Shota is surrounded by monsters!

"Don't be afraid, they won't see you."

The moment Rea grasped Shota's tail, a faint black mist appeared over his pupils, followed by pairs of scarlet pupils in the fog of the street.

"Those...are they all monsters?"

"Yes. They are the leaders of the yokai in the Kanto region. Although they look a bit scary, these yokai don't have a preference for attacking people. Even if they like to fight, they usually fight other yokai."

Shota looked at the Hyakki who had stopped in front of a building and said, "The only annoying thing is that they like to do things their own way."

"I do things my own way..."

Looking at the hundred demons that had suddenly broken through the wall below, Rea said with some envy, "That's wonderful..."

"Ok?"

"If I become a monster, I can regain my freedom, right?"

Rea turned to look at Shota with a strange expression in her eyes.

“The easiest way for a human to become a monster is simply to become a vengeful spirit,” Shota grinned and said. “If you are killed in the most cruel way and have a strong obsession with it, you might be resurrected as a vengeful spirit after death. That’s a kind of monster, I guess.”

"..."

Hearing Shota's words, Rea shuddered...

"If you want to be free, I can free you in one gulp." Shota joked, but found that Rea looked terrified and seemed to take it seriously.

"Just kidding."

"Hey, hey..."

Rei's expression became even more surprised.

What an innocent young lady! Shota shook his head. Nura Rikuo seemed to have wandered into some building and was fighting with other yokai. He wasn't very interested in a battle he couldn't participate in, so he asked Rea beside him, "Hey, I'll take you back later, can you get me some food?"

"Food? What would you like to eat, Kin-chan?"

"Anything is fine. By the way, my name isn't Kin-chan."

"Hey, what's your name?"

"You can call me Shota now."

Shota felt it would be better to correct the name; "Kin-chan" sounded really strange.

"Shouta?"

Rei repeated the sentence and then said, "It's a very ordinary name."

"Ordinary is good... Wait, that's enough, hurry up and get on, we have to go."

Seemingly in a hurry, Shota urged Rea to climb back onto his shoulders, and before she could get a firm grip, he jumped away with her.

Because he sensed that what was about to happen was probably beyond the reach of an ordinary human like Rea.

"The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons... Whose orders are you acting on?"

The leader of the old rat group, a blond man, looked at the hundred demons who had suddenly invaded his territory and said, "Without a master, the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons cannot take place!"

"The 'Lord' is right before you. This grandson of General Nurarihyon will become the next Director!"

The former leader of the Rat Clan looked at Nura Rikuo in the middle and shouted, "Weren't your resignation certificates already distributed throughout the country? You're no longer a member of the Nura Clan..."

Tonight's events are all part of a conspiracy—or rather, an internal strife within the Nura Clan. Rikuo Nura, the weak grandson of the Nurarihyon, has consistently resisted the responsibility of succeeding the Third Hokage, and many of the Nura Clan's subordinate yokai are also dissatisfied with him. The Old Rat Clan, representing those who dislike him, kidnapped two of Rikuo's classmates, using them to threaten him into relinquishing his right to inherit the Third Hokage title.

You mean this?

In his yokai form, Rikuo Nura not only grew taller, but his voice also became much more mature. He slowly took out a letter from his pocket and then slowly tore it into pieces.

"You...you're despicable!"

"I'm going to slaughter you all!"

"Oh? Then have fun, kids."

After Nura Rikuo casually uttered a remark, a battle was about to break out...

Moreover, it was a completely one-sided battle!

Many of the yokai in the Nura Clan are B-rank or even higher-ranking yokai executives. They easily defeated these cowards when they attacked.

The battle had barely begun when it ended with the old Rat Group leader being defeated by Nura Rikuo.

"Humph~"

Rikuo Nura glanced at the two human classmates he had rescued, then turned and left, saying, "Anyway, it's not dawn yet, let's go out for a walk before going back."

"Oh oh oh oh oh~~~"

The yokai shouted excitedly, thrilled by the long-awaited Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons). After all, they hadn't had a Hyakki Yagyō since the death of the Nura Clan's second leader—because without a master, the yokai would easily scatter halfway through the parade, instead of becoming more concentrated and magnificent as they went under their master's guidance.

Just as they stepped out the door...

"The Supreme Commander of the Yokai... what brings you to wander the streets so late at night?"

The black-haired girl blocking the way stuck her knife upside down in the ground. A lion-bodied, snake-tailed, twelve-eyed spirit beast stood beside her, glaring menacingly at the slippery ghost walking in front.

"The spirit beast, Luan Honglian, is that the Isayama family? What a bold human, daring to challenge the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons all by himself."

Nura Rikuo showed no sign of being provoked, instead asking, "Aren't you afraid of getting slashed?"

As he finished speaking, the hundred demons behind him simultaneously unleashed their oppressive aura upon the exorcist in front of him.

"whispering sound……"

Huang Quan gripped the Lion King sword stuck in the ground to maintain her balance. Just as she was about to be blown over by a visible gust of demonic wind, a group of people in suits walked out from behind her on both sides to cheer her on.

"The entire countermeasures team has been mobilized?"

The opposing forces held various demon-slaying tools in their hands, and behind them, several powerful spirit beasts exuded a pressure, attempting to resist the aura of the hundred ghosts.

Despite being surrounded by what is arguably the strongest human force in Tokyo, Rikuo Nura showed no sign of panic. If they were capable of defeating him, they would have already taken action instead of just standing there talking.

"It seems that the Byakuei of the Tsuchimiya family is still missing."

"You don't need to worry about that, Nurarihyon. If there's nothing else, please go back, okay? We'd be in trouble if you scared any children on the way."

The demonic aura of the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons is terrifying. Even if they are unintentional, their demonic aura lingers in places after they wander, and it won't be long before paranormal events occur there. Recently, supernatural disasters—the so-called monster disasters—have already been happening frequently. If another Night Parade of One Hundred Demons were to occur… if it weren't for Tokyo's inherent protective barrier and abundant vitality, any other city would probably have become a ghost town long ago.

"Ah, thank you for your hard work."

Nura Rikuo said absentmindedly, then turned a corner and led the procession of demons away from the side. Whether they would continue their parade or not was no longer a matter for humans to concern themselves with.

The demons behind them walked past the exorcists with laughter, not taking them seriously at all. Normally, if they encountered them individually, they might only have the option of running for their lives, but in the group of demons, they became one, and the exorcists did not dare to attack.

"Ugh, this is infuriating."

Huang Quan grumbled in dissatisfaction as she looked at the "exhaust fumes" left behind by the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons. She'd been dragged out of bed in the middle of the night, expecting to fight monsters, but it had turned into this humiliating situation. If she hadn't felt that the people who came today had no hope of winning, she would have launched an attack without hesitation.

"Well, never mind, Yomi, the Nura Clan usually only targets yokai..."

"Are you trying to say they're all good people, Ji Zhi?"

"...No, that's not what I meant."

"Hahaha... Interesting. Humans and monsters are both quite interesting."

On Tokyo Tower, a white-haired boy looks down at the clash between humans and yokai, the Sesshoseki stone in his left eye gleaming with a scarlet light.

"So who should we give it to? Should we start with the monsters, or try to find a breakthrough with the humans...? Never mind, let's give it to the humans."

After noticing an old man suddenly appear behind him, he transformed into a butterfly and flew away without saying a word.

"His ability to escape is first-rate."

An old man—the Grand General of the Yokai—glanced at the direction the other had fled, then turned his attention to his grandson who was leading the hundred demons forward, muttering to himself, "Rikuo, grow up quickly and break the curse that has plagued us Nurarihyon for hundreds of years..."

Meanwhile, Shota, who chose not to get involved in this annoying incident, is now in his miniature form, sitting on Rea's shoulder as she follows her into the Sanka family's large villa.

"Wow, such a big cat."

Unlike the Nura family's rustic Japanese-style villa, the Sanka family's villa in the suburbs is entirely Western in style, like a Western castle, exuding an aristocratic air.

However... Shota really dislikes nobles because they only eat very small, very expensive portions of food...

Rei went out for a stroll today and returned more than half an hour later than usual. Fearing that her maids would discover that she had sneaked out, she quickly crossed the garden, carefully pushed open the glass door, and slipped straight back to her room. She only had time to take off her coat and didn't even have time to change her dress before she crawled into bed.

"I said...it's necessary..."

"Shh... It's almost midnight, someone's coming."

Hearing this, Shota had no choice but to jump onto a cabinet and hide. Less than two minutes later, a maid carrying a small lamp walked past the window, and after seeing that Rea was still sleeping in the room, she left.

"Okay. Kim... Shota-chan."

Rea walked to the window and glanced out. Relieved to see the patrolling maid had already gone far away, she said to Shota, who had jumped onto her bed, "Wait a moment, I'll go to the kitchen and get you something to eat~"

"Thanks, meow."

Less than five minutes later, Rei came over with a bowl of unidentified food.

"I'm sorry... Shota-chan." Rea placed the bowl in front of Shota and said apologetically, "Everything in the house is freshly cooked. Apart from this in the corner, I don't see anything else that looks like food. Tomorrow at dinner, I'll ask the kitchen to make extra and secretly save some for you, okay? Try this today. By the way, can you just tear this apart and eat it?"

"..."

Instant cup noodles... After all that hard work to get into the young lady's house, all I got in return was a cup of instant noodles that cost 150 yen.

"Oh dear, it's torn open."

After tearing open the lid, Rea found that the noodles inside seemed hard and stiff. After poking them with her finger a couple of times, she realized that they needed to be soaked in water before eating...

No wonder she's a rich girl; it's no wonder she's never eaten instant noodles.

Shota called out to Rea, who was about to get hot water, and said, "No need, I'll take this back to eat."

"Ah, oh."

Seeing that Shota seemed about to leave, Rea stood up, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Will you go there again tomorrow?"

"Probably not, meow."

Shota flicked his tail and placed the instant noodles on his head.

"……Yeah?"

Rea's tone carried a hint of disappointment; even knowing the other person was a yokai, she still tried to salvage her last remaining friendship.

"If you can prepare something delicious tomorrow... Meow will come find you here again at 11 p.m.