Chapter 101

The ordinary-quality Short-time Card made no great commotion when pinched apart — only a soft "crack" — and the two halves turned into light points that dispersed in midair.

Uesugi Toru saw the upgrade progress bar of Warai Hannya, which had already advanced most of the way, shudder once in an instant.

Then, as if rocket-boosted, it filled the remaining empty portion of the bar in mere seconds.

A faint, miserable wailing sounded beside Uesugi Toru, then quickly vanished without a trace.

【"Warai Hannya (Youth Form)" upgrading: 100%!】

【Your Yokai Avatar Warai Hannya (Youth Form) has finished upgrading!】

【You have obtained: Yokai Avatar Haku Hannya (Youth Form)!】

The original One-Star Warai Hannya, upon promoting to One-Star Half, successfully evolved into its superior yokai within the Hannya race — Haku Hannya.

Uesugi Toru gazed thoughtfully as the eerie-smiling, blue-black Evil Demon Mask on the card face slowly transformed into a snow-white Evil Demon Mask bearing an expression that seemed both crying and not, smiling and not.

He mused: "Then, to evolve into the legendary most-threatening Aka Hannya, would the Yokai Avatar need to be raised to Two-Star, or Two-Star Half?"

After all, in historical legends, Warai Hannya only frightens children for amusement, while Haku Hannya merely kills for revenge, blinded by jealousy and resentment.

But Aka Hannya is different.

It kills without any cause or reason — kills whenever it wants, eats when done, even takes pleasure in torture; its methods are simply cruel to the extreme.

Just hearing the legendary tales makes clear where the gap between it and the former two lies.

Uesugi Toru examined the two Yokai Avatar cards: "When the Three-Tailed Fox reaches Two-Star, will its change be greater than Hannya's?"

Because both require 150 Soul Incense Ash (Medium) points to rise from One-Star Half to Two-Star, and both need a full half-month promotion time.

And the Soul Incense Ash in Uesugi Toru's pocket currently totals only 236 points — enough for only one Yokai Avatar promotion.

The Abandoned Shrine's Gacha Pool also just disappeared, meaning a Soul Incense Ash (Medium) worth 50 points will be very hard to obtain.

He sat on the bench pondering for a long while, then shook his head: "Only children make choices."

Uesugi Toru pinched the two Yokai Avatar cards with utterly different art styles, let out a cold smile,

"— As a wealthy adult, I naturally want both!"

It's just 64 Soul Ash points short; even if Uesugi Toru drains that Half-Star pool in the Profound Bamboo Grove, he'll scrape together every last bit!

Soul Ash can be earned again, but delaying development time is completely not worth it!

Decision made, Uesugi Toru exhaled happily and began checking Haku Hannya's Attribute Panel —

【Haku Hannya (Youth Form)】

【Quality: Epic】

【Rank: One-Star Half】

【Rank Limit: Three-Star Half】

【Talents: Kishin (Jakku), Tonjinchi (Weak), Berserk, White of Fear】

【— Warai Hannya, Haku Hannya, Aka Hannya. All are Hannya, Ghost Gods.】

On talents, aside from the newly added "White of Fear", there was no change.

This was within Uesugi Toru's expectations.

Kishin and Tonjinchi are both extraordinarily powerful skills; completing them at the small step of "One-Star → One-Star Half" would be a pipe dream.

After all, Uesugi Toru himself at Half-Star could slay One-Star, even One-Star Half yokai, but against a Two-Star yokai he would have absolutely no power to fight back.

Better first examine this new skill brimming with "Haku Hannya flavor".

【White of Fear: When others feel fear because of you, all attributes except Charm will temporarily rise slightly. The more people who fear you, and the stronger they are, the more your attributes rise, and the more others will fear you.】

"Feels like a skill born for the battlefield." Uesugi Toru read the description carefully. "When facing a powerful yokai boss alone, there won't be that many people feeling fear."

Moreover, if the opponent can trade fierce blows with you, they wouldn't be so shameless as to flee in abnormal fear halfway through.

Uesugi Toru curled his lip: "Feels a bit like a chicken rib... wait, hold on!"

A feasible idea suddenly appeared in Uesugi Toru's mind.

His eyes brightened; he realized this is currently an era where livestreams run rampant and traffic is king.

Who said the people fearing him must stand before him in person?

Feeling fear while watching a livestream — isn't that also fear?

Although "livestreaming Haku Hannya slaying yokai and exorcising demons" is still impossible right now — because almost certainly the stream would be cut the moment it starts, and immediately Special Affairs Division people would show up at the door.

But with the full arrival of the First Wave, mystery will gradually be unsealed in the world's eyes.

And he once incarnated as Hannya and had a goodwill contact with that Onmyoryo Action Specialist Kujo Tsubaki.

Plus Uesugi Toru himself, and his new avatar Three-Tailed Fox, can probe and test the waters at Rituna Minami's ear.

If the Special Affairs Division or Onmyoryo need a positive yokai image...

I, Haku Hannya, am absolutely the unshirkable choice!

Uesugi Toru does not doubt in the slightest that the Rakshasa Visage with 0 Charm can inflict fear effects through a livestream.

Although this fear may gradually diminish with time and familiarity, at the start it will absolutely bring him a tremendous boost.

Then, relying on tens or even hundreds of thousands of fear, could he directly trade blows with a Four-Star Ghost God?

Uesugi Toru grinned: "To think I could come up with this kind of idea — am I actually a genius?"

He couldn't help smiling as he checked his once-again raised attributes —

【Uesugi Toru (Haku Hannya Incarnation)】

【Physique: 43→53】

【Will: 15→17】

【Charm: 0→0】

【Spirit Arts: 13→15】

This attribute increase is almost no different from when promoting from Half-Star to One-Star.

According to common sense, the boost ordinary yokai gain when advancing from One-Star to One-Star Half is absolutely far smaller than the major rank boost from Half-Star to One-Star.

Not to mention, the attribute bonus Uesugi Toru originally gained when advancing from Half-Star to One-Star already far exceeded that of other ordinary yokai.

"So that's what the noble Epic is."

The current Uesugi Toru already has the confidence to easily solo clear that Two-Star Half Nue which nearly drove him to a dead end not long ago.

If he only used one incarnation, he might still suffer heavy injuries, or even be defeated by the opponent.

But if White Prajna and the Three-Tailed Fox Incarnation alternate, covering both far and near, Uesugi Toru can't think of what method that Nue — which relies only on instinct and doesn't know Yin-Yang Techniques — could use to beat him.

Perhaps the Nue's Physique Attribute is still quite a bit higher than his, but Uesugi Toru isn't a brainless yokai; his Breathing Technique and Tennen Rishin-ryu weren't practiced for nothing.

Add in the Cold Steel Arm Guard he just got……

"Maybe I can no-damage solo clear that Nue, it's not impossible."

After using the newly acquired talent "Vortex" to unblock the Qi and Spirit Power slightly clogged in his body due to his flesh strengthening once more, Uesugi Toru stuffed the card back into his Storage Backpack and headed toward the Special Affairs Division.

"Speaking of, how come that couple's movements stopped just now…… won't it be that they were scared off by that eerie music when I finished upgrading?"

Uesugi Toru clicked his tongue, feeling a trace of apology.

They finally found a deserted place in the middle of the night, and right when things were heating up they "encountered a ghost" — how big a psychological shadow that must leave……

Uesugi Toru walked down the empty road, but at the Special Affairs Division's doorway he saw that familiar figure sitting on the steps smoking.

At this time point, there's no one else who would sit alone at the main gate smoking.

"Nanjo Sister, done checking the Yokai Guide Association archives?"

He walked up and asked.

The woman clicked her tongue, expression disdainful: "Reeking of blood, don't die in front of me."

Rituna Minami patted the step beside her, shifted her butt to signal him to sit: "So late, not sleeping, what are you doing out?"

Uesugi Toru sat down, hammered his chest heavily: "Good seven or eight, shower later and it's done."

He wasn't lying — before he had the Awakening Spirit Mist + Master Two-Shaku's treatment combination, after going out the Prajna Incarnation advanced to One-Star Half, strengthening his flesh again, so the original injuries naturally weren't a problem anymore.

Rituna Minami counted on her fingers in her heart: "Only a few hours passed? Could this brat have also cultivated a second Breathing Technique specializing in healing?"

But this doubt Rituna Minami didn't voice.

Reasonable social distance is the key to maintaining a good relationship.

She shook off the ash, said slowly: "Before, there were indeed records of the Yokai Guide Association — almost every time a big change or big event happened, they'd be noted down."

"But that's all."

Rituna Minami said: "They don't seem to have masterminded anything major, at most they just come in to drink some soup — you guys just pay attention daily."

Uesugi Toru nodded, this matched exactly what he heard from Katsumi.

——Because the Yokai Guide Association's "Masters" are mostly Four-Star, at most Five-Star.

Not that Four-Star Five-Star Great Demons aren't terrifying, but if they only have that level of strength, wanting to stretch their claws from the incomparably chaotic Chang Shi to Genjitsu is still a bit lacking.

——This info, might as well tell Nanjo Sister too.

Just right, it's also time to lay the groundwork for his "Jinja Guji's Three-Tailed Fox friend".

So Uesugi Toru spoke: "About the Yokai Guide Association, I have one more thing to mention."

"Tell me."

Uesugi Toru: "You just asked why I went out so late, actually, it was to see a friend and ask about this."

Then, Uesugi Toru told Rituna Minami all the Yokai Guide Association info Katsumi told him.

But it all became "learned from the Three-Tailed Fox friend's mouth".

After listening, Rituna Minami smoked silently, until the cigarette burned out, then suddenly laughed: "Uesugi-kun, good thing you didn't say this in the Onmyoryo, and good thing the one sitting beside you is me."

"Onmyoryo?" Uesugi Toru froze, "Isn't that just another name for the Special Affairs Division?"

"Pfft……"

Rituna Minami slapped her thigh, nearly laughed herself breathless: "Don't tell me you actually don't even understand this basic knowledge, Uesugi-kun!"

Uesugi Toru was stunned; when he met that Kujo Tsubaki Action Specialist on the train, he had preconceivedly lumped the two together.

——But from Nanjo Sister's meaning, it seems the Onmyoryo and Special Affairs Division are completely two different things?

After laughing a good while, Rituna Minami narrowed her eyes and leaned close to Uesugi Toru, strangely smacking her lips: "You really don't understand at all, Uesugi-kun."

Uesugi Toru glanced at the lips right before him, pulled back the distance slightly: "Is this something that needs to be understood?"

"For ordinary people, naturally not."

Rituna Minami lifted her eyelids, exhaled thick mint-scented smoke,

"But with what you just said, it's enough for the Onmyoryo to sentence you to extreme punishment, or throw you in the Water Prison for life."

She continued: "The Onmyoryo is an ancient organization that has contended with yokai for over a thousand years — long before the concepts of Mononoke and Spiritual Events arose, they already existed."

"There, the hatred between humans and yokai can almost be said to be irreconcilable, even Shikigami Contracts are far stricter than ours here."

"Precisely because of this."

Rituna Minami pointed at Uesugi Toru: "What you just did — 'befriending a yokai' — in their eyes already counts as 'traitor to humanity'."

"The Special Affairs Division split from the Onmyoryo due to ideological differences, but in reality many people's relatives died because of yokai, so their hatred for yokai isn't light either."

"However, I'll keep this secret for you." Rituna Minami bit another cigarette in her mouth, gave him an expressionless wink.

Uesugi Toru nodded silently — so that Kujo Tsubaki on the train was actually an extreme exception in the Onmyoryo.

"Mm…… also, the Special Affairs Division and Onmyoryo have already reached consensus, started spreading 'Wave Coming, Chang Shi Rising' to everyone, preparing to welcome the First Wave's arrival."

Rituna Minami raised her voice slightly: "But here in Arakawa Ward it's blocked as much as possible, to prevent Aibetsuri from causing something even bigger by detonating those 'seeds' — this is also a helpless method."

Before Aibetsuri actively detonates those "seeds", the Special Affairs Division has no good means to batch screen exactly which people are seeds, let alone ordinary people.

Because many mental patients or NEETs staying at home resemble "seeds" with extreme emotional fluctuations far more than the actual seeds.

And before the First Wave arrives, Aibetsuri would never let the long-lurking seeds expose themselves.

So things were left awkward like this.

——If they promoted news of yokai and Chang Shi elsewhere like other places, then once Ai's separation detonated the seed, the ensuing riot would only be greater.

Uesugi Toru understood her meaning, so he nodded: "I'll keep as low profile as possible at school."

"That's good."

Rituna Minami stood up, brushed the cigarette ash off her clothes, and waved at him: "Also, tell your three-tailed fox friend thank you for me."

……

After casually washing at the public bathhouse, Uesugi Toru quietly returned to Shizuku's room and fell into a deep sleep.

Next afternoon.

It was a cold touch on his abdomen that woke Uesugi Toru from sound sleep.

He glanced through the narrow window at the sun already high in the sky, and yawned comfortably.

It had been so long since he'd slept this long.

But the next moment, that icy cold, slightly sticky touch on his abdomen came again.

——So this wasn't a feeling from a dream?

Uesugi Toru lowered his head and discovered that the Adult in the quilt was closing her eyes pretending to sleep, her little hand dishonestly going around his shirt and drilling into it, trembling slightly, half-lying on his abdomen.

Two seconds ago she was probably still groping around recklessly.

Ask how he could tell she was pretending to sleep... could the Adult tremble all over from his casually sweeping gaze even after falling asleep?

She wasn't Shizuku.

Uesugi Toru gave a cold snort, gripped the Adult's nape with his hand, and lifted her from the bed to the ground, her eyes suddenly opening wide in shock,

"Still pretending, can you fool me?"

The Adult lowered her head guiltily, drawing circles with her finger: "po... Toru-sama, we want to say we don't know why it just became like this, do you believe it?"

She argued: "After Toru-sama went out and came back, your body suddenly became so fragrant, just hugging you feels like soaking in a hot spring."

Uesugi Toru hehe smiled: "Believe, I really do believe it."

The Adult was about to show a bright smile of a scheme succeeding, when a white hat from the sky covered her head.

Uesugi Toru grinned at her: "If you're dishonest again, just stay honest inside the Jizo Statue."

What the Adult said was tantamount to "Ouch, I got drunk and couldn't control myself," how could Uesugi Toru believe that?

——Not even ghosts would believe it!

"Toru-sama, why are you like this..."

The Adult stuck out her tongue and murmured softly.

She originally thought she could be a big step ahead of that flat-chested one sleeping beside, and even far ahead on the other's bed.

Just as the Adult was thinking this, she saw Uesugi Toru walk past her side, then squat down beside that flat-chested one with a curious expression.

"Slept this long..."

She saw Uesugi Toru reach out, carefully pinch that flat-chested one's cheeks, then whisper something intimately by her ear, waking her up.

Ya——!

The Adult bit her teeth and clenched her pink fist, wrinkling her little nose in jealousy, crazily cursing in her heart that the flat-chested one would get smaller and smaller, finally becoming a flat iron wall.

She pouted sourly—Toru-sama just grabs me and throws me to the side.

But actually, what Uesugi Toru whispered gently by Shizuku's ear was,

"——You haven't cultivated for ten days already, the First Wave has already passed."

To Shizuku this was tantamount to a devil's whisper; no matter how deep her sleep, she would instantly wake up and open her eyes with extreme clarity.

Shizuku just opened her eyes and saw Uesugi Toru, completely different from before sleep, his whole body overflowing with spiritual power fluctuations, grinning at her.

——I, I really slept for ten days!?

Shizuku knew that sleeping for ten days was not impossible for her.

——After the human body is exploited at high intensity without rest for a long time, if it suddenly enters extremely relaxed deep sleep, it's very possible to sleep for a long time without knowing.

Ask why Shizuku would believe it, because the spirit power quantity on Uesugi Toru before her eyes was vastly different from before she slept.

"I... slept for ten days? And missed the arrival of the First Wave while still in the room?"

Shizuku murmured blankly.

But the blankness was only an instant.

Shizuku immediately bit her teeth, showed a slightly fierce expression, reached out and gripped Uesugi Toru's collar, and yanked him down.

End of Chapter