Silence.

Nobody spoke for a long while after Seiji asked his question.

Such a question… how were they supposed to answer it?

Reo and Nozomi were the only ones present who didn’t really know what was going on. Everyone else felt greatly pressured, with Natsuya feeling the most pressure.

Natsuya knew better than anyone else present just how powerful Seiji was. This was why she felt an immense amount of pressure from his question.

It was no exaggeration to say that Natsuya currently felt like she was at a fateful turning point in history. She felt like her and everyone else’s answer to Seiji would determine the very future of the world!

Although Seiji was behaving somewhat chuunibyou, she could tell that he was being quite serious. There was absolutely nothing theatrical about what he was saying. Everyone present could sense this.

He really was capable of saving several hundred thousand people! Or, he might be able to do even better than that!

He possessed the power to resolve this entire incident or even reverse all the catastrophe so far. He was as powerful as a god!

No… saying that he was as powerful as a god might not be accurate. It was like he was a god himself!

By now, Natsuya would be able to accept it even if it really did turn out that Seiji was a god, or if he was the reincarnation of the legendary strongest Yin Yang Master.

Just what type of power was he talking about? Natsuya was curious about this, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask. Perhaps she unconsciously didn’t dare to ask.

If she asked, maybe it would still be alright if he didn’t answer, but if he really told her what his power was… Natsuya was worried that how she viewed Seiji would change if she learned what his power that he was so afraid of was.

She didn’t want to change.

She wanted to continue liking him… loving him. She didn’t want to treat him as an ascendant existence.

That was probably what Seiji thought as well.

He didn’t want to change.

He didn’t want to stop restraining himself. He didn’t want to casually use his great power as he pleased, because that might make him leave the realm of humanity.

But right now, with the current catastrophe, it would be impossible to save others without using his greatest amount of power.

Nobody was counting on him to save everyone out there—although this could be said, just thinking about all the victims outside that might include everyone’s friends and relatives… Natsuya was unable to say anything out loud.

Natsuya definitely had some complaints about her family. However, this absolutely didn’t mean that she wanted her family to die!

Although the Yoruhana Family members were likely powerful enough to survive this catastrophe, there was also the matter of all the ordinary people that she knew, such as the other members of the student council, as well as her classmates… Even if she wasn’t well-acquainted enough with all of them to say that they were her friends, Natsuya definitely didn’t want to see these people die.

Seiji didn’t have the mission of saving everyone. Nobody would have such a mission. But if he had such a power, should he just watch on the sidelines and let everything happen?

That was Seiji’s inner conflict.

He had the power to save this city, to save several hundred thousand or even more lives. However, he still wanted to maintain his sense of self. What should he choose in such a situation?

Become a god for the sake of other people’s lives? Or abandon other people’s lives and continue remaining human?

Just how was such a question supposed to be answered?

Natsuya didn’t know.

If she was in Seiji’s situation, she wouldn’t know what she would choose.

What about everyone else?

“Just do what you think is best.”

Mai was the first person to break the silence.

The maid had a calm expression as she looked directly at Seiji. “This is your own problem. Only you can make the decision. Asking for help from others is just acting spoiled.”

Something instantly subtly changed in the atmosphere.

Seiji laughed out loud once again.

“Saying that I’m acting spoiled seems too harsh, Senpai.”

“Then what do you think it is, Young Master Haruta?”

“I don’t think that now is a good time to be calling me Young Master…”

“My apologies, oh great God Haruta.”

“I’m not a god…”

“You could become a god as long as you wanted. Isn’t that exactly what you meant with your earlier words? No… You could become someone above a divine existence, Kamijou-sama.”

Seiji was rendered speechless.

He didn’t know what type of expression he should have right now.

But since someone had finally spoken up, the atmosphere was no longer so tense that nobody could say anything.

“I also think that you should do what you want to, Seiji.” Mika was the second to speak up. “None of us can make the decision for you or share the burden for you. You’ll have to do it yourself… I’m sorry.”

Although Mika didn’t know Seiji’s strength as well as Natsuya did, she also knew that Seiji was incredibly strong. In fact, from a certain standpoint, she was even clearer on this than Natsuya was.

Seiji had already shown before that he had the power to resurrect people from the dead. Just this alone would surely be a heavy burden!

Seiji had been carrying that burden of his power by himself for all this time. Whether to use that power or not, which would increase his burden, was something only he could decide.

‘All I can do is stay by his side,’ Mika thought to herself.

Accompanying him might not be much help… well, it might be a little bit of help, but Mika knew that she was more likely to be a burden than help with her current power level. She knew that she needed to work harder.

“No need to apologize, Mika.” Seiji looked at her. “The problem’s with me… I’m being too selfish.”

“Brother Seiji has the right to be selfish,” Shika suddenly spoke up.

Everyone looked at her.

“Brother Seiji has already done so well. There’s no need for you to do any better,” Shika spoke with absolute confidence in front of everyone. “If Brother Seiji doesn’t want to change, then there’s no need to change. Rather than using your full power, I think that it’s more important that you don’t change. The same power will always be used differently by different people. If Brother Seiji changes, then you won’t use your power like how you used to. No matter how strong you become, it will all be meaningless then.”

“Shika-chan…” Seiji looked at his adopted younger sister.

Shika’s attitude was quite clear: rather than saving other people, she cared more about Seiji himself.

It didn’t matter to her about all the casualties from this incident.

Whether it be several hundred thousand people, or even several million people, their deaths weren’t the fault or responsibility of her adopted older brother.

In her opinion, if Seiji was forced to change himself for the sake of saving others, that would be the worst possible thing.

If it wasn’t for worrying about Seiji’s feelings and what the others thought of her, she would have immediately replied with “you don’t need to change”.

It was just several hundred thousand people? So what if they died?

She would still answer the same way if someone that a person here knew had died.

She would still answer the same way if someone present right here, or even if she herself had died.

Her Brother Seiji didn’t need to change. He didn’t have the responsibility of having to save others. He simply needed to be himself.

Although he probably wouldn’t be so cruel… It was precisely because she knew that he wouldn’t be so cruel that she needed to say this.

“Brother, you’re the most important one. Before saving others, you need to protect yourself first,” Shika stated quite clearly.

‘If you can’t even protect yourself, you should give up on protecting others.’

Shika believed that to be correct.

If the others couldn’t say something like this, then she would be the one to say it.

Right now, everyone else apart from Seiji felt that the black-haired beauty had quite a cold and distant expression.

Even if everyone in the entire city had died, it would be fine as long as her Brother Seiji was still alive and well… Natsuya and the others could tell that was what she truly thought.

It was impossible for anyone else present to think this way.

Only Shika Kagura… this girl who had once been abandoned and ignored by the world… would be able to ignore the world in this way.