Chapter 42

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(I wonder if I did some unexcusable thing to Tendou-san after all…)

Shouma sighed as he sat in the tall grass of the park, hiding and probing.

The birds in the park were making a ruckus the same as always, but he didn’t even notice it this time, as the events of today were whirling around in his mind constantly.

(Tendou-san was just worried about me, and here I was, saying something like “you were the one who dragged me into this!”, I think I really have a bad personality…)

To go back from the starting point, originally, the fault was that his protection charm was broken. Tendou simply fixed it for him. The three million yen was certainly a bit overcharging, but he shouldn’t have complained to the man who had taken the measure to give him a remedy. Moreover, his employer was only worried about him.

“What’s wrong Shouma-san? Did something happen?”

The Kappa peeked at Shouma with a worried expression on her face.

Since he didn’t wish to make such a small child worried, the boy plastered a smile on his face.

“No, no. I just got into a fight with someone I know. I’m sorry for making you worry.”

“Ah an argument, but are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m alright. It wasn’t such a big fight. Anyway, are you sure you don’t want to go take a bath today? Since I’m here you can go to the river like you usually do, alright?”

This was the reason why the girl couldn’t watch over the park all the time by herself.

As being a Kappa, she couldn’t spend much time on land without taking a dip from time to time. Normally, she would switch guards with Shouma when the boy arrived to take a quick bath in the nearby river, but today she didn’t get up.

“No injured kittens had appeared there lately, which is quite unnatural, so today, I’m determined to hold out!”

The girl’s gaze was fixed at the park from the tall grass, her voice filled with desperation. Her cheeks were redder than usual, it was more like an apple.

Since the two of them started to keep watch over the park, no harmed kittens had been placed in there. It was as if the perpetrator knew someone was constantly watching for some clue.

With Shouma’s cooperation the Kappa was sure that they would be able to catch the culprit. But now, she seemed to be equally anxious and frustrated by the fact that no one showed up at all.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Isn’t your face a bit red…?”

“I’m fine!”

“You look a bit dizzy…”

“It’s okay!”

“Can you even focus?”

“No problem!”

As she said this, the little kaii rolled her eyes and collapsed into Shouma.

When he put his hand on the Kappa’s forehead, it felt surprisingly hot.

“Wait, what?”

“Haha, I’m sorry. I think I really dried up a bit after all…”

The Kappa’s complexion was slowly turning from red to reddish-black, which didn’t look as healthy at all.

Shouma quickly laid down the kaii in the shade of a tree then stood up.

“What would be the best for me to do?”

“Water is… everything is fine as long as it’s water…”

“Alright. Hold on a second!”

“I’m so sorry for this…”

Speaking with a weak voice, the girl moved her head unsteadily.

Fortunately, there was a vending machine nearby, so Shouma decided to run to it.

Normally, he wouldn’t buy water from the vending machine, as it was wasteful enough, but this time it was a state of emergency, so he had no choice.

“Okay! Then…”

As he put his money in the machine and bought a bottle of mineral water, his head suddenly felt heavy for some reason.

The unknown weight made Shouma stagger. It seemed as if there was something on his head.

He shook his head and tried to drop the object which was sitting on his head. The thing that fell was a small kaii. It was like a beetle, but had the shape of a grasshopper.

“Why is this…?”

While grumpling about it, another one fell on his head. This creature was perfectly round like a ball.

This was the first time this had happened to him since he got the charm back, except when he hadn’t been wearing it intentionally.

“Could it be…!”

He immediately searched around his neck with his hands. Just as he thought, the amulet he always wore around his neck was gone. Even the string it was attached to was completely withered.

“Oh no, this is bad! I have to find it… but first, I need to bring back the water to the Kappa!”

At times like this, no matter what happened, Shouma always put himself second. That was probably the reason why he made Tendou worried about him, but it couldn’t be helped, since it was his nature.

He returned to the park with the purchased mineral water.

“Kappa! I’ve got the water!”

“Ah, thank you very much!”

Still a bit dizzy even beside the tree, the kaii raised her upper body.

She took the plastic bottle of water from Shouma, opened the lid, and poured its contents over her head.

“Eh? What!?!

The Kappa, to Shouma’s surprise, poured the water on herself relentlessly.

The water slid over her hair and soaked all of her clothes. By the time all three plastic bottles that Shouma had bought were empty, she was drenched all over.

“Woohoo! That felt so good! I feel like I’m fully alive again!”

The Kappa pinched her face with a refreshed expression in front of the mutely amazed Shouma.

She stood up and hit her clothes, removing the dust and sand. Strangely enough, her body, which had been soaked wet until now, instantly dried up. It was as if all the water she poured on herself was nothing more than a dream or an illusion.

“Thank you!”

“Oh, uhum”

Just as Shouma nodded, he felt something hit his toe. He looked down at his feet and saw that it was the three million yen worth charm.

“Oh, there it is!”

He rushedly picked it up. The string that was used to carry the small bag around his neck had been cut. It seemed that he had dropped it when he ran to the vending machine to buy water.

“Thank God… I was wondering what I should do now…”

He shackled the two parts of the string back together, and put the charm around his neck. Then, finally, all the little, one eyed, bird-like kaii’s that had been singing in chorus on his shoulder flew away as if they were no longer interested in him.

(This amulet is truly amazing after all…)

He felt relieved.

“I never expected this.”

All of sudden, a voice of a man echoed through the park, it was dreadful and malicious.

Looking for the source of the voice, Shouma found that it was coming from a bird, perched on top of the cleaning supplies closet.

In the blink of an eye, the bird transformed itself into a man. His silvery-white hair reflected the dim light. The hem of his white kimono, which looked like one’s burial clothes, gently swayed and flickered in the wind. The man’s face was hidden by a veil, but the wicked smirking mouth underneath it was firmly scorched into Shouma’s retina.

“I didn’t know I could find such good quality food in a place like this. That means I won’t have to use this run-of-mill stuff anymore.”

He had a bleeding kitten in his hands. As expected, the small creature’s tendon’s were firmly cut. Though the amount of blood loss indicated it was not a fatal wound, it certainly needed to be treated as quickly as possible.

Shouma hid the Kappa behind him as fast as he could, and faced the stranger.

“Who are you?” asked the boy bluntly.

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