I Sealed Sukuna’s Finger#389+390: Everyone Got Satisfactory Results, Lots of Water?

After settling Natsuki in the upstairs break room, when Bokue Keikain arrived at the underground medical area, La Folia and Kanon Kanase—aunt and niece who looked almost identical—were already chatting in the familiar medical room.

But just chatting, nothing more. The moment Bokue entered, Kanon—who'd been laughing with La Folia by the bedside—immediately turned her gaze toward him, her saint-like pure face lighting up with joy.

"Ah, it's Big Brother! Big Brother, you came too!"

"Mm, I'm covering for Natsuki today..."

Bokue approached the bedside while repeating the same explanation he'd given La Folia and Sayaka upstairs.

He wasn't fond of lying, but today's situation hardly counted as a "lie."

After all, he really was covering for Natsuki, and Natsuki really did have to rest in the break room next door because of him. Even the part about "needing coverage because of last night's incident" was still true.

Think about it—if not for last night's events, Natsuki wouldn't have lost her witch powers, wouldn't have needed to pull an all-nighter writing reports with her actual body, and wouldn't have needed Bokue to help "restore her combat effectiveness" as quickly as possible, which led to her currently being limp in the break room next to the office.

Perfectly reasonable, no problems at all.

"Is that so..." Kanon wasn't the suspicious type to begin with, and since it was her trusted Big Brother saying this, she just nodded without further questions.

Meanwhile, La Folia beside her seemed to suddenly remember something, a hint of amusement crossing her beautiful but regally elegant face.

"Oh right, speaking of which, there's another reason for today's visit. Since we can't bring Kanon back to our country anytime soon, the family elders requested I take lots of photos together while in Japan."

"Photos?"

Sayaka didn't catch the silver-haired princess's hint, looking around the pure white medical room in confusion.

"You mean taking them right here?"

"Of course~"

La Folia pulled out her phone, then fished a selfie stick from her bag and mounted the phone on it.

"After all, Kanon can't go out freely right now, so we can only take them here. Come on, come on, Sayaka and Bokue-kun, sit properly—time for photos!"

"Eh? Us too?"

Sayaka was still hesitant.

But La Folia was already urging them on.

"Since everyone's here, we should all be in it! Let's see... Kanon sits next to me, Bokue-kun on Kanon's other side, then Sayaka on Bokue-kun's other side. Hurry, hurry, I'll send everyone a copy afterward."

"Ah, okay!"

Finally catching the silver-haired princess's hint, an exclamation mark appeared above Sayaka's high ponytail as she quickly took her position by the bed.

From left to right: Sayaka Kirasaka, Bokue Keikain, Kanon Kanase, La Folia.

"Don't spread out so much, my phone's camera isn't that wide."

La Folia continued directing.

"Sayaka, tilt your head more toward Bokue-kun. Bokue-kun, scoot closer to Kanon too. Perfect~"

Click!

With the button pressed on the selfie stick, the crisp shutter sound echoed through the medical room, capturing the four of them on the phone screen.

"Wait a moment, sending them now."

Without any editing, La Folia sent the photo to Sayaka and Kanon one by one.

"And what's your social media account, Bokue? I don't have you as a friend yet—need to add you first before I can send it."

"Oh, wait, I'll add you."

Not thinking much of it, Bokue pulled out his phone and added La Folia on social media.

Meanwhile, the two girls who'd already received the photo began editing their copies.

For instance, Sayaka directly cropped the left half of the photo, blushing slightly as she set the part with her and Bokue together as her phone wallpaper.

Kanon was slightly more subtle. She first framed herself and La Folia, then after sneaking glances left and right to confirm no one was watching, she expanded the wallpaper area to include Bokue who'd been sitting on her left during the photo.

There, perfect...

Looking at the three of them on her phone screen like a family portrait, the silver-haired girl's serene face showed a faint smile, her cheeks involuntarily turning pink.

This was her photo with Big Brother.

Though uncertain if she'd formally trained for it, La Folia's photography skills were undoubtedly impeccable.

But just then, the silver-haired princess's voice suddenly came from beside her.

"Hmm~ This photo didn't turn out quite right."

"W-what's wrong?"

Sayaka, who'd been secretly admiring her photo with Bokue, quickly looked up and shifted her gaze, casually opening another app to hide her wallpaper.

"Yeah~"

La Folia pointed at Kanon's face in the photo, who'd been sitting beside her.

"See, it's because Bokue-kun is too tall. He blocked the light on Kanon's face during the photo. Let's have Bokue-kun and Kanon switch places and retake it."

"Eh? The light's blocked?"

Kanon paused, then quickly picked up her phone to look again.

Indeed, though just on her profile, there was definitely a small shadow cast by Bokue.

"Then... should we retake it?"

Kanon tentatively looked at the War Dancer beside her.

Retaking was no big deal for her, but having a flaw in her photo with Big Brother wouldn't be good.

"Let's retake it then."

Sayaka nodded without objection.

She completely understood La Folia's intention now. Earlier had been for her photo with Bokue, and now that it was done, naturally it was La Folia's turn.

The only regret was that she hadn't been the one to bring it up—otherwise she could've smoothly gotten Bokue's social media account like La Folia had.

So with another click of the phone's camera, both photos were finally complete.

But just as everyone had gotten their satisfactory results, Bokue's phone suddenly buzzed.

"Wait, let me take this call..."

The youth reflexively answered and brought the phone to his ear.

The next second, a certain blonde girl's voice came through like a jet engine.

"Where are you, Bokue?! Where the hell did you run off to?! And did you even come home last night?!"

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Bokue hadn't expected Asagi's call to finally come now, after waiting all morning without hearing from her.

Nothing to do but explain (make excuses) first.

"What? Covering for Natsuki-sensei? You?"

Asagi wasn't an unreasonable girl. After hearing Bokue's explanation (excuses), her volume dropped along with her anger.

After all, she'd thought Bokue had stayed out all night fooling around with other women. But now she learned he'd actually been working.

The atmosphere suddenly turned a bit... awkward.

"Can't be helped."

Bokue shrugged, pulling out the same explanation he'd given Sayaka and La Folia.

"Last night's incident was caused by Yuuma and me. Your teacher Natsuki didn't sleep all night writing reports—she's catching up on sleep in the upstairs break room now... Oh right, Sayaka and La Folia just came to see Kanon. I helped them with the passes."

The blonde girl on the phone paused: "Kanon? Oh... wait, I remember. The girl they call the 'Middle School Saint' at our school, right? Silver-white hair, speaks really softly..."

But before she could finish, Bokue felt a pleasant scent approaching, along with the soft touch of a girl's cheek against the back of his hand holding the phone.

"Hello, is this Aiba-senpai? I'm Kanon Kanase—we met at the chapel behind school before... Big Brother is here with Princess La Folia and Miss Kirasaka at the Special Security Force headquarters visiting me. Please don't worry..."

"I-I wasn't worried about him!"

Suddenly feeling like she was being comforted by a younger girl, Asagi reflexively protested.

"It's just that he never told me, not even a text. Now that I know, it's fine. Alright, alright, enough about that. So Bokue, when can you come back?"

When could he return...

Bokue thought for a moment, then gave a fairly standard quitting time.

"Probably around five o'clock."

"Five o'clock, huh..."

Asagi immediately sounded dissatisfied again.

But the youth's next words instantly cheered her up.

"When I'm done here at five, I'll come pick you up. We can have dinner in the city center—how's that?"

Bokue suggested.

"Hmm..."

Asagi's tone clearly wavered.

"Just the two of us?"

Though he knew she couldn't see through the phone, Bokue still nodded affirmatively.

"Right, just us two."

"Well, okay then. Five o'clock it is... Remember to be on time."

As if still worried, the blonde girl added one more reminder at the end.

Only after triple-checking did Asagi hang up, half-reluctant, half-expectant.

On Bokue's side, La Folia had been watching the whole time. Only after seeing "Call Ended" on his phone screen did she speak with a smile:

"Covering shifts while coaxing your girlfriend—Bokue-kun really has it tough."

"It's fine."

Bokue rubbed his temple with the phone's edge.

In this information age, the internet had examples of everything. Compared to those, a girl like Asagi who could be appeased just by promising to spend the evening with her was already at peak sweet-and-innocent levels.

"You all keep chatting here. I need to check upstairs—if Natsuki's awake, I can leave early."

Yawning and leaving those words behind, Bokue waved and vanished from the underground medical room.

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Going upstairs to check wasn't just an excuse to leave, like saying you need a smoke during a family dinner.

Bokue really did go check. After confirming Natsuki was still unconscious, he came back down, bringing the idle Astarte from the office with him.

Then began a cycle of going upstairs every twenty minutes and coming back down.

The afternoon passed quickly this way.

Sayaka and La Folia left around four o'clock.

After seeing them off, when Bokue returned to the upstairs break room at 4:20, he found the gothic girl who'd been sleeping on the sofa under a blanket was now awake, staring at the ceiling with ice-blue eyes as if lost in thought.

"Awake already?" Bokue approached the sofa, leaning over with his head tilted. "How do you feel?"

"...What do you think?" Natsuki glanced at him once before looking away. "After what you did to me, I don't even dare move right now."

"What, afraid it'll leak out?"

Such a crude comment naturally didn't come from Bokue.

Looking toward the voice, the classical twelve-layered beauty on the bed had apparently enjoyed a nice afternoon nap. She sat on the bed's edge with crossed legs, looking radiant and rosy, leisurely sipping hot water from a disposable paper cup.

Wait, that cup looked like the one he'd had Astarte use for coffee earlier...

Bokue recognized it at a glance.

"Tokoyogi Aya, you...!"

Natsuki noticed her too. The memory of being pressed down by Aya's shoulders in this very break room, nearly impaled completely, instantly flooded back. She pushed against the sofa to confront her.

But the next second, the cool sensation from behind made the gothic girl freeze, clutching the blanket tightly to her chest.

She'd almost forgotten—her clothes had been stripped clean earlier. Under the blanket covering her now, she was completely bare.

But Natsuki also realized another issue.

After what Bokue had done to her—to put it crudely, she'd been worked over to the point of prolapse—yet now her body felt no pain at all? Even felt somewhat light?

"This is..."

The gothic girl moved her body in disbelief, even pressing on her lower abdomen.

Bokue sat down on the empty sofa space, propping his cheek on his hand.

"Don't worry, I definitely wouldn't hurt you. I was already healing everything as we went."

Natsuki: "..."

What was this, convenience for endless future sessions?

"Seems you still don't understand, Natsuki Minamiya. Did you think when I told you to 'enjoy it fully' I was actually mocking you?"

Aya finished the hot water in one gulp, casually placing the cup on the nightstand as she lifted her face proudly.

"When faced with things you can't change, rather than raging impotently, it's better to accept them gracefully. That's what you taught me during those ten years in the Prison Barrier. Now it's your turn... Though 'gracefully accepting' isn't quite right, since doing this kind of thing feels pretty good anyway, doesn't it?"

"...As the former Grand Secretary of the Library, don't you feel any shame saying such things?" Natsuki's mouth twitched—she could barely listen anymore.

"Shame?"

Aya looked away, twirling a strand of hair by her ear as if casual.

"I think someone with such a small body who can spray three times my volume has no right to talk about that."

"TO! KO! YO! GI! YA!!!"