1
"What's with this! At this rate we can't go into the house!"
Maria loudly shouted.
"No, it's just a cockroach"
"It's not 'just'!"
With the way Mio suddenly shouted, Basara found himself trembling.
"There's no point in making it "just" or "not just" or "stay calm"!
There's no other choice but to kill it a hundred times!"
"S-sorry"
Basara apologized, while Mio had her hands covering her face.
Despite it being night time, Basara and the girls are outside their
house.
Yuki and Kurumi were standing at the front door, and they also had
the same slightly troubled expression as Basara.
Zest looked at Mio worried.
"You're so loud, when we were trying to figure out what the hell is
going on, it just turned out to be a cockroach"
Kurumi shrugged.
Yuki's eyes looked between the living room curtains towards where
the light spilled out.
"You left the TV on too"
"We might catch a cold like this"
Basara's long sleeve shirt and sweatpants were definitely his clothes for
bed.
Mio and Yuki were in their pajamas.
Since they were winter pajamas they're fairly thick, but still, it's the
middle of January.
Mio held herself as she shivered.
Due to the light coming from the living room, her breath appeared
white.
"...Maria, why are you in a bath towel?"
"I just came out of the bath"
Maria winked, with only a bath towel around her.
"No, you were wearing pajamas before that, weren't you just snacking
on chips on the sofa?"
"Aah, you caught me. I thought with this look I'll get offered to warm
up via skin-to-skin and Mio-sama and Yuki could follow my lead. It's
copyright free."
"What are you even doing"
"I understand"
Yuki nodded.
"But, we can't strip here!? We're outside!"
Even as she scolded them, Mio started shivering again.
Although Yuki and Kurumi didn't say it, they must be cold too.
"Anyway. We can't stay like this forever. The cockro—"
"Don't say that name!"
Maria suddenly screamed.
She put her pajamas back on.
Basara was surprised to see Maria's serious eyebrow-raised expression.
"That name is taboo!"
Maria said, a bit agitated.
"It's an ominous word, that name. If you say that name, it will come.
It's a legend known throughout the demon realm from nobles to
commoners"
"That's too much"
"As such, we will call it Hanako. That's the well-known secret word of
the demon realm"
"It ends up sounding like the word of some food and beverage store."
"In short... Perhaps the words and legends of the demon world are
also used here."
"You're making a big deal out of this"
"It is a big deal! Isn't that obvious!"
Maria then looked surprised.
"...Might it be, Basara-san. With how unperceptive to danger you are
now. You don't know?"
"Know what?"
"The bug we call Hanako... about what Hanako of the demon realm is
like!?"
"Is it different? From the cockro... Hanako here?"
Basara started looking at Zest.
She shook her head.
"I'm sorry. I don't have much experience with Hanako. I've only
heard the name from Sheila-san..."
"That can't be... Zest-san, you don't know about Hanako... That's
incredible!?"
"Could you please tell me about it?"
"...That's right. I don't really want to talk about it but. At least, I can
tell you some things about the legend of Hanako"
"...The legend of Hanako"
Basara looked as if he wanted to say more than that, but he didn't
press any further.
"It's well known about how scary Hanako is in the demon realm,
alongside its overwhelming ness and multiplication prowess. For
instance, you find one in your home! With that, you might as well be
prepared for the potential that there are thirty Hanako in your home"
"That's the same as the cocokro—I mean Hanako of this world"
"It's not just that!"
Maria's face turned pale in her fear.
"It has a dreadful life force! It's able to live for several weeks after just
ingesting a tiny amount of water and a strand of hair. In addition, even
the "magical insect killing potion" created by the great Andromarius
which can kill even magic shell bugs with strong magical resistance can't
kill Hanako! That is the legend of Hanako of the demon realm!"
"Hearing that, it makes me a little worried because the cocokro—I
mean Hanako of this world is also quite resistant. But, in the end, it's
not exactly the same..."
"By the way, the size of Hanako of the demon realm is comparable to
that of a gorilla of this world."
"Are you sure that's even from this world!? That doesn't sound like an
animal that should exist on this planet!"
"I don't know! Anyway, it's one of the most feared magical creatures
in the demon realm after dragons, and to top it off Hanako is the one
more hated!"
"Is that so..."
Basara said quietly like he wanted to stay more.
"But, this is the human world. Even if the opponent is a magical
creature from the demon realm"
Yuki said.
"No, if it is a magical creature of the demon realm, it's our duty as
members of the Hero Clan to get rid of it"
Kurumi answered.
The two heroes had their slippers in hand.
"The Village is far from other human communities"
"In short, it's a place with abundant nature, and the houses are old
wooden types"
"...That's true"
"So... you see them often"
"Like when you go to the kitchen at night? And then when you turn
on the light... It moves!"
"N, noooo!"
Mio crouched down and covered her ears.
"Stop! Stop it!"
"Ah..." "Sorry" the two hero sisters looked uncomfortable.
"U, um. Anyway. We'll go kill it"
"Kill it in one strike"
Without stopping, the two of them held their slippers in their hands,
and started going inside the house.
But, in front of them stood someone with a red aura.
A girl whose flame-like aura matched the color of her hair.
As if holding back her fear by gritting down her teeth, she glared at the
two heroes.
"I can't let you go"
Mio said with her voice shaking.
"Why? We're going to kill Hanako"
"With what? With those slippers!?"
The magical storm surrounding Mio messed up Yuki's and Kurumi's
hair.
"Aren't you thinking about the kind of disaster that's gonna happen if
you do that! It'll split apart! It'll split apart from the insides… aaaah!"
She screamed as tears flowed from her eyes.
"Instead of doing that, I should just blow it away using my wind!"
"No, wait. The last time we ended being in a near death situation a
part of the house got blown away"
"Mio-sama please calm down"
Maria said in a panic.
"If a slipper is no good, then I'll use "Sakuya"."
"Yuki you calm down too! That will really upset the spirits"
"Besides if you use Sakuya, Hanako will get split apart too"
"It's a necessary evil"
"If I do it like this… It won't be to the extent where I kill it a hundred
times…"
"I'll work"
"That's right...! If exploding won't work then I'll use electricity! If we
use electric magic throughout the house, then Hanako would die too..."
Mio started preparing her lightning.
"You really need to calm down! If you use magic, you won't be able to
see the result, and there's going to be collateral damage spread
throughout the house destroying all our electronics. Besides, it's reached
the point where we're currently bothering our neighbors."
Basara bowed again and again to the faces looking out from their
windows.
The others ended up following his lead as well.
The kind neighboring old man told them "it's fine, it's fine, as he shut
his window. Seeing that, Basara sighed in relief.
After raising his head, he noticed Zest, looking as if she was thinking
of something as she looked at the house.
"What's wrong? Are you also scared of the cockro.. I mean Hanako
too?"
"Not really, After all, I don't know all that much about Hanako.
But…"
Zest's expression was accompanied by sadness.
"They're just born and we can't say their name. For some reason I feel
sorry…"
Basara noticed Zest's sadness.
Even though Zest was created by Zolgia and worked hard as his
subordinate, she was ultimately deemed useless and thrown away.
"Zest, you're so kind"
Basara gently touched her silver hair.
"Basara-sama..."
There was a blush on her dark skin as she looked up at Basara.
Basara replies with a smile, and then he announces "I'll be going"
Basara replied back with a smile, and announced "I'm going in"
"Basara!? But..."
"As long as it doesn't get split apart it's fine right?"
Mio looked puzzled, but she nodded anyway, causing Basara to
slightly flex his hand.
2
After turning off the TV, Basara stood alone in the Toujou house
living room.
He moved, without making a sound.
He listened to every sound besides that of his own breathing and
heartbeat. He made sure to keep his eyes trained to see as much as
possible, catching every reverberation from the soles of his feet, all his
senses were at their most alert, and he made sure he was ready to react as
quickly as possible.
He turned himself into his own blade.
Basara was turning up to his utmost limit as if he was in a battle.
At the same time, a thought appears in him "against a cockro... I mean
a Hanako. What am I doing?" But he erases the thought from his mind
as soon as it wells up.
Just at that moment, he randomly thought"Against a cockro… I mean
a Hanako. What the hell am I doing?" But he quickly erased the thought
from his mind before he really started thinking about it.
"...No, I do have my doubts but"
In any case, Basara was prepared to give this his all here in the living
room where Hanako appeared.
At that moment, he heard a small sound.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a small black figure running
up the living room wall.
"Cockro... Hanako!"
With a quick reaction, Basara readied his weapon.
In most cases he would have the sword Brynhildr in his hand… Of
course in this situation he didn't use it.
Instead he had in his hand a plastic bag and a two-ply piece of toilet
paper. It's not a weapon to touch Hanako, but to catch Hanako.
Even though Maria told him "Using Banishing shift is the only way",
he had no intention of using it. He was concerned about what people
would think if he used it against a bug.
However there's another reason why he didn't want to use Banishing
Shift. Even if his opponent is Hanako, he didn't want to use that in front
of the sad, kind-hearted Zest.
That's why he decided to use,
"Anti-Hanako Set, the name being Gleipnir!"
A recently-named super weapon.
Hanako then appeared in front of Basara.
He decided to use a strike first tactic similar to "infinite slayer",
fighting with extraordinary force and speed.
"Ooooooooooh!!"
He let out a force to tackle his enemy, shouting as he wields the plastic
bag and toilet paper (gleipnir).
Catching it, he turns over the plastic bag and without touching
Hanako, he closes the bag.
After catching it, he turned over the plastic bag without touching
Hanako, and then he closed the bag.
Basara was sure of his victory.
But, Hanako unexpectedly moved.
"—!?"
It's flying.
It spread its wings to take flight in order to avoid the first attack.
Basara using all his power was unable to stop it, and instead slammed
against the wall.
It avoided sudden capture.
Right before the assault, it jumped off the wall.
He followed the flying Hanako from behind, and readied gleipnir.
"With this...!"
He should be able to catch it.
However, gleipnir was clutching at air.
"It's an after image?!"
It's as if Hanako had predicted Basara's assault, flapping its wings and
moving at high speed through the air. Even to the eyes of an infinite
slayer user it simply used an after image.
It just landed on the floor, as if it was a moment faster than Basara.
Basara quickly prepared himself to attack once again.
But, it was right then that Hanako flew off under a shelf with
incredible speed.
"...It ran away"
Basara stood surprised and then started thinking.
"It's a bit strange? It's able to create an after image and I'm not able to
catch it!"
Did he become slow after leaving the village? While he thought about
it, he realized this Hanako is able to move faster than some of his
stronger opponents.
Basara isn't one to brag, but he was even able to defeat the demon
realm's current demon lord.
"...If a cockro... I mean Hanako can move faster than that, this is real
bad"
3
"That's true... It's strange. Out of everyone here, Basara-san is
definitely the fastest"
Maria said, as her expression showed she was in deep thought.
"No... We can only kill it a hundred times... With the house, with
everything..."
As Mio bent down and covered her ears, she created a red aura.
"Is it really a Hanako? Might it be some sort of creature sent by the
demons that looks like a Hanako?"
Kurumi said, furrowing her eyebrows in doubt.
"Then... It's up to us"
Holding a slipper in her hand, Yuki gave off a green aura.
"...Be careful so you don't disturb the neighbors, use your aura
accordingly"
At Basara's words, Mio and Yuki calm down their auras.
"Is it possible that it's a demon?"
Maria shook her head in response to what Zest just said.
"Zest-san, you might not know much about it but... That is
impossible. The reason behind that is that the hatred for Hanako in the
demon realm is really intense. It's so great that even an assassin who
would use any method, even following orders to kill their own family
would not change themselves to look like a Hanako"
"I understand the sentiment."
Basara thought for a moment before shaking his head.
"However, what's up with the way it's moving? It should be obvious,
but normal cockro… Hanako can't move around like that"
"That's... right"
Pressing her finger to her forehead, Maria started thinking.
"Lets change how we're thinking about it. Even if someone wouldn't
change into a Hanako, there's the possibility someone might do
something to strengthen a Hanako."
"Strengthening huh? So in short, magic?"
"I see. There's indeed a way to strengthen one's body using potions"
Zest noded.
"That's right. If it's deliberately strengthened using magic..."
"But what's the point of strengthening a cockro... I mean Hanako? In
this world, they're gross."
"Ah... Then how about if it's transformed by accident by potion waste?
You know, like in the movies. Bio-something... What?"
Maria noticed everyone staring at her.
"Um.. Mio-sama? Basara-san? I don't think this is the time for you to
have lewd desires for me. Even a succubus would find it difficult in this
situation… Hah!? Or is it because of the situation!?"
"Anyways, Maria, I remember you throwing potions down the drain.
Be Honest, did you?"
"Yeah. I remember now. The other day I tried creating a portion that
stimulates arousal but also has a nourishing tonic effect on Mio-sama.
She got angry at me, and I flushed it down the toilet while crying. I never
expected for it to have this kind of effect…"
"You just had to flush it down! I don't really know, maybe you could
have thrown it out with the trash!"
"However, if it's like this... The opponent isn't a normal Hanako, we
have to prepare ourselves for that. It might be necessary for Basara-san
to use Banishing Shift."
She stared at the Gleipnir in Basara's hand.
"To be honest, I want that to be a last resort..."
He looked at Zest.
Zest met his eyes.
There's strong feelings behind her eyes.
"I'll be going"
Zest said with resolve.
"No, but... The opponent is a Hanako? If it's a demon like you it's..."
"Fortunately, as I don't really know about Hanako, I don't hold the
same fear for it as Maria-san and Mio-San. On top of that—"
Zest held her hands over her head.
The earth in the garden transformed, floating near her to make a
spherical shape.
It's her specialty, earth magic.
"If it comes to catching small living creatures, I believe I'd be most
effective. And while my speed doesn't match Basara-san exactly, I have
good reaction time."
"That's true. But..." Basara still sounded a little unconvinced.
"Please let me, Basara-sama"
Even though Basara wasn't entirely convinced, he nodded at Zest.
"Got it. Then, please"
"Leave it to me"
Zest walked towards the house with the ball of earth she created.
"Also, regarding the flushing down of the potion, we will investigate
that later with your other crimes"
"...I got it"
Maria moaned.
4
Zest stood still in the living room Basara was just in.
She remained quiet as she moved to catch Hanako.
She sent the ball of earth she created earlier to the shelf where Hanako
seemed to be hiding.
Since she's manipulating the earth using her magic, it doesn't dirty the
living room.
Zest waited for Hanako pushed out by the earth, all while discovering
a new method for cleaning off dust from difficult to reach places.
Finally, the moment arrived.
"—!"
Zest's senses are sharp, honed by battle, she was ready to catch this
Hanako that surpassed even Basara's incredible speed.
Hanako ran out of the living room trying to escape.
Zest's ball of earth couldn't keep up with Hanako's speed.
However, Zest readied her next action.
Around where Hanako was going through, earth had been spread out
thin.
Zest then held up her hand, the earth came rushing in all directions to
encase Hanako.
5
"Haah. As expected being home is the best. I want to clean and
disinfect, tomorrow I want to buy anti-Hanako spray or some sort of
potion that can kill Hanako for sure."
Mio said that with a relieved face as she sunk into the sofa.
"This is something that happens all the time in the Village but… Oh
well"
Yuki nodded at the yawning Kurumi.
Finally, Maria was sitting properly on the floor.
[5]
On her neck was a sign that said "Currently Reflecting. Will now
throw away magic potion with the burnables."
"There's no excuse this time"
"Basara-san—!"
As Maria called out to him, Basara only shrugged his shoulders.
Basara looks at Zest cleaning the now somewhat messy living room.
Zest narrows her eyes, looking kindly at Basara.
Basara had heard that she accomplished her goal.
They had first met Zest as a tough foe, but with the way they've been
able to build a relationship like this now, he could tell that the real Zest
is someone kind.
It made Basara happy.
"By the way..."
Maria said quietly, as she continued to sit properly.
"The demon realm has this story about Hanako"
"There's a lot of stories about the demon realms cockro... I mean
Hanako. I am really thankful the ones from this world aren't as big as a
gorilla."
"It's a good story this time. Once upon a time, there was a man
ordered to kill Hanako. But he was so kind, that even in the face of this
evil monster, gleaming black at the size of a gorilla, he couldn't kill it.
Because of that, without anyone knowing, the Hanako escaped. And
then..."
There was a knocking sound at the door.
Maria shook as she peeked towards that direction.
Mio and the two hero girls got quiet too.
The time is already past 1 in the morning. It's not a time for visitors.
It was already past 1am. It wasn't the time for visitors.
"...And then, what?"
"B-before that I want to ask... Zest-san, after you caught Hanako you
flushed it down the toilet right?"
Basara and Zest's eyes met once more.
"I don't want to kill when it's not necessary"
"That's kind of you, but!?"
The knocking on their door continued.
"I'll go get it"
As Zest approached the door, Maria and Mio screamed.