## Chapter 216 – The Great Yokai (4)
Takuya looked at the black-winged woman staring down at him and thought,
‘Who is she?’
It was no wonder, as Takuya was seeing this woman for the first time.
However, the woman looking at him was gazing at Takuya with a very friendly gaze.
How could he tell? After seeing so many gazes on the battlefield, he could roughly tell whether someone felt friendly or favorable.
Anyway, Takuya knew that the black-winged woman’s gaze held fondness.
He didn’t know why, though.
And as the black-winged woman watched Takuya’s mind spinning with such thoughts, she spoke.
“My name is Nyotengu~”
No, the woman calling herself Nyotengu said,
“Once upon a time, I was called a great yokai, but now I’m a vassal of the Tachibana family.”
“Tachibana…? Then, are you perhaps related to Misaki’s…”
“I sometimes play with that cute little one.”
At Nyotengu’s words, a memory flashed like lightning in Takuya’s mind.
[Ugh! Why! Why are you doing this, Nyotengu-unni!!]
[It’s already too late, Misaki…]
Takuya, recalling the image of a grown-up Misaki trying to stop the black-winged woman, stared at the woman in front of him with a shocked expression.
‘That Nyotengu?!’
Of course. This woman was the final boss, Nyotengu, whom future Misaki had to face.
While Takuya was shocked by this fact, Nyotengu looked at Takuya’s reaction with a puzzled expression, as if she found it strange.
“What’s wrong? Is there something on my face?”
Only then did Takuya come to his senses, quickly shaking his head and thinking,
‘I need to go home and reread my notes.’
It had been a while since he tried to recall it, so he couldn’t remember it well.
You could say he was already getting early-onset dementia, but even before he was possessed, he had played that eroge game almost three years ago.
It wasn’t easy to recall it right away.
Anyway, Takuya, having regained his composure, asked,
“So, a, a great yokai like you, why are you…”
At Takuya’s question, she chuckled and said,
“Because there’s no human as unique as you.”
What did that mean?
‘About my regression? Or sleeping with yokai? Time stop?’
He had so many things to feel guilty about that he had too many thoughts.
Thanks to that, Takuya couldn’t understand the true meaning of her words.
Fortunately, as if she understood Takuya’s expression, she simply smiled and said,
“I’m talking about those ‘abilities’ you have.”
Not just one ability, but abilities.
The meaning of those words was simple.
‘It seems like she’s figured out a good number of the abilities I have.’
It meant that she knew more than he thought.
Realizing this, Takuya immediately said,
“How much do you know?”
“Hmm~ The potion that excites women, the power to control them at will, and even seeing something strange?”
Most of it, then.
But there were still abilities that hadn’t been mentioned.
‘But she doesn’t know about time stop or the X-ray glasses?’
That was a relief, at least. If he didn’t have those two, he’d be penniless.
Of course, he didn’t show it outwardly.
Those were his trump cards. Instead, he made a face as if to say, ‘How do you know all that?!’
After a moment of silence,
Takuya spoke, as if struggling to open his mouth.
“So, what do you want from me?”
You might wonder why he was suddenly saying this.
But a being like her wouldn’t have appeared before him for no reason.
Of course, she must want something.
That was the thought behind his question, but Nyotengu’s eyes widened for a moment at Takuya’s words, and then she laughed as if she found it amusing.
“Haha, what I want. You probably can’t grant it even if you heard it.”
“You can’t know that until you hear it.”
At Takuya’s words, Nyotengu’s expression turned cold, as if the smile she had just shown was an illusion.
No, to be precise, she suddenly brought her hand to her neck.
“You really think you can grant my wish?”
—Crackling!!
She spoke while holding onto something invisible.
Takuya couldn’t see it, but he understood why she had said that, seeing the ‘something’ that was causing huge ripples around her just by being barely held.
‘I didn’t know she was such a monster.’
Thanks to that, Takuya couldn’t help but regret speaking carelessly.
Nyotengu, having shown Takuya what she wanted, said,
“So, do you think you can break this shackle of mine?”
In the end, Takuya could only remain silent at her words, and Nyotengu chuckled at Takuya’s reaction.
She probably hadn’t expected much either.
Then, she stroked the invisible thing on her neck with a hollow look and muttered,
“Well, it’s only natural. This shackle can’t be broken unless you have a power strong enough to shake the archipelago.”
At her words, Takuya’s mind raced.
‘Wait, unless you have a power strong enough to shake the archipelago?’
What if there was such a power?
Takuya really wanted to say it, but he decided to hold back for now since it wasn’t confirmed yet.
Instead,
“Then why did you appear before me?”
He decided to ask a different question.
He thought he could talk about that after he had organized his thoughts a bit more.
Fortunately, Nyotengu answered calmly without any particular resistance to Takuya’s change of topic.
“It’s not that I appeared before you. It’s that you became able to see me. I’ve been here all along.”
“Huh? What does that…”
“It’s because you gained spiritual power equivalent to an exorcist.”
He had gained spiritual power equivalent to an exorcist? What on earth…
As Takuya looked confused, Nyotengu gestured behind her and said,
“The yokai milk you drank also has the power to enhance spiritual abilities.”
And at those words, Takuya couldn’t help but be shocked beyond surprise.
‘It’s because I drank Reiko’s milk?!’
No, even if he drank milk, why could he suddenly see other yokai?
“Besides that, it also enhances the health of living beings, increases stamina, and improves dynamic visual acuity.”
And why was the performance of milk so good?!
While Takuya was bewildered by these two reasons, Nyotengu, who was enjoying Takuya’s reaction, continued,
“Of course, all of that is because I released my presence myself.”
“Released your presence yourself?”
“Yes. Like this.”
—Tap!
With a light gesture of her hand,
“Huh?!”
Her form began to disappear little by little.
Takuya was dumbfounded at the sight of Nyotengu disappearing like a mirage.
No, was that even possible? Yokai were amazing!
While Takuya was marveling at the power of the yokai, Nyotengu, who had reappeared, said,
“I can only be seen by you when I reveal my form like this.”
“Huh—”
Was it because too much information had entered his head? Takuya was half out of it.
It was quite some time later that Takuya, who had been half out of it, regained his senses.
To be precise,
‘I feel like I’m going crazy!!!’
He hadn’t fully regained his senses yet, but he had roughly finished organizing his thoughts.
‘Tomorrow’s me will take care of it.’
In fact, it was just a half-hearted delegation, but Takuya decided that tomorrow’s Takuya could think about it.
Anyway, Takuya, having regained his senses, looked at Nyotengu, who was looking down at him with a relaxed smile, and then a question arose.
‘Wait, but why is Nyotengu here?’
She had said she was a vassal of the Tachibana family.
According to what Misaki had told him, the Tachibana family was quite far from here.
So, it was only natural that Nyotengu should be somewhere else, not here.
And another thing.
‘How did she know about my abilities?’
How did she know about his abilities?
He had used many abilities so far, but he mostly used them separately or with long intervals between them.
That was because he could have sex to his heart’s content without those eroge game abilities.
In short, it was impossible to know about his abilities just from seeing him once or twice.
Moreover, she had said he saw something strange, but she hadn’t said exactly what he saw.
The meaning of this was,
‘Has she been following me all this time?’
He came to the conclusion that Nyotengu had been stalking him all this time.
You might say it was a ridiculous conclusion, but it was a reasonably logical one.
With that question in mind, Takuya immediately asked Nyotengu,
“Then, why have you been watching me all this time?”
At Takuya’s question, she looked puzzled for a moment, then smiled as if she had realized something, and answered Takuya’s question.
“I told you, there’s no human as unique as you.”
“So, in short, you’re watching me because I’m a unique human?”
“That’s right.”
At those words, Takuya pondered for a moment, then nodded at her words and said calmly,
“I understand. Then, since all my questions are answered, I’ll go back to what I was doing.”
“What?”
Nyotengu, taken aback by Takuya’s sudden change in attitude, asked as if she didn’t understand what he was saying, and Takuya replied,
“No, come to think of it, it’s not the first time someone’s been watching me, and it doesn’t seem like you’re causing any harm, so if you want to watch, keep watching.”
After saying that nonchalantly, Takuya immediately returned to the shrine.
Nyotengu, watching Takuya’s figure, was bewildered.
