Chapter 42: Signing the Contract
Hearing Hachishaku's words and her pleading tone, both Yui Yuigahama and Yotsuya Miko were dumbfounded.
What is going on?
Hachishaku-sama wants Yoru to take her with him?
What the hell?
How did an interrogation turn into affection?
Could this be the legendary Stockholm Syndrome?
Are they enacting "Ghost" (1990 movie) right here?
As the person involved, Yoru's expression remained calm upon hearing Hachishaku's startling request. His eyes didn't even flicker, as if he had anticipated this. He simply smiled and said.
"It seems you are quite sensible."
The "Door" was an existence connecting two worlds.
Or to put it more thoroughly:
In a sense, the "Door" broke the boundary between life and death.
Regardless of the reason—whether due to her own uniqueness or sheer coincidence—Hachishaku, having merged with a "Door," was no longer an ordinary evil spirit. She could travel between two worlds and kill humans by bringing them into the Otherworld Kyoto.
Such an ability was priceless in the eyes of other evil spirits who desired to devour human souls but couldn't.
Was Hachishaku strong?
She was okay. After all, she was a famous evil spirit, and combined with the "Door," ordinary evil spirits were indeed no match for her.
But how many evil spirits lurked in this Otherworld Kyoto?
Amidst that thick black mist, how many unknown terrifying existences were there?
If this continued, Hachishaku would only meet one end:
Being devoured completely by evil spirits stronger than her who coveted the power of the "Door."
Evil spirits feared death too.
Moreover, Hachishaku had personally experienced the pain and torture of being devoured bit by bit.
She was very afraid of Yoru.
But by the same logic:
Since she was afraid of him, other evil spirits would definitely be afraid of him too.
As the saying goes: Good birds choose a tree to nest in.
Was it shameful?
Not shameful at all.
"In that case..."
Yoru stopped smiling and spoke slowly.
"Let's sign a contract."
In Miko's original experience, she signed a contract with the deities in the shrine.
The condition of the trade was to exchange everything she had for the right to have the deities intervene three times.
It was evident that in contracts, humans usually got the short end of the stick.
But the current situation was exactly the opposite.
Under the shocked gazes of Yui and Miko, Yoru uttered words they never expected.
"The condition of the contract is: You will become my assistant."
Yoru's first sentence sounded normal enough, but what followed completely changed the flavor.
"Six days of work per week, with one day off. Effective working hours are at least twelve hours a day. If you don't complete the work I assign within the specified working hours, you must do mandatory overtime. No overtime pay, and your bonus will be deducted."
"Holidays follow a compensatory leave system. You can take leave, but the missed working hours must be made up during normal days."
"During non-working off-hours, you must be on call. Whenever I call your name, you must appear immediately; otherwise, it will be treated as absenteeism for the day."
"As remuneration, your weekly wage is the permission to devour one evil spirit, plus my protection."
At this point, Yoru paused before continuing.
"By the way, the final interpretation right of this contract belongs to me."
"If there are no problems, we have a consensus."
Yui and Miko were stunned.
Good grief, exploiting even evil spirits?
You deserve to be hung on a lamppost! (Note: Capitalist exploitation metaphor).
Faced with this extremely unequal treaty, Hachishaku had absolutely no right to choose. She could only nod with a look of humiliation.
It couldn't be helped.
If she didn't sign, plenty of others would.
If Hachishaku didn't become his assistant, plenty of evil spirits would compete for the position.
Take it or leave it.
Seeing Hachishaku nod in agreement, Yoru could feel a subtle connection form between him and her.
Just as the Old Geezer had said.
The word "Contract" was a treaty passed down from ancient times between humans and spirits that absolutely could not be violated.
"Little Hachi."
Yoru walked over, patted Hachishaku on the shoulder, helped her up, and nodded with satisfaction.
"Following me ensures a bright future. Work hard from now on, and we'll become bigger and stronger, creating new glories."
"Those Four Great Evil Spirits like Emperor Sutoku, Sugawara no Michizane, Shuten-doji, and Nurarihyon—we'll crush them sooner or later."
"You have to develop together with the company and realize your personal... spirit value. Understand?"
Miko sighed and massaged her forehead. Why is he painting a pie in the sky (making empty promises) now?
To her surprise, upon hearing Yoru's words, Hachishaku actually looked delighted and nodded obediently.
"Mmhmm, I will definitely continue to work hard following you!"
Although Hachishaku was an evil spirit, in the past few hundred years, no one had ever "painted a pie" (given corporate pep talks) for her.
Miko felt the scene before her looked a bit like a naive country girl who just arrived in the city being tricked by an unscrupulous boss into becoming a hostess.
It was too abstract; she didn't know how to comment.
After delivering this corporate speech, Yoru finally nodded with satisfaction. He led Miko, Yui, and Sablé through the "Door" guided by Hachishaku back to Kyoto in the real world.
Hachishaku, merged with the "Door," was simply the tool spirit he had dreamed of.
The Otherworld Kyoto controlled by evil spirits was, in Miko's eyes, a dangerous place where death was almost certain.
But in Yoru's eyes...
This place was simply the highest-end buffet!
As he devoured more and more evil spirits, Yoru found that his recent night activities were becoming increasingly difficult.
The difficulty didn't lie in fighting the evil spirits.
It was that he couldn't find many evil spirits at all.
As soon as they sensed his aura, the evil spirits would flee like stray dogs.
Now, with a place like Otherworld Kyoto where food was everywhere delivered to his door, the timing was perfect.
Of course.
Although Hachishaku could open a "Door" anywhere, there were still restrictions.
Even if she created one, crossing the "Door" was still limited to those two time periods (Ouma-ga-toki and Oujin-no-toki).
And this ability had a cooldown of seven days.
(Note: The seven-day restriction is for Hachishaku's ability to open a "Door" at any location. It has nothing to do with the number of times the protagonist can go to the Otherworld. There are pre-existing "Doors" within Kyoto. The protagonist will go there every day later on.)
Anyway, although there were some surprises along the way, Miko awakened her soul manifestation and the ability to fight evil spirits, and they also gained intelligence about the other world.
Yoru was very satisfied with the harvest of this trip.
"Phew, finally back."
After crossing the door, Yui rubbed her eyes and pinched her cheek as if waking from a dream.
Seeing Miko and Yoru still standing in front of her, she suddenly looked surprised.
"So... that wasn't a dream just now?"
Yoru and Miko looked speechless.
Good grief. The length of Yui Yuigahama's reflex arc could stretch from Kyoto to Okinawa.
Just then, the door to the master bedroom suddenly opened.
"Yawn..."
Yui's mother walked out of the room yawning.
When she saw three people standing in the living room, including Yoru, a boy she had never met, she was completely stunned.
"What... are you guys doing?"