Japanese Terrorist: What? I'll fight Hellstar!

"The shop assistant told me that nowadays, shops only sell hairspray and rarely sell hair cream."

"What should we do then?"

"We've been out for too long, it's time to go home."

"Let's search a little longer."

"We've walked for so long just to find out what hair cream is. Once we know, we can go back."

"But I think physical objects are definitely more useful than words."

The chatter of the little girls drifted into his ears. Amamiya Rin took a bite of her sandwich, not paying much attention at first.

However, the phrase "physical evidence is more useful than words" slowed down his chewing.

This conversation is a bit strange.

In his previous life, he would never have taken a child's words seriously.

But in this world where strange curses lurk everywhere, who knows if there's a plot similar to Yamishibai? Don't think that children have a get-out-of-jail-free card.

After taking a sip of strawberry milk and swallowing the sandwich, Amamiya Rin walked across the path toward the little girls.

"Hey little girls, are you looking for hair serum? What do you need that for?"

Amamiya Rin asked in a casual tone.

Several little girls turned to look at him, initially a little wary, until they saw Amamiya Rin's cane.

"That's what the teacher said."

"That's what the girl who just came into the convenience store answered."

"teacher?"

"It can drive away monsters!"

Another girl with pigtails chimed in.

"monster?"

"She's a strange woman! She often stands at the school gate, and some of our classmates have been attacked!"

"A strange woman?"

"She was wearing a coat and had her face covered by a scarf, and she ran faster than a car!"

"That must be a ghost! Our teacher taught us a spell to scare her away; if we call out 'hair milk' to her, she'll run away!"

……

The girls chattered amongst themselves, and Amamiya Rin quickly pieced together the whole story.

Recently, a mysterious woman has been seen wandering the streets of Setagaya Ward every evening until nightfall. It is said that several children have been attacked, but none of them have been seriously injured.

The little girls firmly believed it was a monster, but their teacher told them that if they were afraid of monsters, he happened to know an exorcism spell—the hair-dripping incantation.

"Wearing coats and scarves to cover their faces, they attacked children, but no one was actually harmed..."

Amamiya Rin seemed to be deep in thought.

Could the strange woman these girls are talking about be the peeling-skin mother from "The Flesh-Colored Monster"?

Every night, the woman would wear a coat and attack passersby like a pervert. Whenever she saw someone, she would take off her coat and expose her naked body to the passersby.

If it were a monk practicing the White Bone Contemplation, it would be fine. But if a normal person were approached by that woman and thought he was having a romantic encounter, only to find out that she took off her clothes and there was no skin at all, just red muscles, he might be so scared that he would become impotent.

"I'm not quite sure where the hair cream is sold, but," coming back to her senses, Amamiya Rin looked at the little girls with a serious expression, "if you're really afraid of that strange woman, you shouldn't be running around outside. Go straight home after school; that's more effective than any spell."

As dusk deepened, the streetlights came on one after another, casting long shadows on the concrete ground, and the distant streets were plunged into a dim darkness.

Even without supernatural tales or curses, this is not the time for children to roam outside.

The girls were intimidated by Amamiya Rin's stern tone, looked at each other, and shrank back.

"Okay, uncle."

They reluctantly agreed and left together, grumbling to themselves.

Amamiya Rin watched their figures disappear into the alleyway from afar, then quickly finished the remaining sandwich and drank the strawberry milk before continuing along the roadside toward the address Takagi had provided earlier.

As darkness fell, the glow of the streetlights seemed inadequate in the thick night. A short while later, Amamiya Rin stopped in front of a detached house.

The yard is planted with flowers and plants, and is kept neat and tidy.

He pressed the doorbell.

After a short wait, the door opened.

A woman in her early twenties appeared at the door. She had long hair, a pale face, and a melancholy look in her eyes. Although she was not as beautiful as Tomie Kawakami, she was still a beauty.

"Hello? How can I help you?"

The woman looked slightly confused upon seeing the strange man outside the door.

"I have something I'd like to ask you. Would it be convenient for us to go inside and talk?"

Yu Gonglin carefully examined the woman's face and expression, and politely inquired.

The woman was even more puzzled. A stranger had suddenly come to visit and wanted to enter the house; she naturally couldn't agree to that.

"Recently, people in the neighborhood have been frequently attacked. According to witnesses, the attacker was a woman wearing a coat that covered her entire body."

Seeing that the woman had no intention of inviting him into the house, Amamiya Rin added a comment.

Upon hearing Yu Gonglin's words, the woman trembled, her gaze towards him filled with surprise and uncertainty.

"May I come in now?"

Amamiya Rin's gaze sharpened.

He wasn't sure if the address Takagi gave him was real or fake, but now he could tell from the woman's reaction that he hadn't gone to the wrong place.

"I...I don't know what you're talking about."

The woman took a step back, placed her hand on the door as if to close it, and exuded a sense of insecurity.

"Ms. Kawabe," Amamiya Rin glanced at the surname on the doorplate and said bluntly, "you wouldn't want others to know that the strange woman who's been attacking people lately comes from the Kawabe family, would you?"

"Ugh—!"

Kawabe Maya shrank back and let out a suppressed groan.

"No! Please don't do this! I... I'll do anything!"

"etc!"

Amamiya Rin's eyes twitched slightly. The combination of Kawabe Maya's words and her pitiful expression was really a mess.

"Don't make that face."

Amamiya Rin sighed, his attitude becoming serious and solemn, radiating a sense of gravity.

"I just want to know some things about the Kawabe family that are not convenient to discuss publicly. It's not really appropriate to talk about this kind of thing at the door, is it?"

Kawabe Maya looked distressed, but she still stepped forward, opened the iron gate of the courtyard, and invited Amamiya Rin into the house.

Entering the living room, Amamiya Rin put her cane aside, sat on the sofa, and looked around. She then saw a bald little boy hiding outside in the hallway, only peeking over with his head sticking out.

The child's skin was covered in mottled patches, as if he had some kind of skin disease.

Amamiya Rin knew that it wasn't an illness, but rather the marks left by frequently applying a glue-like substance and then tearing it off.

Maya Kawabe poured a cup of barley tea for Rin Amamiya, sat opposite him, placed her hands on her knees, her fingers slightly curled, and her expression still showed some unease.

"Please don't be nervous, I mean no harm. As far as I know, Mrs. Kawabe has been buying all sorts of strange materials, trying to replicate the alchemy recipes left by her late husband, right?"

Amamiya Rin picked up his teacup, but showed no intention of drinking it. Instead, he went straight to the point and asked Kawabe Maya a question.