~Two days later~
"Mahito, is everything ready?"

As the tiny creature from Jinoshima was floating in the air, it saw Mahito reading a manga as he is lying on his back. While this happened, Mahito merely looked at the shadow creature with a smirk on his face.

"Mhm, thanks to meeting that girl, I learned something very interesting. Idle Transfiguration can change the shape of the soul to my liking, but when someone expects it, they can simply use mana or cursed energy to coat there body and repel my technique. This one form of Idle Transfiguration, however, has a delayed effect. By simply applying my own cursed energy into someone's brain, I can basically infect it with my cursed technique and activate in a set amount of time."

"Explaining to me all of a sudden? Since you're using a binding vow, you just accelerated the process. You nasty devil."

As Mahito and the small creature laughed, Naoya was seen sitting on a nearby tree branch. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see it. The face of Koritsu Shiki when used Asuramaru to gouge out one of his eyes.

"Once I take over the Zenin clan, you're gonna be the first one I execute, you damn brat!"

~Meanwhile~
Ayumu was seen inside of the Koritsu household making tea. While he was doing this, he was thinking back on the time he met with Toji to hand him the Inverted Spear of Heaven. He didn't think much about it then, but when he looked back on their meeting, the man was far more injured than he expected.

"......at this rate, he and Shiki are bound to cross paths again. Maybe Ochita is right. After today, I should come clean. I should tell Shiki about the truth behind our family."

"Morning, dad."

Ayumu was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Shiki's voice reaching his ears. The moment he turned around, he saw his son wearing his glasses as he had on a black shirt and baggy black pants while wearing an exhausted expression.

"Morning, birthday boy. How does it feel to be 17 years old?"

"Same as I felt yesterday when I was 16, it just hasn't settled in."

The two of them briefly let out a chuckle as they both sat down at the table. While drinking some green tea, Shiki was slowly thinking about everything that happened to him thus far. From meeting Merkava and Megumi to his solo mission on Jinoshima. So much has happened to him that he barely had time to catch his breath. At least now he was able to let his guard down a little more. However, one thing did cross his mind.

"Just how long can I keep this a secret? I got lucky they don't pry into my business but I can't keep hiding what I do from my dad or Mirei, can I? But they're outsiders just like me. If I tell them, won't someone try to execute them like with me?"

"Just focus on yourself today."

Shiki shook his head as his father suddenly got his attention. As Ayumu refilled his son's cup with green tea again, he soon looked the boy in his eyes. Shortly after, the man simply smiled at his child.

"I'm sure you have plenty of things on your mind, you're a teenager, after all. Today is all about you, so for now don't worry about anything else. Today, you can relax and just enjoy your special day, because today marks the best day in both my life and especially yours."

"Heh, thanks dad."

~3 hours later~
"I wonder if Shiki is doing ok. It's already noon and he isn't here yet. I even went out of my way to wear this."

Standing near an arcade, Mirei was seen eagerly waiting for someone to show up. She wore an orange jacket with a dark mauve crop top that leaves her belly button exposed, a white skirt with a belt the same color as the shirt, knee-length brown boots, and a necklace with a golden ring.

"Geez, you would think he would be excited to go on a date with a cute girl like m-"

"Bold of you to assume I wasn't. Sorry, if I'm a bit late. Kinda got a bit lost for a moment."

Mirei jumped when she suddenly heard someone talking to her. When she turned around, a slight tint of red appeared on her face as she saw Shiki in front of her. He wore a black coat with brown fur lining that goes down to his hips, along with a plain black long sleeved v-neck, light black pants, and dark brown shoes.

"W-well, glad you came, slowpoke."

"Ok, speedster, how about we settle this with some games already?"

As Shiki said this, he grabbed a hold of Mirei's right hand with his left as they entered the arcade. The moment they did, Mirei's eyes lit up when she saw one specific game right in front of her.

"I-is that Taiko no Tatsujin?!"

"Oh, it's that rhythm game you always liked. Never really played it myself, so i'm surprised to see it in an arca-"

When Shiki stopped to look at his girlfriend, he could see stars in her eyes as she stared at the game. With a smile on his face, he simply grabbed two sticks and handed them to Mirei as he paid to play the game. After receiving the sticks from Shiki, Mirei smiled as she skipped towards the drum.

"Thanks, birthday boy. But, are you sure you don't want to do it first? It is your special day."

"Wow, you want me to upstage you this early?"

"Boy, those are fighting words!!!"

As Mirei looked at the screen she was scrolling through the list of songs. Soon she found one of an anime she was watching recently. After putting it at the hardest difficulty, the young girl decided to show off for a moment

"You know Shiki, I know I told you I would trust you. But even so, I still worry about you."

"Where did this come from?"

"It's just, lately, it feels like there is a little distance between us. You're not exactly lying, but you aren't being completely honest with me about something, right? I already know about this distance, but I can't help but think about it."

Shiki could only look down as he listened to the girl's words. She was always sharp when it came to stuff like this. Even now, he was still debating in his mind whether he should tell her about what he got himself into. But before he could respond, Mirei simply smiled as she continue.

"There's no need to force yourself. Just like us becoming a couple, just like us having this date, it takes time to do certain things. The reason I brought this up was so that you would listen closely. Don't worry about anything that has you like this. Because today is all about you. Not only that......."

".......I think you're a lot cooler when you enjoy yourself, you troublemaker."