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II: Lily of the Valley
Chapter 62: End Year's News
Eat instant noodles without seasoning packets and drink Coke without bubbles.

***

After Christmas, there was a light snowfall in the suburbs of Tokyo. Thin snowflakes fell from the gray sky, slowly falling, and falling bit by bit on the black branches.

The evergreen branches in the high school were neatly trimmed by gardeners with scissors, and a thin layer of white snow fell on the green leaves.

On the table in front of the glass window, a faint mist of water was quietly rising from the tea cup, and the mist soaked the rim of the cup with a thin layer of water vapor.

From this angle, several students on the empty training ground could be seen through the transparent glass window. The young boys and girls were full of energy, and they were so conspicuous even in the cold winter.

As usual, it was Yuta who was asking Maki for advice on physical skills and sword skills. Toge, who had his collars raised, and the fat Panda, consciously made a circle for them, and sat in rows outside the circle to watch the two people fight.

Without using the power of the curse, no one present could defeat Maki in a one-on-one situation. Even after solved Rika's curse, Yuta had advantages in controlling the power of the curse, mastering the technique, and having combat experience. Although there had been a qualitative leap, however, in the pure competition without cursed energy, Maki was still firmly ranked first in the high school.

As soon as any weapon was put in front of her, Maki could always use it as quickly as possible. She had precise combat intuition and timing ability. If she followed the normal process of sorcerer level evaluation, she would have been a grade-two sorcerer long ago.

It's a pity that the Zenin family had so many idiots that they regard such a good young girl as useless and even drive her out of the house.

Satoru looked at the snow on the training field downstairs, stretched out his hand and pressed his forehead. Yuta's sword swinging action below was much cleaner, and his ability to seize the opportunity was obviously improved after beating someone violently. With a dramatic improvement, the blade of the sword passed by the side of Maki's face, and the sharp blade cut off a strand of the girl's hair.

The black hair curled and fell in the cold air, flying like light feathers.

The next moment, her hair fell to the ground, and the duel between Yuta and Maki ended.

Without any surprise, Yuta was pushed to the ground by Maki. Maki relied on her own strength to accurately hit the opponent's veins, restrained his hands behind his back, and pressed her heels on his shoulders. The moment before the victory was determined, she hit the opponent's shoulder with great precision. Her strength was much beyond that of ordinary people and knocked Yuta to the ground.

In this duel where it was stated in advance that no curse energy or pure physical skills were allowed to be used, Maki won without any surprise.

"I, I admit defeat..." Yuta, who was knocked to the ground, raised his hands tremblingly.

Maki smiled softly. The girl smiled arrogantly and energetically, with a boyish heroic spirit. Then she slowly released her hand that was holding Yuta behind his back, and moved away the foot that hit his shoulder.

Yuta rubbed the painful shoulder, "Maki-san, your taijutsu..."

"More cunning than before." Panda next to him raised his paw and scratched his face, "Specially hitting the weak points of people's bodies."

"Maki is so scary." Panda said.

"Salmon." Toge nodded in agreement.

Maki curled her lips and said, "Learned from Satoru."

She said she was just learning, but he just beat her up several times. He showed no mercy to her because she was a woman. While beating her, he also guided her and acted blindly.

Although it was very unpleasant, it turned out that this method was indeed more suitable for her, a bare-handed fighting method based on a strong body and absolute speed.

*bam*

The body was thrown onto the training ground with a loud bang, and Maki groaned in pain.

The skin continued to secrete sweat from the continuous strenuous exercise, and her temples were already soaked. The sweat left along the forehead pattered onto the wooden floor, leaving behind dots of water stains.

"Sure enough, this method is more suitable for you, Maki." Satoru stepped on the floor with his bare feet and squatted down slowly, looking like a very elegant big cat.

But Maki was not a little red-haired girl, so she would not regard Satoru, a nasty man, as a sweet-smelling, soft cat.

The pony-tailed girl sat up from the floor, stabilized her breathing, and then spoke, her eyes full of eagerness, not hiding the fighting spirit in her eyes, "Hurry up then."

She wanted to learn them all.

This style of fighting suited her taste very well. The cells all over her body seemed to be excited, the blood in her meridians was boiling, and the fist-to-flesh fight was so exciting.

"This method is based on the strength of the body and absolute speed." Satoru said slowly, holding his chin, "Have you seen the muscles in my body?"

"Even if I am the strongest, I can't meet the criteria at all." The white-haired teacher sighed to himself.

Wearing sunglasses, Satoru showed off his strong and plump biceps, but in the end, he received strong disgust in Maki's eyes.

"This method is undoubtedly powerful." Satoru didn't care and continued, "But the requirements for learning conditions are relatively high, and although you don't meet all of them, you basically meet the requirements."

Maki pursed her lips.

"Of course that's not the point." Satoru touched his chin, his expression rarely serious, "The point is that I don’t know the number of routes behind."

Maki: "..."

Maki: "...are you an idiot?"

"You can't blame me." Satoru said confidently, with a slightly aggrieved tone, "The little redhead only used this part when fighting me."

Maki gritted her teeth when remembered that, holding the long handle of the sword that was thickly wrapped in cloth, "That super idiot!"

Couldn't you go up there and get beaten a few more times?

Satoru sneezed upstairs.

"Well, speaking of it, Satoru seems to have said that he is going to Sendai on a business trip soon." Panda said, "It is a business trip, so he specifically selected this mission to go to Sendai among the tasks."

It’s like he was going to Sendai specifically.

"Huh?" Maki heard this and said, "He's going to the kikufuku store at Kikusui'an, a famous property in Sendai, right?"

"Salmon." Toge, who had been to Sendai on a business trip, nodded.

Although Toge was not a die-hard sweetheart like Satoru, when he went to Sendai on a business trip, he was asked by Satoru to bring local specialties. When he passed by Kikusui'an, he chose kikufuku as Satoru's souvenir.

On the afternoon of the day he received the souvenir, Satoru made himself a cup of tea in the office. The fallen leaves outside the window were curling and falling, the tea in the teacup was steaming, and there was a fat white kikufuku lying on the porcelain saucer of the teacup. Each one was as white and quiet as a well-behaved little rabbit.

Satoru sat behind his desk, holding his chin, looking at the falling yellow leaves outside the window, and sighed softly, "I miss the time when I first entered the police station."

Toge: ???

WTF?

What the hell did you do to get caught?

...that’s outrageous!

Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture

After Christmas Eve came Christmas.

On Christmas Day, Yuji picked up a little fox. At first, he thought it was a puppy. Its coat was gray-black. Unlike ordinary dogs, this 'dog' had a very long tail. Big enough to wrap most of its body with its tail.

And... its eyes were extremely small.

Yuji met this fox at the corner of the street. The little fox huddled in the corner with its fluffy tail covering most of its body, huddled pitifully in the corner.

Yuji moved his nose and smelled the smell of blood. He stopped running forward and subconsciously looked around the corner. The light was a bit dark and the fox's fur was dark gray. At first glance, it almost blended into the darkness in the corner.

Yuji hesitated for a moment, but finally followed the smell of blood and walked into the corner, and then saw the fox lying quietly in the corner.

The fox curled up in its tail and closed its eyes tightly. After realizing that someone was coming, it opened its dark purple pupils. A deep purple, with a deep halo flowing in the dark night.

Yuji squatted down slightly and stretched out his hand towards him, but the little guy grinned in warning and let out a low growl in his throat.

"Don't be afraid." Yuji tried to reason with him. As the distance got closer, the smell of blood in his nose became stronger and stronger. It was almost certainly emanating from the little fox. "You are injured. I just want to help you."

The little fox seemed to understand what he said. After its pupils dilated for a moment, its vision began to focus again. After being stunned for a moment, it opened its sharp teeth at him in warning.

'Do not come.'

Warned him clearly.

The smell of blood was getting stronger and stronger, and the air was also mixed with the smell of fermented garbage in this corner, which was particularly torture to the sense of smell.

Although Yuji's five senses were not as abnormal as his sister's, they were much more developed than ordinary people. He realized that the fox's wounds were still getting worse. In this harsh environment, if it was left here, it would most likely be left to die.

The young man's heart skipped a beat, he took off his coat and wrapped the fox into the coat at lightning speed. After the fox being stunned by the coat wrapped on it, it scratched several claw marks on the boy's hand with an 'ow-ow-ow' sound.

"Ouch! Don't scratch me. I told you I'm here to help you!" Yuji burst into tears in pain. His sister had never beaten him like this.

The burning feeling on his hands was uncomfortable, and the fox left a few more claw marks on it. Yuji endured the pain and wrapped the fox tightly with his coat. The fox, which could not use its claws, gritted its teeth and stared at him, like a frustrated human being.

Yuji pretended not to notice, held the fox wrapped into a ball in his arms, and hurried to the nearest pet hospital.

Perhaps because of being hurt by humans, the fox was unexpectedly repulsive to humans. It scratched whomever it saw, and the nurse at the pet hospital was also unfortunately attacked by the poisonous claws of the fox.

Yuji, who was the first to be attacked by the poisonous claws of the fox, was taken by the nurse to treat the wound on his hand and was vaccinated against the disease.

Over there, the fox still grinned at people and rejected and drove them away, so the doctor had to give it an anesthetic and let it sleep. While it was sleeping, he connected the broken bones and sutured the wounds on its body.

After the operation, the anesthetic effect of the anesthetic on the fox had not dissipated. It lay down on the mat and fell asleep, with its big fluffy tail wrapped around it. Even with the anesthetic, it seemed to be sleeping very restlessly.

"Avulsion fracture of the left forelimb." The doctor in a white coat held the diagnosis report with a serious look. "The surgery was timely and the life was successfully saved, but the root cause of the disease will be revealed later."

"Is it serious?" Yuji asked subconsciously.

"It's not easy to move, and I'm not as flexible as before." The doctor said, "This kind of wound is obviously man-made, but I don't know which b*stard did it."

"This kind of person should be... should be..." Maybe it's because it's not good to curse people on Christmas. The doctor waited for a long time, and finally came out, "They should eat instant noodles without seasoning packets, and drink coke without the soda!"

Yuji: "..."

Yuji was stunned for a moment, lowered his head, subconsciously clenched his dominant hand, and couldn't help but express his feelings, "It's too much."

"This is the viciousness of human beings." The doctor said this with a sigh while sitting on the swivel chair, and finally turned to look at Yuji, "By the way, you should pay the medical expenses first."

Yuji took the bill of expenses handed over by the doctor, and the series of numbers on it shocked him.

"For your sister's sake, I'll give you a 20% discount."

Yuji heard the old doctor saying.

"Doctor, can you..." can you give me credit?

Before the little tiger finished speaking, the doctor who was sitting in the swivel chair with drooped eyelids sat up predictably, staring at him fiercely like a jackal, "You want to escape the bill?!"

Yuji: "..."

The little tiger cried and dialed his sister's phone number.

People living in this world have to interact with all kinds of people.

As time went by, these intersections turned into more familiar exchanges than before.

Since Yayoi moved here, she had regularly brought Tangerine to this pet hospital for check-ups. Many times she would bring Yuji with her. The big orange cat brought here and the owner of the big orange cat were very unique. Just that the orange one was as fat as a piglet was enough to make him stood out among the cats.

After coming here often, they became regular customers of this hospital, and the doctors naturally became familiar with them. The frequent communication established because of the big orange cat ended abruptly in December last year.

Both parties have jobs and families. They were busy with life and work, so naturally they don't have time to pay a special visit. After all, they hadn't seen each other for almost a year.

Dr. Ichimura's temper was not very good, and he was always uninterested and lazy. But Yayoi knew that the best doctor in this hospital was Dr. Ichimura. He had rich clinical experience and was more patient with pets than with people.

Many owners who brought their pets to see a doctor chose to abandon their cats and dogs in the hospital after seeing the high medical expenses. They ignored them and ignored the little ones screaming in the cage.

After seeing this situation too many times, Dr. Ichimura was very angry at those people who adopted pets but abandoned them midway, but what was the use of anger? If his anger had any effect, those little guys wouldn't be abandoned in pet hospitals.

The hospital could not engage in loss-making business. These pets must be arranged as soon as possible. They may be sent to a pet adoption center or passed on to the next breeder.

As time passed, Dr. Ichimura was no longer 'angry'. He still tried his best to save the lives of pets. He would help cats and dogs abandoned in the hospital within the scope of his financial ability.

There were still people who were abandoning the pets they have raised. This was just a drop in the bucket, but doing it was better than doing nothing.

Therefore, Dr. Ichimura hate irresponsible breeders who chose to skip the bill because they were unwilling to pay high medical expenses.

The middle-aged doctor, who was over middle-aged and faced with the calamity of baldness, cast his ferocious gaze on Yuji like a jackal, making the little tiger tremble. This torture did not end until the little tiger's sister came.

"Yuji, what's wrong with your hand?" Yayoi frowned when she saw the gauze wrapped in Yuji's hand.

"The nurse has already taken care of it for me. Sister, don't worry, just take a look at the little fox." Yuji smiled and tapped on the transparent glass window.

Through the transparent glass window, Yayoi saw the little fox lying on the mat, curled up into a ball, with most of his body tightly wrapped in bandages.

"Don't worry, the fox is fine. He needs to sleep well and recover, and he will be discharged after a period of observation." The old Dr. Ichimura said calmly, "Although it looks like a puppy, this is a gray fox."

"Great." Yuji breathed a sigh of relief.

"Excuse me," Yayoi said, "thank you very much."

"No, no, no." Dr. Ichimura waved his hand, "One hand pays the money and the other hand saves people. If you don't come, I will ask your brother to sign a deed of pr*stitution and sell himself to me to pay off the debt."

Yayoi: "..."

Yuji: "..."

In the pet ward, the effect of the anesthesia gradually dissipated, and the fox sleeping on the mat slowly opened his eyes. It happened that Yayoi and Yuji turned around at this time, and they were caught off guard and met the fox's open eyes.

The bright red hair in his sight made the fox stunned for a moment, and the deep purple in the fox's eyes also stunned at Yayoi.

"Is there something wrong with this fox?" Yuji noticed something strange about his sister and couldn't help but ask.

"Yuji, are there any foxes that look like humans?" Yayoi turned her head and asked her brother with a dull expression.

At first, she just vaguely felt that this fox looked a bit like someone. As for who exactly it looked like, Yayoi couldn't think of it for the time being.

The moment the fox opened his eyes, Yayoi had an enlightenment.

This fox looked so much like Suguru!!!

***

· Genuine translation can be found only in OchatimesBlogspotCom, FanFictionNet, and Wattpad

• Omake •

One day after the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, when Satoru goes to find Yuta, he finds his student holding the unpacked instant noodles with a sad face, and the hot water in the instant noodles bucket is still steaming.

"What's wrong, Yuta?" Satoru asked.

"Ah, sensei." Yuta's hand movements pauses, "It's nothing serious, it's just that there is no seasoning packet in the instant noodles."

"Why do young people eat instant noodles? Sensei will take you to Ginza to eat sushi." Satoru reaches out and took his student's shoulder. He takes out his mobile phone and calls several other people, and they goes to Ginza together.



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