"Yukino-san, catch the ball!"
Hayasaka Ai's voice sounded. At the same time, Yukinoshita Yukino standing behind her also reacted quickly, lowering her center of gravity to support the ball, then pushing it upward with force.
Meanwhile, Hayasaka Ai, who was already prepared, jumped up from her spot and hit the volleyball back with a powerful smash.
Fujiwara Chika's expression was a little panicked. "Bocchi-chan, please!"
"Eh! Me... me?!"
Although Bocchi-chan wanted to escape, her partner's trust made her stretch out her arms to prepare to block Hayasaka Ai's smash.
Carrying a heavy guitar every day, plus six hours of guitar practice a day, needless to say, Bocchi-chan's stamina and arm strength were still quite good.
But she was facing the all-around maid Hayasaka Ai! A close attendant trained by the Shinomiya family since childhood. The ball was still not blocked and landed heavily on the sand.
Hiratsuka Shizuka blew the whistle in dissatisfaction.
"Damn it... The score is 10:7. The Uchiha squad wins the first set. Now start the second set."
"Big Sister Yukino is so amazing! Big Sister Hayasaka too!" As part of the atmosphere group, Shirosaki Hana kept waving and cheering.
Tsurumi Rumi looked at the sea doubtfully. "Ryo-oniichan left just now saying he was going to pull Takashi-nii and the others back, should be fine, right?"
However, at this time, the second set of the match, Shinomiya Kaguya & Shirogane Kei VS Chitanda Eru & Amakusa Shino, officially began!
And Hayasaka Ai, who had just left the court, although won, pouted unhappily.
"Yukino-san, we tried so hard to win, but Ryo-kun ran off to swim after watching only half of it."
Yukinoshita Yukino sat on the beach chair. She wasn't as outrageous as Hayasaka Ai. A ten-point match already made her tired enough to want to rest.
"Ignore him, he'll come back later anyway."
...
"Lord Natsume, human strength has its limits after all... Even your grandmother Natsume Reiko couldn't escape the fate of death in the end, truly pitiful."
"Um, Mr. Blue Whale."
"Call me Kujiramie. My name is recorded in the Book of Friends."
In order not to attract the attention of the group of people on the beach, Takashi jumped off the blue whale's back and floated on the water surface.
"Mr. Kujiramie, I will return the name on the Book of Friends to you after I go ashore. Also... although humans only have a short lifespan of a hundred years, this is the reason why humans can thrive."
"Oh?"
Takashi smiled. "But please, Mr. Kujiramie, send this friend of mine to the shallow water area."
Just as Takashi was speaking, the blue whale located below the water surface turned its huge eyeball to look in the direction of the beach.
"Meow— this... such a big fish?"
Enyun-chan lay on Uchiha Ryo's shoulder and swam over with her master.
Uchiha Ryo also looked at the blue whale with some surprise.
"So big, and this youki... it's Great Yokai level. Takashi, do you know him?"
"Ryo-nii, Mr. Kujiramie has no malice, and he even saved Shirogane-kun. I'll return the name on the Book of Friends to him when I go back."
Three tomoe appeared in Uchiha Ryo's pupils. Kujiramie also looked at Takashi with some surprise after seeing the visitor.
"Lord Natsume, you actually know this human?"
Before Takashi could speak, Uchiha Ryo climbed onto the whale's back and sat down. He glanced at Shirogane Miyuki, who was only in a coma, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Kujiramie, right? Listen to your tone, you know me?"
"I know. After all, I just saw you showing your might in this sea area a few days ago. The nearby yokai all fled."
A few days ago? That should be when he was subduing Isobu to solve the rainstorm and was seen by the other party.
That yokai Isobu was not the Three-Tails in the manga, but the prototype of Isobu in the Sakura Country yokai mythology. It was also Great Yokai level and not as easy to talk to as Kujiramie.
At that time, the Supreme Commander of the Nura Clan also brought people out to sea to subjugate Isobu, but was solved by Uchiha Ryo in advance.
That's right, the range of Kirin used by Uchiha Ryo with the help of the rainstorm was too large. Probably the yokai in the nearby sea area all saw the scene of him attracting thunder to kill Isobu.
However... Kujiramie's tone was very calm. He said the yokai in the nearby sea area all fled, but he stayed.
What does this represent? There are only two possibilities. The first is that he wanted to leave but couldn't! The second is that he didn't need to leave! That means he wasn't afraid of Uchiha Ryo who used Kirin at that time.
No wonder the youki is stronger than Isobu... Interesting.
"Kujiramie, I just heard you seem to be saying that human lifespan is pitiful, right?"
"Naturally I said it, and I don't think I'm wrong. A mere hundred years of lifespan is just the time for us to sleep a few times."
Uchiha Ryo chuckled. "But do you know to what extent the humans you speak of have developed now?"
"I have never gone ashore, but in the last hundred years, the ships you send out to fish have become visibly larger..."
Kujiramie subconsciously thought that all human ships going out to sea were fishing boats. The aircraft carrier he saw some time ago was actually so much bigger than him. Human creativity is truly terrifying.
"Precisely because humans are not a long-lived species, we have been able to develop to the current technological era in a thousand years. Because humans never set their goals on individual strengthening, but on overall technological progress."
Uchiha Ryo patted the whale head beneath him.
"Kujiramie, want to come with me to see the human world? Spend a hundred years as a human, and it won't be too late to say it's pitiful then... Anyway, a hundred years is just [a period of time] in your mouth."
"Human strongman, do you want to take me as a shikigami? Although you know Lord Natsume, I, Kujiramie, have no intention of submitting to humans!"
"No no, you misunderstood. Not that kind of semi-slave master-servant shikigami, but a summoning beast where I give you freedom and you just help me with some small favors..."
Enyun-chan lying on Uchiha Ryo's shoulder turned her head away.
Scummy master is starting to bluff... Pity for such a big fish, don't know how it tastes.
"It's no problem for a Great Yokai like you to transform into a human form. I can be responsible for solving your identity problem and let you integrate into this human society. And you only need to sign a contract with me that allows me to summon you, anything else is up to you."
"..."
Finally found a Great Yokai who is inexperienced in the world but powerful. This is talent. Unlike Nurarihyon and the others who have been in human society for a long time and become sophisticated, this kind of fighter must be kept first.
At that time, unless you are ungrateful, otherwise you still have to work for me...
Kujiramie fell into silence, seeming to be thinking.
Shirogane Miyuki, who was scared into fainting beside them, suddenly trembled all over. "Mn? Where am I..."
Before Shirogane Miyuki could react, he fainted again after being stared at by the Sharingan.
"Takashi, let's take Shirogane back first. Mr. Kujiramie, you wait for me here first, I'll be back soon."