Shota is surrounded by monsters!

Slime Girl tasted apple juice yesterday and could never forget its deliciousness... So she lowered her head and made what seemed to be a somewhat willful request.

"It's in the refrigerator. You can get it yourself if you want to drink it later."

Taotie still showed some doting affection for this little slime girl who looked like his "daughter" or "sister".

"Ah."

Slime Girl nodded happily, then ran to the refrigerator, hesitated for a moment, and opened the bottom door.

"It's not there, it's in the refrigerator area below..."

"Waaah—"

Before Taotie could finish speaking, the slime girl raised her frozen hand and cried out, "It's broken..."

"..." Taotie had no choice but to run to the bathroom and take out a hairdryer to thaw her hands.

He opened the apple juice bottle and placed it on the table. Taotie sat back down in his chair, munching on a tasteless compressed biscuit, and said to the slime girl who was curiously watching the hairdryer that could defrost her, "Come and drink."

The slime girl clearly developed a great interest in the hair dryer.

"Don't try to understand..."

"Whoo-"

A spark flew by, and the hair dryer, still plugged in, was ruined. The slime girl who was holding it was also shocked, cried out in surprise, and turned into a puddle of water—leaving behind some hydrogen and oxygen, leaving only her newly put-on clothes soaking wet on the ground.

Well, slimes like to use their own bodies—liquids—to learn about the structure of things they like.

………………

After busying myself for a while, I rehydrated her, turned her back into human form, dressed her in a new set of clothes, and then washed and dried her wet clothes on the balcony.

Taotie sighed as he watched the slime girl sitting opposite him happily sipping her juice, feeling even hungrier.

But... there's too much apple juice, so she'll turn into an apple juice slime eventually? And then...

"Go out for a stroll today. Remember, you must remain in human form and not release any demonic energy, understand?"

"Ah."

The slime girl nodded vigorously.

"Starting tomorrow, we'll be going to school, okay?"

"Ah."

After all, Taotie still wants to get into a good university, work for a few years, and then open a food company...

"From now on, I'm your older brother. We're transfer students from abroad, understand?"

"Ah."

"Alright then, do you remember your name?"

"Ah."

The slime girl nodded again, but then realized that she shouldn't have answered with "um" here. So she frowned and pondered in confusion, "Name, what is my name?"

"Really...really..."

"Your name is Mashiro, Kousaka Mashiro." The gluttonous boy didn't have much faith in the girl's memory, so he had to emphasize again, "Kousaka Mashiro, and I am your older brother, Kousaka Shota, understand?"

"Sho, Shota. Brother, older brother. Hmm."

The slime girl, who had carefully memorized these words, seemed to want to imprint the two names in her mind, and kept repeating them.

"truth."

"Ok?"

Hearing her brother's question, the slime girl looked up and saw the look of incomprehension in his eyes, and showed a curious expression.

"It's nothing, I just wanted to call you."

A look of relief appeared on Taotie's face. Then, he threw the whole bag of compressed biscuits into his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp.

"Gudu."

Mashiro also swallowed a mouthful of water.

Would you like some more juice?

Mashiro shook her head and whispered, "I want to drink my brother's..."

"Cough." Taotie choked, waved his hand, and said, "I can't drink this..."

"But, my brother's bodily fluids are drinkable..."

"You can't drink it, not even saliva or sweat!"

"But my brother has also drunk my wine... I want to taste my brother's wine too..."

"...That was a misunderstanding! Forget about that experience!"

"Waaah—"

Incidentally, slimes are also very interested in human bodily fluids, especially those they have feelings for.

Chapter Three. The Beginning of a New Life

Image: "Mashiro", Location: "Images/225908-81239.jpg"

"Mashiro, have you remembered what I taught you?"

"Ok?"

Slime Girl Mashiro sat on the ground, looked up at Taotie Shota who was already wearing a school uniform, then shook her head and nodded.

Shota rubbed his forehead and could only ask, "How much do you still remember?"

"It can't become soft and mushy."

After Mashiro tilted her head back and answered, she continued to look at Shota with a puzzled expression.

"Finally, you remembered the most crucial point." Shota patted Mashiro's head as a reward, then squatted down and asked Mashiro, "How should I introduce myself?"

"Mashiro Kousaka."

“Just remembering your name is enough. We'll assume your defining characteristic is being taciturn.” Shota stood up again and said, “Let’s go, let’s head out.”

"Ah."

Mashiro nodded, then stood up from the ground, ready to go out with Shota.

"Shoes, shoes."

Shota pointed to Mashiro's little foot, which was wearing a white sock.

As if she had just thought of something, Mashiro pulled a pair of slippers from the shoe rack, put her little feet in them, and continued to look up at Shota.

"You shouldn't wear slippers to school."

Shota shook his head, took out the little leather shoes from the shoe rack, placed them in front of Mashiro, and said, "Wear these shoes."

"...I don't know how to wear it."

Mashiro shook her head vigorously.

"Okay. I'll teach you this time, but you'll have to dress yourself from now on."

Shota sighed, squatted down, picked up a leather shoe, and said, "Lift your left foot first."

Seeing Mashiro lift her foot, Shota slipped the shoe onto her toes, then held the sole and said, "Slowly put it in, gently... Don't use too much force, it's a little tight... Wait, don't turn your foot into liquid, just put it in like this. Hmm, good. Try stepping on the ground?"

Mashiro tried out the feeling of stepping on the ground with the shoes, then lifted her back and bent her small leg, tapping the ground with the top of her leather shoes, making a "thump" sound.

"Oh~"

Mashiro seemed to really like the sound, and without Shota's instruction, she tried to put on the other shoe herself. The shoes Shota bought for her were all half a size too big, so she didn't seem to mind wearing them.

"Let's go."

Shota saw Mashiro happily kicking her little leather shoes, smiled, and opened the door.

Mashiro quickly followed behind Shota, reached out her little hand and grabbed Shota's pants, then used her other hand to pull out his hidden tail and held it in her hand.

"..."

Because the sensitive tip of his tail was being held by Mashiro's soft little hand, Shota suddenly shuddered, then shook his tail, trying to shake off Mashiro's little hand.

Mashiro held onto the tail that had enveloped her for thirty years, rhythmically pinching the end of the tail.

"Ok?"

Seeing that Shota didn't go outside, Mashiro tilted her head curiously.

"Mashiro, humans don't have tails, you know. If someone sees us, our identities will be exposed. So we have to hide well." Shota could only gently instruct the little guy, saying, "Can you let go of my hand?"

"I want to hold my brother's hand..."

I didn't need this when I went out yesterday...

Seeing the longing expression on Mashiro's face, even though he knew she was a yokai, Shota couldn't bear to see her suffer—after all, Shota was a yokai now too. So he offered her his hand and said, "Humans like holding hands."

Mashiro looked at Shota's hand, hesitated for a moment, then reached out and placed her other hand in his. Shota, feeling Mashiro's warmth, simply took her small hand in his.

Mashiro seemed to feel something comfortable, a smile appearing on her face, and she finally released her grip on the tail. Shota flicked his tail, and then…

Some things are much harder to pull out than to put in.

After busily tucking his tail back into his pants to make sure no one else would notice anything amiss, he picked up two schoolbags, took Mashiro's hand, and headed towards the school.

Sakura Academy, the private school that Shota and Mashiro will be attending, is a combined elementary and high school. It's said that the local yokai leader is also one of its chairmen, and apparently his grandson attends the elementary school. Of course, there aren't many yokai hiding in the school, because if yokai gathered, unless there's a very strong barrier, their dense yokai energy would clearly seep out and even affect humans.

It's likely that the sly fox arranged that school for himself and Mashiro, and perhaps he did do some research beforehand.

Shota and Mashiro are both going to be in their second year of high school. Although Mashiro may look a little younger than her age, Shota is worried about her going to school alone, even though she's been behaving well all the way to school. But who knows what she might do if she's out of his sight?

"These two are the transfer students who will be joining our class today. They are both from Europe. Please take good care of them, classmates."

"Eh~"

All the boys in the class were focused on Mashiro, who was holding hands with Shota and half-hiding behind him. Mashiro, who was being watched by so many people for the first time, wished she could turn into a slime and hide in a crack...

"Don't worry, it's okay. Everyone just thinks you're cute."

Shota whispered a word of comfort to Mashiro, and encouraged by him, Mashiro had no choice but to force herself to give up the idea.