Chapter 13: Carrying Mukuro on the back

When Shido woke up in the morning, Mukuro was still asleep with a tender expression. He did not disturb her sweet dream, but cautiously walked to the bedroom next to theirs, which was the room Kotori slept in last night.

"I see..."

Seeing that the bed was empty, Shido gave a wry smile. He touched the quilt on the bed, and it was still a little warm, meaning that she had just left.

Suddenly, Shido felt something...

"A note?"

Shido curiously picked it up and saw that there were four numbers on the cardboard: 06:39.

Obviously, this handwriting belonged to Kotori, and it should be about the exact time she went back.

"In other words, she left at around half past six?"

Shido said to himself. This was similar to the time that Yoshino went back.

Even before departure, Kotori was still thinking about helping him. What a great imouto!

"Nushi-sama! Nushi-sama!"

Mukuro seemed to be a little panicked and shouted.

"Coming!"

Shido replied loudly, and then walked to where Mukuro was.

He saw Mukuro sitting in the living room, and when she saw Shido, she ran over and hugged him tightly:

"Why didn't Nushi-sama wake Muku up!"

"I wanted to give you a surprise..."

Shido said with a smile.

"What surprise?"

Mukuro looked at Shido expectantly.

"Waking you up with a good morning kiss!"

Shido said casually.

But the thing was, Mukuro had already woken up, so Shido's surprise was ruined.

"Can Muku go back to sleep right now?"

Mukuro gave Shido a poor puppy-eyed look.

Unfortunately, the answer was no, since the trip was about to begin.

Shido took Mukuro's little hand and walked to a bakery for breakfast. After buying a lot of bread and meat buns, they went to the airport.

Unlike Hakone, Shikoku was relatively far away. Although it was in Japan, it required transportation like airplanes.

Thankfully, it was not difficult to buy tickets, considering Shikoku was not a popular tourist destination. Last night, Shido had already bought tickets from the airline. Of course, since it was a temporary purchase, the price was several times higher than the standard price.

But never mind, Shikoku, here we come!

The two of them seemed a little excited. Although they could easily reach the destination using the ability of the angel "Michael", they decided to enjoy the trip slowly. Speaking of which, it was the first time he had flown on an airplane in this world.

The scenery on the plane was very beautiful. Mukuro was intoxicated by the beauty of the clouds outside the window, while Shido was fascinated by the beauty of his beautiful girlfriend.

After getting off the plane, the two walked around and enjoyed sightseeing for a while.

They came for a date, so they decided to have some fun.

First, they bought a bamboo talisman from a store, and Mukuro solemnly wrote her wish on it:

Staying together for eternity, never separated.

There were actually quite a lot of places to visit in Shikoku. The two of them wandered around some characteristic shops and saw a lot of interesting things. Unfortunately, since they were too far from home, they didn't buy much.

"Nushi-sama, look!"

Mukuro suddenly shouted with interest.

"What is it?"

Shido came over curiously, and saw a gorgeous poster that read "Couple's Challenge".

"Nushi-sama, let's do this!"

Mukuro said excitedly. She wanted to participate in the couples activity with her beloved Nushi-sama, not to mention winning grand prizes like the tickets to Raging Waters.

But what she didn't know was that these tickets had a limited date and time. If it wasn't for the day she was in this world, it would have been Shido going to play with other Spirits.

However, this was not important. Mukuro's motto was to enjoy the moment. She didn't want to worry about it too much!

Shido frowned. He didn't know how long the event would take. If it was too long, they wouldn't have time to go to Kotohira-gu, which would be more troublesome.

But looking at Mukuro's expectant eyes, he couldn't refuse, so Shido smiled and patted her head, agreeing to go together.

They checked with the shop assistant nearby and got in. It used to be a traditional and serious event in Shikoku, but recently it had become a fun game show.

There were not many people participating, which gave Shidoa bad premonitions, and...

"Are those people a little too strong?"

Shido commented helplessly. All of the male participants seemed to be quite muscular.

"It feels a little scary..."

Mukuro didn't like what she was looking at.

"Boy, I suggest you give up now, for your own life..."

"Last year, there was a young man that accidentally fell with his girlfriend and was seriously injured!"

"Well, in addition to the relatively high casualty rate, I heard that couples who couldn't complete the activity had a breakup rate of over 80%..."

"I...I quit!"

A group of muscular men were trying to persuade others to quit.

Shido and Mukuro looked at each other in universal confusion. Why does it seem to be very dangerous?

After hearing the explanation of the event, Shido finally understood. It turned out that this couple's event happened to be related to the Kotohira-gu that they wanted to go to!

In this way, the worries just now were unnecessary. While they could participate in the couple's challenge, they could also stop by the Kotohira-gu to find out the whereabouts of the power of the Tree of Life.

And what he had to do was to carry Mukuro on his back, and then run all the way to the destination!

This was not an easy task for most people. From the starting point to the Kotohira-gu, they would have to climb a full 1,368 stairs. Climbing all the way in one go was hard enough, not to mention having to carry a person on the back.

But after hearing the rules of the game, Shido looked at the muscular man who tried to persuade him to quit, and commented with a smile:

"Is that all?"

For ordinary people, it was really not that easy, but for Shido, it couldn't be easier.

After he obtained the reiryoku yesterday, the power strengthened his physique, and his bones were obviously much stronger.

On the contrary, would those guys really be able to run?

Shido was very suspicious of that.

However, Shido didn't want to get any good results, after all, he just wanted to stay low-key.

After waiting for a while, it seemed that all the contestants had arrived. After severe persuasions from the group of muscular men to quit, many people quit the game. In the end, there were only about twenty groups left.

"Humph!"

A bald-headed guy that looked like a typical villain walked up to Shido and let out a disdainful smile.

According to the general routine, Shido should just step forward and give him a rebuttal, run in front of the smug guy once the game started, and mock him without mercy. However, he did not intend to do so.

On the other hand, Mukuro, who was on Shido's back, gritted her teeth unhappily. How dare you look down on my Nushi-sama! Muku must teach you a lesson!

Shido looked left and right, and then he realized that the girlfriends of this particular group turned out to be muscular women! This scenery of men and women with muscles on top of each other was too beautiful for Shido that he dared not watch!

Are you freaking serious? With so much flesh on your body and so much flesh on your back, can you really run?

In fact, Shido's worries were unnecessary.

"Ahhhh!"

A group of strong men ran up in the direction of the shrine, and Shido found that he underestimated them a bit. Those who could participate in this kind of competition definitely had something in them.

Shido and Mukuro were dead last, but it didn't matter. His goal was not to win anyway.

On the other hand, Mukuro really wanted to win, but she didn't want to ask her man to run faster, and for her, it was also a very happy thing to lie on Shido's back and listen to his steady heartbeat.

Make this moment last a while longer.

Mukuro smiled.

Shido also felt quite relaxed. He wouldn't be tired anyway, and the warm and soft feeling on his back made him full of motivation.

So unconsciously, Shido quickened his pace…