Estyshana’s POV
   “Whew, I guess that’s it for today…” Esty exhales.

   It’s been a few days since Esty has begun to fathom the method in order to use youjutsu, the Spells used by the demons of this world. It’s vexing that the Hero managed to master it much faster than she did, but at least she could use it as well after rigorous trial and errors, not to mention countless hours of practice. Still, she made sure to practice it often so that she could improve on it.

   Right now, she’s inside the park near the Wakaba household at the wee hours of the morning. She can’t cast Mirror World like the Hero did, so going to a place with lots of space and casting Silent Bubble to deter passer-by are the best she could do.

   She stretches her body and goes to the nearest bench. On it are a towel and a bottle of sports drink. She sits down on the bench, uses the towel to wipe off the sweats on her forehead and takes a few sips of the sports drink.

   “I wonder if I’m getting any stronger…” she mumbles.

   Ah, who is she kidding? She would definitely need another century of training in order for her to keep up with the Hero’s strength. And she doesn’t even have that long. After all, he would be long dead by then.

   There is one more method in order for her to be strong. By clearing the Demonic Rite. Her father Volrik, the demons from the Four Demon Marquis, all of them managed to pass the Rite and became demons with extraordinary strength. However, her father has never given her permission to take the test.

   “You will challenge the Rite if and only if I deem you worthy. For now, you are nowhere near the level of gaining my approval.” he growled when she finally had the courage to ask for his permission.

   And she has never brought up the subject again. She knew better than questioning his decision. Now that he’s dead, she can take the chance anyway. Still, she has heard nasty rumors about the Rite. Some had tried and failed, and failing was the least of their problems. Death, going insane, deformation, all kinds of bad things happened to those who failed. Even until now, after more than fifty years, the rumors prevented her from being brave.

   She sighs. Having such a weak mentality is the exact reason her father forbid her from doing it. Well, enough brooding. She gets up from the bench and heads back to the Wakaba household. She made sure to open and close all the doors she passed by extra quietly so that she doesn’t end up waking someone. She even used the shower for a very brief time since all she wanted to do was wash off her sweats. And then she gets changed into her loungewear and goes to bed for the second time.

   By the time Esty woke up, the sun is already up. She looks at the time. It’s almost ten o’clock.

   She didn’t panic at all since today is a Saturday. Still, Chifuyu would have woken her up ages ago. Now, she’s not even in her room.

   Esty yawns, stretches her body and gets up from her bed slowly. She’s still sleepy, but she’s also hungry. And she needs to do something about her stomach before she sleeps again. She brushes her teeth before heading downstairs.

   The entire Wakaba family is gathered around the living room and watching the television. Mama Kana was the first one to notice Esty coming down.

   “Good morning, Esty-chan.” she greets.

   “Good morning, Mama Kana.” Esty greets back sleepily. “What’s for breakfast?”

   “I made French Toast.” was the reply.

   Suddenly, Esty doesn’t feel so sleepy. French Toast. Next to apple pie, it’s her second most favorite food.

   “With lots of honey?” she asks.

   “Yes. And blueberries.”

   Her favorite way of eating the French Toast. Mama Kana sure knows how to keep a demon happy. Esty wastes no time in heading to the dining table.

   And there it is. The second most divine food ever invented by humans. Esty made sure to savor every single bite.

   Alas, the toast was soon consumed completely. All good things must come to an end, as they say. At least her stomach is full now. She washes the plate and cutleries at the sink and joins the Wakabas at the living room.

   “Say, Chifuyu.”

   “Hmm?”

   “Why didn’t you try to wake me up like you always do this morning?”

   “Well, I figured that it’s fine for you to sleep a bit longer every once in a while.”

   Esty was very close to panicking when she heard that. She grasps Chifuyu’s shoulders with both her hands.

   “Are you okay, Chifuyu? What happened to you? What happened to your Mother Mode?” she asks with a barely calm tone.

   Chifuyu’s eyebrow twitches in anger.

   “Are you trying to pick a fight with me this early in the morning, Esty?” she asks while smiling dangerously.

   “Am not. It’s just weird having you being this, well, nice.”

   “Oh, is that so? Looks like someone wants a revision session from Hell-”

   Esty gets up at once.

   “If anyone wants me, I’ll be in my bed.” she announces.

   Chinatsu raises her eyebrow.

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

   “Well, duh. I can’t function properly without a good sleep. Besides-”

   Esty lifts up her proud breasts with her hands.

   “Like you humans said, those who sleep well, grow well.” she says smugly.

   Now, it’s Chinatsu's turn to have her eyebrow twitching in anger.

   “Oh, that totally means war you brainless cow!”

   “Bring it on, cutting board!”

   “Girls, girls!” Mama Kana interrupts. “Can we have a peaceful morning for once?”

   “Sorry, Mama Kana.”

   “Sorry, mother.”

   Uncle Shun chuckles.

   “Esty has really become part of our family, hasn’t she?” he says to Mama Kana.

   “That she did, dear. And it’s such a wonderful thing.” his wife agrees.

   Esty was about to get emotional until Mama Kan smiles mischievously at her.

   “If only we had a boy to join our family, things would be so much better.”

   Esty feels her face becoming hot, as per the usual every time the Hero is brought up. Devil, she hates this so much.

   “Oh? Why is your face so red, Esty? Are you thinking of someone specific in particular?” Chinatsu asks knowingly while also smiling ears-to-ears.

   “Shut it, Chinatsu! I’m not, okay? I’m definitely not thinking of Jin!”

   Chinatsu’s smiles got even wider.

   “Who mentioned that it was Minase-kun?”

   Yup, Esty just dug her own grave-

   DING-DONG!

   “Oh my, visitors?” Mama Kana asks as she’s about to get up from the sofa.

   “Don’t bother, Mama Kana. I’ll go instead.” Esty offers a bit too quickly.

   “Why thank you, dear.”

   Esty definitely doesn’t deserve the gratitude. After all, she just wanted an excuse to leave the place.

   Turns out the visitors are Anri, Ichihara and Meiko.

   “Good morning, Esty-chan!” Anri tells Esty energetically.

   “Good morning Esty-san.” Ichihara greets Esty rather formally.

   Meiko nods at Esty shyly.

   “Morning, you three. Are you here for Chifuyu?”

   “Yup, and you as well. Since it’s a weekend and all, and the weather’s good, let’s walk around. We could go to Shibuya or something.” Anri invites.

   “...Why?”

   “Come on, it’ll be fun. We can go and look at clothes.”

   “I have enough clothes, thank you. Besides, the internet is so convenient we don’t have to search for them ourselves.” Esty points out.

   “We could go watch a movie together.”

   “I don’t see the point of paying for the tickets when we can just watch movies online.”

   All of a sudden, Anri breaks into laughter. She’s laughing so hard she’s hugging her stomach. Even Ichihara is chuckling. Esty is absolutely confused by the scene in front of her.

   “What’s so funny?” she asks them.

   “The, the thing is, I tried to invite Minase-kun while the three of us are on the way here…” Anri wheezes.

   “And?”

   “He declined. More importantly, (wheeze) he said the exact same things as you did when I suggested the same activities as I did to you…”

   “...He did?”

   “It’s true. Anri turned on Speaker Mode of her phone, so we could listen to their conversations as well.” Ichihara confirms.

   “Seriously, just how much in sync are the two of you with each other?” Anri guffaws.

   Esty feels herself blushing again.

   “So, so what if we said the same things? It doesn’t matter one bit, okay?”

   Anri grins at her.

   “Really? Then why are you smiling so happily?”

   Esty wipes the grin off her face at once.

   “I, um, I’ll call Chifuyu out.” she says in an attempt to run away.

   “Sure. Take you time~.”

   Esty goes inside the house.

   “You took quite a while, Esty-chan. Who was that?” Mama Kana asks.

   “It was just Anri, Ichihara and Meiko. They wanted to invite Chifuyu and I to go walk around Shibuya. You feel like going, Chifuyu?”

   “Sure. It’s not like I have better things to do, anyway. May we, mother?”

   “Of course you can. Just be careful out there.”

   Chifuyu gets up from the floor she was sitting.

   “Let’s go and change our clothes, Esty.” Chifuyu says to Esty.

   Esty looks down towards her lounger wear.

   “What’s wrong with them?”

   “Are you seriously planning to go out while wearing those?”

   “Why not? It’s not like they’re anything indecent. Plus, the weather isn’t that cold today.”

   “For us humans, there’s such a thing called dressing up for the occasion.”

   “Humans are such a pain…” Esty grumbles.

   “Well, you wanted to live among us. The least you could do is learn some of our ways. Now come on.”

   “Fine, fine…”

   Once the two of them were “dressed up for the occasion”, they headed outside. Chifuyu looks around.

   “Where’s Minase-kun?” she asks.

   “He’s not joining us.” Anri answers.

   “Really? From the way Esty was choosing her clothes, I thought he was coming.”

   Esty became flustered at once.

   “You didn’t have to say that, Chifuyu!” she cries.

   “Oh, why not? Were you thinking of accidentally bumping into him later?” Chifuyu grins.

   Esty averts her eyes.

   “No, I’m not!”

   “You’re looking away, Esty.”

   “Whatever, let’s just go.”

   “Before we do, can you try inviting the Graylock sisters?” Anri requests. “The more the merrier, as they say.”

   Esty takes out her phone. “Hold on. I’ll call one of them.”

   Aldenia picks up the call almost immediately. Once Esty told her about the outing, she agreed to come along with her sister Audrey. They agreed to meet up at the Shibuya train station.

   “This is, a lot of people…” Meiko says in awe once they’re at the entrance of the Tokyo one.

   “You think this is a lot? Just wait for a few more hours and the people in here will be doubled or even tripled.” Anri informs.

   The oni’s eyes widened.

   “It’s going to get even more crowded?”

   “You bet. It would be bad if you got lost, so you and Ayumi should hold hands.”

   Ichihara steps on Anri’s right foot.

   “Ow, what was that for?” Anri demands.

   Meiko looks at Ichihara with teary eyes.

   “...We can’t?” she asks while on the verge of bawling her eyes out.

   Ichihara looks at the oni for a few seconds before finally relenting.

   “...Fine. Yes, we can.” she sighs.

   Meiko immediately breaks into a huge smile.

   “Thank you very much!”

   “I’ve been meaning to say this for a while, but you sure are acting like a mother towards Meiko, Ichihara.” Esty points out.

   The shrine maiden looks at Chifuyu, then at Esty.

   “I’m sure that I’m nothing compared to Chifuyu.”

   “True. You don’t nag much, for one thing.”

   “Hey!”

   All of them paid for the entrance tickets and enter the train. It took the train twenty minutes to reach their destination. Thankfully, the inside of the train wasn’t that crowded, so the experience wasn’t too torturing.

   As promised, the Graylock sisters were waiting for them at the entrance.

   “Did the two of you wait long?” Esty asks Aldenia.

   “Not at all. We just barely got here ourselves.”

   “It was less than three minutes before all of you arrived.” Audrey agrees.

   Aldenia looks around.

   “Where’s Minase?” she asks.

   “He refused to come.” Esty explains.

   “He probably would if he knew that you were coming as well.”

   “Nah, he won’t. He always hated crowd.”

   Aldenia smiles widely at that.

   “Wow, you know him so well.”

   Esty blushes and averts her eyes.

   “Anyway, what are we going to do today?” Aldenia asks.

   “We could start with some window shopping.” Chifuyu suggests.

   “Nice idea. And it’s been a while, Wakaba-san.”

   “Indeed it has. It was since our Cultural Festival, wasn’t it?”

   Chifuyu looks at Audrey next. The two of them tilt their head politely at each other.

   “Please show us around today.” Audrey requests.

   “Will do.”

   “Can we just do this already?” Esty asks impatiently.

   “Hold your horses, Esty. Can’t you see that we’re in the middle of exchanging pleasantries?” Chifuyu chides.

   “Well just make it quick then!”

   Chifuyu shakes her head and smiles at the sisters.

   “I’m so sorry for her behavior.” she apologizes.

   “No worries. We already got used to it.”

   “And here we have a mother who’s apologizing to others for her daughter’s behavior.” Esty whispers.

   Chifuyu looks at Esty with an extremely cold smile.

   “Would you like to repeat that, Esty?” she asks.

   “Nope.”

   With the pointless greeting out of the way, they could finally begin their outing. Chifuyu brings the gang to a boutique, which is a fancier name for a shop that sells clothes. Once inside, Esty picks up a shirt for females at random and looks at the price tag. What she saw staggered her.

   “People actually buy this?” she couldn’t help but ask Anri.

   “They sure do. It’s pretty expensive, but it’s branded stuff, and the material’s high quality stuff.”

   Esty shakes her head disapprovingly.

   “Humans and their materialism…” she mumbles.

   “More importantly, do you feel like trying any of these out?”

   “Hmm…”

   Esty walked around the shop and took some clothes here, a skirt there, and a pair of shorts over yonder. Once she was satisfied, she took them all into the fitting room and got changed. Soon, she came out while wearing an assortment of clothing.

   Chifuyu looks pretty surprised to see Esty trying out clothes on her own.

   “What’s got into you?”

   “Nothing. I figured that I might as well since I’m here.”

   Chifuyu narrows her eyes. Wordlessly, she takes out her phone and holds it so that the camera is pointing at Esty. She then taps something on the screen. A soft clicking sound was heard.

   “...Wait, what are you doing?”

   “It was nothing. Don’t you worry about it.” Chifuyu assures as she starts to tap on the screen of her phone more rapidly with her fingers.

   Esty steps forward and reaches out her hands for the phone.

   “Then I’m sure you’re fine with handing that phone over.”

   “Just give me a few more seconds.”

   “Give me that phone!” Esty tries her best not to shriek.

   “No!” Chifuyu laughs as she’s pulling back her phone so that it’s more difficult for Esty to snatch it.

   While they’re fooling around, Esty manages to see the screen. Chifuyu has opened her LINE, and she has just sent the Hero the picture with Esty in it.

   “How does Esty look in this outfit?” Chifuyu asked him.

   “She looks perfect. I have a sudden urge to ask her out on a date if it wasn’t for the fact that she would definitely refuse.” was the reply.

   “I knew it! You were changing into the clothes with Minase-kun in mind!” Chifuyu giggles.

   “No I’m not! Don’t you bring Jin into this!”

   “Now, now. There’s no need to be embarrassed.”

   “Keep it down. You’re bothering the other customers.” Ayumi chides them.

   “Sorry, it’s just that I couldn’t resist.” Chifuyu apologizes while still laughing.

   She stares at the phone some more.

   “Oh, now he’s requesting some more pictures. You know what to do, Esty.”

   “Tell him to buzz off!”

   In the end, Esty only bought a single skirt. The price of all the products here were too expensive for her. Even that skirt alone dug deeply into her wallet. The others also bought something, with Meiko’s being paid by Ichihara.

   “So, where to next?”

   “How about we loiter around for a bit before we have lunch?”

   “Sounds good.”

   While they’re walking around the mall, they pass by a shop that sells all kinds of socks. Esty notices that one of the mannequins is wearing a pair of black pantyhose.

   That reminds her. She noticed on a few occasions that the Hero had been staring at females who wear these things. That pervert.

   “Do you want to get something from that shop, Esty?” Chifuyu asks.

   “Not really.”

   Even though she said that, she still went in and bought a pair. The weather is getting cold, so she figured that she might need it soon. It’s definitely not just so that she could wear it and show the Hero. And she totally ignored the grin Chifuyu was directing at her when she rejoined the group.

   All of them decide to have lunch at a sushi restaurant. They have to wait for a while until they can get a seat, but Anri, who recommended this place, assured everyone that it’s definitely worth the wait.

   “Is there anywhere you would like to go after this?” Chifuyu asks the sisters in order to pass the time.

   “I want to go to a bookstore if we have the time.” Aldenia requests.

   “Of course. We still have lots of time, so there’s no need to worry.”

   Esty could be wrong, but she sort of noticed Aldenia was drooling from the corner of her mouth. She decided to ignore it.

   Overall, Esty had a good time on the outing. Sure, she still thought of sleeping-in every one in a while, but she had fun. In fact, she had so much fun she started to question herself: does she deserve to be this happy?