Ice cream

"Of course."

Asaba Kotone then took Kobeni Higashiyama to buy ice cream.

The ice cream vendor was frightened of Pochita too, so Asaba Kotone had to show his ID and offer a brief explanation.

Having to do this so often was a little troublesome, but he didn't mind.

Asaba Kotone bought three servings of ice cream in total.

One for himself, one for Kobeni Higashiyama, and one for Pochita.

They sat on a nearby bench. Asaba Kotone held his own ice cream in one hand and used the other to feed Pochita.

[Pochita's affection +5%]

Clearly, Pochita liked ice cream too.

But eating ice cream hadn't increased Pochita's affection by that much all at once. It included affection accumulated earlier.

The affection notifications only appeared in increments of at least 5%, such as 5%, 10%, and 15%. There were no notifications for 1% or 2%.

So this increase included earlier gains that had accumulated to 5%. Even giving Pochita a hug now and then would slowly build up affection.

"It's so good!"

As Kobeni Higashiyama ate her ice cream, a blissful smile spread across her face, and a rosy flush colored her cheeks.

Perhaps she was too excited to notice, because quite a bit of ice cream had gotten around her mouth.

[Kobeni Higashiyama's affection +10%]

[Kobeni Higashiyama's affection has reached 20%. Achievement reward obtained: constitution +1]

Kobeni Higashiyama's affection had shot up.

Asaba Kotone couldn't help feeling a little saddened. A single serving of ice cream could increase her affection so much because of how badly her family treated her.

In the original story, Kobeni Higashiyama's family had forced her to start earning money as soon as she graduated from high school to pay for her older brother's university education. Her only choices were prostitution or a dangerous profession like being a Devil Hunter.

Not only that, but even after becoming a Public Safety Devil Hunter with a high monthly salary, Kobeni Higashiyama still had no money because she handed it all over to her parents. Even the car she'd scrimped and saved to buy was meant to make driving her family around easier. Calling a family like that "vampires" was hardly an exaggeration.

Unfortunately, Kobeni Higashiyama had been too timid in the original story to break away from her family. Only toward the end, while hiding in Kishibe's safe house to escape Makima's pursuit, had she voiced her feelings. Deep down, she'd wanted to cut ties with her family for a long time.

Feeling increasingly sorry for Kobeni Higashiyama, Asaba Kotone instinctively reached out and wiped the ice cream from around her mouth.

He wasn't spending time with Kobeni solely for the collection rewards. He also wanted to help her resolve her family troubles, and he'd always liked her anyway.

Kobeni Higashiyama froze. Coming back to his senses, Asaba Kotone paused as well.

"Ah... sorry. I just did that without thinking..."

"It's... it's okay..."

Kobeni Higashiyama averted her gaze, the rosy flush on her cheeks growing deeper. Too embarrassed, she couldn't meet Asaba Kotone's eyes.

[Kobeni Higashiyama's affection +5%]

It was a little awkward, but he'd accidentally raised her affection again.

The awkward atmosphere lingered for quite a while before Kobeni Higashiyama's embarrassment gradually faded.

She stole a glance at Asaba Kotone and happened to see him feeding Pochita ice cream. She couldn't help saying, "You're really close to Pochita, Mr. Devil Hunter..."

"Yeah. Come to think of it, I don't think I've told you my name yet. I'm Asaba Kotone."

"Oh! Mr. Asaba, I... I'm Kobeni Higashiyama."

"Mr. Asaba...? Actually, we're the same age..."

Asaba Kotone pointed that out. Although "Mr." was simply a respectful form of address unrelated to age, being called that by a girl his own age felt a little strange.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Kobeni Higashiyama immediately grew flustered and apologized repeatedly. "Th-then... Asaba?"

"Yeah, yeah. Don't be so nervous. I'm not angry."

Asaba Kotone smiled.

A little later, Kobeni Higashiyama finished her ice cream and ate every last bit of the cone too.

"Thank you, Asaba. The ice cream was really good... This was only the second time I've ever had ice cream. My family bought me one for my birthday back in elementary school. The first bite was so good, but it was so good that I started running, tripped, and dropped it on the ground..."

Remembering what had happened back then, Kobeni Higashiyama felt terribly regretful. She'd only had a single bite before it fell on the ground and became inedible.

This time, being able to finish the whole thing made her incredibly happy.

If Asaba hadn't treated me, who knows when I would've gotten to have my second ice cream.

"I'll treat you to ice cream again when we get the chance."

"Huh?! Um... I..."

Although Kobeni Higashiyama wanted to say she'd feel bad accepting, the temptation of ice cream was too strong, making her reluctant to refuse. For a moment, she was torn.

"Then it's settled. I'll head back now."

With that, Asaba Kotone prepared to take Pochita back to the guild.

"B-bye."

It was almost six now, so Kobeni Higashiyama needed to hurry home too. Otherwise, her parents would lecture her for getting back too late.

Upon returning to the Civilian Devil Hunter Guild, Asaba Kotone found Aki Hayakawa sitting in the same seat as before, seemingly waiting for him.

Asaba Kotone sat down in his previous seat too, and Aki Hayakawa asked, "How's that girl doing?"

"She should be more or less okay now."

"That's good. Let's get down to business. From now on, whenever a job comes up, I'll try to grab it. I want to get to Tokyo Public Safety as soon as possible."

Aki Hayakawa needed to discuss this with Asaba Kotone, because he couldn't hunt devils so frequently and intensively on his own. Using the Fox Devil's power too often would take too much of a toll on his body, and the Curse Devil's power was best avoided whenever possible.

"I have no problem with that."

Asaba Kotone agreed.

"By the way, you're in such a hurry to hunt devils too. Are you also trying to join Public Safety somewhere?"

Aki Hayakawa asked with some curiosity.

"No, I'm not planning to join Public Safety for now."

Asaba Kotone had only said "for now," because once the collection unlocked characters associated with Public Safety, joining would only be a matter of time.

"Oh, okay."

Aki Hayakawa didn't press him further. "Do you have anything else to do tonight? If not, let's wait in the hall for announcements of devil sightings."

"Nothing else. Let's get dinner first."

Afterward, Asaba Kotone and Aki Hayakawa picked a restaurant and had dinner, then returned to the guild hall to keep waiting for announcements.

Asaba Kotone didn't sit idle during that time. He continued studying the materials for those subjects.

However, even after they waited until past ten that night, there was still no news of any devils appearing. Since it was getting so late, the two of them headed home to rest.

If you're enjoying this book, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you can find it again next time.