KyokaSuigetsu
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Chapter 45. Restocking Supplies, Unexpected Encounter with Aki Hayakawa and His Whole Team
🕑 Added 2025-04-18 15:22:06 +0000 UTCHayashi and Tohru arrived at the general market.
After parking the van, they went inside to start shopping.
Vegetables, seafood, meat, fruit—basically, anything you could think of was available.
After buying the basic ingredients, Hayashi and Tohru took a trip back to drop things off.
Then they returned to explore other areas of the market.
As they passed the fruit section, both of them started craving some. It had been a while since they last ate any fruit.
Hayashi set his eyes on a watermelon, intending to bring it home.
“Do you like watermelon, Tohru?”
Tohru had never tried watermelons from this world before.
But after glancing at the expensive price tag, she mentally calculated what else they could buy with that money, and shook her head.
“I don’t like it right now, Hayashi-san.”
Hayashi had already noticed this habit of hers: she always checked the price first before saying she didn’t like something.
He shook his head and said directly to the shop owner, “Wrap up that watermelon. I’ll take it.”
The shop owner was overjoyed to hear that someone was buying a whole one. He enthusiastically helped pack it up.
While that was happening, Hayashi reached over and gently ruffled Tohru’s hair with a smile.
“Try it first. If you end up liking it, I’ll find a way to get them cheaper next time. Or maybe we can just grow a patch in our own courtyard—what do you think?”
“Grow a patch?!”
Tohru’s eyes lit up immediately.
“Hayashi-san, let’s go buy watermelon seeds then!”
“We’ll go in a bit.”
Just then, the shopkeeper finished packing up the watermelon.
Hayashi paid—just that one watermelon cost tens of thousands of yen, making Tohru visibly wince.
Carrying the watermelon, he and Tohru went to look for watermelon seeds.
And to their surprise—the seeds were expensive too!
There were indeed many varieties, but none of them were cheap.
Given Japan’s geographical conditions, most regular people who buy seeds just do it for fun. It’s hard to grow them big or grow them well.
Luckily, Hayashi’s Deep Night Diner was no ordinary place.
“Let’s get a few kinds.”
Hayashi didn’t overthink it and had Tohru buy a bunch.
After that, the two wandered around a bit more.
On the way back, they passed by a pajama shop.
The pajamas came in a wide variety of styles.
Hayashi glanced around and found one design that matched Tohru perfectly.
“Tohru, hold on.”
Tohru stopped and also looked—it happened to be the exact same design that caught her eye.
It was a full-body onesie shaped like a big green dinosaur.
There was even a dinosaur hood—if you pulled it over, you could cosplay as a walking dinosaur. It looked a bit like a green Godzilla.
It fit Tohru’s vibe perfectly.
Hayashi gestured with his eyes. “Go try it on, Tohru. I’ll buy it for you.”
Tohru looked a little shy.
“But that’d be spending your money again, Hayashi-san.”
“???” Hayashi blinked. “What are you talking about? You have a salary, okay? And this one’s on me. Go on, try it.”
Tohru playfully acted embarrassed.
“Then… I’ll try it!”
In reality, she was looking forward to it.
Hayashi waited outside, and not long after, Tohru came out wearing the big dinosaur onesie.
“Hahaha~~!”
Hayashi burst out laughing.
Tohru looked a little bashful, but he kept nodding with approval and immediately pulled out his wallet.
“This is it. We’re buying it!”
And so—
Tohru hugged her newly packed dinosaur pajamas.
Hayashi carried the watermelon.
Together, they returned to the van and drove home.
Along the way, Tohru was in an excellent mood, humming songs and constantly glancing down at the dino pajamas in her arms.
Hayashi rested his right arm on the window and started humming the melody, “O shi ka i da yo~.”
Tohru was surprised by the tune.
When he finished humming, she quickly asked,
“What song is that, Hayashi-san? It sounds so good—like there’s a sense of wild madness hidden in the hype…”
“Unravel,” Hayashi smiled. “Let’s just say it’s something I… borrowed from somewhere else. If no one claims it, it’s mine now.”
Unravel—a song full of pain and madness.
It was fiery, yet deranged.
Deeply infectious.
The van rolled forward toward home.
After entering the city, at the same time but in a different place—
Hayashi spotted Makima’s team again.
But Makima herself wasn’t there this time.
Instead, the team was larger than before.
Aki Hayakawa was leading the group, with Power, the short-haired woman Himeno, Kobeni Higashiyama, and a scar-faced man.
That was basically most of Public Safety's Special Division 4 under Makima’s command.
Nearly a full deployment?
Every member of the team was armed.
Aki carried a sword on his back, clearly the one linked to his Fox Devil contract.
“Are devils appearing recently?”
Hayashi thought for a second.
Didn’t seem like it.
By the roadside, Aki Hayakawa spotted Hayashi’s van.
He pulled Power along and waved to Hayashi.
Power looked delighted.
Hayashi waved back.
He stopped the car by the road, looked at the group, and asked,
“A full deployment? New faces too? A devil appeared?”
Hearing a sensitive question like that, Aki hesitated, wondering whether to respond.
But Power answered without a care.
“Makima-sama said there’s been devil activity near your place. One might show up in the next few days, so we’re patrolling, ready to subjugate it.”
Aki facepalmed helplessly.
Himeno, who was smoking, was also stunned.
Hayashi almost broke into laughter. He reached out the car window and patted Power’s head, and Power was happy to let him.
“Thanks, Power. Come by the diner when you’re free—I’ll treat you to golden egg fried rice.”
“Really!? I’ll be there once we finish the mission!” Power was ecstatic.
After gathering the info, Hayashi drove off.
Before leaving, he also told the group, “Drop by my place sometime. I’ll give you a discount.”
As they watched him drive away, Himeno turned to Aki and then to Power.
“You sure this guy won’t leak our secrets someday?”
Power immediately protested.
Before Aki could say anything, she wailed,
“You think just anyone can cook food like Manager Hayashi?! You jerks!”
Aki nodded. “The manager’s a special case. Makima-sama also chats with him often.”
At that moment, Kobeni Higashiyama raised her hand and added,
“Um, I think Manager Hayashi is really handsome. He doesn’t seem like a bad guy.”
Aki: …
Himeno puffed out a heavy cloud of smoke, thinking:
What kind of squad is this, seriously...?
