'I match well with Kaito? Me?'
'No no no, Ki—Kita-san must be just comforting me!'
Gotou Hitori's small face grew redder and redder as she silently lowered her head, but the little deer in her chest was helplessly thumping away.
Realizing that she seemed to be digging herself into a deeper hole, Kita grew a bit desperate, "Forget it, just pretend I never said anything, sob sob sob..."
"I indeed do not have a romantic relationship with Gotou-san," Finally unable to bear it, Kaito cleared his throat lightly and pulled the topic back, "We are just ordinary classmates and members of the same club."
"So, you're still single then?", Gremlin Ryou always had a way of extracting the keywords she was interested in from irrelevant information.
"In that case...", A pair of golden eyes lit up, the girl spoke in a solemn tone, "Please go out with me!"
Kita: "..."
Bocchi: "..."
Nijika: "..."
"I appreciate the thought, but please allow me to refuse," Compared to the girls who were stunned speechless, Kaito's reaction was much calmer.
Compared to the female demons in his past life who only had one thing on their minds. Knock him out and drag him back to the cave to get married, Yamada Ryou's methods were undoubtedly far too immature.
Drugging, ambushing... he had seen all kinds of illegal methods starting at three thousand years minimum, maximum death penalty. A mere confession from a little girl was hardly enough to stir his heart.
"Why are you refusing?", Yamada Ryou showed not a hint of shyness and said seriously, "I can play bass and support you."
"I'm not lacking money."
"Then you can support me instead."
Kaito: "?"
He shook his head, "Dating without a foundation of feelings is a castle in the air. Illusory and fragile."
That was a clear rejection.
"I see…", Yamada Ryou pinched her chin in a pondering pose, "So it's a rare pure love type?"
"No problem!", She clenched her right hand into a fist, suddenly slammed it into her left palm, and declared righteously, "Doing children purely is also pure love! If we do it a lot then... mm... mm!"
To prevent this fool from saying anything even more outrageous and completely shattering the girls' beautiful ideals of love, Nijika acted decisively, immediately covering Ryou's mouth. Years of drumming had trained her arm strength, which a mere fragile bassist couldn't hope to break free from.
"Ahaha... Sorry, Kaito-san, I forgot to mention, Ryou actually suffers from severe mental illness. She's currently in an episode. I'll be sure to educate her properly."
"Mm mm! Mm mm mm mm!", Gremlin Ryou's voice was muffled, seemingly trying to argue something.
Nijika's face didn't change. She just turned her head slightly, her wine-red pupils seemingly devoid of highlights, "One more word and I'll shark you."
Yamada Ryou: "..."
The blue-haired girl finally calmed down.
Kita also laughed awkwardly on the side, trying to smooth things over and move past this scene.
After the featured band of Starlight's Night finished their performance, the mood of the bands that went on afterward noticeably dropped.
Not only did many audience members leave, but the atmosphere also couldn't compare to that of the earlier bands.
Two hours passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was already 7 p.m.
The last trace of sunset disappeared into the steel-structured modern city, and the fiery red sky gradually dimmed, replaced by ink-like darkness.
When parting with the others, the girl was still a bit reluctant and even wanted to ask for a photo of Kaito-kun to frame and hang up in the shop.
Firstly, it was eye candy. Secondly... maybe it could even attract more customers?
After all, most of the main customer base for STARRY was students from nearby schools, the majority of whom were girls.
But considering this was their first meeting, such a request would inevitably seem a bit too forward, so she suppressed the thought.
———
After leaving STARRY and returning to the apartment, as usual, he soaked in the bath for a bit.
It wasn't until Kaito put on his bathrobe, sat on the sofa, and habitually reached for the controller that he realized something serious.
'I... Seem to be getting lazier recently?'
He didn't even feel like doing his daily cultivation anymore.
The modern city was truly corrupting. Without making a sound, it had eroded the heart of a Nascent Soul Heavenly Lord.
'Forget it, better play a few rounds of games to calm down.'
.
.
.
In the days that followed, it was peaceful.
Classes as usual, reading manga in the club room. Leisurely like retirement.
It was Miura Yumiko who seemed particularly enthusiastic.
She hadn't forgotten the promise she made when applying to join the club and went around gathering information about urban legends or strange happenings, trying hard to bring Kaito some business.
Unfortunately, although ghosts and monsters did exist in this world, their numbers were too few, and they weren't that powerful.
Relying on her strong social skills and wide network, Yumiko did initially hear quite a few ghost rumors.
But after a little investigation, they all turned out to be unreliable. Mostly just hearsay and baseless gossip.
After enough false alarms, Yumiko couldn't help feeling discouraged, even venting to Kaito, "Damn! Why is everything fake! I feel like I've been wasting my efforts..."
"Totally normal," Kaito picked up the black tea in front of him and took a light sip, "It's not like evil spirits are cabbages. If monsters and demons were everywhere, the human world would've already been renamed the underworld."
"Then why did I encounter one?", Yumiko pouted, still unconvinced.
"Because you're unlucky," Kaito shook his head, then looked in a certain direction, "Besides, there's someone far unluckier than you."
Poor Bocchi, who was curled up in the corner like a mushroom and suddenly got caught in the crossfire: Ծ‸Ծ
It was bad enough to awaken spirit sight for no reason... One evil spirit at home, and another encounter with the Lucky Child at school. If Kaito hadn't happened to be there, Bocchi-chan's seventh-day death ceremony would've already passed.
While the few of them were chatting, the clubroom door was suddenly knocked on, then someone came in.
"Yo, everyone's here, how convenient," The iron-fisted female teacher in a white lab coat glanced around the room, her smile slightly awkward.
"Hiratsuka-sensei?", Kaito raised an eyebrow and put away the manga in his hand.
"Is there something you need?"
"Can't I just come to check on you all?", Hiratsuka Shizuka lightly coughed, feigning dissatisfaction, "After all, I am technically the advisor of the Supernatural Research Club."
"As you can see," Kaito waved his hand, and Bocchi obediently came over to sit beside him. Miura Yumiko wasn't to be outdone and took the seat on the other side.
"The club is doing well, and the members get along harmoniously. There's nothing that needs concern."
It was more than harmonious. With the sisterly love and respectful vibes, it wouldn't be strange if you called it the shogun's inner palace.
Hiratsuka suddenly hesitated, 'Was coming here today really the right choice?'
'But after thinking it over... that child's situation is already terrible, it can't get worse than it already is, right?'
'Besides...'
Her eyes subtly swept across that flawless face.
Even if something did happen, who's taking advantage of who is still up for debate.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.
https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y