Let’s talk about Takana Mika.

This spring, Mika’s two adorable children entered the fourth and second grades of elementary school, giving her a little more free time. She decided to work at the locally-rooted supermarket Himawari Mart near her home, four days a week from 8 AM to 1 PM.

On her second day as a part-timer, Mika was entrusted with the key to Warehouse No. 4 and put in charge of its management. Little did she know, that warehouse held an unspeakable secret—a fact disgraceful for a supermarket: the presence of a black demon.

Takana Mika, an utterly ordinary 38-year-old housewife, was…

“Hey, hey, who are you talking to? Uh, and Mom, you’re 28, right?”

“…Ah, Kouhei. That’s right, Mom is 28. Welcome home.”

“Yeah. I’m back! Hey, hey, look at this! A spider! A big one!”

“Kouhei, I told you not to catch bugs bigger than your palm. Come on, let it go!”

“Ehhh—but I… my palm’s gotten bigger!”

Her younger son, just back from school, spread his hands open. Naturally, the large spider scurried away from his grasp.

Good grief.

Mika swiftly caught the spider and tossed it out the window by the front door.

“That spider will die if it doesn’t stay outside, so let’s set it free, okay?”

“Then what about this?”

Inside the hat he held out, roll, roll, roll—a pill bug tumbled around…

“……”

Silently accepting the offered hat, Mika stepped into the yard and released the pill bug into a patch of thick grass.

“Here, it’ll make its nest here, so try digging again tomorrow. More importantly, what about your homework?”

“Okaaay!”

Her younger son was currently obsessed with bugs. Did he know that the shrimp-fry-like larvae he sometimes found were actually caterpillars over 10 centimeters long? Did he know that the fuzzy violet-feeding caterpillars were actually non-venomous and could be held in his hand?

Mika, who quickly looked up the types of bugs her son brought home before promptly releasing them into the yard, was—whether she liked it or not—steadily leveling up her bug tolerance day by day.

“I’m home! Hey, Mom, can I keep this?”

“Welcome back, Ryouhei. What is it?”

“This!”

Her fourth-grade eldest son thrust his hand just five centimeters in front of Mika’s face.

Peeking out from his palm was the face of a lizard, its tongue flicking choro choro toward her…

“No keeping it in the house. It eats bugs, so let it go in the yard.”

Why did children always bring things so close to her face when showing them? Did lizardmen’s tongues flicker this much?

“But it’ll run away!”

“Then catch it again if it does. More importantly, what about your homework?”

“Ah, yeah. Oh, here—keep this snake skin nice and clean for me!”

Pulling a snake’s shed skin from his pocket, Ryouhei tossed it toward Mika.

Her eldest son was currently obsessed with reptiles. She had technically banned him from bringing live snakes home, but shed skins were allowed. Today, he had actually taken it out of his pocket properly, so she ought to praise him.

If Mika brought her kids to Himawari Mart’s Warehouse No. 4, they’d undoubtedly be thrilled. But as things stood now, she might lose to a lizardman.

Secretly, Mika thought to herself: Maybe I should teach them a little combat skill with a broom and dustpan first before taking them along.