Becoming A Monk In Tokyo - Chapter 53

Chapter 53: She Has A Perfect Future

Hoshino Riho did not think that she would turn into a yokai one day. Looking at the monstrous being in the mirror, she still could not accept it yet.

The reflection in the mirror was simply hideous.

It had a strange appearance and its eyes were filled with hatred. On the face that was half-monster and half-human, struggle and manic was apparent. Its hands and feet had fully transformed into the claws of a yokai. The only thing that Hoshino Riho could accept was the big, fluffy tail on its back. She always could not resist fluffy things.

She always wished to have a teddy bear because it felt secure when she was sleeping. Unfortunately, as the most unwelcome child in the house, her wish was never fulfilled. Furthermore, she did not dare to use her hard-earned money to buy something luxurious like this as well.

Similar to many Japanese students, Hoshino Riho had been abused by her family. She had stood up before, bravely collected all the evidence required, and made a report at the police station. Things did change for the better after the intervention of the police, but soon, it deteriorated rapidly and took a turn for the worst.

When she returned home, everything that happened opened her eyes. Sometimes, mental violence was far worse than physical violence.

However, this was not what hurt her the most.

Hoshino Riho was brought into this family when her mother remarried a man that was now her father.

She remembered that her mother had adored her very much in the past. However, everything changed after her mother’s second marriage. In order to please her stepfather, her mother chose to close one eye whatever that was happening to her. In the end, she even joined them and began abusing her. This was what disappointed Hoshino Riho the most.

A situation like this was a hotbed for negative emotions. Hatred, anger, and all sorts of negative emotions manifested madly… until one day when she woke up from her sleep, she realized that she had become a yokai. Those negative emotions that she had been deliberately suppressed in the past surged and overwhelmed her. Then, countless whispers began to ring in her ears.

“Kill him. Kill that man. He only drinks and beats his wife and daughter. He even wanted to defile you! He is a dreg of society, a monster. He doesn’t deserve to live! Kill him!”

“Kill her. Kill that woman. Why won’t she protect you? Are you not her daughter? Why would she abandon you for a scumbag? Kill her!”

“Kill him. Kill that boy! He is ugly and fat. He is no different from that man. He stole your underwear and did unforgivable things to you! Kill him!

“Kill those people… They abuse you and didn’t change despite the intervention of the police! They blame all their mistakes on you. They resent you. They think that you shouldn’t save yourself… Kill them… Kill them all!”

Various whispers rang in her ears, filling her head. Hoshino Riho dropped to her knees and clutched her head, desperately trying to chase them away.

No, that was not what she wanted. Although she hated them and wished that they would die right away while having the urge to plunge blades into their body and ask them if they felt it or not, this was not what she wanted.

She did not want to destroy her life just because of these scum. She had the perfect plan for the future and was looking forward to her new life.

She was growing. She would use the money she had earned to fund herself at college. Then, she would work while in college.

She would leave those dregs behind and start a new life. She would meet her own man who would be kind and talented just like her biological father. She envisioned meeting him at a shrine. Together, they would travel. He would surprise her from time to time. Then, one fateful night, he would kneel on one knee and propose to her, asking whether she was willing to form a family with him or not. She would agree to his proposal after a short bout of hesitation.

Then, they would have their own child, a daughter who would be the most beautiful princess in the world. She would not let her daughter have a dark childhood as she had. She would…

“Huh? Why are you still resisting? Chop-chop and kill them all.” Suddenly, a voice erupted and snapped Hoshino Riho out of her imagination.

Startled, she raised her head. She saw a man—no, not a man, a yokai—gradually materialize from a dark corner of the room.

From her angle, she could see three identical faces. However, each of the three faces had a different expression and they looked terrifying.

“A…a yokai?!”

“Why do you look so surprised? Look at yourself. Aren’t you a yokai as well?” The face that was facing Hoshino Riho spoke with a big grin plastered across its face.

“No, I’m not a yokai… I’m human…” Hoshino Riho refuted as she recoiled.

Neither did she know why the yokai would appear in her room, nor did she know what it wanted from her. Therefore, she instinctively wanted to flee.

Just like how humans knew how to breathe, use their voice, and open their eyes the moment they were born, after becoming a yokai, she knew how to utilize her yokai power as if she had been born with it. As she slowly inched backward, her tail began to merge into the wall.

However, in the next second, her tail bounced out from the wall. She staggered a few steps forward and then realized that she could not go into the wall anymore no matter how many times she tried.

“Heh? Do you think you can escape from me? I am a great yokai who has cultivated for more than a hundred years! Do you know about the atomic bomb? I saw it explode with my own eyes. That scene… Oh my, I have never seen something so magnificent before,” the yokai blabbered.

Hoshino Riho retreated half a step back helplessly. She looked at the yokai in fear, then suddenly, the yokai’s grinning face changed. It spun its head as fast as a top, and in merely just a second, all four faces turned into a fearful expression.

As if startled by something, it began to step back before screaming out loud, “M-monk?!”

Trailing its gaze, Hoshino Riho looked toward the window and her heart almost leaped out of her throat.

There was a hand on the windowsill. A clean-shaven head popped up followed by a deadly serious face.

“So, you have cultivated for more than hundreds of years? But why do you have only a dozen yokai powers? Is it possible that you have been too busy causing trouble and didn’t have enough time to cultivate? But that isn’t possible, or is my calculation wrong?”

“Ah! A ghost!”

Apparently, she still had not adapted to her new identity as a yokai as she just turned not long ago. When she saw a head pop out from her window, the first thing that came into her mind was not to use her yokai power. Instead, she screamed out loud in astonishment.

Seizing the chance that Baishi Shū was distracted by Hoshino Riho, the four-faced yokai went through the wall and ran as fast as it could. They did not even leave a word which was a rare occasion when the four-faced yokai could work together without the need for conversation.

The clean-shaven head looked quietly at the four-faced yokai. He did not go after them but turned to Hoshino Riho and said, “Don’t worry. I’m not a ghost. I’m a monk. I suppose you should be able to differentiate between a ghost and a living human in your current state. Here isn’t the right place to talk though. Why don’t we talk somewhere else?”

Truth be told, Hoshino Riho’s heart had already calmed down. Perhaps this was the quality of a yokai.

The reason she had screamed was her involuntary action. She had been shocked by the yokai and the head, but now, she knew that the talking head was actually a living human. The person had just been hanging from the windowsill.

Suddenly, she heard some cursing from the corridor. Apparently, her scream had awoken her parents. They seemed angry, and she feared that she would not be able to control herself when she saw them.

As such, she nodded. “Where should we go then?”

“Let’s go to the roof.”

With that, Baishi Shū applied some force on his hand and leaped onto the roof in a swift, fluid movement. Holding the gilded staff, he smiled contentedly. “Now, I’m also a warrior monk.”