"Why?" I asked again after seeing Shi Xia was silent for a long time.

"Because I'm a youkai, I don't look like a human," it said with a wry smile, "but it's a youkai after all." ”

"But don't you get along very well, and your mother accepts your differences. ”

"It's not about that," Shi Xia said, "Ordinary people will be affected if they spend too much time with youkai, and the more powerful the monster, the greater the impact on humans." ”

“... "This is the first time I've heard this kind of statement, and my hunch tells me it must not be a good one.

"The vitality of human beings will be absorbed by the monster day by day, and even if the monster itself does not want to do so, it will not be able to stop the loss of vitality, and the affected person's body will weaken day by day, until it is completely unable to support life. Shi Xia's voice became lower and lower, "I didn't know about it at first, and my parents treated me as their own and didn't treat me as an adopted child, except for occasional worries about the short life span of human beings, I was very happy most of the time, until one day my mother suddenly fell ill." ”

"I've seen a lot of humans who have been with youkai for a long time, and they don't have the kind of problems you say?" I asked.

"Maybe it's because they've not been together long enough, or maybe it's because the demonic power of those monsters isn't very strong," Shi Xia said, "After all, few monsters of my level will live under the same roof as humans." ”

Indeed, the youkai that can easily turn into a human form are not weak, and the youkai that can maintain their human form for a long time without being discovered are even better among the youkai, and the youkai who are completely mixed in human society as a human like Shixia can almost be counted by hand.

"If so," I said, "isn't your mother?"

"Well, I didn't think too much about it when she fell ill for the first time, human beings are already weak, and my mother is not very well, so getting sick is actually a very common thing," Shi Xia recalled, "but that time was a little different, not only was her recovery slow, but she was also asleep most of the time, as if her soul had left her." ”

“... How can it be. ”

"I don't want to believe it, but it's true," it said, "I couldn't find out the cause of many doctors, they just said that they were overtired, but no matter how I looked at it, I felt that something was wrong, and at that time I heard that there was a youkai who could see the cause of human beings, and tried my best to find it, and it told me that my mother's disease was not an ordinary human disease, but caused by me." ”

"What kind of youkai is that?"

"It's hiding in the shadows, I can't see its face. ”

"Then how do you be sure that there is no problem with what it tells you. ”

"Because there are a lot of monsters who have gone to verify it," Shi Xia said, "everyone said that the monster was very accurate." ”

"It's always a little weird," I said, "and what about when you leave home?"

"Well, I didn't want to go to college and wanted to take good care of my mother at home, but if my mother's illness was caused by me, then I would better go as far as possible," Shi Xia said, "but I can't really leave, so I think it's the best choice to leave home and go to college in City A." ”

"You say in your letter that your mother's hearing is not very good?"

“... That's what made me decide to leave my mom completely," it said, "and before I left home, my mom's health deteriorated, and she slept longer and longer, until she could barely hear us and her body began to lag." ”

"How now?"

"It's not getting better, but it's good it hasn't gotten any worse, so it must have something to do with me..."

"In order not to let your demonic power affect your mother, not only did you not go home, but you even asked me, as a human being, to write letters," I said, "so as to minimize the influence of your demonic powers?"

"Well, that's exactly what I thought. Shi Xia said, "Keeping a safe distance from my mother can ensure that her health will not get worse." ”

"I see," I vaguely felt in my heart that there was something wrong with this matter, "since I heard your story, I won't charge you anymore, and come back to me next time I need to write a letter." ”

"Don't just write me down in your little notebook. Shi Xia said as he left, "I'm not an ordinary monster. ”

"Well, I'm not an ordinary human either," I said, waving my hand, "and besides, I don't like to write the names of youkai all the time." ”

You monsters that can see the cause of human diseases can't see their faces... The demonic power that can absorb people's life force...

I spent the afternoon looking for relevant information, and I also called many people, and all of them said that they had never heard of the influence of demonic power on human bodies.

Sure enough, there was something wrong with it.

Either Shi Xia lied, or maybe there was something wrong with the youkai in the shadows it said.

"So, it's not going home for this?" Tsubaki came back in the evening, she was very drunk, and after listening to my story about Shi Xia, she complained, "If its mother is really as good to it as it says, then why does it have to run so far? ”

"Didn't you say that its demonic power seems to affect its mother's body..."

"Forget it," Tsubaki said, "I haven't heard of this kind of thing at all, and even if it did, it wouldn't have to run so far, right? A youkai of its level can hide close to home, and what kind of safe distance does it say? Does it really think that its demonic power can affect several cities? No kidding." ”

"I also think there's something wrong with this, so I'm talking to you about it," I said, "what do you think is going on?"

"That youkai called Tokinatsu lied. Tsubaki said firmly, "What can a little monster like me figure out, can it understand?"

"Could there really be such a thing as demonic power affecting human bodies?"

"How is that possible," Tsubaki said, "and if that's the case, do you think the demon slayers will just let it go?"

If that's the case, I'm sure the demon slayers will get rid of all the monsters they find.

"Maybe there's something else that's hard to say," I said, "and that's why I made up this story." ”

"No matter what kind of secret it is, Tsubaki-sama plans to take a look. Tsubaki's drunken eyes clenched into fists.

“... Why are you so interested? ”

"Because I'm interested in the youkai that can see the condition of a human being," Tsubaki said, "If there really is such a youkai..." ”

If you had known that there was such a monster, would you have reminded your former owner to pay attention to his body earlier?

"Okay, well, since Tsubaki-sama is so interested, then let's take care of it again. I said as I looked at Tsubaki, who had turned back into a white cat.

(End of chapter)