Jin’s POV
   “Say Minase-kun. Wanna join us and eat some ice cream on our way home?” Watanabe asks Jin once school is over.

   “No thanks.” he replies immediately.

   “Aww, you’re always so quick to turn down our invitation.”

   “That’s because it’s awkward for a guy to be eating ice cream with a bunch of girls.”

   “Come on, Esty-chan will be coming too you know?” she coaxes.

   “Leave me out of this, Anri!”

   “Well that’s the only way I could think of so that he’ll join us. And look, he looks much more interested now.”

   “Don’t you hate crowds, Jin? You always told me that!”

   “It’s different when you’re part of the crowd.”

   “Gah, can you stop being so honest when the others are listening?”

   “Does that mean that I can be more honest when we’re alone?”

   “Stop misinterpreting what I said!”

   Suddenly, Jin feels something is…amiss. He can’t tell what that something is right away, but he knows that he’s not overthinking it. As a proof of that, Ayumi and Estyshana are putting up their serious expression as well.

   “Sorry Watanabe, you’ll have to call the trip off.”

   Watanabe was about to protest when she saw his expression.

   “...Is something bad about to happen?”

   “Most probably. Stay here for a while just in case something happened for real. You too, Wakaba.”

   “Okay. Please be careful, all of you.”

   Jin, Ayumi and Estyshana nod.

   “Let’s leave the school first. We can search around after we’re outside.” Jin tells Ayumi and Estyshana.

   “I have a better idea. I’m requesting my onmyoji comrades to sent out their shikigamis. It’s more efficient this way.” Ayumi says as she takes out her phone.

   “Thanks. You do that.”

   They leave in a hurry while being careful not to attract too much attention. The last thing they want is being stopped by one of the student council members or a teacher. All the while, Ayumi is speaking to someone.

   “...Yes, thank you very much.” she says right before she puts away her phone.

   “How did it went?”

   “Turns out that we’re not the only ones who had a bad feeling. My comrades have already sent out their shikigamis to investigate.”

   “That’s good to hear.”

   Not long after the three of them left the school gate, Jin hears Ayumi’s phone vibrates.

   “Hello, grandfather?”

   From his location, Jin could barely hear the voice coming from the other side of the phone. He could, however, tell that Iemitsu-san is speaking quickly and urgently. Ayumi then gasps in horror. She could barely stop herself from panicking.

   “What’s wrong, Ichihara?” Jin asks.

   Instead of telling them, she typed it out on her phone and shows what she typed to them.

   “Majority of tiny shrines and Buddha statues all around the country has been destroyed.”

   “I’m not trying to be rude or anything, but that’s not much of a big deal right? I mean, they can be fixed and all.”

   “You don’t understand, Minase-kun. Well, I suppose I can’t blame you since you’re not one of us. My point is, those shrines and statues are just as important as our talismans and the portals. Possibly more.”

   “Do elaborate.”

   “Well, you know how people tend to pray to them for good health and fortune? Instead of actually granting them, they protect you from diseases, curses and misfortunes. They’re also used to ward off evil creatures by acting like barriers.”

   “So, does that mean that we’re more likely to get hit with curses and stuff now?”

   “Not only that, it also means that-”

   She got interrupted by some inhuman roars, snarls and other voices, not to mention cries of fear made by humans, coming from some distance away.

   “The youkais’ will have no qualms about crossing over and wreck havoc.” she ends the sentence with a pale face.

   “Let’s split up and take them down.” Jin decides.

   “Agreed. Unfortunately, I left all my gears at the shrine. Ill have to come back later.”

   “You do that. Meanwhile, Von Mantus and I will take care of things around here.”

   “You head out first.” Estyshana tells him.

   “What difference does it make?”

   “I don’t want to be seen together with you.”

   Jin shrugs at that. “Fair enough.”

   With that, the three of them split up. Jin heads to a really secluded alleyway. Just as he’s about to equips his armor, he gets a call from Date Jr.. Prior to this, the two of them and Kubo have exchanged contact information with each other so that it’ll be easier for them to communicate with each other.

   “Is something wrong, Date?” he asks once he picks up the call.

   “I heard from some students that there are monsters rampaging around the city near my school. Is it okay if I deploy? I would love to test my ability, not to mention my combat prowess.” she replies.

   “Good thinking. You do just that. But don’t charge in by yourself. Let’s meet up in front of the cinema at the city.”

   “Understood.”

   “One more thing. Not every monsters you might se there is the enemy. We’ve formed an alliance with the onis.”

   “Onis? You mean those mythological creatures with red skin, horns and tiger-skin clothes?”

   “That’s them.”

   “And they’re our allies. Them.”

   “Look, a lot has happened okay? Just take my word for it and don’t attack them.”

   “...Understood.”

   Since Date Jr. will be making her move, Jin decides to give Kubo a call. It’s not just because he and Rei-san might be needed, but it’s also because the bookstore he works at is located inside the city as well.

   “How’s things at your end?”

   “The monsters have yet to reach this part of the city. Still, we were asked to evacuate the bookstore since it’s just a matter of time.”

   “Good. Try to look for an excuse to leave so that you could join in the extermination. We’ll meet up at the cinema.”

   “I’ll try my best.”

   “And don’t you dare to start fighting without Rei-san.” Jin warns.

   “Do I really have to involve her?” Kubo asks.

   “Have you already forgotten about what we’ve talked about before? You need her around. Plus, she needs combat experience so that she could better protect herself.”

   “I understand. I’ll make sure to bring her over. As long as she’s not occupied.”

   “Good. And one more thing, don’t attack any oni you see. Make sure Rei-san obeys that too.”

   “Um, okay.”

   Once that’s taken care of, Jin equips his armor. He then flies out of the alleyway and heads to the city.

   Needless to say, the entire place has gone to hell. Lots of youkais are seen chasing some humans who failed to evacuate all over the place. Oddly enough, most of them seem to be content with just scaring them.

   “No, stay away!”

   Jin flies towards the direction where the voice came from. Upon reaching, he sees a boy around the age of eight standing in front of a woman, presumably his mother. Meanwhile, a fireball with the head of an old woman is approaching them slowly and maliciously.

   The woman is on the ground while clutching her right feet. Jin assumes that her leg is injured. As Jin watches, the boy is picking up stones from the ground and throw at the fireball youkai, but to no avail.

   Jin flies to the back of the youkai and slice her into half with Felfarthen. Instead of falling to the ground, the youkai turns into ash and got blown away by the wind. Once she’s taken care of, he lands in front of the boy and the woman.

   “Thanks for saving us, Silver Wolf!” the boy tells him gratefully.

   Jin is slightly taken aback by this. He was so used to being jeered and shunned that he can’t even react properly when he’s being thanked for once.

   “Um, sure. Are you all right, ma’am?”

   “For the most part, yes. I think I sprained my ankle for a bit.” she informs.

   Jin kneels next to her and puts his hand on her injured foot. He then casts Heal. A warm light appears from his hand and engulfs her ankle.

   “You ankle should be fine now. Please try to get up.” he tells her.

   She does as he said slowly, and was very surprised to find out that he’s right.

   “You’re right. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

   “Glad to hear it.”

   She bows at him.

   “Thank you so much for helping us.”

   Again, he could barely maintain his composure when someone is being nice to him.

   “...Please think nothing of it. This is part of my job.”

   “You’re so cool, Silver Wolf! I want to be as strong as you when I grow up!” the boy tells Jin excitedly.

   He squats down so that he’s on eye level with the boy.

   “I think you should get a better role model. That said, you’re pretty strong already.”

   The boy widens his eyes.

   “I am?”

   “Sure. You could have ran away and saved yourself, but you didn’t. Instead, you tried to stop that monster from harming your mother.”

   “Well, I was scared and all, but I couldn’t abandon my mum.”

   “That’s what I meant. You got guts. It won’t solve your problems most of the time, but it’s an important thing to have if you want to become strong.”

   “...You know Silver Wolf, the adults at the television always said that you’re evil and dangerous and all kinds of mean things, but I don’t think you’re a bad guy at all.”

   Jin gets up.

   “Bah, don’t form a conclusion so early. Decide once you’ve gave it a good thought.”

   “Come on Keita, we can’t bother him any longer. We need to leave before something comes after us again.” the mother tells her son.

   “Aww, but I want to talk to Silver Wolf some more!”

   “Listen to your mother, kid. This place is becoming more dangerous by the second.”

   Jin suddenly hears some inhuman battle cries. Upon turning his neck to see what’s the commotion about, he sees some onis arriving at the scene.

   “Cool! Are those onis?” the boy asks with his eyes sparkling.

   “This isn’t the time to be impressed. We need to leave, now.” his mother says as she grabs his hand.

   “You don’t have to worry about them, ma’am. They’re on our side.” Jin assures her.

   To be honest, the alliance won’t last forever, but she doesn’t need to know that.

   “Um, are you sure?”

   “MURDER THEM ALL! SEND THEM BACK TO THEIR MAKERS!” one of the oni yells.

   Oh, for Pete’s sake.

   “No need to worry ma’am. They’re talking about the youkais that are attacking the humans. So please, rest assured.”

   “O-Okay, I believe in you.”

   Jin got the attention of those onis. Once they’ve stopped moving, he walks over to them.

   “Say, I’m grateful that all of you have come to our aid and all, but can you guys be more careful so that you won’t end up scaring those that you’re supposed to protect?” he tells them.

   “Shut it, Tin Can! We’ll do this our way, and you can’t stop us!” the first oni tells him.

   “Yeah! If ya don’t like it, we’re going back to where we came from!” a second oni agrees.

   The rest of the gang roared their agreement.

   “...Say, how long have you people been onis?”

   “We turned into one around the same time as our boss! What about it?”

   “So you’ve been stuck inside the youkai world for at least two centuries?”

   “That sounds about right, ’though I think it’s way, way longer than that. Again, what about it?”

   “If all of you haven’t been in this world for so long, why do you know what’s a tin can?”

   The onis flinch at the question.

   “Is this the time to ask this kind of stupid question? We need to do some damage control, aye?” the second oni tries to change the subject.

   “Sure. You guys do that while I have a talk with your boss.”

   Their face got pale immediately. It would seem that they’ve been outside without his permission.

   “Wait, stop! Don’t you dare! All right, already! We’ll be more mindful of how we act!”

   “Good. This place is already a mess, we don’t need more chaos. Besides-”

   Jin gestures at the boy who’s still here.

   “This boy admires you guys, for some reason. You should be a better role model for him.”

   “...Are you for real, kid?”

   “Well, yeah! I’ve always thought you guys are awesome since the first time I read about you guys in a storybook!” the boy tells the onis excitedly.

   That made them all bashful. Jin doesn’t even know oni still possess that kind of emotion.

   “...Dama, you and I are going to guard him and that woman over there until they’re in a safe place.”

   “Got it.”

   “The rest of you, go beat the crap, I mean, protect the humans from the youkais.”

   All the other onis minus the one who spoke and the one called Dama leave the place so that they could find some youkais to fight.

   “You want a ride on my shoulders, kid?” the leader oni asks the boy.

   His eyes sparkle even more.

   “Can I?”

   “Sure. Are you alright with it, lady?”

   “Well, of course.”

   “You heard her. Now get on.”

   “Yippee~!”

   Jin stayed back for a while so that he could discourage pursuit by eliminating any youkai that dared to come near. Once the mother-son-onis are gone, only then Jin heads to the cinema as scheduled.

   Date Jr., Kubo and Rei-san were already there when Jin reached the cinema. All of them are busy fighting youkais.

   Date Jr.’s abilities seem to work on most of them, and those affected are tightly restrained by the chains of unknown materials. As a result, they’re helpless while she’s braining them with her sledgehammer.

   Rei-san is working wonders with Balaraw, the scimitar given to her by Jin. She’s moving so quickly around the battlefield that the youkais can’t follow her movements at all. Not to brag, but Jin totally can.

   “More youkais over there, Reina! Make sure you take them out too!”

   “Understood!”

   “And don’t forget to parry and/or block incoming attacks too!”

   “Understood!”

   As for Kubo, he is, as seen, constantly giving out orders to Rei-san. Which he should have done ages ago. Jin needs to have a talk with him after this is over. That said, the man is also doing his best in supporting the maid. He’s firing off Spells left and right, not to mention reinforcing Rei-san’s Strengthen whenever the effect’s about to run out.

   Jin decides to join in the fray. Three kamaitachis lost their head in the blink of an eye. The looks on their face told Jin that they didn’t even saw it coming. He stands behind Date Jr..

   “Did you managed to get a good grasp of your ability?” he asks.

   “Yes. For one thing, it is confirmed that my ability would not work if they have no malicious intention.” she reports.

   Jin looks around. There are wreckage, destroyed property and fires wherever he looked.

   “Pretty sure that all these can only be done by those with malicious intent.” he mumbles.

   He slices apart a Rokurokubi. She, on the other hand, crushes the skull of a Kappa.

   “I concur. Unfortunately, my scale does not agree with us.”

   “What of the chain’s strength? And its maximum capacity?”

   “The chains are durable, to say the least. So far, no monsters could break free from it. It is best if we do not expect too much of it. As for the maximum capacity, it most like depends on my strength. At first, I could bind ten at one go. As more time passes, I could only bind four.”

   “So you can’t use it well if you’re tired.”

   “It would seem so. However, it’s best to be sure.”

   He looks at Kubo next.

   “And you. Didn’t I tell you to give Reina as many orders as possible during the downtime?”

   Kubo flinches at that.

   “That is, well…”

   “We’ll talk about it later. For now, focus on giving her directions.”

   “Right! There are more youkais over there, Reina! Please go exterminate them!”

   “Yes, master!”

   Along the way, some onis join them in eliminating their distant fellow youkais. Kubo had to quickly tell Rei-san to not attack them.

   “You didn’t even tell her to leave the onis alone?” Jin demands.

   “I’m sorry! I really am! It’s just that these youkais arrived so suddenly I’ve forgotten about it!”

   “No excuses! I’m doubling your training tomorrow!”

   “Eek~!”

   Besides exterminating youkais, all of them are also helping out in evacuating the civilians along with the police, firefighters and the medics.

   “Hey, I think I hear some voices from beyond all these rubble!”

   “Seriously? Let’s dig them out now!”

   “Easy for you to say, those rocks are huge, you know!”

   “Move.”

   Jin walks calmly towards the rubble and lift it up with his right hand. He hears the people around him gasp in surprise.

   “Is that, even possible?” someone whispers.

   In actuality, all Jin did was casting Strengthen on his entire arm before lifting the rubble, but they don’t have to know that.

   Upon lifting the rubble, Jin sees a man, a woman and a small girl.

   “What are you waiting for? Get out of there.” he tells them.

   They did as he said in a hurry.

   “Um, thank you.” the man tells Jin.

   Jin shrugs and tosses the rubble away (after making sure that no one is there, of course).

   “I sure hope I don’t see any dead bodies…” he hears Kubo mumbles.

   “If you don’t want that, just make sure you’re there to save them all. Or just leave the battlefield. Your choice.” Jin tells him bluntly.

   “...I’m staying.”

   “May we split up so that we could cover more grounds?” Date Jr. asks.

   “Permission granted. Just make sure not to overestimate yourselves. Call me if you’re ever in trouble.”

   “Understood.”

   “Of course. Let’s go, Reina.”

   “Right behind you, master.”

   While Jin is being busy, his mind keeps on thinking about Estyshana. He wonders what that demon is doing right now. Knowing her, she’s probably trying to take down a strong enemy while trying to act tough.

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