"Me? I'm Amaha Byakuya."
Byakuya answered.
"Amaha Byakuya..."
The One-Tail Shukaku pondered for a moment. "Never heard that name before..."
"Of course you haven't. I'm not from your original world to begin with."
Byakuya smiled faintly.
"I suppose that's true..."
Shukaku was momentarily lost for words.
The existence of different worlds, and the fact that it had somehow ended up here—that alone was shocking enough.
But that this world also had a human like the one before it? That was beyond its comprehension.
"By the way, can you shrink your body?"
Byakuya asked.
"Why do you ask?"
Shukaku was puzzled.
"If you can shrink down, I can let you out to explore this world and such."
Byakuya explained, "Otherwise, your size would frighten people, so you'd have to stay in this pocket dimension."
Shukaku was silent for a moment. "...Shrinking isn't a problem, but are you really going to let me out?"
"Of course. As long as you don't harm humans."
Byakuya nodded.
"Fine."
Shukaku agreed without a second thought.
In its current state, it couldn't disobey Byakuya's commands anyway. Getting some freedom by going outside was naturally the better option.
Then the One-Tail Shukaku began to shrink, eventually becoming only slightly larger than a normal tanuki. That was small enough.
This way, even if Byakuya took Shukaku out in public, ordinary people would just assume it was an unusual-looking pet—preventing any unnecessary panic.
"Come onto my shoulder. I'll take you out now."
Byakuya beckoned to Shukaku.
The resigned Shukaku seemed to have accepted its fate. With a light hop, it landed on Byakuya's shoulder.
Called a summoning beast, but it was essentially a pet now.
Clearly, what the System had granted wasn't an ordinary Summoning Jutsu...
The next moment, Byakuya teleported from the Kamui dimension directly to Tokyo, Japan.
[Ding! Host temporarily cannot purchase Tailed Beast Challenge Scroll (Two-Tails Matatabi). Cooldown: 23h 59m 06s]
Upon landing, just as Byakuya was about to challenge the next Tailed Beast, the System informed him there was still a cooldown period.
So there's a cooldown on this thing...
No choice but to wait until tomorrow...
Byakuya decided to just take Shukaku home.
"You ran around the whole world and came back with just this little guy?"
Seeing the One-Tail Shukaku standing on Byakuya's shoulder, Rize asked.
Clearly, Shukaku's miniaturized form had caused Rize to underestimate it.
"Don't look down on me! I'm very powerful!"
Shukaku immediately protested.
"Oh? It can speak Japanese, and it's got quite the temper too?"
Hearing Shukaku speak, Rize was somewhat surprised.
At that moment, Byakuya spoke up: "Don't underestimate it. It's only this small because I asked it to shrink. Originally it's several dozen meters tall. I was worried it would scare people, so..."
Rize nodded slightly. "I see... I thought you went through all that trouble just to get a pet."
"So cute."
Kurona and Nashiro had just come downstairs and immediately gathered around.
With its size reduced to this tiny form, Shukaku had completely lost any intimidating presence. It had become a little mascot—even when it opened its mouth to reveal shark-like teeth, it wasn't scary at all.
"Did Byakuya-oniichan bring this back? What kind of animal is it?"
Nashiro asked.
"This is the One-Tail Shukaku. You can just call it Shukaku."
Byakuya introduced, "Also, it's not an ordinary animal—it's a Tailed Beast. Powerful enough to easily destroy an entire city or even a country."
With Byakuya backing it up, Shukaku puffed up with confidence, crossing its arms proudly.
"It's really that powerful? But it looks so cute."
Kurona exclaimed in amazement.
"Don't use that word to describe me!"
Shukaku immediately protested.
As a Tailed Beast, it naturally couldn't accept being called "cute"—that seriously damaged its dignity!
"But you really are cute."
Nashiro added.
"You...!"
Shukaku was greatly annoyed by these two near-identical human girls, but it couldn't do anything about it since Byakuya had ordered it not to harm humans.
And so, as the mighty One-Tail, Shukaku couldn't escape its fate of being treated as a pet...
Especially after Mayu and Washuu Chika came home...
Upon learning about the One-Tail Shukaku's general situation, Chika's eyes were already sparkling.
Mayu tentatively poked Shukaku's cheek with her finger.
"Don't touch me so casually!"
Shukaku immediately jumped back onto Byakuya's shoulder. As a mighty Tailed Beast, it certainly didn't appreciate being poked in the face by humans.
In the old days, it would have blasted these people to smithereens with a Tailed Beast Ball. Now it was like a tiger fallen from power, bullied by dogs...
"It's really not a plush toy? And it can speak Japanese too!"
Seeing that Shukaku not only moved but also talked, Mayu found it fascinating. She had never seen a pet like this before.
"Little Shukaku, can big sister give you a hug?"
Chika spread her arms toward Shukaku as she spoke.
The nickname "Little Shukaku" made Shukaku's scalp tingle, let alone being hugged by a human.
"Don't touch me!!"
...
Within just one day, thanks to those explorers' livestreams and posted videos, footage of the Perfect Susanoo battling the One-Tail Shukaku had gone viral across the internet.
But viral as it was, most comments online were skeptical.
The most common response was claims that the livestreams and videos were fabricated. After all, from an ordinary person's perspective, such monsters couldn't possibly exist in this world. It seemed more like something humans had conjured from their imagination.
Besides skepticism, there were those maintaining a neutral stance just watching for entertainment, and only a small minority believed it was real.
Rize happened to scroll past this trending video while browsing. At first, she didn't recognize Shukaku because its normal form and miniature form looked quite different—simply put, the mini version of Shukaku was considerably cuter.
But then she immediately saw the Perfect Susanoo. Although she had never seen the Perfect stage of Susanoo before, the color and appearance of that armored giant immediately made her think of Byakuya.
She immediately went over to Byakuya, who was sitting on the nearby sofa, and shared the video with him.
"Byakuya, look at this video. Isn't that you and Shukaku?"
...
Get 20+ chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "RoseWhisky"