"Whoa… This man's business is actually booming?"
Looking at the scene before her, Remilia had a strange expression on her face.
The pet food store Ren just opened was suddenly flooded with customers.
Unfortunately, they were almost all demons; very few were human.
Probably only that small portion of humans were genuinely interested in buying pet food…
Meanwhile, Natsuki, maintaining order, spoke with a slightly complicated look.
"Since it can enhance strength—even if only slightly—everyone's hoping small gains will lead to a breakthrough. There's no way this business won't do well."
Compared to Natsuki, Flandre looked bored, sucking on her finger.
"Seriously, if big brother's so busy, he won't have time to play with~ us."
"Exactly! That jerk promised to help us get stronger. Now where'd he run off to?"
Not just Flandre—even Remilia was looking upset.
He promised to help improve her strength, and now he's just running a business?
To that, Natsuki simply shrugged.
"Without him watching the place, who else could keep all these devils in line?"
Natsuki still remembered when the store first opened, a devil tried to rob the place after seeing the benefits. Ren sent him flying with just one finger. The guy was completely unrecognizable, like he'd been crushed by some terrifying force.
The last time Natsuki had seen someone that badly injured was when a guard got hit by Flandre's gaze.
No—wait… even Flandre's power didn't cause injuries that horrific.
When the guy was taken to the hospital, it was like some unknown force was barely keeping him alive.
If not for that, he'd be long dead.
That was a real demonstration of what "clinging to life by a thread" means.
Since then, no one dared cause trouble there.
"Isn't there Ophis? Let her watch the shop!"
Remilia spoke as if it were only natural. Since she was Ren's pet, she should look after the store, right?
But Natsuki understood Ren's hesitation. Ophis always looked absent-minded, like she didn't care about anything but Ren. She probably didn't know how to hold back and would kill someone accidentally. Ren was worried about that.
Turns out, this guy actually had a sense of proportion.
Thinking that, Natsuki's lips curled up. Looked like she could relax a little.
"What are you all doing?"
A sudden voice startled Remilia so much she jumped—and clutched her head while doing so.
—Click!
The shutter sound went off. With a practiced motion, Ren captured yet another photo that would drive anyone crazy.
"Waaaah! You damned man, don't take these kinds of photos so fluently in public!"
"Sorry, persecuting Remi has been deeply engraved in my DNA!"
"Stop engraving everything into your DNA!"
As Remilia and Ren started bickering again, Natsuki let out a breath of relief. She herself had nearly jumped earlier, but luckily Ren hadn't noticed.
"Big brother finally has free time! Come play with Flandre!"
Ignoring her sister's tantrum, Flandre flew onto Ren's back and rested her head on his shoulder.
Seeing this, Remilia was gritting her teeth in jealousy.
Why is this man so close to Flandre? He feeds her in the morning, and at night Flandre almost goes to sleep with him…
Wait—he's been feeding me breakfast too… My pride as Remilia Scarlet… is gone…
Realizing this, Remilia once again collapsed into self-doubt.
Today, this poor vampire lady had once again lost her dreams.
Watching her curl up in the corner, Natsuki ignored her and turned to Ren.
"You're not worried about people stealing stuff if you're not in the shop?"
"Ophis is watching it."
"???"
Natsuki blinked in surprise. She had assumed Ren wouldn't let Ophis do it.
"You're not worried Ophis might kill someone accidentally?"
"Relax. I told Orphis—if it's a human, just grab them. If it's a demon, beat them until they're barely breathing. Someone will call an ambulance eventually."
"What if she kills them anyway?"
"There are so many demons on Island Itogami—missing one isn't a big deal. Besides, they were the ones breaking the law first."
Natsuki: "???"
Alright, I take back what I just thought about him being reasonable.
Embarrassed and silent, Natsuki quietly revoked her earlier sentimentality.
"I came to find you for a reason, Natsuki…"
After calming Flandre a little, Ren looked seriously at Natsuki.
Now that things were more stable on Island Itogami, it was time for him to get serious.
His research on nekomata bloodline crystals had advanced to the point where he could stably produce purple-grade pet food.
But it used up too many materials…
First was purifying yokai energy into crystals. This might seem easy, but one mistake would make the pet food incompatible with different nekomata, since their energies differed.
Just like magic could have various attributes, so could yokai energy.
A simple example: Inuyasha's Tessaiga could absorb yokai energy and even change form depending on what kind it absorbed—like breaking barriers, turning into diamond-form, or flaming sword.
That's the difference in yokai energy.
Ren's yokai crystals had to be compatible with all nekomata to be effective.
That first step alone took immense effort.
Then there was the issue of how bloodline purity affected the power of yokai energy… not even worth getting into here.
Right now, Ren could produce purple-grade food with some consistency—but not perfectly.
Also, Kuroka's blood wasn't unlimited. It was better to find new materials.
Like—True Ancestor Bloodline Crystals!
"Natsuki, do you know about the Fourth Progenitor?"
As soon as Ren spoke that name, Natsuki's expression turned serious.