Chapter 37

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When Shouma felt the light hitting his closed eyelids, he realised he must have fainted at some point. As he opened his eyes, he saw the sun going down, painting the sky red.

“Shouma, are you alright?”

With his usual smile, which now was accompanied by two bending brows, Tendou anxiously peered at the boy lying before him. When Shouma tried to sit up, Subaru, who served as a pillow until now, softly flew into the air and landed on his shoulder.

He was lying on a cliff. The entrance to the cave, where they had been fighting to death, ended up completely destroyed.

“It was the Mikoshi Nyuudou who saved us.”

As Shouma tried to find his friend, he spotted Enishi, sitting cross legged on a cliff next to him. He now was the same size as a normal person.

“Thank you, Enishi.”

“Ou”

It might be that he stayed there up until now, because he wanted to make sure that Shouma was safe, but now, he suddenly turned his body into small letters, then returned to the Collected Records.

Enishi seemed way too exhausted, perhaps, Shouma thought, he let him be a bit too rash and reckless.

“What happened to the Gyuuki?”

“It escaped into the sea. It learned its lesson for now, so I think it will lay low for a while and won’t cause any mischief. But if we pick up its trace in the future, we’ll have no other choice than to capture it.”

“And what about Miki-san, no, the Nure-onna?”

“I’ve returned her to the book. She didn’t resist or anything.”

“I see…”

The expression on Shouma’s face was somewhat unsettled.

Tendou sat down next to him without saying a word.

“I don’t know, but, somehow I had a bad aftertaste regarding this case.”

Perhaps, it was because people now had actually died due to the kaii, but there was still an inexplicable ill feeling in Shouma’s chest. He didn’t have the same feeling of ‘case closed’ as he did with the case of Subaru and Enishi back then.

“This is what it means to be involved with the kaii in general. Everything else was an exception up until now.”

“Exceptions?”

“Shouma, you seem to have a tendency to feel too much compassion and sympathy towards the kaii, but from now on, you should keep your distance. You’re not the kind of person who is supposed to be involved with the creatures from this side in the first place.”

Tendou’s expression was gentle, but his words, which seemed to imply that he would abandon him, made Shouma frown. It was as if he had been told to stay away from where the line had been drawn.

“Wasn’t it Tendou-san who got me involved in the first place…? Isn’t it a bit too selfish to get me dragged into this and then, when I get a bit used to it, you just told me to keep my distance?”

“That’s also true. Maybe, my judgement was wrong when I decided to entangle you into this mess.”

Shouma became irritated at his employer’s careless speaking. He didn’t know why he got so angry, but now, he was overwhelmingly pissed off.

“Why do you say this now, at this stage?”

“Because it’s now, today, that you, Shouma discovered for the first time how dreadful the kaii could truly be, and what their real nature is like.”

“So that’s the reason why I should keep my distance?”

“I’m just trying to tell you not to get too carried away.”

Tendou had rejected Shouma, albeit softly.

The boy stood up involuntarily.

“I know that there are terrifying kaii’s out there! But I’m the one who decides how much I could get involved with them! I don’t want Tendou-san’s instructions telling me what to do!”

“Shouma”

“I’ll go ahead!”

After saying this, Shouma climbed down from the cliff and headed towards the beach hut. Even his back seemed to express how furious he was, as he walked away, leaving his employer behind.

—

“Haa…”

Tendou, staying there, looked up as he watched the sky slowly turn red. The man only sighed. His face held an expression of regret. Next to him, as unusual as it is, was Subaru, who hadn’t kept up with Shouma.

“Hoi, tell me, why did you drag him into this? You knew this from the start when you met him, didn’t you? You knew that there was a lot…”

At Subaru’s slightly implied comment, Tendou only casted his eyes at the kaii. A question seemed to be reflected in them, saying “How do you know all about this?”.

“I’ve heard a lot about it from the Mikoshi Nyuudou. He’s quite a talker, so he couldn’t even shut up when he was in the book.”

“So”

Tendou shifted his gaze back to the sky once more.

“So, why did you rope him in, huh? Though, I’m not Shouma, if you rejected me at this stage just as you did with him…wouldn’t it have been better if you just left him out of this from the start?”

“I wonder why I did it. Shouma is…the resemblance is so striking, that I guess it just made me miss those long-passed days.”

Tendou chuckled, a wry smile was drawn on his face.

“I…I’d be happy if Shouma would befriend the kaii. But at the same time, I don’t want him to get too attached and get even more involved with them.”

“So, you mean, you don’t want him to be like the Master?”

“Well, yes…”

As the setting sun submerged on the far horizon, it stretched out Tendou’s shadow longer and longer.

“I don’t want him to meet such a foolish end to get killed by the kaii’s who he thought were his friends.”

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