Tokyo: My Hundred Demon Scroll

Sanae clasped her hands to her chest as she sat in a chair, her face level with Gu Yun's eyes as he stood. She looked at him expectantly, hoping to receive his praise.

'what's the situation? ’

'natural?'

Gu Yun's lips twitched slightly: "Not bad."

"Oh my, I'm so happy to have been praised by Xiao Gu Yun."

"Slurp!"

Sanae took out a lot more bread and stuffed it directly into Gu Yun's arms: "There's still a lot more."

It's confirmed, she's a natural!

"No, no need, I'll do my job well."

Gu Yun didn't like eating bread, so he quickly returned all the unopened bread, promising to do a good job as class monitor.

"Thank you so much!"

Sanae is a responsible teacher who also loves children.

The only drawback is that it is somewhat naive, or rather, too naive.

But it must be said, with a gentle personality and beautiful looks, who wouldn't like such a teacher?

Chapter 23 The Demon Girl Momiji

"In the end, we brought it back."

In the afternoon, after school, Gu Yun was asked by Sanae to prepare textbooks for the new semester, and the reward was some not-so-tasty bread.

Gu Yun refused, expressing her willingness to work for free.

Then Sanae looked at him with teary eyes: "Kuro, don't you like the bread your teacher made?"

Her pitiful expression was not at all affected; on the contrary, it was incredibly cute!

If Gu Yun hadn't known that Sanae knew absolutely nothing about tea ceremony, he would have suspected that she was a master tea artist of unparalleled skill.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Nao-nee."

"Are you helping the teacher?"

"Ah."

Now, Nao Hayasaka not only has to take Tanigumo to school, but also pick him up from school.

As a steward, cultivating a successor is of paramount importance and cannot be taken lightly.

In many matters involving Gu Yun, Hayasaka Nao personally takes charge, striving to achieve perfection.

"Um, Nao-nee."

Gu Yun glanced at the sky. The sun was setting, and the evening glow had dyed the sky red—it was the time the Japanese called "the hour of encountering demons."

"Master?"

I don't want to go home yet.

Given the time and Gu Yun's age, Hayasaka Nao was somewhat puzzled, wondering where he was going.

"Suddenly, I feel like I want to see this year's maple leaves."

"Young Master, it's already March."

“The maple leaves in March,” Gu Yun looked into Hayasaka Nao’s eyes through the rearview mirror, “don’t you think they’re also quite picturesque?”

"..."

Nao Hayasaka sighed and started the car: "I'll take you there, young master. Please don't say anything strange again."

"That's true, haha."

Gu Yun scratched his head awkwardly and laughed, "Just kidding. Take me to the nearest park with maple leaves, Nao-nee."

Hope Park, with its rows of red maple trees, has a unique charm when bathed in the sunset.

The only problem is that it's a bit too quiet.

There was nothing they could do about it; Gu Yun always tended to go where there were fewer people, and before they knew it, they were the only two left around.

"Young Master, there have been some unpleasant rumors circulating around us lately. If possible, let's go home as soon as possible."

Nao Hayasaka is not only knowledgeable, but also has received extensive physical training.

Moreover, she was also carrying a gun.

However, that so-called rumor really left Hayasaka Nao somewhat puzzled.

"Bad rumors?"

"It seems like there are human traffickers."

Whether in her past life or this one, Gu Yun has zero tolerance for human traffickers who specialize in abducting children.

"The other party concealed their identity and whereabouts, and lured and harmed nearby elementary school students by impersonating the Kuchisake-onna (Slit-Mouthed Woman)."

"Slit-mouthed woman?"

The Slit-Mouthed Woman is an urban legend in Japan. She is described as a woman wearing a large coat, a scarf, carrying large scissors, with long hair, and wearing a mask.

She would ask the children coming home from school, "Am I pretty?"

If the answer is 'pretty,' she will take off her mask and ask again, 'How about this?'

If the child answers "not pretty," she will kill the child with a sickle or scissors; if the child answers "pretty," she will cut open the child's mouth to make him as pretty as herself.

No matter which choice you make, the child who encounters the Slit-Mouthed Woman will be harmed.

"With the recent economic downturn, it's not surprising that some people, driven to desperation, resort to such crooked and unethical methods."

Nao Hayasaka doesn't believe in monsters or ghosts; she thinks it's someone abducting children, not demons.

'The Slit-Mouthed Woman—that sounds like a demon.'

Grandpa gave Gu Yun a book that contained a lot of information about monsters.

With his photographic memory, Gu Yun memorized the entire book. Upon hearing the name of the Slit-Mouthed Woman, the record of this monster immediately came to mind.

The legend of the Slit-Mouthed Woman first appeared in Japan during the Kansho era (1460-1466), and is a ghost story from the Shinjuku area of ​​Edo.

According to the book, the owner of the Daikokuya Nagasuke in Kojimachi 12-chome had a servant named Kensuke.

One day, his master sent him out. When he returned after finishing his business, it was almost dark, and to make matters worse, it started raining heavily.

Quan Zhu hurriedly quickened his pace and suddenly saw a woman walking ahead, completely soaked.

"If you don't mind, let's share an umbrella and walk together."

Quan Zhu approached her, only to find the woman disheveled with a gaping, blood-red mouth that stretched all the way to her ears. He was so frightened that he fled in panic.

“Prajna.”

Gu Yun summoned Prajna in his mind, and saw a boy wearing a demon mask emerge from the shadows. He sensed the power of the curse in the air: "There is indeed a strong resentment around here."

“Master, look.”

Prajna raised her hand and covered one eye.

At the same time, Gu Yun's right eye, which was originally pitch black, instantly turned blood red.

In his line of sight, streaks of red mist drifted overhead and converged in one direction.

"Red magical power... this doesn't seem like a curse, but rather..."

"A ghost story?"

Ghost stories and curses are two different things; the former originates from human speech, while the latter is a product of resentment.

Although both are forms of energy generated from emotional fluctuations, ghost stories, compared to curses, are more profitable and more readily sold, sometimes even outnumbering curses in total.

But that's nothing.

What makes ghost stories truly difficult to deal with is their ability to be immortal and infinitely regenerate.

Even if you can kill a monster born from a ghost story, as long as the ghost story itself exists, such monsters will continue to be born, making it almost impossible to completely eliminate them.

"Master?"

Nao Hayasaka could neither see Hannya nor hear his voice.

So all she saw was Gu Yun suddenly stop moving, his expression changing from lazy and casual to increasingly solemn.

"Naiyo-nee, you're family to me too."

"Ah, oh."

Nao Hayasaka didn't understand what Gu Yun meant by those words.

Suddenly getting sentimental?

Or is this a confession?

So, in a maple forest, at sunset, the two of them deliberately sought out a place to be alone...

No, no, no, impossible, impossible.

Nao Hayasaka's expression remained calm and composed, but inwardly, a raging storm was brewing: 'I... I'm so much older than the young master, how could I...'

But if Gu Yun insists, it seems she can't refuse.

No amount of repayment could ever be enough to repay the kindness that Iijima Tamaki had shown her.

It is her honor that the young master likes her, despite her lowly status.

Moreover, romantic relationships between young masters and head maids are not uncommon in wealthy circles; in fact, they are quite common.

'But what about Madam if I really do something like that?'

Hayasaka Nao naturally liked Gu Yun very much, but she was already 17 years old, almost ten years older than Gu Yun.

If anything were to happen, Tamaki Iijima would definitely think that she seduced Tanigumo.

'No, absolutely not!'