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After receiving the news, Yura immediately headed to the council hall.
Meanwhile, back at Bokue Keikain's room, who knows how much longer passed before things finally quieted down.
Inside the bedroom, Saeko Busujima remained seated in the young man's lap facing him, her arms looped around his neck as if she'd just finished a dance, her upper body arched high backward.
The scene seemed frozen in that moment.
By now, the entire room was filled with floral fragrance, hawthorn extract visible everywhere on the tatami mats.
After a long while, Saeko gradually came back to herself from the blank state her mind had been in.
"...Ngh, is... is it over...?"
She turned her head with some difficulty to glance at the wall clock. It was already nine o'clock—another full hour had passed since they'd woken up.
"Getting pretty late."
Bokue's hands rested on Saeko's waist as he spoke.
This one hour was far from Bokue Keikain's limit, but it was definitely Busujima-senpai's limit.
After all, they'd only just done that last night. Though after a night's rest her mental state and stamina had mostly recovered, it was still only morning. If he really went all-out without restraint, Senpai would probably have to spend the entire day in bed.
Plus, he had to consider the limits of Yura's patience.
Bokue was well aware that Yura had a habit of early morning training. While she didn't force him to join her early training most of the time, that didn't mean she'd tolerate him sleeping in indefinitely.
If he got up at eight, Yura definitely wouldn't say anything. Nine o'clock was still barely acceptable. Ten was already pretty late—she'd complain a bit. But if he dragged it out to eleven or twelve, she'd probably just break down the door and drag him out of bed.
At this moment, Bokue didn't yet know that a certain young Onmyōji girl had actually already come by while he was asleep and left with a belly full of good things.
"Let me help you get dressed, Kouhai..."
As Saeko spoke, she released her arms from around the young man's neck, bracing herself against the floor to stand.
But before she could put any force into it, Bokue pulled her back by the waist.
"Come on, I don't need to be waited on like some lord. If anything, I should be helping you get dressed, Senpai. Or are you saying you actually have plenty of energy left?"
"No..."
Caught in her bluff, Saeko's cheeks flushed slightly.
Honestly, after an hour of aerobic exercise, she really had almost no strength left. The two arms barely looped around the young man's neck were so soft they might as well be noodles. The only reason she'd lasted so long yesterday was because Bokue had been constantly replenishing her stamina with his own power.
As for offering to help Bokue get dressed, that was purely due to the traditional upbringing from her father since childhood, making her instinctively feel that at times like this, the woman should handle the cleanup work.
Including wiping down the body, getting dressed, and if bathing was needed, heating the water and attending to the bath, etc.
It sounded exhausting and exploitative, but this was the traditional Japanese concept of a wife.
Hmm... right, a wife.
Reaching that thought, Saeko found herself briefly stunned by her own thinking.
So without realizing it, she'd already started viewing herself as Bokue's wife?
Bokue didn't know what the girl in his arms was thinking. He simply held her while using his spiritual power to gradually clean her body before reaching for the clothes scattered on the tatami nearby.
Just as he pulled out the small black lace triangle of fabric from the clothes, preparing to help her put it on, Saeko—lying in his arms with a flushed face—suddenly poked his chest with her fingertip.
"Kouhai, um... do you have any tissues? Could you give me a couple?"
"Tissues? I have some..."
The body was already cleaned, so Bokue didn't know why she suddenly needed tissues, but he didn't ask further—just casually materialized a pack of tissues out of thin air and handed them to the swordswoman.
Without a word, Saeko pulled out two or three sheets, folded them into a pad, and pressed them against the entrance to her garden. Only then did she look up at the young man above with slightly bashful, moisture-filled eyes.
"Mm... this way it shouldn't leak out. Help me put on my underwear."
So that's it.
Bokue immediately understood.
The subsequent dressing process was quite sensual.
Probably because she'd never had such intimate contact with a male her entire life, Saeko remained bashful throughout—completely contrary to her usual composed and calm impression.
Bokue nearly couldn't resist the urge to pick up Senpai again for another hour-long battle.
Even so, by the time they'd both finished dressing, another quarter-hour had passed.
After tidying their appearance and opening the door, when Bokue and Saeko left the room and reached the downstairs corridor preparing to wash up, they heard the sound of the front door opening and closing at the entrance.
The young Onmyōji girl who'd earlier gone to the council hall meeting walked in from outside.
Perhaps because the meeting had lasted so long her legs felt numb, Yura's steps looked somewhat unsteady as she entered.
The three met at the corridor's intersection. Six eyes met in wordless silence.
Bokue mentally smacked his forehead, thinking he was screwed. Because he'd woken up and immediately gotten busy, he'd forgotten that officially he'd taken Busujima-senpai back to her hotel last night.
Yet now Yura had directly caught him with Busujima-senpai, clearly having just gotten up together. How should he explain this?
Just as the atmosphere was about to become awkward, Saeko suddenly bowed apologetically toward the young Onmyōji girl who'd just returned from outside.
"Sorry for the intrusion, Yura-chan. Because of Hagoromo-Gitsune's rampage, after Bokue took me back to my hotel yesterday, he was worried about my safety, so he ultimately persuaded me to stay here instead."
"..."
Well, technically there was nothing wrong with that.
Bokue had indeed brought Saeko back to the residence last night because he didn't want to leave her alone at the hotel while unconscious.
And the reason they'd progressed to this point was indeed because Hagoromo-Gitsune's rampage had caused them to encounter Tsuchigumo at Kiyomizu-dera.
From an objective standpoint... no issues.
"...Fine."
After a brief silence, Yura nodded with a cool voice, not saying much else as she turned her gaze toward the young man beside her.
"Speaking of Hagoromo-Gitsune, Brother, I just finished a meeting with the old family head at the council hall. According to reports, sometime between late last night and early morning, Hagoromo-Gitsune launched another assault on the three remaining Keikain branch families. Not only did she break their seals, but she also completely annihilated all three families—Fukuju, Yasojū, and Manaka."
"That fast??"
Bokue raised an eyebrow in slight surprise.
While he'd known these Keikain branch families were basically sitting ducks before Hagoromo-Gitsune, he'd originally thought that after consecutively breaking through the five seals at Fushimi Inari, Chūgū, Ryūen-ji, Seigen-ji, and Saihōgan-ji last night, she'd be temporarily done.
Turned out she'd doubled back and wiped out the remaining three families as well.
So basically she'd gone out for a midnight snack to fill her belly and then come right back to keep going?
"Which means..."
"Yes. According to the meeting's analysis, Hagoromo-Gitsune has now reclaimed all her power. She may even be stronger than she was four hundred years ago."
Yura said softly.
"Got it."
Bokue rubbed his chin.
"But it's fine. Just stay home with Busujima-senpai like a good girl, Yura. Leave the rest to me."
"...Okay."
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