Tokyo, Setagaya Ward.
A two-story house in a residential area.
This was where Roy was currently staying.
Though "staying" was a generous term—he was really just spending the night here.
"Boyfriend! Is this what a boyfriend looks like?"
"Our Ikuyo has been in your care!"
He still remembered how, just an hour ago, when he first arrived at this house, Ikuyo's parents had practically pounced on him like those overzealous in-laws from anime, their eyes practically shooting lasers as they grilled him on everything down to his family registry.
It was only after Ikuyo-chan vehemently denied their assumptions and her two friends backed her up that Ikuyo's parents reluctantly let Roy off the hook, though their faces were full of disappointment.
"Just some humble tea, please don't mind it."
Kita Ikuyo stepped onto the porch with a cup of green tea in hand, exhaustion written all over her face.
"My parents totally overreacted earlier. I'm really sorry—they must've been such a hassle, huh?"
"Don't worry about it."
Roy chuckled, unfazed.
He had already experienced this kind of treatment at Kirin's place, so encountering it a second time was nothing new.
"That's a relief!"
Kita Ikuyo visibly relaxed.
She really didn't want her parents leaving a weird first impression on someone they'd just met.
Though, admittedly, the person in front of her probably fit the definition of a "weirdo" in a more literal sense.
"You've got some guts, you know."
Roy took the tea from Ikuyo and took a small sip. The slightly bitter aroma instantly sharpened his senses.
"Most people would've run the other way after seeing something like that. Yet you actually came up and talked to me?"
After the battle in the Okubo district ended—
While Roy was tallying up his spoils, Kita Ikuyo had suddenly dashed up to him with an almost unbelievable amount of courage and initiative.
Her two friends had been stunned by her boldness, though to their credit—well, more accurately, the blonde one had been brave enough to follow her. The blue-haired girl had tried to make herself invisible, hiding behind cover like an ostrich burying its head in the sand, until the blonde forcibly dragged her out.
"Ahaha, yeah… Looking back, I kinda feel like I acted on impulse…"
Ikuyo scratched her head sheepishly. At the time, she hadn't even thought before rushing forward. Now that she'd cooled down, she realized just how reckless she'd been.
"Weren't you afraid I might be a bad guy?"
"If Roy-san is human, then of course you're one of the good guys, right?"
Ikuyo tilted her head, answering without hesitation.
She didn't mean that all humans were good.
Rather, since Roy—a human—had been fighting inhuman monsters, that must mean he was some kind of supernatural protector working in the shadows to keep ordinary people safe. A hero.
"Just like the Demon Slayer Corps!"
She pointed at a large poster hanging in the living room.
It was a poster for the currently trending anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, with Tanjirou standing front and center. Her dad had put it up.
Moreover, she had personally witnessed that little old man-like monster casually drop a massive meteorite, wrecking the streets without any regard for civilian casualties—definitely a villain. That meant Roy, who was fighting against it, must be the good guy.
"You should probably change that simplistic way of thinking."
Roy chuckled, neither confirming nor denying Ikuyo's assumption, merely offering an outsider's advice.
"We can talk about that later!"
Ikuyo laughed it off with a hahaha, brushing the topic aside.
She vaguely felt that Roy had a somewhat fatherly aura about him.
"More importantly, how are your injuries?"
"Injuries?"
Roy raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Yeah! Weren't you sent flying by that monster earlier? And your clothes were all torn up!"
Ikuyo replied with utmost seriousness.
When that twenty-meter-tall elephant-headed monster appeared, it had nearly scared half the life out of her.
Seeing Roy get sent flying had also given her a fright. She'd even wondered if they, the bystanders, would be killed by the monster if Roy lost. Fortunately, Roy quickly turned the tables and finished off the monster, proving his combat skills were rock-solid.
But after being sent flying like that, Ikuyo was sure he must have been injured. And with the subsequent battles against multiple monsters, his injuries might have even worsened.
"I see. So that's why you ran out and told me to come with you?"
Roy's expression cleared up in understanding.
When Ikuyo had suddenly rushed over, he'd thought she had something urgent to say. Instead, she'd immediately demanded he follow her. At the time, he'd wondered if the girl had lost her mind—but it turned out she thought he was injured and needed treatment.
"Well, that was part of it. But with you looking like that, I couldn't exactly take you to a hospital, so I had to bring you home instead..."
Luckily, her home was always stocked with a first-aid kit, and he hadn't seemed critically injured enough to require hospitalization, Ikuyo explained.
But now, as she looked at Roy again, he seemed perfectly at ease, exuding an unshakable calm as if nothing could faze him. There was a powerful, mature charm about him.
And his appearance—like a sculpture carved by the gods themselves—was tall yet youthful, looking about the same age as her.
Someone like him, with that kind of presence, would absolutely have a special attack effect on an inexperienced young girl!
No—wait, he might even deliver a critical hit to older women who preferred younger men!
No, no, no, no—what am I even thinking?!
Ikuyo shook her head vigorously, snapping back to reality and refocusing on Roy himself.
Upon closer inspection, the torn clothes he'd been wearing earlier had somehow been replaced.
Come to think of it, by the time he'd entered her home, he'd already looked perfectly presentable, hadn't he?
"Well, I appreciate the kindness, but it was a bit unnecessary. I'm not injured—I could jump into another big fight right now without any issues."
Roy smiled, thanking Ikuyo-chan for her concern, though inwardly, he hadn't taken the earlier battles too seriously.
Looking back on the entire fight, the worst injury he'd suffered was a bit of scraped skin when the elephant-headed deity had shoved him away—hardly worse than a stumble.
When it came to magical power, the little he had left was nearly depleted after subduing all fifteen cursed spirits, including Mahito and Ganesha.
Though he could forcibly squeeze more magical energy from his body to continue fighting, it had clearly become his biggest weakness at the moment. He needed to find a way to address this issue.
However, likely due to being distracted by the later-appearing cursed spirits, Hanami and Jogo had quietly disappeared.
When Roy finally thought to look for them, he found they were no longer in their original spot—only traces of their residual cursed energy remained. Moreover, it had likely been tampered with, too faint to track.
Thinking about it carefully, it was probably while he was distracted by those cursed spirits that Kenjaku, who had taken over Suguru Geto's body, rescued Hanami and Jogo.
Roy wasn't particularly bothered by this.
Hanami and Jogo were far weaker than Mahito in their current state. Though one had formidable defense and the other had devastating offensive power, their techniques weren't bad.
But to Roy, their value paled in comparison to those dozen or so cursed spirits with different techniques.
Especially Ganesha's technique—the conceptual ability to remove all obstacles—which Roy rated even higher than Jogo and Hanami's.
For Roy, obtaining powerful techniques and abilities was much harder than simply increasing his offensive output.
However.
For Kenjaku, Mahito should have been an extremely important piece. Yet he didn't come to reclaim him—was it because he didn't feel confident facing Roy?
Or was it that he didn't want to reveal himself to the jujutsu world at this stage?
"Really, not even a single injury?"
"Really. I can heal myself. Even if I were injured, I'd already be fine by now. If you don't believe me, do you want to check?"
Roy made a show of lifting the hem of his shirt, revealing a sliver of his abdomen.
"That won't be necessary! I believe you, I believe you!"
Ikuyo's face flushed slightly as she hurriedly waved her hands to decline the offer.
But he had abs, huh?
And they looked really firm!
What would they feel like to touch?
"...Seriously, what am I even thinking?!"
Ikuyo violently bumped her head against the hallway window, trying to drive the strange thoughts from her mind.
"This kid seems a little sick."
Roy gave Ikuyo a thoughtful glance.
Then, his gaze shifted away from her and landed on the golden-haired ponytailed girl outside in the yard.
She was probably on the phone with a guardian or something, explaining that she was at a friend's place and recounting tonight's events.
The blue-haired girl had already left earlier, saying her grandmother was critically ill.
A few minutes later.
The golden-haired ponytailed girl approached the two with an apologetic expression.
"Sorry, Ikuyo-chan, I have to go home. My uncle won't let me stay out overnight."
"It's fine, you should go back. Making sure your family isn't worried is more important!"
"But what about here…?"
"I'll take care of hosting Roy-san! Don't worry, I've already talked to him—he's a good person."
"Sorry, I'll come back early tomorrow!"
The golden-haired ponytailed girl glanced at Roy. His expression was calm yet warm, like the surface of a lake under the summer sun, giving off an impression of serenity and peace—completely different from the man he had been during the battle earlier.
Seeing that Roy didn't seem difficult to get along with, the girl felt much more at ease. After apologizing to Ikuyo, she quickly left the Kita residence and hurried toward the station.
The girl's name was Ijichi Nijika, the famous "Great Angel of Shimokitazawa," also affectionately known as "Mama Nijika."
The blue-haired girl from earlier was named Yamada Ryou, also famously known as a bit of a scoundrel.
Along with the universally beloved "Lady of Coming and Going," Ikuyo-chan, these three already made up three-quarters of the Kessoku Band.
Who knows where the not-so-famous socially anxious Bocchi-chan, who turns into a puddle under the spotlight, is now?
Surely she couldn't have been caught up in the earlier battle, right?
If she had really been caught up in it, these three wouldn't be acting so normal now.
Most likely, they just didn't bring her along.
Tsk.
Poor Bocchi-chan.
It probably goes without saying that Roy, upon hearing Ikuyo-chan's name, had pieced together the identities of the three girls and casually agreed to her request, ending up at her house.
"Ikuyo-chan, would you say your family counts as refugees?"
Roy sat on a chair by the corridor, taking a sip of green tea from his cup as he casually asked Ikuyo.
Ikuyo-chan?
Calling her that on their first meeting?
Ikuyo was a little surprised by Roy's familiarity, but since she was also quite the outgoing type herself, she didn't mind much. She just laughed and waved her hand, giving him a look that said, "What are you talking about?"