But, he told Seiji that this was highly valuable information. And since Seiji knew that Chiaki felt like she was constantly being watched, this was definitely valuable information.
The Yoruhana Family's mystical hospital had already inspected Chiaki and found that everything appeared to be normal… Basically, according to the Yin Yang Master hospital, she appeared to be a healthy ordinary person with nothing abnormal about her.
Just as Kamitani said, nothing appeared out of the ordinary with her on the surface.
But as for what would actually happen… more information was needed.
The next morning.
The weather was clear and the air was fresh. The morning sunlight shone in through the window.
After Seiji got out of bed, he immediately went to the study, turned on his computer, and went online to Soul Society's message forum. After reading the posts there, he learned that Soul Society's battle in Realm of Cherry Blossoms Inner World #1 had been successful. The Dimensional Eye there had been successfully sealed for the time being.
The battle was apparently more difficult than the previous one. But since Soul Society had been amply prepared, their combat strength was sufficient, and there were no problems.
It was good that there were no problems. Seiji turned off the computer after checking the information.
Breakfast time.
Chiaki didn't come over to his place for breakfast like she usually would.
Although it was also possible that she was simply being a slouch and sleeping in, Seiji was still worried about her. He immediately headed over to her apartment after he'd finished breakfast.
He saw Mika when he arrived in the hallway.
After they exchanged hellos, Mika heard that he was going to visit Chiaki. She decided to go with him to check on Chiaki.
Nobody answered the door when they knocked. Mika used her key as the apartment manager to open the door.
When they entered, they saw that the silver-haired girl was still quietly sleeping in bed. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary with her.
After confirming that nothing was wrong, Seiji had Mika wake up Chiaki as he left her bedroom and went back to his own apartment.
Some minutes of waiting later, the two girls came to his apartment.
Chiaki seemed rather listless as if she wanted to go back to sleep.
"Did you sleep rather late last night?" Seiji inquired.
"No… it's just that I'm especially sleepy this morning… Yawn…" Chiaki yawned as she collapsed on Seiji's table.
"Did you feel anything unusual last night?"
"No…"
"Did you have any strange dreams?"
"No… what's the matter?"
"I've learned something that might be related to the strange feeling of being watched that you've been having," Seiji said in a serious tone.
Chiaki rubbed her eyes and lifted her head upon hearing this.
"What is it?"
Seiji told her the information that she was a priest's descendant that he heard from Kamitani.
Chiaki blinked after hearing this.
Mika blinked after hearing this.
Shika, who was also present, calmly continued sipping her tea.
Kaede was in the living room, tutoring Reo with her homework. Neither of them noticed this conversation.
"A priest's descendant… is that right?" Chiaki asked for confirmation.
"That's right."
"It sounds rather grand… so what, then? Will I Awaken and become a priestess? Or some type of shrine maiden?"
A shrine maiden Chiaki?
Seiji couldn't help but imagine the silver-haired beauty wearing shrine maiden attire while dancing and swinging some bells. He felt that it would be amazing!
"…I don't know. I've only learned this recently, and I know very little about priests," Seiji responded after he regained his senses.
"This person who told you the information… this Itsuki Kamitani, how did he learn this information about me?"
"I don't know that, either."
"Can he be believed?"
"I think this information at least can be believed."
Chiaki tilted her head slightly. It seemed as if her brain wasn't working properly yet due to drowsiness.
"We need to know more relevant information. I'll ask Natsuya to investigate. And, Chiaki… could you ask your father more about your family's history?" Seiji looked directly at her.
Chiaki: "…"
"There's no use asking. He won't tell me anyways," she finally spoke up in a low voice as she collapsed back onto Seiji's table again.
"Chiaki…" Mika felt empathy for Chiaki's bad relationship with her father.
Seiji fell silent for a moment.
"Then, could you give me his phone number?" After a period of silence, Seiji made such a request. "I'll ask him in your stead… if it becomes necessary."
Chiaki didn't respond.
Seiji waited quietly.
Mika wanted to say something, and opened her mouth, but then changed her mind and closed it again. She ended up remaining silent.
Shika quietly observed from the side.
"Can you guarantee that apart from asking him about my potential priest family history, you won't do anything else?" Chiaki muttered after a long period of silence.
"I can't," Seiji told her directly.
"…You won't even try to give me a white lie?"
"I don't want to lie to you at all, no matter how small a lie it is."
Everyone fell silent yet again.
After a long while, Chiaki finally slowly lifted her head. She expressionlessly took out her cell phone and started sending something.
Seiji soon received a text message. The content was the cell phone number of Chiaki's father, Shingo Wakaba.
The text message also had one sentence: "No matter what you do, you have to take responsibility for me!"
Seiji's mouth tilted upwards as he glanced over at Chiaki.
"Of course," Seiji responded in his own text message. "I shall take responsibility for you for my entire life."
Chiaki's mouth also tilted upwards when she received this text message.
Natsuya also knew very little about the priests' descendants.
"Seventy years ago, the Yin Yang Master faction had a major battle against the priests during the chaos of the war against Atlantis. More accurately speaking, the Yin Yang Masters were the leaders of a faction including other types of spiritual ability users. Everyone made a temporary alliance against the priests to fight for control over the mystical society that the priests had ruled for so long," Natsuya explained to Seiji. "The main reason for this major battle was because of the difference in opinion between the priests' faction and the Yin Yang Master faction about what to do regarding the war against Atlantis. To sum things up, the priests' faction believed that Sakura Island should surrender to the Atlantis Empire in order to preserve peace and prosperity on Sakura Island. The Yin Yang Master faction believed that Sakura Island shouldn't surrender and should fight to the end instead to preserve everyone's pride.
"Judging from the situation at the time, both sides had reasonable arguments, and neither side was able to convince the other. That was why there was a major internal battle for control of Sakura Island.
"You already know the result. The priests' faction was utterly defeated, and their members were killed off by the Yin Yang Master faction. Only a few were lucky enough to survive, leaving behind the priests' descendants of today.
"The great majority of surviving priests' descendants were women or children that had been spared. Most were accepted into becoming members of the major factions. A small portion returned to normal society and became ordinary people.
"So-called 'divine favor' is actually the ability to obtain and use the gods' powers… that's what I believe.
"This type of ability is independent of spiritual ability users' abilities. That is to say, someone with absolutely zero spiritual ability still might have the ability to use divine powers.
"Itsuki Kamitani mentioned that Wakabsan is a priest's descendant. This means that either he knows the Wakaba Family background, or he must have some unknown method of being able to find out if someone is a priest's descendant.
"…Of course, the prerequisite is that this information he told you is real.
"As for what will happen to priests' descendants with divine abilities in this current situation where the Realm of Cherry Blossoms is going wild and exerting its influence over our city… I don't have a clue.
"Right now, all of the most important shrines in Sakura Island… basically, the shrines that house powerful gods are under the control of the Seven Great Yin Yang Master Families and other such top-level factions. Those who possess divine abilities and are able to use their gods' powers will absolutely become core members of the relevant Yin Yang Master faction. Any information about divine power users is considered absolute top secret."
"Basically, it's hard to learn anything about them." Seiji folded his arms.
"That's right. It's hard to even know the identity of someone who's a divine power user. Thus, I know even less about their current situation." Natsuya sipped on some tea.
"Should I ask my sister Yui about this?"
"It's highly likely that she knows more than I do about this. But, it's another matter whether she'll tell you or not."
"That's what I'm thinking as well." Seiji sighed. He also took a teacup and sipped on some tea.
"Those with divine favor… Chiaki's feeling of being constantly watched, could that have been a god paying attention to her?" Seiji surmised.
"That is quite possible," Natsuya told him seriously.
The gods are watching you… It would seem that in this world, this phrase would be no mere joke.
"If there really is a god watching her, I hope that they will send a greeting so that we can at least learn who it is," Seiji commented helplessly.