Shota is surrounded by monsters!

Upon seeing this, Shota curled his lip. If an apology was effective... at least it showed a little more sincerity than not apologizing at all.

"If you want to apologize, go apologize to Rei."

Shota casually tossed the note over, and this time, Mashiro finally couldn't contain herself and, like a kitten, reached out and grabbed the note.

"Kousaka, Kousaka! I'm not calling you brother, I'm calling you sister, Kousaka Mashiro, what are you doing?"

The teacher, turning around, saw Mashiro holding something in her hand. Confused, he questioned Mashiro, who looked at him innocently, unsure what to do with the note in her hand…

"Eat it quickly!"

Shota and Yomi whispered something to Mashiro almost simultaneously, and upon hearing Shota's instruction, Mashiro swallowed the note whole.

The teacher's lips twitched nervously twice; he hadn't seen a student dare to challenge his authority so boldly in a long time. But since even the evidence had been destroyed, he could only glare at Shota before returning to his lecture.

Why are you glaring at me...?

After muttering something, Shota stopped exchanging notes with Yomi. Just as he was about to listen to the lesson for a while, another unidentified flying object attacked his forehead. This time, he was prepared and caught the note with two fingers.

It was thrown over by Senjougahara.

Shota first squeezed it and, finding no foreign objects inside, then pulled open the note.

"While tossing unidentified objects around during class, you're also making 'swish' sounds. How old are you, you monster classmate? Since you're already thirty years old, please act like an adult, a normal person, or an ordinary person. Stop being like an amoeba, completely worthless. Breathing the same classroom air as you really makes me feel... sorry, I forgot you don't need to breathe. Please use your powerful but terrible characteristic to reabsorb all the stupid aura emanating from you back into your stomach."

After you have finished writing all of the above, cross it out with a horizontal line.

"I'll take pity on you and pass you a note since you seem lonely."

Senjougahara's artistic handwriting exudes a condescending... arrogant air.

"Hehe, are you bored?"

Chatting with Senjougahara requires selectively ignoring certain things, but it's still more interesting than talking to that exorcist you barely know and have only met a few times and flattered once—the biggest difference between her and Senjougahara is that Senjougahara willingly lets herself be flattered, while she is forced. Therefore, Shota's attitude towards the two is almost worlds apart.

After Shota handed over the note, Senjougahara only glanced at it before tearing it to shreds...

"Senjougahara-sama, please, please talk to me!"

Since he was bored anyway, and it was just a text exchange, Shota easily lowered the bar once again with a single note.

"Since you've made this request, I'll be merciful and play with you for a while."

Senjougahara truly lives up to her reputation as a woman who uses stationery as a weapon. She plays with a piece of paper with almost supernatural skill, and even when the teacher is facing the students, she can still pass the paper to Shota's desk without leaving a trace.

Thanks. What's for lunch today?

The note had barely been thrown out, and the conversation hadn't even begun, when the bell rang to signal the end of get out of class.

"Rice ball".

Senjougahara turned her head and answered Shota's question verbally.

"...You didn't even open the note!"

Shota looked at Senjougahara with some surprise, who had seen right through his problem.

“Because you can’t find any other topic to talk about besides food. Your thought process is comparable to that of a three-year-old.” Halfway through her sentence, she dropped her disdainful expression, turned her head to look at Isayama Yomi sitting there getting her lunchbox, and said, “Let’s eat together, Master.”

"Alright, let's do it together, Senjougahara."

Huang Quan smiled at Senjougahara and said, "Do you know any good places to eat that you can show me around?"

"Ok."

Senjougahara nodded, walked past Shota, and prepared to take Yomi directly out for dinner.

"and many more!"

Shota suddenly stood up and blocked Senjougahara's way of leaving.

His words caused the master and apprentice to look directly at him.

"Senjouhara..."

Shota looked at Senjougahara with a hint of resentment and said, "You promised to buy me two curry pork cutlet rice bowls for lunch..."

"If you want to eat, come along with me."

Chapter Sixty. Kousaka... what was it again?

Image: "Huang Quan" (Yellow Springs), Location: "Images/234901-75209.jpg"

Two servings of curry pork cutlet rice from the school cafeteria, plus twelve compressed biscuits—that's what Shota ate for lunch today. Since things have been relatively easy lately, Shota can basically eat whatever he wants—not that he can eat whatever he wants until he's full.

Mashiro's lunch consisted of apple juice, lemon juice, orange juice, grape juice, and a bag of pure milk. As a girl made of water, maintaining the activity and deliciousness of water in her body every day was an essential part of her routine.

Of course, Senjougahara, Shota's old friend, was already used to the two's meals, but Yomi Isayama, who was not yet a friend, was greatly surprised by the yokai's menu.

Well, Senjougahara led Yomi, Shota followed Senjougahara, and Mashiro followed Shota. Afterwards, the two demons, one exorcist, and one apprentice exorcist still got together for a meal.

"Awoo."

First, he used chopsticks to push the curry sauce and pork cutlet to the far corner of the lunchbox. Shota quickly ate all the rice with a little bit of curry on it. Then he combined the two pork cutlets and curry into one lunchbox. He then opened all the compressed biscuits one by one and arranged them neatly in the lunchbox. While waiting for the curry sauce to soak into the compressed biscuits, he first used his chopsticks to pick up a pork cutlet and took a small bite. Then, with great willpower, he resisted the temptation to swallow the pork cutlet whole. Instead, he picked up a piece of food that had turned into curry compressed biscuit and swallowed it whole.

A blissful expression immediately spread across his face.

Then, he quickly devoured lunch, eating a pork chop and a compressed biscuit at a time.

"I really want ten more pork chop rice bowls."

After saying something with a hint of reminiscence, Shota took out the one-gallon bottle of mineral water he had just bought and gulped it all down in one go.

Drink plenty of water after eating compressed biscuits; this is Shota's little life secret.

"Goooooooooo."

Meanwhile, Zhenbai, who had four straws in her mouth at the same time, had finished her juice and was now slowly enjoying her milk as a dessert.

"what……"

The demon siblings let out a satisfied yet somewhat unsatisfied groan, drawing frequent glances from Isayama Yomi.

"He...no, this is what they usually eat?"

Because they were so close, Yomi Isayama had already seen through Mashiro's true form—she was also a yokai. She whispered a question to Senjougahara beside her, since the yokai's diet was completely different from what she had imagined.

"One eats anything that's food, and the other drinks anything that's water."

Senjougahara answered Isayama Yomi's question concisely and clearly. For her, this kind of scene was already commonplace. And what happened next…

"Hey, Senjougahara, today's bento looks so delicious! Can I have a bite? Just one bite?"

"Uh, uh..."

Shota stared at Senjougahara's bento box, while Mashiro stared at the thermos next to Senjougahara's bento box.

"turn down."

Having had her lunch snatched away once before, Senjougahara immediately refused Shota. She moved the lunchbox away from him and said, "If you want to eat, beg me."

"Please, Senjougahara-sama!"

"Humph."

Senjougahara snorted coldly, but in the end, she pushed the lunchbox and thermos towards Shota's side.

"Senjouhara-sama is the best!"

Shota picked up the disposable chopsticks he had just used and began cleaning up Senjougahara's unfinished bento.

“That’s how intelligent beings are. They always think that other people’s things are better than their own, always wanting more than they have.” Senjougahara ignored Shota, who had fallen into fawning mode, and turned to Yomi, saying, “That’s his inherent weakness. Rather than calling him a monster, he’s more like a pet that prefers to follow its instincts. Once you figure out his tricks, you can easily manipulate him.”

To be spoken of to such an extent by an ordinary human was something even Huang Quan found excessive. She put down her chopsticks and looked at Shota with some wariness, only to find that Shota showed no signs of anger at all, and was simply eating happily.

Shota didn't bother to refute Senjougahara's slander. After all, although that's what she said, the amount of lunch she brought each day had increased from one portion for herself to two or even three portions. Although she said she'd only give him leftovers if he begged her, in reality, she had already prepared his share for him.

A compliment won't cost you anything, and you'll still get some benefits—only a fool wouldn't do that.

Shota and Senjougahara's interactions are quite amusing. They love to bicker—no, it's more like Senjougahara is constantly showing disdain. But whenever Shota is about to reach his breaking point with her sharp tongue, he discovers a sensitive side to this seemingly tsundere girl through subtle details. And after spending so much time together, Shota has completely become immune to Senjougahara's sarcasm!

This is purely verbal.

"I can hardly believe it."

Huang Quan still couldn't accept it.

"Exorcist girl... no, exorcist lady."

Shota quickly finished his bento box with a couple of bites of rice, then carefully put the box away, intending to wash it and return it to Senjougahara. He then turned to Yomi and said, "Why did you come here... Wait, Senjougahara, don't rush to give your opinion. I know she's your mentor, but she's also my enemy."

Seeing that Senjougahara was about to interrupt, Shota immediately silenced her.

"I've already said, it's just a class."

"But you know perfectly well that this is my territory, no, our territory."

The school is funded by yokai, and even the yokai prince Rikuo Nura lives here, although in his daytime form he has nothing to do with yokai.

"That's why I was forced to come here."

Huang Quan's smile carried a hint of emotion that Shota couldn't quite decipher, but the word "rush" made him slightly uneasy.

"Were you sent to spy on me?"

Shota countered with a question.

"You can interpret it that way if you want. Although I didn't say it explicitly, I did come here to keep an eye on you, this restless great demon. You must also know just how terrifying your existence is to humans."

"Even if I willingly eat only compressed biscuits every day, you still insist on defining me as a sinful monster?"

Shota took out the wrapping paper in his hand and waved it, responding to Yomi in a sarcastic tone.

Upon seeing this, Huang Quan remained silent for a while before finally saying, "I have no right to define who is good and who is evil. As an exorcist, especially one belonging to the Countermeasures Office, I only obey orders from above."

"..."

Judging from her tone, did she come here because she had a falling out with the higher-ups in the countermeasures office? But how could an ace exorcist have a falling out with those people?

Could it be because she didn't make a move last time?

Shota didn't care whether his speculation was right or wrong. In his view, how she came and why she came were secondary. The most important thing was what changes her arrival would bring to Shota's life.

"This girl, she drank juice since she was a child, and she still drinks juice now that she's grown up. She's never been in a fight, never cursed anyone, and never had any contact with humans."

Shota pointed to Mashiro, whom he was most worried about, and said to Yomi, "Let me make this clear first: you can oppose me, but if you dare to bully her..."

"I can't guarantee what will happen."