Shota is surrounded by monsters!

"Tch, the daughter of the Tsuchimiya family?"

The Tsuchimiya family is the head of the exorcists here. As for this young lady, Isayama Yu couldn't say much. He had no choice but to give up pressing her, sheathed his sword, turned around and left, saying, "I've taken the Lion King. It belongs to my daughter."

"I'm sorry, Huang Quan, that person is also in a lot of pain right now. Please try to understand him. Let's stop here for today. We're leaving."

Head of the Jinguji Department said with a smile, "Leave the work to us. Kagura can work well on her own now."

Soon after, only Kagura and Yomi remained in the ward.

Huang Quan opened his mouth slightly, and Kagura, noticing this, quickly handed over his phone, saying, "If we use this, we can communicate, right?"

Huang Quan caught the phone and slowly typed out the name "Kagura" using the input method.

"Yes, I'm here. What can I do for you, Huang Quan?"

"Call Ji Zhi here."

"..." Kagura said somewhat nervously after seeing this, "Ah, Xiaoqi seems to be very busy right now. I'll tell him to visit him occasionally when he's sick. See you tonight."

For some reason, Kagura didn't dare to answer the question, so she had to leave the room temporarily.

Huang Quan's eyes gradually dimmed. But soon, she deleted and rewrote the characters on her phone.

"I would like to see Ji Zhi."

"Boom boom boom——"

Just then, there was another knock on the door, and this time it was Iizuka Noriyuki's father who came in.

"I heard about it. You've been working so hard. Are you feeling any better? Are you still in pain?"

Huang Quan shook his head slightly.

"I'm here today to talk to you about something," Ji Zhi's father said somewhat seriously. "It's not a good thing to say things upfront."

The matter being discussed was about annulling the engagement.

Huang Quan couldn't help but shed tears.

She had always harbored feelings for Iitsuna Noriyuki; otherwise, she wouldn't have gotten so angry about him in the first place. Just when things were starting to look up, things... why?

—You are not wrong, hatred is to be expected, but everyone is wrong. The family you finally gained has been torn apart. You are just born to be betrayed.

"Please don't hold a grudge against Ji Zhi; this was all my choice."

With that, Noriyuki Iitsuna's father left, leaving Yomi alone.

"Sorry to bother you~"

The door was opened again. Before Huang Quan could recover from the news he had just received, three people suddenly burst in.

"Oh, isn't this a bit of an unfortunate timing?"

Shota looked at the tear stains still on Yomi's face and asked, "Were you bullied?"

"Alright, Shota-kun, let's not talk about this." Rea winked at Shota, signaling him not to press the matter, then walked to Yomi's bedside, placed a bouquet of flowers there, and said to Yomi, "Although it's not very nice to bother you at this time, we're friends. I just wanted to visit... I hope you don't mind."

Then Mashiro stepped forward and placed a bottle of milk she had saved on Yomi's bedside.

Huang Quan looked at the group of monsters who had barged in so recklessly, opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

"That's so unfair..."

Rea only learned today just how serious Yomi's injuries were, but as a vampire, she was powerless to help. She turned to Shota and said, "Shota-kun, why don't you say a few words to Isayama-kun? I'll go keep watch at the door."

"Ah."

Shota stopped at the window, turned to Yomi, and said, "Is it okay to open the window a little?"

Huang Quan noticed that Shota's eyes moved slightly, indicating that it was alright.

"Thanks." Shota opened the window wide enough for a person to jump out, and said, "In case your colleagues come over later, we can easily escape from here."

Although it was meant as a gesture of condolence, Shota didn't know where to begin. Rea was standing at the door keeping watch, while Shota and Mashiro sat silently on the edge of the bed.

"Um, if you don't mind, shall I wipe it for you?"

Shota looked at the tear stains still on Yomi's face, reached out and took out a tissue, and said, "Is this okay?"

Huang Quan did not refuse.

However, before Shota could move, Mashiro had already stretched out her fingers and absorbed all the tears on Yomi's face.

"..." After wiping away all her tears, Mashiro looked at Yomi with a strange gaze and said, "You're unhappy."

"How can you be happy when you've been crying?" Shota tapped Mashiro on the head, then noticed Yomi was still holding her phone and asked, "Can you type?"

Huang Quan paused for a moment, then silently pressed "OK" on his phone.

"That's good." Shota scratched the back of his head. It was really uncomfortable for him to talk to someone here, so he spoke first, "I'm sorry."

"?"

Huang Quan's gaze was somewhat unfocused.

“I was a little late that day, otherwise you wouldn’t be in this state.”

This is something that must be admitted. However, after listening to Shota's words, Huang Quan nervously pressed the buttons on her phone.

"That voice back then... was it you?"

"Ah, it's me. Senjouga-no-Kage and I were investigating that monster back then. No, she's investigating it now too." Shota paused, then joked, "You won't hate me for being late, will you?"

"Thank you."

For some reason, Huang Quan typed those two words.

"However, this period may be a bit tough for you because... to be honest, Senjougahara also told me that the countermeasures office doesn't quite believe in the existence of that monster. Unless they catch it in the act, they'll just turn a blind eye."

Shota sighed. It was said that Yomi was currently lying in a hospital bed undergoing a covert investigation, and some even speculated that Yomi had injured herself. As for Senjougahara, because he had been too close to both the yokai and Yomi, his testimony was not very reliable.

Moreover, when she arrived there, she only saw Huang Quan lying on the ground.

"Do..."

Huang Quan tapped the keys with his fingers, but didn't press them.

"There's one more question I'd like to confirm."

Shota thought of something else and said, "Isayama Mei... you killed him, didn't you?"

Upon hearing this question, Huang Quan's expression clearly became somewhat subdued.

Why, why does everyone have to ask this?

"Is that so? You don't want to answer?" Shota said to Yomi, "You know about the Killing Stone, right?"

"……Yes"

“That stone needs the souls of humans and demons as fertilizer to nourish it.” Shota frowned and said, “I’m not qualified to see Mei Isayama’s corpse. I just want to confirm whether she was controlled by the stone.”

"……Yes."

Huang Quan paused for a moment, then quickly typed "Yes" on it.

"Is that really the case? That's troublesome. It looks like that stone will soon be handed over to someone else."

Since Mei Isayama is dead, it means that the stone and Mei Isayama were not very compatible. Otherwise, based on that resentment, people affected by the Sessho-seki would rise up on the spot after death and become evil spirits.

Shota felt that discussing this topic was a bit too depressing, so he changed the subject and said, "Your classmates are planning to come and visit you, you won't refuse, will you?"

"Please thank everyone for me."

"Hmm. Don't be too discouraged. Even if you can't be an exorcist anymore..." Shota said jokingly with a smile, "How about you come with me to sell cut cakes? That's a big business. By the way, you can use cut cakes to smash monsters."

"Actually, it's very delicious, cut cake."

"...I didn't expect you to like this. Shall I bring some over for you next time?" Shota checked the time and said, "Okay, then we won't bother you any longer. It would be troublesome if other people came. I'll come over when I have time."

"Well, I was thinking of helping you out, like brushing your teeth or something," Shota shrugged. "But I guess that's not my job. I'll be going now. Is there anything else you want to say?"

"Could we stay and chat a little longer...?"

Huang Quan hesitated for a moment, then deleted all the text on the screen, rewrote it, and said, "Welcome to come again next time."

"Ah, it will come."

Just as Shota and Mashiro reached the door and were about to leave through the main entrance, Rea suddenly pushed them back, saying, "Someone's coming from over there."

"Then we'll have to go this way."

Shota gestured for Rea to jump out of the window, then toss Mashiro down. Finally, he sat on the windowsill, waved to Yomi, and said, "Bye-bye~"

With that, she flipped over and jumped down, leaving only the curtains swaying there.

Being a person... is so tiring.

Watching Shota and the others leave, Yomi suddenly had this strange thought.

Chapter 81. The Killing Stone

"What's wrong, Huang Quan? Aren't you hungry?"

Kagura, seeing that Yomi was unwilling to open her mouth, once again offered her the spoon. But Yomi simply shook her head slightly.

"I'm sorry about Xiao Ji."

Kagura realized why Yomi was throwing a tantrum, sighed, and said, "You don't need to care about me anymore. Kagura should live for her own life and not waste her time on me—that's what you think, right, Yomi?"

Huang Quan lowered his head somewhat dejectedly.

"Idiot." Kagura shook her head and said, "Alright, stop complaining and eat first. Otherwise, you won't get any snacks later."

"..." After seeing Kagura say this, Huang Quan stopped throwing a tantrum, opened his mouth and swallowed the food.

"Hi, this is a reward."

Seeing that Yomi was willing to eat, Kagura took out a Pocky stick from her pocket and slowly put it into Yomi's mouth, saying, "I'll bring you a strawberry flavor next time."

Huang Quan moved the POCKY in her mouth, gesturing for Kagura to come and eat too. Kagura smiled, bit the other end of the cookie stick, and then, like a cute little mouse, used her teeth to nibble the cookie stick into pieces, pushing it forward.

When POCKY was down to its last three centimeters, Kagura stopped, and tears streamed down her face.

"Waaah..."

Kagura suddenly felt weak and supported herself with her hands, saying, "This is too much. Why, why does Yomi have to suffer like this?"

Huang Quan could only watch in silence as Kagura's expression suddenly changed.