The Curse Master doesn't care about people who suddenly intervene in the battlefield. Swords have no eyes, not to mention that he has committed many murders in the past. He will not have any grudges in his heart if he takes another life.

Jiu Yuan covered his arm, the pain made him frown, remembering that Natsume was still under him, he quickly stood up, then reached out to him and tried to pull him up——

"Get up first, it's dangerous here."

Natsume did not miss the slight twitching of his brows when the wound was affected by the movement of his hand.

After holding the boy's hand and standing up again, he saw Jiuyuan raising his hands and said, "I have no ill intentions. I hope you can believe me."

When I think of the Book of Friends, this thought comes to my mind: Can this trust really be delivered?

But speaking objectively, there is no doubt that this person just helped me, otherwise I would definitely have crashed into the tree behind me, and in serious cases, I might have broken a bone.

Natsume nodded: "Thank you very much for what I said just now, but... you are right, this is not a good place to talk."

"Let's... go to the side?" Jiuyuan suggested.

——Leave with this strange boy?

This is obviously unwise, as the trust between them is far from going this far.

Coincidentally, at this moment, Natsume and Madara's eyes met at a distance.

"...Is this brat here too?" Madara thought to himself, "Why not at this time?"

The curser didn't have many tricks, and he had no power to fight Madara head-on, but his techniques were strange and unpredictable, like landmines. Every time an explosion sounded, a large cloud of dust and sand would be raised nearby, even causing Natsume to subconsciously raise his arms to block the dust.

Seeing the debris flying over, Jiuyuan subconsciously grabbed Natsume's arm and led him to run a little further away.

When the curser saw that he was about to run away, he had to try his best to survive from Madara's mouth, and almost all his attention was used on arranging the spell.

(Damn it! It was all the Watanabe gang’s fault. They actually lied about important information!)

Although he knew that there were powerful monsters guarding the Book of Friends, he was very proud of his own strength. He didn't expect to suffer a big loss. Now he saw that the strange boy who came out halfway was about to take Natsume away. He deliberately shouted to Kuen in front of Madara: "Where are you taking the Book of Friends?"

"Tsk--" Madara ignored this low-level provocation, opened his huge mouth, and bit into pieces the shikigami that the curser had pushed out as a shield.

After hearing the curser's words, Kuen's hand that was holding Natsume's arm paused slightly.

Then, Natsume felt the other party gradually loosen his grip - he saw the boy clench his other hand, and then there was a soft sigh.

"…Why would you throw dirty water at someone who has nothing to do with you? I would never do such a thing."

I thought the boy would be hurt or angry because of the slander, but he raised his head and glanced at the curser who was trying to divert the trouble.

This glance was almost completely different from the gentle boy just now.

It was as if he was looking at something unsightly and wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible.

"Although most humans are cute, there are always a lot of people like this who are destined to go to hell—"

Before Natsume could recover from the transformation into a completely different person, Madara had already completely subdued the curser, destroyed all of his shikigami, and then knocked him unconscious with one claw and held him down under his claw.

"Natsume, stand a little further away." He reminded, "I wonder if this guy has any backup plan."

"I know!" Natsume shouted.

At this moment, a white figure suddenly jumped out, causing them to be on alert again——

That "woman" was wearing a white long skirt, a sun hat, and a veil. As soon as she landed, she ran towards Jiuyuan. I thought she was going to attack Jiuyuan, so Natsume subconsciously shouted, "Danger!"

However, the monster just rushed forward, grabbed the boy's shoulders, and after seeing his injured and bleeding arms, it let out an extremely sharp scream, and Natsume next to him quickly covered his ears.

The sound seemed to come from hell, penetrating directly into the mind, making it feel as if the brain is shaking.

"You actually, actually!"

"Is that the damn guy on the ground—"

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaa——”

"Calm down." The young man consoled her gently, seeming to be quite patient.

"Wait, wait, ahhhh... He hurt you, your most important part..."

"...Be quiet, I'm fine. Calm down first..."

"How can this be possible... ahhhhh..."

However, the long-haired woman was still screaming, and Natsume felt a little dizzy. Soon, he heard a cold command -

"Shut up."

The boy, who was so friendly just now, suddenly turned cold, as if he was tired of the endless screaming, and directly ordered the monster to stop.

Natsume looked at the monster.

The other party first widened her dark eyes, her eyeballs rolling around, and then the corners of her mouth began to twitch, as if she was trying to force a smile, but she was trying hard to suppress the impulse, and could only let out a few muffled laughs, which looked a little scary.

She carefully loosened the two hands that had just been holding the boy's shoulders. Natsume saw her hands trembling and her body shaking unconsciously -

At this moment, the boy's eyes became soft again.

"I'm sorry... I think I said it too harshly. You're worried about me."

"Ha...haha..." The woman covered her arms excitedly, "You don't need to apologize, you looked so perfect just now... It was just like..."

Before she finished her words, she fell into self-absorption again, secretly glancing at Jiuyuan from time to time.

Natsume was somewhat confused by the interaction between the two.

——What is their relationship?

It seemed like they knew each other. The female monster had some unclear feelings towards the boy, but the boy had changed several times just now and seemed very disharmonious. Could it be that in the eyes of this female monster, this was a very normal situation?

"Natsume-san, I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself before." The boy said, "My name is Yomikawa Kyuen. To put it simply, I am indeed a human being, but like you, I have some special experiences..."

He smiled bitterly and glanced at Hachisha beside him, and Natsume understood.

...I can see monsters.

However, I feel like I have heard of the name Huangquanchuan Jiuyuan.

"Sorry, have we met somewhere before? I seem to have some impression of your name...ah, I know." Natsume was halfway through his words when he remembered who the other person was.

The idol who came from a talent show, the person involved in the controversy a few days ago...

Yahara's place is not like Tokyo where the streets are full of advertisements and electronic screens. Although he has seen Kuen's face, he does not remember it so deeply. He just has "a little impression".

"So this person is... Hachishaku-sama?"

Hearing his words, the woman leaned forward slightly and lifted up her skirt, "You guessed right, young man."

Kuen said straight to the point: "Natsume-san, I know you have a friend book."

Natsume's heart tensed, and he heard the other party say softly, "... Don't worry, I'm not here to attack the Book of Friends. I just heard from somewhere that there is a boy who can see monsters and control monsters, so I was curious about you and wanted to come and visit you. I didn't expect to cause trouble to you. I was inconsiderate."

The other party was very kind and had just saved him from danger. Natsume nodded and said, "No, I should thank you."

"If it's just for talk..."

Natsume looked at the cat teacher who was listening to their conversation. The cat teacher just exhaled through his nose and pressed the curser's claws even harder.

"Is there something that needs to be hidden?"

"No, it's not something that needs to be hidden, just some troubles and little annoyances." He said, "Natsume-san, what do you think of monsters?"

"I suddenly have to answer this..."

Natsume thought about it seriously.

"My feelings towards monsters are not static. As I get older and encounter different monsters, my feelings have changed subtly." He said, "In fact, when I was young, I had some bad memories because of monsters. At that time, I was very disgusted with monsters."

"Rejection...?"

Kuen exclaimed in surprise, as he didn't expect that Natsume, who got along well with big monsters, was once very resistant to monsters.

"A lot of things have happened since then." The boy seemed to think of something that made him laugh and cry, and then his smile turned gentle, as if he thought of some memories that brought him satisfaction.

Seeing his expression, Jiuyuan already understood.

At least now, Natsume's attitude towards monsters is no longer resistance. He has even become accustomed to their intrusion into his life and regards it as normal, right?

"Sometimes I think that not only the monsters have changed, but I myself seem to have changed as well." The young man answered with a chuckle, his expression relieved.

(It seems like a good change—)

"It seems that Natsume-san and the monsters get along very naturally." Kuen murmured with his head down, "Is that so... should we learn to let nature take its course..."

"Huh?"

"No, I was just talking to myself." After saying that, he smiled again.

After a few seconds of silence, Jiuyuan asked in a low voice: "Natsume-san... do you sometimes suddenly feel like you have become a different person?"

Natsume reflexively thought of his unnatural behavior and asked, "What does this mean?"

"No, I just feel that sometimes I feel like I'm not myself anymore after spending too much time with youkai... I don't have anyone around me to refer to, so I want to know if I'm the only one who feels this way." The boy pulled the corner of his mouth, "This feeling is strange, so I'm a little concerned."

After saying that, he rubbed his forehead and said, "Maybe I'm just overthinking..."

Natsume thought for a moment, then glanced at Madara next to him, wondering whether he should express their guess. Could it be that this young man really didn't know the discordant parts of himself?

"No, maybe not..."

Before he could finish his words, Bashi suddenly appeared, hugged Jiuyuan from behind, and whispered in his ear: "Have you forgotten something? What should we do with the curser? You haven't given me any orders yet--"

His tone was coquettish and flattering, but when his long hair covered the side of his face, he used this cover to look at Natsume who was halfway through her words.

That cold gaze seemed to be warning him.

——Don't say unnecessary words.