Jin’s POV
   Similar to Estyshana, everyone find the rice balls Jin makes delicious.

   “You should open a restaurant someday, Minase-kun.” Ayumi suggests as she’s biting into a salmon-filled rice ball.

   “If the situation around Japan allows it. I mean, everywhere is such a mess right now. I doubt I can open an eatery and operate it in peace. Until things have calmed down, my job as Silver Wolf will never end.”

   “Don’t you have any allies back at Ifezan?” Audrey asks. “You could ask them for help.”

   “None at all. I had constant difficulty in getting along with others when I was there.”

   Estyshana lets out a snicker. Jin pretends that he didn’t hear it.

   “Still, you could try and convince someone over there to help you out.”

   “Exactly. This isn’t the time to be an anti-social, you know.” Aldenia agrees.

   “Look, even if I managed to somehow convince some of the adventurers or knights or whatever over there to help out, the situation will become even worse.” Jin says.

   “How so?”

   “Right now, other than the onmyojis and certain monsters, everyone here are the only ones who can use supernatural abilities. Everyone else can’t lift a finger against us. In other words, we could take over this world anytime we want.”

   Estyshana’s eyes sparkle at that. Audrey notices the change in the demon’s expression and stares disapprovingly.

   “My bad, the idea got my demon blood pumping. But don’t worry, I won’t do it for real.” she assures the elder Graylock.

   “Very well. I’ll believe you.”

   “Besides, even if I really want to do it, he’ll stop me for sure.” Estyshana says while glaring at Jin.

   “You said you believe in Von Mantus. Why is that?” Jin asks Audrey.

   “That’s because I trust her.”

   “Even though she’s a demon?”

   “Her race has nothing to do with it. We’ve fought side by side yesterday and just now. To me, she’s an important ally of mine.”

   Estyshana turns her neck so that everyone can’t see her expression. Even so, only an idiot couldn’t tell that she’s happy.

   “Well then, can you say the same thing for some random strangers we find at Ifezan? Can you guarantee that they won’t change after spending their time here?” Jin asks.

   Audrey couldn’t answer that at all.

   “Besides, this isn’t their world, why should they care? Even I myself have no intention of helping out if I didn’t get paid.”

   “I’m sure that there are lots of good people out there. Myself and the other onmyojis are more than willing to help too.” Ayumi insists.

   “...Thanks.”

   Naturally, Jin isn’t convinced about the first part of what Ayumi said. He doesn’t want to start an argument, which is why he kept quiet.

   It didn’t take them long to finish up all the rice balls, particularly when Jin, Estyshana and Aldenia are heavy eaters. Jin is not sure about the others, but this meal barely filled him up. Even so, he’s not rude enough to say that out loud-

   “I’m still hungry.” Estyshana says.

   “Me too. I need more meat.” Aldenia agrees.

   …Yup. He’s at least more polite than these two. He looks at Meiko. Her, too, still looks hungry, but she’s not saying anything.

   “I’m sorry. It’s not that we couldn’t afford more food, but it’s that we aren’t allowed food that are too luxurious.” Ayumi apologizes.

   “Even chicken and pork?” Jin asks after seeing the lack of these two types of meats in their refrigerator.

   “We get chicken every once in a while, but we only have pork during special occasions like New Year. The same goes for beef.”

   “This must be a perfect place to lose weight.” Jin says drily.

   “Actually, what we’re doing is having self-control. After all, eating moderately helps us greatly in fighting worldly desires.” Ayumi contradicts.

   “But you followed us easily to eat outside last night, and you even ordered a pork cutlet rice.” Estyshana points out.

   “...I’m not shifting the blame here, but part of the reason I went along with it was because a certain trio insisted that I follow all of you to go outside.”

   “Fair point.”

   “However, a light meal works in our favor as we’ll be continuing our training right after this.” Audrey says.

   “Nee-san is right. One thing I hate about eating is that I have to rest for a while until the food inside my stomach is at least partially digested.” Aldenia agrees as she’s stretching her body.

   “Well, you girls go ahead. I don’t feel like moving around my body anymore, at least for today.” Jin tells the girls.

   Estyshana lets out a yawn.

   “Me too. Now that my stomach is full, I want to catch up on my sleep.” she says while rubbing her eyes.

   “You’re going to sleep again?” Jin asks.

   “I can’t help it. I had to wake up early, you know. On a weekend.”

   “Since you’re not training with us, is it okay if you get me some more food, Minase?” Aldenia requests.

   “Sure. What do you want to eat?” Jin asks.

   “Hmm, a gyudon sounds nice. So does some karaage. And breaded shrimps. I fee like eating the burger from L*tteria…” she starts to mutter.

   “...You’re not actually expecting me to find all that, are you?”

   “Nah, I’m just choosing. I’ve decided. Get me 3 Stamina Dons.”

   “Sure. Anyone else?”

   Meiko raises up her hand sheepishly.

   “Is it okay if you buy me something as well? Preferably something with a lot of meat.” she requests.

   “Sure thing.”

   Jin looks at Estyshana who’s curled up like a ball on the picnic mat.

   “Do you want something, Von Mantus?” he asks.

   “Buy me a pillow, and a blanket...” she mumbles.

   “That’s a no. What about the two of you, Audrey and Ichihara?”

   “No, thank you.” Audrey declines politely.

   “I’m already full from the rice balls you made.” Ayumi says as well.

   “Suit yourselves.”

   Jin leaves the shrine and walks to the nearest city.

   “Stamina Dons, something with lots of meat. Maybe I should get a ramen or something…” he mumbles to himself.

   After getting a bowl of ramen, Jin sets out to get the requested food. The Stamina Dons were easy as there’s a Japanese-style Canteen right next to the ramen shop he just went. He looks at their menu to look for something with lots of meat as per requested by Meiko. There isn’t any in particular.

   “Is it possible for me to get extra meat for one of your products?” he asks one of the staff.

   “Of course, sir. You’ll have to pay extra money, though.”

   “That won’t be an issue. I’ll have 3 Stamina Dons and a bowl of pork cutlet rice with two extra piece of pork cutlets to go, please.”

   “Right away. Please wait for a moment.”

   Once the food are done, and packed properly, Jin pays for the food and heads back to the shrine. On the way, his phone rings.

   He lets out a sigh. Even without looking at the screen, he could tell that it’s work-related. He takes out his phone to confirms it. Yup, the person who’s calling him is Sergeant Wakaba.

   “How may I help you, Sergeant Wakaba?” he asks once he answers the call.

   “I’m sorry for calling you on a weekend, Minase-kun. The things is, we need your help right now.”

   “I’m happy to help. On what exactly, though? Eliminating monsters?”

   “No. We need you to help us with rescuing Watanabe Chieko and a group of Nepalese workers. Currently, they’re being held hostage by a dangerous gang.”

   “Um, I don’t really mind, but why are you asking me for help?”

   “The thing is, one of the kidnappers have shown that he could use magic.”

   “...Use it how?”

   “He opens up his palm, and a ball of fire appears. He then throws the fireball at one of our police car, making it catch on fire.”

   “I’ll head over at once. Please send me the address.”

   “Got it.”

   The address she sent is one that leads to an inn. Jin decides to head back to Kameda with the food he bought while sending his clone to the site. Through the eyes of the clone, Jin sees lots of police cars and police officers surrounding the inn. Upon closer look, he sees Sergeant Wakaba, Captain Yamasaki and that pure-and-innocent Date. Most surprisingly, he sees Watanabe among the crowds who’re gathered and watching from afar. As Sergeant Wakaba has told him on the phone, one of the police car is charred from being burned.

   Jin has lots of questions, but rescuing Chieko-san comes first.

   Instead of using the front door like a normal person, he makes the clone floats at one of the window. He then makes it touch the window and freezes it. Now then it’s frozen, the window can be shattered easily and quietly. With that, the entrance has been made. The clone step through the window and enters the inn.

   One good thing about this inn is that it only has three floors. Not long after the clone has entered, Jin could hear shouting sound coming from somewhere close. He makes the clone cast Invisibility on itself. It’s better to stay undetected until he’s sure of their location.

   After following the sound, he was led to a set of large paper doors at the second floor. The sign at the side writes “Lounge”. now that he’s closer, he could hear the conversation that’s going on inside.

   “...Swear it or we’ll make you suffer!” a gruff male voice shouts.

   “Do your worst. I shall never do as you say.” a female voice declines firmly.

   Oh, it’s Chieko-san. Time to wreck the party.

   Jin makes the clone stop casting Invisibility and opens the door. Through the clone’s eyes, Jin sees nine men wearing a wild assortment of clothes, Chieko-san who’s wearing a white business suit and has her hands tied behind her back, some man and woman who also have their hands tied behind their back that Jin assumes are the staffs of the inn. There are also five men who’re definitely not Japanese, also being restrained. All five of them are dressed like construction workers minus the hardhats.

   Before any of them could react, Jin makes the clone freeze up the nine men. With this, not only are they restrained, they’re also unable to cast spells, even if they can.

   All those who’re bound are quite relieved to see Jin. The men, on the other hand, are cursing at him with lots of colorful words. He ignores them and makes the clone go to the hostages and free them. He begins with Chieko-san.

   “Thank you for coming to our rescue.” the news anchor tells the clone once she’s freed.

   “You’re welcome.”

   They work together to untie the workers. In a matter of minute, everyone minus the kidnappers are freed.

   It was at this moment that the real Jin arrives back the shrine and is back at the courtyard. They’re still at it with their practice except Estyshana who’s fallen asleep on the mat. Aldenia notices Jin and comes right over.

   “You’re back! Did you get what I wanted?” she asks.

   Jin puts his left index finger in front of his mouth. On his right hand is the plastic bag which contains the food he got. He hands it over to her and gestures at her to leave him alone. Baffled, Aldenia takes the bag and goes to the mat.

   Meanwhile at the inn, Jin is using the clone to speak.

   “Get out of here and tell the police to come inside.” Jin instructs the workers.

   The Japanese staffs did as told and make themselves scarce. The construction workers, on the other hand, are just staring at him. Great, they don’t understand Japanese.

   “Can you communicate with them?” Jin asks Chieko-san.

   “I most certainly can.”

   “Splendid. Please tell them to leave right away.”

   “Of course.”

   Chieko-san starts talking with the foreign workers. Whatever the language she’s speaking, she ain’t speaking English, and it’s certainly not Japanese. After she was done, the workers nod their head. They then take turn to shake the clone’s hand before leaving the lounge. All this while, the kidnappers are still running their mouth.

   “You better get us out right now before we kill you!” one of the kidnappers threatens.

   “Go ahead and try.” Jin tells him.

   “Grrr~!”

   Jin scans them with Eye of Truth. He sees mana coming out of them. And yet, all of them are Japanese.

   “How are you people able to use magic?” he asks them.

   “Like we’ll ever tell you!”

   He shrugs. He’ll just leave the interrogation to the police since he might go overboard the moment he’s allowed to do it.

   A few minutes later, a dozen of police officers arrive. Sergeant Wakaba, Date and Captain Yamasaki are part of the team.

   “Thank you for your help, Silver Wolf.” Captain Yamasaki tells Jin while saluting.

   “You’re welcome, Captain.”

   “So, how are we going to move them? Shall I bring a trolley or something?” Date asks.

   Instead of answering, Jin makes the clone thaws the ice around the kidnappers until only a pair of handcuffs made of ice remain on their wrists.

   “Problem solved.”

   Date grunts sourly.

   The kidnappers have finally gone quiet and allow themselves to be taken away by the police. They’ve probably figured out that they’re not getting out of this. Sergeant Wakaba stayed back to have a talk with Jin and Chieko-san.

   “I’m really sorry for not being able to save you right away, Chieko-san.” she apologizes to the news anchor.

   Watanabe’s mother just smiles and waves the apology away.

   “Please don’t worry about it. After seeing what some of them could do, of course you’ll have to be more careful.”

   “For now, let’s get out of here. Anri-chan is here, and she’s worried sick about you.”

   “Wait, Anri is here?”

   “Yes. She’s waiting outside.”

   “Oh, my. News sure travel fast, doesn’t it?”

   Watanabe was sobbing and crying uncontrollably when the three of them go out of the inn. She pushes through the police officers who were blocking the public masses from going nearer and charges straight to her mother and hugs her tightly. Her mother hugs her back. Two officers tried to pry her away, but stopped after Sergeant Wakaba smiles and nods her head at them.

   “Are you hurt, mother? Did they hurt you?” Watanabe asks Chieko-san while still tearing up.

   “No they didn’t. Don’t you worry.” Chieko-san assures.

   Watanabe looks at Jin gratefully.

   “Thank you for saving my mother, Silver Wolf.” she tells him.

   Jin just makes the clone nod at her.

   “Anri, can you let go of me already?” Chieko-san asks Watanabe.

   “No, not yet! Just a little bit more!” Watanabe refuses.

   Jin opened the clone’s mouth before he could stop himself.

   “Someone has a huge case of mother complex.” he mumbles.

   “I don’t have any mother complex, okay?” Watanabe tells him loudly.

   Her eyes widen in surprise. She lets go of Chieko-san and turns to look at Jin.

   “I’m sorry to ask you this but, have we met?” she asks him.

   Drat.

   “I’m sure that we haven’t. Why do you ask?”

   “Well, I just felt like this isn’t the first time we’ve talked.”

   “You’re probably mistaking me for someone else.”

   “As a matter of fact, I kind of have. You see, there’s this classmate of mine who’s all gloomy and quiet-”

   Well, sorry for being gloomy and quiet.

   “-you kind of remind me of him.”

   “Like I said, we haven’t met nor talked before.”

   “Yes, I guess we haven’t. By the way, thank you for choosing Silver Wolf as your nickname.”

   “Why are you thanking me for that?”

   “I’m the one who came up with it!” she tells him proudly.

   “Oh, did you now?”

   “Yup. Your armor looks silver-ish, and you’re a lone wolf, so Silver Wolf.”

   “Just so you know, this isn’t made of silver. It’s made of Adamantium.”

   Her eyes sparkle at once.

   “Adamantium? You mean the metal that only appears in movies and stuff? Can you tell me more about it?”

   “No. It’s too much of a bother.” he declines bluntly.

   “...Yup. You definitely remind me of Minase-kun.” she murmurs.

   “Come on, Anri. Let’s not bother him any further and go home.” Chieko-san steps in and tells her daughter.

   “Aww, but I want to talk to him some more~!”

   As Watanabe is being dragged away by her mother, Jin could finally breathe in relief.

   “What came over you? Usually, you’re more cautious than that.” Sergeant Wakaba asks him once they’re way out of earshot.

   “I have no idea either.” Jin confesses. “More importantly, how did Chieko-san got held hostage in the first place?”

   “Those men you caught just now belong to a gang who’re against foreigners coming to Japan and taking away the job that should belong to Japanese. Chieko-san had been advocating the rights for the foreign workers for a few months now. The gang probably kidnapped her to teach her a lesson. Or tried to.” Sergeant Wakaba explains.

   “In broad daylight?”

   “The gang wasn’t exactly praised for the intelligence they have when it comes to doing illegal things. All those men just now were the last of them as everyone else were already arrested.”

   “Well, good riddance I say. Can you help me ask out where and how those gang members got their powers?”

   “We most definitely will. I’ll call you once we got some answers out of them.”

   “Thank you. I’ll take my leave then.”

   “...Sure. Once again, thank you for your help.”

   Sergeant Wakaba looks hesitant, as if she still wants to ask him about the youkais. Jin has zero intention on telling her. He decides to let Fox Lady decide on what to say and what not to say.

   With the conversation finished, Jin makes the clone disappear. He then joins the others at the mat.

   “Why were you just standing there? And for so long too.” Aldenia asks.

   “I had things to take care. It wasn’t much of a big deal, so I sent a clone to take care of it.” he explains.

   “What kind of things? If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

   “Have you ever heard of Watanabe Chieko?”

   “She’s that famous news person, right? What about it?”

   “She was kidnapped, and I was asked to help save her and some other people who was caught in the midst of things.”

   That got Ayumi’s attention immediately. Even the sleeping Estyshana shows enough interest by opening her eyes to look at Jin.

   “Is she alright?” Ayumi asks.

   “Yeah, she wasn’t hurt.”

   “Why do they even need you to catch some puny kidnappers?” Estyshana asks groggily.

   “That’s because at least one of them can use magic. Furthermore, I checked their body by using Eye of Truth. All of them are storing mana inside their body.”

   This time, Audrey is the one who reacts.

   “Were those people from Ifezan?” she asks Jin.

   “No, they’re all Japanese.”

   “How is that possible?”

   “I have no idea either. I left the interrogation to the police. Hopefully, they’ll spit out something useful.”