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"That's right, it's your dear kouhai. Not that Tsuchigumo from before anymore."
On Kiyomizu Stage—now utterly devastated from the battle—Bokue Keikain held the swordswoman's cheeks between his thumbs and forefingers, gently pulling them outward repeatedly.
With each tug, the red glow in Saeko's eyes receded a bit more, until finally disappearing completely.
Having just survived a brutal fight, the swordswoman finally seemed to relax. All the accumulated exhaustion hit her at once, and her body swayed, about to collapse forward.
Fortunately, Bokue stood right in front of her and caught her in time.
"Hey hey hey, you alright, Senpai? Hanging in there?"
"I'm... fine..."
That earlier exhaustion—where she could barely stand—seemed almost like an illusion. Leaning against the young man's chest, Saeko rested for only two or three seconds before catching her breath somewhat. With effort, she raised her arms to push herself up from his embrace.
Naturally, Bokue didn't take advantage of the situation. Seeing Saeko could stand on her own, he released his hold and let her step back.
But the swordswoman still seemed concerned about something. Having just survived a desperate death match, her face—which should have been pale from exhaustion—instead showed a faint blush. Her gaze involuntarily darted away to the side.
"Um... so why did you suddenly appear here, Bokue?"
"What do you mean 'why'? I'm from Kyoto."
Bokue looked genuinely confused.
"No, that's not what I meant..."
Saeko realized her question had come out rather absurdly and quickly rephrased.
"I mean, why did you appear at Kiyomizu-dera at this exact moment..."
"Oh, you're asking about that. I was just taking my little sister out for the evening."
Bokue spread his hands.
"Didn't expect that the moment we reached the temple entrance, we'd see tourists fleeing. When we came inside, I found you going toe-to-toe with Tsuchigumo. Though I really didn't expect someone whose usual fighting style is so calm and collected would turn into such a wild berserker after Domain Expansion. Totally a berserker class."
Gulp...
Completely unprepared for the young man to so casually expose what she'd desperately tried to hide, Saeko's body trembled slightly.
"S-so you saw everything..."
"Oh yeah, I saw it all. The whole thing."
Bokue's tone was perfectly frank.
Saeko: "..."
While she normally disliked people who were two-faced and hypocritical, right now Saeko genuinely wished Bokue would be a little less honest.
At the very least, seeing how desperately she wanted to conceal her Domain Expansion's characteristics, couldn't he just go along with it and say he hadn't seen anything??
"...By the way, where's your little sister?"
After a brief silence, Saeko suddenly looked up and glanced around, forcibly yanking the conversation in a different direction with somewhat stilted phrasing.
"I remember you said you came here with your sister..."
"You dummy!"
Before she could finish, the swordswoman heard a young girl's slightly immature voice scolding from above.
Saeko looked up in surprise to see a middle-school-aged girl in a white yukata descending slowly from above, enclosed in a golden sphere of light. When it reached about half a meter from the ground, the sphere suddenly dispersed. The white-yukata-clad girl leaped out and charged straight at the young man, raising her small fists to pummel his chest repeatedly.
"Dummy! Dummy! What do you mean 'float down slowly' and then just jump down yourself?? And the moment you see a pretty lady you can't even walk straight! You said she was just a senpai, but the second you meet you're already hugging her and pinching her cheeks!"
"Alright, alright. In that situation, I couldn't exactly bring you down with me, Yura."
Bokue simply ignored Yura's tiny fists and scooped her up in his arms.
The familiar scent instantly enveloped her. The young Onmyōji girl immediately lost all fighting spirit, her flailing fists going limp as she obediently settled against his chest.
Bokue continued explaining:
"After all, there was still that huge Tsuchigumo down here. If we'd come down together and you'd gotten attacked, that would've been bad, right?"
Yura's face flushed red with displeasure. "But that Tsuchigumo couldn't beat you anyway, Brother! You could've handled him with one hand, right?"
"...Yeah."
Bokue nodded.
Actually, "one hand" was still overselling it. More accurately, a single glance or even just a thought would've done the job.
"See??"
Getting confirmation, Yura's eyes widened. Her cheeks puffed up like an inflated pufferfish.
"You just wanted an excuse to get handsy with that pretty lady! Player!"
"That's not true..."
While the siblings' little comedy routine played out, Saeko stood awkwardly to the side.
She wanted to clarify that Bokue hadn't gotten "handsy" with her, but at the same time, being called a "pretty lady" made her feel somewhat pleased.
Everyone likes being complimented, after all.
But just then, two different ringtones suddenly interrupted the scene on Kiyomizu Stage.
The young Onmyōji girl who'd been verbally tearing into her brother just a second ago stopped what she was doing, looking down at the phone ringing from inside her yukata sleeve.
"W-wait, Brother, put me down first. I have a call..."
"What a coincidence. Me too."
Bokue also felt his phone vibrating through the thin yukata fabric.
"Ah, it's Ryuji-niisan calling."
Back on the ground, Yura pulled out her phone and glanced at it, instinctively speaking aloud.
"I've got a call too, so I'll step away."
Bokue consciously put some distance between them, moving over to stand beside the swordswoman.
He hadn't told anyone else in the main family about coming back. If Ryuji on the other end found out he was right next to his biological little sister, he'd probably rush over immediately and explode.
Plus, he needed to take his own call. It wouldn't do to have the conversations overlap.
With that thought, Bokue answered his phone.
"Hello? It's me."
"Ah, good evening, Bokue-kun."
The moment the call connected, a certain silver-haired princess's voice came through from the other end.
Huh? La Folia?
Bokue blinked in slight surprise. "Oh, La Folia! Good evening. Why the sudden call at this hour..."
"My, my. Looks like Bokue-kun really did forget completely."
Hearing that opening, the silver-haired princess on the other end immediately developed an edge of displeasure in her tone.
"You didn't forget, did you, Bokue-kun? Yesterday at lunch, you promised us..."
Hiss—!
Hearing that, the young man suddenly realized with a jolt.
He'd completely forgotten about his dinner plans tonight with La Folia and Sayaka!
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