Heiwajima Shizuo and Tanaka Tom came out of the store next door, the former having changed into a clean shirt.

"But this is really an unprovoked disaster." Tanaka Tom laughed and said, "The resentment of vending machines is really terrible."

"... Stop making fun of me." He tried to change the subject, "Where else are you going next?"

"Let me check the schedule."

While Tanaka Tom was checking his work schedule, Shizuo looked at Celty on the side of the road. She seemed to be talking to the man with the slit mouth beside her in a panic. She kept typing on her PDA and looked a little impatient.

"There's not much work to do now...why don't you go somewhere to take a break, or leave work early..." Seeing that Jingxiong didn't answer him, Tom looked up and saw his partner looking at Celty and the others.

"What's wrong?"

"No, I just care a little."

"In that case, why don't we go over and take a look?" Tom suggested.

When they got closer, they saw the masked young man tilt his head uncomfortably, then use his fingertips to pull the front end of the mask to make slight adjustments.

Isn't this too much of a fear of childbirth? Tom thought.

Heiwajima Shizuo asked straight to the point: "What happened?"

The man with the slit looked at Celty, trying to get her consent: "...Can I tell you?"

[Yes, Jung-woong is a trustworthy person.]

The man with the slit mouth was about to say, "Then I'll tell him the whole story," but Celty shook her head quickly and regretted it. She deleted the line and wrote again: [No... This will also involve him, which is too dangerous. I'll explain it to him later.]

The man with the slit finally nodded, he respected Celti's opinion.

Obviously, Celti doesn't want to drag the other party into the non-human world. From this perspective, Celti is not like the legendary banshee. She is simply full of humanistic care.

Celty pointed the screen at Shizuo, and it said: [Nothing, we just mentioned some topics related to monsters.]

She's not very good at lying.

Jingxiong saw their interaction and subtly noticed that the air had changed a little.

(Something really happened to Celti.) He became more certain.

"Any information about your head?" he asked casually.

[I guess so.] Celty thought that if she answered like this, Jingxiong would not ask any more questions.

Actually, the other party was not the talkative and inquisitive person. Just thinking about this, Celty felt relieved, but then the man opposite said:

"You're not going to say anything and do something adventurous alone, are you?"

If the head was really found, Celti's reaction would never be like this. Her reaction seemed more like she had encountered some urgent matter that she didn't know how to deal with for the time being.

In this matter, Jingxiong trusts his intuition.

Celty, whose thoughts were exposed, said: "..."

The man with the slit mouth didn't think it was a big deal. He said, "It's not dangerous. Besides... I'm here so Miss Celty won't get hurt."

Tanaka Tom next to him felt that this conversation was getting more and more unpleasant. He coughed lightly and said, "So you guys are really going to do something dangerous?"

The man with the slit mouth did not explain, but glanced at Celty and reminded him: "We don't have much time."

After being reminded of this, Celty knew that now was not the right time to talk: [Sorry, Anri might be in danger, I need to go to her side.]

Jingxiong: "Mr. Tom, you just said that I can arrange my time as I like, right?"

Tom immediately understood Jingxiong's intention and shrugged his shoulders: "Yeah, just go back to the company and hand in the report to me, go ahead."

"I'm sorry."

"No problem. I wish you all the best."

Celti saw that Jingxiong had explained everything in a few words, and it was clear that he intended to go with her.

Considering that they were going to travel together, Celti simply changed her horse from a motorcycle to a carriage. She pulled the reins and signaled them to get on.

Looking at the carriage that had transformed, Jiu Yuan: "..."

Good, so cool...

He suppressed the thought of "I want this too" and let the man with the slit mouth get on the carriage and squeeze in with Jingxiong.

In the car, the shy man with the slit mouth used the whistling wind to cover up his discomfort and explained the general course of events to Jingxiong. The latter was able to hear the fragmented voices of the people next to him clearly in the wind.

Because he didn't know how much Jingxiong knew about the demon sword, the man with the slit mouth handled the matter vaguely. He only said that the little girl was in danger and never mentioned anything about the demon sword.

He frowned. "So, there is a monster called Hachishaku who is targeting that little girl? But according to what you said, he should have someone he obeys, right? Wouldn't it be better to just find that person and ask him to stop Hachishaku's behavior?"

"We don't have enough time..." the man with the slit mouth whispered, "Besides, they seem to be at odds with each other."

Jingxiong: "Should we just give up this rescue plan?"

Slit-mouthed man: "No, my companions should contact Hachishaku's companions. I hope they can make it in time."

…

…

When Anri Sonohara received the message from Celty, she was out shopping. She was not feeling well and had taken sick leave, so she went downstairs to buy some food.

However, when I saw this message, my mind felt like it was blown by a cold wind, forcing me to wake up a little.

For Anri Sonohara, being involved in incidents because of Sin Song is nothing new.

But for Sin Song, she is determined not to have a future where she is kept in captivity by non-human creatures.

…What should I do? Hide? But where can I go?

What will happen if you are caught?

She was filled with mixed thoughts, and before she could make a reasonable judgment, she heard a commotion not far away. It seemed that something was brewing among the crowd, which set off Anri Sonohara's danger radar.

——To leave here.

This thought immediately popped into my mind.

Until in front of me——

Dust flew up, and a slender white figure appeared in front of him. A hole was trampled out on the ground under his feet, and broken rocks rolled to the side of the road.

This is a humanoid creature more than two meters tall, but the moment he appeared, Zui Ge made a subconscious "nausea" behavior.

[This guy is a monster——]

The woman leaned over and smiled at Anri Sonohara's pale face, which was cast in a shadow by her huge white sunhat.

"…Is the demon sword with you, little girl?"

The girl's eyes widened, and she subconsciously took a step back to create some distance.

Then, the other party looked at me with curiosity, as if wondering why it was different from what he had imagined.

Rather, it was Jiuyuan who was confused.

He had thought that the aura of this girl was acquired after interacting with the demon sword, but he did not expect that she was directly possessed by the other party. No wonder the auras were mixed together.

Although Hachishaku didn't take action immediately, Anri's sense of crisis only grew.

Hachisha simply squatted down, held his face with his hands, and looked at the other party with an expression of looking at a wonder. Just when Anri was thinking about where to escape, she found that she was surrounded by a circle of black, jumping energy, which made her even more afraid to act rashly.

(…Is this the ability of that monster?)

Calculating how long it would take for the Slit Man and his men to arrive, Kuen decided to let Hachishabu buy time.

On the other hand, he found the strange relationship between the demon sword and the girl very interesting, which made him curious.

Why not take this opportunity to help the Slit Man gain more favorability, just like Celty did, and try to bring the Demon Sword into their network of relationships.

Hachisha tilted his head to the side and tapped his cheek with his fingers: "...You are so weird, little girl."

"I don't understand you."

"There are actually two beings in one person's body." Yasha said, "Are you the one in charge? Or is it that demon sword?"

Anri looked around subconsciously and found that no one noticed the strangeness on their side.

Basha smiled considerately: "Don't worry, those people can't hear it... I originally wanted to take the demon sword away from you, but now it seems that you are more interesting than I thought."

Anris did not let her guard down at all. In fact, she had already used the loose sleeves of her clothes to cover the blades on her arms, so that she could defend herself from possible attacks at any time.

The more they talked, the easier it was for the other party to become careless. Anri thought this was the tactic of the female youkai in front of her.

"Hehe... It's a good thing to be wary of strangers. But... If I can't get any useful information from you, I can only use tough measures, right?"

The girl in front of him seemed to be determined to keep her secret. Even though Hachisha had isolated herself from the people around her, she had no intention of revealing it.

However, the more resistance you show, the higher your chances of gaining favor from the Cleft-Mouthed Man.

For Anri Sonohara, Hachisha is an unstable factor that will disrupt her current life.

But the power of this destabilizing factor is too strong and she cannot drive it away easily.

"...Don't be nervous." Hachishaku slowly stood up from the ground, "...That knife...can't be taken out of your body? Hehe...don't you think this is a pity..."

A black dagger appeared in Basha's hand at some point, wrapped around a chaotic lightning-like shell.

Anri Sonohara held her breath, wondering if Sin Song's ability would work on the monster in front of her.

(A monster shouldn’t be the one that Zuige loves, right?) This thought suddenly occurred to her.

The next moment, the figure in front of her disappeared abruptly. Feeling the air getting hot, Anri Sonohara subconsciously blocked the blade in front of her.

However, the imagined woman did not appear in front of her, but instead a black figure stood in front of her.

(Is it Miss Celty? No...)

He was a thin young man, with the corner of his black windbreaker lifted by the impact of the fight. In one hand he held a huge, strange-shaped pair of scissors, and he blocked the attack of the woman in white.

(What, what’s going on──)

(Who is this person again?) She didn't dare to let her guard down and quickly observed the person in front of her.

After seeing that his move was blocked, Hachisha increased the movement of his hands in displeasure.

The weapons touched each other, and neither the black nor the white man had any intention of retreating.

In the gap, Anri Sonohara heard the young man in black whisper:

"It seems that he has caught up."

"…Stand a little further away. It's dangerous."