Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

  “Because it’s interesting~”


  That was all Yomi said before she fell silent.

  There was nothing that Seiji could do if she was unwilling to say anything.

  Although he was slightly uneasy, she still took good care of Shinobu’s soul for so long. He figured that Yomi wouldn’t teach Shinobu anything overly strange… probably.

  Seiji was currently walking back to his apartment with Shinobu.

  The puppet girl was now wearing a plain flower-pattern one-piece dress, paired with white stockings. Although this was quite ordinary clothing, it still showed off her extraordinary beauty, as if she was a beautiful, living doll.

  Many bystanders’ attention was drawn to this beautiful girl that seemed so inorganic. However, nobody would expect that she really was just a human puppet!

  Shinobu held her master’s hand as she curiously glanced at everything outside.

  Every scene was new and fresh to her. The people passing by, the cars on the street, the advertisements and stores on the roadside, and even the trees and cherry blossoms…


  People were attracted by her beauty, and she also looked back at them, constantly exchanging glances.

  “Master, why are they looking at me?”


  “Because you’re really beautiful.”


  “Beautiful…”


  “That means that your physical appearance is really pleasing to look at.”


  “Pleasing to look at… so they want to look at me?”


  “Yeah.”


  “Does Master also want to llok at me?”


  “Of course. I’m looking at you right now, aren’t I?” Seiji smiled while looking directly at her.

  The puppet girl was delighted to hear him say that as she looked at his gentle smile.

  “I also want to look at Master… Master is really beautiful.”


  “Er… I’m male. It’s usually not appropriate to use the word beautiful for males.”


  Shinobu was mystified by this.

  “For males, you should use the word handsome instead.”


  “Handsome…”


  “That’s right, if a girl has an excellent appearance, you can call her ‘beautiful.’ If a boy has an excellent appearance, you can call him ‘handsome.’ That’s why you should call me handsome instead.” As Seiji taught this, he felt somewhat embarrassed.

  “Master is really handsome.”


  “Yep, that’s right… thank you for praising me.”


  “Praising?”


  “You’re saying that I’m really handsome. This is praise for me, so I’m expressing thanks for it.”


  “Praise… express thanks… thank you Master for praising me.” Shinobu did her best to learn.

  Seiji smiled back at her.

  At this moment, the puppet girl tripped and fell towards the ground.

  Seiji immediately caught her and helped her to stand steady again.

  This was why they kept holding each other’s hands as they walked.

  Shinobu’s soul wasn’t strong enough to the point where she could control her physical body as she wished quite yet. She needed some time to get accustomed to having a physical body.

  But what the bystanders saw was a handsome boy protecting a weak and sickly silver-haired girl. This scene seemed to them like something wonderful out of a movie.

  “Are you alright?”


  “I’m fine…”


  Although she was unable to properly control her new body, Shinobu felt very reassured with her master at her side.

  The two of them continued walking towards Seiji’s apartment.

  But after she looked at all the scenery for a while, the puppet girl now only looked at the boy beside her. Shinobu wouldn’t look at anything else at all.

  “Why do you keep looking at me?” Seiji noticed this.

  “Because Master is the most handsome,” Shinobu replied.

  After the new experiences of everything on the street didn’t feel so fresh anymore, she felt that she still wanted to look at master more than anything else at all!

  “I’m quite happy to hear you praising me like that… but there’s no need to constantly look at me.” Seiji felt rather awkward about it.

  “I can’t keep looking at Master?”


  “It’s not that you can’t, it’s just… I feel a little embarrassed.”


  “Embarrassed?”


  “It means I feel awkward…” Seiji didn’t know how to explain for the time being. “At any rate, it’s fine to look at me, but there’s no need to look at me all the time, especially when outside on the street.”


  “Awkward…” Shinobu still didn’t understand.

  But she did understand that she couldn’t just keep constantly looking at her master.

  Yet this made her feel a little uncomfortable that she couldn’t constantly look at him.

  The puppet girl once again looked at the scenery on the street. She no longer felt that this scenery was as interesting as before.

  ‘What…?’


  ‘What did I just see?’


  ‘That’s a human puppet… right?’


  ‘She’s not a real human, she’s a living puppet—a human puppet!’


  ‘She’s so beautiful… she’s too perfect!!’


  ‘From head to toe… she’s such a beautiful creation, I want to touch her, I want to inspect her, I want to research her…’


  ‘I want her so much…’


  ‘I want her I want her I want her I want her I want her I want her I want her I want her…’


  A certain young man wearing a brownish-red jacket had his mind completely filled with the desire to take the human puppet for himself. He started following after the boy he saw with the human puppet.

  In ordinary people’s eyes, that girl was nothing more than extraordinarily beautiful as if she was an idol. But he, the puppet master Youta Itou, could tell that her charisma far exceeded a normal person’s! No devilish seductress on television could possibly compare to her!!

  It was possible for someone like him to purchase a beautiful woman’s accompaniment as he had plenty of money.

  Yet she—this puppet girl before him—was the greatest form of art that no amount of money would possibly be able to purchase!

  If he possessed such an excellent creation, he wouldn’t sell her no matter what the price was!!

  Judging the other party by his own values, it would be impossible for him to obtain that puppet girl in a trade. Even if the other party was surprisingly generous enough to be willing to sell her, he would definitely be unable to pay the tremendous price necessary to buy her.

  If he wanted to have her, he would have to steal her from that person!

  Right now, only one person was by her side. This was a chance… it might be his only chance!!

  The little remaining sense of logic and reason remaining to Youta Itou told him that a teenaged boy who could take out a human puppet like this by himself probably wouldn’t be any normal Spiritual Ability user. It was quite likely that he was the disciple of one of the major Yin Yang Master families, or would otherwise have some similar powerful background. In fact, it was highly likely that this teenaged boy himself was quite powerful! It would be unwise to mess with him.

  Yet, Itou’s desire overcame his reason in the end.

  Youta Itou’s eyes glittered in a wolflike fashion as he stared at the two people before him.

  He silently followed after them while preparing himself for battle.

  As long as they reached an appropriate location, he would instantly attack the boy, steal the puppet, and immediately escape from this city, as far as possible!

  Itou’s heart started beating loudly and his breathing became heavy.

  He did his very best to restrain his emotions, wanting to calm down. However, he was unable to do so.

  Originally, he should have carefully observed that boy, but his attention was completely focused on the puppet girl. He was unable to move his eyes.

  She was far too beautiful… he couldn’t find any imperfections whatsoever.

  His desire to have her kept increasing. His heart kept beating ever quicker to the point where it began to hurt.

  ‘Hurry hurry hurry hurry hurry hurry…’


  Itou felt like he was slowly sinking into insanity. Finally, when the boy and puppet girl before him arrived at a road with relatively fewer people, he couldn’t hold back anymore and instantly brought out some talismans while creating seals…


  But at this instant, the boy he was following suddenly turned around, raised his hand, and shot out a gigantic fireball!

  *Boom!!*

  Itou was unable to dodge this unexpected attack. He was sent flying backwards by the impact.

  A second, third, and fourth fireball immediately hit him… These four successive powerful fireballs destroyed Itou’s protective barrier! His physical body was hit and Itou was instantly knocked unconscious. The powerful impacts sent him flying right into a utility pole and then crashing into the ground!

  All of this took less than ten seconds.

  The few bystanders on this street were all shocked to see such a scene.

  What happened just now? Was a movie being filmed?

  Before these people could regain their senses, Seiji grabbed Shinobu and hurriedly left the scene.

  Someone then wanted to check on the man who was collapsed on the ground. However, before the person could do so, a van suddenly drove over and two masked men jumped out of the van and speedily carried the unconscious man within. The van then drove off at a high speed and soon vanished from everyone’s sights.

  Just what had happened? The bystanders were mystified.