"Uh..."
This punishment content immediately made Ihei Byakuya a little surprised.
Speaking of which, could this even be considered a punishment?
"Did. You. Hear. Me?"
Yoshimura Eto emphasized it again, word by word.
"I heard you."
Ihei Byakuya immediately responded.
Although the content of the punishment could hardly be considered a punishment at all, he could feel that Eto was probably truly angry...
...
After finishing his shower,
Ihei Byakuya followed Eto's request and acted as Eto's human mattress.
Of course, he was still sleeping on the bed. It was just that Eto lay on top of him and treated him as a mattress.
With Eto's petite body weight, the pressure on Byakuya was almost negligible, so this had practically no effect on him.
Late at night,
Just as Byakuya thought Eto had already fallen asleep, Eto suddenly spoke without warning, "I won't pursue today's matter, but if there is a next time, I..."
Eto's voice grew smaller and smaller, and by the end, it could not even be heard.
Only the steady sound of breathing could be heard. Clearly, Eto had once again fallen asleep unconsciously because she was too sleepy.
"..."
Ihei Byakuya immediately smiled.
A child is still a child, even if it is the [One-Eyed Owl].
However...
What Byakuya had not expected was that Eto would actually get angry because he came back too late.
Could it be that... he had already been regarded as family by Eto?
However, Ihei Byakuya quickly dismissed this guess, because this might very well be Yoshimura Eto's superb acting. He did not dare to jump to conclusions lightly.
...
After waking up from sleep.
Even though Ihei Byakuya had served as a human mattress last night, he still could not avoid the daily routine of being woken up in the morning by Eto stepping on him with one foot.
While sitting at the dining table eating breakfast, Yoshimura Eto suddenly spoke, "Come on, aren't you going to properly explain to me why you came back so late last night?"
Last night, because Eto was too sleepy, Byakuya had not had time to explain before Eto fell asleep.
Ihei Byakuya then explained last night's battle with the ghoul, mainly that after the battle ended, he waited for the CCG to send people to handle the scene, which delayed too much time.
"Alright, since there was a reasonable explanation, I'll let it go."
Yoshimura Eto said.
"Don't worry. I won't forget the time again in the future. Unless there is something extremely important, Eto will be the top priority."
Ihei Byakuya promised.
"That's more like it..."
Yoshimura Eto gave a light snort, and it seemed that she felt quite comfortable hearing those words.
After preparing the lunch box, Ihei Byakuya set off.
After Byakuya left the house, Yoshimura Eto walked to the sofa and took out a diary that was hidden under the sofa.
Last night, while waiting for Byakuya to come home, Eto had flipped through the diary her mother left behind.
Fortunately, when she accidentally fell asleep, the diary fell under the sofa, which was why it was not discovered by Byakuya...
Otherwise, if that half-human brat had seen the contents inside the diary, he would probably be able to guess her true identity immediately, and then they would only be able to face each other with weapons ahead of time...
Knowing that after Byakuya went out, he would not return until after school in the afternoon, Yoshimura Eto opened the diary once again.
Even though she had read the contents inside countless times already, she would still take it out to read again from time to time. After all, this was the only way she could remember her mother.
She did not even have any impression of her mother, because her mother had already died when she was just born...
Looking at the diary's contents, Yoshimura Eto suddenly murmured to herself, determination darkening her eyes.
"Mom, I will absolutely not be like Kuzen..."
...
After what happened last night, Fura Taishi was affected quite a bit.
It was not exactly psychological trauma.
It was just that... he felt that this world was not as safe as he had imagined...
Ghouls were a group of truly existing dangerous creatures, monsters that treated humans as food...
And ghoul investigators who fought against ghouls also truly existed, and one of them had even become his classmate...
All of this made it difficult for Fura Taishi to calm his heart.
So today, he came to school early for once, actually in order to look for Ihei Byakuya.
"Ihei, I have some things I want to ask you."
Fura Taishi said to Ihei Byakuya as soon as he came in.
"Class is about to start. If you have something to say, wait until after class."
Ihei Byakuya replied like this.
"..."
Fura Taishi immediately let out a light "tsk." "You're a good student again."
Because he was used to skipping classes, he had little sense of class time.
"Isn't Minami also a good student? She even has the best academic performance in our class."
Ihei Byakuya calmly countered.
Uruka Minami then turned her head to look at Ihei Byakuya.
Did Ihei just mention her...?
"What do you mean by that?!"
Fura Taishi immediately reacted strongly.
"Nothing. In short, if there's something, wait until after class."
Ihei Byakuya said.
He could basically guess what Fura Taishi wanted to talk to him about. It was most likely related to ghouls and investigators, and this kind of topic was naturally not suitable to be discussed inside the classroom.
"Tsk..."
Fura Taishi propped his chin with one hand and could only wait for the first period to end.
...
After finally enduring until class ended, Fura Taishi immediately stood up.
"Let's go out and talk."
Ihei Byakuya directly walked toward the door.
Fura Taishi's expression was a bit unhappy, but he could only obediently follow.
They arrived at a secluded corner where people rarely passed by.
"So, what does Fura want to ask?"
Ihei Byakuya asked.
"You're clearly still a student like us. How did you become a ghoul investigator? And do you fight ghouls every day in places we don't know about?"
Fura Taishi voiced the curiosity in his heart.
"The first question involves secrets. As for the second question... the reason I appear at this school is naturally because there are my investigation targets nearby."
Ihei Byakuya answered simply and directly.
"You mean... there are still ghouls here?!"
Fura Taishi asked in alarm.
"More or less."
Ihei Byakuya nodded slightly.
"..."
Fura Taishi fell silent.
"If there's nothing else, I'm going back to the classroom."
Ihei Byakuya prepared to turn and leave.
"Wait a second!"
Fura Taishi hurriedly stopped Byakuya. "I still have one more question... how do you view Minami?"