NOVEL WEB Chapter 9 – Back to Home
Kuroka blinked her eyes several times while looking at me. She tilted her head and tried to process what happened to her, and finally, her eyes bulged and struggled in my embrace. She must have remembered what happened to her.
“Hey, calm down! This is youkai territory, you are safe!” I tried to calm Kuroka down and that works wonderfully as she stopped struggling in my hand and asked me.
“Really? Are you the one that saved me nya?” She tilted her head and asked me in a cute manner. Is she really Kuroka? Did I mistake her with Koneko? No, she has black hair so she must be Kuroka.
“Yeah, I killed the devils that chased after you too. Can you tell me what happened? Why are you chased by the devils?” I asked her as I put her down slowly. I know the reason why she was chased by the devil because I watched the anime until season 3, but I thought that I should ask her in this case.
It would be suspicious of me to know her circumstances in our first meeting.
When I put her down, it seems that she has no strength to stand by herself. As a gentleman, I carried her up again in a princess carry.
“I-I’m sorry, but can I have some time before I tell you everything nya? I promise that I have no evil intention by doing that."
Well, I understand that she didn’t want to tell me right away. I nodded my head and console her.
“No problem. I know you had a hard time. Well, I just concluded that because of your injured state when I found you.” I said with a small smile on my face.
I have a rather handsome face because of my lineage as Nurarihyon Youkai, so my smile has a big destructive power on girls. Tsura served as my test subject on that matter and I can proudly say that my smile is lethal to girls.
Kuroka blushes because she saw my smile at a close range and averted her gaze to the right, avoiding my face.
When we are talking, the meeting door was opened and my old man together with Yasaka and Magari came out from beyond the door.
“Yo, Riku. You got into trouble as soon as you stepped out from our territory? Hahahahaa, as expected from my son.”
I looked over and my old man and give him a smirk. “Yeah, thanks to you. At least I managed to save a girl in peril.”
I turned around and approached my old man. When she saw Kuroka, I saw his eyes bulged a little and approached us.
“She’s a Nekoshou? Girl, who is your mother?” Asked my old man to Kuroka.
I saw Kuroka was a bit afraid of him, but I console her and tell her that there is no problem at all. Kuroka nodded her head and asked me to put her down, which I comply with a bit of disappointment.
Well, if she wanted to, then I will put her down. It’s not like I wanted to carry her forever!
Kuroka looked at my old man and finally answered his question.
“My mother is called Fujimai.” This has gotten a reaction from my old man and Magari.
Especially my old man, his eyes bulged and his brows furrowed.
“Fujimai, huh. Can you tell me where is she right now?” Asked my old man with a kind smile on his face.
I guess he wanted to appear to be as friendly as possible, but that shattered in an instant.
“… she’s dead nya.” Answered Kuroka with a crestfallen expression.
“…”
Everyone present gritted their teeth. I looked at my old man and saw him have a rather nostalgic look in his eyes. He put his hand on top of Kuroka’s head and said.
“Well then, do you want to come with me? I will provide you a shelter and protection. By the way, what’s your name, little nekoshou?”
Kuroka, hearing my old man's word has tears welled up in the corner of her eyes and she answered.
“Yes… my name is Kuroka nya.”
My old man nodded her head as he turned to Magari. “Magari, I will leave her in your care. You didn’t mind, right?”
“Certainly.”
After that, he turned to Yasaka and said in a serious tone.
“We will leave, for now, Yasaka. I think that you will be busy restructuring your defensive line here so I won’t bother you any longer. And about the meeting earlier, when they have arrived here, I will send my son to look after them. Also, I will take her.”
‘Wait a minute, look after who, old man!! Don’t decide things by yourself!’
Yasaka nodded her head and answered. “Yeah, thank you for coming, Nurarihyon.”
“Send my regards to Lady Amaterasu, will ya! Let’s go Riku, let’s call Tsura and Setsuna before we leave. She is with Tsura to look for you when you suddenly disappear earlier.”
Right, Setsuna was not here. So she’s with Tsura? I bothered more people than I thought.
My old man walked away to the back of the shrine with Magari. Soon, I looked at Kuroka and ask her to follow them with me which she replied with a nod.
We met with Setsuna and Tsura in the back of the shrine and introduced Kuroka to them. Never in my wildest dream that the lustful and playful cat in DxD was this proper in her childhood. She didn’t tell us about her sister yet, so I guess she’s still wary about us, huh.
Well, that will be fixed as time passed.
We teleported back to our territory after that and my old man asked me and Kuroka to follow him to his room. Now, sitting in his room beside Kuroka with my old man in front of me, I asked him why did he call us here.
“What happened, old man? Why did you bring us here?”
My old man, sitting with crossed legs as his elbow rested on his thighs and he smoked from his pipe suddenly said.
“Well, I thought that I need to ask something to that girl, Kuroka.” He looked at Kuroka with his sharp golden iris as if he’s able to see the deepest part of a person.
Kuroka’s body tensed under my old man's gaze before he turned to me.
“She’s a reincarnated devil, right? If she’s pursued by other devils, that means she has become stray. Am I wrong?”
I looked at Kuroka and saw that her body shakes uncontrollably and she lowered her gaze to look at the floor. Looking at her states right now, I wanted to protect her.
“What’s wrong with that, old man? We didn’t know her story yet, so we can’t decide for ourselves.”
“Nah, you’re wrong Riku. What I wanted to say is, can you tell us our story, Kuroka?” My old man said in a lower tone than usual.
“As I said earlier, I will provide you shelter and protection. After all, your mother was a former member of our faction. It’s our responsibility to take care of you.”
Kuroka raised her head and looked at my old man with disbelief.
“You can believe me in this one. Magari, the Nekomata earlier is Fujimai's friend. So you can believe her too.”
She gulped her saliva and opened her mouth.
“…Alright”