"'The monster has come out'... What is this?"

Seeing this commission in a pile of commission lists, Kunikida Dobu subconsciously repeated it.

Tanizaki turned his desk chair so that he was facing Kunikida.

"This is a request from the military and police. At first glance, you might think it's some kind of paranormal incident, right? But the content is actually quite serious."

"Let me see." Kunikida lowered his head and looked at the screen. "Many witnesses said that a tall, thin man wearing a black waterproof windbreaker, holding a pair of sharp scissors and wearing a mask often wandered around at night... The police wanted to warn him, but they found that they couldn't find him."

Tanizaki closed the page and said with a smile, "It sounds like a supernatural incident, right?"

Although Kunikida still has a fear of ghosts and gods, he does not accept everything and believe in everything.

He sighed, then adjusted his glasses and said, "What about the surveillance cameras? In this information age, there are very few people who can avoid being captured by cameras, right?"

"Ah... that's the problem." Tanizaki smiled bitterly. "Every time I chased after that person, he would run into a blind spot and disappear. Even in the surveillance camera, I couldn't see anything. After asking an expert to identify it, it doesn't seem to be magic."

Kunikida nodded calmly: "So that's how it is. The military police suspected that the other party was a person with special abilities, so they entrusted the case to the detective agency?"

"Yes, and with such a strange man wandering around at night, some citizens are very scared and keep putting pressure on the police. In addition, his outfit easily reminds people of a famous urban legend..."

Kunikida murmured, "... A slit-mouthed woman? But it seems to be a man..."

"Oh, so that's how it is—"

Dazai suddenly appeared from an unknown corner.

He leaped out and stood between the two men. This action made the two people beside him subconsciously take half a step back.

Dazai, the instigator, pointed at the figure on the screen with an amused smile and said, "Isn't that the one? The man with the slit mouth that's been trending on Twitter lately!"

Kunikida was very sensitive to his high spirits.

"Dazai, how did you know that..."

"Hehe, Kunikida-kun's information is still so outdated~ In this day and age, as long as you use the Internet, you can easily find out what is the most popular thing in this city."

Dazai turned on his phone as if to show off, then quickly jumped into the BBS and read in an ups and downs voice: "'Urban legends have entered a new era?! The slit-mouthed woman is outdated, now is the era of the slit-mouthed man--'"

As the two of them looked at him, he shook the screen, then restored his usual frivolous smile and said, "There are quite a few sightings of this man with a slit mouth on the Internet. He can be said to be a new era Internet celebrity."

Kunikida frowned and thought seriously about his partner's words: "You mean, maybe someone just wanted to cultivate an Internet celebrity and made such a big move? No, but if that's the case, how do we explain the police's claim that he was elusive..."

"Kunikida-kun is overthinking." Dazai said, "For us at this stage, he is just a potential dangerous person who disturbs public order and is being sought by the police."

After listening to their conversation, Tanizaki paused for two seconds before saying, "It may not be appropriate to say this, but I don't think the other party is a bad person..."

Kunikida asked, "...Have you ever met that person?"

So Tanizaki explained everything that happened last night.

The terrifying appearance of the slit-mouthed man scared away the hooligans who were harassing them, but he had no interest in him and Naomi. He put on a mask, glanced at them, and left.

Dazai let out a "ho——" sound and said, "Although we were encountered by the man with the slit mouth, he only attacked those thugs... Could it be that he is actually a law-abiding citizen?"

"And it doesn't fit with the legend of the slit-mouthed woman... doesn't she cut their mouths open with scissors?"

Dazai made a scissors shape with his hands and made a cutting motion with the corners of his mouth.

Kunikida breathed a sigh of relief, his expression becoming more relaxed: "So, someone is playing tricks."

"Wait, why did Kunikida-kun suddenly feel relieved? Could it be that you were discussing this with the premise that there might really be a monster like the Slit-Mouthed Man in the world?"

"How could this be possible!" Kunikida quickly rejected it. He coughed lightly to keep himself calm. "Maybe he is a person with special abilities such as the ability to move through space. And then he uses his abilities to create urban legends..."

Dazai agreed, "Yeah! Assuming what Kunikida-kun said is true, then the blood dripping on his body should be a prop, and the scars on his face should be special effects makeup...ah, so, in that case, it's those bloggers who shoot bizarre videos on the Internet?"

"Whose side are you on... Didn't you just say that you would treat him as a potential danger? Why are you suddenly a YouTuber?"

"No, no, no, I only stand on the side that can convince me, Kunikida-kun!" After saying that, he turned his head and looked at Tanizaki, "However, as the first party involved, Tanizaki has the most say, right? What does Tanizaki think of that weirdo?"

"Well, I will only say this within the company..."

Seeing their eyes focused on him again, Tanizaki said hesitantly, "I don't think that's makeup."

Dazai's eyes lit up: "Oh?"

"I don't think the blood on him is a prop... Well, how should I put it? After all, I am also a member of the Armed Detective Agency. I can still identify real blood."

After Tanizaki finished speaking, he realized that they were waiting for his next words, so he continued speaking anyway.

"And the wounds on her face, they're definitely not caused by special effects makeup..."

Speaking of this, he swallowed, the scene under the moon that day was still vivid in his mind.

After taking a deep breath, Tanizaki continued:

"When he was talking, he pulled the wound on his face, and the wound... split open."

"I, I saw the inside of the mouth...through the cracked corner of the mouth."

As he stammered these words, the temperature around him dropped straight to freezing point.

“That’s really…” Dazai murmured, “It’s not good.”

…

…

At this time, Jiuyuan, who was completely unaware that his "heroic" behavior had left a little psychological shadow on the person he rescued, was cleaning up his new home.

To be precise, he was cleaning up the old house left to him by his relatives.

Two days before he was about to be evicted for not paying the rent, he learned that a distant relative whom he had never met had left his old house to him before he passed away. This distant relative had no children and had been living in an old house, and ran a second-hand bookstore in the house that had little business.

Now, all of them belong to Jiuyuan.

He had also inquired about who this relative was, but no one knew him. Seeing that he was about to be kicked out of the house by the landlord, Jiuyuan had no choice but to move there without thinking too much. Only after arriving did he realize that he had taken advantage of the situation.

Although the house is not new, the original owner took good care of it and has all the furniture. It just needs a little cleaning.

"So... you're just going to let me do the hard labor? You're an adult but you leave everything to a child. Don't you think it's shameful?"

A clear child's voice rang out along with the sound of the paper door opening. Jiuyuan looked over with a smile. He seemed to have known who was complaining.

The black-haired boy stood there, his eyes were reddish-brown and gleamed brightly under the sunlight, and his pale skin made people worry whether he was getting enough nutrition.

But this time, he was wearing a white shirt and red shorts, and holding a rag in his hand, which was full of incongruity with his angelic appearance.

Normally, as someone responsible for cleaning, his clothes should be stained with dust to some extent, but the fact that he remained dust-free was really abnormal.

However, maybe this is more normal for him, after all——

He is not human.

Jiuyuan smiled and patted his head, saying, "Thank you, Hanako-kun~"

The boy slapped his hand away and said, "I told you not to call me that. Just call me Hana-kun, ha-na-kun!"

Jiuyuan said "Okay, Okay" while her hands were still rubbing the boy's soft hair to smooth his hair.

"By the way, please take care of the hygiene of the study on the second floor, Hanako-kun~"

"I told you not to call me Hanako-kun!" He pushed Kuen away angrily, "Are all adults idiots? They can't even remember such a simple thing!"

After saying that, he obediently went to the second floor and started cleaning.

Hanako was actually the first character he got. In the system's words, she was given to you for free after you completed the novice tutorial.

This character belonged completely to Jiuyuan from the very beginning, and he had 100% control over it.

But Hanako has a weakness: he cannot travel far away and is essentially a ground-bound spirit.

This should be the restoration of the setting of "Hanako in the toilet" in the monster story. Fortunately, it does not follow the setting 100%. Hanako-kun's movement range is generally limited to buildings.

But he is not confined to the same building forever; he can move between buildings—through the toilets.

If you must say it, the toilet is like a portal.

...Although this skill sounds powerful, it feels quite subtle when I think about the portal being in the toilet.

After rubbing Hanako, Jiuyuan was in a good mood. He turned and walked towards the main entrance, intending to check out the situation of the second-hand bookstore.

When he goes out to school, I'll let Hanako look after the store. Although I don't expect to sell much, every little bit counts.

The system's voice sounded faintly——

[Master, how does it feel to split into two and fight with yourself...]

Jiuyuan didn't care about the system's ridicule at all, and thought to himself - of course it's great.

Who hasn't dreamed of being able to split up? So one person can work and earn money, while the other can play.

Now, thanks to the system's vest function, he can easily realize this wish. If you ask him how he feels about it, of course it's great.

Just think about these words yourself. You will definitely have to find a more perfect way to express them when speaking to the system.

"System, only by completely distinguishing between 'Yozengawa Kuen himself' and 'kaidan character' can the degree of role play be improved. If I can't see us as two independent individuals, sooner or later I will be exposed, and then perhaps all the reputation I have worked so hard to build up will be destroyed in one fell swoop."

The system seemed to be somewhat convinced, and said "Oh..." as if it understood something.

Jiuyuan continued: "If you want to deceive others, you must first deceive yourself."

What's more...

These characters have their own wills and personalities, and it's not just Jiuyuan talking to himself.

It's like having a conversation with another version of myself with a completely different personality. It's very interesting.

In fact, the character of Hanako can be completely turned on in automatic mode and does not need Kuen's mental control, but he was worried, so he did not completely let go of the character's free will.

Before the system could reply, there was a knock on the door. The door of the bookstore was not closed. After knocking, the other party saw that there was no one inside, so he asked -

"Excuse me, is the owner here?"

Jiuyuan arrived at the door and saw that the visitors were two handsome young men.

"May I ask what can I do for you two?"

"We are members of the detective agency." The blond young man showed his ID and said, "In fact, we are investigating a recent case related to urban legends. Do you know anything about this?"