Chapter 73: Chapter 73

Chinatsu’s POV
   Chinatsu is currently engaging a large group of youkai along with her colleagues and a few soldiers from the SDF. She’s not that familiar with Japan folklore, so she could hardly name any of the youkais that they’re fighting. That said, it’s not that importantly anyway.

   Some of the youkais have too many teeth, some have none. A few have scales, some have fur, and a few of them could pass as humans based on their outer appearance were it not for their long necks, single eye or other bizarre features. Whatever their appearances, all of them are dead set on killing any humans they see.

   The only weapon given to Chinatsu was a handgun, so all she could do is to shoot those youkais that have weak defenses. Those that have scales or wear armors have to be left to her colleagues or soldiers with heavy weaponry.

   BANG! BANG! BANG!

   There. Three headshots, three youkais gone. Chinatsu holds the record of being the second best sharpshooter in the Police Stations of the entire Tokyo area, bested only by Captain Yamasaki. In situations like this, she’s really glad that she’s a good shooter.

   Amidst the confusion, a female youkai with a long neck has managed to coil her neck around Chinatsu’s body. She calmly aims her gun at the youkai’s head-

   Click! Click!

   Great. Her gun’s out of ammo. She quickly checks her bullet-proof vest that stores all her spare magazines. Of course, they chose this exact moment to run out.

   “I need ammo!” she requests loudly.

   Lieutenant Kawayama tossed her one.

   “Use mine!”

   “I owe you one, lieutenant!”

   She quickly reloads. Once done, she fired two shots on the youkai’s forehead. She goes down without a sound. The neck that were coiling around Chinatsu also loosens up. She takes a deep breath to calm herself before continuing with the extermination.

   However, that wasn’t necessary anymore. She sees two silhouettes on the sky, and she could tell who they were immediately. In an instant, all the youkais were either turned into huge blocks of ice or being electrocuted by lightning. Everyone else is gaping in surprise, but not Chinatsu.

   A few seconds later, two people land on the spot right in front of Chinatsu. One of them is obviously Minase, and the other is supposedly Esty. Chinatsu says supposedly since instead of a red hair, this girl has gray ones. She’s also wearing a mask that covers the top half of her face.

   “Say, you’re Es- I mean, the freeloader at my house, right?” she asks her just to make sure.

   The masked girl pouts at the question.

   “That’s so mean, Chinatsu! Don’t you recognize me?”

   Yup, it’s her.

   “Well don’t blame me. For starters, you have gray hair. And there’s also that mask of yours.”

   Esty touches her hair.

   “Oh, this? I used a simple illusion to make it look like it’s a different color from my original one. It stands out too much, after all.”

   “Wow, you’re actually using your brains? I dread for the weather tomorrow.” Minase says.

   “Oh, I would punch you if it weren’t for that helmet of yours.”

   “All right you two, settle down now. We received tons of youkai sightings around the city, so we need to get rid of them as soon as possible. To make that happen, we need the two of you to concentrate.” Chinatsu tells them.

   “Isn’t it easy if we just nuke the entire city?” Minase suggests.

   “...I beg your pardon?”

   “Good idea. It’s too much of a pain to look for them. Might as well blow everything up.” Esty agrees.

   “Hey, wait a minute-”

   “Man, I’ve always wanted to do this. Especially after I’ve played that old zombie game.”

   “Oh, you mean Resident Corrupted 2?”

   “You actually know that game? That’s surprising.”

   “Listen to me-”

   “I watched several people playing them on the internet. I didn’t really play it myself.”

   “Well, we’ll talk about it later. Right now, I have this place to blow up. After everyone has evacuated, that is.”

   “Sure.”

   “No, as I’m keep on trying to tell you-”

   “So that’s how it is sergeant. Please make sure to evacuate all the civilians and yourselves. After that, give me a moment as I-”

   “The two of you, I need you to sit down on the floor.” Chinatsu says to them sweetly.

   They obliged obediently. Minase is sitting with his legs crossed, while Esty is hugging her knees.

   “Please go on ahead first. I have a few things to tell these two.” Chinatsu tells her colleagues.

   “Kawayama, Ito and Yoshida, stay with her just in case there are still some youkais lingering around. The rest of you, move out!” Captain Yamasaki orders.

   “Yes, sir!”

   Once that’s being taken care of, Chinatsu turns her attention to Minase and Esty.

   “Listen carefully, you two. Just because you can do it, it doesn’t mean that you should.” Chinatsu begins to lecture while resisting the urge to snap. “Do you know how much damage this city will suffer if we nuked it for real?”

   “But it’s too much of a pain~!” Esty complains.

   Chinatsu steps forward and uses her fingers to stretch the demon’s cheeks.

   “And who’s going to pay for all the repairs? You?” she demands.

   “Owie owie, I’m sowwy for spweaking owt of twurn~!”

   Satisfied, Chinatsu let goes of Esty’s cheeks.

   “Now then, any other suggestions that doesn’t involve blowing up the city?” she asks them.

   Minase raises up his hand.

   “How about turning this entire place into a huge ice block?”

   “Denied!” Chinatsu rejects immediately. “Why does your solution always involves freezing things up?”

   “Not true. I suggested nuking first this time.”

   “That’s not the point here! Next!”

   Esty raises up her hand next.

   “How about setting this place up on fire?”

   “How about no? Next!”

   “Literally turning this city upside down with gravity magic.”

   “Killing everything with poison mist.”

   “Submerge this entire city under water.”

   “Hey, you stole that from that famous movie!”

   “Did not. I didn’t even watch it, for starters.”

   “Then how did you know about the movies ending?”

   “I got spoiled when I surfed the wrong site.”

   “Anyway, that’s a good idea too. Let’s take things one step further and add electricity.”

   “Sounds good. That way, even amphibian youkais can’t survive. What say you, sergeant?”

   Chinatsu sighs and rubs her foreheads with her knuckles. Her head is aching. A lot.

   “Listen, I know the two of you have tremendous power, but this is a bad time to use them. A really bad time.” she says to them as calmly as possible.

   “How so? We need to do a clean-up operation, and these solutions that we provided are swift and efficient.” Minase states.

   “Exactly! Just choose one of them already, Chinatsu!” Esty agrees.

   Little by little, Chinatsu is losing her patience and temper. She was not expecting these two to be this difficult to deal with when they’re together.

   “There such a thing as being too efficient, don’t you think?”

   “Nonsense. If it works, it’s a good plan.” Minase disagrees.

   “Just, do things the normal way, okay? Patrol the area, search for stray youkais, eliminate them as you see fit, that sort of things. And no turning buildings into ice blocks, no setting things on fire, no poison mist or acid rain or whatever-”

   “Say, does she always nag this much when she’s at the house?” Minase asks Esty softly.

   “Almost never. I mean, that role was already filled by her younger sister.” she replies with a voice just as low.

   “-no turning the city upside down, no submerging it into the bottom of the ocean-”

   “Can you imagine if she’s like this all the time?”

   Esty shudders.

   “I don’t even want to. Having one nagging mother is more than enough.”

   “ARE YOU TWO LISTENING?”

   “Yes, ma’am.”

   While Chinatsu is continuing to list out the things they’re not allowed to do, Minase brings out a plastic cup with a straw attached to it out of thin air. There’s some kind of dark-colored liquid inside the cup. He slightly pushes open the visor of his helmet and drinks the content of the cup through the gap by using the straw.

   As for Esty, a pack of potato chips appeared on her hand out of nowhere. She opens it up and starts munching on the content.

   “Oh, is that seaweed-flavored?” Minase asks Esty.

   “Sure is. You want some?” she asks back while passing him the bag of chips.

   “Don’t mind if I do.”

   “I’m getting kind of thirsty. Can I have some of those soda of yours?”

   “Sure. Here you go.”

   “...What are the two of you doing?” Chinatsu couldn’t help but ask.

   “Eating.”

   “And drinking.” Esty replies after taking a few sips from the straw.

   “In case you two didn’t notice, I’m giving you a lecture here! Now put those things away!”

   They complied without complaining.

   “...Say, are the two of you actually hungry?” she asks them.

   “To be completely honest with you, yes.” Minase answers.

   “We came here directly from school without eating our dinner.” Esty continues to say.

   “I see. My bad, then.”

   “If you’re really sorry, you should show it!” Esty tells her.

   “What do you want me to do, then?”

   “Treat us to a meal right after this!”

   “Silver Wolf aside, mother made you dinner.”

   “Some other time, then. I want to go to a place called izakaya.”

   Chinatsu furrows her eyebrows.

   “You want me to bring two minors to a bar?”

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   Minase reaches out his gauntlet-clad hand to point his index finger at Esty.

   “Actually, she’s-”

   He was interrupted as Esty kicks his side. The kick lands, and a loud metallic “clang!” is heard.

   “-much, much, much older than she looks.”

   “You got way too many much in your sentence!”

   “Well it’s true.”

   “And don’t you know it’s rude to reveal a lady’s age?”

   Minase looks around.

   “Lady? What lady?” he asks. “I don’t see any around.”

   He then stops and looks at Chinatsu.

   “Um, present company excluded, sergeant.” he tells her.

   “I’m here too, you know!” Esty growls.

   Chinatsu clears her throat loudly.

   “All right, we’ve wasted enough time already. Just go out there and continue with what you were doing. And remember, don’t do anything that I forbid you from doing.”

   The two of them look at each other.

   “What did she forbid us from doing again?” Esty asks softly.

   “Don’t ask me. I was barely listening.” Minase whispers.

   Chinatsu takes a deep breath and exhales loudly to calm herself. The two of them took the hint. Esty opened up a portal and steps through it. Minase, on the other hand, is still here.

   “By the way sergeant, K, Reina and Hanya Mask are all out of commission for the night.” Minase informs before he leaves.

   “Are they injured?”

   “Reina was, but she was treated. As for K and Hanya Mask, let’s just say that they were suffering from mental and psychological damage.”

   “Understood.”

   After they left, Chinatsu lets out a sigh and rubs her temple again. She really hopes that she doesn’t have to do this often, or it’ll definitely be bad for her sanity.

   “Let us go as well.” she tells her colleagues that remained with her.

   “Must be pretty tough with you if you have to deal with them all the time.” Lieutenant Kawayama tells her sympathetically.

   “Thank you. Silver Wolf alone was pretty bad, but when, well, she’s around, it gets even worse.”

   To think that she used to be afraid of Minase. Now he’s like a tiresome younger brother to her. As if one tiresome younger sister wasn’t bad enough.

   “Speaking of her, who was that? I don’t think I heard any report about her.”

   Chinatsu hesitates for a few seconds. She wonders how much should she tell them.

   “Well, she’s a denizen from Ifezan. Due to certain circumstances, she’s currently freeloading at my house.”

   This is not a lie. She merely witheld certain parts of the information.

   “Is she trustworthy?”

   This time, Chinatsu didn’t hesitate.

   “She is. She can be pretty handful at times, but we can definitely trust her.”

   “All right, then. I trust you. Still, to think that Silver Wolf has a girlfriend…”

   “Um, actually, those two aren’t going out.”

   Her three colleagues look at her with a dumbfounded expression.

   “You’re joking right, sergeant?” Officer Yoshida asks Chinatsu.

   “I’m pretty serious. Last I checked, those two aren’t a couple.”

   “You, you can’t be serious! Those two were acting so lovey-dovey that it’s hard to believe that they’re not!”

   “They even shared a drink like it’s the most normal thing in the world! Only a couple can do that without dying in embarrassment!” Ito, who’s a sergeant like Chinatsu, says.

   “Hard to believe or not, they’re not together.”

   “But, they like each other, right?”

   Chinatsu grins.

   “Oh yes. That much I’m certain.”

   “So it’s only a matter of time, then.”

   Chinatsu’s playful expression drops and turns into a sad one. Based on the history they have that were told by Esty, she’s really worried.

   “...Well, it’s up to them in the end.” was all she said.

   “Well, enough with the small talk. We’re still on a mission, so let’s get to it.” Lieutenant Kawayama tells the other three.

   “Yes, sir!”

Jin’s POV
   Somehow, Jin and Esty ended up at the same place even though they didn’t agree to a meeting spot prior. Even though the demon is wearing a mask, he could still tell that she just rolled her eyes.

   “At this point, I think we should tell each other the location that we’re going so that we won’t bump into each other.” she grumbles.

   “Actually, you’re the only one who would hate that.”

   Half of her face is being hidden from her mask, but it’s still clear that she’s blushing.

   “Just, stop saying things like that, okay? It’s bad for my heart!”

   “Why do you think I’m saying it in the first place?”

   “Grr, you’re so annoying…”

   Jin looks around. This area seems to be free of youkai.

   “Do you want to walk around a little before we hit the sky again?” he asks Estyshana.

   “No. There’s no way that I’m going to be caught walking together with you if I can help it.” she tells him bluntly.

   Figures. Her feelings towards him has always been a love-and-hate, but the hate part appears more most of the time, including right now.

   “...Alright then, I guess we’ll probably see each other at Kameda Shrine later.”

   Jin starts to walk towards an alleyway to search for some youkai that might be hiding inside. A few steps later, he hears some footsteps coming from behind him.

   “Weren’t you going somewhere else?” he asks without turning around.

   “I just felt like I want to stay here for a bit.”

   “Man, you’re such a pain.”

   “That’s right, the demon you fell in love with is a big pain. Deal with it.”

   Turns out that the alley is empty, so is the entire part of the city that they patrolled. It’s like they’re inside an abandoned city.

   “It’s so quiet in here.” Estyshana whispers.

   “Why are you whispering?”

   She gasps.

   “I, um, I was just trying to match the atmosphere.” she says with a normal tone.

   “When there isn’t a need for that?”

   “Just shut it, okay?”

   “I wonder if we’ve already defeated all the youkais that came out of the portal.” Jin starts mumbling to himself.

   “Maybe we did. I don’t know about you, but I’ve killed close to 50 of them.”

   “Well, my kill count was close to 90, but I’m not too sure. Still, I doubt we killed most, if not all of them.”

   “Did you mentioned that number just to compete with me?”

   “You’re imagining things.”

   The two of them stuck around for a bit longer before Ayumi called Jin through his phone.

   “What’s up, Ichihara?”

   “Please come to the Kameda Shrine right now with Esty-san, Minase-kun.” she tells him.

   “Did something happen?”

   “Not at all. It’s just that all the youkais have either ran away or been exterminated, so the rest of us decide to have a strategic meeting.”

   “Got it. We’ll be coming over soon.”

   “What did she say?” Estyshana asks after he puts away his phone.

   “They can’t find any more youkais, so we could call it a night. We need to head to Kameda for a while, though.” he summarizes.

   “Aww, do we have to? I’m really starving here!”

   “I guess you could go back to the Wakaba household and bring the food to the shrine.” he suggests. “And I’ll be doing the same.”

   Not to mention he has a hungry dragon to feed.

   “See you later, then.”

   “Yeah, see you.”

   With that, they went their separate ways. When Jin got back to his apartment, Nyri is watching the television with a dejected look.

   “About time. I thought you’ve forgotten about me.” she grumbles.

   “Yeah, sorry about that. The operation tonight took a while, even for me.”

   “You could have just make things easier and turned this whole place into a wasteland.”

   “You think I didn’t want to? I was stopped by Sergeant Wakaba. Anyway, I’ll get down to cooking, so wait for a bit longer.”

   “Sure, it’s not like I’ve been waiting for a while already.”

   “I can do without your sarcasm, thank you very much.”

   Jin starts cooking, and he made Nyri’s share before he started with his just so he could prevent her from starting an earthquake when her stomach growls. After everything is done, he pack his share of the dinner into a takeout box.

   Nyri raises her eyebrow in surprise.

   “Are you going out again?” she asks.

   “Yup. I need to head to Kameda. Now be a good dragon and watch the place while I’m gone.”

   “When am I not?”

   “Just don’t order too much food and keep the gaming and television-watching to a minimum.”

   With those warning, Jin leaves his apartment with the takeout box.

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