Jin’s POV
   Today’s part-time work went smoothly as usual, probably because Kajiwara still hasn’t come back from his so-called leave yet. He wishes from the bottom of his heart that the worthless manager-in-name-only would never come back.

   As he’s walking all by himself back to his apartment, he notices that he’s being stared at intently. He’s not using any sort of skill or magic. It’s just that he developed some sort of sixth sense after being constantly targeted back at Ifezan. He even knows that the ones doing the staring aren’t even humans.

   They finally decide to appear as Jin is passing by a park. Turns out they’re a pack of wild dogs. There’s just one thing, though. Jin doesn’t know every single species of dogs out there, but he’s quite positive that none of them have skeletal heads and flaming paws. At least not from this world.

   He counted at least thirty of these Hellhounds. All of them are snarling at him, but didn’t go on the offense to attack him. He looks around at his surroundings. No one else but him is at the park or any of the nearest vicinity. Still, it might be bad if someone passes by. He accesses his Vault and equips his armor in an instant. He also has a helmet on his head. The helmet covers his entire head and has a single thin horizontal space at his eye level. This way, he won’t be recognized that easily.

   Felfarthen appears on his left hand next. The Hellhounds growl loudly the moment they see the weapon. Jin didn’t wait for them to attack. He swings his sword horizontally. Eight of them got sliced in half. Most of their body disintegrates before they even touch the ground, but a paw or two remained.

   Seeing the death of some of their comrades urged the rest to attack. Unfortunately for them, five more died before they could even stretch their muscles to leap at Jin. Pained yelps are heard all over the place as the Hellhound disappear one by one. Jin was so focused on killing these otherworldly mutts that he failed to notice a tiny drone hovering from a distance, its even tinier camera recording his every moves.

   The Hellhounds are fast and got used to coordinate their attacks while matching each other’s timings, but none of it matters to Jin. This is one of those times when brute force can take care of everything, and his brute force meter is always off the hook.

   It took Jin less than three minutes to take care of the entire pack. Compared to some of the monstrosities he fought before, these dogs are nothing. Now for the worst part: the cleanup. He missed those days when he could just defeat the monsters and just leave their corpses to rot. He can’t do that here since someone might end up with a proof that he was here. He doesn’t know how advance is the forensic science these days, but he’s not going to take the chance.

   At first, he was thinking of burying them in soil. Then he decided against it. Doing that will change the landscape, and it would be obvious as day that something are buried underneath. Burning them is out of the question as well. For one thing, he remembers that Hellhounds are immune to fire. That probably holds true even if they’re dead. Secondly, the fire would just be a beacon to attract attention. In the end, he settles with collecting all the bits of body parts with a tiny tornado and grind them to dust. With this out of the way, he goes to the nearest toilet so that he could put away his sword and armor back inside the Vault with less risk of being seen by someone. He then leaves the toilet and heads back to his apartment like nothing has happened.

   The entire class is buzzing with excitement on the next day. According to some conversations that he heard, there’s going to be a transfer student.

   “Is it true that she’s your cousin, Wakaba-san?” a girl is asking Wakaba.

   “That’s right. She came here all the way from Europe.”

   Huh. Must be the one she mentioned when they met at the supermarket yesterday.

   “How’s she like? Is she pretty?”

   “Do you have a picture of her?”

   “She’s quite energetic and talkative, so there isn’t a single dull moment around her. As for her looks, you’ll find out soon enough, right?”

   “Oh come on, Wakaba-san! Don’t be such a tease!”

   Once it’s time for homeroom, their homeroom teacher Takasu Yukari comes inside the classroom. She clears her throat softly.

   “As all of you may already know, we have a new students who’s going to join us today.”

   Most of the class is just filled with anticipation. Not Jin. He couldn’t care less. Takasu looks towards the door.

   “Please come in.” she tells whoever that’s outside.

   The person comes in as instructed. The first thing Jin notices is the red hair. He feels his eyes widen in recognition.

   “Wow, what beautiful red hair.”

   “Is she a foreigner?”

   “She’s so cute and pretty!”

   Jin could barely hear the ruckus around him. He was too busy gawking at the girl who’s slowly walking towards the blackboard. She’s wearing the usual Yokosuka High uniform for girls which features a white long-sleeved white shirt, a black blazer, a gray pleated skirt, a pair of black thigh-high stockings, and a pair of black shoes. She doesn’t have her usual horns, wings and tail, but Jin could tell that it’s her right away.

   Takusu write her name at the blackboard. Estyshana Von Mantus.

   “Hello everyone! My name is Estyshana Von Mantus. You can just call me Esty!” the female demon introduces herself energetically.

Estytshana’s POV
   There he is. The accursed Hero she had been frantically searching ever since she arrived at this world. She tried to use her crystal ball to search for him, but it always failed, for some reason. She had to resort to searching for him manually. Everyday, she went outside to search for him for hours. However, she never managed to find him. This Japan is too huge. He could be anywhere. But now, there he is now.

   For a split second, she saw that his eyes widen in recognition. So he remembers her too. Good. She doesn’t have to waste her time in trying to refresh his memory about her, then.

   After the introduction, she was given an empty seat right next to Chifuyu, which is somewhere to the back. She wanted a seat next to the Hero, but this is good enough. At least Chifuyu is one of her neighbour.

   Esty spends the next few minutes answering the questions asked by her curious classmate who proceeded to surround her. She was glad that she has asked Chifuyu tons of questions about this world, or she would just embarrass herself here.

   “Where are you from, Esty-san?”

   “I’m from, um, Romania.”

   “Wow, that’s far! Where’s Romania?”

   “It’s kind of hard to explain.”

   “Your hair is so pretty. What kind of conditioner do you use to maintain them?”

   “I just use the same one as Chifuyu. Which was the name of the brand again, Chifuyu?”

   “It was Ichikami.”

   “That’s right. The name was Ichikami.”

   “Do you plan on joining any clubs?”

   “I’m not sure. I want to check them out first.”

   The Hero, on the other hand, isn’t even remotely interested in her. He had been turning his back on her ever since she has sat down. As for the teacher who brought her here, she was nowhere to be seen. Chifuyu had explained to Esty that there’s a short break between each lesson and the teacher would leave the classroom during this period. This must be one such period.

   “Well then. Let me show you around the school.” Chifuyu offers.

   Finally. A chance for them to be alone. Esty points at the Hero with her index finger.

   “I would like him to act as my guide.” she says shyly.

   That causes the students around her to start murmuring rapidly.

   “Why him of all people?”

   “Who even is that?”

   “Did we have someone like him in our class?”

   “Why Minase-kun? Do the two of you know each other?” Chifuyu asks.

   “You could say that…” she fidgets.

   More rapid murmurings.

   The Hero turns around with a surprised expression on his face after hearing his name being mentioned.

   “How about it? May I have the honour?” Esty asks him while acting like a timid maiden from one of her favourite daytime drama.

   He shrugs.

   “If you’re fine with me.”

   With that, she follows him from behind and leaves the classroom. The students inside are causing a major uproar, but Esty has her attention filled with the Hero. He’s the only one that matters right now.

   They had been walking together for a few minutes now. He didn’t say a single thing to her, and she’s too occupied with her thoughts on what to do that she didn’t start any form of conversation. All around them, the students who are standing outside their classrooms turn to look at her. A few of them are whispering something to each other.

   The Hero brings Esty up a few stairs. Eventually, they reach the rooftop of the school. There are a few benches here, and a tall, barbed wire fence is surrounding the edges. Esty looks around in surprise. Chifuyu didn’t tell her about this place. As Esty watches, the Hero closes the door and locks it. He then looks at her.

   “There. Now no one can bother us. What are you doing in this world, and what do you want?” he asks her.

   “Straight to the point, are we?”

   He shrugs. “We don’t have a lot of time for break. Can we just get on with it?”

   She grits her teeth.

   “You killed my father.” she says with barely concealed anger.

   “Yeah, I did.” he admits casually. “Don’t expect me to apologize, though.”

   “I’m not asking you to. No amount of apology will bring him back anyway.”

   “So you’re here for revenge. Need I remind you that out of all of our past confrontations, not once did you ever manage to defeat me?”

   Esty grits her teeth again, this time in frustration. She hates to admit it, but he’s right. They had fought each other for a total of twelve times, and she lost every single time. He’s much, much stronger than she is. The worse part is, she barely got out alive each time thanks to the noble sacrifice of her subordinates. Even Sulgran, one of the Four Demon Marquis, shielded her from his attack and got killed so that she could live. Now, she’s all alone. If they ever start a fight, she would be killed for sure. Her whole body starts to tremble in fear. She struggles to think of a word to say.

   “Be very careful of what you’re planning to say next. You very life depends on it.” the Hero says to her.

   He’s so certain of his victory that he could actually afford to give out an advice. It’s so vexing she feels like crying. However, she has sworn on her mother’s grave that she would never cry in front of her enemy. She especially refuse to cry in front of him, of all people. But what should she do? What would her father say to her if he was still alive?

   The mere thought about her father reminded her of the errand he asked of her. He had request her to find him the crystallized corpse of a Gobba Lizard at the Zakkuras Desert. She had heard that finding a Gobba Lizard could use up one’s ten lifetime worth of luck. However, she took on the job anyway since she was feeling lucky. And so, she left the castle with gusto.

   Esty had spent six days on the desert, but couldn’t even find a live one, much less a crystallized version of it. And then, she felt something was very wrong. She immediately hurried back to the castle, only to find her father slain.

   Thinking back, her father must have predicted the Hero was on his way to kill him. Hence, he sent her out on a fool’s errand in the hope that she would not get involved. If she challenged the Hero recklessly, she would just waste his effort in order to keep her alive.

   She takes a deep breath.

   “I’m not going to fight you. Not now.” she slowly tells the Hero.

   The Hero only shrugged as a response.

   “But mark my words. I’ll always watch out for a chance to strike. It’s best if you watch your back.”

   He looks at her with a tired expression.

   “I’m always doing that. How did you think I managed to survive for this long?”

   Esty was about to think of a witty comeback to that when she hears a bell rings repeatedly for at least thirty seconds.

   “Is that supposed to indicate something?” she asks.

   “It’s to tell us that the break time is over.”

   “Bummer. I wasn’t even given a decent tour around this building. I should have asked for a more competent guide.”

   He shrugs like he couldn’t care less. “Life is full of disappointment. Now let’s head back before we get into trouble.”

   On their way back, neither of them said anything again. This time, Esty is busy with thinking of different ways to finish the Hero off. So far, she couldn’t think of anything decent. No rush. She’s allowed to take her time. He chose not to kill her. She’ll make sure that he regrets it.

   “Heads up.”

   “Huh?”

   Before Esty could figure out what his words meant, she runs head first into the side of a red metallic box. As a result, she got a bump on her head.

   “I told you so.” he says without looking back.

   “Would it kill you to give me a warning earlier if you knew I was going to bump into it?”

   “Are you telling me that you’ve forgotten our relationship? You should be thankful that I said anything at all.”

   Esty growls and rubs her head to ease the pain. It’s barely working.

   “What is this box for anyway?” she grumbles while taking a look at the box that did her harm.

   “It’s being used to store fire extinguishers.” the Hero explains. “In case you don’t know-”

   “I know what a fire extinguisher is, thank you very much! I’m not that ignorant.”

   “If you say so.”

   This scene might be pointless for anyone else, but it taught Esty one thing. The Hero could detect his surroundings without using his eyes. That’s a very troublesome magic to his enemies, if he even used a magic at all.

Chinatsu’s POV
   “They share the same DNA with dogs, wolves and other canines.”

   That is the conclusion the forensic team reached when they… did whatever they did to find out about the mysterious bits and pieces found on the site.

   “Is there anything else that your team manage to find out?” Chinatsu asks.

   “Yes. In fact, there are several. First of all, these bits and pieces are torn to shreds by air pressure alone. Normally, it’s impossible for wind to be able to shred things unless they’re spinning really, really quickly.”

   “How quickly are we talking about?”

   “The same speed as a tornado.”

   Chinatsu looks around. The surrounding area sure doesn’t look like it had been hit by a tornado.

   “Secondly, we notice that some of the flesh have been exposed to extremely low temperature. As a result, they have gone blue and purple.” the forensic scientist continues.

   “Just some? Not all of them?”

   ‘That’s right.’

   “How unusual.”

   “If you think that was unusual, wait until you hear this. There are also some fragments of skulls lying around. We found out that they don’t match the age of the flesh that we found.”

   “Meaning what?” Date, who had been keeping quiet this whole time, speaks for the first time.

   “Let me give you an example. Let’s say that the flesh belonged to a dog with an age of 10 years. The skull, on the other hand, is at least 50 years old.”

   “What? How is that even possible?”

   “That’s the thing that puzzles us. I don’t know what sort of monster we’re dealing with, but I’m pretty sure that none of them could survive with a skull for a head.”

   “Unless they’re zombie dogs.” Date chimes in.

   “Y’ know, there was a time when I would have laughed at such a ridiculous claim. Not anymore. Not after taking on several crazy cases like this one. I’m not sure what’s what anymore.”

   As they’re still talking, Chinatsu notices two black armored vehicles the size of tanks approaching them. The vehicles then parks on the side of the road and shows their left side to them and more importantly, the emblem engraved on the doors. It shows the picture of an eagle with a tiger’s body, a multi-headed snake, and a giant squid all getting an injection from oversized needles.

   “Oh no, it’s them…” Date groans.

   Following the increasing number of mysterious creatures that appear all over the country, the government has officially formed an independent organization called Unknown Creatures Investigation, or UCI for short. This organization is led by a mysterious French scientist called Jacques Bouchard. Ever since they had been formed, their staffs had been interfering with the investigation of the police and refuse to share any data they managed to find. To make matters worse, they were even allowed to carry military-grade weapons and firearms to fight those creatures when necessary.

   Personnels wearing white hazmat suits come out of the vehicles while holding all sorts of unknown gadgets. One of them head straight to Chinatsu.

   “The UCI will take it from here. Please leave this area immediately.” he tells them.

   “Who died and made you guys in charge?” Data challenges.

   “...Are you going to disobey us?”

   Date flinches from the frostiness of his tone.

   “We are given authority by the Prime Minister himself to perform our duty. Disobeying us means disobeying him.” the personnel continues.

   “Calm down, we’re not going to disobey you. We’ll leave just like you want us to.” Chinatsu tells him.

   “But senpai-”

   “No buts. You heard him, right? The PM himself gave them the power to do as they please. Now let’s get out of here.”

   “Wise choice.” the personnel murmurs.

   And so, the police and its forensic team are forced to leave the site without conducting a proper investigation. Secretly, Chinatsu was glad. She was dying to find out about the male student that made Esty decided to go to school all of a sudden. This is the same Esty who had zero interest in school when Chifuyu first brought it up. She even called it a ‘dungeon which seeks to derive those inside of sanity’ after hearing its description.

   Before Chinatsu could conduct a single investigation, she received a report about this park, and here they are since early in the morning. Now, she could finally-

   Her phone rings loudly. While suppressing a sigh, she picks up the call. She has to at least act interested since it’s from the Chief of Police himself.

   “Yes Chief, what is it? You want us to drop by your office this instant? Understood.”

She hangs up and sighs for real this time. So much for trying to find out more about that mysterious cousin of hers.