"Tsk tsk tsk~ What kind of material is this? It's so lifelike!"
In the dim world of the Shadow Realm, Gin furrowed his brows, his hand exploring the figure before him with full academic seriousness. As he studied, he couldn't help but marvel aloud, "Not just the texture, but even the body temperature is realistic—whoever made this must be a true genius!"
"Ah!?"
Just as he was playing a round of "marble bounce" on two specific soft points, the figure let out another sound effect that made his whole body tense up, sweat dripping down his back, hands frozen mid-action.
No doubt about it—the maker of this thing had some seriously impure motives. Gin had decided: he must befriend this guy.
Worried the sounds might attract unwanted attention, Gin reluctantly withdrew his hands from the smooth curves and turned to leave—only to notice something strange.
The face of the "figure" had changed.
A faint trace of human-like emotion appeared between its furrowed brows. Even someone as experienced as Gin was caught off guard—this "doll" could make facial expressions?
Okay, he was sold. He'd invest.
"Today's wind… feels a little wild."
Meanwhile, the actual Ōtsutsuki Tsukihime, standing in the real world by the window, was shivering slightly. Her warm body had been struck by the cold breeze, easing some of the strange feelings surging through her.
Her dainty maru-shaped brows furrowed, and a confused look appeared in her pale eyes. This wind—it felt different from usual. Pleasant, even.
She raised a hand and began to untie her robe, wanting to greet this curious wind more intimately, with skin-to-breeze contact.
!!!
Gin, mid-step, froze in place. His wide dead-fish eyes were locked onto the figure before him, which was now moving by itself.
As she loosened her robe, revealing a slender shoulder and—like two mischievous rabbits—a pair of ample forms bouncing into the open air...
Drip!
The sight hit Gin like a meteor. For all his experience (?), he found himself unable to handle it. A rush of heat surged in his nose and a warm trickle ran down his face, dripping onto the ground with a painfully audible splatter.
"Who's there?!"
The appearance of a puddle of blood and some... unidentifiable liquid on the ground made Tsukihime freeze in shock.
In the next second, an overwhelming pressure erupted from her delicate body, instantly covering her up. Her lips parted, and a cold voice echoed across the room.
Her normally icy white eyes were now burning with fury. A mysterious power radiated from within them.
"She's... real?!"
In the Shadow Realm, Gin clumsily yanked a piece of clothing off the floor and stuffed it over his nose to stem the bleeding. The lingering scent was intoxicating—sweet and slightly creamy. It stopped the blood almost instantly.
"This smell… I need a link for this product!"
After deeply inhaling a few more times, he finally calmed down, reluctantly setting the fabric aside to get a better look at it.
"Put it down!"
Before he could even examine it, the figure—no, the woman—before him shouted, her voice sharp and shame-tinged. A faint red flush bloomed on her cheeks, crawling toward her ears.
"Huh?"
Gin was dumbfounded. Could she see him? Wasn't the Shadow Realm supposed to be undetectable? Just how reliable was that old man's technique?
"I said, put it down!"
Before he could even process that, the woman lunged. Blue-green chakra flared in her hands as she punched straight toward where Gin stood.
Tiny pink fists? Adorable!
But no—Gin could sense it even with his dulled perception. That punch contained enough power to annihilate a continent.
He didn't dare take it head-on.
Rolling away like a cowardly donkey, he narrowly dodged. A statue behind him exploded into dust under the force of her attack.
"Damn, that was close!"
Gin gulped at the crater left behind, his throat dry.
Time to go. No staying here.
He quickly stuffed the "handkerchief" he'd grabbed into his bag and bolted, darting through the shadows of the palace.
As long as there was a shadow, he could pass freely—and it only cost him less than a card's worth of chakra.
"Stop! Give that back!"
Her voice echoed behind him, filled with panic and fury. Gin rolled his eyes. Stop? After a punch like that? He wasn't stupid.
With a few quick steps, Gin darted back to where he belonged—his original room. Slipping into his bed and canceling the wooden clone, he raised his fingers to his nose again, where a faint milky scent lingered.
He almost licked them.
Almost.
Instead, he sighed, let his tired body relax, and fell asleep not long after.
"Damn it! If I catch that thief, I'll make him suffer every torture the Ōtsutsuki clan has ever devised!"
Tsukihime, now outside her castle, stood under the black sky, seething with shame and rage. Her beautiful white eyes sparkled with fury, and her long legs pressed together instinctively as she remembered what had been taken from her.
"Sigh... that was my favorite little bunny."
Elsewhere—
"My brilliant descendant, wake up! I'm your ancestor!"
In the midst of exhaustion, Gin heard a voice calling from far away. But he was too tired to care and chose to ignore it.
"Wake up! Wake up!"
When that failed, the voice grew louder and more frantic, like a broken record on loop. It made Gin feel like his head would split open.
"Okay okay! Sensei, stop already~"
He couldn't take it anymore. Forcing himself to open his heavy eyelids, he mumbled groggily.
"Whew~ Almost had to use my ultimate move. Shame."
Inside his mental space, Ōtsutsuki Hamura stood before him, pulling back a stick-like object he'd been using to wake him.
"Yo~ Great-uncle, what's up? I haven't found the Tenseigan yet, by the way."
Gin yawned, scratching at his curly hair, while Hamura's expression looked grim.
"No. We'll talk about the Tenseigan later. There's a bigger problem."
Hamura's face was tight, his brows furrowed so deep you could hang a padlock on them.
"I just realized—my mother seems to have broken out."
(End of Chapter)
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