My daily life of exorcising demons and falling in love with a witch.

After finishing her ice cream, Hime gently approached Erina, her eyes filled with joy and a faint, happy smile on her face.

She stretched out her arms, as if she wanted a hug.

"Wow~ Little Demon Blade is so cute! Let me hug her!"

Erina unleashed a three-step hugging combo!

The first step is to hug the obedient Yaodao-hime who is waiting to be hugged.

The second step is to lift her up, with both feet off the ground.

The third step... Put Xiao Ji down again!

The hug combo was successfully executed, with outstanding results!

The young lady excitedly let out a "rua!" sound, greatly increasing the possibility that her true identity is a Samoyed!

Yaodao-hime was held tightly by Erina, her face full of happiness.

"Little Demon Blade is such a cute name," Yoshiyuki asked Demon Blade Princess. "Can we call you that from now on?"

Xiao Ji nodded, her face slightly flushed.

"Wow~ Hime seems to really like this name! That's great! She's blushing with happiness!" Erina cheered.

"No, I think it's because you're suffocating me! Let me do it—oh no, I mean, let go already!"

Just then, the tram arrived.

Two girls were squatting on the roof of the car.

One of them is a pink-haired bunny-eared girl wearing a crop top, short skirt, and black stockings, carrying two swords on her back.

The other girl wore a blue and white dress, had long light blue hair, and wore a beautiful conch hair ornament that looked like it was carved from a gemstone, as well as a necklace made of many rare seashells.

Although the bunny-eared girl hid her bunny ears, her concealment skills were not as good as Wu Nini and Wu Lili's, so Yixing could easily see through her disguise.

In fact, even the two cat-eared girls' disguises could no longer fool Yixing's eyes. As long as he realized that they had hidden their animal ears, a spiritualist like Yixing could automatically ignore the effects of illusions when they met.

Just as the tram was about to come to a complete stop, the two girls jumped off and ran quickly towards Sakurajima Academy.

Among them, the blue-haired one didn't forget to give a cheerful greeting to the demon sword princess as he ran past the three.

Xiao Ji turned her head slightly and glanced at her, without any particular reaction.

"Speaking of which, these two must have skipped the fare," Yixing remarked upon seeing this. "They must save a lot on transportation costs by doing this every day."

"Yes." Erina led the demon sword princess into the carriage and asked curiously, "Princess, is that your friend?"

Yaodao-hime shook her head.

However, after sitting down, she took out her notebook and wrote down these words.

But I've seen her many times.

"Who is she?" Erina pressed on, "A student at the school?"

[Sayo Kitajima, a first-year high school student. She's close to Tamako Shimizu, and they've often visited the library together since they were little. Therefore, Hime has seen her many times.]

"Kitajima Sayo...that name sounds familiar." Yoshiyuki thought for a moment, then asked the young lady uncertainly, "Master, do you remember her? Didn't she attend the sealing ceremony when she was little?"

"Maybe. How could I possibly remember?" Erina said, sounding unsure. "There are so many families that come; it's hard to remember someone who only shows up once in a while."

If Kitajima Sayo did indeed come to Yoda Village to participate in the memorial festival for sealing the Gate of the Underworld, then Yoshiyuki would know who she is.

The Kitajima family are merfolk who lived in the East China Sea in ancient times. They are a race with a very tragic past.

This race has two forms: a humanoid form that is indistinguishable from humans but exceptionally beautiful, and a form that can transform its lower body into a fish tail for easier movement in water.

Their tears can turn into incredibly beautiful pearls with medicinal value, and their eyeballs can keep the wearer warm in winter and cool in summer.

The skin peeled off a mermaid can be soaked in water without getting wet, and the fat can be refined into lamp oil that burns forever.

Therefore, merfolk have been captured by humans since ancient times. After capturing them, they were forced to cry by various means, and after crying them blind, their eyes were gouged out, and their skin was skinned and used to extract oil.

During the Qin Dynasty, because Emperor Qin Shi Huang wished for his tomb to be perpetually lit, he ordered a large-scale hunt for merfolk to make everlasting lamps. The merfolk were nearly wiped out, with only a small number escaping the Qin army's pursuit with the help of the Dragon Palace of the East Sea. They came to live along the coast of Japan and rebuilt their own kingdom.

Even today, some humans still hunt merfolk for money, so most merfolk are very hostile towards humans.

Kitajima Sayo is clearly an exception. Otherwise, she would stay in the sea and wouldn't come to human society to attend school.

If Yixing remembers correctly, her family is an ancient noble family of merfolk, with direct blood ties to the royal family, and they have always had a good relationship with the Dragon King of the East Sea. Therefore, Sayo herself is even Ao Guang's goddaughter and is deeply favored.

Logically speaking, Yoshiyuki and Erina should have met with this peer to build a relationship, but on the day Kitajima Sayo came with her parents, they didn't get to meet at all.

In fact, Sayo's parents had a very unpleasant falling out with the Yoda family, and almost came to blows.

The specific reason seems to be that the Kitajima family demanded the return of the remains of Kitajima Saeko, who died in the Battle of Fengmen, but the Yoda family refused.

This matter has been going on for over a thousand years, and it remains a thorn in the hearts of the two families, preventing them from reaching a reconciliation.

Kitajima Saeko is a female mermaid who went on an adventure on land and fell in love with Yoda Sousuke, the cousin of Yoda Erisa, the first Yomi Shrine Maiden.

The two survived years of battles to seal the gate, but tragically died in the final battle while covering Erisa's retreat.

According to their last wishes, the two were buried together in the Yoda family ancestral cemetery—a high ground from which one could look out over the gates of the underworld, and they hoped to watch over it even in death.

The Kitajima family had previously opposed the marriage and tried every means to obstruct it, believing that their daughter had been abducted by evil humans.

After Saeko's death, they were even more furious, believing that humans had killed their daughter.

The Kitajima family believed that Saeko could not find peace on land and that she must be returned to her people and buried at sea according to the traditions of the merfolk.

The Kitajima family, however, felt that they should follow Kitajima Saeko's original wishes and bury her next to her lover. Only then would she find happiness. They returned Saeko's belongings to the Kitajima family.

In fact, it wasn't unheard of for someone to suggest another approach: having the Kitajima family take away the remains of Saeko and Sousuke and bury them together according to mermaid customs.

But Yoda and the Kitajima family disagreed.

The Yoda family could not tolerate their family hero being buried elsewhere; he had to be buried in the ancestral graveyard.

The Kitajima family, on the other hand, could not accept being buried with a human corpse alongside Saeko.

Therefore, this contradiction has remained unresolved for over a thousand years.

To this day, the Kitajima family continues to demand the return of Saeko's body, while the Yoda family steadfastly refuses without question.