Chapter 135: Swarm Escape
Kazami Yuuka eventually relented and sat down. While Youmu went to gather more seeds, the three of them settled around the table, the quiet punctuated only by the soft cracking of shells.
Haruto's gaze drifted toward the Mansion of Dreams. "Didn't I give you half a bag of those Ghost Seeds?" he asked suddenly. "Why haven't you planted them yet?"
"…"
The question hung in the air, successfully rendering Kazami Yuuka speechless. She turned to face Haruto, her expression a masterwork of silent accusation that screamed, How dare you even ask that?
Beside them, Youmu nearly choked on a seed, her face a canvas of pure astonishment. To ask Lady Yuuka to help plant such things was already audacious enough, but to suggest she plant them on her own sacred territory?
Youmu couldn't help but imagine the magnificent Sunflower Field, its vibrant yellows replaced by a sea of eerie, spectral Ghost-Faced Flowers. She shivered involuntarily; the scene was simply too horrifying to contemplate.
"Hngh—!"
A sudden, tingling jolt shot through her, causing Youmu to let out a strange, involuntary sound. She looked down to find that her Half-Spirit had somehow ended up in Haruto's hands.
Feeling Kazami Yuuka's subtle gaze on her, Youmu's face turned beet-red with embarrassment. She lowered her head, her voice a flustered whisper. "Haruto-sama, didn't I tell you? Please give me a heads-up before you… take my Half-Spirit."
"Sorry, I forgot," Haruto replied nonchalantly, kneading the soft, marshmallow-like entity. "Definitely next time."
He had to admit, Half-Spirits were incredibly useful. They provided a refreshing coolness in the summer and served as a cozy blanket in the winter. They worked as pillows or cushions and even possessed a miraculous auto-clean function. Haruto had only discovered this feature recently.
Once, after finishing some snacks, his fingers were sticky with crumbs and chocolate sauce. He had reflexively wiped them on the Half-Spirit, only for it to automatically absorb the mess. It had even opened a slit like a small mouth, taken his finger inside, and licked it completely clean.
"Is this a Half-Spirit?" Kazami Yuuka's gaze fell upon the floating white orb, a flicker of genuine interest in her crimson eyes.
"Want to hold it?" Haruto offered.
Yuuka turned to look at Youmu, who didn't dare refuse her unspoken request and could only nod weakly.
"You may, but as long as you, Lady Yuuka—hngh… wu-wu…"
Before she could finish her sentence, Youmu went completely limp. Her hands rested powerlessly on the table as her delicate body trembled uncontrollably, a soft whimper escaping her lips. It wasn't until she managed to temporarily sever her connection with the Half-Spirit that the overwhelming waves of stimulation finally vanished. When she looked up again, her youthful face was flushed crimson, a dazed, unfocused look lingering in her eyes.
"Lady Yuuka! Please… please don't use your youkai power!" she pleaded, her voice shaky.
Seeing her state, Haruto finally remembered that the Half-Spirit was, in a sense, the other half of Youmu's soul. Kneading it with hands brimming with youkai power was practically the equivalent of giving her a full-body, deep-tissue spa treatment—and Yuuka's youkai power was a super-enhanced, top-tier version.
'When I did that, Youmu didn't react this strongly,' he mused, before the reason dawned on him.
At the time, his own youkai power had been practically non-existent. At most, it could be considered a light massage. Plus, that had happened right next to Yukari and Yuyuko; even if Youmu had felt something, she couldn't have possibly moaned like this and could only grit her teeth and endure it in silence.
"Fine," Kazami Yuuka nodded, but as she did, her hand quietly increased its output of youkai power by another twenty percent. She watched Youmu's reaction intently. Seeing no further abnormalities, she finally withdrew her power completely.
Haruto took in the entire scene with a deadpan expression.
'Seriously? Where's your integrity, Yuuka?' he thought, sighing internally. 'She must have been corrupted by Yukari. At this rate, the responsibility for maintaining all the integrity in Gensokyo is going to fall squarely on my shoulders.'
After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Kazami Yuuka returned to the Mansion of Dreams, while Youmu, as a matter of course, stayed the night. It wasn't until the next afternoon that she finally returned to Hakugyokurou.
Yakumo Yukari happened to be present at the time. She and Yuyuko simultaneously cast admiring glances at the young gardener, their faces clearly written with the shared sentiment: The child has grown up.
Haruto, meanwhile, fell back into his comfortable routine of eating, sleeping, and playing games.
Time slipped by, relentless and unnoticed. In the blink of an eye, more than a month had passed. Then one day, a long-awaited voice rang out in Haruto's mind.
[Instance 4 is about to begin. Please be prepared.]
The moment the voice faded, a countdown timer appeared in his vision. Unlike the tracking card, the preparation time for his own instance was quite ample—a full hour.
Haruto immediately contacted Miko and Lin Xuelao. After confirming that both had received the instance invitation, he got up, went to Eientei to fetch Kaguya, then rushed with her to Hakugyokurou to find Youmu.
This was the first time Kaguya had ever set foot in the Netherworld. As one of the immortal People of Hourai, she was naturally disconnected from the concept of death. And as a veteran shut-in, her willingness to even visit the Human Village was surprising enough, let alone the far-flung world of Hakugyokurou.
When Haruto and Kaguya arrived, they found the place empty. In all likelihood, Youmu had gone out to eat with Yuyuko. However, since Youmu had also received the notification, she was probably in the process of dragging her master back.
Sure enough, five minutes later, Haruto and Kaguya spotted Youmu's figure in the distance. She was hurrying back, her hands firmly clamped onto Yuyuko, who was trying to pull in the opposite direction.
"Lady Yuyuko, please hurry! The instance is about to start, and I still have to find Haruto-sama!"
"But… but I'm not full yet! I want to go back! It's fine if you go alone, I don't need to look for him anyway… Just leave the money for me."
"No!" Youmu refused flatly, pulling her master with all her might, her youthful face flushed red with exertion. If she had left the money for Lady Yuyuko, then however long she was gone for the instance, her master would remain in that restaurant for the exact same amount of time.
Watching the scene unfold, the corners of Haruto and Kaguya's mouths couldn't help but twitch. Haruto, at least, was already used to it.
Kaguya sighed softly, stepped forward, and patted Youmu on the shoulder.
Startled, Youmu turned to see Kaguya, with Haruto standing not far behind her.
"Haruto-sama! Princess Kaguya! Please wait just a moment. I'll settle Lady Yuyuko right away…"
"No need." Kaguya produced two glittering gold coins from her sleeve and placed them in Yuyuko's hand. The ghost princess's eyes instantly lit up like lanterns.
"Princess Kaguya, this… how can I accept this…"
"It's fine," Kaguya said with a dismissive wave. "I don't have much else, but I do have plenty of money."
As one of the foremost powers in Gensokyo, Eientei certainly didn't lack for funds. also, Kaguya was once a princess of the Lunar Capital. When she had fled all those years ago, she had quietly brought along quite a few valuables for emergencies.
"Thank you very much," Youmu said, bowing deeply. Kaguya simply waved her hand, indicating she needn't be so formal.
"Lady Yuyuko, today you can only use the money Princess Kaguya gave you! You absolutely, absolutely cannot stay in the restaurant and not come home! I've put this week's food and money under your pillow, and usually you…"
Youmu, truly unable to set her mind at ease, nagged her master with a long list of instructions before finally, reluctantly, letting her go.
After finishing all this, she followed Haruto and Kaguya back to her room to wait for the instance to begin.
Time passed, minute by minute.
When the countdown finally hit zero, a familiar sense of dizziness washed over them.
When their vision cleared, the three of them were standing in a wide, dilapidated square. Yotsuya Miko and Lin Xuelao were already there, standing nearby.
They were in a long-abandoned town. Collapsed houses stood like skeletal remains, their windows dark and hollow. Rusted cars littered the streets, and the roads themselves were fractured with deep cracks. The smell of decay permeated everything, and many surfaces were stained with a strange, unknown mucus.
What slightly surprised Haruto was the number of people. It wasn't just their group of five in the square; there were at least forty or fifty other people scattered around them.
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