Chapter 51: Snow Girl

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

The student council vice president, Hitaka Shuho.

As a red-haired, red-eyed beauty, her outer appearance was already quite flashy. Plus, she had something akin to a warriors spirit emanating from her and always accompanied President Natsuya Yoruhana as if she was the presidents personal bodyguard, making her relatively popular within the school.

Actually, when Seiji met her for the first time, he almost felt as if she was a swordswoman from some video game. He didnt meet her the last time he visited the student council room, so he decided to observe her closely this time around.

Hmm She definitely had a warriors aura, and especially now that he knew she was one of the presidents Spirit-branded Retainers, Seiji wondered if she was actually a living version of Rurouni Kenshin from his previous life

If possible, he wanted to ask her to try using Kenshins ultimate technique

*Cough cough.* He went off on too much of a tangent.

Faced with Seiji who was obviously studying her intently, Hitaka Shuho ignored it as she was already used to such a thing.

Seiji seemed appreciative of her without showing any perverted lust, which was acceptable. However, Hitaka noticed that his eyes seemed to be shining with a strange light.

Hitaka didnt know what it was, and although she was a bit curious, as long as it wasnt enmity, she didnt really care.

"Hey, President Yoruhana." Seiji greeted Natsuya, who sat by the round table. After greeting her, he suddenly noticed two unopened luxurious-looking lunchboxes resting on the table.

"Welcome back to the student council room, Harano-kun." Natsuya smiled warmly.

"I feel bad about bothering you during lunch break." Seiji scratched his face awkwardly: "Do you two often eat lunch here?"

"Yeah, its nice and quiet" Natsuya averted her gaze slightly.

"Why arent you eating together with your friends outside?" Seiji detected something and continued asking along this line of thinking.

"Milady doesnt need useless friends." Hitaka Shuho stated coldly as she opened her mouth.

After a period of silence.

Natsuya Yoruhana sighed.

"Okay, Ill admit it Hitaka, you dont need to clumsily cover for me any longer; itll just make things more awkward."

"Im not covering for you at all; theres hardly anyone thats worthy of becoming Miladys friend." Hitakas expression showed she remained convinced of the validity of her previous statement.

Natsuya smiled wryly as she looked in Seijis direction.

"In school, I dont have any close friends. If I wanted to, I could eat lunch together with many other students, but the atmosphere would always feel a little strange Its not relaxing at all. Also, I Im not sure if I should be making friends with ordinary people. Youre aware of my true identity, so there are restrictions I must observe."

Seiji nodded sagely.

"Your worries are that of a young mistress from a powerful family."

He didnt even know how to respond as she was unexpectedly forthright with him about her situation.

A scion who could naturally eat lunches together with commoners this scenario wasnt realistic, albeit it wasnt impossible either

A real scion like Natsuya Yoruhana would possess excellent etiquette and appearance, not to mention her outstanding field of vision and the virtue of her self-cultivation In conclusion, everything about her would be far above ordinary people.

Normal people would feel unworthy just by standing beside her, and even if they worked up the courage to speak to her, it would only take a few sentences before they realized the vast distance between them. It was as if a thin membrane separated them, an insurmountable wall.

As for the reverse, even if there were some rare ones among the commoners that didnt care about Natsuyas status and were willing to continuously chat about ordinary topics with her, would a lady like Natsuya really be interested in those topics?

And as for reality there were all sorts that would appear: sycophants, those who wanted to take advantage of her or her connections, and those wanting to capture her heart, causing her to fall in love with them. If she had been a vain scion in search of flattery, it wouldnt matter, but Natsuya would most likely feel only disgust towards such people.

Finally, even if there was someone great enough to overcome all those barriers, Natsuya Yoruhanas true identity was still that of someone with mystical powers. She would always have various worries when making friends with ordinary people that were ignorant of such powers.

Differences in social statuses simply werent so easy to overcome.

Seiji mulled it over.

"Even though you just said you dont have any close friends, although it might be impolite for me to ask further, Id still like to ask something: whats your opinion of Kazufuru Ooike?"

"Ooike-kun?" Natsuya tilted her head slightly before replying, "Hes an above-average student and an excellent secretary."

"Apart from that?"

"Nothing else." Natsuya lightly skipped over anything else she thought of Kazufuru.

Seiji felt it was impossible for her to be incognizant of that guys true feelings towards her. In fact, she was probably crystal-clear about it. If that was all she had to say about him, it meant

Ooike-san, youre not even at the level of a "nice person" in her heart!!

Even Seiji felt a twinge of pity for that guy.

Well, forget about it; it had nothing to do with him.

In actuality, Seiji couldve kept asking why she was studying here if she couldnt make any appropriate friends. However, he wisely avoided this question as he believed she had her own reasons; it might even end up being a minefield question!

Seiji decided to get to the main topic at hand.

"Actually, I received some information yesterday"

He informed her of what he learned from the Juumonji group while skipping over the details of how exactly they invited him.

Natsuya Yoruhana and Hitaka Shuho silently listened to his tale.

"I didnt expect that the local mafia would have such backbone." Natsuya sighed before continuing, "Normally speaking, people like them would avoid this topic when they discover that even the police are keeping silent."

"As I expectedit has something to do with Yin Yang Masters, right?"

"Indeed." Natsuya acknowledged his assumption with a nod before she fell silent, evidently in midst of considering something.

Seiji patiently waited for her.

"The enemy is making arrangements for a large spell formation."

Natsuya finally looked back at Seiji and spoke up again.

"Arrangements for a spell formation?"

"Yes, my opponent Its almost certain that its my opponent whos about to challenge me to a duel whos making these arrangements. That mysterious drug is probably something used for absorbing ordinary peoples spiritual energy Although I dont know what that drug is specifically, from its description and the reactions of its users, thats probably what its for. Gathering a large amount of spiritual energy for a massive spell is one type of preparation that a Yin Yang Master will do before a duel. In order to prevent a massive outcry, the ordinary people that have spiritual energy stolen from them wont die nor will there be any severe aftereffects, but theyll still be permanently weakened." Natsuya sighed.

"Actually, Ive already had Hitaka attempt some countermeasures, but they havent been working well."

"Milady" Hitaka seemed downcast: "My apologies, I was useless."

"I said it already, Hitakaits not your fault." Natsuya furrowed her brows as she looked meaningfully at her good friend: "If only my spells were more powerful, you wouldve been able to stop the enemys Spirit-branded Retainers."

"Its because Im not fast enough! Every time, Im always just a little late" Hitaka chewed on her lips, expressing her discontentment.

Seiji blinked in realization.

"So, these incidents Those corpses were all because of the enemys Spirit-branded Retainers?"

"Yes, the enemy is ordering their Spirit-branded Retainers to make use of those hoodlums to peddle the spiritual energy absorption drugs. As a precaution, they also cursed those hoodlums so that if there was any risk of them being discovered, or if they broke some restriction that was imposed on them, the curse would activate and kill them. I attempted to use spells to locate the enemys retainers, but every time we were always just a minute too late, so Hitaka was unable to catch them."

Natsuya lowered her head.

"I know Im not good enough as a Yin Yang Master."

"No, Milady is excellent!" Hitaka wore an unhappy expression: "If it wasnt for me"

"Dont say anything more, Hitakamy strength is insufficient. Thats an indisputable fact."

Natsuya Yoruhana raised her head again as her expression turned serious.

"I need to work harder!"

Seiji could only look on in silence.

"Haruta-kun, tell that mafia group to cease attempting to investigate this affair, and advise them to avoid it entirely," Natsuya cautioned in a grave tone.

"The enemy will continue to use his or her Spirit-branded Retainers to do what theyve been doing, and Ill try my utmost to prevent it. This is a duel between Yin Yang Mastersordinary people shouldnt get involved."

"If they interfere theyll be eliminated by the enemys retainers, right?" Seiji clutched his arms.

"Thats rightsince its allowed by our own rules for Yin Yang Masters to get rid of anyone that may discover their identity, the enemys Spirit-branded Retainers will kill any interfering parties without hesitation," Natsuya stated. "Presently we cant even find out the identity of the enemys Spirit-branded Retainers, much less order around whoever this enemy Yin Yang Master is. All I know is that the spirit that this retainers bonded with is most likely one of the strongest among the spirits with ice powersSnow Girl!"