The corner of the second floor of the roadside café was somewhat crowded.
In this small space, six people were somehow squeezed in.
"Yo, little Hakuji, long time no see. How do you have the leisure to come out for coffee today? No classes?"
"Mr. Hakuji, who is this beautiful young lady beside you?
She looks so familiar~ I feel like she resembles one of my students quite a lot~ Can you introduce her to us?"
Listening to the teasing from the two women before him, Akaza—sitting on the same side as Koyuki—raised his hand to support his forehead, the corner of his eye twitching.
Across from him, Mitsuba and Shinobu wore completely identical mischievous smiles.
On another seat nearby, Inosuke sat with Kanao, a cup of coffee in hand, watching this rare spectacle with great interest.
Only Koyuki blinked her large eyes in confusion at the few people before her, seemingly not yet understanding the situation.
Mitsuba was greatly shocked that she could run into Hakuji strolling around with a young lady on such a casual outing today.
But the moment she saw this young lady, she understood everything.
This young girl wearing a snowflake hair ornament, also named Koyuki, bore an extremely similar appearance to the Koyuki from that small town hundreds of years ago—one could even say they were completely identical!
What shocked Mitsuba even more was that this Koyuki before her also had a father named Keizo, currently running an izakaya in Tokyo.
Such similarity… could it be the reincarnation of that father and daughter from back then?
Mitsuba made this guess internally.
This sounded somewhat unbelievable. Could something like reincarnation actually exist in this world?
To this, Mitsuba's answer was—
Absolutely yes.
Because this world had gods, had heaven and hell, and even the souls of humans after death truly existed!
Over a decade ago at that deep mountain cabin, Mitsuba had personally sent off her brother Yoriichi's soul on its final journey.
In a world with supernatural powers, the existence of something like reincarnation was completely natural.
What puzzled Mitsuba slightly was: since Koyuki and Keizo could have reincarnated long ago, why didn't they do so from the beginning, instead waiting until over three hundred years later?
Was it because they had already done so, but she and Akaza simply hadn't discovered it all this time?
Or could it be…
Suddenly, Mitsuba once again thought of her brother Yoriichi's soul.
For the past four hundred years, Mitsuba had once believed that after that night at Osaka Castle, her brother Yoriichi had completely left this world.
Until over a decade ago, when she happened to visit that mountain cabin…
Yes, because he wanted to be with Uta, because he still had attachments in his heart, her brother Yoriichi's soul had always been unwilling to reincarnate.
Instead, he remained in the human world, silently staying by her side for four hundred years, until his wish was fulfilled and he finally truly left this world.
Then, were Koyuki and Keizo the same?
Because of their excessive attachment to the child Hakuji, after being murdered, this father and daughter's souls did not enter the cycle of reincarnation, but silently guarded his side instead.
Until today, over three hundred years later, after seeing that this child's demon life was indeed getting better and better, this father and daughter finally let go of their obsessions and reincarnated…
Mitsuba felt this was very likely the correct answer.
[Clearly over three hundred years have passed. The two people from back then—one has become an amnesiac demon, the other has long since reincarnated.]
[Yet even so, these two can still be attracted to each other. These two children really are…]
Thinking to this point, Mitsuba couldn't help but shake her head, letting out a sigh internally.
[Perfect. Next time I see Douma, I'll tell him all about Hakuji's affairs and have him make a proper movie about these two little ones' past life story.]
[Mm, and finally bring the two of them to watch it together. That would definitely be very interesting!]
"Butterfly is one thing, but why are you here too, old lady?"
Completely unaware of Mitsuba's current thoughts, Akaza—sitting across from her—finally couldn't help but ask, deep helplessness in his words.
As Upper Rank Three, the fifth strongest demon of combat in this world, from the moment he opened his eyes in his demon life, Akaza always felt as though he had been living in someone's shadow.
A shadow named Tsugikuni Mitsuba.
This damned woman not only liked to educate him with violence since he was young, enthusiastically beating each other up over the slightest disagreement, but also always forced him to do many things he didn't like doing.
Such as reading and writing, studying diligently, abiding by laws and regulations, caring for the elderly and young…
Think about it—he, the dignified demon of combat, was actually being forced to do things completely contrary to his nature?
Humiliation! Utter humiliation!
Well, although Akaza actually quite liked doing these things nowadays, this didn't prevent him from thinking that his original family environment had been terrible.
What made Akaza feel even more despair was that Mitsuba seemed to be his natural nemesis. Not only did she always steadily suppress him in martial prowess, effortlessly pinning him to the ground and beating him up whenever and wherever.
But she could also always appear suddenly at critical moments in his life, then forcefully alter his life trajectory according to her own ideas.
Having a "mother" who was completely impossible to resist and whose desire for control was explosively strong would be a nightmare for all children in this world.
This nightmare, Akaza had been living for over three hundred years.
And now, this "mother" of his had appeared once again.
Right when he and Koyuki had arranged to go out shopping together.
At this moment, Akaza was like an elementary school student secretly in early romance with a female classmate who had been caught by their parents—restless and unable to sit still.
"Ah, I was bored, so I came out to stroll around with Shinobu…"
Briefly glossing over her own topic, seeing Akaza's slightly nervous expression, Mitsuba smiled and said:
"But you, my dear brother, how did you meet this Miss Koyuki? Why haven't I heard you mention it before?"
"I tried to tell you last time but got interrupted…"
Muttering this complaint softly, Akaza obediently explained:
"It was a few days ago. I met her when I was having late-night snacks at the izakaya with Butterfly…"
"Mm-hmm, and then?"
"And then Koyuki, she's a student in Butterfly's medical department. We occasionally see each other at school, so after going back and forth, we got acquainted…"
"So, little Hakuji, you skipped classes today to invite this young lady out to play?"
Mitsuba asked quite directly.
Hearing this, Akaza instantly flushed red and immediately retorted:
"W-What do you mean skipped classes? Old lady, don't falsely slander my innocence!
I had no classes this afternoon to begin with! Koyuki also finished all her classes for today during the daytime!
We happened to meet at the school gate when leaving school, so we thought we'd come out for coffee together as friends, that's all!"
"N-No! Mr. Hakuji and I really are just friends! Sister, please don't misunderstand…"
Beside Akaza, Koyuki also hurriedly blushed and defended him.
In her haste, she even directly called Mitsuba "Sister."
"Oh~~ So you were just friends~"
Looking at this pair of young man and woman before her, Mitsuba and Shinobu simultaneously swayed their heads and drew out a long tone, their implications profound, their movements perfectly synchronized.
"Enough! You two!"
Finally reaching his limit, Akaza abruptly stood up from his seat and said to Koyuki beside him:
"Let's go! Koyuki! Let's change to a different café!"
"Huh? B-But Sister and Teacher Shinobu, they…"
"Don't rush to leave, my dear brother. Strolling with two people is strolling, strolling with six people is also strolling.
Anyway, there's still plenty of time today. Since we've happened to meet, why don't we all go out and play together?"
Looking up at Akaza, Mitsuba smiled and extended the invitation.
At the same time, in their mental conversation, Mitsuba said seriously:
[Hakuji, I have some things I want to ask you.]