Right now, the Occult Research Club's room looked like a stage set for pure chaos and absurdity.
Eriri, the usually composed and tsundere blonde twin-tails, had thrown all restraint and dignity out the window. Her eyes sparkled as she circled around Yukinoshita like an appraiser who had just discovered an incomparable treasure, letting out constant "oooh, oooh" noises of wonder. She was even trying to sneak a hand under Yukino's hoodie hem to touch the tail that was supposedly hidden there.
Yui, on the other hand, was frantically trying to hold back her overly excited friend. At the same time she kept glancing at Yukino with deep worry, afraid that the on-the-verge-of-tears expression on her face might be a sign that the curse had come back.
Their advisor, Hiratsuka, had finally recovered from her brief petrification. She managed to pick the fallen cigarette up from the floor, then stared blankly at the pair of trembling silver-grey cat ears on Yukino's head with the dazed expression of someone seeing an alien landing. Her sense of reality felt like it was being ground down piece by piece.
At the center of all this chaos, the person concerned, Yukino, was enduring a level of shame and embarrassment she had not experienced once in her seventeen years of life.
Her perpetually icy face was now as red as a ripe apple. She clutched the hem of her hoodie in a death grip, wishing she could sink straight through the floor and never come back out.
What twisted her up inside even more was the fact that the only person she could think of relying on right now was the same boy who made this situation unbearably awkward.
Natsume.
Last night, her mother's casual remark that "he would be your ideal marriage partner" was still echoing in her ears. Yukino had rejected that idea on the spot with the coldest, firmest attitude she could muster, but the words still lingered in her heart like a faint ache. Just thinking about them made her want to avoid him.
Yet the moment something this impossible happened to her body, the first, and only, savior who came to mind was him.
That contradiction, wanting to run away from him yet having no choice but to depend on him, was nearly tearing her proud heart in half.
"Everyone, quiet down."
At that moment, a calm, steady voice filled the room, carrying a strange authority that suppressed every other sound at once.
Natsume stood up from his seat and walked over to Yukino.
He did not react the way Eriri did, showing no pointless curiosity toward the ears on Yukino's head. He also did not panic like Yui or let excessive concern show on his face. His gaze was calm and focused, like that of a seasoned doctor looking at a patient, full of professional confidence that made people instinctively trust him.
"All right, Yukino," he said, in the tone of someone discussing a work email, "let us begin your after-sales service."
"A... after-sales service?"
The strange phrase stunned Yukino for a second, even interrupting the tears building in her eyes.
"Yes."
Natsume nodded.
His pale blue Six Eyes carefully traced the flow of cursed energy in her body as he gave his diagnosis.
"First of all, you need to understand that your current condition is not a relapse of the curse. You do not need to panic."
"Then... what is it?" Yukino asked nervously.
"Simply put, this is a very rare case of yokai transformation."
Natsume explained.
"Back when the Spirit Collision happened, your soul became deeply entangled with the cat curse. I did remove the main body of the spirit, but part of its life essence and residual cursed energy were unintentionally absorbed and assimilated by your soul."
He paused, then gave a simpler comparison.
"It is like when you recover from a serious illness. Your body still retains fragments of the virus, but instead of harming you, those fragments have fused with your immune system and turned into a special kind of antibody."
"Antibody?"
The word left everyone in the room looking a bit blank.
"That is right."
Natsume's eyes moved back to Yukino, and a faint flicker of approval passed through them.
"In a way, you came out ahead."
"You absorbed the last of that cat curse's power and gained a portion of its traits. It is weak for now, but it is enough to give you a natural upper hand against low-level curses. In other words, if you encounter something on the same level as Hanako again, you will have a certain degree of self-defense."
His words cut through the confusion that had wrapped itself around her heart.
So this was not entirely a bad thing.
A tiny seed of hope sprouted inside her. Then she instinctively reached up to touch the very real cat ears on top of her head, and a fresh wave of embarrassment swept back in full force.
"B-but... I cannot live like this," she said, voice wobbling on the edge of tears. "It is too... too embarrassing."
"That is only because you cannot control the power yet."
Natsume's voice remained perfectly even, as if he were stating something obvious.
"Do you want my help?"
"... Please."
After a brief struggle, Yukino finally lowered her proud head and replied in a tiny voice, barely above a whisper.
"Good."
Natsume nodded, obviously satisfied with her cooperation.
"Then turn around."
Yukino did not understand why, but she still followed his instruction and turned stiffly so that her back was facing him.
The next second, she felt a warm, dry hand rest gently on her back.
Her body went rigid. A strange sensation, like an electric tingle, spread from that point of contact through her entire body, and the heat in her already burning face spiked again.
"Relax. Do not resist."
His voice came from behind her, still professional and emotionless.
"Close your eyes. Focus on the energy I am sending you, then try to copy its path. Find the power inside you that does not belong to you."
As soon as he finished speaking, a tide of cursed energy flowed into her body from his palm, warm and clear, vast as the sea.
This cursed energy was nothing like the cold, sticky presence of the cat curse she remembered. It was like sunlight on a winter day, moving gently through her channels and leaving no discomfort at all, only a strange, deep sense of relief in her body, which had been weakened by her time as a disembodied soul.
Almost without thinking, Yukino followed his instructions, sinking her entire awareness into the current that was guiding her.
Soon, she saw it.
Deep within herself, there was another stream of energy. Faint, silver-grey, carrying a touch of animal wildness. It wandered through her body without direction, running wherever it pleased. The cat ears on her head, and the tail behind her, were the physical form of that power leaking out of her control.
Under Natsume's strong yet gentle cursed energy, Yukino tried, for the first time, to focus her will on that silver-grey flow.
Go back...
Go back inside...
She repeated the command clumsily in her heart.
Something strange happened.
Under everyone's stunned gaze, the fluffy ears on Yukino's head began to shrink, slowly, as if melting into her hair. In the span of a breath, they vanished completely.
"It worked."
Yui whispered, her joy bubbling out.
Yukino could hardly believe it. She raised her hands and felt the top of her head.
Smooth. As it had always been. No trace of those unbearably embarrassing ears.
She could clearly sense that the silver-grey power had not disappeared. It had simply retreated, like a tide retreating back beneath the surface, withdrawing completely into her body and hiding there. She even had the odd feeling that, if she wished, she could call it out again at any time.
"Did you feel it?"
Natsume's voice sounded again. He withdrew his hand from her back without hesitation or delay.
"Remember the path and the sensation just now. From now on, train using that same method, until you can fully control this power."
Precise diagnosis, a perfect fix, and a clean conclusion.
The entire process was carried out with the kind of professional care that inspired confidence.
"... Thank you."
Yukino turned around and bowed deeply to the calm boy in front of her, gratitude welling up from the bottom of her heart.
At that moment, all her awkwardness and resistance about "marriage alliances" was washed away by that simple, pure thankfulness.
In her good mood, without realizing it, the door to the non-everyday world had opened for her, and there was no closing it now.