I, Den-O, the Contract Urban Legend

"Sorry, I didn't expect this to happen..." Yashayuki showed an embarrassed expression.

Inoue Ueya looked at Yashakuyuki, thought for a moment, and then said, "Well, next time, remember to pay attention to your surroundings. After all, this time we hit an abandoned building, so it's probably not an important place, right?"

I guess so?

"Speaking of which, Sachiko, it seems that after training, you have gradually become able to control your spiritual power. Mr. Inoue must be very happy to see your growth, right?" Inoue Ueya smiled.

Yashayuki blushed upon hearing this, then smiled brightly, "Haha, actually, right now I can only barely attach spiritual power to weapons. Sachiko still can't use spells..."

Inoue Ueya shook his head, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised. No matter how you look at it, the Hachishaku-sama who was sitting on the street crying has finally grown up, right?

"Well, it's almost time. Let's have a good rest today. Of course, Hanako should also--"

Inoue Ueya turned to look at Natsukawa Hanako and saw that she looked angry.

"What's wrong? Are you still angry because the battle was suddenly interrupted?"

"no!"

Hanako Natsukawa had no expression on her face and turned away.

——Really? I can do that level of attack, so why did he go after that idiot?!

Inoue Ueya scratched his face and said, "Don't be angry, I'll play games with you when Mr. Inoue is on vacation..."

"Humph, you don't understand why I'm so angry!"

Without responding to Inoue Ueya, Hanako silently returned to her room.

"???"

Hearing this, Inoue Ue was stunned and didn't know how to react. He felt that girls' thoughts were sometimes really hard to understand.

Looking at the time, Inoue Ue couldn't help but sigh. After really fighting with the alien demon god, he finally realized that Kato Megumi had really had a hard time in the past few years.

Because we can't let those strange demons continue to cause trouble everywhere, so when we see them appear, we must defeat them as soon as possible.

After fighting with the alien demons for several days, Inoue Ueya discovered that they had no intention of returning to the past. Instead, after completing the contract, they continued to stay at this point in time, as if looking for something. No one knew what they were planning, which was really worrying.

"No, it's no use thinking about it any more. It's getting late. I have to go to bed early."

Inoue Ueya yawned and turned to look at Yashayuki.

"I won't go to the morning exercise tomorrow. Let me rest for a day, Sachiko."

Inoue Ueya waved his hand and walked towards the bathroom, ready to wash up and go to bed.

"Well, I see."

……

Perhaps because of the fatigue brought by the battle, Inoue Ue fell asleep immediately after lying on the bed for a while.

So he entered the dream of the forest again.

Looking at the girl walking towards him from not far away, Inoue Ueya smiled slightly.

"Hey, Kuin, how are you today?"

Kuin paused for a moment and nodded, "Jingye, I've been waiting for you for a long time, come and play with me!"

Inoue Ue was silent for a while.

For some reason, Inoue Ue also felt that Kuin had become a little strange recently, but if he wanted to put it into words, he couldn't tell what was strange about it.

Maybe he's not as lively as before?

As he was thinking, he thought of Hanako Natsukawa who was inexplicably angry just now.

【Alas, girls are really hard to understand. 】

Maybe it’s just my own illusion, so it’s better not to think too much about it.

"Yeah, sure. What do you want to play today?"

Kuin's eyes lit up, and he pointed at the tree next to him, "Come climb the tree!"

Inoue Ueya looked at the several-meter-high tree, and a hint of hesitation flashed in his eyes. Come to think of it, he seemed to have never tried climbing a tree before?

After thinking for a while, Inoue Ueya nodded. Since this opportunity was rare, why not give it a try?

"Yoshi, come and try climbing a tree!"

……

Sitting on the tree, Kuin suppressed his laughter and watched Inoue Ueya, who was halfway up the tree, gradually becoming stiff in his movements.

"Hehehe, Jingye, why don't you just forget about it?"

In fact, she had secretly tried to climb the tree before Inoue Ue appeared. Now she climbed up the tree easily and looked at Inoue Ue under the tree.

"Stop talking nonsense! This is Mr. Inoue's first time climbing a tree, so he's bound to be a little slow!"

After climbing for a while, Inoue Ue couldn't help but look down. Seeing that he was gradually getting farther away from the ground, his heart beat faster involuntarily and he began to feel scared.

"Tsk, I never thought I would be afraid of heights..." Inoue Ueya sighed.

No, I wasn't that scared when I was transforming, so I was just afraid of pain, not heights!

No matter what, there is always a first time for everything, and since Kuin was looking at him, Inoue Ue had no reason to give up, so he put all distracting thoughts behind him and focused on climbing the tree.

After a long time, Inoue Ue finally climbed up the tree. Looking at Kuin beside him, a sunny smile appeared on his face.

"Nice, Mr. Inoue finally succeeded in his first tree climbing challenge!"

Sitting on the tree, looking at the endless sea of ​​trees in his dream, Inoue Ue couldn't help but sigh, "Well, although it's simple, the scenery here is still very nice..."

The scenery in front of me is probably something that can only be seen by climbing a tree, right?

"Does Jing like this world too?" Kuin asked suddenly.

Inoue Ueya thought about it, shook his head at first, then looked at Kuin, nodded again, and replied: "Well, half and half, there are some things I hate and some things I like..."

Chapter 97 The Past

"What does this mean? Can we have it half and half if we like?" Kuin looked puzzled.

After seeing the cross that Kuin found last time, he knew very well that this forest was probably not a good place for Kumo. Whether for Kuin before he lost his memory or now, it would not be very comfortable to stay in such a place all the time, right?

Inoue Ue also doesn't like this dream world, but he doesn't hate Kuin who stays here either. He has long been accustomed to entering his dreams to see this friend after falling asleep every day.

"Well, to be honest, Mr. Inoue doesn't really like this forest..."

"So you don't like it?" Kuin tilted his head and continued to ask.

Inoue Ueya shook his head and replied, "No, it's not that I don't like you. After all, only after entering this world can I find you, right?"

Upon hearing this, Kuin fell silent.

"Hey, don't you get bored staying here all the time?" asked Inoue Ueya.

Kuin must feel lonely staying in this world alone. Since he is the only one who can come in at the moment, Inoue Ueya thinks that he should at least keep this girl company.

One day, the girl in front of me will regain her memory, right?

Maybe this dream world will disappear one day in the future, and even Kuin may disappear along with it.

Until now, he still couldn't think of a way to bring Kuin out of the dream. Although Inoue Ue didn't know how long this kind of life could last, but -

At least as a friend, Inoue Ueya hopes to stay with this girl until the end.

"No, because Jing comes in every day, and I am very happy every day."

Kuin shook his head and smiled brightly.

Hearing this, Inoue Ueya nodded, but a hint of helplessness flashed in his eyes. He smiled and replied, "As long as I'm happy, that's enough."

……

Inoue Ueya opened his eyes from the bed and looked at the familiar ceiling silently.

"Ah, the dream world..."

Suddenly, Inoue Ueya felt a slight pain in his right hand, so he stretched out his hand and saw that his right hand was slightly scratched.

"Well, this is the wound I got when I was climbing a tree in my dream. Can this dream actually cause real harm to me?" Inoue Ueya frowned.

This dream seems to be more dangerous than I imagined?

"Well, just be careful. There's nothing dangerous in there."

Looking at the time, Inoue Ueya shook his head. It was still early. Since he had asked Sachiko for leave today, he might as well sleep a little longer.

……

On the other hand, Kuin, who was still in the dream of the forest, wailed. She raised her hands to hold her head and knelt on the ground, looking very painful.

"Ahhh-"

Apparently, her headache had returned.

As the headache symptoms appeared, scattered fragments of memory gradually emerged in Kuin's mind.

She saw herself using magical spells, and also saw people's expressions of fear at her abilities. Then, she was regarded as a monster and expelled from the village...

"Who am I?"

Kuin frowned. She vaguely recalled the memories of the past, but for some reason, a feeling of anger gradually arose in her heart.

Then she looked up and saw that the sky had changed from its original azure blue to its current golden color.

"Is this the dusk that Iya mentioned?"

Looking around, the sunlight had dimmed and the entire forest became dark. The once familiar forest gradually became eerie and terrifying.

Although she was somewhat happy to see the scenery she had never seen before, it was also accompanied by a strong sense of unease.

Looking at the dim woods, Kuin felt uncomfortable, as if something bad was about to happen.

Kuin sat under a big tree, curled up, shivering, and looking terrified.

"How terrible! Where are you, Jingye..."

……

On the other hand, Inoue Ue fell asleep again and did not enter the dream state, but dreamed of a familiar scene.

The environment is similar to the dreamland in the forest, but it is extremely dark...

Looking up, Inoue Ueya saw a group of people gathered near a large cross. They were speaking an incomprehensible language, but judging from their tone, they seemed to be cursing something.

Inoue Ueya stood up, quietly walked behind the crowd, and looked up at the cross.

What caught his eye was the girl who had just waved goodbye to him. She was nailed to the cross. Her face was pale and she was staring at the people around her, her eyes full of resentment.

After just one glance, Inoue Ue couldn't help but shout out, "Kuin!"

Then, Inoue Ueya looked at the people nearby. They ignored him and continued to speak incomprehensible words.

Inoue Ue also rushed forward and wanted to save Kuin.

"Go away!"

He wanted to push away the people in front of him, but he didn't touch anything and passed through the crowd directly.

"Wait, they don't have physical bodies?"

No matter what, they must save Kuin!

Without thinking too much, although it is possible that Inoue Ue is not in the original dream, he did not dare to gamble whether the girl in front of him is an illusion.

Then, he reached out to touch the cross in front of him, but his hand went straight through it.

——Is this also an illusion?

"Hmm, could this be the memory that Kuin had forgotten? But why did it appear in my dream? Is it because of my connection to the Book of Shadows?"

Inoue Ueya frowned and clenched his fists as he looked at Kuin nailed to the cross.

Although he had guessed that Kuin had encountered something like this in the past, after actually seeing the scene in front of him, he was still not as calm as he had imagined.

"Hey, Kuin!"