The moment her eyes met Takumi's, Touko shyly lowered her gaze.
But she didn't retreat because of that shyness. Instead, she stepped forward and moved behind him.
Those thick, creamy-white thighs of hers swayed past Takumi's eyes, enough to hook a man's heart right out of his chest.
"Touko-san~ You really don't have to do this."
Inside, Takumi was excited as hell, but outwardly he still kept up a bit of that upright gentleman act.
Touko didn't answer. Her lips were pressed together, her eyes watery.
That only made her feel even guiltier.
She was using gratitude as an excuse while clearly harboring other thoughts.
Meanwhile, Takumi, a boy the same age as her daughter, seemed so pure and upright.
Overwhelmed by that guilt, Touko could only silently sink into the warm water.
In a voice softer than a mosquito's hum, she said, "Takumi-kun, let me wash your back~"
Maybe the water was a little too hot, because her fair skin had turned a rosy, glowing pink.
How could Takumi possibly refuse that?
"Well, when it comes to this kind of thing, I do prefer being behind you."
Takumi stood up, his voice carrying down from above.
Touko's heart trembled violently. Obediently, she lowered her head, turned around, and leaned against the edge of the bath.
As Takumi gently stirred the water, the kindness of a guest being welcomed into the host's home slipped further inside.
The thoughts in Touko's head, already hopelessly tangled, now shattered completely.
There was no room left in her mind for anything else.
Only Takumi remained, along with endless obedience.
The steam thickened around them, veiling everything, muffling every sound.
Meanwhile, Miko, who was out shopping with Hana Yurikawa, suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.
Out of nowhere, she had the strange feeling that her whole world was collapsing.
"Why do I suddenly feel like I need to go home?"
Miko muttered with a frown.
That feeling clung stubbornly to her heart, making her strangely restless.
Right then, beside her, Hana bit into the strawberry daifuku in her hand.
"Mmm~ It really is so good! If we'd gotten here any later today, we wouldn't have been able to buy any."
At that, Miko's attention was immediately pulled away.
She took a bite too, then blinked in surprise.
"It really is delicious."
Sitting beside her, Hana immediately said with a grin, "Right? It's squishy and soft, like eating butt~"
"I've never eaten butt."
Miko shot back with a laugh.
Hana immediately lowered her voice and asked, "So, how far have things gone with Takumi-kun? Have you kissed yet?"
"Why did you jump to that all of a sudden?"
Miko's cheeks instantly flushed pink as she shot back an irritated question.
Still grinning, Hana said, "Well, I haven't kissed anyone, but I feel like the texture of daifuku probably isn't that different."
"..."
That left Miko completely speechless.
She'd done a lot more than just kiss him, and tasted other places too, though not that place.
And Takumi's muscles were firm and hard, nothing at all like the soft squishiness of daifuku.
The more she thought about it, the lower her head drooped, a seductive blush spreading across her delicate face.
Hana kept teasing her until Miko was about ready to die of embarrassment.
And while the two of them were talking, a twisted, pitch-black cursed spirit shuffled past them.
The instant it came close, Miko didn't hesitate. She summoned the Hundred Demons Tome, blew it apart in a single strike, and had the Cat Grudge Spirit absorb it.
By now, Hana had long since stopped finding scenes like that surprising.
"That's the third one we've run into just today. All these ghosts are so ugly!"
Ever since seeing cursed spirits before, Hana had awakened Yin-Yang Eyes too.
By now, she was getting pretty used to these monster-like things.
Miko, meanwhile, let out a long breath, a smug little smile rising to her face.
Back then, whenever she ran into cursed spirits, all she could do was pretend not to see them and sneak away.
But now, she could wipe them out in an instant.
The feeling of going from prey to predator was unbelievably good.
She finally didn't have to spend every day on edge, terrified she'd piss herself from fright or get killed.
The more Miko thought about it, the more she felt that letting Takumi eat her up back then had absolutely been worth it.
At the same time, Miko also knew that her best friend Hana was pretty damn jealous of her now.
"Hana, Takumi should be able to make you like me too, especially since you already got dragged into the group. Once we're back at school tomorrow, we can ask him together."
Miko immediately made the suggestion. In her eyes, Hana had already been targeted by Takumi anyway.
It was only a matter of time, so she might as well give things a little push.
"Mmm~ okay! I want to be able to wipe those monsters out in one hit too, like you do, Miko!"
Hana nodded excitedly. Then, as if she'd suddenly remembered something, she jumped to her feet.
"On the way over here earlier, I think I saw a fortune-telling shop. The sign said it could handle fortune-telling, exorcisms, luck, romance, all of it, and that it had a super high success rate. The spirit medium there is really popular around here. Should we go take a look?"
What Hana really wanted was to see whether that old lady calling herself a "spirit mother" actually had any real power.
Now that she'd brushed up against the supernatural world herself, she was wildly curious.
"I'm guessing it's probably fake."
Taking another bite of her strawberry daifuku, Miko didn't sound very hopeful.
Before meeting Takumi, she'd already been to way too many places like that.
"It's fine, let's just take a look. What if it's real?"
Hana wolfed down the rest of the strawberry daifuku in just a few bites and eagerly walked off ahead.
Miko could only follow after her.
At that same time, Takumi came out of the Yotsuya house alone, casually evaporating the sweat from his body with magic.
"Touko was so damn wet~~"
His mood right now was unbelievably refreshed.
Touko's way of "repaying" him had really been thorough—she'd practically let him go all the way.
Different from a cold, glamorous CEO type like Mrs. Yukinoshita, Touko, a homey single mother, had a flavor of her own that lost nothing to Kirino's.
Just as Takumi was glancing up at the blazing sun and about to head back, a dragon flew across the sky overhead and descended right in front of him.
The moment the dragon landed, it transformed into Tohru in her maid outfit.
Carrying a shopping basket in one hand, she came bounding over to Takumi in high spirits.
"So you were here, Takumi! Rias said that if you're going to cook, you have to buy ingredients and stuff, so come with me!"
"Huh? Rias isn't going with you?"
"Is she worthy?"
"..."
Looking at Tohru's arrogant expression, Takumi immediately understood Rias's grievances.
"Fine, I'll take you. I'll show you the market around here. The nearest place is the market on Touma Street. Everything there's really fresh."
As Takumi spoke, Tohru had already shifted back into her dragon form.
"Get on, Takumi! I'll fly you there!"
Tohru said it eagerly, clearly looking forward to Takumi riding her.
...
For every 50 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.