Momashiro Takeshi had always been curious about Kanna Hyuga, who sat behind him.

Ever since she was in her first year of middle school, she had often asked for leave, sometimes even for exams.

But when it came to school, she was more serious than anyone else.

Momashiro had more than once seen her memorizing vocabulary in the morning, preparing homework in between classes, staying in the classroom to do homework in the afternoon, and occasionally doing very well in the monthly and final exams.

Because she was expressionless all year round and was often in a serious state, no one knew what she was thinking. Her classmates, regardless of gender, were all afraid of her.

Even if there were enthusiastic girls who would resist the fear to strike up a conversation with Kanna Hyuga, she would act as if she hated interacting with outsiders.

Momashiro, who had been tortured by Minister Tezuka's cold face, accepted it well.

Being expressionless was a far cry from Minister Tezuka's, at least she didn't emit a cold aura.

She didn't like interacting with people?

It didn't matter, at least she wouldn't be like Minister Tezuka and ask people to run laps without saying anything.

(Tezuka: …) In short, Momashiro Takeshi's intuition was very reliable sometimes, and he felt that perhaps there was an infectious disease in her illness?

Perhaps her facial muscles were unbalanced?

In any case, Kanna Hyuga was a good person with a secret.

So when he saw the usually expressionless Kanai's blank and despairing expression of 'who am I, where am I, what's wrong with this world', Momashiro really wanted to go to the supermarket and spend a month's allowance to buy a melon to eat.

Not only him, but the tennis club members who followed Tezuka out also couldn't help but become onlookers when they saw the three people who looked like they were in a battlefield.

Qian: … What good data, what a harvest today!

Dashi: Wait, if Tezuka and that green-haired guy don't get along, should we go up and mediate? But wouldn't that be interfering with his private life?

Or should we run away first?

Kikumaru: Wow!

Where's my phone? Take a picture, I want to post it on Twitter!

Fuer: They're going to fight? Hahahaha.

For the time being, Kanna decided to ignore the wild thoughts running through the minds of the few members of the tennis club who didn't have much of a reputation. She was sweating profusely as she tugged on Tezuka's sleeve: "Senpai, you misunderstood. He's my … elementary school classmate."

Tezuka frowned.

Elementary school classmate?

Do elementary school classmates need to be so angry when catching up? Do you need to turn around and run away?

At the same time, Midori Shintaro, who was standing opposite them, saw Kanna Hyuga obediently tugging at the corner of the Qing Xue boy's shirt and became even angrier.

"Kanna Hyuga!"

He gritted his teeth and walked up to the two of them. Tezuka stopped Kanai and walked up to him expressionlessly.

With the same height of 1.8 meters, one was expressionless, and the other was full of anger, Tezuka and Midori confronted each other without giving way.

Tezuka said coldly, "Sorry, Canaissan doesn't seem to want to see you. Please leave."

Midori was furious. "Sorry, you don't seem to have the right to interfere in the matter between Kanna Hyuga and I."

The two handsome boys' confrontation and Tezuka's action of protecting Kanna Hyuga immediately attracted the attention of the Qing Xue students passing by. Fortunately, it was already late. Most of the people who stayed were from the sports club who had just finished their training. There weren't many people watching and they stood politely at a distance.

Three of the Youth Basketball Club's main players came out with their arms around each other's shoulders. When they saw Midori, they couldn't help but scream in surprise. "Midori Shintaro?"

"Midori Shintaro?

The main player of Teiguang? "

"Vice Minister!

It's him! He's the one who beat me up until I started doubting my life! "

"Teiguang?

That strong basketball school?

The legendary 'Generation of Miracles'? "

"What's so great about that? Our Minister Tezuka is here!"

"That's right. Tezuka Kunimitsu was a professional tennis player!"

"Speaking of which, who is the girl behind Tezuka -senpai? She's wearing the Qing Xue uniform …"

"Our school … Do we have such a person?"

"She's super good-looking!"

Seeing the people around them whispering more and more outrageous, Kanna Hyuga pursed her lips and said to Midori, "Let's go to the old place to talk, okay?"

The old place Kanna Hyuga mentioned was when she and Midori Shintaro were in elementary school.

Saori Saotome was a dessert shop where the three children often gathered. The rice cake and red bean soup there was soft and fragrant. Midori loved to eat it.

However, after Kanai and Midori broke off their relationship, she never went to that dessert shop again.

Midori paused and said expressionlessly, "That shop has been demolished."

"I know."

Kanai lowered her head apologetically and guiltily. "But the owner of that shop opened a new dessert shop not far from the original address, right?

You and Saori go there every week … Saori told me all this. "

Midori Shintaro looked at Kanai quietly.

After a while, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

"Then, let's go," he said.

Kanai patted Tezuka's arm to comfort him. "It's okay. Senpai, don't worry."

"I'll go with you."

Tezuka ignored Midori's angry look. He lowered his head and said to Kanai seriously, "After all, with your … identity, I can protect you if I go with you."

Kanai blinked. She wanted to tell Tezuka that with her strength, she could defeat ten people like Tezuka. However, seeing that Tezuka was being kind, she held back her words.

Midori suddenly wanted to get angry again, but he restrained himself. "Do as you like. I'll wait for you at that shop for twenty minutes."

After that, he turned around and left. He ignored the people from the Youth Basketball Club who kept calling his name and walked straight out of the school gate.

Seeing this, Kanai had no choice but to leave with Tezuka and Midori.

Several members of the tennis club saw this and wanted to do the same thing again. They wanted to secretly follow the president and watch the show. However, before Tezuka left, he deliberately turned his head and glared at them.

The cold and murderous aura made the tennis club members, who had a strong desire to survive and knew Tezuka very well, suddenly stop. Even Fuji Shūsuke, who loved to watch the show, immediately retreated.

What a joke!

He liked to watch the show, but he didn't want to watch the show. He didn't want to run laps until he died.

The newly opened dessert shop was not far from Qing Xue. They didn't even need to ride a bicycle. It was only a ten-minute walk. When Kanai and Tezuka arrived, Midori was already sitting in the corner by the window. He had already ordered Kanai's favorite chestnut cake and sweet milk from three years ago.

When she ate the familiar chestnut cake, Kanna Hyuga's heart ached and she almost cried.

She held back her tears and her face was red. She looked up at Midori. She wanted to explain something, but she felt that she was despicable.

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault … You can be angry, hit me, or scold me. It's my fault." She could only say so.

What was the use of saying sorry when the damage had already been done?

Midori sneered and didn't say anything.

Kanai felt guilty and ashamed. She explained to Tezuka, "This is Midori Shintaro. He's my best friend in elementary school.

We agreed to go to Teiguang together. "

["Why do you want to go to Teiguang?" Kanna Hyuga leaned on the desk and asked Midori in confusion.

"Because Teiguang's basketball team is super good. He's a basketball idiot!"

Saori Saotome rolled his eyes. "But Teiguang's judo team is also very good. I kind of want to smash their team!"

"Anyway, I've passed Teiguang's exam and submitted my application." Midori Shintaro pushed his glasses up seriously and raised his chin slightly. "You guys should hurry up. It'll be too embarrassing if Teiguang doesn't have enough students."

"Who are you calling a jerk!" Saori Saotome was furious.

"Well, I'll listen to Shintaro." Kanna Hyuga nodded. "I'll go to Teiguang after school."

"You don't need to ask." Midori looked at Kanna Hyuga with disdain. He took out a new enrollment list from his bag and handed it to Kanai. "I've asked for you. This is Teiguang's enrollment list. I'll get the exam materials for you when I go back."

Memories of the past surfaced in her mind. Kanai sniffed and tried to hold back her sadness. She said with difficulty, "But … I stood him up.

Not only that, even our mutual friend … accompanied me to apply for Qing Xue. "

"I'll go with you."

Looking at Midori's back, Saori Saotome found Kanai hiding in the corner and crying.

"I'll apply for Qing Xue with you."

"No."

Kanai shook her head with tears on her face. "If we go to Qing Xue together, what will Shintaro do?"

"Don't worry. Even if we're not in the same school, I'll go to see him every week." Saori Saotome rubbed Kanai's head to comfort her and hugged the girl who was a head shorter than him.

"But what about you?

I'm worried about you in this state. "

"We left Shintaro behind."

We. Have. Really. Left. Too. Down. Here.

Midori slammed the teacup on the table and sneered, "So you know about it too?"

"We broke up with him for no reason, applied to another school for no reason, and became a witch for no reason. Do you think I care about these things?"

Tezuka Kunimitsu, who roughly knew the cause and effect, was simply baffled.

In his opinion, this was clearly a very simple matter that could be completely explained with a phone call or a text message. It was really too complicated to make such a fuss.

After being speechless for a long time, Tezuka explained for Kanai, "Since Midori Kun knows that Canaissan is a witch, he should understand why she has spiritual power and has been living in seclusion for so long."

"Although I don't know much about Shinto, I understand that Canaissan is afraid of coming into contact with people because she is afraid that her spiritual power will resonate with the spiritual power of ordinary people, which will easily attract the attention of demons and cause danger."

"Isn't she staying away from Midori Kun because she is afraid that Midori Kun will be in danger because of her?"

… That was indeed the case.

When she was young, she had powerful spiritual power, but she didn't know how to restrain it, and she didn't know how to restrain it, only letting her spiritual power spread freely.

This would only cause the ordinary family and friends around him to be marked by his own spiritual power, and some would even resonate with him. The spiritual power in his body would be unconsciously stimulated, but the traces of spiritual power left on the ordinary people's bodies were like freshly cooked delicacies, emitting a fragrance that attracted a large number of demons.

If the stimulated spiritual power was not guided, it was easy to be invaded by evil, and devoured by curses and evil thoughts.

Kanai had the protection of the talismans made by Kagome and Shiyin, and Inuyasha and Ryōshou were responsible for her safety. But what about Midori Shintaro?

What about Tezuka Kunimitsu?

What about Momashiro Takeshi?

The more she came into contact with them, the easier it was for those situations to occur.

Kanai was a witch of the Sunset Shrine. She had a witch who went to the Warring States Period to purge demons, and she had a maternal uncle who protected the land of Ossen. She herself had provoked countless demons, and hundreds or thousands of demons hated her to the point of gnashing their teeth. How could she guarantee that they wouldn't cause trouble for her close friends and family?

The closer she was to them, the easier it was for them to be targeted by demons.

When Kanai and the others were about to graduate, the first one to be targeted by a demon was Saori Saotome.

That demon's older brother ate humans and was crushed into powder by Kumura Yoshimori's barrier. From then on, the demon held a grudge against the Kumura family. It somehow learned of Kanna Hyuga's existence and attempted to kidnap her good friend Saori Saotome, then eat Zaoyinu's entire family for revenge.

But just as it snuck into Zaoyinu's house, before it could even touch Saori, it was discovered by Saori's mother, Zaoyinu Saori. Together with her husband, the demon was beaten to a pulp.

When Kumura Yoshimori hurried over, the Pugilist, who had turned into a cute red-haired girl after being drenched in cold water, stepped on the demon's head and pulled at its messy hair as she cursed, "Speak!

Who told you to kidnap my Saori?!

Was it that idiot, Jiu Neng, or that damned old man from Babaozhai?! "

Kumura Yoshimori was speechless.

Zaoyinu Saori, who didn't have any Reiki, relied on the Pugilist's fists and feet to beat the demon until it spat out blood.

It was enough to make Kumura Yoshimori look at him in a new light.

Since then, the two of them often went out together to kill demons and earn some extra money.

But even so, Kanna Hyuga still felt a strong sense of unease and fear.

Today, the demon chose Saori Saotome as its target. Fortunately, Saori's family wasn't easy to deal with. If it chose Midori Shintaro, what would she do if something happened to Midori's family and Shintaro himself?

… But she didn't dare to tell Midori Shintaro.

She knew how proud Midori Shintaro was. How could she tell him?

Because you and your family are ordinary people, you can't play with me?

You can't even touch me, you can't even express your friendliness?

She couldn't say it.

It was better to just treat it as a little girl's willfulness. It was better to just cut off all ties.

This was the only thing that Kanna Hyuga could do. It was also her unique gentleness.

— That is, stay away from you.

Kanna Hyuga lowered her head and didn't say a word.

Midori wasn't surprised to hear Tezuka say something similar to what Akashiji said before.

His mood didn't improve because of Kanai's apology and Tezuka's explanation. Instead, it became worse.

So Kanna Hyuga could make an appointment with Ryota Hwang Se to solve a case. She could make an appointment with Saori Saotome to go to the same school. She could explain her identity to this senior who was known as the rising star of Japan's tennis world. She could even let him explain for her. Yet, she avoided Midori Shintaro.

Was it because Midori Shintaro was just an ordinary person?

"I understand."

Midori stood up, put the money on the table, and walked around Kanai.

"Then, I won't see you again."

"Never see you again."

The girl with black hair and black eyes looked up and heard Midori's calm farewell as he walked past her.

Midori left without looking back.

Kanai held back her tears for a long time, and finally, they fell quietly.

From Tezuka's perspective, the girl lowered her head and blurred her cheeks. Drops of tears fell on the chestnut cake that she hadn't eaten.

For a moment, Tezuka didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to comfort a girl. He could only hand Kanai a clean handkerchief.

Unexpectedly, Kanai quickly stood up, pushed the chair away, and took a few steps back, revealing her messy face and red eyes.

"… Thank you, senior, for helping me out."

The girl bowed to him with red eyes. Her tone was distant and polite. "I'm sorry, please let me go first … I'm very sorry."

After that, she picked up her bag and left without looking at Tezuka.

Tezuka watched the girl's thin back until she disappeared around the corner. Then, from the bottom of his heart overflowed a gentle sigh.