Chapter 12 Head Balloons (5) "Chuuya-kun." ...

"Chuuya-kun".

Mori Ougai's voice pulled Nakahara Chuuya back from his thoughts. He quickly took off his hat, pressed it to his chest, and bowed slightly. He lowered his head and said with respect and apology, "I'm sorry, leader."

Mori Ougai leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on the table with his fingers interlaced in front of him. He didn't reprimand Nakahara Chuuya for his rudeness in being distracted. His purple eyes fell on the other man, and his tone was somewhat inquisitive: "It's quite rare to see Chuuya-kun getting distracted while reporting on work. Has something happened to you lately, Chuuya-kun?"

Chuuya Nakahara slowly straightened up, raised his lowered gaze, and looked at the person in front of him again. After hesitating for a moment, he told the story of the face balloon he encountered on his way home.

Mori Ougai sat in the office chair opposite him, resting his chin on his hand, listening attentively with a calm gaze.

"About this matter," Mori Ougai said after a moment's thought, "I've recently heard an interesting rumor."

"They say that balloons with human faces have recently appeared in Yokohama, and they appear frequently every night, wandering around various parts of Yokohama."

"Was it done by someone with superpowers?" This was Chuuya Nakahara's first thought. Only someone with superpowers could create something as supernatural as a human-face balloon.

Mori Ougai chuckled softly, his purple eyes holding a meaningful look: "Does Chuuya-kun think so too?"

"At first I also thought they were superhumans, but what the Superhumans Affairs Department revealed overturned my guess."

"Not a superpower?" Chuuya Nakahara's expression froze. What was that thing he encountered that night?

Mori Ougai seemed to have read Nakahara Chuuya's thoughts and said with a hint of amusement, "Perhaps what Chuuya-kun encountered was something the Special Ability Department called a ghost story."

“Isn’t it interesting?” Mori Ougai looked at him calmly.

“Ghost stories.” Chuuya Nakahara repeated in a low voice. He had heard ghost stories before, but to him, they were all fictional creations made up by people when they were bored.

If what I encountered that day wasn't someone's special ability, then what could it be...?

Could it be that I have really encountered a ghost or monster that can only be found in stories?

Even the ghost he encountered would go out of his way to capture wanted criminals, doing what could be called a "good deed".

Chuuya Nakahara's lips twitched.

"Does Chuuya-kun find this hard to believe?" Mori Ougai's gaze fell on Nakahara Chuuya, his tone carrying a hint of inquisitiveness, as if he were not quite smiling.

“No… this is really…” Chuuya Nakahara frowned even more, then stopped speaking, his Adam’s apple bobbing before he managed to finish, “It is indeed a bit unbelievable.”

Who would have thought that ghosts and monsters that only exist in stories would appear in the real world?

"To be honest, I'm curious about it too."

"Are the ghost stories they're talking about true or false, or are they products of supernatural abilities manipulated by someone behind the scenes?" Mori Ougai's lips curved up slightly, his smile carrying an undeniable authority: "Chuuya-kun."

"Yes." As Chuuya Nakahara responded, his back straightened up slightly.

"Then I'll leave the matter of these strange rumors about face-shaped balloons to you to investigate thoroughly." Mori Ougai tapped the table lightly with his fingers, as if finalizing a routine task. "After all, you've been exposed to it before, and I also believe that you, Chuuya-kun, are capable of doing it."

"It's most reassuring for me to leave the investigation to you."

Chuuya Nakahara was only surprised for a moment and didn't say anything more. He simply bent his knees and pressed his right leg onto the cold floor. His trench coat swept across the ground as his knee touched the ground.

Chuuya lowered his eyes slightly, his wisps of hair casting a light shadow on his forehead, and his cobalt blue eyes revealed a sharp edge: "Yes, leader."

*

So boring.

I can't breathe.

Zhu Yi opened his eyes groggily, and the first thing he felt on his face was something furry. He skillfully lifted the cat that was lying on his face; it was 001.

001 turned its head and meowed at him, but its tail was restless, swishing against his face again and again, making Zhu Yi feel a series of itchy sensations on his face.

"Stop messing around." Zhu Yi sighed in a hoarse voice, stuffing the cat back into her arms. "I've only slept for a few hours. Let me lie down for another five minutes, just five minutes."

As soon as he finished speaking, his eyelids drooped uncontrollably again.

001 stirred in his arms, struggling to push itself out. It came to Zhu Yi's side, and after seeing him fall asleep again, its tail drooped down.

So it licked its paws and silently revealed its claws and nails.

"Awoooooo!"

A bloodcurdling scream pierced the sky.

Zhu Yi reluctantly got out of bed with messy hair and cat paw prints all over his face. He threw off the covers, glared at 001 with its tail held high next to him, and said in a resentful tone, "Fine, I'll get up then."

The first thing Zhu does when she gets up is to feed the cat food.

He tore open the cat food bag, scooped a spoonful into the cat bowl, and 001, squatting on the ground, meowed, its tail slapping the floor, its eyes fixed on the spoon in his hand.

Sensing 001's gaze, Zhu Yi deliberately paused his movements.

001 looked up at him, her face full of impatience.

What are you waiting for? Hurry up and give me more, one spoonful isn't enough for anyone.

"You scratch me while I'm sleeping, don't you feel any remorse at all?" he complained as he scooped a few more spoonfuls into the cat's bowl.

001 ignored what the human was babbling about and shoved its face into the bowl to eat, its tail held high.

Zhu Yi stood up, yawned, and went to the sink to wash up. When she came out, she found a calico cat sitting on the sofa in the living room. It seemed to notice Zhu Yi's gaze and turned its head to meow softly.

Having already learned from the ghost stories that the other party's soul belonged to a man, Takeichi: ...

I don't understand, but I respect it.

Maybe the other person dreams of being a cat.

After all, this big shot had helped me before, so I should just treat him like an ordinary little kitten and play house with him.

It still feels so strange.

"Little Flower." Zhu Yi leaned forward, reached out and patted the other's head, and asked gently, "When did you get here? Are you hungry?"

The calico cat rubbed against the other's palm, making purring sounds.

"As expected of a master, his demeanor and movements are even more cat-like than a cat's," Zhu Yi remarked.

He took out a cat treat and tried to feed it. The calico cat sniffed it and came closer to accept the treat from Takeichi.

After feeding the calico cat, Zhu Yi prepared to cook breakfast (lunch) for herself. To say she was cooking for herself was actually just a box of instant noodles, a sausage, and an egg.

It was ready in just three minutes, and Zhu Yi ate it with relish.

The calico cat sitting to the side, licking its paws, had a hint of human emotion in its eyes.

Young people these days only know how to eat things that have no nutritional value.

Natsume Soseki came here because he had heard about the human head balloon. He had witnessed Takeichi's methods of subduing ghost stories, so he wanted to find out more about the human head balloon.

Moreover, Natsume Soseki's feelings for Takeichi were more like those of an elder caring for a younger person.

That's right, the system assigned Takeichi the identity of a relative of Natsume Soseki.

However, that relative passed away unexpectedly, leaving behind only a child. Unfortunately, the child disappeared after the relative's death.

Natsume Soseki also paid attention to this matter, but after more than ten years, he gradually forgot about it and stopped paying attention to it.

After all, more than a decade has passed, and there's a high probability that they won't be found, and even if they are, the chances of them being alive are very small.

Until Natsume Soseki met Takeichi by chance.

At that time, a strange incident occurred in Yokohama.

While maintaining his identity as a cat, Natsume Soseki attempted to investigate and discovered that this mysterious young man was quite knowledgeable about ghost stories.

He initially approached the other person with ulterior motives, until he investigated their identity, dug into their file, and discovered that the other person was the grown-up child.

Although the person had only claimed their identity a few months prior, the DNA report showed a perfect match, and the age also matched, which convinced Natsume Soseki of the person's identity.

He hadn't kept up with the missing person's news, so he was unaware that the child had returned. This made Natsume Soseki feel very guilty. In fact, when he met the other person, Takeichi was begging for work and almost starved to death on the roadside.

To make amends, Natsume Soseki began to secretly help the other party from the shadows.

Of course, Zhu Yi was unaware of his own identity; he only knew that the system had assigned him the identity of an orphan without parents.

Zhu Yi wanted to rest for a while after finishing his instant noodles when several messages suddenly popped up on his phone.

The message was sent by Kunikida Doppo, meaning that he would visit Sato Yota after he got off work, as Sato Yota would be leaving get off work early today.

Zhu Yi thought for a moment and then sent an OK emoji.

After putting down his phone, Zhu Yi couldn't help but stretch, his joints making a slight cracking sound.

001 had just finished eating its cat food when it slowly swayed to his feet, arched its body, and lightly leaped onto his lap. Its paws rubbed against the fabric of Zhu Yi's pants, and then it raised its paws and scratched back and forth.

"Sizzle, sizzle."

The cat's claws snagged on the fabric of the pants, making the originally smooth parts slightly wrinkled and leaving a few faint marks.

The veins on Zhu Yi's forehead throbbed. He took a deep breath and gave a bitter smile.

"Who told you to be such an innocent little kitten?" Zhu Yi picked up the other, buried his face in the other's furry belly and took a deep breath, saying in a muffled voice, "I'll forgive you this time."

"Ugh, I don't want to work," Zhu Yi complained while petting her cat.

"If Old Orange knew about the human head balloon, he would definitely have some crooked ideas."

Those who try to control the ghost stories are old, have yellow faces, and are black-hearted, so Zhu Yitong calls them Old Oranges.

Ghost stories that have no malicious intent toward humans are always the easiest to control.

"If the Special Abilities Division had taken over this time, all those bad things I imagined wouldn't have happened."

"I can also give Anwu and the others a 20% discount, and make a little money to buy you some premium canned food." Zhu Yi buried his face in 001's soft belly and rubbed against it. 001 raised its paw in disgust and pushed his face away from where it was too close.

But 001 is just a cat, how could it possibly be a match for the strength of that wretched two-legged beast, Zhu Yi?

Before it could struggle for long, the shameless human pinned down its paws, even squeezing its paw pads, and then ran amok on the cat's belly.

001 meowed angrily, and when it found an opportunity, it suddenly leaned forward and bit Zhu Yi's cheek.

"hiss."

Because of the pain, Zhu Yi loosened his grip, and 001 immediately broke free, squatted to the side, flicked its tail, and looked up at him arrogantly.

Upon hearing what Zhu Yi had just said, the calico cat looked up at him thoughtfully.

A note from the author:

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