Want to be human, but cube-like

However, this behavior of running in one direction to light up the area displayed on the minimap was actually already ingrained in Alex's instincts.

She's quite used to it, but it's best to control her movements and not go too far.

I also need to allow some time for washing the dishes when I get home.

With that thought in mind, Alex glanced one last time at Aine's house on the minimap.

She was somewhat tempted to check what Aine was up to, but considering she was currently in her [Yokai Transformation] state, she decided against it.

"Eh?"

But the next moment, she was stunned.

In her minimap, the house called Aine's house only had two avatars at this moment.

Aine...has she not returned home yet?

Standing in the dimly lit alley, Alex took out her phone and glanced at it. She recalled Aine leaving the hamburger shop.

The time displayed on the wall clock.

Almost an hour has passed.

Could it be that Lena's home is quite far away, which is why it took some time to send her back?

With this guess in mind, Alex held her phone, opened Line, and sent a message to Aine, asking if she was home yet.

"..."

Two more minutes passed.

As Alex watched the duration of [Monster Transformation] in her status bar gradually approach (00:00), a strange sense of anxiety arose in her heart.

She hesitated for a moment, then decided to make the call directly.

After a long silence, Alex frowned and put down her phone.

No one answered the phone.

…………

P.S. I don't know why, but I'm so sleepy today, like I'm having a bout of laziness. I can barely type a few words, so I've only just finished the second update. It's not very polished, so there might be some typos or awkward parts. I'll check it again tomorrow.

I feel like my sleep schedule is messed up. Maybe I should take a day off tomorrow to adjust it?

Volume 1: Chapter 149 I've Found You

Silently, Alex finished another piece of monster meat sushi, giving her almost zero [Yokai Transformation] time an extra four minutes.

She opened her backpack and looked at what she was carrying.

There were a dozen or so pieces of strange meat sushi left, along with some other food, a set of iron tools, a set of iron equipment, two sets of planks and round stones, a bucket, two bottles of milk, and several katanas.

They are the sharp blade [White Sheath], which was broken but she was too lazy to spend the Soul Shards to repair it; two unnamed blades [Puppet]; and a well-preserved famous blade [Silver Paper Bamboo Light].

In short, there is nothing that can help her find Aine's location at this time.

At this moment, Alex, feeling somewhat lost, only grew increasingly anxious.

If you don't check your phone, you might not see the Line messages, but you can't possibly miss a call. She didn't think Ai-yin would ignore her calls for no reason.

Alex randomly chose a slightly taller house and, using her sword-drawing skills, lightly and silently leaped up the wall.

No longer in the mood to conceal her presence, she lowered her head and looked around.

On the quiet street, apart from the scattered lights, she felt only a lonely and bewildered silence.

The worst-case scenario, or rather, the only possibility Alex could think of, was that Aine had been attacked by a familiar or a witch, which was why she couldn't answer the phone.

However, the fact that he could make the call indicated that Aine had probably not yet been captured and taken into the witch's barrier—in which case, due to the lack of signal, the call would most likely not have been successful.

All she could hope for now was that Aine hadn't left her phone outside before falling into the witch's barrier.

"Kyubi?"

No longer suppressing her voice, Alex shouted.

"..."

But there has been no response yet.

If Cupid were here, he would definitely know where Aine is right now.

Based on her understanding of Kyubey, since it could always find her shortly after she left the burger shop, it must be constantly monitoring the movements of most creatures in Tokyo.

With Kyubey's seemingly endless number of clones, it certainly has the ability to monitor the entire Tokyo area.

Furthermore, Kyubey's attention to Alex is significantly different from that of others, and it's possible that Aine, who has a close relationship with Alex, is also within its scope of attention.

So why didn't Cupid come to see her tonight? The reason is quite intriguing.

However, Alex wasn't thinking about that at the moment.

She's not good at thinking about these messy things either.

But now that there are no clues, how is she supposed to find Aine?

Looking at the contacts on her phone, Alex suddenly had an idea.

"Lena...?"

Recalling that Lena wouldn't reply to her messages, she simply made a phone call.

"Hello? Are you looking for Lena?"

A moment later, the call was answered, but an old woman's voice came through.

"Huh?...Yes, is she there?"

Alex was taken aback for a moment, then realized that it was probably the other party's family who answered the phone.

"She was just about to go to sleep... Lena, it's your friend who's looking for you."

As the other person spoke, they handed the phone to Lena.

This relieved Alex. At least she didn't have to worry that both of them had been captured at the same time. Perhaps Rana could still have clues about Aine's whereabouts.

"Well……?"

Lena's soft, limp voice came from the other end of the phone; she sounded a little groggy, probably because she had been woken up.

"Lanna, is Aine still at your house?"

“Aine…?”

There was a visibly confused look on the other end of the phone before Lena's next words came through.

"She went back, Ellie. Are you looking for Aine?"

Having probably sobered up a bit, she even asked a question in return.

"It's nothing, Lenai, don't worry about it... Could you send me your home address?"

There was no point in explaining this to Lena, so she casually brushed it off and stated her purpose.

After all, if it really is related to a witch, then let alone Rana, even the entire population of Tokyo combined might not be able to help.

The reason I say it's not certain is simply because there's another way: to make a wish to a quiz master.

"Need help?...Grandma, address."

Then, quite decisively, with a click, the phone call ended.

It seemed that Lena understood that something had probably happened, but she seemed to trust Alex a lot. With just one sentence, she didn't ask any more questions and did as she was told.

Looking at the location sent on LINE, Alex opened the mini-map and compared it with the map on her phone.

She glanced at Aiyin's chat box again; the message was still unread, and the other party hadn't called back.

Alex wolfed down five pieces of monster meat sushi in one go, extending the time to nearly half an hour. She no longer had the energy to control the duration of [Monsterization].

She gently bit her lower lip, her two soft, long ears perked up, capturing all the sounds coming from her surroundings. Under the silvery night, the red light in her eyes grew even deeper.

If we're going to search for it, then we can only use the most basic method.

Starting from near Aine's home, we searched along the tram's route and around every station it passed.

Until we reach the location of Lena's house.

That should allow us to find Aine's trail.

She would never go somewhere else alone so late if she was going to take the tram home.

The silvery-white figure leaped into the air, sprinting to the rooftop of another house, and then locked onto a creature that had come out to hunt at night.

The small animal used the ghostly blue phantom sword to teleport into the alley and rush towards the station at top speed.

With its already incredibly fast speed, enhanced by the [Yokai Transformation], it alternates between dashing and instant stepping with phantom sword flashing. As soon as it locks onto the appearance of a small animal ahead, it simply swings a phantom sword at it.

She moved at a speed so fast it was almost imperceptible to the naked eye, speeding towards her destination.

The first station, none...

I didn't see the second one either...

The third……

Each time she arrived at a station, Alex would slow down slightly, quickly glance at the minimap, and see if any red dots or Aine's avatar appeared nearby.

But her repeated fruitless attempts only made her more and more anxious. Alex was afraid that even if she went all the way to Lena's house, she would not find any trace of Aine.

Then how will she find it?

Fortunately, before Alex could have any more bad thoughts, she finally spotted a red dot in a small alley near the station closest to Lena's house, and beside it, Aine with her eyes closed.

He looks like he's sleeping peacefully.

Even snot bubbles are coming out of my nose.

…………

P.S. While writing this chapter, I realized I forgot to upgrade Alex's katana. But it's alright, I'll just pretend she forgot. I'll upgrade it for her later.

Anyway, it wasn't my fault.

Volume 1: Chapter 150 At times like this, shouldn't we just feed them with our mouths?

The Familiar of the Witch of a Hundred Diseases

When Alex arrived above the alley, standing on the high-rise building and looking down, that was the name she saw.

[Responsibility: To appease]

The familiar was shaped like a white, manually operated nursing bed with slightly yellowed sheets.

Beneath the rusty frame, the bed legs, which should have had four casters, have been replaced by four withered hands wrapped in bandages.

It has no eyes or ears, and from its appearance alone, there is no way to tell how it perceives the outside world.

At this moment, on the familiar's bed lay a pink-haired sleeping beauty. Her lips were slightly parted, and a faint smile played on her lips. She lay on her side, her body slightly curled up, seemingly sleeping very soundly.

The familiar carrying the pink-haired girl was huffing and puffing as it slowly moved its body, carrying four trembling hands, looking like it was having a lot of trouble.

It's unclear where its witch is. If she's too far away, at this speed, Alex has some doubts about whether it can return to the witch's barrier before dawn.

However, it was precisely because it was moving so slowly that Alex was able to find Aine from the buildings near the station using the minimap, despite wasting so much time.

Without lingering, Alex drew her famous sword, Silver Paper Bamboo Light, and leaped lightly into the air. The blade was aimed at the hand that her familiar was extending forward. The sharp blade light cut through the air and fell straight down.

"clatter."

The heel tapped lightly on the ground, making a crisp sound as it landed, interrupting the familiar's actions. Before the familiar could react, Alex pressed her body down.

Completely disregarding whether the blade would injure Aine, who was lying on the back of her familiar, Alex charged straight ahead, and in an instant, the flying blade tore the familiar to pieces.

Aine, who was completely unharmed, was now being held tightly in her arms.

"As long as you're not injured... that's fine."

Holding Aine in a princess carry, Alex gently lifted her onto her arms, tilting her head slightly to rest against her chest. She glanced at Aine's health bar, which was still at full, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.