Shota is surrounded by monsters!

"forget!"

Rea suddenly grabbed Shota's head, pleading, "Just that... please forget about it, Shota-chan..."

“I’ve already forgotten, meow.” Shota pulled away from Rea’s grasp and continued to slowly savor his fish slices. “Try communicating with him again, meow. After all, he’s your biological father. He’ll gradually realize that you’ve grown up. After all, doing those things again… is no different from being a pervert, meow. It’s a violation of the Juvenile Protection Act, meow.”

"Eh, eh... Shota-chan, do you know about the Juvenile Protection Act?"

"Don't let its appearance fool you, it's got some knowledge."

Rea reached down and touched Shota's stomach, saying, "Really? Where's the ink?"

Shota's expression changed, and he said to Rea, who was pulling at something, "Nyan is male."

"..."

Rei's face turned bright red instantly, and she quickly let go of his hand.

After a long while, she recovered and said to Shota, who had finished eating, "I'll try to talk to Father. But..."

"If we fail, it won't be any worse than it is now, right? Of course, if he tries to lay a hand on meow. Meow will protect you."

For the sake of the top-quality salmon, Shota shamelessly made a promise, saying, "Just call meow's name if you need anything. I'll be going now~ See you tomorrow night."

"Bye-bye. See you tomorrow, Shota-chan."

Rea picked up the plate and waved at Shota.

"By the way, if possible, could you prepare more food for tomorrow?"

"Okay."

"I'm leaving."

Shota slipped out of the window, crossed the garden, and left the villa. Unbeknownst to him, a small security camera had captured his movements.

“This scruffy beast… dared to go into Rei’s room.”

The stern-faced middle-aged man tugged at his leather gloves, looking at Shota's frozen figure in the camera's view, and said, "Rea doesn't need this kind of 'pet'..."

"Send someone to take care of this beast."

"Yes, sir."

Image: "Sankarea", Location: "Images/205401-1982.jpg"

Chapter Twenty-Five. Scattered Flowers

After eating, Shota felt much better, and the fatigue of the day was completely dispelled by the girl's caresses. He was starting to like Rea's massages, since Mashiro couldn't do that kind of thing. And then there was his friend, Senjougahara Hitagi. If he were to ask her to "scratch my chin," Shota would probably be subjected to all sorts of embarrassing play.

It's clearly a human, but in many ways it's even more outrageous than a monster.

Banishing the fantasy of Senjougahara cutting his own fur with scissors from his mind, Shota slowly strolled through the woods, and just as he stepped onto the road...

Are you being followed?

Although Shota had noticed two people following him, he hadn't paid much attention. After all, he hadn't paved this path himself; it was only for him to walk on. However, the other party seemed to be getting increasingly brazen, gradually closing the distance from fifty meters to within twenty meters. They were clearly professionally trained; otherwise, an ordinary person tracking a tiny animal would have quickly lost sight of it.

It doesn't seem to have any spiritual power, so why is it following me? Could it be related to that child, Rei?

Shota stopped and turned around. After a few seconds, he saw the two men who had followed him out. They were wearing white shirts and vests and were carrying a net and a club.

"superior."

Upon seeing Shota, the two men did not hesitate to raise their hunting tools and pounce on him.

We've been underestimated. Humans have underestimated us.

Suddenly, an idea popped into Shota's mind, so he lightly jumped forward and landed directly on the forehead of the person holding the net.

"Damn it, get down here!"

The man waved his arms, trying to get Shota off his head, but found that the strange animal's tail was like iron and could hook around his neck...

"Bam—"

Shota pulled him to the ground and then turned to look at another person holding a club.

"Hey, hey, are you alright?"

He carefully walked towards his companion who had fallen to the ground, helped him up, and said, "Be careful, let's go together!"

Before the two could react, Shota leaped into the air, his hidden claws suddenly popping out. His petite figure swiftly passed between them, leaving behind several streaks of silver light.

"Shh-"

As Shota landed, a few soft sounds rang out, and the pants of the two humans instantly turned into pieces of cloth and fell down.

"A demon! A monster!"

"Quick, run!"

"Meow."

Shota licked his paws, didn't turn around, and continued walking towards his home while yawning.

Even if the Rei family is wealthy and his father powerful, there are some things that humans cannot interfere with or provoke. So-called yokai are, by nature, beings unbound by worldly constraints. Moreover, to a yokai of Shota's caliber, one ordinary human is no different from a thousand.

I'm afraid Rei will be blamed because of this.

Shota thought of the girl's dejected expression, and for some reason, a strange emotion flickered in his heart. After all, Shota wasn't so cold-blooded as to turn a blind eye when someone was treated unfairly because of him.

How about I come over and check on things tomorrow morning?

Shota turned his head and looked at the villa on the mountaintop. He then shook his head and said, "That wicked father probably won't do anything too outrageous, right?"

In fact, even if he did it, there was nothing Shota could do. If Rea wanted to escape from this house, Shota wouldn't mind smuggling her out—although that would mean losing a delicious source of food. As for where she would go after escaping, that was not something Shota could consider.

We can't just throw it into our own monster house, can we?

"Rei, come here."

Not long after Shota left, a middle-aged man dressed very neatly and exuding an old-fashioned air appeared in Rea's room. He took off one glove and asked Rea, who was sitting on the bed and hadn't gone to sleep yet, "What have you been doing at night lately?"

"No, I didn't do anything..."

"Trying to hide it from me? What a shallow daughter you are! Do you think I didn't notice? I'll never let you go out again, and I won't let you bring those strange animals home."

"Snapped--"

"don't want……"

"The school won't let you go anymore, and you won't see anyone else. All you need is me!"

Upon discovering that his daughter was running away every night and had even brought home a strange, dirty thing tonight, Sanka Danichiro, the head of the Sanka family, withdrew the hand that had just slapped his daughter, put his brown gloves back on, and left Rea's room.

"I don't want this anymore..."

Rei watched her father's departing figure, covering her slightly swollen face, tears streaming down her face. She had been forbidden from ever stepping out of the house again simply because her secret nighttime sneaking out had been discovered.

"Why did I have to be the daughter of the Sanka family... I want to end all of this..."

Suffering harsh, even perverse, treatment from her father, Rea suddenly contemplated suicide. As a child, she was ignorant and didn't understand anything, but as she grew up, she gradually realized that she was living in such a terrible environment.

Without freedom, I felt like an object to my father, to be manipulated at his will.

She lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, her silver teeth biting her tongue. With just a little more force, her tongue would be bitten off, and she would be free.

Unfortunately, she didn't have the courage to do it.

Even dying is so difficult.

Just as Rea was in despair, Shota's image reappeared in her mind. Even if she wasn't allowed to step outside, Shota-chan could surely come in to see her, right? After all, he was a yokai; he couldn't possibly be discovered by ordinary people.

Thinking of this, Rea seemed to feel a little better. Since she could no longer go out, all she hoped for each day was to save some food for Shota-chan during meals and to have a secret chat with him at night.

"It's ok."

Muttering something under her breath, Rei lay down on the bed and slowly closed her eyes.

the next morning.

"call."

Standing in front of the living room, Rei took a deep breath, trying her best to act as if nothing had happened. Like a good child, she pushed open the door and said with a smile, "Good morning, Father, Mother."

"Ah, good morning, Rea."

After Sanka Danichiro, holding a newspaper, replied to Rea, the short-haired woman sitting to his left, still sporting a hangover expression and wearing a bathrobe, looked at Rea and said, "I heard that you've been breaking your promise and sneaking out at night lately. Humph... what exactly are you trying to do?"

"I'm sorry, Mother, um... the moon was so beautiful, I just wanted to go out for a walk and experience forest bathing, and then I forgot about the time."

Rei answered the question from her mother, with whom she had never had a good relationship, in a gentle voice.

"Seriously, watch your behavior. Your actions could affect my evaluation."

Rea's mother stood up somewhat angrily, while Sanka Danichiro, who was reading the newspaper, looked up and said, "Never mind, there's no need to be so harsh on Rea."

"Humph."

Rei's mother walked straight outside without looking back.

"Um, Mother, breakfast..."

Rei watched her mother brush past her and asked a question in a low voice, only to receive a dissatisfied reply.

"unnecessary."

"..."

There's truly no one left in this house for me. Not just my father, but even my mother rarely looks at me directly. Perhaps in her eyes, I'm the one who stole my father from her? Unfortunately, this isn't what Rea wants.

"Reya, I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. I didn't really mean to hit you like that..."

"No, it's my fault. If it weren't for me, Father wouldn't have been angry." Rei lowered her head and said something against her will, "I am truly grateful to Father."

That's how it should be.

Upon hearing his daughter's words, Sanka Danichiro took off the gloves he had been wearing and cupped Rea's face in his hands, saying, "You must remember, the only person who can protect you is me."

"Yes."

There is no one who can protect me... at least not among humans.

"Huh? Rea, why are you still wearing your school uniform? Didn't I tell you to study at home for the time being?"

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry."

After being exposed, Rei had no choice but to apologize. She had thought that by making amends today, her father might take back what he said yesterday, but she hadn't expected...