that reality would be as strange as the movies.
But I suppose it's still possible. What happens in reality is just like movies or TV shows, or even more strange … something like that. "
The three of them were currently in a park, drinking soft drinks that they bought from a roadside vending machine.
The tomboy fell silent for a while after she finished sighing before looking at her two good friends.
"Thank you for telling me all this."
She smiled.
"I'm glad that you're telling me the truth instead of hiding it.
I don't know what else to say … We're good friends, and we'll always be, just like before, right? "
Seiji and Mika also smiled as they looked at her.
"Of course," both of them said in unison.
The three looked at each other and smiled.
After that, Seiji first sent Mika back to her apartment, and then sent Chiaki home.
On the way, the two of them did not speak for a while.
"Seiji … I'm actually a little depressed right now."
After remaining silent for a while, the tomboy sighed and expressed her true feelings.
"I'm really happy that you've told me the secret, but at the same time … I feel like you're telling me that you're just an ordinary person, different from us."
"I know I'm overthinking it, but I can't control my emotions … Really."
Seiji looked at her with a gentle gaze.
"If you can't control it, then don't control it. Just express it. I will listen to your complaints."
"Just to listen to my complaints?"
"What else do you want?"
Chiaki looked at him, her eyes sparkling.
"I want to drink! I want you to drink with me!! "
Seiji: "…"
"You are not allowed to reject it! You're not allowed to say anything, so it's settled! "
Chiaki acted shamelessly before Seiji could say anything.
She was just like a child throwing a tantrum.
Seiji sighed.
"How do you want to drink?"
"Go to a bar!"
Seiji silently raised his hand and clenched it into a fist, giving off an aura of "I'll punish you with an iron fist if you go too far."
Chiaki was terrified as she recalled how terrifying it was when she was dominated by an iron fist.
"Then … come drink at my house."
Seiji silently considered it.
"Come on, drink a little at my house. It's nothing." Chiaki grabbed his arm and shook it.
"I … I'm really depressed, and I want you to accompany me ~"
Seiji sighed yet again in the face of such a direct act.
"You really can only drink a little."
"You agreed!?"
"If I didn't agree, you'd drink by yourself." Seiji looked directly at her face.
"Heehee ~" Chiaki stuck out her tongue and giggled.
She looked cute, but Seiji had the urge to punch her!
'Forget it, she said that she's depressed, so it's probably true … I'll accompany her to drink just this once.'
After making his decision, Seiji accompanied Chiaki back to her apartment.
Chiaki took him into the apartment, took the elevator upstairs, and arrived at her own apartment.
"Please come in."
"Sorry for disturbing."
Seiji entered Chiaki's apartment for the first time.
The living room was luxurious, just like the kind that would appear in an idol television drama. It was spacious and bright, and the decorations were exquisite and extravagant.
The most eye-catching part was the many paintings hanging on the wall. There were landscape paintings, portrait paintings, realistic paintings, and abstract paintings. They all seemed quite cool.
Seiji recalled that Mika mentioned that Chiaki's father was a famous artist.
These paintings on the wall were probably her father's works, right?
"Sit anywhere you like, I'll go get some wine!" Chiaki said and went to another room.
Seiji didn't sit down, but looked at the paintings on the wall.
He didn't know how to appreciate art, so he couldn't tell the value of these paintings. He only looked at them based on his feelings.
He casually looked at a few and felt that they were all quite good. Then, he saw a portrait painting.
It was a woman wearing a long dress. She was standing in the midst of flying cherry blossoms, twirling her hair with her hand as she suddenly turned around.
The entire scene was beautiful, but only the female protagonist's side profile was shown, and her eyes were blocked by the petals, so he couldn't see her face at all.
It was quite tempting, but the overall feeling … Seiji didn't know how to describe it.
The indescribable feeling made him feel a little conflicted, and he unconsciously stared at this painting for a long time.
"The wine is here!"
Chiaki's voice caused him to return to his senses.
He turned around and saw that she had brought out a rather expensive-looking bottle of red wine, as well as two goblets and a glass bowl filled with ice cubes.
The label on the bottle … was probably in French. Seiji couldn't understand it.
At any rate, he felt that this wine wouldn't be cheap. Was it really alright to drink this?
"What kind of red wine is this, Chiaki?"
"I don't know. I randomly took it from my dad's collection."
"You didn't take an extremely expensive wine, did you?"
"No, I just randomly took a bottle. I've drunk many similar wines … Cough, there seems to be many similar wines, so it's not something rare."
"… I won't care if your father scolds me."
"Relax, he won't. If he scolds me, he'll have to be at home first, and not only come back a few times a year." Chiaki chuckled.
Her expression was quite natural, but Seiji could detect a trace of loneliness in her tone.
Being home by herself … how did Chiaki live? He suddenly wanted to know.
At this moment, the tomboy put ice cubes into the two goblets, took out a corkscrew, and skillfully uncorked the wine and poured the wine.
The rich aroma of wine instantly filled the air.
Just based on the rich aroma, it was obvious that this wine was no ordinary wine.
Seiji wasn't a wine master, but he was experienced. He was once again doubtful. Was this bottle of wine really something that she randomly took?
Was the quality of wine in this world higher, or was Chiaki Kagura's family simply too rich?
"Come, cheers!"
After pouring the wine, Chiaki picked up one glass and indicated for Seiji to pick up the other.
"… Cheers."
Seiji picked up his glass and lightly clinked it with Chiaki's before bringing it to his lips.
After smelling the alluring aroma, he tilted the glass and slowly drank the fragrant liquid.
The wine entered his throat, leaving a fragrant aftertaste in his mouth.
'Such good wine.'
Seiji put down his glass and let out a sigh.
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