Chapter 133

"Did you calm down now?"

"Yes..."

"Yes..."

Finally, Saya and Ouka took back their composure and replied to me while casting their sight downwards . Seriously, what were they doing in my room as I was sleeping? Both of them hung their heads down in shame when they glanced at the displeased expression I was making .

"Thing have turned into a weird direction . "

"You're the culprit behind all of this . "

I instantly replied to Karen who made a remark as if she were not involved . If she didn't get Saya to believe in those weird baseless rumours, nothing of this would have happened . Nothing good comes out from playing around with people .

"Rather, how did you conclude that I'm into guys!! Who thought about this! Who!?"

"You're not?"

"Of course I'm not!"

I wonder why Saya is still doubting that part . She didn't let out a sigh of relief until I cleared away her doubt by my immediate answer .

"What a relief . I really thought that you are actually into guys . "

"Good for you . "

Karen placed her hand on Saya's shoulder and felicitated her . I still can't see how she ended up believing in that delusion . I moved my hand to my head and let out a sigh .

"And, what did you come here for, Ouka?"

When I asked her, she let out a short exclamation and suddenly changed to a gloomy expression . So she forgot the reason she came here for until I asked her, huh .

"It is actually about the children in the shrine . "

By the children, she was most likely referring to the little foxes . Their picture performing the formation they were taught by Karen that day is still fresh in my head .

"From the day you left the shrine, they started practising the moves they learned from Karen-sama in an exaggerated manner every day . "

The moment I heard Ouka's words, I turned to look at Karen who immediately averted her eyes . It's your fault again! Ouka looked clearly exhausted as she complained to me about how they won't stop even though she warns them many times . She must have been too stressed because of it . The poor Ouka .

"I didn't mind them doing those performances at first, but gradually they became too enthusiastic and continued to perform at a late time every night . And besides, the ambience they exude while doing it lately is kind of scary... I can take it any longer..."

She covered her face with both of her hands and muttered . I could tell that she was about to burst into tears at any moment . I couldn't help but feel sorry for her .

"That is why I came to ask you, Yato-sama, for your wise advice on a way to stop them . "

I listened to Ouka until the end then turned back to look at Karen . She was still averting her eyes awkwardly, realizing the severity of the situation she caused .

"I got you . Let's do something about it . Right, Karen?"

"... Okay . "

She had no other option other than to agree with me . That is why I pressed her for an answer in front of Ouka .

"Thank you very much, Yato-sama . "

"It's our responsibility from the very start . You don't have to thank us . "

I asked Ouka to raise her head, and then I turned to Saya .

"Want to come with us, Saya?"

"Eh? W-Where?"

"A place with a lot of cute foxes . "

Karen briefly explained the situation to Saya who got overtaken by the flow of the conversation . Hearing the words 'cute foxes,' she got curious and looked as if she wanted to go, but at the same time, she was reluctant .

"Um, is it fine if I go with you?"

"Yes, let's go together . "

Noticing how reluctant she was, Ouka suggested for her to come with us . Everything was decided now . All that's left is for me to hand her that item .

"Saya, give me your hand . "

As I asked Saya to give her hand, Saya raised both of her hands while still looking confused . I moved my empty hand above hers before a silver bracelet suddenly appeared there and fell down .

"This..."

"It would be inconvenient to have only one . "

I gave her the same bracelet that increases magic . I created it using exactly the same method as before by making a creation skill and using it . The skill disappeared again after one use, but that can't be helped . With this bracelet, even Saya can see Youkai . I thought it would be inconvenient for them to use the same bracelet . Saya looked surprised to see the bracelet showing up like some magic trick .

"Alright then, everyone hold on me . "

As I asked them to hold onto me, the three girls all grabbed my shoulders . I don't know how we will be dealing with the little foxes, but I hope Karen could do something about them . With that optimistic hope in mind, I teleported to the shrine .

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... What is this!

That was the first thought that crossed my mind when I teleported to the shrine . Karen and Saya stood in a daze in front of that scenery while Ouka, who was already used to it, let out a sigh . The shrine was, as usual, surrounded by a forest full of trees, but there was one thing in there that looked obviously out of place . We gazed at that thing with dumbfounded faces .

"Let's go! One!! Two!!"

""Three!!""

Following the orders of the leader, they all moved in sync . Their motion was perfectly polished, giving the impression that they spent a very long time training to reach such a professional level . A terrifying synchronization in their moves and a splendid performance . They made a chain by holding each other's hands and made the formation of a folding fan . Not only that but it had many levels since they were riding on top of each other as well . It was a giant fan . I was at loss for words to speak by witnessing the formation they were performing in front of me . I was taken aback by the giant fan they made, but before that, there was something else that shocked me even more .

"... Who's that?"

I pointed at the fan formation . Right now, it wasn't the little foxes who were making that fan but real children around the age of kindergarten and wearing kimonos . Their moves were appropriate to their size and apparent age .

"Those are my children . "

I let out a ridiculous voice and turned to Ouka . Those are the little foxes? They don't look like foxes to me, honestly . I couldn't believe in Ouka's statement until one of the children noticed us and came running .

"Ah! Ouka-sama!!"

The other children who heard him screaming turned in our direction and noticed our presence .

"Ah, it's Ouka-sama!!"

"Even the humans are here!!"

"She brought them back with her!!"

The children climbed down the formation they were making in order until they eventually surrounded us . I could finally notice the fox ears and tails they had when they got close . They were similar to Ouka in that regard .

"They are able to transform into a human form recently . "

Ouka explained and clapped her hands to attract the children's attention .

"Everyone, return to your original fox form for a moment . "

"""Okay!!"""

They all replied energetically to Ouka's order and started shining all at once . Too bright for my eyes . I couldn't open my eyes to the dazzling light they caused by transforming all at the same time . Their size began to gradually decrease until they completely turned into little foxes when the light disappeared .

They really turned into foxes . Come to think of it now; I remember seeing a transformation skill in the stats of the little fox that we saved before meeting Ouka . No wonder they can transform into a human form . Saya and Karen were both startled to see the children turning into foxes, though they soon got used to them and crouched down to play with them and pat their fur .

"Hey, human!! Teach us that game again!!"

One of them asked Karen to teach them those weird moves again . The other foxes followed him and started making a fuss by asking her to teach them all at the same time . I softly whispered to Karen .

"I leave the persuasion to you . "

"Okay, okay . "

She returned a broken heart reply while not seeming very pleased .

"I'm sorry, I can't do that . "

The next moment, the little foxes continued their fuss, this time asking her for the reason and persisting . Watching them complaining and insisting, Karen made her first try to convince them to stop .

"Uum, is it that interesting for you to do that?"

"Yes!!"

"It's so fun!!"

"I see... But listen, you should not do it too much . "

"Why?"

"Even though its fun?"

"Yes, you shouldn't . "

She continued with an emphasizing tone as if to discipline them . Her words seemed to have influenced them as they all dropped their ears . Things were going good so far . I thought that they gave up for a second but soon realized that I was wrong . This time they made use of their cute eyes .

"Please . "

"We can't?"

With sparkling pure eyes, they pleaded Karen to teach them . They looked as if they were about to cry at any moment with the sorrowful expressions they were making . Karen who received their attack started hesitating while mumbling incomprehensible words .

"E, uu, eem..."

This is bad . I feel like I've already seen something like this happening . I remember being in the same situation back in the inhabited island when I was getting pleaded by Meru . I turned to tell Ouka .

"This doesn't look very good . "

"What should we do?"

Ouka and I thought about another plan while watching Karen who was still hesitating .

"In the worst case, I'm going to have to delete their memories . "

"Isn't that too cruel of a thing to do...?"

If I were to reset their memories to the time when they still didn't find out about these weird moves, the problem would be solved . But Ouka didn't agree with me as she found that erasing their memories would be a bad thing to do . I gave up on that option and continued contemplating another plan .

"N-No, I can't teach you that game anymore..."

"Why not?"

"Teach us!"

Karen was about to lose . She no longer had the power or the authority in her voice as she was slowly getting dragged to their side by their sweet lure . This is bad . It turned into a matter of time before Karen gives up to their pleas .

"Isn't better to erase their memories after all?"

"Please stop thinking about that already, Yato-sama . "

The more I think of a solution, I end up thinking about the same conclusion . As Ouka and I kept working out our minds to find a better way to get the foxes away from their addiction, we suddenly heard a delightful voice coming from the other side .

Hm? Where did Saya go by the way?

I was concentrating too much with Karen and the little foxes that I lost sight on her . When I turned to the direction of the voice,

"Haha!! I got it!"

"Yaay!!"

I found her playing with a single fox . I moved a little to the side to see what she was exactly doing and realized that she was using a rubber ball to play with him . The both of them rolled the ball and followed it . How innocent and charming . A few foxes near them were attracted to the ball as well and gathered around Saya .

"Saya, what are you doing with that ball?"

"Hm? I brought it with me in my bag from home in case I met Rouga at your place . "

She explained to me while pointing at the ball rolling around the little foxes . They gradually gathered around the ball until even those who were pleading Karen got attracted by it and rushed to play . Before we realized it, all the little foxes were engrossed in playing with the ball .

"AHAHA"

"So fun!!"

"This is the best game!!"

Apparently, this ball game suited their taste more than the previous one . Karen who saw them readily leaving her side made a shocked face and watched them playing without speaking a word . I heard that a child's mind changes quickly, but I didn't know that it could change in an instant .

"I guess this solves the problem . "

This game is surely better than them performing those weird formations .

"Please don't brawl everyone . Take your turns . "

"""Okay!!"""

They all answered energetically to Saya's gentle warning . As expected from Saya, she already integrated with them . And thus, the little foxes' best game changed to playing with a rubber ball . Another day, I went to the shrine with a new ball for them but this time, Ouka complained to me with an exhausted expression about how they won't stop playing with the ball . I'm sure that no matter what they play, they will always be like this . nothing can be done about them .

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Bonus

Hyper Dimension .

"My children recently started playing a weird game . "

"What is it about?"

"They set ball on fire and play with it and sometimes they make it look as if it increased in number and they create some giant hands from nothing . I don't understand how they do that . "

"I don't understand hyper dimension skills either . "