Chapter 219: Chapter 219 - Watching a Play

He would be asked some questions, before receiving a beating . Or, in Iroha's words, 'asking what he was thinking and checking his current strength . '

Their meeting was scheduled for tonight at eight o'clock, in Nagawa amusement park .

He felt bound to go . No matter what he encountered, it would finally set him on track .

It sounded like it was certain that he was about to receive a beating... to clarify, it meant that Iroha was going to fight him .

Light-chan had already left, so Seiji felt that the current him probably wouldn't match up to an experienced Spirit-branded Retainer, and Iroha probably thought the same as well .

If just getting beaten up once would help him to be forgiven, that would be a great deal for him, but Seiji doubted that would be the case .

Check his strength meant seeing his current level... but then what?

If his strength was sufficient, would he be permitted to return to the family?

If that was the case, it was quite pragmatic . But from another angle, it could be considered generous .

Seiji returned to the ramen stand as his head swum with thoughts .

When he saw the three women waiting for him, he temporarily left his own matters behind and greeted them with a smile .

...

After leaving the ramen stand, Mai said that she had other things to do, and left .

Seiji, Mayuzumi, and Mai continued exploring the school festival, this time in the middle school section .

They discovered a wild Hoshi Amami (in the boy's middle school uniform) .

"Senpai, you've finally arrived!" The handsome younger boy flashed a brilliant and warm smile .

"What's with the 'finally?' I contacted you by cell phone less than ten minutes ago, you know . "

"I really wanted to see you, Senpai . Even though I didn't wait for all that long, it felt really long to me . "

Seiji didn't even know what to say to this .

Forget it—Hoshi wasn't currently in female clothing, so it was still within his abilities to withstand .

"You should greet your elders first," Seiji said . "Sensei is your... what exactly is the relation again?"

"She's my father's cousin . Aunt Mayuzumi, hello, long time no see . " Hoshi greeted Mayuzumi politely .

"Hello, Hoshi, long time no see . " Mayuzumi smiled gently at him .

Quite a natural scene... wait a moment .

"Sensei, you're not afraid... of Hoshi?" Seiji noticed this part .

"Yeah, because... Hoshi's really like a girl," Mayuzumi replied in a low voice .

"I'm the only male that doesn't trigger Aunt Mayuzumi's androphobia, which gave me quite an impact in the past . " Hoshi smiled and added, "I don't really mind anymore, all because of you, Senpai..."

"Stop, stop!" Seiji felt that this was heading in a bad direction and hurriedly lifted his hand and gestured for Hoshi to stop . "It didn't have anything to do with me—it's all because of yourself you found your self-confidence and worked up your courage to face everything, right?"

"Yeah... but I've changed now thanks to Senpai..."

"I did a few things, yes, but you became stronger thanks to your own willpower!" Seiji lectured in a serious tone of voice . "So don't say stuff like it's because of me; your strength"—'as a trap,' Seiji added in his head—"stems wholly from yourself, not from anyone else . "

"I did a few things, yes, but you became stronger thanks to your own willpower!" Seiji lectured in a serious tone of voice . "So don't say stuff like it's because of me; your strength"—'as a trap,' Seiji added in his head—"stems wholly from yourself, not from anyone else . "

"Senpai..." Hoshi was visibly moved by Seiji's speech .

To Seiji's relief, Hoshi didn't say anything else .

While Seiji pretended to be serious on the surface, he actually heaved a secret sigh of relief that he'd made it past this without the ladies hearing about anything too awkward .

From a bystander's viewpoint, this was just a normal and nice scene of a conversation between a junior and his senpai . Even the manga author and editor believed this .

Hoshi joined their group and took them on a tour of the middle school section .

The activities and programs were similar to the ones in the high school section, but the average quality was a bit lower than the high school section . The students' performances and behavior were also less professional and filled with a youthful aura .

But this aura of youth was the essence of middle school!

The students trying to attract customers were blushing, the servers were shy, the fortune tellers were stuttering, and the performers were tentative... all this seemed rather cute .

Seiji was all eyes for the tender and juicy... whoops, young and cute middle school girls, while Mayuzumi felt a lot more relaxed than earlier; it was as if a game had suddenly switched to easy mode .

It wasn't that she was completely unafraid of middle school boys, it was just that she was less afraid of them compared to high school boys or adult men .

Afterwards, it was time to watch a play .

The large performance was arranged by the drama club of which Chiaki was a part of!

Seiji and his friends arrived at the auditorium and purchased tickets to enter .

The performance began .

All the lights in the auditorium were dimmed, while the stage was brightly lit up, creating a suitable atmosphere for the opening scene .

The curtains slowly drew open .

The curtains slowly drew open .

The lights revealed that the scene on the stage was a fantasy-style city .

While the backdrop wasn't particularly extravagant, it was still of good quality; it was, after all, crafted exclusively by high school students .

The sound of slow, deep melody washed over the members of the audience .

The song rose in pitch as it reverberated throughout the auditorium .

Seiji recognized the voice singing the song as Chiaki's .

He was amazed because her singing voice sounded gentle and sweet . It was as if the singer was a girl deeply in love and missing her lover . It was rather different from the tomboy's typical impression... okay, totally different!

This contrast was akin to a man singing in a high-pitched voice falsetto... er, Seiji suddenly recalled a famous Russian singer from his past life who sung like this and was an excellent and popular singer .

At any rate, he was rather surprised to find out that Chiaki was singing in such a manner, but at the same time, he felt that it was fresh and something to look forward to .

Alongside Vitas's . . . whoops, Chiaki's singing, a girl with long flame-red hair walked onto the stage wearing a beautiful dress .

After her appearance, she lightly twirled around while singing . She continued to dance elegantly, with one dainty hand holding up the hem of her dress . Her performance attracted the entire audience's attention!

Her first appearance was definitely amazing .

Seiji didn't know what the other audience members felt, but his eyes lit up as he appreciated the performance . This had nothing to do with the fact that the main star was his good friend; it was purely because of her... of this red-haired girl's charisma .

This was Chiaki, but the current red-haired girl had nothing to do with the silver-haired Chiaki Wakaba . At this moment, she had completely transformed into the red-haired girl on the stage!

She finished singing her song .

An unseen student began a narration .

The clear male voice simply narrated the background and main characters and told the audience that the red-haired girl was a noble daughter of the Fire Kingdom named "Wakamei Touhou . "

Seiji was rendered speechless by this .

The clear male voice simply narrated the background and main characters and told the audience that the red-haired girl was a noble daughter of the Fire Kingdom named "Wakamei Touhou . "

Seiji was rendered speechless by this .

So their playacting yesterday wasn't entirely playacting after all?

Well, it didn't matter . He would enjoy watching this anyways .

Wakamei Touhou was a gentle and extroverted girl, who excelled at singing and dancing . Many noble boys chased after her, but she never had any interest in any of them .

One day at a welcoming party for the Ice Kingdom's prince, she met one of the Ice Kingdom's young knights and fell deeply in love with him .

However, due to a fight over a mysterious artifact, the Fire and Ice Kingdoms' relationships worsened, and war finally broke out .

Wakamei lost all contact with the person she loved, and, even worse, her older brother that she had a good relationship with was summoned to the battlefield .

Her older brother had a weak constitution and would likely die on the battlefield, but fighting for the country was the duty of the nobility, and the family had to send someone .

Her father was already at an advanced age, and her younger brother was too young... so the red-haired girl resolutely decided to go to battle herself!

'Isn't this just this world's version of Mulan?'

No... this story had her directly join as a female soldier, which was different from his previous world's story about a woman who pretended to be a man .

By the way, Seiji was quite impressed how Mulan had managed to avoid discovery as a female in the army for so many years . He found it difficult to imagine how she did it . It was such a mystery to him .

Cough, he was getting sidetracked .

On the stage, Wakamei Touhou was forced to fight for her life on the battlefield .

After witnessing so much death and getting accustomed to slaughter, her personality began to imperceptibly morph into that of a cold and cruel female general .

Finally, the red-haired girl discovered that the person she fell in love with wasn't a knight after all . In actuality, he was the real prince of the Ice Kingdom masquerading as a knight!

The magical artifact that both countries were fighting over was possessed by the Ice Prince, so she would have to fight him if she wanted to obtain the artifact .