Early the next morning.
"So hungry."
The girl lying on the bed had beautiful, knee-length hair and crystal-like eyes.
Tohka had woken up very, very early, experiencing the softness of a bed for the first time in the real world.
While marveling at how enjoyable human life was, she rubbed her rumbling stomach. Tohka remembered eating quite a lot last night, so why was she so hungry first thing in the morning?
"Right now... is it still dark outside?"
Glancing out the window, the faint light made Tohka realize dawn was still some time away. Recalling the people she met yesterday, Ryuya, Kurumi, Nia Honjo, and the Yamai sisters… and experiencing the warmth of friendship for the first time, she wasn't sure if she should get up to look for food.
Tossing and turning in bed, agonizing over it for a long time, Tohka, unable to bear the hunger any longer, finally chose to go downstairs to see if there was anything she could eat.
"Let me think... the thing called a 'refrigerator' should have food inside, right?"
Memories of Ryuya taking delicious things from the refrigerator led Tohka to extend her guilty hand towards the fridge door. Opening it, she saw many raw food ingredients.
"Hmm, these are things called vegetables, right?"
"This is a drink, and juice!"
"Can steak be eaten directly? It feels so hard and cold."
Letting out incomprehensible exclamations at the food in the refrigerator, after wrestling with it for a while, Tohka sadly realized she didn't understand how to eat a single thing.
Just as she was helplessly about to give up...
"Tohka? Why are you up so early?"
"Ryu!"
Seeing Ryuya come downstairs, Tohka hugged him as if she had found a savior, without any reservation.
"Yu, I'm hungry. But the food in the fridge can't be eaten. Has everything in the fridge gone bad? How scary."
Feeling Tohka's warm, soft body pressed tightly against him, Ryuya looked down at her, noticing she wasn't wearing any slippers.
"Tohka, the food in the fridge isn't bad. But it needs to be cooked and heated. Wait a moment, I'll make you breakfast."
Gently patting Tohka's back, Ryuya signaled for her to let him go first.
"Hmm..."
Tohka, who should have obediently listened, suddenly had a scene flash in her mind as she was about to let go.
It was a similar early morning, when the sky was just beginning to lighten. A girl lazily clung to a man's embrace, refusing to let go no matter what.
It wasn't until the man gently kissed her lips that the girl, smiling, finally granted him freedom, though she still held his arm, sticking to him as he cooked and chatted.
Influenced by this memory fragment, Tohka, as if possessed, said, "Ryu, need kisses. Otherwise, won't get up."
"Mio... Tohka, what did you say?"
Seeing a shadow of Mio in Tohka for a moment, Ryuya noticed a faint silver light in Tohka's eyes… the unique color of Mio's eyes.
"Ah? What did I just say? Nothing, right?"
Looking at Ryuya dazedly, Tohka didn't know what she had just done either. It felt like she had a brief dream.
"It's nothing. You just now... it's fine, Tohka."
Letting out a long sigh of relief, Ryuya tightened his embrace around Tohka and gently kissed her forehead.
"Ryu!"
Being kissed by Ryuya, feeling a completely different sensation, Tohka only felt her heart beating very fast.
"Ryu, what is this? Why does my heart feel like it's beating so fast?"
Touching her forehead where Ryuya had kissed her, Tohka opened her big eyes, a faint blush on her cheeks as she asked.
"Ah, that's... love, I suppose?"
Smiling, Ryuya took ingredients from the fridge and started making food for Tohka.
"Love? Can I love Ryu too?"
Her confused eyes looked at Ryuya. Tohka didn't understand love, but she could feel her heart anticipating something.
"Love me? Of course you can."
Knowing Tohka was formed from Mio's spiritual power, and that the majority of it was love for him… in other words, the essence of Yatogami Tohka was Takami Mio's love for Ryuya, he smiled at Tohka and spoke.
"Then I want to love Ryu too!"
Receiving Ryuya's affirmation, Tohka was visibly very happy.
She directly walked over and hugged Ryuya, who was still cooking, doing her best to jump up, and kissed his face.
A while later, as dawn broke and the aroma of breakfast filled the air, the other Spirits began to wake up.
"Wow, Ryuya, are you making delicious food for this queen again?"
Wearing light yellow Pikachu onesie pajamas, Kaguya came downstairs with Yuzuru.
"Affirmation. Yuzuru finds Ryuya's cooking skills excellent. A very outstanding husband, that is."
Unlike Kaguya's Pikachu onesie, Yuzuru's pajamas were a Squirtle onesie.
Because Yuzuru's figure was quite voluptuous, Squirtle's face was prominently... well, what was pressing down on its eyes?
"Hmm, so sleepy."
The third one downstairs, Nia had stayed up late working again last night. Still not fully awake, she sat in her seat with sleepy eyes, waiting for Ryuya to feed her.
As for Kurumi, she was the last to come down.
Wearing plain white silk pajamas, she was yawning, clearly not having had enough sleep.
After coming down, she didn't speak but directly snuggled into Ryuya's arms. Although mentally very tired, her complexion and skin tone were healthy and fair, like a well-watered rice field.
"ZZZ.... ZZZ~~~~~~"
Continuing to sleep in Ryuya's arms, Kurumi instinctively adjusted to a more comfortable position.
"Hey, hey, Tokisaki Kurumi, did you not sleep at all last night?"
Looking at Kurumi clinging to Ryuya, Kaguya felt a bit jealous.
"Concurrence. Staying up late and not sleeping is not good behavior."
Nodding, Yuzuru followed up.
"Hmm? I didn't sleep much last night. After all, Ryu was just too amazing. We were very intimate, passionately working together all night long."
Hearing the Yamai Sisters' questioning, Kurumi gradually opened her gold-and-crimson eyes and responded provocatively, placing heavy emphasis on the word 'working'.
"Wha... What shameless words!"
Clearly understanding Kurumi's implication, the Yamai Sisters had only been by Ryuya's side for a few months. Although they liked him, they hadn't progressed to that stage yet.
Their usual most intimate contact was elementary behaviors like hugging and kissing. They had always secretly envied Kurumi and Nia, feeling both shy and having thought countless times about taking the next step themselves.
But frustrated by the lack of a good opportunity, how could they not be angry upon hearing Kurumi's arrogant reply now?
Widening their eyes and staring intently at Kurumi, under Tohka's curious and clueless gaze, they began their daily routine of vying for favor and being jealous.