Shota is surrounded by monsters!

“Look me in the eyes.”

Shota cupped Mashiro's face in his hands, making her look into his eyes. Of course, Mashiro assumed Shota was about to lick her, so she said shyly, "Could you...could you close your eyes..."

"No."

As Shota finished speaking, a gigantic phantom of a Taotie suddenly appeared behind him. The moment the black phantom appeared, Mashiro, unable to withstand the overwhelming pressure from this great demon, fainted from fright...

It turned into a puddle of water again.

"Suck--"

Shota shook his hand, flicking Mashiro's bodily fluids from his hand into the bathtub. After swallowing all the overflowing yokai aura, he stood up, stretched, and said with emotion, "I'm really sorry, Mashiro."

As he spoke, he took out several bottles of drinks from the refrigerator and poured them all into the bathtub as nourishment for Mashiro. Then he reached in and shook Mashiro's body to mix it up.

When you have time, why don't you try making Shiro into a pudding shape?

Suddenly, a terrifying thought popped into Shota's mind...

No, no, forget it.

Judging that Mashiro would need at least another hour or two to recover, Shota decided to go to sleep first, otherwise it would be troublesome if he overslept.

Image: "That's roughly the feeling", Location: "Images/204433-15810.jpg"

Chapter Twenty-Four. The Beginning

"..."

"...Why are you avoiding me?"

Ever since she scared Mashiro last night, she seems to have developed a psychological trauma towards Shota. She used to be very attached to Shota, but now she can't even get within a meter of him.

It has to be said that all intelligent beings are the same; they get used to things and then find them annoying, but only miss them after they've lost them. Shota was no exception. Looking at Mashiro, who had pulled her sleeping box to the corner of the room, he suddenly said somewhat unhappily, "Am I that scary?"

"Ah."

Mashiro nodded twice and then shrank back a little.

"Alright, alright, don't be angry." Shota slowly approached Mashiro, who was leaning against the corner, and said with a smile, "Yesterday was unavoidable. What kind of juice do you want to drink today? I'll make it up to you, okay?"

Mashiro seemed to waver for a moment, then immediately shook her head violently.

"Sweetie, Mashiro is the best girl, please don't ignore me, okay?"

Shota stopped a meter away from Mashiro. Seeing her trembling, it seemed that if Shota got any closer, she would fall apart...

"Hey."

The tail that had been behind her suddenly stretched out in front of Mashiro. Since it was just the tail, Mashiro wasn't too alarmed. Shota gently brushed the tail across Mashiro's face, teasing her like a cat, which made her half-close her eyes and keep her gaze fixed on Shota's tail.

"Don't be angry... ah."

"Awoo."

Mashiro suddenly bit off Shota's tail. She closed her mouth and refused to let go, no matter what.

"Let go! Let go! You can have teeth in human form, and biting with teeth hurts..."

Shota quickly snatched his tail back from Mashiro's mouth, but found that she wouldn't let go no matter what he did, so he simply rushed over and started tickling Mashiro's waist.

Although I don't know why a slime would be ticklish, it's true.

Mashiro is very ticklish.

"Cuckoo..."

Mashiro couldn't help but laugh and let go of her mouth. When Shota saw that she was no longer showing any fear, he took her hand and walked out of the room, saying, "Have breakfast. After breakfast, it's time to go to school."

"Oh……"

Judging from Mashiro's tone, she must be regretting that she succumbed to Shota's "tyranny" so quickly.

The school day seemed somewhat repetitive: daydreaming in class, teasing Mashiro during breaks, or being teased by Senjougahara. After yesterday's Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons), the junior high school's yokai (supernatural being) seemed to have reverted to his old ways. He didn't come to see Shota at noon either. The onmyoji girl at school—the yokai's classmate—was as diligent as ever, diligently dealing with confused spirits and stray yokai.

On the way home from school...

"Hey, isn't this the guy who sells cut cakes... Wow, wow."

"It's Kousaka-kun, Yomi."

"Hey, Kousaka-kun, I knew I'd run into you on my way home from school."

Yomi Isayama and Kagura Tsuchimiya, who had met Shota several times before, walked towards them—Shota, Mashiro, and Hitagi Senjougahara. Upon spotting Shota, the two greeted him naturally.

Although the last batch of cut cakes didn't sell very well, they actually tasted pretty good.

"Yes, it's Isayama-san and Tsuchimiya-san, right?"

Shota feigned recollection and asked a few questions with feigned confusion. In reality, as a yokai, how could he possibly forget the two strongest exorcist families in this land?

"Oh my? Kousaka-kun? And these two are...?"

Mashiro had already hidden behind Shota, while Senjougahara stepped forward to stand beside Shota, glancing tentatively at Isayama Yomi, who was walking ahead with a smile on her lips.

"Are you Kosaka-kun's classmate?"

Huang Quan didn't avoid Senjougahara's gaze; instead, she took the initiative to say, "We might be in the same class from now on, so please take care of me, sir..."

"Sorry, we have something to do. Let's talk again next time."

Before she could ask who he was, Shota grabbed Mashiro and dragged Senjougahara away. It was a bit rude, but if they didn't leave soon...

"What's up with her?"

"I was a bit traumatized yesterday, and then I suddenly encountered an exorcist today. I was almost scared out of my wits."

Shota looked at Mashiro's flushed face and asked softly, "Are you alright, Mashiro?"

Mashiro shook her head, indicating that she was almost fully recovered. Although the exorcist's own spiritual power wasn't too terrifying, the spirit beast on the treasured sword at Izayama Yomi's waist made Mashiro feel waves of pressure.

"An exorcist?"

Senjougahara repeated the question, then asked, "Are those two girls...?"

"Yes. That older one is among the top five strongest humans in this city."

Seeing that Mashiro had recovered somewhat, Shota led her home, while Senjougahara remarked, "As a yokai, to be able to befriend an exorcist, as expected of Kousaka-kun, his hunting range is indeed vast. Or perhaps, any pretty girl is acceptable?"

"Uh. They really aren't friends. To be specific, I've crossed paths with them, albeit under a different guise. In that guise, I only swindled a few tens of thousands of yen from them." Shota shrugged and said, "Speaking of friends, besides you, I can only consider you as one other friend, right?"

"Oh? Who is it? There are actually neurotic humans like me who are willing to befriend a lowly person like Shota-kun? Aren't they afraid of being accidentally eaten?"

"You don't need to belittle yourself to mock me, Senjougahara."

Shota said somewhat helplessly, "You wouldn't know anyway."

"Then there's no need to say anything more."

So, in the middle of the night, Shota still didn't sleep and made his way to the villa of a certain rich girl.

"here."

Remi, who had been waiting at home for a long time, opened the door a crack to let Shota in, and said in a low voice with a smile, "Good evening~ Shota-chan."

Good evening, Rei-neko.

Shota, transformed into his cat-like form, sniffed twice and said, "This smell is... fish? Salmon?"

"As expected of Shota-chan, his nose is so sensitive."

Seeing Shota arrive as promised, Rea had a smile on her face the whole time. She took out a plate of salmon that she had secretly hidden away the night before from a small drawer in her room and placed it in front of Shota, saying softly, "Sorry, I couldn't get any soy sauce or anything like that. Is it okay if we just eat like this?"

Hmm... It looks delicious, the pinkish fish meat exudes a delicate aroma, and just looking at it makes you want to devour it in one bite. But, but, the portion is just too small!

"Thank you, meow~"

Shota cupped his hands in a cute gesture towards Rea, then lay down on the ground and slowly began to eat the salmon.

"laugh……"

Seeing Shota's actions, Rea smiled with her eyes half-closed, but she quickly covered her mouth to avoid making too much noise.

Even if it's a yokai, Rea would be happy to make another good friend if it's a yokai she can be friends with. Besides, if it's a yokai, that's a realm even her father can't interfere with. She doesn't need to worry about harming Shota-chan because of it.

"Hey, Rea-nyan, if you have any complaints, you can tell me."

Shota looked up at Rea and said, "Although I'm not very good at comforting people, I can still be a good listener."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. So don't go out into the wild or into dry wells. Cats that often walk outside at night are more likely to encounter ghosts."

"Eh... there are actually ghosts in this world..."

Rei seemed to have heard something unbelievable and froze instantly.

"...Didn't we see it yesterday, meow? The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons."

"But...but aren't those monsters?"

“Ghosts are also a type of monster, meow,” Shota explained. Seeing that Rea was still intently watching him eat, he said somewhat embarrassedly, “Why don’t you say something?”

"oh oh."

Rea, who was squatting on the ground, realized that it was too impolite to just stare at the other person, so she thought for a moment and said, "Shota-chan, do you know Sanka Girls' Academy?"

"do not know."

Shota shook his head.

“That’s right, Shota-chan doesn’t need to understand these things.” Rea tentatively stroked Shota’s fur as usual, and seeing that he didn’t resist but instead showed a comfortable expression, she breathed a sigh of relief and started scratching his neck, saying, “My father is the chairman of that company…”

"You can tell from the name."

Shota slid a slice of fish into his mouth in one go, and then began to choose which slice to eat next.

“There, many people know I’m the eldest daughter of the Sanhua family, so they imagine me to be…perfect, right?” Rei said slowly. “But for me, it was just an even bigger cage. Many of the teachers at the school were from the Sanhua family, and even my classmates were carefully selected by my father. Isn’t that incredibly powerless?”

"Didn't you ever think about rebelling? After all, he's your father; you should be able to communicate with him, meow?"

“I’ve told these things to other people before, and that person said the same thing to me, and as a result… she never dared to show her face in front of me again. I don’t know what my father threatened her about. But… I’m the one who ruined her.”

Thinking of her old friend, Rei felt a pang of pain in her heart.

"We can try again, meow. For example, if you force me to take nude photos again, I'll disown you..."