Chapter 450: Betrothal
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
When the spirit descended upon her, basically, when Natsuya became his Spirit-branded Retainer, nothing unusual happened to her at all. Her behavior was only affected after they finished the Spirit-branded Alliance contract, so simply contracting with Rana or Hitaka to become his Spirit-branded Retainer shouldn't affect them.
But, without actually trying, there was no way to be certain. If Rana or Hitaka really started behaving like Natsuya just earlier…
Seiji's imagination ran wild for a moment as he imagined the possible scenes. Then, he managed to stop his wild fantasies as he smiled wryly.
'Why on earth would my Mana have such a strange effect? System, it wouldn't be your doing, would it?'
As always, there was no response at all from his system. Seiji could only imagine a fairy representing his system again so that he could continuously poke it in his mind.
Then, he continued checking out his system. Underneath [Natsuya Yoruhana] in his system was an option called [Mana Exchange].
According to his system, [Mana Exchange] would have the effect of increasing both their power levels by at most "four levels." It additionally explained that the level of increase would be affected by Natsuya's favorability rating towards him as well as connectivity rating.
Basically, as long as the student council president got along well with him, they would be able to reach the strongest stage of [Mana Exchange], level four! Both their power levels would raise by a noticeable amount, while the time that [Mana Exchange] would last depended on how long the two of them were willing to carry the burden on their Spiritual Power.
They didn't even need to cultivate in order to improve their power levels for this… was this a type of reward to try getting Natsuya's favorability rating and connectivity rating to him as high as possible?
"Let's try [Mana Exchange] tomorrow and see how much it can strengthen us by."
[Mana Exchange]… Seiji could only helplessly hope to himself that the same thing wouldn't happen to Natsuya again.
Natsuya suddenly felt that same feeling of "comfort" from earlier.
She was currently taking a bath, completely relaxed and not on guard at all. She just happened to be reminiscing about how she felt earlier when the same feeling suddenly washed over her again!
"Wahhh~~"
The president did her best to cover her mouth as she shrank her body into a ball in her bath as her elegant body trembled and her legs tensed up with her face speedily turning red.
"Why has this feeling returned… Ahh~~~"
A dense feeling of warmth spread out through her body that made her feel numb all over. It indeed felt like she was being intimately caressed all over, and rather forcefully at that, which gave her a mysterious feeling of satisfaction, although it was difficult for her to describe in words just what exactly she was currently feeling.
At any rate, it was really comfortable! Incredibly comfortable!! Too comfortable!!!
She wasn't sure if it was because she was currently taking a hot bath, but the sensation was even stronger than the first time. She did her very best to cover her mouth and barely managed to restrain herself from shouting.
When receiving such a sensation, she was completely unable to think anymore, and could only immerse herself in it and wait for it to pass. It was as if she was a sailboat caught in a windstorm, constantly buffeted and tossed about as she could only bear with it until it passed…
"Whew…"
Natsuya heaved a sigh of relief when the feeling of ecstasy finally subsided.
Currently, her face was completely red and her body felt drained of energy. Her vision was hazy as her eyes were teary, and she was collapsed by the side of her bathtub in an incredibly sexy manner.
"My power increased again… his Mana was actually able to improve my power twice in succession?"
Natsuya noticed the increase in her own power level. She felt that her strange sensations were connected to the increase in her own power.
Her power was already increased once already when they made the Spirit-branded Alliance, and now it was increased once again!?
Forget about whether or not there would be a third time, having her power enhanced twice was already something out of the norm.
This was… truly amazing.
Once again, she marveled at how astonishing Seiji was.
She decided to stop thinking too much about why this was as she wouldn't be able to come up with an answer. The current important part was, would he be able to withstand the burden of contracting with Rana and Hitaka as well? If he could, would Rana and Hitaka also be similarly powered up?
Not only that, Natsuya felt a strange emotion when she thought about how Rana and Hitaka might experience the same sensation as her.
It was as if she was watching her boyfriend do something with other girls… no, no, this wasn't such a thing to begin with! Nor was Seiji her boyfriend yet!!!
The student council president's face burned up as she reflexively sunk her face into the bath water.
She didn't want to think about such things, but couldn't help it. The sensation of increasing in power through Seiji's Mana was just like doing it with him…
'Stop! No more thinking about this!! Nothing impure happened at all, stop running wild, imagination of mine!!'
However, emotions were always difficult to control, and Natsuya was unable to get rid of the strange emotion she was currently feeling.
'Hmph, it's all his fault! Why is his power so… perverted!!'
Natsuya pouted slightly as she imagined Seiji's face and kept up an endless stream of complaints directed at him.
Right now, since she was still hiding out in her bath with her face flushed red, she definitely seemed like a girl experiencing youth who was missing her boyfriend.
A while later, Natsuya's cell phone rang.
Natsuya stood up, got out of the bath, wiped her body and hair, wrapped a towel around herself, then picked up her cell phone.
The call was from her older brother Aoran Yoruhana.
"Good evening, Natsuya. What are you currently doing?"
"Good evening. Do you have some business with me?"
"Actually, I wanted to share some news with you about this Huaxia cuisine restaurant that I just discovered. This food called soup-filled meat buns is truly wondrous, listen—"
"Enjoy your dinner. Goodbye."
"Wait, wait, don't hang up on me! I have something serious to say!" Aoran detected that his sister was about to hang up on him and hurriedly stopped her.
"Please say it directly then without wasting my time."
"How cold of you, sister. Even if you're not interested in soup-filled meat buns, there's also other…"
"While I may enjoy Huaxia cuisine, I'm not interested in hearing you talk about it. Please get directly to the point!"
"…Come back tomorrow morning for a discussion."
"A discussion about what?"
"You'll find out when it's time tomorrow."
Something flashed in Natsuya's eyes upon hearing this.
"It would seem that it's a topic that I won't like hearing about," she stated coldly.
The second young master of the Yoruhana Family fell silent for a moment.
"That's right. The discussion topic is probably the one you hate the most," Aoran sighed. "Sister… I've already opposed it, but Father… he has his own plans."
Natsuya had an ominous premonition upon hearing this.
"What exactly is the specific topic? Please tell me, Brother Aoran."
"It's about your marriage," Aoran told her directly.
Marriage!?
Natsuya began frowning as she slowly gripped her cell phone tighter and tighter.
"Why… so sudden?"
"Because of various reasons… but the most foundational one is probably because the other party gave such sincere conditions," Aoran paused for a moment. "I know that you particularly despise that marriage candidate, and I also agree with you that he's not a good match for you, so I opposed it, but nothing I did was of any use."
Natsuya fell silent for a moment.
"You're talking about Akatsuki Mitarai?" She said his name to confirm.
"Yes, he's the one."
When Natsuya received this confirmation, a powerful feeling of disgust and hatred welled up within her! She frowned even deeper.
She recalled what Seiji said earlier this morning to her about Akatsuki likely taking action soon… Seiji had been right on the mark. Or, perhaps it was she who hadn't been on sufficient guard.
"Father's already made up his mind?" Natsuya forcibly controlled her emotions to remain calm as she asked this.
"I think he has."
"There's no more room for discussion?"
Aoran could hear Natsuya's fierce emotions behind her seemingly calm tone.
If he was merely going to respond to her from the standpoint of the second young master of the Yoruhana Family, he should be coaxing her in order to have her obediently return home tomorrow even if he had to lie.
Not only that, he didn't actually have to explain anything to her. He only needed to tell her the situation and then hang up on her.
However, Aoran chose to act as the younger of her two older brothers rather than only thinking about the Yoruhana Family's benefits. That was because as her older brother, he truly didn't approve of this marriage proposal.
He let Natsuya know exactly what was going on as he wished, nor did he conceal his real opinion of their father's way of thinking...
"I don't know whether or not there's still any room for discussion… from what I can tell, father seriously wishes to have you betrothed to Akatsuki Mitarai. He's making this decision as the head of the Yoruhana Family."