Amidst of summer, when the buzzing locusts could be found anywhere in the surrounding . Everyone around here was trying to get used to this hot weather, and many were looking for the sightseeing spots, as they were full of tourists and travelers . Most of the sightseeing spots were fully packed, there was not a single place which was readily available . And, oh! I almost forgot to tell you . I’m going on a trip today .

  Crack!!

  The car swayed after stumbling upon something on the way, leading me to stumble on my elbow and wake up from my nap .

  “We’re almost there . ”


  My dad announced while looking happy, and singing a silly song on the way . Upon hearing his voice, I slightly rubbed my eyes, and looked out of the window, as I was still feeling sleepy . The scenery outside was awfully different from the one I’m used to seeing back in the city . The area was surrounded by rice fields, grasses, and a river . Dragonflies could be seen flying and the buzzing of cicadas was reaching my ears .

  So, this place didn’t change at all .

  Even from two years ago when I last visited this place, I could hardly notice any difference from back then and now . Despite that, I still remember this place being a countryside, but there was nothing much here . In fact, this is my mom’s hometown . Despite how she looks, she was born in this area, but later decided to shift to Tokyo with an aim to learn about cooking and become a master chef . The place we are heading to is undoubtedly my maternal grandparent’s house; my mom’s original home .

  ————————————————————–


  “Welcome here, everyone . ”


  “You did well coming here . ”


  As we entered from the entrance, my grandfather and grandmother gave us a warm welcome .

  “Long time no see, mom and dad . ”


  “It has been a while . We will be in your care . ”


  While my mom replied with a casual greeting, dad greeted them while bowing in respect . Apparently, he felt the need to act humble because they’re the parents of his beloved wife . Well, either way, he has been way too respectful .

  “Yato-kun, Karen-chan, welcome back . ”


  “Hello, grandma . ”


  “Hello . ”


  Karen and I replied with a light greeting . Both of them looked somewhat young for their age which should soon reach their seventies . Only a handful of wrinkles could be seen on their faces, and for my grandmother, not a single white hair could be seen on her head . She acted cheerfully and energetically exactly like my mom . By the way, the reason I don’t call her grandmother but grandma was because I don’t think she looks old enough to be called grandmother . I feel like calling her that way would make her sad, so I don’t want to hurt her feelings .

  “It has been a few years since the last time you visited . ”


  “That’s right . ”


  “2 years, was it?”


  My grandfather spoke with a faintly low and hoarse tone . His character was as a quiet and impassive as always, as he was quite similar to Karen . This was the first time I thought that Karen inherited his genes . In the past, when both he and Karen used to gaze at each other without speaking a word, I doubted that they were using some sort of telepathy skill to communicate .

  My grandmother and grandfather; two people with totally opposite traits and personality . Although my parents died in an accident long ago, and I was later taken into this family, my deceased mom and my current mom were sisters, which makes me blood-related with my grandparents . I think that this is also the reason they treated me kindly at that time .

  “Let’s get inside instead of standing around here talking . ”


  As my grandmother suggested, we took off our shoes and entered the house .

  ————————————————————–


  As we finished our conversation with our grandparents in the living room, I went to a different room to get some rest . Since we’re going to stay here for 3 days, this room will be my personal sleeping space for this period of time . There wasn’t any tatami room back home, so sleeping on tatami like this has its own particular pleasant scent . A gentle breeze reached me from the balcony and the wind made a weak sound as it swayed back and forth with the air pressure . This is what I call the summer ambiance .

  This house looks old from the outside, but ridiculously spacious . It doesn’t have the second floor, however, its width is vast enough that each one of us here could sleep in their own room . I could finally understand as to why my grandmother was sad over her house, as it’s way too spacious for just two people to live in .

  “This place is quite empty, Desu . ”


  “Well, that’s the kind of place we’re in right now . ”


  I replied to Meru on my phone while still lying down on the tatami . I leaned the phone against the wall when I entered the room because she told me that she wanted to see the scenery and now she finally realized that there is nothing to see in the first place . As I continued to move sluggishly while still lying down, I suddenly heard some footsteps coming my way .

  “I knew you’d be sleeping . ”


  It was Karen who spoke with her usual expressionless face .

  “You need something?”


  “No, I’m just bored . ”


  She replied to my question in a nonchalant manner . I doubt there is anything for me to do if she told me that she was bored with that impassive expression of hers . I couldn’t even tell from her excessively brief answer about what she wants me to do and kept glaring at her silently .

  “.……”


  “.…… I’m bored . ”


  “I heard you . ”


  She said the same thing again, as I stood up, took a seat and addressed her .

  “Listen here, even if you tell me that, there is nothing I can to do for you……”


  “Go out with me for a walk . ”


  Eventually, she spoke about her intent, while looking at the ground, and blushing at the same time . I wonder why is she blushing . Anyway, couldn’t she just ask me to go out on a walk her with her from the very start? There was no need to ridicule me about going on a walk . I believe, she was probably waiting for me to guess the situation, and take the initiative to ask her out for a walk . Despite having all those skills of mine, I can’t read someone’s mind .

  [ED: He still has his Dense Protagonist skill activated, lol . ]

  “I want to see the outside too, Desu . ”


  Meru, who was listening to our conversation, became interested in going out for a walk too and raised her small hand while speaking from within the phone . Apparently, she got bored from gazing at the same place for too long . It seems I don’t have anything productive to do now anyway, so I guess I should go out for a walk with Karen and Meru .

  “Alright, let’s go then . ”


  I suddenly got back on my feet and headed towards the entrance door with Karen and Meru . I informed my mom about our plan to go for a walk, I grabbed my shoes from the shoe rack and wore them before taking out a small device from my pocket .

  “What is that?”


  “Earphone shaped camera . ”


  Karen looked at the camera when I took it out of my pocket with a suspicious look on her face . It looked like a normal wireless earphone, however, it had a small camera attached to it . Last time when I was shopping, they were selling the camera at a very cheap price, so I ended up buying one in the end . So, the time has come to test it . When I told Karen about the features of this special earphone, she gazed at me with doubting eyes .

  “.…… So, are you going to peep on someone?”


  “No, why would I do that?”


  There is not a single soul in this area to peep anyway . Moreover, even if there were someone, I would never peep on them . I hurriedly denied her allegations, and when I was about to explain myself to clear away all the potential misunderstandings, Meru interrupted me with an objection of hers .

  “Master would never do something like that! Besides, if he wanted to peep on someone he could do that without even using a mere camera! Desu!”


  Her first sentence was fine, but the second one was not so much . I can only reveal an awkward smile from watching her bragging about me being able to peep at people . Karen, who heard Meru bragging about me, hurriedly took a step back and gazed at me with a totally disgusted glance . However, I couldn’t allow it to continue and cleared the misunderstanding in a haste before it could get worse . You can already guess what might have happened next .

  ————————————————————–


  “Ah, that was a strange misunderstanding you got there . ”


  “Yeah, yeah, I was kind of careless to jump to conclusions . ”


  I let out a faint sight while walking with Karen who was apologizing while it did not look like that she was sorry at all . I wonder if she was really sorry . As I started doubting Karen’s attitude, Meru let out a thrilled voice from watching the scenery unfolding before her eyes .

  “There are so many trees! It is amazing, Desu!”


  The place we were walking in was a slope near mountains covered by trees like an arch . The naturally beautiful scenery and the cleansed air in this place is something that can’t be experienced in the populated cities . The trees blocked the hot sunlight from reaching the ground and making the place refreshing and covered by shades . I actually started to like it in here .

  “This place hasn’t changed a bit . ”


  “Yeah . ”


  I agreed with Karen’s remark with a calm tone . Everything here still looks the same way as it did 2 years ago . We used to visit this countryside every summer and winter holidays . The reason we didn’t visit it last year was because of what happened to me on the occasion where I obtained my new abilities . But despite not coming here for two years, nothing has changed . It was quite nostalgic .

  I continued walking on the mountain road while still being lost in my own thoughts . I remember walking on these mountain roads when I was still in the grade school . I also used to get excited from being in the strange places . As we continued strolling, a small shrine entered into our field of vision .

  “Oh, this shrine is still the same as well . ”


  In a calm and happy mood, I walked towards the small shrine and bowed down . How nostalgic . I remember praying here all the time when I was still a kid . As I placed my hand on its roof while reminiscing about the past, Karen gazed at the small shrine with the same nostalgic feelings that I had .

  “How nostalgic . ”


  “I know right . ”


  Karen and I knew this place very well, as we used to visit it all the time . This place was historically rich, as some parts of it indicate its prehistoric nature and its robustness as it was still not damaged or rusted or collapsed all this time . It still looks young as always . As I kept on gazing at the small shrine for a while, Meru came to report to me about something she found .

  “Master, there is something moving behind that small shrine, Desu . ”


  I quickly got on my feet, and took a glance in the direction where Meru was pointing . I noticed a certain creature lurking from behind the shrine, and I was surprised to see it .

  “It’s a fox?”


  I didn’t know that foxes existed in this mountain . I was honestly confused by realizing that a fox was hiding in such a place but then, I noticed that it was hurt and approached it in haste . It looked as if he were hurt in his leg . Fortunately, the wound was not anything of serious .

  “What is it? Did you find something?”


  “I found a fox . I wonder what it’s doing in this place . ”


  She asked in a curious time while I answered Karen in calm tone who was approaching the shrine to take a glance as well . For some reason, she looked confused in a different way than how I did and then, she asked .

  “A fox? …… Where?”


  I let out a ridiculous sound after hearing Karen’s totally unexpected answer, but Karen didn’t pay me a mind and continued to look for the fox while tilting her head . It didn’t seem that I’m standing on her way; the fox was standing directly in front of her . Then why isn’t she able to see it? Just to make sure, I pointed at the fox and asked her if she still can’t see it .

  “Are you really not seeing it?”


  “Not at all . ”


  It looked like she couldn’t see it for real . What is going on here? I started sensing the eccentricity of the situation and turned to look at the fox again . It had a muddy yellow fur, its forefeet was wounded and it had two tails ……

  Huh? Wait .

  “Two tails?”


  If I remember right, a fox only has a single tail, usually . I fixed my gaze on the fox’s tails while controlling my bewilderment . Is it a new new breed of foxes or something? As I was trying to come up with a rational explanation, Meru shocked me with the stunning truth .

  “Master, this is most likely a monster, Desu . ”


  ————————————————————–


  Bonus

  Writing .

  “Meru, do you ever sleep?”


  “I do have a sleep mode, however I can function perfectly even without using it, Desu . ”


  “What do you do when you’re not sleeping then? Internet?”


  “Yes . I recently started writing, Desu . ”


  “Writing? Writing what?”


  “Blogs regarding topics like ‘How to Raise A Boring Girlfriend’ or ‘Top 10 Secrets to Get Popular with Girls . ’”


  “Can’t you like, do something better than that?”