Uchiha Ryo extended his hand, but Yashajin Ai struggled to her feet, her foot seemingly sprained.
"I'll carry you. Get on."
Seeing the little girl stand up while enduring the pain in her ankle, Uchiha Ryo chuckled, walked over, and crouched down with his back to her.
Yashajin Ai stared blankly at the sturdy back in front of her. Enduring the shyness and the sharp pain from her ankle, she slowly climbed on.
Ai wrapped her slender arms around Uchiha Ryo's neck, pressing her entire body against his back.
The girl was very light, and also very soft. Uchiha Ryo could even smell a faint, sweet scent coming from her.
As a long-established family in the Tokyo area, the Yashajin family's status was a notch higher than even the Chitanda's, second only to financial conglomerates like the Shinomiya family.
Yashajin Ai's disappearance would inevitably trigger a large-scale search in the nearby area.
So Uchiha Ryo just randomly found a park and placed Ai on a park bench.
"Your family will be here to pick you up soon."
Yashajin Ai looked up. "You... you're not the bodyguard my family hired?"
Although Ai was only ten years old, her distinguished upbringing made her extremely intelligent. If Uchiha Ryo were really someone hired by her family, then a car would have come to pick her up, instead of waiting here.
"No, I'm just a passing traveler."
"Can... you tell me your name?" Yashajin Ai's face was full of expectation, but Uchiha Ryo hesitated.
His current appearance was a disguise created by the Transformation Jutsu. It seemed he would have to make one up.
"My name is... Akatsuki. As for my surname, I can't tell you."
"Akatsuki-oniichan, my foot... it hurts."
Uchiha Ryo sighed. For the top contributor who had given him 500 G-Points on their first meeting, it wouldn't be too much to exchange for a Palm Healing Jutsu for her, would it?
He directly spent two hundred G-Points to exchange for the Palm Healing Jutsu from the medical ninjutsu section.
"Take off your shoe."
"Eh?!"
Yashajin Ai looked at her foot in confusion. She roughly understood what Akatsuki-oniichan was about to do... but having her foot touched by a boy other than her father or grandfather was a bit embarrassing.
Seeing that Yashajin Ai didn't move, Uchiha Ryo took the initiative to crouch down, take off Ai's shoe, and then slowly peel off her sock.
Gently holding the girl's delicate foot, a green light emanated from the center of Uchiha Ryo's palm.
It felt nice to the touch, but right now Uchiha Ryo just wanted to heal her quickly. How could he, a dignified Uchiha, be interested in a little child? This was purely for the G-Points.
Yashajin Ai bit her lip, but the warm sensation coming from her foot was so comfortable it almost made her cry out.
In just under a minute, Uchiha Ryo withdrew his hands, stood up, and looked at Ai with a smile.
"How does it feel?"
"Mmm..." Yashajin Ai moved it slightly. Her ankle really didn't hurt anymore, as if it had never been sprained at all.
"Found her!! The young lady is here!"
Just as she put her shoe back on and stood up, Yashajin Ai heard a somewhat familiar shout.
"Uncle Shinichi!"
Uchiha Ryo turned his head to see a middle-aged man who looked like a butler rushing over with a group of bodyguards.
"Who are you? Are you the one who kidnapped Lady Ai!!"
The Yashajin family's head butler, Yamazaki Shinichi, had an unfriendly expression. This young man who had appeared beside the young lady... gave him an unfathomable feeling.
"Uncle Shinichi, it was Akatsuki-oniichan who saved me! He's the one who brought me here to wait for you."
"Akatsuki?"
Uchiha Ryo smiled. "It was indeed I who saved Miss Yashajin from a group of thugs. Since her family has come to pick her up, I'll be taking my leave."
"Akatsuki-oniichan!"
Yamazaki Shinichi looked at Uchiha Ryo with suspicion, but he still waved away the bodyguards behind him, took a step forward himself, and bowed slightly.
"My apologies, Mr. Akatsuki. If you truly are the one who rescued Lady Ai, I implore you to come with us. I believe Mr. Yashajin will also express his gratitude to you personally."
"Oh? A visit to the Yashajin residence..." Uchiha Ryo stroked his chin. "Very well, lead the way."
Uchiha Ryo had heard of the Yashajin family's influence. Making contact with them might bring unexpected benefits.
Besides, his current identity was just an alias called [Akatsuki]. Uchiha Ryo could not be exposed. After all, Uchiha Ryo was still attending school at Shuchiin.
Uchiha Ryo got into the car and glanced at Yashajin Ai beside him. It seemed the [Akatsuki] alias would need to appear frequently as a shadow clone!
.....
At the Yashajin family mansion, just as he entered the front courtyard, he saw a line of bodyguards in black suits and sunglasses. Is this the grandeur of a great family? But in Uchiha's eyes, not a single one of them was a worthy opponent.
"Mr. Akatsuki, Lord Kouten is already waiting for you inside."
Walking into the inner chamber, Uchiha Ryo observed his surroundings for a moment, then met the gaze of that Yashajin Kouten.
"First of all, I must thank you for rescuing my granddaughter. Ai has just told me everything."
Yashajin Kouten looked to be over fifty, but his eyes were extremely sharp. Rather than an old man, this was the aura a person of high status should have.
"It was nothing."
Yashajin Kouten gave Uchiha Ryo a deep look.
"Nothing, you say... With your skills, perhaps that is so. What happened to those kidnappers?"
Uchiha Ryo smiled. "Them? They've returned to the embrace of nature."
"...."
"I've always been unable to figure it out. Ai didn't even leave the house today. What kind of kidnappers could infiltrate the heavily guarded Yashajin residence and abduct Ai without a sound! Can a being who can do that still be considered human?"
Uchiha Ryo remained silent. He could actually do it too. This place was indeed heavily guarded for ordinary people, but the one who abducted Yashajin Ai was likely that youkai born from evil thoughts.
Yashajin Kouten took a step forward. "Mr. Akatsuki, I would like to ask a question. Of course, if you are unwilling to answer, just pretend I never asked."
"The Yashajin family should just speak its mind."
"Mr. Akatsuki, are you... a reclusive onmyoji?"
"???"
Uchiha Ryo fell silent. Yashajin Kouten continued.
"I simply cannot imagine any human being capable of abducting Ai out of thin air. And combined with Ai's account of your appearance and the flames that finished off those kidnappers..."
Uchiha Ryo thought for a moment, then nodded. Not everyone could know about things like youkai, but the Yashajin family had existed for over a hundred years. They must have had contact with that world.
Seeing Uchiha Ryo nod, Yashajin Kouten's expression became unnatural.
"Why have you appeared?! Didn't the onmyoji and youkai sign a pact fifty years ago to not appear in the human world for a hundred years!"
——
Ryo: Shadow clones are not important, shadow clones are not important! Shadow clones are just a tool, shadow clones have no important plot points!!!