20: A Girl In Love

Kana didn't know what had been happening to her lately. She found herself thinking about Natsuo far too often, and whenever he was around, she would catch herself staring at him without even realizing it.

She found herself enjoying the time she spent with him and wanting to talk to him more. But since arguing with him was the only way she knew how to interact with him, she kept provoking him just to get his attention.

Kana wasn't dense. She knew exactly what she was feeling. It was love, but she didn't want to admit it! Why the fuck had she fallen for that bastard?!

He was always so mean and tactless! He was constantly getting on her nerves! Damn virgin bastard!

Wait! He wasn't a virgin... Damn, that creep had fucked his stepsister!

"Ahh! I want to die!!! So embarrassing!"

Kana buried her face in the pillow, slamming her fists into it and kicking her legs against the bed while crying. Her face was deep red with embarrassment and shame as she remembered that she had actually tried to kiss that bastard! She wanted the earth to split open and swallow her whole!

This moment would be added to her dark history forever!

Natsuo, that bastard, was also at fault! How could he not understand the mood? Who the hell started talking about something like that at a moment like that?!

Knock! Knock!

"Kana, it's time to go!" At that moment, Hilda's voice came from behind the door as she knocked on it.

"Agh! I'll be ready in a while." Kana initially thought it might have been Natsuo, but when she heard Hilda's voice, she let out a groan and stood up from the bed. "I'm such an idiot for expecting him to make a move. Dense bastard!"

She changed her clothes and walked out of the room. Then, along with Hilda, the two of them left the house to search for other parasites.

"What's wrong? You seem down." Hilda asked.

"N-no! It's nothing!" Startled, or perhaps because she felt guilty knowing that Hilda was now Natsuo's foster mother, Kana quickly shook her head and waved her hands.

There was no way she would tell anyone that she was in love with Natsuo! That was far too embarrassing!

...

Away from the girl struggling to properly process the emotions she couldn't understand, Natsuo and Chelsea met with Shinichi at a park in East Fukuyama City.

"Hilda-san isn't coming this time?" Shinichi asked, sounding slightly disappointed that the big breasted, beautiful milf, Hilda, wasn't there this time.

She was beautiful and powerful too. Watching her use magic was amazing. It wasn't every day that you got to see someone casually shooting fireballs at others.

"What, are you disappointed?" Chelsea gave him a smirk while holding a lollipop in her hand. She wrapped an arm around Natsuo's shoulder and said, "This time, our leader will be coming with us. We will inspect the city hall. We suspect that Takeshi Hirokawa, the Mayor, is working with parasites."

She had actually already inspected the place. According to her estimation, there were around forty to fifty parasites there, but she wasn't certain since she didn't have the ability to detect them. She had wanted to bring Kana to help her, but her detection range was very short compared to Migi's. However, if she brought Migi along, the other parasites would also be able to detect him, and they could potentially attack them.

She wasn't confident that she could deal with so many parasites, even with the help of the others, so she had chosen to come at night, when many of them would likely not be at the city hall.

"The Mayor? How could this be?" Shinichi was shocked. "They've infiltrated that deeply! People are in danger! We need to tell the police!"

"What are you going to tell them? Are you sure they would believe you?" Natsuo spoke, staring at his right hand. "Besides, I don't think your friend is okay with that."

Telling the police and government was actually a good choice. They could tip them off without revealing their identities if they wanted to. However, that didn't work in Natsuo's favor, nor did it work in the favor of the others, since they had to hunt a hundred parasites themselves. They couldn't simply hand their prey over to someone else.

Besides, in the anime, the government eventually noticed the parasites as well. Perhaps they already knew about them, but they were simply taking their time to gather enough evidence or mobilize their manpower before making a move.

"Indeed," Migi spoke at this moment.

The three of them didn't linger in the park for too long before leaving and heading toward the City Hall. Chelsea drove the car, but not long after, Migi told them to stop after detecting a parasite approaching them.

"It's coming our way," Migi said.

Chelsea immediately changed course and turned into a rather remote area, keeping her speed slow enough so that the parasite wouldn't lose track of them.

Next to a rundown building, the car came to a stop, and the three of them got out. Chelsea stood in front of Natsuo, gazing toward the direction behind the car. Soon, a man wearing a formal suit emerged from behind the building.

"Three? I can sense only one." The man was surprised when he saw three people. He had thought that only the parasite who had led him to this place was here. "Are you sharing your food?" He glanced at Natsuo and Chelsea and asked.

He walked forward, getting closer to them. However, he soon noticed that Shinichi was acting strangely, and the look in the man's eyes changed.

"Something is wrong with you. It's you! The traitor!" The man quickly turned around and tried to run.

Although Shinichi hadn't spoken a single word or moved, the man immediately realized from his expression alone that he wasn't a complete parasite. According to Reiko Tamura, the traitor who had been helping humans kill them had failed to take over the brain and was only controlling the human's right hand.

Many of his allies had been killed recently, and Reiko Tamura had warned them several times that these people were very strong. He didn't have the confidence to defeat them.

Swoosh!

Unfortunately for him, he had only just started to run when a fireball shot forward and hit him in the back. Flames ignited across his body, burning through his clothes and flesh as the man fell to the ground and desperately rolled around, crying out in pain.

His head split apart into four writhing tentacles, flailing wildly as he tried to extinguish the flames while continuing to roll across the ground, but it was all in vain. The flames only died down after he stopped moving, leaving behind a charred human body with a deformed, dried upper body.

"Natsuo, you were so fast!" Chelsea was taken aback when she saw the scene and immediately slapped Natsuo's chest with a wide grin. "You actually mastered chantless magic so quickly! How did you do it?"

She had grown accustomed to Hilda using an incantation before casting magic. Even though the incantation for Fireball was short, it still took a couple of seconds. At first, she had intended to incapacitate the parasite and give Natsuo a chance to finish him off. She hadn't expected him to cast a Fireball and kill him before she could even make her move.

"..." Despite being praised, Natsuo felt somewhat offended. He wasn't fast! He liked to take his time! In the end, he replied, "Yeah, I mastered it this morning. It was easier than I thought."

"As expected of our leader, you are a genius!" Chelsea slapped his shoulder once more, making him wince.

"Maybe I am?" Natsuo shoved her hand away and rubbed his shoulder as he spoke. It was a strange feeling, being praised by a beautiful woman like Chelsea, but he felt that he could really get used to it.

Maybe he was a genius.

"Who are you guys? Using magic? That's unscientific." Migi's voice interrupted them. His multiple eyes stared at Natsuo as if he were some alien creature as he asked the question.

"I don't know. Maybe we were sent by God to help humans deal with your kind?" Natsuo merely shrugged his shoulders and offered some stupid excuse. If there really was some higher force interfering in this world, it would probably be helping the parasites kill humans, because they were the ones destroying this planet.

Maybe they were sent by some cosmic being to cleanse the Earth.

"God's help?" Astonishingly, Shinichi actually believed Natsuo's bullshit. "Does God exist?"

"That's unscientific!" Migi said.

"It's a secret." Chelsea nudged Natsuo in the side with her elbow and answered Shinichi and Migi's question with a cryptic smile.

The four once again got into the car and quickly left. Although Natsuo knew how to drive, he didn't have a driving license yet. On the other hand, Chelsea had managed to learn how to drive fairly quickly and had even passed the driving exam.

Natsuo hadn't taken the exam because he simply hadn't had the time. He was far too busy training and making money.

The trip was calmer this time around as they drove closer to the City Hall. Once they were about 500 meters away from the building, Migi told them once again that he could sense more parasites. This time, he sensed three parasites moving together.

"Let's deal with them first." Natsuo looked to his side, meeting Chelsea's gaze, and spoke calmly. He had been training for so long that it was time to show the fruits of his training. Besides, after killing that parasite earlier, he had gotten some gauge of how his strength compared to theirs. He felt that with him and Chelsea working together, dealing with three parasites shouldn't be a problem.

They also had Migi, who was very strong as well. So, in a three versus three scenario, they had the upper hand.

...

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