Natsume Takashi's Youth Love Song

A plate of egg fried rice and a dark stew were placed in front of Natsume, Reiko, and Mr. Monster.

Putting aside other things, the egg fried rice alone tasted very good. At least Mr. Monster ate it happily and it all went into his stomach soon.

Then, it becomes the remaining dark stew.

"Reiko, you go first."

Natsume looked at this dark stew, and his eyes twitched. Then he looked at Reiko in front of him seriously, "Ladies first."

"Haha, now you know that ladies come first?"

Reiko rolled her eyes at Natsume and said, "No, we have to be together. You want to be independent, but that's impossible."

"Then let's go together?"

Natsume smiled bitterly and said, forget it, just think of it as accompanying Reiko.

Then he stretched out a spoon and reached out to the pot of stew.

"That's pretty much it."

Looking at Natsume's actions, Reiko nodded with satisfaction.

Then, they all reached out to the big stew.

Natsume and Reiko swallowed the food in the spoon with a fearless attitude.

"..."

In an instant, the two people became expressionless and lost all their spirit. This thing... is really disgusting.

Just when Natsume and Reiko felt desperate, Mr. Monster finally tasted the food he made himself, and then...

"It tastes so bad."

After tasting the food, Mr. Monster subconsciously complained. After all, the taste of the two dishes was too different.

Even if monsters are not so picky about the taste of food, the difference can't be that big, right?

"I lost."

Mr. Monster then bowed his head and admitted defeat to Lingzi.

Chapter 26 Let’s Make a Promise

"I lost this competition."

After tasting his food, Mr. Monster chose to admit defeat without hesitation.

After all, the taste gap between the two sides' cuisine is really too big, so it is inevitable to admit defeat.

"very good."

Reiko smiled brightly when she heard this.

She knew that she would never lose, and now it seems that this is indeed the case.

"Since you admit defeat, then... do you still remember what we agreed on before?"

Reiko looked at the other person with burning eyes.

"Of course I remember."

Mr. Monster nodded.

"for you."

Reiko took out the paper and brush that she had prepared long ago from her bag, and placed them in front of Mr. Yokai, indicating that he could start writing his name.

"…Why are you so well prepared, Reiko?"

Natsume looked at Reiko's actions, which showed that she had been prepared for this for a long time, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.

Looking at this scene, Natsume even suspected that Reiko had been prepared for a long time and deliberately set a trap for this monster?

Otherwise, why would you be so well prepared?

"Hehehe, it's better to be prepared."

Reiko said with a smile, signaling Natsume not to worry about these details.

Taking the brush and paper given to him by Lingzi, Mr. Monster quickly used his demonic power to write his name on the paper.

"wash!"

Mr. Monster, wrote down his name.

Because it was written with demonic power, for Zhuo, it was equivalent to handing his life over to Lingzi. As long as Lingzi was willing, she could summon it from anywhere.

Even...if Lingzi tears off the piece of paper with the name of its true spirit written on it, it will be seriously injured if it doesn't die immediately.

But on the other hand, this also means that Mr. Youkai recognizes Reiko and is willing to be driven by her.

The world of monsters is so simple. Since both parties have made an agreement before, once it loses, it will give up everything it has.

"Here you go, Reiko, this is my name."

After writing his name, Zhuo carefully handed the paper to Lingzi in front of him.

Of course you have to be careful. If you are not careful, the paper will break into pieces. Then who knows, it will also break into pieces.

"very good."

Reiko showed a satisfied expression.

"By the way, Reiko, I want to tell you about the meaning of this name..."

Then, Zhuo explained to Lingzi the function of the monster's real name. After all, he was really worried that the other party would mess with the paper.

This is really funny. When the time comes, it will want to find a place to cry, but there won’t be anywhere.

"Eh? It's just a name, is it so important?"

Listening to Zhuo's explanation, Lingzi couldn't help but widen her eyes, looking at the paper in her hand in disbelief. She never thought that she just acted on a whim, but it turned out to be like this?

"Well... should I give your name back to you?"

Lingzi's first reaction was to return the name to the other person. After all, she didn't really want to hurt the other person.

"It's okay. This is our agreement, isn't it? Since you lose, I will give the name to you."

Zhuo shook his head. Although his eyes could not be seen, his tone was firm.

"This……"

Looking at the scene in front of her, Lingzi couldn't help but hesitate, even a little at a loss, not knowing what to do.

"Take it, Lingzi. This is the testimony of your agreement, isn't it?"

Natsume looked at Reiko and smiled.

He felt that this situation seemed to be able to change Lingzi and make her realize that not all monsters were untrustworthy. Some monsters were the same as humans and were friendly beings.

After all, Natsume had also encountered those friendly monsters.

Although, when he was young, he could not understand the kindness and gentleness of those monsters, but now thinking back, he can understand it.

But for Natsume, it is a little late to understand now.

Therefore, Natsume explained Reiko's experience in detail. He didn't want Reiko to misunderstand anything because of it, nor did he want her to regret anything at that time.

"Promise?"

Reiko was stunned for a moment, and then looked at Natsume with strange eyes. How did Natsume know that this was an agreement?

Wasn't she planning to trick the other party? How come when it came to Natsume, it became that she wanted to make an agreement with the other party?

"Reiko, just accept it."

Natsume said to Reiko with a smile.

"Okay... since you said so, Natsume."

Reiko finally nodded and agreed. Since Natsume had said so, she thought the other party would not hurt her, so she just put it away and wait and see.

"Then Lingzi, if you need me, just call my name. No matter how far away we are, I will appear in front of you in an instant under the promise of my name."

Looking at Lingzi who accepted his name, Zhuo nodded to Lingzi and prepared to leave.

"Wait a minute, Zhuo."

Just when Zhuo was about to leave, Natsume suddenly called out to him.

"Is there anything else?"

Hearing Natsume's shout, Zhuo couldn't help but stop, then looked at Natsume in front of him, revealing a trace of uneasiness.

Yes, it is nervous because it is worried that the other party will become angry because it has eaten the other party's food.

"If it's because I ate your food, then I'm very sorry and I won't come here again."

Zhuo said to Natsume cautiously.

"No, that's not the case."

Listening to Zhuo's words, Natsume, who had already expected something, became more gentle in his eyes. Sure enough, the other party thought the same as he did.

"What's going on?"

Zhuo became more and more confused.

"I was wondering...would you like to come to my place all the time in the future?"

Xia Mu looked at Zhuo in front of him and expressed his thoughts, "I was thinking, should I make a deal with you? I can give you all the leftover food at home. In exchange, you can help me organize and clean the things in the house. How about it?"

"Hey?"

Zhuo originally thought that Natsume would be angry, but after hearing what Natsume said, he was stunned for a moment and was a little unable to react.

No, it would be better to say that what Natsume said was something it had never thought about at all.

This is obvious, it's the one that took advantage, right?

After all, originally, it was ready to leave human society and head for the mountains.

Chapter 27: Labor in Exchange for Food

The moment it was discovered by Natsume and Reiko, Zhuo had actually made a decision in his heart. Since it had been discovered by humans, in order to avoid any accidents, it decided to go back to the mountains after this time.

Although it is a pity that it cannot eat human food, but... in order to avoid being hurt and also to avoid hurting humans, it decided to go back to the deep mountains and forests.

As for food... let's just eat what our friends have left behind.

It also has some monster friends in the deep mountains.

But it never expected that when it was about to leave, Natsume would actually say such words. This really surprised it.

"why?"

Zhuo looked at Xia Mu with strange eyes. He didn't quite understand why Xia Mu said that. Because in such a matter, what he gained was really too much.

“This is an exchange.”

Natsume smiled brightly, "You use your labor to get food as a reward, and for me, using food to get your labor can also save me a lot of time."

"Is this so..."

Zhuo fell silent.

To be honest, it was still very moved in its heart, but even if it was a monster, it couldn't always take advantage of the other party, right?

"I can't take advantage of you. It's just physical labor, but it still can't compare to the food you give me."

Zhuo shook his head again.

To Natsume's surprise, the other party actually chose to refuse?

"You actually refused?"

Lingzi, who was watching on the side, couldn't help but reveal a hint of surprise after seeing this. This was a little different from what she thought?

"Is it true... that not all monsters are the same?"