Completely unaware that someone had set their sights on him, Yudou strolled leisurely down the street on his way home.
But when he reached his front door, the boy who hadn't flinched even while facing a swarm of rat yokai suddenly hesitated.
He glanced down at himself.Yeah… he looked terrible.
His clothes were shredded from the fight, and he stank of blood. If his mom saw him like this, she would absolutely launch into one of her worried, teary lectures.
And of course—as if perfectly following his prediction—the moment he stepped inside, he was greeted by a beautiful woman with long chestnut hair. Before he could even begin crafting an excuse, she wrapped him in a tight hug.
It was Tenjouin Masami, Yudou's mother.
Seeing her son return home in such a battered state, she first crushed him in a worried embrace, then began patting him down, checking for serious injuries with trembling hands.
"Mom, seriously… This is why I keep telling you to stop hugging me out of nowhere. I'm already grown up, not a little kid like Ryuhime."
Yudou pressed a hand to his forehead, feeling a headache forming as Masami's mother-hen instincts went into overdrive. Because she'd raised both children on her own—and because Yudou had always acted too independent for his own good—Masami constantly felt guilty that she wasn't giving them enough attention.
"Don't lie to me. Ryuhime already told me you went to help the detectives with a case."
Her voice wavered with anxiety as she continued.
"I heard some things while grocery shopping today. They said terrorists are hiding somewhere in Ukiyo-chō, and the entire area is sealed off tonight. The detectives even came by to warn residents to shut all doors and windows and stay inside."
Hearing that, Yudou shot a murderous glare toward his kid sister, who was comfortably watching her favorite otaku drama on the sofa. Ryuhime felt her brother's stare like a physical force, squeaked, stuck out her tongue like a child caught misbehaving, and scampered off to her room.
Unfortunately, even though Masami was the head of the household, there were times when her children genuinely believed she was the most childish one among them.
Whenever Masami got home and found Yudou wasn't back yet, she would immediately interrogate Ryuhime. And whenever Ryuhime clammed up… Masami unleashed her ultimate weapon:
Tears.
Neither Yudou nor Ryuhime could withstand Masami's tearful breakdowns.
And when Masami learned that Yudou had gone to help the police with a case involving extremely dangerous terrorists, she couldn't even concentrate on her favorite TV drama anymore. She spent the whole evening anxiously pacing and waiting for him to return.
"Yudou, we're just ordinary people. If something dangerous happens, you should leave it to the detectives. From now on, don't get involved in things like this, okay? You're still a student—your job is to focus on school. What if those criminals came after you for revenge?"
For the next few hours, Yudou endured Masami's emotional, well-meaning lecture until he finally promised her—again and again—that he'd stop doing such things. He even said that if she didn't let him sleep soon, he wouldn't be able to wake up for school tomorrow.
Only then did Masami reluctantly release him.
The next morning, Yudou rode his secondhand bicycle to school as usual.The mission rewards from last night had already been distributed.
Honestly, he'd thought that losing reputation yesterday meant the mission ended in a net loss… but unexpectedly, his reputation had skyrocketed.
Previously, he had 200 points of human reputation and 100 points of demon reputation.Last night, he spent 200 human reputation to buy two Demon Aura Talismans for Hinano and the others, and 100 demon reputation to buy several Lesser Demon Power Crystals to restore his energy.
His encounter with the rat yokai had triggered a system quest, and the reward matched exactly: another 100 demon reputation.But the surprising part was—somehow—his human reputation had jumped to 500.
Four hundred more than the quest reward.
When he checked the detailed records, he found that 300 of those points came solely from the admiration of Hinano, Yuzaburō, and the others.
Yudou wasn't shocked—after all, he had saved them, and he had shown off absurd levels of strength. It was only natural for them to shower him with reputation.
But then he noticed something odd:
"Yamato Kuka"…?"Kamishiro Isshin"…?"Master Hakuba"…?
Who the hell were these people?
He didn't know any of them. Not a single one.
What left him even more baffled was that the bulk of his extra reputation came from these three mysterious individuals.
Yudou stared at the record list in stunned silence.
He was absolutely positive he'd never met any of them—so how on earth had he earned their admiration?
He wanted to ask Kujo Hinano and the others about their backgrounds, but after the way he'd told them off last night—declaring dramatically that they should never contact each other again—turning around and asking questions now felt like publicly slapping himself in the face.
As he cycled through Ukiyo-chō, he noticed the area where the battle had taken place was now completely cordoned off. The rat yokai corpses had been cleaned up.
Civilians were whispering about "terrorists" and "gunfights."He couldn't help but admire Yuzaburō's group—they really handled things cleanly.
The rat-yokai incident had been resolved perfectly, and his unexpected reputation windfall had put him in an excellent mood.
As for those mysterious individuals—Yamato Kuka and the others—he didn't intend to concern himself with them. As long as they didn't disturb his peaceful life, that was all that mattered.
Unfortunately, Yudou's good mood didn't last long.
As he rode toward the school, he spotted someone at the front gate—someone he absolutely did not want to see.
Pink hair.A strikingly beautiful face that could easily pass for a middle-school idol.And an aura so intense it practically screamed trouble.
The moment his eyes landed on her, Yudou instinctively spun his bike around, trying to lose himself in the crowd. But she was far too eye-catching—Kujo Hinano spotted him instantly.
Ignoring her shouts behind him, he tried to flee, pedaling for his life—but she swiftly grabbed the rear rack of his bicycle.
"Ah… Miss Kujo! What a coincidence! Didn't we agree last night that we wouldn't contact each other again?"
Yudou stared back at the pink-haired girl, helpless and bewildered. To stop him from escaping, she hopped right onto the back rack, clinging to him like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"What coincidence? I came here specifically to wait for you. We were together all night last night—how could you not recognize me?"
Needless to say, both Yudou and Hinano were unnaturally attractive, and their little spectacle instantly drew the attention of everyone around them.
The moment Hinano said that line, the surrounding students turned toward Yudou with expressions of pure disgust.
"Seriously? After doing that with her, he's trying to ditch her now?""I can't believe the school pretty boy is actually a scumbag. Ugh—handsome guys really are all the same…"