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Meanwhile, Bokue Keikain—who'd left Yasaka Shrine earlier—had already returned to the Keikain estate.
Since he'd used teleportation techniques to return directly to a fixed point, when Bokue reappeared he was already inside the Keikain family head's residence. No one else in the Keikain family had seen his current appearance.
Opening the entrance door to enter the inner house, the corridor was utterly silent.
Though this was normal—at this time, Yura was usually in her room doing homework. Despite being a prestigious Onmyōji family, the Keikain children still had to attend school.
Otherwise, if they couldn't even read the characters written in the family's comprehensive Onmyōdō manual, they'd never become Onmyōji.
After brief consideration, Bokue decided to visit Yura first.
So crossing through the corridor and circling the courtyard, when the young man reached her door and slid it open, he saw that certain young Onmyōji girl sitting at her desk in the familiar bedroom.
However, Yura wasn't reading or doing homework right now. Instead, both hands gripped her phone tightly—its screen dark—her slightly pale face drawn tight, looking quite tense.
"What are you doing, Yura?"
"Broth—!?"
Hearing Bokue's voice, the young Onmyōji girl instinctively whipped her head around, only to freeze the instant her gaze landed on him.
What met her eyes was a boy appearing only about seven or eight years old, yet so familiar to Yura's eyes.
"Wait! You are Brother... right?"
Though "Brother" had already escaped her lips instinctively, the young Onmyōji girl still hastily dropped her phone, rising from the desk to approach the doorway. She bent down slightly, leaning close to examine and confirm carefully.
"It's me, it's me."
Bokue raised his hand to rub Yura's small head.
Previously, his hand could reach directly when naturally lowered. But now he had to raise it high to barely touch.
"I just adjusted my appearance a bit. Besides, this is what I looked like as a kid. Is it really that hard to recognize?"
"No... I recognized you, just wasn't entirely sure..."
Yura hesitated.
"So are you okay, Brother?"
"I'm fine. Perfectly fine."
Bokue spun in place.
"Just came back to tell you—I've handled everything with Abe no Seimei and Hagoromo-Gitsune. No need to worry anymore."
"I see... ah."
Yura still hadn't quite processed it, but if her brother said it was resolved, then it was resolved.
Then she made a soft sound.
"So you're not injured, Brother?"
"Injured? No."
As if hearing something quite unexpected, Bokue raised an eyebrow.
"Why would you ask that?"
"No... nothing, just seeing how you look right now..."
Yura hesitated again, but ultimately spoke out.
"Feels like you might have shrunk after running out of power."
Pfft...
Hearing this, Bokue nearly burst out laughing.
"How could that be? I'm not Gid Lucione Deviluke."
(Note: Gid Lucione Deviluke is Lala's father from To Love-Ru, who takes on a chibi child form after exhausting his power)
Besides, if fighting Abe no Seimei required exhausting his power, he might as well give up.
Honestly, Abe no Seimei's full strength was about equivalent to when Bokue had just awakened his Magnetic Field Rotation at age seven. At most, maybe slightly better endurance in prolonged combat.
"Anyway, you don't need to worry, Yura. I just temporarily changed my appearance a bit."
"Mm... that's good then."
Suppressing the urge to rush forward and hug him, Yura nodded gently.
Bokue tilted his head slightly past the girl to glance at the phone on the desk.
"Were you looking at your phone just now, Yura?"
"Not really. Just hesitating whether to call you."
Yura explained honestly.
"Since you said earlier you were fighting Abe no Seimei, I was a bit worried. But I was afraid calling would interfere, so I kept waiting for you to call me back."
"Ah..."
Bokue's voice caught.
He hadn't considered that Yura might be worrying about him alone at home. After all, he hadn't taken Abe no Seimei seriously at all, and after finishing, he'd stayed at Yasaka Shrine until now.
"Oh, and Brother, you just said 'came back to tell me'—are you going out again?"
Yura suddenly asked.
"Yeah... I am."
Bokue hesitated briefly, but ultimately nodded.
He could have answered righteously, but considering he'd just left Yura worrying alone at home for so long, he somehow couldn't bring himself to mention going back to Itogami Island tonight.
But deceiving her seemed even worse than disappointing her.
"Made plans with someone earlier. Going out for dinner tonight, so..."
"Will you come back tonight?"
Yura asked again.
"...Probably not."
Whether it was Bokue's imagination or not, when Yura asked "will you come back tonight," he suddenly experienced strange déjà vu.
He seemed to recall only Natsuki and Rias asking questions like that.
Now even Yura was asking. It felt a bit... hmm, probably overthinking?
"But I'll be back tomorrow."
Remembering he had to help Yasaka-neesan and Hagoromo-Gitsune move tomorrow, Bokue added that line.
"...Okay, fine."
After a brief silence, Yura nodded gently again.
The room's atmosphere immediately grew cold.
Bokue didn't know what to say either, so he simply pointed toward his own room's direction outside the door.
"Then I'll head over first. See you tomorrow."
"Mm..."
Yura didn't say much else. Not until the sounds of opening and closing doors came, finally leaving her alone in the room.
The young Onmyōji girl stared fixedly at the hazy sunset filtering through the paper windows onto the floor. Her hand unconsciously pressed against her lower abdomen, gently caressing it.
"Stupid brother..."
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Meanwhile, Bokue had already reached his own room's entrance.
He reached out to slide open the door. What met his eyes was a certain purple-haired swordswoman kneeling seiza-style on the quiet room's tatami, her katana—which had battled the Great Demon Tsuchigumo—placed before her. Back straight, eyes closed, she meditated.
"..."
Bokue—who'd been about to greet her—immediately stopped. He lightened his footsteps, entering the room.
But just as he reached Saeko Busujima's front without speaking or moving, the seemingly meditating swordswoman extended both arms to embrace him, then leaned her body slightly forward to kiss him directly.
"Don't underestimate a swordsman's perception during meditation, Bokue."
Saeko slowly opened her eyes with a smile.
"Plus, taking on this appearance—do you want me to lose control that badly, Bokue?"
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