Chapter 45: Would You Like to Form an Alliance
Yumesaki stood to one side, watching the interaction between Natsume and Nyanko-sensei, and couldn't help but narrow his eyes.
This was like watching an anime series live right in front of him, and as a spectator, it was honestly pretty moving.
There was only each other in their eyes. It was truly magnificent. If one of them were a woman, he would definitely agree to them getting married on the spot.
What a pity.
"Umu, I feel like you are thinking about something terrible, Praetor."
Right at that moment, Nero walked over. Seeing the expression on Yumesaki's face—smiling like an adoring aunt—she couldn't help but shiver.
How to describe that smile? It looked normal, but if you looked closely, it felt a little disgusting.
Natsume and Nyanko-sensei snapped back to reality. Realizing they hadn't thanked their savior yet, they hurriedly scrambled up from the ground, patted the dust off their clothes, and once again expressed their gratitude to Yumesaki.
This time, even Nyanko-sensei sincerely thanked Yumesaki. If it hadn't been for him, they really would have been in deep trouble.
At the same time, Nyanko-sensei was also reflecting on whether he had become too complacent.
Following Natsume around during this period, he rarely fought, and he was no longer used to high-stakes battles.
After all, while walking around Tokyo today, he had been completely relaxed and didn't look at all like someone who was being hunted down to be killed.
He had even naively thought that after he brought Natsume to Tokyo, the people from Hagoromo Gitsune would know their place and back off.
But reality proved that he had assumed far too much.
The opposing side didn't follow any fighting etiquette at all.
Particularly Tsuchigumo. That creature had actually managed a successful sneak attack on him, instantly wounding him severely, causing him to lose miserably in the subsequent fight and almost get beaten to death.
If this had been the past, such a thing would have been basically impossible.
His vigilance had never been this weak.
But today...
Hah, it could only be said that a peaceful life really made a person feel too safe, to the point where he had deteriorated so terribly. If things continued like this, how could he protect Natsume? How could he protect his Book of Friends?
After going back today, he had to regain his edge.
Nyanko-sensei made up his mind. Once they returned, he would look for Nurarihyon to spar a few times, readapt to high-intensity combat, and reclaim everything he had lost.
Nurarihyon: ???
On the other side, after accepting Natsume and Nyanko-sensei's appreciation, Yumesaki asked out of curiosity, "If I remember correctly, you two should be in the countryside. Why did you show up in Tokyo?"
Hearing this, a trace of confusion appeared in Natsume's eyes. "Excuse me, but do we know each other?"
Yumesaki shook his head and said, "We don't. But I've heard that a young man named Natsume carries the Book of Friends and lives in a village. After all, an item like the Book of Friends is quite famous among many yokai circles."
Natsume realized that the Book of Friends was indeed highly famous among yokai. Even Hagoromo Gitsune knew about it, so it didn't seem strange for his savior to know as well.
He quickly said, "Actually, we came here seeking refuge."
"Refuge?"
"Yes. A yokai named Hagoromo Gitsune wants to seize the Book of Friends. In order not to involve innocent people, Nyanko-sensei and I came to Tokyo and stayed at the place of one of Nyanko-sensei's friends."
Speaking up to this point, a lingering expression of fear timely appeared on Natsume's face. "But what we didn't expect was that Hagoromo Gitsune's people would pursue us without letting go. If you hadn't appeared, sir, Nyanko-sensei and I might have already..."
Unable to continue the sentence, his body trembled slightly.
If Nyanko-sensei had died because of this, he would never have forgiven himself for the rest of his life.
"Calm down, you fool." Seeing Natsume's distress, Nyanko-sensei hopped onto Natsume's head and patted it. "Am I not perfectly fine?"
After being comforted for a moment, Natsume gradually calmed down.
"I'm sorry for showing you such a pathetic sight."
"Not at all. On the contrary, it showed me a handsome young man who deeply treasures feelings and justice."
Natsume's face flushed. "A handsome young man or something..."
He had never been praised like that by someone else before.
Nyanko-sensei said, "Right. After talking for so long, we still don't know your name, Savior."
"My name is Kazuma Yumesaki."
"Yumesaki... You aren't Japanese?" Nyanko-sensei was somewhat surprised and looked at Yumesaki seriously a few times.
"I'm not," Yumesaki shook his head.
Natsume was also a bit surprised. This was the first time he had met a foreigner. There was indeed an inexplicable aura about his body that didn't seem the same as a Japanese person.
But what exactly it was, Natsume couldn't explain either.
"In any case, I am deeply grateful to you for today," Nyanko-sensei said. "If there's an opportunity, I'll have Natsume repay your kindness."
Yumesaki smiled and didn't voice whether he agreed or disagreed with this.
Nyanko-sensei pointed at the frozen Tsuchigumo and asked, "By the way, what do you plan to do with this guy? This creature has a deep connection with Hagoromo Gitsune. If you kill him, you'll be hated by her."
"If you don't want to look for trouble, you can leave him to me to handle."
After all, they had already offended Hagoromo Gitsune over the matter of the Book of Friends, so they weren't afraid of adding one more problem.
"That won't be necessary. This creature is an important experimental material, so he can't be given to you."
Yumesaki said very calmly, "As for the matter of offending Hagoromo Gitsune, well, he isn't the first subordinate of hers I've captured anyway, so it's fine."
Nyanko-sensei couldn't help but widen his eyes. "In other words, you've also captured other subordinates of Hagoromo Gitsune? Who?"
"Kidomaru, Ibaraki Doji, Gairōta."
Nyanko-sensei fell silent, because he was very familiar with all three of these yokai. All of them were combat-faction members under Hagoromo Gitsune's command.
As it turned out, they had all been captured by Yumesaki, and judging by the situation, they had even become test subjects.
How to put it... This was no longer a matter of whether he had offended Hagoromo Gitsune or not. Rather, he had offended Hagoromo Gitsune to the point of no return.
"You are incredible."
Nyanko-sensei unconsciously raised a paw toward Yumesaki. This praise held no technique, but was pure, raw feeling.
If Hagoromo Gitsune found out about this, it was feared she would fight to the death with Yumesaki.
But considering that just two of Yumesaki's Shikigami could defeat Tsuchigumo, it showed that this person was no simple character either.
An idea suddenly popped into Nyanko-sensei's mind, and he voiced it directly.
"Hey, I have a proposal, Savior Yumesaki. Let's form an alliance."
"Form an alliance? You want to join forces with me to fight Hagoromo Gitsune together?" Yumesaki guessed the contents of Nyanko-sensei's mind.
"Correct," Nyanko-sensei nodded.
"You captured Hagoromo Gitsune's subordinates, so she definitely won't let you off. And that creature Hagoromo Gitsune wants to snatch the Book of Friends from Natsume's hands and invade Tokyo, so she won't let Natsume off either. Thus, the two of us are natural allies."
Yumesaki nodded in agreement. Just as he was preparing to speak, he detected several powerful auras rushing toward this direction.
One of the auras among them was quite familiar, namely Satoru Gojo.
The remaining few were unfamiliar.
Yumesaki used Clairvoyance magic to glance briefly at these unfamiliar auras, and he couldn't help but freeze for a moment.
These few unfamiliar auras belonged to familiar people.
More precisely, people recognized by Yumesaki.
One of them was a very beautiful girl with long black hair wearing a sailor uniform, Yomi Isayama.
Another was a beautiful girl who was inseparable from Yomi Isayama and shared a very close bond with her, Kagura Tsuchimiya.
And one more was Yomi Isayama's fiancé, Noriyuki Izuna.
If there were no surprises, these people should have been drawn here by Tsuchigumo's battle just now. After all, when Tsuchigumo fought Yumesaki's Shikigami earlier, he exploded with powerful Yoki several times, which could even be said to be without any concealment.
As long as someone possessed a bit of ability, they should all have been able to feel this powerful Yoki.
Running over here to investigate the truth was also very normal.
It was just a pity they all arrived too late; the battle had already ended.
"Someone is coming. Do you want to move to another place to talk?" Yumesaki turned to ask Nyanko-sensei.
Nyanko-sensei also felt the gradually approaching auras and nodded. "No problem."
Yumesaki casually opened an air gate, bringing Natsume and Nyanko-sensei back to his own residential apartment.
As for Tsuchigumo, naturally, he was also brought back, handed over to Medea and Serie to deal with.
…
Not long after, Yomi Isayama, Kagura Tsuchimiya, Noriyuki Izuna, as well as Satoru Gojo arrived here one after another.
What met their eyes was only a messy street.
"Oh dear, it looks like I arrived late."
Satoru Gojo crouched atop a utility pole, looking down from a high place toward Yomi Isayama and the others. "Ah, aren't these the folks from the Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Division? You guys came too."
Yomi Isayama looked up toward Satoru Gojo and immediately offered a polite greeting. "Good morning, Senior Gojo."
Although the Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Division and Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College did not belong to the same system—one dealt with yokai and monsters while the other dealt with Cursed Spirits.
However, both were organizations under the government's umbrella, met each other frequently, and shared a reasonably good relationship.
What's more, Satoru Gojo was the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer, who could even be called the strongest person in Tokyo.
As the ace of the Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Division, she naturally couldn't underestimate him.
"Still as polite as always, Yomi-chan."
Satoru Gojo leaped down from the utility pole, landing lightly beside Yomi Isayama, and said with an expression full of envy, "If only my students had half your politeness, that would be wonderful."
"How about this? You come to study at my school, and I'll help you become a Jujutsu Sorcerer. What do you think, Yomi-chan?"
As soon as these words left his mouth, Kagura Tsuchimiya, who was by her side, immediately tugged at the hem of Yomi Isayama's clothes, deeply afraid that Yomi Isayama would be taken away by this annoying adult.
Satoru Gojo naturally noticed this and said with a smile, "Of course, Kagura-chan can come along too."
Kagura Tsuchimiya couldn't help but widen her eyes. Not only Yomi-nee, but even she herself was about to be carried off.
"Senior Gojo is joking." Noriyuki Izuna couldn't sit still and watch his fiancée get carried away by a white-haired man. How was this any different from being snatched right in front of his eyes?
He immediately blocked the way in front of Yomi Isayama and Kagura Tsuchimiya, saying, "Currently, Yomi is the ace of the Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Division. Many matters in the division cannot do without her."
"If she leaves, and the division goes bankrupt because of it, the higher-ups will place the blame."
Satoru Gojo burst into laughter. "It's fine, it's fine. Since I'm the strongest, the higher-ups should give me some face. What do you think, Yomi-chan?"
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