How does it feel to be stared at by such a pair of moist, bright ice-blue eyes?

A racing heartbeat, shyness, a rush of adrenaline?

Neither.

Nakahara Chuuya felt that the way Axue looked at him was as if he were looking at some rare and exotic beast, like an extreme collector who wanted to add a new item to his inventory. He felt terrible as the one being stared at - especially since he had a former partner with a subtle and somewhat similar style. This previous experience made him even more alert.

Also, he always felt that the request for compensation just now was definitely not a whim.

In short, Nakahara Chuuya felt that it was not a good idea to continue following what this person said.

He immediately changed the subject and asked, "...Aren't you going to look for him? Didn't you say that your companion's mental state is not very good?"

Axue didn't seem to care at all that her request for compensation was "deliberately ignored" by the other party.

He blinked and continued to stare at Nakahara Chuuya.

...How should I put it? As a Hong Kong gangster under one person, a gravity user at the top of the violence level, no matter how you look at it, Nakahara Chuuya hasn't received such an unconcealed and excessive gaze for a long time. Suddenly being stared at so "affectionately" by Axue, he felt uncomfortable from the bottom of his heart.

Ah Xue only looked away when she felt that she was about to touch the edge of a landmine by going too far.

She changed her tone and said to Nakahara Chuuya in a gentle tone: "After all, Bai-chan is an adult now. He will be unhappy if I control him all the time. Isn't it true that people like to say 'distance creates beauty'?"

Zhongyuan Zhongya couldn't help but groan: "If that's the case... I hope you can really pay attention to the sense of distance like you said."

He noticed that Axue had put on another face: the same elegant demeanor as when he first appeared last night.

...well...even though he's wearing a white Hawaiian shirt with blue coconut trees on it.

"Ah, sorry, sorry, I don't really understand the rules of human beings." Xue immediately smiled and said, "Compared to this, asking for compensation... I believe that a man as outstanding as Mr. Hat will not avoid reality, right?"

"That depends on what you say next." Nakahara Chuuya frowned.

Taking this opportunity to get to know them better also completes the task assigned by the leader.

"You're too cautious, aren't you? But it's not a bad thing. I wish my kids could be as cautious as Mr. Hat."

Not missing the opportunity to get information, Nakahara Chuuya asked, "Your child? Are you referring to someone similar to the one who just left?"

Having said that, Jiuyuan felt that it was the right time to reveal the information.

Axue smiled and said, "Are you interested? But it's not something that needs to be hidden - I have a big family. Although I am probably a kindergarten teacher or a dean..."

Nakahara Chuuya: No, there is still a big gap between the two.

"Dean of Studies..." Nakahara Chuuya thought for a moment and asked, "Then does the principal still exist?"

In other words, it is equivalent to asking you if there is someone above you.

Ash said calmly, "Yes. That's what Mr. Hat wanted to ask, right?"

"To us, the head of the family is the principal."

"In other words, he is your leader?" Nakahara Chuuya frowned.

After all, the title of "Master of the Family" sounds different from an ordinary superior-subordinate relationship.

"Chief? No, we don't have such a naive relationship of superiors and subordinates. Only humans would think like that, right?" Axue said, "Modern society advocates human rights, right? When humans usually talk about superiors and subordinates, it's just a division of job rights. Usually there is no control relationship in terms of personal rights. But we are different. The relationship between the head of the family and us may be closer to the master and servant of the old times, or the relationship between slaves and masters..."

"…sounds terrible."

Seeing Nakahara Chuuya's thoughtful expression, Kuen felt that he could add more fuel to the fire.

"But monsters and ghost stories are just like that. How can there be equality in the face of different powers?" Axue said coldly: "I am nothing more than a 'slave that the master thinks is more useful'."

Zhongyuan Chuuya thought, if that's the case, then everything they do is instructed by their master, and they should not reveal their master's purpose. Wouldn't it be meaningless to ask further?

However, Xue had seen through this. He said, "Humans are creatures that are very particular about interests. They also have a strong sense of territory, but they know how to whitewash things better than animals... I guess it was Mr. Hat's boss who asked you to find out our purpose and origins, right? And after listening to it, did Mr. Hat think, 'We can't make the decision anyway, so there's no point in asking'?"

Nakahara Chuuya said in a deep voice: "Since you said this so bluntly, it seems that you have already thought about this."

"Don't worry, we have no interest in human power struggles, so you don't need to be so probing and wary of us. This time I came out just to find a child who ran away from home. After all, he ran away alone, and the master of the family was very worried, but the master of the family was busy with many things, so he had to leave this matter to me."

Since the other party has stated so bluntly that they "have no hostile intentions", it would be difficult for Chuuya Nakahara to continue to hold on to it.

Ah Xue pursed her lips and smiled: "Also, if I made you unhappy just now, I apologize."

Nakahara Chuuya: “…It’s okay.”

He really thinks this group of people are weird. Every time they do something annoying, they apologize frankly. The key is that they are extremely sincere. If you really take it to heart with them, you will appear to be very ungraceful.

This is also because the person he met was Nakahara Chuuya.

After all, only someone who is more uninhibited than them and who doesn't care about things like face can subdue this kind of behavior that makes people feel frustrated and angry without realizing it.

To put it bluntly, it means to fleece the honest people.

Zhongyuan Zhong also lost because he was a person with a bottom line.

As for Axue, seeing that Nakahara Chuuya seemed too lazy to resist, she simply let go and continued talking.

"You know, Mr. Hat, I used to live in the snowy mountains. It was really boring there. There was not even internet. But sometimes there were interesting things."

"Many years ago, I found a cat in the mountains. It seemed to be a good deed done by students from the neighborhood. It was not a rare breed, but just an ordinary orange cat, even skinny and pitiful."

"But it had blue eyes that looked like mine, so I took some food and fed it to see if it could survive... After all, although snow women have the bad habit of collecting people, I've never heard of anyone collecting cats, right?"

"Of course I let the cat go."

"Now that I think about it...it's such a pity. Why didn't I keep it?"

The more Nakahara Chuuya listened, the more he felt uncomfortable. Just as he was about to say something, he was ruthlessly interrupted by Xue.

"Mr. Hat has beautiful blue eyes, too."

Nakahara Chuuya: “…So?”

He felt as if he had accidentally entered some strange hidden circuit while playing the game, and now he wanted to break the game cartridge into pieces immediately.

This person wouldn't really say something that shatters common sense, would he?

No, after all, he claims that he is not even human.

Nakahara Chuuya felt that it was a good thing that he had dismissed his subordinates long ago, otherwise it would be so embarrassing if this scene was seen.

"So..." Ah Xue deliberately dragged out the tone, and finally smiled with narrowed eyes: "Please Mr. Hat take this poor person of mine away from Leibo Street as compensation for scaring Xiao Bai away. This request is not too much, right?"

Just as Nakahara Chuuya was about to say that the request he made was surprisingly normal, he was choked by Axue's next words.

"...Do you think I'm going to say, 'Then Mr. Hat, please be my cat'? Even though I'm a snowman, I still have some sense of shame. Please don't treat me as a pervert. It's very rude."

Zhongyuan Zhongye almost squeezed out two words from between his teeth -

"no."

Satisfied, Xue smiled and said, "Then please take me out. I'm not familiar with the roads here, and it would be a waste of time to walk out alone."

After all, if Xiaobai is not here, there is no point for him to stay alone.

(Well... As for Xiao Bai, the head of the family is watching over her, so there won't be any problems.)

Axue thought optimistically.

…

…

After separating from Axue, compared to his "relaxed and happy" chat with Nakahara Chuuya, the experience of the gap-mouthed man was a little more turbulent.

Without Xue by his side, he couldn't do the investigation alone. Although Jiu Yuan could force him to do it, his efficiency would be greatly reduced when doing things that the ghost story character is not good at, so he gave up.

Another thing is that he is not very stable at the moment.

Bai Ya, who was originally an introvert but had an outstanding appearance, had many unpleasant experiences when he was still an ordinary human.

He does not enjoy the feeling of being noticed and is even very socially anxious.

So the tragic result is——

Before the surgery, I was too handsome and people would stare at me, which was very uncomfortable.

Even if you look too ugly after a failed plastic surgery, people will still stare at you, even with malicious intent, which is a double pain.

After becoming a "kaidan", he is not just the person Yamashiro Momoya, but a complex collection of the "Slit-mouthed Woman" kaidan, and more like a kaidan created by countless people.

This makes Xiao Bai, who is a sensitive ordinary person, even more painful, because the legend of the Slit-Mouthed Woman itself is a symbol of human's fear and love for deformed and bizarre beings. He often feels this distorted negative emotion, so he can only make himself more lazy in order to stay calm and not go crazy.

Especially when he sees someone outstanding and dazzling, he will feel as if he is burned by the other person's brilliance.

Not to mention that Nakahara Chuuya was looking at him very seriously just now, which made him feel even more tormented and he just wanted to escape the scene as soon as possible.

The man with the slit mouth, who had been thinking all the way, "I want to leave, get away from here", actually left the area and ran directly back to the ordinary city area.

Perhaps this was also related to Jiuyuan's consciousness. He thought, "Today's plan has been messed up anyway, so let's just leave Raymond Street and continue tomorrow." As a result, the man with the slit mouth really ran away.

But when he was in a crowded place, he became even more anxious.

He has handsome features, a slender and well-proportioned figure, and good taste in clothes. Even with a mask on, passers-by can still see that he is definitely a handsome guy.

With his excellent hearing, he could hear all the words these people said, such as "Wow, look at the boy in the black windbreaker...", "His eyes are so pretty", "He's alone, maybe single. Do you think I can succeed if I try to find a line?"

For Kuen, these were words he was used to hearing, but for the man with the slit mouth, they made him feel uneasy no matter how many times he heard them.

Just now, Ah Xue was showing off her appearance ostentatiously to distract attention. Now all the attention was focused on him alone, and he suddenly felt very pressured.

Jiuyuan also felt that this was not a good idea, so he decided to find a place with few people and wait for Xuenan to come and find him.

He raised his head and looked around, and soon found a coffee shop on the corner.

Unlike most coffee shops and French dessert shops that are beautifully decorated and easily attract young boys and girls, this shop is located on the first floor of an office building that looks a bit old but still clean, and its style is more rustic.

Very good, as long as you avoid young men and women and choose a store with low customer traffic, you should be safe.

With this in mind, he pushed open the door of the coffee shop. However, just as he took half a step inside, he bumped into someone coming out.

"...I'm sorry..." Before he could finish his apology, the man's face was already close at hand.

Normally, the man with the slit mouth would have been furious if someone was staring at him from such a close distance, but this time was different, because this person——

He's wearing an eyepatch!

Kuen: ...Can he really see things?

The author has something to say:

Axue: I am a serious person

Xiao Bai: I suspect I have met someone who is not a decent person

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