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Scene shift—the two had already left the apartment.
There was one thing Bokue hadn't been wrong about—Asagi really had been lying around since waking up this morning. She'd stayed in bed until almost noon, ate a light breakfast, then returned to bed to continue being a happy couch potato.
Six whole hours without eating—even just lying there playing on her phone would've made anyone hungry.
Yet even after reaching the ground floor, Asagi was still pressing about their earlier topic.
"Wait wait wait! What did you mean by 'the whole island will be yours'?"
"It's... exactly what it sounds like."
Bokue spread his hands, indicating he wasn't exaggerating.
Asagi's brain still hadn't quite wrapped around it.
"So you're saying you're going to buy all of Itogami Island? How much would that even cost?"
"...I never said I'd buy it."
Bokue suddenly wasn't sure how to explain this, so he went with the simplest, most direct statement.
"To put it bluntly—if I wanted, all of Itogami Island could be mine right now."
"Direct military conquest??"
Asagi's eyes went wide.
That was the only conclusion she could draw from his words, but it completely defied common sense.
After all, even with the human and Underworld interconnected, the human world was still governed by humans.
Even Kyoto—called the Millennium Demon Capital—was jointly governed by the Nine-Tailed Fox Yasaka and the Keikain family. And even then, those two families barely touched political matters.
At least officially, all power remained firmly in the Japanese government's hands.
Itogami Island was the same. Though designated as a Demon District, it essentially still belonged to the Japanese government.
If Bokue demanded Itogami Island become his private property, the Japanese government would...
No wait, modern civilized society shouldn't even have scenarios involving forceful military conquest anymore, right?
"Of course not."
Bokue looked at her like it was obvious.
"Why would it need to come to military conquest? I'll just ask the Japanese government for it."
"...Would that even work?"
Asagi suddenly felt a disorienting disconnect.
She'd been thinking about how much resistance the Japanese government would mount against military conquest, while Bokue had already decided to simply "ask the Japanese government for it"—as if he'd never doubted they'd agree.
"I think it should be fine."
Bokue picked at his ear.
He left the second half unsaid—the Japanese government would have to dare refuse him first.
If they said no today, tomorrow both the Imperial Palace and Prime Minister's residence would be stuffed into Mount Fuji's volcanic crater together.
He was confident those constantly ninety-degree-bowing geezers would quickly make the right decision once the volcanic sulfur cleared their heads.
"But why do you suddenly have this idea anyway?"
Asagi's curiosity was piqued again.
If it were anyone else, she wouldn't think much of it. But this was Bokue Keikain.
From what she knew of him, Asagi was well aware that Bokue had never shown any interest in power. He'd only become the Keikain family's acting head because his strength was so broken—not just compared to his peers, but unprecedented even looking back through the Keikain family's thousand-year history.
That's why, after becoming Acting Head, Bokue's daily life remained virtually unchanged. He still did whatever he wanted, never meeting with political figures or making public speeches, completely ignoring approval ratings from the family's branch houses.
His attitude was basically: do whatever you want—remove me from office if you can.
Yet this same person who had zero desire for power suddenly wanted to establish his own territory?
"Hmm~ How should I put it... probably just insights from different life stages..."
Bokue walked while seriously rubbing his chin in thought.
"Basically, I just feel it'd be better to have my own territory."
"So the people there can pay you heavy tribute?"
Asagi commented dryly.
"That won't be necessary..."
Bokue shook his head.
This was absolutely true. His current dependence on ordinary humans was already far less than even the Seventy-Two Pillars nobles of the Underworld.
As mentioned before, in the strength-based demon hierarchy, rather than upper demons needing tribute from ordinary demons, it was more like upper demons used accepting tribute as an excuse to provide protection to ordinary demons.
Simply put, upper demons didn't need lower demons' support—lower demons simply needed upper demons' protection. The supply-demand relationship was completely reversed.
And Bokue's current state went even further. He didn't even need ordinary humans to serve him for convenience. With his power, anything he wanted was within easy reach.
As for making Itogami Island his territory—honestly, it was just to make it convenient for Rias and the others to travel between worlds, and to have a place where everyone could live together.
Plus it would improve security.
That way, incidents like the Old Satan Faction remnants couldn't happen again.
"Oh? Territory? Tribute? Are you playing some new management simulation game, Bokue?"
Just as Bokue thought he'd explained things clearly and was about to ask Asagi which restaurant downtown she wanted for dinner, an unfamiliar yet somehow familiar voice came from behind.
Huh?
Hearing someone call his name, Bokue promptly stopped and turned around.
As the sun set, the shops lining both sides of the street had already lit their neon signs. Under the multicolored lights, a boyish-looking girl with brown shoulder-length hair stood behind them. She wore a sporty windbreaker and stretchy jeans, hands in her jacket pockets.
If not for the slight curves at her chest, she could easily be mistaken for a guy.
So speaking of which... who was this?
Bokue fell into momentary confusion.
But beside him, Asagi reacted completely differently, letting out a heavily inflected "ahh," as if witnessing something shocking. She pointed straight at the short-haired girl with wide eyes.
"Y-y-you... why are you on Itogami Island??"
"What, surprised?"
The short-haired girl grinned with a rather sunny smile.
"Long time no see to you too, blonde shut-in~"
"You're the shut-in!"
Asagi shot back without thinking.
Just as the two girls were about to start arguing in the street, the still-confused Bokue raised his hand to stop them.
"Hold up, hold up. What's going on here? You two know each other?"
"Hah?? Bokue, you don't recognize her? She's that flat-chested tomboy who used to come drag you out to play with Shidou Irina when we were kids! Her name was..."
"Tokoyogi Yuuma."
Before Asagi could continue, Tokoyogi Yuuma smiled slightly and turned to the now-enlightened young man.
"Remember me now? Long time no see, Bokue."
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