329 Because I Want to Look (1/2)

Seiji couldn't see everything in the picture clearly due to the lack of lighting, but he saw various unusual objects.

For example, there was a windmill that had rotor blades made out of mirrors, and cyan-colored spiral runes were engraved onto each rotor blade.

There was a silver kettle with various strange red lines drawn upon it. It also had two spouts, one on each side.

There was a wooden sword which appeared to be over 1.5 meters in length. One side was black while the other side was white. The black side had tiny white words etched upon it, while the white side had tiny black words etched upon it.

There was a kendama that had a dark blue hilt with strange black lines upon it. The ball portion was painted dark red and had numerous black dots.

…

”If all of these are actually Spiritual Artifacts… that would be an incredible discovery.” Seiji returned Mika's cell phone to her after he finished looking at everything in the picture.

”I already called Natsuya and told her about what happened. She thinks that this board game is a high-level Spiritual Artifact, which means that it's definitely something out of the ordinary. If all of these are on the same level as that board game… well, that's probably unlikely, but even if only two or three of these objects are on the same level, it'd be really incredible.”

A moment of silence fell between them.

”You called the president by name,” Mika said.

”Eh?”

”You just said the president's name, instead of calling her 'President,'” Mika said, looking into his eyes.

”Indeed,” Seiji admitted. ”We've begun calling each other by name.”

Another moment of silence fell between them.

”By the way… does Miss Landlord know where these objects in her husband's collection originated from?” Seiji asked.

Mika shook her head. ”Mom said that when she asked Dad in the past, Dad said that they were gifts from other people, but wouldn't mention who they came from. When Mom pressured him about it, he would only say that the person who gave it to him wished to remain anonymous. After hearing the exact same answer several times, Mom gave up on asking.”

Saying that someone else had given the objects to him, but not being willing to say who they came from… this seemed like an obvious excuse. However, there was also the possibility of it being true.

Seiji contemplated the matter.

If Mr. Uehara was telling the truth, then was the person who gave him these gifts a Spiritual Ability user? Did he receive these gifts all from a single person, or several different people? And why did they give such things to Mr. Uehara? Was Mr. Uehara himself a Spiritual Ability user?

There were many unknowns.

”I think that we should show all these items to Natsuya; what do you think?”

”You don't want to?”

”I think it's fine either way.”

It was obvious that she was being a bit difficult.

Seiji blinked. ”What's the matter, Mika?”

”Nothing… I just feel rather tired.” The pigtailed girl closed her eyes.

”I see… then you should have some rest.” Seiji looked at her closely.

He wanted to say something but didn't know what to say. He instinctively felt that she wanted silence right now.

So, he remained quiet. He simply observed her face in silence. Mika felt his gaze upon her and opened her eyes, meeting Seiji's gaze.

”Why are you looking at me?”

”Because I want to look at you,” Seiji answered reflexively. When he realized what he said, he suddenly felt a wave of embarrassment.

'What did I say just now!?'

Mika's face flushed red, and she averted her gaze.

”I-I'm not that pretty; it's not like I'm as beautiful as the president…”

She noticed what was wrong with her sentence after she said it, and she was overcome by a wave of embarrassment.

'What did I say just now!?'

”Mika…” After hearing what she accidentally let slip just now, Seiji realized what was going on.

”Pretend that I didn't say that just now,” Mika muttered in a tiny voice.

”I already heard you.”

”You can forget what you just heard.”

”My brain isn't a computer's hard drive—it's not able to delete things at will,” Seiji said with a chuckle. ”Mika… do you want to hear the truth from me?”

”Eh?”