Celti looked at the boy coming out of the toilet cubicle. He was wearing a clean white shirt, his face was pale but somewhat cold, and his young age made him seem unapproachable.

His eyes scanned the man with the slit for a while, and then naturally fell on the rest of them.

Being stared at by a stranger, Celty felt inexplicably nervous.

The boy put his finger on his lower lip, as if thinking about why they were here. Then, he said to the man with the slit mouth: "...Why did you bring these people here? By the way, what happened between you and the snow man? Did you have a fight?"

"Your next sentence... Are you going to invite me to join you?" The man with the slit mouth pressed the apple on Hanako's head. The latter took it speechlessly and threw it into the space behind him.

The apple disappeared directly into the darkness without any sound of it falling to the ground.

"Will you leave him?" Hanako sneered. "If you won't, don't say something that could easily lead to misunderstanding."

"Forget it - let's get down to business." Hanako took a breath, narrowed her pomegranate-red eyes, and quickly locked her gaze on Anri Sonohara.

So that's how it is... The slit-mouthed man's alias has little knowledge in the traditional fields of spirits and monsters, and his talent is not in this area, so he can only vaguely sense the problem with Anri Sonohara. But when observing with Hanako's alias, the direction of that unnatural power becomes clearer.

Anri Sonohara must have been affected by Yasha's overly ostentatious and even brutal demonic power. The Sin Song that resided in her body actually felt vaguely out of harmony with her.

If Hisayuki himself were here, he would probably be able to see more clearly than Hanako.

You can even see the specific direction of the power pulse in the other person's body.

"...You know, I won't do unpaid work." Hanako stated the facts calmly. He said to the man with the slit mouth: "Who will pay the price? You? Or this girl?"

Anri Sonohara understood that what the man with the slit mouth meant was that the boy in front of him could solve the problem of her Sin Song being in an unstable state.

The girl still held her arm tightly. Half of her arm was almost numb. Not only that, the sound of the sin song in her body was like a person in despair, full of meaningless and disjointed screams. The double torture of mind and body made her steps a little unsteady.

"I will pay for it myself..." The girl's voice was almost weightless. "Well, what do I need to pay?"

"Hmm..." Hanako looked at the girl who was trying her best to endure the pain, "Then let's start with the basic procedures. Oh, by the way, are you an adult?"

Everyone present heard his question, even Heiwajima Shizuo, who was guarding the door to prevent any unexpected situations, turned his head.

Because the issue of age is a bit too sensitive.

On this line that is close to the edge of the world but not completely dark, adulthood is an important "little thing".

The work of adults and minors can be different simply because the laws governing the two parties are different, so those behind the scenes will choose the most efficient way to arrange the work in the "gray area".

Jingxiong's first reaction was, is this guy going to take advantage of minors to do something bad?

But he changed his mind -

This guy is a monster.

Human moral laws and unspoken rules don't apply, right?

Is it some kind of sacrifice to monsters? I heard there are age restrictions...

This was also the first time that Anri Sonohara dealt with a monster with Hanako's style of painting, and she had a brief hesitation.

As a youkai who knows the human mind well, the slit-mouthed man nodded and said comfortingly: "...Hanako-kun is an honest businessman. I think I can guarantee this."

"Who asked you to guarantee it..." the boy said unhappily, but he softened his tone towards Anri Sonohara and said, "Anyway, the opportunity has been handed over to you. It doesn't make any difference to me whether you choose to trust me or just leave. But you have to think carefully. This opportunity may only come once. If you miss it, it will be gone."

Jingxiong: “…”

Isn’t this a common sales pitch used by businesses?

Would a monster say that?

"I understand." The girl didn't want to waste any more time. Everyone was still with her, so she chose to nod.

Hanako gave her a meaningful look and said, "...Is this really your own decision?... Never mind. I only care about the result. Now, if you want to trade with me, tell me your real name first."

"Sonohara, Sonohara Anri."

"That's a cute name... But this isn't a one-person deal for you, so I'll treat it as a two-person deal. What's the name of the knife?"

“…Sin Song.”

The man with the slit mouth had already left the center and walked to the far side of the wash basin and sat down leaning against the hollow. Celty next to him saw that he had no intention of explaining himself, so he asked: […Excuse me, can you explain the current situation? I feel a little confused since the beginning. ]

[Who is this child in front of me? Is he also a monster? ]

"His name is Hanako, but we usually call him... Hanako-kun."

"Hanako-kun and I are colleagues, so to speak... it's too much trouble to explain in detail, so I won't go into detail."

Celti: “…” No, I still hope you can explain it in detail. Are you just going to just briefly mention the key points?

The man with the slit mouth slowly explained, "...Hanako-kun and I serve the same master. He is now...well, helping with the business. He sells some things and does some consulting and intelligence work...probably something like a jack of all trades."

Celty: “…”

This is a really casual explanation.

[In short, everything can be solved a little bit. 】

"Hmm, maybe...? It would be better to ask him what he can't solve... Ah, but he will definitely get angry if you ask him that, so don't ask him."

Celty: Isn't that what you said? Who would ask?

In contrast to their cheerful atmosphere, after deciding to make a deal with Hanako, Anri Sonohara just wants to know when all this will end.

Hanako first opened the door of the compartment, revealing the dark room behind it.

What should have been a narrow compartment now turned into a room with warm orange lights.

It's more like a collector's collection room than a room, as the walls are covered with all kinds of strange things, some of which would make people feel unfortunate and uncomfortable just by looking at them.

There are also items that are so glorious and holy that they seem like they shouldn’t be in this room.

There were also several storage boxes on the long table, which were filled with things packed in smaller boxes whose contents could not be seen.

"Welcome to my shop, Anri Sonohara."

He opened the booklet beside him that automatically recorded customer information and casually glanced at Anri Sonohara's information.

Then, he lifted the stool and pushed it to a high shelf. While searching for what he wanted, he said, "Sonohara Anri-san... do you know why your body suddenly became chaotic and your strength was out of control?"

"Is it because of... that monster called Hachishaku?"

"I guess so. That guy's power is too brutal, and you are unlucky to be affected. But why did he suddenly come to you...ah, I understand, it's because of the demon sword, right?"

Hanako didn't really care whether the other person would answer him or not. He was immersed in the fun of asking and answering himself.

He turned over the boxes in his hand one after another, but still couldn't find what he wanted.

Anri Sonohara had no choice but to tell them what she knew.

And she discovered that Hanako was referring to Hachishaku as "he" who was a man...

Considering that now was not the time to ask this question, she chose to continue talking about the previous topic.

"That monster did come because of Sin Song... but, for some reason, she suddenly gave up." She recalled the situation at that time, "She said I was weird and asked me how there were two beings in one body, and asked me who was in charge?"

Hanako stopped searching for things, turned his head to look at Anri Sonohara, and waited quietly for her next words.

Sonohara Anri recalled the look on Hachishaku's face as he looked at her intently, and she said, "—She seemed very interested in this matter."

"Oh, she thought it was funny, and asked if I could separate from Sin Song..."

"……Separate?"

“He thinks it’s a shame.”

"What a pity?" Hanako's cold expression warmed up a bit. He chewed on the word the girl said and tapped the metal rod of the shelf with his fingers.

Then, he seemed to have thought of something, and his expression suddenly cooled down, but this loss of composure only lasted for less than a second, and he even followed it up with a cheerful smile -

"——Is that so? That's what he said?"

"What's wrong? Did I say something wrong..."

Anri Sonohara, who is good at observing people's expressions, thought that she had said something to make her unhappy after seeing Hanako's enthusiastic but actually cold smile.

"No, I thank you very much for giving me some very interesting information."

Hanako said, "It's just enough to offset the cost of your transaction."

He pretended to search for a long time and took out a sealed box from the bottom.

Then he opened it and handed it to Anri Sonohara, "This is like a sedative for monsters. Since the sword is lodged in your body, it will be the same if you eat it."

Then he took out a bag of biscuits, opened it and handed it to Anri Sonohara, "Eat a biscuit after taking the medicine. This has an effect on people and can make your mental state more comfortable. The demon sword was forced to calm down, and you will also experience it. I don't want you to lose consciousness in my store."

After taking the medicine given to her by Hanako, Anri Sonohara felt much better.

Then, the power in her body was forcibly suppressed, and she felt she had lost her spirit and became drowsy, so she quickly ate the cookie. The sweet taste and the special effects inside made her feel like herself again.

"Thank you……"

"Don't thank me, you paid the price, this is what you deserve."

Anri Sonohara went to rest nearby, and Celty and Shizuo, who had been paying close attention, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The man with the slit mouth did not ignore the change in Hanako's expression. He was confused by Hachisha's behavior, and when he saw Hanako's attitude, he believed that something had happened.

Some changes that he was completely kept in the dark about.

"…What happened?…Is it related to Kuen-kun?"

Hanako looked at him and asked, "Why do you ask?"

"If nothing had happened between them, Hachishaku wouldn't have come to Ikebukuro alone to look for some demon sword..." The man with the slit mouth frowned, "He said... this was a gift to make Kuen forgive him and calm him down... I don't remember exactly, but it seems to be something like this. So they had a fight, right?"

"…We didn't have a fight." Hanako said, "It was just one-sided. He did something that Kuen-kun couldn't forgive."

"Unforgivable...?"

"It seems like he's hiding something from Kuen-kun..." Hanako sighed, looking into the slit-mouthed man's beautiful eyes, and sighed helplessly like an elder to a younger person: "Forget it, why am I telling you all this... Anyway, you must have told Yukio about Hachishaku's appearance in Ikebukuro right away, and he's not stupid, so he must have guessed something."

"Yes, I told Axue." The man with the slit mouth nodded honestly.

"...You're just pretending. But since you're such an honest guy... I'll give you a piece of advice. Stay eight feet away for now."

His expression was gloomy:

"——That guy seems to have some bold ideas."