Phase 14: I Won't Ever Get Used to This Workplace
A/N: Happy New Year! It's the start of a new decade and I thought a nice way to celebrate was finishing these chapters. Once again, it became way longer than I expected. One chapter turned into a double chapter. Anyhow, I believe they turned out quite good.
I'll be continuing my AU fanfiction this year too. Hope those who keep reading enjoy it as much as I do!
Standing in front of the building in Library Island, there was a forever fourteen vampire boy, a Yatagarasu with the appearance of a teenage girl with long black hair in a side ponytail and white skin, a bespectacled man with spiky black hair wearing the same waiter uniform as the latter two, and a robot constructed with the body of an attractive blond young man wearing an unkempt get up with lab coat and sandals.
From the lake surrounding Library Island, youkai had emerged. A tearai-oni, resembling a hairy man in fundoshi with the size of a mountain, and three ushi-oni, monsters that look like giant spiders with the head of a deformed ox.
At the sight of this, the Yatagarasu Kuromaru was the only one that recognized this situation as alarming.
"W-What is happening here? Why are these youkais here?" she tried to think of a positive option for once. After all, she already knew Fairyland Hall housed youkai. "Oh, I know. They must be residents of the inn too, right?"
"Nope," Ikkuu said with a calm face. "These are part of the Onigawa-kai. A different kind of youkai group in the city."
Kuromaru narrowed her eyes. "Different kind?"
"HEEEYA!" the tearai-oni shouted at the top of his lungs. "YOU IMMORTALS OF UQ HOLDER! TODAY YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY FROM US!"
Kuromaru understood that line wasn't good.
"Think of them as yakuza," Gengorou said without irony.
Kuromaru was faced by another word she didn't know, but decided to not let it show this time.
Touta talked next. "If we don't do something, there'll be nothing left of this place."
"Wha-?!" Kuromaru exclaimed.
"Ikkuu, do you think you can handle the tearai-oni on your own?" Gengorou asked.
"Leave it to me!" Ikkuu made a V hand sign. "I already called my armament."
Just as Ikkuu said that, an object fell into the lake from the sky. An earthquake shook everything. The wavelength caused the feet of Touta, Kuromaru, Ikkuu and Gengorou to lift from the ground.
Kuromaru took a look at the large object that had arrived.
"A giant machine?!"
It was a giant robot that looked out of a mecha anime. Its size was that of a mountain to face up the tearai-oni. The tearai-oni walked through the river and prepared to punch the giant robot.
Ikkuu who was standing in Library Island, moved his arm.
The tearai-oni threw his fist at the giant robot. But the giant robot blocked the attack. Ikkuu threw several punches and then a flying kick in the air. At the same time, the giant robot used those same moves against the tearai-oni.
The tearai-oni was knocked into the lake. Water splashed everywhere like of it was raining. Thankfully, Gengorou activated a magic shield to protect himself and his fellow immortals from getting soaked.
"Ikkuu, what have we talked about you not getting carried away with your mecha fights? Take the precaution needed," Gengorou said in deadpan.
"Oh, my bad!" Ikkuu made an apologetic hand sign. "I'm right on it!"
He then moved his arms; a motion the giant robot emulated. Ikkuu got into a motion as he was picking up something and throwing away. At the same time, the giant robot lifted the tearai-oni with both arms and launched the youkai in the air and right over Library Island. The tearai-oni landed in a somewhat distant section of the lake.
The giant robot set out flying with the rockets in its back and feet. After flying over Library Island, it landed in the nearby where the tearai-oni had fallen. The giant robot then unleashed what appeared to be three missiles from its body. The missiles made impacted in three points of the lake and were embedded like pillars. A large barrier shaped like a triangle trapped the giant robot and the tearai-oni inside it.
"That should be alright, Gengorou," Ikkuu gave a thumbs up.
"Good enough," Gengorou nodded. "Since you're taking care of that, I, Touta-kun and Kuromaru-kun will deal with the ushi-oni."
"Roger that," Ikkuu made a salute.
Ikkuu activated the rockets on his main body's back and arms. He then flew away to be at a closer distance to the tearai-oni vs mecha ring battle.
As this all happened, Kuromaru was just standing in front of the library building with a dumbfounded expression on her face.
"I knew this place was abnormal since I was brought here, but… What kind of insane place have I ended up working in?"
"Kurou-rin! Don't get left behind!"
When Kuromaru realized, Touta and Gengorou were running away from the library building. This was because the ushi-oni were making their way towards Fairyland Hall. Deciding she had no option but to go along with this, Kuromaru turned on her heels and followed Touta and Gengorou.
"Can some of you explain why must we fight these youkais?" Kuromaru questioned.
"This is all part of UQ Holder's job," Gengorou answered. "We must protect Fairyland Hall where the youkai representatives are andbe the ones to fight the youkai who are out for this place to avoid conflicts between youkai species."
Kuromaru frowned. "But I thought I and Konoe-kun aren't officially part of this Yukyu Whatever."
"UQ Holder," Gengorou corrected. "And that's right; you two are mere employees who aren't among our ranks. However, both of you are still classified as immortals (being a vampire and a Yatagarasu kami) and by your job description, you're obligated to help out in fights like these."
"I wasn't told of that until now!" Kuromaru reproached.
"That's because I wanted this part of the job to be a surprise," Touta explained with a wink.
Kuromaru made a mental note to punch Touta after this was over.
Library Island was the bigger body of land in the lake. However, there was another smaller island near it. This was where Fairyland Hall was located. The three immortals in waiter uniforms crossed the bridge that connected the two islands.
They made their way to the shore. The three ushi-oni were approaching.
Gengorou made the first step forward with a handgun in one hand and a katana in the other. "There's three of them and three of us. I would say we should fight one each."
"Sounds good to me!" Touta said cheerfully.
Kuromaru wasn't enthusiastic about this at all, but she knew she had no way out now. From her pocket, she pulled out the red origami crane that was her shikigami. It exploded in a cloud of smoke and Asama took her red phoenix-like form.
"Asama, my sword and paper charms."
Asama followed her master's orders. A kusanagi sword and several paper charms came out of the jewel in Asama's chest. Asama turned back to her paper crane form and attached herself to the kusanagi's pommel.
Kuromaru turned to Touta. "Konoe-kun, where is your weapon?"
"Ah!" Touta held his head in his hands. "I forgot to go and pick Yunagi in our room!"
"Really?" Kuromaru stared in disbelief. "You remember bringing it with you for shopping, but you forget it when an imminent battle is about to take place?"
"That's because this thing always happens so suddenly! I don't have time to prepare!" Touta said in his defense.
An object got thrown at Touta. The boy's hand caught it in reflex. He was surprised to see what it was.
"Yunagi!?" The 160-cm long shirasaya was back in its wielder's grasp. "Awesome!"
"But who threw it?" Kuromaru asked the right question.
Gengorou ran towards one of the ushi-oni at high speed. He fired three magic bullets from his handgun. From each bullet, a magic circle formed. Each one represented a different element. One was of fire, other was of electricity and the last one was of ice. A storm of fire blast, thunder and ice spikes fell upon the three ushi-oni.
The ushi-oni trio launched their counterattack. They opened the big mouths of their ox heads. A pitch-black and foul-smelling mist-like substance came out. The ushi-oni fired it like blasts and it collided with Gengorou's fire, electricity and ice attacks.
*BOOM*
A small explosion occurred.
"Hmm," Gengorou didn't show much of a reaction. "The toxic gas of these ushi-oni is quite strong," his lips formed a small smirk. "Good. I get a bigger chance to show how competent and relevant I am."
Kuromaru and Touta stayed at the shore and whispered at each other.
"Wow, Gengorou-dono really is bitter about how little focus he receives."
"Give him a break, Kurou-rin. Gengorou-san was one of those who got the shortest end of the stick in terms of panel time in the original."
"You are not wrong, Konoe-kun. I heard the only reason why Gengorou-dono even had that one mini-arc is because he has the seiyuu famous for saying 'I'll kill all titans'. Although, Gengorou-dono still came out looking better than more than half of us, especially the other me," Kuromaru heavily sighed.
*BANG* *BANG* *BOOM*
The sound of bullets firing and blasts caught the teenagers' attention again.
"We better join the fight, Kurou-rin," Touta took off Yunagi's scabbard. "Gengorou-san wouldn't miss the chance of completely stealing the scene!"
Touta turned on his heels and threw himself into the action. One of the ushi-oni threw the toxic gas from its mouth at Touta. The boy used instant movement to avoid it again and again. He made a high jump and used instant movement midair again. He reappeared on top of the ushi-oni's back.
"Shinmei-ryuu Secret Technique: Raimeiken!"
Yunagi's blade produced lighting and Touta swung it down to attack the ushi-oni.
*KA-KOOM*
The ushi-oni was left fried and letting out smoke near the shore. While it appeared to be dead, that attack should only knock out a youkai of this level.
Touta stood victorious on top of the ushi-oni.
"Woohoo! A one-hit win!" Touta jumped on the defeated ushi-oni's back to celebrate.
Gengorou took a look at Touta's victory. "Hmph. You seem quite motivated today, Touta-kun. For the sake of not letting you take all the spotlight, I'm going to end this with a single move too."
It was time to get serious. Gengorou took off his glasses and stored them in his pocket.
In Gengorou's uncovered eyes, the whole world looked different. Think of what anyone sees when playing a video game, all the way to the stats and life bars.
The chosen mode was one vs. one. The stats Gengorou's eyes gathered were the following,
Enemy - Ushi-oni
Boss Level - 21
Special Move – Toxic gas
Attack – 40
Defense – 9
Vitality - 100
Gengorou needed a big attack to reduce that vitality to zero in a single attack. And he had the perfect combo for that.
He pressed an option in the menu that only he could see. Bright marks of cobalt color appeared in his hands and other parts of his body covered by his clothes.
The ushi-oni fired its toxic gas at Gengorou. But it was too slow.
Gengorou was moving at a superhuman speed that no human eye could be able to keep up with. He attacked the ushi-oni with his sword. Because of the tons of afterimages, it looked like there were several Gengorous slashing the ox-spider youkai in different parts of its body at the same time.
And with each cut Gengorou made in the ushi-oni, he stored points. His eyes could even see the numbers he was gaining. As the points went up, a bar in Gengorou's vision went higher and higher. Once it reached the top, letters appeared in Gengorou's vision.
[Finishing Move – READY!]
Gengorou jumped up and pointed his handgun at the ushi-oni.
*BANG*
He fired a magic bullet. But this one had something different. It formed three magic circles instead of one and they were larger than those of the first bullets.
Dozens of light blasts came out of the magic circles. The ushi-oni fired more of its toxic gas to nullify the attack again. It didn't work. The rays of light bypassed the toxic gas with ease.
The ushi-oni took a direct hit from Gengorou's finishing move. The youkai was sent flying several meters in the air and fell into the lake.
Gengorou returned to the shore with a triumphant smirk.
Touta, who was already at the shore, rolled his eyes. "Big show-off."
"How is Kuromaru-kun doing with the last ushi-oni?"
"Oh, I would say good," Touta pointed to the right with his thumb.
Meanwhile, Kuromaru had used her paper charms to create a shield around herself and deflect the toxic gas the ushi-oni fired from its mouth. This was a way to borrow some time while she finished her incantation.
The ushi-oni's giant ox head and two front spider legs began smashing the shield protecting Kuromaru. Despite that, she stayed focused on casting her spell.
"I invoke the heavenly power of the yang! May the ever-burning sun answer my call! Come forth-"
What was supposed to come next was the name of the attack. But something unexpected happened. Just when Kuromaru was about to finish, the hits the ushi-oni to the shield caused it to crack.
The ushi-oni was going to launch the toxic gas from its mouth. And Kuromaru wouldn't have time to avoid it.
"Kurou-rin! Watch out!"
Touta and Gengorou were about to throw themselves into the fight to help Kuromaru out. But someone else acted first.
Kuromaru didn't know what had happened at first. Before she could even think how to defend herself from the ushi-oni's toxic gas, she had been forcibly moved out of the way. She found herself being carried over the shoulder of a man.
"That was a close one."
The one who said that was a man who looked in his early thirties. He was wearing a yukata and his reddish-brown hair was tied in a samurai ponytail.
At the last second, this man had jumped between Kuromaru and the ushi-oni to move her out of the way. He took Kuromaru off his shoulder and put her back in the ground.
Kuromaru threw a glare at the man as if saying she didn't need him to save her. In return, the man smirked and gave a playful head pat to the young Yatagarasu. This only made her more annoyed at him.
"Jinbei-jiisan! Kurou-rin! Behind you!"
The ushi-oni was running at full speed towards Jinbei and Kuromaru. It yelled something in its monstrous voice.
"SHISHIDO JINBEI! IT IS TIME TO SETTLE OUR DEBTS!"
Kuromaru acted fast and summoned five of her lesser shikigami. The cute and little black birds wearing hats with flames flew towards the ushi-oni. The shikigami inflated like bellies like balloons. Potent fire blasts came of their beaks. This was enough to hold the ushi-oni back.
Jinbei whistled in amazement. "Ya got some cool tricks, kiddo."
*BANG* *BANG*
Spikes of ice and metal emerged from the sand of the shore. Right beneath Jinbei.
Of course, Jinbei had managed to dodge the spikes right on time. That didn't change that he was pissed off at the one responsible.
"Gengorou! What the hell are ya doing?!"
Gengorou, who still had his handgun pointed at the ground, gave his justification. "My apologies, Jinbei-san. I should warn you to not appear so suddenly to avoid getting caught in the crossfire."
"How's that crossfire?! Ya obviously were trying to get me!"
"It was a little failure in aiming," Gengorou excused.
"Liar!" Jinbei reproached. "Everyone here knows it's literally impossible ya miss because of those eyes!"
*CLICK*
Gengorou prepared to fire his handgun again.
"Be careful, Jinbei-san. Kuromaru-kun needs assistance and there is a hundred percent of certainty my aiming will get both targets this time."
"So, ya admit yar targetin' me too!?" Jinbei threw his arms in the air.
"I do not need your assistance, Gengorou-dono" Kuromaru said. "A single Yatagarasu is more than enough to defeat a mere youkai like this one."
Kuromaru's lesser shikigami were still launching fire blasts at the ushi-oni. However, the toxic gas of the youkai was starting to get the upper hand. It was time for Kuromaru's finishing move.
Kuromaru was carrying one paper charm in her hand. She tossed it in the air.
"I invoke the heavenly power of the yang! May the ever-burning sun answer my call!"
She held out her kusanagi sword horizontally in front of her and pressed it against the activated paper charm.
"Come forth: Solar Hurricane!"
The offensive spell lived up to its name. A spiral of fire was created from the paper charm. The ushi-oni was caught in the center of it and blasted into the lake.
The fight was over. All that was left was three badly beaten and roasted ushi-oni letting out smoke in the lake.
"Alright!" Jinbei clapped his hands to call the attention. "Gengorou."
"Yes," Gengorou pulled out a different kind of gun from his magic storage.
*bang*
It fired. But instead of magical ammo, a giant fishing net came out of the gun muzzle. With this, Gengorou trapped one of the beaten ushi-oni. He repeated the same thing with the other two ushi-oni.
Now that the three ushi-oni were trapped in a fishing net, Gengorou grabbed them from the ends of the net. He processed to drag them around the shore with only the strength of his right hand. Touta and Jinbei acted as if this was normal, but Kuromaru's eyes widened at seeing Gengorou's superhuman strength; she was the one with the normal reaction.
Gengorou dragged the three ushi-oni in the fishing nets until he reached the entrance of the bridge in Library Island. Touta, Kuromaru and Jinbei had followed.
Kuromaru had gone along with this until now, but she still had questions.
"We defeated these ushi-oni, but what are we supposed to do with them now? Do we finish them off or…?"
"Shit, no!" Touta rapidly shook his hand. "We only needed to knock them out to cast the spell."
"Spell?" Kuromaru raised an eyebrow.
"Wait a moment," Gengorou said. "We're still lacking the tearai-oni. Is Ikkuu done with his fight?"
"I'm just done!"
Ikkuu came down flying from the air. Right after he landed, the giant mecha Ikkuu controlled walked through the lake. He was dragging the tearai-oni who was full of bruises in the face and he looked like he had been blasted by a few lasers. Because that's pretty much what happened.
Ikkuu and Gengorou placed the tearai-oni and the three ushi-oni on the side of the bridge connecting Library Island to the Mahora Magicus City.
As he automatically moved the giant mecha, Ikkuu made small talk.
"What a surprise to see you here, Jinbei-san. You normally don't show up for when this sort of thing happens. Mostly because of Gengorou's 'stray bullets'."
Jinbei shrugged. "Ah, ya know. Joinin' in is fun every once in a while." He gave a side-way look at Kuromaru who wasn't paying attention to him. "Besides, I wanna see how the newbie was doin'."
"Uh," Ikkuu stared curiously at Jinbei for a second. "Since when did you become such an attentive boss?"
"Oi," Jinbei grimaced.
"Everything is ready," Gengorou announced. "Ikkuu, give that to me."
"Here," Ikkuu threw an object at Gengorou.
It was a small cylinder-shaped tube. Inside, there was a shiny liquid. Once he caught the tube, Gengorou loaded another handgun with it.
Gengorou pointed at the unconscious tearai-oni and ushi-oni.
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
The shoots hit the heads of the four youkais.
"Wait," Kuromaru frowned. "I thought you said we weren't going to kill them."
"And we aren't," Touta said. "Wait and see."
Magic circles appeared in the heads of the tearai-oni and the ushi-onis. Their eyes opened and turned the same color as the liquid.
Gengorou stood up on the railing of the bridge. He used the manaphone in his right hand in the modality of microphone to let his voice be heard loud and clear.
"UQ Holder has already paid their debts to you."
After saying that, Gengorou pulled out another handgun of a different model from his magic storage.
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
Gengorou once again shot at the four youkais. Instead of injuring them, the battered bodies of the youkais were magically healed.
The tearai-oni and three ushi-oni stood up, turned their backs on Library Island and walked away. They submerged into the water of the lake, disappearing in the same way they had appeared.
With that settled, Gengorou regrouped with his fellow immortals. Everything was back to normal as if the battles haven't happened.
"Good that we could finish that quickly today," Gengorou said in his emotionless voice. "At least they didn't send that many this time."
"Eh, the Onigawa-kai like to send their biggest guys for debt collection because that's more intimidating," Jinbei commented.
"Although, I think they should know that doesn't work with UQ Holder!" Ikkuu added with a grin.
Meanwhile, Touta stretched his arms. "Welp, that excitement is over. I'll go back to the inn."
Everyone was about to go back to the inn, but…
"Hold on!" Kuromaru yelled, throwing her arms in the arms. "What was that just now about?"
"Oh, yeah," Jinbei said disinterestedly. "Ya still don't know how are around here."
"Because you tell me nothing!" Kuromaru criticized.
"Calm down, Kurou-rin," Touta held out his palms. "Those were debt collectors. No biggie."
Kuromaru blinked. "Debt…?"
"That's right," Ikkuu nodded. "You see, Fairyland Hall has been on a bit of a… rough position financially for the past few years."
Gengorou took over the exposition. "Our establishment was made with the plan that we would receive donations from the Yukihiro Conglomerate and the Konoe family in Kyoto. However, because of the incident four years ago, the order of the entire world was disrupted. We became a very minor priority in terms of economy."
Kuromaru's face was sweating. "Then… Does that mean this place is dirt poor?"
Gengorou sighed while he adjusted his glasses. "Unfortunately, we don't have something awfully convenient like a multibillionaire loli to finance our establishment."
"You sure like being specific, Gengorou-san," Touta said in deadpan.
Kuromaru's eyes widened. "S-So, you turned for those 'yakuza' youkai to borrow money because of that…"
"Not exactly," Gengorou looked at Jinbei with murderous eyes. "Our 'respectable' leader took a large portion of the savings of the establishment and had the brilliant idea of using it to bet on the horses. We ended up almost completely broke because of that. He then turned to borrowing money from youkai groups in the city behind our back."
Jinbei whistled in a not quite innocent way.
"That's how it is," Touta laughed. "We have debt collectors coming here twice or thrice a week!"
"Twice or thrice!?" Kuromaru jumped from the shock.
"Oh, but it isn't a problem," Touta waved his hand while smiling carefreely. "Ikkuu-san can make a magic potion to hypnotize people. So, after beating up the debt collectors for a bit, Gengorou-san just needs to shoot them with a bit of the potion and they'll just go!"
Ikkuu scratched his cheek. "Although, my potion is still far from perfect. It wears off after a little more than a week and the debt collectors come back."
Touta grinned brightly like he always does. "Anyhow, that's nothing to be worried about Kurou-rin. Just think of handling the debt collectors as another chore to do around he-"
Before Touta finished his sentence, Kuromaru wasn't listening anymore. She wasn't even standing in front of him.
The immortal men saw Kuromaru running at high speed through the bridge of Library Island.
"I heard enough!" Kuromaru shouted. "You are all weirdos and perverts! And you're also deep in debt with dangerous youkai groups?! There is no realistic way I can ever pay back my twenty-million-yen debt here! I'm leaving!"
Kuromaru was going to run into the city and get as far away from Fairyland Hall and its crazy immortals as she could. Or at least, that was her plan.
The moment her left foot made a step at the end of the bridge and out of Fairyland Hall's territory, something happened. Kuromaru's right thumb was glowing. She didn't notice until…
*BAAM*
Kuromaru tripped over and fell right on her face. She immediately tried to get up, but she found she could. Her entire body wasn't doing what she ordered it to. Her legs were tightly closed no matter how hard she tried to move them. Her arms also felt like they were glued to her body. As if she was being restricted by invisible ropes.
"W-What is happening to me?!" Kuromaru kept trying to struggle, but it was futile.
"This is the geas ya made," Jinbei stood beside Kuromaru. "Ya have a sentence to complete here, remember? This is what'll keep ya from runnin' away from here."
That was right. Kuromaru had entered that geas contract before her duel with Touta. Honestly, she had forgotten about it. Even though she had been told geas contracts bind its contractors to the conditions. Now, she knew how literal it was.
"Grrr!"
Kuromaru crawled like a caterpillar to go back into the bridge. As soon as she did, her arms and legs loosened up. She was free to move again.
A hand was being offered in front of Kuromaru's face. Touta wanted to help her get back up. But Kuromaru refused it. After throwing a glare at Touta, she stood up and looked at the four immortal men surrounding her.
"I see now that it's impossible for me to escape," Kuromaru sighed. "No matter how long it takes, I will find a way to pay off that twenty-million-yen debt and get away from here," she walked past Touta, Ikkuu and Gengorou. Her eyes had a sullen look in them. "I won't ever get used to this workplace."
Kuromaru crossed the bridge and headed back to Library Island. The four immortal men just kept staring at her.
"Man, I feel so bad for doing this to Kuromaru-kyun," Ikkuu said with honest guilt.
"Why should we feel bad?" Gengorou crossed his arms. "She committed serious security infractions and caused major property damage. We're being merciful by giving her a place to stay and work instead of locking her up."
Touta ran his hand across his hair. "Yeah, but Kurou-rin is pretty much a clueless kid that was kept sheltered by a bunch of hikikomori kami. Can't say she's really at fault for how she handles things," he made his hands into fists. "Isn't there something we can do to make her feel more at ease here? At this rate, she'll end up hating this place."
Gengorou slightly frowned. "I think she already does."
"That settles it!" Jinbei spoke up.
Touta turned at the man in yukata. "Jinbei-jiisan?"
Jinbei made a cocky smirk. "Immortals, we'll have a special operation for the end of the day."
After the 'minor occurrence' with the youkai debt collectors, the immortals of Fairyland Hall had returned to the inn. Ikkuu went back to his workshop and Jinbei, well, just disappeared off somewhere like he always does.
Meanwhile, Touta and Gengorou had gone to the kitchen. Touta was preparing the ingredients and Gengorou was taking out a huge number of dishes and cutlery from the cupboard to clean them.
Kuromaru was sitting in a chair near them. They knew that she couldn't cook and by no means should be let touch a plate. Instead, they left her the task of peeling potatoes.
"I have a question," Kuromaru spoke up.
"What is it, Kurou-rin?" Touta asked while he kept cutting vegetables.
"Does this place really doesn't have any stable source of income?"
Gengorou was the one who answered, in his deadpan tone. "Why are you asking that when you already saw the debt collectors?"
Kuromaru let out a sigh. "I was just thinking that maybe you could make some money if you let humans and demihumans from the city stay here. This complex has more than enough space, from the looks of it."
"Oh!" Touta said impressed. "That's Kurou-rin for you! So smart and clever!"
Kuromaru pretended to not care about Touta's compliment, but her cheeks still reddened.
"Don't think that's a great idea," Gengorou kept his hands busy with the plates. "Even though we live in a world where the supernatural creatures are known to the public, a lot of humans and demihumans still have trouble associating with the most monstrous types like youkai."
"I see," Kuromaru simply said. She didn't seem surprised by the fact.
Gengorou continued. "We do have a restaurant here, but we have never attracted much customers."
"And why is that?" Kuromaru asked.
Touta answered this time. "Because this place has something of a reputation of a haunted house in the city. Those who come here are only looking for a test of courage. What a waste! If enough people tried my food, we would definitely be crowded here."
"Ouch!" Kuromaru exclaimed.
Touta dropped the cutting knife and hurried to Kuromaru's side.
"What's wrong, Kurou-rin?!"
Touta's eyes widened when he saw Kuromaru's right index finger.
"Kurou-rin! You're bleeding!?"
"I cut myself with the knife. It's nothing," Kuromaru tried to dismiss it.
"Of course, it's something, Kurou-rin," Touta grabbed her right wrist. "Let me see that!"
Touta carefully looked at Kuromaru's bleeding finger. Thankfully, it seemed to be a small cut. Nothing to worry about, much less for an immortal like Kuromaru.
"But shouldn't the cut have stopped bleeding already? Oh, yeah. Immortals are all different. I remember her arm and legs took a while to regenerate back then."
Touta's train of thought was interrupted when the scent of Kuromaru's blood entranced him. It just smelled so delicious, so irresistible. Without Touta himself realizing, the smell alone was making his mouth water.
Kuromaru exaggeratedly raised an eyebrow when she saw the face Touta was making. "Konoe-kun?"
Touta wasn't listening. It seemed his mind was absent. Driven completely by his vampiric instincts, Touta leaned in and put Kuromaru's right index finger in his mouth.
"WHA-!?"
Touta was so deafened by his bloodlust that Kuromaru's scream didn't reach his ears. All he could think of was the supremely tasty blood in his mouth.
Kuromaru could feel Touta's tongue licking her finger. His tongue was enthusiastically stroking every part of her finger and in every direction. Kuromaru had no idea of what to do. Her face was heating up and her head was feeling dizzy. Unconsciously, she started breathing heavily.
After Touta was done with the licking, he began making sucking noises. He felt like he couldn't stop drinking this blood. If he could, he would drink nothing but this for a thousand years. That was what his instincts yelled. His heartrate was going crazy and blood rushed to his head.
It was the same sensation as when Kuromaru let Touta bite her. Through this bond created by blood drinking, Touta and Kuromaru momentarily felt like they were sent to Heaven.
"Hey, you two. Why are you making noises like you're in a porn?"
Gengorou's dry voice snapped Kuromaru back to reality.
"K-K-KONOE-KUN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Kuromaru pulled back her arm, getting her finger out of Touta's mouth. The vampire boy tried to grab Kuromaru's hand again, like a baby wanting to reclaim his bottle. In reaction, Kuromaru slapped Touta in the face with her left hand.
The vampire boy flew all the way cross the kitchen. He was going to clash against the boxes containing the vegetables and other ingredients.
Fortunately, the boxes ended up being safe. Gengorou had managed to catch Touta before the impact.
"That's it," Gengorou said in a forceful voice. "Kuromaru-kun, you're banned from the kitchen until further notice."
"Eh?!" Kuromaru stood up from her chair, causing it to fall down. "B-But, Konoe-kun was the one doing something weird to me! Why aren't you banning him too, Gengorou-dono?"
Touta, being held up by Gengorou's arms, made a V with his fingers. "Because I'm the star chef here!"
Gengorou carefully put Touta down in the floor. "We need to feed a lot of youkai here to avoid a rampage. Kuromaru-kun, if you keep destroying the dishes and the food, soon there won't be an inn anymore. Get out of here at once."
Kuromaru didn't say anything as she hung her head down. She clenched her fists and bit her lip in frustration.
"So, even here it's like this…"
Kuromaru mumbled in a voice so quiet that Gengorou couldn't hear her. Touta, however, was able to hear her with his hypersensitive vampire hearing.
After that, Kuromaru ran out of the room. Even though Touta and Gengorou couldn't see her expression, they could tell she appeared to be almost crying from frustration.
"Hey, Gengorou-san," Touta crossed his arms. "Don't you think you were too harsh back there?"
"I only took the required action as the manager," Gengorou adjusted his glasses. "I actually think I went easy on that kid. Did you forget how I was to you in your first days of work?"
"How could I?" Touta huffed. "I still get nightmares every once in a while," he stared at the door with a concerned look. "I still wanna go and check on her. She looked very upset."
Gengorou could tell Touta was truly worried and sighed. "Fine. You can take ten minutes of break."
"Gengorou-san!" Touta looked at his manager with starry eyes. "You do have a heart, after all!"
"But don't be late for even a second. Or else…."
Gengorou pulled out his handgun to finish his statement. When he realized, Touta had used instant movement to leave the kitchen.
Touta tried to find Kuromaru as fast as he could. He couldn't waste even a single second of these ten minutes. He had followed her almost right away, so she couldn't have gone far. While he didn't like it much, he decided to rely on his nose to find her. A vampire's sense of smell is even better than a dog's or so Touta heard.
In less than a second, Touta was able to track down Kuromaru's scent. He found her sitting at the Japanese roof of the inn. She was hugging her knees with a sullen look in her eyes.
Touta used ki manipulation in his feet and ran up the walls. He then took impulse and made a high jump. He made an excellent landing right next to Kuromaru.
"Konoe-kun?!" Kuromaru's expression was a mixture of surprise and anger.
"Hey there, Kurou-rin!" Touta made a salute. "What's up with you sulking up here? I know Gengorou was a bit harsh back there, but believe me, it could have been worse. At least he didn't use his gun."
Kuromaru turned her face away. "I am the one who should be asking why you are at this roof, Konoe-kun," she strongly hugged her legs. "You are the one who is needed at the kitchen."
Touta exaggeratedly tilted his head. "I'm just checking on you. It's a senpai's duty to make sure his kohai is doing well."
"I am not doing well, thank you for asking," Kuromaru squeezed her eyes shut. "Besides, you are partly responsible that I got kicked out from there," her cheeks reddened. "Because you were d-d-drinking my blood without asking."
Touta's cheeks also blushed slightly. He felt awkward as he scratched his head. "I do owe you an apology for that. Although, I'm a bit tempted to say you shouldn't be exposing blood with such an enticing aroma in front of a vampire if you don't want it to get sucked."
Kuromaru glared at Touta's clumsy attempt at an apology. "I have to admit that I am a little relieved to see Konoe-kun is a bit like a vampire when it comes to lack of self-control over drinking blood from people."
Usually, Touta behaves so much like a normal human that Kuromaru almost forgets he's a vampire. She doesn't like that.
Touta placed his hand on his chin as he thought for a moment. "It's very weird. Normally, I don't have that much of a problem holding myself back at the sight of blood. Eva-baasan said that must be because the blood supply I get from her keeps my blood cravings regulated," Touta didn't pay attention to how Kuromaru twitched at the mention of Evangeline's name. He crossed his arms and leaned back his head. "But it's totally different here. Kurou-rin's taste is divine."
"AH?!" Kuromaru's face became the color of a tomato. "How can you say such embarrassing thing like that?!"
"I'm just saying the truth. Your blood is the most delicious thing I have tasted in my human and vampire lives," Touta said as if it was nothing to be flustered about.
Kuromaru groaned at Touta's super inappropriate casualness. "I made the right decision when I chose to sleep on the roof instead of the same room as you."
Kuromaru covered her neck with her hands and looked at Touta with distrustful eyes. Standing beside her, Touta looked at Kuromaru acting like he's a blood-drinking monster targeting her. He made an ironic smirk.
"I'm not gonna lie; I'm dying to drink your blood again at any time, Kurou-rin," Touta admitted with sheer honesty. He chuckled when he saw Kuromaru getting a meter away from him. "But if it makes you uncomfortable, I'll make sure to ask for permission from now on. You have my word on that."
Kuromaru blinked a couple of times before she finally lowered her hands from her neck. "I-Is that so…?" While she only knew Touta for a few days, she at least had the feeling he was a boy who wouldn't back on his word. "Good," she simply said in response. "But I'm still not willing to sleep in the same room as you."
"That's alright," Touta shrugged. "I'm not gonna force you to do that."
Kuromaru clicked her tongue. "Funny you say that after you bound me to work at this place with a magic contract," she hugged her knees more tightly. "And there is not a single thing I can do here without ruining it. Am I going to be trapped here forever? What will happen to my task as the miko?"
"Come on, Kurou-rin. I'm sure there's a job here just for you."
Kuromaru turned away from Touta. "Do you believe that? You already saw how well I do at being a janitor and helping at the kitchen."
"Yeah, that was a fiasco," Touta said bluntly. A gloomy Kuromaru sank her face between her legs. "But Kurou-rin, it's probably just that housework and cooking are my thing. As my partner, your specialty must be another one."
"Partner?" Kuromaru turned to look at Touta with a frown. "I haven't agreed-"
"Let's see," Touta interrupted Kuromaru's protest. "Ikkuu-san makes the Tecno Magica devices and dating sims, Gengorou-san is in charge of the machinery and administrating the inn, Jinbei-jiisan… is just Jinbei-jiisan. So, what's Kurou-rin's forte?" he looked up to think. While Touta stared at the image of the Reflection Dimension in the sky, he recalled Gengorou mentioned earlier the restaurant of the inn never succeeded at attracting normal clients. An amazing idea suddenly came to him. "I got it!" Touta tapped his fist against his palm.
"Eh?" Kuromaru's eyes narrowed. "You got what, Konoe-kun?"
"Kurou-rin, you're super cute!"
"WHAT?!" Kuromaru's face let out smoke like a boiling kettle. "W-W-Why are you saying that out of nowhere?!"
Touta kneeled down beside Kuromaru. His face was full of excitement. "Someone as irresistibly cute as you is what this place's restaurant has been missing! Kurou-rin, you're perfect to be Fairyland Hall's poster girl!"
"Poster… girl?" Kuromaru said the last word with undisguised disdain.
Touta noticed this and held out his palms. "That's just a general term! What I mean is that people from the city will definitely come to admire your otherworldly beauty, Kurou-rin. Meanwhile, I can cook five-star dishes that will leave the clients licking their plates. Together, you and I can make Fairyland Hall's restaurant the number one in Mahora Magicus City! Just another show of why we're one of the greatest duos ever!"
Kuromaru placed a finger in her chin as she considered Touta's idea. "I am not sure about the 'greatest duo' part… But what you're proposing might be a viable option for me to earn money here. Except…"
"Expect what?" Touta asked.
Kuromaru trailed off. Her expression was a bit unpleased. "I… am not sure if I like the idea of becoming a simple face to be admired by the clients."
"Uh?" the ends of Touta's eyebrows lowered. He didn't understand Kuromaru's issue that well. "Then, don't think of it that way. You said Yatagarasu seek to be revered by mortals, right?" he saw Kuromaru nod. "In that case, consider that the restaurant customers would be coming to pay their respect to the godly beauty of the Yatagarasu! How is that that?"
Kuromaru hugged her knees more tightly again. "I suppose it is more tolerable for me if I look at it that way… Although, it would be better to avoid turning the restaurant into a cult."
*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*
"What is that noise?" Kuromaru asked.
"It's my manaphone," Touta opened the holographic screen in his right hand. "Shit! I need to go back to the kitchen now! See you later, Kurou-rin! I'll go straight to Gengorou and tell him all about the 'Poster Kurou-rin' idea!"
Touta waved his hand and set out running through the roof. Soon, he disappeared from sight.
Now alone at the roof, Kuromaru sighed and looked up at the sky. The opaque image of the Reflection Dimension wasn't something she was used to yet. She missed the sky that could be admired in the island of her tribe; the one that only had a sun and clouds.
"A right job for me, uh? Hard to believe that exists."
Kuromaru's contemplative thoughts were abruptly interrupted when she saw something coming at her direction. It was a large cloud of smoke. Touta was the one making it as he ran at maximum speed through the roof.
"Kurou-rin!"
Touta put the brakes on his feet. The speed in which he was moving nearly caused him to fall from the roof, but he managed to keep his balance.
"Konoe-kun?" Kuromaru was startled.
"I forgot to ask you!" Touta said while sweating and gasping for air. "What kind of food do you like?"
Kuromaru blinked at the out of nowhere question. "Yatagarasu only eat hot and spicy foods-"
"Hot and spicy! Got it!"
Touta turned on his heels and ran off at the same superhuman speed in which he arrived. All that was left behind was a cloud of smoke.
Kuromaru was left alone at the roof once again. She had a blank expression on her face as she internally questioned what had just happened. Touta tended to have that effect in her.