Shota is surrounded by monsters!

"Master Tuanichiro".

At the entrance, a white-haired butler who had guarded the Sanhua family for decades bowed respectfully to the head of the family. Behind him were two girls in school uniforms, each holding a knife.

"Rei, go change your clothes first."

Sanka Danichiro gestured for Rea to leave first, and she nodded and walked towards the door.

"Boom."

The door was closed again.

For some reason, Rea didn't leave. Instead, she pressed herself against the door, seemingly wanting to hear what was being said inside. After all, the two girls with knives were a real concern to her.

"How did things go yesterday?"

"Lord Tanichiro, the other party is undoubtedly a monster."

"Really? I didn't expect it to be such a monstrous demon. No wonder Rea's been acting strangely lately; has she really been influenced by a demon? By the way, who are these two..."

"The heirs of the Tsuchimiya family and the Isayama family, the most outstanding exorcist families in Tokyo, are Miss Tsuchimiya Kagura and Miss Isayama Yomi."

"A girl? An exorcist?"

“Mr. Sanhua, please trust our professional competence.” The girl with the knife seemed somewhat displeased by this question, saying, “Exorcists are not a profession where age and gender determine strength.”

"Alright, I understand. If nothing unexpected happens, that monster will come to cause trouble at the Sanhua family again today. Please deal with it then."

"Leave it to us..."

Are they talking about Shota-chan? Exorcists... are they the kind of people who specialize in hunting monsters?

Although Shota looks scary, in Rea's eyes, he doesn't possess any special powers other than the ability to change size and run faster. If he encounters an exorcist, will he be killed?

No, no... This absolutely cannot be allowed to happen...

We have to find Shota-chan and tell him to stop coming to our house...

With that in mind, Rea decided to sneak out once again.

Image: "Rei", Location: "Images/205946-32059.jpg"

Chapter Twenty-Six. Monsters are unreasonable.

Shota stuffed all ten compressed biscuits in front of him into his mouth, chewed them a couple of times and swallowed them. He then immediately drank a large glass of water, letting the biscuits absorb the water and expand in his stomach—although he still didn't feel full after doing so.

"Have you finished eating? You're so fair-skinned."

After finishing his breakfast, Shota propped his chin up and watched Mashiro sitting opposite him, holding a milk in one hand and a juice in the other, with two straws stuffed in her mouth at the same time. She took a big sip, then deliberately let the two drinks stay in her mouth for a while before gulping them together and slowly swallowing them.

"Ah."

After squeezing the Tetra Pak in her hand and finding it empty, Mashiro nodded and turned her attention to the socks and coat that had been lying next to her.

"Help me get dressed..."

"Put your own socks on."

Masashiro's fingers were still a bit clumsy, perhaps because she had never used such a small part of her body before. Even learning to hold a pen took her a full two hours. Moreover, when she wrote, it looked more like she was drawing—even though she didn't actually know what the characters meant.

After Mashiro put on her socks, Shota went over and put her school uniform blazer on her, then bent down to button it up for her. For Mashiro, buttoning clothes had always been a problem she had no clue how to solve. Even when wearing a shirt, Shota always had to button it up, or she would simply slip it off when she took it off and then put it back on when she put it back on.

"Honestly, she's already thirty years old, yet she's still like a child..."

"I had been living alone for a long time before I met my brother..."

"..."

After hearing Mashiro's rebuttal, Shota was silent for a moment before saying, "So you're older than me?"

"Ok?"

Mashiro stood on tiptoe to compare their heights and realized that Shota was probably bigger, especially when his true form was exposed.

"I meant age. Forget it, I'll never expect you to be like an older sister in this lifetime. I'll be content as long as you're a sensible younger sister. Okay, go on out."

Aren't you going to change your clothes?

Mashiro looked at Shota, who was still dressed in casual clothes, and asked him a question with some confusion.

"I'll go later, I'll just go for a short walk outside."

He needed to check on Rea's situation. Generally speaking, the Demon Father wouldn't do anything too outrageous, right? He decided to go check on the Sanka family's villa later. If Rea was at school, it meant nothing was wrong. He'd go eat and listen as usual tonight. Anyway, if he wanted to hide, sneaking into a villa was a piece of cake.

"Ugh."

Mashiro puffed out her cheeks, looking at Shota with a hint of displeasure. Shota had no choice but to take her out the door and wait a while at the stairwell before Senjougahara came down from upstairs.

"This is rare. Were you waiting for me, Kousaka-kun?"

Senjougahara stopped five steps away from Shota, looking down at him as he stood there gazing at her, and asked, "Is there something you need?"

"Please take Mashiro to school, Senjougahara. I have some things to do, so I might be a class late. Please ask for a short leave of absence while you're at it."

Upon hearing Shota's request, Senjougahara turned her head and asked, "What is it?"

"Hmm... I'm a little worried about some things, so I'm going to take a look."

"Okay. I understand." Senjougahara didn't ask any further questions. She walked down, took Mashiro's hand, and said, "Kousaka Mashiro, come with me."

To be honest, she was also planning to study the slime's habits...

"Alright, alright, let's go to school together. I'll be there in a bit."

"Hurry up..."

"I am very sure of that."

He only managed to send the reluctant Mashiro to school after paying the price of juice. After all, Shota still hoped that Mashiro could learn something, at least how to properly interact with others.

After locking the door and opening the window, Shota peeked out to make sure no one was below. Then he stripped off his clothes, transformed into his miniature form, and began climbing up the wall. Once he reached the top floor, he started running across the rooftop.

I'd better go see him to put my mind at ease. Although... Shota didn't know what he could do. No matter how awful that father was, he was still Rea's father. From Rea's words, he could only hear resentment towards the injustice of fate and dissatisfaction with his father—definitely not hatred towards his father.

Blood is thicker than water.

"Shota-chan, Shota-chan..."

Taking advantage of her family's inattention, Rea once again took a detour out of the garden. After failing to find the dry well, she walked alone along the road into the city, trying to recall the route that Shota had taken her for a drive that night in an attempt to deduce Shota's whereabouts.

Walking alone down the street, Rea watched the people going to school or work, a longing expression on her face. But she quickly suppressed it, turning into a slightly secluded alley, hoping to find Shota's trail in a less crowded area.

"A yokai wouldn't just wander around on the main road, and since it's a yokai, its hearing should be excellent, right?" With this thought in mind, Rea called its name softly as she traversed one alley after another. But she also knew that those exorcists who specialized in hunting yokai probably had a faster way to capture Shota, so she was now extremely anxious.

"Shota-chan..."

Rei ran out from a side path and back onto the street. She had been running for nearly an hour since morning, which made her quite tired. She could only lean against the wall to catch her breath and rest for a bit.

The summer sun shone directly on Remi's fair face, causing fine beads of sweat to slowly trickle down her forehead. She didn't care about her appearance, casually wiped her face with her sleeve, patted her left cheek, and continued walking.

"what happened?"

Senjougahara noticed that the little yokai beside her had suddenly stopped and looked back. After asking her a question, she looked in the direction the yokai was looking.

There's nothing particularly strange about it.

"Someone is calling my brother's name..."

Mashiro pointed to the girl who was wearing a school uniform that was obviously different from her own and was walking away with her back to her.

"What are you shouting for?"

"Shouta."

“Kousaka Mashiro, there’s something you need to know first. There are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people named Shota in all of Japan.” Senjougahara thought Mashiro was making a mountain out of a molehill, so she patiently explained, “Similarly, Kousaka is a fairly common surname, so whether someone calls you Shota or Kousaka Shota, you can’t be sure if they’re calling that brainless monster. Do you understand?”

"...So you mean, your brother has many?"

"No, you only have one older brother. It's just that there are many people with the same name as your brother. Do you need me to give you a few examples? Never mind..."

Seeing that Mashiro's face was still blank, Senjougahara realized that she was really not good at dealing with this type of person who didn't understand anything. Because no matter what she said, the other person would only make one expression.

confused.

Sure enough, the intelligence of monsters is astounding.

Because of Mashiro's performance, Senjougahara lowered her own assessment of Shota Kousaka's intelligence level by another notch.

I can't find it at all.

After searching for a while, Rea realized that he was looking for a needle in a haystack and had no chance of finding Shota-chan. Apart from the time Shota took him to the city, the only place Rea and Shota could possibly meet was at the dry well in that abandoned building.

Let's go there. Maybe we'll bump into Shota-chan who happens to be passing by. After all, that's the only place we truly share.

Thinking of this, Rei dragged her slightly sore legs and walked back towards the dry well at the foot of the mountain where her villa was located.

"Shh-"

In his miniature form, Shota jumped over a well-hidden bear trap. The closer he got to the Sanka residence, the more uneasy he felt, as if something bad awaited him ahead. However, he still wanted to confirm some things to put his mind at ease.

I should have just gone back yesterday... But if that happened, and something went wrong, unless I just took Rei away, she would probably have an even harder time staying in that house.

Let's find out about her condition first.

With this in mind, Shota became more alert and continued to sneak forward.

At the entrance of the Sanka family's residence, Kagura Tsuchimiya, a middle school girl who had skipped class, sat on a chair in the garden, looking at the hydrangeas in full bloom. She asked Yomi Isayama, who was like an older sister to her, "Yomi, could she really be that youkai?"

Huang Quan hooked his arm around Kagura's neck and pulled her head toward him, saying, "There shouldn't be any mistake. It's the same monster that kidnapped you last time. At least, judging from the description of the Sanka family servants, it's definitely it."

"Bewitching human girls..."

Kagura remembered the notification the countermeasures office had sent the night before, requiring her and another Kagura to serve as bodyguards for a wealthy young lady for two days. The gist of it was that an unknown yokai seemed to have used mind control to bewitch the young lady. However, upon further inquiry, they discovered that the yokai's appearance was very similar to the one who had stolen her Pocky last time.

"After all, the young lady type is particularly attractive to monsters."

Huang Quan said jokingly, "What kind of pure maiden's blood is this... Kagura~ be careful."

"Impossible. If that monster wanted to capture me, it would have done so long ago." Kagura shook her head.

Wait, did that monster let me go because it thought I didn't smell as good as a Pocky? Or was it because I was impure?

"Ugh, I'm so angry!"

Kagura suddenly complained, then said to Yomi, "This time we must tie it up tightly and tame it until it's as obedient as Ran Honglian!"

Huang Quan was about to say that Luan Honglian wasn't so obedient when the Sanhua family's steward interrupted the conversation.

"Masters, please come with the master to fetch the young lady."