"Module loaded."
Sato calmly gazed toward the forest and silently spoke in his mind as the Pirate System Module finished loading.
Buzz!
An invisible aura spread outward in all directions.
Very quickly, Sato detected a powerful demonic aura rapidly approaching.
He instinctively turned to look at the Okuri-inu.
The Okuri-inu's gaze had become focused, and its expression was extremely grave.
"This aura... it's a Great Youkai!"
That's right.
A Great Youkai.
A very powerful Great Youkai.
The Okuri-inu suddenly took a deep breath.
However, what truly concerned it was not this Great Youkai itself, but the presence following behind it...
"A Great Youkai?"
Sato looked toward the forest with interest.
Through Observation Haki, he caught sight of a... fox?
"Nohara-kun."
Kato Megumi stepped behind Sato and frowned slightly, pressing her lips together in nervousness.
"No need to worry. It's just a little youkai."
Using Observation Haki, Sato had roughly gauged the youkai's strength.
At most, it wouldn't exceed B-Class.
Compared to him, the gap was like an insurmountable chasm.
The Okuri-inu glanced at Sato and felt somewhat speechless.
Were humans these days really so arrogant?
That was a Great Youkai!
Even it regarded such a being with awe and respect.
Yet in his mouth, it was merely a little youkai?
Soon, however, it noticed Sato's calm expression and evident interest.
There was absolute confidence in his eyes.
The kind of confidence that came from genuine strength.
Just like...
Those Onmyoji who once roamed freely in ancient times.
The Okuri-inu's eyes shifted slightly.
Then its expression gradually became serious.
Whoosh!!!
A violent wind suddenly rose around them, accompanied by dense demonic energy.
The sudden gale made the surrounding trees rustle violently.
Countless dead leaves fell from the branches like a blizzard of feathers.
Even the leaves covering the ground were swept into the air, swirling like flocks of dancing butterflies.
At the edge of the shrine appeared an enormous white fox-shaped youkai.
Its form was graceful and powerful, elegant and beautiful.
Its eyes were long and narrow, their brilliance concealed within.
A mysterious crimson demonic pattern adorned its forehead.
Its fur was white as snow, shining like silver moonlight.
Behind it, a massive tail rose together with its demonic aura like smoke ascending into the heavens.
"Humans?"
A deep, steady voice emerged from the giant fox's mouth, carrying both surprise and confusion.
When it had approached earlier, it had not sensed any human presence at all.
And...
These humans' reactions were rather unusual.
Its gaze swept across everyone present before settling seriously upon Sato, who stood at the front.
Among the three intelligent beings before it, the Okuri-inu looked at it with grave caution.
The human girl remained expressionless.
Only the human boy standing at the front, who was openly studying it, was impossible for it to see through.
Especially that gaze.
The way he looked at it was like someone staring at a monkey in a zoo.
That irritated it.
"Hey, human! Your eyes are really pissing me off!"
The giant white fox let out a low growl.
Its body was probably six or seven meters long, and it stood two or three meters tall.
It looked exceptionally majestic.
As its words fell, the white fox slowly began walking toward them.
Step.
Its immense demonic aura transformed into fierce winds that spread through the surroundings.
It seemed as though the entire forest trembled beneath that storm.
Sato raised an eyebrow.
Then he smiled.
"You want to fight?"
"Heh!"
The giant fox suddenly grinned.
Its figure instantly vanished from sight.
The next second!
Whoosh!
A white blur appeared directly before Sato.
Its eyes remained calm and focused.
Then a massive claw descended with a roaring gale.
The claw was cold as iron and incomparably sharp.
The streak of claw-light it produced was chilling and deadly, like frost condensed upon a blade.
Swish!
Sato's figure abruptly disappeared before the claw could reach him.
The claw-light shredded the afterimage left behind.
Boom!
The bluestone plaza before the Okuri-inu Shrine instantly split apart.
Terrifying cracks spread across the ground.
Dust billowed into the air.
Broken stones flew everywhere.
When the dust settled, a massive crater over three meters wide and more than half a meter deep had appeared in the center of the plaza.
The Okuri-inu, which had already leapt onto the shrine roof, twitched at the corner of its mouth.
Looking helplessly at the enormous crater, it said,
"This is my shrine, you know. Could you at least show a little consideration?"
Still, it understood perfectly well.
Neither the Great Youkai nor the mysterious human boy was someone it could afford to offend.
Whether they listened or not was hardly up to it.
At the opposite end of the plaza, Sato had somehow appeared.
Silently.
Without warning.
As though he had been standing there the entire time.
After moving there, Sato lowered his head and looked at Kato Megumi in his arms.
"You okay?"
At that moment, he could clearly feel the astonishing warmth and softness of the girl he was holding.
Her body was light and delicate.
Like holding a soft cloud of cotton.
Kato Megumi pressed her lips together and shook her head.
For the first time, she felt a powerful sense of embarrassment rising within her heart.
Sato gently set her down.
Then he looked toward the white fox standing on the plaza and laughed loudly.
"Let's not destroy someone else's shrine. How about we move somewhere farther away?"
The white fox lifted its head proudly.
"As you wish!"
Sato smiled.
Turning around, he dashed into the forest beside them.
After a few flashes, he disappeared completely.
The white fox's expression grew serious.
It immediately followed after him.
Just then, from the direction the white fox had come from, a human boy came running over, panting heavily.
When he saw the giant crater in the plaza, his face immediately changed.
Then he spotted the white fox enveloped in demonic energy and couldn't help shouting:
"Nyanko-sensei, what are you doing?!"
The white fox turned its head toward the boy and grinned.
"I ran into a very interesting human boy. Natsume, just wait here. I'm going to see what he's really capable of."
After saying that, the white fox flashed into the forest several times, moving through the woods like a wandering spirit...
---
(TL/N: New characters from Natsume's Book of Friends.)