Chapter 80: Beneath the Surface...

Though Inami had helped him to "clean up", the first thing Nobu did following her departure was head to the bath.

As frustrating as the situation was, the thing that upset Nobu most wasn't the fact he had basically been raped. It was the fact he was powerless to really do anything about it. To make matters even worse, the girl that had snuck into his room looked like a brat. Sure, he had enjoyed himself, quite a bit actually, but, at the same time, he couldn't help feeling as though he had crossed some kind of line he shouldn't have. He felt dirty.

Soaking in the hot water of the bath helped, but, even after staying in long enough that his skin had turned tender and numb, Nobu didn't feel any cleaner.

"I need to get stronger..."

Though a shonen protagonist might have said such words with conviction and enthusiasm, Nobu spoke them with a dull, lazy, almost apathetic monotone. After all, he was already well aware of the fact he needed power. More than that, however, he needed time to accumulate it...

Allowing his body to sink into the murky water, Nobu allowed himself to sink to the bottom as an urge to simply take a deep breath welled within him. The only thing that prevented him from doing so was the knowledge that he would be taking a lot more than his own life if he succeeded...

Despite understanding this, Nobu still stayed submerged for well over a minute before raising his body and calling out, "Is anyone there...?" in a lazy tone.

Unsurprisingly, no one answered Nobu's call. They were undoubtedly still under the suggestion that had been placed on them, so, until Yui returned, Nobu was effectively alone unless he went seeking them personally.

As that thought crossed his mind, Nobu felt around until the stone tablet just magically appeared beneath his hand. He had already confirmed it was waterproof a long time ago, so, after leaning back against the side of the bath, he opened the Messenger App to see if Midori, Sachiko, or Nariko had typed anything. They were usually too distracted by their studies to freely use their tablets, but, once their training had come to an end, they would chatter away non-stop for hours on end.

Though he rarely said anything himself, Nobu had always been something of a lurker when it came to discord and other kinds of chat apps. It was a lot easier to read other people's discussions than it was to contribute anything himself.

"Haaaaa...these little brats..."

Despite his groaning, Nobu actually felt a little better after thumbing through a few hundred of the girls' messages. The messenger app was something completely new and interesting to them so they didn't even think about filtering themselves. Thus, while most of their conversation revolved around their respective studies, there was a fair amount of discussion involving him. More specifically, they talked about how great he was and how fortunate they were to have been picked up by such a kind and caring Master...

Feeling a bit of sourness in his nose, Nobu set aside the stone tablet before leaning back against the warm stone with his eyes closed...

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Though she was feeling more optimistic after conversing with her Grandmother, a frown marred Yui's face as she rushed down the mountain. She couldn't understand the reason, but she felt as though something terrible had taken place. Her Grandmother had always told her to trust in her instincts, so, despite nearly crashing through a tree, Yui still rushed back to the estate as fast as her feet could carry her.

Finding Kiku sitting atop the gate with a bored expression on her face, Yui's morphed into one of confusion as she asked, "What are you doing?"

Tilting her head to the side, Kiku asked, "I'm sharpening my blade in preparation for tonight's shift. Since I had nothing better to do, I figured I may as well keep an eye on the entrance as well."

Though her expression didn't change, the pupils of Yui's eyes shrank as she asked, "Did you swap shifts with someone else?"

"Huh...?"

Without bothering to continue the conversation, Yui bolted towards the main house like a golden blur. This sent Kiku into an alert state, but, moments later, the light in her blazing blue eyes dulled as she returned to sharpening her sword...

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After failing to find Nobu in his room, Yui felt a sensation similar to millions of ants crawling across her body as she punched the floor and screamed, "Fuck!" at the top of her voice.

Though she had been trained never to panic, Yui flashed through the estate like a phantom before bursting into Shizune's room. This surprised the latter quite a bit, but, before she could even shout out, Yui grabbed her by the collar, shouting, "Spread out your Shikigami! Someone has invaded the estate! Our Lord is missing...!"

"Y-Yui-sama...?"

As someone who had been affected by Inami's charm, Shizune's mind failed to process Yui's words. This prompted the latter to perform a hip throw, slamming Shizune into the ground as she shouted, "Wake the fuck up and make yourself useful...!"

Blinking back to awareness, Shizune's pupils trembled as she instinctually attempted to crawl away. All the air had been forced from her lungs, so, even though she wanted to beg for leniency, all she could do was hold her hand up in fear that Yui would strike her a second time.

Fortunately, Yui quickly noticed the change in Shizune's expression. This allowed her to calm down a little as she repeated, "Nobu's missing. Someone invaded the estate and placed everyone under a suggestion. Send your Shikigami to search the premises. I'll gather the others."

Though she wanted to complain about Yui's methods, Shizune just nodded her head rapidly before pulling out a dozen paper talismans and transforming them into mice. As for Yui, she had departed the moment Shizune nodded her head. She had no idea how long Nobu had been missing so they were already working against time.

With this in mind, Yui's next destination was the kitchen. Cho almost never left, but, more important than that was the fact that Midori possessed one of the strange stone tablets gifted to her by Nobu. The documents he had given them mentioned something called a Messenger App that enabled the wielders of the stone tablets to instantaneously communicate with each other. If this was true, there was a chance they could use it to, at the very least, confirm whether or not Nobu was safe.

Sliding open the kitchen door with enough force to shatter the bamboo frame, Yui startled the trio inside before immediately appearing next to Midori and asking, "Do you have the stone tablet our Lord gifted you?"

Unable to speak, Midori just frightfully nodded her head as Yui's grip tightened on her shoulders. A layer of moisture quickly built upon the surface of her eyes, but, fearing she would get in even more trouble, Midori did her best not to cry.

Realizing she had terrified the teal-haired girl, Yui did her best to appear calm as she exhaled a sigh and said, "Use it to send a message to your Master. Ask about his location and whether or not he's okay. Can you do that for me?"

Nodding her head, Midori reached into her mesh-formed shorts before pulling out the stone tablet. If Nobu knew she was keeping it there, he would have undoubtedly facepalmed. He had told her to keep it somewhere safe, not to keep it in her britches...

While Midori was nervously tapping away on her stone tablet, Cho voiced what she and Onihime were concerned about, asking, "Yui-sama...did something happen to our Lord?"

Exhaling a second sigh, Yui shifted her attention to Onihime, asking, "Why are you here right now?"

Tilting her head in confusion, Onihime was about to answer that she was helping to prepare her Master's meal. However, now that she thought about it, she had basically just been standing around the entire day. She had helped to prepare Nobu's lunch, but, after that, she had just been observing from the side.

As that thought crossed her mind, Onihime's eyes transitioned from an amethyst purple to a vibrant shade of red as her long brown hair began to spread outwards in defiance of gravity. Her fingernails began to grow at a visible rate, and, though her horns were covered in paper seals, their ivory white coloration became translucent as a red glow emanated from within.

Fortunately, just as Onihime was about to go on a rampage in an effort to track down her Master, Midori surprised everyone by saying, "He's in the bath."

Though she had clearly heard what Midori said, Yui's expression morphed into one of disbelief as she replied, "Pardon...?"

Forgetting that other people couldn't see the screen, Midori held it up as she said, "I sent Master a direct message. He said he's in the bath and that he's okay."

Feeling as though her spirit had left her body, Yui collapsed against the counter as a sigh mixed with relief and exasperation escaped her throat. Onihime, however, was still in an active state, so, the moment she heard Midori's follow-up remark, she bolted from the kitchen with an inhuman speed that belied her cultivation base.

Rising to her feet, Yui resisted the urge to immediately chase after Onihime. Instead, she emulated Nobu's act of patting Midori on her head, saying, "You did well..." before shifting her attention to Cho and saying, "Go and tell Shizune to stop searching. Instead, focus on making sure everyone is accounted for. If anyone is behaving strangely, feel free to knock some sense into them..."

Nodding her head in affirmation, Cho grabbed the confused Midori's hand before departing the kitchen with her characteristic smile. In reality, she was just as frustrated as Onihime and Yui, but, for the sake of preserving her life for as long as possible, she did her best to remain calm. Even a mild outburst could exacerbate her symptoms and lead to catastrophic organ failure. Though a part of her was interested to see how her Lord would react, there were still quite a number of dishes she wanted to prepare for him before she even contemplated dying.

Inspired by Cho's calm, Yui took a moment to collect herself before departing the kitchen with a tired look on her face. She still planned to get to the bottom of this, but, knowing Nobu was okay, most of her tensions had evaporated into thin air. As strange as it might sound, all she wanted to do at the moment was snuggle up next to him in bed. Unfortunately, after this afternoon's incident, she wasn't sure he would even want to talk to her, much less sleep together...

"Haaaaa...."

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Though he was a little surprised to get a DM from Midori, it was nothing compared to the surprise Nobu received when Onihime burst into the bath and practically pounced him at a full sprint. She hadn't even bothered to remove her clothes so she ended up getting soaked from top to bottom as she hugged him tightly enough to prick his chest with her horn.

"Holy shit woman! Calm the fuck down! I'm okay! I'm okay...!"

Hearing her Master's 'command', Onihime stopped holding on to him so tightly before staring up at him with her carmine eyes. She wasn't crying but it was very clear she wanted to. This left Nobu feeling a little helpless as they hadn't even known each other that long. He simply couldn't fathom why she would be worried about him when he hadn't even done anything to make that deep of an impression on her...

"Listen...it's going to be okay. Don't cry..."

Despite his words, Nobu felt the same sourness in his nose that had crept upon him previously. This made him feel pathetic, so, before Onihime could respond, he drew her into a hug, gently cradling her head so she couldn't look up at him as he repeated, "It's going to be okay..."

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(A/N: Poor Nobu...)