I never thought that this would happen...
Until the sun rose the next morning, Hinasaki Shinku was still lying on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. In fact, she almost didn't fall asleep last night, and her mind kept replaying the scene she had "recalled" from Kaname Kirie's room.
Hinasaki Shinku was puzzled. She did not go to Kyoto with Shizuku, but Shizuku brought Kaname no Kirie back from Kyoto.
Looking at the ceiling in front of her, Hinasaki Shinku sighed. Thinking about it carefully, it didn't seem strange. After all, Shizuku seemed to treat men differently all along. Even those idol stars on TV, she didn't bother to look at them. When accepting commissions, if it was a man's commission, she would postpone it, and if it was a girl's commission, she would advance it.
According to Shizuku, "Since you are a man, you should handle your own affairs by yourself. If you can't handle it, then don't be a man..."
Well, when I think about it, it seems that she does treat men and women differently.
Thinking of this, Hinasaki Shenhong couldn't help but feel a sense of unwillingness deep in her heart.
If that's the case, why don't you come with me... Ugh, that's unlikely...
Hinasaki Shinku sighed, sat up from the bed and started to change her clothes.
If I had known this would happen, I would not have gone to see it.
At this moment, Hinasaki Shinku felt a little regretful in her heart, but unfortunately, there is no regret medicine to sell in reality.
Today's office still started from a quiet morning.
Originally it was like this...
"negotiation?"
After hearing Kurosawa Aise's message, Shizuku put down the bowl in her hand and frowned slightly.
"Yes, I heard it was..."
Having said that, Kurosawa Fengye was silent for a moment, looked to the side, and then Shizumi Hisahisa took over.
"It's a negotiation between monsters and humans..."
"So you want me to negotiate with humans on behalf of the youkai? What are we going to talk about? I'm not going to set up an autonomous region for you, am I?"
What is this, version 2.0 of Gengodashima?
"That's not right..."
Jing Shuijiu shook his head.
"Your story has now been heard by the entire Japanese monster world..."
This is understandable. After all, there were still many monsters around who had not had time to escape. They all witnessed how Shizuku easily dealt with Shuten Douji and recaptured the Nine-tailed Demon Fox. After these monsters left, they would definitely spread gossip everywhere. Although there is no Internet or telephone in the monster world, it is not difficult for monsters to spread gossip with their own means.
"Now that Tamamonomae and Shuten-doji have lost their powers, the world of monsters needs a new monster lord. That's why I'm asking you, Shizuku-sama..."
"So, as the ruler and representative of the monsters? But I'm on the side of humans, you know?"
Shizuku hummed softly and spoke, while Shizuku nodded.
"The youkai has also considered this. But this is actually better..."
"So what is the commission?"
"It's related to the Twelve Demon Slayer Families. The monsters hope that you, Shizuku-sama, will be their representative to negotiate with the Twelve Demon Slayer Families..."
"The Twelve Demon Slayer Families... I remember the Chizuki Families were destroyed in the war, right? How many are left?"
"Five families..."
"So what are the negotiations about?"
"About the coexistence of youkai and humans..."
"This proposition is a bit too big, and I don't think it is something that the Twelve Demon Slayers can decide."
Hearing Shizuku's answer, Shizuku shook her head and thought, "You're kidding! This is just like asking her to talk to American gangsters about how to end the war in Afghanistan. It's completely meaningless."
If we need to discuss this matter, we should talk to the US government.
"The specific instructions are here..."
Shizuku seemed to know that it was difficult to express in words, so she simply took out a document, and Shizuku took the document and started to look through it. After reading the document, Shizuku finally understood what Shizuku meant by waiting for the monster.
In the world of monsters, there are radicals and moderates. The radicals are of course represented by the Nine-tailed Fox Tamamonomae and Shuten-doji, who advocate enslaving and killing humans. The moderates advocate coexistence with humans. In fact, many monsters in the moderate faction are moderate because they have spent some time with humans and developed feelings for them.
Some monsters even have children with humans, leaving behind children who inherit the monster's bloodline. As ancestors, they certainly hope that their descendants will be happy and not be destroyed by humans' hunting.
Because of this, they also hope to cease fire with humans, especially the Japanese Twelve Demon Slayers who specialize in killing demons. However, negotiation requires strength. Among the five existing families of the Twelve Demon Slayers, there are also families that are unfriendly to demons. If the demons do not have particularly powerful beings, they will not be able to communicate with each other.
Now the monsters want to build a place specifically for the half-monsters to live in. They hope that this place can be protected, rather than being swept away by some ignorant exorcists. This is also the specific content of their request for Shizuku to negotiate with the twelve demon slayers as the monster representative.
“I think it’s very troublesome and difficult.”
After reading the entire plan, Shizuku had some understanding of the monsters' ideas, but she was not particularly optimistic about this proposal.
"Why, Shizuku-nee? I think a lot of youkai aren't bad."
Hearing what Shizuku said, Hinasaki Shinku frowned in confusion and asked. At least in her experience, both Shizuku and Setsuna were very gentle and kind monsters.
"This is your opinion as an ordinary person, but the monster itself is not so easy to understand."
Hearing Hinasaki Shinku's question, Shizuku sighed, and then she looked at Hinasaki Shinku.
"Basically, there are three types of monsters. One type is like Setsuna, who are formed by natural phenomena. I think you also know that Yuki-onna is the crystallization and representative of snow, so Setsuna, as a snow-onna, represents the severe cold and blizzards on the mountains. The second type is like Shizumi Hisa, who is a born monster. This concept is actually the same as the superpowers in human society. Although the appearance is similar, the inner strength is very different. But the most difficult one is the last one."
"The last one?"
"Yes, that's a monster."
Shizuku pointed at the little golden-haired girl who was chewing an apple.
"This kind of monster is mostly caused by human negative emotions, such as fear, anger, hatred... In Toriyama Sekien's "One Hundred Demons Night Parade", there is a record of a monster. Because the people around did not go to the temple to burn incense, the temple abbot was so ashamed that he hanged himself, and then he became a monster out of resentment. In short, monsters are easily affected by human negative emotions, and therefore, they will resent humans in turn."
"That's right...."
Shizumi Hisaya nodded.
"Just like my family, we were just living an ordinary and peaceful life, but those humans took it upon themselves to kneel down and worship us as water gods, and took it upon themselves to fear us as monsters, and finally summoned the Demon Slayer to destroy my family... We didn't do anything...!"
"Well……"
Hearing Shizumi Hisahi's resentful words, Hinasaki Shinku couldn't help but shrink her body, while Shizuku shrugged her shoulders.
"You see, that's right. The hatred of monsters towards humans is not without reason. From the perspective of humans, it is terrible that monsters kill and eat people. But from the perspective of monsters, if it weren't for these humans emitting negative emotions like garbage generators all day long, it wouldn't affect them and turn these elves who originally lived carefree in the mountains into evil and ugly monsters. From this point of view, it is not without reason that monsters want to completely eliminate humans - so I said, I can understand what Shuten-doji did."
"But if both sides communicate well..."
"You can't do that, Shenhong, you know very well that a person's life is never smooth sailing. It's normal for someone to trip you up, say bad things about you, or even exclude and bully you. Everyone has times when they get mad at others. Look at the murders in society, aren't many of them caused by a man's rage? Even humans are like this, so if you mess with a monster, it will only be worse."
“Woo…”
"So I won't accept this commission."
Shizuku shrugged and returned the document to Shizumi Hisahisa.
"Not much benefit, but a lot of trouble. The so-called Monster Lord, to put it bluntly, just wants me to take the blame for them. I'm not stupid. If I want to conquer the world, maybe it will be of some use, but I'm living a good life now, why do I have to make myself miserable?"
"So...?"
"I refuse."
In response to Shizuku's question, Shizuku gave a decisive answer.