Chapter 71: I did not ask you to do that though!?

Part 1

3rd Person POV

Taking one last glance inside the room, Nora turned his eyes towards the night sky.

Leaving the sliding door half closed so he could be seen, the youth stood on his room's balcony.

"Are you not going to sleep? Nora-kun." Lavinia called out from inside the room and she slides open the door slightly for her to pass.

"I could ask you the same thing." Nora replied.

Pouting slightly, Lavinia fixed her kimono slightly before going outside as well.

"Nora-kun, answering a question with another question is not good, you know?" Lavinia scolded in a low tone of voice.

"You already changed into the sleeping clothes that the inn employees provided so why are you here?" Nora changed the subject.

Puffing out her cheek, Lavinia wanted to pull Nora's cheeks for acting like a bad child. Nonetheless, when she tried to do it, Nora simply grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to him, and... poked her puffed cheek, causing the air to be expelled.

With a mischievous expression, Nora let her go.

"You can't use those tricks against the man who uses them on daily basis." Nora said.

Giggling at that, Lavinia decided to let this one go.

"Did you come to check on her?" Nora gestured with his chin inside the room.

"Hmm." Lavinia nodded. "I also came to check on you."

"I am fine." Nora muttered.

"...Is that so?" Lavinia stared straight at Nora's eyes intently.

The youth avoided her eyes a looked away.

"I still think you girls should've taken her to your rooms." Nora muttered.

"Aika-chan..." Lavinia sighed. "She was able to chat with us like normal, but the only person she trusts is you. As soon as we left your room, she fell asleep, didn't she?"

"After joking for a while about me sneaking into her futon, yes, she did." Nora smiled wryly. "What do you think?"

"If Nora sneaked into my futon, I would be able to sleep more comfortably than usual." Lavinia smiled.

Sighing, Nora did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"Sneaking into her futon is practically a yobai, she meant that." Nora explained.

"What is a yobai?" Lavinia tilted her head quizzically.

Looking at her pure and innocent eyes, Nora decided to-

"Natsume is very knowledgeable about the subject, you should ask her." Nora replied with a smile.

Unbeknownst to him, he would end up causing more trouble for him because of his irresponsible decision.

"So, about her situation...?" Nora asked.

"There is still a lot of information we cannot be certain of." Lavinia tapped her chin. "Given how you did not take her to the police, you probably think that it is not a simple case."

"It is... strange." Nora furrowed his eyebrows. "No matter how you look at it, the fact that she was able to hang around all alone until now is strange. I won't deny that she is a crafty kid and is kind of resourceful. Escaping from a few people might not be hard for her, but I have the feeling that no one tried to particularly approach her. She is twelve and not a local so you would expect even one police officer to have called out to her, but that probably did not happen."

"...however, if it is just an assumption..." Lavinia wondered out loud. "Then we are taking away this child illegally."

Shaking his head, Nora pointed behind him with his thumb, towards the room.

"That child spent the whole day searching for them. I doubt she would simply walk away and get lost. From what I heard, she checked the places where her parents could've gone to. Not to mention the inn they never managed to check in, no one seems to recall their presence. The car they used is gone as well." Nora explained. "It is faint, but have you not felt how there is a strange air in the city? Not the smell or anything you can feel physically, but rather, something you would feel in a nonphysical manner."

"Hmmm, I just stayed here in the inn so I cannot be sure if that is true or not, but I will make sure to check it out tomorrow," Lavinia said. "...a kind Nora-kun would not happen to go with me?"

"Our apologies, that is a time-limited Nora so you have to wait that time of the year and pull the gacha!" Nora faked a mechanical voice. "You might try a single pull or even more."

"What is a gacha?" Lavinia blinked in confusion.

The untainted eyes staring back at him gave him conflictive feelings. Part of him wanted to maintain her pureness forever and protect her from the nightmarish world of gacha, but a certain feeling, a dark one seemed to be sprouting quickly inside of him. Sadistic in nature, it wanted to sink her deep into the never-ending well of gacha.

A conundrum (not really) was affecting the youth, but he raised his willpower to contain the dark thoughts that were becoming common thing.

"Something you must never get involved with if you wish to lead a happy life." Nora spoke in wisely tone. "Onii-san would like nothing more to see you grow into a responsible adult so please stay away from that toxic world! It would make me happy to see you happy!"

Nodding at that, Lavinia smiled at Nora.

"Fufu, if that is what you want. As you Onee-san, I will have to comply." Lavinia giggled. "*Yawn* Ah, I am getting sleepy."

Having trouble keeping her eyes open, Lavinia's body began swaying and before she could fall forward, Nora caught her gently.

"You need to stop staying up late for your research, I know that it is what you do in your free time, but you have to take proper rest when you need it..." Nora chided.

"I have... been studying... to learn about Nora-kun..." Lavinia mumbled. "I also have... been looking for clues about your... mother."

Sighing, Nora held her in his arms.

"Idiot, you must take care of yourself." Nora kindly said. "It is not your responsibility, and you should not exhaust yourself like that for my sake."

"Nora-kun wants to... find his mother..." Lavinia began to make herself comfortable on his chest. "I want the... *Yawn* I want the best... for Nora-kun."

"That's..." Nora did not know what to say.

"Hehe..." Lavinia put her arms around Nora. "It is warm..."

"Hey, don't fall asleep here. It is quite chilly at night. Let me take you to your room..." Nora spoke.

"Zzzzzz." Lavinia's soft snoring was all he heard back.

"Geez, now you fall asleep?" Nora smiled wryly.

Sighing, Nora picked her up slowly to not wake her up and decided to tug her to her bed or futon, in this case.

Nonetheless, even after a few steps, he tried to release himself from her embrace but he failed to do so.

"...even though one sees this coming, one can't simply ignore it huh." Nora wryly said. "Whatever, I will watch out for these two tired girls for now."

Lying down Lavinia on the futon, he had to do so as well beside her. Her soft and sweet breath was rather distracting and the kimono that came undone was bound to cause him troubles later, but he just gently patted her head and kissed her forehead.

"Thank you, Lavinia..." Nora said.

Closing his eyes, he bid his time until sunrise. Like it had happened since that day, he occupied his mind with other things to avoid falling asleep. He tapped the magatama on his chest to ease the worry of the one speaking in his head and a wry smile found itself on his face as he listened to the complaints pouring from the one inside the magatama. The small snake and the crystal spider were close to him to share his body heat although this was soon unnecessary for them as the blonde-haired young woman pulled Nora into her bosom.

-------------------------------

MC's POV

"So, might I ask if this is how you plan to show your serious side to me?" I asked with a wide smile.

"...I am really sorry." Natsume looked away.

"How about you start with an honest apology and look me in the eye?" I chuckled.

"B-But, I honestly did not want to do this!" Natsume exclaimed.

"Ending in my futon again is just a coincidence?" I inquired.

Barely moving my head away from Lavinia who was still asleep, I was confronting (?) Natsume, the young woman who ends up sleeping beside me during the night.

She has a terrible habit of doing this. Natsume would sometimes end up in my room when she leaves her room during the night because she is too sleepy to go back to hers. Although I initially wondered if she was actually aiming for this... after months of detailed testing, I was able to free her of guilt. That said, it is almost like a reflexive reaction. No matter in which room I stay, if she can't get a good sleep and goes to drink some water or warm milk, then when going back, she has a 99.9% chance of ending up in my room. Her accuracy is like that of a tracking missile.

"Urgh! It had not happened in a while so I just let down my guard." Natsume grumbled. "...please, do not tell Suzaku-san about this. I don't want to meditate under that cold waterfall to get rid of worldly thoughts."

Suzaku meeting these guys was such a fun situation. The fact that the secret of this child sneaking into my bed often got out and they became besties after meditating under a waterfall every morning.

"(No, no, this child was on the verge of tears every time that Suzaku dragged her away.)" Tamamo added.

Oh, awake already? I thought you were tired because you kept me company the whole night.

"(Oh my <3)" Tamamo sighed. "(It sounds so sinful when you do not add any more context.)

You are speaking nonsense again.

"What to do~" I hummed. "There is Suzaku, but I am quite interested in what Raikou-san will say about this..."

"(Devil!)" Tamaño exclaimed.

"Are you a devil!?" Natsume cried out.

"I am." I flatly said.

"No, no. I beg you. Have mercy on this pitiful me, I... no, no normal human should mediate under such cold water." Natsume tearfully mumbled.

Feeling a little guilty, I will not tell her that I once investigated the issue to see if Suzaku was not going too far and found out how the red-eyed young woman, older than Natsume, was using spell casting to make the water colder.

It was between the safety limits so I did not reprimand her that harshly. It had nothing to do with the fact that she almost cried for forgiveness and asked me if I did not like her anymore. I mean, she got incensed since I would help Natsume warm up, but it was honestly too much.

For goodness sake.

When she appeared in the novel, she was a very reliable and composed individual, but over here, whenever I am involved, her Otome mode gets activated and she turns into a lovestruck maiden.

"(Whose fault do you think it is?)" Tamamo retorted.

Whose, I wonder as well.

"(Hmph.)" Tamamo snorted.

"Wait, you guys think that you are normal humans?" I asked.

"Huh?" Natsume looked dumbfounded.

"I mean, after all the training you have been through..." I mumbled. "I see, so you believe that is not enough. I will make another training program for you guys. That said, we won't be using my place this time. It should be a good experience to go out of Japan and experience the world... let's see, how about the Sahara? No, maybe the jungle would be good. How do you like the sound of going to the Amazon? Becoming one with nature is always a charming proposal. Well, I will have to head there sooner or later since I heard that there are some distant kins of mine there. If I find a male cat, I can just throw him towards the mothers of those cat girls always following Kuroka-chan..."

Stopping midway, I found Natsume with watery eyes staring at me. I briefly wondered if she planned to confess to me again but easily shot down that idea. She must be moved beyond words by the idea of going to the Amazon.

"(As if, you dummy.)" Tamamo retorted.

"P-Please, do not do that!!!" Natsume's heartful words were conveyed to me.

"(...normally, sending someone to those places could even be considered a punishment given the difficulty for newbies to survive out there.)" Tamamo explained.

Eh? Why?

I mean, I planned to provide them with the basic equipment to survive plus several medicines that can be easily applied by themselves.

"(...damn you, Scathach, you have turned him into a Spartan teacher.)" Tamamo grumbled. "(You can't do that to them!)"

Hey now, I am not going to tie their hands or feet during the duration of the trip. It is not like I will do something so heartless.

"(*Sob* He is broken...)" Tamamo cried.

Why!?

"Wow! I was afraid you would sneak inside my futon but I guess it was a needless worry. You already got two beauties in your futon and you even made one cry because you have been too rough with her. As expected of you, Tiger, you are a beast in human skin."

A voice that made Natsume and me freeze suddenly spoke up.

Kiryu-chan, the pervert with glasses, or maybe she is not one yet, so I will call her glasses girl only, had woken up and was looking at me with an amazed expression.

Like a cue, Lavinia's eyes opened and she drowsily blinked a few times until she could finally see clearly.

The first thing her eyes caught beside me was Natsume's figure as she stared at me with a pair of watery eyes.

"Yobai?" Lavinia asked.

Before Natsume could say anything to refute it, I reacted.

"Indeed. This is like a told you before." I smiled while trying to release myself from her. "She is a master."

Instead of being able to escape, she pulled me towards her even more.

"Muu, I am still cold." Lavinia complained.

What am I, a convenient heater?

"(Hehe, you are very warm.)" Tamamo replied for some reason.

"No, no, no. Nora, you idiot. I am not sure what you meant, but going from the respectful look that this air-headed witch is giving me, it can't be something good." Natsume rebooted.

Tsk, sharp cookie.

"Good morning, Master."

A certain flat voice could be heard from outside the room and soon the sliding door revealed a petite figure accompanied by a taller and more curvaceous one, in a maid uniform.

"I took the liberty of preventing the staff from trespassing into this floor and used the excuse that you have hired us as your servants. Judging from the flushed looks that the employees gave us, your plan to make them believe you are a playboy was a success." Felis-san entered the room with her eyes closed. "I also took the liberty of preparing breakfast, and while my skills are not up to par with Altais-san or you, Master, I have called the rest of your companions to one of the rooms you rented. However, I have yet to inform two of... Oh."

Finally opening her eyes, Felis-san inspected the room and saw me, sandwiched by two beautiful women while a girl of around twelve years old observed us with an amazed expression.

Her expression hardened and she proceeded to gaze at me with very judgemental eyes lacking any sort of respect and cold beyond words.

It was honestly scary, to the point that not even the easygoing Lavinia said anything. Nonetheless, there is always a fearless one. Nanami-san, Felis-san's kouhai, opened her mouth.

"Master, you never cease to amaze me." Nanami-san said. "You were not satiated with only one woman, but you needed two to calm down your desires. Yet, you took this one step further and made an underaged girl look at you as you released your carnal desires upon these two ladies. Nanami must admit it, you have my respect, Master."

I did not get to rebuke the idiotic maid since the sound of a gun being loaded was heard.

"It is the job of a maid to set down their master in the right path." Felis-san said in a frigid tone.

Feeling my impending doom, I spoke.

"Wait! You got it wrong." I muttered.

Nodding vehemently, Natsume shuddered slightly.

"(My Tamamo senses are telling me that this will not end well.)" Tamamo sighed.

"You are the only one for me!" I exclaimed.

Now, the frigid glares came from multiple directions.

"Congratulations, Master. Your acting as the scum of society will be more realistic since you just become one yourself." Nanami-san applauded, her tone slightly cold.

I knew it would not work.

"(Why did you say it then?)" Tamamo asked.

Why? Of course, I could not waste this opportunity to say one of the phrases on my list.

"(You should burn that list.)" Tamamo advised.

Never!

"*Sigh* Please fix your clothes and go towards the room at the end of the hall." Felis-san turned around and left.

"(...can I shoot you in her stead?)" Tamamo spoke in an annoyed tone.

Dear, I am as surprised as you. I expected a couple of shots at least.

...

...

...

"How did it go?" I asked.

Leaving the rowdy bunch to have breakfast, I carried a separate portion and delivered it to the person working outside.

"Nothing much, the inn seems normal. I had free time today so I went around taking a look, but they did not look suspicious at all." Samejima-san said. "That said, no one really remembers those who went missing."

Sitting in a secluded spot in the inn meant for workers, I set up a barrier to keep regular people from coming here. Rather than physically preventing them to do so, it will affect them psychologically.

"That so? However... those people did go missing." I mumbled. "Their traces have been erased, but things related to this city only. I checked a few places that have cameras and would like to check the footage for more proof, but I reckon that the result will be the same. After sneaking into some of the stores the family members mentioned that the missing ones had gone to, I tried to look for any lead, but even stores that kept detailed records about their sales in books had nothing at all."

"You mentioned before an acquaintance who checked their expenses digitally. How did that go?" Samejima-san asked.

"Nothing much. The numbers say they were here and used their credit cards, but that is it. The police could not move from that alone since there is always the chance that they had left the city beforehand. Technically, they could've left the city and been somewhere else without using their credit cards and so." I shrugged my shoulders. "Jurisdiction is quite tough for them. This is why people like Sakamoto-san always have jobs. That said, I now have to deal with it while he is busy."

Opening the container, Samejima-san immediately began digging in. His expression froze slightly at once.

"What? Were you allergic to something? The food was tasty so the flavor cannot be the issue..." I mumbled.

"No... It is just... I thought you made it." Samejima-san sighed.

"You!!!" I angrily stood up. "A cute maid made breakfast for you(all of us), and you act like that!? This is why you got no girlfriend!"

Eyebrow twitching, Samejima-san began eating his food obediently.

"Shut up." Samejima-san mumbled. "Unlike you and Ikuse, I am not an ikemen. I also look scary..."

"Putting aside Ikuse-san who had a childhood sweetheart that would not care about his appearance... yet his looks have earned some fans among some fallen angels. I lack any of the good looks that Kaa-san has." I snorted. "You think I have it easy? No, I am not handsome. I feel slightly ashamed that Kaa-san had an ugly duckling like me."

"(For me, you are the most handsome guy around!)" Tamamo exclaimed.

Yeah, yeah.

"(Why such a cold reaction!? I am speaking from the bottom of my heart!)" Tamamo's indignant voice sounded in my head.

Because you have mutual unconditional affection and trust towards one another. No matter how I look, you will still like me, and vice versa.

"(Hubby, you sometimes say things that make my heart go bakyun.)" Tamamo happily said.

"No, no. Isn't that wrong? You are extremely popular with women, regardless of age. I heard of your exploits in the Underworld, and how many widows request your services just to have a chance to talk to you." Samijima-san spoke in a dumbfounded tone.

"You make it sound dirty." I scowled.

"(Don't you rub their bodies with your naked hands?)" Tamamo added.

I ignored it.

"...how many women have you put your hands on?" Samejima-san casually asked.

"No comment." I wisely replied.

"...doesn't that prove my point?" Samejima-san insisted.

"No, it only proves that I am good at what I do." I rebuked.

"(Way too much in my opinion.)" Tamamo sulkily said.

Taking the last bite of his breakfast, Samejima-san sighed.

"You think you made all those women crazy about you because you got some skilled hands?" Samejima-san mumbled.

"I also have confidence in my culinary skills." I shrugged my shoulders. "Although I have to give credit to my young age and this perverted world. I call the effect to attract busty Onee-san, the shota buff effect. Every human looks more or less cute when they are young. Their beginnings are adorable, but as they grow... the charm dies out. It will happen to me as well."

"No, no, no..." Samejima-san shook his head.

Pulling a certain item from my pocket, I showed Samejima-san a certain picture.

"*Gulp* Your mother is... a real beauty." Samejima-san blushed.

"Eh? Oh, wrong one." I coughed.

Swapping the photo, I showed him a normal one.

"(That woman, I am worried what she had in mind when she gave you those. Tamamo will have to face quite the challenge to be accepted by her...  for so many reasons.)" Tamamo sighed.

Why?

"(This is a women's issue, leave it to us.)" Tamamo spoke.

Now I am worried, who the heck is 'us'?

"(I am still in shock. Yasaka-san ended up handing you those photos.)" Tamamo mumbled.

"...Stray-sensei. Is incest common among Youkais?" Samejima-san asked seriously.

".........wut?" I tilted my head 

"(Oh dear, where are the popcorns when you need them?)" Tamamo muttered in an amused tone.

Worrying about Tamamo would have to wait. This guy muttered some bizarre stuff all of sudden.

"Well, I have just this question, and allow me to be frank. You-know-who basically confessed to you, and I heard about the other ones who did it but got turned down." Samijima-san explained. "You say that you like the Nine-Tailed lady, but your progress has been slow... so I thought. Maybe that is a cover, and whom he actually likes is someone else. However, putting aside Musashi, I could not make the guess. That is until you showed me those photos."

Convinced of his words, Samejima-san nodded.

"Hmmm, I see." Samejima-san mumbled. "I guess that makes sense. Well, I doubt the girls will just give up..."

"No, are even listening to yourself? Where did you even pull that from? Sure, Kaa-san's beauty is hard to beat, but it is not like you can use that as your base to say I like her." I could not believe this guy.

"Stray-sensei." Samejima-san looked at me with a gentle expression. "If your mother brought a guy home with her, would you be able to accept it?"

"No way in hell. He first has to pass my 1000 tests to see if he is worthy." I immediately replied.

Smirking, Samejima-san stood up.

"That is what I meant." Samejima-san gave me one last look before turning around to leave. "Besides, once you showed the normal picture of her to Azazel-sensei to have him search for her as well, and he showed interest in her beauty. Let me ask you, who was the one who glared at the fallen angel like he was looking at his biggest enemy?"

"(Indeed, I wonder who was it~)" Tamamo made fun of me.

Shouldn't you be angry instead of making fun of me for several reasons?

"(Making fun of my dear hubby takes precedence over every single matter.)" Tamamo declared.

"Later, we will have a meeting to decide where you want to go. Tell the others to get ready." Samejima-san left but not before adding. "They are good girls, you know? Don't be so harsh on their feelings."

Getting told that by one of the crudest acquaintances made it hard for me to retort, but Nora-kun is not one to be defeated without a fight.

"Even though you have no girlfriend..." I mumbled.

I thought he would not hear me, but since he almost tripped over an imaginary pebble, he must've heard me loud and clear.

Happy with the way he turned and glared at me, I snorted at his nonsense.

"(Oh, dear. Hubby, I would not call it nonsense.)" Tamamo's figure suddenly appeared before me. "The fact that her absence is making you lonely is not a secret. It makes your mind think about her quite often...)"

Standing before me, she put both hands around my neck and interlocked her fingers.

"I am not trying to say that you are doing something bad, but..." Tamamo glanced behind her before chanting silently. "As a man from another world and as someone with an immense love towards your parents in your other life... Saya-san is more of a woman in your eyes, is she not? Now now, do not glare at me like that, even if I enjoy having your eyes on me, Tamamo can get shy."

Blushing slightly, Tamamo avoided looking me in the eye.

I could not but sigh. The barrier she erected over mine made it certain that no eavesdropper overheard anything, not to mention-

"Why are you mentioning this?" I inquired. "Going as far as putting these two to sleep..."

Pulling out the slumbering snake and spider, the two were curled into balls.

"My hubby, I was entrusted with your memories as you were entrusted with mine. I will not leak that knowledge even if I die." Tamamo seriously exclaimed. "You asked why, but I believe that you must face all of the issues plaguing your mind to be able to be happy. It is what I believe. Tamamo has seen enough of the rotten side of people so..."

Since she was hesitating, I used the hand that was not holding the slumbering duo to caress her cheeks. The Kitsune rubbed her hands and she flashed me a smile.

"If you knew what is going through my mind as I observe humans sometimes, I wonder if you would turn away scared..." Tamamo's expression darkened.

"I will never abandon you. No matter what, even if the world is my enemy." I lifted her chin gently. "Do never forget that."

"Hubby, I know that there is a ban to kiss you after the Musashi Great War, but right now, I would love nothing more than to push you down and kiss in a manner not fit to be seen by an audience less than 18 years old." Tamamo licked her lips.

Feeling that things will go south, going from the way she was staring at me, I felt like prey in from of a predator.

"Eh... as uncomfortable as I was with it, can we return to the previous topic?" I asked.

"Tsk, I know that you want to be somewhat different from how you were before, but I would sure love to see the you who would've taken me here, no questions asked." Tamamo complained.

Part of me feels an attraction toward her. I mean, how could I not? She has a beautiful and charming appearance, and her personality is... eh, she is beautiful and charming.

Ouch.

Releasing one of her hands, she pinched my left cheek.

"I felt like you praised me and thought of something very rude at the same time." Tamamo narrowed her eyes.

"Tamamo, putting that aside. You know that I love-" I tried to talk but a soft kiss on my cheeks made me stop.

"That will not make my feelings go away. Besides, I will always aim to make you happy, regardless of your choice in returning my feelings." Tamamo slowly backed away only to line up her eyes with mine.

I honestly felt shy.

There was one time I had people I had the closest thing to feelings of love, but I did not get to experience it for long. However, like with Yasaka, these butterflies in my stomach make me itchy.

"Nora, I will honestly say this." Tamamo's breath was ticklish. "If you do not want to return my feelings, that is ok. I will be heartbroken, but that is... ok. However, you should seriously consider taking more than one lover. It won't be simply for my sake. I am speaking about the girls around you who have honestly and hopelessly fallen in love with you. My idiot hubby, even if you do not wish to be like before, this just means that you have to take care of those you have a relationship with."

Getting so close to me, her breasts were glued to my body. Her bad habit of wearing her kimono with an open chest area made it easy for my eyes to find themselves attracted by her enchanting breast valley.

Their elasticity was top quality and the shape was clearly conveyed to me despite my clothes getting in the way.

"In fact, if you think about it, many of the women you have met would be happy with a nightstand, you know?" Tamamo's seductive voice was tempting me.

Nonetheless, as she gazed at me, I realized something. Her mouth could be saying one thing, but her eyes did not agree with it.

"You are honestly a great woman." I chuckled. "You should be a bit more subtle about it, you know?"

Pulling away slightly, she let her heels touch the ground. Standing on her tiptoes was how she reached so close to me.

"Oh my, I am not sure what you are talking about~" Tamamo avoided eye contact.

"Even though you believe that what you said is not incorrect, you desperately don't want me to do that, do you?" I asked.

"Ohoho~ Tamamo does not know what you might be talking about~" Tamamo avoided me every time I tried to align our gazes.

Rolling my eyes, I held her thin waist with my free arm and glued us together again.

"Once I decide to have something, with anyone, I will not abandon them." I vowed. "I will not be irresponsible."

Finally looking at me, she smiled faintly.

"You sounded like you plan to a humongous harem, but I will let it slide since there has been some progress. Even though it annoys me, yes." Tamamo looked slightly angry.

No, I did not hint at anything, you know?

Knowing that replying out loud to such a thing will make her angry, I decided to wisely shut my mouth and embrace her for a little longer. The warmth that our bodies created did not bother me. I was comfortable with her touch, no, with our bodies glued together.

It was the same with the girls at home who would hug me out of nowhere, like Shirone and Kunou, or those who would openly ask for it, Kana and Yume, although there were also those who I had to act and hug by my own initiative since they would not openly request it, but would instead stare at me fixedly. People like Raikou still made my heart skip a bit since she was unaware of how charming she was and had the habit of going around without a certain piece of clothing whenever they grew. It was honestly too lewd to the point that I wondered if I should let the young Kunou see such a thing.

Wait a moment.

A certain memory flashed in my head for a moment.

A certain fox, wandering 'aimlessly' around our house. However, she would stop any girl she found and would whisper in the ears for a while. The listener's eyes would gleam mysteriously and they would nod enthusiastically. Yes, even Raikou-san was not spared, and despite being threatened with a katana, Tamamo did not falter, and just like that a few minutes later, Raikou-san left the scene skipping happily.

I know it would be rude to ask but-

"Are you perhaps, conditioning me?" I narrowed my eyes.

Tamamo looked away and would do her best to not face me.

Oi.

"Ohohoho~ Look at the time~ Tamamo has an important meeting to attend so she will take her leave~" Tamamo laughed strangely and scurried away.

Left alone, I wondered if letting that fox into my place was the right choice. She is giving last boss vibes, in a certain meaning.

Part 2

3rd Person POV

Watching the katanas clash continuously, Shirone unwrapped the next candy and put it in her mouth.

The citric taste had the right balance between sweetness and acidity so it was a winning candy.

A simple game was born after they decided to distribute fairly a share of the candies that Nora had left so they followed his recipe to make candies but the results were not good at all. Following his instructions was done perfectly fine, but the taste could not compare. Nonetheless, they had decided to mix Nora's candies with their own so luck will decide who got his creations.

"Heeeya!"

A spirited yell was heard and Raikou stopped her blade, just inches before Akiko's neck.

It was all blurry, but Shirone could tell that Raikou simply moved faster than Akiko could perceive thus she was unable to block the blade. The two had completely contrasting expressions. Raikou looked devoid of expression and her breathing was steady, not even breaking a sweat. On the other hand, Akiko was breathing hard and looked visibly vexed.

Standing up, Shirone went to the two with towels in each hand.

Their standoff stopped when they noticed the cat girl approaching and they immediately changed expressions, a gentle smile was directed at the white-haired cat girl.

"Thank you." Akiko muttered while taking the towel and wiping her sweat.

Her black tank top clung to her body and her bra's form could be seen outlined, and her hot pants were a sight that many would enjoy. Glancing around, Akiko could only sigh in disappointment. Nora was not here so she could not offer him what the miko fox maiden had described as 'fan service' that he enjoyed seeing. The miko fox maiden had told her that her lord was captivated by her body, although not to an exaggerated degree. Her body had grown a lot and while her opinion was that it made it difficult for her because she got more attention every time she left for the outside world (outside the house). Nonetheless, her lord had 'chatted' with several visitors that came to Urakyoto that would leer at her, since then, Akiko felt like not many dared to stare at her for insane unhealthy amounts of time.

"Shirone is such a good child! Mommy is moved to tears!" Raikou not only took the towel, but she hugged the girl tightly.

The pressure was amazing and Shirone could understand why Nora rated Raikou as 'dangerous'. Nonetheless, Shirone was a tough child, she would not be defeated so she tickled Raikou.

"Ah~" Raikou released the girl.

Somehow, Shirone felt like the reaction was a bit odd. The fact that Akiko was blushing slightly was a hint but she could not tell what was wrong.

Staring awkwardly, Akiko prepared to leave.

"...you are leaving already?" Raikou asked, her tone dissatisfied.

"...I have to go to the forge." Akiko mumbled.

"...I will not approve of what you desire if your motivation is not good enough." Raikou said.

Biting her lips, Akiko felt somewhat at loss. Artoria had received approval from Raikou (despite never caring about it at all), and she would be given permission to become part of Nora's peerage in the future (even though she had not asked such a thing, Raikou decided as such). On the other hand, Akiko was always given sermons about trying to seduce Nora by Raikou. Although you could argue who was the less family-oriented one among the two given the impact their outfits cause the youth to react, Raikou was someone who never listened to others if she believed in herself strongly.

"...I will support my Lord, whether you like it or not." Akiko responded.

If the youth asked for it, even if she got sad, Akiko could accept getting turned down by her Lord, however, Raikou is another matter entirely. The woman who suddenly appeared and would just snuggle with her Lord while he slept despite pushing away other people because it would be indecent was not one she could accept. The fact that she was more dangerous than what she claimed others to be was not a secret and among the women who were gunning for Nora, she became something akin to the last boss. The way she acted was close to a fussy mother-in-law when it came to Nora and the girls was no good, but everyone could tell that her 'motherly' persona was 'dangerous'. If someone was in danger of getting attacked, it was Nora, but not by the other girls, but by Raikou. It is one of the reasons why she is forbidden from entering the bath when he is inside, all to avoid her going rampant.

"How do you exactly plan to do that?" Raikou seriously said.

"...I will get stronger." Akiko replied.

"Your fighting style is all over the place. Sword dancing might be beautiful, but many styles can defeat yours." Raikou muttered. "Is there a reason why you have a fixation with it?"

"...my Lord praised my skills." Akiko mumbled after hesitating for a second.

Groaning internally, Raikou swallowed the comebacks she considered saying to shut down anything that Akiko might say. If Nora had been the one saying that, Raikou could not say anything. Nonetheless, she felt some petty jealousy. Her chest felt stifled and she had to do her best to not show how much it bothered her that Nora had not praised her sword skills before.

"Gununu." Raikou still reacted outwardly.

Since her attention was somewhere else, Shirone escaped Raikou's prison (bosom) and backstepped until she was far enough.

This made Raikou sigh in disappointment, so it turned into fuel, and her dissatisfaction with Akiko grew. However, she was not allowed to show it since Shirone talked.

"Nora-nii-sama said to not fight." Shirone said. "...to get along. He wants everyone to become friends."

"But..." Raikou tried to talk back.

"...He will cry if everyone fights." Shirone spoke pitifully. "Are the two of you going to continue fighting....?"

Certain that he would not cry, Shirone had to improvise a little to calm the ladies. She was only one cat against two slightly wrong-in-the-head women (a one-sided and rude classification). As her dear Nora always said, having copied the behavior from Musashi, another strange Onee-san. Use every means to win, no method is too low or dirty, as long as you win.

There might be a few parts that were Shirone's interpretation, but the lady was shrewd and cunning during fights so it should be something along those lines or so Shirone thought.

Her desire to be helpful to Nora who wholeheartedly desired that everyone got along made Shirone act.

The ladies opened their mouths and sucked a mouthful of cold air. You could judge it from the way their faces got paler each second that they had a rich imagination and each had pictured Nora crying. Raikou was even showing signs of crying herself.

Despite their differences, the ladies looked at each other and could only slowly shake hands.

"...good." Shirone nodded.

Noticing that just her words were enough, Shirone did not have to use her secret weapon. The youth who agonized over Raikou going on a rampage came up with an ingenious (Artoria called it nasty and sneaky) plan to tame her. It consisted of a video of him begging her, with fake tears in his eyes, to stop acting unreasonably. This weapon was entrusted to the child with the most sense in the house. In other words, Charlotte was in charge of such a thing.

"...oh, Nora-nii-sama. You made a mistake, giving your secret weapon to Char. Who was the one who stopped the rampaging one? It was me, Dio- Ehem, Shirone." Shirone snorted. "Thankfully, I had some limited-time Nora goods to trade for it, otherwise my ace would've been to call you or bribe them with photos of you when you were little that I exchanged with Yasaka-nee-sama."

In a low tone, her whisper remained unheard by anyone. In a certain location in Japan, a cat felt a strong urge to retort, but he could not find the source of his desire to retort.

"I am Shirone, the justice cat. Per Tamamo-nee-sama's request, I became an agent of justice (?) that will keep the peace of the residence." Shirone mentioned something outrageous with a smug expression. "The others must be doing Nora-nii-sama's homework so they can't play with me..."

Sulking slightly, the white cat could not understand why they struggled so much with simple questions. 

Unbeknownst to her though, Shirone had been taught by Nora about subjects beyond what a child her age should usually know. People like Ayanami and Charlotte had a wide range of knowledge, but they had subjects with bad affinity. In Shirone's case, Nora used every ounce of his abilities to prepare a special program to make Shirone overcome subjects of any class so she would become a peerless academic cat, or so he claimed. Nonetheless, for the youth who lacked common sense since he was mostly self-taught about the order of learning subjects in Japan, he went too far.

"They won't fight unless they touch the topic of Nora's private bath and who gets the right to enter with him." Shirone turned around to leave. "Even though that right belongs to me and Nee-sama, they make pointless arguments every day."

With a free agenda, Shirone could only leave the residence alone. The question was where should her steps guide her to.

"Shion-nee-sama is working with Alice-chan to make new merchandise so I should see if they need more stuff. Nee-sama told me to supervise them so I have to do so." Shirone sighed. "It is just like Nora-nii-sama says, popular cats are always busy."

As more words retort worthy kept pouring out of her mouth, Shirone wondered if Shion had finally made a body pillow of Nora without any flaws.

...

...

...

Her visit to Shion's place had to come to an abrupt stop. She saw a group of tengus fussing about someone who managed to enter Urakyoto. It seemed to be a question of whether they should immediately erase the man who had a similar aura to the cultist they have faced before. Nonetheless, he used one of the channels that could only be called legal. Using signed permission, he did not even use the channels that Nora left disguised as holes in their defense.

The conundrum left everyone unable to decide given that Nora had said to observe those intruders first and not recklessly act until they have grasped their intentions and power level. Casualties were to be avoided at all costs. Yet, their loathing of the cultist made it hard to hold back.

"Fear not, for there is the allied Shirone Gang to dispatch any enemies threatening the peace of Urakyoto. We have been getting the protection fees fully and without delay so it is our job to take care of pests." Shirone reassuringly patted her chest.

Nevertheless, the tengus who were whispering in an alley shuddered in fright while paling instantly.

"S-Shirone-sama!?"

"So this is where I die? Letting the young miss get hurt, and being hunted down by Shiki-sama... isn't that actually a good outcome? Guehehe, a wild Shiki-sama chases me all over the city and then he corners me in an alley. His anger explodes and attacks me like a beast, he would apply punishment in the most unimaginable ways..."

An Onee-san-type tengu began panting with a flushed look as she spoke, and her co-worker could only facepalm. They already made a mistake in letting the white cat overhear them and if they happen to teach her something strange, Shiki-sama will treat them roughly like her perverted co-worker desired, but not like she was imagining.

Just recalling the stories from another co-worker made the tengu fearful. Such Spartan training is not meant for any living being, or so she had heard.

"...are you ok?" Shirone furrowed her eyebrows.

Showing her worry, the white cat wondered why the tengu began acting strange and why one of her hands began slowly going towards-

"...she is just tired. Her mind is not working correctly at the moment (it is always like this) so you should pay it no mind."

Not wishing to physically confirm what her other co-worker told her, the tengu girl sealed the mouth of her friend with one of her hands.

"Shirone-sama, even if you have heard about it. Please, leave it to us. Shiki-sama worries about you and he would be saddened if you got hurt."

The tengu girl said, still covering her co-worker's mouth despite her friend's complaint by flailing her arms and legs.

"That said, no one in Urakyoto would like it if you got hurt so please leave this situation to us. It is unfortunate that Shiki-sama is not here to give us directions, but he has drilled into our heads the different plans to deal with those people."

Hoping for the best, the tengu girl wished that the white cat would obediently go home. However, the cat girl looked troubled about something and when she was about to ask, Shirone pointed at her. No, to be precise, to her co-worker that was no longer moving.

"...don't worry. She is a tough child, this is nothing for her... probably."

Tilting her head confused at that statement, Shirone inwardly considered telling Nora that the tengus were too whacky. His training had not been enough since they were even aiming for their allies.

Having a bad premonition, the tengu girl saw the different changes in the white-haired girl's face, but the tengu girl did not speak another word. She has the faint feeling that if she continued talking, her future would be more bleak.

...

...

...

"Well done in joining me on this occasion. I am well aware that arriving here must've been a difficult task." Shirone spoke with a faraway look as she looked through her window with her hands on her back.

"...our rooms are on the same floor, we took at most a minute to get here." Charlotte retorted.

"Shhh! Char-chan, shhh! This must be some kind of role-play so we have to play along." Yume gestured to her friend.

"...it was an arduous journey, but if it is you who gives us a call, we will cross rivers of fire if required. No matter the job (homework) we have to complete at the moment, we will not hesitate to abandon it to answer your summons." Ayanami kneeled faithfully.

"See? Ayanami-chan is already getting into her role!" Yume pointed out.

Sighing heavily, Charlotte followed Ayanami's example along with Yume and kneeled as well.

"Huh? We are short on one person." Charlotte instantly did a head count and a pair of bunny ears seemed to be lacking.

"Unfortunately, no at all you were able to make it here, which is a testament to the journey filled with peril that you all went through, so, unfortunately, Kanna is no longer with the living." Shirone turned around to face her friends with a forlorn look.

"...she was asleep and did not answer your call, right?" Charlotte asked.

Looking away, Shirone's eyes did not meet Charlotte's.

"...Ayanami, could you get her here for the time being? It is almost time for lunch anyways so she should not be sleeping unless she wants to miss it." Charlotte's muttered.

Standing up and doing a military salute in Charlotte's direction, Ayanami marched out.

"That child was so cold and distant before, but now she became someone who can easily display her playful side. I guess he does not need to worry about her." Charlotte sighed. "On the other hand, she is..."

Watching as Shirone continued her act despite making a blunder in summoning them all, Charlotte wondered why they were called.

It did not take long for Ayanami to arrive with Kanna carried on her back. From the way her eyes were half opened, the bunny was not completely awake.

"Kanna, I can see that you had your share of trouble getting here. However, it is the fact that you are here that matters." Shirone nodded. "Now then, I called for this meeting for a reason."

Using a serious tone, Shirone pulled a stack of papers from a desk in her room. She distributed them to all and everyone began reading them... it is not what happened.

"These are blank pages." Charlotte retorted.

"...I had no time to fill anything." Shirone sulkily said.

Face-palming, Charlotte wondered why did she even give them the blank pages like they contained important information.

"...wait, Char-chan. This must be it, isn't it!? You want us to collect information to fill these pages, right!?" Yume, who most likely did not hear when Shirone sulkily admitted her mistake, sounded excited by the prospect of her idea.

"...you want ME to do a job that requires me to move a lot?" Kanna finally reacted. "I see. You seek my ruin."

Yawning, Kanna got down from Ayanami and unsteadily went toward Shirone's closet. With familiar and practiced movements, she pulled... a futon that had her name sewed in one side.

Not caring about the gazes from her friends, she just laid down the futon and let herself fall over it.

"...why did you hide in my closet another of your futons?" Shirone asked.

"Being prepared for... everything... is Nora's motto." Kanna yawned again.

"...that is not an answer though?" Shirone smiled wryly.

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"...the house... I..." Kanna mumbled in a low tone.

Perking her ears, Shirone focused on what the bunny-eared one was saying.

"I have futons hidden around the house. I put them everywhere so... I can sleep everywhere." Kanna said.

"We will need to have a serious talk about pulling stunts like that." Charlotte sighed.

"...does he know?" Shirone asked.

Smiling smugly, Kanna gave the group a thumbs up.

"He helped me set up everything." Kanna proudly said.

"Muu." Shirone pouted, feeling slightly jealous.

"B-By the way, you have not told us what is happening." Yume spoke before the cat's mood worsened.

Inwardly making a note to ask Nora to spoil her to make the score right (Shirone should be ahead of everyone by a large margin), Shirone also made a note to correct the pecking order as the most spoiled by him.

"Ahem, you are right." Shirone nodded. "Everyone, prepare to suit up. A pest has set a foot on our beloved Urakyoto."

"Is this about the mice Youkais again? Nora asked you explicitly to not play around with them. That includes not chasing them or catching them." Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows.

"H-Hahaha, that time was quite amazing. She called all the mice Youkais to face us and suddenly Kuroka-san came with the nekomatas to join our side." Yume smiled. "Many buildings were damaged and Yasaka-san was angry at us. It was only because Nora bravely came to our aid after returning from his training that everything was fixed."

"Indeed. He was able to pacify all sides easily, it did not become a fight that would leave scars and grudges thanks to his conversational skills." Charlotte sounded respectful. "He settled the damages done to the stores and even improved them as an apology so no one complained in that regard. He helped to settle everyone's differences by having everyone in one place to talk things over using a party as a celebration for the resolution of the problem."

Nodding in unison (Kanna was asleep), the group recalled a certain detail.

"...I am not sure how to feel about the leader of the Youkais easily forgiving everything after Nora began placing cakes and cookies in front of her seat on the table." Charlotte smiled wryly. "...and the shoulder massage he gave her was, eh..."

Blushing slightly, Charlotte could not find the courage to say it.

"...Nora is the strongest cat, in every sense." Shirone said.

"I-In every sense..." Yume blushed.

Except for Shirone and Ayanami, who imagined Nora standing at the top of a pile of enemies with a heroic expression, Charlotte and Yume had covered their faces in shame after letting their imagination run wild in a certain direction.

"...it is because he is the strongest cat, that the enemy has chosen this time that he left to invade." Shirone exclaimed. "As Nora's right hand, it is my duty to protect this city. Everyone, suit up and prepare our method of transport. We must go and find the invader!"

There was much to retort, but the group was used to Shirone's playful side. If what she said was true, then they would help Nora, and if it was a lie, they would just be playing around without hurting anyone. Either way, they were a group of friends going out.

Part 3

3rd Person POV

Lying peacefully on the futon, a figure lay with a skimpy and laced outfit that hardly hid her curves. Almost seeming too small, her skin showed up in more than one place. She had light brown hair and if her eyes were opened, you could a pair of lime green eyes. Her name was Lisa and she belonged to a certain organization until just recently. With nothing else to do, she was napping.

Unbeknownst to Lisa, a green-eyed figure had entered her room. The spells placed to alert her of intruders did not trigger since there was no ill will.

Not even a single sound was made as the figure walked with ease toward Lisa. His eyes drifted across her body.

"...lewd."

Shaking his head, the figure kneeled beside her and his hand hovered above her as it got closer. It made its way downward, her unprotected belly, her thighs, and finally until that hand grabbed the quilt of the futon and covered the sleeping woman.

"Ara? I thought a cutie like you would be more experienced and try to take advantage of me." Lisa's voice sounded curious.

"Don't joke around, you are not the type to allow some random guy get to fondle any part of your body. I feel like my hand would've been torn apart from one of your spells." Nora shrugged his shoulders.

"Fufu, is that so? But you never know until you try. You are a cutie and I don't hate you. Your appearance is also to my liking, don't you think you have an opportunity?" Lisa smiled seductively.

Pushing her chest forward, she tried to entice the youth.

"You don't hate me? That is news to me. However, not hating is not the same as liking. Isn't that at the level of what you feel toward ants? You don't hate or like them, you don't even consider their existence in your daily life." Nora argued.

Sticking out her tongue playfully, Lisa got more comfortable in the futon.

"You really can't accept praise honestly." Lisa muttered.  "That way, you won't be popular with the ladies."

"Huh." Nora snorted. "You are dead wrong. If I try to be cold, they turn out to be masochists, if I am gentle, they are fond of that side of me. I am honestly a little confused about what to do about it, how can I make girls dislike me? I mean, I know there is no love involved, but Yasaka-san does get jealous when I get surrounded by women. It is almost like someone is screwing with me. My affinity with women is... Wait, just wait a moment. Affinity towards anything...? No, that is absurd."

Scratching his head, Nora began mumbling incoherently.

"Are you bragging about your luck with women when there is one flirting with you? It makes me a bit angry." Lisa said.

"...I know that you want to make me embarrassed, but stop it. Even if you flashed me your naked body, I won't get shy." Nora spoke. "I won't deny any of your charms, you have a pair of soft-looking breasts, and your rear is tempting, but I have been forced to bath and sleep (sleep, not sex you sicko) with women since I was a kid."

"...hooh." Lisa narrowed her eyes. "...you are saying that my charms are not enough, is that it? Fufufu, I see."

Realizing his blunder too late, Nora wanted to say something but the determined look that Lisa gave him made him understand that anything he said would be useless.

"Ah, whatever. I got plenty of onee-sans trying to seduce me in the Grigory. This one will fail just like them." Nora sighed. "By the way, you said we would collaborate, but... you have been sleeping the whole day."

Unbeknownst to him, his earlier comment spurred more motivation in Lisa.

"It is ok~" Lisa mumbled. "I already did my investigation. There isn't much here, to begin with, so I finished before you arrived. That said, I am letting you do it your way just in case so tell me what you find."

With half-closed eyes, Nora glared at the woman.

"...you proposed a cooperation so you could laze around more, did you not?" Nora asked.

"Oh, did I get found out, cutie?" Lisa giggled.

"Yosh, then this partnership is over." Nora stood up. "By the way, the magical girl has been feeling uncomfortable with how close to me you were last time we were all together so she is itching for a spar with you. Now that we are not allies, I doubt she will hold herself back."

"Wait~ I am joking~" Lisa called out. "I am actually not lying when I said I am waiting for your guys' investigation."

Glaring at her with a raised eyebrow, Nora gestured with his chin to continue talking.

"It is something that only a group could accomplish." Lisa smiled mysteriously.

"I see, good luck with Lavinia." Nora turned around.

"Wait!" Lisa exclaimed. "I am not joking. It is about those spells inscribed around the city. They are normally harmless and at most, they influence someone for short amounts of time. However, while their use is simple and unable to harm people, not to mention that it works for a limited window of time, it has been active for a while now. Even if you broke a few of those inscriptions, people will subconsciously react to the trigger of the spell."

Groaning, Nora turned around and sat in front of him.

Pleased that she caused him to stay, Lisa took off the quilt and rested her body sideways. Flaunting her body to him, she smiled at his troubled expression. She was trying to make him embarrassed and he, despite knowing her intentions, could not simply leave since he had to get the information she had.

"How do you know I destroyed the spells?" Nora asked. "I never mentioned it."

"Please, your good nature will not make it possible for you to leave them alone." Lisa smirked. "If I had never introduced myself as one of the witches of directions back then, you would've become my ally completely."

"So you take me for a fool that would just protect any girl who began acting weak in my presence?" Nora raised an eyebrow.

"Oh my, I never said that. However, you do seem the type to protect the weak. Although, you seem also the type to get mixed up only with ladies..." Lisa mumbled.

"No, no, I know plenty of ladies that are pretty strong. Even more, than me, they could even do the protecting in my stead." Nora retorted. "How could I protect them?"

Snorting, Lisa pointed at Nora.

"Oh, cutie. You should know that physical might or magical might does not mean that women are not delicate creatures at heart. It is not 100% accurate that women are weak-hearted, but even being strong enough can have its downsides. The loneliness it might bring is not easily dealt with." Lisa seriously said.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Nora seemed to be seriously mulling over Lisa's words.

Smiling pleasantly, Lisa found his ability to honestly accept advice very pleasing. In her old workplace, everyone believed to always be correct and loathed when anyone went against them.

"...thanks for this." Nora opened his eyes again. "Now then, everyone just arrived back. I will go and receive them, you... should get dressed."

Sighing, Nora gave Lisa one last looked before standing up to leave.

"Oh my, is there an issue regarding my garments?" Lisa smiled.

"Hey now!" Nora glared at her.

Giggling at his reaction, Lisa noticed that he suddenly-

"I guess you were right." Nora directed his eyes down towards the floor. "I see, so that is..."

Tilting her head curiously, Lisa wondered what he meant.

...

...

...

"Nora!!! Look at what I won!"

A highly spirited voice was heard as Nora made his way toward the lobby of the inn they were staying at. Natsume, Lavinia, and Shigune were entering the lobby, and Natsume held several tickets in her hand.

"...well, someone is in high spirits." Nora smiled wryly.

"There was a lottery being held and we decided to give it a try." Natsume had a big smile on her face. "I won the big prize on my first try."

Getting ahead of the rest, her bright smile was directed at Nora.

"...I hate lotteries." Lavinia sulkily said.

"H-Hahaha." Shigune laughed awkwardly.

Sticking out her chest proudly, Natsume extended her hand towards Nora, with the tickets in it.

Rather than looking pleased, Nora stared coldly at the tickets. Mumbling an apology in a low tone, he grabbed the tickets and there was a gentle green glow coming from his chest, that glow enveloped his hand and when he touched the tickets, they lost all color, turning into white pieces of paper.

"Eh?" Natsume blinked in confusion. "Ehhhhh!!!??"

Sniffing, Natsume looked saddened and her confused eyes were directed at Nora.

"It is a long story, but I will explain when Ikuse-san arrives." Nora sighed. "Sorry, I destroyed your hard-earned (?) prize."

The girls were confused, but they decided to trust Nora.

"M-My tickets..." Natsume still looked shocked.

"Urgh... Ok, I am really sorry? However, I did not actually want to destroy it. This child went acted by itself." Nora pointed at his chest. "Now, not only Tamamocchi does as she pleases, but the magatama is also going through a rebellious phase."

The youth tried to explain his actions but Natsume did not seem to hear him.

"Hehe~ now we are all the same, no tickets team go!" Lavinia mumbled a strange song.

Smiling wryly, Shigune patted Natsume's back.

"It is ok, we originally had no tickets, we are just returning to our natural state." Shigune muttered some nonsense.

It seemed that only Natsume had won anything, and that made the youth more guilty.

"...have this. I call it a Shiki ticket." Nora pulled out a green ticket with his name a miniature black cat. "I shall offer my services once. Any request you might want, although it cannot be anything overly exaggerated."

Natsume finally reacted by snatching the ticket from Nora's hands at an incredible speed. The youth wondered if she had surpassed the limits of humanity in terms of speed.

"You just made this up?" Natsume asked.

Not only was Natsume observing the ticket closely. Shigune and Lavinia had their eyes on the ticket and they looked ready to take it away. However, Natsume narrowed her eyes and swiftly took a few steps away, and moved forward, hiding behind Nora as she glared warily at their friends.

"No, it has been a while since I made them." Nora decided not to retort to what he saw. "I don't hand them over so easily. I struggled with how to motivate the black kitty to study so I came up with this ticket. She became the best in her class in less than a week."

Sighing, Nora had a faraway look.

"There are also tickets such as One-time massage, or Head-pat-filled-afternoon, or a very popular one called All-you-can-eat ticket. They are all very popular and Urakyoto has developed a black market over them..." Nora held his head with both hands. "I just wanted to motivate the kitty, why did it end up creating another dark side in my beloved city, I wonder..."

The girls wanted to protest for not knowing earlier about such a thing, but the youth looked obviously troubled by it so they decided to-

"I am depressed for not getting anything." Lavinia gently asked.

"I-I also failed to win anything..." Shigune shyly asked.

"Sorry, I know that you are eager to get anything but I did not bring anything with me, that one was the one I use to draw new ones." Nora apologized as he checked his pocket. "Ah, wait, I kind of got something else here, I forgot about this. I usually have to make these in bulk since they are very popular."

Pulling out more tickets, they were exactly three more and they were taken at a speed that left Nora speechless.

"I think I have to stop making these things..." Nora mumbled.

"...Nora, can I ask you which areas cover this?" Natsume asked with flushed cheeks.

"One-time massages are basically a full massage, but if you want, I can just focus on an area. It is a thirty minutes course in an enclosed room, I also provide aromatic candles and different kinds of oils to treat your skin. However, I can understand if you find the prospect of a guy putting his hands all over your body, so I can put you on the list of my trusted group of massagers. I trained them myself and they did not become fully fledged until I approved of their skills. They are a group of enthusiastic cat girls."

"No!" "That beats all the purpose!" "Nora-kun's massages are better..."

"No, they are professionals, and how can you tell mine are better... Ah, you know what? Never mind." Nora gave up.

Pointing up, Nora gestured with his chin.

"Go up, I will wait for Ikuse-kun. Go and drag the lazy one with you, the little one is playing video games in my room so go say hi before anything." Nora shrugged his shoulders."She does not show it, but she is depressed and sad that the search has not born any fruit."

...

...

...

Watching as the piece of paper turned white, Nora shifted his gaze towards Tobio who was looking in slightly despair at that.

"...why are you guys so affected by this...?" Nora incredulously asked.

"He has been playing this new phone game lately, it has a terrible rate of success when you try to pull characters so he has been depressed lately..." Sae sighed. "I wonder where did that game come from? Gachas seem like a terrible thing, but I heard that is only getting popular."

"I-Is that so?" Nora sweated coldly. "M-Must be tough."

Like he tried to run away from the topic, Nora gestured upstairs.

"The others are waiting for you guys." Nora said. "Let me take care of something really quickly and I will be back."

Not waiting for an answer, Nora dashed away.

"What...?" Sae tilted her head.

Looking at Tobio that was looking at the paper that had been his ticket a moment ago, Sae wondered how to cheer him up. Nonetheless, her mind was giving her a warning, to not forget the youth's suspicious actions a moment ago. Yet, she giggled and left that thought until there, it is surely nothing after all. Sae was getting used to Nora's eccentric behavior by now so if she began deeply considering every single of his actions, she will get a headache.

"...I will never again, try my luck on any lottery, no matter the reason." Tobio stood up with a determined expression.

"That is what you said last month after failing to get anything during the last event at that time. However, last week you went crazy and began pulling again..." Sae rebuked.

"No, but listen to me, Sae. There was this new character, the intrepid cat and he came with several other characters that form part of his mysterious group. He appeared on the main quest to aid the protagonist while was struggling to beat that queen and her knights. He gallantly fought against the queen who had a spear said to make any wielder anything less than a god, the spear of the ends of the earth!" Tobio sounded excited.

Finding his childish side a little cute, Sae was about to scold him one last time out of routine before her brain reacted. Piece by piece came together and she widened her eyes in realization. She had also played a bit after being pestered by Tobio, and she could tell that the characters and the story were amazing, but there were a couple of times when she found the design familiar. Pulling out her phone, she immediately input the name 'the intrepid cat' on the browser and began the search. In no time, the image of the character appeared along with several links to its page. Tapping the first option lead her to the official character and soon enough, the image of the famous character appeared. It was a young boy of around ten to twelve years old wearing modified light armor to fit his green hakama and white haori. The black hair and green eyes fitted well with the gentle smile the character had and going by the comment section at the end of the page, he was popular among the ladies.

"...I am not sure if telling him will hurt him more than not telling him." Sae mumbled in a gloomy tone.

Recalling how much Tobio tried to get the character and how much he cried during the emotional scenes, he will surely be ashamed. However, the same could be said for Nora who fled the scene.

Thinking until that point, Sae nodded and put her phone back in place.

"Since it is a double edge sword that will hurt both Shiki-kun and Tobio, I will save it for when they both misbehave." Sae concluded.

Two people, one close by and one quite a few blocks away shuddered but none of them could understand the reason for the chill they felt.

"Shall we go?" Sae smiled sweetly as she extended her hand toward Tobio. 

For some reason, the young man felt a little scared of his girlfriend.

...

...

...

"Ahem, sorry for the delay. I had to... do some stuff." Nora said.

As soon as he arrived, Aika practically dashed and hid behind him. The youth cast a wondering look towards the people he left her in care of but they only laughed suspiciously in response.

Sighing, he decided to keep the girl at his side until they found her parents.

"Yeah, stuff." Sae narrowed her eyes at him.

Sweating for some reason, Nora did not dwell on those words.

"Anyways, I think I got the gist of things." Nora mumbled.

"Eh? We have not said anything..." Natsume furrowed her eyebrows.

"You do not need to." Nora said. "I had a chat with our friendly cooperator over there... here? Hey, why did you change locations all of sudden?"

Sitting in a circle, everyone had only left one space for Nora to make the perfect circle, leaving Lisa exactly in front of him. However, the witch smiled mischievously and soon made her way toward Nora.

"How cold~ Even though we SHARED such a passionate conversation a while back." Lisa spoke.

Her words caused some ill gazes to be directed towards her but she seemed obvlious to them.

"Hah, I see. You wanted to take revenge huh." Nora mumbled. "If that is how you are gonna play... I can do this!"

Throwing his body forward, he rolled on the ground and effectively took Lisa's previous spot. Left alone, Lisa had the corner of her lip twitching and a few sparks of electricity surrounded her.

"W-Whoa!" Aika felt danger and she followed Nora's example, although she failed in doing so and end up lying on the ground face up. "Do grown-ups sparkle as they grow older....?"

Her words earned her a few smirks and a glare from Lisa.

"Sure they do. There are even some who aim to be magical girls when they hit middle age." Nora laughed. "Are you interested in becoming one?"

"Not sure about dressing all frilly and girly like that at that age, but I want to do magical stuff!" Aika stared at Nora with stars in her eyes.

Laughing, Nora decided to put the girl behind him.

"If glares could kill..." Nora ignored Lisa. "Anyone who went in groups got the opportunity to hit the lottery, did they not? The prize did not matter, but you saw many people gathered, did you not?"

"Eh, that is correct. We ignored it a few times, but we always felt compelled to try it. We saw many people doing it and saw no harm in it so we gave it a try." Natsume explained and everyone else nodded.

"Is that so? Then, did you see anyone else, regardless of how small it was, to win anything...?" Nora asked.

"Ah, I see." Tobio smiled wryly. "It seems we got played."

"Eh? Wait, what do you mean?" Natsume inquired.

Sighing, Nora tapped his chest and the green light coming from it faded.

"Among the tools I gave you, wasn't there a small bracelet, a pendant, or a pair of earrings?" Nora muttered.

Catching up on his intentions, Tobio pulled out his bracelet and tapped the small stone attached to it. He felt a rush of a warm feeling covering his body and like he had woken up from daydreaming, he blinked.

Noticing his strange reaction, the rest of the group did the same and they all realized their mistake.

"So it was some sort of hypnosis..." Natsume groaned.

"But how did we all fall into that state?" Shigune commented. "I recall carrying a few charms ready to use... Eh? They are..."

"They were ready, but now they were 'turned off, weren't they?" Nora asked.

"Y-Yeah." Shigune shrank from his gaze.

"I am not trying to scare you." Nora smiled wryly. "I think you guys were paying attention to supernatural techniques, but this time, they used something else to lower your guard before using hypnosis."

Holding his chin, Tobio cast a glance at Lavinia, then Shigune, and then at Sae.

"If all the ones who have a focus on magic still got caught in that, then..." Tobio shifted his gaze towards Nora. "It has to be something either more complicated such as a spell capable of affecting beings from even Ultimate Class, although something of that level would've alerted Jin and the rest."

"That is correct, none of the Sacred Gears reacted because there was no real threat." Lavinia spoke. "Nora-kun, when did you find out?"

"Aren't you guys leaving me out of the loop!?" Nastume called out. "You are all speaking like you know what is going on."

Not only Natsume had a question mark above her head, but Shigune, Sae, and Aika who could not understand anything at all had questioning looks.

"No one forced Nanadaru-san to lower her guard, she did it by herself." Nora explained. "It is nothing special, even without magic, humans have been capable of using suggestions and the like to lead other people to do their bidding. Magicians, mentalists, and other people who work in those areas to entertain the public are capable of it. Hypnosis."

"No, but is that even possible?" Natsume asked incredulously.

"They just planted the idea, over and over until your own curiosity made you check the lottery, did it not?" Nora shrugged his shoulders. "Although, I left the maids to confirm a couple of things, and I am sure they will arrive at the same conclusion even without hearing anything I said. Nanadaru-san was made to believe that everything was normal and there was no danger so there was no need to keep her guard up. The same happened to all of you."

"Shouldn't the avatars react...?" Shigune asked.

"None of you was in danger, you just took a piece of paper and you even got happy about it? What is so threatening about that?" Nora smiled wryly. "All of it was harmless from the beginning to the end. That said... there are some pieces of shit who are making use of such a simple thing to do terrible deeds."

Flicking Aika's forehead, Nora pushed her away just when his gaze turned unfriendly.

"Shall we take care of them?" Nora muttered coldly.

"Master, your gaze is so passionate that is almost making Nanami's heart leap off her, I assure you, bountiful chest." Nanami suddenly entered the room.

Wearing a maid outfit with a rather short skirt, she took a pose when Nora's eyes landed on her. Since he did not react as she wanted, the maid winked at him and blew him a kiss and that made Nora finally smile a little.

"That is better, if Master kept glaring at Nanami that way, I am afraid I wouldn't know what to do if I awakened to some strange world." Nanami timidly (?) said.

"Please, don't, I got enough with the ones I know." Nora begged.

"Oh my, does that mean that master would prefer me to be the S? Senpai, congrats, Master would probably accept you, such a sadistic- argh!" Nanami covered her rear.

Entering the room with a deadpan expression, Felis did not look like someone who just shot her collage with a rubber bullet.

"It took longer than we expected, but we have arranged everything to make it seem like Master hired us out of pity after we fell into a situation where we would lose our jobs and end up in the streets." Felis bowed towards Nora. "As you requested, it was made seem like we shared a passionate night yesterday after you brought us here."

"No, uhm, I did not request that. I wanted to make it seem like I would flirt with anyone and would try to bed every girl I saw... I am supposed to be an aspiring scum, not a literal one." Nora mumbled. "I mentioned that to Nanami..."

"Hehe, I forgot." Nanami stuck out her tongue playfully.

Hitting her head cutely, Nanami earned a few more rubber rounds.

...

...

...

"So, we are going to this village next huh." Nora spoke in a spirited tone, as he held Aika in a piggy carry.

"Yes, Sir." Kouki nodded. "The ones in charge of the lottery your friends won have informed us of the details and have made arrangements to receive you. It is quite lucky of you to have won the first prize. Only three lotteries had such a thing and the other winners are already on their way to this village. It is quiet up in the mountains and not many people outside the town know about it, but there is a festival held every year that the locals carefully plan."

A few steps behind Nora, Natsume used a hand to hide the smirk on her face.

"Natsume-chan..." Shigune tried to gesture to her friend to stop.

"N-No, but... Pfft, look at him, trying to act like a proper employee." Natsume was doing her best to not laugh openly.

"T-The festival is for the local god, and they have a miko performing the ritual." Kouki had a vein formed on his forehead, but he did not break his smile. "It is a unique ritual said to be made to bring prosperity to not only the village but the whole region."

Inwardly applauding his self-control, Nora decided to cut him some slack during training and added it to Natsume's. Like she had read his mind, Natsume looked at Nora with a despairing expression.

"That sounds great!" Nora nodded enthusiastically. "I could ask for nothing else. However... Did you prepare what I asked? I don't care if I have to pay more, but I got more companions now..."

Using a knowing smile, Nora pointed at the maid duo who stood out from the rest of the group.

His self-control was put to a test, and he truly did his best so Kouki did not retort to how absurd his friend/employer's request was.

"D-Do not worry, I had made arrangements beforehand since the m-maids in question informed." Kouki had now several veins ready to pop out, but this time it was because he tried to not retort.

Extending his hands towards Nora, he held some vehicle keys.

"Aika-chan, could you grab them for me?" Nora asked.

Hands busy holding her, he could not grab the keys.

The child in question did not seem to be listening so Nora used one hand to support her and hastily use the other one to put the keys into his pocket before holding Aika with both hands again.

"As requested by the maids, I will drive one car and they will drive the other one and you, Sir, have to be in it." Kouki explained.

"No, why did you give me the keys? You should've..." Nora mumbled.

"Sorry, that shorty is too scary." Kouki bowed down ninety degrees.

"...I-Is that so? My apologies, she has a... strong personality." Nora could find the timing to defend Felis after seeing that bow.

Leaving at once, Kouki immediately went towards the van as soon as he saw Felis approaching.

"Tsk." Felis clicked her tongue as soon as she got closer to Nora.

Understanding that asking was a bad idea, Nora wisely kept his mouth shut, or not.

"...what happened?" Nora cautiously asked.

From the distance, Nora's tone was heard clearly since Kouki jumped in surprise and hastily shook his head left and right to warn Nora to not ask.

"He called me... midget maid." Felis glared at Kouki with a killer gaze.

Smiling wryly, Nora could imagine what happened next.

"Well, Felis-san is small." Nora said.

Kouki paled immediately but he slightly anticipated Nora getting attacked.

"...my height will not be a hindrance when performing my duties. I can even use my guns to clean as well so no high place will be a challenge for me." Felis muttered.

"I know. I am not trying to make fun of you." Nora gently said. "I know how capable you are and how much effort you put into performing your duties. Besides, being small, when I said that, I did not mean it to be anything bad. I just think that you are pretty cute, like a doll."

"Are you not afraid that I will empty twenty cartridges of bullets on you, right now?" Felis asked. "You think I will not be able to cover for this blunder and continue my mission?"

"Well, that is up to you." Nora replied. "I don't care if you empty twenty or fifty. If people make fun of you, I will praise you. Besides, I am not doing it just to earn some points with you, I honestly respect you, but I also believe that you are an attractive woman so my praise not only comes from your friend but also from a regular guy. You can consider me a scum, but I guess I am flirting with you?"

Staring straight into Felis's eyes, Nora confidently smiled. The smugness irradiating from him slightly pissed Felis and pulling her gun sounded like a sweet idea, but she ultimately held back.

"I cannot ruin the mission." Felis spoke in a deadpan tone. "I will bring the rest of your companions here."

Swiftly, Felis left the scene.

"Eh? Senpai, are you blushing? Are Nanamin's eyes being deceived? You can't possibly- Ahhh!" Nanami's scream was heard.

With his mouth open as humanly possible, Kouki looked at Nora like he was some sort of monstrosity.

"Oh, crap. I forgot to give her the keys..." Nora ignored the rude gazes.

Not simply limited to Kouki, the group was outside in the inn's parking lot so they attracted a lot of attention and many people were staring at Nora with gazes filled with awe, envy, and even fear.

Finding those gazes rude, Nora walked towards Natsume and Shigune.

"Could you grab the keys?" Nora asked.

He could not just use his tails like usual given that he was acting like a human now and he had Aika who looked even more spaced out.

A little out of it, Natsume, who was also looking at Nora with a strange gaze, reacted by following his words and putting her hand on his pants pocket. Seconds went by and she tried to find the keys suddenly she tilted her head quizzically, and at the same time, Nora widened his eyes.

"Natsume, what did I ask you to grab?" Nora spoke slowly.

"Huh? The keys, but..." Natsume replied with furrowed eyebrows.

Judging from their exchange, inside the pocket, a certain situation had happened.

"...then you have to grab 'the' keys." Nora pointed out.

Freezing in place, Natsume got stuck in place. It had dawned upon her what her hand had been grabbing.

"How about releasing 'me' first?" Nora said. "Hey, I said release, not squeeze!"

"Ah! Sorry, yeah, I will get the keys!" Natsume was panicking.

"I just told you that those are not the keys though!?" Nora raised his tone. "Kya! Help, a pervert is taking advantage of me!"

"Awawawa." Shigune was peeking from the gaps in her hands, the ones she has used to cover her face.

"Hey! Who are you calling a pervert?" Natsume raised her voice.

"It is obviously you! Who else is taking advantage of me in this situation!?" Nora retorted.

Trying to get away, Natsume did not allow him and held him with her free hand.

"You were the one who asked me to do this!!!" Natsume said.

"No!? I asked you to get the keys, not to do whatever you are doing. Do not make it sound like I consented to your debauched behavior!" Nora complained. "To begin with, I am telling you to stop, I will lower Aiko-chan and find them myself."

"No! If I quit halfway, I will just look like the harassing pervert, but if I find them, we can just classify this as an accident!" Natsume's eyes were lacking clarity.

"Don't stay there, help me!" Nora asked.

"Y-Yes!" Shigune acted.

Nonetheless, rather than getting help, Nora became even more troubled for not accounting for how Shigune would react.

"I kind of expected something to go awry, but wouldn't it be nice if things actually worked out!? Why are you putting in your hand as well?" Nora was doing his best to pull away from the two girls. "It is in times like this that I wonder where you get so much strength!!!"

No matter how much he tried, he could not seem to beat the two girls. Soon enough, there was a casualty.

*Rip*

His pant was ripped apart.

This seemed to cause the girls to sober up.

Not only they were left with parts of his pants in their hands, but they both held the keys.

"W-We finally got them... Y-Yay!" Natsume awkwardly raised her free hand in a fist.

Timidly copying that, Shigune did the same.

"...at this point, I wonder who is actually getting all fan service here." Nora looked a little at a loss. "Raikou-san always coincidentally does when I am in the bath naked. Kuroka-chan does that as well, not to mention several of the habitants of my home. It does not matter if it is my private bath, the secret and underground bath, or a bath in one of my properties, the encounter rate of girls is high. Not even my room is spared... I have to change myself using magic because there is always someone intruding as well. I sometimes wonder if I can even be said to have personal space. Hehe, what is even that supposed to be?"

Looking at the youth mumbling to himself and with his destroyed plans, the duo of pants destroyers felt a little guilty.

Before they could cheer him up, another figure appeared. Her white hair stood out a lot, but it became a neglected trait compared to her maid outfit.

"Master... here." Nanami gave Nora an understanding smile.

"...you came to help me...?" Nora timidly asked.

"Nanamin is always in favor of master." Nanami gently muttered.

"You are not going to use this chance to rip apart my shirt too, are you?" Nora cautiously inquired.

"No, who do you take me for, Master?" Nanami was not sure how to reply to that statement.

"A-Are you an angel!?" Nora emotionally exclaimed.

"Fufu, master, oh, master. I am Nanamin, the super perfect and hyper cute maid, made of 1% seriousness and 99% mischievousness." Nanami vowed respectfully.

The ones staying to enjoy the show, expecting a bloodbath, felt the need to retort, but their instincts warned them that getting mixed up with the group was a bad idea.

"Shouldn't those numbers be the other way around? You will only be a prankster with those stats." Nora retorted.

Sighing, he simply took off his pants after explicitly telling Aika to cover her eyes. Given how much he knew about her, Nora was certain that she was bound to peek anyways.

In a swift movement, Nora changed his clothing. His actions left a few people blushing, but he stopped caring about it.

"Nanamin is certain that if she was not a maid, perhaps she could've taken a career as a commedian." Nanami tried to act composed but her cheeks gave away her shyness.

"You know what? I will just go a long with it... Heck, why don't I become a comedian too? Let's just buy some old minivan and go to fullfil our dreams." Nora mumbled.

"...Natsume-chan, I think Nora-kun is broken." Shigune sweated coldly. "We broke him."

"...no, we destroyed his pants. He is usually like that." Natsume replied.

"A cat and a maid, no personal space will be respected. That small space will be our home and we will perform in many places." Nora mumbled.

"...you sure?" Shigune insisted.

"...can we even fix him?" Natsume sweated.

A little unsure if she should take Nora's words seriously, Nanami looked confused.

It took a lot of effort, but Nora gave up on his new found dream after Felis arrived an hour later.

...

...

...

During through the road, the two vehicles kept a certain distance between them. The afternoon sun had hidden behind some dark clouds and the light in the surroundings began to fade. An ominous fog began covering the landscape but the two vehicles  were not paying attention to it.

Driving in one vehicule, Felis, Nanami, Natsume, Aika, Lavinia and Shigune were having a casual chat as time passed. On the other vehicule, Kouki, Sae, Tobio and a reclutant Lisa were having an awkward time since one among them was not pleased with the seating arrangement.

Nonetheless, as the fog worsened, they had to stop and Nora, Felis got down from one vehicule while Tobio and Lisa got down from the other one.

"...talk about sudden huh." Nora mumbled.

The vehicules had the lights on but their reach was greatly dismished.

"The forecast did not mention such a wheater." Felis exclaimed. "Although they are not necessarily accurate, this is..."

"Fishy is a good term to describe it." Lisa observed her surroundings.

"Jin wants to materialize." Tobio said.

Chuckling at that, Nora followed Lisa's example of looking at his surroundings and began walking forward.

"Master, I advice against such a thing. The weather is abnormal and the air feels stagnated and heavy." Felis followed after Nora.

"We should not separate from the vehicules too much." Tobio directed his gaze towards Sae, but he could hardly distinguish her even while squinting his eyes.

"Hey! They suddenly died!" Kouki's yell was heard.

Without the light from the vehicule, that suddenly lost power, the group found it hard to see. Nonetheless, each used their own methods to create some light.

"Oh my, this looks pulled straight from a terror movie." Nora pulled out his phone. "No bars huh."

Just like the vehicules, as Nora checked his phone, it turned off.

"Master..." Felis pulled out a pair of hand guns. "Is this an ambush? Did they notice our intentions?"

"Ah? No, you got it wrong. This is unrelated to the ongoing job." Nora lit a small fireball from his fingertips. "That said, since this is her current job, I wonder if a wild Musashi will jump out of nowhere."

Sounding rather enthusiastic, Nora seemed unbothered by their situation.

"...do you know what is happening?" Tobio furrowed his eyebrows.

Looking around with interest, Lisa followed after Nora who kept advancing.

"Haven't you heard about a group of teens getting stranded in the woods and the trying to find shelter?" Nora asked.

"That is a common plot among terror movies, that is as far as I am concerned." Tobio replied.

"Well, what if I told you there is a possibility that we found ourselves into a possible situation like those in the movies?" Nora smiled.

"I would take Sae and run away." Tobio honestly said.

"Shouldn't you say that you will save your friends or you will rescue the girls as well?" Nora asked.

"If it's the female camp, I am sure you will take care of it one way or another. That said, I am sure they can take care of themselves. Kouki is a tough guy and he seems like the type to survive during the whole plot of a horror movie just with his sheer physical prowess." Tobio shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, but I am not good with horror."

Raising his hands in defeat after being glared by Nora, the Longinus user admitted defeat.

"Master, is that an hypothetical talk or..." Felis inquired.

"This is just a rumor, but there seems to exist a place that many have arrived too, but not many have been able to leave. The location is actually quite vague and no accurate coordinates have been pointed for some reason." Nora nonchalantly said. "Musashi was looking into it since it was a mission so I wonder if I will find her around here..."

"Master what nonsense are you spouting, there is no way..." Felis looked clearly in disbelief.

"One can dream." Nora shurgged his shoulders. "Oh, but I am right about the other thing."

Smiling mysteriously, Nora pointed ahead.

Felis was about to speak up but she looked at the place he was pointing and found an old wooden sign standing there.

"Village... The rest is faded huh." Nora said. "Let's call it Village X since the name can't be read."

"Staying close to you is surely a sure way to find ourselves in a bizarre situation." Lisa commented. "I had read about this, but I never thought I would ever find myself in front of it."

"It is a lovely location for a date you know?" Nora chuckled.

"Oh, are you inviting me for a date?" Lisa narrowed her eyes.

Looking at her, Nora simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, if the situation allows it, I wouldn't mind taking you around Kyoto for a tour, but this place is off limits. The aura it's releasing is no joke, I thought it would be subtle but I guess that several sacred gear users, and a pair of Longinus users as well, are making it wary." Nora said. "So, we won't be going in. Keep Jin unsummoned."

Sighing, Nora glanced at Tobio to take control of Jin who had manifested and was already battle ready.

"In the name of Tsukuyomi-sama, I hereby partially summon your authority, I call for you, Yasakani no Magatama." Nora began chanting. "Vanquish my foe!"

From his words alone, the old wooden sign began tearing apart, from beyond the fog, earie and ghastly screams could be hear and a dangerous aura could be seen getting closer. The air trembled and the fog intensified. However, even as everyone began losing the ability to even see their hands, a gentle gree glow could be seen growing in size. It came from Nora's chest and the youth pointed towards the sign.

"Begone, ghost. I have no business with you today, but beaware. I will hunt you down one of these days..." Nora's words were the trigger.

The gentle glow seemed to explode outwardly and the fog began vanishing around it. When it reached the sign, it caused it to shatter at once and the earlier aura vanished like it never existed and peace returned.

"Yosh, with this baby here, I could quick my job and become an exorcist monk." Nora snorted.

"...Master, my apologies for being forced to ask this." Felis asked. "Were you capable of repelling that since the begining?"

"Yeah, I was just curious since I thought I could find Musashi-chan around." Nora blasfully said.

"Master..." Felis slowly pointed her guns towards Nora. "It is a maid's job to correct her master's behaviour. Next time... don't waste everyone's time!"

Seeing Nora jumping around to avoid being shot, Tobio sighed in relief.

Recalling that aura, Tobio began sweating coldly. It seemed like an easy escape, but Jin communicated with him once it appeared. That was not something they could face unprepared. If Nora did not have the magatama, he would've been obliged to use 'that'.

"What in the world was that thing?" Tobio caressed Jin.

The black dog looked up at his owner with a pair of curious eyes.

"That is dangerous because humans should never deal with them." Lisa's voice startled Tobio. "Putting you and your group on another category given the unique of your abilities. Regular users of the gift of god are no match for it. You usually need a powerful monk or... a sacred artifact to even deal with the lowest of their class."

"...are they that dangerous?" Tobio inquired.

"That cutie, he made it seem pretty easy, but I assure you, if we had fought under those conditions... a few of you would've died." Lisa yawned.

Hearing the bluntness of her tone, Tobio sent a fearful gaze at the place where the sign had been.

"You normally cannot escape once you have entered such a place so it usually means that you are forced to keep going. If you are lucky, you will find the necessary key to leave, but I would not put my hopes on such a thing. They will not obediently let you go, you know?"

Giving one last interested look at Nora, Lisa went back towards the vehicules that became visible once again.

The worried gazes of his comrades made Tobio think that they have evaded a tricky situation because they had Nora. Perhaps a black cat is not always a sign of bad luck.

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