NOVEL NEXT Chapter 43 - Chapter 43: Oni Man
Chapter 43: Oni Man
An oni man walks straight towards us. He’s tall and muscular. Gisella steps forward. The man has the same brown skin and gray hair as Shiro and Gisella, and he has horns. So, this is an oni man. I have a feeling this won’t end well… He’s about the same height as Gisella, with a similar build. His expression is quite hostile, but he has a sharp face and is quite handsome. However, his clothes are tattered and dirty. Compared to Shiro and Gisella, he has a slightly younger-looking face. Maybe he’s unexpectedly young.
“Hey, why is a human like you walking around with an oni woman?”
“Is it any of your business?”
Before I could answer, Gisella replies. It’s a cold tone I’ve never heard from her before. Can she even speak like that? I’m getting nervous.
“I’m asking this guy.”
“We’re walking together because we’re friends.”
“Are you saying a human and an oni woman are friends? Are you kidding me? You come here—”
As the oni man tries to reach out to me, Gisella grabs his wrist and twists it. The oni man suddenly looks panicked.
“W-What are you? Are you going to fight me?”
“Huh?”
“Fine, you damn woman! Prepare to— Ugh!”
It seems Gisella was already prepared. She twists his wrist and knees him in the stomach while still holding onto his wrist, and the man collapses.
“Let’s go, Bonus. This is what oni men are like…”
“W-Wait! It’s not over yet!”
It’s not a main street, but a crowd has gathered. They seem to be watching from a distance. I feel completely out of place. I want to blend in with the crowd.
“There’s no way such a weak attack would work!”
This time, the man tries to punch Gisella. He seems to have some sense not to use the sword hanging at his waist. However, Gisella effortlessly dodges his fist with a cold expression and punches back. Multiple times. Mechanically repeating. Her usually relaxed and somewhat alluring face now looks terrifyingly ruthless. The oni man’s face is changing shape as I watch. No matter how high his recovery ability, that must be painful. How many punches has he taken? The man finally collapses to the ground.
“Ugh… I hate this…”
“This is getting troublesome. Should we go back to Shiro and Kuro?”
The crowd is shocked by the one-sided confrontation. I don’t feel like shopping anymore.
“Y-You can’t be serious! It’s not over yet!”
“Ugh, seriously…”
With a swollen face and blood oozing from various places, he tries to act tough while barely standing. Gisella resumes hitting him like a machine. It’s starting to look pitiful, but the man is still standing. Onis are truly formidable. I’m confident I would have been knocked out with one punch. Gisella is quite something too. If I hadn’t seen Shiro fight before, I might have panicked. Oh, he fell again.
“Hehe, stop… please…”
Uh-oh, this isn’t good. In the oni village, oni women apparently find violent oni men cute. I kind of understand why now. Despite being beaten up, his efforts to act tough seem somewhat admirable. But maybe it’s time to stop. But how do we stop this…?
“What are you doing?”
“Oh, Shiro.”
Just as Shiro arrives from behind the man, he turns around and grimaces at her.
“This guy tried to attack Bonus.”
“W-What—”
Before she can stop him, Shiro straddles the man and starts punching his face. The sound of punches and impact echoes like a construction site.
“Shiro, stop! He’ll die, he’ll die! Gisella, stop Shiro!”
After managing to calm Shiro down, the oni man seems completely obedient.
“S-Sorry… for the trouble.”
“Bonus… we should’ve just killed him.”
“No, thanks to Gisella, he didn’t directly harm us.”
Thankfully, he’s still alive. Since the crowd is getting in the way, we move to a different street. The oni man seems to be recovering slightly. Thank goodness… I’d feel guilty if his face didn’t return to normal.
“But why did you approach us?”
“I wanted to ask how you became friends with an oni woman.”
“Yeah? Is that all?”
“Yeah. I wanted to hear a little about something, but then that oni woman attacked, so I just fought back.”
“I punched you because you tried to attack him.”
Well, this oni man did seem like he was about to say something…
But still, even if he didn’t mean any harm, I think it’s confusing to make sudden moves like that.
“Well, there was nothing particularly special between Shiro and me. I asked for her help as a bodyguard, and then we ended up eating together and naturally became friends. And I just recently met Gisella. She’s an acquaintance of Shiro’s.”
“I don’t really understand, but… got it.”
What a strange situation.
Well, he seems submissive all of a sudden, so as long as he doesn’t come attacking us again, it’s fine.
“Let’s get back to business. It’s not fair to leave Kuro alone.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I asked Melanie to look after her, but let’s hurry back.”
“Gisella, Shiro, are your fists okay?”
“Yeah.”
“We’re good~”
It’s good that both Shiro and Gisella have returned to their usual selves.
Especially Gisella, who showed a side of her I’ve never seen before. It was a bit scary.
I’ll try not to anger her.