Chapter 80: Chapter 80

Jin’s POV
   Two days later, the annoying exams are finally over. Thank the Gods that both exist and don’t. This is the final one of this particular term, so Jin could rest easy until next year.

   Everyone else in his class is discussing about where to celebrate. But not him. His idea of celebration is holing up inside his apartment and play games for an entire night.

   “Karaoke is the only way to go!”

   “Oh, come on! We should go bowling instead!”

   “Not everyone can bowl like you, Matsukawa!”

   “Before we even decide on where to go, are we supposed to cough up our own money?”

   “Well, duh! Where else can we get the money from?”

   “How about we use the money we got from Cultural Festival? You still have it right, Wakaba?”

   Oh, now this discussion is heading to a good direction. With any luck, they won’t remember that they’re supposed to be having a barbecue party at the place inside his condominium. Now if only this discussion would just end…

   “I do. In fact, I brought it from my house today just in case we might end up needing it.”

   “Wow, how thoughtful of you!”

   “You’re the best, Mama Chifuyu!”

   “Like I keep telling you, stop calling me that!”

   “Hold on, aren’t we forgetting something?” someone asks all of a sudden.

   “What?”

   “Won’t the Secretary try to stop us?”

   That question made pretty much everyone inside the classroom groan.

   “Right. There was her.”

   “That wet blanket will definitely stop us if she heard about this.”

   “So, what now? We’re canceling the whole thing?”

   Even better.

   “What’s the big deal? We can carry on if we’re discreet about it, right?” Estyshana says to them.

   Oh, that demon with a big mouth…

   “Yeah, Esty-san is absolutely right!”

   “Now that she’s out of the picture, let’s continue to discuss about where to go!”

   Jin rolls his eyes. Great. Just great.

   Even without looking, he notices Estyshana’s glance. He can even bet that she’s hiding a smirk.

   In the end, it was decided that all of them will go to the bowling alley.

   “...Hold it, is that place even open?” someone asks.

   “Sure is. My cousin works there, and he said that the place is still open since the building wasn’t damaged from the disaster last night.”

   “Boy, am I glad to hear that!”

   As they discussed, the money used to pay the place will come from the profits they earned from the Cultural Festival. Ah, well. At least the barbecue party is forgotten. And he didn’t even agree to join. He’ll just find an opening and slips away. It’s not like the others care-

   “You’re going too right, Minase-kun?” Watanabe asks.

   “No, I’m not.” he replies bluntly without even looking at her.

   “Why not? Everyone else is going!”

   He finally looks at her.

   “I hate crowds. End of story.”

   “Oh, for the love of- Esty-chan!”

   Suddenly, Estyshana walks over to him and link her arms with his.

   “Come on Jin, don’t you want to have fun with me~?” she asks while looking at him with a tear-filled eyes.

   Jin sighs. Of all the time for her to be acting like this…

   “...Fine. I’ll go.” he relents grudgingly.

   “Yay, that’s more like it!”

   “I knew I could count on Esty-chan to persuade Minase-kun!”

   To avoid suspicion from Date Jr., the students of class 2-2 are to leave the classroom by small groups. Needless to say, Jin was forced to go along with Wakaba, Watanabe, Ayumi and Estyshana whether he likes it or not.

   “I could have been at my comfortable home playing video games. Instead, I have to hang out with normies…” he grumbles as they’re walking down the hallway.

   “A little social life every once in a life is good for you, Minase-kun.” Wakaba says to him.

   “As if. I’m fine with being all alone, thank you.”

   “Don’t worry, Minase-kun. All of us here are your friends.” Watanabe says as she pats his shoulder.

   She pauses.

   “Well, except Esty-chan. I’m sure that you want her to be something more.”

   “Leave me out of this, Anri!”

   While they’re talking, they’ve already reached the front school gate. Once again, Date Jr. is standing right next to it.

   “You there, your necktie is loose! And you! What’s with the messy hairstyle! Do you think you can slack off just because school over is over?” she chides the students who’re seen breaking school rules.

   Jin sighs silently. And here he thought she has slightly changed after realizing how much of a horrible person she is when she sent multiple people to hospital. Looks like it was just wishful thinking.

   Her training, along with Kubo’s and Rei-san’s have been put on hold due to the Shiranui incident, not to mention that Jin and Date- Jr.. have exams to take. The exams are already over, so Jin is planning to have the training resumed tonight.

   As the gang is going near her, she narrows her eyes. Her stare is cold as ice, but she didn’t say a thing to them. It would seem that going home while being in a group of mixed genders is a-okay in her book.

   “She’s as stiff as ever, huh?” Watanabe says after they’re well out of her earshot.

   “A leopard can never change her spot, as they say.” Jin comments.

   “Still, she looks better than how I thought she would be, considering the fact that she’s suffering from PTSD.”

   “Bah, what she went through won’t give her PTSD. Even if she did, she should just suck it up. I mean, I suffered much worse, and I still got over it.”

   “Are you sure you got over it? Cause your personality’s very twisted.”

   “No fair, Anri! I was about to say that!” Estyshana complains.

   “More importantly, I think we should be alert now that we’re outside the school.” Watanabe says with a serious tone.

   “What got into you all of a sudden?” Jin asks.

   “Chifuyu is carrying a lot of money, remember?” Watanabe reminds him. “We need to be vigilant until we reach the bowling alley.”

   “...That’s it? And here I thought you’re being serious for once.”

   “I am being serious! What if we get robbed on the way?”

   “On broad daylight?”

   “It might happen, you know!”

   Now that she mentioned it, Jin was accosted by some thugs right after he took out some money from an ATM. It was only the intervention of Sergeant Wakaba and Date that those thugs got out there unharmed.

   “Don’t you worry, Anri. I doubt anyone is desperate enough to rob students who travel in groups.” Ayumi assures her.

   “But, that’s the point ain’t it? We’re just some vulnerable students!”

   “Speak for yourself…” Jin mumbles.

   Watanaba suddenly looks a lot calmer.

   “Oh, right. I keep forgetting that you’re not a normal student. Esty-chan and Ayumi aren’t, either.”

   “Exactly. So calm down, will you?”

   “Right, maybe I should ease up a little.”

   Soon, they reach the busy part of the city. The part where there were only minor damage that occurred after what happened two nights ago.

   “...You know what, I’m sorry for what I said earlier. Rather, thank you for what you did, Minase-kun.” Watanaba says to Jin as they’re passing by a half-wrecked building. “You too, Esty-chan and Ayumi.”

   “What’s this all of a sudden?”

   “The damage here might be much, much worse if it wasn’t for you guys, right?”

   Jin waves off her gratitude.

   “I barely did a thing. Her boss did most of the job.” Jin says while pointing at Ayumi.

   “That’s right. Shuzo-sama was the one who ended the conflict peacefully.” Ayumi agrees. “Besides, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. The area around Kameda suffered lots of damage.”

   “When we got back, some housing areas were basically turned to ruins.” Jin recalls.

   “Yes. It might take months for them to be rebuilt.”

   Estyshana shrugs. “At least us, and the humans who lived in those houses, are still alive right?”

   “Yes, that’s the most fortunate part.”

   “I just wish our school was destroyed too. Then we didn’t have to go there, or even better, taking exams.” Estyshana grumbles.

   “Esty, that’s a bad thing to say!” Wakaba chides.

   “How so? She’s right, you know? What’s the point of going to school, anyway?” Jin asks.

   Wakaba rolls yer eyes.

   “Why is it that whenever the two of you are on the same wavelength, it’s always about hating school and similar things like that?”

   “By the way, what happened in the end last night?” Watanabe asks curiously. “I wanted to ask during lunchtime, but there were too many people around.”

   “To cut a long story short, the leader of the youkai has surrendered. Right now, she has probably arrived at Fushimi Shrine in Kyoto so that she could be house-arrested.” Ayumi answers.

   “So, the leader of the ghosts are gone, the onis are our allies, and the youkais have surrendered. Does that means that everything is back to normal now?”

   “Well-”

   “Hey, come back here!”

   An old man who’s wearing an old robe suddenly runs out from a ramen shop. A man, presumably the owner (he’s at least an employee, judging from his uniform), hot on his heels. Now that Jin takes a closer look, he realizes the old man isn’t exactly a man. For one thing, his head is shaped like a gourd.

   “Oh look, a nurarihyon.” Jin mutters.

   “The leader of the onmyoji agreed to let certain less harmful youkais come over here, as long as they’re not causing too much mischief.” Ayumi continues as she’s watching the chase.

   “That’s the youkai that always barge into someone’s house and act like it’s their own, right?” Watanabe asks.

   “Actually, the real nurarihyon is a type of youkai that are difficult to catch. They weren’t supposed to be dine-and-dashers.” Ayumi explains.

   Jin remembered something that Yamauchi said when they met for the first time. About how the looks and behaviour of youkais are based on the thoughts of humans.

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   The shop owner(?) soon came back. He’s scowling, and he’s grumbling under his breath. It’s clear that the nurarihyon got away.

   “Aren’t you going to do something about it?” Watanabe asks Ayumi.

   “Not really.” the onmyoji replies. “It might sounds irresponsible, but my job is to exterminate youkais that harm humans’ lives, not capturing mischievous ones.”

   Watanaba shrugs.

   “If you’re fine with it, I guess I’m not in a position to complain.”

   Jin raises his eyebrow.

   “You’re actually not going to be all self-righteous like the Secretary?”

   “Why should I? It’s not like I can do something myself.”

   “Huh, now that’s surprising coming from someone who always charges in to trouble.”

   “Hey, I’m not always reckless, okay?”

   “Good luck trying to convince someone that…” Wakaba mumbles.

   Soon, they reach the bowling alley. When they got inside, they find that most of their classmates have arrived sooner than they did.

   “About time you people show up! We’ve been waiting for ages!” one of them tells Wakaba. “Can you pay for our entrance fees already?”

   “Hold your horses Hide-kun. Let’s see…”

   She looks around and notices that some of their classmates aren’t here yet.

   “We’ll wait until the rest of our classmates are here.” she decides.

   A collective groan is heard.

   “And I don’t want to hear any complains.” she says. “How would you feel if they started having fun without you?”

   “Fine, fine. We’ll wait for them.” someone grumbles.

   “Jeez, Mama Chifuyu is strict as always…”

   “That’s it. The next person who calls me mother will be thrown out.” Wakaba growls.

   “Now that’s going too far, Mama Wakaba.” Jin provokes on purpose.

   Wakaba gives him a look.

   “I won’t fall for that, Minase-kun. Rather, it’s more of a punishment to you if you stay here.”

   Jin clicks his tongue.

   “Ah, well. It was at least worth a try.”

   While waiting for the others to arrive, Jin wanders around the bowling alley by himself for a bit. This place is surprisingly huge, with as many as 40 lanes. Their snack bar is quite large as well, although the menu is nothing grand.

   And that’s it. There’s not much facilities inside a bowling alley, after all.

   He looks towards where his classmates are gathered. A few of them are still missing. He sighs. When oh when can this torture finally ends?

   Suddenly, he receives a text. He takes out his phone to inspect it. It’s from Nyri.

   After being constantly bugged by her, Jin bought her a smartphone. But not before establishing a few rules, of course.

   “No buying things online. Don’t pick up calls from numbers you don’t recognize. You can make in-game purchases, but your budget is limited to 10,000 yen.” he told her firmly.

   Naturally, she had no choice but to agree, or she’s not getting one. So far, she has been controlling herself. So far.

   “Will you be late again today?” the message reads.

   “Maybe. I’m at a bowling alley right now with my classmates.” he replies.

   “...You’re actually socializing?”

   “I was forced to, okay? My point is, I might take a while to come back.”

   “Sure. I’ll just go visit Aiko again if you took too long.”

   When Jin went to the Yamasaki household to bring back Nyri the other day, Shoko-san has told him that Nyri, along with him, is always welcome in this house. She even went so far to tell him that she doesn’t mind letting Nyri stay in their house permanently.

   “It’s no big deal, really. I was already taking care of a daughter, anyway. One more little girl won’t hurt.” she said.

   Jin was honestly torn between wanting to accept the offer so that he could be rid of that shut-in dragon and causing trouble for the Yamasaki family. In the end, he chose to bring Nyri back to his apartment. He’s not that evil.

   “Minase-kun, everyone is already here, so we can get the bowling session started.” Wakaba comes over to tell him.

   “Does that mean I can leave now?” he asks innocently.

   “...Were you listening to me?”

   “I was. And I asked you that question since I might not be needed.”

   “Not a chance. You’re bowling, and that’s final.”

   “Are you sure you want me to? I might end up wrecking this place when I throw the ball.”

   She pauses when she heard that.

   “...You’re not actually going to do that, are you?”

   Jin shrugs.

   “I did said that I might.”

   “Um-”

   “Kidding. Of course I won’t do that. I know how to control my strength.”

   She puffs up her cheeks.

   “You know, I can never tell whether you’re being serious since you have a poker face all the time.”

   “Well, deal with it. This is pretty much my normal expression now.”

   “Ah, we’re wasting time here. Come on, I put you in the same lane as the rest of the usual gang so that you won’t feel too out of place.”

   “I thank you for your consideration.” he says sarcastically.

   “I can do without your sarcasm. Now go and have your shoes changed.”

   As per told, Jin goes to a counter so that he could get a shoe suitable for bowling. Wakaba waits patiently until he was done.

   When they got to their designated lane, the others have already started to bowl. It’s Estyshana’s turn, and she throws the ball towards the pins with an understandably awkward movement. The ball rolls in a straight line for a few seconds before going into the gutter.

   “This is harder than I thought…” she mutters.

   “It’s okay, Esty-chan. Just keep trying!” Watanabe encourages.

   According to the electronic panel hanging from the ceiling, it’s Wakaba’s turn next.

   She picks up a ball and stares at the pins. She takes a deep breath before throwing the ball while having a really beautiful form. The ball managed to strike all the pins.

   “Wow, you’re as good as this as ever Chifuyu!”

   “You’re just like a professional!”

   “Nice strike there.”

   And no comments from Jin. He’s impressed, but he find it unnecessary to say that out loud.

   Wakaba turns around and smiles.

   “It was nothing.” she says modestly.

   “You know and I know that’s not true. Now come on! Let it rip!” Watanabe says excitedly while getting up and putting both her palms in front of her.

   The two girls did double high-fives. Estyshana and Ayumi also did the same. Wakaba goes to Jin with her hands raised to her front.

   “You too, Minase-kun.” she tells him.

   “Yeah, no.”

   “I’m going to stand here until you do it.” she says adamantly.

   Jin sighs and did a double high-fives with her, albeit extremely reluctantly.

   “And now it’s your turn. Remember to have fun.” she tells him.

   He gets up from his seat slowly and goes to choose a ball. He picked up a few and finds that all of them are next to weightless. The worst part is, he’s not even casting Strengthen on his muscles. In the end, he chose the heaviest one of them all. Once that’s done, he faces the pins.

   “Just relax and try not to throw the ball too hard.” Wakaba tells him.

   “Got it.”

   “And get the ball to the gutter if you can.” Estyshana encourages.

   Jin turns his neck to look at her.

   “I know how this works, and that ain’t it.”

   She shrugs at that. “It was worth a try.”

   Jin looks at the pins again. He steps forward and throws the ball, careful while being extremely careful not to use his full strength. The ball rolls and rolls until it hits all the pins.

   “Well that was easy.” is all he said.

   “You actually managed to hit all the pins? No fair! You definitely cheated!” Estyshana wails.

   He smiles condescendingly at her. “I guess I’m better at this than you.”

   He could see some veins on her face pulsing.

   “We’re having a bet over this.” she declares.

   “Sure.” he agrees. “What’s the wager?”

   “The loser will have to do one thing that the winner demands.”

   “Fine, but no crazy demands, okay? Especially demands that require self-harm.” he sets down the rules upfront.

   “Of course not. I’m not that crazy.”

   “Good, now then, what’s good? Hmm, a nurse sounds nice. Wait, maybe a cheerleader…” he thinks out loud.

   “...Wait a second, what are you mumbling over there?”

   “Oh, don’t mind me. Now whose turn is it? Ah, go ahead, Watanabe.”

   “Wait wait wait. Seriously, what are you going to make me do once you win?”

   “Why are you so worried? It’s fine if you win, right?”

   He pauses.

   “If you can win, that is.”

   She grits her teeth.

   “Oh, I’m so going to win and make you do something embarrassing…” she growls.

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